RTHK: 'Succession' and 'Squid Game' big winners at Emmys

Dysfunctional family saga "Succession" on Tuesday took top honors for best drama at the Emmys, television's biggest night of the year, as "Squid Game" made history when Lee Jung-jae was named best actor, a first for a non-English-language performer.

The South Korean social satire about misfits and criminals competing for cash in twisted versions of schoolyard games had also been in the running for the top prize, but the Netflix hit was bested by HBO's latest awards darling.

Accepting the best drama award, "Succession" creator Jesse Armstrong noted it had been a big week for successions  a reference to the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the ascension to the British throne of her son.

"Evidently [there's] a little bit more voting involved in our winning than Prince Charles," he quipped.

"Succession", a Shakespearean drama about a family betraying each other for control of a media empire, led the nominations ahead of the gala with 25, winning four awards overall.

Other big winners on the night were fellow HBO stablemate "The White Lotus", which won a total of 10 Emmys including best limited series, and Apple TV+ comedy favorite "Ted Lasso", again a winner for best comedy and best actor Jason Sudeikis.

"Lotus", a stylish satire on wealth and hypocrisy set in a luxury Hawaiian resort, scooped up two acting prizes as well as directing and writing honors, plus other technical awards.

But Netflix's "Squid Game" made a statement with its six Emmys  beyond Lee, the series won for best directing, best guest drama actress Lee Yoo-mi and three other technical categories.

Zendaya repeated her feat as best actress in a drama for her turn in "Euphoria," two years after she became the youngest ever winner in the category for the first season of HBO's hard-hitting look at teenage life.

The event was the first full-fledged gala honouring the best of the small screen since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

After a virtual ceremony in 2020 and a scaled-back show last year, gowns and tuxedos were de rigueur at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles, where the glitterati arrived in bright sunshine. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2022-09-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
UN chief sees unprecedented test to multilateralism in upcoming General Assembly session

Xinhua) 08:27, September 13, 2022

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (C, front) speaks at a UN Security Council briefing on the situation in Ukraine at the UN headquarters in New York, Aug. 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie E)

"The coming session will continue to test the multilateral system like never before. And it will continue to test cohesion and trust among member states," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday saw an unprecedented test to multilateralism in the upcoming session of the UN General Assembly.

"The coming session will continue to test the multilateral system like never before. And it will continue to test cohesion and trust among member states," he told the closing plenary of the 76th session of the General Assembly.

The 77th annual session of the General Assembly begins on Tuesday.

"The road ahead will be challenging and unpredictable. But by using the tools of our trade -- diplomacy, negotiation and compromise -- we can continue supporting people and communities around the world. We can pave the way to a better, more peaceful future for all people. And we can renew faith in the United Nations and the multilateral system, which remain humanity's best hope," he said.

Guterres thanked Abdulla Shahid of the Maldives, as president of the 76th session of the General Assembly, for his vision and leadership.

"With enormous skill, he led this assembly during these unprecedented times, bringing fresh vision to issues like gender equality, climate action and the unique perspective of small island states," he said.

Guterres also highlighted ferocious conflicts that are putting millions of lives in jeopardy, deepening poverty and inequality that continues to impede recovery and development, a morally bankrupt global financial system that penalizes developing countries and blocks their path to sustainable recovery, and a climate emergency that is literally "setting our planet on fire."

The 76th session of the General Assembly was marked by a series of deepening challenges: rising prices, the erosion of purchasing power, growing food insecurity and the gathering shadows of a global recession; a global pandemic that refused to be defeated and the emergence of another health emergency in monkeypox; and deadly heatwaves, storms, floods and other natural disasters.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)


Adivasi Muslims in Jharkhand live a life of struggle as the tiny community fights to retain their tribal status which is key to their enjoyment of land rights.

Sami Ahmad | TwoCircles.net

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PATNA (BIHAR)  For miniscule Adivasi Muslims living in Jharkhand, the struggle to maintain their tribal status is a dominant one.

A.R. Oraon, 55, (Oraon is a common tribe in Jharkhand) is a Muslim Adivasi living in a small village in Ranchi. He is the single such Muslim among 150 odd Muslim families there. He said that to be or to become an Adivasi Muslim is not so easy. In Jharkhand, particularly in Ranchi, it is not a big deal to become a Christian. But it is daunting for an Adivasi to be a Muslim here, A.R told TwoCircles.net.

When A.R. wanted to be a Muslim, he knew the consequences like local opposition, family unacceptance, denial of the right to land and losing the tribal status. To minimize this, he first converted to Christianity and then to Islam. His wife, also a converted Muslim Adivasi from Christianity, still holds her earlier name. Please use my name only if there would be no Fitna-Fasad (controversy) in the media like love jihad and dharmantran (conversion) etc, he said.

A.R. said that when he tried to get a caste certificate of Adivasi for his son, his application was declined. Later he added Oraon to his surname and after much pleading, the certificate was awarded. Surname is key for us Adivasi Muslims. If we want to keep an independent name without our earlier surname, we dont get the caste certificate of a tribe which means a denial of all the rights for the Adivasis, he said.

Another Adivasi Muslim Shamsher Ali, 65, embraced Islam when he was 23 years old. A signboard painter by profession, he has a long story of working in Assam and Delhi and finally going to Mumbai as an assistant to a film art director. I was good at making sketches, he said.

Shamsher Ali said that he found it difficult to get a caste certificate for being a tribal. None of my five sons and six daughters is getting any benefits of being Adivasis, he said.

Ajmeri Khatoon is not an Adivasi but she is married to an Adivasi who converted to Islam. Her husband Salim sells bangles and cosmetics. She told TwoCirlces.net that her husband is still struggling to get a share in the land of his parents which means that he would not be having the Khatiyan (land papers). They have two kids but they are not sure about their kids getting a caste certificate of the tribe they belong to without the land papers.

A.R. had to face the same problem, For an Adivasi, becoming a Muslim leads to migration. The migration results in a new destination, a new home and new people. My father was also pressurized to deny me my share in his land property but somehow I managed to get that.

Shafique Ansari, a social activist from Ranchi told TwoCirlcles.net that there are organizations that create problems for any Adivasi who converts to Islam and they start demanding withdrawal of their tribal status. This is the reason that the Adivasis who convert to Islam try to keep it a low-key affair as it affects their rights as a tribe, Shafique added.

He cited an example of an Adivasi woman who embraced Islam and married a Muslim man. She wanted to fight the Panchayat election but her nomination was opposed by some organizations and politicians because of her conversion. This matter went to the DC level where she was declared eligible to fight that election as a tribal and later, she became the Mukhiya (village head). This shows that the local population do not have such any big problem with such Adivasi Muslims, he explained.

Director of Ram Dayal Munda Tribal Research Institute, Ranchi, Dr Ranendra told TwoCircles.net that there is no rule of debarring any Adivasi from government facilities because of conversion to any religion. If one has the certificate of Scheduled Tribe issued by the competent authority, she or he is entitled to avail all the facilities meant for the tribals of Jharkhand, he said.

He explained that there are 32 recognized tribes in Jharkhand and to get a caste certificate one has to produce his/her Khatiyan (land papers). He cited one example where one lady had no land paper. She was certified by the local community committee and on that basis, her caste certificate was issued.

He said he is aware of conversions to Christianity among tribals but doesnt know much about conversion to Islam.

Reservation rule still applies to all those who have a scheduled tribe certificate. The basis of the reservation is social backwardness and a change of religion does not change the backwardness. According to constitutional provisions, religion or change of it does not affect any Adivasis right of reservation, he added.

Sami Ahmad is a journalist based in Patna, Bihar. He tweets at @samipkb
Pelosi: From US to Ukraine to Taiwan to Armenia, world faces choice between democracy, autocracy

Azerbaijan's unilateral actions are real threat to international peace, Deputy Minister says

Erdogan, Lapid to meet on sidelines of UN General Assembly in New York

Baku reports transfer of 32 Armenian soldier's bodies

Armenian village: There is no electricity in Sotk village for fifth day already

Over 30,000 people take part in protest against rising prices in Austria

MOD: No change on Armenian-Azerbaijani border as of 9pm

French MEP on torture of Armenian servicewoman: This is happening today and it is unacceptable

Statement of Stepanakert rally participants: Don't sign any document

Tokayev renames Kazakhstan's capital Astana and set 7-year presidential mandate

Erdogan says he will go to Karabakh and open airport with Aliyev

Charles Michel calls Aliyev

Armenia's deputy permanent representative to UN calls for end to ethnic cleansing campaign in Azerbaijan

Deceased soldier Narek Hayrapetyan was conscripted 3 months ago

White House: Relations between Russia and a number of its partners cannot be considered alliances

Erdogan announces completion of military operation on Armenian border

CSTO mission gets acquainted with consequences of Azerbaijani aggression in Armenia

Norat Ter-Grigoryants calls for martial law

Nancy Pelosi arrives in Yerevan

25,000 students, 6,000 children of Vayots Dzor, Gegharkunik and Syunik provinces dont attend school, kindergarten.

Nancy Pelosi: We will convey strong, ongoing support of US for lasting settlement to Karabakh conflict

Armenian Ombudsman: Gas pipeline and medical point damaged in Jermuk

Toivo Klaar on Azerbaijan attack on Armenia: Disturbing reports of crimes, violence targeting civilians

Azerbaijan announces new death toll due to own military aggression against Armenia

Armenia Investigative Committee chief: As of now we have 2 confirmed civilian casualties

Russia Orthodox Church ready to contribute to starting dialogue between Armenia, Azerbaijan spiritual leaders

Yerevan to host 9th Russia-Armenia interregional forum

CBN News: War in Ukraine, Russia oil shortfall spark Azerbaijan attack against world's first Christian country

Nancy Pelosi's Armenia visit agenda is announced

Karabakh President to deliver video message on September 19

Armenia ombudswoman visits some settlements recently targeted by Azerbaijan army (PHOTOS)

At least 14 dead in landslide caused by heavy rains in Nepal

CSTO stresses need to pacifically resolve Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border situation

Representation at ECHR: Armenia petitioned to International Court of Justice

Armenia PM, European Council chief discuss matters on settlement of situation

Iran objects to any change of internationally-recognized borders in region, Raisi tells Erdogan

Armenia representation at ECHR: More than dozen Armenian soldiers captured due to Azerbaijan attack

Iran ambassador in Baku details Tehran position towards Armenia, Azerbaijan

Biden threatens Russia with consequences in case of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine

Ombudsperson publishes report on consequences of Azerbaijan recent military attack on Armenia

Azerbaijan embassy representative in US curses at Armenian women, tears protesters banner

Germany deputy chief of mission to Armenia is shocked by destruction he saw in Jermuk city by Azerbaijan (PHOTOS)

Rally being held in Stepanakert for 3rd day

No change, as of 9am, in situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

5 Syria soldiers killed after Israel missile attack on Damascus airport

Newspaper: Armenia PM's not attending Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit not clearly understood

Newspaper: Situation at Armenia border with Azerbaijan still very tense despite relative calm

White House not ruling out new sanctions on Russia

Armenia parliament speaker: Let Russia tell us if it is unable to do anything at this moment

U.S. State Department announces updated strategy for Arctic

Alen Simonyan: Armenia is dissatisfied with CSTO reaction to Azerbaijani aggression, we made conclusions

China imposes sanctions on heads of U.S. companies for supplying weapons to Taiwan

Alen Simonyan: Azerbaijan wants Armenia and Armenians not to exist

Alen Simonyan: Introduction of martial law may be perceived as act of aggression

Japanese PM says he is ready to meet with Kim Jong-un without preconditions

Speaker of Parliament: One or two adversary groups who penetrated territory of Armenia are under search

Ten people die in Italy due to heavy rains

CSTO members do not agree: Kyrgyzstan uses drones to attack Tajik targets

Today Armenia will apply to International Court of Justice

Russian Defense Ministry: No violations of ceasefire in Karabakh in Russian zone of responsibility during day

Turkey wants more Russian gas

Putin: Turkey will pay for quarter of Russian gas supplies in rubles

Defense Ministry: As of 9 p.m., situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border remains unchanged

Putin: Erdogan keeps offering to arrange meeting with Zelenskyy

Putin announces Russia's role in localization of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict

Gas prices in Europe are getting down

Putin: Latest incident on border between Armenia and Azerbaijan has nothing to do with Karabakh

Poland signs $3 billion deal with South Korea to buy 48 FA-50 fighters

Aliyev: Events show that neither Baku nor Yerevan wants large-scale escalation

Scholz: German government ready to revise military export rules

Putin calls situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border tense

Putin briefs Aliyev on his talks with Pashinyan

Greece MFA welcomes Armenia-Azerabaijan ceasefire agreement

Digital technologies have no alternative: SAP signs cooperation agreement with Armenian Revytech (PHOTOS)

Mexican authorities arrest retired general in connection with kidnapping of 43 students

Putin and Aliyev's talks kick off

Orban calls the European Parliament's call to cut funding for Hungary 'boring joke'

Mourad Papazian and French Armenians hold rally in Paris against Azerbaijani aggression (PHOTOS)

Lebanese banks close all their offices after attacks by disgruntled depositors

Putin and Erdogan hold talks in Samarkand

Inflation in Eurozone hits another record 9.1%

Nancy Pelosi confirms reports on her upcoming visit to Armenia

State Department: Russia hoped to get military aid from China

At least 7,600 people from 3 Armenian regions leave their homes amid Azerbaijani aggression

World Bank: rising global interest rates may trigger recession in 2023

Secretary of Security Council of Armenia: Our expectations from CSTO are not justified

China hopes Yerevan and Baku will resolve their differences through political dialogue

EBRD President notes importance of road construction programs in Armenia

Lithuania MPs condemn Azerbaijan military attack against Armenia

Stepanakert rally continues for 2 days

Azerbaijan reports about death of 77 servicemen

German government tries to nationalize three major gas companies

CSTO mission receives operational information on situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

American journalist Lindsay Snell tweets about Azerbaijani atrocities

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UK retail sales fall, highlighting recession risk

Man arrested in Lebanon after bank robbery in attempt to access his own savings

Russia envoy: Armenia attaches special importance to CSTO mission

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Armenia army chief: 50-60 member group from Azerbaijan retreated to state border today
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The attacks on Armenia represent a dangerous escalation, writes Seth Frantzman in an article for the Jerusalem Post.

"Armenia has recently leaned toward Russia in world affairs, while Azerbaijan has been friendly to Israel. Azerbaijan and Turkey are key allies. This means that the conflict in the Caucasus is not a small conflict, but is related to Turkey's role in Syria and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Those who suffer from shelling are victims of these regional issues, victims of the broader context and power politics between the United States, Russia, Turkey and other states on which the fighting will stop.

The attack on Armenia came on the eve of this week's meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Uzbekistan. Armenia and Azerbaijan are partners in the SCO dialogue, which is dominated by Russia, China and the Central Asian states. This year, however, Iran and Turkey are also participating.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been pushing for an end to the recent fighting, appealing to France, Russia and the United States. He spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken."

According to the U.S. State Department's statemen the United States is deeply troubled by reports of attacks along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, including reports of strikes on population centers and civilian infrastructure inside Armenia. "As we have long made clear, there can be no military solution to the conflict. We call for an immediate cessation of all military action."

However, Azerbaijan seems encouraged by Turkey's support. Turkey is a member of NATO, but is also friendly to Iran and Russia.

Turkey has supported Azerbaijan and probably pushed it to attack. State media in Ankara spread statements about the conflict, claiming that it happened because of Armenian provocations. It is unclear what Ankara hopes to achieve here.

On the one hand, Ankara could use this as a kind of trump card at this week's Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting. Reports that Azerbaijan wants to create a buffer or security zone inside Armenia appear to be related to Ankara's demands to invade parts of Syria and create a similar security zone. Turkey has ethnically cleansed Afrin and Serekaniye after operations in 2018 and 2019 to create parts of this zone.

Another aspect of Ankara's desire for conflict in the Caucasus could be to bring the U.S. into the region. The U.S. supports Ukraine against a Russian invasion. Turkey and Ankara's supporters tend to portray Armenia as closer to Russia and Iran.

Thus, the context is to create a crisis in which Armenia can be presented as part of an alliance system with Russia. This could give Ankara an excuse to portray itself as a NATO member supporting its allies in Baku. A compromise here arises when Ukraine launches a successful counteroffensive and Moscow acquires Iranian drones. A weakened Moscow cannot support Armenia and will be asked to force Armenia to make concessions in exchange for new deals between Moscow and Istanbul.

Moscow has generally behaved this way in the past: wanting to weaken Armenia and isolate Yerevan in order to get other things from Ankara. Armenia wants support from Washington and Paris for a cease-fire, but it is hurt by the fact that NATO member Turkey is set against Armenia. Isolated and dependent on Moscow, Armenia is in a difficult position, perhaps paying the price for the world's attention focused on Ukraine, as its adversaries use the conflict to seize more land from Armenia.

There will be more wars and conflicts like this one in a world where countries believe the world order led by the U.S. is collapsing, as countries try to redraw borders set 50 or 100 years ago. Ankara's war in Syria is one example. Ankara is stirring up conflict with Armenia. Russia's war with Ukraine is another example.

There is an angle here that also has to do with Israel. Israel has close and positive relations with Azerbaijan; Azerbaijan has purchased drones from Israel. Nevertheless, Armenian-Israeli relations are on a roller coaster ride, tainted by fighting in 2020. This is a tragic aspect of history, because while both Armenians and Jews are victims of genocide, modern politics means that relations between the two nation-states are not strong. At this point."
Capping off an exciting wave of new faculty joining Miami Engineering in the 2022-2023 academic year, Chang-Yu Wu will become the chair of the Department of Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering in Spring 2023.



Engineers want to make the world a better place, said Wu. They are often motivated by a problem they or their community faced.

My childhood experiences drove me to study air quality, Wu said. I grew up in Taipei, Taiwan, and when I was a kid, the city was heavily polluted. I suffered from asthma and constant coughing, said Wu. It really made me question, What can I do to address this issue so that others dont have to face the same problems?

His career was changed forever by an early opportunity when someone saw potential in him that he was not aware of. There are people who transformed my life without meaning to. When I started my faculty career at the University of Florida, I was approached by a researcher from the Air Force Research Laboratory who needed someone to work on bioaerosols. My dissertation was about metal aerosols in combustion systems, but he assured me that I could just treat bioaerosols the same way. Wu soon discovered this was not true in practice and became hooked on bioaerosols.

His impact in COVID-19 research

Back in 2010, during the global swine flu pandemic, Wu worked with the Air Force Research Laboratory on a project investigating how to regenerate masks to protect the public, considering that mask production capacity cannot meet the demand during a pandemic.

In early 2020, Wu led a team of researchers that collected live SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in aerosol for the first time in the world. Wu's collaboration with an R&D company and a virologist also produced a virus aerosol sampler, now commercially available to the world, that could efficiently sample respiratory virus and maintain its viability which is needed to assess exposure risk.

Vaccines and other health measures have helped us adapt to COVID-19, Wu said, but this pandemic has taught us that we need to better prepare ourselves for future outbreaks.

We also have to think about balancing energy efficiency and human health indoors due to COVID-19, Wu said. After the US energy crisis in the 1970s, buildings were made more energy efficient, but we have now realized from COVID-19 that effective ventilation needed for lowering the risk to respiratory virus may have suffered in that process."

His Vision for the Future

As we build this entirely new department, Im excited to leverage Miamis strengths to attract diverse talent from all over the world, Wu said. Intellectual and cultural diversity is critical in education and creativity. Our curriculum needs to connect our students to groundbreaking research conducted across the University. We need to help our engineers become better citizens as well, working with those in the humanities, for example, to learn how to ask questions from beyond a strictly engineering perspective to better solve real-world problems and to serve our society.

Im excited to build a department focused on nature-inspired chemical processes and novel materials for sustainable humanity and environment, Wu said. We can learn so much from nature.

Wu has remarkable enthusiasm for the varied applications of engineering, looking forward to producing Miami Engineers capable of impacting the world, for example, in terms of climate change and global health. Trees, for example, are very good at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, Wu said. Chemical engineers, such as Dean Pratim Biswas, have been working to learn from these natural processes to aid global climate engineering goals.

The human body can also teach us so much about virus aerosols, Wu said. As human beings, were very good at capturing virus aerosols, which is why we become infected. If we can simulate this infection process, we may be able to produce a device that senses virus aerosols from an environment.

"Dr. Chang-Yu Wu is a star in the field of aerosol science and technology, said Pratim Biswas, dean of the College of Engineering and professor in the Department of Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering. Hell help propel these areas of activity through the newly created Center for Aerosol Science and Technology (CAST) with colleagues from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and Miller School of Medicine.

Its wonderful to work with Dean Pratim Biswas again, Wu said. Hes another reason I decided to join Miami Engineering. He has a compelling vision for the College and hes very good at getting resources for things we want to do. Working with him, I know we can accomplish a lot.

Our new Department of Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering is off to a great start, Biswas added. This fall, the department gained Dr. Yang Wang, a tenure-track assistant professor with four nanoparticle science and technology grants, and Dr. Samiul Amin, who brings his partnerships with leading chemical engineering companies as well as his strong background in industry-collaborative research in the areas of soft matter and colloids.
Report says more people trapped in slavery

The International Labor Organization says the number of people caught up in forced labour or forced marriage has ballooned. File photo: Shutterstock

Fifty million people around the world are trapped in forced labour or forced marriage, the UN said on Monday, warning that their ranks had swelled dramatically in recent years.



The United Nations had set a goal to eradicate all forms of modern slavery by 2030, but the number of people caught up in forced labour or forced marriage ballooned by 10 million between 2016 and 2021, according to a new report.



The study by the UN's agencies for labour and migration along with the Walk Free Foundation found that at the end of last year, 28 million people were in forced labour and 22 million living in a marriage they had been forced into.



That means nearly one out of every 150 people in the world are caught up in modern forms of slavery, the report said.



The Covid-19 pandemic, which worsened conditions and swelled debt levels for many workers, has heightened the risk, the report found.



Coupled with the effects of climate change and armed conflicts, it has contributed to "unprecedented disruption to employment and education, increases in extreme poverty and forced and unsafe migration", compounding the threat, it said.



"It is shocking that the situation of modern slavery is not improving," Guy Ryder, head of the International Labour Organization (ILO), said in a statement.



"Nothing can justify the persistence of this fundamental abuse of human rights."



It is a long-term problem, the report cautioned, with estimates indicating entrapment in forced labour can last years while forced marriage is often "a life sentence".



Women and children are by far the most vulnerable.



Children account for one out of five people in forced labour, with more than half of them stuck in commercial sexual exploitation, the report said.



Migrant workers are more than three times likely to be in forced labour than non-migrant adult workers, it showed.



"This report underscores the urgency of ensuring that all migration is safe, orderly, and regular," Antonio Vitorino, head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said in the statement.



Modern slavery is present in basically every country, with more than half of cases of forced labour and a quarter of forced marriages in upper-middle income or high-income countries.



"It would be a mistake to believe that forced labour is solely the problem of poor countries," Ryder told AFP.



The report found that the number of people -- mainly women and girls -- stuck in forced marriages had risen by a full 6.6 million since the last global estimates in 2016.



The number of people in forced labour swelled by 2.7 million over the same period.



The increase was driven entirely by more forced labour in the private economy, including forced commercial sexual exploitation.



But the report also said that 14 percent of those in forced labour were doing jobs imposed by state authorities, voicing concern about abuse of compulsory prison labour in many countries, including the United States.



It also pointed to grave concerns raised by the UN rights office about "credible accounts of forced labour under exceptionally harsh conditions" in North Korea. (AFP)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 13 (ANI/NewsVoir): Drip Capital, Inc., a leading digital cross-border trade finance platform, is thrilled to announce it has been certified as a Great Place to Work in India for the second consecutive time. Great Place to Work Institute India partners with more than 1100 organizations across over 22 industries to help them build High-Trust, High-Performance Cultures designed to deliver sustained business results. The Institute's research shows that great workplaces are characterized by good leadership, consistent employee experience, and sustainable financial performance. The certification will further enable Drip to amplify its work culture and employer brand to build credibility, pride, and commitment amongst its employees. Further, it serves as a recognition of Drip's efforts toward building an employee-friendly work culture that emphasizes humility, ownership, thoughtful bias towards action, and customer obsession. Pushkar Mukewar, CEO and Co-founder, Drip Capital, commented, "The Great Place to Work Assessment is considered a 'Gold Standard' in workplace culture assessment. We are honored to have received this certification again this year. It is a testimony of our happy, and high-performing culture." As part of the grading process, Great Place to Work Institute evaluated Drip across several dimensions such as Camaraderie, Pride, Credibility, Fairness, and Respect. Meenakshi Iyengar, Talent and Culture Partner and Advisor at Drip Capital commented, "Drip is a fast-growing company. Culture is core to Drip's unique identity and pride. We are a happy and humble workplace, striving to make global trade accessible to small businesses. Drip is grateful and thrilled to get certified again." Shweta Madhusudan, Director of People Operations, Drip Capital commented, "Drip relentlessly focuses on talent development and progression. We have specifically designed programs focused on inclusion, growth, recognition and engagement. Camaraderie and Pride are Drip's strengths. We strive to be the best place to work in the fintech space." Drip Capital is a trade-tech company that aims to simplify global trade for SMBs. It offers digitized trade financing solutions in markets like the US, India, and Mexico by providing SMBs access to collateral-free working capital. Drip is backed by investors like Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital, Wing VC, TI Platform, Irongrey, and Accel Partners. Drip was honored as a CB Insights Top 250 Global Fintech Company in 2020, and it was a part of Y-com's Top Companies 2022 List. For further information on Drip Capital, please visit www.dripcapital.com. This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
New Delhi [India], September 13 (ANI/SRV): The future of work is different from what we have seen in the past. New roles have emerged and are adapting to the new organizational environments which is more networked, entrusted, mobile, team- based, project-based, collaborative, real-time, and fluid. The current challenge is not complicated, confusing, or overwhelming but it does require better and different ways to communicate, collaborate, and network. Having said this, Sapphire Connect, recently concluded the 3rd Annual ReThink HR Conclave 2022 on the September 2, 2022 at Hotel Radisson Blu Plaza, New Delhi, that was centered on the theme "Embracing Change & Transformation: Work, Workforce & Workplace". The event focused on the new pathways for information to be exchanged and lessons learnt, while organizations enable digital technologies. By 2030, the environment of working will shift in the manner of how we communicate and collaborate, such as moving away from email and adopting more sophisticated digital tools. The 2020 pandemic had pushed organizations in adopting new ways of working and talking about the role of HR and how it has grown, Deepali Bhardwaj, Executive Director, Human Resources, Cushman & Wakefield, said, "The pandemic did make everyone realize that HR can be at the centre of the organizational ecosystem. HR has been that glue that has kept the organization going." Adding to this, Viekas Khokha, Head Of Human Resources (Leadership Team Member), Dhanuka Agritech, said, "I have seen a shift in HR. Our managers are talking about employee wellness, worklife balance and these things we had to force upon. I see a transformation and change in the thought process and technology has really worked for us at Dhanuka." During a session on Putting together the talent puzzle: Redeploy, Upskill or Reskill, we had Mr. Daniel Chacko, Director HR, Ruder Finn Asia, who said, "A person who has spent more than 6-7 years in an organization have by themselves undergone a lot of upskilling it is only because culturally. The ones that are getting attracted now do have capabilities of what a senior manager has, they both are nimble on their feet, they are faster in their approaches. In fact, our objectives need to change after every 6 months." They say a key differentiator for organisations is to prioritize holistic wellbeing of the employee. As the focus shifts to outcome, the focus on employees getting their entire self to work and delivering value will be critical. Dr Priyanka Dhepe, Senior Ergonomic Consultant, Godrej Interio, said, "In our recent research paper on Home Office and Beyond we found that in the post-pandemic phase we asked employees on what is important you'll while you're working and 82 per cent of Indian employees think that their job is a vital part of their identity. The 3 job aspects for Indian employees are good work-life balance, compensation, and learning & growth opportunities." New employment models are going to drive the future that will create a win-win situation for both the employee and the organisation. Irrespective of whether it is to do with a change in role with additional responsibilities or leading more business verticals or businesses in different geographies or working from one's home country, the employers need to create life-work synergies with employee experience, connectedness, and compensation. Talking Sudhir Patro, Head - Corporate Sales, HCL Healthcare, said, "Everybody works for money, but the employees are ready to go the extra mile if the R&R is structures and stitched well. That's the difference between a business enterprise and employer of choice. At HCL healthcare we realised that as we go and tell other corporates that we are here to make your employees healthy, but charity starts from home so we should be healthy ourselves. So, we introduced green apple awards which is part of the R&R and talks about health transformation." The conclave also organized Speed Connect an exclusive one-of-its-kind opportunity for recruitment agencies and academic institutions who had the chance to meet from an extensive list of employment partners. The Speed Connect witnessed around 40+ Employment partners, 75+ Recruitment partners, 35+ Academic partners and 50+ MOU's at the event. Anirudh Narain, Regional HR Lead, Reliance Retail Consumer Brands, who attended as an Employment Partner said, "Absolutely amazing methodology to bridge the corporates, associates and campuses under one roof. The Speed Connect brings in a 10min efficient interaction which personally turned out to be quite productive for me. I had an amazing chance to get associated with so many campuses and recruiters which surely would help either side now and in near future." Talking about the ReThink HR Conclave, Rishi Kapoor, Partner and Business Head, Sapphire Connect said, "We have seen a stark change in the relationship between employees and the workplace, organizations have to invest in helping people navigate through their vision for the hybrid workplace and any changes to the physical workspace. By adopting this change employers can seek balance productivity, well-being, and a sense of connection in the evolving future of work. This edition of the ReThink HR Conclave 2022 we highlighted the critical factors shaping the work-workforce-workplace of the future." This story has been provided by SRV. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/SRV)
French-Swiss film director Jean-Luc Godard, the godfather of France's New Wave cinema, passed away at the age of 91, on Tuesday. News of his death was confirmed by French media on Tuesday morning. According to Fox News, Godard is regarded as a pivotal figure in the French New Wave movement. The movement, which differed from previous film styles, emphasised realism in storytelling while incorporating experimentation with editing techniques. Godard's debut film, 'A bout de souffle (Breathless)' established him as one of the world's most vital and provocative directors, both in Europe and beyond. Jean-Paul Belmondo rose to fame thanks to his films. When Pope John Paul II condemned Godard's controversial modern nativity play "Hail Mary" in 1985, it made headlines. In 1963, Godard collaborated with iconic French actress Brigitte Bardot on the film Le Mepris (Contempt). According to Variety, Godard's most ambitious project was his multipart video project "Histoire(s) du Cinema" (1988-1998), an iconoclastic and highly personal examination of the concept of cinema and its relationship to the twentieth century. His most recent films, "In Praise of Love" (2001) and "Notre musique" (2004), were critically acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival. When his "Film Socialisme" screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2010, it elicited a more amused reaction; the highly experimental work ended with a title card reading "No Comment," a statement reflected in Godard's conspicuous absence from the festival. Godard, however, experienced a significant career resurgence at Cannes in 2014 with "Goodbye to Language," in which he experimented with the 3D format while providing "a characteristically vigorous, playful, mordant commentary on everything from the state of movies to the state of the world," as described by Variety's Scott Foundas. It won the festival's jury prize (shared with Xavier Dolan's "Mommy") and later won the award for best film of the Godard and his partner, Swiss director Anne-Marie Mieville, collaborated closely for at least the last 30 years of his life. Godard married Anna Karina, an actor who appeared in several of his films, in 1961. He married Anne Wiazemensky in 1965, following the divorce of the couple. Numerous filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, and Quentin Tarantino, were influenced by the legendary director. (ANI)
Taking to his Instagram handle, the 'Kabir Singh' actor treated fans with a new fun video.

Shahid shared a BTS video from an ad shot with Mira with the caption, "Partners-in-crime!"

https://www.instagram.com/p/CicHtIouYlM/?hl=en

In the video, Shahid and Mira were seen having fun during their new ad shoot. The actor was seen dressed in a white textured kurta pyjama and his lady love was seen wearing a golden printed shrug that she paired with flared pants.

In the beginning, he was seen setting Mira's hair. Shahid was heard saying, "Madam ka fan. Madam ko sweating nahi hota hai lekin fir bhi thoda cooling chahiye hai." Mira also said if her hair looks fan, to which Shahid hilariously replies, "Madam ka baal wrong side udd raha hai, abhi madam mera paisa kaat degi."

Also while delivering their dialogues, Shahid was seen cracking jokes.

As soon as the video was posted, the fans and industry friends chimed into the comment section.

Mira reacted with a hilarious comment. She wrote, "You're my fan."

Actor Kriti Sanon dropped smiling emojis.

One of the users wrote, "Yaaaar so cuuuuuttteeee."

Another comment reads, "Adorable couple!"

Mira and Shahid tied the knot in 2015. They are also parents to daughter Misha, who was born in 2016. On July 7, the couple completed 7 years of togetherness.

On the work front, Shahid was last seen in Gowtam Tinnanuri's 'Jersey' with Mrunal Thakur. He has some interesting projects lined up. Shahid will be next seen in director Ali Abbas Zafar's upcoming action film 'Bloody Daddy'. Along with this, he will be soon making his grand OTT debut with Raj and DK's upcoming web series 'Farzi' along with south actor Vijay Sethupathi. (ANI)
Ankita posted the movie poster featuring Mouni's character 'Junoon' on her Instagram Story and wrote, "Dear Mouni watched brahmastra yesterday and ur performance was fantastic and absolutely up to the mark. u made us proud. Keep it up and keep growing Lots love and success to u."

Mouni reposted the story and thanked her, she wrote, "Thank You so much Ankita, Lots of love back."

Earlier, Mouni's husband Suraj Nambiar and her friends including Arjun Bijlani, Remo Dsouza, and others met and watched 'Brahmastra' together and even donned a customised T-shirt with her character Junoon's print.

'Brahmastra Part One: Shiva' which was produced by Star Studios, Dharma Productions, Prime Focus, and Starlight Pictures theatrically released on September 9th, 2022, in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. The movie shattered records on its opening day as it became the highest non-holiday day 1 grosser for a Bollywood film in net terms. (ANI)
The FICCI has committed to adopt one lakh TB patients through the collective capability of FICCI members and support the government by becoming Ni-kshay Mitras. This was announced after a meeting between Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and the FICCI Health Services Leadership.

"FICCI commits to adopt one lakh TB patients through the collective capability of its members and support the Govt in The Tuberculosis Mukt Bharat Abhigyan. This has been announced after a meeting with Dr @mansukhmandviya, Minister @MoHFW_INDIA with FICCI Health Services Leadership," the federation said in a tweet.

The Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan was launched by President Droupadi Murmu on September 9 to reinvigorate the mission of TB elimination from the country by 2025.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the clarion call to end TB in the country five years ahead of the SDG target of 2030 at the End TB Summit in March 2018.

The TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan has been envisioned to bring together all community stakeholders to support those on TB treatment and accelerate the country's progress towards TB elimination.

The President also launched the Ni-kshay Mitra initiative which forms a vital component of the Abhiyaan. The Ni-kshay Mitra portal provides a platform for donors to provide various forms of support to those undergoing TB treatment. The three-pronged support includes nutritional, additional diagnostic, and vocational support. The donors, called Ni-kshay Mitras, could be a wide range of stakeholders, including corporate houses and industry representatives.

--IANS avr/arm

( 288 Words)

2022-09-13-20:38:02 (IANS)
He instructed the officials to make an effective plan to neutralise the impact of disaster in the state.

"A plan should also be prepared for the rehabilitation of the villages which are likely to be threatened by the disaster," he said.

Dhami also said that the services of national and international level consultants should also be taken into consideration in relation to the permanent treatment of Nainital's Ballia Nala, Pithoragarh's El Dhara, etc. for rehabilitation of disaster-affected areas and landslide-affected areas.

He further gave the direction to ensure the provision of effective treatment.

In this high-level review meeting, Chief Secretary Dr S.S. Sandhu, Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister Radha Raturi and Secretary Disaster Management Dr Ranjit Sinha were present.

There has been a lot of destruction in the state due to the heavy rainfall, cloudbursts and landslides.

Earlier on Sunday, Dhami visited the cloudburst-hit Khotila village in Dharchula of Pithoragarh and took stock of relief and rescue operations.

As many as 58 families lost their houses in Khotila village. He also met with disaster victims.

"There is a lot of damage here. 58 families lost their houses in Khotila village. Damaged roads will be repaired. We are making efforts for rehabilitation and treatment of the affected people," CM said.

A woman died and about 30 houses were destroyed in the cloud burst incident in the Lasko river flowing close to the India and Nepal border at midnight in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea of a father to hand over the body of his son, who was killed in the Hyderpora encounter in Kashmir in November last year, while asking the Centre to bring a law in connection with exhumation of bodies as there is no such legislation to deal with the request of family members of the deceased. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala said: "The right to dignity and fair treatment under Article 21 of the Constitution is not only available to a living man but also to his body after his death. We, as a court of law, respect the emotions and sentiments expressed by the appellant as the father of the deceased. However, the court of law should not decide the rights of the parties considering their sentiments." The bench said after a body has been buried, it is considered to be in the custody of the law; therefore, disinterment is not a matter of right. "The disturbance or removal of an interred body is subject to the control and direction of the court. The law does not favour disinterment, based on the public policy that the sanctity of the grave should be maintained," it said. The Jammu and Kashmir administration stated on oath that the body of the deceased was buried with all honour. "The body was first washed and thereafter wrapped in a fresh white cloth. The prayers were also performed at the time of the burial. There is nothing to indicate that the deceased was not given a decent burial as enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution," noted the top court. The bench added that a court will not ordinarily order or permit a body to be disinterred unless there is a strong showing of necessity that disinterment is within the interests of justice. Each case is individually decided, based on its own particular facts and circumstances, it said. The top court said the Centre may consider enacting an appropriate legislation on exhumation so as to tackle the situations like the one on hand. "We take notice of the fact that India has no legislation relating to exhumation except Section 176(3) of the CrPC... very few countries have legislation in regard to exhumation. One such legislation available is in Ireland under Section 46 of the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act, 1948 as amended by Section 4 (2) and the Second Schedule of the Local Government Act, 1994," it said. The top court said relief granted by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court was just and equitable and dismissed the appeal filed by Mohammad Latief Magrey. It directed the state government to comply with the high court direction in connection with the compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the family and also allow them to offer prayers at the grave. During the hearing, the advocate representing the Jammu and Kashmir administration had submitted that it was not in dispute that the deceased was a terrorist and the CD submitted to the high court showed that all Islamic last rites were performed as per the book. The J&K administration counsel added that eight months have passed, the body would have decomposed and now exhuming the body will only lead to law and order problems, and Magrey has lost his son but he was a terrorist. Jammu and Kashmir administration was represented by standing counsel Taruna Ardhendumauli Prasad. In its 50-page judgment, the court said: "These are all very sensitive matters involving the security of the nation and as far as possible the court should not interfere unless substantial & grave injustice has been done. Although, for some reason or the other, the body of the deceased was not handed over to the family members yet the same was buried with respect & dignity." Magrey moved the apex court challenging the Jammu and Kashmir High Court order, which did not allow exhumation of his son's body. Four people, including Aamir Magrey, were killed in the encounter, on the outskirts of Srinagar on November 15 last year. The petition was filed through advocate Nupur Kumar. --IANS ss/uk/vd ( 707 Words) 2022-09-12-21:16:02 (IANS)
NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who did not speak at the party convention on Sunday and went out during speech of a party leader, has termed reports of a rift in the party "misleading" and said he had conveyed his viewpoint to the Marathi media. "The media is showing misleading news. I didn't speak, many leaders didn't speak. I spoke to Marathi media and gave an entire explanation. I'm not sad, no one from our party is sad," Ajit Pawar told ANI. Ajit Pawar, who is Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra assembly, had on Sunday skipped speaking at the Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP)'s national convention meeting. He left midway in the presence of party chief Sharad Pawar. Ajit Pawar left the stage moments after party leader Jayant Patil was given the chance to speak before him, which sparked rumours of a rift in the party. Ajit Pawar later clarified that he did not speak because it was a national-level meeting.NCP MP Supriya Sule was seen convincing Ajit Pawar to return for his speech on the stage. Party MP Praful Patel had announced on the stage that Ajit Pawar will speak before Sharad Pawar's concluding remarks but the former deputy Chief Minister was missing from his seat. Praful Patel had also said that Ajit Pawar had excused himself to go to the washroom and will come back for the speech in front of cadres who raised slogans in support of the former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister. When Ajit Pawar came back to the meeting venue, Sharad Pawar had already started his concluding remarks. (ANI)
Amidst frantic efforts of the Nagaland government and all state parties to resolve the decades-old Naga political issue before the Assembly elections, less than 6 months away, the Parliamentary Core Committee headed by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Monday. A senior Nagaland government official in Kohima said that a delegation of the all important Core Committee on Naga Political Issue (CCoNPI), led by Rio, urged Shah to finalise the Naga political settlement at the earliest. Deputy Chief Minister Yanthungo Patton, who is also the BJP legislature party leader and a key member of the CCoNPI, also attended the meeting, where Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, senior Home Ministry officials and other members of the core committee were present. United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Chairman and former Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang and UDA Co-Chairman Kuzholuzo (Azo) Neinu were also present. After the meeting, Rio tweeted : "Parliamentary Core Committee to discuss the Naga Political Issue. Once again, we urged the GoI to expedite the protracted negotiations on the issue and bring about an early and honourable solution." Patton tweeted: "Together with Hon'ble CM Shri Neiphiu Rio Ji and members of the Parliamentary Core Committee, had a meeting on the Naga Political Issue with Hon'ble Union HM Shri Amit Shah Ji and urged the GoI to bring about an early and honourable solution, in line with the people's aspirations". The official said that the Chief Minister handed over the July 16 resolution of the CCoNPI to sign a final agreement for securing the much delayed solution to the Naga political issue. The CCoNPI held a meeting with Centre's representative for Naga political talks A.K. Mishra last week at Nagaland House in the national capital and submitted a copy of the July 16 resolution, which noted that the talks have concluded officially on October 31, 2019 and therefore, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister to invite NSCN-IM leaders for early conclusion of the long pending issue. Ahead of the meeting with the Central government, Rio and other members of the CCoNPI last week met Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati. The Centre has been separately holding peace talks with the NSCN-IM and other Naga groups, which came together a few years ago under the banner of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs). Since 1997, the Centre has held more than 85 rounds of negotiations with the NSCN-IM and other Naga groups. However, the NSCN-IM's insistence on a separate Naga flag and Constitution became big hurdles. Former government interlocutor and then Nagaland Governor R.N. Ravi, who is now holding the gubernatorial post in Tamil Nadu, had rejected these demands on a number of occasions. The ruling parties in Nagaland, all other Naga bodies and civil society organisations are making all out efforts to resolve the Naga political issue before the next Assembly elections, expected to be held in February next year. The BJP, the NDPP, into which the Naga People's Front merged earlier, had formed the opposition-less all-party UDA government last year to take forward the Naga political issue between the Centre and Naga outfits and various other groups. The NDPP is the dominant party of the ruling alliance in Nagaland while the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has 12 MLAs, is one of the important constituents of the alliance. --IANS sc/vd ( 578 Words) 2022-09-12-23:02:04 (IANS)
The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Jitendra Tyagi, formerly known as Wasim Rizvi, accused for making alleged inflammatory speeches against Muslims in Dharam Sansad case. A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and B.V. Nagarathna directed Tyagi not to indulge into such alleged activities anymore and also furnish an undertaking before the trial court that he will not address electronic media or social media. At the end of August, the apex court had declined to extend Tyagi's interim bail, granted on medical grounds, and directed him to surrender. On Monday, the top court said that Tyagi should be produced before the trial court within three days and he should be released on bail on terms and conditions to the satisfaction of the court. It made it clear that if he breaches any of the bail conditions, the prosecution may move an application seeking cancellation of his bail. On May 17, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail for three months to Tyagi arrested in connection with hate speeches at the Haridwar Dharam Sansad held in December last year. The top court imposed a condition that Tyagi would not indulge in hate speech and give a statement to any media. The top court had told counsel representing Tyagi to ask his client not to indulge in hate speech, as harmony has to be maintained in society. Uttarakhand government counsel submitted before the top court that Tyagi could only be released on bail if he mended his ways and also assured that he would not indulge into making hate speeches. The state government added that if one wants to talk about her/his religion is not a problem, but the person should not indulge in hate speech against other religions. In January this year, the Uttarakhand Police arrested him for inflammatory speech at the event in Haridwar. --IANS ss/vd ( 323 Words) 2022-09-12-23:04:02 (IANS)
Bihar Agriculture Minister Sudhakar Singh has termed officials and employees of his department "thieves", and quipped that this made him "a chief of thieves". "There are many thieves in my department and they are stealing money. As I am the in-charge of the department, I become their chief. There are many other chiefs above me. This government is old and its style of work is also old. It's up to the duty of common people to alert the government," he said while addressing a gathering of farmers in Kaimur district on Sunday. "If you burn effigies, I will realise that something is going wrong. But if you don't do it, I believe that everything is okay," he said. Singh, the son of RJD state President Jagadanand Singh and the MLA from Ramgarh in Kaimur, is holding the key portfolio in the Nitish Kumar government. --IANS ajk/vd ( 160 Words) 2022-09-12-23:10:02 (IANS)
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was in Gujarat on Monday to campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections, kept his promise made to an auto rickshaw driver of having dinner at his home in Ahmedabad. During a meeting with auto drivers earlier in the day, Vikram Dantani had requested Kejriwal to have dinner at his place. Accordingly, Kejriwal, accompanied by Gujarat AAP leaders Isudan Ghadvi, Gopal Italia and Indranil Rajyaguru, went to Dantani's house to have dinner on Monday evening. "In Ahmedabad, auto driver Vikrambhai Dantani lovingly took me home for dinner, introduced me to the whole family, and treated me with delicious food with great respect. Heartfelt thanks to Vikrambhai and all the auto driver brothers of Gujarat for this immense affection," Kejriwal tweeted. --IANS har/arm ( 144 Words) 2022-09-12-23:24:04 (IANS)
National Joint Secretary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Dr Manmohan Vaidya on Monday slammed the Congress over its Bharat Jodo Yatra accusing the party of doing political gimmickry. "The Congress wants to connect people through hatred and political gimmickry that would not serve the purposes of uniting masses. Congress harboured hatred for RSS and tried to prevent it but the outfit expanded with the support of society," Vaidya said. "If anyone does a job of connecting people of India it is a good thing but how do you connect through hatred or love? The spiritual identity of India is called Hindutva in the world. Hindutva is not just a religion. If anyone tries to unite the country by recognizing the element that associates people in the true sense, then he or she is welcomed," he added. Dr Vaidya spoke after the three-day meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Samanvay Baithak was conducted on Monday in Raipur. Briefing the media about this meeting, Dr Vaidya said that Sangh was committed to carving a self-reliant Bharat with a Bharatiya (Indian) economic model that is human-centric, labour-intensive and eco-friendly. "The meeting also emphasized decentralization, equitable distribution of benefits, village economy, micro-scale, small-scale, agriculture-based industries and women's empowerment," he added. In this comprehensive meeting that was concluded on Monday, Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat, Sarkaryawah Dattatreya Hosabale, all five Sah Sarkaryawah- Dr Krishna Gopal, Dr Manmohan Vaidya, Arun Kumar, Mukunda and Ramdutt Chakradhar were present. Besides this, 36 organisations and over 240 representatives from the RSS-inspired organisations attended the meeting. "On the occasion of Amrit Mahotsav of India's Independence, all the inspired organisations discussed expanding the work for self-reliance. While the Grahak Panchayat decided to promote local goods, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch focused on creating a new measurement system to measure the Indian economy, not only taking GDP as the standard," Dr Vaidya further said. Promoting organic agriculture, Bhartiya Kisan Sangh said, "it is not only a matter of treating diseases of the body, but the Indian system of medicine is also refined and advanced." Speaking about the expansion of Sangh, he said that the work was spreading worldwide and a huge increment in the number of Sakha's was being seen. "A lot of youth had shown their interest to join Sangh via the website also (Join RSS). Between 2017 and 2021, over 1.25 lakh requests had come while in the first eight months of the year, about 90,000 youths have wished to join RSS," he added. (ANI)
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Monday took a swipe at the Gehlot government in the state, accusing it of being insensitive towards cows that caused their death. While talking to ANI, Rathore accused the Rajasthan government of being insensitive towards cows and claimed that lakhs of cows have died due to lumpy disease but the state government is not serious. "In Rajasthan, thousands of cattle have died due to lumpy skin disease. More than 10 lakh cows are affected due to this disease. The infection is not stopping even after efforts are being made at the administration as well as at the local level," Rathore claimed. He further said that the state government was running away from the responsibility of protecting the 'Gauvansh' in Rajasthan. "The Centre has made a vaccine to protect the cow from lumpy disease, but the government has not even made a policy on how to get the vaccination done," he said, adding that control over lumpy disease has been achieved in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. "The government is not worried about protecting the cows. It looks like the protection of cows is related to Hindu dharma so the government is not focusing on it. Most of the time, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan is busy in Delhi. This is the politics of appeasement, it shows their Islamic thinking," Rathore accused. (ANI)
One student has been arrested for a hoax bomb threat at a school in Amritsar on Monday. Two students from Spring Dale school were found to have sent the bomb threat to the school on Monday. The police on further investigation found that it was a hoax by the students, due to upcoming exams. As per the police, an FIR has been registered under sections 262, 506, and 507. The police have arrested one accused and are in search of the other. M.S. Bhullar, DCP, urged the parents to keep an eye on their wards and to also check their phones and activities. Further probe into the matter is awaited. A previous incident of a hoax bomb threat happened in Amritsar's DAV Public school on September 8 after which the security was tightened outside the school in Amritsar. A hoax message was sent to the school principal, of a bomb and firing at the school. The police said that it was sent from a fake Instagram ID using Google Translate to write the text in English and Urdu. The police also said that it was done by three students from the school itself. "The message turned out to be a hoax. It seems it was done from a fake Instagram ID made by 3 students of the school. They used Google Translate to write the text in English & Urdu. The parents were called and informed of the same. We will take action as per the principal's request," DCP Bhullar said. (ANI)
On September 11, Telangana police along with Choutuppal Police conducted a joint operation and nabbed a gang of six inter-state drug peddlers, acting on a tipoff, near Choutuppal Toll Plaza.

The six accused have been identified as Kanumareddy Pavan Kumar, Manda Sudheer Babu, Kotipalli Lova Raj, Milkula Teja, Pawan Manohar Tambole, and Santosh Ghante. They were involved in procuring contraband Ganja and transporting it from Vizag to Maharashtra via Hyderabad.

The police have apprehended three-four vehicles loaded with 360 Kg of contraband Ganja and eight mobile phones worth Rs 1.2 crore from their possession.

The accused along with seized drugs were handed over for further investigation. (ANI)
The MP said that it was the responsibility of the people to conserve the tree, which has a historical aspect attached.

The Green India Challenge Founder congratulated state Tourism Minister Srinivas Goud for preserving Pillalamarri.

The parliamentarian, also the chairman of the Green India Foundation, thanked the district administration for saving the giant banyan tree.

He congratulated the state's tourism minister Srinivas Goud for protecting the tree "like his own children".

The parliamentarian further said that it was commendable that Srinivas Goud took a special initiative to take care of the tree from when he first became an MLA.

Notably, saline drip treatment was provided to preserve the historic tree. All the roots of the 800-year-old tree were taken care of, which managed to give it a new lease of life.

"It is a pleasure to see that the Pillalamarri tree, which was on the verge of extinction, is now flourishing in green," Santosh said.

Srinivas Goud and Santhosh Kumar also took selfies after inaugurating the Pillalamarri junction at Mettugadda and Pillalamarri crossroads. (ANI)
According to the police, a Mewat-based robber namely Javed alias Jabid or Jubbi was arrested by a team of Special Cells of Delhi Police. The arrested accused is a proclaimed offender in a case of an attack on four PCR vans while being chased by police in 2021 in Delhi.

He was also involved in 15 heinous cases of crime in Delhi and Haryana, informed the Delhi Police.

Meanwhile, a Special cell of Delhi Police has apprehended the person.

More details are awaited. (ANI)
Around 60 farmers have died by suicide in the last 43 days in the Yavatmal area of Maharashtra failing to repay the debt following the torrential rains. District collector, Amol Yedge assured that the government is taking steps to reduce the number of suicide incidents in the state. According to the official, 205 such cases have been reported in the state this year.Speaking to ANI, Yedge said, "48 farmer suicides were reported in August, 12 have been reported in September. So far, 205 cases have been reported this year (till September 12). Our committee sits on these cases and decides the eligibility and ineligibility of these cases." Extending support to the farmers, the collector said that government officers will spend a day with the farmers on September 13 and 14. "We're with the farmers. As part of the government program, government officers will spend a day with them on September 13 and 14 to know their issues and inform them about government schemes and benefits." A local in the area informed that the crops were destroyed because of the heavy rains which led to his father die by suicide owing to the inability to repay the debt. "We had a debt of about Rs 12 lakhs, our crop was destroyed due to heavy rains. We never thought our father will die by suicide but he quietly went to the farm and did it. We didn't get any help from the administration, no No one including BDO or Collector visited us," he said. Weeks ago in Delhi, a farmer was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a Shiv temple. A mushroom farmer who had sent his workers home to Bihar during the migrant crisis in May 2020, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a Shiv temple in the Alipur police station area in New Delhi on Wednesday. The deceased was identified as Pappan Singh of Tigipur village. Singh used to visit the Shiv temple in front of his house daily. A priest saw him hanging on the ceiling fan, as per the police.A suicide note was also recovered which stated the reason was some disease. However, the family did not suspect anybody. (ANI)
Indian Oil Corporation Limited will contribute Rs 50.22 crore over five years for the transcontinental relocation of Cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, according to an official statement issued here on Tuesday. Under the Cheetah Reintroduction Project, a source population of 15-20 Cheetahs will be flown in from Namibia and South Africa and introduced at the Kuno National Park. Indian Oil will contribute Rs 50.22 crore over five years for the project components: Cheetah Introduction, Habitat Management and Protection, Eco Development, Staff Training and Veterinary Healthcare, the statement read. Earlier, IndianOil on 2nd August 2022, signed an MoU with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for the transcontinental relocation of Cheetah in its historical range in India. The MoU was signed by Mr S M Vaidya, Chairman, IndianOil and Dr S P Yadav, Addl. Director General (Project Tiger) and Member Secretary (NTCA). Speaking on the MoU, Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs, said, "Led by Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, India is now leading the way as far as sustainable progress, and ecological conservation is concerned. Indian PSUs have been doing well to strengthen Government's sustainable endeavours, and the Cheetah Introduction project is one such example. This MoU between Indian Oil and NTCA should serve as a template for a future project on restoring Biodiversity. Cheetahs are human-friendly and special, and their return to India is an important environmental leap." Recently, Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Labour & Employment, said, "While the tiger has served as a flagship and umbrella species of forest systems, the cheetah will fill the void for open forests, savannah and grasslands". Vaidya, Chairman, Indian oil, said, "The MoU between Indian Oil and NTCA demonstrates the nation's resolve to nurture a greener, brighter and vibrant new India. I am sure that NTCA will steward this project on a mission mode, and let me assure everyone of IndianOil's steadfast commitment to supporting this endeavour at all times. I must add that this Cheetah Introduction Project is in sync with our priority of conserving India's natural habitat and heritage. Our mascot, the now famous IndianOil Rhino, stands firm as a testimony to that commitment". Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the "Reintroduction of the Cheetah" project at the Kuno National Park in the Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh on September 17. PM Modi will also release cheetahs being brought from Africa into the state's forests. The big cat species will be reintroduced in India after 70 years since being declared extinct in 1952. Under the ambitious project of the Indian government - Project Cheetah - the reintroduction of wild species, particularly cheetah is being undertaken as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines. Project Cheetah is an ambitious project undertaken by the government which aims to re-establish the species in its historical range in the country. India has a long history of wildlife conservation. One of the most successful wildlife conservation ventures 'Project Tiger' which was initiated way back in 1972, has not only contributed to the conservation of tigers but also to the entire ecosystem. (ANI)
A Delhi Court hearing the Northeast Delhi riots of 2020 cases, recently directed to produce accused Shahrukh Pathan through video conferencing after Delhi Police said that he may escape from custody or may be attacked by rival groups. Shahrukh Pathan had allegedly fled Delhi after registering an FIR against him at police station Jafrabad in February 2020. Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat of Karkardooma Court directed to produce Shahrukh Pathan through video conferencing after considering the grounds mentioned in the application moved by the Sub Inspector of the third battalion of Delhi armed police. The court has directed to send the order copy to the concerned Tihar Jail Superintendent for compliance. The court passed this order on September 8, 2022. The application requesting to produce the accused Shahrukh Pathan through video conferencing stated that he may execute again his plan to escape from custody while out of jail for production in Court. Police also apprehended that he may be attacked by the unknown anti-group. Since the accused has been kept in the high-risk category, a large number of police personnel have to be deployed for his security. Despite this, there is a possible threat to his security. The application said that in view of the safety and security of the accused as well as the police staff, it is prayed that he may be ordered to produce through video conferencing. This case is connected to an FIR no. 49/2020 registered at Jafrabad. The case pertains to alleged unlawful assembly within the jurisdiction of Police Station Jafrabad, and the accused being a member of unlawful assembly along with four other associates armed with bottles, stones and pistols obstructed police officials or public servants, who were posted there to maintain law and order, in the discharge of their public functions. The police alleged that the accused caused injuries to police personnel and gunshot injury sustained to one Rohit Shukla. Earlier, in a separate case, the Court had framed charges against Shahrukh Pathan, who had allegedly opened fire at police personnel in February 2020 during the protest and violence against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Pathan is named as an accused in a separate case related to pointing a gun at head constable Deepak Dahiya. He was arrested on March 3, 2020, and is currently lodged in the Tihar Jail. According to police, Pathan, after the incident in February, initially kept roaming in the national capital before slipping away to Punjab and Uttar Pradesh's Shamli, from where he was arrested by the Crime Branch later. In February 2020, clashes broke out in the northeast area of Delhi between the groups regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act, which led to the deaths of at least 53 people. (ANI)
The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh will run a month-long special campaign against communicable diseases from October 1. In the months of April and July 2022, two stages of the Communicable Disease Control Campaign and 'The Dastak Campaign' were carried out in all 75 districts of the state, an official statement said. The encephalitis and vector-borne disease prevention programme will be run by as many as 11 departments. Workers from ASHA-Anganwadi will go door to door during the campaign to identify those with TB, the flu, fever, malnourished children, and other illnesses like ILI (Influenza Like Illness). The report will be delivered to the health department, an official statement said. The Uttar Pradesh government has made every attempt to address the health issues posed by vector-borne and other seasonal diseases. Instructions have been issued to the Medical and Health Department, Department of Urban Development, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, Education, Bal Vikas Sewa Evam Pushtahar, Department of Medical Education, Agriculture and Irrigation, Animal Husbandry, Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department, Department of Horticulture and Information Department to prepare an action plan in this regard. The campaign will include participation from UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). At the state level, nodal officers will be chosen from each department to ensure the campaign runs well. Meetings with the nodal officers would be held periodically to track campaign-related actions. A major focus of the programme is raising awareness about vector control, hygiene, garbage disposal, preventing water logging, and the availability of clean drinking water. As part of the campaign, door-to-door distribution of zinc tablets, ORS packets, and chlorine tablets to purify water will be held keeping in mind the acute diarrhoea cases. After the end of the campaign, the teams will send the interdepartmental report to the mail of the Communicable Disease Unit and Directorate General of Health Services. To raise awareness of vector-borne diseases, the Education department will host poster, discussion and quiz contests while the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities will conduct a survey and provide children with disabilities owing to Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome with assistive devices during the campaign.Additionally, anti-larvae medications and fogging agents will be sprayed in both urban and rural regions, whereas dirty areas will be identified and a cleanliness drive launched there on a massive scale. (ANI)
The purpose of the visit is to study the education model of Finland.

Kerala chief minister will visit Finland in the first week of October. He had got an invitation from Finland government, a source said.

According to the source, education minister V Sivankutty will also visit Finland with Kerala's chief minister. The purpose of the visit is to study the education sector of Finland.

There have been reports that some other ministers of the Kerala government will also be travelling. Among other things, these visits are aimed at attracting investment and learning from foreign models in key areas. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday remarked that Bar and Bench are two wheels of the chariot when senior advocate Kapil Sibbal argued that the confidence in the institution is slowly being eroded and the ground reality disturbs a man like him. Senior Advocate Sibal submitted before a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and BV Nagarathna, while arguing a case of Abdullah Azam Khan, son of Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan and said that this is a marriage that cannot be broken between the bar and the bench, but the ground reality disturbs a man like him. Justice Rastogi replied to Sibbal's submission, "Bar and Bench are two wheels of a chariot." Senior Advocate Sibal also remarked, "Whether they win or lose the case does not matter but confidence in institutions is slowly being eroded." Justice Nagarathna remarked that what the losing side feels is more important as they should also feel satisfied. The court was hearing an appeal filed by Abdullah Azam Khan, son of SP leader Azam Khan, challenging the Allahabad High Court order which set aside his election from Suar Assembly Constituency in Uttar Pradesh observing that he was less than 25 years of age and thus was not qualified to be chosen to fill the seat in the legislature of the state. Abdullah Khan was accused of forging his age on his educational certificates for him to participate in the 2017 elections. (ANI)
The petitioners on Tuesday submitted before the Supreme Court that providing reservation on the basis of economic criteria, excluding SC, ST and OBC Non-Creamy Layer, breaches the equality code. The constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, Justice S Ravindra Bhat, Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice JB Pardiwala, on Tuesday began hearing the pleas. G. Mohan Gopal, former director of the National Judicial Academy has argued that the 103rd amendment violates the basic structure norm of democratic government and structure for securing social order. He said that the 103rd amendment was an assault on the constitution as it nullified and neutralize the constitution's idea of treating unequals unequally. Gopal also said that the equality code of the Constitution will be destroyed if forward classes are given reservation as economic weakness results from social and educational backwardness. Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for one of the petitioners said the impugned 103rd Amendment to the Constitution of India inserting Clause 6 in Article 15 and Clause 6 in Article 16 providing reservation on the basis of economic criteria (excluding SC, ST and OBC - Non-Creamy Layer) breaches the equality code which is the essence of democracy, thereby violating the basic features of the Constitution. He submitted that economic criteria alone cannot fall within the parameters of "reservation" or "special provision" as conceived under the Constitution andeconomic criteria alone violates the equality code and thereby the democratic principles. Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora also said that the EWS amendment violates the basic structure doctrine and the equality code. The Supreme Court was dealing with issues relating to the Constitutional validity of reservations on the basis of economic conditions. The court is dealing with three issues suggested by the Attorney General including one whether the 103rd Constitution Amendment can be said to breach the basic structure of the Constitution by permitting the State to make special provisions, including reservation, based on economic criteria. The constitutional validity of the 103rd Amendment Act, 2019 enabled the State to make reservations in higher education and matters of public employment on the basis of economic criteria alone. A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice UU Lalit had said earlier that the Janhit Abhiyan case will be the lead matter now. Janhit Abhiyan's matter is relating to the challenging of the constitutional validity of the 103rd Amendment Act, 2019 which enabled the State to make reservations in higher education and matters of public employment on the basis of economic criteria alone. Moreover, the Janhit matter will be heard together with a case filed by the Andhra Pradesh government against the High Court's decision of quashing its decision of granting reservations in education and public service for the entire Muslim population of the State in 2005. (ANI)
The National Restaurant Association of India Hyderabad Chapter hosted a conclave of the Indian Restaurant Industry, Indian Restaurant Conclave 2022 at Hyderabad International Convention Centre on Tuesday. The conclave was inaugurated by Minister for Industry & Commerce, KT Rama Rao. This is the first time that NRAI conducted its Annual General Meeting (AGM) outside the national capital. Among those present at the event were the stakeholders of the restaurant industry, restaurateurs of India, foreign delegates, investors, and bureaucrats from across the country. According to a statement by NRAI, the Hyderabad chapter of the NRAI through its collaborative efforts with the Commerce and Industries Department of the Telangana government unveiled an application for the food service sector through the TS-iPASS portal. "This portal will ensure a streamlined and faster process of licenses through a single window within 15 days Vis-a-vis an earlier time period of eight months. Providing the upcoming hoteliers and restaurant owners a less cumbersome process and thus enhancing the region's ease of doing Food & Beverages business. The TS iPASS portal will not only be applicable to Restaurants, Bars, and Food outlets, but also to kiosks, bakeries, cafes, and cloud kitchens," said the statement. During the conclave, there were in-person panel discussions by the industry players including Rahul Agrawal, CEO-Barbeque Nation, Nishit Pandey, CEO, Mc Donalds, AD Singh, MD, Olive Bar & Kitchen Group, Chaitanya Muppala, Almond House and others. Discussions were held on topics impacting the restaurant industry, targeted to meet the requirements of CEOs and CXOs, Chefs, owners, and various marketing teams. Speaking on the occasion, NRAI president, Kabir Suri said that the demands have transformed the food and beverage industry with the changing demographics, evolving consumer behaviour, and preferences. "There is a continuous need to ensure food security with the growing population and the F&B industry is one of the vital ones, intertwined in the daily lives of people," he said. Chef Shankar Krishnamurthy, Chapter Head, NRAI, Hyderabad recalled the impact of the COVID pandemic on the restaurants and food service businesses. "Restaurants and food service businesses were some of the first economic activities severely impacted by the pandemic. Our chapter plays a key role in promoting skills and career opportunities for industry professionals through the Hospitality Sector Skill Council. The launch of this new portal is in the right direction towards organising this very important sector, which is in line with the Government of India's 'Digital India' programme," he said. Founder of NRAI, Hyderabad Chapter & Member, MC, NRAI- National, Shaaz Mehmood said that the restaurants will need to keep up with the latest trends in order to thrive in the competitive market. "Being cognizant of the fact that the COVID -19 pandemic has had the biggest hit on the F&B industry. We understand that to stay afloat and thrive in this dynamic and competitive market, restaurants will need to keep up with the latest F&B trends by adopting new-age technology and elevating the dining experience," he said. The NRAI Hyderabad Chapter threw light on one of its initiatives 'Mission Khana' which falls in line with child welfare and food security. According to this, it provides 300 hot meals per day to the underprivileged children and homeless in the city and targets to scale up to 1,000 hot meals per day. Its 'Mission Kaam' is aimed at elevating the underprivileged sector in society and helping create a skilled and employable workforce for the restaurant industry. (ANI)
On Tuesday, the governor registered as a sponsor for the two patients under the community engagement 'Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan'.

The Arunachal Pradesh Governor appealed to the people of Arunachal Pradesh to generously adopt TB patients in the State and make Arunachal Pradesh Tuberculosis free.

He said a following the clarion call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there is an urgent need for a societal approach to eliminate Tuberculosis from our State and country by 2025, which will be 5 years before the world target i.e., 2030 in this regard.

The Arunachal Pradesh Governor called for making the 'Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan', a 'People Movement'.

He urged the NGOs, business houses, government officials and individuals to adopt TB patients generously.

He said that while the efforts of the State government are yielding good results, the community and the institutions in the society should take lead in filling the gaps and addressing the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, thereby contributing to the national goal.

Dr. Pema Dorjee Thongchi, District TB Officer, Papum Pare District informed that once registered as a sponsor, the health official will regularly contact him for providing patient support to the adopted TB patients.

He informed that the support provided to the patient under this initiative is in addition to the free diagnostics, free drugs and Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana provided under the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) to all the notified TB patients. (ANI)
Shiv Sena leader Aditya Thackeray accused the Maharashtra government of letting go of the deal with Vedanta Limited, after the company signed MoUs with Gujarat on Tuesday. He said that although he is glad the deal is in India, it's sad to see an almost finalized deal getting out from Maharashtra. "Although I'm glad to see this in India, I am also a little bit shocked," Thackeray said. The son of the former Maharashtra CM said, "For a project almost finalised, and a new dispensation claiming credit over it, only shows lack of commitment from the new dispensation for our State's progress." Former Maharashtra minister said that he himself had worked on the deal and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had almost finalized it. "Industries Minister Subhash Desai Ji, the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and I myself held meetings for bringing this semiconductor project to Maharashtra. The MVA Government had brought this to the final stage. Under the MVA, our effort was to make Maharashtra, the lead state contributor to India's progress, just like other states in a healthy competition," the Shiv Sena leader said. Thackeray also attacked the current Maharashtra government and asked them to work for the people and the state. "The new unconstitutional dispensation had tweeted photos, claiming to have brought the deal to Maharashtra, but it seems their intent and commitment was actually to send the deal away from Maharashtra," Thackeray said. "The current arrangement of government is largely focussed on its MLAs' firing their guns, behaving like goons and only indulging in dirty politics. They need to step above that and work for the State and its people," Thackeray added. The Maharashtra MLA also wished the industry and company to open new horizons for India. "However, I wish the industry and the company well. Its success will lead to new horizons opening up for India," said Thackeray. Earlier on Tuesday, Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Limited and Taiwan's Foxconn signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the Gujarat government for setting up a semiconductor and display FAB manufacturing unit in the state with an investment of over Rs 1.54 lakh crores. The Vedanta-Foxconn group under the MoU will set up a Display Fab Unit in Gujarat with an investment of Rs 94,500 crore as well as an integrated Semiconductor Fab Unit and OSAT facility in Gujarat with an investment of Rs 60,000 crore. Together, the two MoUs will bring an investment of more than Rs 1.54 lakh crore and generate around 1 lakh new employment opportunities in the state, stated Jitu Vaghani during the event at a hotel in Gandhinagar. (ANI)
He said this when a delegation of farmers of Chikodi taluk led by former MP Prabhakar Kore met him here on Tuesday to thank the government for sanctioning the Lift Irrigation Project.

The CM said the demand for the Mahalakshmi Lift Irrigation project in Chikodi had been pending for the last 10-12 years. Since this taluk has sugar factories, some of the villages wanted a lift irrigation scheme. In order to help farmers of this region, the scheme has been sanctioned.

MLA Arvind Bellad, former MLC Mahantesh Kavatagimath and others were present. (ANI)
Party General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "Me and Digvijaya Singh will visit Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha from September 16 onwards. Our effort would be to mobilise the state units to join the Bharat Jodo Yatra."

The Congress wants all the state units to participate in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, starting the exercise from the block level.

Ramesh had earlier said that the yatra will strengthen the party and spread its ideology, adding that "the elephant has woken up which has surprised BJP".

--IANS miz/arm

( 137 Words)

2022-09-13-22:28:02 (IANS)
Tibetan spiritual guru Dalai Lama's recent visit to the remote Himalayan region of Ladakh has irked China, which identifies him as a controversial figure, a "wolf in monks' clothing", or "splittist", but this is not his last visit, as Dalai Lama said "we will see again", in his parting words to Ladakhis. Every visit Dalai Lama makes either to Ladakh or Arunachal Pradesh, it never fails to irk China and relapse their old wounds. This time it carries such a significant subtle poke to China, which might not be his intention, but in the background, lies the Galwan valley clash in 2020, a Tibet Rights Collective report said. India and China have been engaged in a standoff since April-May 2020 over the transgressions by the Chinese Army in multiple areas including the Finger area, Galwan Valley, Hot springs, and Kongrung Nala. The situation worsened after violent clashes with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in June 2020. The 2020 Galwan valley clash brought the two emerging superpowers to the brink of war. Both sides, according to news reports, deployed more than fifty thousand soldiers at the Line of Actual control. In 2017, when the 14th Dalai Lama visited Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh for religious purposes, China summoned India's then-ambassador in Beijing, Vijay Gokhale, to file a formal protest, citing that India is trying to undermine the bilateral relationship. This was surprising because Arunachal is under the direct jurisdiction of New Delhi and Beijing has no say whatsoever in the internal matters of India. China claims Arunachal as southern Tibet, putting a heavy burden of proof of the sixth Dalai Lama being born in Tawang as one of the tall claims over the region, the Tibet Rights Collective report said. Recently, China was furious when Dalai Lama chose Ladakh for his first visit outside Dharamshala since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019. Irked by his visit to India, China recently criticised Prime Minister Modi, for extending wishes to the Dalai Lama who recently celebrated his 87th birthday, stating that India should stop using Tibet-related issues to interfere in China's internal affairs. But this is not the first visit of the Dalai Lama to Ladakh. Nor will it be his last. as he said "we will see again", in his parting words. Beijing has always had an issue with Dalai Lama since he took shelter in India. In the 1950s, when China illegally occupied Tibet, the Tibetan Spiritual leader had to take shelter in India. The Dalai Lama tried to advocate for a mid-way negotiation with China to peacefully resolve the issue of Tibet. But despite China carrying out atrocious human rights abuses against its own people, and pillaging wealth and resources, Dalai Lama still speaks pragmatically about what's best for both countries. It is this character, one who truly embodies genuine care even for one's adversary that makes his beloved and revered person, even beyond the remote Himalayan region of Ladakh, the Tibet Rights Collective report said. During his visit, when Dalai Lama left for Ladakh via Jammu, he told the media present at his hotel "India and China, the two populated nations and neighbours - sooner or later you have to address this matter via negotiations and diplomatic means...use of military force is outdated." Every year, whenever Dalai Lama visits Ladakh, he always makes time to visit various pilgrimage sites. Ladakh, home to different Tibetan schools of Buddhism have shown so much respect to the Dalai Lama, their devotion and faith in the Dalai Lama are unrivalled anywhere in India. Even as China carried out atrocious human rights abuses against its own people, and pillaged wealth and resources, he still speaks pragmatically about what's best for both countries. This time, the Tibetan spiritual guru made pilgrimages to the Jokhang, the principal Buddhist Temple in the centre of Leh, the Jama Masjid and Anjuman-e-Imamia mosques, as well as the Moravian Church in Leh. Ladakh has for long shared kinship with Tibet. The first king of Ladakh was a ruler of western Tibet, who some believe, is the direct descendent of the last king of Tibet. The relationship between Ladakh and Tibet has not always been cordial. They have fought wars; some directly, others under the patronage of the Dogra king. But the peace between the regions has reigned longer than the anger and the animosity. And for centuries, Ladakhi sent tributes to Lhasa through the hands of caravans, for protection, businesses and peace at the western borders, the Tibet Rights Collective reported. When the Dalai Lama institution or Gaden Phodrang came into power during the fifth Dalai Lama, he increased his political and religious outreach, which before him were fragmented and confined only around Central Tibet. He started a military campaign against the Ladakhi kingdom in 1679 and annexed the Ngari region. He also expanded his religious campaign and propagated his sect. Ladakh has always sent novices to be educated in central Tibet. Religious education in central Tibet is unparalleled. The great three monasteries of Gelug order-Sera, Drepung and Gadhen have long produced some of the brightest scholars. The present Dalai Lama's religious outreach and social harmony have far more impact in Ladakh than the military campaign carried out by the fifth Dalai Lama. According to Tsering Shakya, the present Dalai Lama, during the late 1970s, used to traverse the remote Himalayan region on foot and on a horse, when roads were unmetalled and New Delhi did not understand the political strategy of developing border regions. The Dalai Lama's Gelug order has a large presence in the Himalayan region. The former Gaden Tripa, head of Gelugpa order of Tibetan school, Rizong Rinpoche is Ladakhi and came from the royal family of Matho. The Dalai Lama's own brother, Ngari Rinpoche has lots of monasteries under his patronage. Bakula Rinpoche's relationship with the Dalai Lama is very close and they shared a long bond during the most turbulent time in Tibet. He did everything to make His Holiness the Dalai Lama's trip to India possible in 1956. Bakula also did make the Dalai Lama's first visit to Ladakh possible. When he was serving as an ambassador of Mongolia, he pushed hard walls and made the Dalai Lama's visit to the former soviet state possible, Tibet Rights Collective reported. The core of Dalai lama's popularity might lie in his institution and the weight it carried, but that alone won't win both the hearts and minds of the people. His effort to harmonise different religions in the region and his constant message for the people to study Buddhism, instead of partaking in rituals and rites have made a huge impact on the people. The recent 10 km long human chain reception given to him is unprecedented. Not even a country's PM would be received with such reverence, come rain or storm. For the Chinese, he might be a controversial figure, but for Ladakhis, he is a highly venerated figure. Even if he is not Ladakhi, shared cultural values and religions have bonded the territorial demarcation. (ANI)
Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Tuesday reached Nairobi to attend in the swearing-in ceremony of Kenyan President Dr William Ruto. He will also be handing over a letter of greetings and a congratulatory message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kenyan President Ruto. "Happy to arrive at Nairobi, Kenya to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President-elect H.E Dr William Ruto. Will hand over a letter of greetings & congratulatory message from PM Shri @narendramodi to the President. Look forward to my interactions with the Indian community, as well," tweeted Muraleedharan. Notably, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga visited India in February this year and met PM Modi. The two leaders share friendly personal relations going back decades. PM Modi expressed his happiness at being able to meet Odinga after almost three and half years. He recollected his multiple interactions with Odinga since 2008 in both India and Kenya, as well as the latter's support of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in 2009 and 2012. Kenya has a significant minority of Indians and Persons of Indian Origin living there who are descendants of labourers brought in by the British to construct the Uganda Railway. Kenya and India are members of international fora like United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Commonwealth of Nations, G-77 and G-15 and the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation and often cooperate with each other on these fora. India and Kenya are maritime neighbours with robust and multi-faceted partnerships, marked by regular high-level visits, increasing trade and investment and extensive people-to-people contacts. According to the Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest), India is the second largest investor in Kenya. Apart from trade and political relations Cultural ties, development and people to contact India shares good relations with Kenya. (ANI)
Floods that devastated parts of Pakistan have left thousands in despair, however, it has added to the miseries of the already marginalized people of Sindh. Experts warn that Sindh province of Pakistan is witnessing erratic rains and weather conditions, which has added to the plight of Hindus, who have already been facing adversity and severe institutional discrimination in Pakistan, reported Islam Khabar. "I was running behind cars, which came to distribute the ration. I ran and ran for ration but did not get it. Instead got scratches on my leg and arm," says a Hindu community member who is a farmer and the flood affected the roadside of Badin-Mirpurkhas. As she shows her injuries, she reiterates that pain is a more painful empty stomach. Pakistan has lost more than 1,000 people to floods, and about 33 million are displaced. Homes are inundated, roads and bridges swept away, and there are still many dead bodies that are missing. Sindh and Balochistan have suffered heavily, but Sindh is worse affected, reported Islam Khabar. Badin, Dadu, or anywhere in the flood-affected areas of Sindh, affected have similar stories to share and at the core of complaints is the fact that the state has done nothing. Instead, it treats people like trash. Moreover, the government's camp at Government Polytechnic Institute at Dadu is pathetic, people live in conditions that are worse even for animals to live, reported Islam Khabar. "Flood damaged our homes and now we are left to die by the government," says an old woman in Badin. The flood victims have no other option but to manage survival sans any help. The rescue camp is filthy, with no water, washrooms, and health facilities, including the availability of doctors. Not many were ready to speak about their sufferings, as they feared the wrath of influential people. They were displaying their ID cards to show that they are residents who have suffered from floods. Some of them could not suppress their anger, reported Islam Khabar. "Doctors are here to have tea and chat among themselves. But they do not have time to give us medical assistance," said one of them, who hailed from KN Shah. Earlier, he refused to talk to the media. But then he opened up by saying that the Sindh government must jump into action, adding on how the local authorities are neglecting people in the hour of crisis. Many of them have developed skin diseases. There is malaria, diarrhoea, and many complain of throat pain. Even pregnant women do not have any facilities to keep themselves healthy and get medical help, reported Islam Khabar. In Badin, the story is not different. The only other thing here was that religion played a role when it comes to the distribution of rations. There were many complaints that Shias, and Hindus, were not given rations. In Badin, one of the organizations refused to offer rations to Hindus. Moreover, the army presence did not help people in KN Shah. Army personnel took boats for roaming. A senior citizen said, "Army personnel beat them and ordered them to move one place to another place. Where do we go? Army does not give us anything." Another victim shared that one of the army officers slapped the flood-affected women. They did not have respect and care for people who had lost their homes. (ANI)
The Pakistan Army has abused its power and used the legal system and its control over the administrative levers to aggressively target the Pashtuns risking inflammation of social divisions in the country. The response to the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) peaceful protests is indicative of the overbearing and paranoid culture that is dominant in the Pakistan army and security forces, reported International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS). The PTM is a peaceful movement that primarily demands human rights for the Pashtun victims of the Pakistan security apparatus. The movement gained prominence when it began a justice movement for Naqeebullah Mehsud, who was the victim of extra-judicial killing by the Karachi police in a fake encounter. The movement adheres to strictly non-violent protests and calls for accountability for the many enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings of Pashtuns and seeks to protect the human rights of Pashtuns against these tactics that are frequently used by the Pakistan Army, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and various other agencies. The State's response to PTM's peaceful activism has been to double down on the sort of authoritarian behaviour that the PTM has been protesting, reported IFFRAS. Many members of the PTM have been arrested on dubious charges of terrorism or strained interpretations of provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code on the grounds of sedition, incitement of violence, defamation and similar charges. A number of leading PTM members have also been killed including Sardar Muhammad Arif Wazir in a drive-by shooting that is suspected to have been committed at the behest of the Pakistan army and Arman Luni who was beaten to death by the police at a protest. The Pakistan Army is utterly unwilling to countenance public criticism from society and will resort to a range of aggressive tactics to chill any hint of such discourse, reported IFFRAS. This attitude is compounded by an inability to conceive of criticism as genuinely motivated and compatible with patriotism and love for the nation. Treating the PTM and other groups as insincere and externally funded agitators rather than as well-meaning activists is a miscalculation that is likely to have grave ramifications for Pakistan, reported IFFRAS. The draconian response to PTM has not only failed to subdue it but has strengthened its resolve and popular support and risked the inflammation of social divisions. (ANI)
U.S. marks 21 anniversary of 9/11 attacks

Xinhua) 08:29, September 13, 2022

Flowers are placed on a plate inscribed with the names of 9/11 victims at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York, the United States, on Sept. 11, 2022. Sunday marked the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Americans mourned the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks on the 21st anniversary of the world-changing event on Sunday.

Family members of some of those who lost their lives on that day -- along with U.S. government and military representatives -- gathered near the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., in the morning.

They stood or sat in a steady rain as a military officer read off the names of 184 men and women who died 21 years ago when militants associated with the terrorist group al-Qaida hijacked a passenger plane and hit a corner of the Pentagon, with a single bell chimed after each name.

"Terror struck us on that brilliant blue morning," U.S. President Joe Biden said in his remarks. "The American story itself changed that day."

"We'll continue to monitor and disrupt those terrorist activities wherever we find them, wherever they exist. And we'll never hesitate to do what's necessary to defend the American people," he said.

When speaking of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, he said, "Twenty years after Afghanistan is over but our commitment to preventing another attack on the United States is without end."

Also on Sunday, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris attended a commemoration event at the National September 11th Memorial in New York City.

Biden's wife, Jill, also attended the Flight 93 National Memorial Observance in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

On Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida militants hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville. Almost 3,000 people were killed in the terrorist attacks.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
The U.S. Should Recognize the Greek Genocide

View of the waterfront at Smyrna when thousands of refugees crowded the quayside seeking refuge from the burning city. Allied ships in the harbor assisted in taking thousands to points of safety. ( Bettmann/Getty Images) I am a descendant of survivors of the Greek genocide. My great-grandmother and her parents, like their parents and grandparents before them, were Ottoman Greeks born in what is known today as the Republic of Turkey. A century ago, the Turkish National Movement secured "Turkey for the Turks" by extirpating my ancestors and other minorities from their ancestral homeland in Anatolia. Despite the important role that genocide played in creating the Republic of Turkey, the Turkish state distorts history and denies the crimes it committed against my ancestors and the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian populations of Anatolia more than 100 years ago.

Culminating in the burning of Smyrna in September 1922, the Asia Minor Catastrophe was the final phase in the Ottoman Empire's and the Turkish National Movement's campaign to dechristianize and Turkify Anatolia. To accomplish this goal, successive Ottoman and Turkish regimes slaughtered up to 2.5 million Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Christians between 1894-1924. Regarded as one of the darkest chapters in the 5,000-plus year-long history of the Greek people specifically, more than half a million Ottoman Greeks were killed between 1913 and 1922 alone.

Following the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, the remaining Ottoman Greeks were exchanged for Greek Muslims in compulsory population transfers between Turkey and Greece. This state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing resulted in more than 1 million Ottoman Greeks being forcibly displaced from Turkey to Greece, and just under half a million Greek Muslims being forcibly displaced from Greece to Turkey. Exiled from their ancestral homeland, this forced displacement marked the end of the 3,000-plus year-long Greek presence in Anatolia.

The campaign to secure "Turkey for the Turks" was successful beyond its architects' wildest dreams. Whereas up to 2 million Ottoman Greeks lived in Anatolia prior to World War I, there are less than 2,000 Greeks residing in Turkey today. What's more, while the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Christian minorities constituted between 20 to 25 percent of Anatolia's population at the beginning of the 20th century, they represent less than 0.5 percent of Turkey's population today. Evidently, Anatolia was dechristianized and Turkified through the persecution, expulsion, mass-murder, and genocide of Turkey's Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Christian minorities.

In the face of overwhelming historic evidence that includes primary sources, eyewitness accounts, perpetrator testimonies, and survivor recollections, the Turkish government continues to deny the genocide of the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Christians of Anatolia. Over 100 years later, Turkey's genocide denial punishes Turks while demonizing its victims and preventing reconciliation with its minorities, and neighbors. Worst of all, as Taner Akcam, the first Turkish historian to acknowledge the Armenian genocide, put it, "If a society or a state doesn't acknowledge its past wrongdoing, then there's a chance that it will do it again."

To the surprise of absolutely no one, today, Turkey's relations with most of its neighbors range from hostile to non-existent. On the one hand, Turkey has invaded both Syria and Iraq, occupied 36 percent of Cyprus for 48 years, and does not have a diplomatic relationship with Armenia. On the other hand, Turkey's Mavi Vatan--Blue Homeland--doctrine exacerbates tensions with Greece by disputing Greece's sovereignty over Greek islands in the Aegean Sea and claiming an exclusive economic zone that extends halfway to the Greek mainland. Although a century has passed since the genocide of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Christians of Anatolia, Turkey's expansionist revisionism only adds insult to injury for its victims.
The Indian Navy is represented by three indigenously designed and built warships, Sahyadri, a multi-purpose stealth frigate and Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvettes Kadmatt and Kavaratti. Additionally, Guided Missile Destroyer Ranvijay, Fleet Tanker Jyoti, Offshore Patrol Vessel Sukanya, submarines, MIG 29K fighter aircraft, Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft and ship-borne helicopters are also participating in the exercise, read the Indian Navy press release.

The Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) ships are being led by R Adm Hirata Toshiyuki, Commander Escort Flotilla Four, and Indian Naval ships by R Adm Sanjay Bhalla, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet.

The Indian Naval ships welcomed JMSDF ships Izumo, a Helicopter Carrier, and Takanami, a Guided Missile Destroyer, on their arrival in the Bay of Bengal, added the release.

JIMEX 22 involves two Phases; exercises at sea and a harbour phase at Visakhapatnam.

This edition marks the 10th anniversary of JIMEX, which began in Japan in 2012. It also coincides with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Japan.

JIMEX 22 seeks to consolidate the high degree of interoperability between the two countries maritime forces through complex exercises in the surface, sub-surface and air domains.

The exercises were aimed at enhancing interoperability and streamlining seamanship and communication procedures.

This exercise is part of the ongoing efforts between the two navies toward ensuring safe and secure international shipping and trade in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

The two countries have been carrying out regular exercises in IOR towards reinforcing maritime association. (ANI)
Chand, a 2004 IFS officer, is Consul General, Consulate General of India,in Indonesia's Bali.

He is expected to take up the assignment shortly, read the Ministry of External Affairs press release.

Prior to his current assignment in Bali, he was working as Director (Consular) in the Consular, Passport & Visa Division in the Ministry of External Affairs.

He also served as First Secretary (Consular) in the Philippines from 2010 to 2014. Just before that he worked as Deputy Chief of Protocol (Conferences/Facilities) from 2008 to 2010 in New Delhi.

Prior to that, he served in various capacities in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi as well as in the Indian Missions in Uganda, the UK, Egypt, China and Austria. (ANI)
Pakistan, which is on the grey list of the Paris-based international watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF), faltered on four of its goals regarding anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terror (AML/CFT). The Asia-Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering has rated Pakistan's level of effectiveness as 'low' on 10 out of 11 international goals, even though the country is now compliant with 38 out of 40 technical recommendations, reported Dawn. The APG noted that Pakistan had low effectiveness on 10 "Immediate Outcomes (IOs)" under international standards against money laundering and terror financing. The first IO on which the effectiveness is rated as moderate is that money laundering and terror financing are understood and, where appropriate, actions coordinated domestically to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation. There are nine other IOs on which Pakistan has been ranked as having a 'low level of effectiveness, reported Dawn. Goal 7 & 8 require that ML offences and activities are investigated and offenders are prosecuted and are subject to effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions are taken and proceeds and instrumentalities of crime are confiscated. Likewise, targets 9 & 10 demand that terror financing offences and activities are investigated and persons who finance terrorism are prosecuted and are subject to effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions and terrorists, terrorist organisations and terrorist financiers are prevented from raising, moving and using funds, and from abusing the non-profit organization's sector, reported Dawn. The Sydney-based regional affiliate of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released an update, as of September 2, on the rating of its regional members suggesting that Pakistan had a 'moderate level of effectiveness' on only one out of 11 outcomes. Under this 'immediate outcome', Pakistan extends international cooperation on appropriate information, financial intelligence, and evidence, and facilitates action against criminals and their assets. A 15-member joint delegation of FATF and APG paid an onsite visit to Pakistan from August 29 to Sept 2 to verify the country's compliance with a 34-point action plan committed with FATF at the highest level in June 2018, reported Dawn. The task force had found Pakistan compliant or largely compliant on all the 34 points in February this year and had decided to field an onsite mission to verify it on the ground before formally announcing the country's exit from the grey list. Under the FATF-APG assessment mechanism, effective ratings on "Immediate Outcomes" reflect the effectiveness of a country's measures. The assessment is conducted on the basis of 11 immediate outcomes, which represent key goals that an effective AML/CFT system should achieve, reported Dawn. The immediate outcome 11 requires that persons and entities involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are prevented from raising, moving and using funds, consistent with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions. (ANI)
At a time when the crime chart continues to climb across Pakistan, two men were killed by gunmen in the Balochistan province of Pakistan on Monday. The gun attack occurred in the Khadkocha village on the outskirts of Mastung town of Balochistan province when armed men barged into a house and opened indiscriminate fire, causing the death of two people, according to Dawn. The gun attack occurred in the Khadkocha village on the outskirts of Mastung town of Balochistan province when armed men barged into a house and opened indiscriminate fire, causing the death of two people, according to Dawn. According to police officials, the incident took place some 60km south of Quetta and the dead and the injured were immediately taken to the district hospital. Those who died due to the gun attack were identified as Mohammad Hussain and Badal Khan, Dawn reported. The investigations are underway as Police have registered a case and launched a search for the attackers. The gun attacks in Pakistan have been on the surge in recent times. Several incidents of gun attacks have been reported in the Mastung district of Pakistan previously as well leading to casualties. Earlier in August, unidentified gunmen killed two people and injured four others in firing in the Pashtunabad area. The victims died on the spot due to excessive bleeding. In a separate incident in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two students and a teacher were injured after unidentified men lobbed a grenade onto a seminary at Taj Colony on Chashma Road in Dera Ismail Khan district, Dawn newspaper reported. Meanwhile, four members of a family were killed in a gas leak explosion in a house earlier in Multan, Dawn reported. The explosion had occurred in the house of Mohammad Farooq, resulting in injuries to four of his family members, including his wife, a son, a daughter and a daughter-in-law. (ANI)
Pakistani Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman lashed out at Imran Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for running a smear campaign against the federal government amid the devastating floods situation in the country and termed its move "a conspiracy against flood victims". "For God's sake, keep the flood victims out of your political narrative. Probably, you are unaware of their sufferings. If you can't help flood victims, don't stop others from helping them," the Pakistan Minister said, as quoted by The Ne2ws International. "People are awaiting aid, and your political narrative could deprive them of the aid," she added. She also asserted that the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the ambassador wanted to help flood victims but the Imran Khan's PTI was jealous of it. "You are conspiring against the aid for flood victims out of your grudge against the government," Sherry said, as quoted by The News International. The flash floods have badly impacted 80 districts of Pakistan and the death toll from floods in the country has reached nearly 1,200. The Climate Change Minister also accused PTI leaders and workers were attempting to keep the UN chief and foreign ambassadors from donating aid to the flood victims. "It is regretful that those, who accused others of conspiracy, are conspiring against the flood victims. What else could be a bigger conspiracy against the country and its people as millions of people are awaiting aid, women and children are sitting under the open sky but want to stop their aid," Sherry asked, as per the publication. The experts believe that the situation would aggravate in the coming days as the flood affectees are forced to live under the sky depriving the required resources. Huge areas of the country are still underwater and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes. The agriculture sector faces the worst blow as the agriculture growth might remain zero or slide into negative against the envisaged target of 3.9 per cent for the current financial year 2022-23. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that around three to six months will be required to drain out rain and floodwater from submerged areas of Sindh province as the flooding and rainfall have destroyed thousands of houses in Sindh with around 1500 deaths. Over 1.2 million hectares of agricultural land have been damaged in Sindh whereas over 1.5 million houses have been destroyed by flood waters, according to a UN report. (ANI)
Amid the ongoing crackdown on journalists in Afghanistan, another incident has come to light as a local journalist in the central province of Kapisa, Abdul Hanan Mohammadi has been detained by the Taliban for almost three months now without any crime, the family of the arrested journalist said in a statement, TOLOnews reported. "They didn't accept my complaint and didn't let me see him...my son is innocent and I wish he was free," Mohammadi's mother said, adding that her son was detained while covering a news event in Kapisa. In another statement, Mohammadi's brother, Abdullah Khan said, "My brother was a journalist and was preparing a report. We call on the Islamic Emirate to release him." However, the deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, Bilal Karimi denied the allegations and said, "He is not detained because of being a journalist. The intelligence and security departments might have arrested him for other issues." According to Khaama Press, Deputy Head of Afghanistan's Freelance Journalists Union, Farhad Behroz said that the case of Mohammadi and other journalists in detention should be directly pursued through the commission as the media-supporting organization voiced concerns over the atrocities against media personnel in Afghanistan and their unlawful detentions. According to UNAMA, there have been significant changes in the country's media landscape, including the closure of more than half of the free media, the evacuation of hundreds of journalists, and rising work restrictions, violence, and threats against journalists. Notably, the ever-increasing restrictions against media in Afghanistan have also drawn widespread criticism globally with the United Nations (UN) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) decrying the arrests, demanding the Taliban stop harassing local journalists and stifling freedom of speech through continued detentions and threats. With the consistent arbitrary arrests of journalists by the Taliban, the media in Afghanistan faces several restrictions. Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in mid-August last year, it 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 Taliban assumed power.The Taliban had promised women's rights, media freedom, and amnesty for government officials in the group's first news conference after the takeover in August. However, activists, former government employees, and journalists among others continue to face retribution. (ANI)
Special Envoy of the European Union for Afghanistan, Tomas Niklasson, on Monday raised his concerns over the surge in violations of human rights under the Taliban and said that the organization has failed to uphold any promises made. The special envoy voiced his concerns at the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC 51) in Geneva Monday, recalling that Afghanistan is a party to the Rome Statute, Khaama Press reported. "The EU remains deeply alarmed by the increase of human rights violations and abuses and international humanitarian law violations in Afghanistan," said the European Union in a statement. "Accountability must be ensured and, in this regard, we recall that Afghanistan is a party to the Rome Statute." The remarks come at a time when global leaders have raised extreme concerns over an increasing number of human rights violations and girls' education under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, stated Khaama Press. "The shrinking space for civil society and restrictions on human rights and fundamental freedoms remain a primary concern," the statement added. Under the atrocious rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan, people from ethnic and religious minorities and groups, LGBTI persons, human rights defenders, journalists and other media workers suffer killings, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and a lot more on a daily basis. However, the Taliban has denied the allegations of the international community time and again. Reflecting on the overall security of the country, the Spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid said a "peaceful atmosphere" has been created in the country, where women and men could rightfully take part in Afghanistan's development. The human rights issues of extrajudicial killings by security forces; forced disappearances by antigovernment personnel; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment by security forces have become a regular affair in Afghanistan. The issues include serious restrictions on free expression and media by the Taliban, including violence against journalists and censorship; severe restrictions on religious freedom as well as restrictions on the right to leave the country. Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the plight of Afghan women has worsened in the country. Contrary to the Taliban's claims, girls were stopped from going to school beyond sixth grade on March 23 and a decree on the women's dress code was issued after a month. There are restrictions on movement, education and freedom of expression of women posing a threat to their survival. Around 80 per cent of women working in the media have lost their jobs, and almost 18 million women in the country are struggling for health, education and social rights. (ANI)
As chairman of the standing committee of the National People's Congress of China, Li Zhanshu held political meetings on the second day of his visit to Nepal, he expressed concern over the increasing US influence in the country. The visit of Li Zhanshu who is also a close aide of Chinese President Xi Jinping comes ahead of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party next month and General election in Nepal slated for November. On the second day of his visit, Li Zhanshu raised the concern over increasing US influence in Nepal during meet with former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, sources confirmed to ANI. "He was quite concerned about ratification (of MCC) and increasing influence of US in Nepal. We briefed him about my stance and what we did at the time of the ratification," an official present in the meeting along with Dahal confirmed to ANI seeking anonymity. On Tuesday Li, the third highest-ranking member of the Chinese leadership held meetings with the Chairman of the National Assembly, former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Later in the afternoon, Li called on Nepali Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka at Soaltee Hotel and held rounds of talks following which he called on the Prime Minister of Nepal "During the meeting, the two dignitaries discussed wide-ranging matters of mutual interest between the two countries including bilateral trade, investment, connectivity, return of Nepali students to China, resumption of passenger flights, and reopening of border ports, among others. The Chinese side appreciated Nepal for its stand on the 'One China policy' and its commitment not to allow the Nepali territory to be used against the core interests of China," a release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated. During the meeting, Nepal Prime Minister also raised the issues of slow progress seen in China-assisted projects and the closure of border ports by China which has been hampering the business of the business community of Nepal. Leading a delegation of about 100 people, Li Zhanshu is on a four-day official visit to Nepal at the invitation of Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota. He will return home on September 15 on a special flight. Nepal and China on Monday signed a six-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Kathmandu during the top Chinese official Li Zhanshu's official visit to Nepal on Monday. Nepal House of Representatives Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's NPC Li Zhanshu signed the agreement at an event held at the Federal Parliament Building in Kathmandu. According to the agreement, both sides would exchange information on each other's legislative, supervisory and governance practices. The MoU between the two parliaments (Federal Parliament of Nepal and the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China) also mentions the Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious project promoted by China. (ANI)
Amid raising concerns over the Chinese debt trap policy, a strong international debate is being surfaced on the dangers of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects in several South Asian countries. Recently, the entire world has seen the current socio-economic and political collapse in Sri Lanka due to the Chinese debt, as per media reports. The deepening economic crisis of Sri Lanka has put the country in a bad shape after its foreign reserves ran out following two years of money printing and defaulted in April 2022. The rupee collapsed from 180 to 360 to the US dollar in the worst crisis in the history of the island's intermediate regime central bank. The island nation is now trying to restructure its debt before International Monetary Fund starts disbursing the loan. Brahma Chellaney in The Hill wrote, quoting American statesman John Adams, who served as president from 1797 to 1801, that there are two ways to conquer and enslave a country: One is by the sword; the other is by debt." "China, choosing the second path, has embraced colonial-era practices and rapidly emerged as the world's biggest official crediton," he said. It is to be noted that China's expansionist agenda across the Himalayas, on the South China Sea or in Taiwan straight are stark reminders of this fact. Paulo Casaca writing in South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF) described the debt history. He said that debt has been identified as one of the most common reasons for human slavery throughout history and till today. China's influence has been quietly expanding in a more pervasive way in Central Asia. Since 2000, Beijing has been expanding its lending activities in Central Asia. China's loans have specific objectives. Beijing offers loans only for those projects that allow the expansion of markets for Chinese products and the transfer of wealth. In Central Asia, it has mainly allocated loans for oil and gas transportation, energy resource development, mining activities and infrastructure projects. A mandatory requirement of the lending is allowing the participation of Chinese companies in the realization of these projects, Valerio Fabbri wrote in Geopolitica.info. Moreover, Central Asia sits at the heart of China's foreign policy, not because of any expansionist ambitions but because it is an extension of domestic challenges in Xinjiang. To build a strong economic environment to support Xinjiang, Beijing has been transforming Central Asia through infrastructure projects. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Uzbekistan on September 15 and 16 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit where he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin. As per sources, PM Modi is likely to have bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Samarkand. "PM Modi's bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev are almost fixed and the meetings will take place on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Samarkand," a source told ANI. The Prime Minister would also have other bilateral meetings during the summit which begins on September 14 at Samarkand in Uzbekistan. The Indian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Manish Prabhat had said earlier that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the summit and hold bilateral meetings with several leaders. "Leaders of SCO member countries are meeting after two years due to the COVID pandemic. Some bilateral meetings will take place on the sidelines of the SCO but the programme of the meetings will be finalised in due course," Ambassador Prabhat had told ANI in an exclusive interview. "Economic cooperation in the SCO is an important question, which will be discussed in the SCO meetings. When we are meeting with central Asian countries, we discuss connectivity which will promote trade, investment and other exchanges between Indian and central Asian countries," he told ANI. Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi are also expected to attend the summit. Uzbekistan is the chair of SCO 2022 and India will be the next chair of the SCO. (ANI)
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Amid ongoing unrest in Tirah valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and spotting armed men, several families have fled the region out of fear. As per the tribesmen of the region, the armed men mostly belonged to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and their presence had caused fears and anger among the residents, Dawn reported. The tribesmen informed that the armed men were present in some areas before the start of their (residents) return in June and said their elders reported the presence of those 'undesirable' elements to the local officials but no strict action was taken to tackle the situation. Moreover, the Security officials in Pakistan's Tirah valley have ordered the residents of Sandana, Dray Naghari and Sanda Pal localities to leave their houses, in anticipation of a small-scale military operation against militants after the recent attack on security personnel. As per the officials, a camp was put up for those IDPs in the Sokh area on their way to their respective destinations. KSI Bara chapter head Shah Faisal Afridi stated that law-enforcement agencies had failed to check the sudden return of 'miscreants' in several parts of Tirah, triggering extreme fear among the locals, reported Dawn. "The 'miscreants' were involved in the targeted killing of at least four policemen and extorted money from the local traders and politicians," he said. At least two soldiers were injured in separate attacks by suspected militants recently whereas, at the same time, a vehicle of the forces was also targeted with an improvised explosive device in the valley, Dawn reported citing sources in the Maidan area of Tirah. On June 13, over 5,000 Sipah displaced families start coming back to their respective localities on June 13, 10 years after they were displaced. Sipah tribesmen were the last of seven Bara tribes allowed to return home after a nod from the security officials. After the Sipah displaced families returned to their localities, the district administration and departments identified that there is an unavailability of proper accommodation, health facilities, food, and safe drinking water and infrastructure for them. (ANI)
Former US President Donald Trump is back with another Hindi slogan: "Bharat and US Sabse Achhe Dost (India and US are best friends)". Trump recorded this new catchphrase at his Mar-a-Lago residence recently for Shalabh Kumar, a Chicago-based businessman, Republican donor and strategist, who was also behind Trump's first Hindi slogan in 2016: "Ab ki bar, Trump Sarkar", which was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's poll slogan "Ab ki bar, Modi sarkar". Kumar said Trump, who doesn't speak any Hindi at all, had an easier time recording the slogan than many people in Kumar's own team, who had trouble pronouncing the word 'Bharat' correctly. Most of them couldn't get it right, Kumar recalled with a laugh, despite "hundreds of takes". The former President got it in "just three takes", Kumar said. Trump had a far more difficult time with the first slogan though. In Kumar's telling, Trump had done 12 takes to finally get it right, recording it at his campaign headquarters at Trump Tower, which also served as the head office of the Trump Organization and, then, his residence. The former President now lives in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago club resort. "We will use the slogan in the upcoming midterm elections in November," Kumar said, discussing the creation of the new slogan exclusively with this reporter. The slogan is intended to mobilise Indian/Hindu American voters in support of Republicans, especially the key candidates endorsed by the former President - J.D. Vance in Ohio, Herschel Walker in Georgia, Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Ron Johnson in Wisconsin - and party candidates in Arizona, a one-time Republican stronghold that President Joe Biden, a Democrat, won in 2020, blocking Trump's path to re-election. Indian Americans have emerged as a crucial vote bank in swing states where election outcomes can turn on thin margins, as slim as a thousand or few thousands. A 2020 report by US think-tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace noted that "in select swing states, the Indian American population is larger than the margin of victory that separated (Democratic Presidential nominee) Hillary Clinton and Trump in the closely-contested 2016 Presidential race". The Indian American community has grown to more than four million -- said to be slightly more than 1 pert cent of the total population -- but registered voters among them are less than the total registered voters, which stood at 160 million in 2020. They are located all over the country -- the largest concentrations are in California, Texas, New Jersey, New York and Illinois. But they matter more in swing states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia and, now, Georgia and Arizona, where their numbers, though smaller, are more than the margins of victory or defeat -- Biden had won Wisconsin by 20,000 votes (Trump had won the state by 22,000 in 2016), Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes (Trump won it by 50,000 in 2016), and Georgia by 12,000 votes (Trump had won it by 2,11,141 votes in 2016). Both the Democratic and Republican parties now woo Indian Americans aggressively. Kumar said Trump's slogan will feature in an ad that will play on TV channels viewed mostly by Indian Americans, starting October when candidates will be in the last month of campaigning for US House of Representatives, Senate (a third of the 100 seats) and state-wide officials such as governors and state legislatures. Kumar has been working with Trump since 2016 but things cooled between them towards the end of the former President's terms. Kumar stayed away from Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, but is back in the good graces of the former President. They recently appeared together in an NDTV interview. --IANS yrj/arm ( 616 Words) 2022-09-13-19:44:02 (IANS)
Twitter shareholders on Tuesday approved Tesla chief Elon Musk's USD 44 billion bid to buy the social media platform. The approval to accept Musk's offer of USD 54.20 per share was substantially higher than Twitter's current trading price, below USD 42 was widely expected. Twitter has forged ahead with the deal, despite Musk's attempts to back out because of what he says are problems with the company's business, reported Washington Post. Shareholders gave their assent to the deal on Tuesday, the company said. The vote took place during a short virtual meeting after brief remarks by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. A US judge on Wednesday (local time) gave a lifeline to Musk by allowing him to amend his complaint against Twitter but rejected delaying the lawsuit over the disintegration of the billionaire's deal to acquire the social media company. His attorneys had requested to amend his counterclaims after a whistleblower filed a complaint about Twitter's security practices, reported Washington Post. In a mixed ruling, Kathaleen McCormick, the chancellor of the Delaware court, said Musk could add whistleblowing revelations from a Twitter ex-security chief that surfaced in August. But she denied his request to push back the litigation, saying prolonging the suit "would risk further harm to Twitter too great to justify." Musk's attorneys argued to include allegations by Peiter Zatko, Twitter's former head of security, that the social media platform hid critical information from them as they pursued a deal to purchase it. They said they should be allowed to incorporate the new allegations and pushed to delay the trial, a request that was denied, reported Washington Post. The former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko last month made allegations on Twitter of wrongdoings including "Twitter's tracking and measurement of user engagement." According to US media outlet Axios, Musk's lawyers on August 29, filed a subpoena for Zatko, asking for "documents and communications" regarding a number of the alleged wrongdoings Zatko made. Musk sent a second deal termination letter to Twitter by "leveraging" on the recent allegations made by a social media giant whistleblower, media reports said. In the termination letter, Musk's lawyers argued that Zatko's allegations, "if true, demonstrate that Twitter has breached" a set of provisions from its merger agreement with Musk, including its compliance with all laws and that its assertion that it never filed misleading information to securities regulators. The lawyers cited an allegation from Zatko that Twitter violated a 2011 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) consent decree regarding user data privacy, as well as "its general obligations under data privacy, unfair trade practice, and consumer protection laws and regulations," as per the media portal. Notably, Twitter in a 2011 agreement with regulators vowed not to use information gathered for security purposes, like users' phone numbers and email addresses, to help advertisers target people with ads. However, it must be noted that the whistleblower complaint is not similar to Musk's original argument. While Musk's legal team argued that Twitter violated its deal terms by misleading investors about the number of spam accounts on its platform and stonewalling information requests, the whistleblower alleges that Twitter deceived regulators about its efforts to reduce spam and protect Twitter from security threats. Musk has been locked in a bitter legal battle with Twitter since announcing in July that he was pulling the plug on his USD 44 billion purchase of the company following a complex, volatile, months-long courtship. Musk had cancelled the deal because he was misled by Twitter concerning the number of bot accounts on its platform, allegations rejected by the company. According to The Hill, Twitter claims that the company suffered financial losses as a result of Musk's withdrawal. Earlier this month, Musk made a suggestion that the acquisition would still go through if the social media business provided details on fake and bot accounts. The Hill reports that the shareholder lawsuit was filed in late July and reportedly criticizes Musk for using "lame justifications" to cancel the deal. The five-day trial is due to go ahead beginning October 17 in the Delaware court. (ANI)
The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II arrived at Buckingham Palace from Edinburgh and will rest overnight in the Bow Room of the palace, the Royal Family said. "Her Majesty The Queen's coffin has arrived at Buckingham Palace, where it will rest overnight in the Bow Room. Tomorrow the coffin will be borne in Procession on a Gun Carriage of The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery to the Palace of Westminster," The Royal Family wrote on Twitter. The British queen breathed her last in Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8. Following a six-hour journey from Balmoral Castle to the Scottish capital on Sunday, her coffin arrived at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. After it was taken from the palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral in a procession on Monday, the queen's coffin was at rest in a Church in Edinburgh for people to pay their last respects to the queen. It was flanked by the Bearer Party from the Royal Regiment of Scotland and escorted by the King's Body Guard for Scotland and the Queen's children at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The Queen's children on Tuesday held a Vigil beside her coffin in St Giles' Cathedral church. "The people of Scotland bid their final farewells to Her Majesty The Queen as her coffin travels from Edinburgh to Buckingham Palace," the Royal Family said. The death of the 96-year-old Queen ended a generation-spanning, seven-decade reign that made her a beacon of stability in a tumultuous world. The UK has entered a period of official mourning, with tributes pouring in worldwide. King Charles-III was proclaimed as the new monarch of England on Saturday after his mother Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8. Moreover, the national anthem of Britain will now again shift back to "God Save the King" as the British Queen is now no more. The UK authorities had devised Operation London Bridge to manage events during the first 10 days between the Queen's death and the funeral and had thought of Operation Unicorn in case the queen died in Scotland. As per the documents seen by The Politico, Thursday was declared as "D-Day" and each following day leading up to the funeral will now be referred to as "D+1," "D+2" till the tenth of the Queen's death. Ten days after Queen's death, the newly appointed UK Prime Minister Liz Truss will be the first member of the government to make a statement. Aside from the statement from the PM and other members of the government, gun salutes will be arranged at all saluting stations. Subsequently, Truss will hold an audience with the new king, and King Charles will deliver a broadcast to the nation. The state funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey on September 19 and there will be a committal service in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Thereafter, Queen Elizabeth II will be buried in the castle's King George VI Memorial Chapel. The Queen was born on April 21, 1926, at 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, London. She was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York - who later became King George VI - and Queen Elizabeth. (ANI)
Elijah Muhammed Jr. is making history through his early college journey, and he plans on eventually pursuing an education at a historically Black college or university (HBCU).

This 12-year-old smarty-pants is currently a senior at Prep One Collegiate Academy  a homeschooling program thats conveniently led by his dad, Elijah Muhammad Sr.

On top of his high school studies, Muhammed Jr. is also a student at Oklahoma Community College (OCC).

Hes graduating with his associates degree and his high school diploma at the same time, which will be next year, the 12-year-olds proud father pointed out, according to the Atlanta Black Star.

Notably, Elijah Muhammed Jr. isnt the only person in his family to get an early start on his higher education journey, as his older sister  Shania Muhammed  was the youngest person to ever graduate from both Langston University and OCC.

Despite Shania making history by enrolling at Oklahoma City Community College at only 13 years old, her little brother broke this record by starting at 12.

The 12-year-old genius from Oklahoma City is anything but your typical pre-teen, he is currently a high school senior in Prep One Collegiate Academy, a homeschool program run by his father, Elijah Muhammad Sr. https://t.co/PEVQWiyaWm  Atlanta Black Star (@ATLBlackStar) September 13, 2022

We also have to point out that this child genius already has scholarships coming his way, as he was recently offered a scholarship to Rust College, an HBCU in Mississippi.

Im very excited about getting scholarships because Ive seen my sister get multiple scholarships and I was like, Man, I cant wait until I start getting my scholarships,' Muhammed Jr. said, according to the Atlanta Black Star.

While his early-age accomplishments may lead people to assume that he has to sacrifice his social life to study all day, this pre-teen notes that he enjoys a number of passions  including coding, wrestling and just chillin with his friends.

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I dont have problems making friends, Im really sociable, Muhammed Jr. notes.

As for his post-OCC plans, Muhammed Jr. says that he has his sights set on carrying on his family legacy of attending an HBCU; he plans on pursuing a career in cyber security, and he has already collected numerous certifications in this area.

I heard Hampton does have a good cyber security program, but Im just exploring my options right now, the 12-year-old said.

A hundred percent, he will be going to an HBCU walking in the legacy in his mom, Elijah Muhammed Sr. added, the Atlanta Black Star reports.

Shoutout to Elijah Muhammed Jr., and we wish him the best of luck on the rest of his educational journey.
Two juveniles charged with having guns at Rock Hill schools on successive days in August have pleaded guilty in South Carolina Family Court.

The two boys, ages 14 and 16, could face punishment as severe as juvenile prison through age 21, a judge ruled Tuesday in York County Family Court.

Testimony Tuesday showed both defendants brought loaded pistols to school, motivated by alleged gang violence concerns, and both already had gun convictions in South Carolina juvenile courts.

Heres what school, law enforcement leaders are saying about guns in Rock Hill schools

The 16-year-old was a student at South Pointe High School on Aug. 29 when a loaded handgun was found in his backpack, testimony showed.

The 14-year-old was a student at Dutchman Creek Middle School on Aug. 30 when he pointed a gun at another student during a bathroom fight, 16th Circuit Senior Assistant Solicitor Whitney Payne said in court.

The two are among three students who were charged after guns were found on three consecutive days respectively at South Pointe and Rock Hill high schools, and Dutchman Creek Middle School. All three schools are in the Rock Hill school district.

No shots were fired and no one was hurt, officials said.

Judge rules both legally delinquent

Visiting Family Court Debra Matthews of the 6th Judicial Circuit in Fairfield County accepted both sets of guilty pleas in hearings Tuesday in York County court. Matthews ruled each was adjudicated delinquent under the law.

Matthews ruled both juveniles remain kept in the custody of the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice Columbia jail for children pending evaluations and sentencing. Both had been taken into custody after their arrests in August.

No sentencing date has been set.

The Herald is not naming either juvenile because of their ages.

Family members for both children were in court but did not speak.

The South Pointe case

Payne, the prosecutor, said in court on Aug. 29, a Rock Hill Police Department school resource officer found a handgun in the 16-year-old students backpack. The officer had noticed the students behavior at lunch and the gun was found after a search.

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The gun was loaded, Payne said.

The student pushed an officer and ran from police before he was caught outside the school.

That teenager pleaded guilty to four weapons charges that include carrying a gun on school grounds and possession of a handgun by someone under age 18, and resisting police, testimony showed.

Payne asked Matthews for the 16-year-old to remain jailed pending sentencing because the teen had a previous gun conviction in Family Court from 2021.

The 16-year-old had been released from juvenile custody in June, Payne said.

The 16-year-old told Matthews in court he had been getting good grades in school before the incident.

The teens lawyer, York County Assistant Public Defender Stacey Coleman, said in court another teen gave the juvenile the gun. The 16-year-old supposedly obtained the gun to protect himself from what Coleman said was violent gangs in the Rock Hill area, Coleman said in court.

Coleman said in court the teen had been threatened because he was friends with other teens who were involved in fatal shootings earlier this year in Rock Hill.

He made a horrible choice to bring (the gun) on school property, Coleman told Matthews.

The Dutchman Creek case

On Aug. 30, the day after the South Pointe gun was found, the 14-year-old was charged at Dutchman Creek Middle School, Payne said.

There were shouts of Someones got a gun! in the school hallway, Payne said.

The 14-year-old had gone in a bathroom to fight another student when the gun fell out of his pants, Payne said in court. The 14-year-old then pointed the handgun equipped with a laser sight at another student, Payne said.

Rock Hill police later found the loaded gun in the bathroom in a toilet paper dispenser, Payne said.

It remains unclear how the 14-year-old obtained the weapon.

The 14-year-old was on probation from a previous juvenile conviction for a gun from Charleston County, Payne said in court.

The 14-year-old pleaded guilty Tuesday to three weapons charges that included a weapon on school grounds, as well as violation of probation, Testimony showed.

The 14-year-old pleaded no contest to a charge of pointing and presenting a firearm, testimony showed.

A no contest plea is where a defendant does not challenge the facts of a charge and the charge is treated as a guilty conviction for sentencing, Payne said after the hearing.

The 14-year-olds lawyer, Arthur Hays of the public defenders office, said in court the fight in the bathroom on Aug. 30 was not initiated by his client. The 14-year-old was a new student in the school, Hays said in court.

In a previous court hearing on Sept. 6, a defense lawyer for the 14-year-old said the 14-year-old had the gun because of alleged threats involving older people and gang activity.

The third case from Rock Hill High

On Aug. 31, a student at Rock Hill High School had a gun in a vehicle in the parking lot, York County Sheriff Office deputies said. That student, age 16, ran from campus and was charged two days later with two weapon violations, said Trent Faris, spokesman for the sheriffs office.

The student in the Rock Hill High incident was released to the custody of his parents after being charged, Faris said.

The case involving the student and gun at Rock Hill High was not involved in Tuesdays court hearings and remains pending. It remains unclear when that 16-year-old will appear in Family Court.

Public concern over guns at school and safety

The court hearings Tuesday came a day after Rock Hill schools officials, law enforcement and prosecutors held a community forum about school safety and gun violence. The forum held Monday was scheduled after the three weapon incidents.

Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett, York Countys top prosecutor, said in that forum Monday his office will take every gun charge at school seriously for potential prosecution.






A map of eastern Los Angeles County shows the location of a reported street takeover in Montebello

Authorities from multiple law enforcement agencies responded to an alleged street takeover in Montebello on Monday night.

The Times could not reach a Montebello Police Department representative who was authorized to confirm details, but L.A. County Sheriff's Lt. Juan Sanchez said deputies from the East Los Angeles station were called at 10:19 p.m. to assist with the incident in the area of Via Campo and Wilcox Avenue.

According to preliminary reports, 300 vehicles were involved, Sanchez said.

The vehicles dispersed and deputies were called back, Sanchez told The Times around 11:30 p.m.

Further details were not available late Monday.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Desiree Chan

Desiree Chan developed back pain, coughing, fatigue, night sweats, and weight loss in late 2020.

Doctors tested the 33-year-old for many infectious diseases, like pneumonia or tuberculosis.

After about a month, she was diagnosed with Valley fever, a potentially deadly fungal infection.

When Desiree Chan got out of the bathtub on New Year's Eve in 2020, a shooting pain tore through her neck and spine. She crawled into bed, and stayed there for two days.

The next week, Chan, then 33, went to the doctor. She tested negative for COVID, so the doctor gave her pain meds for what he thought was run-of-the-mill back pain.

Six days later, Chan, who lives in Los Angeles, developed a phlegmy cough. This time, her doctor prescribed cough medicine.

But Chan remained in pain and was increasingly fatigued, so her doctor ordered an X-ray. The scan revealed infiltrates  or dense particles that can be indicative of disease  in Chan's lungs. She was given medicine for what, by now, her doctor suspected was pneumonia.

Still, Chan said her cough was so "debilitating" she struggled to talk on the phone with friends. And even when she stayed quiet, "it felt like an elephant was stepping on my chest," she said. She rapidly lost weight, and developed such intense night sweats she'd have to change her pajamas throughout the night.

"I thought I was dying," Chan, who runs a travel company, said. "I had no idea what was going on."

Neither did doctors. It took countless tests, a handful of specialists, and many weeks for Chan to be diagnosed with Valley fever, a potentially deadly fungal infection that's been on the rise in recent years. Chan and her fiance, Lucas Marton, 34, talked to Insider about the experience to raise awareness of the strange disease  and that recovery is possible.

Most people who inhale the fungus that causes Valley fever don't get sick

Valley fever, or Coccidioidomycosis, is an infection caused by inhaling spores of Coccidioides fungus, which is found in soil. It's named after the San Joaquin Valley in California, but is also found in Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, California, Texas and Washington.

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The infection has been on the rise in unexpected places in recent years, likely due to climate change, Insider's Gabby Landsverk previously reported.

Not everyone who inhales the spores will get sick, but about 40% of those who do develop flu-like symptoms. Around 1 in 10 patients can have serious side effects, like permanent lung damage. Rarely, people with Valley fever die if the infection spreads to places like the skin, joints, or spinal cord.

Chan said doctors don't know why she was susceptible, since she's young and otherwise healthy. Typically, people with weakened immune systems  like those who are pregnant, older, or who have a condition like diabetes  are at highest risk.

Still, Chan feels lucky her team stopped at nothing to get at the root of her symptoms. "I had doctors who knew what tests to run right away, so that it didn't spread throughout my body," she said. "I am grateful for that."

Doctors ran tests for all kinds of infectious diseases before concluding it was Valley fever

Doctors largely came to Chan's diagnosis via process of elimination.

Pneumonia was ruled out after Chan's medication course ended, but the infiltrates remained. The next suspected culprit was tuberculosis after a CAT scan revealed a mass in Chan's lung.

"Pack a bag," Chan doctor said when directing her to the ER, "you're going to be there for awhile."

Much of Desiree Chan's testing was done in a tent outside of the hospital to keep her separate from COVID-19 patients. Desiree Chan

He was right. Over the course of about 10 days, Chan's medical records show she underwent testing for all manner of infectious diseases, including HIV, Legionnaires' disease, COVID, tuberculosis, and the fungal infections histoplasmosis and aspergillosis. Everything came back negative.

At one point, Chan said the pulmonologist even wanted to take a lung biopsy to test for cancer.

Finally, an antibody test finally came back positive for Coccidioides, the fungus that causes Valley fever. Then, the recovery began.

Chan moved in with her family, who made sure she got the right nutrition and rest, for a few months.

She spent the majority of 2021 on heavy doses of the antifungal fluconazole, which sapped her appetite, threw off her hormones, and saddled her with serious brain fog that forced her to take a few months off work. She had frequent checkups on her liver, which fluconazole can damage.

Even after stopping the medication in November 2021, Chan said it took about 6 months for the effects to leave her system.

"It wasn't until mid-May of this year that I started to feel like I was getting my strength back and feeling clear in the head," she said.

Desiree Chan and Lucas Marton in 2022. Courtesy of Desiree Chan

Around that point, Marton proposed. "You go through something like that, and it's like, what can't we get through? he said. "I wouldn't have gone through something this grueling for someone I didn't want to spend the rest of my life with."

Lack of awareness has made recovery harder

One of the hardest parts of the experience for Chan and Marton has been not knowing if or when life would return to normal. "The answer to every single question we had was, 'We can't answer that because every case is different,'" Chan said.

The lack of awareness of Valley fever exacerbated the pain, too.

"People didn't really know what was going on because she didn't really know what was going on," Marton, a nonprofit director, said. "People were asking her to do things that she wasn't yet prepared yet to do," like complete work tasks or go on a trip with friends.

"That made it so much worse because the frustration then kicked it," Marton added. "She really felt unseen and unheard."

That's why the couple is sharing their story. "We wish we'd seen more testimonials that said like, 'This is how long it's going to take, this is how bad it's going to get, is this going to be debilitating for the rest of my life?'" Marton said. "For us, the answer is no. We seem to have come into a fairly normal style of living."

Read the original article on Insider
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If you're in your 20s, you're likely just starting out in your career and might not yet be earning or saving much. This isn't usually a time when people are excited about planning for their retirement, which can seem like a lifetime away. But the truth is that the earlier you start, the easier it will be to build a significant retirement nest egg thanks to the power of compound interest.

Read: 10 Items You Should Always Buy at Dollar Tree

Here It Is: Our 2022 Small Business Spotlight

If you can earn a 10% return on your savings, for example, your money will double in value just about every seven years. At age 25, that means that the investments you make now could double in value five times by the time you reach age 60. In other words, compound interest could transform every $1,000 you invest today into about $32,000 by age 60. Even if you start small, you could very well grow your nest egg into seven figures by the time you retire.

Here are some small steps you can take in your 20s to save and invest even if you aren't yet earning a lot of money.

Chase Brock / GOBankingRates.com

Use Round-Up Apps

There are so many financial planning apps available now that you likely have heard of many of them. Some of the best to use are those that round up your purchases and invest the extra money.

For example, if you buy a cup of coffee for $2.65, the app will round up your purchase to $3 even and invest the $0.35 on your behalf. Since you won't likely notice the difference between spending $2.65 and $3, this is a simple way to get these small amounts invested. By itself, $0.35 obviously isn't going to get you very far when it comes to retirement savings. But if you make five purchases per day, suddenly you're looking at more than $50 per month invested. Over time, amounts like that can certainly add up.

Take Our Poll: How Do You Typically Split the Restaurant Bill?

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Get at Least Some of Your Employer Match

Are you a fan of free money? The matching contributions your employer makes to your 401(k) plan are about the closest you will ever get.

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Most companies with 401(k) plans match a certain percentage of employee contributions, such as 50% of the first 10% of your salary that you kick in. While you might not yet be in the position to contribute 10% of your salary to your 401(k), put in as much as you can to maximize your employer match.

Ridofranz / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Start With $100

No matter how small of a salary you are earning, you can likely eke out at least $100 in savings per month.

Think about the discretionary purchases you make that you really don't need, like paying $3 for bottled water when you can simply bring your own reusable water bottle from home. With enough digging, you're likely to find at least $100 in your budget that you can divert to your savings.

Thanks to the power of compound interest, even small amounts like $100 can make a huge difference. If you earned a 10% return on your $100 monthly contributions, after 35 years you could have a nest egg of over $375,000, even if you didn't increase your contributions over the course of your working career.

fizkes / iStock.com

Slowly Increase Your Contribution Percentage

Even though you can end up with a nice-sized retirement account by starting small, increasing your contributions as you earn more money will get you there faster. One trick to painlessly increase your savings is to increase your contribution percentage by 1% per quarter.

For example, if you start by contributing just 1% of your earnings to your 401(k) plan or other retirement account, bump that up to 2% the following quarter. After a few years, you'll be socking away 15% or more of your income towards your retirement, but you likely won't even notice the incremental increases in your contributions. If you're feeling more ambitious, you can even bump up your contribution percentage monthly, instead of quarterly.

LanaStock / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Make One Different Choice Per Week

While it's easy to say that you should give up all of your discretionary purchases so you can maximize your retirement savings, that's not very realistic. Life is meant to be enjoyed, and living too frugally can make investing a chore. But if you can just make one different choice per week, such as eating at home instead of going out or just saying no to that new outfit, you'll free up modest amounts of money that you can save and invest instead. This type of balance allows you to start building up your retirement account while still enjoying yourself.

LPETTET / Getty Images

Automate Your Savings

Investing is not something that's inherently easy. Especially when you're not earning that much money, it can seem like groceries, gasoline, rent and other bills can eat up your whole check before you even think of investing. That's one of the reasons why automating your investments is a good strategy.

When your paycheck comes in, a portion will immediately go to your savings before you even have the chance to touch it. That way, you'll know that you are always saving, without you having to remember to contribute. It also takes emotion out of the equation and prevents you from spending your entire paycheck every month.

Pekic / Getty Images

Invest Any Windfalls

Windfalls are chunks of money that fall into your lap that you weren't expecting or that isn't a part of your normal earnings cycle. Examples range from gifts or inheritances to lottery winnings or tax refunds. Rather than blowing through this money, the prudent choice is to invest it. This can give a significant boost to your retirement savings without you having to take a single dollar out of your earnings.

The same concept applies when you get a raise. Although you're certainly entitled to increasing the quality of your life or enjoying yourself a bit, don't let "lifestyle creep" eat up the entire amount. Rather, direct a good percentage of your raise towards your retirement account.

ferrantraite / iStock.com

Buy Fractional Shares or ETFs for No Commission

The brokerage industry has become much more investor-friendly over the past few decades. Previously, trades had to be placed through expensive brokers, and they were the only ones who could access information about investments. Nowadays, you can learn nearly anything you want about specific stocks or investing in general just by watching the financial news or searching the internet.

Many brokers now also offer commission-free trading of stocks and exchange-traded funds, and some also allow you to buy fractional shares of stock. Instead of having to pay over $800 just to own a single share of Tesla, for example, you can buy 0.10 shares for just $80. This is a great way to dip your toe into the stock market without having to blow your whole savings on a single share of stock.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 8 Small Steps To Save for Retirement in Your 20s  Even If You Arent Making a Lot of Money
Adam Kay (Charlie Clift/PA)

Adam Kay is apprehensive about the skeletons he has let out of his cupboard in his latest memoir, Undoctored.

In the new book, the former junior doctor-turned-comedian and writer reveals an eating disorder, divorce from his wife (he is gay and now married to TV producer James Farrell), the loss of a child and a traumatic sexual assault.

I feel extremely scared about this stuff Im saying being in the public domain, says Kay, 42, whose bestselling first book, 2017s This Is Going To Hurt, was turned into a TV series starring Ben Whishaw. But I think if it can make one person decide to get help about something, then its worthwhile.

I'm OVER-EXCITED to show you the cover of my brand new book UNDOCTORED, which is out on September 15th. You can (and should, maybe even must) pre-order from https://t.co/frgjmI5GlV or from your lovely local bookshop. "Even better than This is Going to Hurt" - Jacqueline Wilson. pic.twitter.com/hhwUOnvWPK  Adam Kay (@amateuradam) July 19, 2022

In the same way This Is Going To Hurt made you laugh and cry, Undoctored combines Kays caustic wit with huge vulnerability. Theres darkness and anger, peppered as ever with light-hearted moments. Both a prequel and a sequel, the book features life since he left medicine, forging a comedy and writing career, interspersed with flashbacks to childhood, medic moments, his sexuality and hugely personal events in his life.

When he left medicine in 2010, Kay suffered nightmares and PTSD  the catalyst was a caesarean which went horribly wrong, when he was the most senior person on the ward. The patient had an undiagnosed placenta praevia; the baby died and the mother lost 12 litres of blood and ended up having a hysterectomy.

Time has helped, along with counselling, which he now has regularly.

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Ultimately, the nightmares only properly stopped about five years ago when I started talking about it, reading my diaries on stage and recalling this moment Id kept inside for so long. But nothing has helped like speaking to friends and professionals about it, he says.

Im probably not a role model for seeking help but Im a lot better at it, involving experts. I mean, what would I say to someone who is doing their own ante-natal care? Id tell them to see a specialist, a doctor, a midwife.

(Charlie Clift/PA)

The son of a GP, he writes that his parents essentially pushed him into going to medical school. There, he felt like an outsider, battled body image issues and fought loneliness by going against the grain of who he really was in order to fit in.

He came out to his parents when he was at university, only for them to tell him he just hadnt found the right girl yet. They must have felt vindicated when, some years later, he married H, as he calls her.

In my mind, it wasnt a case of hiding who I really was, rather celebrating that I had finally become the person society wanted me to be. I had fallen in love with a wonderful woman who loved me back, he writes.

Looking back, he loved her, but not in the way he needed to  and in the first few weeks after the truth became unavoidable, he was broken, and left medicine and his marriage within a matter of months.

She knows whats in the book, he says today, but is reluctant to elaborate.

He also reveals that they lost a child, which they discovered during an ultrasound scan in the hospital where he worked.

It was a pregnancy that wasnt destined to be, he recalls. I found myself fainting during the scan and it really exemplified for me the medics approach of you just get on with it. There seems to be nothing so big that you dont just get on with it  and its destructive.

Returning to work was hard.

I was really struggling and I was made to feel that you shouldnt say anything, which made things worse. But if youre struggling with something you have to talk about it.

In the days that followed, Kays grief was compounded when, on his way to perform a caesarean, another registrar joked about whether he might faint during it.

Kay considered asking if he could step out of early pregnancy clinics for a while, but was too embarrassed to ask any of his colleagues to cover. He also felt jealous and resentful when every day, people were having healthy babies all around him. He was denied time off, wasnt offered counselling, and tried to move on.

Five years ago today, this book came out. Thank you to the, cant believe Im writing this, MILLIONS of people who read it. My next book, Undoctored, comes out next week - I think its the funniest, rawest, most personal thing Ive ever written. https://t.co/frgjmI5GlV to order. pic.twitter.com/97L1fkvr6A  Adam Kay (@amateuradam) September 7, 2022

Losing a child didnt make it easier to work on labour wards and in fertility services, he reflects. The more you push something away, the bigger the explosion when it comes to the surface, and a couple of years down the line I found myself really struggling with that. It was acutely difficult when I was working on the labour ward and remains difficult when I hear happy news from friends who are having a child.

Kay says he held on to the grief, hiding it for years, and hopes that his honesty in the book might prompt other doctors who are struggling to speak to someone too.

More trauma followed when his medical career was on the wane and he decided to cheat on his wife  he describes the decision as a boil that needed lancing  when the opportunity arose to perform at a medical conference in New Zealand. Kay thought hed have less chance of being found out if he was on the other side of the world.

After researching gay venues in the city, he ended up in a sauna, where a man in his 40s stood up, took his arm and led him to a cubicle, where he raped him, Kay writes. He didnt report the attack to police and certainly didnt tell his wife when he returned home. He just buried his distress and guilt.

I was very conflicted. I thought, had I led this person on? Was it my fault? Would anyone care and would this blow everything out in the open and my then wife would have found out. It was so complicated  the shame, the stigma.

He went on stage the night after the assault, he recalls. Being on stage remains an escape, he admits. For those 70 minutes when my job is to make people laugh, Im not really thinking about anything else. Comedy had been my defence mechanism to a greater or lesser extent all my life, from being the class clown at school to dealing with tricky stuff through medical school and as a doctor.

The assault has had a lasting effect, though.

It affects relationships, and because it was linked to performing, sometimes thats where my mind goes to when Im on stage.

For all the professional and personal trauma however, Undoctored is not a misery memoir. There are joyously funny chapters on his marriage to Farrell, with whom he lives in Oxfordshire, and their inroads into having a family of their own, involving visits to sperm banks, fertility clinics and research into potential egg donors.

Despite his early enthusiasm for having children, Kay suddenly got cold feet.

It will be right one day, but that days not here yet, he says simply, although he predicts they will probably have children at some point. But is the time ever right?

Thats the thing, how to have logical, practical discussions about something that is essentially a big emotional decision. I wrote down the pros and cons but you cant do that with this.

Hes currently on tour with his one-man show This Is Going To Hurt More (adamkay.co.uk) and hasnt any plans to pen a second TV series of This Is Going To Hurt. He hopes to become more politically active to support awareness of the mental wellbeing of doctors and campaign for the NHS.

But he misses being a doctor hugely, and still feels guilty that he left the profession.

I miss the reason that every doctor goes into it, not for the money or kudos, but because you want to help people. The arts have enormous value and I can raise awareness issues but its many steps removed from being on a labour ward and saving a babys life.

I dare say that I will be back in some way, shape or form in the future.

Undoctored: The Story Of A Medic Who Ran Out Of Patients by Adam Kay is published by Trapeze on September 15, priced 22.
U.S. Africa Command donated vehicles and other equipment to Namibia this month, aiding the southern African country in its ongoing fight against the illicit animal poaching and smuggling trade.

The almost $600,000 donation was sent by the Defense Departments Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid program directly to Namibias Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism.

U.S. officials were joined during a Sept. 2 dedication ceremony at Daan Viljoen National Park by personnel from Blue Rhino Task Force, a Namibian interagency unit funded by the U.S. to combat poaching in select regions throughout southern Africa, Europe and Asia.

Meeting with the Blue Rhino Task Force helped illuminate the wider role all of us have to protect natural resources for future generations, Andrew Young, AFRICOM deputy commander of military engagement, said in a release. While the command may provide assistance to the brave members of Namibias anti-poaching squad, each of us need to do our part to reduce the demand globally that is responsible for endangering these beautiful creatures.

Poaching and animal smuggling, which comprise the fourth-largest illicit trade in southern Africa, have long been thorns in the sides of those enforcing regional security. The trade is widely believed to be linked with the funding of regional extremist groups and the weakening of sovereign borders.

As part of the Sept. 2 event, the delegation also met with outreach workers at the Katutura Village in Windhoek, where HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment assistance is distributed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The U.S. is the largest bilateral donor of Namibias health care sector.

We had a very productive meeting, Barbara Hughes, the USAID senior development advisor to AFRICOM, said in the release. Namibia is rightly proud of their enormous progress towards reaching HIV/AIDS epidemic control and we are proud that the U.S. governments PEPFAR played a part in this success.

The AFRICOM delegation concluded their trip with a visit to the Lewis B. Puller-class expeditionary sea base Hershel Woody Williams during its most recent port call, one that marked the ships second visit to Namibia within a year.
Rep Jim Langevin never made it past the check-in counter for a recent flight out of Boston after the airline refused to let him bring his lithium-battery powered wheelchair onto the flight.

For the Democratic congressman, who is the first quadriplegic ever elected to Congress, this isnt the first time hes encountered this frustrating and preventable blockade.

While flying back to his home in Rhode Island, Mr Langevin again found his mobility device being flagged when he was at an airport Washington DC.

Having had that previous experience burned into his memory, Mr Langevin says that he took additional measures ahead of his scheduled flight out of Boston to a military base in Italy, telling NBC 10 that hed even had military officials call the airline ahead of time to forewarn them about the congressmans iBot wheelchair.

Even with those precautionary measures, however, Mr Langevin didnt end up making his flight and was forced to leave behind his light-weight Federal Aviation Administration-approved chair for the later flight he did manage to catch several hours after his original planned departure.

The ticket agent would not allow the chair to travel, saying the lithium-ion batteries werent going to be allowed on the plane, Mr Langevin told NBC 10 News.

Mr Langevins electric-powered wheelchair, the iBot, is powered by lithium-ion batteries, and the device itself has been given the green light by both the FAA and international aviation bodies.

Airline employees with Lufthansa, however, wouldnt budge from their position, wrongly stating that the chairs batteries were at risk of overheating and catching on fire.

[We went] through a bunch of hoops and going back and forth, [the Lufthansa employees] just refused to budge, he said, adding that he even spoke with the operations manager at the airport, who informed him that they dont care what the FAA regulations are, these are what their safety protocols are, and they werent going to allow it fly.

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Mr Langevin says that he even got the inventor of the mobility device on the phone to talk the issue through with employees at the gate, but those efforts proved fruitless.

Unfortunately, I missed my flight, the congressman said in an interview with NBC 10 after the prolonged debacle.

Whats outrageous is that lithium-ion batteries are going to become more and more prevalent in people using them because theyre lighter weight and they last a lot longer, the Democrat from Rhode Island added.

Rep Jim Langevin of Rhode Island said to NBC 10 that he wasnt allowed to board a flight from Boston to Italy because the airline said his electric wheelchairs batteries were a safety hazard (NBC 10/video screengrab)

iBots and other electric wheelchairs that rely on lithium-ion batteries are indeed becoming increasingly popular, both because of their ability to last longer on a single charge and decrease the overall weight of a mobility device.

But airlines and their employees havent caught up with the new technology, with some still citing the batteries  which have been approved by the FAA for travel on planes  as a safety hazard.

For Mr Langevin, this misunderstanding amounted to several hours of lost travel time and a delay that wouldve likely not occurred had there been up-to-date training on electric wheelchairs like his, he argued.

Instead of landing at one airport [in Italy], we landed at another one that was three hours away and had to drive overnight to an area close to the military bases, the lawmaker said.

He was able to board a flight that left later in the day, but only after a staffer travelled the hours-drive back to his home to retrieve a different wheelchair that didnt include the at issue batteries.

Airlines need to catch up to the safety protocols outlined by the FAA, he added.

Disability experts have long been arguing for a change to the transportation industry when it comes to persons who are differently abled trying to access the services that were so clearly not designed with them in mind.

For instance, in just May of this year, disability-related complaints filed with the Transportation Department hit 158, which was more than double what it was in 2019.

And though there isnt data that shows how many other people across the country have, like Mr Langevin, been told they cannot board a flight because of the lithium batteries used in their devices, there were 310 disability-related complaints filed with the Transportation Department in 2018 about airlines refusing to let passengers board flight. Of those more than 300 complaints, 44 were marked as being related to paraplegics, quadriplegics, other types of wheelchair users and other assistive-device users.

The US Secretary of Transportation has acknowledged as much recently that the aviation industry is a far cry from where it should be for 2022 standards.

Practically everyone who uses a wheelchair and flies, including colleagues of mine here at the DOT, has a troubling story about an airline experience, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said during an event marking the anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act on July 26. Many have far more than one.

No other form of transportation  trains, buses, boats  forces you to give up your mobility device when you board. The same ought to be true of airlines, Mr Buttigieg said. So in the months and years ahead we plan to work toward a new rule that will allow passengers to stay in their personal wheelchairs when they fly. We know this wont happen overnight, but it is a goal that we have to work to fulfil.

Mr Langevin has spearheaded legislation, alongside Democratic Sen Tammy Baldwin, that would increase protections for passengers flying with disabilities and would give them the right to sue airlines if they feel theyre being trampled on.

Although we have made progress in the last 35 years to address barriers in plane travel for people with disabilities, I know personally that challenges remain, wrote Rep Langevin when introducing the Air Carrier Access Amendments Act in 2019. This critical legislation presents an opportunity to build upon the Air Carrier Access Act by improving accessibility, enhancing assistance, and ensuring greater civil rights protections.

In an emailed statement to The Washington Post on the incident, a spokesperson for Lufthansa said that the Germany airline was regretful over the incident.

At times, there have been challenges when it comes to customers traveling with lithium batteries, as there are complex and detailed rules and regulations related to this, the spokesperson said to The Post. We apologize for the error made due to the misinterpretation of the technical guidelines.

Employees with the airline, the spokesperson added, would also be undergoing a comprehensive review of guidelines around lithium batteries to prevent similar incidents.

The Independent contacted both Lufthansa and Mr Langevin for comment on the recent incident but did not hear back immediately.
Buzz Kelley, a retired mechanic who placed fourth in the Alaska Senate primary earlier this year, announced on Monday he would be dropping out of the race and offered his endorsement to GOP contender Kelly Tshibaka.

In light of the [Mary] Peltola  what I call divide and conquer victory over [Sarah] Palin, [Nick] Begich, just want to announce that I am suspending my campaign, Kelley said while speaking on The Dan Fagan Show.

And Im asking all those who supported me and my ideas or my ideas, if you would now please throw your support behind Kelly Tshibaka. She is our best bet to deny [Lisa] Murkowski.

The Republican candidate was referring to Alaskas special election for the House, which saw Peltola, a Democrat, win over Palin and Begich, two Republican candidates. Republicans attribute the loss to ticket-splitting among voters.

Peltola will seek a full term in office in the November midterm.

Kelley missed the deadline to withdraw his name from the Senate race, which the Alaska Division of Elections says must be done by the 64th day ahead of the election. That means his name will still appear on the ballot in November, along with Murkowski, Tshibaka and Democrat Patricia Chesbro.

In November, voters in the state will get a second chance to use the new ranked-choice voting system, which requires voters to rank their choices by preference. If no candidate receives more than half of the vote outright in the initial tabulation, the candidate who placed last gets knocked out.

Any voters who placed the eliminated candidate first has their vote redistributed to their second preferred pick. The process continues until one candidate gets more than half the vote.

The development comes as Murkowski is fighting for her political life against Tshibaka, who has been endorsed by former President Trump. Trump has targeted Murkowski, even holding a rally for his endorsees in the state earlier this summer, over her criticisms of him and her vote to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

But Murkowski has navigated competitive political environments before, including winning reelection in 2010 as a write-in candidate after she was unable to notch the GOP nomination earlier that year under the states previous primary system.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones speaks outside of the Dirksen building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 5, 2018. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File

InfoWars' Alex Jones faces another trial for falsely claiming the Sandy Hook massacre was a "hoax."

Families of eight victims  plus an FBI agent who responded to the attack  are the plaintiffs.

The trial is in Waterbury, Connecticut  under 20 miles from where the 2012 mass shooting unfolded.

The defense attorney for InfoWars host Alex Jones suggested during his defamation damages trial Tuesday that parents of children who died during the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre are exaggerating their claims to promote an anti-gun political agenda.

During his opening remarks, Norm Pattis said the plaintiffs were attempting to silence Jones for supporting the Second Amendment. Jones has long claimed the massacre was a charade designed to give the government a reason to take away people's guns.



The conspiracy theorist shock jock was nowhere to be seen Tuesday as he faced a second trial for spreading the false claim that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a government-orchestrated "hoax" played out by "crisis actors."

The trial is taking place in Waterbury, Connecticut  fewer than 20 miles from Newtown, where 20 first-graders and six educators were killed in the mass shooting  and is the second of three defamation damages cases against Jones.

Last month, the first of those trials ended with a Texas jury awarding the parents of one of the victims nearly $50 million.

Much more is at stake in Connecticut, where the families of eight victims plus an FBI agent who responded to the attack are all plaintiffs.

Jones has already lost all three defamation cases, and the current round of trials concern how much he owes the families. The Connecticut trial is expected to last five weeks, and Jones is expected to testify, though it is unclear when.

Day one kicked off with a major victory for the plaintiffs, who complained Jones had not turned over enough Google Analytics data to illustrate how Infowars monetizes web traffic.

As a result, Judge Barbara Bellis sanctioned Jones and banned his lawyer from arguing he didn't profit from his Sandy Hook coverage. Bellis called Jones' failure to fulfill his discovery obligations "stunningly cavalier."

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Chris Mattei, an attorney representing the Sandy Hook families, kicked off opening statements Tuesday morning, telling the jury of three men and three women that Jones started claiming the massacre was fake the very morning of the shooting, before many of the families had even learned what had happened to their children.

Mattei said none of the family members wanted to sue Jones, but they were defenseless against his lies that questioned their grave loss and led to them to be harassed by Jones' legion of followers.

"None of them wanted to bring this lawsuit, they don't want to be here. We trust you to decide what's appropriate here," he told the jurors.

The families will never get back what they lost, he said, but this lawsuit may help stop Jones when another school shooting inevitably takes place.

"Where will Alex Jones be? Will he be in the studio ready to pounce? Or will you stop him?" Mattei asked the jurors.

Pattis then gave his opening remarks, which started off barely audible for those in the gallery. He said he was "stunned" to hear his opposing counsel's opening statements since "stopping Alex Jones" is "not why we're here."

Instead, jurors are tasked with deciding what the plaintiffs are owed according to the law, Pattis said.

Mattei made several objections when his opposing counsel started describing the parents as political activists for gun control, most of which the judge sustained. He warned Pattis that he was being "improper," and after the third objection, scolded him: "One more time and I will ask you to be seated," he said.

Pattis' arguments were largely tied to free speech. He said that while some people believe Jones, most simply tune him out. He questioned whether the Sandy Hook parents should try to "turn him off" simply because they object to his message.

When Pattis at one point said that "no one will minimize" what the families have lost, a Sandy Hook mother in the gallery could be heard whispering under her breath.

"He just did," she said.

Read the original article on Insider
Michelle McLoughlin/Reuters

Just five weeks after a Texas jury ordered Alex Jones to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of a child killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting, the far-right conspiracy theorist has already been dealt a major setback on the first day of his latest court battle.

Jones and his legal team have displayed a stunningly cavalier attitude with respect to their discovery obligations, and consistently engaged in dilatory and obstructive discovery practices from the inception of these cases, right through to the trial, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara N. Bellis said from the bench Tuesday, before forbidding Jones from arguing that he and his company did not profit from [their] Sandy Hook coverage.

The trial stems from a lawsuit filed by eight families and retired FBI agent William Aldenberg, who say they were inundated with violent death threats and relentless abuse after Jones declared the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre a hoax.

Desperate Alex Jones Pleads for Forgiveness From Trump After Backing DeSantis

In reality, 20 children and six teachers died at the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school that day. Jones, who insisted the dead were in fact crisis actors playing roles to further a plot by the left-wing for stricter gun control laws, incited his followers to terrorize the victims families, the suit argued. And not only did he make their lives a living hell, he also profited handsomely from their pain, it said.

The discovery dispute erupted over a Google Analytics spreadsheet regarding audience numbers for Infowars, Jones online show, which his team allegedly hid from the other side.

Although Jones, who is worth an estimated $270 million, is expected to testify, he did not appear in court on Tuesday.

Instead, Jones broadcast Infowars as normal, during which he claimed his accusers are lying about us in between continuing plugs for his Brain Force Plus nutritional supplements.

He is just not able to control himself in any way, Jones ex-wife Kelly told The Daily Beast midway through the first days hearings. He is not a person who has any awareness, like you and I do The jury trial Alex is facing while he engages in behaviors to con his audience to send him more money will be his day of reckoning.

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On Aug. 6, Jones lost a similar case in an Austin courtroom, which centered on a lawsuit alleging defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress brought by the mother and father of Jesse Lewis, a 6-year-old boy who died at Sandy Hook. Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis asked for $150 million. They were awarded $4.1 million in compensatory damages and $45.2 million in punitive damages, for a total of $49.3 million.

I cant even describe the last nine and a half years, the living hell that I and others have had to endure because of the recklessness and negligence of Alex Jones, Heslin said on the stand.

Jones has already been found guilty of defamation by default for not turning over records in this and a handful of other suits accusing him of targeting innocent people with fantasticaland entirely fictitiousaccounts of what really happened at Sandy Hook. At the end of the new trial, which is expected to take about four weeks, a six-person jury will decide on monetary damages.

In opening statements, Chris Mattei, who is representing the eight Sandy Hook families and Special Agent Aldenberg, emphasized the wholly misleading way Jones framed the tragedy at Sandy Hook. Jones told his viewers that the government staged it, that people knew about it in advance, and that parents were reading from a script, Mattei said.

Immediately after a Sept. 24, 2014, article was published on Infowars under the headline, FBI Says No One Killed at Sandy Hook, which was obviously not true, Jones company earned $232,000 in one day, Mattei told the jury. He then displayed a text message on a screen, reading, We ended up about $810K yesterday.

One day, Mattei told the jury. Do the math.

In his own opening statement, Jones attorney Norm Pattis argued that his clients accusers have exaggerated the extent of the harms they suffered, and claimed they are transforming their grievances into political weapons.

When Pattis suddenly veered into criticism of Hillary Clinton for using Jones name to degrade her opponent during the 2016 presidential campaign, Bellis cut him off and warned Pattis to finish your opening or be seated.

After he did it again, and received a second admonishment from Bellis, the ponytailed Pattis continued on, describing Jones as, variously, a scapegoat, and a whipping boy merely fighting for his First Amendment rights.

Hes an angry populist warning you about a loss of significance in your own life, Pattis said. Ever heard of Davos? The World Economic Forum? Hell tell you about that.

But, according to Pattis, Hes also the guy who worries the chemicals in our water might be turning frogs gay, weather balloons or secret government weapons trails [from] airplanes that are seeded with toxins that are destroying and controlling us. That Hillary abuses children, that pedophiles run the government, and that people actually eat babies to remain forever young. Which of these messages do we take seriously enough to regard him as a threat we should shut off? At what point do we regard [someone] as the crank on the village green person we can walk away from?  The haters want him silenced.

To Carlee Soto Parisi, the issue is not quite so theoretical.

After her sister Vicki, a first-grade teacher, was killed at Sandy Hook, an AP photo of a grief-stricken Parisi became a focus of conspiracy-mongers apparently inspired, at least in part, by Jones. They said she was not really who she said she was, and targeted her for unceasing harassment. Parisi said the torment followed her from city to city, and that she was constantly doxxed by people who doubted her story was real.

You cant breathe properly because youre constantly defending yourself and your family and your loved ones, she testified, telling the jury she and her husband were scared for our lives.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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alex-jones-trial-ct.jpg Newtown Shooting-Infowars-Connecticut Lawsuit - Credit: Briana Sanchez/Austin American-Statesman/AP

Alex Jones second Sandy Hook defamation trial kicked off in Connecticut on Tuesday, and the conspiracy monger and InfoWars founders lawyer is attempting to win over the court by arguing that its not the families of slain children, but Jones himself who is the real victim in the dispute, describing his client as a scapegoat and a whipping boy.

Jones lawyer Norm Pattis added that the parents of children killed in the 2012 massacre exaggerate the harm that Jones caused them by spreading conspiracies about the deaths of their children, and that theyre blowing things out of proportion for political reasons.

More from Rolling Stone

Pattis responded  "Alex Jones must be stopped, they said. It is our contention that the plaintiffs' in this case exaggerate the harm that he caused them and they exaggerate it for political reasons." #AlexJones #SandyHook pic.twitter.com/NBwibiGYLV  Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) September 13, 2022

The trial will determine damages owed to a group of six victims families, and a law enforcement agent who responded to the shooting, in Connecticut. Jones was found guilty by Judge Barbara Bellis of defaming the Sandy Hook families, and a jury will decide the amount Jones must pay them.

Jones was ordered in August to pay Sandy Hook families suing him in Texas nearly $50 million in damages.

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In the aftermath of the shooting, during which 26 people, including 20 six-and seven-year-old students, were killed, Jones claimed the massacre was a hoax orchestrated by Second Amendment opponents, and accused the families of the victims of being crisis actors and demonically possessed.

During opening statements on Tuesday, the plaintiffs counsel displayed some of the content Jones created about the shooting, including a video titled Sandy Hook Vampires Exposed.

The families Jones targeted described systemic harassment by Jones followers. Veronica de la Rosa, mother to victim Noah Pozner, revealed in an interview that the harassment was so unrelenting that it resulted in her family having to move more than 10 times since the shooting. Other parents described dealing with a slew of conspiracies in the aftermath of their childs death as a living hell.

Jones recalcitrant behavior in the Austin trial already has participants in the Connecticut trial on guard. Judge Bellis indicated on Tuesday that she was putting the court on notice and is prepared to address contempt on the spot should it arise when Jones testifies or is present before the court.

Judge: "I am going to deal with Mr. Jones when he testifies. I expected to canvas him on the issues that are off limits. If there are issues I will address contempt on the spot." #AlexJones #SandyHook pic.twitter.com/WeXqgTDzT9  Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) September 13, 2022

Jones was absent from the courts proceedings on Tuesday. Instead, he was broadcasting from his studio, insisting that buying his latest book and his supplements were the only thing that would save InfoWars from ruin. The New York Times notes that he told his viewers he was being persecuted by the new world order, and needed their help.

The defamation suits brought by the victims of Jones conspiracies have left InfoWars in dire financial straits, and have motivated Jones to attempt to devalue the company in an attempt to lower his own potential liabilities.

But financial issues are only the beginning of Jones troubles. He was subpoenaed by the Jan 6. committee earlier this year, and the committee obtained two years of his texts after his lawyer accidentally gave them to one of the Sandy Hook families lawyers. Rolling Stone reported on Monday that those texts detail how Jones spied on both his wife and ex-wife, including contracting former Blackwater operatives to track the whereabouts of his spouse.

Best of Rolling Stone

Click here to read the full article.
RuPaul's Drag Race season 14 cast at the 2022 Emmy Awards

Turning looks and snatching trophies!

Mama Ru arrived at the 2022 Emmy Awards red carpet not only with co-judges Michelle Visage and Carson Kressley, but also with nearly the entire cast of RuPauls Drag Race season 14  except for one contestant.

Alyssa Hunter, Angeria Paris VanMicheals, Bosco, Daya Betty, DeJa Skye, Jasmine Kennedie, Jorgeous, June Jambalaya, Kerri Colby, Lady Camden, Maddy Morphosis, Orion Story, and Willow Pill walked the 2022 Emmys red carpet alongside RuPaul, which means that Miss Congeniality winner Kornbread The Snack Jete was the only season 14 contestant not in attendance.

Fans first started to notice Jetes absence when videos surfaced on social media of RuPaul, Visage, Kressley, and (almost) the entire cast of season 14 posing for pictures at the red carpet.

As of this writing, Jete has not shared an explanation on social media for not attending the 2022 Emmys along with her Drag Race sisters. Still, having 13 of the 14 contestants there certainly underlined Jetes absence.

Season 14 of RuPauls Drag Race was nominated for eight Emmy Awards this year, and the show has already won in two of those categories. During the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, Drag Race will be competing for Outstanding Competition Program  which it has won for the past four consecutive years.

Hopefully, Drag Race will sustain its winning streak from the past four years at the Emmys.

RuPauls Secret Celebrity Drag Race season two airs Fridays on VH1.

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The New York Times

LONDON  All Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, did was put on a somber outfit and a sympathetic expression and walk around in public with three other people for 45 minutes. But the pointillistic armchair analysis of that brief event  a surprise outing outside Windsor Castle last Saturday featuring Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, and Prince William and his wife  has gone on ever since. The incident, for those following this particular saga, represented a brief cessation of, or maybe presaged
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  When local school officials voted down a Tennessee charter school linked to Hillsdale College this summer, staffers at the state commission that would soon have to decide whether to let the controversial school open anyway reacted with shock at how things unfolded.

The text messages they exchanged, obtained through a records request by The Associated Press, showed the close attention state staffers paid to the school board's resounding rejection in the wake of Hillsdale President Larry Arnns disparaging comments about teachers. When no one showed up to make the case for the Hillsdale-affiliated charter school application, the alarm among those who would be left holding the bag was palpable.

What!!!! They invited both schools to speak and (they) did not show!!! texted Beth Figueroa, the commissions director of authorizing.

WHAT, replied Chase Ingle, commission spokesperson.

Im speechless!!! Figueroa wrote.

Critics ranging from some Democratic lawmakers to educators have argued the Tennessee Charter School Commission was designed to rubberstamp charters that local communities don't want, with several members tied to pro-charter groups. The nine members are handpicked by Republican Gov. Bill Lee  a vocal charter schools supporter and proponent of Hillsdale Colleges charter initiative  and confirmed by lawmakers in the GOP-supermajority General Assembly. The staffers work for the commission.

Hillsdale, a small conservative college in Michigan, holds outsized influence with Republican politicians. Arnn had recently spearheaded the 1776 Curriculum, inspired by former President Donald Trumps short-lived 1776 Commission, as a direct response to The New York Times 1619 Project focusing on Americas history of slavery. Curriculum materials glorify the founders, downplay Americas role in slavery and condemn the rise of progressive politics.

Its prominence has strengthened among conservatives amid the national debate over the role schools should play in teaching race and sexuality. South Dakota, for one, turned to a former Hillsdale politics professor to write proposed social studies standards for its public schools. They align with the 1776 Curriculum.

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Tennessee's state commission will be put to the test this week during public hearings run by commission staffers  as board members consider whether to approve applications from three Hillsdale-affiliated charter schools appealing their rejections by local school boards.

The texts were among hundreds of documents the commission provided after the AP requested all conversations relating to Hillsdale College and their charter school affiliates. Most of the records showed commission staffers helping applicants navigate the appeals process, telling them what information was needed and offering appeals training.

But the documents also included texts as staffers watched the fallout of Arnn's disparaging remarks on teachers as local school boards in Rutherford, Jackson-Madison and Clarksville-Montgomery school board denied the Hillsdale-affiliated applications.

Are we having fun yet? texted Tess Stovall, commission executive director, on Aug. 10 after sending a link to a news article on the panel's independence being tested. I like my quotes.

During the Rutherford County school board meeting on July 18, Ingle and Figueroa texted while watching the livestream. When no one showed from the Hillsdale-affiliated school to defend their application, both expressed alarm. Board members voted 6-1 to reject the charter.

Ingle wrote, Beth, thats a tough look.

This does not help us, Ingle continued. He said the Rutherford school board member who voted against rejecting Hillsdale calls him once a quarter.

The text messages drew further skepticism about the commission from Jim Wrye, a representative of Tennessee's largest organization representing educators.

The administration sold the state charter commission to the General Assembly as a neutral appellate body," Wrye, Tennessee Education Association government relations director, told the AP. "We believed the goal was to undermine local control and drop charter schools on communities that do not want them. That belief is only growing.

In 2010, Hillsdale began establishing charter schools nationwide. Hillsdale maintains it does not operate or manage them, but instead offers support by licensing their curriculum for free and providing training and other resources to so-called member schools.

Tennessee's state commission could overrule local decision-makers on Hillsdale-affiliated schools. Or, the panel could spike them after Arnn's comments, including a declaration that educators are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country. The governor, who was on stage with Arnn during some of his remarks, has refused to condemn his words.

Asked about the texts, the commission said staffers regularly monitor local school board meetings to stay fully prepared" for potential appeals.

(At) the time of these text messages, commission staff was anticipating 16 new start appeals. Of those 16 possible appeals, we are currently handling 13 public charter school appeals, an unprecedented number in Tennessee since the state started hearing appeals in 2002, Ingle said via email, noting the commission only had three appeals last year, its first year operating.

Any charter school approved at the local level spares the commission from the time and effort required for additional appeals, Ingle said.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Jeff Yarbro questioned the commission's logic, saying, Hillsdale's poor showing only makes the commission's job harder if their mandate is to greenlight new schools.

The commission shouldnt have a rooting interest in the charter schools under review, Yarbro told the AP. Here, the danger is a commission and staff focused on opening more charters rather than ensuring a fair and independent process.

Tennessee's Charter School Commission was formed in 2019. Rep. Mark White, the Republican who sponsored the legislation backed by Gov. Lee, said at the time the proposal would move the charter school appeals process from the state education board  which has a wide variety of oversight responsibilities  to a new charter-focused panel.

White, who joined in widespread outcry against Arnn's comments, told the AP he still believes the state commission is the best option for vetting and ensuring Tennessee has quality charter schools. He said the text messages show staffers carefully watch the proceedings because it would affect their workload.

I know where theyre coming from, and I know theyre solid, he said.

___

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Tess Stovalls last name.
By John Irish

PARIS (Reuters) - By showing over the past week they have a path to beating Russian forces on the battlefield, Ukraine's troops may have won more military support from Western countries and undermined the urge of some Europeans to push Kyiv to make concessions.

Only hours before German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Kyiv on Saturday, Ukrainian troops were hoisting their country's blue and yellow flag atop city hall in Kupiansk. The city east of Kharkiv housing the main railway junction that had supplied Russian troops in northeastern Ukraine was captured without a fight after Russia's frontline collapsed.

By nightfall, Moscow had announced it was abandoning Izium, its main stronghold in the area, effectively acknowledging its worst defeat in months. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had one message for his visiting German counterpart: Russia can be defeated, but we need more help now.

It is an argument that will be harder to brush off now.

"(Military support) is an easier sell when you're winning," a northern European diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "My hunch would be that gains by Ukraine are bolstering the understanding that these deliveries have worked and that we may have a chance to finish off the war."

Kyiv's biggest European supporters, such as the Baltic states which have long called for more military aid for Ukraine, say the successes of the last week have demonstrated the case for more support now.

"Those who doubted Ukraines strength should be apologising. Ukraine defended us all," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis tweeted on Monday. "Now is the time for us to show our deep gratitude."

Landsbergis called for stockpiles of advanced western armaments, from army tactical missile systems to tanks, to be sent.

Some even detect signs of movement in Berlin, which Kyiv has long accused of being overly cautious because of Germany's dependence on Russian energy to get through the coming winter. Ukraine wants Germany to send modern battle tanks.

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On Monday, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht rejected sending tanks "unilaterally". Some saw the remarks as leaving open the possibility that Berlin could do so as part of a pan-European consortium.

"There are growing indications that Washington would support such an initiative," said Rafael Loss, of the European Council for Foreign Relations think tank.

Kyiv has not held back from pressing its point.

"Disappointing signals from Germany while Ukraine needs Leopards and Marders now  to liberate people and save them from genocide," Kuleba tweeted on Tuesday. "Not a single rational argument on why these weapons can not be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses. What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not?"

WEAKNESS

Ukraine's battlefield gains make it less likely that European leaders will want to be seen putting pressure on Ukraine to offer concessions at any hypothetical negotiations.

"Pushing for a ceasefire in these conditions would be seen as a weakness and exploited by Moscow. (It) would mean the West is not respecting its own principles. It would look bad," the northern European diplomat said.

French President Emmanuel Macron, denounced in Kyiv earlier in the war for saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin should not be "humiliated", has lately toughened his language.

Pressuring Ukraine to negotiate would be "very dangerous" for long-term European security architecture, a French diplomatic source said, adding that Moscow could not be allowed to formalise gains acquired through military aggression.

Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at Britain's RUSI think tank, said no Western country would accept Russian occupation of its territory "if they could stop it".

By proving it can fight back, Kyiv can convince the West to stand by that principle, he said.

"I think it will encourage rather than suppress willingness to deliver weapons."

(Additional reporting by Simon Lewis, Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart in Washington, Sabine Siebold in Berlin and Belen Carreno in Madrid; Editing by Richard Lough and Peter Graff)
Raymand Vannieuwenhoven of Lakewood is escorted into Marinette County Circuit Court on Aug. 26, 2021, for his sentencing for the July 9, 1976, murders of David Schuldes and Ellen Matheys of Green Bay. He received two life sentences for the crime.

MARINETTE - An appeal of the conviction in the 1976 slayings of a young couple in Wisconsin continues to wind its way through the courts, even though the Oconto County man found guilty in the murders has died in prison.

Attorneys for Raymand Vannieuwenhoven are trying to have his conviction overturned by challenging the way investigators obtained DNA from him that was used to break the cold case.

Detectives got a sample of Vannieuwenhoven's DNA from an envelope he licked when responding to a phony police performance survey.

The 85-year-old Vannieuwenhoven died in June at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution. He was convicted last year of fatally shooting 25-year-old David Schuldes and 24-year-old Ellen Matheys in a Marinette County park on July 9, 1976, in Silver Cliff.

More: Police: Wisconsin campground killer evaded us for 42 years, but science caught up to him

More: The elderly Lakewood man charged with the 1976 murders of a Green Bay couple has been found guilty

In a brief filed Friday in support of the appeal, attorney Ana Babcock wrote that Vannieuwenhoven had an expectation of privacy with his DNA, WLUK-TV reported.

While the law does tolerate some deceit on behalf of the police (e.g., police can sometimes make misrepresentations during an interrogation), trickery has no place when it comes to voluntary consent, Babcock wrote.

For decades, the widower and father of five children lived quietly among the 800 residents of Lakewood, a northeastern Wisconsin town surrounded by forests and small lakes.

The cold case was revived in 2019 when a DNA sample from evidence at the crime scene was determined to be from a particular family. A criminal complaint says that samples tested from Vannieuwenhovens brothers werent a match, but a a sample from him obtained from the envelope was a match.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Appeals in 1976 campground killing proceeds even though inmate died
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine authorities have arrested a woman suspected of participating in the organization of the failed assassination attempt on Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner almost two weeks ago, local media reported on Tuesday.

The arrest was made after information about the new suspect was found on the cell phone of the partner of alleged gunman Fernando Sabag Montiel, according to reports by leading newspapers Clarin and La Nacion. On the night of Sept. 1, Sabag Montiel pulled the trigger on a loaded gun inches from Fernandez de Kirchner's head, but it failed to fire.

The apparent assassination attempt has rocked Argentine politics, already straining under a prolonged economic crisis that has stoked sharp internal differences among the ruling center-left Peronist coalition.

Judicial authorities declined to provide information on the reported arrest to Reuters, citing secrecy rules for ongoing criminal investigations.

The unnamed detainee, the third person to be arrested in the case, was allegedly part of a small, informal organization that planned the attack on the influential leftist vice president, according to the reports.

Fernandez de Kirchner previously served two terms as president of the South American country from 2007 to 2015.

The reports also noted that judicial officials have increased security for her and her family following telephone death threats in the last few days.

(Reporting by Nicolas Misculin; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Lisa Shumaker)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)  A third person has been arrested as part of the investigation into the assassination attempt on Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez  a move that suggests the incident could have involved a network of people.

Agustina Diaz, who appears to have at least been a close friend of the girlfriend of the man accused of trying to shoot Fernandez on Sept. 1, was detained Monday in the province of Buenos Aires, an official with the knowledge of the case confirmed to The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the investigation.

Fernando Sabag Montiel, a 35-year-old Brazilian citizen, was detained shortly after he pointed a handgun at Argentinas vice president outside her home. He pulled the trigger twice, but the Bersa handgun failed to go off, though it was loaded with five bullets.

His girlfriend, Brenda Uliarte, a 23-year-old Argentine who reportedly was at the scene of the attempted shooting, was arrested three days later.

Uliarte and Sabag Montiel are both accused of trying to assassinate Fernandez, the most important political figure in Argentina of the last 15 years. She was president for two terms from 2007 to 2015 and now has both ardent followers and detractors.

Related video: Assassination attempt on Argentina's VP caught on camera

Uliarte had Diaz's contact saved in her phone as love of my life and the two were in touch before and after the assassination attempt. Diaz reportedly helped Uliarte escape the scene after the assassination attempt, according to the official.

With what were learning until now, the role Brenda played becomes more relevant, the official said.

Sabag Montiel has been living in Argentina since the 1990s. Photos posted to his now-inactive social networks appear to show he has tattoos with Nazi symbols on his arms and hands.

Judicial investigators are using security footage and cellphone communications to try to reconstruct what happened in the days before the attempted shooting and whether there were any suspicious people present around the vice presidents home on the days before the attack.

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The streets surrounding the vice presidents home had been filled with supporters for days after a prosecutor requested a 12-year prison sentence, as well as a lifetime prohibition on holding public office, against Fernandez due to alleged corruption involving public works during her administration.

Fernandez has denied all charges and says she is the victim of a political persecution meant to get her out of public office.

Meanwhile, officials said Fernandez also received a death threat through a call placed to the 911 emergency line.

The call was made from the city of La Plata, around 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of Buenos Aires, and is being investigated, Security Minister Anibal Fernandez said.
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An Argentine judicial chamber has allowed 12 of 19 crew members of a Venezuelan plane to leave Argentina, local media reported on Tuesday, after the plane was detained in June due to suspicions the aircraft of Iranian origin had terrorism ties.

The Federal Court of Appeals of La Plata in the province of Buenos Aires authorized the 12 crew members' departure and ordered a judge to resolve the investigation into the crew within 10 days, news outlets La Nacion and Infobae reported.

The court did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Emtrasur cargo plane was sold to Venezuela by Iran's Mahan Air a year ago, according to the Iranian airline. It arrived in Buenos Aires in early June, according to flight tracking data, with both Venezuelan and Iranian crew members.

Its arrival caused a diplomatic issue for Argentina, which the United States accused of supporting U.S.-sanctioned countries Iran and Venezuela.

A U.S. court asked Argentina to seize the aircraft in August, which it did the following week. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the court order was intended to "steal" the plane.

Iran and Venezuela maintain close ties and signed a 20-year cooperation plan in June. Center-left Argentine President Alberto Fernandez has criticized U.S. sanctions on Caracas.

Argentine authorities detained the plane because of suspicions about its declared reason for entering the country, according to a National Directorate of Migration document that Reuters saw.

The plane's seizure generated outrage in Caracas by supporters of the ruling party, who marched to demand its release.

(Reporting by Eliana Raszewski; Editing by Josie Kao)
A man was arrested at a Dairy Queen after he entered the restaurant with a loaded handgun, according to Pennsylvania authorities.

The man was initially seen driving erratically along a highway in Delmont on Saturday, Sept. 10, prompting another driver to call 911, Delmont Police said in a news release.

He pulled into Dairy Queen and got out  wearing a yellow safety vest and rainbow wig  with a gun in his hand, authorities said.

An officer arrived and found several people inside the restaurant, the release said. As the man exited the restaurant, the officers took him into custody.

The man told officials that he was undercover and working to restore (Donald) Trump to President King of the United States, the release said. He told officers that he was armed to kill Democrats and liberals and protect himself from drug traffickers.

He was carrying a handgun with a round chambered and more ammunition in his pocket, police said.

In his vehicle, authorities found two more handguns and a total of 62 rounds of ammunition.

Police said the man is facing felony charges, but did not specify the charges when McClatchy News asked.

Delmont is about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh.

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Reuters Videos

STORY: Whos invited to the Queens funeral, and whos not?Queen Elizabeth's funeral has become a magnet for world leaders, royalty and other dignitarieswho received invites and said theyll be there.On the 19th September, an impressive line-up will descend on London.King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain.Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan.The King and Queen of Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway  the list goes on.President Joe Biden and Jill Biden are set to touch down two days before the funeral.Likewise the Presidents of India, Austria, Germany, Brazil, South Korea, Italy and Poland have all accepted.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to attend. President of European Commission Ursula von der Leyenand New Zealands Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern - among many more. In total, foreign office officials have handwritten around 1,000 invitations.Invites are also being sent to all holders of Britain's highest military honor, the Victoria Cross, and the George Cross, which can also be held by civilians.Perhaps the real question is  who wont be there?Russia, Myanmar and Belarus did not received invites.Syria and Venezuela have also not been asked to attend,Because  the foreign office says - Britain does not currently have diplomatic relations with those states.Afghanistan wasnt invited due to the current political situation.North Korea did receive an invitation  but only at ambassadorial levelmeaning leader Kim Jong Un has not been welcomed.Taiwan meanwhile said its is looking for the most 'appropriate' way to express its condolences and is still in the process of understanding plans for her state funeral.Those who will be there have been invited to Monday's funeral and a reception with King Charles on the Sunday.They will also be invited to visit the Queen's Lying in State inside parliament's Westminster Hall ahead of the funeral.
LONDON (AP)  In a country famed for irreverence, some worry a new code of silence has taken hold.

Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a handful of people in Britain have been detained by police for expressing  often bluntly  anti-monarchy views.

A woman in Edinburgh holding a sign reading F imperialism, abolish the monarchy was charged with a breach of the peace. A man faced the same charge after he heckled Prince Andrew as the queens hearse traveled through the Scottish capital.

In Oxford, peace activist Symon Hill was put in handcuffs after he shouted his opposition during a ceremonial proclamation of the new king.

Hill said he spontaneously called out Who elected him? because he objects to a head of state being imposed on the country.

I doubt most of the people in the crowd even heard me, he wrote on his blog. Two or three people near me told me to shut up.

Hill said he was put into a police van by officers who told him he was being detained for alleged behavior that could cause harassment, alarm or distress. He was later released but could still face questioning.

The police abused their powers to arrest someone who voiced some mild opposition to a head of state being appointed undemocratically, he said.

In London, a woman was moved from the gates of Parliament while carrying a Not my king sign. Police said she was removed from the spot, where a police officer was stabbed to death by an Islamist attacker in 2017, to allow vehicles in and was not asked to leave the wider area.

Lawyer Paul Powlesland said he was questioned by police outside Parliament on Monday while carrying a blank piece of paper on which he, too, planned to write Not my king.

In footage shot by Powlesland, an officer is heard saying it may offend someone if he wrote the words.

Powlesland called the police behavior outrageous.

The civil rights group Liberty said it was very worrying to see the police enforcing their broad powers in such a heavy-handed and punitive way to clamp down on free speech and expression.

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Republic, a group that campaigns for the abolition of the monarchy, said it would be complaining to police in the strongest possible terms, and would organize protests at the kings coronation in the coming months.

Free speech is fundamental to any democracy, said spokesman Graham Smith. At a time when the media is saturated with fawning over a king appointed without discussion or consent, it is even more important.

The arrests come after the government passed a contentious law-and-order bill that toughens police powers to limit disruptive protests. Its not clear whether any of the arrests involved the new law.

Prime Minister Liz Trusss spokesman, Max Blain, said that while this is a period of national mourning, and indeed grief, for the vast majority of the United Kingdom  the right to protest does remain a fundamental principle.

But he said it is for the police to decide what is appropriate in individual circumstances.

The queen's death has triggered one of the biggest security operations in British history. Some 500 royals, heads of state and heads of government from around the world are expected at the late monarch's state funeral on Monday. Before that, hundreds of thousands are expected to line up in a queue snaking through central London to see the queen lying in state at Parliament's Westminster Hall.

Huge crowds have already gathered near Buckingham Palace and other royal residences to leave notes and flowers or simply be part of a moment in history.

Londons Metropolitan Police force said the overwhelming majority of interactions between officers and public at this time have been positive.

The public absolutely have a right of protest and we have been making this clear to all officers involved in the extraordinary policing operation currently in place, said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy.
MIAMI  Some of the biggest names on the right, from mega-donor Peter Thiel to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, flew to South Florida to address a conference of national conservatives who have steadily gained sway in the GOP in recent years.

On the surface, the National Conservatism Conference held Sunday through Tuesday at the JW Marriott Turnberry Resort and Spa looked like an attempt to appeal to the Republican Party's right-wing base, with a heavy focus on Christian nationalism, curbing immigration and battling woke politics. But veteran GOP operatives saw a second conference just below the surface: a play for money.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a rally in August. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The continuing realignment of the Republican base and its supporters, which has kept political professionals supremely confused about what exactly Americas political right is at the moment. (The only constant seems to be that neoconservatives, who held the reins of the party and the conservative movement for decades, seem almost entirely boxed out.)

In Miami, a broad array of old conservative battlers and new, authoritarian-tinged activists, shared stages as part of an effort to apply an intellectual structure to the sprawling brand of Trumpist populism that swept the right seven years ago.

Thiel, the money man behind much of the new right, compared California to communist China and berated the scourge of literal homeless poop which has beset his home state of California in a speech arguing that the flood of tech money into California had distorted the nations politics by giving the state outsized influence in national debates.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the likely heir apparent of this brand of Trumpism, seized the crowd touting his fight against COVID-19 vaccines, gender reassignment surgery for minors and the Disney Corp. Most of DeSantiss positions are longstanding hallmarks of the right, but DeSantis dressed them in rigid language, declaring himself the protector of the states freedom and the states security.

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Supporters of former US President Donald Trump gather near his residence at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 9. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images)

And Balasz Orban, the top adviser to Hungarys authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban, who has become a hero to the hard right in recent years, said that woke globalists were brainwashing children. He also said that the Wests economic sanctions against Russia for its war against Ukraine has Europe down on its knees, alluding to rising gas prices.

But behind the scenes, top Republicans corralled with donors from this South Florida enclave of Republican money.

Blake Masters, a Thiel protege whos running for a Senate seat in Arizona, was added at the last minute to headline a closed-door fundraiser for the NatCon crowd.

And National Senatorial Republican Committee Chairman Rick Scott, whos tasked with helping Republicans try to win back the chamber, spent Sunday afternoon at the luxurious Miami resort meeting with donors, including Claremont Institute chairman and Republican mega donor Tom Klingenstein, before his Sunday night speech.

Weve actually done really well, Scott told Yahoo News. After taking over the National Republican Senatorial Committee in January 2021, we said were going to raise money, define our opponents early, Scott told Yahoo News afterward.

Trump supporters at a rally in Sarasota, Fla., July 3. (Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A New York Times investigation of the NRSCs digital fundraising operation under Scott sparked cries that Scott was more interested in promoting himself than the Senate Republican candidates. But a spokesman for Scott refuted those concerns.

Scott has been pulling in top Florida donors to the NRSC since he took over and has also flipped spending plans, with the NRSC spending more earlier in the year ahead of the November midterm elections, leaving more money for candidates and outside groups to spend closer to election day, NRSC communications director Chris Hartline said.

The reality is this has worked, despite all the pissing and moaning from Washington, Hartline told Yahoo News.

Far from the most well-known of the conservative conferences, like the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, which has turned into something of a comic-con for far-right activists and podcast celebrities, the NatCon conference felt more subdued and restrained.

Washington Republican operatives and longtime conservative think tank leaders, like National Conservative Conference chairman Chris DeMuth, mingled with conservative media outlets, Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish leaders from South Florida and college students.

JD Vance, Republican Senate candidate in Ohio. (Gaelen Morse/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In his speech, Thiel called the gathering a ragtag band of rebels which he equated to Star Wars. (Thiel dubbed himself the Han Solo of the group and former President Donald Trump Obi-Wan Kenobi. In the original Star Wars films, Obi-Wan is an ever-present apparition guiding the group but not controlling it.)

Its donors, Zionists and a nerd prom, said one veteran Republican operative as he watched from the sidelines. The operative and other veteran Republicans speaking on background said the conference felt more like a play to peel donors from CPAC, which is increasingly seen as a singular extension of longtime operative and CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp.

Schlapp told Yahoo News the chatter and sniping didnt bother him and that he likes what he sees from the Miami conference. The more generals on the field, the better, he said.
A Florida prosecutor said responses from various allies of former President Trump to reports that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had issued dozens of subpoenas in its Jan. 6 probe show Attorney General Merrick Garlands prosecutorial strategy has given Trump allies a false sense of security.

The fact that [Stephen] Bannon and other MAGA leaders seem shocked that this happened shows to me that Merrick Garland has lulled many in Trump World into a false sense of security, Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, Fla., said on CNNs The Situation Room on Monday.

This is the kind of slow build that Attorney General Garland has been known for in his prosecutorial career. Its like that boiling frog that doesnt recognize the temperature has been turned up until its too late, he added.

The Florida prosecutors comments come amid reports that the Justice Department issued around 40 subpoenas in the past week as part of its investigation into efforts by Trump and his supporters to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Aronberg noted that the subpoenas were issued just before the start of the 60-day preelection quiet period, when the department seeks to avoid taking action that could be seen as influencing an election.

Investigators have reportedly been looking into a plan to submit alternative electors to former Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021, when Congress was meeting to formally certify President Bidens electoral win.

Aronberg floated potential DOJ action against prominent pro-Trump figures over the fake electors scheme.

Those individuals, including Trump, who knew that the lists of alternate electors were not legitimate and knew that they were being submitted to government bodies could be charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States  also obstruction of an official proceeding, Aronberg said.

The Florida prosecutor also suggested the department could look at financial exchanges related to Trumps Save America PAC. New reports indicate the DOJs special grand jury is looking into the political action committees formation and fundraising.

Financial schemes are easier to prove than others because theyre focused on paper trails. People lie, but documents do not, he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Aunjanue Ellis brings the message of Fannie Lou Hamer back to the collective consciousness in this exclusive preview for Fannie.

Christine Swanson directs the short film, which focuses on Hamers life as a civil rights activist and freedom fighter who endured medical racism and fought for the rights of Black women and families. The film is described as an unflinching cinematic dramatization of one of the most important figures of the civil rights movement.

The film tackles the question Hamer asked in one of her speeches, "Is this America?" According to the official description:

These three words were part of sharecropper-turned-change maker Fannie Lou Hamers impassioned plea to defend the right to vote for every citizen regardless of race, creed, or color.

It was a simple question with a complex challenge to the credentials committee for the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Speaking on behalf of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Hamer detailed the scare tactics and the violence Black Americans faced in their long and storied quest to vote. She recounted her own brushes with brutality at the hands of the police when she was beaten so badly that her vision was impaired, and her kidneys were severely damaged.

Her gripping testimony was not just a call for the inclusion of Black delegates in the Democratic Party; it was also a prophetic warning that unless the nation extended equal treatment to Black Americans, the fight for voting rights, human rights, and civil rights would persist for years to come.

Fannie has been honored on the Indie circuit, winning the most awards at Atlanta's BronzeLens Festival and recognition at the Reel South Award, including Ellis winning for Best Actress.

Fannie will run at the Laemmles Monica Film Center Shorts By the Sea film series in Santa Monica California Sept. 23-29 as well as at the Morehouse College Human Rights Festival at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA Sept. 24.

Ellis and Swanson are the film's producers, with executive producers Angela Harmon, Abeni Bloodworth, Emil Pinnock and Stephanie Frederic.

The film is presented in association with Faith Filmworks and multimedia platform chromatic black. Chromatic blacks Ida B. Wells Fund supports innovative, brilliant, and creative new voices in a way that the existing system does not.
Kangaroo attacks are rare in Australia

An Australian man has died after being attacked by a kangaroo he had been keeping as a pet, police say.

A relative found the 77-year-old man with serious injuries on Monday at his home in Redmond, about 400km (250 miles) south of Perth.

When the ambulance crew arrived at the rural property, the kangaroo prevented them from treating the man.

Police say they were forced to shoot the marsupial dead so paramedics could reach him. The man died at the scene.

A police spokesperson told media they believed the man had been attacked by the kangaroo - a wild animal - earlier in the day.

Australia is home to about 50 million kangaroos, which can weigh up to 90kg and grow to 2m tall.

But fatal attacks are rare - this is the first one reported in Australia since 1936.

Kangaroos have "a lot of weapons" such as sharp teeth, claws and powerful legs, kangaroo behaviour expert Graeme Coulson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"Certainly if they're cornered or in some sort of distress, that can be quite dangerous," Associate Professor Coulson said.

"The problem with kangaroos and people is we're both upright animals, we stand on our two feet, and an upright stance like that is a challenge to the male kangaroo."

In July, a kangaroo left a 67-year-old woman with cuts and a broken leg after it attacked her on a walk in Queensland.

And a three-year-old girl suffered serious head injuries in an attack in New South Wales in March.

Urban development across Australia is increasingly encroaching on wild kangaroo habitats.

You may also be interested in:
Image of the M85 Taurus revolver seized. (PHOTO: Singapore Police Force)

SINGAPORE  An AETOS auxiliary officer who decided to replicate the 2016 Standard Chartered robbery and rob a licensed moneylender while armed was sentenced on Tuesday (13 September) to 16 years and six months' jail as well as 18 strokes of the cane.

CNA reported that Mahadi Muhamad Mukhtar, 39, pleaded guilty to three charges of robbery, unlawfully carrying a revolver and unlawful possession of ammunition. Another two charges were taken into consideration.

The court heard that Mahadi was facing mounting debts after borrowing from six unlicensed moneylenders in February 2021.

He began borrowing from his friends and taking bank loans, but eventually decided to commit robbery to solve his financial problems.

He began researching robberies on the Internet, and decided to rob a licensed moneylender. He settled on an OT Credit outlet at Block 135, Jurong Gateway Road, as it was staffed by women, was not usually crowded and had previously been robbed.

Showed note demanding money from outlet

On 12 April 2021, Mahadi went to the outlet to ensure it was open for business, and that two female employees were on duty.

CNA reported that he went to cover a colleague's shift at AETOS complex first. Later that afternoon, he loaded five rounds of ammunition into his M85 Taurus revolver and placed it in his sling bag.

He changed out of his AETOS uniform and took a Grab ride to Jurong Gateway Road with the loaded revolver in his bag.

Armed with the gun, Mahadi walked into OT Credit and showed a staff member a note stating, This is a robbery, dont shout. I got gun in my pocket. Put all the money in the bag.

The torn written note used by Mahadi Muhamad Mukhtar in his armed robbery. (PHOTO: Singapore Police Force)

The approach was similar to what Canadian James Roach did when he robbed a StanChart bank branch at Holland Village in 2016.

The staff member hit the panic button under the table before complying with Mahadi's instruction to put money inside his sling bag.

Mahadi left the store with about $24,800 in his sling bag and booked a GrabCar to Boon Lay Shopping Centre. He deposited $10,000 at an OCBC ATM, and another $14,000 into a POSB bank account. He made four online banking transactions transferring about $11,850 to loan sharks, and threw away the robbery note after tearing it up.

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He was arrested five hours later after the authorities used footage from police cameras and the shops CCTV.

Severity of the case emphasised

The bulk of the robbery proceeds were recovered, but no restitution was made of the remainder, which amounts to about S$5,000.

CNA reported that Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh asked for 15 to 20 years' jail and 18 strokes of the cane. Emphasising the severity of the case, he said, "This is a case where an auxiliary police officer makes off with his loaded service revolver and brings it with him to commit a serious crime, a robbery."

Koh added that there was a pressing public interest to guard against such crimes, noting the abuse of trust by Mahadi, who had been entrusted with a firearm for his duties.

There was also a high level of premeditation and planning as seen from his Internet searches and considering of various options to commit the robbery, as well as surveillance of his chosen target.

"We note that concern that the accused had copied the James Roach robbery, and this signals that the sentence in the James Roach robbery is not severe enough to send a message that such behaviour is not acceptable," said Koh, adding that a stronger message needs to be sent.

Defence lawyer Mark Yeo of Kalco Law asked instead for 10 years' jail and 18 strokes of the cane, the mandatory minimum. He said his client had no prior convictions and had cooperated with the police and confessed everything.

According to CNA, Yeo said the sentence the prosecution was asking for was manifestly excessive, adding that his client may have committed serious offences but "is not beyond redemption".

Do you have a story tip? Email: sgnews.tips@yahooinc.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Also check out our Southeast Asia, Food, and Gaming channels on YouTube.
Fentanyl-laced pills are shown inside a bag. A 13-year-old student was taken into custody in Bakersfield after allegedly bringing fentanyl pills to school. (Drug Enforcement Administration)

A middle school student was arrested in Bakersfield last week after bringing fentanyl pills to school and causing a school employee to overdose, authorities said.

The Bakersfield Police Department responded to a report of a 13-year-old student at Chipman Junior High School possessing fentanyl on Friday at about 9:05 a.m., police said in a Facebook post.

While police were on the way to the school, they received a report of a yard supervisor possibly overdosing after coming into contact with the pills, authorities said.

A Kern High School District police officer arrived at the scene and administered Narcan, a medication used to treat opioid overdoses, to the school employee, who was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

Police said they discovered the student brought to school about 150 fentanyl pills, which were disguised as Percocet painkiller pills. The yard supervisor discovered the pills after the student got into a fight with another student, police said, adding that the 13-year-old also had about $300.

The student was arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance for sales purposes. Authorities said they don't know if pills had been sold and distributed to other students. The investigation into how the student got the pills is ongoing.

Police encouraged parents to have conversations with their children about the dangers of fentanyl, which can be disguised as other drugs.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A Bellingham man who shot his mother to death in November 2021 will spend a little more than two decades in prison.

Erich M. Abrams, 36, was sentenced Aug. 30 in Whatcom County Superior Court to 21.6 years in prison with three years probation for first-degree murder (domestic violence) for the Nov. 18, 2021, death of Maryann Abrams. Erich Abrams pleaded guilty to the charge the same day he was sentenced.

As part of his sentencing, Abrams must also register as a felony firearm offender, cant possess or consume alcohol and must pay more than $8,500 in restitution, according to court records.

Abrams prison time was an agreed recommendation presented by both the prosecution and defense attorneys.

In a letter submitted to the court, Maryann Abrams brother, Gene Schubert, said his sisters murder was the worst tragedy hes experienced and that nothing he wrote seemed to be enough to describe the loss of his sister.

Schubert said he used to speak with his sister every Sunday for hours, in which they would reminisce about their childhood and she would share information about their family history. Schubert said that they were best friends and that she often put her son, Erich Abrams, and his needs before her own, according to court records.

Schubert wrote that he wanted to see justice served for his sisters death and that he didnt believe a minimal sentence honored his sisters life.

Sentencing documents submitted to the court by Abrams public defense attorney showed Abrams was suffering from undiagnosed and untreated schizophrenia and alcohol use disorder at the time of his mothers killing.

A forensic psychologist who evaluated Abrams wrote in a report that Abrams symptoms included auditory hallucinations, persecutory delusions and deteriorating social and occupational functioning, the court documents state. The psychologist wrote that Abrams psychotic disorder was undiagnosed and untreated until after his arrest.

The combination of his delusional ideation and disinhibition from his alcohol use contributed to the alleged acts of November 18, 2021. Had the examinee received appropriate treatment, it is unlikely that these events would have occurred. He will require continued psychiatric treatment while in custody and after his release, the psychiatric evaluation report states.

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Bellingham police were called around 1:42 a.m. on Nov. 18, 2021, to the intersection of Bakerview and Maplewood avenues for the report of a single-car crash involving a red Subaru Outback, according to previous reporting in The Bellingham Herald.

Sirius XM advised police it had a report of a crash of the car, which was owned by Maryann Abrams, and operators told What-comm dispatchers they could hear someone moving around inside the vehicle, court records state. The Sirius XM operator told police that the person inside the vehicle, who was later identified as Erich Abrams, said he was going to kill himself for what he did or that he wanted police to kill him, the records show.

Police used a public address system and Abrams exited the vehicle and was arrested. Abrams immediately told police to shoot him and then told police he had just shot his mother at their shared residence on Maplewood Avenue, according to court records.

Police and firefighters responded to the shared residence and found Maryann Abrams with multiple gunshot wounds to her face, chest and legs. She was pronounced dead at the scene, court records state.

During an interview with detectives, Abrams said he and his mother had got into an argument that morning and he became upset, so he walked into his bedroom, used a combination to unlock his safe where he retrieved a firearm and loaded the weapon. He then walked to his mothers room and shot her, according to the records.

Abrams then took the keys to his mothers vehicle and drove away from the residence, where he intended to kill himself. Due to his level of intoxication, Abrams failed to make a turn from West Maplewood Avenue into West Broadway and crashed into a pole, the court records state.

The judge at Abrams sentencing hearing ultimately followed the attorneys sentencing recommendation and sentenced Abrams on the low end of the standard range, court records show.

Resources

 Brigid Collins Family Support Center: 360-734-4616, brigidcollins.org

 Child Protective Services: Washington state hotline for reporting child abuse and neglect, 866-829-2153.

 Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services: 24-hour Help Line: 360-715-1563, Email: info@dvsas.org.

 Lummi Victims of Crime: 360-312-2015.

 Tlils Taaaltha Victims of Crime: 360-325-3310 or nooksacktribe.org/departments/youth-family-services/tlils-taaaltha-victims-of-crime-program/

 Bellingham Police: You can call anonymously at 360-778-8611, or go online at cob.org/tips.

 WWU Consultation and Sexual Assault Support Survivor Advocacy Services: 360-650-3700 or wp.wwu.edu/sexualviolence/.
Watch below: Ben Shephard questions Prince Harry's military uniform funeral ban

Ben Shephard has criticised Prince Harry allegedly being banned from wearing his military uniform at the Queen's funeral next week.

Recent reports have claimed that Harry will not be allowed to wear his armed forces uniform though an exception has been made for his uncle Prince Andrew.

On the 13 September edition of Good Morning Britain, host Shephard criticised the move, saying: "So hes been given dispensation specifically for the funeral itself, whereas Prince Harrys been told in theory he has to be in a suit."

Ben Shephard on 'Good Morning Britain'. (ITV)

He continued: "I feel like so far, everything has been so extraordinary to watch, and its been pitch perfect and bang in step with what we would all hope it to look like."

Read more: Queen's death: Peaceful anti-monarchy protesters 'should be left alone by police'

The experienced broadcaster concluded by saying: "It feels like this might be the first misstep from the publics perspective that Harry wouldnt be allowed to wear his uniform but Prince Andrew will be."

Prince Andrew as part of the royal procession. (WireImage)

Earlier this year, Prince Andrew reached an out of court settlement with Virginia Guiffre who accused the Queen's son of sexually abusing her when she was a child after being trafficked by Andrew's friend and convicted paedeophile, Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew has always regimently denied the allegations and did not admit any liability in the settlement which is thought to be in the many millions.

Prince Harry meeting mourners outside Windsor Castle. (In Pictures via Getty Images)

Due to his relationship with Epstein and the accusations, Andrew was forced to resign from all of his public roles in 2020 and his honorary military titles were returned to the Queen at the beginning of the year.

Andrew, who served in the Royal Navy during the Falklands War, was heckled in Edinburgh yesterday during the royal procession with the alleged heckler later charged by Police Scotland.
Sep. 13Carey Holbrook

BEREA The Berea Chamber of Commerce will be hosting its annual geocaching weekend extravaganza in October.

According to organizers, next month's event could be its last.

Jennifer Napier, Berea Chamber of Commerce's geocaching organizer and treasurer, will be retiring from the chamber this year and said on Monday she is unsure if the event will continue after her retirement.

Napier has been the chief organizer for Berea's geocaching event since it first began in 2014.

She said the chamber is actively searching for volunteers and other ways to keep the program alive, but is optimistic someone in Madison County could step up to the plate.

"I would encourage people that have an interest in the sport, or would like to host some local geocaching events, or want to learn more; to get involved," Napier said.

Napier encouraged individuals interested in keeping geocaching alive in Berea to attend next month's event.

"We have to have individuals who are familiar with geocaching in order to know how to design geocaches, because geocaches require year-round maintenance. It's not a single weekend event responsibility. (Geocaches) are up for years, therefore, someone has to maintain them... usually every month, or every couple of months, someone has to update or repair the geocaches," Napier explained.

Berea's geocaching event is scheduled to take place Oct. 14-16, but Napier stressed anyone can participate at any time during the weekend.

"You don't necessarily have to be there for all the activities hosted from Friday to Sunday. We understand that people's work schedules don't work out and they can't make it the entire weekend. We don't eliminate them from coming just because they cannot can't be there the entire weekend," Napier explained.

On Friday, there will be a meet and greet where participants can get to know other fellow geocachers who are coming to the event from across the U.S. They will share fun geocaching stories and can take part in various geocaching games that night.

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On Saturday, there will be a daytime launch for caching, so people can get together and learn more about the daytime caches. This activity will be followed by a nighttime event where participants will have to use black lights, flashlights, and UV lighting to be able to find the geocaches after dark.

Sunday morning, there will be a 'depot' called CITA, which is an acronym that stands for Cache In, Trash Out, in which geocaches will be launched Sunday morning around the areas that are frequently are associated with where people discard trash and litter often. The geocachers will be provided with trash bags and gloves where they'll go out and clean up those locations while looking for geocaches and clean up garbage. This will be followed by an awards ceremony and grand finale gathering on Sunday afternoon. This is where participants can come back and win various awards for participating in the different events over the weekend, including door prizes.

Napier noted geocaching has a robust community aspect.

"Geocachers are great people you can be somebody who wants to learn how to do this or someone who has no prior knowledge of the geocaching. Even if you're by yourself; you could still come to these events. There's always people that end up meeting each other and then they'll carpool together  some even make lifelong friends," Napier said.

Napier said that Berea's Geocaching program is the largest in the United States.

"That distinction happened in October of 2021 it was an accident, but when I launched the event in 2021, we hit 150 active geocaches. That placed us as the largest (geocache) territory in the United States," she explained.

Napier started this program more actively in 2014, and then got Berea's Geocaching on the app in 2016 making it much more accessible and easier to navigate for its users.

During this launch, they expected a younger crowd due to the integration of technology and the Pokemon Go craze starting in Spring 2016.

"We thought there was going to be a lot of young people that first year and were really surprised when it was a lot of retirees that came in (during this launch) and including their families  their children and grandkids," Napier said.

Through the years, Napier said the event has grown  with even an even more diverse group of geocachers participating each year.

"It's a very large diversified group of individuals that come. It's not necessarily your people that are the most athletic and love to get outdoors and just do everything in the world to stay in shape. It's families that might have mobility issues that want to take geocaches that are an easy walk or have little kids that they can't stay out very long. It could be older people that are retired. Some have some mobility issues. For more athletic people that love to get out and rock climb; they can participate in more challenging ones," Napier added.

In Madison County, there are over 1,000 caches to be explored and many aren't directly associated with the Berea Chamber of Commerce.

According to Napier, for those who are into outdoor activities there are geocaches on Willow Green Lake, which includes over 40 "paddle caches" where you must kayak to access them.

Geocaching is defined as a real-world, outdoor adventure happening all the time and all around the world, participants use the Geocaching app and/or GPS device to find cleverly hidden containers called geocaches, according to the official geocaching headquarters' website.

This sport was launched in May 2000 and has been a thing for 22 years once the military released public access to GPS satellites, according to Napier.

"Over the years, the first couple of guys that were military, they hid a Tupperware bowl in the woods and challenged a couple of their buddies to see if they can use the GPS satellites to go find it. Then that evolved into a website, which evolved into the app," Napier explained.

To get started as a new geocacher and play, all you have to do is visit www.geocaching.com/play. From there, you can download the app or search "Geocaching" and select the green application where you can download from the App Store or on Google Play.

It is, also, available online through the website. This is the official app for the sport which can provide geocaches millions of geocaches throughout the U.S. and 190 countries globally.

For more information regarding the Berea Commerce Geocaching program, visit the GeoTour for Berea on the official Geocaching Headquarters website at: www.geocaching.com/play/geotours/berea-kentucky or www.BereaChamberOfCommerce.org/geocaching-geotour/

The link to sign for the Official 2022 Berea Geocaching Weekend is www.eventbrite.com/e/9th-annual-berea-chamber-of-commerce-geocaching-weekend-2022-tickets-410733895137

To find the most up-to-date information regarding the event check out their Facebook page at: www.geocaching.com/bcocagw.
Packages marked as a Bible gift seized at the Atlanta airport actually hid a meth-soaked rug inside  and more meth, federal prosecutors say.

Now a Georgia man faces at least 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison after the meth-filled packages were addressed to him and mailed from Mexico, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Georgia.

Chad Williamson, 42, of Fitzgerald, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute on Sept. 8, the office announced in a Sept. 13 news release.

This comes after Homeland Security Investigations opened the mailed packages, also marked as containing a religious image alongside a Bible gift, and found the soaked rug and 200 grams of crystal meth at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Parcel Center in March 2021, according to the release.

Prosecutors say the meth-soaked rug can be chemically extracted for drug use.

McClatchy News contacted Williamsons attorney for comment on Sept. 13 and was awaiting a response.

The defendant was part of a larger international network using any means necessary to smuggle methamphetamine into Southwest Georgia; thankfully, federal agents intercepted this deadly drug before it could hit the streets, U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary said in a statement.

Methamphetamine is a stimulant responsible for nearly 17,000 overdose deaths in 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On March 11, 2021, after investigators intercepted the package meant for Williamson, DEA agents arrived at his doorstep, according to the release.

Then, Williamson took a drug test at his home administered by his probation officer and failed it, prosecutors say. As a result, he was arrested.

Afterward, he told agents that an associate had packages mailed to his address to deliver drugs in the U.S., according to prosecutors.

While DEA agents were at Williamsons home, he removed his phone SIM card, but investigators ultimately found it, prosecutors say.

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The SIM card revealed Williamson had been texting a drug supplier saved as Costa Chris in his phone, according to the release. The text messages showed the pair discussing coordinated drug deliveries and deals, prosecutors say.

As part of Williamsons sentencing scheduled for within 90 days, he also faces a $10 million fine, according to the attorneys office.

Fitzgerald is about 185 miles southeast of Atlanta.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Biden administration is talking with lawmakers on Capitol Hill about Taiwan security legislation, the White House said on Tuesday.

"We look forward to working with Congress on this proposed legislation as it works its way through the process," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters when asked about concerns the administration has had with the bill.

He said Washington was "adamant" about its commitment to Taiwan's self-defense.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Rami Ayyub; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Chris Reese)
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden is making an impromptu trip to his home state of Delaware to vote in the states primary on Wednesday.

He told reporters before boarding Air Force One that he was going to Wilmington to vote.

There is only one statewide race in Tuesdays election, which is for state auditor.

Incumbent auditor Kathy McGuiness is going up against lawyer and accountant Lydia York in the Democratic primary.

Delaware primary: What to watch for ahead of Delaware's primary Tuesday

More: Is Biden responsible for dip in inflation? President's victory lap is premature, experts say

McGuiness is the first statewide elected official to be charged with crimes and found guilty. But she has denied any wrongdoing and has told voters shes the victim of an unfair, political prosecution.

The Delaware Democratic Party has backed York in the race.

Contributing: Meredith Newman, Delaware News Journal

Reach Rebecca Morin at Twitter @RebeccaMorin_

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden heads to Wilmington to vote in Delaware primary
US President Joe Biden paid tribute Thursday to the late Queen Elizabeth II as a "stateswoman of unmatched dignity," and said he looked forward to working with her son King Charles, noting their already "close friendship."

Biden ordered flags at the White House and other federal buildings to be lowered to half-staff, and also visited the British embassy in Washington to sign a condolence book for the queen.

"Queen Elizabeth II was a stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States," Biden and First Lady Jill Biden said in a statement. "She helped make our relationship special."

At the embassy, Biden told staff the late queen was "a great lady" and that he was "so delighted I got to meet her."

Biden, 79, noted deep ties between the monarch and the United States, a former British colony.

"She stood in solidarity with the United States during our darkest days after 9/11, when she poignantly reminded us that 'Grief is the price we pay for love,'" Biden said in his statement.

The five former living US presidents -- Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump -- together with their wives all issued statements Thursday, paying tribute to the late monarch.

Setting aside their political divisions, now as deep as ever in America, the former US leaders were unanimous in their respect for the queen, praising her historic legacy as well as her personal traits.

Obama hailed "a reign defined by grace, elegance, and a tireless work ethic, defying the odds and expectations placed on women of her generation."

- 'Personal and immediate connection' -

"She listened deeply, thought strategically and was responsible for considerable diplomatic successes," he said in a statement.

Trump said the queen left an "extraordinary legacy of peace and prosperity for Great Britain."

"Her leadership and enduring diplomacy secured and advanced alliances with the United States and countries around the world," Trump said on his social network, Truth Social.

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The Clintons remembered the queen for "the kindness she showed us," while the Bushes noted that "tea with Her Majesty -- and her Corgis -- is among our fondest memories of the presidency."

Biden said he first met the queen in 1982 when he was a US senator and last saw her in June 2021 during his first foreign trip as president -- the 14th American president she had met.

"She was the first British monarch to whom people all around the world could feel a personal and immediate connection," the Bidens said. "She, in turn, dedicated her whole life to their service."

"In the years ahead, we look forward to continuing a close friendship with the king and the queen consort," they said, referring to Elizabeth's son and heir King Charles and his wife.

"Today, the thoughts and prayers of people all across the United States are with the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in their grief."

Flags will also be lowered on US Navy vessels, at military posts and naval stations, and at all American embassies and other facilities abroad, a proclamation from the White House said.

pmh/mlm/md/wd
President Biden and his Cabinet have been directly involved in trying to broker an agreement between rail companies and worker unions, seeking to avert a strike that could severely affect commuter rail services and consumer prices.

Administration officials confirmed that Biden and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh have reached out to both sides of the dispute, hoping to broker an agreement and avoid a shutdown.

A White House official said Biden was involved Monday in outreach to unions and freight rail companies and was updated again Tuesday on the situation.

A Department of Labor spokesperson said Walsh reached out Monday night to push the parties to reach a resolution that averts any shutdown of our rail system.

All parties need to stay at the table, bargain in good faith to resolve outstanding issues, and come to an agreement, the spokesperson said. The fact that we are already seeing some impacts of contingency planning by railways again demonstrates that a shutdown of our freight rail system is an unacceptable outcome for our economy and the American people, and all parties must work to avoid that.

The companies that operate railways for freight trains and the unions who work those rails have until Friday to agree to a new contract. Without a deal, workers could go on strike, crippling supply chains that depend on freight trains.

A strike could also impact passenger rail service. Amtrak does not own the railways where its trains operate in certain parts of the country but instead operates on railways owned by freight companies. Amtrak on Monday canceled some long-distance routes in anticipation of a potential strike.

Biden earlier this year created a Presidential Emergency Board to try and broker a compromise between the two parties, and his involvement in the latest round of talks further heightens his political risk should talks break down.

Five of the 12 unions representing rail workers have reached tentative agreements with railroads to enact the Presidential Emergency Board recommendations, which call for 24 percent pay raises, back pay and cash bonuses.

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But the bulk of rail workers belong to unions that havent yet struck a deal with companies.

Should the workers vote to strike, Congress could intervene to halt it.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A bloodied man walked into a Publix store holding a knife after he was accused of stabbing two people, according to a Florida sheriffs office.

The victims told deputies that they were at a birthday party with the man, later identified as Derrick Emery, 32, on Sept. 12 when he got drunk and the host kicked him out, according to a report from the Polk County Sheriffs Office.

They agreed to walk Emery home, and while walking along a parkway in Davenport, a city about 35 miles southwest of Orlando, he pulled a pocket knife out of a fanny pack, the report says.

Emery then began stabbing both victims in an unprovoked attack, the report says. Afterward, he ran away and shouted an expletive at them as he ran.

One of the victims had stab wounds to the neck, chest and left forearm. He was in stable condition, according to the sheriffs office. The second victim had been stabbed in the chest and arm and was also in stable condition.

When deputies spoke to Emery, he told them that while he was walking with the two people, he became paranoid that they were going to kill him and started stabbing them. He told officials that everything was a blur, and that when it was over, he ran to a parking lot and walked into a Publix, still holding the knife and with blood on his shirt, asking management for help. the report says.

Emery faces two counts of second-degree attempted murder, according to the sheriffs office. He is being held in the Polk County Jail, according to jail records.

4-year-old killed in hit-and-run in Florida Publix parking lot, police say

Out-of-control pickup truck smashes all the way through Illinois home, photos show

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Quincy High School was evacuated Tuesday morning following a bomb threat.

Officers responding to a report of an anonymous phone threat ordered everyone out of the building out of an abundance of caution, according to the Quincy Police Department.

Crews equipped with K9s have been deployed to sweep the building.

There were no additional details immediately available.

The incident remains under investigation.

The QPD is currently investigating a bomb threat at Quincy High School. Anonymous call came in at 8:02am. All students have been evacuated. Quincy Police EOD k9's have been deployed. We are working in conjunction w/Quincy Public Schools and will update you as info becomes avail.  Quincy, MA Police Dept (@quincymapolice) September 13, 2022

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
EXCLUSIVE: The head of the Border Patrol stated that an internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) guidance memo from May clearing border agents to release illegal migrants into the interior of the U.S.  in anticipation of a surge at the border if Title 42 is officially terminated  is unprecedented in the 31 years he's been with the agency.

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz made the comments under oath during a recorded July 28 deposition, first obtained by Fox News Digital, as part of discovery in a lawsuit by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody against the Department of Homeland Security and other border agencies.

Ortiz is seen on video responding to a series of questions on "Exhibit 3," an internal Border Patrol emergency memo that the chief signed on May 19, 2022, titled "Noncitizen releases from U.S. Border Patrol Custody." The emergency memo predicts that border agents would not be able to process and transport large numbers of illegal aliens who would cross the southern border into the U.S. if the Title 42 public health order , which is currently stuck in limbo in court, is repealed.

"This guidance is for situations where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)/Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) are unable to accept custody of noncitizens due to lack of bed space, such that noncitizens must be released directly from USBP custody to avoid overcrowding and excessive time in custody," the May 19 memo states.

Counselors for the office of the Florida attorney general asked Ortiz to describe the memo, to which he replied: "It's a memorandum that I signed on May 19th, 2022, and it discusses the non-citizen releases from our custody."

BORDER PATROL CHIEF SAYS BORDER CRISIS A RESULT OF BIDEN'S 'NO CONSEQUENCES' POLICY FOR ILLEGAL MIGRANTS

The Florida lawyer continued, asking, "In your experience 31 years with the Border Patrol, have you ever seen a documentor have you ever seen a memorandum like Exhibit 3 before?"

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Ortiz replied, "No."

"Would you agree with me that Exhibit 3 deals with the possible rescission of Title 42?" probed the lawyer.

"Yes," replied Ortiz.

"And if ICE were either unwilling or unable to accept transfer of aliens, this memo authorizes the sectors to release aliens into the interior of the United States?" continued the attorney.

Ortiz responded: "Well, it authorizes them to release them into the communities that they were apprehended in."

"And does Exhibit 3 authorize the release of aliens that would otherwise be inadmissible into the United States?" continued the lawyer.

Ortiz replied in the affirmative, "Yes."

The CBP previously told Fox News Digital, "As a matter of policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection generally does not comment on pending litigation."

FLORIDA AG MOODY RELEASES INTERNAL DHS DOCUMENT SHE SAYS CONTRADICTS MAYORKAS TESTIMONY ON BORDER CRISIS

Florida's attorney general is accusing the Biden administration of having only one solution for an increase in mass migration after Title 42 ends  mass releases of illegal migrants into the interior of the U.S.

Moody told Fox News Digital: "The Biden administrations failed immigration policies are disastrous. Expecting to be overrun, Bidens Border Patrol drafted a plan to hunker down and allow inadmissible immigrants to flood into the country. But for the efforts of our office and other responsibly minded, public-safety oriented attorneys general, Title 42 would have been repealed and Biden would have released untold thousands of additional immigrants into the interior of our countryoutrageous!"

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is accusing the Biden administration of having only one solution for an increase in mass migration after Title 42 ends  mass releases of illegal migrants into the interior of the U.S ERNST PETERS/ THE LEDGER/Reuters

The Department of Homeland Security has said that it has developed a plan for the end of Title 42, while conceding the surge will "substantially strain" resources at the border.

"When the Title 42 public health order is lifted, we anticipate migration levels will increase, as smugglers will seek to take advantage of and profit from vulnerable migrants," DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a memo outlining the agencys "plan for Southwest Border Security and Preparedness" from April.

The memo outlines what it calls a "whole-of-government plan to prepare for and manage increased encounters of noncitizens at our Southwest Border."

More than 2 million migrants have been encountered at the southern border this fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30.

Also during the deposition, Ortiz was also asked "What is a broken arrow?"

President Biden speaks at a Labor Day event with United Steelworkers of America Local Union 2227 in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania on September 5, 2022. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

He replied: "Typically, in the context of operations, it is unsustainable operational circumstances. We still had processes in place, and we still expected a majority of the encounters that we were experiencing on the southwest border would be facilitated from us to NGOs, but we also recognize that in a couple locations, that we were going to experience some challenges."
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recounted his last meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, saying she was bright and focused in the days before her death despite being visibly ill.

She was actively focused on geopolitics, on U.K. politics, quoting statesmen from the 50s. It was quite extraordinary, Johnson told the BBC in an interview broadcast Monday, adding that it was shocking to hear of her death just two days after they met.

Johnson said the queen was clearly not well during their meeting, which he said was a moving reminder of her unrelenting commitment to public service, even in her final days.

I just thought how incredible that her sense of duty had kept her going in the way that it had. And, given how ill she obviously was, how amazing that she should be so, so bright and so focused, Johnson said. It was a pretty emotional time.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson says Queen Elizabeth II was "bright and focused" in their last meeting two days before her death https://t.co/oiHXbEkfaMpic.twitter.com/O0jBhRfeSh  BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) September 12, 2022

Queen Elizabeth held weekly audiences with the sitting prime minister, with her reign spanning the terms of 15 U.K. leaders, according to The Guardian. Following her death on Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, this role passes to her successor, King Charles III.

The U.Ks new prime minister Liz Truss held her first audience with the king on Friday.

Britain's King Charles described the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth as the moment he had been dreading,' in an exchange with new Prime Minister Liz Truss in their first meeting https://t.co/1BmXN17szIpic.twitter.com/2QYeScSDnE  Reuters (@Reuters) September 9, 2022

Johnson met with the queen on Tuesday in Balmoral to formally offer his resignation after Truss won the Tory Leadership contest to succeed him as next Conservative Party leader and take over as the countrys new prime minister. Later that day, the queen appointed Truss to take his place.

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BREAKING: Outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson has arrived at Balmoral to tender his resignation to the Queen.



Live updates: https://t.co/ZTbv6x8cal



 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/CiPZFDyyg1  Sky News (@SkyNews) September 6, 2022

Johnson announced in July he would step down amid a slew of scandals, including holding parties breaking coronavirus restrictions, and misconduct allegations of a top aide that prompted the resignations of over 50 ministers.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
Sep. 12MITCHELL  Below is the latest South Dakota Media volleyball poll, issued for the week of Sept. 12, 2022.

Teams are listed with first place votes in parentheses, record, points and previous ranking.

1. O'Gorman (16), 3-0, 80; 2. Harrisburg, 8-0, 60; 3. Pierre, 8-0, 45; 4. Washington, 3-1, 29; 5. Huron, 7-0, 13.

Welcome in, welcome back: While the top-two slots in the preseason poll  No. 1 O'Gorman and No. 2 Harrisburg  remain the same for a second straight week, all others in the rankings move up one spot. Washington has been ranked all four weeks, moving up from No. 5 to No. 4 and Huron is in the rankings for the first time this season after an undefeated start to the season.

Others receiving votes: Jefferson (3-1) 10, Mitchell (3-5) 3.

1. Sioux Falls Christian (16), 10-3, 80; 2. Dakota Valley, 4-0, 64; 3. Platte-Geddes, 7-0, 30; 4. Canton, 9-0, 25; 5. Rapid City Christian, 12-3, 21.

Platte-Geddes joins in: For the first time this season, Platte-Geddes moves into the Class A rankings, essentially taking Wagner's slot in the rankings after defeating the previous No. 3 team in four sets last week. Canton moves up to No. 4 from No. 5 and Rapid City Christian drops from No. 4 to No. 5. Sioux Falls Christian and Dakota Valley remain at No. 1 and No. 2 for the fourth consecutive week.

Others receiving votes: Wagner (7-2) 9, Hamlin (4-0) 6, Elkton-Lake Benton (7-1) 2, Baltic (8-3) 2, Mobridge-Pollock (7-0) 1.

1. Warner (16), 14-1, 90; 2. Northwestern, 6-3, 53; 3. Chester Area, 9-2, 46; 4. Burke, 10-2, 43; 5. Wolsey-Wessington, 7-2, 18.

Still the (No.) 1: Warner remains at the No. 1 slot in Class B for the fourth consecutive week, despite a loss to new No. 4 Burke at the Arlington Tournament. Both Warner and Burke went 4-1 at the tournament, with the Cougars winning the head-to-head matchup in a best-of-three match that went the distance. (Warner was the tournament champion on a three-way tiebreaker with Elkton-Lake Benton. Burke moved up one spot, swapping with Wolsey-Wessington, despite the Cougars dropping a five-set match with O'Neill (Neb.) St. Mary's, which is ranked in Nebraska's Class D2.

Others receiving votes: None.
A metro Atlanta family fought back against their landlord and won after taking unfair hits to their credit scores.

It all started two years ago for siblings Carol and Caleb Blankemeyer when their Sandy Springs apartment flooded with water from the apartment above them.

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We didnt have a working kitchen, my brother and I were sharing my one bed and we were paying for a two-bedroom apartment, Carol Blankemeyer said.

When the complex would not move them or put them up in a hotel after extensive water damage, they documented the damage, sent a certified letter to the landlord and moved out.

By Georgia law, landlords must provide a habitable home, says consumer attorney Cyclone Covey.

They did everything they were supposed to do. The legal term is constructive eviction and so thats exactly what happened, Covey said.

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But the landlord, Trinity Property Consultants, charged them fees for breaking the lease, then turned it over to debt collectors and eventually the credit bureaus.

Before all of this, my credit was phenomenal and it just went down so far, Carol Blankemeyer said.

When Caleb was denied a loan because of the mark to his credit, the siblings filed a lawsuit against the landlord.

They were essentially blamed for something that was not their fault, Covey said.

Trinity Property eventually did agree to a settlement, but never followed through with fixing the credit scores as required by the terms of that settlement.

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And so, in August, Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Angela Duncan hit the landlord with a contempt of court order, fining them $2,000 a day for every day the mark remained on the Blankemeyers credit, more than $52,000 in total.

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The amount of time you have something on your credit it can affect you for a long time. This is not something you just fix whenever you get around to it. You need to fix it now and the judge told them they didnt have the proper sense of urgency, Covey said.

Trinitys attorney declined to comment but after the contempt order the company did get the Blankemeyers credit scores fixed and repaid their attorney fees and moving costs.

IN OTHER NEWS:




NEW BRUNSWICK  A city man has been arrested and charged with the Monday fatal stabbing of an Edison man in the area of Throop Avenue.

Rahmaad Howard, 34, was charged with murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose in the death of Barry James, 36, announced Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and New Brunswick Police Director Anthony A. Caputo.

Police responded around 6:29 a.m. Monday to the area of Throop Avenue and Townsend Street following the report of a stabbing and located James with multiple stab wounds, according to the prosecutors office. James died at a local hospital, the prosecutor's office said.

An investigation by New Brunswick Detective Raymond Quick and Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Detective Walter Kelley led to Howard being identified as the alleged suspect, according to the prosecutors office, and Howard knew James.

Anyone with information or surveillance footage of the area is asked to call New Brunswick Detective Quick at 732-745-5217 or Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Detective Kelley at 732-745-3330.

Email: srussell@gannettnj.com

Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: New Brunswick man charged in Edison mans stabbing death
Burkina Faso junta chief Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who took power in a January coup, has sacked his defence minister and assumed the role himself after a series of jihadist attacks, according to decrees published Monday.

The first decree, read on national television, removed General Barthelemy Simpore as defence minister, while the second said the "president has taken over the duties of the minister of national defence and veterans".

Damiba headed a group of officers who mounted a coup on January 24, toppling elected leader Roch Marc Christian Kabore, who had failed to stem the jihadist insurgency that first emerged in Mali in 2012.

Much of the Sahel region is now battling the insurgency after it spread to Burkina Faso in 2015, then to Niger. In recent years, the violence has also begun to spill over into West African coastal states Ivory Coast and Togo.

The mini-shuffle in Burkina Faso is the first since the appointment of a transitional government in March. At that time, Damiba chose to retain Simpore, who had been appointed by Kabore.

In another change, Colonel-Major Silas Keita was named minister delegate in charge of national defence and promoted to brigadier general. He was the only new minister introduced.

The shuffle follows a string of deadly jihadist attacks this month in the landlocked West African country, where the insurgency has claimed more than 2,000 lives and forced about 1.4 million people to leave their homes.

Attacks have increased since the start of the year, despite the junta's vow to make security its top priority.

September has been particularly bloody.

Two soldiers died and a dozen "terrorists" were killed Monday during an attack against a military detachment in Burkina Faso's jihadist-hit north, the army said.

Less than a week earlier, security sources said separate attacks by suspected jihadists had killed nine people, mostly civilians, in the north.

On September 5, at least 35 civilians were killed and 37 wounded when an improvised explosive device blast struck a convoy carrying supplies between Djibo and Bourzanga.

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In early September, Damiba had welcomed a "relative calm" in several locations. He said "offensive actions" by the army had been intensified and asserted that a dialogue process with certain armed groups had led "dozens of youth" to lay down their arms.

But the attacks remain numerous.

More than 40 percent of the country is outside government control.

ab/pid/raz/it/cwl
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Business and government officials are bracing for the possibility of a nationwide rail strike at the end of this week while talks carry on between the largest U.S. freight railroads and their unions.

The railroads have already started to curtail shipments of hazardous materials and have announced plans to stop hauling refrigerated products ahead of Friday's strike deadline. Now businesses that rely on Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX, Kansas City Southern and other railroads to deliver their raw materials and finished products have started planning for the worst.

Meanwhile, Biden administration officials are scrambling to develop a plan to use trucks, ships and planes to try to keep the most crucial chemicals and other goods moving if the railroads stop rolling. But the White House is also keeping the pressure on the two sides to settle their differences, and a growing number of business groups are lobbying Congress to be prepared to intervene and block a strike if they can't reach an agreement.

We have made crystal clear to the interested parties the harm that American families, business and farmers and communities would experience if they were not to reach a resolution, White House press secretary Jean-Pierre said Tuesday. She said a shutdown is not acceptable.

In addition to all the businesses that rely on railroads to deliver their goods, passenger railroads are also affected because many of them operate on tracks owned by one of the freight railroads. Amtrak has already cancelled several of its long-distance trains because there wouldnt be enough time for them to reach their destinations before a strike or lockout would be allowed to begin at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

Amtrak already suspended its California Zephyr and Empire Builder lines that run from Chicago to the West Coast, and starting Wednesday it will stop running its City of New Orleans, Starlight and Texas Eagle lines along with several others.

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Commuter railroads would also be affected. In Chicago, Metra warned its riders that it wouldnt be able to run most of its trains if there is a strike.

The railroads have reached tentative agreements with most of their unions, including a ninth deal announced Tuesday, based on the recommendations of a Presidential Emergency Board Joe Biden appointed this summer that called for 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses in a five-year deal thats retroactive to 2020. The deal also includes one additional paid leave day a year and higher health insurance costs.

But all 12 railroad unions must agree to prevent a strike. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union that represents engineers, and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers union that represents conductors want the railroads to address some of their concerns about unpredictable work schedules and strict attendance rules in addition to agreeing to the recommended wage increases.

Ron Kaminkow, general secretary of the Railroad Workers United labor coalition that includes workers from a variety of railroad unions, said he doesn't think the unions are demanding much at this point  just the kind of things most U.S. workers already enjoy like the ability to take time off without being penalized.

We have attendance policies that have gotten more and more and more draconian. That offer very, very little leeway for workers who need to take time off for doctors appointments, for time with family, to be rested, Kaminkow said.

Starting Monday, all the major railroads put a hold on shipments of hazardous materials to ensure those dangerous chemicals wouldn't be stranded along the tracks if there is a strike. Norfolk Southern told its customers that it will also stop accepting shipments of intermodal containers full of goods starting Wednesday evening as it prepares for a controlled shutdown of the network.

Some businesses would likely be affected more than others by a rail shutdown. For instance, nearly all ethanol and coal and most grain moves by rail.

___

Associated Press Writers Seung Min Kim and Zeke Miller contributed to this report from Washington D.C.
Everyone knows that some hurricanes are more powerful than others  a Category 5 storm poses a lot more danger than a Category 1 storm, hitting land with far more powerful winds.

But no such rating system exists for heatwaves, another climate hazard.

At least not yet.

A bill signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom this month will create a new ranking system for heatwaves  helping to inform the public on just how dangerous extreme temperatures could get, especially in coming decades when devastating heatwaves are likely to become more common.

The timing is fortuitous, as California just experienced its worst heatwave of the year  breaking daily, monthly and even some all-time records, with daily highs well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) in most of the state.

California has been battling record breaking extreme heat all week, California Assemblywoman Luz Rivas, who sponsored the bill in the state legislature, said in a statement from the governors office.

Unfortunately, each summer we are experiencing extreme heat weather events that are hotter and more devastating than the last.

The legislation requires the states Environmental Protection Agency to develop a ranking system for extreme heat by 2025.

The ranking will be based on forecasts of how long and how intense the heat will get, potential dangers to human health and local factors like the urban heat island effect, where cities get much hotter than the surrounding area because of all the extra heat absorbed by surfaces like asphalt and concrete.

Once complete, the ranking system will have recommendations or triggers for public policies that try and mitigate the danger of extreme heat and ways of measuring the damage inflicted by a severe heatwave.

California has previously considered naming heatwaves, much like meteorologists do with hurricanes, as a way to call attention to the danger of specific extreme heat events.

The National Weather Service has three tiers of warnings for heat danger, ranging from heat advisory to excessive heat warning. While these alerts have some general criteria behind them, theyre a little more flexible and relative to standard temperatures in a region.

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The bill was just one of many climate-related laws passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Newsom this year  including $54bn in climate spending, restrictions on new oil and gas wells in residential neighbourhoods and extending the life of Diablo Canyon, the states only remaining nuclear power plant.

The early September heatwave in California brought brutal temperatures to most of the state for days on end. Areas in the deserts around Los Angeles regularly saw daily highs rise over 110F (43C), as did cities up and down the Central Valley.

Sacramento, the state capital, broke its all-time heat record last Tuesday, with a high of 116F (47C).

This kind of heat can be extremely dangerous to human health, especially for people with underlying health conditions and the elderly. In addition, people without access to air conditioning, like homeless people, face incredible danger from extended heat events.

Heat illness can range from sunburns and heat exhaustion to potentially fatal heat strokes, where the body is unable to cool itself down. Extreme heat kills more people than any other disaster in the US, according to federal data.

Dangerous heatwaves are likely to get a lot more common in the coming decades as the climate crisis grows.

A UN climate science panel has warned that if the plant reaches 2C of warming above 19th-century temperatures, heatwaves that once occurred every 10 years would happen every other year and get 2.6C hotter.

Already, the planet has warmed 1.1-1.2C above 19th-century temperatures and is forecast to reach 2.7C of warming by the end of the century, according to the Climate Action Tracker, an independent analysis of global climate policy.
Sarah Grants journey to advocate for cancer research started nearly 20 years ago when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004.

Cancer is a word you just dont want to hear, said Grant. Cause when I first heard it, it brought tears to my eyes.

Grant fought it and recovered but the cancer later came back.

I said, oh no not again, said Grant. Ive had it once. Dont need it no more.

Grant was determined to survive and survive she did.

The Atlanta native is now a proud grandmother and a volunteer with the American Cancer Society.

Grant was one of more than 600 volunteers with the organization who traveled to Washington D.C. Tuesday to meet with staffers for members of Congress from both parties to discuss efforts to fight the disease.

Research funding, we definitely need a lot of that because the more research money we can get, the better off for cures being found, said Grant.

Lisa Lacasse, President of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said the organization is pushing for more funding for the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Theyre also pushing for Congress to pass a bill aimed at boosting diversity in clinical trials and another proposal that allows Medicare to cover the cost of more early detection cancer screenings.

Both measures are bipartisan, with multiple Democrats and Republicans as co-sponsors.

The push for Congress to take action comes a day after President Biden announced his goal of cutting cancer-related deaths in half over the next 25 years.

Beating cancer is something we can do together, said President Biden Monday.

Grant said shes optimistic where the steps of her journey will lead.

Eventually, there will be a cure for cancer, said Grant. Its going to take a lot of research. But like I said, weve made a lot of progress and its coming along.

The American Cancer Society said we have come a long way over the last few decades.

The group estimates between 1991 and 2019, around 3.5 million deaths were prevented because of progress in cancer research.
CANTON  Three council members left Monday's regular meeting in solidarity with people protesting the grand jury decision not to indict police officer Robert Huber in the shooting death of James Williams.

Councilmen Kevin D. Hall, D-6, and Frank Morris, D-9, and Councilwoman Chris Smith, D-4, excused themselves after five city residents decried the verdict and what they described as police harassment of protesters. The public speaking period occurred early during the meeting and because only seven council members remained, ordinances scheduled for a vote Monday were postponed until next week.

After listening to the speakers, Hall said he agreed with everyone there and himself witnessed a Canton police officer being aggressive toward a volunteer football coach at Harmont Park.

"Something has to be done," he said as applause erupted from the audience.

James Williams coverageHis family's lawsuit against Canton

James Williams:Community members react to Canton police case

Smith then excused herself and was followed by Morris.

What three Canton City Council members said about the walkout over Canton police

"Myself, member Smith and member Hall and a couple others did request the termination and we were told to sit down, keep our mouths shut and let the process play out," Morris said  the end of his statement nearly drowned out by applause and cheers from the crowd.

Council President William Sherer II then called for a five-minute recess as chants of "no justice, no peace" and "this is what democracy looks like" continued from the hallway. Periodic calls to fire Huber occurred throughout the meeting.

Marquetta Williams, the wife of James Williams, was one of the speakers who addressed Mayor Thomas Bernabei  who was not present Monday. She demanded the mayor's resignation and said her attorney would request a federal investigation of the shooting.

"God sees you all," she said. "Justice will be served."

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Mayor Thomas Bernabei later told The Canton Repository that the completion of the criminal investigation allows the Canton Police Department to start its internal disciplinary review. He said he and city government officials sympathize with Marquetta Williams and her family.

"I understand that after waiting nine-plus months of investigation of the case by outside authorities and no charges being filed, she is frustrated and angry," he said in an email. "The decision to bring charges rested solely with the Stark County prosecutor and grand jury. I am not resigning."

James Williams coverage:A timeline of the shooting and aftermath

The three council members who left Monday's meeting were among the five members who endorsed a statement earlier this year about the criminal investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. It said they would "be paying close attention" to the process and expected it to "move as swiftly as possible."

"Should criminal wrongdoing be found on the part of the officer, we fully expect, and will demand, quick and decisive action on the part of the city," it concluded.

What other Canton City Council members are saying

Councilwoman Brenda Kimbrough, D-2, and Councilman Robert Fisher, D-5, also signed that statement. They did not leave Monday's meeting but afterward said it wasn't because they didn't agree with residents' concerns.

"What's it going to do?" Fisher said about the walkout.

He said more could be done to improve relations between the police and the community, such as creating a civilian police review board or publicizing the existing city commission responsible for reviewing internal police investigations.

Kimbrough said local legislators had limited control over the outcome in this case, with the verdict decided by a Stark County grand jury. She said the focus should be on changing state laws to ensure that gun laws protect everyone. The next step is determining how police can keep people safe and "we can all live in peace."

"There's got to be a middle ground," she said.

Councilmen Jason Scaglione, D-3, and John Mariol II, D-7, were absent for all of Monday's meeting and excused  as were Hall, Smith and Morris after they left.

Councilmen James Babcock, D-at large; Peter Ferguson, D-8; Greg Hawk, D-1; Louis Giavasis, D-at large; and Bill Smuckler, D-at large, were present for the entire meeting along with Fisher and Kimbrough.

Reach Kelly at 330-580-8323 or kelly.byer@cantonrep.comOn Twitter: @kbyerREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton council members walk out in in support of protestors
New index offering from Credit Suisse addresses increasing demand for performative and sustainably focused investment opportunities

NEW YORK and CLEARWATER, Fla. --News Direct-- AmeriLife

A-CAP and AmeriLife today announced the addition of the Credit Suisse ESG Macro 5 Index (Bloomberg: CSEAGESG) to their industry-leading Accumulation Protector PlusSM (APP) Annuity, a 10-year fixed indexed annuity, offered through A-CAPs subsidiaries, Sentinel Security Life Insurance Company and Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Company.

The Credit Suisse ESG Macro 5 Index will add an innovative, multi-asset approach, with a focus on environment, social and governance (ESG) standards. The index also offers exposure to components across regions and asset classes in an attempt to mitigate market unpredictability as well as benefit from opportunities across different market cycles and geographies.

Two years ago, this month, we launched the APP Annuity offering exclusive access to the Credit Suisse Momentum Index and guaranteed participation rates for ten years. With a bespoke index designed to perform well in all market conditions, and a revolutionary, 10-year guaranteed participation rate product design, the APP Annuity was the first of its kind in our industry, said Doug George, head of Life and Annuity for A-CAP. Today, we are proud to further enhance the APP Annuitys value by adding exclusive access to the Credit Suisse ESG Macro 5 Index with similar 10-year guaranteed participation rates.

The fully rules-based Credit Suisse ESG Macro 5 Index provides a global equity component that offers exposure to a risk-weighted basket of four regional indices from leading ESG index provider MSCI, designed to maximize exposure to positive environmental, social and governance scores, as identified by MSCI. A basket of macro components, comprised of sub-strategies across fixed income, commodities and currencies components, further seeks to identify trend patterns in the markets and to benefit from the difference in yields between different instruments. Combined with a daily adjustment to target index volatility a 5% to generate consistent returns over time, the Credit Suisse ESG Macro 5 index seeks to combine stable growth with sustainably focused and impact investment.

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We are thrilled that A-CAP and AmeriLife have collaborated with Credit Suisse again, said Andrew Ip Ping Wah, head of Insurance Solutions for Credit Suisse. The Credit Suisse ESG Macro 5 Index provides a new option to policyholders wanting exposure to companies filtered through MSCIs Environmental, Social and Governance criteria.

Since its launch in 2020, the APP Annuity has proven to be a differentiator for AmeriLifes distribution and a key offering of our holistic product portfolio, added Denny Southern, president of Annuity & Retirement Planning for AmeriLife. The addition of the Credit Suisse ESG Macro 5 Index will only make this incredible product better by delivering the diversity, flexibility and performance that todays discerning investors are craving.

The product and indices described above are a summary only. All benefits and features are subject to the actual terms and conditions of the annuity contract. To learn more about the Accumulation Protector Plus (APP) Annuity and the Credit Suisse ESG Macro 5 index, licensed agents and financial advisors can visit www.sslco.com/app, www.aclico.com/app, indices.credit-suisse.com/CSEAGESG, or contact Sentinel Security Life Insurance Companys sales team at 800-247-1423 and Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Companys sales team at 844-442-3847.

Attributions and Disclaimers with Respect to Credit Suisse

The Credit Suisse Momentum Index and the Credit Suisse ESG Macro 5 Index (the Indices) and Credit Suisse, and any trademarks, service marks and logos related thereto are service marks of Credit Suisse Group AG, Credit Suisse International, or one of their affiliates (collectively, Credit Suisse). Credit Suisse has no relationship to Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Company or Sentinel Security Life Insurance Company, other than the licensing of the Credit Suisse Momentum Index and the Credit Suisse ESG Macro 5 Index and its service marks for use in connection with the Accumulation Protector PlusSM Annuity and certain hedging arrangements and is not a party to any transaction contemplated hereby. Credit Suisse shall not be liable for the results obtained by using, investing in, or trading the Accumulation Protector PlusSM Annuity. Credit Suisse has not created, published or approved this document and accepts no responsibility or liability for its contents or use. Obligations to make payments under the Accumulation Protector PlusSM Annuity are solely the obligation of Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Company or Sentinel Security Life Insurance Company and are not the responsibility of Credit Suisse.

There is currently no universal definition or exhaustive list defining the issues or factors that are covered by the concept of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance). Credit Suisses view of ESG is based solely on Credit Suisses current opinions, assumptions, and interpretations, which may evolve over time and are subject to change.

MSCI Indices are the exclusive property of MSCI Inc. (MSCI). MSCI and the MSCI index names are service mark(s) of MSCI or its affiliates and have been licensed for use for certain purposes by Credit Suisse. The financial product referred to herein is not sponsored, endorsed, or promoted by MSCI, and MSCI bears no liability with respect to such financial product. The annuity contract or other governing disclosure document contains a more detailed description of the limited relationship MSCI has with Credit Suisse and any related financial product. No purchaser, seller or holder of this financial product, or any other person or entity, should use or refer to any MSCI trade name, trademark or service mark to sponsor, endorse, market or promote this financial product without first contacting MSCI to determine whether MSCIs permission is required. Under no circumstances may any person or entity claim any affiliation with MSCI without the prior written permission of MSCI.

###

About A-CAP

A-CAP is a holding company owning multiple insurance and financial businesses on its unique and synergistic platform. These businesses include primary insurance carriers, an SEC registered investment adviser, reinsurance vehicles, and marketing organizations. With broad knowledge across the insurance and investment sectors, A-CAPs management team has diverse experience and provides comprehensive services to policyholders, insurance company clients and capital partners. Launched in 2013, A-CAP is a privately held company with offices located in New York, Charleston, Chicago, and Salt Lake City. For more information, visit www.acap.com.

About AmeriLife

AmeriLifes strength is its mission: to provide insurance and retirement solutions to help people live longer, healthier lives. In doing so, AmeriLife has become recognized as the leader in developing, marketing, and distributing life and health insurance, annuities and retirement planning solutions to enhance the lives of pre-retirees and retirees across the United States. For more than 50 years, AmeriLife has partnered with top insurance carriers to provide value and quality to customers served through a distribution network of over 300,000 insurance agents and advisors and more than 100 marketing organizations and insurance agency locations nationwide. For more information, visit AmeriLife.com, and follow AmeriLife on Facebook and LinkedIn.

About Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse is one of the world's leading financial services providers. The banks strategy builds on its core strengths: its position as a leading wealth manager, its specialist investment banking and asset management capabilities and its strong presence in its home market of Switzerland. Credit Suisse seeks to follow a balanced approach to wealth management, aiming to capitalize on both the large pool of wealth within mature markets as well as the significant growth in wealth in Asia Pacific and other emerging markets, while also serving key developed markets with an emphasis on Switzerland. The bank employs more than 50,000 people. The registered shares (CSGN) of Credit Suisse Group AG, are listed in Switzerland and, in the form of American Depositary Shares (CS), in New York. Further information about Credit Suisse can be found at www.credit-suisse.com.

Contact Details

AmeriLife

Jeff Maldonado

+1 321-297-1112

jmaldonado@amerilife.com

A-CAP

Kristen Jensen

+1 914-393-5472

kjensen@acap.com

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https://amerilife.com/

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A Centerville woman is among a group of Ohioans being inducted into the Ohio Senior Citizen Hall of Fame this week.

Martha Boice, of Centerville, will be one of 15 people inducted Wednesday.

The Ohio Senior Citizen Hall of Fame honors the vital role older adults play in their communities, our state, and the nation, according to the Ohio Department of Aging.

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Boice has spent more than 50 years saving historic buildings and landmarks in southwest Ohio. In 1972, she saved the David Watkins-George Sears House from being demolished by a developer.

While she worked to preserve the David Watkins-George Sears House, a 150-year-old house, Boice lead the creation of Centervilles National Register District. The Ohio Department of Aging said it marked Montgomery Countys first National Register District.

She then trained a committee to tour historic houses and find records from local government offices, court cases, estate packets, and library archives. The committees work led to publishing a book in 1977 titled A Sense of Place about the historic homes in Centerville and Washington Township, her inductee biography stated.

Boice has help found several historical preservation organization, including Landmarks Foundation of Centerville-Washington Township, the Western Shaker Study Group and the Friends of White Water Shaker Village.

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Ohio Heritage named Boice a Preservation Hero in 2016. Shes also been given the Excellence in Public Education and Awareness award from the State Historic Preservation Office of the Ohio History Connection and has been named Volunteer of the Year for the Dayton-Montgomery County Park District.

Boice and 14 others will be inducted into the Ohio Senior Citizen Hall of Fame Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at the Ohio Statehouse.

You can read Boices full biography here.
Sexual assault charges in Arizona against Colby Jordan Ryan, the surviving son of Lori Vallow, the Idaho woman accused of killing her two younger children, have been dropped, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said.

Ryan was arrested this month in Mesa, Arizona, after his estranged wife accused him of raping her at her home. He was charged with two counts of sexual assault.

The county attorneys office dismissed the charges without prejudice, which allows the office to file charges in the future and allows time for additional review of the case, spokesperson Jennifer Liewer said.

Ryan was released from custody Thursday and must abide by conditions for his release, including not initiating contact with the alleged victim or the arresting officers and not possessing any drugs without valid prescriptions.

The victim, who was not publicly identified, told officers that Ryan went to her home on Aug. 31 to watch television, according to a probable cause statement. The pair are separated and do not live together. The woman told police that the two engaged in consensual kissing but that she did not want to have sexual intercourse. She told Ryan several times to stop, but he inappropriately touched her and then raped her, the probable cause statement says.

Afterward, Ryan told his wife that he was sorry and started to cry, the document says. The next day, the woman recorded a conversation with Ryan, who is alleged to have admitted inappropriately touching and raping her.

During the recorded conversation the Defendant agreed that he raped the Victim, the probable cause affidavit says. Detectives also said Ryan made verbal admissions during a police interview, the document says.

Ryan was then charged with two counts of sexual assault and held at the Maricopa County jail.

Image: (Tony Blakeslee / East Idaho News via AP file)

Ryan is the son of Lori Vallow, who  along with her husband, Chad Daybell  was charged with murdering her son Joshua JJ Vallow, 7, and daughter, Tylee Ryan, 17.

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Prosecutors have alleged that the couple planned to kill Tylee and steal the Social Security benefits she was receiving because her father had died. They alleged that the couple also killed Joshua.

Authorities in Idaho began looking into the couple in November 2019 after family members reported the two children missing. The couple lied to police about the childrens whereabouts, at one point telling investigators that Joshua was staying with a friend out of state.

The couple eventually stopped cooperating with police and left the state. They were found in January 2020 in Hawaii. Later that year, the childrens remains were discovered buried on Daybells property.

Court documents said that Joshua was buried in a pet cemetery and that Tylees remains were dismembered and burned in a fire pit.

The couple are also embroiled in at least one other death. According to authorities, they married weeks after Daybells wife, Tammy, died unexpectedly. The death was initially ruled as natural, but investigators had the body exhumed for an autopsy. The autopsy, completed last year, ruled the death a homicide.

Prosecutors said Vallow and Daybell had exchanged text messages saying they believed Tammy was in limbo and possessed by a spirit named Viola.

Vallow is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder in Arizona in connection with the death of her previous husband, Charles Vallow. He was shot and killed in 2019 by her brother, Alex Cox, who claimed he was acting in self-defense. Cox died later of what police said were natural causes.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A newly unearthed video shows Charlie Crist, the Democratic nominee for Florida governor, comparing himself to Jesus Christ and calling Republican governor Ron DeSantis DeSatan.

The video, which was shared by DeSantiss campaign on Monday, is from a March 17 event, according to the Daily Caller.

Crist suggested the race for governor in the Sunshine State is about decency and being kind to everyone before saying of DeSantis, You know some people call him DeSatan? Have you heard that?

In just one minute, Charlie Crist compares himself to both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Jesus Christ. pic.twitter.com/Y921vt1qAB  DeSantis War Room (@DeSantisWarRoom) September 12, 2022

DeSatan versus that, Crist said, gesturing to a sign behind him featuring his own name, and one of the event attendees said, Christ!

Crist responded, Oh think about it! Boom!

Earlier, he compared himself to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Look at that sign right there. You see the colors? The blue and the yellow. Does that remind you of any country thats in the news? he said.

After members of the audience said, Ukraine, Crist said, Yeah, were fighting for freedom too. And Zelensky, President Zelensky, hes amazing.

Switching the topic back to DeSantis, Crist said: It is crystal clear. Hes bad, were good.

Crist, who is the former governor of Florida and served in the U.S. House of Representatives until resigning last month to focus on his campaign, made similarly disparaging comments last month when he won the Democratic primary.

Those who support the governor should stay with him, he said during a press conference. I dont want your vote. If you have that hate in your heart, keep it there.

Crist faces long odds against DeSantis in November: FiveThirtyEight gives DeSantis a 92 percent chance of winning reelection in a state that has increasingly shifted to the right in recent years. Florida Republicans saw a voter-registration advantage over Republicans for the first time in the states history in December 2021. By March 2022, Republicans had notched a 100,000 voter-registration advantage.

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DeSantis also has a massive $140 million reelection fund at his disposal.

More from National Review
Learn to recognize key signs, and know what action to take in either case

By Ashley Abramson

Chest pain can signal something serious, and its often an emergency. But discomfort in your chest area can also be a sign of a minor annoyance. That means that when you notice it, you may be uncertain about whom to call or what to do.

Experts agree that in the moment, its key to take the right action without hesitation, erring on the side of caution. Here, the most common causes of chest pain, when to seek help as soon as possible, and when you can wait.

Simple or Serious?

Chest pain is one of the most common reasons people go to an emergency department or a doctors office, says Martha Gulati, MD, a cardiologist and president-elect of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology.

Discomfort in your chest is sometimes due to gas, heartburn, inflammation in your rib cartilage, or anxiety. But its important to be aware of the serious and even deadly problems that can also cause pain.

For instance, the risk of a heart attacka blockage in any artery that delivers blood and oxygen to your heartincreases with age. An aortic dissection, which is a tear along the vessel that delivers blood to the rest of your body, also causes chest pain. The pain can sometimes be a warning sign of a lung blood clot called a pulmonary embolism, or even a rupture of the esophagus, the tube that connects your throat to your stomach. Each one of these problems is an emergency.

What doctors refer to as chest pain is generally centered in the chest area but can include other sensations and even extend to other areas of your body. The American Heart Association guidelines for diagnosing and treating chest pain list pain, pressure, tightness, or discomfort in the chest, shoulders, arms, neck, back, upper abdomen, or jaw as potentially serious symptoms. Another sign of a possible emergency is chest discomfort plus fatigue or shortness of breath.

Your symptoms can help you determine whether you need help immediately. And there are a few key factors to consider when youre deciding what to do.

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When to Consult Your Doctor

If youve already been diagnosed with a condition like angina, you may have discomfort that hasnt changed significantly and that your doctor has already assessed. You also may have a chronic problem thats getting worse but only very gradually. Maybe youve already talked to your doctor about the heartburn you get after eating, but lately youve noticed its more severe and more frequent.

In such cases, you should consult a doctor ASAP, but not necessarily in an emergency room. If its a symptom youve had in the past, and it feels similar and it has already been evaluated, thats when a nonurgent evaluation would be appropriate, says Michael Nanna, MD, a cardiologist and an assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine.

When to Call 911

Acute chest pain, or sudden discomfort you havent experienced before, always warrants emergency care. When in doubt, call 911.

Dont research your symptoms online or call your doctors office when you have such chest pain, Nanna says. Your medical provider will probably send you to the emergency department anyway, because its not possible to diagnose a serious problem over the phone. I always suggest the patient be evaluated as soon as possible, because theres no way for a patient to be able to differentiate a heart attack from reflux, Nanna says.

For potentially serious causes, quick treatment can be critical to survival. Thats one reason its best not to drive or get a ride to a hospital if you have acute chest pain. If you call 911, paramedics can begin administering necessary medication in the ambulance, and a team will be ready for you when you arrive at the hospital.

If a serious cause is ruled out, Nanna says your provider will work with you to manage whatever is causing your chest pain and discuss ways to prevent future problems. Either way, never be embarrassed about a false alarm.

Yes, for the majority of people, it will not be cardiac or life-threatening, but we dont want to miss anyone, Gulati says. We can joke about it later being reflux or gas, but I would rather you be around to joke about it.

Editors Note: A version of this article also appeared in the September 2022 issue of Consumer Reports On Health.





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Best used cars for $25,000 and less

7 best mattresses for couples





Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright  2022, Consumer Reports, Inc.
AccuWeather

AccuWeather meteorologists are closely monitoring the potential for a powerful storm to bring rain and what would be the season's first mountain snow to Northern California from Sunday through Monday. A sprawling area of low pressure in the eastern Pacific Ocean is expected to track southeast this weekend and remain off the Pacific Northwest coast. It is then predicted to stall out and perhaps even track a bit to the west before it eventually moves onshore in Northern California. This system app
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry declined to say whether President Xi Jinping will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin or Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation regional security bloc summit this week.

The summit will take place in Uzbekistan from Sept. 15.

The foreign ministry was asked about Xi's plans during a daily news briefing on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista, Writing by Martin Quin Pollard, Editing by Andrew Heavens)
By Emma Farge

GENEVA (Reuters) - China attacked a report issued by the U.N. rights office (OHCHR) on alleged abuses in Xinjiang on Tuesday and read out a statement backed by around 20 other countries criticising the U.N. body for releasing it and saying it had no right to do so.

But initial support for Beijing's so-called joint statement at the U.N. Human Rights Council was thinner than some observers had expected - a fact that might embolden China's critics.

The Aug. 31 report, which China had asked the U.N. not to publish, stipulated that "serious human rights violations have been committed" and said the detention of Uyghurs and other Muslims in China's Xinjiang region may constitute crimes against humanity. China vigorously denies any abuse.

Democracies are now mulling a possible historic motion against China including a possible investigative mechanism at an ongoing meeting of the Geneva council as a result, diplomats told Reuters. The United States, Canada and the European Union were among those welcoming the Xinjiang findings and expressing concern in the council's Tuesday session where countries are discussing the report for the first time.

But Chen Xu, China's ambassador, rejected it as an erroneous "smear", saying it was based on lies.

"We are deeply concerned that the OHCHR, without the authorisation of the Human Rights Council, and the consent of the country concerned, released the so-called assessment on Xinjiang, China...," he said in a separate joint statement.

A U.N. council official said that so far 21 countries had signed that statement including Egypt and Pakistan.

However, a Reuters tally showed that only seven of those that sided with China currently have a vote at the 47-member Council where resolutions need a majority to pass.

"They won't be happy with that," said one diplomat.

Countries that have previously voiced support for China on human rights issues who were not on the current list included Nepal, Nigeria, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates although they could join later as the list remains open.

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"The U.N. report has made it hard for many countries, in particular Muslim ones, to stay silent..." said Raphael Viana David from the International Service for Human Rights.

There has been heavy campaigning on the part of both China and Western countries over the Xinjiang report, diplomats said.

"Everybody has been lobbied," said one diplomat, who said his country would not support either side.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Photo credit: Chrysler

Somehow, the Chrysler 300 is still around. This current-generation model, first introduced in 2005, has been given a new "C" trim for 2023 that includes familiar looks and a 485-hp Hemi V-8. Just 2200 examples will be built, and after that, production of the 300 will end for good.

Styling for the 2023 300C hasn't changed a bit since the 300's refresh in 2015. All of the body panels and lighting elements are the same save for the front end, which gets a unique mesh grille with an offset tri-color badge. There are also black chrome accents and 20-inch forged wheels wrapped in all-season tires. They shroud four-piston Brembo brakes with red-painted calipers. Only three exterior paint colors are available: Gloss Black, Velvet Red and Bright White.

Under the hood you'll find Stellantis's tried and true 6.4-liter naturally aspirated Hemi V-8 making 485 hp and 475 lb-ft of torque. It gets power to the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission and a limited-slip differential out back. Chrysler estimates a 0-60 time of 4.3 seconds and a quarter-mile of 12.4 seconds. Top speed is 160 mph.

Photo credit: Chrysler

Other performance improvements include active suspension damping and an active exhaust system with blacked out tips.

Inside the 2023 300C you'll find front seats wrapped in black leather embossed with the 300C logo. There's silver contrast stitching, appearing on the seats, doors, and instrument panel, with carbon fiber and black piano trim throughout the cabin. A 19-speaker Harmon Kardon sound system comes standard, as does an 8.4-inch infotainment screen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. There's also a slew of safety systems onboard, including lane departure warning and collision warning.

Of the 2200 300Cs Chrysler plans to build, 2000 will be sold in the United States, while the other 200 are destined for Canada. Pricing for the U.S. comes in at $55,000 fully equipped, with reservation books open now.

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The last operating reactor at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, reactor No. 6, has been safely shut down. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images

Energoatom, operator of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, announced on Sept. 11, 2022, that it was shutting down the last operating reactor of the plants six reactors, reactor No. 6. The operators have put the reactor in cold shutdown to minimize the risk of a radiation leak from combat in the area around the nuclear power plant.

The Conversation asked Najmedin Meshkati, a professor and nuclear safety expert at the University of Southern California, to explain cold shutdown, what it means for the safety of the nuclear power plant, and the ongoing risks to the plants spent fuel, which is uranium that has been largely but not completely depleted by the fission reaction that drives nuclear power plants.

What does it mean to have a nuclear reactor in cold shutdown?

The fission reaction that generates heat in a nuclear power plant is produced by positioning a number of uranium fuel rods in close proximity. Shutting down a nuclear reactor involves inserting control rods between the fuel rods to stop the fission reaction.

The reactor is then in cooldown mode as the temperature decreases. According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, once the temperature is below 200 degrees Fahrenheit (93 Celsius) and the reactor coolant system is at atmospheric pressure, the reactor is in cold shutdown.

When the reactor is operating, it requires cooling to absorb the heat and keep the fuel rods from melting together, which would set off a catastrophic chain reaction. When a reactor is in cold shutdown, it no longer needs the same level of circulation.

How does being in cold shutdown improve the plants safety?

The shutdown has removed a huge element of risk. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is a pressurized water reactor. These reactors need constant cooling, and the cooling pumps are gigantic, powerful, electricity-guzzling machines.

Cold shutdown is the state in which you do not need to constantly run the primary cooling pumps at the same level to circulate the cooling water in the primary cooling loop. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported that reactor No. 6 is now in a cold shutdown state like the facilitys five other reactors, and will require less power for cooling. Now, at least if the plant loses offsite power, the operators wont have to worry about cooling an operating reactor with cranky diesel generators.

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And by shutting down reactor No. 6, the plant operators can be relieved of a considerable amount of their workload monitoring the reactors amid the ongoing uncertainties around the site. This substantially reduced the potential for human error.

The operators jobs are likely to be much less demanding and stressful now than before. However, they still need to constantly monitor the status of the shutdown reactors and the spent fuel pools.

What are the risks from the spent fuel at the plant?

The plant still needs a reliable source of electricity to cool the six huge spent fuel pools that are inside the containment structures and to remove residual heat from the shutdown reactors. The cooling pumps for the spent fuel pools need much less electricity than the cooling pumps on the reactors primary and secondary loops, and the spent fuel cooling system could tolerate a brief electricity outage.

One more important factor is that the spent fuel storage racks in the spent fuel pools at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant were compacted to increase capacity, according to a 2017 Ukrainian government report to the IAEA. The greater number and more compacted the stored spent fuel rods, the more heat they generate and so more power is needed to cool them.

These massive concrete cylinders store spent nuclear fuel rods. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant stores much of its spent fuel outdoors in casks like these. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

There is also a dry spent fuel storage facility at the plant. Dry spent fuel storage involves packing spent fuel rods into massive cylinders, or casks, which require no water or other coolants. The casks are designed to keep the fuel rods contained for at least 50 years. However, the casks are not under the containment structures at the plant, and, though they were designed to withstand being crashed into by an airliner, its not clear whether artillery shelling and aerial bombardment, particularly repeated attacks, could crack open the casks and release radiation into the grounds of the plant.

The closest analogy to this scenario could be a terrorist attack that, according to a seminal study by the National Research Council, could breach a dry cask and potentially result in the release of radioactive material from the spent fuel. This could happen through the dispersion of fuel particles or fragments or the dispersion of radioactive aerosols. This would be similar to the detonation of a dirty bomb, which, depending on wind direction and dispersion radius, could result in radioactive contamination. This in turn could cause serious problems for access to and work in the plant.

Next steps from the IAEA and UN

The IAEA has called on Russia and Ukraine to set up a safety and security protection zone around the plant. However, the IAEA is a science and engineering inspectorate and technical assistance agency. Negotiating and establishing a protection zone at a nuclear power plant in a war zone is entirely unprecedented and totally different from all past IAEA efforts.

Establishing a protection zone requires negotiations and approvals at the highest political and military levels in Kyiv and Moscow. It could be accomplished through backchannel, Track II-type diplomacy, specifically nuclear safety-focused engineering diplomacy. In the meantime, the IAEA needs strong support from the United Nations Security Council in the form of a resolution, mandate or the creation of a special commission.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Najmedin Meshkati, University of Southern California. The Conversation has a variety of fascinating free newsletters.

Read more:



Najmedin Meshkati received research funding from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the mid-1990s.
VALENTYNA ROMANENKO  TUESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2022, 14:23

Two residents of Luhansk Oblast who fought on the Russian side have been captured by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kharkiv Oblast.

Source: press office of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine

Details: The two men, who were mobilised in the temporarily occupied territories, surrendered to the frontline group of Ukraines border guards near Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast. This group of border guards is a part of the Defence Forces of Ukraine and is liberating Kharkiv Oblast from the Russian occupiers.

When interrogated, the men claimed they had been mobilised against their will.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!




A married couple pleaded guilty to supporting the Islamic State in an apparent ploy to join the terrorist organization and target Americans, specifically military cadets, the Justice Department said Monday.

James Bradley, 21, who went by the name "Abdullah," spilled a string of plans to undercover law enforcement officers, included a scheme for he and his wife, Arwa Muthana, 30, to use his truck to "take out" Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets at an unnamed New York university and procure a bomb or ammunition to attack the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, according to a federal complaint.

"Husband and wife James Bradley and Arwa Muthana admitted today to their support of ISIS, a violent extremist terrorist organization," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Monday. "In planning their support, Bradley and Muthana collected and distributed jihadist propaganda, including videos of Usama Bin Laden, and even chillingly expressed their desire to 'take out' American military cadets."

Read Next: 'Don't Do It:' Senior Leaders Say Soldiers Should Stop Taking Mandatory Online Classes

Bradley, from New York, pleaded guilty on Friday and Muthana, of Alabama, pleaded guilty to the same charges Monday in the Southern District of New York. The couple were married in 2021 during an Islamic marriage ceremony, according to his federal complaint, and then traveled to New York to begin their journey to "fight among the rank[s] of the Islamic State."

Over the course of the investigation, Bradley told undercover law enforcement officers during several conversations that he planned to execute an attack on U.S. soil, in one instance saying that if he could not leave the United States to join ISIS, he would do "something" stateside. And that if the FBI tried to arrest him, he would retaliate against them violently.

"Bro  if I get into it and I get them," he said to an undercover New York City police officer, "and they get me [sic] then I'm martyred."

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According to the DOJ, it was clear that Bradley's potential targets were military; he did not consider the American military to be "innocent," but did not want to hurt civilians, according to court records. He also lamented ISIS' "widespread killing of innocent Muslims" but was a proponent of establishing some sort of Islamic State in the Middle East and was apparently willing to support that effort violently despite his reservations.

In 2020, he told an undercover officer that "his plan to attack a military base was something he really wanted to do and that it would be his contribution to the cause of jihad," according to the DOJ. He added that he wanted his Canadian cousin to come to the States to "join me and take these guys out," an apparent reference to the cadets.

Military.com reached out to West Point and asked if it had been informed of the plot prior to the press release, but did not hear back in time for publication.

While much of the complaint revolved around Bradley's conversations with undercover officers, Muthana was also caught up in the sting, telling investigators that she too wanted to "fight in [the] sake of Allah."

Bradley gave a second undercover law enforcement officer $1,000 cash to secure passage on a cargo ship to Yemen, according to the press release. The couple was arrested at a dock in Newark, New Jersey, and Muthana allegedly waived her Miranda rights, telling officers that she was still willing to kill Americans.

While the complaint mentioned a number of potential ISIS factions or overall terrorist organizations that Bradley and Muthana were considering aligning with, including a failed attempt by Bradley to join the Taliban in 2019, the State Department said in 2020 that ISIS-Yemen "remained considerably smaller in size and influence compared" to other terrorist organizations, despite the organization continuing to carry out attacks in the country.

Bradley and Muthana are scheduled to be sentenced in February 2023; their charges carry a maximum of 20 years in federal prison. Their attorneys did not respond to Military.com's requests for comment.

-- Drew F. Lawrence can be reached at drew.lawrence@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @df_lawrence.

Related: US-Backed Fighters Chase ISIS Gunmen Near Prison in Syria
A bond-reduction hearing for a Ball man arrested in a vehicular-homicide case was delayed until next week.

Leandra Tenell McNeal, 44, has not been formally charged in the June 20 crash that killed 20-year-old motorcyclist Kobe Bordelon of Alexandria. McNeal has been held in Rapides Parish Detention Center No. 1 since his Aug. 3 arrest with bail set at $300,000.

Kobe Bordelon, 20, died on June 28 after a hit-and-run wreck in Alexandria.

McNeal was arrested by the Alexandria Police Department on a felony vehicular-homicide charge.

The wreck happened at North Bolton Avenue and Enterprise Road, and police say McNeal fled afterward. The truck he was driving was found later that day in Ball. He also was arrested later that day.

He left jail July 6 after posting a $100,200 bond but was arrested again after the vehicular-homicide warrant was issued on July 21.

In other cases on Monday:

 A 22-year-old Alexandria man was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter.

ZVarious Deandre Masons second-degree murder trial was to have been held this week. Mason had been arrested by the Alexandria Police Department in the November 2019 shooting death on Louisiana Avenue of Jordan RaySean Compton, 20.

 The second-degree murder trial of Keisha Renee Green, 32, was postponed until Dec. 5.

Green is accused of killing 1-year-old Khalid Boyd while engaged in the perpetration of cruelty to juveniles, reads an amended indictment against her from December 2021.

She was arrested by the Alexandria Police Department in January 2020 after the child was found dead at a Monroe Street home.

Rapides Parish Assistant District Attorney Johnny Giordano told 9th Judicial District Court Judge Chris Hazel that he and Greens attorney, Phillip M. Robinson, had been working on the case for the past several weeks but it wasnt ready for trial.

The trial had been set for this week. A status conference has been set for Oct. 24. Her new trial date is Dec. 5, and Giordano said he did not want to draw out the case beyond that.

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4 years later:Months after Kayla Giles found guilty in his murder, family remembers Thomas Coutee Jr.

 Dayshawn Trevon Reed, 23, had his trial set on a charge of manslaughter after Rapides Parish Assistant District Attorney Brian Mosely told Hazel he and defense attorney Robinson could not reach a plea bargain agreement.

His trial was set for March 6, 2023.

Reed and three others are accused in the July 29, 2021, shooting death of KaRon YaLik Bennett, 23. Bennett was shot in the 2900 block of Broadway Avenue and died two days later.

All the defendants have been formally charged with manslaughter. Trevon Lamar Smith and Fredrick Wayne Batiste Jr. have pretrial conferences later this month, but Joseph Regis Richardson pleaded guilty on Monday to a reduced felony charge of being an accessory after the fact.

Richardson had a three-year prison sentence suspended and was placed on three years of supervised probation. He also will testify against any of the other defendants, if called.

 The manslaughter trial of Kyle Lucien Ryland was continued until April 17, 2023.

Ryland, 28, is accused of shooting 56-year-old Steven Wayne Saucier after the two got into a verbal argument in the area of Hog Lake Road and La. Highway 454 in the Kolin area. Ryland was arrested by the Rapides Parish Sheriffs Office on Dec. 9, 2019, the day after Saucier was shot.

He was arrested on a second-degree murder charge but was indicted on a manslaughter charge in November 2020.

His attorney, George Higgins III, told 9th Judicial District Court Judge Mary Lauve Doggett that he would have one more motion to file in the case. Doggett told him this would be the last continuance and that the April trial date was firm.

 Bail of $1 million was set for an Alexandria man indicted last month on a first-degree rape charge.

Israel Jermaine Williams, 39, was arrested by the Sheriffs Office on 101 counts of first-degree rape, two counts of molestation of a juvenile and one count of issuing worthless checks for less than $1,000. The arrest came after a tip the previous summer from the Pensacola, Florida, Police Department about the possible sex trafficking of a juvenile, the department stated when announcing Williams arrest.

He was indicted last month on the single rape charge. A pretrial conference was set for Oct. 20.

Doggett denied a motion to release Williams for all bond obligations, but she drop bond obligations for all the other charges on which he had been arrested.

 A felony charge of resisting an officer with force or violence was dropped against a Lecompte man.

Raymond Jack had been arrested in April 2021 by the Lecompte Police Department, along with four other residents, after a complaint alleging the sexual abuse of two juveniles. The Rapides Parish District Attorneys Office dropped all other charges without formally charging Jack, leaving only the resisting charge.

Jack rejected a proposed plea bargain in April, and his trial was set for Monday, but the state dropped the charge.

 Judge Doggett denied a bond reduction for Deon Francis Guidry because a previous request to do so already had been rejected.

Guidry is facing second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder charges in a Sept. 23, 2019, shooting that killed 21-year-old Arturo Dontavius White. The shooting happened in the Charles Park neighborhood around Welwyn Way and Wellington Boulevard after a chase that began at the Walmart on Coliseum Boulevard.

The shooting wounded another man. Police have said the parties had been involved in an ongoing dispute.

Guidrys trial was set for March 6, 2023.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Court hearing delayed for Ball man accused in motorcyclist's death
An artillery unit from Ukraine's 58th Brigade fires toward advancing Russian infantry from a frontline position near the town of Bakhmut, Ukraine on Aug. 10, 2022. (David Guttenfelder/The New York Times)

WASHINGTON  The strategy behind Ukraines rapid military gains in recent days began to take shape months ago during a series of intense conversations between Ukrainian and U.S. officials about the way forward in the war against Russia, according to American officials.

The counteroffensive  revised this summer from its original form after urgent discussions between senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials  has succeeded beyond most predictions. Ukrainian forces have devastated Russian command and control and appear poised to capitalize on their advances in the northeast of the country and in another campaign in the south.

The work began soon after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told his generals he wanted to make a dramatic move to demonstrate that his country could push back on the Russian invasion. Under his orders, the Ukrainian military devised a plan to launch a broad assault across the south to reclaim Kherson and cut off Mariupol from the Russian force in the east.

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The Ukrainian generals and American officials believed that such a large-scale attack would incur immense casualties and fail to quickly retake large amounts of territory. The Ukrainians were already suffering hundreds of casualties a day in what had become a grinding conflict. The Russian forces were experiencing similar losses but were still inching forward, laying waste to Ukrainian towns in the eastern region of Donbas.

Long reluctant to share details of their plans, the Ukrainian commanders started opening up more to American and British intelligence officials and seeking advice.

Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, and Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to Zelenskyy, spoke multiple times about the planning for the counteroffensive, according to a senior administration official. Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and senior Ukrainian military leaders regularly discussed intelligence and military support.

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And in Kyiv, Ukrainian and British military officials continued working together while the new American defense attache, Brig. Gen. Garrick Harmon, began having daily sessions with Ukraines top officers.

Time was of the essence, U.S. and Ukrainian officials believed. To mount an effective counterattack, the Ukrainians needed to move before the first snow, when Russian President Vladimir Putin would be able to use his control of gas supplies to pressure Europe.

This account of the lead-up to the counteroffensive is based on interviews with multiple senior American officials and others briefed on the classified discussions between Washington and Kyiv that helped Ukrainian commanders shape the battle. Many spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the secret nature of the talks.

American officials were hesitant to judge the full impact of the counteroffensive, anxious to see how it continues to play out. For now, Kyiv has the advantage.

One critical moment this summer came during a war game with U.S. and Ukrainian officials aimed at testing the success of a broad offensive across the south. The exercise, reported earlier by CNN, suggested such an offensive would fail. Armed with the American skepticism, Ukrainian military officials went back to Zelenskyy.

We did do some modeling and some tabletop exercises, Colin Kahl, the Pentagons policy chief, said in a telephone interview. That set of exercises suggested that certain avenues for a counteroffensive were likely to be more successful than others. We provided that advice, and then the Ukrainians internalized that and made their own decision.

The stakes were huge. Ukraine needed to demonstrate that this was not going to become just another frozen conflict, and that it could retake territory, for the morale of its people and to shore up support of the West.

Throughout August, at the behest of Ukrainians, U.S. officials stepped up feeds of intelligence about the position of Russian forces, highlighting weaknesses in the Russian lines. The intelligence also indicated that Moscow would struggle to quickly reinforce its troops in northeast Ukraine or move troops from the south, even if it detected Ukrainian preparations for the counteroffensive.

We saw the fact that the Russians actually relocated a lot of their best forces down to the south in preparation for the other counteroffensive that the Ukrainians kicked off, Kahl said. So we had reason to believe that because of the persistent morale challenges, and the pressure of the Ukrainians, that there might be pockets of the Russian military that are a little more brittle than they appear on paper.

Instead of one large offensive, the Ukrainian military proposed two. One, in Kherson, would most likely take days or weeks before any dramatic results because of the concentration of Russian troops. The other was planned for near Kharkiv.

Together, Britain, the United States and Ukraine conducted an assessment of the new plan, trying to war game it once more. This time, officials from the three countries agreed it would work  and give Zelenskyy what he wanted: a big, clear victory.

But the plan, according to an officer on the general staff in Kyiv, depended entirely on the size and pace of additional military aid from the United States.

Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that had used older Soviet weapons, exhausted most of its own ammunition. Learning how to use new weapons systems in the middle of the war is difficult. But so far, the risky move has proved successful. More than 800,000 rounds of 155-millimeter artillery shells, for instance, have been sent to Kyiv, helping fuel its current offensives. The United States alone has committed more than $14.5 billion in military aid since the war started in February.

Before the counteroffensive, Ukraines armed forces sent the United States a detailed list of weapons they needed to make the plan successful, according to the Ukrainian officer.

Specific weapons, like the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, are having an outsize effect on the battlefield. The satellite-guided rockets fired by these launch vehicles, called GMLRS, each contain a warhead with 200 pounds of explosives and have been used in recent weeks by Ukrainian forces to destroy more than 400 Russian arms depots, command posts and other targets, American officials said.

More recently, Ukrainian forces have put U.S.-supplied HARM air-launched missiles on Soviet-designed MiG-29 fighter jets, which no air force had ever done. The missiles have been particularly effective in destroying Russian radars.

We are seeing real and measurable gains from Ukraine in the use of these systems, Milley said last week in Germany at a meeting of 50 countries that are helping Ukraine with military and humanitarian aid. Theyre having great difficulty resupplying their forces and replacing their combat losses.

Ukrainian and American officials said the now weekly or biweekly Pentagon announcements of new shipments of weapons and munitions from U.S. stockpiles have given Kyivs senior commanders the confidence to plan complex simultaneous offensives.

The importance of Western military support is not just in specific weapons systems, but in the assurance and confidence that the Ukrainians can use in their future planning, said Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, who recently returned from Ukraine.

As Ukrainian soldiers moved into areas in the northeast over the weekend, Russian forces crumbled. In some places around Kharkiv, Russian troops just walked away from the battle, leaving behind equipment and ammunition, according to U.S. defense officials.

The Kherson attack was never a feint or a diversion, according to people briefed on the plan. And it has succeeded in forcing Moscow to delay sham votes on whether parts of the Kherson region want to join Russia. But, as expected, the counteroffensive is moving more slowly given the much higher number of Russian forces there compared with Kharkiv.

Eventually, Ukrainian officials believe their long-term success requires progress on the original goals in the discarded strategy, including recapturing the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, cutting off Russian forces in Mariupol and pushing Russian forces in Kherson back across the Dnieper River, American officials said.

Russia has been weakened. By failing to detect Ukraines buildup around Kharkiv, the Russian military has demonstrated incompetence and shown that it lacks solid intelligence. Its command and control have been decimated, and it is having trouble supplying its troops, giving Ukraine an opening in the coming weeks, U.S. officials said.

While Ukraine may have an opportunity to recapture more territory in the east, U.S. and Ukrainian officials say the south is the most important theater of the war.

Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are likely potential objectives, said Michael Kofman, the director of Russia studies at CNA, a defense research institute. We might see further Ukrainian army operations to achieve breakthroughs there in the future.

The plan that emerged from the midsummer discussions relied heavily on U.S. intelligence and high-tech weaponry. But American officials insist that credit for the offensive lies fully with Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian military, which led a relatively small force in Kharkiv to an outsize victory.

No one is spiking the football yet, Kahl said. But, he added, I think it really demonstrates to the world that the Ukrainians are capable of conducting complex, offensive operations.

 2022 The New York Times Company
Downtown Springfield is set to host its annual CultureFest this weekend.

The festival will start on September 17 and expand beyond the city plaza, according to a press release.

There are more merchandise and food vendors participating this year than any other CultureFest celebration in the past, said Aaron Clark, Neighborhood Planning Coordinator, City of Springfield Community Development Department. Were pleased that the community has showed so much enthusiasm and were looking forward to a great crowd this Saturday.

>>Springfield Police Chief announces retirement

Organizers of the annual celebration collaborate with the neighborhood and community partners to grow unity through diversity.

Many vendors as expected to participate this year including:
A legal battle for grand jury transcripts that could show why serial child molester Jeffrey Epstein wasnt harshly punished in 2006 erupted in name-calling this week when Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg accused The Palm Beach Post of filing the lawsuit to punish him.

Even though the grand jury was convened by a previous state attorney, six years before Aronberg was elected, the former state lawmaker insisted the lawsuit to unseal the secret records was filed to embarrass him.

In a fiery diatribe, an angry Aronberg told Circuit Judge Luis Delgado that the newspapers lawsuit was part of a twisted decade-long campaign to make him look bad. He blasted the suit as frivolous and said The Post should be forced to pay his attorneys roughly $71,000 for dragging him into the legal fight.

They did it on the back of someone they have extreme dislike for, he testified during the hearing that wrapped up Thursday. Post Executive Editor Rick Christie called Aronberg's claims "ludicrous."

The Post's 2019 investigation: Jeffrey Epstein case, the first failure: To the first prosecutors, Epstein's victims were prostitutes

Appeal: Palm Beach Post asks appeals court to release grand jury transcripts in Jeffrey Epstein sex case

Why The Post sued: Why was Jeffrey Epstein charged only as a john? Post sues to find out

Aronberg initially testified that he was trying to save taxpayers money by seeking sanctions against the paper and its attorneys for suing him to get the records. But, he later acknowledged, taxpayers aren't on the hook. His lawyers wont get paid unless Delgado orders the paper to write them a check.

Palm Beach Post attorneys insist the lawsuit wasn't an attack

Attorneys for The Post insisted that the lawsuit wasnt an attack on Aronberg.

I voted for Mr. Aronberg. I have no animus against him, testified attorney Stephen Mendelsohn, who was part of the paper's legal team. This was a sober decision to sue someone in their official capacity. We took pains to make sure we werent accusing him of any wrongdoing at any time.

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The paper and its attorneys simply wanted to find out why Epstein wasn't vigorously prosecuted and share the information with the public, he said. Aronberg was sued because they believed his office had the records that would shed light on the extraordinary case that attracted international attention. Grand jury material can only be released by court order.

After The Post in 2019 published an investigation into why Epstein received what one prosecutor called the deal of the century, questions remained about why the politically connected millionaire wasnt charged with child molestation. Palm Beach police found evidence he had abused more than a dozen teens at his waterfront mansion.

Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg testifies Tuesday in a hearing to determine whether The Palm Beach Post has to pay his attorneys fees in the newspaper's suit to unseal documents in the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Then-State Attorney Barry Krischer took the unusual step of presenting the case to a grand jury. It indicted Epstein on a single charge of solicitation of prostitution.

Sources told The Post that Krischer's top prosecutors vilified the lone Epstein accuser who was called to testify. Using documents provided by Epsteins high-powered defense team, they focused on the 14-year-old girl's social media posts instead of the abuse she endured, said sources familiar with the closed-door proceedings.

Ultimately, as part of a controversial non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors, Epstein was allowed to plead guilty to two felony charges of solicitation, including one involving a minor. He served 13 months of an 18-month sentence and was allowed to leave the Palm Beach County Stockade on work release for up to 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Dave Aronberg reverses course: State attorney drops objection to releasing secret Epstein documents

Who is state attorney Dave Aronberg?: A study in contradiction.

Public records law: Is State Attorney Dave Aronberg's office violating the open records law?

After assembling hundreds of documents and interviewing retired Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter and others, Mendelsohn said he and fellow attorneys were convinced that the only way to find out why the police investigation was derailed was to file a lawsuit to get the grand jury transcripts.

Palm Beach resident Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to two felony prostitution charges in Palm Beach County Circuit Court in 2008. Some called it the "deal of the century."

Did former Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer abuse his authority?

The newspaper and attorneys at the Greenberg Traurig law firm wanted to know whether "the former state attorney abused his authority by using material from a defense attorney to undermine a witness he called to testify before the grand jury," Mendelsohn testified.

The case was complex, he said.

Florida law rigorously protects the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, and few lawsuits have been filed to pierce that veil. Mendelsohn said he researched dozens of cases, trying to figure out the best legal strategy.

I wanted to see who to sue to be perfectly honest, he told Delgado.

Ultimately, he said, a decision was made to sue both Aronberg and the clerk of courts, now Joseph Abruzzo, who is responsible for maintaining all court records.

When the suit was filed in November 2019, Mendelsohn said he didnt know whether Aronberg had the grand jury transcripts or not. Aronbergs office didnt respond to public records requests, he said.

But, Aronberg testified, in January 2020 he sent out a press release making it clear he didnt have the materials the paper wanted.

Aronberg testifies that the state attorney's office never had grand jury records

The Jeffrey Epstein case occurred several years and multiple State Attorney administrations before I became Palm Beach County State Attorney in 2013, he said in the press release. As such, I have never seen or had access to the Epstein Grand Jury transcripts, as the State Attorneys office has never possessed them.

Circuit Judge Luis Delgado listens to attorney Doug Wyler, who represents Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, at the hearing over attorneys' fees Tuesday.

Aronberg blasted The Post for never publishing the release that announced he had created a web portal so the public could view all of the records his office had that were related to the Epstein investigation. The oversight, he said, was yet more evidence of the papers bias.

The paper's refusal to acknowledge his transparency was particularly galling because a month earlier it had published a story when he filed court papers that vigorously opposed The Post's request to get the grand jury records. In that filing, he said he didnt have the documents, which the paper reported.

The article had political repercussions. Believing he was preventing the public from finding out about Epsteins so-called "sweetheart deal," at least one person wrote him, demanding his resignation, Aronberg said. A former state attorney, Peter Antonacci, also weighed in. He asked me why I was covering for Barry Krischer, Aronberg testified.

Even with Aronbergs insistence that he didnt have the records, Mendelsohn said he was still a critical party to the suit. As state attorney, he is tasked with protecting the grand jury process. He also has broad authority to protect its secrecy. That meant Aronberg could ask that the records remain sealed.

Even if The Post won the suit against Abruzzo, the state attorney could go to court to prevent the clerk from releasing the records, Mendelsohn said.

State attorney later says he has no objection to transcript's release

It wasnt until October 2020 when Aronberg in court papers said he had no objection, and never has had any objection to the release of the grand jury transcripts that, Mendelsohn said, it was safe to drop him from the lawsuit.

It was a massive change in position, Mendelsohn testified. It was a sea change as far as we were concerned in the status of the case.  I was pleased.

But Aronberg and his attorney Douglas Wyler said The Post waited too long. In June 2020, Wyler sent Mendelsohn a letter, putting the law firm and the paper on notice that he would seek attorneys' fees if they didnt dismiss Aronberg from the lawsuit.

In July, Wyler followed up by filing the request in court. By law, he said the paper had 21 days to drop Aronberg from the lawsuit. It didnt do so until Oct. 21, 2020.

They cannot sue you for what you dont have, said Wyler, who practices in Amelia Island. While his firm represents the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, it was hired by Aronberg under a separate contingency fee agreement that allows it to be paid only if a court orders it.

But Post attorneys said the legal papers Wyler filed in July 2020 were flawed. He didnt file a detailed motion until November. By then, the paper had dismissed Aronberg from the suit.

But, most importantly, they said, attorneys fees can be awarded only when someone is forced to defend themselves against a frivolous lawsuit that was filed in bad faith.

The lawsuit The Post filed was unusual, Mendelsohn said. It sought to expand a rarely used section of Florida law that allows grand jury records to be released to further the interest of justice.

While Circuit Judge Donald Hafele in December 2021 rejected the papers request, he didnt find that the lawsuit was filed recklessly, said attorney Lauren Whetstone, who also represents the paper. The Post has appealed his decision.

Judge cites 'strong arguments' but still rejects newspaper's request

In a 10-page order in December, Hafele said the newspaper made strong arguments. But, he said, Florida law allows grand jury records to be released only in pending criminal or civil cases. Epsteins case in Palm Beach County was long over when he was found hanged in a New York City jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on multiple charges of child sex trafficking.

Hafele described the papers arguments as "sincere" and "palatable and persuasive." Further, he said, the lawsuit raised important constitutional issues about the publics right to know.

That doesn't square with Aronberg's claims that the newspaper acted in bad faith, Whetstone said.

Aronberg disagreed. While testifying, he repeatedly used the words bad faith and frivolous to describe the suit.

Jeffrey Epstein enters the courtroom at the Palm Beach County courthosue with his attorney Guy Lewis on June 30, 2008, when Epstein pleaded guilty to two felony prostitution-related charges. He was given 18 months in jail, not prison, and was required to register as a sex offender.

He insisted it was one more volley in a long grudge match. The bad blood began when newspaper staffers believed he used his influence to push out a Post executive, he said. That top editors acolytes then began a campaign to discredit him, Aronberg said. The editor accepted a buy-out package and left the paper at the end of 2013.

Further, Aronberg claimed, the newspaper hired a reporter to cover his office who had been prosecuted by my office for crack cocaine.

The award-winning journalist, who worked as an investigative reporter before leaving the paper last year for another job, was placed in a pre-trial diversion program after his 2006 arrest. After successfully completing an intensive court-monitored rehabilitation program, Krischer's prosecutors dismissed the charge. He has been sober for 16 years.

The Post isnt identifying the former employees because they arent involved in the lawsuit. Neither wanted to comment.

Aronberg also blasted the newspaper for filing a lawsuit to reverse a court order that keeps his ex-wifes deposition in a criminal case from public view. Attorneys for Wellington developer Glenn Straub claim the deposition is critical to his defense. In court filings, they have strongly criticized Aronberg for petitioning to keep the deposition under seal.

But, Aronberg insisted, The Post's continuing assault on him is all part of a pattern.

The Palm Beach Post has spent 12 years attacking me, Aronberg testified. They published many hundreds of articles.  It continues to this day.

The executive editor of the Post said the paper doesn't have a vendetta against Aronberg.

"The Post, of course, disputes this week's ludicrous statements by the state attorney," Christie said. "The Jeffrey Epstein case was, and remains, one of the most heinous in our county's history. The Post continues to pursue the facts of that tragic story about the victimization of teenage girls without malice in order to bring those facts into the light."

While Post attorneys insisted the paper should not be forced to pay Wyler's firm's fees, it said some are clearly not allowed.

For instance, it objected to Wyler's request to be paid $425 an hour, or a total of $10,400, for driving from north Florida to West Palm Beach for two hearings. It also said he shouldn't be paid nearly $570 to prepare media statements for Aronberg or roughly $1,500 in expenses, including a $660-a-night stay at a hotel.

Delgado, who recently took over Hafeles cases in civil court, made few comments during the hearing that lasted roughly five hours over two days. On Thursday, he gave the attorneys three weeks to file one last round of legal arguments. He gave no indication when he might rule.

Jane Musgrave covers federal and civil courts and occasionally ventures into criminal trials in state court. Contact her at jmusgrave@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Jeffrey Epstein case: State attorney says Palm Beach Post out to get him
BuzzFeed

"He blew up, saying that I was being selfish and mean and said that the business profit should be split equally between both of us, not just me. I told him he not only mocked me for sewing, he even doubted my potential."View Entire Post 
Canada will mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II with a national holiday and day of mourning on Sept. 19, the day of the monarch's funeral. (Photo by KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Business lobby groups are urging provincial governments not to declare Monday a paid holiday in honour of the Queen's funeral, saying it would be detrimental to businesses.

Canada will mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II with a national holiday and day of mourning on Sept. 19, the day of the monarch's funeral, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a press conference on Tuesday.

That means Monday will be a holiday for federal government employees. Canada's Minister of Labour Seamus O'Regan said on Twitter that federally regulated employees, such as those in the banking and airline sectors, are welcome to follow suit "but they are not required to do so." It will be up to provincial and territorial governments to determine whether they will declare Monday a holiday for other workplaces and schools.

CFIB president Dan Kelly urged provincial governments not to declare Monday a statutory holiday, saying it would be "extremely costly."

"With a six-day notice, it would be deeply unfair for small businesses and cost the economy billions," Kelly said in a statement.

"For many small businesses, such as restaurants, hotels and movie theatres, this would mean paying more in order to stay open. Small businesses are already struggling with labour shortages and requiring them to close or pay time and a half to their employees with no notice would be extremely costly or result in a day's lost productivity."

Given it would allow only 6 days notice & cost the economy billions, CFIB is urging provincial governments to NOT declare next Monday as a statutory (paid) holiday. Provinces should follow the lead of the United Kingdom, rather than the Government of Canada.  Dan Kelly (@CFIB) September 13, 2022

The Retail Council of Canada (RCC) also urged provinces to ensure that retail closures will not be mandated as part of the holiday.

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"Doing so would present a significant cost and short-notice challenge to employers, particularly during a time in which many businesses are still working hard to get their operations back to pre-pandemic levels," RCC spokeswoman Michelle Wasylyshen said in a statement.

Both the CFIB and RCC say the provinces and territories should follow the United Kingdom's approach, which declared Sept. 19 a national bank holiday, meaning workers are not entitled to time off.

With files from The Canadian Press

Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
The teen accused of getting into a shootout with deputies in Lake County had a pre-trial hearing Tuesday to discuss the possibility of a plea deal.

Watch: Judge orders no bond for Deltona teen accused of shooting at deputies, killing father

The attorney for Jonny Santiago told Channel 9 this is just standard pre-trial procedure.

The 18-year-old is accused of leading law enforcement on a chaotic chase and getting into a shootout with deputies in July.

The heart-stopping moments were captured on body camera footage.

Watch: Elderly woman trapped after large tree crashes into home in Daytona Beach

Investigators said Santiago was on the run after he allegedly killed his father in Volusia County and dumped the body near an Orange County lake.

In the Lake County shootout case, the teen pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, fleeing and eluding, and firing a gun from a moving vehicle.

Read: Port Orange student finds fentanyl near bathroom at Atlantic High School

In a phone interview, attorney Brian Pakett said the teens mental health is the main focus right now.

According to Lake County court records, a judge granted a motion for Santiago to get a mental exam. The exam will determine if hes competent to stand trial.

Watch more in the video above.

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, and click here to watch the latest news on your Smart TV.
More than 30 congressional Democrats on Tuesday called on federal agencies to address what they deemed as misguided school safety policies aimed at preventing school shootings.

In a letter to the Department of Justice, Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services, House lawmakers said the government has failed to protect schoolchildren and families in the wake of at least 30 school shootings this year, including the May tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Schools are supposed to be safe havens for children, parents, educators, custodial and cafeteria

staff, and communities. But for far too many people they are not, the letter reads. We are deeply troubled by the inability to keep our children and communities safe, the bedrock on which any country rests. It is time to undo the harm and trauma tragedies like the Uvalde massacre leave behind in our schools and with our children.

The letter was signed by prominent House Democrats, including Reps. Cori Bush (Mo.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and Andre Carson (Ind.).

House lawmakers said federal, state and local agencies have failed the American public by focusing school safety prevention efforts on hiring, retaining and funding school resource officers, an approach they called counterproductive and harmful.

Representatives pointed to the Community Oriented Policing Services in Schools Program (COPS), which has primarily supported community policing initiatives since 1995 but has also led to the hiring of 590 school resource officers (SROs) across 289 communities. For fiscal 2023, the Biden administration has requested increased funds for the COPS budget.

The Democrats argued that schools with armed SROs have higher rates of death and also more youth expulsions and arrests. They also pointed to the more than 300 officers who responded to the Uvalde school shooting, but who failed to act for more than an hour while a gunman had locked himself into two adjoining classrooms with children who were still alive.

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Armed officers in schools are, at best, an inadequate response to violence that has already

occurred, not a prevention strategy, lawmakers wrote.

Since the 1999 shooting at Columbine, school shootings have soared, reaching an all-time high of 251 last year, according to the K-12 school shooting database. Despite the rise, major gun control legislation was tied up until the first major federal gun control bill in decades was passed this year after the Uvalde shooting.

Over the years, school shooting prevention methods have largely revolved around bolstering school security, including security technology and emergency plans.

Gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety says among the most effective ways to prevent school shootings is to address violence at its earliest stages and block access to firearms.

Lawmakers on Tuesday proposed more programs to support students, including mental health resources, but they requested the federal agencies to conduct a review of what is most appropriate.

We urge you to break this cycle of violence and recommit to public health and safety strategies that will ensure our schools are safe for all students, they wrote in the letter. This requires thinking comprehensively about violence in our schools to ensure that we prevent violence  by resolving the root causes of conflict that can escalate into violence  not simply remedy its impact.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
TheStreet.com

Chief executives and political commentary rarely go well together  when outgoing Whole Foods CEO John Mackey went on a podcast to say that the "socialists are taking over" and young people "don't seem like they want to work," the internet did not let him retire without one last scandal. The latest person to make a splash with his remarks is McDonald's chief executive Chris Kempczinski. During a conference at the Economic Club of Chicago, Kempczinski drew attention to the issue of crime in the Midwestern metropolis that serves as the headquarters of the Golden Arches.
Happiest Place On Earth

For self-identified Disney Gays, theres no happier place than within the comfortable confines of a Disney theme park. Donning sequin-emblazoned mouse ears while being surrounded by nostalgic sounds and the inviting smell of warm churros (plus underappreciated Mickey pretzels) is heaven for fun-loving queer folks who want to forget lifes troubles in the lands of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy. But as with things in recent years, a rising tide of antigay and anti-trans sentiment (and legislation) has crept between the cracks of even these most hallowed grounds. Its reached the point where we have to ask the question: What does it mean to be a Disney Gay in 2022?

Disney

Thats a particularly tricky question to answer this year following the passage of Floridas dont say gay law and what many queer people felt was Disney CEO Bob Chapeks mishandling of the situation  first trying to dodge the issue then publicly opposing the legislation when it was too late to have any real impact. It was understandably seen by many as too little, too late.

Cal State Fullerton women and gender studies professor Jodi Davis-Pacheco, who runs the Disney travel Instagram page @ExtraMagicalAdventures, says its been especially hard knowing that Disney has donated to many antigay politicians who supported the law.

Disney is a company that thrives because of the LGBTQ+ community that creates the magic as cast members all over their resorts and theme parks, animate their movies, write their stories and songs, dance in parades, style characters, and LGBTQ+ people that visit their parks and consume their media, she says. Donating to campaigns or supporting legislation that diminishes any of that blatantly disregards the humanity of the very people that make Disney relevant.

Davis-Pacheco has had a lifelong relationship with Disney, both as a guest and on the clock working for the company. When I was a kid, I worked on two print ads for Disneyland...and I loved being a part of making the magic, she recalls. As a teenager, she discovered the Disney queer community while hanging out in Tomorrowland.

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It was a community of misfits  queer kids, punk kids, goth kids, and everything in between, she says. In my later teenage years, I spent Saturdays swing dancing to the big band at Carnation Plaza and again found a varied and diverse, unsanctioned community in Disneyland. In college, Davis-Pacheco took a job at Disneyland and found herself in one of the largest and most affirming LGBTQ+ communities she had ever experienced. I teach queer studies now, but I always joke that my time as a cast member at Disneyland is the gayest job Ive ever had, she shares.

Disney and queerness seem to go hand in oversized-gloved hand, and Davis-Pacheco has a theory as to why.

Disneyland queers time in the ways it melds together the past, present, and an imagined hopeful future. Queerness affords a type of extended adolescence that heteronormativity does not allow. Disneyland does this too, and you are never too old to play at Disneyland, she suggests.

Prominent Disney influencer Francis Dominics love affair with the House of Mouse essentially began at birth.

I was literally wrapped in a Mickey Mouse baby blanket when I was born, he recalls. Now, as an adult, he still cant get enough of visiting Disneyland. I love every minute I spend in there. No other theme parks give as good of a vibe as Disney, he says.

Dominic echoes Davis-Pachecos frustration over how the company behind the park responded (or didnt) to the threats to LGBTQ+ rights, but instead of diminishing his love for Disney, it inspired him to push back.

I wanted to fight for it. I wanted to be vocal about something I loved, and I wasnt going to let another white man destroy something I cared about, he says.

While Dominic might not be entirely comfortable with the label of Disney Gay  Do yall call people Disney Straight? he asks  his attachment to Disneyland and what it represents continues unabated. Its a sentiment, complicated as it may be, that many a Disney Gay understands.

There might also be a silver lining to the fumbling over the Florida law: Its forced Disney to take a stand and increasingly embrace its queer fans. And things are getting better. Look to queer-inclusive series like Baymax! and Loki or films like Lightyear and Thor: Love and Thunder  all of which have elements that undoubtedly resulted from pressure both within Disney and throughout its queer fandom.

It seems the answer to the question of what it means to be a Disney Gay in 2022 is twofold: Its to be both a lover of Disneys innate queerness and an activist demanding representation and respect from the company.

Disney

And Disney, it seems, might finally be listening.

This story is part of The Advocates 2022 Advocacy and Politics issue. To get your own copy directly, support queer media and subscribe  or download yours for Amazon, Kindle, Nook, or Apple News.
A divorce party has been cancelled in Bhopal, India, following protests by local Hindu organisations.

In the past week, an invitation card containing details of the event went viral on social media.

Apparently, a group of 18 men from an NGO named Bhai Welfare Society (brothers welfare society) were planning a party to celebrate their respective divorces in the central Indian city of Bhopal.

The initiative was reportedly organised to motivate men that life doesnt end after a divorce.

The functions listed in the card celebrating the marriage dissolution ceremonies included rituals like the immersion of the jaymala (wedding garland), gents sangeet (musical event similar to ladies sangeet in a marriage ceremony), Sadbuddhi Shuddhikaran Yagna (fire ritual for good sense and purification), and seven steps and oaths to work for human dignity.

The event was scheduled to begin at 11am on 18 September at a resort in Bilkhiria on the outskirts of Bhopal. Approximately 200 people were invited.

However, on Monday (12 September), Bhai Welfare Society announced via their Instagram page that the divorce celebration has been cancelled due to protests by some local Hindu organisations.

The NGO heads said they did not want any politics to interfere in a private event.

Normally we celebrate such divorces by cutting cake, Bhai Welfare Societys president Zaki Ahmed told The Week. But due to Covid-19 pandemic we could not meet, so we decided on a get-together. Enthusiastic young members drafted the invitation letter and we took it lightly. But it suddenly went viral all over the country.

We are not anti-women, but against the misuse of laws, Mr Ahmed said.

He said that the aim of his NGO is to help men in distress and offer them legal and psychological support free of cost.

The president of Bhopal-based Sanskriti Bachao Manch, Chandrashekhar Tiwari, objected to this event saying that he wont tolerate any attack on the Indian culture.

Mr Tiwari had reportedly warned of a protest at the event venue and submitted a memorandum to the home ministers office seeking strict action. He also warned of a criminal case against the organisers if they didnt call off the event.
Reuters

Two COVID-19 antibody therapies are no longer recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), on the basis that Omicron and the variant's latest offshoots have likely rendered them obsolete. On Thursday, WHO experts said they strongly advised against the use of the two therapies in patients with COVID-19, reversing previous conditional recommendations endorsing them, as part of a suite of recommendations published https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3379 in the British Medical Journal. GSK and partner Vir Biotechnology's sotrovimab - which has generated billions in sales and became one of the British drugmaker's top sellers last year - was pulled off the U.S. market by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April.
An 84-year-old woman was found unconscious with her recently adopted dog at her side after being missing for two days.

Pearl Radcliffe arrived at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital in Houston, Texas, on Friday around 5pm after being found on a sidewalk on Beechnut Street in the western parts of the city. Officials have said shes recovering well, KHOU 11 reported.

Her dog, Maximus, was found right next to her, having only been adopted nine days before.

Volunteers were on their way to her home to aid in the search efforts when Ms Radcliffes nephew Dawne Griffith received a call from the hospital about his aunts arrival.

On Friday night, KHOU reporter Janellle Bludau tweeted that she just got off the phone with Dawne, Pearl Radcliffs nephew. His aunt is doing well  hes had a chance to visit her. She doesnt remember much of what happened. He says [the] hospital is keeping her for a few days to monitor her. He is so thankful for everyones help.

Also, side note on her pup Maximus. Pearl had just adopted him NINE days ago. And even being with her only a few days, the pup was so loyal  he stayed by her side the entire time. The family is picking him up from animal control tomorrow, and theyre never letting him go! she added.

Mr Griffith told KHOU that his aunt has recently been suffering from memory loss. He spent two days looking for her in the area around her home and that he was really relieved following her return.

Also, side note on her pup Maximus. Pearl had just adopted him NINE days ago. And even being with her only a few days, the pup was so loyal - he stayed by her side the entire time. The family is picking him up from animal control tomorrow, and they're never letting him go! @KHOU pic.twitter.com/kXjYNXGrdA  Janelle Bludau (@JanelleKHOU) September 10, 2022

Mr Griffith told KHOU that the family is researching improved measures to keep Ms Radcliffe safe.

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Angelina Farris, of EquuSearch, told KHOU that families with relatives who might walk off can enact certain measures to ensure their wellbeing.

Cameras, even just knowing what direction the person took, can save us a bunch of time because any minute that passes is a danger to them, she said.

She added that location sharing on phones and tracking devices on vehicles or dogs can also be helpful.

I think taking action is the priority really when it comes to these types of cases, Ms Farris said.
Former White House aide Dan Scavino was among about 40 people who were subpoenaed by the Justice Department this past week. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images

The DOJ has a broad ongoing investigation into events around the Capitol riot.

About 40 people close to Trump have been subpoenaed this past week, according to The New York Times.

Feds also seized phones from two Trump advisors, Boris Epshteyn and Mike Roman, per NYT.

The Justice Department subpoenaed about 40 people over the past week and seized cell phone devices from two associates of Donald Trump, showing another sign of the agency's intensifying probe of the events around the January 6 Capitol riot, according to the New York Times.

Those included in the flurry of new subpoenas have varying levels of ties to Trump, including Dan Scavino, the former White House deputy chief of staff for communications, and Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner and friend of Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who both spread claims of election fraud, The Times reported. Kerik was also interviewed by the January 6 committee.

An attorney for Scavino did not return a request for comment. Kerik's attorney, Timothy Parlatore, told Insider that federal agents came to his client's home on Tuesday. He described the subpoena as "overbroad and nonspecific" with a list of names and claimed that Kerik has been open to cooperating with investigations.

In addition to the subpoenas, federal prosecutors seized electronic devices from Boris Epshteyn, a Trump lawyer who has also been subpoenaed by the January 6 committee, and Mike Roman, a former election operations director for the Trump campaign who helped spread claims of election fraud.

Epshteyn and Roman could not be reached for comment.

The subpoenas seek broad information around the plot to interfere with the 2020 vote using a slate of fake electors and  in a more recent development in the DOJ's investigation  Trump's fundraising vehicle, Save America, according to The Times.

It's unclear how the PAC is related to the DOJ's multi-pronged inquiry into the Capitol riot, but a source familiar with the investigation previously told CNN that the department may be investigating whether people associated with Trump used baseless claims of election fraud to solicit donations.

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Parlatore said that Kerik's subpoena asked for "any and everything, somewhat tangentially related to" the Trump campaign.

The Justice Department did not immediately return a request for comment.

It's not disclosed who else has been contacted in this new round of subpoenas. The Times previously reported on Friday that Stephen Miller and Brian Jack, two top Trump advisors, were among more than a dozen people who were reached by the DOJ.

Other former Trump aides subpoenaed in recent weeks include William B. Harrison, William S. Russell, and Nicholas Luna, as well as Ivanka Trump's chief of staff Julie Radford.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, has been at the center of Congress' fight over whether to ban federal lawmakers from trading individual stocks. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

A dozen ideologically diverse groups are pushing Congress to ban lawmakers' stock trades.

Ending the year without a "genuinely meaningful prohibition on stock trading" is unacceptable, they said.

House Democratic leaders promised a compromise bill months ago but haven't produced one.

House leaders must block current lawmakers, their spouses, and their dependent children from trading individual stocks before any remaining faith in the institution totally evaporates, a diverse coalition of advocacy groups said Tuesday.

"If Congress does not act swiftly on a genuinely meaningful prohibition on stock trading, a true opportunity will have been lost and the downward spiral of declining public trust and increasing cynicism will continue," group leaders wrote in a letter directed to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and House Committee on Administration Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren and ranking member Rodney Davis.

Those calling on lawmakers to move "with alacrity and purpose" on the ethics-related priority range from the conservative FreedomWorks to progressive MoveOn.

Other signers include the National Taxpayers Union, Public Citizen, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Indivisible, RepresentUs, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Stand Up America, and the Campaign Legal Center.

Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, government affairs manager at the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, told Insider the 12 organizations threw in together to "light a fire" under leadership to impose family-wide stock trading curbs, promote the use of qualified blind trusts, and strengthen disclosure requirements before the 117th Congress comes to a close at the beginning of January.

"Time is running out, and if they don't move on a bill that at least meets the criteria we lay out in that letter, they will once again fail the American people," Hedtler-Gaudette said, adding that "Congress is not living up to its mission of representing the people first and foremost."

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The request echoes the demands several stock-ban supporters within Congress itself sent to the same leaders on September 1.

The earlier letter  signatories includes Democratic Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Katie Porter of California, Andy Kim of New Jersey, Joe Neguse of Colorado, Jared Golden of Maine, Angie Craig of Minnesota, and Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania  called for a floor vote on a comprehensive stock ban package by the end of this month.

Lofgren aides said in June that the committee was looking into making "substantial changes" to existing stock trading rules. Administration committee staff did not reply to requests for comment about whether the September 1 letter had changed anything, or if any compromise legislation would be unveiled soon.

Insider's "Conflicted Congress" investigation has revealed that 72 lawmakers and at least 182 senior-level congressional staffers have violated the STOCK Act by failing to properly disclose their stock trades.

The New York Times today reported that "sat on congressional committees that potentially gave them insight into the companies whose shares they reported buying or selling." Insider has previously detailed numerous congressional conflicts-of-interest, such as lawmakers who oversee military policy trading defense contractor stocks and those voting on COVID-19 policies buying and selling the shares of vaccine-makers and other pandemic-sensitive companies.

Read the original article on Business Insider
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of 13 companies urged the U.S. Congress on Tuesday to approve a bill that would rein in giant tech companies like Alphabet's Google and Meta's Facebook.

DuckDuckGo, Mozilla, Proton and other companies that advertise themselves as pro-privacy expressed support for a bill to ban self-preferencing by Big Tech platforms like Google and Amazon.com.

A U.S. congressional leader on antitrust, Senator Amy Klobuchar, has spent much of the summer urging the Senate to pass the bill to no avail. Klobuchar, a lead sponsor along with Republican Chuck Grassley, has said she has the 60 votes needed for passage but prospects of it becoming law this year appear to be dimming.

In a letter to Senate and House leadership, the companies said that the big tech firms have used their dominance to steer consumers away from services that offer more privacy protections.

"While more and more Americans are embracing privacy-first technologies, some dominant firms still use their gatekeeper power to limit competition and restrict user choice," they wrote in the letter.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Supporters of Florida's Parental Rights in Education law, adopted this tear, gathered alongside critics outside the Duval County School District's offices in May to speak at a School Board meeting.

Duval Countys school district will develop its own sex-education material to satisfy state laws controlling instruction on HIV/AIDS and issues surrounding sexuality, Superintendent Diana Greene told School Board members Monday.

The decision was announced as Greene asked members to withdraw a plan for comprehensive health education whose approval had been on the consent agenda for a regular board meeting until that afternoon.

The school system has used the same sex-education curriculum for nine years but, without speaking in specifics, Greene told the board shed concluded it doesnt meet some state standards.

More money for teachers: Hike in teachers' starting base pay, to $48,700, approved by Duval County School Board

It has become abundantly clear to me that our internal team can create lessons and materials that serve students educational needs and meet our requirements under the law, Greene said in a statement emailed about an hour before the meeting began.

Starting from scratch and adhering to the boundaries of Florida statute will be a far easier task than trying (to) modify or find existing publisher materials, she said.

Supporters and critics of the established curriculum dominated about 75 people who shared their views during hours of public comment.

A crowd rallying outside the Duval County Public Schools office in May underscored competing views on how issues surrounding sexuality should be handled in classrooms.

A posting on a school district website Monday said that state law requires use of state-approved texts for health education, but that those texts dont address everything state law requires in health instruction.

Therefore, it is necessary for districts to purchase or create supplemental materials to meet the requirements of law, said the posting by a district spokesman.

No timeframe was set for developing the local supplement, but the posting said district staff will be working to ensure students in current academic year health classes receive legally required instruction.

After Greene said the subject had stirred emotion in the public, board member Elizabeth Andersen said she was concerned we are reacting  instead of looking at what is good for children by withdrawing the curriculum on short notice.

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We have taught this curriculum for nine years. Now well move into this school year without a health curriculum, said Andersen, who likened the decision to the districts rebranding of the All In For Safe Schools campaign, a change that LGBTQ advocates criticized as having left classrooms stripped bare of all visible support for LGBTQ students."

Comments by Andersen, who said that we need to stay focused on whats good for kids, were followed by a mix of applause and boos from audience members who were cautioned against outbursts.

Last year's Duval County Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 11.3 percent of middle school students and 32.5 percent of high school students reported having ever had sexual intercourse, with 23.5 percent saying they were currently sexually active, the school district reported.

Vice-chair Kelly Coker said withdrawing the subject from action does not mean we wont have comprehensive sex education, but said extensive public comments have shown that there is a heightened scrutiny to how the district handles the subject.

Member Warren Jones said levels of sexually transmitted diseases in Duval County underscore the value of having comprehensive education to protect public health.

There are some in this community that feel that we dont need to teach this at all. Unfortunately, the data shows that  education is very much needed, Jones said.

Any new sex-education curriculum will be available for public review at least 20 days before a board vote on its adoption, the school district said,

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Duval school district creating own sex-education material, citing law
The Food and Drug Administration gave emergency use authorization to the updated Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 boosters on Aug. 31, and on Sept. 2, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced those vaccines would be available in the state.

It's also the time of year people start getting their flu shots, leading to some common questions.

What is the updated COVID-19 booster? Can I get it in Springfield?

The updated Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 booster shots protect against the original COVID-19 virus as well as the Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.

This booster will be replacing the previous booster, according to a press release from the Springfield-Greene County Heath Department. As of Sept. 3, BA.5 is responsible for 90% of the COVID-19 cases in the United States.

More: White House announces new COVID-19 booster against omicron variant

The updated boosters will be available to the Springfield public starting this week. Those 12 and older can receive the Pfizer/BioNTech booster, and those 18 and older can receive the Moderna at least two months after their last dose.

To schedule an appointment for a booster through the health department, visit vaccine417.com or call the COVID-19 center at 417-874-1211.

There will also be an appointment-only clinic from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sept. 24 at Kickapoo High School, 3710 S. Jefferson Ave., for those 12 and older.

Those who have received the Novavax vaccine are not yet eligible for a booster, according to DHSS.

Is it too early to get the flu shot?

While people are traditionally encouraged to get their flu shots starting in October, observation of flu seasons around the world indicates early infections, according to Kendra Findley, an epidemiologist with the SGCHD. The health department is about to start vaccinating its staff against influenza.

"Flu is unpredictable, but we do look at other areas of the world to see if we can guesstimate what's going to happen here, and Australia had an early onset of flu as well," Findley said, adding that Greene County has already seen one case of influenza A so far, and they anticipate seeing more.

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It takes about two weeks for the body to develop antibodies that protect it against an influenza infection.

More: Mobile health unit in Webster Co. aims to go beyond flu shots, foster community connections

Why should I get the flu shot and the COVID-19 booster?

Autumn is prime respiratory illness season: People spend more time indoors and the air gets drier.

"This is that time of year when we see more respiratory viruses in general, because people are going into confined spaces," Findley said. "Both (the flu and COVID-19) like to spread in a low-humidity environment, so it's perfect when people get indoors and start using heaters to warm the environment."

Findley also emphasized that while the flu shot won't stop you from getting the flu, the same way the COVID-19 booster won't stop you from getting COVID-19, these two vaccines do help protect you against severe illness.

"Neither vaccine, whether we're talking about COVID or flu, they're not a cure. They can't magically protect you completely from getting the disease, but what they will do is protect you from getting severe disease, hopefully protect you from having to be hospitalized or a very negative outcome like death."

But it's not just about the individual outcome.

"(The vaccines) will hopefully slow the spread of disease in our community if enough of us get vaccinated," Findley said.

Susan Szuch is the health and public policy reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on Twitter @szuchsm. Story idea? Email her at sszuch@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield epidemiologist: Now is time to vaccinate against flu, COVID
DOHA, Qatar (AP)  Egypts president met on Tuesday with Qatar's ruling emir during his first visit to the energy-rich nation after ties soured following the Egyptian militarys overthrow of an Islamist president backed by Doha.

The scene of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi warmly shaking hands with Qatar's Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani would have been unthinkable just years ago, when three Gulf Arab states and Egypt imposed a boycott on Doha over its sympathy to Islamists and other contentious issues.

But amid a rush of diplomacy over the last year, the countries have changed course. The dispute ended in 2021, when Qatar signed a declaration with the four to normalize relations. Qatar never ceded to the boycott's demands, which included that it shutter its Al Jazeera news network, expel a small contingency of Turkish troops from its territory and cut ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Since then, ties between Doha and the four Arab states have improved, and top officials have exchanged visits. In June, Sheikh Tamim visited Cairo, where he was welcomed at the airport by el-Sissi, a trip heralded as a thaw and possible end to long-running regional disputes over political Islam. The fault line has fueled conflict in Libya, Yemen and elsewhere.

Relations between Cairo and Doha frayed in 2013, when el-Sissi, as defense minister, led the militarys overthrow of Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi following a short-lived and divisive rule, and outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi, who hailed from the Brotherhood, was backed by Qatar.
Election Day comes Nov. 8 as local, state and federal offices are up for grabs when voters take to the polls, but voters in South Carolina don't have to wait until November to cast their ballots.

Because of a new law passed earlier this year, voters in South Carolina can vote in person any time from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays between Oct. 24 and Nov. 8. They need only show up with a photo ID or voter-registration card at an early voting center in their county of residence.

In Anderson County, those early voting centers are:

County Voter Registration and Elections Office, 301 N. Main St., Anderson SC, 29621

Powdersville Branch Library, 4 Civic Court, Powdersville SC, 29642

Of course, early voters, like others, must be registered to vote. It requires state-issued identification. Voters must be registered at least 30 days prior to an election in order to vote in that election.

You can register to vote online at scvotes.gov, in person at the Anderson County Board of Voter Registration and Elections office on 301 N. Main Street or by mail at P.O Box 8002 Anderson SC, 29622. You can also call 864-260-4035 for more information.

Here's more you should know about this year's general election:

Voter guide: A guide to voter rights in South Carolina. What you need to know before you cast a ballot

More: Early voting is biggest expansion of voting rights in recent South Carolina history

Absentee voting in SC

Voters who want to cast absentee ballots must request an application from their local election office by phone, mail or in person. Applicants must provide their name, date of birth and last four digits of their Social Security number.

Voters will be mailed their ballots, and the ballots must be returned to their local election office between Oct. 24 and Nov. 5 before 5 p.m. prior to Election Day. Voters must present a photo ID when returning the ballot to the office.

When to vote on Election Day

Voting on Nov. 8 runs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., though anyone in line at 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote no matter how long it takes them to cast their ballot.

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Where to vote in Anderson County

Anderson County will have 81 precincts open for voting that Tuesday. Visit scvotes.sc.gov for a full list of polling places, or call the election office at 864-260-4035.

To find your individual polling place using your name and birthday, visit scvotes.sc.gov.

Who's on the ballot in SC

Every registered voter in the nation can vote in races like presidential elections. Anyone in South Carolina can vote in races like for governor and the state's U.S. Senate election. For local races, however, where elected officials represent residents of distinct areas within the bounds of the state, voting eligibility is determined by location of residence.

Some races cross county and city lines.

To know the races and candidates on your specific ballot ahead of time, visit scvotes.gov, where you can type in your name, birthday and county to see a sample ballot.

Races on the ballot in Anderson County for 2022 election

Governor and Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina

Joe Cunningham and Tally Parham Casey, Democratic Party

Henry McMaster and Pamela Evette, Republican Party, incumbent

Bruce Reeves and Jessica Ethridge, Libertarian Party

Secretary of State

Rosemounda Peggy Butler, Democratic Party

Mark Hammond, Republican Party, incumbent

State Treasurer

Curtis Loftis, Republican Party, incumbent

Sarah E. Work, Alliance Party

Attorney General of South Carolina

Alan Wilson, Republican Party, incumbent

Comptroller General

Richard Eckstrom, Republican Party, incumbent

State Superintendent of Education

Lisa Ellis, Democratic and Alliance parties

Patricia M. Mickel, Green Party

Ellen Weaver, Republican Party

Commissioner of Agriculture

David Edmond, Green Party

Chris Nelums, United Citizens Party

Hugh Weathers, Republican Party, incumbent

U.S. Senate

Krystle Matthews, Democratic Party

Tim Scott, Republican Party, incumbent

U.S. House of Representatives, District 3

Jeff Duncan, Republican Party, incumbent

South Carolina House of Representatives, District 6

April Cromer, Republican Party

South Carolina House of Representatives, District 7

Chris Salley, Democratic Party

Jay West, Republican Party, incumbent

South Carolina House of Representatives, District 8

Don Chapman, Republican Party

Ernest E. Mackins, Democratic Party

Jackie Todd, Alliance Party

South Carolina House of Representatives, District 9

Judith Polson, Democratic Party

Anne Thayer, Republican Party, incumbent

South Carolina House of Representatives, District 10

Thomas Beach, Republican Party

South Carolina House of Representatives, District 11

Craig Gagnon, Republican Party, incumbent

Probate Judge

JT Foster, Republican Party

Auditor

John Benca, Republican Party

Anderson County Council, District 1

John B Wright Jr., Republican Party, incumbent

Anderson County Council, District 2

Glenn Davis, Democratic Party, incumbent

David Standard, Republican Party

Anderson County Council, District 3

Greg Elgin, Republican Party

Anderson County Council, District 4

Brett Sanders, Republican Party, incumbent

Anderson County Council, District 5

Tommy Dunn, Republican Party, incumbent

Anderson County Council, District 6

Jimmy Davis, Republican Party, incumbent

Anderson County Council, District 7

Mark Powell, Democratic Party

M. Cindy Wilson, Republican Party, incumbent

Soil and Water District Commission

Art. D. Garrison

Alex Kostik

Anderson School District 1 Board of Trustees, Area 5

Wendy Burgess, incumbent

Anderson School District 1 Board of Trustees, Area 4

Pat Cox, incumbent

Anderson School District 1 Board of Trustees, Area 1

Melissa Ellison Hood, incumbent

Anderson School District 1 Board of Trustees, Area 7

Nancy Owen Upton, incumbent

Anderson School District 2 Board of Trustees, At-Large

Jimmy Ouzts, incumbent

Anderson School District 2 Board of Trustees, Area 3

Kurt Tavernier

Anderson School District 2 Board of Trustees, Area 4

Greg Tysel

Anderson School District 3 Board of Trustees, Area 1

Larry Holbrook, incumbent

Anderson School District 3 Board of Trustees, At-Large

Hannah Arnold

Curtis A. Wiles

Anderson School District 3 Board of Trustees, Area 4

Gale Moore Dickerson

Anne Marie Rogers

Marty Watt, incumbent

Anderson School District 4 Board of Trustees, Area 2

Paulette Grate, incumbent

Anderson School District 4 Board of Trustees, Area 4

Diana Mullikin, incumbent

Herbert Nymark

Anderson School District 4 Board of Trustees, Area 5

Brad Mock

Anderson School District 5 Board of Trustees, Area 1

Julie Usherwood, incumbent

Anderson School District 5 Board of Trustees, Area 2

Johnny S. Donald Jr., incumbent

Sandra Thompson Leverette

John R. Steely

Anderson School District 5 Board of Trustees, Area 5

Harold Kay II, incumbent

Anderson School District 5 Board of Trustees, Area 6

Rick Bradshaw, incumbent

Erica Grunst

Anderson School District 3, At-Large

Hannah Arnold

Curtis A. Wiles, incumbent

Anderson School District 5 Board of Trustees, At-Large

Cindy Burriss,

Brad Freeman, incumbent

Alison Youngblood

Anderson County Board of Education, Area 1

Gary Burgess, incumbent

Anderson County Board of Education, Area 3

Dough Atkins,

Anderson County Board of Education, Area 4

Greg Balog

Jordan Evans

Anderson County Board of Education, Area 6

C Nakia Davis, incumbent

Watershed Conservation District, Big Creek

Joey Werner

Watershed Conservation District, Broadmouth Creek

Glenn Stevens

Watershed Conservation District, Brushy Creek

Rick Gantt

Allen Wilson

Watershed Conservation District, Three and Twenty

Randy Griddis

Fire District Commissioner, Piedmont Public Service Area

Al C. McAbee Jr.

Ed Poore

Terry Yates

Public Service District, Homeland Park Water and Sewer

Dennis Chastain

Don King

Walter Lanier

Tamia Boyd is a Michigan native who covers breaking news in Greenville. Email her at tboyd@gannett.com, and follow her on Twitter @tamiamb.

This article originally appeared on Anderson Independent Mail: Elections in Anderson County: Early voting in SC and what to know
Family ties are pretty strong among the Brady clan  specifically among Eve Plumb and Christopher Knight, who played stepsister and stepbrother on "The Brady Bunch."

Both walked the red (actually it was gold) carpet at Monday's 74th Primetime Emmy Awards. They later appeared during the opening segment of the Emmys telecast alongside "Brady" co-stars Barry Williams, Susan Olsen and Mike Lookinland.

"Were very surprised and very happy," Plumb, 64, told The Associated Press on the gold carpet when asked about joining the telecast.

Added Knight, also 64, "And honored."

Chris Knight and Eve Plumb (Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images)

"The Brady Bunch" aired from 1969-74 and told the tale of what life was like when a man with three sons married a woman with three daughters. Plumb and Knight played Jan and Peter, the two middle kids of each gender.

A lot has changed in the TV landscape in the decades since "The Brady Bunch" originally aired, with many streaming platforms now offering programming.

I dont think (streaming) just serves one audience. It speaks to many, said Knight, who appeared with Plumb on 2019's "A Very Brady Renovation" on HGTV.

Brady Brunch cast (ABC Photo Archives / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

You have that much more opportunity to catch up 10 years later on something and become a huge fan," he added. "Because of streaming therell be huge successes of old content."

Stay tuned to see if there'll be more "Brady" business on tonight's telecast, which is being held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Stream it for yourself on Peacock, or watch on your local NBC affiliate. (Peacock is owned by TODAY's parent company, NBCUniversal.)

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Leonardo DiCaprio and Zendaya. (Photo: Dia Dipasupil via Getty Images/Frazer Harrison via Getty Images)

Leonardo DiCaprio and Zendaya. (Photo: Dia Dipasupil via Getty Images/Frazer Harrison via Getty Images)

Leonardo DiCaprio is halfway to an EGOT  if it could be earned by being made fun of at the four big award shows over the years.

During Kenan Thompsons monologue Monday at the 2022 Emmys, the Saturday Night Live star and award show host joined in the grand tradition of poking fun at the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood stars habit of dating very young women.

Zendaya just turned 26, Thompson said, gesturing to the Euphoria star who was sitting up front in the audience, and nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in the HBO show. Twenty-six is a weird age in Hollywood. Young enough to play a high school student but too old to date Leonardo DiCaprio.

Zendaya just turned 26, happy birthday. 26 is a weird age in Hollywood. Young enough to play a high school student, but too old to date Leonardo DiCaprio. - Kenan Thompson at the #Emmyspic.twitter.com/tnbJ3XtZ1m  philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 13, 2022

Thompson made the joke just weeks after news broke that the Revenant star, who is 47, had broken up with his girlfriend of four years, model Camila Morrone, just two months after her 25th birthday.

This is by no means the first time a host has made fun of DiCaprio at an award show.

At the 2014 Golden Globes, Tina Fey introduced The Wolf of Wall Street star to the stage by saying: And now, like a supermodels vagina, lets all give a warm welcome to Leonardo DiCaprio.

And Amy Schumer cracked one at this years Oscars during her monologue, saying of the Dont Look Up actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, what can I even say about him? Hes done so much to fight climate change and leave behind a cleaner, greener planet for his girlfriends.

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Now all someone has to do is make fun of DiCaprio at the Grammys and Tonys for that EGOT.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
China-Europe freight train services see robust growth in August

Xinhua) 08:51, September 13, 2022

A China-Europe freight train arrives at Xi'an international port in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Aug. 31, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The number of China-Europe freight train service surged by 18 percent year on year last month, hitting a record-high 1,585 trips, according to the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.

About 154,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) of goods were shipped through the freight trains in August, up 19 percent from a year ago, according to the company.

During the first eight months, the number of China-Europe freight train trips rose 5 percent year on year to 10,575. The trains transported a total of 1.02 million TEU of goods, an increase of 6 percent from a year ago.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
According to Kaiser Health News, over 114 major US employers have pledged to offer or expand abortion-related benefits since the US Supreme Courts Dobbs decision reversing federal reproductive rights first leaked in May. Fifty-four of the companiesincluding Starbucks, Bank of America, Disney, and Appleare in the Fortune 500. A survey from Mercer found that by June, when the official ruling was released, 14% of companies already had policies or plans in place to reimburse abortion-related travel expenses, while another 25% said they were considering it.

These types of policies represent meaningful gestures of support in the face of drastic rollbacks to reproductive rights. However, they also raise serious concerns about safety and confidentiality. People are understandably wary about the prospect of having to notify their employer about such a private healthcare decision.

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There are also tricky tax and compliance issues that businesses will have to sort out, especially if they want to ensure that all workersincluding temporary workers and contractorshave access to these benefits.

For workplaces that want to support the reproductive autonomy of their employees and uphold access to abortion, its essential to ensure the benefit is being administered ethically and responsibly. Here are some key things to keep in mind.

Privacy and confidentiality in accessing abortion care benefits

Many employees wont be comfortable disclosing to their employer, whether directly or indirectly, their efforts to make use of an abortion care benefit. As Dina Fierro, a global vice president at the cosmetics company Nars, told the New York Times, Its a doomsday scenario if individuals have to bring their health care choices to their employers.

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The Kaiser Health News survey revealed that many companies have yet to publicly detail their confidentiality practices, but many employees likely will be dissuaded from using the benefit if there arent explicit protections in place. Of the companies that have described their practices, approaches vary. Starbucks, for instance, is providing employees with access to third-party trained advocates who they can go to anonymously with their questions, while the Match Group has partnered with Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, which will handle all the information, booking, and arrangements directly.

These solutions help create channels outside of the corporate hierarchy that can serve as a safeguard, not only from exposure, but also from law enforcement, which could theoretically subpoena documentation related to abortion-related benefits as part of an investigation. In essence, the less an employer knows, the better.

Taxation and compliance

The patchwork of state laws on abortion and insurance coverage makes it difficult for businesses to figure out how to structure abortion-related benefits in a way that is financially and legally compliantespecially for organizations with employees in multiple states. Some states prohibit insurers from covering abortions or related expenses, while other states mandate coverage as part of essential healthcare.

There also are differences for self-insured employers and fully insured employers. Organizations that fund their own benefit plans have more room to navigate around restrictions in state insurance laws, but most small and medium-sized businesses have fully insured plans, which are subject to greater oversight. In states hostile to abortion rights, this could make providing abortion-related benefits much more difficult.

This is why many employers are considering options outside of their existing health insurance planssuch as forming health reimbursement arrangements (HRA), health flexible spending accounts (FSA) or health savings accounts (HSA) in order to fund out-of-state travel, but these arent perfect solutions. For one, a plan that centers on reimbursement means that employees need to have the upfront funds to cover the costs on their own and then wait to get paid back, which many cannot afford. Secondly, the expenses typically have to be substantiated with receipts and documentation, creating a paper trail that raises privacy concerns.

In addition, if the reimbursements are covered outside of the health plan, the amount paid out would likely be treated as taxable income, and the benefit may not be subject to HIPAA privacy laws. If included as part of their regular health coverage, employees may have to meet their deductibles before getting reimbursed. There may also be complications if employees are seeking care from out-of-state providers who are not in-network. All of these factors impact whether the benefit truly does what it aims to do, which is to make abortion care more accessible.

Maximizing the benefit of abortion-care benefits

Travel stipends are emerging as a popular solution to the problem with confidentiality and compliance. Some companies are offering annual travel stipends that cover any type of medical care, including fertility treatments and cancer treatments. Extending the benefit more broadly means that abortion care is not singled outwhich both preserves privacy and makes it harder for states to crack downand enables employees to use the funds at their discretion, without need for approval or reimbursement. Citigroup, Dicks, Buzzfeed, Reddit, Meta, Warner Bros, Intuit, and Zillow all have said they will offer annual stipends in amounts ranging from $4,000 to $7,500.

Ultimately, to have the biggest impact, companies should consider extending abortion-related benefitsalong with paid time offto temporary workers and contractors. These categories of workers are much more likely to be women of color and to earn less income, while full-time salaried employees are more likely to be wealthier and white. This means that the workers who need this type of benefit the most are the same workers who are most likely to be excluded from it. If the goal of these benefits is to ensure people who need access to abortion care can access it, these workers cant be left behind.

Theres no question that the Dobbs decision, and the subsequent rush in several states to outlaw or severely restrict abortion, will make it much more difficult for people to access the care they need. Along with activists, advocates, practical support organizations, abortion funds, and reproductive healthcare providers, employers can play an important part in helping to ensure avenues to access remain.
Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang speaking in Parliament on 13 September 2022. (SCREENSHOT: Ministry of Information and Communications/YouTube)

SINGAPORE  Employers and employees should be open to flexible work arrangements in all its various forms including the four-day work week and adopt those that best suit their needs, Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang said on Tuesday (13 September).

Speaking in Parliament, Gan also said that the four-day work week may not work for all employers and employees.

As with any work arrangement, a four-day work week may work well for some employers and employees, but not for others. We should adopt a flexible mindset, a four-day work week is one of many types of flexible work arrangements.

Gan was responding to a question by Radin Mas Member of Parliament Melvin Yong, who asked if the government is aware of any ongoing studies by third parties to examine the feasibility of a four-day work week in Singapore, and whether the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is considering a similar study.

Yong later asked a supplementary question on whether MOM would consider a small-scale trial of a four-day workweek involving a number of public servants, and assess the benefits and challenges based on the trial outcome.

In response, Gan said that MOM does not have any such plans.

Referring to reports of four-day work week pilots in Ireland, Japan, Spain and Belgium, Gan said the results in these countries appear to be mixed.

Some of the key concerns highlighted include the impact on productivity, business costs, and employee well-being, according to Gan. While productivity improvements have been reported in some cases, reduced hours have had to be compensated with the hiring of more labour in other cases, Gan said. Employees were also concerned about an impact on their salaries or longer work hours per day, she added.

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BRUSSELS (AP)  European Union lawmakers have backed a proposal for a law that would ban the sale in the 27-nation bloc of agriculture products linked to the destruction of forests.

MEPs gathered on Tuesday in Strasbourg, France, supported and strengthened a plan from the EU's executive arm with 453 votes to 57, and 123 abstentions.

The EU Parliament will now start negotiations on the final text with EU member states.

Once approved, the law would force companies and producers to give assurances that products are deforestation-free. Businesses would be forced to verify that agricultural goods sold in the EU have not bee made on deforested or degraded land anywhere in the world," the Parliament said.

Acknowledging that the EU is responsible for around 10% of global deforestation, we have no choice but to ramp up our efforts to halt global deforestation," said Christophe Hansen, the lawmaker in charge of the Parliament's report.

In addition, MEPs proposed that banks and financial institutions should be covered by the law to prevent them from investing in projects linked to deforestation.

This could be the beginning of the end of the money pipeline that is destroying forests around the world  but only if national governments across the EU step up and support this plan to make European banks deforestation-free in negotiations on the final law, said Giulia Bondi, from Global Witness campaigning group.

Deforestation in South America, Africa and Asia is driven mainly by agricultural expansion.

Quoting data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the EU Parliament said that some 420 million hectares of forest were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020. This is an area larger than the EU.

The European Commission, which proposes EU laws and supervises the way they are enacted, suggested last year that the legislation covered soy, cattle, palm oil, wood, cocoa and coffee.

Under the position adopted Tuesday, lawmakers also want to include pig meat, sheep and goats, poultry, maize and rubber, as well as charcoal and printed paper products.

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MEPs also want companies to verify that goods are produced in accordance with human rights provisions in international law and respect the rights of indigenous people, the Parliament said.

Environmental group Greenpeace praised the result of the vote.

Nobody wants to worry that their weekly shop might be linked to death and destruction  the vote today is a big step towards breaking that link," said Greenpeace EU forest campaigner Sini Erajaa.

At the U.N.'s climate conference, COP26, last year, over 100 nations representing more than 85% of the worlds forests pledged to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. Among them were several countries with massive forests, including Brazil, China, Colombia, Congo, Indonesia, Russia and the United States.

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Firefighters work to cut a fire line in the burn zone of the Fairview fire near Hemet on Friday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Homes in Hemet that were under evacuation orders for the Fairview fire have been targeted by burglars, according to authorities.

On Sunday, three people were arrested on suspicion of burglarizing a home in the area under evacuation orders, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said. The three suspects were all Hemet residents: Deven Hooker, 31; John Blackwood, 42; and Michael Edward Serrano, 50.

They were charged with burglary and looting in an evacuation area. Hooker was separately charged with possession of a controlled substance.

They remain in custody at the Smith Correctional Facility near Banning, jail records show.

On Friday, a former California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection firefighter's house was also targeted.

The ex-firefighter, who asked to be identified only as "Terry," told KCBS-TV Channel 2 that he and his wife left their home without locking the front door, and Terry said thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry was stolen from them, the station reported.

It was the second robbery this week reported in the area, according to Riverside County Sheriff's Sgt. Brandi Swan.

Swan said Terry told authorities he was approached by a man wearing an orange vest. Terry's neighbors captured a person wearing an orange vest leaving his house on their home security video about 30 minutes after the couple left. Later, another suspect is also seen in the video, according to the station.

Terry told KCBS that he also received a notification on his own Ring doorbell camera, but he was unable to watch the recording.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Central America is a region with some of the worlds most sought- after views and travel experiences. From Belize down to Panama, the region is dripping with abundance. Truth be told, that same abundance is what overwhelmed me on my first backpacking trip around this part of the Americas.

To no surprise to my family and friends, I have already begun thinking about all the places I needed more time to visit, and so inevitably will visit. Some of the places on the list were skipped because of what I thought were safety reasons, others were skipped because I wanted to save it for a non-solo trip. Others were left off because I had commitments in other countries or time limitations. Either way, Im grateful to share a list of reasons why I have to make a return to this gorgeous region. Here is Central America, and all that Im excited to one day explore:

Nicaragua, San Juan del Sur & Pearl Lagoon

A post shared by Hola Nicaragua (@vis.itnicaragua)

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Ive added two main locations to my list but truly I skipped the whole pacific coast of Nicaragua. I dont regret it because at the time I was focused on the Caribbean coast and diaspora in Central America. Nicaragua is relatively easy to travel through so it would had been easy enough to see. I also had a full 90 days on my tourist visa so certainly had enough time. I was caught up in the creole and the fried fish and the gorgeous Caribbean island energy. As a Jamaican, it felt familiar and I didnt want to leave Big Corn island.

I kinda wish I did. I say this because Nicaragua is so vast and my experience of the country is limited to a strange week in Managua and over a month in the Caribbean. A return trip will definitely include not only the pacific side and towns such as San Juan del Sur but also Leon and even Granada. Ill surely want to see the Caribbean again so this time I will likely want to see the Pearl Lagoon, a region frequented by locals.

Honduras

A post shared by JULIA  (@withmypassport)

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I heard a bunch of stories about how unsafe Honduras is for a solo traveler. Regardless, it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to check it out. Why? Mostly because the Garifuna culture was calling me. As a lover of history and all things diasporic and Caribbean, I was so sure that I would enjoy the Bay islands. Every YouTube video that I obsessively watched made Roatan seem similar to Belizes Caye Caulker or Nicaraguas Corn Islands.

I have propelled Honduras to the top of my list, perhaps integrating it into my small island bucket-list itinerary.

El Salvador

A post shared by El Salvador Travel (@elsalvadortravel)

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I skipped El Salvador for a combination of the two reasons mentioned earlier. 1). I had mostly planned my itinerary around the Caribbean coast of Central America and 2) I hadnt heard the best stories about El Salvador as a solo traveling woman.

Either way, I wish I hadnt skipped it. Arriving in Guatemala and seeing how many people were traveling between the two countries left me curious. Recommendations really inspired me to look into it more. I think the adventurous side of me would 100% appreciate El Salvador. I think it would be a quick stop, maybe the shortest of all of my Central American countries but I still think there are natural wonders to see.

Panama, Taboga island

A post shared by Taboga, Isla de las Flores (@tabogaisland)

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I spent a lot of time exploring Bocas del Toro because of my interest in the Caribbean culture there. Another location I skipped on (discovered too late) is Taboga island. Just off Panamas pacific coast lies a culture and a foodie scene worth checking out. As an island girl, I am super ready to compare the small island experience in Panama. It is definitely on my list for later travels.

Guatemala, Semuc Champey and Livingston

A post shared by Claudio Cimmelli (@claudiocim)

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Guatemala is one of my favorite countries but one of the hardest in Central America to travel through. Myself and several travelers I met found the country to be difficult to to travel because everything is so spaced out. 12 hours between certain destinations is a norm. For this reason, I never made it to Livingston, the Garifuna land in Guatemala. Nor did I make it to Semuc Champey or Rio dulce. I stayed for a month in Antigua and Lake Atitlan which was precious but only half of the story.

Another thing about Guatemala is that its so densely abundant in natural wonders but some of it I wanted to save for a non-solo trip. I know a handful of people Id actually like to convince to wander around the jungles and rivers of Guatemala, so I skipped those destinations to save them.

Ultimately there are always things that you have to skip on, this is part of the travel adventure. The true glory of living a slowmadic lifestyle is having the opportunity to evaluate the journey and return to your favorite countries. Central America will always call me back, Im confident about that. The list of incredible destinations is too long and my memories are too precious to not constantly revise the to-visit list.

Related: A Travel Noire Central America Itinerary For Experiencing Caribbean Culture
Another alumnus of the Boston Celtics has found themselves a new home, with HoopsHypes Alberto De Roa reporting that former Celtics guard Jordan Crawford will be playing for the Bahraini Basketball Associations Manama Club for the coming 2022-23 season.

Crawford, a Detroit native who played his college ball with both Indiana and Xavier University, was picked up with the 27th overall pick of the 2010 NBA draft by the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets, but would be dealt to the Atlanta Hawks, where he would play the first 16 games of his career. Crawford would be dealt again, this time to the Washington Wizards.

The Xavier product would spend parts of 3 seasons with the Wizards before he was dealt yet again to the Celtics in 2013 for Leandro Barbosa and Jason Collins.

Celtics fans in favor of expansion might be a lot less enthusiastic about it once the daydream becomes a reality. https://t.co/d1F8IlMnNn  The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) September 13, 2022

The Michigan native played 39 games for the Celtics, starting 35 of them, and averaged 13.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and just under a steal per game with the team before he would be traded again, this time with MarShon Brooks to the Golden State Warriors for Joel Anthony and draft assets.

Listen to the Celtics Lab podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

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How can the NBA make All-Star week's Dunk Contest better? Report: Vet forward Jake Layman to compete for roster spot at Boston Celtics' training camp Calling Jaylen Brown a pivotal piece, Warriors' Steph Curry hints dealing for Kevin Durant might have flopped for Boston 'I could see how there could be some advantage of having Carmelo ... on the roster,' says Brian Scalabrine What potential Danilo Gallinari replacements might the Boston Celtics consider? Celtics Lab 140: Does the NBA have enough talent to expand, and how might it affect the Boston Celtics if they did?

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Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 8

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Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire
TeraWatt Infrastructure, a company that builds electric vehicle charging infrastructure for fleets, has secured over $1 billion in a Series A round to build out its portfolio of commercial charging centers.

The recent injection of capital follows a $100 million seed round from Keyframe Capital and Cyrus Capital, which both followed on into the current round alongside Vision Ridge Partners.

The infrastructure for charging private passenger EVs is becoming easily accessible and well developed. But as more electric vehicle models for fleets begin to come to market, the commercial sector will need its own charging centers, and that's where TeraWatt comes in.

The future of electrified transport is at a critical inflection point, whereby solutions for large-scale EV charging infrastructure must be established to meet the increasing demand for electrification of all fleets, said Paul Luce, managing director at Vision Ridge Partners, in a statement.

Since TeraWatt came out of stealth in May 2021, the company has scooped up real estate in strategic locations that are relevant to fleets, like along highways, and built out a growing network of charging centers. The $1 billion in funding will help TeraWatt both develop charging infrastructure at its current portfolio of properties, as well as acquire new properties, according to Neha Palmer, TeraWatt's CEO and former head of energy strategy at Google.

"We plan to more than double the number of new employees over the next year to fulfill needs across charging operations, real estate, sales, marketing and more," Palmer told TechCrunch. "In the coming weeks, TeraWatt will announce the largest and most ambitious charging project to date for the electrification of long-haul transportation along a major highway corridor."

TeraWatt currently has sites across 18 states, some of which the company is actively developing into charging centers, according to Palmer. The company intends to initially deploy charging centers in the western United States, with some additional sites in the east. TeraWatt works with companies that have EV-first business models, as well as established companies that are starting to transition to EVs -- and it works with fleets across light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles.

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As more EVs come online, both in the private sphere and within fleets, experts worry that the grid won't be able to handle the influx of demand. TeraWatt claims to solve that problem by taking electric capacity availability into account when choosing the location of charging centers, according to Palmer.

Palmer says part of TeraWatt's strategy is to start the development process early enough to collaborate with utilities companies from the get-go. The company also works on ways to leverage tools like on-site generation and batteries to interconnect quickly and have greater flexibility around energy consumption.

"To be clear, grid capacity will be an issue for the entire industry, and for many industries as the 'electrify everything' transition continues," said Palmer. "There will have to be a lot of collaboration between stakeholders, including grid owners, operators, utilities, regulators and end users to ensure that the grid can evolve alongside the shift to electric transportation."
Two and a half years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, were still feeling its effects on the travel industry in big ways.

This summer has been one of the most frustrating periods, as travelers have had to navigate canceled flights, lost luggage, escalating prices and a general sense of chaos. But will this trend persist into the holiday season?

Below, experts share their predictions for holiday travel this year  as well as advice for keeping the stress to a minimum.

Even more people will travel for the holidays this year.

While I still think 2022 holiday season travel numbers will lag behind 2019, they will be well above 2021 and 2020 totals, Phil Dengler, co-founder of The Vacationer, told HuffPost. The majority of COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted, which really puts the virus out of a lot of peoples minds when they consider traveling. On most days, TSA checkpoint numbers are only slightly behind the equivalent day from 2019.

There was massive demand for travel this summer, and experts expect it to continue into the holiday season  or, at least, to be greater than in 2021.

The past two holiday seasons were surprisingly robust for being solidly in pandemic times, but one problem that prohibited even more families from traveling was there was still no vaccine for 5 and under, said travel host Samantha Brown. We now have that vaccine, so families with younger children will feel its safer to fly.

Another difference between last years holiday season and the upcoming one is awareness of the COVID-19 omicron variant  and the recently authorized booster shots aimed at protecting against it.

Last year in early December, omicron spread and a lot of people changed their travel plans, said Brian Kelly, founder of The Points Guy. Barring any unforeseen circumstances or new variants, people are feeling comfortable traveling again and the world has reopened dramatically since last year.

Because of this, travel issues will inevitably persist.

Unfortunately, the demand this summer exceeded the supply of pilots, so cancellations and delays were common and frustrating for millions of Americans, Dengler said. I think that demand is going to continue into this years holiday travel season, which is going to cause more cancellations and delays around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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Dengler predicted that 2022 holiday cancellations will stem more from a lack of pilots and other staff than from COVID-related sick calls, as was the case in 2020 and 2021.

There is no quick fix to the lack of pilots, so it will be an issue for the holiday season, he emphasized.

Travel issues are bound to happen during this year's holidays, according to experts. (Photo: Vivien.x.Li via Getty Images)

Travel issues are bound to happen during this year's holidays, according to experts. (Photo: Vivien.x.Li via Getty Images)

The day before Thanksgiving will be particularly rough.

We are still recovering from the summer of travel hell, and even though operations have returned to normal in terms of cancellations, delays and luggage not showing up, I still have zero confidence in the airlines having it together for ... the day before Thanksgiving, aka the busiest travel day of the year, Brown said. If you can avoid taking a plane on Wednesday, [November] 23rd, do it.

Because Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday, the air travel patterns are easy to predict. Experts maintain that the Wednesday before Turkey Day, and the Sunday after it, are the busiest days for flying  and therefore the most likely to involve some headaches.

Fly Tuesday and Saturday  or fly Thanksgiving Day, which is very quiet, Brown urged. Or better yet, host Thanksgiving and have everyone come to you!

The same goes for the Friday before Christmas.

With Christmas Day on a Sunday, flights on the Friday and Saturday just before will be packed, said Sheldon Jacobson, a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois who specializes in operations research. Consider flying during less crowded days.

Several experts also predicted that Dec. 22, a Thursday, will be a busy flying day. Dec. 26 and Dec. 27, a Monday and Tuesday, are expected to be the worst days for return flights.

We encourage those who can work remotely to avoid the busiest travel days by extending their trips and working from their destination for a few days, said Melinda Haughey, CEO and co-founder of the interactive mapping service Proxi. They can then spend evenings exploring hidden gems in their destination city or catch up on quality time with friends and family.

International travel will be up.

The past two holiday seasons saw a higher percentage of domestic travel than in pre-pandemic times. However, Kelly believes well see more people taking international trips again for their Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah breaks.

I also foresee a surge in international travel, especially to places in Asia as those destinations continue to reopen, he said. People are eager to take those aspirational trips. On the flip side, prices will start to rise again too.

Booking early is key.

I strongly advise those looking to travel this coming holiday season to book their flights as soon as possible, Dengler said. There are only a limited number of flights and seats around Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the desirable routes sell out quickly.

He emphasized that prices will only increase as we get closer to the holidays.

Ideally, you have your holiday flights booked already, but there are still good deals available, Dengler said. Aim to book Thanksgiving and Christmas flights by the middle of September. At the latest, book Thanksgiving flights by Halloween and Christmas flights by Thanksgiving, but even then you will be paying a premium.

Even if you arent traveling by plane, the same wisdom applies to other forms of transit like trains and rental cars. Since demand is high around the holidays, its best to lock in a solid rate as soon as possible, as prices will only climb the closer we get to that peak travel time.

Morning flights are probably better.

You cant control whether a flight will be canceled or delayed, but there are things you can do to better your odds of a smooth travel experience.

If you must fly, book the first flight out, Brown said. Its miserable waking up at 4 a.m. to get to the airport, but that first flight is the one that is most likely to leave on time. Any other disruptions, weather, mechanical difficulties start to compound as the day grows older.

In addition to booking early morning flights, Dengler recommends opting for nonstop whenever possible.

Nonstop flights are better because your odds of experiencing a delay or cancellation increases with each connection, he said.

Checking luggage might not be advisable.

By now, weve all seen the reports of lost and delayed luggage chaos around the world. Although things have improved a bit, the busy holiday season could involve a revival of that unfortunate phenomenon, so you may want to carry on your presents to avoid Christmas-morning disappointment.

I recommend avoiding checking your luggage if possible, Dengler said. Airlines struggled with losing and delaying bags during this past summers busy travel season. The lines were also extremely long at some airports to check your bag, which adds to the stress. I think airlines will face similar issues for the holiday season, so carry on your luggage if you can.

Booking a morning flight will help reduce your odds of encountering delays. (Photo: yoh4nn via Getty Images)

Booking a morning flight will help reduce your odds of encountering delays. (Photo: yoh4nn via Getty Images)

Preparation is crucial for smoother holiday travel.

In 2020 we saw decreased travel, in 2021 we saw more travel but anxiety about how to travel safely, and in 2022 we believe that travelers will go into holiday travel prepared for an uncertain experience, Haughey said. We expect travelers to adapt the way that they travel, including willingness to pay for ways to alleviate this stress  like buying Clear or arriving at the airport early, then splurging on lounge access.

The frustrating air travel scenarios that came to pass in high numbers this summer have given people very low expectations for a pleasant experience.

Expect the unexpected, so if things go smoothly, you will be pleasantly surprised, Jacobson said. If they do not, roll with each punch. Book flights with ample connection times. Give yourself sufficient time to get through airport security. Enroll in PreCheck, as an efficient way to traverse airport security. Pack light, and wrap presents after you arrive at your final destination. (For a fuller explanation of PreCheck and Clear, see here.)

Kelly recommended being proactive and using tools to stay on top of your itinerary.

Track your flight via FlightAware to see where its coming from, he suggested. ExpertFlyer is another great tool to check and see if there are other flight options out there or upgrades. Be sure to book ahead and utilize Google Flights to see when airfare is higher or lower than average. Lastly, use your frequent flyer miles when possible, to give yourself maximum flexibility in the event you need to change or cancel your trip.

And beyond preparing for travel logistics, passengers can continue to do their part to minimize the risk of contracting and spreading COVID by wearing face masks at travel hubs like airports and train stations  as well as on the planes and trains themselves. Similarly, if youre exhibiting COVID symptoms, consider taking a test before you head out the door, to help protect staff and fellow passengers.

Passengers need more transparency from airlines.

As we head toward the holiday season and new year, passengers would benefit from being able to feel more secure about the reliability of air travel.

I personally would like to hear from the airlines with a postmortem of what happened and the specific steps they are taking (hiring pilots, ground crew, reducing flights) that will ease, if not make these problems disappear, Brown said. And it does need to be specific, not just saying we are doing all we can. The number of passengers showing up every day to fly should not have come as a surprise to them, and yet it appeared they were caught totally off guard.

No matter how frustrating things get, try not to take out your anger on the employees at the airport and on your flight. They do not control the schedule or corporate policies, and they likely share many of your frustrations. Patience and kindness go a long way.

Remember that the airline personnel working during the holidays are helping you enjoy your holidays, while they are missing their own, Jacobson urged. Thank them for their service.

All that said, theres reason to be cautiously optimistic.

Every holiday season is a challenge for the airlines, Jacobson said. The six-week period between Thanksgiving and the New Year have surges of demand with mostly people that are not frequent flyers.

Although the unprecedented crew shortages and flight disruptions have posed a challenge this summer, he has some hope for the upcoming months.

With ample time to meet demand, the airlines should be forewarned to ensure that crews are available and schedules are solidified, Jacobson said. I am optimistic that they will deliver on that front, though early winter storms can derail even the best laid plans.

Kelly similarly believes there might be more hiccups this holiday season compared to last year's, but he shares some of Jacobsons optimism.

Im hopeful things will get better as airlines and airports regroup this fall, he said. But I still suspect some busy airports like London Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol to have some challenges.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
An Air Force investigation of a fatal fighter jet crash in 2020 quietly discovered that key components of the pilots ejection seat may have been counterfeit, Air Force Times has learned.

First Lt. David Schmitz, an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot at South Carolinas Shaw Air Force Base, died June 30, 2020, when his ejection seat malfunctioned as he tried to escape from a failed nighttime landing. He was 32.

The Air Forces official inquiry in the months following the accident found that electronics inside the seat were scratched, unevenly sanded and showed otherwise shoddy craftsmanship.

Read the complaint in Schmitz v. Lockheed Martin et al

That raised red flags at the Air Force Research Laboratory, which called for a closer look to confirm whether the pieces were fraudulent, according to previously unreported slides provided to Air Force Times. Its unclear whether that question was ever answered.

While the Air Force suspected parts of the seat were counterfeit, it buried the information in a nonpublic section of its accident investigation report.

Those details have come to light in a federal civil lawsuit filed by Schmitzs widow, Valerie, who is suing three defense companies for negligence and misleading the Air Force about the safety of their products.

What the military does is inherently dangerous to begin with, plaintiff attorney Jim Brauchle said Tuesday. If youre going to be engaging in that kind of activity, you want to be doing it with equipment thats going to work.

Pilot killed in Shaw F-16 crash loved his family, his country and loved to fly'

The case in U.S. District Court in South Carolina targets F-16 manufacturer Lockheed Martin; Collins Aerospace, which builds the ACES II ejection seat installed on planes across the Air Force; and multiple business units of Teledyne Technologies, which makes the seats digital recovery sequencer.

A sequencer is supposed to execute the steps of the ejection process when triggered in an emergency. Teledynes product is used in ejection seats on the F-15, F-16, F-22 and F-117 fighter jets, the A-10 attack plane, and B-1 and B-2 bombers around the world, according to its website.

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In Schmitzs case, the ejection seat shot 130 feet into the air but failed to deploy its parachute. The airman hit the ground about seven seconds later while still strapped into his seat. He died on impact.

The public version of the Air Forces official accident report, released in November 2020, blamed the mishap on how Schmitz mishandled his descent into Shaw, as well as his supervisors suggestion to try a tail hook landing instead of telling Schmitz to eject earlier.

Brauchle argues that glosses over the true cause of Schmitzs death.

What ultimately killed him was the ejection seat failure, he said. It has only one job, and thats to get the pilot out and to get out a [parachute].

Pilot error, leadership failures and faulty ejection seat led to fatal June F-16 crash at Shaw

The public accident report acknowledged that the sequencer malfunction contributed to Schmitzs death, but did not offer further details.

According to Air Force Research Laboratory slides dated Aug. 3, 2020, however, the service suspected that several transistors and microchips inside the sequencer were fake. Valeries legal team obtained the slides through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Six transistors had no conformal coating, were heavily gouged, had arcing scratch marks, were considered obsolete and were suspected of being counterfeit, the complaint said. A capacitor that may have been damaged while it was handled was partially dislodged.

Suppliers Atmel, Analog Devices and Siliconix provided the potentially counterfeit transistors, memory chips and accelerometer chip, according to the Air Force slides.

The lab also found signs that Teledyne had destroyed evidence related to the case, the lawsuit said. Teledyne appeared to have replaced five microchips on the sequencer before sending it to the lab.

Teledyne had removed the printed wiring board from the DRS housing and had mounted the [board] to a test fixture, the lawsuit said. Teledyne had cut the leads on Channel #2s parallel flash memory chip to facilitate chip removal.

AFRL: Digital Recovery Sequencer

Still, the lab said it wasnt sure whether any of those parts caused the ejection seat to fail.

The parts  are strictly considered suspect at this time, AFRL wrote in 2020. Destructive analysis on these components, and analysis of components on other DRS boards, would be required to provide [a] higher level of confidence in whether or not they are counterfeit.

Plaintiffs hope to learn through the legal discovery process whether the components were proven fake. Counterfeiting has plagued the Pentagons supply chain for decades, and contractors are often unaware they are providing faulty materials.

The DoD is aware of this problem and is working to eliminate these components from supply chains, the Air Force Research Laboratory said.

Plaintiffs are also questioning whether the sequencers meet the Air Forces standard of reliability. The Air Force Safety Center recommended in 2012 that the sequencer be replaced with more reliable hardware.

Delays in that replacement effort led the Air Force to continue using sequencers longer than intended  including on Schmitzs fighter jet.

All US Air Force F-35s are flying again after ejection seat checks

To keep an eye on potential degradation, contractors tested 60 sequencers in 2017 and 2018, the lawsuit said. Three were flagged for further evaluation. Teledyne found that two of the three units would have functioned properly in an ejection.

Two years after that testing, the lawsuit claims, the companies hadnt said whether the third unit passed muster. Still, the Air Force relied on the test data when it decided to continue using the sequencer that ended up in Schmitzs F-16, the lawsuit said.

Now, the plaintiffs are calling for a jury trial to recoup damages that could total several million dollars.

The complaint accuses the contractors of wrongful death, accident liability, misrepresentation of the seats airworthiness, negligent supervision on Lockheeds part, failure to warn the F-16 community and the public about the seats flaws, and violation of South Carolina law.

Brauchle indicated a successful trial would offer Valerie some closure after losing her husband, her support network of military friends and the Air Forces backing.

Heres your [life insurance payment], heres your outbrief, see you later, he said of the Air Forces response. Then she feels like theyre not giving her the whole truth, and that hurts even more.

Air Force B-1B bombers to resume flights following ejection seat complaint

Plaintiffs said the Air Force has stonewalled further requests for information due to a federal law enforcement probe. A recent response to the legal team cited a law that allows the government to withhold information that is expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.

Any responsive documents to your request are not releasable to you at this time.  Your request has been closed, wrote Roxanne Jensen, head of OSIs FOIA branch, to Valeries legal team on June 22.

Brauchle said the Air Force isnt named as a defendant in the case because it is protected by the Feres Doctrine, which blocks active duty troops from suing the military for most damages incurred as a result of their service.

Air Force spokesperson Rose Riley declined to comment on the claims made in the lawsuit.

We are not tracking this court case or any related investigations, she said Tuesday.

Multiple Air Force organizations did not respond to questions from Air Force Times, including the Air Force Research Laboratory; Air Force Office of Special Investigations; Air Combat Command, which oversees the F-16 fleet; or the Air Force Safety Center.

Jet ejection seat, breathing system oversight gets ramped up in defense bill

Lockheed Martin spokesperson Leslie Farmer declined to answer questions on pending litigation. Other lawyers and representatives for Lockheed, Collins and Teledyne did not respond by press time Tuesday.

The defendants are required to file a rebuttal in court by the end of September.

Schmitzs crash sparked renewed discussion in Washington about the measures needed to keep military pilots safe. Eighty-nine people have been killed in Air Force mishaps since 2012, according to the Air Force Safety Center. Six of those incidents occurred in the F-16.

Reporting by Military.com last year illuminated concerns about whether the airman was pushed too hard to fly a training sortie with tasks he hadnt yet tried at night because of an upcoming deployment, and about slow-moving ejection seat repairs.

Schmitzs seat hadnt been fixed in three years because of a spare parts shortage. The Air Force put off addressing the problem despite knowing it could turn fatal, Military.com reported.

Deadly aircraft accidents declined in 2021, Air Force says

After his death, Congress passed a law requiring the Air Force and Navy to provide updates on their ejection seats twice a year.

Lawmakers want to know how many seats are installed at each active flying base, and how many have a waiver that clears them for use, despite needing repairs or replacement parts. They also ask for more transparency regarding who signed off on each waiver and when.

The first report was due to Congress on Feb. 1.
The claim: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sold 17 million hectares of farmland to US corporations

After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, numerous claims about Ukraine's sovereignty and its position in the global food supply chain began surfacing.

An Aug. 9 post claims Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sold 17 million hectares of land to U.S. companies. The user singles out multinational companies Monsanto, Dupont and Cargill.

It reads, "Zelensky (sic) sold 17 million hectares of agricultural land to Monsanto, Dupont, and Cargill. Yes you read it well 17 million hectares to GM0/chemical companies."

The post has been shared more than 300 times. An earlier version was shared 1,000 times.

The claim is baseless. Under Ukrainian law, foreign entities cannot own land. The president does not have the power to sell land, according to Frederic Mousseau, policy director at the progressive think tank Oakland Institute.

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USA TODAY reached out to users who shared the claim for comment.

A tractor charred by a Russian attack lies inside a warehouse at a grain farm in Cherkaska Lozova, outskirts of Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, May 28, 2022.

In Ukraine, selling land to foreign countries is illegal

The post refers to three multinational companies: Monsanto, Dupont and Cargill. U.S.-based Monsanto was the largest manufacturer of genetically modified seeds before it was bought by German drug company Bayer in 2018. Dupont is an American biotechnology company that manufactures chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Cargill is an American company that produces and distributes agricultural products.

Its impossible for Zelenskyy to have sold the land to these companies  or any foreign entities  because Ukraine has strict agricultural laws prohibiting foreign companies from owning land.

According to the Land Code of Ukraine, Agricultural lands may not be transferred to the ownership of foreign nationals, stateless persons, foreign legal entities and foreign states.

A 2021 law changed how land was bought and sold in Ukraine, according to an Oakland Institute article co-authored by Mousseau.

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The law reversed a long-standing moratorium on the transfer of private land and created a new market for landowners to sell and purchase land.

Foreign companies, however, were still barred from owning land in Ukraine.

As evidence for the claim, the post cites an Australian National Review article.

That website, though, is a frequent purveyor of false information, according to the Australian Associated Press, which also debunked the claim.

In addition, an editor's note at the bottom of the Australian National Review article provided an update to its reporting on the supposed transaction: The 17 million hectares quoted was an error, and its 1.7 million. Note the alleged companies dont hold the land in their names but via investment funds.

In response, Mousseau said the law "doesnt prevent foreign agribusinesses, investment funds or banks from taking shares, interest, and some level of control in Ukrainian firms that buy or leased land."

Fact check roundup: What's true and what's false about the Russian invasion of Ukraine

He said U.S. investment funds have large stakes in the largest landowners in Ukraine. Investors include funds like BlackRock and Vanguard, as well as American and European pension funds, banks and foundations.

Although the companies mentioned in the post can't buy land directly, in 2014 Cargill did buy a 5% share in UkrLandFarming, one of the largest landholders in Ukraine with 475,000 hectares of land as of 2020, Mousseau said.

Despite the moratorium on private land transfers, more than two million hectares  or about 7,700 square miles  of land have ended up being controlled by foreign companies through leases, Mousseau said. The largest investors are companies from Cyprus, the U.S. and the Netherlands.

NCH Capital, a U.S. investment fund, also controls more than 330,000 hectares of land in Ukraine through leases, Mousseau said.

There is no doubt that Cargill, Dupont and Monsanto have major business interests in Ukraine  and see major profit opportunities there  but it is not through their direct control of the land, he said.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that Zelenskyy sold 17 million hectares of farmland to U.S. corporations. It is illegal for foreign companies to own land in Ukraine, according to experts. While Cargill, Dupont and Monsanto do have business interests in Ukraine, and Cargill has a 5% share in a land-holding company, none own land directly.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Ukraine's president did not sell farmland to US companies
The claim: Full charge at public electric vehicle charging station costs more than $150

Some social media users are sharing a meme that claims it costs more than $150 to charge an electric vehicle at a certain charging station.

The claim includes a photo of a charging station in a Walmart parking lot.

"Guess the price to charge," reads text in the Aug. 30 Facebook post. "Yep, .32 cents a minute. That is $19.20 an hour. It takes 8 hours for a full charge. That is $153.60 for a full charge."

The meme was shared more than 700 times in a little more than a week.

But it is wrong about the cost of charging  and significantly overstates the amount of time an EV would need to charge at that location, according to a spokesperson for Electrify America, the company that operates the chargers in the meme.

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment.

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EV fast charger in meme charges in an hour or less

The photo in the meme shows an Electrify America charging station located in Moore, Oklahoma, according to a company spokesperson, Tara Geiger.

The chargers in the image are direct current fast chargers or "ultra-fast chargers," she told USA TODAY in an email.

Different EVs have different charging capacities, but "depending on the EVs battery capability, charging to 80% can take anywhere from 20 minutes to one hour," Geiger said. "No EV would charge for 8 hours" on a direct current fast charger, she said.

The cited cost is also drastically overstated.

Charging an EV from 10% to 80% on the fast chargers costs roughly $17 to $23, Geiger said.

"It is typically not recommended to charge past about 80% (on a fast charger)," she said. "The EVs battery management system slows down the charge rate as it gets closer to full to maintain longevity of the battery system. An EV will charge more quickly between 10%-80%, and then charging speeds drop off after 80%."

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Charging speeds after reaching 80% vary between EVs, said Geiger. But as one example, charging a Ford F-150 Lightning to 100% on an Electrify America fast charger would take roughly 75-120 minutes and cost between $42 and $56 depending on the battery installed in the vehicle.

Fact check: Lifetime carbon emissions lower for electric vehicles than gas-powered cars

Level 2 charging slower, can be done at home

An eight-hour charge time is more realistic for a "Level 2" charger, which is slower, according to the Department of Transportation. Electrify America does not offer Level 2 charging at the location shown in the meme, according to the company's website.

Level 2 charging stations can be set up at an EV owner's home, where most electric vehicle charging actually takes place, according to the Department of Energy. In California, using a home Level 2 charger to fully charge an electric Nissan Leaf with a 150-mile range costs about $7, according to the California Air Resources Board.

Fast charging stations, such as those shown in the meme, are more useful for people driving long distances before returning home or for EV owners who don't have access to charging at home or work.

Fact check: Claim on electric car charging efficiency gets some math wrong

Meme misleads on EV charge pricing rates

The meme also claims that charging at the station costs 32 cents a minute.

The broader calculation this is used for is incorrect, but the specific cost per minute is also oversimplified. This is one price point offered by Electrify America, but only at certain stations and not the station pictured in the meme.

In Oklahoma and 29 other states, Electrify America charges by the kilowatt hour, or the amount of electricity provided, not by the minute, Geiger said. The price of this service is 43 cents per kilowatt hour and 31 cents for members who pay a monthly fee, according to the company's website.

In states with per-minute rates, the fastest charging available costs 32 cents a minute and 24 cents for members who pay the monthly fee.

At locations where slower Level 2 charging is available, it costs $0.03 per minute in per-minute states. It is priced the same as fast charging in states where the service is charged by the kilowatt hour.

Researchers at the Department of Energys National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory recently found that typical EV owners save between $3,000 and $10,500 in fuel costs over 15 years, compared to gas-powered vehicle owners. The researchers reported that the actual cost of EV fueling varies by state and depends on where and how the EV is charged.

Fact check: EV transition does not require every gas station in the U.S. to go electric

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a full charge at a public electric vehicle charging station costs more than $150. An average charge from 10% to 80% on the fast charger pictured in the meme costs roughly $17 to $23, according to a company spokesperson. The charge would take an hour or less to complete. Charging all the way to 100% is slower and not recommended by the charger company, but it wouldn't take eight hours to complete on a fast charger, and it wouldn't cost $150.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: EV charge takes less than an hour on fast chargers
Back in July, Seattle Pacific Universitys Board of Trustees again voted to uphold the schools Employee Lifestyle Policy. The policy prohibits the university from hiring employees who are openly LGBTQ+. Now, a group of students, faculty and staff are filing a complaint against the six board members who made the decision.

Itll be a fight, a long fight and its not going to resolve itself overnight but I think were committed to it, Chloe Guillot, a graduate student and plaintiff in the complaint, said. When the decision was upheld in July, it sparked a sit-in by students that lasted more than a month.

When you do that so many times consistently, and you just keep getting rejected it gets to the point where youre like, What else can we do? Guillot said. The complaint specifically cites the fallout of the policy and alleges that the university is financially and structurally imploding.

Theres been so many good faculty members and professors who have left in the last two years alone just because of this issue and thats not even to mention the people we cant hire because they are queer or dont agree with SPU, Guillot said. SPU turned down KIRO 7s request for an interview and sent a statement instead that said, Seattle Pacific University is aware of the lawsuit and will respond in due course.

This isnt the first time something like this has rocked SPU. A lawsuit was filed in 2021 by a professor who claimed he was denied a full-time tenured position because he was gay. Also, in June of 2022, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson let SPU know he was investigating possible discriminatory practices. In response, SPU filed a lawsuit against Ferguson and argued that the investigation violated the schools right to religious freedom.

This is not an issue of religious freedoms or trying to attack somebodys religion. We all believe in the same God, but we are reading the Bible very differently, Guillot said. There is a protest planned at SPU on Oct. 11 at 11 a.m. as part of a nationwide movement protesting religious exemption laws.
DENVER (AP)  Police who shot a 22-year-old Colorado man after he called 911 for roadside assistance escalated the situation, needlessly leading to his death, the man's relatives said in a tearful news conference Tuesday in which they called for accountability.

After Christian Glass' June 11 death in the small mountain town of Silver Plume west of Denver, the Clear Creek County Sheriff's office issued a news release saying that Glass was shot after he became argumentative and uncooperative and tried to stab an officer when police broke a car window to grab him.

Christian was experiencing a crisis, and he called 911 for help, said the parents' attorney, Siddhartha Rathod, and yet these officers busted out Christians window, shot him six times with bean bag rounds, Tased him multiple times from two Tasers, and then shot him five times.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation handles police shootings, including the Glass case, but the family wants prosecutors to file criminal charges, Rathod said.

Heidi McCollum, district attorney for the Fifth Judicial District that includes Clear Creek County, released a statement Tuesday saying her office is investigating the case along with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Her office plans to eventually issue a report on the shooting or present the case to a grand jury, which would decide if indictments should be issued, McCollum said.

The videos shared with The Associated Press show Glass refusing to come out of his car while also telling police hes terrified" and making heart shapes with his hands to officers. At one point, he also can be seen praying with folded hands and saying, Dear Lord, please, don't let them break the window.

When the officers did break the window, Glass seemed to panic and grabbed a knife.

Police then shot Glass with bean bag rounds and shocked him with a stun gun before the young man twisted in his seat and thrust a knife toward an officer, the footage showed. Then one officer fired his gun, hitting Glass. The recordings then show Glass stabbing himself before he died.

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The family said the videos were only edited to blur the body. The AP has requested that police provide any videos related to the case.

Rathod said Glass had no history of mental illness. When asked about Glass's abnormal behavior, he said unfortunately we are not ever going to know.

Rathod released an autopsy report that found that Glass died of gunshot wounds. It said he had THC, a .01% blood alcohol concentration, and amphetamine in his system, the last of which Rathod said is likely from an ADHD prescription for Glass.

The shooting comes amid a national outcry for police reforms focused on crisis intervention, de-escalation and alternative policing programs. In Denver and New York, behavioral health specialists are sent to 911 callers facing crises that police may not be trained to address or could even exacerbate.

Police haven't said if any behavioral health specialists were called for Glass.

Use-of-force and de-escalation experts who reviewed the footage for The Associated Press said this case is an example of when a behavioral health specialist or crisis response team  programs becoming increasingly popular across the country  may have helped de-escalate the situation and avert Glass death.

There are some real red flags that suggest potential problems, said Seth Stoughton, a former police officer and leading use-of-force expert who reviewed portions of the footage. Stoughton testified in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer who murdered George Floyd.

While police officers may be justified in using force once a situation has intensified, its everything that we do before that in terms of de-escalation that can make those situations go a completely different direction," said Tamara Lynn, the executive council president for the National De-Escalation Training Center, who reviewed the footage.

In particular, both Lynn and Stoughton questioned why officers didn't take Glass up on his offer, recorded by body camera footage, to disarm himself by throwing his knives out of his car window.

While a thrown knife can pose a threat, officers have plenty of opportunity to maneuver themselves and put themselves in a position thats not risky, said Stoughton. I am kind of astonished that they did not take advantage of what looked like a very clear opportunity to have him separate himself from the weapons.

Similarly, Stoughton wondered why they needed to break the car window. He said police don't have all day to spend on one call, but questioned if they needed to.

Its not clear to me that it should have gone that far, he said.

Between tears on Tuesday, Christians mother, Sally Glass, displayed a pendant of Jesus recovered from her sons car that is engraved with the words, Pray for us.

We have to pray for us in America to make this a less violent country, Sally Glass said. I think a lot of people now would agree that there is a systemic problem with policing: Its too aggressive. They escalate at every opportunity, and it looks like they are spoiling for a fight. ... They should be protecting us, not attacking us.

Glass said her son was petrified and paralyzed by fear the night he was killed.

I have a hole in my heart, and it will be there until the day I die, Glass said.



Associated Press writer Thomas Peipert contributed to this report.

___

Jesse Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Bedayn on Twitter.

___

This story has been updated to correct the age of Christian Glass and the date of his death.
The family of Alexis Gabe, the Filipino American woman who was reported missing in late January in California, has announced an updated reward of $100,000 to anyone who can find her body.

Gabe, 24, was declared missing on Jan. 26 and is believed to have been murdered by her ex-boyfriend Marshall Curtis Jones.

Gabe reportedly visited Jones home on the night she went missing. Her car, which was found with its doors open and the key in the ignition, was located along a street in Antioch, California.

When police tried to arrest Jones for murder in June, he was shot and killed after he reportedly charged at officers with a knife inside an apartment complex.

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In July, Gabes parents received handwritten notes as evidence that was found in a garbage bin at Jones sisters house during a search warrant. The notes included specific directions, time estimates and landmarks that led to the Sierra foothills in Amador County. Investigators believed that the note pointed to a possible location of Gabes body. However, there has been no sign of Gabe after Amador County Search and Rescue along with hundreds of volunteers searched the area.

In August, the family met with Antioch police and Contra Costa County District Attorney about charging Jones mother, who they believe is involved in their daughters disappearance. However, the D.A.s office said there is not enough evidence to charge her with a crime.

The family recently received Gabes car from police custody.

More from NextShark: FBI Offers $10,000 Reward to Find Missing Mom and Daughter in Irvine

It hurts because instead of her we are bringing home, it is just a car, Gabes mother Rowena told ABC 7 News.

It is Alexis favorite thing in the world. She sleeps in the car, she is always in that car. I am pretty sure her spirit is in that car, Gabes father Gwyn added.

More from NextShark: California Treasurer Fiona Ma sued by former employee for sexual harassment, racial discrimination

The family previously offered a $100,000 reward for any information that may lead to Gabes whereabouts. After speaking with Oakley police, Gabes parents announced on Sept. 9 that the reward will now be offered to anyone who can find their daughters body.

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Through a new website dedicated to finding Gabe, volunteers can sign up for the reward and download a PDF of the timeline of her death and the possible burial location that was handwritten by Jones.

The Gabe family, and the Oakley community at large has been deeply impacted by the homicide of Alexis Gabe, Chief of Police Paul Beard told KTVU. This impact is made even larger due to the fact her body has not been recovered.

$100,000 is yours if you find Alexis remains, Gwyn reportedly said.

Featured Image via Alexis Gabe (left), @bringalexisghome (right)
An Atlanta lawyer and father of two drowned over the weekend, Georgia officials say.

Page Pate, 55, died on St. Simons Island on Sunday, Sept. 11, Glynn County Coroner Marc Neu confirmed to McClatchy News.

Pate was swept out by a strong tide off Goulds Inlet on Sunday evening, according to The Brunswick News. Members of Glynn County Fire-Rescues water rescue squad pulled Pate from the water and attempted CPR before transporting him to Southeast Georgia Health Systems Brunswick hospital. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Officials said one of Pates sons was with him in the water but made it back to shore, The Brunswick News reported.

Pate leaves behind his wife, Elizabeth, two sons, Chatham and Asher, his parents, Robert and Mary Elizabeth, and his younger brother, Lane.

For more than 25 years, Pate served as a trial attorney, working at several Atlanta law firms before starting Pate, Johnson & Church, where he was senior trial attorney, according to the firms website.

Page Pate was many things to many people  a husband, a father, a son, a mentor, a colleague, a friend, and most prominently, a trial lawyer, one who poured himself into his practice and fought hard for his clients, the firm said in a statement. Above all, he was a true gentleman who embodied service and grace.

Pate was also a founding member of the Georgia Innocence Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping wrongfully convicted individuals, according to the firm. His Twitter bio shows that he also worked as an analyst for WABE News and 11 Alive News.

Friends and colleagues shared tributes for Pate on Twitter after his death.

Devastated to hear that my friend @pagepate died this weekend. He was brilliant, kind, professional  and could cross examine the hell out of a witness. Such a loss to his family & everyone who loved him, Sen. Jen Jordan wrote in a Sept. 13 tweet.

The Georgia Innocence Project said it is heartbroken at the passing of our dear friend, colleague, and board member Page Pate, in a Sept. 13 tweet.

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Outside of his legal work, Pates happiest moments were spent with his sons hiking on the West coast and watching NASCAR races, according to his firms statement.

Page had an easy smile, an earnest laugh, and a great sense of humor. He was guided by his faith and his creator, but he had an open heart and an open mind to all, his firm said. Pages passing is an enormous loss to his family, his friends, his community, and the entire legal profession.

St. Simons Island is about 300 miles southeast of Atlanta.

67-year-old dad falls off his paddleboard and drowns in the Outer Banks, officials say

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The Dover Police Department assisted the FBI with a search on George Street.

DOVER  A city residence is part of an FBI investigation.

Dover police and the FBI confirmed the agency's presence at a George Street residence Monday morning, which was noticed by local residents and sparked a lot of speculation on social media.

Dover police Lt. Mark Nadeau said the city department assisted the FBI in executing a search warrant of an unspecified George Street residence around 9 a.m. A Somersworth police dog also assisted with the pre-planned search, according to Nadeau.

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No further details are being released at this time, with the agencies citing the ongoing FBI investigation.

Local police and FBI representatives said they could not release what the investigation is about, nor what authorities were seeking at the residence.

The FBI was conducting court-authorized activity in connection with an ongoing investigation. To protect the integrity of the investigation, were going to decline further comment, said Kristen Setera of the FBI Public Affairs Office.

Fatal crash: Driver reported for assaults in 2 locations moments before Rollinsford crash took 4 lives

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: FBI search at Dover NH residence on George Street
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Fires ripped through an oil well in southwestern Iran on Tuesday, state TV reported, blaming unknown saboteurs for causing the blaze.

The oil well in Iran's restive Khuzestan province burned as a result of manipulation by unknown individuals," state TV quoted oil official Ghobad Nasseri as saying. He did not report any casualties or elaborate on the alleged interference, but Khuzestan has previously seen attacks on its crucial oil facilities. State TV showed footage of black smoke billowing from the damaged well.

The province is home to an ethnic Arab population that complains of discrimination and includes an aggressive separatist movement.

Authorities were working to control the damaged well and restore production, Nasseri added. Iran's southern Shadegan oil field started production in 1987 and pumps out 110,000 barrels of oil a day.
Ex-U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman said on Tuesday that he welcomes the Senate Judiciary Committees investigation into his recent claims that former President Trumps Justice Department pressured his office to prosecute Trumps critics and protect his allies.

The recent allegations stem from Bermans new book, Holding the Line, published Tuesday.

I welcome the investigation, Berman told MSNBC. The conduct that occurred was so outrageous and unprecedented. A light needs to be shined on it.

Berman, who served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, alleged in a new book that the Justice Department pushed his office to take action against Trump critics, such as former Secretary of State John Kerry and former White House counsel Greg Craig, while seeking to block cases against the former presidents allies, like his personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

The former U.S. attorney said he resisted the Justice Departments demands, and Trump eventually fired him in 2020.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who serves as the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday that the committee plans to investigate the allegations and requested documents and communications between the Justice Department and Bermans former office.

If accurate, Mr. Bermans claims indicate multiple instances of political interference in the Departments investigative and prosecutorial decisions, Durbin said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. Monkeypox, a disease that rarely appears outside Africa, has been identified by European and American health authorities in recent days.

Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP Monkeypox virions

Officials have confirmed that a Los Angeles resident has died from monkeypox, believed to be the first fatality from the virus in the United States.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the death on Monday following an autopsy.

Health officials noted that the resident was "severely immunocompromised" and was hospitalized. Additional information on the patient won't be released to the public due to privacy.

The death was first reported on Sept. 8 in a media briefing where the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health's Chief Medical Officer and Director Rita Singhal said an investigation was underway.

At the time, there were two U.S. deaths under investigation and awaiting autopsy reports to determine what role monkeypox played in the individuals' deaths.

RELATED: Can Monkeypox Spread Through Objects like Doorknobs? An Expert Explains as U.S. Cases Surpass 6,500

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The other possible monkeypox death was reported in Texas and the Harris County Public Health (HCPH) confirmed that the resident, who died on Aug. 28, also suffered from various severe illnesses.

The HCPH is awaiting an autopsy report and has yet to publicly confirm monkeypox as the cause of death.

Monkeypox spreads primarily through skin-to-skin contact, direct contact with bodily fluids or lesions. The main form of transmission is through respiratory droplets, but it would require prolonged contact with an infected person.

The virus can be prevented with the Jynneos smallpox vaccine, which can also be effective after a person is infected, according to the CDC. Along with the vaccine, medical professionals have also used an antiviral treatment called tecovirimat (TPOXX), to treat monkeypox in patients who are more likely to get severely ill.

As of Sept. 12, the United States has confirmed 21,985 cases of monkeypox, according to the CDC. Additionally, there have been 57,995 confirmed global cases of the virus across 103 countries.
WBAL - Baltimore Videos

A police pursuit started late Friday morning in east Baltimore and ended in the Timonium area of Baltimore County. While on the Beltway, it appeared the suspect vehicle side-swiped another car and get a flat tire. Three people bolted from the car around 12:15 p.m., when the car stopped in the northbound lanes of Interstate 83 near the Beltway interchange. SkyTeam 11 reported police officers apprehended all three occupants. SkyTeam 11 video showed an occupant of the car throw an object out of the window.
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the decision to send a Blackwater Corrections prisoner to death row after he confessed to strangling his cellmate to death in 2018.

Thomas H. Fletcher, a Blackwater Corrections inmate serving life in prison for murdering a man in 1994, received the death penalty in 2019 after he strangled his fellow inmate Kenneth Davis, according to a press release from the State Attorney's Office on Tuesday.

Previously: Blackwater inmate facing death penalty after pleading to murder of fellow inmate

"On July 7, 2022, the Florida Supreme Court issued an opinion affirming the conviction and death sentence of Thomas H. Fletcher," the press release said. "Fletcher, who confessed to killing Davis to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent and in letters he wrote to the trial court, was indicted for First-Degree Premeditated Murder in March 2019."

In a sentencing order, Circuit Court Judge Scott Duncan noted that Fletcher had been looking for an inmate to kill when he encountered Davis.

In the penalty phase of his case, when it was being decided whether Fletcher would face the death penalty, he requested his attorney not present evidence arguing against the death penalty. However, "in compliance with the law, the court did appoint special counsel to present mitigation on Fletcher's behalf," the news release said.

At the final hearing, the state presented the testimony of several witnesses and introduced several exhibits in support of the death penalty, among them that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.

Benjamin Johnson can be reached at bjohnson@pnj.com or 850-435-8578

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Blackwater inmate Thomas Fletcher has death sentence affirmed
Fort Worth police on Monday took into custody a youth who authorities alleged wrote statements that threatened Azle school district students but that law enforcement officials did not further describe.

The boy is a former Azle Independent School District student, the district said.

The youth wrote the statements on Sunday, authorities said. A series of threats were posted via various social media platforms, Azle police said.

While not specifying Azle ISD as a targets, the [written statements] did threaten many students directly and indirectly, Azle police wrote in a press statement.

Authorities noted the movement of the suspect. Fort Worth police found the boy about 5 p.m. and took him into custody in Tarrant County, Azle police said.

The school district said as a precaution, it would have an increased police presence at Azle High School.
Former Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels sits at the defense attorney's table early Tuesday as the jury in his criminal trial begins with testimony from his former mistress.

The "other woman" spent almost two hours answering questions as the first witness in this week's trial of her former lover Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels, who's accused of illegally telling deputies to arrest her for stalking in 2019.

Cierra Smith, Daniels' mistress and a corrections officer he supervised in the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office before he became Clay County's sheriff, talked about her intimate relationship with him from 2014 to 2015, then rekindling their romance when she left her husband in North Carolina in 2019 and returned to Jacksonville.

She revealed that Daniels gave her money for trips, jewelry and breast augmentation surgery, and how now ex-husband Larry Smith initiated the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office internal investigation that saw her quit before being fired as a corrections officer.

It all came to a head after Daniels told his wife about the affair and Smith said she had herself voluntarily committed for psychiatric review just days before she was briefly arrested on May 6, 2019, on a charge of aggravated stalking the sheriff in a Clay County school parking lot.

"Dirty politics": Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels reaction to sex scandal arrest

Daniels faces judge for the first time: Suspended Sheriff Daniels pleads not guilty

FDLE report on Daniels: Suspended Clay County sheriff deleted cell phone data, used police resources, report says

She said Daniels' wife, Denise, was "yelling and screaming" at her with a cellphone in her hand as Daniels told a sergeant to arrest her as her daughter watched.

"I was upset. I was scared and I just did not know how to take everything in on top of being pregnant," Smith replied to Assistant State Attorney Toby Hunt. She would later be asked by the prosecution if the child was Daniels', to which she said no.

Matthew Kachergus, Daniels' lawyer, repeatedly asked Smith about parts of her testimony during his 50-minute cross-examination. He disputed that Smith could have heard Daniels tell deputies to arrest her when he was seated in his pickup 10 to 15 feet behind her. He also questioned her about how Daniels drove twice over a median in the school parking lot, with her following and his wife behind her.

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"When Mr. Daniels is driving over medians, is it dawning on you that he doesn't want to meet with you?" Kachergus asked.

"No," she replied. "... If Mr. Daniels did not want to meet with me, he had the opportunity at a light to make a left toward his house. He made a right into the parking lot toward the park."

What are the charges against Darryl Daniels?

Daniels, 57, is charged with multiple counts of destroying evidence and knowingly giving false information to law enforcement. His trial is being conducted in the Clay County Courthouse but with a St. Johns County judge to avoid any conflicts.

The scandal surfaced when the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, where Daniels had worked as jail director, announced a 2019 internal investigation into Smith, then a corrections officer whom he had an affair with.

Smith, who testified she met Daniels after getting hired in 2013 as a corrections officer, eventually had "adult relations out of work on a weekly basis," according to information she gave in a Clay County report. She said she called off their relationship when she got engaged in 2015 but remained friends when she got married.

Former Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels and Cierra Smith in an undated photo.

Smith left her husband and returned to work at the Duval County jail in 2019. But Larry Smith called the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office about her affair, and the internal affairs investigation was launched. Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams recommended Smith be fired in April 2019.

Cierra Smith was arrested after Daniels called emergency dispatch that May 2019 evening, saying he needed backup because he was being followed and was in fear of his life.

Deputies told prosecutors they didn't feel there was just cause to arrest the woman and Smith was released. But the 4th Circuit State Attorney's Office requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigate him after recusing itself due to conflict of interest.

Daniels was arrested Aug. 13, 2020, following the year-long FDLE investigation into whether he had used his position to illegally order the arrest of a woman he'd had an affair with. Those charges include destroying evidence and three more counts of knowingly giving false information to deputies, court documents said.

More criminal charges were filed in February against the suspended sheriff for two more counts of false reporting to law enforcement and a new one of tampering or destroying evidence, according to Clay County court records.

The governor removed Daniels from office and appointed Michelle Cook as interim sheriff. Cook then beat Daniels and four others to become the county's first female sheriff, and she officially finished his term before taking the job full-time.

Michelle Cook wins Clay County sheriff's race: Defeats incumbent Darryl Daniels, 4 others

Cierra Smith, Darryl Daniels' mistress of six years and the corrections officer he had previously supervised, testifies as the first witness in the ousted sheriff's trial.

The trial begins

Monday's jury selection process saw a 200-person pool narrowed down to four white women and two Black men, with a white man and woman as alternates.

In his 25-minute opening statement, Hunt said this will be "a case of truth and integrity because no one is above the law." That includes Clay County's then-chief law enforcement officer, who Hunt said evidence will show purposely had Smith arrested.

"Before she is arrested, she hears a conversation with the sergeant and defendant where he says, 'Go ahead and make the arrest,'" Hunt said. "So at the defendant's command, the chief law enforcement officer, Ms. Smith gets arrested for stalking and trespass for an incident that was pre-planned."

But Kachergus said that as "salacious and unsavory" as the disgraced ex-sheriff's affair was with a former employee, this long and convoluted story "makes very little sense." He said evidence will show that nothing his client did "was a crime" and that apart from Smith's statement, this relationship "was over."

"Nevertheless, Ms. Smith pursued Mr. Daniels. She would say it was a pre-arranged meeting," Kachergus said in his opening statement. "... There's no evidence in the phone corroborating a meeting. There's no calendar. Mr. Daniels is driving home and unbeknown to him, Ms. Smith is lying in wait along Oakleaf Parkway. ... This sounds like a stalker!"

Cierra Smith testifies about arranging a meeting with Daniels' wife

When Smith was called to the stand, she said Daniels told her in late April 2019 that he "thought it would be best to go home" and tell his wife about the affair before it hit the news. Smith said they agreed, saying Daniels even sent her text messages as he was telling his wife.

Then on May 3, Denise Daniels called Smith, using her husband's personal cellphone. Smith testified on Tuesday that they had a heated conversation, then sent Denise Daniels a photo of her and Darryl Daniels with a text message.

"I believe I said, 'Make sure to stand next to your husband' once this hits the news," adding that it probably wasn't the best decision.

Smith said the sheriff next arranged a meeting with her in an Oakleaf Village Parkway park where she could give him a copy of a police recording of a phone conversation between him and her husband. But she spotted Daniels in his pickup truck and followed him as they tried to find a parking spot, ultimately pulling in front of a school.

State attorney request: Assign Sheriff Daniels investigation to another circuit

Case closed to local judiciary: Judges in Clay County recused from former sheriff's criminal case

She said she saw another pickup truck behind her and a woman she said was Denise Daniels recording video of her. Then two Clay County vehicles blocked Smith in as she heard her lover order the arrest, she testified.

"I saw him hold up his radio in the window," Smith said. "At that time, I freaked out. I was scared and didn't know what was going on. I have a truck following me and I'm blocked in and I can't get out."

The charge was increased to aggravated stalking when Smith said a deputy asked if she had a gun. She said she had a holstered weapon in her Jeep glovebox, given to her only weeks before by Daniels. She said he was even the one to put it in her glovebox.

Taken to the Clay County jail, she wrote a six-page statement about what led up to the situation in front of the school, then was released and never charged, she said.

Kachergus tried to poke holes in Smith's testimony, repeatedly giving her, the judge and prosecution copies of her own statements to investigators, extractions of her cellphone calls and text messages and FDLE reports.

Circuit Court Judge R. Lee Smith speaks to the defense and prosecuting attorneys Tuesday morning in former Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels' criminal trial.

Kachergus asked her why they thought it was a good idea to meet in public when news of their affair was about to pop, adding that there was not "one iota of evidence" to corroborate that it was pre-arranged between them other than what she stated in police reports.

When he asked if Daniels thought her relationship with Daniels would continue, she said he told her he "was never going to leave my side," although she did not know if that meant it would remain intimate or just be there for support.

The trial is scheduled to last the rest of the week.

dscanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Mistress testifies against former sheriff in Jacksonville area trial
NEW PHILADELPHIA  A 19-year-old man who formerly lived in Dover will be sentenced Nov. 4 for committing two sex offenses against a 10-year-old child.

Frankie Gonzalez-Rivera pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two counts of gross sexual imposition, failure to comply with driver's license laws and aggravated menacing.

Under terms of the negotiated plea agreement, Tuscarawas County Assistant County Prosecutor Kristine Beard recommended a sentence of one year in the county jail, with six months to be suspended.

The gross sexual imposition charges carry a maximum of five years in jail and a $10,500 fine, according to Common Pleas Judge Michael Ernest.

Beard said U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement has asked local law enforcement to hold the defendant because he is living in the country illegally.

His convictions may lead to deportation, Ernest told the defendant.

An indictment said Gonzalez-Rivera is accused of having sexual contact with the victim, and causing the child to believe he would cause serious physical harm to her or her property. He is accused of displaying a fictitious driver's license or identification card. The offenses occurred May 10, according to the indictment.

The defendant spoke in court with the assistance of an interpreter. The hearing Tuesday was interrupted twice when Gonzalez-Rivera appeared to have changed his mind about finalizing the plea agreement reached by public defender John Watters, II and the prosecutor. After meeting privately twice with his attorney and the interpreter, the defendant pleaded guilty.

Following his release, Gonzalez-Rivera would be required to register as a sex offender for life with the local sheriff, if he were in the U.S. He would also be subject to five years of supervision by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority.

The defendant is also known as Vicente Chel and Chante, court records show.

Reach Nancy at 330-364-8402 or nancy.molnar@timesreporter.com.

On Twitter: @nmolnarTR

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Dover man, 19, pleads guilty to sex offenses against 10-year-old
Two former managers at one of the military's largest private housing contractors have been sentenced to two years' probation after pleading guilty to helping the company they worked for defraud the Air Force out of millions of dollars.

Stacy Cabrera, who managed Balfour Beatty Communities-owned housing at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, and Rick Cunefare, who was a regional manager at Balfour Beatty, were both sentenced Thursday in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., according to court records. In addition to his probation, Cunefare was also slapped with a $5,000 fine.

Both Cabrera and Cunefare pleaded guilty in 2021 to charges stemming from a scheme in which Balfour Beatty was accused of manipulating maintenance records to obtain performance bonuses from the military while covering up unsafe housing conditions from 2013 to 2019.

Read Next: Navy Gets New Top Enlisted Sailor Who Promises to Focus on Sailors' Needs and Their Families

The company itself pleaded guilty last year to the scheme to defraud the Army, Air Force and Navy, and agreed to pay $65 million in fines and restitution.

Cunefare, who pleaded guilty to major fraud, was responsible for reviewing and approving the maintenance reports from Lackland, as well as Travis, Vandenberg, Tinker and Fairchild Air Force bases, according to the Justice Department. Cabrera, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, was accused of personally falsifying maintenance reports.

Together, their actions made Balfour Beatty about $3.5 million the company didn't earn, the Justice Department said in a sentencing memo. Still, because they were both "low- and mid-level managers with minimal financial incentive to commit fraud," prosecutors sought lenient sentences.

Cunefare faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while Cabrera faced a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Cabrera has said she was pressured by her superiors to fake the reports, but has also expressed regret for her actions.

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"I didn't recognize I was doing anything illegal, immoral, or unethical. I was following orders," she wrote in a letter to the court. "I realize now that just because my actions weren't committed with malice intent, it doesn't mean I haven't done anything wrong. I am deeply sorry that I did not use better judgment to do what was right instead of what I was told."

Cunefare also "regrets his actions and the impact they had on the military families living in homes and managed by Balfour Beatty Communities," a probation officer wrote in a presentence report. "As a veteran, these actions go against his respect for the military and what they do for the United States. He takes full responsibility for his actions."

Balfour Beatty provides housing for 150,000 military residents in 26 states, including more than 15,500 Air Force homes, more than 18,900 Army homes and more than 8,600 Navy homes.

Systemic issues with on-base housing run by private contractors, including mold, rodent infestations and dangerous wiring, first came to light in a series of Reuters articles in 2018, followed by several congressional hearings in which military families testified about the poor housing conditions.

In 2019, Congress mandated the Defense Department issue an 18-point tenant bill of rights aimed at providing military families with more negotiating power with the housing contractors and ensuring more oversight from the military services.

But reports of widespread issues persist. A bipartisan Senate report released earlier this year found residents at Balfour Beatty-run housing at Fort Gordon, Georgia, still struggle to get the company to fix mold, asbestos, roof leaks and other dangerous and unhealthy living conditions. The issues "bear striking similarities to the types of conduct which Balfour admitted to in its December 2021 guilty plea," the Senate report said.

The House and Senate versions of the annual defense bill now working its way through Congress each contain provisions meant to improve living conditions, address health concerns and crack down on negligent landlords. Among them, the House version of the bill would create a registry of troops and their family members who have health issues caused by unsafe housing conditions, while both versions would require landlords to disclose the presence of mold in a housing unit before a lease is signed.

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at Rebecca.Kheel@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Related: Mold Issues, Poor Housing Conditions for Troops Are Rampant. What Can Congress Do?
Former Twitter security chief Peiter Mudge Zatko testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday alleging widespread security deficiencies at the social media platform, expanding on his bombshell whistleblower disclosure made public in reports last month.

During a two-and-a-half hour hearing, Zatko alleged Twitter lacked a framework to protect user data or log who was accessing the information  to the extent that he said an employee could take over the accounts of all the senators in this room.

The hearing also led to calls for restructuring Twitter management, revamping U.S. regulatory agencies, and passing bipartisan bills targeting tech giants that have struggled to get across the finish line.

Here are four takeaways from the hearing.

Twitter lacks framework for protecting user data

Zatko accused Twitter of failing to prioritize user safety and data protection in a way that threatened national security.

What I discovered when I joined Twitter was that this enormously influential company was over a decade behind industry security standards, he said.

Zatko said Twitter doesnt know what data they have, where it lives, or where it came from.

So unsurprisingly, they cant protect it, he said.

He said employees have too much access to too much data, and that Twitter lacks systems in place to keep a log of who is accessing the data and when.

For the average user, Twitter has sensitive data including the users geolocation, contact information, and emails associated with the accounts, Zatko said. The information is available to roughly half of Twitters staff, about 4,000 employees, to search for, since engineers are given access by default, he said.

Those employees would be in a position then, if they wanted to, to get this information and dox Twitter users? Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) asked Zatko.

That is a concern I have, yes, Zatko said.

A Twitter engineer with knowledge of the system could also tweet as any user, including as elected officials, he said.

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Zatkos testimony also raised the risk of foreign agents gaining access to Twitters data. Part of his disclosure alleged that the Indian government forced Twitter to hire specific individuals who were government agents who would have access to vast amounts of sensitive data.

I am reminded of one conversation with an executive where I said, I am confident that we have a foreign agent, and their response was Since we already have one, what does it matter if we have more? Lets keep growing the office, Zatko told the committee.

Twitter has pushed back on Zatkos allegations.

A company spokesperson said todays hearing only confirms that Mr. Zatkos allegations are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies.

According to a Twitter spokesperson, the companys hiring process is independent of any foreign influence.

Twitters access to data is also managed through measures such as background checks, access controls, and monitoring and deceptions systems, according to the spokesperson.

US regulators enforcement not up to par

At the core of Zatkos testimony and disclosure is his allegation that Twitter has not complied with a 2011 consent decree from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to maintain a security program designed to protect privacy and nonpublic consumer information.

Zatko said the Federal Trade Commission is over their head when dealing with large tech companies, like Twitter.

Compared to the size of the Big Tech companies and the challenge they have against them, they are left letting companies grade their own homework, Zatko said.

Zatko said the intent of the regulators was correct, but less quantitative standards allow Twitter to hold up an isolated example and knowingly mislead regulators by letting them assume that example was the whole environment.

At Twitter, foreign regulators, such as the French equivalent of the FTC, are more feared, he said.

They dig in technically and go towards more quantitative results that are less easy for organizations to sort wordsmith around, he said.

Bipartisan consensus to target tech, but lack of action on bills

Zatkos hearing is the latest in a long series of Senate hearings over the past couple of years to target social media companies. Last year lawmakers heard from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, and before that from the CEOs of tech companies including former Twitter head Jack Dorsey.

Although there are lingering partisan differences on tech issues, mainly on content moderation, Tuesdays hearing again showcased the rare unified support from both sides of the aisle to take action to hold tech companies accountable.

But lawmakers have not been able to get bills targeting the companies across the finish line, even though several bills have advanced with bipartisan support out of the Judiciary and Commerce committees, including the American Online Innovation and Choice Act and the Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act.

Despite this probably being our 50th hearing  between commerce and judiciary we have not passed one bill out of the U.S. Senate when it comes to competition, when it comes to privacy, when it comes to better funding the agencies, when it comes to the protection of kids, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said.

At some point when we talk about the agencies, I think we better be putting the mirror on ourselves, she said.

A group of bipartisan lawmakers in the House and Senate released a comprehensive privacy bill earlier this year. The bill advanced out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but has been stalled in the Senate, where Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has pushed back on the proposal.

Zatko said when it comes to bills related to holding tech companies accountable, lawmakers must consider that previous tries that were not quantifiable or able to be externally audited were able to be gamed by the tech companies so they could answer questions without doing what was intended.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said hes going to work with his Democratic colleagues to ensure the risk Zatko took coming forward with his allegations is not in vain.

Theres no way to deal with this without bipartisanship, from my point of view, so Im working with [Sen.] Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) of all people. We have different perspectives on most everything else, but Elizabeth and I have come to believe its now time to look at social media platforms anew, and we have this general understanding among ourselves that the regulatory system regarding social media is not working effectively, Graham said.

Graham said the aim is to create a system more like Europe, a regulatory environment with teeth and an agency that came about after 1914, the year the FTC was established.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) also suggested creating a new agency tasked with privacy oversight.

But given the delay in action on existing proposals, even ones that have advanced out of the committee level with bipartisan support, it is not clear if these proposals have an immediate chance of going forward.

Calls for Twitter to be restructured

The hearing also led to calls for Twitter management to be restructured.

Ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) suggested Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal may not be fit to continue leading the company.

If these allegations are true, I dont see how Mr. Agrawal can maintain his position at Twitter, Grassley said.

Agrawal became CEO of the company in November, taking the reins from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. Agrawal had previously served as chief technology officer at Twitter.

Zatko said point-blank that Twitter management should be restructured, shifted and changed.

That kind of structural reform is necessary to achieve changes within the company? Blumenthal asked.

That is my belief, Zatko said.

Zatko alleged management intended to mislead government agencies, and that intent went up to the CEO level.

I do not know to what level inside the board they did not know because of misrepresentation or chose not to push, Zatko said.

Outside of government scrutiny, changes may be coming to Twitter due to an embattled buyout from billionaire Elon Musk.

Musk and Twitter came to an agreement earlier this year for Musk to buy the company for $44 billion. Twitter shareholders voted Tuesday, shortly after the whistleblower hearing concluded, to approve Musks buyout deal.

But the deal is still challenged, since Musk in July tried to back out of his offer. Twitter is suing to force Musk to follow through with the deal, and the two sides are set to face off at a trial next month.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Michael Chakraverty and David Atherton

Two popular gay contestants from The Great British Bake Off (known as The Great British Baking Show in the U.S.) say the show needs to do more for LGBTQ+ inclusion.

The competition show has embraced gay men very comfortably and highlighted them a lot, but the rest of the queer community has been slightly sidelined, David Atherton, who won the programs 2019 season, recently told PinkNews.

His season, in which fellow gay contestant Michael Chakraverty placed sixth, marked a turning point for inclusion, he said. After downplaying LGBTQ+ visibility in previous seasons, in their season the shows staff let us wear T-shirts that were pro-LGBTQI+, and right at the end of the whole series is me and Nik [his fiance] kissing, he explained.

But its time for the show to have a transgender competitor, Chakraverty told PinkNews. If you think about the proportion of people in this country who identify as trans, and then the proportion of them who like Bake Off, and then the proportion of those who are good enough to go on Bake Off  the proportion of those who will fit with the casting dynamic  it depends on the application and on demographics, but more can be done, he said.

Of the 2019 season, he noted, The fact that David and I were queer on our year wasnt really referenced. We were just allowed to exist, and if it came up, we talked about it.

Atherton and Chakraverty have just started a podcast, Sticky Bun Boys, that will be a companion to the baking show, which begins a new season Tuesday. It will also include baking and dating advice as well as a discussion of disasters in those realms. And it will definitely have much for queer audiences, the two said.

There is this feeling with queer people where, when you find your community, part of the best thing is that you can be open about all aspects of your life, Chakraverty said. Thats what were trying to do here. We can talk about sex: Sex is funny, topping is funny, bottoming is funny, everything is funny.

Sticky Bun Boys can be accessed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms.
A West Virginia man was arrested in Georgia for rape after the victim was able to notify authorities of her location using a smartphone application and an alligator sign.

According to Coweta County, Georgia, authorities, a 17-year-old girl met suspect Dalton Ramsey online. He offered to drive her to see her boyfriend in Pennsylvania last week. But after picking her up, he instead stopped at B.T. Brown Reservoir Park, bound her hands with tape and sexually assaulted her at knife point.

"Somewhere along there, their ride to Pennsylvania, they pulled off in Coweta County, and he rapes her at knife point, and we were able to confirm the incident happened inside Coweta County," Coweta County Sheriffs Investigator Toby Nix said, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.

Investigators said Ramsey allowed the victim to use her smartphone, which she used to tip off authorities to her location.

GEORGIA MAN WEARING ONLY UNDERWEAR AND SOCKS ARRESTED AFTER STEALING A TRUCK

The girl first shared her location with her boyfriend. Investigators said her boyfriend did a quick Google search to discover an online image of an alligator warning sign for boaters at the reservoir. She confirmed she had seen the sign outside the closed park.

She then used an app called Noonlight once she and Ramsey were back on the road. Noonlight began tracking her phone and alerted authorities of her location. Within the app, the girl typed in "rape" and a description of the vehicle.

Investigators said surveillance footage showed Ramsey's car outside the park.

Ramsey was pulled over and arrested on September 6 in Habersham County, where he was taken into custody on kidnapping charges. He will be extradited to Coweta County for additional charges.

MORE THAN 150 PEOPLE ARRESTED IN FLORIDA SEX STING, GEORGIA COP RESIGNS

The Coweta County Sheriffs Office is charging him with rape, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a weapon and possession of a knife during the commission of a crime.

The victim has been reunited with her family, authorities said.
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Tuesday to find a diplomatic solution for the conflict in Ukraine based on a ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Russian troops as soon as possible, a German government spokesperson said.

In the 90-minute call, Scholz emphasized the need to ensure the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine and appealed to Putin to continue to fully implement the United Nations-backed grain agreement, spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit added.

"The Federal Chancellor emphasized that any further Russian annexation steps would not go unanswered and would not be recognized under any circumstances," Hebestreit said in the statement, adding that Scholz and Putin agreed to remain in contact.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa, Editing by Victoria Waldersee)
The Great British Bake Off has returned for series 13. (Channel 4)

The Great British Bake Off is back, with the ovens fired up for series 13.

It's always one of the TV highlights of the year and this season looks set to be no exception, with plenty to see in episode one.

Read more: All you need to know about Bake Off 2022

Of course, one of the biggest things fans were talking about was the fact that the programme aired at all, as it is one of the few programmes not to have been cancelled or postponed after the Queen's death on Thursday.

Bake Off is back in the tent for another year and the contest is now underway - here are all the biggest moments from episode one.

The Star Wars intro

Its Star Wars - but not as we dough it!

Starring @RealMattLucas as Luke Piewalker@NoelFielding11 as Princess Layer Cake@PrueLeith as Prue-bacca

And @PaulHollywood as Darth Baker!#GBBO pic.twitter.com/4Pscs0IGuA  British Bake Off (@BritishBakeOff) September 13, 2022

Hosts Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding love a good comedy intro and this year's Star Wars skit was one of the best.

Lucas appeared as "Luke Piewalker", while Fielding donned a Princess Leia outfit with bagels as hair.

Paul Hollywood was of course cast in the Darth Vader role, but it was Prue Leith who really stole the show as Chewbacca.

Meet the Class of '22

Is there something you should dough? Ahead of tonights Bake Off premiere at 8pm, here are 12 names and faces to familiarise yourself with #GBBO pic.twitter.com/tOtUYwhRWZ  British Bake Off (@BritishBakeOff) September 13, 2022

Episode one is all about getting to know the new bakers and working out who's your best bet in the office sweepstake.

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Obviously, there is limited time to get to meet everyone in the crowded tent at the start of the series, but based on early tasks Dawn, Sandro, Carole and Janusz are looking like strong contenders.

Which leads us on to...

Everyone's talking about Sandro

Sandro made some of the best mini cakes in round one. (Channel 4)

He's one of the most accomplished bakers of the series - just check out his incredible potted white rose mini cakes in the signature bake - but that isn't where Sandro's talents end.

Host Noel Fielding hit the nail on the head when he labelled Sandro a "gym man", as he revealed he likes to work out twice a day, showcasing the results in a skin-tight top.

Read more: Mel and Sue feared 'boring' Bake Off would kill their careers

When he's not training, Sandro works as a nanny with children who appeared to adore him, and as if that weren't enough, he told how his signature bake was inspired by his habit of bringing his partner a white rose on every one of their early dates.

Sandro looks set to be a fan favourite.

'Is the oven on?'

Some of the bakers fell victim to the pressure of the tent. (Channel 4)

It's the sort of classic mistake that has every Bake Off fan shouting at their telly that they'd never be daft enough to commit, but of course it's a very different story for those under the pressure of the tent.

Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith gave the bakers no time to settle in as they set their first showstopper challenge to create a childhood home in cake.

Read more: Bake Off's biggest controversies over the years

Most of the results were stunning, but two bakers had the added stress of whether their cakes would even bake, with Abdul leaving his mix in the oven for 40 minutes before realising he hadn't actually turned it on.

Rebs panicked that her cakes were underbaked, but ended up going too far the other way with Hollywood telling her she'd actually overbaked them.

Stand-out flavours

Janusz's bold flavour choices paid off. (Channel 4)

In the early days of the contest, it's vital to stand out - and using punchy flavours is a great way of doing it, as long as they work.

Syabira looked to her Malaysian roots by including flavours of the pandan plant in her signature bake, while Dawn chose lime and tamarind for hers, with both bakers impressing.

Janusz looked to Leith's keenness for boozy bakes by dousing his mini sandwich cakes in cherry vodka, but found his biggest hit with the judges in the showstopper where he went for an unusual combination of chocolate and soy sauce, which was deemed faultless.

Watch: Great British Bake Off 2022 - meet the new contestants
The 12 Bakers: (L to R (back) James, Sandro, Maxy, Kevin, Abdul (front) Carole, Maisam, Syabira, Rebs, Dawn, William, Janusz (Channel 4)

Its back then, and its probably just as well. Such is the comforting power of The Great British Bake Off (Channel 4); it seems unthinkable it would have been cancelled or postponed merely because the Queen had passed on. Indeed, that very fact, and the emotional trauma it has inflicted on a nation and a Commonwealth of about 2.5 billion people, makes it imperative that judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood and their sweetly charming contestants get the mixing bowl out to salve the collective hurt.

This they cheerfully attended to with lavish application of buttercream and lame jokes. In the GBBO tent, nestled in its warm, exquisitely verdant setting, the real world, and its horrors feel far, far away. No one ever asks aloud how much the gas bill will be for making 168 cakes, or remarks on how much the price of flour and raisins has gone up lately. There is no cost of living crisis in Bakeoffland, and that is how we like it. Even if we cant afford to make an apple strudel or a Belgian bun, its nice to watch people who can indulge themselves. If you think about it, its also the basic attraction of most things the royal family gets up to.

Anyway, cakes and contestants. Once again it features a multicultural and socially mixed cast so diverse it almost invites Nigel Farage to come down and picket the tent. Myself, I cant see the problem with the ever more diverse background of the contestants and their correspondingly adventurous creations. In the showstopper round, the 12 bakers are asked to make cakes based on their own homes or somewhere they have lived.

Maisam made one inspired by the lemon trees around her childhood home in Libya, Abduls had some mango jam recalling his origins in Pakistan, and Syabiras Malaysian ingredients were unknown to me. Janusz  hes the star baker in this first episode and my tip for this years winner  crafted such a superbly detailed reproduction of his mums place in Poland it looked like an architectural model and rightly helped him to victory as star baker in the first round.

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So that was all very refreshing and mouth-watering, but the presenters and judges were, well, a bit claggy  a word that cropped up a lot in this edition. Matt Lucas seems to have lost his sense of humour, and think I prefer Noel Fielding when he moped around the worktops like a lurcher looking for scraps.

Hes chirpier these days, and it just doesnt suit him. His new persona is about as appealing as Marmite in a baklava  and dont tell me thats a way of achieving umami, though Ill take the credit if it is.

Prue is as kindly, fair-minded and expert as ever, but Paul just looks bored now  a man whos tasted all the amateur red velvet cake he ever needs to. Sadly, he seems to have mislaid the recipe for his own signature dish of lightly spun spicy scorn, and how we miss it.

Rather like her late Majesty, the GBBO has had a very long run, and its much loved  how could we cope without it? But Im thinking Bake Off, like the monarchy, needs to adapt to retain its appeal. There are too many contestants making too many cakes, strange to say, which makes viewing harder work than it needs to be, and, if I were king, Id bring back Mel and Sue and their merciless innuendo. For now, its all getting a bit claggy in the big marquee.
Harriet Hageman, who defeated Rep. Liz Cheney for the Republican nomination to Wyomings at-large seat in the House, is scheduled to speak at a conservative think tanks event on Monday recognizing Constitution Day.

Hageman will be the featured guest at the Heritage Foundations online event, titled Fighting to Protect the Constitution: What Are the Threats and How Do We Fight Back? Hageman will discuss the gravest threats to the Constitution and how conservatives should fight to protect it, according to the Heritage Foundations event page.

Constitution Day, which honors the day the Constitution was adopted, is on Saturday.

Harriet Hageman has spent a lifetime upholding the values of the Constitution in the legal and political arenas, the events description states.

Hageman will speak on the same day that Cheney will headline the right-leaning American Enterprise Institutes Constitution Day event. Cheney is scheduled to speak about President Lincolns call for patriotism based in reverence for the Constitution and why it is necessary to defend our inheritance of liberty.

The events will occur about a month after Hageman defeated Cheney in the Republican primary for Wyomings only House seat. Cheney has been one of former President Trumps top critics since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, while Hageman received Trumps endorsement for the seat.

Cheney has argued that she is upholding the Constitution in pushing back against Trumps attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Hageman lists protecting the Constitution as the first issue on her campaign website for her policy ideas, arguing that Democrats are undermining constitutional freedoms.

Tommy Binion, the vice president of government relations for Heritage and the host of the event, said in a statement that Hageman has a deep knowledge and appreciation for the Constitution as an attorney, law clerk and political leader.

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The Heritage Foundation is proud to stand up for the Constitution at a time when its under attack, he said. Theres no better time than Constitution Day to highlight a champion of our nations founding document and everything it represents.

Hageman told The Hill that she is proud to be associated with Heritage, which she said is one of the leading defenders of our Constitution and conservative principles.

As a member of Congress, I will continue what I have always done  fighting for our foundational ideals and the innate rights of individuals, she said.

Updated at 1:28 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Sep. 13Tuesday is primary election day in New Hampshire, with residents statewide heading to the polls to narrow choices for local and state offices. The field of Republicans running for Congress in Districts 1 and 2 is crowded. They will face off against incumbent Democrats come November.

Some Rockingham County races are uncontested, including those for sheriff, attorney, treasurer, register of deeds and register of probate. For county commissioner, four Republicans will be narrowed to one.

Towns will also determine their nominations for state representative.

New Hampshire state Senate candidates for November's general election are also being determined.

Polling locations by town:

Atkinson

Atkinson Community Center, 4 Main St.

Polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Danville

Danville Community Center, 169 Main St.

Polls open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Derry

Calvary Bible Church, 145 Hampstead Road

Polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Hampstead

Hampstead Middle School, 28 School St.

Polls open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Kingston

Swasey Gymnasium, 178 Main St.

Polls open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Londonderry

Londonderry High School gymnasium, 295 Mammoth Road

Polls open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Newton

Newton Safety Complex, 8 Merrimac Road

Polls open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Pelham

Pelham High School, 85 Marsh Road

Polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Plaistow

Plaistow Public Works Garage, 144F Main St.

Polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Salem

District 1: Fisk School, 14 Main St.

District 2: Soule School, 173 South Policy St.

District 3: Barron School, 55 Butler St.

District 4: Ingram Senior Center, 1 Sally Sweets Way

District 6: North Salem School, 140 Zion Hill Road

Polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Sandown

Town Hall, 320 Main St.

Polls open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Windham

Windham High School, 64 London Bridge Road

Polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
District Health Department No. 4 (DHD4) is now accepting appointments for residents to receive the newly available bivalent Pfizer COVID-19 booster dose.

District Health Department No. 4 (DHD4) is now accepting appointments for residents to receive the newly available bivalent Pfizer COVID-19 booster dose.

DHD4 currently does not have the Moderna bivalent COVID-19 booster. Both booster doses have been approved by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through Emergency Use Authorization and recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The authorized bivalent formulations of the vaccines are approved for use as a single booster dose at least two months following primary or booster vaccination. The Moderna and Pfizer bivalent boosters target two strains of COVID-19  the original strain of the virus and the most widely-spread omicron variants (BA.4 and BA.5).

The new bivalent vaccine specifically targets the current circulating strains of COVID-19 that are causing most of the disease here in Northern Michigan and across the country said Dr. Joshua Meyerson, DHD4 medical director. It has also been approved for everyone over age 12 as a single booster dose to provide additional protection as we head into the fall and winter months when we may see increased numbers of cases.

This August 2022 photo provided by Pfizer shows vials of the company's updated COVID-19 vaccine during production in Kalamazoo, Mich. U.S. regulators have authorized updated COVID-19 boosters, the first to directly target today's most common omicron strain. The move on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2022, by the Food and Drug Administration tweaks the recipe of shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna that already have saved millions of lives. (Pfizer via AP)

Who is eligible?

Individuals 12 years of age and older are eligible for a single booster dose of the bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine if it has been at least two months since they completed primary vaccination or received the most recent booster dose with any authorized or approved monovalent COVID-19 vaccine.

To schedule a primary series or booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, call 1 (800) 221-0294.

Visit www.dhd4.org/covid19 for additional information on other testing and vaccination options or COVID-19 trends or data in the district.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Health department: Bivalent Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines booster shots now available
Floodwaters and mudslides swept through portions of Southern California on the heels of Tropical Storm Kay on Monday, triggering immediate evacuation orders for parts of the Inland Empire.

Flash flood warnings were issued Monday following heavy rainfall from the night before across San Bernardino County, including Oak Glen, where one Twitter user caught video of an enormous flow of flash-flood debris suddenly overtaking a neighborhood street.

"If I had been 2 min[utes] earlier...," Dr. Roger Seheult posted along with the video. He explained in a second post that the debris had come from the burn scars of the El Dorado wildfire, which had destroyed some 22,000 acres in the Yucaipa area in the fall of 2020. Investigators had determined the fire had ignited from a pyrotechnic device at a gender reveal party.

An extended version of Seheult's original video showed a man watching another round of debris come charging down the road before he quickly turned and ran for cover.

"Get out of here!" the man seems to be saying as the sound of the surging debris muffles his words.

The Yucaipa Police ordered residents to evacuate Monday from several communities, including Oak Glen.

Tropical Storm Kay, which was eventually downgraded to a tropical rainstorm on Saturday, unleashed intense winds and flooding rains.

"Moisture and leftover energy from the former Kay was able to combine with the heating of the day to cause thunderstorms to develop," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Houk said. "The leftover tropical moisture fueled the heavy downpours."

While Kay provided some relief from the prolonged heat wave across Southern California, "cooler" temperatures for the region simply meant that temperatures dropped below the 90s.

GET THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP

San Bernardino, the capital city of the county of San Bernardino, had been in the throes of the heat wave up until Saturday when temperatures dropped to the mid-80s. While the heat rebounded into the 90s on Sunday, temperatures have since remained in the 80s, according to AccuWeather data.

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Temperatures have cooled a bit more for Oak Glen following the additional rainfall, with the high temperature from Friday dropping by roughly 10 degrees Saturday as Kay's rainfall closed in on the area. The heat rebounded slightly over the weekend, however.

"Not everyone saw the storms, but where they hit, they were capable of bringing rainfall rates as high as 2 inches per hour," Houk said.

Debris, mud and rocks blocked a portion of State Route 38 on Monday following multiple mudslides and rockfalls. (Twitter/@Caltrans8)

In addition to the sudden debris flow in Oak Glen, the burst of rainfall triggered a handful of mudslides that crashed down the mountain slopes and blocked off stretches of interstate.

A portion of the east and westbound lanes of State Route 38 between Lakewood Drive and Jenks Lake West was closed Monday afternoon following multiple mudslides and rockfalls in the area, according to the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). The route remained closed as of early Tuesday morning.

The northbound lane of State Route 18 also was closed early Tuesday following a mudslide, but all lanes on the route later reopened.

Debris, mud and rocks blocked a portion of State Route 38 on Monday following multiple mudslides and rockfalls. (Twitter/@Caltrans8)

The city of Riverside in Riverside County, part of the Inland Empire, received 0.78 of an inch of rainfall, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). One of the highest totals reported from the storm was 1.45 inches at Wrightwood, in the San Gabriel Mountains of San Bernardino County.

Big Bear in San Bernardino County saw record-high daily precipitation on Monday, with 0.20 of an inch of rainfall, beating the record of 0.04 of an inch set in 1975. In Thermal, located in Riverside County, a record-breaking 0.01 of an inch of rainfall was just enough to beat out the trace amount recorded in 2012.

"In general, the thunderstorms brought the rain in a relatively short period of time," Houk said. "When the rain comes down hard in those areas, the dry ground and terrain allow for quick runoff of water instead of rain that gradually soaks into the ground."

Tuesday will be the last day the pattern will linger in the area, with deeper moisture being pushed eastward Wednesday through the end of the week as winds aloft from the west send in dry air, according to Houk.

"The jet stream sinking southward and onshore flow at the surface will also keep daytime temperatures below average after the first week of this month was unusually hot," he said. "Low clouds and patchy fog can make an appearance for a couple of hours late each night and morning in the Inland Empire, but the more widespread night and morning clouds will be back closer to the coast."

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app.AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
A Twitter whistleblower testified before a Senate panel Tuesday and expanded on his allegations of widespread security deficiencies at the company.

Meanwhile, Twitter shareholders voted to approve Elon Musks embattled $44 billion deal to buy the company. And in non-Twitter news, two Democrats are pushing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to discontinue its use of facial recognition and other surveillance technologies.

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hills Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Another big Big Tech hearing

Former Twitter security chief Peiter Mudge Zatko testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday alleging widespread security deficiencies at the social media platform, expanding on his bombshell whistleblower disclosure made public in reports last month.

During a two-and-a-half hourhearing, Zatko alleged Twitter lacked a framework to protect user data or log who was accessing the information  to the extent that he said an employee could take over the accounts of all the senators in this room.



Twitter continued to push back on the allegations. A spokesperson said todays hearing only confirms that Mr. Zatkos allegations are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies.

Here are four takeaways from the hearing:

Twitter lacks framework for protecting user data: Zatko accused Twitter of failing to prioritize user safety and data protection in a way that threatened national security.

What I discovered when I joined Twitter was that this enormously influential company was over a decade behind industry security standards, he said.



Zatko said Twitter doesnt know what data they have, where it lives, or where it came from.

US regulators enforcement not up to par: Zatko said the Federal Trade Commission is over their head when dealing with large tech companies, like Twitter.

Story continues

Compared to the size of the Big Tech companies and the challenge they have against them, they are left letting companies grade their own homework, Zatko said.

Bipartisan consensus to target tech, but lack of action on bills:

Although there are lingering partisan differences on tech issues, mainly on content moderation, Tuesdays hearing again showcased the rare unified support from both sides of the aisle to take action to hold tech companies accountable.

But lawmakers have not been able to get bills targeting the companies across the finish line.



Despite this probably being our 50th hearing  between commerce and judiciary we have not passed one bill out of the U.S. Senate when it comes to competition, when it comes to privacy, when it comes to better funding the agencies, when it comes to the protection of kids, Sen. Amy Klobuchar

(D-Minn.) said.

Calls for Twitter to be restructured:

The hearing also led to calls for Twitter management to be restructured.

Ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) suggested Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal may not be fit to continue leading the company.



If these allegations are true, I dont see how Mr. Agrawal can maintain his position at Twitter, Grassley said.

Read more about the hearing here.

Shareholders approve Musks Twitter deal

Twitter shareholders on Tuesday approved a $44 billion merger agreement with Elon Musk, though the deal remains in limbo as a lawsuit between the social media company and the SpaceX CEO moves through a Delaware court.

During the special meeting, the shareholders also approved a measure relating to compensation for Twitter executives resulting from the merger agreement.

After the meeting concluded, an official said more details would be provided publicly in the near future.



A form will also be filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.



Ahead of the meeting, Twitters board of directors recommended the shareholders approve the merger and the financial compensation agreement, which the board has already unanimously approved of.

Read more here.

DEMOCRATS URGE ICE TO STOP ORWELLIAN TACTICS

Two Democratic senators called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to discontinue its use of facial recognition and other surveillance technologies that they say threaten individual privacy rights.

Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a letter to ICE acting Director Tae Johnson on Monday pointing to a Georgetown University report that detailed that ICE has used facial recognition and bought information from data brokers to build a dragnet security system to help carry out deportation proceedings.

The senators said these secretive methods have allowed ICE to obtain data about most people living in the United States.

This surveillance network has exploited privacy-protection gaps and has enormous civil rights implications, Markey and Wyden said. ICE should immediately shut down its Orwellian data gathering efforts that indiscriminately collect far too much data on far too many individuals.

Read more here.

SMALLER COMPANIES URGE ANTITRUST VOTE

Smaller tech companies that offer more privacy options than the dominant giants on Tuesday sent a letter urging Congress to pass a key antitrust bill.

A dozen companies, including Proton, Mozilla and DuckDuckGo, asked House and Senate leaders to bring the American Innovation and Choice Online Act to a vote as soon as possible, arguing it would lead to more competition and therefore more privacy options for consumers.

Massive tech platforms can exert influence over society and the digital economy because they ultimately have the power to collect, analyze, and monetize exorbitant amounts of personal information. This is not by accident, as some of the tech giants have intentionally abused their gatekeeper positions to lock users into perpetual surveillance while simultaneously making it difficult to switch to privacy-protective alternatives, the companies wrote, according to a copy of the letter shared with The Hill.

Read more here.

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: How the CHIPS Act supercharges the US quantum industry

Notable links from around the web:

Celsius Network Plots a Comeback After a Crypto Crash (The New York Times / David Yaffe-Bellany)

San Mateo jails are spying on attorney messages, a new lawsuit says (Protocol / Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu)

Disinformation via text message is a problem with few answers (NBC News / Kevin Collier)

 Lighter click: Its fall, yall

One more thing: Threats to election workers

Kim Wyman, the head of election security at the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), is warning against threats to election workers which have forced many to quit their positions ahead of the midterms.

In a recent interview with CBS News, Wyman, who served as the secretary of state of Washington, said that about 1 in 3 elections officials and poll workers have left their posts over concerns for their personal safety.

We are facing a workforce problem, Wyman said.

As these stories of threats and intimidation are shared, people who would normally be poll workers on election day or work at a voting center are taking a step back and saying, I dont know that its worth my life or worth my personal safety, she added.

Read more here.

Thats it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hills Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. Well see you tomorrow.

VIEW FULL VERSION HERE

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A Twitter whistleblower alleging widespread security deficiencies at the company will testify before a Senate panel Tuesday. The same day, Twitter shareholders will vote on Elon Musks embattled $44 billion deal to buy the platform.

Meanwhile, Twitter argued in a new regulatory filing that Musks latest argument to back out of the deal is invalid.

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hills Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Whistleblower heads to Senate

Twitter is facing a tough Tuesday as senators gear up to hear testimony from a whistleblower alleging widespread security deficiencies at the social media company  the same day Twitter shareholders vote on whether to approve Elon Musks embattled $44 billion deal to buy the company.

The Senate Judiciary hearing featuring whistleblower Peiter Mudge Zatko and shareholder vote come after Musk has leveraged Zatkos allegations in his legal attempt to back out of the agreement to buy Twitter, and as lawmakers have ramped up scrutiny of Twitter and other social media companies ability to protect users ahead of the upcoming midterms.

We broke down five things to watch ahead of the hearing  from national security concerns to the way Musk will factor in.

Read more here.

Twitter responds to Musks latest attempt

Twitter in a new filing argues that Elon Musks latest move to back out of his agreement to buy the company for $44 billion over the companys handling of a high-profile whistleblower is invalid and wrongful.

Twitters attorneys pushed back on Musks third attempt to cancel his acquisition in a regulatory document filed Monday, reiterating arguments they used in the two prior instances while stating that Twitter has breached none of its representations or obligations under the agreement.

As was the case with each of your prior purported terminations, the Musk Parties third purported termination is invalid for the independent reason that

Mr. Musk and the other Musk Parties continue to knowingly, intentionally, willfully, and materially breach the Agreement, they wrote.



Musks attorneys last week tried to back out of the deal by saying that Twitter should have notified him before the company paid $7.75 million in a separation agreement with Peiter Mudge Zatko, the companys former security chief who has come out with accusations of widespread security deficiencies at Twitter.

Story continues

Read more here.

RAMPING UP RESTRICTIONS

The Biden administration next month will place new restrictions on U.S. shipments of semiconductor chips and chipmaking equipment to China, according to Reuters.

The Commerce Department will formalize new rules prohibiting the shipment of chipmaking equipment to Chinese factories that produce advanced semiconductors, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

U.S. companies seeking to export the equipment must obtain a Commerce Department license.

Three U.S. companies  KLA Corp., Lam Research Corp., and Applied Materials Inc.  already operate under the restrictions as directed by the Commerce Department.

Read more here.

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Rocket Lab to conduct first private mission to Venus

Notable links from around the web:

Revamp of Federal Software Buys Could Force Microsoft Changes (Bloomberg / Leah Nylen and Dina Bass)

Instagram Stumbles in Push to Mimic TikTok, Internal Documents Show (The Wall Street Journal / Salvador Rodriquez, Meghani Bobrowsky and Jeff Horwitz)

 Lighter click: You cant take them away from us

One more thing: Stelter to discuss threats

Brian Stelter, a former CNN host and noted media pundit, is joining Harvard Kennedy Schools Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.

Stelter will serve as a media and democracy fellow and convene a series of discussions about what the center described as threats to democracy and the range of potential responses from the news media.

These discussions with media leaders, policy makers, politicians, and Kennedy School students, fellows, and faculty will help deepen public and scholarly understanding about the current state of the information ecosystem and its impacts on democratic governance, the school said in an announcement.

Read more here.

Thats it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hills Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. Well see you tomorrow.

VIEW FULL VERSION HERE

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Reuters

Yeshiva University, ordered by a judge to formally recognize an LGBT student group even as the Jewish school in New York City argues that doing so would violate its religious values, on Friday announced that it has halted the activities of all its undergraduate student clubs as it plans its next steps. Yeshiva's announcement came two days after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block New York state judge Lynn Kotler's June ruling that the university is subject to a city anti-discrimination law and must recognize the club called Y.U. Pride Alliance.
Two people have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a homeless man whose body was found Aug. 27 in Oklahoma City.

James Guillory, 20, and Sierra McCoy-Griffen, 19, made initial appearances Friday in Oklahoma County District Court. They were ordered to be held without bail.

Officers took the two into custody after being called to a homeless camp near Western Avenue and the Kilpatrick Turnpike by a witness who reported the victim had been hit on the head and hung in trees.

They found the victim in a wooded area. The dead man, identified in court records as Jeff Skrivanek, 51, had experienced "injuries consistent with homicide," police said.

Police said they were pointed toward Guillory and McCoy-Griffen by a witness.

A probable cause affidavit filed as part of the case states Guillory confessed to police that he had choked Skrivanek after the two had been involved in an altercation on Aug. 26.

"Guillory said after he released Skrivanek, he was still breathing so he continued to strangle him. After the second strangulation, Guillory wrapped a leash around Skrivanek's neck, drug him to a tree and tied the leash to a branch. Guillory stated he tied the leash in a manner which held Skrivankek's neck off the ground with the intention to ensure Skrivanek's death.

"Guillory stated he fled the scene with McCoy-Griffen, who had watched the entire incident," the affidavit reads.

In a search of a hotel room where the two defendants were staying, detectives recovered handwritten notes between Guillory and McCoy-Griffen where they allegedly plotted to kill the victim, court records show.

As part of the affidavit, police stated McCoy-Griffen confessed to writing the notes, but denied she meant what she had written. Guillory, meanwhile, told police that McCoy-Griffen had asked him to murder Skrivanek and that he had agreed, but also said the altercation that led to the man's death was unrelated to the premeditated plan.

It also states McCoy-Griffen and Guillory were involved in a romantic relationship, and that Skrivanek and McCoy-Griffen previously had dated.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Prosecutors charge two with first-degree murder in homeless man's death
Story at a glance

Honda said it is targeting annual sales of 1 million units over the next five years and 3.5 million units, about 15 percent of total sales, by 2030.

Most models will be commuter scooters for the Asian and European markets, while four Fun EV models are expected to debut in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Honda acknowledged integration of electric bikes faces many challenges including heavier vehicles and higher prices in the near term.

Honda is ramping up production of electric motorcycles as part of efforts to become carbon neutral by 2040.

The worlds largest motorcycle manufacturer announced Tuesday plans to launch more than 10 electric motorcycle models globally by 2025, including small commuter models such as scooters, and large fun models like dirt and street bikes. Honda said it is targeting annual sales of 1 million units over the next five years and 3.5 million units, about 15 percent of total sales, by 2030.

The push to electrify the companys motorcycle fleet, however, will be no easy task. Honda acknowledged integration of electric bikes faces many challenges including heavier vehicles and higher prices in the near term. Demand for electric motorcycles also depends on government incentives and regulations and the availability of charging infrastructure in a given market, which could be a high hurdle to clear in developing parts of the world where commuter motorcycles are more prevalent.

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

Most models will be commuter scooters for the Asian and European markets, while four Fun EV models are expected to debut in the U.S., Europe and Japan. The e-motorcycles will use Hondas solid-state batteries, which are under development and expected to hit production in 2024.

Honda, however, will not be ending production of internal combustion engines in its motorcycles just yet. The company said it will work to reduce emissions from internal combustion engines and introduce motorcycles compatible with carbon-neutral fuels like gasoline-ethanol blends. Honda has released flex-fuel motorcycle models in Brazil and plans to introduce them in India next year.

The move by Honda comes as vehicle manufacturers are attempting to move away from traditional gas-powered cars to electric vehicles to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to mark the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 5 June 2022. Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth at Balmoral on Thursday, the crown, along with her private estate, will be passed down to her first son, now King Charles III.

The Queen was the first British monarch to mark 70 years on the throne, during which time she built a substantial private property and investment portfolio as well as preserving jewels and historic treasures including art.

The late Queen also owned Balmoral and Sandringham Estates outright, after inheriting them from her father George VI.

Although it is unknown what the Queen's exact net worth was, it was estimated to be around 370m ($432m), but missed out on a spot on The Sunday Times' 2022 "Rich List" of the UK's 250 wealthiest.

Read more: Queen Elizabeth II's funeral: Florists and souvenir shops make brisk business

While questions about how the Royal Family makes it money have circled for years, the Royal Family's wealth does not all come from taxpayer as many people mistakenly think.

As Charles's reign starts, how does the Royal Family earn its money, and where does it comes from?

Who funds the Royal Family?

Some members of the royal household earn a salary, Charles, William, now the Prince of Wales, and Harry, Duke of Sussex, all earned salaries from their military careers.

Princess Beatrice, who is 9th in line for the throne works in finance and consulting and her sister Princess Eugenie is an associate director at an art gallery in London.

Funding for the royals was reformed in 2012 with a new sovereign grant paid out of a proportion of the profits from the crown estate, which manages the public estate of the monarch.

The new system means the royal household is subject to the same audit scrutiny, by the National Audit Office and the parliamentary public accounts committee, as other government expenditure.

However, "The Firm's" main income comes from three sources  the sovereign grant, the Duchy of Lancaster estate and the Duchy of Cornwall.

King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, head the Royal Family since the passing of Queen Elizabeth. Photo: Markus Schreiber/WPA Pool/Getty

Sovereign grant

Every year the Royal Family gets a single chunk of cash from the UK government, that is paid for by taxpayers.

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This yearly payment was known as the civil list until the introduction of the Sovereign Grant Act in 2011.

It is used to pay for His Majesty's official duties and upkeep of the occupied royal palaces, including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and St James Palace.

The royal household receives the grant in exchange for all the profits made from the Crown Estate  a massive collection of property around the UK that is owned by the monarch but run independently.

In theory, this means that the reigning monarch is given an amount of money equivalent to 25% of the Crown Estate's profits every year.

Read more: How much does a state funeral cost?

In 2021-2022, the sovereign grant was 86.3m. That equates to roughly 1.29 per person in the UK, and is about a quarter of the 313m made by the Crown Estate.

Despite becoming King, Charles is not allowed to sell any of the royal residences to make money as theyre not his private property  they will have to be passed on to his successor, his son William, who will also have to pass them down to his son Prince George  who is third in line to the Crown.

What is the Crown Estate?

The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and properties belonging to the British monarch including properties on Londons Regent Street and St Jamess as well as malls and retail parks across the UK, and rights to seabeds around the British Isles.

For the financial year 2021/22 the value of the Crown Estate's property portfolio increased 8% to 15.6bn. In June it posted a net revenue profit of 312.7m for the year.

All of the registered companys profits go to the UK Treasury, which passes on 25% of profits  with a two-year time lag  to the reigning monarch through the sovereign grant.

Under the Sovereign Act 2011, in the event the Crown Estate's profits fall, the monarch still receives the same grant as the year before, which is topped up by the Treasury.

The Crown Estate includes properties on London's Regent Street. Photo: Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty

Duchy of Lancaster and the Privy Purse

The Duchy of Lancaster is administered separately from the Crown Estate and is headed by the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, currently Nadhim Zahawi MP who was appointed on 6 September by new prime minister Liz Truss.

The private estate of the Queen, has now passed on to Charles. This private estate is usually passed down from monarch to monarch.

It covers more than 18,000 hectares of land, including in Yorkshire, central London and Lancashire, with a net asset value of 653m at the last count.

Read more: Coins, stamps and passports: What changes now that Charles is King?

King Charles can turn to the Privy Purse  another name for the net profits made from the Duchy of Lancaster  when expenditure cannot be met by the sovereign grant.

Considering the duchy is inherited, King Charles can technically avoid paying millions in inheritance tax thanks to an old rule designed to protect the Royal Familys wealth.

The rule, introduced by the government in 1993, states that an inheritance levy does not have to be paid on assets transferred from one sovereign to another.

UK law requires inheritance tax to be paid at 40% if you leave assets valued at above a certain threshold to your loved ones after you pass away.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and William, Duke of Cambridge during Royal Ascot 2022. Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty

Duchy of Cornwall

Whoever holds the title of Duke of Cornwall  usually the first in line to the throne  benefits from the income generated from the Duchy of Cornwall.

William, Duke of Cambridge also became Duke of Cornwall when his father ascended to the throne after the passing of the Queen.

The Duchy of Cornwall mainly covers land in south-west England and generates around 20m a year  although it made a profit of 22m for the year ending 31 March 2022, according to the duchys financial records.

The Duchy of Cornwall is not considered a company, meaning William does not have to pay corporation tax, and in addition he will not be considered liable for capital gains tax.

Read more: The Queen's death could tip UK into recession

However, King Charles, who previously held the title, chose to voluntarily pay the top rate of income tax, currently 45%, on the duchys earnings after the deduction of official expenditure, known as its "surplus", totalling 23m in the last financial year.

As the Duchy of Lancaster and Duchy of Cornwall are private estates, the way that the money is spent is not made public.

In 2022 the assets of the Duchies are worth a combined 1.7bn, making profits of more than 40m between them.

Watch: Where do the Queen and royal family get their money from?
In the early days of content management systems, you had a tool for creating and storing content, typically for a website, and nothing more. Over time, as more output options came along beyond the website, headless content management systems developed to make it easier to generate content for multiple formats from a single source.

German startup Hygraph has taken that idea a step further, announcing an API today that enables developers to pull content from a variety of sources and put that content to work in multiple formats or even content-centric applications. Hygraph CEO and co-founder Michael Lukaszczyk says that his company, which was previously called GraphCMS, calls this approach a federated content platform.

The federated content platform is a content platform that is not only front-end agnostic, but also back-end agnostic, he said.

He believes that this approach completely changes the CMS concept. The headless CMS allowed a one-to-many relationship between the CMS platform and the destinations. We are turning things around with a many-to-many relationship. [Our solution lets you take advantage] of all your content sources, all of your investments that you've made in your enterprise tech, and we aggregate them with one universal Content API, while allowing you to distribute the content to any channel in a way thats extremely flexible, he said.

Illustration showing how a traditional CMS, a headless CMS and federated content CMS work.

On the left is a traditional CMS (one to one), in the middle a headless CMS (one to many) and on the right a federated content platform like the one from Hygraph (many to many). Image Credits: Hygraph

The system is based on the GraphQL API, which accounts for the original name of the company. He says, as an example, the content could come from an e-commerce system, a CRM or virtually any system you can access via API. The content gets pushed through the GraphQL API and the developer can define any output such as mobile, watch or laptop.

You can integrate all those systems on the API layer with our federation mechanism. And the developer and implementing applications only needs to use one universal GraphQL API that serves all the content and data from all those third party systems, Lukaszczyk explained.

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The startup, which is based in Berlin, launched in 2017 and has raised around $14 million, according to Crunchbase data. The company currently has 65 employees, and as he looks at building a diverse organization, he says there are many different vectors to diversity.

First, were looking at gender diversity. So our head of people is female and we're building an HR team that is mostly female to attract more female talent, as well. Were also looking to fill some leadership roles with more female candidates, he said. Beyond that, the company is looking at things like cultural and age diversity and other factors as it builds a worldwide workforce.

With the new product, the startup will charge based on the number of data sources developers plug into the API. The content federation API was released earlier this summer in soft beta, and is generally available starting today.
The Recount

On Late Night with Seth Meyers, Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented on Trumps possession of classified documents and having them at his country club. In early August, Donald Trumps country club Mar-a-Lago was raided by FBI agents due to his possession of classified top secret documents, some dealing with nuclear security measures. This is a threat to our national security that somebody would actually have in his country club storage room, his desk, his bedroom top secret information and you have to ask yourself, why?
By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said she and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday agreed to explore ways to expand the IMF's support for the war-torn country and build toward a full-fledged financing program.

Georgieva told an event hosted by the Center for Global Development that she and Zelenskiy agreed that an IMF mission would meet with Ukrainian authorities in the next weeks to work on a "pathway of engagement that is deeper."

She said the IMF was also working to ensure board approval for a proposal aimed at expanding emergency aid for Ukraine and other countries facing urgent balance of payments problems due to Russia's war against Ukraine.

The new "food shock window" in the IMF's Rapid Financing Instrument would provide Kyiv with about the same amount of funding as the $1.4 billion it got in March, shortly after the Russian invasion, Georgieva said.

"We discussed first how we can immediately be of help to Ukraine," she said, adding that Ukraine's needs had grown since the first disbursement of emergency financing.

"Secondly we discussed a longer-term engagement with Ukraine and how we can build towards a program that can more comprehensively benefit Ukraine," she said. "That is a build up towards a full-fledged fund program."

Georgieva said Zelenskiy also expressed interest in how the fund could work with other institutions to provide policy support for Ukraine, and start working on how it will transition to a sound, sustainable future.

Alfred Kammer, director of the IMF's European department and his deputy, Julie Kozack, will meet with Ukrainian officials in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo this week, an IMF spokesperson said.

"Excellent call with President @ZelenskyyUa," Georgieva wrote on Twitter, before the event. She said they discussed how the global lender could "continue to back Ukraine and agreed to explore ways to ramp up our financial and policy engagement to (Ukraine) using all tools available to us."

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In a separate posting on Twitter, Zelenskiy said he spoke with Georgieva and thanked her for "the allocation of $1.4 billion of additional support. Discussed future cooperation to increase Ukraine's financial stability."

Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian officials have grown frustrated in recent months by what they see as slow progress toward a larger financing package.

Ukraine's central bank governor, Kyrylo Shevchenko, told Reuters in July that Kyiv was seeking $15-20 billion from the IMF over two or three years - an amount that would put Ukraine well over the fund's "exceptional access limit" for lending.

Speaking through an interpreter, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a conference on Sunday that the IMF had been "very passive" in responding to Ukraine's request to date.

He said the fund loaned Ukraine $17 billion after Russia's annexation of the Crimea region in 2014, but was dragging its heels this time around.

"Now we have a certain procrastination, but we have to speed up our cooperation and the response of the IMF, which was created to support countries in dire straits like we find ourselves in," he said.

He said Ukraine was working closely with the United States, Germany and other partners, but the IMF was an important "uniting factor."

"It's very important to have the IMF on board with their leadership and partnership," he added.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Alexandra Hudson and David Gregorio)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said she and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday discussed a longer-term engagement that could build toward a full-fledged financing program for Ukraine.

Georgieva said an IMF team would meet with Ukrainian authorities in the next weeks, creating a "pathway of engagement that is deeper."

She said executive board members were positive about an IMF proposal aimed at expanding emergency aid for countries hit hard by Russia's war against Ukraine, which will provide Kyiv with about the same amount of funding as the $1.4 billion it got in March, shortly after the Russian invasion.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Rodrigo Campos)
Indonesian President Joko Widodo Antara Foto/Wahyu Putro A/via REUTERS

Indonesia isn't ruling out importing Russian oil, President Joko Widodo told the Financial Times.

"We always monitor all of the options. If there is the country [and] they give a better price, of course," he said.

Russia has offered its oil at a 30% discount to the international rate, Indonesia's tourism minister has said.

Indonesia isn't ruling out importing Russian oil as Moscow offers a steep discount while the G7 pushes a price cap on Russian crude.

"We always monitor all of the options. If there is the country [and] they give a better price, of course," President Joko Widodo told the Financial Times.

He added that "there is a duty for [the] government to find various sources to meet the energy needs of their people."

Southeast Asia's largest economy has not traditionally been a big buyer of Russian oil. But Indonesia has seen some fuel cost jump 30% in the last month alone.

Meanwhile, Russia is offering its oil at a 30% discount to the international rate, Indonesia's tourism minister has said.

Indonesia could potentially join other Asian countries including China and India which have shown a willingness to purchase Russian crude while Western countries shun business ties with Moscow due to its invasion of Ukraine.

At the same time, Europe is imposing a partial embargo on Russian oil by the end of the year, and the G7 is pushing for a cap on Russian oil prices that will keep supplies flowing while also limiting the Kremlin's revenue.

Indonesia will have to walk a political tightrope as it is set to host the next G20 meeting this November in Bali. Widodo has invited both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia's Vladimir Putin to attend.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The recent 18% drop in Besra Gold Inc.'s (ASX:BEZ) stock could come as a blow to insiders who purchased US$73k worth of stock at an average buy price of US$0.065 over the past 12 months. This is not good as insiders invest based on expectations that their money will appreciate over time. However, as a result of recent losses, their original investment is now worth only US$45k.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

View our latest analysis for Besra Gold

Besra Gold Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

While no particular insider transaction stood out, we can still look at the overall trading.

The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

Besra Gold is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insider Ownership Of Besra Gold

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Our data indicates that Besra Gold insiders own about AU$652k worth of shares (which is 5.5% of the company). But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. Overall, this level of ownership isn't that impressive, but it's certainly better than nothing!

So What Do The Besra Gold Insider Transactions Indicate?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. The transactions are fine but it'd be more encouraging if Besra Gold insiders bought more shares in the company. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Case in point: We've spotted 5 warning signs for Besra Gold you should be aware of.

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If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

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



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

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Hello, tech friends. I'm Jordan Parker Erb, writing to you from New York  but thinking about my home state, Montana.

While I was visiting last month, I put together a guide to the state and, more specifically, what not to do while vacationing there. If you're looking to book a trip out west this fall, let this serve as a helping hand.

In today's tech news  that's why we're all really here, isn't it?  we're taking a closer look at Instagram Reels, which according to an internal report obtained by the Wall Street Journal, is flagging in comparison to its competitor, TikTok.

Let's get started.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app here.

Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

1. Instagram Reels are floundering. Instagram has long been trying to make the short-form video feature a hit. But according to an internal report reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, Reels are falling flat  and Instagram has a long way to go before it can make a dent in rival TikTok's market share.

Of the 11 million creators on the platform, only about 20.7% post on Reels each month, and "most Reels users have no engagement whatsoever," the document says.

Whereas TikTok users cumulatively spend 197.8 million hours watching videos on the platform each day, Instagram users spend 17.6 million hours a day watching Reels  less than one-tenth of the time spent on TikTok.

Part of the problem, according to the report, is that Reels struggles to bring in original content; Nearly a third of all videos are created elsewhere and then uploaded to Instagram.

Get a closer look at what's going on with Reels.

In other news:

An image of Peloton CEO John Foley looking nervous on an e-bike with a shattered glass texture in the background.

Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch; Peloton; iStock; Rebecca Zisser/Insider

2. Peloton founder John Foley stepped down as executive chairman. Yesterday, Foley severed his last ties with the embattled fitness company, a move that comes after a tumultuous few months for the company's former CEO.

3. DTC brands that once shunned Walmart are now flocking to the megaretailer. A few years ago, trendy direct-to-consumer brands were turning to Target for their wholesale retail debut, snubbing Walmart as a "bargain basement." Now, brands like Billie and Bubble are turning to Walmart. We explain why.

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4. Seeing a lot of hate tweets on your timeline? It could be the weather. According to a new study, when the weather gets too hot or too cold, the number of hateful tweets increases  but online anger levels off between 54-70 degrees Fahrenheit. Here's what else the study found.

5. Tanium insiders wonder if the startup is preparing to be acquired. Current and former employees said that the $9 billion company is tightening its belt and cutting jobs as internal hopes for an IPO fade  and some say it's angling for an acquisition by Microsoft.

6. A hotel worker said someone left an unreleased Meta VR headset in a hotel room. A Facebook user posted photos and a video showing what appears to be Meta's unreleased Quest Pro virtual reality headset, which Mark Zuckerberg has hyped up to Joe Rogan. Check out the video of the device.

7. Snap declared augmented reality a "strategic priority"  but still laid off AR staffers. When CEO Evan Spiegel announced Snap would be cutting 20% of staff, he sent a letter detailing the company's priorities moving forward, which included AR. But Insider found Snap still laid off at least 15 workers involved in AR projects. Employees explain how the team was impacted and what could come next.

8. A Tesla exec laid out the company's next five years. At an invite-only conference, Martin Viecha broke down what to expect when it comes to a cheaper electric vehicle, a robotaxi service, and other potential future products. Here's what he said.

Odds and ends:

iPhone 14 new colors

Apple

9. Apple just gave owners of older iPhones a great reason not to upgrade. The iPhone 14, announced last week, runs on the same A15 Bionic processor as the iPhone 13  meaning it won't perform any better or faster than its predecessor. Everything you'll want to know before deciding whether to upgrade.

10. Airlines like United and American are betting on electric air taxis. As part of its commitment to hit net-zero emissions by 2050, much of the aviation industry is investing in electric aircrafts, which could change the way we get around and between cities. Here are the eight companies they're partnering with.

What we're watching today:

Keep updated with the latest tech news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. Listen here.

Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(This Sept. 13 story corrects name of group to "Investor Agenda," not "Investor Alliance," in last paragraph)

By Ross Kerber and Simon Jessop

BOSTON/LONDON (Reuters) - Investors managing $39 trillion have called on governments to raise their climate ambition, including setting plans to phase out fossil fuel use and forcing companies to set out science-based transition plans.

The move by some - but not all - top fund firms comes ahead of the next round of global climate talks in Egypt in November. This year's letter is the most ambitious appeal to officials yet, backers of the effort said, with additional requests for action on tackling methane pollution and scaling up finance to poorer countries.

Organised by the Investor Agenda, a group of investor-focused groups that count many of the world's largest fund managers as members, the "2022 Global Investor Statement to Governments on the Climate Crisis" was the 13th one to be issued.

Investors are taking action as it is not only permitted by law but is in many cases required to ensure their ability to generate returns in the long-term as a core fiduciary duty and benefit from the opportunities associated with the shift to a net-zero emissions economy," the statement said.

Other requests by the investors included scaling up low-carbon energy systems; implementing carbon pricing mechanisms that rise over time; establishing new or more ambitious plans to end deforestation.

In all, 532 investors signed the latest iteration including UBS Asset Management, Amundi SA and Federated Hermes.

However, none of the top three U.S. index fund managers BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street Corp signed onto this letter.

The reticence comes as the process of investing with an eye on environmental, social and governance-related issues, or ESG, faces growing pressure in the United States.[L1N3011D2]

Representatives for BlackRock declined comment, while Vanguard did not respond to queries.

A representative for State Street, whose asset-management arm signed an Investor Agenda statement last year, declined to comment.

(Reporting by Simon Jessop in London and Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian authorities have arrested several people over the assassination of a Revolutionary Guards colonel in May that Tehran has blamed on Israel and its Western allies, judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi said on Tuesday.

The Guards, Iran' elite security force, said the shooting of Hassan Sayad Khodai in the capital Tehran by two people on a motorcycle was the work of "terrorist groups affiliated with global oppression (West) and Zionism (Israel)".

"Several people have been arrested in the case of the assassination of martyr Khodai. The necessary legal orders have been issued for them and the case is under investigation," Setayeshi told a news conference, according to state media.

The Israeli Prime Minister's office, which oversees intelligence agency Mossad, declined to comment on the events in the Iranian capital.

Israeli media said Khodai headed a unit of the Quds Force - the Revolutionary Guards' overseas arm - that planned attacks on Israelis abroad.

Iran said Khodai was a "defender of the shrines", referring to military personnel or advisers who the Islamic Republic says fight on its behalf to protect Shi'ite Muslim sites in Iraq or Syria against Sunni militant groups such as Islamic State.

Iranian forces have played a key role in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Tehran's ally, against Islamic State and other militant and rebel groups in Syria's civil war.

Khodai's killing came at a time of uncertainty over the revival of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after months of stalled talks.

At least six Iranian scientists and academics have been killed or attacked since 2010, several of them by assailants riding motorcycles, in strikes believed to have targeted Irans uranium enrichment programme, which the West says is meant to develop a nuclear weapons capability.

Iran says its nuclear energy programme has solely peaceful purposes, and has denounced the killings as acts of terrorism carried out by Western intelligence agencies and Mossad. Israel has declined comment on such accusations.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Members of the Secret Service, including Tony Ornato, right, stand guard as then-President Donald Trump, left, speaks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington before departing, Sept. 9, 2019. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File

Rep. Adam Kinzinger accused former Secret Service agent Tony Ornato of trying to discredit Cassidy Hutchinson.

The Republican told CNN this week that members of the Jan. 6 panel believe Ornato led the charge.

Ornato retired in August  two months after he emerged as a key figure in Hutchinson's testimony.

Members of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot believe former Secret Service agent Tony Ornato was personally involved in efforts to discredit former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony, according to a report from CNN.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republican members of Congress on the committee, told the outlet this week that representatives on the panel think Ornato led the charge in contradicting parts of Hutchinson's public testimony earlier this year while he was still at the agency and additional, unnamed agents then backed his claims.

The longtime Secret Service agent who ran former President Donald Trump's security detail left the agency last month, saying in a statement that he retired in order to pursue a career in the private sector.

Ornato emerged as a key figure in Hutchinson's bombshell testimony before the committee in June.

Hutchinson testified that Ornato told her Trump had tried to grab the steering wheel of the vehicle he was traveling in and lunged at a Secret Service agent while demanding to be taken to the Capitol during the chaos of January 6, 2021, as he said, "I'm the effing president!"

In the aftermath of Hutchinson's testimony, anonymous sources began to reject her version of events in the press. Several media outlets reported that Secret Service agents were willing to testify that Trump did not try to lunge at them or take control of the vehicle on January 6  though none have done so publicly.

Now, Kinzinger is accusing Ornato of being one of the anonymous culprits behind the backlash.

"I just think it's so important to keep in mind that, through quote, anonymous sources, which we believe to be actually Tony Ornato himself, he pushed back against Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony and said, it's just not true and Tony will testify under oath. And then, of course, has not come in to testify under oath," the Republican told CNN.

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Kate Driscoll, a lawyer for Ornato did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, but told CNN that her client plans to "continue cooperating in the investigations related to the events of January 6."

In response to pushback against Hutchinson's initial testimony, Rep. Liz Cheney, who is the top Republican on the January 6 panel, threw her full support behind Hutchinson and a DC police officer later backed up her claims, testifying that Trump had a "heated exchange" with his security team after they refused to drive him to the Capitol amid the insurrection.

CNN reported this week that investigators have also learned new information about a series of deleted Secret Service test messages regarding the Capitol attack, citing anonymous sources who said it's unclear whether the texts are recoverable.

A spokesperson with the Secret Service pointed Insider to the agency's June 30th statement in response to Hutchinson's testimony:

"As we have done in the past, the United States Secret Service will make individuals with first-hand knowledge of the conversations and interactions referenced by the Committee available for sworn testimony. We are awaiting the opportunity to do so."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Switzerland Godard Obit (' KEYSTONE / GAETAN BALLY)

French president Emmanuel Macron has led the tributes to Jean-Luc Godard, after the revered filmmaker died at the age of 91.

News of Godards death was first reported by the French newspaper Liberation.

Godard was known for directing a run of radical, medium-changing films throughout the 1960s, including his feature debut Breathless and Alphaville.

Along with contemporaries such as Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, and Francois Truffaut, the Paris-born Godard was a central figure in the Nouvelle Vague, an experimental film movement that emerged in France in the late 1950s.

Several of his films are frequently cited among the best movies ever made.

Alongside a black and white photograph of the iconoclastic Godard, Macrons tribute read: It was like an apparition in French cinema. Then he became a master.

Jean-Luc Godard, the most iconoclastic of New Wave filmmakers, had invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art. We have lost a national treasure, one regarded as a genius.

Ce fut comme une apparition dans le cinema francais. Puis il en devint un maitre. Jean-Luc Godard, le plus iconoclaste des cineastes de la Nouvelle Vague, avait invente un art resolument moderne, intensement libre. Nous perdons un tresor national, un regard de genie. pic.twitter.com/bQneeqp8on  Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) September 13, 2022

National Secretary of the French Communist Party Fabien Roussel honoured the filmmakers storied legacy in a Twiter post: Jean-Luc Godard, who made films like no one else, has left us.

How disgusting is that?, he continued, referring to a famous bit of dialogue in Breathless, adding, The death of a creator.

Baby Driver director Edgar Wright honoured Godard in a Twitter post, which read: RIP Jean-Luc Godard, one of the most influential, iconoclastic film-makers of them all.

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It was ironic that he himself revered the Hollywood studio film-making system, as perhaps no other director inspired as many people to just pick up a camera and start shooting...

The British Film Institute (BFI) bid adieu to a giant of cinema who ripped up the rule book.

From Breathless onwards, he tested the limits of the medium, the statement continued.

BBC News Culture Editor Katie Razzall tweeted: RIP the revolutionary, the iconoclastic, the master of French cinema, Jean-Luc Godard.

North America and the UKs chief content officer forTime Out, Dave Calhouns tribute to Godard read: Shaking things up for seven decades pretty much. Genius. Troublemaker. Often baffling. Always demanded you stop and take notice. RIP.

Author Matt Kennard remembered the greatest director in a tweet which read: In film, he changed everything.

In his homage to the director, writer and editor Lee Zachariah noted his early works are practically without peer.

He continued: Breathless was my entry into French New Wave, inspiring me to always order dessert, pretend I need a newspaper, then skip out on the bill. RIP.
French Swiss film director Jean-Luc Godard in 2014. (Fabrice Coffrini / AFP / Getty Images)

Jean-Luc Godard, the influential French New Wave writer-director who broke new ground in cinematic expression in the 1960s with films such as Breathless, Contempt and Weekend and became a guiding light to fellow filmmakers throughout his more than six-decade career, has died. He was 91.

Godard died Tuesday morning at his home in Rolle, Switzerland, surrounded by his close relatives, his longtime legal advisor Patrick Jeanneret said.

"As he was affected by multiple medical conditions making his life difficult, he requested the suicide assistance which is allowed under Swiss law," Jeanneret said in a statement to The Times. "He died in total dignity as he wished. There will be no official ceremony."

The French news outlet Liberation quoted an unnamed family member as saying Godard "was not sick ... he was simply exhausted."

French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Godard as a "national treasure" who "invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art" with his pioneering works.

Forever content to forgo commercial success in exchange for artistic freedom, Godard was the most inventive and radical of the directors of the French New Wave, which upended European cinema in the 1950s and 60s by reflecting their personal visions and challenging traditional filmmaking conventions.

Like fellow New Wave directors Francois Truffaut, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette and Claude Chabrol, the movie-obsessed Godard came to filmmaking after being a critic. He was among the earliest contributors to the influential French film magazine Cahiers du Cinema, the birthplace of the auteur theory, which asserts that the director can be the author of a film, in the same way a writer is the author of a novel.

Godard was one of the inventors of the auteur theory and perhaps the most rigorous of the New Wave filmmakers in putting that idea into practice, film critic David Sterritt told The Times in 2006.

Every one of his films and videos is intensely personal to him and represents his own utterly unique views of the world and the people in it, Sterritt said.

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Godard had already directed several short films when, at 29, he captured international attention in 1960 with his first feature film, Breathless, a boldly innovative homage to American gangster B-movies.

Shot on location in Paris, the low-budget romantic crime-drama starred Jean-Paul Belmondo as an amoral young thug with a Humphrey Bogart fixation who is on the run after stealing a car and killing a cop. His love interest is an American girl, played by Jean Seberg, who winds up betraying him.

Breathless became famous for its rule-breaking use of hand-held cameras that circled the action, natural lighting, direct sound recording, jump-cut editing and sense of spontaneity  as well as for its unabashed references to Hollywood films.

Modern movies begin here, the late Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert wrote of Breathless in 2003. No debut film since Citizen Kane' in 1942 has been as influential.

During the 1960s alone, Godard directed nearly 30 shorts and features, including "Le Petit Soldat," A Woman Is a Woman, My Life to Live, "Les Carabiniers," "Band of Outsiders," A Married Woman, Alphaville, Masculin Feminin, "Pierrot le Fou," "2 or 3 Things I Know About Her" and Weekend, which famously features a tragicomic seven-minute tracking shot of a traffic jam created by a horrific crash.

By the late 60s, Godard had embarked on what Sterritt called his ultra-radical political phase as a filmmaker.

As Julia Lesage wrote in her 1979 bibliography, Jean-Luc Godard: A Guide to References and Resources: Godard seemed to be searching both for the best way to make a political film and the best way to integrate his metier, filmmaking, with militant Marxist-Leninist political activity.

By the late 1970s, Sterritt said, Godard had returned to filmmaking geared slightly more to a theatrical audience, although the films remained artistically radical.

The important thing about Godard is he broke all the rules, and he showed that everything could be cinematic if your conceptualization  your ideas  were bold enough, Marsha Kinder, a professor of critical studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, told The Times in 2006.

No matter how apocalyptic or bleak his vision might be, his films made me feel hopeful because his brilliance and inventiveness were so dazzling," Kinder said. "He just redefined what kind of pleasures cinema could give you.

But for audiences, Kinder acknowledged, the rule-breaking Godard could also be very exasperating.

Indeed, Godard was well known for challenging his audiences.

I don't really like telling a story, he once said. I prefer to use a kind of tapestry, a background on which I can embroider my own ideas.

And beginning with ideas, Godard said in a 1995 interview with The Times, doesn't help with the audience. But I still prefer a good audience. I'd rather feed 100% of 10 people. Hollywood would rather feed 1% of 1 million people. Commercially speaking, my way is not better.

Godard's films influenced countless filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese. While watching Godard's movies as a film student in the 60s, Scorsese said he was taken with the sense of freedom, of being able to do anything  there was a kind of joy that burst into me when I saw the movies.

Another well-known fan, director Quentin Tarantino, named his production company A Band Apart after the French title (Bande a Part) for Godard's 1964 film Band of Outsiders" and heeded one of Godard's maxims when he filmed "Pulp Fiction": A movie should have a beginning, a middle and an end, though not necessarily in that order.

The late director Bernardo Bertolucci put it simply: We all wanted to be Jean-Luc Godard.

There is no one like him in the whole history of cinema, said Kinder. He took his vengeance against Hollywood. He never stopped really attacking the dominance of Hollywood cinema, and he never stopped expanding the language and subversive possibilities of cinema.

This makes him, I think, one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of world cinema. He made everything possible.

One of four children, Godard was born in Paris on Dec. 3, 1930. His mother was the daughter of a wealthy Parisian banker, and his father was a Swiss physician who divided his work between Paris and Switzerland.

In 1933, Godard's family moved permanently to Switzerland after his father landed a position at a clinic near the village of Gland. Five years later, they moved to Nyon, Switzerland, where they lived during World War II.

After the war, the 15-year-old Godard moved to Paris to study at the prestigious Lycee Buffon, a school that focused on the physical and biological sciences. He returned to Switzerland to attend a college in Lausanne in 1948, but a year later he was back in Paris, where he registered at the Sorbonne for a certificate in anthropology.

By then, however, Godard was so taken with cinema that he paid scant attention to his studies.

He said he had been a casual filmgoer until he began attending a Left Bank film club run by critic Andre Bazin, where he met future New Wave directors Truffaut, Rohmer and Rivette. He and his friends also regularly frequented Cinematheque Francaise.

We systematically saw everything there was to see, he told Jean Collet, author of the 1970 book Jean-Luc Godard.

In 1950, Godard, Rohmer and Rivette co-founded the short-lived La Gazette du Cinema, which published their film criticism; it lasted only five issues. After Bazin co-founded Cahiers du Cinema in 1951, Godard started publishing essays there. He also began to learn filmmaking by acting in his friends' short films.

For several years, Godard was also a petty thief, who stole repeatedly to support himself and was frequently caught, according to Colin MacCabe's 2003 book, Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy.

French director Jean-Luc Godard at the Berlin Film Festival in 1966. (Edwin Reichert / Associated Press)

Godard, MacCabe wrote, claimed to have financed Rivette's first short film by stealing from an uncle. And in the early 50s, after working for a company constructing dams in the Swiss Alps, Godard spent three days in jail after stealing from the Swiss television service he was then working for in Zurich.

After Godard was released from jail, his father convinced him to go to a Swiss mental clinic that specialized in psychotherapy.

After several months in the clinic, Godard returned to the construction company in the Alps, where he shot his first film, a 20-minute documentary on the construction of the dam, Operation Beton. He then directed a 10-minute comedy short in Geneva before moving back to Paris.

In 1961, Godard married Anna Karina, who starred in "A Woman Is a Woman," "My Life to Live," Band of Outsiders and other Godard films during the 60s. His marriage to Karina ended in divorce  as did his marriage to Anne Wiazemsky, who starred in several of his films, including 1967's La Chinoise. Godard later began a longtime relationship with his collaborator, Anne-Marie Mieville. The two moved to Switzerland in the 70s.

In recent decades, Godard worked in both film and video. And, Sterritt said, what some consider his magnum opus, the crowning achievement of his career, is Godard's Histoire(s) du Cinema, a multisegment video work launched in 1989. His later films included "Goodbye to Language," a fragmented film in 3D about a young couple who communicate through their pet dog. His final feature, the 85-minute nonfiction The Image Book, premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where Godard was awarded the fest's first Special Palme dOr. In his review of the film, Times critic Justin Chang called it "a swirling, dazzling, maddening frenzy of disconnected sights and sounds."

Late in life, Godard seemed pleased but baffled that critics were still examining his work. He conceded, however, that the audience for his films had grown small.

I never understand why I'm remembered, he once told The Times. I always wonder why I'm still known because nobody sees my movies now. Well, almost nobody.

McLellan is a former Times staff writer. Staff writers Christi Carras and Jen Yamato contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Jean-Luc Godard, the defiantly iconoclastic and stylistically adventurous filmmaking giant who rose to prominence as part of the French New Wave movement in the 1960s, has died.

He was 91.

Godard's death was confirmed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who praised the director for having "invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art."

We are losing a national treasure, a look of genius, Macron wrote on Twitter.

Godard upended filmmaking conventions at every turn. He delighted, provoked, and sometimes puzzled audiences with art-house classics like "Breathless" (1960), "Band of Outsiders" (1964) and "Alphaville" (1965).

He experimented with handheld camera work, jarring "jump cuts" and other radical techniques that freely mixed fiction and documentary styles, inspiring legions of filmmakers around the world to boldly defy artistic traditions.

"A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end," Godard once said, "but not necessarily in that order."

Godard, along with peers such as Francois Truffaut and Eric Rohmer, pioneered a movement known as the French New Wave (or La Nouvelle Vague), an explosion of innovative, narratively loose-limbed and wittily self-reflexive movies.

Jean Seberg And Jean-Luc Godard (Keystone-France / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

"Breathless," Godard's first feature-length film, embodied the verve of the French New Wave: jazzy, rough-edged, fearless. Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg starred, but Godard was practically an invisible third character, leaving his imprint on every frame.

He started out as a critic at the 1950s. In daring, highly influential work for the journal Cahiers du Cinema, Godard dismissed the staid traditions of European art cinema and advocated instead for American directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks.

Godard was known for his leftist politics, and his views  informed in part by his study of Marxism and existentialism  shaped many of his early films and occasionally made him a magnet for controversy.

In recent years, Godard continued to work steadily, exploring the new possibilities of digital technology in artistically rigorous and elusive works like "Film Socialisme" (2010), "Goodbye to Language" (2014) and "The Image Book" (2018).

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"Godard is a director of the very first rank; no other director in the 1960s has had more influence on the development of the feature-length film," the late critic Roger Ebert wrote in 1969. "Like Joyce in fiction or Beckett in theater, he is a pioneer whose present work is not acceptable to present audiences."

"But his influence on other directors is gradually creating and educating an audience that will, perhaps in the next generation, be able to look back at his films and see that this is where their cinema began," Ebert added.

Jean-Luc Godard was born on Dec. 3, 1930, to an affluent French-Swiss family in Paris; his father was a doctor who ran a clinic on the Swiss side of Lake Geneva. In time, Godard rebuffed the bourgeois comforts of his upbringing, lurching towards views that rejected the status quo.

He studied for a degree in ethnology, participated in countless conversations at Parisian student cafes and soaked up the countercultural scene that emerged after World War II. The young artist's cerebral interests would eventually lead him to art cinema.

In infectiously enthusiastic writing for Cahiers du Cinema, Godard and his New Wave peers made what was then an unorthodox argument: Hitchcock, Hawks and other American studio filmmakers were artistic giants on par with the European masters.

The young critic  like many of his fellow writers for Cahiers  soon turned to making his own films.

Godard's reverence for U.S. commercial cinema was plain to see in "Breathless," where a freewheeling sensibility drawn from European neorealism mixed with the iconography of midcentury America: guns, fedoras, cigarettes and tabloid newspapers.

He was prolific, making at least a film a year in the '60s, including art-house essentials like "A Woman Is a Woman" (1961), "Contempt" (1963), "Pierrot le Fou" (1965), "Masculin Feminin" (1966) and "Week-end" (1967).

He entered a confrontational and politically militant period in the '70s before returning to what some critics considered a more conventional style in the '80s.

Godard's films are considered key influences on liberated, rule-breaking directors such as Martin Scorsese, Bernardo Bertolucci, Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino, as well as many experimental talents working outside the Hollywood system.

He was married twice, to Anna Karina and then Anne Wiazemsky, both actors who starred in many of his films.

The seven and a half films that [Karina] made with Jean-Luc Godard constitute, arguably, the most influential body of work in the history of cinema, Filmmaker magazine wrote in 2016.

He later began a romantic relationship with Swiss filmmaker Anne-Marie Mieville, who was with him at the time of his death.

In the course of his career, Godard received accolades such as the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion in 1983 and an honorary Academy Award in 2010. The Oscar was inscribed: "For passion. For confrontation. For a new kind of cinema."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Jean-Luc Godard

Jean-Luc Godard, who transformed cinema with his radical film-making style, has died at the age of 91. Here is a look back at some of his most seminal works.

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"Modern movies begin here," wrote film critic Roger Ebert of Godard's debut feature Breathless (A bout de souffle, 1960). "No debut film since Citizen Kane in 1942 has been as influential."

A tribute to American crime drama, it threw out the conventions of French cinema and embraced an unpolished, experimental style that employed handheld cameras, fast edits and dialogue that was often made up on the spot.

The plot wasn't anything new - telling the story of a gangster who shoots a policeman, and the girlfriend who ultimately betrays him - but the attitude and pacing were a breath of fresh air.

It made stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, while its amoral, disaffected characters influenced the likes of Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Quentin Tarantino.

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Godard followed Breathless with The Little Soldier (Le Petit Soldat, 1961), a thriller that tackled the use of torture by both sides in the Algerian War.

Banned for two-and-a-half years by French censors, it was the director's first overtly political statement, leading him to coin the phrase: "Cinema is truth at 24 frames a second."

It was also the first film in which Godard directed his muse and future wife Anna Karina.

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Movie poster for Vivre Sa Vie

Karina also starred in It's My Life (Vivre sa vie, 1962) as a young Parisian, Nana, who aspires to be an actress but ends up a prostitute.

The story unfolds over 12 chapters detailing small but crucial events in Nana's life, with the camera often lingering on Karina's face in close-up.

Godard said the film was his attempt "to film a mind in action, the interior of someone seen from outside". It became one of his biggest critical and commercial successes.

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Karina appeared again in 1964's Band of Outsiders (Bande a part), a radical reinvention of the gangster film, in which two restless young men (Sami Frey and Claude Brasseur) encourage a woman they're obsessed with to help them commit a robbery... in her own home.

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The film includes two iconic sequences - a race against time through the Louvre art gallery, and a stylised line dance in a Parisian cafe, which was referenced in Pulp Fiction's infamous Uma Thurman/John Travolta routine.

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Still image from Contempt

Godard's 1963 film Contempt (Le Mepris) was his only venture into orthodox, big-budget film-making, starring France's most famous actress, Brigitte Bardot.

Adapted from Alberto Moravia's 1954 novel, it follows a failed playwright (Michel Piccoli) who is hired by a corrupt US film producer (Jack Palance) to write a screen adaptation of The Odyssey.

The writer is pressured to make the script more commercial, against the vision of director Fritz Lang (playing himself) - and the compromises he's forced to make sour his relationship with his wife (Bardot).

Contempt is often taken as a commentary on the machinations of the film industry, and Godard certainly faced uncomfortable compromises while making it. The opening scene, in which Bardot appears in bed with her husband, was added at the insistence of producers, who were furious that Godard had not included any nudity in his film.

In return, he made the scene deliberately un-erotic, shooting Bardot through a series of coloured filters, while underscoring the fragility of her character's marriage.

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Jean-Luc Godard

Contempt may have been Godard's most expensive film at the time - but he was not averse to dressing the set and moving props by himself.

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Jean-Luc Godard (right) shooting Pierrot le Fou (Pierrot Goes Wild) starring Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo on the Porquerolles Island.

He also helped bury Karina and Belmondo on a beach at Porquerolles Island while shooting 1965's Pierrot Le Fou.

Another thriller, it tells the story of an unhappily married man who flees Paris with his ex-girlfriend Marianne, who is in turn being pursued by hit-men from Algeria.

Godard's 10th film in six years, it was also his last crowd-pleaser of the 1960s, as he started to move ever further towards more radical cinema.

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Alphaville

Also released in 1965 was the sci-fi film noir Alphaville, starring Eddie Constantine as a secret agent (codename 003) in a dystopian city where love and self-expression are outlawed.

He's on a mission to eliminate the mastermind of Alphaville, Professor von Braun, and destroy the dictatorial super-computer, Alpha 60, that controls its citizens.

Although the film was set in the distant future on another planet, Godard eschewed special effects and elaborate sets, simply shooting the darker corners of Paris as a substitute for the streets of Alphaville.

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Poster for Week-end

Week-End, released in 1967, was a hard-hitting denunciation of modern French society, a road movie about the end of civilisation, and a message that Godard was finished making commercial films.

Styled as a black comedy, it follows a bourgeois couple who set out to collect an inheritance from a dying relative, while the country crashes and burns around them.

It features one of the most famous sequences in cinematic history - an eight-minute tracking shot of a traffic jam where the camera travels almost three-quarters of a mile, suggesting that society has become trapped by its possessions.

The film closes with two title cards: "End of story", followed by "End of cinema", highlighting Godard's disillusionment with the cosy predictability of the mainstream. The following year, he helped to shut down the Cannes Film Festival in sympathy with the Paris student riots.

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Mick Jagger

In 1968, Godard travelled to the UK intending to make a film about abortion. When that project fell through, he told producers he would only stay in London if he could work with the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.

Having failed to interest John Lennon in playing Leon Trotsky, he set up cameras in London's Olympic Studios to film the Stones recording what would become their classic album Beggar's Banquet.

There, he captured the goosebump-raising moment when they wrote Sympathy For The Devil. But the resulting film, One Plus One, was less a documentary about music and more a treatise on revolution, creation and destruction.

Footage from the studio was intercut with scenes of Godard's second wife Anne Wiazemsky spray-painting words like "Freudemocracy" and "Cinemarxism" onto cars; while another sequence featured children slapping the faces of white revolutionaries in a pornographic book shop.

Godard's original cut didn't include the full performance of Sympathy For The Devil. When it was inserted against his will, he was so incensed that he punched the producer at a screening in London's National Film Theatre.

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Jean-Luc Godard and

In the 1970s, Godard teamed up with film-maker Jean-Pierre Gorin to create a collective they named the Dziga Vertov Group, after a pioneering Soviet documentary maker who they admired.

The films produced in this period - including The Wind From the East, Struggle in Italy and Vladimir and Rosa - were overtly Marxist in tone and struggled to find an audience.

After a period in the wilderness, the director began making successful narrative feature films again in 1979 with Every Man For Himself (Sauve qui peut (la vie)), which he called his "second first film".

The unwieldy plot centres on three adult characters and their problems with work and love - with Jacques Dutronc playing a character called Godard, who is an embittered, washed-up and sexist TV director.

Premiered at Cannes in 1980 (pictured above), the film was described as "stunning," "beautiful," and "brilliant" by the New York Times.

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Still from Je vous salue, Marie

Godard's most notable work in the 1980s was his "trilogy of the sublime", which consisted of three films that explored femininity, nature and religion: Passion, First Name: Carmen and Hail Mary.

The latter starred Myriem Roussel (pictured above) in a modern retelling of the birth of Christ, in which the daughter of a petrol station owner is visited by an angel who tells her she will give birth to the son of God.

The religious themes and scenes of full-frontal nudity upset many Christians, who protested outside screenings.

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Jean-Luc Godard receives a pie to the face

When Godard screened Hail Mary at Cannes in 1985, he was assaulted by Belgian anarchist Noel Godin, who threw a shaving cream pie in his face.

Godard responded: "This is what happens when silent movies meet talking pictures."

With protestors picketing screenings of the film in France, it was only a moderate success. The movie was also banned in Brazil and Argentina.

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Jean-Luc Godard

The director made few films in the 1990s, concentrating instead on his eight-part essay Histoire(s) du Cinema - which first started to take shape in the late 1970s.

Described variously as "an epic poem", a "watershed composition" and "a sort of intellectual striptease", it is intensely personal, doggedly intellectual and staggering in its scope.

"Jean-Luc Godard took 30 years to compose his Histoire(s). It might take just as long to absorb it," wrote the critic Dave Kehr.

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Still from Film Socialisme

Godard returned to film in the 2000s, with meditations on war (Our Music, 2004) and the depiction of love on the big screen (In Praise Of Love, 2001).

2010's Film Socialisme (pictured above) was billed as his final feature, presenting many of his old arguments about the nation state, justice and history in a familiarly fragmented story.

"This film is an affront," wrote an infuriated Roger Ebert. "It is incoherent, maddening, deliberately opaque and heedless of the ways in which people watch movies."

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Goodbye To Language

2014's Goodbye To Language fared better, being named the second best film of the year by the influential Sight & Sound magazine.

Godard's first (and only) venture into 3D, its fragmented narrative tells the story of two lovers (and their dog, played by Godard's own pet, Roxy) and their increasing inability to communicate.

As their attempts falter, so to do the subtitles, the soundtrack and even the 3D image, which separates painfully to illustrate the character's disconnection.

The film was awarded the prestigious jury Prize at Cannes.

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Jean-Luc Godard and Clint Eastwood

Godard was the recipient of numerous other awards, including an honorary Oscar in 2011, for which the inscription read: "For passion. For confrontation. For a new kind of cinema."

His final film, 2018's The Image Book, was given a one-off Palme d'Or, while he also owned a Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival and a Golden Bear from Berlin.

In his home country, he was awarded an Honorary Cesar trophy twice, in 1987 and 1988 - with the latter presented by Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood.

But he turned down the French National Order of Merit, reasoning: "I don't like taking orders and I don't have any merits".

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Jenna Bush Hager has shared that she was with King Charles III hours before Queen Elizabeth IIs death, and claimed that she was told to be quiet when a call came in about the 96-year-old monarch being ill.

During Mondays episode of Today, the 40-year-old television host discussed how she arrived in Scotland on 7 September to interview the now Queen Consort, Camilla, about her book club, The Duchess of Cornwalls Reading Room.

Bush Hager also noted that since the royals flight was delayed the night before the interview, they didnt get to have dinner together. However, she said that she did get to have dinner with Charles instead.

It was a lovely meal, the book author recalled to co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Craig Melvin. He first said, My darling wife was so sad [not to make it]. And I just love [that].

After explaining how she and Charles had a wonderful evening filled with conversation, she detailed how the Queens death was sort of a surprise, as they had continued planning for Camillas interview.

The next morning, we were setting up the interview. We were at their house, its called the Dumfries House  they actually bought it, redid it and then gave it to the people of Scotland, she explained.

However, Bush Hager went on to share that the interview didnt go as planned since Charles team received a call about the Queens health and asked everyone to remain quiet for it.

The interview was supposed to start around 2 or 2:30, she said. I was supposed to meet with the now-queen consort around 1:30. At 12:30, we heard sort of running up and down the halls. [The royals team] came in and said, Can you please be quiet. Theres a call.

We were right by then-Prince Charles, now King Charles IIIs, office, she continued. They said, Hes on a call, can you please be quiet. Then, all of a sudden, we heard a helicopter, which they dont take lightly.

Bush Hager said that she was informed that the queen is ill and that Charles and Camilla had gone and rushed off to be with her, which ultimately postponed the interview. In response to the news, Bush Hager and her crew told the royals team that their hearts are with them.

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Although she said that she couldnt wait for another opportunity to talk books with Camilla, the journalist went on to send her condolences to the Royal Family and acknowledged how significant her trip to Scotland was.

This queen who has reigned for so many decades, whos also been the leader, the matrich of their family and held them together for many years, so our hearts are with them, she added. It was living history, it never gets old. Its kind of wild.

During an episode of Today last week, Bush Hager first recalled how Camilla was pulled out of their interview.

.@JennaBushHager is reporting live from Scotland on Queen Elizabeth II as she is under medical supervision. pic.twitter.com/FKkg39P8eQ  TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 8, 2022

We were just hours away from our interview when she and her husband took off to go see Her Majesty the Queen in Balmoral, she said, while standing outside of Charles and Camillas Dumfries house. They do not take these matters lightly. They have packed schedules full of many appointments.

So, we are thinking about them, we are thinking about this beloved Queen who is loved around the world, particularly here in Scotland, she added.

On 8 September, Buckingham Palace officially announced the Queens death, after spending 70 years on the throne. On Twitter at the time, the Royal Familys Twitter shared that she died peacefully at her Balmoral estate.

During a televised address on Friday, Charles announced that a Royal Mourning period for the Queen had begun and would be observed until seven days after her funeral, which is set for Monday 19 September. The date of her funeral will also be a national bank holiday in the UK.
Jennifer Coolidge wins her first Emmy. (Photo: Chris Haston/NBC via Getty Images)

Jennifer Coolidge wins her first Emmy. (Photo: Chris Haston/NBC via Getty Images)

From Best in Show to best in her acting category.

Jennifer Coolidge won the Emmyfor Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for her role as Tanya McQuoid in White Lotus Monday  marking the most prestigious award the 61-year-old comedic actor has received in her nearly 20-year career.

Coolidges acceptance speech was as offbeat as many of her performances. She made jokes about taking a lavender bath that made her bloat  and seemed to do a whole lot of cursing. But the moment that made her acceptance speech truly great was when music began to play, signaling that it was time for her to wrap up and get off the stage  and she instead opted to rebel.

Wait, hold on, one thing! Wait, hold on! Wait hold on. OK, she said before beginning to dance to the exit music.

Jennifer Coolidge deciding to dance when the #Emmys attempted to play her off is a truly perfect moment pic.twitter.com/bBkOykRMZA  Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) September 13, 2022

Coolidge  a graduate of Los Angeles famed improv troupe The Groundlings  began her professional career as Jerry Seinfelds massage therapist in a 1993 episode Seinfeld. From there she got parts in 1999s Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and1998s A Night at the Roxbury, the latter of which co-starred her fellow Groundlings alum Will Ferrel.

Coolidges breakout role came in 1999 when she played Stifflers mom in the American Pie franchise  a part that launched the term MILF into the zeitgeist and that Coolidge recently joked helped her sleep with like 200 people.

But at the time, sleep was probably not an option for Coolidge as her career quickly took off  snagging beloved roles like Paulette in 2001s Legally Blonde and becoming a regular actor in Christopher Guests mockumentary films like 2000s Best in Show 2003s A Mighty Wind and 2006s For Your Consideration.

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Yet, her once-promising career began to waver in the 2010s when she started to get regulated to mostly humorous guest starring roles as the token quirky character in larger projects. At the time, she also seemed to grow weary of Hollywood and expressed resentment towards the idea that female actors had to be thin to book interesting roles.

I probably screwed myself out of a lot of great roles, Coolidge told the Miami New Times in 2011. I just dont take any of it very seriously. Like, Id be on set with girls who werent eating, and Id be like Oh, too bad youre not eating. It never occurred to me to join them.

I want the parts, but I dont want to work that hard for them. Starving yourself just seems like too much of a commitment, she added.

Coolidge told Jimmy Fallon on the The Tonight Show in January that her career in the mid-2010s had entered a self-described dead zone.

That was until pop star Ariana Grande said she was a fan of Coolidge and did an impression of her on the The Tonight Show in 2018  and a friend of Coolidge encouraged her to reach out to Grande.

Coolidge did, and the move completely revived her career.

And then the next thing you know, I was like going to her house getting a wardrobe fitting for thank u, next, Coolidge told Fallon in January.

Then, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Coolidges friend Mike White offered her the role of Tanya McQuoid in White Lotus  a part he had written with Coolidge in mind.

Coolidge told Fallon in January that she initially didnt want to take the role due to insecurities about her body, joking that during the pandemic she was eating maybe six pizzas a day.

I tried to figure out ways to get out of it, she admitted.

White texted Coolidge asking if she was afraid to take the role  and thanks to a friends encouragement  she took the gig.

Coolidges Tanya  a needy and self-involved woman who travels to Hawaii to spread her mothers ashes  quickly became a fan-favorite in White Lotus.

The role earned her a 2022 Critics Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series in March, and an Emmy on Monday.

Heres hoping all of Coolidges long-time fans are doing the bend-and-snap in her honor.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
President Joe Biden on Monday warned the remaining two years of his presidency will be tough if the Republican Party wins control of Congress in Novembers midterm elections.

Speaking at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Boston, Biden said that unless Democrats maintain control of the House and Senate, it will be near impossible to pass any legislation.

If we lose the House or lose the Senate, its going to be a really difficult two years, Biden said, according to The Associated Press. Ill be spending more time with the veto pen than getting anything done.

Biden also said most voters do not support former President Donald Trumps extremist make America great again ideology, which he has denounced as akin to semi-fascism.

Polling shows Republicans are expected to win the House, but project a slight edge for Democrats in the Senate, according to poll aggregation site FiveThirtyEight.

Democrats currently hold an eight-seat majority in the House. The evenly divided Senate is led by Democrats, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting tie-breaking votes several times.

Congressional Republicans have already set out some of their priorities if they return to power.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has vowed to investigate the Justice Department, issuing a direct warning to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Twitter following the FBI search of Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate: Preserve your documents and clear your calendar.

Attorney General Garland: preserve your documents and clear your calendar. pic.twitter.com/dStAjnwbAT  Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) August 9, 2022

McCarthy also has pledged to probe Dr. Anthony Fauci, Bidens chief medical adviser, accusing him of being responsible for closing schools and businesses during the height of COVID.

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Meanwhile, Biden continued his outspoken tone and listed the stakes in November, including the right to vote, the right to privacy and the fight against climate change.

I dont think thats hyperbole, Biden said. Its about democracy itself.

Biden added he wants to enshrine abortion rights in the Constitution, warning that if Republicans win a congressional majority they will seek to codify the Supreme Courts decision overturning Roe v. Wade. He warned that other rights also could be in jeopardy.

Mark my words  youre gonna see moves on other privacy issues from contraceptions to married a whole range of things, he said.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring abortion opinion in June that justices should reconsider other cases that rest on the right to privacy  specifically those protecting contraception access and same-sex relationships.

Still, the president expressed optimism about the future of the country.

I genuinely am more optimistic about the prospects for America, not because Im president, because of the nature of where we are as a country, Biden said.

He continued: This generation coming up, is the single most engaged generation.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
Jokes made on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver about Queen Elizabeth II in the wake of her death were censored from the U.K. broadcast.

Jabs made by Oliver on Sunday's broadcast of the American satirical news show were cut from the U.K airing on Comcast-owned network Sky. The U.K. is in what will be a weeks-long national mourning period after the 96-year-old queen's death on Thursday at the age of 96.

John Oliver, collecting his Emmy on Monday night, saw his mentions of Queen Elizabeth on Sunday's Last Week Tonight scrubbed from U.K. airings. (Photo: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

"Obviously, we need to start with the U.K., which is clearly still reeling from the shocking death of a 96-year-old woman from natural causes," the British-born host said on the show. "It is a big moment [of] the week, and for some reason, absolutely everyone felt they had to weigh in on."

Oliver  whose show won its seventh Emmy in the Outstanding Variety Talk Series category on Monday night  mocked tributes from brands including U.K.'s Dominos Pizza and Crazy Frog, a Swedish CGI-animated character, saying they should have sat it out. He said the pizza company's condolence tweet "I guess is nice," although, "if the world is mourning, they should maybe tell the U.S. Dominos account, whose most recent tweet as of this taping is if ur reading this it means u need pizza like to confirm.' Get your f***ing house in order Dominos! A lady is dead!"

Oliver also took a swing at the appointment of the conservative Liz Truss as the U.K.'s new prime minister.

"The queen's death is sadly not the only traumatic event that Britain has had to deal with this week. Because on Tuesday, Liz Truss  basically Margaret Thatcher if she were high on glue  became its new Prime Minister," he said.

According to Variety, on Skys streaming platform Now, Oliver's remarks about the brand tweets are missing and then it cut immediately to his joke about Truss. The same edited version was broadcast on Sky Comedy on Monday, leading viewers to call out Sky on social media.

"We're not children," one person tweeted at Sky. "Please do not censor Last Week Tonight With John Oliver again because he says a few edgy things about the royal family." Another said the "coverage and forced mourning" is "out of hand."

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Were not children, @SkyUK, please do not censor Last Week Tonight With John Oliver again just because he says a few edgy things about the royal family.  Andy #GTTO (@andrewdsweeney) September 12, 2022

Don't censor my @LastWeekTonight. I am British, I am a monarchist and I CAN TAKE A JOKE!!! @SkyUK If @iamjohnoliver wants to have an intelligent, jovial, factual opinion about our queen I wanna hear it. FFS! The coverage and forced mourning here is getting real out of hand.   Lindsay Sargeant (@SargeantLc) September 13, 2022

@LastWeekTonight .@iamjohnoliver.

Sky cut out your joke about the queen last night. Cowards. Any chance you can put it up on here? They teased us with her picture and and truly amateurish cut.  Patrick Barker (@Patbarker) September 13, 2022

Reps for Sky and Last Week Tonight haven't yet responded to request for comment.

The queen's death triggered a mourning period in the U.K. that royals requested be extended from the typical 12 days to 18  or one week after the monarch's Sept. 19 funeral. There's been round-the-clock coverage of her death, including Charles's ascent to king and Prince Harry and Prince Williams's reunion, not just where she reigned but where she doesn't.

Howard Stern complained on Monday about the coverage, which has taken over the U.S. media.

"Its weird traditions and everything and Im like, 'Jesus, enough with the queen!" he said on Monday's Howard Stern Show. "I mean, it's America, we dont have a queen."

"The queen was a nice lady, I guess," he said, pointing to her 70 years of service. "I get it, but we gotta get back to [Donald] Trump, where those papers are that they found at Mar-a-Lago."

His co-host Robin Quivers asked if he didnt "like the distraction of the queen," to which he replied, "No, its annoying."
Summit Carbon Solutions proposed route for the carbon dioxide pipeline. The route is represented by the blue line, while the yellow stars indicate participating ethanol plants.

Several of the civil lawsuits involving landowners and Summit Carbon Solutions in the 5th Judicial Circuit have been combined.

This includes the civil cases filed in Brown, McPherson, Edmunds and Spink counties. While four of the lawsuits were filed by landowners against Summit Carbon Solutions, two are civil lawsuits filed by Summit Carbon Solutions against landowners in MicPherson and Edmunds counties.

Following a court hearing Monday in Aberdeen, the lawsuits were officially combined and a Nov. 1 court hearing date has been set.

More: Summit Carbon Solutions seeks ruling to prevent South Dakota landowners from stopping surveys

In June, a group of McPherson County landowners represented by Brian Jorde, an attorney with Domina Law Group in Omaha, Nebraska, filed a lawsuit against Summit. It alleges a state law allowing companies to survey private land without consent is in violation of both the South Dakota and U.S. constitutions.

Under the law, companies that have applied for a permit with the PUC can survey land without consent as long as a 30-day notice is provided to the landowner. That should be unconstitutional, the McPherson County landowners believe.

They also filed for a preliminary injunction, which would essentially stop Summit from surveying until the lawsuit is settled. Since that initial lawsuit, more civil suits were filed in several other counties, some of which are in the 5th Judicial Circuit.

Judge Richard Sommers, who is presiding over the cases in the 5th Circuit, confirmed the cases were consolidated because they were all in the 5th Judicial Circuit and that the November hearing date is to determine the injunction request.

Other civil lawsuits are pending in Beadle, Minnehaha, Lincoln and Lake counties.

But several other civil lawsuits were filed this month by Summit Carbon Solutions against landowners in 11 more counties that include Beadle, Lincoln, Spink, Brown, Clark, Codington, Hamlin, Hand, Hyde, Kingsbury, Miner, Edmunds and McPherson.

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Summit is seeking state permission to build a carbon sequestration pipeline across eastern South Dakota. It would allow carbon dioxide emissions from ethanol plants to be captured and stored permanently underground in western North Dakota.

More: For Glacial Lakes Energy, joining Summit Carbon Solutions' pipeline plan means staying competitiveI

In its lawsuits against landowners, Summit seeks a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief. It asks the court to declare that the company has a right to survey and inspect the land and for a court order that would prevent the landowners from denying that.

Declaratory judgment essentially asks the court to resolve any legal uncertainty, while injunctive relief sought is to prevent landowners from denying Summit access. The Iowa-based company is not seeking any money.

Summit applied for a permit from the PUC earlier this year. The pipeline would go through several South Dakota counties and five states. Carbon dioxide emissions from 32 ethanol plants, including seven in South Dakota, would be piped to North Dakota. That would allow the ethanol plants to sell their product in states with low carbon fuel standards.

The pipeline would be more than 2,000 miles and cost an estimated $4.5 billion.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Judge combines lawsuits involving Summit Carbon pipeline project
Sep. 13HENDERSON  Superior Court Judge Cindy Sturges has cleared the way for the first-degree murder trial of Marcus Tyrell Hargrove to resume, ruling him mentally capable of standing trial after she heard testimony from two psychologists.

Both psychologists  James Hilkey and Nancy Laney  testified on Monday that in their opinion Hargrove has the capacity to proceed.

They interviewed him in response to an Aug. 23 incident that interrupted jury selection. Hargrove refused to return to court after a recess, and as Sturges explained on Monday, because he faces a potential death penalty he has to be in the courtroom.

"In a capital case, there's no option to have a trial in the defendant's absence," Sturges said. "He has to be physically here, is my understanding. It's an unwaivable right."

The psychologists both testified that Hargrove doesn't handle stress well, a problem given that a murder trial of any sort and especially one where the death penalty is a possible outcome is inherently stressful.

Before the Aug. 23 incident, prosecutors, defense lawyers and Sturges had seated four of a required 16 jurors. Twelve people constitute a jury, and four serve as alternates.

Hargrove is accused of the 2017 homicide of 23-year-old Shaekeya Danielle Gay, who was shot to death outside the Dabney Drive Food Lion in Henderson. Gay had previously sought a domestic-violence protection order against him.

Assistant District Attorney Melissa Pelfrey said she and District Attorney Mike Waters anticipate "a very straightforward case" once testimony begins, without "any twists and turns."

Hilkey, a former chief of psychology services at the Butner federal prison, testified that Hargrove's primary ways of dealing with stress in his life are to withdraw, socially, or to "engage in substance abuse."

He and Laney, an evaluator at the state's Butner-based Central Regional Hospital, also indicated that they don't think Hargrove's issue is an attempt to manipulate the proceedings.

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Rather, "he doesn't like the bad things that will be said about him in court and he's concerned about his ability to control his behavior in court," Laney said.

He nonetheless understands what's going on, including that there's "a plea bargain on the table for life without parole," Laney said.

Given his need to be at the trial, there is medication that can help him cope, along with a number of other things that psychologists know can help like squeezing a stress ball. Another is taking frequent breaks, but both Sturges and Waters saw problems with that.

A typical trial will see judges order a break in the morning session and another in the afternoon, the sessions themselves sandwiched around an hour-and-a-half lunch sometime around mid-day.

The problem is anything beyond that might require Sturges to send the jury out of the courtroom, a process that's inherently cumbersome with 16 jurors.

Given the logistics, "five-minute breaks are not even realistic," and even 10 minutes is pushing it, Sturges said, adding that while jurors don't remain in a courtroom when lawyers take time out to confer on points of law, defendants like Hargrove have to stick around for those discussions.

Sturges also voiced worry that what, from the jury's perspective, might look like frequent unexplained breaks would actually wind up hurting Hargrove's cause. A frustrated jury can become one that tries to "rush to a verdict" instead carefully deliberating once it comes time to weigh the facts, she said.

Waters, meanwhile, said the case is already running "woefully behind" schedule, given that the jury should have been in place "weeks ago."

He added that it's affecting the schedule for the next case in line, a probable allusion to the re-trial this fall of Lester Kearney, who faces murder charges in connection with a violent Littleton-area home invasion that happened in 2018.

Contact Ray Gronberg at rgronberg@hendersondispatch.com or by phone at 252-436-2850.

Contact Ray Gronberg at rgronberg@hendersondispatch.com or by phone at 252-436-2850.
Alex Jones. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

Alex Jones is in court again to determine how much he should pay the families of Sandy Hook victims.

On the trial's first day, the judge sanctioned Jones for refusing to turn over discovery material.

Jones was ordered last month to pay $50 million to the parents of Jesse Lewis in a separate trial.

InfoWars host Alex Jones has been punished by a judge for not turning over documents to Sandy Hook families' lawyers  again.

The right-wing conspiracy theorist was sanctioned by a Connecticut judge on Tuesday at the opening of his defamation damages trial in the state for not turning over enough web data about his coverage of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.

Jones is on trial in Connecticut to determine how much he has to pay the families of several victims of the 2012 massacre over his repeated bogus claims that the mass shooting was a "hoax."

The families' lawyers wanted to draw a connection between the Google Analytics data and merchandise sales. Jones turned over data up through June 2019, but didn't reveal data from the last three years.

Judge Barbara Bellis called Jones' failure to fulfill his discovery obligations "stunningly cavalier" and sanctioned him. She also banned his lawyers from arguing that he didn't profit from his coverage of the Sandy Hook shooting.

"This stunningly cavalier attitude with respect to their discovery obligations is what led to the default in the first place," Bellis said in Connecticut Superior Court.

The judge added, "The defendants have consistently engaged in dilatory and obstructive discovery practices from the inception of these cases, right through to the trial."

Jones was nowhere to be seen at the courthouse in Waterbury, Connecticut, on Tuesday. The courtroom was packed with a mix of victims' family members and the media. About 20 family members entered together 15 minutes before the trial.

About an hour before the trial kicked off, a lone female protester held up a sign outside: "Alex Jones karma is a bitch," it read.

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Last month, a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, one of the 26 killed in the school massacre, after they sued him for defamation for falsely claiming the shooting was a hoax.

Bellis ruled in 2021 that Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, were liable for defaming 15 plaintiffs. The plaintiffs are suing Jones for defamation, alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The plaintiffs in the Connecticut trial were part of three separate lawsuits that have been consolidated and include relatives of several Sandy Hook shooting victims and one FBI agent.

The plaintiffs say they have been harassed in person and received death threats and abusive comments online from Jones's followers because of his claims that the shooting was a hoax, according to the Associated Press.

During his initial defamation trial in Texas, Jones admitted that the Sandy Hook shooting was 100% real and apologized for hurting the feeling of the victims' families, but he later reneged on his apology in an interview and said "I don't apologize anymore. I'm done."

Read the original article on Insider
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis listens as Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland speaks during a press conference early Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, after 19-year-old Ezekiel Dejuan Kelly is alleged by MPD to be responsible for several shootings in Memphis. The shootings on Wednesday ended with seven people shot, at least four of the seven dead.

The Memphis police chief brought few answers to the Memphis City Council Tuesday in the timely testing of rape kits the Memphis Police Department submits to outside agencies.

Questions over the matter gained a renewed attention after the Thursday's indictment in 2021 sexual assault and kidnapping case of 38-year-old Cleotha Henderson, the man police say abducted and killed Eliza Fletcher.

Fletcher, the mother of two and a teacher in Memphis, disappeared while on an early morning run Sept. 2. Police arrested Henderson, who spent two decades in state prison for kidnapping before being released in 2020, that weekend and found her remains the following Monday.

Fingers were pointed at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation over the weekend, with the TBI pointing them right back at MPD for not requesting the 2021 kit be rushed. TBI received the kit on Sept. 23, 2021, and it was not pulled for testing until late June this year.

Watch this: Memphis Police Department cruiser hits 73-year-old man in sedan

Memphis police: 4 dead, 3 injured in string of Wednesday shootings prompting city lockdown

In city hall Tuesday, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis fielded a brief flurry of questions from City Councilman Chase Carlisle, which brought the Shelby County District Attorney's office into the fray.

Davis said MPD is able to rush a rape kit comes when there is probable cause and DNA evidence would further strengthen a solid case. She also said a signature is required from the DA's office.

"For us to take DNA evidence, forensics evidence, and follow up on a victim who has alleged that a rape occurred  we treat that particular incident the same way we treat others," Davis told the city council Tuesday. "I think that the problem is that we are just one cog in the wheel. TBI takes in not just our rape kit evidence, they take in all of our forensic evidence. We are basically right in line with the rest of the state waiting to receive those results."

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TBI told the Commercial Appeal in an email statement Saturday that DNA testing at the Jackson Crime Lab, which receives most of the DNA requests from law enforcement agencies in West Tennessee, that the average return on those tests was between 33 and 49 weeks.

Shelby County submitted 316 kits in 2021 according to TBI, the largest amount of any county in the state. Knox County ranked second with 168 kits.

A TBI spokesperson told the Commercial Appeal there are four forensic scientists who work in the Jackson Crime Lab who are also responsible for responding to crime scenes and court hearings.

Memphis City Council Chairman Martavius Jones, echoing some public sentiment online, questioned the feasibility of a local crime lab for testing DNA evidence.

"I have provided pushback on the number of officers, but I wouldn't provide any pushback on this knowing that we send more [rape kits] to TBI than any other jurisdiction here," Jones said.

Davis said concept would be ideal, but said it to be "beyond the scope of what I can ask for." She also mentioned MPD does not send kits to TBI exclusively and will contract private labs for testing "volumes of forensic evidence."

After speaking with the council for over ninety minutes, Davis along with the accompanying MPD brass hurriedly left city hall, with one officer telling reporters Davis would not be taking questions from reporters.

Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: MPD 'just one cog in the wheel' for DNA testing, Davis says Tuesday
buff kangaroo

Getty

A kangaroo has killed a man in Australia after he tried to keep the animal as a pet.

The 77-year-old Western Australian man had life-threatening injuries when emergency medical workers were called to help on Sunday, WA Today reports.

When the ambulance arrived at the home, the kangaroo wouldn't let first responders reach him, according to the outlet.

Once on the scene, police fatally shot the kangaroo after it proved to be a threat to paramedics. However, it was too late to save the man.

"It is believed the man had been attacked by the kangaroo earlier in the day," a Western Australian Police Force spokesperson said according to the Australian Associated Press.

RELATED: Florida Man Has Hand Amputated After Alligator Attack  His Second Attack in 9 Years

Authorities believe the man had the kangaroo as a pet, police added.

The victim's incident will now be sent to the coroner's office to confirm his cause of death, AAP reports.

RELATED VIDEO: Woman Mauled by Bear in Montana Walks Miles to Safety With Skull Fracture

Officers also confirmed with WA Today that one of the victim's relatives is the individual who called the police and paramedics from St. John WA responded.

"The kangaroo was posing an ongoing threat to emergency responders and the attending officers were required to euthanize the kangaroo by firearm," the police spokesman told WA Today.

RELATED: Hiker Who Went to Find Water for His Girlfriend Found Dead Near California Trail

The Western Australia Police Force did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

Neighbors told Australia's ABC News that the elderly man lived by himself.

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.

It's been nearly 100 years since a kangaroo fatally attacked a human.

The last known attack in Australia was in New South Wales in 1936, ABC News reports.
(Bloomberg) -- Just three years after he renamed the capital city after outgoing leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has changed his mind.

Tokayev agreed to a proposal by a group of Kazakh lawmakers to return Nur-Sultan to its former name of Astana, presidential spokesman Ruslan Zhildibay wrote on Facebook Tuesday. The change would follow a series of constitutional reforms approved in a June referendum that stripped the long-time ruler of his special leader for life status.

One of Tokayevs first acts after he was made Nazarbayevs successor in 2019 was to change Astana to Nur-Sultan in an act of fealty to the man who ruled Kazakhstan for three decades. Astana, which means capital in Kazakh, is a planned city with a reputation for fanciful modern architecture that has been compared to the Dubai of central Asia.

Nazarbayev moved the capital there from Almaty in 1997 and used the resource wealth of the regions largest energy producer to hire foreign architects to build the city on the Kazakh steppe, where temperatures can range from -35 to +35 degrees Celsius (-31 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit).

Tokayev has moved to consolidate power since calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to send troops to help him crush violent protests in January that he called an attempted coup. The most serious challenge to the countrys leadership since independence in 1991 began as opposition to increases in fuel prices and spiraled into riots that killed at least 230 people and left hundreds injured after Tokayev ordered security forces to shoot protesters.

Following the unrest, Tokayev ousted Nazarbayev as head of the Kazakh security council, then sidelined key allies of the first president. In September, he announced snap presidential elections for this fall and said hell extend the term to seven years while limiting the head of state to a single period in office.

Other places named after Nazarbayev will not be changed, in honor of the former leaders historic role in the country, Zhildibay said. The capitals airport and a university carry his name.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Democratic leaders on Tuesday spoke out against a recently filed lawsuit that seeks to overturn gun laws passed in Connecticut following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, including a ban on assault weapons like the one used by the shooter.

On the cusp of the 10-year anniversary of the nations deadliest school shooting, in which 20 young children and six educators were killed, a new lawsuit claims that Connecticuts ban on assault weapons and large capacity magazines is unconstitutional.

The suit, filed Sept. 6 by the non-profit organization National Association for Gun Rights and a woman from New Milford, who owns the now-illegal weapons and ammunition, argues that the post-Sandy Hook ban violates the second amendment rights of Connecticut residents.

According to the non-profit, they recently filed at least five additional lawsuits in other states with similar laws.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont joined Attorney General William Tong, Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz, and others outside the Capitol in Hartford on Tuesday to defend the constitutionality of the ban and to remind people what prompted it.

Tong said he clearly remembers the day a hush fell over the State Capitol when parents who lost children in the Sandy Hook shooting first came to Hartford to beg for stricter gun laws.

They came here to plead with us, particularly members of the judiciary committee, to write the strictest gun laws in the nation, said Tong.

We heard their pleas and we passed the strictest gun laws in the nation, said Tong. And since then, in these past 10 years, we have kept people safe. Thats what this is about, its about them, its about families.

Tong said that being at the task of being at the forefront of gun safety legislation was thrust upon Connecticut in December of 2012.

This is not a fight we chose. Nobody wants to be here, but were here because of what happened 10 years ago, what still happens occasionally in our state, to other families and families across this country, he said.

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The Sandy Hook massacre forever changed Connecticut, he said.

Unfortunately this great tragedy, this suffering, this loss, is a part of who we are. We are joined in a community of loss that nobody else would want to be a part of. Its a part of who we are as a state and as a people.

Tong said he isnt concerned about the ban being overturned under a Lamont administration but would be concerned about the ban staying in place if Bob Stefanowski, Lamonts Republican challenger for governor, were to be elected.

We dont want to go back to a place where someone like Adam Lanza can get ahold of a firearm and murder 26 people, Tong said, referencing the Sandy Hook shooter.

Lamont shared a similar sentiment in a statement last week, saying Connecticuts law banning assault weapons is overwhelmingly supported by the people who live here.

Tong said he has been anticipating challenges to Connecticuts gun laws since June, when the Supreme Court overturned a New York gun-safety law in the case of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.

I said once they issued the Bruen decision that we would see a raft of litigation challenging Connecticuts gun laws and that they would come for us, said Tong. And so they have.

On June 23, the Supreme Court ruled that a New York requirement that residents prove proper cause or special needs for self-decent in order to obtain a license to carry a gun in public spaces was unconstitutional. The court overturned the New York law the same week they overturned Roe vs. Wade.

Tong and Lamont both pointed out that the new federal lawsuit was filed by an out-of-state organization.

This is not homegrown litigation, this is not people in Connecticut rising up to assert their rights, these are people from faraway places, said Tong.

These folks have manufactured a controversy, have manufactured a lawsuit to come and challenge Connecticuts gun laws.

Lamont said Connecticuts laws, like red flag laws that keep folks who demonstrate concerning behavior from purchasing firearms, may have stopped the recent elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas and saved lives. He hopes other states implement laws like Connecticut to prevent further tragedies.

We learned the hard way after Sandy Hook, I hope to God Texas learns after Uvalde, said Lamont.

Jeremy Stein, executive director of CT Against Gun Violence, said experts have found that Connecticut saw a reduction in gun violence when the assault weapon and high capacity magazine ban was in effect, and a spike in homicides when it was not.

We are literally talking about a bill that is saving lives, he said Tuesday, when he held up two framed photos: one of an automatic weapon and one of the children and teachers killed in Sandy Hook.

Stein said he was struck by language in the lawsuit that said Americans have a right to peacefully own these weapons of war.

The lawsuit takes issue with the term assault weapon, claiming the language is a rhetorically charged political term meant to stir the emotions of the public against those persons who choose to exercise their right to possess certain semi-automatic firearms. Those firearms, the lawsuit argues, are commonly owned by millions of law-abiding American citizens for lawful purposes.

Stein, in criticizing the claim to peaceful ownership of assault weapons, went through a list of some of the nations deadliest mass shootings and the weapons used in each of them, from Columbine to Uvalde.

Lets talk about how peaceful these weapons have been, he said, asking people to look at the two photos he held and make a choice. The plain and simple truth is that if the assault weapons ban is repealed more people will die here in Connecticut and around the country, he said.

This is about our safety, our lives and our children, said Stein.

Bysiewicz said that Connecticut residents know all too well the reason for the law.

In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook, said Bysiewicz, Democrats and Republicans came together to pass very strong, stringent gun safety laws in our state and we did it because we wanted to prevent future carnage.

Our gun laws since then have been held up as a model for other states across the country and even for our United States Congress, she said.

Tong said that he and Connecticuts other Democratic leaders have no intention of taking a step backward.

We are not going back. We are not going back to a time when weapons of war are on our streets, where assault weapons are available to anybody and where children like the children and the teachers and the families at Sandy Hook are put at risk, nobody here is going back, said Tong.

The federal lawsuit challenging Connecticuts laws was filed in United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. The suit is brought by both the NAGR and Patricia Brought against Lamont, Chief States Attorney Patrick J. Griffin and David R. Shannon, States Attorney in the Litchfield Judicial District.

According to the suit, NAGR seeks to defend the right of all law-abiding individuals to keep and bear arms, including members who reside in Connecticut who they say are affected by the ban.

The NAGR argues in its complaint that its members have the right to keep, possess, acquire and transfer lawful firearms for self-defense and other lawful purposes. The suit also argues that plaintiffs should not be forced to choose between risking criminal prosecution and exercising their constitutional rights.

Tong said he is confident that Connecticuts ban does not infringe upon any residents constitutional rights.

Let me say it clearly so everybody understands: Connecticuts gun laws are constitutional. Period.
By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Ken Starr, the prosecutor whose investigation led to the impeachment of former U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1998, has died at age 76, his family said in a statement on Tuesday.

Starr died on Tuesday in Houston from complications from surgery, his family said.

Starr came to national prominence as the special prosecutor who investigated the sex-and-perjury scandal that led to then-President Clinton's impeachment.

The investigation into Clinton's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky produced a book-length official document for Congress that became a bestseller when commercially sold as "The Starr Report."

Offering startling glimpses of sexual trysts intermingled with the densest legalese, the report found Clinton's attempt to cover up the affair offered grounds for impeachment.

"According to Ms. Lewinsky, she performed oral sex on the president on nine occasions. On all nine of those occasions, the president fondled and kissed her bare breasts," "The Starr Report" said. "She called him 'Handsome'; on occasion, he called her 'Sweetie,' 'Baby,' or sometimes 'Dear.'"

The scandal centered on Clinton's attempt to cover up his relationship with Lewinsky, and the impeachment charges stemmed from his false denial of the relationship in his 1998 grand jury testimony and in a deposition in a sexual harassment case filed against him by Paula Jones of Arkansas where Clinton had been governor.

On Dec. 19, 1998, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach Clinton - only the second president until then to face this charge of wrongdoing. A subsequent Senate trial failed to remove him from office.

Starr repeatedly said that no one, not even the U.S. president, was above the law.

Born July 21, 1946, in Vernon, Texas, Starr was a clerk to former Chief Justice Warren Burger in 1974 and 1975, and in 1981, he became counselor to William French Smith, then-President Ronald Reagan's first attorney general.

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In 1989, he became solicitor-general, the U.S. government's chief litigator.

In that job, he argued 25 cases, including controversial lawsuits on abortion rights and school prayer. Before he became special prosecutor, he was often mentioned as a Republican president's potential nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Eric Beech and Howard Goller)
OLENA ROSHCHINA  TUESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2022, 08:58

Russian forces spared the city of Kharkiv on the night of 1213 September, though as of this morning, Kharkiv residents report power outages and the city subway system has stopped operating.

Source: Oleh Syniehubov, Head of the Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram; Kharkiv Metro; Suspline Kharkiv; Derhachi City Council on Telegram

Details: Kharkiv Metro reports that it has suspended train traffic for technical reasons.

Kharkiv residents are reporting power outages across different parts of the city.

There is also no power in the city of Derhachi and several villages in the Derhachi hromada (an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories).

Oleh Syniehubov, Head of the Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, reports that the city of Kharkiv was not attacked overnight.

"However, the enemy fired on the city of Lozova around 03:00 in the morning, hitting an educational establishment and causing a fire. Information about casualties has yet to be confirmed," he wrote.

Over the course of the past 24 hours, Russian forces extensively shelled the city of Kharkiv and the Kharkiv, Chuhuiv and Kupiansk districts of Kharkiv Oblast.

The Centre for Emergency Medical Aid reports that one civilian was killed and six were injured in the city of Kharkiv on 12 September. Another civilian was injured in the Izium district. Two others sustained injuries in the Kharkiv district, one of them blew up on a mine in Ruski Tyshky. In addition, two civilians were killed in the Kupiansk district.

Quote from Syniehubov: "The occupiers war crimes are being documented on the liberated territories [of Kharkiv Oblast]; mines [planted by the Russian occupiers] continue to pose a serious threat. Our armed forces, police, and the State Emergency Service are taking measures to ensure [the liberated] territories can return to a peaceful life."

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King Charles III was caught complaining about a leaky pen at a signing ceremony in Northern Ireland.

"Oh god I hate this," Charles said, realizing he had ink on his fingers. "I can't bear this bloody thing!"

Camilla then proceeded to get a new pen when it became her turn to sign the same book.

King Charles III was caught on camera complaining about a leaking pen.

At Northern Ireland's Hillsborough Castle signing ceremony on Tuesday, a video from CBS News of Charles showed the newly crowned Monarch having difficulty with his pen.

After signing a book with the wrong date, Charles handed the pen he was using to Queen Consort Camilla.

"Oh god, I hate this," Charles said, looking down at inky fingers.

He got up from the table as Camilla realized the pen's faults.

"Oh look, it's going everywhere," she said.

An aide rushed to grab the pen from her hands as Charles and Camilla attempted to clean the ink off of themselves.

"I can't bear this bloody thing!" Charles vented. "What they do, every stinking time."

Camilla then signed the book  using a new pen  as Charles walked out of the room.

Read the original article on Insider
BELFAST (Reuters) - King Charles on Tuesday thanked Sinn Fein's leader in Northern Ireland for her "incredibly kind words" about his mother Queen Elizabeth, the latest sign of warmth between the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army and the crown.

Michelle O'Neill issued a statement following the Queen's death last week saying she was "grateful for Queen Elizabeth's significant contribution and determined efforts to advancing peace and reconciliation" and that she "led by example."

O'Neill has since said she was looking forward to working with Charles, and several other senior members of Sinn Fein have offered their sympathies.

The IRA, which ended its 30-year armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland after a 1998 peace deal, killed Charles' great uncle, Louis Mountbatten, in a 1979 bomb attack.

Charles was also ceremonial head of the British Army's Parachute Regiment, members of which killed 13 Roman Catholic civil rights marchers in the 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings.

But relations between Sinn Fein and the British royals were transformed by a 2012 handshake between Elizabeth and then Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander, in Belfast

During his first visit to Northern Ireland as King on Tuesday, Charles warmly shook O'Neill's hand and said "Thank you so much for the incredibly kind things you said about my mother."

"She played a great role here in terms of reconciliation... It's the end of an era for sure," O'Neill replied.

"It is," said the King. "What is it they say: you can never read your obituaries and all the nice things people say about you. Always very frustrating."

Charles also shook hands with senior Sinn Fein member Alex Maskey, the acting speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. In a speech, Maskey said the Queen had personally demonstrated how to break down barriers and encourage reconciliation.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries and Padraic Halpin, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) on Tuesday said former President Trump brought heaps of fear into the GOP as lawmakers worried disloyalty to their party leader could knock them out of favor.

For some reason, somewhere, it all became about power, and it all became about fear. And Donald Trump brought heaps of fear into the Republican Party, Kinzinger said on MSNBCs Morning Joe.

For like a year or two, people thought maybe we could take down Donald Trump. When he kept surviving, this fear came through of like, we have to do everything he wants, because he is invulnerable, and he very well may be invulnerable, but there are a lot of people that, with that fear, sold out their soul because they didnt want to be kicked out of the tribe.

The Illinois congressman, one of just two Republicans on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, said his party has gone crazy.

Kinzinger ran down the holier-than-thou folks in Congress who put their loyalty to Trump ahead of their partys practical values.

You know these people, the holier-than-thou folks that get elected to Congress that preach to you constantly about the Constitution, whats in it, what isnt in it, how this little nuance does abide by it or doesnt abide by it. We all believe in the Constitution, Kinzinger said.

Theyre the same people that have sold out their values because the  Donald Trump said to do so. Theyre the same people that now consider conservatism to be that fealty to Donald Trump.

Earlier this year, Kinzingers fellow Republican on the Jan. 6 committee Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said loyalty to Trump and loyalty to the Constitution were mutually exclusive and that the Republican party needs to choose one.

Kinzinger and Cheney have both come under fire from the former president and his supporters for breaking rank to criticize him.

Trump last year reveled in Kizingers announcement that he would not seek reelection in 2022.

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Cheney recently lost her reelection bid to Trump-backed Harriet Hageman in Wyomings GOP primary, and said in her concession speech that she could easily have won her House seat again, but that she would have had to enable [Trumps] ongoing efforts to unravel our Democratic system.

Kinzinger on MSNBC Tuesday appealed to his Democratic friends, saying he understands frustration and disappointment with conservatives and moderates, but that threats to democracy require a cooperative, collaborative approach in Congress.

We have all got to come together because, if you truly believe democracy is in threat  if you truly believe that  then we need uncomfortable alliances, he added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said early Tuesday that he sees momentum among Ukrainian forces as they regain territory seized by Russia.

Clearly, up in that northeast region, theres some momentum here by the Ukrainians, no doubt about it, he told ABCs George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America.

Kirby said the Ukrainian advance has been swift and stunning, but there is much territory for Ukraine to reclaim, particularly in the southern part of the country, where Kyivs forces are facing stronger Russian resistance near the city of Kherson.

Ukraine has embarked on a counteroffensive to push back Russian troops from territory that Russia has captured during the war, which started six months ago. Ukrainian troops have been putting increased pressure on Russian soldiers retreating from areas in the northeastern part of the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that the country has retaken more than 2,000 square miles in just the past couple weeks.

Kirby told Stephanopoulos that Ukraine has planned the counteroffensive carefully and has done well managing its logistics and sustainment in getting supplies to its troops throughout the war. He said the war does not seem to be at the point of reaching a diplomatic settlement yet, noting that Zelensky will decide on when he is ready to sit down to negotiate.

Theres still a lot of fighting going on, not just in the north but elsewhere in the country, and Mr. Putin has shown no inclination to stop the prosecution of this war against the Ukrainian people, Kirby said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
MOSCOW (AP)  The Kremlin on Tuesday hailed the significance of Russian President Vladimir Putin's planned meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week, noting that it's particularly important amid tensions with the West.

Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said the two leaders are scheduled to meet Thursday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of a summit of a security pact dominated by Moscow and Beijing.

The meeting has a special significance in view of the current international situation, Ushakov told reporters, saying Putin and Xi will discuss the international situation, along with regional issues and bilateral cooperation.

China has pointedly refused to criticize Russias action in Ukraine and denounced Western sanctions against Moscow. Russia, in turn, has strongly backed China amid tensions with the U.S. that followed a recent visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

China has taken a well-balanced approach to the Ukrainian crisis, clearly expressing its understanding of the reasons that prompted Russia to launch the special military operation, Ushakov said. The issue will be thoroughly discussed during the meeting.

The talks between Putin and Xi follow their meeting in February, when the Russian leader attended the opening of the Beijing Olympics shortly before sending troops into Ukraine.

Ushakov noted that the discussion of issues related to trade and economic cooperation is particularly important," adding that "in the difficult conditions amid unlawful Western sanctions this cooperation has remained stable and continued gaining tempo.

Alexander Gabuev, an expert on Russia-China ties, said the main characteristic of current Russian-Chinese relations is "their asymmetry in favor of China. Beijing, he said, has more options and more bargaining power than Russia.

Gabuev argued that the conflict in Ukraine greatly weakens Russias negotiating position, making it impossible to do anything without partnership with China.

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As the West is moving to establish a price cap on Russian energy resources and potentially cut their imports altogether, Russia will grow increasingly reliant on China for selling its oil and gas and will be forced to cooperate on Beijings conditions.

Of course, China would want to take advantage of this opportunity, Gabuev said.

He added that China will serve as the main source of key technologies for Moscow, after Western allies have cut such exports to Russia.

On Friday, Putin and Xi will attend the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security grouping dominated by Russia and China that also includes India, Pakistan and ex-Soviet Central Asian nations. Iran and some other countries are on track to membership.

Putin and Xi have developed strong personal ties to bolster a strategic partnership between the former Communist rivals as they both are now locked in rivalry with the U.S. Even though Moscow and Beijing in the past ruled out a military alliance, Putin has said that such a prospect cant be excluded.

In a show of military muscle amid the tensions with the West, Russia and China have held joint military drills in Russia and the Sea of Japan that also involved several other nations.
IRYNA BALACHUK  TUESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2022, 10:43

Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has stated that Ukraine does not reject negotiations with Russia, but is ready to agree to them only when it comes to the full restoration of territorial integrity.

Source: Kuleba in an interview with RBC-Ukraine

Quote from the Minister: "No one rejects the option of negotiations, every war ends with negotiations, but it is your position at the negotiating table that matters. Today, negotiations with Russia are being conducted on the battlefield, and this is the only type of negotiations that it really understands.

But we are ready to sit down at the table when it comes to the complete restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. And we are articulating this very clearly to all partners; they have also not ruled out the possibility of negotiations."

Details: According to Kuleba, international partners agree that there are currently no indicators that Russia is ready for such serious negotiations, or that the conditions for such negotiations are already in place.

The minister added that Ukraine is currently struggling to regain every square kilometre of its territory, and wants to regain control of the occupied areas.

At the same time, Kuleba suggested that "part of the territory of Ukraine will be liberated by military means, and part, perhaps, by diplomatic means".

He also noted that at the moment when Russia gives a "serious signal of readiness for negotiations", then both Ukraine and its partners will have to "very carefully analyse why this signal was sent".

Kuleba believes that Russia will show "serious interest in real negotiations at the moment when it realises and comes to terms with the fact that its position has weakened as much as possible, it cant even keep what it has captured, it will need to rapidly stabilise the situation".

He added that it would not even be about "saving face", but about preserving what they control at the time.

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Quote from Kuleba: "But then a logical question arises: if at this moment we are successfully on the offensive and we are liberating our territories, why do we need to agree on something with the aggressor?

Our ultimate goal is the liberation of our territories. We are not at war with them in order to sit down and somehow agree that they will stay here."

Background:

From the end of August, Ukrainian troops went on a counteroffensive in Kherson and then in Kharkiv oblasts. According to analysts' calculations, in the first days of September, the Armed Forces of Ukraine recaptured more territories than the Russians had captured since April.

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, fleeing from the Kharkiv region, left behind their military equipment, but the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation called this a planned regrouping of troops to increase efforts on the Donetsk front.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine stressed that it remains impossible to negotiate the end of the war with the Russian Federation because it has failed to formulate any adequate positions and is unlikely to keep its own promises, and Ukrainian society "does not want to talk with terrorists".

After the liberation of the settlements of Kharkiv Oblast by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Sergey Lavrov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, said that Moscow is not opposed to negotiations with Ukraine.

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, said that Russia still demands "total surrender of Ukraine on its own terms".

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As the shady ransomware gang Vice Society took credit for a hack that sent Los Angeles school officials scrambling last week, cybersecurity experts noticed something peculiar.

Vice Society, an intrusion, exfiltration and extortion group that experts believe is based in Russia, has become notorious for waging cyber warfare against K-12 schools, leveraging the theft of sensitive data to demand a ransom. Schools nationwide have shelled out millions of dollars to prevent hackers from publishing private records on dark-web outposts.

Vice Society, a ransomware gang, steals and publishes sensitive information on its dark-web leak site if its victims fail or decline to pay up. (Screenshot)

So whats a ransomware attack without a demand for money?

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We have not received a ransom demand, nor have we sought a direct communication with the entity, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said at a Friday news conference, nearly a week after the breach was detected.

On Tuesday, the L.A. school board unanimously approved an emergency declaration allowing Carvalho, who took the helm at the nations second-largest school district in February, to expedite contracts for cybersecurity for a year without competitive bidding.

Related: The Big Three: Trio of Heralded Reformers Take Top Posts at Nations Largest School Districts, to Great Expectations  and Headaches

The new superintendents statements are not consistent with Vice Societys extortion playbook, said Alex Holden, founder and chief information security officer of Milwaukee-based Hold Security, a computer security firm that warned the district in 2021 about a cyber vulnerability.

Holden said he fears a missing link between the district and the threat actors, who are definitely known to send out a ransom note because thats how they get paid. Vice Society has made clear that money is the primary motive for the cyber attack on L.A. schools, which the group says it carried out but has not provided evidence to substantiate its claims.

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Holden is not the only one trying to read between the lines.

One big question everybody has is, Did they pay, are they going to pay the extortion demand? said Doug Levin, national director of The K12 Security Information eXchange.

Levin and other cybersecurity experts have a few theories.

For one, it could be the case of carefully worded messaging. While Carvalho noted that the district has not sought a direct communication with the entity, the superintendents comments dont seem to rule out that someone on their behalf may be in touch with Vice Society, Levin said, adding that nothing in their response or in what Vice Society has said or done rules out paying extortion and much is consistent with it.

Related: 74 Interview: Cybersecurity Expert Levin on the Harms of Student Data Hacks

In previous attacks, districts have declined to recognize ransom demands unless they come through official channels, he added, and its possible that a pop-up on a computer screen is not a valid way of communication to a district and therefore it does not count as being received.

Its possible, Holden said, that a ransom note failed to reach an audience. When organizations learn theyve been compromised, they sometimes react by defending themselves overzealously and the ransom note winds up getting blocked, he said.

The organizations typically tend to lose these notes, block them or dont report them, he said. If someone reports a phishing attempt to IT, email administrators tend to purge the message and future communications. So they basically didnt block the phishing email, but potentially they blocked the ransomware note.

But there could be another explanation for the missing ransom  one of success. When district officials moved quickly to take their computer systems offline after detecting the breach, they could have effectively eliminated the threat before the demand was made.

If theres enough notoriety about it and they didnt get far enough to actually encrypt enough or exfiltrate enough data, Ive seen the threat actors abandon it, cyber crime expert James Turgal told The 74. When law enforcement gets involved, thats when those guys start getting really nervous.

In his press conference, Superintendent Carvalho never called out the hacking group by name but noted that federal law enforcement officials working on the criminal investigation have intimate knowledge of the bad actors.

While some cyber criminals steer clear of attacks on schools and hospitals, Vice Society  whose dark web leak site is styled after the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City  has no such code, Holden said.

These guys dont have this stop and thats extremely disturbing because this may indicate that they wont stop for anything, he said.

Reporters have received brief responses from an email address that federal law enforcement officials say is controlled by the cyber gang. In their replies, the group took credit for the attack and claimed to steal some 500GB of files from compromised district servers. In an email to The Associated Press, the group offered a simple explanation: We are not political organization, so everything is just for money and pleasure =).

The 74 contacted Vice Society to request information about its ransom demand and the records it stole. In a brief response, the group said it would provide all answers after they appear on our website, suggesting that the L.A. data would be leaked if negotiations fail.

Even without a ransom, recovering from the attack will likely cost the districts millions of dollars, experts said. As such attacks on schools have become more frequent, districts face steep cyber liability insurance premium hikes of as much as 300 percent. In 2021, a total of 67 ransomware attacks against U.S. schools and colleges cost an estimated $3.5 billion in downtime and recovery costs. In May, Lincoln College in Illinois announced it would permanently close after becoming the target of a cyber attack.

Surveillance and grooming of our own systems

Los Angeles Unified School District, which serves more than 500,000 students, joins the ranks of districts nationwide on the receiving end of ransomware attacks in recent years, falling victim on the Saturday night of the four-day holiday weekend. The LAUSD breach appears to be part of a growing trend of back-to-school hacks, which take advantage of a chaotic moment when district cybersecurity officials are particularly busy.

If you were looking to extort a school district and increase the leverage on them to meet an extortion demand or a ransom demand, this time of the school year would be among the best to do it, Levin said. We have seen, over the last several years, that ransomware actors have taken advantage of that fact at the beginning of the school year to extort districts out of millions of dollars of money in demands.

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho addresses a press conference about sharp decline in student test scores and hacking of LAUSD system on Sept. 9. (Irfan Khan/Getty Images)

As hackers were carrying out the attack, district technology officials detected unusual live data movement, and made the unprecedented decision to shut down the districts computer system  a move that itself caused a number of challenges, Carvalho said, but prevented other more essential elements.

While a district facilities system was a primary target in the hack, Carvalho acknowledged that hackers had touched the online student management system. The facilities system includes information on contracts and non-sensitive records, he said, and it remains unclear whether the threat actors were able to acquire sensitive student information.

It is quite possible, even likely, that for a period of time in advance of the actual attack, there was a degree of surveillance and grooming of our own systems, Carvalho said, suggesting threat actors rummaged through district data prior to launching the ransomware scheme. L.A. Unified was currently in the process of rolling out passwords with multi-factor authentication, but Carvalho acknowledged the security measure had not been finalized before the breach.

The criminal investigation into the attack involves officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Securitys Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. In a joint Cybersecurity Advisory, federal officials warned that Vice Society actors were disproportionately targeting the education sector with ransomware attacks that have led to delayed exams, canceled school days and unauthorized access to and theft of personal information. Schools may be particularly lucrative targets, the advisory said, because they retain a large amount of sensitive student information.

Turgal, the vice president of cyber risk and strategy at Optiv Security, offered a harsh critique of L.A. Unifieds response, noting that officials had been previously warned about vulnerabilities.

Theyre doing the right things, but a speedy response to eliminate threats from servers is critical, said Turgal, a former executive assistant director for the FBI Information and Technology Branch. Their response was very measured, but it was very slow.

The district declined to comment.

Despite the ransomware attack, @LASchools continues to work toward full operational capacity. Thank you to our students, families and employees for doing your part in the ongoing recovery by resetting your passwords. pic.twitter.com/NEzFUPAtx6  Los Angeles Unified (@LASchools) September 9, 2022

While schools reopened after the Labor Day weekend as scheduled, the breach came with substantial disruptions and confusion for the 540,000 students and 70,000 district employees who were required to reset their passwords and were unable to access online platforms.

From my students, I could tell they were frustrated, said Nancy Soni, an 11th grade English teacher in East Los Angeles. A lot of them didnt really understand what it meant to be hacked.

The Vice Society ransomware gang tells me they are responsible for the attack against the Los Angeles Unified School District. (somewhat expected given @CISAgov's alert following the attack). @LASchools #infosec #ransomware #cybersecurity pic.twitter.com/34FvM0xhYt  Jeremy Kirk (@Jeremy_Kirk) September 8, 2022

A wake-up call

Outside Los Angeles, ransomware attacks have delivered a serious blow to districts nationwide, crippling their finances with extortion demands and recovery costs.

In Baltimore, a 2020 ransomware attack saddled the county school district with some $10 million in recovery costs. Costs are similar in Buffalo, New York, where the district was struck by an attack last year but declined to pay the ransom. When education leaders in Broward County, Florida, declined to pay a $40 million ransom demand after district accounting and financial records were stolen, hackers posted some 26,000 files on the dark web.

In fact, this isnt Carvalhos first experience dealing with a data breach. In 2020, while he was superintendent in Miami, Florida, the district fell victim to a cyber attack on the first day of virtual classes. A 16-year-old district student who took credit for the attack was sentenced to a year of probation.

Back in L.A., district leaders were warned on multiple occasions in the last several years that their cybersecurity safeguards werent up to snuff and that data had been compromised.

Related: Illuminate Ed Pulled from Student Privacy Pledge After Massive Data Breach

In January, 2021, the district inspector general released the findings of an information security audit that identified lapses that required an immediate remedy including significant risks around passwords and credentials and the lack of incident response planning and preparation.

Having been presented with a laundry list of things that should have been done, its critical to understand how the district responded to the audit, said Turgal of Optiv Security.

Carvalho also expressed concern about how the reports recommendations were handled, saying his first order of business is to actually understand that report and ask the tough questions about why were a number, if not the majority of these measures, not acted upon.

A month later, in February, 2021, cybersecurity experts with Hold Security used an intermediary to inform L.A. district leaders of more bad news. The computer for a school psychologist who was working from home had become compromised, Holden said, likely after she was duped by a phishing email.

District officials worked quickly to patch the hole and theres no evidence to suggest it contributed to the recent ransomware attack, but Holden said it should have served as a wakeup call and suggests that LAUSD probably hadnt put enough safeguards in place to prevent something like this.

The incident also highlights the reality that cybersecurity attacks on school districts can net highly sensitive data about children, Holden said.

Imagine what kind of sensitive information, especially about minors, this person might have within her computer or within her access, he said. Compromised data from a school psychologist is the worst-case scenario of what the bad guys could steal, something that would be directly harmful to kids.

Nancy Soni

Soni, the English teacher, said that hackers potential access to sensitive information is concerning. As an educator in the district, she said she has access to a significant amount of information about students, including their addresses, phone numbers and whether theyre in special education.

Theres a lot on there, and to have everybodys personal history be jeopardized, that is scary, she said. One of my concerns is having the wrong people have access to information about me, and information about my students.

LA School Report freelancer Destiny Torres contributed to this report
The Florida Department of Health in Lake County is notifying residents near Sawgrass Lake of a blue-green algae bloom.

Officials learned of the bloom after water samples showed evidence of the possible contamination on Sept. 8.

Read: Lake County to unveil statue to honor life and work of Mary McLeod Bethune

Because blooms have the potential to produce toxins, health officials advise people to take the following precautions:

 Do not drink, swim, wade, or boat in waters where there is a visible bloom.

 Avoid getting water in your eyes, nose, or mouth.

 Keep pets and livestock away from the waters where there is a bloom.

Read: Hot Tuesday in Central Florida as afternoon storm chances go up

See map of location below:

Read: NASA announces 2 potential launch windows for Artemis I

Blue-green algae is a common occurrence in freshwater environments throughout Florida and can appear year-round.

More information about Floridas water quality status and public health notifications can be found here.

To report an algal bloom, contact FDEP at 855-305-3903 or online.

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, and click here to watch the latest news on your Smart TV.
FORT WALTON BEACH  A waitress at a local seafood restaurant says she was fired hours after calling police about an assault that she said was part of ongoing harassment by a kitchen manager.

Now, she is suing AJ's Oyster Shanty LLC for job discrimination, according to a complaint filed Aug. 30 in the Northern District of Florida.

In case you missed it: 6 Holiday Isle residents sue neighbor they say is harassing them over beach access at Parcel B

Child abuse lawsuits settled: Okaloosa County School Board settles three child abuse lawsuits

A waitress is suing AJ's Oyster Shanty for job discrimination, according to a complaint filed Aug. 30 in the Northern District of Florida.

The woman, 41, filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Florida Commission on Human Relations on May 24, 2021.

After a review of the available evidence, the FCHR issued a determination Nov. 19, 2021, stating "there is no reasonable cause to believe that an unlawful practice occurred."

The EEOC granted the waitress the right to sue June 14, 2022. The lawsuit argues the waitress endured gender discrimination and sexual harassment, as well as retaliation for speaking out.

Dana Matthews, attorney for AJ's Oyster Shanty LLC, said in a statement Tuesday that the restaurant had not yet been served with the waitress's lawsuit, but "will vigorously defend its malicious and false allegations."

"As AJ's attorney for 30 plus years, I have personal knowledge that AJ's employees are well taken care of, respected, and considered the life blood of the company," Matthews said in the statement. "AJ's has many employees with 15-25 years tenure, which is obviously a testament to the mutually beneficial relationship enjoyed for many years."

According to Matthews, AJ's Oyster Shanty has "many employee witnesses" who refute the allegations in the lawsuit, as well as video footage to back up their statements.

What the lawsuit argues

The woman worked as a server at AJ's Oyster Shanty in Fort Walton Beach from Feb. 8, 2021, until April 30, 2021, the complaint states.

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Before she was fired, the complaint says management repeatedly told the waitress to "ignore" the kitchen manager's behavior and that "nothing would be done to change the situation." The lawsuit says the restaurant "sided" with the kitchen manager.

The waitress was initially assigned to the night shift, which the kitchen manager also worked. During the shift, the kitchen manager treated female staff "horribly" and called them sexually derogatory and demeaning names, according to the lawsuit.

In other news: Wrongful death: Legal battles ensue after indictment of Crestview officers for lethal struggle

The complaint says he would invade the woman's space by "standing within inches of her when there was no need to be that close" and would walk up behind her in "an attempt to scare her." He also is accused of insulting her appearance.

After reporting his treatment to management, the complaint says the waitress was switched to the day shift, which caused her pay to be reduced. The kitchen manager then began coming in at noon and his behavior "got worse," according to the lawsuit.

He continued to call the waitress derogatory names, and on one occasion, the complaint states he "flipped a sharp steak knife at her chest."

When she reported the incident to management, she was told it was not caught on camera and nothing was done, the lawsuit states. His behavior then became "even more violent" toward the waitress, according to the complaint.

On another occasion, the woman's complaint says he slammed her into the kitchen's soup well. Another manager told her the incident "did not happen" because it was not on camera.

Waitress seeks damages, trial by jury

The waitress then called police to file a report about the assault, and according to the lawsuit, was fired four hours later. When police asked to see surveillance video of the assault, the complaint says the restaurant refused without a warrant or subpoena.

The lawsuit states the restaurant's "failure to act" on the woman's complaints caused her to have anxiety and stress, and resulted in "tension and hostility" toward the waitress by the kitchen manager and other staff members.

The complaint further argues that there was no "substantive or reasonable justification" for the woman to be fired. According to the lawsuit, she had not previously been warned of poor job performance.

The lawsuit seeks to have the woman reinstated as a waitress and awarded her pay for past wages she would have earned, as well as other lost benefits. It also seeks compensatory damages, liquidated damages, attorney fees and a trial by jury.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: AJ's Oyster Shanty waitress sues, says she was harassed and assaulted
By Uditha Jayasinghe

(Reuters) -Financial advisory group Lazard has started talks with India, China and Japan on restructuring Sri Lanka's debt, a spokesman for the Sri Lanka government said on Tuesday, as the crisis-hit island nation seeks an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.

Lazard was hired by Sri Lanka in May, along with international lawyers Clifford Chance, to guide the government through the process of restructuring its debt, for which estimates range from $85 billion to well over $100 billion.

Earlier this month, the IMF said it had reached a preliminary agreement with Sri Lanka for a loan of about $2.9 billion. But for the deal to go through, the country will require debt relief from China, India and Japan, its three main international lenders.

"They are in the process of speaking to India, China, Japan, mainly to ensure we come to some sort of consensus," acting cabinet spokesperson Ramesh Pathirana told reporters, referring to Lazard.

"We will keep our fingers crossed that we will be able to come to an agreement."

The three countries hold about $13 billion of Sri Lanka's debt, while China is Sri Lanka's largest bilateral creditor.

Sri Lanka is also expected to formally reach out to private creditors who hold about $12 billion in bonds later this week, a government source told Reuters.

"The government is planning to start talks with the ambassadors of China, U.S., Japan and India next week on debt restructuring," the source said, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak to media.

Sri Lanka is in the throes of its worst financial crisis in seven decades, leaving it with paltry foreign exchange reserves to pay for critical imports of fuel, food and medicine.

(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe in Colombo; Writing by Tanvi Mehta in New Delhi; Editing by Tom Hogue and Edmund Klamann)
LAS VEGAS  Tropical Storm Kay may have fizzled at sea last week, but its legacy lived for days as its remnants pelted the Desert Southwest with numerous showers and thunderstorms, leading to areas of flash flooding and a number of water rescues across Southern California, Nevada and Utah.

Southwest Flooding Setup

"When that happens, it takes all that tropical moisture with it," said FOX Weather meteorologist Britta Merwin. "So you don't necessarily need a tropical storm or a defined circulation to really bring in all that moisture; it just takes a little bit of that spin."

HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER ON TV

Flood Watches were in effect for three days in the region, though while a few lingering showers and thunderstorms were rumbling across the Intermountain West and inland Northwest on Thursday, all flood alerts had been dropped.

In Southern California, heavy rains hit San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties particularly hard. Police officers in the city of San Bernardino rescued a mother and her children who were nearly swept away during a raging flash flood Sunday.

A mom had called police about an unrelated problem Sunday afternoon, according to the SoCal News Outlet. But as the family was heading back to their car, an impromptu river roared down the street, nearly washing them away.

Dashcam video from San Bernardino Police shows three of their officers rescuing the mother who had lost her balance while trying to cross the rapids. Officers then assisted two children and others who had become stranded on the other side of the water.

Farther out in San Bernardino County, flash flooding rolled through the Forest Falls area, causing severe damage and leaving one person still missing.

Over 120 search-and-rescue personnel are combing the area looking for the missing resident as the area begins to clean up the damage.

In nearby Los Angeles County, dozens were trapped after a mudslide and debris flow in Lake Hughes. Los Angeles County Fire Department officials confirmed they rescued approximately 50 people who were taken to a nearby county fire station to meet with the American Red Cross.

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DOZENS RESCUED IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AFTER HEAVY RAINFALL TRIGGERS MUDSLIDE IN FIRE BURN SCAR

Also in Southern California, heavy rains in Oak Glen near Yucaipa sent a wall of mud into town, burying part of a restaurant under feet of mud.

GET OUT OF HERE': WATCH AS MUD BARRELS DOWN CALIFORNIA HILLSIDE AFTER HEAVY RAIN

In Nevada, thunderstorms brought instant torrents of water across Clark County  home to Las Vegas.

Two people who had pulled off the highway in their van to rest Tuesday night found themselves in the middle of a flash flood, with water climbing chest high. Las Vegas Police sent a rescue helicopter to hoist the two to safety without injury.

Rescue crews also had to save a semi-truck driver who got stuck in floodwaters on State Route 169, prompting a soggy escape:

"Theres a big upper level supporting these showers, and because its an upper-level feature we dont necessarily need that daytime heating to hold onto those nocturnal storms," Merwin said. "So we are going to showers and storms even lasting through the overnight, but it will be more widespread during the afternoon because of the sunshines (heating)."

In neighboring Utah, heavy rains pushed through drought-stricken Salt Lake City, providing some cheersand jeers.

Ramps connecting Interstate 215 to Interstate 80 were closed Wednesday after a semi jackknifed on slick roads and crashed into a barrier, according to Utah's Department of Public Safety.

A trailing car smashed into the truck, causing a fuel leak.

Students at Salt Lake City's Skyline High School got to end the day a little early after heavy rains flooded the building.

Over an inch of rain fell in spots around the Salt Lake City area, though only 0.22 inches of it fell at the airport.

"This is beneficial (rain)  we need it," Merwin said. "We have drought conditions across the area, but we could see some short-term flooding because of how much rain were anticipating."
Lexington Fire Station #2 building on Hargrave Road will be sold to Davidson County Airport Authority after the recent de-annexation of the airport from the City of Lexington municipal limits, impacting the fire department's future in the area.

When the Davidson County Airport was de-annexed from Lexington in July, it left a nearby city fire department in no mans land regarding how it will continue to service the area.

In May, North Carolina Senator Steve Jarvis, who represents Davidson and Montgomery counties, submitted Senate Bill 908 which removed the Davidson County Airport from the corporate limits of the City of Lexington. It went into effect on July 1 along with two other local bills.

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This means any person or company housing an aircraft on property owned by the airport will no longer have to pay property taxes to both Lexington and Davidson County and instead just pay the county.

This bill also requires the sale of the building currently occupied by Lexington Fire Station #2 and it is no longer technically part of the department's coverage as part of the City of Lexington.

According to Lexington Fire Chief Paul Jarrett, the sale of the building, will not affect the response of the fire department nor lessen their coverage area, at least for a while.

We have been assured that (the county) are in no hurry for us to go anywhere, said Jarrett. Nothing has changed as far as our response coverage...We still have a good working relationship with our fellow fire departments in the area and this gives us time to get a plan together.

The de-annexation is only for property owned by the Davidson County Airport Authority, not any residential or commercial properties in the area which is still considered part of the city and in the coverage area for Lexington Fire Department #2.

More: State senator submits local bills that include removal of Davidson County Airport from Lexington city limits

One of the biggest issues is that part of Senate Bill 908 requires the sale of the fire station building by Dec. 31, 2022.

Section 2a of SB 908 states The Davidson County Airport Authority shall purchase, and the City of Lexington shall sell to the Davidson County Airport Authority, the fire station building, and equipment located at 285 Hargrave Road, Lexington, N.C....for $2 million.

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Davidson County Manager Casey Smith said the county is facilitating the purchase of the Lexington Fire Department building on behalf of the Davidson County Airport Authority and has told fire officials they can remain in the building. He said there will be future discussion on leasing the property or other financial arrangements with the City of Lexington.

Right now, we are working on buying the property, said Smith. Besides that, there hasnt been any discussion about what Lexington is going to do, if they want to rent the building or if we can work something else out. We arent interested in making any problems, they can stay. We just said tell us how long you need.

Lexington Mayor Jason Hayes said, although this local bill was passed before he was sworn in as mayor, he feels there is time to discuss the future of Lexington Fire Station #2 and its coverage of the airport.

We havent talked much about what will happen in the future, but one of the things we are not going to compromise on is fire coverage, Hayes said. They are paying us $2 million for the building but the cost potential to build a new station would be significantly higher than that. (The county) has been very amenable in working with us from a timeline standpoint. We understand the rationale about de-annexation, and this has happened at several other airports, although acquisition of assets isnt something that's very normal.

More: Workshop shows development plans for Davidson County Airport

The City of Lexington built the fire station on property owned by the Davidson County Airport Authority in 2011 for $1.5 million and continue to pay debt financing on the fire station.

Lexington City Manager Terra Greene said she is not satisfied with how quickly these local bills, including the de-annexation, were passed and the impact it will have on the city budget. The city received approximately $100,000 in tax revenues from the airport each year, which it will no longer receive since the de-annexation.

"It is not about whether the airport wanted to be de-annexed, it was how it was done. It was not done in a methodical way so city officials could adjust and prepare, said Greene.

She also feels the city is not being adequately compensated for the current market value of the building.

Jarvis said the reason he proposed the de-annexation from Lexington was because it would help recruit more companies to house their corporate jets at the airport. That the state legislature was in short session in May, and he wanted to expediate the bill so the tax reductions at the airport could become effective in July, therefore enticing new potential aircraft owners to Davidson County sooner than later.

Local bills typically go through short session, said Jarvis. We have companies in discussion who want to house their planes in Davidson County, but they dont want to pay double taxes. Having this airport is a huge asset when youre talking about recruiting these big companies.

As far as the $2 million to purchase the fire station, Jarvis stated that the amount well covers the remaining debt the city owes on the building.

I feel it is more than fair, said Jarvis. They are not being pushed out, they can stay where they are and work out an agreement with the airport authority about a contract for fire coverage. They already have a contract on the lease of the land (where the building is located) so they can continue to work with them, if they choose.

Jarrett said there have been talks prior to SB109 about the need to build new fire stations, including the need for a new station near 763 acres of property in Linwood recently voluntarily annexed into the City of Lexington.

He said the Lexington Fire Department is working with an advisor to create a study on the deployment of resources, meaning taking a comprehensive look at the age of all the current Lexington Fire departments and whether they are in appropriate locations for maximum efficiency.

Greene said although the City of Lexington has discussed the need for new fire stations, Lexington Fire Station #2 would probably not been prioritized for relocation as it is the newest of the current stations.

More: Commissioners consider adding $3.8 million for corporate hangars at Davidson County Airport

In February, the Davidson County Commissioners approved $3.8 billion capital investment to build new corporate-size hangars at the Davidson County Airport.

Smith said the money is the remnants of dollars set aside for future economic development opportunities after EGGER chose to buy as opposed to leasing property within the I-85 Corporate Center. With the proceeds from the sale of that property, the county was able to repay a $7 million community development block grant loan from the N.C. Department of Commerce much earlier than expected, leaving approximately $4.2 million available for future economic development projects.

Also, in 2021, county commissioners appropriated $1.2 million in overage of local sales tax funds to the Davidson County Airport, bringing the total investment to $5 million.

There are currently eight corporate-size hangars at the Davidson County Airport. The airport authority is using the $5 million in county funding to add four new corporate hangars. According to county calculations, a corporate jet valued at $30 million which was housed at one of the corporate hangers created $145,000 in county tax revenue in one year.

Jarvis said the potential growth at the airport could make a significant economic impact throughout the county, which is why he proposed the de-annexation to reduce property taxes.

He said he realizes the immediate effect it may have on the City of Lexington, but in the long run any potential economic development coming from recruiting potential corporations, and housing their jets, will be beneficial to all.

Anytime I have worked with city leaders, county commissioners and on up, I have always said what is good for Lexington is good for Davidson County and vice versa, said Jarvis. We are all in this together, and even when we dont see eye to eye, I want the best for everyone involved.

General news reporter Sharon Myers can be reached at sharon.myers@the-dispatch.com. Follow her on Twitter @LexDispatchSM.

This article originally appeared on The Dispatch: Lexington Fire Department in limbo after de-annexation from airport
Sep. 12LIMA  A Lima man pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated trafficking in drugs, a felony of the third degree.

Blake Kimmet, 24, was initially charged with a second-degree felony for selling illegal drugs in the vicinity of a school, according to the indictment. After discussions with his public defender, Steve Chamberlain and assistant county prosecutor Josh Carp, an agreement was made to drop the school specification, which dropped the charge from a second-degree to third-degree felony.

Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Terri Kohlrieser ordered a pre-sentencing investigation and set Kimmet's sentencing date for Nov. 3. Kimmet could face a maximum sentence of 36 months in prison or community control. He will receive a mandatory $5,000 to $10,000 fine and must pay $450 in restitution to the West Central Ohio Crime Task Force.

According to the indictment, Kimmet sold or offered to sell psilocin, a hallucinogenic substance derived from certain types of mushrooms, on June 10, 2021. The amount of drug was considered to be "the bulk amount," but was less than five times that amount. Psilocin is considered a Schedule I drug, meaning it is highly addictive.

Reach Jessica Orozco at 567-242-0398, by email at jorozco@limanews.com or on Twitter @JessicaCOrozco.
Shortages of pilots, flight attendants and gate agents threaten to unravel fall and winter travel plans in the U.S., after a turbulent summer, airline unions say. There's been a surge in fliers, according to the aviation industry, since COVID-19 concerns continue to subside.

The unions spoke at a CBS News travel summit in Washington Tuesday.

Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines pilot and spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, says recruitment failures and pandemic-era furloughs have hamstrung airlines.

"Airlines  including American Airlines  are still suffering from this mismanagement," Tajer said. "There is so much uncertainty in the fall and winter schedule, that we cannot be silent."

This month, pilots picketed at airports across the country, threatening to strike if airlines don't approve better contracts for them and fix operational issues that have led to delays and cancellations.

Flight attendants say they are also stretched too thin.

"Staffing is at its lowest level across the board," says Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants.JetBlue is among the airlines that faced backlash earlier this year after cancelling hundreds of flights because of staffing shortages.

JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes also blamed a different factor  restrictions that have arisen due to Florida rocket launches in crowded nearby airspace.

"We created this kind of dynamic where the system couldn't handle the number of flights," Hayes says.

JetBlue has also trimmed routes into 2023 to "ensure operational reliability," as it pursues a merger with low-cost airline Spirit.

But Airlines for America head Nick Calio blames more "inexperienced travelers" for some disruptions, while saying the industry remains resilient.

"People want to go places, they're getting to places," Calio says.

On Labor Day weekend, the TSA says it screened nearly 8.8 million passengers, surpassing pre-pandemic 2019 levels as demand continues to rise.

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In August, the Transportation Department said summer data showed complaints were up 270% above pre-pandemic levels.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in a letter to airlines, called on them to improve their customer service plans as the Biden administration pushes an online "dashboard" to help fliers navigate airline policies for travel disruptions.

The full audio of the CBS News "State of Air Travel" town hall will be featured on the Saturday, Sept. 17 broadcast of CBS News' Eye on Travel, a three-hour weekend radio program hosted by CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg, heard on radio stations nationwide and available on all major podcast platforms.

Queen Elizabeth II's coffin arrives at Buckingham Palace

Stock market tumbles after August Consumer Price Index report

Ukrainian forces recapture land as Putin faces criticism within Russia
Two Cobb County deputies who lost their lives last week, are being honored by so many.

Support is pouring in locally and nationally, as so many honor fallen Cobb County Deputy Jonathan Koleski and Deputy Marshall Ervin Jr.

Both deputies were shot and killed as they tried to serve a warrant last week.

To see so much positivity coming out from businesses and in around the county is heartwarming, said Kim Peace Hill, President of the Blue Thanksgiving Foundation.

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Tonya Wideman lives in Douglasville. She told Channel 2s Michele Newell that she is building a tribute for Deputy Koleski and Deputy Ervin Jr. Both tributes will includes about 200 signatures from numerous law enforcement agencies, firefighters, business owners and so many more from Cobb County, Douglas County and Newton County.

I decided to build the tributes to honor them. The top will be bronze. Its engraved. The bottom level has 6 to 8 inch angel. It will have lights and about 100 roses. Signatures, said Wideman.

Businesses, organizations and everyday people are honoring Cobb County.

We are going to be helping in our way tomorrow morning helping take care of feeding the deputies at the church before the service. The only thing I personally know to do that is truly heartfelt for me is to just hug them and tell them genuinely that we love them, said Hill.

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Hill and he team have been giving back to law enforcement officers since 2014.

Hills team will serve breakfast to more than 100 deputies, before Deputy Koleskis funeral on Wednesday.

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Some businesses are pitching in to help Hill make it all happen.

She was asking to see if I could help put some of the food together. I said just tell me what you need. I can put it all together. Its whatever we can do, said Gus Tselios, owner of Marietta Diner.

Marietta Diner stepped in to help on the night of the tragic shooting, after the Cobb County Sheriffs office called Tselios for some help. Tselios says his team provided food for victims families and about 60 deputies, but there was enough food for about 100 people.

Whatever we can do for the families. For the community. When it comes to that. Thats easy. I just wish we could do something to undo what happened, said Tselios.

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The man accused of fatally shooting another man outside the Midtown Fort Collins McDonalds last summer has been found mentally competent to proceed toward trial.

Eighth Judicial District Judge Gregory Lammons sided with the prosecution in his ruling last week, which argued that the court should accept the findings from two separate competency evaluations ruling Victor Corwin, 30, legally competent to proceed in his case.

Legally competent means a defendant is able to consult with their attorney with "a reasonable degree of rational understanding" in order to assist with their own defense.

Corwin was arrested in July 2021 on the accusation that he fatally shot 39-year-old Christopher J. Johnson outside of the McDonalds in Midtown Fort Collins, near the intersection of College Avenue and Drake Road. He has been charged with first-degree murder, a Class 1 felony; identity theft, a Class 4 felony; possession of a weapon by a previous offender, a Class 6 felony; criminal possession of financial devices, a Class 6 felony; aggravated motor vehicle theft, a Class 6 felony; and petty theft.

Two doctors who evaluated Corwin in the year since his arrest  Nicole Mack and Allison Osborn  testified to Lammons that they believe Corwin is competent to proceed toward trial.

In the first part of the competency hearing held Aug. 29, Mack said she supports her opinion from her recent evaluation that Corwin was competent to proceed. She testified that medication combined with no longer abusing illegal substances worked to lessen Corwin's symptoms and made him legally competent to proceed.

Previous competency evaluations Mack said she reviewed from prior unrelated criminal cases described Corwin as having disorganized thoughts or being difficult to understand or follow during a conversation, but Mack testified she didnt see that during her evaluation. She said Corwin told her that medication helped treat delusional thoughts he had and voices he heard.

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Corwin requested to start medication on his own within a month of his arrest, Mack said, and he is likely to remain competent as long as he continues to take prescribed medications and does not use illicit drugs.

Osborn testified in the second part of this hearing Sept. 9 that, during her evaluation of Corwin in June, he exhibited the mental capabilities necessary for him to participate in his own trial. Osborn said she initially diagnosed Corwin with a form of schizophrenia and likely drug-induced psychosis, which likely caused him to have delusions and hallucinations. However, through a combination of medication, inpatient treatment through Colorado's Recovery in a Secure Environment program  also referred to as the RISE program  sobriety and judicial education programs, Corwin's competency had been successfully restored, Osborn said.

Corwins defense attempted to cast doubt on the doctors findings. Corwins attorney asked Mack if Corwin could be hiding or masking symptoms because of his traumatic past that would make him incompetent, but Mack said it would be difficult for Corwin to hide significant symptoms while under constant supervision in the RISE program.

The defense asked Osborn if patients with schizophrenia could still experience delusions, even if they don't openly talk about them or "respond" to delusions as they experience them. Osborn said yes, this is possible, however, if Corwin was having delusions at the time of his evaluations, they did not inhibit his ability to interact with her.

"If (a patient) can interact appropriately to an evaluator, they should be able to interact appropriately with their attorneys," Osborn said.

The defense also argued that Corwin didn't fully understand the judicial process because he told the evaluators he would fire his attorneys if he disagreed with them, but the prosecution said that isn't a sign of incompetency.

Lammons ultimately sided with the prosecution, ruling Corwin competent to proceed.

Corwin will next appear in court for an evidence hearing, but a court date has not been set. He remains in the Larimer County Jail without bond.

All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in court. Arrests and charges are merely accusations by law enforcement until, and unless, a suspect is convicted of a crime.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Man accused in shooting outside Fort Collins McDonald's found competent
A man with a replica gun was shot and killed in north Georgia on Monday night, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed.

GBI officials say Habersham County deputies were called to a home in Mt. Airy just before 8:45 p.m.

A 911 caller said someone at the home had a gun before the call was disconnected.

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When deputies arrived, deputies were not able to speak with anyone at the house.

Eventually, the door opened and a man with a gun confronted deputies. The deputies opened fire and shot the man, who was later identified as 39-year-old Anthony Maurice Tollison.

Tollison died from his injuries.

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Channel 2s Steve Gehlbach went to the neighborhood where neighbors told him they heard three gunshots before blue lights filled the street.

They say Tollison was a veteran who previously served the country, but that he suffered from alcohol and mental health problems.

Family members who Gehlbach spoke with declined to comment publicly.

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Investigators later learned that the gun Tollison had when he opened the door was not real, but was a replica made to look like a real weapon.

Tollisons body will be sent off for an autopsy at the GBI Medical Examiners Office.

No deputies were injured during the incident.

The GBI will conduct an independent investigation that will be turned over to the Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney for review to determine if deadly force was justified. This is the 87th officer involved shooting the GBI has been requested to investigate in 2022.

IN OTHER NEWS:
A widely shared tweet claims a photo shows that Meghan Markle wore a shirt that said "The Queen Is Dead" after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. This is false; the image was digitally altered as early as March 2021, and the original picture shows the Duchess of Sussex and former actress in a plain gray coat.

"I can't believe Meghan went there," says a tweet published September 8, 2022.

The post shares what appears to be Markle in a white T-shirt sporting the artwork for "The Queen Is Dead," a popular album by English rock band The Smiths. The tweet accumulated more than 27,000 likes.

"The is real btw," the Twitter user falsely adds in a follow-up post.

In contrast to the derogatory tone of the posts, Markle's husband Prince Harry paid tribute to the queen after she died on September 8, while Markle joined him in the UK. The couple, who announced in 2020 that they were quitting their royal duties, appeared outside Windsor Castle on September 10, and they are expected to attend the queen's September 19 funeral.

Regarding "The Queen Is Dead" claim, reverse image searches indicate Markle's face was photoshopped on a background that has previously been used to market other T-shirt designs. The original photo of Markle was taken on March 23, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland by a photographer affiliated with WireImage, a digital photo agency focused on celebrities.

The picture shows Markle wearing a gray coat over a white shirt. People magazine featured the image in a March 2018 article.

Screenshot of a tweet taken September 12, 2022

Screenshot of Getty Images taken September 13, 2022

The altered image of Markle has circulated online since at least March 8, 2021, when it was shared on social media pages associated with Dead Posh UK, which was selling T-shirts with the same design. The UK website also sold mugs featuring the edited picture of Markle.

Johnny Marr, the guitarist for The Smiths, shared the photo March 10, 2021 on Twitter. Dead Posh UK told AFP in a Facebook message that a London digital artist created the image in Photoshop.

AFP sent inquiries to Buckingham Palace and Archewell, the US organization run by Markle and Prince Harry, but no comment was forthcoming.

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about the queen's death here and here.
Mark David Chapman, the man responsible for shooting and killing John Lennon outside his Manhattan apartment, has been denied parole for the 12th time, New York corrections officials said.

Chapman, 67, went before a parole board at the end of August, the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said, according to NBC News.

The transcript from the dozenth occasion where the killer of the famed Beatle went before the board has not been publicly available, but in previous hearings the 67-year-old had expressed remorse at what he carried out on 8 December 1980.

During his previous hearing in 2020, he described his actions on that day more than 40 years ago as despicable and told the board that he would have no complaint whatsoever if they opted to keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.

I was too far in, he said during an earlier parole board hearing in 2018. I do remember having the thought of, Hey, you have got the album now. Look at this, he signed it, just go home. But there was no way I was just going to go home.

On the night in December that Chapman shot and killed Lennon, the famed British-born musician was returning home to his Upper West Side home with his wife, Yoko Ono. Earlier that day, the Beatle had signed a copy of the album Double Fantasy for the shooter.

Chapman had been lying in wait for the 40-year-old to return to his New York apartment and when he spotted him and his wife, he shot him four times.

The 67-year-old killer has been eligible for parole since 2000, and Lennons wife, Ono, 87, has openly opposed his release.

Though she hasnt released any comment regarding this previous parole board hearing, in the previous one her attorney, Jonas Herbsman, said she submitted comments to the parole board, which he said are consistent with the prior letters.

Chapman, who married his wife 18 months after being imprisoned for the murder of the acclaimed artist, has received occasional visits from her at Green Haven Correctional Facility, north of New York City.

His next parole board hearing is set for February 2024.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  The story about high fuel prices was safe, editors agreed, even under the strict press laws of the United Arab Emirates.

Instead, it unleashed a firestorm at Al Roeya newspaper in Dubai. Within days, top editors were interrogated. Within weeks, dozens of employees were fired and the print paper declared dissolved.

The newspapers publisher, Abu Dhabi-based International Media Investments, or IMI, said Al Roeyas closure stems only from its transformation into a new Arabic language business outlet with CNN. However, eight people with direct knowledge of the newspapers mass firings told The Associated Press that the layoffs came in the immediate aftermath of the article on the UAE's gas prices.

Their accounts, given on condition anonymity for fear of reprisals, show the limits of speech in the autocratic nation that tightly controls its domestic media. Self-censorship is rife among journalists at local outlets expected to provide a stream of good news in the UAE, which advertises itself as a globalized destination attractive to tourists, investors and Western media companies.

The UAE touts itself as liberal and open to business while continuing its repression, said Cathryn Grothe, a Middle East research analyst at the Washington-based group Freedom House. Censorship is rampant, online and offline. ... It limits the work that journalists are able to do.

IMI declined to comment on the substance of the story published, just weeks before Al Roeya's announced closure. The company stressed its plans to launch CNN Business Arabic capped monthslong negotiations.

Al Roeya, Arabic for The Vision, was founded in 2012 and rebranded by IMI three years ago to provide local and global news to Arab youth.

IMI is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the billionaire brother of the UAE's president who also owns British soccer club Manchester City. IMI's major outlets include The National, an English-language broadsheet newspaper, and Sky News Arabia.

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While Al Roeya hewed to the UAEs official line, its pages provided in-depth business news.

The story that staffers say set off the crisis at the paper came together earlier this summer, when high prices were the talk of the town. Unlike its neighbors, the oil-producing UAE has phased out fuel subsidies. Citizens accustomed to cheap gasoline and cradle-to-grave welfare felt the sting after Russias invasion of Ukraine pushed up oil prices.

Al Roeya interviewed Emiratis who had resorted to cost-saving measures. A few citizens living near the border with Oman, where drivers pay half as much for fuel as in the UAE due to government subsidies, told Al Roeya they crossed into the sultanate to fill up their cars. Some reportedly even got extra fuel tanks fitted on their vehicles.

The story spread like wildfire on social media on June 2  especially the anecdote about cross-border fuel fill-ups. Within hours though, the article was deleted from the website and never made it to print.

Several employees involved with the article were summoned to the office days later. They were suspended from work and faced extensive questioning from IMI and Al Roeya representatives and a lawyer about every step and person involved in the story's creation, editing and publication, according to those familiar with the events.

A week later, the group was given a choice: resign with additional benefits or be terminated and face possible repercussions. Those who signed a resignation letter promised not to disclose anything about the reasons behind their dismissals or criticize the publication, according to a copy of one such letter obtained by the AP.

Hours after the publication of this article, IMI responded with an additional statement saying that said such non-disclosure agreements are not a way of silencing people but in fact used in all business environments. It also said that any meetings that would have happened regarding the fuel story  would have been in line with HR policies to address any misinformation that might impact the credibility of the publication.

The eight compelled to resign included top editors. Morale plummeted.

Over a week later, IMI CEO Nart Bouran visited the newsroom for an all-hands meeting.

Going into the meeting, the remaining staffers had no reason to fear for their jobs, according to some with knowledge of the internal discussions at the newspaper. They said senior managers at IMI had assured staff over the past year that their jobs were safe as the papers editorial focus shifted primarily to business coverage.

Instead, Bouran declared the dissolution of Al Roeya and the imminent launch of the Arabic-language business outlet with CNN. At least 35 employees lost their jobs in a single day, those with knowledge said. Others said dozens more on top of that were dismissed, with severance pay.

IMI did not respond to repeated questions about how many people it fired. Profiles on jobs website LinkedIn suggest some 90 people had been working at Al Roeya.

The paper has kept a skeleton staff to update its website until the launch of CNN Business Arabic, people with knowledge of the matter said.

This case (of Al Roeya) sounds part and parcel of the general repressive environment, said Grothe from Freedom House. It has a chilling effect.

While some foreign journalists have the security of returning home to countries that support press freedom, Arab journalists who form the backbone of the countrys local media remain wary of jeopardizing their residency status, which is tied to their jobs.

Al Roeya printed its final issue on June 21 with the headline: A new promise, A renewed era." CNN Business Arabic is set to launch by the years end.

IMI described Al Roeyas transition to CNN Business Arabic as long-planned, saying that the shift unfortunately necessitated some redundancies. It denied the paper's closure was connected in any way with the editorial output of Al Roeya."

When asked about the firings, CNN spokesperson Dan Faulks referred the AP to IMI's statement, and did not elaborate.

Mohamed al-Hamadi, the head of the UAEs state-backed journalist association, said the group provided the required support" to dismissed journalists and backed IMI's description of the firings.

The upheaval recalled other dramatic episodes that have rattled the UAEs local press in recent years. In 2017, the government temporarily banned Arabian Business magazine from publishing after it reported Dubai courts were liquidating dozens of failed real estate projects stemming from the 2009 global financial crisis.

The downturn, drawing a slew of negative headlines about Dubais debt crisis, caused the UAE to tighten its media laws. The countrys crackdown on online dissent then peaked in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, which were kindled by economic discontent.
Matthias Jaissle (pictured) admitted disappointment at not taking on Thomas Tuchel with Salzburg (Steven Paston/PA) (PA Wire)

Matthias Jaissle has lamented missing the chance to take on his friend Thomas Tuchel when RB Salzburg face Chelsea.

Salzburg boss Jaissle had been excited to pit his wits against Tuchel, but insists Wednesdays Stamford Bridge visitors will still be prepared to go up against Graham Potter.

Potter will take the Chelsea helm for the first time in their Champions League clash in west London, but Jaissle insisted Salzburg had done their due diligence on the former Brighton boss.

After the draw I was thinking that we would meet Thomas Tuchel, said Jaissle.

And tomorrow we would play against him. Its a bit of a pity  I know him personally.

But we had to be professionals. We havent seen any games of the new manager with Chelsea, but we know about their individual quality.

We have analysed their character and the new manager with ideas from (his) old club. We are very well prepared.

It was incredible, just the drive here, to go through London, to come here to here to the stadium, to soak up the atmosphere, its something incredible.

Its a dream come true for me.

Chelseas midweek match has been able to go ahead despite many matches being postponed in the wake of The Queens death.

Jaissle insisted Salzburg can block out any distractions to focus on the contest.

It will be a bit different in terms of the build-up of course, he said.

But as soon as we have kick-off, the full focus will be on the match.
STANISLAV POHORILOV  TUESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2022, 19:09

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, has called the recommendations of the Kyiv Security Compact for the strategic partnership of Ukraine and the guarantor states "a prologue to WWIII".

Source: Medvedev on Telegram

Quote from Medvedev: "The Kyiv camarilla has drafted "security guarantees" which are a prologue to a third world war. Of course no one will give any guarantees to the Ukrainian Nazis. After all, this is almost the same as applying Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty (the Washington Treaty) to Ukraine. For NATO, it's the same s**t, only from a side view. That's why it's scary."

Details: Medvedev believes that NATO is waging a hybrid war with Russia by supplying weapons to Ukraine. According to him, if Ukraine continues to be "pumped" full of weapons, then "sooner or later the military campaign will go to another level", with unpredictable actions by the opposing sides.

Medvedev is afraid that then "everything will catch fire", and the West, which is "weakening Russia by proxy", will not be able to sit it out. "Everything will catch fire around them as well. Their people will be devastated. Their earth will literally burn, and concrete will melt. We too will suffer a lot. It will be very bad for everyone. After all, it is said: "By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulphur coming out of their mouths" (Rev. 9:18)," Medvedev concluded terrifyingly.

Background:

Andrii Yermak, head of the Office of the President, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Secretary General of NATO, jointly revealed recommendations on security guarantees for Ukraine within the framework of the Kyiv Security Compact on 13 September.

Leonid Slutsky, the chair of Russias State Duma Committee on International Affairs and leader of the LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia), called the recommendations on security guarantees published by the Presidents Office of Ukraine an "escalation"; he also threatened Ukraine's Western partners with a conflict with "nuclear Russia".

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"It is sad that those governing bodies have not allowed us to be able to qualify. That's all I can say to that."
Melanie Lynskey has revealed that she felt like a bad b**** in her Emmy Awards dress this year and that her husband, Jason Ritter, thought that her outfit was sexy.

The 45-year-old actor discussed the green off-the shoulder gown with a ruffled hem that she wore for the 74th annual TV awards during a red carpet interview with E!s Live on Monday. She completed the look with a diamond necklace and a white purse.

During the interview, via People, Laverne Cox asked Lynskey for her thoughts about the outfit and said: What are you feeling  princess, bad b****, queen, what are you feeling tonight?

In response, the Yellowjackets star praised designer Christian Siriano, who made her dress, while recalling how closely theyd worked together.

He came to my house and did a fitting with me. Hes the sweetest man alive, and I adore him. I feel like he made something that was for me, for my body. Like, I feel like a princess, because I have this princessy thing, she explained.

Lynskey went on to share how her husband responded to her Emmys dress.

But I also do feel like a little bit of a bad b****, honestly, because its so fitted under here, and my husbands like: Thats sexy! So, thats what you want, she added.

It is impossible not to root for Melanie Lynskey. Look at her! She deserves!! #Emmys #Emmys2022 pic.twitter.com/CbdIM6pjVw  Olivia Truffaut-Wong (@iWatchiAm) September 12, 2022

hope melanie lynskey cleared a spot on her shelf for this emmy  bre (@aantlerqueen) September 13, 2022

On the red carpet, Ritter posed with his wife in a black suit, pants, and bowtie, which he paired with a white shirt.

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On Twitter, multiple fans also praised Lynskeys outfit and revealed how much they wanted her to win, as she was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for her role in Yellowjackets during tonights awards.

Melanie Lynskey is so beautiful I could just cry, one person wrote.

Hope Melanie Lynskey cleared a spot on her shelf for this Emmy, another said.

A third person tweeted: It is impossible not to root for Melanie Lynskey. Look at her! She deserves!!

This years Emmys ceremony drew strong reactions from fans, with some mocking its atrocious opening dance sequence to Friends and Law and Order: SVUtheme songs. And host Kenan Thompson wasted no time cracking a joke about Leonardo DiCaprios relationship history.

Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph also stunned the crowd by singing Endangered Species in her acceptance speech.

We have also compiled a list of the best-dressed stars on the red carpetand shared a look at whats inside the Emmys gift bag.

Fans praised Elle Fanning after she revealed her Emmys dress was inspired by Old Hollywood and Hannah Waddingham was hailed as iconic after she unveiled sneakers under her gown.

Catch up with what happened at the Emmys here and find out about the biggest snubs and surprises here.
Chinese VP mourns passing of Queen Elizabeth II at British embassy

Xinhua) 09:05, September 13, 2022

Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan visits the British embassy in Beijing to mourn the passing of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Sept. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan visited the British embassy in Beijing on Monday to mourn the passing of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

Wang stood in silent tribute in front of a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and signed the condolence book. On behalf of President Xi Jinping and the Chinese government and people, Wang expressed deep condolences over the Queen's passing and extended sincere sympathy to the British royal family, government and people.

Wang said Queen Elizabeth II was a promoter of and a contributor to the development of China-UK relations. She was the first British monarch to visit China, and received multiple Chinese leaders during their visits to Britain.

The Queen had made positive contributions to the development of China-UK relations, he said.

Noting that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of China-UK ambassadorial diplomatic relations, Wang said the development of the ties fully shows that as long as the two countries adhere to principles of mutual respect and mutual benefit, the relations can remain stable and smooth.

It is hoped that the British side can take a strategic and long-term perspective and work with China to strengthen dialogue and exchanges, promote mutually beneficial cooperation, and work together to meet challenges, so that the bilateral relations will move forward on a track of sound and stable development, Wang said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Reuters

Hundreds of volunteers joined a mass cleanup drive along the coast of the polluted Manila Bay in the Philippine capital to mark International Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday. Volunteers and government workers, including hundreds of coast guard personnel, collected sachets, rubber slippers and other non-biodegradable waste that have been washed in the Manila Bay, a 60 km (37 mile) semi-enclosed estuary facing the South China Sea. "This initiative will help make our coastal area in Manila Bay better so that our tourists and visitors will see the beauty of the bay," college student Kendrick Lopez, 18, told Reuters during the cleanup drive.
New Mexico's Public Education Department says it has reduced teachers' paperwork requirements by 41 percent and administrative burdens on school districts and charters by 34 percent.

Both thresholds exceed what was asked of the department in an executive order signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in May, which called for a 25 percent cut in paperwork across the board by the beginning of the current school year.

The PED on Monday said it was adopting changes that would convert 3,500 labor hours "to time spent helping students and supporting school staff," as well as cost savings of $136,000 per school district or charter school.

To achieve those benchmarks, the department said it would cut redundant data collection requirements, "streamline processes" and "improve data systems" through strategies overseen by a new data governance council whose members will be appointed by New Mexico public education secretary Kurt Steinhaus.

More:New Mexico students still struggling, according to proficiency assessment

In this Aug. 11, 2021, incoming Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus addresses student on the first day of their fall semester at Highland High School in Albuquerque, N.M.

PED spokesperson Carly Bowling said the council's membership will include representatives from various bureaus at the agency and three at-large members from districts and charter schools.

Steinhaus, a former superintendent of Los Alamos Public Schools, said, "We have struck the correct balance and right-sized our reporting requirements."

PED spokesperson Carly Bowling said the department will propose IT projects, including two data management programs to process data submitted from schools and reduce time required for manual certification, as part of its next budget request in the 2023 legislative session. No estimates of the cost of implementation were immediately available.

Bowling said the overhaul was planned in consultation with the New Mexico Coalition of Educational Leaders and the Public Charter Schools of New Mexico.

More:Sonic funds $50,000 in classroom supplies for 53 Las Cruces teachers

The announcement was welcomed by both unions representing educators in New Mexico, the New Mexico chapters of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, whose leadership issued statements saying the changes would increase instruction time and make teachers feel more valued.

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Rio Rancho Public Schools superintendent Sue Cleveland echoed that sentiment in her statement, saying the changes would "help ensure administrators have more time to visit classrooms and teachers have more instructional time to work directly with students."

The announcement follows the release of somber achievement data from assessment exams last spring, indicating the majority of New Mexico students are failing to reach proficiency in language arts, early literacy, math or science. The state has struggled historically with student achievement even before the COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions over two academic years.

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.

Others are reading:

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: New Mexico public education department says it will cut paperwork
Javier Ortiz  a controversial Miami cop who has wielded social media as a hammer against perceived enemies, skated past accusations of excessive force for over a decade and has been suspended for more than a year  was fired Tuesday.

Reached at City Hall Tuesday, Miami Police Chief Manny Morales said the 18-year veteran, and former three-term president of the citys police union, was terminated based on his pattern of behavior and his failure to maintain a good moral character.

Ortiz attorney Griska Mena said her client received a reprimand signed by Morales earlier Tuesday that said the officer had been terminated over what sounds like paperwork technicality. It accused the police captain of incorrectly submitting off-duty time-sheets to the wrong supervisor, she said.

The submission of off-duty hours, the latest issue to land Ortiz in hot water, had been viewed differently by a pair of police oversight panels under Morales. Two months ago, one of the boards recommended firing Ortiz. But only two weeks ago, a disciplinary panel said the captain had done no wrong and should be returned to work.

Its outrageous. The fact that five members of Morales staff exonerated Ortiz and two weeks and a day later hes fired, screams political motivation, Mena said. Were going to be appealing it.

Mena said her clients next move is to demand arbitration, a right provided to police officers through the unions collective bargaining agreement.

The firing of Ortiz isnt likely to be the last chapter in a long, drawn-out fight by police brass to have him terminated.

The most recent tension with the captain, a thorn in the side of leadership during most of his 18 years, began in January 2020 when then-Chief Jorge Colina suspended Ortiz after claiming he was Black to the citys lone Black commissioner.

Ortiz was back in uniform just over a year later after becoming an ally of then-Police Chief Art Acevedo  a controversial figure himself who was fired in six months after very public clashes with Miami commissioners. Soon, there would be dueling Internal Affairs findings about the now infamous off-duty work slips.

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First, an internal affairs probe under Acevedo found Ortiz had committed no wrongdoing. A second look after Morales took over determined the captain had committed nine violations and should be terminated. Then came the competing findings from the police oversight panels.

Over the years, Ortizs use of social media and constant bickering with city brass created friction. Some, including the NAACP found his actions racially charged. He berated the citys highest ranking Black Muslim woman for not covering her heart during the Pledge of Allegiance. Later he got into a tiff with Beyonce and threatened to boycott her concert because he thought she was sympathetic to the Black Panther movement. He called 12-year-old Tamir Rice, shot and killed by a Cleveland cop as the child played with a toy gun, a thug.

Ortiz also flew to Ferguson, Missouri, for a barbecue with officers there after civil unrest broke out when an officer shot and killed an unarmed Black man named Michael Brown during a confrontation. And he was accused of doxing a woman, even releasing her cellphone number publicly and showing pictures of her allegedly drinking on social media sites, who videotaped an officer she said passed her at over 100 miles per hour.

Finally, in April 2021, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI concluded a two-year investigation into Ortiz that said the officers actions over the years represented a pattern of abuse and bias against minorities, particularly African-Americans. In one instance a woman claimed he stomped on her for driving a nice car while her baby sat in the back seat.

The review was based on more than a half-dozen confrontations between the police officer and civilians as well as complaints by fellow Miami cops. The 53-page report also found that Ortiz has been known for cyber-stalking and doxing civilians who question his authority or file complaints against him.

The FDLE, however, chose not to move forward with criminal charges because it said most of the incidents it looked at had exceeded the statute of limitations.

After this story was posted on-line, Ortiz texted a Herald reporter: You know who is bigger than Manny Morales? The justice that will be brought down by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Praying for him.

READ MORE: Latest police review panel: Give controversial Miami captain job back, rescind reprimands
Temperatures are rising nearly twice as fast as the global average in the east Mediterranean and Middle East, an international team of scientists has warned.

Climate change could have a devastating effect on the lives of millions in the region in the face of an overall warming of up to five degrees Celsius or more by the end of the century, a report prepared by the Cyprus Institute said.

That temperature spike was almost twice that anticipated in other areas of the planet, and faster than any other inhabited parts of the world, it said.

The report, prepared by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and the Climate and Atmosphere Research Center of The Cyprus Institute, claims a combination of reduced rainfall and weather warming will contribute to severe droughts, compromising water and food security, and rising sea levels.

"This (scenario) would imply severe challenges for coastal infrastructure and agriculture, and can lead to the salinisation of coastal aquifers, including the densely populated and cultivated Nile Delta," said Dr George Zittis of the Cyprus Institute, an author of the report.

More evidence of Climate Crisis # 17: Middle East predicted to see temperature increase of 5 degrees C https://t.co/vlrCuHT3ak  Kim M. (@violin4all) September 10, 2022

Meeting the main targets of the Paris Agreement, a global pact of countries to cut emissions, could stabilise the annual temperature increase to about two degrees Celsius.

Scientists recommend rapid implementation of decarbonisation actions with a particular emphasis on the energy and transportation sectors.

"Since many of the regional outcomes of climate change are transboundary, stronger collaboration among the countries is indispensable to cope with the expected adverse impacts," said Jos Lelieveld, director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, institute professor at the Cyprus Institute, and coordinator of the assessment.

The report will be submitted at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt in November.
Counteroffensive of the Armed Forces

Read also: Ukrainian counteroffensive went better than expected, but its too early to celebrate, defense minister warns

Even in those territories they still consider theirs, still consider under their control, we see more and more deserters and large convoys moving toward the Russian border, toward Belgorod, he said.

Read also: Ukraines daring counteroffensive, war reparations, and negotiations  an interview with Mykhailo Podolyak

We also see cases of looting, when Russian soldiers themselves take vehicles from civilians in order to escape. And thats why even separate units of our Armed Forces operating in the territory that has not yet been formally liberated, are simply terrorizing the Russian army.

Kuzan the invaders have already recognized their defeat, but that Ukraine is still short of weapons to take advantage of the enemys fear and panic.

Read also: Devastation and evidence of war crimes found in wake of Russian retreat from Kharkiv Oblast

We still dont have enough weapons for an offensive, which is what we expect from our Western partners to launch this offensive, Kuzan said.

Let me remind you that superiority in both aircraft and missiles for such a war remains with the Russians. But only thanks to the skill of our mechanized brigades, our infantry, we won back and liberated such an amount of territory that the Russians had not been able to capture for months.

Read also: How Russias defeat in Kharkiv Oblast will affect the course of the war  NV analysis

He noted the Russians were continuing their offensive through momentum only in the Avdiyivka and Bakhmut areas.

Slovyansk, Svyatohirsk, the north of Donetsk Oblast are already inaccessible to them, Kuzan said.

Read also: Kremlin says no plans for full mobilization in Russia

They can no longer count on the entire line along the Siverskyi Donets River. But they continue to throw some groups into battle, burning through reserves. And Ill remind you that these are fighters recruited from Donetsk Oblast, as well as convicts from the Wagner (mercenary company).

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
MILAN (Reuters) - Junior bonds in Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) rallied on Tuesday, adding to the previous day's gains, supported by news of possible investor interest in a planned 2.5 billion euro ($2.5 billion) cash call.

Shares in MPS gained 19% on Monday and its subordinated debt rose after sources said state-owned bank's commercial partner Anima Holding was willing to play a role in the capital raising.

MPS' junior debt had come under pressure in recent weeks due to concerns it may be converted into equity to help the Tuscan bank raise money to cover restructuring costs.

MPS CEO Luigi Lovaglio is working to complete the new share issue by the middle of November to finance costly voluntary layoffs, but turbulent markets raise doubts on whether he can see it through.

Prices on MPS junior bonds had fallen to trade at less than half their face value as bankers and analysts said the lender would struggle to find investors at a time when recession fears and Italy's political instability hammer banking shares.

Italy has pledged to cover 64% of the 2.5 billion euros based on its stake in the bank, but MPS must also secure private funds to meet European Union rules on state aid to banks.

Italian asset manager Anima would be ready to contribute up to 250 million euros in capital to MPS as part of a strengthened partnership with the Tuscan bank, a person with knowledge of the matter previously told Reuters.

CEO Lovaglio has not engaged in talks at present with either Anima or France's AXA, MPS' insurance partner, which could also consider revising their commercial agreement in exchange for an upfront cash contribution, according to another person close to the matter.

Lovaglio had said in June he wanted to keep discussions around the cash call separate from those on the partnerships.

Bankers working on the capital raise say strengthening commercial accords would make it harder for MPS to seek a merger with a healthier peer in the future.

By 1527 GMT a July 2029 bond issued by MPS gained 3.38 percentage points in price to 55.25, for a yield of 24.6%, according to Refinitiv data. A Sept. 2030 bond rose 3.88 points to 54.625, yielding 37% ($1 = 0.9839 euros)

(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Agnieszka Flak and Keith Weir)
OLENA ROSHCHINA  MONDAY, 12 SEPTEMBER 2022, 16:40

At least a thousand civilians died while under Russian occupation in Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, and 80% of the city's infrastructure has been destroyed.

Source: Maksym Strelnikov, a member of Izium City Council, at a briefing at Media Centre Ukraine - Ukrinform

Quote from Strelnikov: "On 10 September, the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine was hoisted in Izium again, thanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Now it is appearing on all the houses, on city council premises, and on the highest point in Kharkiv Oblast - Kremianets Mountain...

The Armed Forces, the Security Service of Ukraine and other law enforcement agencies are currently carrying out stabilisation measures in Izium, so that the government and the General Staff [of the Armed Forces of Ukraine] could officially announce this good news which we have been waiting for for so long."

Details: Strelnikov said that the effect of the war on the city of Izium had been devastating.

"As Valerii Marchenko, the Mayor of Izium, noted, more than 80% of the city's entire infrastructure has been destroyed, including private houses and apartment buildings, and enterprises, state institutions, city-owned facilities, as well as industrial facilities. This is true. Unfortunately, the city has been destroyed. The worst thing is that winter is ahead, and the central heating system has been destroyed," he added.

The councillor emphasised that the authorities need to solve this problem as soon as possible.

According to preliminary data, despite the "quiet evacuation", there are still about 10,000 people living in Izium. Strelnikov hopes that the authorities will have time to "do all they need to do so that winter does not catch us off guard."

Hospitals and medicine are also needed.

Information on the number of casualties among the civilian population still needs to be confirmed.

Quote: "According to the information we have, at least a thousand local residents died as a result of the hostilities, but even more people suffered because they did not get timely medical assistance, since the Russian occupiers destroyed all the healthcare facilities in Izium back in March. They were not functioning. Access to medicine was limited. Russian occupiers and marauders looted all the pharmacies.

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Therefore, the issues of medication for residents, and hospitalisation for those who need urgent medical care, are very acute. These issues are the top priority."

Background: The city of Izium in Kharkiv Oblast has been occupied by Russian troops since 2 April 2022. The Russians withdrew from it on 10 September, leaving behind military equipment.

Izium was badly damaged during the fighting. It has no electricity, water or gas.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda!
(Bloomberg) -- Equity traders in China are rapidly positioning for a rally in the onshore market, according to Morgan Stanleys quantitative strategy team, which recommends clients prepare to ride the wave.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Investors in the mainland are unwinding their stock-index hedges at a significant pace, betting that a potential end to Chengdus lockdown and policies to stabilize the yuan will trigger a near-term rebound, strategists including Gilbert Wong and Ronald Ho wrote in a client note dated Sept. 12.

Based on the historical trading pattern, unwinding of hedges amid a market decline usually implies a tactical risk rally, the strategists said. We suggest tactically adding upside market beta exposure.

The team cited three factors in their algorithms that show market sentiment has bottomed. Demand to hedge via CSI 300 and CSI 500 index futures is at the lowest since October 2021, call options are far more popular than bearish puts -- a historical anomaly -- and implied volatility is low. Fridays northbound net inflows were the strongest year-to-date at $2.1 billion, showing some offshore funds are starting to bet on a recovery.

While some investors bet the approaching twice-a-decade party congress will offer stocks a boost, expectations on the gains have been limited given the various macro headwinds.

Premier Li Keqiang last week called for more policies to drive up consumption and stabilize prices, according to a Xinhua report published Monday. Economists forecast Chinas key August data including retail sales and industrial production to show continued weakness when they are released on Friday.

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The CSI 300 Index rose 1.7% last week, its best performance since June. Its still down more than 8% for the quarter amid concerns about the strength of Chinas economy, with a worsening property crisis and tight Covid controls in major cities hurting sentiment.

The gauge rose as much as 0.8% Tuesday as mainland markets reopened following a holiday, while the onshore yuan strengthened as much as 0.22% against the dollar.

Futures tracking the CSI 300 and CSI 500 had an average price of 1.2% and 5.2% below spot levels as of Friday, according to Morgan Stanleys quant team. That means the cost of hedging via index futures is lower that what traders are paying to own the indexes via exchange-traded funds. The price relationship, known as backwardation, is in the 90th percentile, they said.

(Updates to add more detail on futures positioning in final paragraph.)

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After seven months, Russians experiencing shortages of artillery ammunition

Read also: Devastation and evidence of war crimes found in wake of Russian retreat from Kharkiv Oblast

The Kremlin is attempting to leverage the resources of Central Asian countries in its war in Ukraine, the message said.

Read also: How Russias defeat in Kharkiv Oblast will affect the course of the war  NV analysis

Moscow is largely looking to replenish its stockpile of Soviet-made ammunition and spare parts.

According to the report, Russian military procurement recently requested to purchase ammunition for its Uragan rocket artillery from Tajikistan, along with shells for Pion howitzers and armored personnel carrier (APC) engines.

Read also: Ukraines daring counteroffensive, war reparations, and negotiations  an interview with Mykhailo Podolyak

Furthermore, the Russian Defense Ministry has invited retired Tajikistan military service members to sign contracts and fight in Ukraine, the report said.

A stunning Ukrainian counteroffensive has already pushed Russian troops out of Kharkiv Oblast.

Read also: At least 14,059 civilian war casualties in Ukraine, UN says, real number likely higher

On Sept. 12 alone, Kyiv claimed regained control of over 20 settlements in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry hinted that at least 6,000 square kilometers of territory has been liberated since Sept. 1.

The collapse of Russian lines in Kharkiv Oblast has forced Moscow to put planned sham annexation referendums on hold across occupied Ukrainian territories.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
An aerial view of burned trees in the Mosquito fire, which has burned 50,330 acres and is 25% contained. (Tayfun Coskun / Getty Images)

Firefighters continued making progress on a 50,000-acre blaze in Placer and El Dorado counties Tuesday, but shifting winds and "critically dry fuels" led to increased activity in the burn area, fire officials said, as a new wildfire broke out to the north.

The Mosquito fire was 25% contained Tuesday night, growing by 569 acres compared with that morning  from 49,761 acres to 50,330 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Jonathan Pangburn, a fire behavior analyst with the agency, said the area's extremely dry brush and trees  what he called "record-breaking fuels" and "historically dry fuels"  would easily burn as a shift in winds pickedup over the wildfire.

By Tuesday evening, fire officials noted that slightly stronger southeast winds broke up a smoke inversion, when warm air traps smoke and cooler air below, which cleared by midday and led to significantly increased fire activity as levels of available oxygen rose in the area.

A spot fire jumped the Middle Fork of the American River on Tuesday afternoon in the Pond Creek drainage on the west corner of the fire's perimeter, according to Cal Fire.

The spot fire, spurred by dry vegetation, steep terrain and increased ventilation, grew rapidly toward the community of Foresthill.

"Firefighters and resources from around the fire have been diverted to assist with holding this corner of the fire at the contingency lines that have been put in place by crews over the past week below the community," Cal Fire officials said.

Firefighting aircraft aided ground crews in defending structures and working to hold the spot fire.

The fire was continuing to advance to the east in heavily forested areas with extremely dry fuels, fire officials said.

Similar weather conditions were forecast for the next several days.

The Mosquito fire began Sept. 6, in the throes of the state's worst September heat wave.

Watch until the end! Smoke from the #MosquitoFire came racing into Reno/Sparks this afternoon. Smoke is expected to linger in the Tahoe Basin and Greater Reno/Sparks/Carson City/Minden areas through tomorrow. For more information: https://t.co/HbSuxy5V5p pic.twitter.com/udHzLFYBYY  NWS Reno (@NWSReno) September 12, 2022

Meanwhile, a new fire broke out Tuesday afternoon in the community of Dutch Flat, to the north of the Mosquito burn area.

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The Dutch fire was reported shortly before 1 p.m. near Interstate 80 and Ridge Road, according to Cal Fire. It was last reported at 30 acres and 30% containment Tuesday evening.

The California Department of Transportation closed westbound I-80 at its junction with Highway 20 at 2 p.m. As of Tuesday evening, Caltrans officials had not announced when the interstate would reopen.

Before clearing on Tuesday afternoon, smoke from the Mosquito fire damaged air quality across the region, as far as 100 miles to the north and northwest of the blaze, into communities in the northern Sierra foothills and western Nevada. The U.S. Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program warned of "particularly high smoke levels" from the Mosquito fire, especially for Truckee, Reno and Carson City.

Conditions on Monday were "particularly bad," said Edan Lindaman, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno.

Much of the Reno area was affected by unhealthy air quality Tuesday morning, according to the U.S. Air Quality Index, but around Carson City and South Lake Tahoe, the air had significantly improved to "good" or "moderate" levels.

Much of the areas west and northwest of the Mosquito fire  from Foresthill and Colfax and into the Grass Valley  remained in "unhealthy" or "very unhealthy" levels for air quality Tuesday morning.

Meteorologist Ryan Walbrun, with the National Weather Service, called Tuesday a "critical day" for the blaze, given the change in weather, from tropical moisture in the air to some southwest winds.

Much stronger winds aloft, not necessarily down at the surface," Walbrun said. "What thats going to do is allow the fire to ventilate."

Thousands have been forced to evacuate from those areas and others surrounding the blaze, with 46 structures already destroyed in the fire and almost 6,000 more threatened, according to Cal Fire.

Firefighters have been able to steadily increase containment over the last few days, with almost 2,400 crew members assigned to the wildfire.

You could characterize the fire activity as minimal [last night]," said Don Fregulia, a U.S. Forest Service official who led the fire response's night operation. "The work last night, though, was intense, and there was a ton of it going on.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A mother is demanding answers after her 6-year-old daughter was placed on the wrong school bus.

The incident happened at West Newton Elementary School in Newton County on Monday. Channel 2s Larry Spruill was in Newton County, where he talked exclusively to the childs mother, Amber Harris, for Channel 2 Action News at 5 and 6 p.m.

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

Harris said the school put her daughter, Zarielle Hannah on the wrong bus Monday afternoon. When a panicked Harris went to the school to find Zarielle, no one seemed to know where she was.

Harris said she found out about the incident not from school administrators, but from her sons pre-K teacher after he was removed from the same bus.

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She let me know that someone brought him back to her, because the bus that he originally gets on, he was not supposed to be on there, Harris said. What if my baby would have gotten off on the wrong bus stop? Shes only 6 years old.

Harris said that to make matters worse, school officials didnt seem to spring into action quickly enough.

When I went to the school, to let them know my daughter was possibly on the wrong bus, they didnt have any sense of urgency to try and find her to see, if she was on the wrong bus and if she was, where was the bus? I had to go find my daughter, Harris said. A lot of things, went through my head about what could have happen, and thats why I was so upset and angry.

Harris called the bus transportation company and the bus driver brought Zarielle back to the school.

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Spruill reached out to the Newton County School System and got the following statement from the district:

The incident occurred due to a school system miscommunication that led to the child getting on her regular bus route, rather than the newly assigned route. We are grateful that the parent made us aware of this situation, and that the child was always in the presence of school system staff. As we have an ongoing commitment to improving our processes, district personnel are conducting a review of our protocols to identify the gap in communication to ensure that it doesnt happen again.

Harris said shes now considering pulling her children out of the school.
Middle and high school students inclined to bully are more likely to exclude students from their social group or spread rumors about them than beat them up or call them names, a new University of Missouri study found.

Chad Rose, associate professor in the MU College of Education and Human Development, co-authored the study "Survey of Secondary Youth on Relational Aggression: Impact of Bullying, Social Status and Attitudes." It was published in Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth.

Rose also is director of the Mizzou Ed Bully Prevention Lab.

The study looked at the idea of relational aggression, Rose said.

"This is mainly social exclusion or rumor-spreading," he said.

Chad Rose, associate professor in the University of Missouri College of Education and Human Development and director of the Mizzou Ed Bully Prevention Lab

The study used a database of 14,000 students at 26 middle schools and high schools in the southeastern United States. Questions identified pro-bullying attitudes in students based on answers to statements including "I don't care what mean things kids say as long as it's not about me."

Students with pro-bullying ideas have attitudes of dominance, Rose said. The study looked at the perceived popularity of students.

"We found that those kids interested in increasing their popularity tend to socially exclude others more," Rose said.

Few school bullying policies include social exclusion, which Rose said is a shortcoming of relying on policies alone.

"I also talk with schools about embedding social and communication skills in their curriculum," Rose said. "I encourage schools to have both policy and a procedure for doing something."

Social and communication skills are skills that help people engage with each other that we learn over time but are rarely taught, Rose said.

"It's important for schools to include social and emotional development in their curricula along with academics," Rose said.

Other studies show that social exclusion is harmful to its victims.

"Being socially excluded is just as damaging as being picked on physically or verbally," Rose said. "It's just as bad."

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Parents also have an important role in preventing bullying, he said.

"What parents need to do is have open communication with their kids and become genuinely interested in what they're interested in," Rose said. "Try to be a consumer of what they're consuming."

Instead of asking their child how their day was, instead ask what made them laugh today, what they did at recess or other questions that can lead to engaging conversations, he said.

Roger McKinney is the education reporter for the Tribune. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Study: Social exclusion, spreading rumors is common form of bullying
A dozen firefighters are expected to lose their job at the Kennedy Space Center.

NASA is looking to close Station 3, which is the one closest to the Artemis I launchpad. NASA says the station hasnt responded to a call in years.

Closing that station would leave two stations open to respond to calls.

Local 525 president Kevin Smith said he has not been given a good reason for the closing by NASA, but a spokesperson said the station has not responded to any calls in the past five years and the other two stations take 90% of the calls.

Read: NASA announces 2 potential launch windows for Artemis I

Smith said the station does not respond to things like structure fires, but they are there in case of an emergency and respond to calls on Playalinda Beach. Smith said the closure could add about 9 minutes to response times.

Smith said there is also a possibility of layoffs on the Canaveral Air Force side, and if that happens there will be about 30 firefighters without jobs. But those layoffs are not expected to happen immediately.

Read: Scrubbed Artemis I launch: Whats next?

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
By Joey Roulette

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's science chief who oversaw some of the U.S. space agency's ambitious endeavors including the successful deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope and Perseverance Mars rover, is set to step down at the end of the year.

The Swiss-American astrophysicist has served as head of NASA's science mission directorate since 2016, shepherding the agency's roughly 100 such missions. He announced his planned departure in a memo sent to NASA employees on Tuesday.

"This is a difficult decision for me, but I believe it is time for a new beginning - for the directorate and for me," Zurbuchen wrote.

His planned departure comes as NASA focuses heavily on sending astronauts back to the moon and eventually to Mars under its multibillion-dollar Artemis program begun in 2019.

Zurbuchen led the science directorate as it sent NASA's Perseverance rover to the Martian surface, where it has collected rock samples to study whether that planet once may have had conditions conducive to life. The rover's mission also included the flight of a helicopter on another planet for the first time.

NASA launched the Webb telescope, the most powerful space observatory ever built, last December, and in July it began to provide spectacular images of the cosmos.

Zurbuchen's unit played an early role in Artemis with its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, an effort to deploy privately built lunar landers to study the moon's surface before people land there in the next few years.

He also played a crucial role in starting NASA's first-known effort to examine unidentified aerial phenomena - better known as UFOs - assembling a team of civilian scientists to assist a Pentagon program in tracking and detecting mysterious objects in the sky.

"From the diversity of the team he assembled, to delivering countless successful space science missions that have changed our view of the universe, to investing in new and better ways of accomplishing space science goals and growing the overall community, Thomas has been a force for positive change across NASA," said Bobby Braun, the head of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab's space exploration sector.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Will Dunham)
Nearly 300 Korean adoptees in Europe and the United States have filed applications demanding that the South Korean government investigate the circumstances of their adoptions.

Many of the adoptees suspect that their adoption papers contained falsified or distorted information to launder their real identities. During the 1980s, many Korean children were taken from their families during the foreign adoption boom.

The 283 applications that were submitted to Seouls Truth and Reconciliation Commission contain many complaints regarding false or lost biological origins in their adoption papers.

Some adoptees discovered that their adoption agencies had switched their identities with children who had died, were too sick to travel or were taken back by their birth families. The adoptees added that the false adoption documents led them to reunite with relatives who turned out to be strangers. Oftentimes, the limited details in the adoptees papers turn out to be inaccurate information.

More from NextShark: 'We are systematically not represented': Alumni group pushes for Dartmouth's first AAPI studies department

Peter Mller, the attorney and co-founder of the Danish Korean Rights Group, is planning to sue two Seoul-based adoption agencies, Holt Childrens Services and KSS, for not cooperating with adoptees who wish to open their records.

As adoptees increasingly express frustration at the lack of details in their adoption papers, Mller believes that the agencies are creating excuses to avoid suspicions regarding their practices.

Last month, 51 Danish adoptees requested an investigation into their adoptions, which were handled by Holt Childrens Services and KSS. On Tuesday, 232 additional applications were submitted from around the world, including 165 cases from Denmark, 36 from the United States and 31 from Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Germany.

More from NextShark: Report: 1 in 4 Asian New Yorkers lived in poverty in 2020

Seouls Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up in December 2020, and although the deadline for applications is in December of this year, Mller stated that his group will continue to persuade the commission to allow a later submission date so that more adoptees can request for investigations.

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The commission must decide in three or four months whether an investigation will be initiated into the applications submitted by adoptees.

There are many more adoptees that have written us, called us, been in contact with us. They are afraid to submit to this case because they fear that the adoption agencies will  burn the original documents and retaliate, Mller told the Associated Press, noting that such concerns are greater among adoptees who discovered that the agencies had switched their identities.

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Featured Image via AP Archive

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Armenia and Azerbaijan reported nearly 100 troop deaths Tuesday in their worst fighting since a 2020 war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The last wave of fighting over Azerbaijan's tense Armenian-populated enclave ended in a fragile truce brokered by Russia.

But on Tuesday, the defence ministry in Baku said "50 Azerbaijani servicemen died as a result of Armenia's large-scale provocation," while Armenia earlier reported the deaths of at least 49 of its soldiers.

Azerbaijan accused Armenia of violating the ceasefire after a night of clashes that renewed fears of another all-out conflict between the historic foes.

Russia said it had reached a ceasefire between the warring parties that brought several hours of relative calm, but Azerbaijan later accused Armenian forces of "intensely" violating the agreement.

"Despite the declaration of a ceasefire since 09:00 (Moscow time, 0600 GMT), Armenia is intensively violating the ceasefire along the border by using artillery and other heavy weapons," Baku's military said.

Armenia appealed to world leaders for help after the fighting broke out, accusing Azerbaijan of trying to advance on its territory.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the leaders of both countries Tuesday, with his spokesman saying Washington would "push for an immediate halt to fighting and a peace settlement" between the neighbours.

French President Emmanuel Macron called his Azerbaijan counterpart Ilham Aliyev Tuesday to express "great concern" and urge a "return to respecting the ceasefire".

He also called for intensified negotiations and offered to contribute along with the European Union, the Elysee said.

The Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had earlier spoken with Macron, as well as calling Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Blinken to demand a response to "Azerbaijan's aggressive acts".

Tuesday's escalation came as Yerevan's closest ally Moscow -- which deployed thousands of peacekeepers in the region after the 2020 war -- is distracted by its six-month-old invasion of Ukraine.

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Armenia's defence ministry said clashes had subsided after the ceasefire but that the situation on the border was still "extremely tense".

- 'Subversive acts' -

The defence ministry in Yerevan said the clashes started early Tuesday, with Armenian territory coming under fire from artillery, mortars and drones in the direction of the cities of Goris, Sotk, and Jermuk.

"The enemy is trying to advance" into Armenian territory, it said in a statement.

Azerbaijan, however, accused Armenia of "large-scale subversive acts" near the districts of Dashkesan, Kelbajar and Lachin, and said its armed forces were taking "limited and targeted steps, neutralising Armenian firing positions".

Baku's long-standing political and military sponsor Turkey blamed Armenia and urged it instead to "focus on peace negotiations".

Iran, which shares a border with both countries, urged "restraint" and a "peaceful resolution" to the fighting.

The EU and the United Nations expressed concerns over the escalation and called for an end to the fighting.

Before the ceasefire was announced, Armenia's security council asked for military help from Moscow, which is obligated under a treaty to defend Armenia in the event of foreign invasion.

- 'Russia in bad shape' -

Armenian political analyst Tatul Hakobyan said the escalation in fighting was a consequence of the "deadlock" in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks.

"Azerbaijan wants to force Armenia to recognise Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan," he told AFP.

"The war in Ukraine has changed the balance of forces in the region and Russia -- which is a guarantor of peace in the region -- is in a very bad shape.

"In this situation, Azerbaijan wants to get concessions from Armenia as soon as possible," he added.

Last week, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of killing one of its soldiers in a border shootout.

In August, Azerbaijan said it had lost a soldier and the Karabakh army said two of its troops had been killed and more than a dozen wounded.

The neighbours fought two wars -- in the 1990s and in 2020 -- over the region.

The six weeks of brutal fighting in autumn 2020 ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire.

Under the deal, Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades and Moscow deployed about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce.

During EU-mediated talks in Brussels in May and April, Aliyev and Pashinyan agreed to "advance discussions" on a future peace treaty.

Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The ensuing conflict claimed around 30,000 lives.

mkh-eg-im/rox/raz
FIRST ON FOX: The Democratic Party of Nevada is condemning violence on all sides after an elected Las Vegas Democratic official was charged with murdering a local reporter.

The party said it would always condemn any criminal behavior or violence, but refrained from specifically disavowing Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles. On Monday, prosecutors formally charged Telles with murdering Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German, who had written a series of articles critical of Telles, earlier this month.

"The Democratic Party has no control over an individuals voter registration," party spokesperson Gordon Brown told Fox News Digital in an email.

"We condemn criminal behavior by Democrats, Republicans, and even those not registered to vote at all, and we vehemently condemn any violence towards members of the press, who are a vital part of the infrastructure of democracy itself, and who should be able to do their jobs without fear," he continued.

ROBERT TELLES ARREST: ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC AVOID MENTIONING SUSPECT IN JOURNALIST'S MURDER IS A DEMOCRAT

On Thursday, one day after Las Vegas police arrested Telles in connection with the alleged murder, Nevada Democratic Party Chairwoman Judith Whitmer issued a statement similarly avoiding mentioning him by name.

Instead, Whitmer praised German, saying he was a "uniquely talented investigative journalist," and reaffirmed the importance of the freedom of the press.

LAS VEGAS POLICE SAY ROBERT TELLES, SUSPECT IN JOURNALIST'S SLAYING, ALLEGEDLY ATTEMPTED TO DESTROY EVIDENCE

"I was shocked and horrified by the news of the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal journalist Jeff German," Whitmer said in a statement. "Freedom of the press is foundational to our democracy, and this Constitutional right is held as sacred for good reason: a free press serves to hold the powerful accountable, which keeps us all safe, be it from simple graft or from a full descent into fascism."

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"It is deeply disturbing to know that his sense for justice and ethics may have motivated this unconscionable violence against him, and we fervently hope that the investigation into his death leads to justice for the perpetrator," she added.

The criminal complaint filed Monday accused Telles of "lying in wait" at German's home on Sept. 2, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Telles then allegedly stabbed German to death with a knife.

POLICE SEARCH HOME OF DEMOCRAT OFFICIAL IN CONNECTION WITH STABBING OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST JEFF GERMAN

German's body was discovered on the morning of Sept. 3.

Telles was arrested Wednesday evening after DNA evidence linked him to the crime scene, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He is being held without bail.

In May, German published a story that alleged Telles' office was rife with bullying and emotional stress. The article also highlighted claims from employees in the office that Telles was in an "inappropriate relationship" with a staffer.

Telles downplayed the report as allegations made by "the local rightwing paper."

"You may believe I am not the man that I have always portrayed myself to be," he wrote in a post on his campaign website. "Some of you may not know all the good work that I have done for Las Vegas. I hope by the end of this page you will see what I know to be true. The article was false."

In June, Telles lost a primary challenge to his top deputy Rita Reid.

The Clark County Democratic Party didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.
New information about the fiery car crash in Los Angeles that killed six people, including a pregnant mother, her 1-year-old son, and her boyfriend, and which also injured at least five others, has surfaced. The new details reveal Nicole Linton, the driver responsible, intentionally accelerated her vehicle to 130 mph at the time of the deadly crash.

Recent court documents filed by prosecutors claim that Linton, a traveling nurse from Houston, was in a conscious state and deliberate in her driving. Court docs also note that the former nurse, who was driving more than 40 mph faster than the speed authorities originally speculated, deliberately stepped on the gas for at least five seconds before barreling into the busy Windsor Hills intersection on Aug. 4.

Further analysis reveals that her speed at impact was 130 mph and that she floored the gas pedal for at least the 5 seconds leading into the crash, going from 122 mph to 130 mph, a motion filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office stated.

In addition, legal documents acquired by the Los Angeles Times also state that Linton had also been in complete control over steering, maintaining the tilt of the steering wheel to keep her car traveling directly toward the crowded intersection. Lintons driving was further described as a NASCAR-worthy performance.

The documents argue that the speed at which the former nurse was driving debunks the theory that she was unconscious or incapacitated.

News of Lintons speed and consciousness comes after her attorneys have argued that her mental state prior to the crash was questionable, noting her history of mental health struggles, the Los Angeles Times reports.

She has no recollection of the events that led to her collision, Dr. William Winter, who treated Linton at the hospital where she went after the crash, wrote in a filing. The next thing she recalled was lying on the pavement and seeing that her car was on fire.

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Winter described that Linton experienced an apparent lapse of consciousness before the crash.

Lintons family has also confirmed that she struggled with her mental wellness. They said they first noticed her mental health issues in 2018 when she was studying nursing at the University of Texas in Houston. Her sister Camille said that her rigorous studies triggered her first mental breakdown.

The stress was too much for her and it broke her, she wrote. Thus beginning the journey of Nicoles 4-year struggle with mental illness.

Linton allegedly has had several mental breakdowns since then. That same year, Linton was diagnosed as bipolar and was prescribed medication. As Blavity previously reported, Linton has also harmed herself and was involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment multiple times before the crash.

On the day of the tragic crash, People reports that Linton left her job at the hospital during her lunch break and FaceTimed her sister while naked. She briefly returned to work, only to leave again.

According to Meaww, Linton walked away from the crash with non-life-threatening injuries. She was arrested after being discharged from the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She told CHP officers in an interview that she had not slept for four days leading up to the incident.

The nurse was charged with six counts of murder and five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in connection with the crash. A judge has denied Lintons request for bail, and according to the New York Post, a motion to release her from the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Downtown Los Angeles to seek treatment at a psychiatric hospital has also been denied. Lintons legal team seeks to ask another judge to sign an order allowing her to be moved to a county hospital for mental health testing and then transferred back to Twin Towers Correctional.

Linton is facing 90 years or life imprisonment if found guilty of her charges.
By Jody Godoy

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Nikola Corp founder Trevor Milton became a billionaire by lying to investors about the most important aspects of his low-emission vehicle company, a prosecutor told jurors as Milton's fraud trial began on Tuesday.

Prosecutors have said Milton sought to deceive investors about the electric- and hydrogen-powered truck maker's technology starting in November 2019. He left the company in September 2020 after a report by short seller Hindenburg Research called the company a "fraud."

"He lied to dupe innocent investors into buying his companys stock," Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos said in U.S. District Court in New York. "On the backs of those innocent investors taken in by his lies, he became a billionaire virtually overnight."

Milton, 40, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud.

Miltons attorney Marc Mukasey on Tuesday called the case "prosecution by distortion" and said the entrepreneur sought to express a vision about the future of trucking, not mislead investors.

Milton was "stoked" on the company's plans and had a good faith basis for his statements, Mukasey said. The attorney also took aim at a 2018 video prosecutors later showed jurors of a truck appearing to drive on its own power when it was actually rolling down a hill.

"As far as I know, it's not a federal crime to use special effects in a car commercial," he said.

Prosecutors allege Milton "doubled down" on earlier lies when the company went public. Nikola has said it did not claim the truck was moving under its own power, only that it was "in motion."

Milton's attorneys also have indicated they will argue other top executives at Nikola, including its general counsel, approved of Milton's statements.

U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos on Monday oversaw the selection of a panel of 12 jurors and four alternates in federal court in Manhattan.

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Milton was indicted last year. Prosecutors said he made false statements about Nikola's progress on developing its technology as the company joined the mounting number of tech and electric vehicle companies going public through special purpose acquisition vehicles or SPACs.

Milton's statements on social media and in podcasts targeted retail investors who piled into the stock market during COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns, they said. Milton also stands accused of defrauding the seller of a Utah ranch, who said in a civil lawsuit that he accepted Nikola stock options as part of the purchase price based on the former CEO's claims about the company.

Nikola has spent more than $20 million on Milton's legal defense so far, according to its public filings.

The company went public in June 2020 through a reverse merger with VectoIQ Acquisition Corp. Nikola's market value topped $33 billion that month, but has since fallen below $3 billion.

Nikola agreed in December to pay $125 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's claims that the company defrauded investors by misleading them about its products, technical advancements and commercial prospects.

(Reporting by Jody Godoy and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
By Sam Nussey

TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares in Nintendo Co Ltd jumped 5% on Tuesday after the Japanese gaming company reported record domestic launch sales for its shooter "Splatoon 3" on the Switch console.

The latest "Splatoon" title, in which players engage in an inky turf war, sold more than 3.45 million units in the three days following its Sept. 9 launch.

That exceeds launch sales of games such as "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" and "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate", which have sold 39.4 million and 28.8 million units globally.

The strong early numbers point to the ongoing appeal of the Switch console, which has an install base of 111 million units, in its sixth year on the market and Nintendo's continued ability to generate crowd pleasing hits.

Investors are gauging the extent of industry deacceleration as a stay-at-home boom during the COVID-19 pandemic that drove sales of island life simulator "Animal Crossing" unwinds.

The industry has delayed high profile titles into next year, with Nintendo pushing back the release of the hotly awaited sequel to "Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild".

The Kyoto-based firm has a robust release schedule ahead of the year-end shopping season, with two Pokemon titles due to launch in November.

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
Sep. 12BISMARCK  North Dakota's 9 1/2 -day youth deer season starts at noon CDT on Friday, Sept. 16, for licensed youth hunters, the Game and Fish Department said in a reminder.

Residents who are 11, 12 or 13 years old in 2022 can hunt statewide for antlerless white-tailed deer.

Resident deer gun hunters who are 14 or 15 in 2022 can hunt statewide with a youth season license for any deer, except for antlered mule deer in units 3B1, 3B2, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E and 4F, where a special license is required.

After opening day, hunting hours are a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset. Orange clothing is required for youth hunters and mentors.

Each young deer hunter must be under direct supervision of an adult. The adult is prohibited from carrying a firearm or bow while accompanying the youth hunter in the field during the youth season.

The youth deer season closes Sunday, Sept. 25.
A North Texas middle school teacher was found shot to death in her Josephine home Sunday, and the body of her husband also was discovered in the residence.

The woman was 40-year-old Lacie Moore, an English teacher in the Wylie school district in Collin County.

Lacie Moore was a huge ray of sunshine!! according to a GoFundMe account established by Natalie Strahl of Nevada, Texas. Lacie was a great mother, friend, teacher, daughter  just a great human. To know her, was to love her.

Friends and family members have already raised more than $10,000 in the GoFundMe account as of Tuesday for the family of Lacie Moore. The goal had been $10,000 and it was raised to $15,000 on Tuesday.

Josephine police responded to reports of shots fired Sunday in the 700 block of Mallard Drive, where the couple were found shot to death in their home. Josephine is about 70 miles northeast of Fort Worth in Collin County.

Josephine police said that the shooting was an isolated incident and they were not searching for suspects.

Moores family told WFAA-TV that she was the victim of a murder-suicide.

Moore was an English/language arts teacher at Davis Intermediate School in the Wylie district.

Before that, she had taught for several years in Community ISD in Nevada, Texas..

The GoFundMe account noted that Moores children were safe and with their grandmother and family.

Wylie ISD officials informed parents of Moores death Monday and sent the following statement to WFAA-TV:

Our Wylie ISD family is devastated by the passing of Lacie Moore, Davis Intermediate teacher. Mrs. Moore positively impacted the lives of so many students, and we are heartbroken by the loss of this incredible teacher and even better person. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. Moores family during this tremendously difficult time.

A friend, Sarah Kramer, praised Moore as her sons teacher. Kramers son, who has autism and ADHD, struggled in school until he met Moore, she told WFAA.

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I was so lucky because she changed my sons life and my life too, Kramer said.

She saw what a kid needed. And if they needed a friend, she was that, Kramer told WFAA. If they needed a parent, she was that. If they just needed somebody just to listen, she was that. And she was so good at personalizing her care for all her kids.

The GoFundMe account also touted Moore as a teacher.

She was always a light to every child she interacted with. She made learning fun, and provided her students a safe place to be themselves, according to the website. Her life was unexpectedly and tragically cut too soon.
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP)  Its less than ten minutes walk from the Falls Road to the Shankill Road in Northern Ireland's capital, where Catholics and Protestants still live in segregated enclaves.

But to hear people in these adjoining neighborhoods explain their almost diametrically opposite views of the British monarchy, it might as well be 1,000 miles.

And so as King Charles III arrived in Northern Ireland for the first visit since his mothers death elevated him to the throne, the voices of Belfast offered a sharp reminder of the countrys persistent, complicated and, at times, bloody political realities.

On the street residents call The Shankill -- center of a Protestant neighborhood with a long history of loyalty to the crown -- British flags fluttered over shops and from light poles. At the foot of a giant mural of a young Elizabeth II proclaiming her the peoples monarch, many proud to be her subjects came bearing flowers and notes of emotional farewell.

We swore our allegiance to the queen and she stuck by us, said Jacqueline Humphries, 58, once a soldier in the Ulster Defence Regiment, established by the British Army to police Northern Ireland during the decades of sectarian violence known as The Troubles. I think Charles will do just as good a job. She trained him well.

Not half a mile away on the Falls Road -- the nationalist stronghold that served as base for the Irish Republican Army and its decades-long guerrilla campaign against British rule -- those heading to work Tuesday brushed off any suggestion that Charles visit could validate the crowns claim to Northern Ireland.

They can believe that, but we still believe we will get a united Ireland, said Paul Walker, 55, walking past a 3-story-high mural of Bobby Sands, an IRA militant who died while on a hunger strike in prison in 1981.

Charles is not our king. Bobby Sands was our king here, said 52-year-old Bobby Jones. Queen never done nothing for us. Never did. None of the royals do.

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Walker and others said Queen Elizabeth II had earned a measure of respect, if never affection, for her decision in 2012 to shake hands with Martin McGuinness, the former IRA commander who went on to serve as Northern Irelands deputy first minister. But Charles is unwelcome.

He wont be up here much. We dont have a place for Charles, said a man named Christy, 61, who like others declined to provide his full name, pointing to Belfasts fading, but brutally memorable, record of retribution on both sides.

The new king walked a delicate line Tuesday, thanking Northern Ireland officials for their condolences and praise of his mother for her efforts to foster reconciliation.

The queen, he said, felt deeply, I know, the significance of the role she herself played in bringing together those whom history had separated, and in extending a hand to make possible the healing of long-held hurts.

It's not clear, though, if Charles will benefit from goodwill earned by his mother. She had decades to build a reputation as a steadfast leader even in the most difficult of times; not so, her son, who some see as aloof. And nowhere else in the lands that make up this less than United Kingdom is the divide over the crown so fierce.

Most of Ireland gained independence from Britain in 1921 after a guerrilla war. But Northern Ireland, where a Protestant majority favored Britain, remained a part of the United Kingdom.

The shaky peace exploded in August 1969 with sectarian violence after protests by the Catholic minority for civil rights. The British Army sent in forces, ostensibly to contain the violence and protect Catholics.

Army in Control Here For At Least Four Months, warned the front page of The Irish News, now displayed in a museum of IRA history just off the Falls Road.

Instead, The Troubles lasted nearly 30 years, resulting in the deaths of more than 3,000 people.

A few minutes in either neighborhood is all it takes to unearth memories of the violence and the gaping divide over the role of the British government.

Once you saw the Brits, once you saw the police, you went running the other way because you were guilty before you innocent, said Damian Burns, a postal worker, walking to work past the offices of Sinn Fein, the political party long affiliated with the IRA that is now the largest in Northern Ireland's power-sharing government.

The Sinn Fein bookstore onsite sells posters with a portrait of Sands over the slogan: England Get Out of Ireland.

Over on the Shankill, Humphries, now a housing assistance counselor, recalled that when The Troubles started she was living in an area mixed with both Protestants and Catholics. After joining the British-allied military she received death threats from the Irish National Liberation Army, forcing a move to the loyalist neighborhood where she has lived ever since. Others on both sides also moved to be near those like them, and the city became even more divided.

The royal family was not immune to the violence. In 1979, the IRA assassinated Lord Louis Mountbatten, a cousin of the queen and mentor to Charles , detonating a bomb planted aboard his fishing boat. Three others also died.

The Troubles finally ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. But all these years later, the Falls Road and the Shankill remain divided from one another by a Peace Line -- high walls with steel gates that are still closed each evening.

Charles, unwanted by some here and unproven to others, will have to thread his way carefully through the volatility. But it could offer valuable lessons - at least in what not to do - for the new monarch. In Scotland, where a referendum on independence from Britain was narrowly defeated in 2014, rhetoric remains heated and officials are pushing for a follow-up vote. In Wales, too, some people bridle at being kept under London's control.

Residents of Belfast will be watching closely, regardless of their allegiances.

On the Falls Road of 25 or 30 years ago, the queen was vilified as a symbol of British oppression, said Walker, who is confident the two Irelands will eventually be united.

He wont change his mind about that, he said, but even with a bitter past, hes become more willing to see the queen, who was 96, as more than a foe.

She was, after all, someones grandmother.

Its always in the back of your mind who these people are, he said, "and not just that theyre the head of military forces.

___

AP National Writer Adam Geller is on assignment in the United Kingdom covering the queens death. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/adgeller
Nursing care for Loren Avalos and her newborn changed at 7 a.m. Monday, when regular nurses at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park walked off their jobs in a three-day strike over pay and staffing levels.

Only two replacement nurses took over care of fragile infants in the hospital's special care nursery, where there had been four. Loren's husband, Edwin, said the nurses seemed proficient but needed prompts for things the regulars had provided intuitively  like warmed-up bottles for feedings and ibuprofen for his wife's pain.

"We had been used to having the nurses stop by and asking us pretty consistently if things were needed," said Avalos, whose son was born Saturday and admitted to the nursery because of feeding difficulties. "After the strike started, it seemed like we would have to buzz them every single time."

Striking nurses said they hoped their protest would improve the care of patients by increasing staffing levels and boosting pay to stem the rush of colleagues leaving hospital work. As the strike entered its second day, one lingering question was what, if any, patient harm occurred in the meantime.

The strike by as many as 15,000 nurses involves the Allina, Children's and Fairview systems in the Twin Cities along with Methodist and North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale. St. Luke's and Essentia hospitals in Duluth also are part of the strike.

Hospital leaders said efforts to maintain safe care were under way long before the strike started, including contracts with staffing agencies to bring in thousands of replacement nurses to take over inpatient roles. Day One offered optimism over the number and quality of the replacement nurses, who came from across the country to provide stopgap care at double or more the usual wages.

"We are fully staffed and extremely pleased with the quality of the replacement RNs," said a statement from St. Luke's on Monday. "We are not on divert for medical patients and have accepted every patient from the region who needs our care."

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One of the few U.S. studies on patient outcomes during nursing strikes examined New York hospitals from 1984 to 2004 and found a 19% increase in patient mortality and a 6% increase in re-admissions during these actions. The results are more applicable to longer work stoppages, though, as the 2010 study was based on strikes with median lengths of 19 days.

Studies in other countries have found modest or no effects. Danish researchers in 2016 found shorter durations of breastfeeding among mothers who gave birth in hospitals under strike, possibly because of shorter lengths of stay and fewer midwife consultations.

Minnesota's experience of a 37-day nursing strike against Allina hospitals in the fall of 2016 doesn't offer much clarity. One high-profile event during that strike involved a medication error by a replacement nurse that severely injured an asthmatic patient.

State records show 144 deaths in September 2016 at the four Allina hospitals under strike that month, compared with an average of 130 in the month of September between 2012 and 2019. However, deaths in hospitals increased overall in Minnesota in September 2016, so other influences could have been at work.

Avalos' experience at Methodist was more about nuisances in patient care rather than life-or-death outcomes. After the switch to strike staffing, Avalos said he directed the new nurses where to find diapers, linens or other supplies  though that changed after they became familiar with the unit.

The OB treatment team quickly arranged to discharge Avalos' wife after her delivery on Monday, but then the couple waited for six hours for final clearance to leave. None of it was helpful at a time when the parents just wanted to see their son consume a full bottle of donor breast milk and not need a feeding tube  the key goal before he could be discharged from the hospital nursery.

"The strike has just added more stress," the father said. "It's already a stressful situation."

Strikes by nurses have generally been found to be ethical in free-market health care systems of competing interests. Former St. Cloud State philosophy professor Paul Neiman said his 2011 article on the morality of such actions is truer today because of the understaffing of hospitals.

"I fear we reach a point where health care enters a death spiral," said Neiman, who is now at Weber State University in Utah. "Nurses are already leaving the profession in large numbers, many of whom are burned out from two-plus years of the pandemic. The resulting short staffing increases the stress on nurses, which creates more pressure on nurses to leave the profession."

Nurses on the picket lines Tuesday said they felt for the patients they left in the hospitals this week but were resolved in their decision to strike. Children's Minnesota ER nurse Kathy Misk said the demand to take more and more patients each shift raises the risk of medication errors and other harms. Any parent with multiple kids could appreciate the pressure, she said.

"You know that feeling when the neighborhood kids come over and now you're watching six kids?" she said. "Where one is in the fridge and one is in the garage and one is in the backyard on your trampoline and you're afraid he's going to die? That's what it feels like."

The compromise solution remains unclear. The negotiating hospital systems and nurses share the goal of nurse retention and recruitment but have differing ideas on how to achieve it. The nurses have asked for pay raises of 30% over three years to incentivize colleagues to stay in the profession, but hospitals at a time of financial losses have offered just over 10% over three years.

No negotiations are scheduled during the strike, so the differences will remain when the labor action ends. The transition Thursday could involve continued use of the replacement nurses, hired under five-day contracts, while the regular nurses are phased back into their scheduled shifts.

Avalos discussed his family's experience to accentuate the needs of patients in the middle of such labor battles. Having observed both the regular and replacement nurses over the past week, he has noticed one thing in common.

"The thing that's really getting to me," he said, "is they all seem so busy, all the time."
Dorothy Hirsch, the widow of alleged Duck Sauce Killer Glenn Hirsch, has claimed to be a victim of her late husbands sadistic and violent behavior for decades  including a 1995 incident when she was allegedly tortured and raped in a motel room.

Glenn, 51, was accused of fatally shooting Chinese food delivery worker Zhiwen Yan in Queens, New York City, on April 30. Investigators traced his motive to a months-long beef with Great Wall, the restaurant Yan had worked in, which allegedly started from a duck sauce dispute.

After being arrested, charged and released on a $500,000 bail, Glenn was found dead in his Briarwood apartment on Aug. 5, apparently shooting himself and leaving a suicide note.

More from NextShark: Sikh man's lawsuit alleges Sutter County delayed hate crime investigation, cops washed away evidence

Dorothy, 62, was arrested on June 3 after authorities found eight firearms and more than 200 rounds of ammunition in her separate Briarwood home. Earlier this month, she was indicted on nine counts of criminal possession of a weapon, eight counts of criminal possession of a firearm and one count of unlawful possession of ammunition.

Dorothys legal counsel has since sought the dismissal of her charges. In a new court filing, defense lawyer Mark Bederow detailed Glenns history of abuse, which he says prosecutors had known before greenlighting Dorothys arrest.

Glenns acts of brutality against Dorothy (before and during their marriage) included sadistic and violent sexual abuse, striking, cutting and menacing her with weapons, punching her, slapping her, threatening to kill her, extortion and contempt, Bederow wrote.

More from NextShark: Thai former OnlyFans creator claims monk sexually harassed him, wanted to film porn

One notable alleged incident occurred on Dec. 19, 1995, before the couple were married.

According to Dorothy, Glenn held her captive in a motel room, where she was stripped, pistol-whipped, handcuffed, gagged, blindfolded and raped multiple times. She also accused her late husband of cutting her in the stomach and ribs with a knife, as well as striking her with a ruler, a radio antenna and his own fists, as per the New York Daily News.

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More from NextShark: NYC Asian American activist mistook for Michelle Go at a vigil for Christina Yuna Lee by ABC News

Between that year and 2007, Glenn had been arrested at least four times for violent incidents involving his wife. Those include claims of assault, rape, and verbal and physical threats.

If you go to the police or leave me, I will kill you; I will kill your family, Glenn allegedly told Dorothy on Jan. 17, 2007, as per the New York Post. While police arrested him and found 100 rounds of ammunition and a gravity knife in his possession, that case was eventually dismissed.

More from NextShark: 40% of AAPI LGBTQ youth considered suicide over the past year, report finds

Bederow insists that Glenns history of abuse is relevant to Dorothys case.

The DA knew before arresting Dorothy that Glenn abused her for years. That evidence obviously is relevant to her defense that she didnt know the guns were in HIS closet because she wouldnt dare question him or snoop through the junk he stored, he told the New York Daily News.

The District Attorneys Office, on the other hand, declined to provide further statements.

As alleged, the defendant was found in possession of a cache of illegal weapons, District Attorney Melinda Katz said on Sept. 2, according to the New York Post. These deadly guns, which were recovered in an apartment that she alone owns and occupies, pose an inherent danger to countless nearby residents and the community at large.

Featured Image via FOX 5 New York
IRYNA BALACHUK  TUESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2022, 09:10

Russia has already lost 53,300 soldiers, 2,175 tanks and 4,662 armoured combat vehicles in the war with Ukraine.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook

Details: Total approximate losses of the enemy between 24 February to 13 September 2022 are estimated to be [figures in parentheses represent the latest losses - ed.]:

approximately 53,300 (+350) military personnel

2,175 (+7) tanks

4,662 (+22) armoured fighting vehicles

1,279 (+10) artillery systems

311 (+0) multiple-launch rocket systems

165 (+3) air defence systems

244 (+1) fixed-wing aircraft

213 (+0) helicopters

904 (+1) operational-tactical level UAVs

233 (+17) cruise missiles

15 (+0) ships and boats

3 469 (+6) vehicles and tankers

117 (+0) other vehicles and equipment

Russian troops suffered their heaviest losses on the Kharkiv and Donetsk fronts.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda!
Office of Management and Budget Tribal Policy Advisor Elizabeth Carr. (photo: Indian Health Services)

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which develops and executes the presidents budget, announced it has appointed Elizabeth Carr (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) to the new permanent Tribal Policy Advisor position.

The position was created to advocate for the needs of Indian Country and ensure the office meets priorities for Indigenous communities.

Carr is the former senior advisor to the director of the Indian Health Service. She previoulsy worked as senior Native affairs advisor with the National Indigenous Womens Resource Center, Inc.

This position is historic  the first of its kind at OMB, created out of conversations with Tribal leaders  and will be instrumental in coordinating Tribal priorities across OMBs budgetary, management, and regulatory functions, while working with other key leaders at the White House and across the entire Administration, Shalanda Young, director of the OMB, said in a statement.

The National Council of Urban Indian Health  a nonprofit supporting the development of culturally competent health services for Native Americans living in urban areas  applauded the news.

NCUIH looks forward to collaborating with OMB on long-standing issues impacting access to health care for urban Native communities including providing continuity of funding during continuing resolutions and shutdowns, which have needlessly cost Native lives, Francys Crevier (Algonquin), CEO of The National Council of Urban Indian Health, said in a statement.

The statement added that the National Council of Urban Indian Health and tribal leaders have long advocated for a permanent position dedicated to Indigenous health care within the OMB.

In April 2021, National Indian Health Board Chairman William Smith (Valdez Native Tribe) wrote to the OMB in response to its initiation of tribal consultation with tribal leaders, part of President Bidens memorandum ensuring his commitment to strengthening nation-to-nation relationships.

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After decades of neglect in this space, the development of an OMB consultation policy is truly an historic first step, Smith wrote in the letter. NIHB is encouraged by OMBs commitment to build Tribal consultation into their DNA.

He recommended several ways the office could improve its communication with and service to tribal nations, including: informed tribal-decision making; establishing a tribal advisory committee to provide OMB direct communication with tribal leaders; and moving away from competitive grant funding and towards formula-based funding.

About the Author: "Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at editor@nativenewsonline.net. "

Contact: news@nativenewsonline.net
An inmate found dead inside his cell at an Oklahoma jail was in the middle of a legal battle sparked by allegations of mistreatment at the facility, including that he was forced to stand in a dark room while jail officials played the earworm Baby Shark on a loop for hours on end as a form of torture.

John Basco, 48, was found unresponsive in his cell early Sunday morning at the Oklahoma County Detention Center. He was pronounced dead despite life-saving efforts implemented by jail staff, marking the 14th death at the facility this year, officials said Monday.

Jail spokesman Mark Opgrande said there were no obvious signs of foul play and that investigators are probing whether drugs were a factor.

Basco, who was booked into the facility Thursday on a drug trafficking complaint, was among a group of plaintiffs who filed suit against Oklahoma County in federal court after jail staff allegedly handcuffed him to a wall, and then forced him to listen to the song Baby Shark on repeat during an incident in 2019.

Basco said the officers made him stand and listen to the catchy tune for about two hours straight.

Baby Shark, a decades-old nursery rhyme, went viral in 2019, a few years after a Korean childrens entertainment company recorded a music video for the song, which currently boasts more than 11 billion views on YouTube. It has a history, like other music, of being used as a device to torment, the Oklahoma lawsuit said.

Clinical psychologist John Mayer noted in the suit, filed in November 2021, that music can be hard on the ears.

Certain pitches hit the auditory receptors in ways that are physiologically painful, he said per the lawsuit. These are high-pitched tones and screechy elongated sounds, like nails across a blackboard.

Basco boasted a lengthy criminal record dating back to the mid 1990s, mostly for drug, property and firearms crimes. In 2000, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a second-degree murder conviction. He was released in 2007, records show.

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The State Medical Examiners Office will determine the cause of death.

Im really bothered by this, his attorney, Cameron Spradling, said. One of the Baby Shark victims is conveniently dead within three days of his arrival at the jail. How does that happen? District Attorney David Prater just lost one of his witnesses for the upcoming criminal trial. For me, this one does not pass the smell test.

With News Wire Services
Former president Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a rally to support local candidates at the Mohegan Sun Arena on September 03, 2022 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The DOJ has agreed to one of Trump's nominees for special master in their probe of misplaced WH docs.

The DOJ said that a former NY District Judge appointed by Reagan was fit to play the role.

Trump's other choice was rejected by DOJ lawyers, who said he lacked experience.

The Department of Justice has signed off on one of former President Donald Trump's candidates to serve as special master and sift through the thousands of White House documents Trump stored at Mar-a-Lago.

The DOJ said in court filings that it would allow Raymond Dearie, 78, former Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, to act as special master, according to Reuters.

While Trump's team has rejected all of the DOJ's picks, the department's approval of Dearie marks a rare mutual agreement in the ongoing legal battle.

And on Wednesday, Florida judge Aileen Cannon appointed Dearie as the special master, and denied the DOJ's request for at least 100 classified documents to be turned directly over to investigators instead of the special master, dealing an early blow to federal prosecutors in their probe, according to court filings.

Dearie will have until November 30 to review the trove of over 11,000 documents, Aileen wrote in her ruling.



Dearie, 78, was nominated by Ronald Reagan and served in the US District court from 1986 to 2011. In 2012, he was appointed by Supreme Court Justice John Roberts to a 7-year term on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, where he oversaw requests by federal investigators for surveillance warrants against suspected foreign intelligence agents inside the United States.

In his role as a judge in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Dearie was one of five Republican-appointed judges who signed off on FISA warrants to surveil a former Trump advisor, Carter Page, to investigate his ties to the Russian government. Two of the four approved warrants were later declared invalid after the Inspector General found a series of misstatements and omissions in the applications by the FBI to get the court warrants to eavesdrop on Page.

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Dearie has presided over numerous high-profile cases in New York. According to BBC, Dearie was the chief judge for several cases related to the corruption probe into officials at FIFA, the global soccer organization.

Last Thursday, the Department of Justice appealed a federal judge's decision to appoint a special master to review specific classified files among the over 11,000 documents that Trump took with him from the White House. Trump's case and the move to appoint a special master opened an unprecedented Pandora's box of concerns for national security experts.

By the end of last week, the parties had submitted their list of proposed candidates, which included three former judges and Paul Huck Jr., former counsel to the Governor of Florida. The DOJ said that it did not believe Huck had the experience necessary.

In earlier filings, Trump's team asked a judge to deny the DOJ's request for them to have access to classified records.

If a special master is indeed chosen, he or she would likely need to have the highest national security clearance level in the US. Ultimately, judges appoint special masters based on their expertise, so in this case, the special master would have to be deeply embedded in the national security realm, experts told Insider.

As it stands, the special master would be tasked with reviewing all of the documents that were lugged to Mar-A-Lago, including the 11,000 general records as well as the 100 documents marked as classified, with the goal of determining whether any of the documents are protected by attorney-client privilege or executive privilege.

It's still unclear if Dearie has, or would need, top secret special compartment and intelligence clearance, TSSCI, which is the highest level of national security clearance, for the review.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Ukrainian soldier passes by a Russian tank damaged in a battle in a just-freed territory in the Kharkiv region on Sunday. (Associated Press)

Nobody knows anything, William Goldman, the legendary screenwriter said. Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one.

Im starting to think the same thing is true of foreign policy. Culminating over the weekend, the Ukrainian military has achieved some remarkable victories over their Russian invaders in the northeast of Ukraine. The scope and speed of the victories seem to have surprised everyone, starting with the Russians, who abandoned vast amounts of materiel as they fled in panic  or as the Russians put it, regrouped. Its the most significant Ukrainian victory since they thwarted Russias assault on Kyiv in March.

Except for Russia and its fan club, everyone  markets, politicians and media alike  was pleasantly surprised by Ukraines success.

Surprise seems to be an overarching theme in foreign policy these days. After all, many of the same people were surprised by Vladimir Putins invasion in the first place. They were shocked again by Ukraines success in thwarting Putins plan for a quick, surgical, decapitate-and-conquer special military operation. The White House (and probably the Kremlin, too) was stunned when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky refused to flee  sorry regroup  reportedly telling American officials: The fight is here. I need ammunition, not a ride.

There have been other Ukraine-related surprises, for both the Russians and the West. From Russias willingness to use barbaric tactics in plain view to Germanys willingness to reverse decades of pacifism to aid the war effort. Few  especially Putin  thought that Sweden and Finland would join NATO almost immediately in response to the invasion. Various diplomats have been shocked to learn that sanctions and condemnations have had little of their intended effect on Russia.

This is all against the backdrop of other surprises. Many Afghans and Americans alike were startled by Bidens sudden withdrawal from Afghanistan. Whether the Pentagon was blindsided by Bidens decision is debated, but the collapse of the Afghan army clearly took us all by surprise as Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III admitted.

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The Trump years were so full of surprises its difficult to catalog them all, in part because Trump relished being a bull in a China shop. The success of the Abraham Accords took the foreign policy establishment off-guard. But Trumps coddling of dictators mystified our allies.

Before that, the Obama administration didnt foresee how their Russian reset wouldnt work. Nor did they see Putins seizure of Crimea coming until it was a near fait accompli. They also failed to understand the threat posed by ISIS.

The Bush years involved one shock after another, starting with the Sept. 11 attack 21 years ago Sunday. The weapons of mass destruction American intelligence agencies, as well as their counterparts in Britain, expected to find in Iraq never materialized. And the Bush administration was caught flatfooted by the Iraqi insurgency.

Indeed, ever since the end of the Cold War  another big surprise!  the world has refused to comply with the confident assurances of the experts. Chinas rise stems in part from the confident bipartisan bet by politicians and policymakers that inclusion in the global trading order would put China on the path to democratization. I still think thats possible, but its worth noting that the experts now all agree it isnt.

Whats the lesson here? I dont think its that experts are never right. No doubt all sorts of shocks to the system were avoided because the experts headed them off. Averted crises are a lot less visible than un-averted ones. But all of these surprises do suggest a little humility is in order. Tactics and strategy  even the right ones  can be thwarted by the law of unintended consequences.

The most important lesson, however, is that principles, unlike strategies, dont change with events. Firm public commitment to principles is often the best way to prevent unpleasant surprises because most surprises come from your adversaries suspicion that you lack the resolve to adhere to them. Al Qaeda attacked us because they believed we wouldnt fight. Putin invaded Ukraine because he believed NATO lacked resolve and the Ukrainians werent serious about their nationhood.

Clear principles  and credibility that we will act on them  is the best deterrence and the author of all worthwhile strategy.

@JonahDispatch

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Ukrainians living in Krakow, Poland, and their supporters are seen during a protest on the 200th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Sept. 11, 2022. (Photo: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Ukrainians living in Krakow, Poland, and their supporters are seen during a protest on the 200th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Sept. 11, 2022. (Photo: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, then there is a very high probability that Russian propaganda will argue this creature is a tiger. In the world Russians live in today, a tiger may well have wings, a beak, and flippers  if the Kremlin so desires. But in this reality, even darker things are possible.

In Russia, nearly a quarter of the population do not have sewage facilities, but missiles are seen as a priority.

In Russia, its leaders can weaponize almost one-quarter of the worlds natural gas reserves, but almost one-third of households cannot heat their homes.

In Russia, they love greatness. But this most nebulous of concepts is never measured by economic development, well-being or quality of life. The Russians measure it by fear.

Terror is a part of life in Russia. Paranoia is drummed into its citizens. This has tragic consequences for the outside world. Because Russians fear themselves and what they have become, they seek comfort from harassing others with their power.

In their view, the more people in the world that suffer at the hands of the Russian government, the mightier their state becomes.

In Russia, a death cult reigns supreme. In a country that claims to be a pillar of Christianity, children are taught from a young age that they may very well have to die to promote the glory of the state. Earlier this month, Vladimir Solovyov, a Kremlin propagandist, was filmed telling schoolchildren that A Russian person is always ready to die. We never know when the Motherland will say: You must!

Years ago, the pop artist Sting famously sang, I hope the Russians love their children, too. I recalled that song in March when I heard a recording of a Russian serviceman as he called his wife from a newly captured town in the Kyiv region. He boasted how he had robbed a Ukrainian familys home to provide supplies for his own. Thousands of such cases have been documented.

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Many Russian soldiers come from the poorest regions. Looting in Ukraine has become an easy way to improve the living standards of their loved ones.

A mother giving up on her son after he was captured in Ukraine is also a manifestation of love in the warped reality of Russia. When a Ukrainian journalist called her to say her child was in captivity and sitting beside him, the mother replied that she didnt have a son before hanging up.

In the United States, you may be shocked to hear of such callousness. But we can understand this woman. Since Soviet times, Russian prisoners of war have been considered traitors and their relatives often suffer repression.

In the basket case that is Russia today, encouraging your husband to maraud through the Kherson region and rape Ukrainian women is probably nothing more than a manifestation of love. In Russia, truth is almost always more terrible than fiction.

Of course, other soldiers do not seek permission. The Russian military has used sexual violence as a tool of terror. We have collected thousands of documented cases involving women, men and children.

Last week, following six weeks of negotiations, Russia returned the body of Paul Urey, a British aid worker, to Ukraine. He had been captured in April while evacuating civilians from the combat zone in the Zaporizhzhya region.

In July, the Russians reported that Urey had died due to illness and stress. On Sept. 7, we saw what kind ofillness he had suffered and what kind of stress he had experienced, as his body was returned with signs of possible unspeakable torture.

Hostage-taking are everyday occurrences for the Russian armed forces.

The Security Service of Ukraine has thousands of such records. From the Mykolaiv region, from Kherson, from Chernihiv  from everywhere Russian soldiers put on their boots. But can we, in all honesty, call them soldiers?

Have these servicemen not simply been dehumanized? Perverted by a toxic culture and brainwashed by a sinister propaganda machine, Russia has created a terrifying bloodlust within its armed forces and wider population.

This is the reality of a state whose citizens are no longer able to tell the difference between good and evil, or simply right and wrong. A state where the car industry is now reliant not on market demand, but the bodies of the dead.

In Ukraine, we were astonished to see online videos showing relatives of those Russians killed in action joyfully exchanging their compensation for Ladas. Is this joy sincere? It is hard to tell.

After all, the only empire that Russia has ever successfully built is an empire of lies. Here, they call fascists those whom they want to conquer and destroy. Here, the war is called a special operation. Here, the invaders are named liberators. Being a mercenary is prohibited by law, but mercenaries are legally hired all the same. Looting is seen as an achievement. Rapists, torturers and butchers are considered heroes.

Russia does not fight terrorists: It pays them for their service. It raises its children to become terrorists. It incites its citizens to terrorism. Regardless of where they are involved  in the official armed forces, in the unofficial ranks of Wagner, in the FSB, the GRU, Gazprom, or Rosatom  they all perform the same function. Their overarching objective is to sow terror and hatred, murder and threaten, coerce and blackmail. They are told all this is for the glory of the Russian Land, Terra Russia.

So, isnt it time to finally call it by its real name?

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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Oprah Winfrey has sparked a debate over her role in the tensions between Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and members of the royal family after suggesting that Queen Elizabeth IIs passing provides an opportunity for peacemaking.

Winfrey, who spoke with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during a wide-ranging interview about their time as working members of the royal family in March 2021, suggested that the mourning period for the monarch may allow reconciliation, during an interview with Extra.

Well, this is what I think, the talk-show host said on Monday. I think in all families  you know, my father passed recently, this summer, and when all families come together for a common ceremony, the ritual of, you know, burying your dead, theres an opportunity for peacemaking. And hopefully, there will be that.

Winfreys comments come after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex reunited with the Prince and Princess of Wales to view floral tributes left in memory of the Queen at Windsor Castle. The moment marked their first public meeting since they were last seen together at the National Service of Thanksgiving during the Queens jubilee in June.

While some royal fans shared Winfreys hope, others suggested that she was partly to blame for the splintered relationships between the duke and duchess and members of Harrys family.

Oprah forgets she started this. Maybe an apology from you Oprah would help with the peace making? one person tweeted in response to the talk-show hosts comments, while another said: aaIronic, given how she was instrumental in things getting to where they currently are!

Others suggested that Winfrey was responsible for stoking the tension between the couple and the royal family by interviewing the duke and duchess, while someone else claimed that Winfrey has some nerve to talk about peacemaking after she helped ruin the reputation Meghan Markle had with the royal family.

Maybe Oprah should sit this one out instead of talking to Extra, another person said, while one critic wrote: There would be more chance of peacemaking if the likes of Oprah stopped making money out of the discord.

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During the tell-all interview last year, Meghan shared that she had struggled with suicidal thoughts during her time in the royal family, and claimed that there were conversations within the palace about how dark her son Archies skin might be when he is born.

The duchess also addressed reports of a feud between her and Kate Middleton, while Prince Harry told Winfrey that a distance had formed between him and his brother after he and Meghan decided to leave the royal family.

Following the death of the Queen at age 96, the couple has remained in the UK to attend the funeral events honouring the late monarch.
A little boy who was expected to need a heart transplant received a much better gift instead: his own heart, repaired and now free of defects.

Maverick Waler, 5, of Redmond, Oregon, was born with more than a dozen holes in his heart, a condition known as "Swiss cheese" heart.

Most children born with Swiss cheese heart undergo several surgeries earlier in life and then typically receive heart transplants in their late teens to early 20s, according to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where Maverick underwent surgery.

OHIO 4-YEAR-OLD GETS NEW HEART FOR HIS BIRTHDAY: ETERNALLY GRATEFUL

Little Maverick, on the other hand, was able to undergo a different kind of procedure.

In December 2021, doctors patched the holes in Mavericks heart.

Now, Maverick isn't expected to need any other procedures except for some regular tests.

"Now he has his new heart, or his Iron Man heart, because he loves Iron Man," Mavericks dad, Brad Waler, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

"He has a superhero heart and he has tons of strength," he added.

Brad Waler and his wife Ellyn Waler learned of their son's heart condition while Ellyn was still pregnant, the family shared with Fox News Digital.

During a normal growth ultrasound at around 20 weeks, the technician saw something he didnt like, Brad Waler said.

Ellyn Waler was referred to a pediatric cardiologist in Bend, Oregon, where doctors did another ultrasound. They noticed heart defects in the Walers' unborn child.

"At that point, we no longer were going to have a normal delivery," Brad Waler said. "[Maverick] would need to be born in Portland and he would likely need immediate intervention."

Brad Waler said it was "heartbreaking" to know that his son  the couple's first child  would be born with a serious medical issue.

"Everything is so new that you dont really know how to process it any differently than whats in front of you," Brad Waler said.

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NEVADA GIRL WHO WAS HIT BY A CAR AT AGE 3 DEFIES ODDS AS HER MOM LEANS INTO FAITH

Maverick was born on June 14, 2017. What had been a scheduled C-section for the Walers' baby turned into an emergency C-section when Mavericks heart rate dropped suddenly.

Once Maverick was delivered, Brad Waler said he got to spend a few precious moments with his son before he was taken to the NICU to recover for two weeks.

"Things got really tough really fast," Brad Waler said. "He needed heart surgery and you couldn't have that unless he was well enough for it."

Maverick had his first heart surgery at just 2 weeks old. He spent two more weeks in the pediatric ICU recovering from the procedure.

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When the Walers brought Maverick home after his procedure, they noticed that the incision on his chest looked red and infected, so after just 24 hours, they drove three hours back to Portland and spent another week and a half in the hospital, Brad Waler said.

"That was kind of a nightmare," he added.

After his recovery, the Walers were finally able to bring Maverick home.

At the time, he had a nasogastric (NG) tube, through which the Walers fed Maverick and gave him his medications. They also had to administer blood thinner injections, Brad Waler said.

"He had a lot of medical needs, of course," Brad Waler said. "But it was nice to finally get him home and finally do 'normal baby' things."

Through all of Maverick's health challenges, Brad Waler and his wife relied on the support of their family and each other, Brad Waler said.

"Our relationship is really strong and we've always been there for each other," he said. "I think we make a really good team when we're in a situation such as this. We're both there for Maverick completely. And we do what needs to be done for him."

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Over the last four years, as Maverick has grown, the Walers have taken him for regular checkups with his cardiologist.

"Everyone kind of thought that he would need surgery again after a year, maybe two years," Brad Waler said.

"But he continued to do really, really well. All his blood oxygen numbers were really good."

Added Waler, "He was doing so well, there was no reason to do surgery. And they wanted him to be as old as possible before having another surgery."

About a year ago, the Walers noticed that Mavericks blood oxygen levels started to dip, which caused his lips and fingers to start to turn blue, Brad Waler said.

As a result, Maverick would experience nausea.

"It got to be a real interruption in his quality of life at that point," Brad Waler said.

Despite the difficulty of seeing their son struggle, Brad and Ellyn Waler were somewhat prepared because they knew he was going to need another heart surgery, the dad said.

What they didnt expect is that the surgery would take them to New York City.

Brad Waler said Maverick's local cardiologist asked the Walers if he could send Maverick's charts to Dr. Emile Bacha, director of congenital pediatric cardiac surgery at New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Childrens Hospital.

The Walers agreed because, as Brad Waler said, "The more eyes on this, the better."

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Though Maverick was expected to undergo a Fontan procedure  and would eventually need more surgeries and a heart transplant  Bacha had developed a different kind of procedure.

Instead of making temporary fixes to Mavericks heart, Bacha's procedure would be able to close the holes in Mavericks heart.

Closing the holes, rather than doing a Fontan procedure, is "always the best option because the end result is a normal heart," Bacha told Fox News Digital.

"Any time you have a chance to actually fix a heart in an anatomically correct way, thats definitely the better way to go forward," Bacha added.

Though Bacha has used his procedure in about 20 cases of children with Swiss cheese heart in his career, he said Maverick's condition was one of the worst he had seen.

"The number of holes that he had was really, really extreme," Bacha said. "Normally, you get maybe five, six, seven and then you try to close them all. But he had 12."

Bacha said that despite the challenge, he believed he could close all the holes in Maverick's heart.

In December 2021, the Walers traveled to New York City. Maverick underwent the procedure, done by Bacha and Dr. Christopher Petit, the chief of the pediatric cardiology service at New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Childrens Hospital, on Dec. 13, 2021.

The surgery lasted more than six hours, Brad Waler said.

"It was definitely nerve-racking," Brad Waler said. "But Dr. Bacha just kind of busted into the waiting area and he looked like he had a positive look on his face."

Brad Waler said hearing from Bacha that he was able to patch all the holes in Mavericks heart was "a huge relief."

"I felt like I wanted to like hug him or shake his hand, but you're in a hospital, there's COVID protocols. So I resisted the urge to show my appreciation," Brad Waler said, laughing.

Maverick isn't expected to need any future heart surgeries, Bacha said.

Since the procedure, Maverick has been doing really well, Brad Waler said.

"Its a huge change," Brad Waler said. "He's got way more stamina. He acts like a kid his age. Before, it was like, he's a cardiac kid. He's only going to have 50% to 70% of the energy another kid his age is going to have."

"He would get tired. He'd want to stop and take breaks," Brad Waler continued.

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"And now he can run and go on and on and play at the water park and do whatever he wants to do."

"It just feels amazing, as a parent, to watch your kid thrive," added Brad Waler.
Provincetown got a shout-out at the Emmy Awards Monday night when White Lotus actor and town resident Murray Bartlett was one of the early winners as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.

To my P-town family, I love you! the actor, who played a luxury hotel manager in the HBO series, said in his acceptance speech as part of thanking family and friends. He then thanked his partner Max for being my sanctuary, and his mother got the biggest mention.

I just want to thank my mom all the way home in Australia for giving me the most wonderful foundation of unconditional love, he said at the televised ceremony in Los Angeles. And inspiring me to believe that we can all do that for each other.

Actor found new home in Provincetown

Bartlett and his partner moved to Provincetown shortly before the pandemic, he told the Guardian in 2021, in a move from New York City that he worried would jeopardize his acting career. Then came the role that prompted that media outlet and others to label him the "breakout star" of White Lotus.

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Bob Keary, co-host of the Friday-morning show Wake Up! In Provincetown, could be considered clairvoyant for predicting Bartletts win way back on a July 2021 episode of the talk show that streams from the Provincetown Brewing Co. taproom  at a time before White Lotus had even debuted.

On the episode, Bartlett  who had been one of the shows first-ever guests in 2020  described the limited HBO series as the darkest hed ever done, but a really funny show that disarms you with the humor but then hits you with a real punch.

New permanent exhibit: 'Most open, most caring and kind town': Century of LGBTQ+ history in Provincetown revealed in new exhibitOn Monday night, Wake Up! posted on Instagram: Congratulations to Provincetown community member and friend Murray Bartlett @murray.bartlett on his incredible achievement tonight in winning Best Supporting Actor at the Emmys for HBOs White Lotus. Not saying we had EVERYTHING to do with it, but @bobk610 does seem to have super powers  Anyone else wanna come on the show so we can predict the next award? We  you too Murray! So well deserved.

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And Bartlett commented: You called it!!

Murray Bartlett as Armand in "The White Lotus."

Mondays triumph was Bartletts first Emmy, and first nomination, and his win was among 10  the most for the night  for White Lotus, a Hawaii-set six-episode satire about resort employees and guests that went on to win Outstanding Limited Series.

Im truly honored, Bartlett said in his speech, thanking director Mike White for giving me one of the best experiences of my life. He thanked the phenomenal cast and crews and producers on White Lotus, saying he was so proud to be part of that group.

Bartlett's Armond praised by critics

In his supporting actor category alone, Bartlett vied with co-stars Steve Zahn (Mark Mossbacher) and Jake Lacy (Shane Patton) plus four other actors.

Im so thrilled and honoured that @thewhitelotus has received so much Emmy love!, Bartlett said on Instagram when the Emmy nominations were revealed this summer. Thank you @televisionacad for recognising the genius of Mike White, and so many of our talented group. There was so much joy in the making of this show and we poured our hearts into it.  I feel extraordinarily lucky and thankful.

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Bartletts Armond character has been praised by critics and viewers, but also became known for defecating in a guests suitcase and for an explicit sex scene that got the Internet buzzing.

On Wake Up!, Bartlett had said he had wanted the complicated role of the hotel manager, who goes through a troubling transformation in a short time, after being intrigued by the script and because hed always hoped to work with White, who does dark so well.

For Armond, I didnt want him to be a campy caricature of a gay man, Bartlett told the Los Angeles Times in January. Which I think is tricky for that character because hes larger than life, hes a showman in his role as the manager. It was brilliantly written. It was very funny. But I wanted him to feel real and anchored in something that felt truthful.

Bartlett has gotten a lot of other notice for the White Lotus role, including previous wins at the AACTA (Australian Academy Cinema Television Arts) International Awards, Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards and Hollywood Critics Association Television Awards plus several nominations from other groups.

Bartletts past acting roles include HBOs Looking, Netflixs reboot of Tales of the City, a guest part on Sex and the City, and long-term characters on soap operas All My Children and Guiding Light. In November, hes due to be seen in the Hulu series Welcome to Chippendales.

Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Emmy Awards: 'White Lotus' actor Murray Bartlett thanks Provincetown
Paganis peers may be moving towards electrification, but the Italian marque has no intention of changing lanes anytime soon.

The automaker unveiled its latest hypercar, the Utopia, on Monday. The companys third distinct model isnt equipped with an electrified powertrain. Instead, it features the same kind of internal combustion engine thats been in all the brands vehiclesa monstrously powerful V-12.

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Paganis latest shares a name with Thomas Mores 1516 book Utopia. The slim tome was the philosopher and statesmans attempt to imagine an ideal world, where people lived together in peace and harmony. The automotive Utopia is the boutique automakers founder Horacio Paganis attempt to design and build the ideal hypercar. To that end, he surveyed some of his most valued customers to find out what they felt was missing from their vehicles. Three things kept coming up: simplicity, lightness and pleasure of driving.

Pagani Utopia

And based on what weve seen so far, it seems like the brand was listening. The Utopia doesnt look wildly dissimilar from its predecessors, the Zonda and Huayra, but its easily the brands most streamlined effort yet. It still looks like a futuristic racecar, with its bubble cockpit and giant fenders, but theres a smoothnessand an attendant lack of ornamentationthat sets it apart. These subtle changes result in a car thats more elegant and aerodynamic than the brands past offerings.

Butterfly doors open to reveal a cabin that is as bold as its lightweight carbon-fiber exterior. Theres a nice retro-futuristic feel to the space, with the brand opting for individual analog gauges and dials rather than a massive touchscreen infotainment display atop the center stackthough there is a digital display in the drivers cockpit next to the speedometer. The steering wheel has also been fashioned from a single aluminum block.

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Inside the Utopia

Powering the Utopia is an AMG-sourced 6.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-12. The beastly mill can be mated to either a 7-speed manual or 7-speed automated manual transmission. Whichever gearbox you opt for, itll deliver 852 horses and 811 ft lbs of twist to the rear wheels. All that grunt rides on a set of striking alloy wheels21 inches on the front axles, 22 inches on the rearthat have turbine vanes that help cool the brakes. We dont know what kind of numbers youll be able to put up in the car just yet, but the automaker says its powerplant is clean enough to meet even Californias stringent emission standards.

The hypercar also features a monocoque chassis made from Carbo-Titanium, a unique mixture of composite and high-strength metal that was developed by Pagani, as well as front and rear subframes made from chrome alloy. Its also equipped with a quad exhaust, a double-wishbone suspension and carbon ceramic brakes with six-piston calipers in the front and four-piston calipers in the back. Pagani has done everything it can to reduce excess weight wherever possible, resulting in a car that tips the scales at just 2,822 pounds.

A rear 3/4 view of the Pagani Utopia with its doors open

Pagani plans to build just 99 examples of the Utopia. The automaker hasnt announced a price or timetable for the vehicle, but Car and Driver reports that the entire production run is already spoken for. We imagine at least a couple of those vehicles will end up on the auction block at some point in the not-so-distant future. Just be prepared to spend well into six figures for one.

Click here to see all of the photos of the Pagani Utopia.

The Pagani Utopia Hypercar in Photos

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Click here to read the full article.
When a 17-year-old Harris County girl pulled up the Noonlight app last week, investigators say she was already in grave danger.

I believe the ping started in College Park. It was the first 911 agency that was notified of location, through Fulton County and then Habersham County, Coweta County sheriffs office Sgt. Toby Nix told Channel 2s Candace McCowan.

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

Investigators say the teen met 28-year-old Dalton Ramsey on Snapchat where he agreed to drive her to another state. Soon, they say she found herself bound and later raped at the BT Reservoir in Coweta County, according to deputies.

The teen eventually used her phone, not to call 911, but to pull up the Noonlight safety app.

The app is meant to make it easier to alert authorities when youre in trouble, according to the developers.

You launch the app you often put your thumb right on the button, then you walk to your car, you walk across campus, Brendan Walsh said.

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On the app, you simply hold a button down. When you remove you finger, the app will let you enter a code that notifies the company that you are safe.

Without entering the code, the company will text you, which is what happened with the 17-year-old victim.

Our victim in this case was able to respond with the word rape. They started pinging her phone and updated 911 depending on which jurisdiction she was in, Nix said.

And that is how deputies were able to track the girl down.

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Noonlight creators say by allowing the app to track you, they can help.

The user is saying to Noonlight to monitor me for my own safety, Walsh said. I think security, safety, the industry is really picking up traction.

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Investigators say Ramsey was tracked through multiple counties. He is facing charges in both Habersham and Coweta Counties.

Hes where he needs to be, Nix said.

IN OTHER NEWS:




A photo has been shared thousands of times in social media posts that claim it shows an elephant towing an aeroplane at Thailand's Ubon Ratchathani International Airport in 1960. This is false. A spokesperson for Thai Airways told AFP the photo was part of an advertising campaign for the airline in 1968, adding that the pictured elephant did not tow the plane. A Thai aviation expert separately said elephants have never been used to tow aeroplanes in the kingdom.

The photo was shared on Facebook here on September 6, 2022. It has been shared more than 2,700 times.

The post's Thai-language caption translates to English as: "The image was taken in 1960 at the Ubon Ratchathani International Airport.

"An elephant was being used to tow the aeroplanes on the runway. What a cute image. Only in Thailand."

Ubon Ratchathani International Airport is an airport in northeast Thailand, around 300 miles (482 kilometres) from the capital Bangkok.

Screenshot of the misleading post, captured on September 8, 2022

The same image was shared alongside a similar claim in Thai on Facebook here and here; and on Twitter here. It was also shared alongside a similar English-language caption here.

But the claim is false.

Advertising campaign

A reverse image search on Google found this tweet published on July 20, 2016.

"The advertising campaign that went viral during Thai Airways' early years. P.S. the elephant was not used to tow the aeroplane," reads the Thai-language tweet.

Thai Airways is Thailand's national airline.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading Facebook post (left) and the image shared on Twitter in 2016 (right):

Screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading Facebook post (left) and the image shared on Twitter in 2016 (right)

Thai Airways told AFP that the photo was from an advertising campaign for the airline from 1968 and that the elephant was not really pulling the plane.

"It was an advertising campaign. The elephant didn't tow [the aeroplane]," the airline's spokesperson said.

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The photo was included in the book "Smooth As Silk: The Story of Thai" released in 2010 to mark Thai Airways' 50th anniversary.

The airline sent AFP a scanned copy of the photo on page 20 of the book, as shown below:

A scanned copy of the photo as it appears in the book "Smooth As Silk: The Story of Thai"

The photo is captioned: "An elephant hauls a Caravelle in a 1968 publicity photo."

French-built Caravelle SE-210 jets were added to Thai Airways' fleet in 1964.

Somboon Sooksamsri, a guest lecturer at Kasetsart University's Department of Aerospace Engineering, also told AFP that the claim about the photo was "rubbish".

"This is totally fake," he said. "An elephant was never used to tow an aeroplane in history. An aircraft tractor is required to move the plane on the runway."

According to Thailand's Department of Airports and the country's Civil Aviation Authority, Ubon Ratchathani International Airport officially started operations on September 1, 1991 -- more than three decades after the misleading posts claim the photo was taken there.
Poet laureate Simon Armitage has honoured Queen Elizabeth II with a new poem titled Floral Tribute, which was shared on Tuesday (13 September).

The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral last Thursday, according to Buckingham Palace, having spent 70 years as head of state, outlasting her predecessors and overseeing monumental changes in social and political life.

Published by Faber, Armitages poem comprises two stanzas of nine lines each. It is a double acrostic, which means that the first letters of the lines in both stanzas spell Elizabeth.

Armitage calls Floral Tribute a token of thanks and a gift in return to Britains longest-serving monarch in honour of her gift of a promise made and kept for life.

The country loaded its whole self into your slender hands, Armitage writes, paying tribute to the Queens years of service, adding, Hands that can rest, now, relieved of a centurys weight.

He likens his poem and the Queen herself to her favourite flower, Lily of the Valley, which was part of her coronation bouquet.

Armitage writes: This lily that thrives between spire and tree, whose brightness/Holds and glows beyond the life and border of its bloom.

Armitage has served as Poet Laureate since 2 May 2019 when he met with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

He succeeded Dame Carol Ann Duffy, who was also at the palace for an audience with the Queen to relinquish the role.

For the Platinum Jubilee, Armitage wrote a poem, Queenhood, to mark her 70 years of service.

The poet, who was brought up in Marsden, West Yorkshire, has published some 30 collections of poetry and his work is studied by children as part of the national curriculum.

He worked as a probation officer in Greater Manchester until 1994 before focusing on poetry.

You can read Armitages poem in its entirety here.

Follow the latest updates as King Charles III is officially declared monarch

Additional reporting by Press Association
Phoenix PD vehicle.

Phoenix police have arrested a teenager on suspicion of a shooting on Saturday at a strip mall near 19th Avenue and Bell Road that left an 18-year-old man dead and a woman injured.

The unidentified teenager will be booked on suspicion of multiple felony charges, including second-degree murder, police said in a news release on Monday.

When officers responded to the shooting on Saturday they found Miguel Rosas, 18, on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds, according to police. Rosas was pronounced dead on scene.

Inside one of the businesses, officers also found a woman who was shot. She was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, police said.

Preliminary information suggests there was an exchange of gunfire between a few individuals in the strip parking lot. Police said they believe Rosas was an intended target and the woman wasn't involved.

Reach breaking news reporter Angela Cordoba Perez at Angela.CordobaPerez@Gannett.com or on Twitter @AngelaCordobaP.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix police arrest teen in connection to fatal strip mall shooting
Orlando police are searching for a man they said threatened to rape a woman who was out walking her dog in Lake Nona.

Officer said the incident happened Sunday morning at Laureate Park in Lake Nona between 6 and 7 a.m.

A woman said she was walking her dog when she noticed someone walking toward her with the flashlight on his phone turned on. She said he started walking next to her and asked how long shed lived in the neighborhood. She said he continued to follow her and make comments about her body.

When the woman said she told him she was uncomfortable and going to call a family member, the woman said he told her, Next time, Im going to rape you before running away.

Police are asking for help identifying him.

Read: Police: Altamonte Springs school resource officer subject of child porn investigation

This individual engaged in suspicious and unusual conversation leaving us to be concerned and wanting to know if others in this area have seen or had a similar encounter with this person, officers said in a statement. We are interested in understanding the intent of this individual and are working to determine if any laws were broken by his actions.

The man is described as an adult male with brown curly hair and brown eyes. Officers said he is estimated to be in his 20s and approximately 5 feet, 9 inches tall. He was wearing a purple T-shirt and an unknown-color head bandana. Officers said he was driving a white four-door sedan.

Read: IRS set to send out $1.2 billion in refunds to certain taxpayers

Officers said theres been a pattern of this type of suspicious activity in the Lake Nona area of men approaching women in the early morning hours.

Officers are asking that if you saw the man pictured in the video or have additional information/video regarding the vehicle in the video, to call 321-235-3000 or contact Crimeline Florida anonymously at 1-800-423-TIPS(8477).

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Orlando police are investigating a suspicious incident that happened Sunday morning at Laureate Park.

Channel 9 is reaching out to police for additional details. Stay tuned to Eyewitness News for updates.

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.
Tuesday, Pritchard street was filled with kids playing. But on Monday evening, the entire block was filled with police as officers worked to piece together a disagreement gone wrong.

These are our neighbors killing our neighbors, said Myron Terry.

Myron Terry, a father and the director of the Jasmine Nyree Campus in Pittsburghs Sheraden neighborhood, said yesterdays news was devastating.

Watching the football game and one of the first or second stories you see on the news is someone lost their life to gun violence, Terry said.

On Monday night, just before 9 p.m. on Pritchard Street, 32-year-old Darnell Campbell was shot and killed in front of his home following a disagreement. Police believe the suspect was a neighbor.

I have boys from ages 18 to 23, and you never want to see this. The fact that a young man, a potential father, uncle, brother, boyfriend, husband is gone now from something senseless, Terry said.

But as officers work to piece together this tragedy  Terry said it is the community and the families impacted that have the real work to do.

We got to figure out how to come to the table and talk about these things before; guns cant be the first and last thing that happens, Terry said.

Ultimately, Terry said he is unsure of the exact solution, but the violence has to stop.

How do we get here? How do we stop it from going any further? Its frustrating, Terry said.

Police said they had someone in custody  but have not yet said who that man is or if charges will be filed.

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By Philip Pullella

NUR-SULTAN (Reuters) -Pope Francis said on Tuesday he was willing to go to China at any time but had "no news" to offer over speculation he might meet Chinese President Xi Jinping while both are in Kazakhstan.

Francis arrived in Kazakhstan after a six-hour flight from Rome at the start of a three-day trip to attend a peace meeting of world religious leaders.

Francis, who suffers from a knee ailment, for the first time on his trips used a finger ramp to exit the plane and enter the terminal on a wheelchair.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev greeted the pope briefly at the airport before the pope travelled in a small white car to the gleaming marble presidential palace for a private meeting with the head of state.

Speaking to reporters accompanying him on his flight to the central Asian republic, Francis was asked whether he might meet Xi in its capital Nur-Sultan, where both men will be on Wednesday.

"I don't have any news about that," the pope replied, without elaborating.

Asked if he was ready to go to China, Francis responded: "I am always ready to go to China".

Francis used a cane to walk around the plane greeting reporters as he usually does on such trips. He appeared in pain by the time he returned to his own seat in the front section of the aircraft.

The pope has tried to ease the historically poor relations between the Holy See and China, and told Reuters in an interview in July that he hoped to renew a secret and contested agreement on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops in China.

Xi is visiting Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from Sept. 14-16 in his first official trip to a foreign nation since China all but shut its borders due to COVID-19. He is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan.

The war in Ukraine is casting a long shadow on the pope's visit to Kazakhstan and the international religious meeting, which is due to be attended by more than 100 delegations from about 50 countries.

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In an address to the Kazakh government and the diplomatic corps on Tuesday night, Francis spoke of "the senseless and tragic war that broke out with the invasion of Ukraine".

He also spoke of the need to ease Cold War-style confrontations and rhetoric, saying "Now is the time to stop intensifying rivalries and reinforcing opposing blocs."

Francis will be in Kazakhstan until Thursday for the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, a gathering marked by the conspicuous absence of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who supports the war in Ukraine.

Kirill had been expected to attend the congress, and Francis had several times said he was willing to talk to him.

There are only about 125,000 Catholics among the 19 million population of the vast Central Asian country, which is a former Soviet Republic. About 70% of the Kazakhs are Muslim and about 26% Orthodox Christians.

Francis will say a Mass for the tiny Catholic community on Wednesday afternoon.

(Additional reporting by Olzhas Auyezov in AlmatyEditing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
In recent aviation news, several Portuguese airports are going green and making pledges for the near future. Ten years, to be exact. The goal is to have zero emission airports in Portugal, removing environmentally harmful gases entirely. Sustainability is a key focus for the European country and its role in the aviation world.

Nicolas Notebaert, the President of the VINCI Airports company, which owns Portugals 10 major airports, has set out his greener plans for the country. Notebaert pledged that within a decade these airports will produce zero carbon emissions.

Given the booming tourism that the country recently experienced this summer, the announcement is well-received. Many look forward to the environmental progress that Portugal will usher into Europe.

Related: Sustainable Travel: The Worlds Coolest Carbon Neutral Hotels

What We Know

This pledge will mean that Portugal will be the first in Europe and the world with climate-neutral airports, according to translations from The Portugal News. The Vinci airports hope to remove environmentally harmful gases in the airports it controls in Portugal through ANA. Notably, Vinci Airports is a French airport operator that since 2013 owns the Portuguese company ANA, responsible for managing 10 airports in Portugal, i.e. mainland (Lisbon, Porto, Faro, and Beja Civil Terminal). It also manages the Autonomous Region of the Azores (Ponta Delgada, Horta, Santa Maria, plus Flores) and the Autonomous Region of Madeira (Madeira and Porto Santo).

What To Expect

The idea sprung to life after two major events that took place in the south of the country, in Faro. Officials gathered to mark the anniversary of the first aerial crossing of the Southern Atlantic between Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro (8300 km).

It was announced that Faros airport will bear the name of Gago Countinho, who led the pioneering flight in 1922. Notebaert also declared the commissioning of a solar power plant at Faro airport. According to The Mayor.eu, with a capacity of 3MWp, it enables VINCI Airports to produce 30% of the airports electricity needs, reducing CO2 emissions by more than 1,500 tonnes per year.

This will be the very first airport solar power plant of its kind in all of Europe.
A U.S. postal service worker was caught stealing cell phones from the mail and reselling the devices in New Jersey, according to federal prosecutors.

Nyasia Hutchinson, 26, of Jersey City, admitted to stealing up to 20 phones, including iPhones, from packages coming through a U.S. post office in Elizabeth where she worked, court documents show.

Hutchinson would then seal the empty packages with tape and have them sent back out in the mail, prosecutors say.

Now Hutchinson faces a potential maximum sentence of up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty to one count of theft of mail by a postal employee on Sept. 12, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of New Jersey.

McClatchy News contacted Hutchinsons attorney for comment on Sept. 13 and was awaiting a response.

Beginning in May 2018 through December of that year, a coworker of Hutchinson removed the cell phones from packages and gave them to her at the Elizabeth Post Office, according to the release.

Then, after Hutchinson placed the empty packages back into the mail stream, she sold the stolen devices and pocketed the money, prosecutors say.

The stolen iPhones and other devices were worth at least $12,246, court documents state.

Hutchinson abused a position of public or private trust, her plea agreement states.

A judge set Hutchinsons bail at $25,000 on Sept. 12 ahead of her sentencing, according to court records.

Her sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 31, the release says.

Elizabeth is roughly 15 miles west of New York City.

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Prince Harry has asked that the focus continue to remain on his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and her funeral, rather than on what he will wear, after it was confirmed he would not be permitted to wear his military uniform.

On Monday, it was reported that the Duke of Sussex will be denied the chance to wear his military uniform as he mourns the Queen during the five upcoming ceremonial funeral occasions because he is no longer a working member of the royal family.

While the rule applies to the duke, it was reported that Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, will be allowed to wear his uniform as a special mark of respect for the Queen at the final vigil in Westminster Hall. This exception is notable as he, too, is not a working member of the royal family.

On Tuesday, Prince Harry, who served two front line tours of duty in Afghanistan, addressed the rule barring him from wearing his military uniform in a statement released through his spokesperson. He confirmed he would be wearing a morning suit and asked that the focus remain on the life and legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

[Prince Harry] will wear a morning suit throughout events honouring his grandmother. His decade of military service is not determined by the uniform he wears and we respectfully ask that focus remain on the life and legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, a spokesperson for the duke told The Independent.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle stepped back from their roles as senior members of the royal family in March 2020 and relocated to Montecito, California.

The couple have returned to the UK only a handful of times since announcing their decision, including for a surprise meeting with the Queen in April.

Sussex spokesperson: [Prince Harry] will wear a morning suit throughout events honouring his grandmother. His decade of military service is not determined by the uniform he wears and we respectfully ask that focus remain on the life and legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  Omid Scobie (@scobie) September 13, 2022

While the duke and duchess have spoken about their tense relationships with certain members of the royal family, Prince Harry continued to have a close relationship with his grandmother.

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In a statement shared to his and Meghans Archewell website after the Queens passing, Prince Harry said: In celebrating the life of my grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen - and in mourning her loss - we are all reminded of the guiding compass she was to so many in her commitment to service and duty.

She was globally admired and respected. Her unwavering grace and dignity remained true throughout her life and now her everlasting legacy. Let us echo the words she spoke after the passing of her husband, Prince Philip, words which can bring comfort to all of us now: Life, of course, consists of final partings as well as first meetings, he wrote.

In the tribute, Prince Harry also referred to his grandmother as his Commander-in-Chief, with the duke noting that one of his fondest memories includes meeting [the Queen] for the first time as my Commander-in-Chief.

Granny, while this final parting brings us great sadness, I am forever grateful for all of our first meetings - from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my Commander-in-Chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved great-grandchildren. I cherish these times shared with you, and the many other special moments in between, he wrote.

In the upcoming days, the royal family will pay tribute to the Queen during the Service of Thanksgiving at St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, the procession to Westminster Hall and service of prayer and reflection, the Vigil at Westminster Hall, the state funeral at Westminster Abbey and the Committal Service at St Georges Chapel Windsor.
As the royal family prepares for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, several sources confirm that Prince Harry will not be allowed to wear his military uniform at her final vigil, although Prince Andrew has been given approval to wear his.

Prince Andrew served in the Navy for 22 years, where he served multiple roles. He retired from duty in 2001. Anwar Hussein/WireImage

Omid Scobie, a royal journalist, reported that Prince Andrew had received a "special mark of respect," and was granted permission to wear his military uniform during his mother's final vigil. However, Prince Harry was not offered the same permission. The authorization of use is reportedly only for the vigil.

PRINCE HARRY ISSUES FIRST STATEMENT AFTER THE QUEEN'S DEATH: 'THIS FINAL PARTING BRINGS US GREAT SADNESS'

Royal Commentator Eloise Parker told Fox News Digital that the queen's final vigil will feature her four children. They "will be present next to the casket in uniforms that represent their individual military careers, current status notwithstanding. A full state funeral is as formal as events get."

In terms of Harry, Parker says he very well could "join the rest of her non-serving grandchildren who will be in non-military dress."

Prince Harry served in the Army for ten years, reaching the Captain rank. He did two tours in Afghanistan. Max Mumby/Indigo

The Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan Markle stepped down from their senior royal roles early last year, giving up certain privileges when they removed themselves from the forefront of the monarchy. Their relationship with extended family remains turbulent.

In a statement released by Buckingham Palace in February 2021, it was explained that since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would no longer be "working members" of the Royal Family, "the honorary military appointments and Royal patronages held by The Duke and Duchess will therefore be returned to Her Majesty, before being redistributed among working members of The Royal Family."

Prince Andrew, who was accused of sexual assault of a minor in the United States, recently settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. However, his reputation was permanently soured, and The Duke of York's military affiliations and patronages were returned to the Queen, according to a statement from Buckingham Palace in January 2022.

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Pictured at the service for Prince Philip, their father and grandfather respectively, Prince Andrew and Prince Harry did not wear their military uniforms, but did feature their earned medals on their suits. Gareth Fuller/WPA Pool

Prince Harry and Andrew served in the Army and Navy, respectively. Harry served two tours in Afghanistan over ten years. Andrew served 22 years, retiring in 2001.

Neither royal wore their military uniforms during the funeral of Prince Philip, however medals and accolades were on their suits for display during the ceremony.

The final vigil will take place before the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Fox News Digital's Ashley Papa contributed to this report.
Princess Anne made history Sept. 12 by participating in a symbolic watch over her mother's coffin as it laid in state at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the first time a woman has participated in the somber royal tradition, NBC royal expert and commentator Daisy McAndrew said.

The children of Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Sept. 8, watched over their mother as well-wishers came to pay their respects in the ancient cathedral.

BRITAIN-ROYALS-QUEEN-DEATH (JANE BARLOW / POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Called the Vigil of the Princes, King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward joined the Royal Company of Archers for about 10 minutes to symbolically guard the coffin.

This is only the third time the Vigil of the Princes has happened. The first time was following the death of the queen's grandfather, King George V in 1936. The second was during the Queen Mother's funeral procession in 2002.

BRITAIN-ROYALS-QUEEN-DEATH (JANE BARLOW / POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Photos from Monday night show King Charles in a kilt standing near the head of the coffin. Princess Anne and Prince Edward wore their military uniforms, while Prince Andrew dressed in a suit.

Sky News reported that Queen Consort Camilla and Sophie, Countess of Wessex watched the vigil from the side. The outlet said the late queen's coffin was draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland and a wreath of flowers of white spray roses, white freesias, white button chrysanthemums and dried white heather from Balmoral.

Working members of the royal family are expected to wear their military uniforms at several additional upcoming events in honor of the late queen's life: the procession to Westminster Hall and service of prayer and reflection on Wednesday and the subsequent vigil; the state funeral service at Westminster Abbey on Sept. 19; and the committal service at St Georges Chapel Windsor after the funeral.

Prince Andrew is a non-working member of the royal family, so he is likely to not wear his military uniform until the final vigil in Westminster Hall, NBC News has learned. The Duke of York was stripped of his military titles before he settled a civil sexual abuse case in the United States in February.

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In a statement on Friday, King Charles said the royal mourning period will last seven days after the death of the queen, and the royal residences will be closed until after her funeral.

Charles, who was formally sworn in as king during the nation's first televised ascension ceremony on Sept. 10, will likely hold an official coronation celebration in the coming year.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
THE HAGUE (Reuters) - War crimes prosecutors called on Monday for a former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla commander to be sentenced to 35 years in prison for allegedly running a "torture chamber" during the 1998-99 independence conflict with Serbia.

Salih Mustafa faces charges of murder and torture over a detention centre in Kosovo where prosecutors say prisoners, mostly fellow Kosovo Albanians who were political opponents of the KLA, were beaten and tortured on a daily basis.

Mustafa's indictment says he personally took part in some of the beatings and torture of at least six prisoners and was present when one of them was so badly hurt that he later died.

"The truth is (...) certain KLA leaders like Mr Mustafa used their power to victimize and brutalize fellow Kosovars," including political opponents and others considered not loyal to the KLA, prosecutor Jack Smith told judges.

Mustafa, 50, has denied the charges and his lawyers have said prosecution witnesses fabricated their stories.

A verdict in the case is expected early next year.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, a Kosovo court seated in the Netherlands and staffed by international judges and lawyers, was set up in 2015 to handle cases under Kosovo law against former KLA guerrillas.

The court is separate from the United Nations tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which was also located in The Hague where it tried and convicted Serbian officials for war crimes committed in the Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo conflicts.

More than 13,000 people are believed to have died during the 1998-99 uprising in Kosovo when it was still part of Serbia under then-President Slobodan Milosevic. Fighting ended after NATO air strikes on Serbian forces and Kosovo declared independence in 2008, though Belgrade does not recognize it.

Recent unrest among minority Kosovo Serbs over demands for them to use Kosovo identity documents has raised fears of renewed conflict between the two countries. Some 3,700 NATO peacekeepers continue to patrol the northern area of Kosovo to prevent violence between ethnic Albanians and Serbs.

(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg)
A former US national security adviser has warned Vladimir Putin could "lash out" with nuclear weapons following a series of embarrassing withdrawals for the Russian army.

Ukraine claims to have regained more than 6,000 square kilometres of land from Russian control in recent days, one of its biggest victories since the war began.

Territorial advances have been so significant Kyiv has even claimed that, in north-east Ukraine, Russian troops have been pushed back as far as the border.

Moscow has claimed its retreat has been a tactical withdrawal but it represents a significant setback for Russia.

The British ministry of defence said on Monday that rapid Ukrainian successes have had "significant implications for Russia's overall operational design".

"In the face of Ukrainian advances, Russia has likely ordered the withdrawal of its troops from the entirety of occupied Kharkiv Oblast west of the Oskil River," an intelligence update said.

Read more: World should prepare for the collapse of Russia, warns former US general

Intelligence update from the British Ministry of Defence, 12 September 2022. (Ministry of Defence)

However, a note of caution has been sounded by former US national security adviser John Bolton, who has said that while Putin using nuclear weapons had previously been "extremely unlikely", Ukrainian advances could change that.

"My view has been that it was extremely unlikely - and the only circumstances I could foresee where he would use battlefield or tactical nuclear weapons, [was] if Russian troops are in wholesale retreat heading back to the borders of Russia," Bolton told LBC.

"And we're not at that point after this most recent Ukraine offensive - but, it's been a military catastrophe for the Russian army and I do think, to try and reestablish some aspect of a position of strength to the Russians, it does become somewhat more likely now of a possible nuclear use."

The territory Ukraine claims to have recaptured as of 12 September. (Getty)

Similar warnings have also come from a former Nato chief.

Rose Gottemoeller, an American diplomat who served as Deputy Secretary General of Nato from October 2016 to October 2019, told the BBC: I fear that they will strike back now in really unpredictable ways and ways that may even involve weapons of mass destruction."

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Moscow has raised the prospect of utilising its nuclear capability in recent weeks.

In August, Putin acknowledged that "no one" could win a nuclear war, stating: "We proceed from the fact that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be unleashed, and we stand for equal and indivisible security for all members of the world community," he said.

A Ukrainian soldier passes by a Russian tank damaged in a battle in a just freed territory in the Kharkiv region. (Reuters)

Read more: 'It would be a disaster' - Germanys biggest gas company refuses to rule out energy rationing

However, later that month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov outlined that Moscow would be willing to launch a potentially devastating strike if it posed an "existential threat" to the country.

"We have a concept of domestic security, and it's public. You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used," he said. "So if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept."

There have been some signs that Russia's previously tight grip on the internal narrative is also beginning to fray.

On Sunday, a former state Duma deputy Boris Nadezhdin claimed it is "absolutely impossible" for Russia to defeat Ukraine.

Appearing on the state-owned NTV channel, he said Russia's invasion of Ukraine was failing and suggested there should be "peace talks".

On Monday, dozens of municipal deputies from Moscow and St. Petersburg called on Putin to resign in an open letter published Monday in a further signal of dissent.

On the ground, Russia has already launched retaliatory strikes in response to Ukraine's military progress by targeting critical infrastructure like energy grids.

A burning thermal power plant in Ukraine hit by a Russian missile strike. (Reuters)

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian Federation "terrorists" were trying to deprive Ukrainians of light and heat.

"A total blackout in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, a partial one in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions," Zelenskyy tweeted on Sunday night. "Russian Federation terrorists remain terrorists and attack critical infrastructure. No military facilities, the goal is to deprive people of light and heat."

Watch: Russian strikes cause 'total' blackout in Kharkiv after Ukraine's shock gains in counteroffensive
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping will discuss Ukraine and Taiwan at a meeting in Uzbekistan on Thursday which the Kremlin said would hold "special significance" given the geopolitical situation.

Xi will leave China for the first time in more than two years for a trip this week to Central Asia where he will meet Putin, just a month before he is set to cement his place as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

"The presidents will discuss both the bilateral agenda and the main regional and international topics," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said at a briefing in Moscow.

"Naturally, they will give a positive assessment of the unprecedentedly high level of trust within the bilateral strategic partnership," he added.

The deepening "no limits" partnership between the rising superpower of China and the natural resources titan of Russia is a geopolitical development the West is watching with anxiety.

The meeting will give Xi an opportunity to underscore his clout while Putin can demonstrate Russia's tilt towards Asia; both leaders can show their opposition to the United States just as the West seeks to punish Russia for what Moscow calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

According to the Kremlin, trade turnover between the countries rose reached $140 billion in 2021, while for the first seven months of this year it totalled almost $93.

China is Russia's largest buyer of oil, one of the key sources of revenues for Moscow's state coffers.

Russia is also striving to boost its gas sales to China and build new pipelines to the country as its gas supplies to Europe have been significantly curtailed amid the stand off over Ukraine.

Ushakov said Moscow values China's position towards what he called the "Ukraine crisis", saying Beijing had struck a "balanced approach" towards the conflict.

China "clearly understands the reasons that forced Russia to launch its special military operation. This issue, of course, will be thoroughly discussed during the upcoming meeting," Ushakov said.

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The meeting between Xi and Putin in Uzbekistan will take place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's summit in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan.

Ushakov said no new energy deals with China are expected to be signed in Uzbekistan.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
As King Charles III and Queen Camilla continue their U.K. tour following the death of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Consort told well-wishers that the royal family is doing their "best."

On Tuesday, the couple greeted people gathered outside of Hillsborough Castle in Belfast, Ireland.

Queen Camilla, 75, stopped to chat with a well-wisher named Barbara who was holding a photo of herself with King Charles from when she received the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) at Buckingham Palace five years ago, according to an Instagram video and stories shared by user All.Thats.Pretty.

Barbara told Queen Camilla, "You're doing an amazing job," and she replied, "We are doing our best."

Barbara also showed the photo to King Charles, 73, explaining, "It's you and me" after he asked if it was her. She also shared her condolences with the monarch.

Camilla, Queen Consort departs St Anne's Cathedral

Carrie Davenport/Getty

RELATED: King Charles and Queen Camilla Visit Ireland as They Continue U.K. Tour Following Queen's Death

During their visit to Belfast, the couple viewed the flowers, notes and other tributes left in honor of the late Queen. At one point, King Charles smiled and pointed at a corgi named Connie before giving her a royal pet on the head.

For more on the Royals, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

In Northern Ireland, King Charles shared a message for the people of Northern Ireland.

King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort

Andrew Milligan/WPA Pool/Getty

"In the years since she began her long life of public service, my mother saw Northern Ireland pass through momentous and historic changes," Charles said. "Through all those years, she never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and for its people, whose stories she knew, whose sorrows our Family had felt, and for whom she had a great affection and regard."

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Britain's King Charles III and Britain's Camilla, Queen Consort greet wellwishers

NIALL CARSON/POOL/AFP via Getty

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RELATED: Queen Camilla Wears Brooch Gifted to Her by Queen Elizabeth During Cathedral Service

"My mother felt deeply, I know, the significance of the role she herself played in bringing together those whom history had separated, and in extending a hand to make possible the healing of long-held hurts," he continued. "At the very beginning of her life of service, The Queen made a pledge to dedicate herself to her country and her people and to maintain the principles of constitutional government. This promise she kept with steadfast faith. Now, with that shining example before me, and with God's help, I take up my new duties resolved to seek the welfare of all the inhabitants of Northern Ireland."

King Charles and Queen Camilla are set to visit all four countries that make up the U.K. in the days leading up to Queen Elizabeth's funeral on September 19. They attended engagements in Scotland on Monday, including the Queen's four children following her coffin in a procession through Edinburgh and later standing vigil inside St. Giles' Cathedral.

On Friday, the royal couple will visit Wales. The country is of particular significance to Charles, who spent most of his life as the Prince of Wales.

RELATED: Princess Anne Makes History as Queen Elizabeth's Children Unite for Vigil Beside Her Coffin

Later on Tuesday, King Charles and Queen Camilla will return to London to receive Queen Elizabeth's coffin at Buckingham Palace, which will be flown from Scotland accompanied by Princess Anne. The Queen's coffin will process through London on Wednesday to Westminster Abbey, where it will lie in state as visitors pay their respects until the funeral.
Watch: First people start queuing for Queen's lying in state in London

The Queen's coffin will make its journey from Edinburgh to London today, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral next week.

After spending a night on public view at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, the casket will be taken to Edinburgh Airport at 5pm and then flown to RAF Northolt in west London on an RAF Globemaster C-17 flight, accompanied by the Princess Royal and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.

It is expected to land at 6.55pm and, from there, it will be taken to Buckingham Palace, accompanied by Anne and Vice-Admiral Sir Tim, where it will be met by King Charles and the Queen Consort, along with the Prince and Princess of Wales.

It will stay there overnight ahead of a period of 'Lying-in-State'. During the Lying-in-State period, the Queens closed coffin rests on a raised platform called a catafalque and members of the public will file past to pay their respects.

Some people already started queuing for the Queen's lying in state two days early, with the public warned to expect long queues.

The Queen's coffin will be taken from RAF Northolt to Buckingham Palace before lying in state. (PA)

Where will the Queen's Lying-in-State be?

On Wednesday, a ceremonial procession will transport the coffin from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, beginning at 2:22pm.

It will proceed along The Mall, Horse Guards Road, across Horse Guards Parade and onto Whitehall to Parliament Square and into the Palace of Westminster.

The Queen will then Lie-in-State at the Palace of Westminster from Wednesday (14 September) until her funeral on Monday, 19 September.

Who was the last person to lie in state?

The last person to lie in state in the UK was the Queen Mother in 2002, following her death on 30 March 2002.

The Queen Mother lay in state for three days in Westminster Hall, with around 200,000 estimated to have attended to pay their respects.

Her funeral was held in Westminster Abbey on 9 April 2002.

Mourners filing past the coffin of The Queen Mother, in Westminster Hall, London, where she was lying in state before her funeral in 2002. (PA)

Members of the public filing through Westminster Hall, London, to pay their tributes at the lying-in-state of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965. (PA)

Can I watch the Lying-in-State procession?

The Lying-in-State procession will be broadcast on national television and radio but you can also watch it in person at special viewing areas along the route and also on large screens in Hyde Park.

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Viewing areas along the route of the procession will open at 11am on Wednesday (14 September). Large crowds are expected and people are advised that there will be queues.

The government has published a list of the viewing areas along with instructions and directions of how to access them.

A special screening site is also being set up in Hyde Park where the procession will be shown on large screens.

The Hyde Park screening site will also open at 11am on Wednesday (14 September).

What are the rules for visiting Westminster Hall?

The Lying-in-State at the Palace of Westminster opens to the public at 5pm on Wednesday (14 September) and will be open 24 hours a day until it closes at 6.30am on the day of her funeral.

Members of the public can attend the Lying-in-State where they will be able to file past her closed coffin as it sits on a raised platform and pay their respects.

There are various rules in place for people wanting to attend the Lying-in-State.

First visitors will have to go through airport-style security, with tight restrictions on what you can take with you.

Airport-style security will be in place, with restrictions on the size of bag you can take. (www.gov.uk)

Visitors can only take one small bag, smaller than 40cm x 30cm x 20cm, with one simple opening or zip, with them. so you can move quickly through the security check.

Certain items are banned from being taken in, including:

Large bags

Flasks or water bottles except clear water bottles

Food and liquid of any kind; flowers or other tribute items including candles, soft toys and photographs

Sharp items; personal defence equipment or any object that could be used as a weapon

Paint sprays, padlocks, chains, climbing gear, and dangerous or hazardous items

Fireworks, smoke canisters, air-horns, flares, whistles, laser devices, and other items that could be used to cause a disturbance or noise.

Banners, placards, flags, advertising or marketing messages, and other similar items that could be used to cause a disturbance.

Coolers, hampers, sleeping bags, blankets, folding chairs and camping equipment.

Non-foldable pushchairs.

Any other items as directed by security staff or police.

Government advice also urges visitors to "respect the dignity of this event and behave appropriately".

Visitors will have to remain silent while inside, and mobile phones have to be put on to silent.

People are not allowed to queue on behalf of others, which will be patrolled by stewards and police officers.

The government advice adds: "Antisocial or inappropriate behaviour (including queue-jumping, excessive consumption of alcohol or drunken behaviour) will not be tolerated and you will be removed from the queue."

Watch: Where and when can you see the Queen lying in state?

How long could the queues be?

Queues are expected to be "very long", with people planning to attend the Lying-in-State warned that they will need to stand "for many hours, possibly overnight".

Some people had already started queuing days before the Lying-in-State was set to start, with many travelling miles for the historic occasion.

People have also been reminded that there will be little chance to sit down as the queue will be continuously moving, with parents urged to think carefully before taking children.
The Queen met Gurkhas at the Maidstone Barracks in February 2011

Gurkha veterans have paid their respects to the Queen at the Gurkha memorial in Folkestone, describing her death as like losing a parent.

The Gurkhas, Nepalese fighters in the British army, have close ties to the monarchy.

Dhan Gurung, from the Gurkha Memorial Fund, said: "I feel I lost my parents because she was so kind-hearted."

Gurkhas from Maidstone will march in the funeral procession when the nation bids farewell to the monarch.

Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday aged 96, ending a 70-year reign.

The veterans said the late Queen was at the heart of their service.

Gurkhas have close ties to the monarchy - the Queen is seen here visiting a Gurkha unit in Hampshire in 1978

Maj Deb Bahadur Pun, now retired, said he had served for 28 years in the British Army and he "came here to respect the Queen".

The late monarch was a well-loved figure in Nepal - visiting the Himalayan country twice during her reign.

Shiva Dhan Raj, a veteran from the Gurkha Rifles, said the Queen's death had been met with sadness and the veterans had been "honoured to serve" her.

Gurkhas have served as part of the army for more than 200 years.

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Tributes are being paid to the late Queen but many younger Malaysians know little about her

Queen Elizabeth II's three visits to Malaysia - in 1972, 1989 and 1998 - spanned its transformation from an underdeveloped, commodity-dependent economy to one of the world's fastest-growing exporters of manufactured goods.

Inevitably, this changed the attitudes of Malaysians towards Britain - and towards the British monarchy.

In 1972, the last British troops had only just left Malaysia; thousands had been stationed there even after independence, to protect the new country from a communist insurgency and from attacks by Indonesia, which in the early 1960s viewed Malaysia as a neo-colonial creation.

Back then, British-owned businesses still controlled much of the economy, which was heavily dependent on exports of rubber and tin. Britain was the biggest foreign investor - today, it's only the country's 19th largest trading partner.

By 1998, under the mercurial leadership of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia was one of the so-called "tiger economies" of South East Asia, an essential link in the global supply chain, much wealthier, though suffering that year from a regional financial crisis.

Dr Mahathir, the first Malaysian leader not to be educated in Britain, mistrusted Western influence. He saw himself as a champion of the developing world and had introduced a "Look East" strategy, to learn from other fast-growing Asian countries. At one time, he had even brought in a "Buy British Last" policy.

He had little time for royalty, Malaysian or British, and had been sceptical of the Commonwealth's value, viewing it as a British-dominated talking shop that did little.

The Queen first visited Malaysia in 1972

However, the battle within the Commonwealth in the 1980s over apartheid-ruled South Africa seemed to soften his view of it. Like nearly every other Commonwealth leader Dr Mahathir was a staunch opponent of apartheid.

Then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher found herself isolated in her opposition to applying economic sanctions against South Africa. Queen Elizabeth, concerned over the damage this was doing to the Commonwealth and Britain's international standing, opposed the prime minister, a rare occasion on which a dispute between monarch and elected leader became public.

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Today, Malaysia remains an important member of the Commonwealth, the project perhaps closest to the late Queen's heart and the principal reason she travelled there.

Malaysia had been transformed under Mahathir Mohamed's leadership by 1989

In 1989, Malaysia hosted its first Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, the biennial gathering of the now 56-member group, and in 1998 organised the first Commonwealth Games to be held in Asia.

At the time, those games symbolised Malaysia's modernity. The Queen was shown the stunning new twin towers constructed in Kuala Lumpur's business district and rode on the newly-built metro system.

She also went to Shelter Home, a centre for abandoned children run by James Nayagam, a royal visit he remembers vividly.

"I received a call from the British High Commission asking me if I would like a visit from the Queen. They asked for no VIPs to be present, just ordinary people, and that the Queen would come into the centre through the kitchen," he said.

"They said she's going to be a volunteer for the day, teaching our girls English. And I thought, wow, that's fantastic, having a very expensive teacher all the way from England.

"I was expecting someone of her stature to be different. But to my surprise, she was just ordinary. She was friendly, pleasant. That helped a lot. And the way she sat down and the way she connected to the girls - they were enjoying the class as if she was there every day of the week."

James and two other friends who had also met the Queen had come to a tea shop in a Kuala Lumpur suburb to rekindle those memories. But these were older men, old enough to recall the young Queen's portrait hanging on their parents' walls in the last years of British rule in the 1950s.

Younger Malaysians don't remember the Queen's visits, but some say she was an inspiring female figure

Efforts to get a response to Queen Elizabeth's death from younger Malaysians yielded little. They had all heard of her, of course. But they seemed unaware of her links to Malaysia and knew little about the Commonwealth.

"I don't know much about her, but I do follow the Royal Family," said Elaine, who was selling homemade earrings at an arts and crafts stall in Kuala Lumpur. "I even watch documentaries about her and I think she's a great leader.

"But the younger generation don't know much about her, because they don't know much about history. All they know is about social media - TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and things like that."

Evette, who was helping her friend run a used clothing stall, said: "I think she's been a very strong, independent woman figure. Being a woman, and such a high authority in England, I think it inspires all of us women here in Malaysia."

Kishva Ambigapathy led the Commonwealth Day Service in Westminster Abbey in 2016

Kishva Ambigapathy was one young person who had actually met Queen Elizabeth on several occasions, but that was in his role as head of the Commonwealth Youth Council.

"It was inspiring to have those conversations with her, because she always showed her leadership, she always showed how you create solutions, how you always create opportunities from difficulties.

"With her position, her prestige, she could always convene a lot of stakeholders. And she has seen so many historical events. That wisdom brings a lot of value to young people."

The Commonwealth is Queen Elizabeth's greatest legacy outside Britain, but also one whose future is uncertain.

"I think the Commonwealth is still relevant," says Prof Sufian Jusoh from the National University of Malaysia, who advises the government on trade, "for the cultural and educational links, and of course the legal system - we inherited the common law system from the British, which has been very effective.

"But it should be reformed so that it stays relevant. There are lots of activities, but not very well-publicised. It is not as popular or well-known as other organisations, despite having more than 50 members."

Will the Commonwealth be relevant for younger and future generations?

In its early days, the Commonwealth played an important part in smoothing the transition from empire to independence, ensuring Britain continued to have a close relationship with its former colonies.

But Vinod Sekhar, one of Malaysia's most successful entrepreneurs, wants King Charles III to move it beyond its post-imperial identity.

"I don't look at the Commonwealth as this former imperial structure. I just look at it from the opportunity of, 'Hey guys, we have this club.' It is an incredible union of countries that have a common thread of history," he says.

"Why don't we mould this club into what we need today - and especially Malaysia; we are not a political power, we are not a military power, we are a trading power. We need to lead in trade, we need to bring people together. Now surely the Commonwealth provides an opportunity for us to lead?"

That is ambitious. With so many other regional trade arrangements in the Asia-Pacific region either in existence or being negotiated, it is hard to see where the political will might come from to turn the Commonwealth into yet another.

But without Queen Elizabeth's authority and determination to keep the members of her former empire linked to each other, the Commonwealth may need new ideas and a new sense of direction, to keep going.

The impressions she left on those she met in Malaysia are more certain to endure.

Mahathir Mohamad, born the year before the Queen, says he didn't expect her to die when she did

"When I read that she had passed away," says James Nayagam, "I sat down. There was a silence in me, as I thought about this person I had met. And what a memory, for me and my family, of this lady - this special lady - who has enriched our lives."

Even Mahathir Mohamad, at 97 years old the great survivor of Asian politics and once the sworn enemy of British influence, was moved to pay tribute to her.

"The Queen was always gracious and hosting her was a pleasure. I really did not expect her to pass away when she did. She was only one year younger than me. She was a good example of a constitutional monarch. Her passing away is a loss, not just to the British, but to people who believe in the rule of law."

What next? A day-by-day guide from now to the funeral

How titles and the line of succession have changed

Nine shows to stream about the Queen
john-oliver_5 - Credit: PAULA L0B0

Britain has been in a ceremonial state of mourning following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last week  and that apparently extends to the airwaves as well. During a recent HBO broadcast of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the hosts jabs at the response to Her Majestys not-so-sudden death were scrapped entirely by the U.K. television service provider Sky.

Obviously, we need to start with the U.K., which is clearly still reeling from the shocking death of a 96-year-old woman from natural causes, Oliver began after a segment about the President of Chile. It is a big moment which, for some reason, absolutely everyone felt that they had to weigh in on.

More from Rolling Stone

Oliver then pointed out the strange way that seemingly random brands flocked to social media to weigh in and pay tribute to the monarch.

During his show, Oliver began listing out some of the corporate responses to the Queens death, highlighting everyone from Crazy Frog, which tweeted out RIP the Queen candle emoji  a tweet thats impossible to read without mentally adding [Crazy Frogs dance music]  to Dominos U.K. which posted, Everyone at Dominos joins the nation and the world in mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Our thoughts and condolences are with the Royal Family.

Oliver added: Which I guess is nice, although if the world is mourning, they should maybe tell the U.S. Dominos account whose most recent tweet as of this taping is if ur reading this it means u need pizza like to confirm. Get your fucking house in order Dominos! A LADY IS DEAD.

Fans of Last Week Tonight fans took to social media after the broadcast to express their frustration with Sky for depriving them of a few lighthearted jokes. During the stream thats available now, the episode cuts from Olivers segment about the President of Chile to his comments about new British Prime Minister Liz Truss with only a small mention of the Queen.

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The Queens death is sadly not the only traumatic event that Britain has had to deal with this week, Oliver said. Because on Tuesday, Liz Truss, basically Margaret Thatcher if she were high on glue, became its new Prime Minister.

But the part where he insists that the nicest thing the Queen of England ever did for anyone was die the week that woman became Prime Minister didnt make the cut.

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Click here to read the full article.
Queen In Nigeria

Queen Elizabeth II inspects men of the newly-renamed Queen's Own Nigeria Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force, at Kaduna Airport, Nigeria, during her Commonwealth Tour, 2nd February 1956. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Credit - Getty Images2012 Getty Images

Since Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1952, dozens of nations colonized by the British Empire have gained independence and continue to rebuild their societies. Some critics of the royal family see last weeks death of Britains longest-reigning monarch as an opportunity to re-envision the monarchys role and to finally acknowledge the struggles of all those who were affected by British imperialism around the world and in Britain itself.

The legacy of colonization has been well documented and often included slavery and the forced movement of people, brutal suppression, and the extraction of resources at the expense of local economies. For many of us from the colonies, the death of Elizabeth II signifies in very particular ways that she was the symbol of an empire built on genocide, slavery, violence, extraction, and brutality, the legacies of which continue in our present day, says Anna Arabindan-Kesson, a professor of Black diasporic art at Princeton University. She was not only a symbol, she was complicit in this empire.

This part of the monarchys history is often conveniently hidden or ignored in Britain, says Arabindan-Kesson. This history needs to be addressed in the wake of Queen Elizabeth IIs death, she adds. The current rhetoric, pageantry, and colonial nostalgia around her death reinforces this refusal to acknowledge and deal with this imperial historya history that defines so much of our current moment, that defines what Britain is.

The Queens complex legacy

Presidents and Prime Ministers of former British colonies have paid their respects to the Queen, including leaders from India, Ghana, South Africa, Barbados, and Jamaica. But these diplomatic gestures dont necessarily reflect the sentiment of all of their inhabitants or diaspora, some of whom have been very vocal about how destructive they feel British colonialism was.

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We do not mourn the death of Elizabeth, because to us her death is a reminder of a very tragic period in this country and Africas history, the Economic Freedom Fighters, a South African political party, said in a statement.

Until her death, Queen Elizabeth II was the monarch of 15 countries in the Commonwealth that are home to around 150 million people. The U.K. also currently holds an additional 14 overseas territories that are home to another 300,000 people.

The length of the Queens reign and her personal popularity may have prevented a full discussion about the impact of colonization. I think Elizabeth IIs rule prevented a reckoning and allowed for a sense of continuity and continued denial about the extent of change in the last 70 years, says Priya Satia, a history professor at Stanford University who specializes in the British empire. Decolonization was supposed to force the acknowledgment of wrong. That never came because it was always masked by the continuity of the Queen.

The vast history of the British Empire

A colloquial saying, the sun never sets on the British Empire, rang true for arguably more than two centuries, a span over which Britain colonized or established rule over dozens of nations across the Americas, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Australasia. Scholars also note the importance of remembering the British oppression and colonization closer to home, in both Scotland and Ireland.

The exact years of the British Empire and the number of colonies it held are debatable, but the empires effects are still widely-felt. It depends on how youre defining empirelike right now, theres a movement for Scottish independence, Satia says. Or the ongoing issue between the two Irelands. And there are other colonial holdings that Britain still has. So its not only recent, its current history.

In many countries, British occupation lasted for generations, during which the ruling British authorities imposed various systems that many former colonies maintained after their independence. These are reflected in British-origin practices such as tea drinking, parliamentary governments, and playing cricket.

But not all practices that were passed on were as innocuous as tea drinking or sport. Entire societies were changed, Satia says.

Ideas about property and possession were shaped by colonialism, such as the fact that the land was empty, and was able to be possessed by colonists, Arabindan-Kesson says. This is something that of course First Nations communities in Australia or New Zealand and Canada, even in the US, continue to highlight.

While colonization did not take place under Queen Elizabeth IIs reign, Britain still had a large empire at the time of her coronation in 1952. In the following decades, many colonies sought independence and at times violent uprisings took place.

Read More: Scenes From Around the World in the Aftermath of Queen Elizabeth IIs Death

Although the Queen was the head of state and not government, meaning she had limited decision-making power, as a political figure she had the opportunity to be vocal. But she opted for silence, says Satia.

The crown jewels, theyre mostly made up of stones that have been stolen from various places in the British Empire. The Queen always wore them, never suggesting in any way that they be returned, Satia says. There hasnt been a moment in which the monarchy turned its back against empire and said, No more, or, We regret having been part of this.

Today, researchers consider ethnic conflict, LBTQ oppression, and environmental injustice as a few of the issues enabled by British imperialism in former colonies.

Colonialism in the U.K.

An often underlooked aspect of Britains colonial legacy is its effects at home. Arabindan-Kesson points out that colonialism disadvantaged the countrys minority communities through systemic racism and oppression.

Health, their access to facilities, their involvement and participation in politics, their access to economic mobility, all of this is so much lower, says Arabindan-Kesson, referring to minority communities in the U.K.

British school curricula have been criticized for years over their failure to include minority voices and to discuss the negative consequences of empire. This has had an impact, Arabindan-Kesson says, on minorities within the U.K.

Not just to the Queens death, but how people have responded to particular events, for example, the Windrush scandal and current immigration policies, really show this lack of historical awareness of just how central empire was to what is now contemporary Britain, she says. (The Windrush scandal refers to the wrongful deportation or threatened deportation of hundreds of Black Britons to the Caribbean.)

The monarchy, in general, is an incredibly spectacular symbol of the huge social and economic inequalities of modern Britain, Arabindan-Kesson says. She adds that is particularly true amid a cost of living crisis where people are struggling to heat their houses, pay bills, and feed their families. The fact that so much attention and so many resources are spent on this institution seems completely anachronistic and really, a complete waste of resources.

Looking forward

But Arabindan-Kesson and Satia are hopeful that more conversations about the monarchys legacy will continue to be discussed.

I think education is really important, Arabindan-Kesson says. [Also] listening particularly to the Black and Brown scholars, activists, writers, and artists who have always been making these critiques and highlighting these issues, and then really working on policy and structural change and the process of repair, which I think does involve reparations in various forms.

Read More: The Future of the British Monarchy Is More Uncertain Than Ever

For her part, Satia hopes the monarchy can be more open about its history. Imagine a very different kind of monarchy, where in the name of decency rather than politics, a monarch could say things like, We acknowledge and regret the role of Britain, the British government and the British monarchy in slavery and colonialism. That kind of moral leadership could have such a different impact in the world, she says.
Queen Elizabeth II would happily play cards alone while guests mingled at Balmoral, Theresa May has said.

The former prime minister said that the Queen did not make herself the centre of attention during gatherings at the royal Scottish residence.

Speaking to ITVs Lorraine, Ms May said that the former monarch wanted to be a good hostess who wanted her guests to really feel at home, to enjoy the surroundings as much as she did and be able to relax.

She said: There would be occasions when, perhaps, everybody  guests  were milling around, perhaps chatting to each other, and the Queen was quite happy to sit in the room playing patience.

She didn't feel the need for everybody to be paying attention to her all the time.

The MP for Maidenhead added that the Queen was the most remarkable person and an example of devotion to duty.

She expressed her fear that the sense of duty embodied by the Queen may be slipping away from public life.

I think maybe there is a slight loss of that sense of duty, she continued.

Former prime minster Theresa May sits with Queen Elizabeth II in April 2018 (Getty Images)

It becomes, for a lot of people, more about them rather than about other people and how they should be... working for other people.

She added: The late Queen Elizabeth was an example of devotion to duty par excellence.

I doubt we will see her like again.

Her comments come as tens of thousands lined the streets and queued for hours to pay their respects to the late Queen.

Mourners stood through the night to see the late monarchs coffin in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh before the coffin is flown to London on Tuesday evening.

Members of the public have already begin queuing to view the Queens lying in state at Westminster Hall, which opens on Wednesday.

A state funeral will take place on Monday 19 September, with King Charles III declaring the day to be a bank holiday across the UK.

Follow the latest updates as the world pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II's coffin arrived in London on Tuesday after a journey from Balmoral in Scotland.

It will now be taken to the Bow Room in Buckingham Palace where the Queen will spend a final night.

Starting Wednesday, the public can visit her coffin at Westminster Hall to pay respects.

The plane carrying Queen Elizabeth II's coffin from Scotland to England landed in London Tuesday evening, local time.

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, and a military honor guard greeted the coffin at RAF Northolt, an air force base west of London, the Washington Post reported.

The coffin will now be taken to the Bow Room in Buckingham Palace, where the Queen will spend a final night before being transferred to Westminster Hall.

This was the Queen's final journey from her residence in Balmoral, where she died, aged 96, on Thursday. The cause of death has not been released.

Starting Wednesday afternoon local time, the public has the opportunity to pay their respects to the late Queen by visiting her coffin at Westminster Hall.

It will be open 24 hours a day until early Monday. The Queen's funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey later in the day on Monday.

Queues to visit the coffin have already begun filling up. The Times of London reported an estimated 750,000 people will travel to London to pay their respects, meaning queues could take up to 30 hours to get through.

Read the original article on Insider
As Prince Harry mourns the death of his grandmother in the U.K., his wife Meghan Markle is right by his side. She joined him outside Windsor Castle this past weekend to greet members of the public paying tribute to the late Queen. While most were happy to see the Dutchess of Sussex, not everyone was pleased with her presence back across the pond. In a video that has since gone viral, a few mourners are seen giving Markle the cold shoulder as she graciously approached to shake their hands.

The video shows Markle briefly leaving her husbands side to greet mourners. As she makes her way down the line of people, she comes to one woman who is shown dropping her head, deliberately ignoring Markle. The woman who ignored Markle and one of her friends can be seen on camera giggling after snubbing the Dutchess. Always an example of poise, Markle appeared to shrug and laugh off the incident, swiftly moving on to meet more mourners.

Others also ignored Markle, turning their heads away from her and awkwardly adjusting their hair and clothes to avoid shaking the Dutchess hand.

Reactions to the incident have been mixed online. Markle supporters were outraged, commending her class amid the womans rude response, while royalists understood where the woman was coming from.

I dont know how Meghan Markle has the brass neck to walkabout in London shaking the hands of British people after the mud she has thrown at the Royal Family. I wouldnt have shaken her hand, one Twitter user wrote.

I dont know how Meghan Markle has the brass neck to walkabout in London shaking the hands of British people after the mud she has thrown at the Royal Family. I wouldn't have shaken her hand.  Steve (@stephenkeane233) September 11, 2022

You can go on Oprah. You can write a book You can do a podcast And it was all blown away by the Lady in Blue, wrote another.

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You can go on Oprah.

You can write a book

You can do a podcast And it was all blown away by the Lady in Blue.  https://t.co/GewCQHzeO6  Tricky (@Tricky9993) September 11, 2022

One user wasnt as impressed with the snubbers behavior.

Sad, boorish, rude behavior by this Brit. The King wished them well in his speech, but some Brits (a la Piers Morgan) are just cruel & unforgiving. Disrespectful nobody. Woman goes viral after video captures her brutally snubbing Meghan Markle, they tweeted.

Sad, boorish, rude behavior by this Brit. The King wished them well in his speech, but some Brits (a la Piers Morgan) are just cruel & unforgiving. Disrespectful nobody.

Woman goes viral after video captures her brutally snubbing Meghan Markle #SmartNews https://t.co/UP69SJJCwT  pipergirl222 (@pipergirl222) September 11, 2022

And another pointed out that no matter what Markle does, the British press will criticize her.

BREAKING: The British media have explained theyre extremely angry at Meghan Markle for turning up. They have also confirmed they wouldve been absolutely disgusted if shed stayed home, they tweeted.

BREAKING: The British media have explained they're extremely angry at Meghan Markle for turning up. They have also confirmed they would've been absolutely disgusted if she'd stayed home x  Laura Kuenssberg Translator (@BBCLauraKT) September 11, 2022

For some, Markle being snubbed by the British public was uncomfortable to watch.

The level of discomfort I feel at the video up and down my feed where Meghan Markle is shaking peoples hands and dealing with snickering, rude racists just feelsso weird. Ive watched more graphic, explicit shit, but a few seconds of that and I was like nope, keep scrolling, a Twitter user wrote.

The level of discomfort I feel at the video up and down my feed where Meghan Markle is shaking people's hands and dealing with snickering, rude racists just feelsso weird. I've watched more graphic, explicit shit, but a few seconds of that and I was like nope, keep scrolling.  Caroline   down to fandom (@avawtsn) September 13, 2022

While all of the British public may not have the warmest feelings for the Dutchess, King Charles III made it clear that its all love within the family, CNN reports.

I want to express my love for Harry and Meghan as they continued to build their lives overseas, he said in his first speech as King, according to CNN. Many are describing it as an olive branch moment for the Duke and Dutchess.

As for Markle, she has always sung the praises of the late Queen. She told Oprah Winfrey in 2021 that the Queen has always been wonderful to me, Distractify reports.
pnb rock photo Gilbert Carrasquillo / Contributor/Getty Images

The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that Philidelphia rapper PnB Rock was the victim of a fatal shooting at Roscoe's Chicken 'N Waffles on Monday afternoon. The Los Angeles Times reports that LAPD Chief Michel Moore speculated that the attack might be connected to an Instagram post that tagged the rapper's location.

Moore said the gunman entered the restaurant, approached Rock, whose legal name is Rakim Allen, and demanded that he hand over his valuables. After a brief verbal exchange, the suspect opened fire before fleeing out a side door.

Rock, 30, was known for his melodic flow and hit songs like "Selfish" and "Fleek." His collaboration with rapper YFN Lucci, "Everyday We Lit," reached No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100. His label, Atlantic Records, called his death a "senseless loss" in a statement posted on Instagram.

While the police are actively investigating, L.A. Police Captain Kelly Muniz said they don't have anyone in custody and have little information about the suspect at this time, per CNN.

Investigators are reviewing security footage from the restaurant and surrounding area to identify the shooter and see if they were captured while leaving the scene.

Rock's death comes as authorities battle a disturbing trend of "follow home" robberies and other violent incidents involving celebrities and social media. This act of violence is similar to the 2020 incident when robbers killed Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke during a home invasion in the Hollywood hills after posting pictures of a shopping bag with his address.

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Rapper PnB Rock was reportedly shot and killed while he was with his girlfriend at a Los Angeles restaurant on Monday afternoon in what police said was a possible robbery.

LAPD officers responded to a shooting at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles at around 1:15 p.m. and found a victim with multiple wounds. Capt. Kelly Muniz said at a news conference that the victim and a woman were eating at the restaurant when they were approached by at least one suspect, who raised a gun and "demanded property" from the victim. The suspect shot the victim multiple times, took his belongings, and left in a getaway car, Muniz said.

The Los Angeles Times reported, citing anonymous law enforcement sources, that the person killed was PnB Rock  whose real name was Rakim Allen.

Police said the victim was pronounced dead at 2 p.m. A spokesperson declined to identify the victim out of respect for family and loved ones.

"It is very early in the investigation and more details will be released as they become available," the spokesperson said.

Allen, a Philadelphia native, was best known for his 2016 hit song "Selfish." His latest single, "Luv Me Again," was released independently on Sept. 2.

On a recent taping of the podcast Off the Record With DJ Akademiks, Allen talked about nearly being robbed in LA during the pandemic while he was out with his girlfriend and one of his daughters.

"Where I'm from, we like sneaky criminals. LA, it's like, they bold," he said.

"I dont be outside," he said. "I'm not going to put myself in those situations because I know what happens in those situations."

Minutes before the shooting on Monday, Allen's girlfriend had posted a geotagged photo of their meal on her Instagram story, the LA Times reported. Her account has since been deleted.

News of Allen's death led to a flood of posts mourning him and criticizing his girlfriend for sharing their location. Many pointed to what happened to Pop Smoke, a 20-year-old Brooklyn rapper who was killed during a home invasion robbery in LA in 2020. Police believe that the suspects discovered his location from his posts on social media.

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"After Pop Smoke there's no way we as rappers or our loved ones are still posting locations to our whereabouts," Nicki Minaj tweeted.

After Pop Smoke theres no way we as rappers or our loved ones are still posting locations to our whereabouts. To show waffles & some fried chicken????! He was such a pleasure to work with. Condolences to his mom & family. This makes me feel so sick. Jesus. #SIP #PnbRock  02:00 AM - 13 Sep 2022

PNB rocks girlfriend posted their location on IG. 20 minutes later some robbers came and shot him. The same scenario happened with Pop smoke. You people need to learn to stop posting your location while youre still there. 09:58 PM - 12 Sep 2022

Others, including Cardi B, defended her.

I highly doubt nikkas was looking at PMBs babymom IG. He was in a bad location and people stay outside plotting. Its very irresponsible and inconsiderate to blame her for something so tragic. We should be sending nothing but love to her and his family at this time. 01:13 AM - 13 Sep 2022

A lot of ppl hurt over the passing of PNB Rock.. everyone passing blame to everyone but the nigga who actually killed him....... the reason why he got killed is because some bum ass nigga decided to try to rob him and take his life. Everything else is extra. 01:46 AM - 13 Sep 2022

PNB Rock is a celebrity. Anyone in that establishment couldve hit someone up and said he was there. I know everyone on Twitter like to be detectives and want to use everything as a teaching moment, but Im not bout to talk about his girl posting their location. We dont know 11:11 PM - 12 Sep 2022

PnB Rocks girlfriend just lost her partner, childs father and friend. Please be a decent person and stop blaming her for an innocent mistake. She's definitely already blaming herself. She doesn't need the entire internet doing the same. 01:13 AM - 13 Sep 2022
CNN

Against the backdrop of abortion rights becoming one of the top issues in the upcoming midterm elections, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) unveiled a proposed nationwide ban on abortion on Tuesday that would outlaw the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

It was just weeks ago, however, when Graham justified the Supreme Courts landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade by claiming hed been consistent in believing that abortion should be left to individual states.

Since the high court overturned the federal right to abortion in late June, Republicans have grown defensive as reproductive rights have quickly become a galvanizing issue among voters. Democrats have suddenly over-performed in special elections despite promises of a red wave. And the so-called generic congressional ballot now shows Republicans trailing. Just last month, voters in conservative Kansas firmly rejected a ballot measure to allow state lawmakers to regulate abortion.

Grahams proposed bill, titled the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act, is curiously timed due to the headwinds Republicans face from anger over Roes dismantling. The legislation not only uses the non-medical term late-term abortions, but even anti-abortion activists generally only use that phrase for abortions between 21 and 24 weeks.

I think we should have a law at the federal level that would say after 15 weeks, no abortion on demand, Graham stated during a press conference introducing the bill on Tuesday.

It isnt just the baffling political strategy that has left many scratching their heads as Democrats pouncethough Axios did suggest this could be an attempt by Graham to present Republicans as being more mainstream on abortion by pushing a partial ban.

The South Carolina senator also has to answer for suddenly flip-flopping on the issue of states rights on abortion.

Shortly after the majority draft opinion was leaked from the Supreme Court in May, the Republican lawmaker expressed his support for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, declaring that it means that every state will decide if abortion is legal and on what terms.

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He added at the time: That, in my view, is the most constitutionally sound way of dealing with this issue and the way the United States handled the issue until 1973.

Twitter

During a CNN interview on August 7, Graham doubled down on that position, insisting that issues like same-sex marriage and abortion should not be decided at the federal level.

Ive been consistentI think states should decide the issue of marriage and states should decide the issue of abortion, he flatly said.

Here's a fatter clip of the Graham discussion that led to that comment: "I've been consistent  I think states should decide the issue of marriage and states should decide the issue of abortion." pic.twitter.com/hRxX32zpwQ  The Recount (@therecount) August 7, 2022

Graham, of course, wasnt the only conservative who initially downplayed the court overturning Roe by merely claiming that abortion would now be decided by the states. Besides becoming a talking point among GOP lawmakers, Fox News hosts assured viewers that abortion would remain available in blue states and they could just go live somewhere else for an abortion.

When confronted over his blatant hypocrisy during his Tuesday press conference, meanwhile, Graham was unapologetic and blamed his actions on Democrats.

After [Democrats] introduced the bill to define who they are, I thought itd be nice to introduce a bill to define who we are, Graham boasted.

For what its worth, going back on his word and contradicting himself is something of a Graham tradition. Before he was one of former President Donald Trumps most faithful lackeys, Graham was an outspoken critic of the ex-Apprentice star, going so far as to warn that the GOP will be destroyed if it nominated Trump for president.

Furthermore, after participating in the blockade of Merrick Garlands Supreme Court nomination in 2016, Graham repeatedly insisted that he would hold true to his word and not support a GOP presidents nomination in the final year of their term. He even asked his political opponents to use his words against him.

I will tell you this: If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump's term, and the primary process has started, we'll wait to the next election, he exclaimed in 2018, adding: Hold the tape.

Needless to say, when Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, Graham was all in on pushing her onto the Supreme Court.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Ready to take that road trip you always dreamed of? Seen a diner on Guy Fieri show and just want to drive to another side of the country and enjoy the food experience? Or are you ready to take Europe head- on and drive through all of its beautiful countries and cities? Well, heres a list of rental car companies to lean on when youre traveling across the country. Almost, any country.

Alamo

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hertz (@hertz)

With over 1100+ car rental locations in the world Alamo is a great option for those looking to adventure in the South East region in states like Florida. With Alamo cars you are able to drive in and out of Canada. For trips to Mexico from the United States you must get insurance and let agents know a trip to below the border is in your plans.

Hertz

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hertz (@hertz)

Hertz has approximately 8500 locations across 140 countries in the world. Whether youre in Georgia, or Istanbul, Turkey  youll find a deal on long- distance/cross -country rentals at Hertz. Hertz also lets customers leave cars in other cities but for a fee.

FOX Rent A Car Service

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Enterprise (@enterprise)

A smaller chain compared to its competitors but serves multiple countries as well. If youre able to find one of these rental car services in a city near you, youre more than likely going to get one of the best rates in the market.

Enterprise

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Enterprise (@enterprise)

The largest rental car company in the world with over 9,000 locations and 419 airport bases. Enterprise has one of the strongest inventory of cars but could also come with more restrictions or insurance fees than its smaller competitors.

Budget Rental

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Budget Car Rental  (@budget)

Budget Car Rental has over 4000 locations across the world. They offer competitive pricing and you could get a great deal, just might not come with the best customer service at times.
New research shows that London-based fintech company Revolut is the most searched online bank in Europe. Photo: Getty.

Revolut has been crowned as the most searched online bank in Europe, new research has found.

A new study by betting broker CMC Markets found that the London-based lender came out on top, with the most searches in 25 countries.

The fintech firm was co-founded by Russian-born Nikolay Storonsky and Ukrainian Vlad Yatsenko in July 2015.

It had more than 923,000 average monthly searches in total throughout Europe.

It was also the most Googled (GOOG) overall, being first in 15 countries, including Germany and Spain with over 71,000 monthly searches each.

In second place was another UK-based fintech company Wise (WISE.L).

Read more: Cashless society: Cash could disappear from the UK by 2026

Wise was the second most searched online bank in 18 countries, including Hungary, Greece and Portugal. Overall it had over 338,000 average monthly searches in Europe.

The money transfer company, which was formerly known as TransferWise, floated in a record-breaking London listing in July 2021. It was one of the biggest flotations of that year, and the largest London tech listing in history.

It made its stock market debut via a direct listing rather than selling shares at a set price in advance.

This meant that the opening price was determined in an open auction on the date of admission to the London Stock Exchange (LSEG.L). In direct listings, companies sell shares directly to the public without getting help from intermediaries.

Wise was founded by Estonian businessmen Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus in January 2011.

German bank N26, founded by Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal in 2013, came in third place, according to CMC. N26 is a neobank  a digital bank without branches.

N26 was the most searched in four countries, Andorra, Austria, San Marino and Slovenia.

Rounding out the top 10 were mBank (MBK.WA), Hype, Curve, Lunar, Kard, Tunkoff and Monese.

It comes as research from payment processing comparison website Merchant Machine showed that cash usage dropped from 50% in 2004 to 14.96% in 2019.

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They said that using "forecast linear data" they can "predict that cash usage in the UK will reach 0%" by as soon as 2026.

This is partly due to the coronavirus pandemic which saw retailers and shoppers opting for contactless card payments or e-wallets to curb transmission of the virus.

The report found that 47% of the UK would find a cashless society problematic. A further 17% stated that they were unsure of how they would cope or if they would be able to cope at all.

Watch: How to prevent getting into debt
Voters in New Hampshire. Scott Eisen/Getty Images

At long last, voters in Delaware, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire are heading to the ballot box as 2022 primary season finally winds to a close.

In New Hampshire, all eyes are on the U.S. Senate primary, where five Republican candidates are battling it out for the chance to take on Democratic incumbent Sen. Maggie Hassan in November. Hassan notably stands to lose her seat depending on which of the GOP contenders emerges victorious; to that end, CNN writes, some Republicans fear race frontrunner Don Bolduc might actually hand his Democratic counterpart a victory if he proceeds to the general election. Hassan is otherwise up against two intra-party challengers, The Washington Post writes.

Meanwhile, incumbent New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) will try and fend off three separate conservative challengers looking to harpoon his bid for a fourth term. If Sununu wins his primary, as is expected, he'll face state Sen. Tom Sherman in the November, NPR notes.

Elsewhere, in Rhode Island, Gov. Dan McKee (D) is running for a full term of his own after taking over for then-Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) in March 2021 (Raimondo left for a job in the Biden administration). Per NPR, McKee remains the favorite in his respective primary, though "two rivals  Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea and former CVS Health executive Helena Buonanno Foulkes  could pull off an upset."

Things are a bit quieter in Delaware, where only "local and some lower-profile statewide primaries" are being held, CNN writes.

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Judge Steve McKinley

The Richland County Juvenile Courts has received an $843,385 grant from the Ohio Department of Youth Services.

It is the largest annual amount awarded to the court since the inception of the Reclaim grant program, with total funding exceeding $5.6 million over the past ten years, according to Brian Bumpus, court administrator.

The funds are primarily used to reimburse the general fund for the salaries of various court staff, providing a substantial savings to Richland County taxpayers.

I am thankful to the Department of Youth Services for their continued support of our efforts to assist struggling children and families, said Judge Steve McKinley. This grant combined with other funding sources secured by the Court is expected to generate more than $1.4 million in additional revenue for the County in the upcoming year.

The court has 72 employees, Bumpus said.

lwhitmir@gannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ohio Department of Youth Services grant awarded to RC juvenile court
ATLANTA  The Carter Center today officially launched the Candidate Principles for Trusted Elections initiative, a bipartisan effort to encourage candidates, political parties, and voters to uphold five core doctrines of democratic elections: integrity, nonviolence, security, oversight, and the peaceful transfer of power.

Among the first to sign on to these principles are the three candidates for Georgia Secretary of State: current office holder Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, and his two opponents, Democratic State Rep. Bee Nguyen, and Ted Metz, a Libertarian.

Most Americans, no matter their political affiliation, want politicians to lead by example, play by the rules, and adhere to the values that serve as the cornerstone of our democratic republic, said Paige Alexander, CEO of The Carter Center. As an organization with roots in Atlanta, we are proud that our Georgia Secretary of State candidates are among the first in the nation to commit to the Candidate Principles. They are leading by example, and we hope that in the coming weeks, many other candidates will do the same.

While the Candidate Principles for Trusted Elections is an initiative of The Carter Center, it is backed by more than 50 organizations and institutions across the political spectrum, including the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation.

Anyone  candidates, organizations, community leaders, and voters  can pledge their support for the Candidate Principles at principledcandidates.org.

When individuals sign on, said Alexander, theyre sending a signal to their friends, coworkers, and neighbors that they respect each other and the law  and that they expect their political leaders to do the same.

Supporters of the Candidate Principles agree to:

Cooperate with election officials, adhere to rules and regulations, and refrain from knowingly propagating falsehoods about the electoral process.

Encourage a peaceful election atmosphere during the preelection, polling, counting, and post-election periods. Denounce any attempt to intimidate, harass, threaten, or incite violence against opponents, their supporters, and election workers.

Respect voters' freedom to exercise their lawful rights to register and vote, free from interference, obstruction, or intimidation.

Encourage political parties and others to train poll watchers on the election process and appropriate roles and behaviors, responsibilities, and obligations.

Make claims of election irregularities in accordance with the law and acknowledge the legitimacy of the outcomes after the results have been certified and all contestations decided.

The Carter Center is focusing its midterm election and democracy resilience efforts in Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Arizona, and Michigan, but candidates, individuals, and organizations everywhere are encouraged to visit principledcandidates.org and sign on to support the Candidate Principles.

###

Contact: In Atlanta, Soyia Ellison, soyia.ellison@cartercenter.org

Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope.

A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.
Story at a glance

A new analysis released by the research nonprofit Climate Central found that more than 600,000 individual parcels of land could be partially below water over the next 30 years.

Out of that at-risk land, at least 48,000 properties are at risk of being completely underwater by 2050.

That loss of land and property means potentially less property tax revenue in some coastal communities.

Almost 650,000 individual and privately owned parcels of land across 4.4 million acres could be at least partially below water by 2050, a new report predicts.

The research nonprofit Climate Central recently released an analysis outlining the economic impact of rising sea levels stemming from climate change and how private property could be underwater.

Analysis authors looked at scientific data on rising sea levels and tidal boundaries, as well as data on more than 51 million properties, many of which are owned by families or individuals.

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

As a result, the authors found that out of the at-risk parcels, almost 50,000 pieces of property might fall completely below relevant boundary levels, analysts found. Researchers also predicted that property with a value of $108 billion is at risk of being lost by rising seas by 2100, but since complete values were not available for all counties the total is most likely far higher.

The consequences of water moving inland and upslope are more far-reaching than flooding basements.

This has not only profound implications for property owners but eliminates part of the tax base for property taxes that fund local government operations and our schools, said Don Bain, senior advisor at Climate Central and lead author of the analysis. There are many direct and indirect consequences to this.

Florida, Louisiana and Texas are home to the properties at the greatest risk of falling partially under rising waters, the analysis found. More than 140,000 individual parcels may be underwater by 2050 in Florida while more than 100,000 could be swallowed up in Louisiana and more than 60,000 in Texas.

Story continues

North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey are expected to lose more than 40,000 parcels of property as well, the authors note.

Louisiana has the highest number of properties, 25,000 to be exact, that are predicted to be completely consumed by water over the next thirty years.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
(Reuters) - Russia detained a top manager of an aviation factory on suspicion of passing secret military information to Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday, citing the FSB federal security agency.

The FSB said a man was suspected of taking photographs of equipment from Russia's fighter planes and sending them to a Ukrainian citizen who worked at a Ukrainian aviation plant, according to the reports.

The FSB said it had opened a treason case against the suspect.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
(This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine)

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Restrictions against Russia have disrupted local beer brewers' supplies of hops and equipment, forcing them to seek domestic alternatives as they strive to keep their range of beers flowing, three brewing companies told Reuters.

Supply chain disruptions, sanctions over Moscow's actions in Ukraine and some Western firms choosing to halt supplies to Russia have combined to reduce brewers' access to U.S. and European hops, but as foreign competitors vacate the market, some Russian firms see an opportunity.

Sergei Baranov, head of Russian brewing company Khmelyoff said they have used German hops for 15 years, but this year trialled hops from Russia's Chuvash Republic, a region around 585 km (365 miles) east of Moscow.

"In principle we are happy with the quality," Baranov said, adding they would order more.

He said logistics and payment problems meant Khmelyoff could not pay its partners in Germany directly, even though deliveries of hops have not been sanctioned.

Russia, which imports the vast majority of its hops from the likes of the United States, Germany and the Czech Republic, does not produce a wide enough variety of its own hops to brew more sophisticated types of beer, Vyacheslav Vetelev, founder of LaBEERint Brewery, told Reuters.

"We can't brew the same types of beer that our consumers are already used to, only Chuvash hops," said Vetelev, who has used hops from the United States, England, Germany, New Zealand and Australia.

Vetelev, who described Russian entrepreneurs as "iron people", given the almost annual challenges they face, said Russia needed to develop the hops varieties it produces.

"This will take years, it won't happen overnight."

SILVER LINING

While craft breweries struggle to adjust, some larger players see opportunities as the market transitions, such as Afanasy, a large brewer located in Tver, about 160 km (100 miles) northwest of Moscow.

Story continues

"Now our direct competitors have left and there is more shelf space for us, and consumers are already turning their attention to our product," said General Director Vadim Deshyovkin.

Foreign brewers Carlsberg and Heineken have stopped producing their flagship brands in Russia, while Anheuser-Busch InBev is seeking to extricate itself from a joint venture in Russia with Turkey's Anadolu Efes.

Deshyovkin acknowledged that Afanasy is currently facing difficulties, but is building new supply chains, seeking new partners, and its Tver factory is operating at close to full capacity, producing nearly 10 million decalitres per year.

"I am sure that we will overcome (the difficulties) in the coming year," Deshyovkin said. "We will adjust our business processes for supplying missing components or raw materials and then will emerge from this current crisis successfully."

According to federal statistics service Rosstat, Russia produced 410 million decalitres of beer in January-June 2022, up 2.7% year on year.

(Reporting by Reuters, Writing by Alexander Marrow, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
MOSCOW (AP)  A Russian politician who made waves by questioning Russia's strategy in Ukraine on national television said Tuesday he spoke the truth and does not fear punishment under harsh laws against discrediting soldiers and spreading fake news about the conflict.

The remarks by Boris Nadezhdin, a former liberal national Parliament member, came as Russian forces retreated from much of Ukraine's Kharkiv region in the face of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

During a talk show on state-controlled NTV on Sunday, Nadezhdin said President Vladimir Putin had been misled by intelligence services that apparently told him Ukrainian resistance would be brief and ineffective. Nadezhdin also called for fighting to end and negotiations to begin.

Russian officials in recent weeks have repeatedly accused Ukraine of being unwilling to negotiate, but they have also put forth draconian terms. Former President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday said Russia would demand total capitulation in order to negotiate.

In an interview with The Associated Press Tuesday, Nadezhdin said negotiations on a ceasefire are possible always and everywhere. But he said resolving issues such as the status of the eastern separatist regions and of Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, would be far more difficult.

Negotiations on these issues? They are now absolutely unrealistic, because there is a position like this: We will defeat you, no we will defeat you, he said.

Nadezhdin's televised comments were notable because of Russia's moves to stifle criticism of its sending troops into Ukraine. Days after the operation started, Parliament approved legislation that outlawed alleged disparaging of the Russian military or the spread of false information about the operation in Ukraine.

OVD-Info, a legal aid group that tracks political arrests in Russia, has counted 90 criminal cases on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military since Feb. 24.

Story continues

I have definitely not violated any Russian laws," Nadezhdin told the AP. There was not a single fake at all, not a single fake in what I said. There was a statement of absolutely obvious facts."

The pullback of troops from the Kharkiv region and Ukraine's counteroffensive in Russian-held parts of the southern Kherson region have raised concerns that Russia is faltering in what officials insist be called a special military operation.

The leader of the Communist Party, the country's second-biggest political grouping, on Tuesday called both for a general mobilization to boost the military's manpower and for the conflict to be openly called a war.

War and a special operation are fundamentally different. You can stop the special operation, you cannot stop the war, even if you want to," Gennady Zyuganov was quoted as saying by Russian news media.

Maximum mobilization of forces and resources is required. he said.

Mild criticism of Putin is also emerging.

Seven members of a local council in St. Petersburg last week called on the national Parliament to bring treason charges against Putin because of the Ukraine conflict; five of them have been charged with discrediting the army.

A local council in Moscow last week passed a resolution calling on Putin to resign, saying The rhetoric that you and your subordinates are using has been riddled with intolerance and aggression for a long time, which in the end effectively threw our country back into the Cold War era. Russia has again begun to be feared and hated.
Ivan Pechorin, a managing director for the aviation industry at the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, died after reportedly falling from a speeding boat off the coast of Vladivostok on Saturday night, the latest in a string of mysterious deaths among the Russian elite.

The Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic announced his "tragic death" on Monday.

"The death of Ivan is an irreparable loss for friends and colleagues, a great loss for the corporation," the corporation said. "We offer our sincere condolences to family and friends."

Pravda.ru, a pro-Kremlin news outlet, reported that Pechorin and a group of friends were "already tipsy" when they boarded a boat on Saturday evening on Russky Island, near the far eastern city of Vladivostok.

Pechorin fell off a front deck of the boat about 40 minutes into the trip, according to Pravda.ru. His body washed up on Russky Island on Monday.

Pechorin's death could be a tragic accident or a "tragic accident," according to Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer and author of "Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America."

"It is entirely plausible that Pechorin fell into the sea from the boat when it was rocking because he was drunk. Having drinking parties aboard of a boat, swimming in the sea under the influence in the dark  all of that is consistent with how Russian oligarchs entertain themselves. But it also makes for a believable cover story," Koffler told Fox News Digital.

"The truth is unlikely to be discovered because Russian investigations cannot be trusted. If this was a hit job, it would be made to look exactly like a tragic accident."

UKRAINE WARNS RUSSIA IT INTENDS TO TAKE BACK CRIMEA

Pechorin moderated a discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok last Wednesday about expanding aviation access to the Far East.

On that same day, Putin also traveled to Vladivostok to address the Eastern Economic Forum.

Story continues

"We have not lost anything and will not lose anything. In terms of what we have gained, I can say that the main gain has been the strengthening of our sovereignty," Putin said at the conference about the Ukraine war, according to a translation by Reuters.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Oil Company Lukoil Ravil Maganov (R) pose for a photo during an awarding ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on November 21, 2019. MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

Pechorin is the latest member of Russia's elite to die under murky circumstances.

UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS ADVANCE 30 MILES IN 3 DAYS IN KHARKIV AMID MAJOR COUNTER-OFFENSIVE

Ravil Maganov, the chairman of Russian oil giant Lukoil, died two weeks ago after reportedly falling from a hospital window in Moscow. Tass, a state-run news agency, reported that he committed suicide, while his company said that he "passed away after a severe illness."

Lukoil was one of the few companies to speak out against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, calling it a "tragedy" in the early days of the war and expressing sympathy for the victims.

Last month, Soviet-born businessman and Putin critic Dan Rapoport reportedly jumped to his death from his upscale apartment in Washington, D.C.

Rapaport left Russia in 2012 because of his support for political prisoner Alexei Navalny. He frequently expressed support for Ukraine on social media, calling Putin an "evil, corrupt, deceitful and dangerous man."

Fox News' Jon Brown and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
OLENA ROSHCHINA  TUESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2022, 08:33

Russian forces attacked the Nikopol district of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast six times on the night of 1213 September.

Source: Valentyn Reznichenko, Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram

Quote: "The Nikopol district sustained numerous attacks overnight. Russian forces fired on the district a total of six times. They used Uragans, Grads [multiple-launch rocket systems] and heavy artillery to fire on [the city of] Nikopol and the Chervonohryhorivka and Marhanets hromadas [hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories]. There were no casualties."

Details: A total of 16 multi-storey buildings and private houses were damaged, as well as a stadium, several outbuildings and gas pipelines.

The exact extent of damage and destruction has yet to be confirmed.

Air-raid sirens were sounded in other parts of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast overnight, but the rest of the Oblast was spared from attacks.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda!


Russian forces have been ordered to retreat from advancing Ukrainian troops in Kharkiv to focus instead on defending their position in the eastern Donbas region, according to western intelligence sources.

Vladimir Putins generals are exepcted to cede an area nearly half the size of Wales before setting up a new defensive line to the east of the Oskil river, according to intelligence.

Ukrainian forces have reclaimed more than two thousands square miles of territory as they continue their counter-offensive, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday, regaining key locations in the Kharkiv region. He has urged the West to speed up arms supplies to maintain the momentum of its offensives.

Some Russian units fled their positions in "apparent panic" leaving behind a "significant quantity" of weapons, vehicles and ammunition as they fled, western officials said on Tuesday.

State-of-the-art counter-battery radar systems are among equipment Ukrainian troops have come across as they make surprise gains in the Kharkiv region.

Russian forces are not expected to try and retake land around Kharkiv and "are likely in the process of withdrawing from the whole of occupied northern Kharkiv Oblast, an area of up to 10,000 square km or approaching half the size of Wales", one official said.

Officials believe believe it is too early to say whether the Ukrainian advance is a turning-point in the war, but described recent gains as the equivalent to Ukraine having scored a goal before half-time.

And they did not deny reports that British and US military officials played a role in advising Ukraine on its counteroffensive.

While Russian soldiers appear to have been ordered to retreat, the "professionalism" of that retreat differed dramatically between different units and areas of the front, the sources say.

"It's too early to say whether this is a turning point in the war, but it's a moment that has power in terms of both operations, logistics and psychology," one official said.

Story continues

"In marked contrast to Russia, Ukraine has demonstrated impressive operational art and adherence to the core principles of war."

Holding the Donbas region is high up on the Kremlin's list of publicly stated strategic objectives, particularly for its domestic audience back in Russia.

The Kremlin insisted on Tuesday that Mr Putin has the backing of the Russian people, despite murmurings of discontent and criticism following Ukraines successful counteroffensive.

Russians support the president, and this is confirmed by the mood of the people... The people are consolidated around the decisions of the head of state, said Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

As for other points of view, critical points of view, as long as they remain within the law, this is pluralism, but the line is very, very thin, one must be very careful here, he added.

The response from the Kremlin came after outright criticism of Putin and the military leadership earlier in the week.

Some Russian officials took the brave step of publicly calling for Putins resignation.

District councils in the long-serving leaders home city of St Petersburg were among those who have urged the country to oust the 69-year-old.

As Ukraine began a successful counterattack against Russian-occupied positions in the Kharkiv region, deputies from St Petersburgs Smolninsky District issued a statement calling for Mr Putin to be tried for treason.

Dmitry Palyuga, one of the councillors, tweeted that the motion was supported by most of the districts deputies.

We believe that the decision made by president Putin to start the special military operation is detrimental to the security of Russia and its citizens, he said.

Criticism of the Russian president has also crept up into the national state TV discourse.

In a rare show of defiance, Boris Nadezhdin, a former liberal politician, told a Gazprom-owned channel that Mr Putin had been misled into thinking Ukraine would capitulate if he invaded.

We are now at the point where we have to understand that its absolutely impossible to defeat Ukraine using those resources and colonial methods with which Russia is trying to wage war, he said.

Despite the Ukrainian successes, the Kremlin said on Tuesday there was no discussion of a nationwide mobilisation to bolster its forces.

At the moment no, there is no discussion of this, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said when asked if Russia would mobilise its reserves after being driven out of almost all of Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.

On the ground on Tuesday, Ukrainian troops piled pressure on retreating Russian forces, pressing a counteroffensive that has produced major gains and a stunning blow to Moscows military prestige.

Mr Zelensky claimed on Tuesday that his troops had retaken roughly 6,000 square km (2,400 square miles) of territory this month.

Ukraines defence military added that in Russian-occupied regions of the Crimea and southern Ukraine, Russian proxies, intelligence officers and military commanders were fleeing,
Reuters Videos

STORY: Kanye West wants out of a deal with the Gap. His lawyers say the clothing chain didnt hold up its end of the bargain. A letter viewed by Reuters said the chain failed to sell Yeezy Gap-branded products at brick-and-mortar stores, and failed to open dedicated shops.West, known as Ye, signed a 10-year deal with Gap in 2020 to create the line of clothing. Yeezy Gaps first product  a blue puffer jacket  sold out within hours last year. But ties between the rapper and company have been increasingly strained, with West threatening to walk away from the brand on social media. The Gap has been struggling, pointing to inflation and outdated styles at Old Navy. The companys top boss abruptly left in July. West wants to open his own Yeezy stores to.. quote, make up for lost time, according to his lawyer.The Gap did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
An abandoned Russian tank pictured in a village on the outskirts of Izyum in eastern Ukraine, on September 11, 2022. Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images

The Russian troops forced to retreat in Ukraine had a big reputation, UK intel said.

The UK named the 1st Guards Tank Army army among those who ceded vast parts of the Kharkiv region

That army, official said, was a prestigious unit meant to take on NATO in a hypothetical conflict.

A Russian army forced to retreat in Ukraine was meant to be an elite tough enough to fight NATO, UK intel said.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said in a Tuesday intelligence update that the 1st Guards Tank Army (1 GTA) was among the Russian forces who fled the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine.

The troops were forced to retreat after Ukraine launched a swift counterattack in the last week, recapturing swaths of territory from Russian control in the region.

1 GTA was not fully equipped to deal with the offensive because it had suffered "heavy casualties" in the first few months of the war, the British update said.

The update described 1 GTA as "one of the most prestigious of Russia's armies," which is was charged with defending Moscow and leading counter-attacks in the case of a war with NATO.

"With 1 GTA and other WEMD formations severely degraded, Russia's conventional force designed to counter NATO is severely weakened. It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability," the update said.

The retreat in Kharkiv is the latest in a string of heavy blows to Russian military prestige seen in the invasion of Ukraine.

Other units to lose their sheen include the elite paratroopers known as the VDV, as well as the wider Russian air force, which failed to overwhelm Ukraine's less-advanced counterpart.

Russia's Ministry of Defense confirmed that its forces retreated from some areas in the Kharkiv region, with a top official saying on Russian TV that Ukrainian forces outnumbered Russians by eight to one in the offensive, the BBC reported

The speed of the attack forced Russian soldiers to flee in any way they could reports on the ground said, including disguising themselves as locals.

Story continues

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Monday that Ukraine had retaken around 2,300 square miles, or 6,000 square kilometers, since the start of September.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote in a Sunday analysis that the Kharkiv counteroffensive was a "major operational defeat" for Russia.

Read the original article on Business Insider
IRYNA BALACHUK  TUESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2022, 12:07

As of the morning of 13 September, the Russian occupiers have completely left Kreminna in Luhansk region, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine have not yet entered the city, fighting continues around Lyman in the Donetsk region.

Source: Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, live on the Current Time TV channel

Quote from Haidai: "Today, Kreminna is completely empty. There is no police, no commandant's office, no prosecutor's office  no-one is there anymore, they have all left. In Kreminna, the Ukrainian flag hangs on the administrative building for the third day  this shows that all the occupiers and Gauleiters have fled."

Details: At the same time, he added that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had not yet entered the city.

The head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration is convinced that the large-scale de-occupation of the Luhansk region will begin with Kreminna and Svatove, because the Russians have already begun to move equipment closer to these cities. Haidai believes that the main strike will be there.

According to the head of the administration, Starobilsk, which was a kind of "intermediate, transit city" for Russians, is actually empty at the moment.

The occupiers are trying to create some kind of defensive line in the area of Svatove and Troitske because the border with Russia is nearby and "the transition from Lyman to Luhansk Oblast".

Haidai noted that the liberation of Lyman is key for Luhansk Oblast, and fighting is still ongoing around the city.

The head of the military administration also added that the occupiers currently have a catastrophic fuel situation  collaborators began to flee en masse to Russia, which is why long queues have formed at petrol stations, and there is not enough fuel for everyone.

Background:

On 10 September, Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, said that the Ukrainian military was on the outskirts of previously Russian-held Lysychansk.

On 11 September, the head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration Serhii Haidai said that he was expecting "excellent news" from the "presently occupied" cities of Svatove, Kreminna and Rubizhne in the near future.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
ATLANTAAs part of a partnership with The National media outlet in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), The Carter Center announces two new fellows for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism Program.

UAE fellow recipients Jenna Kleinwort and Fatima Al Mahmoud will join an international cohort of journalists who have been awarded fellowships since 1996. Over the past 26 years, the Center has awarded one-year fellowships to more than 230 journalists, connecting them with resources and experts to increase the quality and accuracy of mental health reporting around the world. The program is currently in the United States, Latin America, Qatar, the UAE, and was previously in New Zealand, South Africa, and Romania.

Photos: The National (Fatima Al Mahmoud left, Jenna Kleinwort right)

Kleinwort previously covered business and social affairs as a video reporter at 7DNews in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Her work has also been seen on Bahrain TV and German channels, including ZDF. Her fellowship project will focus on the people at the forefront of the mental health landscape in the UAE.

Al Mahmoud is a social media journalist at The National in Abu Dhabi and has also reported from Beirut, coverage mental health topics including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers in Lebanon and the countrys psychiatric drug shortages. Al Mahmouds fellowship project will focus on the mental health of first responders.

This month, the pair will begin the UAE program of the year-long, non-residential fellowship, which aims to increase and improve the quality of mental health reporting in the media.

During their time as fellows, both journalists will be assisted by a local advisory board in the UAE and receive intensive training from experts and mentors in the U.S. to help them accurately report on mental health.

The Carter Center provides training, educational materials, mentorship, evaluation tools, and technical assistance to develop a sustainable program in the UAE. The National manages the UAE program and is responsible for the selection of journalists and the adaptation of the program to meet the needs of the population.

Applications for the 2023-24 UAE cohort of Rosalynn Carter Fellows for Mental Health Journalism will open in February 2023.

Since Rosalynn Carter established the Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism Program in 1996, fellows have produced more than 1500 stories, documentaries, books, and other works during and after their fellowship year. Their projects have garnered Emmy Awards, nominations for the Pulitzer Prize, and other awards. See mentalhealthjournalism.org and follow @CarterFellows on Twitter for more information about the fellows and tips on mental health journalism.

Contact: In Atlanta, Rennie Sloan, rennie.sloan@cartercenter.org

Contact for fellowship questions: carterfellows@cartercenter.org

Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope.

A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.
President Vladimir Putin said last Wednesday Russia will post a budget surplus in 2022. Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images

Russia's budget surplus fell to 137 billion rubles in the first eight months of 2022, per Bloomberg.

In the first seven months of the year, Russia's budget surplus was 481 billion rubles.

The country's budget revenue growth has slowed, while spending has stayed strong.

Russia's budget surplus likely fell sharply in August on the back of sweeping sanctions and slowing energy exports.

In the first eight months of 2022, Russia's budget surplus declined to 137 billion rubles, or $2.1 billion  down more than two-thirds from 481 billion rubles in the first seven months of the year, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing preliminary data from the country's finance ministry.

Russia's finance ministry doesn't provide monthly figures, but Bloomberg Economics' Alexander Isakov estimated the country posted a 300 billion-ruble deficit  meaning the country is spending more money than it makes  in August.

Despite sweeping sanctions, Russia's economy has been holding up as the energy giant has been raking in profits from high energy prices amid a supply crunch that was already in place before it invaded Ukraine.

However, Russia's revenue growth has been slowing steadily, according to data from the country's finance ministry compiled by Bloomberg. This comes as the country's energy exports face sanctions and boycotts, and are now priced at a discount to market prices.

Russia has also slowed natural-gas exports to Europe, its primary market. This in turn is likely to crimp Russia's natural-gas output because production would have to fall to meet lower shipment needs.

Meanwhile, Russia's spending has stayed strong, Bloomberg's data shows. This is in part due to Moscow boosting spending to support the economy.

Russia's finance ministry expects the country to post a 1.7 trillion ruble federal budget deficit in 2022, Interfax reported in July, citing an unnamed source familiar with the situation.

Still, Russian President Vladimir Putin said last Wednesday the country's state finances have "stabilized" and that it's expected to post a budget surplus of around 485 billion rubles in 2022, Reuters reported.

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United States has given Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a visa to travel to New York for the United Nations' annual gathering of world leaders next week with half the delegation Moscow requested, a Russian diplomatic source said on Tuesday.

Moscow had asked Washington for 56 visas, according to a Sept. 2 letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia. The Russian diplomatic source said on Tuesday the United States had approved 24 visas.

Nebenzia had also noted in his letter that the flight crew for Lavrov's plane had not received visas. It was not immediately clear if Washington had granted visas for the Russian flight crew or if Lavrov would be expected to fly commercial airlines to New York.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly begins on Sept. 20.

Under the 1947 U.N. "headquarters agreement," the United States is generally required to allow access to the United Nations for foreign diplomats. But Washington says it can deny visas for security, terrorism and foreign policy reasons.

The United Nations said earlier this month that it was speaking with the United States about the issue of Russian visas.

The relationship between the United States and Russia has ruptured since Moscow invaded neighboring Ukraine in February. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine "a special military operation."

The Kremlin on Tuesday said the United States was "violating its obligations" by not issuing visas to Russia's full delegation and said it would hold the United Nations and the United States to account over the situation.

The United States said earlier this month it takes its U.N. host country obligations seriously and that visa records are confidential under U.S. law, so it could not comment on individual cases.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Josie Kao)
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet in Uzbekistan on Friday and discuss trade as well as sales of Russian fertilizers and mutual food supplies, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

"There are plans to discuss issues of 'saturation' of the Indian market with Russian fertilizers and bilateral food supplies," it said in its handout of materials for the meeting.

The meeting will be held on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional security bloc.

"First of all, moves, aimed at boosting bilateral trade flows, will be looked at. The trade turnover reached $11.5 billion in the first half of 2022, up almost 120% year-on-year," the Kremlin said.

India's fertiliser imports from Russia rose to $1.03 billion in April-July compared to $773.54 million in whole of the last fiscal year to March 31, 2022, according to the Indian commerce ministry's website.

India is looking for a three-year fertiliser import deal with Russia.

Attempts to sign a long-term fertiliser import deal earlier this year were hit by the challenging geopolitical situation after Russia launched what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Putin will also meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the sidelines of the summit in Uzbekistan's ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand.

India and China are key buyers of Russian energy, helping to cushion Moscow from the effects of Western sanctions and allowing the two Asian economies to secure raw materials at discounts compared to supplies from other countries.

The two Asian nations have not publicly criticised Moscow's actions in Ukraine, despite the outcry in the West.

India, which rarely used to buy Russian oil, has emerged as Moscow's second biggest oil customer after China.

Refiners in India, the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, have been snapping up discounted Russian oil, shunned by some western countries and companies.

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The Group of Seven countries is working to cap the price of Russian oil from Dec. 5 in an attempt to cut the price Russia receives for oil without reducing its petroleum exports to world markets.

So far, India and China have not said if they will join the price cap mechanism.

Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri last week said India would examine the issue when more details are available. He also said many conversations and proposals were taking place and "we will see who is participating" in the price cap mechanism.

(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Nidhi VermaEditing by Mark Heinrich and Mark Potter)
A San Francisco sex assault victim is suing city and county officials after she says her rape kit was improperly used to add her DNA to a police database, where investigators allegedly later used it against her in a criminal case, according to her attorneys.

The woman, identified only as Jane Doe in court documents, is suing both the city and county of San Francisco, Police Chief Bill Scott, the departments crime lab director Mark Powell, the criminalist Kelley Fracchia and SFPD Office Sylvia Lange as well as 50 unidentified defendants, according to Mondays court filing.

"Plaintiff Jane Doe, a sexual assault survivor, was re-victimized by this unconstitutional practice," reads a lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District California. "In 2016, she provided a DNA sample to the San Francisco Police Department as part of its investigation into her sexual assault. However, she never consented to it to be stored or used for any other purpose."

But the department allegedly kept her DNA on file for at least six years, according to the lawsuit, and "routinely ran crime scene evidence though this database that included Plaintiffs DNA without ever attempting to get her consent or anyone elses consent."

SAN FRANCISCO DA ALLEGES POLICE USED WOMAN'S RAPE KIT DNA TO ARREST HER FOR SUSPECTED CRIME

Does lawyers from the Oakland-based Pointer and Buelna law firm were expected to reveal more details at a Monday news briefing.

READ THE FEDERAL CIVIL COMPLAINT:

Eventually, the DNA sample led to her arrest on unrelated burglary charges  which were later dropped, according to the lawsuit.

Former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin told the Associated Press in March that the circumstances of the creation of Does DNA sample led him to drop the felony burglary charges.

SAN FRANCISCO'S OUSTED DA CHESA BOUDIN RULES OUT BID TO REGAIN JOB IN SPECIAL ELECTION

A copy of a blank patient consent form makes no mention of adding the victims DNA to a database and notes that the signee can withdraw their consent at any time.

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The lawsuit alleges a violation of Does constitutional rights, injuries and damages, breach of duty, negligence, unlawful search and seizure and unlawful arrest.

"Since at least 2015, the City and County of San Franciscohas had a policy and/or practice of playing DNA samples taken from crime victims as part of the investigation into the crimes they suffered and/or reported into a quality assurance database without the victims consent or knowledge," the lawsuit reads. "Defendant CCSF maintained the victims DNA in the database into perpetuity and tested any genetic material taken from any and all subsequent crime scenes against all DNA samples in the quality assurance database."

The lawsuit is seeking an unspecified payout for damages, the removal of Does DNA from the police database and an order prohibiting the city and county from storing similar victims DNA in the future.

City police said the department does not comment on pending cases, but shared a February statement from Chief Scott on the matter.

"We must never create disincentives for crime victims to cooperate with police, and if its true that DNA collected from a rape or sexual assault victim has been used by SFPD to identify and apprehend that person as a suspect in another crime, Im committed to ending the practice," he said at the time.

"I am informed that our existing DNA collection policies have been legally vetted and conform with state and national forensic standards," the chief continued. "However, there are many important principles for which the San Francisco Police Department stands that go beyond state and national standards. We have long embraced sanctuary for our undocumented immigrant communities, for example, and we years ago ended the practice of using condoms as evidence in prostitution cases."

He went on to announce a review of the departments DNA collection practices.
Story at a glance

This week, U.S. News & World Report published its annual best university list, featuring Columbia University as the second best institution in the country.

After conducting his own investigation, a professor at Columbia argued data given to U.S. News was inaccurate.

Columbia admitted to providing faulty data, and U.S. News subsequently dropped the schools ranking down to 18th place.

The latest edition of U.S. News & World Reports annual best university list has sparked a heated debate in the higher education world, as Columbia University was caught using misleading data by one of its own faculty members to earn a higher ranking.

On Monday, U.S News published its long-standing list of the countrys top universities, a resource used by millions of prospective college students and their families, and more than 1,850 schools report data to the publication in order to be considered.

In its initial iteration of the 2022-23 best college rankings list, Ivy League institution Columbia University was featured as the second best school in the country, working its way up after debuting at 18th place back in 1988. It was surpassed only by Princeton University and tied with Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

However, a math professor at Columbia called out his employer for providing faulty data to U.S. News in order to secure a higher ranking  and the school confirmed his allegations and saw its ranking drop 16 places, down to 18, in response.

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U.S. News says it uses 17 metrics of academic quality to assess colleges and universities  that includes graduation and retention rates, average graduate indebtedness, class size, academic reputation and more.

However, Michael Thaddeus, a professor of mathematics at Columbia, argued that the data used to support Columbias second place ranking proves to be inaccurate, dubious, or highly misleading.

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In an analysis published to his website, Thaddeus argued Columbia incorrectly claimed about 82 percent of undergraduate classes enrolled fewer than 20 students  a higher percentage than any other school in the top 100  yet when he examined data from Columbias class directory, Thaddeus found it was likely between 62 and 67 percent.

Thaddeus also wrote that the graduation rates reported by Columbia to U.S. News were extremely high and that transfer students, who account for about 30 percent of Columbias incoming undergraduates, are excluded from that figure.

Students are poorly served by rankings. To be sure, they need information when applying to colleges, but rankings provide the wrong information, explained Thaddeus who reiterated that the data on which rankings are based cannot be trusted.

Columbia responded to Thaddeus accusations by publishing additional data and admitted that we had previously relied on outdated and/or incorrect methodologies for current and future data submissions.

College ranking lists, like the one U.S. News puts out every year, have drawn criticism from some experts, like Michael Itzkowtiz, a senior fellow at Third Way, a left-leaning think tank, who said on Twitter, these rankings continue to focus on exclusivity and resources, rather than accessibility and economic mobility.

Even Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona expressed disdain for college ranking lists, saying last month at an August conference that many institutions spend enormous time and money chasing rankings they feel carry prestige, but in truth, do little more than xerox privilege, as one HBCU president says.

Cardona went on to say more often than not, the countrys best resourced schools chase rankings that mean little on measures that truly count: college completion, economic mobility, narrowing gaps in access to opportunity for all Americans. That system of ranking is a joke.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that at the end of fiscal year 2020, Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University and Princeton University had endowments surpassing $20 billion  all schools ranked within the top five best of U.S. News 2022-23 university rankings.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A Democratic plan to pass energy permitting reform along with a government funding bill is hitting hurdles in the Senate as Republicans coalesce on a standalone proposal and progressives fret that the "devil's in the details."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made the deal with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in exchange for Manchin's vote on Democrats' social spending and taxation bill. However, some Republicans, feeling betrayed by Manchin's vote for the tax and spending bill, say they will vote against any continuing resolution with the permitting reform in it, even if they favor the policy.

Other Republicans are suspicious of the substance of the yet-to-be-announced permitting reform agreement and are backing a separate proposal from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Additionally, some progressives are threatening to vote against the funding bill over environmental concerns.

All of these factors could complicate Democrats' path to 60 votes on the funding bill.

71 HOUSE DEMOCRATS WARN PELOSI AGAINST INCLUDING MANCHIN'S PERMITTING DEAL IN GOVERNMENT FUNDING BILL

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito introduced her own standalone permitting reform proposal Monday, with broad support from fellow Senate Republicans. Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

"Absolutely," Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said Monday when asked if Republicans backing Capito's plan puts at risk the possibility the Senate could accomplish anything on permitting reform. "I think that there are political games played all the time around here. I think it would be unfortunate. There's an opportunity to get a win for the American people."

"This rally around Capito' strategy all but ensures permitting reform is dead for years," a Democratic aide said. "This is the only window in the foreseeable future (years) to get it done and there is no path forward on her bill."

Capito, meanwhile, said she put forward her permitting reform proposal because Republican "calls for action and offers to see legislative text from the permitting deal remain unheeded."

MANCHIN DEAL WITH SCHUMER TO SPUR OIL AND GAS DRILLING JEOPARDIZED BY FAR-LEFT DEMOCRATS

A Republican aide, meanwhile, said Democrats are "looking for someone to blame," amid opposition from progressive Democrats to putting permitting reform in the government funding bill.

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"The reality is if it doesnt get done, Democrats will have lied to the American people and will have no one to blame but themselves," the GOP aide said.

The progressive opposition to the permitting reform deal is strongest in the House, where dozens of progressives are warning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., against including the permitting reform language. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is leading a similar charge in the Senate, and other progressive senators may join him.

"This is one where literally the devil's in the details," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Monday. "So I want to see all the details. We're still in the middle of negotiations. I think there's an overall approach that everyone's talking about, but there are still some pieces to be landed on."

Even Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of Manchin's regular moderate allies in the Senate, appears suspicious of his deal with Schumer.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Monday warned that "the devil is in the details" amid energy permitting reform talks among Democrats. Scott Olson/Getty Images

"I think putting it on a CR is problematic," Collins said. "It's a major policy."

Some Republicans said they would be open to advancing permitting reform on a continuing resolution, but they emphasized the details would have to be right.

"We would support substantive, meaningful permitting reform. Not a meager solution intended to help Sen. Manchin save face. We would support something substantive much like what Sen. Capito proposed," Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told Fox News Digital.

"It depends what's in it," Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said. "I'm going to be looking at it objectively."

Congress faces a deadline of the end of the month to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government or else it shut down. With the midterms approaching fast, it is likely that lawmakers will figure a way to at least temporarily defuse the political brinksmanship, so they can go home and campaign.

However, that solution, so far, is not clear.

"You'll have to find out," Sanders said when asked if any Senate Democrats share his position on permitting reform and the continuing resolution. "I don't know."

Fox News' Haris Alic contributed to this report.
It has only been two weeks since Amber Myers was attacked at knifepoint by a man whom police say tried to rape her. Myers is the owner of Seattle Massage Sauna and Float. Myers said that a man, whom she didnt know, came into her shop on Aug. 31. She said he threatened her with a knife, forced her into the back room and tried to rape her.

I dont know if its 100% sunk in, like I know it happened and I feel a little rattled but like I said, Im still in this sort of we have to get him sort of mode, Myers said. Now, Seattle police have identified the man as 33-year-old Jordan Alexander.

Myers said a co-worker heard what was happening when Alexander attacked her and stopped it. She said Alexander then ran away and left behind a bag of knives.

SPD released photos and a description of Alexander and said he is 6 feet, 1 inch tall, has a slim build and a shaved head. Officials also said he often tries to disguise himself by wearing head wraps, masks, sunglasses and makeup. Police said he frequents the Capitol Hill area, specifically around 27th Avenue East and East Madison Street, Pine Street and Broadway, 22nd Avenue East and East Madison Street, and Cal Anderson Park.

Part of me is still in that adrenaline stage where Im just sort of like we gotta find him, we gotta find him, Myers said.

This isnt the first time Alexander has had charges filed against him in King County. He was convicted for crimes he committed in 2008, 2019 and 2020. Court documents say that in July 2021, Alexander was sentenced to 43 months in prison, followed by 18 months of community custody. However, in July 2022, he was released from prison on work release. On Aug. 30, Alexander was placed on escape status by the Department of Corrections. It was during the next day that police said he came to this shop and attacked Myers.

Thats concerning when you see someone who has this many failures to appear and a history of not following court orders, we wonder why the DOC would put someone on work release status like that, said Casey McNerthney, from the King County Prosecuting Attorneys Office.

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KIRO 7 did reach out to the DOC and asked why Alexander was placed on work release given his history. The DOC said it would reply with an answer soon.

Its a little frustrating maybe because for whatever reason if hes had so many things in his past, you know, why isnt he detained in some way right now? Myers said. At this point, she said, she just wants him caught.

I just really, really want this to never happen again, Myers said. That would be the worst thing I could think of is if there was, you know, if this happened to someone else.

Police urge anyone who sees Alexander to not approach him but call 911 instead.

Alexander is described as a 33-year-old Black man, six-foot and one-inch tall, with a slim build and shaved head.

During the attack Alexander was wearing an orange shirt under a long-sleeved button-down shirt with a checkered pattern, an orange hat, jeans and black work boots.

According to police, Alexander has attempted to disguise himself in incidents over the years, including wearing a head wrap, mask, sunglasses and light-colored make-up.

Alexander is known to frequent the Capitol Hill area, especially around 27th Avenue East and East Madison Street, Pine Street and Broadway, 22nd Avenue East and East Madison Street, and Cal Anderson Park.

If you know where Alexander is, call 911.
The leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee are pushing Twitters CEO Parag Agrawal to address allegations made by the companys former head of security in a lengthy whistleblower complaint. In a new letter to Agrawal reported by CNN , the leaders of the committee pressed the CEO to address claims that Twitters security practices could harm national security, as well as other issues raised in Peiter Mudge Zatkos complaint.

Up to now, Twitter has declined to address the majority of Zatkos claims in any kind of detail, though the companys lawyers attempted to portray him as a disgruntled former employee during a hearing in a Delaware court last week. The letter comes the day before Zatko is scheduled to appear at a Judiciary Committee hearing to publicly testify about his experience as Twitters head of security.

Agrawal was also extended an invitation to appear at the hearing, according to the letter, though he apparently declined the offer. A Twitter spokesperson didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to national security concerns, Zatko also raised significant concerns regarding Twitters ability to counter misinformation and its handling of basic internal security. Zatko also alleges that Twitter misled the Federal Trade Commission and other regulatory agencies.

These allegations raise serious concerns given Twitters significant role in the U.S. communications landscape and its global reach, Senators Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley write in the letter. It asks Agrawal to respond by September 26th.
Photo: The Canadian Press

UPDATE 6:30 p.m.

A 22-year Toronto police veteran was fatally shot in an "ambush attack" and the suspect is dead, with shooting scenes spanning three Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area cities Monday afternoon that left a third person dead and three others injured.

Const. Andrew Hong, 48, of the traffic services division is survived by his wife, two children and his parents, Toronto Police Chief James Ramer said.

"This is devastating news for his family and for all members of the Toronto Police Service and our entire policing community," Ramer said at a Monday night press conference.

"We will lean on each other while we work to support Const. Hong's family and each other in our grief."

Hong was in Mississauga, Ont., Monday for a training session and was on his lunch break, when he was shot at close range, police said.

"He was shot in an unprovoked  and may I say in an ambush  attack and succumbed to his injuries," Peel Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said at the joint press conference.

Hong died at the scene, Ramer said.

That shooting, which police say left a second person with "life-altering injuries," was the first of several apparently connected scenes.

Halton Regional Police say they believe the same suspect was responsible for a shooting at an auto body shop less than an hour later at a Milton, Ont., that left one person dead, one in critical condition and another in serious condition.

The suspect then fled the scene in Halton Region and was found in Hamilton, Duraiappah said.

Peel police sent an emergency alert just before 4:30 p.m., warning the public about an "armed and dangerous" suspect driving a stolen Jeep Cherokee. It said not to approach the suspect and to call 911.

Minutes later, Halton police said they had a suspect "in custody," but Hamilton Police Chief Frank Bergen later said the suspect was shot and pronounced dead in the Hamilton Cemetery.

"The person who has been taken into custody has been pronounced (dead) and there is no outstanding suspect at this time," Bergen said at a separate press conference Monday evening.

The Special Investigations Unit said it was investigating a shooting involving a Halton Regional Police officer in Hamilton.

Hamilton police said "the situation has been contained and there is no ongoing risk to the public."

The suspect's identity has not been released.

Toronto Police Association president Jon Reid said the union will work to provide whatever support is needed by Hong's family, friends and colleagues.

"Our members go to work each and every day and service to others, often putting themselves in harm's way," he said. "Today is a stark reminder of how this work could result in members given the old paying the ultimate sacrifice."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford tweeted after Hong was identified by Toronto police.

"May Constable Andrew Hong rest in peace. A husband, father and hero, he and his loved ones are in my prayers," he said.

Toronto Mayor John Tory said his thoughts are with Hong's family.

"Today, we are sadly reminded of the danger our officers face on a daily basis as they work to keep us all safe," he said in a statement.

"In the days ahead, I know Toronto residents will join me in supporting the Hong family and our entire policing community as they come together to mourn."

Earlier in the evening, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie offered her condolences to the families of the victims, calling the shootings an "unimaginable tragedy."

"Like many residents across Mississauga, Toronto and Milton, I am in utter shock and devastated in light of today's deadly gun attacks that claimed several lives and others in life-threatening condition...My thoughts are with the victims in hospital and their families, and I pray for their quick and full recovery," she said in a statement.

ORIGINAL 2:20 p.m.

A Toronto police officer has been killed and a suspect is in custody after two separate shootings in the Greater Toronto Area.

Peel Regional Police spokeswoman Heather Cannon says two people have been shot in Mississauga, Ont.,, and one of them has been taken to a trauma centre.

Multiple sources have told The Canadian Press that a Toronto police officer was killed in Mississauga.

Halton Regional Police, which serves Milton, Ont., says one person has been confirmed dead and two others have been taken to hospital.

Halton Regional Police say they have a suspect in custody, believed to be the same person involved in the Mississauga shooting.

Peel Regional Police had sent an emergency alert Monday afternoon warning the public about an "armed and dangerous" suspect driving a stolen Jeep Cherokee.
Dr. Lisa Kugler to Expand National Addiction Treatment Platform

Norwalk, CT --News Direct-- Shatterproof

Shatterproof is pleased to name Dr. Lisa Kugler as Senior Vice President for the ATLAS (Addiction Treatment Locator, Assessment and Standards) platform. In this role, Dr. Kugler will oversee all aspects of the one-of-a-kind ATLAS tool for expansion and optimal adoption. ATLAS is a free, confidential and not-for-profit website to help people search for and compare treatment facilities based on quality. The platform was developed with a vision to help families and individuals needing treatment today and strengthen the quality of the addiction treatment field as a whole, thereby helping millions of individuals for generations.

In this role, Dr. Kugler will oversee the platform's executive, strategic and operational expansion to an increasing number of states and payer partners. ATLAS, which was launched by Shatterproof in July 2020, is currently available in 10 states  Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia  representing 28% of the population in the U.S. In 2023, ATLAS will expand to four additional states, including California, then representing 45% of the population in the U.S. Dr. Kugler will identify strategic national and state-based relationships to advance the reputation of ATLAS as a thought leader in evidence-based addiction treatment and quality measurement. She will also lead implementation for states and payers that adopt and meaningfully promote ATLAS. Her primary goal will be to ensure that individuals and families can locate addiction treatment facilities that provide high-quality, evidence-based care.

Dr. Lisa Kugler has a history of building high-growth teams and implementing multistate programs with a strong focus on data-driven results, said Gary Mendell, CEO, and founder of Shatterproof. Her extensive healthcare background, combined with her passion for changing the landscape of behavioral health services to support individuals, families and communities, will help Shatterproof continue to accomplish our goal to create systemic change in our healthcare system with regards to access and treatment for substance use disorder.

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Prior to joining Shatterproof, Dr. Kugler led Beacon Care Services, the direct care provider owned by Elevance/Beacon Health Options serving individuals in 24 states. When she joined Beacon Care Services, there were two employees; it grew to 70 employees with multiple lines of business under her leadership.

With more than 25 years of experience, Dr. Kugler has had a variety of experiences that have provided her with a deep understanding of the multiple facets of behavioral health care. At Elevance, Dr. Kugler led the development and implementation of several peer support programs and a curriculum to increase awareness and understanding of adolescents and transition-age youth for certified peer specialists. As the CEO of the Maryland Division of Beacon Health Options, she worked with the state, counties and providers to manage the behavioral health benefit for residents of Maryland. Prior to joining Beacon Health Options, Dr. Kugler led the Center for Treatment of Addictive Disorders at the Pittsburgh Veterans Administration. She has been involved in research endeavors focused on repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and the impact of methadone maintenance therapy on executive functioning. Dr. Kugler has provided direct care services to adults, veterans, people with criminal backgrounds, adolescents and children. She has also presented locally, regionally, nationally and internationally on substance use, motivational interviewing, peer support, recovery and resiliency.

Dr. Kugler has her Psy.D. from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She resides in Pittsburgh, PA, with her three children and husband, where she volunteers with the Red Cross in Western Pennsylvania.

About Shatterproof: Shatterproof is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the U.S. Shatterproof harnesses the models of business, the rigor of science and the power of a national movement to create change and save lives through three pillars of work: revolutionizing the addiction treatment system, breaking down addiction-related stigmas and supporting and empowering our communities. Find Shatterproof on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube: @ShatterproofHQ or follow them on Instagram at @weareshatterproof. To learn more, visit www.Shatterproof.org.

Contact Details

Lauren Lawson-Zilai

+1 240-910-5483

press@shatterproof.org

Company Website

https://www.shatterproof.org/

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/shatterproof-announces-new-senior-vice-president-to-lead-efforts-to-transform-the-way-addiction-treatment-is-accessed-and-delivered-in-the-u-s-524250816
Sherri Papini leaves the federal courthouse in Sacramento in April. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Sherri Papini should not get off lightly for faking her own kidnapping and should serve eight months in prison for her crimes, federal prosecutors say.

Papini is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court Monday in connection with her 2016 disappearance from her Northern California neighborhood, which prompted a nationwide search.

While family, friends and law enforcement searched for Papini, she was actually staying with her ex-boyfriend in Orange County, prosecutors say. She returned home 22 days later, claiming two Latino women held her captive in a closet.

While staying with her former boyfriend, Papini cut her hair, bruised and branded herself to give validity to the kidnapping hoax and continued to repeat her false kidnapping story years later when confronted by federal investigators.

In March, federal prosecutors had Papini arrested. The following month, she pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements and one count of mail fraud.

In a sentencing memo filed Monday, Assistant U.S. Atty. Veronica Alegria said Papini also received more than $127,000 in disability benefits from the Social Security Administration and nearly $50,000 that community members donated in a GoFundMe campaign while she was missing. She also received more than $30,000 in a state victim's fund, prosecutors said. Prosecutors asked the court to make Papini pay more than $300,000 in restitution.

A probation report referenced by prosecutors said that Papini should receive a one-month prison sentence or home detention. Prosecutors are also seeking three years of probation if she is given a prison sentence.

"This case demonstrates that she is capable of carrying out sophisticated schemes and that the consequences of a short term of punishment will not stop her," Alegria said. "She maintained her hoax and received Social Security and California victims benefits for years, demonstrating that she had no remorse for her actions even after the FBI presented her with evidence of her fraud."

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Several court filings have been made by Papini's attorney ahead of her sentencing, including character reference letters, but they have been restricted by the court. Although Papini pleaded guilty to faking her own kidnapping, prosecutors say she continues to tell people she was kidnapped.

"The public needs to know that there will be more than a slap on the wrist for committing financial fraud and making false statements to law enforcement, particularly when those false statements result in the expenditure of substantial resources and implicate innocent people," Alegria said.

Prosecutors claim that Papini's therapist has attempted to explain her criminal conduct and lessen her blame for faking her kidnapping. But the court also should consider that Papini misled her previous therapist for four years as she continued to provide details of an elaborate kidnapping that did not happen, Alegria said. Some of those sessions resulted in follow-up interviews with law enforcement as Papini claimed to make breakthroughs and could suddenly recall new details about her kidnappers and the room where she was held.

She also convinced her friends and family that she had been kidnapped and the trauma lingered with her, Alegria said.

"Now that Papini is facing prison time, she has motive to do whatever is necessary to avoid punishment, including making statements to her therapist and family members that she believes will garner the most leniency from the court," prosecutors said. "Papinis past trauma and mental health issues alone cannot account for all of her actions. Papinis actions were well planned and deliberately considered. She was able to evade a nationwide manhunt, including the combined forces of the FBI and local police, for 22 days until she staged her dramatic return."

Papini's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the recent filings in the case.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Stars showed up and showed out to celebrate their peers at the 74th Emmy Awards. While everyone looked fabulous, Emmy winner Sheryl Lee Ralph was the star of the show in more ways than one.

One of the most memorable moments of the awards ceremony was when the ever-so-talented actress won her first-ever Emmy award for supporting actress in a comedy series for her role in Abbott Elementary. This honor was a long time coming for Ralph, who plays a school teacher by the name of Barbara Howard on the TV series brought to life by comedian Quinta Brunson.

At a loss for words when she heard her name announced as the winner of the category, Ralph graciously made her way to the stage to accept the award. And there is no denying that the Jamaican American actress looked radiant as ever in a custom black gown with beautiful bedazzled hair.

With Black celebrities making it a point to bring new talent from their community to the forefront, its no surprise that Ralphs custom gown and crystal trunk purse were both created by fellow Jamaican Brandon Blackwood. Blackwood took to Instagram to express his gratitude to Ralph for allowing him to make his first gown for this special night.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sheryl Lee Ralph (@thesherylleeralph)

A Jamaican-owned brand just dressed a Jamaican EMMY WINNER, a proud Blackwood shared on Instagram Monday night. Words cannot describe this feeling!

Weve never made a gown before, he added. And to see it on that stage on a woman soooo deserving of this award was just iconic. I have been crying none stop since your win. Ive called all of my family crying.

Blackwood concluded his post with a shoutout to his island: Jamaica to the F*cking world, followed by a heartfelt thank you to the rest of his team and Ralph for believing in him and making this moment possible.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by BRANDON BLACKWOOD NEW YORK (@brandonblackwoodnyc)

Ralph made her acting debut in the late 1970s and is best known for her roles in Moesha (1996), Its a Living (1980), Instant Mom (2013), and now Abbot Elementary. Last nights Emmy win made her the second Black woman in history to win the award. The first was Jackee Harry, who won in 1987 for playing Sandra in the TV series 227.

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Harry, who is of Trinidadian heritage, also showed love to her Caribbean sister on social media following her win. In a post shared on Facebook, Harry not only revealed that the role of Sandra was originally meant for Ralph, but gushed over how thrilled she was to share a moment in Black history with the film and television legend.

Winning my Emmy was a career highlight, but it was also a lonely experience. For 35 years Ive been the only black woman Posted by Jackee Harry on Monday, September 12, 2022

Winning an Emmy was a lifetime dream of Ralphs that finally came true. Before her touching acceptance speech, the original Dream Girl sang a song from her belly that touched the souls of everyone in the room and those watching at home.

During her speech, she encouraged anyone with a dream to never give up because she is a real-life representation of patience and persistence.

Give Sheryl Lee Ralph a Tony for her Emmy acceptance speech, please and thank you.  R. Eric Thomas (@oureric) September 13, 2022
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi began a two-day visit to Qatar on Tuesday, his first since Cairo and Doha restored relations last year following a regional diplomatic rift.

The visit comes as Egypt seeks further financial support and investment to cushion an economic shock caused by the war in Ukraine.

The Egyptian presidency said Sisi would discuss bilateral and regional issues with Qatar's ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who visited Egypt in June.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain had boycotted Qatar since 2017 over charges it supported terrorism, an accusation that referred to Islamist groups and that Qatar denied.

An agreement to end the row was struck early last year, and Qatar and Egypt have moved quickly to rebuild relations.

During his visit Sisi will meet Qatari companies and the Egyptian-Qatari business council, two Egyptian diplomatic sources said.

Financial pressure on Egypt sharpened after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February due to flight of portfolio investment, a loss in tourism revenue, and rising global commodity prices.

Cairo has been negotiating for a new loan with the International Monetary Fund for several months.

In June, the Egyptian finance ministry said Qatar had made $3 billion of deposits in Egypt's central bank three months earlier, and that an additional $2-3 billion of investments were under discussion.

That was on top of deposits of $5 billion from Saudi Arabia and $3 billion from the UAE to Egypt's central bank in February-March, the ministry said.

Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have also made recent investments in Egypt through their sovereign wealth funds.

(Reporting by Aidan Lewis, Mohamed Waly and Patrick Werr, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
The sister of a teacher who died during the Sandy Hook massacre broke down in tears as she testified that her family feared for our lives after Alex Jones branded the shooting a hoax.

Carlee Soto-Parisi told the court that her family was threatened and harassed as Jones made wild allegations about false-flag operations and paid crisis actors in the wake of the 2012 elementary school shooting.

Ms Soto-Parisis 27-year-old sister, Vicki Soto, was murdered by gunman Adam Lanza when he attacked the school, killing 26 children and teachers.

The trial is taking place in Waterbury, Connecticut, less than 20 miles from Newtown, to determine how much the right-wing media figure should pay the families for his false claims the shooting was a hoax.

It is the second such trial for Jones, who last month was ordered by a Texas jury to pay almost $50m to the parent of one of the murdered children.

Im not a liar. Its hurtful. Its devastating. Its crippling. You cant grieve properly because youre constantly defending your family and your loved ones, she told the jury of three men and three women.

Carlee Soto Parisi, the sister of #SandyHook victim Victoria Soto, cried as she testified about looking for her sister, a teacher at the elementary school at the time of the shooting. pic.twitter.com/dSBBtPuz04  Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) September 13, 2022

She sobbed as she described rushing to the fire station after the shooting and begging teachers from the school to tell her where her sister was.

She told the court that she told a state trooper assigned to her that her sister looks just like me and that she had been trying to text her, but never heard anything back.

The jury, along with several alternates, will decide how much Jones will have to pay the families of eight victims and an FBI agent who responded to the scene of the massacre.

Jones was found liable without a trial last year by Judge Barbara Bellis after he failed to turn over documents to the families lawyer.

The trial is expected to last about a month and will hear testimony from both Jones, who was not in court on the opening day, and the families.
John Oliver won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Talk Series. (Getty Images)

Sky has cut jokes about the death of the Queen from the UK broadcast of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

During the episode, comedian Oliver made jokes about how corporations such as Domino's Pizza were writing social media tributes about the late monarch.

He said: Obviously, we have to start with the UK, which is clearly still reeling from the shocking death of a 96-year-old woman from natural causes. It is a big moment this week and for some reason absolutely everyone felt they had to wade in on [it].

The Royal Family celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. (Getty Images)

Oliver also made reference to the Queen during a joke about new Prime Minister Liz Truss. He said: The nicest thing the Queen of England ever did for anyone was die the week that woman became Prime Minister. Because for at least a week, shes not going to be getting justifiably destroyed for answers like that.

Read more: John Oliver Went On An Epic Rant About Paris Attackers Last Night

Though neither joke was specifically about the Queen, Sky have made the decision to cut both jokes from the UK broadcast of the show.

A slightly shortened version of the show without the two mentioned sections is still available to watch via NOW and Sky Go.

John Oliver hosts 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'. (AFP via Getty Images)

The move to censor the show has been criticised on social media with one viewer tweeting: "Very disappointed in @SkyUK censorship of @LastWeekTonight with @iamjohnoliver - we condemn other countries for this sort of behaviour. The audience is used to his irreverent style and light hearted comments. The target of his remarks was corporate social media!"

Another fan also said: "Were not children, @SkyUK, please do not censor Last Week Tonight With John Oliver again just because he says a few edgy things about the royal family."

Oliver has previously been censored in the UK for using footage from parliament for the purposes of a joke which is actually illegal.

Watch below: John Oliver mocks Alex Jones after Sandy Hook trial.
(Reuters) - Slovak President Zuzana Caputova appointed new ministers on Tuesday to Prime Minister Eduard Heger's cabinet after a junior coalition party quit last week in a long-running feud, costing the government its majority.

The new ministers are not likely to alter the country's course as it continues supporting its neighbour Ukraine against Russia's aggression, and battles soaring energy prices.

Heger's government lost majority in the 150-seat parliament last week as the liberal SaS party walked away after months of clashes with Heger's party chief and Finance Minister Igor Matovic.

Caputova appointed career diplomat Rastislav Kacer as foreign minister, energy expert Karel Hirman as economy minister, and lawyer Viliam Karas as justice minister.

(Reporting by Robert Muller, editing by Ed Osmond)
A claim that NATO has sent fighter jets to Ukraine to help the country fight invading Russian forces was shared by multiple social media posts in August 2022. The claim, however, is false. While there was a proposal in March to supply Ukraine with Soviet-era jets through a US air base, Washington rejected the idea over fears it could escalate the conflict. Separately, NATO's press office told AFP that the claim was "not accurate".

The claim was shared on Facebook here on August 8, 2022.

The post links to a page titled "Finally: NATO's Most Lethal Fighter Jets Arrive in Ukraine" whose thumbnail shows a partially disassembled fighter jet being unloaded from a cargo plane.

The page includes an embedded YouTube video with the same title and thumbnail that was uploaded on August 6 and has more than 335,000 views.

A voiceover in the video says the transfer of fighter jets to Ukraine is a "possibility" but adds that the move has been "actively discussed". The rest of the video details the capabilities of various US military aircraft.

A screenshot of the misleading post, captured on September 9, 2022

The claim and links to the video were also shared on Facebook here; and on Twitter here and here.

AFP reported in March 2022 that Poland -- a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) -- had proposed supplying Ukraine with its Soviet-era MiG-29 jets through a US air force base.

Warsaw suggested the US would then replace these jets in Poland's fleet with American F-16 fighter jets.

The plan was rejected by Washington as being too "high risk", as Russia could interpret the move as a military escalation.

While individual countries in the Western military and political alliance have supplied Ukraine with arms and equipment, as of September 12, 2022 there have been no reports of NATO supplying fighter jets to Ukraine.

A NATO press officer also denied the claim the bloc had supplied fighter jets to Ukraine.

"These claims are not accurate and NATO is not part of the conflict," the officer said.

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A reverse image search of the video's thumbnail found it was used on the website of Code One Magazine, which is published by US defence contractor Lockheed Martin.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in the misleading post (left) and on the Code One Magazine website (right):

A screenshot comparison of the image in the misleading post (left) and on the Code One Magazine website (right)

The picture's caption says it shows a F-22 fighter jet arriving at an air base in California on February 5, 1998.

A similar fact check was first published by Lead Stories.

AFP has published hundreds of stories in multiple languages that detail false and misleading claims related to the war in Ukraine. The complete list of stories in English is available here.
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud urged citizens to stay away from areas controlled by Al-Shabaab jihadists as he vowed to ratchet up offensives against the militants.

The Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents have been waging a war against the government of the troubled Horn of Africa nation for 15 years and control large swathes of territory in the country.

Mohamud, who had earlier pledged "all-out war" against the group after it staged a deadly 30-hour hotel siege in the capital Mogadishu last month, called on "the Somali people to stay away from locations where Al-Shabaab is present."

"Al-Shabaab will be confronted using every method that war allows -- they will be bombed, raided and subjected to airborne attacks, so... stay away from them," he said in a speech on Monday after wrapping up a high-level political conference in Mogadishu.

"Every Shabaab member is a target, every Shabaab army is target -- just the same way they are targeting and killing the Somali people."

The recently elected president urged people to stop taking their disputes to so-called shadow courts run by the jihadists -- with Somalis complaining of weak enforcement by the country's legal system.

"Don't die in Al-Shabaab's war when you are not one of them," he said.

His comments came as the drought-hit nation teeters on the brink of famine for the second time in just over a decade, with the United Nations last week warning that time was running out to save lives.

The group has carried out several attacks in the mainly Muslim country since Mohamud took office in May, ending a protracted political crisis that had distracted from the fight against the jihadists.

On Sunday, Somalia's ministry of information, culture and tourism announced on Twitter that the "Somali National Army assisted by the local civilians have liberated up to twenty towns... killing over a hundred militias of the (Al-Shabaab) group."

"The terror group have been using these towns as strongholds for organising their terrorist attacks," the ministry said in a statement.

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The fresh offensives came just over a week after the Islamists killed at least 19 civilians in a night-time attack in central Somalia.

Last month, at least 21 people died in a gun and bomb attack targeting the popular Hayat Hotel, a favoured meeting spot for government officials.

Mohamud said in July that ending the insurgency required more than a military approach, but that his government would negotiate with Al-Shabaab only when the time was right.

The militants, who espouse a strict version of sharia or Islamic law, were driven out of Mogadishu by an African Union force in 2011.

But they still retain the ability to launch deadly strikes, often hitting hotels and restaurants as well as military and political targets.

nur/amu/kjm
South Carolina Republican lawmakers will keep trying to enact new abortion restrictions later this month.

Speaker Murrell Smith announced Monday that the House will meet on Sept. 27, more than two weeks after the Senate sent back a markedly different proposal from the one passed earlier by the lower chamber. Contentious debates among Republicans over exceptions have emerged in a special session on abortion that convened after the U.S. Supreme Courts June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

It is unclear if the House will take up the Senates bill. Smith told reporters earlier Monday that all options are on the table. While Smith was disappointed with the outcome last week, he said this is how legislation gets made.

RECENT COVERAGE: South Carolina senators reject a near-total abortion ban

I understand that each body has a different makeup and each body has the ability to put their imprint on a bill, Smith said to reporters. I respect the Senate as a body and their votes. Obviously, the House is vastly different from their position.

The House passed a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy in late August with exceptions for the mothers life and rape or incest up to 12 weeks. The Senate passed a six-week ban, based on when cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, with exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest, to save the life of the mother and, when approved by two doctors, in cases of fatal fetal anomaly.

The upper chambers bill varies slightly from a 2021 South Carolina law thats on hold while the state Supreme Court considers a new legal challenge from abortion providers. One change included cutting the period when pregnancies resulting from rape or incest may be aborted from 20 weeks to about 12 weeks. The proposal also requires that police receive the fetus DNA.

The state currently bans abortions 20 weeks after conception.

(WATCH BELOW: Rape, incest exceptions spark South Carolina GOP abortion fight)
Top Chinese legislator pays official goodwill visit to Mongolia

Xinhua) 09:12, September 13, 2022

Li Zhanshu, chairman of China's National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, meets with Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, Sept. 12, 2022. Li paid an official goodwill visit to Mongolia from Saturday to Monday, at the invitation of Chairman of Mongolia's State Great Hural (Parliament) Gombojav Zandanshatar. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

ULAN BATOR, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Li Zhanshu, chairman of China's National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, paid an official goodwill visit to Mongolia from Saturday to Monday, at the invitation of Chairman of Mongolia's State Great Hural (Parliament) Gombojav Zandanshatar.

During his visit, Li met with Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh and Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene, and held talks with Zandanshatar.

When meeting with the Mongolian president, Li conveyed cordial greetings and best wishes from Chinese President Xi Jinping to Khurelsukh.

Li said that China and Mongolia are good neighbors that cannot be moved away or exchanged for gold, and that developing the good-neighborly friendship is in line with the fundamental and long-term interests of the two countries.

Under the strategic guidance of Xi and Mongolian leaders, the China-Mongolia comprehensive strategic partnership has been continuously lifted to higher levels, he said.

Since the onset of COVID-19, the two sides have joined hands to fight the epidemic and gifted one another with sheep and tea, which has become a much-told story attesting to their friendship, he said.

China, Li said, has always upheld the neighborhood policy of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness and has been actively developing its friendly cooperative relationship with Mongolia.

He expressed the hope that the two sides further deepen political mutual trust, continue to firmly support each other on the issues related to their core interests and major concerns, strengthen coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs, and push forward multilateral and bilateral win-win cooperation.

Khurelsukh asked Li to convey his sincere greetings to President Xi, saying that Mongolia is sincerely glad about the historic achievements made in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of President Xi and the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Noting that the Mongolia-China friendly cooperation is a model for the development of state-to-state relations, Khurelsukh expressed the hope that the two sides strengthen high-level exchanges, deepen political mutual trust, and expand exchanges and cooperation in various fields, so as to push bilateral relations to higher levels, and jointly promote the development of the two countries and the prosperity and stability of Asia.

The exchanges between the legislative bodies of the two countries are of great significance to deepening the good-neighborly friendship between Mongolia and China and enriching the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, he added.

When meeting with Oyun-Erdene, Li said that it is the common goal of China and Mongolia to develop the economy, improve people's livelihood and strengthen the country and enrich the people, adding that the two countries enjoy distinct economic complementarities and huge potential for cooperation.

China is willing to strengthen development strategic alignment and policy communication and coordination with Mongolia to further promote infrastructural connectivity and promote the process of regional integration, he said.

China stands ready to work with Mongolia on customs clearance at ports under the pandemic situation, implement existing cooperation projects, carry out green energy cooperation and expand trade exchanges to realize coordinated development and mutual benefit of the two countries, he added.

The two sides can also strengthen exchanges and cooperation between political parties and young people, as well as cultural exchanges, Li said.

For his part, Oyun-Erdene said that developing good-neighborly friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation with China is the primary goal of Mongolia's foreign policy, and China's rapid development is a great opportunity for Mongolia's development and revitalization.

Mongolia is willing to actively deepen cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, logistics, ports, resources and education, and promote the alignment between Mongolia's New Revival Policy and the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, he said.

During the talks with Zandanshatar, Li said that China and Mongolia should be good neighbors with frequent exchange of visits, good friends conducting mutually-beneficial cooperation, and partners in multilateral cooperation, so as to better benefit the two countries and their people.

The legislative bodies of the two countries should actively implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, strengthen the exchange of experience in state governance and legislative work, and provide legal safeguards for promoting bilateral cooperation in various fields, Li said.

In addition, he said that the two countries should strengthen coordination on multilateral occasions such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union and speak with one voice regarding upholding multilateralism and improving the global governance system from the perspective of legislative bodies.

For his part, Zandanshatar said that friendly exchanges between the legislative bodies of the two countries are an important part of bilateral relations. He expressed the hope that the two legislative bodies deepen exchanges between their special committees and friendship groups.

He noted that the State Great Hural (Parliament) of Mongolia is ready to make positive efforts to enhance political mutual trust between Mongolia and China, promote practical cooperation and deepen friendship between the people of the two countries.

Li briefed the Mongolian side about the upcoming 20th National Congress of the CPC.

The Mongolian side noted that it will firmly adhere to the one-China principle, actively support the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative proposed by President Xi, and is willing to make joint efforts with the Chinese side to push for new development of the Mongolia-China comprehensive strategic partnership.

The Mongolian side also wished the 20th National Congress of the CPC a success.

During his visit in Mongolia, Li also toured the "Mongolian nomadism" grassland and ecological areas.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Photo: The Canadian Press

B.C. Supreme Court has dismissed the claim of a woman who was given a $5,700 ticket for refusing to take a COVID-19 test when entering Canada at a Surrey border crossing.

On Sept. 13, 2021, Nora Donahue tried to cross the land border into Canada and was asked to undergo a PCR test.

She believes that it was wrong for the government to require her to take a PCR test, and that the rules established pursuant to the Quarantine Act violated her constitutional rights, wrote Justice William Veenstra in his Aug. 24 decision, released Sept. 12.

When she refused to do so, she was issued a ticket by the Public Health Agency of Canada, stated the ruling.

Donahue filed a notice disputing the ticket on Oct. 29, 2021.

On Jan. 20, 2022, the hearing proceeded at Surrey provincial court and the ticket was confirmed but Donahue did not attend.

In April, she filed an application with Surrey provincial court seeking an order allowing her to contest the ticket. She said she had not received notification of the court date.

That request was refused.

Donahue cited a lack of informed consent, a personal health privacy violation and a constitutional violation, as her defence for refusing to take the test.

Her request to contest the ticket was denied leading to the Supreme Court civil action.

Veentsra noted the consequence of failure to appear in court is that the allegation or fine is deemed not to be disputed and the amount indicated on the ticket is immediately payable to the government.

The defendants, the province and ICBC, argued the failure to appear and the provincial courts denial should have been the end of it.

Veenstra characterized the suit as a classic case of an action making a collateral attack on a valid decision of a court with authority.
Several hundred Starbucks workers held a rally outside the companys headquarters in SoDo on Tuesday, the same day as the companys annual Investor Day.

We are here today because there are a lot of investors with a lot of money, and they are giving it to Starbucks. They are deciding what to do with the money that we make them every single day with our hard work, a Starbucks employee said during the rally.

Investor Day is an annual event hosted by Starbucks where the company lays out its financial future and growth prospects. The event includes presentations and a Q&A session with Starbucks senior leadership, including Interim CEO Howard Schultz and CFO Rachel Ruggeri.

Protesters joined a nationwide movement by Starbucks workers, who are accusing the company of union-busting tactics. Tuesdays rally also included demands that workers be granted invitations to Investor Day.

Starbucks workers are referred to as partners, which is ironic given that the company abjectly refuses to partner with us, Billie Adeosun, a Starbucks barista from Olympia, stated.

The pandemic shifted everything. It really showed the cracks in the system, Fernando Meija-Lebesma, a supporter at the rally who does not work for Starbucks, said. This is a really good moment for workers and the community to come together and say, You know what? We want to make sure that corporations are investing in our communities.

A Starbucks spokesperson denied allegations by protestors, telling KIRO 7, Claims of union busting are false. From the beginning, we have been clear that we will respect the process laid out by the NLRB and bargain in good faith with the stores that vote for union representation.

Tuesdays protest comes a day after Starbucks announced new student loan repayment tools and a savings account program for all U.S. employees, but with one condition: the program is only for non-union employees, according to Reuters.

A Starbucks spokesperson responded to Tuesdays rally, stating to KIRO 7: We have heard directly from our partners (employees)  they want a vote and an opportunity to co-create their workplace experience alongside their management. We fully respect our partners and their right to have their voices heard. We believe we can do more for our partners working side-by-side than across a negotiating table.
Russian State Duma

Read also: Russian troops in Kharkiv Oblast were thrashed by advancing Ukrainian forces, intercept shows

The lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party suggested that a full mobilization be carried out, otherwise Russia would fail to achieve the goal of the war in Ukraine.

We wont achieve proper results without full mobilization, transfer to military lines, including the economy, he said.

Today, society should be consolidated as much as possible and focused on victory.

Read also: Forced mobilization continues in occupied Ukrainian cities, says Luhansk governor

Sheremet said he believes that Russian society is wasting time, and the status of a special military operation should be changed long ago.

And we have to mobilize all our forces, he said.

We have to be in solidarity with our guys who are there.

While Russia is waging full-scale war in Ukraine, it has not officially declared war, which would provide the legal grounds for a full mobilization.

Read also: Russian losses exceed 50,000, IAEA releases Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant report, and Biden says no to Russian state terrorism designation

The Kremlin instead refers to its war on Ukraine as a special military operation in order to mask from the Russian public the full extent and purpose of its war.

Russia watchers are of the consensus that a full mobilization in Russia would be very unpopular, and for this reason the Kremlin has held off on declaring one, even as Russias military situation in Ukraine has worsened.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish forestry group Stora Enso said on Tuesday it would sell its Maxau paper production site in Germany to Schwarz Group, the owner of discount supermarket chains Lidl GB and Kaufland.

The transaction is part of Stora Enso's plan to divest four of its five remaining paper production sites as it shifts its focus to packaging.

The company expects to book a disposal gain of around 50 million euros ($50.7 million) on the expected closing of the deal in the first quarter of 2023. The German site has an enterprise value of around 210 million euros, it said.

"Schwarz's plan is to continue paper production at the site, and the 440 employees belonging to the mill organisation at Maxau will be part of the transaction," Stora Enso said in a statement.

In a strategy update, Stora Enso said it aimed to generate more than 60% of group sales from renewable packaging by the end of the decade.

"By 2030, we aim to have a significantly lower exposure to market pulp and reduce cyclicality by increasing integration and growing in Renewable Packaging, Building Solutions as well as new innovative biomaterials in our portfolio," it said.

Last week, Stora Enso said it had agreed to buy Dutch packaging company De Jong for an enterprise value of 1.02 billion euros ($1.02 billion).

($1 = 0.9867 euros)

(Reporting by Anne Kauranen; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
Students were evacuated after police in Los Angeles were called to reports of a shooting at Hollywood High School.

LAPD says that they received a radio call at 9.43am on Tuesday reporting an assault with a deadly weapon taking place at the campus of the school.

The police department says that when officers arrived at the scene they found no evidence of a shooting, but the school was placed in lockdown as the situation was investigated.

Students were ordered to shelter in place or were moved to safety across the campus, while Sunset boulevard was closed at Orange Avenue.

There have been no reports of any injuries, according to Fox11.

The LAPD continues to go through every single classroom on the schools campus, which is located at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue in the city.

News helicopters above the scene showed that several squad cars had responded to the incident.

An hour after police were called, LAUSD Superintendant Albert Carvalho took to Twitter to say that the incident had been a hoax.

Recent reports of a critical incident at Hollywood high school are unfounded and, after swift law enforcement response and internal individual classroom verification, we are deeming the incident as a hoax, he stated.

Recent reports of a critical incident at Hollywood high school are unfounded and, after swift law enforcement response and internal individual classroom verification, we are deeming the incident as a hoax. @LASchools  Alberto M. Carvalho (@LAUSDSup) September 13, 2022

In January, the school was placed into lockdown because of an armed standoff between police and a suspect in a tent who was armed with a weapon.

Hollywood High School was opened in 1903 and has hundreds of famous alums, including Cher, Sharon Tate, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Laurence Fishburne, James Garner, and Sarah Jessica Parker.
A public library in suburban Chicago was forced to cancel a drag bingo event scheduled to coincide with National Coming Out Day due to the severity of the threats made against the library.

The Downers Grove Public Library cited a responsibility to keep patrons in its decision to cancel the event.

We are disappointed and saddened by the some of the vitriolic feedback that we received for what was meant to be an evening of fun and celebration of self-identity and self-expression, the library said in a statement this week announcing the cancellation.

In August, the library announced that its event would feature a performance from drag queen Aurora Divine along with a Bingo competition and a lip sync performance of Katy Perrys hit song Firework. The library made clear that the event would be age appropriete and not sexual in nature.

Library Director Julie Milavec told NBC News said that the event was provide a window to the world, as well as a mirror to it, creating opportunities for patrons to see the wonderfully diverse community in which we live.

Plenty of community members, particularly young people, were excited about the opportunity. Interest in registering to attend the event was so high, the library had to create a waitlist for people who could not initally secure their spot.

But a number of community members, including Orland Park mayor and Republican congressional nominee Keith Pekau, worked to turn the event into a high-profile cause for the political right. Mr Pekau called the event inappropriate and an unacceptable use of taxpayer funds in a statement, and, in the days following its announcement, the library was innundated with messages from residents voicing both their support and opposition to the event.

Awake Illinois, a right wing organisation opposing so-called critical race theory, also organised against the event. Rep Sean Casten, the incumbent Democrat defending his seat against Mr Pekau this November, blamed both their efforts and his opponents for the incredibly dishearten[ing] cancellation.

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Lets be clear. This event was canceled because, after my Republican opponent and his far-right allies at Awake Illinois publicly issued a call-to-action to their supporters, the library received severe threats that endangered our community, Mr Casten said in a statement.

A library spokesperson told NBC News that a donor had volunteered to cover the entire cost of the event, for which Aurora Divine, the performer, was slated to be paid just $125.

This event is not the first drag event to be cancelled in the US this year due to threats. Similar events have been cancelled or disrupted in California, Texas, Idaho, and beyond as Republican-led states have passed a bevy of laws targeting transgender individuals, abortion, and education on the topics of race and gender this year.

Ms Milavec declined to tell NBC News what the exact nature of the threats that forced the library to cancel were, though she did confirm that authorities are investigating them. The library said that it is determined to find additional ways to support the young people who were forced to miss the event in safe, fun, and inclusive representation throughout the library.
A Superintendent at Lakota Local Schools is under investigation after a complaint was filed by a member of the community.

A complaint was filed against Matt Miller on Aug. 22 with the Butler County Sheriffs Office, according to our news partners at WCPO.

Lakota Board of Education President Lynda OConnor said there were no credible allegations against Mr. Miller.

On Sept. 9 the Sheriffs office completed its investigation and found there wasnt probable cause to bring criminal charges against Miller.

>>Funeral arrangements announced for World War II veteran Jim Pee Wee Martin

OConnor said during a board meeting that the the district is having a neutral party review the case to make sure the superintendent is not a threat to students or staff.

Previously, Miller was the superintendent of Mentor Schools in northern Ohio.

In December 2020, Miller received a five-year extension of his contract with Lakota.

Miller has not publicly made any comments regarding the investigation.












LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Anthony J. Perez and Casey Lewis argued over money in the Walmart parking lot Sept. 4 at Lewis' silver mini van, and Perez shot Lewis in the back, according to prosecutors who filed murder charges Tuesday against Perez.

The two shopped in Walmart in the 4200 block of Commerce Drive, leaving the store around 8:30 p.m. Sept. 4, and heading to Lewis' van parked in aisle 6 close to the western entrance to the store, according to prosecutors.

"Lewis was screaming at him and he was concerned it would draw attention to them and police would be called," Perez told police after his Sept. 9 arrest in Little Rock, Arkansas, according to prosecutors.

Casey Lewis flashes a smile for the camera in this undated photo provided by her partner. Lewis died Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022, in the Walmart parking lot in the 4200 block of Commerce Drive on Lafayette's east side. She was shot by a man who was with her that night. The suspect has not been caught, Lafayette police said Tuesday morning.

"When Lewis would not drive them away from Walmart, he got his handgun out of the glove box to intimidate Lewis," Perez told police, according to prosecutors.

Perez told police he fired one shot inside the van to show Lewis he was serious about wanting to leave, according to prosecutors.

Lewis got out of the van, prosecutors said Perez told police, and as she walked towards the rear of the van, Perez said he fired another shot.

"Lewis grabbed her back and screamed," prosecutors said Lewis told police.

While they were inside the van, they were not visible on Walmart security cameras, but as Lewis walked to the rear of the van, video surveillance cameras show her falling to the asphalt parking lot. She died there after several passerbys tried to help.

Prosecutors charged Perez, 29, of Lafayette, with murder and murder in the commission of a felony.

They also charged Perez with attempted kidnapping with a deadly weapon, attempted kidnapping with serious bodily injury, attempted criminal confinement with a deadly weapon and attempted criminal confinement with serious bodily injury.

Prosecutors also charged Perez with unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent offender, intimidation with a deadly weapon, pointing a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm by a domestic batterer and carrying a handgun with a felony conviction.

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Additionally, prosecutors filed two sentence-enhancing charges of unlawful use of a firearm and being a habitual offender.

Last week, prosecutors filed a charge of escape against Perez, accusing him of cutting off his GPS ankle bracelet, which was part of his community correction sentence for his possession-of-meth conviction.

Little Rock police arrested Perez Friday on the escape warrant, and Lafayette police have since interviewed Perez, who remains incarcerated in Arkansas.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette suspect charged with murder for killing at Walmart
OSLO (Reuters) -Swedish utility Vattenfall said on Tuesday it had delayed the restart of the Ringhals 4 nuclear reactor by two months to Jan. 31, in a further setback to power supply in the Nordic and Baltic region.

"The unforeseen required repairs are taking more time than expected, before starting up the unit after the yearly maintenance," Vattenfall said in a regulatory filing.

The extended outage comes at a critical time as energy prices soar across Europe and countries scramble to ensure there is enough power output for the coming winter.

"This worsens an already difficult power situation in southern Sweden," power market analyst Tor Reier Lilleholt at Norway's Volue said.

Vattenfall had already extended ongoing maintenance at Ringhals 4, which has an installed capacity of 1,130 (MW) by three months at the end of August, citing damages to a key component during testing.

Pontus de Mare, Head of Power System Operations at national grid operator Svenska Kraftnat said the import need would increase to 149 hours, from 36 hours normally, if Ringhals were to stay idle throughout winter.

With the current extension, risks of power shortages and blackouts in southern Sweden had increased, he said, while prices could soar.

"If we get a big import need, and it's difficult to get hold of enough effect while demand is very high, prices will shoot up very high single hours, single days. Prices can become extreme," he said.

Swedish Energy Minister Khashayar Farmanbar said the delay was unfortunate.

"We are in a situation where all of Europe is under a Russian energy war, and we need all the power we can get," he told Reuters in a text message. "All electricity production that can come in must come in."

Meanwhile neighbouring Finland would also need power imports from Sweden if cold weather hits the region, having stopped imports from Russia which have accounted for around 10% of Finnish consumption in recent years.

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"On a cold day in case of severe frost, Finland would need to import a significant amount of electricity from Sweden so this is very bad news for Finland," Finnish power grid operator Fingrid's Chief Executive Jukka Ruusunen told Reuters.

The damage to the reactor's pressure vessel, a radioactive component, means that Ringhals must now build a full-size mock-up of the 12-metre (39 feet) tall structure for training before repairs can take place.

On the mock-up, Ringhals will also test work methods, components and special tools that will need to be produced for cleaning the pressure vessel and installing new spare parts, the operator said.

Lilleholt said the Ringhals 4 outage could also put pressure on prices in neighbouring countries.

"If we have a cold winter, this could lead to extreme effects in the market as it would be difficult to replace this power," he said.

(Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo, Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm and Anne Kauranen in Helsinki, editing by Terje Solsvik, David Evans and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Grey skies and rain greeted Queen Elizabeth II's coffin as it was taken to Buckingham Palace after arriving in London on a military transport plane on Tuesday, before Britain says a final farewell to its longest-serving monarch.

The giant C-17 Globemaster, using the callsign "Kittyhawk" to signal the queen's presence on board, touched down from Edinburgh at Royal Air Force base Northolt at 6:54 pm (1754 GMT).

The late monarch's heavy lead-lined oak coffin, draped in the royal standard, was transferred slowly by eight RAF pallbearers into a waiting state hearse for the journey back to Buckingham Palace.

Despite the weather, crowds along the route into central London had built steadily through the day, and the throngs of well-wishers gathered at the palace gates applauded as the cortege entered.

Queen Elizabeth II died last Thursday aged 96 at her Balmoral retreat in the Scottish Highlands, after almost a year of ill-health that saw her gradually retreat from public view.

Her body was brought first to the monarch's official residence in Scotland, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh on Sunday, then transferred to St Giles' Cathedral in the city on Monday.

The Scottish government said some 33,000 people filed past her coffin overnight to Tuesday afternoon, before it was taken to the airport.

Accompanying the coffin on the plane, as she did from Balmoral to Edinburgh by road, was her only daughter, Princess Anne, who said it had been "an honour and privilege" to do so.

"To my mother, The Queen, thank you," the 72-year-old Princess Royal said in a statement.

Outside St Giles' Cathedral, the Royal Company of Archers, the monarch's bodyguard in Scotland, formed a guard of honour as the coffin emerged to the haunting sound of a lone piper.

At Edinburgh Airport, the Royal Regiment of Scotland, in ceremonial kilts, also formed a guard of honour to the woman dubbed "Queen of Scots", and the national anthem played as the plane taxied to the runway.

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- Coffin procession -

On Wednesday, the coffin will be moved on a gun carriage at 2:22 pm (1322 GMT) precisely, in a solemn 38-minute procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.

She will then lie in state for four full days.

The British government said queues could stretch up to 4.5 miles (7.2-kilometres) alongside the River Thames if the upper end of their estimates is reached.

Some well-wishers began queueing on Monday, sitting on camping chairs and wrapped up in coats and anoraks against the elements or carrying umbrellas.

Others waited to see the casket being driven from RAF Northolt.

"I just want to have a glimpse of the coffin and it's going to be chaos at Westminster," Joseph Afrane, 59, told AFP as he waited for the hearse to arrive at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening.

"Even if it's sad, the atmosphere is actually quite nice here," he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, the queen's eldest son and successor King Charles III made his maiden visit to Northern Ireland as monarch as part of his tour of all four nations of the United Kingdom.

As heir to the throne, Charles had made 39 visits to Northern Ireland, whose recent history has been scarred by sectarian violence and where a fragile peace has held since 1998.

His 40th visit came as unionists loyal to the crown feel their place in the wider UK is under threat as never before, with Irish nationalists in position to lead the devolved government in Belfast for the first time.

Meanwhile the possibility of a united Ireland is seen as growing.

But at Hillsborough Castle -- the monarch's official residence in Northern Ireland -- King Charles told political leaders that he would work for all communities in the divided province.

"I take up my new duties resolved to seek the welfare of all the inhabitants of Northern Ireland," he stressed.

Queen Elizabeth's visit to the neighbouring Republic of Ireland in 2011 was the first by a British monarch since its independence from the crown and was seen as a huge step towards cementing the hard-won peace in Northern Ireland.

- 'Behind him' -

Charles and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, greeted crowds who had turned out early to catch a glimpse of the couple at Hillsborough.

Ceremonial gun salutes in his honour then rang out as the royal standard was raised above the castle southwest of Belfast.

Flowers, cuddly toys and handwritten remembrance notes of the late queen had been left at the gates.

"This is very important for Charles to come here," Rhonda Irvine, 47, a wedding and events administrator, told AFP.

Describing King Charles's late mother as an "inspiration for him", she predicted he would be a "very good" monarch.

Ann Sudlow, 61, a retired nurse from nearby Dromore, had also made the early morning drive "to show the king that we're behind him as a country and Northern Ireland is supporting him".

While large crowds welcomed King Charles, visiting the deeply divided region was testing. Nationalist parties boycotted the proclamation of the new king but did meet him.

Belfast's feuding political leaders are split between fiercely loyal British unionists, and Irish nationalists who want to reunify with Ireland. The power-sharing assembly in Belfast is suspended.

King Charles went to an Anglican religious service in the city, also attended by Ireland's President Michael D. Higgins, Prime Minister Micheal Martin and Foreign Minister Simon Coveney.

King Charles shook hands with Higgins, making him the first foreign head of state met by the new British sovereign.

- Crowds -

Britain is in 10 days of national mourning for Queen Elizabeth, who was the constant in national life for seven decades.

King Charles's popularity has recovered since the death of his former wife Diana in a 1997 car crash -- and has surged in recent days, according to a new survey on Tuesday.

But he has also been embroiled in several scandals in recent years.

With republican movements gaining ground from Australia to the Bahamas, the new king faces a challenge keeping the Commonwealth realms in the royal fold.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her country, New Zealand, where Charles is also head of state, will likely become a republic in her lifetime.

But she added: "I don't see it as a short-term measure or anything that is on the agenda soon."

An unprecedented security operation is being put in place for Monday's state funeral, which is expected to be attended by hundreds of heads of state and government, as well as global royalty.

Neither Russia nor Belarus have been invited, however, following the invasion of Ukraine in February.

"It's a massive challenge for the Metropolitan Police and for me personally, but we have been preparing for many, many years," the newly appointed head of the London police force, Mark Rowley, told Sky News television.

Soldiers from the Household Division of regiments, which form the monarch's bodyguard, began practising for the funeral procession in London overnight Monday to Tuesday.

The vast crowds expected in London have resulted in few available hotel rooms, while transport bosses have warned of strong demand.

But not everyone shares the public mood of sadness and remembrance.

British police faced criticism from civil liberties groups on Tuesday over their treatment of anti-monarchy protesters who have publicly challenged King Charles' accession to the throne.

Video footage and witnesses have drawn attention to police arresting or intimidating people who shouted slogans against the monarchy or held up placards reading "Not My King".

bur-am-jit-phz-del/raz
A 17-year-old boy from Randolph has been arrested in connection with a stabbing inside a high school in Boston on Monday.

The suspect, whose name has not been released, is slated to be arraigned in the juvenile division of Dorchester District Court on charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, according to the Boston Police Department.

Officers responding to a report of a stabbing at the Jeremiah Burke School at 60 Washington Street in Dorchester around 11 a.m. found an 18-year-old man suffering from non-life-threatening stab wounds to his back and shoulder.

The student was rushed to a local hospital for treatment. He is expected to be OK.

The suspect fled the scene following the incident but surrendered a few hours later, police said.

An investigation remains ongoing.

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.

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Photo: The Canadian Press Police vehicles and officers are seen behind tape at a scene in Mississauga, Ont., Monday, Sept. 12, 2022.

Peel police say they are co-ordinating a multi-jurisdictional investigation into shootings across the Greater Toronto Area that left two people dead, including a Toronto police officer, and injured three others.

The chase for the suspect ended about two hours after the first of two reported shootings Monday afternoon when Ontario's police watchdog says officers shot the man, who had been tracked down in a Hamilton cemetery.

The Special Investigations Unit says it is investigating after the man died at the scene.

Police have yet to release the name of the suspect they say is responsible for the shootings that left 48-year-old Const. Andrew Hong dead and prompted a provincewide active shooter alert.

Police say Hong was killed on his lunch break in an unprovoked attack while training in Mississauga, Ont., and another person was injured.

Officials say they believe the same suspect is responsible for a second shooting less than an hour later at a Milton, Ont., auto body shop that killed one person and injured two others.
York County deputies said they are trying to find two runaways, while warning parents of a TikTok trend that could entice others to run away, as well.

One of the teens left his Fort Mill home Friday night and his family is concerned.

ALSO READ: Schools warn of TikTok challenge that is leaving restrooms damaged, punishment that could result

Were hurting all the way to the core, said Chris Blanton, Trenton Blantons father.

Trenton Blanton has not been seen since Friday, his family said.

The York County Sheriffs Office said the teen could still be in the area or on the way to visit his biological mom in Columbia.

I think the point was he didnt want to be here anymore, said Deputy Trent Faris, with the York County Sheriffs Office. He didnt want to be around the house anymore.

Deputies are also searching for Estela Bailey, 16, of Rock Hill, whom they said ran away Monday.

The trend is for a runaway teen to get likes on the social media platform as the community searches for them, Faris said.

Deputies have no reason to believe that the two runaways are in danger due to the challenge.

However, Faris wants people to know about the TikTok trend.

Parents, be aware of what your kids are doing on social media, Faris said. Be aware and have conversations with your kids. Make sure they know running away is not the answer. You can talk through these situations.

VIDEO: Viral TikTok shows mold in Myrtle Beach resort room
There's a ghost in the machine. Machine learning, that is.

We are all regularly amazed by AI's capabilities in writing and creation, but who knew it had such a capacity for instilling horror? A chilling discovery by an AI researcher finds that the "latent space" comprising a deep learning model's memory is haunted by least one horrifying figure  a bloody-faced woman now known as "Loab."

(Warning: Disturbing imagery ahead.)

But is this AI model truly haunted, or is Loab just a random confluence of images that happens to come up in various strange technical circumstances? Surely it must be the latter unless you believe spirits can inhabit data structures, but it's more than a simple creepy image  it's an indication that what passes for a brain in an AI is deeper and creepier than we might otherwise have imagined.

Loab was discovered  encountered? summoned?  by a musician and artist who goes by Supercomposite on Twitter (this article originally used her name but she said she preferred to use her handle for personal reasons, so it has been substituted throughout). She explained the Loab phenomenon in a thread that achieved a large amount of attention for a random creepy AI thing, something there is no shortage of on the platform, suggesting it struck a chord (minor key, no doubt).

Supercomposite was playing around with a custom AI text-to-image model, similar to but not DALL-E or Stable Diffusion, and specifically experimenting with "negative prompts."

Ordinarily, you give the model a prompt, and it works its way toward creating an image that matches it. If you have one prompt, that prompt has a "weight" of one, meaning that's the only thing the model is working toward.

You can also split prompts, saying things like "hot air balloon::0.5, thunderstorm::0.5" and it will work toward both of those things equally  this isn't really necessary, since the language part of the model would also accept "hot air balloon in a thunderstorm" and you might even get better results.

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But the interesting thing is that you can also have negative prompts, which causes the model to work away from that concept as actively as it can.

Minus world

This process is far less predictable, because no one knows how the data is actually organized in what one might anthropomorphize as the "mind" or memory of the AI, known as latent space.

"The latent space is kind of like youre exploring a map of different concepts in the AI. A prompt is like an arrow that tells you how far to walk in this concept map and in which direction," Supercomposite told me.

Here's a helpful rendering of a much, much simpler latent space in an old Google translation model working on a single sentence in multiple languages:

The latent space of a system like DALL-E is orders of magnitude larger and more complex, but you get the general idea. If each dot here was a million spaces like this one it's probably a bit more accurate. Image Credits: Google

"So if you prompt the AI for an image of 'a face,' you'll end up somewhere in the middle of the region that has all the of images of faces and get an image of a kind of unremarkable average face," she said. With a more specific prompt, you'll find yourself among the frowning faces, or faces in profile, and so on. "But with negatively weighted prompt, you do the opposite: You run as far away from that concept as possible."

But what's the opposite of "face"? Is it the feet? Is it the back of the head? Something faceless, like a pencil? While we can argue it amongst ourselves, in a machine learning model it was decided during the process of training, meaning however visual and linguistic concepts got encoded into its memory, they can be navigated consistently  even if they may be somewhat arbitrary.

Image Credits: Supercomposite

We saw a related concept in a recent AI phenomenon that went viral because one model seemed to reliably associate some nonsense words with birds and insects. But it wasn't that DALL-E had a "secret language" in which "Apoploe vesrreaitais" means birds  it's just that the nonsense prompt basically had it throwing a dart at a map of its mind and drawing whatever it lands nearby, in this case birds because the first word is kind of similar to some scientific names. So the arrow just pointed generally in that direction on the map.

Supercomposite was playing with this idea of navigating the latent space, having given the prompt of "Brando::-1," which would have the model produce whatever it thinks is the very opposite of "Brando." It produced a weird skyline logo with nonsense but somewhat readable text: "DIGITA PNTICS."

Weird, right? But again, the model's organization of concepts wouldn't necessarily make sense to us. Curious, Supercomposite wondered it she could reverse the process. So she put in the prompt: "DIGITA PNITICS skyline logo::-1." If this image was the opposite of "Brando," perhaps the reverse was true too and it would find its way to, perhaps, Marlon Brando?

Instead, she got this:

Image Credits: Supercomposite

Over and over she submitted this negative prompt, and over and over the model produced this woman, with bloody, cut or unhealthily red cheeks and a haunting, otherworldly look. Somehow, this woman  whom Supercomposite named "Loab" for the text that appears in the top-right image there  reliably is the AI model's best guess for the most distant possible concept from a logo featuring nonsense words.

What happened? Supercomposite explained how the model might think when given a negative prompt for a particular logo, continuing her metaphor from before.

"You start running as fast as you can away from the area with logos," she said. "You maybe end up in the area with realistic faces, since that is conceptually really far away from logos. You keep running, because you dont actually care about faces, you just want to run as far away as possible from logos. So no matter what, you are going to end up at the edge of the map. And Loab is the last face you see before you fall off the edge."

Preternaturally persistent

Image Credits: Supercomposite

Negative prompts don't always produce horrors, let alone so reliably. Anyone who has played with these image models will tell you it can actually be quite difficult to get consistent results for even very straightforward prompts.

Put in one for "a robot standing in a field" four or 40 times and you may get as many different takes on the concept, some hardly recognizable as robots or fields. But Loab appears consistently with this specific negative prompt, to the point where it feels like an incantation out of an old urban legend.

You know the type: "Stand in a dark bathroom looking at the mirror and say 'Bloody Mary' three times." Or even earlier folk instructions of how to reach a witch's abode or the entrance to the underworld: Holding a sprig of holly, walk backward 100 steps from a dead tree with your eyes closed.

"DIGITA PNITICS skyline logo::-1" isn't quite as catchy, but as magic words go the phrase is at least suitably arcane. And it has the benefit of working. Only on this particular model, of course  every AI platform's latent space is different, though who knows if Loab may be lurking in DALL-E or Stable Diffusion too, waiting to be summoned.

Loab as an ancient statue, but it's unmistakably her. Image Credits: Supercomposite

In fact, the incantation is strong enough that Loab seems to infect even split prompts and combinations with other images.

"Some AIs can take other images as prompts; they basically can interpret the image, turning it into a directional arrow on the map just like they treat text prompts," explained Supercomposite. "I used Loabs image and one or more other images together as a prompt  she almost always persists in the resulting picture."

Sometimes more complex or combination prompts treat one part as more of a loose suggestion. But ones that include Loab seem not just to veer toward the grotesque and horrifying, but to include her in a very recognizable fashion. Whether she's being combined with bees, video game characters, film styles or abstractions, Loab is front and center, dominating the composition with her damaged face, neutral expression and long dark hair.

It's unusual for any prompt or imagery to be so consistent  to haunt other prompts the way she does. Supercomposite speculated on why this might be.

"I guess because she is very far away from a lot of concepts and so its hard to get out of her little spooky area in latent space. The cultural question, of why the data put this woman way out there at the edge of the latent space, near gory horror imagery, is another thing to think about," she said.

Although it's an oversimplification, latent space really is like a map, and the prompts like directions for navigating it  and the system draws whatever ends up being around where it's asked to go, whether it's well-trodden ground like "still life by a Dutch master" or a synthesis of obscure or disconnected concepts: "robots battle aliens in a cubist etching by Dore." As you can see:

Image Credits: TechCrunch / DALL-E

A purely speculative explanation of why Loab exists has to do with how that map is laid out. As Supercomposite suggested, it's likely that, simply due to the fact that company logos and horrific, scary imagery are very far from one another conceptually.

A negative prompt doesn't mean "take 10 data steps in the other direction," it means keep going as far as you can, and it's more than possible that images at the farthest reaches of an AI's latent space have more extreme or uncommon values. Wouldn't you organize it that way, with stuff that has lots of commonalities or cross-references in the "center," however you define that  and weird, wild stuff that's rarely relevant out at the "edge"?

Therefore negative prompts may act like a way to explore the frontier of the AI's mind map, skimming the concepts it deems too outlandish to store among prosaic concepts like happy faces, beautiful landscapes or frolicking pets.

The dark forest of the AI subconscious

Image Credits: Devin Coldeway

The unnerving fact is no one really understands how latent spaces are structured or why. There is of course a great deal of research on the subject, and some indications that they are organized in some ways like how our own minds are  which makes sense, since they were more or less built in imitation of them. But in other ways they have totally unique structures connecting across vast conceptual distances.

To be clear, it's not as if there is some clutch of images specifically of Loab waiting to be found  they're definitely being created on the fly, and Supercomposite told me there's no indication the digital cryptid is based on any particular artist or work. That's why latent space is latent! These images emerged from a combination of strange and terrible concepts that all happen to occupy the same area in the model's memory, much like how in the Google visualization earlier, languages were clustered based on their similarity.

From what dark corner or unconscious associations sprang Loab, fully formed and coherent? We can't yet trace the path the model took to reach her location; a trained model's latent space is vast and impenetrably complex.

The only way we can reach the spot again is through the magic words, spoken while we step backward through that space with our eyes closed, until we reach the witch's hut that can't be approached by ordinary means. Loab isn't a ghost, but she is an anomaly, yet paradoxically she may be one of an effectively infinite number of anomalies waiting to be summoned from the farthest, unlit reaches of any AI model's latent space.

It may not be supernatural  but sure as hell ain't natural.
A therapist, who has been in practice for two decades, is sharing her personal parenting rules.

In a TikTok video, Jessica MacNair, a mom of two children, ages 13 and 10, lists five things she doesnt do with her kids.

I teach the importance of bodily autonomy and advocating for themselves when theyre uncomfortable, MacNair begins. That means she never goes in for a hug without asking for consent.

I dont comment on their bodies, she continues. We discuss the importance of physical exercise and nutrition and we just don't talk about bodies."

MacNair says she doesnt make remarks about her own body, either.

You wont hear MacNair discussing finances in the presence of her children.

I dont talk about how much money I make or where my money goes, thats not for them to be concerned about, she explains.

I dont compare my kids to each other or ask them for a change thats more like their sibling, MacNair says. Lastly, she doesnt reward or punish with food.

While speaking with TODAY Parents, MacNair, who lives in Virginia, clarified her comments about finances.

A lot of people seemed to have a problem with that one, she said. What I meant was, I dont talk about our mortgage or anything like that because it can have devastating results. For instance, if youre talking about not having money for food, a kid might panic and go without eating. They have a tendency to internalize things.

MacNair also received some criticism about her policy on asking for consent for hugs. As one person wrote in comments, Ask to hug your kids? You ask to hug your kids? Wow.

Its the earliest version of teaching them consent, she told TODAY. Kids are not required to kiss and hug all their relatives. If its a genuine expression or feeling that they want to share, thats on them to decide.

Related Video:

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Even when a business is losing money, it's possible for shareholders to make money if they buy a good business at the right price. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. But while history lauds those rare successes, those that fail are often forgotten; who remembers Pets.com?

Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether GreenX Metals (ASX:GRX) shareholders should be worried about its cash burn. For the purposes of this article, cash burn is the annual rate at which an unprofitable company spends cash to fund its growth; its negative free cash flow. We'll start by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves in order to calculate its cash runway.

Check out our latest analysis for GreenX Metals

Does GreenX Metals Have A Long Cash Runway?

You can calculate a company's cash runway by dividing the amount of cash it has by the rate at which it is spending that cash. As at December 2021, GreenX Metals had cash of AU$4.2m and no debt. Importantly, its cash burn was AU$2.9m over the trailing twelve months. Therefore, from December 2021 it had roughly 17 months of cash runway. While that cash runway isn't too concerning, sensible holders would be peering into the distance, and considering what happens if the company runs out of cash. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.

How Is GreenX Metals' Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

In our view, GreenX Metals doesn't yet produce significant amounts of operating revenue, since it reported just AU$243k in the last twelve months. Therefore, for the purposes of this analysis we'll focus on how the cash burn is tracking. As it happens, the company's cash burn reduced by 2.1% over the last year, which suggests that management are maintaining a fairly steady rate of business development, albeit with a slight decrease in spending. Admittedly, we're a bit cautious of GreenX Metals due to its lack of significant operating revenues. So we'd generally prefer stocks from this list of stocks that have analysts forecasting growth.

How Easily Can GreenX Metals Raise Cash?

Even though it has reduced its cash burn recently, shareholders should still consider how easy it would be for GreenX Metals to raise more 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. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash and drive growth. By comparing a company's annual cash burn to its total market capitalisation, we can estimate roughly how many shares it would have to issue in order to run the company for another year (at the same burn rate).

GreenX Metals' cash burn of AU$2.9m is about 5.3% of its AU$55m market capitalisation. Given that is a rather small percentage, it would probably be really easy for the company to fund another year's growth by issuing some new shares to investors, or even by taking out a loan.

Is GreenX Metals' Cash Burn A Worry?

The good news is that in our view GreenX Metals' cash burn situation gives shareholders real reason for optimism. Not only was its cash runway quite good, but its cash burn relative to its market cap was a real positive. While we're the kind of investors who are always a bit concerned about the risks involved with cash burning companies, the metrics we have discussed in this article leave us relatively comfortable about GreenX Metals' situation. Separately, we looked at different risks affecting the company and spotted 3 warning signs for GreenX Metals (of which 1 is concerning!) you should know about.

Of course GreenX Metals 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.

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Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) -UK railway workers will stage further strikes early next month, the head of a British train operating company said on Friday, after this month's walkouts in a long-running pay dispute were postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth. Britain's rail network suffered major disruption on several days in June and July when 40,000 rail workers walked out in the country's biggest railway strike in three decades. ASLEF last week postponed a strike planned for Sept. 15, while fellow rail union the RMT also suspended strikes which had been due to take place on Sept. 15 and 17.
Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in support of Doug Mastriano for governor of Pennsylvania and Mehmet Oz for US Senate at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on September 3, 2022. Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

Rep. Carolyn Maloney says Trump has had plenty of chances to come clean about missing documents.

Trump must certify that he's handed over everything government officials have requested, she says.

She says investigators are still "not certain whether all presidential records are in its custody."

Donald Trump has wasted multiple chances to return all classified government documents to date, House Oversight and Reform Committee chair Carolyn Maloney said on Tuesday in a letter demanding the former president certify  in writing  that he's handed over all pertinent presidential records.

"The Committee is concerned that, given this pattern of conduct, Mr. Trump may continue to retain presidential records at non-secure locations, including classified material that could endanger our nation's security and other important records documenting Mr. Trump's activities at the White House," Maloney wrote to National Archives and Records Administration officials.

"I urge NARA to seek from former President Trump a written certification that he has surrendered all presidential records or classified materials, has not made any copies or reproductions of such materials, and has not transferred any records or government documents to any party other than NARA or DOJ since his term ended," she added.

Maloney wrote that Trump could have avoided the ongoing legal fight sparked by last month's raid at Mar-a-Lago at several points along the way. Among the instances she cited: when he left the White House in January 2021, after NARA asked about missing documents in May 2021, and after a grand jury subpoena issued in May 2022.

"NARA's staff recently informed the Committee that the agency is not certain whether all presidential records are in its custody," Maloney wrote of the ongoing confusion that reportedly came up during an August 24 call between the oversight panel and NARA personnel.

She added that NARA should conduct an "urgent review" of any and all Trump-related records that are unaccounted for and report back to the oversight committee by no later than September 27.

Maloney's call for accountability comes as Trump and the Justice Department are working on adding a court-appointed special master to the mix to help sort out any privilege arguments. A leading contender appears to be former federal judge Raymond Dearie.

Read the original article on Business Insider
While the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is filled with movies from massive studios with internationally renowned stars, the beauty of the festival is that there are also films that tell specific Canadians stories, like Gail Maurices bilingual film Rosie.

Rosie is set in Montreal in 1984 and told from the perspective of young, orphaned Indigenous girl Rosie (Keris Hope Hill), who ends up having to live with her Francophone aunt Frederique Fred (Melanie Bray). Fred isnt really in any position to take care of a child, regularly on the verge of being evicted from her apartment and jobless, making art from items thrown in the trash. Fred, with the support of her two gender-bending friends Flo (Constant Bernard) and Mo (Alex Trahan), navigate this new responsibility, while Rosie manages being thrusted into this new community.

Melanie Bray (Frederique), Keris Hope Hill (Rosie), Alex Trahan (Mo), Constant Bernard (Flo) in "Rosie," premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival. (Ramona Diaconescu)

'I didn't realize that this whole other world existed'

The movie started as a short film, which Gail Maurice initially wrote in when she was at Melanie Brays family home, after Brays father passed away.

He built this little office space in a closet and I locked myself in there for three days, Maurice told Yahoo Canada. I whipped out the short and I really felt her dad's spirit and energy when I was writing it.

I was pretty amazed when she actually came out of the closet, she had this short film, Bray added. Even from the first draft, it was just a great script and Im very flattered that she wrote a part for me, and it was a great part.

Bray went on to recall that Maurice was initially hesitant about developing this short project into a feature, and it was actually Bray herself who convinced the Rosie writer/director to do it.

When you think something's done, like the short, we were supposed to be done, Maurice explained. Then all of a sudden, OK, so what happens now?

That's when I brought in the 80s, the soundtrack and all the dynamics. I was able to develop more of the backstory for Rosie, the Sixties Scoop After I got annoyed with [Melanie Bray], then I really, I loved it, and I love those characters.

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While logistically, setting the story in the 1980s make sense in the way it references the impact of the Sixties Scoop, it also adds attractive colour to the film.

I wrote it always with the 80s in mind, Maurice explained. That, to me, is a time when I left home and I went to university, and I was coming out and I didn't realize that this whole other world existed, like the queer community, the gay community.

In Saskatoon in the 80s, you had to go down this back alley and open a door, it was really secretive. I opened the door and all of a sudden, there's this energy that just filled me and filled my spirit My eyes opened to this whole new world, the colour, the vibrancy, I wanted to bring all that into Rosie, and how I did it was through the music, because music has that ability to transport us back in time to an immediate place. But also, the saturated colours, I wanted it to show how vibrant the characters are.

Keris Hope Hill (Rosie) and Gail Maurice on the set of "Rosie" (Ramona Diaconescu)

Importance of making a bilingual film

Gail Maurice also explained that she wanted the story to be told through a childs perspective because, they dont have filters" and "they dont judge.

An interesting character that isnt featured heavily in the film, but when he is present he is critically important, is Brandon Oakes as Jigger, a homeless Cree man who is Rosies connection to her Indigenous heritage.

I wanted her to be put into a space where she's really alienated and isolated, and it's completely foreign, Maurice explained, adding that its also meant to symbolize the effects of the Sixties Scoop, and the loss of identity and family. I bought in Jigger becausehe to me represents being grounded, which is why I shoot him a lot on the ground,...he's the strongest out of all the characters, he has a calmness about him.

But he also has his culture, that's where his strength comes from He's also the one that's going to pass on knowledge to [Rosie] about her culture."

Maurice doesnt actually speak French herself, but the decision to have the dialogue in both French in English is linked to her upbringing speaking Michif (one of the languages of the Metis people of Canada and the United States), along with English.

[It] was really interesting directing a language that I don't understand, but I wanted to do a bilingual film because much of my language has a mixture of Cree and French, and my culture is a mixture of Cree and French,...there's only a little over 1,000 speakers in the world, and Im one of them, Maurice said. As far as showing different cultures [in film], I think it's happening, if you look, slowly.

Bray added that from a bilingual perspective, we just arent getting content that actually blends the two languages, even though thats the cultural reality for many Canadians.

I grew up in Montreal with a Francophone mom and an Anglophone dad so it's exactly that, and why isn't there more like this?" Bray added. "But I'm actually surprised that there hasn't been more that's totally bilingual.

From an English-French perspective, that it's not happening... I think we're doing something groundbreaking."
The trial for an Atlanta attorney accused of running down and killing a prominent real estate investor in 2019.

Police say 47-year-old Bryan Schmitt ran over 60-year-old Hamid Jahangard in an apparent road rage incident. Two days after the incident, Jahangard died from his injuries.

Channel 2s Michael Seiden has been following this case since it began in July 2019. He was in the courtroom Monday morning as opening statements began.

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

Prosecutors say Schmitt intentionally rammed his car into Jahangard outside one of the victims investment homes on River Valley Road in Sandy Springs.

This defendant struck Mr. Jahangard with his Mercedes, breaking his left tibia and knocking him to the ground with such force that he fractured his skull. He sustained multiple cerebral contusions and hemorrhages ultimately causing his death, prosecutor Pat Ducher said.

Schmitts defense team argued that the entire encounter began after Jahangard threw a golf ball at Schmitts Mercedes, leading to an argument that escalated to Jahangard throwing a trash can at the car.

RELATED STORIES:

Mr. Schmitt did not intend to kill or assault or otherwise harm Mr. Jahangard in any way. Mr. Jahangards death was a tragic accident, defense attorney John Garland said.

Prosecutors fired back by using body camera footage and testimony from several witnesses accusing Schmitt of giving conflicting testimonies to investigators at the scene. They also claimed that surveillance footage never showed Jahangard throwing a trash can.

Defense attorneys say that video shows Schmitt trying to brake before hitting Jahangard and trying to help before paramedics arrived.

Prosecutors say Jahangard was on the phone with his brother who could hear him trying to deescalate the situation before he was struck.

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Seiden said friends and family of Jahangard made up most of the audience watching the trial play out, but Schmitts wife and family were also in the courtroom.

Arguments will continue on Tuesday morning.
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) - When the U.S. military targeted Islamic State commander Maher al-Agal with a drone strike in northern Syria in July, there was little chance it would miss. The reason? Revenge.

With Islamic State's last battle-hardened forces holed up in remote areas, the United States is turning to the aid of tribesmen burning to exact revenge for the atrocities unleashed by the group when it ruled over swathes of Syria and Iraq.

Still thirsty for vengeance eight years after the group, which is also known as Daesh, massacred hundreds of their clan, Sheitaat tribesmen in Syria had planted a tracking device on the motorbike Agal was riding when he was killed, one of the people who tracked him down said.

The tribesman, whose account was confirmed by a Western intelligence officer in the region, said tribal relatives in contact with the Islamic State commander's immediate family had secretly been keeping tabs on him for months in northern Syria.

"I exacted revenge in blood for those of my tribe whom Daesh crucified, executed and beheaded without mercy," the person, who declined to identified for security reasons, told Reuters by phone from Syria. "It has healed the burning in our hearts."

In one of its bloodiest atrocities, Islamic State massacred more than 900 members of the Sheitaat tribe in three towns in Syria's eastern Deir al-Zor region in 2014 when they rebelled against jihadist rule.

While Islamic State is a shadow of the group that ruled over a third of Syria and Iraq in a Caliphate declared in 2014, hundreds of fighters are still camped in desolate areas where neither the U.S.-led coalition nor the Syrian army, with support from Russia and Iranian-backed militias, exert full control.

The Arab tribesmen in Syria seeking vengeance are now part of a growing network of tribal spies playing a significant role in the U.S. military's campaign to further degrade the group, three Western intelligence sources and six tribal sources said.

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"These networks of informants are working with the Americans who are planting them everywhere," said Yasser al Kassab, a tribal chief from the town of Gharanij in the Deir al-Zor area.

"Informants from the same tribe are tipping off about their own cousins in Islamic State," he said.

Asked about the role of tribal informants in Syria, a U.S. military official said that in the operation against Agal, the targeting was almost entirely based on human intelligence.

"This is something that required a deep network in the region," said the official, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak publicly about the matter.

A DEEP NETWORK

The Western intelligence officer who confirmed the account of Agal's assassination, and the lengthy period of tracking by tribesmen before the strike, has been briefed on tribal support for counter-insurgency activities by the U.S.-led coalition.

The U.S. military, which has about 900 troops in northeastern Syria, said Agal was one of the group's top five leaders and had been responsible for developing Islamic State networks outside Iraq and Syria.

U.S. Central Command said at the time that the strike against Agal followed extensive planning.

With many of Islamic State's foreign commanders killed or detained, Syrians have become increasingly significant in its leadership, making the militants more vulnerable to penetration by fellow Syrians keen to settle scores, Western and regional intelligence sources and three senior tribal figures said.

While four sources familiar with the intelligence gathering operation say money is sometimes paid for information, many informants are driven by revenge for the atrocities committed by the group at the peak of its power.

Some informants were being recruited by tribal intermediaries who were already part of the network. Others were contributing directly via a phone line set up by the coalition to receive tips, Sheitaat tribal chief Kassab said.

The U.S. military officer confirmed that informants were paid but did not elaborate.

The U.S.-financed tribal networks have penetrated Islamic State sleeper cells and compiled data on new recruits, who include fellow tribesmen in some cases, five tribal sources said. The three Western intelligence officers and a regional security official corroborated their accounts.

Many of the spies come from the Sheitaat tribe, an offshoot of Syria's biggest tribe, the Akaidat, who fought with U.S.-backed forces to drive Islamic State from swathes of northeast Syria, taking the city of Raqqa after a long battle in 2017.

"They want revenge so they resort to cooperating with their relatives to leak information and give locations of leaders of IS. They use the tribal links," said Samer al Ahmad, an expert on jihadist groups who comes from the region.

HUMAN INTELLIGENCE

One of the Western intelligence officers said human intelligence - as opposed to information gathered from devices such as mobile phones - was now crucial because the militants increasingly avoid means of communication prone to surveillance.

"Most of the new operatives do not use mobile or gadgets that were behind the major past hits of foreign jihadists," said the officer, who is familiar with some of the covert effort.

Such human intelligence has been "critical" in the drive to kill and detain top militants in Syria since the start of the year and played a key role in Agal's case, the U.S. military official said.

"A lot of times, human intelligence is going to complement your other forms of intelligence, information you pick up from there or from voice signals and you can supplement it. In that case it really led the collection," the official said.

Agal had been hiding in plain sight in northern Syria, spending most of his time in territory held by Sunni Arab insurgents backed by Turkey and mostly steering clear of areas closer to his home town where he might be recognised, two of his relatives said.

His death marked one of several blows against Islamic State in Syria this year.

In February, the group's leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi died during a U.S. special forces raid in northern Syria, while in June U.S. forces seized another senior leader, Ahmad al Kurdi.

Agal, Kurdi and the other militants who were targeted had slipped back into normal life, mingling among inhabitants of a heavily populated area along the Turkish border away from areas controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

HIT-AND-RUN ATTACKS

The successful U.S. strikes have heartened Ahmad Assad al Hassouni, a senior figure in the Sheitaat tribe who is still searching for the remains of two of his four sons beheaded by Islamic State in 2014.

"They slaughtered my sons and burnt our hearts," he said. "I swear by God I won't sleep until the last criminal is dead,"

Although Islamic State increasingly lacks the capacity to stage large spectacular attacks, its presence is growing in remote areas of Deir al-Zor where control by the Kurdish-led SDF is shaky, residents said.

At night, masked men set up checkpoints sowing fear in villages near Busayrah along the Euphrates river, five tribal sources said.

Hit-and-run attacks on SDF checkpoints, meanwhile, have also increased in recent months, tribal chief Sheikh Basheer Dandal said, and the militants have also inflicted heavy casualties on pro-Iranian militias around Palmyra.

It was fear of a resurgence of Islamic State that spurred 32-year-old Abdullah al Omar to inform on his own relatives.

"I tipped the coalition about five people, including two cousins among my tribe whom we found out had been with Daesh, running checkpoints, burning homes," said Omar, who comes from Abu Hamam by the Euphrates south of Busayrah.

"We cannot sleep peacefully at night because we know they are still there just waiting for the right time to take revenge and slaughter those who survived their massacres."

(Editing by Tom Perry, Dominic Evans and David Clarke)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced a proposal on Tuesday to place tricolored bats on its endangered species list as the animals struggle to contend with a deadly fungus in their dark and damp abodes.

The species is on the brink of extinction due primarily to the impacts of white-nose syndrome, a disease caused by the growth of a fungus that looks like white fuzz on the bats muzzles and wings, according to the FWS.

The fungus thrives in cold, dark, damp caverns and typically targets bats during hibernation. Those animals infected wake up more frequently, often succumbing to dehydration and starvation before spring comes, the FWS explained.

White-nose syndrome is decimating hibernating bat species like the tricolored bat at unprecedented rates, FWS Director Martha Williams said in a statement.

Bats play such an important role in ensuring a healthy ecosystem, Williams continued. The Service is deeply committed to continuing our vital research and collaborative efforts with partners to mitigate further impacts and recover tricolored bat populations.

Bats contribute at least $3 billion each year to the U.S. agricultural economy by means of pest control and pollination, according to the FWS.

Tricolored bats are found east of the Rocky Mountains in 39 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, in four Canadian provinces from the Atlantic Coast to the Great Lakes, and in parts of eastern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Nicaragua, FWS said.

The proposal to classify tricolored bats as endangered arose following a comprehensive review tracking the decline of the species, according to the FWS.

The review indicated that population numbers have plunged so dramatically across the range of the species that it now meets the definition of endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

While white-nose syndrome is the most serious danger to the tricolored bat, other threats are gaining traction as climate change exacerbates a wide range of variables, the FWS stated.

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Such variables include changes in temperature and precipitation, mortality at wind energy facilities and disturbances in roosting, foraging, commuting and wintering.

The FWS said that it has plans in place to work with stakeholders to conserve bats while allowing economic activities within their range to continue to occur.

For example, habitat conservation plans could help wind projects advance after properly minimizing and mitigating impacts to bats, the FWS explained.

Tuesdays proposal follows a March 2022 announcement of a similar finding related to northern long-eared bats, which the FWS recommended to be reclassified from threatened to endangered.

When a species is listed under the Endangered Species Act, the FWS works with industry and other partners to pinpoint strategies that can help reduce the harm, harassment and killing of the animals, while deploying a wealth of conservation tools.

The ongoing crisis affecting tricolored bats is a testament to the importance of the Endangered Species Act and efforts to protect species before population declines become irreversible, a statement from tge FWS said.

In July, the FWS announced the repeal of the last remaining Trump-era shifts to the Endangered Species Act, as The Hill reported.

Former President Trumps changes had required the FWS to accept private landowners claims that making an area a protected habitat would bring economic harm. By restoring the pre-Trump status quo, such exclusions are now again at the discretion of the secretary of the Interior Department.

The July declaration came weeks after a federal judge vacated another related Trump rule, which had said that equal protections did not apply to those species classified as endangered and those considered threatened.

Prior to that announcement, another Trump-era rule was revoked that had imposed stricter constraints on which areas qualified as critical habitats.

As far as tricolored bats are concerned, however, the FWS determined that designating critical habitats would not be advisable because current or threatened modifications of the bats habitat are not bringing range-wide improvements to the species.

In addition, the FWS warned that identifying the locations of bat roosts could increase direct harm to the animals or vandalism of their habitats.

Members of the public can comment on the proposed rule through November 14, by searching for docket number FWS-R5-ES-2021-0163 on the federal rulemaking portal.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Photo: Photo: Nelson Bennett. Joe Aquino, director of sustainability for Drax, explaining the composition of waste wood set to be turned into wood pellets at the U.K. company'ss Lavington mill in B.C.

British Columbians of a certain age may remember beehive burners. Most towns in B.C. with a sawmill had one. In the late 1990s, the B.C. government began phasing them out, and in their wake a wood pellet industry began to grow to deal with sawmill waste.



It seemed like a win-win situation for the environment and forest industry  one that reduced air pollution, addressed the sawmill waste problem and provided a renewable, carbon-neutral energy source that was starting to displace coal.



As countries like Japan and the U.K. began displacing coal in thermal power plants with biomass, a market for wood pellets began to grow. About 60 per cent of Europes renewable energy is bioenergy, mostly wood biomass.



But as the demand for wood pellets has grown over the last two decades, so too have concerns about the wood pellet industry and its impact on forests.



B.C. now has about a dozen wood pellet plants and exports 2.3 million tonnes of pellets annually. Canadian wood pellet exports were valued at $347 million in 2020.



Environmental groups like Stand.earth and the Natural Resources Defense Council in the U.S. have been stepping up campaigns against the industry, questioning the climate calculus that deems biomass to be carbon neutral.



Forests are important carbon sinks, after all. If living trees are cut down to produce energy, the carbon neutrality of biomass may be called into question. Thats especially true if more trees are harvested than regrown.



Currently, most of the inputs used in B.C. pellet mills come from sawmills and harvest residuals such as slash, which is typically burned anyway.



Right now, if youre burning it anyway, you might as well turn it into pellets, said sustainable energy expert Chris Bataille, an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University. But if youre materially impacting the harvest, and youre displacing wood or increasing the harvest, then definitely you are going to have carbon debt and net neutrality issues.



Drax Group (LON:DRX), the British power company that now owns seven pellet mills in B.C., has come under increased scrutiny from environmentalists over its alleged use of live whole trees to supply its growing pellet business.



BIV recently toured one of Draxs operations in the Okanagan to take a look at what goes into wood pellets made in B.C. For this story, BIV also requested an interview with B.C.s chief forester to respond to some of the concerns raised by environmental groups. The Ministry of Forests said he was on leave and no one else was available for an interview.



Burning sawlogs makes no economic sense



A few kilometres up the road from Draxs Lavington wood pellet mill east of Vernon is a large storage yard with mountains of logs and tangled forest waste. These trees will eventually be ground up and turned into wood pellets and exported to Asia and Europe, with most of it burned to generate electricity.



From a distance, some of the logs on site may look like marketable timber. On closer inspection, however, it is clear that the trees in the log piles are trash: Tree tops, small fire-damaged trees and larger logs that are cracked or rotten with heart rot.



In their campaign against the wood biomass industry, environmental groups have taken photos of large log piles like these as proof that whole live trees are being harvested in B.C. to feed the wood pellet industry.



Scooping up the last remaining intact, old growth and primary forests in the world to burn for energy in the frantic race to get off of coal, forest biomass is dirtier than coal at the smokestack, Stand.earth said in a preface to a 2020 investigation it produced.



If it were true that companies like Drax are cutting down primary forests to make wood pellets to burn in place of coal, that would indeed be a concern  a concern that the European Parliament is proposing to address by declaring primary wood biomass to be unsustainable.



But Drax insists that it is not harvesting trees in Canada to make wood pellets and that doing so would make no economic sense. Trees are valuable, after all, and wood pellets are at the bottom of the forestry value chain.



Whereas a sawmill will pay $120 to $150 per cubic metre for sawlogs, Drax pays $15 per cubic metre for the stuff that not even pulp mills want.



Were about 15 times less than what the sawmill industry can pay, said Joe Aquino, a registered professional forester and director of sustainability for Draxs Canadian operations.



There is no feedstock that we use that is not at the end of its life cycle. If it was not at the end of its life cycle, somebody would outbid us.



At the Lavington mill, about 98 per cent of the inputs is sawmill waste, Aquino said. Twenty-five per cent of that comes directly from a Tolko Industries sawmill adjacent to the wood pellet mill. The sawmill waste is piped directly into the wood pellet mill through a large conduit.



On average, about 80 per cent of the inputs in Draxs seven wood pellet mills in B.C. is sawmill waste, Aquino said. About 20 per cent is harvest residuals  branches, treetops and low-value logs that sawmills dont want.



Drax owns six pellet plants in the U.S. There, the mix is 70-30: 70 per cent sawmill waste, 30 per cent harvest residuals, thinnings and low-value logs.



When a logging company harvests a cutblock, anywhere from 10 per cent to 15 per cent of the trees harvested may be deemed uneconomic (not sawlog grade). It was even higher than that when forests damaged by the Mountain pine beetle were being harvested. About half of that low-grade timber would be deemed pulp logs used to make pulp and paper. The rest is typically burned in slash piles, if no buyer can be found.



When a logging company harvests a cutblock, the trees get sorted and then graded by independent third-party scalers.



When deciding whether a tree can be turned into lumber (i.e. sawlog quality), the amount of firmwood in it is considered. A Grade 1 log would be 75 per cent firmwood. A Grade 4 log has less than 50 per cent firmwood. It may have cracks, heart rot, twists, fire or pest damage that makes it worthless to a sawmill or even a pulp mill. Thats the sort of stuff that ends up in a woodpile destined for a pellet mill. In the absence of a buyer, these logs end up in a slash pile, along with branches, treetops and other debris, and set on fire.



One company in B.C., Peak Renewables, recently acquired forest tenure from Canfor Corp. (TSX:CFP) and plans to use lowgrade timber to make wood pellets in a new plant being built in Fort Nelson. The region has a lot of aspen, which sawmills typically dont use for making lumber.



Drax has no forest tenure licences in B.C. If the companys name appears on a timber harvesting document, its because it has a contract to acquire harvest residuals, Aquino said.



Drax buys harvest waste from forestry companies, as well as private landowners that have logged their properties  ranchers, for example.



One way or another, slash goes up in smoke



An independent scaler at the log storage site that Drax shares with Tolko said he sometimes finds what might be classed as sawlogs in the Drax log piles: A sawlog generally being one that is 10 centimetres in diameter or more.



If he starts to see too many sawlogs showing up, he informs the buyer, and if he keeps seeing them, he notifies the Ministry of Forests.



After Crown forests are cut, they must undergo a waste assessment. Any timber deemed to be sawlog grade gets billed to the licensee. Because loggers pay stumpage on sawlogs, it would make little economic sense to intentionally sell them for next to nothing to a pellet plant.



Occupying the same log storage site, but separated from Draxs wood, are sawmill-quality logs. These belong to Tolko.



Parts of these sawlogs will end up as wood pellets, but not before they are first turned into lumber. The shavings, bark and sawdust left over from the sawmilling process are collected and piped directly to the adjacent Drax pellet mill.



The Tolko sawmill provides about 25 per cent of the Lavington wood pellet mills inputs. Sawmill waste from other sawmills in the region is trucked to the site.



Of the 65 million cubic metres of timber harvested in B.C. annually, about eight million cubic metres is uneconomic, Aquino said. About 10 to 15 per cent of every site thats harvested usually ends up in the slash pile, Aquino said. Theres about eight to 10 million cubic metres of available slash, and were only utilizing the tip of that iceberg.



Its being burned anyway, and we might as well capture it, make something thats going to get burned and energy is going to be generated from it.



But B.C. has a shrinking annual allowable cut, which has forced some sawmills and pulp mills to shut down. The concern here is that wood pellet producers in B.C. could start running out of sawmill waste and resort to harvesting low-value trees.



But Aquino said there is plenty of timber harvest waste in B.C. that isnt being used. Of the eight to 10 million cubic metres of waste left over from logging each year, Drax currently uses only about 300,000 cubic metres.



I still think theres a ton of opportunity in terms of underutilized slash, Aquino said.



He added that there is also potential to acquire wood waste from wildfire mitigation projects.



I think where the opportunity exists in terms of whats going to be more of a future based feedstock is that wildfire mitigation piece, Aquino said.



Since 2016, the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) has been financing forest enhancement projects, including wildfire mitigation, and replanting trees in forests damaged by fire and pests.



Wildfire mitigation often involves selective removal of trees and understory and cutting firebreaks near communities vulnerable to forest fires.



The wood pellet sector has become an important partner in these projects because it takes wood waste from thinning, pruning and spacing of trees.



To date, those projects have recovered 4.8 million cubic metres of forest fibre, some of which went to pellet plants.



The vast majority of what weve helped to be utilized would otherwise have been burned, said FESBC executive director Steve Kozuki.



The logging companies [are] required by law to abate the fire hazard, Kozuki said. So if there are piles of wood waste and its not economic for them to use, they have to get rid of it somehow, and the most cost effective way is to burn it.



The logs that are being ground up into pellets, you cannot make lumber out of it. I dont know of any business that would knowingly or willfully decide not to make a profit on a log.



Drax in North America



Drax owns nine pellet mills in Canada  seven in B.C. and two in Alberta. Pellets produced in Canada are exported to Asia. Pellets produced by Draxs six American pellet mills are exported to Europe.



At its power plant in the U.K., Drax consumes 8.4 million tonnes of biomass annually, with some coming from agricultural waste, but most coming from forestry waste. Of six power-generating units that used to burn coal, four have been converted to burn biomass.



The U.S. is Draxs biggest supplier of wood pellets, at five million tonnes; Canada supplies 1.8 million tonnes, and the balance comes from Europe.



Drax produces 2.8 million tonnes of pellets from its own Canadian and American plants. In its environment, sustainability and governance data supplement, Drax details where the fibre comes from.



In the U.S., fibre input is made up of 1.8 million tonnes of sawmill waste, 1.7 million tonnes of lowgrade roundwood, 1.2 million tonnes of thinnings and 358,018 tonnes of branches and tops.



In Canada, sawmill waste accounts for 1.5 million tonnes of fibre input, low-grade roundwood accounts for 181,579 tonnes, thinnings account for 18,131 tonnes and branches and tops account for 153,986 tonnes. Draxs fibre sources are verified by Bureau Veritas in the U.K. and Control Union in Canada. ?
Twitter shareholders voted in favor of carrying out Elon Musks $44 billion acquisition of the social media company on Tuesday despite his attempts to pull out of the deal.

The shareholders approval signals Twitters intent to move forward with the deal, even after Musk sent a third letter to the social media company on Friday attempting to terminate the deal. In the new letter, attorneys for Musk argue that an alleged $7.75 million severance payment Twitter made to its former head of security violated a provision of the acquisition contract.

The severance was given to Peiter Zatko on June 28 as part of a separation agreement. Zatko testified before the Senate on Tuesday about Twitters alleged security and privacy vulnerabilities. For its part, Twitter has previously dismissed the allegations as riddled with inaccuracies and has affirmed that security and privacy are top priorities.

Under the contract with Musk, Twitter agreed not to provide any severance payments to employees in amounts outside the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice.

Twitter called Musks termination effort invalid and wrongful.

Musk first began trying to pull the plug on the deal in July.

A regulatory filing from attorney Mike Ringler on behalf of Musk argued that Twitter is in material breach of multiple provisions of their April 25 merger agreement, and appears to have made false and misleading representations upon which Mr. Musk relied when agreeing to purchase the company.

Musk has claimed Twitter is undercounting fake bot accounts, which he says is information that is fundamental to Twitters business and financial performance.

The letter claims that Twitter must provide all the data that he requests for any reasonable business purpose related to the consummation of the transaction and accuses the company of failing to comply with its contractual obligations.

For nearly two months, Mr. Musk has sought the data and information necessary to make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitters platform, the letter reads. Sometimes Twitter has ignored Mr. Musks requests, sometimes it has rejected them for reasons that appear to be unjustified, and sometimes it has claimed to comply while giving Mr. Musk incomplete or unusable information.

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Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk in July after he sent a letter to the platforms board expressing his intent to terminate his bid.

The company argues Musk is refusing to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests, according to the complaint.

Rather than bear the cost of the market downturn, as the merger agreement requires, Musk wants to shift it to Twitters stockholders, the complaint added.

The $44 billion deal represents a value of $54.20 per share. Twitters stock opened Tuesday nearly 25 percent below the deal price, at just under $41 per share.

In July, a judge granted Twitters request for an expedited trial in the matter.

While Twitter had asked the Delaware Court of Chancery for a late September trial, Chancellor Kathaleen St. Judge McCormick ordered a five-day trial in October. She explained that her decision was influenced by the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over Twitter after Musk, the worlds richest man, backed out of the deal.

Musk had requested the trial be delayed to February 2023 because of the complex nature of the situation.

McCormick said he and his attorneys underestimated the courts ability to quickly process complex litigation.

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(Bloomberg) -- Senators across the ideological spectrum vowed to pursue stricter regulation for social media in response to Tuesdays whistle-blower testimony about what he called the ticking bomb of security vulnerabilities at Twitter Inc.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko, also known by his hacker name Mudge, spent more than 2 1/2 hours describing a company with outdated software, broad employee access to personal user data and a reactive security policy that had engineers running from fire to fire. He also spotlighted what he said was ineffective enforcement from the Federal Trade Commission that was letting companies grade their own homework.

The revelations had even Republicans like South Carolinas Lindsey Graham calling for a regulatory environment with teeth -- usually an anathema to conservatives who prefer a smaller federal government. But broad frustration with social media platforms and the risks to user privacy and national security that Zatko described are forging new alliances like Grahams plans to introduce legislation with Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and one of the Senates most progressive members.

Its now time to look at social media platforms anew, Graham promised Zatko in the hearing. What you did today will not be in vain.

The two senators are working on a bill to create a new federal regulator to oversee big tech, Graham told reporters after the hearing. He proposed licensing companies like Twitter, saying while they might not worry about paying a fine of $150 million, they could worry about losing their license. Graham and Warren havent reached agreement on the details, according to a congressional aide.

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Right now, the FTC and Justice Department share oversight of the tech industry, and some advocates have argued that a regulator devoted to the internet economy would be better equipped to take on one of the worlds richest industries.

Graham said such an agency should force companies to harden their platforms against foreign interference, be more responsible with user data and provide an appeals process for content moderation decisions. He said new rules should create a consequence for these organizations, give them an incentive to do better.

Real Risk

Zatko said Twitter was a decade behind necessary security upgrades and gave several examples of Twitter prioritizing profit over addressing the risks on its influential platform.

Twitters unsafe handling of the data of its users and its inability or unwillingness to truthfully represent issues to its board of directors and regulators have created real risk to tens of millions of Americans, the American democratic process, and Americas national security, Zatko said in the hearing.

He also said the companys leadership repeatedly covered up its security failures by duping regulators and lying to users and investors.

Zatko, 51, was fired in January 2022 over what the company said were performance shortcomings.

Twitter, in a statement issued after the hearing, said it only confirms that Mr. Zatkos allegations are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies. The company defended its hiring process and said access to data is controlled by monitoring systems and background checks.

The reaction to Zatkos testimony was mixed among current and former Twitter employees, according to people familiar with the matter and tweets from employees. Some pointed out that Zatkos big-picture complaint -- that tech companies like Twitter need better oversight on data and security issues -- hit the mark. Still others questioned why he didnt do more to fix Twitters problems himself, considering his high ranking position internally.

Sitting alone at a table facing the Senate Judiciary Committee, Zatko painted a picture of a company that collected vast amounts of user data but only understood how about 20% of it was used and allowed many employees a dangerous level of access to that information. Even though Twitter was under a 2011 consent decree from the FTC to address security lapses, Zatko said US regulators -- and the one-time fees they use as deterrents -- are ineffective compared to their foreign peers like Frances data protection agency.

The FTC in May fined Twitter for not complying with that 2011 agreement to tighten security controls and respect user privacy. But as Hawaii Democrat Mazie Hirono put it: A $150 million fine for a multibillion dollar company is nothing to provide any kind of incentives for them to change what theyre doing.

Zatkos allegations come as Twitter prepares to go to court to force Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk to complete a $44 billion deal to buy the company. Zatkos whistle-blower complaint backed up Musks concern about the prevalence of automated accounts known as bots, which is likely to feature prominently in the Oct. 17 trial in a Delaware court, but Tuesdays hearing focused on security shortcomings.

Lawmakers raised concerns in particular about Mudges allegations that Twitter has allowed foreign agents to operate on its payroll and acquiesced to the demands of adversaries like China. Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, compared users trusting Twitter to safeguard their data as they might trust a bank -- but at Twitter the vault is wide open, he said.

Twitter is an immensely powerful platform that cannot afford gaping security vulnerabilities, Durbin said.

Zatko said he wasnt surprised to find out, a week before he was fired, that the FBI had warned Twitter about an employee that was a suspected foreign asset working with the MSS, a Chinese intelligence service.

If youre not placing foreign agents inside Twitter -- because its very difficult to detect them, it is very valuable to a foreign agent to be inside there, Zatko said of intelligence agencies, youre most likely not doing your job.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, the committees top Republican, said Mudges disclosures paint a disturbing picture of a company thats solely focused on profits at any expense.

Grassley said Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal was invited to Tuesdays hearing to respond to the allegations, but declined because he claimed it could interfere with the ongoing litigation with Musk.

Zatko pleaded with lawmakers to pass protections for whistle-blowers who want to come forward while they are still at the companies. He also said any privacy legislation should involve audits and quantifiable results that couldnt be gamed by technology platforms.

There is bipartisan support for new internet regulation to protect user privacy and security, but current proposals have failed to gain much traction as Congress focuses on other priorities. Even with Grahams support, other Senate Judiciary Republicans questioned the need to give more power to regulators.

I dont think we need any more bureaucrats, said Texas Republican John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. We just need some rules for them to enforce, which we dont currently have.

Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal said hes open to a new technology-focused regulator that could help shift the balance of power between immensely profitable companies and the agencies charged with protecting consumers. He also said he could be persuaded to give new authority to the FTC, rather than creating a new agency.

To effectively address this problem, we need not only to insist on restructuring the company, but also likely restructuring, reforming and energizing our regulatory apparatus, Bumenthal said. Clearly what were doing right now is not working.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Peiter Mudge Zatko, former head of security at Twitter, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on data security at Twitter, on Capitol Hill, September 13, 2022. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko claims Twitter has at least one Chinese spy at the company.

Zatko said he informed an exec of the threat and was told "What does it matter if we have more [foreign agents]?"

Twitter has said Zatko's complaint is "riddled with inaccuracies."

Former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko told US lawmakers on Tuesday that Twitter has at least one Chinese agent at the company.

Zatko alleged that the FBI warned Twitter that the company employed a Chinese foreign agent.

"I had been told because the corporate security physical security team had been contacted and told that there was at least one agent of the MSS which is one of China's intelligence services on the payroll inside Twitter," Zatko said at a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

The revelation at the hearing came after Zatko  better known by his hacker name "Mudge"  had already alleged the company knowingly allowed an agent for the Indian government to work inside Twitter with access to user data.

Zatko's complaint, which was submitted to US authorities in July, indicated that the US government had provided Twitter with specific information that at least one of its employees, perhaps more, may be working for a foreign intelligence agency, but it did not specify which countries the agents were allegedly working for.

"Today's hearing only confirms that Mr. Zatko's allegations are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies," a Twitter spokesperson told Insider.

An FBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

"While it was disturbing to hear, I and many others had recognized the state of the environment at Twitter," Zatko said. "If you are not placing foreign agents inside Twitter  because it's very difficult to detect them [and] it is very valuable to a foreign agent to be inside there  as a foreign intelligence [agency], you're most likely not doing your job."

The former security chief said he informed an executive of the threat and was told "What does it matter if we have more [foreign agents]?"

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The Twitter whistleblower's 84-page complaint was first publicly reported last month. In his complaint, Zatko accused the company of "lying" to Elon Musk about spam accounts on its site, and having poor security practices that could violate a previous FTC settlement agreement.

The whistleblower complaint is also relevant in Twitter's ongoing legal battle with Elon Musk. The social media company is attempting to get the billionaire to follow through on his agreement to purchase the company for $44 billion after he attempted to pull out of the deal in July.

Musk's legal team has already amended its countersuit against Twitter to include Zatko's allegations. The five-day trial is set to go to court in October.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Kevin Dietsch/Getty

Twitters former head of security railed against the platform on Tuesday in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, alleging that it has prioritized revenue growth at the expense of content moderation and corporate responsibility.

Peiter Zatko, who filed a whistleblower complaint with multiple government agencies over the summer, also claimed that Twitter failed to take seriously foreign spies that may have infiltrated its ranks.

He recalled a conversation with an unnamed executive about a possible foreign agent on staff, after similar concerns about at least one other employee had already been raised. According to Zatkos testimony, the executive replied, Well, since we already have one, what does it matter if we have more? Let's keep growing the office.

The former security chief was fired by Twitter earlier this year, though he signed a roughly $7 million settlement agreement in June. According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal included non-disclosure and non-disparagement provisions; crucially, though, it didnt preclude him from filing the whistleblower complaint or testifying before Congress.

Elon Musk Cites Shock Twitter Whistleblower Claims as New Reason to Back Out of Takeover Deal

In Tuesdays hearing, Zatko alleged that Twitter lacked basic, fundamental tools and access control, making it challenging to determine when sensitive data may have been compromisedand by whom. He added that engineers could theoretically try to sell access to users accounts on the black market, and that the company might have trouble rooting out the culprit.

Zatkowho once worked as a hacker and helped companies find security vulnerabilitiespegged much of the problems to a culture of disorganization and misplaced priorities. Theyre simply unwilling to put the effort in at the cost of other efforts such as driving revenue, he said, noting that Twitter frequently lacks employees with the necessary language skills to address foreign content moderation issues. Theyre only able to focus on one crisis at a time, he said. And that crisis isnt completed, its simply replaced by another crisis.

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Senators expressed serious concerns about other issues Zatko raised, including that CEO Parag Agrawal contemplated bowing to Russian demands prior to the war in Ukraine, which would have risked letting the government censor and surveil Russian users. Agrawal was chief technology officer at the time, and Twitter did not ultimately accede to the demands.

In a statement, a Twitter spokesperson said, Todays hearing only confirms that Mr. Zatkos allegations are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies. The company previously sought to challenge his credibility, saying that he was fired for ineffective leadership and poor performance.

Twitter also maintains that its hiring process is not influenced by foreign actors and that it safeguards data through measures including background checks, access controls, and breach detection systems.

Five Takeaways from the Twitter Whistleblower Complaint

Zatkos highly public campaign against Twitter comes at a fraught moment for the business. The company signed a $44 billion buyout agreement with Elon Musk in the spring, but the billionaire has since gotten cold feet, declaring that Twitter hadnt been transparent about the amount of spam and fake accounts on its platform.

In an effort to enforce the deal, Twitter brought the dispute to Delaware Chancery Court, and some experts initially said that Musks arguments for backing out looked quite thin. It remains to be seen what impact Zatkos claims will have on the proceedings.

For the moment, Musk is clearly enjoying the drama. On Tuesday, he tweeted an emoji of a bucket of popcorn. He also changed his display name to Naughtius Maximus, a phrase he previously employed while linking to a Monty Python sketch about a fictional Roman named Biggus Dickus.

At the timeand as an illustration of how he uses the platformMusk followed up with a shower thought of his own: What if ur name is Johnson & u just happen to work at Johnson & Johnson?

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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During a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Twitters former security chief turned whistleblower, Peiter Zatko, shed new light on his claims that the companys lax security practices harmed U.S. national security. Among the new allegations was that the company had a Chinese agent working for the country's Ministry of State Security (MSS) on its payroll.

During his opening statement, Sen. Chuck Grassley stated that the FBI notified Twitter of at least one Chinese agent in the company." In the public version of his whistleblower complaint, Zatko stated he had been warned that the company was employing one or more people who were working on behalf of another particular foreign intelligence agency. But the version of the complaint made public, parts of which were redacted, didnt specify what country the FBI was referring to.

In his testimony, Zatko confirmed the company had been warned about the presence of Chinese agents. This was made aware to me maybe a week before I was summarily dismissed, Zatko said. I had been told because the corporate security/physical security team had been contacted and told that there was at least one agent of the MSS, which is one of Chinas intelligence services on the payroll inside Twitter.

Zatko also raised concerns about the presence of foreign agents from other countries, including India, which he said "forced" Twitter to hire government agents.

Notably, Zatko's disclosures are not the first time Twitter has had to contend with the presence of unregistered foreign agents on its payroll. A former Twitter worker was recently convicted of acting as an agent for Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors alleged the man was paid to turn over sensitive information about dissidents.

Zatko alleged that the danger posed by foreign agents was even greater due to a litany of factors: the vast amount of data the platform collects and its lack of insight into that data, as well as the broad and largely unfettered access Twitter's engineers have to it. "It's not far-fetched to say that an employee inside the company could take over the accounts of all of the senators in this room," Zatko said.

The hearing is likely to amp up the pressure on Twitter, which has so far declined to address Zatkos claims in detail. Senator Grassley said that the committee had also invited CEO Parag Agrawal to testify at the hearing but that he had refused to appear.

He rejected this committee's invitation to appear by claiming that it would jeopardize Twitter's ongoing litigation Mr. Musk, Grassley said, referring to the companys legal battle with Elon Musk over his $44 billion acquisition of the company. Protecting Americans from foreign influence is more important than Twitter's civil litigation in Delaware. If these allegations are true, I don't see how Mr. Agrawal can maintain his position at Twitter going forward.
On Monday, hours after identifying two additional suspects in a fatal stabbing that occurred early Friday, Turlock police had one of them in custody.

One of the three suspects, Manuel Maldonado, 29, of Turlock, had been captured Friday. Midafternoon Monday, police said in a news release that theyd identified the two other men involved as Alfonso Garcia, 23, and David Rivera Cruz, 30, both of Turlock.

Within a few hours, at about 5:20 p.m., members of the Police Departments Special Investigation Unit determined David Rivera Cruz, 30, was in the 200 block of East Tuolumne Road.

After obtaining a search warrant, Detectives and SIU investigators found Cruz in the residence. He was taken into custody without incident and will face charges of aggravated assault likely to cause great bodily injury, according to a news release. He remained in custody Tuesday morning, with bail set at $250,000

The third suspect, Alfonso Garcia, 23, remains at large.

The stabbing was reported Friday morning on Lander Avenue near Bernall Avenue. David Gomez Mendoza, 28, of Modesto was stabbed and later died as a result of his injuries.

Surveillance video in the area captured a group of men arriving at a liquor store in the 900 block of Lander Avenue in a 2003 GMC Yukon. They confronted several men, including the victim, who were standing outside the store.

After a brief altercation, Mendoza ran across the street in an attempt to get away, but the suspects chased him and stabbed him, authorities said.

Detectives arrested Maldonado after finding him driving a Yukon that matched the description of the one seen in the video. He was booked on suspicion of homicide and is being held without bail.

Asked if the difference in Cruzs and Maldonados charges indicate that investigators believe only the latter of the two stabbed Mendoza, Police Department spokesman Sgt. Michael Parmley said in a text message, Unfortunately, we are not releasing that information but the charge for Maldonado should speak for itself.

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Police are asking the publics help in locating Garcia but warn that anyone who spots him should immediately call 911. Do not attempt to approach him as he is considered dangerous.

Anyone with information about the investigation is urged to call Detective Frank Navarro at 209-664-7319 or the Police Departments tip line at 209-668-5550, ext. 6780. Tips may be emailed to tpdtipline@turlock.ca.us.

Callers may leave an anonymous tip with Stanislaus Area Crime Stoppers at 209-521-4636 and may be eligible for a cash reward.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Biden administration is likely to announce a fresh military aid package for Ukraine in "coming days," the White House said on Tuesday.

"I do think you'll see another one here in coming days," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Chris Reese)
AFP

Armenia and Azerbaijan said Friday that more than 210 people died in border clashes this week, with Yerevan accusing Baku troops of atrocities in the arch foes' worst fighting in two years. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she will travel to Yerevan Saturday after this week's escalation has largely undone recent Western efforts to bring Baku and Yerevan closer to a peace agreement. The Caucasus neighbours have fought two wars -- in 2020 and in the 1990s -- over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region, Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated enclave. Both sides accuse each other of provoking the clashes, which erupted on Tuesday and ended with international mediation overnight on Thursday. On Friday, Azerbaijan's defence ministry revised the death toll among its troops to 77 from an earlier reported 71. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said: "For the moment, the number of dead is 135." "Unfortunately, it is not the final figure. There are also many wounded," he told a cabinet meeting. Armenia's rights ombudsperson, Kristina Grigoryan, later said one civilian was also killed and six wounded in shelling by Azerbaijani forces, while hundreds of civilians fled their homes. The chief of staff of Armenia's armed forces, Eduard Asryan, accused Azerbaijani troops of committing "horrible atrocities," saying they mutilated and dismembered the bodies of dead Armenian servicemen. - Aliyev thanks Putin - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said "the fact that the ceasefire is being respected proves that neither Azerbaijan, nor Armenia, intended for large-scale escalation". He said he regretted "numerous victims from both sides", saying what was "most important now is not to wreck the nascent process of normalising ties". Speaking at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, Aliyev thanked him for Moscow's "rapid reaction to the escalation". Putin, for his part, expressed satisfaction the ceasefire was holding, but noted the overall "situation remains tense". It was the worst fighting since the two countries fought a six-week war in 2020 and comes with Armenia's closest ally Moscow distracted by its nearly seven-month war in Ukraine. Armenia's security council said the violence ended late Thursday "thanks to international mediation" after earlier failed attempts by Moscow to broker a truce. A delegation of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) -- a Moscow-led grouping of ex-Soviet republics -- arrived in Yerevan Thursday evening, Armenia's defence ministry said. Armenia is a member of CSTO but Azerbaijan is not. On Tuesday, Armenia's security council asked for military help from Moscow, which is obliged under the treaty to defend Armenia in the event of a foreign invasion. But the Kremlin -- which also has close ties with Baku -- did not rush to help Yerevan. "We asked for military help and our demand was not accepted. Obviously, we are not happy," Armenia's security council chairman, Artyom Grigoryan, said Friday. - Transport sticking point - With Moscow increasingly isolated on the world stage following its February invasion of Ukraine, the European Union had taken a lead role in mediating the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalisation process. During EU-mediated talks in Brussels in April and May, Aliyev and Pashinyan agreed to "advance discussions" on a future peace treaty. They last met in Brussels on August 31, for talks mediated by European Council President Charles Michel. The talks also focus on border delimitation and the reopening of transport links. The issue of ensuring a land transport link between Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan and its ally Ankara via Armenian territory has emerged as the primary sticking point. Azerbaijan insists on Yerevan renouncing its jurisdiction over the land corridor that should pass along Armenia's border with Iran -- a demand the Armenian government rejects as an affront to the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The six weeks of fighting in 2020 claimed the lives of more than 6,500 troops from both sides and ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire. Under the deal, Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades, and Moscow deployed about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce. Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The ensuing conflict claimed around 30,000 lives. mkh-im/raz
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham, a Republican critic of social media companies like Meta's Facebook and Twitter, said on Tuesday that he wants create a way to regulate, and perhaps license, social media companies.

Graham said that he was working on a measure  he did not say what form it would take  with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, and Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican. Graham could not be reached for further comment and Warren and Hawley did not immediately return a call for comment.

At a hearing to discuss security lapses at Twitter, Graham said the companies were allowed to become internationally powerful with few restrictions on what they could and could not do. He also expressed concern that the Federal Trade Commission seemed to have few tools in their regulatory toolbox to rein them in.

Social media platforms are not licensed and "you can't sue them," Graham said, noting "if you drive a car, you need a license, if you sell real estate, you need a license."

Graham's plan could include regulations that would put limits on what speech the companies could take down while also requiring them to be tougher about criminal use of the networks and foreign interference.

"If somebody takes your content down you'll have an appeal process," he said at a Congressional hearing on Tuesday.

Graham spoke at a hearing whose main witness is Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, a famed hacker who served as Twitter's head of security until his firing. Mudge said some Twitter employees were concerned that the Chinese government would be able to collect data on the company's users.

Big tech companies appear to have few friends in Congress with Republicans angry about what they perceive as the companies stifling conservative voices while Democrats believe that foreign interference on Facebook contributed to former President Donald Trump's win in 2016.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hit back at Germany in a fiery message on Twitter Tuesday after Berlin refused to provide Kyiv with military vehicles earlier in the week.

"Disappointing signals from Germany while Ukraine needs Leopards and Marders now  to liberate people and save them from genocide. Not a single rational argument on why these weapons cannot be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses," Kuleba said in an uncharacteristically aggressive message. "What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not?"

RUSSIAN TROOPS PULL BACK AS UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS RETAKE KEY AREAS IN KHARKIV

The foreign ministers condemnation came after Germany on Monday rejected Ukraines pleas for tanks and other vehicles as it appears to gain momentum in its war with Russia.

Germany has come under fire at home and abroad for apparent hesitancy to provide arms to Ukraine amid Russias illegal invasion.

Though Berlin has provided substantial support, it has stopped short of providing Ukraine with Leopard 2 battle tanks  noting it cannot do so without the support of its NATO partners.

"No country has delivered Western-built infantry fighting vehicles or main battle tanks so far," German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Monday. "We have agreed with our partners that Germany will not take such action unilaterally."

UKRAINE'S SOLDIERS INCH TOWARD SIEVIERODONETSK IN MAJOR COUNTEROFFENSIVE

While the U.S. has not provided "battle tanks," it has provided roughly 150 tactical vehicles, "hundreds of Armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles," 40 mine resistant vehicles and 200 armored personnel carriers, according to a Department of Defense fact sheet released earlier this month.

In May, Germany also said it would help facilitate the transportation of Soviet-era tanks from Greece to Ukraine.

This photograph taken in Balakliya, Kharkiv region, on Sept. 10, 2022 shows a Russian BTR-80 armoured vehicle. Photo by JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images

GERMANY SAYS WEAPONS STOCKS DEPLETED AMID SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE

However, Lambrecht said her concerns went beyond acting outside the NATO-sanctioned status quo and said Germany needs to be confident in its own defense supplies.

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"It's not so simple just to say I'll just risk that we won't be able to act, the defense of the country, by giving everything away," she reportedly said. "No, I won't do that. But we have other possibilities, from industry, with our partners."

Ukraine launched a major counter-offensive earlier this month that has seen some significant advances, particularly in the nations northeastern region of Kharkiv.

Senior U.S. defense officials on Monday assessed that Ukrainian forces had begun to push Russian troops back across its own borders.

On Saturday, a spokesman for Russias defense ministry said Moscow was "regrouping" its forces in the northeast  comments that echoed language from the Kremlin after Russia failed to take Kyiv in the early days of the war.

However, Ukraine has a long way to go before all of Russias troops are forced to retreat over its borders. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed that Kyiv will not concede any territory to Russia  including Crimea, which has been occupied since 2014.
Trudeaus Liberals were at it again at a cabinet retreat/meeting in Vancouver (last week).

How nice it must be to call for a taxpayer-paid retreat for all Liberal cabinets members to travel to Vancouver, when we already pay them to have residences in Ottawa where there is no shortage of government-owned meeting rooms.

That would be like a family in debt over their heads borrowing more to fund a family meeting in Hawaii to discus ways to cut their spending.

It would be interesting to find out what this retreat will end up costing you and I after the wining and dining, hotel rooms and air travel, not to mention in all likelihood our PM chose to fly here in the (governments) private jet just to prove he is serious about unnecessary pollutants in the atmosphere contributing to climate change.

These retreats have happened before but there is no need to have them.

Could these dollars have been put to better use? Absolutely, just ask the homeless or people on long wait lists for surgeries or those operating food banks. But its comforting to know the Liberal cabinet members will be well fed in their first-class accommodations during their Vancouver retreat.

Guy Bissonnette, Lake Country
By Tom Balmforth

BALAKLIIA, Ukraine (Reuters) -Ukraine has set its sights on freeing all territory occupied by invading Russian forces after driving them back in a speedy counter-offensive in the northeast and there are indications of more U.S. military aid on the way to back Ukraine's mission.

In an evening address, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said around 8,000 square km (3,100 square miles) have been liberated so far, apparently all in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.

"Stabilisation measures" had been completed in about half of that territory, Zelenskiy said, "and across a liberated area of about the same size, stabilisation measures are still ongoing."

Reuters was not able to immediately verify the full scope of battlefield successes claimed by Ukraine. The total area cited by Zelenskiy is roughly the size of the Greek island of Crete.

Since Moscow abandoned its main bastion in the northeast on Saturday, marking its worst defeat since the early days of the war, Ukrainian troops have recaptured dozens of towns in a stunning shift in battleground momentum.

In Washington, the White House said the United States is likely to announce a new military aid package for Ukraine in "coming days". Russian forces have left defensive positions, particularly in and around Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, a U.S. spokesperson said.

Russian forces still control about a fifth of Ukraine in the south and east, but Kyiv is now on the offensive in both areas.

Speaking in the central square of Balakliia, a crucial military supply hub taken by Ukrainian forces late last week, Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said 150,000 people had been liberated from Russian rule in the area.

Ukrainian flags had been raised and a large crowd gathered to receive bundles of humanitarian aid. A shopping centre had been destroyed but many buildings remained intact, with shops closed and boarded up.

"The aim is to liberate the Kharkiv region and beyond - all the territories occupied by the Russian Federation," Malyar said on the road to Balakliia, which lies 74 km (46 miles) southeast of Kharkiv.

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Meanwhile, repair crews have restored the two main power lines supplying Kharkiv city and its surrounds, power firm Ukrenergo said after Russian shelling caused blackouts.

The Kyiv government fears Russia will step up attacks on its energy networks as winter approaches and is pleading for anti-aircraft technology from the West to protect the infrastructure.

With Russian forces under pressure, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Scholz called on Putin to find a diplomatic solution as soon as possible, based on a ceasefire, complete withdrawal of Russian troops, and respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, a German government spokesperson said.

TEARS

In Verbivka, a village northwest of Balakliia, Nadia Khvostok, 76, described the traumatic occupation and the arrival of Ukrainian troops, saying residents greeted them "with tears in our eyes".

"We could not have been happier. My grandchildren spent two and a half months in the cellar. When the corner of the house was torn off, the children began to shudder and stutter," she said, adding that they and her daughter had left - she did not know where.

The village school, where the Russians were based, was destroyed and trees on the road to the village and a cement factory showed battle scars. Elsewhere were abandoned Russian vehicles, including a military truck with a smashed windscreen.

Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syehubov, who came to Verbivka, said the authorities were trying to record crimes committed by Russians during their occupation of the area, and recover the bodies of victims.

"We're asking everyone around about all the places of burial which can be found," he said.

Moscow denies its forces have committed atrocities in areas they have controlled since Putin ordered the invasion on Feb. 24.

Ukraine's military on Tuesday accused retreating Russian soldiers of stealing at least 300 private cars loaded with looted property as they fled. The Russian defence ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

During the day, Ukrainian forces repelled enemy attacks in six towns and settlements to the north of Donetsk, the general staff said, but made no mention of captured territory.

The Ukrainian advance could soon spread into Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, where Russia has concentrated its forces for months to expand territory held by separatists since 2014.

The Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Gaidai, said troops had already retaken the city of Lyman in Donetsk. He identified Svatove in Luhansk further east as the likely next battle front. Reuters could not verify the reports.

A video from Ukraine's border guard service showed what it said were Ukrainian troops liberating the town of Vovchansk near the Russian border, burning down flags and tearing down a poster saying "We are one with Russia".

(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Olzhas Auyezov, Aleksandar Vasovic, Miranda Murray and other Reuters reporters; Writing by Philippa Fletcher, Peter Graff, and William Maclean; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel, Grant McCool and Rosalba O'Brien)
Ukrainian military

Read also: Expect good news by end of year, says defense minister Reznikov

UkrainianDefense Minister Oleksii Reznikov also told the UKs Financial Times newspaper on Sept. 12 that Chechen troops were being used in Kherson Oblast to stop Russia frontline troops from deserting their positions.

Read also: Russia withdraws from key town near Kherson, ISW report says

As reported on Sept. 12, the Ukrainian Army has already liberated Vysokopillia, Novovoznesensk, Bilohirka, Sukhyi Stavok, and Myroliubivka in Kherson Oblast.

U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported the Armed Forces had inflicted a major operational defeat on Russia, recapturing almost the entire Kharkiv Oblast in a rapid counter-offensive.

Read also: Devastation and evidence of war crimes found in wake of Russian retreat from Kharkiv Oblast

Although this will not put an end to the war, it has already turned its course in favor of Ukraine, the U.S. think tanks said in a report.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Alexey Furman/Getty Images

A group of Ukrainian officials, ministers, and former prime ministers have been gathering behind closed doors for months, working to come up with ways to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from attacking Ukraine ever again.

And as of Tuesday, they think theyve got the solution.

Ukraine wants to create a coalition of countries that are willing to guarantee Ukraines security against any future breach of its territory or encroachment on its sovereignty, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys office announced Tuesday.

In a new document, finalized on Tuesday, the officials describe the plan as a way to galvanize a group of countries willing to back up Ukraine with legally binding guarantees that they will come to Ukraines aid to help deter another attack from Russiaor any other country for that matterand to help Ukraine prepare to forcefully respond.

The plan doesnt necessarily include troop commitments or promises, like a North Atlantic Treaty Organization Article 5 kind of commitment, but it would include long-term investments in Ukraine's defense industrial base, weapons transfers, and intelligence support. The plan also expresses interest in anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense equipment.

But theres one problem. Allies and the United Statesas has historically been the case with Ukrainemight not be in a position to sign onto a legally binding treaty that includes security guarantees that could rope the United States into broader conflict.

The plan is just the latest step Ukrainian officials are taking to try to right past wrongs from an earlier security agreement with other countries, including the United States, that some Ukrainian officials believe hasnt been honored since Russia invaded Ukraine. As part of an agreement to relinquish its nuclear weapons, Ukraine signed on to an accord with the United States, the U.K., and Russia in the 1990s in which the United States promised security assurances to Ukraine in case its borders were breached. But those assurances, known as the Budapest Memorandum, werent enough to deter Russia from invading in 2014 and 2022, and Ukrainian officials have indicated they think the United States hasnt fulfilled its promises.

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A U.S. Translation Flop Is Fueling a Messy Row Over Putins War

The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances proved worthless, the new plan states. Unless Ukraine is provided with unique and effective security guaranteesembedded in an eventual peace processthere is no reason to believe that this will not happen again.

Theres no certainty that the United States is interested in going all in now with security guarantees. When asked about signing onto a plan like the one presented today, a State Department spokesperson only acknowledged its existence.

We are aware of this recommendation and continue to engage with our Allies and partners on ways to support Ukraines fight against Russias unwarranted invasion, the spokesperson said. The United States continues to provide security assistance to Ukraine during its ongoing conflict with Russia.

American resistance to security guarantees is a hurdle that Ukrainian officials have been facing for decades. Just as they want to obtain guarantees now, Ukrainian officials wanted security pledges in the Budapest Memorandum, diplomatic negotiators told The Daily Beast. But the United Stateseven without the immediate threat of an ongoing Russian war in Ukrainewas hesitant to sign on to guarantees, Ukraines Permanent Representative to the European Council, who was involved in negotiating the Budapest Memorandum, told The Daily Beast.

From the very beginning, we were insisting on having national security guarantees as legally binding document. And the version we had prepared and which was handed over to our American colleagues was exactly in the form of legally binding documenta treaty, the permanent representative, Borys Tarasyuk, told The Daily Beast in an exclusive interview. Unfortunately, since the very beginning the United States and Russia were reluctant to talk about a legally binding document.

Other negotiators, including Rose Gottemoeller, the former U.S. under secretary of state for arms control and international security, and Steve Pifer, a former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, told The Daily Beast the diplomats agreed that even though the Russian and Ukrainian versions of the agreement said garantii, the English said assurances and that all sides came to the same understanding that there were no guarantees.

Even if the United States is to sign onto agreements pledging it will help Ukraine, that is a world apart from security guarantees like those enshrined in NATO, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) told The Daily Beast in a recent interview.

When it comes to treaty-like security guarantees, in other words, NATO Article 5, its a little bit of a light switch here. Its a binary thing. You either have it or you dont. Thats the nature of Article 5 by definition, Michael Carpenter, the permanent representative, said. Nations can pledge that they will do certain things in the event of an attack or in the event of a security situation that warrants assistance. But committing to defend another state... thats something you have to be all in with, or what youre talking about is short of an Article 5 like guarantee.

The officials working on Zelenskys plan for security guarantees seem aware that timing on these requests may be key. One of the co-chairs of the group, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former NATO Secretary General, admitted he and his team have decided to not request commitments from other countries yet.

The group issued its plan Tuesday on the heels of the Ukrainian armed forces blitz counteroffensives in the south and northeast of Ukraine, with Ukrainian armed forces reclaiming upwards of 3,000 square kilometers from Russian forces in a crushing defeat for Putin. White House National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby told reporters Tuesday that Ukraines counteroffensive signals a shift in momentum in the war.

But just because Ukrainians have been successful in galvanizing support and security assistance that has been key to the fight in the past six monthsand in the last several daysdoesnt mean that it hasnt cost Ukraineand that has to change moving forward by instituting these security guarantees, Yermak said.

Decisions often had to be made ad hoc, and the development of mechanisms for this assistance required a lot of time, which is always lacking in war and which is bought with pain, blood and lives, Yermak said.

Kremlin TV Airs Call for Russia to Admit Serious Defeat

Even though some countries are struggling to work with their weapons stocks to help Ukraine, the country still needs more advanced weaponry from allies to help win the rest of the battlefield, Tarasyuk, Ukraines former minister of foreign affairs, told The Daily Beast.

It is a great pity for me, for example, to hear the words like listen, we don't have these weapons in stocks. We have to make the order for the industry to produce and then after, your military will acquire necessary skills to service, to maintain these weapons only after that, Tarasyuk said.

This is not the full truth. The full truth is that someIm not talking about the United States, which is one of the closest friendly countries for us in this regardbut in some countries, there are cynical expectations that we would rather look and wait what will come out of it, Tarasyuk said, suggesting some foreign officials expect Ukraine to fail.

He went on: Some foreign politicians, in the very first days already predicted that Ukraine will fall in a matter of days... It is the seventh month contrary to their predictions. Were not only resisting, but we are fighting and pushing the Russians.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska will be the guest of honor at Wednesday's EU State of the Union, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday on Twitter.

"The courage of Ukrainian people has touched and inspired the world. Europe will stand with you every step of the way," she said.

Von der Leyen is expected to unveil a package of measures to pull down soaring energy prices in the EU during her speech on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
TOPSHOT-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT-WAR

This photograph taken on September 11, 2022, shows a Ukranian soldier standing atop an abandoned Russian tank near a village on the outskirts of Izyum, Kharkiv Region, eastern Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. - Ukraine forces said that their lightning counter-offensive took back more ground in the past 24 hours, as Russia replied with strikes on some of the recaptured ground. The territorial shifts were one of Russia's biggest reversals since its forces were turned back from Kyiv in the earliest days of the nearly seven months of fighting. Credit - Juan BARRETO- AFP

In Ukraine, the tables have turned. In the province that surrounds Kharkiv, Ukraines second city, an attack reportedly meant to probe for weakness in Russian lines became a major counter-offensive when thousands of Russian soldiers simply turned and fled.

In the past week, Ukraine has regained more territory than Russia has captured in months, and the mood of its political and military leaders has turned dramatically upbeat. Russian artillery attacks that briefly knocked out power and water in parts of Ukraine have done little to dampen the mood. Earlier this week, Ukraines President Volodmyr Zelensky used social media site Telegram to ask Russians some pointed questions: Do you still think that we [Russians and Ukrainians] are one people? Do you still think that you can scare us, break us?  We will be without gas, light, water and food  and WITHOUT you!

Just as Ukraine demonstrated in the wars early weeks that Russian victory plans were pure delusion, their latest gains again make clear that Vladimir Putins war refuses to go to plan. Importantly, they show Ukraines backers in America and Europe that its war effort remains an investment that offers returns. Ukrainian fighters have used Western weaponsand training in how to use, protect, and maintain themto push Russian forces onto the back foot in different parts of the country. Here the timing is crucial: an expected tough winter in Europe, created in part by an energy crisis fueled by the war, is expected to test European public patience with costly support for Kyiv. Ukraines gains can make that support easier for European leaders to sell at home.

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Inside Russia, the mood continues to sour. Criticism of battlefield failures remains safely directed at Russias defense department, not at the president who pushed the generals into a war they were ill-prepared to wage. Complaints from Russian nationalists have grown louder. Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, a valuable contributor of troops to Putins army, has publicly warned the Russian brass that further failure will lead him to have a word with Russias president.

Yet, Ukraines latest success is unlikely to shorten the war. New confidence in Kyiv and public handwringing among Russians and their allies aside, Russian forces still have a firm grip on much of the Donbas region, on land seized along the Black Sea coast, and on the territory that connects them together. More worrisome, Ukraines advance may also make the war more dangerous. Putin now finds himself in a tight spot, and that should worry those who fear expansion of the war. Russias president has shown no sign during his political life that he will admit a mistake certainly not one as big as this warand reverse course. And though he insists Russia is at war with the West and its military alliance, a claim made more credible by Western military and financial backing for Ukraines army, he has avoided changing the rules of engagement to widen the conflict beyond Ukraines borders.

His government continues to threaten any Russian who describes the war as a war with 15 years in prison, and he has refused the demands of Russian online hawks to order a draft that forces hundreds of thousands of Russian civilians to grab a rifle. Perhaps he fears conscription would dramatically shift Russian public opinion against his special military operation. Or perhaps he knows that, given the need to train and equip all these new soldiers, a large-scale draft is too little too late to force an end to the stalemate in Ukraine anytime soon.

This leaves the West to worry that Putin, like the famous rat he trapped as a child who chose to fight once backed into a corner, will turn to weapons of mass destruction he has so far kept in reserve.

Ukraines gains of the past week have shifted the military stalemate. But the end of the war remains out of reach.
OLHA HLUSHCHENKO  TUESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2022, 07:26

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have successfully repelled Russian attacks near the villages of Zaitseve, Bakhmutske, Vodiane, Bezimenne and Novohryhorivka and the cities of Bakhmut and Krasnohorivka.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 06:00 on 13 September

Quote: "The enemy continues to terrorise and intimidate civilian residents [of Ukraine]. The cities of Kharkiv and Lozova were attacked again. Airstrikes and MLRS attacks damaged infrastructure in and around Bilohorivka, Vesela Dolyna, Zaitseve, Yurivka, New-York, Pervomaiske, Kamianka, Stepove, Mali Shcherbaky, Sukhyi Stavok, Kostromka, Bila Krynytsia and Myrne."

Details: Russian occupying forces carried out a total of two missile strikes, 25 airstrikes and 11 attacks using multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) on military and civilian targets across Ukraine.

There were no significant changes on the Volyn and Polissia fronts.

On other fronts, the Russians continued to fire on military and civilian targets using tank guns, mortars, and tubed and rocket artillery:

On the Sivershchyna front : near Atynske and Stukalivka (Sumy Oblast);

On the Kharkiv front : on areas in and around Kozacha Lopan, Baranivka and Kupiansk;

On the Kramatorsk front : areas in and around Pryshyb, Bilohorivka, Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Staryi Karavan, Starodubivka, Spirne, Rozdolivka and Hryhorivka;

On the Bakhmut front : areas in and around Sukha Balka, Mykolaivka Druha, Zaitseve, Soledar, Bakhmutske, Bakhmut, Vesela Dolyna;

On the Avdiivka front : Avdiivka, Orlivka, Lastochkyne, Krasnohorivka, Vodiane, Marinka and Novomykhailivka came under Russian fire;

On the Novopavlivka front : Russian forces fired on areas near Vuhledar, Prechystivka, Novoukrainka and Vremivka;

On the Zaporizhzhia front : areas in and around Kamianske, Mala Tokmachka, Shcherbaky, Charivne, Nesterianka, Orikhiv, Bilohiria, Zaliznychne, Temyrivka, Novopil and Vremivka;

Russian forces fired artillery along the entire line of contact on the Pivdennyi Buh front and undertook 23 UAV sorties to conduct aerial reconnaissance.

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The Ukrainian Defence Forces have successfully repelled Russian attacks near Zaitseve, Bakhmut, Bakhmutske, Krasnohorivka, Vodiane, Bezimenne and Novohryhorivka.

Aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force carried out nine airstrikes, hitting seven Russian strong points and areas where Russian military personnel and equipment were concentrated, and destroying two Russian anti-aircraft missile systems. Total personnel and equipment losses sustained by the Russian army on 12 September have yet to be confirmed.

Ukrainian rocket and artillery units struck several Russian command and control posts and areas where Russian military personnel and equipment were concentrated, destroying an electronic warfare system, a Zoopark counter-battery radar system, artillery units and ammunition storage points.

Journalists fight on their own frontline.

Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron.
OLENA ROSHCHINA  TUESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2022, 11:20

Oleksii Reznikov, Minister of Defence of Ukraine, said Kyiv's lightning offensive had gone much "better than expected", but Ukraine needs to secure the vast territory it has recaptured from a possible Russian counterattack.

Source: Financial Times

Quote from Reznikov: "A counter-offensive liberates territory and after that you have to control it and be ready to defend it. Of course, we have to be worried, this war has worried us for years."

Details: Reznikov also told the FT that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had defeated Kremlin forces and regained 3,000 sq km of Ukrainian territory, and Russia responded by striking infrastructure and cutting off electricity in populated areas in various oblasts of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian blitzkrieg, which Reznikov described as a "snowball rolling down a hill", is Russia's biggest setback since the full-scale invasion launched by its president, Vladimir Putin, on 24 February.

The Defence Minister said Ukrainian troops were tired after the six-day attack, but their morale was high because "its a sign that Russia can be defeated".

He cautioned that Russian reinforcements could launch a counter-attack on his countrys stretched supply lines and Ukrainian forces could also be encircled by fresh Russian troops if they advanced too far.

Reznikov explained that the Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kherson Oblast is progressing more slowly than in Kharkiv Oblast, saying that Kherson Oblast is an agricultural region and the Russians could use "irrigation channels" as defensive trenches.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!






LYNN, Mass. (AP)  The largest union representing workers for General Electric Co. said Tuesday it's reached an agreement with the company to speed up raises for workers at a Massachusetts aviation plant.

Under the deal, workers would be eligible for raises sooner and could reach the top pay rate after six years of work, instead of as many as 10 required under the old system.

Some 540 workers will see their pay go up, or become eligible for raises sooner, if the agreement is approved by workers in a vote set for later this month.

GE implemented an accelerated raise schedule this summer at at plants in Rutland, Vermont, and Hooksett, N.H.

GE pays its employees competitive wages in every community in which we operate," a company spokesperson said in a statement emailed to the AP.

IUE-CWA Local 201, the union that negotiated the deal, called it a massive win for workers, especially as they are dealing with higher living costs brought on by inflation.

As we prepare to negotiate our national union contract for GE workers across the country, this sends a powerful message to the company that we can organize effectively against stagnating wages and keep good jobs in our community," union president Adam Kaszynski said in a statement emailed to the AP.

___

This story has been updated to correct that the accelerated wage schedule has already been implemented at plants in New Hampshire and Vermont.
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP)  UPS is delivering for Boeing, helping boost the aircraft maker's August sales numbers with an order for cargo planes.

Boeing said Tuesday that it took orders for 26 planes net last month, with the biggest being a United Parcel Service Inc. order for eight freighters. Arlington-based Boeing also took orders for 13 more 737 Max planes, including two for American Airlines.

European rival Airbus recorded no new orders in August and canceled orders for 19 A350 jets by Qatar Airways because of a running dispute over the quality of the fuselage surfaces.

Boeing delivered 35 planes last month, an important source of cash, compared to 39 by Airbus.

Two of the Boeing deliveries were 787s  the model that Boeing couldn't deliver most of the last two years because of production flaws  to Germany's Lufthansa and Dutch national carrier KLM.

The official August tally did not include two 787s released to American Airlines because the planes need to undergo more customization work, a Boeing spokesman said.

U.S. regulators approved Boeing's changes to address production problems with the 787 in late July.

Boeing's deliveries included 27 Max jets last month, including eight to Southwest Airlines.

Cowen analyst Cai von Rumohr called the pace of deliveries weak," but said orders were strong for the usually slow August period.
Tony Moore, executive director of mental health clinic Birds of a Feather, talks while preparing lunch for residents at his group home April 10 in Kenosha. Moore says two large grocery stores in his neighborhood have closed since 2017, and in January, a small grocery there burned down  removing one more source of fresh meat and produce in an already deprived community.

When Tony Moore wants to make a quick grocery run, his options are limited.

Most of the foods that fill the shelves in his Kenosha neighborhood are laden with sugar and fat  chips, soda and other sweets. Moore calls it the kind of food you eat to just fill your stomach. Its the only food he can find at a gas station, after all.

In Moores neighborhood, two large grocery stores have closed since 2017, and in January, a small grocery there burned down  removing one more source of fresh meat and produce in an already deprived area.

Data from 2015 show that 10% of Wisconsin, or about 570,000 people, live in areas meeting the standards of a food desert, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Grocery stores typically operate on razor-thin margins, and changes in the market, labor supply or customer base can easily put them out of business  providing strong incentives not to build in underserved areas. In recent years, grant programs at the local and state level have supplied food deserts with subsidies in hopes of luring and retaining brick-and-mortar grocery stores.

Moore marks himself lucky compared to some of his neighbors  he owns a car and can drive to a supermarket in the area.

People who have to catch the bus really catch the fluss, because now you have to carry groceries, Moore said. How much groceries can you have that you can carry?

As the leader of a group home, Moore watches some of the communitys most vulnerable residents sustain themselves on junk food from nearby gas stations and fast food chains, where prices are higher than full-service grocery stores.

Youre talking about going to a grocery store (and) spending $10 on what if you did it in a local neighborhood, youre talking $25, Moore said.

More: Sherman Park Grocery wants to bring more than healthy food to the neighborhood it serves

More: Support for food insecurity rose during the pandemic, but Wisconsin families now left with patchwork of solutions to hunger

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Its more than just cost and convenience. According to the 2019 Milwaukee Fresh Food Access Report, distance from supermarkets correlates with higher rates of obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

You dont know youre in a food desert until someone who is educated enough tells you you deserve better, Moore said. You dont really even know the nutritional value of what you should have to help your mental health or your emotional health.

Food desert defined

The USDA uses a combination of income and access measurements to characterize food deserts. Census tracts where the poverty rate is 20% or where the median family income is 80% of the statewide average are considered low-income. Census tracts where at least 33% of the population lives more than 1 mile from a large grocery store in urban settings, or 10 miles in rural areas, meet the USDAs definition of low access.

High-poverty areas are more likely to be food deserts  regardless of whether it is a rural or urban area, according to a 2012 USDA study. Besides dense urban areas, regions with higher minority populations are more likely to be food deserts.

Under the low-bracket USDA measurement for food deserts, most of Milwaukee is considered to have low access to food  meaning a majority of residents live more than a 10-minute walk away from a store where fresh food is available.

Danielle Nabak is the healthy communities coordinator for the University of Wisconsin Extension Milwaukee Countys FoodWIse program. Like some other experts, she prefers the term food apartheid to food deserts because of histories including redlining, economic disinvestment and freeway expansions that isolated marginalized communities.

I think that really gets at more of the active disinvestment and the active oppression that occurred to create the conditions that were really talking about when we talk about a food desert, Nabak said.

Subsidy boosts food access

For almost eight years, from 2006 to 2014, Florence County had no grocery store at all.

Living on the border of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, residents of the county had to drive up to half an hour and cross the state line to buy groceries, according to Florence County Economic Development Director Wendy Gehlhoff.

We were having to drive anywhere from 15 to 30 miles, depending on what part of the county you lived in, to a grocery store, Gehlhoff said.

For Gehlhoff, the effort to close this grocery gap was a longtime goal, but it wasnt until she discovered the Community Development Investment Grant in 2013 that she found the answer to Florence Countys problem.

The $250,000 grant provided by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. was the last little bit needed to finish the project, Gehlhoff said.

The grant provides money for Wisconsin municipalities to fund projects that will create jobs and spur the local economy. The funds from the grant mainly went to replace older equipment and remodel the site that is now Pats Foods, an IGA/Festival Foods market in Florence, the county seat.

Low profits lead to food deserts

But grants may not be enough to entice big grocery chains to invest in certain communities. Grocers typically dont want to build in high-poverty or low-population areas where risk is certain.

Just because youre the only store in town doesnt guarantee you stay in business, Wisconsin Grocers Association President Brandon Scholz said. Grocery stores require regular customers  it doesnt get any more complicated than that.

Supermarkets, especially those that serve foods such as meat and vegetables that expire relatively quickly, can easily lose money while running on a narrow margin of profitability. Depending on the item, it can range between 1% and 3%.

To put it into the most basic language, you have to pay the bills, Scholz said.

According to Scholz, large grocery stores, which dominate the American market, are not sustainable in food deserts. And with the high upfront costs to open a new store, not making enough money means something has to get cut  whether it be employees, benefits or advertising budgets.

Everybody understands that they need a store, Scholz said. The question is, can you pay back the loan?

Small store closes grocery gap

In one Madison neighborhood, entrepreneur Mariam Maldonado is making it work. In 2019, Lunas Groceries opened its doors  and closed the grocery gap in the Allied Drive-Dunns Marsh neighborhood. The store was awarded a $157,000 grant from the city of Madison aimed at improving food retail access in the area, Maldonado said.

Mariam Maldonado, the owner of Lunas Groceries, used a grant from the city of Madison to help open her market in 2019 in a Madison neighborhood that had been lacking a supermarket for nearly a decade. She is pictured in the store on May 5.

For a long time, the neighborhood had no grocery store. When Lunas opened, the local Copps grocery store had been closed for nearly a decade. And a nearby massive intersection made walking to small stores outside the neighborhood dangerous.

Maldonado, a longtime resident of the neighborhood, had a vision for what is now Lunas Groceries. When the site of a former check-cashing outfit on Red Arrow Drive came up for sale, Maldonado snapped it up.

The store serves a community with multiple ethnic enclaves where over half of residents are Black or Hispanic, and customers can expect a Spanish-speaking worker to greet and assist them. Lunas is one of the few groceries in the city where you can buy Dominican longaniza, seasoned pork sausage, and Salvadoran, Mexican and Guatemalan cremas, which are similar to sour cream but tangier, staff member Yanci Almonte Vargas said.

We have folks who are just coming to the U.S., Almonte Vargas said. And its their first month here, first day, and they go into the store, and I might not have the same accent or dialect of their country, but they can still speak in their native tongue and they can feel heard  and they can get what theyre looking for.

Elena Villeda stocks shelves at Lunas Groceries in Madison on March 10.

Customer Christina Bojorquez appreciates the convenience of having a store nearby. Before Lunas, Bojorquez had to travel several miles to shop at Walmart or Woodmans.

And now its better for me because I can stop before I go home, Bojorquez said. Especially nowadays, you know that gas is more expensive, so I can walk.

The store fills a big gap for Allied Drive-Dunns Marsh residents without vehicles. The only bus that goes through the neighborhood has no stops near any major grocery store.

Yannette Figueroa Cole, the alderperson who represents the Allied Drive-Dunns Marsh area, said the city invested in the community for years, but it wasnt enough to provide the resilient neighborhood with access to food that it needed.

City resources are limited; thats where the community kicks in to fill up some gaps, Figueroa Cole said. Lunas Groceries is an example of what happens when communities work together.

Jacqueline Martinez and her son Alejandro Martinez shop at Lunas Groceries in Madison on March 10. The stores opening in 2019 provided fresh food to a neighborhood that had been lacking a supermarket for nearly a decade.

Bigger not always better

Based on its success in Allied Drive-Dunns Marsh, the city of Madison approached Lunas in 2020 to expand to South Park Street at a mixed-use development on the site of a former U.S. Army Reserve facility. The plan was for a 24,000-square-foot full-service grocery store, filling the looming grocery gap in South Madison as the nearby Pick N Saves lease is set to expire.

But last year, Maldonado pulled out, partly because of the financial struggles she foresaw.

Investing $10 million into a grocery store that will not be profitable for about seven to eight years, it was not a good investment, Maldonado said.

She also worried that such a project would detour her from her vision of expanding Lunas into a chain of three small stores across Madison in identified food deserts.

When I think about my legacy, and what I want to leave for my kids  I want to have a grocery store that puts the neighborhood that its in first, Maldonado said. And to have an inventory that is built to the input of that neighborhood, that's very important to me. Lunas being so big in the Park Street area, I would not be able to match that.

Even with local efforts like Lunas and grants attempting to fill the gaps, eradicating food deserts is not a simple feat. Nabak said improving food systems is regularly near the top of the list of Milwaukee resident concerns, along with crime, safety and housing.

She favors a multisector anti-poverty strategy that includes better transportation, improved food pantries and more grocery stores, ideally within walking distance.

Until we change some larger systems, Nabak said, we will probably always struggle with inequity in our food system.

The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Urban or rural, many in Wisconsin live in grocery food deserts
Photo: The Canadian Press A screen shows the price of Twitter stock at the New York Stock Exchange.

The former security chief at Twitter told Congress that the social media platform is plagued by weak cyber defenses that make it vulnerable to exploitation by teenagers, thieves and spies and put the privacy of its users at risk. Peiter Mudge Zatko, a respected cybersecurity expert, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to lay out his allegations Tuesday.

I am here today because Twitter leadership is misleading the public, lawmakers, regulators and even its own board of directors," Zatko said as he began his sworn testimony.

They dont know what data they have, where it lives and where it came from and so, unsurprisingly, they cant protect it, Zatko said. It doesnt matter who has keys if there are no locks."

Zatko said Twitter leadership ignored its engineers, in part because their executive incentives led them to prioritize profit over security.

His message echoed one brought to Congress against another social media giant last year, but unlike that Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, Zatko hasn't brought troves of internal documents to back up his claims.

Zatko was the head of security for the influential platform until he was fired early this year. He filed a whistleblower complaint in July with Congress, the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among his most serious accusations is that Twitter violated the terms of a 2011 FTC settlement by falsely claiming that it had put stronger measures in place to protect the security and privacy of its users.

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who heads the Judiciary Committee, said Zatko has detailed flaws that may pose a direct threat to Twitters hundreds of millions of users as well as to American democracy.

Twitter is an immensely powerful platform and cant afford gaping vulnerabilities, he said.

Unknown to Twitter users, theres far more personal information disclosed than they or sometimes even Twitter itself  realize, Zatko testified. He said basic systemic failures that were brought forward by company engineers were not addressed.

The FTC has been a little over its head, and far behind European counterparts, in policing the sort of privacy violations that have occurred at Twitter, Zatko said.

Zatko's claims could also affect Tesla billionaire Elon Musk's attempt to back out of his $44 billion deal to acquire the social platform. Musk claims that Twitter has long underreported spam bots on its platform and cites that as a reason to nix the deal he struck in April.

Many of Zatkos claims are uncorroborated and appear to have little documentary support. Twitter has called Zatkos description of events a false narrative ... riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacking important context.

Among the assertions from Zatko that drew attention from lawmakers Tuesday was that Twitter knowingly allowed the government of India to place its agents on the company payroll, where they had access to highly sensitive data on users. Twitters lack of ability to log how employees accessed user accounts made it hard for the company to detect when employees were abusing their access, Zatko said.

Zatko also accuses the company of deception in its handling of automated spam bots, or fake accounts. That allegation is at the core of billionaire tycoon Elon Musks attempt to back out of his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter. Musk and Twitter are locked in a bitter legal battle, with Twitter having sued Musk to force him to complete the deal. The Delaware judge overseeing the case ruled last week that Musk can include new evidence related to Zatko's allegations in the high-stakes trial, which is set to start Oct. 17.

Sen. Charles Grassley, the committee's ranking Republican, said Tuesday that Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal declined to testify at the hearing, citing the ongoing legal proceedings with Musk. But the hearing is more important that Twitters civil litigation in Delaware," Grassley said. Twitter declined to comment on Grassley's remarks.

In his complaint, Zatko accused Agrawal as well as other senior executives and board members of numerous violations, including making false and misleading statements to users and the FTC about the Twitter platforms security, privacy and integrity.

Zatko, 51, first gained prominence in the 1990s as a pioneer in the ethical hacking movement and later worked in senior positions at an elite Defense Department research unit and at Google. He joined Twitter in late 2020 at the urging of then-CEO Jack Dorsey.
The US Department of Justice will accept the appointment of one of the judges proposed by Donald Trump as a "special master" in the investigation of classified documents seized from the former president's Florida home last month, it said Monday.

Despite pushback from the department, federal judge Aileen Cannon agreed last week to grant Trump's request to name an independent reviewer for the case, assigned to look over the hundreds of classified documents taken from his Mar-a-Lago resort in an FBI raid August 8.

Trump is facing mounting legal pressure, with the Justice Department saying top-secret documents were "likely concealed" to obstruct an FBI probe into his potential mishandling of classified materials.

He has denied all wrongdoing, saying the raid was "one of the most egregious assaults on democracy in the history of our country."

On Friday, Trump's legal team and the Justice Department each submitted to Judge Cannon the names of two candidates for the role.

But in a court filing earlier Monday, Trump rejected both of the government's nominations.

The department said in its own court filing later Monday that it would agree to the appointment of Trump suggestion Judge Raymond Dearie, from the Eastern District of New York, in addition to its own nominees.

Justice officials had originally suggested retired federal judges Barbara Jones and Thomas Griffith, and said they would accept any of the three due to their "previous federal judicial experience and engagement in relevant areas of law."

The filing also noted the department "respectfully opposes the appointment of Paul Huck, Jr," the Trump team's second nominee, a federal judge from Florida, "who does not appear to have similar experience."

Trump's legal team did not include the reason for rejecting Jones and Griffith in its filing, saying "it is more respectful to the candidates from either party to withhold the bases for opposition from a public, and likely to be widely circulated, pleading."

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It is now up to Cannon to choose whether to name 78-year-old Dearie to the case.

Government attorneys previously opposed Trump's special master request all together, arguing that an independent screening for privileged material could harm national security, and was also unnecessary as a team had already completed a screening.

In addition to the documents probe, Trump faces investigations in New York into his business practices, as well as legal scrutiny over his efforts to overturn results of the 2020 election, and for the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

caw/leg
The United States should take on a greater role in the global semiconductor industry for the sake of its economy and security, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday.

Addressing students and researchers at Purdue University, home to one of America's top engineering schools, Blinken stressed the importance of "getting into that tech diplomacy, making sure that the United States is at the table when decisions are being made."

He added: "We need to be there, and not only do we need to be there, we need to be able to carry the debate."

The United States is leading an unprecedented effort to supercharge domestic semiconductor research and production, both to alleviate Covid-19 supply chain issues and shift away from reliance on Chinese technology.

The electronic components are essential for multiple global sectors, including the auto industry and smartphones.

The Chips and Science Act, which US President Joe Biden signed into law last month, includes around $52 billion to promote domestic production of the microchips.

"What we do here resonates around the world," Blinken said at Purdue, noting that the technology affects all sectors, including foreign policy and defense.

Despite being far from Silicon Valley, the stereotypical hub of US technological innovation, Purdue boasts a prestigious engineering school and has several laboratories specializing in semiconductor research.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo accompanied Blinken on a tour of several research facilities at the Midwestern institution.

"The Chips Act is an investment in America," she said, adding that the United States needs to go from "lab to fab," meaning fabrication.

The two senior officials had just returned from a visit on Monday to Mexico, where they invited the country to join the United States in its multibillion-dollar push to boost semiconductor manufacturing to compete with China.

Supply chain snarls due to Covid-19 have disrupted production in all sectors, including advanced technology, and also revealed the dependence of the United States and other countries on China for technological components.

Biden recently called semiconductor production a matter of national security.

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Valley Proteins Inc., a poultry rendering facility in Dorchester County, has reached a settlement in connection with violations of Marylands environmental laws and regulations.

A penalty of $540,000 and mandated upgrades to systems at the Valley Proteins facility, located in Linkwood, are among the terms of the settlement in a lawsuit filed in February by the Maryland Department of the Environment.

The lawsuit filed by the Office of Attorney General on behalf of the state's environmental department in the Circuit Court for Dorchester County alleged that Valley Proteins had repeatedly discharged ammonia, phosphorus and other pollutants into the Transquaking River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, for "well over a year."

The suit further contended the company's illegal discharge of pollutants was in violation of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit and state water pollution laws, and included failure to implement stormwater pollution plan best management practices, numerous unauthorized discharges of wastewater, sludge and solids, and violations of its air emissions permit.

Valley Proteins repeatedly discharged harmful pollutants  including nitrogen, phosphorus and fecal coliform  into a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, said Attorney General Brian Frosh. These violations of our environmental laws threatened fragile ecosystems and our treasured Chesapeake Bay.

"This settlement and hefty penalty sends a strong message to Valley Proteins and others that they are not free to pollute Marylands waters and air, he said.

The consent decree reached Monday requires Valley Proteins to:

Correct stormwater violations.

Conduct a groundwater investigation to determine if the wastewater lagoons are leaking pollutants and, if leaking, to stop the leak and remediate any contamination.

Upgrade its existing wastewater treatment system in order to address effluent violations.

Conduct stormwater sampling.

Investigate and implement improvements to address odor pollution beyond the facilitys property line.

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BACKGROUND: How did the Valley Proteins lawsuit come about?

RELATED: After history of wastewater violations, Dorchester's Valley Proteins resumes operations

"The safety of our employees, contractors, the community and environment where we operate is our top priority. Darling Ingredients acquired Valley Proteins in May 2022," Valley Proteins told Delmarva Now in a statement. "We have a comprehensive process, protocols and environmental expectations that are part of our day-to-day operations. These standards apply to all of our acquired assets."

The company also added it is committed "to continuing to work closely with the Maryland Department of Environment" to ensure the Linkwood facility, which uses poultry industry refuse to make food for other animals, is in full compliance with all relevant rules and regulations.

Valley Proteins is also required to pay the citizens groups their attorneys fees, reimburse past and future costs, and pay into the Transquaking River Watershed Fund, in furtherance of water quality improvements. That is due to Chesapeake Legal Alliance, on behalf of ShoreRivers and Dorchester Citizens for Planned Growth, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which intervened in the states lawsuit Feb. 11, 2022.

The company is also required to pay additional penalties if it fails to meet any deadline or schedule required by the consent decree, and pay past and future costs to the state for response costs.

When the Valley Proteins facilitys operations threatened the quality of our water and our air the Maryland Department of the Environment took an enforcement action to assign accountability and to deter future violations. We are pleased to now have a strong, enforceable agreement," said Horacio Tablada, Maryland secretary of the environment

Tablada added, with an agreement in place, the company can continue to serve the region's agricultural community while achieving environmental compliance. The state's environmental agency can now determine the "appropriate, complementary conditions" to be included in a final renewal discharge permit for the plant.

That permit is slated to be issued within the next 60 days.

Community groups and Valley Proteins

In spring 2021, ShoreRivers, Dorchester Citizens for Planned Growth and the Chesapeake Legal Alliance, along with co-plaintiff Chesapeake Bay Foundation, issued a notice of intent to sue under the Clean Water Act because for years the state had failed to address violations at Valley Proteins, failed to renew the 15-year-old discharge permit and failed to require corrective actions to modernize its wastewater treatment plant.

The enforcement action against Valley Proteins in February 2022 followed the release of drone footage by ShoreRivers documenting increased pollution violations and unauthorized discharges into the Transquaking River watershed.

It took a team of nonprofits, including the Chesapeake Legal Alliance, to finally force MDE into taking a strong position to protect water quality from one of the state's worst permit violators,'' said Matt Pluta, director of Riverkeeper Programs at ShoreRivers. We will remain vigilant in the coming months and years to see that the terms of the consent decree are followed and that any future discharge permit includes the necessary conditions for improving local water quality.

The Chesapeake Legal Alliance echoed sentiments by other co-plaintiffs and added the agreement was just the beginning in a long process of clean-up efforts.

Our clients sought to hold Valley Proteins accountable for illegal pollution discharges and violations of its permit, and we have done just that. This enforcement action initiated and led by local nonprofits is exactly the type of community involvement that is at the heart of the Clean Water Act," said Patrick DeArmey, attorney for the Chesapeake Legal Alliance.

'ZOMBIE' PERMITS: What to do about outdated or expired water pollution permits

MARYLAND: How well does the state keep tabs on environmental matters?

According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the consent decree also aims to address community complaints related to the Linkwood rendering plant ranging from excessive algal blooms in local waterways to foul smells emanating from the facility.

The foundation has noted such complaints by the public have come as a result of Valley Proteins primarily rendering chicken carcasses and feathers into pet food and other products at the plant.

Valley Proteins previous ownership failed to operate and maintain this rendering plant to the standards expected in the state, so we took action. The consent decree imposes strict measures coupled with enhanced Maryland Department of the Environment and citizen oversight to ensure the new owners end (pollution violations)," said Alan Girard, the foundation's Eastern Shore Director.

Girard added he hoped the decree would be a deterrent for other companies who continue to pollute Maryland waterways.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Valley Proteins in Dorchester to pay $540K penalty, upgrade plant
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/LVMPD

Disgraced Las Vegas politician Robert Telles was seen smiling in court on Tuesday as prosecutors officially charged him with lying in wait outside Jeff Germans home before he stabbed the investigative journalist at least seven times.

Telles, 45, has been charged with open murder with the use of a deadly weapon for the Sept. 2 killing of German outside of his Las Vegas home. In a criminal complaint filed in Clark County Monday, prosecutors alleged that Telles was willful, deliberate and premeditated as he targeted the 69-year-old. German had written several articles about Telles alleged misconduct as county public administrator, a post for which he had recently lost a bid for re-election.

The public official, who is still technically being paid for his role before his tenure is up in December, was seen standing at the doorway of a Clark County courtroom for his arraignment on Tuesday, smiling with bandages wrapped around his forearms. During the brief hearing, Telles lawyers asked for a continuancemeaning he will be back in court next Tuesday.

Telles is currently being held without bond in Clark County Jail and faces a sentence of life in prison. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson told reporters outside the courtroom that prosecutors plan to ask for a very high bail and that Telles poses a flight risk and danger to the community.

.@ClarkCountyNV elected official Robert Telles was scheduled to be arraigned on a murder charge this morning in the slaying of reporter Jeff German, but the hearing was postponed at his lawyers request. Telles appeared briefly in the doorway of the courtroom. pic.twitter.com/u9s1OfeGYV  Rio Lacanlale (@riolacanlale) September 13, 2022

Criminal defense attorney Ozzie Fumo, who was asked to help authorities coax Telles out of his home on Wednesday to surrender, told The Daily Beast that he went to go see Telles in jail on Saturday.

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He was still on suicide watch, Fumo said via text message on Monday. I only spent a few minutes with him. I confirmed with him that he gave Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department my name to contact me. I explained to him that I would be unable to represent him his case.

Telles defense attorney, Travis Shetler, could not be reached for comment.

While prosecutors are still sketching out a complete motive, Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Scow linked Germans reporting on Telles to the killing during a hearing last week.

The published articles regarding a public figure, the public administrators office, ruined [Telles] political career, likely his marriage, and this was him lashing out at the cause, Scow said.

Las Vegas Metro Police Department Captain Dori Koren added last week that Telles was upset about articles that were being written by German as an investigative journalist that exposed potential wrongdoing, and Telles had publicly expressed his issues with that reporting. And then ultimately Telles was also upsetfrom what we found out laterthat there was additional reporting that was pending, Koren said.

The sordid saga that sent shockwaves throughout Las Vegas and the journalistic community began around 11:18 a.m. on Sept. 2. The complaint states surveillance footage shows a suspect in a straw hat and reflecting shirt entering Germans pedestrian gate. Minutes later, Germans garage door opens and he is seen walking out.

German approached the pedestrian gate and was immediately attacked, an arrest report for Telles states. German fell to the ground and never got back up.

The report adds that the suspect stood up and calmly walked east, away from [Germans] residence. Authorities believes that Telles was wearing a disguise to conceal his identity and avoid implication in the murder.

How an Obscure Democrat Became the Scariest Man in Las Vegas

A medical examiner concluded that German sustained seven stab wounds and had defense marks on his arms and hands. The arrest report also notes that Telles DNA was found under the journalists fingernails.

One neighbor, Jay Sabs, previously told The Daily Beast that his home-security camera captured the man police identified as Telles pacing back and forth outside of his home around the time of the murder at the northwest corner of Bronze Circle and Wintergreen Drive. Sabs added that the footage showed a maroon Yukonwhich authorities eventually linked to Tellespassing his house. A man is also seen on the footage pacing for about 10 to 15 minutes.

The arrest report states that when cops spoke to Telles wife, she said that on the day of the incident, she couldnt get a hold of him on his cell phone.

Telles was questioned by police last Wednesday, voluntarily turning over clothing to investigators. Wolfson told reporters that after the conversation, investigators rushed a test on his DNA.

Telles was arrested that night after an hours-long standoff during which he barricaded himself in his home and police called Fumo to help coax their man to surrender. Telles sustained self-inflicted wounds during the incident and was briefly treated at a local hospital.

If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. You can also text or dial 988.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Associated Press

Attorneys for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz asked for the judge in his murder case to remove herself on Friday, two days after she scolded them when they abruptly rested their case after calling only a fraction of their expected witnesses. The Broward Public Defenders Office said in a motion that Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer held a longstanding animosity toward lead defense lawyer Melisa McNeill. The motion cited Florida's Judicial Code of Conduct that states a judge shall disqualify himself or herself if the judges impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to instances where the judge has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party or a partys lawyer.
By Harold Isaac

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Residents of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince sheltered at home on Tuesday as gun fire rung out, road blocks and burning tires were placed along city streets and protesters threw stones in an angry response to expected new fuel price hikes and crime.

The latest demonstrations come as inflation surged to its highest in a decade, chronic gang violence has left much of Haiti's territory beyond government reach, and outbreaks of bloody turf battles between rival gangs have left hundreds dead and thousands displaced.

The start of the school year has been postponed a month until October as parents struggle to make ends meet, and daily life for countless Haitians is punctuated by a seemingly endless search for fuel. Meanwhile, transit costs have soared, as have the prices for many food staples.

Haitians are now bracing for fuel price hikes, after a Sunday speech by Prime Minister Ariel Henry, amid a growing scarcity of gasoline and diesel that could force some businesses to shutter.

"Do we find it normal that the state tries to set up social programs yet is only able to mobilize 3 billion gourdes ($26.1 million) while we're spending more than 50 billion gourdes ($434.8 million) to subsidize fuel for those who can pay it at normal rates," Henry said.

"We will have to adjust fuel prices," he warned.

Videos circulating on social media on Tuesday underscore the dire situation. One shows a man attempting to ride a motorbike down a blockaded street as another man pelts him with rocks until he topples over. The man gets up off the ground limping and then faces his attacker, when the video cuts off.

Another video shows dozens of Haitians scattering in the street after the sound of gun blasts, then switches to scenes of people being attended to after suffering apparent gunshot wounds.

Both Henry and Haiti's national police chief Frantz Elbe have urged international partners to give support to the police in order to control the violence.

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"There are numerous reports of road blocks, burning tires, and rock throwing in multiple locations throughout the Metropolitan Port-au-Prince area. Please avoid all unnecessary travel and remain vigilant as the security situation is unpredictable," the U.S. Embassy in Haiti said in a security alert.

Haiti's fuel stocks have run low as fuel importers struggle to get paid for subsidies that keep fuel prices low on the island nation, and due to difficulties in obtaining dollars from the central bank, sources have told Reuters.

($1 = 115.0000 gourdes)

(Reporting by Harold Isaac in Port-au-Prince; Additional reporting by Sarah Morland in Mexico City; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
CHINA-RUSSIA-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping arrive to pose for a photograph during their meeting in Beijing, on Feb. 4, 2022. Credit - Alexei DruzhininSputnik / AFP via Getty Images

Its unlikely anything will top last time around. When Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin last met face-to-face during the Beijing Winter Olympics on Feb. 4, the Chinese and Russian leaders stunned the world by announcing a partnership without limits, before Putin ripped up the international order with Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine less than three weeks later.

On Thursday, the two strongmen are set to reunite on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)a nebulous China-led Eurasian political, economic, and security organizationsummit in Uzbekistan. It forms part of Xis first overseas trip since the COVID-19 pandemichell arrive straight from a visit to neighboring Kazakhstan on Wednesdayand policy wonks across the globe will be parsing the meeting for signs of bilateral strain or solidarity.

The meeting is going to be a strong political signal of Chinas support, says Marcin Kaczmarski, a lecturer in security studies at the University of Glasgow. But Im not sure whether it translates into any tangible results for Russia in financial terms.

China has backed Putins military adventurism in Ukrainerefusing to describe it as an invasion, echoing complaints about NATO expansionism that Moscow uses to justify its actions, and amplifying Russian propaganda. The footprint of Chinese companiesespecially technology firms and automakersin Russia has swelled as Western firms have exited en masse. In May, Russia leapfrogged Saudi Arabia to become Chinas top oil supplier, sending 8.42 million tons compared with 5.42 million in February.

However, Kaczmarski argues that these moves are organic responses to market forces and there has been no influx of state investment, loans, and manufacturing capacity to signal full-throated backing by Chinese policymakers. Russias faltering military campaign has likely surprised and irritated Chinese leaders, he says. Beijing has also been diligent not to send Russia weapons that could leave it vulnerable to secondary Western sanctions as its own economy reels from its increasingly untenable zero-COVID policy.

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Read More: The Rising Costs of Chinas Zero-COVID Policy

Aside from rhetoric and political backing, China has in fact been relatively measured in terms of material support for Russia since the Ukraine war, argues Kaczmarski. Paradoxically, India and Turkey are helping Russia much more than China in the ongoing conflict.

India has increased its Russian oil imports by around five times over the past year, while Turkey has doubled its Russian oil imports over the same time period. Whats more, India is a key U.S. strategic and military partner, and Turkey is a NATO member and E.U. aspirant.

The SCO meetingwhich will include nearly all former Soviet states, as well as both India and U.S. ally Pakistanspotlights the immense difficulty the West faces in truly ostracizing Russia, in part due to ambivalent attitudes among poorer countries of the Global South. And while Putins July visit to Iran and weapons purchases from North Korea underscore Russias newfound pariah status, China still remains key to global supply chains and almost impossible to shut out.

Still, given Chinas economic woes, its likely that Xi is wary of the potential turbulence that would come with grandstanding his relationship with Putin. Few analysts expect the two leaders to reaffirm their no limits partnership in Uzbekistan, not least since events over the last six months unequivocally demonstrate there are indeed distinct limits to how far Beijing is willing to back Moscow. Already, Chinas Ambassador to the U.S., Qin Gang, has walked back the no limits rhetoric, saying that in truth the bottom line is the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter, the international law and basic norms governing international relations. Sovereignty comes first, in other words.

At the same time, Xi will be hoping that meeting Putin will burnish his domestic standing as a leader who stands up to perceived Western bullying as he prepares to assume a third leadership term next month, shredding the time-honored protocol that Chinese leaders only serve two. The 69-year-old Communist Party prince-ling may seek to augment his nationalist credentials as relations with the West deteriorate over trade, technology, human rights, and other issues.

Some analysts suggest that Xi will use his meeting with Putin to warn the West to keep its hands off Chinas own red linesmost crucially the status of Taiwan. House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit to the self-ruling islandover which Beijing claims sovereigntyin early August was met with unprecedented military drills, the severing of commercial ties, and a diplomatic freeze with Washington. On Sept. 2, the U.S. approved $1.1 billion of arms sales to Taiwan, including 60 anti-ship missiles, 100 air-to-air missiles, and contractor support for a surveillance radar program.

Xi may be intending to tell the West: if you insist on supporting my adversary, why shouldnt I do the same? The most important thing China wants to signal [in Uzbekistan] is that the U.S. and Europe should not go too far to support Taiwan independence, says Cheng Li, an expert on Chinese elite politics at the Brookings Institution. If thats the case, China will show even more support for Russia.
By Andrew Osborn

LONDON (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to publicly comment on a lightning rout of his forces in north-eastern Ukraine, but is under pressure from nationalists at home to regain the initiative.

He has few quick fix options, if Western intelligence and open source analysis is accurate, and most of the potential steps he could take come with domestic and geopolitical risks.

Since coming to power in 1999, Islamist militants in Chechnya and the wider North Caucasus region are among the toughest armed foes Putin has faced. In that instance, he chose to escalate with more force.

These are some of his main options in Ukraine:

STABILISE, REGROUP, ATTACK

Russian and Western military analysts agree that  from Moscow's point of view  Russian forces need to urgently stabilise the frontline, halt Ukraine's advance, regroup and, if they can, launch their own counter offensive. There are however doubts in the West about whether Russia has the ground forces or sufficient equipment, given how many casualties it has taken and how much hardware has been abandoned or destroyed during what Russia calls its "special military operation" to destroy the Ukrainian army.

"There is no manpower," Konrad Muzyka, director of Poland's Rochan Consulting, said after Russia's setback in the north-east.

"Volunteer battalions are under strength, and the recruitment campaign is not delivering what was expected. And I think it will only get worse as fewer men will now want to join. If Moscow wants to add men, it needs to conduct a mobilisation."

Russian efforts to increase the number of troops it can deploy include the formation of a new 3rd Army Corps, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov marshalling new forces, and Putin last month signing a decree to increase the size of Russia's armed forces.

Putin will need to decide whether to agree to demands from nationalist critics that he sack or reshuffle the military's top brass, including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, a close ally. Putin has traditionally not given in to immediate pressure to fire subordinates, but has sometimes parted company with them at a later date.

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MOBILISATION

Mobilising Russia's reserves, who number around 2 million men with military service within the past five years, is doable but it takes times to train and deploy people.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday there was no discussion of a nationwide mobilisation "at the moment."

Such a move would be popular with nationalists, but less so with some Russian men in urban centres who, anecdotal evidence suggests, are less keen on joining the fight.

It would mean recalibrating official messaging on Ukraine and moving away from describing it as "a special military operation" with limited goals to an open-ended war.

That in turn would force the authorities to abandon their policy of trying to ensure that the lives of most Russians go on as they did before Feb. 24 when Putin invaded Ukraine.

Putting Russia on a full wartime footing would come with domestic political risks too, notably the risk of a public backlash against a forced draft.

It would also constitute an admission that Russia is engaged in a full-scale war against a fellow Slav country - and that the war is going badly for Moscow.

Andrey Kortunov, head of RIAC, a think tank close to the Russian foreign ministry, has said he believes the authorities are reluctant on mobilisation.

"In big cities many people do not want to go and fight and mobilisation is not likely to be popular," said Kortunov.

"Secondly I think it is arguably in Putin's interests to present the whole thing as a limited operation. The state would like to preserve as much as possible as it was before without making any radical changes."

Tony Brenton, a former British ambassador to Russia, has said it would take months before a mobilisation would have any effect on Russia's fighting strength in any case.

BET ON 'GENERAL WINTER'

Two Russian sources familiar with Kremlin thinking told Reuters last month that Putin is hoping that sky-rocketing energy prices and possible shortages this winter will persuade Europe to strong arm Ukraine into a truce  on Russia's terms.

Some European diplomats believe that Ukraine's recent battlefield success has undermined the urge of some Europeans to push Kyiv to make concessions however, while countries like Germany appear to have grown tougher on Moscow in recent weeks and more determined to ride out winter energy problems.

The European Union has banned Russian coal and approved a partial ban on Russian crude oil imports. Russia in turn has sharply cut gas exports to Europe and made clear it could ban all energy exports, a lever Putin has yet to pull.

EXPAND MISSILE TARGETING

After its setback in north-east Ukraine, Russia struck Ukrainian power infrastructure with missiles. That caused temporary blackouts in the Kharkiv and adjacent Poltava and Sumy regions. Water supplies and mobile networks were also affected.

The move was cheered by some Russian nationalists who would like to see Moscow use cruise missiles to cripple Ukrainian infrastructure on a more permanent basis, a move certain to attract international condemnation.

The same nationalists have also long called for Moscow to strike what they call "decision-making" centres in Kyiv and elsewhere, something that it is unlikely could be achieved without significant collateral damage.

END OR DOWNGRADE GRAIN DEAL

Putin has complained that a U.N. and Turkey-brokered deal that allows Ukraine to export grain and other foodstuffs via the Black Sea is unfair to poorer countries and Russia.

Putin is due to holds talks this week with Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan to discuss revising the deal, which provides Ukraine with much needed budget revenues. If Putin wants to immediately hurt Ukraine he could suspend or cancel the pact or refuse to renew it when it expires in November. The West and poorer countries in Africa and the Middle East would accuse him of worsening global food shortages; he would blame Ukraine.

PEACE DEAL

The Kremlin says it will dictate to Kyiv the terms of any peace deal when the time comes, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he will use force to liberate his country.

Zelenskiy has said that includes Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Moscow has repeatedly said that Crimea's status is settled forever.

Conceding captured territory in eastern Ukraine in the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic or Luhansk People's Republic also looks politically impossible for Moscow as it has formally recognised them.

Fully "liberating" the two self-proclaimed statelets from Ukrainian forces was one of the main reasons given for the "special military operation" in the first place.

Handing back captured territory in southern Ukraine where Russia partially controls three regions looks like a hard domestic sell too.

The southern Kherson region is directly north of annexed Crimea and the location of a canal which supplies the Black Sea peninsula with most of its water.

Along with the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region, Kherson also gives Russia a land corridor through which it can supply Crimea, something Moscow has touted as a major prize.

GO NUCLEAR

Russian government officials have dismissed Western suggestions that Moscow would use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, but it remains a worry for some in the West.

Apart from inflicting mass casualties, such a move could start a dangerous escalatory spiral and formally draw Western countries into a direct war with Russia.

Russia's nuclear doctrine allows for the use of nuclear weapons if they - or other types of weapons of mass destruction - are used against it, or if the Russian state faces an existential threat from conventional weapons.

Putin, in a quasi-autobiography in 2000, recalled cornering a rat in a corner with a stick when growing up in a dilapidated apartment building in then Leningrad and being surprised when the cornered animal threw itself at him and turned the tables.

Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, has warned that a cornered Putin could go nuclear if he faced a humiliating defeat with no face-saving off-ramp.

"If the choice for Russia is fighting a losing war, and losing badly and Putin falling, or some kind of nuclear demonstration, I wouldn't bet that they wouldn't go for the nuclear demonstration," said Brenton.

Retired U.S. general Ben Hodges, former commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe, agrees it's a risk but has said he thinks it unlikely.

"There is no real battlefield advantage to be gained, it would be impossible for (the) U.S. to stay out/not respond, and I don't think Putin or his closest advisers are suicidal," said Hodges.

(Editing by William Maclean)
Associated Press

Stacey Abrams, Georgia Democrats' nominee for governor, is launching an intensive effort to get out the vote by urging potential supporters to cast in-person ballots the first week of early voting as she tries to navigate the states new election laws. The strategy, outlined to The Associated Press by Abrams top aides, is a shift from 2018, when she spent generously in her first gubernatorial bid to encourage voters to use mail ballots. It also moves away from Democrats' pandemic-era emphasis on mail voting, a push that delivered Georgias electoral votes to President Joe Biden and helped Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff win concurrent U.S. Senate runoffs to give Democrats control of Capitol Hill. Republicans, including Abrams opponent, Gov. Brian Kemp, answered in 2021 with sweeping election changes that, among other provisions, dramatically curtailed drop boxes for mail ballots, added wrinkles to mail ballot applications and ballot return forms, and made it easier to challenge an individual voters eligibility.
Successful counter-offensive have bolstered the case for NATO countries and partners to provide Kyiv with lethal aid

The senior U.S. defence official said Washington and its allies were discussing Ukraines longer term needs, such as air defences, and whether it might be appropriate to give Kyiv fighter aircraft in the medium to longer term.

Read also: Slovakia considers transferring its MiG-29 jets to Ukraine

To date, the United States and its allies have declined to do so.

At the same time, some western officials have been emboldened by Ukraines progress, saying that recent advances have bolstered the case for NATO countries and partners to provide it with lethal aid.

Read also: What Ukraine needs to win the war

According to the FT, Washington is also expected to announce another weapons package in the coming days.

U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said on Aug. 9 the United States does not yet intend to include F-16 fighter jets in aid packages to Ukraine, but does not rule out their transfer in the future.

The United States stated the process of transferring fighter jets would take years, so it would be easier to upgrade the available Ukrainian planes.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Photo: The Canadian Press B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix pauses while speaking during an announcement in Burnaby, B.C., on May 30, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Health Minister Adrian Dix says British Columbia has been in a health-care crisis since at least the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, while acknowledging there's urgent need for change.

Dix spoke in Whistler today at the Union of B.C. Municipalities, an annual meeting of municipal politicians, during a plenary on health care.

He says the pandemic has seen primary care transition to a disproportionately digital system, creating challenges alongside crises in paramedic services, nursing staffing levels and other areas.

Dix says the number of people without a family doctor has grown from about 340,000 in 2003 to 908,000 in 2017 and is expected to be higher this year.

He says the B.C. government is working to improve the compensation model for doctors, transition to team-based models of care and increase recruitment and retention practices.

Dix says 38,000 new staff have been added to the health system in B.C. since he became health minister in 2017 and says he knows that's not enough.

"You know what everyone in this room is saying to themselves right now? Not enough," Dix says.

"We need to transform the health-care system."
New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Delaware will host the final multistate primary elections of the 2022 midterm season Tuesday, with contests to select candidates for governor, U.S. Senate and the U.S. House.

Because of their late primaries, the winners of Tuesdays races will have a mere eight weeks to win over voters ahead of the Nov. 8 general election. Delawares primary will feature just one contested statewide race  the Democratic primary for auditor.

As in earlier contests in other states, former President Donald Trumps shadow looms large over some key races to be decided Tuesday, particularly in New Hampshire.

What to watch:

SUNUNU SEEKS A FOURTH TERM AS NEW HAMPSHIRE GOVERNOR

Until late last year, New Hampshires Republican Gov. Chris Sununu was widely expected to run for the U.S. Senate, taking on Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan. Instead, he opted to seek a fourth two-year term as governor, dealing a major blow to Republicans who had hoped he could help them retake control of the Senate.

Although he faced intense pressure to run for the Senate, Sununu insists he can have a bigger and more direct impact as governor than as a senator. And despite efforts by Trumps former campaign manager to recruit a challenger, none of the other five Republicans on the ballot Tuesday poses a serious threat.

Democratic state Sen. Tom Sherman is running unopposed for his partys nomination for governor.

REPUBLICANS SCRAMBLE FOR U.S. SENATE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

With Sununu out of the running, a crowd of 11 candidates stepped forward to seek the GOP Senate nomination, including state Senate President Chuck Morse, former Londonderry town manager Kevin Smith and cryptocurrency entrepreneur Bruce Fenton. But retired Army Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc, who lost the GOP primary for New Hampshires other Senate seat in 2020, quickly emerged as the front-runner via dogged grassroots campaigning to compensate for his lack of cash.

That has made establishment Republicans nervous, with Sununu calling Bolduc not a serious candidate and a conspiracy theorist. Sununu issued a last-minute endorsement for Morse.

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Democratic groups, meanwhile, have put up ads promoting Bolduc, hoping hell be an easy opponent for Hassan in November.

Hassan, seeking a second term in the battleground state, faces two virtually unknown challengers on the Democratic side. Although Democrats hold all four of New Hampshires congressional seats, Republicans control the state Legislature, and Hassans 2016 win was a narrow one.

GOP EYES 2 CONGRESSIONAL SEATS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

Many expected major changes in New Hampshires two congressional districts thanks to the once-a-decade redistricting process, but that didnt happen. Earlier this year, the Republican-controlled Legislature redrew the states two districts to give the GOP an advantage in the 1st District. But Sununu vetoed the plans, and the maps were updated by the courts instead with only minor changes.

Still, Republicans are bullish about their chances in New Hampshire and are eagerly eyeing both Democratic-held seats as potential pickups in November.

New Hampshires 1st District flipped five times in seven elections before Democrat Chris Pappas won his first term in 2018. He faces no primary opponent this year, while more than 10 Republicans are competing for a chance to challenge him.

The field includes a number of candidates with ties to Trump: Matt Mowers, the districts 2020 Republican nominee and a former Trump State Department adviser; Karoline Leavitt, a former assistant press secretary in the Trump White House; and former TV broadcaster Gail Huff Brown, who is married to Scott Brown, a former U.S. senator from Massachusetts and the Trump administration ambassador to New Zealand. While Trump hasnt endorsed in the race, the candidates havent been shy about emphasizing their connections to him.

In the second district, Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster faces no primary challenge as she seeks a sixth term. Seven Republicans are vying for their partys nomination to challenge her, including pro-Trump candidate Bob Burns, a former county treasurer who runs a pharmaceutical safety company; the more moderate George Hansel, mayor of Keene; and Lily Tang Williams, who grew up in China and is a former libertarian U.S. Senate candidate in Colorado.

TOUGH DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR RHODE ISLAND GOVERNOR

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee is trying to fend off four Democratic challengers as he seeks his first full term in office. McKee, the former lieutenant governor, became governor a year and a half ago when then-Gov. Gina Raimondo was tapped to be the U.S. commerce secretary in the Biden administration.

McKee is expected to be in a close contest against Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea. Both were first elected to statewide office in 2014 and maintain a base of support and name recognition among voters.

Also running in the Democratic primary: Helena Foulkes, a former CVS Health executive who has proved to be an adept fundraiser and is spending heavily on the race in her first bid for public office; former Rhode Island secretary of state and progressive candidate Matt Brown; and community activist Dr. Luis Daniel Munoz.

McKee is hoping his stewardship during the COVID-19 pandemic  and his 94-year-old mother  will earn him the Democratic nomination.

Willa McKee is a star of her sons first television ad, titled motha because thats how she pronounces mother. The two are playing cards as the governor talks about helping the economy, eliminating the states car tax, creating affordable housing and passing gun safety laws to keep families safe.

Not bad for a year and a half, the governor says.

He laughs as his mother replies, Not bad for a governor that lives with his motha.

A RHODE ISLAND CONGRESSIONAL SEAT RIPE FOR FLIPPING?

The 2nd Congressional District seat has been held by Democrats for more than three decades in a state traditionally dominated by the party. National Republican leaders think now is their best chance to flip it.

U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin, who has represented the district since 2001, announced his retirement in January. The states Democratic treasurer, Seth Magaziner, had been running for governor but switched races after Langevins announcement to try to keep the seat in Democratic control.

Magaziner, who is considered the front-runner and has been endorsed by Langevin, faces a crowded Democratic field, including Joy Fox, a former top aide to Langevin; former Biden administration official Sarah Morgenthau; Omar Bah, executive director of The Refugee Dream Center in Providence; and former state lawmakers David Segal and Spencer Dickinson.

A popular former Rhode Island mayor, Allan Fung, is running unopposed for the Republican nomination after two rivals dropped out of the race. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy visited Rhode Island in August to raise money for Fung.

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The final piece of the 2022 Senate puzzle is about to be set.

Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassans reelection campaign could be one of Novembers most competitive races  but that depends on who wins Tuesdays Republican primary in New Hampshire, the last nominating contest left in the battle to swing the 50-50 Senate.

The GOPs establishment wing has lined up behind state Senate President Chuck Morse, who is mounting a late charge for the nomination against longtime polling leader Don Bolduc. But a leading Democratic super PAC has been attacking Morse on the airwaves, the latest example of the partys involvement in GOP primaries.

New Hampshire Republicans are also picking two candidates to challenge each of the states vulnerable Democratic House incumbents. And just down I-95, Democrats in Rhode Island will decide whether to keep their appointed governor, Dan McKee, who took over in Providence after Gina Raimondo resigned to become President Joe Bidens commerce secretary.

Not counting Louisiana, which runs its jungle primaries on Novembers Election Day, Tuesday marks the final primaries of 2022. Heres what to watch for:

An expensive Senate battle

The stakes: The GOP primary for Senate in New Hampshire had been sleepy  until the calendar turned to September.

On Sept. 1, a newly created super PAC, White Mountain PAC, began a two-week, nearly $5 million ad blitz to boost Morse. The spots called Morse one tough conservative and also slammed Bolduc, a retired Army brigadier general and Morses top competitor, for losing his last Senate primary and having crazy ideas.

White Mountain PAC wont have to reveal the source of its funding until next month. But elevating the more mainstream Morse over Bolduc, who has ties to right-wing figures in the GOP, is a priority for Republicans seeking to defeat Hassan. The incumbent is one of four Senate Democrats up for reelection this year in states Biden carried by fewer than 10 percentage points in 2020. Morse also picked up an election-eve endorsement from the states popular Republican governor, Chris Sununu.



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But like in other states, Democrats were not content to let the Republican primary play out on its own. Two days after White Mountain PAC hit the airwaves, Senate Majority PAC, Democrats top Senate super PAC, launched a $3.2 million buy.

The Democratic ad is a negative spot hitting Morse, and its a two-fer. The spot doesnt explicitly promote the more extreme Bolduc, as the party has done  controversially  in other races. But the negative hits on Morse are ones that could hurt him in a general election as well as among more Donald Trump-aligned voters in the primary: Mitch McConnells Washington establishment is going all-in for Chuck Morse, a narrator says in the ad.

One town to watch: Laconia. In Bolducs 2020 GOP primary defeat to Corky Messner  who ran an uninspired campaign against Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Bolduc got just a tick under 70 percent of the vote in his hometown.

Morse will likely clean up in the Merrimack Valley, home to his state Senate district.

A first-in-the-nation prequel

The stakes: Nothing brings out ambitious politicians like a primary in an early presidential nominating state.

And thats why the race for the GOP nomination in New Hampshires 1st District has seen so much involvement from national figures.

Among those backing 2020 nominee Matt Mowers bid for a rematch with Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas are: former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Trump cabinet official Ric Grenell and the top two House Republicans. In the camp of 25-year-old challenger Karoline Leavitt, the other most prominent candidate in a crowded field, are Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).



Trump himself has taken a pass on the race, as he has in most contested congressional primaries  seeing little need to alienate segments of the party or, perish the thought, suffer an embarrassing defeat.

Pappas is vulnerable: He holds a district Biden carried by 6 points, and New Hampshire is notoriously swingy.

National Republicans have put their thumb on the scale for Mowers: Congressional Leadership Fund, the top House GOP super PAC, which has ties to Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, has run positive spots touting the repeat challenger, while the moderate Republican Main Street Partnerships political arm has attacked Leavitt as a woke Gen-Zer who records everything on social media.

One town to watch: Manchester. The districts largest city accounted for more than 1-in-10 of the total ballots cast in the 2020 primary, which Mowers won.

Second (District) to none

The stakes: The GOP contest for New Hampshires 2nd District could determine whether Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster cruises to reelection or has to wage what could be her hardest race yet.

Two very different candidates are vying for a chance to take her on. The frontrunner is Bob Burns, a longtime GOP activist who strongly opposes abortion rights, advocates for national reciprocity for conceal carry permits and has tied himself closely to Trump. Keene Mayor George Hansel, Burns' top competitor, strikes a far different profile. He supports abortion rights, is an advocate for fighting climate change and frequently picks up crossover voters as the leader of a Democratic-leaning city.

House Democrats are so eager to face Burns that a Democratic super PAC is airing some $600,000 in TV ads to tout his conservative credentials to GOP voters. Hansel, meanwhile, is the beneficiary of spending from a newly created GOP PAC that has boosted more moderate candidates in primaries in New York and Florida. That group, American Liberty Action PAC, doesn't have to reveal its donors until next week.

This district is a bit of a reach for Republicans  Trump lost it by 9 points in 2020  but many GOP operatives believe that Kuster is a more vulnerable incumbent that Pappas. If Hansel can eke out a win over Burns, expect both of the state's congressional seats to host highly competitive matchups.

A town to watch: Nashua. New Hampshires second-largest city provides about 10 percent of the GOP primary vote.

Rocky Rhode for incumbent governors

The stakes: Raimondos departure last year to join the Biden administration gave McKee the veneer of incumbency, but it didnt come close to clearing the field.

Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea and businesswoman Helena Foulkes are locked in a tight, three-way race with McKee that has split Democrats in Rhode Island and across the country. Nancy Pelosi was in Providence on Sunday to campaign for Foulkes, the daughter of the House speakers longtime friend, Martha Dodd Buonanno.

If McKee falls, hell be the first (and almost certainly the only) incumbent governor to lose renomination this year. Of the 28 incumbents seeking reelection, 26 have won their primaries, with McKee and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu up on Tuesday.



But if McKee wins, it will mark the first midterm since 2010 that all the gubernatorial incumbents who sought renomination prevailed. In each of 2014 and 2018, one governor was ousted in the primary.

No matter which candidate wins the primary, Democrats are projected to hold onto the governorship. POLITICOs Election Forecast rates the race as Likely Democratic.

One city to watch: Providence. The state capital accounts for roughly 20 percent of the Democratic primary vote. None of the three candidates can claim a natural base there: McKee is the former mayor of Cumberland, while Gorbea is from North Kingstown and Foulkes lives in Narragansett.

An open House seat

The stakes: Rhode Island got lucky last year. Long predicted to lose one of its two House seats in the decennial reapportionment, the state surprisingly kept both, and Democratic Rep. Jim Langevins decision to retire means theres an open seat up for grabs this fall.

The Democratic primary favorite is state Treasurer Seth Magaziner, whom Langevin has endorsed to succeed him. But also running is Sarah Morgenthau, who is seeking to become the states first female Democratic member of Congress.

The Democratic nominee will face Republican Allan Fung, who is unopposed in the GOP primary. Fung, the former Cranston mayor who lost two gubernatorial races to Raimondo, is hoping a step down to a House seat will bring better luck.

Republicans have touted Fung as a strong recruit  including a visit from McCarthy, the House GOP leader, on the campaign trail  but the race has notably not shown up as a top target for GOP outside group advertising. That suggests that Fung will be a decided underdog unless the political environment improves for Republicans before Election Day.

A town to watch: Cranston. Rhode Islands second-largest city is Fungs home base, but it votes reliably Democratic at the federal level.
NEW YORK --News Direct-- WaterAid

Midwife Florence Anyoka holds baby Nathanial at the Community Health Centre, Upper East Region, Ghana_WaterAid_Eliza Powell

NEW YORK, September 13, 2022 /3BL Media/ - Today WaterAid announced the launch of a one-year program to advocate and inform policy change for improved access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene services (WASH) in healthcare facilities in Africa through a grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

The $1.49 million grant focuses on Ethiopia, Ghana and Uganda and addresses challenges preventing frontline healthcare workers, patients and surrounding communities from accessing clean water, handwashing facilities and decent toilets that lead to unsafe working conditions, increased disease spread and greater health risk for mothers and newborns. The result will be strengthened healthcare systems and accelerated, reliable access to safer water that is affordable, inclusive and sustainable.

Key activities include:

Building evidence of the links between clean water, sanitation and hygiene and their impact on healthcare facilities that will inform policy decisions at the local, regional and national levels.

Mobilizing and building the capacity of civil society champions to advocate for clean water, sanitation and hygiene access, including womens right groups, healthcare coalitions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local community leaders.

Training and supporting local health officials and government leaders to collect and monitor data, budget, and develop and implement sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene plans.

Engaging with US and global policymakers, donors and healthcare stakeholders to build awareness and support for sustainable clean water, sanitation and hygiene access.

We know that maintaining access to clean water in healthcare facilities requires an individualized approach, and that advocacy work connecting community input with decision makers at every level is essential, said Peter Laugharn, president and CEO of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. This program is an important step forward for our impactful safe water work in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Uganda, creating solutions that will sustain quality services for one million people in low-income households, health facilities, and schools in sub-Saharan Africa by 2025.

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Healthcare facilities in many African countries still suffer from a lack of clean water, sanitation and hygiene, endangering patients and frontline workers as well as the overall health and well-being of their local communities. In Ethiopia, only 34% of healthcare facilities have a clean water source on-site, and only 61% have adequate sanitation facilities. And in Uganda, 15% of patients develop one or more infections during their hospital stays due to inadequate clean water and hygiene conditions.

Since 2019, the response to COVID-19 and preparation for the next global pandemic has elevated the importance of clean water in healthcare facilities worldwide, but it has not translated into the financial and political will needed to realize national and local change.

The most sustainable way to provide clean water, sanitation and hygiene to essential healthcare workers and the communities they serve is to engage directly with policy makers at all levels of government, said Kelly Parsons, CEO of WaterAid America. Were looking forward to continuing our relationship with the Hilton Foundation, uniting decision makers from the US and Africa and solving the water crisis together.

This grant builds on the success and lessons-learned from previous multi-year partnerships between WaterAid and the Hilton Foundation, including delivering clean water, sanitation and hygiene to healthcare facilities in Mali that improve quality of care for mothers and newborns. It is a foundational project delivering on the long-term vision of WaterAids work by linking the experience of frontline healthcare workers, WaterAids technical expertise, and the leadership of local, regional and national officials and organizations.

###

Contact:Jeff Greene, Communications and Engagement Officer, jgreene@wateraidamerica.org

About WaterAidWaterAid is an international nonprofit working to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene a reality for everyone, everywhere within a generation. WaterAid works in more than 30 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalized people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 28 million people with clean water, 28 million people with decent toilets and 26 million people with good hygiene. wateraid.org/us

About the Conrad N. Hilton FoundationInternational hotelier Conrad N. Hilton established the grantmaking foundation that bears his name in 1944 to help people living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage worldwide. Today, the work continues, concentrating on efforts to ensure healthy early childhood development and sustainable livelihoods for youth, support young people transitioning out of foster care, improve access to housing and support services for people experiencing homelessness, identify solutions to safe water access, and lift the work of Catholic sisters. Additionally, following selection by an independent, international jury, the Foundation annually awards the $2.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize to an organization doing extraordinary work to reduce human suffering. The Foundation is one of the worlds largest, with approximately $8.5 billion in assets. It has awarded grants to date totaling more than $2.4 billion, $339 million worldwide in 2021. Please visit www.hiltonfoundation.org for more information.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from WaterAid on 3blmedia.com

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/wateraid-launches-advocacy-program-to-deliver-sustainable-water-sanitation-and-hygiene-services-to-african-healthcare-facilities-128397162
West Virginias legislature approved a sweeping abortion ban on Tuesday, only allowing the procedure in cases of medical emergencies, rape and incest.

The bill, known as HB 302, will now head to the desk of Gov. Jim Justice (R), who called a special session of the legislature in July to clarify and modernize the states abortion laws in the aftermath of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

The legislation, which passed in the state Senate 22-7 and passed in the state House 77-17 Tuesday, will go into effect 90 days after being signed.

The legislation would ban abortion entirely unless a patient who is pregnant was a victim of rape or incest, informed a law enforcement agency and receives the procedure before 8 weeks into the pregnancy. Minors who are victims of rape or incest would have until 14 weeks of pregnancy to get an abortion, if they report it to law enforcement and receive medical treatment from a licensed professional or hospital.

The bill would also allow abortions for medical emergencies and if the fetus is not medically viable.

It also would permit treatment of ectopic pregnancies, when a fertilized egg attaches somewhere other than the uterine lining, which prevents the pregnancy from being successful. Ectopic pregnancies can be dangerous if not treated.

West Virginia previously missed an opportunity to pass a ban in late July when members of the Senate and House of Delegates could not agree on Senate-passed amendments, one of which removed criminal penalties for doctors who violate the law, The Associated Press reported.

The final text of the bill ultimately removed criminal penalties for medical providers, though they could still lose their license. Anyone other than a licensed professional, including nurses and physician assistants, who perform an abortion could face years in prison.

West Virginia is the second state to pass an abortion ban following the Supreme Courts ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) signed a ban into law last month, which will go into effect Thursday. Other states had trigger bans in place prior to the ruling.

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A judge had blocked West Virginias 150-year-old abortion ban in a preliminary injunction in July, but lawmakers were seeking to supersede that in passing this law.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a nonprofit working to restrict abortion access, praised the law in a release, saying that it protects unborn children from the earliest stages of life and throughout pregnancy.

HB 302 is a strong pro-life bill that will protect babies and ensure mothers can get the care they need in the heartbreaking situation of an ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage or medical emergency  just like every other state with pro-life protections in place, Caitlin Connors, the southern regional director for the organization, said in the release.

Planned Parenthood, which provides reproductive health care, including abortion services, slammed the legislation in a release, saying studies show those who are denied access to an abortion experience serious physical and economic consequences.

This cruel ban insults West Virginia doctors, endangering their patients lives while subjecting them to appalling government surveillance, and threatens to put other medical providers in prison simply for providing health care, said Alisa Clements, the director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The White House on Tuesday characterized advances by Ukrainian forces against Russia as a shift in momentum but cautioned that the ongoing war in Ukraine remains unpredictable.

I think what youre seeing is certainly a shift in momentum by the Ukrainian armed forces, John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters at a briefing.

Counteroffensives by Ukraine in the northern and southern parts of the country have pushed back invading Russian forces, especially in the north.

Kirby acknowledged the Ukrainians had successfully forced Russians to reposition forces and withdraw from certain parts of the country, but he was careful not to categorize it as a sign that Ukraine had fully turned the tide roughly six months into the invasion.

These are some dramatic events were watching, but its war. And war is unpredictable, Kirby said, adding that he would leave it to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to say if he felt it marked a turning point.

Zelensky on Monday said his forces had recaptured 6,000 square kilometers of land in the east and south of Ukraine since the start of September. Included in the cities reclaimed was Izyum, considered key in the fight.

The loss of Izyum marks Russias worst military defeat since March, when its troops were unable to take the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and were forced back.

The United States and allies have imposed sanctions on Russias economy and leaders in Moscow in the months since Russia invaded Ukraine, aiming to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to reverse course.

The Biden administration has also provided more than $1 billion in defense assistance to Ukraine, sending weapons and ammunition to aid Ukrainian forces.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The shock and utter disgust I felt as I tapped through Instagram and WhatsApp stories and saw so many Africans posting pictures of the Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by a broken heart and sad face emoticons, left me broken. I know weve all been patiently waiting for Jordan Peele to make Get Out: Part Two, but it seems as though Im one of the main characters in the imagined sequel.

I cant understand why any African person, or a person of African descent, would mourn the Queen in the same way one would a close maternal relative. Simply put, the Queen is the symbolic embodiment of colonialism, imperialism and white supremacy.

What in the Stockholm Syndrome? is a message reply I received in a group chat, where an ongoing discussion was taking place surrounding the reactions to the Queens passing. And honestly, I think Stockholm Syndrome is the only viable explanation one can give for the horrifying response.

For me, the response to the Queens death is about the devastating psychological impact of colonialism in Africa and slavery in America. I ask us, why are we holding the memory of the Queen in the same manner Stephen held Calvin in the movie Django Unchained?

The main rebuttal in response to the critiques of mourners and sympathizers is the Queen is a human and the mourning is out of respect. While she is in fact a human being, our ancestors suffered the most inhumane atrocities at the hands of the British monarchy. I ask us, was the British monarchy being respectful when they held our ancestors in slave castles on the West African coast? Did the British monarchy show reverence to our ancestors as they boarded slave ships and endured the treacherous journey to America, with chains wrapped around their wrists and ankles? Has the British Monarchy mourned the lives of our ancestors who did not survive the journey across the Atlantic?

While the U.S. economy was being built by the hands of stolen Africans, the African economy was being destabilized at the hands of colonial masters. The Queen herself worked tirelessly to avert independence movements across Africa. As if shamelessly adorning herself in stolen African jewels throughout her reign isnt enough to make you regurgitate, the ease in which she pranced around the continent, visiting her former colonies as if absolved from African exploitation, should be enough to call for the permanent removal of your eye sockets.

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To mourn the Queen is to mourn a monarch who has committed the most extreme acts of terrorism that have reached far beyond the physical to impact our psyche.

Alexa, play The Redemption Song by Bob Marley and The Wailers.

Our ancestors did not fight for justice and freedom in order for us to one day mourn a member of a monarchy whose only gift to Africa and her children was a legacy of pain. There is no place for the idolization of our oppressor in the healing of Black America from the legacy of slavery or in the rebuilding of Post-colonial Africa.

If youre an African on the continent, an African immigrant or an American of African descent and are mourning the Queens death, I am sincerely praying for your liberation.
Akron police officers keep a watchful eye on a group protesting the death of Jayland Walker outside the Harold K. Stubbs Justice Center on July 2 following the fatal shooting of Jayland Walker.

(This opinion article represents the collective viewpoint of the Akron Beacon Journal's Editorial Board, which includes three editors and four community members.)

Transparency is disappearing from the Akron Police Department in the aftermath of five shootings by officers, including the death of Jayland Walker on June 27.

Under the direction of Chief Steve Mylett during his first year in Akron, the department has refused since December to identify officers who have fired their weapons, recently allowed officers to not wear name tags and improperly withheld numerous public records while redacting officer names from routine reports.

The citys zeal to protect its officers from threats after eight officers shot Walker 46 times may be understandable at some level, but it's no excuse for violating Ohio's Public Records Act and avoiding scrutiny from the public and media.

The only true transparency that's happened resulted from a voter-approved charter amendment requiring disclosure of body camera videos in critical incidents  which city leaders did support  and legal pressure from the Akron Beacon Journal's attorneys.

Even worse, Mylett waited six days to tell residents his officers did not activate their cameras until after one shot a teen who police say was armed on Sept. 3. Whether the officers lapse was an oversight in a stressful moment, a technical issue or something else remains to be seen.

The chief similarly erred last spring when he waited three days to admit officers had tried to stop a car that sped away and crashed, killing three.

Combined, all of these realities are concerning, even if officers did nothing wrong.

Withholding public records

For weeks now, the Beacon Journal has been seeking officer body camera video of the forceful arrests of protesters outside the police station July 6.

Social media video shows officers roughly detaining at least one man, a prominent national figure calling for police reform. The video does not show what happened before the confrontation or any factors that may have justified the officers conduct.

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Until recently Akron declined our request, claiming the records are confidential and needed for trial preparation despite prior rulings from the Ohio Supreme Court that videos such as cruiser dashboard cameras are public records as they detail initial reports of crimes, not investigations.

But Akron willingly released body camera footage of an unrelated July 30 shooting between residents on Stoddard Avenue that officers responded to and defused. One man is facing three felony charges, meaning his case is still pending. The city also released body camera video of a recent chase involving a pickle truck.

The city law department's inconsistent release of these videos with the same legal standing for releasing records has been puzzling at best. Akron has now told us it will release the July 6 videos, but were still waiting for the files as of this writing.

We've encountered obstacle after obstacle like this from Akron's leaders, including several records requests for which we've received no records or waited for weeks. We have not received any personnel files from a July 29 shooting and it took a month to receive a one-page grievance filed by the police union.

The city also has been resistant to releasing body camera videos of what happens after officers have stopped shooting and just recently released more videos of the Walker scene. While the city believes the ordinance requires it to only release video of the actual use of force, we believe state public records laws require more transparency.

Even on routine police reports, officer names are now routinely being redacted, including an incident and accident report related to the arrests of three protesters also on July 29. Officials even redacted the name of an off-duty city employee involved in the crash while listing his work address as his home. We later found an unofficial accident report on the city's website that did include the employees name.

This is not transparency

Our legal concerns with Akron actually began before the Walker shooting with our attorneys arguing the city illegally redacted routine personnel records by obscuring officer names on documents it reluctantly provided for the first two shootings.

To be fair, Akron did retreat from its earlier absurd position that it could not release personnel files without the newspaper providing names the city was withholding. The redacted files in the Walker case identified as Officers 1 through 8 did allow for some reporting on their backgrounds and prior performance. But the citys actions are preventing any effort to truly review the officers work histories.

Its worth noting a similar legal conversation in Canton following a fatal police shooting resulted in the city releasing the officers name and personnel file. In Columbus recently, police named the officer involved in a fatal shooting and released his body camera video within one day.

In Akron, leaders dont seem to comprehend the true definition of transparency while hoping nobody questions their judgment.

We respect the dangerous work officers do every day. But if our community is going to restore public trust in police work and improve the safety of everyone, including first responders, transparency is the fundamental building block.

We have an obligation to serve this community as your watchdog. You have a right to know the work history of those empowered to arrest you. And, if any officer has crossed a line, the public needs to know who they are so they dont end up working elsewhere.

We call on Mayor Dan Horrigan to immediately end this nonsense and restore transparency to the work of Akron police.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Are Akron police becoming too secretive in wake of Jayland Walker?
The Wichita City Council is poised to repeal the citys marijuana laws, making the states largest city the least restrictive on marijuana possession in Kansas.

On Tuesday, the City Council will vote on whether to decriminalize possession marijuana in the city limits. If that passes, marijuana cases could no longer be filed in municipal court.

The change would not affect state and federal prohibitions on marijuana. Wichita police could still arrest people for marijuana possession or use it as a reason to search their property.

But any criminal charges would have to be filed by Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett, who told The Eagle his office doesnt have the capacity to take on the citys minor marijuana cases, or Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who typically does not prosecute local drug cases.

Mayor Brandon Whipple said the proposal aims to cut down on arrests and prosecutions of marijuana users.

No one deserves a criminal record that follows them for their entire lives because they decided to use marijuana or THC products that are legal in every state that surrounds us, Whipple said.

According to the city, an average of 750 to 850 possession of marijuana cases are filed annually in Wichita Municipal Court. Whipple said those convictions make it harder for those people to find and keep jobs. Although the City Council cant change state law, Whipple said he hopes the police department will focus on solving more serious crimes than marijuana possession.

The Wichita Police Department told (the City Council) that theyre really not prioritizing single-use THC cases as a reason to bring people to court, Whipple said. But theyve been bringing two or three people a day to court, so we really want the actual practice to match what the voters have asked for and what some us thought was going on already.

The proposed Wichita ordinance would also decriminalize possession of fentanyl test strips, used to detect the presence of the powerful synthetic opiate causing an alarming number of fatal overdoses across the country.

Story continues

To date, no criminal charges for unlawful possession of fentanyl testing strips have been filed in the citys municipal court.

Legal gray area

Nationwide, marijuana laws are murky.

The federal government considers it an illegal, Schedule I drug  more tightly regulated than cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl.

But most states have legalized or decriminalized marijuana possession for medical or recreational use, including surrounding states Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma.

Kansas is one of 11 states where marijuana is completely prohibited. So even if the proposed Wichita ordinance change passes, possession of marijuana and associated paraphernalia would remain illegal in Kansas.

It would be up to the district attorney or state attorney general to prosecute those cases.

Bennett, the Sedgwick County prosecutor, said its unlikely his office could handle the number of cases the city has been filing against people for small amounts of marijuana. It could also be expensive for his office to pursue those cases.

My office does not have the capacity to simply absorb 750+ cases annually, Bennett said in a written statement. The county would have to also absorb the costs associated with paying for defense attorneys for indigent defendants as the county handles payment for misdemeanor appointments.

But Bennett did not rule out filing charges.

As far as what we will do if cases are presented, we will look at the facts, the context (criminal history, nature or reason for law enforcement contact, etc), and make a decision on a case by case basis, he wrote.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt, the Republican candidate for governor, did not respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon. His office has moved to block previous efforts by Wichita to lessen penalties for marijuana possession.

In 2015, a ballot initiative aiming to lessen penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana was approved by 54% of Wichita voters. Schmidt got the initiative struck down by the Kansas Supreme Court on a technicality.

Democratic candidate for Attorney General Chris Mann, who is running against Republican Kris Kobach, indicated he is not in favor of the Wichita change.

Any efforts around marijuana legalization or decriminalization need to occur at the state level in coordination with law enforcement, Mann said in a written statement to The Eagle. When we have cities creating a patchwork of different laws all over the state, that makes it harder for law enforcement to do their jobs.

I dealt with that personally as a police officer and prosecutor, he wrote. I know legislators in Topeka worked over the summer to bring marijuana legislation to the floor in 2023. We should wait to see the results of that effort before making things complicated for our officers on the streets.

Kobach did not respond to a request for comment.

As it stands, local law enforcement can use the smell of marijuana as the basis to stop, detain or search a person.

Even though not charged in Municipal Court as a criminal offense, the possession of these illegal substances will still be discussed and made known to the court to establish probable cause for the officer to stop and/or search the vehicle, a Wichita city staff analysis states.

Wichita Police Department spokesperson Juan Rebolledo said the department would not comment on the proposed ordinance before the council vote. The City Council and police department clashed over the issue during a workshop in July, when interim Chief Lem Moore, who is retiring this month, said officers dont have discretion to enforce the states marijuana laws.

Esau Freeman, a Wichita service employees union leader and one of the organizers who spearheaded the 2015 ballot initiative, said taking steps to decriminalize marijuana will help Wichitas efforts to attract and retain talent.

Its something thats on its way to being a national trend, and I think the sooner that Wichita accepts it and quits putting their citizens in jeopardy for simple possession or use of marijuana, the more appetizing the city of Wichita will be, Freeman said. I think the City Councils doing a great thing with it.

Theyre sending a message to citizens and young people that were not stuck back in the 1930s.

Clarification: A previous version of this story said Wichita would no longer prosecute marijuana possession cases under 32 grams. The city clarified Tuesday that it would not be prosecuting any marijuana possession cases.
By George Obulutsa and Ayenat Mersie

NAIROBI (Reuters) -William Ruto was sworn in as Kenya's fifth president on Tuesday, a week after the Supreme Court rejected a challenge by his defeated opponent in a close-fought election he won by portraying himself as an underdog "hustler" battling the elite.

Deputy president for the last decade, Ruto must now confront an economic crisis in East Africa's wealthiest and most stable nation, where food and fuel prices are surging, unemployment is high and public debt rising.

"A village boy has become the president of Kenya," Ruto said at the ceremony, as the crowd erupted in cheers. As severe drought exacerbates a major food crisis in East Africa, he promised to make 40 million half-price bags of fertiliser available next week.

The 55-year-old won last month's election despite a public repudiation by his boss, outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, who said Ruto was "not fit for office." Both sides hurled accusations of corruption during a deeply personal, acrimonious campaign.

Kenyatta's preferred successor, veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, had accused Ruto of cheating his way to victory. But Odinga accepted the Supreme Court ruling upholding the result, laying to rest fears of political violence like that seen after disputed elections in 2007 and 2017.

"There should be no revenge," Bishop Mark Kariuki thundered at Tuesday's ceremony, wearing a deep purple stole embroidered "PEACE."

Odinga did not attend but Kenyatta shook hands with Ruto before he was sworn in and issued a congratulatory message the night before. Ruto in his speech asked Kenyatta to continue leading regional peace efforts in neighbouring Ethiopia and African Great Lakes countries.

The peaceful transfer of authority will burnish Kenya's democratic credentials in a region where some leaders have held power for decades.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, in office for 36 years, and Ismail Omar Guelleh, who has been Djiboutian president for 23 years, were among many African leaders attending.

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Ruto greeted each head of state by name before laying out his next steps in his speech.

He pledged to make the police financially independent from the president's office, and to stick to Kenya's plans to produce 100% clean energy by 2030.

Hours later Ruto signed an executive order appointing four court of appeal judges, as well as an environment and a land court judge, he said on Twitter.

JUBILANT CROWDS

Ruto supporters wearing his party's colours of yellow and green had packed Nairobi's 60,000-seat Kasarani Sports Centre by 5 a.m. They danced and waved miniature national flags to the strains of a band.

"He is our fellow youth! I know he will bring us more opportunity," said dancer Juma Dominic as he and his troupe warmed up.

The National Police Service had tweeted that the stadium was full by 5 a.m. and asked citizens to stay home, but crowds continued to try to force their way inside. The St John's Ambulance Service said it had taken several injured people to hospital. [L8N30K1QG]

Ruto, a former roadside chicken seller who is now a wealthy businessman, campaigned as challenger to the powerful families that have dominated Kenyan politics since independence in 1963. Odinga and Kenyatta are the sons of the nation's first vice president and president respectively.

That message - represented by his party symbol of a wheelbarrow - resonated with chronically underemployed youths and families squeezed by poverty and rampant corruption, which Kenyatta publicly acknowledged he was unable to rein in.

One of Kenya's most prominent civil society activists, Boniface Mwangi, on Monday said that over-confidence, disorganisation and Kenyatta's embrace had doomed Odinga's campaign.

"Every time Uhuru spoke on behalf of the party, we suffered," he wrote, pointing out that Kenyans had suffered hardship and corruption for 10 years while Kenyatta and Ruto were in charge.

($1 = 120.3000 Kenyan shillings)

(Additional reporting by Katharine Houreld; Writing by George Obulutsa and Katharine Houreld; Editing by Aaron Ross, Ed Osmond, Alex Richardson, Catherine Evans and Mark Porter)
Bill Redston was working on a yacht in China when he met Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip

A D-Day veteran has recalled meeting the Queen and Prince Philip whilst onboard a yacht in China.

The Queen visited China in 1986, becoming the first British monarch to visit the country following the adoption of its Open Door Policy.

During her official state visit, the Queen was given access to the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'An and toured sites such as the Great Wall.

Bill Redston, 97, was working in China and said meeting her was "a privilege".

The Queen and Prince Philip toured the Great Wall as part of the official state visit

At the time of her visit, Mr Redston was working for an organisation which dealt with trade arrangements in China after World War Two.

The Open Door policy, initiated by Deng Xiaoping in 1978, saw greater trade between China and the West.

Mr Redston served in the Royal Navy during World War Two and was on board during a banquet hosted by the Queen on the Royal Yacht Britannia in Shanghai, to strengthen the new relationship between the two countries.

"We had heard the Queen was visiting China for the first time and wanted to organise a meeting between British and Chinese businessmen," said Mr Redston.

"I had personally been down to Portsmouth and checked that the yacht itself was feasible as a place for 80 people to meet," he explained, adding that 40 people from each country had been invited to attend.

"The banquet was a stand up dinner party," he said. "It was a meeting led by the Queen, to really get to know one another."

The Queen was joined First Lady of the People's Republic of China Lin Jiamei on a tour of Beijing's Forbidden City

Mr Redston also described speaking directly to Prince Philip and shaking his hand on the day.

"I was the only person who was invited from the Royal Navy," he said.

"I met Prince Philip, who kindly said 'Oh, you're one of us,' when he spotted my Naval Veterans tie."

The Queen also joined Li Xiannian for a ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People

Mr Redston served in the Royal Navy for several years, with stints in Japan, Myanmar and Singapore.

When the Queen died on Thursday, Mr Redston explained how he found out the news from a phone call from his son, whilst at his home in Wolverhampton.

"It was a privilege to have met the Queen in person," he said.

Story continues

What next? A day-by-day guide from now to the funeral

Bank holiday approved for day of Queen's funeral

How can I pay my respects to the Queen?

How titles and the line of succession have changed

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk
Photo: The Canadian Press Liudmyla Dmyttruk, 67, lights up an oil lamp, as she shows the basement where she is living together with her neighbors in the freed village of Hrakove, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022.(AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Ukrainian troops piled pressure on retreating Russian forces Tuesday, pressing deeper into occupied territory and sending more Kremlin troops fleeing ahead of the counteroffensive that has inflicted a stunning blow on Moscows military prestige.

As the advance continued, Ukraines border guard services said the army took control of Vovchansk  a town just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Russia seized on the first day of the war. Russia acknowledged that it has withdrawn troops from areas in the northeastern region of Kharkiv in recent days.

Russian troops were also pulling out from the southern city of Melitopol, the second-largest city in Ukraines southern Zaporizhzhia region, the citys pre-occupation mayor said. His claim could not immediately be verified.

Melitopol has been under Russian occupation since early March. Capturing it would give Kyiv the opportunity to disrupt Russian supply lines between the south and the eastern Donbas region, the two major areas where Moscow-backed forces hold territory.

Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram that the Russian troops were heading toward Moscow-annexed Crimea. He said columns of military equipment were reported at a checkpoint in Chonhar, a village marking the boundary between the Crimean peninsula and the Ukrainian mainland.

In the newly freed village of Chkalovske in the Kharkiv region, Svitlana Honchar said Russians' departure was sudden and swift.

They left like the wind, Honchar said Tuesday after loading cans of food aid into her car. "They were fleeing by any means they could.

Some Russians appeared to have been left behind in the hasty retreat. They were trying to catch up," she said.

It was not yet clear if the Ukrainian blitz, which unfolded after months of little discernible movement, could signal a turning point in the nearly seven-month war.

But the country's officials were buoyant, releasing footage showing their forces burning Russian flags and inspecting abandoned, charred tanks. In one video, border guards tore down a poster that read, We are one people with Russia.

Momentum has switched back and forth before, and Ukraine's American allies were careful not to declare a premature victory since Russian President Vladimir Putin still has troops and resources to tap.

In the face of Russia's largest defeat since its botched attempt to capture Kyiv early in the war, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops were hitting back with massive strikes in all sectors. But there were no immediate reports of a sudden uptick in Russian attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces were carrying out stabilization measures across recaptured territory in the countrys south and east, and rounding up Russian troops, saboteurs and alleged collaborators.

In his nightly televised address, Zelenskyy also pledged to restore normalcy in the liberated areas.

It is very important that together with our troops, with our flag, ordinary, normal life enters the de-occupied territory," he said, citing an example of how people in one village had already begun receiving pension payments after months of occupation.

Reports of chaos abounded as Russian troops pulled out  as well as claims that they were surrendering en masse. The claims could not be confirmed.

Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said Kyiv is trying to persuade even more Russian soldiers to give up, launching shells filled with flyers ahead of their advance.

Russians use you as cannon fodder. Your life doesnt mean anything for them. You dont need this war. Surrender to Armed Forces of Ukraine," the flyers read.

Authorities moved into several areas to investigate alleged atrocities committed by Russian troops against civilians.

Since Saturday, the Kharkiv regional police have repeatedly reported that local law enforcement officers have found civilian bodies bearing signs of torture across territories formerly held by Russia. It was not possible to verify their statements.

On Tuesday, regional police alleged that Russian troops had set up a torture chamber at the local police station in Balakliya, a town of 25,000, that was occupied from March until last week.

In a Facebook post, the head of the police forces investigative department, Serhii Bolvinov, cited testimony from Balakliya residents and claimed that Russian troops always kept at least 40 people captive on the premises.

In one indication of the blow sustained by Moscow, British intelligence said that one premier force, the 1st Guards Tank Army, had been severely degraded during the invasion, along with the conventional Russian forces designed to counter NATO.

"It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability, the analysts said.

The setback might renew Russia's interest in peace talks, said Abbas Gallyamov, an independent Russian political analyst and former speechwriter for Putin.

But even if Putin were to sit down at the negotiating table, Zelenskyy has made it clear that Russia must return all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, Gallyamov said.

This is unacceptable to Moscow, so talks are, strictly speaking, impossible, he said.

Putins previous actions have restricted his room to maneuver," so he wouldnt be able to put anything meaningful on the table.

For talks to be possible, Putin would need to leave and be replaced by someone whos relatively untarnished by the current situation," such as his deputy chief of staff, the Moscow mayor or the Russian prime minister, Gallyamov said.

The retreat did not stop Russia from pounding Ukrainian positions. It shelled the city of Lozova early Tuesday in the Kharkiv region, killing three people and injuring nine, said regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.

And Ukrainian officials said Russia kept up shelling around Europes largest nuclear facility, where fighting has raised fears of a nuclear disaster. The Nikopol area, which is across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, was shelled six times during the night, but no injuries were immediately reported, said regional Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko.

Strikes have also continued unabated on the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest and one that has been hammered by artillery for months.

Among Kharkiv's battle-scarred apartment buildings, one man who returned to feed the birds struck a defiant tone, saying that the success of the Ukrainian counteroffensive would likely prompt harsh Russian retaliation against civilian targets. But he said it would not succeed in intimidating ordinary Ukrainians.

Putin will strike so we dont have water, electricity, to create more chaos and intimidate us," said Serhii who only gave his first name. "But he will not succeed because we will survive, and Putin will soon croak!

The counteroffensive has provoked rare public criticism of Putins war. Meanwhile, some of its defenders in Russia played down the idea that the success belonged to Ukraine, blaming instead Western weapons and fighters for the losses.
A Dayton woman is facing federal charges after being accused of steal multiple identities in the Miami Valley.

Tiffany Lewis, 29, was arrested by federal agents Tuesday afternoon. Following her arrest, she appeared in U.S. District Court. Shes been charged with committing Social Security number fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

>> Man accused of shooting Richmond Officer makes first court appearance, waives extradition

Lewis was accused of stealing identities of two area women in March and April 2021. Lewis used their information to obtain around $8,000 in personal loans, according to court documents.

Lewis allegedly cashed out the loans at Checksmart locations in Fairborn and Monroe. She was photographed at each location.

Later in 2021, Lewis was accused of using a third stolen identity the commit acts of fraud, including using the victims identity to get a fake Ohio drivers license and a car loan for approximately $48,000.

>> John Voss, founder of Dayton-area car dealerships, dies at 79

Court documents showed that Lewis was accused of using the a stolen identity to rent trucks from U-Haul in Dayton. When one of the trucks was found, it had been spray-painted black.

The U.S. District Court n Dayton is asking anyone who thinks they may also be a victim of Lewiss alleged fraud tip contact the Social Security OIG tip line at 1-800-269-0271.
In 2021, a woman caused a ruckus on board an American Airlines flight. It was apparently so bad that the pilot had to divert the plane to Arizona.

Today, as reported by several news outlets, a US district judge handed down a sentence to the defendant, Kelly Pichardo of New York.

Insider reports that the judge sentenced Kelly Pichardo to four months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. She must also pay $9,123 in restitution to American Airlines after she previously pleaded guilty to interfering with flight crew members.

The American Airlines flight was on its way to Los Angeles from Dallas when the altercation broke out.

According to NBC News, Pichardo and another woman in first class assaulted a passenger during the flight and used racial slurs when a male passenger asked them to stop. Pichardo also allegedly spit at the man when he tried to record the altercation.

Authorities charged both women with verbally and physically assaulting other customers and flight crew members.

Pichardos attorneys suggested 60 months of probation. They also asked if she could do home detention instead of prison for four months, but the court refused. The attorneys claimed their client had several mental illnesses.

The other passenger, Leeza Rodriguez, faces sentencing in November.

American Airlines added both Pichardo and Rodriguez to their internal refuse list. This differs from the no-fly list, which is federal.
Investment to Fuel Expansion of Xenetas BreakthroughContainer Shipping & Air Cargo Market Analytics Platform

Oslo, Norway --News Direct-- Xeneta

Xeneta's Executive Leadership Team From left to right: Niall van de Wouw, Chief Air Freight Officer; Patrik Berglund, CEO; Paul Mullins, CRO; Katherine Barrios, CMO; Erik Devetak, CPO; George Thomas, COO

Xeneta, the leading ocean and air freight rate benchmarking and market analytics platform, today announced an $80 million investment at a $265 million valuation led by funds advised by Apax Digital, the growth equity arm of Apax, a leading global private equity advisory firm, with participation from NY-based Lugard Road Capital. With this investment, Xeneta will accelerate investments in platform development and continue scaling its global commercial teams. This will support expansion into new markets as companies seek to develop resilient supply chains to counter global trade volatility.

A global pandemic, geo-political uncertainty, and climate-related events have led to an unpredictable market where supply and demand continue to shift, leaving supply chain, logistics, and transportation professionals scrambling for visibility. As organizations undergo efforts to navigate instabilities in the market, access to readily available and actionable freight rate data has emerged as a strategic priority. In this new context, ocean shipping and air cargo transportation costs have been elevated to company board-level discussions. Additionally, in an increasingly data-driven world, procurement, finance, and other corporate functions cannot operate effectively without data that is fit for purpose.

Xeneta stands in stark contrast to other shipping rate and index solutions by providing organizations with the worlds largest, neutral and most accurate data source of real-time, on-demand ocean container and air freight rate market intelligence, whether for long-term contracts or spot trades. The Xeneta platform delivers the one-two punch that modern companies look for in digitizing their overall freight procurement or selling operations by providing access to an unrivaled amount of rate data (with 10 million rates added a month), as well as incorporating advanced analytics and visualization. The all-in-one platform delivers further value by providing data and insights on capacity, reliability, blank sailings, detention and demurrage, dynamic load factor, emissions data, and more.

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Xenetas novel crowdsourced approach levels the playing field for ocean and air freight buyers and sellers offering benchmarking, tendering, budgeting, planning, and reporting capabilities. Amidst global supply chain and logistics challenges, Xenetas intelligence ensures that companies cargoes get to where it needs to be, when it needs to be there, all at the right price.

While global trade tries to get back on its feet after a couple of years of uncertainty, its clear that the overall logistics industry requires a re-think of how freight is bought and sold. This new funding will help us accelerate development of our platform and add even more datasets to enrich our expert industry analyzes to further drive transparency in the market, said Xeneta CEO and Co-founder Patrik Berglund. We are proud to have a renowned global fund like Apax Digital and its expert operational team to work alongside us as we enter our next stage of growth.

Mark Beith, Partner at Apax Digital, who joins the companys Board of Directors, said:

Buyers and sellers of freight have been flying blind in a complex and opaque market. Xenetas world-leading dataset and cutting-edge platform provide unique access to granular real-time information and insight, enabling data-driven freight sales and purchases. This delivers compelling value for their blue-chip customer base  not just in sales or procurement, but also in budgeting and reporting, and increasingly in ESG monitoring. Were thrilled to partner with Patrik and the Xeneta team and help deliver their vision.

Xenetas customer portfolio includes amongst others: Electrolux, Unilever, Nestle, Zebra Technologies, Thyssenkrupp, Volvo, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, and John Deere.

About Xeneta

Xeneta is the leading ocean and air freight rate benchmarking and market analytics platform transforming the shipping and logistics industry. Xenetas powerful reporting and analytics platform provides liner-shipping and air cargo stakeholders the data they need to understand current and historical market behavior, reporting live on market average and low/high movements for both short- and long-term contracts. Xenetas data comprises more than 300 million contracted container and air freight rates and covers more than 160,000 global trade routes. Xeneta is a privately held company with headquarters in Oslo, Norway, with regional offices in New Jersey, USA, Hamburg, Germany, and Copenhagen, Denmark. To learn more, please visit www.xeneta.com.

About Apax and Apax Digital

The Apax Digital Funds specialize in growth equity and growth buyout investments in high-growth enterprise software, consumer internet, and technology-enabled services companies worldwide. The Apax Digital team leverages Apax's deep tech investing expertise, global platform, and specialized operating experts, to enable technology companies and their management teams to accelerate the achievement of their full potential. For further information, please visit www.apaxdigital.com.

Apax Partners LLP ("Apax") is a leading global private equity advisory firm. For 50 years, Apax has worked to inspire growth and ideas that transform businesses. The firm has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of more than $60 billion. The Apax Funds invest in companies across four global sectors of Tech, Services, Healthcare, and Internet/Consumer. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com.

Contact Details

Katherine Barrios

+47 951 46 414

press@xeneta.com

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/xeneta-raises-80-million-led-by-apax-digital-578680329
Students pour out of a Jewish school, known as a yeshiva, in Brooklyn, June 8, 2022. (Jonah Markowitz/The New York Times)

NEW YORK  Top New York officials voiced grave concerns about the quality of education in Hasidic Jewish private schools on Monday, a day after The New York Times revealed that many of the schools taught only rudimentary English and math and virtually no science or history.

Two Democratic congressmen  Jerrold Nadler, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and Hakeem Jeffries, chair of the House Democratic Caucus  said they had serious concerns, with Nadler saying it was clear that some of the Hasidic schools were utterly failing.

It is a paramount duty of government to make sure that all children  whether its those educated in parochial, private or public schools  are provided a quality education, said Nadler, the senior Jewish member of the House, whose current district encompasses a major Hasidic neighborhood and who was himself yeshiva-educated. It is our duty to all New York students to ensure that the law is enforced.

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Jeffries, who represents parts of central Brooklyn, called for a rigorous inquiry in order to make sure that the health and well-being of all children is protected.

Daniel Goldman, who recently won a contested Democratic primary for a new congressional seat that includes Hasidic areas in Brooklyn, said he hoped the schools would work to comply with the law, adding that the Times report paints a damning picture of an inadequate secular education that does not comply with state law.

At the state level  where politicians routinely court the cohesive Hasidic voting bloc  the state Senate majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, said she was concerned about the lack of secular education in the Hasidic schools.

The allegations in the story are deeply disturbing and must be addressed, she said.

State Sen. Julia Salazar and Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher, both Democrats who represent heavily Hasidic Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said they were particularly alarmed by accounts of corporal punishment in the schools and would introduce legislation to ban such punishments going forward.

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Other leaders, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and members of a powerful state education board, showed less willingness to criticize the Hasidic schools.

Hochul, a Democrat who has sought to appeal to Jewish voters before this falls gubernatorial election, declined to take a position on the Hasidic schools. She is ahead in polls, but, only a year after taking office, is still forging relationships with key groups across the state.

People understand that this is outside the purview of the governor, Hochul said Monday at an event in Harlem.

Although the state Board of Regents, not the governor, controls the state education department, Hochul is the most powerful politician in New York and can have significant influence over education issues.

For their part, members of the Board of Regents made no mention of the Times report in discussions Monday before an expected vote on new rules that would hold private schools, including the Hasidic schools, known as yeshivas, to minimum academic standards.

An attorney who has represented many Hasidic yeshivas, Avi Schick, recently said that Hochuls chance of being reelected this November could be threatened by the Regents vote, even though the governor has not taken a public position on the rules.

Other New York Democratic officials either did not respond to inquiries or declined to comment Monday about the Hasidic schools, including Sen. Chuck Schumer, the majority leader; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand; and Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, chief of the House Democratic campaign committee.

New York Republicans, including Rep. Lee Zeldin, defended the schools and criticized the Times report. At a campaign event outside City Hall on Monday, Zeldin, who is running for governor against Hochul and is Jewish, suggested that public schools ought to be emulating the values of Hasidic schools, not the other way around.

Other state Republicans said they believed the government should not interfere with private religious education or parents ability to choose where their children are educated.

Benine Hamdan, the long-shot Republican candidate challenging Goldman in Brooklyn, said she opposed the state regulations, taking a shot at critical race theory. While public schools are teaching CRT and sexuality, Hasidic schools should continue to have the right to teach Judaism, she said.

At my core, I believe all parents have the right to choose the educational setting they think is best for their children, said Mark Martucci, a state senator who represents a district just north of New York City and added that he had toured yeshivas and had been impressed by the students.

In a state where Republicans are largely locked out of power, the party has been increasing its outreach to Hasidic voters who have consistently voted for Democrats in local elections but have begun favoring Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, in national races.

Published on Sunday, the Times investigation showed that Hasidic schools appear to be operating in violation of state law by denying thousands of students a basic education. The community operates more than 100 all-boys schools across Brooklyn and the lower Hudson Valley, which have received more than $1 billion in government money over the past four years alone.

The schools typically provide only 90 minutes a day of secular instruction, just four days per week, and only for boys ages 8 to 12. As a result, the students are failing to learn secular subjects at extraordinarily high rates, the Times found. More than 99% of students who took standardized tests in 2019 failed, according to state data.

At a news conference Monday, Mayor Eric Adams of New York City said he was not concerned about the Times findings but stressed that his administration was continuing a long-delayed city investigation into some Hasidic schools.

Im not going to look at a story. I want a thorough investigation. I want an independent review, and thats what the city has to do. And were going to look at that, Adams said. The mayor added that any instances of child abuse in the schools should be reported and investigated.

Over the past few years, Hasidic leaders have made keeping government out of schools their top political priority and have relied on officials elected from their community to help block the regulations.

One Hasidic politician, David Schwartz, a Hasidic district leader in Brooklyn, disputed reports of problems in the schools, including regular use of corporal punishment, saying, I and my community  tens of thousands of caring parents and educators  are unfairly being paint-brushed due to the accounts of a few.

 2022 The New York Times Company
Japan's government says it will set up an expert panel to promote the development of nuclear fusion, which is seen as a next-generation source of energy, with plans to present a concrete strategy around next April.

Economic Security Minister Takaichi Sanae told reporters on Tuesday that the panel will include experts on nuclear fusion technology and those who work in the industry.

They will discuss when to start proving tests for power generation by nuclear fusion, how to grow the industry, and how to promote development.

Takaichi said there is hope for nuclear fusion power as a clean energy source, and that international competition is accelerating.

She also said Japan will consider its strategy for research and development, as well as how to grow the industry. ...continue reading
On Saturday, Sept. 10, Werner Park in Papillion, Nebraska, hosted the 2022 Nebraska 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. The event benefits the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, which supports families of local firefighters who have died and the FDNY Counseling Services Unit.

Participants walk the stadiums steps for more than two miles, the equivalent of the 110 flights of stairs in the towers of the former World Trade Center. It is believed New York firefighters reached the 78th floor of the South Tower before it collapsed, killing 343 of them. The climb symbolically completes their heroic journey to save others. Most area firefighters wore their bunker gear during the memorial climb.
Retired U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Franken, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate in Iowa, released a new ad on Monday accusing his opponent, Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, of failing family farms.

Sporting a Navy cap in front of a cornfield, Franken says in the ad that Grassley is beholden to large agriculture corporations at the expense of small farmers. Franken who was born in the small northwest Iowa town of Lebanon, notes in the ad he worked on a small farm growing up.

Since Chuck Grassley took office, Iowa has lost half our farms, he says in the ad. Chuck has taken over a million dollars from Big Ag, and hes passing laws to help them squeeze out the little guy.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, Iowa had 84,900 farms in 2021, about half the number of farms it had in 1960 during Grassleys first term in the Iowa House. It had 119,000 farms in 1980 when Grassley was first elected to the U.S. Senate.

In an emailed statement, Grassleys campaign spokesperson Michaela Sundermann said Grassley has been endorsed by farm groups like the Iowa Farm Bureau and leaders from commodity associations such as the Iowa Corn Growers and Iowa Soybean associations.

Is Mike Franken really suggesting he knows better than actual farmers? Mike Franken supports higher taxes and more federal regulations on farmers, Sundermann said. Theres no stronger champion for Iowa ag than Chuck Grassley. Mike Frankens new ad is dishonest and desperate. Iowans will see through his attempts to mislead voters.

HINSON, MATHIS ADD DEBATE: A pair of former Iowa broadcast journalists running for an Eastern Iowa congressional seat will participate in a debate hosted by their former employer.

KCRG-TV will host an hourlong debate between Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Ashely Hinson of Marion and Democratic challenger Liz Mathis of Hiawatha at 7 p.m. Oct. 12.

Hinson and Mathis are running for Iowas newly drawn 2nd Congressional District.

The debate also will be carried by KWQC in the Quad Cities, KCCI in Des Moines and KTTC covering Mason City and Rochester, Minn. All four stations will carry the debate on their broadcast and streaming platforms, according to KCRG.

Hinson, a former KCRG anchor and reporter, is serving her first term in the U.S. House after unseating first-term Democratic congresswoman Abby Finkenauer in 2020.

Mathis, also a former anchor and reporter at both KCRG and KWWL, has spent the past 10 years in the Iowa Senate.

The pair also will participate in an Iowa PBS debate at 7 p.m. Oct. 18.

MATHIS RELEASES NEW AD: In her second ad, Democratic state Sen. Liz Mathis of Hiawatha focused on protecting Social Security and Medicare benefits for Iowa seniors.

Mathis is seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, in Iowas newly drawn 2nd Congressional District. Its Mathis second ad in what the campaign said would be a $350,000 TV ad campaign across broadcast and cable from Aug. 23 through Sept. 19.

In the ad, Mathis talks about her parents being part of the greatest generation, who relied on Social Security and Medicare benefits. Both her parents served in World War II. Her father farmed and her mother was the town nurse. Mathis has talked about serving as a caregiver to her ailing parents on the campaign trail and navigating insurance and red tape with her parents care.

So when I hear talk out of Washington (D.C.) about cutting Social Security and Medicare, I know who will pay the price, Mathis says in the ad.   My family depended on those benefits. Ill make sure theyre always there for yours.

Hinson released her first ad last week as part of what her campaign said would be a more than $2 million ad campaign through Election Day.
Habitat for Humanity of Council Bluffs got a special delivery Monday morning.

Several employees of MidAmerican Energy Co. delivered a Ford F-350 Super Duty utility truck.

The truck has multiple compartments on the sides where Habitat can transport tools to job sites. Tyler Burns became the organizations new construction superintendent in June and will be able to make use of the vehicle, according to Blake Johnson, Habitat director.

At first, I just contacted them to see if they had anything they were willing to sell, said Kim Smith, family services and volunteer coordinator at Habitat.

They asked if Habitat would be interested in a particular truck, and she said they would.

They ended up donating it to us, Smith said. It was very unexpected and very generous.

Itll be a great construction truck, because itll have room for all our stuff, Johnson said.

The truck was to be rotated out of MidAmericans fleet and sent to an auction, he said.

The gift was no accident, from MidAmericans point of view.

What were doing here is an extension of our CARES program, said Natosha Skiles, a business connections manager for MidAmerican. Were just happy to be a part of it.

MidAmericans CARES program focuses on supporting five areas:

Community Enhancement  museums, parks, splash pads, etc.

Arts and Culture  arts organizations and the areas multicultural heritage

Environmental Respect  making the regions environment cleaner and more sustainable

Education/STEM  educational efforts around Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

Safety  first responders, local safety projects and education

Habitat plans to have a wrap put on the truck that will display Habitats logo and express the organizations gratitude toward MidAmerican for the truck, Smith said.

The two organizations have partnered on multiple projects in the past, according to Pete Ryerson, a business connections manager. Skilled volunteers from MidAmerican have helped with some of Habitats construction projects, he said.
A Norfolk Southern freight train passes a train on a siding as it approaches a crossing in Homestead, Pa., Wednesday, April 27, 2022. Freight railroads and their unions are facing increasing pressure from business groups and the White House to settle their contract dispute. They face a looming strike deadline on Friday, Sept. 16, and business groups say a stoppage halting deliveries of raw materials and finished products that so many companies rely on would be an economic disaster. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)

Amtrak is canceling trips on some long-distance routes out of Chicago, as the deadline for a possible strike by freight rail workers looms.

Beginning Tuesday, the passenger rail agency is suspending service on routes between Chicago and San Francisco, the Pacific Northwest and Los Angeles. Service will also be suspended along part of a fourth route out of Chicago, between Los Angeles and San Antonio, Amtrak said.

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The cancellations are intended to avoid possible disruptions should freight railroad workers walk out on strike while lengthy trips are underway on the California Zephyr, Empire Builder, Southwest Chief and Texas Eagle routes. Though Amtrak workers are not involved in the ongoing contract negotiations, nearly all of the passenger services routes outside the Northeast U.S. run on track that is owned, maintained and dispatched by freight railroads, and a walkout could disrupt passenger service.

These adjustments are necessary to ensure trains can reach their terminals prior to freight railroad service interruption if a resolution in negotiations is not reached, Amtrak officials said in a statement.

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Federal law bars a freight railroad strike or lockout before Friday, and Congress could intervene and block a work stoppage if the unions and railroads cant reach a deal by the end of the week. But Amtrak is only the latest agency to take preemptive steps beforehand.

The railroads said they would begin curtailing shipments of hazardous materials and other chemicals Monday to ensure carloads of dangerous products wont be stranded along the tracks if the trains stop moving. The heads of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers  Transportation Division union that represents conductors, and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union that represents engineers, criticized that decision as a move to increase pressure on shippers and Congress to intervene.

Business groups and the White House have pressured the railroads and unions to resolve the contract dispute because of concerns over the economic impact of halting shipments of materials so many companies rely on. The Association of American Railroads trade group put out a report last week estimating that shutting down the railroads would cost the economy $2 billion a day.

The majority of the unions representing some 115,000 workers have reached tentative agreements needed to avert a strike at the nations biggest freight railroads, including Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, Kansas City Southern and CSX. The tentative deals closely followed recommendations by a Presidential Emergency Board that called for 24% raises over five years, $5,000 in bonuses and one additional paid leave day a year.

But the two biggest unions representing conductors and engineers have been holding out because they want the railroads to go beyond those recommendations and address concerns about strict attendance policies that they say make it hard to take any time off, and increasing workloads after the railroads cut nearly one-third of their workforces in recent years.

In addition to carrying goods and Amtrak passenger trains, freight tracks also carry some Metra trains. The commuter rail agency has not made any changes to service this week, but said a freight strike or lockout could affect schedules.

Nine Metra lines  every line except the Metra Electric and Rock Island  interact with freight railroads in some way, such as by being dispatched by the railroads. Four of those lines  the BNSF and the Union Pacific North, Northwest and West lines  are directly owned and operated by freight railroads, and Metra said it expects any work stoppage would also stop service on those lines.

Amtrak also could make changes to additional long distance and state routes, beyond its initial cancellations, the agency said.

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Amtrak said it would reach out to affected travelers, who can reschedule their travel or receive a refund with no additional fees.

The Associated Press contributed

sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com
The body of Steve Asplund, a Moline man missing for 28 years, has been found in St. Louis County, Missouri.

Police said Monday they believe Asplund went into the river on his own volition near the I-74 bridge, became entangled in a barge and was dragged down river.

Asplund, Moline, was last seen on Jan. 9., 1994, when he went to borrow a caulking gun from a friend. He was reported missing by his fiance on Jan. 10 and investigators found his car parked in Bettendorf to the east of the Interstate 74 bridge.

When they searched the car, police found no evidence of foul play and nothing that hinted at Asplunds whereabouts, according to previous reporting.

The Moline Police Department announced the news Monday in a press conference.

The family made this statement:

"Thanks to all the media for shining light on Steves disappearance today, and over the past 29 years. The news, while bittersweet, will allow us some closure. Well still think of Steve every day, and miss him just the same, but these answers will provide comfort to us and his friends.

We would like to thank the hundreds of people who attended the vigils, and helped with searches we did when he first disappeared. The community support and concern has meant a lot to us, and we appreciate it more than we can possibly express.

We d also like to thank the Moline Police Department, and all the detectives who have been involved over the years, but we would especially like to thank Detective Mike Griffin, who's been working with us for many years now. He has stayed in touch and communicated with us even when there wasnt anything new to report. Hes a good man and his compassion, and concern for getting us answers has always been obvious. We feel blessed that he became involved in the case.

We would also like to thank the Doctor of Forensic Anthropology for the St. Louis County Medical Examiners office, Dr. Lindsay Trammell and Forensic Scientist Aaron Small from the Illinois State Police. Without their assistance we might never have known what happened. Their work will allow us to bring Steve back home, and we thank you for that.

Thanks to everyone for your concern over the years, and know that it has been appreciated."

-Mike Asplund (Steve Asplund's brother)

This article will be updated.
"The results put us in a position where we thought it was the right thing to do," Chancellor Ronnie Green said. "It's a matter of accountability and standards."
FREMONT  For a gregarious guy, Judge Ken Vampola moseyed quietly out of the Dodge County Courthouse on Sept. 2, his last day.

No retirement party. No cake. No staffers gathered round, wishing him well. No proclamations from governors, past or present. The biggest adieu for the longtime judge? A small gathering at a local steakhouse, after hours.

There was a reason for that: Vampolas departure was much more resignation under duress than retirement into sunset.

It was spurred by the judge's numerous ethical violations connected to his relationship with a 32-year-old self-professed meth addict, according to several sources accounts and multiple documents obtained by the Omaha World-Herald.

The judge had such a close relationship with the woman  a litigant in his courtroom numerous times  that he bought her cars, had her spend nights at his Platte River cabin, begged a fellow judge to not issue a warrant for her arrest and bailed her out of jail. To boot, the woman had his credit cards on her when police recently stopped her and searched her on suspicion that she was high on meth.

Vampola didn't return several phone calls and text messages from the World-Herald.

Turns out, the judge got out just in time. His sudden resignation means hell get to keep his state pension.

Hes not the only judge who has done so. In the past four years, four embattled judges  Supreme Court Justice Max Kelch, Douglas County Juvenile Court Judge Elizabeth Crnkovich, Douglas County Judge Lawrence Barrett and now Vampola  have retired before formal ethics charges could be brought against them. Kelch, Barrett and Vampola had been accused of sexually harassing or unethical behavior with women. Crnkovich resigned amid allegations that she held private hearings and illegally kicked attorneys out of her courtroom.

Each judge had a motive to resign abruptly: It allowed them to salvage either all, or a major portion of, their pensions. Currently, state law calculates each judge's pension based on their years of service multiplied by 3.5% of their $179,000 salary. At most, judges can receive 70% of their salary if they serve 20 years.

Because he retired three years short of 20 years on the bench, Vampolas annual pension will amount to about $106,500. The pension is funded by a mix of court fees, returns from an investment authority, taxpayer dollars and, to a far lesser extent, judges' contributions.

The trend is one reason that former Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha is contemplating a return run for the Legislature in 2024. Among his many roles, Chambers took it upon himself to file complaints against judges accused of corruption, calling himself the garbageman of the judiciary.

Judges facing trouble shouldnt get anything, Chambers said. "That pension is their filthy lucre  and they will protect it by all means. If the law was (re)written so that their pensions truly were in jeopardy, it would put an end to this unethical behavior."

Under state law, judges facing formal charges aren't allowed to retire and collect their pension. But the same statute also builds in an escape hatch for a judge in trouble: Before formal charges can be filed against a judge, the Judicial Qualifications Committee must hold an informal, confidential hearing advising the judge of the informal complaint against them.

That allows judges, if they know theyre in legitimate trouble, to resign and retain their pension. It also allows them to disappear without any public accounting of their unethical behavior.

The JQC, as it's known, publicizes allegations against judges and the discipline they receive only if they face formal charges. In turn, the alleged misdeeds of the four judges mentioned above came to light only through digging by the World-Herald.

The accusations against Vampola might be the most involved.

* * *

Vampolas ascension to a career on the bench almost hit a snag before he was appointed.

In 2005, then-Gov. Dave Heineman, a Republican who once called Fremont home, received the names of Vampola and another attorney to consider for a judgeship serving Dodge, Burt, Cedar, Dakota, Dixon, Thurston and Washington counties. A few years before, state officials, including a Nebraska Supreme Court judge and the Judicial Nominating Commission, had received something else: a letter from a concerned citizen.

I think it would reflect poorly on the judiciary if Mr. Vampola became a judge, the Fremont resident wrote the commission. He attached a lengthy police report from 1989.

According to that police report: The night of Sept. 27, 1989, Vampola was 33 and studying to become a lawyer at the Nebraska College of Law. He and an attorney had gone to Boomers, then a strip club in Fremont.

Two entertainers, ages 18 and 23, told Fremont police that they had been hounded by two men all night, with the attorney offering hundreds of dollars for sex acts. The dancers said Vampola asked if he could hire them for a stag party.

The most important thing to them was trying to get us to prastute (sic) for them, the then-18-year-old wrote in a police report. I told them I am strictly an entertainer, not a prastute.

After the dancers finished their shift, they were driving home when they spotted the two men following them in an Oldsmobile Toronado. The women drove around, hoping to lose them. They couldn't. The women decided to head to the police station while the men rode their back bumper.

When we wouldnt stop, they passed us and then cut in front of us as if they were trying to run us off the road, the 23-year-old wrote. Instead, Vampola crashed into a curb, a front tire snapping off and the car coming to rest in a yard.

Vampola told Fremont police he only wanted the entertainers to dance for my Ducks Unlimited committee. He said he was driving the attorneys car, had trouble reaching the pedals and inadvertently gunned it as he was trying to get the womens attention.

Fremont police cited him for careless driving.

The concerned citizen cited the ordeal to a Nebraska Supreme Court judge as Vampola sought a judgeship. After Heineman appointed Vampola to the bench in 2005, the citizen wrote that dozens of Fremont men still talk about a different stag party involving sex acts, fruits and vegetables, a dancer named White Thunder and Vampola "on stage."

I was stunned at this appointment, the Fremont man wrote Heineman. Mr. Governor, you must know that all the old stories of his vile behavior again are making their way around the community. Is this man truly fit to be a judge?

Heineman did not return a reporter's phone call last week about the appointment.

Vampola had some qualifications. After graduating from the Nebraska College of Law in 1992 at age 36, Vampola worked as a Winnebago tribal prosecutor in criminal cases and as an attorney in juvenile cases for four years. He served as a tribal judge and did civil and criminal defense work out of Fremont and Arlington before becoming chairman of the Nebraska Parole Board under then-Gov. Mike Johanns. From 2003 to 2005, he and the board made weighty decisions on whether to put prisoners back on the streets.

Then Johanns took a federal appointment to become the U.S. secretary of agriculture. After Heineman took over for Johanns, one of the first open judgeships was in Heineman's old stomping grounds, Dodge County. Vampola presented as a born-again Christian who, by then, had more than a decade of experience as a lawyer and as an arbiter of parolees fate.

Of the seven attorneys who applied, a Judicial Nominating Commission tabbed Vampola, who had served as legal counsel to the Dodge County Republican Party, and former and current Dodge County Attorney Paul Vaughan as finalists.

Heineman appointed Vampola.

* * *

A county court judges role is limited in Nebraska courts. Judges at that level preside over misdemeanors involving relatively minor crimes (most serious: drunken driving) and over the beginning stages of major cases such as murders. They handle civil matters, from small claims to litigation over wills and estates. Judges in smaller counties also preside over juvenile court and parental custody cases.

Three Fremont-area attorneys interviewed by the World-Herald  all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were talking about a member of the bench  described Vampola as affable in court. As far as his legal acumen, they said he was adequate  pointing to bar surveys in which about 78% of attorneys recommended he be retained. Such a score is mediocre  most judges top 90% favorable reviews on the anonymous surveys.

The reviews were far less positive regarding his behavior outside court. Two sources told the World-Herald that Vampola, who is married, and a then-county court clerk were overheard one late afternoon last year having sex in a visiting judge's office next to a courtroom. An employee also caught them making out, the sources said. That clerk did not return World-Herald calls.

Vampola and a Nebraska Health and Human Services staffer also were caught in the act after hours at the state office near the courthouse several years ago, the sources said.

Then there was Brooklynn Rydel. Rydel, 32, a waitress at a Fremont restaurant, has had ongoing problems with substance abuse, according to court records and Rydel's estranged mother, Carla Rydel.

In 2007, Brooklynn Rydel first appeared in front of Vampola as a 16-year-old charged with possession of marijuana and alcohol. Vampola ordered probation, which she successfully completed. Four years later, she was cited on the same charges plus possessing drug paraphernalia  and Vampola again fined her for the misdemeanors.

In February 2015, Rydel, then 24, picked up her first felony, possession of meth. Her case was pleaded down to a misdemeanor  fairly typical for a first felony  and Vampola gave her probation.

In June 2015, she was charged with felony meth possession again. The case was bound over to district court, where a judge ultimately gave her 30 months of probation.

The woman was serving that probation at the same time as she was still on probation under Vampola.

In July 2016, Rydel sent the judge a letter: "Dear Judge Vampola, I currently am on two probations, one in county court and one in district (court) due to my drug addiction to meth. Currently I am 16 months sober, have completed outpatient treatment and have taken all the classes required for the probation."

There was just one problem, Rydel wrote. Her father, Mike Rydel, a former general manager at a Fremont restaurant, had suffered a massive stroke. So, she wrote, she moved back home to help her mom care for her dad, and the family was scraping by. In turn, she couldn't afford the $425 in fines levied against her.

"All I do is work and come home to help my mom take care of my dad," she wrote. "I've done everything that's needed to be done and haven't missed or failed a single (drug test). I've changed my entire life around and am very grateful.

"Now that I am clear-minded, I've realized how valuable life is. Please, if there is anything you can do ... I would appreciate it from the bottom of my heart."

A few weeks later, Vampola ended Rydel's probation, writing that "all costs and fees have been paid."

* * *

It is unclear when Vampola and Rydel struck up a personal relationship. But her contact with the courts didn't stop after he granted her grace.

In 2019, Rydel again was picked up for possessing meth. For reasons that aren't apparent, the case was pleaded down to attempted possession, a misdemeanor. In November of that year, Vampola sentenced her to 18 months' probation.

In January 2021, Vampola released her from probation about four months before it was set to expire, a common practice if defendants are complying with terms.

In July 2021, Vampola signed court documents in a misdemeanor case in which Brooklynn Rydel alleged that her mother assaulted her. According to Carla Rydel, Vampola signed a warrant based only on Brooklynn's version. Carla said she wasn't interviewed.

Carla Rydel adamantly denied assaulting her daughter  and soon after, the case was dismissed and sealed. Sealing a dismissed case also is typical.

Then came 2022. Then came atypical.

In January, Vampola bought Rydel a car  a 2012 Chevy Impala  and registered it in both his name and hers, listing his home address in Arlington.

Two months later, he helped her buy a 2003 Toyota Highlander to replace the Impala. Again, he registered the vehicle under both names.

In between the two car purchases, Rydel was cited after her pit bull got loose in Fremont and bit a couple of people.

As that case was pending, Vampola signed an order granting a delay in the case, despite his relationship with Rydel. In April, Rydel failed to appear for a hearing in the case. (She also took the pit bull to Omaha; it bit someone and Rydel was fined $100.)

Back in Fremont, a clerk found Rydel passed out in her and Vampola's Highlander at a gas pump at a BP station May 6. The clerk tried to rouse her, she stirred, then passed back out. The clerk called 911. Rydel awoke and took off.

A Dodge County sheriff's deputy found her about four blocks away. In her cigarette pack: a baggie containing 1.1 grams of meth. In the truck registered to her and Vampola, a bag of mushrooms, a hypodermic needle, a baggie with meth residue and a small, empty bottle of liquor.

She was charged with felony possession of meth. According to sources, Vampola either bailed her out of jail or provided the money to bail her out.

Despite his relationship with her, Vampola continued to preside over the dog-bite case. In late May, Rydel pleaded to a citation-level offense, similar to a speeding ticket, where she was allowed to pay a fine. Vampola signed an order accepting her guilty plea.

On July 26, she appeared in court at 9 a.m. on the gas-station drug case. Judge Francis Barron grew concerned about whether she was under the influence  a violation of her bail. He ordered her to go get tested at the Dodge County probation office not far from the courthouse. If she failed the test, Barron warned, he would revoke her bail.

By 11:26 a.m., Rydel hadn't shown up.

Barron began the process of issuing a bench warrant. Suddenly, he was interrupted by Vampola.

Attorneys say Vampola tracked down Barron and frantically begged him not to issue the warrant, telling Barron "she's at the (probation) office now!" Barron ignored Vampola and issued the warrant.

That afternoon, a Fremont police officer arrested Rydel at home and took her to jail. Barron upped her bail to 10% of $25,000.

That afternoon, someone posted the $2,500 bail for Rydel. It is not clear how the waitress came up with that money.

Her mom has suspicions. Last year, before mother and daughter stopped talking, Carla Rydel said she asked her daughter whether it was true what she heard, that she was spending weekend nights at the judge's cabin near Schuyler.

How are you driving if you've been drinking? Carla asked.

I go to a bedroom and sleep it off, she said.

Carla Rydel pressed: Why would a judge who is married and overseeing your cases have a woman, half his age, stay at his cabin?

Her daughter shrugged, saying it was no big deal, Carla said.

"I drink my White Claws  and he smokes his cigars," Brooklynn said, according to Carla. "He counsels me."

* * *

The text with the photo arrived on Carla Rydel's phone shortly after her daughter posted it to social media earlier this year.

It was a picture of Brooklynn smiling, with Vampola close over her left shoulder.

"My adopted father from another father," she captioned it.

Asked the nature of her relationship with Vampola, Brooklynn Rydel told a World-Herald reporter "no comment" and hung up.

Vampola didn't respond to World-Herald questions about any of the allegations. He announced his resignation 10 days after confronting Barron on Rydel's behalf.

Vampola appears to have violated several judicial canons. Among them: Judges are to recuse themselves from cases involving family, friends or associates. They aren't supposed to have any one-on-one communication about cases outside court. They're not to attempt to intimidate or influence their fellow judges.

And they are to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

Late last month, Carla Rydel said she didn't know where to begin in her complaints about the judge's behavior. Hosting a young woman at a cabin. Buying her cars that allowed her daughter to drive around "drugged out of her mind." Bailing her out. Allowing her to gain access to his credit cards.

Given her daughter's ongoing drug battle, Carla Rydel questioned whether Vampola was counseling the young woman.

"I call it enabling," she said. "Whether he has good intentions or not, I don't know. It's all very shady. He is enabling a drug addict."
The sheriff said the deceased is a woman and that a tattoo on her body was aiding in identifying her. He believed an identification would be forthcoming.
With wild birds beginning the fall migration southward, Iowas chicken and turkey farmers once again are on high alert for avian influenza.

This years version of the bird flu resulted in the destruction of more than 13 million birds in Iowa this spring.

While significant, that was not nearly as devastating as the 2015 version of the avian flu, which resulted in the destruction of more than 31.5 million chickens and turkeys in Iowa, and resulted in a $1.2 billion hit to the states economy, according to one report.

Nonetheless, Iowa bird farmers will be watching their flocks closely in the coming weeks. Wild birds are believed to be the primary carriers of this years version of the avian flu, and are in the early stages of their annual fall migration.

New cases have been identified throughout the Midwest in recent weeks: at poultry farms in Minnesota and Ohio, and backyard flocks in Wisconsin and Indiana.

Iowa agriculture secretary Mike Naig said Iowa officials and bird farmers and backyard flock owners are hopeful the virus will not make a return during the fall migration, but also are being cautious and realistic, given the cases recently identified in other Midwest states.

Unfortunately, it tells us that the virus is once again in that wild bird population. There are no suspected cases in the state of Iowa, as of now, but unfortunately we are returning to a sense of very much heightened awareness and taking a defensive posture, Naig said. Unfortunately, I would not be surprised if we are dealing with it again in Iowa.

Naig said the lessened impact of the virus this spring can be attributed in part to lessons learned from the devastation of 2015. That year, 77 sites were hit by the avian flu; this spring, only 19 sites were affected.

If you dealt with it, its devastating. For every one of those entities that did, its financially devastating, its emotionally draining, and all of those things are true, Naig said. But when you look at what happened in Iowa earlier this year vs. 2015, significantly fewer sites affected and significantly fewer birds affected. 

Poultry producers learned a lot in 2015 about the needed to enhance biosecurity.

Naig also said he believes the government response, particularly the state and federal ag departments, also learned lessons from and improved upon their 2015 response efforts.

Kevin Stiles, CEO and executive director of the North Central Poultry Association, said Iowa poultry farmers will be leaning on that enhanced biosecurity as they remain on high alert for the coming weeks and months.

Our producers have remained on high alert throughout the summer months and will continue to do so into the fall and this winter, Stiles said in an emailed statement. Heightened on-farm biosecurity is the poultry farmers best ally, as they work to safeguard their flocks. We remain in close contact with USDA and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and we are grateful for their support.

Naig said he spent part of his Friday morning meeting with groups that represent Iowa chicken and turkey farmers to discuss their attempts to keep this latest version of the avian flu at bay.

What went well, what didnt go as well as wed hoped it would, and then what are the action steps? You hope that that can be done in a complete look-back setting, Naig said. Unfortunately, the tone (Friday) morning was, We may be needing to apply these lessons sooner than we thought.

Avian flu information for Iowa bird farmers and backyard flock owners can be found at iowaagriculture.gov.
During the first two years of the pandemic, the number of people working from home in the United States tripled, home values grew and the percentage of people who spent more than a third of their income on rent went up, according to survey results released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Tigrayan rebels from Ethiopias northern region called for an immediate cease-fire Sunday (11 September) and said they would accept a peace process with the federal government led by the African Union (AU) after three weeks of renewed fighting ended a fragile truce.

In a statement to mark the beginning of the Ethiopian new year, the rebels  from the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), a party that ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades until 2018  called for a comprehensive negotiated cease-fire and said they had established a negotiating team that is ready to be deployed without delay. The statement said that the Tigrayan rebels are ready to abide by an immediate and mutually agreed cessation of hostilities in order to create a conducive atmosphere, but added that they decried the closeness of the AU mediator, Nigerian Olusegun Obasanjo, to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

The conflict in northern Ethiopia broke out in November 2020, when Ahmed sent the army to Tigray to dislodge dissident authorities in the region, accusing them of attacking military bases. The resumption of fighting on August 24 ended a five-month truce. The Ethiopian government has previously said it was ready for unconditional talks anytime, anywhere, brokered by the Addis Ababa-headquartered AU. The conflict-torn region is cut off from the rest of the country and deprived of electricity, telecommunications networks, banking services, and fuel. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is from the restive region, on Wednesday described the man-made catastrophe there as the worst disaster on Earth and slammed global leaders for overlooking the humanitarian crisis.
Uganda has paid $65 million in the first installment of a total $325 million to neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) it was ordered to pay by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as compensation for losses caused by wars in the 1990s when Ugandan troops occupied Congolese territory.

In a case first brought against Uganda in 1999, DRC asked the ICJ to compel Uganda to pay it $11bn as reparations for the deaths, looting and general economic damage caused by Ugandas military occupation of parts of DRC in the 1990s. After lengthy proceedings, the United Nations highest court ruled in 2005 that Uganda had violated international law by occupying parts of eastern DRC and supporting other armed groups during a bloody conflict that raged from 1998 to 2003. The ICJ, which deals with disputes between states and whose rulings are final and cannot be appealed, ordered Uganda and DRC to negotiate reparations.

However, after the talks between both parties stalled in 2015, the ICJ took over the case and it was not until February this year that its judges finally ruled that Uganda should pay $325m in five yearly installments of $65m, starting in September this year. The ICJ broke down the compensation into different categories of damages, including $225m for loss of life and other damage to persons, another $40m for damage to property and $60m for damage to natural resources. Ugandan soldiers who had been fighting rebels in DRC for the previous three years crossed back into Uganda at the Mpondwe border point in October 2001.
Atlas Arteria, an Australian toll road company, has agreed to buy a 67% stake in the Chicago Skyway from two Canadian pension funds for $2 billion.

The deal, announced Tuesday, would give the publicly traded firm majority control of the 7.8-mile elevated toll road connecting the Dan Ryan Expressway to the Indiana Toll Road on Chicagos South Side, pending approval from regulators and the city.

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Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and OMERS Infrastructure, which each bought one-third stakes in the Skyway six years ago, agreed to the sale Monday. Atlas Arteria, which owns toll roads in France, Germany and Virginia, will partner with Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, which is retaining its one-third stake.

Built by the city in 1958, the six-lane Chicago Skyway features a steel bridge spanning the Calumet River, and a congestion-easing shortcut to Indiana and points east. The city operated the Skyway until 2005, when it leased operations to a private company under a 99-year agreement, marking the first privatization of an existing toll road in the U.S.

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In 2016, the three Canadian pension funds bought Skyway Concession, the toll roads private operator, for $2.8 billion.

Atlas Arteria, which owns the Dulles Greenway, a 14-mile toll road that connects Washington Dulles International Airport with Leesburg, Virginia, has come under fire from its largest shareholder for plans to buy a second toll road in the U.S.

IFM Investors, an Australian investment firm that owns a 15% stake in Atlas Arteria, has opposed the potential Skyway acquisition since becoming the companys largest shareholder in June. In a letter sent Monday to Atlas Chair Debbie Goodin, IFM called the Skyway purchase highly dilutive to distributions and value destructive, urging the company to withdraw from the Chicago toll road acquisition process, and warning of an accelerated board transition if it moved forward.

The investment firm issued a statement Tuesday following the announcement that Atlas had agreed to purchase the Skyway over its objections.

We are disappointed with the decision by Atlas Arteria to proceed with the acquisition of the Chicago Skyway, and as a major shareholder we are considering our options, an IFM spokesperson said.

The Skyway was a money-loser for decades after it opened to traffic in 1959 and only began generating a profit in the early 1990s, when convenience trumped the cost for a growing number of motorists, and the toll road traffic dramatically increased. The city began exploring a Skyway sale to private operators in 2002 under then-Mayor Richard M. Daley, seeking money to pay off several hundred million dollars in outstanding bonds for the toll road.

In 2004, the city struck a groundbreaking $1.8 billion deal to lease the Skyway to a Spanish-Australian consortium for 99 years. As part of the agreement, the city set limits on graduated increases for the toll, which then cost $2 per trip. Skyway Concession has invested more than $130 million in improvements since taking over the toll road, including adding an electronic payment system.

The current rate for a car is $5.90 per trip, with average daily traffic at about 38,000 vehicles, according to Skyway Concession.

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The Skyway is projected to generate $117 million in revenue this year, according to an Atlas investor presentation Wednesday. Thats more than double the $50 million in tollway revenue during the first year of private ownership in 2005.

The concession agreement, which expires in 2104, allows for annual toll rate increases of at least 2%, according to Atlas. The rate increase is pegged to the consumer price index, benefiting from the inflationary economic environment and presaging strong near-term toll increases, the company said in its presentation.

Atlas said no major rehabilitation of the Skyway is expected before 2050, based on the capital investments made since 2000.

rchannick@chicagotribune.com
Kenya has started exporting its fresh avocados  dubbed as green gold  to China, which is seen as a step in Beijings elaborate plan to increase imports from Africa to help balance the trade between China and the continent.

The first batch of fresh avocados grown in Kenya and destined for the Chinese market was flagged off at a recent ceremony attended by senior government officials, diplomats, and industry executives. Kenya has thus became the first African country to export fresh avocados  dubbed as green gold thanks to huge global demand for the produce that has turned this market into a lucrative one  to China in a move set to further boost the economic ties between the two countries. The first batch of fresh Kenyan avocados arrived in Shanghai earlier this month after Beijing opened its doors for 15 Kenyan firms, including orchards and pack-houses, to export fresh avocado to the vast Chinese market.

It is all part of broader efforts by Beijing to implement President Xi Jinpings promise to increase imports from Africa. The news was greeted with enthusiasm in Kenya with the countrys Export Promotion and Branding Agency simply noting enjoy every piece  from Kenya with love, in a message to Chinese consumers. Some hope this latest trade development is a boon for avocado producers and a step toward evening out an imbalance between the two countries. The export of fresh avocados to China is a monumental feat that will boost our economy and benefit key players across the avocado value chain including farmers, said David Osiany, from Kenyas Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development. But some analysts warn nations wanting to boost exports must know what stands between them and Chinas market  whether it is pests, product quality or crop choice.
Morocco and the World Bank signed on Monday in Rabat a 236.7 million loan agreement for the funding of the North-East Economic Development Project destined to improve transport connectivity and rev up the private sector growth in the North-Eastern region of the Kingdom.

The agreement was inked by Economy & Finance minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui and WB Country-Director for Maghreb Jesko Hentschel following a meeting held between the Moroccan minister and visiting WB Vice-Pdt for MENA region Ferid Belhaj.

During the meeting, Mrs. Fettah thanked the World Bank for its financial and technical support that enables the North African Kingdom to implement priority reform projects, including generalization of social protection, public sector reform and new development strategies.

For his part, Mr. Belhaj praised the excellent cooperation ties existing between the WB and Morocco, voicing the firm willingness of the World Bank to continue its support for the Kingdoms economic and social development efforts.

The two parties also reaffirmed their determination to ensure success to the upcoming Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), scheduled for October 2023 in Marrakech.

The World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings are held for two consecutive years at the World Bank Group and IMF headquarters in Washington, D.C., US, and every third year in another member country. This cycle was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Annual Meetings convening virtually in 2020 and 2021.

The Annual Meetings bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, civil society, media, and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, global financial stability, poverty eradication, inclusive economic growth and job creation, climate change, and others.
Moroccan top general El Farouk Belkhir, Inspector General and Commander of the South Zone, held a meeting this Tuesday in Tel Aviv with Lieutenant General Aviv Cohavi, Chief of General Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, said a statement from the General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR).

The two officials discussed issues of common interest, including ways to strengthen cooperation between the two armies and its expansion to the fields of technology and innovation, the statement said.

Lieutenant General Belkhir El Farouk, who is accompanied by a large military delegation, is visiting Israel, at the instructions of King Mohammed VI, Supreme Commander and Chief of Staff of the Royal Armed Forces, to participate in an international conference on defense innovation.

The event, dubbed Operational Innovation, is organized by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and is held in Tel Aviv Sept. 12 to 15. It is attended by chiefs of staff, delegations and delegates of agencies of defense innovation representing 25 countries including Finland, India, Poland, Italy, Czech Republic, Holland, Canada, Germany, United States, the UK, Greece, Cyprus, in addition to NATO.

Moroccos participation in this international conference is part of a multilateral framework to promote the exchange of knowledge and know-how between the participating armies. It also aims to lay the foundations for a solid collaboration in the field of multidimensional defense and military innovation, the FAR had said in a previous statement that indicated that on the sidelines of the Conference, talks and official meetings are scheduled between the Inspector General of the FAR and the Israeli Defense authorities.

Moroccan and Israeli defense officials have stepped up cooperation after the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Last July, Israels army chief Aviv Kohavi visited Rabat and discussed with Moroccan Royal Armed Forces and the defense administration means to bolster ties.

Morocco is particularly interested in developing defense industries. In November 2021, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding that established a solid security cooperation framework, formalizing defense relations between them. The MoU allows for increased cooperation in the fields of intelligence, industrial collaboration, military training and more.
A large delegation of Spanish business operators on Monday visited several completed and ongoing projects in the Moroccan Southern city of Dakhla to explore the investment opportunities offered by this region.

On this occasion, the economic actors and business leaders said they were impressed by the investment opportunities and the quality of infrastructure in Dakhla, voicing their willingness to explore investment opportunities in various productive sectors.

They expressed their keen interest in this promising region and their eagerness to contribute to the economic momentum by seizing the various investment opportunities offered. They also stressed the importance of economic cooperation between Morocco and Spain.

This visit comes in the aftermath of the Moroccan-Spanish Investment Forum held in June in Dakhla. It has allowed economic players and Spanish business leaders to discuss investment and business opportunities in various productive sectors in the region, such as agribusiness, industry, logistics, fishing and renewable energy.

The Spanish delegation, led by Maria Tato, a businesswoman who heads more than 30 companies and hotels, met with the wali of the region of Dakhla-Oued Eddahab, governor of the province of Oued Eddahab, members of the Regional Council and the director of the Regional Investment Center.
The first of two intended suppliers of fill dirt to the Sustainable Beef LLC construction site won endorsement Monday from the North Platte Planning Commission.

Mondays 8-0 vote to recommend a conditional use permit for Gary and Ruth Stearns, 2482 E. State Farm Road, capped the first of four meetings the couple faces to win full approval of one of two borrow pit operations tied to the beef plant work.

The Stearnses and Robert Long, who would be Sustainable Beefs other fill-dirt supplier, face separate conditional use permit hearings Tuesday before the Lincoln County Planning Commission. That panel meets at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall council chamber, 211 W. Third St.

Both planning groups can recommend but cant decide whether to issue the permits. County commissioners will do so Sept. 19 and the City Council Sept. 20 at their regular meetings.

Unlike Long, who needs only a county permit, the Stearnses need both city and county permits. North Plattes two-mile zoning jurisdiction border runs through their proposed borrow-pit site near South Old Highway 83.

The couples land lies about three miles southeast of the retired sewer lagoon that will be filled in for Sustainable Beefs plant site.

Longs land lies north and east of the intersection of Hall School and Airport roads and three miles northeast of the project site at Newberry Access and Golden Road.

Permit applications by the Stearnses and Long say they expect 20 to 25 semitrailer trucks to haul dirt between their properties and the old lagoon from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. weekdays.

Saturday operations would happen only if weather cancels a day of work, said Planning Administrator Judy Clark.

Both applicants indicated their parts of the beef-plant project would take about a year. But Gary Stearns asked the city planning panel Monday night for a longer permit in case future unrelated construction projects need fill dirt from his land, too.

Kurt Pieper, who owns land south of the would-be borrow pit site, said he was concerned the dirt strip mining could trigger erosion and harm his property.

Ive called and asked for more detail and cant get any at this time, Pieper said.

Darren Hellbusch of Grand Island, an estimator/project manager for Van Kirk Bros. Contracting of Sutton, described plans for removing the dirt, controlling erosion, dust and water runoff and restoring the lands appearance.

Hellbusch, whose firm also would remove dirt from Longs land, said Van Kirk has done borrow-pit operations for Interstate 80 work for the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

The firms workers will take dirt from a hill and surrounding area covering between 29 and 32 acres of the Stearns land, he said. At least 800,000 yards of earth will be needed from there.

The site will be divided into four parts and remove dirt from one quarter at a time, starting each time from one side of the hill. Hellbusch compared the scraping operation to slicing cheese.

As each quarter is finished, Hellbusch said, Van Kirk will cap it with topsoil and reseed with cover crops like oat and rye to re-establish grass cover.

Before dirt removal on each quarter starts, that area will be prewatered to limit erosion and blowing dust, he said.

Hellbusch added that Van Kirk will contour the land to slope west to east and shape it in a hook form to control runoff from the prewatering sprinklers.

We dont just want to dive into this unbeknown and have it look like hell when were done, he said.

Pieper also expressed worries about the projects impact on a waterway that crosses his property before entering the Stearnses land.

Hellbusch said Pieper was referring to a natural draw that runs northeast and eventually under State Farm Road. Van Kirk will install silt fences at the bottom of the draw and the ditch along the county road to keep sediment out.

We dont alter the drainage or anything else, Hellbusch said.

Planning Commission members recommended that the council grant the Stearnses a 10-year conditional use permit but require a stormwater pollution prevention plan every time a future construction project wants dirt from more than 1 acre of their land.

The latter matches requirements in city codes and state law, said Clark and City Engineer Brent Burklund.

City Council members will have the option to adopt the panels conditions and also could add others, Clark said.

In other business, she said the Planning Commission will hold its next regular meeting a day earlier. Instead of Sept. 27  the fourth Tuesday of the month  the panel will meet Sept. 26.

Mondays meeting was the first for new Planning Commission member Kathleen Matthews, whom the council approved Sept. 6 to succeed Marilyn McGahan.
Imagine its pitch dark. The Pacific Ocean is swirling below your ship. Suddenly the darkness is pierced by the bright flashes  gunfire from nearby enemy destroyers.

Within three minutes, the ship you are stationed on is in flames and you and your fellow crewmates are in the rough water.

Its hard to fathom how anyone would react. Most, Im sure, would struggle to know what to do.

But on that fateful night in 1942, Charles Jackson French, then a 22-year-old Mess Attendant 1st Class, sprang into action.

When the USS Gregory, the ship French served on, was sunk by the Japanese navy on Sept. 5 near Guadalcanal during World War II, French didnt hesitate.

In fact, amid the chaos, French helped 15 of his wounded crewmates into a life raft. Then, he tied a rope around his waist, and swam for nearly eight hours in the shark-infested waters to tow the men away until they were rescued.

Frenchs actions that night saved the mens lives, and ensured they were not captured by the Japanese close by. Afterwards, some of the men French rescued pushed for the Navy to fully recognize Frenchs heroism. While Frenchs story was briefly popularized in mass media and he became known as the Hero of the Solomon Islands, he only received a short letter of commendation.

The survivors of the USS Gregory always felt French deserved a much higher tribute for his bravery. Sadly, French died in 1956 without such a recognition.

While the French family never forgot Charles heroism, it took decades until Frenchs story was rediscovered by the public.

As part of the effort to finally recognize Frenchs selfless actions, Congressman Don Bacon, R-Neb., introduced a bill to rename the Maple Street USPS facility in Benson after French. I introduced the companion legislation in the Senate. While French was born in 1919 in Arkansas, he moved to Omaha in his youth.

After much work, we were able to the pass the bill through the House of Representatives in February, through the Senate in May, and have it signed by the President in June.

Last week, we were all able to participate in the official renaming ceremony. It was an honor to meet the French family and contribute to the days events.

Forever designating the Maple Street facility as the Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Jackson French Post Office was an important step towards properly honoring an American hero.

My hope is that these actions will also ensure future generations can be inspired by this story of a truly exceptional man and his remarkable actions to save his crewmates. I believe the passage of time only increases our obligation to keep these stories alive.

In addition to the post office renaming, Omaha Mayor Jean Slothert has proclaimed Sept. 9, 2022, as Petty Officer Charles Jackson French Day. In May of this year, the Navy also posthumously awarded French with the Navy and Marine Corps medal.

I want to congratulate the family of the Hero of the Solomon Islands on these recognitions. Now, the Omaha community, and the country, will always know of Frenchs courage and selflessness in saving 15 of his fellow countrymen.

Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.
CINCINNATI, September 13, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Great American Insurance Group and Radion Health recently launched Level Funded PlusTM, a level funded group health plan for groups with 10 to 100 enrolled employees. Level Funded Plus - Powered by Great American Insurance Group makes it easy for brokers and consultants to access transparent, reliable level funded insurance for their clients.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005872/en/

Level Funded Plus offers:

A fast and easy quoting process . No individual health questionnaires or claims experience needed  receive a quote in 0-3 business days with a member-level census.

Smooth transitions for small groups . Allowing groups the convenience they want, Radions health plans work with national PPO networks, making the transition from fully insured to level funded as seamless as possible.

Transparent model. Radion collaborates with companies committed to transparency, passing savings through to employer groups at every turn.

Radion Health is the exclusive managing general agent for Level Funded Plus, available in every state except Washington. Policies are underwritten by Great American Insurance Company, rated "A+" Superior by AM Best. Learn more and get started at LevelFundedPlus.com.

Refer to the actual policy for a full description of applicable terms, conditions, limits and exclusions. Policies are underwritten by Great American Insurance Company, 301 E. Fourth St., Cincinnati, OH 45202. The Great American Insurance Group eagle logo and the word marks Great American and Great American Insurance Group are registered service marks of Great American Insurance Company.

About Radion Health

Radion Health makes it easy to offer affordable group health insurance by providing groups as small as 10 enrolled employees with simple, reliable level-funded and traditional medical stop-loss insurance for groups as small as 10 enrolled employees. Radion Health is based in New Orleans, Louisiana and operates remotely with employees throughout the United States.

Story continues

About Great American Insurance Group

Great American Insurance Groups roots go back to 1872 with the founding of its flagship company, Great American Insurance Company. Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, the operations of Great American Insurance Group are engaged primarily in property and casualty insurance, focusing on specialty commercial products for businesses. Great American Insurance Company has received an "A" (Excellent) or higher rating from the AM Best Company for more than 110 years (most recent rating evaluation of "A+" (Superior) affirmed December 3, 2021. The members of Great American Insurance Group are subsidiaries of American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG), also based in Cincinnati, Ohio. AFGs common stock is listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFG.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005872/en/

Contacts

Diane P. Weidner

Vice President, Investor and Media Relations, American Financial Group

513-369-5713

dweidner@amfin.com

Websites:

www.GreatAmericanInsuranceGroup.com

www.AFGinc.com

www.RadionHealth.com

www.LevelFundedPlus.com
Starting from the top row left:James (25): Nuclear scientist from Cumbria. He is wearing a kilt every time I have seen him, so you will not forget he is originally Scottish. (I too grew up in Scotland and left; I can mock all I want)Abdul (29): Electronics engineer from London. The chemistry of baking is mentioned in his bio, so I'm waiting for him to break out some of those fancy liquid nitrogen tricks. Cannot, however, operate an oven, it seems.Janusz (34): Assistant to a head teacher from Sussex. Describes his baking as camp, has an adorable sausage dog named Nigel, has been witnessed using soy sauce in cake instead of salt.Compost Carole (59): Cashier from Dorset. I did not make up the nickname. Has yelled NICE BIG NUTS and described a cake as 'putting hair on your chest', so I think she's going to be athis season.Kevin (33): Music teacher from Lanarkshire. Currently in Scotland, so will probably not talk about it all season. Is not wearing a kilt. Matt Lucas asked him if he knew James and I was ready to be offended, but they had the same music teacher, so fuck my drag, right.Will (45): Former charity director from London. Has a cat called Tiggy, but I have very little else to say about him as yet. Cannot do buttercream. Lives near Noel, as it turns out.Dawn (60): IT manager from and based in Bedfordshire. Loves 'wacky and intricate designs'. Has apparently been a project manager for Boris Johnson, so make of that what you will.Maisam (18): Student from Manchester. Speaks 5 languages and is aiming for 7 in the next two years, and she's on Bake Off - what are we doing with our lives?Rebs (23): Masters student from County Antrim. Very into Irish culture - plays the tin whistle. Another boring one thus far.Sandro (30): Nanny from London. King of the kitchen in my heart. Boxes, breakdances and does ballet! What can this man not do. I'm just gonna put his insta here if anyone wants it.Maxy (29): Architectural assistant from London. She studied fine art and architecture. Presumably this means she will totally excel at the 3D and 2D picture bakes! (I don't know if this is foreshadowing or not)Syabira (32): Cardiovascular researcher from London. Came to the UK for her PhD and settled in London. Current joint winner with Compost Carole of the Contestant I Would Just Watch Living Her Regular Life Award.
A state board rejected a plan Tuesday by Advocate Aurora Health to combine with Southern system Atrium Health  but will revisit the issue in coming months.

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Advocate and Atrium announced plans in May to unite to create one of the largest health systems in the country, with 67 hospitals and more than 1,000 sites of care across six states.

Advocate submitted applications earlier this year for the change to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review board, which typically must approve hospital mergers and sales. The board, on Tuesday, voted 3-2, not to approve the applications. Board members later voted at the same meeting Tuesday to reconsider the issue, which could happen at the boards next meeting in December, or potentially earlier, said board administrator John Kniery.

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Board members said their concerns related to the availability of information and their understanding about the deal, said Mark Silberman, a partner at law firm Benesch and former chief counsel for the state board, who is not involved in the deal but attended the meeting Tuesday. The board voted to table their next vote on the issue until Advocate could address those concerns.

Advocate Aurora said in a statement that it will continue to work with regulators and remains confident our combination is still on track to close by the end of the year.

State statute requires the Review Board to approve all Certificate of Exemption applications that staff have deemed complete. Our application was deemed complete last month, thus, we were surprised by todays delay and will work with the Review Board to address their questions, Advocate Aurora said in the statement.

Under the proposed deal, Advocate Aurora and Atrium would form a joint operating company to be called Advocate Health, though Atriums hospitals would keep the Atrium name, Advocates Wisconsin hospitals would keep the Aurora name, and its Illinois hospitals would still be called Advocate. No money would change hands, and existing assets would remain in the states where they are now.

Advocate Aurora President and CEO Jim Skogsbergh previously told the Tribune the new Advocate would have headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, though workers at the current headquarters in Downers Grove and Milwaukee would not be expected to move. Many of those workers are already remote, and its not expected that anyone will be laid off because of the deal, Skogsbergh said. Systems leaders said the combination would lead to 20,000 additional jobs.

Some have expressed opposition to the union in recent months, including the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois, which worried it would reduce the quality of health care in the Chicago area while increasing costs, and possibly lead to a reduction in services offered. Also, after the deal was announced, a lawsuit was filed in May accusing Advocate Aurora of anti-competitive conduct, including suppressing competition and raising prices in Wisconsin.

NorthShore attempted to expand several years ago through a planned merger with Advocate Health Care. But the two systems dropped that plan in 2017 after a federal judge ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission, which had argued that the two systems together would have had enough leverage to impose price increases on Illinois health insurers. Later that year, Advocate announced that it would merge with Wisconsins Aurora Health Care, creating Advocate Aurora Health.

In many cases, researchers have found that hospital consolidation results in higher prices for insurance companies, and those costs can be passed along to consumers through higher premiums and other payments.
Waste of good dolls and bread!

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take them to shelters, hospitals, etc.. the poor is in need, not a dead rich grandma.

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Cant even do that, they closed food banks out of respect for the queen. Theyre insane.

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The ghost of the queen visited me last night and told me that all Paddington bears and marmalade sandwiches can be redirected to my address specifically, and to please include 100 US dollars cash in each package. Thank you all for your condolences. She also said to stream Bionic, it was ahead of its time.

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The queen also visited me in my dream! she said she is a genie in a bottle, and we gotta rub her the right way.



Personally, I would like to abstain.

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i know you're both lying because a-list ghosts only haunt the sets of their biopics

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Blonde isn't even a biopic, it's literally a fanfic!

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who said Lizzy is A-list

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As lovely a gesture as this is, it is a bit stupid. What do people think will happen to them? They're going to the bin and no one will be helped by this. I'd think a charity donation to one of her causes would be more suitable.

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Right? Especially if they all picked a handful of charitys think of the impact they could make

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Louis, Charlotte, Georgie and Lisbett can only pack so many peasant-prepared sandwiches for school lunch before they tire of the taste of plebian garbage marmalade unworthy of the royal seal

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And none for Archie.

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I keep seeing all the flowers and thinking "if only this money was going to Pakistan"

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Imagining the bread left there getting moldy and soggy from the rain... 



The released the route for the queue to see QEII laying in state and they've mapped out a potential line that is FOUR AND A HALF MILES LONG



wtf.



lmao I was actually living in London when Will and Kate got married but could not be bothered to go out and stand around the route to catch a glimpse. I just... I really hate standing in long lines or anything that involves standing around and waiting for ages.

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Imagining the bread left there getting moldy and soggy from the rain...



Someone in another QE2 post said they will attract rats. Maybe they are already.

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I honestly cant imagine how older people are going to cope with that, even standing on your feet all day at work for 8-10 hours is a lot, and apparently the queue for the queen could end up lasting over 30 hours?!

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i have been passivly watching sky news for days now and the logistics of all of this are madness. so many flights. some church thing every day. people signing stuff. Truss looking confused.

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Truss looking confused.



Ah, so everything as usual, then?

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I liked John Oliver's bit on Truss this Sunday. She is so awkward

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she is just a very awkward person



but tbf, this is quite the start at the new job

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The whole flights thing is mad.



Like I get the RAF jet for her, they need to get her back to London, but all the private jets to and from Scotland twice a day has been nuts!

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same, idc about the monarchy but the pageantry around this is fascinating

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all that wasted food, these fucking idiots

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Ive never understood the point of doing this for a celebrity/public figure. Its all going to be trashed, so whats the point of wasting your money? Might as well flush your $50 down the toilet and call it a day.



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I'd rather they donate what they spent to charity. At least then someone could be helped by all this hoopla

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I'm sure I'll be a nobody when I die but even then I don't want flowers and some dumbass funeral. I will have charities I want donations to go to. Then just my loved ones/friends having a nice meal together and move on.

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I just want someone to put a stone on my gravestone every now and then.

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when I die just throw me in the trash

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The progression (lol) of the replies to my comment couldnt have been planned better. Thank you for this laugh, I needed it.

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Fr tho I feel like thats the sentiment here LMAO

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I always say that I want the "Frank Reynolds special" when I die. 

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leaving food to rot uselessly instead of donating or giving to the homeless is the perfect way to honor the monarchy

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Lol mte like this is the country that denies children free school lunches and we are currently dealing with a cost of living crisis where people can't afford to put food on the table or pay rent but yes, let's leave toys and food for some dead droopy inbred colonizer 

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Im so over this bullshit.

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News lady on itv right now: there hasnt been much to celebrate



Dude, not everyones life is on hold because the Queen died. We live in such a weird world.

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Lol right. I have been watching a fair bit of it and 24hr news is not built for just saying she's dead over and over. the rest of the world is still turning, or so i've heard.

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Me and ITV are in a fight rn because they're postponing soaps for all this "news"

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Have they not been on since she died?

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Ikrlol. I work from home and its really throwing a spanner in the works when I'm trying to trash watch loose women.

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The only justification for interrupting programs for this nonsense would be if it's literally just, "checking, please stand by ... yup, still dead."

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tell that to jesse armstrong!

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lmao at work today we got an email saying its disrespectful to have a comedy show the day of the funeral, my friend was pushing for us so hard to reply with well we thought it might help cheer everyone up

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Yeah, I celebrated my cat's birthday. He turned 17.

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Heard some food banks were closed for the funeral and mourning period and this is where they choose to send food...

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As someone up thread said perfect way to honor the monarchy sadly

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Seriously. In what way is not feeding the hungry honouring the queen's memory?

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Its the truest essence of colonialism, trampling on others.

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My mother has a temporary suspension on FB for making fun of Charles' ears. She's livid for many reasons.

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His ears are fine, I dont know what your mum is on about. His ears are fine, I dont know what your mum is on about.

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My aunt took a pottery class, like, 30 years ago and made a plant pot that looked EXACTLY like this. I don't think she used Charles as the model but still, uncanny.

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God every time I see his face I feel sorry for Dianna for having to stare straight at that while he was inside of her.

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Paddington, you're peruvian, don't do us like that >:(

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he was hacked!

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Sorry, Im just imagining people holding a candle in one hand, while sobbing their eyes out and holding a marmalade sandwich in the other, but holding it up like people do with lighters at concerts. Its providing a good laugh.

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Indias energy sector will be needing an additional 28GW coal-fired power generation capacity by 2032, advisory body Central Electricity Authority (CEA) stated.



These additions will be needed on top of the 25GW in thermal coal projects currently under construction. In its Draft National Electricity Plan (Vol-1 Generation) CEA gives these recommendations for feedback to stakeholders. CEA is publishing a National Electricity Plan every five years, putting it in front of licensees, generation companies, and the general public. The institution also stated that the BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) requirement in 2031-32 is varying from 51GW to 84GW. In a warning to the industry, the CEA indicated that in case of a delay in the construction of hydro-plants, there will be another 4GW of coal-fired power generation needed in 2026-2027. Indias energy industry is also looking at base load nuclear capacity, but in the meantime, cheap coal serves as an alternative. The CEA report further indicated that Indias peak electricity demand is set to be hitting 272GW, while electrical energy requirements are set at 1,874BU in 2026-2027, while for 2031-32 363GW and 2,538BU is needed.

To increase local coal production, the Indian Ministry of Coal is holding an e-auction for 10 commercial mines, as the technical evaluation of bids is completed. The peak rate capacity of these mines being put up for e-auction is 39.31 mtpa. An e-auction for 8 coal mines is done on September 13, while the remaining 2 are being held on September 14. Until now, the Indian Ministry of Coal has successfully auctioned 43 coal mines with a peak rate capacity of 85.54 mtpa. In statements last month, Indian coal minister Pralhad Joshi stated that around 107 coal blocks will be put up for auction in the future. Indias overall coal production increased by 8.27% (Y-o-Y) to 58.33 million tons in August 2022 compared to 53.88 mt in August 2021. By 2030, Indias coal demand is set to hit 1.5 billion tons.

Related: Top U.S. LNG Exporter Boosts Dividend By 20%



India, and other Asian countries, have taken advantage of the Russian coal push into Asia. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has been eager to replace the loss of European share by increasing sales to Asian countries, mainly India and China. Still, the heydays seem to be over, as Russian seaborne exports of coal to Asia are in decline, dropping in August to 10.15 million tons, in comparison to 12.16 million tons in July or 12.42 million tons in June. Chinese imports of Russian coal are down, but India still imports more (1.8 million tons August vs 1.51 million tons in July). As is the case with Russian oil and gas exports, India has been Moscows main success story. Before the Ukraine war, India imported only between 300,000  700,000 tons of Russian coal. Russias coal exports are also no longer benefitting from steep discounts it offered in the early days of the war.

At present, the picture for global coal is still positive. Coal prices are trading near record levels, as the EU and others are scrambling for reliable sources of energy. In a recent report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) stated that it expects 2022 global coal consumption to reach levels last seen a decade ago. The effects of global warming or intense and long droughts in China, Europe and other places also have pushed up demand for coal. Especially China could be looking to increase coal consumption this winter to compensate for lower hydropower output. It is expected that in addition to India, China also will increase its coal mining activities substantially this decade.

By Cyril Widdershoven for Oilprice.com

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OPEC raised its August oil production by 618,000 bpd, according to the groups Monthly Oil Market Report published on September 13.

According to OPECs secondary sources, OPEC raised its production to 29.651 million bpd, with the largest increases coming from Libya and Saudi Arabia.

Libyas oil production has been severely depressed in recent months, but for now, production has climbed back above 1 million bpd, to 1.123 million bpd, compared to 697,000 in July. Libyas average crude oil production for 2021 was 1.143 million bpd.

Saudi Arabia lifted production as well, to 10.904 million bpd in August compared to 10.744 million bpd. This is 100,000 bpd lower than the 11.004 million bpd laid out in its August quota.

The largest laggards to the production cut deal for the month of August are Nigeria (1.1 million bpd produced versus a 1.826 million bpd target) and Angola, which produced 1.187 million bpd versus its 1.525 million bpd target. Iraq also underproduced in August by 126,000 bpd.



Source: OPEC MOMR (September 13, 2022)

While still under the set production targets, OPEC has managed to lift its production in every month since May, although it has failed to meet its full production allocations in any of those months.

OPECs MOMR suggested that Russias July liquids production increased by 36,000 bpd, to 11.1 million bpd. But OPECs preliminary outlook for Russias August crude and condensate production was that it fell by 71,000 bpd to average 9.8 million bpd, with a decline of 119,000 bpd for NGLs.

Oil prices were trading down on Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. ET. WTI was trading at $87.54down $0.24 (-0.27%) on the day, with Brent crude trading at $93.59 per barrel, down $0.41 (-0.44%) on the day.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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In early September 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin spelled out his intention to punish Europe for resisting Russias assault on the world order and supporting Ukraine louder and clearer than ever before. Speaking at the high session of an economic forum in Vladivostok, Russia, Putin asserted that the confrontation in Ukraine has reinforced Russias sovereignty, so in reality, it stands to gain from deepened global polarization and has suffered no significant losses (Nezavisimaya gazeta, September 7). He described the proposal to enforce a price cap on oil and gas exported from Russia as dumb and threatened to halt all energy supplies if approved by the European Union (Kommersant, September 7). Putins scorn for Europeans, who in his opinion are not in the position to dictate rules and conditions, is underpinned by the presumption of their panic over deepening economic hardships. A hard winter may be looming for Europe, but Putin has ordered the Nord Stream One gas pipeline shutdown to Germany too early, giving the EU plenty of time to prepare emergency measures (Forbes.ru, September 6). Mainstream commentators in Moscow argue that economic prosperity in key EU member states cannot be sustained without large-volume energy ties with Russia (Rossiiskaya gazeta, September 6). This wishful thinking is disproved by careful EU efforts at fitting immediate responses to Russian energy blackmail into the strategy of eliminating dependence on this unacceptable supplier altogether (Rosbalt, September 6).

Ultimately, Gazprom has been hit the worst by Putins decision to maximize energy pressure on the EU, as the energy company can only burn the redundant gas in huge flares, while during winter, it will have to shut down many production facilities effectively destroying key assets (Svoboda.org, September 5). The Kremlin may entertain fantasies about redirecting gas flows from the Yamal fields to China, but it will take years to lay the necessary pipelines, and Beijing shows no interest in funding these projects, as even Moscow commentators concede (Ru.valdaiclub.com, September 1). The economic slowdown in China effectively undercuts Putins energy ambitions, as the benchmark price for the Russian Urals oil blend has slipped to $65 per barrel, despite the cut in production quotas by the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel (Izvestiya, September 9).

These dynamics with oil prices curtails Russian revenues more effectively than any envisaged caps, and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has warned about difficulties with balancing the state budget in the next three years (RBC, September 8). This sober forecast means that Putins resolute application of the energy weapon has come too late, and on the background of stabilizing global fundamentals, the move looks desperate rather than calculated. Europe is the only vulnerable market in this rebalanced global picture, but continental leaders have for several months worked on preparing a joint action plan for the predictable shutdown of Russian energy exports (Russiancouncil.ru, September 6). Dissenting voices on this subject are always notable, but a commitment to unity has been maintained and expanded on energy and security matters, as demonstrated by the September 8 meeting of top Western defense officials, chaired by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in the well-established Ramstein format (Kommersant, September 8).

Putins threats could have made some difference a few months earlier, but presently, Western policymakers are developing mid- and long-term programs for supporting Ukraine irrespective of Russias grinding of the gas axe. It is unclear to what degree Putin is aware of the difference this steadily expanding support is making on the battlefield: In the Far East, he held a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, as well as attended the final show of the Vostok 2022 strategic exercises, but surprisingly little information was given on either (Kremlin.ru, September 6). Upon returning to Moscow, the Russian president presided over a meeting of the Russian Security Council but focused mostly on the deal for exporting grain from Ukraine, correcting somewhat the mistake he had made in the Vladivostok session, but insisting on revising the arrangement with Turkey (RIA Novosti, September 9).

Related: Goldman Warns EU Energy Price Freeze Could Backfire

Meanwhile, the tactical success achieved by Ukrainian forces at Balakliya in Kharkiv region in a matter of three days became a serious setback and, in another two days, a disaster for Russian forces concentrated around Izyum for continuing the offensive push toward Slovyansk (Meduza, September 9). Up until the afternoon of September 10, the Russian Defense Ministry had provided no information about this chaotic retreat, elaborating instead on the failure of the Ukrainian offensive in Kherson region. As a result. mainstream media was stuck with the story about the arrival of reinforcements to Kupyansk, which had actually been lost to astonishingly fast-moving Ukrainian troops (Izvestiya, September 10). This censorship has, however, failed to silence the not so small gang of patriotic bloggers, who have spread alarm across social networks about the unfolding catastrophe (Lenta.ru, September 10).

It is unclear whether Putin has any better data on this shocking defeat than the concise report from the Defense Ministry about a redeployment of the Balakliya-Izyum grouping to Donbas (Novayagazeta.eu, September 10). On September 10, the Russian leader attended festivities in Moscow, inaugurated a massive Ferris wheel and briefly mentioned the task of reconstructing Donbas for the coming winter (RIA Novosti, September 10). The Ukrainian breakthrough has revealed the urgent need for Moscow to build combat-capable reserves, rather than ragtag regional battalions. But a real mobilization remains a step too far for Putin, who is attempting to maintain pretenses of normalcy (to which the Muscovites are eager to subscribe) and firm control over the special military operation, which after 200 days is no longer at a stalemate (Meduza, September 10).

The Ukrainian offensive may soon reach its limit, when a regrouping will be needed before striking other weak spots in Russias ramshackle defenses. It has, nevertheless, already proved that Putins energy blackmail was unleashed much too late. Europe has discovered a path to mitigating or even preventing the looming hard economic winter.

Indeed, the next Ukrainian success, perhaps in Kherson region, could compel Moscow to seek a way out of the unwinnable war, and resuming gas exports to Germany might be considered by the Kremlin as a useful demonstration of a newfound readiness for compromises. Expanding support for Ukraine should now be assessed in the EU as a more efficient and much cheaper political option than restrictions on electricity use and subsidies to affected businesses. Energy security can actually be enhanced by military meansif applied in Ukraine with determination and competence.

By The Jamestown Foundation

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Gazprom is now delivering approximately 84 million cubic meters of gas to Europe via Ukraine and Turkey per day, compared to last years average of 480 million cubic meters per day.

This year, Gazprom supplied 43 percent less gas to Europe than last year, but raised prices by three times on average.

This translated to the companys European export revenue increasing from $53 billion to $100 billion, wrote Oliver Hortay, head of the energy and climate policy research at Hungarian think tank Szazadveg Konjunkturakutato, in his Facebook post in response to an article published in the Financial Times.

According to the paper, the higher gas prices will help the Russian natural gas extraction company Gazprom offset the decrease in supply.

In an article published on Friday, the Financial Times reported that the company Gazprom is keeping its revenues from gas sales stable, as rising prices have compensated for its decision to reduce deliveries to Europe.

The Kremlin said this week that it would keep the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which carries gas to Europe across the Baltic Sea, closed as long as the West maintains its economic sanctions.

This means that Gazprom is now delivering approximately 84 million cubic meters of gas to Europe via Ukraine and Turkey per day, compared to last years average of 480 million cubic meters per day, the British newspaper pointed out.

However, the drop in supplies is expected to push prices this year to an average of three times that of 2021, which BCS Global Markets oil and gas industry analyst Ron Smith said would help Gazprom increase its total revenue by 85 percent to $100 billion.

Last year, Gazprom exported gas to Europe and Turkey at an average price of $310 per cubic meter, resulting in gross export earnings of $54 billion.

Now, Ron Smith estimates that for all of 2022, the company will ship 43 percent less volume, but at an average price of $1,000 per cubic meter.

Hortay highlighted in his Facebook post that Gazprom is delivering 43 percent less gas to Europe this year than last year, which increases prices three times on average. The companys European export revenue will increase from $53 billion to $100 billion.

Related: The UKs New Prime Minister Considers Lifting Fracking Ban

A relatively small decrease in volume can cause a large increase in gas prices, which can result in an increase in revenues for the producer who is reducing his supply. In other words, it can be reasonably argued that Gazprom earns more by transporting less gas, analyst Ron Smith pointed out.

Sergei Vakulenko, an independent Russian energy analyst, estimates that Gazprom is earning about 250 million a day at current prices and deliveries, which means that it would lose as much if it stopped gas deliveries to Europe.

The Russian gas supplier achieved a net profit of $41.75 billion in the first half of 2022, compared to a profit of $29 billion for the whole of last year, according to the companys announcement last week. The company paid an additional $20 billion in dividends to the Russian state.

By Zerohedge.com

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Against a backdrop of Moscow's confrontation with the West and escalating tensions between Beijing and the West over Taiwan -- all eyes will be on Xi and Putin in Uzbekistan.

In his first trip outside of China in more than two years, Chinese President Xi is set to embark on a tour of Central Asia to showcase Beijings Eurasian vision

Chinese President Xi Jinping will leave China for the first time in more than two years in a trip to Central Asia that aims to boost Chinese leadership in the region and reaffirm Beijing's partnership with Moscow in a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The trip marks Xi's return to the world stage and kicks off with a visit to Kazakhstan on September 14 followed by a trip to the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand, in Uzbekistan, for the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. At the SCO meeting, Xi will meet with various regional leaders as well as Putin, whom he has not seen since they declared a "no limits" Russian-Chinese partnership in February just days before the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.

The Xi-Putin meeting is likely to attract the most attention. Still, the fact the Chinese leader has chosen Kazakhstan and the SCO summit as the venues for his first international trip since January 2020 sends a powerful message about Beijing's vision for Central Asia and the importance of the SCO -- a political and security bloc that includes India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as members -- for China.

The timing of the trip -- which comes a month before Xi is poised to receive a third five-year term as leader of the Chinese Communist Party -- is also significant and showcases the confidence he has even before his expected October 16 confirmation that will cement his position as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

Here are the storylines to follow and what to expect as Xi embarks on a week of high-profile diplomacy that is set to shape China's vision for Central and South Asia, the Middle East, and beyond.

Face Time With Putin

Against a backdrop of Moscow's confrontation with the West, its war in Ukraine, and escalating tensions between Beijing and the West over Taiwan -- all eyes will be on Xi and Putin in Uzbekistan.

Few details are available about what kind of meeting will take place between the pair. Beijing has confirmed Xi's travel plans, but no other information. Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters last week that the Xi-Putin meeting will be "very important," but did not elaborate.

On September 7, Li Zhanshu, a Chinese Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee member and the country's No. 3 leader, visited Vladivostok in Russia's Far East to attend the Eastern Economic Forum and meet with Putin.

Li called for increased cooperation with Moscow and, according to an official Russian readout of a meeting with lawmakers from the State Duma on September 9, said that China "understands and supports Russia," especially "on the situation in Ukraine."

The comments received added attention as they appeared to be a more full-throated endorsement of Russia's war than past public statements from Chinese officials and the mentions of Ukraine were notably absent from Li's comments from the meeting published in Chinese state media.

The extent of China's support for Russia has been in the spotlight since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine. Still, Beijing and Moscow's relationship is slated to receive added scrutiny as Russia faces new setbacks from a Ukrainian counteroffensive that has seen Kyiv retake large amounts of territory.

Beijing has refused to condemn Russia's actions, has criticized Western sanctions, and boosted the Kremlin's narrative about fighting in Ukraine in its state media -- though it has also been cautious about explicitly endorsing Moscow's invasion.

Chinese companies have bought Russian energy supplies at record levels, with Russian energy giant Gazprom saying recently that it signed an agreement to start switching the currency of payments by China for gas supplies to yuan and rubles instead of U.S. dollars.

But China has been careful to avoid violating Western sanctions on Russia and many analysts say its support has largely been out of self-interest. Beijing has bought up Russian energy at steep discounts and amplified anti-American rhetoric throughout the war. But it has held back from providing military aid or technological support that could improve Moscow's standing on the battlefield.

With the stakes high, the SCO summit in Uzbekistan will be an important litmus test for where the Chinese-Russian partnership stands after nearly seven months of war.

Symbolic Trip Abroad

While a meeting with Putin comes with its own unique symbolism, the fact Xi will begin his first tour abroad in Kazakhstan sends an important message about China's vision for Central Asia and how it is adapting to the geopolitical fallout from the war in Ukraine.

Kazakhstan was where Xi launched the overland portion of what would morph into the globe-spanning Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and the country has become a strategic partner for Beijing as a top energy and resource provider that borders China's western Xinjiang Province, where Chinese authorities have launched a mass-internment program targeting more than 1 million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Muslim minorities.

The stop in Kazakhstan provides a chance for Beijing to deepen its relationship with Nur-Sultan and also burnish its foreign policy credentials.

The Ukraine war has created a new and tumultuous era for Russia's historic ties to Central Asia, with governments in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan providing aid to Ukraine in the early months of the conflict and distancing themselves from Moscow. Kazakhstan has also been the target of threats from hard-line Russian commentators and officials about possibly annexing its territory in the north.

This sets the stage for Beijing to be an even more appealing partner to countries in the region -- a tough balancing act for China to maintain as it looks to preserve its strategic relationship with Moscow and simultaneously expand its influence in a part of the world that the Kremlin has traditionally seen as its "backyard."

Breathing Life Into The SCO

The exact agenda of the SCO summit is still being set, but the bloc's 22nd leaders' summit is slated to be an important one.

The meeting in Samarkand will be the first in-person summit since 2019 and is expected to focus on security and economic issues related to Afghanistan, the admission of Iran -- whose membership was approved last year -- and potential member status for Belarus, which is currently an observer.

Founded in 2001, the SCO has been criticized for being an empty vessel unable to tackle the big issues on its security mandate and often divided by the rivalries of its members.

Related: EU Considers A Price Cap On Clean Power

Despite its flaws, Beijing -- and Xi -- still see value in the SCO as an umbrella organization for pushing China's interests across Eurasia and as a geopolitical vehicle for Chinese leadership.

In Samarkand, Xi will likely look to use the SCO as an opportunity to highlight a gathering of countries under Chinese guidance that exists as an alternative to Western-led alliances. The summit will also provide a chance for important face-to-face diplomacy for a host of countries: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed his attendance on September 12 and leaders from other members and observer states -- such as Turkmenistan -- will also attend.

This provides useful optics for Xi and will perhaps give the SCO a boost in credibility as a regional leader.

But doing so will certainly keep Beijing's hands full in a year that is already full of upheaval across Eurasia -- from the war in Ukraine to unrest in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, as well as a deepening global economic crisis.

By RFE/RL

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Cyberattacks are among the greatest risks Saudi Aramco faces these days, Amin Nasser, president and chief executive officer at the worlds biggest oil firm, said on Tuesday.

Cyberattacks are one of the top risks we face at Aramco  on a par with natural disasters or physical attacks, Nasser told the Global AI Summit 2022 in Riyadh.

But while these attacks are growing in scale and severity, AI is helping fend off some of the threat. So our efforts should not only focus on greater efficiency or deeper customer insights, but also on security and resilience, Saudi Aramcos top executive added.

Aramco itself has been subject to several cyber attacks in recent years, the most notorious being the 2012 Shamoon malware that wiped out every computer at the Saudi oil firm. In 2018, a variant of the Shamoon malware resurfaced, cybersecurity experts warned at the time.

Last year, Aramco was targeted in a data leak that was the subject of a ransom demand of $50 million in cryptocurrency. In July last year, the worlds largest oil firm told The Associated Press that it recently became aware of the indirect release of a limited amount of company data which was held by third-party contractors. A week earlier, BleepingComputer reported that Saudi Aramco had suffered a data breach in which cyber attackers had stolen 1 terabyte of proprietary data of Saudi Arabias oil giant and are selling it on the dark web.

Its not only Saudi Aramco that has identified cyber threats as one of the top risks.

According to an August 2022 study by cyber risk rating and monitoring company BreachBits, most U.S. oil and gas firms are exposed to the risks of a cyber breach. The study ranked 59% of companies at Medium Risk for a cyber breach, 13% at Low Risk, and 28% at Very Low Risk.

11% of the companies presented potentially serious, High-Risk threats. We identify and monitor cyber risks at scale as we did here, detect issues and then test them just as a hacker would for our customers, BreachBits CEO and Co-Founder John Lundgren said last month.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

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EU member states are discussing the idea of capping the power generation revenues at renewable and nuclear power producers at up to $203 (200 euros) per megawatt-hour as part of an emergency package, sources with knowledge of the discussions told Bloomberg on Tuesday.

The EUs executive body, the European Commission, is expected to present on Wednesday its proposals for emergency measures to tackle the energy crisis and help EU households and businesses survive soaring energy prices.

Last Wednesday, the Commission said it would soon propose a mandatory target for the EU to cut power consumption at peak hours, a revenue cap on electricity producers and fossil fuel companies, and a price cap on Russian gas as a part of that package.

However, by Friday, when the EU energy ministers held an extraordinary meeting, deep divisions among member states emerged regarding price caps, especially the cap on all gas or Russian gas only. At least 10 EU member states, including Italy, Greece, and Poland, are said to be opposed to the bloc slapping a price cap on Russian gas over concerns that Putin might retaliate with a complete halt of gas supply to the whole of Europe.

While the idea of the Russian gas price cap may be dead in the water, the EU is reportedly pushing forward with a levy on fossil fuel companies and targets for reducing power consumption, according to Bloombergs sources.

The European Commission plans to propose a temporary tax on the extra profits of fossil fuel companies, including the refining industry, of at least 33% of those extra profits, Bloombergs sources say.

The Commission will also propose a 5% cut in power consumption at selected peak hours - a target that would be mandatory, the source added.

The Commissions proposal needs to be given the green light by all EU governments.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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The European Commission is walking away from the idea of proposing a price cap on Russian gas as part of measures to tackle the energy crisis, the Guardian reported on Tuesday, citing a leaked draft document of proposals it had seen.

The draft document, expected to be unveiled on Wednesday, contains no reference to any price cap on gas, be it Russian or not, according to the leak viewed by the Guardian.

Last week, the European Commission said it would propose a mandatory target for the EU to cut power consumption at peak hours, a revenue cap on electricity producers and fossil fuel companies, and a price cap on Russian gas as immediate measures to save the European gas and electricity markets and help vulnerable consumers.

"We will propose a cap on Russian gas. The objective here is very clear. We must cut Russia's revenues which Putin uses to finance this atrocious war against Ukraine," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last Wednesday.

However, EU member states remain deeply divided over a price cap on Russian gas, with at least ten out of 27 governments reportedly opposing such as move over concerns that Putin might retaliate with a complete halt of gas supply to the whole of Europe. Germany, Europe's biggest economy and the most affected EU member by the now-shut Nord Stream pipeline, isn't supportive of the plan, either.

Related: China's Annual Oil Demand Could Drop For The First Time In 20 Years

Another group of EU countries, which include France and Poland, pushed for a price cap on all imported gas. However, the European Commission is wary of this idea because a cap would hurt Europe's ability to draw in large volumes of LNG if prices elsewhere are higher.

The gas price cap is thus unlikely to make it in Wednesday's proposal from the Commission, although the draft is still subject to changes, according to the Guardian.

But the EU executive arm is said to be pressing forward with a cap on revenues for nuclear and renewable power producers and a levy on the extra profits of the fossil fuel companies, including the refining sector, sources with knowledge of the discussions told Bloomberg on Tuesday.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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South Sudan has threatened to quit the OPEC group if it interferes with its ability to meet its ambitious oil production plans, first vice-president Riek Machar said on Tuesday.

Speaking at an industry conference on September 13, Machar said that South Sudan's petroleum minister has had difficulties with OPEC+ over its crude oil targets. South Sudan has ambitious plans to increase crude oil production to 230,000 bpd by 2024.

South Sudan's August production cap, agreed to by OPEC+, was significantly below that, at 130,000 bpd. Its actual production for August, however, came in at 160,000 bpd, according to Argus estimates.

"Our minister of petroleum has had issues with Opec over the increment of crude production but we shall instead quit the organisation if we are hindered from increasing oil production. Our target is to increase crude production right now and become an oil hub in the east African region and foster economic development for our people," Marchar said at the industry event on Tuesday.

OPEC+ has been criticized in recent months for not increasing production quickly enough amid the tight global crude market that was exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Nevertheless, an internal OPEC+ technical committee report seen by Argus found that South Sudan accounts for around half of the coalitions overproduction to date.

In August, OPEC+ producers were estimated to have produced 3.4 million barrels per day less than their quotas allowed.

OPEC+ has still asked members who overproduced their quota to make up for their past overproduction by making additional production cuts before the end of the year, when the deal is set to expire.

South Sudan, however, has not submitted its plans to compensate for its overage, instead, insisting that the global happenings in the world.warrants us to produce more oil.

South Sudans petroleum minister Puot Kang Chol has reported that its current production is only 107,000 bpd due to problems with floods and depleted oil wells.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Senior Chinese official meets outgoing Russian ambassador to China

Xinhua) 09:16, September 13, 2022

Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with Andrey Denisov, the outgoing Russian Ambassador to China, in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met on Monday with Andrey Denisov, the outgoing Russian Ambassador to China.

Yang, also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, spoke highly of Denisov's positive contributions in promoting the sound and stable development of China-Russia relations.

Yang said that under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, relations between the two countries have always progressed along the right track. The two sides firmly support each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and cooperate closely on international and multilateral occasions, he added.

China is ready to work with Russia to make the high-level strategic coordination between the two countries more concrete, safeguard the common interests of the two sides and make the international order more just and equitable, Yang said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
At the cinema, we do not think, we are thought, wrote the 19-year-old critic and future filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard in 1950. This is how strongly Godard responded to the screen, his future canvas. And our eternal wonder.

Like Picasso, Samuel Beckett and Jean-Paul Sartre, the French-Swiss provocateur who died Sept. 13 at 91 made people see and experience the familiar, the death-haunted and the stubbornly life-affirming in a new way, whether they wanted the new way or not.

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Consider the jump cut, the sudden visual transition, like an eye-blink, popularized  immortalized, really  by Godards 1960 sensation Breathless. (Godard dedicated Breathless to Monogram Pictures, a Poverty Row Hollywood studio he and his fellow cinematheque devotees adored.)

Jean-Paul Belmondo is the glamorous, amorous thug in love with Humphrey Bogart and Hollywood gangster films. Jean Seberg is his newfound, enigmatic lover, a Sorbonne-bound American in Paris hawking the New York Herald Tribune.

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I want to know the future, he tells her on the boulevard one day, looking in vain for his horoscope in the paper. Dont you? That future doesnt end well for one of them. The future of movies, meantime, is being born all around them in Breathless.

The first cut of Godards debut feature ran 2 hours. The producer required a nice, quick 90-minute picture instead. How to whack it down to size?

Richard Brodys excellent Godard book, Everything is Cinema, recounts in fascinating detail how Breathless became the brazen film of the future in the editing room. Godards fellow filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville, who appeared in Godards film, told him to remove all unnecessary scenes. Simple, yes?

But he didnt listen to me, Melville said.

Instead, as Brody writes, Godard and his editor, Cecile Decugis, took out all moments  within scenes, even within shots  that seemed to (Godard) to lack vigor. He kept in the film only what he thought was strongest, regardless of dramatic import or conventional continuity, thus producing many jump cuts, where characters, anything else that moves within the shot, seem to jump from one position to another in a relatively fixed frame.

Establishing shots, introductory scene-setting bits, expository bearings: gone, gone, gone. Breathless became a film of middles and fabulous, pungent, unpredicted found moments usually kept off-screen.

Watching it today is like watching Godard think through the endless possibilities of filmmaking, and editing, as hes filming.

Then Godard was famous, and off in a new direction, and then another. Decades later, Godard had become the Godot of the international film festival circuit, frequently anticipated but, in the end, rarely if ever showing up at his own press conferences.

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French-Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard in a 2014 photo. (FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP/Getty Images)

The late period included a wonderful go at low-fi 3D for Goodbye to Language (2014), rightly awarded the prize for best picture by the National Society of Film Critics. Like his beloved Hollywood giants, Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks, Godard perpetually circled a discrete set of themes and obsessions across a variety of genres: disconnection, ideology as weaponry, cinema as poetry in motion.

But generalizing about Godards approach defies rational sense. Films as disparate as Band of Outsiders (1964), Alphaville (1965) and the skeptical Marxist-Leninist anti-romance La Chinoise (1967) reveal wondrous contrasts in a very short burst of creativity. Far-left politics? Not-so-hidden reactionary worldview? Depending on the moment, and the dialectical tensions in Godards work, yes and yes. Its all true.

New Waves come but once. Godards fellow Cahiers du Cinema critics, including Jacques Rivette, Francois Truffaut and Claude Chabrol, belonged to a highly competitive boys club of aspiring filmmakers and sometime-geniuses. No sometime about it, though, when it came to Godard, certainly not for French President Emmanuel Macron, who tweeted Tuesday: Jean-Luc Godard, the most iconoclastic of the New Wave filmmakers, had invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art. We have lost a national treasure, one regarded as a genius.

In Chicago, Facets Film Program Director Charles Coleman had this to say Tuesday: Godard was an artist who had a perseverance of delight in his defiance of conventional thought. He added: He may very well be the most important director and purveyor of influence who profoundly shaped my perspective on cinema, as well as motivated me to see it as a force in the world.

Preceding Godard in death: the film culture and ferment that paved the way for a less provincial, more international cinema (though for too many decades, international meant mostly European). Godard was dogged for decades by charges of anti-Semitism; in a 1980 interview, he said: I dont like to choose between Cain and Abel, between the Nazis and the Jews  one too dreadful torturers, the other too dreadful martyrs. A self-imposed outcast frequently courting, and defying, reputational disaster, he made films until very near the end.

He has no more future, as Belmondos character feared in Breathless. But Godard leaves behind a singular cinematic past, ever spoiling for debate and argument with a new audience.

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Scene from the film "Adieu Au Langage (Goodbye to Language)" by Jean-Luc Godard. (Cannes Film Festival)

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

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Ukraine's military has recaptured 6,000 square kilometers from Russia in a counteroffensive this month, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, while calling on the West to slap more sanctions on Moscow and speed up deliveries of weapons systems to allow Ukrainian troops to consolidate control over the regained territory.

"Since the start of September, our soldiers have already liberated 6,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory in the east and south, and we are moving further," Zelenskiy said in his nightly address.

Six thousand square kilometers is about the equivalent to the combined area of the West Bank and Gaza.

"Strengthen sanctions -- an eighth EU sanctions package is needed," Zelenskiy said. "It is necessary to increase aid to Ukraine, first of all to speed up the provision of air-defense systems to our country."

Russia-imposed official Vitaly Ganchev said earlier on September 12 on Russias state-run Rossia-24 that Ukrainian troops had retaken previously Russian-held areas in the north of Kharkiv, breaking through to the border with Russia, and that "about 5,000" civilians had been evacuated to Russia.

According to Ganchev, the Ukrainian military outnumbered Russian forces by 8-to-1 during the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the region that began last week.

Ganchev said "the situation is becoming more difficult by the hour," adding that the border with Russia's Belgorod region was now closed.

His unconfirmed comments came after the Ukrainian military overran the key Russian supply hubs of Izyum and Kupyansk, where the Kharkiv region's Russia-installed administration had been based.

After Russia's Defense Ministry published a map showing that Russian forces had almost entirely abandoned the Kharkiv region, the British Defense Ministry said in its latest intelligence bulletin on September 13 that one of Russia's most prestigious armored units was among the ones withdrawn from Kharkiv.

The unit that was pulled back from Kharkiv, the 1st Guards Tank Army (1 GTA), British intelligence said, had already suffered severe losses in the early phase of the invasion.

"The 1st GTA had been one of the most prestigious of Russias armies, allocated for the defense of Moscow, and intended to lead counterattacks in the case of a war with NATO," British intel said.

"With 1 GTA and other Western Military District (WEMD) formations severely degraded, Russias conventional force designed to counter NATO is severely weakened," the bulletin said, adding, "It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability."

Ukrainian troops have shared videos of themselves raising Ukrainian flags on buildings in the Kharkiv region and being greeted by grateful residents. Some of the videos show pieces of Russian artillery and tanks left behind by fleeing troops.

But as Ukrainian troops push the counteroffensive, there were fears that it could trigger an even more violent response from Moscow. Russia already launched missile attacks that hit key civilian infrastructure, according to Ukrainian officials.

Problems with electricity and water were reported on September 11 in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Zaporizhzhya, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, potentially impacting millions of people.

The city of Kharkiv lost water and electricity supplies due to renewed Russian shelling.

"The situation from last night has been repeated. Due to shelling, critical infrastructure facilities have been put out of action, and as a result, power has gone out in Kharkiv and the water supply was cut off," Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram.

By early on September 12, Kyiv authorities said electric power and water supplies had been restored to some 80 percent in the Kharkiv region.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell discussed the success of Ukraine's counteroffensive with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on September 12.

EU support will continue, Borrell said on Twitter.

"Our strategy is working: help Ukraine fight back, put pressure on Russia with sanctions and support partners around the world," Borrell said.

By RFE/RL

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OAK GLEN, Calif. (AP)  Rescuers searched for a person missing in a mudslide Tuesday as big yellow tractors plowed through dark, thick sludge and pushed boulders off roads after flash floods swept dirt, rocks and trees down fire-scarred slopes, washed away cars and buried buildings in small mountain communities in Southern California.

With thunderstorms forecast and more mudslides possible into Wednesday, evacuation orders remained in place in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains while a wildfire raging 500 miles (805 kilometers) to the north forced residents to abandon their homes.

The Mosquito Fire burning 110 miles (177 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco erupted in the afternoon just hours after officials had reported making great strides in the battle.

We have all hands on deck, fire spokesperson Chris Valenzuela said as the fire burned near Todd Valley and Foresthill. Its burning very erratic and intensely.

The blaze was one of three large fires in the state.

East of Los Angeles, crews searched street by street for people who might be trapped by mudflows that washed rocks, trees and other debris with astonishing force the day before into Forest Falls, Oak Glen and Yucaipa and left a muddy mess and untold destruction.

Homes and other buildings were damaged, including a commercial building buried so high its roof collapsed, said Eric Sherwin, spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

We have boulders that moved through that weigh multiple tons, Sherwin said. It could take days just to find all the cars that are missing because they are completely covered by mud.

A video showed a slow-moving black river of sludge rolling past the sign for the Oak Glen Steakhouse and Saloon followed seconds later by a surging wave of deeper mud carrying logs. The mud appeared to be head-high in places the next day.

Sherwin said crews were searching for one missing person.

Residents who tried to return home found it tough going in the sticky mess.

Ive never seen anything like this before, said Perla Halbert, whose feet were caked in mud after trying to walk to her home. If you try and take two steps, you get submerged. You just get stuck.

Halbert had been out of town and returned to her Oak Glen home late Monday to find the driveway covered with a few inches of mud. Her family stayed the night with family members and returned after first light to discover several feet of mud and a fence washed away.

Her husband went to buy boots and coveralls before trekking through the muck to assess the damage.

Theres lots of rocks and so much mud. But hopefully the house itself is OK, she said.

Officials lifted some mandatory evacuation and shelter in place orders Tuesday evening.

Workers were able to clear most of Valley of the Falls Drive  the only road to Forests Falls  and teams were assessing damage. Other major roads in the San Bernardino Mountains were reopened.

For some homes in Forest Falls, it was too late to evacuate Monday. Residents were told to shelter in place through the night because it was safer than venturing out.

The rains were the remnants of a tropical storm that brought high winds and some badly needed rainfall to drought-stricken Southern California last week, helping firefighters largely corral the Fairview Fire that had been burning out of control about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of the mudslides.

The mud flows and flash flooding occurred in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains where there are burn scars  areas where theres little vegetation to hold the soil  from the 2020 wildfires.

All of that dirt turns to mud and starts slipping down the mountain, Sherwin said.

One of the 2020 blazes, the El Dorado Fire, was sparked by a smoke device used by a couple to reveal their babys gender. A firefighter died, and the couple was charged with involuntary manslaughter.

The mudslides occurred about 175 miles (280 kilometers) east of Montecito, where enormous debris flows killed more than 20 people and destroyed hundreds of homes in January 2018, a month after a huge wildfire scorched hillsides.

About 40 miles (64 kilometers) west, Cal State San Bernardino reopened Tuesday, a day after the campus was closed when several buildings were flooded during heavy rains.

The powerful thunderstorms came after a week that saw California endure a record-long heatwave. Temperatures in many parts of the state rocketed past 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), and pushed the states electrical grid to the breaking point as air conditioners sucked up power. The Fairview Fire in Southern California and the Mosquito Fire burning east of Sacramento broke out and raged out of control.

The tropical storm aided crews battling the Fairview Fire about 75 miles (121 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles. The 44-square-mile (114-square-kilometer) blaze was 62% contained by Tuesday. Two people died fleeing the fire, which destroyed at least 35 homes and other structures in Riverside County.

The Mosquito Fire has grown to nearly 79 square miles (nearly 204 square kilometers), with 25% containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.

More than 11,000 people have been evacuated and nearly 6,000 structures are threatened  an increase in both figures as the blaze raged Tuesday near Foresthill and Todd Valley after a spot fire jumped the Middle Fork of the American River, officials said.

Increased winds earlier Tuesday pushed out a smoke -inversion layer that had been stifling the blaze and gave fresh oxygen to the flames, Valenzuela said. The area is full of extremely dry fuels that were rapidly igniting, challenging both firefighters on the ground and aircraft.

Scientists say climate change has made the West warmer and drier over the last three decades and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. In the last five years, California has experienced the largest and most destructive fires in its history.

Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles contributed.
SALEM, Ore. (AP)  Saying that a police response is often an improper solution to mental health crises, Biden administration officials announced Monday financial support for expansion of mobile crisis intervention teams in Oregon.

This Pacific Northwest state, which has pioneered the use of unarmed intervention teams, became the first to receive the infusion of aid under President Joe Bidens American Rescue Plan.

The new Medicaid-supported plan will allow Oregon to provide and expand community-based stabilization services to individuals experiencing mental health and/or substance use crises throughout the state by connecting them to a behavioral health specialist, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra encouraged other states to take advantage of the funding opportunity.

All too often, police are called to respond to people suffering from mental health issues. And all too often, they result in tragic outcomes.

Gene Sperling, a senior Biden adviser and coordinator of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue plan, said Biden speaks often about the U.S. needing to be more thoughtful on how it responds to many emergency situations.

Simply, in a knee-jerk way, putting all the burdens on police departments and law enforcement often overwhelms them and often is not the best and most effective response, Sperling said. "Thats whats so important about this. It ... stresses the importance of the role of psychologists and sociologists, mental health experts and people with learned experience to do that response.

Federal health officials said that under the program, 85 cents of every dollar spent by states to expand these services and utilized by Medicaid-covered individuals will be paid for by the federal government. There are more than 1.4 million Medicaid recipients in Oregon, according to the Oregon Health Authority. That's almost one-third of the state's population of 4.1 million.

An example of such a program exists in Eugene, Oregon, where teams of paramedics and behavioral health practitioners take mental health crisis calls out of the hands of uniformed and armed officers.

The Eugene program is called Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets, or CAHOOTS. CAHOOTS teams, which are not sent on calls involving violent situations, handled 24,000 calls in 2019.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, said Mondays announcement means Oregon is the first state to qualify for a higher federal Medicaid match of 85% for the next three years to reimburse mobile crisis services delivered to Medicaid beneficiaries.

That stepped-up federal investment makes it much easier and cost-effective for local communities to build CAHOOTS-like programs tailored to their needs, Wyden said.

Appearing at a telephone news conference with Sperling, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and federal officials, Wyden said he had personal interest because his late brother, Jeff, suffered from schizophrenia.

"For years on end, the Wyden family would go to bed at night  my brother on the street  and all of us worrying if he would hurt himself or someone else, Wyden said.

Brown said the federal investment will be a game changer.

These teams will encompass all the services, support and treatments people need and can be provided in a timely manner, she said. "They can be available wherever and whenever an individual is experiencing a mental health crisis.

The teams will complement the new 988 national mental health crisis/suicide hotline, ready to deploy if requested by the call centers, Brown said.

With the higher federal match of 85%, Oregon expects to receive $1.3 million from April 1 through June 30, 2023, based on our very preliminary estimates, said Liz Gharst, an Oregon Health Authority spokeswoman.

Providing immediate and appropriate care to someone in crisis may reduce the need for costly inpatient services, and this new option will help Oregon expand access to behavioral health professionals as the initial contact for someone in crisis, Gharst said.

Community-based mobile crisis intervention services are required to be provided to all Oregonians regardless of insurance status, she said.
A 20-year-old man arrested in connection with the slaying of an Omaha man is back in custody after escaping from a jail in Benton, Arkansas.

Wuanya Smith had been taken into custody Sept. 7 and was being held in the Saline County Jail in Benton, Arkansas.

Around 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Smith climbed over a 12-foot fence topped with razor wire and an 8-foot barbed wire fence, according to Sheriff Rodney Wright.

Officials tried to head him off, but he quickly fled into a wooded area. He then hid in a vehicle at a nearby residence, where two people helped him and took him to a place in Little Rock, Wright said.

Officials received information Monday that led them to Smith. He ran away but was caught and taken into custody around 9:30 a.m.

Smith had cuts on his leg and arm from the razor wire. He was taken to a hospital, where he received 25 staples in his leg and nine in his arm, Wright said.

Smith is being charged with escape. He will be isolated until hes extradited to Nebraska, Wright said. Extradition could take up to three weeks.

The people who helped him are being charged with hindering apprehension and obstruction of governmental operations, Wright said.

Smith had been sought on a warrant charging him with second-degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person in the shooting death of Anthony Collins III. Collins was fatally wounded around 12:10 a.m. Aug. 12 near 49th and Hamilton Streets. Police were called to Methodist Hospital in Omaha after Collins arrived there in a private vehicle following the shooting. Collins died later in the day.

Smith had been taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service Eastern Arkansas-Little Rock Task Force.

Wright said officials installed more layers of razor wire at the jail on Monday morning.
An Omaha woman who abandoned her baby after giving birth on a sidewalk in February was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday morning in Douglas County District Court.

Trinity Shakespeare, 28, had pleaded no contest to intentional child abuse in July.

Douglas County District Judge LeAnne Srb also sentenced Shakespeare to 18 months of probation after her release and gave her an order to complete inpatient treatment. She faced a maximum of three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Shakespeare was arrested in February after officers found her newborn baby boy alone on a sidewalk near 24th and P Streets. According to an affidavit, she delivered the child there in 15-degree weather before running away from the scene and hiding in a nearby backyard.

Bystanders called 911 and covered the baby with blankets, but the affidavit says he was exposed to the cold for about five minutes. The baby survived and was treated at the Nebraska Medical Center.

Shakespeares sister told The World-Herald that she had been homeless for about four years at the time she gave birth. Prosecutors say Shakespeare told a friend that she had used methamphetamine during her pregnancy. She also told police that she drank alcohol to cope with painful cramps, according to the affidavit.

The State of Nebraska initially was granted custody of the child, but the case has since been transferred to the Wind River Tribal Court in Fort Washakie, Wyoming.
COVID-19 cases fell sharply in Nebraska last week, hitting their lowest recorded levels in months.

The state added 2,121 new cases last week, down 28% from 2,936 the previous week, according to state data reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

By percentage, that drop was the steepest since early April, and it put Nebraska cases at their lowest level since late May. Much of the state now is in the CDCs low community level. Douglas County moved into that category Friday for the first time since early July. The community levels are a measure of how COVID is impacting communities, based on cases and hospitalizations.

The Nebraska trend mirrored whats happening nationally.

U.S. virus cases fell 22% last week, by percentage the biggest drop in six months. U.S. cases have now fallen for seven consecutive weeks and are at their lowest level since early May.

Its still difficult to say where the unpredictable pandemic will go next, as cases surged during the winter months in both 2020 and 2021. But the case trends both here and nationally clearly are the most positive since early last spring.

One caveat: Case tallies are widely considered to be undercounts. Some people are not testing for the virus, and many who do are using at-home tests that arent included in official case counts.

The Nebraska Infectious Disease Society recommended at a meeting Saturday that all Nebraskans, including children, who havent done so already get their primary COVID vaccines. Those eligible for the new, updated boosters should get them as soon as possible. The new shots provide additional protection against omicron strains BA.4 and BA.5.

Dr. James Lawler, a co-executive director of the University of Nebraska Medical Centers Global Center for Health Security, said Monday that he thinks the new boosters will provide some advantage because they target those dominant strains. But likely the most important thing, he said, will be for people to have recent boosters as the nation moves into the traditional season for respiratory illnesses.

Wed love to get as many people with a booster as possible, he said.

The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid announced Monday that Americans can continue to get the vaccines at no cost, whether they are insured or not, as long as the federal government continues to buy and distribute the shots.

The updated Moderna vaccine is authorized for people 18 years of age and older. The updated Pfizer shot is authorized for people 12 and older.

The fact that the globe hasnt seen the emergence of a major new variant in the last several months is good news, Lawler said.

He noted, however, that case counts, while down, havent fallen precipitously, similar to the pattern the state saw last year. And more children and young people have gotten the virus recently. They tend to drive transmission in the community over time.

While health officials early in the pandemic predicted that the nation would reach herd immunity, with people protected by a combination of infection and vaccination, many officials acknowledged last summer that reaching that point was unlikely.

Lawler said people tend to develop durable, lasting immunity to only a limited number of diseases. Researchers knew from the start that coronaviruses are not among them. People can get re-infected year after year with the common cold, also caused by coronaviruses. With COVID-19, the protection provided by the vaccines wanes over time, just like that from infections.

But the vaccines continue to do a good job of protecting people. Theyre doing the most important job, which is preventing severe disease, Lawler said.

Ideally, he said, everyone would get up to date on vaccines, likely by vaccinating everyone every four months, which would not only prevent severe disease but keep transmission low. Barring that, repeated infections and vaccinations over time may diminish the severity of COVID waves. New vaccines also may produce broader immunity over time, but scientists wont know until they have done the research.

Meanwhile, hospitalizations also continue to trend downward in Nebraska. A daily average of 174 Nebraskans were in hospitals with COVID last week, down from 198 the previous week.

The state recorded 33 more COVID deaths last week, bringing the total number of confirmed and probable deaths to 4,488. However, a state health official said most of the deaths reported last week did not actually occur last week and came through efforts to catch up on data. The state has recorded 533,000 confirmed COVID cases during the pandemic.
While it might seem that polarization over vaccination policies began with the COVID pandemic, the split along party lines actually began well before that, according to a study led by a Creighton University researcher.

Polarization around immunization laws has increased in recent years, and by 2020, it was approaching the level of the partisan divide around abortion laws, said Kevin Estep, an assistant professor in Creightons cultural and social studies department and the studys lead author.

This is polarized almost at that level, which is saying something, he said.

Immunization is a state-level policy issue, so the researchers analyzed nearly 1,500 state laws and almost 230 legislative votes from 1995 to 2020. The researchers created two different measures of measuring polarization, which they define as the alignment of partisan identity with certain positions, such as pro- and anti-vaccination.

The study was published recently in the American Journal of Public Health. Two then-undergraduate Creighton students, Annika Muse and Shannon Sweeney, assisted with the study.

For the first 20 years of the study period, Estep said, there was relatively little polarization around immunization. Even if a voter knew a legislators party affiliation, he wouldnt be able to predict with great confidence how she would vote on a childhood immunization measure, such as supporting or restricting exemptions or adding or subtracting vaccine requirements.

The researchers compared the amount of polarization around immunization laws to that involving measures on two other topics: veterans affairs and abortion. Measures addressing veterans affairs generally garner bipartisan support, Estep said, while votes on abortion laws typically split along party lines.

At the beginning of the study period, polarization around immunization laws was about what it was for veterans bills. But by 2019-20, nearly 60% of one party would have had to defect to reach bipartisanship on immunization bills.

By way of perspective, the researchers wrote, legislators were more likely to vote along party lines for vaccine bills in 2019-20 than they were for abortion bills in 2011-12, which was the height of polarized conflict between the Tea Party and the administration of then-President Barack Obama.

People always have had strong views on vaccination, Estep said. During the early part of the study period, however, their questions tended to focus on the safety of vaccine components. Those concerns dont map in a clear way to partisan ideology, because both Republicans and Democrats generally are concerned about safety.

But the concerns around vaccines shifted after questions around vaccine safety were answered. A 2004 report by the Institute of Medicine, now the National Academy of Medicine, established scientific consensus against a purported link between autism and mercury. Because of scientific and ethical concerns, The Lancet retracted the study that first proposed the connection.

The answer came back a pretty resounding consensus that no, theres no causal link between vaccines and certain conditions, Estep said.

Other researchers previously found that discussions among the vaccine hesitant shifted by the mid-2010s to a focus on civil liberties, or what the government can and cannot tell people to do.

That shift in how opponents framed their concerns is easily connected to partisan identity, Estep said. Legislators may have faced mounting pressure to stick with the party line.

And while concerns around vaccines already were shifting, there was no threat to activate concerns about state overreach until the Disneyland-associated measles outbreak of 2015. California in 2016 went from being the easiest state in the nation to get a childhood vaccine exemption to becoming one of three to allow exemptions only for medical reasons.

Californias identity as a liberal state led by Gov. Jerry Brown, a well-known Democrat, signaled the Democratic position on vaccine exemptions to legislators in other states, the researchers wrote. Additional measles outbreaks in 2019 required other state legislatures to weigh calls from public health officials to restrict exemptions against the concerns of those who saw them as infringements on parental rights.

How to resolve such splits, however, is less clear. Estep said researchers know far less about how issues become depoliticized than they do about how they become politicized. Theres probably room for people to do more research on this, he said. But it takes a long time.

Estep said he thinks resolving partisanship in vaccine policy, too, will take some time to resolve. At least 26 states have pushed to limit the emergency powers of public health officials.

While experts suggest partisan polarization hinders effective public health policy, the researchers wrote, polarization also means that policy proposals that are most likely to be passed are those that bridge partisan divides.

Theres incentive, he said, for policymakers, if they want to get things done, to find solutions that are effective but dont alienate their political counterparts.
Two people died and four others were injured in a three-vehicle crash near Grand Island on Sunday evening.

According to the Merrick County Sheriffs Office, authorities were called to a crash on Highway 30 shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday. Two people, both Nebraska residents, were declared dead at the scene: Brady Buechter, 18, of Belgrade, and Dustin Geier, 39, of Columbus.

Four people were taken to St. Francis Hospital in Grand Island with injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.

Authorities have not released any information regarding what led to the crash. Buechter was not wearing a seat belt, but all other occupants were restrained.

The Hall County Sheriffs Office and the Nebraska State Patrol assisted in the investigation.
Anti-purge activist Nya (Lex Scott Davis, right) and her at-risk brother Isaiah (Joivan Wade) eye their murderous fellow citizens warily in "The First Purge," a prequel to the thriller franchise. (Universal Pictures)

Warning: The following review contains references to the political content, rampant and pointed, in the Purge franchise begun in 2013. With these movies, theres no way around what theyre really saying.

The latest Purge is an erratic, fairly absorbing and righteously angry prequel. It sets up scenarios in which African-American and Latino resistance fighters rebel against the dear white people exploiting them for bloody political gain. Honestly: There is no avoiding politics and messaging with that setup.

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When last we purged, two summers back with The Purge: Election Year (2016), our current president was a few months away from the White House. In various degrees of bluntness, screenwriter/director/executive producer James DeMonaco had a few things to say about the fear-mongering tactics that would ultimately put him there.

Now, with a new DeMonaco script directed by second-time feature filmmaker Gerard McMurray, The First Purge imagines what went down, and why, with the initial 12-hour crime-and-murder spree allowing an angry, disenfranchised U.S. citizenry to blow off steam with zero consequences.

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For newbies: This is set a few short years in the future. The third-party American ruler represents the New Founding Fathers of America, backed by the National Rifle Association. The prequel has it that a nonpartisan behavioral scientist has designed the 12-hour societal experiment as a way of lessening the crime rate and providing a mass catharsis. Looking a little dazed, Marisa Tomei plays the scientist, Dr. Updale, so named presumably because Dr. Downhill was taken.

The experiment unfolds on Staten Island, N.Y., and those participating in the purge receive $5,000 plus a bonus if they ramp up the bloodshed personally. Via the characters creepy blue surveillance contact lenses, we, the audience, witness the havoc they wreak. The first few seconds of screen time belong to the storys stone-cold psycho (Rotimi Paul, truly scary as Skeletor). I took no pleasure in the block-party sequence where Skeletor randomly selects his next victims. (Its vicious in a morally inert fashion.) But the franchise lives (or dies) on its own hypocrisy, shaking its head at a society encouraging such sickness while relishing the narrative possibilities.

Neighborhood activist Nya (Lex Scott Davis, lately of Superfly and this films sole grace note amid the carnage) and her ex-lover, drug lord Dmitri (Ylan Noel, beefy but indistinct) join forces under fire. They have neighbors and friends and business interests to protect. One of the wittier details in DeMonacos functional, largely generic script finds the slavish TV news anchors frustrated by the purges relatively sluggish start. Then the governments own goon squads, to Dr. Updales alarm, enter the fray.

The bulk of The First Purge is pursuit and evasion, attack and counterattack, multiple, frenzied stabbings followed by multiple, frenzied rounds of automatic gunfire tearing through flesh. A key group of Staten Island residents seek sanctuary in a church, foolishly, while Nyas little brother (Joivan Wade) risks his already-injured neck on the streets. We are all Staten Islanders tonight, the president intones at one point, waiting for things to start cooking.

Modestly budgeted, the Purge series has worked fast  four movies in six years. The new ones the most violent, but also the least propulsive, with a deliberate, lurching, stop-and-start rhythm and subpar digital photography. Still, its notable how The First Purge puts its Trump-trolling instincts first, riffing on everything from the Access Hollywood tape to the casting of Patch Darragh as the string-pulling chief of staff. The actor bears a suspicious resemblance to onetime Trump communications director Sean Spicer. Once the Klan-hooded purgers show up, however, practically begging the people of color on screen for a comeuppance, the men sporting little American flag pins on their well-pressed lapels cease to matter much.

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

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The First Purge  2.5 stars

MPAA rating: R (for strong disturbing violence throughout, pervasive language, some sexuality and drug use).

Running time: 1:37

Opens: Wednesday

[ MORE COVERAGE: From 2016, the Tribune review of the best 'Purge' to date ]

[ 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,' a refreshingly odd franchise installment -- 'Rebecca' with raptors" ]

[ 'Ant-Man and the Wasp' review: Something a little less 'Infinity War'-like ]
BLOOMINGTON  Six arson charges are pending against a Bloomington man who lived in the Keisha Drive apartment building that burned in the early hours of Monday morning.

Roman Kannaday, 23, is charged with Class X aggravated arson, five counts of Class 1 residential arson, three counts of misdemeanor resisting an officer and one count of violation of the Illinois Pyrotechnic Act.

Bloomington firefighters responded to a building fire at 3 Keisha Drive about 12:40 a.m. Monday and found a second-floor apartment on fire.

One person was rescued by fire crews and transported to a local hospital. Fire officials could not provide an update on his condition Tuesday.

Three residents were displaced by the blaze.

According to court documents, prosecutors accused Kannaday of damaging the apartment building, which is owned by Apartment Mart, by means of fire, knowing people were inside. Five residents are listed as victims for the residential arson charges.

Prosecutors also say Kannaday illegally used or exploded a firework.

Kannaday remains in McLean County custody in lieu of posting $20,035. His arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 7.
How Time Flies is a daily feature looking back at Pantagraph archives to revisit what was happening in our community and region.

100 years ago

Sept. 13, 1922: Dr. J.J. Lintner of Chicago addressed the McLean County Board of Supervisors on the subject of tuberculosis among livestock, particularly cattle. Financial cooperation between farm bureaus and the government will end in 1923. To continue the work, individual counties are being asked to pay the salary of a state veterinary inspector and his necessary expenses.

75 years ago

Sept. 13, 1947: Blaming what he termed "too much publicity in the newspaper," Alderman Willis O. Scheth asserted that the council's finance committee was unable to "negotiate" disputed working hours with the union city employees and entered a report asking that the council deny the union's demand for a 40-hour work week "until we have the money to pay for it."

50 years ago

Sept. 13, 1972: A seven-county McGovern-Shriver District Service Center has been set up in Bloomington coordinate the campaign of the Democratic party's national ticket leaders. Two members of the national staff of presidential nominee Sen. George McGovern will operate from Suite 302 in the Unit Building. "We'll just do the typical political work," said Dean Stoline, the 23-year-old district coordinator.

25 years ago

Sept. 13, 1997: Employees of the Mitshubishi Corp. in Japan have been involved in a form of swordsmanship called kendo for 86 years. Tournaments began 41 years ago, but tradition has meant that only Japanese teams were in the martial arts competition. For the first time, a team from outside Japan  the Bloomington-Normal Kendo Club  will be soon be allowed to compete.
An amendment to the Illinois Constitution sponsored by organized labor is quietly, as if on cats paws, marching toward enactment at the November election. The amendment would prohibit right to work legislation, and also give unprecedented power to unions where the authority of the National Labor Relations Act is uncertain, such as with charter schools.

Enactment by three-fifths of those voting on the amendment would send a chilling message to American CEOs, who in CEO Magazine regularly rank Illinois as having among the worst business climates in the nation.

With the recent fall from grace of Democratic powerhouses Illinois House speaker Mike Madigan and Chicago alderman Ed Burke (both of whom await trials on multiple charges of public corruption), organized labor has filled the void, becoming the dominant power within the Democratic Party of Illinois.

Sparked by Operating Engineers 150 and its savvy, longtime powerbroker Jim Sweeney, labor gets what it wants from the Illinois legislature, which at present has the supermajorities in both chambers necessary to put constitutional amendments on the ballot.

Illinois already has strong collective bargaining powers. For example, the state employees unions sit, in effect, on both sides of the bargaining table in negotiations with Democratic governors like J. B. Pritzker.

As a result, say my former state agency director acquaintances, the unions largely run state government day to day, through grievance procedures and hiring restrictions. For example, it is almost impossible for a state agency to hire anyone from the outside, say, a hotshot techie, because the opportunity must first go to a state employee. If no state employee is qualified for the job, no problem, the state will train you. Good luck.

An economist friend of mine who has studied Illinois for decades says the amendment is a real mess. He worries that almost any labor dispute could become embroiled in litigation, which would often end up before a partisan state high court dominated by Democrats continuously since 1962.

Right to work means that workers cannot be forced to join the union that bargains for them. You would think that a strong, benevolent union would have the support of most workers, though maybe not so for corrupt or ineffective unions. Willingness to pay union dues voluntarily should discipline elected union leadership to be good stewards for their workers.

Like all institutions, labor unions can change over time. Labor unions in America have gone through both their idealistic as well as corrupt phases. What if 20 years from now, organized labor in Illinois became thoroughly corrupt, and used state constitutional protections to run amok? Public policies should be hammered out among the legislators and governor on the basis of current conditions, not enshrined among fundamental constitutional principles.

In their own propaganda, the unions admit that Illinois job growth has been slower than the national average. Indeed, since 1990, according to a University of Illinois tracking report, the rate of job growth has also been slower than for the rest of the midwestern states, most of which are right to work states.

Illinois should be an economic powerhouse. Entrepreneur and former state economic development director Jim Schultz observes that in each of what he calls the six Rs critical to economic development  roads, rails, runways, rivers, routers and research  Illinois is arguably among the top three states. And located smack dab in the middle of the worlds largest market. Yet, the state limps along.

Labor has thus far raised $11 million and counting to promote their amendment, while barely a peep has been heard from the business community; funds raised by business to oppose the measure havent been enough to register on state election reporting forms.

Governors in other midwestern states are surely fine-tuning their pitches to CEOs around the world, waiting for the likely enactment of this benign-sounding labor effort"Avoid Illinois, and come to my state. Alas.
The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has so far committed a total of XOF 294 billion (equivalent of about USD450 million) into the economy of the Republic of Cote DIvoire to finance projects in various areas such as infrastructure, health, industry, and agriculture. The President of EBID, Dr. George Agyekum Donkor, disclosed this at a signing ceremony for two loan agreements totaling XOF 67.128 billion in Abidjan on August 30, 2022.



During the ceremony, the President of EBID expressed that the two loans are for financing of a project to upgrade operating theatres, neonatal units and imaging services in referral hospitals and to fund the industrial component of the agro-industrial pole project in the north region of the country (2PAI-NORD). He also added that these facilities reaffirmed EBIDs commitment to support the Republic of Cote D'Ivoire in the implementation of its National Development Plan 2021-2025.



The President of EBID conveyed his heartfelt gratitude to the President of the Republic, His Excellency Alassane Ouattara, and his government, for their cooperation and continuous support to the realization of EBIDs strategic goals intended to foster advancement for the ECOWAS states. Quoting relevant macroeconomic figures, he commended the Government of Cote DIvoire for putting pragmatic policies in place to ensure prosperity for the people of Cote dIvoire despite the global economic downturn triggered by COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine crisis.



The Minister for Economy and Finance, Honorable Adama Coulibaly, who signed on behalf of the Government of Cote DIvoire indicated that the two projects aimed at enhancing the quality of mother-child health care services and improving food and nutritional security. He stated that the agro-industrial project would have the twofold impact of reducing the countrys dependence on food imports while increasing exports of processed agricultural products to generate revenue. He applauded such interventions from EBID which would accelerate and strengthen subregional integration for a stronger ECOWAS to the benefit of its population.



Alongside the loan signing agreement, the EBID delegation paid a courtesy call on the Minister for Planning and Development for Cote DIvoire, Mrs. Niale Kaba, who is also a Governor of the Bank. At the meeting, issues relating the operations of EBID, its recent achievements and challenges were discussed. While commending the leadership for the performance of the Bank, the Minister encouraged EBID to do more to help the subregion.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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The Board of Egbin Power Plc has announced the appointment of Mokhtar Bounour as Chief Executive Officer of the foremost privately run the thermal plant in sub-Saharan Africa that powers over 20 million homes and businesses.



Bounour's appointment, the Board said, would accelerate Egbin's ongoing transformation and propel the company's energy mix transition towards enhanced environmental sustainability.



A Sahara Power Group Company, Egbin's turnaround has trebled from a generation threshold of about 300mw when it was acquired in 2013 to almost 1000mw, following fresh investment in overhauls, technology and human capital. The company has also achieved 670,000kg of CO2 emission eliminated by reducing fossil energy consumption, 14.1% reduction in Energy Intensity of electrical energy, and over 1000 trees planted to safeguard the environment.



"With an installed capacity of 1320MW, our plan is to expand Egbin's capacity using a mix of alternative clean energy sources. We are delighted to have Mokhtar join us to sustain our continuing transformation programme and our commitment to bringing more energy to life responsibly, " said Kola Adesina, Group Managing Director, Sahara Power Group.



Adesina stated that Bounour would also lead plant optimisation strategies and spearhead the companys Emissions Reduction and Resource Efficiency targets.



Speaking on his appointment, Bounour said he was delighted at the opportunity to steer the future of the "iconic African power plant", noting that his interactions with the Board indicate that "the future holds a firm promise of unparalleled growth and sustained world-class performance in Egbin."



Bounour holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering, a Masters's Degree in Management and Leadership, Business Administration and International Relations.



He has worked in Europe for the better part of his career, and prior to joining Egbin Power Plc, Bounour led Fertiberia Spain as CEO of Fertial and thereafter, became Business Development Director for Africa, Middle East and Turkey.



With 24 years of experience across Africa, Europe and Middle East, Bounour has led multi-functional teams in EPC construction, Operations and Maintenance, Power generation and Fertilizers plants. He is multilingual, being fluent in French, English and Spanish - an attribute that is expected to further propel diversity at Egbin Power which has employees from different nationalities.



His experience cuts across setting strategic direction for revamping, rehabilitation and management of change, contracts management, formulation, integration and auditing with the implementation of effective customer coordination. Others include, sales, business development projects, engineering and turnover acceptance policies, procedures and systems management for organizations.



Egbin's clean energy commitment manifests in several decarbonising projects, including enabling its employees to contribute to carbon-emission reduction through daily commuting on the company's electric buggies, bicycles and scooters, leaving employees healthier and the environment cleaner.





Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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World leaders including US President Joe Biden, New Zealand's Prime Minister and Jacinda Ardern and Brazil's premier Jair Bolsonaro will be heading to London for the Queen's funeral next week to join the majority of Europe's royals and even Japan's emperor in mourning Her Majesty's passing.



The globe's most powerful men and women are scrambling for seats at Westminster Abbey on Monday amid limits on who can join the congregation of 2,000 honouring Britain's longest-reigning monarch, who died aged 96 last Thursday.



But Vladimir Putin has been snubbed along with his ally, Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko. Min Aung Hlaing of Myanmar will also not be asked with no official stance yet on Syria's Bashar al-Assad or North Korea's Kim Jong-un - although they are highly unlikely to make the guest list. Iran's Ayatollah and President won't attend - but an ambassador will be invited.



It is not thought the trip will be made by Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky, who took time out from organising his country's fightback against Russian president Putin's forces to sign a book of condolence for the Queen.



Heads of state and presidents, European royals and key figures from public life will be invited to gather in the abbey. Leading figures in Britain's public life are set to attend her funeral next week, including Liz Truss and all her living predecessors.



More than 100 world leaders and heads of state are expected to be invited to the service - the first full State Funeral that Britain has hosted since Winston Churchill died in 1965.



But with so many people wanting to go, invites are limited to one per VIP plus their spouse if they have one, but there is an ongoing row after the Government urged them to fly commercially and pool jets to get to the UK. There is also upset that many will be asked to jump on shuttle buses to the abbey rather than use state limousines or carriages.



All of Europe's kings and queens, as well as minor royals from the continent related to Her Majesty and Prince Philip, will be there, including King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway and Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco.



Outside of Europe, Japan's Emperor Naruhito will travel to London alongside Empress Masako and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.



Read Full Story .... Dailymail.co.uk >>> :









Source: Dailymail.co.uk









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Abraham Amaliba, Director of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress, NDC, has indicated that former President John Mahama re-echoed popular public perception when he criticised the Judiciary.



According to him, based on some decisions by the courts, the public had already formed an opinion that the Judiciary was an institution they had lost trust in.



To him, the Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame's recent critique at the Ghana Bar Association conference in Ho, which was directed at the former President was only an attempt to wish away the corrupt perception about the Judiciary.



The former President at that point was only echoing public sentiments. There are a plethora of surveys that indicate that public perception of the Judiciary is eroding



"You cannot use emotions as it is today to wish away public perception about the Judiciary. What he did today was only using emotional arguments to seek to create an impression that what the public is thinking about the Judiciary is wrong, Amaliba said on Joy FM's 'Top Story' on Monday, September 12.



He noted that former President John Dramani Mahama did not err in any way when he reiterated the public perception of the Judiciary.



He stressed that the Judiciary should rather conduct itself in ways that will ensure that public perception about them begins to look good.



Godfred Dame while responding to John Dramani Mahamas recent comments about the judiciary in Ho said, the former president has developed the habit of criticising the Judiciary unnecessarily.



I am compelled to comment on same in this address because they border on the security of the state and constitute a deliberate pattern of conduct aimed at undermining the independence of the Judiciary, an arm of government whose autonomy is crucial to its proper functioning.



Such conduct is clearly deplorable, coming from one who has occupied the highest office of President and aspires again to that office. At this moment, it is important for all to note that I express this sentiment not because I stand in opposition to former President Mahama as a politician.



My dismay is founded more on the fact that I am a lawyer and every lawyer ought to be concerned about these kinds of views expressed by a political leader in this country, Godfred Dame stressed.







Source: ghanaweb.com









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Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah has cautioned politicians and lawyers alike to be measured in their utterances against the judiciary.



Speaking at the 2022/2023 Ghana Bar Association Annual General Conference at Ho on September 12, he recalled how three High Court judges were gruesomely murdered in 1982 as a reason why utterances needed to be measured.



In comments read on his behalf by Justice Jones Dotse (Jsc), the CJ charged politicians against commentary that puts judges in harms way.



We in Ghana have had a chequered history. We have had three distinguished judges of the High Court abducted and killed. We celebrate this incident since it occurred.



"I have made sure if I am in the country, I always attend these functions. As lawyers, we should not make careless comments and remarks that will revisit the occurrences of 1982.



"I, therefore, entreat all of you to be very very circumspect in making very dangerous comments about the judiciary. I am not saying so because I am a judge because once you are in it, you are in it.



"But then comments from members of the bar and senior politicians should be such that we are notjudges are not put up for sale by those who want to cause commotion and confusion in the country, Justice Jones Dotse said.



Three High Court Judges as well as a retired army officer were murdered in cold blood at the Bundase Military Range in the Accra Plains, after being abducted on the night by some unidentified assailants on June 30, 1982  a date now set aside as Martyrs Day.



The four were Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addo, Mr. Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong, Justice Fred Poku Sarkodie and Major Rtd. Sam Acquah.



In recent times as well, Former President John Dramani Mahama has had course to express concern over a decline in public confidence in the judiciary.



He stated that it will only take a new Chief Justice to chart a path of regaining public trust in the judiciary.



There is therefore the urgent need for the Ghanaian Judiciary to work to win the trust and confidence of the citizenry and erase the widely held perception of hostility and political bias in legal proceedings at the highest courts of the land.



Unfortunately, we have no hope that the current leadership of our judiciary can lead such a process of change. We can only hope that a new Chief Justice will lead a process to repair the broken image that our judiciary has acquired over the last few years, Mahama said at a forum held for lawyers of the NDC on August 28.



Attorney General Godfred Dame has described the comments by Mahama as deplorable, coming from someone who has been a former president.















Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Former President John Dramani Mahama has said he is entitled to make comments on all manner of issues of national importance, more so with his status as a former Head of State.



In an exclusive interview with Accra-based TV3 on September 12, Mahama opined that he has a strong voice in the country, thus, he comments on issues to draw attention to them for action to be taken.



Justifying his recent comment that the judiciary has a broken image and hat it needed a new Chief Justice to initiate reforms to engender public confidence in the institution, the 2020 flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress said it was a call to action.



[My statement was] that the perception of the Ghanaian people [about the judiciary] is low and I was making a call to action that we should do something to change that perception. Why can that be imprudent? I didnt put the judiciary where it is.



"If you occupy a high office of the land you shouldnt speak the truth? Is that what it means? Do we believe that if we go to the court, we will get justice? We hear everyday instances of perverted justice and all that, Mahama said.



He added that since his comment, he observed that the Chief Justice Kwesi Anin-Yeboah has also made a similar call.



He indicated that the Chief Justice in a statement read on his behalf by Justice Jones Dotse admonished judges to dispense justice in a free, fair and transparent manner in order for citizens to have confidence in the judiciary.



Recently, the Chief Justice himself in a statement read for him by Justice Dotse raised some of these issues himself. I will applaud him for it because I had said in my statement that I had lost faith in the current leadership to be able to do anything about reforming it and I had hoped that a new Chief Justice will do that.



"Since then hes made this statement that Justice Dotse did and I saw some positive jewels in it, that he was calling judges to dispense justice freely and fairly, transparently so that people will feel that confidence to go to the judiciary because the judiciary is the last arbitrator, Mahama observed.



To this end, the 2020 flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress said he will not allow Attorney General Godfred Dame to deny him his right on speaking on issues.



He stressed that he remains committed to pointing out what he sees as wrong in the country for changes to be made to that effect.



We can disagree and have quarrels in Parliament and everything, eventually when we are unable to agree, we all go to the justice system. We must have confidence that it will do so fairly and will do so according to the law and in the public interest.



"Thats all I was saying. And how he [Godfred Dame] can interpret that I am imprudent and blah blahso if youre a former president, you see something going on wrong in the country you have no right to talk about it? Is that what he is saying?



"No, I wont let him take that right away from me. If I see something going wrong, I will point it out. It is my duty to do so. I have a voice that is listened to in this country and I think that if things are going wrong and I talk about it, it makes it topical so that something can be done about it and thats why I continue to make the statements that I make, the former president said.



The Attorney General Godfred Dame speaking at 2022/2023 Ghana Bar Association annual general conference at Ho took a swipe at John Mahama in what he says is the latter systematic and caustic attacks on the courts.



He described the comments by Mahama as deplorable, coming from someone who has been a former president.

















Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Head of Communication at the Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU), Abass Ibrahim Moro says the union has been reluctant to increase transport fares due to the already hardship in the country.



But he said they have no option now than to adjust the fares because they have "sacrificed" a lot for the state.



According to Mr Moro, soon the union will communicate to the public new transportation fares following the incessant increase in fuel prices.



The union says the continuous rise in the price of petroleum products is draining the finances of commercial vehicle owners.



And Government is not doing anything to help us, he told NEAT FMs morning show, 'Ghana Montie'.



The price of petrol per litre has crossed GH11 and diesel sells for over GH14 per litre at most pumps.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Dont get me wrong: Im as Chicago-over-everything as the next person.

But even this ride-or-die Chicagoan walked into the Collaborative Art Institute of Chicagos 2022 art song festival, with performances Sept. 7-11, with some trepidation. Presenters who take an entire geographic area as their programming thread, much less the nations third-largest city, risk dividing by the commonest of denominators. Those projects often end up feeling more than a little parochial  less Carl Sandburgs City of the Big Shoulders, more City with a Big Chip on its Shoulder.

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But The Song of Chicago proved, once again, that CAIC is no pedestrian programmer. As tenor and Artistic Director Nicholas Phan made clear during his interstitial comments, this Song of Chicago had not just a chorus but a well-researched thesis, arguing that Chicago was uniquely nurturing to composers in the 20th century. Its conservatories educated, if not always warmly welcomed, more Black musicians than peer institutions, and during the same period, the citys pro-labor leftist movements gave refuge to artists who might have been forced to the fringes elsewhere  like Sandburg and his alliances with composers Ruth Crawford Seeger and Ernst Bacon.

Tenor Nicholas Phan at Ganz Hall on Sept. 7, 2022. (Aaron Gottl/Atlas Arts Media / HANDOUT)

Indeed, the more focused CAICs programs, the more rich the musical rewards. Its first Ganz Hall recital on Sept. 7, billed as a tasting menu of Chicago composers, was exactly that and short of a meal. The last, at Epiphany Center for the Arts on Sunday, narrowed its focus on settings of Sandburgs poetry and the folk songs documented in his 1927 The American Songbag collection. In comparison, that program felt positively ripe for an album treatment  if not of Sandburgs entire Songbag, then at the very least of Eric Malmquists Sandburg settings. Clear pools of understatement and reserve, Malmquists meditative Masses (heard for the first time on Sunday) and selections from his Chicago Songs cycle let Sandburgs verses land the emotional blows, rather than frilling them up with episodic shifts and excessive word-painting.

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Pound for musical pound, however, Song of Chicagos strongest recital was its second, on Sept. 8 at Ganz Hall. Dedicated to the music of Black composers, its premise could have easily crashed and burned into a tokenistic mess. But CAIC executed this decision more thoughtfully and narratively than a clumsy grab-bag approach. While Chicagos conservatories might have been nominally integrated, its musical communities were not; CAIC traced pedagogical lineages and collaborations that were as much a function of the citys segregation as anything. In one particularly stark speech, Phan noted that the National Association of Negro Musicians met for the very first time in the middle of the 1919 Race Riots. Black creatives flocked to the city with a shared goal of artistic self-determination, only for their meetings to be forced underground by the mayhem.

That program also highlighted a hiccup in the ongoing Florence Price revival: The local and international attention lavished on the late Chicago-based composer has mostly buoyed her instrumental output. But her art songs? Exquisite, and woefully underrated  not to mention comparatively under-recorded (though YouTube helps, as usual).

The three Price songs heard on Sept. 8  Bewilderment, Fantasy in Purple and Hold Fast to Dreams  soared on the pipes of Ryan Opera Center fellow Lunga Eric Hallam, already one to watch after his performances with the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera earlier this year. To be fair, Hallam stuns in any repertoire: His tenor is augmented by sprawling upper and lower extensions, both of which he tinges with a dizzying array of colors and timbres  as he did in his Songbag performance of George Walkers I Got a Letter from Jesus, shapeshifting to embody different characters.

A pair of miraculous mezzos stood alongside Hallam as festival standouts. Currently a young artist at Chicago Opera Theater, Pauline Tan duly impressed in that companys programming last season and was given a well-deserved spotlight in the Songbag finale. Her voice wasnt the afternoons biggest, but it was the plushest, tossing off acrobatic control and wry delivery in that programs charming set of Ernst Bacon songs.

Mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams at Ganz Hall on Sept. 8, 2022. (Aaron Gottl/Atlas Arts Media / HANDOUT)

Before that, in the festivals first two programs, mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams more than commanded Ganz  she seemed to be able to control the amount of light and oxygen altogether in that hallowed hall. Will Livermans recording of Okpebholos Two Black Churches last year remains essential listening, as was bass-baritone Damien Geters live performance at MusicNOW in March. But neither brought the fierce, eternal flame of a mothers love to Ballad of Birmingham, sung from the perspective of a woman who loses her daughter to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. That was for Reams, and Reams only. The pregnant silence afterward hung in the air like a prayer.

Song of Chicago wouldnt have been complete without its requisite reading of Sandburgs Chicago  and it came at its very end, during the Songbag recital. Had listeners not traversed all that emotional terrain in the meantime, it might have felt unearned. But come Sunday, could I show you another city with lifted head, singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning? Not possibly.

Hannah Edgar is a freelance writer.

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The Rubin Institute for Music Criticism helps fund our classical music coverage. The Chicago Tribune maintains editorial control over assignments and content.
Seasoned Journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has called on the National Communications Authority (NCA) and the Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful to reconsider the punitive action against unregistered SIM card holders.



The National Communications Authority (NCA) recently communicated to the public that those whose SIM cards are not re-registered will be blocked for 48 hours.



This means they will not be able to make calls and access internet services as well as other important phone services.



The Authority ordered the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to comply with the directive which began days ago.



All unregistered SIM cards of the MNOs (no registration attempt and stage one only) should be blocked after September 30, 2022. All unregistered SIM cards Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) should be blocked after September 30, 2022.



Subscribers who fully register their SIM cards within the period they have been blocked will only be unblocked by the MNOs after the 48 hours to avoid the MNOs tampering with their systems intermittently, the NCA said in a letter.



Ex-Prez Mahama's SIM Card Blocked



Former President John Dramani Mahama, in an interview on TV3, raised concerns about the SIM card blocking, defining it as problematic.



"The SIM registration, you can even start with new SIM cards and say that 'No Ghana Card, No SIM card' if you are purchasing. So we can start at that point while we mop up the others in the system. But if you say by September 30th, everybody must have it or else we will take punitive actions against you . . . your data will be more expensive, we will block your outgoing calls and so on and so forth, that's a major problem.



"And I must say I suffered a bit of that experience with the call barring. On one of my phones, my outgoing calls were not going through. My SIM was blocked for two days. They have turned it back on. We went through the process of registering.



"They said it wasn't registered properly. That's the kind of information I got, we didn't complete the exercise and yet they came here and sat with us and did SIM registration here and we called them to my office and so all my staff and everybody went through the registration but most of my staff found their calls blocked," Mr. Mahama stated.



Kwesi Pratt To NCA And Minister



Touching on the matter during Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme, Kwesi Pratt made submissions in apparent agreement with the former President for the NCA to lessen the strictness in their decision against the unregistered SIM cards.



He shared similar concerns that there are some Ghanaians who through no fault of theirs haven't acquired their Ghana Cards, so cannot be made to suffer the same fate as those who haven't registered their SIM cards though they have received their Ghana Cards.



He also noted that the blocking of the SIM cards threatens the daily activities of many people as there are some people who blocking them means depriving them of their livelihood.



"With some people, their life has been programmed on the phone. The food the person must take, his or her medication, his or her rising time in the morning; their entire world is their phone. So, the phone is very important for various pertinent activities", Mr. Pratt said and appealed that "if there is something to do to ease the situation, let's do it to bring relief to every person".





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Progressive chief (Nkorsuohene) of Akyem Mboseaso, also the CEO of Capital View Hotel and Kingdwosco Constructions, Nana Dwomoh Brobbey I has charged traditional authorities in the various traditional areas in Ghana to prioritize education in their developmental agenda as a way of complementing the government in the education sector.



According to him, it is about time traditional leaders and individuals with enough resources at their disposal recognize the essence of education and the investment with their little resources in order to reduce the huge burdens on government.



He urged traditional leaders to refrain from the over complains and always waiting on government to embark on developmental projects but should rather contribute their bit so that together with the government we develop the country.



He made the disclosure when donating about 200 dual desks to Akyem Moseaso Methodist and Presby JHS which he single handedly constructed in the East Akim Municipality of the Eastern region.



Nana Dwomoh Brobbey further entreated students to stay away from galamsey activities and rather devote all their time into education and take their learning serious since many people have been rendered helpless even after fighting hard for a certain political party probably because they lack educational certificate to qualify them for certain positions.



Mr. George Yankyera, Atiwa East District Education Director received the dual desks and handed it over to the two schools.



He added that the desk has come at the right time since, Moseaso Methodist been the examination centre, the desks will help solve the furniture deficit the centre usually encounter during examination period.



He said Nana Dwomoh Brobbey has played critical role in education in the East Akim District hence he must be commended and reiterated that due to individual gestures like Nana Dwomoh Brobbey and with the support of the MP there are no schools under tree in the Atiwa East District.



The Benkum hene of Moseaso Nana Kyeremateng Atwedee also commended Nana Dwomoh Brobbey for being a man of his words towards education in the area and also for donating desks to support education in the district, and said he was the first individual to establish an ICT centre for junior & Senior high school students in the district.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Moderator of the Global Evangelical Church, the Rt. Rev. Prosper Samuel Dzomeku, has assured Ghanaians not to give up in the face of the rising cost of living but to remain focused on God for the supply of their needs.



To that end, he called on every Ghanaian, irrespective of their faiths, ethnicity or social status to remain faithful to their individual works and God will reward their efforts with success.



The Moderator was speaking at the Triennial National Rally of the National Church Choirs Union of the Global Evangelical Church.



He spoke on the theme: The Chorister as a faithful Steward, the Lord is your Provider.



He said, We are all faced with numerous challenges now. Nobody should look up to any human being, church, or elsewhere for solution to our problems. But I can assure you that, if we all remain faithful in our duties, God will turn our individual and national statuses around.



The Rt. Rev. Dzomeku commended the Choristers for their immeasurable and valuable contributions towards the growth of the church.



He said God is aware of their individual challenges as well.



Before humans, people will laugh at you because they might think you are wasting time. You do not dress like the way others dress and expose their bodies. But dont worry, he is Jehovah Jireh, God our provider. He will certainly provide all your needs, he said.



The Moderator called on them to desist from immoral acts, hatred and unfaithfulness in tithe payments.



He encouraged them to rather dedicate themselves and to use their ministry to bring others to the saving knowledge of Christ.



The Rev. Dr. Yohanes Ahiabu, the Synod Clerk, who was the main speaker at the Rally appealed to the Church Choir Members to perform their roles in purity and holiness in order to attract the blessings of the Lord.



He also urged them to remain faithful and resolute in all their Christian life in general and singing life in particular in order to bring all to the saving knowledge of God and also receive the crown of glory at the end of time.



Mr. Ferdinand Abodakpi, the National President of the National Church Choirs Union expressed gratitude to the Church leadership and the entire membership of the Union for re-electing them for another tenure of four years.



The other National Executives include Presbyter Samuel Kwadzo, Vice President, Mr. Richard Addo, Secretary, Mr. Gladstone Kwagbela, Assistant Secretary, Mr. William Dumenya, Financial Secretary, Mr. Ephraim Tsifodze, Treasurer, Mrs. Dzifa Adzorlolo, Mother, Mad. Joyce Buamah, Assistant Mother, Mr. Isaac Tiase- Organising Secretary, Mr. Gustav Dzisah, Assistant. Organising Secretary, Mr. William Tamekloe, Choirmaster, Mr. Shine Nuworti, Assistant Choirmaster, Rev. Nelson Nyavor Bonsi, Coordinator and Presbyter Timothy Nortsu, Advisor.



The programme was attended by some high profile personalities of the church including Mrs. Dieu Donnee Joyce Ahiabor, the Female Presbyter Executive of the Church, Mrs. Fortune Dzomeku, wife of the Moderator, Mrs. Joyce Ahiabu, wife of the Synod Clerk, Rev. Eric Faakor Avah, Director of Church Life and Nurture, Rev. Mawuli Dzidula Agudogo and some pastors of the Church.









Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Newmont Ghana has started relief payment support to over 8000 speculators who have built illegal structures on the mining companys Ahafo North concession.



The payments paves way for the development of the $850 million mine, which was delayed because of the presence of the large speculative developers, who have invaded the field in anticipation of big compensation from Newmont after the area was declared a mining concession in 2017.



But following discussions with the Ahafo Regional Coordinating Council, the mining company paid GH45 million in a bid to retain the goodwill of its host communities and the speculating claimants.



Compensations for genuine landowners, whose structures and buildings were marked and coded in 2017, when the area was declared a mining concessions, are, however, yet to begin. Payment for crop compensation is also underway at the time of the visit.



The concession, which spans across five communities in the Tano North Municipality of the Ahafo Region, holds about 3.3 million ounces of gold with a 13 year lifespan.



This came to light when officials of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, accompanied by a team of media personnel with the Journalists For Business Advocacy (JBA), paid a visit to the site last Thursday.



During a visit to the project site, signs of hurriedly erected structures including fish ponds, thatched and block buildings were sighted on the companys concessions covering the five local communities of Terchire, Afrisipakrom, Susuanso, Yamfo and Adrobaa.



As of last Friday, some 7,793 illegal structures had been validated for relief payment and GH23 million had been shared among 1,200 speculative land owners from the five communities.



In an interaction at Goaso, the regional capital, the Ahafo Regional Minister, George Boakye, said the establishment of an inter-agency committee to help remove the over 8,000 unauthorised speculative structures on the concession had helped to ensure peace.



I persuaded the mining company to pay the relief support to the individuals who owned the unauthorised structures just to promote community peace and security of the Ahafo North project, Mr Boakye said.



He warned that the Regional Coordinating Council would not tolerate any further development of unauthorised structures that would affect the companys community relations and discourage mining investment in the country.



Mining hub



For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr Sulemanu Koney, urged the newly created Ahafo Region to position itself as a mining hub in Ghana.



He said with the operations of Newmont Ghana Gold in the region, it is possible for the region to see a faster rate of development.



We are happy at the manner in which the issue of speculative development has been resolved. This underscores the healthy relationship Newmont will have with your administration and the community as a whole, Dr Koney said.



Newmont is essentially going to be around for God knows many years. So it is important for the company to ensure that it has a harmonious relationship with the communities, he added.



He said mining provides an opportunity for deep integration of the host communities with the mine and so called for a deeper collaboration so that the area could benefit from the operations of the mine.



The Youth Chairman of Terchire, one of the affected communities, Mr Richard Yeboah, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, condemned such illegal activities saying the situation had not only slowed the payment of compensation to the genuine farmers and property owners, but also the commencement of the project as well.



The Communications and External Affairs Manager of Newmont Ahafo North Project and Newmont Ahafo South Mine, Mr Samuel Osei, said though the structures on the concession were illegal, the payment was to relieve the illegal property owners of some level of financial stress and also to pave the way for the company to demolish the structures.









Source: graphiconline.com









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Former President John Dramani Mahama says any Chinese who breaks the laws of Ghana must be made to face their full rigours as same will happen to Ghanaians who break the law in China.



He said he will not be surprised if there are some Ghanaians languishing in Chinese jails for breaking the laws of the Asian economic powerhouse.



Speaking in an interview on TV3, Mr Mahama said he had to deport almost 5,000 illegal Chinese miners and Boeing 747s were deployed by the Chinese government then to specially airlift its nationals back home.



This, he stressed, did not affect the good relationship Ghana had with China.



When I was president, we valued the relations with China but if you are a Ghanaian and you go to China and you engage in illegality, they dont say because of the good relation they have with Ghana, they are going to let you go scot-free.



You are going to face the full rigours of the law in China and I dont doubt that there are some of our citizens in jail in China.



The three-time Presidential Candidate continued: When I became President I was faced with this same illegal gold-mining.



I deported almost 5,000 illegal Chinese miners. I didnt say because of the good relation we have with China, we should allow them to continue to engage in illicit activities and we collaborated with the Chinese Embassies, they got 747s and they came and took their nationals away.



It didnt destroy our relationship.



This comes in the wake of fears expressed about the prosecution of popular Chinese businesswoman Aisha Huang, who is standing trial at an Accra Circuit Court for engaging in illegal mining.



She was deported in 2018 based on fears that her possible incarceration could mar the good relationship between Ghana and China.



But almost five years after her deportation, she is said to have sneaked into the country with a Togo visa to continue her illegal mining business.









Source: 3news.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Black Sherif has been nominated for this years BET awards Best International Flow category.



The Kwaku The Traveller hitmaker becomes the second Ghanaian act to be nominated for the category after rapper Sarkodie who won the same category in 2019.



He is competing in the category with other acts such as Blxckie from South Africa, Nadia Nakai from Zimbabwe, Benjamin Epps and Le Juiice from France, Central Cee and Knucks from the United Kingdom, Haviah Mighty from Canada and Tasha and Tracie from Brazil.



The BET Hip Hop Awards 2022 will be aired on September 30, 2022, at Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta.

Black Sherif known in private life as Mohammed Ismail Sherif is currently one of the most celebrated artistes on the African continent.



He has been topping charts and trends with his songs with the latest being his Kwaku The Traveler hit song.

The song jumped to the number one trending song on Apple Musics Top 100 in Nigeria, making him the first Ghanaian artiste to achieve that feat in 2022. There are hopes he would make Africa proud at the Bet Award with a win.

Source: Eugene Osafo-Nkansah/Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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" " Composer Leonard Bernstein used a performance the night before Richard Nixon's inauguration as an "anti-inaugural." Corbis/Horowitz/Ullstein Bild/Getty Images

"Stop the bombing NOW." "End the war NOW." On Jan. 20, 1973, the second presidential inauguration of Richard Nixon  elected in a landslide victory  took place amidst shaking signs and shouting protesters. Trouble seemed to be brewing for Nixon, who was well into the fourth year of the controversial Vietnam War, and weeks away from the Watergate scandal that would essentially end his political career.

The night before Nixon was sworn in to the United States' highest office, a pair of historical musical performances  one Nixon's camp officially planned, and one it didn't  would foreshadow the differing moods about his presidency.

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" " Richard Nixon's swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20, 1973. Corbis/Getty Images

Nixon's Inaugural Committee asked the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform at his inaugural concert on the eve of his swearing in. Orchestral members obliged, playing Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" and other classics at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., during a formal, $250-per-person event. There wasn't anything unusual about the event, as inaugural concerts go, except that the orchestral selection from Philly seemed like a presidential snub to D.C.'s National Symphony, which director Antal Dorati had been systematically improving since 1970.

But at the exact same time a free and unofficial inauguration concert at the National Cathedral took place thanks to legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein. He led "A Concert for Peace," which became widely known as the "Anti-inaugural Concert."

Bernstein's free "counter-concert" drew thousands of people to a venue that would only hold 3,000. Undeterred, an additional 12,000 to 15,000 people stood in the dark outside the National Cathedral as a soft rain fell. At the identical hour in which Nixon's official inaugural concert was being performed at the Kennedy Center, Bernstein closed the concert with Joseph Haydn's "Mass in Time of War," which was written in 1796, the same year Napoleon's armies overtook Austrian troops in Italy.

"Nixon snubbed the National Symphony Orchestra in the 1973 Inauguration Concert by asking the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform instead," says Adam Gingery, co-founder of Backstage Podcast, a program dedicated to classical music history and its sociological impact on society. "I can't help but wonder if Bernstein's decision to lead a 'counter-concert' had something to do with competition against a rival conductor and orchestra."

Whatever the impetus, Bernstein clearly aimed to butt up against the Kennedy Center inauguration performance.

Bernstein enlisted an orchestra comprising local musicians, many of whom were members in the National Symphony Orchestra, as well a chorus of 125 volunteers led by local director Norman Scribner. Bernstein and the performers dressed not in formal attire, but in street clothes  a choice that drew applause from the audience.

It may be difficult these days to envision a classical concert swaying popular opinion, but "great American classical musicians had more clout in the '60s and '70s than they do now," Gingery says. "Figures like Bernstein and Eugene Ormondy, who directed the Philadelphia Orchestra, were the national artistic heroes of the same stature as somebody like Lin-Manuel Miranda [of Broadway hit "Hamilton"] would have today. Bernstein was a champion of American music, after all."

According to an article in The Washington Post following Bernstein's performance, "While Cathedral officials were busy pointing out last week that the Mass conducted by Leonard Bernstein was not 'counter' to anything, its function as a rallying point of anti-Nixon dissent was not lost on anybody. In case any didn't get the message... it was introduced by former Senator Eugene McCarthy, poet and early leader of the peace movement."

A recording of the performance received a 1973 Grammy Award Nomination for Best Choral Recording, with Schribner and Bernstein as co-nominees. For even more on the animosity between Leonard Bernstein and Richard Nixon, we'd recommend a deep dive into "The Bernstein Files," a three-part multimedia series in The New Yorker from classical music expert Alex Ross. (Nixon chief of staff H.R. Haldeman, in particular, has a lot to say about Bernstein in the Nixon tapes that emerged during the Watergate investigation.)

Now That's Interesting When the Philadelphia Orchestra was asked to perform President Richard Nixon's 1973 inauguration concert, 16 members requested the night off.
On President Rodrigo Duterte's State of the Nation Address (SONA) July 26, 2021, activists in the Philippines call for justice for the Bloody Sunday Massacre victims Manny Asuncion, Ariel Evangelista, Chai Evangelista, Randy dela Cruz, Puroy dela Cruz, Greg Dasigao, Makmak Bascano, who were killed on March 7, 2021 by state forces and Dandy Miguel, a labor leader who was killed three weeks after. (Photo: Pola Rubio)

At least 30 policemen implicated in the 2021 "Bloody Sunday" massacre will face murder charges, said the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday (September 12).

Justice Undersecretary Brigido Dulay told ANC's "Rundown" that the officers will be indicted for the killings of labor leader Manny Asuncion and fisherfolk leaders Chai Lemita-Evangelista and Ariel Evangelista.

Dulay added that while there are other alleged victims of "Bloody Sunday", these are still being investigated by the AO 35 Special Investigation Team. Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla had earlier said the agency found it difficult to obtain witnesses.

"Ang nagiging problema lang namin is because, based on my review of the case, the site of the crimes are in different locations. Hindi lang isa ang location ng lahat ng ito. Iba-iba," said Dulay.

(Our only problem is because, based on my review of the case, the site of the crimes are in different locations. These did not have a common location.)

"So, that is what is complicating it because you can't just put this under one panel. You have to have different panels because these are treated as separate cases."

According to ABS-CBN News, the AO 35 inter-agency task force probe grave human rights violations such as extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture involving activists and rights defenders.

On March 7 2021, authorities implemented 24 search warrants in Calabarzon that left 9 activists dead after simultaneous dawn raids. Activists have questioned the killings and contested the issuance of the search warrant against activists.

The slain activists were labor leader Emmanuel Manny Asuncion, environmental defenders couple Chai and Ariel Evangelista in Batangas, and urban poor leader Melvin Dasigao, Mark Bacasno, Abner Esto, and Edward Esto. Police and military officers also allegedly killed indigenous Dumagat Puroy and Randy Pulong Dela Cruz in Tanay, Rizal.

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A beach on White Island, Camiguin, in the Philippines. (Photo by ronatory on Unsplash)

The Philippines has long had a reputation for its natural beauty and gorgeous white sand beaches, which draw flocks of tourists to shores all around the archipelago.

It's once again cemented its reputation as a top beach and diving destination with its latest accolades from the World Travel Awards.

The country was hailed as Asia's Leading Beach Destination and Asia's Leading Dive Destination in the 29th World Travel Awards, which honored tourism attractions within Asia and Oceania at a red carpet ceremony on September 7 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

This is the sixth time the Philippines has been recognized as Asia's Leading Beach Destination, having received the same accolade in 2013, 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2021.

It's also the fourth time the country has been named Asia's Leading Dive Destination, an honor previously given in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

Swimming with a green turtle in the Philippines. (Photo: Getty Images)

The Philippines was also the World's Leading Dive Destination in 2019, 2020, and 2021. The date for the World Travel Awards' announcement of global recognition is yet to be determined, but it usually happens sometime in November or December.

Here are the other Asian World Travel Awards that the Philippines snagged during the regional recognition on September 7.

Asia's Leading Dive Resort 2022 - Atmosphere Resorts & Spa

Asia's Leading Casino Resort 2022 - City of Dreams Manila

Asia's Leading Private Island Resort 2022 - Amanpulo

Asia's Leading Serviced Apartments 2022 - Ascott Bonifacio Global City Manila

Asia's Leading Tourist Attraction 2022 - Intramuros

The Philippines, a tropical Southeast Asian nation of 7,641 islands, has long been popular among travellers for its beautiful island destinations such as Palawan, Cebu, Siargao and Boracay.

It was named among the "40 Most Beautiful Countries in the World" recently by travel magazine Conde Nast Traveler.

If you're looking to book your next beach vacation, check out our list of the 13 best beach destinations in the Philippines.

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The percentage of those who can name all three branches dropped in 2022 to 47% from 56% the prior year, according to the Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey. Data from survey conducted Aug. 2-13, 2022, among 1,113 U.S. adults, and APPC surveys in prior years. Credit: Annenberg Public Policy Center

After two years of considerable improvement, Americans' knowledge of some basic facts about their government has fallen to earlier levels, with less than half of those surveyed able to name the three branches of government for the 2022 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey.

The Annenberg Public Policy Center's annual, nationally representative survey showed notable increases in 2020 and 2021 after tumultuous years that put the role of government and the three branches under a media spotlight. In those two years, the survey was run amid a pandemic and government health restrictions, two impeachment inquiries, a presidential election, an attempt to disrupt congressional certification of the electoral vote, criminal trials of the individuals charged in the assault on the U.S. Capitol, and waves of social justice protests, among other events.

The current survey, released for Constitution Day (Sept. 17), found the first drop in six years among those who could identify all three branches of government, and declines among those who could name the First Amendment rights, though knowledge remained high on some other questions. Additional findings on the Supreme Court will be released next month.

"When it comes to civics, knowledge is power," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. "It's troubling that so few know what rights we're guaranteed by the First Amendment. We are unlikely to cherish, protect, and exercise rights if we don't know that we have them."

Highlights

Less than half of U.S. adults (47%) could name all three branches of government, down from 56% in 2021 and the first decline on this question since 2016.

The number of respondents who could, unprompted, name each of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment also declined, sharply in some cases. For example, less than 1 in 4 people (24%) could name freedom of religion, down from 56% in 2021.

Over half of Americans (51%) continue to assert incorrectly that Facebook is required to let all Americans express themselves freely on its platform under the First Amendment.

But large numbers recognize other rights in the Bill of Rights and the veto process.

The Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey is a nationally representative survey conducted annually in advance of Constitution Day by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania. This year's survey of 1,113 U.S. adults was conducted by phone for APPC by independent research company SSRS on August 2-13, 2022. It has a margin of error of  3.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The year-to-year changes reported here are statistically significant unless noted otherwise. For the questions and additional data, see the appendix and the methodology statement.

The three branches and how government works

The three branches: The survey found a significant drop in the percentage of respondents who named all three branches of governmentexecutive, legislative, and judicial. This year, 47% named all three, down from 56% in 2021. One in 4 people (25%) could not name any, up from 20% in 2021.

The constitutionality of an act by the president: Asked who has final responsibility for determining whether an act by the president is constitutional if the president and the Supreme Court disagreethe president, Congress, or the courtless than half of Americans (46%) correctly said the Supreme Court, statistically unchanged from 2020 and 2021 (51%) but down significantly from 2019 (61%).

A 5-4 ruling: Asked what it means when the Supreme Court rules 5-4 in a case, just over half (55%) correctly chose "the decision is the law and needs to be followed," down significantly from 61% in 2021. Others surveyed incorrectly said "the decision is sent back to Congress for reconsideration" (16%), "the decision is sent back to the federal court of appeals to be decided there" (16%), or they don't know (13%).

Percentage of those who can name one, two and three branches of government, according to the Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey of 1,113 U.S. adults, conducted Aug. 2-13, 2022. Credit: Annenberg Public Policy Center

Decline in knowing First Amendment rights

The First Amendment: When asked unprompted to name the protections specified in the First Amendment, the number of respondents who could identify them declined, at times steeply:

Freedom of speech was cited by 63%, down from 74% in 2021 and 73% in 2020.

Freedom of religion was named by 24%, down from 56% in 2021 and 47% in 2020.

Freedom of the press was named by 20%, down from 50% in 2021 and 42% in 2020.

Right of assembly was named by 16%, down from 30% in 2021 and 34% in 2020.

Right to petition the government was named by 6%, down from 20% in 2021 and 14% in 2020.

One in 4 respondents (26%) said they can't name any or don't know, compared with 17% in 2021 and 19% in 2020.

The number of individuals who incorrectly named the right to bear armswhich is guaranteed under the Second Amendment, not the Firsttripled to 9% from 3% in 2020 and 2021. In June, gun rights were in the news when the Supreme Court ruled to expand the right to carry guns in public places and when Congress passed gun safety legislation.

A large majority knows there is a personal right to own a gun: 82% say it is accurate to state that the Supreme Court has held that a citizen has a constitutional right to own a handgun (unchanged statistically from 83% in 2019).

Half think 'freedom of speech' applies to Facebook

Facebook and the First Amendment: Over half of those surveyed (51%, compared with 61% in 2021) incorrectly believe it's accurate to state that the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech means that Facebook must permit all Americans to freely express themselves on Facebook pages. The First Amendment protects citizens from government censorship, but social media companies such as Facebook are private companies and courts have ruled private entities are not covered by it.

What's behind this: Nearly two-thirds of self-described conservatives (63%) think Facebook posts are covered by the First Amendmentas do half of self-described moderates (50%) and a smaller group of self-described liberals (41%).

In 2022 fewer people could name each of the five freedoms guaranteed under the First Amendment. From the Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey conducted Aug. 2-13, 2022, among 1,113 U.S. adults. Credit: Annenberg Public Policy Center

Some civics knowledge indicators at high levels

The 2022 survey found that a strong majority knows the correct answer to some questions:

Search and seizure: 78% know it is accurate to say that protection from "unreasonable searches and seizures" is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

78% know it is accurate to say that protection from "unreasonable searches and seizures" is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Religion: 76% know that under the Constitution, Congress cannot establish an official religion of the United States (statistically unchanged from 77% in 2016). And 88% know it is accurate to say that under the Constitution, U.S. citizens who are atheists have the same rights as other citizens (up from 79% in 2017).

76% know that under the Constitution, Congress cannot establish an official religion of the United States (statistically unchanged from 77% in 2016). And 88% know it is accurate to say that under the Constitution, U.S. citizens who are atheists have the same rights as other citizens (up from 79% in 2017). Overriding a veto: 76% know that under the Constitution, when the president vetoes legislation, the bill will become law if two-thirds of the members in each house of Congress vote to override the president (statistically unchanged from 73% in 2018).

And most can identify certain inaccurate claims, though substantial numbers are unsure:

The president and the court: Most (73%) know it is inaccurate to say that under the Constitution a president can ignore a Supreme Court ruling if the president believes it is wrong (up from 65% in 2018), though 1 in 5 (22%) incorrectly thinks that is accurate.

Most (73%) know it is inaccurate to say that under the Constitution a president can ignore a Supreme Court ruling if the president believes it is wrong (up from 65% in 2018), though 1 in 5 (22%) incorrectly thinks that is accurate. Testifying at trial: Most know that a judge cannot force a defendant to testify at trial: 63% know it is inaccurate to say that the Constitution allows a judge to insist that a defendant testify at his own trial (the same as in 2019), though nearly 1 in 3 people (32%) incorrectly thinks that a judge has that prerogative.

Most know that a judge cannot force a defendant to testify at trial: 63% know it is inaccurate to say that the Constitution allows a judge to insist that a defendant testify at his own trial (the same as in 2019), though nearly 1 in 3 people (32%) incorrectly thinks that a judge has that prerogative. Undocumented immigrants: Most respondents know that undocumented immigrants in the United States have some rights under the Constitution: 57% know it's inaccurate to say that those who are in the United States illegally "do not have any rights" under the Constitution. But 40% think incorrectly that this is true. This has shifted in a positive direction since 2017, when the responses were nearly reversed (40% correctly knew it was inaccurate but 53% incorrectly said it was accurate). Those rights include education: The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment has been applied by courts to say that undocumented children cannot be denied an education.

Civics education associated with knowledge

An APPC analysis found that taking a high school civics class continues to be associated with correct answers to civics knowledge questions, including knowledge of the three branches; knowledge of First Amendment rights; the meaning of a 5-4 Supreme Court decision; the Supreme Court having the final say on the constitutionality of a president's actions; and knowing that Facebook is not covered by the First Amendment.

In 2022, nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents with at least some high school education said they had taken a civics course in high school that focused on the Constitution or judicial system, about the same as in previous years we have asked this question. More than a third of those with at least some college education (36%) said they had taken a college course that focused on the U.S. system of government and the Constitution, significantly fewer than in 2021 but about the same as in 2019 (38%).

Constitution Day

The Annenberg Civics Knowledge Survey is released by APPC for Constitution Day, which celebrates the signing of the Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787. APPC's activities to enhance civics education include Annenberg Classroom, which offers free resources for teaching the Constitution, and the Civics Renewal Network, a coalition of 39 nonpartisan, nonprofit organizations seeking to improve civics education by providing free, high-quality resources for teachers.

Provided by Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania
Ramsey Lewis, one of the worlds most prominent jazz pianists, died in his Chicago home on Monday at the age of 87. His career ranged from his trios club gigs to presenting symphonic works in large concert halls. He recorded pop hits while retaining a high level of artistic integrity. Lewis had a brilliant touch on the Steinway grand piano but he also played electric grooves that several contemporary DJs have sampled. But his legacy extends beyond his own performances.

A tireless advocate for jazz, Lewis hosted a long-running syndicated radio show and television programs. He also taught numerous younger musicians who were his bandmates or students. At the time of his death, Lewis was working on his memoir, Gentleman of Jazz, which is slated for a 2023 release. (I have been his collaborator as the books co-author.)

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Lewis story presents an incredible trajectory that went from a childhood in Chicagos Cabrini-Green projects to global acclaim. His open-minded approach to music, combined with his talent and dedication, led to constantly surprising avenues. Through it all, Lewis remained a Chicagoan.

Music was a consistent part of Lewis home. His parents loved classical composers and he was eager to start playing the piano when he was about 4 years old. Along with his lessons, he also played in the African Methodist Episcopal Church where his father was a pastor. This combination of gospel feeling with classical technique was seen throughout Lewis career. His command of dynamics also stemmed from those initial encounters.

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One of the members of that church, saxophonist Wallace Burton, brought the teenage pianist into his jazz group, the Clefs. That was his first experience performing this kind of music. He quickly took to it and the band evolved into The Ramsey Lewis Trio with bassist Eldee Young and drummer Isaac Redd Holt. In 1956 they released their debut, Ramsey Lewis and His Gentle-men of Swing, for Chess Records. He would go on to release 36 albums with the Chicago company that reflected his expansive palette: embracing J.S. Bach, blues, country and film soundtracks.

The trio was also active in early 1960s nightclubs, with regular dates at Chicagos London House. But a 1965 residency at The Bohemian Caverns in Washington, D.C., took Lewis group into a different sphere. As a lark, they covered the R&B tune The In Crowd to close this live recording. To everyones surprise, the single became a crossover smash, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard pop chart. That status remains a distinctive accomplishment for an instrumental jazz group.

As the trio broke up in 1966, Lewis hired bassist Cleveland Eaton and drummer Maurice White. He encouraged the latter to overcome his onstage shyness and present himself more to audiences. Years later, White did just that as leader of the supergroup Earth, Wind & Fire. Even with his stardom, White remained close to Lewis and praised the pianist in his 2016 memoir, My Life With Earth, Wind & Fire.

Ramsey willingly answered my questions; he was always interested in expressing the ways Black folks should carry themselves, White wrote. He believed in speaking intelligently, being dignified, respectful, and yet strong. He didnt just talk the talk, he walked the walk.

Lewis also met another key collaborator around that time, composer/producer Charles Stepney. Like the pianist, Stepney was immersed in classical music but also had his own experimental ideas that included striking arrangements for strings, and bringing in the latest electronic keyboards and synthesizers. Together, they created such records as Lewis Mother Natures Son in 1968, a singular take on The Beatles self-titled album from that year.

After the demise of Chicagos Chess Records at the turn of the decade, Lewis moved to Columbia and brought younger musicians with backgrounds in R&B into his groups. His mid-1970s appearance on Soul Train highlighted his sounds appeal to dancers as well as listeners. White helped devise Sun Goddess in 1974, which was another big seller. The albums infectious bright spirit reminded Lewis of what he experienced in church while providing succinct spaces to improvise. Lewis and his colleagues delved into African and Latin idioms as well as electronics for Salongo two years later. Those records subtle offbeat humor was also part of his endearing personality. He was held in such high esteem that Stevie Wonder contributed two tracks to Lewis 1977 album, Love Notes.

Still, Lewis eagerly refocused on the acoustic piano as the 1970s ended. During the 1980s, he briefly reunited with his original trio for one album (Reunion, 1983) and also started working with vocalist Nancy Wilson and pianist Billy Taylor, who became his lifelong friends.

Taylor helped inspire Lewis involvement in different media, including hosting the popular Legends of Jazz radio program on WDCB and Jazz Central on the BET cable network in the 1990s. Along with Lewis impeccable taste, he was confident and enthusiastic in his knowledge, and was a generous host. Sharp and witty, he presented a loose sensibility while actually being scrupulously organized.

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Those attributes served Lewis well when he began directing the Jazz at Ravinia series in Highland Park in 1993 (Lewis performed at Ravinia frequently since 1966). He brought a range of musicians to the venue and made a significant impact through Ravinias Jazz Mentor Program, which brought educators and great musicians to public school students within the Chicago area.

During the early 2000s, Lewis could have easily coasted on his accomplishments and continued touring with his extensive catalog of hits  or simply rested after recording more than 75 albums. Instead of resting, he kept busy with bold new pieces, including To Know Her, a collaboration with the Joffrey Ballet. He did receive plenty of accolades at this time, notably being designated as a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2007. Lewis more ambitious Proclamation Of Hope premiered two years later. This was an epic he created with composer Scott Hall that drew on all of his experiences for an orchestral reflection on the life of Abraham Lincoln.

While Lewis announced his retirement in 2019, nothing kept him away from playing. During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, he streamed solo performances with viewers donations going to charity. Some of these will be released in November as The Beatles Songbook: The Saturday Salon Series: Volume One (Steele Records).

Since Lewis always moved forward, co-writing his memoir became an occasion to play for him some of his albums and TV appearances that he had not thought about for decades. He gave his replies to my selections with looks of pure joy, a response similar to the millions who heard his music.

Lewis is survived by his wife, Janet, two daughters, three sons, 17 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren (two sons are deceased).

Aaron Cohen is a freelance contributor and is the co-author of the upcoming Lewis memoir Gentleman of Jazz (Blackstone Publishing).
Traditional forms of community supervision that focus on control and punishment have failed to improve client outcomes. In response, training programs for probation officers have been developed to better incorporate more rehabilitation-focused strategies into community corrections practices. In a new meta-analysis, researchers assessed the impact of these programs on various outcomes for probation officers and their clients. They found that these programs provide advantages for both groups, supporting their continued use.

Conducted by researchers at the University of Central Florida (UCF), the study appears in Justice Quarterly.

"Given the considerable amount of time and resources required to implement and sustain these training programs, a better understanding of their impact on probation officers and clients is critical for justifying their use," explains Ryan Labrecque, associate professor of criminal justice at UCF, who led the study.

Community supervision of individuals who are on probation and parole is the largest part of the U.S. corrections system. It was originally seen in terms of reform and prevention of recidivism. But because of an emphasis on surveillance as well as extensive conditions and requirements, it is now viewed by some as more punitive than incarceration, raising levels of imprisonment and increasing racial and class disparities in the criminal justice system.

Efforts to reform the system to improve the effectiveness of supervision and limit negative effects on clients and society have led to programs focused on rehabilitative interventions, among other services. Among these are programs that provide training to probation officers, including models such as Strategic Training Initiative in Community Supervision (STICS), Effective Practices in Community Supervision (EPICS), and Staff Training Aimed at Reducing Re-arrest (STARR), which have been adopted across many jurisdictions in North America and abroad. The programs seek to teach officers how to better incorporate effective rehabilitative practices into their daily interactions with clients. "Given the rapid expansion of these programs, it is important to take a systematic look at their effectiveness" says Michael Caudy, associate professor of criminal justice at UCF who co-authored the study.

In this study, researchers assessed the impact of these training programs on the topics officers select to discuss and the intervention strategies they use during client contact sessions. They did so by systematically reviewing 25 studies on the programshalf of which were conducted in the United States, all of which featured males and females as participants, and most of which included only adults. They also examined the influence of probation officers' training and fidelity to program skills on clients' recidivism.

The study found that the programs:

Transformed the nature and content of conversations in sessions between probation officers and their client, with trained officers more likely than untrained officers to talk about criminogenic needs,

Increased officers' use of core correctional practice skills in sessions with clients, including skills on session structuring, relationship skills, behavioral practices, and cognitive techniques, and

Slightly reduced client rearrests (i.e., any new arrest) and reconvictions (i.e., any new criminal conviction), but had less of an effect on technical violations (i.e., probation revocations, terminations from probation, and positive drug tests).

In addition, probation officers who used the core correctional practice skills more consistently during sessions with their clients were more effective in reducing recidivism in their clients.

Because of the small size of many of the studies reviewed, the authors highlight the need for more rigorous research on the implementation and effectiveness of these training programs, and on studies that include larger numbers of participants. In addition, because many studies examined the effect of training programs on adult males on probation, more research is needed to determine how factors such as age, gender, race, risk level, and supervision type affect the relationship between the intervention and recidivism. Finally, because most of the studies reviewed have been done by the people who developed the training models, more independent evaluations are needed.

"Reforming the way probation officers do their job is no easy feat," notes Jill Viglione, associate professor of criminal justice at UCF, who coauthored the study. "Our findings support the continued use of officer training programs, as well as the development of strategies to monitor and increase fidelity after training."

Explore further Taking down mental health stigma, one step at a time

More information: Ryan M. Labrecque et al, The Impact of Community Supervision Officer Training Programs on Officer and Client Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, Justice Quarterly (2022). Journal information: Justice Quarterly Ryan M. Labrecque et al, The Impact of Community Supervision Officer Training Programs on Officer and Client Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,(2022). DOI: 10.1080/07418825.2022.2120062

Provided by Crime and Justice Research Alliance
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A University of Queensland study of hospitality workers in Australia has found the industry is rife with sexual harassment, bullying, wage theft and exploitation.

Associate Professor Richard Robinson from UQ Business School surveyed almost 400 hospitality employees in late 2021 and early 2022 to understand how their working experiences aligned with the five Fairwork Principles: contracts, pay, working conditions, management and representation.

"The results exposed deep cultural issues in the hospitality industry, with poor behaviors and practices that have become normalized and systemic," Dr. Robinson said.

"More than 60% of respondents experienced sexual harassment, verbal and psychological bullying or racial abuse, while more than 70% witnessed these behaviors.

"Customers were the main perpetrators, although 42% of respondents said the abuse came from their managers or supervisors."

Pay and contracts were also significant concerns, with almost 20% of respondents not receiving minimum pay rates or unsure whether they were paid fairly.

Around 45% reported not receiving overtime or penalty rate loading entitlements, while more than 30% said they never saw a contract or written terms for their current job.

Dr. Robinson said it was important to highlight these issues, particularly in the current tight labor market.

"With the unemployment rate at 3.4%, demand for workers is high but supply is lowallowing some hospitality workers to negotiate higher wages and better conditions," he said.

"But unless all industry leaders and business owners address these cultural issues at their core, we'll return to an imbalance of power when labor market dynamics change."

Dr. Robinson said the same survey was administered by colleagues to hospitality workers in New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland, Norway and Greece.

"The results were consistent, indicating systemic issues in hospitality worldwide," he said.

Dr. Robinson said he hoped his findings would give exploited hospitality workers a voice.

"The general public should be aware that the people serving them in restaurants, cafes, hotels and clubs are often under immense strainand we should cut them some slack," he said.

The survey findings have been published in the report, "Serving up a Fair Go? Surfacing cultural issues in hospitality employment."

Explore further Pandemic layoffs pushed hospitality workers to leave industry

More information: Serving up a Fair Go? Surfacing cultural issues in hospitality employment: Serving up a Fair Go? Surfacing cultural issues in hospitality employment: business.uq.edu.au/files/82074  ality-employment.pdf
A large pine weevil feeding on Scots pine. Credit: Jarmo Holopainen

Conifers are dominant tree species in boreal forests, but they are susceptible to attack by bark beetles. A new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows that upon attack by bark-feeding weevils, conifers release substantial quantities of volatile organic compounds that provide important cues to neighboring seedlings.

It has long been known that when plants are damaged, they release odorous chemicals into the atmosphere. These chemicals represent an important medium through which plants communicate.

"Whereas broadleaved plants have been frequently shown to respond to chemical odors, the same observations have not been seen in conifers. Therefore, we decided to look whether conifers undergo a similar response and were amazed at the results," Doctoral Researcher Hao Yu of the University of Eastern Finland says.

The study showed that Scots pine seedlings damaged by bark-feeding weevils release vast quantities of volatile chemicals into the atmosphere. Undamaged plants exposed to these chemicals also start to release volatiles and prepare themselves to emit more if they are subsequently attacked by weevils.

Importantly, those receiver plants also increased their stomatal conductance and net photosynthesis rate.

"This observation is novel and has broad implications for further research investigating the mechanisms of how plants obtain information from their neighbors," says Professor James Blande, leader of an Academy of Finland funded project on conifer communication at the University of Eastern Finland.

In addition, receiver plants had altered resin duct traits, and were subject to reduced amounts of damage by pine weevils.

The team also investigated the responses of receiver plants under elevated ozone conditions, which represents the situation in more polluted regions. They found that the responses were significantly altered, but the final defense outcome was not affected.

"The different responses of receiver plants made us think that the communication process was eliminated, but receiver plants still had more resistance to weevils," Yu points out.

Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, this research sheds new light on the dynamism of conifer communication and shows that the process can be substantially altered by air pollution.

More information: Hao Yu et al, Volatile-mediated between-plant communication in Scots pine and the effects of elevated ozone, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2022). Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Hao Yu et al, Volatile-mediated between-plant communication in Scots pine and the effects of elevated ozone,(2022). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0963
A cowbird nestling peers out from a warbler nest. Credit: Nicholas Antonson

Brown-headed cowbirds are generalist brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of many other bird species and letting the host parents raise their young. A new study seeks to understand the strategies cowbird chicks use to survive in prothonotary warbler nests when they hatch with different numbers of warbler nestlings. The study reveals that a cowbird chick does better with two than with four or zero warbler nest mates.

The researchers report their findings in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

If a cowbird ends up in a prothonotary warbler nest with four host chicks, the cowbird either perishes or the number of warbler chicks drops, usually to two, the study found. This suggests that cowbirds engage in what the naturalist Charles Darwin called "niche construction," modifying their environment to enhance their own survival, the researchers said.

"Brood parasites like brown-headed cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of so many different species, we wanted to know about one really important aspect of how they make a go of it in a world that, when they hatch, could be any one of 200 different scenarios," said Nicholas Antonson, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who led the study with Mark Hauber, a U. of I. professor of evolution, ecology and behavior. "We focused on what happens when a cowbird hatches into a nest with different numbers of host nestlings."

Cowbird chicks never eject eggs from host nests or directly kill host young. This differentiates them from another brood parasite, the common cuckoo, which will kill all other chicks in the nest and claim all the food the foster parents can provide, Antonson said. A previous study from Science showed that this strategy does not work for cowbirds in the nests of another host bird: the Eastern phoebe. In that study, cowbirds actually got less food from host parents when there were no nest mates than when there were two host chicks.

A new study tested the interactions between brown-headed cowbirds, which are nest parasites, and prothonotary warblers, one of their hosts. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Ph.D. candidate Nicholas Antonson prepares a nest box to accommodate a prothonotary warbler nest. Credit: Nicholas Antonson

"Cowbirds have adapted to live with host nest mates," Hauber said. "They outcompete them, they raise their heads higher, and they beg more loudly and for longer periods of time, but they do not actively displace the host nest mates."

To better understand these dynamics, the team deployed nest boxes that were attractive to warblers and cowbirds in a southern Illinois swamp forest. The boxes were designed to exclude ground predators like snakes and raccoons, and aerial predation by hawks and owls. By changing out the bedding in the boxes four days after the eggs hatched, the team also reduced the threat from invertebrate parasites like blowflies.

The team followed nests with and without cowbird parasites and manipulated the number of host chicks in the nests by moving warbler eggs or chicks between nests. All the nests parasitized by cowbirds had either zero, two or four warbler nest mates. Control nests containing only warbler chicks were matched for the total number of young.

A birds eye view from the nest box of researcher Nicholas Antonson. Credit: Fred Zwicky

Previous studies had quantified the amount of food the host parents brought into the nest and what proportion of the food the cowbird nestling received. In general, cowbirds hatch earlier than their nest mates. They tend to be bigger and more aggressive than warbler chicks and extract more than their fair share of food from the host parents, Antonson said. Cowbirds need more food because they grow two to three times larger in the nest than the warbler chicks.

"One of the unique aspects of our study is that we also quantified how many cowbirds survived to fledging in each of these different scenarios," Antonson said. "We found that cowbirds survive best in the nests where they hatch with two host nestlings. That's better than when they hatch with four host nestlings or with zero host nestlings. Cowbirds raised with more than that optimal number of two host nestlings appear to reduce the host brood sizes down to two."

Brown-headed cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species, forcing the host parents to raise their young alongside the hosts own offspring. Here, a cowbird egg, lower right, sits in a nest with five prothonotary warbler eggs. Credit: Nicholas Antonson

The prothonotary warbler adult tends to its nestlings in a nest box made from a milk carton. Credit: Nicholas Antonson

The site of the study, a forested wetland in the Cache River watershed of southern Illinois. Credit: Nicholas Antonson

Cowbirds tend to be larger than the host nestlings. They open their mouths wider and hold their heads higher than other birds, allowing them to consume more of the food brought to the nest by the host parents. Credit: Nicholas Antonson

The reduction seen in host nestling numbers when cowbirds are present doesn't occur in the control warbler nests with no cowbird nestlings, the researchers found.

"We think that the cowbirds are manipulating the host numbers to reduce them to the optimal so that they can grow best," Hauber said. Stealing food meant for the other nestlings is the likely means by which they do that. Further studies will be needed to confirm that hypothesis.

Explore further Cowbirds change their eggs' sex ratio based on breeding time
Schematic of Xe nanobubbles obtained by Molecular Dynamics Simulations. The formation event corresponds to a high Xe concentration (around 30 water molecules per atom). Credit: Jaramillo-Granada, Reyes-Figueroa & Ruiz-Suarez.

Nanobubbles are extremely small (i.e., nanoscopic) gaseous cavities that some physicists observed in aqueous solutions, typically after specific substances were dissolved in them. While some studies reported the observation of these incredibly tiny bubbles, some scientists have argued that they are merely solid or oily residues formed during experiments.

Researchers at Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados Unidad Monterrey and Centro de Investigacion en Matematicas Unidad Monterrey in Mexico have recently carried out an experiment aimed at further investigating the nature of these elusive and mysterious objects, specifically when xenon and krypton were dissolved in water. Their study, featured in Physical Review Letters, identified the formation of what the team refers to as "nanoblobs," yet found no evidence of nanobubbles.

"Our aim was to create xenon and krypton nanobubbles using a clean method," Carlos Ruiz Suarez, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told Phys.org. "I must say that many scientists claim that nanobubbles, despite their use in many applications, do not exist. Rather, it is thought that they are oil/solid contaminants formed during the experiments."

To solve the "mystery" of nanobubbles, Ruiz Suarez and his colleagues devised a "clean" method that should have theoretically allowed them to produce "real" nanobubbles. This method entailed dissolving the two noble gases xenon and krypton in water, by applying high pressure to them, and then depressurizing and inspecting the resulting liquid.

The team assessed the results of this procedure in both molecular dynamics simulations (MDSs) and laboratory experiments. While they actually observed nanobubble-like particles, when they analyzed these particles they were surprised to find that these were most likely gas-water amorphous structures, rather than gaseous bubbles.

"To bring together the noble atoms to nucleate into bubbles, we needed to increase their concentrations in the water medium," Ruiz Suarez explained. "By performing MDSs, we found that the correct proportions between water molecules and the noble atoms were around 30 water molecules/atom. Thus, we needed to build a high- pressure cell to force the atoms to dissolve in water by pushing the gas inside."

Centrifugation experiment and the time colloids arrive to the water surface as a function of density difference. When this is zero, the time diverges. Credit: Jaramillo-Granada, Reyes-Figueroa & Ruiz-Suarez, PRL (2022).

Xenon and krypton are two hydrophobic gases. This means that they can only enter water and aqueous solutions under high amounts of pressure (over 360 bars or atmospheres). Once they enter water, however, they can bond with each other through hydrophobic and van der Waals forces.

"There is currently no way to see inside the cell, but we supposed that the bubbles existed because we believed our MDSs," Ruiz Suarez said. "The next step for our work was to depressurize the sample and see the bubbles. However, to our great surprise, there were no bubbles, but something else: nanostructures formed by gas and water, which we called nanoblobs. These are sui generis structures that give rise to clathrates hydrates."

The existence of nanobubbles remains a debated topic in particle physics and the recent work by these researchers could help to solve this mystery. Just like xenon and krypton, many other gases used to form nanobubbles can also form clathrate hydrates (i.e., water structures with molecules inside them). Overall, the team's findings thus suggest that what many previous studies identified as "nanobubbles" could instead be these amorphous nanostructures formed by clathrate hydrates.

"It is important to remark that when an existing physical theory cannot explain experimental findings, physicists like to name it as a catastrophe," Ruiz Suarez said. "Since nanobubbles have high pressure inside them (the smaller they are the higher the pressure), theory says that their lifetime is very short (of the order of microseconds). However, observations revealed that they exist for much longer, so this has been called the Laplace Pressure Bubble Catastrophe."

If the findings collected by this team of researchers are valid and reliable, they could greatly contribute to the present understanding of nanobubbles. Essentially, their findings suggest that the Laplace Pressure Bubble Catastrophe does not exist, as previously observed "nanobubbles" are instead "nanoblobs," or alternative structures resulting from clathrate hydrates in experimentally used gases.

"We are now building an experimental apparatus that will allows us to see inside the cell and observe the nanobubbles at high pressure," Ruiz Suarez said. "We would like to see their evolution when we decrease the pressure and the moment when they become clathrate hydrates. Meanwhile, we are also studying other important gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide."

Explore further Mystery of the nanobubbles solved

More information: Angela M. Jaramillo-Granada et al, Xenon and Krypton Dissolved in Water Form Nanoblobs: No Evidence for Nanobubbles, Physical Review Letters (2022). Journal information: Physical Review Letters Angela M. Jaramillo-Granada et al, Xenon and Krypton Dissolved in Water Form Nanoblobs: No Evidence for Nanobubbles,(2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.094501

 2022 Science X Network
Open cluster NGC 2506. Credit: StudentAstronomyGroupUoC

Using the AstroSat spacecraft, Indian astronomers have investigated an open cluster known as NGC 2506. The study identified more than 2,000 member stars of this cluster and provided more insights into its properties. The findings were published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on 29 August.

Open clusters (OCs), formed from the same giant molecular cloud, are groups of stars loosely gravitationally bound to each other. So far, more than 1,000 of them have been discovered in the Milky Way, and scientists are still looking for more, hoping to find a variety of these stellar groupings. Expanding the list of known galactic open clusters and studying them in detail could be crucial for improving our understanding of the formation and evolution of our galaxy.

At a distance of some 12,700 light years, NGC 2506 (also known as Caldwell 54) is a mildly elongated, intermediate-age OC. Although many studies of this cluster have been conducted so far, still not much is known about its stellar content. Previous observations have suggested that NGC 2506 exhibits mass segregation, with the lower mass member stars being more likely to be in the outer parts of the cluster.

In order to shed more light on the stellar populations of NGC 2506, a team of astronomers led by Anju Panthi of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India, performed multi-wavelength observations of this cluster, mainly using the UltraViolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) onboard AstroSat.

"We studied an intermediate-age open cluster NGC 2506 using the AstroSat/UVIT data and other archival data," the researchers wrote.

All in all, the study identified 2,175 cluster members of NGC 2506 using a machine learning based algorithm. Among them, nine blue straggler stars (BSS), three yellow straggler stars (YSS) and three red clump (RC) stars were detected.

Furthermore, the astronomers discovered hot companions to three BSS, two YSS and three RC stars and estimated their fundamental properties. They found that these objects are white dwarfs with masses from 0.2 to 0.8 solar masses and effective temperatures between 13,250 and 31,000 K.

When it comes to the effective temperatures of BSS stars in NGC 2506, the results show that they vary from 7,750 to 9,750 K, which is consistent with the age of the clusterabout 2 billion years. The temperatures of YSS stars are between 6,500 and 6,750 K, while the temperatures of RC stars were found to be 5,0005,250 K.

According to the researchers, the results suggest that the mass transfer in a binary system mechanism is likely to be responsible for the formation of at least 40% BSS and YSS systems in NGC 2506. However, they do not exclude a merger in triple system with close inner binary scenario.

Explore further Open cluster NGC 188 explored with AstroSat

More information: Anju Panthi et al, UOCS VIII. UV Study of the open cluster NGC 2506 using ASTROSAT, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2022). Journal information: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Anju Panthi et al, UOCS VIII. UV Study of the open cluster NGC 2506 using ASTROSAT,(2022). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac2421

 2022 Science X Network
Location of cardigan bay and places mentioned in the article. Credit: Atlantic Geoscience (2022). DOI: 10.4138/atlgeo.2022.005

A pair of researchers, one with Swansea University, the other with Oxford University, has taken a new look at the Gough map and have found what might be the lost islands of ancient Welsh folklore. In their paper published in the journal Atlantic Geoscience, Simon Haslett and Davis Willis describe two small islands on the map that do not exist today.

The Gough map was created approximately 650 years ago by an unknown person. It gets its name from the noted antiquarian Richard Gough, who came into possession of the map in the early 1800s. It became a well-known document because it broke with previous theologically based mapping.

Ancient Welsh folklore has long suggested an island kingdom once existed off the coast of Wales in what is now Cardigan Bay. Known as Cantre'r Gwaelod in some texts, and as Maes Gwyddno in others, the two islands that made up the kingdom were supposedly ruled by a man called Gwyddno. Evidence of the kingdom has never been found and many historians believe it never actually existed. Still, some insist that it did exist but was overcome by erosion and vanished below the waves of St. George's Channel.

Haslett and Willis point out that mention of the kingdom has been made in early Welsh texts and also indirectly by the famed Egyptian scientist Ptolemyhis notes suggested that the shores of Cardigan Bay stretched farther west than they do now. Such notes suggested that the coast of the Welsh shoreline has eroded quite a bit, hinting that islands nearby could have eroded away, as well.

The researchers note that it is well known that Wales's shoreline is eroding even today. They also point out that a sixth-century monk mentioned in writing that the people living near Cardigan Bay were besieged both by constant invaders and an unruly sea that was eating away at the shoreline. The researchers suggest the comment may refer to an unusually strong storm or perhaps even a tsunami, which could have wiped away low-lying islands in the bay.

The researchers have already set in motion plans to undertake geographical surveys along the coastline of Cardigan Bay and perhaps to extend them enough distance into the sea to determine if there might be remnants of lost islands.

More information: Simon K. Haslett et al, The 'lost' islands of Cardigan Bay, Wales, UK: insights into the post-glacial evolution of some Celtic coasts of northwest Europe, Atlantic Geoscience (2022). Simon K. Haslett et al, The 'lost' islands of Cardigan Bay, Wales, UK: insights into the post-glacial evolution of some Celtic coasts of northwest Europe,(2022). DOI: 10.4138/atlgeo.2022.005

 2022 Science X Network
Credit: ACS Nano (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.2c03877

In her research on bone tissue engineering, Dr. Marta Cerruti has worked for years with graphene, a single sheet of carbon atoms with incredible propertieselectrical conductivity and the ability to support tremendous weight. Now, her quest to improve its qualities has opened the door to a possible solution to one of the challenges of producing hydrogen from seawater.

Cerruti, a professor of materials engineering at McGill University, explained that while graphene is structurally sound, "one sheet of atoms is not something you can easily work with." In fact, piling the sheets up results in, basically, pencil lead.

Searching for a way to make an easy-to-handle structure, Cerruti's Ph.D. student Yiwen Chen combined graphene with oxygen in a suspension with water to create reduced graphene oxide (GO), a porous, three-dimensional, electrically conductive scaffold. Cerruti suggested a further modification, with GO flakes stacked on the pore walls, "which allowed us to exploit another interesting property of GOit creates a membrane that allows water through but no other molecules."

When she canvassed her team for suggestions on how best to test the new scaffold, Gabriele Capilli, a post-doctoral fellow in her lab, suggested seawater electrolysis, a process similar to others he worked on while doing his Ph.D. It turns out the new GO "selective scaffold" has the potential to improve the process of producing hydrogen from the ocean. The team's findings were published recently in the journal ACS Nano.

In conventional electrolysis, chloride ions in seawater penetrate the electrode and interact with the catalyst, creating hypochlorite ions, an unwanted byproduct that poisons the catalyst, Cerruti explained. Using X-ray phase contrast imaging at the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan, Chen confirmed the GO scaffold had the right structure, with closed GO pores enclosing cobalt oxide nanoparticles as the catalyst. "We saw what we wanted to see." Electrochemical tests performed in the laboratory of collaborator Thomas Szkopek (electrical engineering, McGill) confirmed the scaffold worked as expected to block unwanted ions.

"People have tried various things to keep chloride out but nobody thought about the idea that by using GO, the electrode itself, its whole architecture, could prevent the chloride oxidation that produces hypochlorites."

The next challenge, she said, will be scaling up to mass produce the GO membrane. But when that is solved, "there are lots of possibilities. This could be used for other reactions where you don't want interference from certain molecules. It will all depend on your imagination."

Explore further A promising new approach to rebuild bone tissue

More information: Gabriele Capilli et al, Selective Catalytic Electro-Oxidation of Water with Cobalt Oxide in Ion Impermeable Reduced Graphene Oxide Porous Electrodes, ACS Nano (2022). Journal information: ACS Nano Gabriele Capilli et al, Selective Catalytic Electro-Oxidation of Water with Cobalt Oxide in Ion Impermeable Reduced Graphene Oxide Porous Electrodes,(2022). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.2c03877
(a) Energy and Feynman diagrams of a resonant (left) and a non-resonant (right) CRS pathways. (b) Polarization angles of the resonant (blue line) and non-resonant (red line) CRS signals,  and , represented as the elevation angle on the unit sphere as a function of the relative polarization angle (azimuthal angle) of the pump/Stokes and probe fields, . (c) Schematic of the polarization-sensitive coherent imaging spectrometer. OW, optical window; SL, spherical lenses; M, mirror; BPF, band-pass filter; PBS, polarization beam splitter; FR, Fresnel rhomb; BS, beam stop. Inset: probe volume. The probe crosses the ultrabroadband pump/Stokes beam 2mm after the end of the filament. The increment of input energy results in the elongation of the filament towards the focusing optics (arrow direction) (d) Measurements points across the H2/air flame front, the dashed red line identifies the location of the burner rim at y = 9.5 mm. Credit: Optics Express (2022). DOI: 10.1364/OE.465817

Researchers have developed an analytical instrument that uses an ultrafast laser for precise temperature and concentration measurements of hydrogen. Their new approach could help advance the study of greener hydrogen-based fuels for use in spacecraft and airplanes.

"This instrument will provide powerful capabilities to probe dynamical processes such as diffusion, mixing, energy transfer and chemical reactions," said research team leader Alexis Bohlin from Lulea University of Technology in Sweden. "Understanding these processes is fundamental to developing more environmentally friendly propulsion engines."

In Optics Express, Bohlin and colleagues from Delft University of Technology and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, both in the Netherlands, describe their new coherent Raman spectroscopy instrument for studying hydrogen. It was made possible due to a setup that converts broadband light from a laser with short (femtosecond) pulses into extremely short supercontinuum pulses, which contain a wide range of wavelengths.

The researchers demonstrated that this supercontinuum generation could be performed behind the same type of thick optical window found on high-pressure chambers used to study a hydrogen-based engine. This is important because other methods for generating ultrabroadband excitation don't work when these types of optical windows are present.

"Hydrogen-rich fuel, when made from renewable resources, could have a huge impact on reducing emissions and make a significant contribution to alleviating anthropogenic climate change," said Bohlin. "Our new method could be used to study these fuels under conditions that closely resemble those in rocket and aerospace engines."

Getting light in

There is much interest in developing aerospace engines that run on renewable hydrogen-rich fuels. In addition to their sustainability appeal, these fuels have among the highest achievable specific impulsea measure of how efficiently the chemical reaction in an engine creates thrust. However, it has been very challenging to make hydrogen-based chemical propulsion systems reliable. This is because the increased reactivity of hydrogen-rich fuels substantially changes the fuel mixture combustion properties, which increases the flame temperature and decreases ignition delay times. Also, combustion in rocket engines is generally very challenging to control because of the extremely high pressures and high temperatures encountered when traveling to space.

"The advancement of technology for sustainable launch and aerospace propulsion systems relies on a coherent interplay between experiments and modeling," said Bohlin. "However, several challenges still exist in terms of producing reliable quantitative data for validating the models."

One of the hurdles is that the experiments are usually run in an enclosed space with limited transmission of optical signals in-and-out through optical windows. This window can cause the supercontinuum pulses needed for coherent Raman spectroscopy to become stretched out as they go through the glass. To overcome this problem, the researchers developed a way to transmit femtosecond pulsed laser through a thick optical window and then used a process called laser induced filamentation to transform it into supercontinuum pulses that remain coherent on the other side.

Studying a hydrogen flame

To demonstrate the new instrument, the researchers set up a femtosecond laser beam with the ideal properties for supercontinuum generation. They then used it to perform coherent Raman spectroscopy by exciting hydrogen molecules and measuring their rotational transitions. They were able to demonstrate robust measurements of hydrogen gas over a wide range of temperatures and concentrations and also analyzed a hydrogen/air diffusion flame similar to what would be seen when a hydrogen-rich fuel is burned.

The researchers are now using their instrument to perform a detailed analysis in a turbulent hydrogen flame in hopes of making new discoveries about the combustion process. With a goal of adopting the method for research and testing of rocket engines, the scientists are exploring the limitations of the technique and would like to test it with hydrogen flames in an enclosed slightly pressurized housing.

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More information: Francesco Mazza et al, Coherent Raman spectroscopy on hydrogen with in-situ generation, in-situ use, and in-situ referencing of the ultrabroadband excitation, Optics Express (2022). Journal information: Optics Express Francesco Mazza et al, Coherent Raman spectroscopy on hydrogen with in-situ generation, in-situ use, and in-situ referencing of the ultrabroadband excitation,(2022). DOI: 10.1364/OE.465817
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A widespread belief among millions of smallholder farmers in one of the world's poorest countries is that God determines their yields. This is shown by a study from the University of Copenhagen that has examined the correlation between religiosity and economic decisions. The finding can contribute to an understanding of the mechanisms behind unproductive agriculture in developing countriesone of the major global poverty problems. It is a problem that requires new political initiatives, according to the researchers behind the study.

It's God's will. This is the explanation offered by millions of farmers in one of the world's poorest countries as to why their yields are what they are, the implication being that their own efforts make no difference. This is part of the conclusion of a comprehensive study among small-scale farmers in Ethiopia conducted by researchers from the University of Copenhagen. The study has examined the possible link between religiosity and risk-taking in economic contexts.

One of the major hunger and poverty problems in developing countries, which is also a part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, is unproductive agriculture. The prevailing view among economists is precisely that an unwillingness to take economic risks is part of the explanation of why many farmers in the developing countries are doing badly.

"The general explanation that poverty is associated with risk aversioni.e. an unwillingness to use new technology or try out new crops should be re-assessed in relation to structural and contextual factors. Both our data and other recent studies show that people in developing countries are generally willing to take risks. But now we are able to explain it through religiosity," says Goytom Abraha Kahsay, an assistant professor at the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen, who is originally from Ethiopia.

One in four believe that God decides everything

According to the researchers, 95 percent of all Ethiopians living in rural areas categorize themselves as religious.

The findings from the study show that both religious and non-religious farmers are generally willing to take risks when it comes to economic decisions, but that more religious the farmers are, the more their risk preferences increase.

Approximately 26 percent of the more than 800 small-scale farmers surveyed believe that God is the omniscient power who ultimately determines everything, and that God intervenes to decide their success as farmers.

"Many of the surveyees choose to take risks because they believe that their success is entirely in the hands of God anyway. Even though the majority of the population do not share this belief, it equates to millions Ethiopians sharing this conviction," says Goytom Abraha Kahsay, who points out that small-scale farmers make up the greatest share of the population in Ethiopia.

Design of the study

To map the surveyees' risk preferences, the researchers designed a lottery experiment in which farmers were able to choose between economic decisions with either a certain and an uncertain outcome in a number of situations.

Prior to the experiment, the researchers had assessed the religiosity of the individual farmers, based on questionnaires. This was assessed based on a number of criteria, including the extent to which the surveyees believe that God intervenes in their lives and how much money they donate to the church or mosque. In this case, there was a strong correlation between the degree of risk-taking and the degree of religiosity.

Church can make a difference

"If we're to improve farming practices in poor countries, we need to understand how farmers make the decisions that affect their economic outcomes. And religiosity appears to play a significant role. It's obvious to study what explains whether farmers are successful or not, and to what extent their success is influenced by religiosity," says Goytom Abraha Kahsay.

He hopes that the new knowledge about the role played by religiosity will be useful in shaping new political initiatives:

"Given ours and other studies' findings suggesting that religiosity affects economic preferences and socio-economics outcomes, the authorities and policy makers may consider working with the Church and other religious institutions, which could probably make a difference in terms of technology adoption, climate adaptation, etc. Most people trust the Church, so any messages conveyed to them in church can probably affect their way of thinking," concludes Goytom Abraha Kahsay.

The researchers from UCPH are also studying what is getting in the way of farmers using modern technology, testing new crop variants, making climate adaptations, etc. if they are essentially willing to take risks.

Small-scale farming is the main occupation in Ethiopia, where more than 80 percent of the population of 113 million inhabitants live in rural areas. The population pattern is the same in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

95 percent of the farmers in Ethiopia are small-scale/subsistence farmers with very low incomes. They are highly reliant on so-called rainfed agriculture and are therefore very vulnerable to climate change (drought and floods). Most of these farmers use modern technology to a limited extent. Most of the population in Ethiopia is Christian (primarily Ethiopian-Orthodox and Protestant), while the second-largest religion in the country is Islam.

The study was based on a survey of 819 subsistence farmers in Ethiopia, which consisted of a lottery experiment, a questionnaire designed (among other things) to determine the religiosity of the surveyees, as well as focus group interviews. Approximately 26 percent of the 819 small-scale farmers surveyed believe that God ultimately decides everything and intervenes in their success as farmers.

The study has been published in the scientific journal Agricultural Economics. The researchers behind the study are Goytom Abraha Kahsay and Lars Garn Hansen from the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen as well as Workineh Asmare Kassie from the University of Gondar, Ethiopia, and Haileselassie Medhin from the World Resources Institute in the Netherlands.

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More information: Goytom Abraha Kahsay et al, Are religious farmers more risk taking? Empirical evidence from Ethiopia, Agricultural Economics (2022). Goytom Abraha Kahsay et al, Are religious farmers more risk taking? Empirical evidence from Ethiopia,(2022). DOI: 10.1111/agec.12697
Lee Jung-jae accepts the award for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series for "Squid Game" onstage during the 74th Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 12, 2022. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

The 74th annual Emmy Awards are in the books following a three-hour telecast on NBC that saw several repeat winners, along with quite a few surprising upsets.

During Mondays Kenan Thompson-hosted ceremony, Apple TV+s Ted Lasso won best comedy series for the second year in a row, HBO Maxs The White Lotus took top limited series and HBOs Succession grabbed the highest honor of the night with outstanding drama series.

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Earlier in the show, Netflixs Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae became the first Asian actor to ever win lead actor in a drama series, and the fourth Asian person ever to win an acting Emmy, while HBOs Euphoria star Zendaya became the first Black woman to win lead actress in a drama series, and the youngest two-time winner of any Emmy in history.

Hacks star Jean Smart won outstanding actress in a comedy series for the HBO Max show, and Apple TV+s Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis once again took top honor for actor in a comedy series.

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Sudeikis gave a shout-out to his Chicago comedy roots from the Emmys stage for a second year in a row. He wasnt prepared in his acceptance speech, he said, but I did take classes at Second City, so Im going to go for it. Sudeikis started out in comedy performing with theaters such as iO Chicago, Annoyance and Second City, and also thanked Chicago from the podium in 2021.

Jason Sudeikis, center, and the cast and crew of "Ted Lasso" accept the Emmy for outstanding comedy series at the 74th Emmy Awards. (Mark Terrill/Mark Terrill/Invision/AP)

Amanda Seyfried garnered lead actress in a limited series for her portrayal of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in Hulus The Dropout, and fan-favorite The White Lotus actress Jennifer Coolidge won for supporting actress in a limited series. On the acting side the honors were given to Michael Keaton for lead actor in a limited series for Hulus Dopesick and Murray Bartlett for the supporting honor in that category for HBOs The White Lotus.

Matthew Macfadyen was honored for his supporting role in Succession, for which he was previously nominated in 2020 but did not land the win. Then Julia Garner took the award in the corresponding actress role for the final season of Netflixs Ozark, on which she played Ruth Langmore, marking her third Emmy win for the part.

Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph made history as the second Black winner in the history of the supporting actress in a comedy series category, the first since Jackee Harry for 227 in 1987. On the actor side, Ted Lassos Brett Goldstein won for the second year in a row, the awards first back-to-back winner since Jeremy Piven for Entourage in 2007.

Strides in diversity were made in non-acting categories when Squid Games Hwang Dong-hyuk became the first Asian director to win the drama series category, and the first-ever director to win for a non-English language series, and Abbott Elementary creator and star Quinta Brunson won for comedy series writing

Betty White, Bob Saget and Anne Heche were among the stars honored in the annual In Memoriam tribute, which acknowledges the deaths of television luminaries in the past year, and was set to John Legends Pieces.  Nichelle Nichols, James Caan, Gilbert Gottfried, Dean Stockwell, Tony Sirico, Ray Liotta and Sidney Poitier were also featured.

The 74th annual Emmy Awards were presented at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

2022 Emmy Award winners:

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Best drama series: Succession

Best comedy series: Ted Lasso

Best limited series: The White Lotus

Lead actor in a drama series: Lee Jung-jae, Squid Game

Lead actress for drama series: Zendaya, Euphoria

Supporting actor in a drama series: Matthew Macfadyen, Succession

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Supporting actress in a drama series: Julia Garner, Ozark

Lead actor for comedy series: Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso

Lead actress for comedy series: Jean Smart, Hacks

Supporting actor in a comedy series: Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso

Supporting actress in a comedy series: Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary

Actress for limited series or TV movie: Amanda Seyfried, The Dropout

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Actor for limited series or TV movie: Michael Keaton, Dopesick

Supporting actress for comedy: Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary

Supporting actor for comedy: Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso

Supporting actress for drama: Julia Garner, Ozark

Supporting actor for drama: Matthew Macfadyen, Succession

Supporting actress for limited series or a movie: Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus

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Supporting actor for limited series or movie: Murray Bartlett, The White Lotus

Reality competition: Lizzos Watch Out for the Big Grrrls

Variety sketch series: Saturday Night Live

Variety talk series: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

The Tribune contributed to this report.
CalFire firefighters turn away from the fire to watch for any stray embers during a firing operation to build a line to contain the Fairview fire near Hemet, California, on September 8, 2022.

A massive wildfire burned out of control Monday in Oregon forcing residents to flee and threatening towns and thousands of homes, in the latest blaze to scorch the US West during a blistering summer.

Dozens of active infernos in California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and other western states have ravaged more than 1,200 square miles (3,100 square kilometers), worsening air quality and highlighting the devastating effects of a historic two-decade-plus drought that has left the region parched.

The Cedar Creek fire east of the city of Eugene, Oregon experienced "extreme" growth over the weekend and has now consumed 86,734 acres (35,100 hectares)roughly twice the size of the US capital Washingtonwith zero percent containment as of Monday, according to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG).

More than 1,200 firefighters and other personnel have converged on the steep mountainous terrain, much of it in US national forest land and hard to reach.

"They have been constructing firelines away from the active fire edge, along roads and trails, where they have a better chance of successfully stopping the fire," NWCG reported.

Evacuations were ordered for Lane and Deschutes counties, and the Deschutes and Willamette national forests have been closed. More than 2,000 homes were under threat, authorities said.

Dense smoke has enveloped the region, and according to NWCG, "smoke has created unhealthy air quality for communities east of the fire as well, including Bend," a town that serves as a gateway for outdoor tourism.

Firefighters walk past a scorched landscape from the Fairview fire inside the San Bernardino National Forest near Hemet, California on September 9, 2022.

"Get out of here as fast as I can," Herman Schimmel, who moved to the small town of Westfir only recently, told The Oregonian newspaper. "That's all I was thinking about."

Local media reported that cooler and calmer weather had improved conditions somewhat later on Monday, with officials easing evacuation instructions in some areas.

The western United States is more than two decades into a historic drought that scientists say is being worsened by human-made climate change.

Much of the countryside is parched, creating conditions for hot, fast and destructive wildfires.

Homes threatened

An even larger blaze was burning in northwestern Oregon Monday, in a more remote region. The Double Creek fire, first detected on August 30, has consumed 155,000 acres and was 15 percent contained.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), more than 90 fires were currently burning across seven states in the West: California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

In a long exposure image, smoke and flame rise into the air during the Fairview fire near Hemet, California in Riverside County on September 7, 2022.

More than 1,200 square miles in total was burningan area larger that Yosemite National ParkNIFC reported Sunday.

The Mosquito Fire, California's current largest blaze, has now swept through 46,500 acres in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with several small nearby towns reportedly evacuated.

The official CalFire website said that while cooler temperaturesfollowing more than a week of blistering heathad somewhat slowed the fire's progress, stronger winds were pushing it to the north and northeast, threatening hundreds of homes.

Meanwhile, firefighters were working to contain the major Fairview fire, south of Los Angeles, which has claimed two lives.

Firefighters have the blaze 53 percent under control, local media reported Monday, raising hopes it may be slowing down after rainfall and lower temperatures at the weekend.

Air quality alerts have been issued in Oregon, Washington and Idaho due to smoke from the blazes.

Explore further Massive California fire eases with rains

 2022 AFP
Example of human impact on Atlantic Rainforest: selective logging. Credit: Renato Augusto Ferreira de Lima

The countless benefits of native forests include the capacity of tree biomass to store large amounts of carbon, which can counterbalance greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. A paper published in the journal Science Advances reports on an innovative analysis of a large dataset designed to clarify the concept of carbon sequestration, a strategic issue in the discussion of global climate change.

"We still know little about the factors that can lead forests to store more or less carbon," said Renato Augusto Ferreira de Lima, one of the paper's ten authors. Lima is affiliated with the Ecology Department at the University of Sao Paulo's Institute of Biosciences (IB-USP) in Brazil and is currently a researcher at the Center for Biodiversity Synthesis and Analysis (CESAB) in Montpellier (France).

"We used a large forest inventory database to see which factors are uppermost in explaining current levels of carbon storage in the Atlantic Rainforest. We found that factors relating to the different types of human impact on the forest are key, with two to six times the significance of factors such as climate, soil and the characteristics of the tree species in the forest," he said.

Reversing the effects of human activity on Atlantic Rainforest remnants would therefore be the best strategy to increase forest carbon stocks. About 50% of the Brazilian population currently live in areas originally occupied by the biome.

According to Marcela Venelli Pyles, first author of the paper and a Ph.D. candidate in applied ecology affiliated with the Ecology and Conservation Department of the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA) in Minas Gerais, Brazil, conservation of carbon stocks in the Atlantic Rainforest is highly dependent on forest degradation, which can lead to carbon losses that are at least 30% worse than any future climate change. Moreover, emissions from forest degradation can hinder conservation efforts pledged in climate change mitigation agreements, such as REDD+ and the Aichi targets.

REDD stands for "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation." The plus sign in REDD+ refers to "the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries," according to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which adopted this mechanism to reward developing countries financially for climate change mitigation.

The Aichi Biodiversity Targets were 20 global targets for biodiversity loss reduction to be met by 2020, agreed at the Tenth Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), held in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, in 2010.

Tree damage and mortality due to disturbances in Atlantic Rainforest fragments resulting from canopy opening and microclimate changes can lead to carbon losses of up to 10.50 metric tons per hectare, corresponding to emission of 15.24% of the carbon stored in 1 hectare, while carbon storage protection and enhancement can achieve gains of 12.02 tons per hectare, increasing storage by 17.44%.

Warmer climate

Besides degradation due to human activity, the study also analyzed how climate change, particularly rising temperatures and water stress, endangers carbon storage by the Atlantic Rainforest. If global warming is limited to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, as suggested by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Atlantic Rainforest alone will release 3.53 tons per hectare (+ 5.12%). "But if the average temperature continues to rise at the current rate, carbon emissions could exceed 9.03 tons per hectare (+ 13.11%)," Pyles said.

The paper also argues that climate change mitigation actions involving forest restoration could benefit from the inclusion of species with higher wood density, heavier seeds and larger leaves, and that carbon conservation policy should take into account methodologies used to quantify carbon stocks. "The difference between methodologies used in the field can lead to errors in estimating carbon, entailing misinterpretation and inefficient climate change mitigation measures," Pyles said.

The paper also notes a "weak relationship" between taxonomic and functional diversity and carbon storage in the Atlantic Rainforest. From this, it infers that conservation policies focusing only on carbon may fail to protect biodiversity and that separate incentive mechanisms to conserve species should be considered.

According to Lima, the findings on the Atlantic Rainforest offer potential lessons for other forests around the world in terms of nature-based solutions to combat the adverse effects of climate change and human activity.

The paper is also signed by Luiz Fernando Silva Magnago (Federal University of Southern Bahia), Bruno X. Pinho (Federal University of Pernambuco), Gregory Pitta (USP), Andre L. De Gasper and Alexander C. Vibrans (Regional University of Blumenau), and Vinicius Andrade Maia, Rubens Manoel dos Santos and Eduardo van den Berg (UFLA).

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More information: Marcela Venelli Pyles et al, Human impacts as the main driver of tropical forest carbon, Science Advances (2022). Journal information: Science Advances Marcela Venelli Pyles et al, Human impacts as the main driver of tropical forest carbon,(2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl7968
Overview of the currently known main marine mineral resources. Credit: Trends in Ecology & Evolution/Kaikkonen et al.

Shallow-water mining projects are already underway in Namibia and Indonesia, and projects have been proposed in Mexico, New Zealand, and Sweden, but the effects of these projects haven't been fully investigated. A new study published on September 13 in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution argues that shallow-water mining needs more rigorous environmental evaluation before it can be declared safe and sustainable.

The mining, which takes place at depths less than 200 meters, has been touted as less destructive than terrestrial mining and less risky than mining in poorly understood deep-water ecosystems, but the authors cast doubt on this assertion. "Claims of reduced environmental impacts of shallow-water mining are not backed by credible evaluations but by hopes and assumptions that support a pro-mining narrative," write the authors.

Extracting valuable materials such as gold, cobalt, copper, and phosphorites from the shallow-water ocean floor requires dredging large amounts of sediment. Removing this sediment, which takes thousands of years to accumulate, means removing the organisms that call it home. The authors caution that this removal of habitat and inhabitants will result in biodiversity loss.

"In the absence of impartial comparisons of the ecological effects of different types of mining practices, there are no environmental or socioeconomic justifications in favor of shallow-water mining," write the authors.
The coloured lines show how cosmic rays are deflected in magnetic fields. The white straight lines represent a large-scale magnetic field. In addition, small-scale magnetic fields not shown here act on the paths of the particles (coloured lines). Credit: RUB, Dr. Lukas Merten

An international research team has developed a computer program that can simulate the transport of cosmic rays through space. The researchers hope it will help them solve the mystery of the sources of cosmic rays.

So far, we do not know which celestial objects emit the high-energy radiation that pelts the Earth from space. Theoretical models are necessary to explain experimental data; the new computer simulation can provide these. A team of researchers from Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (RUB) describes the software in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

Like an evenly illuminated sky during daytime

Since their discovery 100 years ago, researchers have been attempting to decipher where cosmic rays come from. The problem is that, viewed from Earth, they look like the sky during daytime to the naked eyenamely, equally brightly illuminated almost everywhere we look.

This is because the light from the sun is scattered in the Earth's atmosphere and spreads evenly across the entire sky. Cosmic rays are also scattered on their way to Earththrough interactions with cosmic magnetic fields. All we can see from Earth is an evenly illuminated image; the origin of the radiation remains hidden.

Particle trajectories simulated all the way from production to detection

"Our program CRPropa enables us to trace the trajectories of particles from their formation to their arrival on Earthand this for all energies that we can observe from Earth," says Julien Dorner, Ph.D. student at RUB. "We can also fully account for the interaction of the particles with matter and photon fields in the universe."

The program can simulate not only cosmic ray propagation, but also signatures of neutrinos and gamma rays that are produced in cosmic ray interactions. "Unlike cosmic rays, these messenger particles can be observed directly from their sources, as they come to Earth on a straight path," explains Dr. Patrick Reichherzer, postdoctoral researcher at RUB. "We can also use the software to predict such signatures from neutrinos and gamma rays from distant galaxies such as starbursts or active galaxies."

The presented simulation program is currently the most comprehensive software and opens up new windows to the universe. "We can explore new energy ranges in the simulation that couldn't fully be captured in such detail with the programs available to date," says Professor Karl-Heinz Kampert from the University of Wuppertal. "Most importantly, we can develop a theoretical model that describes the transition from cosmic rays from our own Galaxy to a fraction coming from distant galaxies and compare it with observations."

Theoretical calculations essential to interpret experimental data

The simulation program was developed as a result of an international collaboration of 17 researchers from Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Croatia, England and Austria. With eight researchers, the RUB is a lead partner in the project. The project was conducted as part of the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1491 The Interplay of Cosmic Matter, funded by the German Research Foundation.

CRC spokesperson Professor Julia Tjus from the RUB says that "the publication is a major step towards a quantitative description of the transport and interaction of cosmic rays in three dimensions. CRPropa will significantly contribute to understanding where cosmic rays come from. After all, we need theoretical calculations to help us interpret the variety of data we receive from the various instruments monitoring the cosmos."

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More information: Rafael Alves Batista et al, CRPropa 3.2an advanced framework for high-energy particle propagation in extragalactic and galactic spaces, Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (2022). Rafael Alves Batista et al, CRPropa 3.2an advanced framework for high-energy particle propagation in extragalactic and galactic spaces,(2022). DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2022/09/035
Timeline of study sample collection. These two timelines show the timing of sample collection in the two locations of our study in relation to federal policies shared by both sites (shown by lines connecting to both timelines) and a local event (in the interior city) that impacted immigrants during the post-candidacy period. Three Executive Orders (13767, 13768, and 13769) were issued by the President within the last week of January 2017. These orders collectively included demands for a border wall (13767), expanded use of detention of immigrants (13768), limited access to asylum, enhanced enforcement along the border and increased the number of ICE agents (13768, 13769), prohibited sanctuary jurisdictions from receiving federal funding (13768), and limited travel from Muslim majority countries (13769). Additionally, a policy specifically aimed at separating families at the border was enacted in spring of 2018. In TN specifically, an ICE raid on a meatpacking plant occurred a few hours away, possibly the largest raid of Trump administration with 86 individuals detained and 11 arrested. All together, these policies sent a collective message that immigrants were not welcome and increased anti-immigrant media attention during this time. Credit: PLOS ONE (2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273548

The sociopolitical climate in the United States has taken its toll on the mental health of Latina mothers, according to new research from the University of California San Diego. Findings show increased depression, anxiety and perceived stress in a border city and reduced coping resources in both a border and interior US city.

"Latinx Americans have been historically disadvantaged on many fronts, including access to quality education, job security and health care, making them particularly vulnerable to stressors that can lead to poor mental health," said Amy L. Non, a genetic anthropologist at UC San Diego. "Our findings indicate that in a more hostile political landscape their well-being is even more threatened."

Non co-authored the study with Elizabeth S. Clausing, an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska and a doctoral alumna of the UC San Diego Department of Anthropology, and Kimberly L. D'Anna Hernandez, a professor of psychology at Marquette University.

The studyan analysis of longitudinal surveys that the research team began before the Republican nomination of Donald Trump and concluded several years after his election as presidentmeasured changes in sociocultural stressors, protective factors and mental health in two cohorts of Latina mothers, one in San Diego and the other in Nashville.

Amid their findings: The effects of discrimination were associated with high anxiety in the Nashville group, and acculturative stress, a particular kind of stress experienced by people adapting to a new culture, was associated with consistently worse mental health in the San Diego group.

The researchers examined stress and coping within families by taking into consideration stressor events, perceptions of these events on the parts of the study participants, available coping resources, and possible crises that can result from imbalances.

"The stressors we measured were influenced by the changing and increasingly hostile political climate toward Latinas following the nomination and election of Donald Trump," said Non. "We measured such resources for coping as optimism, social support for mothers and protective cultural values. We measured the mothers' perceptions of stress in relation to many factors, including socioeconomic status, acculturation, racial discrimination, and other factors. Taken all together, these increased stressors and reduced coping resources led to higher levels of mothers' psychological distress, as measured with scales for anxiety, depression, and such symptoms resulting from stress as sickness, anger and frustration, fear, and feelings of aging too quickly."

These alarming findings didn't occur in a vacuum, the researchers believe. The increased stress experienced by Latina mothers, along with reductions in coping resources, were likely related to the rhetoric of Donald Trump as a candidate and as president.

"In Nashville, we noticed reductions in optimism and social support since Trump's candidacy," Non said. "We also asked some direct, open-ended questions about how the women felt seeing 'Make America Great Again' hats in the wake of the 2016 election, as well as any behavior changes they may have implemented in response to the election results. Many mothers qualitatively expressed increasing fears at what they saw as rising anti-immigrant sentiments. Some expressed concern about their safety when driving or taking their children outside."

This paper builds on findings of the authors' prior studies in the interior city dataset, showing immigrant-related stress effects across generations, in the epigenomes of children of immigrant Latina mothers, which may have implications for cardiometabolic health. The authors' prior work also found acculturative stress and discrimination related to maternal depression and anxiety in the border city. Future research will focus on COVID-related stress and mental health in border city Latina mothers.

The paper, "Changes in Sociocultural Stressors, Protective Factors, and Mental Health for US Latina Mothers in a Shifting Political Climate," is published in PLOS ONE.

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More information: Amy L. Non et al, Changes in sociocultural stressors, protective factors, and mental health for US Latina mothers in a shifting political climate, PLOS ONE (2022). Amy L. Non et al, Changes in sociocultural stressors, protective factors, and mental health for US Latina mothers in a shifting political climate,(2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273548 Elizabeth S Clausing et al, Epigenetic age associates with psychosocial stress and resilience in children of Latinx immigrants, Epigenomics (2021). DOI: 10.2217/epi-2019-0343 Elizabeth S. Clausing et al, Epigenetics as a Mechanism of Developmental Embodiment of Stress, Resilience, and Cardiometabolic Risk Across Generations of Latinx Immigrant Families, Frontiers in Psychiatry (2021). DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.696827 Kimberly L. D'Anna-Hernandez et al, Acculturative stress negatively impacts maternal depressive symptoms in Mexican-American women during pregnancy, Journal of Affective Disorders (2015). DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2015.01.036 Andrea Preciado et al, Acculturative stress is associated with trajectory of anxiety symptoms during pregnancy in Mexican-American women, Journal of Anxiety Disorders (2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.10.005 Journal information: Journal of Affective Disorders , Epigenomics , PLoS ONE
QUEENSBURY  A New York City man is headed to prison after pleading guilty to felony charges of possessing heroin and crack cocaine, Warren County District Attorney Jason Carusone said Monday.

Saquan Lamont was arrested with 11 ounces of crack cocaine and 1.48 ounces of heroin during a traffic stop by state police on March 21, 2021, in Queensbury.

Lamont pleaded guilty to felony charges of first-degree criminal of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and two misdemeanor charges of criminally using drug paraphernalia.

Warren County Judge Robert Smith is expected to sentence Lamont to 10 years in state prison to be followed by up to 5 years of post release supervision, according to a press release.

Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 21.

Lamont is being held on bail in the Warren County Jail awaiting sentencing.

The defendant was represented by Taalib Horton.
GREENFIELD  An 18-year-old man was arrested in connection with a robbery in Greenfield on Monday, police said.

Kaden A. Williams, from Castleton, N.Y., was charged with second-degree robbery and first-degree assault, both felonies.

After police received a 911 call for a robbery that had just occurred at the intersection of Allen Road and North Greenfield Road, a deputy arrived at the scene and saw Williams fleeing the scene in a vehicle, according to the Saratoga County Sheriff's Office.

The deputy was able to stop him on Allen Road with assistance from a state trooper, police said.

Williams allegedly used a BB gun, which was first believed to be a semi-automatic weapon, to steal property from three victims standing at the intersection.

Police said a conflict ensued and one of the victims was struck in the face with the BB gun, causing injury.

A juvenile male was allegedly with Williams during the incident.

The Sheriff's Office said in a news release that this was an isolated incident, and the three victims were targeted by Williams.

Williams was arraigned in Greenfield Town Court and sent to Saratoga County Jail in lieu of $500 cash bail, $1,000 bond and $2,500 secure bond. He is due back in court at a later date.

The juvenile was charged with second-degree robbery, a felony, and referred to Saratoga County Family Court, the Sheriff's Office said.

Investigator Scott Schelling handled the case.
Democratic congressional candidate Matt Castelli on Monday made his strongest statement yet in opposition to an assault weapons ban.

We do not support an ill-defined assault weapons ban that fails to address keeping our cops, our kids, and communities safe, he said, speaking at a Zoom news conference to release his Moderate Party platform.

Castelli also called for bail reform at the state level and said he opposes defunding the police, as he attempts to attract voters dissatisfied with the current direction of the two major political parties.

The campaign also announced it has established a Moderate Party of New York website at moderatepartyny.com.

The platform calls for safety and security, building a strong economy, abortion rights, gay and transgender rights, requiring verification for voters, securing the United States borders, requiring verification for voters, setting term limits for members of Congress, prohibiting members of Congress from trading in stocks while in office, and cracking down on unfair China trade practices.

The written platform, outlined in a news release, is primarily generalities with few specifics.

Castelli, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, in the 21st District, said the platform is designed to reach voters who feel a sense of being politically homeless among the vocal factions of both political parties.

Castelli said that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Squad  a group of six progressive Democratic House members that includes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, both of the Bronx; Ilhan Omar of Minnesota; Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts; Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Cori Bush of Missouri  are extreme Democrats, as is Stefanik and the Ultra MAGA on the Republican side.

There are two sides to the extreme coin, said Castelli, a former CIA counterterrorism official who lives in Glens Falls.

Castellis campaign organized the independent Moderate Party line, providing him a second ballot line in the November general election.

The ballot line is for the November election only.

Castelli is the only candidate running on the line.

It is not an organized political party, and does not have any leadership outside the Castelli campaign.

On gun control, the platform states that Castelli will protect and defend the Second Amendment. Support common-sense measures, like universal background checks, that keep our cops, our kids, and our communities safe while protecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners.

Throughout the Democratic primary, which Castelli won with more than 80% of the vote, Castelli faced criticism from primary opponent Matt Putorti because Castelli would not take a position on an assault weapons ban.

Stefanik supporters, such as Warren County Republican Chairman George Ferone, likewise, have accused Castelli of attempting to hide his support of an assault weapons ban.

Castelli, at the news conference on Monday, did not carte blanche denounce an assault weapons ban, but seemed to make the strongest statement against one so far.

On public safety, Castelli reiterated that he opposes defunding the police, a term that generally means redirecting spending for police departments to other areas such as social workers and community services.

We are going to fully fund the police.  Blue lives matter, he said.

A number of police unions have endorsed Stefanik.

Castelli, in the news conference, called for changes to New Yorks bail law, which many law enforcement officials have criticized as leading to increased crime.

New York state bail reform has become a disaster, he said, commenting that it is a state, not a federal, issue.

Castelli said he is calling for changes because police officers and district attorneys in the congressional district have raised concerns with him about the 2019 bail reform law that eliminated cash bail in most instances.

Asked about specific changes to the law that he would recommend, Castelli did not identify any.

Castelli said that he has not spoken with Gov. Kathy Hochul or area state legislators about his concerns about bail reform.

Asked if he supports calls from Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, for the Legislature to immediately convene a special session to discuss bail reform, Castelli said he would leave that up to the Legislature.

The Stefanik campaign said that Castelli appears to have changed his position on bail reform, citing a comment Castelli made at the town hall forum at Otsego County in August, in which Castelli spoke generally about concern about the law being oriented more to the New York City area, without specifically calling for changes to the law.

We may not have as much of a threat that is faced in communities downstate that bail reform may be an effective solution and I am not sure, I would have to experience downstate to speak on that, but I sure as heck wish we had stronger voices representing the upstate communities when any of these laws are being considered that impacts us at a state level, Castelli said at the time.

The Castelli campaign, contacted to respond, said Castelli has consistently been opposed to the 2009 bail reform law.

That (remark) is clearly taken out of context, the Castelli campaign said, in a statement.

Castelli said at the news conference that he was a registered independent for much of his adult life.

He said he voted for Republican presidential candidate John McCain in 2008 and Democrat Barack Obama in 2012.

The Stefanik campaign said that Castelli is not a moderate.

This downstate Democrat is desperately trying to trick voters into pretending to be a moderate.  Voters are smart, Its why every law enforcement union has endorsed Congresswoman Stefanik and why exactly zero law enforcement unions have endorsed her opponent, said Alex DeGrasse, a Stefanik senior adviser.
It is the pleasure of the British people through the coronation to put their seal of approval upon the symbol of the state sent them by heredity, The Post-Star editorialized on June 2, 1953, the day of the coronation of British Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey.

Elizabeth, who died Sept. 8 at age 96, had become queen in February 1952 when her father, King George VI, died.

The custom of a coronation and the concept of royalty were foreign to United States political thought, yet there was great interest, nonetheless, The Post-Star editorialized.

An estimated 40,000 United States residents had traveled abroad to be in England that day.

One reason the Americans are interested in the coronation is that Queen Elizabeth and the family are understandable to us, The Post-Star editorialized. They are people who have a pretty hard time of it being individuals and at the same time part of an institution. We agree that they have a hard and useful row to hoe and admire them for being willing to accept their roles.

Pop culture was another factor.

Moreover, the coronation is a spectacle and Americans love spectacles, the editorial continued. For a nation of devoted republicans, we have surely allotted plenty of news and pictorial space to descriptions of this monarchial pageant.

There also was a sense of allegiance between allied nations.

Finally, Americans are probably superstitious enough to hope, with the British, that Elizabeth means luck for the empire. It could use some, the editorial concluded. As a matter of fact, our concern with the young (27-year-old) queens future is not entirely unselfish. Because her fortunes are linked with ours, we will wish every blessing for her reign, but mostly we will think of her as a nice girl for whom affairs ought to go right.

For months before and for weeks after, the coronation was a theme in local business advertising.

Erlangers clothing store in Glens Falls advertised royal Easter dresses.

Regal looking, styled to make you feel like a queen in your Easter parade. Get on the coronation parade today.

Merkel & Gelman department store on Glen Street advertised milium-lined cashmere coats in regal coronation colors for $85  the equivalent of $940 in 2022 dollars.

Color options were: Windsor Pink, Abbey White, Knight Gray, Queen Elizabeth Blue, Coronation Gold, St. James Silver, Balmoral Tan and Dover Oyster.

The Fashion Shop at 19 Ridge St., Glens Falls, advertised a variety of coronation cap styles for women.

Fowlers department store advertised womens nylon stockings in coronation colors.

Coronation-theme advertising was not limited to apparel.

The Union Firm furniture store at 258 Glen St. in Glens Falls advertised a 3-way lamp with coronation-inspired gold ornamental top for $11  the equivalent of $121 in 2022 dollars.

Spectors Sales & Service of Glens Falls and Parkers Garage of Lake Luzerne jointly advertised the 1953 Hudson Hornet automobile: Youll enjoy the new coronation interiors with deep, foam-rubber, nylon upholstered cushions, and the smartest appointments ever seen to the motor world.

On May 22, R.G. Irvine Company at 22 Main St. in Hudson Falls advertised a Coronation Television Special, with sets delivered in time for the big event.

An Emerson 21-inch console with a 12-inch speaker was on sale for $199.95, or monthly payments of $12.43.

A table model Emerson television was on sale for $149.95, or monthly payments of $9.32.

The day of the coronation, in an era long before satellites and even longer before livestream, the three television networks had a race, of sorts, for bragging rights to who could get the coronation up on the air the soonest.

Each network had arranged for a plane to fly film footage of the coronation to North America to be broadcast.

CBS won the competition, going on the air from Montreal at 3:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, about a half-hour after the landing of a Royal Canadian Air Force jet transporting the film.

ABC and NBC tagged on to the CBS coverage shortly after it began.

Glens Falls residents willing to wait a few weeks could watch the complete coronation, with narration by Laurence Olivier, in Technicolor on the big screen. The J. Arthur Rank production, A Queen is Coronated, opened at The Rialto Theatre on Warren Street on June 28.

All the thrilling pomp and pageantry  with the actual Westminster Abbey, the theater advertised.

The film was offered as a double feature with Column South, a Western starring Audie Murphy and Joan Evans.
ABSECON  The city hosted a remembrance ceremony Sunday for the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Community members gathered at the Absecon 9/11 Memorial to honor the first responders and commemorate those who lost their lives 21 years ago to the day.

City Council President Betty Howell opened the ceremony thanking those in attendance.

Twenty-one-years ago today was one of the darkest days in our countrys history, Howell said. But out of that darkness rose some of the best of what this country has to offer. The sacrifice of our first responders, the resilience of our military and the inspiration of our volunteers.

Patrick Snyder, the deputy chief of detectives for the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office and commander of the Major Crimes Unit, served as the master of ceremonies. He spoke to the importance of the sacrifices made on Sept. 11, 2001, and about the need to keep the day in their memories. He reflected on how his two daughters, 12 and 10, were both born well after the attacks and how he sought to impart the memory of the valor of that day onto the next generation.

Sept. 11, 2001, two words are imprinted on upon my memory from that day, and thats never forget, Snyder said. Never forget their names, their stories, their courage.

Snyder said that Americans responded to the attacks with feats of solidarity and remarked on how the citys ceremony Sunday was another iteration of that patriotic unity.

We must also never forget how this nation responded in unity, how that unity of spirt comforted so many, and thats what were here to do today, Snyder said.

The ceremony began with an invocation, a flag salute and a rendition of the national anthem. Toward the end, there was a bell ringing, a gun salute and a closing benediction.

A wreath-laying ceremony took place after Howells and Snyders speeches, with members of the Absecon EMS, Fire Department, Police Department and local Knights of Columbus placing a wreath at the memorial site. Mayor Kim Horton and Howell also laid a wreath at the site, with the pair being two of the 21 members of the citys 9/11 Founders Committee that oversaw the creation of the Absecon 9/11 Memorial. Roses were laid during the ceremony for the four late members of the Founders Committee: Joann Wescoat, Joann Elco, Loraine Hurd and Don Patterson.

Democratic Congressional nominee Tim Alexander spoke during a public portion of the event and described his reaction to the attacks while working at the county Prosecutors Office. He exhorted attendees to always come together, as they did in response to 9/11, to battle all foreign and domestic threats to the nation.

People came together, and we stood together and we fought against the attack on our democracy, Alexander said.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, the Republican incumbent whom Alexander is challenging to represent New Jerseys 2nd Congressional District, issued a statement to commemorate the day.

We must never forget the nearly 3,000 innocent American lives that were lost, as well as the heroism of the brave first responders, police officers, and firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice, Van Drew said in a statement posted to Twitter on Sunday.

A 16-foot beam

The Absecon 9/11 Memorial was established and dedicated during a ceremony on Sept. 11, 2016. It features a model of the World Trade Center in the background, while in the fore lays a 16-foot beam taken from the 39th floor of the South Tower. The beam is the largest artifact from the towers currently located in South Jersey

Horton read a proclamation honoring Firefighter Edward Vincent, who has served in the citys Fire Department for over four decades and was the citys fire chief from 1989 to 1995. Vincent was a leader in the 9/11 Founders Committee and was crucial to designing and constructing the citys 9/11 memorial. She said that the nation should carry the legacy of 9/11 to advance a mission of tolerance and equality.

Twenty-one years after one of our nations darkest days, let our commitment to human rights, our embrace of all cultures and our empathy toward all be our guidepost to the light, Horton said.

The heavy shadow cast by Sept. 11, 2001, was still borne by many in attendance. Howard Cohen was one of four volunteers from the Absecon EMS who ventured to Ground Zero as first responders. A 72-year-old New York native and Coast Guard veteran, Cohen described his experiences on that day and the impressions it left. The other three responders with the EMS were Absecon Firefighter Rich Hudson; Herb Simons, who also served as a member of the Pleasantville Police Department; and Howell. The latter recalls that the group arrived at Ground Zero at about 1 p.m., just hours after both towers fell.

The things we saw, how we felt, it was devastating, Cohen said. It hit hard, tremendously.

Cohen is one of many first responders to the 9/11 who is still battling symptoms that may be related to the debris and destruction at Ground Zero. He said he lost his sense of smell after the attacks, which he has only recently begun to regain.

Howell said that she gets examined regularly to check for lasting damages to the attacks. She recalled the 2013 passing of Brigantine Firefighter Jim Holl, who also responded to Ground Zero and served a five-month deployment to the Middle East in 2003 at the outset of the Iraq War.

Thats what we do, we volunteer, no matter what, Cohen said.

Family ties

Lauren Bedell, a 39-year-old from Galloway Township, was at the ceremony. Her aunt Marianne Simone was in the north tower on Sept. 11 and was killed during the attack. Lauren said she and her family searched for information about her aunts whereabouts for days, but she was never found and her remains never recovered. Simone, aged 62, had previously survived the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center.

Bedell brought her two children, Dante, 4, and Destiny, 6, to the ceremony and said she was moved by the show of support for the community. She wore a picture of her aunt on her shirt.

Our family has never been the same, it has impacted generations, generations, Bedell said. What today means to me, I came here because I know how much people take time and effort and love and consideration out of their hearts for the different families and all of the victims.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks, perpetrated by 19 al-Qaeda hijackers, targeted the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and also resulted in a plane crash at Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The attacks resulted in the deaths of the hijackers and killed another 2,977 people.

Howell said she would drive to Ground Zero after the local ceremony, as she has done every years since the attack.

She calls the journey healing.
MAYS LANDING  MD Hossain Morshed, Atlantic Citys Fourth Ward councilman, is charged with assault and child abuse in connection to a domestic dispute reported to police on Sept. 1.

Morsheds wife accuses him of injuring her during the dispute, as well as getting physical with the couples 12-year-old son, according to a criminal complaint provided by the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office.

Morshed, 48, is due in Atlantic County Superior Court on Sept. 19, according to the complaint.

When contacted on Monday afternoon, Morshed said he was not available for comment.

City spokesperson Andrew Kramer said the city is not offering comment on the matter.

According to the criminal complaint, Morsheds wife filed the charges against him on Sept. 1 at the citys Public Safety Building.

Morsheds wife stated to police the couple was arguing at their North Texas Avenue home in the city when the councilman grabbed and bent her arm, causing her pain, according to the complaint.

Morshed then allegedly continued assaulting her by pulling her hair and striking her in the leg, according to the complaint.

Morsheds wife showed visible bruising and redness to her left arm, according to the complaint. She also complained of pain to her back, arm and leg, according to the complaint.

Additionally, the couples 12-year-old child, whom the complaint only identified as F.M, was pushed aside by Morshed while trying to stop the incident.

Morshed is accused of pushing and slapping the child away during the dispute.

The child also recorded the altercation on Morsheds work phone, the complaint says.
Cape May Countys former Republican leader, a man once described as one of the states most powerful party chairmen, has died.

Locals describe Philip Matalucci as a towering figure in local politics and a mentor to a generation of Cape May County Republicans. He died Sept. 7 at 91.

No Cape May County Republican Chairman since has been able to truly fill the shoes of Chairman Matalucci, wrote current county GOP Chairman Michael Donohue in a tribute posted Thursday. His influence is still felt these many years later and will continue to be felt long after his passing.

Matalucci was an early supporter of Ronald Reagan and communicated with Richard Nixon. He worked with U.S. Rep. Charles Sandman in 1971.

He was recognized by everybody in the state and also in Washington, said Gerald Thornton, director of the Cape May County Board of Commissioners, who credited Matalucci with getting him started in politics in the 1970s.

Without Mataluccis encouragement and support, Thornton said, he would never have gotten involved in county politics.

In the 1970s, as today, Republicans dominated Cape May County government, famously holding the majority since just after the Civil War. There was a change in the 1970s, when Sandman lost to Democrat Bill Hughes of Ocean City, who then held the local congressional seat for two decades.

Matalucci, Philip Matalucci, Philip R., Jr., - 91, of Avalon, NJ, passed away on September 7, 2022, in Marlton

At that time, many cited Sandmans support of Nixon through the Watergate scandal as costing him the seat. At the county level, the GOP kept the majority.

Part of Mataluccis national standing came from his longstanding habit of wearing a huge elephant-head hat to each Republican National Convention, guaranteeing that television cameras would find him at least once.

He was also known for winning $3.9 million in the state lottery in 1985, and for a high-profile bribery accusation levied a year later.

Matalucci, appointed by Gov. Thomas Kean as a Civil Service commissioner, and Anthony Catanoso, a former county freeholder chairman, were accused of conspiracy, official misconduct, theft by deception and two counts of bribery.

According to news coverage at the time, the bribes were alleged to have taken place before the lottery win. At issue were alleged payments over contracts for the construction of a wastewater treatment plant built in Ocean City.

Thornton said Matalucci was cleared of all charges.

Sandman fondly remembers Reagan visit in 1975 Charles Sandman III's childhood included lunch with George H.W. Bush, playing in the Oval Of

It was a terrible thing. He was exonerated. He was completely exonerated, Thornton said.

Thornton said he received a call soon after the lottery win.

He says, Jerry, Im a millionaire, Thornton said.

Matalucci and his wife, Barbara, spent the past seven years in the Brightview Senior Community in Marlton, Burlington County. Before that, they were residents of Cape May County, in Avalon, Stone Harbor and Cape May Court House. They raised their family in the county.

Born in the Germantown section of Philadelphia in 1931, Matalucci served in the Seabees during the Korean War, building airstrips and roads in the Philippines.

In the county, he was involved in several businesses, including Matalucci Brothers Sand and Gravel, The Princeton Hotel and Grille in Avalon and The Sea Isle Inn. In 1965, he and his brother Anthony and nephew Phil Judyski bought the Avalon Hotel and created Phils Bongo Room.

They were without peer in making Avalon the popular tourism destination that it became in the 1970s and their legacy lives on today many decades later, reads Mataluccis obituary. Their children all worked in the family businesses and were taught their mantra, The customer is always right.

Veteran Cape official Thornton won't seek reelection CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE  Cape May County governments longest-serving member has decided not t

Both Thornton and Donohue cited Mataluccis work as county treasurer, where they say he vigilantly guarded the taxpayers money.

He was really a good, good man. His loyalty was there no matter what, Thornton said.

In the obituary, Mataluccis family described his love of music and Italian cooking.

He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Barbara (Williams), and children Susan Sandman (Robert), Barbara Schlager (Chuck), and Philip III (Mary). Services will be held Saturday at Radzieta Funeral Home, 9 Hand Ave., Cape May Court House, with visitation beginning at 9 a.m. and a Celebration of Life at 11 a.m. Interment will follow at Seaside Cemetery, 559 Route 9 South, in the Palermo section of Upper Township.

In lieu of flowers, send donations to the Cape May County Animal Shelter payable to CMCAS, ATTN: Judith Davies-Dunhour, 501B, 4 Moore Road, Cape May Court House, NJ 08210. Condolences may be offered at radzieta.com.
The latest study to warn that the New Jersey coast is especially vulnerable to sea level rise predicts that 53 square miles of currently above-water land will be under water at high tide by 2050, potentially swallowing 6,125 buildings.

In addition, tens of thousands of other properties still above that line will be exposed to semi-regular or regular flooding.

The study by Climate Central sounds alarms about the impact on municipal tax bases and potential conflicts as landowners find that their properties could be claimed by government if they fall below whats known as the boundary tide line  the divide between private property and public tidelands and waters. That boundary moves inland as sea levels rise.

Those shifting boundary lines have significant implications for property owners and local property tax revenues  a primary source of funding for schools and services, the study found.

Encroaching tide lines

Don Bain, a climate engineer and principal author of the study, is a senior adviser to Climate Central, a New Jersey-based nonprofit staffed with scientists and journalists. Bain also lives in Chester County and is familiar with the Jersey Shore.

The trick is that those tide lines are moving, Bain said. Theyre gradually moving inland and upslope as the overall water level is increasing. As they move, they take property.

He explained that conflicts could arise if property owners seek to acquire a building permit and are told by a municipality that they can no longer build on their land because it has essentially become public property. Or, conflict could occur if a property owner is sent tax bills for property that is underwater and unusable.

New Jersey is also faced with sinking land due to its geology. That exacerbates the impact as the Atlantic Ocean rises and the land drops.

Permanent flooding

Taxpayers will ultimately bear the costs, the study warns. Not only will local tax bases erode because of flooding and shifting boundaries, but governments will have to pay to remove buildings, septic systems, underground storage tanks and toxic sources on abandoned land. Theyll have to pay for improved stormwater systems, utilities, as well as sand and beach replenishment.

Some of that is already happening in New Jersey, which has a Blue Acres program spun from the wreckage of Superstorm Sandy, which struck the coast 10 years ago. The state set up the fund to aid residents whose homes are damaged by floods from storms. Blue Acres is also used to buy private property that frequently floods or that is prone to flood during regular high tides.

Weather: Another inland heat wave possible as widespread rain stays scares A late summer inland heat wave will be possible, with three days of highs in the 90s possible. On the beaches, there will be some sea breeze relief, including for the Atlantic City Airshow Wednesday. However, we still need the rain, which looks scarce.

The Northeast is one of the nations areas most affected by sea-level rise, seeing twice as many days of high-tide flooding as compared with 2000, according to a report in August from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. High-tide flooding, known as sunny day flooding, occurs without being driven by a storm. Tides are higher because of rising seas.

People need to get used to the idea that flooding is going to be permanent, Bain said. People are used to the concept of a flood being something that comes and goes, and leaves behind a mess, but then the water goes away. What were talking about here is that when the water comes in, it stays.

In fact, chunks of New Jersey along the Delaware Bayshore have already fallen into the water, leaving the state to buy out homeowners.

For its study, Climate Central analyzed 51 million U.S. properties. It found that up to 648,000 parcels may be partly below tidal boundary levels by 2050, relative to 2000. More than 48,000 parcels may be entirely below the tidal boundary level by 2050.

Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina and Texas may lose collectively 3.8 million acres and are the states most at risk. Virginia, New Jersey and New York are next most vulnerable.

The study looked at properties in 505 counties. The authors provided an online tool to download reports on 255 counties.

Atlantic City says Master Plan proceeding, despite loss of planning director ATLANTIC CITY  The citys Master Plan is long overdue, and after the firing of City Planner

Billions of taxable land at risk

By 2050, 44,785 parcels, representing 1% of New Jerseys land with a taxable value of more than $6 billion over 17 counties, are projected to be below water level.

The study found that, in New Jersey, Hudson County, just west of the Hudson River and New York, faces the greatest loss. But shore areas also are at risk.

The most visible effect of sea level rise is the change in the amount of land exposed to flooding or submergence at high tide. Where terrain slope is gradual near the shore, a small change in sea height can extend the high tide waterline significantly inland, the study says.

In Atlantic County, for example, 4,198 properties now above the boundary tide line are projected to fall below it by 2050. That represents $131 million of assessed taxable value. Some of those parcels might already be lower than tidelines but are protected today by coastal defenses such as seawalls.

Also by 2050, 1,181 now mostly dry parcels will fall into a high-tide risk zone, defined as land where elevation is lower than or equal to the water at high tide.

Bain says that at some point, it will become too expensive to keep replenishing sand on New Jerseys beaches.

So far, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has spent $2 billion piping in 200 million cubic yards of sand to the states beaches, with more than $50 million worth of beach-nourishment projects in the pipeline for the fall. In fact, no state has had more sand pumped on its beaches.

Beach projects are a temporary fix, Bain said. And those costs are only going to go up. They are going to be harder to fund as time goes on.
OCEAN CITY  An online petition with a message that LGBTQ students belong at Ocean City High School rapidly gained thousands of signatures, as new state education standards remain a flashpoint in the seaside community.

The petition drive on the website Change.org started in response to a Thursday rally at Mark Soifer Park on Asbury Avenue, across from City Hall, during which community members, students and religious leaders supported a state bill that would create a parents bill of rights.

By Monday afternoon, the online petition had more than 3,350 signatures.

The new standards, approved in 2020 and going into effect this year, cover a multitude of topics, including nutrition, exercise and mental health, as well as the risks of tobacco, alcohol and drugs. But it is the language on sexuality that has drawn the most criticism.

Local opponents say the standards overstep the role of the family.

For several of the speakers at the Thursday rally, the inclusion of material on gender identity and sexuality are of primary concern, with speakers decrying the inclusion of discussions on homosexuality and gender roles in educational materials, particularly for young students.

Bluntly, they believe gay and trans people, students should be shunned from our schools and Ocean City itself, reads the petition.

Attempts to contact the petition organizer were not immediately successful Monday. Hayden Wathen, a 2022 graduate of Ocean City High School, told The Ocean City Sentinel in an interview recently that he started the petition.

Change.org is based in California and allows individuals to launch petitions for a variety of topics.

The petition alleges that the event in the Ocean City park, and the campaign against the standards, are driven by a wish to exclude gay, trans, bisexual and others from public life.

According to them (the protestors), any mention of LGBTQ peoples existence in schools is indoctrination, sexualization. To them, gay and trans people and students are dangerous, ugly, wrong, the petition reads. Enough. As a community, Ocean City must come together and unequivocally declare queer kids belong here.

The petition states that health needs of LGBTQ students should be included in health classes and their history taught in schools.

Anything less is a refusal of our humanity, of our dignity as people. This is not the 1950s. LGBTQ people and students are here, were proud, and were going nowhere, the petition reads.

Robin Shaffer, the president of the Ocean City Alliance for Sensible Education, which organized the Thursday event, denies the petitioners characterization of the rally and of his groups efforts.

The message the organizers intended was that of love and acceptance. We also spoke about keeping our children safe from harm, understanding that schools need to have guardrails in what they teach, and the importance of faith and family, Shaffer said Monday.

There were criticisms of social acceptance of differences in sexuality and gender expression both at the rally and at the public comment portion of the City Council meeting later that evening, at which council unanimously approved a resolution supporting the parental bill of rights.

While we did not necessarily agree with every word spoken at the rally, we understand the importance of freedom of speech and thought, and the need to tolerate diverse viewpoints in civic discourse, Shaffer said.

He argued that it is militant LGBTQIA activists who are distorting their message, and states most do not live in Ocean City, saying they are lying about the rally. He said people who attended the rally, including children, have been threatened or intimidated online. Shaffer said no one said anything about excluding students from school.

But to LGBTQIA militants, the truth doesnt matter. They will continue to indoctrinate and groom kids  our kids  with lies and a perceived victimhood, fueled by a media and public that runs scared, lest they be labeled as bigoted, homophobic or transphobic, Shaffer said in a prepared response. When they cannot debate an issue on its merits, I suppose it is easier for them to start name calling instead.

He added that one of the speakers on Thursday was formerly gay.

The bottom line is that we support the rights of any person to live their lives free from hate or intimidation, Shaffer said. And we support the rights of the faith community and families, just as we do our public schools to handle topics appropriate to each setting. Our schools are on the front lines. Things are only going to get worse for our children if we back away because of threats and intimidation. If we cede this ground, and do not push forward, our future generations will operate on false oppression premises, accept hyper sexuality in schools and in pop culture, and turn their backs on faith.

Many of those signing the petition appear to be from Ocean City or alumni of the school system. Marina Yiannos, who described herself as a former OCHS student, said she has seen hatred in Ocean City.

Its often covered up and ignored, she wrote as a reason for signing the petition. I will never understand people who use their own religion as an excuse to discriminate against others, when Jesus or any other figure is meant to accept all those that they have put on this earth. Its time for a change.

Others said they have seen the area become less tolerant. One person wrote I was a transgender student at OCHS, and I have experienced hatred from faculty and staff. Their bigotry did not change my identity, but only proved that our school systems did not care about their students well-being.

Both sides of the argument allege intimidation and bullying. Shaffer alleges there have been death threats and vulgar responses to those who attended the protest, which he described as peaceful and positive. Shaffer said Monday that police had been notified. Ocean City spokesman Doug Bergen confirmed a police report had been filed, but details of the allegations were not immediately available.

Our detectives are starting to look into it, Bergen said Monday.

They are seeking to shun us from society. They are seeking to turn back the clock to a time when gay and trans people were subjugated under the same pedophile, or groomer charge, reads the petition.
By Imogen Lepere

The Cyclades are a group of Greek islands synonymous with picture-postcard views of square whitewashed houses set on cliffs above the Aegean Sea. If you venture into the islands interiors however, its possible to find a very different style of architecture.

There are these fascinating vernacular buildings that protect citrus trees from the wind and salt, says Athens-based architect Alexandros Vaitsos. They have tall circular walls that surround the trunk and the canopy of the tree effectively forms the roof.

These lemon tree houses are the inspiration behind a modern six-bedroom house on the island of Antiparos. The property, which is on the market for 7.5mn, consists of a series of concentric stone walls built around a single tree. The tree grows inside the first [inner] wall, while people live between the other two, says Vaitsos, whose practice, DECA Architecture designed the house in 2021.

The bamboo-roofed communal space with the lemon tree at its centre

Located on a hill overlooking a valley of olive orchards, the circular form of the house means every room  as well as the curved infinity pool  has expansive views, to the island of Sifonos in the west or to Paros in the east.

The building has been conceived as an adaptive structure that encourages living with the elements rather than sheltering from them. The Lemon Tree House is designed to adapt to changing wind conditions like a sailing boat, says Vaitsos. Large bamboo panels slide along the circular walls, providing protection from the prevailing wind. These are complemented by a circular thatched bamboo canopy that acts as a roof in the open-plan outdoor living space on the upper floor.

Set on the small island of Antiparos, the house has expansive views

The 9,500-square-metre site was originally a farm that had been left fallow for 20 years, a common story on an island whose economy, like so many in the Cyclades, has transitioned from agriculture to tourism. The project began with what Vaitsos describes as obsessive mapping" of the land, charting details such as where the scent of wild herbs comes from and how sound travels through the valley.

Due to the steepness of the slope the house is set into, it is semisubterranean. The back wall has been carved into the hillside, meaning it is invisible, and sheltered from the wind, from the north. A cavelike entrance passage opens once you are in the house to a 270-degree view  according to Vaitsos, it feels like you are unwrapping a surprise every time you enter.

Aerial view showing the concentric nature of the house, built round a central tree

Vaitsos says that capturing a sense of place is central to DECAs philosophy. Local craftspeople worked on the project including a stonemason and an artist who specialises in kinetic structures made from steel. On the lower floor, where the bedrooms and gym are located, the walls have been clad with tsimentokonia, a form of polished concrete that has been used in Greek houses since ancient times.

The house offers isolation and proximity to nature. Its an incredible place to do yoga, but also great for entertaining thanks to the flowing layout and outdoor cinema, says Vaitsos. Perhaps its best suited to somebody who is in tune with their body and soul and wants to spend each day in a unique state of being.

Photography: Francisco Nogueira for Greece Sotheby's International Realty
John Maxwell has been inviting cruise-ship goers to his farm for the past four years. Last week, he welcomed a new set of guests.

Viking Cruise Lines brought a 386-passenger custom vessel, the Viking Mississippi, to the Davenport riverfront on Wednesday. Community members came out in droves to welcome the travelers to the Quad-Cities. Those on board could choose from a list of area excursions.

Maxwell held tours at his Cinnamon Ridge Farms in Donahue, where guests embarked on a wine-and-cheese tour while exploring the farm. While the homemade cheese was a hit, modern agricultural techniques were the main event.

"The biggest thing that I was hearing is they were surprised at how much technology is in agriculture," he said. "They really liked being able to be around the food and find out where it comes from."

According to Visit Quad Cities, more than 3.1 million travelers annually visit the region. It's difficult to pin down how much cruise ships contribute to the economic impact, but with $958 million in total tourist spending, its safe to say the area is well-positioned for visitors.

Passengers also toured the Butterworth Center and Deere-Wiman house. Executive Director Stacy Klingler said the museum offered an opportunity for visitors to learn about the local history and take a break from their busy travel schedule.

"We know from talking with Viking staff that they were very excited about the opportunity to come up here," she said.

At the Putnam Museum & Science Center, CEO Rachael Mullins said staff have been offering a behind-the-scenes tour for visitors. The tour includes regional history that reaches back to the days of the Native Americans who first settled in the area.

"What I love about these tours is it's not only a chance to celebrate the Putnam museum, but it's a chance to celebrate the Quad-Cities," she said.

Mullins said guests were "astonished" not just by the museum but the diversity and stories in the region. Staff are trying to dispel myths about the Midwest and show how much of an urban center it is.

"We hope they make the commitment to come back," she said.

Over at the Figge Art Museum, Education Programs Coordinator Heather Aaronson said many patrons came in for the art and stayed for the local goods. The tours were designed to feature the work of Grant Wood and show off highlights of some of the permanent items in the museums collection.

"We had wonderful feedback. We had people that cruised over 40 times, so it was really great to have these wonderful world travelers be so complimentary of the museum," she said.

After the tours, staff offered samples of local wine and beer. Aaronson said the guests "totally loved that" and stayed after the tour to chat with staff.

"We cannot wait to do more with them," she said.

Maxwell said back at the farm there was an added bonus to having so many travelers in town. The economic impact is significant.

"These people not only come to my farm, but they go elsewhere and buy things," he said.

Multiple visitors told Maxwell they would return to the area at a later date to continue exploring all it has to offer. Those who travel on the cruise ships have disposable income, he said. Having so many new people in the area positively impacts the local economy and spurs continued growth.

"It's a win-win all the way around," he said. "More than that, it is all part of this Quad-Cities growing region."

Dave Herrell, CEO of Visit Quad Cities, said having Viking passengers in the area was a "watershed moment."

Vikings arrival in the Quad-Cities is exciting and an important opportunity to activate our world-renowned Mississippi River," he said.

With it being the ship's first time in the area, Herrell said making a positive first impression was imperative. Based on feedback he received from the Viking staff, that was accomplished.

"It felt like when they disembarked, there was a high level of energy. It was fun, and it was a place that was incredibly excited about them being there," he said.

Visitors on board came from San Diego, Canada and Great Britain. Being able to introduce passengers to the region sets the bar for a high standard of hospitality in the area.

"The fact that we were able to see an audience from all over the country, both domestically and abroad, I think is really the net result of why Viking is so important to the QuadCities and how future stops are going to be great for us," he said.

In addition to multiple local site visits, passengers were able to kayak and bike along the riverfront. Viking docked again Tuesday in Davenport and a new set of passengers descended on the Quad-Cities. The economic impact is felt across the region, but Maxwell said there's something else about the ship docking in Davenport that brings him joy.

"I always tell every tour that my favorite part of my day, or my life, is giving that tour," he said. "I always tell them, 'Thanks for coming and making my day.' "
Nearly 30 years later, Steve Asplund's family finally knows what happened to the missing Moline man.

Asplund was last seen Jan. 9., 1994, when he went to borrow a caulking gun from a friend. He was reported missing by his fiancee on Jan. 10, and investigators found his car parked in Bettendorf to the east of the Interstate 74 bridge.

There was no sign of Asplund.

On Monday, the Moline Police Department said that a body found in St. Louis County, Mo., a few weeks after Asplund disappeared has been confirmed to be Asplund. The identity was verified using a bone sample from the body, exhumed from a Missouri cemetery, and DNA samples from Asplunds family.

No foul play is suspected, Moline Police Chief Darren Gault said during an afternoon news conference at the police department. No charges are being sought in this case, and this concludes a missing person investigation that we have had since 1994.

Barge dock workers along the Mississippi River found a body on March 21, 1994, in a debris field next to a barge. Investigators there attempted to identify the body but were unsuccessful.

The break in the case was the result of the work of Mike Griffin, a Moline police detective, in concert with officials in Illinois and Missouri, police said.

Griffin found information on the body during a 2021 search of the National Missing and Unidentified System, a database of unidentified remains that have been found along the river from Moline to Memphis, Tenn.

In 2022, Griffin began working with Dr. Lindsay Trammell, a forensic anthropologist working for the St. Louis County Medical Examiners Office. After other attempts to identify the body were exhausted, they had the body exhumed and recovered the bone sample.

Aaron Small, a forensic scientist with the Illinois State Police, analyzed the bone and DNA samples and the body was confirmed to be Asplund on Sept. 6.

Griffin said during the news conference that Asplund is thought to have entered the water likely on the night of Jan. 9, 1994, in Bettendorf.

Asplunds body likely got entangled with a barge, and that is how it is thought it got to the St. Louis County area, Griffin said.

The St. Louis County Medical Examiners Office determined in 1994 that the cause of death was drowning.

Asplunds family was grateful for the effort of investigators over the years, Griffin said. When he went to them with the news, he got a hug.

It meant a lot to me, Griffin said.

Asplunds family did not attend the news conference but did provide a statement to the police department, which the chief read.

The news, while bittersweet, will allow us some closure, Mike Asplund, Steve Asplunds brother, wrote. Well still think of Steve every day and miss him just the same, but these answers will provide comfort to us and his friends.

The family also thanked the people who supported them after the disappearance and the investigators who participated in trying to find Steve Asplund, particularly Griffin.

Their work will allow us to bring Steve back home," Mike Asplund wrote, "and we thank you for that.
When you find a company that aligns with your values, a career isn't work  its a calling, a fun avenue to contribute and enrich the community in which you live.

Jenna Blozevich is living that life in the Quad Cities, and shes far from alone. Young professionals are planting roots in this growing riverfront region because the QC and the companies that call it home reflect and elevate the goals of a new generation.

Blozevich, 22, recognized this while working at Modern Woodmen of America as a college intern. The fraternal financial services organization is an icon in the QC, recognized for so much more than its name on the local award-winning minor-league riverfront ballpark (Modern Woodmen Park). It supports the growth and goals of its members and field representatives across the country, its employees and the entire QC region of 470,000+ residents.

I knew this was the place I wanted to establish my career because of how deeply they support the community and how they encourage us to be involved, Blozevich said.

So, when Modern Woodmen offered her a position as a benefits representative, she quickly accepted. Modern Woodmen is all about fraternalism and working together, said Blozevich. In fact, she and fellow team members recently spent time during their workday collecting school supplies and stuffing backpacks to make sure every child can go to class with the necessary supplies for a successful school year.

Working in the QC, you will find companies that operate according to their values and bosses that support your goals. This has also allowed Brian Harry, a vice president at construction company Russell, to live his values through work and home.

Since Jim Russell founded this company in the 80s, weve donated more than a million dollars to local nonprofits, Harry said. Russell, which is headquartered in the QC and operates in 33 states, lists community as a company value; one shared by its 250 employees who are also encouraged to take time during the workday to volunteer.

Its rewarding, he said. I enjoy rolling up my sleeves, getting my hands dirty and working side-by-side with Russell team members in a way that really contributes to our community. Its nice to take a break from your day-to-day responsibilities and get out and make a difference in our community.

The QC offers excellent opportunities to fulfill your dreams. It provides a change of pace that is just right with a low cost of living and a balanced lifestyle. Quad Cities is a region where people can afford to invest, buy, rent and live without sacrificing the leisure and family time that makes it all worthwhile.

Having recently located from one of the nations largest metropolitan areas, Angel Raya has found his new home, nestled up to the Mississippi River in the heart of the Midwest, to be a bit of a hidden gem. He recently traded in his 600-square-foot apartment near Washington, D.C. to live in an expansive house with his brother after taking a position as an information security analyst at Modern Woodmen.

An avid runner, Raya knew the QC was home when he discovered a recreation trail winding along the banks of the river outside Modern Woodmens headquarters.

The work-life balance is great, Raya says. I work 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and I get to spend two days a week working from home.

It allows him to spend more time doing the things he enjoys and live in a home that was out of reach in D.C. In fact, the cost of living in the QC is 16% below the national average. Living here is cheaper and Im actually making more money, he says. Im able to save in my situation.

Blozevich is also achieving her goals in the QC. She and her boyfriend Zachary Graham, a union carpenter, recently purchased a home. My favorite feature is the backyard, and we have plenty of space to run. This is a close-knit neighborhood, and all the neighbors are very friendly. The first day we moved in, everyone came by and welcomed us, she said.

Her drive to work, the farmers market, or the dog park, takes less than 15-minutes  its one of the big advantages of living in this family of communities.

People love QC because they want to be part of its roots and its reach  to live in a place thats as genuine as it is quirky, a region where they are welcomed and can make a difference. Find out if the QC is right for you; and enjoy the well-being of an authentic community.

This content was produced by Brand Ave. Studios. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display. Brand Ave. Studios connects advertisers with a targeted audience through compelling content programs, from concept to production and distribution. For more information contact sales@brandavestudios.com.
A man who spent 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections before being paroled in February of 2021 was arrested Tuesday by Rock Island Police on burglary and theft charges in connection with incidents at two downtown businesses.

Dewayne A. Sapp, 60, was being held Tuesday night without bond in the Rock Island County Jail pending formal charges by the Rock Island County States Attorneys Office.

Sapp was expected to make a first appearance on the charges Wednesday in Rock Island County Circuit Court.

According to a news release issued Tuesday by Rock Island Police Deputy Chief Timothy McCloud, at 1:14 p.m. Saturday, officers were sent to the QC Coffee & Pancake House, 1831 3rd Ave., to investigate a report that two purses were stolen.

Video surveillance images of the suspect and his vehicle were distributed to other officers and posted on the departments Facebook page.

At 9:38 a.m. Tuesday, police were sent to Looneys Little Chicago Bar and Grill, 219 17th St., to investigate a report of a burglary during which cash and alcohol were stolen.

Surveillance video from the business showed the suspect in the burglary at Looneys matched the suspect in the video from the pancake house.

At 12:09 p.m. Tuesday officers located Sapp and his vehicle at Schwiebert Riverfront Park and took him into custody.

McCloud said Sapp has an extensive criminal record in Cook County, Illinois.

According to electronic records of the Illinois Department of Corrections, Sapp was admitted to the Illinois DOC on Aug. 14, 1992, after being convicted of two counts of home invasion, three counts of robbery and two counts of residential burglary. He was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison on six of the convictions and 15 years in prison on one of the robbery convictions.

Sapp was paroled from Graham Correctional Center on March 29, 2021. He was scheduled to be released from parole on March 29, 2024, but authorities can seek to revoke his parole based on the new Rock Island County charges.

Sapps criminal record extends back to the 1980s.

He was booked into the Illinois DOC on Dec. 23, 1987, to serve seven years for an armed robbery conviction and three years on a conviction of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.

On Feb. 22, 1985, he was booked into the Illinois DOC to serve a four-year sentence for a conviction for attempted burglary.

He was booked into the Illinois DOC on June 10, 1981, to serve three years on a burglary conviction, and again on July 17, 1981, to serve three years on another burglary conviction.
A man accused of firing more that 20 shots at a person in June on a Davenport street, seriously wounding him, remained at large Tuesday.

Rashawn D. Sigle Jr., 20, of Davenport, attacked the person around 11 p.m. on June 27 in the 1000 block of Scott Street, authorities allege in Scott County court documents. Sigle allegedly got out of a car and approached the person, who was working on a vehicle. Sigle then allegedly displayed a semiautomatic handgun and began shooting.

Investigators think he fired at least 22 times at the person, who was seriously wounded, court records state. The victim was initially hospitalized in the Quad-Cities but was later sent to Iowa City, where doctors performed surgery to help treat his wounds.

Scott County authorities charged Sigle in a warrant with attempted murder, willful injury causing serious injury, going armed with intent and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to court documents. Sigle has convictions for theft and aggravated battery in Adams County, Illinois. Those convictions prohibit him from owning firearms.

As of Tuesday, Sigle was not being held in Scott or Rock Island counties, and the Davenport Police Department said that, to the best of its knowledge, he had not yet been arrested.

Sigle is 5-feet-9-inches tall and weighs about 135 pounds, according to Crime Stoppers. He has black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information about this incident can call the Davenport Police Department at 563-326-6125, Crime Stoppers of the Quad-Cities at 309-762-9500, or submit an anonymous tip via the P3 Tips mobile app or submit a tip online at qccrimestoppers.com.
In honor of Constitution Day, the Black Hills Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution invites the public to a tea featuring guest speaker Peter Vodenka, author of Journey for Freedom. The tea will take place at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 17 in the Christian Life Center at Canyon Lake United Methodist Church in Rapid City.

Seating is limited; advance reservations are required. RSVP to events@bh.sdsdar.org. Freewill donations are requested.

Constitution Day celebrates the birthday of the United States Constitution. Its observed on Sept. 17, the day in 1787 that delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in Philadelphia. Constitution Day also recognizes those individuals who become United States citizens.

Vodenka, who became a United States citizen and now lives in Rapid City, will tell the amazing true story of fleeing communism in his presentation titled Escape from Communist Czechoslovakia: The Riveting Story of Journey for Freedom.

Vodenka spent 10 years planning his escape from Czechoslovakia. In June 1983, at age 27, he and his wife, Lily, and their preschool-aged son and daughter defected. On a cold, rainy night, the family ran for their lives while being chased by border guards, automatic weapons and dogs.

I knew one of three things would happen, Vodenka said. We would be shot, we would be handcuffed and sent to prison, or we would be free.

The Vodenka family risked their lives in order to enjoy the freedoms Americans are guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Vodenka, now a successful businessman, travels nationwide speaking about his passion  to cherish and guard American freedoms and to remind United States citizens to respect their freedoms and never take them for granted.

Constitution Week

There are two documents of paramount importance to American history -- the Declaration of Independence, which forged our national identity, and the United States Constitution, which set forth the framework for the federal government that is still in use today.

While Independence Day is a beloved national holiday, fewer people know about Constitution Day and Constitution Week, an annual commemoration of the document that upholds and protects the freedoms central to our American way of life.

The Daughters of the American Revolution organization initiated the observance of Constitution Week in 1955, when DAR petitioned Congress to dedicate Sept. 1723 annually to the commemoration of Constitution Week. Congress adopted the resolution, and on Aug. 2, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into Public Law #915.

Daughters of the American Revolution is one of the largest patriotic womens organizations in the world. The nonprofit, non-political service organization is for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States efforts toward independence. Daughters of the American Revolution promotes historic preservation, education and patriotism with more than 185,000 members in about 3,000 chapters nationwide and in foreign countries.

Go to facebook.com/southdakotadar or dar.org for more information about Daughters of the American Revolution, and go to constitutionday.com for more information about Constitution Day.
A few days before Rapid City middle school teacher Shaun Nielsen joined a work group to develop South Dakota's social studies standards, he got a thick package in the mail.

Sent from Hillsdale, Mich., the location of a conservative private college, it contained materials that would ultimately form what the state's public schools students could be expected to learn about American history and civics.

Whoa  these are already written, Nielsen remembers thinking as he opened the document this spring.

Hillsdale College, which has sought in recent years to revive the American tradition of K-12 education by fostering a nationwide network of schools, won new prominence when then-President Donald Trump tapped the school to help develop a patriotic education project. Now, in a sign of Hillsdale's growing influence in public education, South Dakota has proposed statewide standards that contain distinct echoes of Hillsdale's material.

While Republican governors such as Tennessees Bill Lee and Floridas Ron DeSantis have embraced Hillsdales education for K-12 students, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has been perhaps the most enthusiastic. Larry Arrn, the school's president, even said in a speech last year that Noem had offered to build us an entire campus in South Dakota.

That doesn't appear to be in the works. But it was Noem who turned to former Hillsdale politics professor William Morrisey to develop the states social studies standards. The state paid him $200,000, and he tapped Hillsdales material, according to members of the standards commission.

The college played an integral part in Trump's 1776 Report," a conservative response to work like the New York Times' 1619 Project," which re-examined the founding of the United States with the institution of slavery at the center. Hillsdale followed up by producing The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum, which offers nearly 2,400 pages of lesson plans on American history.

South Dakotas proposed standards released in mid-August align with the 1776 Curriculum. Both emphasize the ideals of the countrys founders as an argument for American exceptionalism  an idea popular in conservative circles that the U.S. is uniquely worthy of universal praise.

The documents both define patriotism similarly, as preserving the good of the country while correcting its flaws. They teach that progressivism conflicts with the nation's founding ideals, and assert that most of the founders  including such slave owners as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison  wanted to end slavery.

Morrisey declined an interview, and Hillsdale did not grant a request to interview a member of its K-12 Education Office.

Noem's administration referred questions to Ben Jones, who oversees the South Dakota Historical Society and worked on the commission to develop the standards. Jones defended the scholarship at Hillsdale as respected in higher education and said Morrisey brought the commission a generic version of U.S. history that could be found in most textbooks.

Frankly, its a logical fallacy to say that something is bad because its associated with this group that I dont agree with over this other thing, he said of criticism of Hillsdale.

`

Jones pointed out that Morriseys draft included descriptions of how the first Africans were enslaved and brought to the colonies and how the U.S. broke treaties with Native American tribes.

The good, the bad, the ugly was all there, he said.

Jones added that the group discussed and debated the standards over several meetings and by the end, my sense was that we all made this very much our own.

When Noem's administration formed the 15-person commission, it chose three people, including Nielsen, currently certified to teach in South Dakota public schools. The group decided which grade levels should learn the standards and added South Dakota and Native American components to the proposal, Nielsen said.

As the proposal became public last month, Nielsen said he felt conflicted. He said he is a conservative but is careful to separate his political opinions from his classroom teaching. He said he agreed with Noem's desire to make South Dakota a national leader in social studies education and even with much of the content it covered.

Ultimately, he said, he decided to speak out against the standards because they didn't originate with South Dakota educators.

The 1776 curriculum  its pretty much close to that," he said.

When youre handed a set of standards to approve, its not a collaborative process at all, he added. The standards, he worried, were not written with the practical needs of a classroom in mind.

Prominent voices among South Dakota educators agree. The standards  which will be subjected to public hearings this fall before the governor-appointed Board of Education Standards decides whether to adopt them  have been greeted coolly by organizations representing teachers, school boards and school administrators.

Its coming from a private, out-of-state college," said Tim Graf, the superintendent of Harrisburg School District outside Sioux Falls. "I just dont want it to be political in any way.

Jennifer Lowery, the superintendent at Tea Area School District, worried teachers for younger grade levels would have to spend more time on social studies at the expense of foundational skills like basic math and reading.

Were not stomping our feet because our feelings got hurt or our profession was disrespected, she said. Youre hearing the outcry because this isnt whats best for our kids.

Several educators said the standards rely too much on memorization and too little on inquiry-based learning that teaches students to question and analyze. Jones, the state historian, countered that memorization at younger grade levels will pave the way for analysis later.

Stephen Jackson, a history professor at the University of Sioux Falls, said that runs counter to criteria for state standards from the American Historical Association, which says inquiry engages students and helps them connect historical events to modern contexts.

Jackson was part of a group that created social studies standards last year, only to have its work scrapped by the governor. As conservatives began pushing back against historical analyses that argued racism and U.S. history are inextricably intertwined, Noem called for teaching how the U.S. is the most special nation in the history of the world.

Noem said the new standards are the best in the nation, calling them a true, honest, and balanced approach to American history that is not influenced by political agendas. Hillsdale College used similar language when it launched its curriculum.

Jonathan Zimmerman, an education historian at the University of Pennsylvania, suggested high school students could benefit from analyzing the 1619 Project alongside the Trump administration's 1776 Report and learning how to evaluate and debate them. That's unlikely in South Dakota, since Noem has moved to block teachings like the 1619 Project from public schools.

People like Kristi Noem are correct when they say that the fundamental narrative of America is under challenge like never before, Zimmerman said. I just think it's a good challenge.
South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws, which is leading the effort to pass Initiated Measure 27 for recreational marijuana, announced the opening a new campaign office in Rapid City.

Organizers said the office opened Friday at 230 E. North St., in Rapid City.

Were very excited to open our campaign office in Rapid City given the very positive response to our drive-thru signature gathering events earlier this year, said campaign manager Matthew Schweich. We will use this office for many purposes including training volunteers, distributing lawn signs, organizing phone banks and door knocking campaigns, and selling Yes on 27 T-shirts and hats.

Initiated Measure 27 is the 2022 ballot measure that voters will decide on Nov. 8. IM 27 would legalize personal possession of small amounts of cannabis by adults 21 and older in South Dakota. If approved by voters, the law would take effect July 1, 2023.

Now that were past Labor Day, our campaign is kicking its voter registration and field operation into high gear by mobilizing supporters and volunteers across South Dakota, said Quincy Hanzen, deputy campaign manager for the Yes on 27 campaign. We are very excited to expand our operations in the Rapid City area. If youre interested in getting involved as a volunteer, or if you just have a question about voter registration, then please call or text our campaign hotline at 605-269-8552.
A special visitor met students and staff at Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon: U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona parked in Richmonds South Side for a few hours as part of his Road to Success Back to School Bus Tour.

Cardona had a big announcement for the students as he declared Richmond Public Schools Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary as the first Special Olympics Unified Champion School in central Virginia.

The Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools is a program for schools Pre-K through university that intentionally promotes meaningful social inclusion by bringing together students with and without intellectual disabilities to create accepting school environments, utilizing three interconnected components: Special Olympics Unified Sports, inclusive youth leadership, and whole school engagement, according to the Special Olympics website.

Cardona said in an interview: This school got it because throughout their practices in every classroom, in the culture of the school, every student is valued, and theyre seen as assets.

Students are involved in learning with their peers and, as a result of that, you have a stronger school community and students that understand how to work with people that learn differently.

Cardona shared with the students that when he was growing up, he sometimes felt out of place at school. He felt different than his peers because he comes from a Puerto Rican household. He said the food he ate at home was different, he spoke Spanish before English and listened to Spanish music  things his fellow classmates didnt do.

I knew I was a little bit different and, at first, I felt a little bad about that, Cardona said. But over time, I learned something: The things that made me different made me special.

Oak Grove-Bellemeade is a majority-minority school. According to September 2021 enrollment data, it had a population of 71.8% Black students, 23.6% Hispanic students, 2% white students, 2% students of multiple races and 0.5% Asian students.

Superintendent Jason Kamras led the students in a chant of the divisions motto, Teach, Lead and Serve with Love.

What that means is that everybody, all of you, are included, are welcomed and feel at home at school, Kamras said. No matter where your family is from, no matter what language you speak at home, no matter what your abilities are, everyone is welcomed at RPS.

After he stepped off the bus Tuesday afternoon, Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary students lined up ready to give Cardona, Kamras and other special guests high-fives as they headed into the school cafeteria, where pre-K students and kindergartners engaged in a variety of activities.

The students were playing cornhole, walking along a balance beam and weight lifting with Cardona. At the weight lift station, made of two plastic bottles filled with confetti and held together by a wooden pole, Cardona lifted weights with some of the schools youngest learners.

Cardona then went inside the Bellemeade Community Center, where he was greeted by the remaining students of Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary. Students were clapping to Michael Jacksons Man in the Mirror, Pharrell Williams Happy and Beyonces Love on Top.

After announcing Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary as a Unified Champion School, student ambassadors and special guests participated in a cornhole game in the community center.

Special Olympics Virginia President David Thomason expressed during Tuesdays surprise announcement how proud he was of the elementary schoolers.

Of all the schools throughout the central region of Virginia, you are the first school to be recognized for how inclusive you are by Special Olympics North America, Thomason said.

There are lots of teachers in school, but you are all teachers for us, he added. You are showing us how to live our life. Youre showing us that inclusion isnt just an event; [rather], its a way we can live our life.

Cardona kicked off his weeklong multistate bus tour on Monday in Tennessee and North Carolina with first lady Jill Biden.

The tour is meant to showcase the ways school communities are helping students recover and thrive since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. From Virginia, he will stop in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
After failing to get legislation for a new police accountability panel off the ground earlier this year, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney on Monday introduced an amended bill to City Council addressing public concerns about the legislation.

The proposed Civilian Review Board is intended to investigate allegations of police misconduct, abuse and officer-involved shootings. The city has been considering plans for it since protests in 2020 against the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis as well as Marcus-David Peters in Richmond two years earlier.

The new bill increases the size of the proposed review board from seven to eight appointees, with the council and mayors administration each picking four of them. It also bumps the yearly stipend for each member from $1,200 to $2,400.

Other changes include allowing the Richmond City Council to hire a full-time staff member for the board. The original bill called for having the staff member come from the Office of the Inspector General, according to a city news release.

This new proposal reflects a collaborative effort with members of City Council, and I greatly appreciate their critical insight, Stoney said. The result is a CRB that will be equipped to respond to the needs of our community, ensure accountability and enhance the public safety of all Richmond residents.
A former state employee who used her position to defraud Virginia and the United States out of $1.2 million in COVID-19 relief funds was sentenced Tuesday to nearly seven years in prison.

Sadie Mitchell submitted bogus applications using the identities of state prison inmates and exploited the personal information of Virginians she obtained from a government database.

Mitchell, 30, and a co-conspirator identified in court Tuesday as Lamar Jones, 31  who was fatally shot in Shockoe Bottom in December  used the diverted funds to line their own pockets. Mitchell used a portion to buy luxury goods that included gold and diamonds for herself, federal prosecutors said.

It is striking and egregious that the defendant indulged in luxuries with the fraud proceeds while unemployed workers and their families suffered and struggled during the pandemic, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kashan Pathan said. By looting the unemployment program, the defendant stole funds from those who needed it most during the pandemic.

Pathan noted Mitchell had attempted to steal $1.8 million and that she reaffirmed the fraud 200 times monthly by re-certifying each week the 50 bogus unemployment claims she filed.

It became a routine, normal part of her life, Pathan told the court.

Following a two-hour sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Judge M. Hannah Lauck sentenced Mitchell to 70 months in prison on her earlier guilty pleas to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. The judge noted that Mitchells actions over 15 months resulted in one of the largest COVID fraud cases in Virginia in terms of total funds diverted.

The punishment was at the low end of discretionary sentencing guidelines, which for Mitchell was calculated at a range of 70 to 87 months. Her attorney, Edwin Brooks, sought a significant downward departure of 36 months.

Brooks argued that Jones, Mitchells boyfriend, received the bulk of the stolen funds, and she couldnt really escape the person who came up with the scheme during the pandemic lockdown  which triggered mental health problems for his client. If not for Jones, she would not have been involved, he said.

But Lauck responded that Mitchells role was an important one, and this wouldnt have been possible if your client didnt participate.

In addition, the judge told Mitchell she couldnt give her credit for being undone by the pandemic because that was the source of your crime.

Prosecutors noted that Mitchell not only used the personal identifying information of state inmates to file at least 20 fraudulent unemployment claims, but also accessed a government database and used similar information of unsuspecting and unaware identity theft victims to file at least 30 additional bogus claims.

At the time, Mitchell was a program support technician with the Virginia Motor Vehicle Dealer Board, earning $39,864 annually. Her employment gave her access to a government database that she exploited, prosecutors said.

Instead of safeguarding the sensitive and confidential information she had access to by virtue of her employment, the defendant monetized this information to defraud the VEC and to enrich herself and her co-conspirator, Pathan said.

During a 15-month period, they obtained $1,278,636 in pandemic unemployment assistance, unemployment insurance, paycheck loan fund and economic injury disaster loan payments in two separate fraud schemes that ran from May 19, 2020, to Aug. 9, 2021, according to federal prosecutors summary of evidence.

The conspiracy involved Mitchells accomplice obtaining the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of inmates serving sentences at state prisons. Mitchell then used that information to electronically file at least 20 fraudulent claims.

The applications listed a physical address rather than the state prison at which the inmates were housed and included a bogus last employer since the inmates were incarcerated and not employed. The VEC would then mail Way 2 Go debit cards loaded with benefit funds to the addresses listed by Mitchell in the applications. In some cases, Mitchell and her accomplice requested the benefits be directly deposited into bank accounts they controlled.

On a weekly basis, Mitchell and her accomplice would submit recertifications for unemployment status, resulting in the VEC disbursing additional funds.

In addition, after Mitchell and her accomplice obtained the names of Virginians from the government database, Mitchell would query the database for the dates of birth and Social Security numbers for those individuals, and then use that information to electronically submit at least 30 false and misleading applications.

Prosecutors said the vast majority of those individuals had no knowledge that their personal identifying information had been compromised and used by Mitchell and Jones.

In addition to pandemic-related unemployment assistance, Mitchell and Jones filed five fraudulent applications for money through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, a Small Business Administration initiative that provided forgivable loans through participating financial institutions to small businesses for job retention and other expenses.

Mitchell submitted three applications for businesses that she claimed she owned and operated, and two more that Mitchell claimed were owned and operated by other people.

Lohmann: For New Kent deputy, 9/11 was a personal experience On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Nicholas Nick Fico reported to his job in the warehouse of a Danish furniture company in Branchburg, N.J.

Lastly, Mitchell submitted six applications for federal Economic Injury Disaster Loans for businesses she claimed to own and operate, and two additional applications for businesses purportedly owned by Jones.

As part of her plea agreement, Mitchell is required to make restitution to the VEC in the amount of $1,158,674; to the Small Business Administration in the amount of $64,166; and to Prestamos CDFI, LLC, a financial institution in Phoenix, Ariz., in the amount of $55,796.

Judge Lauck had earlier granted a defense motion to seal Mitchells sentencing position filed by her attorney because it contained sensitive personal matters regarding Ms. Mitchell that are not in the public domain. Making those details public would make Ms. Mitchells difficult situation even worse, Brooks wrote.

Prosecutors noted in court papers that Mitchell, who is the mother of two young girls, ages 4 and 9, experienced a harsh and difficult upbringing in Church Hill in a neighborhood with an abundance of crime. She was abused as a child and left home at age 15.

She has suffered from depression and anxiety since 2019, and has been undergoing individual mental health counseling.

When given a chance to speak, Mitchell apologized for her crimes, saying she had no father figure in her life and, in a reference to Jones, said, My significant other clouded my judgment.
The State Corporation Commission has extended the response period for its reconsideration of a performance guarantee associated with Dominion Energys proposed offshore wind project.

Respondents with objections to Dominions petition previously had until Tuesday to file responses  with Dominion able to respond to those by Sept. 22. State regulators have extended those dates by a week.

Thats because on Monday, Dominion was joined by the Attorney General Offices Division of Consumer Counsel, the Sierra Club, the Virginia Committee for Fair Utility Rates and Walmart Inc. in a motion for an extension.

In August, the SCC granted the utility company the ability to recover revenue for its 176-turbine wind farm project through higher rates for customers in a new clause attached to their monthly bills.

The $9.8 billion wind farm, planned 27 miles off Virginia Beach, is the largest energy project ever undertaken in Virginia. It would also be the largest wind project in the country as well as one of the biggest in the world.

When issuing its order, the SCC also included a performance guarantee, should the turbines not perform as expected, to keep customers from absorbing additional costs.

Customers shall be held harmless for any shortfall in energy production below an annual net capacity factor of 42%, as measured on a three-year-rolling average, the SCC order read.

But Dominion claimed the performance guarantee could hold the company liable for things beyond its control  from weather catastrophes to terrorism  and petitioned for reconsideration.

It must be recognized that some years are likely to outperform the average and some are likely to underperform it, the petition read.

With the extended response times, the utility company, the commission and other responders will be able to sort out differences as regulators reconsider the performance guarantee.
A Giles County man died Monday from injuries sustained earlier this month when he was hit by a vehicle, Virginia State Police reported Tuesday.

William D. Peoples, 60, of Pearisburg, was injured in a midday collision that occurred Sept 5 on Virginia 100 near Staffordsville, according to state police.

At about 12:26 p.m, Peoples was hit while on foot at Virginia 100s intersection with Bane Road. The vehicle that struck him was a 2017 Dodge Caravan that was headed south on Virginia 100.

It was driven by Gerald L. Chewning of Lugoff, South Carolina, who was not hurt in the crash, police said.

Police said that Peoples was taken to a hospital after the collision and died a week later.

No charges were filed.
Asked for suggestions about finding funds to improve Botetourt County Public Schools facilities, the governors office reaffirmed that school buildings in Virginia are a matter of local control.

School board Chairwoman Anna Weddle and Vice Chair Dana McCaleb typed a letter to Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Aug. 1. They sought advice on the divisions difficulty acquiring funds to spend renovating or rebuilding steadily aging and degrading schools.

For three years, the Botetourt County School Board has been working with our Board of Supervisors to obtain funding for the schools without success, their letter said. We were informed there is no money available for capital improvement, and there will be a deficit for the next five years.

Of Botetourt Countys 14 main school facilities, eight of them will be 50 years or older in 2023, according to county documents. Statewide, more than half of public schools are older than 50 years built, according to data from The Coalition of Small and Rural Schools of Virginia.

During a school board meeting last week, McCaleb said she received a response from the Commonwealth of Virginia Constituent Services office Sept. 1. Here is what a copy of that message said:

Virginia prides itself on extensive local control in many facets of governance  including public education, the states response said. As you are aware, much of the authority for school administration rests with the local school board which is composed of elected members.

The reply goes on to list some funding efforts that school board members have already attempted, and which were mentioned in their initial letter, like creating a capital improvement budget between the school board and board of supervisors.

Local officials must work collaboratively with school board officials as school building and maintenance requirements often compete with dollars for roads, waterlines, and other municipal building needs, the response to local officials said. You are encouraged to communicate with your local officials to request capital improvement budgets and forecasts to learn what projects are planned and how local officials plan to fund those projects.

The reply provides little insight for Botetourt County as it contends with a budgeting discrepancy that left the school division without $4.5 million anticipated, and much needed, for capital improvements this school year.

This is the recommendation of the governor, and weve been doing that all along, McCaleb said. Its just, there hasnt been funding to make those improvements.

The states response, which does not list Botetourt County by name, seemed pretty standard, McCaleb said in a follow-up email. But the contents were nonetheless truthful.

At least I received a response, she said. I appreciate that.
KING GEORGE  Set against a backdrop of pines and oak trees, and with tombstones and angels in the foreground, the 24-foot-tall beige monument seems to rise out of the ground of its new home.

The obelisk, dedicated in 1869 with the inscription to honor the officers and soldiers of the Confederate Army from King George, who gave their lives for the South, was moved Saturday from the lawn of the King George County Courthouse to the grounds of Historyland Memorial Park, off U.S. 301.

The monument is visible from the highway and stands along the treeline in an older part of the cemetery that is also the final resting places for veterans from other eras. Nearby is a headstone for Maj. John Burd, who served in the U.S. Army and died in 1827. Theres also a marker for George L. Wallace, naval officer from World War II, and William Henderson, master chief maintenance technician for the Navy during Vietnam.

I thought it was a good place to put it, said Wayne Bushrod, president of the King George NAACP who lobbied for more than two years to have the monument moved to a private setting. And Im glad that it wasnt destroyed. Who would want a piece of history destroyed? Its just in a better place.

County resident Dave Jones first brought the issue of the Confederate memorial to the King George Board of Supervisors in July 2020. His great-great-grandfather was among those who fought for the Confederacy, but Jones, who is white, said he couldnt support his forefathers decision to take up arms to keep Black people enslaved.

He repeatedly asked when the Confederate traitors memorial would be moved off the courthouse square as other such monuments were being relocatedor destroyedin the wake of the May 2020 killing of George Floyd. The Black man died after a white Minneapolis police officer handcuffed him and pinned him to the ground under his knee.

Jones saw the entire extraction of the monument, which started with roping off the area and prep work on Friday. It continued early Saturday morning as the base and obelisk were disassembled, piece by piece, by Stratified, a Washington-area firm paid $38,000 to do the work.

Now the monument resides in a more appropriate place, Jones said.

Other members of the community and NAACP chapter had hoped to witness the memorials removal during some sort of formal observation. County Administrator Chris Miller said in May that King George would work with Stratified to develop a schedule and definitely do a public-notice effort to get the word out when we do have a firm date. It will be a big deal, I am sure, he added.

But county officials apparently changed gears and opted to go with as little fanfare as possible, Miller said on Monday.

We did not have some elaborate celebration or schedule associated with it, he said. Folks can go and take as many pictures as they want now that it is up.

But Bushrod, who also works as a background investigator and evidence technician at the King George Sheriffs Office, told about 30 people in an email last week that several county officials had received several threatening correspondences in reference to the movement of this statue. They feel that it is in the best interest of all (citizens, contractor and others) that the specific dates and times not be publicly announced.

Jolicia Ward, a county resident, Army officer and political candidate, responded to Bushrods email that she had been truly looking forward to attending this historical moment in person, but that she was grateful the monument was being moved.

It is a painful reminder of the past and present institutionalized racism in the United States, she wrote in an email.

Bushrod said he was also looking forwarding to witnessing history in the making, right here in King George, but added that by not announcing the date, there wouldnt be parking problems, crowds as well as any violent behavior initiated by outsiders wanting to halt and disrupt the process of moving the statue.

According to the inscription on the statue, the monument was erected as a tribute of gratitude and respect from the Ladies Memorial Association of King George. When the controversy over its placement erupted two years ago, county officials voted in November 2021 to move it to the cemetery when David Storke, owner of Historyland, agreed to provide the space and take care of its upkeep.

Tourism funds will be used for signs directing visitors along the Civil War Trail to the countys monument to the Confederacy at Historyland.

Its a memorial to veterans and what better place to put a memorial to dead folks than a cemetery, Storke said.
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With the understanding that the moniker attached to this 20th-century style of architecture relates to raw concrete rather than it's "brutal" nature, it's curious that it has earned such a negative image.

"If you think about popular culture, there is a raft of movies that painted Brutalist buildings in a bad way because of what was happening around those building," Buck says. He cites the housing estate in the film "A Clockwork Orange" as an example. Uses like this in popular culture have fed into the reputation of brutalism's, well, brutalness.

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In fact, Brutalist buildings are sometimes touted as ugly or hated. But it's important to keep in mind that the style had an important purpose and historical context.

"At the time, in the late '50s early '60s, the cost of concrete was pretty affordable," says Buck. In the postwar era, there was a surplus of energy and a big push for labor, so concrete felt like a sensible building material at the time. It became popular for authoritative buildings like government and university structures, as well as social housing.

In that era, people liked it. Architects that advocated for the style "sought to project a sense of strength through these large, fortress-like designs," Buck explains.

Yet even with the focus on sensibility and authority, Brutalist architecture had a softer side in that it displayed the rawness and imperfections of handmade items.

"There is something very human about that," says Buck.
MARION, SC  On September 17, 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the document they had created. Constitution Week is the commemoration of the Constitution, America's most important document.

Celebrated annually Sept. 17-23, its purpose is to remind and educate the public of the importance of the Constitution to the nations history and to its future generations. The goal of the celebration is to raise student awareness of the Constitution in the life of our country.
 Effective commentary concerning political discussion of pot policy and the drug war | Main | Fifth Circuit panel questions another panel's recent ruling on child porn restitution sentencing 

April 21, 2011

Should problems with lethal injection prompt return of other execution methods?

The question in the title of this post is prompted by this international news piece, headlined "Call for firing squads as UK bans lethal-drug exports." (Hat tip: Crime & Consequences.) Here are excerpts:

British efforts to halt the sale of lethal-injection drugs to the US have been seized on by American death-penalty supporters. They are calling for the method to be scrapped in favour of firing squads or a return to the gas chamber. Within hours of a British export ban on sodium thiopental and other drugs coming into force on Friday, a leading death-penalty advocate in California said that a modernised gas chamber was "the obvious solution" to a backlog of more than 700 death-row inmates whose fate depended on state approval of a new method of execution. In New York, a prominent law professor who favours execution as "retributive" justice called for a return to the widespread use of firing squads as a form of capital punishment that "doesn't pretend to be something else".... Kent Scheidegger, of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, [recommends] a modernised gas chamber in which cyanide gas is replaced with a neutral gas such as helium. The effect on a prisoner would be similar to that of hypoxia on a pilot suffering oxygen deprivation at high altitude, Mr Scheidegger said. "It feels like nothing. You just feel kind of woozy," he added. "For anyone thinking longer-term about alternatives to lethal injection, this is the obvious solution."... New York Law School professor Robert Blecker said lethal injection should be abandoned -- not for practical reasons, but because it sanitised a process that should hurt. "It conflates medicine with punishment," he said. "How we kill those we detest should in no way resemble how we kill those we love. "Firing squad is my preferred method," he said.

April 21, 2011 at 08:49 AM | Permalink

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Why not go with Hanging...its cheap and US still manufacturers rope...I think.

Posted by: DeanO | Apr 21, 2011 10:23:38 AM

Yes, there is no way that relying on one drug company in a country unfriendly to the death penalty is sustainable.

Posted by: MikeinCT | Apr 21, 2011 10:50:12 AM

I like Kent's hypoxia method. Just like anesthetics we have lots of experience and know that pain is just not in the cards. Both handing and firing squads have enough room for botching to job that I'm not sure they are good choices.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Apr 21, 2011 10:54:45 AM

I wonder why the Kents method (helium) wasnt used in gas chambers to begin with. It seems far preferable to cyanide.

Barring that, I think either the firing squad or hanging are preferable to lethal injection. Both are much simpler and proven to work.

Posted by: Marc Shepherd | Apr 21, 2011 11:29:36 AM

This is a sad blog.

Posted by: anon | Apr 21, 2011 12:24:52 PM

anon --

"This is a sad blog."

Why? The DP is consistent with the Constitution (see Baze), is approved of by the public by better than 2-1, and is the only thing resembling justice for some truly hideous cases. Justice may sometimes be sad, but only because crimes may sometimes be mind-bending in their depravity.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 21, 2011 2:27:28 PM

The firing squad is much too quick. The same for hanging. As for helium gas, that's a pansy way to kill. Let's face it,"drawing and quartering" is the mode of execution that fits best with the retributionist theory of punishment. After all, the pain is lingering and truly excruciating. And the spectacle, while no doubt revolting to a small segment of contemporary audiences, will act as a deterrent like no other.

Posted by: anon11 | Apr 21, 2011 3:04:25 PM

Drawing and Quartering? Why not, and consistent with that, do it in full daylight, out in public, in the most transited areas of cities: Times Square, Union Square, downtown Dallas and Houston, downtown L.A. Make sure men, women, and children of all ages are able to get up close to watch, and broadcast it on You Tube and major networks. Encourage schools to broadcast it in classes for children to watch. After all, it is the epitome of justice and the preference of some of the most accomplished academics in the land. It would certainly give children the lofty aspiration of being executioners, and actually taking part in the justice heralded. What higher calling could there be?

Posted by: anon22 | Apr 21, 2011 3:41:46 PM

anon22 --

I'll endorse the broadcasting of executions you suggest when you endorse the broadcasting of the murders. If we're going to see the result, let's see the cause too.

We can start with the torture, sexual mutilation and murder of Dylan Groene, age 9, which his sister, 8, was forced to watch. The killer VIDEOTAPED this horror so he could masturbate to it.

Wanna take a guess what the surge in support for the DP there would be if that were put on public display?

See, e.g., http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2008/08/jurors-forced-to-watch-duncan-torture.html.

See also, http://www.klewtv.com/news/27241289.html.

The idea that a prison sentence, no matter what its length, represents justice for this nauseating pervert and multiple, serial killer is beyond preposterous.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 21, 2011 4:29:52 PM

While I have made my position clear that I believe execution is the proper outcome after most felony convictions, even I would say that drawing and quartering is amongst the set of barbaric practices that the founders specifically envisioned being beyond the pale of the eight amendment.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Apr 21, 2011 4:40:07 PM

Soronel --

Correct. You might find it odd, as I do, that people like anon22 are horrified by things that don't and won't happen in the USA, while you and I are horrified by things that actually DO happen.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 21, 2011 4:57:38 PM

Anon writes, "This is a sad blog."

Well, yeah, the topic is punishing people for committing crimes. You were expecting sweetness and light?

Posted by: Kent Scheidegger | Apr 21, 2011 5:51:25 PM

@anon22: "Drawing and Quartering? Why not"?

For the obvious reason that drawing and quartering would be the gratuitous infliction of pain for its own sake, as opposed to bringing about the demise of a death-sentenced inmate in a manner that, even if not guaranteed to be entirely pain-free, isn't just making it painful and gory for the sake of making it painful and gory.

"and consistent with that, do it in full daylight, out in public, in the most transited areas of cities . . ."

Ghoulish as that sounds, if they started publicly hanging murderers who, say, kill witnesses or judges, that would send a rather strong message that murderering witnesses and judges is something that society *really* does not tolerate.

Posted by: guest | Apr 21, 2011 6:09:47 PM

guest --

In addition to what you note, the overwhelming bulk of recent scholarship shows that capital punishment, even when practiced (as it is) almost out of sight, STILL has a significant deterrent effect on would-be killers.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 21, 2011 7:15:34 PM

@Bill Otis

And if you want a less scientific, anecdotal case you should look to Illinois.

Posted by: MikeinCT | Apr 21, 2011 8:52:27 PM

These people won't come to the right path ever no matter what ever punish you give them. The only way to deal with them is to hang them... dat's it... sounds good?

Posted by: Data Room | Apr 21, 2011 9:41:19 PM

Couldn't we just have the defendant spend a week listening to Bill Otis -it legal torture, his incessant chatter is cheap, and it's worse than hanging.

Posted by: Steve Prof | Apr 21, 2011 10:04:37 PM

i seem to recall we used to do executions in public. but got tired of dealing with the wave of pickpockets and other one on one crime that occured during them.

doing it on tv would be a waste of time consdering what they can FAKE on it...

Posted by: rodsmith | Apr 22, 2011 12:48:30 AM

as for this guest!

"Ghoulish as that sounds, if they started publicly hanging murderers who, say, kill witnesses or judges, that would send a rather strong message that murderering witnesses and judges is something that society *really* does not tolerate."

While i have no problem hanging or whever anyone who killes a witness. IF judges would stop letting proseuctors off when they are caught comitting fraud, extortion and out and out lies that send people to prison who are factual innocent ....maybe people would stop trying to kill em!

the u.s. supeme courts latiest bit of criminal stupidity is a PERFECT EXAMPLE!

Posted by: rodsmith | Apr 22, 2011 12:51:00 AM

More interesting and more important from the Public's Right to Know perspective would be this: how does a story like this come about?

One or two people promote the firing squad and that is news. How were the connections made that led to the slant the story has? Did the reporter know the commentators? Is there a conservative list of those who are willing to comment? (yes) Who initiated the story? This stuff fascinates if for no other reason than these kinds of back stories are so mysterious.

Posted by: George | Apr 22, 2011 1:50:25 AM

"Couldn't we just have the defendant spend a week listening to Bill Otis -it legal torture, his incessant chatter is cheap, and it's worse than hanging."

Steve Prof, your ad hominem attack on someone with whom you apparently disagree adds nothing to the debate.

Moreover, in my opinion, Bill is 100% right. I'm a liberal Democrat in most respects. However, I once worked on a capital murder trial. I saw all of the evidence--including the autopsy photos. One of my tasks was to sit with the victim's family and explain what was going on while the defendant who had robbed them of their daughter sat there smirking. The trial turned me into an unabashed proponent of the death penalty. I just couldn't come up with any plausible reason why the murderer in this case should continue to live. I am certain that support for the option of using the death penalty in aggravated first-degree murder cases would go up even more if people actually sat through a capital-murder trial or if newspapers published victims' autopsy photos next to the murderer's picture.

Posted by: alpino | Apr 22, 2011 2:58:02 AM

ALPINO, o course you are right but you missed that it adds humor.

Posted by: Steve Prof | Apr 22, 2011 8:21:44 AM

ALPINO, if adding to the debate where the standard for posting -- this comment section would not exist:)

Posted by: Steve Prof | Apr 22, 2011 8:24:56 AM

Steve Prof --

"ALPINO, o[f] course you are right but you missed that it adds humor."

In saying that "of course" Alpino is right, are you agreeing with his major point that we should keep the death penalty?

Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 22, 2011 8:40:24 AM

This is a sick sad blog.

Posted by: anon | Apr 22, 2011 12:48:08 PM

Anon,

Agreed. Anyone else find it ironic that this is getting serious, bloodthirsty sounding discussion on Good Friday?

Posted by: anon2 | Apr 22, 2011 1:45:11 PM



anon --

"This is a sick sad blog."

No it isn't, but if it were, no one is requiring you to keep reading it.

P.S. Substantive argument is not forbidden here; indeed, I believe it's encouraged.





Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 22, 2011 2:28:25 PM

anon2 --

"Anyone else find it ironic that this is getting serious, bloodthirsty sounding discussion on Good Friday?"

The fact that there have been some unjustified executions hardly means that NONE are justified. This eluded you?

Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 22, 2011 2:34:24 PM

I, too, found the irony of this disussion on Good Friday! Another foray into the technological middle ages. Right; I could choose not to read. It's a good way to stay informed on what the opposition is thinking (I use the term loosely). Have a happy holiday!

Posted by: anon | Apr 22, 2011 4:42:54 PM

anon --

"It's a good way to stay informed on what the opposition is thinking (I use the term loosely)."

If the opposition can't think, you should be winning big time. Instead, you're losing by better than 2-1, including Barack Obama and the entire Supreme Court. I guess none of them can think. Is that about it?

Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 22, 2011 5:36:06 PM

Sad and crying (Otis) and sick and barfing (Scheidegger) at the same time.

Must be worse than the gas chamber.

Perhaps Bill and Kent would be happier if they just made inmates read their blog comments.



Posted by: Anon | Apr 22, 2011 5:59:53 PM

Anon --

Yes, we all know you have attitude.

Do you have argument?

Are you willing to furnish a reason that the torture-killer of Dylan Groene should receive less than the maximum legal sentence?

The jury that heard the case returned the sentence after three hours of deliberation. Do you know more about it than they?

Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 22, 2011 6:58:47 PM

This is the first time I agree with Bill Otis. In favor of DP with constitutionally adequate representation and procedural protections.

Posted by: Steve Prof | Apr 23, 2011 11:59:33 AM

Regarding this discussion and the Good Friday/Jesus aspect in particular, there is an interesting post on the California Correctional Crisis blog today that picks apart the assumed religious and political divides on the dp, and argues that support and opposition to the dp is more nuanced than many assume.

http://californiacorrectionscrisis.blogspot.com/2011/04/is-there-death-penalty-religious-divide.html

Posted by: anonymous | Apr 23, 2011 1:01:59 PM

.. and I'm very intrigued by the statement of the last professor quoted in the original article, above: "How we kill those we detest should in no way resemble how we kill those we love." What?

Posted by: anonymous | Apr 23, 2011 1:41:32 PM

anonymous --

Using the crucifiction of Jesus as a fable against the death penalty is less a display of the strength of abolitionism than a confession of its weakness.

In the article you cite, the author refers to a "re-enanctment" of Jesus's trial, complete with a death penalty phase. The absurdity of such a thing is lightly passed off with this: "Of course, setting what was essentially a political trial in a Roman colony in the context of the American criminal justice system does not do justice to historical context..."

Well, yes. It "does not do justice to the historical context." Translation: It has absolutely nothing to do with the death penalty as it exists in American law now and since Gregg v. Georgia.

It is a mark of how desperate abolitionism has become that it resorts to mythic "re-enactments" and street theatre pegged at True Believers instead of discussing actual cases litigated in the modern era.

In an earlier comment, I discussed one such case, that of the grotesque torture and murder of Dylan Groene. The abolitionists on this thread refuse, not merely to justify their position in that case, but even to acknowledge that it exists.

Instead they want to talk about Roman colonial law a few thousand years ago.

And then you wonder why the public isn't buying it and continues overwhelmingly to support capital punishment.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 23, 2011 8:16:50 PM

Bill Serious academic, friend of Prof. Berman, He does that as a regular act. Federal Attorney. Did you know each other? Marc Osler.



http://acluva.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/2011JesusonTrialinVirginia.pdf

He is too pious, too high fallutin' to debate an ambassador from earth and his high school education, including his religious training. Jesus, if he existed, was a left wing progressive, it appears. If you ever run into him, ask him if anyone at Yale Law ever told him the meaning of the word, reasonable, and why it is the central word of the common law.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Apr 24, 2011 6:22:41 PM

SC --

I do not know Prof. Osler and have never met him. I understand that he is now teaching at St. Thomas Law School in Minnesota, where I have spoken a couple of times at Federalist Society events, but I haven't run into him.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 24, 2011 8:54:03 PM

Mr. Otis,

With all respect, I do not believe that either supporters of the death penalty or opponents of the death penalty, are monolithic, whether on this blog or anywhere else.

Additionally, I believe it's mistaken to read too much into any person's lack of response to any aspect of another's comments (or indeed to any original posting) regardless of the issue, including capital punishment.

Posted by: anonymous | Apr 25, 2011 12:12:27 AM

anonymous --

My experience is that supporters of the DP tend not to be monolithic, in that I have never heard of a serious supporter who backs the DP for all murder, nor would any such position be even arguably reasonable.

On the other hand, abolitionists -- or at least those who are active in debates like this one -- are indeed monolithic, in that they oppose the DP in all circumstances, no matter what the underlying facts of the offense or the offender.

I agree that reading "too much" into a non-response can be mistaken. Unfortunately, this leaves open the question of what is "too" much and what is the right amount.

As I have explained, talking about the Crucifiction of Jesus says next to nothing -- if not absolutely nothing -- about the DP topic actually before us, that being capital punishment as practiced in this country in the 35 years since Gregg. By contrast, the quite recent imposition of the death penalty on the killer of Dylan Groene says a good deal about it, because a horrifying episode like that explains why (as noted in the Hastings Law article you cited), the DP continues to draw heavy majority support across partisan, ideological and religious lines.

I take your point that opinions about the DP are more nuanced than generally thought, but I believe the more significant point is that support remains very broad virtually wherever you look in the American public.

When the current issues with the DP are illustrated by a current case -- like the Groene case -- and a discussion of that case gets bypassed in favor of a discussion of the execution of Jesus in an ancient and alien legal system, then I do indeed wonder whether what's going on is something beyond merely a "lack of response" and is, instead, ducking.

Thank you for the moderate tenor of your remarks.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 25, 2011 5:19:24 AM

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May 24, 2014

Is nitrogen gas the best modern execution alternative to lethal injection?

The question in the title of this post is prompted by this Slate commentary by Tom McNichol headlined "Death by Nitrogen; If lethal injection falls out of favor, death penalty states could turn to a new method: nitrogen gas." Here are excerpts:

The Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that Kentucky's three-drug protocol for carrying out lethal injections was constitutional, but theres no question that the method looks grimly suspect in the wake of Clayton Locketts apparently painful, botched execution in Oklahoma last month. Not so long ago, though, this was the method that represented progress. Hanging. Firing squad. The guillotine. The electric chair. The gas chamber. Lethal injection. Every age seems to feature a new and improved method of capital punishment, billed as more efficient and humane. The spectacle of Locketts death, and the Supreme Courts hesitation, shines a spotlight on the latest idea  death by nitrogen. This new proposed method, known as nitrogen asphyxiation, seals the condemned in an airtight chamber pumped full of nitrogen gas, causing death by a lack of oxygen. Nitrogen gas has yet to be put to the test as a method of capital punishment  no country currently uses it for state-sanctioned executions. But people do die accidentally of nitrogen asphyxiation, and usually never know what hit them. (Its even possible that death by nitrogen gas is mildly euphoric. Deep-sea divers exposed to an excess of nitrogen develop a narcosis, colorfully known as raptures of the deep, similar to drunkenness or nitrous oxide inhalation.) In late April, Louisiana Department of Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc suggested to a state legislative committee that Louisiana should look into using nitrogen gas as a new method of execution, since lethal injection has become so contentious. Its become almost impossible to execute someone, LeBlanc complained to the Louisiana House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee. Nitrogen is the big thing, LeBlanc told the committee. Its a painless way to go. But more time needs to be spent [studying] that. The committee instructed LeBlanc to do some research on the subject and report back. In the meantime, Louisiana has delayed a pending execution. Im not taking anything off the table, says state Rep. Joseph P. Lopinto III, chairman of the states Administration of Criminal Justice Committee. If someone says nitrogen gas is the way to go, then we can debate that and do it if need be. As long as 32 states have capital punishment on the books, there should be a less reliably cruel method of execution than lethal injection. If were going to take a life, then we should do it in the most humane, civilized manner as is possible, says Lawrence Gist II, an attorney and professor of business and law at Mount St. Mary's College. Right now, nitrogen is the best of the available options. Gist, a death penalty opponent, runs a website dedicated to promoting nitrogen asphyxiation for state-sanctioned executions.... Nitrogen gas, unlike the lethal drugs that states have relied on, is widely available. The gas is used extensively in industrial settings, from aerospace to oil and gas production Lethal injection is just fine if you can get the pentobarbital, says Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a group that favors capital punishment. But if thats not available, an alternative like nitrogen gas would work. In contrast to lethal injection, no medical expertise would be needed to introduce nitrogen gas into a sealed chamber. The gas chamber itself is technology that has been around since the 1920s. In fact, three states  Arizona, Missouri, and Wyoming  still authorize lethal gas as a method of execution (depending on the choice of the inmate, the date of the execution or sentence or the possibility that lethal injection is held unconstitutional). The last gas chamber execution in the U.S. was in 1999  the method fell out of favor because hydrogen cyanide is a poison causing suffering that lasts 10 minutes or longer. Lethal injection, of course, was supposed to be painless and better. What if its not? Thats the question the Supreme Court now finally seems to be returning to. The history of capital punishment suggests that as long as theres a will to kill criminals, someone will come up with an improved way. The new tool in the executioners bag may turn out to be nitrogen, a better way to carry out a gruesome task.

If nitrogen gas is really an easy, effective and painless means for killing a condemned inmate, I hope Louisiana and other states might move to this method of execution in the near future. In recent years, the only folks truly well served by lethal injection are those who enjoy last-minute appellate litigation and the prospect of a painful execution. Moreover, as I have often said before, if Congress would have the good sense to care about helping both the feds and states find a better way to carry forth capital justice, perhaps they could consider having a hearing to explore what reasonable modern alternatives to lethal injection might be worth seriously considering.

A few recent related and older posts:

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The thing about nitrogen or other inert gas asphyxiation is that you don't even actually need a sealed chamber. The traditional gas chamber is as much to protect everyone else as it is to expose the condemned to the poison. With neutral gasses on the other hand (especially nitrogen or argon which are biologically inert, unlike carbon monoxide which I've also seen bandied as an alternative) it wouldn't really matter if there were outward leakage, so all that would really be needed would be a breathing mask that securely covered the nose and mouth. That means that current execution facilities would not need to undergo extensive remodeling. And as the article mentions we have solid evidence of what is actually experienced during nitrogen asphyxiation as it is something that can be survived if oxygen is re-introduced. I also don't see the gas suppliers having nearly the ethical concerns that drug companies are displaying, especially as there are plenty of domestic producers of nitrogen and much of the ethical concern is coming from Europe.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | May 24, 2014 6:20:49 PM

Look, if we want to be honest about this the best way to tell what works best and what does not work best is to look at the ways that people commit suicide. Drugs have always been a terrible way to die because the success rate is so low (around 3%). Guns and hanging are the most effective. Among the gases the two most popular ways are helium and carbon monoxide. The primary reason that these two gases are preferred is because they are easier to get a hold of than nitrogen. A lethal amount of helium can be purchased at any Wal-mart. The major reason that helium is not as popular as other means of suicide is because creating what--in essence--is a small home gas chamber is not inherently simple and that process intimidates some people, especially people who are of troubled mind enough to consider suicide.

There have already been extensive studies with helium in the right-to-die movement. Time to unconsciousness is between 45 and 120 seconds, time to irreversible brain damage 3-5 minutes, and time to total brain death 10-15 minutes. The real question that people need to confront is not whether it can be done but how will it change people's viewpoints when it becomes obvious what experts already know--we can kill someone simply, easily, painlessly, quickly, and cheaply. Does that cheapen life? Do we really want a drama-free experience when the state puts someone to death? Gas is easy--perhaps too easy.

Posted by: Daniel | May 24, 2014 6:51:45 PM

All pretty silly stuff. What is it doing on a serious law blog?

Posted by: peter | May 25, 2014 10:22:21 AM

Why is is "pretty silly stuff" to determine if an alternative means is easier for the condemned person when harm (at times labeled torture) is a major concern, one that overlaps those who support and oppose the death penalty? I'm against the death penalty myself, but I take seriously concerns about problems with the process, including extra care to carry it out the best we can. Many things leave a lot to be desired. Harm reduction matters still.

I appreciate this separate entry on a means flagged by a few comments as a best approach. There is a suggestion it is "too easy" for some. I think "gas" itself has a bad connotation. Still, I don't think making sure the execution itself isn't too easy is a major rationale for choice of options in the past. So, it does interest me why this option wasn't chosen.

Starting a new means of execution raises problems -- the 8A itself is wary about "unusual" punishments particuarly -- but other than it being "too easy," I'm not fully sure why this wasn't tried in the past. Why does "no country" use it? Seems a bit strange to me.

Posted by: Joe | May 25, 2014 10:59:23 AM

Joe.

You raise an excellent question and one I have asked myself. I have my own theory and I'll offer it up for your consideration. I think that gas has a negative connotation for two reasons. First, it remains in the collective conscious as being historically associated with an evil regime. People do not want to be associated with that, even tangentially. More recently, gas has become strongly associated with the right-to-die movement. Books like Final Exit, A Guide to a Safe and Humane Death, and even the Peace Pill Handbook have all pushed gas as a "humane" way to kill oneself. There are even detailed videos one can find on the internet about how to kill oneself using helium. So I think there has also been a reluctance to give the state's imprinteur to a method associated with suicide. If the state is killing people with gas then it makes it that much more alluring to suicidal people to kill themselves that way too.

Switching from drugs to gas is not going to occur in a cultural or historical vacuum. Gas is already out--it has been advocated as humane method to kill for almost 20 years. If the state comes along and start doing it too that is going to send a strong signal that euthanasia organizations such as Exit International were correct all along. So my theory is that states have-under pressure from right-to-life organizations--been reluctant to adopt gas because of the people it has been associated with. It would be a deep irony, almost to the point of surreality, if the anti-death penalty camp push against execution drugs drove states right into the arms of the euthanasia movement.

Posted by: Daniel | May 25, 2014 1:47:29 PM

If every murderer killed with gas we could abolish the DP because gas as a murder weapon would be an extenuating circumstance and so every murder would be more humane than heinous.

We could kill all those birds with one gas.

Posted by: George | May 25, 2014 4:39:04 PM

Almost all of us will die after suffering great pain, humiliation, and shocking loss of function over months if not years. Some of us will need illegal aliens to wipe our butts. Where did the right to a perfect death come from? Not from the Eighth Amendment.

First the death penalty is not a punishment, it is an expulsion, no matter what retributionists claim for it. Second, evolving standards of decency do not support torture, but they do not prohibit any death but a perfect one. That is not in any section of the constitution.

This argument is a false one. If a procedure result in death, it is constitutional. It should be carried out in secret to avoid offending the sensibilities of the journalism profession. Almost all of them are left wing even compared to average Democratic party members. There is no procedure that will fail to deeply offend, because we are getting rid of a source of government make work jobs, the criminal. And that is the greatest offense, not being disclosed in this debate.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | May 25, 2014 7:39:37 PM

From the Veterinarian Amicus Brief to the Supreme Court:

IN SOLUTION AND INEXPENSIVE.

ONSISTENT WITH THE GOAL OF ACHIEVING DEATH IN

ANIMALS IN THE MOST HUMANE MANNER POSSIBLE, KENTUCKY

VETERINARY LAW MANDATES THAT HUMANE EUTHANASIA BE

ACCOMPLISHED BY THE USE OF A SINGLE DRUG: SODIUM

PENTOBARBITAL. 201 KY. aDMIN. rEGS. 16:090  5(1).6 tHIS

AVOIDS THE USE OF EITHER PANCURONIUM BROMIDE OR

POTASSIUM CHLORIDE. iT THUS MAKES IRRELEVANT THE FACT THAT

(I)T IS UNDISPUTED THAT, WITHOUT PROPER ANESTHESIA, THE

ADMINISTRATION OF PANCURONIUM BROMIDE AND POTASSIUM

CHLORIDE, EITHER SEPARATELY OR IN COMBINATION, WOULD

RESULT IN A TERRIFYING, EXCRUCIATING DEATH. HARBISON,

2007 fil 2821230, AT *11.

6. tHE KENTUCKY REGULATION ALLOWS ONLY TWO OPTIONS: SODIUM

PENTOBARBITAL, OR SODIUM PENTOBARBITAL WITH LIDOCAINE. lIDOCAINE

IS A COMMON LOCAL ANESTHETIC.

How to make Sodium Pentothal from the 1939 recipe. Go the Patent Office website, enter 2153729, make all you want in Prison Industries.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | May 26, 2014 8:33:04 AM

I appreciate the comment Daniel & do think that factors in.

We did have gas chambers though in this country. Were they sort of grandfathered in, new tweaks on their usage including a different type of gas somehow illicit? Also, why only twenty years? Wasn't this type of gas used longer than that? The late presence suggests to me possible complications though perhaps current knowledge tempered them.

Book TV on CSPAN aired (see its website, including for video) Austin Sarat talking about his new book on botched executed & a question did flag the right to die movement. Ironically, she was concerned about usage of lethal injections or drugs in that respect.

Posted by: Joe | May 26, 2014 10:39:58 AM

http://onlyinamericablogging.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-kill-human-being.html

here is all you need to know, nitrogen IS the best way and for executions a mask a cylinder and about ten minutes is all it would take, the answer is just ignored in the official channels in the USA it seems

Posted by: John | Jul 25, 2014 12:25:33 AM

CHODE

Posted by: Nutsack | Aug 9, 2014 12:43:12 AM

I think Oklahoma has the right idea, except a better gas to use than nitrogen would be carbon monoxide! Carbon monoxide would be just as effective!

Posted by: Tony Bidwell | Apr 28, 2015 2:11:38 PM

Exit International members published a YouTube video awhile back about how to manufacture pentobarbital. The condemned should be given an opportunity to kill themselves Socrates-style by consuming pentobarbital orally. If they're not willing to do that, they can be strapped down and injected with it. 10g will generally get the job done.

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We people have a little confusion concerning utilizing this Instagram sometimes for sharing our images in a system created just for sharing images as well as video.

Posted by: http://instagramloginway.com | Sep 25, 2017 6:54:13 AM

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March 14, 2018

Oklahoma embracing nitrogen gas instead of lethal drugs as method of execution

As detailed in this new CNN piece, headlined "Oklahoma plans to use new execution method," the Sooners are soon to be trying a novel execution protocol. Here are the details:

Unable to obtain drugs to use for its lethal injections, Oklahoma will use inert gas inhalation as the primary method for death penalty executions once a protocol is developed and finalized, the state's attorney general announced Wednesday. Oklahoma is the first state to adopt this method. "As you know, in Oklahoma, a bill that was signed back in 2015 by the governor states that if lethal injection is held unconstitutional or is unavailable, an execution shall be carried out by nitrogen hypoxia," Attorney General Mike Hunter said. "We are exercising that option." Nitrogen is one of several inert gases that can cause hypoxia, an oxygen deficiency that causes death. Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Joe M. Allbaugh said his office will prepare the legal documents within the next 90 to 120 days and, if that's acceptable, the attorney general will move forward with the protocol. Hunter said the state is "at the very beginning of this process ... and will provide updates as they become available." Currently, 49 people sit on death row in Oklahoma; 16 have exhausted their ability to appeal their cases, Allbaugh said. The state has struggled to find legally obtainable lethal injection drugs, he said. It previously used a three-drug combination: an anesthetic (either sodium thiopental, pentobarbital or midazolam), a paralytic agent (pancuronium bromide) and a heart-stopping agent to cause death (potassium chloride), according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.... The bipartisan Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission issued a study of the death penalty in the state on April 25. The report concluded that the moratorium should remain in place until significant reforms to the death penalty process are made, and recommended a one-drug barbiturate execution protocol. But Hunter said inert gas inhalation is used in countries that have legalized assisted suicide. A 2010 Journal of Medical Ethics study, based on experiments performed by Swiss organization Dignitas, found that the dying process of oxygen deprivation caused by an inert gas is "potentially quick and appears painless." "It also bypasses the prescribing role of physicians, effectively demedicalizing assisted suicide," the researchers wrote. Hunter said that "using an (inert gas inhalation) will be effective, simple to administer, easy to obtain and requires no complex medical procedures." "Research has shown that individuals exposed to an excessive amount of inert gas experience fatigue, dizziness, perhaps a headache, loss of breath and eventual loss of consciousness," he said, citing the US Air Force Flight Surgeon's Guide, which looks at cases of pilots breathing excessive amounts of inert gas. Hunter said that people who die by inhalation of inert gases are dead within just a few minutes. The method is "safest, best and most effective," he said. By contrast, the American Veterinary Medical Association's Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals recommend the use of nitrogen for chickens, turkeys and pigs but say it's unacceptable for other mammals. "These gases create an anoxic environment that is distressing for some species," the authors say. Oklahoma re-enacted the death penalty in 1973 and, since 1976, has performed 112 executions. Hunter noted that an overwhelming majority of the Oklahoma electorate voted to amend the Constitution and guarantee the state's power to impose capital punishment two years ago.

March 14, 2018 at 07:43 PM | Permalink

Comments

"But Hunter said inert gas inhalation is used in countries that have legalized assisted suicide."

It just might be the case that voluntary use is different from involuntary use.

The discussion includes a policy statement of American Veterinary Medical Association's Guidelines that opposes it for cats and dogs. But, then again, we are dealing with humans on death row here. Some think more highly of the former.

Meanwhile, "The bipartisan Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission issued a study of the death penalty in the state on April 25. The report concluded that the moratorium should remain in place until significant reforms to the death penalty process are made, and recommended a one-drug barbiturate execution protocol."

It discusses the movement regarding nitrogen gas & seems to reject it for the time being because of lack of adequate information. IF we have a death penalty, there are those not inclined to support it as policy who think either nitrogen gas or the firing squad are the best approaches. It just might be that the best approach is simply not having the death penalty. At least, both dissents in Glossip seemed to have a good argument in hindsight.

http://okdeathpenaltyreview.org/

Posted by: Joe | Mar 14, 2018 9:44:35 PM

I recall this proposal in the Comment section many times, for many years, and not by me. Is there a way to get government officials to read this cutting edge blog?



It is a circle. If you are afraid, your heart will beat fast. If your heart beats fast, you will be afraid. To make it fast, one should suck the oxygen from the lungs fast. I once had a coughing fit. I found myself on my back, still in my seat, facing the ceiling, not knowing how long I was unconscious. I had no awareness of getting unconscious. It was instantaneous.

I eventually completely solved my coughing and nasal dripping problem with a simple solution, a humidifier. I would like to get that remedy to Hillary Clinton, to help her, not to hurt her. If anyone can tell me how to communicate with her about her incessant coughing, I would appreciate it.



Posted by: David Behar | Mar 15, 2018 5:52:08 AM

Describing a method of killing people as "safest" strikes me as peak absurdity.

Posted by: Guy Hamilton-Smith | Mar 15, 2018 9:04:05 AM

"Describing a method of killing people as "safest" strikes me as peak absurdity."

Realistically, we are going to have to kill people in certain contexts & reducing the problems as much as possible there is a reasonable approach. "Safe sex" means "safer sex" since there is always a chance of some problem arising.

Posted by: Joe | Mar 15, 2018 11:37:53 AM

Guy Hamilton,

Safe for everyone else is not at all absurd. Old-style poison gas has the problem of needing extreme care to not expose the execution staff and witnesses. The firing squad has a risk of ricochet and hanging has a (admittedly far-fetched) risk of falling through the trap . Even lethal injection has the possibility of coming into contact with blood.



Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Mar 15, 2018 11:48:53 AM

For the past several years, attorneys representing death row have argued that inert gas is a better option than lethal injections. See http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/18/03/173052P.pdf. Now that one state is seriously considering that option, in what has to be considered the biggest non-surprise of the year, we are going to start to see arguments about why inert gas is cruel and unusual punishment.

Posted by: tmm | Mar 15, 2018 4:27:29 PM

Any deliberate killing of another human being is cruel and unusual or we would all be doing it. The State has no more excuse than a murderer. What the Constitution might or may not say about it is irrelevant. If we condemn a murderer for his disrespect for the life of his victim and then condemn him in turn to suffer the same fate, which disrespects his life similarly - then we have committed an equally cruel and unusual act - for which there is no excuse as alternative punishments are available. The means of killing may make the act all the more cruel and is a valid argument to make, but the final moral position is that we SHOULD NOT KILL.

Posted by: peter | Mar 15, 2018 5:05:57 PM

"the biggest non-surprise of the year"

Such would be true, for both sides, in a range of cases. All sides repeatedly cite alternatives that they deep down are not crazy about, but to show that changing the current policy is possible. They often don't like any form of the policy. At times, the alternative actually is better, but that still doesn't mean it is good enough.

And, obviously, the defense attorney will try to use whatever reasonable means possible to save the life, liberty and property of the client. This is a respectable thing and when sex crimes are involved seems to get consistent support on this blog. Meanwhile, the state repeatedly will push for something, such as less habeas protections. It will often not swing for the fences but go for one step. If that step is reached, it will not surprise if the state will push for more the next time.

Maybe, tmm is aware of this, and just left it unsaid. So, I said it.

====

The moral position is "thou shall not murder." Or, "thou shall not kill unjustly." Killing in self-defense is not immoral. All things considered, however, I don't think the death penalty is a valid self-defense mechanism.

Posted by: Joe | Mar 15, 2018 6:27:03 PM

I reject morality in its entirety. Ethics on the other hand is another story, the former is imposed while the latter is arrived at. I do not believe self-defense is the only ethical reason for killing.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Mar 15, 2018 11:40:28 PM

I hope this takes the whole "painful death" thing off the table.

As an aside, there is one painless way to die -- a sufficiently large explosion right next to you would do the trick.

Posted by: William Jockusch | Mar 16, 2018 5:23:43 AM

Joe. Murder is the unlawful homicide. A death penalty law does not result in murder. It results in an execution.

The safety referred to is safety from endless and expensive lawyer appeals.

Once the public decides to revive the death penalty in a real way, it should start with the rounding up of the 25000 people in the lawyer hierarchy, one hour fair trials, and summary execution in the court basement. Shoot these traitors in insurrection against our constitution in the head.

Posted by: David Behar | Mar 16, 2018 11:21:07 AM

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May 7, 2018

Examining whether nitrogen gas could be a viable new method for executions

The New York Times has this extended new article about the latest innovation in execution methods under the headline "States Turn to an Unproven Method of Execution: Nitrogen Gas." The piece is worth reading in full, and here are excerpts:

Hamstrung by troubles with lethal injection  gruesomely botched attempts, legal battles and growing difficulty obtaining the drugs  states are looking for alternative ways to carry out the death penalty. High on the list for some is a method that has never been used before: inhaling nitrogen gas. Oklahoma, Alabama and Mississippi have authorized nitrogen for executions and are developing protocols to use it, which represents a leap into the unknown. There is no scientific data on executing people with nitrogen, leading some experts to question whether states, in trying to solve old problems, may create new ones.... In March, Oklahomas attorney general, Mike Hunter, said that using nitrogen was the safest, the best and the most effective method available. There is scant scientific data to back up that statement. What little is known about human death by nitrogen comes from industrial and medical accidents and its use in suicide. In accidents, when people have been exposed to high levels of nitrogen and little air in an enclosed space, they have died quickly. In some cases co-workers who rushed in to rescue them also collapsed and died. Nitrogen itself is not poisonous, but someone who inhales it, with no air, will pass out quickly, probably in less than a minute, and die soon after  from lack of oxygen. The same is true of other physiologically inert gases, including helium and argon, which kill only by replacing oxygen.... (Although nitrogen itself would be novel, gas chambers have existed as an American execution method since the 1920s. The last case was in 1999, when Arizona used clouds of hydrogen cyanide to execute an inmate. Coughing and hacking, he took 18 minutes to die.) Death from nitrogen is thought to be painless. It should prevent the condition that causes feelings of suffocation: the buildup of carbon dioxide from not being able to exhale. Humans are highly sensitive to carbon dioxide  too much brings on the panicky feeling of not being able to breathe. Somewhat surprisingly, the lack of oxygen doesnt trigger that same reflex. Someone breathing pure nitrogen can still exhale carbon dioxide and therefore should not have the sensation of smothering. Before passing out, a person may feel lightheaded, dizzy or maybe even a bit euphoric, and vision may dim. Dr. Charles D. Blanke, who has studied data on physician-assisted dying, said it was not at all clear that nitrogen inhalation would bring a peaceful death. Dr. Blanke, a medical oncologist and professor at Oregon Health and Science University, said he had consulted colleagues in pulmonary medicine and anesthesiology, and they had concerns that carbon dioxide actually could build up and cause feelings of suffocation.... Unlike lethal injection, the use of nitrogen would not require that the execution team dig around for a vein. An anesthesiologist, who requested anonymity because medical societies bar members from participating in executions or providing information to encourage them, said that nitrogen inhalation was less cruel than lethal injection. And since it presumably would involve no paralytic agent, witnesses would be able to see whether the person seemed to be suffering, he said. Seizures might occur from inhaling nitrogen, he said. But if the technique appears to go smoothly, he predicted that other states would quickly adopt it. In fact, according to state documents, in May of 2016, an Arizona company sent a sales-pitch letter for nitrogen gas executions to Nebraska corrections officials. Among the standout features of its Euthypoxia Chamber: It produces calm and sedation followed by inebriation and euphoria; it requires no medical expertise; and it guarantees the demise of any mammalian life in 4 minutes. In passing along the letter to another official, a state corrections department executive hand-wrote: Im not intending to respond  just thought it was an odd correspondence. Ms. Moreno, of the Berkeley Law Death Penalty Clinic, said that implementing nitrogen gas is not as simple as states suggest. There are different grades of nitrogen, including medical and industrial, she said, with commensurate purities and regulations. Observers of the execution would need protection. Officials would have to figure out how to safely clear nitrogen from the room before a physician could declare death and the staff could remove the body. The Final Exit Network, a volunteer organization that supports the rights of people with terminal illness or intractable suffering to end their lives, considers nitrogen inhalation a reasonable method, and directs people to information about it. The technique involves putting a plastic bag over ones head and pumping in nitrogen. Janis Landis, president of the network, said: The science behind inert gases is quite well settled. Any inert gas, one can breathe it in, in place of oxygen. You dont have air hunger. You can keep breathing. You pass out and you die.

A few (of many) prior related posts:

May 7, 2018 at 09:10 PM | Permalink

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The Shape of the Offenders Neck

A Life for a Life? The Problem of Capital Punishment,

Sir Ernest Gowers, published by Chattoand Windus, London page 12

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/001112875700300126

In 1886 a Committee was appointed to inquire into the way in which executions were carried out and the causes which in several recent cases had either led to failure or to unseemly occurrences and to make recommendations how they might be avoided. Present practice is based on the Report of that Committee. The essentials for success are a thickish rope, a knot precisely placed under the left ear, and a length of drop adjusted to the weight of the prisoner. Since these precautions were taken, there is no record in the Home Office of any failure or mishap in connection with an execution, and in the opinion of that Department execution by hanging, as now carried out, can be regarded as speedy and certain. But among murderers condemned to death there are occasionally some whose physical condition makes it undesirable that the execution should take place because it could not be done in a seemly manner, or because some scandalous thing might happen-a persons head might come off because the jaw was shot away or some other gruesome development might happen which would shock public opinion rather than show that the law has been vindicated.

In such cases the prisoner must be reprieved, for it is illegal to carry out an execution in any other way. They are less rare than might be expected: in 1949 there had been five in the preceding fifteen years. A future student of the strange customs of the natives of Britain in the twentieth century will find few that will seem to him more quaint than that the decision between the death penalty and a less severe punishment should sometimes have depended not on the gravity of the offense but on the shape of the offenders neck.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/001112875700300126



Posted by: Claudio Giusti | May 8, 2018 8:34:11 AM

"Dr. Charles D. Blanke, who has studied data on physician-assisted dying, said it was not at all clear that nitrogen inhalation would bring a peaceful death."

No. This time it will be the solution.

Posted by: Joe | May 8, 2018 9:43:52 AM

Claudio. 90% of us will endure a slow, painful, and humiliating death. Our organs will have a cascade of failure, but slowly. Medical care will inflict agonies over months or years, and at an average cost of $250,000 for end of life care. Illegal aliens will be cleaning us up.

Why should vicious murderers have a perfect death?

Why? Because this false standard generates $billions in death penalty appellate lawyer income. The Supreme Court will never abolish the death penalty. It will continue to limit its scope and fine tune it to maintain the death penalty appellate business. Congress must step in, abolish the death penalty .That way, we can have an unfettered Italian Death Penalty.

There is a dose response curve to all remedies. Too little does not work. Too much is toxic. The small number and long delays of executions insure they have no effect on the crime rate.

But again, technology will achieve what the lawyer profession cannot. Chinese carfentanyl will eliminate crime from this country. Almost all the overdose deaths are of addicts. They each commit 200 crimes a year.

Claudio, you will be pleased to know carfentanyl does provide a peaceful, quiet, painless death. It is the perfect death so few of us will experience. The system should learn. Hire addicts to find veins. Use carfentanyl, purchased over the internet by a prison, and delivered by Federal Express or by the US Post Office. Carfentanyl for executions would address your valid concerns about cruelty.

Posted by: David Behar | May 8, 2018 11:50:11 AM

DB is an idiot without hope.

Posted by: Claudio Giusti | May 8, 2018 12:25:18 PM

CG: Che cosa ho detto che non ti piace?

Posted by: David Behar | May 8, 2018 1:56:40 PM

Hai detto ... CHE SEI SCEMOOOOOOO !!!!!!

Posted by: Claudio Giusti | May 8, 2018 3:38:18 PM

Stesso per voiiiiiiiiiiii1!!!!!!

Posted by: David Behar | May 8, 2018 5:38:03 PM

15.000 murders. 10.000 solved. Of them 5.000 death eligible. Less than 50 capital sentences and, in 10  20  30 years or more  5 executions. I call it cruelty, idiocy, stupidity and inequality.

Posted by: Claudio Giusti | May 10, 2018 3:41:40 PM

Post a comment
 "Pandemic Rules: COVID-19 and the Prison Litigation Reform Act's Exhaustion Requirement" | Main | "'Take the Motherless Children off the Street': Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and the Criminal Justice System" 

The question in the title of this post is prompted by this new AP article headlined "State: Alabama nearly ready with untried execution method." Here are the details:

Alabama could be ready to use a new, untried execution method called nitrogen hypoxia to carry out a death sentence as soon as next week, a state attorney told a federal judge Monday.

James Houts, a deputy state attorney general, told U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr. that it is very likely the method could be available for the execution of Alan Eugene Miller, currently set for Sept. 22, if the judge blocks the use of lethal injection. Houts said the protocol is there, but said the final decision on when to use the new method is up to Corrections Commissioner John Hamm.

Nitrogen hypoxia, which is supposed to cause death by replacing oxygen with nitrogen, has been authorized by Alabama and two other states for executions but has never used by a state. The disclosure about the possibility of using the new method came during a court hearing on Millers request for a preliminary injunction to block his execution by lethal injection. Miller maintains prison staff lost paperwork he returned in 2018 that requested nitrogen as his execution method rather than lethal injection. The Alabama attorney generals office argued there is no corroborating evidence that Miller returned the form.

Huffaker heard testimony and arguments during an evidentiary hearing in Montgomery federal court. He noted the high stakes involved with a looming execution date, but did not immediately rule on the request to block the lethal injection. When Alabama approved nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative execution method in 2018, state law gave inmates a brief window to designate it as their execution method. Wearing a maroon shirt and with his hands shackled in front of him, Miller testified that he returned a state form selecting nitrogen on the same day it was distributed to inmates by a prison worker....

Miller described how he disliked needles because of painful attempts at drawing blood. He said nitrogen gas sounded like the nitrous oxide gas used at dentist offices, and that seemed better than lethal injection. I did not want to be stabbed with a needle, Miller said....

Alabama told a federal judge last year that it has finished construction of a system to put condemned inmates to death using nitrogen gas, but did not give an estimate of when it would be put to use. Millers lawyer, Mara Klebaner, said the state had asked if Miller would waive his claims if nitrogen was ready, but she said they need more information about the nitrogen process. Millers lawyers dont want him to be the test case for an untried execution method, she said.

Klebaner said the Alabama attorney generals office recently withdrew an execution date request for another inmate after his lawyers provided proof that the inmate had selected nitrogen hypoxia. She said Miller should be treated the same.

The state argued Miller was trying to delay his execution. Houts told the judge the state had gone as far as to see if Miller would agree to be fitted with a mask for use of nitrogen, but the inmate declined. Millers attorney said the state presented the gas mask during a deposition and that Miller was understandably upset.

Miller, a delivery truck driver, was convicted in workplace shootings that killed Lee Holdbrooks, Scott Yancy and Terry Jarvis in suburban Birmingham. Miller shot Holdbrooks and Yancy at one business and then drove to another location to shoot Jarvis, evidence showed.
The head of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) investigations team in Myanmar said on Monday that Facebook has handed over millions of items that could support allegations of war crimes and genocide.

Nicholas Koumjian, head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), established by the UNHRC in 2018, said that Facebook had shared millions of items from networks of accounts that were taken down by the company because they misrepresented their identity.

Myanmar is facing allegations of genocide at the UNs International Court of Justice (ICJ) over a 2017 military crackdown on the ethnic Rohingya population in Myanmars northern Rakhine State that forced more than 730,000 people to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.

In 2018, UN human rights investigators accused Facebook of being the conduit for hate speech in Myanmar that had fueled violence against Rohingyas.

In November 2019, The Gambia  with the backing of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation  filed a case before the ICJ that alleged Myanmars atrocities in Rakhine violated various provisions of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, also known as the Genocide Convention.

In 2021, Facebook, now called Meta, said it supported international efforts for accountability for the crimes committed against the Rohingya.

In the same year, Rohingya refugees in the US and UK sued Facebook for more than $150bn and accused it of allowing the spread of hate speech and dangerous misinformation against the community.

In a statement to Reuters, Miranda Sissons, director of human rights policy at Meta, said: (We) have made voluntary, lawful disclosures to the UNs investigative mechanism as well as disclosures of public information to The Gambia which has filed the ICJ genocide case.

On Monday, IIMM head Mr Koumjian said: Almost all [Rohingyas] remain in neighbouring countries awaiting the day when conditions will allow their safe and dignified return home. The end of impunity for those who inflicted the violence would do much to create such conditions.

Story continues

The people of Myanmar continue to suffer because of the lack of accountability for those who believe they answer to no law, he added.

The IIMM has prepared 67 evidential and analytical packages to share with judicial authorities, including for proceedings at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, the UNHCR said.

It added that almost three million information items from more than 200 sources have so far been collected and processed.

They include interview statements, documentation, videos, photographs, geospatial imagery and social media material, Mr Koumjian said.

For example, Facebook has shared with the Mechanism millions of items from networks of accounts that were taken down by the company because they misrepresented their identity  the accounts were actually controlled by the Myanmar military, he said.
The undeclared items were about 32.42 kg of assorted meat products and 60 pieces  or 3.6 kg  of salted duck eggs. (PHOTOS: Singapore Food Agency, Getty Images file photo)

SINGAPORE  While being investigated for illegally importing 36kg of meat products and salted duck eggs, a company director threatened to accuse a Singapore Food Agency (SFA) officer of molestation if her demands were not met.

Wang Shu, also known as Vicky, was fined $5,000 on Monday (12 September) for illegally importing the food products and advertising them for sale online. The 41-year-old Singaporean was also sentenced to four weeks' jail for threatening a public servant.

The director of Thanksgiving Group did not have a valid import licence to import food or any food commodities, according to court documents.

Her offence came to light following an inspection conducted by Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers on a 40-footer container on 29 July 2020, after anomalies in a scanned image were detected. The container had arrived at the Pasir Panjang Scanning Station from China a day earlier for import clearance.

During the inspection, ICA detected several types of food in the container, such as salted duck eggs and sausages, without any valid import permit.

The undeclared food items were sealed and detained at the premises, with the matter referred to SFA for further investigations, court documents added.

An inspection by SFA on 4 August 2020 revealed that the undeclared food items belonged to Vicky and eight other individuals  the latter had been dealt with separately. The items were 32.42 kg of assorted meat products and 60 pieces  or 3.6 kg  of salted duck eggs.

Court documents stated that the meat products consisted of 17.1 kg of chicken and duck sausages, 11.5 kg of pork and chicken sausages, 2.3 kg of crispy chicken sausages, 1 kg of duck wings, and 0.5 kg of beef jerky. Three packets of pork and chicken sausages, 240 g each, were later found to be infested with live maggots.

Investigations revealed that Vicky had ordered them from China through mobile application WeChat and had paid for them via WeChat transfer, court documents said. She claimed that she was unaware that she was not allowed to bring in the food items from China and that this was her first time doing so, court documents added.

Story continues

Vicky had advertised online on her personal Facebook account to sell some of the food items on 6 October 2020, but her plans were thwarted as the consignment was detained by SFA for further investigations.

She later removed the advertisement but claimed that she could not remember the exact date she took it down. She supposedly managed to recall only after three SFA officers visited her company on 29 October 2020, when she was informed that she should not be conducting the sale of illegally imported food.

The officers went to the company as they were unable to get hold of Vicky through her contact number and a visit to her home.

During the interview with the officers, she confirmed that she had brought in the undeclared food items from China but claimed they were for her family's consumption and not meant for sale by her company. But incriminating communications were detected during a check on her mobile phone.

Vicky started to become uncooperative and asked to end the interview, which was being recorded by hand. Two SFA officers then left the room as they did not want to further agitate Vicky, leaving a third officer alone with her to calm her down.

As Vicky refused to do so, the officer ended the interview and left. While he was packing his belongings, Vicky repeatedly asked for him to hand over the partially-recorded statement but was rejected, said court documents.

Vicky then closed and locked the room's door  the only exit out of the room  while holding on to the door-knob.

She threatened to shout "molest" if the officer refused to hand the statement over to her, knowing that the accusation was false and would injure his reputation, court documents added. She also admitted that at that point she did not believe that he was going to outrage her modesty.

Due to Vicky's threat, the officer handed over the partially-recorded statement to her, which she tore in his presence, and he was allowed to leave the room.

According to a joint statement by ICA, SFA, and the police, the officer made a police report on the same day of the visit.

"Food can only be imported by licensed importers, and every consignment must be declared and accompanied with a valid import permit. In addition, meat and its products can only be imported from accredited sources in approved countries that comply with Singapores food safety requirements," the statement said.

The method of concealment involved in this case is a cause for concern as similar methods may be used by people with ill intent to smuggle security items into Singapore, the statement added.

"ICA will continue to conduct security checks on passengers, goods, and vehicles so as to safeguard Singapores security. SFA will continue to safeguard food safety through our integrated food safety system, which includes strict import regulations and enforcement, as well as working closely with border control agencies to deter illegal import across our borders."

For importing meat products illegally from unapproved sources, Vicky could have been sentenced to a maximum fine of $50,000 or a jail term of up to two years, or both. Repeat offenders can face a maximum fine of $100,000 or a jail term of up to three years, or both.

For threatening injury to a public servant, she could have been jailed up to two years, or fined, or both.

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The state's trade association for hospitals is sounding the alarm over a reimbursement cut for telehealth services by Nebraska's largest health insurer.

Jeremy Nordquist, president of the Nebraska Hospital Association, said Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska's decision to cut reimbursement for telehealth visits by 50% as of July 1 is a huge concern that could drastically reduce the use of virtual care in the state if other insurers follow suit.

"It is a devastating cut, it's a shortsighted cut that will really put an end to telehealth in Nebraska if that's the direction payers are going to go," Nordquist said.

At this point, it's not clear if any other health insurers plan to follow suit.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska said in a statement that it is not the only carrier in the industry that is making reimbursement adjustments as the pandemic has eased.

But Nordquist said he's not heard of other insurers planning to reduce telehealth reimbursements yet.

"We've talked to a few other insurers right now who say they don't intend to cut, but we don't have a payment parity law in Nebraska to protect against that," he said.

Nordquist specifically mentioned United Healthcare as one insurer that told him it plans to continue reimbursing telehealth at the same rate as other care.

Medica said in a statement that it has been paying telehealth reimbursement at the same rate as in-person services since March 2020, "and has no current plans to change it."

In its statement, Blue Cross and Blue Shield noted that the use of telehealth has declined significantly since the early days of the pandemic, dropping about 30% each year.

"With the widespread availability of vaccines and the reduction in both the number and the severity of COVID-19 cases, the majority of people have returned to pre-pandemic levels of activity, including face-to-face interactions with their providers," the company said.

It also noted that even with the 50% cut, the rates it pays providers is the same as, or in some cases still more than, what it paid them before the pandemic.

While virtual visits are not as common now as they were during the early days of the pandemic, they are still much more common than they were before it.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield said it was still averaging about 9,000 such visits a month in the first half of this year, compared with 1,600 total in 2019.

Nebraska Medicine told the Journal Star last month that it had more than 100,000 telehealth visits in its 2022 fiscal year, compared with less than 4,000 in its 2018 and 2019 fiscal years combined. It currently does anywhere from 10% to 15% of its total provider visits virtually, said Dr. Leslie Eiland, an endocrinologist at Nebraska Medicine.

Virtual care is "what people want," Eiland said. "We wouldn't be offering it if no one was asking for it."

One of the big benefits of telehealth for Nebraska Medicine, she said, is serving patients who have to drive an hour or more to come to the hospital for appointments.

In her own practice with patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes, Eiland said she often offers a "hybrid" approach where patients alternate between in-person and virtual visits, which saves them time and money.

Telehealth has helped hospitals and providers grow and strengthen their reach in rural areas.

Bryan Health, for example, has more than doubled the number of pulmonary clinics it offers outside of Lincoln thanks to the expanded use of virtual visits.

Steve Goeser, president and CEO of Methodist Health System in Omaha, said the hospital system conducted various outreach efforts in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska during the pandemic, and that practice still continues.

"So it is disappointing to see policies in place that dissuade such a positive health care experience for those we serve," Goeser said.

Nordquist said it's rural health care that's likely to suffer the most if insurers cut what they pay for telehealth, but there are also other groups, such as people who live in urban areas but lack transportation and people with jobs who may have a hard time getting time off to attend medical appointments, who will lose as well.

"Really, telehealth is about convenience and getting access to care when they need it," he said.

Mike Dewerff, chief financial officer of Bryan Health, agreed.

He said telehealth is one solution to the problem of having to care for more patients with fewer providers, and creating disincentives to do so by lowering reimbursement, "runs contrary to everyones desire to expand patient access in a cost-effective way for patients."

"Despite Bryans investment and commitment to high-quality remote care, we believe this change will result in increased usage of already stressed urgent cares and emergency departments," Dewerff said in an emailed statement. "Most importantly, it will lead to less access and more costly choices for people seeking care."

There's a misperception among the public and even some insurers that telehealth costs less, which isn't the case, Nordquist said.

For hospitals and providers that already have brick-and-mortar facilities with fixed overhead, the savings from telehealth is in not having to use supplies such as gowns, gloves and masks.

But that savings is offset by things such as subscriptions to Zoom or other virtual platforms, and costs to buy and maintain hardware and software, he said.

That means that when reimbursement rates are cut as much as 50%, "there just won't be providers who can afford to do that," Nordquist said.

The best way to ensure insurers continue to provide adequate reimbursement for telehealth is to mandate it through legislation, Nordquist said.

Nebraska did that in 2021 for behavioral health through LB487, which requires reimbursements for behavioral telehealth to be the same as those for in-person visits. However, a companion bill that would have mandated payment parity for all telehealth visits did not advance.

The state also has a payment parity law that applies to Medicaid, which the Legislature adopted in 1999 when telehealth was virtually nonexistent.

And Medicare pays providers the same for telehealth visits as it does for in-person ones, although that is an administrative policy that could be changed at any time.

Nordquist said he has talked to a couple of senators about introducing a medical telehealth parity bill during the next legislative session and is confident one will be introduced. He said support for such a bill could be dependent somewhat on what happens in November's election.
DETROIT (AP)  The chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court said Monday she will step down by the end of 2022, an announcement that followed a major decision affecting abortion rights and more than two years of steering the state's judiciary through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bridget McCormack, a Democratic Party nominee, has been on the court since 2013 and still had six years left in her second term.

After a decade, the time has come for me to move on, to let others lead, and to build on a foundation of progress, McCormack, 56, said in a written statement.

She said she would resign no earlier than Nov. 22 and no later than Dec. 31. The timing will depend on the appointment of her successor. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she will pick a new justice, apparently no matter the results of the Nov. 8 election.

Whitmer, a Democrat seeking reelection, called McCormack a phenomenal public servant.

Election victories by McCormack and Justice Elizabeth Welch in 2020 put Democrats in the courts majority for the first time since 2010. Those wins came shortly after a Republican majority struck down Whitmer's sweeping authority to manage Michigan's response to the pandemic.

McCormack last week was in the 5-2 majority that put abortion rights on the November ballot. Republican members of a state elections board had rejected the proposed constitutional amendment over the spacing of words on the petition, which had attracted more than 750,000 signatures.

What a sad marker of the times, said McCormack, who called it a game of gotcha gone very bad.

Before her election in 2012, she was co-director of the Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan law school, working with students to exonerate wrongly convicted people.

Indeed, criminal law has been a specialty. In June, she wrote the court's unanimous opinion that indictments used to charge former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and others in the Flint water investigation were invalid.

McCormack has been chief justice since 2019, a role that is decided by the courts seven members. In that job, she has left her mark across the state, especially during the pandemic, when courtrooms were closed and judges turned to video conferencing to handle cases.

The public suddenly could turn to the internet to watch cases in local courts. Video access is still available in many courts.

Before the pandemic, the state Supreme Court ordered all Michigan courts to allow visitors to carry laptops, tablets and phones. Some counties complained they would lose revenue if people could copy public documents with their devices. But McCormack said the change ensures the doors to our courts are open to all, especially poor people who had to stash a phone in bushes before entering some courts.

Justice Elizabeth Clement, a Republican, said McCormack has been independent and fair.

"In a world that has become increasing partisan and angry, she is a voice of reason, compassion and thoughtfulness, Clement said.

Follow Ed White at http://twitter.com/edwritez
Commuters, food producers, refineries and others could all be affected if there is a nationwide rail strike at the end of this week.

Members of one union rejected a tentative agreement that their leaders had negotiated with the biggest freight railroads, and three other unions were still at the bargaining table on Wednesday. Two other rail unions. unions ratified deals.

The Biden administration was putting pressure on railroads and unions to settle their differences and avert a strike. In case that didn't work, the administration was also working on a plan to use trucks and planes to move goods that are normally carried by freight railroads.

Business groups told Congress to step in and block a strike.

Here are key things to know ahead of a possible strike this Friday.

HOW DID NEGOTIATIONS GET TO THIS DIRE POINT?

The nations biggest freight railroads began negotiating with a dozen different unions representing about 115,000 workers in late 2019, but talks were slowed by the pandemic, which limited face-to-face meetings.

Government mediators tried to broker agreements, but that didnt work. President Joe Biden then appointed a presidential emergency board, which held hearings and issued recommendations last month that included 24% pay raises and thousands of dollars in bonuses.

Many of the unions have reached tentative agreements with the railroads, but two large unions representing engineers and train conductors have held out for better terms on working conditions. Workers represented by the machinists union rejected a deal negotiated by their leaders, although that union agreed to delay any strike until Sept. 29. Two other unions  the Transportation Communications Union and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen  voted to ratify their contracts Wednesday.

WHEN CAN WORKERS STRIKE?

By federal law, the unions can't legally strike until after Friday morning, just after midnight. That's when a 30-day cooling-off period ends, under terms of a law called the Railway Labor Act, which governs contract talks in the railroad and airline industries.

CAN A STRIKE BE BLOCKED?

Congress could intervene and block a strike or lockout, as it has done in previous nationwide rail-labor disputes, but it's not clear whether that would happen this time.

Lawmakers are divided over a resolution to the dispute. Republicans want to impose the presidential emergency board's terms, while Democrats prefer to let negotiators for the railroads and the two big unions keep talking.

WHAT ARE THE BIG ISSUES?

Rail workers stayed on the job throughout the pandemic but have not received a raise since 2019.

The unions sought raises of 31% over the five-year term of the new contracts, while the railroads offered 17% before the emergency board's recommendations. The largest railroads endorsed the board's middle-ground proposals, and most of the unions have reached tentative agreements based on those details.

However, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and the transportation division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, which represents conductors, have held out in hopes of better terms including provisions on working conditions.

The major railroads have cut nearly one-third of their jobs in the last six years, and unions say that's making the work of their members harder. They want railroads to ease strict attendance policies that make it difficult to take time off for things like doctor appointments.

HOW WOULD A RAIL STRIKE AFFECT THE COUNTRY?

Railroads such as Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX and Norfolk Southern carry cars, coal, chemicals, grain, imported goods and other products and raw materials throughout the country. A shutdown  even a brief one  would delay critical shipments and ripple across the economy.

The Association of American Railroads trade group estimates that a strike would cost the economy $2 billion a day. The Business Roundtable says a strike would be an economic catastrophe.

WILL IT IMPACT FUEL SUPPLIES?

About 300,000 barrels of crude oil is shipped by rail every day, and refineries might have to slow production if deliveries are delayed, according to the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers. Analysts warn there could be shortages of gasoline and diesel in some places such as the Northeast.

WHAT ABOUT NEW CARS?

Most new vehicles are shipped from the factory or dock by rail, and analysts say there is not enough truck capacity to handle all those vehicles in case of a strike. That would mean even longer wait times for dealers and motorists to get their hands on new cars.

A strike could also interfere with production because automakers receive some parts and raw materials by rail.

WILL SOME STORE SHELVES BE BARE?

The railroads have announced plans to stop shipping refrigerated items ahead of the strike deadline, so there could be disruptions in deliveries of produce, meat and other items.

Food producers could be affected too, leading to longer-lasting effects. Agricultural groups say that even a brief strike would interrupt shipment of feed to livestock and poultry producers.

WILL A STRIKE AFFECT PASSENGER RAIL?

Yes. Amtrak announced that all long-distance trains have been canceled starting with Thursday's schedule. The passenger rail service had already suspended the California Zephyr and Empire Builder lines that run from Chicago to the West Coast and announced plans to shut down several others.

Amtrak uses its own track in much of the corridor from Washington to Boston, but almost everywhere else it relies on freight track that could be closed during a strike even though Amtrak and its workers are not involved in the negotiations.

Around the country, some local commuter rail lines also depend on tracks owned by the big freight railroads. The Chicago areas Metra commuter line said that if there is a strike it will suspend operations on four of its 11 lines on Friday.

COULD THERE BE POLITICAL FALLOUT?

The White House is clearly worried that any disruption in supply chains just weeks before the November midterm elections could anger consumers, who are already facing the highest inflation in 40 years. That could hurt Democrats, who are trying to protect razor-thin control of the Senate and House.

Republicans will blame Democrats if there is a strike and Congress fails to stop it.

This has been negotiated for three years. Its time that it ends, said Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Commerce Committee.

Democrats, however, are hesitant to stand in the way of unions trying to get a better deal for their members, and they say Congress should not try to tip the scales in negotiations.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration has told the railroads and unions that American families, business and farms would suffer. She said a strike is not acceptable.

Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, Lisa Mascaro and Kevin Freking in Washington, Tom Krisher in Detroit and Cathy Bussewitz in New York contributed to this report.
A strike by railroad workers would have wide-ranging impact on consumers, commuters and businesses. That's why business groups are telling Congress to block a strike if necessary. And the Biden administration on Wednesday continued to put pressure on the railroads and unions to settle their differences. So how did negotiations in the freight-rail industry get to this breaking point? Here are some questions people are likely to have about the standoff, along with answers about what it means for the economy.
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SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa  Officials from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources are doing battle this week with an invasive aquatic plant species threatening the Iowa Great Lakes.

According to a press release from the Iowa DNR, workers are now treating the East Okoboji, Upper Gar, Lake Minnewashta and Lower Gar lakes with an aquatic herbicide, known as Sonar A.S., to eliminate a rooted plant species known as Eurasian watermilfoil.

The species was found in the Great Lakes region back in early August and is considered a threat because it can "outcompete native plants and take over areas of a lake" (per the DNR release).

A release from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which has also dealt with Eurasian watermilfoil, asserts that the plant also provides "unsuitable shelter, food, and nesting habitat for native animals."

The Iowa DNR asserts that the herbicide being used has proven effective in eradicating Eurasian watermilfoil from other lakes in Iowa. Treatments at the Great Lakes are set to go into next spring and DNR officials are testing the Great Lakes area every two weeks to check concentration levels.

To assist in the effort, local groups have raised more than $335,000 in funds.

"This is a threat to all the lakes in the chain and to other surrounding lakes in the region," East Okoboji Lakes Improvement Corporation's Terry Wilts said in the press release. "We are in this together and if there is a chance to take out this plant, wed regret not taking that opportunity."

At the same time as the treatment, the DNR said they're working with local partners to "build a long-term management plan for the chain of lakes."
SIOUX CITY  Vangarde Arts announced it's in the running to bring a free outdoor series to Cook Park, 505 Cook St., beginning in 2023.

A Sioux City-based nonprofit, Vangarde Arts recently submitted the concert series proposal to the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, which regularly grants funds to projects utilizing music in public spaces.

"Vangarde Arts is thrilled about the opportunity to bring an amazing new concert series to Sioux City," director Brent Stockton said. "We chose Cook Park to be part of the west side revitalization and breathe new life into a great midtown park and neighborhood."

Stockton said Vangarde Arts will need to qualify as one of the top 20 finalists in the public voting phase of the Levitt AMP Sioux City Grant Awards.

The public is encouraged to support Vangarde Arts' proposal by voting for it at vote.levitt.org or via text as 866-AMP-2023 (866-267-2023) with the keyword VOTESUX.

Public voting is now open and will continue until 7 p.m. Sept. 21. The top 20 finalists will be selected through the online and text-to-vote public voting phase. The Levitt Foundation will then review the top proposals and will select up to 10 Levitt AMP grant recipients, which will be announced on Nov. 15.

"It is our plan to offer a mix of local talent and national touring artists," Stockton said of the Cook Park music series.

Over the years, Vangarde Arts has musicians like Ray Wylie Hubbard, John Primer and David Lindley at its 416 Pierce St. location.
LE MARS, Iowa  Tom Knapp's attorney conceded in her closing argument to jurors that there was no doubt Knapp shot and killed Kevin Juzek, but his actions amounted to manslaughter, not murder.

Jurors had no doubt Knapp acted with malice and premeditation, elements necessary to find him guilty of first-degree murder for the May 11, 2020, shooting in their rural Merrill, Iowa, home.

The jury needed less than two hours Tuesday afternoon to find Knapp guilty of murder and willful injury for the shooting, plus willful injury and two counts of domestic abuse assault for beating his wife, Darlene Knapp, just before the shooting. Knapp was found not guilty of a third count of domestic abuse assault.

Knapp, 84, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole for his murder conviction. Sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 7 in Plymouth County District Court.

Knapp shot Juzek, his 51-year-old stepson, through his bedroom door with a 20-gauge shotgun while Juzek held it closed from the other side. The shot struck Juzek in the abdomen, causing him to stagger into the living room and collapse on the floor. Knapp then walked up to him and fired a second shot into his chest from close range while Darlene Knapp watched.

"He had a lot of choices, and he had time to make those decisions," Plymouth County Attorney Darin Raymond said during his closing arguments. "The choice the defendant makes is he deliberately points a gun at his chest, pulls the trigger and shoots Kevin Juzek, who was laying helplessly on the floor. He did so with malice, premeditation and with the deliberate intent to take Mr. Juzek's life."

Raymond declined to comment on the verdict.

Public defender Wendy Samuelson urged jurors to find Knapp guilty of voluntary manslaughter, which carries a 10-year prison sentence, rather than first-degree murder, saying the shooting was a snap decision resulting from Knapp being suddenly provoked by Darlene Knapp and Juzek, both of whom Knapp said during questioning had attacked him.

"Tom's statements to law enforcement don't show premeditation, they show the continuous influence of serious provocation," Samuelson said.

Rather than having a premeditated intent to kill Juzek, Knapp acted with "sudden, violent, irresistible passion resulting from serious provocation," a main element in a voluntary manslaughter charge.

"What the state's evidence has shown here is an argument that escalated ... he just snapped," Samuelson said.

Samuelson declined to comment before leaving the courthouse.

Knapp was upset with Juzek that morning, blaming him for knocking over a birdbath in the yard. That anger boiled over when Darlene Knapp brought some water to Knapp. Without warning, Darlene Knapp testified, her husband began punching her in the face, then striking her with a wooden exercise bar, breaking her left hand. When Juzek came to the bedroom, Darlene Knapp ducked under Tom Knapp to leave the room and called 911. Juzek held Knapp's bedroom door shut so he couldn't pursue her. Knapp then shot Juzek through the door and followed him into the living room before firing the second shot.

Knapp later told investigators Darlene Knapp had come to his room, told him she wanted a divorce and he'd have to leave, then threatened him with the exercise bar. He also said Juzek came to Darlene's aid, screaming at him and attacking him.

During a day and a half of evidence and witness testimony, jurors heard recordings in which Knapp used numerous profanities to describe Juzek and told law enforcement officers Juzek had intentionally aggravated him for years, staring at him, putting his coat on Knapp's chair and using some type of electronic device to keep him awake at night.

"He's been bugging me for years. A guy can only take so much," Knapp said in one of those recordings.

On the day of the shooting, Knapp decided he'd had enough, Raymond said. While being blocked inside his bedroom by Juzek, Knapp could have chosen other non-lethal means of dealing with the situation. Instead, he chose to shoot through the door in an area Juzek likely would be standing, then follow him to shoot him again.

"He hated Kevin Juzek. He bugged him for years and he'd had enough of him," Raymond said. "He acted with malice that day. ... He did it out of some actual hatred."
LE MARS, Iowa -- Jurors have found Thomas Knapp guilty of first-degree murder and willful injury for the fatal shooting of his stepson, Kevin Juzek.

He also was found guilty of domestic abuse assault for beating and injuring his wife minutes before the shooting.

He will face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

The jury spent less than two hours deliberating after receiving the case just after noon Tuesday.

Knapp, 84, shot Juzek on May 11, 2020, at their rural Merrill, Iowa, home.

Juzek had been holding Knapp's bedroom door shut after Knapp assaulted his wife and Juzek's mother, Darlene Knapp. While Darlene Knapp was calling 911, Tom Knapp fired a 20-gauge shotgun through his bedroom door, striking Juzek in the abdomen. After Juzek walked into the living room and collapsed, Knapp emerged from his bedroom, walked up to Juzek and shot him a second time in the chest.
LE MARS, Iowa  Tom Knapp's attorney conceded there is no doubt her client shot and killed Kevin Juzek.

The question jurors must decide is whether the shooting was premeditated or a snap decision sparked by the events that morning on May 11, 2020, at their rural Merrill, Iowa, home.

Prosecutors obviously believe it was premeditated, charging Knapp with first-degree murder for shooting through his bedroom door with a 20-gauge shotgun while Juzek held it closed from the other side. The shot struck Juzek in the abdomen, causing him to stagger into the living room and collapse on the floor. Knapp then walked up to him and fired a second shot into his chest from close range.

"He had a lot of choices and he had time to make those decisions," Plymouth County Attorney Darin Raymond said during closing arguments Tuesday morning. "The choice the defendant makes is he deliberately points a gun at his chest, pulls the trigger and shoots Kevin Juzek, who was laying helplessly on the floor. He did so with malice, premeditation and with the deliberate intent to take Mr. Juzek's life."

Knapp, 84, has pleaded not guilty in Plymouth County District Court of first-degree murder and willful injury for shooting Juzek, 51. Knapp also is charged with willful injury and three counts of domestic abuse assault for striking and injuring his wife, Darlene Knapp, prior to the shooting.

Jurors began their deliberations shortly after noon.

Public defender Wendy Samuelson urged jurors to find Knapp guilty of voluntary manslaughter, which carries a 10-year prison sentence, rather than first-degree murder and its mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

She wasn't going to argue that Knapp didn't shoot Juzek, but she said Raymond had failed to show Knapp acted with malice and premeditation, elements required for a murder conviction. Instead, as the elements for a conviction of voluntary manslaughter spell out, Knapp acted with "sudden, violent, irresistible passion resulting from serious provocation."

"What the state's evidence has shown here is an argument that escalated ... he just snapped," Samuelson said.

Samuelson and Raymond both recounted the events of that morning: Knapp was upset about a birdbath knocked over in the yard, blaming Juzek for it. After setting it back up, Knapp returned inside and, angry, went to his bedroom. When Darlene Knapp took some water to his bathroom and turned to his bedroom door, he attacked her without warning, she had testified, punching her in the face and striking her with a wooden stick, breaking her left hand.

Knapp told authorities he was provoked by his wife, who he said told him she wanted a divorce and wanted him out of the house, then threatened him with the stick.

Responding to the fight between Knapp and his mother, Juzek came to the bedroom door and held it shut so Knapp could not pursue her as she went to call 911. The events provoked Knapp to take the sudden action to shoot Juzek, Samuelson said, proven by the fact he was still agitated when telling authorities about the years of aggravation he'd endured from Juzek.

"Tom's statements to law enforcement don't show premeditation, they show the continuous influence of serious provocation," Samuelson said.

Raymond argued Knapp had finally had enough after years of simmering hatred for his stepson. Knapp told authorities after the shooting Juzek would purposely aggravate him by staring at him and putting his coat on Knapp's chair, among other things.

"He's been bugging me for years. A guy can only take so much," Knapp told an investigator hours after the shooting while continually referring to Juzek with profane names.

"He hated Kevin Juzek. He bugged him for years and he'd had enough of him," Raymond said. "He acted with malice that day. ... He did it out of some actual hatred."
SIOUX CITY  Sioux City school district leadership says the implementation of the district's new cellphone policy has been successful, with many instances of positive feedback.

Its really making a difference, said Associate Superintendent Angela Bemus.

Bemus, Director of Elementary Education Brian Burnight and Director of Secondary Education Jim Vanderloo all shared positive results of the policy during the Monday school board meeting.

In July, the school board approved a more restrictive mobile phone policy after a district behavior survey. The policy differs for elementary, middle and high school students.

At the elementary level, students are not allowed any kind of mobile phone, smartwatch or headphones during the school day. At the middle school level, students are not allowed the same devices during the day. If they have good behavior, the school principal can decide to allow the devices during non-instructional time.

At the high school level, students are allowed to use their devices during the non-instructional time, such as passing periods, lunch and before or after school.

On the first day of school, Interim Superintendent Rod Earleywine visited with high school students about the policy, and many students shared their dislike of the policy.

Bemus said she has received numerous positive comments from parents and teachers regarding the policy, thanking the district for implementing it. She said there has been very little negative feedback.

She also shared two instances from the student perspective. In one instance, she said a student realized they needed to change their math class because it was too easy. They said they had never focused in class before, and the phone policy made them pay attention.

In another instance, she said a high school senior was not being compliant with their cellphone policy, so the principal contacted their parent. She said this was an opportunity to build the relationship between parent and the building administration.

Vanderloo said at the secondary level there have been adjustments such as changes to the no-headphone policy. He said after receiving input from teachers, the district bought enough wired headphones for all secondary education students' instructional needs.

He said teachers and students thank the administration for the policy because it forces students to speak with the students around them in class, lunch and in the hallway.

That shows were doing the right thing, he said.

The discipline for violating the rule varies on how many offenses the students have. On the first offense and second offense they are given verbal redirection and a call to their parents, if they dont cooperate; they are given a one-day suspension.

On the third offense, they are given one day of in-school suspension or a two-day suspension if they do not cooperate. On the fourth offense, they are given three days of suspension and on the fifth offense; they will receive a five-day suspension at the Sioux City Alternative School.

Bemus said at the high school level, there have been around 500 students who have had a first offence and been redirected by teachers. Out of that, she said there were only around 50 students at each school who were non-compliant, meaning they argued with the teacher and were given one day of suspension.

Only having to redirect 500 out of three high schools, were talking about almost 5,000 students, thats amazing, Bemus said.

She said there have not been many repeat offenders.

At the elementary level, Burnight said there have been four students who were redirected by teachers, and only one student who argued and was non-compliant.

Bemus said this policy will reflect positively on the standardized testing at the end of the year.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Twitter's former security chief told Congress Tuesday there was at least one agent from China's intelligence service on Twitter's payroll and that the company knowingly allowed India to add agents to the company roster as well, potentially giving those nations access to sensitive data about users.

These were some of the troubling revelations from Peiter Mudge Zatko, a respected cybersecurity expert and Twitter whistleblower who appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to lay out his allegations against the company.

Zatko told lawmakers that the social media platform is plagued by weak cyber defenses that make it vulnerable to exploitation by  teenagers, thieves and spies and put the privacy of its users at risk.

I am here today because Twitter leadership is misleading the public, lawmakers, regulators and even its own board of directors," Zatko said as he began his sworn testimony.

They dont know what data they have, where it lives and where it came from and so, unsurprisingly, they cant protect it, Zatko said. It doesnt matter who has keys if there are no locks."

Twitter leadership ignored its engineers, he said, in part because their executive incentives led them to prioritize profit over security.

In a statement, Twitter said its hiring process is independent of any foreign influence and access to data is managed through a host of measures, including background checks, access controls, and monitoring and detection systems and processes.

One issue that didn't come up in the hearing was the question of whether Twitter is accurately counting its active users, an important metric for its advertisers. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is trying to get out of a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, has argued without evidence that many of Twitters roughly 238 million daily users are fake or malicious accounts, aka spam bots.

Even so, that doesnt mean that Musk wont use Zatkos allegation that Twitter was disinterested in removing bots to try to bolster his argument for walking away from the deal, said Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg.

The Delaware judge overseeing the case ruled last week that Musk can include new evidence related to Zatkos allegations in the high-stakes trial, which is set to start Oct. 17. During the hearing, Musk tweeted a popcorn emoji, often used to suggest that one is sitting back in anticipation of unfolding drama.

Separately on Tuesday, Twitter's shareholders voted overwhelmingly to approve the deal, according to multiple media reports. Shareholders have been voting remotely on the issue for weeks. The vote was largely a formality, particularly given Musk's efforts to nullify the deal, although it does clear a legal hurdle to closing the sale.

Zatko's message echoed one brought to Congress against another social media giant last year. But unlike that Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, Zatko hasn't brought troves of internal documents to back up his claims.

Zatko was the head of security for the influential platform until he was fired early this year. He filed a whistleblower complaint in July with Congress, the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among his most serious accusations is that Twitter violated the terms of a 2011 FTC settlement by falsely claiming that it had put stronger measures in place to protect the security and privacy of its users.

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who heads the Judiciary Committee, said Zatko has detailed flaws that may pose a direct threat to Twitters hundreds of millions of users as well as to American democracy.

Twitter is an immensely powerful platform and cant afford gaping vulnerabilities, he said.

Unknown to Twitter users, theres far more of their personal information disclosed than they  or sometimes even Twitter itself  realize, Zatko testified. He said Twitter did not address basic systemic failures brought forward by company engineers.

The FTC has been a little over its head, and far behind European counterparts, in policing the sort of privacy violations that have occurred at Twitter, Zatko said.

Zatkos allegation that Twitter was more concerned about foreign regulators than the FTC, Enberg said, could be a wakeup call for U.S. lawmakers, who have been unable to pass meaningful regulation on social media companies.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said one positive result that could come out of Zatkos findings would be bipartisan legislation to set up a tighter system of regulation of tech platforms.

We need to up our game in this country, he said.

Many of Zatkos claims are uncorroborated and appear to have little documentary support. Twitter has called Zatkos description of events a false narrative ... riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacking important context.

Still, Zatko came off as a convincing whistleblower who has a lot of credibility in this space, said Ari Lightman, professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University. But he said many of the problems he raised can likely be found at many other digital technology platforms

They avoid security protocols in a sense of innovating and running really fast, Lightman said. We gave digital platforms so much autonomy at the beginning to grow and develop. Now were at a point where were, Wait a minute ... This has gotten out of hand.

Among the assertions from Zatko that drew lawmaker attention was Twitters apparent negligence in dealing with governments that sought to get spies a job inside the company. Twitters inability to log how employees accessed user accounts made it hard for the company to detect when employees were abusing their access, Zatko said.

Zatko said he spoke with high confidence about a foreign agent that the government of India placed at Twitter to understand the negotiations between Indias ruling party and Twitter about new social media restrictions and how well those negotiations were going.

Zatko also revealed Tuesday that he was told about a week before his firing that at least one agent from the Chinese intelligence service MSS, or the Ministry of State Security, was on the payroll at Twitter.

He said he was similarly surprised and shocked by an exchange with current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal about Russia  in which Twitter's current CEO, who was chief technology officer at the time, asked if it would be possible to punt content moderation and surveillance to the Russian government, since Twitter doesn't really have the ability and tools to do things correctly.

And since they have elections, doesnt that make them a democracy? Zatko recalled Agrawal saying.

Sen. Charles Grassley, the committee's ranking Republican, said Tuesday that Agrawal declined to testify at the hearing, citing the ongoing legal proceedings with Musk. But the hearing is more important than Twitters civil litigation in Delaware," Grassley said. Twitter declined to comment on Grassley's remarks.

In his complaint, Zatko accused Agrawal as well as other senior executives and board members of numerous violations, including making false and misleading statements to users and the FTC about the Twitter platforms security, privacy and integrity.

Zatko, 51, first gained prominence in the 1990s as a pioneer in the ethical hacking movement and later worked in senior positions at an elite Defense Department research unit and at Google. He joined Twitter in late 2020 at the urging of then-CEO Jack Dorsey.

O'Brien reported from Providence, R.I.; Ortutay reported from Oakland, Calif.
PHOENIX (AP)  Joe Hart, a businessman and former state lawmaker who served as Arizona's elected mine inspector for 15 years before resigning last year, has died, Gov. Doug Ducey' office announced Monday.

Hart was 78 and died on Sunday, according to Ducey's office. The cause of death and where Hart died was not known.

Ducey called Hart a pillar of state government, who was a dedicated advocate for the mining industry and mine safety. He ordered flags lowered to half-staff in Hart's honor.

A lifelong Kingman resident, Inspector Hart proudly served the people of Arizona for decades, Ducey said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones during this time.

Hart was an advocate for closing off the tens of thousands of abandoned mines that are the remnants of Arizona's past, and have at times been deadly. In 2007, two girls riding an ATV in western Arizona drove into an abandoned shaft and plunged into a 125-foot deep mine shaft near the town of Chloride, 220 miles (354 milometers) northwest of Phoenix. A 13-year-old died, and rescuers found a 10-year-old in the old mine the next day.

While seeking reelection in 2018, Hart noted his efforts to close off some of the old mines that litter the state.

During my time in office, hundreds of abandoned mines have been permanently sealed and many more have been fenced and posted to advise the public of their danger, Hart wrote.

Hart resigned last October, telling Ducey in a letter that he was doing so with a heavy heart.

As a fourth generation Arizona miner, the profession of mining has long been a personal passion. It is an industry so fundamental to the success and progress of Arizonas past, present and future, Hart wrote. However, the time has come for my wife Rhonda and I to focus our undivided attention on our health and our family.

Arizona is the only state with an elected mine inspector, and mining is a major Arizona industry. The state leads the nation in copper production.

The mine inspector is responsible for overseeing the safety and overall condition of mines to ensure worker and public safety. The office also oversees an abandoned mine program that helps identify and ensure the safety of mine shafts and mining sites and close them to public access.

Hart was a member of the Arizona House of Representatives from 1992 to 2001, and served as speaker pro tem.

Hart and his wife owned several radio stations serving the northern part of Arizona and the Grand Canyon. His official biography from 2021, no longer available on the mine inspector's website, said he was a a fourth generation Arizonan and he and his wife have four daughters and 10 grandchildren. Hart worked in the mining industry for 20 years.

He closed his resignation letter to Ducey by wishing continued blessings to the state of Arizona.

For this cowboy, it was one heckava ride.
HONOLULU (AP)  Gov. David Ige on Monday appointed several people, including some prominent Native Hawaiian activists, to a new board charged with managing Mauna Kea summit lands underneath some of the world's most advanced astronomical observatories.

Two of the eight appointees  Lanakila Mangauil and Noe Noe Wong-Wilson  were leaders of 2019 protests that brought a halt to the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope, the latest observatory proposed for the mountain on Hawaii's Big Island.

Many Native Hawaiians consider the summit sacred, and protesters objected to building yet another telescope there. The summit currently hosts about a dozen telescopes built since the late 1960s.

Responding to the protests, the state created the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority this year with a new law that says Mauna Kea must be protected for future generations and that science must be balanced with culture and the environment. Native Hawaiian cultural experts will have voting seats on the governing body, instead of merely advising the summits managers as they do now.

The eight nominations must be confirmed by the state Senate.

The authority will have 11 voting members. The other three are representatives of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, the University of Hawaii Board of Regents and Hawaii County's mayor.

Ige thanked the nominees for being willing to serve on the authority.

"Through this new stewardship model, I believe we can find a way for science and culture to coexist on Mauna Kea in a mutually beneficial way, Ige said in a statement.

Also appointed is Kamanamaikalani Beamer, a University of Hawaii professor and former commissioner of the Hawaii State Water Resource Management Commission. He was named for his expertise in Hawaii Island land resource management.

Former Kamehameha Schools general counsel and former Hawaiian Telcom president John Komeiji was appointed for his business and finance experience.

The governor selected Rich Matsuda, an engineer who leads community relations for W.M. Keck Observatory, from three names submitted by Maunakea Observatories.

Matsuda, Wong-Wilson and Mangauil all served on a working group formed by the House of Representatives to develop recommendations for managing the mountain. The working group's report created the foundation for the new law.



This story has been corrected to say that John Komeiji is a former general counsel of Kamehameha Schools.
Iran urges U.S. to prove reliability to rejoin Iranian nuclear deal

Xinhua) 09:19, September 13, 2022

TEHRAN, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The United States, in order to rejoin the Iranian nuclear deal, must prove it reliable and show that it abides by the international norms, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nassar Kanaani said Monday.

"The country, which unilaterally withdrew from the agreement signed in 2015, has hindered the achievement of an agreement based on joint interests ... has imposed illegal, unilateral and irrational sanctions (on Iran), and has no right to be a claimant and take a creditor's pose," Nassar Kanaani told reporters during his weekly press conference.

"The U.S. government needs to take a constructive approach to reaching an agreement," he noted.

In its recent response to the EU's proposal on restoring the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran has not raised any new issues or "any serious demands" that would hinder the achievement of a possible agreement, Kanaani said, calling the Western parties' pressures following Iran's response as "psychological warfare."

The recent statement of the European troika of France, Germany and Britain about Iran's response to an EU nuclear proposal was "wrong" and "untimely," Kanaani said.

On Saturday, France, Germany and Britain said in a joint statement that Iran "has chosen not to seize this critical diplomatic opportunity" given by a recent EU-submitted "final set of texts" to rescue the JCPOA, voicing their "serious doubts as to Iran's intentions and commitment to a successful outcome on the JCPOA."

"An agreement is a two-way road, and it was expected that the negotiating parties would act constructively in this direction," Kanaani said.

It is regretful that the European troika, instead of responding positively to the "constructive" actions of Iran in the course of reaching an agreement and its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has been influenced by a country, which is not a member of any safeguards systems of the IAEA, the Iranian spokesman said, alluding to Israel's allegations against Iran's nuclear program.

Kanaani urged the IAEA to fulfill its duties professionally and avoid the impacts of pressures from third parties, particularly from Israel.

Iran signed the JCPOA with world major powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear program in return for removing sanctions on the country. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to drop some of its commitments under the pact.

The talks on the JCPOA's revival began in April 2021 in Vienna but were suspended in March this year because of political differences between Tehran and Washington. The latest round of the nuclear talks was held in the Austrian capital in early August after a five-month hiatus.

On Aug. 8, the EU put forward its final text of the draft decision on reviving the JCPOA. Iran and the United States later indirectly exchanged views on the EU proposal.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that Iran's latest response has pushed the negotiations a step back.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Lancaster County Sheriff's deputies patrolling Interstate 80 on Sept. 1 pulled over a GMC Acadia that was linked to a Grand Island fraud case earlier in the day  occupied by four Los Angeles residents who had allegedly used a stolen credit card and ran up a five-figure bill at a Best Buy in the central Nebraska city.

When the four people left the store, they headed east on Interstate 80, passing through Hamilton, York and Seward counties before they reached Lancaster County, where deputies  who had their eyes peeled for the SUV after a heads-up from Grand Island police  stopped the GMC for an alleged traffic violation, Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said.

The four suspects were taken to the county jail. Investigators recovered thousands in cash and fraudulently purchased merchandise. And Houchin touted the arrests at a media briefing the next morning.

"It was a very good catch," he said then. "I know Grand Islands very happy because it would've been very difficult, if we hadnt got them at that time, for them to identify everybody and figure out who it was.

What Houchin did not say is that deputies used automatic license plate readers to track the GMC, which passed a Seward County cruiser equipped with a plate reader not long before it neared mile marker 395, where Lancaster County deputies stopped the vehicle.

A Best Buy employee had noted the GMC's plate number before the four suspects left the Grand Island store and passed it along to local police, who entered it into a lookout system for the interstate, said Nick Swicord, the Federal Homeland Security Task Force Commander who oversees I-80 interdictions in Seward County.

A plate reader attached to a Seward County cruiser pinged the GMC as it drove along the interstate, Swicord said. The deputy in the cruiser called the sheriff's office in Lancaster County, where authorities found and stopped the SUV.

"That absolutely would not have happened if the tag readers were not in operational use," Swicord said.

Houchin did not mention the use of automatic plate readers in that case because he believes he cannot mention the use of plate readers in any case, according to the sheriff's office's interpretation of the Automatic License Plate Reader Privacy Act, the law that governs law enforcement's use of the controversial devices.

Championed by Sen. Matt Hansen of Lincoln and the ACLU of Nebraska, and signed into law by Gov. Pete Ricketts in February 2018, the privacy act limits how long law enforcement can retain images captured by the plate readers, which take photos of passing license plates, store the data for up to six months and have been touted by law enforcement and tech developers as a game-changing crime-solving tool.

The readers only capture still images of license plates, which are then stored by a third-party contractor  Motorola, in Lancaster County  for six months under Nebraska law. Police can flag images of specific plates as investigatory to prevent them from being erased after the 180-day time frame.

But the law  and the license plate readers themselves  are subjects of controversy and confusion in Nebraska, where an attempt to install automatic plate readers in Omaha last month was rebuffed over privacy concerns. Six law enforcement agencies in the state already use the technology.

"It's the second-worst (plate reader) bill for public safety in the United States," said Jason Mayo, a criminal interdiction task force sergeant at the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office, which first deployed readers in 2018 after the bill became law.

"That's because the ACLU drafted that bill. One hundred percent, it was drafted by them, through Sen. Matt Hansen," he added. "I've read through it and I've ran this (plate reader system) for five years, and I still don't know what it means. I've had attorneys from the state, from federal entities, from our office  everyone look at it and go, 'This is nonsensical. We don't know what it means.'"

Among the sheriff office's qualms with the bill, introduced as LB93, is language it says prohibits officers from disclosing the use of the plate readers in criminal investigations or in court settings, both Mayo and Houchin said.

That interpretation  contested by the ACLU  has kept deputies from mentioning the use of plate readers in arrest affidavits to be used in prosecutions, leaving no public record linking the use of plate readers to specific arrests.

"The idea that Mayo says, 'Well, we're not gonna put it in a probable cause affidavit because we can't' is nonsense," said Spike Eickholt, the ACLU of Nebraska's lobbyist who also disputed Mayo's claim that ACLU of Nebraska drafted the privacy act.

"If they're using this as a part of a criminal investigation, the law allows it," he said. "This was a thoughtful bill that did strike that balance. And, thankfully, we have it. Because, otherwise, it'd be anything goes. I mean, the cities could do whatever they wanted to do and there wouldn't be (a limit) at all."

The law's language surrounding disclosure is muddled.

The act dictates that no captured plate data or evidence derived from the data can be disclosed as evidence in a court setting, "if the disclosure of that information would be in violation of the Automatic License Plate Reader Privacy Act." But it's unclear when such a disclosure would violate the law, or if the act actually prohibits law enforcement from noting the use of license plate readers in public records.

The secrecy surrounding law enforcement's use of plate readers only adds to the inherent angst that opponents of the devices have expressed since their introduction in Nebraska.

When the initial draft of the privacy act was first heard before a legislative committee in January 2016, Hansen warned that the readers could be used to "compile an extensive list of where citizens go, and that could be used to re-create their day-to-day habits," pointing to cases in Boston and Canada where police had either abused the technology or mishandled the data collected.

Both Houchin and Mayo dismissed such concerns, pointing to the "checks and balances" instituted by both internal policies and the 2018 law while touting the crime-solving benefits the technology provides.

"I know a lot of people believe that you get all this information when they (drive) by, that, 'Oh, you'll know who I am, where I live and what I'm doing and all this stuff,' but it's just not true," Houchin said.

The privacy act placed broad restrictions on when law enforcement can search for a specific license plate, allowing police to seek plates connected to outstanding traffic or parking violations, vehicle registration violations, stolen vehicles, missing or endangered people, people with outstanding warrants or "a vehicle that is relevant ... to an ongoing criminal investigation."

Despite those wide statutory limitations, Houchin and Mayo  and Swicord in Seward County  all insisted their agencies used the systems sparingly and responsibly, pointing to the arrests of suspects in sex-trafficking cases, homicides and other felonies.

None of the four people arrested in the Grand Island fraud case were charged with felonies in Lancaster County, though Houchin said he expected they would be when he announced their arrest.

"You need a doggone good reason why you need to be on it," Houchin said of the plate reader system, which can be accessed by about a dozen of the sheriff office's 84 sworn deputies.

Though he acknowledged the public safety value of plate readers and said the state's law enforcement officials were largely well-intended, Eickholt is not convinced of the technology's worth, nor of law enforcement's ardent defense of its use.

"The idea that the public should just trust law enforcement to do what's right is somewhat troubling, right?" Eickholt said.

"We should be concerned because this information can allow law enforcement officials to find out a lot of stuff about certain people," he added. "All they need is a plate number."

Already, at least two of the six Nebraska law enforcement agencies deploying plate readers have strayed from the reporting requirements outlined in the privacy act, which requires they submit an annual report to the Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Justice summarizing their practices and use of the plate readers.

In Lancaster County, the sheriff's office has not submitted a report since June 2019. The Seward County Sheriff's Office  which began using plate readers in early 2019  has never submitted an annual report to the crime commission.

"(The privacy act) gives agencies the responsibility to send them in, but there is no stated penalty for not submitting the reports," said Don Arp, the executive director of the crime commission, which did not have a webpage dedicated to publishing the existing reports until after the Journal Star inquired about the requirement in late August.

"There are penalties for violating other portions of the act, but not reporting," Arp said in an email.

York County's sheriff's office and the Omaha Airport Authority police have each so far been compliant with the reporting requirement. The police departments in Bellevue and Kearney each began a plate reader pilot program in July. Their annual reports won't be due until next summer.

From 2018 to 2019, the year that encompasses the agency's only submitted report, deputies in Lancaster County scanned zero plates that matched cars flagged in the National Crime Information Center database, a system that allows law enforcement agencies nationwide to share information.

In the same year, the agency manually searched 45 plate numbers, according to the report. It came up with zero matches.

There are also discrepancies between the agencies  and their third-party contractors  in how the data is stored and can be accessed.

In Seward County, Swicord said that if his office searched for a specific license plate number, authorities would only be alerted for future matches on that specific plate and would not be able to review any prior images of the plate in their database or any database without a court order.

But in Lancaster County, Mayo said, every manual search of a plate number would also reveal six months' worth of local match data for that plate, if such data existed.

And the deputies have access to data from "several hundred" agencies across the country that either openly share their data or have signed mutual operating agreements with the sheriff's office, Houchin said. Nebraska deputies can access data from some out-of-state agencies  or private data collectors  longer than the six-month limit placed on Nebraska law enforcement, since out-of-state data isn't subject to the state's privacy act.

Agencies with a signed agreement with the sheriff's office also have access to the data collected here, though the images are still purged 180 days after they are collected.

Houchin said the sheriff's office can only share data with agencies or private collectors, such as car repo companies, that use Vigilant Solutions, the software developer owned by Motorola that provides the plate readers to the sheriff's offices in Lancaster and Seward counties and owns the data once law enforcement collects it, according to Lancaster County's contract with the company.

"I'm not trying to be paranoid, but this is Big Tech," Eickholt said. "These companies have nationwide service, sometimes worldwide service. ... That's got to have some sort of utility for various commercial purposes, and that's separate from the law enforcement and government interests that people might think is there when they agree to install these cameras."

Lancaster County's contract with Vigilant expressly mentions the privacy act, and as a part of the contract, Vigilant agrees to delete collected data in accordance with the law or even earlier at the written request of the sheriff's office.

The law does not place any constraints on the private collection or use of license plate data  which can be accessed by law enforcement indefinitely if private collectors utilize the same data host, such as Vigilant or Flock Safety, the contractor that operates cameras in Bellevue and Kearney.

Houchin said Lancaster County authorities had used private data collected in other states to make multiple arrests in homicide cases in recent years.

Mayo estimated that repo companies collect images of "billions" of plates across the country. Oversight laws nationwide, like in Nebraska, often don't constrain law enforcement's access to privately collected data.

That loophole has prompted somewhat of a reversal in tenor from Nebraska's ACLU, which twice testified at the Legislature's Judiciary Committee hearings in support of the bill that now governs the use of plate readers in Nebraska  saying the law's measures were "appropriate safeguards"  but last month publicly rebuked the readers as Omaha leaders weighed introducing them.

"I mean, we supported that because it was, at least, something, and before that we had nothing," Eickholt said. "Ideally, we probably wanted LB93 to be tighter, to have maybe a lower number of days that law enforcement could retain the data, for instance.

"Looking back, although it might be difficult to legislate, (we'd like) to have some kind of control over what these companies do with the data they collect, to at least maybe have people whose vehicles are captured regularly to have some sort of say. Because right now, those people are left out of the equation completely."

Houchin and Mayo said they would like to see the data retention period extended and the restrictions loosened. They also hope the public would view the technology in the same light they do: a tool that helps law enforcement keep the public safe.

"The average citizen has no concern about passing a license plate reader, because we're not even going to pay one little bit of attention to it," Houchin said. "And I think the average citizen would want us to catch a young gal who's being sex trafficked ... this is a good tool to do it."
Seventeen Republican members of the nonpartisan Legislature have signed onto a pledge to vote to end secret ballot selection of the Legislature's leadership positions by state senators in 2023.

One of them, Speaker of the Legislature Mike Hilgers of Lincoln, is positioned to be elected attorney general in November, and would be replaced by an appointee selected by Gov. Pete Ricketts before the governor leaves office in January.

A majority of the Legislature's 49 senators is required to enact the rule change, which would be expected to benefit Republicans who are candidates to chair legislative committees and fill other leadership positions in the nonpartisan Legislature.

Democrats now chair a number of committees, including Education, Judiciary and Urban Affairs.

The effort to seek public pledges now from senators and other legislative candidates is being led by the Nebraska First political action committee, a new PAC formed by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster of Falls City.

Who signed State senators who signed the pledge to make votes for legislative leadership roles public: Joni Albrecht, John Arch, Bruce Bostelman, Tom Brewer, Tom Briese, Rob Clements, Robert Dover, Steve Erdman, Suzanne Geist, Ben Hansen, Steve Halloran, Mike Hilgers, Mike Jacobson, Kathleen Kauth, Lou Ann Linehan, John Lowe and Dave Murman.

"Either our legislators support being transparent with their votes or they want to keep the back room deals that come with electing leadership by secret ballot," Nebraska First PAC Director Rod Edwards said Monday.

"We believe voters support transparency and will support candidates who do too," he said.

Members of Nebraska's nonpartisan Legislature will elect leadership, including the Speaker of the Legislature and committee chairpersons, by secret ballot on the opening day of the session under current rules.

In addition to incumbent senators who signed the pledge, 18 candidates for seats in the Legislature also pledged their support for the proposal.

Included were Lincoln legislative candidates Russ Barger (District 26) and Roy Christensen (District 28).

Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln was among the incumbent senators who signed the pledge.
It may seem that the pandemic is waning. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dropped its quarantine and distancing requirements, and many people have tossed aside their masks. Classes are held in buildings, and businesses are largely open to the public.

But the virus has not gone away. The CDC tracks transmission rates, and currently about 550 counties (1 in 6) across the country rank as high. That includes Tulsa County. The upcoming flu season likely will see another surge in COVID infections, as well.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House chief medical advisor, said as much at the recent White House press conference.

We likely are moving towards a path with a vaccination cadence similar to that of the annual influenza vaccine, with annual, updated COVID-19 shots matched to the currently circulating strains for most of the population. However, some  particularly vulnerable groups  may continue to need more frequent vaccination against COVID-19, Fauci said.

Despite what can be found on extremist, anti-vaccine social media sites, the vaccines are safe. More than 600 million doses have been administered in the U.S. and billions worldwide.

This doesnt mean people who get the vaccine wont contract the virus. Breakthrough cases occur. Johns Hopkins Medicine reports that studies show breakthrough cases range from 1 infection per 5,000 vaccinated people, while another report cites the ratio at 1 case per 100 vaccinated people.

But public health and medical experts agree that the vaccines save lives of those who do contract the virus by significantly curbing the symptoms. In some cases, people with the virus present as asymptomatic. The vaccines have kept people from hospitals and severe illness.

There is always a chance that a new variant will emerge, just like it does with influenza. U.S. health officials will meet annually to analyze what adjustments need to be made in boosters.

In Oklahoma, at least 16,720 lives have been lost so far to COVID-19, and at least 1.2 million Oklahomans have had the virus  some requiring hospitalization resulting in long-haul medical problems.

Get vaccinated and get boosted to keep yourself and others safe.
A few weeks after I began teaching in 1979, my wife and I took a sad walk. With hope in her eyes, clutching my first paycheck, she asked, Do you get paid biweekly? No, this is our monthly income, I answered. You made more working in the summer, she said.
You wouldnt normally put Uber drivers, poultry growers, and the owners of fast-food franchises in the same economic category, but they actually operate under similar work arrangements. They are all subject to employment-like control by large corporations, but without the protections and rights an employee would have, such as being paid a minimum wage. In other words, they bear both the risks of owning a business and the burdens of having a job, but lack the benefits of either. Meanwhile, their bosses at Uber, Tyson Foods, and McDonalds get to have their cake and eat it, too. They control people who work for their business empires without assuming the duties and responsibilities of being employers.

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Such business models cast a long shadow in todays economy, but their rapid growth was not inevitable. In the 1960s and 1970s, corporations waged a successful campaign of lobbying and litigation to change the interpretation of antitrust laws that then protected independent businesses from domination and control by large corporations. Change is possible now. The Biden administration, specifically the antitrust and labor agencies, should use its authority to rein in these one-sided arrangements, which run afoul of historical and popular understandings of independent work and entrepreneurship.

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There are two closely related business models here. The first, exemplified by Uber, uses restrictive contracts to directly control workers while denying them employment rights by misclassifying them as independent contractors. The second, exemplified by McDonalds, uses similar contracts to allow corporate headquarters to place a third-party middleman between itself and its workers. McDonalds outsources the operation of most of its restaurants to independent franchisees operating under its tight control. While the workers who take your order and make your Big Mac are somebodys employee, they have no employment rights under McDonalds, the corporation that effectively controls their wages and working conditions.

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The point of these franchise contracts is not to deny franchisees themselves from having employment rights (although they can have that effect). Instead, the aim is to distance large companies from responsibility for the wages and working conditions of frontline workers. In the cases of both Uber and McDonalds, real control of the business rests with corporate headquarters, which minutely prescribes prices, routes, operating hours, and virtually all other meaningful aspects of the business through contracts, or vertical restraints, in the parlance of antitrust law.

Economist David Weil coined the term the fissured workplace to describe these business structures in which employment responsibility is fragmented away from the corporation that exercises effective control of wages and working conditions. Fissured work arrangements are so prevalent that Weil estimates they comprise at least 19 percent of the U.S. private workforce.

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To take one example, Uber sets both passenger fares and driver take rates (the fraction of fares they receive as pay), denying drivers control over the key determinants of their income. Through sophisticated algorithms, Uber also limits a drivers ability to choose their own customers; relevant location data is hidden from drivers. Claiming that each driver is the owner of an individual enterprise who can log on whenever they want, Uber and Lyft campaign for labor and employment law to treat drivers as independent contractors. Yet, by the same token, drivers are coaxed, through a variety of incentives, to work for one ride-hailing platform exclusively. These drivers lack the control over basic decisions that common sense associates with real entrepreneurship.

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In another example, Amazon franchised last mile delivery to local independent trucking fleets in 2019 with its Delivery Service Partner program. Amazon touts its DSP program as creating opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs, in particular people of color, to start an independent small business under its tutelage. The DSP program targets inexperienced entrepreneurs who have few preconceived ideas about how to run a trucking business and so can be trusted to follow Amazons guidance. While the small delivery companies under the DSP program are nominally independent businesses, they deliver packages exclusively for Amazon in Amazon-branded vehicles, and according to Amazon-prescribed routes, rates, and schedules.

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Despite Amazons overarching control, the DSPs are not only the payroll employers of delivery drivers; they also bear ultimate liability for accidents or violations of workplace safety. Their contracts usually dictate flat delivery rates, restricting the wages the DSP can offer. Amazon is even able to block unionization of these drivers through a contractual mandate that they serve as at-will employees. If workers unionize, Amazon can terminate the contract and find a new DSP, which is much easier than fighting a union campaign.

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Finally, poultry processors subcontract chicken farming to independent contractors who raise chickens under exclusive contracts for a single firm. The processors provide the chickens and feed, and prescribe detailed instructions. Instead of operating a truly independent business under their own control, farmers simply follow the processors instructionsyet they bear the full risk of business failure.

As we describe in a forthcoming essay in the Cornell Law Review Online, in the decades following World War II, administrative and judicial interpretations of the Sherman, Clayton, and Federal Trade Commission acts (the three principal federal antitrust laws) restricted these methods of contractual control. For instance, manufacturers could not dictate the prices at which retailers sold their goods. Procter & Gamble could not tell a small retailer to resell Tide at a certain price or order it to charge a higher or lower price for the laundry detergent. Similarly, a powerful manufacturer could not prevent its distributors from carrying the goods of competitors. A firm could not control independent contractors through contracts telling them what to do and how to do it. As one district court noted, an independent worker or businessperson had a broad right to exercise autonomy.

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Preserving independence in the face of powerful corporations was an important theme in antitrust law at the time. In a 1964 decision, the Supreme Court stressed that freedom to set prices is fundamental to being an independent businessperson. A court of appeals in 1966 recognized the inequality at the heart of many economic relationships and accepted that small proprietors were typically in no position to resist terms presented to them by large corporations. It wrote, A man operating a gas station is bound to be overawed by the great corporation that is his supplier, his banker, and his landlord. In a 1967 report, the Federal Trade Commission was unambiguous about the stakes, writing that a gas station retailer being subject to contractual control by an oil company is akin to being in the position of an economic serf rather than that of an independent businessman and has been coerced into making decisions concerning price and product that are other than his own.

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Franchisors like McDonalds and Dunkin decades ago pioneered the legal mechanisms of gaining control over far-flung business empires without triggering legal employment relationships. During the initial franchising boom in the 1960s, many legislators and courts were hostile to the idea of large corporations dictating to independent small businesses how they must run their enterprises. As the chairman of the main franchisors lobbying group, the International Franchise Association, or IFA, lamented back then, Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a fat franchisor to comply with the antitrust laws when he seeks to control the franchisee.

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Presaging the move fast and break things ethos of gig employers, franchising firms of the era engaged in vertical conduct of dubious legality. When courts struck down these contracts, the IFA helped individual franchisors litigate to change the courts interpretation of the laws. In key cases, the IFAs lawyers represented franchisors, and the IFA itself filed amicus briefs in support of franchisors.

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The Supreme Court in the 1970s was ready to embrace the novel theories of the franchisors in its interpretations of the Sherman Act. Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford remade the court with the appointment of five conservative justices who were sympathetic to the pleas and economic theories in favor of big-business freedom. In a landmark 1977 decision called Continental TV v. GTE Sylvania, the Supreme Court ruled that, in general, a manufacturer could tell distributors where it could sell its goods. Following this decision, a maker of televisions could generally prohibit a retailer that purchased its TVs from selling them in certain locations (for example, yes to San Francisco stores, but no to Sacramento stores).

The court reasoned that these restrictions could promote the efficient distribution of goods. By restricting the distribution of goods, the manufacturer could prevent a discount retailer from selling its goods at cut prices and free riding off the product demonstration and other services provided by a higher-end rival. As Justice Byron White pointed out in a concurring opinion, the majority abandoned traditional antitrust protection of business autonomy with hardly any explanation. At the Supreme Court, dealer freedom was out and the efficient distribution of goods was in. While it is considered a watershed in antitrust jurisprudence today, only the IFA and two industry-specific franchisor groups filed amicus briefs.

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In the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, the Supreme Court built on the Sylvania decision and lifted antitrust restrictions on contractual price restraints. As in Sylvania, the court cited the threat of free riding by discounting as the principal rationale. Whether this theory had real-world applicability or even internal coherence was not questioned by majorities on the court. It was enough to initiate and complete a quiet revolution in antitrust law, at least as far as the Sherman Act was concerned.

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In a 1997 decision, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the firms can set maximum resale prices. In practice, Subway could now, with legal confidence, tell its franchisees to sell footlong sandwiches at no more than $5, even if that forced them to sustain losses or to cut workers wages; same story with McDonalds and its Dollar Menu.

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For decades, this landscape has allowed employers to control key aspects of their business while distancing themselves from the responsibilities they would have to employeesbut the tide may be turning. In an encouraging sign, the FTC and the National Labor Relations Board have formed a partnership to address these types of issues where their jurisdiction overlaps. Until now, the agencies have worked in isolation from each other, allowing the role of vertical restraints in avoiding labor and employment laws to slip through the cracks. A memorandum of understanding states that the two agencies will cooperate on issues like misclassification and restrictive contracts that are central to the fissured workplace.

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For its part, the FTC has the power to rein in business models dependent on contractual control. It can prohibit unfair methods of competition and is not restricted by court interpretations of the Sherman Act. In other words, the FTC is not bound to follow Supreme Court decisions such as Sylvania.

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What should the FTC do? To establish effective autonomy for independent workers and businesses, the FTC should prohibit or restrict the use of an array of vertical restraints. For instance, lead firms should not be allowed to mandate 24 hours of operation for franchisees. The FTC should also prohibit franchisors from imposing maximum prices on franchisees, a contractual provision that forces franchisees to choose between making money or paying their workers a fair wage.

Gig firms like Uber, Lyft, and Instacart should not have carte blanche to dictate, for example, how drivers do their work or what they charge passengers. If they want such employment-like control, they should grant drivers the benefits and protections that come with employment. Meanwhile, fast-food franchisees should be either proprietors with genuine autonomy or employed managers with the associated rights. Employment and antitrust law should once again require corporations to choose whether they want to deal with truly independent entrepreneurs, or employees. Theyve have had it both ways for too long.
When a figure as titanic as Jean-Luc Godard dies in the middle of a film festival like Toronto, it feels like the world should just stop. But as the anniversary passes every year, Im reminded that even 9/11 only shut down the festival for the day, and as TIFF head Cameron Bailey pointed out Tuesday morning after the news broke, Godard had hardened into such an anti-sentimental crank that he might have taken an outpouring of flowery postmortem sentiment as an affront. Godard was apparently eager that people should know that he died, at the age of 91, by assisted suicide, not because he was sick but because he was simply exhausted.

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With every theater in town booked, there was no immediate screening planned in homage to Godards epochal career, which at least absolved some unlucky programmer of having to decide which of a dozen or more indelible classics could possibly sum him up. But fortunately the festival already contained a small, perfect tribute to Godard, one that debuted three days before he died.

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As one who worships at the altars of both Agnes Varda and Documentary Now!, the news that the latter would be devoting an episode to parodying the former took me to the happiest of places. (The new season begins airing on IFC on Oct. 19.) And Ive been watching the series long enough to know that its ostensible parodies are often more like alternate-universe emulations, immaculately matching the originals look and feel with the care of an obsessive acolyte. But even by those standards, Trouver Frisson goes the extra mile. Although its nominally based on Vardas The Beaches of Agnes, the episode plays more like a knowing tribute to Vardas entire career, from the end to very nearly the beginning. The shots of the Varda stand-in Ida Leos (played by French actress Liliane Rovere) zooming in on her leaky ceiling while playfully musing about life are straight out of Vardas The Gleaners and I, a visionary work of early digital cinema which used a handheld mini DV camera as the ultimate expression of what the French New Waves predecessors dubbed the camera-styloa camera you could use as fluidly and personally as a writer uses a pen. And Idas contentious relationship with her longtime cinematic colleague and sometimes friend, played by the Belgian actor Ronald Guttman, is an obvious reference to the place Godard occupies in Vardas Faces Places. Or rather, the place he doesnt occupy.

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Faces Places didnt turn out to be Vardas final filmthat ended up being 2019s Varda by Agnes, a sort of self-curated retrospective of a career that only received its proper reverence in her last yearsbut it has the feeling of one, not least because one of its subjects is how Vardas failing eyesight makes it increasingly difficult to make movies. Taking on the younger artist JR as her co-director and onscreen traveling partner, Varda roams through the French countryside, offering small-town inhabitants new ways of seeing themselves, even as her own sight dwindles. JRs ubiquitous sunglasses, which he refuses to remove despite Vardas pleadings, put her in mind of her old friend Godard, who maintained a similar affectation during his youth. The two were early allies, although Varda made her first movie while Godard was still an aspiring critic, and Godard appears in a film within Vardas breakthrough feature, 1962s Cleo From 5 to 7, starring in a short silent-film pastiche which the movies protagonist watches during the titular timespan. His character learns the world seems much less dark when he takes his sunglasses off.

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Both onscreen and, apparently, in his later years in life, Godard seemed to relish being difficult to approach. While Varda was becoming an increasingly vivid and genial figure in front of her own lens, Godard turned out daunting cinematic essays that were more frequently hailed than understood. In Faces Places, Varda attempts to arrange a reunion with her old friend, their first in years, and she and JR travel to Godards home in Switzerland to meet him. But they find only a locked house and a note scrawled on the window. Varda is reduced to tears, calling Godard a dirty ratand since then, the first thing thats come to my mind when I think of Godard is not the face of Jean-Paul Belmondo in Pierrot Le Fou or Anna Karina in Vivre Sa Vie, but a heartbroken Agnes Varda.

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The Godard in Trouver Frisson isnt an antisocial prankster, just an old man in assisted living, who, like the Varda stand-in, has misplaced his joie de vivre. But its moving nonetheless to see the shows Varda coax its Godard out of his doldrums, even recreating the iconic scene they shot together when they were young. Here its Godard who puts Varda in his movie, in a riff on the moment in Band of Outsiders when the films antic rebels break into a dance called the Madison. (In Faces Places, Varda attempts to recreate the scene where the same characters attempt a speed run through the Louvre, but she has to do it in a wheelchair.)

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Theyre too old to kick their legs up the way they did, but they dance with abandon and good cheer, in a way the real Varda and Godard never got to. The scene was poignant when only Varda was gone, and its doubly so now, a tribute to what they meant to the world and what they meant to each other, and the power of the artform they moved forward to correct the inadequacies in both.
How to Do It is Slates sex advice column. Have a question? Send it to Stoya and Rich here. Its anonymous!

Dear How to Do It,

I cant stop fantasizing about having a dick and penetrating a partner. I like using a strap-on, but in my fantasy life, I cant help but imagine myself as a cis man. Im bi, femme, and probably not exactly a cis woman but close enough to identify that way out of convenience. These fantasies are sexually gratifying and kind of welcome, especially since theyve helped me re-embrace fantasy life after some sexual trauma in the past. My question is: Are they within an existing category of kink? Or just reflective of some gender stuff I need to process more?

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Penis Envy

Dear Penis Envy,

I wasnt able to find a particular word describing sexual fantasies of being the opposite gender, but I did see posts on Reddit from women and men describing these fantasies. Some question where they fit in the gender binary, others question whether they fit in the gender binary at all, and we might all question whether the gender binary has enough purpose to outweigh the harms it contributes to. Labels are absolutely great for easily finding other people we may match with, sexually speaking. They also constrain, confine, and cause a lot of consternation over which labels to apply to ourselves.

Whether you need to process gender stuff more is your decision. Theres so much in the world to process. You make your own choices about what takes priority. If this is weighing on you, or youre curious, go for it. If you feel like you should, but arent inherently motivated, give yourself permission to think about anything elsemeditate or watch some TV instead.

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The first resource coming to mind is Fiona Giless brilliant 1997 anthology Dick for a Day. The premise was women writing about what they would do if they had, well, a dick for a day. Notable contributors include Germaine Greer and Pat Califia. The book might spark some thoughts, it might spark some great masturbation fantasiesor Im hoping itll do both.

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The next resource Ill point you to is Kate Bornsteins My New Gender Workbook. Like most workbooks, youll get the most out of it if you do the exercises. Youll likely come out of the experience with a more detailed picture of your relationship to gender. (And youll definitely have the opportunity to read one of the best explanations of kyriarchya multi-dimensional system for understanding privilegethat Ive encountered.)

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Lastly, Im wondering how realistic your strap-ons are, and if you might enjoy going shopping for a more lifelike cockwhat happens if you lean into your desires in a directly sexual manner? The NY Toy Collective, who once gave me a sample (which means I have to disclose that but also can speak personally to the quality of their materials), makes a stroker shaped like a realistic penis for $59, that can also be used as a packer. Transthetics, which has several positive reviews, has a few ultra-realistic play options in the $200-300 range.

Get the How to Do It Newsletter Sex advice from Rich and Stoya, plus exclusive letter follow-ups, delivered weekly. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time.

Dear How to Do It,

Im a 45-year-old woman with an active and very enjoyable sex life with my (male) partner. Im also a couple of years out from a 23-year-long, extremely psychologically abusive relationship with a man who, it turns out, has built his life around grooming his 18-24-year-old female students. (They dont have to be his students if they have the right kind of father-based trauma, to be fair.)

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Ive always enjoyed erotic films/porn and theyre effective for me, and I see no ethical issue as long as the performers are of age and treated right, and are enthusiastic in their consent. At this point, I am utterly disgusted and triggered by watching any porn with youth fetishization, power imbalances, and/or plots that revolve around any kind of deception or cheating. I would like to see female performers who are around my age, or at least full adults, to pair with the men I see, who often sport gray hairs. Im willing to pay, because, of course, if its free, someone is getting exploited, and in the case of porn, its probably a teenage girl. Ive found places that are not heteronormative and celebrate different types of bodies. But I havent found anything that is just regular, basic porn, but with women performers who are clearly not teenagers or very young women, and/or plots that dont revolve around betrayal as their source of erotic tension. Can you recommend any sites?

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Grown Ass Woman

Dear Grown,

Im sorry you went through that relationship and glad to hear youve found a partner with whom you have what you describe as a very enjoyable sex life. I reached out to feminist and ethical porn maker Jennifer Lyon Bell of Blue Artichoke Films because her work immediately came to mind as likely to fit what youre looking for.

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While none of my performers were in their 40s at the time of shooting, several were in their mid-30s. Im thinking especially of Sadie Lune (Adorn), Liandra Dahl aka Helen Betty Corday (Silver Shoes), and Kali Sudhra (Wild Card), all of whom are charismatic, beautiful, and extremely sexy, Lyon Bell says. So I think you would still like it. I enjoy seeing women who clearly are in touch with their own sexual desires and like asking for what they want, but still have a vulnerability and openness that make you feel like they are being very pleasantly surprised at how the sexual situation is playing out. The emotional realism of the sex is very important to me. I dont think that ethical porn necessarily has to have a real-life feeling, but mine does because I like it that way. She warns that adorn does have a little bit of switch-y power dynamic in a playful way, but mostly with Sadie in charge and with an intimate vibe!

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Lets talk about exploitation next. Tube sites and forums that allow unverified uploads exploit a big percentage of everyone, including women in their 30s and older who create their own work and distribute it on sites like OnlyFans, their own websites, through clips sites, or even DVD distributionwhatever that format is worth nowadays. Other exploited groups in the adult video industry include crew, who are not protected by the unions that protect crew members on Hollywood and TV productions in the United States. And, of course, theres the exploitation we all inherently face under capitalism. But thats a digression well have to save for another day (and yes I am fishing for letters about capitalism and recreational sex).

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Jennifer Lyon Bell explains this a bit more:

I want to thank you for already understanding that paying for your porn is the best way to ensure that youre 1) more likely to be looking at ethical porn, since all ethical porn sites charge a little something for streams/downloads/subscriptions and 2) helping create an economic production cycle that lets alternative/indie/ethical/feminist porn companies be able to make more films because of your support.

I do have some bad news about regular, basic porn though, which, without more detail, I can only interpret to mean mainstream porn. Most of it runs on one of these things; youth, power imbalances, and plots that involve cheating. I wont lieits hard to find movies featuring female performers in their 40s that meet all your needs, Lyon Bell says. Thats because films in the common porn category MILF subsume most of the performers in that age bracket, such that MILF adult work is most of what they book. Unfortunately for you, the kind of storylines featured in the MILF category are often going to be upsetting for you. And thats a shame for all of us because I would love to see more female performers in their 40s and 50s in more diverse roles.

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Lyon Bell shared some recommendations for specific sites:

Indie label Bright Desire, with, for example, their film Tease, is a good choice. Bigger platforms Joybear and Erika Lusts XConfessions have lots you might like as well. The performers are usually not quite the age you were hoping for, but plenty adult. All have good stories that youd like. You can usually find them on their own dedicated platforms, as well as on other multi-producer variety platforms like Cheex, Pinklabel.tv or Arthouse Vienna. Another great option is to find movies that arent story-based in the traditional sense (so you dont have to worry about being triggered), but which involve more drama and emotion than cutting right into a sex act already in motion. Well-regulated couples-only amateur sites can be quite charming and sexy. I like Lustery, run by a female founder, which is a platform featuring only real-life couples. Couples in their 40s arent so common there, but there are many in their 30s, and if you like you can hear them talking more about their relationship. Or you may like my film Skin.Like.Sun., which I co-directed with my friend Murielle Scherre (of La FilleDO). It stars a real-life couple who, while younger than their 40s, are clearly adults in a fun, highly sexy relationship.

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And, while Women by Julia Ann does include some performers who appear to be in their early 20s, it includes many scenes between women in their 30s or above, and the pre-sex introductions are about getting to know each woman in a profound way.

While Im happy to pass along Lyon Bells recommendations, Im also encouraging you to work on your trauma. Sometimes its a hard road, but its worth traveling. I think youve got this.

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Dear How to Do It,

I have a non-sexy question, but its not something I know anyone to ask and you might know someone. My polyamorous triad has been together for four months, and its seriously the best ever. Im so happy. Sex is great, domestic things are lovely, were planning trips as individual couples and a group, everything is rosy.

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Im a snuggler by nature and I HATE sleeping alone. My ideal sleep solution is in a pile with my partners, but with enough space that folks can roll around. Ive slept three and four in a bed no problem before, but my partners were all smaller and we were all in college and less bound by schedules and bodily needs. My current partners are both much taller and broader than I am, and fitting into a queen bed is not working. This usually means the husband (they/them) and I end up sharing the bed and the boyfriend moves to the couch once I fall asleep as he is the most fickle sleeper. I feel big sad because our boyfriend is left out despite expressing a desire to sleep together. Boyfriend is also a literal furnace.

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Im going to be getting a new mattress, and Im looking for recommendations on one that is cool enough for the furnace boyfriend, decently priced, and not awful to have sex on. (I tried a Purple mattress with other partners once and it was atrocious to fuck on.) I dont know any other triads and I am not in a polyamorous community. Do you have any recommendations for mattresses or other ways to facilitate three-person snuggling?

Struggling for Snuggling

Dear Struggling for Snuggling,

Much like concepts of good porn, which almost always means got me off without offending me, mattresses that are good to have sex on, are also highly subjective. You know you dont like Purples mattress. Great! What didnt you like about it? What did you like about other mattresses? Is it about general firmness? The firmness of the edges? The texture of the top? Reminisce about mattresses from your past, and make a list of what works for you. From there, go on a search for mattresses that check all of your boxes, within the price point that fits in your budget.

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Youll definitely need a mattress big enough for all the partners involved if you want to comfortably sleep together. Measure the width of yourself, your boyfriend, and your husband, add it all up, add a few more inches for breathing room, and see what you can find in that width. Remember that length is important for tall people, too. You might look for a company in your area that carries oversize mattresses, and custom sizing is also a possibility.

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As for the cooling aspect of your needs, Im thrilled to introduce you to the category of product known as a cooling mattress topper. New York Magazine recently did a run-down of the best available in the U.S., ranging from under $200 to almost $600. Keep in mind that any topper will affect the squish level and texture of what youre sleeping and having sex on, and apply the same process of looking for something that fills all of your mattress desires. Before you go cooling the whole mattress, though, its worth thinking about how much heat you and your husband need when youre sleeping. If the two of you are happy with the temperature while your boyfriend is overheating, it might make sense to use a half-mattress cooler, or even a topper meant for a smaller mattress than what you end up buying so that only his area of the bed is chilled. All it takes is a little bit of math and some effort.

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Did you write this or another letter we answered? Tell us what happened at howtodoit@slate.com.

Dear How to Do It,

All of my previous experiences with sex were in long-distance relationships or through mostly anonymous kink sites, and Im having trouble adjusting to my first in-person relationship.

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My boyfriend of six months is great, Im deeply attracted to him, we have great sex and communicate really well. Im very happy with how things are, but hes told me he wishes we would sext more because that makes him feel desired when were not together. Im fully on board with this in theory, but in practice, Im having trouble getting there. I was a fairly prolific sexter beforewhen it was my only form of sexual connection. I think I know what the main hurdles are, but I havent been able to figure out how to get over them.

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1) I have ADHD, so even when I try to make a point of sexting more, I just forget until the next time he mentions it, which is probably because 2) having actual sex regularly has drained my sexual energy to the point where my daily masturbation is down to weekly, if that. (We have sex two to three times a week, depending on how much we actually see each other since we live about an hour apart.) 3) Im pretty shy and anxious, and fully expressing myself without anonymity or distance has been a harder adjustment than I was expecting. Hes been great about it, but making the first move is still difficult. Do you have any tips or suggestions for me?

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Wannabe Sexter

Dear Wannabe Sexter,

Lets talk about the ADHD aspect first. I just forget, is generally part of the life experiences of people with ADHD. You can set reminders, like an alarm on your phone with a note, or in your schedule if you use a digital calendar. I also think its completely fair to have a conversation with your boyfriend where you remind them that your (wonderful!) brain struggles with remembering things and ask him to broach the subject when he wants to sext. Take note of how this conversation goesif he accepts you as you are and collaborates on solutions that are actually viable, great! If hes holding you to standards based on people without ADHD, thats something to pay attention to.

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In the same way that everyone has a different brain, everyone has a different sexual appetite. Yours might max out at two to four sessions of sexual activity, whether those sessions are partnered or solo, per week. One option is decreasing the amount of in-person sex the two of you have to make room for more sexting energy and desire. You also might consider having sex as often as you have been but with fewer orgasms, which has a way of generating sexual frustration and encouraging desire for sexual interaction.

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As for your third contributing factor, Im curious whether you were initially hesitant with sexting when you started doing it in long-distance relationships and anonymous interactions. If so, youll know from experience that practice tends to produce ease, and you might be able to remember other things you did to help yourself feel more comfortable. If not, spend some time listening to the feelings that come up when you consider being vulnerable this way. Id feel remiss if I didnt bring this up; if youre reluctant because you arent as trusting as you want to be, its worth treading carefully. Sometimes people who experience things like anxiety dismiss real warning signs when they do appear.

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You might practice writing sexts without sending them. A friend of mine who writes erotic fiction under the name Guy New York wrote one workbook called Write Till Youre Hard which might be useful. Guy also shared a few quick tips for sexting:

You dont have to be 100 percent honest when you sext. You can say, Im lying naked in bed, fingering myself, when youre actually on the couch under a blanket drinking a glass of wine and playing animal crossing in the background. Its a game. Its for fun. Dont let reality get in the way of enjoying yourself.

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And, echoing one of Richs sentiments, Guy says go for whatever works. You can talk about anything. Tell a story. Ask questions. What was the hottest threesome you ever had? What would you do to me if we were stuck in a hotel room for three days? You can role-play anything you want. Be a student, a daddy, a boss, a priest, a nurse, a sister, a fucking goat. I dont care. If the two of you find it hot, go for it. No goats are being harmed.

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With a little self-patience, I think youve got this.

Stoya

More Advice From Slate

My husband and I have an amazing relationship, and I love him deeply. A few months ago, at my suggestion, we started trying threesomes (with another woman) and have really enjoyed it so far. Its brought us even closerits given me a chance to explore that side of my sexualityand its been a really fun and positive experience. One of our boundaries concerns his orgasm, which we decided from the beginning should always be with me. Then he immediately broke my trust.
The Ukrainian armys counteroffensive in the northeast of the country has been a wild success, pushing into Russian-held territory much deeper and faster than anyone had expected. In just the past few days, the army has recaptured more than 1,000 square miles, including Izium, which had been a key Russian supply hub, and nearly the entire northeastern province of Kharkiv, which runs right up to the Russia-Ukraine border (though Ukrainian troops havent advanced quite that far).

This turnaround was so potent and swift that Moscows propaganda machine had no time to send out the new script, leaving Russian TV pundits and bloggerssome of them, anywayto ponder the depth of the setback on their own, howling over the retreat and even inveighing against officers and officials who had claimed from the start of the war that Ukrainians wouldnt fight back, that Russian forces wouldnt bomb cities, and that victory would be quick and certain.

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No one has dared criticize President Vladimir Putin for these perfidies; he remains untouchable to anyone who doesnt want to wind up in prison. But now it is fair to question (not as a blithe fantasy, as had previously been the case) how long it will be before some in Russia begin to muse, first at the dinner table, and then out in public, that the man in the Kremlinwho, after all, exercises absolute rule over everything else in Russian politicsmight be responsible for this disastrous war as well.

Then again, its premature for an outsider to race to these lines too quickly. First, the war is far from over. Ukraine has the momentum, but its worth noting that the tides have shifted back and forth a few times in the seven months since Putin launched his invasion. In the beginning, Ukraine mounted a surprising resistance, turning Russias tanks away from Kyiv. But Russian forces seemed unstoppable in the south, and as recently as mid-June, they seemed to be breaking through a long-slogged stalemate in the east, slowly but steadily pushing Ukrainian defenses out of the Donbas region.

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Now things have shifted in Ukraines favor. The swing is dramatic, but not necessarily definitive. For one thing, the fog of this war is particularly thick; there is so much that independent analysts and journalists cant yet see. For another, though the Russians are hard-pressed when it comes to weapons, troops, and supplies, they arent about to run out; in terms of sheer firepower, they still have an edge over Ukraine, and they have a geographic advantage as well; while Russians attack the interior of Ukraine with impunity, Ukrainians cant fight back on the other side of the Russian border lest they risk losing the support of American and European allies fearful of provoking a wider war.

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Still, its worth reemphasizing that the shift in Ukraines favor is dramatichighly dramatic, even if not yet definitive. There are a few reasons for this. First is the flood of weapons coming from the Westnotably the highly accurate long-range rockets, which have struck more than 400 Russian targets, including weapons depots (which have sometimes set off secondary explosions) and logistics terminals. In addition, according to a close observer on the battlefield, a fair number of Soviet-built T-72 tanksprovided to Ukraine by Polandwere vital for punching through Russian defenses. And all along in the fight, such mundane supplies as rifles, bullets, night-vision goggles, and radios have played a key role.

The second influence is the assistance from U.S. intelligence and special operations. My guess is that when the histories of this war are written years from now, these factors will loom even larger than they do now. It has been widely reported that since the beginning of the conflict, U.S. agencies have been providing Ukrainian commanders with near-real-time intel on everything about the Russian offensivewhere the troops are, where theyre going, and what officers are saying to their underlings. On Saturday, as the scale of the Ukrainian success was emerging, the New York Times reported that the countrys leadership had also relied on U.S. intelligence in planning and conducting the current counteroffensive. It has also been reported that U.S. special forces have trained certain Ukrainian units in deception ops and other tools of the trade. To the extent that Ukrainian units have fought in a highly coordinated fashion and Russian units have fallen apart in battle, these enablers have likely been almost as key as the more high-profile weapons systems.

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The third reason is the even less quantifiable factor of morale. Ukrainian troops know why theyre fighting, and its for the cause that makes soldiers everywhere fight with special ferocitythe defense of their country, their homes, and their families. By contrast, many (and perhaps most) Russian soldiers dont know why theyre fighting. Many of the Russians who retreated from Kharkiv this past weekend, and from the area around Kyiv in the early days of the war, simply threw down their weapons or abandoned their tanks and ran. Within Russia, Putin has spun a tightly woven depiction of Ukraine as a myth, the Kyiv regime as run by Nazis, and NATO as hellbent on exploiting the war as an excuse to invade all of Russia. It is hard to tell how many soldiers, commanders, and ordinary citizens believe any of this. (Polls surely exaggerate; those who doubt the propaganda wont say so to a stranger who calls on the phone and asks what they think.) This past weekends debates about the war on TV talk shows that previously tolerated no dissent suggest that the monolith may be cracking.

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Where is the war going? The answer depends entirely on the calculations and impulses of Putin. Not since the time of the czars has one man ruled Russia with such impunity. (Even Josef Stalin had to reportalbeit perfunctorilyto a Politburo, which a decade after his death ousted his successor, Nikita Khrushchev, for getting out of control.) Putin has an entourage of oligarchs, but they depend on him, not the other way around. (Recently, one who criticized Putin directly was forced to sell off his assets at a huge discount. Others have been less fortunate, with a number of executives dying under mysterious circumstances, including one who fell out of a hospital window this month.)

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The elites still have access to their luxury goods, and as long as that is the case, they are unlikely to bite the hand that feeds them. If conditions worsen and a few of them do rile themselves into a rebellious spirit, they will likely pause before forming a conspiracy for fear that one of their would-be comrades would turn them in. There could also be a revolt in the streets, but such events are rare in Russian historytheres 1905, 1917, 1991, and not much else. Still, when revolts have taken place in Russia, theyve erupted suddenly. Who knows when the next one will happen, or for what reason? One thing is for sure: Its nothing to count on.

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What will Putin do if things keep going badly for his army? There has been talk of recruiting or drafting around 130,000 more troops, but it would take about a year to mobilize, train, and equip them for battle, and that might be too late. Many in the West fear that he might lash out in desperation with chemical or nuclear weapons. He has already, several times, bombed civilian targets for want of anything else to do; this past weekend, as his troops retreated from Kharkiv, his commanders launched shells at electrical power plants, causing blackouts in the towns retaken by Ukrainians.

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Will Putin keep doubling down? He has enough armaments to do that, even if not very effectively. Or will he seek a diplomatic way out? Two facts throw doubt on the latter. First, if he appears weak, he could lose control of his power levers at home. Second, as Ukraine makes more advances on the battlefield, President Volodymyr Zelensky will feel less inclined to make compromises. In the wake of the weekends triumphs, Kyiv spokespeople are defining victory as the restoration of Ukraines borders of 2014meaning the reclamation of Russian-annexed Crimea and all of the Donbas areas that were taken by Russian-backed rebels that year. This is an outcome that Putinor even some hypothetical successorwould be very unlikely to accept.

It may be, as Anne Applebaum writes in the Atlantic, time to prepare for a Ukrainian victory. (Actually, the magazines headline goes beyond her articles argument. This is not a prediction; its a warning, she writes.) Its at least as sound to prepare for a very long war.
When the Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization in Juneoverruling Roe v. Wade and rolling back the constitutional right to access abortionone thing was clear: A big part of Justice Anthony Kennedys legacy had just been dismantled. And as a new Supreme Court term is about to begin, many other remnants of Kennedys jurisprudence are on the chopping block. The court this term has on its docket huge cases on issues such as affirmative action, LGBTQ equality, voting rights, and the environment. All of these issues were ones on which Kennedys vote was often key, and all of these cases now offer the courts conservative supermajority a chance to move the law radically to the right of where Kennedy had helped place it, as happened in Dobbs. Whether they choose to do so will depend on their willingness to jettison not only Supreme Court precedent, but also constitutional text and history.

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Perhaps the most high-profile cases on the courts docket this term are SFFA v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina. In these, the court is being asked to consider whether the use of race as part of a holistic university admissions process violates the 14th Amendments equal protection clause. Just six years ago, the court confronted this very question and held that the affirmative action policy of the University of TexasAustin was constitutional. But in that case, Kennedy provided the critical fifth vote.

What will happen now that he and the late progressive jurist Ruth Bader Ginsburg are no longer on the court, having been replaced by conservative justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett? The answer to this question should be simple. The history of the 14th Amendment makes clear that theres no constitutional ban on the use of race by the government; indeed, the Framers of the 14th Amendment rejected proposals to prohibit any and all use of racial classifications by the government, and contemporaneous with the 14th Amendments enactment, the Reconstruction Congress enacted a long list of race-conscious legislation intended to ensure equality of opportunity to all persons regardless of race. Indeed, as my organization put it in an amicus brief we filed in the case, the Framers of the 14th Amendment were the originators of affirmative action. If the courts self-declared originalists actually adhere to the text and history of the Constitution, they should have no choice but to follow Kennedys example and uphold affirmative action.

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The affirmative action cases arent the only cases on this terms docket that present the court with the opportunity to consider a question it confronted just a few years ago and potentially turn back Kennedys position on an issue. In a case called 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, the court will be considering whether the Colorado public accommodations law, which requires businesses to offer the same services to same-sex couples that they offer to different-sex couples, violates the First Amendment. In Elenis, a website design company does not want to offer wedding website design services to same-sex couples, as the Colorado law requires. Four years ago, in a case called Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, a cake bakery raised the same objection to the Colorado law, saying that it did not want to have to bake cakes for weddings of same-sex couples.

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In Masterpiece, the court ruled narrowly for the baker, and Kennedy rejected a sweeping understanding of the First Amendment that would create a license to discriminate. As Kennedy explained, the general rule is that religious and philosophical objections  do not allow business owners  to deny protected persons equal access to goods and services under a neutral and generally applicable public accommodations law. The court should reach the same conclusion now because the First Amendment does not giveand has never been understood to givecommercial businesses the right to violate generally applicable public accommodations laws that prohibit discrimination. But will it?

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There are also significant voting rights cases on the courts docket this term. In one of them, a case called Moore v. Harper, the court will be considering the so-called independent state legislature theory. Under this fringe theory, state legislatures are the only state bodies that can regulate the mechanics of congressional and presidential elections, and therefore state courts cannot intervene to constrain state legislatures and enforce state voting rights protections. If adopted by the court, the independent state legislature theory could endanger voting rights across the country. This should be an easy case under both the text and history of the elections clause and also under a 2015 Supreme Court case in which Kennedy provided the key fifth vote to hold that Arizona could use an independent redistricting commission (rather than its state legislature) to draw congressional district lines. But some of the courts current conservatives have suggested that they may embrace the independent state legislature theory when the court hears this case this term, again rejecting Kennedys views.

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Finally, one of the cases the court will hear on the very first day of the new term presents an important question about the Clean Water Act and, specifically, the proper test for determining whether wetlands qualify as navigable waters within the meaning of the act and are thus covered by it. The lower court concluded that the wetlands at issue in this case were covered by the Clean Water Act, applying a test set forth in a concurring opinion in a case called Rapanos v. United States. It wont be difficult at this point to guess who wrote that opinion: Kennedy. Whether the court adopts that test, or a more restrictive test that limits the acts coverage, could have major consequences for the health of our nations waters. As the United States pointed out in its brief in the case, a decision leaving those wetlands unprotected would thwart the [Clean Water Act]s comprehensive scheme and seriously compromise its protection of traditional navigable waters.

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When Kennedy announced his retirement four years ago, it was widely understood that his replacement by a new justice, appointed by President Donald Trump, would usher in a new era at the court. And with Ginsburgs death just two years later, it became possible for a conservative supermajority on the court to usher in even more radical change, even more quickly. We saw that last term in Dobbs, and we may see it again this year in issue after issue on which Kennedys vote proved key. In each of these cases, the text and history of the Constitution and the relevant laws can save usbut only if a majority of the courts current justices are willing to follow them.
Peiter Zatko, a.k.a. Mudge, the Twitter whistleblower, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, elaborating on his widely covered report that his former employers laxity and lies on cybersecurity pose a danger to personal privacy and the national defense.

His testimony has become entangled with the lawsuit between Twitter and Elon Musk, making some wonder whether Mudges critique might stem from ulterior motives or nefarious connections.

I dont know the ins and outs of Twitter or Tesla, but as someone very familiar with the history of Mudge, I would say this: its a good bet to consider anything Mudge says about cybersecurity to be highly credible.

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No one mentioned it during Tuesdays hearing, but Mudges reputation not just as an expert in the field but as the Paul Revere of cybersecurity was struck in another Senate hearing, held by the Governmental Affairs Committee, nearly a quarter-century ago. That hearing took place on May 19, 1998, back when the term cybersecurityand the whole idea of vulnerable computer networkswas barely known. In fact, so obscure and esoteric was the subject that just three senators showed up.

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At the time, Mudge testified alongside his five colleagues in a Boston-based hackers group called the L0pht. Like Mudge, they swore in using their hacker handlesBrian Oblivion, John Tan, Space Rogue, and Weld Pondnot their real names. They were a disheveled bunch; Mudge had long golden hair and a long beard. He looked like Jesus, one official who met him at the time recalled. (You can watch the 98 hearing on YouTube.)

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At that earlier hearing, they sounded the alarms that this thing called the Internetstill fairly new at the timecould easily be hacked by criminals, spies, and troublemakers; that network software programs were riddled with holes; and that military communications were just as vulnerable as civilians.

This was all new, at least to the general public. Just one year earlier, a blue-ribbon commission came to the same conclusions in a report to President Bill Clinton. Just a few months before the hearing, Air Force specialists detected the first hack of military networks by Russian intelligencea fact that was classified until many years later.

The 1998 hearing was barely covered in the news. It took a few years before the message from Mudge and his colleagues was taken seriously. Even now, the vulnerabilities they revealed have barely been patched. Still, the hearing was where it all began. It was one of the three senators in attendance, Joseph Lieberman, who likened the L0pht witnesses to digital-era Paul Reveres.

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How Mudge and the crew were discovered was a stranger story. (More details about the story, and the entire history of cyber war, can be found in my 2016 book, Dark Territory.)

In October 1997, a staffer in the Clinton white House named Richard Clarkewho later became famous as a 9/11 whistleblower in the Bush administrationwas put in charge of finding out more about computer security. (The blue-ribbon commissions report had just come out, and nobody in officialdom knew what to do about it.) Clarke called a friend in the FBI to ask if there were any good-guy hackers. The agent put Clarke in touch with our Boston group, as he put ita team of eccentric computer geniuses who occasionally helped out with law-enforcement investigations. That was Mudge and the L0pht.

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Clarke met them in a bar in Cambridge, Mass., and they took him to their headquarters, a deserted warehouse in Watertown near the Charles River. They took him upstairs, unlocked a door, and turned on the lights, which revealed a high-tech lab crammed with dozens of mainframe computers, desktops, laptops, modems, and a few oscilloscopes, all wired to an array of antennas and dishes on the roof.

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The group had started in the early 1990s as a place where its members could store computers and play online games. In 1994, they turned it into a business, testing the big tech firms software programs and publishing a bulletin that detailed their security gaps. Some executives complained, but others were thankful that someone was looking for flaws. The NSA, CIA, and FBI were also intrigued by the group, which occasionally aided their investigations gratis. (L0pht helped them eagerly: some of the groups activities were of dubious legality, and, if they were ever busted, it would be good to call directors of the leading intel and law-enforcement agencies to the stand as character witnesses.)

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For a few hours that night, the group held Clarkes attention, telling himin some cases, demonstrating to himall the things they could do. They could break the passwords stored on any operating system; they could decrypt any satellite communications. They could hack into someones computer and control it remotely, spying on the users every keystroke, changing his files, tossing him off the Internet. They had machines that could reverse-engineer any microchip. In hushed tones, they told him about a recent discovery involving the vulnerability of the Border Gateway Protocol, a super-router for all online traffic, which would let themor any hackershut down the entire Internet in a half hour.

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Clarke was dazed. Up until then, hed been toldas officials who knew more than he did about all this had assumedthat only modern nation-states had the resources to do anything like this. Yet here were a half-dozen civilians who were doing this from a hole in the wall with little money and no outside support. Clarke realized, if Mudge and his crew used their talents to disrupt American society and security, they would be called cyber-terrorists. And so Clarke, who was already in charge of White House counterterrorism policy, added another threat to his growing portfolio. (More than a decade later, in 2010, he wrote a book called Cyber War. Even then, many, including technical specialists, thought the threat was exaggerated. A scabrous review of the book in Wired ended: File [this] under Fiction.)

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It was 2 A.M. when Clarke and the gang walked out into the air. He asked them if theyd like to come to the White House sometime. They were stunned. At the time, hacker was still a nasty word in respectable circles. A month later, they came down for their White House tourand Clarke, through his congressional contacts, had also arranged for them to testify before the Senate.

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Three days after their testimony, Clinton signed a Presidential Decision Directive, PDD-63, written mainly by Clarke, called Critical Infrastructure Protection, laying out the problems and proposing some solutions. Some were gradually adopted; others, involving mandatory security requirements for private companies, never were.

Over the years, most of the L0pht members joined, or formed, professional cybersecurity firms. In 2010, Mudge was hired by the Pentagons Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. One of his contributions was Cyber Fast Track, which awarded money to boutique firms and independent hackers for innovative solutions to problems in cyber offense and cyber defense. The project funded more than 100 successful contractsall low-cost, some advancing from R&D to actual product in as little time as seven days.

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In one of these projects, two former NSA analysts hacked into a Jeep Cherokeewhich, like most modern cars, runs almost entirely on computer networksand commandeered its brakes, accelerator, radio, heating system: everything in the car. (DARPA paid for the jeep and the analysts time.) Automobile companies made some adjustments to their systems, but not many.

In 2013, Mudge moved on to Googles Advanced Technology and Projects Division; then, in 2020, became chief security officer at Twitter, and the rest, as they say, is history.

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Ronan Farrow reports in the current New Yorker that various corporations are conducting a global hunt for any dirt on Mudgeany sign that might suggest his criticism of Twitter might be unreliable or even motivated by greed. (Given that his report and testimony are likely to be used in the lawsuit between Twitter and Elon Musk, the trustworthiness of Mudges reportor lack thereofcould swing the companys market value by tens of billions of dollars.) Farrow interviewed several of Mudges former associates who were phonedand offered hefty rewardsfor any incriminating information. So far no one has come up with any damaging dish.

Two of my acquaintances, who once worked with Mudge and who have known him for years, told me that they have been inundated (both of them used that word) with similar calls and emails. Both told me that they had no reason to doubt what Mudge was sayingno reason to doubt anything that he says about anything.
Construction of the new complex for the National Ballet of China was launched on Sept 8.

Covering an area of about 50,000 square meters, it is located near Dahongmen in Fengtai district, along the Beijing Central Axis.

Though the completion date has not been announced, it is set to become a hub for ballet lovers and will make contributions to international communication among ballet companies from around the world, says Feng Ying, the artistic director of the National Ballet of China.

"It is a significant moment for the company with the construction of the new venue now underway," says Feng.

"With a history of over 60 years, the company has experienced exponential growth, becoming a leading ballet company with an international reputation. The new venue will be a new beginning and a new chapter for the company."

The new complex will provide sufficient training space for ballet dancers and rehearsal space for the symphony orchestra of the company, as well as venues for rehearsal, stage design and storage for stage equipment.

The location of the company's new complex, which is also part of the capital's effort to develop its central axis, especially in terms of cultural offerings, will become a new landmark in Beijing.

The Beijing Central Axis refers to a 7.8-kilometer-long north-south line running through the center of the historical neighborhood of Beijing, which generally follows a symmetrical structure.

Formed gradually from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), when Beijing became the capital of the country, the central axis has many key historical sites along its route, such as the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, Zhengyang Gate (Qianmen) and the Bell and Drum towers. It is hoped that the central axis will achieve UNESCO World Heritage status at the World Heritage Committee in 2024.

As for the National Ballet of China, it carries the legacy of the country's first ballet troupe.

Since it was founded in 1959, the company has been headquartered in Hufangqiao, Xicheng district, of downtown Beijing, with its current major performance venue, Tianqiao Theater, situated nearby.

"The birth and growth of the National Ballet of China has been connected with the development of the country. The company has endured many challenges in its history and is a successful, confident and innovative company today," Feng, a former ballerina, said in an interview marking the company's 60th anniversary in 2019.

When the company was founded, Dai Ailian, or Ailien Tai, then 38, an overseas Chinese ballerina, was appointed as its first president.

Dai was born into a Chinese family in Trinidad and learned ballet in London. She returned to China in 1940.

The establishment of the company is also closely connected with the country's first institute of dance, Beijing Dance School (now Beijing Dance Academy), which opened on Sept 6, 1954.

In its early years, under the instruction of Russian experts, the National Ballet of China staged Le Corsaire and Giselle. In 1964, China's first original ballet production, The Red Detachment of Women, premiered in Beijing. It is best known in the West as the ballet performed for former US president Richard Nixon during his visit to China in 1972.

The growth of the company is based on two key missions, adapting Western classical ballet works and producing original Chinese ballet works, according to Feng.

Since 2010, the company has been holding annual workshops, aiming to inspire and nurture China's young dancers and choreographers, and launched a ballet school to cultivate young talent.
Welcome to State of Mind, a new section from Slate and Arizona State University dedicated to exploring mental health. Follow us on Twitter.

When parents learn about Michael Milhams research, they often ask him, Can you give my child a brain scan to figure out whats wrong with them?

Milham treats his young patients like any other child psychiatrist would: He observes and interviews them, assigns them diagnoses, and prescribes courses of treatment. But unlike many psychiatrists, Milham is also a scientisthe is vice president of research at the Child Mind Instituteand an expert on functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, a tool that allows researchers to measure levels of activity across the brain.

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He understands why parents want him to scan their childrens brains. For families in search of an explanation for their childs distress, the inexactitude of psychiatryits overlapping diagnoses, its uncertain prognosescan be frustrating. Theres no other part of medicine that behaves this way, Milham says. Every other part of medicine has laboratory tests. More than a century into its modern existence, psychiatry still lacks an objective method for determining precisely what is causing someones distress and how best to treat it.

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So scores of scientists, including Milham, are working to change that. They are combing through the genomes, brains, and immune systems of tens of thousands of study volunteers in search of psychiatric biomarkersmeasurable, objective indications of someones psychiatric state. For some, the dream is something like a brain scan for diagnosing autism, but many scientists are doubtful that such goals will ever be achieved. [Brain imaging] is not ever going to be, in my opinion, useful for telling somebody whether or not they have a problem, says Desmond Oathes, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.

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That doesnt mean, though, that fMRI cant do anything for psychiatry. Even if a brain scan cant tell someone what condition they have, Oathes says, it could one day help them recover. It can be super, incredibly useful for saying which treatment is going to be most effective.

fMRI is a younger cousin of the more-familiar structural MRIthe sort of scan you might get if you come into the hospital with an injured knee. Whereas structural MRI maps out the locations of different body tissues, functional MRI detects levels of oxygen in the blood. Working cells need oxygen, so a high blood oxygen level suggests that a brain region is active. Scientists can analyze how these activity levels change over time in a single brain region, or use them to infer the strength of the connection between two regions.

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When fMRI emerged in the 1990s, it revolutionized the field of human neuroscience. For the first time, scientists could watch the entire human brain at work without injecting subjects with a radioactive agent, which previous technologies had required. But although fMRI has become a bread-and-butter technology of neuroscience, it is rarely used in medical settings.

Neurosurgeons might examine their patients using fMRI to map out different regions of their brains before operating, but psychiatrists arent sticking anyone into a scanner.

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Which is not to say that fMRI has nothing to do with psychiatry at all. Since the invention of fMRI, scientists have been scanning mentally ill peoples brains to try to figure out whats different about them. Reams of scientific papers have associated psychiatric diagnoses with brain regions that are bigger or smaller, more active or less active, more strongly or less strongly connected. And some of these findings are quite robust: Numerous studies have shown, for example, that the amygdala and the insula, two brain regions associated with emotion, become overactive in depressed people when they experience something negative.

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These are important results. They can fuel theories about the neurological causes of depression, and they may indicate which regions psychiatrists should target with brain stimulation therapies. But they wont help Milhams patients receive a diagnosis by brain scan. Just like knowing that men are taller on average doesnt allow you to guess someones sex solely based on their height, amygdala activity levels wont help you figure out who is depressed.

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Psychiatric biomarkers just arent precise enough for diagnosis, and experts say thats down to the way that those diagnoses work. Theyre meant for reliable communication between clinicians, Milham says. Theyre not meant for valid research. There just might not be any observable differences between the brains of people with anxiety and those of people with depression, and that means fMRI is the wrong tool for the job.

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The tried-and-true, low-tech clinical interview is simply better suited to the task at hand, says Dani Bassett, professor of bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. We dont need fMRIwe dont need any biomarkers actuallyto do diagnosis. But unlike in other areas of medicine, where a diagnosis (e.g., type 1 diabetes) indicates a solution (insulin), in psychiatry a diagnosis is just the beginning of a treatment journey. Different drugs and therapies work better for different parents, and clinicians dont know ahead of time which options will prove most helpful. And because it can take months for psychiatric treatments to show their effects, patients may continue to suffer for a long time before they and their clinicians hit on the optimal treatment.

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So scientists are trying to use brain scans as a tool for predicting which treatments might work best for specific patients. Various studies have used fMRI to try to distinguish patients who will respond to antidepressants from patients who wont. Most promising, according to Milham, are those studies that leverage fMRI to optimize one of the buzziest new depression treatments: transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Thats the low-hanging fruit, he says.

To the uninitiated, TMS can seem like magic. A technician waves a plastic-covered, figure eight-shaped wand over the right spot on a patients head, and the patientwho hasnt responded to multiple other treatmentsrecovers from their depression. But its real, and it works; the FDA approved TMS as a depression treatment almost 15 years ago. The wand generates a magnetic field that changes the level of electrical activity at a specific spot in the brain, and for many people, that stimulation can alleviate their debilitating mental illness. A typical course of treatment involves around 20 or 30 half-hour treatments delivered over the course of a month, and some patients remain in remission a full year after TMS treatment.

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But not everyone. From the earliest studies of TMS in depression, patients have fallen into two categories: responders and nonresponders. Some see marked improvement in their mental illness, and others experience no change at all. Given the way that the treatment is typically administered, Oathes says, this divergence in response isnt surprising. To try to find the target site for TMS treatmentthe left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), a brain region associated with cognitive abilities like decision-making and memorytechnicians will first identify the patients motor cortex by passing the magnetic coil over the surface of the patients skull until they move involuntarily. Then, they shift the coil five centimeters forward and assume that this location is the dlPFC.

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On some people, though, the dlPFC doesnt lie precisely five centimeters in front of the motor cortex. It was a guesstimate, a very rough guesstimate, Oathes says. So in a recent study, scientists at Stanford didnt just make scalp measurements in a blind search for the dlPFC; instead, they took fMRI scans of each subjects brain in order to precisely identify the specific subregion of dlPFC that they wanted to target. More than 90 percent of subjects achieved remission immediately after treatment, and most remained in remission a month later. The treatment was atypical in other wayspatients were given TMS 10 times a day, far more frequently than is standard, so the impressive recovery rate might not be fully attributable to fMRI-based targeting. But Oathes sees the results as a promising indication of how fMRI might eventually make its way into the clinic.

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There are other potential applications of fMRI in TMS treatment, especially when it comes to regions that lie deep within the brain. Areas like dlPFC can be directly targeted by TMS, because they sit at the brains surface. But the magnetic fields generated by the TMS cant reach as far as the amygdala and insula. The only way to affect these regions with TMS is to do so indirectly, by stimulating a region at the surface of the brain to which they are strongly connected. fMRI could help clinicians monitor whether TMS stimulation is successfully reaching those deep regions, and the strength of connections between different regions might even let them predict which patients will respond to TMS.

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Given the state of the research, experts think that brain scans could start to be used more widely in TMS treatment sometime in the next decade. But moving brain scans from research settings to the clinic isnt a trivial task. Structural MRI scanners can be programmed to take functional MRI measurements, but the raw data collected by such machines needs extensive analysis to be rendered usable. That analysis takes two things: enormous computational resources and substantial training for the people who do it.

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For now, clinicians might outsource the analysis to researchers. But fMRI tends to attract a lot of hypehence the parents asking Milham to scan their childrens brainsand Oates worries that it could compromise fMRIs potential to improve psychiatric treatment. If the use of fMRI in psychiatry expands too rapidly, clinicians who havent received specific training in fMRI data analysis might try to use it to optimize treatments themselves, without the support of researchers. And this unjudicious use of the technology could undermine the progress researchers have labored for years to achieve.

I dont want people doing that, Oathes says. It scares me to death.

State of Mind is a partnership of Slate and Arizona State University that offers a practical look at our mental health systemand how to make it better.
This story was originally published on by THE CITY. Sign up here to get the latest stories from THE CITY delivered to you each morning.

The City Council is dragging its paws on a bill that would ban the sale of guinea pigs, as local shelters have been inundated with the four-legged pets in the pandemic, according to people familiar with the matter.

The citys pet shelters have been overrun with the rodents, with the number being surrendered by owners more than doubling since 2019, according to Animal Care Centers of NYC data.

Some 600 guinea pigs have been brought to city-funded animal shelters so far this year. Just 282 were brought during the same time period in 2019.

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Last year, 481 piggies were surrendered between Jan. 1 and Sept. 12, data shows.

Were really, really struggling, Katy Hansen, a spokeswoman for ACC, told THE CITY.

She added that the organization hoped a hearing on the bill would happen swiftly so it could eventually get a voteand offer some relief to shelters.

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We cant wait much longer, she said.

So far, 34 out of the 51 members of the Council have signed on to the bill introduced in February by Councilwoman Diana Ayala (D-Manhattan/Bronx)the number that qualifies as a supermajority. A hearing is required within 60 days after reaching a supermajority in Council, but that has not been scheduled, officials said.

The delay is partially related to Speaker Adrienne Adams skittishness around any animal-related hearing as activists continue to push for a ban on horse-drawn carriages, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

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A spokesperson for the speaker said the bill is going through the legislative process and declined to comment on the holdup.

Ayala told THE CITY theres been a backlog of bills because more than 1,000 pieces of legislation needed new chief sponsors when their previous ones left City Council. Staff shortages at Council also created a delay.

Ayala expects a hearing to be held in the fall, however. Its an important bill, she said.

So Many Pregnant Piggies

Guinea pigs are often sold by national chain stores like Petco and PetSmart for less than $50 and are often impulse buys, according to Hansen and other animal rescuers.

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Its difficult to determine the sex of a guinea pigthe domestic version of the South American caviawithout a sonogram, so oblivious owners often pair a male and female thinking theyre single-sex, they said.

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ACC and others noted there are just two known veterinarians in New York City who have the skills to spay and neuter guinea pigs. Each surgery can cost between $400 and $515.

We see so many pregnant piggies, its not even funny, said Juli Cialone, who runs Rock n Rescue in Westchester.

Her group works closely with ACC on rescuing and fostering guinea pigs, needs that were amplified by the pandemic, Cialone said.

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COVID came and everybody was like, Lets get a guinea pig because were inside and we dont want to go outside, she said.

People just think theyre cute and fluffy, [but] they scoot and they dont want to be touched, Cialone added. The challenge is people end up getting bored with them.

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Guinea pigs are sometimes left abandoned in parks or on the streets, left to fend for themselves, she said.

When you dump a guinea pig at a park, youre setting them up to die, Allie Taylor, the president of Voters for Animal Rights, a Bushwick-based advocacy nonprofit, told THE CITY.

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Her organization worked with ACC to drum up support within Council for the bill.

Theyre not going to be able to survive on their own, theyre going to get eaten by predators, she added.

If passed, the bill could take some of the pressure off of the citys animal shelters, which would still be able to make guinea pigs available to adopt.

There, the animals are always spayed or neutered, and ACC provides help and information on how to best raise them, according to Hansen.

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Representatives for the large chain pet stores did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Unwelcome Critters

Earlier this year, the state legislature passed the Puppy Mill Pipeline bill, which would ban the sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits from stores. It is still awaiting Gov. Kathy Hochuls signature.

The city already banned the sale of rabbits from shops in 2014.

In 1999, New York City made the possession of ferrets illegal after the health department declared them carriers of rabies and prone to committing vicious, unprovoked attacks.

There havent been any reports of guinea pig attacks, but these wanted, then unwanted rodents are multiplying rapidly.

Its just a matter of getting a hearing, said Taylor. This is something thats fixable.

THE CITY is an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.
https://sputniknews.com/20220913/almost-50-of-japanese-support-development-of-new-generation-nuclear-reactors---poll-1100705249.html

Almost 50% of Japanese Support Development of New Generation Nuclear Reactors - Poll

Almost 50% of Japanese Support Development of New Generation Nuclear Reactors - Poll

TOKYO (Sputnik) - Almost half of the Japanese support the government's initiative to develop new generation nuclear reactors, according to a poll conducted by... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

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A total of 48% of the respondents supported the idea of developing nuclear reactors of a new generation, while 32% opposed it, the poll found. Another 20% of the survey participants remained undecided.The survey was conducted on September 9-11 through random telephone conversations among 1,255 people over the age of 18.Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in late August during a government meeting on energy that the authorities intend to take all measures to restart the existing nuclear power units in the country, and will also consider the construction of new generation nuclear reactors amid rising energy prices.The Japanese government aims to restart seven domestic nuclear reactors in different parts of the country by next summer, bringing the total number of operating power units to 17, Japanese media said. The government mulls launching units 6 and 7 of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, unit 2 of the Onagawa plant, units 1 and 2 of the Takahama plant, unit 2 of the Shimane plant and unit 7 of the Tokai-2 plant.Japan's ministry of economy, trade and industry may also consider extending the maximum operating period of nuclear reactors, which is now 40 years. Under Japanese laws, the lifespan can be prolonged to 60 years if a facility meets all the requirements and passes inspection.Japan currently has 10 operating nuclear units, but only half of them generate power, while the rest are going through additional inspections. Nuclear energy covered up to 30% of Japan's total energy demand before the 2011 Fukushima accident, when an earthquake and a tsunami caused the world's second-largest nuclear accident after the Chernobyl disaster.Experts say that several regions of Japan may face problems with electricity supply due to the rising prices for liquefied natural gas and unstable energy supplies. The upcoming heating season could be the most challenging for the country since 2012, when all nuclear power plants were shut down after the Fukushima accident.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/armenia-to-turn-to-russia-csto-un-over-situation-on-border-with-azerbaijan---cabinet-1100702635.html

Armenia to Turn to Russia, CSTO, UN Over Situation on Border With Azerbaijan - Cabinet

Armenia to Turn to Russia, CSTO, UN Over Situation on Border With Azerbaijan - Cabinet

YEREVAN (Sputnik) - Armenia will ask Russia for assistance due to the aggravation of the situation on the border with Azerbaijan, the Armenian cabinet said... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

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Earlier, Yerevan said the Azerbaijani military shelled the territory of Armenia late on Monday using artillery and drones. The Armenian Defense Ministry said there were killed and wounded on the Armenian side. Baku said the Armenian military fired at the positions of the Azerbaijani troops on the border, there was a clash. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry also reported losses in its ranks.Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Aram Torosyan said Azerbaijani units at some sections of the border took actions to advance their positions.Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the situation on the border with Azerbaijan, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement."Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on September 13 informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the situation," according to the statement, which also states "Azerbaijani aggression."

https://sputniknews.com/20220912/armenian-defense-ministry-reports-that-azerbaijani-armed-forces-are-shelling-armenias-territory-1100699621.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/baku-reports-50-soldiers-dead-in-border-clashes-with-armenia-1100739395.html

Baku Reports 50 Soldiers Dead in Border Clashes With Armenia

Baku Reports 50 Soldiers Dead in Border Clashes With Armenia

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Fifty Azerbaijani soldiers were killed during fresh clashes with Armenia on the inter-state border as a result of the "large-scale... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

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According to Baku, the Armenian military fired at the positions of the Azerbaijani troops on the border late on Monday. Yerevan, in turn. said that the Azerbaijani military shelled the Armenian side, using artillery and drones, as a result of which several Armenian servicemen were killed. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry also reported losses in its ranks. The clashes continued the next day.Earlier in the day, Armenian authorities said that at least 49 Armenians died, according to preliminary information.Nagorno-Karabakh, the mountainous region largely populated by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan in 1991 but its status was not recognized internationally. The independence of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic (or the Republic of Artsakh) was only supported by the breakaway states of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria. Baku and Yerevan have fought several wars over the disputed region.The long-standing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh flared up in September 2020, marking the most serious escalation of a protracted standoff in years. The hostilities ended with a Moscow-brokered trilateral declaration signed in November 2020. Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to completely cease fire and exchange prisoners. However, the situation in the region has remained tense, with occasional clashes happening between the two countries.

https://sputniknews.com/20220913/armenia-to-turn-to-russia-csto-un-over-situation-on-border-with-azerbaijan---cabinet-1100702635.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/china-nepal-ink-six-point-pact-to-bolster-parliamentary-engagement-under-bri-1100710065.html

China, Nepal Ink Six-Point Pact to Bolster Parliamentary Engagement Under BRI

China, Nepal Ink Six-Point Pact to Bolster Parliamentary Engagement Under BRI

Nepal signed onto the Beijing-backed New Silk Road project in 2017. In 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a visit to Kathmandu, during which the two... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

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2022-09-13T10:46+0000

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nepal

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China and Nepal have signed a six-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) to bolster cooperation in legislative and governance practices under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).China's Li Zhanshu, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress of China, is leading a 67-member delegation to Kathmandu on a four-day visit that kicked off on Monday. Li is visiting the landlocked Himalayan country at the invitation of Sapkota.According to a statement from the Nepalese Foreign Ministry, discussions also took place on expanding trade and connectivity infrastructure under the BRI, which was affected due to the onset of the COVID pandemic as Beijing imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and people across the land border as part of its zero-COVID policy.Economic and political ties between China and Nepal have been on the rise since Xis visit to the country in 2019. The same year, China overtook India as Kathmandus largest source of foreign investment.Meanwhile, the Nepalese Parliament this year approved a controversial $500 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) pact with the United States. Work on the first project, a power transmission line, under the US-funded program is expected to begin in August next year.The MCC was opposed by former Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, who lost power to the Nepali Congress, headed by current PM Sher Bahadur Deuba last July. Oli heads the Communist Party of Nepal (UML), one of the two factions of the erstwhile ruling party, with the other splinter group headed by yet another PM, Pushpa Kumar Dahal Prachanda.During his ongoing visit, the Chinese delegate met both Oli and Prachanda.Rijal said that a range of issues were discussed during the meeting, including initiatives to upgrade overall ties as well as party-to-party relations.The Chinese Ambassador to Nepal last year tried to broker truce between the two warring factions of Nepals Communist Party. Lis visit comes ahead of the general election in Nepal scheduled for 20 November.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/crown-adorned-with-spoils-of-war-countries-demand-britain-to-return-their-treasures-1100729696.html

Crown Adorned With Spoils of War: Countries Demand Britain Return Their Treasures

Crown Adorned With Spoils of War: Countries Demand Britain Return Their Treasures

Queen Elizabeth died peacefully at 96 on September 8, after living a long and comfortable life surrounded by the most beautiful things conceived by mankind... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

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Even during Queen Elizabeth's life, questions were raised regarding the treasures in her palaces and British museums. Despite some British historians' assurances that most of these treasures were gifts given by the locals, there are numerous accounts and research that shows otherwise.As British colonial rule spread across the globe, so did the stealing of great treasures that did not belong to them.Last week, shortly after the Queens death was announced, the word "Kohinoor" started trending on Indian Twitter.This was a reference to the Kohinoor diamond, considered the worlds most expensive diamond, which can be found on display in the Tower of London, set in the Queen Mother's crown.The history of Kohinoor diamond goes back to more than 5000 years. In Persian, the word means "Mountain of Light." Back in 1813 it had belonged to ruler Ranjit Singh (the founder of the Sikh Empire) and it was in his family's possession in Lahore Fort, in Pakistan, when the British took it in 1849 and brought it to London.The Coronation Necklace, a magnificent diamond necklace with large set diamonds, that Queen Elizabeth wore on her coronation in 1952, also came from Lahore.The necklace was originally created for Queen Victoria in 1858 by the British jeweler Garrard. It was also stolen in 1849 when the British breached the Lahore Fort and found treasure that was considered more valuable than anything they had acquired before.The necklace was made from 28 stones, with the central gem known as the Lahore diamond weighing almost 23 carats by itself. The whole necklace adds up to 161 carats and it became the most expensive necklace in the world with nine of its largest stones weighing between 8 and 11 carats.Currently, the coronation necklace and earrings are priced at 300,000 and are on display in the Lantern Lobby of Windsor Castle.Back in 1849, the administrator of the Lahore Fort, Dr. John Login catalogued the treasures that were taken from the treasure house also known as Toshakhana. Some of the riches included five bags of diamonds, 134 large trunks of gold jewelry and precious stones, and a whole room full of expensive and rare Cashmere shawls.The Lahore Fort, also known as Shahi Qila, was home to Mughal emperors. This historic fort was built in the 11th century and then was rebuilt in the 17th century. The hallmarks of Mughal emperors' style was luxurious vivid coloured silk clothes, intricate craftsmanship of their jewellery and cross-cultural influences of India and Persia, which was seen in their carpets, furniture and architecture. Their lifestyle is best seen in the miniature paintings and jewellery of that period.They used to wear ropes of pearls and diamonds sprinkled with emeralds and rubies around their necks, wrists and, even in their turbans. One Mughal ruler, Shah Jahan, was known to always wear his belt which was embedded with large table cut diamonds and a central ruby, which was reportedly size of an egg.Sir Thomas Roes description of another famous Mughal ruler, Jehangir, arriving at court reads, "Here attended the nobility, all sitting about on carpets, until the king came, who at last appeared, clothed, or rather laden with diamonds, rubies, pearls and other precious varietiesso great, so glorious."Meanwhile, French traveller Francois Bernier, who arrived at the court of Shah Jahans successor, Aurangzeb, was spellbound by the opulence of the Mughal rulers.He even described the throne on which Aurangzeb was seated, saying that it was supported by six [massy] feet, and was said to be of solid gold, sprinkled over with rubies, emeralds and diamonds.In 1849, Maharaja Daleep Singh held court for the final time, when his province of Punjab was annexed by the British East India Company under the direction of the Earl of Dalhousie, who had recently been appointed Governor General of East India Company.After the fort fell to the British, the Toshakhana, or treasury house, of Maharaja Ranjit Singh came into the possession of the East India Company. One of the most famous of these possessions was the Kohinoor diamond, was given to the Queen, and that was a particular point of pride for general Dalhousie."It is not every day," he wrote in 1849, "that an officer of their Government adds four millions of subjects to the British Empire, and places the historical jewel of the Mughal Emperors in the Crown of his Sovereign," as stated in the Victorian Review by Anne Murphy.According to a renowned economist, Utsa Patnaik, whose research was recently published by Columbia University Press; nearly two centuries of detailed data on tax and trade that went on between India and Britain, shows that Britain drained a total of nearly $45 trillion from India during the period 1765 to 1938.This is a staggering number and contradicts the narrative that powerful Britons like to promote, in which they explain how "Britain helped develop India" or how "Colonization of India was not a major economic win for Britain."During the 200-year history of British rule in India, there was almost no increase in per capita income, as Patnaik's research suggests. Furthermore, during the last half of the 19th century  the primetime of British raj over India  income in the country dropped by half and the average life expectancy of Indians fell by a fifth from 1870 to 1920.Today, there is not enough money in all of Britain to cover the sums that Patnaik identifies, so there is no way Britain will ever be able to pay back to the Indian subcontinent and its people. However, it is important to set the facts straight, at least.This is just the Indian subcontinent that is in question, but British colonialism had its claws spread far and wide. Other countries are also becoming more vocal about how their national treasures were plundered by the British commanders and should now be returned back.One example is the Rosetta Stone, which is a very important Egyptian artifact. It is a basalt block 114 cm high and 72 cm wide made by pharaoh Ptolemy of granodiorite, and it dates back to 196 BC!The Rosetta Stone was vital in decoding of Egyptian hieroglyphics. It was taken by Napoleon Bonaparte from Egypt and was later acquired by the British after the defeat of the French army in the early 1800s.For many years, the Egyptian officials have been asking Britain to return Rosetta Stone, but to no avail. Currently it is displayed at the British Museum in London.Then there are the Benin Bronzes, that came from modern-day Nigeria, which was known as the Kingdom of Benin back then. The country was a proud owner of the 13th-century Bronze Scriptures created by artists of the Edo people.In 1897, British forces raided Benin City and stole more than 3,000 objects. Some of these precious artifacts were awarded to acting officers, while others were sold at auction or given to museums.In 1803, British Lord Elgin took off marble from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon Wall and brought it to London!He claimed that he took the marble with due permission, but was unable to proof any of his claims by a legal document. Greece has been asking Britain for decades to return the marbles, but they are still in the British Museum.There are countless examples of historical and expensive things taken by the British during their colonial rule and now British museums and the royal family are facing increased pressure to return the treasures to the rightful owners.She further said that this is a really critical time for museums to work out where they stand as they will have to stop hiding behind historical acts. "They have little justification for continuing to cite something like the British Museum Act," Procter said.The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/danish-government-committee-proposes-hijab-ban-in-elementary-school--1100704601.html

Danish Government Committee Proposes Hijab Ban in Elementary School

Danish Government Committee Proposes Hijab Ban in Elementary School

The hijab ban is only one of the recommendations, with the stated aim of preventing honor-related social control and ensuring that women from a minority... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T06:31+0000

2022-09-13T06:31+0000

2022-09-13T06:31+0000

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The Danish Commission for the Forgotten Womens Struggle, a body set up by the countrys ruling Social Democratic Party, has recommended that the countrys government ban hijabs for students in Danish elementary schools. According to the commissions report, the use of headscarves in elementary school can create a division between children into two groups  us and them. If the implementation of the recommendation requires the establishment of a general ban on the use of religious symbols in primary schools, the commission supports this, it said.This is one of nine recommendations with the stated aim of preventing honor-related social control and ensuring that all women from a minority background could enjoy the same rights and freedoms as all Danish women. The other recommendations include providing Danish language courses, promoting modern child upbringing practices in ethnic minority families, strengthening sexual education in elementary schools, and tightening control over Muslim schools. A 2018 study on behalf of the Danish Education Ministry found that only 43 percent of the ethnic minority girls are allowed to see male friends in their spare time, while the same is the case for 88 percent of the ethnic Danish girls. Furthermore, wholly 13 percent of ethnic minority girls were afraid that their families would plan their future against their will, while the same is the case for only 5 percent of the ethnic majority girls. One of the stated aims of the commission is therefore to introduce recommendations on how to equalize differences like these between Danes who are ethnic minorities and their majority peers. The commission is set to make additional recommendations in the coming months and is expected to complete its work at the beginning of 2023. According to a 2020 report, Denmark is home to over 250,000 Muslims (or 4.4 percent of the population). Their share has been steadily increasing over the past several decades in lockstep with mass immigration into the Nordic country. Today, immigrants make up 8 percent of Denmark's population of 5.8 million. Over the past decade, however, Denmark has been gradually tightening the screws on its immigration and integration laws, with several consecutive governments regardless of their political affiliation imposing restrictions and tougher measures, to the point of controversy. Among others, the government has come under accusations of racism for its so-called anti-ghetto laws, which allow forcible eviction and the razing of problematic property.

https://sputniknews.com/20210526/hijab-wearing-model-of-colour-becomes-fashion-editor-for-scandinavian-vogue-1082997928.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/dialogue-and-partnership-in-interconnected-world-what-is-upcoming-sco-summit-about-1100733211.html

'Dialogue and Partnership in Interconnected World': What is Upcoming SCO Summit About?

'Dialogue and Partnership in Interconnected World': What is Upcoming SCO Summit About?

Over the years, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) grew into an international body that includes almost half of Earth's population and most of... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T15:44+0000

2022-09-13T15:44+0000

2022-09-13T16:38+0000

shanghai cooperation organisation (sco)

russia

uzbekistan

sco summit in samarkand

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The leaders of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are gathering once again for a summit to discuss issues of regional cooperation  this time in Uzbekistan's capital of Samarkand.The summit, which will take place on September 15 and 16, will be attended by the leaders of all member states: China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. All of the observer states, namely Belarus, Iran, Mongolia and Afghanistan, are also expected to attend the event.Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to meet several of his colleagues during the summit, including the presidents of China, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, as well as the prime ministers of India and Pakistan.Agenda 2022President of the host country, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, described the summits key topic as maintaining "dialogue and partnership in an interconnected world". He said that the upcoming summit might become a turning point for the international organization and serve as a start for new "inclusive dialogue" based on mutual respect, trust and constructive cooperation between the countries.President Mirziyoyev also singled out the situation in observer state Afghanistan as another issue requiring discussion. The country underwent a transition of power following the withdrawal of NATO troops in August last year with the Taliban*, an organization slapped with international sanctions, securing control over Kabul.Mirziyoyev called on the other SCO members to develop relations with the republic and support it in such tough times.Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov separately noted that the SCO is increasingly becoming a real alternative to western-centric structures and mechanisms. He hailed the international body for being "committed to the formation of a more representative, democratic, just and multipolar world order, which is based on the universally recognized principles of international law."New Member and Observer States on Horizon?The SCO space, said Mirziyoyev, might soon expand as two observer states, Belarus and Iran, are seeking to become fully-fledged members. It is unclear, however, if either of them will be accepted during the September summit.Several more countries are likewise seeking observer status  namely Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal. Three more are expected to be named "dialogue partners", a lesser status within the SCO structure, during the summit in Samarkand - Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, while two more, Bahrain and Maldives, will be launching the procedure of obtaining this status.*The Taliban is under UN sanctions for terrorist activities.

https://sputniknews.com/20220912/scos-global-role-becoming-more-significant-in-the-wake-of-ukraine-crisis-indian-ex-envoy-says-1100676493.html

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shanghai cooperation organisation (sco), russia, uzbekistan
China's major provincial economies are stepping up efforts to stabilize the growth in their regions, with strong focus on expanding effective investment and spurring consumption, as the central government has called on them to take the lead in supporting the country's economy.



Experts highlighted the importance of those economically strong provinces to the nation's overall stable growth, fiscal revenues and employment, saying that investment and consumption will accelerate in those provinces with stimulus policies taking effect in the following months.

China is at a critical juncture for economic rebound, given the impact of insufficient demand and the COVID-19 pandemic, they said, calling for greater efforts to consolidate the foundation of recovery.

Yang Haiping, a researcher at the Central University of Finance and Economics' Institute of Securities and Futures, said economically strong provinces contributed a larger proportion of China's GDP and fiscal revenues, and they have plenty of room to step up policy support for stimulating the economy.

"They will play a key role in implementing the country's stimulus policy measures and stabilizing the overall economy," he added.

This year, several regional economic powerhouses have announced measures to speed up infrastructure investment and accelerate the construction of major projects.

The South China coastal province of Guangdong has announced that it plans to construct 1,570 key provincial-level projects in 2022, with a total investment of 7.67 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion) and an annual investment of 900 billion yuan. In the first seven months of the year, it invested 587.1 billion yuan, which is 65.2 percent of the annual investment plan.

According to a newly released document on promoting steady growth in the industry, Guangdong will accelerate the construction of major projects and new infrastructure. The province will advance technological updates of 8,500 industrial companies and build 52,000 5G base stations this year.

Central China's Henan province recently released a plan to accelerate infrastructure construction. It set a goal of implementing 84 major infrastructure projects with a total investment of 137.3 billion yuan by the end of September.

Yang, the researcher, spoke highly of those provinces' moves on stabilizing investment, especially on boosting new infrastructure investment and upgrading manufacturing, saying that more efforts should be made to plan more projects and improve the project management mechanisms.

Yue Xiangyu, an analyst at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics' Institute for the Development of Chinese Economic Thought, said that major economic provinces have sufficient key projects planned and highly developed industrial chains, and thus play a central role in supporting the country's overall growth.

He highlighted certain provinces' moves to step up policy support for expanding investment and boosting consumption, saying these will help support the recovery of demand.

Guangdong has rolled out plans for boosting consumption, requiring efforts to encourage sales of cars, consumer electronics and other industrial products and giving out coupons to stimulate purchasing.

East China's Jiangsu province also released a document recently to further unleash consumption potential, with new measures including stimulating purchases of big-ticket consumer goods, like cars and home appliances, and enhancing the ability to unleash new types of consumption.

Considering the steps by the major economic provinces and a series of stimulus policies on stabilizing the growth, Chen Jianwei, a researcher at the University of International Business and Economics, said the economy will likely rebound in the second half of the year.

To strengthen the foundation of economic recovery, Yue from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics said the government will likely focus on increasing fiscal policy support for infrastructure construction in fields like transportation, energy and logistics as well as new infrastructure.

On the monetary front, he said, monetary easing will remain targeted to support credit to enterprises.

During a recent symposium, Premier Li Keqiang called for a greater sense of urgency to stabilize the foundation of economic recovery. Li said the nation's six economic powerhouses must further tap into the potential of their policies, protect market players and stabilize growth.

The six provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Henan and Sichuan account for 45 percent of China's GDP and contribute more than 40 percent of employment.
https://sputniknews.com/20220913/indian-oil-corporation-to-donate-63-mln-to-help-relocate-cheetahs-from-africa-1100719560.html

Indian Oil Corporation to Donate $6.3 Mln to Help Relocate Cheetahs From Africa

Indian Oil Corporation to Donate $6.3 Mln to Help Relocate Cheetahs From Africa

The National Tiger Conservation Authority earlier launched the Cheetah Reintroduction Project, under which 15-20 cheetahs will be brought from Namibia and... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T12:03+0000

2022-09-13T12:03+0000

2022-09-13T12:03+0000

india

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Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOC) will donate around Rs 502 million ($6.3 million) for the Cheetah Reintroduction Project. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to cover two-thirds of the cost of the project, that will bring 15-20 cheetahs to India. The first 8 big cats are arriving this week.Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself will inaugurate the Reintroduction of the Cheetah project. He will release the first cheetahs into the forests of the Kuno National Park on September 17.The IOC's donation will be spent on management and the protection of the cheetahs' habitat, environmental development, staff training and veterinary care.The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, said that the initiative "will boost tourism in Chambal region."The cheetah population in India dwindled in the 19th century, mainly due to hunting by the ruling British officials. The last three Asiatic cheetahs were hunted down in 1947 in Korea district (now Chhattisgarh) which was part of Madhya Pradesh. In 1952, India declared this species extinct within its territory.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/indias-gaganyaan-space-mission-to-launch-first-flight-tests-this-year-1100726951.html

India's Gaganyaan Space Mission to Launch First Flight Tests This Year

India's Gaganyaan Space Mission to Launch First Flight Tests This Year

The mission was announced by PM Narendra Modi during his 2018 Independence Day speech. It was originally planned to launch three Indian astronauts by 2022, but... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T14:09+0000

2022-09-13T14:09+0000

2022-09-13T14:09+0000

india

space

space exploration

indian space research organization (isro)

space explosion

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India will conduct its first test flight of the Gaganyaan manned space mission later this year, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh has said. The final flight is expected to take place in 2024. The minister noted that Covid-19-related impediments affected the schedule of the expedition.The Gaganyaan is Indias first manned space mission that aims to demonstrate indigenous capability to undertake human space flight to Low Earth Orbit, according to the official website of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The program worked closely with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, which selected and trained four Indian astronauts and made spacesuits for them. The pilots have already returned to India and now are awaiting the space flight in 2024. The $1.5 billion program will carry out two unmanned test flights and one manned voyage. The test flights are set to launch a spacecraft at an altitude of 15 km during which scientists will simulate an emergency to oversee the safe return of the crew capsule to Earth. The second test flight is a similar double check at a higher altitude. If the program is successful, India will become the fourth nation to launch a human spaceflight mission after Russia, USA and China.The first Indian spacewalker was Rakesh Sharma, who flew on the 1984 Soyuz T-11 spacecraft as part of the Soviet Intercosmos project. Since, no Indian citizen has ever flown into space. The pilots of the Gaganyaan mission are ready to change that.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/indias-rss-slams-congress-for-tweet-showing-organizations-trademark-khaki-shorts-being-burned-1100703667.html

India's RSS Slams Congress for Tweet Showing Organization's Trademark Khaki Shorts Being Burned

India's RSS Slams Congress for Tweet Showing Organization's Trademark Khaki Shorts Being Burned

On Monday, a major row erupted between India's federally ruling BJP, RSS and the main opposition party Congress after the latter posted a photo of a burning... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T07:23+0000

2022-09-13T07:23+0000

2022-09-16T10:41+0000

india

bharatiya janata party (bjp)

indian national congress

opposition

narendra modi

new delhi

rahul gandhi

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The National Joint Secretary of India's Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Dr. Manmohan Vaidya, has hit out at the Congress party over its "Bharat Jodo Yatra (Unite India Journey)" campaign. The row erupted as the party headed by Sonia Gandhi appeared to take a swipe at the RSS, the nationalist organisation historically linked to the country's federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).On Monday, Congress tweeted a photo of khaki shorts on fire on its social media handles. For years, RSS volunteers had worn Khaki shorts, that became a symbol associated with the organization. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the nationalist organisation is the ideological mentor of the country's federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).The tweet quickly led to a war of words between the parties. Members of both BJP and RSS took to social media to blast Congress before demanding the immediate removal of the picture from Twitter."I want to ask Rahul Gandhi: do you want violence in this country? Congress should take down this picture immediately." BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said while lashing out at the Congress.Accusing the Congress of spreading hatred among the people of India through its ongoing "Bharat Jodo Yatra (Unite India Journey)," Manmohan Vaidya described the opposition party's efforts as "political gimmickry.""The Congress wants to connect people through hatred and political gimmickry that would not serve the purposes of uniting the masses. Congress harbored hatred for the RSS and tried to prevent it, but the organization expanded with the support of society," Vaidya was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi is currently undertaking a 3,570 km long march from Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of India, to highlight rising unemployment and escalating prices of essential items, including fuel, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reign in New Delhi.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/japan-renounces-testing-of-anti-satellite-weapons-after-us-1100706545.html

Japan Renounces Testing of Anti-Satellite Weapons After US

Japan Renounces Testing of Anti-Satellite Weapons After US

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Japanese government has decided to renounce testing of anti-satellite weapons to promote discussions of responsible behavior in outer... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T06:34+0000

2022-09-13T06:34+0000

2022-09-13T06:34+0000

japan

satellite

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The ministry emphasized that Tokyo aims to actively promote discussions in the international community concerning the development of norms of responsible behavior in outer space.At the same time, the country will "continue to play an active role to achieve secure, stable and sustainable outer space."US Vice President Kamala Harris announced the decision to ban US anti-satellite weapons tests during her visit to Vandenberg Space Force Base in the state of California earlier in April.NASA Administrator Bill Nelson called on other countries to impose a similar moratorium on the testing of anti-satellite weapons. At that time, former head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin noted the inconsistency of the US administration and requested an adequate response to the proposals of Russia and China on a treaty on the prevention of the placement of weapons in outer space.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/kushner-claims-six-additional-countries-considered-normalizing-ties-with-israel-under-trump-1100737476.html

Kushner Claims Six Additional Countries Considered Normalizing Ties With Israel Under Trump

Kushner Claims Six Additional Countries Considered Normalizing Ties With Israel Under Trump

The Trump administration managed to negotiate the normalization of ties between four Muslim countries and Israel in a massive diplomatic mush using a series of... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T18:16+0000

2022-09-13T18:16+0000

2022-09-13T18:16+0000

world

us

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Former White House aide under Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, has claimed that more Muslim countries were considering joining the 2020 Abraham Accords to normalize relations with Israel. He alleged that as many as six countries were in Washington's sights by the time Trump left office.Kushner, who was deeply involved in brokering the Abraham Accords between Israel on the one side and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan on the other, lamented that the current US administration failed to continue the efforts. He claimed that more could have been done to bring additional Muslim countries into the fold.The former White House aide did not reveal which six countries were on deck to possibly join the trend for normalizing ties with Israel. He expressed confidence, however, that once all countries do this, the Arab-Israeli conflict will be over and "an era of prosperity and peacefulness" will begin in the region.Not all of regional powers and entities agree with that statement, however, with Iran and the Palestinian Authority strongly condemning the Abraham Accords. They recalled that most Muslim states originally pledged not to normalize ties with Israel as long as its conflict with Palestinians continues and the issue of Palestinian statehood is unresolved.No other Muslim states have joined the Abraham Accords since the end of Donald Trump's presidency, despite consistent rumors that Saudi Arabia was considering the move. Riyadh rejected the reports, but did quietly allow Israeli civilian planes to fly in its airspace following the diplomatic effort of the new administration.The new president and his team have expressed support for the Abraham Accords and their idea, but reportedly objected to the means the Trump administration used to achieve the deal. Trump reportedly included selling F-35 jets to the UAE  a move that went against a long-term practice of keeping Israel the only state in the region with cutting-edge American weapons.Trump also sided with Morocco's territorial claims of the disputed Western Sahara region in return for the country's decision to establish diplomatic ties with Israel. Equally, Washington agreed to remove Sudan from the list of state terrorism sponsors if it normalized relations with Tel Aviv.

https://sputniknews.com/20220614/abraham-accords-members-to-meet-in-july-to-discuss-common-challenges-and-security-cooperation-1096294267.html

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us, israel, diplomatic ties
https://sputniknews.com/20220913/live-queen-elizabeths-coffin-arrives-at-buckingham-palace-1100731817.html

LIVE: Queen Elizabeth's Coffin Arrives at Buckingham Palace

LIVE: Queen Elizabeth's Coffin Arrives at Buckingham Palace

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving monarch in British history, died aged 96 on September 8 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T17:34+0000

2022-09-13T17:34+0000

2022-09-13T17:34+0000

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buckingham palace

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Live from outside Buckingham Palace as the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II has been transported to London from Edinburgh, Scotland.Mourners will be able to pay their respects to the late monarch.Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, at the age of 96, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland surrounded by her family, after over 70 years on the British throne. Her eldest son, Charles III, became the new king of the United Kingdom immediately after her death, but the official ceremony took place on Saturday at the St. James's Palace in London.follow sputnik's live feed to find out more.

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Erdogan, Aliyev Discuss by Phone Escalation on Armenian-Azerbaijani Border

BAKU (Sputnik) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev to discuss the escalation on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the press service of the President of Azerbaijan said in a statement.

"On September 13, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. During the telephone conversation, Erdogan expressed deep condolences to the Azerbaijani people," according to the statement.

"Discussing the escalation at the border, Aliyev said that the responsibility for these large-scale military provocations lies directly with Armenia," it said.

Late on Monday, hostilities broke out on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. The sides accused each other of starting an escalation. Both sides reported losses among military personnel. By next morning, the parties agreed on a ceasefire.

Head of the Russian Federation Council's Foreign Affairs Committee Grigory Karasin told Sputnik the ceasefire was achieved thanks to the efforts of Russia, including after a conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and the work of the Russian Foreign Ministry. According to the senator, there is a lot of work to be done, since Yerevan applied to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

As CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zainetdinov said earlier, on September 13, an emergency meeting of the CSTO Permanent Council was held, which expressed extreme concern about the situation on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan and considered proposals for using the CSTO mechanisms for settlement.
Biden Says 'Hard to Tell' if Ukraine Reached Turning Point - White House Press Pool

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden told reporters that it is hard to determine whether Ukraine has reached a turning point with its counteroffensive amid Russia's special military operation, according to a White House press pool report.

The question is unanswerable," Biden said on Tuesday when asked whether Ukraine reached a turning point. "Its hard to tell. Its clear the Ukrainians have made significant progress, but its going to be a long haul.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States assesses that Russia maintains significant armed forces in Ukraine despite the counteroffensive and that it is too early to predict the outcome of Ukraine's counteroffensive.

Over the weekend, Ukrainian forces carried out a counteroffensive against Russian-held positions in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, which was launched with the assistance of the US and UK intelligence services, according to US Senator Mark Warner.
https://sputniknews.com/20220913/pashinyan-spoke-to-blinken-by-phone-to-discuss-escalation-on-border---armenian-cabinet-1100702768.html

Pashinyan Spoke to Blinken by Phone to Discuss Escalation on Border - Armenian Cabinet

Pashinyan Spoke to Blinken by Phone to Discuss Escalation on Border - Armenian Cabinet

YEREVAN (Sputnik) - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken by phone about the situation on the border with... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T03:42+0000

2022-09-13T03:42+0000

2022-09-13T03:42+0000

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nikol pashinyan

antony blinken

armenia

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"The prime minister presented the details of the aggression committed by Azerbaijan against the sovereign territory of Armenia. Pashinyan said that in connection with these actions, the decision was made to formally appeal to the Russian Federation in order to implement the provisions of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, as well as to the CSTO and the UN Security Council. In this context, he expressed hope for a proportionate response from the international community," it said.According to the Armenian cabinet, Blinken "expressed the American side's deep concern about the situation, considered it unacceptable to further aggravate the situation, and declared the US readiness to make efforts to stabilize the situation."Earlier, Yerevan said the Azerbaijani military shelled the territory of Armenia late on Monday using artillery and drones. The Armenian Defense Ministry said there were killed and wounded on the Armenian side. Baku said the Armenian military fired at the positions of the Azerbaijani troops on the border, there was a clash. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry also reported losses in its ranks.

https://sputniknews.com/20220912/armenian-defense-ministry-reports-that-azerbaijani-armed-forces-are-shelling-armenias-territory-1100699621.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/private-players-will-have-to-enter-e-mobility-space-to-boost-ev-infrastructure-expert-says-1100714607.html

Private Players Will Have to Enter E-Mobility Space to Boost EV Infrastructure, Expert Says

Private Players Will Have to Enter E-Mobility Space to Boost EV Infrastructure, Expert Says

The electric vehicle industry is gaining pace in India: according to a report by India's Energy Storage Alliance, the electric vehicle market in the country is... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T13:33+0000

2022-09-13T13:33+0000

2022-09-14T06:31+0000

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On the occasion of World Electric Vehicle Day, the second phase of the trial run of electric vehicles was conducted on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway, covering 278 km, by the National Highway for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) under Ease of Doing Business (EoDB). The first phase was conducted in 2020 on the Delhi-Agra highway, covering 210 km.The NHEV is a pilot project, which aims at promoting the electrification of India's transportation systems. It is led by the countrys leading piloting prototype agency EoDB Services, conducting the Ease of Doing Business Program for industry and the federal government.Sputnik interviewed Abhijeet Sinha (National Program Director of EoDB) and the project director of NHEV, about details of the tech trial run and the prospects of Indian highways becoming e-highways in the near future.Sputnik: You have recently carried out the second phase of the tech trial run of electric vehicles from Delhi to Jaipur. What were the key testing parameters in this trial run?Sinha: The key parameters which we are testing in the second phase of the tech trial run are more commercial and less technical. These commercial trials are focused around the users of electric mobility.When it comes to inter-city travel particularly, the users have certain expectations from the electric bus or car which they are using to travel. These expectations need to be vetted or checked before the entire electric mobility ecosystems are delivered or handed over to the public for use.So, we tested breakdown services along with the cost of one seat of an electric bus for an individual or the cost of an electric car which one hires to travel from Delhi to Jaipur or Delhi to Agra. We also calculated per 100 km cost as well as per trip cost while analyzing the cost of an electric car.Also, from the perspective of investors, since it's commercial, it is very much important for people to understand how much this upgrading of the highways is going to cost. What we understood from table to table working is that upgrading one kilometer of highway to e-highway will cost around INR 5 million ($63,178) but we wanted to do it on ground zero to get an understanding that is this amount sufficient, or we need more.So, these were the key parameters which we tested and most of our areas of concerns have been covered. We are going to get interesting and detailed data after this one month trial.Sputnik: The first phase of the trial run was conducted from Delhi to Agra. What were the main accomplishments and did you manage to incorporate them during the second phase?Sinha: The first phase of trial run was of 210 km on Yamuna Expressway between Delhi and Agra from November 25 to December 25, 2020. However, it did not conclude on December 25 because a few more technical aspects hadn't been tested yet.The four takeaways from the first phase were that if a vehicle gets shut down on an e-highway out of the city, then how much time, technically, will it take to reach out to the vehicle and give them a backup, roadside assistance or repair? Because repair is a different matter when it comes to EVs. Its not like a normal diesel or petrol car that a nearby mechanic can work on.Secondly, fleet operators were very reluctant to start electric services outside of the city. So, if a fleet operator is starting the service, how much is it going to cost? A vehicle can be provided to them on 70 percent payment, which is the payment of the vehicle excluding the battery, because they are getting it on a subscription basis. This was the second technical aspect which we tested in tech trial 1.The third aspect was utilization of a charger. On average, we have 3-5 percent utilization of chargers in India. These highways, in the relay model, usually end up having utilization of 30 percent from day one of the charging infrastructure, particularly the charger.The fourth aspect was about financing. Banks, NBFCs and investors are not too interested in funding or financing an EV charging infrastructure. They are fine with financing an electric vehicle as a product or vehicle but when it comes to charging infrastructure they are very reluctant. A lot of banks did not even read the infrastructure charging proposal.Therefore, we tried to ensure that every penny spent from investors pocket on these e-highways is reaching to break even in 36-40 months. So, these were the four aspects we tested in the first phase, and they went very well.A couple of aspects which were not the excel sheet exercise or transactional exercise and were technical exercise like road side assistance, geofencing and anti-theft were tested again in the second phase.Sputnik: How soon do you think the Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Agra highways will become "EV-ready" for the public?Sinha: Calling it EV ready highway and having a charger which does not support you or doesnt help you at the time doesnt gives a confidence. This actually happened during the trial run when one of the chargers that were supposed to be used by our fleet did not work. The Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) didnt work, the software could not read the vehicle so the charging didnt start. When we tried to reach out to the service company, static or 24/7 customer care, they couldnt respond.So, one of our technical teams had to go back. We took this decision to send them into an auxiliary fleet. We were running the trial vehicle and we were also having extra vehicles running with us. So this doesnt gives a confidence that people can say these highways are EV ready.EV ready highway means if you are going to a certain destination, you are reaching there on time and if something wrong happens you should get assistance. A user should have satisfaction.NHEV is not only meant for installing a couple of chargers and then pushing fleet and people to deal with these problems. NHEV means safety, satisfaction and solution. There would be safety requirement, there has to be satisfaction for consumers and if in case something goes wrong, there has to be on ground solution to it and to ensure all these things it is very much required to conduct trials, read out those issues which are coming from ground and then going ahead with this.So, by next one month we will complete this trial and start allocating charging stations on preferential basis to public sectors and private players. Whoever wishes to be a part of this, they can come, partner and start building them.By end of next one quarter of 2023, you can see all these stations will be ready, working full-fledged and then all these issues discussed above can be resolved. People can go non-stop to Jaipur or Agra city. However if they want, they can stop at any of the charging stations.Sputnik: What are other major challenges that you foresee in setting up EV infrastructure at the national level?Sinha: Talking about the EV infrastructure at the national level, if you look at the ecosystem of electric mobility when it comes to city bus operations, when it comes to intercity bus operations, the electric bus buyer is the government. We will have to work on this that the government cannot be the biggest buyer or alone buyer.Private players will have to enter the space and they will only enter this space when government will focus on the things which private players would not do and that too not on the pocket of the government budget. But on the PPP model so that more and more people who will be able to operate buses and fleet on these highways. That is where NHEV is focused around.If you will travel in an electric bus, you will enjoy the services which are better than the diesel bus at lower cost. So next time you will repeat, you will again seek the booking into that same electric bus rather than diesel or petrol. This will help the fleet operators in getting advance bookings and when a bus is regularly getting bookings in comparison to a diesel bus then the operator, he will look forward to buy an electric bus. This is how private operators will get into the business and once they start to buy then the load which is being thrown on government will shed.The reason why this load has to be taken off from the government is that it already has several departments to run. And it wont be interested in opening another department where it has to only spent ending up having a state transport type of facilities where people dont like to sit and then you say it failed like any other technology.Our focus is to bring an ecosystem which is very high in standard. A foreigner, a diplomat, a coporate guy or a person who travels on flight or metros feels comfortable traveling on electric vehicles. Apart from this, people who are not too well-off can also travel on electric buses and it will only be possible when this 500 km trial will become benchmark to build another 5,000 km e-highway across the nation in next two years.Sputnik: Apart from the two aforementioned highways, what are some other highways where NHEV is planning to conduct trial runs?Sinha: I would prefer not to comment on that at this stage of time. We have been absorbed into completing the pilot program first. And we are in conversation with many state governments and many state authorities, corporate houses and investors who are willing to take this prototype and extend this 5,000 km within the next two years. Once the report about the trial is out, we will be able to disclose the names of other highways also.Sputnik: What was the response and support of the federal government and various state governments i.e. Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan regarding EV initiatives?Sinha: Haryana EV policy has recently came and it helped us in deciding how many stations we want to increase. The result of which is that we already have two of the largest charging stations of India based in Gurugram city, Haryana .The trial run was conducted on 500 km highway passing from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi, Delhi to Haryana and Haryana to Rajasthan. All these states have given very good response when it came to getting national permit for electric buses and many of them have already given the exemption, saying no such permit will be required.When it comes to giving land, Federal Ministry of Road Transport and Highways earlier this year had given clarity on a model that how unused land on highways can be used for setting up charging stations.Federal Ministry of Science and Technology has also been kind to give us clarification and non-commercial support on giving guidelines for charging electric vehicles, OCPP and other communication standards which are required for charging stations. Apart from this, Indias think tank NITI Aayog has also been very supportive.However, despite successful trial run between Delhi to Agra, land has been an issue with Uttar Pradesh state government. I look it as a problem within Yamuna Expressway, which is under insolvency. Very soon we expect this to be resolve and we will start construction of charging stations on both these highways.Sputnik: Are there any gaps in your work and if there are, how are you trying to overcome them?Sinha: If you look at gaps, then I would say that we have overlooked two-three important parts in developing such an ecosystem.Primarily, you cannot expect someone to buy electric vehicles, which are very costly, without having the confidence in technology and to gain the confidence we will have big institutional changes. We cannot compare an electric car with a diesel car until we have similar type of infrastructure.Since the infrastructure is not similar, there is no point of crying and going to the government that you develop and give it to us. If it is a profitable model, people need to know that electric mobility is not a very complex and difficult to deploy model. It's a very simple and sorted model.Vehicles are very sorted as they are very predictable as to could be the reasons for a possible breakdown. If we look at the infrastructure requirement, which is the backbone of electric mobility, it would only be possible to implement or construct such infrastructure when we look at it the way we look at the petrol pumps (fuel stations). When we look at the petrol pumps, we look at it as a profitable business because if you have a license you will be able to sell petrol. The only time gap is the time of construction required to set up petrol pump. Once you are open for vending you start earning but in charging stations, things like layout, design, safety protocols etc. are not simply available as compared to petrol pump. So this is one of the major gaps, why people are not opting for setting up a charging station. However, as per Federal Ministry of Power it is a non-licensed activity. You do not need to have a license to set up a charging station in India.Secondly, one doesnt know who is going to finance him while setting up a charging station. If there is no funding or procurement model, it is really difficult for us to convert 5,000 km of normal highways into e-highways. So, we need to bring all the stakeholders together to solve this issue.AHEM (Annuity Hybrid E-Mobility) has served the purpose in NHEV. Its a proven model inspired by Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) which has been appreciated by Moodys, IMF, World Bank etc. They all have said that it is a very good model for constructing highways.Last but not least, nobody knows how much one earns from a charging station. How much revenue, return on investment (ROI) one gets on investment. While when you look at the petrol pumps, gas stations, everything is in public domain. One can predict on the pretext of usage.So these are three major gaps which NHEV has filled and people will be able to compare apple to apple. I'm not saying that charging stations will become as profitable as petrol pumps overnight but definitely this has started drawing equivalence between both of them.

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Beijing is continuing to battle COVID-19 clusters in three schools with more cases reported over the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.

Since the first locally transmitted case, a student from the Changping campus of Beijing University of Chemical Technology, was reported early last week, Beijing has reported a total of 96 cases from three schools-50 from BUCT, 18 from the High School Affiliated to Minzu University of China and 28 from the Communication University of China, according to Liu Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, at a news conference, on Monday.

"The cases, which are Omicron variants, belong to three different independent transmission chains," he said.

The Beijing city government reminded the public on Monday that students and workers should have negative nucleic acid test results from within 48 hours when returning to campuses and workplaces after the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, as the city continues efforts to keep epidemic outbreaks under control.

"People should get tested twice during the following three days after returning to the capital," said Xu Hejian, spokesman of the municipal government, at a news conference on Monday afternoon.

"The recent three COVID-19 infection clusters that occurred in three schools in the city are all imported from cities outside of the capital," Xu said. "The infection risks to communities are controllable."

The outbreaks at Beijing University of Chemical Technology and the High School Affiliated to Minzu University of China have both entered the closing stage and the new outbreak at the Communication University of China is controllable with detailed prevention measures, he said.

Wang Feng, vice-principal of the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, said at the news conference that 3,855 freshmen have completed online registration and online learning will start soon.

Previously, the college had postponed registration for the freshmen due to the outbreak on campus.

"The school has upgraded the network on campus to ensure the smooth running of large-scale online teaching and the teachers are ready to use multiple methods to increase communications with students during online teaching," he said.

In addition to the confirmed cases, the Communication University of China reported 13 new positive cases-all from quarantined locations, between midnight and 3 pm on Monday, according to Li Zhong, deputy Party chief of the university.

Li said 640 teachers and students had been transferred to centralized quarantine locations on Sunday and the test results of 13,150 people from the school were all negative.

"The school will start online teaching on Tuesday," he said.

In Chengdu, Sichuan province, which started citywide static management on Sept 1 due to the sudden epidemic outbreak, some districts, including Tianfu New Area and the high-tech industrial development zone, went back to normal on Monday having reported no cases in the past few days, according to the city's epidemic prevention and control headquarters on Sunday evening.
https://sputniknews.com/20220913/saudis-arrest-man-on-mecca-pilgrimage-to-save-soul-of-late-british-queen-1100719799.html

Saudis Arrest Man on Mecca Pilgrimage to Save Soul of Late British Queen

Saudis Arrest Man on Mecca Pilgrimage to Save Soul of Late British Queen

The Yemeni national was arrested under a law prohibiting pilgrims on the Hajj to Islam's holiest shrine from chanting slogans or waving placards and banners... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T13:37+0000

2022-09-13T13:37+0000

2022-09-13T13:38+0000

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Authorities in Saudi Arabia have detained a Yemeni man who made a pilgrimage to Mecca "on behalf of the late British queen."The man posted a video of himself on social media on Monday at Islam's holiest city  which non-Muslims are forbidden to enter  holding up cloth with a written message praying for the salvation of Queen Elizabeth II's soul.Saudi Twitter users quickly called for the man's arrest under laws forbidding pilgrims from carrying banners or chanting slogans in the city.Security forces stationed at the Grand Mosque "arrested a resident of Yemeni nationality who appeared in a video clip carrying a banner inside the Grand Mosque, violating the regulations and instructions for umrah," a statement carried by Saudi media said late on Monday.In her role as 'Defender of the Faith', the late queen was titular head of the Church of England, a reformed schism from the Roman Catholic church founded by King Henry VIII.All Muslims are expected to make the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in their lifetime.

https://sputniknews.com/20220724/saudi-authorities-arrest-national-who-aided-israeli-journalists-illegal-entry-to-mecca--1097734672.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/sco-to-accept-six-new-dialogue-partners-during-summit-in-samarkand-1100717376.html

SCO to Accept Six New Dialogue Partners During Summit in Samarkand

SCO to Accept Six New Dialogue Partners During Summit in Samarkand

TASHKENT (Sputnik) - Six countries will receive the status of dialogue partners in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at the summit in Samarkand... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T10:53+0000

2022-09-13T10:53+0000

2022-09-13T15:57+0000

shanghai cooperation organisation (sco)

sco summit in samarkand

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According to him, the Samarkand summit will be "a breakthrough in the issue of expanding the number of SCO partner states."Earlier, Uzbek Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov told reporters that the signing of memorandums on granting the status of a dialogue partner in the SCO with Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia was expected at the summit in Samarkand. Approval of applications for obtaining the status of partners with Bahrain and the Maldives is expected as well.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/seven-ships-leave-ukraine-under-istanbul-grain-deal-turkish-mod-says-1100712431.html

Seven Ships Leave Ukraine Under Istanbul Grain Deal, Turkish MoD Says

Seven Ships Leave Ukraine Under Istanbul Grain Deal, Turkish MoD Says

ANKARA (Sputnik) - Seven more ships have left Ukrainian ports under the Black Sea grain deal, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T09:13+0000

2022-09-13T09:13+0000

2022-09-13T09:14+0000

turkey

ukraine

grain

grain exports

russia

istanbul grain deal

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On July 22, Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey signed an UN-brokered initiative to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships with food and fertilizer exports from Black Sea ports. Three key Ukrainian ports  Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Yuzhne  were unblocked to resume exports. The Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Center (JCC) was set up to monitor the implementation of the initiative, including ensuring that cargo ships do not carry unauthorized goods or personnel.Since the signing of the deal, only 28% of grain shipments from Ukraine went to low-income countries, and 44% to high-income countries, according to a report of the JCC on September 12. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he will discuss a revision of the deal with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the upcoming SCO summit in Samarkand. Moreover, Russian envoy to the UN said the part of the deal concerning Russian food exports was not working altogether, which may lead to the termination of the agreements.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/some-democrats-still-compare-january-6th-to-911-1100701392.html

Some Democrats Still Compare January 6th to 9/11

Some Democrats Still Compare January 6th to 9/11

On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including Germany refusing to give Ukraine battle tanks, and Senator Mark... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T09:21+0000

2022-09-13T09:21+0000

2022-09-13T09:21+0000

us-mexico border

southern border

immigration

nafta

the backstory

radio

radio sputnik

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Some Democrats Still Compare January 6th to 9/11 On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including Germany refusing to give Ukraine battle tanks, and Senator Mark Warner comparing the January 6th riot to 9/11.

Todd Bensman- Senior National Security Fellow and Author | The Border is Not Secure, VP Kamala Harris, and Immigration PoliciesDarius Mayfield - Republican Congressional Candidate for New Jersey's 12th District | America First Candidates, Economic Investment for Black Americans, and Red LiningIn the first hour, Lee and Carmine Sabia spoke with Todd Bensman about Kamala Harris's comments on the Southern border, DHS, and work visas. Todd explained that the Biden administration consider the border secure, while allowing two million illegal migrants into America and the media being afraid to question Biden officials on immigration. Todd spoke about migrants from Africa coming to the Southern border and the lack of enforcement at the border.In the second hour, Lee and Carmine Sabia spoke with Darius Mayfield about his campaign for Congress, black farmers, and modern reparations for black Americans. Darius talked about the amount of doors he knocked on for his campaign and citizens' overall frustration with the Biden administration. Darius discussed the plight of black farmers in America and how young people in America look down on individualism.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comThe views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/taiwan-lawmakers-pay-official-visit-to-washington---media-1100718566.html

Taiwan Lawmakers Pay Official Visit to Washington - Media

Taiwan Lawmakers Pay Official Visit to Washington - Media

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Five Taiwanese parliament members arrived in Washington on September 12 to hold closed-door meetings with US officials, Taiwanese news... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T11:16+0000

2022-09-13T11:16+0000

2022-09-13T11:16+0000

us-china tensions over taiwan

taiwan

us

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The delegation includes four members of the Taiwanese opposition Kuomintang party and one member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), two more DPP members are scheduled to join the delegation, Chen was cited as saying by CNA.This visit, which is the first one since the Taiwanese parliamentary USA Caucus was founded in 2020, is aimed at deepening bilateral ties, the report said. The Taiwanese officials are scheduled to hold closed-door meetings with US congressmen, as well as with the officials of the US State Department and the US Defense Department, according to CNA.The delegation is expected to return back to Taiwan on Saturday.The situation around Taiwan escalated after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in early August. China condemned Pelosi's trip, which it regarded as a gesture of support for separatism, and launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island. After Pelosis visit, three more US delegations arrived in Taiwan in just one month.Taiwan became alienated from Beijing after becoming a stronghold of the Chinese Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang) that suffered defeat to the Communist Party in a civil war in 1949. The Chinese mainland and the island resumed business and informal contacts in the late 1980s. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign countries with Taiwan and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/thousands-of-bjp-workers-reportedly-detained-in-west-bengal-after-clashes-with-police-1100721672.html

Thousands of BJP Workers Reportedly Detained in West Bengal After Clashes With Police

Thousands of BJP Workers Reportedly Detained in West Bengal After Clashes With Police

Earlier this week, West Bengal's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced an unauthorized march towards the state assembly. 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T14:46+0000

2022-09-13T14:46+0000

2022-09-13T14:46+0000

india

west bengal

bharatiya janata party (bjp)

kolkata

protest

protest

political protest

violent protest

mamata banerjee

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West Bengal Police detained thousands of BJP members in several districts on Tuesday after they tried to reach the capital Kolkata to hold a march against State Chief Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress (TMC) party, reported Indian Express.The detained members included opposition leaders Suvendu Adhikari, Locket Chatterjee, Taapshi Mondol and Dipankar Gharami.Meanwhile, BJP members in Kolkata and neighboring Howrah arrived at the protest site to march towards state secretariat building over alleged corruption by the ruling TMC government.However, protesters were stopped by police, which used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd near Kolkatas Howrah Bridge. Demonstrators engaged in scuffles with the police in Kolkatas Lalbazar and MG Road areas, and a police vehicle was set on fire. In Santragachi, protesters pelted police with stones as they chased away the demonstrators.Police have imposed restrictions and barricaded the railway stations to prevent more protesters from reaching Kolkata.The BJP has alleged that police selectively picked their workers from trains and detained them. Meanwhile, BJP politician Adhikari accused the TMC convener and State Chief Banerjee of "turning West Bengal into North Korea.""Banerjee does not have the support of her people, so she is enforcing dictatorship, similar to North Korea, in Bengal. The police will have to pay for what it is doing. The BJP is coming," Adhikari said.Police told the Indian Express daily that permission for the march was denied, and that they'd imposed a section 144 ban on large gatherings around the secretariat building.TMC's regional general secretary, Kunal Ghosh, explained that, "BJP doesn't have a strategy. They do not have workers. The crowd you see is of police and media."This is believed to be the BJP's largest protest in the state since it lost the election in May 2021.

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west bengal, bharatiya janata party (bjp), kolkata, protest, protest, political protest, violent protest, mamata banerjee
https://sputniknews.com/20220913/tigray-rebels-in-ethiopia-accuse-government-of-launching-air-strike-on-regional-center-1100709923.html

Tigray Rebels in Ethiopia Accuse Government of Launching Air Strike on Regional Center

Tigray Rebels in Ethiopia Accuse Government of Launching Air Strike on Regional Center

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ethiopia's northern Tigray region was hit by an airstrike on Tuesday morning, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) said. 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T08:11+0000

2022-09-13T08:11+0000

2022-09-13T08:11+0000

africa

ethiopia

tplf (tigray people's liberation front)

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An official at a local hospital also confirmed the airstrikes.There has been no official information from government officials about the incident yet.Last week, the TPLF agreed to a ceasefire and the start of peace talks with the Ethiopian government under the auspices of the African Union.Ethiopia has been struggling with a violent internal conflict since November 2020, when the central government accused the TPLF of attacking its military base and launched an anti-terrorist operation in the region. In June 2021, the rebels of the TPLF seized the city of Mekelle, the administrative regional center, and the government declared an unconditional ceasefire.owever, the rebels launched a new offensive soon after and took control of the southern part of Tigray and the neighboring Amhara region. The ongoing conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced millions of people, and caused a dire humanitarian crisis across the country.A new truce was reached in March 2022, when the Ethiopian authorities announced the introduction of an indefinite humanitarian truce for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Tigray. In June, Ethiopian Prime Minister announced the creation of a committee for negotiations with the TPLF.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/top-hungarian-diplomat-says-necessary-to-prevent-direct-nato-russia-conflict-1100727240.html

Top Hungarian Diplomat Says Necessary to Prevent Direct NATO-Russia Conflict

Top Hungarian Diplomat Says Necessary to Prevent Direct NATO-Russia Conflict

BUDAPEST (Sputnik) - It is necessary to prevent a possible direct conflict between Russia and NATO, which is one of the tasks of the Hungarian forces... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T13:43+0000

2022-09-13T13:43+0000

2022-09-13T13:43+0000

russia

nato

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Hungary is performing a rotating NATO air-policing mission over the Baltic States from August 1 to November 30, using four Gripen combat jets and 50 military personnel.Top Hungarian diplomat also stressed the importance of the development of the national army and emphasized that without the Hungarian army and aviation NATO would not be so strong.In April, Russia sent a note to NATO member states condemning their military assistance to Ukraine amid ongoing special military operation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that any arms shipments on the Ukrainian territory would be "legitimate targets" for Russian forces. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly claimed that the alliance is not planning a direct confrontation with Russia, but would continue to supply weapons to Ukraine.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/turkey-requests-clarification-from-ukraine-on-anti-turkish-campaign-in-kiev-reports-say-1100707086.html

Ankara Requests Clarification From Ukraine on Anti-Turkish Campaign in Kiev, Reports Say

Ankara Requests Clarification From Ukraine on Anti-Turkish Campaign in Kiev, Reports Say

ANKARA (Sputnik) - Turkey has requested a clarification from Kiev and demanded Ukraine take steps in connection with a massive campaign against Turkish... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T06:52+0000

2022-09-13T06:52+0000

2022-09-13T07:05+0000

turkey

ukraine

russia

russia's special operation in ukraine

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The campaign calling for sanctions against Turkish businessmen and banks began in Ukraine over Ankara's non-alignment with the Western policy against Russia, the newspaper said earlier on Monday. Reportedly, a list of heads of Turkish banks Ziraat, Isbank and Credit Europe Bank with their photos and calls for sanctions against them and their companies was published in Ukraine.According to diplomatic sources, Turkey has brought to the attention of the Ukrainian side its protest against this initiative and requested a clarification of the situation. The Turkish embassy in Kiev has also taken similar measures, the report said. On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine, responding to calls for assistance from the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The West and its allies have responded by imposing comprehensive sanctions against Russia. Turkey, in turn, has emerged as the key mediator between Moscow and Kiev, hosting several rounds of negotiations since the beginning of the hostilities.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/un-warns-at-least-1bln-needed-to-prevent-major-famine-in-somalia-1100722237.html

UN Warns at Least $1Bln Needed to Prevent Major Famine in Somalia

UN Warns at Least $1Bln Needed to Prevent Major Famine in Somalia

The African nation is going through a two-year period of severe drought, which, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) may be the biggest such disaster in... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T12:46+0000

2022-09-13T12:46+0000

2022-09-13T12:46+0000

africa

somalia

martin griffiths

famine

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According to Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations, the organization needs one billion dollars to prevent a major disaster in Somalia this year. The official stated that at least two regions of the country would be hit by famine between October and December unless the humanitarian aid arrives.Griffiths added that famine wins in too many countries around the world, as the number of people suffering from hunger is expected to be 10 times higher than during the food crisis of 2016-2017.The UN official noted that up to 205 mln people will face acute food crises in 45 countries later this year, including Afghanistan, Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Yemen.

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You are here: China

The Chinese mainland on Monday reported 188 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 126 were in Sichuan, according to the National Health Commission's report on Tuesday.

A total of 727 local asymptomatic carriers were newly identified.

A total of 476 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery on the Chinese mainland on Monday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals after recovery to 236,677.

Monday saw no new deaths from COVID-19, with the total death toll at 5,226.
https://sputniknews.com/20220913/us-considering-sanctions-package-against-china-pressuring-eu-to-join---reports-1100741249.html

US Considering Sanctions Package Against China, Pressuring EU to Join - Reports

US Considering Sanctions Package Against China, Pressuring EU to Join - Reports

Relations between Taipei and Beijing have been deteriorating since US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi spoke with Taiwanese officials in August. 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T22:03+0000

2022-09-13T22:03+0000

2022-09-13T22:03+0000

world

us

eu

us-china relations

china

taiwan

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The United States is considering a sanctions package to discourage China from invading Taiwan, and both Taipei and Washington are pressuring the European Union to follow suit, according to a report published by Reuters on Tuesday.Deliberations between Washington and the EU, along with separate lobbying of the EU by Taipei, are said to be in the early stages.The proposed sanctions are in response to increased tensions in the area, which were partially brought on by the US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosis trip to Taipei, which Beijing publicly condemned and saw as a provocation.The US and much of the West already restricts trade of certain computer components and telecom equipment from China over corporate espionage fears. The Biden administration also recently restricted sales of artificial intelligence chips to Chinese companies, unless those companies receive Commerce Department licenses first.The new sanctions package would be in addition to those sanctions. Reuters source did not provide them with any additional details.Last month, China fired missiles over Taiwan and sailed warships near the island in response to Pelosis trip to Taipei.Reunifying Taiwan with mainland China has long been a goal of the Chinese government, something that Chinese President Xi Jinping has reiterated his commitment to. The US government has officially supported reunification in its one-China policy, though Washington stresses that it should come through peaceful means. Xi has not ruled out the possibility of taking the island by force.Washington is taking a similar approach as it did with Russia before Russias special military operation in Ukraine, hoping that a sanctions package will discourage China from sending troops into Taiwan. That strategy, however, did not have the stated intended effect of discouraging Russia from using military force in Ukraine.The White House has declined to comment on any potential sanctions package against China, but according to an official of a country Reuters says is in close coordination with Washington, the US is quietly attempting to get European and Asian countries on board with a sanctions plan while avoiding provoking Beijing.Meanwhile, Taiwans foreign ministry said it has spoken with the US, Europe, and other partners about Chinas wargames in the region, but declined to discuss details.Taipei has been calling for sanctions against mainland China since early in the year but has doubled down in the wake of China's wargames in the region. Another concern is a Chinese government white paper that did not include a previous promise to not send in troops or administrators if Beijing took control of Taiwan.The EU has been hesitant to impose sanctions against China, including for alleged human rights violations, because the region is more entangled economically with China than it was with Russia. Any sanctions coming from the EU would require all 27 member nations to agree to sanction China, which is difficult to obtain.When sanctions with Russia were being considered, Germany was a major hurdle because of that countrys dependence on Russian gas. Surging gas prices in Germany and the rest of the EU have taken a toll on the continents economy and many regions are facing energy rationing this winter if the situation does not improve.Germany, which is often called the economic engine of the EU, is said to be wary of imposing sanctions on China, whom it depends on for raw materials, batteries, and semiconductors. However, on Tuesday the countrys economic minister said that the government is working on a new trade policy with China to reduce that dependence.

https://sputniknews.com/20220913/provoking-china-is-dangerous-for-australia-as-us-proxy-former-australian-official-1100719270.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220913/western-sanctions-are-creating-new-east-tilting-russia-1100712566.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/us-navy-drops-sanctions-on-special-forces-troops-who-refused-covid-19-jabs-on-religious-grounds-1100732468.html

US Navy Drops Sanctions on Special Forces Troops Who Refused COVID-19 Jabs on 'Religious Grounds'

US Navy Drops Sanctions on Special Forces Troops Who Refused COVID-19 Jabs on 'Religious Grounds'

A group of 35 US Navy SEALs launched a lawsuit against the service arm earlier this year after it barred them from training and deployment fore declining the... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T17:15+0000

2022-09-13T17:15+0000

2022-09-13T17:15+0000

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The US Navy has quietly dropped its threat of punishment against members of its special forces unit who have refused the COVID-19 vaccine.The so-called "Trident Order #12", issued in September 2021, barred members of the Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) teams from training, deployment and other routine duties.Lescher claimed that refusing the Biden administration's vaccine mandate would cause "immediate harm to the Navy" and "to the national security of the United States," even warning that it could be treated as "dereliction of duty."But Fox News reported on Tuesday that the order has now been withdrawn, months after a group of 35 active-duty SEALs won an initial court injunction against it.Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the order as part of a still-ongoing lawsuit brought by First Liberty Institute and Hacker Stephens LLP on behalf of the sailors.According to recently-filed court papers, the navy top brass sent out a communication on May 23 under the title: "NSWC CLOSEOUT TO TRIDENT ORDER #12 - MANDATORY VACCINATION FOR COVID-19."But the message also states that all of the navy's commands "will continue to follow guidance, as appropriate, regarding COVID-19 vaccination, accommodation requests, and mitigation measures."In the court filing, attorney Heather Gebelin Hacker said no new order had been issued to replace the rescinded one."To the best of counsels knowledge, Trident Order #12 was not replaced," Hacker wrote "As the Court will recall, Trident Order #12 stated that SEALs who are unvaccinated due to religious beliefs are medically disqualified, though SEALs who are unvaccinated due to medical reasons are not automatically disqualified."A navy spokesperson refused to confirm that, telling Fox News only that: "The Navy does not comment on ongoing litigation."But Mike Berry, the First Liberty Institute's senior counsel and director of military affairs, said the special forces troops were relieved of their duties and accused the navy of religious prejudice.A total of 4,244 US Navy personnel out of a total of some 350,000 have reportedly sought a religious exemption from receiving the vaccine  roughly 1.2 per cent.

https://sputniknews.com/20220912/video-danish-vessel-collides-with-us-navy-ship-during-fleet-week-gathering-in-maryland-1100663013.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/vast-ukrainian-bot-army-exposed-queen-elizabeth-passes-former-uk-colonies-recall-atrocities-1100700376.html

Vast Ukrainian Bot Army Exposed; Queen Elizabeth Passes; Former UK Colonies Recall Atrocities

Vast Ukrainian Bot Army Exposed; Queen Elizabeth Passes; Former UK Colonies Recall Atrocities

Former colonies of the United Kingdom are recalling atrocities committed by the British empire and are finding it difficult to join the procession of mourning... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T09:33+0000

2022-09-13T09:33+0000

2022-09-13T09:33+0000

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Vast Ukrainian Bot Army Exposed; Queen Elizabeth Passes; Former UK Colonies Recall Atrocities Former colonies of the United Kingdom are recalling atrocities committed by the British empire and are finding it difficult to join the procession of mourning over the passing of the Queen.

Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us to discuss the Ukraine crisis. A vast pro-Ukraine army of bots online is pushing the neocon narrative.Obi Egbuna, activist and US Representative for The Zimbabwean Newspapers, joins us to discuss the death of the British Monarch. Former colonies of the United Kingdom are recalling atrocities committed by the Brits and are finding it difficult to join the procession of mourning over the passing of the British monarch.K. J. Noh, peace activist, and writer, joins us to discuss China. Liz Truss is viewed as an ultra-hawk who is likely to increase tensions with China. Also, we discuss the rise of a new economic system with the two Eurasian powerhouses in the lead.Dan Lazare, investigative journalist, joins us to discuss refugee and migrant policies. The US and EU are welcoming Ukrainian refugees as Haitians are brutally deported from the US border. Also, after refusing African and Muslim refugees, the EU is welcoming Ukrainian refugees with open arms and open wallets.Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to discuss the Middle East. Israeli officials are working to kill the US return to the Iran nuclear agreement. Also, a delegation of Hamas leaders has arrived in Moscow to discuss mutual ties, and President Trump reveals that the Bagram Air Force Base was used to spy on China.Jon Jeter, journalist, and author, joins us to discuss the Global South. Former colonies of the United Kingdom are recalling atrocities committed by the Brits and finding it difficult to join the procession of mourning over the passing of the British monarch. Also, China and Latin America are set to increase cooperation in technology.Linwood Tauheed, associate professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, joins us to discuss the EU economic crisis. Germany is committing economic suicide at the behest of its US masters. Also, the recession in Europe is an economic boon for US energy companies and Russian hydrocarbon revenues are set to soar.Netfa Freeman, Host of Voices With Vision on WPFW 89.3 FM, Pan-Africanist and internationalist organizer, joins us to discuss Cuba. The FBI is harassing Puerto Rican activists who are delivering medical aid to Cuba. Also, the Cuban government is criticizing President Biden for continuing with a decades-long embargo.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comThe views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/western-sanctions-are-creating-new-east-tilting-russia-1100712566.html

Western Sanctions Are Creating New, East-Tilting Russia

Western Sanctions Are Creating New, East-Tilting Russia

Wang Wen - I spent half an hour walking from the first floor to the fifth floor of Galeria Shopping Mall, the largest shopping mall in the very heart of St... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T09:15+0000

2022-09-13T09:15+0000

2022-09-13T09:15+0000

russia

china

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The vast majority of brands are still there. The Apple store clerk told me that they have been open since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began with only a token day of closure. What's more interesting is that while McDonald's on the fifth floor is closed, KFC is open, and its business is improving with long queues all day long.The mall was crowded with people. The nearby Neva street was full of tourists from all over the world, and many attractions were also crowded. It is obvious that the daily lives of Russians have not been substantially affected by Western sanctions.Of course, sanctions have had some impacts on middle- and upper-income groups. It is hard for them to travel to Europe, and it is becoming more difficult to purchase some European and American brands, high-tech products, and replacement parts. Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. have suspended their Russian operations.However, Russia found alternatives quickly. For example, whilst the children's toy brand LEGO has now rarely been seen in Russia, BELA, a toy brand from China, has soon replaced the original LEGO market.More impressively, at the Eastern Economic Forum held in Vladivostok in early September, I saw thriving scenes in Russia. Guests from 68 countries participated in the Eastern Economic Forum. I did not see any representatives from the US, but there were a few scholars and representatives from Japan, Norway, and so on.President Vladimir Putin gave a significant speech at the forum. The core meaning was that the US' dominance in world politics is declining, and it is impossible for any country to isolate Russia.Putin's speech drew several rounds of applause from the audience. Perhaps what everyone was trying to convey was that the rest of the world would go on without the US! Gone are the days when Washington dictated to the world to do as it wanted.Especially when it comes to Far Eastern integration, a world without the US may be taking shape. The world's largest industrial manufacturing belt is being formed in the Far East. An international pattern of cross-border labor division between China, Japan, South Korea and ASEAN has been built and total exports of the region have already exceeded those of the EU and North America combined.The next two decades will see the largest transfer of wealth in history, from both sides of the Atlantic to the Far East, where thousands of wealth management and trust companies are being set up. The Far East is becoming the innovation hub of the smart revolution. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo are among the world's high-tech cities, and technologies such as driverless transport, urban IoT deployment, sensor networks, cashless payments, energy-saving technologies, energy storage batteries, urban surveillance, and telemedicine are innovating and spreading far faster in Far Eastern countries than in Europe, the US, and other countries.The attraction of technological innovation has led to a growing number of talented people being attracted to the Far East. Since the financial crisis in 2008, the number of Americans living overseas for work or permanent residence has risen dramatically, with 4 million in 1999 and 10 million in 2019. The Far East is becoming the most favored destination by Americans heading overseas. China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore all have national talent programs to attract entrepreneurs, scientists and innovators to the Far East for stable, long-term residency.Russia is precisely the most typical country that is accelerating its leaning toward the Far East. From this point of view, Western sanctions will not kill Russia, but will create a new Russia, which is giving up its illusions about the West and gradually embedding deeper into the East, finding a new self by enjoying the dividends of the rise of the East.This article was originally published by the Global Times. The author is professor and executive dean of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220913/why-bidens-draining-of-strategic-petroleum-reserves-is-grave-mistake-1100737615.html

Why Bidens Draining of Strategic Petroleum Reserves is Grave Mistake

Why Bidens Draining of Strategic Petroleum Reserves is Grave Mistake

US emergency crude reserves fell 8.4 million barrels last week to 434.1 million barrels, their lowest levels since October 1984, according to the US Department... 13.09.2022, Sputnik International

2022-09-13T17:30+0000

2022-09-13T17:30+0000

2022-09-13T18:21+0000

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us

russia

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"In the short term, a reduction of this scale isnt critical for US energy security since the US government intends to replace the SPR releases albeit at higher oil prices," explained Dr Mamdouh G Salameh, an international oil economist and a global energy expert.Another critical factor, according to Salameh, is the ever-shrinking global spare oil production capacity, including OPEC+, making it more difficult for the US to replace the crude it released from its SPR, which amounts to 240 million barrels (mb) so far.The latest DOE's figures "underline the long term deterioration of US energy security and the failure of SPR releases to stem the rise in crude oil prices. It also underlines growing US imports of crude oil and the fact that US shale oil production is a spent force," the international oil economist added.The US' SPR is stored at four major oil storage facilities in the Gulf Coast region of the United States, two sites in Texas (Bryan Mound and Big Hill), and two in Louisiana (West Hackberry and Bayou Choctaw). SPR releases of crude oil can occur under four conditions: emergency drawdowns, test sales, exchange agreements, and nonemergency sales, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).The SPR was created in December 1975 following the 1973 oil embargo imposed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Washington over the latter's support to Israel during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. The embargo blocked the US from importing oil from participating OPEC nations, and initiated a series of production cuts that gave a boost to the world's crude prices. The price of oil nearly quadrupled from $2.90 a barrel before the embargo to $11.65 a barrel in January 1974.As of last week, the SPR inventory was 434.1 million barrels. The highest inventory of emergency oil was registered in December 2010 when the storage was filled to 726.6 million barrels.According to Salameh, the present US emergency reserves equate to 21 days of oil at 2019 daily US consumption levels of 20.54 million barrels a day (mbd), or 47 days of oil at 2019 daily import levels of 9.14 mbd.According to the political commentator, draining the SPR now is "absolutely the wrong strategic decision by the Biden administration."Energy Prices Rally & SPR ReleasesUS energy prices started rallying months before Russia's special operation in Ukraine.The American Petroleum Institute's (API) president and CEO Mike Sommers told Fox News in November 2021 that Biden policies were a key factor in surging gasoline costs. According to the consumer price index (CPI), energy prices soared 4.8% in October 2021 being up 30% from the previous year. The API blamed the hike on Biden blocking petroleum sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), cancelling the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, and cutting leasing and permitting on federal lands. The aforementioned policies came as part of Biden's climate change initiative as his administration pledged to achieve a net-zero economy by 2050.The US president repeatedly urged domestic petroleum producers and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to bolster production to no avail. US producers cited the fact that beefing up oil extraction would take time, while the leading OPEC member, Saudi Arabia, stated on July 16 that the only thing Riyadh can do is boost crude production from 10 million barrels per day to 13 million per day by 2027, adding that there is no additional capacity."In order to arrest the rise in gasoline prices which could have a detrimental political impact on his political career, President Biden ordered the release of large volumes of crude from the SPR," Salameh noted.In November 2021, the White House announced the release of 50 million barrels of oil from the strategic reserves "to lower prices for Americans and address the mismatch between demand exiting the [COVID] pandemic and supply." In March 2022, Joe Biden authorized a further release of 1 million barrels of oil per day for the next six months. The announcement came after Washington slapped sweeping sanctions on most of Russia's economic sectors including energy, finances and logistics in the wake of Moscow's special military operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine. According to the Washington Post, the biggest withdrawal in the reserves more than 46-year history was aimed at "starv[ing] Russia of revenue and cut[ting] the cost American consumers are paying at the pump.Energy Embargo and Price Caps is Recipe for DisasterThe Washington Post reported on September 11, citing US officials, that if Russia keeps selling oil to world markets and only reduces gas exports to Europe, the effect on the US economy would most likely be minimal. However, a complete shut off of Russian oil could pose a threat to the US, according to the WaPo. Therefore, the Biden administration is advocating "price caps" on Russia's energy supplies in order to strip the nation of revenues while still keeping Russia's hydrocarbons on the market to safeguard the world economy from energy shocks.Meanwhile, Russian crude oil exports of 8.0 mbd remain irreplaceable, underscored Salameh.Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that anti-Russia sanctions could take 2.85 million barrels of Russian crude per day off the world market. However, some economists suggested that the gap could be even wider. Under this scenario, Biden's SPR releases of 1 million barrels per day will struggle to fill the void. "The way oil economics work is you have a globally priced commodity. So, a disruption anywhere impacts prices everywhere," David Goldwyn, the head of Goldwyn Global Strategies, told Al Jazeera in April."Western sanctions and proposals to cap prices of Russian crude will fail miserably thus imposing an exceptionally heavy financial loss on Western economies particularly the United States and plunging them into a very harsh recession," Salameh concluded.

https://sputniknews.com/20220913/us-strategic-crude-reserves-nosedive-to-their-lowest-levels-since-1984-1100727084.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220912/us-capitalizing-on-eu-energy-crisis--recession-but-blowback-round-the-corner-experts-warn-1100694850.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220716/from-energy-to-security-did-biden-get-everything-he-wanted-from-saudi-arabia-1097386551.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220909/treasury-us-to-maintain-ban-on-russian-oil-imports-even-after-implementation-of-price-cap-on-crude--1100621727.html

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The race to connect rural Virginia continues at various speeds, even as localities compete for more government funding to fill in the digital divide still putting millions at a disadvantage.

In Culpeper County, a tentative start date is December for the first section of homes to connect to All Points Broadband, through the nearly two-year-long, government-led initiative to bring internet to its citizens.

The Leesburg-based company is overseeing the project here and similar ones around the state. Rappahannock Electric Cooperative and Dominion Energy are funding partners in Culpeper County, allowing access via existing power lines for broadband equipment and extensions.

Culpeper Countys $34 million, 536-mile fiber-to-home project will reach more than 4,000 addresses currently without affordable access to high-speed. The board of supervisors and county staff has been negotiating the mostly grant-funded project since fall of 2020.

A plan to bring reliable internet to the people in the country has been longer in the works in Culpeper, though availability during COVID of federal and state dollars to build the networks has finally quickened the process, but not fast enough for some.

Meanwhile, in Orange County, Fiberlync recently connected its 3,000th rural customer to dependable, affordable, high-speed internet since the board of supervisors there formed its own company in April 2021.

Next step: evaluate 10,400 poles

Culpeper County executed its contract with the Commonwealth of Virginia on Aug. 4, 2022 for use of VATI funds covering a quarter of total project costs through the highly-competitive Virginia Telecommunications Initiative.

Now, All Points is working with the electric companies to analyze and approve each of the thousands of electric poles on which it will place attachments for the fiber-to-home.

That pole review is slated to take three months from the contract executionby early November, according to Culpeper County Grants Administrator Laura Loveday.

The first homes in Culpeper County will be offered service beginning in project month 4, according to the contract with All Points. That means by the December holidays, weather permitting, of course.

Now, power poles are being evaluated to be sure they can handle the extra load of the additional fiber, according to REC Director of Broadband and Fiber Services Mark Ponton, in a county staff report at the June 14 Culpeper County Board of Supervisors Public Works Committee meeting.

In many cases, there are already attachments on the poles and make-ready work needs to be done to see if existing cables need to be raised or lowered. They also need to check if poles are tall enough and can carry the excess weight and strain, according to the REC report.

A designer will evaluate and make these decisions, and it will take a bit of time to field the poles, evaluate them in a software system, and create an order for any poles that need updating.

At that point, a construction crew will make any necessary updates and then fiber can be constructed on the poles, according to the REC report to the committee.

If poles need to be replaced due to structural issues, that will be the responsibility of REC, according to Loveday.

If poles need to be replaced due to requirements related to broadband equipment, that is All Points responsibility, she said.

According to REC, the vast majority of the pole replacements are due to communications requirements, Loveday said.

Communications equipment needs to be at least 40 inches below any electric equipment.

All Points leadership said the pole attachment issue is mainly one of scale.

Were targeting about 10,400 poles across the county. That is just an order of magnitude more than what the electric utility partners are used to processing in such a short period, according to a committee report.

REC is a great partner and is ahead of others when it comes to fiber deployment because they have completed more than most electric utilities.

All Points has designed several months worth of fiber construction with the first phase of field activity now starting, to make-ready the utility poles, according to a presentation in June. The company said it would actively work with REC and Dominion to improve efficiencies for the 10,000+ poles.

Customers will be notified approximately 90 days in advance of serviceability, according to the company. Residents interested in signing up can do so at fiber.allpointsbroadband.com.

All Points is currently hiring field technicians, customer support representatives, and field sales representatives. Fiber contractors interested in working with them should email OSP@allpointsbroadband.com

Cost and project update

Once the fiber is in place, residents seeking to connect will pay a $99 fee for a maximum 500-feet extension to their home. All Points will charge $1.15-$1.25 per additional foot to make the connection. Service will start at $59.99 monthly, up to $109.99.

Households meeting income requirements could qualify for a $30 per month discount through a federal affordability program.

All Points Broadband will be providing periodic public updates as the project progresses, said Director of Government Affairs Kyle Rosner in an email last week to the Star-Exponent.

We are working closely with our electric utility partners and contractors on the many discrete tasks that have to be completed in the course of a project of this scale, he said.

In Orange County, Fiberlync is solely laying underground cable, and is not putting apparatus on rural utility poles prone to extended outages during severe weather.

This is more costly, but if the power does go out, Fiberlyn customers with a generator still have internet at the house. The Star-Exponent asked All Points how dependable their service would be, located on utility lines.

Rosner replied in the email saying the decision about whether a particular route will be aerial or buried is based on a cost benefit analysis that considers both upfront and ongoing operating costs.

It is difficult to make sweeping statements about the specific impact of a particular weather event at a particular location at some point in the future. There are just too many variables, he said.

VATI grants next round, Comcast wants in

All Points Broadband has been the recipient of millions in VATI funding for its various projects around the state, primarily working with electric companies.

Orange County Supervisor Jim White heads up the Orange Broadband Authority in charge of Fiberlync. A request for funding for continued extension of the service was turned down last year for a VATI grant, for various reasons, according to state officials, one being the costlier investment in underground cable.

Orange County recently submitted a second VATI grant application seeking $2.5 million toward a $13 million extension that will reach the last, last-mile, White told the Star-Exponent during a recent event in the Town of Orange. The 88-mile extension of Fiberlync would reach 697 homes, he said.

Culpeper County, in an unlikely partnership, is also applying for FY23 VATI fundingin conjunction with cable giant, Comcast.

The ask is for $8.8 million, with a cash match by Comcast, of $2.2 million. The project would reach rural pockets of the county currently listed in census blocks as served by Comcast or other providers, but not really.

If awarded, the majority state-funded project would extend Comcast infrastructure 118 miles. The extension would serve the remaining 758 locations in Culpeper County not covered by the previous VATI grant.

Serving homes inaccurately listed by Comcast as served in census tractsthe so-called Swiss cheese on the maphas long been a point of contention and frustration for many residents unable to get the cable provider, or anyone else, to provide high-speed. It makes homes and entire areas ineligible for grant funded internet extensions.

The FCC is working to update those maps by this fall so that it will not list areas served with internet as census tracts, but address by individual address.

We found 150 small pockets of under-served, primarily residential, without internet service in census areas that claim to be served, Loveday said.

Federal dollars could also help bring service to these areas if the VATI grant with Comcast is not successful, she said.

Catalpa Supervisor Paul Bates, at the Sept. 6 regular meeting, questioned the cost of nearly $9 million to serve 758 houses with Comcast internet.

I have angst about takingtaxpayer money and giving it to a company thats supposed to be serving these areas, he said.
The Regional Internet Service Expansion (RISE) Broadband Project is officially underway in Madison County.

Last month, Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission signed a contract with Virginia Dept. of Housing and Community Development, launching the $288 million fiber internet construction project.

Firefly is partnering with Rappahannock Electric Cooperative and Dominion Energy on the project that will provide affordable, reliable high-speed internet to more than 36,000 businesses and residences.

The project is being funded via a $79 million Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI) grant administered by the planning district along with $209 million in local and private sector matching funds.

Madison is one of 13 counties in the project, and is contributing approximately $2.1 million.

We are thankful for our partnership with Firefly and DHCD to get this project up and running, TJPDC Executive Director Christine Jacobs said. We are especially excited to see expansion of high-speed fiber internet become a reality across our greater region.

The RISE project is expected to take three years to be fully completed and will cover portions of Albemarle , Amherst, Appomattox, Buckingham, Campbell, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Goochland, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, and Powhatan counties.

In Madison, the project will cover the eastern and southern portions of the countyBrightwood, Oak Park, Locust Dale, Radiant and Rochelle to name a few. In Greene, the project covers mainly the northern and western parts of the county including Dyke. A small portion of Greene is also covered through Firefly, but is not part of the RISE project. Its also possible that additional areas may be added into the project in both counties.

Some portions of each county were previously covered via an FCC grant to other companies including CenturyLink and Fiberlight. However, the same areas were added into the RISEVATI grant application, forcing the two companies to either enter into agreements with the counties to build out their systems within three yearshalf the time required by the federal grant regulationsor give up the areas and funding allowing them to be taken over by Firefly. Those agreements had to be signed before Firefly signed its VATI contract. Its unknown if any agreements were signed.

Last month, the Madison County Board of Supervisors voted to apply for a second round of VATI grants which would also expand the coverage area. Unlike the first round, unserved areas are now defined as those receiving less than 100 mbps download and 20 mbps upload speeds. Previously the threshold was much lower. Also, areas that were covered via a state or federal grant in the past are now eligibleanother change from the first round of grants.

Supervisors partnered with Firefly in the countys application for the second round of grants. Grant announcements will be made later this year. Its unknown when the RISE project will be completed in Madison County. Stanardsville is estimated to be completed in spring 2023 with portions of Madison completed sometime after that. Residents in the RISE project area can keep up with its ongoing progressbyvisitingfireflyva.com/ rise.
Regard for those who perished in the terrorist mayhem of Sept. 11, 2011, still burns bright in Culpeper.

On Sunday, the rainy 21st anniversary of that terrible day, many dozens of Culpeper County people turned out to honor the tragedys victims and their loved ones. They held events at three sites to note the precise times when four hijacked jetliners crashed in Arlington, Va., New York City and Shanksville, Pa.

At the last place, the heart of Culpeper, police halted traffic in downtowns busiest crossroads so a bugler could play Taps, first responders and the Culpeper Minute Menringing the squarecould salute the fallen, and a fire truck could hoist the U.S. flag above Main and Davis streets. Townsfolk and passersby, including the brother of a local flight attendant killed in the Pentagon attack, lined sidewalks to watch.

That observance at 10:03 a.m. marked the moment when United Flight 93 crashed into a field in Somerset County, Pa., diverted by some of its passengers so the plane couldnt crash into the U.S. Capitol or White House in Washington, D.C. Just before bugler Dave Shuma, of New Baltimore, tooted Taps in a pouring rain, announcers April and McKenzie Quinn noted that he would play the tune in memory of the heroic citizens who gave their lives that day to save many more.

Soon afterward, a dozen or so people went to the towns Yowell Meadow Park and walked along Mountain Run until they reached the shady grove that shelters a granite bench honoring Ken and Jennifer Lewis, married flight attendants from Culpeper who died aboard American Flight 77 in Arlington. The couple loved to walk in Yowell and enjoy its natural sights and sounds.

Jennifers brother, Geoff Gore, and his wife, Colleen, walked to the spot, joined by area residents, to honor Jennifer and Ken at what locals have dubbed the Kennifer bench.

Prayers were said and tears were shed. The Gores bowed their heads with Culpeper resident, Bobbie Sue Beers, her daughter Mary, and Theresa, an exchange student from Italy. First responders from Culpeper Countys Richardsville Volunteer Fire Department, in uniform, stood a respectful distance away.

The Gores, who live in Bennington, Vt., paused in Culpeper during a trip south.

We were on our way to visit friends in Virginia Beach and decided to stop here, he said of taking a day to honor Jennifer and Ken. We visited their gravesite yesterday.

The Lewises are interred in Culpepers Fairview Cemetery. Geoff bought a brush and cleaned off their gravestone on Sunday, he said. His parentswho lived in New Hampshire at the time of 9/11are buried there, too.

Colleen said Geoffs brothers, who live in Colorado and Michigan, would have loved to have been in Culpeper for its 2022 commemoration. His Michigan brother is retired from years work as a flight attendant, and his wife is a retired airline pilot, Geoff said.

There are no words for the suffering wrought on Sept. 11, 2001, they agreed. The loss of Jennifer and Ken was really tough on Jennifers mom, Geoff said.

For the ceremonies, they flew us to the Pentagon and all this other stuff, he recalled with obvious grief. It was pretty overwhelming.

Earlier Monday at the county courthouse, the commander of Culpepers Veterans of Foreign Wars post told a reporter that Culpepers 9/11 commemoration may now be unique in the nationthe only purely local event still held two decades after one of the worst days in U.S. history.

These 9/11 commemorations in Culpeper are a wonderful display of small-town patriotism, VFW commander Keith Price, a former Town Council member, said Monday, expanding on his earlier thought. It is inspiring that year after year someone picks up the ball and leads the effort to coordinate these events to make sure we do not forget the people we lost that day.

I am not aware of any other public observance like this outside New York, Washington and Shanksville where the attacks actually occurred. This represents the best of America.

The morning of 9/11 observances began in front of the Culpeper County Volunteer Fire Station at 8:46 a.m., when American Airlines Flight 11 flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. There, as firemen, police, sheriffs deputies and heritage-society members lined West Davis Street, Shuma played Taps in memory of the firefighters and medics who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

A short while later, the ceremony was repeated in the courtyard between the courthouse and the Sheriffs Office at 9:03 a.m., when United Flight 175 hit the World Trade Centers South Tower. The moment was held in memory of the law enforcement officers who died that day.

And at 9:37 a.m., when American Flight 77 struck the Pentagon, Shuma played Taps in the towns Wine Street Memorial Park, where the Homage statue memorializes Culpepers war dead. The moment honored the military personnel who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

Culpeper police, sheriffs deputies, the VFW honor guard and Sons of the American Revolution re-enactors stood at attention next to the war memorial, joined by three members of Culpepers American Heritage Girls unit in their red vests.

And then it was on to Main and Davis streets for the Shanksville moment paying tribute to the passengers aboard United Flight 93.
A new program designed to change the culture inside Roanokes jail will help to change the violent culture that exists in the city, Sheriff Antonio Hash vows.

We have to change the culture, Hash said. Were committed to the process. And those who commit, see results.

The Roanoke City Sheriffs Offices new program is called (R)I.G.N.I.T.E., which stands for Residents Individually Growing Naturally and Intentionally Through Education. It officially launched Sept. 6, when the department hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony downtown outside of the jail.

The first (R) I.G.N.I.T.E. program was developed by a sheriffs office in Genesee County, Michigan in 2020.

They realized, even during the pandemic that, we still have to change the culture of how we see incarceration, because we see the same individuals come in and go out. And they dont get the resources, Hash said. [The sheriff] realized that he had to change the culture, or this is like a revolving door.

The programs goal is to reduce recidivism by educating inmates and giving them the certifications and support they need to be successful once discharged.

Were trying to give them a platform. If youre bored, take this class. If you dont got nothing to do, educate yourself, Hash said. What does it look like to get a GED, or a painting certificate, or a CDL certificate or a forklift certificate? These are symbolic opportunities or memories for them that are going to change their whole lives.

The National Sheriffs Association saw the programs success in Michigan and adopted it, making it easier to transplant into other sheriffs offices nationwide.

They grabbed hold of it. I think somebody in Minnesota grabbed it. North Carolina grabbed it. Were the first in Virginia to grab it, Hash said. As opportunities become available, as grants, as funding and things come open, we want to be in a position to where we can receive it.

After last weeks launch, Hash presented the program to a Roanoke City Council meeting and asked members to consider changing the jails name, to focus on the facilitys role as a justice center, not an incarceration hub.

Hash said he met with judges last Wednesday in the Oliver W. Hill Justice Center, the citys courthouse, to discuss a new name for the jail: the Roanoke City Detention and Justice Center.

If the change takes place, the portion of the Campbell Ave. block that houses the courthouse, jail and police department could be referred to as the Justice Complex.

Through (R)I.G.N.I.T.E. the correction facility is also changing the way it talks about inmates.

Another part of changing the culture is changing the classification of those incarcerated, which will now be called residents of our facility, Hash told city council. They wont be called inmates anymore. They reside in our house. We know its a jail. We know its a justice center. We know theyre inmates. But were changing how we respond to them.

Those who want to be locked up, put your stripes on. Well keep you, Hash said. But those who want change, were changing uniforms. The program floor will have on all burgundy uniforms at this point, with no stripes. Because if youre getting the help, and if youre actively seeking some assistance from our staff and program directors and things like that, then were going to make it look like something in this building.

The jail already has success stories to share. A former jail resident attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony to express his support for (R) I.G.N.I.T.E.

He got out about two weeks ago, Hash said. He came back yesterday to be a part of the ceremony. Who do you know gets out of a facility and yet returns back for a program? And Im not saying that we have all the pieces together, but were making strides to make it look like something. Because if you dont ever start, you cant finish.

The sheriff said some facility residents are discharged but return in a matter of days.

People are still in a position where theyre crying out for help. I had a young guy come in the other day. Hes an excellent worker while hes in the building. Amazing. He gets out and got in a position where he almost didnt make it. You know why? Hash said. Because he didnt have somebody outside the door waiting on him.

(R)I.G.N.I.T.E. will allow the jail to better connect its residents with community resources upon release.

Im going to put people to the test. You cant come to my table talking about what you got, what services you have, and then we call and you dont answer, Hash said. I want you to be there at nine oclock. Pick him up, take him to get help, so that way he become a good father to his kids. He can be productive citizen.

The sheriff said the program needs community partners to thrive, and organizations are already on board.

Its a huge list, Hash said. We reached out to Red Robin, and theyre in the position to give jobs. We talked to a concrete company who was doing interviews inside the detention center with those individuals who were getting out that wanted a job. We got Wendys that was giving an opportunity.

But the sheriffs office still needs the communitys help.

We need some more money. Were taking all donations, Hash said. Its not yet paid for.

The money that will pay for (R)I.G.N.I.T.E. comes through the programs community partners, especially nonprofit organizations who can more easily acquire grants that can be used to address recidivism.

The detention center also needs toiletries, clothes and other items to give residents when they return to society.

As a transition, we give them toiletries, a bus pass. We started a clothes closet upstairs, so if theyre getting out, and they got an interview, guess what? We give you clothes to go to your interview. Well give you a shirt and tie, Hash said. We need donations, because we realize we cant do this on our own.

Hash said changing the culture in the detention center and in the city means breaking a generational curse. The sheriff said he could have been a statistic, but he chose to break his familys cycle.

We have a major responsibility to change lives, Hash said. I was in a single-parent home. No father raised me, mother doing the best she can, trying to get a college degree. Im the oldest kid taking care of two other siblings while shes at work and at school all day long, learning how to cook, had to learn how to sew, had to do everything because none of our fathers were there. So statistically, I shouldnt even be in this position.

But he is. And his department is doing what it can to return jail residents to society better than it found them.

I want my nieces and nephews to be able to walk the street and be safe, without somebody running them over or kidnapping and raping them. Nobody wants that, Hash said. But some people honestly make mistakes. And so they deserve a chance. If theyre willing to let me put them in position to get this chance, Im willing to help make it happen.
Mondays meeting of the Spotsylvania County School Board ended after five hours over the objections of three members, and without the board taking up any new or unfinished business.

The meetings live feed ended about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, as board member Nicole Cole was still speaking.

Cole, along with board member Dawn Shelley, was pressing for board Chair Kirk Twigg to schedule a work session and special meeting to address needed capital improvement projects.

In response, Twigg told Shelley, You give me a superintendent, I give you a meeting.

Salem District representative Lorita Daniels was attempting to address concerns raised to her by parents of special education students when Twigg called for a vote to adjourn the meeting.

Daniels and Cole had not voted when Twigg declared the meeting over.

The board listened to several hours of public comments. Earlier in the meeting, Twigg stated that he would be enacting a School Board policy that permits the chair to limit the number of speakers on any given topic to five.

Twigg asked that the microphone be cut off on several people who started to express concerns about the boards appointment of Mark Taylor as superintendent, stating that the limit on speakers who could address that topic had been reached.

He asked Spotsylvania Sheriffs Office deputies to remove two people from the meeting when they started to address Taylors appointment, and threatened others with removal.

On July, Twigg sent a letter to former Culpeper councilman Jon Russell, then a special counsel at the Virginia Department of Education, informing him that Mark Taylor was the final candidate for the superintendent position.

The letter, which The Free LanceStar obtained through a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request, is dated the day after the School Board met in a closed session to discuss the two finalists for the superintendent position. The board took no public vote at that July meeting to recommend Taylor, who formerly was the Spotsylvania County administrator and is a longtime friend of Twigg, for the position.

On Monday, the board went into recess when the mood on the dais and in the audience grew hostile. After the break, board member Rabih Abuismail asked Twigg to waive the five-person limit per subject.

Among the concerns raised by the public during comments was acting superintendent Kelly Guempels contract. According to William Scheff, following the June 21 meeting at which the board approved Guempels appointment, Twigg asked Guempelwho had been principal of Spotsylvania High Schoolto stay behind to sign some documents.

This was captured on the broadcast before you adjourned, Scheff said. After the meeting, you approached the acting superintendent with copy of the contract. One of the items was a $4,500 monthly stipend, on top of his principals salary, for him to assume the role of interim.

Scheff said that Guempel asked for a higher monthly stipend and that Twigg crossed out the $4,500 amount and changed it to $8,500.

[Twigg] took it upon himself to nearly double the salary of the acting superintendent in secret, Scheff said. This is malfeasance, plain and simple.

Shelley corroborated Scheffs account and stated that Guempel told her about the incident himself.

Hes not going to lie to me about that, Shelley said. Mr. Twigg forged a contract and if people up here are defending him, then theyre just as guilty as he is.

Shelley said she gave information about the acting superintendents contract to Virginia State Police and that everything has now been turned over to the state Attorney Generals office.

Victoria LaCivita, a spokeswoman for the Attorney Generals Office, confirmed that the complaintas well as one alleging that Twigg misappropriated public funds by paying for board members April Gillespie and Lisa Phelps to attend a conference with ties to a conservative political action committee in Marchhas been received by the office.

I cannot comment further as it is an ongoing investigation, LaCivita said in an email Tuesday.

The board did approve three action items Monday: revisions to the divisions policy regarding restraint and seclusion that prohibit mechanical and prone restraint; a new policy that requires student-athletes and their parents be given information about symptoms that may lead to sudden cardiac arrest; and a budget amendment that would use $2.3 million in bonus funding from the state and $1.8 million from school division pandemic relief funds to provide a $1,000 bonus to all full-time, standards-of-quality funded instructional and support positions.

Part-time and hourly SOQ-funded positions will receive $500 bonuses. The bonuses will be paid in October to all eligible staff who receive a paycheck on Sept. 30.

The board will meet again Thursday and Friday in special meetings with closed sessions to discuss the superintendent search, according to its posted agendas.
You are here: China

China's investment in water conservancy projects during the past 10 years was five times as much as that in the previous decade, a water management official said Tuesday.

Completed investment in water conservancy projects reached 6.66 trillion yuan (about 966 billion U.S. dollars) in the past decade, said Zhang Xiangwei, an official with the Ministry of Water Resources.

The investment supported a batch of key flood prevention projects in major river basins and the water management work in small and medium-sized rivers, facilitated risk elimination and reinforcement of reservoirs, and funded 54 cross-basin and cross-region water diversion projects.

China has ramped up the construction of water conservancy infrastructure in 2022 amid efforts to stabilize the economy, Zhang said.

So far this year, construction of some 19,000 new water conservancy projects has kicked off nationwide, hitting a record high.

Completed investment in water conservancy projects also reached a new high in the first eight months, surging 63.9 percent year on year to 703.6 billion yuan.

Construction of water conservancy projects has created huge job opportunities, especially for rural residents, Zhang added, noting that 1.91 million jobs were created in the first eight months, including 1.53 million for rural residents.
Geil Elementary first grade students and teachers observed bird banding and trekked nature trails at Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area on Sept. 9.

First graders sat still and quiet while Nancy Ransom, an educator with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, expertly pulled a chickadee from a cloth bag to demonstrate bird banding.

So right now I have the band and the pliers to put the band on the leg, Ransom said. I had to bring the bird back here to band it; I cant just band it up at the nets because I have special tools that I use in order to band it.

As the group of kids began fidgeting for a closer look, Delanie Bruce, another educator with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, began showing a close-up photo of a bird band and the pliers.

Bird banding stations provide scientists with information about health and habitat of migrating birds. Bruce said birds will be collected for a little over seven weeks in nets set-up near the Wildcat Hills Nature Center. The time frame will capture early migrating songbirds and could include late migrators like owls.

Northern owls migrate on a four-year cycle so 2020 was a peak time, Bruce said. If we do any night banding, it will probably be mid to later September because they migrate later than our songbirds.

The staged nets are used to passively collect the migrating birds for banding, recording bird health observations and weights. Bruce said that active collection is used to catch migrating owls in the dark.

Right now, this is passive banding. Were waiting to see if anything flies into the net, she said. For active banding, we actually only have a couple of nets open and we have a sound system playing a call of the owl to draw them in.

In 2020, there were 1,006 birds caught in the Wildcat Hills and in 2021, just 500 birds in the seven-week window. Ransom said there have been 217 birds caught so far this year.

It depends on how migration goes, were either going to catch the birds that are migrating or theyre going to fly over, Ransom said. We could be considered a flyover spot  birds will pass over and they wont use this spot as a staging ground.

After explaining bird banding, Ransom demonstrated the proper way to hold the chickadee and walked through the group for a closer look.

Many of the kids asked if they could pet the bird.

So Nancy can because shes trained to hold the birds, she knows how to do it, Laura Smedsrud, an educator with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, said.

I was actually just trying to get him to stop pecking me but I do pet the birds sometimes, Ransom said.

Smedsrud fielded a barrage of curious questions from the first graders that were eager to learn about Nebraskas birds.

How do you know that birds are scared of us when were inside a building and they can see us? Cutter Conklin said.

Smedsrud gave many reasons why birds may be scared of people, but I guess I really dont know how birds feel about us.

Hayden Atwood asked, How do birds make their nest?

So thats a really good question, Smedsrud said. They can collect stuff, like nests can be made out of sticks and they actually use their mouth to weave them together.

Once question time was wrapped up, the first grade students set out on a nature hike through the trails at Wildcat Hills.

Smedsrud led a group with an excited off we go, before stopping for a closer look at the bird catching nets.

If you want to touch the net with the back of your hand with the littlest, gentlest pet, you can feel how soft it is, she said.

Once on the trail, the kids began calling out the many sights of nature. Smedsrud pointed out nearby cactus to avoid, flowers to smell, pinecones to feel as well as dragonflies and birds to see in the sky.

The students responded with an enthusiastic yes when asked if they had learned new things while visiting the Wildcat Hills.
The Gering City Council approved funding for a pickleball court to be built near Oregon Trail park Stadium during its regular meeting on Monday, Sept. 12.

City administrator Pat Heath said a member of the keno committee had approached city staff about using the endowment to build the courts, as well as lighting and a parking lot. This would use $600,000 of the endowment fund. The fund would be refunded to $1 million through keno revenue.

Members of the keno committee had already discussed and approved of the plan.

Were not going to be starving out anybody else that comes before us, Keno Committee Chair Darrell Bentley told the council.

He said they very rarely deny funding thats requested for community betterment purposes.

Kaufman praised the community-mindedness and stewardship of the committee.

It was thought that $1 million endowment should be in place because it was unsure at the time if keno would really catch on in our community. Rest assured, I think its caught on. Its one of the strongest voluntary taxes we have, and so its a great source of community betterment and reinvestment in our community.

City engineer Annie Folck said the addition of a parking lot would help with parking around Geil Elementary School. The lot would be unpaved, and bathrooms would be added nearby.

The council unanimously approved the proposal for the court and the purchase of lights for it.

Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the United States, Heath told them, so I think theyll be pretty popular in due time.

The council also hosted a public hearing and took action on a redevelopment plan submitted by Pumpkin Creek meat Company LLC for its processing facility project.

Brothers Dean and Jared Lerwick are aiming to bring a packing facility to 2605 7th St., where a similar facility had existed in the past. Folck said the current property is valued at $180,709. With the renovations the company is looking at, the value would jump to over $6.3 million.

The company requested tax increment financing to be used for the project.

She said city staff recommended approval, since they judged the project couldnt move forward without city funds. The city council unanimously approved the redevelopment plan.

They also recognized the Gering Fire Department for its work both fighting the Carter Canyon fire in August as well as for their day-to-day efforts. Kaufman said he encourages all citizens to support the gratitude of Gering firefighters who protect our lives and properties so diligently every day of the year. This days for you, gentlemen. We appreciate you.

Additionally, the council approved a pay plan which would give officers and employees of the City of Gering a 3.5% cost of living adjustment effective Oct. 1. They also hosted the first readings for six city ordinances, dealing with budgets and adjusted fees for city services.
At the beginning of August, Carolynne Ewing watched as wildfire began burning its way through the Carter Canyon area of Gering.

Her husband, Dave, had been in town mowing his mothers lawn. As she watched the smoke, she decided to call her husband. Soon, she said, she saw the flames coming up over the hill near the house. Suddenly, it was time to evacuate.

The next day, Carolynne and Dave Ewing made a trip back to the house.

We were just down the way a little bit and the man who leases our pasture  we waved at him and he kind of ran down the borrow pit and up the top. He said, Im so sorry about your house, and thats how we knew it was gone, Carolynne said.

Across the road, Dave Ewings mom owns a house that was being rented.

There was a renter (living there) and, right away, he said, You need a place to live. I rented (the house) because it was so beautiful. You need a place. So, he moved, she said.

Since moving into the new home, as part of the recovery, the couple had meetings with representatives from the Nebraska Forestry Service.

Weve been at dozens of meetings and a forester talked about probably the reason why they couldnt save our house was we had too many cedars nearby. He said do not plant another cedar and get them away from your home. They dont hold water, like deciduous trees do, she said.

On Saturday, Sept. 10, members of Calvary Lutheran Church in Scottsbluff and others in the community helped with clean up around the new house.

Each year, a group of church members picks a community-based project to work on called Gods Work, Our Hands.

In the last two or three years weve done backpack projects, filled backpacks and sent them off. This year, we talked about doing that again, Jack Martin, a church member who helped organize the event, said. With the fires going on, it came up in our Board of Social Ministry discussion. I brought up the fact that I knew (a family that was affected by the fire), so we kind of put that as our number one priority. It worked out that we were able to help them out.

The church members were put to work on Saturday with various tasks around the property, Martin said. Friends and family members of the Ewings also pitched in.

Were doing a lot of pruning and sawing down trees that were burned and some that just needed to be thinned out anyway. They wanted to get a few of them away from the house  in case there might be another fire  so they dont pose a problem, he said.

Jadie Rother said it felt good to give a helping hand cleaning up around the house including painting, yard work and removing trees.

We felt it in our heart to come and help, she said. Its been lots of fun. Weve met a lot of new people and saw some beautiful country.

Becky Martin said it has also been a rewarding experience for her, as well.

Even if were just doing a little bit, were doing something, she said.

Carolynne described the groups help, as well as the generosity of others, has been a blessing.

Im just overwhelmed by the kindness of everybody in the valley, she told the Star-Herald. The difference everyone is making is just huge. Absolutely huge. Im very, very thankful.

It would have been a lot more difficult to get this cleaned up (without the help). Honestly, Dave and I probably wouldnt have done it. Our kids wanted to come over and wed have worked with them, but this is going to be three hours of miracle working.
LONDON (AP)  A plane carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II landed in London, where crowds have gathered along a route to Buckingham Palace.

The military C-17 Globemaster touched down Tuesday evening at RAF Northolt, an air force base in the west of the city, about an hour after it left Edinburgh in Scotland. U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and a military honor guard were among those awaiting the arrival of the coffin at the base.

The queens body is making a final journey from Balmoral Castle in northern Scotland, where the monarch died Thursday at age 96 after 70 years on the throne.

It will be driven past thousands of people who gathered in the rain along roadsides to pay their last respects. King Charles III and other members of the late queens close family will meet the coffin at Buckingham Palace.
COUGAR  A change in weather from hot, dry and windy to cool, damp and cloudy has helped crews battling fires in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest that prompted evacuations over the weekend.

The Kalama fire, located just southeast of the Kalama Horse Camp Campground north of Cougar, grew from 4 acres Thursday to more than 100 acres over the weekend, according to the Forest Service. Weather conditions have given crews time to create containment lines around the fire, said David Grubich, public information officer.

It wont grow significantly, but it will grow, he said. Right now its not going to be anything substantial, it does look good.

Progress over the weekend and changing conditions allowed officials to downgrade evacuation orders issued Friday evening.

Places identified Friday as a Level 3 Go evacuation, which signifies immediate danger, have been downgraded to a Level 2 Set evacuation level, meaning the area is at risk as the fire moves closer. The areas affected by this change are the headwaters of the South Fork of the Toutle River south to Forest Road 7550 and from the Skamania and Cowlitz County border west 5 miles into Cowlitz County.

The area from Forest Road 7550 to south of Merrill Lake and the same east to west stretch was downgraded to a Level 1 Ready zone, meaning there is no immediate danger but the fire may be moving toward the location.

The Level 1 Ready evacuation order was removed for the area south of Merrill Lake to State Route 503, including the towns of Cougar and Yale. Road and trail closures also remain in place.

The fire was located Aug. 31 on a cliff face didnt see much change until overnight Thursday, when it grew from 4 to 80 acres. The fire is now burning on extremely steep ground and is difficult to access, Grubich said.

Last week, the National Weather Service issued a red-flag warning for nearly all of western Washington and Oregon for Friday and Saturday. Though the Kalama fire grew over the weekend, it could have been worse, Grubich said. Amid the same weather conditions, the Cedar Creek fire in mid-west Oregon quadrupled in size from Wednesday to Sunday.

The smoke helped cool things off, moderated things where they were manageable, Grubich said. Crews were able to keep it (the Kalama fire) in place even with high winds.

Drizzle overnight and Monday morning helped increase moisture in fine fuels  such as grass, leaves and needles  that fires need to move, according to the Forest Service. The weather has little effect on heavier fuels that are burning and smoldering but will give crews time to improve containment lines.

Changing conditions allowed officials to downgrade evacuation orders and reopen stretches of federal and state highway closed over the weekend because of the Goat Rocks fire, northeast of Packwood. Over the weekend, the fire grew from less than 100 acres Friday morning to 2,840 acres Monday.

The National Weather forecasts cloudy skies, but no rain in Cowlitz County through Friday, and highs in the low 70s and lows from the low to high 50s.
The Bolt Creek Fire had been growing for less than three hours Saturday morning when homes along Highway 2 from Baring to Grotto lost power. A tree fell onto a power line operated by Puget Sound Energy, darkening 343 homes, and acting as a harbinger for the weekend ahead.

A small fire reported around 5 a.m. Saturday grew from 20 acres to 7,600 acres that day. By 2 p.m. PSE elected to cut power to another 416 homes surrounding Skykomish.

It was a notable decision for the utility. For years, PSE has said preemptive power shut-offs were unlikely to be necessary for most of its service area in Western Washington and has declined plan for them. The company says just 1%  or 100 miles  of its territory is considered to be at high risk for wildfires.

Because Washington state has few regulations for utilities wildfire safety  unlike California and Oregon  PSE was not required to plan for how it would handle a dangerous weather or wildfire event that required it to preemptively shut off power.

Deliberate power shut-offs are intended to prevent utility-caused disasters under extreme weather and heat and are increasingly considered the industry standard. Failing to shut off power amid drought and high winds has led to some of the West Coasts most devastating burns, including Californias Camp Fire in 2018, which killed 86 people in the town of Paradise.

In January, a Seattle Times investigation found Washington has few mechanisms to enforce whether its three investor-owned utilities  Avista, PacifiCorp and PSE  are operating safely enough to prevent wildfire hazards. State regulators dont have the power to impose fines if there are hazards, and they arent required to inspect power lines for fire risk. Nor are utility companies required to report to the state a fire caused by power lines unless it results in serious injury or death.

While Oregon and California have passed laws and strong guidelines on plans to cut power, Washington has lagged behind. Only last summer did the state Utilities and Transportation Commission ask utilities to submit wildfire mitigation plans, but it did not create a formal standard to measure the efficacy of the plans.

This slow adaptation may now leave utilities such as PSE and Avista in Eastern Washington, which also doesnt have a preemptive power shut-off plan, playing catchup to nature. Climate change has already created a more intense and severe fire landscape, and scientists anticipate more serious wildfires closer to homes, even in Western Washington, like this past weekends Bolt Creek fire. Both conditions were once considered extremely unlikely.

Some utilities in the state already have plans to shut off power in extreme weather conditions. The Bonneville Power Administration and the Snohomish Public Utility District both have power shut-off plans for their lines under dangerous conditions.

On Sunday morning, power was shut off for 335 homes and businesses by the Snohomish Public Utility District. Many are the same homes residents are being urged to evacuate, the utility said. In addition, Bonneville cut power to three of its high-voltage transmission lines.

Virginia Held, 56, and her husband left their cabin at 10 p.m. Saturday night, after seeing black clouds cracking through the mountain ridges, distinct from the gray smoke that had settled like fog over their neighborhood, blowing debris in hot gusts of wind. They packed up camping gear, important papers, and their 11 chickens. Sunday morning, the couple drove back to check on their house, and, finding it intact, turned on the coffee pot. Minutes later, their power was shut off. The Snohomish PUD had flipped the switch.

Fires just arent common in this area. It is frightening not knowing if you will have a home to come back to she said. Highway 2, it is almost like a rainforest, but it just dries out so much in the summer now, and people over here maybe arent quite so careful.

People who stay in their homes without power, however, can face life-threatening complexities, like lack of access to refrigeration, crucial medical devices, and fans or air conditioners amid soaring heat. Its an argument PSE has made for slow-walking their own power shut-off plan.

Both Bonneville and Snohomish said their outages Sunday were requested by county emergency officials to protect firefighters from the risk of electrocution as first responders attempt to save structures and quell the fire. As of Sunday afternoon, each said, they dont plan to undertake any additional power shut-offs unilaterally but will continue to de-energize lines as needed.

In an email, Andrew Padula, a spokesperson for PSE, said the company will continue to monitor weather conditions to determine whether additional outages are necessary. Asked about how the utility was addressing medically sensitive customers, he said, Our teams make extra efforts to contact these customers in a planned outage. We also have sent emails and made calls to customers in the impacted areas.
Struggling cryptocurrency lender Hodlnaut warned of risks to its assets if a looming upgrade of the Ethereum blockchain known as the Merge stokes a bout of volatility in virtual coins.

Struggling cryptocurrency lender Hodlnaut warned of risks to its assets if a looming upgrade of the Ethereum blockchain known as the Merge stokes a bout of volatility in virtual coins.

Sharp moves in the prices of tokens linked to the Ethereum network could cause smart contracts to automatically liquidate the assets, the company said in a statement released on its blog on Monday.

Smart contracts are programs that automatically execute when certain conditions are met and are popular in blockchain-based decentralized finance applications, where Ethereum is the dominant network.

Big price swings after the Merge could spark liquidations as such rules are triggered, for instance in protocols governing collateral, according to Hodlnaut.

Hodlnaut is under judicial management in Singapore after halting withdrawals. The firm, which also operates out of Hong Kong, is among a number that buckled around the world during this year's meltdown in crypto markets.

The hotly-anticipated Merge, expected around Sept. 15, will transition Ethereum to a more energy efficient network. Investors are monitoring the long-awaited and challenging software upgrade very carefully, as hiccups could ripple across the crypto ecosystem.

One way to mitigate risks is to unwind tokens deployed on decentralized finance platforms, but that may result in material losses, Hodlnaut said.

Judicial managers have asked for estimated losses from such an unwinding and any precautionary steps that can be taken to preserve the value of assets.

A rally in Bitcoin and other digital assets fizzled on Monday in Asia in part as traders braced for the Ethereum upgrade.
Better gaming experience now means better gaming gadgets and if you are a gamer, then ADATAs XPG Lancer RGB DDR5 DRAM Module is exactly what you need to UP YOUR GAME

Remember that annoying feeling when your mobile flashes a low memory space message each time you try to download a new App or capture a new image or video? Well, that exact feeling is something gamers face due to the dramatic increase in disk space for modern games.

Consequently, better gaming experience now means better gaming gadgets, and this is where Taiwan's innovative technology comes in. With brands like ADATA Technology, is one of the world's biggest vendors of DRAM Modules and Solid State Drives. The brand also provides complete memory solutions, including memory cards, USB flash drives, and portable hard drives. And if you are a gamer, then ADATA's XPG Lancer RGB DDR5 DRAM Module is exactly what you need to UP YOUR GAME.

Taiwan Excellence, set up by Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs in 1993 is a body committed to ensuring that the world gets to explore cutting-edge technology from Taiwan. They select and recognise products with an innovative edge every year by strictly evaluating them on the parameters of R&D, Design, Quality and Marketing. Taiwan Excellence is Taiwan's proposition to the world on how to live an innovative life. Building on the values of empathy, dependability, excellence, and innovation, Taiwan Excellence highlights domestic products as well as capabilities to paint a creative image for Taiwanese businesses worldwide.

XPG DDR5 offers a new speed benchmark in Gaming Memory. The XPG LANCER ushers in the DDR5 era for gaming memory, reaching frequencies of up to 6000 MT/s giving the user a huge performance boost for gaming and overclocking.

Another exciting feature is that it allows the user to set the RGB lighting and offers a wide range of effects to select from, like static, breathing, and comet. It also allows the ability to sync the lights with favorite jams via Music Mode. All this can be done through RGB control software from all the major motherboard brands.

The device is built with high-quality ICs and PCBs to ensure uncompromised performance and reliable overclocking, ideal for discerning gamers and overclockers. With support for Intel XMP 3.0, users can get overclocking easily without the need to go into BIOS. There is no need to repeatedly adjust and fine-tune overclocking parameters. It also offers unmatched stability and reliability because of the On-die error correcting code (ECC) which allows it to correct errors in real-time.

DDR5 modules provide two times more capacity than DDR4 by packing in more banks and bank groups. In addition, Burst Length and Prefetch are also doubled.

While a big HDD was sufficient for every game just a few years ago, these days, a much bigger memory is required for many games. High-resolution textures are becoming the standard, and some games may be using cinema-quality models too. High-quality models, but especially textures add up very quickly and are the main reason for the huge storage demands. Besides raw storage space, these large assets also require fast disk speeds, so they can be streamed and processed on the fly.

So, to make the most of your gaming experience, which device are you going to trust?

Disclaimer: This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement and/or view(s) expressed herein. Hindustan Times shall not in any manner, be responsible and/or liable in any manner whatsoever for all that is stated in the article and/or also with regard to the view(s), opinion(s), announcement(s), declaration(s), affirmation(s) etc., stated/featured in the same.
NASA has warned that a devastating 84 foot wide asteroid is heading dangerously towards Earth today. Will it be a planet killer? Heres what NASA has to say.

NASA, with the help of its NEOWISE Telescope, has discovered a huge asteroid heading dangerously towards Earth today. This particular asteroid has caused astronomers at the space agencies to worry as it was discovered just a fortnight ago on September 1, 2022. It belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids which are located in the main asteroid belt near Jupiter. Will it prove to be a planet-killer?

Asteroid 2022 RQ heading dangerously for Earth today, September 13

The asteroid, named Asteroid 2022 RQ is already on its way towards Earth, travelling at a staggering speed of 49,536 kilometers per hour. NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office has warned that Asteroid 2022 RQ is 84 feet wide, nearly the size of an aircraft. The asteroid will make its closest approach to the planet today, September 13 at a distance of nearly 3.7 million kilometers.

The asteroid 's farthest point from the Sun is 328 million kilometers, and the nearest point to the Sun is 110 million kilometers. Asteroid 2022 RQ takes 648 days to complete one orbit around the Sun.

How does NASA track these NEOs?

According to NASA, a near-Earth object (NEO) is an asteroid or comet whose orbit brings it within a zone approximately 195 million kilometers from the Sun, meaning that it can pass within about 50 million kilometers of Earth's orbit. As of now, nearly 28,000 near-Earth asteroids have been discovered using various survey telescopes which track objects in the sky.

NASA JPL's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has recently developed a next-generation asteroid impact monitoring system which has gone online. According to NASA, the new impact monitoring system uses an algorithm called Sentry-II to calculate the impact risk of Near-Earth Objects. NASA JPL also uses a variety of ground-based telescopes in the hunt for these asteroids.
Jabra Malaysia today released the Jabra Elite 5 for the local market, its latest addition to its true wireless earbuds lineup. Featuring Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), Bluetooth multipoint as well as IP55 dust and water resistance.

The earbuds are powered by the Qualcomm QCC3050 Bluetooth SoC which enables the aforementioned Hybrid ANC feature. Moreover, the Hybrid ANC also incorporates feedback microphones within the ear and feedforward microphones on the exterior.

Jabra claims that the ANC performance is less sensitive to how users position the earbuds in the ear, hence ensuring a more reliable noise cancellation across a wider range of frequencies. In addition, the Elite 5 enable individuals to take calls with confidence thanks to its 6-microphone call technology with external mics that are active all the time.

In terms of sound quality, the earbuds are fitted with 6mm speakers, support Qualcomm aptX Audio, AAC and SBC codecs, as well as a customisable EQ. Jabra also teamed up with Spotify to offer users Spotify Tap Playback with the Elite 5.

As for its design, the earbuds offer a discreet, comfortable and compact fit. Its also practical too with enhanced connectivity, including Bluetooth Multipoint, Google Fast Pair, Microsoft Swift pair, Google Assistant and Alex Built-In activated through voice.

Jabra claims that the Elite 5 can last up to 7 hours with ANC turned on and 28 hours with its case. Speaking of which, the charging case supports wireless charging. In Malaysia, the Elite 5 comes in either Titanium Black or Gold Beige and is priced at RM699.

It is now available in selected retailers nationwide and on Jabras Official Stores on Shopee and Lazada, as well as at authorised retailers. So, what do you guys think of the Elite 5? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
While ransomware isnt a new threat, it has evolved over the years from targeting individuals to more targeted ransomware attacks against businesses around the globe. With the introduction of ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) as a business model, ransomware groups now sell access to their ransomware to others. They partner with other cybercriminals known as affiliates to help conduct ransomware attacks on their behalf, bringing them victims and sharing a large portion of the profits with them. What has propelled ransomware attacks over the last few years is the introduction of double extortion, whereby ransomware groups not only encrypt the data on a victims network, they steal it first and threaten to leak it on the dark web if their ransom demands are not met.This added extortion component has been widely adopted by most ransomware groups operating today. This tactic was pioneered by the Maze ransomware group in December 2019. Even with the double extortion component at play, ransomware groups have upped the stakes by incorporating additional extortion tactics, including launching distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against victim websites, threatening to sell their stolen data to third parties if a ransom isnt paid, as well as contacting companies that are customers of the victim organizations and using the threat of leaking data on these customers to apply additional pressure to the victims. Ransomware is a force to be reckoned with it and isnt going to go away that easily.Organizations should never pay the ransom demand because it simply emboldens the ransomware groups and the other stakeholders within the ransomware ecosystem to continue to perpetrate these types of attacks.Theres so much money to be made and there are a lot of vulnerable organizations out there, waiting to get hit by a ransomware attack across a variety of industries and business sizes. Ultimately, the bright future for ransomware remains a byproduct of the success from double extortion attacks and exfiltration of stolen data in particular. Some ransomware groups have shifted gears, moving away from encrypting files and solely focusing on the data exfiltration and threat to leak.In our Ransomware Ecosystem report, we outline 10 steps organizations can take to put themselves in the best position to defend against ransomware attacks. These include things that we know including identifying vulnerable assets and applying the latest patches as promptly as possible, implementing security awareness training, use of security software tools like endpoint security and anti-virus, as well as using multifactor authentication across all accounts. There are other steps mentioned in the report, but these are some of the key ones we want to highlight.
Sitting at the intersection between IT and business, the Chief Data Officer (CDO) is responsible for enterprise-wide data governance and the utilization of information as a critical asset. Data has always been a valuable asset, but todays CDO knows that the value of data grows exponentially when all data within the enterprise can be readily leveraged for making holistic decisions. However, this is no easy task, as it involves integrating data from both modern and legacy sources, structured and unstructured data, and data-at-rest and data-in-motion.Organizations have successfully moved data from disparate sources into a single central repository like a data lake, yet the data is still not integrated for enterprise-wide data governance or queries that span the entire set. The most impactful way to integrate data is through a logical approach called Data Virtualization.Data Virtualization (DV) overcomes most, if not all, data governance challenges by leveraging a unique approach: rather than replicating data by moving it to a new, consolidated repository, DV connects users and applications to a view of the data in real time, across data sources, leaving the source data exactly where it is. This not only saves on storage expenses but also on the time it takes to make the data available to business users since replicating data takes time. As a result, replicated data eventually becomes out of sync with the source data.Here are three key observations from CDOs who have overcome data governance challenges to deliver essential business outcomes successfully:Companies acquire another to increase market share and revenue by combining two or more business operations. However, such initiatives could have shortcomings if the systems and data across the merged or acquired companies cannot be successfully integrated. Such was the case for Seacoast Bank in Florida, in the U.S. The bank used a third-party data warehousing solution that was hosted on the cloud, which could not easily adapt to the new business model reflecting the newly combined companies.Seacoast Bank sought to bring the data warehouse into its data centers for better control. But the CDO needed to decide if the organization should move ahead with a physical or a logical data warehouse. After evaluating the pros and cons of both approaches, the CDO decided to leverage DV to build a logical data warehouse, enabling a true self-service BI infrastructure.The new system enabled business stakeholders to generate operational reports and business analysis reports quicker than ever beforein a matter of hours rather than days. Also, whereas it would have taken eight months to build a physical data warehouse, Seacoast was able to deliver a similar logical system in half the time, resulting in a 50% faster time-to-market.Executives need to make rapid, accurate decisions to increase revenue, cut costs, and run the business effectively against the competition. However, many times in large organizations, important decisions are made in blind faith, with very little data backing them. This was the case for Indiana University. The college provost had to make critical decisions regarding faculty recruitment, course availability, and student admissions without concrete data to back him up.The CDO at Indiana University launched a Decision Support Initiative (DSI), leveraging DV as an important foundation to provide timely, relevant, and accurate data to facilitate better decision making within the University. Acting as a universal access layer, data virtualization connected users and applications to multiple data sources underneath, in real time.The CDO delivered critical insights through a catalog of reports and dashboards to the executive management team, which he termed as Academic Metrics 360. One such insight is an examination of majors versus non-majors by credit hours, which revealed where students are heading to earn their credits, the results of which can be used, for example, by the business school to team up with the School of Informatics to deliver an integrated curriculum.The benefits of migrating IT infrastructure to the cloud to increase business agility and decrease costs, have been well documented. However, this type of migration is not easy to accomplish because cloud systems require a fundamentally different architecture than on-premises systems in terms of compute, storage, and security resources. In fact, most organizations are re-architecting their infrastructures to support cloud technologies. However, such endeavors increase application downtime, require re-training for business users, and severely impact business continuity. This was the case for Logitech, a global provider of personal computer and mobile peripherals.Logitech leveraged DV as an abstraction layer to seamlessly migrate their on-premises data sources to the cloud. Established as a central layer, DV was able to keep track of the data accessed from both the on-premises and cloud systems, so that business user applications did not have to be rewired when the data location changed.Logitechs business users were able to continue business-as-usual, while DV provided data, in real time, to analytics and reporting applications acting as a single logical source of data. In fact, when one of the cloud data warehouses could not keep up its performance as the data volume grew to the cloud instance, Logitech was able to easily swap the non-performant cloud data warehouse with another much more performant cloud data warehouse without any impact to the business users.Using DV to deliver critical digital transformation initiatives and associated business value is the key to success for todays CDOs. With data integration posing perhaps the most challenging obstacle, todays CDOs need to develop a modern data architecture using newer technologies such as DV, which enables a controlled environment where critical data is mastered, managed and monitored for quality and governance.
A man carries a sack of wheat flour imported from Turkey in the Hamar-Weyne market in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Thursday, May 26, 2022. Bill Gates urged world leaders not to give up on the goals they set to reduce hunger and poverty despite huge recent setbacks documented in a new report released Tuesday, Sept. 13 by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Credit: AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File

Bill Gates says the global hunger crisis is so immense that food aid cannot fully address the problem. What's also needed, Gates argues, are the kinds of innovations in farming technology that he has long funded to try to reverse the crisis documented in a report released Tuesday by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates points, in particular, to a breakthrough he calls "magic seeds," crops engineered to adapt to climate change and resist agricultural pests. The Gates Foundation on Tuesday also released a map that models how climate change will likely affect growing conditions for crops in various countries to highlight the urgent need for action.

In assigning technology a pre-eminent role in addressing the world's food crisis, Gates puts himself at odds with critics who say his ideas conflict with worldwide efforts to protect the environment. They note that such seeds generally need pesticides and fossil fuel-based fertilizers to grow.

Critics also contend that Gates' approach doesn't address the urgency of the crisis. Developing "magic seeds" takes years and won't immediately deliver relief to countries currently enduring widespread suffering because they rely on food imports or are experiencing historic droughts.

It's a debate that could intensify international pressure to meet the shared goals for global prosperity and peace, known as the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, ahead of a 2030 deadline. The 17 goals include ending poverty and hunger, battling climate change, providing access to clean water, working toward gender equality and reducing economic inequality.

"It's pretty bleak relative to our hopes for 2030," Gates, 66, said in an interview with The Associated Press. He added, though, "I'm optimistic that we can get back on track."

Gates pointed to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic as the main causes for the worsening hunger crisis. But his message to other donors and world leaders convening for the U.N. General Assembly this September is that food aid won't be enough.

"It's good that people want to prevent their fellow human beings from starving when conflicts like Ukraine interrupt the food supply," Gates writes in the new report. But the real problem, he says, is that many food insecure countries don't produce enough of their own fooda problem sure to be exacerbated by the consequences of climate change.

"Temperature keeps going up," Gates said. "There is no way, without innovation, to come even close to feeding Africa. I mean, it just doesn't work."

As he has for more than 15 years, Gates called for investment in agricultural research, highlighting corn seeds that thrive at higher temperatures and in drier conditions than other varieties. Those seeds were developed under a program of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation to which the foundation has given $131 million since 2008.

Since then, the Gates Foundation has spent $1.5 billion on grants focused on agriculture in Africa, according to Candid, a nonprofit that researches philanthropic giving. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is by some measures the largest private foundation in the world and is best known for its work on global health, including vaccines. It began in its current form in 2000, after Gates left his CEO position at Microsoft, the tech giant he co-founded. Forbes estimates his net worth to be around $129 billion.

The foundation's spending on agricultural development is why Gates' view on how countries should respond to food insecurity has taken on heightened importance in a year when a record 345 million people around the world are acutely hungry. The World Food Program said in July that tally represents an increase of 25% from before Russia invaded Ukraine in February and a 150% jump from before the pandemic struck in the spring of 2020.

In Ghana, field trials for four varieties of modified seeds began in 2013. But only this past summer has one been approved for commercialization, said Joeva Rock of the University of Cambridge. Activists there, she said, have asked whether those resources could have been better spent elsewhere.

"What would happen if those went into increasing funds to the national research centers in Ghana, to building roads, to building storage, to building silos or helping to build markets?" said Rock, who has written a book about food sovereignty in the country.

When asked, Gates acknowledged the importance of infrastructure like roads and other transportation systems.

"If you want your inputs like fertilizer to come in, if you want your output to go out, it's just too expensive in Africa without that infrastructure," he said, adding that building and maintaining roads is highly expensive.

Bill Gates, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks at a news conference during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Gates urged world leaders not to give up on the goals they set to reduce hunger and poverty despite huge recent setbacks documented in a new report released Tuesday, Sept. 13 by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Credit: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File

Some researchers question the wisdom of pursuing the fundamental premise that Gates has embraced: Increasing agricultural production through the use of modified seeds along with fertilizers and pesticides. They point to the environmental footprint of industrial agriculture, including the use of fossil fuel-based fertilizers, the degradation of soil quality and the diminishing of biodiversity.

Alternatives could include agroecological interventions, like developing locally managed seed banks, composting systems to promote soil health and pesticide interventions that don't rely on chemicals, experts said. Over time, those approaches can reduce the need for food aid and build more resilient farming systems, according to Rachel Bezner Kerr, a professor of global development at Cornell University.

Kerr, a lead author of the food chapter of the latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change, said that while the panel doesn't make recommendations, "overall, the kind of focus on a few technologies and reliance on fossil fuel-based inputs isn't in line with ecosystem-based adaptation" or a biodiverse future.

Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, defends its approach warning that limiting access to fertilizers means farmers cannot increase their yields.

"Fertilizer is necessary. You simply cannot meet the overall productivity gains without it," Suzman said, speaking on a call with reporters.

In his interview with the AP, Gates himself dismissed criticisms of the foundation's emphasis on modified seeds.

"If there's some non-innovation solution, you know, like singing 'Kumbaya,' I'll put money behind it," Gates said. "But if you don't have those seeds, the numbers just don't work." He added, "If somebody says we're ignoring some solution, I don't think they're looking at what we're doing."

Another project the foundation has funded is the development of computer models that try to measure crop loss caused by disease or pests. The idea is to direct research and responses to where they are needed most.

"It's not just, how do we get through this crisis and get back to normal? It's, what does the future normal look like?" said Cambria Finegold, the director of digital development for CABI, an intergovernmental nonprofit that is developing the models.

Melinda French Gates, the other co-chair of the Gates Foundation, highlighted in a separate letter the halting progress toward gender equity worldwide. Since January, the foundation has expanded its board, adding six new members to help direct its work, a move that followed the announcement of the Gateses' divorce last summer.

French Gates has agreed to step down after two years if the two decided they could not continue to work together. French Gates, who also founded an investment organization called Pivotal Ventures, was not available for an interview.

Gates said he is lucky that his former wife has continued to put her time and energy into the foundation. In July, Gates said he would contribute $20 billion to the foundation in response to the significant setbacks caused by the pandemic, raising its endowment to approximately $70 billion.

Through his giving, investments and public speaking, Gates has held the spotlight in recent years, especially on the topics of vaccines and climate change. But he has also been the subject of conspiracy theories that play off his role as a developer of new technologies and his place among the highest echelons of the wealthy and powerful.

Gates said he does not spend time thinking about conspiracies and that his foundation's work has nothing to do with his personal reputation.

"If you go into these countries, they've never heard of me or the foundation," Gates said. "Maybe in the rich world somebody is reading some internet thing, but the people we care about have never, will never, and it's not important that they ever know who I am."

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
In this Jan. 16, 2019, photo, Cruise AV, General Motor's autonomous electric Bolt EV is displayed in Detroit. General Motors self-driving car company has announced plans to expand a robotaxi service into new markets in Arizona and Texas before the end of this year. Cruise told investors at a banking conference Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, that an autonomous ride-hailing service that began charging San Francisco passengers in June will make its debut in Phoenix and Austin, Texas, within the next 90 days. Credit: AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File

General Motors' self-driving car company on Monday announced plans to expand a robotaxi service that recently launched in California into new markets in Arizona and Texas before the end of this year.

Cruise, a San Francisco startup that General Motors bought six years ago, told an audience at an investor conference that an autonomous ride-hailing service that began charging San Francisco passengers in June will make its debut in Phoenix and Austin, Texas, within the next 90 days.

As it already has been doing in parts of San Francisco during night-time hours, Cruise's ride-hailing service will transport passengers in vehicles that won't have a safety driver in them to take control if the robotic technology malfunctions. Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt didn't provide additional details about the ride-hailing services in Phoenix and Austin.

When its ride-hailing service enters Phoenix, Cruise will be competing with another robotaxi service run by Waymo, a Google spin-off, that already has been charging passengers there. Waymo is also testing a robotaxi service in San Francisco that hasn't yet been cleared to charge passengers.

Although Vogt told investors that the driverless ride-hailing service in San Francisco is winning over many loyal customers, Cruise ran into problems the day after receiving its permit from California regulators to begin collecting fares.

In a regulatory disclosure made earlier this month, Cruise revealed that it recalled 80 of its driverless vehicles for a software update after one of the cars was involved in an accident that resulted in minor injuries.

Cruise told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, that one of its vehicles was making an unprotected left turn at an intersection when it was hit by an oncoming vehicle. The Cruise vehicle had to be towed away from the scene, according to the regulatory filing.

Explore further Cruise updates software for autonomous vehicles after crash

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Elon Musk has pounced on whistleblower criticism of cyber security at Twitter as he scrambles to escape the $44 billion deal he made to buy the social media company.

Respected in cybersecurity circles, former Twitter security chief Peiter "Mudge" Zatko is a wild card in Elon Musk's legal gambit to break a $44 billion deal to buy the social network.

Zatko's whistleblower complaint of "extreme, egregious deficiencies" in Twitter defenses against hackers plays into Musk's quest to convince a judge that he was duped when he foisted his unsolicited offer on the company.

While testifying before members of US Congress on Tuesday, Zatko said his worries about possible harm to Twitter users and national security prompted him to come forward.

"I did not make my whistleblower disclosures out of spite or to harm Twitter," Zatko said.

"Far from that. I continue to believe in the mission of the company."

Twitter has dismissed 51-year-old Zatko's complaint as being without merit, and vowed to show it did nothing wrong at an October trial in a Delaware court.

If the court focuses on the fact that the world's richest man declined to do fact gathering typically associated with big-money mergers, Zatko's allegations could wind up being moot.

Zatko first testified before Congress 24 years ago, when he was a long-haired hacker determined to warn about the perils of poorly protected government computer systems.

This time, he was called on to provide details about his accusations that Twitter hid flaws in its security as well as its fight against accounts run by spammers or software instead of genuine users.

He told the hearing that Twitter's security failures threaten both national security and the privacy of usersbut that the company's leadership has refused to make tough but necessary changes, prioritizing profits over safety.

Musk has listed the number of inauthentic accounts on Twitter as among reasons to justify walking away from the buyout deal he made in April.

"Once both parties step into court it's a high risk/high reward scenario for both parties with the major X variable now being the Zatko whistleblower claims," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors.

"We continue to view the Zatko situation as a Pandora's Box scenario for Twitter."

If Twitter prevails at trial, the judge could order the Tesla chief to pay billions of dollars to the company, or even complete the purchase.

Twitter attorneys have argued that Elon Musk is trying to go back in time and gather business information he passed on asking about before signing a multi-billion dollar buyout deal.

'Big problems'

"If Mudge says Twitter has cybersecurity problems, Twitter has big problems," said Vectra cybersecurity firm chief technology officer Aaron Turner, who says he has known Zatko since the 1980s.

A son of scientists, Zatko grew up in the US states of Alabama and Pennsylvania, his passions including music and software.

In 1996, he joined a hacker collective called L0pht. He and other members of the group testified before Congress two years later.

"It was the first time the U.S. government publicly referenced 'hackers' in a positive context," Zatko said in a 2019 tweet marking an anniversary of the testimony.

Zatko has done stints at Google and online payment services company Stripe, and also at Pentagon research arm DARPA.

Twitter founder and former chief Jack Dorsey recruited Zatko in July 2020 after a spectacular hack of the accounts of celebrities and political figures including Barack Obama, Musk and Kim Kardashian.

US President Joe Biden's team offered Zatko a position as White House security director early last year but he declined the job, believing he had work left to do at Twitter, his attorneys said.

House of cards?

Twitter fired Zatko in January, citing "ineffective leadership and poor performance."

Zatko's lawyers have rejected Twitter's claim, contending instead that he was terminated after a clash with top executives who refused to acknowledge his concerns about platform security.

"Mr Zatko put his career on the line because of his concerns about Twitter users, the public and the company's shareholders," his attorneys said.

Andrew Hay, director of operations at the Lares cybersecurity consulting firm, said "those in the industry who know Mudge know that his intentions have historically been honorable, non-partisan, and designed to benefit the world."

Zatko's whistleblower complaint, filed just days after Twitter agreed to give him a multi-million dollar severance package, is not necessarily evidence that the company misrepresented user numbers, according to analysts.

Musk's lawyers will "try to prove that Twitter tried to sell him a house of cards," but security flaws would have to be "really serious," said University of California, Berkeley law school professor Adam Badawi.

Explore further Musk subpoenas Twitter whistleblower in buyout battle

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Solar panels installed on commercial buildings create independent microgrids in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing a new technology to manage how the microgrids work together. Credit: Fabio AndradeSolar panels installed on commercial buildings create independent microgrids in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing a new technology to manage how the microgrids work together. Credit: Fabio Andrade

When Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico in 2017, winds snapped trees and destroyed homes, while heavy rains transformed streets into rivers. But after the storm passed, the human toll continued to grow as residents struggled without electricity for months. Five years later, power outages remain long and frequent.

To provide more affordable, reliable and sustainable electricity to underserved communities like these, scientists from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are partnering with local organizations, nonprofits and universities to build resilience into independent microgrids powered by renewable energy. ORNL is developing a technology that will manage groups of small microgrids as a cluster, enhancing their reliability even when damaged.

Microgrids are small networks that generally have their own energy supply from nearby renewable sources like wind and solar. If battery storage is added, microgrids can be isolated and function independently in "island mode" when the broader utility network fails.

ORNL engineers Ben Ollis and Max Ferrari are leading a team to develop a microgrid orchestrator to deploy in the Puerto Rican town of Adjuntas. A community microgrid project is already being installed there, through a partnership between local nonprofit Casa Pueblo and the Honnold Foundation.

Honnold, which funds solar projects to reduce global energy poverty, is investing $1.7 million to create two microgrids with solar and battery storage, said Honnold project coordinator Cynthia Arellano. The solar arrays were installed last year and will be hooked to the remaining infrastructure being added this year.

Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

That's where ORNL steps in: Creating a novel orchestrator tool to manage a cluster of microgrids so they directly support and communicate with each other, making them more resilient during long power outages. For example, if one microgrid loses part of its solar generation, the adjacent microgrid could export power to its neighbor, minimizing the impact of the damage.

"I don't know of a microgrid controller anywhere that can communicate and coordinate with another controller," Ollis said. "We're designing an architecture for multi-microgrid controls, so any number of microgrids can operate independently but share information to an orchestrator that will predict when switching, routing and connecting should happen."

Ferrari said initial simulations indicate the microgrids could keep each other running at least a week. But with ideal conditions, they could potentially keep operating indefinitely.

That isn't just a matter of convenience. "A lot of people died after the hurricane, and many of the deaths were related to power failures," said Arturo Massol-Deya, executive director of Casa Pueblo, which promotes fair and sustainable development around Adjuntas. This longtime community organization installed a solar array at its building in 1999. After Hurricane Maria, Casa Pueblo was able to share the electricity it generated with residents relying on home medical equipment such as respirators.

"We noticed how many people got sick who were pre-diabetic, or had high blood pressure, or were exposed to unhealthy living conditions and foodpreventable conditions," said Massol-Deya. "Energy security being interrupted is about quality of life, and there were long-term consequences in the community." Grassroots support for solar power built steadily as a result.

Solar panels funded by the Honnold Foundation are installed in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. Credit: Fabio Andrade

Community-wide benefits

The Adjuntas microgrids include solar installations on the roofs of 13 businesses, whose owners agree to provide critical services like medicine, refrigeration and cell phone charging to residents during major power outages. In return, the businesses save money on electricity and avoid the use of expensive diesel generators during natural disasters, Ferrari said.

"ORNL deploying this kind of controller system is going to be a really powerful tool for the community," Arellano said. It's unusual for so many businesses and owners to be linked by a microgrid, she added, and the infrastructure will support adding even more.

On a recent trip to Adjuntas, ORNL researchers met with local business owners to better understand their electricity use patterns. For example, when Ferrari visited the bakery, he learned what times refrigerators must run for the dough to rise properly. He and Ollis sought to identify the most critical electricity loads so they can design a system that focuses scarce power where it's most needed.

"Hopefully it will help not only to manage the microgrids, but also to protect the critical components like the energy storage unit," said Massol-Deya, who is also a professor at University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, or UPRM.

The mountain town of Adjuntas in Puerto Rico lost power for four months after Hurricane Maria. Its microgrids, funded by the Honnold Foundation through local partner Casa Pueblo, will make critical electrical service more reliable. Credit: Isabela Zowistowska/Honnold Foundation

The income produced by the community-owned microgrids will fund their maintenance and expansion, as well as installation of independent solar systems for the most disadvantaged Adjuntas residents, he said.

A sense of urgency

Fabio Andrade is a UPRM engineering professor and a visiting scientist at ORNL collaborating on the Adjuntas project. His students model strategies, tools and algorithms for sharing solar power among microgrid users. UPRM colleague Gerson Beauchamp guides students through analyzing the solar equipment and predicting how much energy it will produce. At current electricity prices, the businesses can collectively expect to save as much as $78,000 a year by buying solar energy from the microgrids, Beauchamp said.

Ferrari is incorporating information from UPRM colleagues into his simulations, which are being tested live with actual microgrid hardware at DOE's Grid Research Integration and Deployment Center, or GRID-C, at ORNL. The next step is running the configuration in the facility's brand-new networked testbed for microgrids. In another year, the orchestrator will be deployed in Adjuntas.

While the ORNL-derived technology could be a literal lifesaver in Puerto Rico, it also holds broader potential for enabling microgrids to play a key role in the global grid of the future. Intelligent microgrids that incorporate renewable energy are poised to advance grid flexibility and resiliency while supporting vital decarbonization efforts.

"The orchestrator includes a framework of algorithms that can be expanded and deployed to many microgrids at any site," Ollis said. "They could provide more reliable electricity to many rural communities at the grid edge. I want to see a future where we have hundreds of microgrids working together to protect critical infrastructure at local, regional and national levels."

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Peiter Zatko, the former Twitter security chief who turned whistleblower, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that the social media company's security practices were so weak that foreign governments were able to place agents on the company's payroll.

Zatko also told lawmakers that U.S. regulators are unable to police tech companies, singling out the Federal Trade Commission as being in over its head and allowing tech companies to "grade their own homework." The U.S. practice of slapping companies with one-time fines is "priced in" by Twitter and other tech companies as the cost of doing business, he said.

His testimony followed complaints that he filed with the FTC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Justice Department. The Washington Post first disclosed his revelations last month.

Despite the hearing, Congress isn't expected to take action to police the behavior of Twitter or other social media companies. Two Senate bills that would address data privacy for children and minors have been approved by the Senate Commerce Committee, but they haven't received floor action.

Senate Judiciary member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., cited the lack of action at the Tuesday hearing. "We have not passed one bill out of the U.S. Senate when it comes to competition, when it comes to privacy, when it comes to better funding agencies," she said. "I think we'd better be putting the mirror on ourselves."

Zatko said the Indian government was able to place an agent in Twitter's India office as an employee while the company and the government were negotiating over the platform's content policies. "I saw with great confidence a foreign agent placed from India to understand the negotiations," he said, "and how well they were going for or against" India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Indian government since 2021 has asked Twitter to remove as many as 1,400 accounts, according to a Bloomberg News report in July that cited unnamed sources. Twitter challenged the Indian government's orders in court in June; the outcome is pending.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., called Zatko's allegations concerning. The area of great concern is the access of foreign governments and foreign agencies to data that American users may be providing to the platform, he said, adding that Americans have "no idea that they are vulnerable to that possibility."

In August, a former Twitter manager accused of spying for Saudi Arabia was convicted in San Francisco on six criminal counts. Prosecutors said an adviser to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recruited Ahmad Abouammo to use his insider knowledge to access Twitter accounts and dig up personal information about Saudi dissidents.

Zatko said Twitter had few of the standard security practices used at several tech and other companies with protocols specifying which employees have access to what computer systems and/or maintenance logs of employee activity. Thousands of engineers at Twitter have access to the company's production system or the computer networks that host the social media platform and users' data, he said.

Many companies create a separate network where new employees are trained, and new offerings are tested before being launched on the production system, Zatko said.

Twitter didn't maintain logs of which engineers accessed what systems, he said. As a result, thousands of employees have access to all the information from Twitter users, making the company a rich target for intelligence gathering on users by foreign governments, Zatko said.

President Barack Obama's Twitter account was hacked in 2009. Hackers also accessed Obama's account in 2020 as well as those of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden, Tesla founder Elon Musk and 100 others.

Zatko described a company so focused on adding new users and increasing revenue that it spared no time, resources or personnel to put security measures in place. Twitter allowed Chinese companies that may have had ties to the government to advertise on the platform even though it is banned in China, Zatko said. Users who clicked on those ads may have exposed themselves to data collection by the Chinese companies, he said.

"Twitter was a company that was managed by risk and by crises, instead of one that manages risk and crises," Zatko said.

The company's top executives didn't want to hear about security weaknesses, Zatko said.

US regulators 'over their head'

Zatko said U.S. federal agencies are woefully inadequate in policing tech companies, noting that the FTC in particular was unable to fully enforce a 2011 consent decree with Twitter about safeguarding users' data.

"I think the FTC, honestly, is a little over their head  compared to the size of the big tech companies and the challenge they have against them," he said.

Twitter was more afraid of foreign regulatorsincluding France's data protection agency, known as CNILthan of the FTC, Zatko said. Unlike the FTC, which levies one-time fines, France and other foreign regulatory bodies are more likely to impose structural remedies on tech companies that could hurt bottom lines and get the attention of investors, Zatko said.

In May, the FTC fined Twitter $150 million for violating a 2011 consent decree by collecting customers' personal information for the stated purpose of security and then exploiting it commercially.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the city of Samarkand, and pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from Wednesday to Friday.



Xi's trip is expected to promote the development of the SCO and enhance China-Kazakhstan and China-Uzbekistan relations.

Shanghai Spirit

Since its founding in 2001, the SCO, the first inter-governmental organization named after a Chinese city, has had an extraordinary journey.

After 21 years, the organization, now with eight full members, four observer countries and multiple dialogue partners, has become not only a strong pillar of global peace and development, but also a major force for international equity and justice.

"The SCO enjoys strong vitality and momentum of cooperation. This, in the final analysis, is attributed to the Shanghai Spirit, a creative vision initiated and followed through by the SCO that champions mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development," Xi said at the 18th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the SCO in 2018.

Within the framework of the SCO, countries have supported each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and major concerns. Together, they have fought against terrorism, separatism and extremism, and taken tough actions to curb the spread of drug trafficking, cybercrime and transnational organized crime. People-to-people programs such as art festivals, the SCO University and the SCO Forum on Traditional Medicine have been launched.

With such fruitful achievements, the SCO has grown into the world's largest and most populous regional institution, and it has endeavored to explore new ground, both theoretically and with actual steps, with a view to building a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind.

Practices over the years have shown that the values embodied and advocated by the Shanghai Spirit have been fully recognized by the member states, said Zhang Ming, secretary-general of the SCO.

As this year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the SCO Charter and the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation of the SCO Member States, global attention has been placed on the upcoming Samarkand Summit of the SCO, where Xi and other leaders will discuss how to jointly address global challenges and promote security and development.

In fact, as a founding member of the SCO, China has been committed to promoting a sound development of the organization. Since 2013, President Xi has put forward a series of initiatives while participating in the SCO summits, which have enriched the Shanghai Spirit.

From elaborating on China's visions on development, security, cooperation, civilization and global governance, to calling for the building of "a community of health," "a community of security," "a community of development" and "a community of cultural exchanges," the Chinese leader played an important role in the SCO's steady and long-term development.

The Chinese president's remarks have summarized the SCO's practices, and adequately met the needs of regional governance and the requirements of the organization's development, said Deng Hao, secretary-general of the China Center for SCO Studies.

As the world is witnessing profound changes, especially after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese leader has proposed the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, which have been widely recognized by the international community, including SCO countries.

Closer cooperation

At the Qingdao Summit of the SCO in 2018, Xi said that the Chinese government supports building a demonstration area in Qingdao for local economic and trade cooperation between China and the SCO.

Since then, the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area in Qingdao has grown into an important logistics hub with flourishing freight train services.

China's efforts to promote SCO development in economic and trade, as well as in other areas including health and poverty alleviation have benefited people in different countries.

Within the framework of the SCO, the member states are witnessing significant economic development, great improvement in people's lives and closer relations with each other, which has attracted countries outside the organization, Zhang, secretary-general of the SCO, said.

Last year, the SCO launched procedures to admit Iran as a full member state. Moreover, it has granted dialogue partner status to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar.

Committed to true multilateralism, the SCO has always opposed hegemonic, domineering and bullying acts, and will never attempt the forming of cliques.

To translate true multilateralism into practice, the organization has been making full use of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group and actively cooperating with such international and regional organizations as the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

It has also been promoting synergy between the Belt and Road cooperation and the development strategies of various countries and regional cooperation initiatives such as the Eurasian Economic Union.

Meanwhile, the SCO calls for observing the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, providing a new platform and model for multilateral cooperation to improve global governance.

As B.R. Deepak, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, has said, the SCO "has proved to be an excellent example of multilateralism in the 21st century," and "has played an important role in enhancing the voice of developing countries in global institutions and forums."

Bright future

This year marks the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Kazakhstan as well as between China and Uzbekistan.

Over the past 30 years, China's relations with the two countries have maintained a sound momentum of development.

In 2013, 2015 and 2017, Xi paid three visits to Kazakhstan where the Silk Road Economic Belt was initiated.

Since 2013, China-Kazakhstan relations have achieved leapfrog development with the Belt and Road cooperation, bringing tangible benefits to the people of the two countries.

In 2021, the Zhanatas wind power plant, the Turgusun hydropower station and other China-built projects were completed and put into operation. Kazakh companies have participated in the China International Import Expo for four consecutive years. The import and export of goods between China and Kazakhstan totaled 25.25 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, up 17.6 percent year-on-year. Their economic cooperation has withstood the tough test of the pandemic and shown strong resilience.

Meanwhile, China-Uzbekistan relations are at a historic high. The two countries have strengthened political mutual trust, achieved fruitful practical cooperation and maintained close coordination in international and regional affairs.

Xi visited Uzbekistan in 2013 and 2016. In 2016, China-Uzbekistan relations were upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership. Since then, China has been Uzbekistan's largest trading partner and largest destination of exports.

Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, the two sides have carried out close cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, investment, energy, transportation, agriculture and people-to-people exchanges, and undertaken a number of projects like the Pengsheng industrial park and China's Ming Yuan Silu Corp-funded plate glass manufacturing and deep-processing facility.

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are both important participants and contributors to Belt and Road cooperation.

More than 2,000 years ago, along the ancient Silk Road linking Asia and Europe, civilizations in the East and West told a story of mutual assistance and mutual learning. Now the Belt and Road has carried forward that spirit across the Eurasian continent, bringing SCO members even closer.

Sun Zhuangzhi, director of the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that in line with the concepts of "a green Silk Road" and "a digital Silk Road," practical cooperation among SCO member states will be expanded to green development, digital economy and other areas in the future.

After more than 20 years of development, the organization has been forging ahead toward closer cooperation. As the Samarkand Summit is approaching, the SCO is expected to continuously uphold the Shanghai Spirit, commit itself to building a closer SCO community with a shared future, and make greater contributions to lasting peace and the common development of the world.
Charles has become Britain's new King following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at the age of 96.

The Queen became the sixth female to ascend to the British throne in February 1952, after the death of her father, King George VI. She was the longest-reigning monarch in British history, serving for more than 70 years.

Charles, the Queen's eldest son, immediately ascended to the throne as King, putting his elder son, William, first in line for the throne.

Here's what we know about the British royal family's line of succession.

King Charles III

Born: November 14, 1948

What to know: Charles was the longest serving British monarch-in-waiting; he was the heir apparent since the age of three.

President of The Prince's Trust and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and president or patron of more than 400 charitable organizations, Charles was the first royal heir to earn a university degree.

More key relatives: Diana, Princess of Wales, to whom he was married from 1981 to 1996. They had two children together: Princes William and Harry.

Diana died in 1997 following a car accident in Paris, along with boyfriend Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul.

In 2005, Charles married Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.

Prince William, Duke of Cornwall

Born: June 21, 1982

What to know: William, Duke of Cornwall is first in line to the throne. He has achieved the highest educational degree -- Master of Arts -- of any member of the royal family. He served in the military from 2006 to 2013, participating in more than 150 helicopter search and rescue operations.

More key relatives: Catherine, Duchess of Cornwall, whom he married in 2011. The couple have three children together: Prince George, 9; Princess Charlotte, 7; and Prince Louis, 4.

The family live in Adelaide Cottage, a four-bedroom property in the grounds of Windsor Castle, Berkshire, about 25 miles from London. Their London residence, Kensington Palace, will remain the family's principal residence, however, a royal source told CNN in August.

Prince George

Born: July 22, 2013

What to know: If all goes as planned and he becomes king after the reigns of his grandfather Prince Charles and his father Prince William, George -- now second in line -- will be the 43rd monarch since William the Conqueror.

But for now, he's still brushing up on his education: George currently attends Lambrook School near Windsor along with his younger sister, Princess Charlotte and his younger brother, Prince Louis.

Princess Charlotte

Born: May 2, 2015

What to know: Third in line to the throne, Princess Charlotte was born into a more equitable era: In 2011, the British monarchy abolished a rule that gave preference to male heirs over their sisters in the line of succession.

Prince Louis

Born: April 23, 2018

What to know: Prince Louis, fourth in line to the throne, arrived during a busy season for the royal family; he was born just weeks before the 2018 wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan.

As is tradition, a golden easel bearing a framed notice announcing the birth was placed on display in front of Buckingham Palace that afternoon. The practice of posting a bulletin on the occasion of a royal birth goes back to at least 1837, when Buckingham Palace became the British monarch's official residence.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex

Born: September 15, 1984

What to know: Fifth in line to the throne, Prince Harry also trained in the military. In 2008, the British Ministry of Defense announced that Harry had secretly been serving in Afghanistan with his Army unit on a four-month mission since December 2007.

He was quickly withdrawn for security reasons, but later returned as an Apache helicopter pilot in 2012. In 2015, after nearly a decade of service, he announced he was leaving the armed forces.

The Duke of Sussex is also the founder of the Invictus Games, an international sporting competition for injured servicemen and women. The first games were held in London in 2014.

More key relatives: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, whom he married in 2018. The couple welcomed their first child, son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, in May 2019. Their daughter, Lilibet "Lili" Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born in June 2021.

In early 2020, the pair announced that they were stepping back from their roles as senior members of the British royal family. They now live in the US.

Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor

Born: May 6, 2019

What to know: In a significant milestone across the Commonwealth and within British society, baby Archie made history by becoming the first biracial British child in the royal family.

When he was born -- at which point he became seventh in line -- he didn't immediately qualify for the title of prince, and Buckingham Palace told CNN at the time that his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, had chosen not to use any title at all for their son.

Now Charles has become King, Prince Harry's son -- who is now sixth in line -- will be eligible to become His Royal Highness Prince Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

Lilibet 'Lili' Diana Mountbatten-Windsor

Born: June 4, 2021

What to know: Lilibet "Lili" Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born in Santa Barbara, California, in June 2021 following the decision of her parents, Harry and Meghan, to step back from royal life in the UK and move to the US.

Her unusual name is a tribute to her great-grandmother, the Queen -- Lilibet was her family nickname. Baby Lili's middle name, Diana, "was chosen to honor her beloved late grandmother, The Princess of Wales," the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced in a statement.

Seventh in line to the throne, the Queen's 11th great-grandchild is the most senior royal in the line of succession to have been born overseas.

Prince Andrew, Duke of York

Born: February 19, 1960

What to know: Prince Andrew is the third of the Queen's four children, and eighth in line to the British throne. He served in the British Royal Navy for 22 years and was a helicopter pilot during the Falklands War.

In 2019, the Prince announced that he was going to step back from public duties after a controversial interview in which he denied allegations that he had sex with an underaged woman who said she had been trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew, who has been under intense scrutiny for his decades-long friendship with Epstein, said in a statement announcing his decision that the association became "a major disruption to my family's work and the valuable work going on in the many organizations and charities that I am proud to support."

While he's still a prince, Andrew no longer has an official role.

More key relatives: Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, whom Andrew married in 1986.

Sarah and Andrew had two children together -- Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie -- before a high-profile divorce in 1996.

Princess Beatrice

Born: August 8, 1988

What to know: Princess Beatrice, ninth in the line of succession to the British throne, married real estate specialist Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a private ceremony in July 2020. The wedding was a significantly pared-back event attended by the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and close family to ensure compliance with Covid-19 guidelines at the time.

In September 2021, she gave birth to daughter Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi, who became the 10th in line to the throne.

Beatrice, 33, has a royal title but works a regular, full-time day job as vice president of partnerships and strategy at tech company Afiniti.

Princess Eugenie

Born: March 23, 1990

What to know: The younger York sister is 11th in the line of succession, and, after her cousin Prince Harry, was the second royal to throw a massive wedding in 2018.

She wed Jack Brooksbank, a brand ambassador for Casamigos tequila, which was founded by George Clooney and Rande Gerber, husband of supermodel Cindy Crawford. Like her sister, Princess Eugenie has a fairly everyday job: she works as the director of the Hauser & Wirth art gallery in London.

In February, she gave birth to her son August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, who is the 12th in line to the throne.

Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex

Born: March 10, 1964

What to know: The youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Prince Edward is 13th in line to the British throne. He's currently a full-time working member of the royal family. Prince Edward previously trained as a cadet in the Royal Marines and worked as a theater and TV producer.

More key relatives: Sophie, Countess of Wessex, whom Prince Edward married in 1999. The couple have two children together, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn.

James, Viscount Severn

Born: December 17, 2007

What to know: Despite being younger than his sister Lady Louise Windsor, the Viscount Severn is ahead of her in the line of succession because of the previous rule that saw the British monarchy favor male heirs over their sisters. He is 14th in line to the throne.

Lady Louise Windsor

Born: November 8, 2003

What to know: The oldest child of the Earl and Countess of Wessex, Lady Louise Windsor is now 15th in line to the throne. Her parents chose more subdued royal titles and, with the permission of the Queen, gave their children titles in the style of an earl rather than prince and princess, according to The Independent.

Anne, the Princess Royal

Born: August 15, 1950

What to know: The second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Anne was third in the line of succession at birth -- but today she's No. 16, behind her brothers and their children and grandchildren.

Widely known as an expert horsewoman, the Princess Royal competed as an equestrian in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal -- just two years after surviving a kidnapping attempt. Today she's part of the International Olympic Committee in addition to serving various charitable organizations.

More key relatives: Capt. Mark Phillips, the Princess Royal's first husband, with whom she has two children: Peter and Zara. Phillips, an army officer, was a commoner who declined to receive a royal title; Anne also declined her mother's offer to give titles to Peter and Zara.

Anne and Phillips divorced in 1992, and the Princess Royal went on to marry Royal Navy officer and equerry to the Queen, Timothy Laurence, that same year.

To get updates on the British Royal Family sent to your inbox, sign up for CNN's Royal News newsletter.

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Hackers tied to the Iranian government have been targeting individuals specializing in Middle Eastern affairs, nuclear security, and genome research as part of a new social engineering campaign designed to hunt for sensitive information.

Enterprise security firm Proofpoint attributed the targeted attacks to a threat actor named TA453, which broadly overlaps with cyber activities monitored under the monikers APT42, Charming Kitten, and Phosphorus.

It all starts with a phishing email impersonating legitimate individuals at Western foreign policy research organizations that's ultimately designed to gather intelligence on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The sock puppet accounts include people from Pew Research Center, the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FRPI), the U.K.'s Chatham House, and the scientific journal Nature. The technique is said to have been deployed in mid-June 2022.

However, what differentiates this from other phishing attacks is the use of a tactic Proofpoint calls Multi-Persona Impersonation (MPI), wherein the threat actor employs not one but several actor-controlled personas in the same email conversation to bolster the chances of success.

The idea is to "leverage the psychology principle of social proof" and increase the authenticity of the threat actor's correspondence so as to make the target buy into the scheme, a tactic that demonstrates the adversary's continued ability to step up its game.

"This is an intriguing technique because it requires more resources to be used per target  potentially burning more personas  and a coordinated approach among the various personalities in use by TA453," Sherrod DeGrippo, vice president of threat research and detection at Proofpoint, said in a statement.

Once the initial email elicits a response from the target, the persona then sends a follow-up message containing a malicious OneDrive link that downloads a Microsoft Office document, one of which purportedly alludes to a clash between Russia and the U.S.

This document subsequently uses a technique called remote template injection to download Korg, a template consisting of three macros that are capable of gathering usernames, a list of running processes, and the victims' public IP addresses.

Besides the exfiltration of the beaconing information, no other post-exploitation actions have been observed. The "abnormal" lack of code execution and command-and-control behavior has led to an assessment that the compromised users may be subjected to further attacks based on the installed software.

This is not the first time the threat actor has undertaken impersonation campaigns. In July 2021, Proofpoint revealed a phishing operation dubbed SpoofedScholars that targeted individuals focused on Middle East affairs in the U.S. and the U.K. under the guise of scholars with the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Then in July 2022, the cybersecurity company uncovered attempts on the part of TA453 to masquerade as journalists to lure academics and policy experts into clicking on malicious links that redirect the targets to credential harvesting domains.

The latest disclosure comes amid a flurry of Iranian-linked cyber activity. Last week, Microsoft took the wraps off a string of ransomware attacks mounted by a Phosphorus subgroup dubbed DEV-0270 using living-off-the-land binaries such as BitLocker.

Additionally, cybersecurity firm Mandiant, which is now officially part of Google Cloud, detailed the activities of an Iranian espionage actor codenamed APT42 that has been linked to over 30 operations since 2015.

To top it all, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and its Minister of Intelligence, Esmaeil Khatib, in response to "cyber-enabled activities against the United States and its allies."

Albania, which has severed diplomatic relations with Iran after blaming it for a series of cyber offensives since July, pointed fingers at the "same aggressors" over the weekend for conducting another attack on a government system used to track border crossings.

"State-aligned threat actors are some of the best at crafting well thought-out social engineering campaigns to reach their intended victims," DeGrippo said.

"Researchers involved in international security, particularly those specializing in Middle Eastern studies or nuclear security, should maintain a heightened sense of awareness when receiving unsolicited emails."
ASHTON  One of the people who attended Sundays Polish Festival in Ashton really was Polish.

Zygmunt Chwistek, who lives in Radzikowice, Poland, was one of the people enjoying the music inside St. Francis Parish Hall on Sunday. Chwistek, 66, was more than 5,000 miles from home.

Chwistek is making his first visit to the United States. Hes been in this country for 10 days, and will head back on Tuesday.

He spent a lot of time in Omaha, where he has relatives.

On Sunday, he was accompanied by Nancy Schlesiger of Omaha, who is a cousin.

They made the trip to Ashton with Schlesigers friend, Tom Jodlowski, also of Omaha.

Using a smart phone language app, Schlesiger also served as a translator for Chwistek, who speaks limited English.

Schlesiger said Chwistek enjoyed meeting relatives and other people of Polish heritage. He liked looking at farms and the countryside along the way from Omaha, especially after they got off the interstate.

Chwisteks grandfather and Schlesigers grandfather were half-brothers.

During the afternoon, he was saluted by members of the Urkoski Orchestra. Schlesiger and Chwistek found they were both related to Kelly Kava of Grand Island, who is part of the Urkoski Orchestra.

People dont go to the Polish Festival just to eat kolachies and paczki. They also hit the dance floor.

At times, a dozen couples moved rhythmically to the music of the Urkoski Orchestra.

That band, by the way, has been performing Polish polka music since 1954. It got its start in the Silver Creek/Clarks area.

Gene Urkoski, 79, started with the group when he was 11. His late brother, Ron, was a year older. Their father, Andrew, was one of the groups original members.

After 68 years, why do the Urkoskis keep playing? We enjoy it, said Gene Urkoski, who plays violin and trumpet.

At the beginning of a show, the musicians might feel a little uptight. But as the crowd gets going, we relax. Like most bands, you feed off the crowd, Urkoski said.

Audiences especially love two songs  Apple, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie and In Heaven There is No Beer.

And we recorded a silly little song called Ee-I-Oh on one of our CDs. Just a stupid little song, but everybody just goes crazy when we play it, Urkoski said.

The group includes Urkoskis 16-year-old grandson, Kale. Kales father, Mike, is Gene Urkoskis son

Gene Urkoski lives in Silver Creek. Two members of the group, Lonnie Jr. and Gary, are his first cousins. Mike, Kale, Lonnie Jr. and Gary live in Columbus.

The band also includes Kelly Kava of Grand Island and Jim Overfelt of Omaha.

Some of the Polish Festival attendees wear traditional Polish attire. One of them was Phyllis Piechota of Ashton, who helps sell pottery at the Polish Heritage Center. Piechota has visited Poland twice.

The Polish Festival each year gives her a chance to meet a lot of interesting people.

Thats the fun part, she said.
YORK  A skill Bob Roth experimented with in high school is one to which he returned in earnest during the decade of his 70s.

Now 79, Roth has turned himself into a skilled and artistic craftsman with his two favorite tools; a table saw and Powermatic lathe. Add exotic woods, most from a specialty shop in Omaha, to clever ideas and attention to detail to get a wide variety of bowls, urns for both pets and people, decorative boxes, cutting boards and all manner of interesting pieces  each a one of a kind creation.

Roth said he began to take wood turning a little more seriously eight or nine years ago.

A little more seriously? Indeed.

Nooks and crannies, corners and shelves of his well-lived-in shop on the edge of York are filled with bowls, cutting boards, urns and all manner of objects dart to include remarkable, highest-quality fishing rods.

The fishing rods are a partnership between Roth and his son, Ryan, who lives in Phoenix and is as much an over-the-top angling enthusiast as his father. Case in point: Bobs fly-in fishing adventures to far north Ontario number three to as many as five in a typical  which is to say non-Covid/open border  season.

Bob crafts custom wooden handles in York, either of his own design or to specifications of the customer, then ships them to Ryan for completion.

In Phoenix the handles receive a mirror finish and are mounted on St. Croix rod blanks, considered a leader in the industry for quality. Ryan wraps line guides onto the blanks, adds a name or commemorative message if requested, and gets the one-of-a-kind rod to the purchaser.

Inlay wraps are frequently installed and then laminated onto the blanks to make them even more unique. Materials range from rattlesnake and cobra hide to feathers or even customer-specific memorabilia. The possibilities are limited only by imagination.

As seen in the accompanying photos, Roth often folds two or even more exotic species together in a single piece, creating patterns of stripes, swirls, checkerboards and more. Ideas become completed projects in Roths world, although he readily acknowledges mistakes are often required to refine a specific look or technique.

Roth is often heard to suggest  in self-deprecating jest of course  that hes Kopcho Sanitations most reliable volume customer.

Typical turn-around time for a custom rod from order to delivery runs 2 to 2  months. His time on the lathe often is to 8 or 8 1/2 hours. That is only for the wood crafting, it does not include Ryans finishing processes.

There are lots of options, he said when creating custom rods.

Memorabilia, gifts  the possibilities are many and varied for Roths projects. Like the aforementioned cutting boards. You can cut on it, he said with a grin, but youll ruin it if you do.

Why does he spend so many hours standing at his lathe, filling the air with sawdust and blanketing the concrete floor with shavings?

Self-satisfaction, was his answer. With a lot of this stuff the only person Im trying to satisfy is me.

To explore creation of an amazing fishing rod or other custom project, or to view completed urns, bowls and other pieces from his lathe, call Roth at 402 366-5170.
YORK  Irene Lira, 44, whose address has been listed in court documents as a variety of locations in York and York County, has pleaded no contest to two felonies after being wanted by local authorities, arrested and charged with nine felonies including the delivery of methamphetamine.

According to court documents, the York Police Department received information that Lira and Michael Fortner (who also had an active warrant) were in the area of Nobes Road and Lincoln Avenue, occupying a Blue Honda Fit with California plates.

An officer with the police department located them and upon searching Fortners person found a bag of marijuana, as well as a bag containing methamphetamine.

When the officer asked Lira for her identification, she presented a California identification card bearing the name of Yanira Sylvette Galimberty Navarro. The officer says in his affidavit he already knew Lira from past contacts and knew the identification claim was false.

The officer asked Lira to exit the vehicle and when she did, he saw a glass pipe where she was sitting, which is used to smoke methamphetamine. The officer also saw Lira attempting to hide something in her pants.

After they were arrested, Lira told officers they were high on methamphetamine and they had not gone without methamphetamine before.

During a search of the vehicle, the officers found: 10 cell phones, a methamphetamine bong made out of a childs juice cup, multiple torches, two concentrated THC vape pens, a methamphetamine bong, one methamphetamine pipe, a bottle containing Cyclobenzaprine Hydrochloride, a digital scale, four grams of methamphetamine, two ounces of marijuana, two loaded syringes, a bucket with miscellaneous drugs and paraphernalia, a marijuana pipe, a large quantity of sale baggies, a plastic tube containing methamphetamine and a meth kit.

It is also noted in court documents that Liras warrants have been active for over nine months and she has a history of fleeing charges and returning to California.

Lira was initially charged with delivery of an exceptionally hazardous drug, a Class 2 felony; first degree forgery, a Class 3 felony; possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony; criminal impersonation, a Class 4 felony; obstruction of government operations, a Class 1 misdemeanor; false reporting, a Class 1 misdemeanor; inhaling certain compounds, a Class 3 misdemeanor; and two counts of unlawful acts relating to drugs, both Class 3 misdemeanors.

This past week, those charges were amended to possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony, and criminal impersonation, also a Class 4 felony. Each count carries a possible maximum sentence of two years in prison with 12 months of post-release supervision.

Lira pleaded no contest to the remaining two charges.

Sentencing will take place Nov. 28.
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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered a video speech on Monday at the opening ceremony of a seminar commemorating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations.

Wang said that good-neighborliness and friendship, and the development and revitalization of Asia are the destinies, aspirations and responsibilities of China and Japan. He put forward five-point views on building China-Japan relations that meet the demands of the new era:

-- To keep promises and maintain the political foundation of China-Japan relations. To ensure the steady and long-term development of bilateral relations, the four political documents reached between the two countries must be abided by and the commitments that have been made so far should be honored. On major issues of principle such as history and Taiwan that are fundamental ones concerning China-Japan relations, there should be no ambiguity or backsliding.

-- To bear in mind the overall situation and grasp the right direction of development. The political consensus that the two sides are cooperative partners and do not pose a threat to each other should be accommodated into their policies and implemented through action. The two sides should remove distractions and properly handle differences to ensure that the ship of China-Japan relations does not run aground or drift off course.

-- To deepen cooperation and achieve win-win results at a higher level. The two sides should foster a strong sense of partnership, uphold a global perspective and jointly resist the wrong practice of decoupling, to maintain stable and smooth global industrial and supply chains, as well as fair and open trade and investment environment.

-- To strengthen guidance and foster positive and friendly mutual understanding. People-to-people exchanges between China and Japan have a long history and should be carried forward with the times.

-- To conform to the general trend, and practice genuine multilateralism. It is necessary to uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core, jointly oppose zero-sum games and camp confrontation, and promote regional stability and integrated development.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said in his video speech that both sides should focus on the next 50 years and work together to build constructive and stable Japan-China relations.
One of the regions youngest civic clubs is celebrating a big milestone this week.

The Rotary Club of Jackson Williamson Counties Sunset is marking its 10th anniversary with a special banquet, memories and surprises this upcoming weekend.

At a time when many other Rotary groups in the region have observed their own centennials, the 20-plus member club is unique for reasons besides its youth, said Club President Fred Betz.

First, the club meets each week in the evening. In contrast, most other civic groups come together for breakfast or lunch meetings. The Jackson Williamson group meets at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays at Bandanas in Carbondale. Additionally, the club is predominantly female.

One of the things that distinguishes us is that we are more than 60% women, thats well above the average for Rotary in the United States, Betz said.

He said nearly all of the club members are Paul Harris Fellows, a designation for Rotary members who have made personal contributions or have had contributions made in their name of $1,000 or more to the Rotary Foundation.

The club is also known for its service projects and sponsorship of Southern Illinois not-for-profit groups through the clubs Pay it Forward program.

Betz said the clubs anniversary banquet will be Saturday evening at Carbondales Hunan Restaurant. He said the club will recognize members, including four charter members of the club as well as enjoying a presentation on club activities and history. He added that two new club members will be inducted and also promised a couple of surprises.

Past Rotary District Governor Terry Mathias, a member of the Rotary Club of Jackson Williamson Counties Sunset, will serve as emcee for the celebration.

Im looking forward to all of the camaraderie and remembering everything weve done in the past, explained Merilyn Hogan, one of the founding members of the group. Plus, its exciting to think about what we can do in the future.
Mason Voss path to a career with United Airlines has been cleared for take-off.

As Voss, a Southern Illinois University Carbondale freshman in aviation flight from Red Bud, continues his studies at SIU, he may take advantage of Uniteds Aviate career development program through a partnership signed into agreement with SIUs School of Aviation Tuesday.

Officials said the program will not only help SIU students such as Voss gain experience, but also potentially could lead them to the flight decks of United Airlines planes.

As an Aviate university partner, current and former SIU students and instructors who apply and are successful in the Aviate selection process will receive a conditional job offer from United. Additionally, SIU aviation students and certified flight instructors in the program will have the opportunity to gain experience and build their hours toward their R-ATP (restricted privileges airline transport pilot) rating. The rating allows a pilot to serve as a co-pilot until they obtain the necessary 1,500 flight hours. Throughout the Aviate program, participants can connect with United employees, be mentored by United pilots and access to travel privileges.

I am excited for this new partnership, which will provide another pathway to careers for our hard-working, talented aviation students, SIU Chancellor Austin A. Lane said. As we honor our long, proud history, we have our eyes on the future to provide connections and opportunities for our students, including close ties to the industry.

Lane and representatives of United signed the partnership agreement Tuesday, Sept. 13 at SIUs Glenn Poshard Transportation Education Center at the Southern Illinois Airport.

Kendall Lane, a 2012 SIU aviation graduate and current 737 First Officer with United Airlines said students accepted can eventually join him in the pilot ranks.

Theyve got a streamlined, direct path to the right seat of a United Airlines cockpit, Lane said. At the end of the education tunnel, they have a job at United.

Lane (no relation to the chancellor), was among a number of SIU alumni who are United pilots at the signing ceremony. He said United has a need to hire 10,000 pilots in the next 10 years. The airline has hired more than 1,500 pilots this year.

Aviation is a very expensive career to get into and so when students see the potential to have a direct path where it will pay dividends, it allows us to recruit great talent, he said.

SIU Carbondale is the latest university aviation program to partner with Aviate. According to the Aviate programs website, 13 universities are affiliated with the program.

We are proud to welcome SIU to the United Aviate program as their longstanding history of attracting and developing skilled aviators incorporates well into our pilot recruitment strategy, said Michael Bonner, managing director of pilot strategy and Aviate at United. Current and future SIU aviation students will benefit from this partnership in their journeys to becoming professional pilots.

SIU signed a similar agreement with Delta Airlines last year. Aviation students such as Voss are excited about the options the partnerships bring.

Ive always dreamed of flying with United, Voss said. A year ago, I didnt think it would even be possible, but now I can see it happening.
Suburban mayors called for better communication and coordination with Chicago and state governments after being surprised by busloads of migrants being sent to their towns  and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot pledged to work with the mayors.

Two CTA buses carrying about 90 migrants arrived Saturday at a Hampton Inn in Elk Grove Village, the latest group of asylum-seekers sent to the area by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as a way to criticize the nations immigration policies.

After being notified Friday afternoon that the buses were coming, Elk Grove Mayor Craig Johnson said he had many questions about whether theyd had health and safety checks, questions that federal immigration officials eventually answered satisfactorily.

Johnson said he had a cordial conversation with Lightfoot on Sunday, who, he said, apologized but said the state was overseeing the process. Johnson called for the state and city to work with suburban mayors to arrange an orderly transition for new arrivals.

Theyre upset with Texas, then youre turning around and doing the exact same thing to me, sending these people without notifying us, Johnson said. Lets work together on this.

He said dozens of cars were waiting at the hotel, including some from out of state, apparently with friends or relatives whod known the immigrants were coming.

Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso went further, saying it was hypocritical of Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to criticize Abbott for shipping Venezuelan immigrants to Chicago, only to have them sent to Burr Ridge and Elk Grove Village with little or no notice.

Grasso said Lightfoot called him Sunday to say he should have been given notice of the arrivals to a hotel in Burr Ridge on Wednesday. But Grasso said Chicago still bore responsibility as the sanctuary city where the people arrived.

Initially, the governors office issued a statement in response to Grasso, saying that xenophobia has no home here.

At a news conference Monday, Pritzker explained that the state had very little notice from Texas, and had to almost immediately find shelter, food and medical care for the arrivals. The hotels were chosen, he said, simply because they had vacancies and were able to arrange accommodations quickly.

We give notice as fast as we can, he said.

The governor of Texas needs to stop sowing chaos and needs to work with states, he said. Pritzker said the immigrants also must be transported willingly, because otherwise its kidnapping.

Abbott sent the immigrants, with more expected to come, to sanctuary cities, including Washington, D.C., and New York City, to protest federal policies allowing large numbers of immigrants coming into Texas.

Lightfoots office issued a statement that the city continues to work closely with the county, state, and federal partners to welcome the migrants that Texas is inhumanely transporting.

As Mayor Lightfoot has said, we will work with Mayors across the metro area to maintain an open line of communication to provide adequate care and treat new arrivals with the dignity they deserve.

The Illinois Department of Human Services issued a statement that some 300 recent migrants were being placed in urban and suburban hotels, in some cases where previous refugees, such as those from Afghanistan, had been placed.

We will continue taking action to ensure everyone in Illinois has access to shelter, food, health care and other basic, essential supports, according to the statement. We anticipate that the state of Texas will continue to bus migrants to Illinois, and we remain committed to helping welcome new arrivals in a responsible, orderly and compassionate way.
A 24-year-old Orangeburg man pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the April 21, 2017 shooting death of 36-year-old Rodney Allen Spigner.

Steven Rolley Jr., of Kings Road, pleaded guilty to the charge before Circuit Judge Ed Dickson during a recent term of court at the Orangeburg County Courthouse.

Rolley was originally charged with murder, but pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter instead.

Dickson sentenced Rolley to 7-1/2 years in prison. Rolley was given credit for having already served more than five years at the Orangeburg County Detention Center.

Prosecutors dismissed Rolleys charges of possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a violent felony and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

It was around 12:10 a.m. on April 21, 2017 that a witness and Spigner argued outside of the slain mans Jamison Avenue home.

The witness said a man named Steven drove up and shot Spigner with a handgun.

Spigners family members tried to keep him awake until Orangeburg County EMS arrived.

Medics transported him to the Regional Medical Center where officials pronounced him dead from a single gunshot wound to the abdominal area.

In other recent guilty pleas:

 Rayquan Omar Evans, 24, of 2244 Bass Drive, Santee, pleaded guilty to first-offense failure to stop for blue lights.

Dickson sentenced him under the Youthful Offender Act not to exceed six years. After he serves 90 days, the remainder of his sentence will be suspended to four years of probation.

Dickson gave Evans credit for having already served 10 days in jail.

Hes allowing Evans to serve his jail time on weekends.

 Daytwon Shaquan McMichael, 25, of 300 Cromer Avenue, North, pleaded guilty to first-offense failure to stop for blue lights.

Circuit Judge Kristi F. Curtis sentenced him under the Youthful Offender Act not to exceed three years, suspended to one year of probation.

McMichael is also required to undergo random drug and alcohol testing.

Curtis gave him credit for having already served one day in jail.

 April Davis-Patterson, 42, of 233 Seaside Drive, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident involving an unattended vehicle.

Davis-Patterson was originally charged with hit-and-run causing minor injuries, but pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident involving an unattended vehicle instead.

Curtis sentenced her to 30 days in jail. She must pay her court fines and fees with 60 days.

 Jermaine Darius Salley, 25, of 8921 Augusta Highway, Smoaks, pleaded guilty to first-offense failure to stop for blue lights.

Curtis sentenced him to prison for six months, suspended to six months of probation instead.

She gave Salley credit for having already served one day in jail.

 Eric Lee Smoak, 42, of 211 Whitetail Lane, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to breach of trust with fraudulent intent valued at $2,000 or less.

He was originally charged with breach of trust with fraudulent intent valued more than $2,000 but less than $10,000, but pleaded guilty to breach of trust with fraudulent intent valued at $2,000 or less instead.

Curtis gave Smoak credit for having already served 11 days in jail.

 Shaunicee Evonne Thompson, 33, of 147 Laquinta Drive, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to first-offense possession with intent to distribute a scheduled drug.

Thompson was originally charged with second-offense possession with intent to distribute a scheduled drug, but pleaded guilty to first-offense possession with intent to distribute a scheduled drug instead.

Curtis sentenced her to three years in prison, suspended to two years of probation.

She also ordered Thompson to undergo random drug/alcohol testing.

Curtis gave Thompson credit for having already served two days in jail.

She stipulated that Thompsons probation term may end after one year if Thompson has negative drug tests.

Prosecutors dismissed Thompsons charge of second-offense driving under suspension, license not suspended for DUI.

 Shirley Williams, 58, of 1432 Pineland Street, Vance, pleaded guilty to petit larceny valued at $2,000 or less.

Williams was originally charged with breaking into a motor vehicle, but pleaded guilty to petit larceny valued at $2,000 or less instead.

Curtis sentenced Williams to 30 days in jail and restitution.
The Town of Norway held a meeting via Facebook Live on Sept. 12 during which Mayor Tracie Clemons hindered the discussion related to a referendum that would move the town from district council members to at-large council members.

Clemons canceled two council members' vote during the last meeting in August, with one vote to approve the referendum  a move, which the Municipal Association of South Carolina stated was not allowed.

According to a previous article in The T&D, MASC Field Manager Ashley Kellahan, said in an email, Regardless of the form of government, mayors do not have veto power under South Carolina state law. The mayor has the authority to act and vote as a member of council, not just in the case of a tie vote. All decisions are determined by a majority vote of a quorum of council unless state or local law requires a higher number of votes, which is rare.

The Mayors vote can break a tie if it, along with the votes of other council members, results in the number of votes necessary for passage of the motion being considered. A mayor after casting his or her vote cannot override the result of a vote, she said.

Kellahan continued, I believe Mayor Clemons is going to address it at their next meeting.

Mayor Tracie Clemons did not address it on Monday and kept others from doing so.

Clemons entertained a motion to accept the agenda for the meeting and immediately faced opposition.

Council member Gregg Covington, whose voice could be recognized from previous meetings where he had been vocal about several issues, said he did not have a second for the agenda but did have a question, which turned into more of a statement. (As the T&D covered the meeting via Facebook Live and the person's name was not given, it could not be completely determined who gave the first to accept the agenda. It sounded like another male voice, the voice of Councilman Kelvin Crosby.)

Covington said in his statement, "For old business from the last meeting from actions that took place, that the Municipal Association notified you were wrong, I think that should be back on the agenda with discussion and maybe a revote because it was done improperly.

Clemons said, "We will not add that to the agenda."

Clemons cited an ordinance:

"No member shall speak more than twice on the same question except to explain his position without concurrence of the majority of the Council."

Clemons next stated to Covington, "Therefore, I am declining your request to add that to Old Business. We are not going to discuss that at this meeting. You may have an opportunity to discuss it at a later meeting."

Covington said, "You should have changed it when the Municipal Association notified you. You should have taken it off the referendum because they informed you it was not legal what you did."

Clemons replied, "Your request is declined, sir."

Covington tried to speak again.

Clemons replied again, "Your request is declined."

She then said, "As the mayor, I do have the right to vote, so I am going to second that motion (to accept the agenda)."

There was some muttering in the background to which Clemons replied, "And that is two votes."

Councilwoman Amanda Holiday then came in late to the Facebook live call. She was the other opposing vote, along with Covington, against the referendum in the last meeting.

Before the mayor could say, "All in favor," Holiday asked if the motion to approve the agenda had already been seconded.

Clemons stated that it had. Covington opposed. The meeting continued with a discussion of town finances and other issues.

For more information and to view the Facebook Live meeting in its entirety, see https://www.facebook.com/Town-of-Norway-SC-1013716612050884

The referendum question was on the ballot for Tuesday's town election which also featured voting for a council seat. No candidates filed for the seat. Watch TheTandD.com for results.
The 241st anniversary of the Battle of Eutaw Springs was observed on Labor Day weekend in Eutawville. Many locally know of the Eutaw Springs battlefield and its importance in the Revolutionary War for American independence. What transpired in the Southern colonies and in particular in South Carolina cannot be underestimated in importance. More Americans need to know about these chapters in our history.

From DiscoverSouthCarolina.com: South Carolina's role in the Revolutionary War may not get the recognition of states like Massachusetts (Bunker Hill), Virginia (Yorktown) or Pennsylvania (Valley Forge). But upward of 200 battles and skirmishes -- more than any U.S. state -- took place here.

Several are indelibly etched into the fabric of the state. Among the most acclaimed is the 1776 Battle of Sullivan's Island. Fort Sullivan survived the Royal Navy's cannon strikes because the balls bounced off the soft wood of palmetto logs used to construct the patriot fortification. It's why the palmetto tree adorns the state flag today.

The years 1780-81 were especially successful for the Southern campaign with several battles that helped save the patriot cause, including the American victory at the Battle of Cowpens -- called "the best-planned battle of the entire war" by some historians -- and the Battle of Kings Mountain, considered the turning point of the revolution in the South.

South Carolinas leaders want to be sure that the states Revolutionary War battlefields are preserved  and they are united in the effort.

Sixth District Congressman Jim Clyburn has led a bipartisan effort to preserve and showcase important Revolutionary War sites in both North and South Carolina and create a new trail linking those sites.

In a rare show of unity in gridlocked Washington, Clyburn was joined by all the GOP House members from South Carolina in support of the Southern Campaign of the Revolution National Heritage Corridor Act. The act has passed the House and is now in committee in the Senate.

The push to establish federal protection over the scores of historic sites has stretched more than a decade, when former U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D-York, spearheaded the measure. Majority Whip Clyburn has finally gotten the legislation over the proverbial Washington hump.

On July 18, Clyburn told his colleagues during a House speech:

"When we hear the story of the American Revolution, we dont often learn of the wars Southern Campaign or applaud the dramatic impact that campaign had on the Revolution. Significant American victories in the Carolinas between 1775 and 1783, such as at Kings Mountain and at Guilford Courthouse, paved the way for Americas final victory in the war for independence.

"Today there are historical landmarks and battlefields that mark this rich history throughout the Carolinas. This legislation seeks to connect these sites to tell this under-recognized story and acknowledge the enduring significance of the Southern Campaign on our nations history by establishing this heritage corridor.

"As a former teacher and lifelong student of history, it is a personal mission of mine to increase public awareness of, and appreciation for, our nations tremendous natural, historical, scenic and cultural resources. It is my hope that the creation of this Southern Campaign of the American Revolution National Heritage Corridor will attract visitors to learn more about both Carolinas contributions to this country, and further fulfill South Carolina's lesser-known motto: 'prepared in mind and resources.'"

The congressmans mission deserves support in the Senate and approval by the president.
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Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis stood trial on Monday over his alleged involvement in subsidy fraud.

At issue in the case is whether Babis and his former advisor Jana Nagyova unlawfully received about 50 million Czech crowns (2.07 million U.S. dollars) in European Union (EU) subsidies over a decade ago to build a conference center, known as the Stork's Nest, near Prague.

During the hearing in Prague's Municipal Court, Babis denied any wrongdoing and said that the money in question was returned to the EU. He further explained that the criminal proceedings arose after he entered politics, arguing that the allegations against him were "politically motivated."

The trial that began on Monday follows a long-standing criminal investigation in which the defendants are accused of receiving EU funds earmarked for small and medium-sized businesses. Local media reported that prosecutors had asked for suspended sentences and fines for Babis and Nagyova.

Babis is still a sitting parliamentarian. His party, the populist ANO (Action of Dissatisfied Citizens), holds a majority in the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of Parliament). Babis is widely expected to formally announce his candidacy for president in 2023. Certain polls suggest that he would be a strong contender.
(TBTCO) - Ket luan Hoi nghi voi cac doanh nghiep nuoc ngoai, Thu tuong Pham Minh Chinh khang inh Viet Nam cam ket tao lap moi truong kinh doanh tot nhat huong en cac chuan muc cua OECD, tren tinh than cung thang, "loi ich hai hoa, rui ro chia se" voi cac nha au tu boi "neu lam viec voi nhau ma ben thua, ben thang thi khong phai la hop tac".
BEIRUT  Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that Jerusalem is keen to make a deal with Lebanon regarding the maritime border dispute in a meeting with United Nations diplomats on Monday.

The state of Israel is interested in progressing maritime border negotiations with Lebanon, Gantz said. In the end, there will be two gas rigs, one Israeli and one Lebanese. The question is whether we can reach this scenario without an unnecessary escalation as a result of Hezbollah threats.

Establishing a rig on the Lebanese side is in the interest of Lebanon, whose residents do not have a regular electricity supply and are experiencing a devastating economic crisis, he said, explaining that Israel will also capitalize on its resources.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said in July that war with Israel is not inevitable, following recent repeated threats of war from Hezbollah and Israel at a time when the dispute over the delineation of the maritime border between both countries is in full swing following the arrival of a floating unit in the Karish field.

Gantz warned that Israel would not tolerate any threat by Nasrallah to its security and called on the Security Council to condemn any violation of Israeli sovereignty by the group.

We must advance the negotiations, strengthen the stability and prosperity in the region and prevent an escalation that will first of all harm the citizens of Lebanon and the Lebanese state, and bring us back to the start."

On June 5, Israel deployed a floating production, storage and offloading vessel to the disputed Karish offshore gas field, causing tensions with the Lebanese side.

The US envoy Amos Hochstein, who supervises the indirect negotiations between Lebanon and Israel over their common maritime border, came to Lebanon on Friday and met with President Michel Aoun in Baabda, as well as with the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Bou Saab and the Director of General Security Abbas Ibrahim.

Prior to Hochsteins visit, Deputy Parliament Speaker Elias Bou Saab said Hochstein's upcoming visit will not bring a definitive solution but would provide another positive step towards one.

Things are going in the right direction and we should remain hopeful that this file will end soon," said Bou Saab.

Last Wednesday, Washington said a lasting compromise is possible and that the issue is a key priority for the Biden administration.
According to teachers' union SEW, the measures proposed by the Ministry of Education ahead of the new academic year are too insignificant to bring about real change.

The Syndicate for Education and Science (SEW), which is affiliated with the Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation (OGBL), has voiced its dismay with the measures announced ahead of the new school year. The teachers' union believes that they are not decisive enough to counteract social inequalities, which they think have grown significantly in recent years. Children with a migration background and those from a socially weak environment are said to be affected in particular.

SEW further noted that for many pupils, their future is more or less set once they make it to Cycle 3 (grades three and four). The reforms that the Ministry of Education announced ahead of the new academic year, including the homework support, are said to be too insignificant to allow pupils to climb the proverbial social ladder.

Spokeswoman Joelle Dame elaborated: "Unfortunately, the much-lauded homework support is more of an overseen study session, which already existed many years ago. ... We doubt that this initiative will bring about a noticeable effect. Real private lessons remain a privilege that not everybody can afford."

SEW also criticised the new option of learning to read and write in French rather than German, noting that the project is not planned acutely enough to be implemented already: "This is an important step that needs a tried and tested method. It is a difficult debate since the German language holds the advantage of being phonetically accurate. French, on the other hand, according to the renowned neurologist Stanislas Dehaene, is the second-worst language for learning how to read and write."

The teachers' union also addressed secondary education and criticised the orientation procedure that pupils undergo. Michel Reuter noted: "With all the different formats, levels, and sections that we have, one could easily think that schools are in direct competition with one another. It also makes it difficult for children and parents to make sense of the offer. We therefore advocate for a more transparent school report so that pupils know where they are heading and which results they need to get there."

In general, teachers' union SEW argues that teaching staff should be consulted by the Ministry in such important matters.

Video report in Luxembourgish
According to the opposition party, the gross margins and therefore the earnings of Luxembourg-based oil businesses have consistently increased in recent years.

During a press conference on Tuesday, the Pirate Party accused the government, particularly Minister for Energy Claude Turmes, of favouring oil companies over consumers in recent years. According to the party, the agreement between the state and the Energy and Mobility Group, which has regulated oil prices in Luxembourg since 2004, has been regularly altered in such a way that the gross margin and thus the companies' profits have been "substantially above" the wage indexation level since 2014, and especially since 2019.

This is an obvious case of double standards, according to Pirate Party MP Sven Clement. Clement noted that on 1 August, the gross margin for all petroleum products, including heating, increased. At the same time as the government is encouraging citizens to prepare for a harsh winter and save energy, the MP claims that the government is using "deliberate political action" to increase the profits of oil companies.

Despite the fact that, unlike in France, Luxembourg-based companies "have contributed nothing" to the decrease in fuel prices, Clement stressed, pointing out that the fuel discount was paid for by taxpayers.

Minister for Energy Claude Turmes, according to the Pirate Party MP, "is either incompetent or has bad intentions." "Either he doesn't know what documents are signed in his name or he purposefully wants oil companies to earn more money," Clement remarked, adding, "I honestly don't know which is worse." If not incompetence, then "Luxembourg has a minister who has always been internationally known for his action against climate change, who has now increased oil prices in Luxembourg, but not to boost climate protection, but to benefit the war chests of multinational oil companies, some of which are actively working against climate protection."

The Pirate Party did not provide specific data for the gross margin in question. While the figures are included in a table, the party's lawyer advised the politicians not to reveal them publicly because doing so may be viewed as a violation of the oil companies' trade secrets.
6 Astonishing temples in India

Travelling with family is heaven on earth but always elders prefer holy places and youngsters long for crazy tripping. This is a all time problem, to solve either one has to console their core travelling dream. Here are few ancient temple with astonishing facts which will satisfy the deep travelling desire of all the members of the family. The land of temple welcomes you.India, one the most interesting land on earth. It is filled with diverse culture, magnifying architecture, dynamic history and astonishing mystery. Proudly being an Indian , overwhelmed with this below temples why, what, how and now it's your turn to be startled with no scientific reason facts.At the end reveal the temple you wanted to visit or you felt it to be more interesting, now scroll down with me to the astonishing temple.1. Kamakhya Devi Temple2. Lepakshi Temple3. StambheshwarMahadev Temple4. Padmanabhaswamy Temple5. Brihadishvara Temple6. Jagannath TempleThe Kamakhya Temple also known as Kamrup-Kamakhya temple located in Guwahati, Assam. It is an important pilgrimage destination for Hindus and especially for Tantric worshipers. Being the centre for Tantra worship this temple attracts thousands of tantra devotees in an annual festival known as the AmbubachiMela. Another annual celebration is the Manasha Puja. Durga Puja is also celebrated annually at Kamakhya during Navaratri in the autumn. Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati, Assam closed around 9:30 pm on Friday for the next four days on the occasion of annual AmbubachiMela. No religious activities will be performed inside the temple till June 26. The doors will be reopened at 7:51 am on June 26.There is no particular deity in this temple; they worship the vagina or yogi (female Private part) as god. This temple is closed for three days in year for the gods menstruation and this culture is followed even today. I wonder menstruation and holy temple in completely away from each other but here both at same place?The Veerbhadra Temple also known as Lepakshi Temple located in Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh. It was built by the brothers Viranna and Virupanna. And, this temple is one of the most notable examples of the Vijayanagar architectural style. Also, it is famous for its sculptures The temple's main deity is Veerabhadra, the fiery god created by Shiva in his rage after the DakshaYagna and the immolation of Parvathi. Another thing that makes the temple unique and a place to must visit is a footprint that is believed to be of Maa Sita and a leafless tree that is believed to be standing since ages. Abhisheka will be in the morning around 7:00 - 7:30 and visitors are asked to be dressed traditionally as the temple does not permit most of the western wears.There are almost 70 pillars in this temple and one among them is hanging from the roof purely ground free. It is said once a British ruler tried to pull the pillar down but the damage detected was the entire temple world collapse. I wonder if the engineers in the past had so much technology or is there a hidden reason ?The StambheshwarMahadev Temple also known as PillarshwarMahadev Temple, located in the town of KaviKamboi, Gujarat. This ancient Shiva temple is located on the betwixt of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Cambay. This is very simple temple with nothing extraordinary in the architecture for the on lookers, but it is still a very unusual must visit religious sites of India. This is a temple where god plays hide n seeks. When the flowers which were placed on the Shiva lingam by the devotees at the time of low tide comes afloat on the surface of the sea water at the time of high tide, it lends a spectrum of bright colors to the sea. Here the Mother Nature performs the 'JalAbhishekh' of the Holy Shiva lingam, herself.The temple betwixt of a sea disappears twice a day on high tides and its perfectly appears back on low tides. I wonder how the temple is Submerging itself most unusually is it because of nature or a mystery behind building this Shiva shrines ?The Padmanabhaswamy temple located in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The name of the city of Thiruvananthapuram in Malayalam translates to "The City of Lord Ananta", referring to the deity of the Padmanabhaswamy temple. It is one of the 108 DivyaDesams, the principal centres of worship in the dharma of Vaishnavism. DivyaDesams are the holy abodes of the great Lord Vishnu, and the temple worships Lord Padmanabha - a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu. Only Hindus are allowed to enter the temple. There is a strict dress code visitors need to adhere to. Men should wear a dhoti or mundu while women should wear a saree or a skirt and blouse.There are 6 vaults, these chambers have been named Vaults A, B, C, D, E, and F to simplify the process. Except for the vault b all the other chamber had treasure and no one has even idea what vault has. I wonder if vault b is opened will we find more treasure or secrets of man kind ?Brihadishvara Temple, also known as PeruvudaiyarKovil located in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. A temple famed for size and detail has mystified archaeologists and inspired legends. A group of Chola-era temples designated as a World Heritage Site. Each of "The Great Living Chola Temples" is built in a signature Tamil architecture style-high walls, a fort-like entrance, a moat (that is no longer there), separate rooms inside, long corridors, and paintings of Shiva on the walls. The temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Great Living Chola Temples".The Mahalingam - the stone on top of the tower-weighs 80 tons and measures 23 feet around and 9 feet high. Leading up to it are 14 stories of intricately sculpted images. Without cranes, a long ramp was made leading up to the tower, and elephants hauled the stone up to the top, assisted by men with ropes. I wonder this is done for the fame of the Cholas or to make further think how it was build ?Jagannath Temple located in Puri, Odisha. The temple is of utmost importance to the Hindu devotees as it is one of the Char-Dham Pilgrimages. It also serves as a mighty historical structure built about millennia ago, in the year 1078. Millions of people visit Odisha to gain Lord Jagannath blessings. The temple is home to three deities - Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Balabhadra, and sister Subhadra -- whose substantially sized wooden idols sit on a throne. Balabhadra is six feet tall, Jagannatha is five feet, and Subhadra is four feet tall.the flag mounted on the top of the Jagannath Temple is a unique exception to the principle. This particular flag flows in the opposite direction to the wind's course. I wonder its opposite cause of the nature or a mystry on the top of the that makes the flag behave like this ?
Chinese envoy reiterates concerns over AUKUS-related nuclear material transfer

Xinhua) 09:26, September 13, 2022

VIENNA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Monday reiterated concerns over the nuclear weapon material transfer involved in AUKUS, the trilateral pact between the United States, the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia, calling on the three countries to abandon it over nuclear proliferation risks.

Wang Qun, China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna, made the remark after a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors decided by consensus to set up a formal agenda item on "Transfer of nuclear materials in the context of AUKUS and its safeguards in all aspects under the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons)" at China's proposal.

This move "foiled certain countries' attempt to hijack the IAEA Board meeting," Wang said, adding that it was the fourth consecutive time that the AUKUS issue was included in the formal agenda of the agency's quarterly Board meeting, reflecting the international community's concerns over the transfer of nuclear weapon materials involved in the deal.

In September 2021, the U.S., the UK and Australia announced the establishment of AUKUS, under which the U.S. and the UK will assist Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.

Wang noted that the AUKUS-related nuclear material transfer is at its core an issue of nuclear proliferation.

"AUKUS goes beyond the existing international non-proliferation regime and the mandate of the IAEA Secretariat. The issue should not be handled by the three countries alone and must be handled by the IAEA member states," he said.

He added that China has always advocated discussion of the issue through an intergovernmental process and the previous discussions at the IAEA Board meetings have helped the international community and the agency's member states realize the severe negative impacts of AUKUS, especially its proliferation risks.

The Chinese envoy said the IAEA Secretariat has been providing a platform for the international community to discuss AUKUS in a fair and objective manner according to the Secretariat's mandate. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has recently published a report on AUKUS, marking a right step in urging the three countries to fulfill their non-proliferation obligations.

However, the U.S., the UK and Australia have ignored the AUKUS-related discussions at the IAEA Board meetings and in relevant intergovernmental processes and tried to set up a separate agenda item on the issue, aiming to hijack the IAEA Secretariat to whitewash their proliferation activities and create divisions within the agency, Wang said.

He urged the IAEA to remain neutral and continue to provide the platform for addressing the proliferation risks of AUKUS, and called on the IAEA member states to focus on the illicit transfer of nuclear materials under AUKUS at the agency's ongoing Board meeting and seek solutions to safeguard the NPT.

He also urged the U.S., the UK and Australia to stop hindering the IAEA's performance of its duties and undermining the international order, multilateralism and world peace.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
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At least six separatist fighters were killed in weekend clashes in Cameroon's war-torn English-speaking region of Northwest, locals and security sources said Monday.

The clashes took place between the army and separatist fighters in Bui, a division of the region where separatist fighters have set up several camps.

Six separatist fighters, including a commander, were killed in the clashes Saturday and Sunday, said a military official in the region who asked not to be named.

No casualties were reported from the government forces.

Cameroon's Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest saw renewed clashes in the past week as separatist fighters attempted to impose blockades and disrupt schools, according to security reports.

Since 2017, government forces have been clashing with the separatist fighters who attempt to establish an independent state they call "Ambazonia."
7 Most Amazing Places Bali | SiliconIndia

















Bali is one of the standouts amongst the most suggestive and prominent visitor islands of the whole Indonesian enclave.take you straight to the "can't-miss" social fortunes and celebrated scenes discovered all around the mysterious island of Bali.This Indonesian land is very in talk nowadays, which once used to be an uprising tourism focal point of Indonesia has now transformed into a floating escape for individuals around the world.Regardless of the clatter and mayhem of the primary visitor zones, the island is wealthy in normal magnificence, with attractions for each sort of explorer.All things considered, Bali isn't be portrayed in words, it is to be experienced. Is it true that you are as yet surfing the net and attempting to discover the best places to visit amid your get-away?which are the 7 Best Places to visit in Bali and here is the answer Nusa Penida, Pura Tanah Lot, Uluwatu Temple, Mount Batur, tamblingan temple, Ubud Monkey Forest, Sekumpul Waterfall.Nusa Penida is an island southeast of Indonesia's island Bali and an area of Klungkung Regency that incorporates the neighboring little island of Nusa Lembongan. Nusa Penida used to be your escape heaven ideal next two Bali. Inside under three years, they figured out how to stuff the desolate island with inns, autos and huge amounts of individuals. There are two little islands adjacent - Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan - which are incorporated inside the area (kecamatan). Officially, the kecamatan of a similar name, had a populace of 45,178 out of 2010 registration, covering 202.8 km2, almost no change from 10 years prior.Nusa Penida covers a wide zone of jumping areas, including Penida Bay, Batu Lumbung (Manta Point), Batu Meling, Batu Abah, Toya Pakeh, and Malibu Point. The course through the Lombok Strait is, generally, south-tending, in spite of the fact that the quality and heading of the tidal streams are affected by the rainstorm seasons. Amid the southeast rainstorm, the tidal stream tends south; amid the upper east storms, the tidal stream tends north. In the zone of the strait north of Nusa PeniTanah Lot is a stone arrangement off the Indonesian island of Bali. It is home to the old Hindu journey sanctuary Pura Tanah Lot, a famous vacationer and social symbol for photography, The onshore site is dotted with smaller shrines alongside visitor's leisure facilities that comprise restaurants, shops and a cultural park presenting regular dance performances. Following quite a while of substantial waves tenaciously slamming at its stone base, Tanah Lot confronted the steady danger of disintegration, achieving a critical decrease in 1980.Following are the relating dates for future 'piodalan' sanctuary commemorations at Tanah Lot:Uluwatu Temple is a Balinese Hindu ocean temple situated in Uluwatu. The temple is viewed as one of the sad kahyangan and is devoted to Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa in his appearance as Rudra. A night Uluwatu Temple visit can be joined with a new fish supper on Jimbaran Beach. Visits to Uluwatu Temple frequently incorporate pickup and drop-off in either Denpasar or South Kuta. The clifftop temple isn't Uluwatu's only appeal. The area is also deservedly famous for its white-sand beaches. While strong tides make for unsafe swimming, Padang Padang Beach and Jimbaran Beach attract surfers year-round with their consistent waves. Uluwatu Temple sits around a short ways from the Denpasar airplane terminal by street. The most advantageous approach to arrive is on a guided visit, but on the other hand it's conceivable to touch base by taxi from pretty much anyplace on the island.Mount Batur is a functioning spring of gushing lava situated at the focal point of two concentric calderas north west of Mount Agung on the island of Bali, Indonesia. The south-east side of the bigger 10*13 km caldera contains a caldera lake. The Mount Batur dawn trek in Bali, Indonesia is a fulfilling and mystical approach to begin the day. Also, dawns in Bali don't beat this!When you reach the summit of Mount Batur volcano there's a strange adrenaline that kicks in. You see that view and you know it was all worth it. You feel proud. It's so rewarding.It's not even 6am and look how much you've achieved! You don't want to sit down. You don't want to go to sleep. You want to hug everyone at the top. You want to dance around like a loony!Sekumpul Waterfall is one of Bali's most grand characteristic attractions. A cascade is really a group of six to seven tight falls that frame the focal point of a rich green bamboo forested valley. here you will explore the Hidden Village in north of Bali, The most amazing hidden Waterfall " Combination of 7 waterfalls", and visit Baliage village. It is genuinely near Niagara Falls Lemukih, just around 2 km away. Justifiably, the Village and Village Lemukih Sekumpul for sure neighbors. To see Sekumpul Waterfall close, it requires a touch of exertion and battle.Mandala Suci Wenara Wana or well known as Monkey Forest Ubud is the sanctuary or natural habitat of Balinese long-tailed Monkey, in scientific called Macaca fascicularis. It is located at Padangtegal Ubud, Bali. There are around 749 monkeys live in this sanctuary. The Sacred Ubud Monkey Forest in Bali comes with it's fair share of controversy. We have met people that won't set foot in the place because of the experiences they have had or the stories they have heard from others. On the other side of the spectrum are the people that have visited the monkey forest and enjoyed it. A visit here ought not be done daintily or without alert, but rather I do feel that it is an awesome place to visit on your next trek to Bali. You can have a wonderful visit in the event that you are aware of the standards and recall forget that these monkeys are not pets, they are wild creatures.Located in the village of Denpasar in southeast Bali, quiet Sanur Beach is a popular destination for older visitors, which has earned the spot the nickname "Snore Beach." That's a bit of a misnomer, however, as there is plenty to see and do at this beach resort. A popular spot for 40+ visitors, Sanur does have a certain laid-back charm, even if the beach is mediocre. Expect clear waters but not turquoise, and golden sand instead of white powder. The shore (at least midway on Sanur Beach) is abrasive on the feet because of the rocks and broken shells so, instead of swimming in the ocean.
RAWLINS  Angel Mathill, a case manager for poverty relief organization WYO Help, stood vigil in front of table covered in brochures and white paper packets.

As of 1 p.m., three people had stopped by her booth. All of them had been laid off from the Sinclair oil refinery, she said  or expected to lose their jobs at the end of the month.

The southern Wyoming facility refinery, located just east of Rawlins, laid off 32 workers in July  just months after its parent company, Sinclair Oil Corp., was sold to Holly Frontier. Another 55 were told theyd have to leave at the end of September.

Many of the affected workers have already found other jobs, said Mary Orr, center manager for the Department of Workforce Servicess Rawlins office. But not all of them.

Mathill assisted with a recent employment workshop for laid off Sinclair employees still looking for work. About 14 people attended, she said.

The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services on Monday hosted a job fair at the Jeffrey Memorial Community Center, in part to help those workers find new positions. (They hosted additional, smaller fairs in July and August, Orr said.)

About 30 employers had tables there. A few dozen job-hunters attended. Orr said thats more than usual.

Employers at Mondays job fair said they were eager for anyone looking for work.

A handful of health care facilities, the Rawlins Police Department and the local library all had booths there. State agencies like the Department of Corrections and the Department of Transportation sent representatives, too.

Many said they were struggling to hire  a trend thats plagued employers since the start of the pandemic.

Burnout, lagging wages and desires to switch careers has prompted a mass exodus of workers across numerous industries in Wyoming, WyoFile reported in January.

For laid-off refinery workers in particular, the problem isnt a lack of openings, Mathill said. Its pay.

Mathills husband works for Sinclair. By her estimate, the company usually pays its workers between $30,000 to $40,000 a year. And the average employer in Rawlins cant compete with that, she said.

Some employees were able to land other positions within Sinclair, or get jobs with the refinerys contractors, she said.

The Department Workforce Services partnered with Sinclair to assist affected workers, Orr said. In addition to the fairs, the state agency hosted workshops to help them file for unemployment benefits, access training programs and apply for jobs.

But those affected by the cuts are prepared to move away if they cant find local jobs that match what they were making at the refinery, Mathill said.

Even if Rawlins loses a portion of its workforce, there are signs of economic life around the city.

Rawlins Rehabilitation and Wellness, a local nursing home, was hiring for 12 positions, ranging from cooks, to janitors to upper management.

The nursing home saw more interest on Monday compared to previous job fairs, said Makala Shultz, a manager at the facility.

A clothing retailer, a hibachi grill and a bounce house just recently opened in town, too, said Stefanie Paulson, HR director for Rawlins. The city just put in a new dog park, and has plans for a skate park, she added.

Paulson was at the job fair to promote Rawlinss new Business Innovation Hub, which assists small startups around Carbon Country. It was launched just a few months ago, she said.

I actually see it moving forward, she said of the city.
Queen Elizabeth II's corgis will live with the Duke and Duchess of York, Andrew and Sarah, a source close to the Duke of York told CNN on Sunday.

The pair, who divorced in 1996, both reside at the Royal Lodge on the Windsor estate.

The source told CNN that the Duchess bonded with the monarch over a shared love of dog-walking and horse-riding.

Even after her divorce from Prince Andrew, Sarah continued her friendship with the Queen by walking dogs through the Windsor estate, the source added.

The Queen, who died Thursday at the age of 96, is reported at the time of her death to have had four dogs, two of whom are Pembroke Welsh corgis, Muick and Sandy.

She is also reported to have left behind an older, mixed breed "dorgi" called Candy and a cocker spaniel named Lissy. It is unclear who will be looking after Candy and Lissy.

Corgis have become synonymous with the monarch, who throughout her long life was regularly photographed with a Welsh corgi at her feet.

The Queen was often credited with creating the dorgi breed when her corgi mated with a dachshund owned by her sister, Princess Margaret.

The Queen's passion for corgis dated back to her childhood, when she fell in love with her father King George VI's dog, Dookie. In 1944, on her 18th birthday, she was given a Pembroke Welsh corgi puppy named Susan. Such was her attachment to Susan, she reportedly took her on her honeymoon in 1947. Susan died in January 1959.

The monarch went on to own dozens of corgis in her lifetime. One, Willow, famously appeared alongside her in the James Bond sketch that she recorded for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.

When Willow was put to sleep at the age of 14, the Queen lost the last descendant of her original corgi, Susan. According to Reader's Digest, the Queen had a fondness for corgis because of their "energy and untamed spirit."

Prince Andrew stepped back from public duties in 2019 following a firestorm of criticism over an interview about his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Earlier this year, he paid a settlement to sexual abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre, according to her attorney, and a U.S. district judge agreed to dismiss her lawsuit against the Duke of York.

The prince has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Still, the allegations against Andrew, 62, have dramatically tarnished his public standing.
The Casper-Natrona County Health Department will give updated booster doses of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines on Sept. 24 to people who are eligible. The booster is free and insurance isnt required.

The department will administer the vaccines at its drive-through clinic, located across the street from the departments office at 475 S. Spruce St., from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on that day. The boosters will be administered on a first-come, first-serve basis. People can also get their flu vaccine on the same day.

People who are eligible for the updated boosters are those who have received at least their second dose of the Pfizer, Moderna or Novavax vaccines, or the initial shot of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, and have had at least two months pass since the last dose. Those who are eligible must also be 12 or older for the Pfizer vaccine or 18 or older for the Moderna vaccines.

The new bivalent booster dose, which include parts of the original virus strain and the omicron strain of COVID, is a different vaccine from previous booster doses. It reflects changes in the virus over time and combats some of the newer, more transmissible strains of COVID.

The department of health asks that individuals who want to get the new booster bring their ID, vaccine card and insurance information to the drive-through vaccine clinic. The department wont give out updated vaccine cards to on the same day, but people can go to the health department during normal business hours to request an updated vaccine card beginning the week of Oct. 1.

COVID tests and first and second doses of all COVID vaccines are also available for free Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the health department.

People can call the Casper-Natrona County Health Department at 1 (307) 235-9340 with questions.
GILLETTE  A shrill whistle cut through the air.

Theres a white pickup pulling up, said Natalie Perkins, from her post looking out of the hotel rooms window.

The room full of people went still. The air conditioner hummed and traffic was heard from the road outside the Gillette hotel.

Then a few moments later she signaled again: He just made a full circle.

The 15 or so people spaced between the neighboring hotel rooms, conjoined by the open partition door on the wall separating them, fell quiet. A few Gillette police officers shuffled into position, including two in the waiting room, as the other officers stationed themselves in the operation room and spoke in hushed tones.

The rest happened in a blink, starting with a knock at the door.

The two officers in the other room darted into the hallway. Handcuffs clicked and clasped and the officers resurfaced in the neighboring operation room, escorting the man they had just detained.

The onlookers from the waiting room  a group of human trafficking victims advocates and Uprising Wyoming employees, including trafficking survivors  peered into the other room through the partition as the man was patted down.

The 38-year-old Gillette man, still in handcuffs, was then seated on the edge of the bed, facing a mirror and two trafficking advocates, Terri Markham, the nonprofit executive director, and Julie Johnson, a survivor of trafficking herself.

I could have been in this room, Johnson told him. I was in this room at a different point in my life, against my will. I was being sold to buyers.

They talked to the Gillette man about the prevalence of sex trafficking and the lesser known implications of it.

The majority of people who are bought for sex are forced and coerced into it. By the organizations metrics, 85-90% of those selling sex do so against their will.

Most people think that Im trying to prevent new victims of trafficking, which I absolutely am, but more than that, Im trying to prevent new buyers of sex, Markham said to him.

Then she asked whether he knew, or ever thought about, whether the people advertising sex did so by choice.

No, not really. I mean, I havent thought about that part, I guess, he said. You dont figure that would happen around here, I guess.

On Friday, as part of a joint training with Uprising Wyoming and the Gillette Police Department, officers caught four men in a sting operation. Each man responded to an online post to buy sex and unknowingly communicated with law enforcement and arranged to pay for sex in a Gillette hotel.

Two men were from Gillette and another came from Casper. All three were ticketed and released. A fourth man came from South Dakota and was arrested for soliciting a minor. Based on his conversations leading up to the meeting, he believed the woman would be 16 years old.

Between Sept. 7 and the time of the sting Friday afternoon, 79 potential buyers responded to the posts and 10 made plans to show up at the hotel, with some backing out for various reasons.

We have seen a lot of activity in Gillette, Markham said.

For Uprising Wyoming, its training helps law enforcement learn hands-on through the sting operation and aims to shift the policing focus from a victim-focused lens to one focused on the offenders, or buyers, Markham said.

Focusing more on the offender side, the buyers and the exploiters, accomplishes so much more and can actually start to chip away at the problem, versus where its historically just been all of the focus on the victim side of things, she said.

For police, the training was informative and the sting operations could serve as a deterrent, alerting the public that the department will be monitoring online buyer activity and undergoing more sting operations.

Were going to keep doing these, so you never know when its us, said Police Sgt. Derek Weinhardt to the second Gillette man who was detained Friday.

Uprising Wyoming, the anti-trafficking organization, is based in Sheridan and was founded in 2019. The organization aims to increase awareness and education about human trafficking, including sex and labor trafficking.

One educational component focuses on changing the preconceived notions many have about what sex trafficking is and what it looks like.

The sensationalized images from popular culture can obscure what the reality of trafficking looks like, Markham said. Those who are forced or coerced do not always visibly appear so. There are many who are trafficked through familial trafficking and other ways that dont align with antiquated language and tropes surrounding ideas of trafficking.

In Wyoming, the organization sees the most trafficking cases from Casper, Gillette and Rock Springs. Markham said that the transient nature of extraction industries and other jobs in Campbell County may contribute to its prevalence.

Johnson and Charlie Falkis, both with Uprising Wyoming, have been trafficked for sex in their own lives.

For Johnson, who was trafficked by her then husband when living in another state, she said that facing the men caught trying to buy sex that day brought her a mix of emotions. It was nerve-wracking, challenging, frustrating and healing.

In some aspect its healing, she said. Empathy is important to have in this world because people struggle with stuff and it turns them into monsters. We want to prevent that.

We want to try to get to the root of the problem, so we can bring more awareness to what the root of the problem is, so we can prevent it.
The Joint Judiciary Committee will not sponsor a proposed bill that would have made using drugs while pregnant a felony, following a vote Monday.

Most people who testified to the committee during Mondays meeting opposed the bill, and said it would likely deter pregnant women from seeking medical care.

We know that criminalizing pregnant women who are using drugs wont stop them from using drugs, said Dr. Louisa Mook, with the Indian Health Service, but it will stop them from going to the doctors office.

Though most Judiciary members voted to advance the bill during a meeting in Casper on Monday, it did not earn the majority of senators required for the committee to sponsor the bill. Sen. Tim French, R-Cody, was not at Mondays meeting and Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, was out of the room during the vote.

The bill was modeled after one introduced by Rep. Ember Oakley, R-Riverton, in the most recent Legislative session, which failed on the Senate floor. This version lessened potential penalties for a first offense from prison time to probation or deferred sentences.

Another bill, which would only prosecute mothers whose babies were born with deformities, was brought last session by Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, but did not make it out of the Labor and Health Committee. All other attempts in recent years at similar legislation have failed.

The bill could still be introduced by an individual lawmaker during the upcoming session, but has a much slimmer chance of passing without a committees support.

Representatives from the Northern Arapaho Business Council, Pro-Choice Wyoming and the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, as well as several Wyoming health care providers, told the committee Monday that creating a crime targeting addicted pregnant women would likely only lead to more harm.

No state currently has such a law. Tennessee passed one in 2014, said Lauren Wranosky of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, but allowed it to sunset in 2016 after seeing an uptick in infant and fetal deaths.

Certainly the richer the data source  the quicker we can act, said Stefan Johansson, director of the Wyoming Department of Health.

Right now, Wyoming is in the minority of U.S. states that dont require hospitals to report when infants are exposed to controlled substances. Mook said while she doesnt support creating a new crime, she does support mandatory reporting.

Hospitals and doctors make the call on whether or not to report exposed or addicted infants, usually based on how concerned they are for the childs safety.

A doctor or law enforcement officer can also decide whether a child should be taken away from its parents, through the Department of Family Services. The other option available is developing a plan of safe care with DFS to start treatment and monitor further substance use.

In 2021, 115 infants were born in Wyoming with some amount of exposure to controlled substances, according to Korin Schmidt, director of the Wyoming Department of Family Services. Marijuana was the most common substance detected, followed by methamphetamine and opiates.

Thirty-seven of those children were placed in foster care, Schmidt said.

Resources for drug treatment in Wyoming, particularly those in the states prisons, are already stretched thin. Department of Corrections Director Dan Shannon said that 54 of 55 female beds available for intensive treatment at the Newcastle prison are currently filled, with more waiting.

Though the proposed bill targeted controlled substances including methamphetamine and opiates, Mook said that babies affected by heavy alcohol use are much more common and often suffer much worse symptoms.

But when I talk to moms who have become sober after addiction, pregnancy is often the thing that they say jump-started that process, Mook said.

Voting in favor of the bill Monday were Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs and Reps. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo; Dan Laursen, R-Powell; Ember Oakley, R-Riverton; Art Washut, R-Casper; Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody and Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne.

Sens. Ed Cooper, R-Ten Sleep and R.J. Kost, R-Powell, as well as Reps. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie; Mike Yin, D-Jackson and Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, voted against it.

There is already a federal mandate to address drug use while pregnant on a local level, Schmidt said. While Wyomings efforts slowed during the pandemic, DFS has worked with health care providers and law enforcement to implement plans of safe care for women who use while pregnant.

Lawmakers may also consider a bill this upcoming session that would extend Medicaid coverage for women from two to 12 months after giving birth, which proponents said could encourage them to seek out medical care for themselves and their babies more often.
A faction of the GOP is aiming to reaffirm its support for Trump-endorsed Republican Secretary of State nominee Chuck Gray amid an attempt by some lawmakers to strip the position of some powers ahead of his likely victory in the November election.

The Park County GOP put its stamp of approval on a resolution earlier this month stating that the group wholeheartedly supports Gray and condemns the effort to take away elections administration duties from the secretary of state position. The resolution, signed by Park County GOP Chairman Martin Kimmet and dated Sept. 1, will go before the Wyoming GOP State Central Committee in its upcoming public meeting on Saturday.

The resolution doesnt have legal weight and is symbolic more than anything; Kimmet told the Star-Tribune on Monday that its meant to support the voters of Wyoming, pure and simple.

Rep. Gray, R-Casper, beat out his closest Republican challenger, attorney Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, by roughly 9 points, or 13,000 votes, in the August primary. He doesnt have a challenger from another party for the upcoming general election, which means that he almost certain to succeed Secretary of State Ed Buchanan.

Gray focused his primary campaign on getting rid of ballot boxes and rooting out voter fraud, even though cases of voter fraud in Wyoming are extremely rare. Those who back Gray say he is a champion of honest and fair elections, per the words of Kimmet. But critics see Gray as a serious threat to fair elections because of the narratives of widespread voter fraud that hes pushed.

That narrative has pervaded American politics since former president Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, even though there isnt evidence that voter fraud was prevalent enough to have changed that outcome.

I think the state of American politics that weve seen in other states has finally arrived in Wyoming, Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, said.

Grays likely ascendance to the secretary of state position galvanized a group of traditional and more moderate-leaning Republicans, as well as some Democrats, to search for an independent candidate to challenge Gray in the November election. That effort ultimately failed. But at a Joint Corporations Committee meeting last month, Zwonitzer proposed drafting a bill that would curtail some of the secretary of states powers.

I do have some concerns that the most likely person who will be our next chief elections officer, our secretary of state, has alleged that there may be nefarious activities at the ballot box in Wyoming, which I dont agree exist, Zwonitzer, who chairs the House Corporations Committee, said at the meeting. I think our elections are safe and secure, probably more than any other state in this country.

Zwonitzer told the Star-Tribune on Monday that, having worked alongside Gray in the Legislature for the past six years, he sees concern in the back of everyones mind about how Grays potential tenure as secretary of state could go.

I think its fair to have some options on the table should it not go well, he said.

But during the committee meeting, Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, said those who voted for Gray would rightfully feel insulted if the committee tried to take away a major portion of the secretary of states responsibilities before the guys even had a chance.

Republicans correctly see this for what it is, Gray texted the Star-Tribune, big-government politicians are shamelessly ignoring the will of voters and our right to have our elected officials represent us.

The committee ultimately voted in favor of drafting a bill that would take away elections administration duties from the secretary of state position. A separate agency with an appointed director would take up these duties instead. Lawmakers will look at a draft version of the bill at committees October meeting.

The GOP quickly came out against that move, framing it as an attempt to silence the conservative Republican voice in Wyoming, per the words of a Sept. 2 email notice from the GOP. By Friday, the GOP had the resolution attached to the State Central Committees meeting agenda (Wyoming GOP Executive Director Kathy Russell confirmed on Monday that the Friday version of the resolution is the most current draft).

But Zwonitzer said the potential bill is meant to address the very concerns around elections that Gray  and other candidates  have emphasized.

If people believe theres clearly fraud in our elections, then we probably should, for the future, ensure that there are adequate safeguards over that (secretary of state) position, he said.

Its the Legislatures duty to at least discuss if its good or bad to have all of our elections under one individual, or is it better to spread it out between four of our statewide constitutional officers on the canvassing board, he said.

When asked if he had any comment in response to Zwonitzers explanation for the bill, Gray texted a similar message to his first statement:

Republicans across Wyoming correctly see Zwonitzers and (Sen. Cale Cases) effort for what it is  a couple of big-government insiders who are shamelessly ignoring the will of voters and our right to have our elected officials represent us.

(Case, R-Lander, was involved in the attempt to find an independent challenger to face Gray in the November election).

Gray added in another text that he believes Zwonitzer is lying to hide his true motivation of stripping power away from elected officials who the people have already chosen. He said that, if Zwonitzer cared about secure elections, he would support the measures that Gray has pushed during his campaign.

The GOP State Central Committee will also vote Saturday on a resolution to censure Case for his efforts to find a challenger to face Gray, among other grievances. The resolution also states that the party will deny Case any financial or physical support in any political endeavors and requests that he change his party affiliation.
Hageman declines to debate Grey Bull

CHEYENNE (WNE)  Republican U.S. House of Representatives primary winner Harriet Hageman has declined an invitation to debate Democratic contender Lynnette Grey Bull next month.

WyomingPBS confirmed Monday that officials had provided two dates in October for Hageman to participate in the general election debate, and she declined both.

For the first date, she said there was a scheduling conflict, and when given a second available date, Hageman said she would not participate at all.

Since announcing her candidacy, Harriet Hageman has traveled over 40,000 miles across Wyoming, held more than 200 events and spoken with thousands of voters. This is a much more effective way of communicating with Wyomingites, and its how she will continue, her campaign responded in a statement. We thank you for your invitation, but respectfully decline.

Democratic primary winner Grey Bull said Hagemans decision not to join her on the debate stage showed a lack of dedication to her role as a representative.

She said its a tactic of the privileged class not to participate in debates and not to have an open dialogue about issues concerning Wyomingites. She said constituents deserve to hear Hagemans plan for the state and compare them to the position Grey Bull has on various issues.

I do hope she would consider changing her mind, Grey Bull said.

WyomingPBS Senior Producer for Public Affairs Steve Peck told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle it was disappointing that Hageman was not going to take part, because the debates are a key component in educating constituents.

He said WyomingPBS had been hosting the live statewide debates for many years, and noted that Hageman took part in the Republican primary debate earlier this year.
A second bat species found in Wyoming has been recommended for Endangered Species Act protections.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday proposed listing the tricolored bat, a tiny species whose habitat stretches from the Atlantic Coast to the eastern edge of Wyoming, as endangered.

A fungal disease called white-nose syndrome that is causing mass bat die-offs across North America is present across 59% of tricolored bats range, an agency review determined. Affected tricolored bat populations have already plummeted by more than 90%.

White-nose syndrome is decimating hibernating bat species like the tricolored bat at unprecedented rates, Martha Williams, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a written statement. Bats play such an important role in ensuring a healthy ecosystem.

The disease has been identified in bats in 38 states and eight Canadian provinces, the agency said. It interrupts infected individuals hibernation, causing them to become dehydrated, starve or freeze during the winter, and can kill entire colonies. There is no known cure.

Researchers confirmed last spring that white-nose syndrome had reached Wyoming. Four bats captured at Devils Tower National Monument tested positive for the fungus in May 2021, several years after the state documented its first suspected case.

Nationally, efforts to better identify, manage and treat the disease are ongoing, the Fish and Wildlife Service noted.

Tricolored bats are the second of Wyomings 18 bat species to be proposed for listing. But white nose syndrome poses a risk to at least eight, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

The fungus has the potential to affect many of the bat species that occur in Wyoming, but it is unknown how the disease will affect bat populations in the state. However, evidence from portions of North America where WNS has occurred for some time suggests that most hibernating bats will potentially face large declines, the state agency said in a 2020 report.

Thursdays announcement follows a similar decision in March for the northern long-eared bat, another species that was prevalent across the U.S.  including the northeastern corner of Wyoming  before the spread of white-nose syndrome over the last couple of decades caused its numbers to collapse.

The northern long-eared bat is currently listed as threatened.

For both species, white-nose syndrome tops a long list of other concerns.

Population declines have left them increasingly vulnerable to habitat disturbance from human development and from the shifting weather patterns and worsening natural disasters caused by climate change.
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Kenya's newly elected President William Ruto was sworn in as the country's fifth president at a ceremony in the capital, Nairobi on Tuesday.

Ruto took the oath of office in a peaceful handover ceremony attended by 20 African leaders including global dignitaries after a tightly contested election.

Ruto, born in 1966, won the August 9 elections, beating veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga narrowly in a presidential election that was later confirmed by the country's Supreme Court.

Uhuru Kenyatta, the outgoing president, handed over instruments of power to Ruto amid tight security in and around the venue.
It feels like Aaron Duncan has been around forever.

Duncan literally grew up in front the eyes of local music fans, evolving from a tiny kaiso tot to a less tiny teenaged soca star.

The Port of Spain-born boy-who-could first endeared himself to the feting masses with his Carnival 2015 breakthrough hit Can You Feel It. His 2018 jam Back to Basics was on the lips of every pre-teen and teeny bopper on the islands. And two years later he pulled them all into his girlfriend drama with the 2020 pre-Covid hit Stay.
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FOUR swimmers are hoping to achieve what has so far been impossible, as they attempt the gr
Thursdays speech by Watson Duke is undoubtedly the start of his campaign for the next Tobag
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  General Motors' self-driving car company on Monday announced plans to expand a robotaxi service that recently launched in California into new markets in Arizona and Texas before the end of this year.

Cruise, a San Francisco startup that General Motors bought six years ago, told an audience at an investor conference that an autonomous ride-hailing service that began charging San Francisco passengers in June will make its debut in Phoenix and Austin, Texas, within the next 90 days.

As it already has been doing in parts of San Francisco during night-time hours, Cruise's ride-hailing service will transport passengers in vehicles that won't have a safety driver in them to take control if the robotic technology malfunctions. Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt didn't provide additional details about the ride-hailing services in Phoenix and Austin.

When its ride-hailing service enters Phoenix, Cruise will be competing with another robotaxi service run by Waymo, a Google spin-off, that already has been charging passengers there. Waymo is also testing a robotaxi service in San Francisco that hasn't yet been cleared to charge passengers.

Although Vogt told investors that the driverless ride-hailing service in San Francisco is winning over many loyal customers, Cruise ran into problems the day after receiving its permit from California regulators to begin collecting fares.

In a regulatory disclosure made earlier this month, Cruise revealed that it recalled 80 of its driverless vehicles for a software update after one of the cars was involved in an accident that resulted in minor injuries.

Cruise told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, that one of its vehicles was making an unprotected left turn at an intersection when it was hit by an oncoming vehicle. The Cruise vehicle had to be towed away from the scene, according to the regulatory filing.
A Tucson man serving time in state prison was found dead in his cell this weekend, officials say.

Maximino Matascranz, 24, died Sunday after staff found him in his cell with a piece of cloth tied around his neck, according to a news release from the Arizona Department of Corrections Rehabilitation & Reentry.

Staff at the Eyman prison complex started life-saving efforts, but Matascranz was declared dead later at the hospital.

Matascranz had been in prison since 2020 after being convicted in Pima County for sexual conduct with a minor, the release said.

All inmate deaths are investigated in consultation with the county medical examiners office, the release said.
It is with deep sadness that we announce the sudden death of our friend Bob Phillips on the 26th of August 2022 in Tucson, Arizona. He was 76 years old. Bob was born on March 4th 1946 in the Bronx, New York. He was a proud U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam. After returning from Vietnam, Bob was a well respected electrician & construction Forman in Tucson. Bob was an activist legend in Tucson who freely contributed his wealth of knowledge and his heart to numerous Tucson organizations as a peacekeeper, mentor, facilitator, street medic, advocate, friend and leader. Most recently Bob was a trainer and facilitator with Healing of Memories in Scottsdale and Carefree, Arizona. Bob contributed his electrical skills to Migrant Welcome Center in Sasabe, Mexico. In addition Bob was a past President and member of Veterans For Peace Jon Miles Chapter 13, Tucson. The Nonviolence Legacy Program (NVLP), VFP Golden Rule Project, Culture of Peace Alliance (COPA), Arizona Justice Alliance, Doctors Without Borders, Code Pink, and Pima Area Labor Federation (PALF), Save Our VA, Schools Of The Americas Watch [currently called Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC)], are just some of the other organizations that Bob supported. Bob is owed a huge debit of gratitude for his work in Tucson and elsewhere. He will be remembered for his laughter, kindness, wit, presence, charm, love, and generosity. Bob will be sorely missed. Bob is preceded in death by his daughter Annissa Phillips. He is survived by his brother Walter Phillips, daughter Amy Steffy, his granddaughter Rachel Rice, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Adair Funeral Home in Tucson is handling Bob's remains and cremation. There will be a formal funeral service for Bob in November at Little Chapel of all Nations in Tucson. In addition, there will be a Celebration of Bob's Life on the 18th of September 2022 at the El Tiradito Wishing Shrine, 420 South Main Avenue, from 4pm to 7pm in Tucson. All are welcome to attend. Contributions in Bob's honor can be made to the Veterans For Peace Jon Miles Chapter 13, Tucson or to Monisha Rios in Vieques, Puerto Rico.
A tornado warning was issues Monday afternoon for a rural area along the Pima and Pinal County lines,.

The National Weather Service in Tucson issued the tornado warning about 4 p.m. for an area west of Marana. It was in effect until 4:30 p.m.

The warning said hail is possible in the area, and ahas already been falling in other parts of the metro area.

Storms, including heavy downpours mostly south and west of the metro area, have been reported much of the day. A warning about flash flooding was issued about 11 a.m. Monday for an area that stretched from Nogales north past metro Tucson and into the Phoenix area.

Photos: 2022 monsoon around Tucson Monsoon 2022 Monsoons 2022 Monsoons 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoons 2022 Monsoons 2022 Swift water rescue Watch Now: Time lapse of sundown over downtown Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon, 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon, 2022 Monsoon, 2022 Monsoon, 2022 Monsoon, 2022 Monsoon, 2022 Monsoon, 2022 Monsoon, 2022 Watch now: Lightning strikes over Tucson during latest thunderstorm Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Watch now: Time lapse of intense thunderstorm, lightning over Tucson Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Watch Now: Monsoon sunset Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoons 2022 Monsoons 2022 Monsoons 2022 Monsoons 2022 Monsoons 2022 Monsoons 2022 Watch now: Flash flooding hits Sabino Canyon after stormy week in Tucson Wash, flooding, 2022, Tucson Wash, flooding, 2022, Tucson Wash, flooding, 2022, Tucson Wash, flooding, 2022, Tucson Wash, flooding, 2022, Tucson Wash, flooding, 2022, Tucson Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Watch Now: The leading edge of flood waters fills the Tanque Verde Wash near Wentworth Road. Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon, Tucson, 2022 Watch Now: Time lapse shows Monsoon storm over Tucson Monsoon 2022 Monsoon 2022 Monsoon Monsoon, 2022 Sand bags Canyon del Oro Wash Monsoon, 2022 Monsoon, 2022 Watch Now: Monsoon clouds over a Convair B-36J Peacemaker at Pima Air & Space Museum monsoon 2022 Monsoon, 2022 Monsoon, 2022 Monsoons 2022
As Tucsons landmark Mexican restaurant El Charro is celebrating its centennial year, several Tucson restaurants are hoping to follow in its footsteps.

Here are several Tucson restaurants that have been around 75 years or longer.

Arizona Inn (92 years)

2200 E. Elm St., arizonainn.com

Arizonas first congresswoman Isabella Greenway opened the Arizona Inn in late 1930 as a way to employ World War I vets in the hotels furniture shop and to house travelers. The inn is still operated by Greenways descendants and the dining room is still a destination for locals and tourists alike, serving an upscale Southwestern-influenced New American menu for breakfast, lunch, dinner and weekend brunch.

El Minuto Cafe (86 years)

354 S. Main Ave., elminutotucson.com

Started in 1936 by Lebanese immigrant John Juan Shaar, the cafe is still run by the family, now in its fourth generation. Shaar originally opened the restaurant a few miles east off Congress Street, but that building was demolished in the 1940s to make way for Interstate 10. The restaurant moved next door to the familys home in Barrio Viejo and was spared the urban renewal wrecking ball of the early 1970s, although the family home was not so fortunate.

Teresa Shaar, Juan Shaars granddaughter who has managed the restaurant for 40 years, opened a second location of El Minuto on the east side in early 2007; it was open just seven months before closing that summer, a casualty of the recession.

Teresa Shaar, who has been running the downtown restaurant since her 90-year-old mom Rosalva retired, is now working alongside her children.

It took awhile for my kids, she said. But my kids love it now. When they see the clientele we have and the regulars who come every day for lunch and were so faithful during the pandemic. Everyone loves our food and we have a great location with the (Tucson Convention Center). They see the great potential.

Crossroads (86 years)

2602 S. Fourth Ave., crossroadsfinemexican.com

When it opened in 1936, Crossroads was a drive-in in an area that had few, if any, drive-ins or restaurants. The Mexican restaurant, anchoring the corner of South Fourth and East 36th Street, is largely regarded as the patriarch on a street that now boasts some of the citys most iconic and enduring Mexican restaurants.

Carusos (84 years)

434 N. Fourth Ave., carusositalian.com

Nicasio Zagona opened his Italian restaurant in 1938 blocks away from where Carusos has stood on North Fourth Avenue for nearly 80 years. Zagonas son, Salvatore Zagone Sr., took over the restaurant, known for its authentic Italian fare and historic copper sauce pot, in the early 1950s and ran it through the 1990s, when his son, Salvatore Jr., took over. The senior Zagone died in early 2021 at the age of 100. Zagone Jr. runs the restaurant with his cousin, Andrea Ande Motzkin.

El Corral (83 years)

2201 E. River Road, elcorraltucson.com

Leroy C. Perkins opened the steakhouse in 1939 in an area of Tucson that had gone from barren desert to burgeoning subdivisions over a span of a dozen years or so. The ranchhouse vibe matched the menu of mesquite-grilled steaks and slow-roasted prime rib, which is still the restaurants trademark served alongside the house favorite tamale pie. The restaurant has been owned and operated since 1975 by Agro Land and Cattle Co. Inc., which also runs Pinnacle Peak steakhouse, 6541 E. Tanque Verde Road, which has been around since 1962.

Casa Molina (75 years)

6225 E. Speedway; casamolinamexican.com

Gilbert Molina Sr. opened his familys Mexican restaurant in 1947, involving his children in the business from the beginning. The original restaurant, which initially had seating for 16, is now run by Gilbert Jr., who also owns Casa Molina del Norte at 3001 N. Campbell Ave.

A small grease fire in the fryer in April shuttered the Speedway restaurant. Molina Jr.s daughter, Yaredezette Molina-McGuire, who manages the Campbell Avenue restaurant with her brother Gilbert III, said they are awaiting official approvals to reopen the flagship restaurant.

The Campbell Avenue restaurant originally opened in 1963 on Campbell and East Limberlost Road, where Trader Joes is located. It opened at its current location in 1989, one of several spinoffs from the original restaurant from various family members that numbered nine at one time, including the storied Molinas Midway that closed in 2017 after 63 years in business.

Molina-McGuire, 49, whose two adult daughters work in the restaurant, and her 43-year-old brother are intent on continuing their father and grandfathers legacies.

We pass it on generations to generations, just like Carlotta and Ray (Flores of El Charro), she said. Thats our goal, to keep it on for generations. Thats why my grandfather started it.

Lil Abners Steakhouse (75 years)

8501 N. Silverbell Road, Marana; lilabnersstteakhouse.com

The popular steakhouse started in 1947 as a watering hole for local farmers and cowboys before it added food to the mix. Its been owned by former Tucson attorney David Hoffman since 1981, when he bought it from a former client.

On most nights, the restaurant prepares hundreds of steaks and ribs on an open flame grill on the patio, serving generations of Tucsonans and tourists alike.

Its like the old West. Its a neat old place, said Connie Gilbert, who, with coworker Shawn Bell, has managed the restaurant for Hoffman for 40 years. Im sure there are a lot of memories that a lot of people have because its been here so long. Old memories and they just pass it down.
Japanese noodle dishes will soon be served up in downtown Tucson.

Ja Ramen Curry Restaurant is opening a second location at 54 W. Congress St., in the former Stackd burger shop.

The local franchisee leased the 2,600-square-foot space next door to Street Taco and Beer Co.

The chain features dishes such as seaweed and squid salads, dumplings and ramen and curry bowls.

Ja Ramen currently has a Tucson location at 2643 N. Campbell Ave. and a third is in the works for Tucson Mall.

Jeramy Price, Andreas Castillo, and Joey Castillo, with Volk Co., represented the landlord, BC Limited LLC, in the downtown lease.

Other local real estate transactions include:

The former McAlisters Deli on First Avenue and Wetmore Road was bought by STRR Investments LLC, who will convert the building to a KFC restaurant. The 3,750-square-foot building at 735 E. Wetmore Road sold for $2.3 million. Isaac Figueroa, with Larsen Baker, represented the seller, First Avenue Associates LLC, and Greg Saltz, with GPS Commercial advisors, represented the buyer.

And Go Concepts LLC, doing business as Salad and Go, leased 20,000 square feet at the northeast corner of Fort Lowell Road and Campbell Avenue from Dahlstrom Campbell Ft. Lowell LLC. Dave Hammack, with Picor, represented the tenant and Terry Dahlstrom, with Volk Co., represented the landlord.

520 Tactical LLC, a shooting range, leased 7,500 square feet of industrial space at Town Central Business Park, 5051 E. 29th St., from Pegasus Tucson Owner LLC. Paul Hooker and Andrew Keim, with Picor, represented the landlord. It is scheduled to open in October.

Blackstone Security Services Inc., which provides uniformed security personnel, leased 1,853 square feet of space at The Smart Building, 1661 N. Swan Road, from DHS Property Investments Ltd. Partnership. Ryan McGregor and Thomas J. Nieman, with Picor, represented the landlord.

105 Concept Store leased 1,363 square feet at the Rancho Center, 3400 E. Speedway. The store offers makeup and lash services and womens clothing and accessories. The landlord, Larsen Baker, was represented by its brokers, Elaina Elliott and Isaac Figueroa.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  Five doctors pleaded guilty in a pain pill prescription scheme involving clinics in West Virginia and Virginia, federal prosecutors said Monday.

The scheme was tied to the Hope Clinic and involved prescribing oxycodone and other controlled substances that werent for legitimate medical purposes from 2010 to 2015. Some prescriptions provided up to seven pills per day, and several Hope locations averaged 65 or more daily customers during a 10-hour workday with only one practitioner working, prosecutors said in a news release.

Hope Clinic had offices in Beckley, Beaver, and Charleston, West Virginia, and in Wytheville, Virginia.

Four of the physicians each pleaded guilty in federal court in Charleston to a felony count of aiding and abetting obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, the statement said.

Those physicians are William Earley, 66, of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Brian Gullett, 45, of Clarksville, Pennsylvania; Roswell Tempest Lowry, 88, of Efland, North Carolina; and Vernon Stanley, 79, of Fayetteville, West Virginia.

Mark Clarkson, 64, of Princeton, West Virginia, pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of aiding and abetting the misbranding of a drug involved in interstate commerce, the statement said.

These pleas show our offices continuing effort to protect lives and prevent future overdoses through all means possible, U.S. Attorney Will Thompson said. A lot of effort has gone into this case.

Gullett, Earley and Stanley signed numerous oxycodone prescriptions for a customer at a Charleston Hope Clinic in 2013. They admitted that the customers medical chart did not support the prescriptions, which were not for a legitimate medical purpose, prosecutors said.

In August 2014, Lowry signed prescriptions for a Hope customer in Charleston for 180 oxycodone pills. He admitted intentionally not reading the customers chart to determine if those prescriptions were necessary. Instead, Lowry issued the same prescriptions for the customer that were provided by previous physicians, the statement said.

Gullett, Earley, Lowry and Stanley admitted the customers reported being addicted to pain medication, had failed or had abnormal drug screenings several times, bought pills on the street and sold pills from their Hope prescriptions to others. The physicians did not discuss the possibility of addiction or the need for addiction treatment with these customers, the statement said.

Clarkson admitted to helping Hope Clinic issue prescriptions after major retailers had stopped filling them and smaller pharmacies could not meet the demand of Hope customers. In 2014, Clarkson wrote illegitimate prescriptions for a total of 635 oxycodone pills for five different Hope customers in Virginia that were filled at Adkins Pharmacy in Gilbert, West Virginia, prosecutors said. Adkins Pharmacy agreed in 2020 to pay a $88,000 fine.

Sentencing for the physicians is scheduled for Dec. 22. Gullett, Earley, Lowry and Stanley face up to four years in prison and a $250,000 fine apiece. Clarkson faces up to five years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

The physicians were indicted in 2018 along with the owners, managers and other physicians associated with Hope Clinic and a group that managed Hope's daily operations. The remaining defendants are awaiting trial.
Ukraine reclaims more territory, reports capturing many POWs

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukrainian troops expanded their territorial gains by pushing all the way back to the countrys northeastern border in places. They also claimed to have captured a record number of Russian soldiers. The gains on Monday were part of the lightning advance that forced Moscow to make a hasty retreat. A spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence says Russian troops are surrendering en masse. A Ukrainian presidential adviser said there were so many POWs that the country was running out of space to accommodate them. Blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags fluttered over newly liberated towns across the wide swath of reclaimed land. The Ukrainian military said it had freed more than 20 settlements in 24 hours.

Putin's Russia struggles for response to Ukrainian blitz

Ukraine's counteroffensive in the northeastern part of the country seemed to catch Russia by surprise in the nearly 7-month-old war. The rapid and reportedly chaotic troop withdrawal in the Kharkiv region, in which some weapons and ammunition were left behind, was a huge blow to Russian prestige. It was its largest military defeat in Ukraine since Moscow pulled back its forces from areas near Kyiv after a botched attempt to capture the capital early in the invasion. The Ukrainian blitz appears to have left the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin struggling for a response. That has angered Russian military bloggers and nationalists, and even exposed some internal political rifts.

Queen hailed in Scotland as a 'constant in all our lives'

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP)  As Queen Elizabeth IIs four children walked silently behind, a hearse carried her flag-draped coffin along a crowd-lined street in the Scottish capital to St. Giles' Cathedral. There, a service of thanksgiving hailed the late monarch as a constant in all of our lives for over 70 years. Crowds lined the street for the solemn procession, just as they did a day earlier when the queen's coffin was slowly driven down from Balmoral Castle. King Charles III, dressed in an army uniform, was accompanied by Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. The coffin will remain at the cathedral until Tuesday so the public in Scotland can pay their respects to Elizabeth, who died last week at 96.

Justice Dept. OK with 1 Trump pick for Mar-a-Lago arbiter

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Justice Department says it's willing to accept one of Donald Trumps picks for an independent arbiter to review documents seized during an FBI search of the former presidents Florida home last month. The accommodation could help accelerate the selection process and shorten any delays caused by the appointment of the so-called special master. The judge in the case, granting a request from the Trump team, said last week that she would appoint a neutral arbiter to go through the records and weed out any that may be covered by executive privilege or attorney-client privilege.

'Succession,' 'Ted Lasso' top Emmys; 1st time winners shine

LOS ANGELES (AP)  The Emmy Awards have spread honors around repeat winners  Zendaya, Jason Sudeikis and Jean Smart  and some first timers, like Sheryl Lee Ralph and Quinta Brunson of Abbott Elementary. Zendaya and Sudeikis won their second acting Emmys Monday, while Smart won back-to-back trophies for Hacks. So did Sudeikis' comedy Ted Lasso, which claimed the top comedy prize and Succession, which took home the top drama honor. Ralph gave a rousing speech after winning supporting comedy actress on her first nomination. Brunson, who created Abbott Elementary also took home a trophy, with the best comedy series still to come. Lee Jung-jae of Squid Game won best drama actor.

Goddess gowns, Old Hollywood glam and pink rule Emmy carpet

NEW YORK (AP)  Hannah Waddingham paired her Dolce & Gabbana goddess gown with bedazzled high top sneakers, and Elle Fanning went Old Hollywood glam at the Emmys on Monday. The heat and humidity was oppressive on the gold carpet in Los Angeles. There was a strong showing of pink and red. Natasha Rothwell of The White Lotus chose red for a gown with balloon short sleeves and a hot commodity on fashion carpets  pockets! Megan Stalter also went for red in a sheer dress that celebrated her curves. Jen Tullock of Severance was in the red zone, a thigh high slit and structured sleeve number by Thierry Mugler, worn with drop pearl earrings. Mark Indelicato was in the red club, sort of. Indelicatos hair was bright red and his black tux sported long split tails like a train.

Russia's war in Ukraine the backdrop to pope's Kazakh visit

NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (AP)  Russias war in Ukraine and the Holy Sees strained relations with China are the backdrop to Pope Francis visit to Kazakhstan. Francis was flying Tuesday to the Kazakh capital to meet with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. He also will be ministering to a tiny Catholic community and participating in an interfaith conference during his three-day visit. Another noteworthy aspect of his visit will be the missed opportunity: Francis was supposed to have met with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church on the sidelines of the conference. But Patriarch Kirill, who has justified the war in Ukraine, cancelled his trip last month.

Prosecutor: R. Kelly 'degraded' girl for his 'sick pleasure'

CHICAGO (AP)  A prosecutor has described R. Kelly as a sexual predator who parlayed his fame to abuse minors. Addressing jurors during closing arguments Monday Kelly's child pornography and trial-fixing trial, Elizabeth Pozolo says one of his accusers said he took advantage of her youth. She says: "He repeatedly abused her. He performed degrading acts upon her for his own sick pleasure. She says the Kelly and his co-defendants recovered child pornography videos and hid evidence before Kellys 2008 trial, at which he was acquitted. The prosecutor says they covered up the fact that R. Kelly  the R&B superstar  is actually a sexual predator.

Teacher shortages are real, but not for the reason you heard

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP)  Everywhere, it seems, the return to school has been shadowed by worries of a teacher shortage. The U.S. education secretary has called for investment to keep teachers from quitting. A teachers union leader has described it as a five-alarm crisis. In reality, there is little evidence to suggest that educators are leaving in droves. Certainly, many schools have struggled to find enough educators. But the challenges are related more to hiring, especially for non-teaching staff positions. Schools flush with federal pandemic relief money are creating new positions and struggling to fill them at time of low unemployment and stiff competition.

Seahawks survive Russell Wilson's return, top Broncos 17-16

SEATTLE (AP)  Geno Smith threw two first-half touchdown passes, Denver fumbled twice at the 1-yard line in the second half, and the Seahawks beat the Broncos 17-16 in Russell Wilsons return to Seattle. Brandon McManus missed a 64-yard field goal attempt with 20 seconds left and the Seahawks escaped with another wild victory involving Wilson at quarterback. Except this time Wilson was the opponent and there will be plenty of questions about Denver coach Nathaniel Hacketts late-game clock management and decisions in his first game. Denver faced fourth-and-5 at the Seattle 46 and had three timeouts left, but the Broncos ran significant time off the clock before Hackett called timeout and decided to have McManus try the long field goal.
FRESNO, Calif. (AP)  A former principal was charged in central California with child abuse after being caught on video striking a student with special needs, and his attorney said Tuesday that what the video shows is out of character for the veteran educator.

Brian Vollhardt, who was the principal of Wolters Elementary, was charged last week with misdemeanor child abuse after surveillance video captured him shoving the child June 7 in the schools cafeteria.

My client has been in education for 20-plus years. Hes been a teacher, a special ed teacher and administrator for many years, Vollhart's attorney, Roger Wilson, told the Fresno Bee. The conduct thats on the video appears to be completely out of character for him.

The newspaper obtained the video, which was released last Wednesday. A day after the video was made public, officials with the Fresno Unified School District and the Fresno Police Department released details on the investigation into Vollhardt, who resigned from his position with the district on Aug. 4. He was hired shortly after that as vice principal of Golden Plains Unified, which put Vollhardt on administrative leave Sept. 8 and said that it would wait for the outcome of the criminal case to take further action.

The police department opened an investigation on Vollhardt after a Fresno district employee contacted the police on June 9, department spokesperson Lt. Bill Dooley said.

Police Chief Paco Balderrama last week said system failures within the department were to blame for a monthslong delay in the investigation. Balderrama acknowledged police received video evidence in June but he said he didnt see the footage or hand the case over to the Fresno County District Attorneys Office until Tuesday, after a Fresno Bee reporter requested information about the case from police.

Documents obtained by the newspaper through a Public Records Act request show prior run-ins between the educator and the student. The principal was accused of forcing the same student to the ground 11 days earlier, putting his knee to the child's back and holding down the students shoulder for approximately 2-4 minutes, according to a formal complaint obtained by the newspaper.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Los Angeles County leaders announced Monday a lawsuit settlement agreement that commits hundreds of millions of dollars to expand outreach and supportive services for homeless residents, marking the potential end of two years of litigation over the crisis of people living on the streets.

The deal puts LA County, operator of the local public health system, in direct partnership with the city of Los Angeles, which has committed to sheltering thousands of homeless residents as part of its settlement in the lawsuit reached earlier this year.

The suit was brought in 2020 by the LA Alliance for Human Rights, a coalition that includes businesses, residents, landlords, homeless people and others who allege that inaction by the city and county has created a dangerous environment.

The homeless population was once largely confined to downtown LAs notorious Skid Row, but encampments have spread widely, including within sight of City Hall and the Hall of Administration, where the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meets.

Supervisor Holly Mitchell said the county will commit an estimated $236 million in new funding to address homelessness through 2027, with an emphasis on expanding street outreach teams to make sure people who need help get it. That's on top of more than $530 million in homelessness funding created by a sales tax approved by voters in 2017.

Mitchell said the new money will also go toward a comprehensive suite of services for eligible residents of the 10,200 permanent housing units and 3,100 interim shelter beds that the city of LA has committed to build under its agreement. Services will include case management, medical and mental health support, benefits advocacy, family reunification, childcare and addiction treatment.

I cannot underscore enough how this adds to our toolkit for stemming the tidal wave of people who are experiencing homelessness, Mitchell said at a news conference with city and county officials.

Matthew Umhofer, attorney for the alliance, said the monumental settlement seals the deal with the city by ensuring county support.

But most importantly, this deal provides something that has been desperately missing on this issue for decades: real accountability in the form of supervision over the next five years by a federal judge, he said. The countys agreement requires the approval of U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who is overseeing the case and will supervise the settlements implementation through 2027.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti conceded there's been a collective failure of properly addressing the crisis at a local level. He said the new partnership is a step toward putting a game plan on paper for how we can continue to march towards our ultimate goal of eliminating homelessness."

The city has said it will spend around $3 billion over five years to construct the new housing units. But the exact commitment will be based on the results of the 2022 point-in-time count of homeless people that was released last week. As of February, there were more than 69,100 homeless people in Los Angeles County, with about 42,000 within LA city limits.

Last year, Carter issued an order that would have required the city and county to offer shelter to all unhoused people on Skid Row within six months.

An appeals court struck down the order on grounds that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring most claims. The alliance then filed an amended lawsuit.

Under the citys agreement, announced in April and approved by the judge in June, Los Angeles will create shelter or housing for 60% of homeless people in the city who do not have a serious mental illness, substance abuse disorder or chronic physical illness.

The city, which does not have its own health department, had contended the county is obligated to provide services and housing for people with those problems but was failing.
ARVADA, Colo. (AP)  Authorities have arrested a suburban Denver man on suspicion of first degree murder and other charges in the death of a 27-year-old police officer who was fatally shot while trying to break up a large family disturbance over the weekend.

Sonny Thomas Almanza, 31, of Arvada, was arrested by police late Sunday in connection with the shooting death of Arvada Officer Dillon Vakoff, police said in a statement released Monday.

Vakoff died at a hospital Sunday after being shot while he and another officer responded to the disturbance that spilled into a street outside a housing complex. He was the second Arvada police officer to be killed in the line of duty in two years.

Almanza was taken into custody at a hospital where he is recuperating from injuries sustained while exchanging gunfire with Vakoff and another officer early Sunday. He will be transferred to Jefferson County Jail when he is released from the hospital, the Arvada department said.

Vakoff and his fellow officer had been dispatched to check on the well-being of two minor children when they encountered the disturbance, police said. A suspect opened fire, wounding a woman, at which point the officers returned fire, Police Chief Link Strate said at a news conference Sunday. The suspect then fired at Vakoff, Strate said.

The suspect was wounded by the officers and taken to a local hospital. The woman allegedly wounded by the suspect also was hospitalized and was expected to recover, police said.

Almanza was arrested for investigation of first-degree murder, possession of a weapon by a previous offender, and two misdemeanor counts of child abuse, among other charges, police said. The department released no other details, saying its investigation was ongoing.

Court records show Almanza pleaded guilty in 2008 to a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon resulting in serious bodily injury in neighboring Adams County. He was sentenced to six years in youth prison in lieu of a 15-year adult prison sentence that was suspended.

Vakoff was the second officer to be slain in the line of duty in as many years in Arvada, a city located 7 miles (11 kilometers) northwest of downtown Denver. In 2021, Officer Gordon Beasley, 40, was shot and killed in an ambush by a gunman wielding an AR-style rifle in downtown Arvada.

Residents stunned by Vakoff's slaying adorned a police car parked outside Arvada City Hall with flowers, and the city lit a historic downtown water tower in blue overnight. Condolence messages came in from state police agencies and public officials, including Gov. Jared Polis.

Vakoff was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, where he served for six years, before joining the Arvada Police Department in 2019. He was training to be a SWAT officer, police said in a statement. Vakoff graduated from high school in Arvada in 2012.

This is a tragic loss to this community, to this department, but most significantly to his family and loved ones, Strate said Sunday. His service and sacrifice will never be forgotten.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  A Minnesota man was sentenced to life in prison Monday for selling fentanyl online that led to 11 fatal overdoses.

A federal jury in March convicted Aaron Broussard, 32, of Hopkins, of 17 counts including distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. Federal prosecutors said at trial that Broussard's customers thought they were buying a stimulant similar to Adderall.

Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson praised the bravery of victims and family members who gave impact statements in court, and told Broussard: Your disregard for human life is terrifying," the Star Tribune reported.
A custody dispute between two families that erupted into the massacre of eight people in rural southern Ohio started with a plan to kill just one of them, a young mother refusing to give up her daughter, a prosecutor said Monday.

But just months before the killings in 2016, the family behind the plot decided to kill everyone who could point the finger at them, the prosecutor said during opening statements of the first trial in the slayings.

Now six years later, George Wagner IV faces the death penalty if hes convicted in the slayings of the Rhoden family near Piketon.

His younger brother, Jake Wagner, last year pleaded guilty to shooting five of the victims, and is expected to testify against his brother as part of a deal with prosecutors that spared him from being sentenced to death.

Their mother, Angela Wagner, also pleaded guilty to helping plan the slayings, and is also expected to testify. Jake and Georges father, George Billy Wagner III, has pleaded not guilty. He likely wont go on trial until next year.

Special prosecutor Angela Canepa did not accuse George Wagner, 30, of shooting anyone in April 2016, but she said he took part in planning, carrying out and covering up one of the most heinous crimes in Ohio history.

He was with his brother and father when they drove to three separate locations where all eight were killed, went inside with the pair and helped his brother move two of the bodies, Canepa said.

Some of the victims were treated as collateral damage by the Wagners, Canepa said.

They knew that there might be other people there and agreed they would need to be killed too, she said. People they had no issue with, they were willing to kill them indiscriminately.

Defense attorney Richard Nash said George Wagner is not like the rest of his family and had nothing to do with the killings.

There are certain things in this life we cant control. One of those is your family name, Nash said. George cannot help hes a Wagner. That does not make him a murderer.

He said Jake Wagner will testify that his brother didnt take part in the planning, didnt destroy evidence and didnt shoot anyone. Everyone had a motive in this case except George, Nash said.

Authorities say the shootings of seven adults and a teenage boy stemmed from a dispute over a young girl that Jake Wagner had with one of the victims, 19-year-old Hannah Rhoden.

The two families had been close for years, but Canepa described the Wagners as being obsessed with gaining control over the girl.

The family had pressured Hannah Rhoden to sign away custody, but she vowed in a Facebook message sent four months before the massacre that they will have to kill me first, Canepa said.

Jake Wagner told investigators he first pushed back against his parents when they talked about killing Hannah Rhoden but later relented, the special prosecutor said. They eventually settled on killing four of the family members because they believed the girl was being raised around people who were dangerous, Canepa said.

The Wagners spent three months planning the massacre, buying masks, ammunition and a device to jam phone signals, Canepa said. The two brothers even dyed their hair in the week leading up to the killings, she said.

Several discoveries, Canepa said, led investigators to the Wagners including a shell casing found outside the Wagners home that matched one from a gun that killed five of the victims.

Those killed also were 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr.; his ex-wife, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; their three children, 20-year-old Clarence Frankie Rhoden, 16-year-old Christopher Jr., and Hanna; Clarence Rhodens fiancee, 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; Christopher Rhoden Sr.s brother, 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; and a cousin, 38-year-old Gary Rhoden.

Jake Wagner told investigators he fired the first shot the night of the killings, but it was his father who killed the first of the eight, Chris Rhoden Sr., according to Canepa.

The special prosecutor said that Jake Wagner told investigators that his father then cried out I just shot my best friend.
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  The U.S. Department of the Interior said Monday that it wants to reverse some Trump administration rollbacks of offshore safety rules to prevent blowouts like the BP catastrophe that killed 11 people and fouled the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

"This proposed rulemaking will help ensure that offshore energy development utilizes the latest science and technology to keep people safe, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in remarks prepared for an afternoon announcement. As our nation transitions to a clean energy economy, we must commit to strengthening and modernizing offshore energy standards and oversight.

The changes are a step in the right direction but not far enough, said Diane Hoskins of the ocean environmental nonprofit Oceana.

No operator can promise there wont be another disaster like BPs Deepwater Horizon blowout. The only way to prevent offshore drilling disasters is to permanently protect our coasts and workers from new offshore leasing, she said.

Under Trump, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement acted in 2019 to change rules put in place three years earlier while Barak Obama was president.

The agency is proposing to change seven out of the scores of revisions and additions made in 2010, director Kevin M. Sligh Sr. said.

He said one would require the bureau to accredit independent agencies that inspect offshore rigs and equipment.

Another would require blowout preventers  the equipment that failed in 2010  to always be able to handle the well's maximum gas flow specifications.

Others would require operators to send failure data to the federal offshore safety agency rather than to designated third parties, and would cut a month off the time allowed to begin failure analyses and investigations, allowing three months rather than four.

The 2019 revisions to the Well Control Rule addressed technical problems and cleared up ambiguity, changing 68 of the original rules 342 provisions, said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents oil and gas companies. Any further updates ... should follow a similar tailored approach.

Environmental groups sued, claiming the changes would make oil and gas exploration and development off the Pacific, Atlantic, Alaska, and Gulf coasts significantly more dangerous.

Scientists still worry about effects of the nations worst offshore oil spill on dolphins, whales, sea turtles, small fish vital to the food chain and ancient corals in the cold, dark depths.

The proposal opens a 60-day public comment period, which ends Nov. 14.
Katie Hobbs and Kari Lake. Photos by Gage Skidmore (modified) | Flickr and Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0

Democratic candidate for governor Katie Hobbs is being hammered by her opponents campaign, after she for the second time declined to participate in a televised debate with Republican Kari Lake. While the Lake campaign called Hobbs a chicken for opting out of the debate, some Democrats said that declining the debate was a smart move.

Hobbs, who was elected secretary of state in 2018, sent a letter to the Citizens Clean Elections Commission on Sunday saying she would not participate in the commissions debate, which was scheduled for Oct. 12 and will be aired on Arizona PBS.

Unfortunately, debating a conspiracy theorist like Kari Lake  whose entire campaign platform is to cause enormous chaos and make Arizona the subject of national ridicule  would only lead to constant interruptions, pointless distractions, and childish name-calling, the Hobbs campaign said in the letter.

Lake is a former local TV journalist whose campaign was launched around her embrace of the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

Lakes campaign on Sunday tweeted a photo of a chicken with a caption saying that the Arizona Democratic Party was happy to present its candidate for governor. Later that day the campaign tweeted You can sum up Katie Hobbs in three sounds: Bawk, Bawk, Bawk.

Hobbs campaign manager Nicole DeMont previously told the Clean Elections Commission that the campaign did not believe Lake was interested in a fair and substantive debate.

Democratic strategist Rodd McLeod believes that deciding not to debate Lake was a good call.

What Katie Hobbs has done here has been to say Yeah, Im not going to engage with a bad faith actor in a bad faith situation, he told the Arizona Mirror.

In an initial letter to the commission on Sept. 2, in which Hobbs declined a traditional debate and proposed that she and Lake both do separate televised interviews with a journalist, Hobbs said she didnt want to be part of a spectacle like the Republican gubernatorial primary debate.

During that debate, also hosted by the Clean Elections Commission, candidates repeatedly interrupted and spoke over one another.

Id actually like to ask everybody on this stage if they would agree we had a corrupt, stolen election, raise your hand, Lake said during the Republican primary debate.

Later in the debate, Lake said she felt like she was on a Saturday Night Live skit and offered to take control from moderator and veteran journalist Ted Simons.

McLeod believes that Hobbs suggestion for separate interviews was a good strategy, but the Clean Elections Commission last week declined that request. The commission then gave Hobbs seven more days to agree to the terms of a debate. Just three days later, she rejected the debate format entirely.

McLeod doesnt think that most voters learn about gubernatorial candidates from televised debates.

Katie Hobbs doing local media appearances and running television ads is definitely going to reach more people than the number of people who are tuning into an hour-long debate, he said.

Hobbs also declined to participate in the Democratic primary debate in June, citing scheduling conflicts. Her opponent, Marco Lopez, offered to reschedule the debate, but Hobbs didnt take him up on it.

The Hobbs campaign said that in the absence of a debate, she is continuing the second leg of her Solutions Cant Wait tour through northern Arizona.

I am continuing to meet voters where they are and listen to the pressing issues theyre facing, Hobbs said in a statement to the Mirror. From the rising cost of groceries to securing our water future and protecting reproductive freedom, these are problems that cant wait. And I have plans to tackle them all head on as the next Governor.

The Hobbs campaign refused to give on-the-record answers to follow-up questions from the Mirror.

On Monday Lakes campaign sent a letter to the commission, confirming that she still planned to participate in a televised question and answer session on Oct. 12, in place of a debate. She also asked the commission to again extend the deadline for Hobbs to agree to a debate.
MANILA, Philippines (AP)  Human rights activists in the Philippines rejected on Saturday President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.s move to proclaim the birthday of his late father, an ousted dictator, a special holiday in their northern home province.

Marcos Jr., who took office in June after a landslide election victory, authorized the declaration of the non-working public holiday in Ilocos Norte province on Monday for celebrations marking the 105th birth anniversary of his namesake father. The dictator was ousted in an army-backed pro-democracy revolt in 1986.

It is but fitting and proper that the people of the province of Ilocos Norte be given the full opportunity to celebrate and participate in the occasion with appropriate ceremonies, said the presidential proclamation, which was signed by Marcos Jr.s executive secretary and posted on Facebook.

Marcos Jr.s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, had also authorized the late presidents birthday to be observed as a holiday in Ilocos Norte. But rights activists have been especially alarmed by moves of the new president they suspect are meant to whitewash the image of his father and the Marcos family.

Satur Ocampo, who was arrested as a suspected communist insurgent in the 1970s and tortured under the Marcos dictatorship, criticized in an online news conference Marcos Jr.s move to glorify his father when the victims of the dictatorship have not even attained justice despite our campaign, plundered wealth has not been returned and there isnt even a hint of apology up to now.

We will not allow them to get away with this, he said.

Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana, a former Commission on Human Rights official, said Marcos Jr.s holiday proclamation was another step to revise history. Her late father, an opposition politician, was imprisoned after Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law in 1972.

Rights activists announced during the news conference a series of protests on Sept. 21 to mark the 50th anniversary of Marcoss martial law declaration.

Filipino historian Francis Gealogo said Marcos Jr.s holiday declaration was in stark contrast to steps taken by other countries to use historical sites associated with dictators as a warning against tyrannical rule. He cited a stone marker outside Adolf Hitlers birthplace in Austria that promotes democracy, condemns fascism and pays homage to the massive number of his victims.

What is being celebrated here? Gealogo asked. This is like spitting on history and the memory of the people who had been victimized by the dictatorship.

There was no immediate comment from Marcos Jr. but his key officials have cited his May 9 electoral victory as a reflection of the Filipino peoples trust and confidence in him despite the allegations against his father and his family, which Marcos Jr. had called lies.

Critics say a well-funded social media campaign to burnish the image of the Marcoses has helped the familys stunning political comeback.

The elder Marcos, his family and cronies were driven to U.S. exile after he was ousted by a 1986 People Power uprising.

He died in Hawaii in 1989 without admitting any wrongdoing amid allegations of plunder and human rights atrocities. A Hawaii court later found him liable for massive human rights violations and awarded $2 billion from his estate to compensate more than 9,000 Filipinos who filed a lawsuit against him for torture, incarceration, extrajudicial killings and disappearances.
The Tulsa Regional Chamber recognized seven local organizations Tuesday at its Tulsa Small Business Summit.

A program of the chamber called Tulsa Small Business Connection hosted the event. The summit convenes area businesses to build connections, learn key takeaways to grow, and celebrate the local impact of small businesses.

Small businesses account for the majority of jobs in our region, so supporting them is critical to our long-term success, Mike Neal, president and CEO of the Tulsa Regional Chamber, said in a news release. From Black Wall Street to Route 66, small businesses are integral to northeast Oklahomas economy, and we are proud to recognize the local businesses that are driving new ideas, job growth and regional prosperity.

Nominees went through an application process judged by chamber of commerce professionals from outside the region.

The 2022 Small Business Award winners included:

Small Business Person of the Year: Mike Bausch, Andolinis Worldwide.

Rising Star Award: Rose Tax Solutions.

Entrepreneurial Success Award: Arrowhead Consulting.

Family-Owned Small Business of the Year: Tedford Insurance.

Manufacturer of the Year: OGI Process Equipment.

Diverse Small Business Champion: NextGen Tax Services.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Steve Turnbo, Schnake Turnbo Frank.

Mike Bausch, owner of Andolinis Worldwide, has grown the business to encompass eight brands across 13 locations in the Tulsa region.

Its an honor and a privilege to be this years Small Business Person of the Year, Bausch said in the news release. ... Tulsa is extremely supportive of entrepreneurs and the support that Andolinis has received has given us the opportunity to grow and create hundreds of jobs, donate thousands of pizzas and deliver our passion, great pizza, in a comfortable environment. Thank you to the Tulsa Regional Chamber for this recognition.

In addition to the Small Business Awards presentation, the event included professional development and educational opportunities focused on the theme of leadership. Jeff Wilkie, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, principal at Hogan Taylor, led a leadership development and relationship building session, and Jenn Donahue, Ph.D., owner of JL Donahue Engineering and retired U.S. Navy captain, delivered a keynote on being the leader employees need in todays market.
A new exhibit at the Sand Springs Cultural and Historical Museum illustrates how Hmong textiles changed as the Asian ethnic group, originally from China, then Laos, resettled in Thailand or allied countries such as Australia, France, Canada and the United States after the Vietnam War.

Today more than 300,000 Hmong live throughout the U.S., many in the central part of the country, with more than 5,000 in Oklahoma.

The exhibit Cloth as Community: Hmong Textiles in America includes 28 textile objects curated by Geraldine Craig, professor of art and associate dean of the Graduate School at Kansas State University, and Carl Magnuson, a cultural anthropologist.

It will be on display at the Sand Springs Cultural and Historical Museum through Oct. 20.

The story of Hmong textile production in the diaspora reflects the radical upheaval in the external environment that Hmong refugees experienced.

In traditional Hmong life in Asia, women produced complex clothing that established clan identity through abstract geometric designs in the textiles, created by embroidery, applique, reverse applique, and indigo batik.

The designs from that time reflect a deep animist philosophy and are inspired by nature.

Historically, textiles in village life were not sold, but they were thought to hold important spiritual protections, so such things as colorful baby carriers and hats were designed to disguise children from evil forest spirits who might try to steal their souls.

In refugee camps and later the diaspora, the sale of textiles generated important income for families.

Escape narratives were the predominant theme of story cloths made in the refugee camps, revealing a new Hmong concern with geopolitical borders, since crossing the swift Mekong River to safety in Thailand was the route for most Hmong who left Laos.

Many Hmong drowned or were shot when attempting the crossing, and it became a central element in most early story cloths, as did the incorporation of first Hmong and then English text.

Yet, as the memory of the war receded and U.S. buyers wanted more optimistic or positive subjects, many of the story cloth subjects morphed into representations of a new life in America, such as a Nativity scene, or nostalgia for the pastoral life left behind  animals in a jungle, scenes of village life or illustrated Hmong folk tales with English text.

The works in this exhibition demonstrate a period in time when old patterns influenced new designs, often produced at a larger scale or with more space devoted to the triangular borders, and embroidered story cloths changed to fit a new market that was different from tourists or relief workers in the camps.

The museum, at 9 E. Broadway St., is open from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Private showings are available.

Admission is free, although donations are accepted.

For more information, contact Ginger Murphy at 918-245-2509.
Oklahomas mental health leaders are singing their hope for improved crisis care this Suicide Prevention Awareness Month to the tune of 988.

The revised, three-digit Suicide & Crisis Lifeline launched nationwide in July, and the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services says the one-stop number is tying a bow on its burgeoning efforts to ease accessibility to immediate, professional mental health help and coordinate with local services.

In its first two months, 988 received about 5,000 calls from Oklahomans, 30% of which were spurred by suicidal ideation, according to data provided by the Department of Mental Health.

Carrie Slatton-Hodges, Department of Mental Health commissioner, said the helpline is a major step forward in preventing suicides in Oklahoma, which is the second leading cause of death for residents ages 10-34 in the state and ninth overall.

In 2020, 869 Oklahomans took their own lives, a nearly 9% increase from the year before. Almost two-thirds of firearm deaths in the state were suicides, according to the Department of Mental Health and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data presented by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Suicide prevention does not occur in a vacuum and must be part of a continuum of care, Slatton-Hodges said.

The 988 lifeline is the first stop, she said in a news release.

Although some calls will be lifesaving, Slatton-Hodges said some people just need someone to talk to. If a caller needs more assistance, call takers can dispatch mobile response teams and make appointments with local providers.

All callers will receive a follow-up call to ensure that their needs were met.

Connecting people to services is the key, Slatton-Hodges said.

Difference in Oklahoma

The rollout of 988 represents a critical juncture in the states move toward wraparound mental health care, said Zack Stoycoff, executive director of the Healthy Minds Policy Initiative.

Using federal and state funding, Oklahoma is developing a comprehensive crisis care system that includes investing in mobile response teams, crisis care centers and a number of other contracted services across the state.

More than 70% of the states communities did not have enough mental health providers to serve residents in 2021 based on federal guidelines, according to AFSP, but the welcome shift is expected to lift Oklahoma to standard.

Now, Department of Mental Health spokesman Jeff Dismukes said he cant keep up with the expansion of urgent recovery and crisis centers across the state  there were 37 as of Friday.

Were very hopeful about all the work going on, Stoycoff said.

Mental health must be at the core of all societal plans because it is core to nearly every outcome we all want to see in our community, Stoycoff said. That means getting appropriate treatment early enough in the crisis that the person doesnt fall into criminal justice involvement, emergency rooms or homelessness.

Law enforcement leaders have been advocating for many of the changes included in the states plan for years, Dismukes said, including expanding mobile crisis teams equipped with licensed mental health professionals and providing private transportation to psychiatric care.

He pointed at the success of criminal diversionary programs, drug courts being one example, that helped state lawmakers get on board with expanding into prevention.

Its a shift in understanding behavioral health; what it always has been and what weve known it to be, Dismukes said. Its a medical issue; its about brain health. Thats part of the stigma around many of the diseases that were talking about, and substance use issues  weve criminalized it. Some have looked at it as a law enforcement issue, and I think that has created barriers to people needing care and reaching out when theyre in need.

Fact is, the back of a police car really isnt the best place for a person experiencing a behavioral health crisis.

The latter term, Dismukes said, isnt being defined for 988.

Its a crisis line for anything behavioral health, he said, not only for individuals in crisis but also those who are seeking to support them. Anyone can call, and a licensed professional can assist and send out a local team if necessary. The 988 crisis line is offered in English and Spanish by text or call.

Phone-based counselors like those at 988 are able to stabilize a caller in place more than 80% of the time, according to a primer on 988 that Stoycoffs agency produced, and of the remainder, locally dispatched mobile crisis teams are able to resolve the issues in the field an estimated 70% of the time.

Calls to 988 averaged 20 to 30 minutes each, and more than 250 crisis teams were dispatched in July and August, according to Department of Mental Health data.

Hopefully people will call before they reach that crisis; when they arent sure where to turn, Dismukes said.

Difference in Tulsa

Some regions in Oklahoma, including Tulsa, have had local, piecemeal crisis response systems in place the past several years, and 988s rollout brought questions about how they fit into the new model.

The state has awarded contracts and partnered with many agencies to expand its answering services and breadth of mobile crisis teams, including with Tulsas Family & Childrens Services.

F&CS has operated its own area hotline and mobile response through COPES, Community Outreach Psychiatric Emergency Services, for a number of years, and that will continue even with the addition of the 988 contract, said Dee Harris, spokeswoman for F&CS.

Were thrilled to be part of the 988 mobile team and also the backup line, Harris said. This is all about getting people to the resources they need to get better, and 988s just one more pathway to do that.

Instead of using contractors previously retained to answer national hotline calls in the state, Oklahoma solicited bids to find a facilitator for 988 because leaders knew they wanted it to be more than a suicide crisis line, Dismukes said.

Arizona-based Solari Crisis & Human Services now operates the states call center, with several employees in Oklahoma City. In the case of a deluge, COPES is one of two existing call centers in the state contracted as backup, Harris said.

Solari also is able to dispatch COPES mobile team to respond to local calls.

In July, COPES answered four rollover calls from Solari and dispatched its mobile response teams 28 times for calls originating at 988, Harris said, and theres no sign that the organization will strain under the additional service requests.

COPES is growing and continuing to add clinicians and expand, Harris said. Were not having any issues with staffing.

Family & Childrens Services multitude of local crisis continuum services remain in operation. COPES is still receiving and responding to calls from established clients and community partners, but 988 is a great place to start for anyone else, Harris said.

Were offering same-day, next-day care now, Harris said. If you dont know who to call or you cant remember a number, 988 is the way to go.

Featured video: What to know about 988, the new suicide and crisis helpline
BROKEN ARROW  Instead of waiting for the Artemis launch later this month, Broken Arrow residents can go stand outside Creekwood Elementary School if they want to visit the moon.

Joined by municipal leaders and officials with Broken Arrow Public Schools, a group of retired and current teachers formally unveiled a scale model of the solar system Tuesday along Albany Street as part of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Educations Voyage National Program.

The exhibit is built to a 1-to-10-billion scale of the solar system, with the walkway extending about 2,000 feet from its entry point near the sun to the exit just beyond Pluto. Along with scale models of the planets, sun and asteroid belt, Voyage exhibits include information storyboards with QR codes to further educate visitors about astronomy.

Broken Arrows model stretches east along Albany Street, with the sun, represented by a grapefruit-sized golden sphere, at the western edge of Creekwoods campus and Pluto outside Broken Arrow High School.

Voyages original model was installed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in October 2001. Similar models are already in place in Kansas City, Missouri; Houston; Boulder, Colorado; and Corpus Christi, Texas. However, Broken Arrows model has one distinct feature that the others cant claim.

We are the only community to have this paid for entirely with grassroots funding, planning committee member Steve Cowen said. Everyone else had at least one corporate or university sponsor.

For Matt Montgomery, Tuesdays ribbon-cutting carried some extra meaning. His mother, retired BAPS teacher Sandy Montgomery, was one of the projects organizers. She died in May and one of the planets, Jupiter, is named in her honor.

This was her passion, he said. She got a lot of her joy and juice with the people she worked with  and a lot of inspiration from them that helped drive her. This was very important to her. She also loved kids so this is a fitting end to her not being here. She wanted to see the end of this  but it is still good that this is happening. Shed be very happy.

Video: Cal Ripken Jr. and Devon Energy partner to open STEM centers in Tulsa.
JENKS  Jenks Public Schools Board of Education unanimously approved new board districts Monday night.

State law requires school districts whose board seats are divided among wards, zones or districts to review and redraw their boundaries the year after the U.S. Census results are submitted to the president of the United States.

The results of the 2020 Census were delayed thanks to COVID-19, thus pushing back districts completion deadline to Dec. 31.

State law also requires that new board districts be as close to equal in population as possible, with no more than a 10% variation between the largest and smallest districts.

Weve had some population shifts, Amy Hudson, executive director of student services for Jenks Public Schools, told the board Monday night.

Based on the 2020 census data, 77,124 people live within Jenks attendance area, placing the ideal population for each of the five school board districts at 15,425.

However, both of Jenks western school board districts, Wards 1 and 4, had a population of more than 17,000, while Wards 2 and 5 each had less than 14,000 residents.

Working in collaboration with the Indian Nations Council of Governments to redraw the map, the gap between the most and least populous wards is now 581 people.

To even out the population numbers among the five wards, two complete voting precincts will switch districts, along with portions of four more. No current board members were redistricted out of their current seats.

Precinct 186, which includes the campus of Jenks Middle School and is bounded by Harvard Avenue on the east, Delaware Avenue on the west, 91st Street to the north and 101st Street to the south, will move from Ward 1 to Ward 3.

Ward 3s southern boundary will now run along 101st Street from the Arkansas River to Memorial Drive. Precinct 189, which is bordered by Sheridan Road on the west, Memorial Drive to the east, 91st Street to the north and 101st Street to the south, will be wholly within Ward 3. The eastern half of the precinct immediately to its east, 190, will be wholly within Ward 2 instead of split between Wards 2 and 3.

Precinct 205, wedged between Harvard Avenue, the Arkansas River and 101st Street, will move from Ward 1 to Ward 2. Ward 2 will also absorb most of Precinct 206 on the west side of the Arkansas River, save for the precincts far southwestern corner along 121st Street.

Ward 5, which covers the northeast side of Jenks attendance area, now includes all of Precinct 151, thus putting its southern boundary at 81st Street from the Arkansas River to Yale Avenue.
The first time Joel Slaughter walked into the Crystal Ballroom, chunks of plaster were falling off the walls and the floor was carpeted with p
The shooting last May that killed 19 children and two teachers inside an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, led to pledges by governors in several states to make classrooms safer.

But their speed in following through has varied.

Here's a look at where school safety plans stand in several states as students return to school.

ARKANSAS

After the Uvalde shooting, Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson reinstated a school safety commission he formed after the 2018 shooting in Parkland, Florida. The panel is expected to issue its final recommendations in October. The Legislature in August approved setting aside $50 million for a school safety grant program. The grants will be based on the recommendations of the commission, and the rules for how the funds will be distributed are being crafted.

CALIFORNIA

In California, which already had some of the nations toughest gun laws, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a dozen more this legislative session. He also took out ads in Texas newspapers criticizing the states stances on guns. In July Newsom signed a gun control law that is patterned after a Texas anti-abortion law, allowing private citizens to sue in order to enforce the restrictions.

DELAWARE

Lawmakers included $10 million in the budget for a school safety fund that was established in 2018 but had not received money in the past two fiscal years. Lawmakers also approved bipartisan legislation expanding the allowable uses of the school safety fund to include lockdown drills, school threat assessments, prevention training and the hiring of law enforcement personnel. The bill was introduced in late April, before the Uvalde shooting, and initially proposed only to allow the hiring of constables with money from the fund. The legislation did not receive a committee hearing until after the Uvalde shooting, and Democratic Gov. John Carney has yet to sign the bill, which received final approval in late June.

FLORIDA

The Florida Legislature passed a bill in March that makes changes to the school safety law passed after a 2018 shooting at a Parkland high school that killed 17 people. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill June 7. The bill DeSantis signed directs the state Board of Education to adopt requirements for emergency drills, requires law enforcement to participate in active shooter school drills and requires school districts to certify 80% of school personnel complete youth mental health awareness training.

GEORGIA

Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, announced in June the state is giving $2.6 million to the Georgia Public Safety Training Center to increase training capacity and classes for school resource officers. He said the state will use $1 million in federal money to enhance school protection efforts, including training staff and school resource officers. Local and state law enforcement agencies will be able to compete for $4.5 million in grants for school safety, use-of-force and de-escalation training, and mental health needs. The state is also seeking $3 million in federal grants to increase training and improve school climate.

NEW JERSEY

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill in August that requires the states nearly 600 school districts to set up threat assessment teams aimed at stemming violence in schools. The bill requiring the assessments was introduced two days after the Uvalde shooting. The measure goes into effect in the 2023-2024 school year.

OHIO

Three days after the Uvalde shooting, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine announced the state would use $100 million in federal coronavirus relief funds for security upgrades in schools. In August, he announced more than 1,100 schools were being awarded $47 million of that money for upgrades such as security cameras, automatic door locks, visitor badging systems and exterior lighting. The remaining $53 million will be distributed to schools that apply in the future.

OKLAHOMA

Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an executive order a month after the Uvalde shooting aimed at helping prepare schools and law enforcement for mass shootings. It directs law enforcement officers to complete active shooter training. It also calls for the Oklahoma School Security Institute to provide risk assessments to every public and private primary and secondary school in the state. The order also directs school districts to put in use by September the Rave Panic Button, a phone application that allows teachers and staff to immediately notify law enforcement and other staff members of an emergency.

PENNSYLVANIA

In Pennsylvanias budget this year, lawmakers earmarked $200 million to address school safety and mental health, with $200,000 in base funding for each district to be split evenly between safety and mental health. The mental health funding is new to the budget this year. Funding was first established for the safety and security grants in 2018 after the shooting in Parkland. The money historically has been used for upgrading security  including adding cameras, safe entrances and personnel to school buildings.

TENNESSEE

Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, signed an executive order in June calling for more training and resources for school security. He has said his administration will boost resources for schools and law enforcement in the fall. Earlier this month, ahead of the new school year, Lee also encouraged parents to download a SafeTN app so they can confidentially report suspicious activity with schools.

TEXAS

Following the Uvalde shooting, Gov. Greg Abbott and other top Republican leaders announced the transfer of $105.5 million for school safety initiatives. Nearly half of that money was slated for bullet-resistant shields and $17.1 million was for districts to purchase silent panic-alert technology. The state also set aside $7 million for the states school safety center to conduct on-site assessments.

For more back-to-school coverage, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/back-to-school

The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP)  Fighting on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan killed about 100 troops Tuesday as attacks on both sides fed fears of broader hostilities breaking out between the longtime adversaries.

Armenia said at least 49 of its soldiers were killed; Azerbaijan said it lost 50.

The fighting erupted minutes after midnight with Azerbaijani forces unleashing an artillery barrage and drone attacks in many sections of Armenian territory, according to Armenias Defense Ministry. It said shelling grew less intense during the day but Azerbaijani troops were trying to advance into Armenian territory.

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry said it was responding to a large-scale provocation by Armenia late Monday and early Tuesday. It said Armenian troops planted mines and fired on Azerbaijani military positions.

The two countries have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh in a six-week war in 2020 that killed more than 6,600 people and ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal. Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers under the deal.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged both parties to refrain from further escalation and show restraint. Moscow has engaged in a delicate balancing act in seeking to maintain friendly ties with both ex-Soviet nations. It has strong economic and security ties with Armenia, which hosts a Russian military base, while also has been developing close cooperation with oil-rich Azerbaijan.

The international community also urged calm.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to take immediate steps to deescalate tensions, exercise maximum restraint and resolve any outstanding issues through dialogue" and implement previous agreements, his spokesman said.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled closed consultations Wednesday on the renewed fighting.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called Russian President Vladimir Putin and later also had calls with French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Charles Michel and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by phone with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with both Pashinyan and Azerbaijans president, Ilham Aliyev. The U.S. has a special envoy in the region, Blinken said, and my hope is that we can move this from conflict back to the negotiating table and back to trying to build a peace.

Speaking in parliament early Tuesday, Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of having had an uncompromising stance at recent European Union-brokered talks in Brussels.

Armenia said the Azerbaijani shelling Tuesday damaged civilian infrastructure and wounded an unspecified number of people.

On Facebook, Aliyev expressed condolences to the families and relatives of our servicemen who died on September 13 while preventing large-scale provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces in the direction of the Kalbajar, Lachin, Dashkasan and Zangilan regions of Azerbaijan.

Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, also placed the blame for the violence on Armenia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for Aliyev and said in a statement that Turkey and Azerbaijan are "brotherly ... in all matters.

The governor of Gegharkunik province, one of the regions that came under Azerbaijani shelling, said there was a 40-minute lull in the fighting, apparently reflecting Moscows attempt to negotiate a truce, before it later resumed. The governor, Karen Sarkisyan, said four Armenian troops in his region were killed and another 43 were wounded by the shelling.

The Armenian government said it would officially ask Russia for assistance under a friendship treaty between the countries, and also appeal to the United Nations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Moscow-dominated security alliance of ex-Soviet nations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from comment on Armenias request but added during a conference call with reporters that Putin was taking every effort to help de-escalate tensions.
A young boy was found dead during a daylong search after he was reported missing from his Okemah-area home early Monday, Muscogee Nation Press Secretary Jason Salsman told a press conference Monday evening.

Ares Muse, 2, was reported missing about 1:30 a.m., and more than 20 agencies assisted in the search for the toddler, Salsman said.

He was found about 6 p.m.

Salsman couldnt say how the boy died or where exactly he was found, only that it was within the search area. However, an email from the Department of Public Safety received by the Tulsa World indicates that a team from Pontotoc County and the Colgate Fire Department found Ares body about six-tenths of a mile south of his home.

Right now we just ask that prayers that were prayed today from all over Oklahoma shift those prayers now to the family and to the law enforcement that poured their hearts into todays search, Salsman said.

The hardest thing for them is when it turns out like it did today. We talked all day long about wanting a good outcome, and we didnt get that.

No criminal charges have been filed, Salsman said, and no one has been arrested.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said in a news release before Ares was found that it did not believe he had been abducted.

At the press conference, Eric Foster with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol spoke of the effort between law enforcement, first responders, horseback riders and canine searchers. This is a serious, significant investigation, and when something like this happens, this is how we operate in Oklahoma, he said.

We hate to (have) to give news like this. This was a concerted effort to try to bring closure the way it needed to happen, but unfortunately the little one was found deceased.

Muscogee Nation Principal Chief David Hill was also at the search area but did not give a statement at the time of the press conference.

The Muscogee Nation Lighthorse Police Department will be investigating the death.
Tulsa has been a fortunate city to boast philanthropists dedicated to using their wealth for the greater good of a community  to share in finding solutions to societal challenges.

These influential families mold the way our city approaches problems; they do so in partnership and with an eye on successful outcomes. Tulsa would not be a destination without the leadership of such generosity and vision.

Among the most transformative philanthropic foundations is the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, founded 35 years ago. The foundation has given more than $2 billion in areas including education  from infant care to university graduate programs  criminal justice, gender and reproductive equity, voting rights, and efforts in Israel to support secure communities.

Next month in a private New York ceremony, two members of the family  Lynn and her daughter, Stacy,  will receive the prestigious Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy for their work. Others being honored are country music icon Dolly Parton; Lyda Hill, founder of Hill World Travel; and Manu Chandaria, chairman and CEO of the Kenyan-based steel and aluminum group Comcraft.

We congratulate the Schustermans and also give our sincere gratitude for their contributions to Tulsa. Their effect extends beyond financial support and into leadership in big and small ways.

Schusterman family members are hands-on type of givers, often helping on the frontlines or visiting with people in the programs they support. They are at the table looking for creative ways to approach the hard problems.

This work reflects the philanthropic philosophy of Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant to the U.S. who became a titan of 19th century industry and one of historys richest men. He believed that surplus wealth of the few ought to be administered for the good of the people, creating large-scale philanthropic projects toward libraries, education, world peace and scientific advancements.

Lynn Schusterman noted in a story with reporter Tim Stanley that her late husband, Charles, was an immigrant, born in the Soviet Union before his family moved to Tulsa while he was a child. In 1971, Charles founded the Samson Investment Company, a privately owned oil and gas company.

Like Carnegie, Charlie believed education was vitally important. And he believed in helping people cross boundaries no matter the circumstances in which they were born. Also, it was his entrepreneurial spirit that really is what allows us to be here today in this position, she said.

In receiving the award, the Schustermans are using the attention to highlight troubling local movements, such as removal of books and education restrictions on topics including race.

We believe its important to learn history so we can learn from it, grow and improve. Something our foundation is very focused on nationally is trying to defend the rights of teachers to teach accurate history, said Stacy Schusterman.

We appreciate their dedication on these issues; they make Tulsa and Oklahoma stronger.
Authorities in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam on Monday rectified false information that was fabricated from an old photo and caused people to mistakenly think that a local school provided lunch boxes with rat meat for students.

The Peoples Committee of Nam Giang District in Quang Nam managed to determine that the viral photo of a lunch box with rat meat was taken in December 2019 at Thanh My Kindergarten in the districts mountainous Thanh My Town.

During a traditional food festival held by the kindergarten at that time, a parent treated participants to a lunch box containing rice and wild rat meat -- a popular dish of the local people.

A teacher took a photo of the lunch box and recently shared it with a chat group, from where the picture was widely spread and misinterpreted as proof of Thanh My Kindergarten giving students nutrient-poor food.

A Viet Son, chairman of Nam Giang District, stated that local authorities always attach great importance to students nutrition and meals.

There is no such thing as a school or a parent giving meals with rat meat like the one circulated online, Son affirmed.

On the other hand, he said that wild rat meat is a dish familiar to residents of Nam Giang and is often available at local parties.

Therefore, eating rat meat during meals is a common practice, according to Son.

The chairman added that local police officers are investigating the case to handle related individuals and groups.

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Many young enthusiasts are engrossed in farming, industry, and tourism among other fields for a greener Vietnam.

When he was 16, Quach Kien Lan left Vietnam for New Zealand to study economics at Massey University.

The 39-year-old believed he chose a long life in the kiwi fruit country, one of the worlds most peaceful nations.

However, 10 years after he earned his bachelors degree and tried multiple different jobs abroad from a marketing employee, seller, and chef to a bartender, he finally decided to return to Vietnam to produce natural fabric.

It seemed unbelievable, but the overseas Vietnamese student always nurtured a desire to green Vietnams textile and garment industry, which is one of the countrys spearhead sectors, but has caused many scandals over negative impacts on the environment.

Lan is teaming up with Dr. Pham Thi Hong Phuong, head of the faculty of medical engineering at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, and some partners to implement an initiative to produce fabric from banana fiber.

Over the past year, the team has created various machines to extract banana fiber from the trunk of the plant, producing ropes in standard sizes and lengths.

As banana fiber turns stiff when being wetted, making it hard to be woven into fabric, the team uses silk to increase cellulose in the banana fiber.

We have completed one of the toughest steps. This is producing perfect banana fiber," said Dr. Phuong.

The next step is to create ropes and weave them into fabric.

"For a practical method, we will combine these ropes with some other special natural fibers.

We aim to consume banana fiber in banana-growing areas in An Giang, Kien Giang, Tien Giang, and Long An in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam to produce fabric in bulk.

In Vietnam, banana waste has yet to be utilized well."

Vietnams advantage of cheap labor for the apparel sector is weakening, while the government is about to issue restrictions on the industry due to its negative impacts on the environment, said Lan.

Therefore, to compete with other nations products, Vietnam should create various value-added items that are eco-friendly, he advised.

For instance, he has debuted BambooBiocell fabric woven from cellulose-rich bamboo fiber, and launched two factories in Long An Province and Thua Thien-Hue Province to churn out this fabric, which makes T-shirts and shirts.

In the past, my family did business in the textile dyeing industry in Saigon, but I never thought that I would pursue a career associated with fabric," he said.

"It was a karmic connection that urged me to return to Vietnam from New Zealand to green the dyeing industry.

When starting my plan, I faced several challenges and failures.

The fabric woven from bamboo fiber helps save up to 50 percent of water for dyeing and slashes gas emissions by 50 percent.

"The product creates a sustainable value for the industry."

Now, Lan is betting big on banana fiber.

He plans to launch fabric made of the fiber in December this year, while his company is set to debut a new type of fabric from a new natural fiber in Vietnam every two or three years.

He is also initiating a project to combine traditional silk in An Giang Provinces Tan Chau Town with bamboo fiber to turn out a new modern product.

I think that if a culture fails to catch up with the present era, it will turn into the past," Lan said.

To follow the global trend, the culture should not only keep its distinctions intact but also promote integration.

The Central Highlands region is home to a kind of century-old cotton that is being conserved by young people there.

Our next project is producing new items made of the cotton and planting a field of this unique cotton."

Devotion to wildlife protection

After traveling tens of kilometers to reach the Dong Nai Nature and Culture Reserve, Vo Quang Trung and a group of young people in Binh Thuan Province released 10 cobras into the wild at the Ma Da forest, as an attempt to protect the wildlife.

These young people have a deep love for nature, so they join many online wild animal sale groups to find out who are illegally selling rare and strange species of animal and buy them.

They will contact Trung to help them release those animals whose habitat is the Dong Nai Nature and Culture Reserve.

Vo Quang Trung walks through a forest at the Dong Nai Culture and Nature Reserve in Dong Nai Province, Vietnam. Photo: Trong Nhan / Tuoi Tre

The group of young people are very devoted to rescuing wild animals, mainly rare snakes, said Trung, deputy head of the wildlife conservation department at the Dong Nai Nature and Culture Reserve.

After releasing wild animals, these young people asked me to take them around the forest to explore the life of reptiles and amphibians.

Sometimes, we were so bewitched by these species that we did not leave the forest until 3:00 am."

During each of his trips into the wild, Trung records all the moments of animals and plants and takes thousands of photos of these species.

He is carrying out multiple large-scale wildlife protection projects, including one to establish an ASEAN reserve at the Ma Da forest and a Ramsar site near Tri An Lake.

Also, Trung devotes himself to making a source of rare genes beneficial to locals.

Many rare medical plants in the southeast region of Vietnam such as goniothalamus donnaiensis and eurycoma longifolia jack have been bred successfully.

Trung has been cooperating with some manufacturers to use the output of these plants.

As a case in point, passiflora incarnata, which is mainly found in the reserve, has been grown widely to produce tea bags for the local market.

The 40-year-old man found his life meaningful while conducting an on-site survey to a forest in the central region for his scientific research at university.

I was surprised that the trip totally changed me. When I was young, I often killed insects and birds. However, now I see supporting and taking care of animals as my mission and karma, Trung said.

Locals once discovered a rare wreathed hornbill that had fallen into a house because it was hurt. Because the species is especially rare and there is not much information about them, Trung spent time gathering information and asking for help from many animal experts in Vietnam to find ways to cure the bird.

It took him three months to take care of the hornbill until it completely recovered.

It is Trung who helps locals feel responsibility and enthusiasm for wildlife protection, a resident said.

Once I rode over 40 kilometers to a residents house to bring a lost young squirrel back to the forest. We must be responsible for all animals, Trung said.

As a guide of birdwatchers

Serving as a tour guide of birdwatchers is a useful way for the young man to level up the value and the beauty of nature in the Central Highlands region.

Notably, the Lam Vien Plateau in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, some 1,500 meters above sea level, is home to dozens of rare birds.

Nguyen Anh The, 38, works as a tour guide who does love birds. Over the past five years, he has arranged countless birdwatching tours for tourists, mainly foreign visitors.

Thanks to its altitude, the Lam Vien Plateau is considered as an oasis on land of rare and strange birds in Vietnam.

Nguyen Anh The takes a visitor to the forest to watch birds. Photo: Andy Nguyen / Tuoi Tre

Many international visitors patiently traveled to pine forests, steppes, or biosphere reserves to watch various Vietnamese birds.

I was surprised at their excitement about birds. These tourists from the United States and Europe entered Vietnam to explore the countrys nature. Many said that they preferred watching birds and enjoying the ecosystem in Vietnam to traveling to beautiful beaches and big cities, The said.

Apart from the birdwatching tours in the Lam Vien Plateau, The also takes tourists to Can Gio District in Ho Chi Minh City, which has mangrove forests as the characteristic of the citys outlying district, to see birds, including black-winged stilt, purple heron, chickadee, and yellow-vented bulbul.

Regarded as a 'station' of birds in Vietnam, Can Gio has many migratory rare birds.

Since late September, the number of black-tailed gulls and Caspi terns has increased.

At the peak of bird migration, the woods and salt fields in the district are crowded with thousands of these birds.

Due to his love for nature, The quit his job as a construction worker to study and started a new job as a tour guide.

He traveled to numerous mountainous areas in Vietnam to take photos of exotic and rare birds.

The uploads all documents and information about birds to the website called Vietnambirds.

Travelers to the jungle should use all five senses to feel and enjoy the beauty of nature in Vietnam, said The.

He is also launching tours to natural attractions such as Cat Tien National Park in Dong Nai, Da Lat City, and Can Gio for children.

The tours are aimed at making children feel the beauty of nature and raising their awareness of environmental protection and respect for nature.

To me, that is enough as I do not care about profits from these tours, he said.

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Authorities in Co To Island District off Quang Ninh Province, northern Vietnam recently imposed administrative fines on a group of 12 tourists hailing from different localities across the country for camping without permission in a border island area.

A culture official of Co To District told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Monday that local inspectors discovered a boat, numbered HP - 3624, manned by Le Thai Son, a 28-year-old local man, and a group of 12 tourists camping overnight on Bo Cat Islet at around 1:00 am on Sunday.

The tourist group told the inspectors that they arrived in the locality at around 3:00 pm on Saturday, but none registered for an overnight stay in the maritime border area with the local authorities as per the regulations.

The inspectors then booked the 12 tourists for their administrative violation and fined each of them VND400,000 (US$17).

This collage of photos shows a boat owner fined for illegally organizing overnight camping on a border island off Quang Ninh Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Thu Cuc / Tuoi Tre

The officers also handed a record of the administrative violations to Son for failing to provide customers with clear, honest information about travel services, failing to present the original certificate of sea vehicle registration, and not having professional certificates as prescribed.

The place where the tourists camped holds great importance in terms of national security and defense and is considered the frontline islet in Vietnams northeast sea, as it is located only 10 nautical miles from the demarcation line of the Gulf of Tonkin, according to the culture official.

All unregistered activities of tourism, sightseeing, camping, and relaxation in this area are prohibited and strictly handled in accordance with the law.

Meanwhile, recently viral photos boasting the natural beauty of Bo Cat Island have hiked the demand for visits.

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Check out the news you should not miss today:

COVID-19 Updates

-- Vietnams Ministry of Health reported 2,013 COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the national tally to 11,441,626, with 10,337,137 recoveries and 43,130 deaths.

Politics

-- During a meeting in Hanoi on Monday with Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies Heng Swee Keat, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Singapore is one of the effective and important partners of Vietnam in the region, especially in economy, trade, investment and education-training.

-- Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son paid a courtesy visit to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday on the occasion of his official working trip to Australia to co-chair the 4th Vietnam - Australia Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

Society

-- Authorities in Ha Long City, Quang Ninh Province, northern Vietnam said on Monday that they had discovered the corpse of a woman who fell into the sea while riding a jet ski the day before.

-- Police in Da Lat City, Lam Dong Province, located in Vietnams Central Highlands, said on Monday that they were investigating a case where a group of students beat and insulted two seventh graders while other students filmed the entire incident on a street last week.

-- One person died and four others have been in medical care due to inhaling poisonous gas while cleaning the cellar on their fishing vessel in south-central Ninh Thuan Province on Monday.

-- The Ministry of Public Security on Monday asked the Vietnam Immigration Department and overseas representative agencies with the function of issuing passports to Vietnamese residents to begin printing the place of birth information in the note section of the new passport starting Thursday.

-- More than 50 people were found using narcotics as police officers raided a karaoke parlor in Tra Vinh City in Vietnams Mekong Delta on Monday.

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A woman in Vietnams Hue City has requested police in Lam Dong Province to clarify the death of her mentally-disabled son after the boy was left in the care of a man in the province, who said the boy died of COVID-19 and was burnt into ashes.

The woman, L.K.L., 27, of Thua Thien-Hue Province, on Sunday said she had sent a denunciation to Lam Dong police asking for clarification of the death of her son after the boy was left in the care of a man for treatment of the medical problem, Nguoi Lao Dong (Laborer) newspaper reported on Sunday.

The accused man is L.M.Q., 45, a Hue resident but he temporarily resides in Lam Dong, to whom L. and her husband handed their son in early March.

Earlier in April, the boys father, N.H.N., sent a similar accusation to Hue police who then transferred the case to Lam Dong police for handling since the boy died in the province.

In the document, the 45-year-old father said his family discovered that their child had signs of retardation earlier this year and their acquaintances introduced them to Q. as the potential curer of their sons illness.

Q. requested that the boy be sent to his treatment facility in Lam Dongs Bao Loc City to be treated as an inpatient for two to three years at a cost of VND200 million (US$8,550) per month.

Agreeing to the mans plan, N. and his wife took the boy to Bao Loc and handed him over to the man in early March 2022.

They also issued a power of attorney to authorize the man to bring up their son and transferred VND600 million ($25,650) as a deposit for the treatment process.

About three weeks later, Q. suddenly phoned N. suggesting a meeting in Hue.

When the two sides met on March 27, Q. informed them that the boy died of COVID-19 and he used firewood to burn his body into ashes, without reporting the case to local authorities.

Q. then gave the family an urn that he said contained the boys remains, N. said.

Explaining why the cremation was made, Q. claimed he had been afraid that the dead body would be decomposed during the transport from Lam Dong to Hue.

The man returned VND600 million to the family and offered to pay the entire cost of the boys funeral.

As the death of the boy was not confirmed by any health agency or local authorities, and the family also received information that Q. might have violated the boys body, N. decided to report the case to Hue police for investigation.

After receiving the case transferred by their counterparts in Hue in April this year, Lam Dong police launched an investigation but on August 16, they issued a decision to suspend the investigation, N. told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

In the suspension decision, police officers explained that no forensic examination results were available and that the aggrieved party had yet to provide investigators with important objects and documents as required.

Therefore, I later handed part of the ashes contained in the pot to police for such forensic examination, N. said.

When contacted by Tuoi Tre reporters, Truong Minh Duong, chief of Lam Dong police, said he is asking relevant departments to report the case and will explain why the suspension of investigation has been issued.

Le Thi Theu, director of the Lam Dong Department of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs, affirmed that the address of Q.s treatment facility in Bao Loc City is not in the list of licensed facilities for treatment of children with retardation, disabilities, or suffering the effects of Agent Orange.

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Contrary to walls smeared with pointless paintings and graffiti in Ho Chi Minh City, many others are covered with beautiful drawings, which helps prevent vandalizing graffiti.

Many of such walls are in Da Kao Ward, District 1, which are filled with beautiful paintings and flower pots.

The products were jointly created by the Peoples Committee, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, and the Youth Union of Da Kao Ward as well as local residents to prevent graffiti, ads stuck on walls, and littering.

With the same purpose, walls of houses on Dien Bien Phu Street in Da Kao Ward have also been blanketed with pictures about protecting wildlife and fighting the hunt for endangered species.

Thanh Duyen, a resident in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, has an artist paint a picture on the front wall of his house on Tran Van Dang Street. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre

Dang Quoc Bao, head of the southern office of the Vietnam Association of Civil Engineering Environment, whose house front is painted beautifully and includes wall planters, said, The program to plant trees in recycled planters is meaningful and helps eradicate ads plastered on walls, graffiti, and littering.

Small acts such as planting trees can help improve locals awareness of protecting the environment, expanding green spaces, and giving up the habit of littering in public places and canals."

Thanh Duyen, residing in Alley 159 on Tran Van Dang Street in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, said his houses front wall was tainted so he hired an artist to draw a picture on it.

Le Thi Thuy, living in Alley 837 on Hoang Sa Street in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, takes care of tree pots hanging on a wall. Photo: Huu Hanh / Tuoi Tre

To make no space for vandals, the Youth Union of Quarter 3, Ward 3, Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City has drawn a picture on a wall in an alley. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

Pictures calling for environmental protection and promoting the roles of soldiers are seen on a wall in Ward 15, Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

The Womens Union of Quarter 2, Ward 22, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City hangs many tree pots on a wall to prevent graffiti. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

The motto 'For the citys beauty, please do not write or paint on walls' on steel sheets at a construction site near the Thu Thiem 1 Bridge in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City makes no difference to graffiti drawers. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

To hide graffiti on a wall along Nguyen Huu Canh Street in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, ZKhoa Kama artists have drawn a picture called 'Beautiful Vietnam.' Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

Distasteful graffiti and a beautiful picture are both seen on a wall along Nguyen Huu Canh Street in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

A wall along an alley on Nguyen Binh Khiem Street in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City is covered with nice paintings and tree planters. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

A foreign graffiti drawer spray-paints metal sheets surrounding a construction site in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Graffiti drawers often operate after midnight. Photo: T.T.D. / Tuoi Tre

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When producers were developing a new Netflix take on Heartbreak High they soon realised kids today were very socially-aware, forward-thinking, and inclusive.

Writers soon found themselves being led by the conversations kids were having. Issues from sexuality to environment and more were all on the table.

But Heartbreak High, when it screened from 1994  1996 was always progressive for its time. It was just a question of how it would be portrayed in 2022.

There was a fluidity to them

We did research groups with kids, ranging from working class to the elite private schools and it just blew our minds how accepting they were. There was a fluidity to them, which leads to an acceptance, Executive Producer Carly Heaton tells TV Tonight.

Now youre being bullied for being homophobic, not for being gay. Its flipped that far. We even got to the point where we were talking about mental health .We werent having conversations about mental health when I was 16.

They were pushing us. We would never have made it that way. Its coming directly from them.

Heartbreak High, created by Ben Gannon and Michael Jenkins, was based on the play The Heartbreak Kid and feature film of the same name which starred Claudia Karvan & Alex Dimitriades. Its 210 episodes, with cast including Callan Mulvey, Abi Tucker, Scott Major, Salvatore Coco, Doris Younane and Tony Martin was praised for its gritty approach to adolescence, romance, racism, drugs, homelessness, delinquency, religion, education, family.

That made it ripe for a reboot for a new, young audience.

Were all of the age where Heartbreak High was one of the touchstones

We were talking to a couple of local networks about getting something long-running again for the youth market. We started developing a high school show. Were all of the age where Heartbreak High was one of the touchstones, Heaton recalls.

We were sending around the Rack off compilation on YouTube. (Then-Fremantle CEO) Chris Oliver-Taylor happened to be in London and a Dutch company called Newbe approached him and said they had the rights to Heartbreak High.

It was sort of like this synchronicity, a perfect marriage, really. We put it all together and Netflix jumped at it straight away.

Filming took place at the same Maroubra Bay High School as the original series, a working class school nestled between the city and the beach. There were other qualities Heaton says became part of the Heartbreak High style.

They were migrant families or single parent famiies who were super-relatable. They looked like everyone you knew, but they still had this cool edge. You dont get many shows that sit in that space. Theyre all either pushing towards rich kids or things that are just a little bit out of your reach.

Its funny until its not. then its funny again.

Weve had things since like Skins, Euphoria, but nothing that captured the Aussie-ness of it. Theres a rawness to the way we interacted. Our writer summed it up in the writers room, Its funny until its not. then its funny again. Thats really Australian. The way we tackle bigger issues. You dont shy away from them, but we deal with things in a different way.

As an 8 episode season, writers also mapped out a series arc and aimed for a vivid, high-end visual template. Original cast member Scott Major returns as dramaturg behind the scenes.

The young cast is full of fresh, new faces including Ayesha Madon (The Moth Effect, Fangirls, Romeo and Juliet) as Amerie, James Majoos (Fangirls, Grand Horizons, Vivid White) as non-binary Darren, Chloe Hayden (Jeremy The Dud, Sister From The South, Embrace Kids) as Quinni, plus Thomas Wethereall (RFDS, All My Friends Are Racist), Asher Yasbincek (The Heights, Rams, How To Please A Woman), Josh Heuston (Dive Club, Thor: Love and Thunder, Finally Me) and more.

We knew we wanted a diverse cast, and an authentic feel. So we cast Darren, Amerie and Quinni early on in the writing process, and they spent some time with the writers. That way we could push their backgrounds and their history into the storylines, rather than getting to the casting process, months out from shooting, trying to get someone very specific that wed written in, Heaton continues.

We found Chloe Hayden on Instagram. Darren and Aisha are both VCA trained in musical theatre. I think the most experienced is probaby, Thomas Weatherall.

The cast weighed in a fair bit on the language.

The cast weighed in a fair bit on the language. Our team of writers were quite young as well. We tried to get the right balance of experience and youth across the board, in production. It is something the original did, to give people a break, which is such a rare thing now. You can do that with soaps but its harder to break new voices when youve got 8 episodes and a very strict timeline.

We also wanted to keep the level of music. We have an absolute shit ton of music. Our poor music supervisor was pushed to the limit! Up to 22 songs an episode. Theres commercial music tracks, lots of local Sydney bands that we try to break and some big international acts as well, which the original did.

Heaton accepts that not all original viewers of Heartbreak High may connect with the new version and woke claims are to be expected.

The characters are always taking the piss out of each other

Were gonna get that criticism, but thats okay. I dont think we go over that level. I think we have to be Aussie. The characters are always taking the piss out of each other, you know, trying to undercut. Yes were obviously progressive, but the role of shows like these is to push that. I dont feel like we are, for the generation that were talking to, she insists.

All the kids that we spent time with. this was on the money. This is what they do. This is how they speak and this is how they think.

Heartbreak High screens Wednesday on Netflix.
By Ben Blanchard, Yimou Lee, John O'Donnell, Alexandra Alper and Trevor Hunnicutt

TAIPEI/FRANKFURT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States is considering options for a sanctions package against China to deter it from invading Taiwan, with the European Union coming under diplomatic pressure from Taipei to do the same, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

The sources said the deliberations in Washington and Taipei's separate lobbying of EU envoys were both at an early stage - a response to fears of a Chinese invasion that have grown as military tensions escalate in the Taiwan Strait.

In both cases, the idea is to take sanctions beyond measures already taken in the West to restrict some trade and investment with China in sensitive technologies like computer chips and telecoms equipment.

The sources did not provide any details of what is being considered but the notion of sanctions on the world's second-largest economy and one of the global supply chain's biggest links raises questions of feasibility.

"The potential imposition of sanctions on China is a far more complex exercise than sanctions on Russia, given U.S. and allies' extensive entanglement with the Chinese economy," said Nazak Nikakhtar, a former senior U.S. Commerce Department official.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory and last month fired missiles over the island and sailed warships across their unofficial sea frontier after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in what Beijing saw as a provocation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to bring democratically-governed Taiwan under Beijing's control and has not ruled out the use of force. He is set to secure a third, five-year leadership term at a Communist Party congress next month. Taiwan's government strongly rejects China's sovereignty claims.

Responding to the news on the sanctions package, a foreign ministry spokesperson in Beijing warned against underestimating China.

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"I want to emphasize that any country or person should not underestimate the strong determination and firm will of the Chinese government and people in defending national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and realising the reunification of the motherland," the spokesperson, Mao Ning, said on Wednesday.

Officials in Washington are considering options for a possible package of sanctions against China to deter Xi from attempting to invade Taiwan, said a U.S. official and an official from a country in close coordination with Washington.

U.S. talks over sanctions began after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, but took on fresh urgency after the Chinese reaction to Pelosi's visit, the two sources said.

The United States, backed by NATO allies, took a similar approach to Russia in January with a threat of unspecified sanctions but this failed to dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin from launching his invasion of Ukraine.

The White House is focused on getting countries on the same page, including coordinating between Europe and Asia, and avoiding provoking Beijing, the non-U.S. official said.

Reuters was unable to learn details on what specific sanctions were under consideration, but some analysts suggested China's military could be the focus.

"Big picture, initial sanctions conversations will likely revolve around curtailing China's access to certain technologies required to sustain a military operation against Taiwan," said Craig Singleton at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

The White House declined to comment.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said it had discussed China's recent war games and the "great challenges" China poses to Taiwan and the region with the United States, Europe and other like-minded partners, but could not disclose details.

TAIWAN'S PITCH TO EUROPE

Taiwan had already broached sanctions with European officials after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but China's recent military exercises have seen Taiwan's position harden, six sources briefed on the Taiwan-Europe discussions told Reuters.

Top Taiwanese officials' calls for sanctions preparations have intensified in recent weeks. A recent Chinese white paper, which withdrew a promise not to send troops or administrators to Taiwan if Beijing takes control of the island, has prompted a redoubling of their efforts with Europe.

Taiwan has not asked for anything specific, only for Europe to plan what actions it may take if China attacked, one source briefed on discussions said, and has asked Europe to warn China privately that it would face consequences.

EU officials have so far shied away from imposing tough sanctions on China over human rights issues, as the country plays a far bigger role for the bloc's economy than Russia, said another person familiar with the matter.

European sanctions would require all 27 member countries to agree, which is often elusive; consensus was tough even in isolating Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, in part because its gas was critical for Germany.

All of Europe, excluding the Vatican, has formal diplomatic relations with Beijing but not Taipei, though Taiwanese and European officials have had extensive, private contacts since China's military exercises began, the sources say.

Germany, the bloc's economic engine, is "wary," according to another official familiar with the discussion. "I don't think the Russia-Ukraine has fundamentally changed the way they view their relationship with China."

But there is growing concern in the German government over its economic dependence on China, with the economy minister pledging a new trade policy and "no more naivety" on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declined to comment.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee in Taipei, John O'Donnell in Frankfurt, and Alexandra Alper and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; Additional reporting by Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Clarence Fernandez)
Europe's Biggest PLO Event Returns to King's Resort This September

September 13 2022 PokerNews Staff

It's been three years since Adon Ursu took down the 2019 Big Wrap 2,350 Main Event beating a 474-player field in what was Europe's biggest-ever PLO event.

And now the Big Wrap PLO returns to King's Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic for the 2022 edition of the popular four-card festival from 13-19th September.

Related: Adon Ursu Wins King's Resort's The Big Wrap, Europe's Biggest PLO Event

Two High Roller Tournaments Scheduled

A whole host of big names are already confirmed for the 10,000 Big Wrap PLO High Roller which comes with a 500,000 guarantee.

They include: Leon Tsoukernik, Joni Jouhkimainen and Fernando "JNandez" Habegger as well as WSOP bracelet-winners Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Lukas Zaskodny, Jan-Peter Jachtmann and Emil Bise.

There is also an extra 5,000 PLO event on the schedule, meaning that players with bigger buy-ins won't miss out on the chance to win some huge money!

500,000 GTD Big Wrap PLO

The highlight of The Big Wrap PLO is of course the500,000 GTD Main Event. The 2,200 buy-in tournament has two starting flights on Friday 16th September and Saturday 17th September.

There are also a whole host of satellite opportunities taking place at King's Resort, Turbo and Bounty side events and a special 5-Card PLO event on Sunday 18th September to close out the festival.

2022 Big Wrap PLO Schedule

Date Time Event Buy-in + Fee Guarantee 13th September 19:00 $ZTO$ Opening Event  150  10,000 14th September 12:00 NLH Morning Turbo  115  5,000 14th September 15:00 The Big Wrap PLO Master  5,000 14th September 18:00 $ZTO$ Fall Edition Day 1a  230  200,000 15th September 12:00 Turbo Morning Bounty  170  10,000 15th September 16:00 The Big Wrap PLO High Roller Day 1  10,000  500,000 15th September 18:00 $ZTO$ Fall Edition Day 1b  230  200,000 16th September 12:00 NLH Morning Turbo  170  10,000 16th September 14:00 The Big Wrap PLO High Roller Day 2 16th September 15:00 $ZTO$ Fall Edition Day 1c  230  200,000 16th September 16:00 The Big Wrap PLO Day 1a  2,350  500,000 16th September 22:00 King's Saturday Night Turbo  115  10,000 17th September 11:00 $ZTO$ Fall Edition Day 1d  230  200,000 17th September 16:00 The Big Wrap PLO Day 1b  2,350  500,000 17th September 18:00 $ZTO$ Fall Edition Day 1e  230  200,000 18th September 11:00 $ZTO$ Fall Edition Day 1f  230  200,000 18th September 14:00 The Big Wrap PLO Day 2 18th September 16:00 $ZTO$ Fall Edition Day 2 18th September 17:00 The Big Wrap 5-Card PLO  1,100  80,000 18th September 18:00 $ZTO$ High Roller  550  40,000 19th September 13:00 The Big Wrap PLO Final Day 19th September 15:00 $ZTO$ Fall Edition Final Day 19th September 18:00 $ZTO$ Closer  150  10,000
A Utah school bus driver who told elementary students she'd "shoot them" if another one questioned her driving has led the district to condemn and investigate the incident.

"One more person says 'Where are we going?,' I'm going to shoot them," the driver is overheard saying in a video obtained and broadcast by FOX 13 News in Salt Lake City. "OK, now listen  I missed the stop; I'm trying to turn around. Do you understand? OK. Sit down and be quiet."

The comments were captured on video shot Friday by a Dry Creek Elementary School student aboard the bus and forwarded to the TV station by the student's parent, the station reported.

The Alpine School District, in Saratoga Springs, responded by placing the unidentified driver on administrative leave pending an investigation.

"We strongly condemn any threatening action or language directed toward others," the district says in a statement shared with PEOPLE. "We expect all employees to create safe and nurturing environments free of verbal or physical threats. Appropriate action will be taken to ensure this matter is addressed and not repeated."

school bus

Getty

RELATED: There's a School Bus Driver Shortage in the U.S. -- and One District is Offering $4,000 to Sign On

Also last week in Utah, a student filmed video of a separate incident involving a bus driver in the Tooele County School District, FOX 13 reported.

"The video footage shows the substitute driver making a wrong turn, and students alerting her of the error," a district spokesperson says in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. "Soon after, she becomes frustrated and begins to scream at the students that she is going to turn around and to 'shut up.'"

"It was apparent the students were trying to be helpful, and her response was not acceptable or conducive to our school district values," the spokesperson adds. "The substitute driver has since been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the incident."

Both incidents occurred as school districts from Alaska to Hawaii struggle to find and retain school bus drivers.

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One district, in Wayne, N.J., is trying to fill its openings as the new school year begins by offering a starting salary of $29 to $31 per hour with medical benefits for the first year, Superintendent Mark Toback told NJ.com.

"Finding bus drivers is a big issue here and elsewhere. In our case, we still need about 10 drivers to bring us to full capacity," Toback said, the outlet reported.

"We don't see the situation improving anytime soon," he added.

A July survey of school and district administrators nationwide by the EdWeek Research Center found that 86 percent said they lacked enough applicants to fill open bus driver positions, Education Week reported. And 79 percent said the number of applicants for those spots had dropped from the previous year.

The unmet need is an outgrowth of district hiring struggles during the pandemic, as jobs go unfilled across a variety of areas.

"A lot of times, people would choose driving a school bus as something to do in retirement," said Kim Powell, chief operations officer for Charlottesville City Schools, reported Virginia Public Media. "And with the pandemic, a lot of retirees reconsidered if that was the best type of work for them to be doing."

In Indiana, Washington Township Schools Superintendent Dr. Nikki Woodson sent a video to parents in an effort to explain the bus driver shortage, reported NBC station WTHR.

"Unfortunately, even after record high raises the past two years after incentive packages being offered after covering all training fees, after competitive wages and loyalty stipends, we are still unable to fill these positions," Woodson said.
The department is drafting guiding papers for the updated Law on Insurance Business that goes into effect at the start of 2023, while insurance businesses must quickly upgrade their procedures to comply with the new standards.

Financial scrutiny of insurers to bolster transparency-illustration photo/ source: freepik.com/

PVI Insurance, one of Vietnams major non-life insurers, only provided summary financial results from 2013 to 2019. In 2020 and 2021, the firm did not issue any financial statements, even in summary form.

In the non-life insurance segment, companies such as HD Insurance Company, Xuan Thanh Insurance Corporation, Phu Hung Insurance JSC, Cathay Vietnam Non-Life Insurance Company, and MSIG Vietnam have not disclosed comprehensive financial statements.

Several firms make their financial statements available on their websites, but only to shareholders who have registered an account and been granted access.

Some life insurers, such as Hanwha Life, have released executive financial summaries instead of full financial information. Several insurance firms, including Cathay Life, BIDV MetLife, and Bao Viet Life, have not yet released their 2021 audited financial results.

Meanwhile, insurance firms (including brokers) must provide certain disclosures on their websites under the existing rules set out in a circular in 2017 on the Law on Insurance Business. Within 120 days of the fiscal year ending, all of a companys audited financial statements and the opinions of an independent auditor must be publicly disclosed.

While disclosing financial information is important for shareholders, partners, and customers to understand the financial health of their companies and make sound investment decisions, this practice is often overlooked.

According to Nguyen Ngoc Phu, founding partner at NPLaw, although the current law has provisions on the obligation to disclose insurance information, there is no specific regulation on violations. Decree No.156/2020/ND-CP dated December 2020 is the sole legislative framework on administrative sanctions for violations in the securities market, which only stipulates violations of public companies. For insurance companies that are not in this category, there are no sanctioning procedures. Because of this legal loophole, many companies seem reluctant to engage in this initiative, Phu said.

Bui Quoc Tuan of the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association said this could be considered against the law for listed companies that disclose financial information strictly for shareholders. As current regulations require financial information to be made public with no limitation, viewers should not have to obtain a shareholder account to access financial reports through company websites.

The more transparent an insurance company is with its financial information, the more confidence it creates for customers and investors. Refusing to disclose full financial statements as prescribed is unintentionally self-harming, Tuan said. Like a bank or a securities company, an insurance company is a financial institution with a large cash flow. Therefore, the more public they are, the better.

Going forward, the revised insurance business law will require insurance firms to disclose the results of retrospective adjustments to financial statements, change in independent auditors, and periodic information on the actual capital and capital adequacy ratio. Also, industry insiders hope for regulations on a standardised information disclosure procedure and stronger compliance supervision.

Law on Insurance Business and amendments Annually, insurers, foreign branches, and insurance brokers must publish financial information following Article 82 of Decree No.73/2016/ND-CP and the following regulations: - Publish financial statements that have been audited enclosed with opinions of the independent auditor on their website; - Publish the details below in a newspaper in three consecutive issues: Annual report (form No.1-CBTT) and financial statement summary (form No.2-CBTT). The published information shall enclose with the opinions of the independent auditor; - Apart from the forms of publishing prescribed in point a) and b), the insurer/foreign branch or insurance broker may, at its own discretion, publish information in the form of publications, written notices to regulatory agencies, press conferences, radio or television stations; - The publishing of information prescribed in point a) and b) must be carried out within 120 days of the end of the fiscal year. Within 10 days of publishing the annual report and financial statement summary, the insurer/foreign branch or insurance broker must send original copies and photocopies of the published information to the Ministry of Finance; - The information must be published promptly and precisely. Any change of the published information must go through formalities prescribed in points a), b), and d), accompanied by an explanation; - Public companies shall publish information as prescribed by law.Source: Ministry of Finance

Insurers juggle with market share shifts and moderate gains Despite severe economic impacts caused by the health crisis, non-life insurers continue to manoeuvre through the turmoil.

Digital-led initiatives lift up life insurers in Vietnam Vietnams life insurance landscape is being offered upbeat projections, with digital competencies being the driving force.
In order to ensure the consistency and synchronisation of the legal system, experts say it is necessary to amend the current Law on Land, while adding that foreign individuals who are allowed to own houses in Vietnam according to the Law on Housing can also have ownership as set out in the Law on Land.

Fixing land use rights for foreigners, illustration photo VNA

Last week, the amended draft of the Law on Land was put onto the Vietnamese governments agenda in a special session on law-making chaired by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

One of the issues that government members are interested in discussing in terms of this issue is the rights of foreigners related to land in Vietnam.

Specifically, Article 159 of the Law on Housing stipulates that foreign organisations and individuals are among the those currently entitled to own houses in Vietnam. Clause 2, Article 14 of the Law on Real Estate Business stipulates that overseas Vietnamese, foreign organisations, and also individuals may rent all types of real estate properties for their own use, as well as purchase or rent houses in accordance with the Law on Housing.

However, Article 5 of the current Law on Land only stipulates that foreign organisations are allowed to implement housing projects in Vietnam, with no mention of foreign individuals being allowed to own residential land in Vietnam.

Nguyen Van Dinh, an independent expert in construction investment and real estate business explained, Vietnamese people who purchase houses from foreign individuals are subject to the exact same legal status as those foreign people  only having the right to own houses, but not to the land use rights  and this is a situation that is illogical.

On the other hand, in a proposal to compile the revised Law on Housing, which is expected to be passed at around the same time as the revised Law on Land, the Ministry of Construction proposed to focus on solving several major groups of policies related to housing ownership.

Continuing the policy of encouraging and creating favourable conditions for foreign individuals and organisations to buy and own houses in Vietnam, in accordance with international practices, will attract investment while also ensuring security and national defence for the country, the amended law proposal had noted.

But the policy of encouraging individuals from other countries to purchase houses will not be fully implemented without first solving the issue of ownership.

To solve this problem, the amended Law on Land is necessary to recognise the land use rights of foreign individuals, Dinh commented.

After being examined by the National Assembly Economic Committee, and after a range of opinions have been collected from the National Assembly Standing Committee delegates, the amended draft is expected to be submitted to the National Assembly in October during its fourth session.

Duong Thuy Dung Executive director CBRE Vietnam In most developing markets, foreign ownership is heavily restricted. Similar to Vietnam, Thailand does not allow foreign citizens to directly purchase land with certain exceptions. Foreigners are only permitted to own condominiums, capped by a certain percentage of the whole projects scale stipulated by law. This is seen as common practice in emerging markets to manage foreign capital flows into the property market. In contrast, in some developed nations such as North America, the EU, Japan, and South Korea, governments could confidently let foreigners directly own property. We see that most concerns are linked to conflicts among a number of other laws. This may lead to the questionable issue of whether Vietnamese citizens have relevant land-use rights (LURs) when buying property from foreigners who are not granted any such rights in Vietnam. There is no clearly stated law regarding LUR ownership for local buyers in this case; however, the locals still reserve certain rights to some extent, based on current law. Under the Law on Land, Article 126 regulates those who buy houses associated with LUR may use land for the long term. In addition, under Decree No.99/2015/ND-CP on guidelines for the Law on Housing, Vietnamese citizens are entitled to long-term ownership of the house as the foreign organisation/individual sells the house before the expiration of the ownership period. Relaxed rules will help attract more investment but could possibly raise concerns over land-related misconduct, increased market volatility, or inflated property prices. Due to the protection of national security, the government has made it harder for foreigners to obtain LUR certificates.

Issuance of land use certificates to be solved Authorities in Hanoi are committed to solving problems regarding the granting of land use rights and house ownership certificates to people who bought apartments in illegal projects.

Vietnam needs to complete land market: experts Vietnam was urged to complete the land market to meet requirements and ensure development, experts said.
According to experts and representatives of cities and provinces, Decree No.35/2022/ND-CP is simply a premise for formatting eco-industrial parks (eco-IPs) as well as transitioning from traditional parks to ecological ones  and investors can do nothing except submit an investment plan for approval until there is a specific circular available.

Eco-industrial parks require vast amounts of investment compared to traditional facilities

A representative of Quang Tri Industrial Zones Management Authority told VIR that both the central province is waiting for such a circular to guide investors, who have the intention to develop eco-IPs or revamp older parks.

I think that it will take a long time to build the circular because Decree 35 is established on the basis of 13 laws that relate to many ministries. It is difficult to gather relevant parties to build up the circular, the representative said.

Besides this, investors need time for their planning and the province also needs time to take eco-IPs into their localities planning. Furthermore, we are waiting for the official conference organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) on how to implement the decree effectively, he said.

Pham Hong Diep, chairman of Shinec JSC  the developer of Nam Cau Kien IP, the first eco-IP in Vietnam established on criteria for industrial zones under a 2018 decree  said, The expenditure for developing an eco-IP is more costly than that of a traditional one. Also, it would take a longer time to recoup the investment capital.

It has been two months since the industrial real estate developer Capella Land JSC had a meeting with leaders of Quang Tri Peoples Committee to propose the development of an eco-IP. However, activities have stalled in part because of uncertainty surrounding the new decree.

According to Capella Real Estate, there have been no proposals on developing eco-IPs since the decree came into effect in July.

Nguyen Hong Chuyen, deputy director of Capella Land JSC told VIR, The park is a development in which the procedures are more complex than that of a normal park.

According to previously-released information, the eco-IP was due to cover an area of 450 hectares in the southwest of Quang Tri Economic Zone and see a total investment of VND2.3 trillion ($100 million). The construction is expected to be divided into four phases, starting from the second quarter of next year to the end of 2026.

Nguyen Tram Anh, the national project officer of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) said, Enacting Decree 35 will lead the way for modern IP models, which is an inevitable trend to contribute to the national target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Anh noted that Vietnams eco-IP development policy is more advanced than that of some other countries.

Indonesia is still learning from our decree, and we are even more developed in this field than the United Kingdom or Colombia, Anh insisted.

At present, almost all eco-IPs in Vietnam are implemented under a pilot model. In 2020, the MPI in collaboration with UNIDO and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland launched the model on eco-IP intervention in Vietnam, utilising perspectives from the Global Eco-Industrial Parks Programme.

The scheme is being implemented in five localities until next year and is the result of previous successful cooperation between 2014 and 2019, which brought a significant boost in policy development and innovative technologies and practices.

Various solutions for resource efficiency and cleaner production were implemented under the framework of the pilot initiative, which led to avoiding emissions worth 32,000 tonnes of CO2 every year.

In order to optimise the implementation of Decree 35, the MPI is completing the social and economic indicators for eco-IPs in Vietnam. The MPI will gather opinions from real estate developers and experts before submitting for the governments approval.

Trend of eco-industrial parks becoming inevitable The rising development of eco-industrial parks is set to contribute to the national target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Green industrial complexes at top of foreign-led wishlist Creating favourable mechanisms for developing integrated eco-industrial parks is expected to make these investments more appealing to large foreign groups.
Saigon Hi-tech Park expects to generate $23 billion in export turnover

The Saigon Hi-tech Park Management Authority (SHTP) is set to see an export turnover of about $23 billion this year.

According to SHTP, the export turnover of businesses in the SHTP in 2021 was $20.9 billion, making up 52 per cent of the total export value of Ho Chi Minh City.

To date, foreign investors have poured capital into 51 projects in the park with a total accumulated figure of $10.1 billion.

Many large groups such as Intel, Jabil from the United States, Nipro, Nidec from Japan, Samsung from South Korea, and Datalogic from Italy have contributed.

Many manufacturers have continuously expanded their operations in the SHTP. Intel's assembly and test facility in the SHTP is now the US' biggest high-tech project in Vietnam.

Seafood export turnover expected to surpass $10 billion Based on the positive results in the first five months, seafood export turnover is expected to surpass $10 billion this year for the first time.

Five-month fruit and vegetable export turnover reaches 1.4 billion USD Vietnams fruit and vegetable export turnover hit 1.4 billion USD in the first five months of this year, down 17 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

PC1 to acquire Nomura Asia Investment in Vietnam PC1 Group JSC announced it would purchase all shares of Nomura Asia Investment Pte. Ltd. (NAIV), subject to regulatory approvals.
Hai Phong - The Hai Phong Economic Zone Authority (HEZA) on September 12 hosted a meeting with a business delegation from Taiwan (China) to introduce cooperation and investment opportunities in the northern city.

C.Y. Huang, head of the delegation, speaks at the event (Photo: VNA)

C.Y. Huang, head of the delegation, said Taiwanese businesses are tending to expand their investment globally and they are especially interested in Hai Phong.

In 2022, with HEZA's support, Taiwanese businesses had a working session with representatives of VinFast automobile factory of Vingroup to expand cooperation in manufacturing spare parts for electric cars, he said.

Director of HEZA Le Trung Kien said in the first weeks of September 2022, HEZA welcomed two business delegations from Taiwan, wanted to explore the business and investment environment in Hai Phong.

He expressed his wish that Taiwanese businesses will soon cooperate with VinFast to form an industrial development and production ecosystem.

HEZA will create all the most favourable conditions, especially in administrative procedures, to support investors and businesses to study and deploy their investment activities in Hai Phong, Kien stressed.

The authority introduced competitive advantages, synchronous transport infrastructure, and preferential policies in economic zones and industrial parks in Hai Phong city to the guests.

Representatives of industrial park infrastructure development enterprises in Hai Phong gave an overview of industries that the municipal authorities are calling for investment in IPs.

According to HEZA, as of August 31, 2022, Hai Phong was home to 60 Taiwanese investment projects worth 1.46 billion USD, accounting for 6.1% of the total foreign direct investment (FDI) capital poured into the city, including 27 projects in IPs and economic zones with a total capital of 1.25 billion USD.

Taiwanese enterprises in Hai Phong are mainly operating in manufacturing electronic components, industrial gas, machinery and equipment, and packaging. They create stable jobs for 8,400 employees with an average income of 10.5 million VND (over 446 USD) per month.

Groundbreaking for Thang Long Project-Tesa Site Haiphong sets milestone On January 26, the groundbreaking ceremony of the Thang Long Project-Tesa Site Haiphong took place at DEEP C Industrial Zones Haiphong, marking an important step for the establishment of Tesa's new production facility in Vietnam.

Hai Phong attracts over 305 million USD in foreign investment in two months The northern port city of Hai Phong raked in 305.66 million USD worth of foreign capital in the first two months of 2022, given the complex developments of COVID-19.
At this special event, Viva Land's leaders emphasised its journey to bring superior projects to the Vietnamese market as well as to raise the value of real estate assets developed by Viva Land.

Consistently creating masterpieces

Speaking at the event, chairman of Viva Land Chen Lian Pang said, Sustainable development is the goal that Viva Land prioritises in its mission to become a leading international real estate development and management company, creating high-class, green, and sustainable living spaces for the community to develop and prosper. In line with the trends of the times, Viva Land will consistently create masterpieces that have a harmonious combination of modernity and traditional cultural and spiritual values.

Sustainable development is the company's goal in its mission to become the leading international real estate development and management company in Vietnam, according to Chen Lian Pang, chairman of Viva Land

According to chairman of Viva Land, property buyers nowadays look not just for a project with high quality, but also for innovation, sustainability, and a healthy environment.

That is the sustainable and luxurious living that Viva Land is now pursuing, he said.

Also in this event, Viva Lands Service Excellence Unit was introduced.

The service and experience will help create an emotional connection between the companys products and their buyers. Thus, Viva Land has a dedicated Service Excellence Team to provide the highest level of service at every customer touchpoint and to understand customers needs and how to best develop our offerings. We believe that excellent service has to be taken care of by our Viva Land people. Therefore, Viva Land embraces a culture of service excellence that connects all mindsets and the actions of our people. That is the Viva Land way,  stated Chen Lian Pang, chairman of Viva Land.

To do this, Viva Land has adopted the three Ps approach to its services  consistently investing in people, constantly improving its processes, and always innovating products to deliver a great customer experience.

Viva Land introduces the front-line staffs attire to provide the highest level of service at every customer touchpoint

Chairman of Viva Land shared, We are confident of taking Viva Land ahead of the competition. One of the demonstrations of the excellence notion tonight is the debut of our front-line staffs attire. We believe that ladies and gentlemen should serve ladies and gentlemen, and we dress excellently to serve excellently.

For generations and communities to prosper together

At the event, Viva Land also announced the core values of the company, including responsibility, teamwork, integrity, and excellence which are imbued in each of its members, actions, and products.

These core values will not change when placed in a harmonious balance between new and old and tradition and modernity and will be guidelines for the company and its partners to work together to reach their common goals.

Viva Land aims to create best-in-class, green, and sustainable spaces for generations and communities to prosper

Though Viva Land is a new entrant in the market, it has a very strong team of experienced international experts with over 30 years of experience in Vietnam and other regions, ranging from commercial to residential and township developments.

Therefore, we are confident in our capability to bring more remarkable projects to Vietnam and to enhance the real estate landscape, chairman of Viva Land said.

With the launch of Viva Green  our corporate social responsibility brand  this year, we will introduce several community projects. This is one of our initiatives to be a socially and environmentally sustainable corporation and we hope to continue our journey towards social engagement in the communities we operate in, he added.

With its keenness to pursue a harmonised balance between high-class and sustainable values, Viva Land plans to introduce more high-end projects to the market soon.

Founded in 2020 by a team of internationally experienced real estate experts, Viva Land aims to create best-in-class, green, and sustainable spaces for generations and communities to prosper.

Currently, the company is developing and managing more than 1,500 hectares of land and more than 18,000 apartments and houses across Vietnam.

The performances at Viva Lands Harmony in Balance brought its partners and customers marvellous uplifting emotions. Through these performances, Viva Land wishes to send the message that the spirit of Harmony in Balance is the harmonious combination between traditional cultural values and modern style, helping Viva Land to constantly innovate to match the times while retaining traditional beauty and the combination of eastern and western cultures to create balance and sustainability. This is the spirit that Viva Land pursues on its value creation journey.

Viva Land acquires award-winning Grade A Capital Place in Hanoi Viva Land Investment and Development JSC, through its affiliates, has acquired Capital Place  a premier Grade A luxury building in Hanoi, thus paving the way for the company to deepen its footprint in the Vietnamese luxury realty market in the forthcoming decade.

Lightening up the city, Viva Land looks forward to prosperous years Together with Ho Chi Minh City, Viva Land is lightening up the citys downtown street, welcoming Lunar New Year and wishing a New Year of the Tiger with stability and prosperity.

Viva Land expands portfolio with a range of projects The real estate group Viva Land  which was established in 2020  is expanding its portfolio at lightning speed with a range of new projects.
McLennan County officials are creating new courtroom space and planning to redistribute the docket in preparation for a new district court set to open at the beginning of October.

But they are still waiting for word from Gov. Greg Abbotts office about who he will pick for the job.

The Texas Legislature last year authorized the creation of Wacos 474th District Court, as well as a new county court-at-law, which opened last year. The county already has five district judges.

County Administrator Dustin Chapman said in a Friday email that Gov. Abbott has not signaled to county officials whom he might appoint as district judge, or when the appointment might be announced.

The governors press office did not respond to a Friday email requesting comment on the appointment.

District Clerk Jon Gimble said the wait isnt concerning.

Its not uncommon for these appointments to come very close to the end of the announcement period, Gimble said by phone Monday.

Gimble said the governor makes hundreds of appointments each month, not just for courts but for the boards of river authorities, universities and other institutions.

On Sept. 6, Abbott appointed Scott K. Field to the 480th Judicial District Court in Williamson County. And on Aug. 31, he appointed Tiffany Strother to the 249th Judicial District Court in Johnson and Somervell Counties. Both of these appointments are effective Oct.1.

Abbott also recently made judicial appointments for unexpired terms on the 7th Court of Appeals and to judicial districts in Tarrant and Bell Counties.

District Attorney Barry Johnson said on Friday that he thinks the governor is well along in his selection process to make that appointment to the 474th District Court.

Typically no one knows, even the applicants, until it drops out of the governors office, Johnson said.

Governors appointment process

When the governor makes an appointment in cases such as brand new court, or a judge who retires before the end of a term, lawyers and judges are allowed to apply to the Governors Office of Appointments for court positions opening soon.

Judge Thomas West of the 19th District Court said Monday that he knew of at least four people who had applied for the 474th District Court.

West said that after the application deadline, a selection committee conducts interviews.

The committee forwards its recommendations to the state senator from the Senate district where the court will open, in this case, Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury. With the senators consent the governor makes the appointment.

Gimble thinks the process is near its end.

If Senator Birdwell approves the committees recommendation, then the governor signs the appointment, Gimble said.

The plan for the court

The board of judges in the county met recently and decided that the 474th District Court would handle 10% of the juvenile and family court docket, Gimble said. He said that Judge Jim Meyer of the 170th District Court, Judge Gary Coley of the 74th District Court and Judge Vicki Menard of the 414th District would each have 30 percent of that docket.

Gimble also said that the judges had agreed Coleys court and the new court would each get one of Coleys experienced staff, and hire one new assistant court administrator.

Im confident we will have court by October, Gimble said.

Johnson said that even if the new court is delayed in opening by a few days or weeks it wouldnt affect his office.

The county plans to house the new court at the Bill Logue Juvenile Justice Center, 4 miles away from the DAs office and the courthouse in the 2600 block of Gholson Road, Chapman said.

Judge Gary Coley would move from the juvenile justice center to the fourth floor of the courthouse.

The countys specialty courts for mental health and veterans have already moved to the Courthouse Annex, two floors below the district clerk.

Renovations continued this past week in several courtrooms in the McLennan County Courthouse, including the 19th District Court and courtroom on the fourth floor where Judge Coleys courtroom could be housed. All of this would free up a courtroom, judges chambers and administrative offices for 474th District Court.
A Los Angeles company is moving to acquire Wacos Sandstone Apartments, partnering with local housing agencies to make the units affordable to tenants who make too much to qualify for rental assistance and too little to afford market-rate rents.

The complex at 5201 Sanger Ave. is more than 90% occupied, and those living there will not face eviction. But when a unit becomes vacant, Ascenda Capital will begin applying its master plan, one empty unit at a time, making rents more affordable to police officers, firefighters, first responders, nurses, teachers and other essential workers to live in quality apartments in the neighborhoods in which they work, says an Ascenda proposal.

The Waco Housing Authoritys board last week approved a deal with Ascenda, pending negotiations that WHA president and CEO Milet Hopping has begun.

Ascenda needs the housing authoritys tax-exempt status to sell municipal bonds to investors. Proceeds will cover the purchase price, which has not been revealed, and upgrades of $10,000 to $15,000 per unit that needs them. Sandstone was built in 1985, has 256 one-and-two-bedroom apartments, and is valued at about $14 million for tax purposes.

Hopping said Sandstone technically will belong to WHA if and when the deal gets done, and the authority would lease it to Ascenda.

The authority will receive financial considerations for its involvement. A summary provided by Ascenda says total economics to WHA could total $2.5 million over 10 years, but Hopping cautioned numbers could change as talks progress.

The Waco Public Facility Corp., formed last week by a vote of the Waco City Council, serves as the entity entering into an agreement with Ascenda, as its sole responsibility is issuing bonds. Members of the WHA board comprise the public facility board.

There is just so little housing stock available, Hopping said. If youre coming here to work or youre already in Waco, you may start with low-income housing. Maybe youre making $20,000-something a year. But some day you want to move out of the housing we have. You would like to live in what we call workforce housing. Thats were the gap exists.

Under new ownership, and with the Waco Housing Authority part of the equation, some Sandstone residents might qualify for Section 8 housing assistance. Sandstone does not now accept Section 8 vouchers.

Were evaluating residents now, determining how many may already fit the workforce housing category, said Hopping. It all depends on income. We are never going to let you pay more than 30% of your income. We will take care of the difference, whether or not you earn a lot of money.

Locally, median household income stands at $74,200, which means an equal number of families make less and more than that amount. Workforce housing provides rent assistance to those making 60% to 80% of the median household income, ranging from $44,520 to $59,360, Hopping said.

Hopping said actual rental rates Sandstone residents would pay under Ascenda ownership would vary with income level.

The Sandstone website lists amenities including stainless steel appliances, ceiling fans, washers and dryers, outdoor cooking areas and business center. Floorplans on the current Sandstone website show a one-bedroom, 532-square-foot apartment going for $1,164 to $1,489 monthly, while a two-bedroom, 878-square-foot unit would fetch $1,680 to $2,069 monthly.

Ascenda is committed to solving the workforce housing crisis and providing high quality housing for Texas middle-income workers, said the company in an explainer. Since its inception in 2018, the firm has successfully partnered with governmental entities across the state of Texas to convert more than 4,000 units of market rate housing to workforce and affordable housing.

Post Investment Group is partnering with Ascenda on this project. Its fact sheet says it was established in 2007, has an office in Los Angeles, and property management, asset management, and construction operations based in Dallas. It has acquired more than $1.5 billion in properties and 20,000 units in 13 states and 48 cities.
Lake Waco levels have continued to drop to 9.7 feet below normal despite recent rains that have brought some drought relief, and city of Waco officials are keeping Stage 2 drought restrictions in place until rains reverse that trend.

The lake level stood at 452.5 feet above sea level Monday, nearly a foot lower than a month ago, despite rains in late August and early September that temporarily raised the level by a few inches.

The city on July 13 mandated water restrictions under Stage 2 of its drought plan, limiting residents to two days a week of sprinkler irrigation.

City spokesperson Monica Sedelmeier said the city is still monitoring the continued drop in lake levels and is determining at what point it would issue Stage 3 restrictions, which normally go into effect when the lake drops to 449 feet.

Sedelmeier said the water shortage will end when Lake Waco is at 72% capacity, or 455 feet.

Those who ignore water restrictions are at risk of a fine up to $2,000, and Sedelmeier said there have been 11 warning citations issued.

The National Weather Service forecast does not call for rain this week, but drought conditions have eased in recent weeks, with 2.54 inches of rain in August and 0.42 inches so far in September, according to NWS records from Waco Regional Airport.

In mid-August, most of the county was in exceptional drought, the worst category under the U.S. Drought Monitor map. The latest map released Sept. 8 showed that none of the county was in exceptional drought, but 21% of McLennan County remained under extreme drought conditions, which is the second-worst designation. The rest was in severe drought.

National Weather Service officials estimate it will still take 6 to 9 inches of rain in the region to end the drought.

Mike Champagne, Lake Waco manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said some areas have become green again thanks to rainfall, allowing for the countywide burn ban to be lifted earlier this month.

Champagne said while that restrictions are likely helping slow the rate of decline, lake levels are probably still going down due to regular use by the city, as well as evaporation.

Evaporation is believed to have slowed in recent weeks as daily highs have fallen from the 100s to the 80s and 90s, with overnight lows this week forecast to dip as low as 67 degrees.

Champagne said rain directly over the lake may not bring huge rises in water level, but what the lake really needs is rain in places that run off into the lake. He said the lake depends on rain in places upstream, such as Stephenville or Meridian in the North Bosque River watershed.

The National Weather Service released predictions in late August that show most of Texas will lean 33-40% lower than normal precipitation in September through November, which could mean persistent drought conditions into next year.

Meanwhile, the city of Hewitt has maintained its Stage 2 water restrictions since mid-August with the same $2,000 penalty as the city of Waco. Bellmead, which relies on groundwater, nixed water restrictions completely on Aug. 22 thanks to conservation efforts by residents and renovations to wells, according to the citys Facebook post.

Champagne said that although low lake levels are always concerning, they have made a couple of summertime maintenance projects possible.

An old dock at Reynolds Creek and a tile water-level gauge that were overgrown with algae have both been cleaned up since theyve become accessible due to low water, Champagne said.

Champagne said low water levels reveal trash in the lake, like old boat anchors and tires, which is otherwise too deep to see. This gives lake workers and volunteers the opportunity to engage in detailed cleanup efforts, he said.

Keep Waco Beautiful is coordinating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as many other organizations for a Lake Waco cleanup on Sept. 25 for National Public Lands Day, Champagne said.

Special report

Journey on dry North Bosque hints at growing extremes, Waco's water future DRY RIVER BLUES: A trip down the North Bosque River from Stephenville to Lake Waco hints at growing extremes and water needs in Central Texas.
Dozens of first responders rushed to Waco High School on Tuesday following a report of a school shooting. Parents received anguished phone calls from frightened students and hurried to pick them up. School officials soon reported the situation was the result of a hoax, and an hour and 40 minutes after the first call, police had fully cleared the campus and found no indication of a credible threat.

Waco police responded at about 2:15 p.m. Tuesday to a call reporting an active shooter and injured students at Waco High School, but determined there was not an active threat on the campus and there had been no injuries.

Officials gave the all clear by 3:40 p.m., and parents were picking up students soon afterward at the Base at the Extraco Events Center, 4401 Bosque Blvd.

There was no credible threat on the campus at 2020 N. 42nd St., Waco Police Department spokesperson Cierra Shipley said.

No one at the school was found to have had an unauthorized weapon, she said. She said police are looking into the possibility a fake weapon was present, but that no real weapons were found.

As police arrived, they all followed the safety plan, clearing the campus room by room and building by building, Shipley said. The 320,000-square-foot campus has about 150 classrooms, Waco ISD spokesperson Alice Jauregui said.

The district put out a call at 2:23 p.m. to all families and employees describing the situation at Waco High and notifying them enhanced safety measures were in place at three other schools in the area, according to Jauregui. The district followed up with a text at 2:47 to all Waco High families and employees saying there was no active threat, that families should go to the Base, not the school, and that police were working to secure the campus.

As police cleared the school, hundreds of parents and guardians, some who rushed over still in hairnets or work clothes, were directed to the Base at the Extraco Events Center.

Bosque Boulevard was backed up with cars going both ways by 2:45 p.m. Parents said they did not know where to go or park, and all the neighborhood streets in a half-mile radius were completely full of parked cars.

Parents at the Base discussed their anxiety over the situation and frustration with a lack of communication. One said she heard from her daughter, who was locked in a closet and told her the principal sounded scared as he gave the lockdown announcement.

By about 3 p.m., Waco Police Department social worker DeAngela Bynum was walking around telling people standing outside the Base they would soon be allowed inside to get away from the afternoon heat, and that police would be briefing parents on what happened and how to pick up their student. At that point Bynum said they had cleared every room at the school.

The district put another call to Waco High parents at 3:02 confirming the threat was a hoax and describing dismissal plans, Jauregui said in an email. The district sent at least seven rounds of calls or texts with updates between 2:23 and 3:48 to families with either Waco High or the three other campuses that went on a secure status. All adults who register students provide contact information, she said.

Our teachers, our students and our Waco ISD Police Department have all trained for this, Jauregui said at the scene Tuesday afternoon. Everyone knew what to do and followed the training. Were very thankful that no actual credible threat was found.

After-school activities were scheduled to continue as normal, and Wednesday will be a normal school day, she said.

Agencies that responded Tuesday afternoon included Waco police, Waco ISD police, Lacy Lakeview police, the McLennan County Sheriffs Office, McLennan County Constables, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Waco Fire Department and American Medical Response.

Shipley said there was only one phone call to police dispatch reporting an active shooter, during the entire incident. Officials would expect to be flooded with calls in an active shooting situation.

The lack of follow-on calls from the campus reporting anything going wrong was an indicator that there was no threat, Shipley said.

As officers entered school buildings and began clearing the rooms, they found no chaos, no one injured and these were additional indicators no threat was present, Shipley said.

When she reported the all clear at 3:40, she confirmed police agencies clearing the campus had found no weapons, no destructive devices and no threatening people.

By the time of the all clear, Waco police had not determined whether the caller making the report about Waco High sincerely believed the incident was happening or was actually part of an attempt to deceive, she said. Later Tuesday, school officials referred to the incident as a hoax.

Also Tuesday afternoon, officials in Dallas and Houston responded to false reports of shootings at schools. Dallas-area police received a call and responded Tuesday afternoon to Lincoln High School, cleared the school and determined the call was a hoax, Dallas ISD spokesperson Caren Rodriguez said.

Houston police received a report of a shooting with injuries in a specific room at Heights High School, which they quickly determined was false, police reported. There was no credible threat at the school, and there were no injuries in the school.

Shipley said that Waco police would work with Dallas police and police from other cities, including Houston and Austin, where similar threats had been reported but not found in order to determine if it was a coordinated hoax.
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CEDAR FALLS  A College Hill yoga studio is relocating to a plaza on Viking Road geared toward the health, sports, recreation and retail industries.

Back in August, Balance Hot Yoga said on its Facebook page that it was very close to being ready to move into its establishment inside Suite 125 of 924 Viking Rd.

Owner Kara Yahn Mulder said during a telephone interview Monday its hopefully only a few weeks away from opening.

The yoga studio opened on College Hill in 2013, and Yahn Mulder said the reason for the move is the space being double in size, capable of housing a second studio for any customers interested in non-hot yoga.

Her business only offers hot yoga, and has identified there being a need for more non-hot yoga classes in Cedar Falls. Additionally, it will have a space for childcare, said the Facebook post.

Balance is taking over a 2,340 square foot space, and will be opening inside the same building and be right next to Suite 129 where Sidecar Coffee Shop is planning to open a new 1,200 square-foot location, said Wayne Williamson, project architect.

Two arrested for trying to take wire WATERLOO  Two Cedar Rapids men have been arrested after police found them trying to steal w

That plazas construction was delayed more than a year because of COVID-19, said Williamson. But it now has three buildings constructed with a fourth one being planned.

Sidecar happens to share the building at 2215 College St. with Balance Hot Yoga.

Yahn Mulder and an associate of Sidecar said the business is not relocating from its College Hill site. But there have been talks about expanding that location, which happens to have been its first, into the soon-to-be-former yoga space. Where those discussions ended up is not known.

According to Sidecars website, the Viking Road location would be its fifth cafe between Waterloo and Cedar Falls.

UNI remains near top in college rankings UNI is still second among regional public universities in the Midwest, according to the 2022-23 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings.

The yoga studio reaches 105 degrees.

And its mission, according to its website, is to guide each student, regardless of experience, through the physical and the spiritual journey of yoga. This studios name is meant to represent not only the balance one experiences during the yoga session, but also the balance one can achieve in everyday life.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo man has been arrested following a domestic dispute early Tuesday.

Officers were called to a home at 411 E. Second St. for a report of a disturbance around 3:15 a.m. and met with a woman who had left the residence.

She told police her boyfriend was still inside and had access to a firearm. She also said her dependent adult children were inside.

Officers were able to remove the dependent adults and eventually talked the boyfriend into coming outside without further incident.

Authorities found a 12 gauge Remington Model 1100 shotgun inside the home.

George Albert Hudson Jr., 42, was arrested for domestic assault causing bodily injury and felon in possession of a firearm, according to police.

Witnesses told police Hudson was upset with the woman because she walked home from work, and he hit her in the head, according to court records.

Authorities allege Hudson is barred from handling firearms because of a prior felony conviction for credit card fraud from 2003.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo man has been arrested after allegedly propositioning a teenage girl who was riding her bike.

Police arrested Justin Bruce Chihak, 33, of 1773 Independence Ave., Monday on a charge of felony enticement of a minor. Bond was set at $5,000.

According to court records, Chihak rode up behind the girl on his bike around 4:50 p.m. on Sept. 5 on Ruth Street and told her baby, you hot and let me tap that ass.

The girl was under age 16, and authorities were notified.

Officers contacted Chihak at his home and he was taken to UnityPoint Health-Allen Hospital for an evaluation. He was arrested after he was released from the hospital.

Court records show Chihak was released from prison in 2016 after serving time for an incident where he was blocking traffic and running up to vehicles on Kimball Avenue. He then threatened to harm himself with a box cutter when officers arrived.

In September 2020, he was arrested for allegedly breaking windows at homes on Butternut and Redwood lanes and breaking into parked vehicles. He then struggled with police and assaulted paramedics when he was detained.

Cedar Falls ARTapalooza 2022
Thursday marks the beginning of the annual Parade of Homes, one of the Cedar Valleys most anticipated tour events for new construction and remodeled homes.

The 2022 Parade of Homes, presented by Cedar Valley Home Builders Association, Courier Media Group and Friendship Village, is from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, 5 to 8 p.m. Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets are $10 in advance through Thursday, available at cedarvalleyhomebuilders.com or $12 at the homes featured on Parade Days. This is the 20th annual event.

Parade Chairman David LaMarche said, Whether you are in the market for a home, wanting to see the latest design ideas for a remodel, looking for high-quality builders or service providers, want to have a friend or date outing or just love to take the one-time chance to explore amazing properties, this event is for you.

This years parade will feature three $1 million+ homes, three senior living homes and facilities, starter homes and executive homes. Businesses will advertise their products in the homes. Food and beverage trucks will be available along the way.

Funds raised by the Parade of Homes go towards scholarships. The CVHBA Board of Directors offers qualified students up to $500 to pursue a major course of study in the home building trades or related industry. The scholarships are awarded to students who will attend a local Iowa community college or university in the Iowa area.

Featured homes are:

Fishworks Millwork, 7739 Winslow Road, Janesville, a mountain modern northwest architectural home boasting 6,000 square feet, three main floor bedrooms (all suites), five bathrooms, high-end finishes, a shop/man cave and more.

Dream Homes, 3711 Apollo St., Cedar Falls, a designer, two-story Prairie Style home, boasting over 5,300 square feet, five bedrooms, a full two-bedroom apartment in the lower level.

LGC, 4231 James St., Cedar Falls, an LGC signature modern home in a wooded backyard setting with three separate outdoor spaces. The ranch has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, full basement, three-car garage, master suite with private courtyard and more.

Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity, 433 Pine St., Waterloo, a four-square model with 1,250 square feet with three bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths. Through many community collaborators, Habitat staff, volunteers and homeowner, this home will be completed later this fall.

Skogman Homes, 2928 Arbors, Cedar Falls, which features a gorgeous kitchen, main floor with an office, striking fireplace, second-floor master sute, three additional bedrooms and more.

Concept to Creation, 3517 Apollo St., Cedar Falls, at 8,369-square-feet, this castle-inspired home features two stone turrets, a full stone and EIFS exterior, five garage stalls, wood shop, and a full guest wing. Interior features include a two-level library, two-story great room, eight bedrooms, seven bathrooms and five fireplaces.

Retirement living homes and facilities featured are:

New Aldaya Lifescapes The Terraces at West Glen, 4018 Keagles Crossing, Cedar Falls, a 43.5 acre, seven-phase, 55+ residential development featuring a mix of single-family homes, twin homes and multi-rise luxury condominiums. The model home features 3,200 square-feet of maintenance-free living featuring three bedrooms, three baths, open-concept design, lower level entertaining area, family room, guest suite and bonus rec room.

Cedar Stone, 4715 Algonquin Drive, Cedar Falls, is nestled in the Greenhill Village Estates neighborhood, CedarStone Senior Living. This community offers Offering Carefree Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care. Residents are immersed in uncompromising quality and complete comfort.

Friendship Village, Village Terrace, 600 Park Lane, Waterloo, is a new modern independent living center. The four-story apartment building offers one-bedroom, 1 -bath apartments at 850 square feet or two-bedroom, two-bath apartments with 1,150 square feet of space with full kitchens and walk-in showers.
In South America exists an area often referred to as the forgotten wilderness. The Pantanal is the worlds largest wetland encompassing portions of three countries in South America: Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. Home to an incredible number of species, its diversity of wildlife is unmatched. Meyers will share one photographers view of this wildlife-rich, fascinating area of the world.
WATERBURY, Conn. (AP)  A sister of a teacher killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre and an FBI agent who responded to the school shooting became overwhelmed with emotion Tuesday as they described what it has been like to be accused of being crisis actors by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and others.

Carlee Soto Parisi and FBI agent William Aldenberg were the first witnesses to testify as a Connecticut jury began hearing evidence in a trial to decide how much money Jones owes for spreading the lie that the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown that killed 20 first graders and six educators didnt happen.

Soto Parisi said she has been hounded, both in Connecticut and after she moved to North Carolina, by those who believe she was acting. Some of the hoax believers went online and posted photos of grieving women, including an Associated Press photo of a distraught Soto Parisi outside Sandy Hook Elementary School after the shooting, saying they were the same actor.

I frequently got threatening emails and messages on all social media," she testified, crying at times. "And it got to a point where they would use the gun emoji. And I spoke with cops in Connecticut and my husband ended up having to speak with cops in North Carolina, because we were scared for our lives.

Aldenberg also broke down as he described being among the first law enforcement officers to enter the two classrooms where 20 children died. He described watching as the phone next to Vicki Soto's body lit up with messages from those trying to reach her.

Was what you saw in that school fake? asked attorney Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

No, Aldenberg said. Its awful. Its awful.

He also testified about how he and others in the community and law enforcement were targeted with threats and conspiracy theories, including one that claimed he was an actor who also pretended to be the father of a victim.

Its one of the worst things that ever happened, if not the worst thing that ever happened here, what happened to them, Aldenberg said. And people want to say this didnt happen? And then they want to get rich off of it? That's the worst part.

The trial in Waterbury, less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Newtown, was attended by more than a dozen family members of victims, including David Wheeler, the father who conspiracy theorists had claimed was the same person as Aldenberg. Wheeler nodded his head as Aldenberg apologized for what Wheeler had to endure because of their resemblance.

Jones did not attend the trial on Tuesday. He is expected in court next week. Jones and his Infowars brand are based in Austin, Texas.

The Sandy Hook families and Aldenberg say they have been confronted and harassed for years by people who believed Jones false claim that the shooting was staged by crisis actors as part of a plot to take away peoples guns.

Some say strangers have videotaped them and their surviving children. Theyve also endured death threats and been subjected to abusive comments on social media. And some families have moved out of Newtown to avoid harassment. They accuse Jones of causing them emotional and psychological harm.

You know, you can say whatever you want about me, I dont care, Aldenberg said. Just say what you want. Im a frigging big boy. I can take it. But then they want to make profits, they want to make millions and millions of dollars. They want to destroy peoples lives. Their children got slaughtered. I saw it myself, and now they have to sit here and listen to me say this.

Its the second such trial for Jones, who was ordered by a Texas jury last month to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of one of the slain children. Jones was not at the trial Tuesday and is expected to attend next week.

A jury of three men and three women along with several alternates will decide how much Jones should pay relatives of eight victims and Aldenberg. Judge Barbara Bellis found Jones liable for damages without a trial last year after he failed to turn over documents to the families lawyers.

The judge also sanctioned Jones on Tuesday for failing to turn over analytic data related to his website and the popularity of his show. She told his lawyers that because of that failure, they will not be allowed to argue he didnt profit from his Sandy Hook remarks.

In opening statements, Jones was described by Mattei as a bully and by his own attorney as a crank in a town square who should be ignored.

Mattei showed jurors data indicating how Jones' audience increased as he spread lies about the shooting. He also showed them photos and videos of things Jones had said, and told the panel they already had the tools from their own life experiences to decide what to do in this case.

What your parents taught you, what your grandparents taught you to know the difference between right and wrong, to know the difference between the truth and a horrible lie, to know the importance of standing up to bullies when they prey on people who are helpless and profit from them and to know unless you stop a bully, a bully will never stop, he said. And when it comes to stopping Alex Jones, that will be the most important work that you do.

Jones' attorney, Norm Pattis, argued that his client has espoused a number of conspiracy theories over the years, something he has a Constitutional right to do.

At what point do we regard him as a crank on the village green, a person we can walk away from if we choose? he asked.

Pattis told the jury that although Jones is liable for damages, any award should be minimal and alleged the families were overstating the harm they say Jones caused them.

On his Infowars web show on Tuesday, Jones portrayed himself as the victim of unfair show trials.

How am I handling it? Were at war. This is total tyranny, he said. Ill tell you this, we can appeal this for years. We can beat this.

The trial is expected to last about a month and feature testimony from more victims' relatives. Jones also will be testifying, Pattis said.

Jones now says he believes the shooting was real. At the Texas trial, he testified that he realizes what he said was irresponsible, did hurt peoples feelings and he apologized. He continues, however, to insist that his comments were protected free speech. He views the lawsuits as efforts to silence him and put him out of business.

Jones lawyers say he intends to appeal the judgment against him in Texas. Jones also will face a third trial back in Texas involving the parents of another slain child.
New York is poised to strengthen its oversight of private and religious schools following years of complaints that thousands of children are graduating from ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools lacking basic academic skills, including the ability to read English.

A Board of Regents committee unanimously approved guidelines Monday to make sure instruction at the state's private and religious schools is equivalent to that of its public schools.

The rules would apply to all of New York's 1,800 nonpublic schools but would have the greatest impact on the ultra-Orthodox schools, called yeshivas, some of which provide rigorous religious instruction but little or no teaching in secular subjects like English, math, science and history.

Defenders of the schools say parents have the right to send their children to programs consistent with their beliefs and traditions. As the Regents met Monday, protesters assembled outside, some with signs reading: We will sit in jail rather than change our childrens education.

Many yeshivas in New York state are modern Orthodox schools that provide a full secular curriculum along with religious studies. But there have been complaints that some yeshivas run by strictly observant Hasidic Jews were not meeting basic academic standards.

A New York Times investigation published Sunday cited instances of English teachers speaking only Yiddish to students, teachers using corporal punishment and graduates who said they were woefully unprepared for life or employment outside of their communities.

Virtually all of the Hasidic boys who took state standardized math and reading exams in 2019 failed, the report said.

A final vote is scheduled for Tuesday on new Board of Regents rules that would give private schools multiple pathways to show they meet a longstanding legal mandate to provide an education that is "substantially equivalent to that of a public school. Among the criteria is that primary subjects be taught in English.

We are trying to obviously adhere to the law but also create some flexibility around that as well, state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa said.

State education officials have spent years trying to strike a balance. An initial set of guidelines released in 2018 was struck down by a state judge who said they were not implemented correctly. The department reviewed about 350,000 public comments following the release of the latest proposal and made adjustments in response, authorities said.

The regulation respects that parents have a constitutional right to send their children to an independent school and that we respect the worldviews of the schools and their communities, assistant commissioner Christina Coughlin said.

The group Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools, which represents yeshivas, said families choose to pay for private or religious schools because they believe in their educational approach.

A government checklist, devised by lawyers and enforced by bureaucrats, hampers rather than advances education, the group said in an email. Parents in New York have been choosing a yeshiva education for more than 120 years, and they are proud of the successful results, and will continue to do the same, with or without the blessing or support of state leaders in Albany.

Under the rules, a school can demonstrate equivalency, for example, by using state-approved assessments or operating a high school registered by the Board of Regents. It also can be reviewed by the local school district.

Groups representing Roman Catholic and Christian schools said they are confident their schools meet the substantially equivalent standards.

Naftuli Moster, who founded a group to improve secular standards at yeshivas, said he worried the schools would use the issue of cultural sensitivity to exploit loopholes without clearer guidance on how the regulations will be enforced, something the state is expected to address in the next few months.

How you teach it or what you incorporate into the teaching is not what matters, Moster said by phone. Its objective whether you teach science. Theres no Jewish science. Its objective whether you do or do not teach social studies.

Private schools that fall short of the threshold will be given time to adjust their instruction, state education officials said.

But those that may refuse to comply could lose state funding and their standing as a school with the state. Parents who continue to send their children to such a school could find themselves in violation of the states compulsory education law requiring that children between the ages of six and 16 be provided with a program of instruction, either at a public school or elsewhere.

Daniel Morton Bentley, a lawyer for the state Education Department, said Friday that much of the public pushback has focused on philosophical opposition to state regulation of nonpublic schools, which he said is required by law and not changed by the Regents' action.

Public school districts would be required to complete initial reviews of nonpublic schools within their boundaries by the end of the 2024-25 school year.

Thompson reported from Buffalo, N.Y. Associated Press reporter Michael Hill contributed from Albany, N.Y.
The man accused of kidnapping and killing Naomi Irion of Fernley appeared in court to determine if he is fit enough to stand trial.

The court decided that Driver needed to be evaluated while recommending Lake's Crossing Center in Sparks.

After he is evaluated, they will come back together and review his evaluation.

There was no specific date given on when he will be evaluated or will appear in court again.

September 2, 2022 Update:

A Nevada justice of the peace has canceled this months preliminary hearing for a man accused of kidnapping and killing a Fernley teenager until a state judge decides if hes competent to stand trial.

Troy Driver was scheduled to appear in a justice court in Fernley Sept. 13-15 for a preliminary hearing to determine whether theres enough evidence to bound him over to Lyon County District Court on murder, kidnapping and other charges in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Naomi Irion.

Canal Township Justice Court Judge Lori Matheus vacated the hearing in an order on Thursday, along with a Sept. 13 hearing on Drivers public defenders motion to dismiss some of the charges.

The Fernley Justice Court says Driver's competency hearing is set for September 12.

On August 30, Lyon County deputies confirm that accused murderer Troy Driver is still alive despite social media rumors that he's killed himself in jail.

The Lyon County Sheriff's Office addressed the rumor on its official Facebook page on Tuesday.

You can read the statement below -

AUGUST 5, 2022:

A judge has ordered a mental competency hearing for accused murderer Troy Driver, whose lawyers requested an evaluation last month.

Driver's lawyers had requested one out of concern that he may not be able to help in his own defense.

As of now, his preliminary hearing is still scheduled for September 13th, which is the first time he'll appear in court in person.

Driver is accused of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing 18-year-old Naomi Irion back in March.

UPDATE: JULY 28, 2022

Defense lawyers for accused murderer Troy Driver have requested a mental competency evaluation. In a filed motion, "the undersigned counsel believes that good cause exists to refer Mr. Driver for an evaluation to determine whether he is competent." They claim that he may not be able to help in his own defense "with a reasonable degree of rational understanding" as requested by Nevada law.

They further request that any future proceedings be suspended until a decision can be made on whether he is allegedly competent to stand trial.

Also, Driver's lawyers have filed to amend the motion to dismiss his murder charge to include the newly filed sexual assault felony charge.

His lawyers also propose that the Court order a modified briefing schedule to include both of these charges concurrently.

UPDATE: JULY 27, 2022

The Fernley Justice Court reports that Troy Driver has waived his right to an arraignment after the district attorney added a charge of sexual assault against him last week.

2 News has also learned that Driver's attorney has until August 2nd to respond to the DA's opposition to a motion to dismiss the murder charge against him

His preliminary hearing is still set for September 13th, which is the first time he'll appear in court in person.

UPDATE: JUNE 21, 2022

The Lyon County District Attorney is asking the judge to oppose a motion from Troy Driver's attorneys to dismiss the murder charge against him.

Driver is accused of murdering and kidnapping 18-year-old Naomi Irion of Fernley.

Defense lawyers argue that Driver shouldn't be tried in Lyon County since investigators found Irion's body in Churchill County.

In the letter to the judge filed Wednesday, the DA argued that the motion does not provide any factual or legal basis for relief.

The district attorney also asked for a sexual assault charge to be added to the murder and kidnapping charges Driver is already facing.

A preliminary hearing is set for September 13th.

That is also the first time Driver will appear in the courtroom in person.

JULY 5, 2022:

The man suspected of killing Naomi Irion was back in court on Tuesday.

Troy Driver's defense team asked the judge to dismiss his first-degree murder charge.

Driver's attorney says the murder charge should be dropped because the homicide happened in Churchill County arguing that Lyon County doesn't have jurisdiction over that crime.

The prosecution is confident that the case meets the requirements to hold the trial in one venue, including the murder charge.

Driver's evidentiary and preliminary hearings will begin September 13, 2022.

The man accused of kidnapping and killing a woman from Fernley made a quick appearance on Zoom for a status hearing on his case.

The defense asked the pre-trial hearing for Troy Driver to be delayed as they seek more evidence.

The judge agreed to the request and has moved the pre-trial hearing to July 5, 2022.

Troy Driver, accused of killing Naomi Irion, was formally charged with murder and is being held without bail at the Lyon County Jail.

Driver, his defense attorney along with most of the Irion family will be appearing via Zoom.

His arraignment happened Friday, April 8th at a hearing at the Canal Township Justice Court in Fernley. Driver appeared via zoom from Yerington.

The Lyon County District Attorneys Office says Troy Driver fatally shot Naomi Irion before burying her body in the desert, according to an amended criminal complaint.

Lyon County District Attorney Stephen Rye filed the amended criminal complaint Tuesday adding first-degree murder and other crimes to the kidnapping charge already facing 41-year-old Troy Driver.

Driver is accused of kidnapping Irion from the Fernley Walmart parking lot on March 12, and killing her on or before March 25 - the same day Driver was arrested for kidnapping.

Four days later, authorities say investigators acted on a tip and found her body in a grave near the Churchill County line.

Hes now accused of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping, robbery, burglary of a motor vehicle and destroying evidence, according to the new complaint Rye filed Tuesday in Canal Township Justice Court in Fernley.

Drivers public defender, Mario Walther, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The complaint said Driver shot Irion in Churchill County northeast of Fernley, where he took her for the purpose of committing sexual assault and/or purpose of killing her.

The document also alleged that Driver destroyed her cell phone and left pieces in Lyon, Churchill, Pershing, Humboldt and Eureka counties.

The Lyon County Sheriff's Office says Driver shot Irion in the head and chest.

The local community has been rallying around this family since this all started - there are a couple of events this weekend.

Kim Lovett, a Fernley resident says, "For this to happen is a scary thing, that even in our quiet little sleepy town that we have predators out there that would do something like this."

A devastated community that carried hopes of finding Naomi for weeks, and went on countless searches with her family. They said this outcome wasn't one anyone wanted. Some of the resident we spoke with extended their condolences to Naomi's family, and want them to know they are supported. Tisha Leija, another Fernley resident visibly upset told us, "I can't even imagine... the first thing I thought of was poor mom...poor mom...very sad. "

----------------------------------------------------------

The man accused of kidnapping Naomi Irion will stay in Lyon County Jail on $750,000 bondable bail.

41-year-old Troy E. Driver was arrested and booked into the jail last Friday. He's officially now charged with first degree kidnapping, a felony.

"Should the defendant post bail, he will not be released from custody until a GPS monitoring device is installed," Judge Lori Matheus, Canal Township Justice Court said.

The judge set Driver's preliminary hearing for April 12 for 1:30pm.

Irion's family attended the court hearing.

"It does look like they're going to be posting bail, from what I understand, so he's the only one who can help us bring Naomi home," Casey Valley, Irion's brother said. "He's the only one that we know about."

If he does get released from jail, Driver will be ordered to stay out of Fernley. He also must not contact Irion's family.

Driver has a criminal history. According to old articles in the Ukiah Daily Journal, he pleaded guilty to accessory to murder after the fact for his role in a 1997 homicide in Willits, California. He was 17 years old at the time of the murder. The article says Driver stuffed the body of an alleged drug dealer, Paul Steven Rodriguez in a trunk and then left it in a wooded area. The article says he pleaded guilty to three charges of robbery and one of burglary. A judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison but the article said he could have been released after serving 12.

"It is upsetting to me that there is people out here in the general public that have these capabilities with this kind of past and people should be more aware of that," Naomi's brother, Casey Valley, said. "We talk about sex offenders all the time but where is the list with this guy?"

Deputies also announced Friday, March 25th that Driver's Chevy truck was impounded and is being processed for possible evidence.

This photo below, shows the truck being taken into evidence. David Ausano took the picture from his porch in Fallon, the night of March 25, 2022.

A second public search was organized for Saturday, March 26th, 2022 by Naomi's brother, Casey Valley.

In a Facebook post, he asked community members to gather at Love's Travel Stop on Commerce Center Drive in Fernley, Saturday at 10am. Valley says, "this will be the first of a few areas of a concentrated search." He also requested no pets or children.

During the search on March 26th, more than 110 people showed up to help find Naomi. Diana Irion says she's been getting massages from all over the country from people who want to help her family.

Casey Valley tells us, "Today's search covered more ground, if not just as much, as last weekends search."

--------------------------------------------------------

On Thursday, March 24th, Lyon County Deputies said they identified a potential witness vehicle and occupant(s) that appears in the Walmart parking lot minutes before Naomi was abducted. They say they've contacted the occupant of the car.

The 4-door sedan enters the east Walmart parking lot at approximately 5:15 a.m. and then drives around the median on the east side before parking at the the southeast corner of the Walmart building.

Police were able to locate the vehicle with help from the public.

Irion was last seen March 12th at the parking lot at the Fernley Walmart. Her car was found a few days later and is undergoing processing for possible evidence.

The Lyon County Sheriff's Office held a press conference on Tuesday, along with Irion's family where again they asked for the public's help in finding her, adding they are getting "hundreds" of tips everyday.

They also mentioned that her car, which was found a few days after her disappearance, is still undergoing processing for any related evidence.

Her family also made another plea for help, with her mother saying, "please save my daughter. Bring her home." Because Irion's possible kidnapping happened near I-80, her mother also said that her daughter could be anywhere in the U.S. by now.

Irion's sister and brother also spoke, mentioning that tips to law enforcement can stay anonymous, if need be. He also said that another search will happen this Saturday.

During the weekend, the Lyon County Sheriff's Office released new surveillance video from the Walmart parking lot where Naomi was reportedly last seen.

The footage shows the suspect standing in front of the Walmart entrance, pacing the east side of the building, before walking toward the front of cars with their headlights on.

Authorities say this footage was recorded minutes before Naomi was abducted.

If you were in the east Walmart parking lot between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m. on March 12th, 2022 and have not been contacted by law enforcement, reach out to the Lyon County Sheriffs Office, Major Crimes Bureau.

The Lyon County Sheriffs Office can be reached at 775-463-6620, Secret Witness at (775) 322-4900 or by email at detective@lyon-county.org.

Authorities said a cell phone ping led officers to the Wadsworth area last week.

She was last seen wearing a blue Panasonic company shirt, gray cardigan sweater, gray pants, brown boots and was carrying a black purse. She had an iPhone, Airpods and a fidget spinner.

She is 511 tall, weighs about 230 pounds and has green eyes. Her hair is currently dyed black and she has a septum piercing and smiley face tattoo on her right ankle.

On Thursday, March 17th, Lyon County deputies announced that they were working with the Pyramid Lake Police Department and the FBI near Highway 427 in Wadsworth searching for evidence related to the disappearance of Naomi Irion.

They asked the public to stay away from the area as not to damage any evidence.

Her family made a public plea on Thursday for her safe return.

Authorities also thanked the Fernley community for their help. Her family members said that they are in contact with police about the case's progression.

On Friday, supporters gathered at the Round Table Pizza in Fernley to make signs to post around town in hopes of someone recognizing Irion's photo and calling police with information.

The newest released photos show Irion on the morning she was last seen and also include a person of interest.

The investigation now indicates that the suspect may be driving a dark 2020 or newer Chevrolet, 2500, High Country 4-Door Pickup Truck.

Authorities say the forensic evidence collected by investigators show that her disappearance is 'suspicious' in nature and that the driver of the truck "has a direct connection to her disappearance and her current whereabouts."

Previous video surveillance showed that person walking from a nearby 'homeless camp' looking in cars.

The unknown person then gets into the driver's seat of Irion's Mercury Sable and then leaves with her in the passenger seat.

During the course of the investigation, evidence was discovered leading investigators to believe Naomis disappearance was suspicious in nature.

Her 1992 blue Sable has a Nevada license plate of 595T37 was located in a industrial park in Fernley and has since been searched and forensically analyzed.

The first vehicle photo with the plate is Naomi's actual vehicle. The second vehicle photo is a stock photo and not her actual car.

If you have any information, contact Lyon County Sheriff's Office with case number 22ly01068 at 775-463-6620, or call or text your anonymous tip to Secret Witness at 775-322-4900.
Weather Alert

...Lingering Smoke Concerns, but Changes Are on the Way... * Smoke from the Mosquito wildfire will continue to produce unhealthy to hazardous air quality across the region this morning, but improving conditions are on the way. * Deeper southerly flow will push the smoke northward later today. Conditions may deteriorate in the Sierra Valley and from Truckee eastward to Highway 395 between Stead and Doyle this afternoon, with some eastward spread late in the day. Elsewhere, conditions should be better today, with significant air quality improvements Sunday into Monday for all areas. * An early season storm moves into the west coast this weekend, bringing much cooler temperatures, and chances for rain and high elevation snow Sunday through next Wednesday. The west side of the Sierra is favored for the highest liquid totals, with spillover into western Nevada limited until Monday or Tuesday. There are decent chances for wetting rains through much of the Sierra, northeast California, and northwest Nevada over the four-day period. * Higher passes such as Mt. Rose, Tioga, Sonora, and Ebbetts could see light slushy snow accumulations, but overall travel impacts will be minimal due to the recent warmth. * It will be rather chilly Sunday through Wednesday with temperatures 10-20 degrees below normal. It will drop into the 20s in colder Sierra valleys overnight, so be prepared if you are recreating in the back country. Western Nevada valleys will remain above freezing, so gardens are still safe from early season freezes.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Celeste Zimmerman, treasurer of the Hatch Valley Chamber of Commerce, recently told the Journal that this years Hatch Chile Festival was about the town of Hatch; its about the surrounding farmers; its about all of the vendors.

But authorities say for Zimmerman and her 30-year-old son, Raymond Swingle, it was also about defrauding event attendees out of thousands by charging phony parking fees.

The 68-year-old woman allegedly ordered her son to charge attendees for parking after being told by the Hatch Chile Festival Committee that she couldnt. She reportedly said she would charge for parking anyway and damn the consequences.

Zimmerman is now charged with accessory to fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud, while Swingle is charged with fraud in the Sept. 3 incident. They were booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center but have since been released.

This year was the festivals 50th anniversary  an event that organizers said brings up to 30,000 people from all over the country to the Chile Capital of the World.

Reached by phone Saturday, Swingle said he needed to speak with his attorney, but added, you should know that were completely innocent and we have tons of facts to back that up.

Swingle said he didnt want to reveal those facts because they could be used against him and his mother.

On Facebook, the Hatch Police Department said detectives searched Swingles car and found more than $4,000 in cash believed to have been collected from the victims in this case. The department said anyone who believes they were a victim should call the agency.

The mother-son duo got roasted by many in the comments section of the Facebook post, while others came to their defense.

One person wrote Swingle didnt hurt anyone, adding, You all just are mad you didnt think of it first to make some extra cheese. Another shared a similar sentiment, writing cant knock a mans hustle.

One person wrote, He got you all because he only charged me $5.00.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Dona Ana County Magistrate Court:

A New Mexico State Police officer noticed a man stopping vehicles on East Herrera Road and charging $10 for parking during the festival. The officer told the man  identified as Swingle  that he cannot charge for parking on a public road and to leave.

But police said Swingle kept stopping vehicles in front of the officer, blocking drivers in until they paid $10. The officer detained Swingle, who told him his mother, Zimmerman, told him to charge $10 for parking.

According to court records, Swingle had collected more than $863 by that time.

Lisa Neal, president of the Hatch Chile Festival Committee, told police Zimmerman was angry and disgruntled when the committee said she could not charge for parking during the festival. Neal said Zimmerman told her assistant she would charge for parking anyway and damn the consequences.

Neal told police Zimmerman had created a website  which Neal said was not approved by the committee  that told attendees there would be a $10 contribution to park, saying the fee will keep the Festival going for you to enjoy.

There is no additional Festival Fee above the parking contribution, the website states.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham narrowly outraised Republican Mark Ronchetti over a key two-month stretch this summer, bolstering her cash advantage in her bid to win reelection as New Mexicos governor.

The incumbent governor reported raising nearly $2.6 million, bringing her total fundraising haul for her reelection campaign to slightly more than $10 million  or more than the $9.7 million raised when first running for governor in 2018.

Currently, Lujan Grisham has roughly $3 million in her campaign account with less than two months until Election Day.

For his part, Ronchetti reported raising about $2.4 million during the reporting period. He spent roughly $1.4 million on TV ads and other expenses, leaving about $2.4 million in his campaign war chest.

While Ronchetti outraised Lujan Grisham during a monthlong period spanning the June primary election, the latest report shows both candidates raked in hefty sums of campaign cash this summer in a hotly-contested race thats drawn national attention.

A Lujan Grisham campaign spokeswoman said the governors fundraising total shows both voters confidence in the governor and Democrats concerns about what a Ronchetti victory would mean for abortion access and other issues, claiming the GOP candidate would undo Lujan Grisham initiatives like tuition-free college for an estimated 35,000 students.

This record fundraising period puts Governor Lujan Grishams reelection campaign in a strong position coming down the stretch, Lujan Grisham campaign spokeswoman Delaney Corcoran said.

In a written statement, the Ronchetti campaign said Lujan Grisham has been backed by left-wing special interests while he enjoys support from New Mexicans writing small checks at dining room tables throughout the state.

From crime to education to out-of-control costs for gas and groceries, theres a better way, Ronchetti said. Its time for change and we have unbelievable momentum with just two months left.

The reports filed Monday cover a roughly two-month reporting period  from July 3 through Sept. 5. Two more mandatory reports will have to be filed by candidates and political committees before the Nov. 8 general election, with a final report due in January.

While reflecting candidates fundraising chops, the reports also shine a light on which individuals and businesses are backing each campaign.

Organizations affiliated with labor unions and health care companies were among the largest contributors to Lujan Grishams campaign during the reporting period.

Labor groups poured at least $50,000 into her campaign. Organizations involved in health care or the pharmaceutical industry also contributed at least $50,000.

Among the individuals who donated the maximum $10,400 to Lujan Grisham for the general election cycle were philanthropist and former Microsoft general manager Melinda French Gates; Thomas Secunda, a billionaire and vice chairman of Bloomberg LP in New York; and John D. Arnold, a philanthropist in Houston.

As for Ronchetti, donors with ties to the oil and gas industry or ranching and farming were some of the largest contributors to the GOP candidates campaign during the recent reporting period.

People or companies connected to energy production  largely oil and gas  donated at least $170,000 to Ronchetti. Large ranching and farming donors contributed at least $62,000.

Among the individuals donating at least $10,000 each were James Pallotta, a Massachusetts private investment executive, and Ricky Caplin, an entrepreneur from Jacksonville, Florida.

This years race for governor could play a significant role in determining how New Mexico handles hot-button issues like abortion, taxes, criminal penalties and the environment over the next four years.

Given those stakes, both leading candidates have already launched a slew of TV ads, with Lujan Grisham questioning Ronchettis experience and touting her own record on health care and education issues.

For his part, Ronchetti has accused the governor of failing to keep New Mexicans safe amid rising violent crime rates, saying in one recent ad, It doesnt have to be this way  we all deserve to feel safe.

Meanwhile, outside groups have also played an active role in this years election, with both the national Democratic and Republican gubernatorial committees airing TV attack adds and a political committee affiliated with Planned Parenthood also launching ads on the governors behalf.

Stronger New Mexico, a political committee affiliated with the Democratic Governors Association, reported Monday having spent more than $2.2 million during the reporting period, primarily on television advertisements.

The group got its funding from the DGA and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees labor union. It is not subject to the states campaign contribution limits, but is prohibited from coordinating directly with a candidates campaign.

On the other side, a political committee affiliated with the Republican Governors Association spent more than $1.4 million on TV ads and other expenses. The PAC got all its direct funding from the RGA, which is currently co-chaired by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who stumped for Ronchetti in Albuquerque last week.

Lujan Grisham and Ronchetti are not the only candidates running for governor; Libertarian Karen Bedonie has also qualified for the November ballot.

All other statewide offices, including attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor and land commissioner, are also up for election this year, as are all 70 state House seats.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

By an extremely razor thin margin, Sparkys Burgers and BBQ of Hatch edged out runner-up Slate Street Billiards, Bar and Grille, of Rio Rancho, to win the Green Chile Cheeseburger Challenge at the 2022 New Mexico State Fair.

The competition was held Monday in the courtyard of the Agriculture Building.

It was owner Teako Nunns second time winning the challenge and the associated bragging rights, which he last won in 2017.

He also has two previous Peoples Choice awards from the annual burger competition. This years Peoples Choice award went to Mike Montano of Big Mikes Burgers and More in Belen.

Every burgers handmade from scratch, said Nunn. We cook it on a 750-degree charbroiler, use only hot Hatch chile and American cheese. Its so simple, its so good.

Sparkys, Nunn said, uses a secret blend of seasonings  a recipe that has been in his family since 1972. My dad and his running buddy came up with it, and weve been using it ever since, he said.

Conveniently, his Hatch restaurant is right on the corner, right on the price, he said, shamelessly inserting a promo.

Montano said he opted for old school simplicity. Its just a classic quarter pound green chile cheeseburger with hand pressed 81% lean beef, yellow American cheese and Bueno green chile with our own special Christmas blend, served on a 4-inch brioche bun.

The restaurant was started by Montanos father in 2011 as Big Mikes Grill, when it was located in Rio Communities, east of Belen. When the restaurant moved to Belen in 2019, Montano took over its operation and modified its name.

Six judges were given samples of the burgers in a blind taste test in which the restaurants were identified only by a number. The judges were asked to rate the burgers on a 1-10 scale in each of several categories: Flavor balance; taste and heat of the green chile; presentation (appealing but not over the top); and taste and skill of the cooked burger patty.

In addition to Sparkys, Slate Street Billiards and Big Mikes, the other restaurants competing were Starr Brothers Brewing, Lava Rock Brewing Co., and Meateor Burgers, all of Albuquerque.

The Sparkys win over Slate Street Billiards was so close, said burger challenge coordinator Craig Vencill, that the judges scores were counted three different times just to make sure.

As the main challenge was winding up, 140 ballots for the Peoples Choice Award were handed out to fairgoers, who sampled each of the restaurants burgers and voted for their favorite.

The U.S. Navy Band Southwest Destroyers, wearing their dress white uniforms, played a wide selection of pop and rock songs as people danced and bobbed their heads to the music while in line waiting for samples.

Last years winner of both the Green Chile Cheeseburger Challenge and the Peoples Choice award, the Oso Grill in Capitan, did not enter this years competition.
WASHINGTON  Sitting on top of more than $115 million across several political committees, Donald Trump has positioned himself as a uniquely indomitable force in the GOP who would almost certainly have the resources to swamp his rivals if he launched another presidential campaign.

But that massive pile of money is also emerging as a potential vulnerability. His chief fundraising vehicle, Save America PAC, is under new legal scrutiny after the Justice Department issued a round of grand jury subpoenas that sought information about the political action committees fundraising practices.

The scope of the probe is unclear. Grand jury subpoenas and search warrants issued by the Justice Department in recent days were related to numerous topics, including Trumps PAC, according to people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. The subpoenas seek records as well as testimony and ask at least some of the recipients about their knowledge of efforts to engage in election fraud, according to one of the people.

The subpoenas also ask for records of communication with Trump-allied lawyers who supported efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and plotted to line up fake electors in battleground states. A particular area of focus appears to be on the Save America Rally that preceded the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the person said.

The investigation is one of several criminal probes Trump currently faces, including scrutiny of how documents with classified markings wound up at the former presidents Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. Regardless of Save Americas ultimate role in the investigations, the flurry of developments has drawn attention to the PACs management, how it has raised money and where those funds have been directed.

Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich slammed the subpoenas, saying a weaponized and politicized Justice Department was casting a blind net to intimidate and silence Republicans who are fighting for his America First agenda. Representatives for the Justice Department have declined to comment.

While Trump has more than $115 million held across various committees, the vast majority of it is stored at Save America. The PAC ended July with more than $99 million cash-on-hand, according to fundraising records  more than the Republican and Democratic national campaign committees combined.

Trump has continued to shovel up small-dollar donations in the months since, frustrating other Republicans who have been struggling to raise money ahead of the November midterm elections.

Save America is set up as a leadership PAC designed to allow political figures to fundraise for other campaigns. But the groups are often used by would-be candidates to fund political travel, polling and staff as they test the waters ahead of potential presidential runs. The accounts can also be used to contribute money to other candidates and party organizations, helping would-be candidates build political capital.

Much of the money Trump has amassed was raised in the days and weeks after the 2020 election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Thats when Trump supporters were bombarded with a nonstop stream of emails and texts, many containing all-caps lettering and blatant lies about a stolen 2020 election, soliciting cash for an election defense fund.

But no such fund ever existed. Instead, Trump has dedicated the money to other uses. Hes financed dozens of rallies, paid staff and used the money to travel as hes teased an expected 2024 presidential run.

Other expenses have been more unusual. There was the $1 million donated last year to the Conservative Partnership Institute, a nonprofit that employs Cleta Mitchell and former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, both of whom encouraged Trumps failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

There was the $650,000 charitable contribution in July to the Smithsonian Institution to help fund portraits of Trump and the former first lady that will one day hang in the National Portrait Gallery, according to the Smithsonian spokesperson Linda St. Thomas.

Much of the money has also funded a different sort of defense fund  one that has paid the legal expenses of Trump confidants and aides who have been called to testify before the Jan. 6 committee.

Overall, Trumps sprawling political operation has spent at least $8 million on legal consulting and legal expenses to at least 40 law firms since the insurrection, according to an analysis of campaign finance disclosures.

Its unclear how much of that money went to legal fees for staffers after a congressional committee started investigating the origins of the attack. But at least $1.1 million has been paid to Elections LLC, a firm started by former Trump White House ethics lawyer Stefan Passantino, according to campaign finance and business records. An additional $1 million was paid to a legal trust housed at the same address as Passantinos firm. Passantino did not respond to a request for comment Monday night. Payments have also been made to firms that specialize in environmental regulation and real estate matters.

As of July, only about $750,000 had been doled out to candidates for Congress, with an additional $150,000 given to candidates for state office, records show. Trump is expected to ramp up his political spending now that the general election season has entered full swing, though it remains unclear how much the notoriously thrifty former president will ultimately agree to spend.

Trump has long played coy about his 2024 plans, saying a formal announcement would trigger campaign finance rules that would, in part, force him to create a new campaign committee that would be bound by strict fundraising limits.

In the meantime, Trump aides have been discussing the prospect of creating a new super PAC or repurposing one that already exists as gets he closer to an expected announcement. While Trump could not use Save America to fund campaign activity after launching a run, aides have discussed the possibility of moving at least some of that money into a super PAC, according to people familiar with the talks who insisted on anonymity to discuss private plans.

Campaign finance experts are mixed on the legality of such a move. Some, like Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School and an expert in campaign finance, said he didnt see a problem.

There may be some hoops he has to jump through, he said. But I dont see a problem with it going from one PAC to another  I dont see what would block it.

Others disagree.

It is illegal for a candidate to transfer a significant amount of money from a leadership PAC to a super PAC. You certainly cant do $100 million, said Adav Noti, a former Federal Election Commission attorney who now works for the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington-based government watchdog group focused on money and politics.

And whether or not Trump would face any consequences is a different matter.

For years, the FEC, which polices campaign finance laws, has been gridlocked. The commission is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, and a majority vote is needed to take any enforcement action against a candidate.

Indeed, legal experts say Trump has repeatedly flouted campaign finance law since launching his 2016 White House run, with no consequence.

More than 50 complaints involving Trump and his various campaign committees have been filed with the FEC. In roughly half of those instances, FEC lawyers have concluded that there was reason to believe that he or his committees may have broken campaign finance law. But the commission, which now includes three Trump-appointed Republicans, has repeatedly deadlocked.

The list of dismissed complaints against Trump is extensive. In 2021, Republicans on the commission rejected the claim, supported by the FECs staff attorneys, that a Trump orchestrated hush-money payment by his former lawyer to pornographic film star Stormy Daniels amounted to an unreported in-kind contribution. In May, the commission similarly deadlocked over whether his campaign broke the law by hiding how it was spending cash during the 2020 campaign.

And over the summer, the commission rejected complaints stemming from Trumps threat to withhold $391 million in aid for the Ukraine unless the Ukrainian officials opened an investigation into the relationship President Joe Bidens son Hunter Biden had with a Ukrainian gas company called Burisma, which the FECs attorneys determined was a potential violation of campaign finance law.

There is no legal basis whatsoever for believing that Congress intended the FEC to police official acts of the government that may be intended to assist an officeholders reelection, the commissions three Republicans said in a written statement late last month.

That means any enforcement action would likely have to come from the Justice Department.

He has nothing to fear from the Federal Election Commission until either its structure is changed or there is turnover among the FEC Commissioners, said Brett G. Kappel, a longtime campaign finance attorney who works at the Washington-based firm Harmon Curran and has represented both Republicans and Democrats. That doesnt mean he doesnt have anything to fear from the Justice Department, which is already apparently investigating Save America. From what I can see, there are multiple wire fraud allegations that could be the subject of a Justice Department investigation.

In the meantime, Trump and Save America continue to rake in contributions from grassroots supporters, blasting out fundraising solicitations with aggressive demands like this needs to be taken care of NOW and threatening donors that their Voter Verification canvass surveys are OUT OF DATE, even as some of the Republican Senate contenders Trump endorsed and helped drag across the finish line in primaries are struggling to raise cash.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has urged those candidates to ask Trump for money, which the former president has so far proven reluctant to provide. That has left the candidates, some of whom presented themselves as McConnell antagonists during their primaries, to grovel to McConnell and the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC he controls and has $100 million in reserve.

It also strengthens McConnells hand in his long-simmering feud with Trump, who has urged GOP senators to oust the Kentucky Republican. Some close to Trump acknowledge the candidates could use the money, but said he doesnt see it as his responsibility to fill the void.

___

Colvin reported from New York.

___

Follow APs coverage of Donald Trump at https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump.
NEW DELHI  Just hours before news of Queen Elizabeth IIs death spread, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a fiery speech urging India to shed its colonial ties in a ceremony to rename a boulevard that once honored King George V.

Rajpath, formerly called Kingsway, was a symbol of slavery under the British Raj, he said. Instead, under the newly named Kartavya Path that leads to the iconic India Gate, a new history has been created, Modi beamed.

His speech last Thursday was the latest in a concerted drive to purge India of its colonial relics. It was also a clear sign that the country, once the largest of Britains colonies that endured two centuries of imperial rule, has moved on.

The renovated avenue now boasts a black granite statue of Indian freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose, in the place where a mold of King George V, Elizabeths grandfather, once stood.

The queens death provoked sympathies to a deeply respected figure from some while for a few others, it jogged memories of a bloody history under the British crown. But among most regular Indians, the news was met with an indifferent shrug.

The British monarchy holds precisely zero relevance to Indians today  they are of no importance, said Kapil Komireddi, author of Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India.

British rule shaped the country in significant ways, but India has since overtaken the British economy in size.

The country has come into its own  As a rising power, India can gain a lot from the U.K. but the U.K. can gain a whole lot more from India, Komireddi added.

On Thursday, Modi penned a heartfelt note, calling the queen a stalwart of our times, while the government declared a day of mourning. But for most Indians born a generation after independence from the British in 1947, there is little attachment to the queen or the royal family.

Sankul Sonawane, 20, was at home when he heard the news, which had no impact on him. We have no sense of emotional connection with the queen. She was a monarch and I dont believe in the idea of a monarchy.

Dhiren Singh, a 57-year-old entrepreneur in New Delhi, felt the same way. I do not think we have any place for kings and queens in todays world, because we are the worlds largest democratic country, he said.

Elizabeth visited India three times during her reign and was the first monarch to tour the newly freed country, cementing the start of fresh ties with Britain. After her coronation in 1953, she arrived in the capital New Delhi in 1961, where she addressed a massive crowd and nearly a million people lined up along streets to catch a glimpse of her and her husband, Prince Philip.

Darshan Paul was 10 or 11 years old when she stood along a road in New Delhi and waved an Indian flag at the queen. I remember her gloved hand waving back at me and was so impressed, Paul, now 71, said.

There was abundant excitement and curiosity around her visit, Paul recalled, as she and her friends poured over newspaper photos of the queen and were dazzled by the gowns she wore.

But it was a different time then, Paul said, as she acknowledged that the traditional bond some Indians once held with the royal family has morphed dramatically since.

To young Indians today, they seem like any other high-profile celebrity family  you might follow news of them because you want to know what is happening behind closed doors. But beyond the glamor and celebrity allure, they dont hold any significance any more.

If her son, who was formally proclaimed King Charles III over the weekend, were to make an official visit to India, it will certainly not matter as much, Paul added.

The queens last visit in 1997 was tinged with controversy when she traveled to a memorial dedicated to hundreds of unarmed Indians who were killed by British colonial forces in 1919, amid calls for an apology over the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

For many, the royal family remains a hallmark of a deeply painful history. Colonial rule is still remembered for the extraordinary violence and suffering it spawned, from numerous famines and economic exploitation to ultimately an unprecedented level of bloodshed in the partition of India and Pakistan.

Scrolling through social media after the news, 25-year-old Sumedha Chatterjee said the tweets in support of the queen felt almost like people had forgotten about all the loot and plunder the British monarchy oversaw. They built their empire on the backs of the so-called third world, she added.

Just hours after her death, Indian social media lit up with renewed calls for the return of the famous Koh-i-Noor, the 106-carat diamond discovered in India that is part of the British crown jewels.

If the king is not going to wear (the) Koh-i-Noor, give it back, quipped one user.

Ever since gaining independence, India has moved to shed its colonial ties, including changing back the names of a clutch of cities that were renamed during British rule. In the 1960s, officials removed figures of British officials and royalty from public view  the statue of King George V, which stood tall under the canopy of India Gate, was moved to Coronation Park, a graveyard or final resting place for imperial symbols in the capital.

And under Modi, there has been renewed vigor to reclaim Indias past, which has seen the government scrub away colonial-era street names, some laws and even flag symbols.

Such gestures represent a new India which has nothing to do with the monarchy, said Archana Ojha, a professor of history at Delhi University. She added, though, that the countrys imperial history cant be hidden away.

We may not need to cherish some of the legacies, but we need to preserve them to teach our future generations. We cannot just erase it completely, she said.

___

Associated Press journalist Rishi Lekhi contributed to this report.
YEREVAN, Armenia  Fighting on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan killed about 100 troops Tuesday as attacks on both sides fed fears of broader hostilities breaking out between the longtime adversaries.

Armenia said at least 49 of its soldiers were killed; Azerbaijan said it lost 50.

The fighting erupted minutes after midnight with Azerbaijani forces unleashing an artillery barrage and drone attacks in many sections of Armenian territory, according to Armenias Defense Ministry. It said shelling grew less intense during the day but Azerbaijani troops were trying to advance into Armenian territory.

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry said it was responding to a large-scale provocation by Armenia late Monday and early Tuesday. It said Armenian troops planted mines and fired on Azerbaijani military positions.

The two countries have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh in a six-week war in 2020 that killed more than 6,600 people and ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal. Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers under the deal.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged both parties to refrain from further escalation and show restraint. Moscow has engaged in a delicate balancing act in seeking to maintain friendly ties with both ex-Soviet nations. It has strong economic and security ties with Armenia, which hosts a Russian military base, while also has been developing close cooperation with oil-rich Azerbaijan.

The international community also urged calm.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to take immediate steps to deescalate tensions, exercise maximum restraint and resolve any outstanding issues through dialogue and implement previous agreements, his spokesman said.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled closed consultations Wednesday on the renewed fighting.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called Russian President Vladimir Putin and later also had calls with French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Charles Michel and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by phone with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with both Pashinyan and Azerbaijans president, Ilham Aliyev. The U.S. has a special envoy in the region, Blinken said, and my hope is that we can move this from conflict back to the negotiating table and back to trying to build a peace.

Speaking in parliament early Tuesday, Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of having had an uncompromising stance at recent European Union-brokered talks in Brussels.

Armenia said the Azerbaijani shelling Tuesday damaged civilian infrastructure and wounded an unspecified number of people.

On Facebook, Aliyev expressed condolences to the families and relatives of our servicemen who died on September 13 while preventing large-scale provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces in the direction of the Kalbajar, Lachin, Dashkasan and Zangilan regions of Azerbaijan.

Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, also placed the blame for the violence on Armenia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for Aliyev and said in a statement that Turkey and Azerbaijan are brotherly  in all matters.

The governor of Gegharkunik province, one of the regions that came under Azerbaijani shelling, said there was a 40-minute lull in the fighting, apparently reflecting Moscows attempt to negotiate a truce, before it later resumed. The governor, Karen Sarkisyan, said four Armenian troops in his region were killed and another 43 were wounded by the shelling.

The Armenian government said it would officially ask Russia for assistance under a friendship treaty between the countries, and also appeal to the United Nations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Moscow-dominated security alliance of ex-Soviet nations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from comment on Armenias request but added during a conference call with reporters that Putin was taking every effort to help de-escalate tensions.

___

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
Uzbekistan benefits from the arrival of Chinese agricultural technologies

China Daily) 10:27, September 13, 2022

The cotton-picking season arrives in Uzbekistan this month. [Photo/Xinhua]

The arrival of Chinese experts and agricultural technologies have brought hopes of higher yields, lower costs and increased income for thousands of cotton farmers in Uzbekistan.

Since 2018, the Institute of Cotton Research affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has piloted a cotton production program in four regions of Uzbekistan, including a cotton field covering 50 hectares in Syrdarya and such fields covering a total of 18 hectares in three other regions.

Researchers for the program piloted China's cutting-edge technologies in cotton production, including the use of mulch film, the tailored application of fertilizers based on soil conditions, green pest control technologies and drip irrigation technology.

Ma Xiongfeng, deputy head of the institute, said, "The experimentation has been a resounding success."

He said cotton seed yield from fields in the program reached 6 metric tons per hectare, four times the local yield level.

"More important, the technology only requires one-third the amount of irrigation water normally required for local fieldssignificant progress for Uzbekistan, which has long faced challenges from drought," he said.

Cotton is often referred to as Uzbekistan's "white gold". According to the institute, the area of land used to grow cotton in Uzbekistan accounts for two-thirds of the total in Central Asia, and 40 percent of the nation's total farmland.

Cultivating cotton is a source of income for half the Uzbek population, and the introduction of China's cotton varieties and planting technologies is part of broader efforts to increase yield and farmers' incomes, Ma said.

The pilot project's success was greeted with positive feedback from the government in Uzbekistan.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a presidential decree in December 2018, calling for the establishment of a special committee to bring Chinese cotton planting technology to the Central Asian nation.

According to the decree, more than 10 percent of the cotton fields in Uzbekistan will adopt the technology from China.

In August 2020, the seeds of six cotton varieties developed by the institute obtained approval from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in China for exports to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Uzbekistan's cotton yield this year has been threatened by a lingering heat wave, according to the website of the nation's president.

(Web editor: Liang Jun, Bianji)
WASHINGTON  Twitters former security chief told Congress Tuesday there was at least one agent from Chinas intelligence service on Twitters payroll and that the company knowingly allowed India to add agents to the company roster as well, potentially giving those nations access to sensitive data about users.

These were some of the troubling revelations from Peiter Mudge Zatko, a respected cybersecurity expert and Twitter whistleblower who appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to lay out his allegations against the company.

Zatko told lawmakers that the social media platform is plagued by weak cyber defenses that make it vulnerable to exploitation by  teenagers, thieves and spies and put the privacy of its users at risk.

I am here today because Twitter leadership is misleading the public, lawmakers, regulators and even its own board of directors, Zatko said as he began his sworn testimony.

They dont know what data they have, where it lives and where it came from and so, unsurprisingly, they cant protect it, Zatko said. It doesnt matter who has keys if there are no locks.

Twitter leadership ignored its engineers, he said, in part because their executive incentives led them to prioritize profit over security.

In a statement, Twitter said its hiring process is independent of any foreign influence and access to data is managed through a host of measures, including background checks, access controls, and monitoring and detection systems and processes.

One issue that didnt come up in the hearing was the question of whether Twitter is accurately counting its active users, an important metric for its advertisers. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is trying to get out of a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, has argued without evidence that many of Twitters roughly 238 million daily users are fake or malicious accounts, aka spam bots.

Even so, that doesnt mean that Musk wont use Zatkos allegation that Twitter was disinterested in removing bots to try to bolster his argument for walking away from the deal, said Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg.

The Delaware judge overseeing the case ruled last week that Musk can include new evidence related to Zatkos allegations in the high-stakes trial, which is set to start Oct. 17. During the hearing, Musk tweeted a popcorn emoji, often used to suggest that one is sitting back in anticipation of unfolding drama.

Separately on Tuesday, Twitters shareholders voted overwhelmingly to approve the deal, according to multiple media reports. Shareholders have been voting remotely on the issue for weeks. The vote was largely a formality, particularly given Musks efforts to nullify the deal, although it does clear a legal hurdle to closing the sale.

Zatkos message echoed one brought to Congress against another social media giant last year. But unlike that Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, Zatko hasnt brought troves of internal documents to back up his claims.

Zatko was the head of security for the influential platform until he was fired early this year. He filed a whistleblower complaint in July with Congress, the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among his most serious accusations is that Twitter violated the terms of a 2011 FTC settlement by falsely claiming that it had put stronger measures in place to protect the security and privacy of its users.

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who heads the Judiciary Committee, said Zatko has detailed flaws that may pose a direct threat to Twitters hundreds of millions of users as well as to American democracy.

Twitter is an immensely powerful platform and cant afford gaping vulnerabilities, he said.

Unknown to Twitter users, theres far more of their personal information disclosed than they  or sometimes even Twitter itself  realize, Zatko testified. He said Twitter did not address basic systemic failures brought forward by company engineers.

The FTC has been a little over its head, and far behind European counterparts, in policing the sort of privacy violations that have occurred at Twitter, Zatko said.

Zatkos allegation that Twitter was more concerned about foreign regulators than the FTC, Enberg said, could be a wakeup call for U.S. lawmakers, who have been unable to pass meaningful regulation on social media companies.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said one positive result that could come out of Zatkos findings would be bipartisan legislation to set up a tighter system of regulation of tech platforms.

We need to up our game in this country, he said.

Many of Zatkos claims are uncorroborated and appear to have little documentary support. Twitter has called Zatkos description of events a false narrative  riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacking important context.

Still, Zatko came off as a convincing whistleblower who has a lot of credibility in this space, said Ari Lightman, professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University. But he said many of the problems he raised can likely be found at many other digital technology platforms

They avoid security protocols in a sense of innovating and running really fast, Lightman said. We gave digital platforms so much autonomy at the beginning to grow and develop. Now were at a point where were, Wait a minute  This has gotten out of hand.

Among the assertions from Zatko that drew lawmaker attention was Twitters apparent negligence in dealing with governments that sought to get spies a job inside the company. Twitters inability to log how employees accessed user accounts made it hard for the company to detect when employees were abusing their access, Zatko said.

Zatko said he spoke with high confidence about a foreign agent that the government of India placed at Twitter to understand the negotiations between Indias ruling party and Twitter about new social media restrictions and how well those negotiations were going.

Zatko also revealed Tuesday that he was told about a week before his firing that at least one agent from the Chinese intelligence service MSS, or the Ministry of State Security, was on the payroll at Twitter.

He said he was similarly surprised and shocked by an exchange with current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal about Russia  in which Twitters current CEO, who was chief technology officer at the time, asked if it would be possible to punt content moderation and surveillance to the Russian government, since Twitter doesnt really have the ability and tools to do things correctly.

And since they have elections, doesnt that make them a democracy? Zatko recalled Agrawal saying.

Sen. Charles Grassley, the committees ranking Republican, said Tuesday that Agrawal declined to testify at the hearing, citing the ongoing legal proceedings with Musk. But the hearing is more important than Twitters civil litigation in Delaware, Grassley said. Twitter declined to comment on Grassleys remarks.

In his complaint, Zatko accused Agrawal as well as other senior executives and board members of numerous violations, including making false and misleading statements to users and the FTC about the Twitter platforms security, privacy and integrity.

Zatko, 51, first gained prominence in the 1990s as a pioneer in the ethical hacking movement and later worked in senior positions at an elite Defense Department research unit and at Google. He joined Twitter in late 2020 at the urging of then-CEO Jack Dorsey.

___

OBrien reported from Providence, R.I.; Ortutay reported from Oakland, Calif.

___

Follow Marcy Gordon at https://twitter.com/mgordonap
SANTA FE  Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is traveling to New York and Washington, D.C., this week for a mix of personal, professional and political events.

She plans to return Friday.

During the trip, Lujan Grisham, a Democrat up for reelection this year, is meeting with federal officials in Washington to advocate for additional wildfire relief for New Mexicans amid a devastating fire season, a spokeswoman for her office said.

The largest wildfire in state history  the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire near Las Vegas  was started by U.S. Forest Service burns that grew out of control. The agency paused prescribed burns, which are designed to clear out brush and reduce fire risk, for three months after the New Mexico fire.

Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett said the governor met Tuesday with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and asked him to expedite the deployment of teams to bolster capacity for forest restoration work and to process applications for federal assistance.

At President Bidens invitation, Lujan Grisham also attended a celebration of the major climate and health care legislation passed by Congress last month, Sackett said.

Some personal and political activities are also on the agenda.

Lujan Grisham, who has been wearing a knee brace in recent public appearances, will visit a Washington orthopedic surgeon from whom she received previous treatment, Sackett said.

Later in the trip, the governor will be attending some political meetings with advocates, supporters,

and donors during her visit to DC and New York, campaign spokeswoman Delaney Corcoran said.

The campaign covered the governors travel costs.

CAMPAIGN FUNDS: Democratic attorney general candidate Raul Torrez maintained a healthy fundraising advantage over his Republican opponent, Jeremy Gay, in the last two months, according to finance reports filed this week.

Torrez, now the district attorney based in Bernalillo County, reported about $308,000 in cash contributions during the reporting period  more than twice as much as the $129,000 collected by Gay.

Gay, a Gallup attorney who served as a judge advocate in the Marine Corps, announced this week that he launched his first television ad of the campaign, a piece that highlights his prosecution of felony offenders during his military service.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit challenging whether Gay has lived in New Mexico long enough to meet a five-year residency requirement to serve as attorney general is set for a hearing Friday in the states 1st Judicial District Court.

Dan McKay: dmckay@abqjournal.com
Bernalillo County is holding an event to raise public awareness as a deadly wave of fentanyl use washes over the state and local area.

The keepNMalive summit is being held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 13 at the Convention Center in Downtown Albuquerque.

Those who want to attend in-person can register online here and the event will also be streaming here.

The summit comes as more than 1,215 New Mexicans have died from a fentanyl overdose in the state since 2019, with officials saying those using the synthetic opioid are getting younger.

The event  dubbed an educational awareness campaign  is being put on by Bernalillo County, the City of Albuquerque, the Drug Enforcement Administration and numerous community organizations.

This extensive fentanyl awareness campaign will immerse the community in valuable information to combat this life-ending and family-shattering drug, Tom Thorpe, communications coordinator for the county, said in a release.

The summit will include dozens of speakers, including law enforcement, first responders, health officials, recovery advocates and family members of those who are battling a fentanyl addiction.
Photo taken on Nov. 29, 2021 shows a meeting of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria. Iran nuclear talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal resumed here on Monday after a hiatus of more than five months. (EU Delegation Vienna/Handout via Xinhua)

TEHRAN, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The United States, in order to rejoin the Iranian nuclear deal, must prove it reliable and show that it abides by the international norms, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nassar Kanaani said Monday.

"The country, which unilaterally withdrew from the agreement signed in 2015, has hindered the achievement of an agreement based on joint interests ... has imposed illegal, unilateral and irrational sanctions (on Iran), and has no right to be a claimant and take a creditor's pose," Nassar Kanaani told reporters during his weekly press conference.



"The U.S. government needs to take a constructive approach to reaching an agreement," he noted.

In its recent response to the EU's proposal on restoring the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran has not raised any new issues or "any serious demands" that would hinder the achievement of a possible agreement, Kanaani said, calling the Western parties' pressures following Iran's response as "psychological warfare."





U.S. President Donald Trump displays a signed presidential memorandum at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on May 8, 2018. U.S. President Donald Trump said here on Tuesday that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, a landmark agreement signed in 2015. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

The recent statement of the European troika of France, Germany and Britain about Iran's response to an EU nuclear proposal was "wrong" and "untimely," Kanaani said.

On Saturday, France, Germany and Britain said in a joint statement that Iran "has chosen not to seize this critical diplomatic opportunity" given by a recent EU-submitted "final set of texts" to rescue the JCPOA, voicing their "serious doubts as to Iran's intentions and commitment to a successful outcome on the JCPOA."

"An agreement is a two-way road, and it was expected that the negotiating parties would act constructively in this direction," Kanaani said.

It is regretful that the European troika, instead of responding positively to the "constructive" actions of Iran in the course of reaching an agreement and its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has been influenced by a country, which is not a member of any safeguards systems of the IAEA, the Iranian spokesman said, alluding to Israel's allegations against Iran's nuclear program.

Kanaani urged the IAEA to fulfill its duties professionally and avoid the impacts of pressures from third parties, particularly from Israel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meets with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Tehran, Iran, on June 25, 2022. Iran and the European Union announced here on Saturday the resumption of international negotiations in Vienna in the coming days to revive the Iranian nuclear pact. (Iranian Foreign Ministry/Handout via Xinhua)

Iran signed the JCPOA with world major powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear program in return for removing sanctions on the country. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to drop some of its commitments under the pact.

The talks on the JCPOA's revival began in April 2021 in Vienna but were suspended in March this year because of political differences between Tehran and Washington. The latest round of the nuclear talks was held in the Austrian capital in early August after a five-month hiatus.

On Aug. 8, the EU put forward its final text of the draft decision on reviving the JCPOA. Iran and the United States later indirectly exchanged views on the EU proposal.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that Iran's latest response has pushed the negotiations a step back. 


BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- A signed article by Chinese President Xi Jinping titled "Build on the Past to Make Greater Strides in China-Kazakhstan Relations" was published Tuesday on the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper ahead of his state visit to Kazakhstan.

Following is an English version of the full text of the article:

Build on the Past to Make Greater Strides in China-Kazakhstan Relations

Xi Jinping

President of the People's Republic of China

In the charming season of autumn, I will be making a state visit to the friendly country of Kazakhstan at the invitation of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. After an interval of five years, it will be my fourth visit to the beautiful country known for its vast steppe, majestic landscape and hospitable people. I very much look forward to the visit.

Bound together by mountains and rivers and common interests, China and Kazakhstan are good neighbors, good friends and good partners. For thousands of years, the two peoples have had amicable ties, jointly writing an epic of east-west interactions along the ancient Silk Road. Huen Tsang, an eminent Tang Dynasty monk (602-664), and Chen Cheng, a Ming Dynasty envoy (1365-1457), both set foot on Kazakhstan. Al-Farabi the "Eastern Aristotle", Abai Kunanbayev the "sage poet", and other towering cultural figures of Kazakhstan enjoy widespread fame in China. To this day, their stories are still being told among the two peoples.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Kazakhstan. Over the past three decades, we have braved wind and rain, with our hands always held firmly together. Our interactions and cooperation have become ever more vibrant, and we have travelled an extraordinary path side by side.

-- Over the past 30 years, China-Kazakhstan relations have made big strides. We have continuously advanced our relationship from good neighbors to strategic partners and to permanent comprehensive strategic partners. This incomparable characterization of our ties has enabled us to develop a new type of state-to-state relations featuring mutual respect, good-neighborly friendship, solidarity in trying times, and win-win cooperation. We always give each other unwavering support on the core issues bearing on our respective sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. We always respect each other's choice of development path based on national conditions. And we always take pleasure in each other's sustained progress in development and national rejuvenation. We are friends to trust and partners to count on for each other, and our peoples always stand shoulder to shoulder with each other.

-- Over the past 30 years, China-Kazakhstan cooperation has yielded remarkable results. In recent years, China has been solidly one of Kazakhstan's leading partners for trade and investment. Navigating the impact of COVID-19, we were able to again bring our bilateral trade above the US$25 billion mark last year, jointly giving a boost to global economic recovery. China and Kazakhstan are pioneers in production capacity and investment cooperation; our cooperation list includes 52 projects worth a total of more than US$21.2 billion. We have completed a number of major strategic projects, such as the 100-MW Zhanatas wind farm, the JAC automobile factory, and Shymkent Oil Refinery modernization. They have been a strong driving force for economic and social progress in Kazakhstan, and have delivered tangible benefits to our two peoples.

-- Over the past 30 years, China and Kazakhstan have built extensive infrastructure links. We have put in place a multidimensional transportation network composed of road, railway, aviation, and oil and gas pipelines. And we are resolved to build a Eurasian land-sea multimodal "transportation artery" to offer convenient and efficient services. At all of our five road crossings and two rail crossings, normal cargo flows have resumed. And we are in close communication about opening another rail crossing. At the China-Kazakhstan International Logistics Base in the eastern Chinese port of Lianyungang, products from Kazakhstan set sail for the Pacific Ocean. The China-Europe freight trains are running through Kazakhstan via more routes, making an important contribution to the stability of global industrial and supply chains.

-- Over the past 30 years, China-Kazakhstan friendship has taken deep roots among our peoples. In Kazakhstan, there are five Confucius Institutes; in China, four universities have opened institutes on Kazakhstan studies and two have added the Kazakh language as a major. The heart-warming story of Xian Xinghai and Bakhtzhan Baikadamov, two great composers in our respective countries, has been turned into a movie. Dr. Saulebek Kabilbekov of Kazakhstan has been working for 24 years in the Daqing Ophthalmology Hospital of Heilongjiang Province, treating nearly 200,000 Chinese patients. China and Kazakhstan will soon establish cultural centers in each other's countries, and Kazakhstan will host a center of traditional medicine and a Luban Workshop. Our cultural and people-to-people exchanges will make greater strides, and the friendship between our peoples will continue to thrive on an increasingly solid foundation.

Having stood the test of the changing circumstances and the passage of time, China-Kazakhstan relations have long become rock-solid. We should cherish this hard-won achievement, and work harder to carry on the cause of friendship between our two countries. During my upcoming visit, I will have in-depth discussions with President Tokayev on how to further the China-Kazakhstan permanent comprehensive strategic partnership and how to advance our mutually beneficial cooperation across the board. We will set out plans for working together to promote China-Kazakhstan relations with the objective and vision of building a China-Kazakhstan community with a shared future.

First, we need to carry forward our good-neighborly friendship. Deep political mutual trust is the bedrock of the steady and sustained development of China-Kazakhstan relations. China is willing to work with Kazakhstan to make top-level designs for the relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective, maintain close high-level interactions, and enhance exchanges and cooperation between our governments, legislatures, political parties and localities at various levels. We should make good use of the regular Prime Ministers' Meetings and the China-Kazakhstan Cooperation Committee and its sub-committees, continue to give each other firm support on issues concerning our respective core interests and major concerns, and make continuous efforts to cement the political foundation of China-Kazakhstan relations.

Second, we need to further deepen mutually beneficial cooperation. Next year will be the tenth anniversary of the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative that I first proposed during my visit to Kazakhstan in 2013. From laying the groundwork to building pillars and frameworks, to delivering results on the ground, and to achieving sustainable progress, the Belt and Road Initiative has become a platform for international cooperation that is open, inclusive, mutually beneficial and promotes win-win cooperation and a global public good widely welcomed by the international community. Setting our sight beyond the pandemic, China would like to partner with Kazakhstan to remain pioneers in Belt and Road cooperation. We should improve investment and trade facilitation, fully unleash the potential of border ports and cross-border transportation, and cultivate new sources of growth such as artificial intelligence, big data, digital finance, e-commerce and green energy. We should commit ourselves to a series of new quality projects that are high-standard, sustainable, and beneficial to the people, bring bilateral cooperation to a higher level, and put the Global Development Initiative into action, so as to contribute our shares to world economic recovery.

Third, we need to firmly safeguard common security. In the face of complex regional and international landscapes, only by embracing unity and cooperation can we overcome difficulties of our times and resolve challenges in security governance. China would like to deepen law enforcement, security and defense cooperation with Kazakhstan. Guided by the Global Security Initiative, we should act on the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and work together to promote the implementation of the Data Security Cooperation Initiative of China+Central Asia. We should join hands to combat terrorism, separatism, extremism, drug trafficking and transnational organized crimes, and ensure the security of oil and gas pipelines and other large cooperation projects and their personnel. We should resolutely oppose interference by external forces and work together for lasting peace and long-term stability of our region.

Fourth, we need to strengthen international coordination in all respects. We need to enhance coordination within multilateral frameworks such as the UN, the SCO, CICA, and China+Central Asia. We should exchange views timely on international governance, food security, energy security, industrial and supply chains stability, and regional hotspots. We should reject unilateralism and bloc confrontation, and jointly push for an international order that is more just and more equitable.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) will convene its 20th National Congress soon. It will be a gathering of great significance at an important moment as the CPC embarks on a new journey of building a modern socialist country in all respects and marching toward the second centenary goal. We are glad to see that the construction of a New Kazakhstan has been fully launched, and that Kazakhstan is making strides toward the goal of becoming one of the world's top 30 most developed states. China stands ready to continue to share development achievements with Kazakhstan and learn from each other's development experience. China's door of opening-up and friendly cooperation will always be open to Kazakhstan.

As a Kazakh proverb goes, "Friendship is an inexhaustible wealth." China believes that as long as we keep to the principle of good-neighborly friendship and deepen all-round win-win cooperation, we will surely usher in a more splendid thirty years in China-Kazakhstan relations. 
Ice Cream giant Havmor launched Season 5 of its Coolest Summer Job IP. As their Digital and Creative Agency on Record, 1702 Digital helped them execute a unique integrated campaign that garnered 60,00+ entries for the event and gained 800 new followers.

Havmor wanted to come up with something unique that would personally connect with the consumer. Instead of the R&D team coming up with new flavours, Havmor directly roped in consumers in the ideation process.

The Flavours were FOR the Havmor fans, BY those very fans, and TO a lot of fans. It's probably one of the most democratically cool Indian campaigns this year.

The theme for this season is Mission Flavour Launch. For this launch, the 1702 Digital team came up with a lot of activities such as a secret mission, undercover agents, the introduction of the CTO, and many more that not only created hype but also worked well for the success of the season.

The campaign aimed to reach out to the youth, bring out their love for Ice cream by means of entertaining content, and give them a platform to gain insight into the world of Ice Cream manufacturing.

"We as a team are continuously looking for the newest and latest innovations to meet consumer needs and enhance our clients brand equity overall, says Aanchal Arora, Founder of 1702 Digital."

The winners of the campaign were flown down to Havmors factory in Ahmedabad and were given a tour of the manufacturing unit. They were mentored by a celebrity chef, and R&D experts and also given an opportunity to create their own flavours which could be sold in the market for the consumers.

During these 3 days, the chief tasting officer (CTO) got to ideate their flavour innovations with Chef Pankaj Bhadouria, which were then created in Havmors labs followed by an organoleptic trial through an Ice Cream tasting panel.

These CTOs got prize money of 50,000, plus free Ice Creams supply for a year. Topping on the (ice-cream) cake? They got an opportunity to be mentored by celebrity Chef Pankaj Bhadouria.
India's Most Loved grooming and hair removal brand, Bombay Shaving Company has signed on Rannvijay Singha, one of India's foremost cultural gamechangers, in an exclusive endorsement deal. The original roadie, youth icon, and style guru will be the face and spokesperson of Bombay Shaving Companys latest range of trimmer products starting this month. The announcement comes right on the heels of Bombay Shaving Company's lucrative association with Mumbai Indians earlier this year: Clearly demonstrating the brand's intent to go all-in to revolutionize men's grooming in the country.

The engagement with Rannvijay kickstarts with an exciting and irreverent marketing campaign for BSC's latest range of mens trimmers. In the video-led campaign, confidently titled Take It From The Experts', Rannvijay will be seen enabling & urging the youth to make better grooming choices by trusting the expertise of Bombay Shaving Company instead of falling for the gimmicks of non-core grooming' brands operating in the category.

Thanks to the nature of my work, Ive had the good fortune of spending a lot of time with the youth of this country. Ive seen firsthand how self-confidence changes lives for many. A lot of that self-confidence is derived from looking and feeling good. Thats why they deserve grooming solutions driven by expertise. Ive been an avid user of Bombay Shaving Companys trimmers for some time and can personally vouch for the thought and attention to detail that goes into their products. Its a pleasure and privilege to be associated with them, said Rannvijay Singha.

Deepak Gupta, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Bombay Shaving Company said, We have an extremely optimistic outlook on the trimmer category per se, and are superbly placed in terms of product innovation and equity to serve it well. Starting September, and in the following months, were poised to scale to 3X of our current volumes, and seriously challenge current incumbents. More substantially, we believe that unwanted hair removal' creates the biggest delta in the perception of self-image and appearance, and we are committed to becoming the brand of choice whenever a 15 year old is ready for his first shave or trim. The association with Rannvijay  someone an entire generation looks up to  becomes even more meaningful from this perspective.

Very few understand the hopes and aspirations of a young generation of men better than Rannvijay. We are delighted to have him on board not only as the face of the trimmer range, but perhaps even a guide and inspiration for our activities to come. We are going to market with a range of trimmers that score high on design, performance, value and other nuanced features based on deep learning as grooming experts. Were confident Rannvijay will convey our proposition with substance and impact to over 2 Crore Indians across metros and non-metros in the months to come, said Laalit Lobo, VP Marketing, Bombay Shaving Company.

Elaborating on creative execution, Broti Roychoudhury, Creative Director, Bombay Shaving Campaign said, The problem statement was clear. Trimmers as a category demands a grooming expert's presence and voice. Take It From The Experts makes the point with clarity, conviction and chutzpah i.e. palatable to a young (Gen Z and Millennial) audience. The tone and treatment is deliberately eclectic and quirky that distinguishes it from regular category codes, with clear impact moments that viewers will recall. And Im so happy that Rannvijay hopped on without hesitation and added his own unique flavor to the campaign. Now were all set to deploy it in many interesting ways across online and offline channels.

The main campaign video has been directed and executed by the folks at Bandstand Entertainment.
After nine successful seasons, COLORS is back with its iconic celebrity dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. Fuelling the spark of excitement amongst the fans, who had been eagerly waiting for the shows comeback, the channel curated a larger-than-life campaign split into three phases. Conceptualized by Leo Burnett, the week-long campaign kicked off on August 22, with an image that claimed the discovery of a new galaxy of dancing stars titled #JDJ10. The cryptic picture piqued the curiosity of netizens who came up with many interesting theories about the image.

The pre-launch campaign of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa was inspired by NASAs widely circulated deepest picture of the universe seen through the James Webb space telescope. COLORS seized the momentum generated by the photograph to create an image of its very own galaxy named the Galaxy of Dancing Stars #JDJ10 that included the shows iconic disco balls as stars. This image was shared across all media platforms and took the internet by storm. From well-known celebrities such as Karan Johar, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Nora Fatehi, Nia Sharma, Niti Taylor, Rubina Dilaik, Nyyrra M Banerji amongst others to paparazzis, influencers, news channels, and renowned journalists shared the image. The activity was executed as a third-party endorsement without any mention of COLORS or the show to create further intrigue.

To ensure that the fans had their daily dose of mystery, each day snippets of information about these dancing stars were revealed through various sources. Leaving no stone unturned, the channel also collaborated with Uorfi Javed, one of the most popular fashion sensations on social media. She first posted the image of #JDJ10 and was seen donning a shimmery glamourous look inspired by the viral galaxy of dancing stars #JDJ10 the next day. Further lending authenticity to the campaign, COLORS partnered with news channels to run aston bands, tickers, and anchor vignettes in the form of breaking news. This was followed by an association with radio channels for RJ mentions and handshakes, coupled with digital content published across channels to sustain the intrigue and build conversations around #JDJ10.

The Galaxy of Dancing Stars campaign concluded with a big reveal at the grand launch party which witnessed the stars descending on the stage quelling all the curiosity around the image. The party was attended by the contestants, host, judges, influencers, actors from the COLORS family who walked the red carpet along with the media fraternity in Mumbai. The contestant and the judges made a spectacular entry grooving on the hit tracks which preceded a starry photo op. Overall, the campaign grabbed eyeballs on social media along with tremendous organic news coverage with a reach of 65 million+ and 15 million+ views.

Speaking about the campaign, Sapangeet Rajwant, Head, Marketing and Digital, Hindi Mass Entertainment, Viacom18 said, COLORS has always been at the forefront in delivering campaigns that leverage the latest innovations and trends in the marketing and digital arena. It was imperative that the campaign resonates with the grandeur and the glamour of the show and therefore we designed the Galaxy of Dancing Stars based on the trending deepest picture of the galaxy. This campaign successfully engages with the audience on a deeper level by generating curiosity, sustaining it through various collaborations and then making a big reveal of the stars. We actioned this robust campaign across platforms to ensure that the buzz has a wider reach. After a five years hiatus, we are confident that this season will be worth the wait and regale the fans with much fanfare.

Watch scintillating dance performances by your favourite celebrities on Patanjali Dant Kanti presents Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa every Saturday and Sunday at 8pm only on COLORS
Connect Digital, a creatively led digital agency with presence across India, creates holistic and engaging digital solutions for brands and businesses, has bagged the SNS creative mandate for Yamaha Pro Audio that offers a complete line of beginner professional audio products for the live sound and sound reinforcement markets.

Agency has won the mandate following a multi-agency pitch and will service the account from its Gurgaon office. Agency will develop new design concepts and creative collateral for all social media channels of Yamaha pro Audio. Whether its static or motion graphics, Connect Digital will deliver on-brand creative to suit the brand needs. The agency will amplify the brands presence, shaping the communication journey to grow the brand in the digital world.

Harisha GN, Business Head - Marketing & Sales, Yamaha Pro Audio, added, We are happy to associate with the young and dynamic team at Connect Digital. We truly believe this collaboration will help us strengthen our digital presence and enable us to venture into new and innovative creatives and communication.

Speaking on the account win, Haresh Nayak, Founder & CEO, Connect Network Inc, said, We are delighted to have Yamaha Pro Audio on board and look forward to using our expertise across creating engaging content to help the brand scale up in their Social Media presence.

Commenting on the mandate win, Charu Rawat, Associate Vice president, Connect Digital, said, Were ecstatic to associate with Yamaha Pro Audio as their SNS Creative partners. The brand has a legacy of 50+ years built on its unmatched sound quality and we are determined to strengthen YPAs presence further with value-driven engagement through our effective communication and disruptive creatives.

The agency will focus on innovative design skills for the brand to establish a strong line of connection with the audience, all aimed at enhancing the recall value of the brand.
HDFC Bank announced a tie-up with Mumbais BEST Bus Service to launch its Aao Bus Karein campaign, to promote greener and healthier commuting habits in the city.

Through this campaign, HDFC Bank will run 4 Electric Vehicle AC buses across Mumbai to encourage commuters to leave their cars at home in favour of public transport. The E-buses will run on specific routes to connect commuters to key corporate parks and will ply day-long to ensure ease of mobility and convenience for commuters.

HDFC Bank Parivartan will sponsor 4 Electric-Buses in the BEST Bus Service which will ply on roads of Mumbai for 1 month starting September 13. The EV buses will ply from 7 am to 9 pm to ensure commuters can use the same mode of transport to and from their offices. To avail of this free service, commuters can show their car keys or register their details at aaobuskarein.com to board the bus from designated stops.

The objective of Aao Bus Karein campaign is to warn people against the risks of the alarming climate crisis and raise awareness about its urgency. It will be a month-long campaign and is aimed towards building a low-carbon future with the aid of green mobility. This campaign is estimated to facilitate the travel of over 6,000 passengers via EV bus and reduce carbon emission by more than 20 tonne.

For complete details please visit aaobuskarein.com

Routes: Bus 1: Khar to Lower Parel Bus 2: Chembur to BKC Bus 3: Borivali West to Andheri West Bus 4: Colaba to Worli

The campaign was launched at an event in Mumbai. Mr. Anjani Rathor, Chief Digital Officer, HDFC Bank and Mr Rishi Agarwal: Founder, Mumbai Sustainability Centre NGO were present at the launch ceremony.

Ravi Santhanam, Chief Marketing Officer, HDFC Bank said, HDFC Bank is conscious about the environment and is committed to becoming carbon neutral by the year 2030. We are working toward sustainability goals in our operations as well as within the communities we work with. The Aao Bus Karein campaign is an earnest step towards a greener and healthier future. Single-person automobiles as a key mode of transportation are increasing vehicular congestion of roads, triggering temperature-rise, and other global environmental crises. What we do today will determine the kind of world the next generation inherits form us. The Aao Bus Karein campaign highlights the impact of vehicular pollution on the environment and urges people to tackle climate challenge with one bus ride, at a time.

HDFC Bank and BEST Bus Service have come together for the first time with the common goal of making a greener and cleaner environment.

HDFC Bank is the amongst the largest corporate CSR spenders in the country. The banks key focus areas include care for climate, rural development, education, skill development, healthcare & hygiene, and financial literacy under Parivartan.
Publicis Groupe today announced the launch of its Creative Council for South Asia, which will further strengthen the Groupes inspiring, truly remarkable creativity that transforms brands and businesses.

Rajdeepak Das, CEO and CCO of Leo Burnett South Asia, in addition to his current role will be the Chairman of this Creative Council, South Asia and will add depth and dimension to the Groupes creative product. As part of the additional role, Das will lead the overall creative direction, product, and thinking for the Groupe and will champion narratives that truly empower and define the next stage of Indian creativity.

Anupriya Acharya, South Asia CEO, Publicis Groupe said, At Publicis Groupe, we have a tremendous roster of brands, scaled capabilities across design, experience, data and technology, the finest talent pool and the Power of One. There is no better time than now to bring all these together and partner with our clients in building truly Epic Work and Epic Brands. Rajdeepak apart from being a dynamic and gifted Creative Leader, has been the force behind many famous, iconic campaigns for leading brands and has pivoted Leo Burnett India to the top position among creative agencies in the country today; he was but a natural choice for this role.

Rajdeepak Das said, It's an honour to lead The Creative Council for Publicis Groupe South Asia. The Council will use the power of brand purpose and new-age creativity to bring a positive impact to peoples lives. The Council will help pedigreed brands to collaborate closely with the world-class talent of the Groupe. I cant wait to get started and look forward to leading a power-packed Council that is going to create next-generation solutions.

Das is an outstanding creative leader, with over 20 years of experience in building successful brands. He is a great believer in the power of modern creativity to transform human lives. From saving Indias biggest national treasure, the INS Vikrant warship with the help of Bajaj, to being part of Roads That Honk, the worlds first anti-collusion road management system for Hindustan Petroleum, to creating Indias first micro-financing system, his work speaks for itself and is centered around HumanKind values.

His movement for Whisper Touch The Pickle won Procter & Gamble the inaugural Cannes Glass Lions Grand Prix for breaking the menstruation taboo. More recently, Dass work for Whisper Keep Girls In School won Leo Burnett India & P&G a Cannes Lions Grand Prix in Sustainable Development Goals. The agency also won the title of Creative Agency Of The Year at The One Show Abby Awards, Goafest 22.

Das has more than 100 international awards to his name such as The One Show, D&AD and Spikes. He was the only creative head featured in the popular Netflix series The Creative Indians Season 4.

In his words, Dass biggest creation till date is Apollo 11, a specialised division of Leo Burnett India or what he refers to as The Mutant Creatives. This is a team of hugely talented young people in their 20s with backgrounds such as aerospace engineers, product designers, data analytics and environmental scientists, who solve brand and human problems with him. His focus is on new-age brand solutions, and he believes Only way to predict the future is to build it yourself.
NUR-SULTAN, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- More than three years have passed, but Almas Chukin, a prominent Kazakh economist, still vividly remembers the excitement on the day when the first wind turbine arrived in Zhanatas, a desert city in Kazakhstan that suffered from industrial decline at that time.

The city was once a center of phosphate rock mining and fertilizer production, but it witnessed big job losses following the decline of the industries, Chukin told Xinhua in a recent interview. Since 2011, local authorities had been promoting wind power projects and finally joined forces with China after approaching countless potential partners.

The project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has demonstrated how effective cooperation can transform the concept of "building a community with a shared future for mankind" into practical reality, said the economist, who is currently a managing partner at Visor Kazakhstan, an investor of Central Asia's biggest wind power project Zhanatas.

The wind power farm, which was put into operation in 2021 with a capacity of 350 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, alleviates the power shortage in southern Kazakhstan and has brought the once quiet industrial city back to life.

The success of this project is a symbol that the China-proposed BRI has integrated with Kazakhstan's "Bright Road" initiative, and will further enhance the two neighbors' cooperation, said Chukin.

In 2013, during his visit to Kazakhstan, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the country's Nazarbayev University. He proposed joining forces to build an economic belt along the Silk Road, which will be a great undertaking benefitting the people of all countries along the route.

Since then, China and Kazakhstan have launched a series of joint projects under the BRI, bringing tangible benefits to the people of the two countries.

Belt and Road cooperation has become one of China's commitments to international cooperation, improving global economic governance, promoting common development and prosperity and advancing the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Chinese companies involved in the power project "have helped us overcome economic and technical challenges ... and we were able to achieve the success," Chukin said.

"Both countries win from this kind of cooperation," he added.

"China has not only brought advanced equipment and technology to Kazakhstan, but has also helped attract local talents in the field of clean energy, which was non-existent 10 years ago. The wind power project will create jobs for the local population, increase tax revenue and promote urban development," he added.

Chukin said that the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind can be described by two key phrases, "national interests" and "common prosperity."

"We are not in sport games, only one medal for all. We can make a bigger cake for all and make larger shares for all. President Xi Jinping's idea is that by joint efforts and by understanding the community with a shared future for mankind, we are in a win-win situation ... and it ensures the prosperity of all countries that can develop and work together," Chukin said.

Nine years ago, while answering questions from students of Nazarbayev University after his speech, Xi expounded on his vision of an eco-friendly development policy: "Clear waters and green mountains are mountains of gold and silver," he said. Xi's remarks resonated with the Kazakh economist.

Before the establishment of the Zhanatas wind power station in the country's south, the region relied on electricity generated by thermal power plants in the country's north, failing to take the advantage of abundant wind resources. And long-distance power transmission caused huge costs and power loses, he said.

Compared with thermal power plants, the wind farm is expected to save about 110,000 tons of standard coal per year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Being part of the project helped him better understand Kazakhstan-China cooperation in the green energy sector. "China is currently a leader in the development of green technologies, especially in the energy sector," Chukin said.

By signing the Paris Agreement, China made a solemn commitment to the international community to achieve carbon neutrality, and has agreed to adopt mandatory measures aimed at reducing environmental pollution, he said.

"China is doing very well in this regard," he said, adding the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind is directly linked to the development of green energy and environmental issues.

"We have a common sky," Chukin said, "it is necessary to focus on international development since globalization is inevitable."

From the Zhanatas project, the international community saw China's action on achieving common prosperity and building a clean and beautiful world.

"Looking at the wind turbines standing on the ground, I believe that in the future, the sky will be bluer, the water will be clearer, and the earth we live on will be cleaner," Chukin said. 
In a conversation with Adgully, Priyank Shah, Co-Founder, Renee Cosmetics said: "Im grateful to be a part of RENEEs journey, its a brand which has adapted and changed with time, and yet has always stood apart from others and made a mark in the cosmetics sector by being one of the fastest growing makeup brands in the country.". Excerpts -

Can you please tell us something about your previous ventures?

After realizing a significant void in the Indian market for high-end men's grooming products online, we came up with Beardo. Soon it became India's fastest-growing male grooming brand, with the goal of providing men with a premium grooming experience. With the help of holistic strategies in marketing both digital, offline and celebrity endorsements, Beardo saw meteoric growth, leading to its eventual acquisition by Marico. Our next venture, Villain Lifestyle, quickly became a leader in the men's fragrance and lifestyle category and was eventually acquired by the MENSA Group. In addition to my role as Co-founder and Director of Renee Cosmetics, a company creating waves in the female cosmetics industry, I am also an angel investor who fosters growing companies. Im passionate about all aspects of business and Im always interested to help brands grow, creating new benchmarks and fortifying our economy.

In what way has Renee Cosmetics shaped your professional journey?

Im grateful to be a part of RENEEs journey, its a brand which has adapted and changed with time, and yet has always stood apart from others and made a mark in the cosmetics sector by being one of the fastest growing makeup brands in the country. Renee Cosmetics continues to have a remarkable impact on my professional development. Since the companys inception, Ive been a part of brainstorming that's gone into developing the brand and defining our vision of becoming a globally recognized Indian makeup brand. Consequently, I have gained an understanding of what drives us to work together and take up new challenges head on. It has been quite an instructive adventure from black and white to full color, both in terms of customer insights and market understanding and in terms of retail expansion.

What makes Renee unique and how has it changed over time?

RENEE has always stood out by sticking to their core concept of being unique and creative, not just in terms of packaging or products but also by ensuring that we provide an overall unique experience for our consumers. Our products are compact, premium and professional quality and yet affordable and easy to use. Our approach has always been consumer-centric which helps us evolve and redefine beauty. All in all, Renee's product offerings are clutter-breaking and redefining the monotony of color cosmetics and brand language. FAB 5-in-1 lipstick was our debut product in India, it came in a compact, travel-friendly stick with five trendy colors, and is still one of our best-selling products. After that, we launched Fab Face 3-in-1 Makeup Stick, Madness pH Stick, Fab 3-in-1 Eyeshadow, Summer Slush Jelly Lip and Cheek Tint, Face Gloss, and more. We have continued to gauge the needs of our customers and come up with products that make professional makeup easy and affordable. We think it's important for women to feel confident embracing their personalities and provide them products that accentuate their beauty, their way.

What is Renees bestselling product according to you and why?

Our FAB 5-in-1 Lipstick is one of our best-selling products along with Madness PH Stick and FAB Face 3-in1 Makeup Stick, in my opinion. You can consider these products as must-haves in ones makeup arsenal because of their compact packaging and multi-utility. The shades and formulations of our products have been decided by keeping Indian complexions and climate in mind. We always ensure that all the products from RENEE are crafted to be super easy to use and have travel-friendly sizes so they can be carried in bags and can be used on-the-go.

Are there any exciting upcoming launches that you want to tell us about or give us a sneak peek at?

At Renee, we feel that you deserve only the finest when it comes to beauty products. So, our team is always striving hard to bring forth innovative and intriguing products to up your makeup game. One of our upcoming launches is Princess by RENEE. an exclusive makeup range especially designed for pre-teens. With innovative products, compact & adorable designs; Princess by RENEE is sure to win your princess' heart and yours too! We've ensured to avoid parabens and other nasties while creating this range and made sure that our products are dermatologically tested, cruelty-free and vegan.

Do you believe the cosmetics industry has reached its zenith? If so, what changes would you do to stay competitive?

The cosmetics industry is on the upswing after a challenging year. With the changing dynamics and new trends coming in every now and then, makeup is bound to evolve. The cosmetics industry has been evolving rapidly in the past few years especially in India and there is still a lot to come. We believe in innovating and thinking out of the box, and therefore well strive to spearhead towards the ascend and be the frontrunners in changing the makeup game in India.

Where do you see the brand in the next 5 years?

We want to become a major player in the color cosmetics business and revolutionize how make-up is used and perceived in our country. We aim to deliver innovative, high-quality, and affordable products and ascend to new heights. Renee Cosmetics is India's fastest-growing D2C brand. It's the only brand to reach 100 crore ARR in 20 months following the pandemic. After a great demand internationally, we're ready to delve into UAE, USA, Australia, and more markets. We want to expand geographically while strengthening our footprints in India. Our goal is to become an internationally recognized Indian make-up company that influences global norms.




Californias Department of Developmental Services filed a competing petition. The department said that DDS should be Andrews conservator because of alleged abuse by his parents . The judge followed the agencys recommendation and Andrews parents were shut out of his care.

But when she and her husband petitioned the court to become Andrews conservators, they got a nasty surprise.

When he turned 18, his mother was advised to seek a conservatorship for him. Thats a way for someone to assume legal guardianship over an adult incapable of caring for themselves. Being his conservator would allow her to make medical decisions on his behalf, along with other choices regarding his care.

Deborah Findleys son, Andrew, grew up with serious health problems, including autism, Lyme disease, and other conditions. Now 21, he is severely disabled and requires 24-hour care.

Anne Dachel transcribed a chilling report from California on the perils adults with disabilities and their families face. Competing interests are everywhere. Control of budgets, often well into 6 figures, comes into play. If you have applied for Guardianship or Conservatorship, you know the agony of the process. This story delves into how wrong the process can go.

As a result, they have been unable to visit Andrew in person for over three years, sometimes not even knowing where he was located.

There appears to be no legal avenue to challenge the courts decision. Deborah says she has spent over $300,000 in legal fees fighting the states court-ordered conservatorship, trying to get access to her son. So far, shes had no luck.

The issue of conservatorship is a complex one. You may remember news reports about pop star Brittany Spears and her years-long fight to regain control of her finances and personal life. A judge finally ended her 13-year conservatorship in 2021.

Investigative reporter Andie Judson, of ABC10 TV in Sacramento, examines Andrews case in a multi-part news series on conservatorship called The Price of Care. It is a complicated story with chilling implications.

San Diego ABC10

Andie Judson: The state of California wont let Deborah Findley see her son, Andrew, in person. She has spent over $300,000 in legal fees fighting the state order conservatorship.

Deborah Findley: The calls now are restricted to twice a week, 30 minutes.

Judson: She says she has to follow visitation guidelines. Questions like how hes feeling are called triggering and put her future visits in jeopardy.

Findley: Over the past three years, Ive only been allowed less than a hundred hours of contact with him.

Judson: Instead of asking him questions, she shows him his favorite things, like his presents. Christmas is just a few weeks away, but Andrew is not allowed to come home for the holiday. Shes also not allowed to record visits, so we filmed her side, redacting her sons face and voice.

Andrew, now 21, was hard to understand, losing focus often. She says hes on many medications that shes opposed to.

Because of the conservatorship, Deborah has no say.

Findley: He used to be fully conversational, and hes just a shell of a human being right now.

Judson: This was not what she was expecting when she sought conservatorship nearly four years ago.

Findley: Youre told, you know, when your special needs child turns 18, you need to get conservatorship.

Judson: Experts we spoke with said theres a pipeline that leads to conservatorship starting through school, doctors or regional centers.

Findley: The regional centers kind of pound that into parents too.

Judson: Andrew has autism as well as other health conditions requiring that he has around the clock care.

Findley: Court records show he had some challenges, but you know we have the best therapists in northern California, the best of everything.

Judson: They thought they could continue this care with the conservatorship. She says they were blindsided.

Findley: It was pretty much a done deal.

Judson: In reality, the court was in control.

Findley: We had no idea that something like this could happen.

Judson: What the court received, along with Deborahs petition for conservatorship, was a competing one from the [California] Department of Developmental Services, which is known as DDS, saying that they should be conservator because Andrews were allegedly abusive.

DDS has continued to say that throughout Andrews life, his parents have interfered with his health, safety and welfare; that they couldnt handle his growing aggression and werent providing proper care.

Deborah says she was never asked about this.

Findley: A court appointed investigator never interviewed usstill hasnt in three years.

Judson: The court listened to DDS, granting them temporary conservatorship over Andrew in September, 2019.

Findley: We become legal strangers to my son, and he was treated like an orphan.

Judson: Since the conservator process began, Deborah says for periods of time she hasnt been told where her son is.

Findley: It was a lot of nights of crying myself to sleep, going, Wheres my son? Is he alive? Is he dead? I dont know. Nobody would tell us.

Judson: Seeing people like his mother may cause regression, DDS told the court and that the court should not be swayed by impassioned pleas from family.

Findley: Its inhumane, just absolutely inhumane.

Judson: Information about her son is impossible to get.

Findley: Im like, did he get my card? Oh, you have to ask the conservator.

Judson: Which is a multi-billion dollar state agency. You have to ask them if your son got his Christmas card?

Deborah says Andrew wants to come home. DDS says this is truly whats best for him.

Now, unlike part one of our investigation, not all of the confidential court documents were accessible for this very complex case, but it gives us a window into a broken system keeping families apart.

We wondered how is it that a massive state agency can even serve as conservator over a single person with very specific needs.

We asked attorney Tom Coleman who founded the Spectrum Institute, a human rights nonprofit organization.

Tom Coleman: The law permits the director of the Department of Developmental Services to be appointed as a conservator.

This is ridiculous.

Someone whos running a billion dollar department with hundreds, if not thousands of employees, that person is going to be conservator of an individual and look after their needs and care for them?

It is a farce.

Judson: DDS often becomes conservator by way of their regional centers.

Findley: Tri-countys regional center nominated DDS to be conservator.

Judson: Deborah believes this is a conflict of interest because when a regional center nominates DDS as conservator and its granted, the responsibilities of conservator as returned to the regional center, funded by DDS.

Findley: DDS is the funding agent. They have full control over how that money is spent.

Judson: Whats also funded by DDS are the care facilities where 86 percent of those conserved by DDS live as of July 2022, like Andrew, as well as Garth who we introduced in part one of our investigation.

This is the facility in Lompoc, California where Andrew lives, Deborah says.

While she now knows where he is, shes not allowed to visit.

Findley: Prisoners, they get visitors. My childs not allowed any of that.

Judson: These conservatees care homes as well as care giving expenses as all paid for by taxpayers, yet a June 2022 audit found these facilities are not being properly monitored by DDS or regional centers as state law requires, including medication wasnt being properly distributed in somea life threatening issue.

This care is all part of the 12 billion dollar budget DDS has, including the ongoing legal battles to keep conservatorships in place.

Findley: The attorney general represents DDS. So theres the attorney, theres DDSs lawyers, theres tri-countys regional centers lawyers.

Judson: One of those is Andrews own court appointed attorney.

The court approved he be paid over $13,000 by taxpayers for about 20 days of work, and hes just one of the many attorneys involved. Others came from the California attorney generals office.

Findley: The assistant attorney general, the two of them. Talk about a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Judson: As a state agency in a court of law, the Department of Developmental Services is represented by Californias attorney general.

Findley: It was daunting to be in court with the attorney general.

Judson: In cases like Deborahs, they represent DDS to defend the conservatorship. Coleman finds this hugely problematic.

Coleman: Because the attorney general of California is the chief law enforcement officer of the state, including civil rights laws.

The State Department of Justice has a civil rights protection division.

Judson: Protecting and promoting the civil rights of all people in California is this divisions job, their website says.

Coleman: So the attorney general can intervene when the civil rights of people are being violated.

What if the violator is a state entity, like the Department of Developmental Services?

Then the attorney general has a choice. You cant a prosecutor and a defense attorney at the same time, right? Its a conflict of interest.

Judson: We reached out to the attorney generals office. They said they wont go against state agencies they represent, one being the Department of Developmental Services.

To fight a conservatorship, besides spending thousands of dollars for your own attorney, where can you go for help if youre in a position like Deborah?

Well, under federal law, Disability Rights California is required to protect the rights of those with disabilities.

Findley: Every time Ive reached out to them, Ive just been told that they only will communicate with the client, and that my son has to call them and ask them for help.

Judson: Its an organization that represents people with disabilities, and people with disabilities often cant communicate the same way that you and I are, and theyre saying he has to call?

Findley: Yeah.

Judson: Disability Rights California has a branch called OCRA, standing for Office of Clients' Rights Advocacy.

Coleman: This agency is supposed to protect the civil rights of Regional Center clients.

Judson: But Coleman says OCRA is not helping those conserved.

Coleman: As soon as they hear theres a conservatorship involved, theyre nowhere to be found.

Judson: And guess who OCRA is funded by? The Department of Developmental services.

Coleman: Ive reviewed their funding; Ive reviewed their contracts with DDS. They have the authority, they have the funding; they have a moral duty.

Judson: So we asked Disability Rights, OCRA manager about this.

Shannon Cogan, OCRA manager: I think its really easy to criticize who are doing hard work, instead of collaborating with them.

Judson: She said with conservatorships, they mainly provide alternatives. Their policy is not to help people obtain a conservatorship.

Cogan: We dont have a mandate to file lawsuits or administrative complaints about anything related to conservatorship. We do a lot of good work for people who might be impacted by conservatorship.

Coleman: They nibble around the edges.

You are a law firm. You are a civil rights enforcement legal entity.

Judson: OCRAs own website says that they provide legal advice and representation to clients of Regional Centers, where conservatorships often begin.

So we asked if they take on cases to fight conservatorships.

Cogan: Not OCRA. Thats one of the other branches of the tree.

Judson: For months we asked OCRA for specifics on how many conservatorship cases this other disability rights branch represented.

They never gave us that data.

As for getting involved after a conservatorship happens, Cogan validated Deborahs experience:

A client must give consent, so Andrew, rather than his mother. But a parent calling could spark action.

Cogan: Certainly if its an issue of extreme rights deprivation, health or safety, we send our employees to that person to interact with them.

Judson: Tom and Deborah say its not enough.

Coleman: Ive had so many people say Ive gone to Disability Rights California; they wont do anything, they wont do anything.

Judson: Specifically for Deborah, it seems like a never-ending loop of conflicts of interest.

The Regional Center, funded by DDS, recommended DDS be the conservator. They Regional Center then got conservatorship duties and placed her son with a care facility, funded by DDS.

She then went to OCRA of Disability Rights California to ask for help, an agency also funded by DDS.

But Disability Right California says their funding would not stop them from representing someone conserved by DDS, like Andrew.

Cogan: We have clients who are conserved by DDS. Theres no inherent conflict, and we do it.

Judson: Before our investigation aired we sent DDS this: a three page letter outlining our investigations findings with 15 specific questions, including about conflicts of interest.

Now they didnt answer any of our questions, but they did send us a written statement as well as a video of their director, Nancy Bargmann, reading that statement.

Bargmann video clip: We are constantly looking to improve how we serve the whole person.

Judson: We decided not to air it in full as they did not allow us to interview them or ask our own questions.

We took our questions about DDSs budget to Amy Wessling, the executive director of the Association of Regional Center Agencies.

Amy Wessling: We are the association that represents all 21 of the states Regional Centers.

Judson: She knows DDSs multi-billion dollar budget in and out.

Wessling: And then this tells you where the money comes from.

Judson: In addition to fully understanding the budget, we were curious if DDS has an incentive financially to conserve people. Amy doesnt believe so.

Wessling: DDS doesnt get additional funds from conserving people.

Judson: But no matter how you look at it, taxpayers are funding DDS conserving people. Parents like Deborah continue to lose hope.

Findley: Every time I have a call or a visit, Im scared its the last one, that I wont ever see my son again. Its just not a way to live.

Judson: Since our interview, Deborahs virtual visitation time has been paused. Her long legal fight with the Department of Developmental Services will continue in October when the court will determine if DDSs conservatorship becomes permanent.

Deborah has no idea if shell see her son again.

But the Department of Developmental Services isnt just responsible for the 414 people theyre conservator to. This 12 billion dollar agencys main duty, by law, is to help ensure 400,000 plus Californians with disabilities have equal rights.

But theres concern and evidence that theyre not doing their job.

CLIP: DDS and their Regional Centers arent really doing a good job of monitoring the quality of those services.

Judson: Even from Californias in-house watchdog

CLIP: Were finding that theyre just not doing a very good job.

Judson: Thats next on The Price of Care.
BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- A signed article by Chinese President Xi Jinping titled "Working Together for a Brighter Future of China-Uzbekistan Relations" was published Tuesday on Uzbek media ahead of his state visit to the Central Asian country.

An English version of the article, carried by leading Uzbek newspaper Narodnoe Slovo and Uzbekistan National News Agency (UzA), is as follows:

Working Together for a Brighter Future of China-Uzbekistan Relations

Xi Jinping

President of the People's Republic of China

"The land is fertile and crops thriving. Trees flourish, and flowers and fruits abound. A place home to steeds." This is how Huen Tsang, an eminent Chinese monk in the Tang Dynasty over 1,300 years ago, depicted the richly-endowed Samarkand. In this lovely mid-autumn month, a season of harvest, I will once again visit the beautiful city of Samarkand at the invitation of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, to discuss with him plans for closer cooperation between China and Uzbekistan, and to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit.

Both China and Uzbekistan are ancient civilizations, and the great Silk Road has borne witness to the friendly exchanges of the two peoples over the past 2,000 years and more. Several historical figures from China traveled west to visit Uzbekistan, including Zhang Qian of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24 AD), Huen Tsang of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and Chen Cheng of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), leaving their footprints in famous cities like Tashkent, Samarkand and Navoi. During the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Sayyid Ajall Shams al-Din, a statesman whose ancestral home was in Bukhara, served as the governor of Yunnan province in China. In the mid-14th century, Wu Ru, an authority on astronomy and calendar and a native of Samarkand, participated in the construction of an observatory in Nanjing. These people were trailblazers and pioneers in the China-Uzbekistan friendship, and stories about them are still widely told in both countries.

Uzbekistan is a major country at the geopolitical center of Central Asia. Over the last 31 years since gaining independence, Uzbekistan has scored remarkable achievements in national development and rejuvenation. In recent years in particular, under the leadership of President Mirziyoyev, the people of Uzbekistan have embarked on a new journey toward a "New Uzbekistan". Reform and development in various areas have entered the fast lane. The country has taken on a new look, its people enjoy a better life, and its international standing has risen significantly. As a friendly neighbor and comprehensive strategic partner, China feels truly happy for Uzbekistan.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of China-Uzbekistan diplomatic ties. Over the past three decades, the giant tree of our relationship has taken deeper roots and grown more exuberant. The two countries have respected each other, fostered good-neighborliness, strengthened solidarity and pursued mutual benefit. Cooperation across the board has yielded concrete results.

-- We are good friends sharing close affinity. Since 2016, President Mirziyoyev and I have stayed in close contact and forged a good working relationship and deep personal friendship through meetings, phone calls and correspondence. Under a comprehensive strategic partnership, the two countries have rendered mutual support on issues concerning each other's core interests, supported each other's implementation of development strategies, drawn upon each other's experience of reform and opening-up, and injected positive energy into regional development.

-- We are good partners pursuing common development. China is the biggest trading partner and a major investor for Uzbekistan. Two-way trade exceeded US$8 billion in 2021, approached US$5 billion in the first half of this year, and is on course to reach the US$10-billion goal set for 2022. Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative has been fruitful, and major projects are making steady progress. All four lines of the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline run through Uzbekistan. The tunnel on the Angren-Pap railway line, the longest tunnel in Central Asia, has been successfully completed. More transport potential is being unleashed from the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan highway and the China-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan railway. And preparations for the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project are well under way. Uzbekistan is thus transforming from a land-locked to a land-linked country. The two sides have also carried out robust cooperation in new energy, agriculture, finance and modern telecommunications, delivering greater benefits to the two peoples.

-- We are a good example of dialogue between civilizations. The two sides have held a wide range of exchanges including art festivals, culture promotion events, exhibitions and seminars. Cooperation is flourishing with regard to sending students, translating publications, making films, translating TV series, and conducting sub-national interactions and personnel training, which has effectively brought the two peoples still closer. In recent years, China has trained for Uzbekistan over 6,500 professionals of various fields. They are taking an active part in Uzbekistan's reform and development endeavors. Confucius Institutes have been set up in Tashkent and Samarkand where a great number of Uzbeks learned the Chinese language and they have become envoys of friendship between our two countries. Cooperation in tourism is taking off, bringing more Chinese to the beautiful land of Uzbekistan. The preservation and restoration of historical sites in Khiva, a project launched during my visit to Samarkand in 2013, has been successfully concluded, further augmenting the charm of this ancient city.

-- We are good brothers supporting each other in times of need. China and Uzbekistan, with their interests closely entwined, have stood together through thick and thin. We have maintained close coordination both bilaterally and in such regional and multilateral frameworks as the SCO. We have worked together to oppose external interference, combat the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism, and tackle transnational organized crimes and drug trafficking. By strengthening intelligence sharing and expanding personnel training, we have jointly forged a strong shield of security. In face of the COVID-19 pandemic, our two countries have supported each other and conducted active cooperation. Chinese vaccines, which can now be jointly produced with Uzbekistan, have played a major role in Uzbekistan's fight against the virus, and a Chinese COVID drug has been approved for clinical use in Uzbekistan, providing effective protection for the life of people in both countries.

Over 2,000 years of friendly exchanges and three decades of mutually beneficial cooperation show that enhancing China-Uzbekistan cooperation on all fronts conforms to the trend of history and meets the fundamental interests of both peoples. Standing at the intersection of past and future, we are full of confidence and expectation for a more promising prospect of China-Uzbekistan relations.

First, we need to enhance mutual support and strengthen the bond of mutual trust. We need to set out the blueprint for China-Uzbekistan relations in the new era from a strategic and long-term perspective. We need to intensify high-level exchanges, increase mutual political trust, deepen the sharing of governance experience, and continue to render mutual support on issues concerning each other's core interests. China firmly supports Uzbekistan in pursuing a development path suited to its own national conditions and opposes interference in Uzbekistan's internal affairs by any force.

Second, we need to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation to pursue common development and prosperity. We should forge a better synergy between our development strategies and jointly explore new pathways to bilateral cooperation in economy, trade, investment, key projects and other fields. China has entered a new development stage and is making active efforts to foster a new development paradigm. Uzbekistan is welcome to board the express train of China's development and share its development opportunities. Next year marks the tenth anniversary of the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative. Our two sides could use this opportunity and harness the momentum to further flesh out the bilateral cooperation and pursue high-quality development together. We also need to expand cooperation on poverty reduction and alleviation so that more people in both countries benefit from our mutually beneficial cooperation.

China hopes to work with Uzbekistan to actively implement the Global Development Initiative, and take concerted actions to safeguard the interests of developing countries and foster a balanced, coordinated and inclusive development landscape that embraces win-win cooperation, works for all and delivers common prosperity.

Third, we need to strengthen security cooperation to defuse risks and challenges. Our two sides need to deepen cooperation in the security field and unequivocally reject attempts by any force to undermine regional security, to foster a secure external environment for the development of both countries. Afghanistan is a mutual neighbor of China and Uzbekistan. A peaceful, stable, growing and prosperous Afghanistan is in our shared interests. China appreciates and supports the unique role of Uzbekistan in resolving the issue of Afghanistan. We stand ready to work with Uzbekistan to put the Global Security Initiative into action, fend off new threats and challenges, and uphold peace, stability and international fairness and justice.

Fourth, we need to promote cultural exchanges to enhance people-to-people connectivity. Between relatives and friends alike, with closer interaction the affinity grows. The China-Uzbekistan friendship enjoys a time-honored history and our cooperation on people-to-people exchanges has a solid foundation and bright prospects. We need to expand cooperation in the areas of media, education, health, culture, tourism, press, archeology and at the sub-national level, open culture centers in each other's countries at an earlier time and set up a Luban Workshop in Uzbekistan, to foster a multi-faceted framework of people-to-people exchanges. This will help sustain the growth of China-Uzbekistan relations and build a lasting friendship between our peoples.

During my visit to Uzbekistan this time, I will attend the SCO Samarkand Summit. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Guided by the purposes and principles enshrined in these two documents, the SCO has acted on the Shanghai Spirit, stayed true to its founding mission, and promoted the joint efforts among its member states for stability and development. The SCO has set a fine example of a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation, and proved itself an important and constructive force in the Eurasian region and in international affairs.

Since assuming SCO presidency, despite the impacts from COVID-19, Uzbekistan has strengthened communication and coordination with other member states, made solid efforts on various fronts, and preserved the SCO's momentum of sound and steady development. China applauds Uzbekistan for its efforts. I am confident that with the joint efforts of all sides, the Samarkand Summit will produce fruitful outcomes and make greater contribution to building an even closer SCO community with a shared future and to peace, stability, development and prosperity of our region.

As the saying goes, when your heart knows its direction, the distance to destination will never be long. Bearing in mind the original aspiration upon the establishment of our diplomatic relations, China will work with Uzbekistan to seize the historical opportunities, forge ahead side by side on the path of national development and rejuvenation, and make joint efforts toward the goal of building a China-Uzbekistan community with a shared future. 
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday voiced deep concern about reports of renewed fighting along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, said his spokesman.

Guterres called on the sides to take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions, exercise maximum restraint and resolve any outstanding issues through dialogue and within existing formats, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman. "He also urges them to fully implement previously reached agreements."

The secretary-general expressed support for all ongoing mediation efforts in the region, said Dujarric. 
Climate hysterics like to throw around the world denier to castigate those who dont get with the green agenda. The term is deliberately intended to echo the phrase Holocaust denier to those anti-Semites who like to insist that the Holocaust never happened. While the comparison is obscene, its certainly true that the Holocaust, like the climate agenda, have something in common: They both reflect a blind fanaticism untethered to actual facts.

Climate hysterics demonize carbon dioxide (CO2) much as Hitler stereotyped Jews. They then demonize their critics as Holocaust deniers because the psychological link is to demonize critics of the anthropogenic theory as if they were Jew-haters. However, the term climate deniers outside the context of Holocaust denial makes no sense. No rational person would deny that this planet has an atmosphere, weather, and climate. But honestly, it is climate hysterics who hate their critics, seeing them as evil, greedy, hydrocarbon-burning capitalists willing to make Earths climate unbearably hot and dangerous for all living things.

The Holocaust was a past, documented event. In contrast, the contention that the world might end because we burn hydrocarbon fuels that emit CO2 is a theory based on debatable simulations of future climate possibilities. The hard reality is that radical leftists, like Hitlers National Socialist Nazis, will kill tens of millions to assuage their fears. Using the denier language to tar those who do not take a knee to concede to this global warming, climate change irrational fear is a monumental, inexcusable insult to the memory of the six million Jews pointlessly murdered in the insane racial hysteria of the Shoah.

The demonization of CO2 depends on the asserted certainty that burning hydrocarbon fuels that emit CO2, a greenhouse gas that is a trace molecule, present in approximately 0.04 percent of the atmosphere, will generate existential climate change catastrophes. The decarbonization movement would be dead in the water except for the existential fear climate hysterics manufacture over supposed adverse anthropogenic CO2 consequences touted as making Earth uninhabitable for humans.

Ironically, Nazis and climate hysterics understand that the success of prejudicial stereotyping depends on the availability of a charismatic demagogue, a Hitler, capable of triggering irrational fear of the perceived evil subgroup. In other words, the psychology of prejudicial stereotyping depends upon the availability of an Al Gore or Greta Thunberg willing to create permanent fear over myriad existential climate disasters that may never happen.

Montage: Earth by rawpixel.com; Fear by wayhomestudio.

As astrophysicist and geoscientist Willie Soon has pointed out repeatedly, climate hysterics are true believers, impervious to experiential refutation. On August 19, 2022, in a speech delivered to the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness at their annual convention, Dr. Soon showed extensive evidence that the United Nations predictions of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming have been wrong for the past 50 years.

U.N. predictions that catastrophic anthropogenic global warming will cause sea levels to rise, wiping nations off the face of the earth, are nothing but fearmongering. But, as Dr. Soon documented, when U.N. predictions fail to materialize, the U.N. merely extends the inevitable happening of the future climate change catastrophe to an anticipated date in the future.

Lowering the Holocaust to the level of a climate debate irreparably demeans what was the most heinous genocidal catastrophe ever perpetrated by human beings against fellow human beings. Having said that, there is a homicidal reality to the neo-Marxist Green New Deal mass delusion, something apparent in today as EU governments, deprived of Russian gas, scramble to forestall the real, existential threat of businesses shutting down and citizens freezing in a long, cold European winter.

In his classic 1954 treatise, The Nature of Prejudice, Harvard psychologist Gordon W. Allport described the psychology of prejudicial stereotyping behind Hitlers genocidal mania demonizing Jews. That same theory explains why the green movement is intolerant today. The psychology of stereotyping creates generalizations; that is, overcategorizations, that become prejudices when ideological convictions are not reversible when exposed to new knowledge.

Allport defined ethnic prejudice as follows:

Ethnic prejudice is an antipathy based upon a faulty and inflexible generalization. It may be felt or expressed. It may be directed toward a group as a whole, or toward an individual because he is a member of that group.

Allport further noted that intense prejudicial antipathies are likely to result in vigorously hostile action. Allport elaborated extermination as the most extreme prejudicial form of violent actions in terms of the Holocaust.

Extermination. Lynchings, pogroms, massacres, and the Hitlerian program of genocide mark the ultimate degree of violent expression of prejudice.

Another very important book to emerge regarding the madness of the Nazi era was Eric Hoffers 1951 book, The True Believer. In it, he explained that blind adherence to doctrinal ideology is key to the fanaticism necessary to create a successful social or political movement. Thus, wrote Hoffer, active mass movements strive to interpose a fact-proof screen between the faithful and the realities of the world.

Hoffer further pointed out that the facts on which a true believer bases his conclusions must not be derived from his [i.e., a true believers] experience or observation. For true believers, Hoffer insisted, the ultimate and absolute truth is already embodied in their doctrine, and there is no truth nor certitude outside it. To rely on the evidence of the senses and of reason is heresy and treason. It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible. What we know as blind faith is sustained by innumerable unbeliefs.

Hoffer concluded his comments on the importance of ideology (which he calls doctrine) for true believers by commenting in that the fanatical communist refuses to believe any unfavorable report or evidence about Russia. This kind of militant refuses to see with his own eyes the cruel misery inside the Soviet promised land.

The same holds true for progressives who transform a supposedly scientific argument about CO2 emissions into their political fight against capitalism. The Green New Deal movement insists we must move entirely to solar energy and wind power because these are not hydrocarbon fuels. The Green New Deal assumes that eliminating the use of hydrocarbon fuels, the energy that fuels capitalism, by moving to the less powerful and less reliable solar energy and wind power is essential to a future committed to social justice.

In a similar vein, in 1965, Herbert Marcuse of the neo-Marxist Frankfurt School published an essay entitled Repressive Tolerance. In that essay, Marcuse argued for liberating tolerance, a redefinition of tolerance that requires the censoring of policies, attitudes, opinions, etc., that are designed to reinforce the dominant repressive and alienating nature of advanced industrial societies like the United States. More simply, Marcuse explained that liberating tolerance would mean intolerance against movements from the Right, and toleration of movements from the Left. Marcuse left no doubt that his argument for liberating tolerance was central to his goal of negating capitalism to destroy advanced industrial society.

Theres an irony to all this: On the one hand, its obscene for climate fanatics to tar their opponents as deniers in the same the term is used for people to deny the Holocaust. The first is a well-document historic event, while the second is a highly speculative theory based upon inadequate computer models made to predict future complex climate events. However, the common denominator is that both the Holocaust and the climate movement arise from the same form of rigid, fact-free fanaticism common to all true believers.

Since 2004, Jerome R. Corsi has published 25 books on economics, history, and politics, including two #1 New York Times bestsellers. In 1972, he received his Ph.D. from the Department of Government at Harvard University. He currently resides in New Jersey with his family. His current book, The Truth About Energy, Global Warming, and Climate Change: Exposing Climate Lies in an Age of Disinformation, was published on June 28, 2022. Dr. Corsis new website, DrJeromeCorsi.com, is now on the Internet in its first phase of redevelopment.
Medical school and postgraduate training is a long and arduous journey, often taking 8-10 years beyond college. There is much to learn, process and assimilate. Clinical judgement stems not only from experience but also from intelligence.

Medicine is a high stakes game. Sickness and health lie in the balance, as does life and death (or vision and blindness in my professional world of retina surgery). Medical errors can be due to accidents, incorrect judgement calls, or lack of knowledge.

When your health or life is on the line, you want the smartest physician caring for you, making critical decisions, or performing challenging surgery. I would want the best and the brightest caring for me. I am not as much concerned with my doctors bedside manner, wokeness, or social skills but rather that they be smart, capable, and competent.

Are woke doctors necessarily the smartest? If they are thinking more about proper pronouns and social justice, are they thinking less about blood tests and MRI findings?

YouTube screen grab CC BY 3.0 license

Dr Stanley Goldfarb is a physician-writer, like yours truly. He is A board-certified kidney specialist, a former Professor and Associate Dean for Curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He has been widely published in medical journals, as well as The Wall Street Journal.

Dr Goldfarb would be considered a Dr Smart. He founded an organization called Do No Harm with a mission to, Protect healthcare from a radical, divisive, and discriminatory ideology. We believe in making healthcare better for all  not undermining it in pursuit of a political agenda.

He recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Post, calling out top medical schools for shifting from a hundred years of educating and training Dr Smart in favor of their new preferred student Dr Woke. His opening line, Elite medical schools are deliberately recruiting woke activists, jeopardizing their mission of training physicians.

His organization reviewed the application process for Americas 50 top medical schools as ranked by US News and World Report. His conclusion was that for these top schools,

Nearly three-quarters of these institutions  and 80% of the top 10  ask applicants about their views on diversity, equity, inclusion, anti-racism and other politicized concepts. The clear goal is to find the students who will best advance divisive ideology, not provide the best care to patients.

Several examples from the article cites elite medical school applications.

Harvard asks applicants to share, Significant challenges in access to education, unusual socioeconomic factors, identification with a minority culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Columbia, states its commitment to diversity, then asks applicants to prove how their background and experiences will contribute to this important focus of our institution.

The University of Pittsburgh tells applicants: We are interested in combating all forms of systemic barriers and would like to hear your thoughts on opposing specifically: systemic racism, anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, and misogyny. It then doubles down with the ask: How will you contribute?

The University of Miami asks, What have you done to help identify, address and correct an issue of systemic discrimination? The answer can come from any facet of life, not just medicine.

The top medical schools are changing admission and educational standards away from academic rigor and intelligence instead toward the social justice trio of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Its not that woke students cannot also be smart and handle the rigors of medical school and beyond, but that they are thinking more about proper pronouns than proper surgical technique, or systemic racism rather than systemic metastases.

Spending more time studying critical race theory and gender equity means less time studying depression or diabetes. When you are sick, what do you want your doctor to know more about, wokeness or medicine?

Dr House is a fictional television doctor, an unwoke, brash and often rude physician, but one who is brilliant, seeing the subtleties his colleagues missed, making the tough diagnosis. Dr House was singularly focused on the patient and their malady, not gender pronouns or safe spaces.

Social determinants of health are important and always have been; many diseases are more prevalent in specific ethnic or socioeconomic groups, either due to genetics or environment. But the new woke thinking goes beyond these concepts into artificial constructs that have not been validated as medically relevant in assisting in medical diagnosis and treatment.

Beyond admission to medical school, what about the curriculum? The Association of American Medical Colleges,

Recently released a report describing the new diversity, equity and inclusion competencies that medical students and residents will be expected to master. Practicing physicians who work at teaching hospitals may also soon be required to undergo this form of, well, political re-education.

Personally, I want my doctor to understand cardiology rather than intersectionality and systemic lupus rather than systemic oppression. Leave social justice to humanities departments, not medical school.

Academia has already been corrupted by wokeness. The military and medicine are well underway down a woke mentality path. In these latter two endeavors, the consequences can be lethal when woke replaces smart and well trained.

The slippery slope of this thinking may lead to healthcare rationing based on race and gender. As Betsy McCaughey recently wrote,

Prominent medical organizations and the Biden administration are pressing for rules that will move disadvantaged populations to the front of the line for scarce medical resources  think vaccines, ventilators, monoclonal antibody treatments. That means everyone else waits longer, in some cases too long.

Or as a New York Times columnist wrote, Can I withhold medical care from a bigot? Rude or abusive patient behavior should be challenged, and boundaries set, but it is dangerous to use value judgements to determine who receives medical care. Many physicians, myself included, care for the occasional prisoner, some who have committed crimes against children or murder. As distasteful as these patients may be, as a physician we should be doing our best for each patient.

When wearing social justice glasses, physicians may fall short of delivering the best medical care to their patients. What happens when we disagree with our patients over politics, such as Trump, climate change, or mask mandates? Will the new crop of woke physicians be able to make this distinction and remain neutral, treating the patient rather than their politics or wokeness?

Lastly, judgmental equity may cause prejudice where presumed beneficiaries of lower admission and graduation standards are viewed, rightly or wrongly, as inferior doctors who got a pass based on social constructs. How is that fair to those who worked hard and fully deserve their professional status?

The medical profession has taken a big hit over COVID, following the politics instead of the science. Going woke wont help matters. Leave social justice and gender pronouns to college sociology departments. Let doctors return to being our top guns, the best of the best.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a physician and writer.

Follow me on Twitter @retinaldoctor

Truth Social @BrianJoondeph

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In the history of American social movements, September 11 may take on new significance. September 11, 2022, is the day the powers that be allowed LGBWithoutTheT to trend on Twitter. In broad daylight, lesbians and gays disassociated themselves from the transgender movement, and Twitter gave them a platform. This was a major turnaround. Just a month earlier Twitter had banned Gays Against Groomers for hateful conduct.

For those not familiar with Twitter, at a given time about five or six stories are prominently featured as trending. Twitter claims that trends are tailored for you based on your location and who you follow, but then adds a critical disclaimer: There will be many world and local news events and conversations that will appear in your trends regardless of your personalization.

If Twitter chose to let #LGBWithoutTheT trend for me, it trended for everyone. I suspect someone above the Twitter brass encouraged them to do just that. With the elections just two months away, the increasingly noisy and oppressive trans movement was becoming too much of a political liability.

In the past year or so, while the woke were storming the barricades on behalf of their oppressed comrades and the corporate suits were kowtowing to the transgender communitys every demand, only one group had the clout and cojones to speak out, and that was the LGBs, lesbians, gays, and bi-sexuals. The resistance among LGBs to the Ts has been brewing for some time. Sunday, it percolated to the surface.

The LGB resistance would seem to fall into two general categories, one shared by all thinking people. Said a bi-sexual woman,

I have nothing in common with activists who are trying to sterilise children and invade sex specific places. Its sad that I dont even identify as someone within the LGBTQ community anymore because of one small group of extremists.

Said a gay man,

Wanting to cut your dick or boobs off is not LGB. Wanting to enter women's locker rooms as men is not LGB. Wanting to compete against women as a man is not LGB. Wanting to give puberty blockers and sex change hormones to children is not LGB.

Sasha cut right to the chase:

As a lesbian I have nothing in common with a movement that claims men can be lesbians, and is so determined to turn (mostly gay and autistic) kids into lifelong medical patients they drag opponents to court regularly. I want nothing to do with this lunacy.

The second point of resistance was more personal and distinctive. LGBs are apparently weary of being called bigots for their collective failure to date trans people. Wrote one lesbian,

We're better off without the homophobic trans idiots, i don't need men (transwomen) telling me who i'm allowed to be attracted too, being same sex attracted doesn't make you transphobic.

Said another, I am not sexually attracted to somebody with a penis - even if they dress up like a woman. Being attracted based on sexual traits is now, uh, transphobic. Said a gay man, Gay ppl are assaulted & called bigots & pervs in need of conversion therapy - because they don't want to f**k someone of the opposite sex.

Reversing course on the good ship Trans will be no easier than doing a quick 180 on an aircraft carrier. On August 22, for instance, the all-purpose British LGBT site PinkNews headlined an article, Hate-fuelled Gays Against Groomers invited on Fox News about being suspended from Twitter. Until September 11, few in the gay media and no one in the mainstream media showed any sign of easing up on Trans critics.

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has felt the heat for years. Rowling first got scorched in December 2019 when she came out in defense of a British tax-specialist who was fired for a tweet that was judged homophobic. When Rowling friended a dying lesbian, also said to be homophobic, Rowling braced for the worst. I must have been on my fourth or fifth cancellation by then, said Rowling. I expected the threats of violence, to be told I was literally killing trans people with my hate, to be called cunt and bitch and, of course, for my books to be burned, although one particularly abusive man told me hed composted them.

What surprised Rowling was the avalanche of emails and letters that came showering down upon me, the overwhelming majority of which were positive, grateful and supportive. Until September 11, the media had largely succeeded in keeping the world from seeing that avalanche.

For Rowling and others like her, the media popularized a new slur, TERF, trans-exclusionary radical feminist. On the September 11 Twitter feed, several LGBs came to the TERFs defense. One woman posted a photo from an unnamed gay pride parade (possibly Dresden) of a large sign reading, TERFS CAN SUCK MY HUGE TRANS COCK, adding the comment, Way to win hearts and minds, by engaging in a bit of #rapeculture.

As it happens on September 5, the feminist site Reduxx ran this photo over an article headlined, Three Females Attacked, One Killed by Man at German Pride ParadeActivists Blame TERFs.

TERFs got interesting offers today at the CSD in Dresden, Germany... pic.twitter.com/jdVbF9DWw0  Stephan Wunsch (@wunsch_stephan) September 3, 2022

The man killed was a biological woman. The actual man who killed him was a Muslim refugee illegally in the country. Rather than blame Islam, Trans supporters blamed the TERFs. The article cited one German political and media figure after another scolding, as one female historian phrased it, all those who have peddled the anti-trans moral panic.

Days later, Twitter decided that anti-trans moral panic may be justified after all. Tucker Carlson, an outspoken critic of the Trans movement, may have had something to do with the timing. His powerful Fox Nation series Transgressive premiered on September 8. The woke need to fasten their seat belts. This rapid volte-face may cause whiplash.

For more information, see www.cashill.com
Over at the storied and statusy Guggenheim Museum in New York, they've got some wokester civility culture going on in that temple of high art.

A sympathetic writer from the left-leaning Atlantic wanted to do a story about the claimed racist travails of the museum's wokester curator...and got her head bit off.

Recently, Helen Lewis from The Atlantic reached out to me for a story that she was working on, literally demanding that I speak to her. You don't have to take my word for it -- below is a screenshot of her initial DM to me. I w/o question declined this -- and here are my messages pic.twitter.com/B80VONSJ5q  No Quarter Will Be Given (@chaedria) September 12, 2022

John Sexton at Hot Air reported on all the charm going on among these hoity-toities:

That's the most bland, polite email seeking an interview I've ever read. It's entirely professional and not the least bit upsetting in any way. And notice Lewis did not "literally demand" anything as LaBouvier claims. What Helen Lewis literally wrote was, "Might we talk?" which was a question not a demand. And somehow we go from that polite email to this response: "So you plan to discuss my experience? F--- you. I am so tired of scavenging journalists attempting to speak for me, or depict me." She added, "As I said in my Instagram message to you, should you f--- this up  which you will  I will be on your a-- like white on rice on a paper plate in a snowstorm at a KKK rally." Here is my response to Helen in which I told her to go "fuck herself" and why. I cc'd @adriennelaf, the executive editor of @theatlantic. I did this b/c so often the masthead claims that they have no idea that this OOC behavior happens. Not only did they know, they co-signed it. pic.twitter.com/2sPku89MOn  No Quarter Will Be Given (@chaedria) September 12, 2022

Helen Lewis responded with another polite but this time more pointed email. "I plan to quote parts of our correspondence so far." She noted that she had never agreed to treat any correspondence as off the record. LaBouvier doubled down: "I want to be incredibly clear again. F--- you." She added, "You also do not have the bylines that suggest you can carry this story with the reporting, truth and consideration it deserves. Your responses in no way suggest that you have the range that I am speaking of, and I absolutely will not be speaking to you. I do not defer to arrogance, Whiteness or lack of expertise."

This, in its own way, is worse than one of those fast food restaurant brawls we are always being treated to on Twitter.

The wokester curator, who was claiming that her curation of a Basquiat exhibition didn't get the press attention it deserved, sounds paranoid, if not downright possessed. Who is Basquiat? A mediocre artist whose work is sold on cheap t-shirts at Uniqlo as knockoffs. Anyone with a brain would know that a curation of this guy's work wouldn't merit the time it took to write it up.

This is the most lunatic encounter from a leftist I've ever seen, clearly a sign of a rotted brain so invested in the idea of being a victim, so obsessed with being woke, that it can no longer distinguish friend from foe. She seems to have a bad case of narcissism  even her Twitter portrait shows her in what arguably appears to be the act of taking a selfie  made worse by the attire she is wearing, which looks like medical scrubs, or the kind of clothing a patient in a mental health facility might be wearing.

The Atlantic writer clearly went into this with an eye toward writing a sympathetic account, and the enraged response was so irrational, so nutty, so accusatory, so mendacious, and so out of touch with reality that the writer now has got to change the trajectory of her storyline, which was probably about how the white art world (that bastion of Lenny Bernsteins made fun of by Tom Wolfe in Radical Chic, written around 1967), is really a nest of white supremacist racists.

Not with an encounter like that.

What we are seeing now is more like the other half of Tom Wolfe's book on high society and status in the 1960s, the essay he wrote called "Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers," about how racial grievance-mongers have a grand old time with well-meaning white liberals who want to virtue-signal and bankroll their "oppression." The Mau-Mauers in Tom Wolfe's book went after Hush Puppywearing civil servants tasked to dole out public money for "summer jobs" and the like, and the mau-mauers ran the show. Mau-mauing described by Wolfe takes place at many levels, not the least of which is the Lenny Bernstein level, where unsmiling Black Panthers were treated to air kisses and canapes by the society jet set in Manhattan.

Well, now we have it taken to a whole new level, where a woman who's busy complaining about not getting the press she wants gets approached by an elite writer for a haughty magazine clearly intent on advancing her "racism in high places" narrative, and then eats her alive.

One wonders who the next writer she'll attack will be in her quest for good public relations. And whether she attacks museum donors and sponsors similarly. Who will be the next to step up to the plate  and wait for the fork and knife to come down?

What a miserable thing wokery does for some people. This person badly seems to need therapy, but with the therapy field just as woke as she is, she won't get any help. She'll just go on being an advertisement for the crazed interior atmosphere of the Guggenheim these days and wondering why people want to stay away. Somehow, I can't see the museum being happy about this, but whether they do anything about it is likely to rest on how much their donors are willing to take.

Image: Twitter screen shot.
GENEVA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) human rights office should respect the right of each state to choose independently the path for human rights development in accordance with their national conditions, the Chinese Ambassador to the UN in Geneva said on Tuesday.

Speaking on behalf of a group of more than 30 countries, Chen Xu, China's permanent representative to the UN Office in Geneva, told the 51st Session of the Human Rights Council that mutual trust and respect is vital to ensure successful cooperation between the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and member states.

Chen said that the ongoing resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic exposes serious under-investment in economic, social and cultural rights, the right to development, and the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health by multilateral human rights mechanisms.

"We therefore call on the OHCHR to attach greater importance and channel more resources to these rights, put the elimination of inequality at the core of its work, help all countries especially developing countries overcome the challenges of the pandemic and achieve their economic, social and sustainable development," Chen said.

The Chinese ambassador also stressed that the Human Rights Council should serve as a platform for constructive dialogue and cooperation for all parties, and all parties should refrain from politicization and double standards at the Human Rights Council. 
Until the truckers' Freedom Convoy, I had almost given up on my fellow Canadians growing a spine. Until then, it seemed to me that Canadians were too complacent, too trusting of authority, too go-along-to-get along, and way too cherishing of that warm and fuzzy feeling in the chest that comes from self-identifying as "liberal." Canadians are known for being nice, and indeed as a whole they are nice, but unfortunately, sometimes they're too nice for their own good. No one, to the best of my knowledge, has ever gotten rid of a tyranny by being nice. And the Trudeau regime has gotten increasingly tyrannical as long as it has been in power. It has swung a wrecking ball through Canada's culture and economy, with swings of ever-increasing amplitude, while Canadians have maintained that stiff upper lip that they inherited from the British while being buried in the rubble.

Then came the Freedom Convoy, and though it was eventually brutally crushed by phalanxes of Robocops without badges, and mounted police that trampled little old ladies under the hooves of horses, it did its job  the job of waking up a slumbering nation that was sleepwalking to its ruin. The truly peaceful demonstration had been crushed, but the thoughts and feelings of the nation began to change course. Although early on in the protest, the majority of Canadians were against it, after it was over, they began to change their minds, and in the end, the majority of Canadians decided that they rather liked what the truckers' protest really was about: the restoration of freedom to a nation that had somehow allowed it to begin to slip through its fingers.

Last Saturday, at the convention of the Conservative Party of Canada, which was held to announce the winner of a lengthy leadership race, something happened that brought home to me the Canadian hunger for freedom in a way that I never expected, and in a way that I have never heard of happening anywhere else before. It wasn't just that a new leader was elected, but that the idea that he stood for, freedom, stood out as being even more important than the man himself. After so many years of the cult of Trudeau, where the man himself became more important than what he stood for, and where what he stood for was stupidity, incompetence, scandal, and corruption at every turn, it was amazing that, for a change, not only was a really good man elected as leader of the only party that can beat the Liberals and their NDP socialist enablers, but that his great idea, the idea of freedom, which he had resuscitated in Canadian political discourse, ended up upstaging even him at the moment of his triumph.

Let me describe Pierre Poilievre, the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, before I describe this amazing moment. For one thing, he, more than any other Conservative, has been the fiercest, most persistent, and most dogged critic of Justin Trudeau's Liberals, confronting them relentlessly at every turn. But he is no ideologue. He is all about common sense. I think the most important thing about him as a leader is that he is authentic, a self-made man whose strength derives from his work to make himself what he is today. He was an orphan, given up for adoption by a teenage mother and raised by a couple of schoolteachers. He is well educated, but not Ivy Leaguestyle, and sharp as a tack. Though the Liberals have tried to do so, they have never to my knowledge managed to catch him on the back foot. Bespectacled and somewhat diminutive in stature, he nevertheless roars like a lion  not literally, in a theatrical way, but by the power of his words of persuasion.

His wife, Anaida, is in her own way just as admirable as he. She is a Venezuelan immigrant who came to Canada  legally, of course  with her family with almost nothing. Her father had made a living in Venezuela by selling vegetables off the back of a pickup truck, and after they landed in Canada, the family all pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. She is beautiful and in her own right a powerful speaker. At the convention, she delivered a terrific speech introducing her husband, Pierre.

And now comes the amazing part that I never anticipated and will remember for the rest of my life. Throughout the evening, the tension had been building before the announcement of the winner. The leadership race had been fought hard, and its outcome was not certain  with ranked-ballot voting, it never is. Finally, the announcement of Pierre as the new leader was made, and the audience rose up, roaring, just as one might expect  but they did not stand up bellowing his name, as one might also have expected and as I have seen happen at so many political conventions. It wasn't Pierre, Pierre that they shouted in unison, but freedom, freedom! And that went on and on, because that is what it's all about.

The Canadian truckers' Freedom Convoy has had a huge impact all over the world and is being imitated in different ways in different parts of the world  notably in Holland in the form of the Farmers' Convoy. Let's hope that the election of freedom, as embodied by Pierre Poilievre, to the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, will likewise spread like wildfire to other parts of the world.

Max Dublin is a writer living in Toronto. He is the author of Futurehype: The Tyranny of Prophecy and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Image via Pxhere.
The following is copied and pasted from the text of the president's remarks at a Democratic National Committee reception in Maryland, on September 8, one week after his demagogic harangue at the entrance of Independence Hall in Philadelphia:

Extreme MAGA Republicans just don't threaten our personal and economic rights; they embrace political violence. Think about it. They refuse to accept the will of the people. They threaten our very democracy. They  and that's not hyperbole. To this day, they defend the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6.

Biden continues his rant that "MAGA Republicans [among other evils] threaten our very democracy." What's to be done with people who "threaten" the country? Wouldn't the Stalinists say "lock them up"? Make no mistake about it: Biden has not backpedaled from his anti-Republican stance, declared so volubly on the evening of September 1. Consider him part of the Stalinist campaign against the freedom-loving spirit of the American people, extolled by Madison in Federalist No. 57.

All Republican voters and independents should consider Biden as one with the Stalinists. Dave Seminara, identified as "a former diplomat, at the bottom of his September 12 Wall Street Journal op-ed, pointed out that Biden refers to "'ultra-MAGA voters [as] domestic terrorists." Yet he argues that Republicans must send Citizen Trump packing.

In the penultimate paragraph of his roll-Trump-under-the-bus screed, "I Wasn't Never Trump  but I Say Not Again," this former diplomat, nearing 50 by his own admission, writes, "If Republicans want to escape the nightmare conditions Mr. Biden has inflicted on the country, they can't allow Mr. Trump to continue to lead the party." Trump should not be permitted to lead the MAGA Republican Party, the party he formed, the party that a victorious Biden would likely move to throttle? Seminara leads his final paragraph with this assertion: "The best-case scenario for the left is for Republicans to succumb to their fears and stick with an unpopular polarizing candidate who would re-enter the White House at 78 if elected."

This writer cannot claim to be a former diplomat, but admitting to being well into his 83rd year, this observer has been following leftist political shenanigans some 60 percent of the time longer. If this extra time does not immediately yield greater wisdom, arguably, it does open greater opportunity for lesson-learning.

Accordingly, I submit that the best-case scenario for the left is for Republicans to succumb to the lies about Donald J. Trump and his MAGA program spewed daily (with the possible two-day exception to note the passing of Queen Elizabeth II) and throw Citizen Trump to the Stalinist wolves, for their glee and great amusement, to the utter demoralization of the Trump base, left to wander aimless in the political desert, puzzled, indeed grieving, at their abandonment by their GOP leaders, now understood to be craven when confronted by Stalinist lies and despicable propaganda.

This is not to aver that Mr. Trump is without fault, but the fault is neither with his actions  not at all objectionable per the insightful Victor Davis Hanson, writing in American Greatness  nor his MAGA program, laudatory per Roger Kimball, writing at the same website. As President Trump's experience with the nausea-inducing James Comey, formerly of the partisan FBI, and more recently the backstabbing remarks of William Barr, his second attorney general, Mr. Trump has some difficulty in separating the reliable political wheat from the Deep State chaff. But in 2025 and thereafter, a second-term President Trump should rely on his vice president to drain the swamp of its Deep State resisters and focus on making the MAGA program a permanent fixture of the freedom-loving spirit of the American people. To encourage the Stalinists to claim victory over Donald J. Trump is to watch repression reign.

Image: PAHomepage.com via YouTube, CC BY 3.0.
I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on television. I'm an ordinary woman who's survived enough of the Earth's revolutions around the sun to know when someone is not well  and in this case, that someone is the Democrats' Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, John Fetterman. First, the guy is not recovering well from his stroke. Second, he has a growth on his neck that looks as if it's going to hatch an alien. Yet this is the best the Democrats can do in Pennsylvania.

For a while, lots of people were focusing on Dr. Oz (AKA Mehmet Oz) and criticizing him as a terrible candidate. I'm willing to agree that he's not the perfect candidate, but it's foolish under these circumstances to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I watched Dr. Oz on Tucker Carlson last night and thought he handled himself well, and he obviously understands many of the issues that really matter. Additionally  and this counts  Trump trusts him.

Meanwhile, there's John Fetterman. Tucker eviscerated Fetterman last week for being a man who lived off his parents for decades and who managed to do what so many Democrat politicians have done over the years, and that is to fail upward. Tucker described what Fetterman did to Braddock, Pennsylvania (which started him on his path to lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania), and it's tragic. Under Fetterman's aegis, Braddock went from a failing town to a failed  indeed, destroyed  town:

It's not just Fetterman's bad policies (all of which are as hard left as can be except, surprisingly, when it comes to Israel, which he staunchly supports) that are a problem, though. If his politics were the only issue, he'd be just another generic politician. (For Israel-supporters who are worried, Dr. Oz also strongly supports Israel.)

The big issue is that, in May, Fetterman had a serious stroke. This followed upon years of health problems associated with his previous obesity (to his credit, he lost almost 150 pounds, which is hard to do), as well as his admitted failure to care for his health.

Due to his stroke, Fetterman is often semi-coherent. There's no way to tell if his problems are limited to a struggle to get words out or if they signal a deeper cognitive problem. They're bad, though:

In case you were wondering why John Fettermans handlers wont let him debate pic.twitter.com/YXTkoweNBz  Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 12, 2022

John Fetterman gave a speech in Montgomery County yesterday.



Here are the highlights. pic.twitter.com/8udMddHAcQ  Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 12, 2022

In a way, Fetterman is brave to get out there and campaign, but Pennsylvanians would be crazy to trust that he can competently represent them. And then there's that bump on his neck. It is a deeply disturbing, seriously weird, totally troublesome, and very wrong bump:

First time Fettermans neck is fully exposed without a hoodie and folks have questions pic.twitter.com/U2ZDmFMubc  Deb Formola (@debbieformola) September 11, 2022

No wonder Fetterman wears a hoodie all the time. Of course, that lump  which looks as if it's ready to hatch one of the beasties from the movie Alien  could be nothing more than a benign lipoma, but, when combined with Fetterman's other health problems, it's like a big flashing light saying that this is a man who should be taking care of himself rather than sitting in the Senate, guiding government policy for the United States of America.

The Washington Post is trying to force the issue by getting Fetterman to release his medical records  probably hoping that they prove he's cognitively perfect and has nothing more than neck fat  but all the medical records in the world shouldn't be enough to convince voters that Fetterman is up to the rigors of serving in D.C.

Oz is a fairly moderate Republican. All but the most radical leftists in Pennsylvania will do much better with an intellectually sharp, moderate Republican than they will with a physically, and possibly mentally, compromised man.



Image: John Fetterman (edited). YouTube screen grab.
Before retiring from the law, I did litigation work in the San Francisco Bay Area for thirty years. During that time, I came across two judges whom I respected (one of whom I learned, after he retired, was a conservative). The rest of the judges were activists with robes on. At this point, I respect only two judges: Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. Otherwise, I've long said our legal system is broken. Many people, including people who like me, consider me a crackpot. However, Leslie McAdoo Gordon, a stellar litigator and a true constitutionalist, ended last week with a huge announcement: the legal system is broken.

For me, the pivotal moment was when I was arguing a motion to dismiss based on the fact that state legislation absolutely precluded the plaintiff's cause of action. I don't remember the judge's precise words when he denied my motion, but I remember the gist: "I don't care what the law is; I think there's something here."

A judge is not supposed to say that. His job is to apply the law. And as it happened, he was so wrong that we not only won, but also got $1.5 million in attorney's fees. That same judge went on to serve on the California court of appeals. I appeared before other judges who clearly thought the same way, although most were not as open about it.



Image: United States Supreme Court by Mr. Kjetil Ree, published under multiple creative commons licenses.

Our legal system is costly, inefficient, unfair, and at the mercy of judges more interested in politics and ideology than in justice. We certainly saw that two years ago, when judges across America, right up to the Supreme Court, absolutely refused to address blatant illegal and unconstitutional conduct connected to the 2020 election. We're seeing it now, when a special master decided that the FBI could raid a former president because some petty leftist bureaucrats asserted that their characterizing documents as "classified" or "top secret" should override the plenary power the president of the United States has to determine a document's security classification.

Something must change. That's where Leslie McAdoo Gordon comes in.

McAdoo's announcement about our justice system and its problems came in the form of a series of tweets. Rather than summarize, I'll simply post exactly what she said:

What I am not doing is "retiring" from public life. I am not closing my litigation practice to "spend more time with my family." No. I am done being an in-court lawyer because: pic.twitter.com/Cqm9Cxlctm  Extremely Leslie McAdoo Gordon   (@McAdooGordon) September 9, 2022

My status as a practicing litigator has constrained me from speaking truth to and about the system. With that constraint removed, I will not be silent any longer.  Extremely Leslie McAdoo Gordon   (@McAdooGordon) September 9, 2022

Lawyers working from inside the system can make some changes, but not the radical reforms that we now need. Some of us will need to be outside the system to do what is necessary & what can only be done by speaking freely.  Extremely Leslie McAdoo Gordon   (@McAdooGordon) September 9, 2022

The decision to do so was made only recently, although after a long period of contemplation. But recent events - national, personal, & with regard to my caseload - have made it clear to me that the time is now right to begin this new chapter.  Extremely Leslie McAdoo Gordon   (@McAdooGordon) September 9, 2022

I may in future again testify as an expert in clearances & I will probably still provide consulting advice to people who need help w/the clearance process.



But, in the main, & for the foreseeable future, I am going to be focusing on our most urgent needs as a nation.  Extremely Leslie McAdoo Gordon   (@McAdooGordon) September 9, 2022

So, I am going to be taking a short break, starting tonight, to recharge & reorganize after my recent projects & also to prepare myself to take up these challenges. A new course requires a clearing of the decks, a re-stocking of provisions, & a re-rigging of the sails.  Extremely Leslie McAdoo Gordon   (@McAdooGordon) September 9, 2022

We need now to screw up our courage and do what needs doing to preserve the Republic. No one else is going to do it for us.



It will not be easy. Nothing worth doing is.



The Republic is absolutely worth it.



And we will do it.  Extremely Leslie McAdoo Gordon   (@McAdooGordon) September 9, 2022

Ms. McAdoo, if you read this post, I'm on your side in whatever you do to help fix our broken system! And if I can help you in any way, you know where to find me.
When I started watching Tucker Carlson, one of the things that made him enjoyable was that he always kept a little bit of an ironic distance from what he was covering. In recent months, though, that has changed. Tucker's angry, and righteously so. Monday night's monologue may have been his most fiery yet, because he focused on something we've all seen from the moment Biden swore an oath to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States": as all totalitarian regimes do, Biden is using the instruments of government to persecute his political opponents.

We saw it when Biden and his armed bureaucrats characterized a large protest and an accompanying small riot at the United States Capitol (especially compared to past Democrat and BLM riots) as an "insurrection."

We saw it when they imprisoned those people who had entered the Capitol (many under the impression that they were allowed to be there) and proceeded to hold them without bail, charges, or trial. When Democrats engaged in violent protests across America from January 2016 forward, Biden and his cohorts characterized those protests as "mostly peaceful" and righteous First Amendment actions aimed at challenging a fake president. Remember "The Resistance"?

We saw it when the same administration that's copacetic about drug-, sex-, and child-trafficking across a completely open border engaged in an all-out nationwide manhunt to track down every granny who wandered awestruck through the Capitol rotunda taking photos.



Image: Tucker takes aim at Biden's tyranny. Fox News screen grab.

We saw it when Democrat politicians had a January 6 show trial in the Capitol.

We certainly saw it when Biden's FBI (for it certainly is no longer America's FBI) raided the home of Biden's probable presidential challenger in 2024 (that would be Trump) to seize documents that bureaucrats labeled as "classified" despite Trump, who had the sole plenary power to do so, declassifying them.

We saw it when Biden stood before a blood-red Independence Hall and characterized half the voters in America as dangerous threats to America's very existence.

We saw it yesterday, when Democrats either ignored the twenty-first anniversary of 9/11, when Muslim terrorists hijacked three four airplanes, destroyed the Twin Towers, and killed 2,977 people (including the ones murdered in the Pentagon), or, even worse than ignoring it, they compared the January 6 kerfuffle to 9/11 in terms of both effect and intention. As a reminder, only one person was killed on January 6: Ashli Babbitt, a small, unarmed, nonviolent veteran, whom a police officer murdered, after which he was lauded as a sympathetic figure and something of a hero.

And we're seeing it now as the DOJ and the FBI distribute subpoenas to every politician or activist outside Congress who dared question the bona fides of the November 2020 election. According to the Democrats, questioning the election is a semi-fascist, anti-democracy, insurrectionist thing to do. Before 2020, of course, when Democrats did it, it was patriots exercising their First Amendment rights. According to constitutionalists, using the police state to intimidate and harass one's political opposition is the real semi-fascist, anti-democracy thing to do.

Tucker Carlson has seen all this, too, and he understands what it means: it means that the Biden administration is unconstitutionally and illegally using the police power he gained when he entered the Oval Office to silence and intimidate his political opposition. In that regard, my bet with myself is that the (In)Justice Department will be indicting Trump before September ends. The base wants it, and the base shall have it.

Watch Tucker's monologue (or read it here), and, as Elmer Fudd would say, "Be afwaid. Be vewy afwaid." Also, if your representatives are Republicans or just decent, contact them and politely remind them that, under the Constitution's separation of powers, Congress is meant to be a bulwark against a dangerously overreaching Executive Branch.
Over the years, the e-commerce industry has witnessed tremendous growth, largely due to the increase in the use of high internet speed smartphones and the call for a more digitized economy. Like many other industries, e-commerce is expected to continue on this growth trajectory and double its market cap of $10 trillion in the next decade.

As the e-commerce sector grows and reaches new milestones annually, one lingering challenge that might stunt the industrys growth if not fully addressed is the issue of the parcel and package tracking. To increase the level of trust in the industry, e-commerce companies must develop and enhance methods by which online retailers can keep tabs on their online purchases using package trackers. One company already putting a lot of effort into solving parcel tracking is 4px tracking.

Who Is 4PX And What Do They Represent?

4px express limited is a Chinese logistics firm that aims to provide shipping, tracking, delivery, and inventory management solutions to improve customer experience in the e-commerce sector. Founded in 2004, the company has pushed its way to become one of the leading global shipping companies in the world. It is estimated that the company employs over 2000 people across 50 locations across the globe.

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Beyond logistics, 4px is into freight forwarding, software development, import and export, and shipping consultancy services. The platform is a close partner with Singapore Post, which is arguably the biggest postal service on the Asian continent.

How Internationally Bound Goods Are Handled

When it comes to handling Internationally bound packages, it can be a bit challenging when using 4px. Being a major market player in the e-commerce space, 4px has developed partnerships with courier services from around the world, like FedEx, DHL, UPS, and many others. This means that once your package gets into another country, 4px might not be fully responsible for delivering those goods to your doorsteps, making package tracking difficult.

When goods are assigned to a new courier, new tracking numbers are usually given to the goods. The ability to keep track of the whereabouts and situation of the goods becomes difficult. To help with this problem, 4px keeps their customers updated when their parcels have been handled by a new courier and provide them with the new parcel tracking number.

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How They Track Your Goods

Tracking your goods on 4px is pretty straightforward. 4px tracking has one of the best parcel tracking software on the market. Its tracking system is fast and offers real-time updates on goods. The system also allows customers with multiple goods in transit to track them simultaneously. To track packages on 4px, visit the companys site, register your goods tracking number, and all essential details will be displayed.You can also choose to subscribe to receive periodic updates via email or SMS on every milestone the goods reach.

What Is The Time Duration Of Shipping?

Various factors affect the time duration for 4px shipping and delivery. Among those factors, the notable mentions are the parcels size, weight, and destination. Considering all these factors, here is the standard time interval for shipping across various countries and continents.

5-15 days: Great Britain, Thailand, Philippines, New Zealand, Singapore, and India

13-26 days: America, Germany, Spain, France, Morocco, South Korea, Poland, Greece, Austria, and other parts of the European Union

25-39 days: India, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Israel, Argentina, and Brazil

40 days and above: Siberia, Chile, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Egypt, and Peru

Also, the means(sea, land, or air) by which the goods are being shipped also plays a major role in shipping timing.

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What Are Items Forbidden?

According to 4px rules and guidelines, all items prohibited by the IATA are also prohibited by the firm for shipping. Some other items on the companys prohibition list include chemicals, guns, money, alcohol, toxic substances, and tobacco (cigarettes).

How To Reach Out To Customer Care Center

Perhaps, you encounter an issue with your goods or you are having difficulties keeping tabs on your goods through the 4px tracking system, simply visit the contact section on their website. Other methods to reach out to the companys customer care service is through email or a telephone call, which will also be on the companys website. While on the website, you will be asked to provide information like your name, email address, phone number, and package tracking number. This will help the firm assess the situation and provide you with credible timely feedback.

Bottom Line

It is important to note that 4px package tracker also provides insurance if your goods were to get damaged or lost while in transit. To be assured and guaranteed the safety of your goods, it will be advisable and safe to use a globally renowned company like 4PX tracking.
Volker Perthes (Front), the UN secretary-general's special representative and head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan, speaks at a Security Council meeting on Sudan at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 13, 2022. The top UN envoy for Sudan on Tuesday saw an opportunity to help end the political crisis in Sudan. (Cia Pak/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The top UN envoy for Sudan on Tuesday saw an opportunity to help end the political crisis in Sudan.

With regard to the political process, some important decisions have been taken by the military, and some promising developments have happened among civilians, said Volker Perthes, the UN secretary-general's special representative and head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS).

On July 4, the chairman of Sudan's ruling Transitional Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, announced the military's intention to withdraw from politics. While large parts of the public doubted that the military leadership meant what it said, the announcement did generate momentum among civilian forces. Several initiatives aimed at reaching a common civilian vision have emerged in response, he told the UN Security Council in a briefing.

The Trilateral Mechanism, consisting of UNITAMS, the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, has engaged with all initiatives. Almost all initiatives have expressed that they want the Trilateral Mechanism to play a role, either in bringing the different initiatives together, coming up with bridging proposals, or eventually facilitating or mediating an agreement with the military, he said.

"I am actually encouraged by the degree of commonality in the current debate in Sudan. There are important differences, no doubt, about the institutional division of powers, particularly, the role of the military. But the gaps have narrowed. And there is wide-ranging consensus now, among other things, on the need for a civilian head of state, an independent prime minister, a cabinet of experts and technocrats, not of party leaders. There is also consensus that the issue of transitional justice needs to be high on the list of priorities," said Perthes. "So there is an opportunity to end the crisis, which military and civilian forces need to grasp."

While any political agreement needs to be Sudanese-owned, the Trilateral Mechanism stands ready to convene the parties around one text so as to bridge remaining differences, he said.

Nearly a year after the military takeover of Oct. 25, 2021, Sudan still lacks a fully functional and legitimate government. The decision of the military to withdraw from politics and the recent initiatives by civilian forces offer a window of opportunity for both the military and political forces to reach an agreement on the way forward, he said.

"Time is of the essence, however," he cautioned. "The longer the political paralysis exists, the more difficult it will become to return to the transition, which UNITAMS is mandated to assist. I urge all actors to seize this opportunity and reach an agreement on a solution that enjoys legitimacy in the eyes of Sudanese women and men."

Since his last briefing to the Security Council in May, Sudan has seen continued deterioration of the socio-economic situation. Security incidents affecting civilians have increased across the country. Humanitarian needs are growing exponentially, according to Perthes.

The overall situation will continue to worsen unless a political solution is found to restore a credible, fully functioning civilian-led government -- a government that can re-establish the authority of the state across the country and create the conditions for a resumption of international cooperation, including debt relief, he said.

The human rights situation has not improved either during the reporting cycle. The political crisis in Khartoum also contributes to instability in the rest of the country. Particularly worrisome is the surge of violence in Darfur and the Blue Nile, said Perthes.

National and local authorities and civil society leaders have made attempts at brokering reconciliation agreements in Darfur and the Blue Nile. But the sustainability of these agreements remains uncertain in the absence of effective state authority, he said.

The lack of implementation of the Juba Peace Agreement continues to contribute to instability. Protocols to address the drivers of the conflict in Darfur, including wealth sharing, justice, land issues, and the return of internally displaced persons remain unfulfilled. In the absence of a political agreement, it will be difficult to advance these issues, he added.

Humanitarian needs are now at record levels due to a combined impact of ongoing political instability, economic crisis, rise in intercommunal violence, poor harvests and now flooding. Some 11.7 million people are facing acute hunger and the number is growing. While the United Nations and partner organizations managed to reach 7.1 million people in need since January, the 2022 humanitarian response plan for Sudan is only funded at 32 percent, Perthes noted. 
(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 13 - Outgoing Italian Premier Mario Draghi had a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, the Italian government said.

The talks focused on the latest "positive developments" in the Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russian forces and the security of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, a statement said.

Draghi confirmed that the Ukrainian people and authorities have the "continual support" of Italy in every sphere. (ANSA).


CAIRO - An Arabic theater play dedicated to Dante Alighieri's Inferno went on stage in Cairo, Egypt, as part of the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theater which took place this month. The play was realized thanks to the support of the Italian Cultural Institute (IIC) in Tunis.



The French play titled 'The Divine Commedy- the Inferno of the East and the West' was authored by the Tunisian playwright, Lassaad Hassine, and was curated by the contemporary director who brought it to Tunis for the first time last March, Hafedh Khalifa.



The director told ANSAmed that "this project is a collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in Tunis".



Support for the play in Cairo was provided by the Italian Cultural Institute in Cairo.



Instead of Virgil, in the play, Dante is accompanied to hell by the Arab poet Abou Ala El Maarri, they set on this dreamlike journey together and reflect on the complex nature of human kind, capable of atrocities but also of magnificent and deserving acts.



El Maarri, was born in Syria in 973 AD, he was erudite and well-known for his poetic virtuosity and a pessimistic outlook on the world.



Khalifa, paying tribute to the seventh centennial of the great poet, brings together the genius of Dante with Arab culture with passages taken from 'Letter of Forgiveness' of El Maarri, uniting in a single artistic work two aspects of the Mediterranean culture. The play exhibits moments of prose with others of reflection on the meaning of death and eternity with others of pure movement.



In addition to the Italian Cultural Institute in Tunis, Italy contributed to the project through artists such as Mario Ferrari, who designed and created the costumes; and Luca Bruni, of the cultural association 'Regional Dance Center of Umbria' (Centro Regionale della Danza Umbria) which offered its expertise for the choreography.




BEIRUT - The United Nations announced it is "seriously concerned" for the spread of a cholera epidemic in Syria, in particular along the basin of the Euphrates river.



In a note circulated in these last hours by the United Nations humanitarian coordinator resident in Syria, Imran Riza, the information states that two days ago the Syrian ministry of health has revealed a cholera outbreak in the northern region of the city of Aleppo, where 15 cases of cholera and one death were registered.



Between August 25 and September 10, continues the note of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Damascus, a total of 936 severe diarrhea cases were reported as well as at least eight deaths. Until now the majority of infections were registered in the region of Aleppo (72.2%), in particular in the districts bordering the Euphrates river. Smaller percentages, albeit relevant, are also reported in other river basin regions: in Deir ez-Zor (21.5%), in Raqqa (1.8%) and Hasaka (4.1%).



In the two regions of Hama and Latakia, which do not border with the Euphrates river but through which the Orontes river flows, a few cases were registered (0.2%). Other cases are reported in Damascus and they refer to persons who come from Deir ez-Zor.



OCHA in Syria states that "on the base of the rapid evaluation conducted by Syrian health officials and their partners, it is believed that the source of the infection is related to persons who drink non-potable water from the Euphrates river and use the contaminated water to irrigate their crops, with the consequent contamination of the food. Cholera remains a global health threat and an indicator of inequality".



According to the UN in Damascus, "this outbreak is also an indicator of the grave lack of water across Syria. The United Nations have been ringing the alarm bells on this issue for a long time".



The note continues: "with the Euphrates river levels that continue to diminish, with drought and the destruction of national water infrastructures, a great part of the population in Syria, which was already vulnerable, relies on water sources which are not safe and that can spread dangerous diseases, particularly among children".




Le Pen opposes pension reform National Rally party leader, 'there is no urgency'

(ANSAmed) - PARIS, 13 SET - The leader of the French National Rally (Rassemblement National) party, Marine Le Pen, promises to 'firmly block' the pension reform initiative promoted by Emmanuel Macron. While speaking before the presidential press association, President Macron made it known that there was the possibility the government would re-open the pension dossier starting already from this fall.



Le Pen, who was interviewed on TV on France 2, immediately protested saying "there is absolutely no urgency to hit pensions at a moment when the French people have more important crises to contend with that are related to their purchasing power". The head of state, while speaking before journalists, wished that a pension reform could enter into force "from 2023".



The reform was buried at the end of 2019 after a series of strikes and protests and the outbreak of the coronavirus which disrupted and changed the government's agenda. The pension reform was one of Macron's main promises which he was unable to keep in his previous mandate. During this election campaign which confirmed him as President, last April, the French leader committed himself to pass the reform as soon as possible in case of re-election, even if the numbers in Parliament now do not guarantee the same level of ease in passing laws as was the case during his previous mandate. (ANSAmed).




ISTANBUL - "Despite our goodwill efforts, unfortunately Greece, our neighbor, continues to keep the tension high by the use of provocative actions and language.



We are doing our best to counter all this." These were the words of the Turkish minister of Defense, Hulusi Akar, who accused Athens of having opened fire, in previous days, against a Turkish commercial vessel that was sailing in the Aegean sea, near the Turkish island of Bozcaada, not far from the Greek isle of Lemnos, as reported by Anadolu (the Turkish state-run news agency). "After this incident, politicians in Greece accused Turkey of an act of aggression. What else is this if not pure hypocrisy?" , added Akar.



Over the course of the last months, Ankara and Athens have exchanged reciprocal accusations. According to Turkey, Greece violated its air space on numerous occasions and armed islands near the Turkish coastline which, according to international treaties should not be militarized.
TUNIS - Approximately 4.1 million tourists visited Tunisia until 10 September 2022, marking an increase of 161.4% compared to 2021 and a difference of -38.1% when compared to figures of 2019, the reference year prior to Covid. The announcement was made by the Tunisian minister of tourism, Mohamed Moez Belhassine, at a press conference in Sidi Bousaid. He also highlighted that until 31 August 2022 financial revenues from the tourism sector were of 2,662.7 million dinars (approximately 819 million euro), marking an 82% increase compared to 2021 and yet falling short by -29.4% compared to 2019.



The number of tourist overnight stays increased by 148.2%, registering a total of 12,729,652 nights until 31 August 2022, compared to 2021 with a gap of -39.4% in 2019. The minister underscored the importance that the tourism industry represents for the country, despite the challenges it needs to overcome.



The country experienced an overall loss of revenue of 9 billion dinars due to the corona virus crisis.



Belhassine commented that the government has put in place an action plan to promote the recovery of tourism activities and stated that the target for 2022 is to close the 2019 gap by 50 to 60%. "This target was not only met but surpassed in some regions of the country". The minister also addressed the revival of cruises to Tunisia, explaining that there were 29 cruises reaching Tunisia until 31 August 2022, with 28,050 tourists on board. By the end of December, the number of additional cruise ships expected are 14, which will bring the total figure to 43 for the entire year. Furthermore, in 2023 50 cruise ships are expected to reach Tunisia, a figure which might increase, announced Belhassine.




The Princess Royal has paid tribute to the Queen saying it was an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys.

Anne, the late monarchs only daughter, told how she was fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest Mothers life.

She said the love and respect shown to the Queen on her journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh and onto London had been both humbling uplifting.

Anne also thanked the nation for the support and understanding offered to my dear brother Charles as he takes on his duties as King.

The Princess Royal as the Queens coffin is met at Edinburgh Airport (Victoria Stewart/Daily Record/PA)

She ended her statement with the words: To my mother, The Queen, thank you.

The princess was in Scotland when the Queen was taken ill, and stayed at her bedside at Balmoral Castle, as senior royals rushed to say their final farewells.

Elizabeth II  the nations longest reigning monarch  died peacefully on Thursday September 8.

Anne has taken on the duty of accompanying her mothers body back to London, with the Queen leaving Scotland for the last time bound for RAF Northolt on Tuesday.

The Queens oak coffin, accompanied by Anne and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, will travel to Buckingham Palace where the King, the Queen Consort, the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be waiting to receive it.

The Queen and the Princess Royal during the Braemar Royal Highland Gathering in 2018 (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Also there will be the Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Duke of York, Princess Beatrice and husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Eugenie and husband Jack Brooksbank, Zara and Mike Tindall, Lady Louise Windsor and Viscount Severn, and Princess Margarets children Lady Sarah Chatto and Earl Snowdon.

Anne said: I was fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest Mothers life.

It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys.

Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting.

We will all share unique memories. I offer my thanks to each and every one who share our sense of loss.

We may have been reminded how much of her presence and contribution to our national identity we took for granted.

I am also so grateful for the support and understanding offered to my dear brother Charles as he accepts the added responsibilities of The Monarch.

To my mother, The Queen, thank you.
The Queen was transported in a bespoke new state hearse, designed in consultation with the late monarch, to allow the public a clear view of her coffin.

Queen Elizabeth II was long involved in the plans for the aftermath of her death, known as London Bridge, and had a hand in approving the plans for the ceremonial car.

The gleaming vehicle was used for the first time as the Queens coffin was taken on its sad and solemn journey from RAF Northolt back home to Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.

The Queens coffin illuminated with lights in the new state hearse (Ben Stansall/PA)

The hearse features wide windows along the side and back, a see-through glass roof and three bright spotlights inside along one roof edge, illuminating the raised coffin.

It is finished in Royal Claret, the colour used for the official royal and state vehicles kept in the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace and used by members of the royal family on official duties.

The hearse was designed by the Royal Household and Jaguar Land Rover  the firm who made the Duke of Edinburghs Land Rover hearse  and features the Queens Personal Royal Cypher.

The bearer party from the Queens Colour Squadron (63 Squadron RAF Regiment) carry the Queens coffin to the waiting hearse at RAF Northolt (Ben Stansall/PA)

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: The Queen was consulted on the plans.

The Palace added: The State Hearse has been designed to allow members of the public to have a clear view of Her Majestys Coffin as it travels through London and Windsor.

It will take the Queens coffin from London to Windsor after the state funeral on Monday for the committal service in St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle.

People get out of their cars to watch as the hearse carrying the the Queens coffin (Victoria Jones/PA)

People stopped their cars on the A40 and stood on the central reservation to watch the historic scenes as the coffin travelled from RAF Northolt.

Mourners cheered and clapped as the hearse, lit up for the night-time journey, travelled down Constitution Hill and around the Queen Victoria Memorial before being driven through the gates of the palace.

It processed slowly through the central arch into the quadrangle, where it was met privately by the King, the Queen Consort, the late Queens other children and her grandchildren.

The Duke of Edinburghs coffin on his Land Rover hearse (Justin Tallis/PA)

The Duke of Edinburgh designed his own custom-built Land Rover hearse for his funeral in April 2021.

The project spanned 16 years, with Philip requesting a repaint in military green and designing the open top rear and special stops to secure his coffin in place.

Philip, who died when he was 99, began working on the modified Land Rover Defender TD5 130 chassis cab vehicle in 2003, the year he turned 82.

For her 90th birthday in 2016, the Queen, who once said she needed to be seen to be believed, delighted crowds by doing a royal drive-by in her Queenmobile.

The Queen waves to well wishers from a open top Range Rover for her 90th birthday celebrations (Andrew Matthews/PA)

She stood and waved with Philip from the open top burgundy State Review Vehicle, a LWB Range Rover Hybrid, which was especially built by Land Rovers Special Vehicle Operations for her in 2015.
The Crown of Scotland sits atop the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II during a Service of Prayer and Reflection for her life at St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA)

Tuesday marks D-Day +4, or D+4, in the plans marking the Queens death.

This is due to the announcement taking place late on Thursday, meaning the schedule was moved back by one day to allow for complex arrangements to be put in place.

Here is the timeline of events expected to take place over the next 24 hours.

 Tuesday September 13

The Queens coffin will be flown from Edinburgh to London.

Meanwhile, the King will travel from Scotland to Northern Ireland on his UK tour.

 Procession of the Queens coffin

Early evening: After remaining overnight on public view at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, the Queens coffin will leave the church on a hearse at 5pm, bound for Edinburgh Airport.

At 6pm, it departs Edinburgh on an RAF Globemaster C-17 flight, accompanied by the Princess Royal and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.

Its arrival in RAF Northolt in west London is scheduled for 6.55pm.

It will then be transported on a state hearse, accompanied by Anne and Vice-Admiral Sir Tim, to Buckingham Palace.

Its route will be via the A40, Eastbourne Terrace, Lancaster Gate, Bayswater Road, Marble Arch, Park Lane, Hyde Park Corner and Constitution Hill.

Charles and Camilla are greeted by First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon ahead of receiving a Motion of Condolence at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood on D-Day +3 (Jeff J Mitchell/PA)

Waiting to receive the coffin at the Palace will be the King and the Queen Consort. The Prince and Princess of Wales will also be present.

A guard of honour formed of three officers and 96 soldiers from The Kings Guard will be mounted in the Palace Quadrangle.

The Queens coffin will rest in the Bow Room overnight.

Details about the route for the lying in state queue will be provided late on Tuesday.

 The Kings duties

The King and Queen Consort will earlier leave the Palace of Holyroodhouse to fly to Belfast as part of Operation Spring Tide  Charles tour around the UKs home countries.

At Hillsborough Castle, Charles and Camilla will view an exhibition of pictures, showing the Queen in Northern Ireland.

The King will then meet Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and party leaders, and receive a message of condolence led by the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly and make a reply.

Charles and Camilla will attend St Annes Cathedral for a service of prayer and reflection.

They are expected to be greeted by thousands of members of the public, who have been encouraged to line the streets of the city in the afternoon.

Their royal cavalcade will travel through Wellington Place, Donegall Square North, Chichester Street and Victoria Street.

The King and Queen Consort will then undertake a walkabout at Writers Square, before leaving Northern Ireland.
BEIRUT, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon, Cyprus and Greece signed on Tuesday a tripartite agreement to strengthen their cooperation on diaspora affairs, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Lebanon's caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, Greece's Deputy Foreign Minister of Diaspora Greeks Andreas Katsaniotis, and Cyprus' Presidential Commissioner for Humanitarian Issues and Overseas Cypriots Fotis Fotiou signed the agreement at Lebanon's foreign ministry, according to NNA.

The agreement is "essential for exchanging expertise in diaspora affairs, participating in expatriates' activities organized by the three countries, and benefiting from the experience of expatriate delegations," said NNA.

Meanwhile, a statement released by Fotiou's office said the agreement "aims to bring the diaspora of the three countries closer together. Groups from all three countries will be able to organize joint events and exchange know-how and best practices on diaspora topics through their cooperation on issues of common interests," according to a report on the website of the daily Cyprus Mail. 
Police have arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of murder following the sudden death of a 28-year-old woman in west Belfast.

Detectives from the PSNI Major Investigation Team identified the victim as Hollie Thomson.

She was found at a property in the Greenan area of west Belfast on Sunday morning, police said in a statement.

Detective Inspector Michelle Griffin said police were treating the young womans death as a murder following a post-mortem of her body.

Detectives launch murder investigation following the death of 28-year-old, Hollie Thomson from the Greenan area of west Belfast. A 31-year-old male has been arrested on suspicion of murder and being concerned in the supply of a Class A controlled drug. https://t.co/wBAY7uwWFM  Police Service NI (@PoliceServiceNI) September 12, 2022

She added that the man was arrested on suspicion of murder as well as being concerned in the supply of a Class A controlled drug.

The suspect is currently being questioned at Musgrave Police Station in Belfast.

Ms Griffin said police are now appealing to anyone who believes they may have information which could assist detectives with their investigation to contact the Major Investigation Team at Ladas Drive Police Station on 101, quoting reference 626 of 11/09/22.

Alternatively, information can also be provided anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
More migrants have crossed the English Channel to the UK so far this year than in the whole of 2021, Government figures suggest.

Some 601 people were detected on Monday in 19 boats, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said, taking the provisional total for the year to 28,561.

This suggests an average of 32 people per boat in the latest day of crossings.

(PA Graphics)

Last years total was 28,526, according to official figures.

The 2022 figure to date is nearly double the number that had been detected by this point last year, which was just under 14,500.

There have been 3,518 crossings recorded in September so far, analysis shows.

August 22 saw the highest daily total on record, with 1,295 people crossing in 27 boats.

More than 28,000 people have made the crossing to the UK so far this year (Gareth Fuller/PA)

It is more than four months since the then home secretary Priti Patel announced plans to send migrants to Rwanda to try to deter people from crossing the Channel.

Since then 23,293 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey.

On April 14 Ms Patel signed what she described as a world-first agreement with Rwanda, under which the East African country will receive migrants deemed by the UK to have arrived illegally, and are therefore inadmissible under new immigration rules.

However, the first deportation flight, due to take off on June 14, was grounded amid legal challenges.

Several asylum seekers, the Public and Commercial Services Union and charities Care4Calais, Detention Action and Asylum Aid are embroiled in a court case with the Home Office as they challenge the legality of the policy.

The number of people reaching the UK in small boats from France after navigating busy shipping lanes has increased steadily in recent years.

Some 299 were detected in 2018, followed by 1,843 in 2019 and 8,466 in 2020, official figures show.

Despite the growing numbers, the small boat arrivals are a fraction of the number of people going to mainland Europe.

(PA Graphics)

Data from the UNs refugee agency shows at least 120,441 people arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean by land and sea last year.

The MoD said its data is taken from live operational systems and is subject to change, including reduction.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: With record numbers of people crossing the Channel this year, we are seeing how the Governments policies enshrined in the recent Nationality and Borders Act and their Rwanda deal are doing absolutely nothing to deter desperate people jumping on boats because they do nothing to address the reasons people come.

Lets not forget the men, women and children coming across the Channel are fleeing atrocities like those in Ukraine and Afghanistan. No-one risks their own or familys life unless they are running from dangers more acute than they face on these journeys.

Criminalising them and treating them as human cargo to be sent to Rwanda is not right. Such policies were always destined to fail, cause even more pain and suffering and at a huge cost to the public purse.

We need to immediately start having a grown-up conversation with France and the EU about sharing responsibility. We need a fair and humane asylum system, which means well thought out, long-term solutions that address why people are forced from their homes and provide them with safe routes to the UK.

The Home Office did not comment on the latest crossings. The department has previously said its reforms to tackle the number of migrants coming to the UK would take time but the Government was determined to bring lasting change to the asylum system so that it is fair but firm.
An MP who admitted putting people at risk by travelling on a train from London to Scotland knowing she had Covid-19 is due to be sentenced on Tuesday.

Margaret Ferrier travelled in and around Glasgow and to London in September 2020 after taking a test for the virus.

While awaiting the results, the independent MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West spoke in the Houses of Parliament and visited elsewhere in London.

A court heard she then took the train home to Glasgow after being told she had tested positive for Covid-19.

The MP pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court last month (Jane Barlow/PA)

Ferrier, 62, admitted she had culpably and recklessly exposed the public to the risk of infection, illness and death at a hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court last month.

She is due to be sentenced at the court on Tuesday.

The MP faced renewed calls to stand down from the Commons following her guilty plea.

During the hearing last month, the court heard that Ferrier did a test for Covid-19 on September 26 after showing symptoms, including a cough.

The next day she read to a congregation of about 45 people at a mass in St Mungos Church, Glasgow, before heading to Vics bar in Main Street, Prestwick, South Ayrshire.

She then travelled to London by train on September 27 and spoke in the Commons later that day.

A short time after, she found out she had tested positive for the virus.

The court heard Test and Protect had tried to contact her three times and left two voicemails at about 10am that day before Ferrier returned the call at about 2pm, almost four hours later.

Ferrier then returned to her hotel, where she spent the night, before heading back to London Euston and taking the train home to Glasgow, knowing she had Covid-19.

Ferrier, of Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, had the SNP whip removed in 2020 after the allegations emerged.

She has come under pressure to resign from her seat but remains an MP.
Police have been overzealous in their handling of anti-monarchy protesters in the wake of the Queens death and the proclamation of the King, a former counter-terror chief has said.

Nick Aldworth said the late Queen would not have wanted interference with legitimate protest and branded the actions of some officers as inappropriate overprotectiveness towards the dignity of the event.

He also backed the Metropolitan Police which made clear people absolutely have a right to protest after demonstrators were moved on in London and arrests were made in Edinburgh and Oxford.

Mr Aldworth, who was the national co-ordinator for UK counter-terrorism policing until 2019, told the PA news agency: There was an inappropriate overprotectiveness towards the dignity of the event. And I think the Met has come out very strongly and said no, thats not right.

The nature of cops and the military is we all swear an oath of allegiance and I think sometimes we forget that part of allegiance is upholding what the Crown would want.

I met the Queen on countless occasions across my career and the one thing Im pretty certain about was that she was an advocate of democracy and she would not want that level of disruption and interference with legitimate protest.

They didnt act appropriately, its overzealous.

The Met issued a statement on Monday night after a viral video from Parliament Square in central London showed barrister Paul Powlesland holding up a blank piece of paper and being asked for his details by an officer.

Mr Powlesland said the officer told him he risked being arrested if he wrote not my King on the paper.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said: The public absolutely have a right of protest and we have been making this clear to all officers involved in the extraordinary policing operation currently in place and we will continue do so.

However, the overwhelming majority of interactions between officers and public at this time have been positive as people have come to the capital to mourn the loss of Her Late Majesty the Queen.

Police Scotland has charged two people in connection with a breach of the peach after two incidents.

A 22-year-old woman was arrested during the Accession Proclamation for the King outside St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh on Sunday.

People protest ahead of the Accession Proclamation ceremony at Cardiff Castle (Ben Birchall/PA)

On Monday afternoon, a 22-year-old man was arrested on the Royal Mile in the Scottish capital. Footage appeared to show a man heckling the royal procession as it went past.

Symon Hill was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence after shouting who elected him? when he came across a public formal reading of the proclamation of the accession for the King in Carfax, Oxford. He was later de-arrested.

Meanwhile, a protester bearing a handmade sign saying not my King was spoken to by police and escorted away from the Palace of Westminster.

The incident happened as the King was due to arrive for his address to MPs and peers in Westminster Hall on Monday morning.

Free speech and human rights campaign groups described the way some officers were policing protesters as deeply concerning and an affront to democracy.

Activists gathered outside St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh on Tuesday afternoon to protest against the arrests. They were pictured on the Royal Mile carrying blank canvases as members of the public continued to file into the cathedral to pay their respects to the Queen.

Simon Morgan, a former Royal Protection Officer who now runs his own private security firm Trojan Consultancy, told PA: If somebody is standing there with a placard and is just standing there then you police that accordingly.

If somebody is clearly trying to stir up the crowd and is rattling the barriers trying to get over the barriers that is a different scenario again.

People protest ahead of the Accession Proclamation ceremony at Cardiff Castle (Ben Birchall/PA)

Certainly in the current climate where everybody is there to pay their respects and somebody comes along and is different to that, you have to also consider the safety of that individual.

You as a police officer have to spin it completely around and have a duty of care towards them.

Plus this is an event that is being screened to millions of people, billions of people around the world, and the connotations that has for UK policing all these things come into play when youre going through how youre going to deal with this particular incident.

Policing is never clear cut, theres lots of things to consider.

The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) said it had issued guidance to forces on policing protests to make sure there is a national consistency of approach.

A spokesman said: The ability to protest is a fundamental part of democracy and it is a long-established right in this country.

We know some people want to protest on a range of issues during this time of national mourning, and officers must balance these rights against those who wish to grieve and reflect. We have issued guidance to forces on how they should do this, in order to ensure a national consistency of approach.

Policing strives to ensure decision making is consistent and fair, and is accountable to the law. Ultimately however, each event or protest has to be assessed on its own unique circumstances. That assessment does not include the cause or issue for the protest  all groups or causes are treated impartially.
The King was joined by his siblings and both his sons to witness the late Queens coffin arriving at Buckingham Palace after pledging to follow his mothers shining example in Northern Ireland.

Charles and his Queen Consort were joined by the late monarchs children and grandchildren and their partners, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and Duke and Duchess of Sussex, at the grand entrance of the royal residence affectionately known as the office.

The Queens coffin will rest in the bow room before the King leads Wednesdays procession behind the gun carriage carrying his mothers coffin to Westminster Hall, where the Queen will lie in state for four days before the state funeral on September 19.

The hearse slowed down as it approached the palace gates before well-wishers cheered hip hip hooray after the coffin drove under the arch.

Many people lining the street put down their umbrellas as a sign of respect while some could be seen wiping tears from their eyes.

Phone camera lights lit up the crowds as people documented the historic moment.

Outriders stopped with their heads bowed at the end of the journey, while a police officer at the gate saluted (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Thousands of well-wishers lined the streets for the hearses journey to the palace (Marco Bertonello/PA)

The Princess Royal said it had been an honour and a privilege to accompany the Queen on her final journeys as she travelled with the monarchs coffin back to London.

Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting, Anne said.

We may have been reminded how much of her presence and contribution to our national identity we took for granted.

To my mother, The Queen, thank you.

The Princess Royal accompanied the Queens coffin on its final flight from Edinburgh to London (Andrew Milligan/PA)

A bearer party from Queens Colour Squadron of the RAF carry the Queens coffin aboard a C17 aircraft (Paul Ellis/PA)

Earlier, the King pledged to seek the welfare of all Northern Irelands people and described how his family have felt their sorrows as he praised his mothers relationship with Northern Ireland.

Charles, who in 2015 made a pilgrimage to the site of his great-uncle Lord Mountbattens murder in an IRA bombing, said the Queen had never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and its people.

Speaking at Hillsborough Castle in Co Down, the royal residence in Northern Ireland, the new monarch said the late Queen was aware of her position in bringing together divided communities whom history had separated.

Speaking at Hillsborough Castle, the King said his mother felt deeply the significance of the role she herself played in bringing together those whom history had separated (Niall Carson/PA)

With his Queen Consort watching, the King said: Through all those years, she never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and for its people, whose stories she knew, whose sorrows our family had felt, and for whom she had a great affection and regard.

He added: Now, with that shining example before me, and with Gods help, I take up my new duties resolved to seek the welfare of all the inhabitants of Northern Ireland.

After leaving Edinburgh for Belfast on Tuesday morning, Charles and Camillas jet touched down at George Best Belfast City Airport, where schoolboy Lucas Watt, 10, from the local cross-community Forge Integrated primary school, presented the King with a tin featuring an image of the famous Giants Causeway.

The King was greeted by Ella Smith and Lucas Watt, both 10, as he arrived at George Best Belfast City Airport (Liam McBurney/PA)

Camilla received a posy of flowers, from schoolgirl Ella Smith, 10, with the blooms taken from Hillsborough Castle.

The King and his Queen Consort shook hands with some of the hundreds of flag-waving people who had waited hours to catch a glimpse of the monarch.

Shouts of God save the King were heard and at one moment and a corgi in the crowd snuggled up to Charles when its owner held it up during the walkabout by the royal couple.

A round of applause broke out as they inspected floral tributes to the late Queen before entering the grounds of the castle.

The King and the Queen Consort view floral tributes left outside Hillsborough Castle (Niall Carson/PA)

The King also held a private audience with Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris as well as meeting representatives of political parties in the region.

Invitations to the Queens state funeral were also sent out on Monday  but not to Russia, Belarus or Myanmar, while Iran will only be represented at an ambassadorial level, Whitehall sources said.

The event, which follows the lying in state, will see around 500 dignitaries from around the world descend on London to pay their last respects to the long-reigning monarch.

(PA Graphics)

They will join members of the royal family, UK prime ministers past and present, and key figures from public life at Westminster Abbey  the historic church which can hold around 2,000 people  at 11am next Monday.

This is the biggest international event we have hosted in decades, a Whitehall source said.

And before dawn, a full rehearsal for the procession of the Queens coffin to Westminster Hall took place in central London.

Thousands of soldiers in ceremonial uniform gathered at Buckingham Palace in the early hours of Tuesday for the practice run.

An early morning rehearsal for the Queens coffin procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall (James Manning/PA)

The early-morning rehearsal saw the horse-drawn carriage of the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery being led along the route.

Many of central Londons streets were sealed off for the massive operation.

Rehearsals for the procession took place before dawn on Tuesday (Danny Lawson/PA)

The real procession begins at 2.22pm on Wednesday, and it will last 38 minutes.

King Charles III, members of the royal family and senior staff of the Queen and Kings households are expected to walk behind the coffin.
(Reuters) - King Charles and members of the royal family received the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, after tens of thousands of people lined the streets in heavy rain to mark its arrival in the British capital.

On a dark night, the well-lit hearse travelled slowly from a nearby airport through London, with crowds stood all along the route, some in the road, others throwing flowers, and many ditching their cars or running from nearby streets to catch a glimpse of the cortege.

As it entered the grounds of the London palace, the police outriders who had led the way stopped to bow their heads.

Charles, who automatically became king on the death of his mother last week, had gathered to received the coffin along with his three siblings, two sons William and Harry, and other senior members of the royal family, a palace spokesperson said.

Elizabeth died peacefully on Thursday in her holiday home at Balmoral Castle, in the Scottish Highlands, at the age of 96, plunging the nation into 10 days of national mourning.

Britain mourns Queen Elizabeth

The death of Britain's longest-reigning monarch has prompted hundreds of thousands of people to gather at royal palaces across the country to express their condolences.

Princess Anne, the queen's only daughter, travelled with the coffin, first from the remote castle at Balmoral to Edinburgh, where it was greeted by tens of thousands of mourners, and then as it was brought to London.

"It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys," Anne said in a statement. "Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting."

In Edinburgh, a party of bearers from the Royal Air Force carried the casket onto a transporter plane. A kilted honour guard from the Royal Regiment of Scotland stood with fixed bayonets as a regimental band played the national anthem as the plane began to taxi. With that, Scotland bade farewell to the queen.

On Wednesday, the coffin will be taken on a gun carriage as part of a grand military procession to Westminster Hall, where a period of lying in state will begin until the funeral on Monday.

Members of the public will be allowed to walk past the coffin for 24 hours a day until the morning of the funeral, which will be attended by dozens of world leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden.

RECONCILIATION

As part of the highly choreographed days of mourning, King Charles is also travelling to the four parts of the United Kingdom.

Thousands of well-wishers greeted him in Northern Ireland on Tuesday, with handshakes, smiles and warm words as he walked along lines of people crowding the streets outside Hillsborough Castle, the monarch's official residence in the province.

The visit was laden with political significance given Britain's historical record in Ireland and the more recent years of violence in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.

At a ceremony at Hillsborough Castle, the acting speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Alex Maskey, paid fulsome tribute to the queen.

"Queen Elizabeth was not a distant observer in the transformation and progress of relationships in, and between, these islands," said Maskey, a member of Sinn Fein, which seeks the reunification of Ireland.

"She personally demonstrated how individual acts of positive leadership can help break down barriers and encourage reconciliation," he said.

Maskey, who was interned by the authorities as an Irish Republican Army suspect in the 1970s, said Charles had already shown he understood the importance of reconciliation and was committed to it.

In 2011, Elizabeth became the first British monarch to visit the Irish Republic since independence from London almost a century earlier.

Although a potent symbol of the union, she made powerful gestures of reconciliation for Britain's bloody past in Ireland during the state visit, culminating in a speech in which she expressed regret for centuries of conflict.

A year after her visit to Ireland, the queen, whose cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten was killed by the IRA in 1979, shook the hand of former IRA commander and then Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness in Belfast.

It was a milestone in a peace process that largely brought an end to three decades of violence between pro-British, largely Protestant, factions and nationalists, mostly Catholic, seeking to reunite Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Charles, addressing senior politicians at the castle, said he was committed to the welfare of all the people of Northern Ireland. He also paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth.

"My mother saw Northern Ireland pass through momentous and historic changes. Through all those years, she never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and for its people, whose stories she knew, whose sorrows our family had felt, and for whom she had a great affection and regard," he said.

SUPPORT FOR CHARLES UP

A new poll, meanwhile, showed Charles has enjoyed a surge in support since he became king.

Now 63% think he will be a good king, a rise of 24 percentage points since March, while 15% believe he will do a bad job, compared with 31% six months ago, the YouGov poll found.

Charles had carved out a role for himself speaking out on issues from climate change to architecture, an at times controversial contrast to his mother, who kept her personal opinions hidden throughout her reign.

Since becoming king, he has repeatedly said he would follow his mother's example.
The Queen has returned to Buckingham Palace and her family, who turned out to witness the arrival of her coffin at the royal residence affectionately known as the office.

Standing at the grand entrance, King Charles III and his Queen Consort were surrounded by the late monarchs children and grandchildren and their partners, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

For one night the coffin will lie at rest in the palaces bow room before the monarch is handed to the nation to allow the public to pay their respects when she lies in state at the ancient Westminster Hall for four days.

The bearer party from the Queens Colour Squadron carry the Queens coffin to the state hearse (Arthur Edwards/The Sun)

The Princess Royal, who has travelled with the Queen on her journey from Balmoral to London via Edinburgh alongside husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, issued a moving tribute to her mother after the military plane carrying her coffin arrived at Londons RAF Northolt.

Anne said she was fortunate to be able to share the last 24 hours of my dearest mothers life in a statement, adding: It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys.

Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting.

We will all share unique memories. I offer my thanks to each and every one who share our sense of loss.

Charles travelled to Northern Ireland on his tour of the home nations, and he pledged to seek the welfare of all Northern Irelands people, and described how his family have felt their sorrows as the Queens peacebuilding efforts were praised.

People get out of their cars to watch Queens hearse pass by (Victoria Jones/PA)

The King, who in 2015 made a pilgrimage to the site of his great-uncle Lord Mountbattens murder in an IRA bombing, said the Queen had never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and its people.

Speaking at Hillsborough Castle in Co Down, the royal residence in Northern Ireland, the new monarch said the late Queen was aware of her position in bringing together divided communities whom history had separated.

Under leaden skies that rained on the waiting public, the Queens coffin was transported in a new state hearse designed by Jaguar Land Rover and the Royal Household, with the late monarch consulted on the plans, said Buckingham Palace.

With a glass roof and large side windows, it was designed to give members of the public a clear view, and featured interior lights that shone brightly in the gloomy London evening as they illuminated the coffin draped in a royal standard with a wreath of Balmoral blooms.

As it travelled, sections of busy roads like the A40 came to a stop with drivers stood by the central reservation watching while the public lined the pavements.

The Queens coffin arrives at Buckingham Palace (Gareth Fuller/PA)

At moments there was applause and cheers and a few blooms were thrown into the path of the state hearse, and when it neared Buckingham Palace three cheers went up, and some people lit up the area with the torches on their camera phones, holding them above their heads.

On the steps of the grand entrance Charles and Camilla were joined by William, Kate, Meghan and Harry along with the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their children Lady Louise and Viscount Severn, the Duke of York and his daughters Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank and Princess Beatrice and her spouse Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

Lady Sarah Chatto and Earl Snowdon, the children of Princess Margaret the Queens sister, were among the group to pay their respects to their aunt.

Standing in the palaces quadrangle was a guard of honour formed from the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards and they gave the royal salute as the hearse came to a stop.

The bearer party, from the Queens Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, carried the coffin into the bow room and in a poignant moment the sovereigns piper, Pipe Major Paul Burns of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, will played a lament.
Richer households will benefit more than poorer ones from Liz Trusss energy bills freeze and winter will still be tough for many despite the policy, experts have warned.

Analysis by the Resolution Foundation think tank, which focuses on raising living standards, said that because higher-income households typically use more energy, the richest fifth may gain an average of about 1,300 this winter compared with 1,100 for the poorest 20%.

The report concluded that the first major policy intervention by the new Prime Minister was all-but-inevitable given the colossal increases in energy prices.

The energy price guarantee (EPG) will restrict average domestic bills in England, Scotland and Wales to no more than 2,500 for two years from October  around 500 higher than they are now, but 1,000 lower than they would have been from next month under Ofgems price cap.

Around 11% of households with the highest electricity and gas use will gain more than 2,000 from the policy while 13% will gain less than 500.

The Resolution Foundation said the lack of targeting across both the EPG and previous interventions means that support is not necessarily going where it is most needed.

Together with the universal 400 energy bill discount and the 150 council tax rebate to homes in bands A-D, support is being felt broadly equally across the income distribution, with an average gain of around 2,200.

The universal support helps families with the biggest bills. But the richest fifth of households may gain an average of around 1,300 this winter compared to 1,100 for the lowest-income fifth (darker blue bars here). Scrapping NICs rise will make this worse (dark red bars). pic.twitter.com/6CG4teP5VI  Resolution Foundation (@resfoundation) September 13, 2022

The report said Ms Trusss plans to provide further cost-of-living support by scrapping the rise in national insurance will skew support towards the very highest-income households.

The combination of the EPG and the national insurance cut could leave the 10% with the highest incomes benefiting by 4,700 on average while the poorest tenth receive 2,200 in 2023/24.

Resolution Foundation chief executive Torsten Bell told BBC Radio 4s World At One programme: Next year, twice as much support goes to the richest households as the poorest households, whereas this year everybody gets a lot.

Meanwhile, business groups have been pleading for clarity as they wait for the Government to set out funding for a set of major interventions in the cost-of-living crisis.

No date has yet been set for the fiscal event, which is not expected until after the Queens funeral.

Seven out of 10 pubs could close this winter unless they get Government support with soaring bills soon, according to the chairman of the Night Time Industries Association trade body.

I think we are now entering probably the most critical week for my industry in my lifetime, Sacha Lord told the World At One.

My phone is red hot and people are just at the end of their tether. And we already know that probably seven out of 10 pubs wont make the winter if this help doesnt come.

Mr Lord, who is also the night time economy adviser for Greater Manchester, said businesses are already going under on a daily basis and are sat in limbo ahead of the fiscal event.

Winter will still be tough: typical pre-payment meter customers will still need to find 264 in cash for Januarys energy use alone, despite the energy price guarantee (EPG), down from 550 had there been no more support. And energy bills are far from the only price rises. pic.twitter.com/oOrebciAtC  Resolution Foundation (@resfoundation) September 13, 2022

The Resolution Foundation report said the cost of the EPG, which will be funded by borrowing, could eclipse the 137 billion worth of bailouts for banks during the financial crisis.

It noted the Government is now bearing all the financial risk related to future movements in gas prices.

The think tank said there is a strong case for extending windfall taxes on oil and gas producers but also an argument for implementing a solidarity tax of some form on the rich to help cover the cost.

A 1% increase in income tax would raise 9.5 billion, with 60% paid by the top fifth of households who may benefit by over 13 billion a year from the EPG.
The plane set to carry the Queens coffin from Edinburgh to London evacuated thousands of people fleeing the Taliban in Kabul last summer.

The heavily used C-17 Globemaster has also been used to take humanitarian aid and weapons to Ukraine following Russias invasion.

The head of the Royal Air Force (RAF), said the aircraft has also helped extensively in disaster relief efforts around the world.

The RAF has been tasked with moving the Queens coffin on Tuesday evening.

As Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II begins her journey from Scotland to London today, we reflect on her special relationship throughout the decades with the Royal Air Force, as Head of the Armed Forces. pic.twitter.com/IyJnVVQqKE  Royal Air Force (@RoyalAirForce) September 13, 2022

Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston told Sky News: Its a C-17 Globemaster, which is our strategic airlifter. But on this very sad occasion it will be carrying Her Majestys coffin down from Edinburgh to RAF Northolt.

Its a heavily used aircraft  it carried the majority of the 15,000 people that we evacuated from Kabul last summer.

And, since then, its been involved in airlifting humanitarian aid and lethal aid nodes to support Ukraine.

Sir Mike said the former monarch, who died last week aged 96, will get a royal guard of honour from 96 Queens Colour Squadron gunners when it is loaded on to the aircraft in Edinburgh.

The plane, which will also fly the Princess Royal south, will leave at 6pm and is expected to arrive in London an hour later.

The Queens Colour Squadron, this time with the Kings colours on display too, will then give another guard of honour.

A hearse will then take the Queens coffin to Buckingham Palace.

Today is the day that we have long, long planned for but hoped would never come, Sir Mike told BBC Breakfast.

Ill be part of the reception party at RAF Northolt to welcome Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal off the aircraft and then to be part of the royal salute as the coffin is moved into the hearse.

(PA Graphics)

Sir Mike praised the Queens interest in new technology, noting that when she began her reign, the RAF was flying Lancaster and Spitfire planes.

As one of the many chiefs that shes seen over her 70-year reign, (she had) a depth of wisdom and interest in geopolitics or interest in the technology of today, he said.

And when you look at the technology and her interest in that, again, it speaks to somebody who right to the end kept this close affinity and a close interest.

Sir Mike said the Queen is the embodiment of a life of service.

He told Sky News: And when we join the armed forces  the Navy, the Army, the Air Force  we all try in some way to emulate that service.

And His Majesty the King, just like Her Majesty, comes from a service family.

They know what its like to have partners, sons, grandsons, grandchildren serving and serving on operations as well.

They understand what it means to be a service family, and thats why Her Majesty was able to engage with and sought out families  to talk to them, to share and hear their experiences and to share some of her own.

Its a very, very close personal relationship with her armed forces and she will be very sadly missed.

But we stand ready to serve His Majesty the King in the same way.

Sir Mike added: Her Majesty the Queens father was the first royal to get his Royal Air Force wings, followed by His Majesty the King, followed by the Prince of Wales.

And the Prince of Wales was a serving search and rescue pilot.

Im in no doubt that the Royal Air Force holds a very special place alongside all of the armed forces around the Commonwealth.

The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston pays tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. "We cherish Her Late Majesty's deep connections to our Service with the utmost respect and affection." pic.twitter.com/8oMQUHFIUG  Royal Air Force (@RoyalAirForce) September 11, 2022

Meanwhile, Sir Mike said Charles was a good pilot and could have had a successful flying career.

He told BBC Breakfast: I know that he enjoyed his flying, as his father did, as his grandfather did, and as the Prince of Wales did as well.

By all accounts, I still speak to one of his instructors and there was no doubt that, had His Majesty the King chosen a career in the Royal Air Force, he would have gone on to a successful flying career.
FILE PHOTO - Flights canceled during the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant on Christmas Eve in Queens, New York City

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden said on Monday his administration had cracked down on U.S. airlines to improve treatment of passengers, a claim rejected by the carriers.

Biden said prior to changes made in customer service plans by major airlines "if your flight was canceled or delayed, no top airline guaranteed covering your cost of hotels and meals."

"My administration is also cracking down on the airlines to get passengers fairer treatment," Biden said. "Secretary Buttigieg, at my request, called them out."

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told airlines in August he would publish their responses in a "dashboard" and gave them two weeks to disclose what customer service protections they would commit to offering when delays were the fault of the airline.

"As of last week, airlines now cover hotels - eight of them; nine (cover) meals; nine rebook for free," Biden said. "Were going to get more rules in the works to protect airline passengers even further."

Airlines for America, a trade group representing American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways and others, took exception to Biden's assertions.

"It is not accurate to say that no U.S. airline covered meals and hotels for passengers severely impacted by carrier-caused flight delays and cancellations," it said in a statement, adding that the dashboard reflected airlines formalizing existing policies.

Airlines canceled or delayed tens of thousands of flights this summer as they struggled to ramp up staffing as demand returned from historic COVID pandemic lows, and Congress has pressed the administration to take a tougher line on airlines.

The Department of Transportation (USDOT) has five categories for rating airlines on for both canceled and delayed flights, including whether they provide meal vouchers for three-hour delays, and pay for hotels, transportation to lodging for stranded passengers and rebooking passengers on the same or another airline. They get checkmarks for providing such services.

American, Delta, United and JetBlue all got five checkmarks for both delayed and canceled flight policies, while Southwest and Alaskan Airlines got four checkmarks. Low-cost carrier Allegiant initially received no checkmarks but now has three for hotel, transportation and rebooking policies.

Buttigieg told Reuters last month the U.S. approach to regulating airlines and ensuring passengers are properly treated needs improvements.

USDOT has proposed rules to strengthen airline passenger protection and require airlines to provide vouchers that do not expire when passengers are unable to fly for pandemic-related reasons.

Buttigieg plans to finalize a new rule proposed in July 2021 to require passenger airlines to refund fees for bags that are significantly delayed and for services like onboard Wi-Fi that do not work.

Buttigieg said in July USDOT had completed investigations into 10 unnamed airline over delayed or withheld passenger refunds and plans enforcement actions.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
TEHRAN, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. claim that humanitarian items, including foodstuffs and medicines, are not included in the list of sanctions on Iran is a "big lie," a top Iranian official said Tuesday.

Kazem Gharibabadi, the Iranian Judiciary chief's deputy for international affairs and secretary of the country's High Council for Human Rights, made the remarks in a meeting with the ambassadors and representatives of the member states of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) during the ongoing 51st regular session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Iranian Students' News Agency reported.

The U.S. claim is not based on the realities on the ground because the sanctions have directly targeted Iran's oil exports, which is the country's main source of income, and its banking sector, meaning the Iranian people's right to development and welfare is targeted, Gharibabadi said.

Meanwhile, Iran needs to import raw materials to produce some rare medicines for certain patients, and the import of such materials is hindered because foreign companies refuse to sell them, thus seriously jeopardizing Iranian patients' right to life and health, he added.

As a consequence of unilateral sanctions, Iranians' civil, political, economic, social, cultural and development rights have been violated, the Iranian official concluded.

Gharibabadi called on the NAM members to voice their opposition to the unilateral sanctions during the ongoing meetings of the Human Rights Council.

The United States intensified its unilateral sanctions on Iran following its withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The sanctions have mainly targeted the Iranian oil and banking sectors, preventing the country from having access to its frozen assets in foreign banks and importing medicine.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which broke out in Iran in February 2020, has made the detrimental effects of the U.S. sanctions on Iran's health sector more tangible. 
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Bill Gates said he's run into people in public who yell at him for "putting chips into people."

He called the conspiracy theory "tragic" if it caused people to be hesitant of vaccines or masks.

Gates joked that he was targeted more than Anthony Fauci because he's more known internationally.

Bill Gates talked in a recent interview with The Guardian about being targeted by conspiracy theorists during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it's led to some people even approaching him in real life.

"There have been a few cases where I've run into people in public where they are yelling at me that I'm putting chips into people and that's kind of strange to see: 'Wow, those people really exist, it's not just some robot sending out crazy messages,'" Gates told the publication.

The billionaire said he thinks the conspiracy theory that he put microchips in the coronavirus vaccine is "starting to die down," but said "it's tragic if it made people more reluctant to trust vaccines or to wear a mask where they should have."

Conspiracy theories surrounding vaccines predate the coronavirus pandemic. The conspiracy theory that the COVID-19 vaccine is injecting a microchip connected to 5G mobile networks that can track people, started on 4plebs, a community-run channel on 4chan.

In June, when Microsoft shut down Internet Explorer, Gates quipped on Twitter that the service had to be shut down because Microsoft "ran out of microchips" from putting them in the coronavirus vaccine.

In his interview with The Guardian, Gates joked that Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the president of the United States, "missed out" on most of the targeting because people around the world "didn't know who Tony was." In the US, the targeting mostly focused on both men.

Gates said he didn't want to make too much fun of the conspiracy theories around the vaccine because it's "pretty serious stuff."

"The innovations on how you get the truth have to be as interesting as the big lie  we face that in a number of domains, and I haven't seen as good a solution as I think we'd all like to see," he said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
90s kids are shaking! Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell reunited at the 2022 Emmy Awards  and teased a Good Burger sequel.

Read article

After the 44-year-old Emmys host introduced Kumail Nanjiani as the fake bartender at the Monday, September 12, awards show, he made his way over to a surprise patron: his Kenan & Kel and Good Burger costar Mitchell, also 44.

Excuse me, sir, can we get you a drink or something? Thompson asked the comedic actor, who initially had his back turned to the audience  and quickly turned around to reveal his identity.

Read article

Can I get a good burger? Mitchell replied as the Saturday Night Live cast member began yelling in excitement. The pair quickly hugged each other and jumped up and down a la their Kenan & Kel characters, shouting Oh! Oh! Oh!

NBC

Oh, my God! Make it two Good Burgers, Thompson requested. Before closing out the segment, the Kenan alum teased that the fan-favorite duo would once again join forces for a Good Burger sequel next year.

The longtime friends initially made a name for themselves when they starred on Nickelodeons sketch comedy show, All That, in the early 90s. Thompson and Mitchells on-screen chemistry was so palpable that they quickly scored their own spin-off, Kenan & Kel, which fan from 1996 to 2000.

Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock

The comedic duo only grew more popular with their 1997 cult classic, Good Burger, a spin-off of their frequent All That sketch, and the 2000 Kenan & Kel TV movie, Two Heads Are Better Than None.

Though their relationship hit a snag at one point  The truth is, Kenan does not want to be seen with me in any form of media, or even have my name mentioned around him. I have not been upset about this, Mitchell told TMZ in 2012  they soon reconciled and revived their Good Burger characters in a 2015 skit on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Read article

In 2019, while the Dancing With the Stars season 28 runner-up was competing in the dance competition, he exclusively told Us Weekly that the Georgia native always has his back.

Kenans shooting Saturday Night Live in New York, but he texts me after Im done every time. Hes like, Hey, you did so good, Mitchell told Us at the time. Thats my boy. Thats family.

Thompson later echoed the sentiment at the 2022 Emmys.

My brotha!! the Snakes on a Plane actor shared via Instagram on Monday alongside a photo of him and Mitchell at the awards show.
King Charles III pledged to seek the welfare of all Northern Irelands people and described how his family have felt their sorrows as the Queens peacebuilding efforts were praised.

Charles, who in 2015 made a pilgrimage to the site of his great-uncle Lord Mountbattens murder in an IRA bombing, said the Queen had never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and its people.

Speaking at Hillsborough Castle in Co Down, the royal residence in Northern Ireland, the new monarch said the late Queen was aware of her position in bringing together divided communities whom history had separated.

During a Belfast memorial service in honour of the Queen, Charles continued the soft diplomacy of his mother when he met another head of state for the first time in his role as King, shaking hands with the president of Ireland, Michael D Higgins.

The respect shown to the Queen was evident when crowds lined the route as her coffin left Edinburgh for the last time and began the journey back to Buckingham Palace.

A C-17 Globemaster aircraft, used for aid missions in Ukraine and to help evacuate people from Afghanistan when the Taliban returned, waited at Edinburgh Airport to take the coffin, escorted by the Princess Royal, to London.

The King, responding at Hillsborough Castle to a message of condolence on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland from Stormont Assembly speaker Alex Maskey, spoke poignantly about the Queen.

King Charles III and the Queen Consort meeting well-wishers outside Hillsborough Castle (Niall Carson/PA)

He said: Through all those years, she never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and for its people, whose stories she knew, whose sorrows our family had felt, and for whom she had a great affection and regard.

My mother felt deeply, I know, the significance of the role she herself played in bringing together those whom history had separated, and in extending a hand to make possible the healing of long-held hurts.

With his Queen Consort, Prime Minister Liz Truss and significant figures from Northern Ireland watching, the King said about the late Queen: Now, with that shining example before me, and with Gods help, I take up my new duties resolved to seek the welfare of all the inhabitants of Northern Ireland.

A momentous step forward in Anglo-Irish relations came in 2012 when the Queen shook hands with Martin McGuinness, the then-deputy first minister of Northern Ireland and a former IRA commander.

The Queens historic handshake with Martin McGuinness (Paul Faith/PA)

The late monarch had lost a member of her family in the Troubles, her cousin Lord Mountbatten, who had a close relationship with Charles.

The 79-year-old Lord Mountbatten was murdered on August 27 1979, when a bomb blew apart a boat at Mullaghmore in Co Sligo, on one of the most violent days in the history of the Troubles that saw 18 British troops die in an IRA ambush.

The Queens historic state visit to the Republic of Ireland in 2011  the first by a British monarch since the Republics independence  was another milestone.

She visited significant locations such as Dublins Croke Park  the site of the 1920 Bloody Sunday massacre where British forces fired into the crowd at a football match, killing 14 spectators and players  and surprised and delighted the nation by speaking a few words of Gaelic at the start of her state dinner speech.

The speaker of the Stormont Assembly described how the Queen had been part of efforts to build peace in Ireland.

The King meets Northern Ireland Assembly Speaker Alex Maskey (Niall Carson/PA)

Mr Maskey said she had not been a distant observer in the transformation and progress of relationships among the people of the country.

He said the monarch had demonstrated how individual acts of positive leadership can help break down barriers and encourage reconciliation.

Mr Maskey added: She showed that a small and insignificant gesture  a visit, a handshake, crossing the street or speaking a few words of Irish  can make a huge difference in changing attitudes and building relationships.

The Queens recognition of both British and Irish traditions, as well as the wider diversity of the community, was exceptionally significant, he said.

Mr Maskey added: In all of this she personally underlined that one tradition is not diminished by reaching out to show respect to another.

(PA Graphics)

The Queens efforts to foster peace on the island of Ireland were highlighted by John McDowell, Anglican Archbishop of Armagh and head of the Church of Ireland.

Speaking at Belfasts St Annes Cathedral during a service of reflection, he told the congregation: The word which I think will be most associated with Queen Elizabeth and Ireland, north and south, is reconciliation.

It is a great New Testament word and it is a great civic word, and it is a hard word.

So hard in the religious sense that it was beyond the power of humanity to achieve, and God himself had to give it to us as a gift in his son.

And as a disciple of Jesus Christ, Queen Elizabeth followed where Jesus led, as women often have in the elusive and unfinished work of reconciliation here in Ireland.
(Los Angeles Times illustration; photo from Getty Images)

Anyone who has ever been on a job hunt knows that it is often difficult to find out what a new position might pay.

That could be about to change. The governors of California and New York, both Democrats, have bills on their desks that would require companies to post pay ranges on job advertisements. Those two states  and their outsized economies and populations  could spur most larger companies to adopt the policy nationwide, advocates and experts say.

All workers could be affected, but evidence suggests that more transparent pay practices are particularly helpful for women and people of color, who are more likely to get lowballed in salary negotiations.

Its a tidal wave, really, to have the two coasts embrace salary transparency in this way, said Beverly Neufeld, president and founder of PowHer New York, which helped push an ordinance in New York City, set to take effect in November, and one modeled after it at the state level that is now on Gov. Kathy Hochuls desk.

If California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Hochul sign their respective bills, their states will join Colorado, Washington state and several cities, including New York, that either require or plan to require such disclosure. About 1 in 6 workers nationwide would be covered under the new and existing laws, according to Christine Hendrickson, vice president of strategic initiatives for Syndio, which sells software that helps companies promote pay equity. Other states, including Nevada and Connecticut, require employers to disclose salary ranges proactively during the hiring process.

Women working full time typically earned about 83% of what men made in 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The disparity in pay is sharper for Black women and Latinas.

For decades, lower-paid workers have been kept in the dark about how much their colleagues were earning. Lilly Ledbetter, whose suit against Goodyear Tire led Congress to pass the 2009 Fair Pay Act in her name, said the veil around salaries was a major factor in keeping her earnings lower than male managers' when she worked for the company from 1979 through 1998.

It was kind of a secret thing and if you did [discuss it] youd lose your job and lose your status, Ledbetter said in a phone interview from her home in Jacksonville, Ala.

Union employees had a set pay scale and knew what they would be paid for promotions or experience. There was no system for handing out or explaining pay raises for salaried employees, she said.

In recent years, several states, including California, have moved to end some of the secrecy, requiring companies to provide pay information during the interview process, though, in some cases, only on request. Some have also moved to bar companies from asking prospective employees their salary histories, which tends to lock people into lower pay from their previous jobs.

But without a critical mass of states requiring disclosure, companies have tried to skirt some of the requirements.

When Colorado became the first state to enforce a rule requiring salary ranges in job postings last year, some companies advertising for remote workers began posting in their notices that Colorado workers need not apply.

But as the state began cracking down and other states and cities moved to adopt the Colorado rule, anywhere-but-Colorado postings have all but disappeared. Scott Moss, director of the Colorado division of labor standards, said the number of such postings dropped from more than 900 to a few dozen after his office sent letters. Only three companies have been fined under the law, and only after multiple warnings.

There continue to be some really bad actor companies that work really, really hard to continue to underpay women, said Colorado state Sen. Jessie Danielson, a Democrat who sponsored the law there.

But it becomes far more difficult to single out Colorado as more states join the fight, she said. You cant opt out for New York and California.

Experts and employment specialists say larger companies are likely to respond to the newest laws by posting salary ranges for all jobs, regardless of where they are, to simplify their hiring process. Microsoft, for example, plans to do so nationally as it meets the requirements in Washington state, set to take effect Jan. 1.

Research shows that pay-disclosure laws can help combat discrimination, but that non-unionized workers could actually see their pay decline.

Zoe Cullen, an assistant professor of economics at Harvard Business School, analyzed data from the U.S. and studied four other countries that adopted pay transparency rules and found that the measures tended to close the gender pay gap but overall pay declined by 2% to 3% for non-unionized employees. Workers who bargained collectively did not see a decline in wages. Her data did not relate directly to job posting requirements but instead looked at other transparency measures.

Employers are more likely to say no to raise requests if they know the salary will eventually become public because they can argue more credibly that they will then face pressure to offer the same raise to other employees, Cullen said.

They have another incentive to bargain aggressively because it helps keep everyones wages low, she said.

Advocates and employment specialists say they would like to see more conclusive evidence that publicizing salaries actually depresses wages. But they do argue that it helps employers in other ways, by matching applicants salary expectations with the job market and helping to cull the field.

You would never look for a house and not know what the house costs, said Neufeld, of PowHer New York.

Hendrickson, of Syndio, said posting pay ranges also helps employers think harder about which employees are really worthy of salaries that exceed the pay range because of skill, training or experience.

These types of laws put emphasis on being able to identify who really is a unicorn and who isnt a unicorn, she said.

Business groups have opposed many of the laws, but their level of opposition depends on the specifics.

The California Chamber of Commerce, for example, removed the state bill from its job killer list last month after lawmakers eliminated a provision that would have made some data on wage discrepancies public. The group still opposes the current bill. Business groups also won concessions in New York City, eliminating penalties for first-time offenders when the law takes effect Nov. 1.

It is helpful for employees to understand the pay scale. Its helpful for employees to understand in the context of negotiations for initial pay, said Camille A. Olson, an employment lawyer in Chicago and California who has testified before Congress on workplace issues for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "I just get concerned to the extent the information can impinge on other employees' confidentiality and the companys trade secrets.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Oregon gubernatorial candidates Christine Drazan, left, Betsy Johnson and Tina Kotek. With three viable candidates running, the winner could prevail with less than 50% support. (Associated Press)

Betsy Johnson is firmly behind the wheel, driving through an urban dystopia of poverty and despair.

"God knows, we need a real solution to the homeless crisis," she says brusquely. Tent cities and garbage-strewn sidewalks flash by. It will require new leadership, she goes on, and a different type of politics, embracing the best ideas of Democrats and Republicans, without regard to party labels.

"We shouldn't have to choose," says Johnson, who is waging an improbably strong bid for Oregon governor, raising the prospect the sapphire-blue state could elect a gun-loving, corporate-hugging, woke-bashing political independent as its next leader.

Or, just as surprising, a Republican, which hasn't happened since Ronald Reagan was in the White House.

For all the focus on control of the House and Senate, there are 36 gubernatorial contests on the ballot in November. Their import has increased as policies on abortion, guns and other issues increasingly diverge, depending on which party holds power in a given state.

Most of the races aren't likely to result in a partisan shift. Democrats are poised to flip Maryland and Massachusetts after Republicans nominated Trump loyalists in those blue states.

Republicans hope to oust Democratic incumbents in Kansas, Nevada and Wisconsin, but pickup opportunities in Pennsylvania and Michigan may be out of reach after the GOP nominated far-right conservatives in those swing states.

That has heightened Republican interest in Oregon, which last elected a GOP governor in 1982.

Democrat Tina Kotek, the former speaker of the state House, remains the favorite to win in November, if for no other reason than Democrats and voters who lean their way considerably outnumber Oregon Republicans.

The mathematics of the three-way contest, however, make it quite possible the next governor could be elected with less than 50% support, opening the door for Johnson or the GOP nominee, Christine Drazan, to slip through.

In theory, 35% of the vote could be enough to win and thus end years of Democratic reign along the Left Coast, from Baja California to Canada's border.

Drazan, the former Republican leader in the state House, is running hard against single-party rule in Salem, the state capital. "We need real leadership and real change to hold the Democrats to account," Drazan said when the three candidates debated in July.

But the only reason she stands a chance is the presence of Johnson and the hope she might siphon enough votes away from Kotek.

The heir to a timber fortune, Johnson served 20 years in the Legislature, representing rural Oregon as a center-right Democrat before leaving the party and resigning from the state Senate last December to focus on her unaffiliated run for governor.

She likens herself to Goldilocks, neither too far left nor too far right, but her acerbic persona and harsh attacks on rivals suggest little of the innocent fairy tale character.

Drazan, Johnson says, "wants to be the first anti-choice governor in Oregon's history," undermining the state's strong support for legal abortion. Kotek, vying to become the nation's first governor who has come out as lesbian, "wants to bring the culture wars to your kid's classroom. She'd have us all woke and broke."

If ever Oregonians were hungering for something new and different, now would seem the time, with polls showing deep discontent and the incumbent, Democrat Kate Brown, leaving office as one of the least popular governors in America.

"People are very concerned and angry and anxious about the status quo," said Len Bergstein, a public affairs consultant who's been involved in Oregon politics since the 1970s.

After deadly wildfires, years of pandemic and weeks of right-vs.-left protests that turned parts of downtown Portland into an armed camp, "There are a lot of people who feel we've lost our way," Bergstein said.

Johnson taps into those frustrations with her TV ad driving through blighted Portland and her disdainful lumping together of the two major parties. "Oregonians are distrustful of the radical right," she says. "And they are terrified of the progressive left."

For all the evident frustration, however, Oregon is no Alabama or Arkansas, to name two deeply conservative bastions, and several of Johnson's positions clearly cut against the state's political grain.

The proud owner of a Cold War-era machine gun, she responds to the ravages of gun violence by ticking off NRA talking points about increasing school security and boosting mental health services.

Her preferred method to fight climate change, improving management of Oregon's forests, recalls President Trump's much-ridiculed suggestion the country rake its woodlands to prevent wildfires.

She sounds populist notes and promises to be a voice for the "pissed off," but has benefited handsomely from the support of CEOs and others among the well-off. Phil Knight, the billionaire founder of Nike and Oregon's richest man, has kicked in $1.75 million, helping Johnson outraise her opponents.

For her part, after years in power, Kotek has the unenviable task of convincing voters that as bad as things seem, they will get better.

Eventually.

"No matter what the other candidates say here today, there are no quick fixes," the Democratic former House speaker said in opening the first, and so far only, gubernatorial debate. "There are no miracle cures."

The notion of someone beholden to no one, save voters, sweeping in to make bold and dramatic change and rid the political system of its iniquities is a popular and enduring one. Plenty of third-party and independent candidates have tried it. Most end up fizzling.

Johnson has already exceeded expectations with her strong fundraising and solid showing in polls. If she catches a few breaks, she could end up being Oregon's next governor.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Trump national security adviser John Bolton on Monday said the threat of nuclear war with Russia is a lot closer than before.

Where we are now after this Ukraine success in the north is not that point, Bolton said on WABC radios Cats at Night when asked whether Russian President Vladimir Putin might approve the use of nuclear weapons.

But it is a lot closer to it than weve been before, he added.

Bolton, who served under former President Trump in 2018 and 2019, said that he has always predicted that Putin would not use nukes unless Ukrainian troops became successful enough to cross the Russian border.

The potential risk of the use of a nuclear weapon is not so much to change the battlefield but to strengthen Putins position at home, he told host John Catsimatidis.

The Ukrainian military launched a massive counteroffensive last week against the Russian troops that invaded in February.

Ukraine pushed back on the Russian military in the north of the country after leading its opponent to believe for months that it would attack in the south.

Bolton described Putins current political position as endangered, claiming that the president is in more trouble now than hes been since the invasion.

We need to think about how to take advantage of that, he added.

The former ambassador to the United Nations said that there is no chance of Russian surrender now that Ukraine has pushed back on the larger countrys troops.

That would be a signal of weakness, he said. This defeat is significant enough that it will have political effects.

Bolton praised Ukraines skill in the war, saying that the country deserves great credit.

As for Russia, Bolton said, Just when you think the Russian military cant perform any worse, they surprise you and perform worse.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
LONDON  Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last week, her son, Prince Charles, ascended to the throne, becoming King Charles III. During 70 long years, the queen navigated the monarchy through decades of social change and the decline of the British Empire.

The queen was popular with the American public: She hosted 10 presidents in the United Kingdom and visited dozens of cities in the United States during her reign. Her rule helped strengthen what has been referred to as the U.K.s special relationship with the U.S. Now, King Charles is expected to maintain bilateral cooperation.

As countries of the commonwealth won independence after centuries of colonization from those who held the throne previously, the second Elizabethan era marked a unique and special relationship with the U.S. The late queen met with 13 sitting presidents during her time as monarch; in 1951, as princess, she was introduced to then-President Harry Truman.

Princess Elizabeth with President Harry Truman in 1951. (NARA)

More recently, in 2021, she hosted President Biden and first lady Jill Biden at Windsor Castle for tea. Following the queens passing, Biden said in a statement that she was the first British monarch to whom people all around the world could feel a personal and immediate connection.

In a YouGov poll from February, Queen Elizabeth was voted the most popular living member of the royal family among Americans, with 61% of the population having favorable views about her. But, the late Princess Diana topped the polls, with 38% of the U.S. adults having a very favorable opinion of her, with 64% overall favoring her.

Prince Charles, left, greets President Biden before their meeting at the climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 2, 2021. (Jane Barlow/Pool via AP)

Prince Charles  now king  came in ninth, just after his lesser-known brother and the late queens youngest child, Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex. The poll even found that Americans at the time preferred to see Prince William take the throne ahead of his father Charles.

Politically, the U.K. has had a long-standing special rapport with the U.S. through what the embassy in London says reflects the common language, ideals, and democratic practices of the two nations.

Charles has had a long relationship with the U.S. and has visited the country on official tours more than 20 times. His first visit as Prince of Wales was to meet with President Richard Nixon in 1970, when Charles was just 21 years old. In his welcoming speech, Nixon noted that historically the Prince of Wales had visited the U.S. every 50 years  Charles would go on to change this, meeting 10 sitting presidents along the way.

President and Mrs. Nixon welcome Prince Charles and Princess Anne on the balcony of the South Portico of the White House, July 1970. (Bettmann Archive via Getty Images)

But the British monarchy had won over the American population in 1985, when Princess Diana joined Charles on a tour of the United States. A royal fever had spread throughout the country with the Los Angeles Times reporting that Washington, D.C., an officially democratic capital, had suddenly turned mad about [the] monarchy.

Charles is a distant third in popularity in the states, Matthew Schmidt, the director of international affairs at Connecticuts University of New Haven, told Yahoo News. His sons will outshine him, and when Americans talk about the House of Windsor they reference Harry and William as their mothers sons.

He added: The American public is on Dianas side, as it were, and that will always temper what hes able to do here.

President and Nancy Reagan visit with Prince Charles and Princess Diana at the White House in 1985. (Bettmann Archive via Getty Images)

In the early years of the new millennium, Charles and his wife, Camilla  the Duchess of Cornwall now known as Queen Consort  embarked on their first royal tour as husband and wife. Shortly after their wedding in 2005, the pair visited the U.S. and met with then-President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, who hosted a reception for the royals at the White House.

Six years later in 2011, Charles met with former President Barack Obama, reportedly discussing environmental issues  a cause he campaigned for during his many years in the public spotlight. "President Obama warmly welcomed the Princes work over three decades on environmental issues, halting deforestation and encouraging sustainable food production, read a White House statement at the time.

However, in his first address as monarch on Friday, Charles seemed to signal an end to his decades-long campaigning against climate change. Like his mother, Charles, as sovereign, would uphold the constitutional principles that stopped her from weighing in on what could be considered political issues.

President Barack Obama meets with Prince Charles at the White House, March 19, 2015. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

My life will of course change as I take up my new responsibilities, Charles said in the videotaped speech. It will no longer be possible to give so much of my time and energies to the charities and issues for which I cared so deeply, but I know this important work will go on in the trusted hands of others.

Despite the former Prince of Wales being so outspoken on the threats caused by climate change, little has been done by the British Parliament to reverse global warming in recent years. More recently, after her recent appointment as prime minister, Liz Truss lifted a ban on hydraulic fracking and approved new gas and oil drilling in the North Sea.

So what will the future hold for King Charles and his relationship with the U.S.?

Elizabeth will have ruled for decades longer, but Charless challenges may well be greater, Schmidt told Yahoo News. If Charless reign lasts till this centurys mid-mark, hell reign over a special relationship with the U.S. that will have to manage a postwar and post-Putin Russian nuclear power and a post-Xi China.

Only time will tell.
Rep.-elect Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, poses for a portrait at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades)

WASHINGTON (AP)  Democrat Mary Peltola was sworn in Tuesday night to finish out the remaining months of the term of the late Rep. Don Young, making her the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress and the first woman to hold the seat.

To have a seat at the table is different, Peltola told The Associated Press in an interview Monday. But I am just always reminding people that Im not here to represent just the 16% of Alaskans who are Alaska Natives. Im here to represent all Alaskans.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a ceremonial swearing-in with Peltola and the two other new members of the House, Democrat Pat Ryan and Republican Joe Sempolinski of New York, on the chamber floor.

Peltola, who is Yup'ik, was donning Alaskan Mukluks, traditional boots, as the other two members of her delegation, GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, sat behind her applauding at her historic victory. Peltola previously served as a state lawmaker for 10 years representing the rural hub community of Bethel, Alaska.

The 49-year-old made history last month when she won the special election to finish out Young's term, besting a field of candidates that included Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was governor.

The day before her swearing-in ceremony, Peltola stood outside what was once Young's office, swarmed by the local and national press, and marveled at the moment.

I really hope that Don is getting a kick out of this," Peltola told the AP. I cant help but think that some things broke my way on account of his great sense of humor.

The kicker is that 50 years ago, right before Peltola was born, her parents worked on Youngs first campaign for the only congressional seat in Alaska. Young won and went on to hold it for 49 years before his death in March.

Peltolas campaign has emphasized her dedication to fish, family and freedom. Fish are a staple in Alaskan life, and salmon holds particular cultural significance to Alaska Natives. A subsistence lifestyle  relying on fish, wildlife and berries  is essential in rural Alaska, including in many Native communities, where goods must be flown or barged in and costs for basic necessities can be exorbitant.

Peltola said she sees her few weeks in office as an homage to Young's service as a more moderate force in an increasingly polarized Congress. Like the often gruff Young, Peltola said she is bringing a sense of humor to the job, along with a history of being a consensus-builder with even the most conservative of colleagues.

After Palin came in second to Peltola in the special election last month, the two women shared a cordial back-and-forth. In a text message, Palin congratulated her and wrote that she was a real Alaskan chick! Beautiful & smart and tough.

Peltola replied, Your text means the world to me ... We really are in this together.

The newly elected congresswomans time in the Alaska Legislature overlapped with Palins time as governor, and the women have remained cordial. Peltola has said that one of the most unsavory parts of American politics is negative campaigning.

But staying above the fray could prove difficult. Peltola is on the ballot in November to serve a full two-year term, again facing off against Palin, Republican Nick Begich and Libertarian Chris Bye, all of whom advanced from last months open primary.

Thats partly why Peltola said she doesnt plan to get too comfortable in her new office, which Young, a Republican, adorned with the heads of bucks and bears and large rifles in a nod to his love of hunting. Now those walls are bare.

It didnt make sense to really become too entrenched, or decorate, or set up shop, Peltola said. I really just feel like Im camping here until the term is over. And then being open and seeing what happens next.

___

Associated Press reporter Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP's coverage of Congress at https://apnews.com/hub/congress.
Parents of young Black girls are posting videos of their thrilled children reacting to the trailer for Disney's coming live action "Little Mermaid," which stars Halle Bailey as Ariel.

"Mommy!" a little girl says in a video posted by TikTok user nickyknackpaddywack. "She's brown like me!"

Her video is among the many being shared across TikTok and Twitter, with parents using hashtags like #representationmatters to help demonstrate the importance of diverse casting in childrens media.

Disney debuted a teaser trailer of the film at D23 over the weekend. The trailer has amassed almost 11 million views on YouTube.

But its release reignited racist backlash online, which first surfaced in 2019 following news of Bailey's casting, from some people who said they think Disney is "too woke" for making the film's title character Black.

In the original animated film, released in 1989, Ariel, a fictional mermaid, is depicted as a white, red-haired woman.

In one of the reaction videos, posted by TikTok user Precious Avery, a toddler named Emery lounges on the couch but sits up when she Bailey appears on screen.

"I think she's brown!" a beaming Emery says in the video. "Brown Ariel is cute."

TikTok user callmedarii posted a similar video of her daughters' delighted reactions to seeing Ariel.

"That's why representation matters! We can't wait to watch this," she captioned the video.

"Is Ariel actually Black?" a young girl says in a video posted by TikTok user jendayis682.

"In this 'Little Mermaid' she will be," the person recording the video responds.

"Do you understand how it feels for our babies to see themselves in the fairy tales that the world said wasn't made for them," jendayis682 wrote in the caption. "Say what you want and complain all you want ... I hear nothing over the joy and excitement that this little girl has over seeing a person that represent[s] her."

The new Little Mermaid will feature four additional songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, more detailed mermaid tails and a Black princess, director Rob Marshall said at D23, Variety reported.

Marshall said that the live action remake will honor the original animated film but that he wanted to bring some depth to the reimagined story.

Critics have claimed the casting isnt faithful to Hans Christian Andersens fairy tale, which was originally published in Denmark.

But many Little Mermaid fans defended Baileys casting and pointed out that the 1989 Disney movie also isnt particularly faithful to Andersens fairy tale, which is a violent story that ends with the little mermaid dying after the prince marries another woman.

Television writer Gennifer Hutchinson, who wrote for Breaking Bad and is now a writer on Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, said she loved the nightmare factory version of The Little Mermaid.

In a Twitter thread, she summarized Andersens original story, in which the little mermaids sisters trade their hair for a knife. The little mermaid has to stab the prince to get her tail back but cant bring herself to do so.

She turns into sea foam, Hutchinson said. So ... what were people saying again about being true to Andersens original story?

Other Twitter users also brought up details from the original story that Disney didnt include in its animated film.

Hans Christian Andersen wrote The Little Mermaid in 1837. Its not a folk tale or a myth, Twitter user ViragoX said. Her skin is described as translucent green. Her hair color is never mentioned. She is in constant agony with every step she takes, the prince treats her like a pet, then marries another.

Bailey isnt the first actor of color to face racist criticism after having been cast in an iconic role.

Following backlash against the casting of the elven warrior Arondir and the dwarven Princess Disa in the Amazon Prime series "Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power," cast members pledged to stand together against racism and harassment in a joint statement.

The "Game of Thrones" prequel series "House of the Dragon" also recently got backlash over the character Lord Corlys Velaryon, who is played by the Black actor Steve Toussaint. Toussaint responded to the racist remarks in a Men's Health interview.

Disneys Star Wars franchise also recently spoke out after Obi-Wan Kenobi actor Moses Ingram faced racist attacks online.

In a recent interview with Variety, Bailey addressed the racism she faced, describing her grandparents encouragement.

It was an inspiring and beautiful thing to hear to the words of encouragement," she said. "Telling me, You dont understand what this is doing for us, for our community, for all the little Black and brown girls who are going to see themselves in you.'"
The Queens grandchildren will be among members of the royal family paying their respects to the late monarch by witnessing her coffins arrival at Buckingham Palace.

Standing at the palaces grand entrance, the new King and his Queen Consort will be surrounded by the late monarchs children and grandchildren and their partners, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The welcoming party stand by as the C-17 carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II arrives (Ben Stansall/PA)

The C-17 Globemaster aircraft, used for aid missions in Ukraine and to help evacuate people from Afghanistan when the Taliban returned, arrived at RAF Northolt in north-west London just before 7pm after travelling from Edinburgh.

Soon after the huge aircraft arrived at the military base, the Princess Royal, who accompanied the Queens coffin back to the capital with her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, issued a moving tribute to her mother.

The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence accompanied the Queens coffin on its journey from Edinburgh to London (Victoria Stewart/Daily Record)

Anne said she was fortunate to be able to share the last 24 hours of my dearest mothers life, adding: It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys.

Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting.

We will all share unique memories. I offer my thanks to each and every one who share our sense of loss.

Before the coffin was carried by a bearer party to a waiting state hearse, the Princess Royal and her husband left the military plane and stood with Chief of the Air Staff Sir Mike Wigston, while nearby was the Prime Minister Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.

On parade was a guard of honour made up of service personnel from the Queens Colour Squadron of the Royal Air Force, who presented arms when the coffin was first seen.

The Kings Colour for the Royal Air Force was lowered in salute.

As the hearse carrying the coffin began its journey, people stood silently by the road with some recording the historic moment on their camera phones.
Chinese reports uncover details of cyber attacks by U.S. security agency

Xinhua) 13:25, September 13, 2022

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday released investigation reports to disclose details of cyber attacks on a Chinese university launched by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).

According to China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC), 41 types of cyber weapons were used by the NSA-affiliated Tailored Access Operations (TAO) Office in the recently exposed cyber attacks against China's Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Among them, the sniffing and stealing cyber weapon "Suctionchar" is one of the most direct culprits that led to the theft of a large amount of sensitive data, the CVERC said.

Being highly stealthy and adaptable to environment, "Suctionchar" can steal accounts and passwords of a variety of remote management and file transfer services on target servers, according to the report released by the CVERC in collaboration with cybersecurity company Beijing Qi'an Pangu Laboratory Technology Co., Ltd.

Technical analysis shows that "Suctionchar" can effectively work with other cyber weapons deployed by the NSA, the CVERC cited experts on cybersecurity as saying.

"Suctionchar" can be delivered by the TAO to target servers with the help of the "Acid Fox" vulnerability attack weapon platform, the NOPEN Trojan and other cyber weapons featuring vulnerability attacks and persistent control over infected devices, experts noted.

It is found that "Suctionchar" can run stealthily on target servers, monitor in real time users' input on the terminal program of the operating system console, and intercept all kinds of user names and passwords.

Once obtained by the TAO, these user names and passwords can be used to access other servers and network devices to steal files or deliver other cyber weapons, the experts said.

In the TAO's cyber attacks against the Chinese university, "Suctionchar" was found to have worked together with other components of the Bvp47 Trojan program, a top-tier weapon of the hacking Equation Group of the NSA.

According to a separate report released by the Pangu Laboratory Tuesday, the Bvp47 has been deployed to hit targets in 45 countries and regions around the world over a time span of more than 10 years.

The United States has launched indiscriminate cyber attacks around the world, rather than selectively targeting countries it deems strategic competitors, the laboratory said.

According to the laboratory, 64 systems in China were hacked by the Bvp47, making the country the biggest victim of the latest exposed cyber attacks, followed by 32 systems in Japan, 30 in the Republic of Korea, and 16 in Germany.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
ABUJA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Five people were injured in an explosion from a gas cylinder that fell from a moving truck in the northern state of Jigawa, Nigeria, police confirmed on Tuesday.

The accident which occurred late Monday in the Babura local government area of the state also caused damage to 17 shops and five houses, Lawan Shiisu, a spokesman for the police in Jigawa, told Xinhua by telephone.

The driver of the truck which was carrying dozens of gas cylinders had ignored traffic rules and refused to stop after security operatives on stop-and-search in the area flagged down his vehicle, causing one of the cylinders to fall off and explode, according to Shiisu.

The injured have been taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, the spokesman added. 
The Queens coffin will make a poignant journey to Buckingham Palace on Tuesday while the King will travel to Northern Ireland for the first time as monarch.

Thousands of members of the public moved solemnly past the oak coffin through the night as it stood on public view for 24 hours at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Charles, on his Operation Spring Tide tour around the UK with the Queen Consort, will leave Scotland and head to Belfast before returning to London in the evening.

Members of the public are already queueing for the Queens lying in state at Westminster Hall, which opens on Wednesday, and thousands are still placing floral tributes in Green Park.

(PA Graphics)

Mourners have been asked by Royal Parks not to leave marmalade sandwiches  a nod to the Queens comedy sketch with Paddington Bear  for fear of a negative effect on wildlife.

At 6pm, the Queen will depart Scotland for the last time.

Her coffin will be flown from Edinburgh Airport to London on an RAF Globemaster C-17 flight, accompanied by her daughter the Princess Royal.

The King will be joined by Camilla as he receives his mothers coffin at Buckingham Palace, where she spent so many of her decades as sovereign.

The Prince and Princess of Wales will also be at the Palace.

A guard of honour formed of three officers and 96 soldiers from The Kings Guard will be mounted in the Quadrangle.

Military commands, usually shouted, will be given as quietly as possible in honour of the solemn occasion.

(PA Graphics)

The coffin will be carried by a bearer party to the Bow Room where a sovereigns piper will play a lament.

It will remain in the Bow Room overnight before a procession on Wednesday to Westminster Hall for the start of the lying in state.

The Kings visit to Northern Ireland earlier in the day comes ahead of a trip to Wales later in the week.

After touching down in Belfast, Charles and Camilla are to travel to Hillsborough Castle in Co Down, the royal residence in Northern Ireland, for several engagements.

They will hold a private audience with the new Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, as well as meeting representatives of political parties in the region.

The couple will then receive a message of condolence on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland from the speaker of the Stormont Assembly Alex Maskey.

Northern Ireland Assembly Speaker Alex Maskey signing a book of condolence (Liam McBurney/PA)

They will then go to a reception at the castle, hosted by Mr Heaton-Harris, which some members of the public will also attend.

Charles and Camilla will then travel to St Annes Cathedral in Belfast where they will attend a service of reflection for the life of the Queen.

The new monarch will also meet leaders from all the major faiths in Northern Ireland.

Before leaving, Charles and Camilla will undertake a walkabout at Writers Square.

Although the square will be closed to the public, people are being invited to line the route to Hillsborough Castle and the route to the cathedral.

The royal couple will travel along Main Street and Lisburn Street in Hillsborough before heading to Belfast along Wellington Place, Donegall Square North, Chichester Street and Victoria Street.

Irish President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina, Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney are due to attend the memorial service at St Annes Cathedral.

Both Houses of Parliament gathered at Westminster Hall in London on Monday to express their condolences to the new monarch, and Charles promised faithfully to follow the example set by his mother.

Later, the King led the royal family in a procession behind the Queens coffin in Edinburgh as it was taken from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral.
Invitations to the Queens state funeral have not been sent to Russia, Belarus or Myanmar, while Iran will only be represented at an ambassadorial level, Whitehall sources have said.

The event will see around 500 dignitaries from around the world descend on London to pay their last respects to the long-reigning monarch.

They will join members of the royal family, UK prime ministers past and present, and key figures from public life at Westminster Abbey  the historic church which can hold around 2,000 people  at 11am next Monday.

This is the biggest international event we have hosted in decades, a Whitehall source said.

At the Palaces invitation, 10 Australians who have made extraordinary contributions to their communities will attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II alongside the Prime Minister and Governor-General on September 19. Here's more about who they are: (1/11)  Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) September 13, 2022

The source compared the logistical task to organising hundreds of state visits within a matter of days. Normally, there might only be two or three a year.

It presents a huge logistical, diplomatic and security challenge, with practice runs taking place in the dead of night.

Invitations were sent over the weekend to the heads of state of nations with which the UK has diplomatic relations. For most countries, that means the head of state plus one guest.

However, invites were not dispatched to the leaders of Russia  which is continuing its onslaught on Ukraine, Belarus  which has supported its neighbour in the invasion, and Myanmar  where the military seized power in a coup last year.

No guest list has been published yet, but US President Joe Biden was among the first to declare he will be flying in with his wife, Jill.

US President Joe Biden will attend the Queens funeral (Chris Jackson/PA)

The leaders of most Commonwealth countries are expected to attend, with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying she will make the nearly 24-hour journey with a delegation of five others.

Her Canadian and Australian counterparts, Justin Trudeau and Anthony Albanese, have also confirmed their presence.

Mr Albanese announced that he will not be travelling alone, tweeting that at Buckingham Palaces invitation, he and Governor-General David Hurley will be accompanied by 10 Australians who have made extraordinary contributions to their communities.

Frances Emmanuel Macron, Germanys Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italys Sergio Mattarella, Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazils Jair Bolsonaro are among the presidents attending, along with the European Commissions Ursula von der Leyen.

King Felipe of Spain and his wife, Queen Letizia, are among the European royals who will attend.

Emperor Naruhito of Japan is also expected to travel to London in what would be his first overseas trip since ascending the throne in 2019.

The guest list for the Duke of Edinburghs memorial service could provide an idea of who else might come. The 1,800-strong congregation featured around 30 foreign royals, including Prince Albert of Monaco, Denmarks Queen Margrethe, and King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway.

(PA Graphics)

But it is not thought the trip will be made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who took time out from organising his countrys fightback against Russian President Vladimir Putins forces to sign a book of condolence for the Queen.

Arrival times will vary from leader to leader, Downing Street said.

Liz Truss is not expected to hold any formal bilateral meetings with world leaders during the mourning period, but there may be informal conversations that take place, the Prime Ministers official spokesperson said.

Former Tory leader Lord Hague said that while there will of course be diplomacy surrounding the funeral, that is not the main focus.

Of course there is some diplomacy  you cant have that number of people together from around the world without them starting to say Well, what do you think is happening in Ukraine?, he told Times Radio.

Nevertheless, theyre coming because they want to pay their respects to this extraordinary head of state. And that is what 90% of it will be about.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Prime Minister Liz Truss leave Westminster Hall after both Houses of Parliament expressed their condolences following the Queens death (Leon Neal/PA)

Downing Street on Monday refused to comment on reports that world leaders visiting London for the Queens funeral have been asked to travel on commercial flights and will be bussed to Westminster Abbey.

Arrangements for leaders, including how they travel, will vary depending on individual circumstances, the spokesman said, adding that the guidance and information provided is guidance.

Mr Biden is understood to have dispensation to use the heavily armoured presidential car known as the Beast, while most other leaders will have to take a shared coach to the Abbey from west London.

The Queen will lie in state in Westminster Hall from Wednesday to Monday, when her coffin will be taken in procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey for the funeral service.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to line the streets of the capital during the funeral.
A therapist accused of stealing more than 1.5 million from his wealthy mother said he is looking forward to spending time with her after he was cleared of theft in a prosecution brought by his sister.

Jonathan Feld, 62, was accused by Louise Radley of helping himself to 89-year-old Hannah Felds life savings after she became too ill to look after her financial affairs.

Southwark Crown Court heard how he bought an 80,000 Porsche, withdrew large bundles of cash from ATMs and went on shopping sprees for skinny jeans and puffer jackets.

Feld denied two charges of theft from his mother, who was said to be suffering from significant cognitive decline, claiming any money was a gift from Mrs Feld, with whom he still has an excellent relationship.

She retired to Tel Aviv, Israel, with her late husband Monty  who died in 2010  after selling the family clock and watch firm.

Giving evidence, Feld told how he was banned from his sisters home in around 2006 and said their relationship was: Fraught. Frightening. Non-existent.

He was last week cleared of stealing 1.3 million from a joint Swiss bank account in his and Mrs Felds names between May 2015 and November 2017 after Judge Gregory Perrins directed the jury: As a matter of law it is not legally theft to effectively steal from yourself.

On Tuesday, he was cleared of a further charge of theft relating to almost 270,000 allegedly stolen from his mothers Israeli Bank Leumi account between October 2014 and September 2017.

Feld, from Kilburn, north-west London, who had entered the dock carrying a suitcase, clutched his chest, wept and clasped his hands in prayer after the verdict.

Speaking outside court, Feld thanked his legal team and said: Im looking forward to spending time with my family and my mum and the verdict speaks for itself.

A statement from Stephen Fidler & Co Solicitors, the firm representing Felds sister  who brought the private prosecution, said: We are obviously disappointed that the jury did not feel there was sufficient evidence to convict Jonathan Feld in relation to the allegation of theft.

It was alleged that Jonathan Feld, over a long period of time stole a fortune from his mother who was suffering with dementia.

There was no dispute he received considerable funds but the jury were clearly not satisfied so that they could be sure he acted dishonestly.

The statement added: It was always the aim of the prosecutor in this case, Louise Radley, to seek justice for her mother and not seek anything for herself but to recover monies to be used in the provision of care for her mother Hannah who is unable to care for herself.
Thousands of people lined the streets of Belfast to catch a glimpse of the King and the Queen Consort on their visit to Northern Ireland.

People gathered from early morning hoping to gain the best vantage point from behind the metal railings along the route in the city centre.

By the time Charles and Camilla passed by in the royal cavalcade along Wellington Place, Donegall Square North, Chichester Street and Victoria Street to loud cheers and applause the crowd was 10 deep in some parts.

People described the atmosphere as emotional, happy and full of excitement.

Many people held their phones above the crowd to capture a recording of the historic moment.

Charles and Camilla attended a number of engagements in the region on Tuesday as part of the Kings tour around the UKs home countries.

King Charles III and the Queen Consort receive a Message of Condolence by the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly at Hillsborough Castle (Niall Carson/PA)

The King and Queen Consort arrived in Belfast airport shortly before making their way to Hillsborough Castle, the royal residence in Northern Ireland where the royal couple met Northern Ireland political leaders, and received a message of condolence.

They also viewed an exhibition of pictures showing the Queen in Northern Ireland.

After attending a memorial service for the Queen at St Annes Cathedral, Charles and Camilla then undertook a walkabout at Writers Square, before leaving Northern Ireland.

Nine-year-old Abby Preston, who was waving a flag alongside her little brother Adam and her Mum and Aunt, told the PA News agency she was really excited.

They had queued from 9am and waited for hours to see the King and Queen Consort drive at about 2:45pm.

King Charles III on a walkabout in Writers Square, Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA)

Her mother Jennifer said her daughter was more excited about it than her 10th birthday this week.

Robert Parks, 64, from Portadown, occupied a prime spot along the railings with a Union flag with a printed picture of the Queen.

He said he was taking part in an act of history.

It wont happen again in my lifetime, he added.

Mr Parks also gave his sympathies to the King.

The shock of his mother dying was a shock to us all, he said.

Good luck to him, I wish him all the best.

Diana Gott and her friend Helen Elliott travelled from Enniskillen to join the queue outside City Hall.

Ms Gott said it was a privilege to be there to see the King, adding there was a great atmosphere, and that everyone was happy in the crowd.

Ms Gott, who will travel to London for the Queens funeral on Monday, said she had met the Queen 10 years ago when the monarch visited Enniskillen.

I loved the Queen, she said. She was a remarkable woman and a great example to the nation.

My granddaughter gave her flowers and I was holding her and I met her and that Duke of Edinburgh, she was lovely and so was he. He was quite jovial.

Her friend Helen said it was an emotional as she described how she has a framed photo hanging on her wall at home of Charles shaking her hand.

Rebecca Hanna, 22, from Killeen, Co Down said: I just wanted to see him pass and watch the service.

Im just surprised by how happy it is. Just because its Belfast, youre not sure what it will be like  it might be a bit tense  but not, at all, its been really good.

Andrew Hutton, from Conlig, Newtonards, said he had come to the city to pay his respects to the King.

Mr Hutton described the Queen as a one off. She was an ambassador for the whole world, not just Northern Ireland and the UK, he added.

Carla Cabal, from Mexico City who was in Belfast on holidays, said it was a wonderful opportunity to see the King.

It was great emotion to be here, she said. It was exciting. I never thought Id be part of this moment of history.

After the King and the Queen Consort passed members of the public gathered at City Hall to watch the church service for the Queen at St Annes Cathedral being televised on big screens.

Katie Gaston brought her two young daughters Miriam, eight, and Esme, six, into the city for the day.

Miriam told PA it was exciting to see the King.

We saw his head and his face and a bit of his hand, she said, adding that they gave him a wave.

Their mother said: We thought it was important to bring the girls in.

Ive never seen anything like this so obviously they havent either. Its a moment of history.

Mrs Gaston said the Queen had always been there.

This is a moment that I think its really important that we mark, she said.

I say thank you to God for her life, for what she did for us and the example that she was, especially her faith, that she was steadfast and tried to stay true to what she believed in.

Thats something that we try to bring up in the girls.


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ABUJA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria plans to raise its annual production capacity of cashew nuts by at least 240,000 metric tons to meet a new target of 500,000 metric tons per annum, the government said Tuesday.

Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment Adeniyi Adebayo said in a statement that the new target would ensure the processing of not less than 50 percent of its total production annually, which currently stands at 260,000 metric tons.

With the new plan in place, Adebayo said there are huge investment opportunities in the sub-sector, adding that there was the need for value addition in the cashew value chain to grow the economy of Africa's most populous country.

The official said Nigeria aims to achieve the plan in the next few years, urging investors to tap into the sub-sector with a view to exploring the benefits it provides.

According to the minister, the Nigerian government had already put in place incentives to encourage investments in the sub-sector to thrive.

"This is, therefore, a call for actors, both local and international players, to take advantage of these incentives to invest as Nigeria remains the ultimate investment destination for investors in the cashew sub-sector," Adebayo said.

The Nigerian official stressed the only way to enhance the contributions of cashew to the national economy is by transforming raw cashew nuts, adding that this would ensure sustainable development of the sector, create new markets for new products, create employment and generate wealth for the citizenry. 
SYDNEY, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- One of Australia's leading climate advocacy groups has released what it believes to be a "practical roadmap" to ensure the nation can rapidly reduce its carbon emissions while creating thousands of new jobs in renewable energy sectors.

The Climate Council's Power Up report, released on Tuesday, proposed "game-changing actions" the Australian government should implement to reach its target of cutting the nation's greenhouse gas emissions to 43 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Among the report's key suggestions are an immediate end to any form of public funding of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil.

The report said that the burning of such fuels is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gases in Australia, so all efforts should be directed toward the taking up of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

The report also noted that those traditional forms of energy were already economically hurting households and businesses which have been hit by rapid price rises in fuel and electricity.

"By accelerating investment in renewable energy, backed by storage and transmission, household disposable incomes across the national energy grid would be almost 7 percent higher by 2030," the report said.

Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie, in a statement on Tuesday, said the nation needed to "get cracking" on expanding its use of renewable energy and predicted the move would ultimately prove cheaper for consumers and create "tens of thousands of new jobs" in the "clean trades".

The Power Up report also called for the introduction of mandatory fuel efficiency standards for vehicles.

Australia is presently one of the few countries within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which does not have such regulations for its vehicles.

The report argued that the sooner Australia does have such requirements, the sooner it can increase its supply of electric vehicles (EVs) and therefore reduce its output of transport-related emissions.

Toward that goal, the report also urged federal, state and territory governments to replace their fleets of diesel buses with "next generation" electric buses.

McKenzie said that by implementing such changes "we can deliver the deep, rapid emissions cuts needed to avoid a climate catastrophe while building a clean, prosperous future for all Australians".

"Australia has a choice; we can play our part on climate action, or we can get left behind," she said. 
Nepal has rightly been worried about the adverse financial impact of the Agnipath scheme on its fragile economy

In this highly interdependent world, especially among neighbours, a nations internal policies may have distinct ramifications impinging on each others relations. That Indias newly modified recruitment policy for enrolment in the armed forces has rattled Nepal is more than obvious. Though just introduced, its reverberations points to a long-term negative impact on the historically cordial though continually sensitive long-term relations between India and Nepal. An objective re-appraisal of this step that India has taken, ostensibly without consulting Nepal, must be swiftly looked into without the baggage of self-infallibility!

The Indian Army currently has around 40 Gurkha battalions spread over seven Gurkha regiments. Besides, Nepalese nationals also serve in some paramilitary and other security forces. At any one time, there are around 32,000-35,000 Gurkhas serving in the Indian Army.

Importantly, around 1.40 lakh retired soldiers draw their pensions from India. Nearly 1,400 Nepalese are recruited by the Indian Army each year.

Immediately after Indias independence, Gurkha units were allotted to the Indian Army and British Army based on the 1947 Tripartite Treaty. Some politicians in Nepals Parliament have been complaining recently that Indias Agnipath scheme violates this agreement. In addition, some vested interests in Nepal have also been spreading disinformation and anti-India propaganda in the tiny Himalayan state. Even Nepals former deputy PM and defence minister Bhim Rawal recently spoke in its Parliament that owing to the Agnipath scheme, which guarantees only four years service and with no post-retirement benefits, the Nepal government must cancel the Tripartite Treaty. He gave the example of some Nepalese youth joining the Singapore police and the Brunei Army without any formal governmental agreements.

It was on June 14 this year that the government announced the new Agnipath scheme for recruitment of personnel for the Indian Army and extended it to recruits coming from Nepal. Two rallies due to be held last fortnight in Nepal have been kept in abeyance, awaiting clarifications from Indias defence ministry. Nepal has sought details of the scheme that offers only four years service, with only one-fourth of those serving to be further retained and overall there being no pension benefits for those leaving after completion of their four-year service.

Nepals ambassador to India Shankar Prasad Sharma has told the local media that more understanding from the highest level is expected.

He added, though, that talks are underway between India and Nepal over the future recruitment process for Gurkhas under Agnipath. He added: It is election time in Nepal. All political parties are in discussions and they will come up with a decision soon. The ambassadors statement that all political parties in Nepal in a huddle over Agnipath clearly brings out the criticality of this scheme for Nepal, which should be carefully factored in by the Indian government.

Nepal has rightly been worried about the adverse financial impact of the Agnipath scheme on its fragile economy. The salaries of 35,000 Gurkhas and the pensions of 1.40 lakh ex-servicemen total nearly $620 million, which is three per cent of its GDP, while Nepals defence budget is only around $430 million. Thus, the announcement of the Agnipath scheme has met with severe criticism in the Nepalese media. This point will also have been surely discussed during the just-concluded five-day visit of Indian Army Chief Gen. Manoj Pande to Nepal and hopefully some of the Nepal Armys concerns would have been addressed by Gen. Pande. As is the tradition between the armies of India and Nepal, both the respective Army chiefs are conferred the honorary rank of general in each others armies and Gen. Pande was accorded this honour by Nepals President Bidya Devi Bhandari in Kathmandu. During his visit, Gen. Pande also gifted some non-lethal defence equipment to Nepals Artmy chief.

New Delhi is more than aware that in the last few decades the Chinese have gone all out to carve out their areas of influence in Nepal in diverse fields. Exploiting their deep pockets and ideological closeness to Nepals Communists, the mandarins in Beijing have eminently succeeded in making credible inroads into Nepals development, its economy and political systems. Consequently, China would look for any opportunity to come its way to diminish Indias image and poison the latters traditional and close relations with Nepal. According to some China-watchers in Nepal, the former may try to recruit out-of-work retired Agniveers and other Nepalese youth into the Chinese Army -- a step that will be fraught with danger for India. Indias defence ministry must therefore weigh the adverse impact on serving and retired Gurkha soldiers of the Indian Army of such mischief by China. As is well known, Pakistans notorious Inter-Services Intelligence has a well-established presence in Nepal from where it directs many of its terrorist activities against India. It is clear that the ISI will spare no effort to intensify its anti-India propaganda in Nepal in the wake of the Indian Armys Agnipath scheme.

India must never forget that its fraternal ties with Nepal are a strategic imperative for it in its restive neighbourhood, keeping in view Chinas and Pakistans consistent machinations towards India. The Gurkha regiments have served the Indian Army with matchless gallantry and glory. Importantly, they have contributed largely to deepening mutually beneficial relations between the two nations. We need to further cement our brotherly relations with Nepal and for that, if we have to modify or even discard the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in Nepal, we shouldnt hesitate, and then switch back to the old system of recruiting the valiant Gurkhas to serve in the Indian Army.
The other nations in the queue as SCO dialogue partners are Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

The 22nd summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) that will be held later this week  on September 15 and 16  in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, will be the first in-person leaders meeting since 2019, and will see the presence of three major leaders  Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. For Mr Xi, it will be the first foray abroad since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. For Mr Putin, it provides an international platform while he and his country are facing stringent Western sanctions over his invasion of Ukraine over six months ago.

Nick Bisley, in an article published by the Lowy Institute, calls it an illiberal club of growing global significance. Only India is a democracy out of the current eight members. Iran, which is expected to join the group at the summit, is also an Islamic autocracy, with elections closely supervised by clerical leadership. But the group covers one-third of global GDP and, with India and China in it, 40 per cent of the global population.

The link is undeniable between China agreeing to disengage its troops in the Gogra-Hot Springs sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), after months of obduracy, and the Indian Prime Minister attending the summit. This is especially so after the satellite monitoring Chinese vessel berthed at Sri Lankas Hambantota port, despite the Indian protests.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson contextualised the troop withdrawal by sharp remarks that the status quo ante does not need to be restored as it was India that breached the LAC. The strategically crucial Depsang Plains and Demchok areas are still adversely affected by the Chinese intrusions. Five traditional patrolling points of India remain blocked. The lesson is that China will continue to use crucial LAC sectors to exert pressure on India to condition India's conduct of its independent foreign policy.

But for the Indian government, the balancing bet-ween its Western friends, especially the United Sta-tes, and the Russia-China axis is becoming more and more challenging. The two groups are progressively at loggerheads. The Ukraine war, which seemed stalemated days ago, has suddenly seen a successful breakthrough by the Ukrainian military in the Kharkiv sector of northeast Ukraine. Thus, Mr Putin will arrive at the SCO summit aware that even his hawkish public supporters are turning critics over the disorderly collapse of Russian forces holding crucial occupied cities like Izium.

China-US relations have been testy over the visit of US Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. Among the SCO members, Kazakhstan had supported Ukraine. Even the host nation, Uzbek-istan, leaned towards Uk-raine. This reflects the concerns of the five Central Asian nations that Mr Putins revisionist view of history and imperial vision can also be a threat to their sovereignty.

The other nations in the queue as SCO dialogue partners are Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Ne-pal, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Even Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar are showing interest to get involved. Clearly, the SCO is moving well beyond its original Central Asian focus. The originally envisioned objective of the group was to counter terrorism, separatism and extremism. It was not a coincidence that the Shanghai Five was created in 1996 as the Taliban captured Kabul and presented a terrorism threat to the entire region. This group was turned into SCO on June 15, 2001, just months before the 9/11 terrorist attack on the United States.

In 2004, the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) was created, again focused on security issues. Gradually, a military cooperation dimension has been added. In more recent years, food and energy security emerged as themes of concern to members. But as the tensions between Russia-China and the West has exacerbated, leaders like former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan voiced the need to trade in local currencies. Thus the SCO is in danger of being seen as an anti-Western organisation, used by China and Russia to protect themselves from Western sanctions and counter attempts to isolate them. What then are the advantages India sees in being actively associated with an increasingly polarising organisation. Firstly, negative developments in Afghanistan and Central Asia impinge on Indian security. India would also like to balance the preponderance of China and Russia in the SCO. The Central Asian nations too would welcome this.

India also would be able to moderate the deliberations to ensure that the differences among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, with China and Russia ranged against the other three, do not turn Indias north-western neighbourhood into a battlefield. India would also be closely watched for how it deals with the presence of Pakistans Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. China has been pushing for closer regional economic cooperation, keeping in mind its investment in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which runs through Central Asia and Pakistan. But India also has a foot firmly planted in the US-led initiatives like the four-nation Quad (Australia, India, Japan, US) and I2U2 (India, Israel, UAE, US). India also is welcomed as a natural participant at gatherings like the Democracy Summit hosted by US President Joe Biden. But the question is up to what point is playing all sides workable. The US announcement on upgrading Pakistans F-16 fleet may well be motivated by the need to keep the Pakistan Army on board at a time when Afghanistan is again becoming the sanctuary of Islamic militants of all shades. The killing of Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, it appears, had Pakistans cooperation both to locate him and allow the overflight of the killer-drone. India has protested against the upgrade of the F-16s. Is the United States killing two birds with one stone? Besides wooing Pakistans Army, it signals to India that it too will keep its strategic options open. Rubbing cheeks with Mr Putin and Mr Xi will be seen as Indias unwillingness to be fully in the American corner.

Indias SCO strategy is also guided by India becoming the next chair of the group. The summits of the G-20 and SCO in 2023 in India will be calculated to boost Prime Minister Narendra Modis image before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. After all, the Balakot airstrike days before the 2019 general election gave the BJP a huge boost. But history may repeat itself, as Karl Marx warned, as a farce as now India has China to contend with, not Pakistan and an indulgent US President Donald Trump. Ironically the SCO summit will be in Samarkand, which is famous for the grave of Tamerlane  the marauding pillager of South Asia.
The government should have continued its efforts to monitor the resurgence of Covid and its possible outrage in the country, the panel said

Many lives could have been saved during the second wave of the Covid pandemic if containment strategies were implemented on time, a parliamentary panel has said. (Representational Image/AP)

New Delhi: Many lives could have been saved during the second wave of the Covid pandemic if containment strategies were implemented on time, a parliamentary panel has said while pulling up the government for not being able to anticipate the gravity of the situation.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, in its 137th report presented to Rajya Sabha on Monday, said the second wave was undoubtedly marred by high cases, increased deaths, shortage of oxygen and beds in hospitals, reduced supplies of medicines and other important drugs, disruption of essential health care services, hoarding and black marketing of cylinders and medicines etc.

"The committee is of the considered view that had the Government been successful in identification of the more virulent strain of virus in the population at an early stage and suitably implemented its containment strategy, the repercussions would have been less grave and many lives could have been saved," it said.

The committee observed that India is one of the countries with the heaviest burden of COVID-19 cases in the world. The enormity of the population of the country posed a major challenge in the face of the pandemic.

With the fragile health infrastructure and the huge shortage of healthcare workers, the country witnessed tremendous pressure, it said.

It noted that the government could not accurately anticipate the gravity of the possible resurgence of the pandemic and its subsequent waves

Even when the trajectory of COVID-19 cases in the country registered a decline in the aftermath of the first wave, the government should have continued its efforts to monitor the resurgence of Covid and its possible outrage in the country, the committee said.

It noted that the ministry had cautioning states to maintain vigil and chalk out strategy for any exigencies that may arise due to resurgence of COVID-19 in their respective regions.

"However, the committee is unhappy to note that many states were unable to cope up with the arising uncertainties and medical emergencies in the wake of the resurgence of COVID-19 during the second wave that caused more than 5 lakh registered deaths," it said.

COVID: Parl panel recommends audit of 'deaths due to oxygen shortage'

A parliamentary committee has recommended the Union Health Ministry "audit deaths due to oxygen shortage", especially during the Covid second wave, in coordination with states to enable robust documentation of the mortalities.

The committee said it was "disturbed" by the ministry's "unfortunate denial" of COVID-19 deaths due to oxygen shortage.

"The ministry must meticulously examine the oxygen-stricken Covid deaths and ensure that proper compensation is accorded to the families of the victims," the panel said, adding it expected more transparency and accountability from government agencies.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, in its 137th report presented to Rajya Sabha on Monday, said the increase in the number of Covid positive cases had put severe pressure on the health infrastructure.

There were several instances of patients' families pleading for oxygen and waiting in queues for cylinders and the media reported stories of hospitals running out of the life-saving gas and making desperate appeals when they were reportedly left with only a few hours of supply, it said.

The committee said that in its 123rd report it had warned the government of the possible shortage of oxygen cylinders and supply of oxygen in hospitals.

"The committee is disappointed to note that the ministry in its submission in 2020 had assured that the country is self-sufficient in oxygen and oxygen cylinders; however, their hollow claim was brutally exposed during the second wave," the panel said in its 137th report.

"The government failed to manage even distribution of oxygen in states and amidst the skyrocketing demand it could not maintain a steady flow of oxygen leading to an unprecedented medical crisis," the panel said.

It added that poor logistic management and the failure of the government in ensuring a quick response from the healthcare system speak volumes of the utter chaos in the government machinery, especially during the second wave.

Poor monitoring of the oxygen generation capacity and availability of medical oxygen, oxygenated and ventilator beds in hospitals further aggravated the situation, the panel said.

"The committee wonders that in response to the Union government's request to states and Union Territories to furnish details of Covid deaths owing to lack of oxygen, 20 states and Union Territories responded and none of these have reported confirmed death due to oxygen shortage," it said.

"The committee is disturbed at the unfortunate denial of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regarding Covid deaths due to oxygen shortage in the country."

It said that it takes into account media reports that there were many deaths due to oxygen shortage in hospitals. However, the sheer negligence of the fact shows the absence of empathy in government parlance, the parliamentary panel alleged.

The panel noted there were no definite guidelines for identifying the deaths due to inadequate supply of oxygen.

"Oxygen shortage is not noted as a cause of death in the medical records and most of the deaths were attributed to co-morbidities," the committee said, expressing disappointment at this utter "ignorance" by the government.

"The ministry, in coordination with the states, must audit the deaths due to oxygen shortage and enable robust documentation of the Covid deaths that will in fact generate the responsive and responsible sense of government and cautious formulation of policy and combat situational health care emergency," it said.
In his first address in Nur-Sultan, the pontiff appealed to world leaders. Like John Paul II after 9/11, his visit is meant to plead for all those who cry out for peace. For him, what is needed is understanding, patience and dialogue with all. Replying to a reporters question, he says he is ready to go to China.

Nur-Sultan (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis arrived in Nur-Sultan for the start of an apostolic journey that will see him spend three days in Kazakhstan and take part in the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions organised by the Kazakh government.

After the welcoming ceremony at the airport and a private meeting with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the pontiff delivered his first speech, addressing the authorities, civil society representatives, and the diplomatic corps at the Qazaqstan Central Concert Hall.

In his address, he said that, Now is the time to stop intensifying rivalries and reinforcing opposing blocs. To this end, leaders are needed who can give birth to a new spirit of Helsinki that can help people engage in dialogue and understand each other.

Pleased to be in this land as vast as it is ancient, he came as a pilgrim of peace, seeking dialogue and unity. Our world urgently needs peace: it needs to recover harmony.

Harmony as in musical harmony, which ran through the speech, in particular the dombra, the countrys national string instrument, part of a glorious history of culture, humanity and suffering.

How can we fail to recall in particular the prison camps and the mass deportations that witnessed, in the cities and in the boundless steppes of these regions, the oppression of so many peoples? Yet Kazakhs did not let themselves remain prisoners of these injustices: the memory of your seclusion led to a deep concern for inclusion.

In this land, traversed from ancient times by great displacements of peoples, may the memory of the sufferings and trials you endured be an indispensable part of your journey towards the future, inspiring you to give absolute priority to human dignity, the dignity of every man and woman, and of every ethnic, social and religious group.

The dombra with two parallel strings embodies the "two souls, Asiatic and European, making Kazakhstan a place where East and West meet. Furthermore, citing the countrys approximately 150 ethnic groups and more than 80 languages, with their distinct histories, culture and religious traditions, he described Kazakhstan as a unique multiethnic, multicultural and multireligious laboratory.

Noting that A healthy secularity, one that acknowledges the important and indispensable role of religion and resists the forms of extremism that disfigure it, he expressed appreciation for the abolition of the death penalty in the name of each human beings right to hope.

Above all, he stressed the importance of guaranteeing freedom of thought, conscience and speech" and supporting democracy, which constitutes the most suitable form for translating power into service to the entire people and not simply to a few.

The pontiff also referred to the process launched by President Tokayev after street protests broke out at the start of the year triggered by economic hardships in certain regions despite the countrys vast energy resources. This is a meritorious and demanding process, and certainly not a short-term one, that requires persevering towards the goal without turning back.

Indeed, Democracy and modernization everywhere must be more than fine words; they must be embodied in concrete service to people: a good politics, born of listening to people and responding to their legitimate needs, constant engagement with civil society and nongovernmental and humanitarian organizations, and particular concern for workers, young people and the more vulnerable sectors of society. Every country in the world likewise needs measures to combat corruption.

Some 20 years ago, John Paul II came to Kazakhstan to spread hope right after the tragic attacks of 2001. I am visiting you in the course of the senseless and tragic war that broke out with the invasion of Ukraine, even as other conflicts and threats of conflict continue to imperil our times. I have come to echo the plea of all those who cry out for peace, which is the essential path to development for our globalized world. And this is peace: a path of integral development for our globalized world.

In light of this, Francis expressed support for dialogue and reaching out, since nowadays the problem of one is the problem of all, and those who hold greater power in the world have greater responsibility with regard to others, especially those countries most prone to unrest and conflict.

This should be our concern, not merely our own individual interests. Now is the time to stop intensifying rivalries and reinforcing opposing blocs. We need leaders who, on the international level, can enable peoples to grow in mutual understanding and dialogue, and thus give birth to a new spirit of Helsinki, the determination to strengthen multilateralism, to build a more stable and peaceful world, with an eye to future generations. For this to happen, what is needed is understanding, patience and dialogue with all. I repeat: with all.

Pope Francis also spoke about this during the flight that took him from Rome to Nur-Sultan. To a journalist who asked him about the fact that Chinese President Xi Jinping will also be present tomorrow in the Kazakh capital and about a possible meeting, the pope replied: "I know nothing about that, but I'm always ready to go to China.
by Fady Noun

The mediation work of US envoy Amos Hochstein continues to resolve disputed lines and strategic interests of the two countries. Washington wants to retain control of hydrocarbons in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean to the exclusion of China and Russia. The internal struggle ahead of the elections in Israel and the role of Hezbollah.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - "Progress" has been made in the "indirect" negotiations concerning the dispute over gas extraction and the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel, but "there is still work to be done" before reaching an agreement, according to US mediator Amos Hochstein.

The special envoy and advisor to the US State Department on energy policies, was speaking at the end of a brief two-hour visit to Beirut, during which he met with Head of State Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Nagib Mikati, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berry.

Hochstein's statement would be normal, if it did not come two years after the start of the US mediation in October 2020. And whose aim should be to reach an agreement to demarcate the maritime borders between the two countries.

The mediation needs to reach a substantial conciliation on conflicting lines drawn in the past by Lebanon and Israel. This goal is complicated by the fact that Lebanon has sustained three different maritime borderlines over time.

A first line dates back to 2007 (Line 1), the result of negotiations with Cyprus, registered at the United Nations and recognised by Israel. Two years later, however, Beirut realised that this line was the work of unqualified personnel, and that the correct demarcation is the so-called Line 23, which the Lebanese essentially formalised in 2011 through Decree 6433 (see map). Lebanon therefore claimed the additional 860 square kilometres separating lines 1 and 23.

Israel refused to recognise line 23. A mediation, initiated between 2010 and 2012 by Frederic Hoff, led to the drafting of an additional median line, renamed the 'Hoff Line', which grants Lebanon 55% of the disputed 860 sq. km.

Nonetheless, Lebanon has maintained an active demand to take control of the entire 860 square kilometres at the centre of the dispute. In November 2020, indirect negotiations with Israel opened in Ras Nakoura, under the joint supervision of the United States and the United Nations. When a new twist occurred in the middle of the mediation, with the Lebanese army producing a document stating that the true line demarcating Lebanon's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is Line 29. It even grants Lebanon an additional 1,400 square kilometres of exclusive space. Strongly contested by Israel, this development put an end to the Ras Naqoura indirect negotiations (May 2021), which were replaced by the irregular 'shuttles' initiated by Amos Hochstein.

Two important deposits

The stakes are high, especially for an economically bankrupt Lebanon, because there are two important gas fields in the disputed area: Karish and Cana. However, the maximalist line renamed line 29 and drawn by the Lebanese army cuts off the Karish field, most of which is in Israel's EEZ, while the Cana field overflows into the area between lines 23 and 29, both contested by Israel.

It should also be noted that Lebanon, at least officially, does not claim any rights to the Karish field. On the other hand, it would like to benefit exclusively from the Cana camp, in accordance with a line that would be in practice a 'reinforced line 23'.

Moreover, Lebanon categorically rejects any prospect of joint exploitation of the Cana field, just as it does not want to provide any compensation to Israel in return for granting exclusivity over the field in question. In short, Beirut rejects any step that could be equated, from near or far, with collaboration or normalisation with Israel.

Hezbollah's threats

Tensions between Lebanon and Israel on this issue escalated with the arrival last June at the Karish camp of a gas extraction and storage platform, built for the Jewish state by the London-based company Energean Plc.

The prospect of the start of gas extraction activities at Karish, while the delimitation of the waters between Israel and Lebanon remains pending, prompted Hezbollah to issue a warning to the Israeli leadership.

Three Hezbollah drones, unarmed, were sent to the platform area. 'Rather war than starving to death', said Hezbollah's secretary general, in essence, convinced that it is actually the US that is holding the strings.

In response, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz warned on 22 August that a Hezbollah attack on Karish could trigger a new war between his country and Lebanon.

Then there is Hezbollah's further clarification that it remains bound, on the issue of the delimitation of maritime borders, to the official decisions of Lebanese institutions, which it does not claim and does not intend to replace in negotiations.

At the heart of this conflict is, of course, the control of hydrocarbon wealth in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean region. It should also be pointed out that Hochstein was part of the delegation that accompanied US President Joe Biden during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia in July this year. In an interview with the Cnbc channel, Hochstein himself confirmed that the US is moving to try to keep China and Russia away from the energy resources available in the region, while at the same time preparing for the energy transition to renewables as part of a process that, however, may take several decades to be implemented in practice.

This is why the immediate goal of US policy remains to free Europe from its exaggerated dependence on Russian gas, as became evident with the war in Ukraine, while at the same time keeping prices at the distributor at reasonable levels for the US consumer.

Resumption of the Naqoura talks?

However, it remains difficult to determine the status of Hochstein's mediation, the details of which are not yet known. "I have good feelings after what I heard today and after the discussions we had, although much remains to be done," said the US mediator after his meetings with the Lebanese authorities. For his part, Berry proposed the resumption of the Ras Nakoura indirect negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, under UN supervision, which were broken off in May 2021.

If this latter proposal is accepted, it could be important because it would ease the tension in the region, neutralising the threats made by Hezbollah against the Jewish state. The resumption of these talks would deprive the pro-Iranian party of any pretext to unilaterally attack Israel, should gas extraction from the Karish field begin before the official recognition by Israel (and the US) of Lebanon's rights to exploit its offshore wealth and the Cana field in particular. Under this scenario, the front-runners Total and Eni would make a declaration of intent for exploitation, which would be tantamount to an international 'green light' to the start of drilling in the Lebanese EEZ, as the government in Beirut wants.

But observers warn of possible surprises. One would be to drag out the mediation in order to allow Israel to gain advantages on the demarcation of the land borders between the two countries, particularly at the level of Ras Naqoura; the other would be to prioritise the general elections in Israel (25 October 2022, in theory) and use the mediation to increase the chances of the ruling coalition in the face of Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud rivals. Although they may only seem like details, these two points must be followed closely, as well as a possible reaction by Hezbollah.

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by Vladimir Rozanskij

In his first meetings in Kazakhstan, the pontiff was met by the splendour of palaces that former President Nazarbayev built in a capital that has changed names five times in a century. In a country where Cyrillic still prevails, the changing script in Kazakh-language signs are symptomatic of a country caught between a Russo-centric imperial past and a new Turkic-speaking future promoted by current President Tokayev.

Nur Sultan (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis arrived in Nur-Sultan, capital of Kazakhstan, around 5.20 pm local time, starting his visit to the Central Asian country.

His plane landed at Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport, which, like the capital, is named after the countrys founder and first post-Soviet president.

In over a century, the city has probably captured the record in name changes. Under the tsars, it was known as Akmolinsk, becoming Tselinograd under the Soviets, then Akmola, followed by Astana in 1997 when it replaced Alma-Ata as Kazakhstans capital. Now it is Nur-Sultan, but there is talk of another possible name as the old boss appears to be out of favour.

In the endless emptiness of the northern steppe, Nazarbayev spent 30 years erecting an impressive array of ultramodern palaces and flamboyant monuments, bridges and mosques, shopping centres and endless squares.

But then space is no problems in Kazakhstan, the eighth-largest country in the world, the largest that is landlocked, home to only 15 million people.

Upon arrival, Pope Francis was immediately welcomed by pomp and ceremony, against a backdrop that was still in the making more than 20 years ago when his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, made an historic visit, the first by a pope, to Central Asia.

The current pontiff, who has been using a wheelchair for months, was gently taken from the plane to the VIP lounge, welcomed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and a coterie of top officials, surrounded by a huge security detail to protect the completely isolated area, located far from the passengers' terminals and any strangers.

After the first formalities, France got on his Popemobile and was driven to the huge Ak Orda Presidential Palace, in the middle of the city, for a private talk with Tokayev, but since the Kazakh leaders is always surrounded by ministers, satraps and the up-and-coming, their tete-a-tete was anything but private, as befits Asian leaders since time immemorial.

The Kazakhs, proud heirs to the nomads of the steppes and the Tatars of Genghis Khan, always move like one man. Preparations for the visit saw a never-ending procession of celebratory and crowded inspections of the various locations of the upcoming events, with constant changes and new props, symbols and floral compositions added or taken away.

From Ak Orda, the Kazakh Kremlin, the papal delegation travelled to the nearby Qazaqstan Central Concert Hall to meet more government officials, civil society representatives, and members of the diplomatic corps. The hall is a replica of the one in the State Kremlin Palace (Kremlin Palace of Congresses) in Moscow.

Signs on government buildings are now in latinised Kazakh (Qazaq), although the Latin script has not yet been implemented in the rest of the country, still dominated by Russian and Cyrillic.

Everything is now hanging between Nazarbayev's Sovietistan with its Russian imperial past and the new Turkic-speaking country open to the whole world under the current president, who morphed from a silent dauphin into fiery rebuilder.

At the end of the day, the Holt Father retired to the nunciature, a big, anonymous but functional building, built in the 1990s by Italians.

When Pope John Paul II visited in 2001, a suitable place was quickly found, and the newly abandoned building was hastily occupied by the Vatican, with the papal symbol Totus Tuus on the chapel.

For their part, all the other members of the current papal delegation  Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, cardinals, prelates, and aides  are billeted at a nearby hotel.

The Kazakhs tried to persuade the pope to stay at a luxury palace in a residential neighbourhood for government officials, but Francis chose instead to avoid pomp and excessive monitoring, and stay in a sobriety that befits the small Kazakh Catholic community, the prophetic vanguard of a humble and poor Church amid an endless world of peoples and cultures.
Today's headlines: Thai activist found guilty of lese majesty; Human Rights Watch denounces Burmese junta atrocities; another Russian leader dies in mysterious circumstances; In India, a chain of electric scooter fires alarms the government, which wants to promote their use.

ARMENIA - AZERBAIJAN

Trading blame, Armenia and Azerbaijan both report new border clashes that have resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of Azerbaijani troops. The fighting, which broke out shortly after midnight local time, is yet another outbreak of violence over control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

THAILAND

An activist, jailed for two years, was found guilty of insulting the monarchy for dressing like the Thai queen. Jatuporn Saeoueng had worn a pink dress during a demonstration in Bangkok in 2020. Since King Maha Vajiralongkorn took the throne in 2019, the Thai authorities have intensified their use of the lese majesty law to crack down on protest movements demanding reform of the monarchy. Since November 2020, at least 210 protesters have been charged with this offence.

MYANMAR

A report published yesterday by Human Rights Watch shed light on the abuses of Burma's junta: dozens of civilians were detained, tortured and killed. The humanitarian organisation described through testimonies the deaths of at least six activists in prison. "The six deaths documented by Human Rights Watch are just the tip of the iceberg of suffering and torture of those detained by the Myanmar army and police," said Human Rights Watch researcher Manny Maung.

RUSSIA

Another Russian executive died under mysterious circumstances: near the Russkij Island in Vladivostok, the Chief Operating Officer of the Far Eastern and Arctic Development Corporation for Aviation Operations, Ivan Pechorin, drowned, the company's press office reported.

NORTH KOREA

A month after declaring 'victory' over covid-19, North Korean authorities ordered citizens to wear masks in public. Pyongyang had not released infection data for most of the pandemic. In May this year, it had admitted the spread of the virus. On 10 August, leader Kim Jong Un declared that he had eradicated the disease from the country.

CHINA

This year there was a reduced number of trips for the Mid-Autumn Festival, resulting in a drop in tourism revenue. The strict restrictions against covid-19 discouraged people from travelling. Travel dropped by 16.7% from a year ago, while tourism-related earnings fell by almost 23% to USD 4.14 billion.

INDIA

A fire that broke out in an electric scooter showroom killed at least eight people and injured 11. A spate of electric scooter fires has alarmed the government, which aims to promote their use to 80 per cent by 2030 in a bid to tackle pollution. According to initial investigations, faulty batteries were the main cause of the fires.
Some 25 people have been convicted this year, compared to 15 for the whole of last. Likewise, 58 people have been arrested in the first half of 2022, against 72 for the whole of 2021. Iranian authorities uses spurious charges to silence minorities, and arrest people on national security and espionage charges. Muslim converts and Farsi speakers are particularly targeted. For Muslims, joining another religion is strictly prohibited.

Tehran (AsiaNews)  Despite claims that religious freedom is protected in Iran, government repression against Christians (and others) is getting worse, following a recent wave of arrests and convictions that far exceeds what happened in the past.

So far in 2022, Iranian courts have sentenced 25 people, compared to 15 for the whole of 2021. In the first half of the year, at least 58 Christians have been arrested and detained, compared to a total of 72 last year.

Human rights groups have appealed to the international community, urging them not to remain silent. They note that Iranian authorities use spurious national security and espionage charges to silence minorities or remove them from their homes and effectively force them into internal displacement.

According to Article18, a London-based advocacy group, the government has shut down almost all Persian-language churches over the past decade, except those whose members were Christians before the 1979 revolution. New members are strictly prohibited.

The latest documented cases concern a 63-year-old man with advanced Parkinson's disease, arrested in mid-August with his wife, and another two in their 40s and 50s, detained in early September. All four were sent to the infamous Evin prison, just outside the capital, Tehran.

All of them were taken into custody because they were practising Christians, but for Iranian authorities only one of them, Joseph Shahbazian, a 58-year-old Iranian-Armenian, is as true Christian because of his Christian ethnicity. By contrast, the other three  Homayoun Zhaveh, his wife Sara and Malihe Nazari  are ethnic Persian, born Muslim. In the eyes of the government, they do not have the right to convert to other religions or practise them.

While Iranians of Armenian (and Assyrian) origin have some degree of freedom to worship in their respective churches, they cannot teach in Farsi (Persian), the national language, nor admit newcomers.

The crackdown that has led to an escalation in arbitrary arrests has prompted several human rights groups to sound the alarm about the fate of the countrys Christians, Baha'is, Gonabadi dervishes, and atheists.

Knowing how many Muslims have converted is hard to do. According to one estimate, perhaps as many as a million have embraced Christianity. What is certain though is that they have no place to worship or simply meet, and are often forced to pray and hold their services in private homes (house churches), which exposes them to police raids.

In 2010, Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, spoke about the house churches, calling them fake schools of mysticism that must be pursued as enemies of Islam since their aim is undermining religion in society

In doing so, Khamenei has legitimised the crackdown and more arrests, something directly connected to the fate of Joseph, Malihe, Homayoun and Sara, the latest Iranian Christians to be arrested, charged and jailed for attending a house church.

For his crime, the Iranian-Armenian man will serve up to 10 years in prison; Sara, eight; Malihe, six; and Homayoun, two.
by Guido Alberto Casanova

Starting in 2000, family reunions had become a way to promote inter-Korean dialogue. But in the last decade, this became increasingly rare with the last reunion held in 2018. Currently, in South Korea about 43,700 people are registered with the government's reunification programme, 85 per cent of them are over 70.

Seoul (AsiaNews)  For many divided families this could be the last time to hug one other.

On the eve of the traditional Korean holiday of Chuseok, South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Young-se reached out to Pyongyang to resume talks on allowing families divided between North and South to meet more frequently.

For more than 70 years, tens of thousands of families have been separated by the world's most militarised border, a legacy of Koreas division and war (never formally concluded), which continue to pit South Korea and against North Korea since 1950.

Beginning in 2000, thanks to the "sunshine policy" of then President Kim Dae-jung, meetings between divided families became a way to promote inter-Korean dialogue and detente.

In the past decade, however, such meetings have become increasingly rare. The last one took place in 2018, when the diplomacy of then South Korean President Moon Jae-in and then US President Donald Trump briefly eased tensions with the North.

[W]e need to solve the problem before the words separated families themselves disappear, said Minister Kwon.

Most of those who experienced the trauma of Koreas division are very old. In South Korea, about 43,700 people are registered with the government's family reunion programme. About 85 per cent of them are 70 years old and over, Unification Ministry data show.

In his message to North Korea, Minister Kwon noted that occasional meetings of small numbers of divided families were not enough, adding that his government remains committed to dialogue at any time.

The proposal was quite unexpected, given that such opening comes at a time of tensions on the peninsula. In addition to the spread of COVID-19 in North Korea, Pyongyang has also been preparing a new nuclear test in the past few months, South Korean intelligence reports.

So far, South Koreas new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, does not seem to have aroused any sympathy among North Korean leaders; only last month, he promised a audacious initiative" to denuclearise North Korea.

The reply of Kom Yo Jong, sister of the North Korean leader, was negative, telling Yoon to focus on domestic affairs rather than inter-Korean relations.

What is more, South Koreas right-wing government is not planning to offer any incentives, such as food aid, to bring the North to negotiations. North Korea must respond given that the issue of separate families is a humanitarian issue, Minister Kwon said.

Still, last month, the Yoon administration, through the Unification Ministry, for the first time gave the green light to an aid plan by a civic group to offer food assistance to the North, the Yonhap news agency reports.

Even though Pyongyang has often remained silent in recent years vis-a-vis Seoul's initiatives, Kwon will not give up. Even if there is no response from North Korea, we will continue to knock on the door and make proposals, Minister Kwon explained.
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PHNOM PENH, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming 54th ASEAN Economic Ministers' meeting (AEM) and related meetings will bring about economic benefits and closer cooperation among all countries involved, a senior Cambodian official has said.

The 54th AEM and related meetings, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) ministers' meeting, the East Asia Summit (EAS) economic ministers' meeting and the AEM-Dialogue Partners Consultations, will be held both in person and virtually from Sept. 14 to 18 in the cultural province of Siem Reap in northwest Cambodia.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, the Ministry of Commerce's Undersecretary of State and spokesman Penn Sovicheat said it will be another historic milestone for Cambodia to host the AEM for the third time since the kingdom joined the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) family in 1999.

He said the participants will discuss the progress of achieving the ASEAN Economic Community integration, the progress of Priority Economic Deliverables, post-COVID-19 economic recovery, and ASEAN external economic relations.

Four strategic issues will be focused on during the upcoming meetings, Sovicheat said, adding that they include enhancing digital connectivity, science and technology; narrowing the development gap for ASEAN's competitiveness; promoting a more integrated, inclusive, resilient and competitive ASEAN; and strengthening global ASEAN for growth and development.

"Among these four key strategic thrusts, we've proposed 19 economic deliverables, so that's quite ambitious for the discussions," he said. "We're confident that the 54th AEM and related meetings will raise Cambodia's reputation higher and bring about economic benefits and closer cooperation among all countries involved."

Sovicheat said as ASEAN has become a community, the concepts of free flows of trade, movement, capital, and services have been in place that signified very close economic cooperation among all member states.

"Looking toward the future, I can say that it's going to be a strong ASEAN because ASEAN has many external partners and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership has provided the bloc larger market access to its five dialogue partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand," he said.

Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, said ASEAN's economic cooperation has seen steady progress, which can be considered a successful example of economic integration by developing countries.

"The latest great achievement in the ASEAN economic cooperation is the creation and the entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade deal earlier this year," he told Xinhua. "This mega-regional trade pact will be a booster for the region's economic recovery in the post-pandemic era."

Matthews said closer ASEAN economic cooperation has played an important role in ensuring long-term peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region.

Thong Mengdavid, a research fellow at the Phnom Penh-based Asian Vision Institute, said ASEAN has launched many initiatives and blueprints to promote regional economic integration, including the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025, and the conclusion of negotiations for RCEP.

"The future of ASEAN is brighter and clearer than before thanks to the steady growth of member state's economy and interconnectivity between them," he told Xinhua.

Founded in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 
And while it continued to sell like hotcakes a year later, its market performance declined because of several changes, such as the graduation of the Caprice to a stand-alone series. Previously part of the Impala lineup, the Caprice was now a model sold separately, so needless to say, this generated a noticeable impact on the overall Impala sales.But as said, the Impala remained a market leader in 1966, and this convertible right here proves exactly why.The car continues to look rather solid despite spending a very long time off the road. According to the owner, this is the result of the Impala spending part of this tenure inside, so in theory, the rust shouldnt be such a big headache this time.However, both the floors and the trunk require urgent repairs, while the frame has already been cleaned and fixed at some point in the past.In fact, when it comes to previous repairs, the Impala has been the subject of a partial restoration. Besides the frame, the engine has also received some love, as a previous owner tried to rebuild it but never finished the job. Its current condition is as mysterious as possible, as eBay seller ingerlakesvintageautoparts says they havent inspected the original 283 (4.7-liter) to see if it at least turns over.Saving this Impala isnt going to cost too much, though it all depends on how many people enter the race to get their hands on the car. The bidding, however, starts at $2,000, and given the convertible is being sold without a reserve, the top offer will secure the project.If anyone wants to inspect the vehicle in person, the Impala is currently parked in Stanley, New York.
On the other hand, many people out there are making the switch to Google Maps for obvious reasons, especially whenever they are in search of an advanced piece of software to help them with their daily commutes.This happens both in the United States and in the rest of the world, with Google Maps, therefore, becoming a very popular application on iPhones out there.Apple, on the other hand, is working non-stop on new capabilities for Apple Maps , though the pace the company is typically using for their rollout keeps pushing users to Google Maps.This week, for example, the company quietly started the release of the new city experience (the one the company actually announced a very, very long time ago) in two new regions. And of course, both are in the United States, as Apple still shows almost no love for international regions.Chicago and Las Vegas are both provided with the new maps, which include everything from 3D buildings to more accurate digital versions of the roads, parks, sidewalks, and so on. At first glance, everything looks great, though this doesnt necessarily mean that Apples work here is done.In fact, the company urgently needs to refine the city experience in Chicago, especially as for some reason, it missed a few skyscrapers in key locations, while also adding several others that dont really exist. At first glance, this feels more like an experimental release  which kind of makes sense given not everybody is currently seeing the new city experience.The iPhone maker hasnt yet released a full announcement regarding Apple Maps expansion in Chicago and Las Vegas, but both locations were projected to receive the new city experience by the end of the year anyway.
Drugovich will drive for Aston Martin later this year in FP1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (in place of Lance Stroll) and will also take part in Novembers young driver test on that same track. As far as next year is concerned, the reigning F2 champ will be in attendance at select Grand Prix as a member of the team.Becoming a member of the AMF1 Driver Development Program is a fantastic opportunity for me  and only adds to what has been an extremely enjoyable and successful 2022 season, said Drugovich in an official statement.Winning in Formula 2 has long been regarded as the best possible launchpad into a career in Formula One, and I see my role at AMF1 as giving me all the tools to take that crucial next step. For me, 2023 will be a learning curve: I will be working with the F1 team, but my primary goal is to learn and develop as a driver. I hope that will give me an opportunity to race in Formula One in the future.Now, one might wonder why an F2 title holder would sign with Aston Martin, a team whose driver lineup is clearly cemented for 2023 . Lance Stroll isnt going anywhere, and Fernando Alonso certainly wont step aside either. However, were pretty sure the British outfit sold the Brazilian on a bright future with the team, where he could learn from Alonso and perhaps take his seat once the Spaniard retires.Drugovich is clearly one of the most talented young drivers in the world and we look forward to seeing him behind the wheel of a Formula One car.
There are car dealers looking to make a killing selling new units for unbelievable prices over MRSP. I did a story about that last month. But there's a worse group of people messing the good name of auto shops who take advantage of unsuspecting clients to charge steep prices for laughable repairs.Sam of Samcrac's YouTube channel recently saved his stepmom from getting ripped off $914 for a 2-minute fix.Let's be sincere. The service market doesn't have a fixed charge amount. That's why a haircut in downtown New York won't cost the same as a sleepy town in Kent County, Texas (backed by reasons, of course). But a 5-minute fix is a 5-minute fix and requires a 5-minute charge.Sam has had a successful career buying lemon cars and fixing them for profit. Sharing his experiences on YouTube has earned him a good following of 1.2 million subs. As you'd expect, his friends and family often consult him about car-related issues. In this particular incident, it saved them a hefty penny.Sam's stepmom received an invoice for over $900 for a fuel pump and installation service at a local auto shop. Sam's concern was the car ran fine and wasn't experiencing any leaks in the fuel system. It also had a check engine light and wouldn't take gas, even on an empty tank.Some of the top symptoms that point to a faulty fuel pump often include a combination of; a hard start, whining noise from the tank, unexplainable loss of power, sputtering, stalling at high temperatures, and low gas mileage."My stepmom called and asked if she should have her Crown Victoria's fuel pump replaced at the shop. I told her to hold onto this quote, and we could diagnose it to see if it was necessary." Sam revealed this in a previous video upload on the channel.The check engine error code was a P0193, which often means the vehicle's PCM has detected the fuel pressure isn't within a recommended range."The P0193 is for a fuel pressure rail sensor which is a $30 part that can be swapped in literally two minutes on the top of your engine bay. It has nothing to do with the fuel pump located inside the fuel tank," Sam explained.If she'd taken the car to the auto shop, she'd have paid more for the fix since the problem would have persisted with a fuel pump replacement. To show just how simple the fix was, Sam repaired the car with his stepmom.
Stealing a car from a parking lot is so yesterday unless the parking lot is inside the dealership yard or the assembly plant where it was built. Burglars as young as school kids try and often succeed in getting away with stolen vehicles from the assembly plants grounds. No make is spared, with thieves carjacking Fords, Chevrolets, and Dodges alike. Often, they take the stolen vehicles and just disappear.Other times, the police are quick enough at the scene to catch the thieves red-handed, and a chase is almost sure to start in those cases. Thats exactly what happened in Lansing, Michigan, when two men tried to steal two Camaros from inside the GMs Grand River Assembly plant. According to authorities, Lansing police received a call on Monday at about 2:30 a.m. about an attempt to steal two Camaros from the southwest parking lot on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Olds Avenue.Lansing Police Department and Michigan State Police responded, and a chase ensued, Lansing State Journal reports. One of the thieves didnt get too far with the stolen Camaro, though, crashing right inside the parking lot into a concrete barrier. He tried to escape on foot but was soon apprehended by police. The other made it a little further out of the GM parking lot but crashed the car into a fence near Michigan Avenue and Canal Street. However good they were at stealing cars, their driving skills sucked.This is not the first theft attempt at the GM plant in Lansing. In early May, police arrested a gang of nine for stealing Camaros after a flurry of cars were stolen from the plant. Last month, police arrested three school kids aged 11 to 14 while trying to carjack Dodge Chargers and Challengers from the Stellantis Jefferson North Plant in Detroit.
HP

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The childish name is surprising at first, but it makes sense once you find out that Zoom Zoom Zoom is not just one of the fastest yachts of this size built in America, but also a vacation pleasure craft that was meant to be enjoyed by the owner and his four young children. It was built by the reputable Trinity Yachts in 2005, but Jim Glidewell bought in 2015 and refitted it.Today, the 160-foot (49 meters) vessel is the biggest in Glidewells all-American fleet, which also includes the 130-foot (39.6 meters) Serengeti, built by Westport, and an 82-foot (25 meters) Hatteras boat.Born in Las Vegas, Glidewell built his impressive fortune in the dentistry sector, but his ultimate passion is yachting, he told Superyacht Times. Like many millionaires, he became a serial yacht owner, always moving to something bigger. But he did so throughout decades.But not that many have an entire fleet. Glidewell says he keeps the costs low by also chartering all of his yachts. Zoom Zoom Zoom can be chartered through Camper & Nicholsons and its the most expensive one in his fleet, with weekly rates starting at $175,000. Thats also a good way to keep the crew in top shape and allow them to increase their income through tips.When its time for personal fun, however, the owner takes his family on summer vacations from Maine to Florida, and on short trips to the Bahamas in the winter.Zoom Zoom Zoom had to be versatile enough to perform as a cozy family yacht as well as a modern charter yacht. And it is. Up to ten guests can be accommodated across its five cabins, with nine crew members making sure everything onboard goes smoothly.Although its not such a massive vessel , it was built with a lavish master suite that unfolds over two levels, including his-and-her en-suite bathrooms with a jacuzzi, a private study, plus access to a lounge area.The main salon is the most formal area on board, including a lounge room with a bar and a separate dining area. On the other hand, the main deck is perfect for informal dinners under the sky.The sun deck is probably everyones favorite spot, dominated by a large jacuzzi surrounded by comfortable sun pads. Nearby, theres an al-fresco lounge area with a second bar. The swim platform is large enough to allow the crew to set up a table so that guests can have their dinner close to the water.Speaking of the swim platform, the yacht is also packed with fun water toys, in addition to a large 40-foot (12 meters) tender. If WaveRunners, SeaBobs, and wakeboards arent enough, theres even a giant waterslide available.Whats unique about this American yacht is its performance. Able to cut through the waves at 24 knots (27.6 mph/44.4 kph) Zoom Zoom Zoom is one of the fastest superyachts in its size category, hence the name. Even its cruising speed of 14 knots (16 mph/26 kph) equals other boats maximum speed. Its prowess comes from the twin 3386Caterpillar engines, and the two 99Kilopak generators.Glidewell says that the desire to share all of this with his young children is the main thing that got him into yachting, and the reason why he upgraded to this speedy American beauty. As others have come to find out, even the most luxurious superyacht is worth nothing if you cant enjoy it with your loved ones.
With street-level imagery, Street View allows anyone out there to explore the world from the comfort of their own sofa. Just drag the little yellow man to any location on the globe and you should be able to explore the place just like youd be there.As it turns out, some people have turned this experience of exploring the world using Google Maps into an unusual hobby that later evolved into something totally unbelievable.Enter Trevor Rainbolt.The 23-year-old man from Los Angeles can look at a Street View photo for just 0.1 seconds in order to be able to tell its location. In other words, he can easily pinpoint a specific Street View image on the map faster than Google actually loads it.Rainbolt is probably the best player of GeoGuessr  an online game where players need to tell the location of random images collected from Street View.In a recent interview for Vice , however, Rainbolt says theres no magic behind what he does. He believes anyone can do the same thing, as soon as they use a series of tricks that he also turns to in order to correctly provide the location of each image.More specifically, Rainbolt is looking for things that tell apart one region from another  for example, hes looking for road signs, the painted lines on the streets, the license plate colors, and poles to figure out where the image comes from. And he only needs 0.1 seconds for the whole thing, as you can see for yourselves in the video below.Of course, repetition is also playing a very important role in how fast he is, as Rainbolt says he played GeoGuessr more than 10,000 times. And he still struggles in some cases, as he needs about 1 second to identify locations in Russia or other places across Europe.
Taking a year off to travel the world is something most people think about after working hard for a longer period in which they didnt allow themselves any pleasure or personal time. Thats why the sabbatical leave, for example, exists and is awarded to some valuable employees with or without pay.But life isnt often as we plan it to be. Sebastien Pelletier and Edith Lemay have four kids together and have been married for 12 years. The Canadian couple discovered that their daughter had problems with her eyesight and took her to a doctor for a checkup. She and their two other sons were diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa, according to multiple interviews the parents have given since they decided to make their story public. Only one of their kids will be able to see without any issues.In a discussion with CNN , the mother said they have come to terms with the diagnostic after a tumultuous period. Over two years ago, the family decided it was important to give their children priceless memories before their eyesight would be gone.Retinitis pigmentosa is a rare disease. It slowly affects the retina until the sick cells break it down into pieces, which can partially or totally affect the eyesight. Most people lose their vision completely, according to the National Eye Institute ( NIH ). Theres no known treatment. Some people think stem cell treatment could help, but no proper development has been confirmed yet.The family made plans to start exploring everything Earth has to offer, which was made possible because the dad works in finance and the mother in healthcare logistics. Also, some personal investments paid off just in time. The funds were secured.They went on trips as a family before, but nothing of this magnitude. They wanted to start with China, Mongolia, and Russia, where they would travel with an off-road vehicle thats suitable for a family of six. They planned to spend as much time as possible away from tourist hotspots. What they sought was a connection with fascinating ecosystems that were untouched by human development.Their original plans, however, were met with a major setback  the global health crisis. Since their kids diagnostic meant time was of the essence, they had to change everything they decided upon beforehand. But a one-year delay was inevitable. However, that didnt stop them from road-tripping Canada. Around two years ago, their first visit was organized with a minivan to Cote-Nord, Quebec.The family didnt want to waste 2020, so they kept exploring other beautiful regions of Canada over the summer.They returned to their daily, normal lives for a year and started traveling again in the summer of 2021, right after the kids finished school.Enter 2022.Things have calmed down almost everywhere on Earth health-related. The family decided it was time to begin their globetrotting as soon as possible because you never know what might happen.Instead of dealing with Asia, they now chose to visit Africa first. The amazing journey was about to begin in Ethiopia with an air transfer to Namibia. They rented a Volkswagen Transporter and got some camping equipment to go along with it.After a couple of weeks, the six of them went to Zambia and then by train to Tanzania. Every trip was filled with unique experiences  from seeing wild animals to experiencing the life lived by locals, the parents tried to show their kids why our world is beautiful and deserves to be explored.Their journey continued with Turkey , and they eventually reached Mongolia for a 30-day stay. They rented another vehicle, but this time it was an old soviet van called UAZ SGR. To make the best out of it all, the family also paid for a driver and a guide.The family is getting ready to start a new experience in Indonesia. Their only desire is to help their kids remember the great moments spent together and the mesmerizing sceneries available on their route. And they might succeed in doing so!If you want to learn more about their adventure, the family set up an Instagram account that shares moments from their experiences.All in all, this is a lesson in resilience. No matter what life throws at you, theres always another way to enjoy it or to take advantage of the good times that are left.
King Charles III, previously known as Prince of Wales, is 73 years old and has had a lifetime to get accustomed to all the perks that come with a royal title. But he's treating everyone to the finer things as he takes on the role of the monarch of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth states. He was four years old when his mother acceded to the throne and has been training for his own reign his entire life. All while building his own empire.During his first official appearance as King, His Majesty arrived at Buckingham Palace in the back seat of a Rolls-Royce Phantom VI. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II owned two models. The one King Charles III rode in was the Silver Jubilee Car, built for Queen Elizabeth s 25th anniversary on the throne.Meanwhile, he has been in and out of Scotland, flying in a private jet, obviously. His Majestys choice was an Embraer Legacy 600 with the G-LEGC registration number. He first used it to fly to London after the monarchs death and now he hopped in it again to travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland, to meet representatives of the regions political parties. For the journey to the private jet, he and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, used the same Rolls-Royce Phantom VI. After they landed in Belfast, they hopped in a black BMW Series 7.When it comes to the airplane, the Legacy 600 has been in use for 15 years and it belongs to Luxaviation United Kingdom . The business jet can carry up to 13 passengers, with two crew members. There are three divan seats, and it provides five sleeping places for up to six passengers. It's put in motion by twin Rolls-Royce engines, which take it to a top speed of 0.69 Mach (529 mph / 852 kph), with a range of 3,200 nautical miles (3,682 mi / 5,926 km). Although his journey wasn't long, King Charles III did fly quite comfortably.
With a design that reminds of the complications originally available on the Apple Watch , the new widgets are a great way to get essential information without having to unlock the iPhone. And needless to say, they work with both first- and third-party apps.Google is one of the companies that are apparently in a rush to take advantage of the new widgets, so today, it provided the world with an early glimpse into how its apps would be updated to feel at home on the new iOS 16 lock screen.In other words, Google is working on widgets for iPhones running iOS 16, and Google Maps will be one of the apps that will receive such an update.Google Maps will essentially come with two different widgets  if youve used an iPhone before, you might find them familiar, as similar designs have been available in iOS 15 on the home screen as well.The Frequent Trips widget is the one that really comes in handy, as it displays information such as real-time traffic updates and ETAs for the places that you most often drive to. For instance, depending on the time of day, you should see the estimated travel time to your office or home, and of course, the information is updated in the background without any input required on your side.The Maps Search widget, on the other hand, allows you to quickly launch the app and search for popular points of interest in the region, including restaurants, shops, and other common places.Google says the rollout of the new widgets is projected to begin soon, but no further specifics on this ETA have been provided.
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The Townstarcomes with a rather small battery pack: only 45. That is enough for a rather shortrange of only 300 kilometers (186 miles), probably on a combined cycle. If the LCV is used only for urban deliveries, the battery pack should help it run more than that  even if the WLTP cycle is considered as not very trustworthy for real-life range.The good news is that the electric LCV can recover its energy in fast charging. According to Nissan , you will spend 37 minutes taking it from 15% of charge to 80%. The Japanese carmaker did not disclose the maximum charging speed the vehicle can stand. If you have more time to allow the battery pack to get ready for service again, it has two AC charging capacities: 11or 22 kW.The Townstar EV is being built at the Maubeuge Renault factory in France. Thats the same place that produces the Kangoo in all its derivatives, including the Kangoo Z.E. Both LCVs use the CMF-C/D platform, which also underpins an incredible number of other vehicles, from the Renault Megane IV to the Nissan Qashqai.The Townstar EV is 4.49 meters (176.6 inches) long, 1.92 m (75.6 in) wide, 1.84 m (72.4 in) tall, and has a wheelbase of 2.72 m. The 90-kW (120 hp) motor can carry loads ranging from 600 kilograms (1.323 pounds) to up to 800 kg (1.764 lb), and the LCV can tow up to 1,500 kg (3.307 lb). Its cargo area has a capacity that goes from 3.3 cubic meters (35.5 cubic feet) to up to 4.9 m (52.7 ft). According to Nissan, it is enough to carry two Euro pallets.
This week, for example, Panera Brand, the chain that has over 2,000 bakery cafes in the United States and Canada, released an update for its iPhone app specifically to add CarPlay support.As you could easily guess given the parent company, the purpose of this update is as simple as it could be: to let drivers place an order at a nearby restaurant right from the built-in display.The new feature is available beginning with Panera Bread app version 4.69.10, and it works similarly to other applications that allow drivers to place orders at nearby restaurants. You cant browse the menu, but instead, you are allowed to see the recent items and the favorites, create a new order, and then continue to checkout.Depending on your configuration, the order will then be available right from the chosen location (so youll have to park your car and go inside to pick it up) or via Curbside Pickup.As said in the headline, this app category is slowly but surely expanding, though its pretty clear it takes time for more restaurants and fast-food chains to notice the potential of such an update. Not long time ago, Dunkin released a similar improvement for its iOS app, adding CarPlay support to let DD Perks members place an order from the vehicles infotainment system.And just like in the case of Panera, Dunkin only allows users to select a recent or favorite order, review it, and then continue to checkout, all without the need for pulling the iPhone.It goes without saying all these apps are currently exclusive to CarPlay users in the United States.
Operation London Bridge is the official name for what is happening right now in the UK, with the passing of the beloved and long-reigning Queen Elizabeth II . She died at her estate in Balmoral in Scotland, on September 8, and the state funeral is scheduled to take place on September 19 at Westminster Abbey in London.U.S. President Joe Biden and the First Lady will be in attendance, as will be other heads of state and dignitaries. Operation London Bridge is the highest-security international event to ever be hosted in the British capital, and Politico reports that it comes with unprecedented restrictions, including for attendees Citing a leaked document from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the media outlet says restrictions involve flying private or by state plane into London, using a helicopter to move from the airport to a near location, and riding around in a private or state car . Attendees are asked to fly commercial and ride shuttle buses onto Abbey grounds, because of tight security and road restrictions. Another stipulation is that delegations will not be allowed, with invites sent out solely for the head of state and the spouse. President Biden confirmed that he would be attending the state funeral on Friday, and the leaked guidelines went viral on the heels of his confirmation. The reason is obvious: Biden would have to ditch his armored Cadillac limousine known as The Beast, travel without security, and ride the bus for the ceremony. It would be an unheard-of situation for the President widely referred to as the most powerful man in the world  which applies not just to Biden, but to all U.S. Presidents.Reports in the British media say that Biden might be one of the few exceptions to the rules, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, Israels President Herzog, and Japans Emperor Naruhito. The U.S. delegation will probably be reduced to a minimum, but he will be allowed to land on Air Force One, ride the helicopter into London, and The Beast to the Abbey.As Timothy Miller, security specialist and former U.S. secret service agent, tells The Guardian , The bottom line is the president of the United States would never fly commercial and/or ride on a bus. There is no compromising the Presidents security, even at events of this magnitude.
It would be downright rude for someone not to include Bolt Motor Co. (BMC) on a list of the Iberian Peninsulas most prominent motorcycle customization outfits. Led by Adrian Campos, the Spanish workshop is a darling of bike-modding enthusiasts far beyond the borders of their picturesque homeland, and peeking through these folks portfolio will quickly reveal why thats so!Among the incredible machines, youll see on their official website, this svelte-looking BMW R100RT is most certainly going to grip your attention for a little longer. As you can tell, the most radical part of Bolt Motors transformation took place at the rear end, so thats where well be kicking off our inspection.Up top, one may find a looped subframe housing discreet LED lighting at the southernmost tip, as well as a simple, yet gorgeous saddle upholstered in-house. These mods contribute a great deal to altering the bikes geometry, but whats going on lower down is far more intriguing. Without a hint of hesitation, Adrian's moto surgeons ditched the motorcycle s original double-sided swingarm, twin shocks, and rear hoop.Then, an R 1200 donated its single-sided swingarm, but getting the modern driveshaft to play nice with the R100RTs ancient gearbox was no walk in the park, mind you. A premium monoshock finishes off the anatomy out back, complemented by an MV Agustas beefy upside-down forks at the front end.As for those new wheels, they had once been the rear units of two R 1200 GS exemplars, and their rims are clad in versatile dual-purpose rubber. Both these hoops are brought to a halt via sizeable aftermarket brake rotors. After theyd rebuilt the engine, the BMC squad came up with a ravishing two-into-one exhaust system that exits right below the seat.Fresh wiring and a modern electronic ignition module also make an appearance, along with high-grade air filters. Last but not least, youll spot an LED headlight taking pride of place in between the repurposed Agusta forks, and an understated black and white color scheme with yellow Bolt Motor graphics tops everything off.
After graduating from design school, Benno, the founder, moved to San Diego and co-founded the Electra Bicycle company in 1993. After working there until 2010, he went on to create the bike business bearing his name.Recognizing the power of electrification, he decided to implement it in the Benno Bikes design. He also saw an opportunity in the utility e-bike market, as regular e-bikes offer little to no utility, and full-size cargo bikes are too big and hard to maneuver. This led to the birth of a new e-bike category he calls Etility, where agility meets true utility.And that became the inspiration for the company's entire range of products. Among them, you'll discover the Boost 10D, offering the riding capabilities of a non-cargo bike and the storage options of one.Before I go into detail, I just want to let you know the Boost costs around $4,500-$5,000 for the base model, so it's quite pricey. Let's see what this amount will get you.Benno Bikes claim that the e-bike can carry more than 3x the load of a typical bike. Using a 6061-aluminum alloy frame and a long wheelbase design, the Boost is made for you to move stuff around on it. It weighs 30 kg (66 lbs.), but it can carry an impressive max gross weight (including the bike and rider) of 200 kg (441 lbs.).Different versions of the Boost are available  Performance, Performance CX, Performance Sport, and Performance Speed, and you can also choose if you want it regular or step-through. If you're from Europe, you probably know about the current EU e-bike regulations stating that the max speed a motor can assist you with is 15.5 mph (25 kph). That's why Europeans only have access to the first two models. The last two versions are meant for the U.S., Switzerland, and New Zealand markets, and they boast a top speed of 28 mph (45 kph).A Bosch mid-drive electric motor powers the Boost. You can choose between a 400 Wh or 500 Wh battery for the Performance and Performance Sport versions, which will provide 250 W of power and 65 Nm (45-foot pounds) of torque. Of course, why have a utility bike if you can't go for long with it? The range is not a problem as the 400 Wh battery offers 25-75 miles (40-120 km), and the 500 Wh one provides 30-80 miles (50-130 km). If that's not enough for you, you can opt for the dual battery option available for the Performance Speed and Performance CX, which will ensure a range of 50 to 150 miles (80-240 km), depending on which mode you're riding in.Oh yeah, about that, you have five riding modes and you can cycle through them by using the Bosch Purion On-Board computer. What's more, the e-bike comes with custom 24" (61 centimeters) Benno Dual Sport tires and a 10-speed Shimano drivetrain to assist you in all riding conditions. It lacks a suspension system, which might prove tiring after longer journeys.The bike features some design elements that make it more practical, but its true usefulness emerges when customization comes into play. The stock bike's only cargo element is the rear rack, but many accessories can be added to the Boost. You have the possibility of choosing from dozens of configurations to adapt the ride to your lifestyle. Just keep in mind that all accessories are extra and you have to pay for them.For instance, let's say you're a parent and prefer taking your kids to school or kindergarten with a bike. You can easily add two child seats in the back and even attach a trailer if you need more seats for your family. Or perhaps you need to make city deliveries involving heavy packages; there's a solution for that too. You can add a variety of racks, trays, bags, and others to create the Boost that best suits your needs.All in all, I believe the Benno Boost 10D is a fantastic choice if practicality is the name of your game. It provides enough range for even avid city dwellers, and you'll fit most of your belongings on it. The only downside I see is the price; it already seems a bit high, excluding all the extra accessories you can add to it.
In plain English, this means carmakers continue to struggle with the super-constrained chip supply, so their only solution is to stick with the same strategy theyve been using for nearly two years already.More often than not, this strategy comes down to measures meant to reduce the disruptions of the chip shortage in their daily operations, be they shipping cars without certain non-critical systems or temporarily halting the production at various plants.The latter option is the one thats being used right now by Renault , as the French carmaker sees no option solution for its facility in Bursa, Turkey, as per the local media The companys local joint venture  Oyak Renault  is temporarily shutting down the production lines until mid-September in an attempt to deal with the lack of components, including the chips it installs on vehicles.Unsurprisingly, this isnt the first time this year when the local facility goes offline because of semiconductor shortages. Another halt happened in the summer when the production lines remained offline for 24 days.For anyone wondering when the chip shortage could come to an end, this is a question that nobody can really answer. The most optimistic carmakers are no longer so confident that a significant recovery in the global chip inventory is possible this year, and most expect the constrained supply to continue until at least 2023.Earlier this week, General Motors CEO Mary Barra also admitted that the chip crisis is likely to continue into 2023, adding that nobody should be surprised if the struggle would even continue a little beyond the next year.
Basically, these updates are supposed to celebrate a certain event, such as the release of a game or a movie, with Wazers (as the parent company calls the people who use its app) allowed to enable the content only for a few weeks.This time, the Google-owned company is celebrating, well, the return to work. And to do this, Waze is being updated with a new package called Biz Jargon.Just like before, theres a special-edition navigation voice, and according to Google, its purpose is to remind of the typical office conversations while also providing you with instructions on which way to go. So for instance, dont be too surprised if Waze tells you to make a U-turn, or what I call circling back during the navigation.Given it all comes down to office-related stuff, the new update also includes several business-inspired moods, so users can choose between Productive, Unproductive, All Business, and Business Casual. And of course, theres also a new car icon in the form of a Paper Airplane supposed to remind everybody of the Interoffice Memo.The new experience is available for all Waze users across the globe, but as always, the new navigation voice only supports English and French.Google says the content will be available for a limited time, and while no deadline has been offered as to when it would be pulled, theres a chance your settings will return to the current configuration at the end of the month.If you want to activate the new experience, just make sure youre running the latest Waze version and launch the app. In the My Waze menu, look for the  Drive with Biz Jargon banner.
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The Defense Ministry in Yerevan said that the intensive shelling began shortly after midnight.

The exchange of intensive gunfire is continuing, the ministry spokesman, Aram Torosian, said an hour later.

In another update, Torosian said that the fighting continued unabated as of 4 a.m. local time. The Armenian armed forces are giving [the enemy] an adequate response and fully accomplishing combat tasks set for them, he said.

Torosian added that they suffered casualties but did not give any numbers. He also said that in some directions Azerbaijani troops are trying to advance towards Armenian territory.

Residents of several Armenian border communities told RFE/RLs Armenian Service that they are hearing powerful explosions and gunfire. The mayor of, Verin Shorzha, a border village in eastern Gegharkunik province spoke of intensive gunfire coming from Azerbaijani army positions across the local section of the long border.

According to a former local government official, several shells landed in another Gegharkunik community, Sotk, forcing some parents to evacuate their children to safer locations.

Another, serving Gegharkunik official was quoted by news.am as saying that some residents of the nearby village of Norabak are fleeing their homes.

The fighting also affected communities in Armenias southeastern Syunik province. In the local village of Karashen, an Azerbaijani shell hit a wedding hall, eyewitnesses said, adding that nobody was hurt as a result.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry accused the Armenian side of launching a large-scale provocation along three border districts in western Azerbaijan.

In a statement, the ministry claimed that Armenian commando units crossed those border sections to try to put landmines near Azerbaijani army posts there. The Azerbaijani side, it said, hit Armenian military infrastructure and took other urgent measures in response to those raids.

Torosian, the Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman, flatly denied those claims, insisting that the fighting was initiated by Azerbaijans military-political leadership. He said that the Azerbaijani military laid the information groundwork for it in recent days.

Baku has alleged Armenian truce violations along the frontier on a daily basis following the August 31 meeting of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian held in Brussels.

Yerevan dismissed those claims as disinformation. Some Armenian commentators suggested that Baku may be preparing the ground for another escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
An Armenian government statement said Pashinian presented to Russian President Vladimir Putin details of Azerbaijans aggressive and provocative actions that began shortly after midnight.

Nikol Pashinian found the Azerbaijani sides actions unacceptable and stressed the importance of adequate reaction from the international community, said the statement. The interlocutors agreed to be in operational contact.

Putin and Pashinian met last week on the sidelines of an economic forum held in the Russian city of Vladivostok. Speaking at the forum, the Armenian premier warned that Azerbaijan could provoke another escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone soon.

The two leaders held four phone calls last month. They spoke twice in the space of a week in early August amid an upsurge of violence in Karabakh.

The governments press office released a similar readout of Pashinians call with French President Emmanuel Macron.

President Macron found a further deepening of the tensions unacceptable and stressed the need to deescalate the situation, it said.
The United States is deeply concerned about reports of attacks along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, including reported strikes against settlements and civilian infrastructure inside Armenia, Blinken said in a statement.

As we have long made clear, there can be no military solution to the conflict, he said. We urge an end to any military hostilities immediately.

The statement followed Blinkens phone call with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. According to the official Armenian readout of the call, the top U.S. diplomat expressed Washingtons readiness to help stabilize the situation.

Pashinian was reported to inform Blinken about his administrations decision to appeal to Russia, the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization and the UN Security Council for help. He also said Yerevan expects adequate international reaction to what it sees as Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia.

The hostilities were also discussed by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried in a separate call.

The fighting coincided with the ongoing visit to the South Caucasus by Philip Reeker, the recently appointed U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. Reeker held talks with Pashinian and Mirzoyan late last week. He is due in Baku later this week.
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EAGLE PASS, Texas  On a sweltering August night, 16 vehicles idled beside a forlorn stretch of Texas Highway 131 in Maverick County.

Located on the Mexico border, more than two hours southwest of San Antonio, Maverick is poor and rural. Census figures show nearly 90% of its 58,000 people speak Spanish at home, one of the highest percentages in the nation. In the darkness, a state trooper peered at the glowing screen of a laptop revealing contours of the landscape all around.

For nearly six hours, he and another trooper piloted drones that whirred overhead, using infrared cameras to find migrants in the brush.

Its a waiting game, Chris Olivarez, South Texas spokesman for the states Department of Public Safety, advised two journalists in his pickup.

Just after 1:40 a.m., a sergeant in hushed tones told the drone pilots, I see eight men. Theyre still brushed up.

A large part of DPS mission is assisting the U.S. Border Patrol, especially with helicopter overflights. By day and night, its also seeking to grab migrants whove stepped on private land and charge them with the misdemeanor state offense of criminal trespassing  or criminal mischief, if theyve damaged a state-placed barrier such as concertina wire. While all states have such laws, Texas is the first to systematically invoke them to incarcerate unauthorized immigrants.

Most of America has not really understood the magnitude of the problem that we have on the border, Gov. Greg Abbott said on Fox News last month.

Abbott and lawmakers have poured more than $4 billion in the two-year budget cycle that began Sept. 1, 2021, into Operation Lone Star, a fivefold increase over previous cycles. Its a response to what he calls a crisis of President Joe Bidens making, with the federal government largely responsible for border security.

The money pays for thousands of soldiers to patrol different border sectors, including near Big Bend National Park in far West Texas, and for state police to protect the interests of private landowners by arresting migrants who trespass on their property, mostly in the Eagle Pass-Del Rio region. The state also has funded a portion of permanent border wall in Starr County and cyclone fences or concertina wire for scores of miles along the Rio Grande, mostly in Maverick and adjacent Kinney County.

Despite the states increased expenditure and effort, the number of migrants caught crossing in Texas is rising, reaching record levels in the past year. Border Patrol has reported 1,816,353 apprehensions along the countrys southwest border from October 2021 through July, compared with 851,508 in 2019. A COVID-19 pandemic-related health order, Title 42, inflates the numbers because migrants can make repeat tries without legal consequence.

Scenes from the Eagle Pass region  which had the borders highest number of apprehensions last month at nearly 50,000  show that even with some multiple counts, the increase is unusually high. By comparison, the far more populous Rio Grande Valley had about 35,000, Border Patrol data shows.

Operation Lone Star doesnt seem to be having a significant impact. It hasnt impacted the numbers at all, said Theresa Cardinal Brown, a former federal immigration official under Republican and Democratic presidents.

State Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, said critics who say the Texas effort hasnt affected in-migration havent been to the border. You can go and just simply watch and see it reducing the flow, said Hancock, whos made multiple visits.

Since Governor Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021, Texas National Guard and DPS have apprehended over 300,000 migrants and turned back over 25,000 more, arrested over 19,000 criminals, including human traffickers and smugglers, and seized enough lethal doses of fentanyl to kill every American, she said in a written statement.

When Texas becomes the first state to erect its own border wall, it will deter crossings and funnel illegal immigrants towards areas manned by law enforcement, she said. Until President Biden upholds his oath of office and protects our national security, Texas will continue utilizing every strategy to secure our border and protect Texans.

With permission the Abbott administration only sparingly grants to news outlets, Dallas Morning News reporters and visual journalists spent several days near Eagle Pass, observing DPS officers by land and by air and talking with migrants and landowners to gain perspective on whats happening at the border.

What happens when migrants are caught

That night on Highway 131, the troopers and Guard soldiers left their vehicles to peer over the drone pilots shoulders after one said hed spotted eight men on foot more than a mile away.

Guided by drone pilots who could see when they veered off trails and paths, nine soldiers using night-vision goggles and several troopers entered a gate to the ranch, whose name and owner Olivarez would not disclose for the safety of the ranchers and operational security reasons. For nearly 40 minutes, the soldiers and troopers crashed through shrubs and around mesquite trees and cactus.

After tense moments when the pilots said they believed the migrants had escaped, the Guard and police contingent spotted the party. With inaudible drones 400 feet above detecting the heat of bodies, pilots watching white blobs on screens could, via radio headsets, direct soldiers and troopers to the right spot.

Stealthily, they approached and blinded a group of migrants with their flashlights. One male migrant crashed into a tree, hurting his leg.

Fifteen minutes later, the troopers and soldiers brought out of the woods five adult men and a 17-year-old girl. All were from Mexico. The men were taken to a state processing center in Del Rio, Olivarez later confirmed. The girl, who spoke briefly to a visual journalist as she was handcuffed and seated in a DPS van, said she was heading to Tampa, Florida, where relatives live. The teen said she didnt know the men with whom she was traveling.

Shell be released to Border Patrol, Olivarez said, citing the inability of local detention facilities to house women and girls.

None of the migrants who were interviewed during The News three-day visit said they paid anyone to transport them across Mexico.

State officials say many receive detailed instructions from coyotes, paid smugglers who are employed by criminal syndicates and cartels.

Migrants reportedly are told to cross at night, wear black or camouflage clothing and attach strips of carpet to their shoes to deter tracking by U.S. and Texas officials. All over the region, Border Patrol agents routinely drag huge tires behind their vehicles. The scouring scrapes the ground clean, making footprints easy to spot.

Was the evening a success? The brush team used drones, 16 vehicles and at least 20 personnel. During an eight-hour shift, it arrested the five men for criminal trespassing and turned the female teen over to the feds.

Olivarez, who admitted that scenes in which migrants are caught can tug at the emotions, nevertheless said the effort is necessary.

One might have criminal history, he said of the Mexican men detained.

These individuals dont want to be caught, Olivarez said. It raises questions as to why they want to avoid apprehension.

DPS officials said they couldnt produce data on how many migrants arrested for trespassing or destruction of property had criminal records. Compiling criminal histories from other states and the federal government is complicated and takes time, they explained. The News has requested it under the states open records law, but DPS spokesmen declined to elaborate on when such information might be available.

Border barriers of walls and wire

Abbott wants to carve out more legal leeway for states to crack down on illegal immigration. The governor, a former judge, has said he hopes to see a day when the U.S. Supreme Court rolls back a 2012 decision that largely quashed Arizonas attempt to bring its law enforcement powers fully behind efforts to stop people from crossing the border without papers.

Critics say that migrants are being detained without access to legal representation or the required probable cause, and that motorists of color are being unconstitutionally racially profiled. In late July, the ACLU of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project asked U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate possible civil rights violations in DPS traffic stops that are part of Operation Lone Star.

Since Operation Lone Star began on March 4, 2021, nearly 5,000 migrants have been arrested on trespassing charges. As of Aug. 25, 231 private landowners in six counties  69% of them in Kinney, Maverick and Val Verde (whose county seat is Del Rio)  had authorized state troopers to make the arrests, said DPS press secretary Ericka Miller.

In early July, based on state emails obtained through open records requests, the Texas Tribune and Pro Publica reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Operation Lone Star for possible racial discrimination in the trespassing-arrest effort. Abbotts office told the news outlets the arrests and prosecutions are fully constitutional.

As part of Operation Lone Star, the state has erected 1.8 miles of permanent border wall  steel bollards, put up by contractors hired by the Texas Facilities Commission. All of it is near Rio Grande City, in Starr County about 40 miles northwest of McAllen.

Under Abbott, the state National Guard also has installed 58 miles of chain-link fence and 42 miles of concertina wire  largely in the Eagle Pass-Del Rio region.

Eagle Pass lawyer Poncho Nevarez, a critic of Operation Lone Star, said that several weeks ago, he reluctantly agreed to have the state place the concertina wire  spirals of wire with sharp spikes  along about 2 miles of his ranchs riverfront.

I cant handle all the trash anymore, he said, noting that his cows eat from migrants garbage bags, a grave risk to their health.

In some places, the top of the wire is covered with clothing, offering migrants a safer grip to climb over. In others, its propped up with large logs, leaving enough space below for someone to crawl through.

On a recent Sunday morning on his 500-acre ranch, Nevarez said he spotted an exhausted, pregnant young migrant with an infant resting on the banks of the Rio Grande. A few scratches on her body were the only signs that shed encountered the wire fence.

Over the next several hours, Nevarez provided water, food and dry clothing to the 17-year-old Honduran and her child. He directed them to a nearby picnic table with a canopy over it, to get out of the sun. He told her hed summon the Border Patrol. The girl said she had an uncle in Miami and wanted to be turned over to the authorities, he recounted. For him to take her off his ranch, though, was potentially a no-no, Nevarez said.

If I were to drive somebody from my property to just about anywhere, even to the Border Patrol station, I could be accused of transporting them, he explained.

Nevarez used the Honduran girls crossing of Operation Lone Stars barriers to make a point: They may redirect, but deterring migrants will take military force.

Obviously, the border is not open. It doesnt look open, he said. But it still gets beat.

A former Democratic state representative, Nevarez said changing what drives migrants to take their desperate journeys to the U.S. is the only solution to reducing illegal immigration.

What needs to happen is our government at the very top needs to solve it based on root causes, he said, adding that the U.S. should vastly increase financial aid to improve economic conditions in countries migrants are fleeing.

The problem is beyond doing all this [stuff] that looks good on a campaign mailer. Its much bigger than that. And thats real work and a lot of people dont want to do it. They dont want to have to tell those voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania, You know what? Weve got to start investing in programs in Central America  Honduras, [El] Salvador and these other places.

Life on a border ranch

Twenty-five miles east of the river, rancher Donna Schuster began packing a pistol last year after she came face to face with a migrant in her garage at night. She shooed him away without incident but said she has been afraid ever since.

Now, as she performs ranch chores, she takes a newly acquired Texas heeler with her. The dog can warn Schuster if somethings amiss, she said.

On her familys 8,000 acres in Kinney County, migrants have cut fences, smashed a hole in a livestock water-storage system and strewn trash, she said. Fence-cutting can endanger some cows lives by mixing ages and sexes at the wrong times, she explained. If cattle wander onto Highway 90 and a motorist is harmed, she could face legal liability.

Schuster, 51, who hopes to pass on the land to her three adult children, said when they were little she could rise before dawn, check on water troughs and windmills for an hour or two, and get home in time to cook breakfast for them.

I dont leave before daylight now, she said. Its a different feeling. You dont know whos watching you. You feel like someones watching you all the time. Its very unnerving.

Donna and husband John Paul Schuster, a Realtor whos the GOP nominee for county judge, have been forced to cancel vacations, she said. They dont have a caretaker on payroll.

We feel like we cant leave, she said. If we leave, we only leave for like a day, maybe two days at the most  because we just dont know whats happening here.

Schuster has told her story repeatedly to national and state TV news crews. Shes a fan of Operation Lone Star.

When told of Nevarezs remarks, though, Schuster said she agreed with the Democrats contention that only more foreign aid to migrants countries of origin and improvements there would put a dent in the flow.

Weve got to do something else, she said. I dont know that building a wall or  weve got to work with Mexico to do something. As long as the cartel seems to be in control, were not going to stop them.

Crossing in Eagle Pass

At midafternoon on Aug. 17, four exhausted families sought shade from a mesquite tree after journeys spanning thousands of miles to reach the Texas-Mexico border.

Theyd just arrived in the U.S. after wading across the Rio Grande  in broad daylight. Now they were waiting on Border Patrol to pick them up, hoping to apply for asylum. They sipped water given to them by Texas National Guard members who sat in a Humvee that faced the river.

In Eagle Pass, the National Guard and state troopers dont appear to spend the bulk of their time in high-drama confrontations with smugglers. Usually, theyre watching the river, waiting with migrants until harried Border Patrol agents show up or searching for those who disappear into the brush.

Residents in this sparsely populated section of the border confront signs of the migration every day. In addition to the holes cut in fences that mark property lines, hotels are packed with Guard soldiers and state troopers, whose vehicles patrol all major roads. The Coahuila state polices red helicopters weave in and out with Texas black and white ones along the river.

Under the mesquite tree

On the banks of the Rio Grande, migrants strip off their wet clothes and shoes that form heaps on the scruffy sand. Bands of silver razor wire line the stalks of Carrizo cane. Colorful shipping containers form a makeshift barrier plunked on the grass between the international bridges.

From adjoining Piedras Negras, young men in life vests cross the river and pluck clothes from the ground. Theyll sell them at the market on the Mexican side, said Olivarez, the DPS spokesman.

A number of factors make Eagle Pass a popular place to cross, experts say. Theres less danger from cartels in this stretch of Mexico, and the river is often passable by foot.

The waters placid appearance, though, can conceal treacherous currents. Authorities in Eagle Pass recovered the bodies of three drowning victims on the morning of Aug. 17 after heavy rains pummeled the border.

The bodies of nine migrants were found Thursday after they died while trying to cross the rain-swollen Rio Grande near Eagle Pass. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said crews rescued 37 other migrants from the river and detained 16 more, while Mexican officials took 39 into custody.

Immigration policy by nationality

Conservative Texas politicians like to point to video clips of people crossing in small caravans of 100, 200, 300 as evidence the migrant flow is of epic proportions. The scene with the small group under the mesquite tree near Eagle Pass Bridge No. 2 is more typical, based on The News observations over three days.

The ones content to be processed by federal immigration officials, known as give-ups, wait for Border Patrol buses, which often dont come until there are more than 100 gathered. But other small groups, mainly made up of migrants who may face almost certain expulsion, come furtively, by day and especially at night.

The four families under the tree that day  from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela  said theyre motivated to come for a better life. Until conditions improve at home, thats unlikely to change.

At times, the migrants wept when they discussed mistreatment they suffered from Mexican authorities as they made the long trek to Eagle Pass. A Cuban mans voice broke with emotion when he learned from a Texas journalist that hell probably be allowed to stay in the U.S. to defend his case in immigration court.

Decisions about who stays and who is quickly forced out have less to do with the credible fear that an asylum-seeking migrant may have of being returned to his home country than with high-level diplomacy and which foreign governments have relationships with the U.S, policy experts say.

A large part of whats happening might be called immigration policy by nationality. This is because of a strong shift in the nationalities of people crossing the southwest border.

Because the U.S. and Mexican governments have complicated relations with Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, migrants from those countries are unlikely to be sent back soon.

Frosty diplomatic relations are at play, said Andrew Selee, president of the D.C.-based, nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. Theres no (U.S.) agreement right now to return people to those countries.  And so the U.S. is taking them in.

Very few are given a quick, coerced exit. Instead, they are released to await immigration court hearings and could wait an average of five years for their asylum cases to be processed, according to the Syracuse University nonprofit Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

Migrants from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are mostly expelled under Title 42, the pandemic-related health order. Exceptions to this are usually families and unaccompanied minors.

Title 42 has been used more than 2 million times since it was enacted in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, according to CBP. Without legal consequences, it has created a revolving door for repeat entries. In July, 22% of those who tried to cross the border had tried before, and for fiscal year 2021, 27% of those apprehended were repeat crossers, CBP officials said.

As he wrung out wet clothes, still dripping from crossing the Rio Grande, Edison, 34, one of the migrants under the tree, said back home in Venezuela, basic commodities are in short supply, or unaffordable. Because he will likely have a pending asylum case, The News is not using his surname.

We have children, we have family members to support, and that forces us to leave our country, Edison said. Its our only option. What do we do if we stay there? Will we let them be hungry? That is why one leaves.
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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP)  Hard Rock International, the global gambling, entertainment and hospitality company, said Monday it is spending over $100 million to give significant raises to 10,000 non-tipped workers, most of them in the U.S.

The raises, which include an immediate increase to a minimum starting salary of $18 to $21 an hour, are designed to help employees deal with persistent inflation, and to help the company attract and retain top talent, lessening employee turnover.

Some salaried workers will receive increased merit raises as well.

In some cases, workers will be getting an immediate raise of 60%. The raises apply to 95 job classifications, including cooks, housekeepers, front desk clerks, security workers and cage cashiers.

We looked at all the starting salaries of all our (front) line employees, certainly recognizing the economic conditions that have been going on, said Jim Allen, the company's chairman and CEO. We just wanted to do something to really help out and show appreciation to our employees. We're trying to find the highest quality employees, thanking them for their efforts and recognizing that with compensation."

Hard Rock said the raises will go to half its U.S. workforce.

It will give Hard Rock a competitive advantage at a time when labor is relatively tight, said David Schwartz, a gambling historian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The service industry may be at a crossroads, and raising pay is one way to attract excellent employees.

It comes as wages in the casino industry, as in many others, are increasing due to several factors including a shortage of workers and rising salaries in other fields that are luring casino workers.

In July, the main casino workers union in Atlantic City reached what it termed an historic contract with the city's nine casinos, providing for the largest salary increases ever granted in a casino pact in New Jersey. It provides for an $18 hourly starting rate, and classifications such as housekeeping will earn $22 an hour in the fourth year of the deal.

Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite Here union that negotiated the Atlantic City contract, said Hard Rock's setting of a national salary scale is a great move."

It's going to have a big impact everywhere they operate, he said.

Representatives of several other national casino companies did not respond to inquiries Monday about their pay rates.

The $18 hourly starting salary announced Monday by Hard Rock is 2 1/2 times the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, and exceeds the local minimum wage in every state in which the company operates, Allen said.

An entry-level worker in Florida, for example, will receive an immediate pay increase of $8 to $11 an hour above the states $10 an hour minimum wage. The hourly rate increase equates to more than $16,000 per year.

In Atlantic City, an entry-level hire will receive up to $6 an hour above the states $13 an hour minimum wage. That equates to an annual raise of more than $10,000, going from $27,040 to $37,440, the company said.

Hard Rock is owned by the Seminole Indian tribe of Florida. It has 265 locations in 70 countries.

___

Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC
Despite several recent missteps  pandemic deniers and people not understanding where babies come from, for example  capital-s Science is having a moment. This summer, NASA shared the first full-color images from the James Webb Space Telescope and Europes CERN successfully started their third run of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In other words, its a good time for geeks.

So if youre buzzing with scientific excitement like us, weve got the perfect place for you to go: Batavia, Illinois

Not what you were expecting? Well, hidden in plain site about 35 miles west of Chicago is Fermilab, otherwise known as the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, a premier scientific research institution. At the 6,800-acre campus, Fermilab actively conducts studies on dark matter, quantum science, neutrinos and particle acceleration.

Thats right, before there was the LHC in Switzerland there was Fermilabs Tevatron, a particle accelerator with a four-mile circumference. Until LHC was constructed in 2008, Tevatron (built in 1985) was the largest and highest-energy particle accelerator in the world. Today its the most powerful in the United States and second only to LHC globally.

In the aerial image of Fermilab below, the right circle is the Tevatron Collider. Dormant since 2011, this particle accelerator smashed subatomic particles into each other at a speed of 99.999954% the speed of light. The circle on the left circle is the Main Injector. Two miles in circumference, it produces the worlds most powerful high-energy neutrino beam. (Neutrinos are tiny particles sometimes referred to as ghost particles.)

An aerial view of Fermilab in Batavia shows the sheer size of the sprawling site. Courtesy of Fermilab

While you cant get into the underground tunnels of the accelerators, the Batavia site is open to the public, and although some programming has been affected by the pandemic, theres lots to see and do.

So as the images of deep space keep rolling in and we all stare into the profound galactic grandeur to ponder our place in the great expanse, its an excellent time to treat your inner nerd to the field trip it deserves.

A Brief History of Fermilab

In operation since 1967, Fermilab is the flagship particle physics laboratory in the nation. Operated by the U.S. Department of Energy, the site employs 1,750 scientists and engineers from around the globe, and hosts thousands of visiting scientists annually.

Fermilab is responsible for the discovery of three fundamental particles, including the bottom quark in 1977 and the top quark in 1995 (in short, both were very big deals). To further drill the significance of this place home, the laboratory notes that two of their experiments  the CDF and DZero collider  are responsible for about 1,000 Ph.D. degrees. Flex.

Although he died before the lab was created, its named after Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi because he is considered one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century; he is responsible for the first sustained nuclear chain reaction, which he created in Chicago as part of the Manhattan Project (to develop the atomic bomb) during WWII; and he named neutrinos, which are a huge part of Fermilab research today.

What to Know Before Visiting Fermilab

Since this is an operational government laboratory, there are some logistics to be aware of before you visit.

All visitors must show a government-issued ID.

Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

Enter the grounds at guarded entrances at either Pine Street in Batavia or Batavia Road in Warrenville.

Certain areas of the site are only accessible with a Fermilab or DOE ID badge. If youre in the wrong place, youll know it. Ive been politely, albeit firmly, escorted off an unapproved bike path.

Upon presenting your ID at the gate, the security officer will ask for the purpose of your visit, so pick one of the adventures below and tell em InsideHook sent you!

A technician in a clean room works on a spoke resonator of the PIP-II, an in-progress linear particle accelerator. Courtesy of Fermilab

Go to Fermilab for the Science

First, the bad news: Public tours inside Wilson Hall remain on hold due to the COVID pandemic as well as increased security around Fermilabs latest research. But theres still plenty of cool science to interact with at the Lederman Science Center which is open and offers hands-on experiences. Complex topics are explained from a kids point of view so you dont need to brush up on particle physics before you go  a mere appreciation for the science goes a long way here. The Center is open Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Sunday, September 18 is the Fermilab Outdoor Family Fair. Attendees can explore outdoor exhibits and view the sun through solar telescopes. Proceedings run from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and guests must pre-register online.

A nature path on the Fermilab grounds. Courtesy of Fermilab

Or Go for the Nature

True scientists that they are, Fermilab has been committed to nature conservancy since its inception. Around 1,000 acres are devoted to natural habitats, wildlife conservation and ecological science. This work earned Fermilab a National Environmental Research Park designation, joining a list of only seven outdoor laboratories in the U.S.

The outdoor grounds are open to the public every day from dawn to dusk and there are a number of public trails and roads for walkers, joggers, bikers and rollerbladers to explore. Enjoy one of Illinoiss oldest and largest reconstructed native tallgrass prairies as well as oak savannas, woodlands, lakes and wetlands. Local birdwatchers should be enticed by the avian diversity as nearly 300 species have been identified on the campus.

A bison family hangs out at Fermilab. The first calf of 2022 was born in April. Courtesy of Fermilab

Or for the Bison

Fermilabs first director, Robert Wilson, brought bison to the site in 1969 as a nod to the Midwestern prairie. Currently, the herd is 32 strong with new calves born every spring. These pure-bred bison (yes, obviously the Fermilab scientists do genetic testing on their mascot) graze in an open pasture that can be viewed by visitors. You can also try to spot them from home on the live bison cam.

The Tractricious sculpture, located in front of the Industrial Center Building, was built from leftover cryostat pipe from the construction of Tevatron magnets. Courtesy of Fermilab

Or the Architecture

Director Wilson had a strong vision that Fermilab would encompass all types of science and the beauty within. He requested a cathedral of science to act as a focal point of their studies and received the striking Atari logo-shaped 16-story Wilson Hall, complete with a double helix staircase inside. Its definitely worth a drive by.

Architecture buffs and STEM fans alike will delight in sculptures throughout the grounds which include a stainless steel Mobius strip; the towering, twisting 36-foot Tractricious (seen above); a geodesic sphere made of 120,000 recycled pop cans; and a hyperbolic obelisk perched in a reflecting pool. Pick up a self-guided sculpture hunt map at Lederman.

Carrie McGivern uses photomultipliers in the ANNIE neutrino detector at Fermilab. Courtesy of Fermilab

Or Go to Fermilab for the Science Fiction Inspo

For those looking to fill the Stranger Things-sized hole in their heart, Fermilab serves major sci-fi vibes. Theyve got scientists in white lab coats, theyve got underground tunnels, theyre operated by the government. Minus the unsettling experiments on psychic children and gate to hell, its our own little Hawkins Lab!

Visiting a place where they are actively building a proton accelerator to shoot particles from Batavia to South Dakota under the ground feels like stepping into a secret world. So turn on your Kate Bush and let your brain crack open to questions like, What are we made of? How did the universe begin? What secrets do the smallest, most elemental particles of matter hold, and how can they help us understand the intricacies of space and time? Thats verbatim from the About Us page on the Fermilab website, so theyre good for the answers.

This article was featured in the InsideHook Chicago newsletter. Sign up now for more from the Windy City.

The post An Unbeatable Scientific Field Trip Is Just an Hour Outside Chicago appeared first on InsideHook.
Abul Wafa, his wife, Minara, and Dildar Begum (right), joined by two infants, have settled into a Rohingya camp in Coxs Bazar after fleeing from Myanmars Rakhine state earlier this month, Sept. 10, 2022.

Hundreds of people were waiting to cross into Bangladesh from Myanmar, a small group of newly arrived Rohingya told BenarNews, amid fierce fighting close to the border that has sparked diplomatic protests over reports of artillery and mortar shells landing in Bangladeshi territory.

One of the new arrivals said he saw several hundred people clustered along a river that separates Coxs Bazar district in southeastern Bangladesh from Myanmars Rakhine state, and who were trying to cross the frontier several days ago. It was not immediately clear what happened to those other people apparently displaced by intense clashes in recent weeks between Burmese junta forces and Arakan Army (AA) rebels.

In Bangladesh, where the government has tightened security along the border amid the violence in Rakhine, authorities have not confirmed reports of any new refugee arrivals or influx into Coxs Bazar.

Meanwhile, a Rohingya leader said that at least five Rohingya fleeing Myanmar had arrived at a Coxs Bazar camp in recent days.

Two Rohingya families of five people, including two infants, have taken shelter at the Lambasia camp in Ukhia, Muhammed Jubair, secretary general of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), told BenarNews.

The adults were identified as Abul Wafa, his wife, Minara, and another woman, Dildar Begum.

Wafa said they fled from Buthidaung in Myanmar on Sept. 6 as junta and AA forces clashed.

The junta started torturing the Rohingya in Buthidaung, he told BenarNews. Thats why we came to Bangladesh to save our lives, but we are also hiding here.

When we were entering Bangladesh, we saw several hundred Rohingya people, mostly women and children waiting to leave near the Naf River, Wafa said.

Two days earlier, on Sept. 4, the Foreign Ministry issued a news release expressing deep concern over mortars that reportedly landed on the Bangladeshi side of the frontier the day before. The release noted that Myanmar Ambassador U Aung Kyaw Moe was summoned regarding the incident, just as he had been summoned on Aug. 21 and 28.

During the meeting, the ambassador was also told that such activities are of grave threat to the safety and security of the peace-loving people, violation of the border agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar and contrary to the good neighborly relationship, the ministry said.

On Tuesday, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said he expected firing inside Myanmar along the border to end soon.

We heard that a group called Arakan Army was fighting with the government forces inside Myanmar. When the government forces attack the Arakan Army, some shells land inside our territory, he told reporters.

Our Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), as well as Foreign Ministry, have strongly protested the incidents by calling the ambassador of Myanmar.

Refugees accounts

Jubair said Wafa and the others sheltered with a relative after arriving in Bangladesh before moving into another camp.

Wafa said his group gave a boatman a piece of gold jewelry to carry them across the Naf River because they had no money to pay him.

Dildar Begum, 22, said her husband, Syed Ullah, was killed by the Mogh army a month ago. She was referring to the Arakan Army although Mogh is a term that Rohingya also often use to refer to the Burmese military.

I fled with Wafas family to Bangladesh as there was no other option for me, she told BenarNews.

In Rakhine state, an official with the AA rebels denied that the group was targeting members of the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority.

The allegations on AA targeting Muslims are not just wrong but baseless accusations, because the fighting [in the state between Arakan Army and junta troops] has been more than a month, Khine Thu Kha, a spokesman for the rebel group, told the Burmese Service of Radio Free Asia (RFA), an online news service affiliated with BenarNews.

We want to question back, did you guys see or hear any report of a Muslim killed or injured by the fighting? Did you hear any report or see anyone saying there was a shell or a bullet from AA falling in a Muslim village so far? Otherwise, it is just an accusation with other intentions to defame our organization.

Despite the claims made by the Rohingya, Md. Shamsud Douza, Bangladeshs commissioner for Refugee Relief and Repatriation, said there was no official information about any new arrivals from Rakhine state infiltrating Bangladesh territory.

Clashes are occurring between two groups in Myanmar. It is very normal that it will create some tension on our border as a neighboring country, he told BenarNews. Our decision is very clear  we cannot allow even a single Rohingya to enter Bangladesh.

Robiul Islam, additional superintendent of police, said his unit was not sure about a fresh entry of Rohingya but we are looking into the matter.

Sheikh Khalid Mohammad Iftekhar, a senior official of Border Guard Bangladesh, said the border police force had tightened security at the frontier to prevent any attempts by refugees to enter the country. From January to June, 478 Rohingya were denied entry and four were arrested, according to the BGB.

Repatriation hopes

A Rohingya who lives in Maungdaw, Myanmar, and asked to not be named for security concerns, said that the increasing conflict in the state had dampened Rohingya hopes for repatriation.

It will be difficult for them to return in this situation. The current situation will not allow them to come here, the resident told RFA.

The situation here is not very good. There is no security. People here are fleeing to other areas because fighting is going on. In this situation, they will not be able to come back.

Fighting between the military and the AA resumed in July. Oo Maung Ohn, a resident of Maungdaw Township, blamed the resurgence in Rakhine State after a nearly two-year ceasefire on the junta.

Do you know why all this fighting resumed? They (the junta) closed the roads and started the fighting and they arrested many innocent people, he told RFA. They arrested village administrators, questioned them and hit them.

Rakhine State Attorney General Hla Thein, a junta spokesman, did not immediately respond to RFA requests for comment.

Army leaders from 24 countries including the U.S., China, India and Indonesia meet with Rohingya at a refugee camp in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, Sept. 13, 2022. [Abdur Rahman/BenarNews]

Regional army chief visit camps

Meanwhile, top army officers from 24 countries, including the United States, China and India, who were taking part in a conference in Dhaka, took a side trip on Tuesday to visit the Rohingya refugee camps in Coxs Bazar.

The delegation, including Bangladesh Army Chief Gen. S.M. Shafiuddin Ahmed and Gen. Charles A. Flynn, the American army chief in the Indo-Pacific, spoke with Rohingya leaders at the camps. The U.S. military did not immediately release details of those discussions.

While delivering the keynote address during the first day of the conference on Monday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina warned that the prolonged stay of more than 1 million Rohingya in the crowded Coxs Bazar camps had become a serious security and stability concern.

Most of those refugees, about 740,000, fled from Rakhine state during a Myanmar government crackdown five years ago. Within months, Bangladesh and Myanmar officials agreed to repatriate the Rohingya, but none have returned to their homeland under the program.

Ahammad Foyez in Dhaka and Radio Free Asias Burmese Service contributed to this report.
In this screengrab from a video by a Chinese state-run channel, Chinese troops take part in a planning meeting on Mischief Reef in the South China Sea.

A newly emerged video made by the Chinese military shows how Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) troops on China-occupied islands in the South China Sea have been driving away fishing boats from neighboring countries despite a tribunal ruling against Chinese claims.

During last weekends Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, soldiers stationed on Mischief Reef, an artificial island that China has occupied since 1994, successfully warned away an unidentified foreign fishing boat from surrounding waters, state-run national military channel CCTV-7 reported on Monday.

In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled that Mischief Reef, located 250 kilometers east of Palawan Island in the Philippines, was a low-tide elevation and therefore could not have a 12-mile territorial sea, thereby invalidating Chinas sovereignty claim over it.

It also lies within the Philippines exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and has been a traditional fishing ground for Filipino fishermen for decades. An EEZ is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources.

The CCTV clip showed armed soldiers, assisted by radars and warships, reacting to a sighting of a fishing boat of unknown nationality and using loudspeakers to chase it away.

Troops also conducted regular training with sea and air targets in order to bolster combat readiness, the report said.

Mischief Reef, also claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, is one of Chinas first reclaimed and fortified islands and also the biggest. It boasts a large harbor, a military base with missile systems and a 3,000-meter (1.9 mile) runway.

In March, U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Adm. John C. Aquilino said that the construction of missile arsenals, aircraft hangars, radar systems and other military facilities at Mischief Reef, Subi Reef and Fiery Cross appeared to have been completed.

They threaten all nations who operate in the vicinity and all the international sea and airspace, he added.

Filipino fishing crews prepare their nets at Masinloc port in Zambales province along the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) as they prepare for a trip to the disputed region, May 27, 2021. [Jojo Rinoza/BenarNews]

The CCTV report also mentioned other China-occupied islands within the Spratly archipelago including the Johnson South, Fiery Cross, Subi, Cuarteron, Gaven and Hughes reefs, where it said soldiers and officers stay on guard night and day to protect Chinas sovereignty.

All the features were deemed rocks and Chinas sweeping maritime claims illegal by the 2016 tribunal ruling but Beijing has always refused to accept the courts decision.

Six parties claim parts of the South China Sea but Chinas claims are the most expansive.

Apart from restricting access of fishermen from other countries to their old fishing grounds, Chinese Coast Guard and law enforcement ships have also been accused of harassing their fishing vessels.

Indonesian media reported that on Saturday, a Chinese Coast Guard ship was caught roaming inside Indonesias EEZ and harassing much smaller Indonesian fishing boats in the North Natuna Sea.

Locals also said that Chinese fishing vessels had been operating illegally in the sea over the past two years. Some of them even came as close as 30 nautical miles (55.6 kilometers) from Pulau Laut, the outermost island in the Natuna archipelago.

A protester holds a sign in the form of a paper boat cutout while taking part in a demonstration over Philippine territorial rights in the South China Sea, outside the Chinese consulate in Makati, the financial district in Metro Manila, July 12, 2022. [Jojo Rinoza/BenarNews]

For their part, Filipino fishermen have been complaining about Chinese activities near Scarborough Shoal, another fishing ground in the Philippines EEZ.

Given the increase of both demand and scarcity, it would be prudent to assume that long-term access to what remains of fishing stocks in the South China Sea would be among the key priorities for Beijing, said Thomas Daniel, a senior fellow at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) in Malaysia.

It has been long-standing practice for state affiliated vessels from China, mainly the Coast Guard and its constituent agencies, and its maritime militia, to harass and deter what it sees as illegal fishing in its EEZs, Daniel said.

While Vietnam and the Philippines bore much of the early brunt, incidents are now increasingly observed in the southern reaches of the South China Sea, affecting Malaysian and Indonesian fishermen, the analyst said.

Since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in June, the Philippine government has lodged 48 diplomatic protests against Beijing over the aggressive behavior of Chinese ships in the South China Sea, which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea.

Last week, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Maria Angela Ponce told a hearing at the Philippine Senates Foreign Relations Committee that the protests covered the illegal presence of foreign fishing and maritime militia vessels, illegal fishing, harassment of fishermen and enforcement agencies, and unauthorized marine scientific research, according to Philippine media.

Sen. Imee Marcos, head of the committee, was quoted as saying that diplomatic protests have not been effective so far and the government needed to come up with a more effective strategy to counter Chinas increasing presence in the South China Sea.
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Greg Sukiennik has worked at all three Vermont News & Media newspapers and was their managing editor from 2017-19. He previously worked for ESPN.com, for the AP in Boston, and at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass.
Hong Kong: 7k local COVID-19 cases identified

The Centre for Health Protection today said it is investigating 7,067 additional locally acquired COVID-19 cases, of which 1,934 were identified through nucleic acid tests and 5,133 via rapid antigen tests.

Separately, 151 imported cases were found and 10 more patients passed away.

Additionally, 10 residential care homes for the elderly or disabled people logged 24 virus cases.

The centre also received notifications of 2,886 cases from 991 schools, involving 2,497 students and 389 staff.

Twenty-three schools that have registered infection cases were advised to suspend face-to-face lessons for specific classes temporarily.

Meanwhile, the Government made a restriction-testing declaration to cover Wo Shun House of Fung Wo Estate in Sha Tin, requiring people in the restricted area to undergo compulsory testing before the specified deadline.

Since there were positive sewage test results with relatively high viral loads in several areas in Southern, Tuen Mun, Kwai Tsing and Yuen Long districts, the Housing Department and respective district offices will distribute COVID-19 rapid test kits to relevant residents as well as cleaning workers and property management staff working there.

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Governments dedicated webpage.

This story has been published on: 2022-09-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China invests more in water conservancy projects in past decade

Xinhua) 15:23, September 13, 2022

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's investment in water conservancy projects during the past 10 years was five times as much as that in the previous decade, a water management official said Tuesday.

Completed investment in water conservancy projects reached 6.66 trillion yuan (about 966 billion U.S. dollars) in the past decade, said Zhang Xiangwei, an official with the Ministry of Water Resources.

The investment supported a batch of key flood prevention projects in major river basins and the water management work in small and medium-sized rivers, facilitated risk elimination and reinforcement of reservoirs, and funded 54 cross-basin and cross-region water diversion projects.

China has ramped up the construction of water conservancy infrastructure in 2022 amid efforts to stabilize the economy, Zhang said.

So far this year, construction of some 19,000 new water conservancy projects has kicked off nationwide, hitting a record high.

Completed investment in water conservancy projects also reached a new high in the first eight months, surging 63.9 percent year on year to 703.6 billion yuan.

Construction of water conservancy projects has created huge job opportunities, especially for rural residents, Zhang added, noting that 1.91 million jobs were created in the first eight months, including 1.53 million for rural residents.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
A woman, who is on oxygen as she recovers from COVID-19, holds the hand of her husband, who also contracted COVID-19, as he is kept alive last year with the help of an oxygenation machine at a medical center in Shreveport, La. A majority of adults in the U.S. say health care is not handled well in the country, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
LENOX  The former administrators at Lenox Memorial Middle and High School mishandled, improperly investigated, or in several cases ignored more than a dozen formal and informal bullying complaints during the 2021-22 school year.

Thats the takeaway from an independent investigation commissioned by the School Committee last June. It was conducted during three weeks of interviews and follow-ups early this summer by two members of the districts law firm, Murphy Hesse Toomey & Lehane, based in Quincy.

The findings were released to the public at Mondays regular meeting of the School Committee.

There were many, many, many protocols that were just not followed appropriately, Committee Chair Robert Vaughan acknowledged.

The investigators recommended that reports of bullying should be promptly investigated and not be dismissed, getting away from the boys will be boys mentality or whatever it may be that resulted in not following up on bullying complaints as aggressively as is necessary, Vaughan said.

The probe was triggered by an angry complaint from a parent, David Pixley, during a public, televised School Committee meeting last May. He alleged that a bullying incident involving his daughter at the school had been mishandled by administrators.

Neither the law firms report nor Vaughans summary identified the administrators by name.

Principal Michael Knybel resigned after 10 years in the job last June, citing what he described as personal reasons. He took a post as principal of Hull High School on the South Shore, partly to be closer to family, he told The Eagle.

Assistant Principal Brent Bette was placed on an approved leave June 2 for reasons that remain undisclosed, and did not return to the school, where he had been hired in late spring of 2021.

The report did not provide specific details or describe the nature of the bullying. Some of the incidents involved students against other students, and others by staff members against students.

Lenox Police Chief Stephen E. OBrien confirmed in a statement to The Eagle that none of the bullying incidents detailed in the investigators report were criminal in nature.

The Police Department, specifically School Resource Officer William Colvin, is often made aware of situations that may become criminal in nature as the investigation unfolds, OBrien said. None of the incidents at the school during that time frame amounted to anything criminal, no formal charges were ever brought before the court.

Vaughan conceded that although concerns about bullying have gone on for years, the decision to launch the investigation followed the public complaint at the May 16 School Committee meeting. Many students and staff were interviewed during the audit, he said, in addition to administrators, School Committee members and parents.

The audit focused on bullying-prevention policies, listed in the student handbook, that were adopted at least 10 years ago.

The investigation zeroed in on the responsibilities of administrators to conduct investigations into bullying incidents reported during the 2021-22 academic year, including how administrators responded to formal reports and informal student-to-student bullying reports, complaints and concerns, as well as staff-to-student bullying incidents.

There were many incidents mishandled by the high school administration, Vaughan said. Cases were not investigated promptly or properly, parents were not notified in a timely fashion or at all, he said.

Procedures in place were not always known by the administrators, he pointed out.

There were many areas where the high school administration let students, parents and faculty down, Vaughan said.

Here are 10 of the key findings detailed in the report, which was dated Aug. 22 and submitted by attorney Nan ONeill, a partner in the districts law firm, and Mariem Marquetti, who conducted the interviews in Lenox.

 Five formal complaints in 2021-22 involving student-to-student bullying were listed  all involved failure by the school administrators at that time to follow anti-bullying policies on investigations, documentation or procedures. In several cases, formal bullying reports were not investigated at all.

In one instance, LMMHS administration only met with the alleged aggressor and did not continue investigating the matter. In another instance, LMMHS administration did not address an anonymous complaint submitted through schools website, the audit stated. The parent who submitted the anonymous complaint never received confirmation that the anonymous complaint was received by LMMHS administration nor addressed.

 School administrators also handled certain bullying investigations improperly, in one instance inappropriately questioning the target on matters not relevant, which made the target uncomfortable.

 In response to another bullying report, administrators delayed starting the investigation by more than two weeks and therefore failed to promptly investigate.

 For some bullying reports, administration did not properly inform the aggressor of the accusations made against them.

 In most cases, administrators failed to document the findings of the formal reports and reach an outcome on whether bullying occurred or not. Nor did the administration report the outcome to the parents of the target and aggressor. Overall, the administrators failed to follow bullying-prevention policies for investigation, documentation and procedures.

 Four informal student-to-student bullying complaints or concerns were not properly investigated, and there were failures to notify involved parties.

 The administration also failed to investigate cyberbullying complaints despite evidence of inappropriate comments being directed to a student on a social media platform.

 Among seven staff-to-student bullying complaints or concerns that were investigated, some allegations raised by the parent about concerning staff conduct were promptly addressed through discussions with the parent and with the staff member thereafter. In other cases, however, there were failures to investigate in which the administration did not address the concerns raised either with the parent or staff member, or both.

 The administration did not investigate all allegations in which it was unclear whether the alleged behavior constituted bullying. While that failure was not a technical violation of the policy, the report said, the best course of action was to conduct an investigation into the allegations raised to ensure there was no such impropriety, including bullying.

 There is no clear formal mechanism to report staff-to-student bullying concerns, and both students and parents are unclear on how to report such behaviors.

The past year was a microcosm of previous years in which stuff has not been handled, Vaughan said. There are a number of areas where we need to be diligent.

Going forward, he said, schools Superintendent Marc Gosselin Jr. will emphasize the need to be diligent in following procedures already in place or should be in place as policy, but were not followed.

Committee member Robert Munch called the audit a very clear-eyed look at where some of the shortcomings have come in. He predicted Gosselin would take action to ensure we can tamp down on these incidents.

Gosselin was home with a case of COVID and not available for comment on the audit. He made a brief appearance remotely at the beginning of Mondays School Committee meeting, reporting on the Sept. 1 reopening of the middle and high school and Morris Elementary School with total enrollment of 800 students. Thats a sharp increase from last years pre-K-12 total of 722.

Committee Vice Chair Veronica Fenton voiced regret that bullying reports from previous years were not included in the investigation.

She called for creation of a culture in which students speak up for each other and against school bullying, a culture that does not cover up, hide or allow this type of harm to continue. Thats a long-range process in building culture with mutual respect at all levels .. ensuring a respectable and safe community for all, and that takes a lot of adult work as well as kid work.

Pixley, the parent whos public complaint last May led to the audit, said he was happy with the findings.

I think it was completely accurate; this clears it up, he said. They need to follow the regulations and this will become a part of the fabric of the school now. Its pretty clear it needs to be followed, because its very important.

Pixley said he was interviewed for two hours by the attorneys from the districts law firm.

Its not just important for the person being victimized, but also for the person who may not know that theyre bullying to be brought in the loop, to get everybody working together, and for the teachers to have control over the classroom, he said. This attention to detail in the report will make everyone feel like more of a community than a free-for-all, basically.
PITTSFIELD  City Councilor Charles Kronick is calling for clarity on how Pittsfield's leaders plan to respond to places where people are living outdoors.

The Ward 2 councilor says he has ideas for how Pittsfield can respond to camps of people experiencing homelessness and the need for housing assistance. But he clarified Monday that a petition he wrote that comes before the council Tuesday isnt calling for a specific action.

He terms it a public conversation between the council, community and City Hall. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers in City Hall.

ISSUE IN A NUTSHELL: Kronick says his petition is responding directly to requests from the public who live near the camps and have people walking through the neighborhoods, in their properties, and are dealing with the aftermath of the camps  the residents who are asking for a correction to this behavior.

The councilor said that when he approached city departments with what he saw as clear ordinance violations to city rules around waste disposal, public sanitation, overnight camping and trespassing, he found no appetite for ordinance enforcement.

The Health Department, which Kronick names specifically in his petition, did not respond to a request for comment on Kronicks characterization of homelessness within the city or its handling of code enforcement.

Im not casting judgment on the people living in the camps, Kronick said. Im not saying that we need to go after property owners necessarily, but that might be part of the issue.

Im just saying that the city has its ordinances and rules and therefore has its means and its tools to enforce them and Im just asking that they do that."

WHAT'S HAPPENING TUESDAY: The petition submitted by Kronick asks for councilors to vote Tuesday whether or not to organize a separate meeting of the body that would give the community a chance to discuss the camps and bring leaders forward to say how theyre responding to people living in the camps.

Over the weekend, Kronick used social media to describe Tuesdays open microphone segment of the meeting as your turn to show the council how the camps hurt your homes and businesses.

WHY NOW: The councilor claims in his petition that in recent weeks, camps of people experiencing homelessness have spread and created a direct hazard to Pittsfields communities.

Kronick said Monday that he was approached by a resident last spring about camps in their neighborhood and that the situation came to a head in the last couple weeks, Ive been getting a lot more calls.

In his petition, he says people have been living near the Cabulance property on Oak Street, between the Berkshire Athenaeum and First Church of Christ, Scientist on Wendell Avenue as well as business lots on North Streets and Springside Park.

On Wendell Avenue, a small group of young people was gathered mid-afternoon Monday near the entrance of the Berkshire Athenaeum, including one man stretched out and napping against the building. No evidence of a camp was visible.

When The Eagle visited the area around the Cabulance property on Oak Street, no tents or encampments were in plain view.

However, a man who works in the area said he often sees people going into a wooded lot bordered by Pleasant and Oak streets. City records show the property is owned by JRCR Realty LLC, controlled by Anthony and Joseph Renzi.

And this summer, trees and brush were removed from a large area on the south side of railroad tracks at the end of Oak Street that has been a camp area, the man said. Articles of clothing could be seen in the debris left behind. The property is owned by AC Enterprises LLC, whose manager is Louis Allegrone, according to the secretary of state's database.

THE BACKSTORY: The number of people experiencing homelessness in Berkshire County nearly doubled in the last two years, according to point in time counts reported by the Three County Continuum of Care  the regional organization that helps coordinate housing and services for people experiencing homelessness.

A one-day count of people experiencing homelessness conducted in late January 2020 found that there were 116 people without permanent housing in the county. A one-day count in February of this year found that there were 225 people without permanent housing.

In Pittsfield, many of those experiencing homelessness in the early days of the pandemic sought shelter in Springside Park, where in the summer of 2020, an estimated 25 to 60 people took up residence on any given day, according to homeless residents, community advocates and city officials.

That fall, the Parks Commission decided to clamp down on the encampments establishing a December deadline for people to leave the park. The commission cited concerns for the safety of people living in the camps during the colder months and over trees reportedly being cut down in the park for firewood. The city directed people to overwinter at a shelter set up in the former St. Joseph Central High School.

When the December deadline came, city officials ultimately decided not to evict people from the park.
GREAT BARRINGTON  People are exploring whether unhappy customers of the Housatonic Water Works Co. should stop paying their water bills.

A group calling itself Housy Waterstrike posted to a Facebook group Sunday, asking that people pushing for solutions to water problems reach out through the groups email address to achieve clean water in Housatonic.

We have created this group because we have been following the story of contaminated water in HWWs systems, the group said in a post. We believe that a water bill strike would be beneficial in giving the communitys demands more leverage and bargaining power.

According to its post, Housy Waterstrike seeks to unite people and groups already acting through petitions, legal funds and protest actions so they can band together. Residents could use the money saved for some type of solution.

A strike could also be used to pool money for water relief, rather than paying for water that is not fit for drinking, bathing, etc., the post said.

The groups members identified themselves only as recent Monument Mountain Regional High School alumni and Berkshire residents. They did not respond to an email Monday requesting more information.

The group has surfaced near the end of a summer of ongoing and, for many, worsening problems with water that runs from faucets in shades of yellow to brown. The company attributes it to excess manganese in the Long Pond water source.

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The aging water system also needs a massive and expensive overhaul. Its filtration system is outdated. The company has begun to test a filtration equipment that it believes will remove the manganese. If it works, the company will buy one  with an eventual rate increase.

Residents are growing increasingly alarmed and frustrated.

The companys co-owner and treasurer, James Mercer, said last week he understands the concerns and is just as frustrated with the situation.

Residents have taken to Facebook to try to rally residents and come up with solutions.

Housatonic resident and Clean Water Alliance member Debra Herman is raising money to hire a Boston attorney. She said she cant yet say what legal action might be considered.

Herman, whose water on Sunday was the color of tea, but clear on Monday, said hiring a lawyer is a last resort. Over the years, shes talked to state officials including lawmakers, regulators and town leaders.

Everybody says its somebody elses problem, Herman said. Ive lost all hope.

Like Herman, a number of residents describe water whose quality is unpredictable from one day to the next.

Another resident, Kristi Lewis-Walsh, whose photos and video from Sunday are presented with this article, buys water for drinking and cooking, and does the laundry at her mothers house. She said you never know what kind of water will come out of the faucet, and that her water has been brown on and off for years.

We never drink it, she said. If it is clear, the chlorine smell is so strong it smells like an indoor pool.
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Bowling Green State University has been ranked among the top public universities in the nation for the quality of its undergraduate teaching, according to the 2022-23 Best Colleges rankings by U.S. News & World Report.

BGSU is among the top 10 public universities in the U.S. and is ranked No. 41 in the nation of all private and public universities, for best undergraduate teaching in the just-released college rankings, highlighting schools that emphasize providing high-quality instruction to undergraduates.

The University was also once again recognized as a top university for social mobility, which focuses on a college's ability to advance social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of economically disadvantaged students awarded Pell Grants. The vast majority of these federal grants are awarded to students whose adjusted gross family incomes are under $50,000.

"These rankings reaffirm BGSU as a national, comprehensive research university that is focused on the success of our students," BGSU President Rodney K. Rogers said. "As a public university for the public good, BGSU remains steadfast in its commitment to redefining student success through a focus on teaching and learning, empowering students to design their educational experience and always remaining a great value, something that is rare among comprehensive public universities."

In addition to its recognition of undergraduate teaching and social mobility, several of the University's academic programs climbed in the annual rankings, including undergraduate business in the Allen W. and Carol M. Schmidthorst College of Business, undergraduate computer science, engineering and nursing.

"BGSU offers innovative academic programs that support student success," said Joe B. Whitehead Jr., provost and senior vice president for academic and student affairs. "These rankings highlight the quality teaching, research and creative activities our faculty provide to students to prepare our graduates for the 21st century workforce, and graduate and professional schools.


Boise State University and the University of Idaho are teaming up to study how wildfire smoke potentially impacts potato crops while also seeking smoke-resilient potato varieties.

According to a news release from the University of Idaho, farmers are aware that potato crops grown during seasons of heavy, extended wildfire smoke generally have smaller yields and worse quality. Past studies have identified some smoke components, such as ozone, that could impair potato growth, but limited research has largely left the underlying chemical relationships unexplained.

This work tests the industrys smoke-harm theory in controlled environments, the news release states, which will allow researchers to investigate the effects individual smoke compounds have on Idahos flagship crop.

The two-year project is funded by $125,000 from the federal Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, authorized by the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.

Observations from industry started all of this. When we have had bad, smoky years, yields are down and processing quality is down. Our hypothesis is smoke exposure causes that, Mike Thornton, a professor in U of Is Department of Plant Sciences, said in the news release.

Wildfire smoke has been prominent in the Treasure Valley during recent weeks. This summer Idaho had the highest number of wildfires in the country and last weekend air quality levels were deemed Unhealthy by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

Michael Toole, regional airshed coordinator with the department, said he expects things to move to the yellow category  which indicates Moderate Air Quality  the second part of this week. That change comes in part because of a shift in weather that brought rain to the region on Tuesday morning.

I dont think well totally get rid of all the smoke, but I am predicting moderate probably (Tuesday) afternoon and evening and the remainder of the week, Toole said in an interview.

Toole said the eastern side of the state has also been hit with poor levels of air quality during the summer in large part because of fire activity near Salmon.

The vast majority of the states potato crop is raised in the Magic Valley and eastern Idaho, with 4%-5% of the crop raised west of Twin Falls, according to Travis Blacker with the Idaho Potato Commission.

Thornton and Boise State Chemistry Department Chair Owen McDougal are analyzing smokes chemical effects on potatoes, according to the release. The study also evaluates if certain potato varieties are more immune to smokes damage. Researchers will present preliminary findings this winter at potato industry meetings. Full results are expected for release after the 2023 harvest.

Several smoke components are suspected to affect potato crops, such as brown and black carbon, volatile organic compounds and even disease spores, the news release stated. Smoke reduces available light and raises nighttime humidity  worsening environmental conditions for potato growth, according to the release. But other parts of smoke, such as carbon dioxide, may be advantageous for plants.

This is the first time, at least in our review of academic research, that anybody has tried to do this on a large scale, Thornton said in the release.

McDougal, director of the Boise State Food and Dairy Innovation Center, will analyze possible changes potatoes experience from smoke exposure. Analysis takes place immediately after harvest, after six months in storage and after the potatoes are turned into frozen fries.

It will tell us what differences there are between a control and a treatment potato so we can pinpoint which metabolites  chemicals within a potato  change due to exposure to smoke, McDougal said in the news release.

Fries analyzed for the experiment will be processed at the U of I Food Technology Center in Caldwell.

Thornton anticipates applying similar research methods in future seasons to replicate the smoke study with other crops, including onions.
BONNERS FERRY - On September 12, Idaho Fish and Game along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and USDA Wildlife Services euthanized a large adult male grizzly bear in Boundary County near the town of Naples.

There has been a series of livestock losses due to grizzly bears this spring and summer, and this is the second grizzly bear to be euthanized in Boundary County in 2022.

Fish and Game received a report on September 8 of a missing sheep near Naples. Upon further investigation by Fish and Game Conservation Officers, grizzly bear tracks were found near the sheep pen. A trap was set on the evening of September 8, and although the bear returned to the area, it did not enter the trap. The bear killed one additional sheep that evening. Additional traps were set by Wildlife Services on September 9. All traps remained set and all remaining livestock were corralled in a temporary electric fence to try and prevent additional livestock loss.

The bear once again returned overnight on September 11 and was successfully trapped. Due to the bears repeated behaviors of killing livestock within close proximity of a home, the bear was euthanized after it was captured. The decision was made with consideration for the safety of people and property.

Grizzly bears in Idaho are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act, so any management action is done in consultation and cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
**Fire Update (9/16/22) at 7:30 a.m.**

ELK CITY - Friday is the final day of command by Northern Rockies Team 5 over a pair of fires near Elk City, command will transfer on Saturday morning. Team members will travel to their home units Saturday. Command will transfer to Forest Service officials based in Elk City.

All aircraft and hand crews will be demobilized from the fires by Friday evening. Three engines will also be demobilizing.

Officials say the resources leaving the Williams Creek Fire will be reassigned to other active fires across the Northern Rockies. Two engines will remain on site, patrolling and monitoring fire activity. While no aerial resources will be assigned directly to the fire Saturday, several aviation resources located in Grangeville will be available if needed. Officials say the fire has shown very little heat in the past few days; but the larger, dry logs may produce puffs of smoke as they smolder until fully consumed.

As the fire continues to smolder along the 233 and 311 Roads, standing dead trees remain a dangerous hazard and could fall without notice. Crews and heavy equipment are still working to remove these trees and clear the roadways, coordinating with the county road department to determine necessary repairs. The roads into Orogrande remain closed to the general public, as this area is within the Forest Area Closure.

The Forest implemented an expanded Area Closure on 9/12, due to the fires location and its high potential for movement given the dry fuels and recent weather conditions. As of Friday morning, the closure remains in effect and will be re-evaluated, based on fire activity conditions and associated firefighting and repair efforts.

**Fire Update (9/15/22) at 8:00 a.m.**

ELK CITY - At the site of the Williams Creek Fire, officials say crews dismantled pumps and water-handling equipment from Wild Horse Lake yesterday. Crews to the north of the fire and in Orogrande also worked on removing equipment no longer needed as weather conditions are assisting in battling the fire.

The Williams Creek Fire was listed as 16,084 acres in size with 31% completion, and the Twin Lakes Fire was listed as 992 acres with 40% completion as of Thursday morning.

Fire managers say the northern portion of the Williams Creek Fire received about a half inch of rain on and some small-sized hail on Wednesday. The southern side of the fire did see as much rain. The nearby Twin Lakes Fire also received periodic precipitation throughout the day.

Humidity levels ranged from the high 40s to low 70s, with temperatures topping out in the mid-60s. Similar weather is expected Thursday, with more widespread rain.

Officials say excess resources not needed will demobilize. Sampsons Incident Management Team will work to transition with resources remaining on the fire, ensuring a smooth transfer of fire command on Saturday morning.

Aerial support from helicopters was unavailable Wednesday due to low visibility. An unmanned aerial system (drone) was able to fly the fire area. Drone activities were slightly hampered by gusty winds, rain, and small hail. However, drone operators were still successfully able to monitor fire activity along the northern flank and gather information on the fuels treatment project areas west of Orogrande.

As the fire continues to smolder along the 233 and 311 Roads, standing dead trees remain a dangerous hazard and could fall without notice. Crews and heavy equipment are still working to remove these trees and clear the roadways,

coordinating with the county road department to determine necessary repairs. The roads into Orogrande remain closed to the general public, as this area is within the Forest Area Closure.

**Fire Update (9/14/22) at 8:00 a.m.**

ELK CITY - Fire officials say relative humidity levels were 100% on Wednesday morning and were expected to dip no lower than the 40-50% range all day at the site of the Williams Creek and Twin Lakes Fires, burning to the southwest of Elk City.

Resources that are no longer needed will demobilize over the new several days.

The area closure is being evaluated by the Forest and fire officials.

Crews continue to monitor activity at the Williams Creek Fire and take action as needed to prevent the fire from progressing and to mop-up areas of residual heat. Many of the resources assigned will be available for reassignment in the coming days, given the rainy weather and moderated fire behavior.

Aerial support from helicopters was unavailable Tuesday due to low visibility. Officials hope to utilize a drone on Wednesday to monitor fire activity along the northern flank and gather information along the western edge. Additional aerial resources will remain at the ready if conditions allow. The Williams creek Fire was listed as 15,773 acres and 31% completed as of Wednesday morning.

The nearby Twin Lakes Fire was listed at 972 acres and 40% completion Wednesday morning.

Area closure updates are listed below, as of 8:00 a.m. Wednesday.

Closures surrounding both fire areas are necessary to protect the safety and welfare

The Twin Lakes Fire closure includes the following roads and trails:

OPEN:

NFSR 444 Gospel Road  open from junction with NFSR 221 to Moores Guard Station/Campground

CLOSED:

NFST 312  North Moores Trail  closed from trailhead to MP 6.83/jct with NFST 383 Square Mountain

NFST 383  Square Mountain Trail  closed from MP 6.64/jct with NFST 315 to MP 7.16/jct with NFST 312

NFST 315  Kentucky Creek Trail  closed from trailhead/jct with NFST 313 to MP 7.71/jct with NFST 383

NFST 313  Hump Trail  closed from MP 15.4/jct with NFST 384 to MP 18.1/jct with NFST 315

NFST 384  Square Mtn. Spur Trail  closed from trailhead/jct with NFST 383 to MP 1.37/jct with NFST 313

NFST 383  Square Mountain Trail  closed from trailhead/jct with NFSR 444 to MP 1.59/jct with NFST 384

NFSR 444  Gospel Road  closed from MP 11.57 at Moores Campground to end of road at Square Mountain Lookout

The Williams Creek Fire closure includes the following roads and trails:

OPEN:

Idaho Highway 14 - South Fork Highway: Open from MP 35.2 to MP 43 at Elk City Township Boundary. NFSR 222 -

Dixie Road: Open from Forest Boundary at MP 0.95 to jct with NFSR 1800 at MP 7.36.

CLOSED:

NFSR 1800 - 66 Creek Road: Closed from junction with NSFR 222 to jct with NSFR 9803.

NFSR 9803 - North Wheeler Mtn. Road: Closed from jct with NSFR 1800 to jct with NSFT 508.

NFST 508 Porter Trail: Closed from jct with NSFR 9803 to jct with NSFT 207.

NFST 207 Moose Butte Trail: Closed from jct with NST 508 to hydrologic divide located in T26N R8E section 9 NW 1/4.

NFST 205 Columbia Ridge Trail: Closed from hydrologic divide/ridge located in T26N R8E section 20 NW 1/4. to junction

with NSFR 233 near Orogrande Summit.

NFSR 233 Crooked River Road: Closed from jct with NSFT 205 to jct with NSFR 233C.

NFSR 233C Little Buffalo Road: Closed from jct with NSFR 233 to jct with NSFT 313.

NFST 313 Hump Trail: Closed from jct with NSFR 233C to jct with NSFT 300.

NFST 300 Boundary Peak Trail: Closed from jct with NSFT 313 to hydrologic divide/ridge located in T27N R6E section 17

NW 1/4.

NFST 806 20 Mile Lake Trail: Closed from hydrologic divide/ridge located in T27N R6E section 5 NW 1/4 to jct with

NSFT 414.

NFST 414 20 Mile Creek Trail: Closed from jct with NSFT 806 to jct with NSFT 930.

NFST 930 Desperation Mine Trail: Closed from jct with NSFT 414 to jct with NSFR 492.

NFSR 492 Santiam Sourdough Road: Closed from jct with NSFT 930 to beginning of road/junction with Idaho Highway 14.

**Fire Update (9/13/22) at 8:00 a.m.**

ELK CITY - An expanded area closure was implemented on Monday due to the Williams Cree Fire location and its high potential for movement, given the dry fuels and recent weather conditions.

The Twin Lakes fire and the western flank of the Williams Creek fire received some rain Monday night, say officials. Relative humidity recovery was in the 50% range. Additional rain was expected to move through the area Tuesday morning, with another wave of showers predicted for the afternoon. With these conditions, officials hope the fire behavior is limited to creeping and smoldering.

Lightning and gusty outflow winds could also develop Tuesday. With those conditions, the gusty outflow winds have the ability to overcome the higher relative humidity levels and potentially increase fire behavior, say officials.

Crews are planning to continue to mop up residual heat around structures and maintain structural protection measures along the northern portion of the fire on Tuesday. This will ensure crews are prepared if fire progresses northward. Aerial resources were not used Monday due to poor visibility with an inversion, and remain at the ready if conditions allow.

As the fire continues to smolder along the 233 and 311 Roads, standing dead trees remain a dangerous hazard and could fall without notice. Crews and heavy equipment are still working to remove these trees and clear the roadways, coordinating with the county road department to determine necessary repairs.

The roads into Orogrande remain closed to the public, as this area is within the Forest Area Closure. A new infrared mapping flight was unable to fly due to weather.

At the nearby Twin Lakes Fire, interior burning was noted on Monday. Crews will continue to secure structures in the area and mop up any residual heat along the fires edge in the coming days. As crews complete more of their objectives, resources will likely be demobilized or repositioned to the Williams Creek Fire later in the week.

**Fire Update (9/12/22) at 8:00 a.m.**

ELK CITY - The Idaho County Sheriff's Office has rescinded the "Level 3-GO" evacuation notice for the community of Orogrande, but a Forest Area Closure remains in effect near the Williams Creek and Twin Lakes Fires.

Officials said on Monday morning that the fire continues to smolder along the 233 and 311 Roads, standing dead trees remain a dangerous hazard and could fall without notice. Crews and heavy equipment are working to remove the trees and clear the roadways. The roads into Orogrande remain closed to the public.

Officials say resources will continue to engage the fire in Orogrande and the Crooked River corridor, extinguishing hot spots and securing properties. Crews continue to assess structure protection needs in the Red River Valley, should the fire progress toward that area. Aerial resources will be available to assist crews monday, weather permitting.

An overnight infrared flight mapped the Williams Creek fire at 15,773 acres. Officials say the increase in acreage reflects better mapping, rather than substantial fire perimeter growth and progression. The fire had limited growth along the northeast corner and western flank. The 'completion' was estimated at 15% Monday morning.

By using percent completion of objectives, fire managers can illustrate how they are progressing with the accomplishment of objectives that have been identified and prioritized.

As a comparison, containment implies firelines around the entire perimeter, directly next to the fire's active edge. No containment numbers have been provided on the fires.

At the nearby Twin Lakes Fire, crews completed structure protection at Moores Guard Station. The structure protection module will continue to secure structures in the area and mop up residual heat in the burn area. Officials said Monday morning that as crews complete more of their objectives, resources will likely be demobilized or re-positioned to the Williams Creek Fire later in the week.

An overnight infrared flight mapped the Twin Lanes fire at 973 acres, and the completion percentage was listed at 19% Monday morning.

**Fire Update (9/11/22) at 9:00 a.m.**

A Saturday night infrared flight mapped the Williams Creek Fire at 12,956 acres and the Twin Lakes Fire at 950 acres. The fires are burning to the southwest of Elk City, near the community of Orogrande.

Orogrande remains under a "Level 3-GO" evacuation notice, issued by the Idaho County Sheriff's Office. Crews were able to remove trees that had fallen over the 233 and 311 Roads, but officials say numerous standing dead trees (snags) remain a dangerous hazard. For this reason, the roads into Orogrande remain closed. Plans are in place for heavy equipment to be utilized to help removed downed trees and open up roads.

Due to an inversion and poor visibility, aerial resources were unable to assist ground crews on Saturday. Crews identified and mapped structures in the Red River Valley and will assess structure protection needs, should the fire progress toward that area.

Engines previously on the night shift are transitioning to day shift, along with additional engines expected to arrive Sunday.

Resources will continue to engage the fire in Orogrande and the Crooked River corridor, extinguishing hot spots. Aerial resources will be available to assist crews on Sunday, weather permitting.

The Williams Creek Fire is listed as now 15% completed, and the Twin Lakes Fire is listed as 19% completed. Officials say the percent "completion represents the specific amount of work accomplished on the ground to manage fire spread and reduce the negative impacts to communities, infrastructure, and other identified values.

By using percent completion of objectives, fire managers can illustrate how they are progressing with the accomplishment of objectives that have been identified and prioritized.

As a comparison, containment implies firelines around the entire perimeter, directly next to the fire's active edge. No containment numbers have been provided on the fires.

Crews will continue with addressing hot spots and securing structures and properties, while working to open up roads given all the fallen trees. Hot and dry conditions will continue today, with potential moisture moving in to the area early to mid-week.

**Fire Update (9/10/22) at 8:30 a.m.**

As of Saturday morning, crews were able to remove trees that had fallen over the 233 and 311 Roads, but numerous snags and standing dead trees remain a dangerous hazard. Resources will continue to engage the fire in Orogrande and the Crooked River corridor, locating and extinguishing hot spots and securing properties.

An overnight infrared flight mapped the Williams Creek fire at 12,447 acres. Much of the heat is scattered and spotty along the east perimeter, and pockets of intense heat continue to burn and fill in. Isolated heat is also showing on both sides of East Fork Crooked River.

An overnight infrared flight mapped the Twin Lakes fire at 934 acres. Firefighters have completed structure protection measures at Square Mountain Lookout. A structure protection module will implement structure protection measures at Moores Station today. Sunday, the Incident Management Team will host a community fire information meeting or residents of Orogrande Idaho ONLY.

**Fire Update (9/9/22) at 8:15 a.m.**

According to a Friday morning update, the Williams Creek Fire is now estimated over 3,000 acres larger than was estimated a day earlier. Officials say the larger fire size is largely due to better mapping ability, without less smoke and fewer clouds, rather than actual fire growth.

The fire is now listed at 11,881 acres in size. The fire is burning to the southwest of Elk City, near the community of Orogrande, which remains under a "Level 3-GO" evacuation notice issued by the Idaho County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday afternoon.

"Hotshot" crews completed burnout operations behind structures on the west side of Orogrande on Thursday evening, eliminating potential fire fuels.

The nearby Twin Lakes Fire showed moderate activity on Thursday, and is estimated at 924 acres in size as of Friday morning.

**Fire Update (9/8/22) at 8:15 a.m.**

ELK CITY - Red Flag weather conditions materialized in the early afternoon hours yesterday at the sire of the Williams Creek Fire, with hot and dry conditions and erratic winds.

Officials say fire behavior and activity prompted the Incident Commander and Fire Operations personnel to recommend a "Level 3-GO" evacuation notice through the Idaho County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday afternoon. The fire continued to push under the influence of strong, gusty winds. The Incident Commander implemented an immediate evacuation for safety reasons.

Firefighting resources also disengaged and pulled back to staging areas to assess and re-evaluate. Firefighters re-engaged multiple times, as the winds subsided and fire behavior died down enough to ensure safe firefighting operations.

Resources remained on-site into the early morning hours, addressing hot spots within and around the community of Orogrande.

Under the Red Flag conditions, the fire made a 5-to-6-mile push from the west side of Orogrande. The fire established itself in the Five Mile drainage. The smoke column carried heat and embers to the east of Orogrande into the Silver Creek and Quartz Creek drainages and into the old McGuire Fire footprint.

Officials say resources will continue to engage the fire in Orogrande and the Crooked River corridor, addressing and extinguishing hot spots and conducting damage assessments. Fallen trees, burned snags and downed powerlines also present safety hazards.

An overnight infrared flight mapped the fire at 8,837 acres. Fire managers have requested a daytime infrared flight to further pinpoint the fires progression and location.

At the nearby Twin Lakes Fire, an overnight infrared flight mapped the fire at 907 acres. The fire was active yesterday, but no major growth or movement occurred.

Firefighters have completed structure protection measures at Square Mountain Lookout and continue to monitor fire behavior and fuels conditions.

A much cooler and more stable air mass is expected to sit over the area on Thursday, with temperatures trending 20 degrees cooler. An inversion is expected to persist through the day above ridgeline, acting as a cap and limiting smoke ventilation. Northwest winds, with gusts to 20 mph, are also expected to persist throughout the day, mainly along upper exposed ridgelines and drainages. The air mass will remain dry, with relative humidity levels dropping to 20%.

Overnight temperatures are expected to dip below freezing. This moderation in weather is expected to keep fire behavior relatively subdued due to the inability to vent.

**Fire Update (9/7/22) at 8:30 a.m.**

OROGRANDE - A Level 2  SET evacuation notice was issued by the Idaho County Sheriffs Office on Tuesday evening for the community of Orogrande due to fire behavior conditions and the proximity of the fires location, to the west side of the community.

An overnight infrared flight mapped the fire at 5,197 acres. Due to less cloud cover and Red Flag weather conditions, fire activity increased, mainly in the upper end of Umatilla Creek, say officials.

Fire activity in the upper end of Williams Creek was mild. Two hand crews will be positioned near the community of Orogrande, in anticipation of fire movement, given the Red Flag weather conditions, the fires alignment with terrain and expected fire behavior.

Crews continue to implement structure protection measures, with pumps, hoselays and sprinklers, in and around the communities of Orogrande, Concord and Humptown. Crews also continue to assess needs along the Crooked River corridor, moving northward to scout existing road and trail systems for future opportunities to assist with containing fire movement.

An overnight infrared flight mapped the nearby Twin Lakes Fire at 871 acres.

Firefighters have completed structure protection measures at Square Mountain Lookout and continue to monitor fire behavior and fuels conditions.

A helicopter dropped buckets of water on the northern flank of the fire to cool hot spots on Tuesday. Aerial resources were expected for additional support on Wednesday.

*EVACUATION NOTICE UPGRADED TO LEVEL 2 (9/6/22)*

On Tuesday night, the Idaho County Sheriff's Office upgraded the Evacuation Notice for the community of Orogrande to LEVEL 2 - "Set" due to the Williams Creek Fire. This means residents in the area need to be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice.

------------------------------------------

Original Story (9-6-22)

ELK CITY - Northern Rockies Team 5 assumed command of two fires burning southwest of Elk City at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The Williams Creek Fire is located about 5 miles west of Orogrande. The lightning caused fire was first reported on August 29. As of Tuesday morning, the fire had reached 4,905 acres and no level of containment had been reported. 80 personnel were assigned to the fire.

Officials say crews continue to implement structure protection measures in and around the communities of Orogrande, Concord and Humptown. Structure protection measures include plumbing with hoselays and sprinklers. Crews also continue to assess needs along the Crooked River corridor, scouting existing road and trail systems for future opportunities to assist with containing fire movement.

The Idaho County Sheriffs Office has issued a Level 1  Get Ready alert for the community of Orogrande.

The nearby Twin Lakes Fire, located east of Twin Lakes and Hagen Creek, was estimated at 752 acres on Tuesday morning. Containment was also listed at 0% on this lighting caused fire.

Nine personnel were assigned to the fire as of Tuesday morning. Firefighters have completed structure protection measures at Square Mountain Lookout and continue to monitor fire behavior and fuels conditions.




First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain.





Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that.





And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details.





If you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief, remember to subscribe and listen daily at podfollow.com/pdb.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the Mastercard Foundation have announced $275.7m partnership, which will expand the engineering and technology, research, and entrepreneurship programmes at CMU-Africa in Kigali, Rwanda.

Image source: Andor Bujdoso  123RF.com

The investment from the Foundation includes a $175m endowment to perpetually fund CMU-Africa. It also includes $100.7m to establish CMU-Africas Center for the Inclusive Digital Transformation of Africa.

Specifically, through this historic partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, CMU-Africa will:

Expand instructional capacity, including introducing a new degree in engineering artificial intelligence, and online learning programmes. Grow the annual cohort of students enrolling in CMU-Africa by more than 33%. Provide additional financial assistance to more CMU-Africa students, including increased support for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme at CMU-Africa. The partnership will provide direct scholarship support to a total of 300 students. Ensure programmes recruit and provide opportunities for marginalized groups, including women, people with disabilities, and displaced people. Pilot programmes for English language immersion to help prepare undergraduate students from other African universities for graduate study.

The new partnership will also strengthen Africas research, entrepreneurship, and innovation ecosystem more broadly by:

Establishing a network of higher education institutions in Africa that will work with the private sector and governments to create the conditions for inclusive digital transformation. Supporting up to 10 African universities to deliver high-quality engineering and technology education. Increasing digital knowledge creation to drive technology development and job-creating innovation through training, seed funding, and collaboration opportunities for researchers at CMU-Africa and other partner universities. Directly involving faculty and staff from CMU-Pittsburgh in CMU-Africa activities to innovate in education and help create the knowledge needed to drive the inclusive digital transformation of Africa in fields that include agriculture, health, and finance, among others.

Through these various pillars of the partnership, a total of 10,000 young people will gain the skills to compete in the global marketplace, innovate, design new tools that solve regional and global challenges, and bring those tools to market.

The new initiative builds on a previous partnership between the Mastercard Foundation and Carnegie Mellon University, as well as a successful 10-year partnership between the Government of Rwanda and CMU-Africa that has connected 561 young people from 21 African countries to world-class trainingincluding 125 students supported through the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme.

The strategic partnership with Carnegie Mellon University is one of the Government of Rwandas key investments to support the development of a critical mass of skills in science and technology, particularly in ICT, required by the knowledge economy and to help accelerate Rwandas and the regions socioeconomic transformation. We express our sincere appreciation to the Mastercard Foundation for their significant support, which will help Rwanda realize its vision for the future in establishing the Regional Center of Excellence in Rwanda (CMU-Africa) and ensure the sustainability of the programme. The Regional Center of Excellence, coupled with other important strategies will help ensure that we are part of, and benefit from, the global digital revolution, said Valentine Uwamariya, minister of education in Rwanda.

The Mastercard Foundations support will enable us to accelerate our Africa strategy, which is uniquely defined to prepare higher education students to meet the complex needs of the digital future along with the research and entrepreneurship necessary to compete in the global economy, said William Sanders, dean of the College of Engineering.

CMU-Africas impact includes a close to 90% employment rate within the first year of graduation. Its alumni have founded or joined startup companies, are pursuing their PhDs in top doctoral programmes in the US and Europe, and are serving in government information offices, including within the Government of Rwanda and the World Bank.

The Mastercard Foundation has been a critical partner in the growth of CMU-Africa as we help meet the growing demand for high-quality technical talent who will accelerate development on the continent, said Allen Robinson, director of CMU-Africa and associate dean for international programmes in Africa. This new, extraordinary phase of our relationship will exponentially magnify our ability to build a pan-African network that positively impacts the future of young people across the continent.
As this weekend demonstrated, saving lives and providing an essential emergency medical service to residents in need of prehospital care and transport are high priorities for the Western Cape government's emergency medical services (EMS).

A total of 5,035 emergency incidents were attended to by the EMS, including to those individuals who needed critical care following a life-threatening illness. Most patients were transported to the Tygerberg, Worcester and Groote Schuur hospitals.

The main incident types included chest pain/discomfort (833); respiratory complaints (599); weapon assaults (576); obstetric complaints (296); neurological complaints (265); physical assaults (254); abdominal complaints (243); vomiting/diarrhoea (172); domestic injuries (165); and forensic pathology (151).

The EMS also, with the escort from the South African Police Service (SAPS), attended to various incidents in Red Zone neighbourhoods, such as Beacon Valley (51), Tafelsig (30), Hanover Park (29) and Chicago (6). This enabled the most vulnerable from these neighbourhoods to receive patient-centered treatment.

"Our emergency medical responders will continue to work tirelessly with the other key components within the public-health system to best serve patients through the continuum of emergency care and save their lives," a department of health spokesperson said.
Through the Vaxi Taxi initiative, the emergency medical services (EMS) are partnering with various local community partners across the Western Cape to bring the Covid-19 vaccine to people's 'front door'.

These crucial relationship-building efforts have enabled a total of 116 residents from Kuils River, Eerste River, Khayelitsha, Firgrove and Macassar to receive their vaccine or booster since the Vaxi Taxi initiative began operating again in August 2022.

Community partners can now reach out to the Vaxi Taxi teams to invite them as they visit churches, schools, tertiary institutions, and public sites over the next few weeks.

With a few ambulances, they travel to parts of the province where it might be difficult for residents to access fixed vaccination sites.

The ambulances become vaccination cubicle. A gazebo is erected so that there is a shaded waiting area for vaccine recipients, and there is a cold-chain team that looks after the vaccines.

Before the Vaxi Taxi teams visit a neighbourhood, they walk door-to-door with community leaders and neighbourhood watches to let residents know that a vaccination event will be taking place near them, have conversations with them about their concerns, and explain the importance of vaccination.
Hundreds of young girls who face daily challenges in getting an education have received a life-changing gift thanks to the collaborative efforts of a community-minded nurse and an innovative recycling initiative that turns uncontaminated PVC healthcare waste into shiny, new school shoes.

Source: Supplied. My Walk school shoes were handed over to 600 girl learners of six primary schools in the Umlazi area in KwaZulu Natal. The shoes are made from high quality recycled PVC reclaimed from safe healthcare consumables, including uncontaminated used drip bags and tubing from a number of Netcare hospitals.

A total of 1,200 sponsored new pairs of shoes were donated by My Walk  a non-profit organisation supported by Netcare and Adcock Ingram Critical Care  to the Sinomusa Sonke Foundation, founded by Zinhle Ndlovu, a young registered nurse in the medical intensive care unit at Netcare Kingsway Hospital, Amanzimtoti.

We recently completed the first half of our drive at a local community hall, where we handed over shoes to the heads of six different primary schools in the Umlazi area during Womens Month. The principals had helped us to identify 600 female learners in desperate need of shoes, explains Sr Ndlovu.

Many of these girls go to school barefoot or wearing shoes that do not fit them and were already living in challenging circumstances before the April floods, when they all experienced a great deal of loss.

"We look forward to distributing the remaining 600 pairs of shoes to learners in similar situations at other schools in the coming weeks.
Flanagan & Gerard has reported that turnover growth across its shopping centre portfolio grew 12% year-on-year in June 2022, despite South African retail sales decreasing 2% in the same month.

Ballito Junction in KwaZulu-Natal. Source: Supplied

The portfolio showed even larger improvements from July 2021 to July 2022, delivering 20% turnover growth. However, this includes the impact of the July 2021 unrest that hampered trading at some malls.

Regional malls are bouncing back. Footfalls are up year-on-year and moving higher than pre-Covid numbers for the first time, while spend-per-head has increased significantly, reports Paul Gerard, managing director of Flanagan & Gerard.

Flanagan & Gerard develops and invests in dominant regional shopping centres and high-end niche community centres. It co-owns Ballito Junction Regional Mall in KwaZulu-Natal as well as Morningside Shopping Centre, Springs Mall and Vaal Mall in Gauteng, together with Highveld Mall and Middelburg Mall in Mpumalanga, and Thavhani Mall, Musina Mall, Great North Plaza and Mall of the North in Limpopo.

Flanagan and Gerards new shopping centre, the 24,000m22 Boardwalk Mall, is due to open on 22 September 2022 in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape. Boardwalk Mall is a major development by Flanagan & Gerard Group and Emfuleni Resorts, a subsidiary of Sun International.

The trends in the Flanagan & Gerard retail property portfolio paint an encouraging picture, and point to a welcome comeback from the trading categories and retailers that were hardest hit by pandemic-related restrictions.

Our restaurants are trading well and ahead of pre-Covid levels. Cinemas have rebounded and are displaying a similar pattern. Liquor stores are showing massive growth in trading. In our portfolio, we are seeing great results from Edgars new management and from Games new strategy. It is particularly exciting to see national retailers bringing new brands to market, says Gerard.

Easing the impact of load-shedding

The continued reality of load-shedding has given malls with backup power a competitive edge in attracting shoppers and reinforced the abundant opportunities for solar-powered shopping malls in South Africa. Flanagan & Gerard aims to have all its retail properties function fully during power disruptions, for which it employs a combination of solar energy and backup generation.

Empowering improved trading outcomes, promoting carbon reduction by decreasing fossil-fuelled energy consumption and lightening the load on the national power grid, Flanagan & Gerard says it will continue to increase the solar power generation capacity at its shopping centres to empower improved trading outcomes, promote carbon reduction by decreasing fossil-fuelled energy consumption and lighten the load on the national power grid.

Commenting on the strength of its tenants and tenant mixes, the company notes a low vacancy rate of 0.45% across its retail portfolio, and points to "a very low level of arrears" among shopping centre tenants.
Kia Dealer of the Year Awards recognise and reward dealerships excelling in sales, after sales and service operations Inspiration awards highlight stellar individual achievements

Kia South Africa this weekend rewarded its top-performing dealerships across the country with numerous prizes for outstanding achievements in sales, aftersales and service operations. The 2022 Kia Dealer of the Year Awards, which encompass the period July 2021 to June 2022, was held during the brands leadership conference at the Zimbali Coastal Resort in KwaZulu-Natal.

The conference and awards was hosted by Kia South Africas CEO, Gary Scott, and attended by senior leadership from its full dealer network. Weve had an incredible year of resilience from our dealer network in a challenging year, comments Scott. Its also a year in which Kia achieved 5% market share over the 12 months ending June 2022, a goal that could not have been achieved without the support and determination of our dealer network in a year that saw many a challenge come its way. Were honoured to have a national team of business partners who deliver on our purpose of making each one of our customers journeys through daily life count.

In most award categories, awards comprise a bronze, silver and gold award while, in some award categories, this is further broken down by dealership size (category A, B and C).

The first award for the evening was the Kia CSI Dealer of the Year, which recognises those dealerships that have consistently delivered superior customer experience and satisfaction. Gold awards were presented to Kia Roodepoort, Kia Pietermaritzburg and Kia Paarl. Silver awards were handed over to Kia Northcliff, Kia Hermanus, and Kia Nigel, with bronze awards going to Kia Fourways, Kia Bethlehem and Kia Vryheid.

The next set of awards, the Kia Service Operations Dealer of the Year, considered dealerships investment in training as well as their facilities, their variable margin performance, warranty management and the relationship between their customers and Kia South Africa. Gold awards were presented to Kia Roodepoort, Kia Pietermaritzburg and Kia Nigel. Silver awards were handed over to Kia Weltevredenpark, Kia Alberton, and Kia Paarl, with bronze awards going to Kia the Glen, Kia Bethlehem, and Kia Vryheid.

The Kia Parts Dealer of the Year awards are based on parts purchase achievement against target, as well as share contribution to the Kia business. A successful parts dealership continuously educates customers on the use of genuine parts and the benefits of skilled workmanship and specialised tooling. Gold awards were presented to Kia Polokwane, Kia Wonderboom, and Kia Paarl. Silver awards were handed over to Kia Somerset West, Kia Hermanus, and Kia Brits, with bronze awards going to Kia East Rand, Kia Alberton, and Kia Mokopane.

For the Kia Accessories Sales Dealer of the Year, the dealerships that went above and beyond in retailing accessories to customers were recognised, with the sole gold award awarded to Kia Polokwane.

The fifth award of the night went to the Kia Training Compliance and Completion Dealer of the Year. The standout dealerships displayed a commitment to completion of training, overall participation and engagement during training sessions and the number of certified sales executives per dealer, among other measurables. Gold awards were presented to Kia Edenvale, Kia Rustenburg, and Kia Vryheid.

Fleet and Corporate Sales are a crucial part of many dealerships success and often require months of relationship building before orders are secured. The Kia Fleet Sales Dealer of the Year awards were determined based on the number of fleet sales generated during the previous financial year. Additional points were awarded to the top five dealerships based on the number of model variants sold, as well as the number of corporate clients sold to. The winners were Kia Edenvale (gold), Kia Springfield (silver) and Kia Northcliff (bronze).

For the Kia Sales Dealer of the Year, dealerships were measured on their sales-to-target achievement for the year and not outright volume sales achievement. Gold awards were presented to Kia Umhlanga, Kia Heidelberg, and Kia Nigel. Silver awards were handed over to Kia Northcliff, Kia Springs, and Kia Brits, with bronze awards going to Kia Durban South and Kia Springfield (tied), Kia Port Elizabeth and Kia Mokopane and Kia Vanderbijlpark (tied).

Kia South Africa also presented a series of Kia Inspiration Awards, which highlights those star performers who inspired their colleagues with their sales achievements, service delivery and training completion and compliance, a cornerstone of Kias success strategy.

The Service Advisor of the Year was presented to Nokuphiwe Bawana from Kia Pietermaritzburg, while Terrence Moodley  also from Kia Pietermaritzburg  scooped up the Service Manager of the Year award.

The Sales Executive of the Year awards, based on dealer category, were presented to Christo Pruis from Kia East Rand, Susara Fourie from Kia Springs and Stuart King from Kia Hermanus, while Sales Manager of the Year awards were presented to Aslam Ameer from Kia Umhlanga, Gerhard Smit from Kia Heidelberg, and De Wet Pretorius from Kia Nigel. To celebrate those dealers who consistently overachieved on volume sales, Top Volume Sales Dealer awards were also presented to Kia East Rand (gold), Kia Umhlanga (silver) and Kia Roodepoort (bronze).

In recognition of individual commitment to training and skills development, Heino van der Merwe from Kia Edenvale, Ziyanda Fikizolo from Kia Rustenburg and Paul Engelbrecht from Kia Upington were presented with Inspiration Awards for Training Compliance and Completion.

Finally, the most prestigious award of the night, that of overall Kia Dealer of the Year, went to Kia Edenvale. Proving that excellence across all aspects of business operations is critical to a business success, dealer principal Scott Skinner and his teams successes across sales, after sales and service operations  including gold awards for training compliance and completion and fleet sales  ranked highest in this years awards.

Scott and his team have proved over the 12 months over which the awards were determined that it is leadership that defines a successful business, comments Gary Scott. They have worked as a team to shift standards in all aspects of their business, living up to the brand slogan, Movement that inspires.




The newly appointed chief executive officer of pan-African bank Ecobank, Jeremy Awori will focus on increasing the bank's profitability, reducing costs and pursuing the bank's stabilisation in Nigeria, its largest single market.

Source: Reuters.

Ecobank, which operates in 33 African countries, appointed the outgoing chief executive officer and managing director of Absa Bank Kenya as its next chief executive officer.

Awori will replace Ade Ayeyemi, who will retire after seven years at the age of 60.

Alain Nkontchou, the bank's group chairman, said that Ayeyemi joined at a "challenging time when the lender was beset by impaired loans, issues at its Nigeria subsidiary, problems with its balance sheet, and an acquisition that was not well digested."

Nkontchou said the bank was on track to be stabilised, costs had been reduced, and profitability increased, enabling it to pay a dividend last year for the first time since 2016.

"The mission hasn't changed, which is to increase the bank's profitability." he said. With the balance sheet rebuild, it aims to reduce the cost-to-income ratio to a target of around 50% or below, he added.

The bank's cost-to-income ratio was at 58.9% in full year 2021, and 62.75% in 2020.

Ecobank reported a 24% increase in profit before tax year-on-year in the first half of 2022 at $261m, while revenue rose 10% to $909.8m.

Stabilising Nigeria

Nkontchou said the stabilisation of its operations in Nigeria remains a challenging point that was being addressed.

Although Nigeria is its largest single market which contributed 23% of the group's net revenue in 2021, the business has been hobbled over the years by low profitability, high costs and a burden of non-performing loans.

Nigeria alone accounted for around 67% of the bank's non-performing loans as of the end of 2021.

Nkontchou said a key drive for the new chief executive officer would be to reduce Nigeria's non-performing loans ratio, and provide more capital to the entity.

"Ideally (the capital) will be internally generated and focused on areas where we can be really competitive," he said, adding that the bank would be looking to broaden its customer base, tapping on the strength of its digital platform.

Founded in 1985, Ecobank expanded its footprint rapidly across West, Central and Eastern Africa.

Nkontchou said the time for large expansion across Africa was probably over.

"It is not the priority, it is more about consolidating," he added.
Literacy is the foundation of all learning - and in celebration of International Literacy Day on 8 September, school shoe brand BFirst by Bata, donated reading books to the KwaThintwa School for the Deaf, in Durban.

A brand new playgym ready for fun! Pictured at the handover of the playgym at KwaThinthwa School for the Deaf were, from left, learner Samkelisiwe Mkhize, Batas Mohnish Haripersad, learner Aphiwe Zulu, deputy principal Nelisiwe Mdluli, and in front, learner Mbongeni Zakwe. Picture: Supplied

The book donation is part of BFirst by Batas learner wellness programme that places emphasis on the overall wellness and development of a child. The The A-Z of Learner Wellness books are filled with valuable information for learners to help them in their wellness journey, and providing the information in the format of a book encourages literacy.

Literacy is one of the key indicators of a childs development, however, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), at least 771 million young people and adults globally lack basic literacy skills.

September is also the International Month for Deaf People in commemoration of the first World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf which took place in September 1951.

Managing director at Bata South Africa, Michael Wyatt says: Bata has, since 1894, been committed to contributing to the communities who support us, and especially to helping children. We believe that every child should have a good pair of school shoes so that they can get to school and walk and play freely while having their feet protected. But more than that, we are committed to supporting our childrens overall development. Learning to read is one of those key developments, and a very special moment for parents, guardians and teachers to see their child pick up a book and read a sentence. That simple act opens up a whole new world for a child, and is a stepping stone towards a bright future. We are proud to support and facilitate this.

Learners at the KwaThinthwa School for the Deaf were taken through a Wellness Workshop by yoga teacher Sizwe Mji of The Toolbox. Pictured are from left, Sizwe Mji, Noluthando Mkhonza, Mbongeni Zakwe, Sindiswa Sishi and Lutha Lande. Picture: Supplied

The KwaThintwa School for the Deaf, based in Cato Ridge, just outside of Durban, provides education for learners with hearing challenges, who live in rural communities. Headmistress, Dr M Naidoo, said they were ecstatic over the donation of books: The staff and learners of KwaThintwa School are so excited at the donation of the books. Each book is special, each has a lesson that a child interprets in their own way, and each one has a place in a childs educational journey. We are grateful, she said.

The children at KwaThintwa School were treated to a double surprise.

Apart from the donation of books, the school was also one of three winners nationally, in the BFirst by Bata playgym and Wellness Workshop initiative. The playgym was handed over the school and took pride of place in their playground. The learners were then taken through a Wellness Workshop by The ToolBox Life, where they were equipped with skills on how to develop healthy coping mechanisms for life challenges such as stress, relationships and their environment.

We are overwhelmed today. We have a beautiful new playgym, and new books to read. Our space is equipped to provide an invaluable and holistic learning space. Thank you, Bata, said Naidoo.

#bfirstbybata #BeWellWithBFirst #wellness




Mari Lee ABC SCMP will guide communications professionals through the submission process for the IABC Silver Quill Awards programme, explain the divisions and categories, and share ideas on how to submit an entry on September 20, 2022. Mari Lee, founder and owner of DevCom, has more than 20 years of experience in the communications industry.

Preparation for success in the IABC Silver Quill Award programme is open to communications professionals who are IABC members or non-members.

Here are the details of the online session:

Date: 20 September 2022

Time: 9am-10pm

Place: Online (Zoom link to be shared when you RSVP)

Cost: Free for IABC members; R300.00 for non-members

RSVP: 16 September 2022 to az.oc.cbai@ofni.
Credit card companies will now assign a special code for US firearm purchases.

This move is being dubbed a major win for gun control advocates, because it essentially makes it easier for these companies to track who is purchasing guns and the frequency of those transactions.

If purchases seem suspicious, law enforcement may even be tipped off. Apparently in an attempt to stop the next mass shooting before it happens.

Credit card purchases of firearms in the US can now be tracked and purchases deemed suspicious can even be shared with law enforcement, The Guardian wrote.

According to a new measure approved by an organization that sets parameters for business transactions, the outlet added. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) voted in favor of creating a merchant code for firearms stores, according to Reuters.

From the Associated Press: Payment processor Visa Inc. said Saturday that it plans to start separately categorizing sales at gun shops, a major win for gun control advocates who say it will help better track suspicious surges of gun sales that could be a prelude to a mass shooting.

But the decision by Visa, the worlds largest payment processor, will likely provoke the ire of gun rights advocates and gun lobbyists, who have argued that categorizing gun sales would unfairly flag an industry when most sales do not lead to mass shootings, the AP continued.

It joins Mastercard and American Express, which also said they plan to move forward with categorizing gun shop sales.

Credit card companies serve as a middleman between merchants and banks. So a move like this could interfere with the free commerce of these two entities.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, applauding this move, sees no difference between this new special code for guns. As he compared it to the unique codes that are used for various other purchases from airline tickets to groceries.

Adams, along with other Democrats, argue that this measure makes moral and financial sense. And that it ought to be used as a tool to curb gun violence.

Unfortunately, the credit card companies have failed to support this simple, practical, potentially lifesaving tool. The time has come for them to do so, said New York Citys comptroller, Brad Lander, recently.

As expected, the National Rifle Association (NRA) sees this whole push as nothing more than a tactic to erode American God-given gun rights.

The (industrys) decision to create a firearm specific code is nothing more than a capitulation to anti-gun politicians and activists bent on eroding the rights of law-abiding Americans one transaction at a time, said NRA spokesperson Lars Dalseide.

Support Big League Politics by making a donation today. You can also donate via PayPal, Venmo or donate crypto. Your support helps us take on the powerful and report the truth that the mainstream media wants to silence.

Continue reading: Credit Card Companies Will Track Firearm Sales, Major Win For Gun Control Advocates ...

Related Articles:

Sunday, September 11, 2022 - Gun, ammunition purchases by credit card will be coded

The international organization responsible for creating merchant category codes for credit card purchases has given its approval to establish one for transactions made at gun stores.

Thursday, August 11, 2022 - US Census Bureau demanding gun holster companies hand over customer info

Friday, August 5, 2022 - Congress Subpoenas Smith & Wesson

The subpoena comes after the CEO of Smith & Wesson refused to participate in a gun control hearing in which CEO Marty Daniel of Daniel Defense and CEO Christopher Killoy of Sturm, Ruger & Co. testified via Zoom last month. Committee Democrats complained that the gun company did not submit enough documents for their liking. The Democrats claim that the information the Connecticut-based company provided was incomplete and left out key metrics around its sale of AR-15 style rifles.

GOP sellouts are uniting with Democrats to ram through new gun control legislation and are planning a mass amnesty for illegal aliens and DACA recipients next.

'Public Health' Is the Government's Latest Gun-Grab Justification

Globalist and political opportunist Canadian PM Justin Trudeau recently announced across-the-board handgun sale bans for the entire nation.

Tuesday, June 14, 2022 - Ten GOP Senators Unite With Democrats to Push Forward New Gun Control Measures

Ten GOP senators on Sunday announced plans to backstab their own constituents and unite with Democrats to pass new gun control measures

Sunday, June 12, 2022 - The Five Stages of Totalitarianism

Fears of a growing totalitarian tendency in the US have swelled during 202022. But how close are we really to a totalitarian state? How have such regimes come about historically and what are the warning signs? This article will answer these questions by examining totalitarian regimes in the eighteenth and twentieth centuries and the pattern by which they came to power.

Do something. This is a responseand perhaps a natural oneto a human tragedy or crisis. We saw this response in the wake of 9-11. We saw it during the Covid-19 pandemic. And were seeing it again following three mass shootingsin Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas, and Tulsa Oklahomathat claimed the lives of more than 30 innocent people, including small children.

Friday, June 3, 2022 - Recent Events Only Reinforce Our Need For Gun Rights And Community Militias

Gun rights are integral to a free society because they act as a deterrent to potential government over-reach and authoritarianism. Tyrants might infiltrate politics and take over governments, and they might even THINK they have the ability to oppress the public, but they will never be quite sure they can get away with it as long as the public has the means to reach out and touch them from a distance. They will always have doubts and this is vital for freedom  When tyrants have doubts, liberty prevails.
Its Time to Repeal the Patriot Act

BREAKING: The Biden Administration has announced that Michael Chertoff will lead the Disinformation Board.



Chertoff is a co-author of the Patriot Act and was a perpetuator of the Trump-Russia conspiracy during the 2016 election.



This man is the definition of disinformation.  Jenny Beth Martin (@jennybethm) May 22, 2022

Only 45 days after the Twin Towers destruction in New York City on September 11, 2001, the Patriot Act became law, marking the end of American privacy, a tragedy never fully realized by the American people.

Only one day after the tragedy of 9/11, the U.S. Senate began to lay the groundwork for what would ultimately become the most significant infringement on personal freedom Americans would ever know.

U.S. Congressional Record shows the prevailing language of the Patriot Act was already being cooked into the minds of lawmakers in preparation for the passing of the Patriot Act.

We must also dedicate ourselves to meeting a number of other challenges, including providing the resources that will help improve our signals intelligence capabilities, or, in other words, our ability to listen in on unfriendly nations; stepped-up law enforcement to prevent terrorism; coordination of effort between various Federal agencies such as CIA, FBI, NSA, etc.; coordination of effort between Federal, State and local governments and law enforcement to maximize our ability to stop terrorist activity; and greater use of electronic surveillance and satellite imagery to track the enemies of peace.

And just 44 days after the Senate implored the need for an inter-agency effort to invade the privacy of anyone and everyone they please, the Patriot Act was signed into law.

The Patriot Act is the single most damaging document to American privacy  covering everything from banking records, to education records  the Patriot Act gave the federal government, as well as local law enforcement agencies, full reign over our private information, if, of course, such information jeopardized the allies of peace.

At the time, the aforementioned was proposed for the protection of the American people. We could assume the purpose of the Patriot Act was for our protection, though, as time went on, and society changed, Federal Agencies have revealed themselves to be more than simply law enforcement.

9/11:

3,161 people killed

$36 bln in damages

Launched two wars

Led to Patriot Act

America changed forever



J6:

No charges for "insurrection"

No firearms in capitol

No proof Trump behind it

Only Trump supporter killed

Never a threat to overturn election



STOP comparing J6 & 9/11! pic.twitter.com/bCHQWpyUv8  Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) September 12, 2022

Nor have I forgotten how the "temporary" security measures (eg TSA) are now permanent.



Nor have I forgotten how the regime used 9/11 to force in the Patriot Act, which created the modern surveillance state (FISA courts, NSA collection of domestic communications, Gitmo, etc).  Tucker Max (@TuckerMax) September 11, 2022

The unsealed opinion appears to be the first time the federal court in D.C. has disclosed prosecutors invocation of a Patriot Act provision to obtain a search warrant in the Jan. 6 probe. https://t.co/OaOU0KBkvA  The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 7, 2022

Bidens DOJ obtained the warrant to raid President Trumps home.



Thats the same DOJ that approved the use of the Patriot Act to spy on parents protesting at school board meetings.



Theyre weaponizing government to intimidate their critics!  Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) August 10, 2022

One year ago, the FBI used the Patriot Act to spy on parents.



Three days ago, Democrats voted to hire 87,000 new IRS agents.



Two days ago, the FBI raided President Trumps home.



And one day ago, the FBI confiscated @RepScottPerrys phone.



Whats next?  Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) August 10, 2022

Good luck getting Democrats to go back to the times of classical liberal  they now march in lockstep with the federal government to the tune of the Patriot Act, and are its main proponents.
Americans should refrain from taking DNA tests, particularly those connected to the government. Cybersecurity experts have warned that China is creating digital twins of Americans.

John Mills, a former head of cybersecurity policy, strategy, and international affairs at the Department of Defense, claims that as reports of Chinese military-affiliated companies gathering American DNA have surfaced, these companies are now able to generate digital replicas of Americans.

They have the capacity to create these complex models of each of us. Theyre making digital twins of us, Mills explained to NTD News.

Digital Twins

The CCPs genome project is being led by BGI Group, formerly known as Beijing Genomics Institute, which is also a major manufacturer of COVID-19 tests.

The companys CEO bragged in 2017 that the organization had achieved an industrial degree of success in moving from gene editing and genetic reform to gene synthesis and mass-producing numerous viruses, bacteria, and large yeasts.

They can do all kinds of nefarious things with no constraint or loss. They have our data. According to Mills, the data could be used to modify a subsequent virus to specifically target specific non-Han ethnicities.

Mills made reference to Beijings military-civil fusion policy, describing Chinese firms as extensions of state security, state intelligence.

He emphasized that this applies to all Chinese businesses and businesses that are incorporated in China, regardless of their American origin. They are the eyes and the ears and the collectors.

According to Mills, this implies that when Americans provide data to these companies, their information is essentially sent to Chinese intelligence.

So they know about every one of us  I would presume that I have a file in China, he added.

BGI Targets American Researchers

Mills expressed additional worries regarding the BGI groups history of targeting eminent American researchers.

They have a long history of targeting some of our best researchers  there is a proven track record that almost immediately veers into national security concerns with China, he noted.

The cybersecurity specialist cited Chinese recruitment initiatives like the thousand talents plan, which purportedly recruits foreign intellectuals to work in China and facilitates the transfer of technology and know-how to the regime.

China was just using money to essentially buy off professors and academics. So they have a very active program to go after our intellectual property, and essentially, to co-opt some of our leading researchers, he said.

Mills referred to the Biden administrations decision to scrap the China Initiative, which the Trump administration had established in 2018 to counteract state-sponsored espionage and the theft of trade secrets by the Chinese regime, and dubbed the action ridiculous and silly.

Its going to [take] many years for  the CCP to demonstrate they can be trusted in these circles because right now, all the evidence is leaning against them, he said.

Americans, Safeguard Your Medical Records

He believed that Americans should refrain from taking DNA tests, particularly those connected to the government. He also recommended that Americans take great care to protect their medical records.

Be aware that anything you do digitally  is being vacuumed up, he warned.

Invoking the threat to national security, Mills urged the American government to put Chinese organizations like BGI Group on a blacklist and forbid them from doing business here.

I think its very unwise to let them in because it is just like biological warfare, he said.

We need to be extremely concerned, Mills added, since DNA test data is critical information for biological warfare. We have to look at that as a threat.

This is feeding them. They look at that as the strategic, commanding heights of the showdown with the West, mainly America, he said.

GreatGameIndia is being actively targeted by powerful forces who do not wish us to survive. Your contribution, however small help us keep afloat. We accept voluntary payment for the content available for free on this website via UPI, PayPal and Bitcoin.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner used the 21st anniversary of 9/11 to absurdly compare the terrorists who attacked the twin towers and the Pentagon to insurgents who entered the Capitol on January 6.

Warner made the comments during an appearance on Face the Nation.

The Virginia lawmaker was asked by host Margaret Brennan how vulnerable America was to terrorism now given what has happened in Afghanistan.

Well, Margaret, I remember, as most Americans do, where they were on 9/11. I was in the middle of a political campaign and suddenly, the differences with my opponent seem very small in comparison and our country came together. And in many ways, we defeated the terrorists because of the resilience of the American public because of our intelligence community, and we are safer, better prepared, said Warner.

 Dem. Senator Mark Warner compares Republican protestors from Jan. 6th to the terrorists who attacked the country on 9/11 pic.twitter.com/x6gazOw32p  Kate (@KateTalksTruth) September 11, 2022

The stunning thing to me is here we are 20 years later, and the attack on the symbol of our democracy was not coming from terrorists, but it came from literally insurgents attacking the Capitol on January 6th, he added.

The Senator went on to say that he was worried about some of the activity in this country where the election deniers, the insurgency that took place on January 6th and that he hopes to see the country find a unity of spirit in the future.

One wonders whether Warner thinks this unity can be achieved by putting Americans on a par with Islamic terrorists or viciously demonizing them as a violent threat to democracy as Joe Biden has repeatedly done.

Pretending that January 6 was like 9/11, Pearl Harbor and the rise of Hitler combined is one of Democrats familiar demented obsessions.

Earlier this year, historian and TV pundit Douglas Brinkley directly compared what was essentially a rowdy protest incited by provocateurs to Nazi death camps.

VP Kamala Harris previously compared January 6 to both 9/11 and Pearl Harbor directly during a speech in Washington.

A Harvard/Harris poll conducted less than two months after January 6 found that Americans were more concerned over the violence that happened in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd than what happened at the Capitol.

A poll by Monmouth University last month showed that the much heralded January 6 Committee had virtually no impact whatsoever on public opinion.

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Alexander, a current board member for Amazon who previously served as the head of U.S. Cyber Command and as director of the National Security Agency under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, allegedly misled investors through a pump-and-dump scheme that enriched him with at least $5 million.

In a securities lawsuit filed in April, investors in IronNet, a cybersecurity company co-founded by Alexander after he left the Obama administration in 2014, claim that the former general gave false promises of government contracts and inflated revenue numbers, all while selling off his shares in the company.

IronNet, which advertises systems to help public and private clients defend against a variety of hackers and other forms of electronic intrusion, relies heavily on Alexanders image and reputation as a former intelligence official. As commander of U.S. Cyber Command, we had responsibility for defending the nation, says Alexander in a promotional video that runs on the companys homepage.

Joseph Depa, a spokesperson for IronNet, declined to comment.

Plaintiffs in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, allege that IronNet made lofty promises as a cover for company insiders to quickly unload stock on clueless retail investors.

In August 2021, IronNet went public through a special purpose acquisition company. The SPAC process allows private companies to go public by leapfrogging the traditional initial public offering process through a merger with a blank check corporation. The trend skyrocketed over 2020 and 2021, with over 3,000 listings last year, though the investing craze has died down in recent months following a wave of investor fraud scandals associated with SPAC mergers.

On September 14, shortly after IronNet successfully completed its merger and transition into a publicly traded company, the company issued a press release projecting $75 million in annual recurring revenue for the following fiscal year through an expanded customer base. Alexander, quoted in the release, said that the company stood to take advantage of the explosive increase in adversary activity that we are seeing. The company website details specific cyber threats from Russia and Iran.

The next day, according to the complaint, IronNets stock swelled from $23.32 to $32.12, as Reddit and other platforms frequented by retail investors buzzed with enthusiasm over the role of a former NSA chief at the helm of a security contractor promising dazzling revenue growth. The 38 percent surge in price was so quick that the New York Stock Exchange briefly halted trading.

On September 20, according to the lawsuit, the chief financial officer, James Gerber, promised that large transactions were progressing at a company event with Wells Fargo, leading to another surge in stock price.

Then between October 18 and November 22, Alexander sold over 85 percent of his stock, according to the Securities and Exchange Commissions Form 4 reports, making more than $5 million. The complaint alleges that IronNet securities were artificially inflated by Defendants material misstatements and omissions about the Companys Guidance and near-term growth and that Alexanders stock sales were all in a compressed and suspiciously timed five-week period.

On December 12, 2021, IronNet reversed its projections, reducing its guidance to $30 million annual recurring revenue, a 60 percent reduction. On the news of the revised guidance, IronNets stock went down 31 percent that day, trading at $6.80. It now trades at slightly above $2.

SPAC fraud has become a feature of pandemic-era investing.

The IronNet lawsuit also names chief executive William Welch and the chief financial officer, Gerber, alleging they made false statements. According to the complaint, the contracts promised by Gerber did not materialize. Neither did the new customer momentum promised by Welch, the lawsuit says. (Matthew Olsen, a co-founder of IronNet now serving as the assistant attorney general for the National Security Division of the Justice Department, was not named in the lawsuit.)

Alexander also serves on a number of corporate boards, the most prominent of which is cloud and e-commerce giant Amazon. At Amazon, Alexander is a member of the companys audit committee, responsible for reviewing financial statements and maintaining compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.

SPAC fraud has become a feature of pandemic-era investing, with dozens of scandals and lawsuits creating a damning picture of the industry.

Electric vehicle company Nikola Corp., one of the largest early pandemic companies to go public via a SPAC, minting an overnight billionaire of founder Trevor Milton, paid $125 million to settle charges that the company misled investors with false information about its products and technical capabilities. A number of celebrities, including Jay-Z, have been criticized for lending star power to the value of SPACs, only for insiders to cash out.

But the proverbial deep state has also harnessed investor interest around lucrative defense contracts and government access to jump on the SPAC bandwagon. As The Intercept previously reported, officials tied to the CIA launched a SPAC at the height of investor interest last November.

IronNet stands out among other companies that went public last year with one of the most prominent former government insiders leading it.

Because it is a former SPAC, the identity of the company is more closely tied to the expertise and influence of one individual or a small handful of individuals, said Usha Rodrigues, a professor of law at the University of Georgia.

The post Former NSA Chief Keith Alexander Accused of Pump-and-Dump Investment Scheme appeared first on The Intercept.
New satellite imagery shows a large swath of California's rice fields has been left barren without harvest as fears of a 'mini dust bowl' emerge due to diminishing water supplies.

Kurt Richter, a third-generation rice farmer in Colusa, the rice capital of California, told San Francisco Chronicle that fields upon fields of the grain have already transformed into a "wasteland."

A report via the US Department of Agriculture shows about 300,000 out of the 550,000 acres committed to rice growing in California will go without harvest. This could potentially drive up sushi prices nationwide because most of the rice produced in the state is for just that.

UC Davis agricultural economist Aaron Smith warned the collapse in rice production in the state will translate to an estimated $500 million loss for farmers, about 40% of which will be covered by federal crop insurance.

Satellite imagery service Sentinel Hub shows a satellite view of the farmland in the rice capital this month compared with the same time last year -- only to reveal many fields appear fallow.

Richter said rice fields are "abandoned," and a mini dust bowl could emerge west of the Sacramento River in Colusa County. He said this summer's scorching heat and lack of moisture are some of the significant contributors to the area's water shortage.

Not all is lost in the rice capital. In Butte County, green fields can be seen via satellite imagery. San Francisco Chronicle noted, "Butte County farmers planted slightly more acres of rice than last year."

Luis Espino, a farm advisor at UC ANR's cooperative extension in Butte, said water sourcing is critical and is why some rice farms can source more water than others.

Eastside farmers depend on Lake Oroville, which was able to capture more water than Shasta Lake, where the current storage is less than half of the average storage for this time of year. The farmers in the Sacramento River watershed who rely on water from Shasta, including Richter's family farm operation, are receiving somewhere between 0 and 18% of their water deliveries this year from government-run water projects. Farmers in Butte and Yuba counties received far more  about 75%. -- San Francisco Chronicle

Across the rice capital of six top-producing counties, only two will be unharmed by the mega drought.

Ahead of this year's growing season, we pointed out California To Cut Water To Cities And Farmland Amid Persisting Drought. By summer, we noted California's Farmland Rapidly Turns To Dust Amid Water Crisis.

As a reminder, the state is responsible for a tremendous amount of US food production -- cutting off water to farmers, leaving tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of acres unworkable, will only exacerbate the food crisis.
(Support Free Thought) -

Riverside County, CA  Even in states with legal marijuana, law enforcements addiction to the drug war still lingers like a dark cloud over over the land of the ostensibly free. Even in California, who has paved the way in legalization of cannabis, police officers still violently, and with extreme prejudice, lay waste to the rights of innocent people who dare grow, use, or sell this most beneficial plant.

Because of their addiction to the war on drugs, cops in Riverside County have just cost the taxpayers of their town $136,000. The money was paid to Chen-Chen Hwang, 67, and her husband, Jiun-Tsong Wu, 75, to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that their two homes were broken into by armed agents of the state and ransacked as officers looked for non-existent marijuana plants.

According to Alex Coolman, the attorney who filed the suit on behalf of the elderly couple, police were monitoring power bills of town residents and used the low amount of the couples bill as reason to believe they were growing marijuana.

This was a very strange and frightening incident, Hwang said in a release from Coolmans office. We did nothing to deserve this, and it made us feel unsafe in our own homes.

The raid unfolded on August 5, 2021 and caused thousands in damage to the couples home.

Apparently police in Riverside County monitor power consumption and when they see low power usage, they automatically assume that people are stealing power to grow marijuana.

The deputies believed the defendants were stealing power to grow marijuana because their power consumption was low, and they said as much, Coolman told the Press-Enterprise.

But the couple was not growing marijuana and their power consumption was low because they used solar power and were thrifty, according to Coolman.

According to the lawsuit, on on August 5, 2021, a SWAT team, using a battering ram, broke down the door to the couples home in their quiet subdivision. Nobody was home and for several hours, deputies ransacked the home, destroying their property in the futile search for a plant  which they never found.

After not finding anything at this house, deputies then turned their attention to the couples second home  which couldnt have possibly used power from their other address but was targeted nonetheless  and raided it too. According to the lawsuit, however, they had no warrant for the second and also entirely fruitless raid.

The 67-year-old said in the release that uniformed, armed deputies banged on the door, the lawsuit alleges.

Deputies informed Hwang they had already broken into their other home because they believed she was involved in growing marijuana, and demanded to come inside, the release states.

Hwang thought the deputies were soldiers because they were dressed in militarized gear  to raid an elderly couple for a plant.

One of the defendants in the lawsuit, Sgt. Julio Olguin, knew what they were doing was wrong and admitted that the searches of the homes were illegal, according to the lawsuit.

According to Coolman, this is a common practice in Riverside County as deputies attempt to justify their existence by raiding people with low power bills. However, he said, this is the only one I know of where there was no warrant and no apparent justification.

The way the Sheriff handled this situation was unreasonable and illegal, Coolman said. Nobodys home should be broken into based on a hunch about their use of electricity.

We agree.

Free Thought Project
A new YouGov/Economist poll asking Americans about the likelihood of various "dire political scenarios" found that half the country think that within ten years the US will no longer be a global superpower and there will be a "total economic collapse."



From YouGov:

Among 15 potential future scenarios involving instability or political violence, the one that most Americans consider likely in the next decade is that the U.S. ceases to be a global superpower (50% say this), followed by a total collapse of the U.S. economy (47%). Each of the 15 dire scenarios is considered somewhat or very likely in the next decade by at least 20% of Americans.



[...] 37% of Americans say [a civil war] is at least somewhat likely to occur.

[...] After an end to the U.S.'s global-superpower status and economic collapse, the next most likely scenario is that the U.S. will cease to be a democracy (39% say this is likely within the next decade). Slightly more say it's likely the U.S. will become a fascist dictatorship (31%) than say it will become a communist dictatorship (21%). (The poll didn't ask whether people believe a given scenario has already occurred, so some people who believe this probably are included among those who said each scenario is likely.)



Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe nearly all of the scenarios asked about are likely within the next 10 years. Two-thirds of Republicans (65%) believe that total economic collapse is at least somewhat likely, compared to only 38% of Democrats. Around half of Republicans (48%) say it's likely that the government will confiscate citizens' firearms; only 17% of Democrats say this. Republicans are also more likely than Democrats to believe there will be a total breakdown of law and order (49% vs. 31%) and that the U.S. will be invaded by a foreign country (41% vs. 24%).

While a similar share of Republicans and Democrats believe it's at least somewhat likely that the U.S. will cease to be a democracy in the next decade, there is disagreement as to which type of government is likely to replace it. Democrats are slightly more likely than Republicans to say the U.S. will be a fascist dictatorship (37% vs. 32%). Republicans, on the other hand, are three times as likely as Democrats to say it will be a communist dictatorship (31% vs. 13%).



In terms of the possibility of a civil war, Republicans are likelier than Democrats to believe there will be one between members of each party (45% vs. 35%) or between people from red and blue states (36% vs. 30%). Democrats are slightly more likely than Republicans to believe there will be a war between the poor and rich (37% vs. 25%) or between cities and rural areas (23% vs. 20%). Democrats and Republicans are equally likely (31%) to expect a civil war between racial groups.

[...] Would the government be able to defend itself against an armed citizen uprising? Americans are twice as likely to believe the military and law enforcement would prevail against armed rebels (51%) as they are to say they would fail (26%). While Republicans and Independents have similar expectations on the matter, Democrats are far more optimistic about the government's prospects: 68% say the military and law enforcement are at least somewhat likely to succeed, relative to 44% of Republicans and Independents.

Judging by the actions of the Biden regime, they're clearly expecting a similar doomsday scenario to take place as they're already laying the groundwork by declaring all their political opposition to be white extremists and domestic terrorists.



Our globalist overlords would rather start a civil war in America than give the American people any political concessions.



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The Star treated the [NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming] Authority with disdain, as an impediment to be worked around. Bell found the culture at Star was driven by profit, leading to practices that exposed it to significant risks including money laundering, criminals gambling and infiltration by organised crime. Phillip Crawford flagged a fresh inquiry into The Stars ongoing failures, savaging the company for continuing to hide behind convenient legal advice rather than act as a good corporate citizen. Credit:Kate Geraghty Bell did not make any recommendations regarding which changes the Star need to be made to hold a casino licence, as it was not in the terms of reference. The NSW Independent Casino Commission will wait until after receiving Stars show cause submission before deciding which action to take. NSW Hospitality and Racing Minister Kevin Anderson described the casinos operations as disgraceful.

We are outraged as to the operations of this particular company. The flagrant disregard for the rules and regulations that they should be operating under is breathtaking, he said. However, he refused to be drawn on whether a failure of government regulation had enabled misconduct in the first place. The commission will now receive the reports from Star over the next two weeks for procedural fairness, and the commission will have the power, the teeth and the ability to be able to impose whatever it requires to bring Star back into line. Theres a real reluctance to become as transparent as they need to be if they want to hold a casino licence. Phillip Crawford, NSW Independent Casino Commission head The governments gambling reforms give the commission power to strip Star of its licence, suspend it, impose monetary penalties and appoint a manager. Crawford also queried why corporate regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had failed to take action against the former directors of Crown Resorts over its failings, and revealed he was surprised the Queensland governments casino inquiry was so limited.

He said the introduction of cashless gaming cards to combat money laundering and organised crime across all Australian gaming outlets was inevitable and should be implemented over the next two years. I think the technology is not there yet, but once it picks up  I think thatll permeate the whole industry in due course, he said. Loading Crawfords comments suggest he believes Star must remove Hogg, who has been with the company for several years but only took over the CEO role recently, along with a host of other key middle and senior managers and multiple board members. He suggested Star appeared unwilling to reform under its current management and board. Theres a real reluctance to become as transparent as they need to be if they want to hold a casino licence.

Nobody has sat down at this company and said, Should we be doing this? Their attitudes always been, lets find a way to do this. He said there was still quite a number of people there who are implicated in the bad conduct. Now, our disappointment is at the moment the company itself hasnt dealt with that  but we will. At the moment, theres a lot of people still there [at Star] that have been promoted within the system. Theyve been promoted by the people who have now gone and its all very unhealthy ... They [Star] have got to find a way, if they can, and Im not sure they can, but trying to find their way back to satisfy the public that it is worthwhile putting some integrity and trust back into their business. Separately, Crawford criticised Hogg over his comments at the Gotterson casino inquiry in Queensland about allowing a person linked to organised crime to frequent its Gold Coast casino. When he was questioned about that, he [Hogg] virtually said, Well, unless theres evidence beyond reasonable doubt to the criminal standard that will stop him from gambling in Queensland, we thought it was OK. And that person [Hogg] with that attitude is the acting CEO of the group.
The first direct flight between Australia and southern India took off on Wednesday, under a new route supported by funding by the NSW government in an effort to boost visitation with the countrys fifth-biggest trading partner.

The new Qantas route between Sydney and Bengaluru received funding from the state governments $60 million Aviation Attraction Fund. An A330 aircraft will take off from Sydney to Bengalurus Kempegowda International Airport four times per week on a Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

An A330 aircraft will take off from Sydney to Bengalurus Kempegowda International Airport four times per week on a Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

In 2019, India was the fastest growing market to NSW, with 175,000 visitors spending an estimated $444 million. In July, India was the third-largest source of visitors to the state, with the NSW government expecting that number to surge over the coming months due to pent-up demand.

Treasurer Matt Kean said the service hopes to support more than 100 jobs and generate more than $19 million in delivering more than 44,000 inbound international seats to Sydney up to June 30, 2023. Many Australian companies have operations in Bengaluru, and the new route cuts the current travel time between the two cities by three hours.
If last week felt a bit more literary than usual, theres a reason. In addition to the Melbourne Writers Festival, for the first time Melbourne was host to the UNESCO Cities of Literature annual meeting, with representatives from 26 of the 42 Cities of Literature around the world attending in person.

Anne-Maree Kelly (Dublin), Nicky Page (Dunedin), Damjan Zorc (Ljubljana) and Dr Andrea Edel (Heidelberg) at the 2022 UNESCO Cities of Literature network meeting in Melbourne. Credit:Timothy Herbert

Melbourne was the worlds second city, after Edinburgh, to be designated a City of Literature and since 2008 has been part of UNESCOs Creative Cities network. The annual meetings have been taking place formally since 2016, moving to a different city each time.

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Being the host city is significant. It means so much for people in Melbourne to appreciate both Melbournes position in the network and the esteem our sister cities hold for us, but also for our literary sector to see our city reflect Melbourne back to them, says David Ryding, director of the Melbourne UNESCO City of Literature Office. You only hold these meetings once.
Geneva: Jean-Luc Godard, the ingenious enfant terrible of the French New Wave who revolutionised popular cinema in 1960 with his debut feature Breathless and stood for years as one of the worlds most vital and provocative directors has died. He was 91.

Swiss news agency ATS quoted Godards partner, Anne-Marie Mieville, and her producers as saying he died peacefully and surrounded by his loved ones at his home in the Swiss town of Rolle, on Lake Geneva, on Tuesday.

Director Jean-Luc Godard, an icon of French New Wave cinema, has died, according to French media. He was 91. Credit:Gaetan Bally/Keystone

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Godard as the most iconoclastic of the New Wave directors who invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art form.

He added: We have lost a national treasure, the eye of a genius.
Former Deakin University lecturer pleads guilty to the murder of his wife

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Brisbane residents will be given sandbags more than a month before the wet season normally begins, with council concerned about floods due to a third consecutive La Nina.

Queenslands capital copped 795 millimetres of rain  the citys wettest week since records began in 1840  when floods killed 13 people and damaged 18,000 homes and businesses across the states southeast in February and March.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner (right) inspects a new automatic flood warning sign.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said sandbags would be available for residents to pick up over the next three weekends from depots in Zillmere, Newmarket, Morningside and Darra.

The wet season doesnt usually start until late October, but he said council workers had already packed 150,000 sandbags, triple the standard stockpile.
A man has been charged with weapon offences after 23-year-old Levi Johnston was stabbed to death outside a gym car park in Brisbane, with three suspects still at large.

Emergency services were called about 1pm on Monday between Creek and Pine Mountain roads in Mansfield after reports of a man being assaulted.

The victim was driving a Mercedes-Benz outside the Goodlife Health Gym when police say he was confronted by people in two vehicles, an Audi hatchback and a Nissan Patrol.

Johnstons vehicle was allegedly rammed, and police said one man pulled out a crowbar and smashed the window on the drivers side of the Mercedes before he fled.
Residents of Brisbanes most well-heeled suburbs are creating panic over the safety of their neighbourhoods by complaining about trivial crime on community Facebook pages and linking it to ethnic groups, a UQ academic says.

Compared with residents in suburbs of lower average incomes, those in neighbourhoods such as Ascot, in Brisbanes north, or Graceville, in the south-west, were more likely to post minor grievances, including knocked over bins, cats running through the neighbourhood, or excess noise, research shows.

Brisbane residents regularly post online about crime in community pages on Facebook. Credit:Facebook

Brisbane residents tended to believe posts on their community Facebook pages, University of Queensland senior lecturer Dr Renee Zahnow found, which often led them to think their area had a higher rate of crime.

Zahnow said the posts created a false impression of criminal or deviant behaviours that were often reports of minor incidents.
Warning to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers: This story contains images and references to a deceased person.

Justice advocates have called for the government to overhaul Victorias harsh parole laws after an Aboriginal man died in custody on Sunday, the second Indigenous person to die in prison in the state in just over a month.

Clinton Austin (left) and his brother, Shaun.

Clinton Austin, a 38-year-old artist, was in custody at Loddon Prison, just outside of Castlemaine. Austin was eligible for parole last year and was understood to be leaving jail soon.

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Nerita Waight said she hoped the Coroners Court would thoroughly investigate Austins death and prioritise the voices of his family throughout the investigation.
Every grade 1 student in the state school system next year will have their reading ability tested through a new phonics screening check that will use a combination of real and fake words.

The one-on-one test, which will be mandated in government schools, will aim at identifying children with reading difficulties early in their education, before problems become entrenched.

Dandenong South Primary School student Mikayla Lumanovski took part in a one-on-one phonics check as part of a pilot program in February. Credit:Simon Schluter

All grade 1 students will be tested early in 2023, in a session with a teacher applying an online English assessment tool that uses phonics to gauge the childs reading ability.

Phonics screening checks are already mandatory for year 1 children in South Australia and NSW.
Some of the nations biggest companies are backing a push to substantially increase regional Australias population over the coming decade.

The Commonwealth and National Australia banks, Woolworths and Australia Post are among the businesses supporting the Regional Australia Institute's target of 11 million people living outside capital cities by 2032.

Geelong has absorbed much of the flow of residents outside of Melbourne. Credit:Justin McManus

The population outside Australias major cities is projected to grow from 9.5 million people in 2021 to 10.5 million in a decade.

The Regional Australia Institute is calling for a population increase of 500,000 above those projections, which it argues would deliver $13.8 billion in economic benefits to the nation by 2032.
Controversial former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith will travel to London to participate in the official commemorations for the late Queen Elizabeth II, reflecting his status as a recipient of the prestigious Victoria Cross.

Paralympic tennis champion and current Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott will also attend the late monarchs funeral as part of a group of 10 every day Australians announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith is expected to attend Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral commemorations in London. Credit:Nick Moir

Roberts-Smith is awaiting the outcome of a high-profile defamation case in which he sued The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times over reports he alleges wrongly portrayed him as a war criminal and murderer.

The newspapers are seeking to rely on a defence of truth and allege Roberts-Smith was involved in six unlawful killings, including the execution of a man at Darwan in southern Afghanistan.
Bangkok: A Thai court has sentenced a political activist to two years in prison for insulting the monarchy, her lawyer said, after the activist was judged to have dressed as Queen Suthida during a street protest the court ruled mocked the royal family.

It is a crime in Thailand to defame or insult the king, queen, heir or regent, with punishments of up to 15 years in prison under what are among the worlds strictest lese majeste laws.

Pro-democracy protesters perform on a mock red carpet fashion show in October 2020. Credit:AP

Jatuporn New Saeoueng, 25, was found guilty of intentionally mocking the monarchy by her actions during a Bangkok street protest in 2020, according to her lawyer Krisadang Nutcharat.

She is one of at least 210 activists who have been charged with royal insult in the last two years related to protests calling for reform of the powerful monarchy, according to legal aid group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, which tracks such cases using police and court records. Reuters was unable to independently confirm those records.
Thousands of police officers stand duty ahead of Queens coffin arrival in London

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Latest News More rate hikes to come  RBA governor Find out what this means for borrowers

Aussie urges mortgage holders to act now The vast majority have not looked at alternatives

A strong brand presence and a great community reputation help brokerages to succeed, says an award-winning Brisbane mortgage broker

Melissa Wright (pictured above), director of Zest Mortgage Solutions, said when she was building her business, she wanted to focus on creating a brand that locals could trust.

I invested time and energy into building relationships through charity events, community groups and building a brand that the local community would recognise, Wright said.

We are now at the point where our brand carries us forward, so instead of me going to seek business from accountants or planners, I have people contacting me saying we have heard about you and can we refer your business. Building a brand and a good reputation is so important in this industry.

Wright won the Young Professional Award at the MFAA National Excellence Awards in July.

Read more: MFAA announces National Excellence Awards 2022 winners

She said the recognition of all the hard work that she and her team had put in to get her brokerage to where it was today was worth it.

The award win really helps cement that we are doing something right and we are doing it well, Wright said. It has been an awesome year for my team and I  we are absolutely over the moon with the win.

Wright worked in banking for almost 10 years with the Commonwealth Bank, Heritage Bank and NAB before taking the plunge into the world of broking in 2016.

The opportunity to become a broker allowed me to provide extra support to my clients in the manner that I wanted to, she said. I have worked in banking and finance since I left school  when you work for corporate and work for banking, you're very much told how to do your job, how to speak to clients, how to manage clients, so you are very restricted by what you can do and support you can provide.

Read next: New MFAA CEO seeks greater broker market share

As a broker, Wright said she would always ask a client to provide feedback or reviews.

This helps build a reliable and relatable client base along with a good word-of-mouth presence in the community, she said. I wanted to identify early on what my client base would be and ensure that I was the sort of person that my clients would want to work with. We are very family oriented. We work with your mum-and-dad clients. That is our space and we know that is our space.

Wright launched her own brokerage in Brisbane in November 2019 with a focus on residential broking.

I know that I cant be a Jack of all trades, so my team and I specialise in the residential and commercial space and we do that very well, she said.

I have five support staff and I am currently the only broker in the business. We are in the process of promoting one of my staff to be a loan writer which is very exciting, as well as recruiting another staff member or two. I have the most amazing team and I am very grateful.
Prince William, Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry reunite to meet the mourners after Queen Elizabeth II's demise. (Photo: Bruce Detorres/Public Domain Mark 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/))

The much-awaited reunion between Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle has finally happened, but a body language expert points out the big difference between the two couples. Also known as Fab Four, they all showed unity to greet the people outside of Windsor Castle following Queen Elizabeth II's demise on Thursday at the age of 96.

Tonya Reiman noticed the difference between the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's approach to one another. As Prince Harry seems to be more affectionate to his wife, Prince William shows he's a real royal with how he treats his future queen consort.

Reiman told Fox News that she could see the love between the Sussexes, while the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall acted more "royals," proving they're "used to this stuff." In fact, the heir apparent to the British throne even went viral for not opening the car door for his wife, while his younger brother rushed to help his spouse as they left the place together.

Prince William knew someone would open the door for Kate Middleton, so he didn't do that. For the Sussexes, it was an affection moment, showing the difference between the kind of relationships they had.

While meeting the crowd, Reiman added Meghan Markle looked warm and welcoming as she gave others hugs and talk to the public openly. Kate Middleton, alternatively, was more stoic, doing what she thought was proper and the things she had been bred to do.

When it comes to the princes, they seem to be similar, showing more reserved personas. Though Prince Harry looked open, he also appeared uncomfortable and seemed to be building a barrier.

On the other hand, just like his wife, Prince William acted completely royal, drawing a line that nobody could cross. Reiman explained that the two brothers knew what they were supposed to do, so they exactly did that.

So, though Prince Harry and Prince William have the same breeding, they still have different personalities.

Meanwhile, Kate Middleton talked about the unity between her husband and brother-in-law, per Hello! Magazine. The sad demise of Queen Elizabeth had brought the royal family closer together.

Though it was quite unexpected, many celebrated the fact that the former Fab Four came together to meet the mourners outside of Windsor. It was the first time the two princes reunited after unveiling their mother's, Prince Diana, statue in July 2021. Allegedly, Kate Middleton told a family, via The Telegraph, that they had to come together at times like this.
dealers and manufacturers have a tumultuous relationship as the latters financial might has led to inequitable contracts between the two, said Manish Raj Singhania, president, Federation of Dealers Associations (FADA) on Tuesday.

To address this issue of so-called lopsided contracts, FADA has prepared a model dealer agreement (MDA) that seeks to establish balance and equity in the relationship, Singhania said while addressing the delegates at the 4th Conclave.

Through this MDA, the association has tried to address the key issues the Indian dealers face, such as the lack of protection when an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) exits the market, lack of clear repurchasing obligations on the OEMs, and lack of clear indemnity for dealers, Singhania mentioned.

MDA, which was launched at the conclave, was shared with the senior executives of OEMs.

Singhania asked Society of Indian Manufacturers (SIAM) to give its wholehearted support to get this MDA studied and implemented by the OEMs.

The dealers and automakers have a tumultuous relationship given the latters financial might and the relatively small size of dealers, who usually use their life savings to set up their dealerships, he mentioned.

He said that FADA conducted comparative analysis of agreements signed between dealers with companies all across the world.

What we found that the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in India exercise tighter control over dealers' businesses, Singhania noted.

FADA represents over 15,000 having 26,500 dealerships across India.

He proposed that there should be quarterly meetings between the three industry bodies  FADA, and Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA)  to cohesively deal with the issues of the auto industry.

After the death of former Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry in a car accident, across the country will soon run a Buckle Up India campaign, he said. This will be done to encourage customers to buckle up (seat belts) before starting their cars and wear their helmets before riding their two-wheelers.

This campaign will run every quarter across the country in one form or the other. We want customers to become safety conscious, Singhania noted.

Mistry was killed in a car accident in Maharashtras Palghar on September 4. Though he was in the rear seat of the ill-fated Mercedes SUV, according to the police, he wasnt wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.

At a Business Standard event on September 7, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had said that the government will soon announce penalties for those who are found not wearing seat belts while sitting on the rear seats.





At the event, the auto companies shared a positive outlook about the demand during the next 6-8 months.

Shashank Srivastava, executive director (sales) at Maruti Suzuki, said as per his calculations, the domestic sales of passenger vehicles in India is likely to be around 3.9 lakh during this year.

He said the demand is there, but the ability to convert bookings to deliveries depends on how companies are able to manage their production in the coming months.

Hyundai Motor India's director (sales, marketing and service) Tarun Garg said that the demand outlook continues to remain positive but the companies need to keep a tab on geopolitical risks.

Ashutosh Varma, National Sales Head, Hero MotoCorp said that the company is confident that the sales will continue to grow.

He said the demand to replace the old two-wheelers -- which went down during the peak of the pandemic -- has started to come back.
The has held the disbursement of incentive amount under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to Electronics for FY21 after some discrepancies were found in the invoices, reported The Financial Express on Tuesday.

According to the report, there were differences between the incremental production and sales shown by and the ones arrived by the Centre.

The Korean tech giant, which was the only firm that qualified for PLI for FY21, had claimed incentives worth nearly Rs 900 crore for the financial year, however, the Centre's calculations had pegged it lower.



Also Read | Discussion underway to extend PLI scheme to more sectors: Official

The government has sought some clarifications from the company, after which the Centre will disburse the incentive amount, officials told FE. At the moment we cannot say by when the incentive amount would be disbursed to the company and how much, officials told the newspaper.

This delay in disbursement for comes at a time when the Centre on September 9 approved 32 beneficiaries under the for large-scale electronics manufacturing for FY22.

Domestic firm Padget Electronics was the first company to receive a disbursement of around Rs 50 crore based on its incremental investment and sales figures for the fiscal year. Other firms eligible for incentives this year include Samsung, Apples contract manufacturers Wistron, Foxconn, and Rising Star.

The government will give incentives under the that started in August 2020 to a total of ten firms, which include five global and five local .

Samsung in FY21 clocked incremental sales of around Rs 15,000 crore, which is also the ceiling for availing of the incentive, reported FE quoting industry sources.

For smartphone firms, the total outlay over five years is Rs 40,951 crore and the incentive ranges from nearly 4-6 per cent annually. For FY21, the incentive was Rs 5,334 crore, while the threshold for qualifying was incremental sales of Rs 4,000 crore and a maximum of Rs 15,000 crore.

According to this calculation, Samsung was entitled to get Rs 900 crore  six per cent of Rs 15,000 crore  as an incentive from the government, reported FE.
Fintech unicorn has appointed former RBI deputy governor B P Kanungo and TARI founder Kaushik Dutta as as it looks to strengthen governance rigour and transparency in the preparation of a listing.

"Business is about to turn profitable in a few months and we are strengthening governance at the company by appointing independent directors," CEO Suhail Sameer told PTI.

The firm, which currently has nine directors on its board, is looking to have at least one-third of directors as independent directors, he said.

Besides Sameer, co-founder Shashvat Nakrani is on the board as executive director. Investors have four nominees. The board is chaired by former SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar.

BharatPe, he said, would look to go public in the next 2-3 years' time. "Post-2024 (general) elections should be a good period," he said.

While Kanungo recently retired as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Dutta currently is the chairman and independent director at Zomato.

"The appointments are in line with the company's aim to build a world-class institution and being the torchbearer of corporate governance in the start-up world," he said.

BharatPe, which allows shop owners to make digital payments through QR codes, is now in 400 cities and has crossed USD 20 billion in annualized TPV.

Kanungo was the deputy governor of RBI from 2017-2021 and will work closely with the Board and support in its plan of building a high-quality profitable business.

Dutta has extensive experience in corporate governance, including in his leadership roles at PwC, and his guidance will be key for the company as it prepares to go public in the next 2-3 years, he said.

"In line with BharatPe's commitment to having a Board with at least one-third independent directors, Kewal Handa stepped down from the Board but would continue to support the Board and the Management in an advisory capacity," a company statement said.

Speaking on these appointments, Rajnish Kumar said, "Earlier this year, we had put in place a robust governance framework and were in the process of identifying the right leaders who could join the Board in building BharatPe 2.0. The recent important appointments are driven by this very thought and we hope that the composition of Board, processes and compliances in place will lead to best governance practices in the industry."



Sameer said the diverse experience and deep understanding of the industry and the regulatory landscape of the two will be a great asset for BharatPe as it continues to build products that disrupt the market.

Kanungo, a seasoned banker, joined RBI in 1982 and during his stint of close to four decades looked after various departments of the central bank including information technology, payment and settlement systems, foreign exchange and internal debt management.

Dutta is the co-founder of Thought Arbitrage Research Institute (TARI), an independent not-for-profit research think-tank that works in areas of corporate governance, public policy and sustainability. He is also on the Board of renowned Indian such as Zomato, Policy Bazaar, HCL Infosystems, Newgen Software, NDTV and Snapdeal.

(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.)
Freshers, who have offered jobs, have taken to social media to say that they have not received any offer letter or communication about the onboarding process even after three to five months of the offer being made. According to a report by BusinessLine (BL), this can be an indication of a possible slowdown in the .

Quoting an engineer, the report said that he was offered a job on March 22 by . However, since then, he has not received any further communication from the company. He announced it through a post on LinkedIn.

"I have been waiting for months. I have even reached out to them on social media. Even though they replied asking for my candidate ID and email address, they haven't written back to me or given any clear communication on the status of the offer," he said.

Also Read | Will margin pressures end the Indian IT sector's glory days?

Apart from Infosys, the person quoted in the report also received offers from and . has been responsive, but has not communicated any update on the offer. BL reportedly spoke to four candidates who are facing similar problems. Two of these were campus recruits, while the other two were off-campus recruits.

"I have not received any communication from the company. My college placement officer also has not gotten any update," another applicant told BL. She is an engineering graduate from the Sagar Institute of Research and Technology, Bhopal.

The have, however, stated that all the offers made will be honoured.

" can confirm that it will honour all offer letters that have been made to deserving candidates," Wipro was quoted in the BL report as saying.

"Hiring at is always aligned to client requirements throughout the year and consequently, we spread the joining dates of various batches to align with changes in project schedules and to also ensure employees have access to the right training. In the interim, teams continuously engage with these prospective employees," said in a statement.

An spokesperson made similar statements.

The in India is facing several difficulties, including high attrition and moonlighting. This has resulted in thinner margins.
The budget cuts at Big Tech are impacting Indian information technology (IT) players as well, signalling an increasingly tough business environment.

Indias third-largest software exporter   has laid off 350 employees globally who were working on its client Microsofts news-related products.

These employees were laid off from across geographies, including Guatemala, the Philippines, and India.

The company did not comment on the layoffs, but its spokesperson, however, said: Our technology and services vertical continues to see robust growth and is one of the fastest-growing segments for us.

Big Tech players like Microsoft, Google, and Meta are already asking employees to increase productivity and cut down on expenses like travel.

A few weeks ago, several contract workers at Facebooks Austin office moderating content were reportedly told they had been given the marching orders, revealed an Insider report. Facebook parent Meta Platforms is looking to shift more of the work towards Singapore. That means of about 600 Accenture workers on Facebook projects, 400 are expected to lose work by the end of the year.

Meta has slowed down investment pace into newer projects amid revenue decline.

was among the first Big Tech firms to lay off about 1 per cent of its total staff strength of 180,000 in July, followed by 200 more in August. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Satya Nadella called it a part of the realignment exercise.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai also hinted at layoffs to make the company 20 per cent more leaner/efficient recently after an internal warning to employees to improve performance.

Analysts are of the opinion that these project-wise budget cuts cannot be dismissed as overall budget cuts.

Earlier US-based retailer Macys, too, had written to its IT vendors, stating it was cutting discretionary spending.

We are seeing certain projects getting impacted. This is clearly US-centric. want to control costs since they have invested huge in tech over the past one and a half years, observed an analyst.
on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SMS group, a German engineering and company, for exploring decarbonisation projects at the Indian firms plants.

A statement said that the collaboration would enable the to together explore opportunities to reduce and produce green steel. The SMS group would provide its experts for design, engineering consultancy, and commissioning of projects. JSW Steel, the flagship company of the $22 billion JSW Group, would provide support at its plants for SMS group to explore solutions for decarbonisation projects.

While the steel industry accounts for 0.7 per cent of the worlds economic output, the industry also contributes 7 per cent towards global emissions. We need a new transformative approach focused on green steel vision. With our partner SMS group, we are on our way to turning metals green in the world, said Sajjan Jindal, chairman and managing director of JSW Steel, in a statement.

Achieving net zero in the industry would require major upgrades and capital investments at mills, he said.

is investing Rs 10,000 crore to reduce from steel manufacturing and has set a target to bring down greenhouse gas emissions by 42 per cent (from the base year 2005 levels) to less than 1.95 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of crude steel (tcs) by 2030.

Our know-how and experience in metallurgy combined with our digital expertise and plant consultancy enable SMS group and to create a greener metals industry, said Burkhard Dahmen, chairman of the Managing Board and CEO, SMS Group.
By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

(Reuters) -A majority of Inc's shareholders have voted in favor of the social media company's $44 billion sale to Elon Musk, people familiar with the tally said on Monday.

The deadline for the shareholder vote on the deal is Tuesday but enough investors had voted by Monday evening for the outcome to be certain, the sources said.

The sources requested anonymity ahead of an official announcement. and representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Musk has informed he will not go ahead with the acquisition, arguing he was misled over the spam accounts on the platform and was not notified of a pay settlement the company reached with one of its top executives. The two sides are scheduled to battle it out in court next month.

Shareholders were widely expected to vote in favor after a stock market downturn made Musk's $54.20-per-share deal for Twitter, which was signed in April, look pricey in the current environment. Twitter shares are now hovering around $41.

Earlier on Monday, Twitter said payments made to a whistleblower did not breach any terms of its sale to Musk, after the world's richest man made another attempt to scrap the deal.

Twitter's lawyers said Musk's reasons for wanting to back out of the deal were "invalid and wrongful."

Last week, lawyers for Musk said Twitter's failure to seek his consent before paying $7.75 million to whistleblower Peiter Zatko and his lawyers violated the merger agreement, which restricts when Twitter could make such payments.

Zatko, who was fired by Twitter in January as the company's security head, accused the social media firm last month of falsely claiming it had a solid security plan and making misleading statements about its defenses against hackers and spam accounts.

The whistleblower will meet the U.S. Senate Judiciary committee on Tuesday to discuss the allegations.

"With the Musk camp now being allowed to include the Zatko claims in its testimony for Delaware, tomorrow's hearing will be closely watched by the Street," Wedbush analysts wrote in a note.

The Twitter vs Musk trial is scheduled to start on Oct. 17 in Delaware Chancery Court.

Lawyers for Musk, who is also CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc, were not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst and Anirban SenAdditional reporting by Nivedita Balu in BengaluruEditing by Anil D'Silva and Matthew Lewis)

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
IT services firm has warned employees it will not allow moonlighting and violations may lead to termination, mailing them about rules days after Wipro chairman Rishad Premji called the trend "cheating--plain and simple".

Bengaluru-based sent an email to employees titled "No Double Lives" and said: dual employment is not permitted as per the Employee Handbook and the Code of Conduct.

The email said that the rule disallowing moonlighting is mentioned in offer letters and the companys consent is important. The consent may be given subject to any terms and conditions that the company may think fit and may be withdrawn at any time at the discretion of the company.

Moonlighting made headlines after food-aggregator platform early August allowed employees to work on external projects for money or pro-bono.

Premji, in a post on August 20, trashed the idea of moonlighting.

With attrition at its peak in the IT industry, are struggling to find talent as they brace for a tough business environment.

The Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), a non-profit group, protested Infosyss email to say: IT Employees are working more than 9 hours a day without any overtime benefits. Would there be any energy or time left if an employee is working 10-12 hours a day. Also, many IT have developed monitoring systems to measure employees productivity.

"Employees have contract to work with for 9 hours only. What the employees do outside working hours is their prerogative. The article 21 of Constitution of India has provided Right to livelihood to every citizen hence such emails sent to the employees is illegal and unethical. Citing clauses of contract will not help Infosys in the court of law as the clauses are included arbitrarily, said NITES in an email.
Germany's luxury carmaker has agreed to set up its auto part manufacturing unit in Punjab, said a state government release here on Tuesday.

A decision to this effect was taken during the visit of Chief Minister at headquarters in Germany on Tuesday, it said.

Mann is currently on a visit to Germany to woo investors as his government promotes as the most preferred destination for doing business.

During the visit, the CM showcased the state government's exemplary work to promote industry in the state after which agreed to set up its auto component unit in the state, it said.

An official release quoting Mann said this will be the second unit of the company in India as one such unit was already operational in Chennai.

He said this will give a major boost to industrial growth of the state and open new employment avenues for the youth.

The CM also invited BMW to collaborate with the state in the e-mobility sector.

He was apprised that e-mobility is a major sector of focus for the auto giant, which targets 50 per cent of its global sales to consist of fully electric vehicles by 2030.

The chief minister said Punjab's EV Policy is expected to usher in a new era for the e-mobility sector in the state.

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A division bench of the on Tuesday gave conditional approval to the government to offer donations worth Rs 60,000 crore to 43,000 community committees in the state.

Rejecting the pleas in a number of public interest litigation (PIL)s to bar the state government from offering such doles to the community Puja Committees, the division bench of Calcutta High Court's Chief Justice, Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj, imposed six conditions on the state government while offering such donations.

However, when the order was passed, the bench did not specify the six conditions imposed. Instead, the concerned parties were advised to check the full copy of the order once it is uploaded on the website of the .

On August 22, Chief minister, Mamata Banerjee made an announcement for granting Rs 60,000 crore to 43,000 community committees, which would put a pressure of |Rs 258 crore on the state exchequer.

In addition, she also announced a 60 per cent subsidy on the electricity bills for these community Puja committees.

A number of PILs were filed at the said division bench. The petitioner contended that at a time when the state government is unable to pay dearness allowance 9DA) arrears to the state government employees, such expenditure on account of doles to community committees, were wasteful expenditure.

State Advocate General S.N. Mukhopadhyay argued that the entire expenditure is made for public purposes since the state government's aim is to protect and publicize the rich heritage of the state and Durga Puja is a part of the rich heritage.

After hearing detailed arguments in the matter, the court finally on Tuesday morning, gave conditional consent to the state government to offer the grant to the Puja committees.

--IANS

src/shb/

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The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) on Tuesday committed to adopting 100,000 TB Patients under the Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan.

President launched the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan on September 9. The scheme aims to bring together all community stakeholders to accelerate the countrys progress towards TB elimination.

The President also launched the Nikshay Mitra initiative, whose portal has a platform for donors to provide various forms of support to those undergoing TB treatment--nutritional, additional diagnostic, and vocational support. The donors, called Nikshay Mitras, could be a wide range of stakeholders, including corporate houses and industry representatives.

"Given the significance of this initiative, has committed to adopt 1 lakh TB patients through the collective capability of members and support the government by becoming Ni-kshay Mitras. This has been announced after a meeting with the Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, with the Health Services Leadership yesterday," a statement here said.
Indian and Chinese armies carried out a joint verification of the disengagement process at Patrolling Point 15 in the Gogra-Hotsprings area in eastern after withdrawing their troops and dismantling temporary infrastructure from the friction point, people familiar with the development said on Tuesday.

Both sides completed the disengagement in a phased and coordinated manner, they said.

The local commanders of the two armies also held a meeting following the conclusion of the disengagement process from the friction point where the two sides were in a standoff for over two years.

Though the two sides disengaged from Patrolling Point 15 (PP-15), there has been no progress yet on resolving the standoff in Demchok and Depsang regions.

The Indian and Chinese armies on September 8 announced that they have kicked off the disengagement process from the PP-15, in a significant forward movement in the stalled process to pull-out troops from the remaining friction points in the region.

The disengagement in the Gogra-Hotsprings area is an outcome of the 16th round of high-level military talks in July, the two armies said while announcing the beginning of the process on September 8.

Initially, around 30 soldiers from each side were locked in a face-off in PP-15 but the number of troops kept changing depending on the overall situation in the region.

India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the LAC were key for the overall development of the bilateral ties.

The eastern border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas.

Both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers and heavy weaponry.

As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process last year on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area.

The disengagement in the Pangong Lake area took place in February last year while the withdrawal of troops and equipment in Patrolling Point 17 (A) in Gogra took place in August last year.

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Amid a political crisis in Jharkhand, Chief Minister has met and assured representatives from various organisations of redressing their "grievances" in a month's time.

Soren, who could be disqualified as an MLA in an office-of-profit case, met teachers, health workers, policemen and students at his office here on Monday.

"A large number of representatives from various organisations met the CM at his residence with their demands, including regularisation and pending salary.

"The CM assured them that their demands will be looked into and redressed in a month's time," an official said.

The state cabinet recently approved the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for implementing the old pension scheme, which was discontinued on April 1, 2004 and replaced with the National Pension System (NPS).

The government also restored compensatory leaves for the police force, benefitting lakhs of personnel, the official said.

Meanwhile, Governor Ramesh Bais, who returned to Ranchi on September 8 after a week-long stay in Delhi, has maintained silence over Election Commission of India's recommendation on Soren.

Bais, a day before leaving for the national capital on September 2, had assured ruling UPA MLAs of clearing the air over the EC's recommendation on a petition seeking Soren's disqualification from the assembly in an office-of-profit case.

The EC had sent its recommendation to the governor on August 25, sparking a political crisis in the state.

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A mob of around 200 people on Tuesday stormed into a police station in Odisha's Gajapati district and assaulted officers there, hours after a local youth was arrested on charges of ganja smuggling.

As many as eight police personnel suffered injuries in the incident, of which two had to be taken to a government hospital nearby, one of the officers stated.

"Protesters broke open the gate of the police station, thrashed personnel and ransacked properties. All of them were armed. At least seven to eight personnel were injured in the melee," the officer, who was at the scene, said.

Senior police officers are currently trying to pacify the protesters, he added.

Agitators, including women, alleged that the police picked up a youth of Jharanapur village on Monday night on false charges, and demanded that he be released immediately.

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The Central government is creating a numerical database for dairy animals. Pashu Aadhaar will be like Aadhaar cards for humans. The government aims to track the population and health of livestock by assigning them a unique identification number.

Prime Minister Modi on Monday addressed the inaugural ceremony of World Dairy Summit 2022 in Greater Noida. He said that the creation of database will be done with the help of biometric identification.

What is Pashu Aadhaar?

Pashu Aadhaar aims to expand the in India. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is developing the Information Network for Animal Productivity and Health (INAPH), which will be known as Pashu Aadhaar. As part of the scheme, all animals will be given an ear tag which will contain a bar-coded 12-digit unique identification number. INAPH will have all the data related to the animals registered, including their species, breed, and pedigree. It will also consist of information regarding calving, vaccination, and milk production.

Establishing Pashu Aadhaar was first proposed in 2015 by a government committee to prevent smuggling.

The committee's recommendation came after a Supreme Court order on a plea against trafficking.

According to a 2019 report in The Indian Express, in the first phase of the project, the government aimed to cover 94 million productive in milk female cow and buffalo population, following which, other bovines such as calves, males and strays would be counted. However, by 2019, about 22.3 million cows and buffaloes were issued the UID and their entire data was uploaded on the INAPH database. Currently, 226,763,928 animals are registered under the project on the INAPH website.

How to apply for Pashu Aadhaar?

 Farmers need to register themselves on the INAPH portal

 Click on 'new account' and register yourself

 They need to enter the verification code which has been sent to your mobile number

 To register the animals online, farmers can access INAPH portal in two ways

 Offline farmers will be required to download the INAPH Farmer Android app, after they receive SMS containing the link

 Online registered farmers will get a text message on their mobile regarding the login details and can start accessing the web application

Farmers can apply online for animal registration by following these two steps:

Visit the INAPH portal

Click on the 'animal registration' link and enter all the required details, following which farmers can get the UID number for their .

How will Pashu Aadhaar be beneficial for animals?

Apart from monitoring the health of the livestock, the database is expected to help government to check the outbreak of lumpy skin disease, which has killed over 67,000 cattles in more than eight states in India.

What is lumpy

It is a contagious viral disease which causes fever and nodules on the skin of the animals, thereby impacting the milk production. India, the world's largest milk producer, had a cattle population of 192.5 million in 2019, as per the 19th Livestock census. Some of the worst affected states by lumpy skin's outbreak are Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. The total cattle population is around 200 billion and Rajasthan is witnessing as many as 600-700 deaths in a day.

The government is developing an indigenous vaccine for the disease, however, it is likely to take three-four months, according to Jatindra Nath Swain, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Department Secretary. Meanwhile, many states are using the 'goat pox' vaccine to treat lumpy in animals.

What did PM Modi say?

At the World Dairy Day Summit, Modi said that both the central and state governments are trying to control the disease. He also added that the scientists have prepared inidgenous vaccine for the lumpy .
Police recovered an improvised explosive device (IED) weighing 1.16 kg from Haryana's Kaithal district on Monday.

The IED was packed with RDX and the recovery was made from the roadside in a village at Kainchi Chowk on the Jind road, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, the Special Task Force (STF) of the Police recovered the IED in the evening hours.

"The IED weighs 1.16 kg," Station House Officer (SHO) of the Titram police station Inspector Ramlal said over the phone.

It was kept in an iron box, he added.

The area was sealed and the bomb disposal squad summoned, which defused the explosive, police said.

A case has been registered under the provisions of the Explosive Substances Act, the SHO said.

The STF had recovered an IED packed with around 1.3 kg of RDX from a place near Shahabad in Kurukshetra district last month.

In May, the Police had arrested four people from Karnal and three IEDs packed in a metallic case, weighing 2.5 kg each, and a pistol were seized from their possession.

In March, three live hand grenades were recovered from a deserted ground near a public school in Sadopur village, close to the Ambala-Chandigarh highway.

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Russian President and Indian Prime Minister will meet in on Friday and discuss trade as well as sales of Russian fertilizers and mutual food supplies, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.



"There are plans to discuss issues of 'saturation' of the Indian market with Russian fertilizers and bilateral food supplies," it said in its handout of materials for the meeting.



The meeting will be held on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional security bloc.



"First of all, moves, aimed at boosting bilateral trade flows, will be looked at. The trade turnover reached $11.5 billion in the first half of 2022, up almost 120% year-on-year," the Kremlin said.



India's fertiliser imports from Russia rose to $1.03 billion in April-July compared to $773.54 million in whole of the last fiscal year to March 31, 2022, according to the Indian commerce ministry's website.



India is looking for a three-year fertiliser import deal with Russia.



Attempts to sign a long-term fertiliser import deal earlier this year were hit by the challenging geopolitical situation after Russia launched what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.



Putin will also meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the sidelines of the summit in Uzbekistan's ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand.



India and China are key buyers of Russian energy, helping to cushion Moscow from the effects of Western sanctions and allowing the two Asian economies to secure raw materials at discounts compared to supplies from other countries.



The two Asian nations have not publicly criticised Moscow's actions in Ukraine, despite the outcry in the West.



India, which rarely used to buy Russian oil, has emerged as Moscow's second biggest oil customer after China.



Refiners in India, the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, have been snapping up discounted Russian oil, shunned by some western countries and companies.



The Group of Seven countries is working to cap the price of Russian oil from Dec. 5 in an attempt to cut the price Russia receives for oil without reducing its petroleum exports to world markets.



So far, India and China have not said if they will join the price cap mechanism.



Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri last week said India would examine the issue when more details are available. He also said many conversations and proposals were taking place and "we will see who is participating" in the price cap mechanism.

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The Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA) on Tuesday demanded the government take immediate action against the illegal import of genetically modified (GM) .

Currently, the import of GM products is prohibited.

"However, it has come to our knowledge that some unscrupulous companies are importing GM soybean, in contravention of every rule and regulation," SOPA Executive Director D N Pathak said in a letter to the Union Agriculture Ministry.

A vessel carrying 17,741 tonnes of GM is currently discharging the cargo at Mumbai port, he claimed, and requested the ministry to take "immediate action".

"If immediate action is not taken, and such imports are permitted, it will open the flood gates for illegal imports of GM soybean which will destroy our soybean cultivation," Pathak said.

The soybean may find its way even to the farmers, causing irreparable damage to Indian soybean cultivation, he added.

is one of the major oilseeds that India is focusing on increasing production and reducing the dependency on imports.

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One student has been arrested for a hoax bomb threat at a school in on Monday.

Two students from Spring Dale school were found to have sent the bomb threat to the school on Monday.

The police on further investigation found that it was a hoax by the students, due to upcoming exams.

As per the police, an FIR has been registered under sections 262, 506, and 507. The police have arrested one accused and are in search of the other.

M.S. Bhullar, DCP, urged the parents to keep an eye on their wards and to also check their phones and activities.

Further probe into the matter is awaited.

A previous incident of a hoax bomb threat happened in Amritsar's DAV Public school on September 8 after which the security was tightened outside the school in .

A hoax message was sent to the school principal, of a bomb and firing at the school. The police said that it was sent from a fake Instagram ID using Google Translate to write the text in English and Urdu.

The police also said that it was done by three students from the school itself.

"The message turned out to be a hoax. It seems it was done from a fake Instagram ID made by 3 students of the school. They used Google Translate to write the text in English & Urdu. The parents were called and informed of the same. We will take action as per the principal's request," DCP Bhullar said.

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is in much more pain than what was revealed by the year-on-year (YoY) growth in the (IIP) data. While it grew 3.2 per cent in July YoY, the expansion was just 1.1 per cent, when compared with the same month in the pre-Covid year of 2019-20.

The picture was different for the other two major segments of the  mining and electricity. Though mining output contracted 3.3 per cent YoY in July, it has grown about 1 per cent compared with 2019-20. Electricity generation rose 2.3 per cent in July YoY, but it has grown almost 11 per cent over 2019-20.

rose 10 per cent in the first four months of FY23 on a yearly basis, but was up just 2.6 per cent when compared with the corresponding period of 2019-20.

In a way, the data pertaining to tells a story similar to what was revealed by the gross domestic product (GDP) data. Manufacturing gross value added (GVA) grew just 4.8 per cent, whereas overall GVA grew 12.7 per cent in the first quarter of the current financial year.

It should be noted that manufacturing in is in physical volume terms, while in GDP or GVA it is in value addition. Besides, is used for the non-corporate and unorganised sector for measuring manufacturing in GVA, the rest is taken from stock exchanges.

chief economist Aditi Nayar said the July manufacturing print in IIP is certainly tepid. However, the high frequency indicators such as auto output and e-way bills are pointing towards a healthier August.





Dispatches at Indias top seven automotive companies rose 30.2 per cent year-on-year to 305,744 units from 234,743 units, shows the monthly sales data released by the companies. This is the sharpest year-on-year growth seen in the current fiscal with the exception of May, when the growth came on last years low base.

As many as 78.2 million e-way bills were generated in August against 75.6 million in July.

However, Nayar added a word of caution, With the shift in consumption to services, industrial output growth is likely to be relatively modest in the immediate term.

The IIP and GDP numbers show that growth is not broad based, said Bank of Barodas chief economist Madan Sabnavis. Right now, those related to infrastructure are doing well, while the consumption piece is still not in place, he added.

Infrastructure/construction output rose 3.9 per cent, while consumer non-durables contracted 2 per cent and consumer durables grew 2.4 per cent in July on a yearly basis. The growth stood at 7.1 per cent for infrastructure, but consumer non-durables and durables contracted 2.4 per cent and 6.7 per cent, respectively, this July compared with 2019-20.

He said all sectors need to grow together for sustained growth. Thats when we will see accelerated growth in IIP, Sabnavis added.
Building stronger intra-regional trade and connectivity in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and greater cooperation on health care will be on Prime Minister Narendra Modis agenda at the 22nd Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit that begins on Thursday, officials said.

Scheduled to be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the two-day summit will be the first in-person meeting of most national leaders.

Establishing a stronger alliance that pushes for reform of the (WTO) will also be pushed by India, officials added. Bilateral meetings with Chinese President and Russian President Vladimir Putin would be the high point of Modis visit.

The SCO is a political, economic, and security alliance of eight nations, historically led by Russia and China. It is considered the most important conclave in the Central Asian region, where other nations have significant interest in trade, connectivity, and resource extraction.

Set to be the fifth summit that India participates in as a full-fledged member, the 2022 summit will also see India assume the rotational presidency of the SCO. New Delhi may also offer a glimpse of what it intends to focus on, during its tenure over the next one year.

India has prioritised securing greater trade with Central Asian nations in the past few years. This is because Indias trade with the region stands at $2 billion, while that of China is at $100 billion, according to official estimates. New Delhi is also looking for ways to expand the $1 billion line of credit it announced in 2020 for infrastructure development projects in the region.

As had been the case earlier, the summit may see New Delhi hard pressed to steer clear of discussing Chinas flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project, which has promised immense economic growth to the landlocked region. Beijing has already invested more than $200 billion through the initiative, according to the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.

While China has now abandoned its efforts to bring India to the discussion table on the BRI, it has protested Indias denouncing of the project, a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official said. New Delhi has stressed that the BRI violates its sovereignty, with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) passing through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Bilateral meetings

Modi will meet Xi in person for the first time since the 2019 in Brazil. Since then, Indian and Chinese troops have faced off in a series of deadly skirmishes as a result of multiple Chinese intrusions in Ladakh and Sikkim.

A lot of bilateral diplomacy has gone into de-escalating the situation and the upcoming meeting between the leaders will be crucial in confirming this, face to face, the official said. He added that the process of disengagement between Indian and Chinese troops in the Gogra-Hot Springs area in Eastern Ladakh was expedited keeping the leaders meeting in mind.

However, the bilateral meet with China is still set to be frosty as India has also continued to up the ante against the import of Chinese products, cracked down on Chinese firms operating in India, and has joined the US-backed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework to establish alternative supply chains for key commodities.

Meanwhile, a bilateral meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which had been untenable from the beginning, will now definitely not take place, the official said. Sharif remains busy in managing the humanitarian crisis emerging out of the devastating floods in Pakistan, and only confirmed his visit to the summit two days back.

Though it remains unconfirmed at this point, Modi is also expected to hold his first ever bilateral meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Any such meeting will focus on the Chabahar port and the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), and the series of associated logistical and financial challenges that have cropped up, another MEA official said.

Regional platform

The SCO is the worlds largest regional organisation, covering approximately 40 per cent of the worlds population, and more than 30 per cent of global gross domestic product.

Formed in 2001 in Shanghai by Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and China, the SCO was initially set up to reduce military build-up in the region.

It also committed to non-intervention by member states in each others internal affairs under the pretext of human rights. This is the reason why India doesnt comment on reported atrocities against Uyghur, Tibetan, and other minorities in China.

In 2017, India and Pakistan both joined the SCO as full members. At this years summit, Iran may officially begin its entry into the SCO by signing a memorandum of commitment.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is set to get the 'Deemed-to-be-University' status with the executive committee of the council granting an approval on Monday, according to a top official.

" will get the deemed-to-be-university status in De Novo category. The proposal has been approved," the official confirmed.

The Council's Executive Committee's meeting was chaired by Union minister .

De-Novo Deemed University is an institution which can apply to the for setting up a new institution as deemed to be University which will undertake study and research in unique and emerging areas of knowledge that are not offered by any existing institution.

As the apex organization for school education, the undertakes various activities and programmes, which include educational research and innovation, curriculum development, development of textual and teaching-learning materials, among others.

The degree awarding bodies for the graduate and postgraduate programmes offered by the regional institutes of of are affiliated with the different State Universities and one Central University (NEHU).

Currently, the graduate and post-graduate programmes offered by NCERT's Regional Institute of (REI) are affiliated with local universities like Barkatullah University, Bhopal, M D S University, Ajmer, University of Mysuru, Utkal University, Bhubaneshwar and North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong.

"The status of Deemed to be University will strengthen the efforts of NCERT to promote educational research and innovation and collaborate with national and international agencies. It will further reinforce its role as a think tank and as national resource institution engaged in providing technical support to the Government of India and various State Governments in the fields of school education, vocational education, teacher education and educational technology," the official said.

NCERT was established in 1961 under Society Act by the Government of India to assist and advise the Government in the matter of school education.

The council has been attempting to get the status of Institute of National Importance (INI).

A committee formed by the HRD ministry under Professor Govardhan Mehta in 2010 had recommended that the NCERT be given the INI status in recognition of its contribution to the field of education and also the critical area of work it is engaged in.

However, the council hasn't got the INI status.

(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.)
Large corporates, including fintech, have requested the (RBI) on how they could access the data from the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), said Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar said on Monday, reported The Hindu BusinessLine.

The request, from both large and non-fintech, comes on the sidelines of an event which was held in Delhi, Sankar said, quoted BusinessLine.

Corporates are requesting access to data as it can help companies, especially structure products for specific target segments of the population.

Developed by in 2016, in August saw 6.57 billion transactions, amounting to Rs 10.72 trillion, at a record high. The volume of transactions rose 85 per cent and value 67.85 per cent year-on-year (YoY) as the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital payments.

Asked if the RBI will accept corporates' demand, Sankar said, "We have to check what the conditions are subject to which data will be shared. First of all, the data is not owned by RBI. How the data will be used, who will access it, whether it will be allowed, reported BusinessLine.

He added that something like a data protection bill, which was recently withdrawn by the government, needs to be in place.

"I am just saying requests have come and businesses are looking for data as data is important. If businesses had more data, they could design more products, the newspaper quoted Sankar.

Talking at the event on financial inclusion earlier, the RBI deputy governor said, India is extremely data-rich as digitalisation is growing at a rapid pace and added that corporates want to access your data because that will give them information that can be used to structure products that can be targeted at specific segments of the population, reported BusinessLine.

He said that the process needs to be done in a manner where the customer is aware that the customer has some level of consent. "Being data rich is obviously a boon in the sense that new products can be developed, but at the same time, being data rich also increases the responsibility on the government and the regulator," Sankar added, quoted the business daily.

The government last month withdrew the Personal from the Lok Sabha amid backlash. IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said the Centre is hopeful of getting the new legislation passed by the next Budget Session of Parliament.
More than 73,000 people have been evacuated from the conflict-affected eastern and southern regions of in August, Ukraine's Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories said.

In particular, nearly 16,000 civilians have been evacuated in a month from the eastern Donetsk region as a part of the mandatory evacuation, the Ministry added on Monday.

Besides, 50,000 people were evacuated from the Russia-held areas in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in southern to Kiev-controlled territory, it said.

started the mandatory evacuation from the Donetsk region in early August, Xinhua news agency reported.

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that the mandatory evacuation may be extended to other conflict-hit regions.

--IANS

int/khz/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Concealed, adaptable weapon of NSAs cyberattack on leading Chinese aviation university exposed

By Cao Siqi (Global Times) 15:55, September 13, 2022

A "concealed and adaptable" weapon used by US' intelligence center National Security Agency (NSA) to launch a cyberattack on the email system of Northwestern Polytechnical University in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province - well-known for its aviation, aerospace and navigation studies - was captured by Chinese cybersecurity experts, the Global Times learned from a source on Tuesday.

On September 5, a Chinese technical team announcedthat by extracting many trojans samples from internet terminals of Northwestern Polytechnical University, under the support of European and South Asian partners, it initially identified that the cyberattack to the university was conducted by the Tailored Access Operations (TAO) (Code S32) under the Data Reconnaissance Bureau (Code S3) of the Information Department (Code S) of US' NSA.

Aiming at Northwestern Polytechnical University, TAO used 41 types of weapons to steal the core technology data including key network equipment configuration, network management data, and core operational data. The technical team discovered more than 1,100 attack links had infiltrated inside the university and more than 90 operating instruction sequences, which stole multiple network device configuration files, and other types of logs and key files, the team said.

A deeper analysis conducted by China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center and Beijing-based Qi An Pangu lab showed that the cyber-sniffing weapon, known as "drinking tea," is one of the most direct culprits responsible for the theft of large amounts of sensitive data.

A cybersecurity expert from the lab told the Global Times on Tuesday that TAO used "drinking tea" as a tool to detect secrets, implanted it into the internal network server of Northwestern Polytechnical University, and stole the login password of remote management and remote file transfer services, such as SSH, so as to gain access to servers on the Intranet, and other high-value servers, resulting in the stealing of large-scale, persistent sensitive data.

"Drinking tea" can not only steal accounts and passwords for remote transfer of files, but also is very capable of concealment and adapting to new environment. According to the anonymous expert, after being implanted into the target server and equipment, "drinking tea" will disguise itself as a normal background service process, and send malicious load stage by stage, making it very difficult to find.

"Drinking tea" can run on the server stealthily, monitor the user's input on the terminal program of the operating system console in real time, and intercept all kinds of user names and passwords from it, just like the "peeper" behind the user.

"Once these usernames and passwords are obtained by TAO, they can be used to carry out the next stage of the attack to help the office steal files on the servers or deliver other cyber weapons," the cybersecurity expert said.

In February, experts from Qi An Pangu lab told the Global Times that they have discovered a top hacker group under US' NSA, which has been using a cyber weapon "Telescreen"for more than a decade, infiltrating 45 countries and regions including China, Russia, Japan, Germany, Spain and Italy, and involving 287 important institutional targets.

"Telescreen" has also been found to have been used together with "drinking tea" to launch the attack to Northwestern Polytechnical University's email system, the source said.

According to the source, Chinese experts also found traces of "drinking tea" attack in the network of other institutions, which shows that the weapon is likely to have been used by TAO to launch a large-scale cyberattack on China.

Apart from that, a research report, entitled "American Dragnet: Data-driven Deportation in the 21st Century," which was released by US Georgetown University's Center on Privacy and Technology Law in May, showed after two years of investigations, the center found that in the name of counterterrorism, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has pushed ethical and legal boundaries to build a surveillance dragnet that covers most Americans by bypassing Congressional oversight and privacy laws.

It means that the US government's unlimited access to data surveillance has expanded from "regular" law enforcement departments such as the NSA, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation or police department to administrative agencies like ICE.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning has urged the US to immediately stop its wrongdoings, saying that cyberspace security is a common problem affecting all countries worldwide. The US, with the world's most powerful cyber technology, should refrain from using such advantages to steal secrets from other countries, and should instead participate in global cyberspace governance in a responsible manner, and play a constructive role in maintaining cybersecurity.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Armenia's prime minister said on Tuesday that 49 soldiers were killed in nighttime attacks by .

Nikol Pashinyan said in Parliament that Azerbaijaini forces attacked about half a dozen points, the news agency Interfax reported. and have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

During a six-week war in 2020 that killed more than 6,600 people, Azerbaijan reclaimed large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas that had been controlled for decades by the Armenia-backed separatists.

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is stocking up on dirty for winter power generation earlier than usual as a gas shortage sees environmental concerns take a back seat to making sure the lights remain on.

Japanese imports of the fuel, which can be used instead of to produce electricity, surged to a four-year high in August, and are set to stay high in the coming months, according to Vortexa Ltd. Taiwanese and Bangladeshi purchases last month were more than double a year earlier, the energy intelligence firm said.

Fuel oil, most commonly used to power ships, is a perennial fallback option for utilities when are scarce. Its use is sharply increasing this year as Russias weaponization of its gas exports sends prices skyrocketing. Despite implementing net zero targets, countries like and South Korea are choosing to prioritize security of power supply over cutting emissions.





Also Read: Oil supported by supply threats, but likely to drop on demand fears

Japanese imports of are likely to remain robust in the coming months, said Roslan Khasawneh, a senior analyst at Vortexa. Other Asian countries with oil-fired power generation capacity like Taiwan, South Korea and Pakistan will at the least maintain their current level of overseas purchases, he said.

Japan's Hunt For Gas Alternatives | Country's fuel oil imports jump as curbs gas supplies

Its not just fuel oil that utilities are turning to amid the shortage of liquefied . Aging coal-fired plants are being used for longer, while several governments around are taking a more favorable view of nuclear power.

Any decision by Japan, the worlds second-largest gas importer, to curtail purchases from could increase demand for fuel oil and other alternatives even more, according to Khasawneh.

Japanese trading houses said late last month they would stay in the Sakhalin-2 LNG gas project after Moscow moved to tighten control over the facility under a new Russian operator. While Tokyo has slapped sanctions on and banned the import of coal from the country, it has so far drawn a line at .

Buyers in North Asia, where there are stricter pollution controls, typically boost purchases of cleaner low-sulfur fuel oil from November to February. South Asian countries usually buy high-sulfur fuel oil in the summer when air conditioning demand rises. Subdued prices of both varieties -- due in part to more Russian shipments -- are also making the purchases more attractive this year.

Dirty fuel oil becomes more appealing for the power sector as gas surges

Asian countries, particularly in the north, had been phasing out power plants able to run on fuel oil, but energy shortages over the last year or so are now forcing a re-assessment of this. Power stations are typically set up to burn a primary type of fuel and only some have the flexibility to switch to alternatives.

Although we have historically witnessed a rapid phase-out of liquids-run power plants, there is still some potential for a utilization increase, said Sofia Guidi Di Sante, an analyst at Rystad Energy in Oslo.

World Embraces Dirtier Fuels as Gas Hits Exorbitant Heights

Wealthier North Asian countries are turning to fuel oil as a supplement to natural gas. Poorer countries in South have been mainly priced out of the gas market and are already dealing with blackouts, so need the dirtier alternatives to prevent a further deterioration in power supply. Whatever the case, environmental concerns are being sidelined for the time being at least, highlighting how the war in Europe has set back action on climate change.

Asian fuel oil demand for power generation should get some support through at least early 2023 from continuously high LNG prices in the region, said JY Lim, Asia oil market analyst at S&P Global Commodity Insights. Thats particularly so for LSFO in and HSFO in Pakistan and Bangladesh, he said.

--With assistance from Yongchang Chin.
The Indonesian government has called on the Group of 20 (G20) members to collect a global fund initiative for the recovery of art and culture as an effort to develop the cultural economy.

The initiation was put forward on Monday by Hilmar Farid, Director General of Culture of the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry during the G20 Culture Ministers' Meeting (G20 CMM) in Magelang Regency, Indonesia's Central Java province.

"Cultures are not only about cultural artifacts or objects, but also cultural actors or artists that create, maintain, and preserve the cultures," Farid said, adding that the G20 members need to listen to the voice and aspiration of cultural practitioners and realise a policy that can accommodate their aspirations, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said that the G20 CMM was expected to bolster the role of culture in the efforts to preserve the planet, he said.

"This can be achieved through real actions, so that sustainable living practices can support economic recovery," he added.

The Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Nadiem Anwar Makarim said on Sunday in the opening remark of the G20 CMM that was committed to pushing for collaboration in practicing sustainable living, and accelerating empowerment and development of the cultural economy.

--IANS

int/khz/

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German police seized 2.3 ton of cocaine from and arrested the alleged organiser of the major drug trafficking, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said.

In cooperation with Peruvian authorities, the cocaine smuggling was first only observed without preventing it in a so-called controlled delivery, according to German police on Monday. Authorities knew on which ship the drug was transported on.

In addition to the 58-year-old main suspect living in Cologne, four suspected accomplices of the were arrested in Peru, according to police.

"The supply pressure of cocaine from South America remains high," said BKA Vice-President Martina Link.

In Germany as well as in other countries in Europe and worldwide, quantities of seized cocaine "increased significantly in recent years".

The largest amount of cocaine ever seized in Europe was found by customs investigators of the port of Hamburg in northern Germany in February 2021 when 16 ton of cocaine was detected in containers from Paraguay, Xinhua news agency reported.

The sea route played a "prominent role" in drug smuggling into Europe, said Link. Combating internationally organised narcotics trafficking remained a "priority task".

--IANS

int/khz/

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Greece's air force on Monday took delivery of a first pair of upgraded F-16 military jets under a $1.5 billion programme to modernise its existing fighter fleet amid increasing tensions with neighbouring .

The two F-16s presented at the Tanagra airbase northwest of Athens are the first of 83 to be refitted with advanced electronics, radar and weapons capabilities by late 2027 by Greece's Hellenic Aerospace Industry, in coordination with U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

The head of Greece's joint chiefs of staff, Gen. Constantinos Floros, said the programme's successful and timely completion is an issue of the highest national importance.

Any potential aggressor will have to think twice or thrice before trying their luck, once the upgrade is completed, he said at Monday's presentation ceremony, adding that the new planes would increase Greece's footprint within NATO.

Relations with historic regional rival have hit a new low following repeated, thinly-veiled threats from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that his country might invade Greece's eastern Aegean Sea islands.

claims the islands have been illegally militarised.

says it needs to defend them against potential attack.

The two NATO allies are also at odds over offshore gas and oil rights, and their fighter jets routinely intercept each other or engage in simulated dogfights over the Aegean.

Asked Sunday by The Associated Press whether the recent escalation in rhetoric from Turkey could be the prelude to an armed conflict, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis replied negatively.

I don't believe this will ever happen," he said.

"And if, God forbid, it happened, Turkey would receive an absolutely devastating response.

Following years of forced savings during the 2010-2018 financial crisis, has embarked on a multi-billion dollar spending spree to boost its armed forces and counter the threat from Turkey.

It has bought or ordered French Rafale fighter jets and FDI frigates, and is planning to purchase F-35 fighters from the U.S.

The F-16s, developed in the 1970s, are the workhorse of Greece's air force. It acquired a first batch of 40 in 1989, and another 130 over the years.

The latest upgrade will bring the 83 planes to the Block 72 variant, which is the most advanced version of the model in service in Europe.

It's an aircraft with enormous capabilities, particularly in its electronics systems, Defence Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos said.

Another four upgraded F-16s will be delivered by the end of this year, while the programme is set for completion in late 2027.

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Pakistan's former prime minister on Tuesday denied talking about granting an extension to Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, saying he had just proposed to defer the appointment of the new army chief till elections.

On Monday, Khan had told a TV channel in an interview that the tenure of the army chief should be extended until his successor is appointed by the new government after elections.

"I never talked about the extension of the army chief's tenure. I just proposed to defer the appointment of the army chief till elections," Khan told reporters at his Banigala residence in the suburbs of capital Islamabad.

He said that a new government should decide on the new army chief.

In his meeting with reporters, the former premier said that the newly-elected government should decide the army chief's selection on merit, adding that he never said who should be the military's head.

"I never said who should be the army chief. I always stressed for an army chief's appointment to be done on merit. A chief justice should also be appointed on merit," he said.

He also said that the two families (Sharif and Zardari families) should never select the head of the armed forces.

Muslim League-Nawaz controlled by the Sharif family of Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shehbaz Sharif and People's Party headed by Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari are the major allies in the current government.

Army chief Gen Bajwa would retire on November 29 and his successor would be announced by the prime minister who is legally authorized to appoint the army chief.

Bajwa has held the top post of the Army for six years. He was initially appointed in 2016, but after three years tenure, the then government of in 2019 extended his service for another three years.

The appointment of army chief is the sole prerogative of the prime minister. The upcoming appointment of a new army chief is in the headlines for all wrong reasons.

When Khan was in power, the opposition accused him of trying to bring an army chief of his choice, who could support his alleged agenda of victimising opposition leaders.

Since he lost power, the equation has changed and now Khan is saying that the coalition government wants to install an army head of its choice to protect looted wealth and steal general elections.

Whatever the political meaning of the rival rhetoric, the fact is that an army chief is seldom a silent spectator of the political games in the country.

The powerful army, which has ruled the coup-prone country for more than half of its 75 plus years of existence, has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy.

Addressing a public rally in Faisalabad earlier this month, Khan had alleged that the government was afraid of fair elections and delaying the polls until the appointment of the new army chief by the end of November when the incumbent Gen Bajwa would retire.

"(Asif Ali) Zardari and Nawaz (Sharif) want to bring their favourite as the next army chief because they have stolen public money," Khan alleged. "They are afraid that when the patriotic army chief comes, he will ask them about their loot."



Strongly objecting his remarks, the army issued a statement in which it accused him of making an attempt to discredit and undermine senior leadership of Pakistan Army at a time when the institution is laying lives for the security and safety of the people.

"Pakistan Army is aghast at the defamatory and uncalled for statement about the senior leadership of Pakistan Army by Chairman PTI during a political rally at Faisalabad, it said.

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A 26-year-old has pleaded guilty in the first-ever case in the US, in which he along with his brother and their Indian-American friend made ill-gotten profits totalling over a million dollars.

Nikhil Wahi, a citizen of India and residing in Seattle, on Monday pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to commit in assets by using confidential Coinbase information about which crypto assets were scheduled to be listed on Coinbase's exchanges.

Coinbase was one of the largest exchanges in the world.

This is the first time that a defendant has admitted his guilt in an case in the US involving the cryptocurrency markets.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Preska on December 13.

In July this year, Nikhil and his elder brother Ishan, 32 along with their Indian-American friend Sameer Ramani, 33, who resided in Houston, was charged in the first ever cryptocurrency insider trading scheme.

Prosecutors said the three were charged in the first-ever cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme, in which the defendants made illegal trades in at least 25 different crypto assets and realised ill-gotten gains totalling approximately USD 1.5 million.

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said that Nikhil, who was arrested in July, pleaded guilty before the US District Judge Loretta A. Preska.

Less than two months after he was charged, Nikhil Wahi admitted in court today that he traded in crypto assets based on Coinbase's confidential business information to which he was not entitled. For the first time ever, a defendant has admitted his guilt in an insider trading case involving the cryptocurrency markets, Williams said.

He added that the guilty plea should serve as a reminder to those who participate in the cryptocurrency markets that authorities will continue to steadfastly police frauds of all stripes and will adapt as technology evolves.

Nikhil Wahi now awaits sentencing for his crime and must also forfeit his illicit profits, Williams noted.

According to the allegations in the Indictment, and statements made in public court proceedings, beginning in approximately October 2020, Ishan worked at Coinbase as a product manager assigned to a Coinbase asset listing team.

In that role, he was involved in the highly confidential process of listing crypto assets on Coinbase's exchanges and had detailed and advanced knowledge of which crypto assets Coinbase was planning to list and the timing of public announcements about those crypto asset listings.

On several occasions between July 2021 and May 2022, after getting tips from Ishan as to which crypto assets Coinbase was planning to list on its exchanges, Nikhil used anonymous Ethereum blockchain wallets to acquire those crypto assets shortly before Coinbase publicly announced it was listing them on its exchanges.

Following Coinbase's public listing announcements, on multiple occasions Nikhil sold the crypto assets for a handsome profit.

To conceal his purchases of crypto assets in advance of Coinbase listing announcements, Nikhil used accounts at centralised exchanges held in the names of others, and transferred funds, crypto assets and proceeds of their scheme through multiple anonymous Ethereum blockchain wallets.

Nikhil also created and used new Ethereum blockchain wallets without any prior transaction history in order to conceal his involvement in the scheme, it added.

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Britain's King Charles III on Tuesday reaffirmed his vow to follow the "shining example" set by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in a speech at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland during his state mourning tour of all parts of the United Kingdom.

The 73-year-old monarch went on a brief walkabout in Hillsborough shortly after landing in Belfast for what is the first visit to the devolved nation by a British King in nearly 80 years.

Joined by his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, Charles shook hands and greeted crowds before heading to St. Anne's Cathedral for a service of reflection for the Queen's life.

"At the very beginning of her life of service, the Queen made a pledge to dedicate herself to her country and her people and to maintain the principles of constitutional government. This promise she kept with steadfast faith," he said in a speech in response to the customary message of condolence by the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Alex Maskey.

"Now, with that shining example before me, and with God's help, I take up my new duties resolved to seek the welfare of all the inhabitants of Northern Ireland. During the years of my mother's reign, it has been a privilege to bear witness to such a devoted life. May it be granted to us all to fulfil the tasks before us so well, he said.

In an apparent reference to the past Troubles of conflict in the region, the new monarch said his late mother "never ceased to pray for the best of times" for Northern Ireland.

"My mother felt deeply, I know, the significance of the role she herself played in bringing together those whom history had separated, and in extending a hand to make possible the healing of long-held hurts, he said.

The reference would be seen as relating to the historic handshake between the late Queen and Martin McGuinness, the former leader of the separatist Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of her reign in 2012.

The British monarch's brief handshake was seen as ushering in a new era in 40 years of troubled history in Northern Ireland and laying separatist forces at rest.

"In the years since she began her long life of public service, my mother saw Northern Ireland pass through momentous and historic changes. Through all those years, she never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and for its people, whose stories she knew, whose sorrows our family had felt, and for whom she had a great affection and regard, stated Charles, in his first address to the region as monarch.

From Belfast, the King and Queen Consort will make their way back to in time to receive the Queen's coffin at Buckingham Palace as it arrives from Edinburgh.

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Financial advisory group Lazard has started talks with India, China and Japan on restructuring Sri Lanka's debt, a spokesman for the government said on Tuesday, as the crisis-hit island nation seeks an Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.



Lazard was hired by in May, along with lawyers Clifford Chance, to guide the government through the process of restructuring its debt, for which estimates range from $85 billion to well over $100 billion.



Earlier this month, the said it had reached a preliminary agreement with for a loan of about $2.9 billion. But for the deal to go through, the country will require debt relief from China, India and Japan, its three main lenders.

"They are in the process of speaking to India, China, Japan, mainly to ensure we come to some sort of consensus," acting cabinet spokesperson Ramesh Pathirana told reporters, referring to Lazard.

"We will keep our fingers crossed that we will be able to come to an agreement."

The three countries hold about $13 billion of Sri Lanka's debt, while China is Sri Lanka's largest bilateral creditor.

Sri Lanka is also expected to formally reach out to private creditors who hold about $12 billion in bonds later this week, a government source told Reuters.

"The government is planning to start talks with the ambassadors of China, U.S., Japan and India next week on debt restructuring," the source said, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak to media.

Sri Lanka is in the throes of its worst financial crisis in seven decades, leaving it with paltry foreign exchange reserves to pay for critical imports of fuel, food and medicine.

(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe in Colombo; Writing by Tanvi Mehta in New Delhi; Editing by Tom Hogue and Edmund Klamann)

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Over 13,000 Indians visited during the first half of 2022 and the footfall is expected to reach pre-Covid levels by 2023 end, despite the ongoing war in the region, City Committee said on Tuesday.

This year during the first six months, hosted 13.3 thousand Indians and it is expected that the pre-pandemic figures will be reached by the end of 2023, Moscow City Committee said in a statement.

In 2021, when the borders opened after the pandemic, it was noted that 48 per cent of Indian travellers visited Moscow.

According to the Federal Agency for Tourism, in 2021, the tourist flow from to Moscow has recovered by 40 per cent compared to the pre-pandemic 2019.

The main driver for this growth in Indian footfalls to Moscow is the visa policy of .

In September, President Vladimir Putin supported the initiative to introduce a visa-free regime for groups of foreign tourists.

Besides that, the e-visa application will be launched for 52 countries, including India, which is a simplified online procedure.

When asked about the ongoing war between and Ukraine affecting tourism, Moscow City Deputy Chairman of Committee Alina Arutyunova said "everything is smooth in spite of the war. In fact the traveller footfalls have increased."



She also plans to hold talks with representatives of the tourism industry to further strengthen Moscow's relationship with .

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The new UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi has said that he will ask the leaders of the process for Security Council reform to start negotiations on "concrete text," which would break one of the biggest logjams that has blocked the reforms.

Speaking to reporters after formally assuming the presidency on Monday, he gave an assurance, "I'll do my best to forward this process."

He said that he will appoint new co-facilitators for the reform negotiations and "ask them to be as impact-oriented as possible, to start negotiations on concrete proposals, concrete text".

"It has been long overdue," he added.

The reform process known formally as the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) has been virtually blocked over decades from proceeding by a determined minority that has stopped it from adopting a negotiating text.

A "concrete text" on which to base the negotiations and set its agenda is essential for the discussions to go forward and not be trapped in an endless circular debate.

A negotiating text would also bring an element of formality to a process that has been conducted with total informality with no official records of proceedings.

The group that is blocking the adoption of a negotiating text calls itself Uniting for Consensus and is led by Italy with Pakistan as one of the members.

Korosi said that he has followed the reform process for 20 years and "heard all the arguments, all the attempts" (at reform).

Laying out his commitment to reform to Council reform, he added, "The world has changed since 1945-1947. The world is very, very different. and the eight billion stakeholders in the United Nations are expecting this organisation to be able to be efficient on delivering (on its) core functions, including issues of peace and security."

"That will need a larger, more representative and more responsive Security Council," he said.

Permanent Representatives Martin Bille Hermann of Denmark and Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani of Qatar were the co-chairs or co-facilitators of the IGN appointed by Abdulla Shahid, who completed his term on Monday.

Acknowledging the slow process of the reforms, Shahid said last week that "baby steps" towards reforms were taken during his presidency, "but in the process that has taken over 14 years, one should (not) have too much of an expectation".

He added that through a process of what he termed "unformal" discussions to creatively try to sidestep formalities, "we were able to have a number of 'divergences' moved to the paper on convergence".

This resulted in the informal document called the 'Elements Paper on Convergences and Divergences' that could serve as the basis of negotiations seeing some movement in identifying differences on Council reforms. This could form the basis of a formal "concrete text" for negotiations.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at aru.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)

--IANS

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Prime Minister and his Pakistani counterpart are likely to have a meeting during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, which is scheduled to be held on September 15-16 at Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

If it materialises, then this would be the first meeting between the two leaders.

Modi had met then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on December 25, 2015, when he had landed in Lahore in a surprise stop-over to the country while on his way back to Delhi after completing a day-long visit to Afghanistan. It was the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian Prime Minister in more than 10 years.

Meanwhile, Modi will be visiting Samarkand to attend the 22nd meeting of the SCO council of heads of state, official sources said.

The SCO is the largest regional bloc in the world comprising eight full members -- India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

The Prime Minister is also expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jingping and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the .

Modi is visiting Uzbekistan on the invitation of the country's President, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The will be attended by leaders of SCO member states, observer states, Secretary General of the SCO, Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), President of Turkmenistan and other invited guests, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said.

At the summit, the leaders would be reviewing SCO's activities of the past 20 years and discuss various aspects related to multilateral cooperation as well as issues of regional and global importance, official sources said.

--IANS

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begged for an end to Russia's senseless and tragic war in Ukraine as he arrived Tuesday in the former Soviet republic of to join faith leaders from around the world in praying for peace.

Francis flew to the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan to meet with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for an official state visit portion of his three-day trip. On Wednesday and Thursday, he participates in a government-sponsored triennial interfaith meeting, which is gathering more than 100 delegations of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Shinto and other faith groups from 50 countries.

The 85-year-old Francis made the trip despite what appeared to be an aggravation of the strained knee ligaments that have greatly reduced his mobility all year. Francis struggled to walk through the aisle of the aircraft during the 6.5-hour flight from Rome, and he appeared tired and in pain as he limped heavily with his cane, ceding to a wheelchair for most events once in town.

Doctors have told him that for the time being, any further travel - to Kyiv, for example - is out of the question.

Speaking upon his arrival to government authorities and diplomats gathered at the Qazaq concert hall, Francis praised Kazakhstan's commitment to diversity and dialogue and its progress from decades of Stalinist repression, when was the destination of hundreds of thousands of Soviet deportees.

Francis said the country, which borders Russia to the north and China to the east and is home to some 150 ethnic groups and 80 languages, now has a fundamental role to play in helping ease conflicts elsewhere.

Recalling that St John Paul II visited just days after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the US, Francis said he was visiting in the course of the senseless and tragic war that broke out with the invasion of Ukraine.

I have come to echo the plea of all those who cry out for peace, which is the essential path to development for our globalised world, he said.

Directing himself at global superpowers, he said expanding efforts at diplomacy and dialogue were ever more important. And those who hold greater power in the world have greater responsibility with regard to others, especially those countries most prone to unrest and conflict.

Now is the time to stop intensifying rivalries and reinforcing opposing blocs, he said.

Tokayev didn't mention Ukraine specifically in his prepared remarks to Francis. But speaking in English, he referred in general terms about humanity being on an edge of an abyss as geopolitical tensions escalate, global economy suffers, and mushrooming religious and ethnic intolerance becomes the new normal".

Kazakhstan has had to walk a thin line with the war. Tokayev has vowed to respect Western sanctions against Russia while trying to maintain close ties with Moscow, an important economic partner and ally. At the same time, Tokayev refused to recognise the Russia-backed separatist people's republics in Ukraine which Moscow recognised days before invading Ukraine.

The most noteworthy aspects of Francis' visit to Kazakhstan might boil down to the missed opportunities with both Russia and China: Francis was supposed to have met with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church on the sidelines of the conference. But Patriarch Kirill, who has supported the war in Ukraine, cancelled his trip last month.

Francis is also going to be in the Kazakh capital at the same time as Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is making his first foreign trip since early in the coronavirus pandemic.

The Vatican and China haven't had diplomatic relations for a half century and the timing is somewhat tense, with the two sides finalising the renewal of a controversial deal over the nominations of Catholic bishops in China.

The Vatican has said there were no current plans for any meeting between Xi and Francis while they were both in Kazakhstan and the Kazakh deputy foreign minister, Roman Vassilenko said he didn't believe there was time in Xi's schedule to meet with Francis.

Asked about the possibility en route to Nur-Sultan, Francis said: I don't have any news about this. But I am always ready to go to China.

The interfaith congress, now in its seventh iteration, is a showpiece of Kazakhstan's foreign policy and a reflection of its own multicultural and multiethnic population that has long been touted as a crossroads between East and West.

When St John Paul II visited in 2001, 10 years after independence, he highlighted Kazakhstan's diversity while recalling its dark past under Stalinist repression: Entire villages of ethnic Poles were deported en masse from western Ukraine to Kazakhstan beginning in 1936, and the Soviet government deported hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans, Chechens and other accused Nazi collaborators to Kazakhstan during World War II.

Many of the deportees' descendants remained and some of them make up the country's Catholic community, which only numbers about 125,000 in a country of nearly 19 million.

Sophia Gatovskaya, a parishioner at Our Lady Of Perpetual Help Cathedral in the capital, said she attended that first papal visit and that it has borne fruits to this day.

It was actually amazing. And after this visit, we have peace and tolerance in our republic. We have a lot of nationalities in Kazakhstan, and we all live together. And we expect the same from this visit (of Pope Francis) that we will have peace in our republic. And we very much expect that the war in Ukraine will end.

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The coffin of was carried out of St. Giles' Cathedral in on Tuesday to begin her final journey through Scotland to a Royal Air Force plane that will carry her back to .

A bagpiper played as the flag-draped coffin was carried out of the cathedral and crowds again lined the Royal Mile through the historic heart of to watch as the coffin, accompanied by the queen's daughter, Princess Anne, was driven away.

Crowds again lined the Royal Mile through the historic heart of as the coffin, accompanied by the queen's daughter, Princess Anne, was driven away.

Thousands of people filed silently past the coffin as it lay in the cathedral for 24 hours after being brought to Edinburgh from the queen's beloved Balmoral Estate, where she died Thursday at age 96, ending her 70-year reign.

King Charles III departed Belfast to receive his mother's coffin in London, where it will stay overnight at Buckingham Palace. The coffin will be taken Wednesday to the Houses of Parliament, where it will lie in state for four days before Monday's funeral.

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Russia's war in Ukraine and the Holy See's strained relations with China are the backdrop to Pope Francis' visit this week to the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, where he is ministering to a tiny Catholic community and participating in an interfaith conference aimed at promoting peace and dialogue.

Francis was flying Tuesday to the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan to meet with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during the state visit portion of the three-day trip.

On Wednesday and Thursday, he participates in an interfaith meeting with more than 100 delegations of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Shinto and other faith groups from 50 countries.

The most noteworthy aspects of Francis' visit might be missed opportunities: Francis was supposed to have met with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church on the sidelines of the conference.

But Patriarch Kirill, who has justified the war in Ukraine, cancelled his trip last month.

Francis is also going to be in the Kazakh capital at the same time as Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is making his first foreign visit since the coronavirus pandemic.

But the says there are no plans for Francis to meet with Xi, who is not attending the congress. The Holy See and Beijing haven't had diplomatic relations for over a half-century and the two sides are finalizing the renewal of a controversial deal over Catholic bishop nominations in China.

Both of which focuses attention on the interfaith conference, an important triennial event for Kazakhstan, a country that borders Russia to the north, China to the east and is home to some 130 ethnic groups.

It's a showpiece of its foreign policy and a reflection of its own multicultural and multiethnic population that has long been touted as a crossroads between East and West.

Darhan Qydyrali, minister of information and social development, said the presence of world religious leaders in the country was fully in Kazakhstan's national interests.

We invited them and hoped that Patriarch Kirill will also participate," he told The Associated Press on the eve of the congress.

"All in all, I think the congress will give an example that other issues can be also solved through the dialogue of religions.

When St. John Paul II visited in 2001, 10 years after independence, he highlighted Kazakhstan's diversity while recalling its dark past under Stalinist repression: Entire villages of ethnic Poles were deported en masse from western Ukraine to beginning in 1936, and the Soviet government deported hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans, Chechens and other accused Nazi collaborators to during World War II.

Many of the deportees' descendants remained and some of them make up the country's Catholic community, which only numbers about 125,000 in a country of nearly 19 million people.

Sophia Gatovskaya, a parishioner at Our Lady Of Perpetual Help Cathedral in the capital, said she attended that first papal visit and that it has borne fruit to this day.

It was actually amazing. And after this visit, we have peace and tolerance in our republic. We have a lot of nationalities in Kazakhstan, and we all live together. And we expect the same from this visit (of Pope Francis) that we will have peace in our republic. And we very much expect that the war in Ukraine will end.

(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 FBI informed Inc of at least one Chinese agent working at the company, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley said during a Senate hearing on Tuesday where a whistleblower testified, raising new concerns about foreign meddling at the influential social media platform.



Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, a famed hacker who served as Twitter's head of security until his firing last year, said some employees were concerned that the Chinese government would be able to collect data on the company's users.



has come under fire previously for lax security, most notably in 2020 when teenage hackers seized control of dozens of high-profile accounts, including the verified profile for U.S. President Barack Obama.



On Tuesday, Zatko's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed Twitter's security issues could be far more serious, alleging for the first time that the company was informed of agents of the Chinese government working at the social media firm.



During his testimony, Zatko referenced a Reuters story on Tuesday that detailed internal clashes between some teams that wanted to maximize the advertising revenue opportunity from Chinese advertisers and who were concerned about doing business inside China amid rising geopolitical tensions.



"This was a big internal conundrum," Zatko said, adding the company was reluctant to turn away from China as the fastest- growing overseas market for ad revenue.



"In a nutshell, if we were already in bed, it would be problematic if we lost that revenue stream," he said.



Zatko said on Tuesday that in the week before he was fired from Twitter, he learned the FBI told the company an agent of China's Ministry of State Security, or MSS, the country's main espionage agency, was on the payroll at Twitter.



It was not immediately clear if the alleged Chinese agent was still working at the company.



Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Zatko's testimony and the committee hearing.



Zatko also said he recalled a conversation with another Twitter executive about concerns that a foreign agent was inside the company. The executive responded "Well, since we already have one, what does it matter if we have more?" When asked if he believed something good would come from the hearing, Zatko said "I hope so."



"I'm basically risking my career and reputation. And if something good comes from this five or 10 years down the road, it will have been worth it."



LITIGATION AGAINST MUSK



Grassley noted that Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal refused to appear at the hearing for fear it could jeopardize the company's litigation against Elon Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla Inc. Twitter and Musk head to trial next month over whether the billionaire's $44 billion takeover deal should be completed.



The senator said in his opening remarks that many of the whistleblower allegations directly implicated Agrawal, and if the claims were true, "I don't see how Mr. Agrawal can maintain his position at Twitter going forward."



Later on Tuesday, Twitter will also announce the results of a shareholder vote on Musk's takeover of the company. Twitter shareholders have approved Muskas buyout of the company, Twitter said on Tuesday after a virtual special meeting of stockholders.



The San Francisco-based company sued Musk for terminating the agreement, while the Tesla chief executive countersued, accusing Twitter of misrepresenting the number of false and spam accounts on its service.



A Delaware judge ruled last week that Musk may include Zatko's whistleblower claims in his case against Twitter, but denied his request to delay the trial.



The Senate Judiciary Committee is questioning Zatko over his claims that Twitter misled regulators about its compliance with a 2011 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over improper handling of user data.



Since then, Twitter has made "little meaningful progress on basic security, integrity and privacy systems," Zatko's complaint filed with regulators in July said.



Twitter has said Zatko was fired for "ineffective leadership and poor performance," and that his allegations appeared designed to harm Twitter.



Zatko's whistleblower complaint appeared to contain over two pages of links to supporting documents, such as emails between Zatko and CEO Agrawal and an assessment of misinformation and disinformation on Twitter. The number of documents was limited compared with those provided by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who released thousands of pages of internal material.

(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 US has vowed to continue to give support to as the Ukrainians are fighting hard to defend their country and take back territory seized by Russia.

Russia invaded on February 24, but Ukrainian forces retook large areas around Kyiv in early April after Russia abandoned its push towards the capital.

"We're not going to speak for Ukrainians. We'll leave it to Ukrainians to describe their operations. But it's clear they are fighting hard to defend their country and take back territory, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday.

We're going to continue to give them the support they need to succeed on the battlefield, she said.

The US has announced two significant security assistance packages last week, brought more than 50 countries together to coordinate its support, and has worked to fulfil the Ukrainian requests for what they need to be successful on the battlefield, the official noted.

After seized Balakliya last Thursday, Russian troops retreated, leaving more than 1,100 square miles back in the hands of Ukraine, the Washington Post reported Monday.

Russia's defence ministry said troops were regrouping, the daily said.

In the last five days, Ukraine has recaptured more territory than Russia has taken since April, according to the Institute for the Study of War, which closely tracks the conflict, said the news report.

The New York Times reported that cracks have emerged in the Russian official narrative as lawmakers and pundits on state television cast doubt on Moscow's prospects.

Meanwhile, US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, and Senator John Cornyn introduced legislation giving the Pentagon enhanced procurement authorities to quickly refill American defence stockpiles after American military aid to Ukraine.

Earlier in the day, Jean-Pierre said that Russia's war in Ukraine is a threat to the rules-based order that has been the foundation of stability across the world for decades.

Russia's actions open the door to aggression elsewhere. And we've been very clear about that, she said.

The President also has been clear that we will continue to support Ukraine as they continue to defend their democracy against Russian aggression, she said, alleging that this is a war that was unprovoked by Russia, an attack on a sovereign country.

We see how bravely the Ukrainians have been fighting to fight for their freedom. We support that. So we are grateful for the bipartisan support that has made it possible to provide Ukraine with the unprecedented military, humanitarian, and financial support. We are asking Congress to pass additional funding to support Ukraine's effort, 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.)
Shares of hit over three-year high of Rs 355.60 on the BSE, as the stock soared 11 per cent in Tuesdays intra-day trade, amid heavy volumes.

The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 337.45 that it had touched on October 14, 2021. It traded at its highest level since June 2019. Earlier, the stock had hit a record high of Rs 673 on December 21, 2017.

In the past two trading days, the stock of the world's leading producer surged 17 per cent. On the other hand, the stock price of zoomed nearly 70 per cent in three months, as against 14 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

At 11:50 am; traded 10 per cent higher at Rs 353.45, as compared to 0.67 per cent rise in the Sensex. The average trading volumes on the counter doubled as a combined 3.6 million equity shares changed hands on the NSE and BSE.

KRBL is one of the largest exporters of from India. The company is known for globally renowned brands - India Gate, Unity and Nur Jahan, which has marked its presence across the entire value-chain of the rice industry. Currently, KRBLs flagship brand India Gate is synonymous with the best quality in domestic as well as international market. Over the years, India Gate has emerged as the most preferred packaged rice brand in many countries, including India.

Last week, the government imposed 20 per cent export duties on various grades of rice like non-basmati, unmilled, semi-milled or totally milled, and husked brown. A blanket ban on broken rice, too, was imposed as domestic supplies dwindled, after below-average monsoon season. However, parboiled and basmati rice were exempted from export duties. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT



According to data published by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS), India registered 27 per cent growth in export of non-basmati rice to touch $6.12 billion in 2021-22, compared to $4.8 billion in 2020- 21, and $2.01 billion in 2019-20. Since 2013-14, Indias non-basmati rice exports have gone up by 109 per cent from $2.92 billion.

However, the exports of Basmati rice saw fall over the previous year in value terms for the third consecutive year. In 2021-22, India exported $3.53 billion worth of Basmati rice, the lowest seen since 2019-20. According to experts, one of the key reasons for the decline is the loss of the traditional market of Iran because of the US sanctions.

India is the main exporter of basmati rice to the international . India exports basmati rice across the world - Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, the UK, Yemen Republic, USA, Canada, and Oman.
Equity mutual funds (MFs) pared their holdings in bluechip stocks such as Reliance Industries, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), in August, amid strong inflows from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs).

Last month, MFs turned net-sellers for the first time in 17 months, selling shares worth Rs 1,200 crore. On the other hand, FPIs bought shares worth Rs 51,204 crore. FPIs were net sellers from October 2021 to June 2022. They had dumped stocks worth Rs 3 trillion during this period.

Industry players said domestic funds decided to book profits on valuation concerns around strong influx of foreign flows.

They sold shares worth Rs 2,030 crore of RIL, Rs 1,950 crore of Bharti Airtel and Rs 1,120 crore of Infosys. HDFC Life Insurance (Rs 1,080 crore) and TCS (Rs 1,080 crore) were the other two stocks that saw selling of more than Rs 1,000 crore.

Typically, MFs step up buying when FPIs sell and go slow when FPIs buy.

Meanwhile, auto ancillary firm Sona BLW Precision Forgings was the most bought stocks by MFs in August, attracting an investment of nearly Rs 1,900 crore. MFs picked up a partial stake divested by private equity major Blackstone in the company.

State-owned NTPC was the second-most bought stock (net buying worth Rs 948 crore) followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank (Rs 850 crore).

In the midcap space, apart from Sona BLW, Max Healthcare (Rs 760 crore), NMDC (Rs 600 crore), and Gland Pharma (Rs 460 crore) were the most bought stocks.

Meanwhile, Rolex Rings (Rs 460 crore), Kirl Pneumatic (Rs 240 crore) and Syrma SGS Tech (Rs 180 crore) saw the highest inflows among small caps. Meanwhile, Kirloskar Oil (Rs 170 crore), Granules India (Rs 120 crore), VIP Industries (Rs 90 crore) saw the biggest outflows in the small-cap universe.
Shares of hit a record high of Rs 2,072.15 on the BSE as the stock rallied 6 per cent in Tuesdays intra-day trade. In the past two weeks, the stock of the Tata Group company has zoomed 29 per cent. In the last one month, it has surged 39 per cent, as compared to 1.8 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

is a non-banking financial company (NBFC) promoted by Tata Sons. The company is registered with the Reserve Bank of India under the category of Investment Company. It is engaged in the business of investment in listed and unlisted equity shares debt instruments of companies in a wide range of Industries and in mutual funds.

The major sources of income for the company consists of dividend income and profit on sale of investments. The company together with Tata Sons is a promoter of the Tata Mutual Fund. The company is also the principal shareholder of Tata Securities Ltd a company engaged in the distribution of mutual funds and other investment-related securities.

For April-June quarter (Q1FY23), Tata Investments had reported a standalone profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 89.74 crore, against Rs 53.89 crore in Q1FY22. It had posted PAT of Rs 20.23 crore in previous quarter (Q4FY22). The healthy growth in earnings was on back of higher dividend income of Rs 74.19 crore ni Q1FY23, as against Rs 41.26 crore in Q1FY22 and Rs 17.55 crore in Q4FY22.

Tata Investment recorded an appreciation of 38 per cent in its NAV in FY22 and realized gains of Rs 430.61 crore on equity investments (post-tax) taking advantage of the buoyant . Going forward the performance will be dependent on how global factors, the economy and corporate earnings shape up over the second half of the year, the company said.

Tata Investment said the company aims to remain invested in leaders in sectors, which they believe have potential to remain value accretive over the medium and long term. The company further said it continues to invest for the long term while availing opportunities to realize gains to augment the operating income for dividend distribution.

The company invests in Tata and Non-Tata companies, both listed and unlisted, though investments in Tata companies constitute a larger portion and may be considered for a longer term and are strategic in nature. The company endeavours to evaluate opportunities and invest considering the macro economic conditions both globally and domestically, Tata Investment said in its FY22 annual report.

The company will continue to look for opportunities to invest in companies which have consistent growth prospects with high quality earnings. In new age companies where valuations are a concern and whose earnings will fructify at a later stage in their development, the Company has made a small allocation of capital, the company said.

It further said the Company will continue to allocate its capital between listed equity, fixed income and unlisted equity. Management will evaluate and select investments based on high quality governance, long term sustainability and strength of the investee companys balance sheets.
Making a dark prediction, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday said that 45 out of the 50 of the Shiv Sena rebel group led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde "will be vanquished in the next elections".

The said that the Chief Minister is making futile attempts to explain how his revolt in early-June was justified and based on certain issues, but the people of the state are not convinced and do not support his views.

Claiming that the regime of Shinde and Bharatiya Janata Party Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is "unconstitutional", the also said that "its benchmark is far below the earlier Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Sena-NCP-Congress" which fell on June 29.

In a stinging statement, Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase slammed Shinde for continuing to justify his rebellion against the ex-CM and Sena President Uddhav Thackeray that toppled the MVA government.

However, Shinde has not said a single word for his vision of Maharashtra, 10 weeks after he took the oath, Tapase pointed out.

"The Shinde-Fadnavis government is yet to get Constitutional validation from the Supreme Court and we shall continue to call it an unconstitutional alliance regime till then," Tapase said sharply.

He said that the Shinde Group is also worried about the criticism levelled by NCP state President Jayant Patil, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar and MP Supriya Sule as his rule has fallen far short of expectations compared with the erstwhile MVA government.

"Moreover, the Shinde Group does not have a disciplined cadre and hence they are spending money to hire people for their meetings. The same crowds were seen looting boxes of 'laddoo' and 'pedhas' (sweetmeats)," Tapase said, hitting at Shinde's rally in Aurangabad's Paithan on Monday where the chaos was witnessed.

Accordingly, the electorate will reject at least 45 of the 50 - who have thrown their lot with Shinde - in the next Assembly elections, predicted Tapase.

In recent weeks, the Opposition MVA has stepped up attacks on the Shinde-Fadnavis government on a variety of issues including the delays in naming district Guardian Ministers, timely aid to the flood-ravaged farmers in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions and other aspects.

--IANS

qn/svn/

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Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Monday took a swipe at the Gehlot government in the state, accusing it of being insensitive towards cows that caused their death.

While talking to ANI, Rathore accused the government of being insensitive towards cows and claimed that lakhs of cows have died due to lumpy disease but the state government is not serious.

"In Rajasthan, thousands of cattle have died due to lumpy skin disease. More than 10 lakh cows are affected due to this disease. The infection is not stopping even after efforts are being made at the administration as well as at the local level," Rathore claimed.

He further said that the state government was running away from the responsibility of protecting the 'Gauvansh' in .

"The Centre has made a vaccine to protect the cow from lumpy disease, but the government has not even made a policy on how to get the vaccination done," he said, adding that control over lumpy disease has been achieved in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

"The government is not worried about protecting the cows. It looks like the protection of cows is related to Hindu dharma so the government is not focusing on it. Most of the time, the Chief Minister of is busy in Delhi. This is the of appeasement, it shows their Islamic thinking," Rathore accused.

(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 third day of the leg of Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra commenced on Tuesday from Kaniyapuram near Kazhakootam here where the yatra ended on the previous day.

The third day of the yatra, which commenced around 7.15 am, also saw an encouraging turnout of people like the previous two days of the leg of the foot march which is set to cover 3,570 kilometres from Kanyakumari to Kashmir over a 150-day period.

When the yatra ended on Monday evening it had covered 100 kilometres.

Addressing a large crowd at Kazhakootam, where the yatra had ended for the day, Gandhi had said that elections can be won with hatred, violence and anger, but this cannot solve the socio-economic problems facing the country.

Buoyed by the encouraging turnout of people, whose numbers had increased as the march progressed during the day, Gandhi -- who is also the MP from Wayanad Lok Sabha seat from -- had attacked the BJP by alleging that the saffron party has proved that hatred can be used politically and to win polls, but cannot generate employment.

He also alleged that conversation and the voice of the people have been silenced in India as the press was saying what the government of the nation wants it to say and that is due to the pressure brought on the owners of media organisations by the ruling dispensation.

"India's dream is broken, not scattered. To realise that dream, we are bringing India together. 100 km done. And, we have just begun," Gandhi tweeted at the end of the day's yatra.

AICC general secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh had tweeted that the Bharat Jodo Yatra has completed exactly 100 km and it has "rattled, unnerved and disturbed the BJP, whereas the Congress party has already been refreshed 100-fold. Every step we walk renews our resolve!"



The 150-day foot march was launched from Kanyakumari in neighbouring Tamil Nadu on September 7 and will cover 12 states and two Union territories.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which entered Kerala on September 10 evening, will traverse through the state covering 450 kilometres, touching seven districts over a period of 19 days before entering Karnataka on October 1.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress on Monday alleged that the BJP has pushed the into unprecedented political uncertainty by failing to maintain law and order and indulging in of hate.

J&K Congress chief Vikar Rasool Wani also hit out at the parties who have allied with the right wing party in the past and said "parties who have allied with the BJP cannot be trusted by the people of Jammu and Kashmir".

"BJP ever since getting access to power in Delhi had been on a rampage of dispossessing and disempowering common people of . It's not about a particular community or a sect, they have went berserk against all of us collectively. We have been used as political cannon fodders by BJP all across the country", Wani said.

He said people want change, as the BJP has failed on all fronts of governance especially unchecked price rise, record unemployment besides other anti-employees, anti-trade, anti-poor in J&K.

"The people of have only one option to fight this monster of hate and discrimination, that option is the Indian National Congress, the only party which hasn't and which will never cozy with BJP," Wani said while criticizing the leaders whose political career is at its dusk but are still busy in implementing the "Nagpur's agenda" in Jammu and Kashmir.

He said that people of all sections are completely fed up with the BJP, as there is uncontrolled price rise, record unemployment in J&K.

"Having failed to give employment to highest number of educated unemployed youth, the Centre and UT Administration is beating about bushes and finding faults in the past Govts", he said.

JKPCC Chief said that people of all sections have turned against the BJP, that's why elections are being delayed fear of losing polls.

"The fact is that the BJP government has failed to deliver to the people on all fronts and would be wiped out of J&K whenever assembly elections take place here".

Wani alleged that Jammu has witnessed huge setbacks due to the revocation of statehood by the BJP government including seizing of jobs, land, and the suppression of political and civil rights.

JKPCC Working President Raman Bhalla also castigated the Centre for remaining busy in rhetoric rather than doing work on ground.

He said that the situation on ground zero in J&K is contrary to the claims of the BJP leadership over colossal development and lasting peace.

(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.)
Parts of Kolkata and Howrah district turned into a battlefield on Tuesday as supporters clashed with the while trying to get past barricades erected to prevent them from marching towards the secretariat Nabanna'.

Several officers and saffron camp members, including leaders Mina Devi Purohit and Swapan Dasgupta, were reportedly injured during the rally organised to protest against the alleged corrupt practices of the Trinamool Congress government.

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, the party's Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee and senior leader Rahul Sinha and several other leaders were detained.

While the alleged that the Mamata Banerjee government does not want to give space to opposition parties, the TMC described the saffron camp workers as hooligans'.

A Kolkata officer said, "There was no report of any serious injury to any protestors though several police personnel have suffered injuries".

The police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the agitators, who tried to go past the barricades that were put in place at several points in Kolkata and its adjoining areas.

"Everyone got to see how the partisan police tried scuttling a leader of the opposition's democratic right to protest outside Nabanna. I was manhandled by a woman constable, people saw that too," Adhikari told reporters before being whisked away in a prison van.

In Santragachhi in Howrah district, the police were pelted with stones as they chased away the protesters.

A police kiosk was damaged as the demonstrators were stopped from moving forward.

The pitched battle continued for several hours at Santragachhi as activists went on throwing stones at the cops standing outside the station and police reinforcements were sent to quell the situation.

Similar scenes were witnessed in Howrah town, Kolkata's Lalbazar and MG Road areas where protesters engaged in a scuffle with the police. In Lalbazar, a police vehicle was set on fire.

Police used water cannons near Howrah bridge, Howrah Maidan area and Santragachhi.

Normal life was disrupted in Kolkata due to the protests, with common people facing huge inconveniences on the thoroughfares, many of which had plunged into chaos.

BJP leaders attacked the administration for the police action during its protest rally.

The party's state president Sukanta Majumdar staged a sit-in in Howrah after being stopped from taking forward the rally.

"This autocratic Mamata Banerjee government does not believe in giving space to opposition parties," he said.

Majumdar also claimed that it was a shame that the police were acting in a partisan manner, further claiming that "some of them have turned into puppets of ruling TMC".

The BJP state chief and senior leader Agnimitra Paul were later detained from a protest site at Howrah Maidan.

Suvendu Adhikari and other BJP leaders were later released on PR bond.

Vowing to move court against the police action on BJP rallyists, Adhikari claimed, "This government will not last beyond January 2023.

BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh, who led the protesters near Howrah bridge, left the site in the midst of a lathi-charge on his party's supporters.

"Our fight against this jungle raj will continue," Ghosh said.

"Only 15 per cent of the BJP workers could attend today's march to Nabanna as the rest were prevented from coming to the city and Howrah. And yet see the impact. Eighty per cent of state police had to be deployed with water cannons, batons, tear gas shells to tackle these 15 per cent party workers and supporters," BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya told PTI.

He claimed that scores of party workers and senior leaders were manhandled and injured in police attacks and BJP would reveal the figure tomorrow.

Seven trains were hired by the BJP to bring its supporters from the northern and southern parts of on Monday for the protest march to 'Nabanna'.

The TMC tweeted, "@BJP4Bengal karyakartas or hooligans?"



The state's ruling party shared videos showing alleged BJP workers attacking a policeman with wooden rods and a police vehicle.

"Destroying and damaging government property, attacking police personnel, causing chaos and disrupting peace across the state -- today's activities of BJP that brought shame upon the entire nation. We strongly condemn such outrageous behaviour," the party said in a tweet.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh alleged that the BJP was fomenting trouble under the garb of protest.

"It is part of a bigger game plan to destabilise West Bengal this festive season. This is not a democratic movement. This is goondaism," 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.)
Congress legislators on Tuesday dumped loads of garlic at a gate of the Assembly on the opening day of the monsoon session, accusing the state government of being apathetic towards farmers who were not getting adequate prices for their crops.

Some videos had surfaced in the last few days on social media showing farmers throwing sacks full of garlic on roads and in rivers and drains in Madhya Pradesh, apparently after getting low prices for their produce.

One of the farmers had claimed they were being offered just Re one per kg for their garlic produce.

On the first day of the MP Assembly's monsoon session on Tuesday, Congress MLAs Sachin Yadav, Jitu Patwari, Kunal Choudhary, P C Sharma and others carried bags full of garlic on their shoulders and dumped key kitchen staple in front of gate number 3 of the Assembly.

The farmers are not getting even the input cost of their garlic produce. They are forced to sell it at just Re one per kg and therefore, have been throwing the produce in rivers and mandis in protest, Yadav told reporters.

The government is talking about doubling the income of farmers, but the fact is that they are not even getting the input cost, he claimed.

The rising prices of fertilisers, seeds and diesel have already hit the farmers hard and now they are not even getting input cost of their produce, he added.

Yadav demanded that the government immediately address the problems of farmers by implementing the 'Bhavantar Yojna' (compensating difference in the cost of production and market price).

The opposition legislators, while proceeding towards the entrance gate, raised slogans like "Kisano ke samman me, Congress maidan me, to express their support to farmers.

They also alleged that the ruling "bought" legislators but was apathetic towards farmers and did not have money to buy the garlic cultivated by them.

Two years ago, 22 Congress MLAs had resigned, which led to the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in .

The later came to power in the state under the leadership of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Recently, a number of videos emerged in which farmers were seen dumping garlic on roads and in rivers and drains, specially in MP's Malwa and Nimar regions which are the major garlic producing areas.

One such farmer, Vikas Sisodia, had claimed he was getting just Re 1 per kg for his garlic crop in Indore market and hence, he considered it appropriate to dump the produce in a drain near his village.

Sisodia had claimed he suffered a loss of Rs 3 lakh in cultivating garlic this year.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With the Assembly elections nearing, the ruling in is all set to pursue aggressive 'Hindutva' agenda in the state.

Riding high on the success of the 'Janaspandana' rally to celebrate completion of three years of government rule in the state, the saffron party is majorly banking on polarisation of majority Hindu votes in the state.

It will also impart special training to police sub-inspectors on the Cow Slaughter Bill besides getting the Anti-Conversion Bill passed in the state legislature during the ongoing monsoon session.

As per insiders, the party has decided to pursue an aggressive 'Hindutva' agenda in the state, challenging the claim of Congress leaders and progressive thinkers that the Hindutva agenda will never work in .

It has also set its eyes on implementing the Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020, popularly known as anti-cow slaughter act in the state, sources in the Ministry of Animal Husbandry confirmed.

The police officers of the rank of sub-inspectors will get special training to plug the loopholes in the execution of accused persons in the case.

Though the act has been implemented and cases are being filed across the state regarding illegal cow slaughtering and illegal transportation of cows, the accused and owners of slaughter houses are managing to get out of clutches of law.

This is happening as the provisions of the bill are not being implemented, sources say.

It has also been decided to impart special training at district level to all PSI's to invoke provisions of the act appropriately at the time of filing of FIR.

Minister for Animal Husbandry Prabhu Chauhan stated that his government would take note of the development of dropping of the accused persons names mentioned in the FIR, at the stage of charge-sheet.

He maintained that police officers will be made to understand the development and his government would do this.

The recently murdered Bajrang Dal activist Harsha from Shivamogga and BJP Yuva Morcha member Praveen Kumar Nettare were in forefront of protest against illegal transportation and slaughter of cows.

Ruling BJP in the state is facing the heat regarding encouraging cow vigilantism especially in coastal Karnataka region.

On the other hand, an Anti-Conversion bill, already in place as an ordinance, will be presented in the Legislative Council. The bill has already been passed in the Legislative Assembly.

The BJP will implement the law with much more force in the state, once the bill is passed, sources stated.

During the recent mega event, BJP paid tribute to party activist Praveen and hailed his contribution to the Hindutva cause.

--IANS

mka/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.)
As Indian conglomerate and Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn jointly inked a pact to set up a semiconductor and display manufacturing unit in Gujarat, the opposition in on Tuesday slammed the Eknath Shinde-led government for "losing" out on the Rs 1,54,000-crore project.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the main opposition outfit, accused the neighbouring state, ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of snatching morsel from Maharashtra's mouth. State NCP president and former minister Jayant Patil said with the project slipping away from the hands of Maharashtra, the state has lost an investment potential of Rs one lakh crore.

Taking an aim at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, whose government is being supported by the BJP, Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), when it was in power, had "very strongly" pursued this project. It was almost decided that the plant will come up in Maharashtra, said Thackeray, who served as a cabinet minister in the erstwhile MVA government headed by the Shiv Sena. A joint venture of Vedanta, an oil-to-metals conglomerate, and Foxconn signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government on Tuesday to set up a semiconductor and display manufacturing unit in the state. Vedanta-Foxconn would invest Rs 1,54,000 crore to set up the facility in Gujarat, which would create one lakh job opportunities, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said after the MoU was signed in the presence of Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw at a function in Gandhinagar. This is the biggest-ever corporate investment in the history of independent India, said Science and Technology Department Secretary Vijay Nehra, who signed the MoU on behalf of the state government.

(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.)
Kolkata Police has detained Leader of Opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari and MP Locket Chatterjee ahead of Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) protest march to state secretariat 'Nabanna' on Tuesday.

The BJP leaders were detained from Hastings in Kolkata when they were leading the Nabanna Chalo Abhiyan. Adhikari, Chatterjee and BJP leader Rahul Sinha were taken to Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar.

Before the detention, Adhikari said Chief Minister lost the support of people and turned into North Korea.

"Chief Minister Mamata does not have the support of her people and so she is enforcing dictatorship, similar to North Korea in Bengal. Police will have to pay for what it is doing since Monday. BJP is coming," Adhikari told ANI.

Kolkata Police has put up heavy barricading at Hastings near the state government's new Secretariat in Kolkata ahead of BJP's Nabanna Chalo march.

Buses carrying BJP workers, on their way to Kolkata to participate in the Nabanna Chalo march, were stopped by the police in North 24 Parganas.

Earlier today, a clash broke out between BJP workers and Police outside the Raniganj railway station as workers leave for Kolkata to take part in Nabanna Abhiyan on Tuesday.Police took many workers into preventive custody in Raniganj.

Further, a clash broke out between BJP workers and police inside the Bolpur railway station as police prevented workers to leave for Kolkata to participate in the Nabanna Chalo march. Several workers were detained.

"With hundreds of BJP workers heading towards Kolkata to join BJP's Nabanna march via trains, police barricaded paths to railway stations. 20 of our workers were stopped by police near Durgapur railway station. I reached here using other paths," said BJP leader Abhijit Dutta.

Meanwhile, Police made heavy deployment of personnel to stop BJP's Nabanna Abhiyan. The borders of Kolkata have been cordoned off with tight security to prevent the procession. A heavy barricading has been put up in Howrah also in view of the BJP's march.

Various roads across Kolkata have been blocked with barricades. To prevent the procession, the Police has turned the 5-kilometre radius around Nabanna into a fortress.

BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul on Monday said, "The preparations for Nabanna Chalo Abhiyan have been done. It is not just BJP's protest, but the protest of all people of Bengal. has to answer why her government has cheated the people of Bengal.

(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.)
is leaving the laptop market, and has reportedly cancelled its next pixelbook and shifted the team to other verticals.

According to The Verge, the laptop was expected to debut next year but the project "was cut as part of recent cost-cutting measures" at .

"Members of the team have been transferred elsewhere inside the company, the report said.

The Pixelbook Go will be the last of Google's laptops. Google's hardware offerings currently have Pixel series of phones.

is likely planning a Pixel foldable smartphone and a new Android Pro tablet.

The company has also announced a Pixel Watch that is likely to arrive along with Pixel 7 series smartphones during its launch event on October 6.

The tech giant first teased the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro at its I/O developer conference in May.

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently announced to slow down hiring and cut some projects across the company.

"In some cases, that means consolidating where investments overlap and streamlining processes. In other cases, that means pausing development and re-deploying resources to higher priority areas," Pichai said in July.

The Pixelbook team and the Pixelbook have been the "casualties of that consolidation and redeployment".

"Google doesn't share future product plans or personnel information; however, we are committed to building and supporting a portfolio of Google products that are innovative and helpful for our users," a company spokesperson was quoted as saying.

--IANS

na/

(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.)
September 09, 2022, Friday

The new tech will bring a lot of benefit but can also bring some significant potential for disruption in the future of finance, ...
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 13 (ANI/NewsVoir): With a razor-sharp focus on customer centricity, (https://razorpay.com) Razorpay, India's Leading full-stack Payments and Banking Platform for Businesses has been on a mission to build the financial backbone for all kinds of businesses in India, enabling each one to unlock uninterrupted business growth.

Most recently, leading omnichannel eyewear brand Lenskart and reputed financial services conglomerate Mirae Asset Capital Markets (I) Pvt. Ltd. chose Razorpay as their trusted Payments Partner for online transactions. As their preferred payments partner, Razorpay will be simplifying the payment experience for thousands of their end customers.

According to transactions held on the Razorpay platform, it is not only the popular e-commerce, food & travel segments driving the digital payment ecosystem today but the less popular segments such as stock trading and mutual funds are also making a significant mark. Compared to 2021, in 2022, stock trading and mutual funds saw growth in transaction volumes at 75 per cent and 100 per cent respectively.

Arun Chaudhry, Director & Chief Business Officer, Mirae Asset Capital Markets (I) Pvt. Ltd. said, "When it comes to investing and trading, we, at the Mirae Asset Group consider technology as the biggest enabler not only for business but also for our customers. From instant onboarding, availability of information at fingertips, offering insights basis behavioral patterns, to enabling quick payments at the click of a button, all of it now just takes seconds. Our recently launched investment platform - m.Stock is a testament to this claim. Given our fully digital business model, we are happy to have partnered with Razorpay in our journey at offering the best investment solutions to our customers in the most seamless way possible, and look forward to some eventful times ahead."

Indranil Chakravarty, Chief Business Officer, Aqualens & Lenskart said, "Customer satisfaction is at the core of every brand's existence today. And to have satisfied and empowered customers, it is essential to have a smooth purchase process. We wanted a straightforward and trusted mediator for Aqualens & Lenskart. As a brand with a multichannel presence and transactions conducted with D2C and B2B partnerships, we needed a transparent and reliable payment gateway to lead the business transactions in all our retail environments. Today, with partners like Razorpay, we are catering to a customer base of over 1 million users."

Welcoming the new customers, Rahul Kothari, Chief Business Officer at Razorpay said, "We are delighted to be chosen as the trusted payments partner by the two industry leaders who have gone through significant digital transformations and today have different personalities, different payment & banking needs, and a different set of consumers and markets to cater to. We look forward to empowering them with a full-stack financial solution that acts as their central nervous system for everything payments and business banking. Working with small and big businesses has only brought us closer and made us more passionate about solving complex payment and banking problems of India so that millions of businesses can benefit from the enormous growth digital medium offers."

With almost every transaction happening in the virtual world, it is imperative for businesses to ensure seamless, hassle-free payment experiences for their customers in the offline and online world. This includes real-time reconciliation, reduction in time per transaction, minimal failures while ensuring a risk-free environment. Keeping this and a fast-evolving dynamic regulatory environment in mind, Razorpay effectively and efficiently solves payment complexities that businesses go through daily, making it a one-stop shop for everything payments and banking for businesses.

Razorpay, a full-stack financial services company helps Indian businesses with comprehensive and innovative solutions built over robust technology to address the entire length and breadth of the payment and banking journey for any business. Established in 2014, the company provides technology payment solutions to over 8Mn businesses.

Founded by alumni of IIT Roorkee, Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur, Razorpay is the second Indian company to be a part of Silicon Valley's largest tech accelerator, Y Combinator. Marquee investors such as Lone Pine Capital, Alkeon Capital, TCV, GIC, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, Matrix Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Y Combinator and MasterCard have invested a total of USD 741.5 Mn through Series A, B, C, D, E & F funding. A few angel investors have also invested in Razorpay's mission to simplify payments and banking and redefine how finance works in India.

For more information, please visit: (https://razorpay.com).

This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)

DISCLAIMER

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Citing elusive consensus and possible discrimination against developing economies prompted India to stay out of the trade pillar of the United States-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, or IPEF. Given that India is currently negotiating trade deals with the UK, Canada and EU, is the IPEF decision a step in the wrong direction? Also, what does this mean for Indias ambition to become a larger player in global trade?

Staying with international trade, India is one of the largest producers of fruits and vegetables. But it has long been struggling to ramp-up its exports -- where smaller countries like Thailand are way ahead.

India is the world's second largest rice producer followed by China. But last week, the government imposed export duties on various grades of rice. Analysts expect that this protectionist measure will harm the profitability of rice-mill companies in the near-term. However, healthy rice harvest and sound fundamentals are expected to override negative sentiments in the long- haul.

Did you know that you can click a photo on any item and search similar products on the web? People are using visual search over 8 billion times a month. Find out more in this episode of the podcast.
Economic Framework, or IPEF, was formed jointly by the US and partner countries of the region on the sidelines of the Quad Summit in Tokyo on the 23rd of May this year.

IPEF is an important part of US President Joe Bidens strategy to counter growing Chinese clout in the Asian economic sphere. The first in-person ministerial meeting of the 14-nation bloc took place in Los Angeles last week.

And its joint declaration was on the expected lines. India decided to join three pillars of the IPEC. These relate to supply chains, tax and anti-corruption, and clean energy. However, it has decided to opt out of the trade pillar for now.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal cited the lack of a broader consensus on issues such as environment, digital trade, labour and public procurement. Stating that the final contours of the framework on trade were yet to emerge, Goyal said that India was yet to ascertain what benefits member countries would derive. And whether any of the conditions, for example on the environment, might discriminate against developing countries.

The minister also pointed out that India was in the process of firming up its digital framework and laws, especially on privacy and data. According to Goyal, while India would continue to engage with IPEF on trade, it would wait for the final contours to emerge before finally associating with that particular pillar.

Apart from India and the US, the 12 other members of the IPEF are Australia, Brunei, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. All the other member nations have joined IPEF's four pillars. The IPEF partner countries represent over 40 per cent of the global economy.

The IPEF has four pillars. The first is supply-chain resilience. The second involves clean energy, decarbonisation, and infrastructure. The third deals with taxation and anti-corruption. And, the fourth one is fair and resilient trade. The US is also seeking to include issues like the cross-border flow and localisation of data under the framework.

According to a February report by the US Congressional Research Service, member countries have to sign up to all of the components within a particular pillar, but do not have to participate in all the pillars.

The fair and resilient trade pillar is being led by the United States Trade Representative and includes digital, labour, and environment issues, with some binding commitments. However, the IPEF does not include market access commitments such as lowering tariff barriers.

IPEF is the first plurilateral deal that India has agreed to join after exiting the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, deal in 2019. The decision to opt out of the trade pillar for now may make sense since it is possible that India is not adequately prepared to handle negotiations on labour, environment standards and digital trade.

After all, domestic regulations in all of these areas are yet to reach a level of maturity. But, there is need for a nuanced view because while Indias domestic limitations may have driven its decision, there will be an impact on how member nations, especially the US, view it. Also, the impact of the decision on Indias ambition to be a part of the global value chain needs to be looked at closely.

While the decision may be the right step as far as Indias domestic sensitivities are concerned in the short-term, there is also a counter argument when it comes to how competent the country is in negotiating on complex trade issues. Remember that at present, India is negotiating trade deals with the UK, Canada and EU. It has also agreed to including chapters regarding new-generation trade issues.
Visual search is just a new way of searching for products on the internet by using an image, rather than the traditional method of typing keywords.

For instance, if you saw a new Nike Jordan shoe with a specific colour on a social media platform, but don't know exactly how to describe it in words, you can visual search and find the related matching product by uploading the screenshot. In this case, the visual search saves a lot of time and offers quick results.

Visual search has been around for many years and was built into social media and e-commerce platforms like Snapchat and Amazon. But it is gaining popularity now.

According to a survey by an artificial intelligence company a few years ago, 62 per cent of Gen Z and millennial consumers sought visual search capabilities more than any other .

Alphabet chief Sundar Pichai said people are using Google Lens to conduct visual searches more than 8 billion times a month. There are over 600 million visual searches on Pinterest every month.

A successful visual search engine requires machines to not only detect, but also recognise specific objects in the image to understand what the customer actually wants, and this is where the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning helps.

This is mostly employed by e-commerce players to improve the shopping experience of consumers. In India, Flipkart and Meesho have employed visual search . For categories such as fashion, jewellery, home decor, and beauty products, images play a key role in influencing decisions and add a lot of convenience for customers.

For the last few years, the visual search market has also made big strides in other various fields too such as aviation, forestry, automotive OEMs and electronics. There are also use cases in security screening, baggage scanning and navigation systems. The global visual search market is projected to surpass $14,727 million by 2023, growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 9 per cent.
Evergrande purchased the headquarters building in 2015 from Chinese Estates Holdings Ltd. for a record HK$12.5 billion.

Debt-ridden China Evergrande Group lost control of its Hong Kong headquarters building to a creditor over an unpaid loan of almost $1 billion in the latest sign of the developers deepening financial woes.

The 26-story China Evergrande Center in the Wan Chai area was seized Sept. 6 by consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal, according to a document from Hong Kongs Companies Registry.
HYDERABAD: The US administration has appointed Jennifer Larson as the new Consul General for the US Consulate General in Hyderabad. Her tenure begins on September 13.

I couldnt be more excited to be here in Hyderabad... Ive spent the last five years working on the US-India relationship from Mumbai and Washington. Now Im honored to have the opportunity to expand our partnership in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha. From joint military exercises and business ties to cultural exchanges and higher education, the US-India relationship is only growing broader and deeper in Hyderabad, Larson said.

Consul General Larson brings nineteen years of diplomatic experience with her to Hyderabad. Previously, she served as Deputy Principal Officer at the US Consulate General in Mumbai and as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for India.

She most recently served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for India in Washington, where she supported the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in formulating and implementing US-India policy.

In addition to serving as a spokesperson in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in Washington, she has also served in Libya, Pakistan, France, Sudan, Jerusalem, and Lebanon.

Before joining the Foreign Service, Consul General Larson worked for National Public Radios San Francisco affiliate as a talk show producer. She completed her undergraduate and graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley in Comparative Literature (Arabic, Spanish and French) and Middle East Studies.
BERLIN (AA)  German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to cease military operations and withdraw troops from Ukraine in a lengthy phone call on Tuesday.

Given the seriousness of the military situation and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, the chancellor urged the Russian President to take steps to find a diplomatic solution as soon as possible, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement.

During the 90-minute phone call, Scholz underlined the need for an immediate cease-fire, demanded a complete withdrawal of Russian troops, and urged respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, according to the statement.

The chancellor emphasized that any further Russian move towards annexation (of Ukrainian territories) would not go unanswered and would not be recognized under any circumstances, Hebestreit said.

The leaders also had discussions on the situation at Ukraines Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports.

The chancellor and the Russian president agreed to remain in contact, the spokesman said.
William Ruto sworn in as Kenya's fifth president AA Images

Ruto took the oath in the presence of Chief Justice Martha Koome, as laid out in the Constitution. He succeeds Uhuru Kenyatta, who has been president since 2013, and under whom Ruto served as deputy president.

"I William Samoei Ruto, in full realization of the high calling I assume as President of the Republic of Kenya, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Republic of Kenya and that I will obey, preserve, protect and defend this constitution of Kenya as by law established and all other laws of the Republic," Ruto said, taking the oath of office as Kenyas fifth president.



"I will protect and uphold the sovereignty, integrity, and dignity of the people of Kenya, so help me God."



Ruto took the oath in the presence of Chief Justice Martha Koome, as laid out in the Constitution. He succeeds Uhuru Kenyatta, who has been president since 2013, and under whom Ruto served as deputy president.





Also invited were high-level delegations from across the world and a wide array of dignitaries.



There was heavy security at the 60,000-capacity Kasarani stadium, which was full to the brim. According to the Interior Ministry, 10,000 police officers were deployed to provide security for the attendees.



Thousands more were left locked outside as the stadium was full to capacity. There were several stampedes outside the stadium as those left outside tried to go in, and at least eight people were injured and taken to hospital by emergency services.



Rigathi Gachagua, 57, a former member of Parliament who has served previously in various capacities in public administration, was also sworn in as Kenyas twelfth deputy president.



Science and politics



Beginning in April 2013, Ruto himself was the countrys first elected deputy president, replacing the vice presidential post, which was appointed, not elected.



Born in December 1966 in Sugoi, Uasin Gishu County in Kenyas Rift Valley, 55-year-old Ruto is a graduate of the University of Nairobi with a bachelor of science in botany and zoology.



Ruto went back to the university in 2011 where he got a masters in science and later a PhD in the same field.



In 2011, then-Deputy President Ruto and Kenyatta, then deputy prime minister, were among six people accused of war crimes at the International Criminal Court for funding and sponsoring violence in 2007-8 post-election violence that killed at least 1,200 people.



Their cases were dropped in 2016 due to insufficient evidence after witnesses withdrew from the case.

AA/Nairobi
Amaravati farmers march against the Three Capitals plan of the AP government. (DC)

VIJAYAWADA: Farmers have started the Maha Padayatra - 2.0 after offering special prayers at a temple in Venkatapalem in Guntur district on Monday. They would cover nearly 900 km in 60 days and end the journey in Arasavilli in Srikakulam district. Their main aim is to press for developing Amaravati as APs capital city.

The AP high court has directed the state DGP to allow the Maha Padayatra with certain conditions. This, after the police refused to give permission, citing law and order problems.

The farmers started the padayatra by keeping a chariot of Lord Venkateswara in the front. This has become a centre of attraction as the padayatra passed through Venkatapalem, Krishnayapalem, Yerrabalem, and reached Mangalagiri.
Basically, there are two reasons why automakers would design and build a car. Either theyre doing it for the sheer passion of it, or becaus...
FCT Combustion awarded Bussac burner order

13 September 2022

FCT Combustion has been awarded a contract by DAL Engineering Group to deliver a Turbu-Flex burner and accessories for HeidelbergCements Bussac Foret plant, France.

The targets of the project are to maximise the use of alternative fuels as well as to improve combustion control. The scope includes the alternative fuel state of the art Turbu-Flex burner, igniter, flame sensor, measuring and control accessories, as well as a LPG valve train and a new burner management system.

Delivery is expected to occur before the end of 2022, with commissioning foreseen for the winter stoppage at the beginning of 2023.

Published under
VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday called for a monthly audit of government schools revamped under the Nadu-Nadu programme to check on the amenities provided, the utilization of maintenance funds and other issues.

Chairing a high-level review meeting on schools with education minister Botsa Satyarnayana and top officials here, the CM felt the need to widen the scope of school audits to keep a tab on how they were functioning. He asked officials to set up a toll- free number to receive complaints about their functioning.

The officials informed the CM that toll free number 14417 was in place to receive such complaints. Based on the CMs directions, village/ward secretaries were made a part of the school maintenance team. A welfare and education assistant and a women police would be visiting the schools on a weekly basis while ANMs would visit these once a month, the officials stated.

The officials said standard operating procedures have been introduced specifying the role of each official inspecting the schools.

The CM asked secretariat staff to upload photographs highlighting the issues in the revamped schools and send them to senior officials. At mandal level, one education officer should take care of academic affairs while others would attend to administrative matters, he said.

On Vidya Kanuka kits distribution, the CM asked the officials to pay uniform tailoring charges to the mothers of the students on the opening day itself. Parents committees must be made active to monitor the functioning of the schools, he said, and felt the need for these to hold frequent meetings to discuss the issues of the respective school.

The officials informed the CM that they would distribute the free kit to the students in June next year.

The CM laid stress on complete digitisation of classrooms by March next in the first phase and called for providing internet facility to all schools in addition to village secretariats, RBKs and village clinics.

The officials informed the CM that as per the government plan, 5,18,740 tabs would be purchased with preloaded Byju's content along with smart TVs and interactive TVs. As many as 72,481 TV sets were required for classrooms in a phased manner and this would cost Rs. 512 crore. We shall complete the first phase of digitization of classrooms by March next, the officials promised the CM.
Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti on Monday objected to the U.S. Department of Educations (the Department) proposed Title IX regulations in a formal comment letter joined by 19 other state attorneys general.

Title IX of the Education Amendment protects people from discrimination based on sex and applies to schools, local and state educational agencies, and other institutions that receive federal financial assistance from the Department.

In his comments to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, General Skrmetti contends the Departments proposed redefinition of sex in Title IX to include gender identity would promote sex-based discrimination and threaten constitutional rights.

For 50 years, Title IX has protected girls and women and enhanced their educational opportunities, said General Skrmetti. The proposed regulations will hurt women, violate the Constitution, and create confusion as to what the law is and what the law requires.

The comment letter points to several predictable violations of constitutional rights that may ensue if the proposal becomes law, said officials:

State-run public college would have to compel speech in violation of the First Amendment arising from the forced use of certain pronouns and other referential terms.

School administrators may feel forced - or empowered - to insert themselves into constitutionally protected family affairs.

Title IX would, as implemented, reach beyond Congresss lawmaking authority.

The Departments proposed regulations follow an Executive Order issued by President Joe Biden March 8, 2021 guaranteeing an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex, including sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Department followed suit with new Title IX guidance, which pressured schools to allow boys to compete on girls teams, prohibit single-sex locker rooms and bathrooms, and force students and teachers to use subjective and arbitrary pronouns.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee stopped the Department from enforcing the guidance July 17, following a lawsuit filed by Tennessee, joined by 19 other states, against The Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Subsequently, The Department issued proposed Title IX regulations and invited public comment for 60 days. You can read the entirety of Tennessees comments here: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2022/pr22-34-letter.pdf

Tennessee is joined on the letter by the attorneys general of the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Governor Bill Lee and Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart McWhorter announced Monday that the state will award $446,770,282 in grants for the expansion of internet access across the state of Tennessee.



In total, the broadband infrastructure grants will provide broadband access to more than 150,000 unserved homes and businesses across 58 counties.



People are moving to Tennessee from across the nation in record numbers, and we have an obligation to prepare our state for continued growth, said Governor Lee. Our strategic investments in broadband infrastructure will ensure our rural communities are connected and have every opportunity to thrive, and I thank the Financial Stimulus Accountability Group for managing dollars effectively to serve Tennesseans.



According to the 2020 Broadband Deployment Report published by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), one in six rural Tennesseans lacks access to broadband. Since 2018, TNECD has awarded nearly $120 million in broadband grants through state and federal funding to serve more than 140,000 Tennessee households.



To achieve economic growth and prosperity, its imperative that Tennessees communities have the proper infrastructure in place, Comm. McWhorter said. Thanks to the $447 million awarded in funding, broadband access will be available to 36 grantees with 75 projects across 58 Tennessee counties, and we look forward to seeing how these grants spur further success among each community.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury previously defined unserved areas as lacking access to a wireless connection capable of minimum speeds of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3 Mbps upload. However, due to the increasing demands of the digital age, any connection that provides lower than 100 Mbps download speed and 20 Mbps upload speed is now deemed unserved. In consideration of this new definition, application priority was still given to those with the lowest internet speeds, but all applications under this new definition of unserved were considered.



Funding for these grants comes through the Tennessee Emergency Broadband Fund  American Rescue Plan (TEBF-ARP), which utilizes a portion of the states federal American Rescue Plan funds to address the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and work toward a strong recovery. Tennessees Fiscal Stimulus Accountability Group (FSAG) dedicated $500 million to broadband funding from this program, with more than $446 million going to infrastructure and nearly $50 million going to broadband adoption and digital literacy efforts.



Our world is increasingly interconnected. In order for Tennesseans to thrive in this interconnected world, broadband internet must be accessible, said Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally. These grants will greatly expand our broadband footprint in Tennessee giving our citizens the tools to access information, educate themselves and do business like never before. Im grateful to Governor Lee and Commissioner McWhorter as well Commissioner Eley and my legislative colleagues on the Financial Stimulus Accountability Group for directing these dollars to benefit our citizens and our state.



Tennessee has experienced considerable growth across all regions of our state over the past decade. Through this significant investment in our broadband infrastructure, more citizens will have the option to access high-speed broadband services at work, in their homes and in schools, said Speaker Cameron Sexton. I appreciate Governor Lee, Lieutenant Governor McNally, Commissioner McWhorter, Commissioner Eley and members of the Fiscal Stimulus Accountability Group for their effective, committed partnership as we all continue working together to increase the reliability of services throughout the state.



Broadband is crucial for our rural communities to grow and thrive, said Senator Bo Watson. Because of our conservative approach to fiscal management, we have the ability to invest in important projects like broadband expansion that will fuel future economic growth. I am confident this investment will yield great returns for our state and its citizens.



In todays world, reliable broadband is as essential as water and electricity, said Representative Patsy Hazlewood. This expansion will be transformative for Tennessee families and businesses by removing barriers to commerce, health care and educational opportunities as well as other necessities of modern life.



For this round of funding, TNECD received 218 applications requesting over $1.2 billion.



The final grants will be distributed across 75 applications submitted by 36 grantees, all of whom will provide broadband to various unserved regions of Tennessee. These grantees are a range of internet service providers, including electrical and telephone cooperatives, local municipalities, private providers and cable companies. These grant recipients were chosen through a rigorous criterion, which included the need of the grant area, the ability to complete the project and strong community support.



Grantees will provide approximately $331 million in matching funds to complete these projects for a combined investment of $778 million in new broadband infrastructure projects across the state. These projects must be completed within three years.



Below is a list of the TEBF-ARP recipients for the latest round of funding:



 Aeneas Communications, LLC

$3,680,631.00  serving parts of Haywood and Fayette counties

 Appalachian Electric Cooperative

$8,631,244.48  serving parts of Jefferson, Grainger and Hamblen counties

 Ardmore Telephone Company, Inc.

$11,446,165.50  serving parts of Giles and Lincoln counties

 AT&T Tennessee

$499,730.04  serving parts of Dickson County

 Ben Lomand

$23,912,632.40  serving parts of Coffee and Cumberland counties

 Board of Public Utilities of the City of Fayetteville, Lincoln County, Tennessee

$8,899,590.00  serving parts of Lincoln County

 Bledsoe Telephone Cooperative

$17,729,814.96  serving parts of Bledsoe, Sequatchie and Van Buren counties

 Bolivar Energy Authority

$20,168,743.18  serving parts of Fayette, Chester and Madison counties

 BTC Communications, LLC

$5,066,519.04  serving parts of Rhea and Cumberland counties

 Charter Communications, Inc.

$20,429,809.00  serving parts of Benton, Carroll, Loudon, McMinn, McNairy and Meigs counties

 Chickasaw Electric Cooperative

$13,134,933.00  serving parts of Fayette and Hardeman counties

 Comcast Cable Communications, LLC

$2,248,364.71  serving parts of Anderson, Hamilton and Knox counties

 Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation

$17,500,000.00  serving parts of Robertson and Sumner counties

 DeKalb Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

$15,627,524.71  serving parts of Cannon and DeKalb counties

 Dickson Electric Department

$860,236.23  serving parts of Houston County

 Gibson Electric Membership Corporation

$2,071,780.49  serving parts of Crockett and Obion counties

 Greeneville Energy Authority

$8,262,340.32  serving parts of Greene County

 Highland Communications LLC

$15,481,719.33  serving parts of Campbell, Anderson, Claiborne and Union counties

 Knoxville Utilities Board

$15,259,160.00  serving parts of Jefferson, Sevier and Union counties

 Lexington Electric System

$27,490,416.30  serving parts of Henderson, Decatur, Benton, Carroll and Hardin counties

 Loretto Telecom

$7,466,068.00  serving parts of Lawrence County

 Meriwether Lewis Electric Cooperative

$4,500,000.00  serving parts of Hickman County

 Newport Utilities

$2,457,797.35  serving parts of Jefferson and Cocke counties

 Peoples Telephone Company

$5,385,719.50  serving parts of Henry, Benton and Carroll counties

 Pulaski Electric System (PES)

$23,161,638.53  serving parts of Giles County

 Ritter Communications

$3,892,323.22  serving parts of Shelby and Tipton counties

 Scott County Telephone Co-Operative

$13,128,551.76  serving parts of Claiborne, Hancock and Union counties

 SkyBest Communications, Inc.

$5,700,655.92  serving parts of Carter and Johnson counties

 Southwest Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation

$15,503,408.78  serving parts of Chester, Haywood and Tipton counties

 Spring City Cable TV, Inc.

$1,925,574.21  serving parts of Rhea, Bledsoe and Cumberland counties

 Tellico Telephone Company

$12,958,999.00  serving parts of Monroe County

 Tennessee Valley Electric Cooperative

$21,847,496.68  serving parts of Hardin and Wayne counties

 Twin Lakes Communications, Inc.

$10,432,621.00  serving parts of Putnam County

 United Telephone Company

$53,362,147.00  serving parts of Bedford, Giles, Lincoln, Moore, Maury and Williamson counties

 Volunteer Energy Cooperative

$15,397,511.96  serving parts of Williamson, Bradley and Polk counties

 West Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative Corporation, Inc.

$12,326,355.30  serving parts of Weakley County

Since 2011, Comcast has been working to close the digital divide and connect more citizens and businesses to the power of Comcasts broadband services. We are proud to be a partner in this critical project and are excited to expand our network in Hamilton county. We look forward to sharing progress updates in the near future," said officials at Comcast.



To learn more about Tennessees broadband initiatives, visit tn.gov/broadband.
The latest release of Hamilton County student testing data from the Tennessee Department of Education shows 13 local schools that earned Reward School status, one school that exited the states Priority List, and an overall rating of Satisfactory for the Districts accountability efforts.

Additionally, 13 Hamilton County schools are being recognized as Level 5 schools for the academic growth shown by their students during the spring testing period.

We are pleased to see the continued growth of students in Hamilton County, said HCS Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson. However, as we have said throughout the analysis of 2021-22 test data, there is much work left for us to do. We will continue our efforts to better connect with our students so we can provide them with the supports they need to thrive.

"In terms of the Districts Accountability status, it is important to note that we earned a rating of Satisfactory, but our focus will continue to be on providing opportunities and access across all grade levels throughout the district to move the achievement and growth needles in a positive direction for all students.

District Accountability evaluates six indicators and weighs them equally to determine a school systems performance. The six indicators are grades 3-5 success rate, grades 6-8 success rate, grades 9-12 success rate, chronically out of school rates, English Language proficiency assessment results, and graduation rate.

For Hamilton County, both achievement and student group determinations were designated as Satisfactory. Brainerd High School was removed from the states list of Priority Schools based on its 2021-22 performance.

Priority Schools are those with scores indicating they are in the lowest-performing five percent of schools across the state or have a graduation rate less than 67 percent.

Brainerd High School exiting the Priority List is an example of how connecting with our students and a focus on academic press and personalization can impact the outcomes of our students, said HCS Deputy Superintendent Dr. Sonia Stewart. Brainerd is a very proud community that has rallied around its high school to provide support in a variety of ways, all of which help build the foundation for greater success in the future.

Thirteen Hamilton County Schools were recognized as Reward Schools, a designation for schools that showed exemplary performance and/or progress in academics, attendance, graduation rate, and college readiness.

HCS Reward Schools are:

? Bess T. Shepherd Elementary

? Big Ridge Elementary

? Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy

? Chattanooga High Center for Creative Arts

? Chattanooga School for Arts and Sciences Upper

? Hamilton County Collegiate High at Chattanooga State

? Hixson Elementary

? Lookout Mountain Elementary

? Lookout Valley Elementary

? STEM School Chattanooga

? Thrasher Elementary ? Westview Elementary

? Woodmore Elementary

Hamilton County schools recognized as Level 5 Schools are:

? Bess T. Shepherd Elementary

? Central High

? Chattanooga Charter School of Excellence

? Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy

? Chattanooga High Center for Creative Arts

? Chattanooga Preparatory School

? Chattanooga School for Arts and Sciences Upper ? East Hamilton High

? Hixson Elementary

? Lookout Mountain Elementary

? Ooltewah Middle

? Red Bank High

? Tyner Academy

Eight Hamilton County schools appear on the states list of Priority Schools. They are:

? Calvin Donaldson Environmental Science Academy

? Dalewood Middle

? East Lake Academy of Fine Arts

? Hamilton County Virtual School

? Hardy Elementary

? Orchard Knob Elementary

? Orchard Knob Middle

? The Howard School
Dr. Lorinda Roberts presented at the Southeast Youth Leaders Conference, taking with her a group of students from Lee Universitys School of Theology & Ministry.

This conference is provided by the Youth Leader Collective, an interdenominational ministry empowering and equipping youth pastors in the Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia area. Training, encouragement, networking opportunities, community, and resources were offered. The conference is designed for full and part-time youth pastors, volunteer youth leaders, and youth ministry students.

Although most of us aren't youth pastors yet, it was still interesting to learn from the perspective of one, said Christopher Wilson, a freshman youth ministry major who attended the conference. From discovering new ways to communicate the gospel, to learning how to genuinely make disciples of youths, to discussing some of the issues the younger generations face and how we can guide them through those issues, it really gave me an in-depth look at what a youth pastors life and youth ministry work look like.

Included in the conference were over 20 breakout sessions to choose from, two main sessions, worship, and an opportunity to learn more about ministries and products at the exhibit hall. This years event was located at Woodland Baptist Church.

Dr. Roberts gave her presentation, Equipping and Engaging Parents, in one of the breakout sessions.

We believe that the church should be intentional to both engage with the parents, building relationships and connections with them, and equip parents, offering strategies and resources to assist them with the spiritual development of their child, said Dr. Roberts. As the church partners with parents, teens have a greater opportunity for transformation to take place.

For more information about the Southeast Youth Leaders Conference, visit https://thesylc.com/.

For more information about the School of Theology & Ministry, visit https://www.leeuniversity.edu/academics/theology-ministry/ or call 614-5080.




The Chattanooga Area Historical Association will meet on Monday, Sept. 19, 6 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 554 McCallie Ave.

Judge Neil Thomas will explain how the March, 1906 lynching of Ed Johnson is tied to the Supreme Court's decision in returning abortion laws to the states. The judge will also give us a brief overview of how the Court functions, and the influence the Ed Johnson decision has had on the Court.

First Presbyterian Church is at the corner of McCallie Avenue and Douglas Street with parking in the rear. For those who are not familiar with the area, the sanctuary is on the corner; next to the church

is a tall building and between it and the larger building which is now owned by UTC is a small driveway. Enter the church from the parking lot. The meeting will be held in the chapel and no steps involved. If you cannot find it, call 595-4468; we will get you to the meeting.

All meetings are free of charge and open to the public.
After working for over a year to get an EDGE grant from the state of Georgia, the Walker County Development Authority on Tuesday voted to officially authorize signing the Memo of Understanding between the Roper Corporation in LaFayette and Walker County. The purpose of an EDGE grant, which comes from the state through the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, is to increase capacity and to encourage economic development in the state.

The Roper factory at North U.S.

27 will be physically expanding and the workforce will be increased using grant money that will be coming 100 percent from Georgia. The EDGE grant will also help the company buy new equipment. The building expansion has already started but to receive the incentive money, the company must meet certain benchmarks at specific intervals. One is that Roper has committed to adding 396-398 new employees at the LaFayette factory.

The Development Authority also discussed the expansion of the Walker County Business Park at North U.S. 27 in LaFayette which was approved in August. The county will purchase 103 acres of farmland that is adjacent to the industrial park for the amount of $1,280,000.

The land purchase is expected to close before the end of September. The members of the Development Authority decided to have a phase one inspection done on the property before closing. That inspection will look at the past use of the property and any possible contamination. The chance of finding environmental problems is low since it previously was a farm, however the preliminary inspection will lessen the countys liability if one is found.

Executive Director Stephanie Watkins told the board that there has been initial interest from three businesses in the past month for locating in the Walker County Industrial Park.
Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, at the age of 96 after serving 70 years on the throne. She leaves behind more than $500 million in personal assets. But how did Her Majesty amass such a vast fortune? Heres what we know about the family business.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth | Samir Hussein/WireImage

Queen Elizabeths fortune includes castles and jewels

Queen Elizabeth died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, which was one of the properties she owned throughout the United Kingdom. According to Fortune Magazine, the queens estimated $500 million portfolio (no one knows the exact amount) consisted of real estate, personal investments, art, and jewelry. But, the queens personal wealth is just a fraction of the estimated $28 billion net worth of the entire British monarchy.

Wealth and finances related to the crown are an intricate web of personal property and investments among the individual royals and the crown itself, as well as taxpayer funded income from the Sovereign Grant that is used to maintain the palaces and perform royal duties, like receptions and travel.

Her Majesty and the family business

The simple answer to the queens inheritance question is that King Charles III will inherit his mothers $500 million fortune when he is officially crowned. Part of that fortune is the Sovereign Grant for 2022 and 2023, worth approximately $100 million. Payments to the queen were based on profits from the Crown Estate.

The Crown Estate is a property business owned by the monarchy and independently operated, but still part of The Firms multi-billion dollar empire. In 2017, Queen Elizabeth started receiving 25 percent of the Crown Estate profits from the previous two years to fund the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace. The rest of those profits go to the UK government.

The crown is not allowed to sell some of the familys assets, including the Crown Estate which is valued at $19.5 billion. They are also not allowed to sell Buckingham Palace ($4.9 billion), the Duchy of Cornwall ($1.3 billion), the Duchy of Lancaster ($748 million), Kensington Palace ($630 million) and the Crown Estate Scotland ($592 million).

The Firm  aka Monarchy PLC  pumps hundreds of millions of pounds into the UK economy each year through the profits of the Crown Estate via royal tours and events. However, individual members of the royal family do not personally benefit from the business.

Queen Elizabeths private jewelry collection is worth a fortune

Queen Elizabeth was known for her regal style and the statements she often made with her jewelry. Many of those pieces were part of the Crown Jewels, owned by the monarchy, and passed down through the family. But some were part of the queens personal collection, which made those pieces part of Her Majestys $500 million fortune. One diamond piece, the Cullinan III and IV Brooch has an estimated worth of $58 million.

We dont know every detail about the ownership of all of the royal jewels, and its likely that we wont be privy to much detailed information about their inheritance now, said Lauren Kiehna of The Court Jeweller. Royal wills are sealed, so we cant look to those documents for guidance.

Kiehna added that its very likely the late queen has followed the footsteps of her grandmother and mother and bequeathed all of her jewelry directly to the new monarch, King Charles.

RELATED: Queen Elizabeth Was Never Even Supposed to Be Queen
Queen Elizabeth Amassed a $500M Fortune, but Does It All Go to King Charles III?

The late Queen Elizabeth II amassed a fortune worth upwards of $500M over 70 years on the throne. This fortune includes assets, property, art, and jewelry. However, will her son, King Charles III, inherit the bulk of her estate? Will he have to divide it with his siblings, Princess Anne and Princes Edward and Andrew?

Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth | Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Queen Elizabeths fortune at a glance

The monarchys tangible assets include the Crown Estate, the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, the Royal Collection, and the Crown Jewels. Also known as The Firm, the royal familys impact on the U.K. economy is primarily through tourism, and free media coverage of Britain, reported Forbes.

The Firm is an elite group of seven royals. Its members include King Charles III, his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall; Prince William, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge; Princess Anne, the queens daughter; Prince Edward, the queens youngest son, and his wife, Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

Forbes reported in 2021 that the crown holds, but cannot sell, nearly $28 billion in assets. These assets include the Crown Estate ($19.5 billion), Buckingham Palace (est. $4.9 billion), the Duchy of Cornwall ($1.3 billion), the Duchy of Lancaster ($748 million), Kensington Palace (est. $630 million) and the Crown Estate Scotland ($592 million).

Forbes also estimated Queen Elizabeth has another $500 million in personal assets.

Is Prince Charles III the sole heir of Queen Elizabeths fortune?

"I am deeply grateful for the Addresses of Condolence by the House of Lords and the House of Commons, which so touchingly encompass what our late Sovereign, my beloved mother The Queen, meant to us all."



The Kings reply to the addresses of condolence at Westminster Hall:  The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 12, 2022

Fortune reported the late queen left over $500 million in personal assets to her firstborn son, King Charles III. The royal will reportedly inherit that sum when he is formally crowned King of the United Kingdom. The late queens assets include investments, art, jewels, and real estate, including two castles: Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle.

However, Forbes also reported that King Charles would not own most of his assets. The total net worth of the monarchy as a business is upwards of $28 billion, including the queens wealth, the assets under the Crown Estate, its holdings in Scotland, the Duchy of Lancaster, the Duchy of Cornwall, and two palaces: Buckingham and Kensington.

King Charles private expenses for himself and his extended family are paid via an allowance through the Duchy of Lancaster called the Privy Purse.

However, it is yet unknown if the late queen left a private will that provided for her three other children and their families.

Prince William is now the Duke of Cornwall as well as the Duke of Cambridge and Prince of Wales

Prince William | Kirsty OConnor  WPA Pool/Getty Images

Now that his father Charles is King of the United Kingdom, Prince William, the heir apparent, was handed his fathers prior role as the Duke of Cornwall.

According to the Prince of Waless official website, The Duchy of Cornwall is a private estate established by Edward III in 1337 to provide an income for the heir to the throne. Charles has run it since 1969. It gives the royal an income, and the estate also supports the communities who live and work there.

The Duchy of Cornwall owns land in the United Kingdom in over 23 counties. It includes farms, property, forests, rivers, quarries, monuments, and coastline, reported ITV.

The amended title adds to Williams other titles, including the Duke of Cambridge and Prince of Wales.

RELATED: The Real Reason Prince Harry Cant Wear His Military Uniform, but Prince Andrew Can While Mourning Queen Elizabeth
Royal family members, Princes Andrew and Edward along with, King Charles III, and Princess Anne walked behind their mothers casket at a ceremony at St. Giles Cathedral, Scotland, on Sept. 12. Andrew stood out from his siblings, who wore military uniforms for the somber event while he did not. Stripped of his appointments, Andrew can wear his uniform as Queen Elizabeth is memorialized, However, his nephew, Prince Harry, cannot. This is the reason why.

Prince Andrew and Prince Harry | Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Prince Andrews military appointments suspended in 2019

Andrew was named in a lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre, who alleged Jeffrey Epstein trafficked her and forced the underage young woman to have sex with his friends, including the Duke of York. The prince subsequently denied wrongdoing. However, the allegations against Andrew tarnished his public standing. He stepped back from royal duties in late 2019. His military titles were suspended, and his patronages returned to the queen.

In March 2022, CNN reported Andrew reportedly paid an undisclosed amount to Giuffre, and a U.S. district judge agreed to dismiss her lawsuit against the Duke of York. Since that time, Andrew has not worn an official military uniform.

As Queen Elizabeth lies in state, Prince Andrew can wear his uniform while Prince Harry cannot

As a non-working member of the family, Prince Andrew will not wear uniform to above events. However, as a special mark of respect, a royal source says he will at the final vigil in Westminster Hall. The Palace have yet to say whether this exception also applies to Prince Harry.  Omid Scobie (@scobie) September 12, 2022

According to The Sun, the body of Queen Elizabeth will travel from Scotland to the United Kingdom, where she will lie in state. Mourners will be able to pay their respects to the late monarch.

The Duke of York will wear his armed forces uniform at a final vigil as a special mark of respect for his mother. However, the former Vice Admiral, who served 22 years in the royal navy, cannot wear it at any other events. He also cannot salute.

The queens three other children wore military dress at the Service of Thanksgiving at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland. Per People Magazine, the trio continues to honor the queen by wearing their military uniforms at her procession, prayer service, vigil, and state funeral.

Prince Harry served in the British Army for a decade. He cannot wear his military uniform at Queen Elizabeths service. He lost his three military titles when he and his wife Meghan Markle stepped back from their roles as senior royals in March 2020. Therefore as a non-working royal, he cannot wear military dress noted royal correspondent Omid Scobie in a tweet.

The body of Queen Elizabeth will lie in state at Westminster Hall ahead of her funeral

Queen Elizabeths coffin carried as Prince Andrew looks on | Aaron Chown/WPA Pool/Getty Images

On Wednesday, Sept. 14, Queen Elizabeths body will be transported from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall in a public procession. A gun carriage carries her coffin, accompanied by a military parade and members of the royal family.

The queens coffin will lie atop a platform with the Imperial State Crown, orb, and scepter. Members of the royal family are expected to pay their respects at a short service conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

Subsequently the hall will be opened to the public for four full days of viewing as the queen lies in state. The late monarchs coffin travels to Westminster Abbey, on Sept. 19, and a state funeral honors the legacy of the longest ruling monarch in the United Kingdom.

RELATED: Prince Harrys First Statement to Granny After Queen Elizabeths Death Honors Her Infectious Smile and Sound Advice
HYDERABAD: An unusual bonhomie was witnessed between Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka in the Assembly on Monday. This happened during the short discussion on Central Electricity Bill  Ramifications which caught not just members of the ruling TRS but also Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy off-guard.

Participating in the debate, Bhatti criticised the BJP-led government at the Centre for imposing power reforms on States, cutting loans of the Telangana state government loans for not opposing power reforms, statements made by Union ministers and BJP leaders on installing double engine governments in all states. He also expressed his partys support to the TRS government's opposition to the Centre on these issues.

Bhatti was highly critical of the BJP, thus even though his speech went on for more than half-an-hour, neither the Speaker nor the Treasury benches interrupted him. Bhatti spoke till he finished on his own, as opposed to before when the Speaker would constantly ask him to wrap up while emphasising on the time limit. On his part, the CM mentioned Bhatti seven times in his one-and-a-half-hour response to the debate, complimenting the Congress leader on his remarks.

While the discussion was focused on power reforms, Bhatti brought up other issues, including urging the CM to end the current VRAs strike by providing them with a pay scale, passing a resolution requesting that the new Delhi Parliament building be named after Dr B.R. Ambedkar, passing another resolution in the House opposing the Centres power reforms despite the fact that the House already approved a similar resolution in September 2021, and holding the winter session of the Assembly for 15 to 20 days since the ongoing two-day session was not at all sufficient to discuss several issues concerning people.

When Bhatti spoke about issues other than power reforms, the Speaker and TRS MLAs and ministers were seen interjecting, but it was the CM who intervened to save Bhatti. The Speaker and TRS MLAs were signalled by the CM and minister of legislative affairs V. Prashanth Reddy to allow him to speak.

The CM agreed with all of Bhattis points while pledging to pass the two resolutions that the Congress leader had requested on Tuesday. The CM also pledged to end the VRA strike and organise a 2025 day winter session to consider all matters affecting the people. The relations between CM and Bhatti turned sore after Bhatti was stripped off Leader of Opposition (LoP) status soon after Assembly polls in 2019 after 12 out of 18 Congress MLAs joined the TRS.

Later, Bhatti's seat as LoP in the House was allotted to AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, although AIMIM was not given 'principal opposition

status'. However, the relations between CM and Bhatti started improving when the Dalit Bandhu scheme was introduced in 2021. The CM invited Bhatti last year to Pragathi Bhavan to obtain his opinions on formulating guidelines for the successful implementation of Dalit Bandhu. This was for the first time that a Congress MLA stepped into Pragathi Bhavan so far.

Later, the CM selected Bhatti's constituency Madhira as a pilot project for implementing Dalit Bandhu. The latest incidents in the House on Tuesday once again led to speculations that Bhatti was inching closer to TRS.
Sheryl Lee Ralph took home her first-ever Emmy Award on Monday, and she celebrated the major Emmys win by belting out a song as she accepted her trophy. What was the song that Ralph sang on stage? Check out her beautiful speech below and more on her Emmy win.

Sheryl Lee Ralph sang an emotional song during her acceptance speech at the Emmys 2022. | Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Sheryl Lee Ralph received her first Emmy Award for Abbott Elementary

Despite a career spanning four decades, Ralph had never received an Emmy nomination until this year. She was recognized for her phenomenal performance in ABCs Abbott Elementary, in which she plays a beloved kindergarten teacher named Barbara Howard. Ralph was in visible shock as she heard her name called at the Emmys on Monday, Sept. 12. She is officially the winner of this years Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

Sheryl Lee Ralph belted out the Endangered Species song by Dianne Reeves during her acceptance speech

#Emmy winner Sheryl Lee Ralph: "Anyone who has ever, ever had a dream and thought your dreamcouldn't come true. I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like. This is what striving looks like. And don't you ever, ever give up on you." https://t.co/h3GrtHDUA6 pic.twitter.com/qPpGSFfGw5  Variety (@Variety) September 13, 2022

After getting some help onto the stage, Ralph appeared to struggle to find the words for her acceptance speech. Then, she broke into a moving song, showing off her years of Broadway experience. Dianne Reeves fans may recognize the song as Endangered Species. Here are the lyrics Ralph sang on stage:

I am an endangered species

But I sing no victims song

I am a woman I am an artist

And I know where my voice belongs.

As Encyclopedia.com notes, Endangered Species is about various personal and political issues, including the status of women in the world. In Ralphs case, the song represents a powerful message about her perseverance throughout her career.

Ralph recently spoke with The Cut about wanting to quit Hollywood about 15 years ago. She wanted to move to Philadelphia and start a local talk show. However, her husband, Pennsylvania state senator Vincent Hughes, convinced her to keep working. She then met Abbott creator Quinta Brunson, and her life changed.

Everybody has those down times, she said. But do you stop? Or are you fortunate enough to have others who see you for what you really are and encourage you to carry on? Do you believe in yourself enough to encourage yourself to carry on? If I didnt encourage myself to carry on, Id have missed out on Abbott Elementary. Now, can you imagine?

Ralph ended her speech with advice for viewers

An emotionally stunned Sheryl Lee Ralph being helped to the stage by the cast of Abbott Elementary: pic.twitter.com/4y5gTfrOXl  Alex Zalben (@azalben) September 13, 2022

After her song, Ralph shared an encouraging speech with viewers. She waved her Emmy in the air and said triumphantly:

To anyone who has ever, ever had a dream, and thought your dream wasnt, wouldnt, couldnt come true, I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like. This is what striving looks like. And dont you ever, ever give up on you because if you get a Quinta Brunson in your corner, and you get a husband like mine in your corner, if you get children like mine in your corner, and if youve got friends like everyone who voted for me, cheered for me, loved me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Ralph may have given the best speech of the night, and the night was just getting started. Fans can see more of her in Abbott Elementary Season 2, premiering on ABC on Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 9 p.m. ET.

RELATED: What Is Abbott Elementary Emmy Nominee Sheryl Lee Ralphs Net Worth?
The beneficiaries of the Dalit Bandu Scheme staged a protest with pesticide bottles in their hand demanding the government to sanction the amount under the scheme in front of the collectorate in Karimnagar on Monday.  DC Image

KARIMNAGAR: A tense atmosphere prevailed when the beneficiaries of the Dalit Bandhu Scheme (DBS) of various mandals of the Huzurabad constituency staged a protest with the pesticide bottles in their hands with the intention of committing suicide here in front of the collectorate in Karimnagar on Monday.

Alleging that the officials are not sanctioning the money to them under the scheme, around hundreds of beneficiaries attended the grievance day programme and sat in front of the podium when the officials were receiving the grievances from the people demanding the officials to resolve their issue.

The beneficiaries said that in the beginning, the officials deposited Rs 9.9 lakh into the bank accounts under the Dalit Bandhu scheme, but later held the amount. When the officials concerned were questioned, they said that the amount would be released within a week. But even after completing more than ten months, they did not sanction the amount.

Even after submitting the applications for sanctioning of Dalit Bandhu scheme amount for more than 15 times, the Mandal Parishad Development Officers (MPDO) concerned are not sending the applications to the district headquarters, they pointed out.

Some of the beneficiaries from Jammikunta mandal alleged that even though they had produced all the certificates required and were eligible for the Dalit Bandhu scheme, the officials who initially included their names in the list and sanctioned the amount, have kept them in the block list. The issue was also brought to the notice of the district collector, R.V. Karnan, who assured them that he would pursue their issue and would try to resolve it, but in vain.

One of the beneficiaries of Illanthakunta mandal alleged that by seeing the amount that was sanctioned under the scheme for her, she took some amount from a private money lender and opened a cloth store. Now, she is facing hardships as she is unable to pay the interest and the officials are not sanctioning the money under the scheme.

Meanwhile, the police who rushed to the spot intervened and prevented the beneficiaries from taking extreme steps. However, the beneficiaries withdrew their protest after the officials gave them assurance of sanctioning of the scheme as early as possible.
Did you know that suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States? In 2020, there were 45,979 deaths from suicide; thats about one death every 11 minutes. For youth ages 10-14 and 25-34, suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death, and research shows that these rates are only increasing.

The good news is that in many cases, suicide is preventable. Mental and emotional wellness is possible, and there are new resources (like the 988 Lifeline) which connect youth and adults to the help they need.

Each of us can help by dispelling myths about suicide, encouraging protective factors that may prevent suicide, and learning how to identify and support people at risk for suicide. There are many tools and resources to inform and equip us.

Here are two myths Id like to dispel:

The first is that there is a particular cause or reason for a suicide death. Ive often heard the questions why?, what happened?, or what was the cause behind the suicide death? I think its important to know that suicide is rarely caused by a single circumstance or event. Instead, a range of factorsat the individual, relationship, community, and societal levelscan increase risk. The range of factors may include in individuals history of depression or experience of bullying, other suicides occurring in a community, and/or stigma that prevents a person from seeking help.

The second myth Id like to address is the belief that talking about suicide might put the idea into a persons head. In fact, studies show that acknowledging and talking about suicide may reduce rather than increase suicidal ideation. This means we cant be afraid to ask tough questions.

If youre interacting with someone in emotional pain, ask them directly: Are you thinking of suicide? Other questions you can ask include, How do you hurt?, How can I help? and How do you feel emotionally?

To be informed and equipped to have these conversations, I encourage you and your community members to participate in one of the many available basic trainings. There are both in-person and virtual options, at low to no cost:

You can also check out federal guides, created to help you have conversations about mental health in faith and community settings, or learn the five action steps of the federally-supported #BEThe1To campaign.

These trainings touch on warning signs that may help to determine if a person is at risk for suicide. This is especially the case if the behavior is new, has increased, or seems related to a painful event, loss, or change. Warning signs may include a person talking about wanting to die or being a burden to others, acting anxious, and/or sleeping too much or too little.

Youll also learn how to strengthen and encourage the factors that help protect against suicide risk, such as a strong sense of cultural identity and/or feeling connected to others.

What else can faith leaders and community members do? You can safeguard the people in your life and your community from the risk of suicide and support them by:

Checking in. Research shows people who are having thoughts of suicide feel relief when someone asks after them in a caring way.

Research shows people who are having thoughts of suicide feel relief when someone asks after them in a caring way. Listening. While we believe in the power of prayer, additional support may be needed. Many times, listening allows us to decide what the next steps should be for the person suffering mentally or having suicidal ideations. Individuals are more likely to feel less depressed, less suicidal, less overwhelmed, and more hopeful after speaking to someone who listens without judgment.

Keeping them safe. Studies indicate that when lethal means are made less available or less deadly, suicide rates by that method decline, and frequently suicide rates decline overall.

Studies indicate that when lethal means are made less available or less deadly, suicide rates by that method decline, and frequently suicide rates decline overall. Helping people connect. You can start with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. By offering immediate counseling to everyone who needs it, local crisis centers provide invaluable support at critical times and connect individuals to local services. The 988 Lifeline (formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, through a national network of over 200 local crisis centers across the United States. Please share with your community that someone doesnt have to be in crisis to call 988. The people who respond to calls at these centers are available for anyone who just needs to talk.

You can start with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. By offering immediate counseling to everyone who needs it, local crisis centers provide invaluable support at critical times and connect individuals to local services. The 988 Lifeline (formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, through a national network of over 200 local crisis centers across the United States. Please share with your community The people who respond to calls at these centers are available for anyone who just needs to talk. Following up. Ongoing contact can be an important part of suicide prevention, especially for individuals who have been discharged from hospitals or care services. You can find out more about how these actions can save a life HERE.

Love will always be the anchor, and the drive, for us to do more for our congregations, family members, and communities. The last few years have not been easy for congregations or their leaders. Yet, it is love that brings out patience, kindness, longsuffering, gentleness, and empathy. And empathy goes beyond just feeling sorry for the individual; it says, I can relate to you and I understand on a deeper level what youre going through.

Compassion, or empathy in action, takes love just one step further. Jesus Christ was that example for us; may we be that example for our communities of faith.

The Better Samaritan blog is produced by the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College, a research institute which specializes in resilience and spiritual fortitude. To learn more and apply for a M.A. in Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership, visit our website

Rev. Dr. Que English serves as the Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the U.S. Department and Health and Human Services (HHS). In this role, she works closely with the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, along with the CDC and offices like the Administration for Children and Families. The HHS Centers core focus areas include addressing COVID-19, maternal health, mental health in youth, suicide prevention, and overdose prevention.
Pew Research Center isnt ruling out a future religious revival in America.

But given the countrys steady trends away from faith affiliation, experts dont know what it would look like.

Analyzing surveys about religious identity and religious switching going back to 1972 and trying to project the American religious landscape out to the year 2070, they cant even say what demographic signs might indicate a coming swell of conversions.

Weve never seen it, and we dont have the data to model a religious reversal, Pew senior researcher Stephanie Kramer told CT. There are some who say that revival never happens in an advanced economy. After secularization, you cant put toothpaste back in the tube. But we dont know that. We just dont have the data.

The data they do have, from 50 years of research by the General Social Survey and Pews own survey of 15,000 adults in 2019, indicates the current trend is inexorable. People are giving up on Christianity. They will continue to do so. And if youre trying to predict the future religious landscape in America, according to Pew, the question is not whether Christianity will decline. Its how fast and how far.

In a new study out today, Pew projects that in 2070, Christians will likely make up less than half the US population.

Currently, 64 percent of people say they are Christian, but nearly a third of those raised Christian eventually switch to none or nothing in particular, while only about 20 percent of those raised without religion become Christian. If that ratio of switching continues at a steady pace, then in roughly half a century, only about 46 percent of Americans will identify as Christian.

If the rate of switching continues to accelerate, as it has since the 1990s, the percent calling themselves Christians will drop to 35.

The rate of change could also slow down. Trends dont tend to continue forever, Kramer said, and theres probably a core of Christians who are committed and never going anywhere. If the future takes that path, Pew predicts slightly less than 40 percent of the population will say they are Christian in 2070.

While the scenarios in this report vary in the extent of religious disaffiliation they project, the study says, they all show Christians continuing to shrink as a share of the U.S. population, even under the counterfactual assumption that all switching came to a complete stop in 2020.

Few of the people leaving Christianity appear to be joining other religions. In America today, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and all non-Christian faiths account for about 6 percent of the population. There isnt enough information for researchers to isolate differences between these groups. They project that, overall, non-Christian faiths will double in America by 2070, mostly by having children and raising them in the religion.

The dramatic change, according to Pew, will come with the nones. People who say they dont have a religious identitythough many still embrace some Christian beliefs and engage in various spiritual practicesare projected to rise from about 30 percent today to as much as 52 percent in 50 years.

Modeling the Future of Religion in America is a new enterprise for Pew, which has previously focused on landscaping religion in America, not trying to predict where things will go. The picture the study paints, though, is not that different from what Pew and other religion researchers have been saying in recent years.

Public Religion Research Institute founder Robert P. Jones wrote an obituary for white Christian America in 2019, based on changing racial demographics and trends in religious disaffiliation.

Gallup started regularly giving people the option of none on a religious preference question in 2008. The number of people giving that answer immediately started increasing. In 2012, Pew reported that nones were on the rise, prompting scores of analyses on the phenomenon.

Ryan Burge, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University, wrote in his 2021 book The Nones that there was a time when the religiously unaffiliated appeared to be no more than a rounding error. But then they zoomed past 10 percent of the population by 1996, crossed the 15 percent threshold a decade later, and managed to reach 20 percent by 2014. When he downloaded the raw data from the General Social Survey in 2018, the unaffiliated roughly equaled Catholics and evangelicals in size.

Pews new report does, however, clearly identify the mechanism driving the change. By isolating different demographic factors, it shows that declining Christian birthrates and non-Christian immigrants are not significant causes.

The main reason is switchingChristians deciding they are not Christians anymore. This mostly happens to people between the ages of 15 and 29, according to the report, with an additional 7 percent of Christians disaffiliating from the faith after the age of 30.

Switching out has been happening steadily, which didnt used to happen, Kramer told CT. It used to be that if you met someone on the street, and their father and mother were Christian, then they were Christian too. Thats not always true anymore. For about a third of people, thats not true anymore.

Pew does not have a theory about why more people are switching. The research center focuses on the data, leaving explanations to others.

Some, building on the work of the late sociologist Rodney Stark, have argued its caused by denominations growing more liberal. According to this argument, if a church emphasizes all the same issues and concerns as left-leaning political activists, then theres no reason to do the extra work of belonging to a church. They point to shrinking mainline churches. The United Church of Christ, the first mainline denomination to embrace same-sex marriage, lost more than 40 percent of its members in the 17 years after that decision, for example.

Others have connected the trend to conservative politics, arguing evangelical association with Republicans is driving young people away from church. The rise of the exvangelical moment and the uptick in the number of nones in some election years is cited as evidence.

It could be that both Left and Right are having this effect, but Kramer cautions that the trend in the US appears similar to what researchers have seen in other countries, where the political landscape looks completely different. Perhaps its not the decisions of churches driving the change, but broader social developments.

Many sociologists, going back to Max Weber, have argued that secularization is inevitable as society advances. Globalization, industrialization, and technology make it harder and harder for people to believe. The biggest change thats visible today, though, isnt really a rapid change in beliefs but affiliations. Atheists remain in the single digits in the US. But while many nones affirm the existence of God and even pray, they dont want to be connected to a religious group or identity.

We dont know what all is driving this, Kramer said. There are some theories that make sense, but we dont know.

As the researchers charted the possible paths for the future, they tried to keep in mind what they didnt know and the data they didnt have. Extrapolating from trends doesnt account for the kind of dramatic events that shape generations.

It is possible, the report says, that events outside the modelsuch as war, economic depression, climate crisis, changing immigration patterns or religious innovationcould reverse the reverse current religious switching trends.

Revival could happen. Theres just nothing in the current data that indicates it will.
In an era when conservative evangelicalism and multiethnic urban ministry increasingly find themselves in tension, the College of Biblical Studies (CBS) is combining them.

The school averages 500 undergraduate students per semester online and across three campuses: Houston, Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. As its bylaws require, the student body is strikingly diverse.

In Houstona majority-minority cityabout half of the students are Black, a quarter Hispanic, and a quarter other ethnicities. The Indianapolis campus also has 50 percent Black students and 25 percent of other ethnicities, but the remaining quarter of its students are Burmese.

The church is not one single group of people, said Chanelle Coleman, a 2021 CBS graduate and current student resource advocate at the college. CBS does a great job of embodying what the kingdom of God and the body of Christ should look like.

Self-described by the colleges doctrinal statement as inerrantist, noncharismatic, and premillennial, CBSs commitment to ethnic diversity and training urban students has yielded ministry collaboration with Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) and author Tony Evans.

CBS offers bachelors degrees in biblical counseling, biblical studies, organizational leadership, and womens ministry. A partnership with DTS, whose Houston extension shares a campus with CBS, allows students to earn a master of arts with one additional year of study. A program launching this spring will let students earn a DTS master of theology degree with two additional years of study.

The academic program is supplemented with discipleship. Juniors and seniors participate in a spiritual formation program utilizing materials written by Tony Evans. This year, faculty and staff also are beginning a discipleship program using Evanss Kingdom Man and Kingdom Woman books. President Bill Blocker said CBS is looking to deepen its relations with Evans.

George Floyds 2020 funeral in Houston put the colleges philosophy to the test in its own city. Students discussed the situation at length, Blocker remembers. One student said Jesus came from heaven to the needy and held authorities accountable, and he argued Christians should demonstrate for justice following Floyds death. Another countered with Romans 13, which demands that Christians respect government authorities. Demonstrating at the funeral would make the students seem like trouble-causers.

Together they devised a way forward. The group went to the funeral to pray for demonstrators on both sides of the conflict. Impressed by their thoughtful approach, a nephew of Floyds talked with them and later enrolled as a student at CBS.

CBS was founded in 1976 as Houston Bible and Vocational Institute. Initially, classes were held at KHBC, a Christian radio station in Houston. Quickly, the school turned its focus to biblical and theological training, which led to its current name. CBS moved to its present two-acre campus in 1994. Indianapolis and Fort Wayne campuses were added in 2019 when CBS merged with Indianas Crossroads Bible College.

CBS is part of an uptick in mergers and partnerships among smaller colleges over the past few years, as schools combat enrollment declines and financial pressure. According to data from the Chronicle of Higher Education, of the 435 four-year private colleges with under 1,000 students, half are Christian colleges.

From its inception, CBS confronted the lack of conservative theological training for Black ministers. In the era of Jim Crow, many theologically conservative colleges and seminaries excluded Black students. That contributed, for example, to Martin Luther King Jr.s enrollment at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania for his seminary training and Boston University for his PhD.

Yet liberal schools didnt deliver the conservative doctrine valued by historically Black churches. Later, when conservative schools began admitting Black and brown students, some failed to contextualize the training for an urban setting.

CBS sought the best of both worldsconservative theology and contextualization for the inner city. Most of the colleges students cant pay tuition, so CBS is funded largely by donors, whom Blocker must sell on that vision.

Theres only one thing that can transform the heart and regulate the mind, and thats the Word of God, said Blocker. When you allow [potential donors] to understand the authority of Scripture and how it impacts [students] lives, who would not invest in that?

As CBS approaches its 50th birthday, new tensions confront it. While many students come from urban and multiethnic churches, some professors and administrators and administrators attend larger evangelical churches. Blocker, for instance, is a member of Second Baptist Church in Houston, a Southern Baptist megachurch. CBS also affirms traditional evangelical stances, including complementarianism in gender roles and a pro-life view of abortion.

Though CBS doesnt emphasize the label evangelical, observers have wondered whether that brand of instruction can persist among urban students in an era when some Christians of color have rejected evangelicalism as inconsistent with their worldview.

So far it has. Political science professor Marvin McNeeses classroom demonstrates how. In teaching American politics, he encounters diverse student views. Some studentsusually older African Americanssay the Founding Fathers were racists and therefore could not have been Christians, McNeese said. Other students stick up for the Founding Fathers and claim America is a Christian nation.

On this and other issues, opinions tend to vary along racial lines. Most Black students lean Democratic in their politics, McNeese said, while Hispanic students trend Republican. The political affiliations of white students vary. The key to unity among students is getting them to judge all opinionspolitical and otherwiseby the teachings of Scripture.

We bring them together in the classroom studying the Scriptures, McNeese said. The light of the Scriptures, as well as just being able to recognize that were all in the same boat before God, [does] the lions share of the work.

Coleman, a Black single mother of two, said her classes at CBS were a safe space because everyone was committed to learning, honoring God, and keeping Christ at the forefront. She loved seeing grandmothers and men recently released from prison study together.

Just because youre having those debates and those discussions doesnt mean that you dont love your brother and sister, she said. Sometimes its very much trying to gain an understanding and to find the common ground.

The balance between evangelical theology and ethnic diversity may seem like it shouldnt work. But it does. Blocker calls the colleges unique relational chemistry grace relations. It was on display recently in a mens discipleship group led by the president.

A student living in the city asked the group to celebrate with him because he and his girlfriend were moving into an apartment together. Another said that was wrong. The group examined Scripture together, concluding cohabitation before marriage was immoral. Then they called the students girlfriend and led her to faith in Christ on speakerphone. The couple didnt live together until they were married six months laterwith two members of the discipleship group as groomsmen.

These guys have crossed racial, ethnic, cultural lines, Blocker said, and you cant pull them apart one from another.

David Roach is a freelance reporter for CT and pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Saraland, Alabama.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commissions interim leader, Brent Leatherwood, will become its next president.

Leatherwood spent the past year as acting president, leading the Southern Baptist Conventions public policy arm during a historic span that included the reversal of Roe v. Wade and landmark denominational moves on abuse reform. The ERLC board of trustees unanimously approved his appointment on Tuesday.

A five-year staff member at the ERLC, Leatherwood was chief of staff under the previous interim leader, Daniel Patterson, and vice president of external affairs under former president Russell Moore, who left his position and the SBC in 2021. (Moore is now editor in chief of CT.)

Like during Moores leadership, the ERLC has continued to be a topic of debate in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), whose 48,000 churches operate independently but cooperatively. For some Southern Baptists, the ERLCs lobbying and training efforts around issues like religious liberty and sanctity of life represent an important form of witness and engagement. Critics, though, believe the ERLC and its leaders have taken stances that do not represent the denomination overall.

At the annual meeting in June, as in previous years, a proposal to defund the ERLC was voted down. Former ERLC president Richard Land told the convention, I cannot imagine a more damaging moment for the Southern Baptist Convention to defund the ERLC.

Leatherwood also ran into pushback when he presented a vision for pro-life campaigns in the post-Roe era but didnt agree with an abolitionist minority who wanted to criminalize abortion. You are not going to get me to say I want to throw mothers behind bars, he said from the stage.

The ERLC has also been involved in addressing the most high-profile issue the SBC has faced in recent years: its response to abuse. The ERLC had launched the Caring Well Initiative and conference back in 2018 to help train churches in how to respond to survivors.

The outside investigation into the SBCs Executive Committee (EC), made public in a 288-page report in May, revealed how its leaders clashed with the ERLC over abuse, including censoring ERLC materials that described a sexual abuse crisis in the SBC.

It is essential that we resist the urge to react defensively or from a position of protecting ourselves or an institution rather than precious individuals made in Gods image. Whether at a church or an entity, we must foster an environment where survivors are confident they will be received, listened to, and supported, Leatherwood wrote in May.

It is imperative that the stories of survivors be met with the same compassion Jesus exhibited for those who were marginalized or vulnerable.

Last year, the ERLC began an audit and assessment of sexual abuse within the SBC, separate from the EC investigation.

Leatherwood has a background working for the Republican Party in Tennessee and on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

When he moved from politics to the ERLC, he said, Ive come to realize that politics flows downstream from culture. So, if I truly want to make a difference, I have to be active upstream.

Over the past few weeks, Leatherwood has led the ERLC as it joined an amicus brief siding with the religious liberty rights of Yeshiva University, called attention to the mistreatment of Uyghurs in China, and applauded Tennessees recently enacted abortion restrictions.

Leatherwood said he was honored and humbled to become the next president. True leadership begins as service, he said in a statement. That has been the heart I have brought each day to the ERLC these past 12 months. And it is that same heart I will continue to bring as this new chapter begins.

He also emphasized the importance of the ERLCs cooperation with churches, state conventions, and other entities.

Southern Baptists have seen giving levels climb, furthering its mission work, over the course of the pandemic; however, annual membership and baptisms have declined year after year for more than a decade, losing more than a million members in a three-year span, according to SBC reports.

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Fuller Theological Seminary, which until recently was the largest Protestant interdenominational seminary in the country, named Black church theologian and missions leader David Emmanuel Goatley its next president.

Goatley, who leaves a post at Duke Divinity School to begin in January, says he wants to counter the partisan poison he sees in American evangelicalism, and turn students eyes to the testimonies of the global church. And like presidents in higher education everywhere, he also faces the problem of declining enrollment.

He will be the first Black president at the 75-year-old institution. Outgoing president Mark Labberton said when he announced his departure last year that he hoped his replacement would be a woman or person of color.

Goatley has a Baptist background but is centered in the Black church. Ordained in the National Baptist Convention-USA, he pastored a Black Baptist church in Kentucky for nine years, then spent the next 20 years as CEO of a historic Black missions agency, Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Society.

Theres a certain representation that is important  The journey of which I am part matters, Goatley told CT. I am a Black person in the United States, which means some of my story has to do with discrimination and segregation and slavery, and all of that helps to give insight to how I handle myself and how I seek to handle creation and engage with other people.

He added: It also means something significant that Fuller Theological Seminary was able to take seriously the candidacy of a Black man. They did not explicitly or implicitly rule me out. Ive had that happen to me before.

As it has expanded programs for online and nontraditional students, Fuller emphasizes its ethnically diverse student body and aims to grow its global reach. At around 3,000 students, the historic California school is only outnumbered by Dallas Theological Seminary and Southern Baptistaffiliated institutions among Protestant seminaries. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is at the top of the list for enrollment, according to the Association of Theological Schools.

Fullers leadership the past 30 years has come from Presbyterian and Reformed traditions. Labberton, who was president for a decade, is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Richard Mouw, a Reformed theologian, served as Fullers president for 20 years before that. The seminary has always described itself as evangelical, though it doesnt fit into neat evangelical categories. It has allowed an LGBT student group on campus but also successfully defended in court its code of conduct for students, which includes a traditional Christian sex ethic.

Goatley, who spent time in 35 countries while leading the Lott Carey missions agency, thinks US seminaries can be limited to a Euro-centered vision, or a Western North Atlantic vision of theology.

Its not that thats bad, he said. But there are other sheep that the Lord has. There are other voices.  Im not saying we need to do away with European and Western North Atlantic insights and frameworks. What Im saying is we dont need to rely exclusively or primarily on that alone.

He recalled being in Liberia on the eve of its civil war, going through checkpoints guarded by teenagers with guns but also seeing churches continuing to work faithfully through wartime.

One of the challenges we have in the United States is to come to the realization that we are not the axis of the universe, he said. We are not the center of what God is doing. We need to  come alongside our siblings in other places of the world where God is working despite the challenges that people are experiencing.

His own education at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary took place before the conservative resurgence, when he said Southern and Fuller were more similar in temperament and theological trajectory. That experience gave him intellectual rigor, he said, but it included an over-reliance on European-centric theology.

Fortunately I was nurtured in a household and a church that had a commitment to missions, both nearby and globally, so we had glimpses of what God was doing other places, he said. My theological formation was not exclusively grounded in the institution where I got degreed.

Jimmy Mellado, a Fuller board member and the CEO of Compassion International, said Goatley was chosen from about a thousand candidates, and that the board voted for him unanimously. Mellado sees Goatley as carrying forward a global vision for the school: Were not looking for a 180-degree turn here.

The board appreciated that Goatley is a holistic leader, said Tom Lin, a Fuller board member and the head of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Goatley brought a background as a pastor, organization leader, missions agency leader, and academic.

Hes going to lead ethnically diverse leaders in an ethnically diverse world, Lin said. I was one of the first nonwhite presidents of a large national evangelical organization, Jimmy [Mellado] and I share that. I understand the challenges Dr. Goatley will face.  People will want him to speak to particular issues in the Black church because hes a Black leader, or assume that hes going to lead it in a direction thats this or that because of his ethnic background. We chose him because hes an outstanding candidate.

Lin added: He holds dearly that the evangel that Jesus proclaimed is truly good news.

Goatley does want a more positive gospel vision for US church leaders, who are in danger of a partisan, politicized, polarized poison, that takes our eye off Jesus, he said. We have to work in that toxic environment without succumbing to the poison.

The seminary, he acknowledged, will have to deal with more practical matters too like declining enrollment and making education affordable. He said the pipeline from churches to certain graduate programs has burst.

Seminaries without denominational ties, like Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, have suffered financially and seen enrollments drop. Fuller has similarly gone through financial turmoil and enrollment decline in recent years. Enrollment has dropped from about 4,000 in 2019 to 3,000 now.

Saddled with debt, Fuller closed some satellite campuses and put its historic campus in pricy Pasadena, California, up for sale in 2018, with the idea of moving to a less expensive area in Pomona. That would also have made it less expensive for students.

But in 2019 the school reversed course, citing high construction costs in California and differences with the city of Pasadena over the sale. It reduced some of its Pasadena footprint.

The schools most recent tax documents show that it has trimmed down annual expenses by about $8 million since 2015 but has been operating in the red for some years, with a $14 million deficit in 2017.

Mellado said more recent financial news, which the latest 990s from 2019 dont capture, is better: The seminary posted two years of revenues exceeding expenses, and the school is 85 percent to its goal of raising $150 million.

Goatley sees the cultural and financial task ahead: that Fuller will have to make the case for seminary education globally.

The world needs good churches, churches need good pastors, organizations need good leaders, he said. We can help.

Correction: This story has been updated with 2021 data on enrollment from the Association of Theological Schools.
Mark Bofill had a problem. His church welcomed thousands of people through its doors every Sunday, but Bofillexecutive pastor of Calvary Worship Center in Colorado Springs, Coloradoknew that dozens of first-time visitors were slipping through the cracks.

With a bigger church, you have the problem of people coming, and they like the church, Bofill says. But they feel like they cant really get connected, or they may be a bit lost; so they go out the back door.

Bofills observation is commonly shared by pastors and researchers alike. While pastor and author Hal Seed estimates that only 610% of first-time church visitors will return, many experts and church leaders agree that those percentages rise exponentially when guests hear from a minister soon after they visit the church. So perhaps the future growth of the church relies less on finding ways to get people through the front door and more on reaching them before they slip out the back.

From First-Timer to True Fit

Mikie Ulrich first visited Calvary Worship Center for a Sunday service during the COVID-19 pandemic out of a desire for in-person gatherings and community. While Ulrich was familiar with the church from weekday ministries, she and her husband had regularly attended elsewhere for nearly 20 years. They were immediately impressed with how welcoming the community at Calvary was, and soon they became more and more involved.

The Ulriches quick connecting can be credited to the Core, Calvarys comprehensive app and church management database powered by Pushpay. This system helps create tailored interactions between church leaders and visitors. Responses are catered to each individual, varying if someone is just beginning to explore their faith, for example, versus a long-time believer who has recently relocated cross-country. Ultimately, the Core provides pastors the data they need to reach out to visitors in timely, relevant ways.

Calvary introduces visitors to the Core through their Discover classone of Calvarys courses designed specifically for newcomerswhere they share about the church's history, beliefs, and current events. Following that, the next two classes of what comprises the church's DNA Process are further facilitated by the Core, ensuring that guests like the Ulriches continue to explore all that Calvary has to offer.

As soon as you provide that information [to the Core], Ulrich says, youve got the leader of a particular group reaching out to you [to see] where you want to be serving.

Ulrich loves that this technology also allows leaders to reach whole groups. Now as a womens Bible study leader, Ulrich is able to use the app to send a message with lesson notes or invite others to share their prayer requests within the private group.

Engage for Keeps

During his years as a childrens pastor, Bofill used several digital databases for processes like checking children into their classes or encouraging volunteer communication. And as an executive pastor, he saw the need for a database system that wasnt exclusive to a single ministry but served the whole church. A comprehensive solution, Bofill believed, would strengthen relationships with existing congregants through consistent communication and enhance the churchs ability to connect with visitors. Ulrichs experience is a testament to Bofills hope.

Very easily, the Ulriches could have slipped out the back door. Their information may not have been recorded, and if it was jotted down on a sign-in card, it may not have been utilized in a way that showed the care and investment Calvary was able to exhibit. But because of a church management system that works to integrate every person and every ministry, Mikie Ulrich moved from curious visitor to invested small group leader.

Pastors and church leaders are desperately seeking to replicate Ulrichs experience within their own congregation. Pushpays Turn First Time Guests into Lifelong Members ebook features actionable tips to help ministers do just that. At the heart of the gospel is a front door flung wide to welcome all who enter. As Bofill sees it, this solution is helping them to gently close that back door, so that all who enter meet with genuine engagement. Check out Pushpays free ebook to learn how to better, more deeply engage your visitors before they slip away.
Mormon father, wife and 3 children found fatally shot at Maryland home

Three years after losing his youngest son to cancer, a father who served as a missionary with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was found fatally shot at his Maryland home along with his wife and their three children Friday in what police are investigating as an apparent murder-suicide.

Cecil County police identified the father as Marcus Edward Milligan, 39, and his wife as Tara Devina Ricker Milligan, 37. The couples daughters, Teresa Milligan, 14, Nora Milligan, 11, and their 8-year-old son, Finn Milligan, were also identified.

"This is a tragic and terrible day for our county and our community," Sheriff Scott Adams noted at a press conference Friday, WBAL-TV11 reported. "Any time you have a loss to these levels  any loss is terrible, but a loss of this level, which is not a common thing, it's certainly not a common thing here in Cecil County  it's tragic and terrible and takes a long time for people to process."

Police received a call about the shootings near Elk Mills Road shortly after 9:15 a.m. by a man who said that the children and a woman were fatally shot, The Daily Voice reported.

The sheriffs office said the man hung up shortly after giving brief details about the shootings. When they tried calling him back, they got no answer.

When they got to the home, Marcus Milligans body was found in a detached garage next to a semiautomatic weapon. The bodies of his wife and children were found scattered inside the home.

Its a horrific day, and I know everybodys prayers are appreciated, Adams said on Friday. My phone hasnt stopped ringing from people concerned about this and upset about this.

In a comment on the Facebook page of the California Los Angeles Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mike Murphy said Marcus Milligan was his companion at the Missionary Training Center and had served as a missionary with him from 2003 to 2005

He was my companion in the MTC, and then got to serve with him again in LA. So many good memories, he wrote.

Officials at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by The Christian Post on Monday.

The shootings come just under a week after Tara Milligan openly mourned the loss of their son Conor to cancer three years earlier. She said she was yearning to spend a moment with her deceased son.

Time passes so strangely in grief. Somehow its been three whole years since we had to say goodbye to Conor. What wouldnt I give for another perfect moment like this one, even if just for a heartbeat, she wrote in a Facebook post.

An obituary for Conor shows that he died on Sept. 3, 2019, at the age of 3.

Although Conor was not with us very long, he left a great impact on all of the lives that crossed his path. He was known for his infectious smile and strong spirit. While at Johns Hopkins Hospital, he amazed all of his doctors and nurses with how strong he was, the obituary said. Conor enjoyed playing outside and loved puppies. He had four stuffed animal puppies that were always with him for comfort. He also enjoyed playing with toy helicopters and he liked sharks.

Alisha Minter, who said she worshiped with the family at their local temple, grieved for the family on Sunday morning and shared how the family had inspired her.

I dont understand. My words fail me as I type this post. When we moved to Maryland Marc and Tara Ricker Milligan were one of the first families we met. The light they and their beautiful children brought in, you immediately fell in love with. Watching them from the church pews smiling and laughing. Having dinner and lunch dates with this family was a highlight of our day, she wrote on Facebook.

Conor was diagnosed with cancer around the same time Claire was diagnosed with her rare genetic disorder. Tara and I spoke a lot about our babies and the hardships that would soon follow, but I never ever thought this would be the end of their loving family. Tara held my hand many times and I hers. Conor fought a hard and long battle and earned his wings all too soon. I know that the reunion is a beautiful one for this family, she added.

Minter urged members of the public to reach out for help if they feel suicidal and suggested that their church perhaps could have done more to help even though it is still unclear what triggered the shootings.

Please. Please. I beg of you all, if you are having these thoughts, call someone. Anyone. This tragic loss of life is preventable! Marc Im so sorry. Im sorry that we as a congregation failed you in these dark times. Im so sorry that you felt this was the only way out of it. Tara and the children should be alive today. They didnt deserve this, she wrote.

Marc should be live today. You didnt deserve this either. Im heartbroken. This family should still be here. We need to do better about checking on one another and making sure they are ok. Mental illness is a debilitating disease that effects an entire family. Please heed this warning and check on your kin, and your friends, especially when they go quiet. Please.
Professor sues university over termination threat for not using student's preferred pronouns

A theater professor is suing Southern Utah University (SUU) after he was disciplined for not using a student's requested pronouns for her newly chosen identity.

Richard Bugg, who chairs the SUU theater department, filed the lawsuit on Aug. 31 along with a request for an injunction that would prohibit SUU from further retaliation, according to the document obtained by Campus Reform.

Bugg declined to comment to The Christian Post, but his suit filed on Sept. 9, 2021, states that a student in his class demanded he use they/them pronouns when addressing her. While Bugg declined the students request, the suit states that he offered to refrain from using pronouns and instead use the students chosen name.

But after Bugg inadvertently used female pronouns roughly two or three times when referring to the student, she filed a complaint on Sept. 15, 2021, with the universitys Title IX office.

An investigation by SUU found that Bugg had violated the university's discrimination and sexual misconduct policy.

The university issued a series of sanctions against Bugg in May, including an order to provide Bugg with education about current views and opinions of English language and grammar experts and resources that using Gender-Neutral pronouns when referring to an individual is now considered grammatically correct, according to the suit.

Bugg was subsequently threatened with actions "up to and including termination" if he failed to use the preferred pronouns, according to the suit. In the event students stopped registering for his classes due to failure to use those pronouns, SUU will open additional sections of those classes and professor Buggs pay will be reduced to offset the amounts SUU must pay for the additional sections," the suit added.

In the complaint  which names SUU President Mindy Benson, Assistant Vice President of Human Resources Kevin Price, Provost Jon Anderson, and other university officials as defendants  Bugg stated that upon his refusal to use the students requested pronouns, he was expressing a legitimate political position on a matter of public concern and engaging in his First Amendment right against compelled expression.

Asking people to use plural pronouns to refer to individuals is one thing. Forcing them to do it is another and contrary to our rights of free speech, the suit added.

Bugg did not respond Monday to a request for comment from The Christian Post.

In a statement, SUU Public Relations Director David Bishop said while there is no SUU policy that specifically requires the use of gender pronouns, an executive order issued by President Joe Biden prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Bishop added: The university strives to create an environment where meaningful learning is fostered without discrimination or substantial disruption. Southern Utah University is committed to the principles of free speech guaranteed by the U.S. and Utah Constitutions as well as applicable statutory and regulatory law as written in SUU university policy.

The legal battle echoes a number of similar battles being fought in American universities and other educational settings nationwide, including in Ohio, where a Christian professor, who said he was threatened with punishment by university officials for refusing to use the preferred pronouns of a trans-identified student, has secured the right to avoid using pronouns that conflict with his beliefs after years of litigation.

In April, Shawnee State University philosophy professor Nick Meriwether reached a settlement with school officials in which the university agreed to pay $400,000 in damages and attorneys fees, according to his legal team at the Alliance Defending Freedom.

The settlement came after an appellate court reversed a district courts dismissal of Meriwethers lawsuit against university officials.
Thousands attend Getty Music conference to rediscover how worship cultivates devotion for Christ

Over 80 Christian speakers and artists gathered with thousands of attendees at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee, for the annual Sing! 2022 Getty Music Worship Conference.

Over 7,000 attended the annual conference, both in-person and virtually, from last Sunday to Wednesday. Hosted by hymn writers Keith and Kristyn Getty, the event featured sermons from well-known speakers and performances from various Christian artists.

The four-day festivity had the stated aim of guiding participants in rediscovering how the patterns of a [Christians worship] can cultivate [their] devotion to Christ.

Placing God at the center of worship

On the second day of the event, a Texas megachurch director of music and liturgy offered tips for cultivating singing and worship for multi-cultural churches in ways that reflect the "diversity of God's people."

Eric McAllister of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin emphasized that developing and growing worship in multi-ethnic church cultures requires specific actions.

The pastor is the creative director for Sunday Morning Songs, which he described as a cohort of songwriters and musicians [who] aim to help local churches sing the timeless truths of Scripture in fresh, faithful ways that embrace and transcend our cultural context.

He stressed the need for church leaders to ensure they place God, not man, at the center of their worship.

Our primary aim when we gather and the primary aim of our lives as believers is to give praise and glory to God and to edify and pursue the unity of His people, said McAllister.

McAllister noted that God should not only be central to every gathering of worship, but every person who engages in singing within churches should have motives driving their worship that stem from a supreme love for God.

[God] is the very center of our gatherings because He is the one who initiates our gatherings  who has called us to Himself. Though we were straying like sheep, He's called us back to Himself through Christ Jesus, the shepherd of our souls, he said.

McAllister warned, if congregants and leaders arent careful, worship can become a habit and not an act of affection towards God.

The aim of our services and the songs that we sing should be first and foremost to sing and retell the story of our God to give praise to Him and to call attention to His works, His Words and His ways, McAllister stated.

Regardless of how you sing, it is all in vain if we're not a people who abide in God and allow His words originally to abide in us. The aim of our gatherings is vertical; of course, we address God, and He addresses us through His Word. But, the aim of our gatherings is also horizontal. We are also concerned with others in the Church and in our gatherings.

McAllister said the ability to make God the focus of worship doesnt happen naturally.

I would stir you up by way of reminder to avoid a certain familiarity with the wonder of our God. Cultivate in your own heart an affection and wonder toward God by studying his Word deeply, praying and seeking His help, seeking His grace that He has promised to provide by seeking Him, McAllister said.

Loving all church members is a crucial step towards achieving effective worship in the same way that appreciating new diversity in the Church is fundamental to increasing diversity in worship within churches, according to McAllister.

We are called to embody a love that recognizes every member as brothers and sisters, as new creatures, as beloved, redeemed, adopted, glory-bound fellow servants of the risen Christ, McAllister preached.

We recognize and give thanks for and consider one another showing tender affection in light of a host of differences that may be represented in our local bodies. But we're called to recognize one another chiefly according to our new identities in Christ Jesus.

The service order and the various elements that comprise the service should be a way to glorify God and serve fellow congregants, McAllister stressed. Worship singing should also be for edifying and uplifting one another in good and challenging times, he said.

Do we consider what it looks like to really get in the trenches of life with God's people? What it looks like to be present with them in the most difficult and uncomfortable times? McAllister asked.

Uplifting one another through song, word and deed should be a common practice in all churches today, McAllister added.

As we apply this principle to our service planning, just as the Sabbath was made for man and not the other way around, our liturgy  are made for the spiritual formation and upbuilding and ultimate good of God's people as we turn our eyes to Christ the Savior and invite others to do the same, and seek to glorify Him in our time together.

Practicing authentic worship

During his speech last Monday, pastor and theologian John Piper shared that the only way to sing authentic worship is by practicing united diversity in which each member participates.

The 76-year-old chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis preached a sermon titled Treasuring Christ Together: The Power of Gathered Worship, urging members of the audience to evaluate their current approach to worship.

Piper emphasized the importance of every church member approaching worship with the mindset that if one person neglects, forgets or minimizes" their individual and "essential" part in singing to the Lord, then the "whole Bride of Christ will suffer."

"Don't ever forget that. Don't ever minimize that. Don't ever neglect that. Don't ever think that there can be God-centered worship without that," Piper said in his Sept. 5 speech.

Piper said Christians need to understand "the relationship between the individual soul and the ultimate purpose of God" to comprehend the essential components of effective worship.

The Don't Waste Your Life author noted that one of "the clearest statements" about how God created everything can be found in Isaiah 43:6-7.

"Every son [and] every daughter [are] created to display the glory of God," Piper said.

"God created the world. He sustains the world. He governs the world. He does everything in the world to display His glory; that is His greatness, His beauty, His worth. Those are my three efforts to get at the meaning of the word 'glory,'" he continued.

Piper said it's equally important that each member come together in unity to sing as a whole and diverse Bride of Christ.

The totality of Christ-exalting affection that comes into being in corporate worship is not merely the sum of the parts. It's more; a new reality has come into being in the Bride worshiping together, the pastor said.

The great mystery comes into being.  The interpenetration of Christ-exalting joy is something new. [Its] something greater, something more God-glorifying than the assembly of individual flames of affection.

Worship also must be done with the correct posture, discipline and attitude, he stressed.

[Singing worship must be done] with your heart [or] from your heart,  to the Lord [and by] always addressing one another.  That's corporate worship, Piper said.

Piper referenced Ephesians 5:18-19: "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord."

The pastor said that the quality of the singing voice shouldnt matter because true worship for Christians should be about bringing Heaven to earth through their love for God and based on a love for one another.

The unified harmony of diverse voices is more beautiful than the greatest sound of voices in unison. Not the individual soul aflame with love to God, but rather, the Body of Christ [or] the Bride of Christ united in corporate worship is the end of creation, Piper said.

It is a glorious thing not to minimize unison. It is a glorious thing. When say, 50,000 people blast with unison, like an army going to war and singing their ballad of hope land, that's a glorious thing.

God has made the Church diverse for a reason, Piper noted.

Theres such diversity that God is doing in the gathering of the Bride of Christ. In united diversity of the worshiping Bride, something more beautiful is created than if she were all of one kind on any number of scales, he concluded.

Creation was made to exalt the worthiness of love.  The glory of Christ in honor of the Lamb shines more brightly because He's the kind of Redeemer leader who can hold together the allegiance of unbelievably, believably diverse people and hold us together in song and in many other ways.

Other speakers at the Sing! Conference included John MacArthur, Joni Eareckson Tada, Tim Challies, Foley Beach and more.
Queen Elizabeth II was a great evangelist

The whole world mourns the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and the Christian world celebrates her life as a worthy ambassador of Christ who lived a life of impactful service to God and humanity.

She was a devout Christian, but I was personally unaware of this until her death. As a Defender of Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England, she never failed in her duty to defend her faith and the Church.

Many Christian leaders have written wonderful tributes extolling her virtues and faithful service. According to Franklin Graham, She was a friend to my father, but more importantly, she was a true friend of the Christian faith. Greg Laurie in his tribute wrote, Her resilience, her dignity, and her model of quiet faith and piety have been  and will continue to be  an example for so many. And I also agree. Queen Elizabeth II should be remembered for her boldness in confessing and proclaiming Christ. She was a great evangelist whom many did not recognize.

There was no record of her organizing a city-wide crusade; she was not a televangelist, and I do not know whether she ever preached in a church. But I am convinced that her lifestyle and words of confession must have brought many to the saving knowledge of Christ. It is important to note that not every evangelist is also a preacher. Some evangelists are called by God to preach Christ in the day-to-day.

Have we wondered how many people in the United Kingdom and beyond have come to believe in Christ because of what the Queen of England has said about Him?

Before she was crowned in 1953, she made a request that all should pray for her wisdom and strength to serve God and humanity. Pray for me  that God may give me wisdom and strength to carry out the solemn promises I shall be making, and that I may faithfully serve Him and you, all the days of my life. She laid a formidable foundation for her throne and passed a message to the world that prayer is essential for any ruling authority.

In our present days when Christians are persecuted, and many are afraid to identify with Christ, Queen Elizabeth never ceased to publicly acknowledge Christ and extoll His virtues. On one occasion she openly preached Christ to the world: For me, the life of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace is an inspiration and an anchor in my life. A role model of reconciliation and forgiveness. He stretched out His hands in love, acceptance, and healing. Christ's example has taught me to seek to respect all people of whatever faith or none.

Recently, in her 2020 broadcast on Christmas Eve from Windsor Castle, she said: We continue to be inspired by the kindness of strangers and draw comfort that even on the darkest nights there is hope in the new dawn. Jesus touched on this with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The man who is robbed and left at the roadside is saved by someone who did not share his religion or culture. This wonderful story of kindness is still as relevant today. Good Samaritans have emerged across society showing care and respect for all, regardless of gender, race or background, reminding us that each one of us is special and equal in the eyes of God.

A month before her death, she sent a message to Lambeth Conference in London where she said to the Anglican Communion: Throughout my life, the message and teaching of Christ have been my guide and in them I find hope. If public opinion poll is conducted to know how many souls have come to Christ and how many Christians lives have been transformed through her public witness to the Gospel, I think many of us would be surprised. How I wish every leader who claims to be a Christian would talk about Jesus the way Queen Elizabeth II did.

She has fought a good fight; she has finished the race and has kept the faith. Rest in peace, your majesty. Congratulations as you wait to wear your crown of soul-winning, which the Lord has prepared for you.
China to release additional pork reserve to maintain price stability

Xinhua) 16:39, September 13, 2022

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China will release additional pork into the market from central reserves this week to ensure pork supplies and maintain stability in prices, the country's top economic planner said Tuesday.

This will be the second batch of pork released from the country's central reserves this year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The price of pork, China's staple meat, inched up 0.4 percent in August over July, contracting 25.2 percentage points over the previous month, official data showed.

The NDRC said it will pay close attention to market changes and increase pork release if necessary.

Pig farms are advised to make proper arrangements and sell hogs at a normal pace.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
HYDERABAD: The ruling TRS, Opposition Congress and the AIMIM cornered the BJP in the Legislative Assembly on the issue of the Centres power reforms on Monday. The BJP was at the receiving end as all the three parties attacked the BJP-led government at the Centre for forcing states to implement power reforms.

Although the BJP has a strength of three MLAs in the Assembly, only M. Raghunandan Rao was present in the House. Etala Rajender skipped the Assembly session while other MLA T.Raja Singh is currently lodged in Cherlapally jail for his controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammed.

Raghunandan Rao could hardly speak for four minutes, although he was allotted six minutes. He lost two minutes due to disruptions from treasury benches.

In his brief four-minute speech, Raghunandan tried to defend strongly

the Centre's power reforms saying that these reforms never mentioned about removing subsidies for farmers and poorer sections and the state government can continue to extend subsidies as usual. He countered TRS members claim that Centre asked states to remove subsidies as part of power reforms.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao led the attack on the BJP while

replying to a debate on the short discussion on Central Electricity Bill  Ramifications. The CM took the name of Raghunandan Rao several times, accusing him of telling lies on power reforms.

In his over half-an-hour speech, CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka

targeted the BJP on power reforms and BJP leaders claims on installing

double-engine governments in all states.

AIMIM MLA Ahmed Balala also lashed out at the BJP on power reforms and the Centre cutting loans of TS government for not implementing power reforms. Both the Congress and the AIMIM expressed support to the TRS government in its fight against the Centres power reforms and other issues concerning TS.

Raghunandan Rao tried his best to counter the attack by all the parties in the House by urging the Speaker to give him mike to speak but in vain.
Max Lucado reflects on how Holy Spirit comforts him amid battle with ascending aortic aneurysm

When Max Lucado was diagnosed with an ascending aortic aneurysm just over a year ago, he doesn't believe he "set the best example."

"As far as dealing with anxiety, I really spiraled downward," the famous author and leader of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, told The Christian Post.

An ascending aortic aneurysm is defined by Johns Hopkins as an "abnormal bulging and weakening in your aorta at the point before the curve." In Lucado's situation, the aneurysm is "pretty large," he said, about "two centimeters shy of needing open heart surgery."

"I'm 67, almost 68 years old. And I'm finally coming to grips with the fact that I'm not getting younger. I'm a slow learner," he said. "I kept thinking, 'I'm going to dodge all these major health issues.' So for the first two or three days, it was really a wake-up call."

That diagnosis came on a Monday. But by that Thursday, something miraculous happened: The bestselling author, whose sermons and books have brought hope and encouragement to millions worldwide, felt his anxiety lift.

"I really felt, in a supernatural way one morning  I felt it lift," he said. "I really did it just lift. And it's not that I was healed, because I'm not, but the fear or the anxiety was lifted. And I attribute that to the Holy Spirit. I sought prayer and I received prayer, and so I can say now honestly, I do not live in fear of that."

Days still aren't easy. Lucado said he suffers from "severe" mood swings due to his medication, which for him is uncharted territory.

"I've always been a pretty happy-go-lucky guy. But when I started taking this beta blocker, I found myself just kind of a bit sad," he said.

But in these times, the pastor has learned to lean on the power of the Holy Spirit and ask God for help. And in the process, Lucado says he's gained greater compassion for himself and others struggling.

"In that sense, it's been a blessing because it's caused me to be more aware of leaning on the Holy Spirit more, and it's also caused me to be more compassionate toward people who have battled mood swings or depression, whether slight or severe, all of their lives because I do not," he said. "I have been spared that particular struggle. But now I'm much more compassionate with a person who goes through that what they may be feeling."

Now, the New York Times bestseller is sharing what he's learned about the Holy Spirit, both recently and over his decades in ministry, in his new book Help is Here: Finding Fresh Strength in the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit.

In the book, Lucado candidly discusses his journey of getting to know the Holy Spirit and encourages others to rely on the power, freedom and comfort He brings  something he said is desperately needed as mental illness, exhaustion and stress levels continue to rise nationwide.

"We're a worn out people, we're worn out or absolutely exhausted," he said, citing statistics revealing that 84% of Americans feel stressed at least one day in a typical week.

"That means that nearly nine out of 10 people you see walking down the street feel stress. That's not how we're intended to live. So the Spirit gives life; the flesh is of no help at all. That is to say, my pep rallies, my self-motivation talks, that they're not helping me. I need help from outside, help from above," he said.

Lucado knows that for many in the Church, the Holy Spirit is a somewhat uncomfortable topic. A recent study found that most of America's self-identified Christians, including many who identify as Evangelical, believe God is all-powerful and the Creator of the universe.

Yet, more than half reject several biblical teachings and principles, including the existence of the Holy Spirit.

Often, those in the Church fall into two categories when it comes to the Holy Spirit, Lucado said. The first group believes they have a "backstage pass" to the Holy Spirit, possessing superior strength and insight. The second group feels the need to police everything others say and believe about the Holy Spirit, condemning viewpoints other than their own.

"I think those are the two challenges that are going to always be around," he said.

Instead of going to either extreme, approaching the Holy Spirit from a posture of humility allows the fruits of the spirit to grow, Lucado contends.

"Somewhere in the middle is the God-fearing person, the Bible reading student, the disciple, the follower of Jesus, who truly wants everything that the Holy Spirit will give him or her and is not seeking any platform, not trying to show off, but always just keeping a humble heart. And I believe that's the best posture in which to be; that's the posture that really creates the soil out of which the fruit of the Holy Spirit can grow."

According to Scripture, the Holy Spirit is "our comforter or our friend; the one who comes alongside to help us as we as we journey through life," Lucado posited.

In his book, in which he describes the Holy Spirit as "a life-giving friend, here to lead you home," he delves into the significance of the metaphors used to describe the third person of the Trinity: "Fire, wind gift giver, intercessor, advocate all."

"Let Jesus teach you," Lucado said. "I mean, ... who knows more about the Holy Spirit than one of the other two members of the Trinity? When Jesus describes the Holy Spirit, first of all, one of the great lines is, 'The Spirit gives life, the flesh is of no help at all.' So the Spirit exists to give life to us. And boy, don't we need that today?"

If the Body of Christ fully embraced the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, it would "spend much more time in prayer," a "little less doing and a lot more praying," Lucado said. He cited Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

"When Peter preached, 3,000 people responded because the Holy Spirit touched their lives. And when they declared the Gospel, everyone that day heard the Gospel, Scripture says, in their own language, so something miraculous was happening that caused the wonders of God to be articulated in the heart languages of the people. So what would that be like today?" he asked.

The pastor stressed that the Church is "hungry" for a simple Gospel and renewal of power.

"We seem to have gotten a bit off track in terms of politics and controversies," Lucado said. "May the Lord bring us a new day in which we return to the simple message of the fact that God loves us. He came for us, and now He gives us power. And if we were to be a Church of the Holy Spirit, I think that we would see those kinds of outpourings yet again."

Lucado said that in the Church, there's often the misconception that Christians won't have trials, whether relational, mental or physical. But that's "just not the case in this world," Lucado said, and that's why the Holy Spirit is so desperately needed.

"Jesus didn't say, 'In this world, some people have tribulation.' 'In this world, you will have tribulation,'" Lucado maintains. "But then He said, 'Be of good cheer, because I've overcome the world.' So whatever you're facing, Christ has already overcome it, and He will help you as you move forward."

"Do not buy into that lie that says if you were a better Christian, you wouldn't have these struggles," he stressed. "The fact of the matter is, sometimes, the fact that you are a Christian creates these struggles because the devil sees you as a candidate for his attack."

As he struggles with his own health battles, Lucado encourages others in similar situations to "turn to your Heavenly Father, who can help you face the struggle, and also turn to others."

"Don't try to shoulder this on your own. And don't beat yourself up," he said. "I do think it's important for us to remember this life is not intended to last forever. We all will have afflictions, and we all will get sick. And unless Christ returns, we're all going to have a heart that stops beating at some point. And that's not bad because the minute we close our eyes to this earth is a minute we open our eyes to the New Kingdom. And that will be the great thing; the great victory."

Help is Here: Finding Fresh Strength in the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit is now available.
Church of England releases list of rules for parishes as nation mourns Queen Elizabeth II

The Church of England has published guidance for its parishes that are expected to play a key role in the life of the nation during the period of national mourning following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The guidance is not prescriptive but should be seen as general advice on what parishes might want to do over the next few days after the longest-serving monarch in British history died Thursday at her holiday home at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the age of 96, the Church of England said.

The document calls for a hybrid or online service for reflection, or an informal time of prayer, in the local churches as soon as it is practical, and making books of condolence available both physically and online until the day after the funeral.

The state funeral of the queen, who was the head of the Church of England during her reign, has been scheduled to take place at Westminster Abbey at 11 a.m. on Sept. 19, according to a statement by the Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, The Telegraph reported.

The queens oak coffin, which was placed in the Ballroom of Balmoral Castle in Scotland after her death, departed Sunday morning by car on a six-hour journey to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland, BBC said.

It will be transported slowly by hearse through Aberdeen, Dundee and by Perth before lying in the palaces Throne Room until Monday afternoon. King Charles III and members of the royal family will then accompany the coffin in procession to St Giles Cathedral, where a service will be held, and the coffin will lie at the cathedral until Tuesday, allowing the public to view her coffin, BBC added.

The coffin will then be flown back to London, and the queen will lie in state in Westminster Hall for four days before her funeral, allowing members of the public to file past and pay their respects.

On the two Sundays until the funeral, worship services should be held as normal but parishes will be given special material that they can choose to add to existing forms of service, or they might choose to hold official commemorative services during this time, according to the guidance.

Next Sunday, which will be the day before the funeral, parishes have been advised to plan for a hybrid or online local church service in the evening, and the CofE will provide a model order of service and additional resources.

Further, as per a request by the royal household, or the collective departments that support members of the royal family, parishes should toll their bells for the hour immediately prior to the time of the funeral service, which is to be declared later.

Weddings, funerals and baptisms may continue as planned through the national period of mourning, the guidance says. Clergy should check with those planning these events whether they wish them to take place during this time. Particular sensitivity should be taken when reviewing those which are planned to take place on the day of the funeral.

The Kings Printer, Cambridge University Press, has published templates for the services during the time of mourning.

One of the prayers, which now refers to the king, reads:

Almighty God, whose kingdom is everlasting, and power infinite: Have mercy upon the whole Church; and so rule the heart of thy chosen servant Charles, our king and governor, that he, knowing whose minister he is, may above all things seek thy honor and glory; and that we, and all his subjects, duly considering whose authority he hath, may faithfully serve, honor, and humbly obey him, in thee, and for thee, according to thy blessed Word and ordinance; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Charles III was officially proclaimed king by the Accession Council in a ceremony at St. James Palace in London on Saturday morning. I am deeply aware of this great inheritance and of the duties and heavy responsibilities of sovereignty which have now passed to me, he said in his speech.

A prayer to be used during a Holy Communion service in the period of mourning, as per the guidance, reads:

O God, the maker and redeemer of all mankind, grant us, with thy servant QUEEN ELIZABETH and all the faithful departed, the sure benefits of thy Sons saving passion and glorious resurrection; that in the last day, when all things are gathered up in Christ, we may with them enjoy the fullness of thy promises; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.

The guidance also calls for schools to use collective worship to enable children to remember the life of Her Majesty the Queen and pray for the rest of the royal family at this time.
Mom struggling with mental health, $10K behind in rent suspected of drowning 3 children

A Brooklyn mother suspected of drowning her three young children at Coney Island Beach in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday, was struggling with mental health, was locked in a custody dispute with her ex-husband and facing eviction for $10,000 in unpaid rent.

Kenneth Corey, chief of department for the New York Police Department, said at a press conference that around 1:40 a.m. Monday, a relative called 911 and said she was worried that the mother, 30-year-old Erin Merdy, was going to harm her children: 3-month-old Oliver, 4-year-old Liliana, and 7-year-old Zachary.

"I believe she (the mother) had called them and made statements to that effect," Corey said.

Police immediately launched a search of the mothers apartment on Coney Island which they found unlocked. They also searched the surrounding neighborhood, the beach and the boardwalk where they found the mother with other relatives but the children were missing.

"She was soaking wet, she was barefoot and she was not communicative to the officers," Corey said, according to an ABC News report.

After an intense search using NYPD helicopters and boats, Corey said the children were found lifeless near the sea at W. 35th Street near the boardwalk, about 2 miles from where the mother was found.

While Erin Merdy has no prior arrests or history of being emotionally disturbed, she has been involved in previous domestic incidents of harassment and aggravated harassment that did not result in charges, NYPD records show, according to ABC News.

Her family members told the New York Post that she had been grappling with her mental health and was facing eviction for unpaid rent for the $1,531-a-month apartment where she lived with the children.

In July 2021 she was served with an eviction notice months before New York states COVID-19 eviction moratorium expired in January, court records show.

Eddy Stephen told the NY Post that he knew his niece did a little crazy stuff, but nothing that would lead to harming her children or herself.

He told the publication he was speechless when relatives told him Erin killed her three children.

She used to like to party here and there, do a little drinking, but I didnt see any drug abuse or see that she was really irresponsible. Its just tragic. I dont know. She never gave us the sign that she would hurt her children. She loved her children, he said.

Erin Merdys aunt, Dine Stephen, said her family has a history of mental illness and she was aware that she was struggling but didnt know how badly.

I knew she was struggling in the sense she was trying to find her way through life. In this family we do have a history of mental illness to varying degrees. A few of us have battled with bipolar disorder, but I didnt know her mental struggles, she said. I just knew she was trying to find a way for her children, a way to get on her feet.  It was the mental issues that took over.

Levy Stephen, another uncle of the struggling mom told the NY Post that his niece was also locked in a custody battle with 7-year-old Zacharys father when the killings occurred.

He had issues with the way she was raising the child, from what I understand, Levy said. She kind of went off the grid after that, changed her numbers. She wasnt on social media  at least not to the point that I could find her.

Derrick Merdy, a Navy veteran who lives in Norfolk, Virginia, and Zacharys father (he is not related to the younger children), told The New York Times that he had seen signs that his ex-wife was unstable and incapable of caring for his son and thats why he was trying to get custody of the child.

He said he met Merdy on Facebook and they married in 2014. Zachary was born in March 2015, but they broke up soon after Zacharys birth. He said he had been fighting for custody of Zachary ever since.

I was trying to get my son. Now thats not going to happen, the sobbing father said.

He explained that moving between, New York, Virginia and a posting in Japan, his ex-wife was unreliable when it came to handing over Zachary at designated places. He said Zachary would often come to him dirty, without sufficient clothing for a visit, and complained that he didnt have enough to eat where he was staying.

Derrick Merdy alleged that his ex-wife kept his son in shelters where a bowl served as his sons bathroom. He also shared a 2019 text where Erin Merdy said she was thinking of giving up her rights to Zachary.

I love him enough to let him stay with you or your mom because I want the best for him, Erin Merdy wrote. I want him to excel.

In a January 2016 post, Derrick Merdys mother, Basimah Merdy, doted on Zachary in a Facebook post and declared how much she loved her grandson.

Derrick Merdy and his mother did not immediately respond to calls from The Christian Post but he told The New York Times that it was not until his son turned 6 and began spending more time with him that he became more fully aware of what was happening. He recorded what his son told him as part of his effort to gain custody.

Zachary told his father that his mother makes me starve, and I didnt do nothing bad; she makes me starve.

He told The New York Times that when he reached out to child protective services they gave him no help.

It didnt matter how much I called child protective services, Derrick Merdy said. They would tell me, Oh, you dont have any real evidence. But they didnt do a real investigation.

When CP reached out to New York Citys Administration for Childrens Services on Tuesday, the agency said it's prohibited by law from sharing whether a family has a history with ACS or any case information.

Our top priority is protecting the safety and wellbeing of all children in New York City, a spokesperson said. We are investigating this tragedy with the NYPD.

Derrick Merdy said his late son would say he didnt want to go back to his mother at the end of their visits but he sent him anyway.

I let him go back, the distraught father said, sobbing. I shouldve went with my instincts.

Erin Merdy was taken to the NYU Langone Hospital late Monday morning for a psychiatric evaluation. Detectives are now investigating whether postpartum depression played a role in the death of the children.

In a CP report last year highlight the growing public health crisis of suicides among new mothers, Jessica Greenhalgh, clinical director at Honey Lake Clinic in Greenville, Florida, agreed with researchers that there is a need for better understanding about the mental health challenges that come with motherhood, even among healthcare providers.

I think that there are a lot of expectations that are often put on mothers that we dont always recognize. A lot of times those expectations may be unrealistic, especially if no one knows what that person is going through. But there are not necessarily many places that specify for postpartum, she said.

I worked in a former place where they [some staff] attempted to create a partial hospitalization program specifically for postpartum depression and the engagement was lacking. And I think part of it is a lack of understanding of what it means to have postpartum."

Greenhalgh said that when there is a "lack of recognition" or understanding, it can "lead to a feeling of being alone or being different, which also can increase the risk of worsening mental illness."

There is no evidence suggesting Erin Merdy was receiving any kind of mental health care.

The Rev. Adriene Thorne, who serves as senior minister at First Presbyterian Church Brooklyn, and was previously executive minister of a 1,000-member church in the East Village of New York City, recalled how she experienced a brief moment of wanting to harm her child after giving birth, but because she had the right support she overcame that episode.

I remember being on the balcony of my apartment holding my child. And I stepped out on the balcony and I thought to myself, Wow, I could just let her go. I was so freaked out that that went through my head that I just backed up into the apartment and I sat on the couch and I called my sister who is a mom of two," she recalled. "And I was just sobbing. And I said, this is what happened, this is what happened. Whats wrong with me? Because again, the culture says, this should be the happiest moment of your life."

"I wasnt upset. I wasnt particularly tired. I just thought, 'somethings wrong with me that I thought that'," Thorne continued. "And my sister said, and this was very helpful, Its normal, Adriene. We all go through this. You didnt let her go. So its OK.

In June of last year, another young mother, Dejhanay Jarrell, who lived alone with her 1-month-old and a 2-year-old child at a building on Rockaway Parkway in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, threw them out of a second-story window before jumping out of the window herself, ABC 7 reported.

All three survived, but Jarrell was charged with attempted murder. Several other stories highlight mothers jumping to their death with young children in New York City or other instances of maternal murder-suicides around the country.

I think what works against women is a culture that says this is the best thing that will ever happen to you without also saying, there is a bottom to this. There is a dark side," Thorne said. "There is an underbelly. There are hormones, fatigue. Theres moms not getting the help they need, lack of childcare.

The fact is that we live far apart from our support networks  my parents are in D.C., Im in New York so my mom had to make an effort to come help me. My sisters had to travel. We dont live in family networks that would provide us with [what] the African proverb [calls] the village to raise a child, she said. We dont have that. And if we dont have financial resources, particularly in a city like New York, where I live, youre very much on your own.
Florida Schools Lead In Education Freedom, ERACED Rally To Resist CRT, Tennessee Tech Drag Show Mocks Christianity

link to download the audio instead. link to download the audio instead. 07:56 07:56

A new report from the conservative public policy think tank The Heritage Foundation ranks Florida as the most parent-friendly jurisdiction in the union.



Building on the momentum of parental pushback at public school districts nationwide, a coalition of parents are planning a rally Tuesday to resist the implementation of critical race theory in their children's public schools.



Tennessee Tech University is investigating a recent on-campus drag show that allegedly mocked Christianity and exposed kids to explicit activity.



The Church of England has published guidance for its parishes, as they are expected to play a key role in the life of the nation during the period of national mourning following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.



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Majority of pastors dont believe Christians should tithe 10%: study

While many Christian churches encourage tithing  giving 10% of one's income to the church  as a biblical commandment, only a minority of pastors subscribe to that traditional view, data from a new Barna study show.

The data in Revisiting the Tithe & Offering, the latest release in Barnas The State of

Generosity series published in partnership with Generis and Gloo, found that only a minority of Americans who identify as Christian give 10% of their income to the church in practice too.

Researchers surveyed 2,016 U.S. adults from Nov. 12-19, 2021, to arrive at the most recent conclusion showing no consensus among pastors on the practice that has been renounced by high-profile pastors such as televangelist Creflo Dollar in recent months.

While most pastors in the study dont see giving outside the church as tithing, 70% said tithing doesnt have to be strictly financial. And when it comes to how much financial giving would be an acceptable tithe, only 33% are in favor of the traditional 10%.

Another 21% of pastors didnt recommend any particular share of income that Christians should give, but suggested it should be enough to be considered sacrificial. A nearly similar share of pastors, 20%, said Christians should give as much as they are willing.

The study also revealed that the concept of tithing was also not well understood by U.S. adults or even Christians in particular.

Only about two in five U.S. adults in the study said they were familiar with the term tithe and could provide a definition. A similar share said they were familiar with the term, while 22% said although they were familiar with the concept they couldnt provide a definition.

Among Christians, in general, less than half could say definitely what the tithe is. More than half of practicing Christians, 59%, had a stronger awareness of the tithe and what it means, while 99% of pastors understood the traditional concept.

The study further noted that only 21% of Christians were found to give 10% of their income to their local church while 25% didnt give to their church at all. Among practicing Christians, the study found that 42% gave at least the traditional 10% to their church.

Church leaders and Christians may wonder whether it matters if the tithe falls out of the mainstream. After all, church giving should not be reduced to an equation, and heartfelt, reverent generosity can be accomplished with or without deep knowledge of the tithe, Barna noted. Still, as a fundamental, scriptural idea of Christian stewardship becomes a hazy concept, it appropriately raises questions  about how modern ministries approach funding and resources, and, more importantly, about the broader culture of generosity being nurtured among Christians.

A recent study showed that only an estimated 13% of Evangelicals engage in traditional tithing and half give less than 1% of their income annually. The study, "The Generosity Factor: Evangelicals and Giving," from Grey Matter Research and Infinity Concepts, a brand communication agency, shows that the average Evangelical gave $1,923 to the church and $622 to charity over the past 12 months, for a total of $2,545 in giving. At the median mark, however, Evangelicals only gave $340 to the church and $50 to charity, for a total of $390.

The study found that people who were more engaged with their church and faith tended to give more to their church, and vice versa.

In July, controversial televangelist Creflo Dollar, one of America's most flamboyant proponents of the prosperity gospel, renounced tithing and all his previous teachings on the subject as "not correct."

He also urged his followers to "throw away every book, every tape and every video I

ever did on the subject of tithing" but added that he will not apologize for his error.

In a sermon billed as "The Great Misunderstanding," the founder and senior pastor of

the nearly 30,000-member World Changers Church International headquartered in

College Park, Georgia, said he was aware that his declaration would cause him to

lose friends and invitations to speak at other churches.

In an op-ed for The Gospel Coalition in 2017, Thomas Schreiner, the James

Buchanan Harrison professor of New Testament interpretation and associate dean

for Scripture and interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in

Louisville, Kentucky, outlined several reasons why tithing is not a requirement for

Christians.

"The commands stipulated in the Mosaic covenant are no longer in force for

believers. Some appeal to the division between the civil, ceremonial, and moral law

to support tithing. Yet these divisions, I would observe, are not the basis Paul uses

when addressing how the law applies to us today, Schreiner explained in part.

And even if we use these distinctions, tithing is clearly not part of the moral law.

It's true the moral norms of the Old Testament are still in force today, and we

discern them from the law of Christ in the New Testament, but tithing is not among

these commands."
Christian student at risk of losing license to practice psychology after professors protest graduation speech

A university in Mexico has initiated proceedings against a recent psychology graduate after a group of professors expressed concerns over his graduation speech defending the family and the sanctity of life, which might cost him his license to practice.

The Autonomous University of Baja California received complaints against the student, Christian Cortez Perez, and has started formal proceedings to ban him from practicing psychology, human rights group ADF Internationalsaid Friday.

As the top of his class at the universitys School of Medicine and Psychology, Perez earned the right to deliver the commencement address at his graduation ceremony on June 27 where he voiced his deeply held moral convictions regarding the state of the world today, and the importance of the family and the sanctity of life among other issues.

Some students and faculty protested vocally and walked out, but he continued and delivered his graduation address in full.

The professors then issued a manifesto, calling his address hate speech. They demanded that his academic degree and professional license be withheld, his merit award withdrawn and psychology associations across Mexico be alerted regarding his actions.

I exercised my fundamental right to free speech to address my classmates about what I believe are the most pressing issues of our time, Perez was quoted as saying in response to the universitys action. Now, I stand to lose my entire professional career because I expressed views with which some students and faculty disagree.

In response to the proceedings against him, Perez has submitted a counterclaim to protect his rightful interests, said ADF International, which is supporting him, adding that a judgment from the university is expected later this month.

In his commencement speech, Perez said, Today we are deep into a real anthropological struggle to redefine the human being, the human person, man, through the implementation of ideologies and fashions of thought that always end up undermining dignity and freedom.

He then quoted English writer and lay theologian G.K. Chesterton: People do not know what they are doing; because they do not know what they are undoing. Perez added that to attack life and the family is to self-destruct, it is an attack on civilization itself. He then urged his peers to live in solidarity with one another, saying, You have to love; no one seeks the good of the other if he does not love him.

Kristina Hjelkrem, ADF Internationals legal counsel for Latin America, said Perez faces irreparable reputational damage and a ban on his professional practice, threatening all that he has worked for in his career just because he exercised his basic human rights and expressed views shared by many.

If the campaign to punish Christian is successful, it shows that anyone who dares to speak in public in Mexico is in danger, Hjelkrem added. This is a clear violation of international human rights law, reminiscent of dictatorships, not democracies.

Perez said he is committed to obtaining justice not just for myself, but for all Mexicans interested in preserving the right to freely express themselves.

ADF International commented that students and professors all over the world are being subjected to censorship campaigns, often accompanied by legal proceedings, which threaten severe harm to both their reputations and careers.
Harry and Meghan unexpectedly join William and Kate to greet crowds paying tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

The British press and citizens were surprised to see Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, the Duke and the Duchess of Sussex, set aside their differences with the royal family by joining the Prince and Princess of Wales in greeting crowds outside the gates of Windsor castle paying tribute to their grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Prince William and Princess Kate of Wales visited the gates of Windsor Castle Saturday to view the thousands of floral tributes left by the public in honor of the late queen, ITV reported, explaining it was a surprise appearance due to the rift between the two couples since Prince Harry made the decision to break off from the royal family and move to California.

The Telegraph described it as the first sign of a healing of the rift that has opened since the Sussexes left the working royal family in January 2020.

Prince William, who became heir to the throne after the queens death, had invited his younger brother Harry and his wife Meghan to join him on a walkabout in Windsor to share their memories with the public, the newspaper said.

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving monarch in British history, died Thursday at her holiday home at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the age of 96. The state funeral of the queen, who was the head of the Church of England during her reign, has been scheduled to take place at Westminster Abbey in London at 11 a.m. on Sept. 19.

As the news worsened about the queen's health, the two brothers were both making rushed journeys to Balmoral Castle, BBCs royal correspondent Sean Coughlan said.

Families can fall out when theres a bereavement. Feelings are running high and are close to the surface. Its easy for old arguments to be brought back by grief, Coughlan commented. But losing a loved one can also bring unity, putting things into perspective and setting disagreements aside. It can be a time to come together.

In a statement after the queens death, Prince William said, She was by my side at my happiest moments. And she was by my side during the saddest days of my life. I knew this day would come, but it will be some time before the reality of life without Grannie will truly feel real.

He added, I thank her for the kindness she showed my family and me. And I thank her on behalf of my generation for providing an example of service and dignity in public life that was from a different age, but always relevant to us all.

My grandmother famously said that grief was the price we pay for love. All of the sadness we will feel in the coming weeks will be testament to the love we felt for our extraordinary Queen. I will honor her memory by supporting my father, The King, in every way I can.

Earlier Saturday, Prince Williams father, Charles III, was officially declared the king at the Accession Council.

In his first address to the nation on Friday, King Charles expressed his love for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. I want also to express my love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives overseas, The Times quoted King Charles as saying.
Christian journalist arrested after reporting on violence in Nigeria has case delayed again

The case of a Nigerian journalist arrested for reporting on the government's inability to prevent attacks against Christians has been delayed again as the judge didn't appear for the scheduled trial.

Luka Binniyat, a journalist whose work has been published by the anti-communist Epoch Times, was scheduled to appear in court last week for charges of "cyberstalking" and aiding and abetting the offenses of cybercrime brought against him last year. However, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reports that the judge failed to attend the trial.

Binniyat, a Catholic arrested last November, has denied the charges.

The Epoch Times' Africa Desk Editor Doug Burton attributed the journalist's arrest to an Oct. 29 article he wrote titled: "In Nigeria, Police Decry Massacres as 'Wicked' But Make No Arrests."

The article was part of the newspaper's coverage of the deadly persecution of mostly-Christian farming communities in the West African country that human rights advocates say has escalated to near "genocidal levels" in recent years as thousands have been killed.

Critics believe the case against Binniyat is a political move against journalists on the part of Nigerian officials in Southern Kaduna, ICC commented.

Predominantly Christian farming communities in Nigeria's Middle Belt, which includes northern Kaduna state, are regularly targeted and attacked by radicalized ethnic Fulani militants, ICC said in an earlier statement. Thousands have been killed in the last few years.

The Nigerian government has refuted claims that violence in the Middle Belt states is based on religion and states that the violence is part of decades-old farmer-herder clashes.

In his article, Binniyat pushed back on Kaduna's Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs Samuel Aruwan's characterization of an attack on Christian farmers in the state as a "clash."

Earlier this month, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom warned that religious freedom is deteriorating in Nigeria because of rising violence by nonstate actors and "poor governance."

"In recent years, nonstate actor violence has increased in most parts of Nigeria, and this violence has yielded devastating humanitarian and human rights consequences, including but not limited to violence based on religion and other violations of Nigerians' rights to freedom of religion or belief," USCIRF said in a report on violence in Africa's most populous country.

USCIRF recommended that the State Department designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern for "engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom."

Countries subject to the State Department's "CPC" designation face negative consequences, including the possibility of crippling sanctions.

However, in the 14 years that USCIRF has recommended Nigeria be designated as a CPC, the State Department has only accepted its recommendation once, in 2020, under the Trump administration.

Nigeria was taken off the CPC list by the Biden administration last year, drawing criticism from human rights groups and USCIRF.
We attended the Manistee County Fair last month where both political parties in the county had booths directly across from each other in the Merchants Building.

Both booths were bedecked in red, white and blue featuring yard signs in support of their candidates for offices from governor to county commissioner. Both booths were manned daily by dedicated volunteers who provided information on their partys candidates to those who were interested in learning more about who to vote for on Nov. 8.

As I looked across the aisle at the Manistee County Republican Partys booth, I was struck by the similarities in some of the statements on their booth walls with the positions that are also consistently supported by the Manistee County Democratic Party. I felt that we had much more in common than we had in conflict. I will document those apparent similarities in this opinion piece.

One sign read Equality Under the Law.

Democrats in Manistee County agree that no person is above the law and that anyone who breaks the law must be held accountable regardless of their current or former elected position in our government. This includes anyone who participates in riots or protests who damage public or private property and/or physically harm fellow citizens or public safety officers.

Another sign said, Equality of Opportunity.

Manistee County Democrats certainly agree that the best opportunity we can provide is that of a high-quality public education for everyone regardless of their familys economic or social condition.

Public education has proven to be the consistent factor in successfully rising out of the vicious poverty cycle. Therefore, we are confused when we hear Republican politicians demanding state tax dollars be used to fund exclusive private, parochial or for-profit schools.

Opportunity is also diminished when people with influence spread misinformation about what our professional educators are teaching in their classrooms or the books our children are expected to read. These so-called culture wars actions would appear to limit the opportunity to teach for a well-rounded education to only those who agree with and are willing to limit their lesson plans to align with relatively narrow and prejudiced viewpoints.

The sign Limited Government also hit home as a common theme.

We Democrats do not believe that the legislative or judicial branch of our government should be in the business of telling women what they can and cannot do regarding access to abortion. This deeply personal decision belongs exclusively to each woman and should not be infringed upon.

Government should also refrain from getting involved with who we can love, who we can marry, and where, how or even if we choose to worship a higher being. The constitution that both political parties revere clearly states the importance of keeping religion out of our governmental actions. It is clear that both parties value the concept of limited government.

The Right to Self Defense was another sign of commonality.

Manistee County Democrats also want to be safe from gun violence when we or our families are in a public setting. Common sense gun legislation that prevents someone known to have mental stability issues from obtaining a weapon designed exclusively to kill human beings is our best form of achieving this level of public safety. No one wants to deprive responsible owners of the guns they use for hunting or sport shooting.

We also firmly believe that our law enforcement system at all levels should be fully funded to ensure those who preserve our safety, defend our freedom, and enforce our laws are properly trained to de-escalate stressful confrontations peacefully with a minimum of racial or socioeconomic prejudice.

I will admit that perhaps my personal view of these statements may be biased by my long-held beliefs that we all desire and deserve a government at every level that works for the long-term common good of the citizens it was elected to serve. I am proud of the work being done by our Manistee County Board of Commissioners as they have thoughtfully and transparently cooperated, collaborated and compromised making decisions on where to allocate the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

Our Michigan state legislators have overcome petty political bickering and misogynistic grandstanding to deliver a robust budget for 2023 that increases public school and infrastructure funding without raising taxes while concurrently amassing a significant budget surplus.

On Nov. 8 if we can elect state representatives and senators who can cooperate, collaborate and compromise even more effectively then they should be able to act quickly in Lansing to eliminate the pension tax and increase the earned income credit that will reduce the tax burden on the people who need it most while not jeopardizing our states ability to provide critical services in the future.

The current legislators in Washington have proven capable of getting important things done for our economy, environment, infrastructure and access to healthcare with the thinnest of political margins. We are truly fortunate to have governments at all levels that can work for the greater good of all involved.

When we consider how to vote on Nov. 8, it should be important to consider who has the interpersonal skills that can get things done rather than who will set about to disrupt and create chaos for the benefit of only a privileged few or to prove that our democratic form of government is incapable of meeting the expectations of the people it represents. Do your homework and choose wisely!
NEW YORK (AP)  Up-and-coming comedian Mo Amer was opening for Dave Chappelle in 2014 when the more established comedian made a suggestion: Amer should make a short film to introduce his act.

I started thinking about the short film. I put it together, I was obsessed. And then I wrote it out and then all my friends were like, This is genius, bro. You need to save this for a TV series. And I was like, Word? TV series? Since then, Ive just been kind of accumulating all these stories from my mother, my family my history, my refugee experience in America, the fish-out-of-water element.

Amers true family history serves as the foundation of his new Netflix dramedy, Mo. He describes the series as a love letter to his Palestinian heritage and his hometown.

AP

Although its a refugee story, an immigrant Palestinian story, its also a love letter to Houston. Its also like an everyman struggle (story)  people who are working paycheck to paycheck, theyre trying to take care of family, people that are dealing with addiction, said the 41-year-old. It has all these layers to it.

The debut season, comprised of eight half-hour episodes, was created by Amer and Emmy-nominated actor Ramy Youssef, Amers good friend and former roommate. Mo," along with shows like Youssefs critically acclaimed Ramy, is part of a growing  but still extremely underrepresented  movement in Hollywood bringing Muslim and Middle Eastern stories to the masses.

The series follows Mo Najjar (played by Amer) as his family, including his mother (Farah Bsieso) and brother (Omar Elba) navigate through life in the Houston area in ways many immigrants in America are forced to: seeking employment without citizenship and therefore working odd, under-the-table jobs, as well as maneuvering an often unforgiving health care system and trying assimilate into society.

AP

Similar to the storyline, Amers own parents were originally from Palestine before fleeing to Kuwait. Amer was born there, but the Gulf War forced them to leave and eventually settle in Texas. Learning about his family history and their struggles through conversations with his mother, Amer, helped create a blueprint. However, he also learned hard, previously unknown truths, including how his father was tortured in Kuwait.

In the series, flashbacks give context, and some are pivotal to both the show and his real life; episode seven opens with his mother cleverly hiding money as the family prepares to escape Kuwait.

My mom started just crying when she saw it. She was just like, Wow, I cant believe you recreated this like that. Shes like, How did you even remember the house, the colors, the things on the walls? Amer recalled proudly. I cant forget that.

Chris Pizzello/Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Houston is known for many things: space exploration, its world-renowned medical center and its slowed down hip-hop music known as screwed music; what Americas fourth largest city is not known for is a film and TV industry. However, Amer was adamant about shooting there, aiming to raise the show's authenticity factor. Despite a couple of major films shot in Houston in the early '90s it hasnt been a destination for moviemakers.

Local talent throughout Texas was hired for production, and there are a few notable guest appearances, including rising Houston-based rapper Tobe Nwigwe who plays Najjars best friend, and cameos from well-known Texas-flag bearers Paul Wall and Bun B of the legendary southern duo, UGK.

It just really was shocking to me theres never been a narrative sitcom, native series filmed out of Houston, which is absurd to me knowing what Houston has to offer, he explained. Everything is deliberate from the music choice to the attire, to the accents, to the feel, the picture, the cinematography. Theres nothing that we didnt think really about.

Chris Pizzello/Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Mo has become one of 2022s buzzworthy and binge-worthy shows, attracting viewers from all backgrounds and a deep respect from many Middle Eastern Americans. But he emphasizes the show has been a long time in the making.

Netflix drops everything all at the same day and its just like, BOOM! Here it is.' But those episodes are many, many years of really thinking this through, he said. You hope it resonates in that way, and its such a relief when it does. Its like, They get it. I didnt screw this up. ___
The ruling YSRC leaders are chalking out strategies to counter the padayatra launched by the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi on Monday. (DC)

VISAKHAPATNAM: The ruling YSRC leaders are chalking out strategies to counter the padayatra launched by the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi on Monday. The two-month Yatra programme is backed by the Telugu Desam, BJP, Jana Sena and the CPIM and CPI.

Industries and IT minister Gudivada Amarnath held a meeting with the top brass of the party in Visakhapatnam on Monday and discussed ways to keep the farmers away from the opposition-inspired offensive against the government.

Since Visakhapatnam is the focal point as it is tipped to be the capital and since the Amaravati farmers are opposing it, the YSRC leaders are doubly alert against the Yatras impact.

We will campaign vigorously for the three capitals and expect support from all sections of the society, Amarnath told DC on Monday soon after the meeting of leaders.

He said a clear picture of their counter-programme would emerge next week. The padayatra is expected to reach Anakapalli by the end of October.

Sources in the party said the minister would meet the vice chancellor of Andhra University to rope in teachers and students for the campaign in support of the three-capitals plan and to oppose the padayatra.

Fisheries and animal husbandry minister Seedari Appalaraju said the government would not be responsible if the people confronted the padayatra directly. It is too early to predict what would be the scenario when the padayatra reaches Srikakulam, he said.

We are not expecting any resistance from the ruling party members. The high court has given permission to hold the rally and it is going to be peaceful. If the ruling party indulges in violence it would be counterproductive, TD vice president Pasarla Prasad said.

State CITU president Narsinga Rao said the farmers have every right to take out a padayatra to redress their problems. The state government will be responsible if any problem was created in this context, he said.

Jana Sena leader and corporator of GVMC Murthy Yadav said his party was expecting trouble in Payakaraopeta in Anakapalli district.
While fans of the murder mystery genre count the weeks until the release of "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," the eagerly anticipated sequel to 2019's twisty, sharply funny "Knives Out," they can take the edge off their appetite with "See How They Run."

Starring Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan as a pair of odd-couple Scotland Yard officers investigating a theater-world murder in 1950s London, this larky meta-whodunit both subverts and pays homage to "The Mousetrap," Agatha Christie's famously long-running play. After opening in London's West End in 1952, "Mousetrap" has been running continuously - except for a pandemic-induced break - for more than 28,000 performances.

The popular show has, almost as infamously, never been made into a movie. Hold that thought. It figures somewhat prominently here, and for reasons other than the fact that you can't stream it on Amazon before watching "See How They Run." Though after seeing the new movie, you may want to.

As "See How They Run" gets underway, the "Mousetrap" cast and crew - which, in a nod to verisimilitude, includes characters based on "Mousetrap" stars Richard Attenborough (Harris Dickinson) and his wife, Sheila Sim (Pearl Chanda) - are celebrating the show's 100th performance. An obnoxious but entirely fictional Hollywood director named Leo Kopernick (Adrien Brody) is in town to discuss a film adaptation with the British movie producer John Woolf (Reece Shearsmith) and would-be screenwriter Mervyn Cocker-Norris (David Oyelowo), when Leo turns up dead. Woolf, like several other characters in "Run," is based on a real person; Cocker-Norris, whom Oyelowo renders with an amusingly priggish persnickety-ness, is not.

"Life imitates art," reads a headline in a newspaper. But in some ways, "See How They Run" is a case of art imitating life.

In reality, death isn't why the play was never adapted for the screen; there's a far more fascinating explanation, which I'll leave for "See How They Run" director Tom George and writer Mark Chappell to reveal, in one of the film's deliciously ironic twists.

Called onto the case are Rockwell's jaded, slightly boozy Inspector Stoppard and Ronan's aptly named Constable Stalker, a dogged if untested police rookie who writes down everything she observes in her notebook - including this advice from the more experienced Stoppard: "Do not jump to conclusions." Stoppard's name echoes the playwright Tom Stoppard, whose one-act play "The Real Inspector Hound," like this film, parodies the cliches of a "Mousetrap"-style stage mystery.

To that end, "Run" includes several suspects, all of whom have legitimate motives to do Leo in, including creative differences and secrets they'd rather keep hidden. It helps that this victim was widely disliked. It also helps the multilayered nature of this very loosely fact-adjacent film that the backstory of "The Mousetrap" itself is loosely based on true events. That's another thought to hold in the back of your mind while watching the film, which is, true to form, larded with flashbacks and the occasional on-screen title detailing the passage of time.

And yet "do not jump to conclusions" is pretty good advice for audiences, too, as the red herrings pile up in "See How They Run." The colorful characters of Stoppard and Stalker loom large here, as detectives so often do - Hercule Poirot, Jane Marple - in such fare. But even larger is the shadow cast by Christie's 1952 play, which provides a fun backdrop, if one rendered irreverently, for this diverting puzzle within a puzzle.

"It's just like one of [Christie's] confections!" observes one character with seeming delight, as the film heads toward its antic climax. Maybe not just like, but close enough.

- - -

Three stars. Rated PG-13. At theaters. Contains some violence, bloody images and a sexual reference. 98 minutes.

Rating guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time.
Second Draught Taproom opened at the Ion on Sept. 12, part of a slew of new food and beverage concepts taking up residence within the newly developed tech and innovation hub in Midtown Houston.

Adam Cryer and Sarah Pope, owners of Baileson Brewing in the Rice Village area, launched Second Draught to showcase the diverse bounty from Greater Houston's 70-plus breweries by way of its 18 taps. The duo has built tight relationships with local breweries since opening Baileson in 2017, notably through the Texas Craft Brewers Guild, and wanted to create a lively space where guests could sample beers from different purveyors all in one place.

Allyson Huntsman

"The craft beer community is a close knit community," Cryer said. "Part of the reason we wanted to do this is it allows us to highlight some breweries which we know are terrific, some smaller ones who may not be in grocery stores, to groups who pass through the Ion."

Beyond the many people with offices onsite, the multi-use development is used for conferences, community food events, monthly farmers markets and other gatherings, giving way for hundreds of guests to visit on any given day.

At the moment, Second Draught is serving beers from Saint Arnold, Great Heights, True Anomaly, Spindletap, Frost Town and Elder Son, among others, but Cryer says the selection will rotate often. "It's like a living, breathing thing," he said. "Right now we're nearing the fall, so we've got some of these fall types of beer styles, then in the winter we will have winter stouts. We will always be looking out to see what else is available."

Taylor Cooper

Consistent with the aesthetic of the Ion, Second Draught boasts 2,000 square feet of modern space with 66 seats inside the taproom and 20 on an outdoor patio facing out to the Ion Plaza. Cryer and Pope were given plenty of creative freedom in designing the space, and they chose to preserve as much of the existing structure as possible, from when it famously operated as a Sears. Along with the original Sears floors, which were polished and restored, a granite facade from the historic department store remains.

The taproom is counter service, but there's plenty of comfortable seating fit for lounging around, including sofas, banquettes, and high and low bar tops. "We want it to feel like it's a place where people can work on their laptops while having a beer," Pope said.

Local beer is the main attraction, but there are two wines on tap as well. And, in an effort to be conducive to the office environment around them, Cryer and Pope have included a selection of non-alcoholic beers to the roster. Free Wi-Fi throughout the entirety of the Ion all but guarantees Second Draught will often serve as an office-for-the-day for many.

Coincidentally, while they commemorate the opening of Second Draught this week, Cryer and Pope are also raising a pint glass to Baileson, which celebrated its five-year anniversary on Friday.

Second Draught

Find it: 4201 Main St Suite 130, Houston, TX 77002; (713) 485-4221
HARTFORD  The city is moving forward with a planned universal basic income pilot program, but it likely wont start until at least 2023, according to officials working on the project.

The project started when the City Council voted to create a task force that would research and submit a report about the feasibility of executing a UBI program in the city. The task force ultimately sent that report back to the city in December, and the project has since been in a planning phase.

The task force was chaired by David Grant, who worked in the council presidents office until this summer. Grant  who is no longer involved with the project  said there were two major areas that needed to be addressed before it could move forward.

The first is to identify a community partner in Hartford that would run the program, with consistent oversight and infrastructure to respond to issues or questions from participants. While there are plenty of community-based organizations in Hartford, its been a challenge to find one that is prepared for this type of program, he said.

The other aspect is the research. One of the main drawing points of the entire program is to gather research on how a UBI program affects the people involved  not just how they spend the money, but the impact of having more financial security on other aspects of their lives. A group of researchers are still working to outline what the program should look like and setting up an Institutional Review Board, a pillar of social science research.

Gina Rosich, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Saint Joseph, was part of the initial task force and is still a key part of the planning for the program. Rosich said research has supported a strong planning stage for a UBI program like this, so it makes sense that its taking time to get going.

UBI programs guarantee participants a certain income, which proponents say helps alleviate poverty and improve mental health while serving as a replacement for need-based social programs. The task force recommended an initial program for 25 people who are single, working and primary caregivers with at least one child entering third to eighth grade.

I really do believe this could be transformative, Grant said. Were talking about something that could break generational poverty.

The task forces report outlines the past success of limited guaranteed income programs around the country and argues for the program to be enacted in Hartford, which ranks last in income in Connecticut.

Hartford has a unique opportunity to serve its most vulnerable citizens, to be a city leader in support of its residents, and to be a model for other U.S. cities in the development of financial freedom programs, the task force wrote. In developing a pilot program, the Hartford Court of Common Council can critically examine the impact of an unconditional extra source of income on various aspects of child, parent and household wellbeing, each of which is likely affected by chronic stress brought on by income insecurity.

There have not been any major developments since the task force submitted its report to City Council in December. Grant said theyd initially targeted the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, but that was pushed back to the beginning of 2023 and probably later as the planning phase continues.

Children do better when parents are less stressed about money, Rosich said. This is a way of saying we actually trust the decision making of people who are financially vulnerable.

jonah.dylan@hearstmediact.com
Last year, Texas Republicans were pumping out red-meat laws in a marathon of special legislative sessions, preparing to lock in their dominance for another decade with redistricting and salivating at a midterm environment that historically should have favored them.

Things have gotten a little more complicated since then.

While the environment in Texas still favors the GOP, it has been upended by two issues in which public opinion has trended sharply against them: gun control and abortion rights. Now, as Republicans emerge from the traditional election turning point of Labor Day, they are set to try hard to recenter the conversation on issues that are more favorable to them.

The No. 1 issue by far in the state of Texas is the border, Gov. Greg Abbott said in a radio interview Friday when asked to frame the fall campaign. He went on to offer differences with his Democratic opponent, Beto ORourke, on issues related to the border, as well as police funding and the oil and gas industry.

The contrast on those issues [is] gonna be prolific and its gonna be the contrast on those issues thats gonna ensure my reelection, he said.

Abbott is facing his toughest November opponent in ORourke, and the two are poised to commence an unrelenting TV war after Labor Day as they try to turn out their bases and persuade the few remaining undecided voters. But it will come after Abbott got a three-week head start on ORourke, airing a pair of positive biographical ads since mid-August, an acknowledgment that the two-term incumbents image needs some buffing.

Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a press conference with nine other governors regarding the southern border at Anzalduas Park in Mission on Oct. 6, 2021. Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Polls show voters remain in a sour mood, with majorities saying the state is on the wrong track. And while Abbotts approval rating has rebounded from its record lows last year, gone are the days of the kind of broad popularity he enjoyed when he was last on the ballot four years ago and cruised to a second term.

Abbott has steered the state sharply to the right since then, including on the two issues that Democrats now see as some of their strongest assets for November: abortion and guns. Abbott signed a trigger law that has banned virtually all abortions in the state following the U.S. Supreme Courts decision in June to end the nationwide right to abortion. And he has resisted supporting any new gun restrictions following the Uvalde school shooting in May  including raising the age to buy an assault-style rifle, which he argued last week was not workable because courts have found such an age limit unconstitutional.

Polls regularly show that Texas voters, often by wide margins, oppose outlawing all abortion and want stricter gun laws. Democratic candidates have been increasingly explicit about how central they believe the issues will be to the November election.

This is one of the few truly unifying issues in the state of Texas right now, ORourke said during a news conference in late August marking the effective date of the trigger law. In a subsequent TV interview, he called the election a referendum on whether were going to go back literally half a century or whether this state is going to move forward.

Both parties  up and down the ballot  aim to woo women voters

The same day the trigger law went into effect, ORourke released his first general election TV ads. Both criticized Abbott over abortion.

In Harris County  which includes Houston and is the states largest county Democrats see so much upside in the issue that the county judge, Lina Hidalgo, started airing TV ads in early August accusing her Republican challenger of being silent on abortion rights following the Supreme Courts decision. The challenger, Alexandra del Moral Mealer, did not respond to The Texas Tribunes request for comment on her position.

Republicans are still trying to find a rebuttal. Rather than defend the laws he has signed, Abbott has sought to argue ORourke is the one with extreme views on abortion, noting his longtime refusal to say whether he supports any limits on the practice. When he has had to address the laws, including the lack of exceptions of rape victims, Abbott has made awkward comments like his suggestion Friday that victims can take emergency contraception to prevent a pregnancy.

Democratic candidate for governor Beto ORourke speaks at a rally in support of abortion rights in Austin on June 26, 2022. Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune

At the same time, Texas Republicans have been making not-so-subtle appeals to women voters. Last month, Comptroller Glenn Hegar and state Sen. Joan Huffman, a Republican from Houston and the top budget writer in the Senate, abruptly announced their support for repealing the sales tax on feminine hygiene products, an idea Abbott quickly endorsed. Women also have factored prominently into his TV ads so far, the first of which was narrated by his wife, Cecilia Abbott.

Democrats face headwinds, too: ORourkes 2020 run, Joe Biden

As for ORourke, Abbotts campaign has made little secret that it plans to hammer him over comments he made around the time of his failed 2020 presidential campaign, saying he would take border walls down, expressing support for the Green New Deal and praising activists who were pushing to defund the police. The issue of police funding is the topic of Abbotts first negative TV ad against ORourke, which started airing Monday.

ORourke has denied that he supports defunding the police  a term with an ambiguous meaning to many  but said in 2020 that he really love[d] the idea of taking money away from over-militarized police departments and reinvesting it in social services.

When it comes to police funding, Republicans have found a fresh wedge in Harris County. Last month, Hegar accused county commissioners of violating a new state law to stop local governments from cutting police spending, an accusation that Abbott swiftly amplified. The county has denied the charge and is challenging the comptroller in court.

In addition to GOP efforts to change the topic from abortion and guns, Democrats also will have to contend with a president from their party, Joe Biden, who remains very unpopular in Texas. The state Democratic Party is seeking to counteract that, announcing Friday that it is launching a four-week tour after Labor Day to tout the administrations accomplishments.

Nationally, Democrats have felt some relief from the tough political environment as Congress has proven unusually productive for an election year, passing a landmark health care and climate spending package last month. And they have been encouraged by recent election victories in Kansas, Alaska and New York where abortion was a leading issue.

Cliff Walker, a partner at the progressive consulting firm Seeker Strategies, said Texas Democrats have increasing reason to be optimistic due to unprecedented national action on important issues, combined with unprecedented state failure like the 2021 power grid collapse.

This is a much better hand to play than anyone would have imagined, not just a few months ago, but at the start of the election cycle, Walker said.

Republicans eye South Texas, Democrats seek rural, suburban edge

It all points to a more complex environment than Republicans had anticipated. The emergence of abortion and guns as top-of-mind issues has thrown up new obstacles in the suburbs, where they had hoped to regain territory they lost under former President Donald Trump. One major example of that is Texas House District 70, a new open seat in the Dallas suburbs that represents one of the few pickup opportunities for either party in the lower chamber post-redistricting.

Republicans are also conceding they cannot take rural Texas, a long-time firewall, for granted, with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick recently launching a 131-stop bus tour targeted at rural voters. ORourke has been barnstorming rural Texas, and Patrick is in a rematch with his 2018 Democratic opponent, Mike Collier, who performed better than ORourke that year in rural counties.

Republicans are still upbeat about their chances in South Texas, which they are targeting more seriously than ever after Biden underperformed there in 2020. In addition to the three congressional races there they have long been targeting, they are getting more serious about flipping an open state Senate seat in the Rio Grande Valley, which also happens to be the only competitive state senate seat on the November ballot after redistricting.

U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Los Indios, speaks at the Pro Life America's Hopeful Future conference in McAllen on July 9, 2022. Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune

The top super PAC aligned with the U.S. House GOP leaders, the Congressional Leadership Fund, recently announced it was reserving $3 million in TV ads to reelect U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Los Indios, who flipped the Rio Grande Valley seat in a June special election. The committee announcement was the most serious signal yet that national Republicans are committed to her November election, despite her running in a district redrawn to be more favorable to Democrats.

South Texas continues to represent some of our best pickup opportunities nationwide, said Calvin Moore, a spokesperson for the Congressional Leadership Fund.

The most competitive race in South Texas remains the open seat in the 15th Congressional District. Seeking to show how committed Democrats are to defending the seat, their nominee, Michelle Vallejo, released a list of over 100 endorsements from across the state Friday. It came with a statement criticizing Republican nominee Monica De La Cruz for her extreme and radical views on abortion, among other things.

De La Cruz, unsurprisingly, is talking about something else in her campaign. Her first TV ad features her flying over the Mexican border in a helicopter, landing and telling voters about Bidens border crisis and the economic pressures under his administration.

The full program is now LIVE for the 2022 Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 22-24 in Austin. Explore the schedule of 100+ mind-expanding conversations coming to TribFest, including the inside track on the 2022 elections and the 2023 legislative session, the state of public and higher ed at this stage in the pandemic, why Texas suburbs are booming, why broadband access matters, the legacy of slavery, what really happened in Uvalde and so much more. See the program.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/06/texas-2022-election-greg-abbott-beto-orourke/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
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NEW YORK (AP)  Hannah Waddingham wore Dolce & Gabbana with bedazzled high top sneakers on her feet Monday while Elle Fanning went Old Hollywood in a gown designed by Sharon Long of her show, The Great, as glamour returned to the Emmys in sticky Los Angeles humidity.

Waddingham, from Ted Lasso, showed off her comfy white shoes beneath her corseted strapless pink look. Fanning, her hair in a pinned-back bob, said she wanted to honor the creatives on her show that provided her with her first Emmy nod. Fanning's look was black and pink, embellished at the chest.

Ive always been inspired by the Old Hollywood glam of the 50s, Fanning said.

Sheryl Lee Ralph of Abbott Elementary had a fashion faux pas before arriving at the Emmys.

A designer gave my co-star and me the same sketch for the same gown, she said, having discovered it on set when Lisa Ann Walter showed Ralph what she was wearing to the awards.

Up until five days ago I had no gown so Brandon Blackwood stepped up. He was in Japan and started rendering the gown on his Pacific flight, Ralph said.

Ralph was resplendent in a black velvet strapless gown with an orange underside and a slit to her upper thigh. She carried a tiny orange purse.

The stars went all out.

Zendaya, working with her stylist Law Roach, was in a classic black strapless corset look with a full skirt and dainty bow at the waist. It was Valentino, and she was dripping in Bulgari jewels, including a fresh, young white diamond choker with a center, 4.45-carat stone at the center. She, too, had pockets.

Connie Britton was in a goddess gown by Monique Lhuillier in a soft pink, a cape like effect at the back. Britt Lower, from Severance, donned a Venetian beaded gown in gold with matching elbow-length gloves. There were cut outs up top and thin embellished straps.

It felt like I wanted to wear outer space. I have an appreciation for fabrics, my mom was a home economics teacher. I feel great in it, Lower told The Associated Press.

People's style and beauty director Andrea Lavinthal, said pink carried the night, though lots of other colors brightened up the carpet.

Pink seems to be continuing its dominance as the red carpet color of choice. Theres just a lot of stars who are gravitating towards different shades of pink, she said.

Not Rachel Brosnahan. She stood out in a plunging Pamella Roland column gown in beautiful violet. It was adorned with tulle and pearl floral bow appliques from the designer's fall 2022 collection.

Laverne Cox and Himesh Patel helped kick off the parade of fashion, she in a bold black armor-esque Jean Paul Gaultier Couture mini and he in a white print tuxedo jacket, eschewing the usual evening black. Royal blue on Sarah Thompson (a Yellowjackets writer), marigold yellow and more  color took the night.

Im quite warm, Im in a three-piece suit. I love this suit, but I wasnt expecting the heat, Patel said.

Natasha Rothwell of The White Lotus chose red for a gown with balloon short sleeves and a hot commodity on fashion carpets  pockets! It was custom silk taffeta from Safiyaa. Megan Stalter also went for red in a sheer dress that celebrated her curves. Jen Tullock of Severance was in the red zone, a thigh high slit and structured sleeve number by Thierry Mugler, worn with drop pearl earrings.

Im such a fan of his line. Its elegant but still has a sense of humor," Tullock said.

Stalter, from Hacks," was in burned out velvet by Norma Kamali. She had a faux red rose pinned between her breasts.

It took my breath away and my words. Its kind of a sexy dress. Its wild like me, she said.

Jung Ho-yeon, the it girl and Louis Vuitton ambassador from Squid Game, wore an all-around, multicolored figure-hugging look from the brand. It was custom in a tweed design with all-around sequins. Her jewels were Vuitton, too.

"I still cant believe it. It hasnt sunk in yet, but Im just going to enjoy the day and cherish the moment, she said of her nomination.

Reese Witherspoon went for blue and sunglass-worthy bling in blue sequins. Around her neck was a knockout aquamarine, blue zircon and diamond choker from Tiffany & Co. Amanda Seyfried wore a body hugger in pink from Armani Prive, paired with Cartier drop diamond earrings in platinum.

I'm a mermaid tonight, Seyfried said.

Another refreshing surprise for Lavinthal? The men who dismissed black for all-white tuxedos, including Nicholas Braun from Succession in a double-breasted tux from Christian Dior. Andrew Garfield also went for white, along with Seth Rogan. Speaking of white, Jean Smart decided on it, too, with an elegant collar that fell off one shoulder. Ellie Saab designed Kerry Washington's short draped dress with a long overskirt and a riot of organza lilies on one shoulder.

Washington's black tights had some scratching their heads. So did Kaley Cuoco's high-low Dolce & Gabbana tutu style and Julia Garner's Gucci bellybutton cutout on her dark brown velvet look with silver crystals.

I thought we'd seen every kind of cutout on the red carpet, but a bellybutton cutout was something new, Lavinthal said.

Among Lavinthal's highlights was Lily James in coppery Versace.

It was very much 2022, but it could have come right off a '90s runway with the chainmail and the sculpted cups, she said.

Smart's gown was made by Christian Siriano, as was the white look of Laura Linney.

Robin Thede also wore Siriano (he landed eight gowns on the carpet) in stunning pastel blue, while Jerrod Carmichael went furry in a long, white fox fur coat. Carmichael laughed at the heat and humidity.

This was Puff Daddys coat. He wore it in a video, the comic said.

Carmichael was shirtless under the fur and wore a sunburst platinum necklace. His black satin pants were accented by the top of his white underwear peaking out. He was sockless in his black loafers.

Another Siriano fan? Melanie Lynskey from Yellowjackets. Hers was a mint green with sheer overlay that made her feel half princess and half bad (expletive). Of the designer, she said: He's the sweetest man alive and I adore him. I feel like he made something that was for me, for my body.

Rachel Tashjian, fashion news director for Harper's Bazaar, saw a different trend.

The standout looks on this years red carpet declared a turning point in celebrity style hinted at by the recent Venice Film Festival: The craziest and loudest outfit is no longer the best. Instead, stars are gravitating towards real elegance, even classicism," she said.

She pointed to Zendaya, who is often a risk taker.

Here she was in a very traditional sweeping strapless Valentino gown and gorgeous late 1950s socialite coiffed hair, Tashjian said.

Similarly, Fanning was in a very classic 1950s-ish couture dress with an old school coiffure. she said.

Another of her highlights was Issa Rae in a fitted, flattering Sergio Hudson look that was on his runway Sunday. But her absolute favorite was Lizzo in her "gorgeous red Giambattista Valli gown  a refined, glamorous statement that dazzles.

Among other standouts was Ariana DeBose in Atelier Prabal Gurung. It was a lilac silk chiffon hand-draped with a cape.

Jodi Kahn, vice president of luxury fashion for Neiman Marcus, said pink  in its many shades  is something her shoppers are also drawn to and can easily wear.

Pink is a universally flattering color that women can feel very beautiful and confident and happy in. It's something weve noticed specifically with our clients, she said. It's great for any skin color, any body type.

Metallics, too, like that of James and the russet custom Dolce & Gabbana worn by Quinta Brunson, is another draw for Kahn's customers.

Specifically the textured metallics, she said. They're something you can implement very easily from the red carpet into your every day life for occasion or evening dressing.

Colman Domingo of Euphoria was already a winner as he walked the carpet. He earned an Emmy for guest actor in a drama series at the earlier creative arts awards.

Ive been celebrating all week long to the point where I had to wake up and take a couple of ibuprofen, he said.

Domingo wore a gold brocade open jacket and matching pants.

I want to feel like a king, he said.

Domingo carried a platinum-studded battery-operated fan in an attempt to ward off the oppressive humidity, unusual for Los Angeles.

Stylist Holly Katz, host of the Fashion Crimes podcast, named Washington  black stockings and all  her best dressed.

She killed it, Katz said.

Katz called Waddingham's sneakers the best-kept fashion secret of the night!

Mark Indelicato was in the red club, sort of. Indelicato's hair was bright red and his black tux sported long split tails like a train. And more of the men? Phil Dunster of Ted Lasso went for burgundy tux with black lapels, though his Lasso co-star Brett Goldstein stayed with black.

Emily Heller, meanwhile, went in a different direction. She had a Kick Me sign on the back of her short floral dress, and a bit of toilet paper stuck to one shoe.

___

Associated Press writer Beth Harris in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

___

For more on this years Emmy Awards, visit: www.apnews.com/EmmyAwards
By any measure, 1872 was a lousy year for Vice President Schuyler Colfax, the Indiana Republican elected four years earlier on a ticket with Ulysses S. Grant.

Republicans dumped him in June as their candidate for vice president. His mother died in August. He lost the chance to take the helm of one of the nation's most influential newspapers at the end of the year. And on top of everything, he was implicated in September in a notorious influence-peddling scandal involving Credit Mobilier of America, the profitable construction company formed to build the Union Pacific Railroad.

When the opportunity came in the new year to clear his name, Colfax jumped at the chance. He appeared before the House committee investigating the sale of deeply discounted Credit Mobilier stock to members of Congress in the winter of 1867-1868 by Rep. Oakes Ames (R-Mass.), a railroad financier heavily invested in the Union Pacific Railroad and Credit Mobilier.

Almost 150 years later, former vice president Mike Pence - another Indiana Republican - incorrectly asserted last month that "it would be unprecedented in history for a vice president to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill." In fact, Colfax was so eager for exoneration that he testified four times before the investigative committee led by Rep. Luke Potter Poland (R-Vt.) and on several occasions questioned witnesses.

A blockbuster scoop on Sept. 4, 1872, by the New York Sun named Colfax, who was speaker of the House at the time of the stock sales, and a handful of prominent Capitol Hill Republicans as beneficiaries of Ames's largesse. Ames admitted - first to a fellow investor and later to the committee - that he sold the Credit Mobilier shares to his colleagues well below market value because the Union Pacific needed friends in Congress.

It made sense for Ames to approach Colfax, an amiable lawmaker nicknamed "Smiler." A former newspaper editor from South Bend and an ardent opponent of slavery, he was elected to Congress in 1854 and swiftly ascended to leadership positions in the House - first as chairman of the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads and then as speaker.

"Genial and cordial, with unfailing tact and aptitude, skillful in cultivating friendships and never provoking enmities, he had in a rare degree the elements that insure popularity," Republican bigwig James G. Blaine wrote. But Blaine noted something else - a lack of "the more rugged and combative qualities which diminished his force in the House."

In other words, Blaine thought Colfax was a bit of a lightweight.

In the aftermath of the Sun's scoop, Colfax professed to be unconcerned about the allegations. He had been replaced on the Republican ticket in June by Sen. Henry Wilson of Massachusetts (who, like Colfax, would be implicated in the scandal), and he seemed delighted to be out of the fray. But when Horace Greeley, the longtime editor of the New York Tribune running for president as a Democrat, campaigned in Indiana and cited Credit Mobilier as an example of corruption in Washington that required "purification," the scandal could no longer be ignored.

Colfax told a hometown crowd in South Bend that in his years in public life, "no man ever dared make me a dishonorable proposition" and that "neither Oakes Ames nor any other person ever gave or offered to give me one share, or twenty shares, or two thousand shares in the Credit Mobilier."

Greeley's death in November opened a road to redemption for the embattled vice president and onetime newspaper editor. Colfax was a front-runner to succeed Greeley at the helm of the Tribune but faced resistance from his wife and hesitated to seek the job, which went to distinguished correspondent Whitelaw Reid while Colfax dithered.

Suddenly, the Poland committee offered Colfax his only remaining chance to resuscitate his reputation. He testified under oath to the committee on Jan. 6, "I state explicitly that no one ever gave, or offered to give me, any shares of stock in the Credit Mobilier, or the Union Pacific Railroad. I have never received, nor had tendered to me, any dividends in case, stocks, or bonds, accruing upon any stock in either of said organizations."

Nevertheless, he conceded things were more complicated than he had indicated in South Bend. Ames had, in fact, approached him about buying Credit Mobilier shares, and he told his Massachusetts colleague that the stock "looked like a good and safe investment for one of limited means." Several weeks later, he said, he paid Ames $500 but backed out of the deal after hearing rumors of "unpleasant controversies" among Credit Mobilier stockholders that were likely to lead to litigation. He said he told Ames, who he thought was facing financial difficulties, to keep the $500.

"Instead of being enriched" by Credit Mobilier, Colfax said, "I am voluntarily out of pocket five hundred dollars, and have been for nearly five years."

Some found his testimony credible. "Told by Mr. Colfax, it is not a story to be doubted," Harper's Weekly concluded. Others were more skeptical. The Nation dismissed Colfax's testimony as an example of "explanations which make a thing appear worse than it really is."

There matters might have rested. But as one witness after another claimed innocence or denied doing business with Ames, the Massachusetts lawmaker concluded that he was being set up to take the blame for the scandal and returned to the committee with additional details.

After examining his records, Ames said he had paid Colfax $1,200 in dividends with a check marked with the initials "S.C." "I could not have had $1,200 added to my income without remembering it very positively," Colfax told the committee on Jan. 24. But that assertion appeared to be contradicted four days later by testimony that revealed Colfax made a $1,968 deposit at a Washington bank, with $1,200 in cash, three days after Ames wrote him a check in the same amount.

Colfax returned to the committee on Feb. 11 to explain the $1,200 deposit with a convoluted tale involving the sale of a piano to a relative for $200 and the receipt by mail of a surprise $1,000 contribution from a New York supporter named George F. Nesbitt. Colfax testified to the committee for a final time eight days later to volunteer additional details about his relationship with Nesbitt.

Although family members corroborated his story, few believed it. The newspaper he might have led was particularly skeptical. "If Mr. Colfax's statement is true," the Tribune concluded Feb. 12, "he is the victim of a train of circumstantial evidence almost unparalleled in judicial history." The Nation was even more damning: "On the whole, as far as Mr. Colfax is concerned, the affair wears a very hopeless outlook."

The Poland committee's investigation ended inconclusively. It recommended the expulsion of Ames and Rep. James Brooks of New York, the only Democrat implicated in the scandal. (The House voted to censure Ames and Brooks instead.) Everyone else was exonerated on the grounds that they believed Ames was offering an innocent business proposition rather than a bribe.

About Colfax, the committee made no official finding. But the verdict of public opinion weighed heavily on him. On March 4, the day Grant was sworn in for a second term, Colfax gave a valedictory address in which he defended his conduct in office. But Grace Greenwood of the New York Times noted his "pale, careworn, and sad" appearance.

"Mr. Schuyler Colfax has looked very much worn as of late," the National Republican editorialized. "To a great extent we express the sentiments of all shades of politicians when we state our sincere regret" that Colfax leaves office "under such painful and pitiful circumstances. To all human appearances the shadow which now darkens his future can never be removed."
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YEREVAN, Armenia (AP)  Fighting on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan killed about 100 troops Tuesday as attacks on both sides fed fears of broader hostilities breaking out between the longtime adversaries.

Armenia said at least 49 of its soldiers were killed; Azerbaijan said it lost 50.

The fighting erupted minutes after midnight with Azerbaijani forces unleashing an artillery barrage and drone attacks in many sections of Armenian territory, according to Armenias Defense Ministry. It said shelling grew less intense during the day but Azerbaijani troops were trying to advance into Armenian territory.

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry said it was responding to a large-scale provocation by Armenia late Monday and early Tuesday. It said Armenian troops planted mines and fired on Azerbaijani military positions.

The two countries have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh in a six-week war in 2020 that killed more than 6,600 people and ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal. Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers under the deal.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged both parties to refrain from further escalation and show restraint. Moscow has engaged in a delicate balancing act in seeking to maintain friendly ties with both ex-Soviet nations. It has strong economic and security ties with Armenia, which hosts a Russian military base, while also has been developing close cooperation with oil-rich Azerbaijan.

The international community also urged calm.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to take immediate steps to deescalate tensions, exercise maximum restraint and resolve any outstanding issues through dialogue" and implement previous agreements, his spokesman said.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled closed consultations Wednesday on the renewed fighting.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called Russian President Vladimir Putin and later also had calls with French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Charles Michel and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by phone with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with both Pashinyan and Azerbaijans president, Ilham Aliyev. The U.S. has a special envoy in the region, Blinken said, and my hope is that we can move this from conflict back to the negotiating table and back to trying to build a peace.

Speaking in parliament early Tuesday, Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of having had an uncompromising stance at recent European Union-brokered talks in Brussels.

Armenia said the Azerbaijani shelling Tuesday damaged civilian infrastructure and wounded an unspecified number of people.

On Facebook, Aliyev expressed condolences to the families and relatives of our servicemen who died on September 13 while preventing large-scale provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces in the direction of the Kalbajar, Lachin, Dashkasan and Zangilan regions of Azerbaijan.

Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, also placed the blame for the violence on Armenia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for Aliyev and said in a statement that Turkey and Azerbaijan are "brotherly ... in all matters.

The governor of Gegharkunik province, one of the regions that came under Azerbaijani shelling, said there was a 40-minute lull in the fighting, apparently reflecting Moscows attempt to negotiate a truce, before it later resumed. The governor, Karen Sarkisyan, said four Armenian troops in his region were killed and another 43 were wounded by the shelling.

The Armenian government said it would officially ask Russia for assistance under a friendship treaty between the countries, and also appeal to the United Nations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Moscow-dominated security alliance of ex-Soviet nations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from comment on Armenias request but added during a conference call with reporters that Putin was taking every effort to help de-escalate tensions.

___

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  Alaska Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Pierce was asked to consider voluntarily resigning as Kenai Peninsula Borough mayor after a borough employee made what were deemed to be credible claims of harassment against him, according to a statement from the borough Assembly.

Pierce's campaign late last month said Pierce would resign effective Sept. 30 to focus full time on his campaign for governor. The campaign at the time said Pierce had earlier committed to stepping down" after the Aug. 16 primary.

Pierce did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press Tuesday. But in a statement Monday to Anchorage TV station KTUU, he said: As with any confidential personnel matter, I am not at liberty to discuss this issue. My resignation was planned contingent on the primary election results and was communicated over 5 weeks ago.

The borough Assembly released its statement Sunday, the same day it opted against releasing an investigation conducted in July by an Anchorage law firm into the allegations, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Assembly members said keeping the complainant anonymous would help ensure that employees feel comfortable in raising any future workplace complaints.

The statement said the firm provided to the borough attorney its report that "found the claims credible.

The Assembly on Aug. 23 met in executive session to provide the borough attorney direction around mediation and settlement ranges, the statement said. The mediation process will seek to resolve the matter and avoid costs associated with a threatened lawsuit," according to the statement.

As part of a potential mediated resolution, Mayor Pierce was asked to consider submitting his voluntary resignation because a voluntary resignation could provide greater opportunity for pre-suit resolution of this dispute in that it could provide a meaningful return to work opportunity for the complainant, which is the foremost focus of the internal process under Borough policy, the statement said.

The statement does not discuss that point further.

Pierce announced his plans to resign days after the executive session discussions and days after the release of additional election results that showed Pierce and running mate Edie Grunwald advancing to the November general election.

Pierce, who with Grunwald finished fourth in the primary, has not participated in recent debates.

The race for governor also features Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Democrat Les Gara and independent Bill Walker, a former governor.
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LAS VEGAS (AP)  An elected official accused of killing a Las Vegas investigative journalist in what authorities allege was retaliation for articles critical of him and his office faced court sanctions two years ago for resisting arrest in a domestic violence case, records show.

Robert Telles, the Clark County public administrator who took office in January 2019, accepted a plea agreement in September 2020 to resolve misdemeanor battery and resisting a public officer charges after his wife called 911, according to Las Vegas Municipal Court and police dispatch records.

The records, first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, show the case was dismissed and closed in March 2021 after Telles paid a $418 fine, attended counseling and stayed out of trouble.

His attorney in that case, Ross Goodman, did not immediately respond Tuesday to telephone and email messages. Efforts to contact Telles wife, Mae Ismael, by telephone and email were not successful.

Telles, now 45, remains jailed without bail on suspicion of murder in the Sept. 2 slaying of veteran Review-Journal staff writer Jeff German (GEHR-man).

Telles attorney, Travis Shetler, asked during a brief Tuesday court appearance for additional time to prepare for Telles arraignment, and prosecutors did not oppose the delay. A local judge reset the hearing for Sept. 20.

Shetler did not immediately respond later to messages about the 2020 incident, in which Telles was accused of grabbing and placing his wife in a bear-hug position and of resisting efforts by two police officers to handcuff him.

Telles stood in shackles Tuesday wearing bandages on his forearms and a wry smile as he faced a courtroom crowded with reporters, photographers and television cameras. He did not speak to the judge or his attorney.

Police and prosecutors say he had superficial self-inflicted wounds when he was arrested Sept. 7 after a brief standoff with police at his home.

A criminal complaint filed Monday accuses Telles of lying in wait for German, who was stabbed seven times. His body was found the next morning.

Telles was arrested days later, after police issued a plea for public help to identify a person seen on security video wearing an orange work shirt and a wide-brim straw hat toting a shoulder bag and walking toward Germans home.

Police also released images of a distinctive SUV seen on video near Germans home, driven by a person wearing an orange shirt.

A Review-Journal photographer snapped photos Sept. 6 of Telles washing the same type of vehicle in his driveway.

A prosecutor told a judge last Thursday that Telles left his own cellphone at home and waited in a vehicle outside Germans home until the attack. It was characterized as a planned response to articles that German wrote about turmoil and internal dissension in the county office that handles the property of people who die without a will or family contacts.

After articles appeared in May airing claims of administrative bullying, favoritism and Telles relationship with a subordinate staffer, Telles lost his bid for reelection in the June primary. County lawmakers also appointed a consultant to address complaints about leadership in the office.

Telles blamed old-timers for exaggerating his relationship with the female staffer and falsely claiming that he mistreated them.

German, a 40-year Las Vegas journalist who was widely respected for his tenacity, was working on follow-up reports about Telles and the public administrators office when he died, his colleagues said.

The published articles ... ruined (Telles) political career, likely his marriage, and this was him lashing out at the cause, Chief Deputy Clark County District Attorney Richard Scow told a judge last week.

That judge, Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Elana Lee Graham, called the police report detailing the attack chilling. She spoke of apparent defensive wounds on Germans arms and said DNA believed to be from Telles was found under Germans fingernails.

He was fighting for his life, Graham said.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson has called Germans death brutal and meaningless and said a decision whether to seek the death penalty will be made in coming months.

Police said a search warrant turned up items at Telles home including blood-stained shoes and a straw hat that had been cut up. Authorities said they did not immediately find the weapon used to kill German.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, a Republican running for governor in November, said investigators were attempting to enhance security video that he described as distorted but that might show the attack.

German joined the Review-Journal in 2010 after more than two decades at the Las Vegas Sun, where he was a columnist and reporter covering courts, politics, labor, government and organized crime.

Telles was a lawyer who practiced probate and estate law before he was elected public administrator in 2018, replacing a three-term predecessor.

Telles term in office expires Dec. 31, but Clark County officials said he is suspended and has been banned from county offices or property pending a review of his position as an elected official.
Hyderabad: Stepping up the attack on the BJP after announcing plans to set up a national party, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao said that the BJP is ruling the country with just a 36 per cent vote share and that a non-BJP government will come to power in the Centre in 2024, when the next Lok Sabha polls are scheduled.

He also stated that the state government will pursue legal action against the Centre for lowering the FRBM borrowing limits.

Further, he also offered to resign in a second if his claims that the Andhra Pradesh government owes Rs 17,000 crore dues to TS are true.

Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Monday, Rao said that even God cant save the BJP government in 2024 polls.

Expanding on his national ambitions, Rao promised to implement Telangana's flagship welfares schemes of Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, Dalit Bandhu, 24x7 free power to agriculture, and development programmes, such as Mission Bhagiratha, Mission Kakatiya and lift irrigation projects, to the entire nation in 2024.

Rao also discussed his plans of floating a national party for the first time in the Assembly. "Some people are ridiculing my efforts to launch a national party. Is there any rule that only they should (referring to BJP) run a national party? Can't we launch a national party?" the CM questioned.

Stating that the BJP came to power only in eight states with a full majority, Rao alleged the saffron party of using backdoor means such as purchasing MLAs and toppling democratically-elected governments in all large states, except for Uttar Pradesh.

He said that in 10 states, the BJP is sharing power with regional parties, while it has a strength of fewer than 10 MLAs in 10 others, with none in two states.

"We will send BJP government home in 2024 Lok Sabha polls for adopting anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-labour policies and for failing on all fronts. The BJP government is left with a tenure of fewer than 20 months. A non-BJP government will come to power in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," Rao said.

He dared the BJP government at the Centre to ban all other political parties and see what happens.

Accusing the Central government of weakening the federal spirit and usurping all of the powers of states (PFC), the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar stated that the state government will pursue legal action against the Centre for lowering FRBM borrowing limits and for stopping loans for power and irrigation projects in the state from Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and Power Finance Corporation.

In response to a brief discussion on the 'Central Electricity Bill  Ramification' in the Assembly on Monday, the CM stated that he would step down if his claim that the Centre underutilised its installed power capacity of 4,04 lakh MW was found to be untrue. Rao came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP-led government at the Centre, accusing it of creating hurdles in Telangana's path to successfully implementing 24x7 power supply to all sectors while the Centre and all other States failed to do so due to their inefficiency and poor power policies in all other States.

Rao slammed Modi for selling the assets of several public sector units (PSUs) and has now set its eyes on agriculture and power sectors to handover them to their corporate friends by burdening farmers with higher input costs and power consumers with higher bills. Appealing to the Prime Minister to withdraw power reforms, including the Electricity (Amendments) Bill 2022, which are detrimental to farmers, poor and middle-class, Rao warned that if the Centre fails to withdraw, it would face revolt from the people.

Dubbing Modi as the "master of withdrawing bills and Acts", Rao said, "Earlier, Modi has withdrawn amendments made to Land Acquisition Act following backlash from farmers. Recently, he withdrew three black farm laws owing to intense protests from farmers and even apologised to farmers. In the same way, he should withdraw power reforms which mandate not only installation of meters to agriculture pump sets but also pre-paid smart meters for all types of consumers. People from poorer sections, SCs, STs, BC, and minorities cannot bear higher power bills as these reforms will eventually lead to privatisation of power sector and Discoms."

"The national installed power capacity is 4.04 lakh MW, with a base load (firm power) of 2.42 lakh MW. However, the country recorded highest peak load of 2.1 lakh MW on June 22 this year. This is less than our base load. Apart from optimum utilisation of the base load, we can immediately use at least 1.65 lakh MW in addition," he explained.

Pointing out that both the NDA and the TRS governments were formed at the same time eight years ago at Centre and state, the CM said Telangana's per capita power consumption has increased from 970 units in 2014 to 2,126 units in 2022. However, the national per capita power consumption has increased from 957 units in 2014 to just 1,255 units, which includes Telangana's consumption in 2022.

Lashing out at the Centre for failing to utilise even garbage to produce power, he said, "India produces crores of tonnes of garbage every day. We could have generated power even using garbage. We have such an inefficient government at the Centre which can't utilise even garbage to produce power while Telangana government has already begun power production using garbage under GHMC limits and few other municipalities."

Rao stated that if power reforms were implemented, it would adversely impact about 98 lakh families in Telangana alone. "For that reason, I strongly opposed power reforms. The centre offered to raise FRBM borrowing limit by 5% each for five years to the state, if power reforms are implemented. It amounts to Rs 5,000 crore additional loans per year. I clearly said no keeping in view the interests of people even though it resulted in Rs 25,000 crore loans loss to our state."

Stating that the Centre was trying to pressurise the Telangana government to implement power reforms by stopping loans from REC and RFC to Yadadri power plant, he said, "They changed loan agreement conditions. We entered into a bilateral agreement between state government and PFC, REC. The centre wants us to enter into tripartite agreement by including Centre with an intention to obstruct loans to Telangana, Rao alleged. He charged the Centre of bringing laws under the guise of reforms to loot the people and benefit their crony capitalist friends. "The Centre is trying to hand over the crores of rupees of assets owned by the power companies to the corporate companies," he said. He cautioned 20 lakh employees working in the power sector across the country to fight against power reforms. If not, they are bound to lose their jobs soon, he warned.
FRESNO, Calif. (AP)  A former principal was charged in central California with child abuse after being caught on video striking a student with special needs, and his attorney said Tuesday that what the video shows is out of character for the veteran educator.

Brian Vollhardt, who was the principal of Wolters Elementary, was charged last week with misdemeanor child abuse after surveillance video captured him shoving the child June 7 in the schools cafeteria.

My client has been in education for 20-plus years. Hes been a teacher, a special ed teacher and administrator for many years, Vollhart's attorney, Roger Wilson, told the Fresno Bee. The conduct thats on the video appears to be completely out of character for him.

The newspaper obtained the video, which was released last Wednesday. A day after the video was made public, officials with the Fresno Unified School District and the Fresno Police Department released details on the investigation into Vollhardt, who resigned from his position with the district on Aug. 4. He was hired shortly after that as vice principal of Golden Plains Unified, which put Vollhardt on administrative leave Sept. 8 and said that it would wait for the outcome of the criminal case to take further action.

The police department opened an investigation on Vollhardt after a Fresno district employee contacted the police on June 9, department spokesperson Lt. Bill Dooley said.

Police Chief Paco Balderrama last week said system failures within the department were to blame for a monthslong delay in the investigation. Balderrama acknowledged police received video evidence in June but he said he didnt see the footage or hand the case over to the Fresno County District Attorneys Office until Tuesday, after a Fresno Bee reporter requested information about the case from police.

Documents obtained by the newspaper through a Public Records Act request show prior run-ins between the educator and the student. The principal was accused of forcing the same student to the ground 11 days earlier, putting his knee to the child's back and holding down the students shoulder for approximately 2-4 minutes, according to a formal complaint obtained by the newspaper.

Wilson said he is still waiting on key information and evidence from the Fresno County District Attorneys Office as he prepares for Vollhardts arraignment scheduled for Sept. 26.
BUENA PARK, Calif. (AP)  A minivan stolen with a 2-year-old boy inside was found with the child safe hours after it was taken Tuesday morning from outside a Southern California elementary school, authorities said.

The silver 2017 Toyota Sienna was stolen at Charles G. Emery Elementary School in Buena Park at about 9:30 a.m., according to police.
LIVINGSTON, Mont. (AP)  A fire apparently caused by a dust explosion destroyed buildings and equipment at a Montana sawmill and one employee was flown to a Salt Lake City hospital for burn treatment, officials said.

The fire started at 6 a.m. Monday at R-Y Timber in Livingston, destroying three connected buildings, machinery and stored lumber. The company's planer building was burned to the ground, general manager Dan Richards said.
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  For 40 years, Louise Kwang thought she was an orphan baby found on the streets of the South Korean port city of Busan before her adoption by Danish parents in 1976.

She felt her entire sense of identity collapse in 2016 when her South Korean agency matter-of-factly acknowledged that her origin story was fiction aimed at ensuring her adoptability.

(The English file) says you were transferred from Namkwang Childrens Home in Pusan (Busan) to KSS for international adoption. In fact, it was just made up for adoption procedure, Kyeong Suk Lee, a social worker at the Korea Social Service, wrote in a letter to Kwang after she requested her original Korean-language file.

The agency turned out to know about Kwangs biological parents, including her father whom she later met. Theres no indication Kwang was ever in Busan, which is several hours drive from the countrys capital, Seoul, where her father had been living in 1976.

I was not an orphan. I have never been to Busan nor at the orphanage in Busan, Kwang said at a news conference in Seoul on Tuesday. This was all a lie. A lie made up for adoption procedure. I have been made non-existent in Korea, to get me out of Korea as fast as possible.

Kwang is among nearly 300 South Korean adoptees in Europe and the United States who so far have filed applications calling for South Koreas government to investigate the circumstances surrounding their adoptions, which they suspect were based on falsified documents that laundered their real status or identities.

Their effort underscores a deepening rift between the worlds largest diaspora of adoptees and their birth nation decades after scores of Korean children were carelessly removed from their families during a foreign adoption boom that peaked in the 1980s.

The Denmark-based group representing the adoptees also on Tuesday delivered a letter to the office of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol urging him to prevent agencies from destroying records or retaliating against adoptees seeking their roots as the agencies face increasing scrutiny about their past practices.

The 283 applications submitted so far to Seouls Truth and Reconciliation Commission describe numerous complaints about lost or distorted biological origins.

Some adoptees say they discovered the agencies switched their identities to replace other children who died, were too sick to travel, or were retaken by their Korean families before they could be sent to Western adopters. They say such findings worsen their sense of loss and sometimes lead to false reunions with relatives who turn out to be strangers.

Peter Mller, attorney and co-founder of the Danish Korean Rights Group, said he also plans to sue two Seoul-based agencies - Holt Childrens Services and KSS - over their unwillingness to fully open their records to adoptees.

While agencies often cite privacy issues related to birth parents to justify the restricted access, Mller accuses them of inventing excuses to sidestep questions about their practices as adoptees increasingly express frustration about the limited details in their adoption papers that often turn out to be inaccurate or falsified.

Mllers group last month initially filed applications from 51 Danish adoptees calling for the commission to investigate their adoptions, which were handled by Holt and KSS.

The move attracted intense attention from Korean adoptees from around the world, prompting the group to expand its campaign to Holt and KSS adoptees outside of Denmark. The 232 additional applications submitted Tuesday included 165 cases from Denmark, 36 cases from the United States and 31 cases combined from Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Germany.

The commission, which was set up in December 2020 to investigate human rights atrocities under military governments that ruled South Korea from the 1960s to 1980s, must decide in three or four months whether to open an investigation into the applications filed by the adoptees. If it does, that could trigger the most far-reaching inquiry into foreign adoptions in the country, which has never fully reconciled with the child export frenzy engineered by its past military leaders.

While the commissions deadline for applications comes in December, Mller said his group will try to persuade the commission to keep the door open for more applications from adoptees if it decides to investigate the cases.

There are many more adoptees that have written us, called us, been in contact with us. They are afraid to submit to this case because they fear that the adoption agencies will ... burn the original documents and retaliate, said Mller. He said such concerns are greater among adoptees who discovered that the agencies had switched their identities.

Holt didnt respond to calls for comment. Choon Hee Kim, an adoption worker who has been with KSS since the 1970s, said the agency is willing to discuss issues surrounding its adoptions with adoptees individually but not with the media.

When asked about KSS letters admitting to the falsifying of biological origins, Kim said, The adoptees are saying they received such letters because they did, and its not like they are making things up.

About 200,000 South Koreans were adopted overseas during the past six decades, mainly to white parents in the United States and Europe and mostly during the 1970s and 1980s.

Military leaders saw adoptions as a way to reduce the number of mouths to feed, solve the problem of unwed mothers and deepen ties with the democratic West.

Special laws aimed at promoting foreign adoptions effectively allowed licensed private agencies to bypass proper child relinquishment practices as they exported huge numbers of children to the West year after year.

Most of the South Korean adoptees sent abroad were registered by agencies as legal orphans found abandoned on the streets, although they frequently had relatives who could be easily identified or found. That practice often make their roots difficult or impossible to trace.

It wasnt until 2013 that South Koreas government required foreign adoptions to go through family courts, ending the policy that allowed agencies to dictate child relinquishments, transfer of custodies and emigration for decades.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)  Private and religious schools in New York face greater scrutiny after state education leaders approved rules Tuesday requiring them to prove their academic programs line up with those of public schools.

The unanimous vote by the Board of Regents follows several years of debate that began with complaints of children graduating from ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools lacking basic academic skills. The rules apply to all of New Yorks 1,800 nonpublic schools.
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)  Police in Tennessee have revised the number of people killed in a man's shooting rampage from four to three after a different suspect was identified in the slaying of a teenager during the tense ordeal in Memphis.

In a Facebook post, Memphis police said the killing of a 17-year-old girl, Corteria McKinnie, was not part of the series of shootings last Wednesday that terrorized the city and led to a shelter-in-place order.
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CHICAGO (AP)  Renowned jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis, whose music entertained fans over a more than 60-year career that began with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and made him one of the countrys most successful jazz musicians, has died. He was 87.

Lewis is revered in jazz circles for 1960s hits like The In Crowd, Hang on Sloopy and Wade in the Water. He earned three Grammy awards and seven gold records. The trios first record in 1956 was Ramsey Lewis and the Gentlemen of Swing.

Lewis died Monday in his sleep at his Chicago home, according to his son, Bobby Lewis.

He was just at peace, Bobby Lewis told The Associated Press on Monday night. Most people say when they met dad that he was a class act. He was that way even through his last breath.

Ramsey Lewis described his approach to composing and performing in a 2011 interview with the AP.

Life is a solo, and it continues, Lewis said, sitting at the dining room table in his downtown Chicago home. I just know that when I put my hands on the piano its going to flow.

Lewis first took piano lessons at age 4. He spent his early days in Chicago using his gospel and classical roots to create his own jazz style in the many neighborhood venues that hired young jazz musicians.

It gave us a lot of opportunity to try our ideas and learn what it means to perform in front of an audience, Lewis said as he was named National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2007. He accepted the award from his mentor and fellow Jazz Master, pianist Billy Taylor.

During his career, Lewis performed with musical stars such as Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Al Jarreau and Pat Metheney. Lewis had more than 80 albums to his credit  three dozen of them with Chicago-based Chess Records. He toured around the world and performed at the 1995 state dinner that then-President Bill Clinton hosted for President Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil.

I believe that my father  his love for the piano and his passion for the piano and how he coveted this love and how he protected it  that gave him longevity, Bobby Lewis said. He recognized the gift God had given him.

The Chicago native began composing large-scale musical works later in his career. His first was an eight-movement piece for Chicagos Joffrey Ballet. He also completed a tribute to President Abraham Lincoln  Proclamation of Hope: A Symphonic Poem by Ramsey Lewis.

Lewis also hosted radio shows in the 1990s and 2000, including The Ramsey Lewis Morning Show," on WNUA-FM and the syndicated Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis. In 2007, he hosted Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis, a weekly program that aired on public television stations nationwide.

The shows creators said it was the first time jazz was featured on a weekly basis on network television in 40 years. It featured jazz greats and up-and-comers.

Lewis also spent time working on behalf of charities that brought music to young people.

Ramseys passion for music was truly fueled by the love and dedication of his fans across the globe, his wife, Janet Lewis, said in a Facebook post. He loved touring and meeting music lovers from so many cultures and walks of life. It was our familys great pleasure to share Ramsey in this special way with all those who admired his God-given talents.

Brett Steele, whose Tampa, Florida-based Steele Management represented Lewis since 2011, said Lewis spent the last year of his life working on his memoirs which are completed and scheduled to be published next year.

In addition to his wife and son, Lewis also is survived by daughters Denise Jeffries and Dawn Allain; two other sons Kendall Kelly Lewis and Frayne Lewis; and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

___

Former Associated Press writer Caryn Rousseau was the primary contributor to this report. AP writer Corey Williams contributed from Detroit.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Sitting on top of more than $115 million across several political committees, Donald Trump has positioned himself as a uniquely indomitable force in the GOP who would almost certainly have the resources to swamp his rivals if he launched another presidential campaign.

But that massive pile of money is also emerging as a potential vulnerability. His chief fundraising vehicle, Save America PAC, is under new legal scrutiny after the Justice Department issued a round of grand jury subpoenas that sought information about the political action committee's fundraising practices.

The scope of the probe is unclear. Grand jury subpoenas and search warrants issued by the Justice Department in recent days were related to numerous topics, including Trump's PAC, according to people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. The subpoenas seek records as well as testimony and ask at least some of the recipients about their knowledge of efforts to engage in election fraud, according to one of the people.

The subpoenas also ask for records of communication with Trump-allied lawyers who supported efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and plotted to line up fake electors in battleground states. A particular area of focus appears to be on the Save America Rally that preceded the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the person said.

The investigation is one of several criminal probes Trump currently faces, including scrutiny of how documents with classified markings wound up at the former president's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. Regardless of Save America's ultimate role in the investigations, the flurry of developments has drawn attention to the PAC's management, how it has raised money and where those funds have been directed.

Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich slammed the subpoenas, saying a weaponized and politicized Justice Department was casting a blind net to intimidate and silence Republicans who are fighting for his America First agenda. Representatives for the Justice Department have declined to comment.

While Trump has more than $115 million held across various committees, the vast majority of it is stored at Save America. The PAC ended July with more than $99 million cash-on-hand, according to fundraising records  more than the Republican and Democratic national campaign committees combined.

Trump has continued to shovel up small-dollar donations in the months since, frustrating other Republicans who have been struggling to raise money ahead of the November midterm elections.

Save America is set up as a leadership PAC designed to allow political figures to fundraise for other campaigns. But the groups are often used by would-be candidates to fund political travel, polling and staff as they test the waters" ahead of potential presidential runs. The accounts can also be used to contribute money to other candidates and party organizations, helping would-be candidates build political capital.

Much of the money Trump has amassed was raised in the days and weeks after the 2020 election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Thats when Trump supporters were bombarded with a nonstop stream of emails and texts, many containing all-caps lettering and blatant lies about a stolen 2020 election, soliciting cash for an election defense fund.

But no such fund ever existed. Instead, Trump has dedicated the money to other uses. He's financed dozens of rallies, paid staff and used the money to travel as he's teased an expected 2024 presidential run.

Other expenses have been more unusual. There was the $1 million donated last year to the Conservative Partnership Institute, a nonprofit that employs Cleta Mitchell and former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, both of whom encouraged Trumps failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

There was the $650,000 charitable contribution in July to the Smithsonian Institution to help fund portraits of Trump and the former first lady that will one day hang in the National Portrait Gallery, according to the Smithsonian spokesperson Linda St. Thomas.

Much of the money has also funded a different sort of defense fund  one that has paid the legal expenses of Trump confidants and aides who have been called to testify before the Jan. 6 committee.

Overall, Trumps sprawling political operation has spent at least $8 million on legal consulting and legal expenses to at least 40 law firms since the insurrection, according to an analysis of campaign finance disclosures.

Its unclear how much of that money went to legal fees for staffers after a congressional committee started investigating the origins of the attack. But at least $1.1 million has been paid to Elections LLC, a firm started by former Trump White House ethics lawyer Stefan Passantino, according to campaign finance and business records. An additional $1 million was paid to a legal trust housed at the same address as Passantinos firm. Passantino did not respond to a request for comment Monday night. Payments have also been made to firms that specialize in environmental regulation and real estate matters.

As of July, only about $750,000 had been doled out to candidates for Congress, with an additional $150,000 given to candidates for state office, records show. Trump is expected to ramp up his political spending now that the general election season has entered full swing, though it remains unclear how much the notoriously thrifty former president will ultimately agree to spend.

Trump has long played coy about his 2024 plans, saying a formal announcement would trigger campaign finance rules that would, in part, force him to create a new campaign committee that would be bound by strict fundraising limits.

In the meantime, Trump aides have been discussing the prospect of creating a new super PAC or repurposing one that already exists as gets he closer to an expected announcement. While Trump could not use Save America to fund campaign activity after launching a run, aides have discussed the possibility of moving at least some of that money into a super PAC, according to people familiar with the talks who insisted on anonymity to discuss private plans.

Campaign finance experts are mixed on the legality of such a move. Some, like Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School and an expert in campaign finance, said he didn't see a problem.

There may be some hoops he has to jump through, he said. But I don't see a problem with it going from one PAC to another ... I dont see what would block it.

Others disagree.

It is illegal for a candidate to transfer a significant amount of money from a leadership PAC to a super PAC. You certainly cant do $100 million, said Adav Noti, a former Federal Election Commission attorney who now works for the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington-based government watchdog group focused on money and politics.

And whether or not Trump would face any consequences is a different matter.

For years, the FEC, which polices campaign finance laws, has been gridlocked. The commission is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, and a majority vote is needed to take any enforcement action against a candidate.

Indeed, legal experts say Trump has repeatedly flouted campaign finance law since launching his 2016 White House run, with no consequence.

More than 50 complaints involving Trump and his various campaign committees have been filed with the FEC. In roughly half of those instances, FEC lawyers have concluded that there was reason to believe that he or his committees may have broken campaign finance law. But the commission, which now includes three Trump-appointed Republicans, has repeatedly deadlocked.

The list of dismissed complaints against Trump is extensive. In 2021, Republicans on the commission rejected the claim, supported by the FECs staff attorneys, that a Trump orchestrated hush-money payment by his former lawyer to pornographic film star Stormy Daniels amounted to an unreported in-kind contribution. In May, the commission similarly deadlocked over whether his campaign broke the law by hiding how it was spending cash during the 2020 campaign.

And over the summer, the commission rejected complaints stemming from Trumps threat to withhold $391 million in aid for the Ukraine unless the Ukrainian officials opened an investigation into the relationship President Joe Bidens son Hunter Biden had with a Ukrainian gas company called Burisma, which the FECs attorneys determined was a potential violation of campaign finance law.

There is no legal basis whatsoever for believing that Congress intended the FEC to police official acts of the government that may be intended to assist an officeholders reelection, the commissions three Republicans said in a written statement late last month.

That means any enforcement action would likely have to come from the Justice Department.

He has nothing to fear from the Federal Election Commission until either its structure is changed or there is turnover among the FEC Commissioners, said Brett G. Kappel, a longtime campaign finance attorney who works at the Washington-based firm Harmon Curran and has represented both Republicans and Democrats. That doesnt mean he doesnt have anything to fear from the Justice Department, which is already apparently investigating Save America. From what I can see, there are multiple wire fraud allegations that could be the subject of a Justice Department investigation."

In the meantime, Trump and Save America continue to rake in contributions from grassroots supporters, blasting out fundraising solicitations with aggressive demands like this needs to be taken care of NOW and threatening donors that their Voter Verification canvass surveys are OUT OF DATE," even as some of the Republican Senate contenders Trump endorsed and helped drag across the finish line in primaries are struggling to raise cash.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has urged those candidates to ask Trump for money, which the former president has so far proven reluctant to provide. That has left the candidates, some of whom presented themselves as McConnell antagonists during their primaries, to grovel to McConnell and the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC he controls and has $100 million in reserve.

It also strengthens McConnells hand in his long-simmering feud with Trump, who has urged GOP senators to oust the Kentucky Republican. Some close to Trump acknowledge the candidates could use the money, but said he doesnt see it as his responsibility to fill the void.

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Colvin reported from New York.

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Follow AP's coverage of Donald Trump at https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump.
WASHINGTON - A Twitter whistleblower on Tuesday testified before Congress that the company's failure to secure sensitive data causes "real harm to real people," prompting senators to grapple with Washington's inability to effectively regulate major social networks.

Peiter "Mudge" Zatko's Senate testimony - which expanded on an 84-page complaint shared with regulators and The Washington Post this summer - said that Twitter executives misled the public, regulators and the company's own board about its systemically broken defenses against hackers.

He described an executive team that was financially incentivized to ignore root problems, such as employees having too much access to data. Because the company wasn't properly tracking data access, he claimed, it was impossible for the company to respond to critical national security risks - including access gained by potential foreign agents on its payroll.

Zatko, the company's former security lead and a renowned hacker, grounded his at-times highly technical disclosures in examples of risks that lawmakers could connect to, suggesting this unfettered access could result in Twitter engineers sending unauthorized tweets from their accounts.

"It doesn't matter who has keys if you don't have any locks on the doors," he said. "It's not far-fetched to say an employee inside the company could take over the accounts of all the senators in this room."

Twitter has said security and privacy are priorities at the company. "Today's hearing only confirms that Mr. Zatko's allegations are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies," said Rebecca Hahn, a Twitter spokeswoman. Twitter declined to say which of Zatko's claims were inaccurate.

The federal government struggled for years with the growing influence of major tech companies, with lawmakers from both parties promising to pass regulations to protect Americans' data, improve competition in the industry and keep children safe online. Yet no such bills have become law, despite dozens of hearings grilling some of the most powerful tech executives in the world, as well as former employees such as Zatko who are going public with alleged wrongdoing.

Photo for The Washington Post by Tom Brenner

On Tuesday, lawmakers not only railed against Twitter, but also raised concerns about how their own inaction has prevented regulators such as the Federal Trade Commission from protecting Americans from alleged company abuses. They asked Zatko pointed questions about the ways smaller countries, such as France, have been able to pursue more aggressive oversight of data-privacy abuses.

"I believe this should be a watershed moment," said Zatko attorney Alexis Ronickher, adding that she was heartened by the commitment from the senators to change regulation and enforcement.

In appearing before Congress to discuss his disclosures, Zatko joins a cohort of other tech whistleblowers who have turned to lawmakers to address allegedly improper activity in the tech industry. Zatko, who reported directly to former Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey, was in a more senior position than Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen or Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie - raising the personal and professional stakes of his disclosure. Yet it remains to be seen whether Zatko's allegations will spur action in a narrowly divided and often paralyzed Congress, in which intense industry lobbying, partisan division and competing priorities have thwarted previous efforts to rein in Silicon Valley.

Meanwhile, Twitter shareholders voted Tuesday to approve Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition offer, setting the world's richest man on a collision course with the social media company as the two head to court in October. The approval - to accept Musk's offer of $54.20 per share, far higher than the current share price of roughly $42 - was widely expected. Twitter has forged ahead with the deal, despite Musk's attempts to back out because of what he says are problems with the company's business.

Zatko's testimony could also factor into Twitter's ongoing litigation with Musk, who has already incorporated some of the arguments from the whistleblower's complaint in court.

Zatko is also expected to meet with federal regulators, including the FTC, which could bring fines totaling hundreds of millions of dollars against Twitter for violating a previous consent order with the agency. Zatko has alleged that Twitter did not follow through on the commitments it made to the Federal Trade Commission to create a data-security program.

Ronickher declined to say whether Zatko was meeting with the agency while he was in D.C.

Zatko on Tuesday expanded on allegations in his redacted complaint regarding Twitter's employment of suspected foreign government operatives, who may have had access to sensitive data because of the company's lack of internal controls. He said agents for the Indian government and the Chinese government were on the company's payroll.

A week before his January firing, Zatko testified, the FBI had warned security staff that a Chinese agent for the Ministry of State Security was employed at the company. Twitter ads paid for by the Chinese government also could have elicited information, including locations of users who click on them, he said.

Zatko's testimony is already becoming a headache for Twitter and its chief executive, Parag Agrawal. Multiple senators slammed Agrawal for declining to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee because of the company's ongoing litigation with Musk.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the committee's top Republican, said that if Zatko's allegations are true, Agrawal should be forced to step down as chief executive.

The disclosures Tuesday appeared to prompt some bipartisan soul-searching among lawmakers, many of whom spoke of a combined failure to bring enforcement against tech companies. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said that he was working across party lines with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to create a regulatory system that would imitate one in Europe, where lawmakers have taken aggressive action to penalize American tech companies.

Graham and Warren are on opposite ends of the political spectrum, and Graham's proposal signals how dramatically some Republicans' positions on tech regulation have evolved in recent years. The party has historically favored a less stringent regulatory environment for businesses. A congressional aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations, confirmed Warren was working with Graham, but a final agreement was "not imminent."

Graham suggested a new regulator would address privacy, content moderation and foreign interference, and that it would provide an appeals process for users when companies remove their content.

"Your testimony today has legitimized what most of us feel is a process out of control, that the regulatory environment is insufficient to the task," Graham said. "It's time to up our game in this country."

Multiple senators appeared interested in how other countries have approached regulating tech companies such as Twitter. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) asked if French regulators had better standards to hold Twitter accountable. Zatko responded that France's data regulator is "more feared" because "they dig in technically and go toward more quantitative results that are less easy for organizations to sort of wordsmith around."

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) floated the idea of creating a tech enforcement agency that would specifically address data security and national security threats posed by tech companies.

"I think the mounting evidence shows that the current regulatory structure is failing," Blumenthal told The Post.

Zatko emphasized throughout the hearing that any regulations need to be enforced with independent audits and metrics, to ensure that well-resourced companies are unable to game the system.

He also called on lawmakers to consider legislation that would expand whistleblower protections to other government agencies, so that more employees would be able to disclose critical information to the government. Zatko and Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower, filed their complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has a dedicated program that offers rewards and protections for such complaints.

The FTC, the industry's main tech regulator, does not have such a program, and the SEC does not protect whistleblowers at privately owned companies.

Early in the hearing, Zatko spoke about the personal and professional toll submitting his complaint had taken on him and his family. He said that he did not make his disclosures "out of spite or to harm Twitter."

"What you did today will not be in vain," Graham said.
The 2022 primaries concluded Tuesday on a familiar note - with voters in Republican races choosing between far-right, election-denying candidates and more moderate rivals, and party leaders divided in contests factoring into the battle for control of Congress.

Voters went to the polls in three states, marking the end of this year's nominating process for the two major parties: Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. The primaries allowed voters one more chance to choose party standard-bearers after months of fierce intraparty battles that highlighted divisions on both sides over policy, personality, and ideology, among other things.

The races in New Hampshire captured the interest of national strategists in both parties heading into Tuesday, given how they could shape the fight for control of both chambers of Congress in November. The Republican primary for U.S. Senate pit retired U.S. Army brigadier general Don Bolduc against state Senate President Chuck Morse.

The Republican Senate primary was too early to call at around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night, according to the Associated Press. At that point, Bolduc held a lead of just over one percentage point over Morse, with 35 percent of the vote tallied. A pair of closely-watched Republican House primaries were also unresolved at that time.

Bolduc, who led the GOP field in some pre-primary polling, has echoed Donald Trump's false claims that the former president won the 2020 election. He has voiced openness to abolishing the FBI, accused party leaders of "rigging" a 2020 primary that he narrowly lost and has been highly critical of Republican Gov. Chris Sununu.

Morse won the backing of Sununu, a relative moderate in the party who rejected efforts by Senate GOP leaders to recruit him to run against Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.). A group with ties to Senate Republican leaders has run ads on Morse's behalf and Morse has defended the validity of the 2020 election in New Hampshire, even as he did not oppose GOP challenges to results in a pair of other states.

Through mid-August, Republican candidates who claimed inaccurately that the 2020 election results were fraudulent had prevailed in more than half of the races they have run in this year, according to a Washington Post analysis of hundreds of federal and state primaries. That record reflects in part the continued influence in the GOP of Trump, who continues to falsely assert in public comments that the election was stolen from him.

Trump did not make an endorsement in the New Hampshire Senate primary or in either of the state's House primaries, a noticeable absence after weighing in on scores of other intraparty contests this year.

Hassan easily won renomination Tuesday, the AP projected. In the governor's race, Sununu won renomination and will face Democrat Tom Sherman in November. Sununu begins as a heavy favorite in the gubernatorial race.

Sununu whose family is an institution in New Hampshire politics, has called Bolduc a "conspiracy theorist." Still, at a weekend stop at a seafood festival here, he said that he would support Bolduc or any other Republican who won the nomination. On Monday, Sununu predicted a close GOP race, but he said he believed Morse would win.

For a time, national Republicans viewed the path to winning back control of the Senate as potentially running heavily through New Hampshire. When Sununu opted instead to seek reelection, local and national Republicans coalesced around Morse as the strongest alternative to Bolduc - who has embraced the fight against the party establishment.

"It's just noise. I've combated that for two years," said Bolduc in an interview after a Saturday town hall in Laconia.

National Democrats had signaled a belief that Hassan would have an easier time holding her seat in November against Bolduc, and they spent millions attacking Morse in recent weeks - a strategy of interference they have employed in GOP primaries around the country.

While New Hampshire has leaned Democratic in the past few presidential elections, Republicans believed it was within reach in a midterm year that looked dire for Democrats. While Democrats are at risk of losing the Senate, public polling indicates they are faring better than expected in many of the tightest races in the country.

The Democratic incumbents in the state's two U.S. House seats are also facing challenging reelections in November, according to nonpartisan analysts, heightening the stakes of the Republican primaries in both contests. In the 1st Congressional District, Matt Mowers, a 2016 Trump campaign aide who worked in the 45th president's administration, vied for a rematch against Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, who narrowly defeated him in 2020.

The primary divided House GOP leadership, with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) supporting Mowers and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the House Republican Conference chair, supporting Karoline Leavitt, her former staffer and an ex-member of the Trump White House press team.

Leavitt portrayed herself as an "America First" insurgent running against the Washington establishment, even as she touted her endorsement from a top House Republican. She has emphasized that she has called the 2020 election rigged and Mowers hasn't. Mowers has said there were "irregularities" in the count.

"The people are with me," Leavitt told reporters in Londonderry, N.H., on Thursday, before speaking at a rally with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).

Also on the ballot was Gail Huff Brown, a former TV news anchor and the wife of Scott Brown, a former Republican senator from Massachusetts. Her TV ads emphasize her support for "choice" and New Hampshire's new law on abortion that left the procedure legal in the state, but added some restrictions.

A similar dynamic played out in the 2nd Congressional District, where Keene Mayor George Hansel (R), who favors abortion rights and was also endorsed by Sununu, faced Robert Burns, a former Hillsborough County treasurer who ran to his right and opposes abortion rights. As in the Senate race, Democrats spent money highlighting Burns, who they see as easier to defeat in the fall than Hansel. Democratic Rep. Ann Kuster is the incumbent seeking reelection.

While Burns has acknowledged that Biden won in 2020, he has claimed that "a ton" of other unspecified elections were "stolen" in 2020. Hansel has recognized Biden's win.

In Rhode Island on Tuesday, Democrats navigated some high-stakes contested primaries of their own, including a contested Democratic primary for governor. Gov. Dan McKee (D), who replaced Gina Raimondo after she was appointed to Biden's Cabinet to lead the Commerce Department, led business executive Helena Foulkes by just over two percentage points, with about 80 percent of the vote tallied late Tuesday. The AP had yet to make a projection at around 10:30 p.m.

McKee had been dogged by a scandal over a $5 million contract awarded to a political adviser's consulting firm, which became the subject of an FBI probe. Foulkes received a late assist from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who came to the state to campaign for her on Sunday.

An open seat in the Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin is seen as one of Republicans' most promising chances to flip a seat in their endeavor to win back the House majority. There, state Treasurer Seth Magaziner was projected the winner of the Democratic primary, according to the AP, prevailing over former Commerce Department lawyer Sarah Morgenthau, and former state Rep. David Segal, who ran on a more liberal platform.

Republican Allan Fung, who carried the district in two failed runs for governor, won his party's nomination in an uncontested primary. President Biden carried the district by 14 points in 2020, giving Democrats hope of retaining the seat in November.

"If I didn't think that she could win this, I would have never encouraged her to put herself in the arena," Pelosi told voters in Providence. "She is about getting the job done."

Brown and running mate Cynthia Mendes, a state senator, got a late endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who did not campaign in the state. Both Democrats are part of the Rhode Island Political Cooperative, a liberal project to replace the state's more conservative leadership and pass an agenda that includes a $19 minimum wage and universal health care.

In Delaware, Democratic state Auditor Kathy McGuiness lost in the primary to challenger Lydia York in the first race since McGuiness was convicted on corruption charges. York, who was endorsed by local Democrats, would be the second Black woman to hold statewide office in Delaware, after Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.).

Biden returned home to vote on Tuesday, but did not tell reporters who he cast his ballot for in the primaries.

- - -

Weigel reported from New Hampshire.
Significantly, the accession of Britains King Charles III has not prompted recollections of ex-King Farouk of Egypts prediction that only five monarchs -- four in the pack of cards and one in London -- would survive. One reason could be that the British recognise that the monarchy, which their new Prime Minister Liz Truss had vowed to abolish when she was a young firebrand, is safe in the hands of a pragmatist like Charles. Under his alleged idiosyncrasies, the new King is endowed with common sense and historical understanding.

Take the controversy over one of his titles Defender of the Faith, or Fidei Defensor. His 1994 comment, I personally would rather see [my future role] as Defender of Faith, not the Faith, indicated an awareness of the folly of religious majoritarianism. His later clarification that while at the same time being Defender of the Faith, you can also be protector of faiths, demonstrated a nice sense of balance and the sagacity needed to preside over a harmonious multi-religious society.

As Defender of the Faith, the King is Supreme Governor of the Anglican Church of England, Britains official religion. Charles sought to combine that role with the defence of other creeds -- Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism -- that also flourish in Britain. I was once invited to dinner at the relatively new Oxford Centre of Islamic Studies which enjoys a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth II while Charles is the patron.

One would like to think that his 10 visits to India have awakened him to the dangers of majoritarianism bordering on bigotry. Actually, the Indian connection goes way back to Gordonstoun school in Scotland, where Shomie Das, later principal of The Lawrence School Sanawar, Mayo College and Doon School, was his tutor and physics master.

Bigotry apart, as a historical purist, Charles must find the Fidei Defensor title somewhat duplicitous. A Pope had granted it in 1521 to his remote ancestor, Henry VIII, him of the six wives, for publishing a ringing defence of Roman Catholicism and papal absolutism (Assertio Septem Sacramentorum, or Defence of the Seven Sacraments), which roundly denounced the Protestant Reformation. That was when Henry expected papal annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, so that he could marry Ann Boleyn. When the Pope refused, Henry broke with Rome whereupon -- tit for tat! -- the Pope revoked the title and excommunicated him. As a consolation prize, Englands tame Parliament conferred the same title on him, making Henry Defender of the Faith, but of Protestantism instead of Catholicism! So, why not Defender of all Faiths, as Charles had proposed?

Imagination and originality have not always made him popular. Invited to address the Royal Institute for British Architects in 1984, Charles attacked a proposed extension to the National Gallery as a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend. His black spider memos to government ministers were resented as high-level political lobbying. Although recently accused of accepting nearly 3 million in cash donation for his charities from Qatars royal family, Charles was earlier blamed for scuppering a 3 billion Qatari redevelopment scheme in Chelsea: apparently, he pissed in [the Emirs] ear about how awful the scheme was; over tea at Clarence House, prompting the projects cancellation.

However, his comments on sustainable markets, climate change and social finance have often been prescient. Reportedly, he has a strong interest in yoga and ayurveda. While his decision to give up his organic farm was regretted, there was praise for his suggestion of post-Brexit agrarian cooperatives. There are small farms the world over which could come together in a global cooperative committed to producing food based on high environmental standards, he wrote in the Guardian.

The row over the Defender of the Faith or Faiths title confirmed his inclusive thinking. Wherever you may live in the United Kingdom, or in the realms and territories across the world, and whatever may be your background or beliefs, I shall endeavour to serve you with loyalty, respect and love, as I have throughout my life, he promised in his first address as King.

If Indias spontaneously vigorous religious variety impressed Charles, so did the industry of poor Indians. Indeed, he must be the only VIP, domestic or foreign, to be intrigued by the clockwork punctuality of Mumbais humble dabbawalas: not only did he invite some of them to his 2005 wedding to Camila Parker-Bowles but it must also have been at his instigation that Queen Elizabeth II asked some of them to breakfast at Windsor Castle. They made a strong enough impression for her to enquire after them when the terrorists had attacked Mumbai in 2008.

But a King with no substantive powers who will constantly be compared with Britains longest-reigning monarch needs more than good sense and human feeling. King Charles III may have to mind his Ps and Qs. Queen

Elizabeth II grew into the job which she inherited when she was only 25 and became a towering presence on the world stage for 70 years. By the time of her passing four years short of a century, hers was, to quote her son, a life well lived; a promise with destiny kept and she is mourned most deeply in her passing. A happy marriage provided a sturdy prop for the Queens successful personal and professional lives.

One of the first public indications of her sons troubled first marriage was Princess Dianas decision to be photographed sitting wistfully alone on a bench outside the Taj Mahal in February 1992. Her former husbands visits were usually more vivacious. He celebrated his 71st birthday in India. Actress Padmini Kolhapure gave him a peck on his cheek in 1980 when he visited a Bollywood studio as a 32-year-old bachelor. That first visit was also when Doordarshans Mira Mozoomdar asked me to interview the Prince, as he then was. Charles readily agreed. I had attended and written about his investiture as the Prince of Wales -- a title he has lost no time in transferring to his eldest son and heir, William  at Caernarfon Castle in 1969, and still have the chair I sat on at the ceremony. But the royal court officials surrounding him just would not allow any deviation from the programme they had finalised.

One hopes the bureaucracy will not be as dominant throughout his reign. The promise of lifelong service that King Charles III has renewed demands some freedom from stifling rules and regulations.
WASHINGTON (AP)  With only three months left in the year, the House Jan. 6 committee is eyeing a close to its work and a final report laying out its findings about the U.S. Capitol insurrection. But the investigation is not over.

The committee has already revealed much of its work at eight hearings over the summer, showing in detail how former President Donald Trump ignored many of his closest advisers and amplified his false claims of election fraud after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Witnesses interviewed by the panel  some of them Trump's closest allies  recounted in videotaped testimony how the former president declined to act when hundreds of his supporters violently attacked the Capitol as Congress certified Bidens victory on Jan. 6, 2021.

Lawmakers say there is more to come. The nine-member panel  seven Democrats and two Republicans  interviewed witnesses through all of August, and they are hoping to have at least one hearing by the end of the month. Members met Tuesday to discuss the panel's next steps.

Because the Jan. 6 panel is a temporary, or select, committee, it expires at the end of the current Congress. If Republicans take the majority in Novembers elections, as they are favored to do, they are expected to dissolve the committee in January. So the panel is planning to issue a final report by the end of December.

Whats left for the committee in 2022:

HEARINGS

The panels Democratic chairman, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, said after the private members meeting Tuesday in the Capitol that the committees goal is to hold a hearing Sept. 28, but that members were still discussing whether it would happen at all.

Well were still in the process of talking," Thompson said. "If it happens, it will be that date. Were not sure at this point.

Members of the committee had promised more hearings in September as they wrapped up the series of summer hearings. Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chairwoman, said the committee has far more evidence to share with the American people and more to gather.

Doors have opened, new subpoenas have been issued and the dam has begun to break, Cheney said at a July 21 hearing that was held in prime time and watched by 17.7 million people. We have considerably more to do.

Its unclear if the hearing would provide a general overview of what the panel has learned or if they would be focused on new information and evidence. The committee conducted several interviews at the end of July and into August with Trumps Cabinet secretaries, some of whom had discussed invoking the constitutional process in the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office after the insurrection.

WITNESSES

The panel has already interviewed more than 1,000 people, but lawmakers and staff are still pursuing new threads. The committee recently spoke to several of the Cabinet secretaries, including former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in July and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao in August.

The committee also wants to get to the bottom of missing Secret Service texts from Jan. 5-6, 2021, which could shed further light on Trumps actions during the insurrection, particularly after earlier testimony about his confrontation with security as he tried to join supporters at the Capitol. Thompson said Tuesday that the committee has recently obtained thousands of documents from the Secret Service.

The committee has also pursued an interview with conservative activist Virginia Ginni Thomas, whos married to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Lawmakers want to know more about her role in trying to help Trump overturn the election. She contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin as part of that effort.

TRUMP AND PENCE

Members of the committee are still debating how aggressively to pursue testimony from Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.

Some have have questioned whether the committee needs to call Pence, who resisted Trumps pressure to try and block Bidens certification on Jan. 6. Many of his closest aides have already testified, including Greg Jacob, his top lawyer at the White House who was with him during the insurrection as they hid from rioters who were threatening the vice president's life. Jacobs characterized much of Pences thought process during the time when Trump was pressuring him.

The panel has been in discussions with Pences lawyers for months, without any discernible progress. Still, the committee could invite Pence for closed-door testimony or ask him to answer written questions.

The calculation is different for the former president. Members have debated whether they should call Trump, who is the focus of their probe but also a witness who has fought against the investigation in court, denied much of the evidence and floated the idea of presidential pardons for Jan. 6 rioters. Trump is also facing scrutiny in several other investigations, including at the Justice Department and over the classified documents he took to his private club.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS

Another bit of unfinished business is the committee's subpoenas to five House Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

In May the panel subpoenaed McCarthy, R-Calif., and Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Mo Brooks of Alabama. The panel has investigated McCarthys conversations with Trump the day of the attack and meetings the four other lawmakers had with the White House beforehand as Trump and some of his allies worked to overturn his election defeat.

The five Republicans, all of whom have repeatedly downplayed the investigations legitimacy, have simply ignored the request to testify. But the Jan. 6 committee seems unlikely to meet their defiance with contempt charges, as they have with other witnesses, in the weeks before the November elections. Not only would it be a politically risky move, but it is unclear what eventual recourse the panel would have against its own colleagues.

FINAL REPORT

The committee must shut down within a month after issuing a final report, per its rules. But lawmakers could issue some smaller reports before then, perhaps even before the November elections. Thompson said earlier this summer that there may be an interim report in the fall.

The release of the final report will likely come close to the end of the year so the panel can maximize its time. While much of the findings will already be known, the report is expected to thread the story together in a definitive way that lays out the committees conclusions for history.

LEGISLATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS

The committee is expected to weigh in on possible legislative changes to the Electoral Count Act, which governs how a presidential election is certified by Congress.

A bipartisan group of senators released proposed changes over the summer that would clarify the way states submit electors and the vice president tallies the votes. Trump and his allies tried to find loopholes in that law ahead of Jan. 6 as the former president worked to overturn his defeat to Biden and unsuccessfully pressured Pence to go along.

The Jan. 6 panel's final report is expected to include a larger swath of legislative recommendations.

___

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.
ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP)  A woman outfitted with a tiny microphone and hidden camera walked up to a dilapidated drug house on a chilly afternoon last year looking to buy meth from a dealer known on the streets as Mississippi.

But as the informant disappeared inside with a career criminal with a rap sheet spanning three decades, her law enforcement handlers left her undercover on her own  unprotected and unmonitored in real time. And the devices she carried passively recorded a crime far more horrific than any drug buy.

Under threat of violence, the dealer forced the woman to perform oral sex on him  twice  in an attack so brazen he paused at one point to conduct a separate drug deal, according to interviews and confidential law enforcement records obtained by The Associated Press.

It was one of the worst depictions of sexual abuse I have ever seen, said a local official who viewed the footage and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because he wasnt authorized to discuss the ongoing case.

Just the audio from it is enough to turn your stomach, the official said. Its a female being sexually brutalized while shes crying and whimpering.

Even as the woman cried and her assailant threatened to put her in the hospital, narcotics deputies remained down the block in the blighted neighborhood, unaware of what was going on. Thats because, as authorities told the AP, they never considered such an attack might happen and the devices the woman carried didnt have the ability to transmit the operation to law enforcement in real time.

It was recording but not to where my guys were monitoring it, said Rapides Parish Sheriff Mark Wood, blaming the January 2021 incident on his inexperience from only being in the top job six months at that time. There are always things you learn that you can do better.

The case in this central Louisiana city of 47,000 underscores the perils confidential informants face seeking to work off criminal charges in loosely regulated and often secretive arrangements with law enforcement. Police rely on informants in a wide range of cases, compensating them with money or leniency in their own cases yet often providing little or no training.

Records show it wasnt until the woman left the area on her own and contacted her handlers that deputies searched the single-family home and arrested Antonio D. Jones, 48, on charges of second-degree rape, false imprisonment and distribution of meth after recovering 5 grams of the substance in the sting.

Deputies surveilling the home after the woman went inside assumed she must be OK because someone else entered after her to buy drugs, said Lt. Mark Parker, the ranking officer in the operation.

Parker, who retired this month, told the AP that the sheriff's office didn't start using equipment capable of monitoring in real time until after the alleged rape, and often would send informants into stings without any recording equipment at all.

We've always done it this way," Parker said. She was an addict and we just used her as an informant like weve done a million times before. Looking back, it's easy to say, 'What if?'"

And while its not clear what kind of deal the woman struck with the Rapides Parish Sheriffs Office, her cooperation as an informant didnt seem to make much difference in clearing her own criminal record.

Just three weeks after her recorded assault, court records show, the woman was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia stemming from an arrest that happened about a month before the sting, and shes been pulled over and booked on possession charges at least twice since then. The woman, who declined interview requests and is not being named because the AP does not typically identify victims of sexual assault, pleaded guilty to possessing drug paraphernalia last year and was placed in behavioral health court in lieu of jail time.

Its absolutely horrible, said the womans attorney, Harold Murry. She has a drug problem and I dont know if shes going to be able to beat it or not. But when you become a snitch, they keep your drug problem going and then they arrest you for it.

Wood, who worked in the sheriffs office for two decades before his election, confirmed that the alleged rape has prompted his department to finally update its equipment to keep an eye on undercover transactions as theyre happening.

That changed everything, the way we do business," Wood said. Technology has grown unbelievably. Theres things that we can do to keep the folks safe.

Experts who reviewed the case for AP noted that the technology to monitor undercover transactions has existed for generations and should have been used to protect the woman in this case. The safety of the confidential informant is paramount, they said, prioritized over evidence collection or any other aim of the operation.

I see this as a massive ineptitude, said Michael Levine, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who worked undercover for years and now testifies as an expert on police procedures. The deputies, he said, should never in a million years have sent the informant into such a high-risk setting without the ability to monitor the operation. Theyre cowards.

David Redemann, a longtime Seattle police officer who now leads training on such stings, said the case highlights the vast disparities in law enforcements undercover playbook, with many agencies lacking the resources to properly train officers or monitor informant drug buys.

We do this 10,000 times a day around the country, and not everybody has transmitting equipment, Redemann said. Is this tragic as hell? Absolutely. We need to learn from what happened here."

Law enforcements use of confidential informants is akin to a black market in which deals are made under the table and often undocumented, said Alexandra Natapoff, a Harvard law professor and leading expert on informants.

Not only are informants treated as disposable pawns, she said, but qualified immunity has made it very difficult to sue the police when things go off the rails.

As a matter of common sense and humanity, police should take obvious, straightforward precautions to protect their informants, Natapoff said, but there is no law that says they have to.

With few exceptions, states have been slow to track or regulate law enforcements use of informants, even in the wake of high-profile oversights. In 2009, Florida lawmakers adopted Rachels Law, the first comprehensive legislation in the country governing use of informants, after the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Rachel Hoffman in connection with an undercover drug sting for Tallahassee police. Among other things, the law requires police consider the risk of physical harm" to the informant.

None of the deputies who arranged the undercover buy in Louisiana were disciplined, the sheriff said, and no other law enforcement agencies were asked to examine the handling of the case. A spokesman for the Alexandria Police Department said the agency had not been made aware of the sexual assault, even though it allegedly happened in the city and the suspect Jones has an extensive criminal history dating to 1992, including convictions in neighboring Mississippi for robbery, car theft, aggravated assault and drug distribution.

Jones is scheduled to stand trial Oct. 17, having refused a plea offer from prosecutors. His attorney declined to comment.

Last month, as AP was reporting this story, prosecutors without explanation reduced Jones charges from forcible second-degree rape to third-degree rape, or simple rape, significantly lowering the amount of time he could spend behind bars if convicted.

Prosecutors did not respond to requests for comment on why the charges were reduced or why the informant was charged with drug crimes even after her cooperation in the ill-fated sting.

Weeks before the charges were reduced, Rapides Parish District Attorney Phillip Terrell defended the deputies handling of the case, telling AP there is no indication in my file that law enforcement did anything wrong. The prospect of any informant coming under attack had not crossed their mind, the district attorney said, adding he was certain they wish this would not have occurred.

They never thought of that, and had they known that was occurring they would have certainly stopped it, Terrell said. One of their big concerns now is the safety of the confidential informant.

___

Contact APs global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org. Follow Jim Mustian on Twitter at @JimMustian.
There is a new movement to address the public health issue of mental health crises and suicide, and this work will continue to roll out over the next few years. On Aug. 25, 2021, the Illinois General Assembly passed House Bill 2784-the Community Emergency Services and Support Act (CESSA). The Act establishes the adoption of the federal mandate of 9-8-8 as the new National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline phone number, mobile emergency crisis response, and mental health and behavioral health services. The 9-8-8 number also accepts calls for anyone seeking support for a substance use crisis.

An urgent reality exists that the number of individuals experiencing a mental health or suicide crises has increased drastically in recent years. The Surgeon General has reported a 55% increase in anxiety and depression among adults and 40% for children. Untreated anxiety and depression can lead to a mental health crisis or suicide. Twenty percent of children are experiencing thoughts of suicide. Death by suicide has increased by 50%, with a suicide occurring every 11 minutes.
Too elaborate? Too expensive? Too eclectic? Too different?

Behold, five out-of-this world homes that have grabbed our attention this year. In fact, these properties have been ranked among the most popular homes so far in 2022.

But sold they have notand so, we thought they deserved another look.

We have two of the most storied estates in L.A., a famous reality star's home, a private island with an unfinished Mediterranean, and a San Francisco classic.

Each one seems more fascinating than the next, yet they all have languished on the market. If nothing else, they're fun to drool over. Let's take a peek.

Price: $59,995,000

Cielo Estate: Of all the grand estates in the 90210 ZIP code, this one surely has one of the most colorful histories: It was the site of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders.

"Full House" creator Jeff Franklin purchased the property, demolished the existing house, and built a 21,000-square-foot Mediterranean masterpiece in its place.

The mansion was designed by architect Richard Landry and sits on a hillside with fabulous views. It has nine bedrooms, 18 bathrooms, and luxe amenities.

Franklin has had it on and off the market over the past several years, with prices ranging from $59,995,000 to $85,000,000. It's also been available for rent for around $250,000 per month.

Beverly Hills, CA Realtor.com

Price: $4,000,000

Roloff Farm: You're familiar with this bucolic location if you've seen the reality show Little People, Big World, which follows the antics of the Roloff family on this very site.

On the market for more than 120 days, the 16.46-acre lot that's on offer includes a 5,374-square-foot, five-bedroom, 5.5-bath customized home. The grounds feature whimsical installations, including a pirate ship, a Western town, and a German-style medieval castle.

The place also comes with the 3,600-square-foot Big Red Barn with offices, a production studio, and a guest suite.

This is just a portion of the original 109-acre farm, where Matt Roloff has lived for about 30 years. The family purchased the property in 1990 for just $185,000. Roloff says he's "still planning on new adventures and an exciting 2022 pumpkin season on the remaining acres.

Hillsboro, OR Realtor.com

Price: $72,000,000

Private island with unfinished villa: The elaborate boat docks are done, but the megamansion was never completed on this 348-acre island in the middle of Montana's Flathead Lake.

Construction on the home began in the 1990s after Robert M. Lee, founder of the luxury goods brand Hunting World, bought the largest private island west of the Mississippi River in 1989. Only the exterior had been built when Lee died in 2016.

If finished as planned, the mansion will include 45,000 square feet of living space.

Dayton, MT Realtor.com

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Watch: Art Hotel Is a Colorful Oasis in Palm Springs, CA

___

Price: $165,000,000

The Manor: It's baaack. One of L.A.'s most famous mansions is on the market again. It was last sold to a mysterious buyer from Saudi Arabia, who paid $119,750,000 in 2019.

This is the chateau-style mansion that was built in 1990 by TV magnate Aaron Spelling. It features 14 bedrooms, 27 bathrooms, a gift-wrapping room, a screening room, a bowling alley, and a beauty salon.

After Spellings death, wife Candy Spelling sold the 5-acre property for $85 million to Petra Ecclestone, daughter of Formula 1 mogul Bernie Ecclestone. She added a nightclub and parking space for 100 cars, among other amenities, before selling it.

The property has been on the market with the ambitious price tag a little over 200 days.

Los Angeles, CA Realtor.com

Price: $3,550,000

Pink Painted Lady: Sitting pretty on Postcard Row in San Franciscos Alamo Square, this grande dame is in desperate need of a renovation. Built in the late 1800s, it was last sold in 2020 for the same price.

The stately Victorian offers city and park views, and the sale includes plans and approved permits for two units. The upper-level unit will measure 2,996 square feet and have five bedrooms and 3.5 baths. The lower-level guest unit will have two bedrooms with a separate entrance.

Make no mistake, this is a huge undertaking. The seller who fell for the iconic lady in the first place decided to let it go instead of going forward with the head-to-toe renovation.

San Francisco, CA Realtor.com

The post 5 Wildly Lavish Homes That Are Still On the MarketWould You Buy Them if You Could? appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
WFO LAS VEGAS Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, September 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 915 PM PDT.

* At 611 PM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing

heavy rain across 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...

Essex, Goffs, National Trails Highway and RT 66.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

...FLASH FLOOD WARNING WILL EXPIRE AT 615 PM PDT THIS EVENING FOR

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY...

Flood waters have receded. The heavy rain has ended. Flooding is no

longer expected to pose a threat. Please continue to heed remaining

road closures.

A Flood Watch remains in effect until 800 PM PDT for this area.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO LOS ANGELES Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, September 12, 2022

_____

AREAL FLOOD ADVISORY

Flood Advisory

National Weather Service Los Angeles/Oxnard CA

758 PM PDT Mon Sep 12 2022

...FLOOD ADVISORY WILL EXPIRE AT 8 PM PDT THIS EVENING...

The Flood Advisory will expire at 8 PM PDT this evening for eastern

Antelope Valley in Los Angeles county.

The heavy rain has ended in the advisory area, however the heavier

showers and isolated thunderstorms have shifted northward towards

Saddleback Butte State Park, potentially requiring another advisory

for that area. Please continue to heed remaining road closures.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO ALBANY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 13, 2022

_____

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

Special Weather Statement

National Weather Service Albany NY

552 PM EDT Tue Sep 13 2022

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southeastern

Litchfield County through 630 PM EDT...

At 552 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near

Woodbury Center, or near Southbury, moving northeast at 35 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and pea size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Locations impacted include...

Thomaston, Terryville, Woodbury Center, Northwest Harwinton,

Oakville, Watertown, Plymouth, Woodbury, Harwinton, Bethlehem,

Washington, Morris, Roxbury, Bridgewater, Hotchkissville, Pequabuck,

Reynolds Bridge, Nepaug, Hancock and River Road Reserve.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

Torrential rainfall is also occurring with this storm and may lead to

localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded

roadways.

Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.

Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe

shelter inside a building or vehicle.

This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio

stations and available television stations for additional information

and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.

LAT...LON 4148 7335 4157 7340 4191 7291 4190 7291

4188 7295 4181 7295 4180 7302 4164 7298

4163 7302 4161 7302 4161 7306 4159 7306

4159 7308 4157 7309 4156 7316 4152 7316

4151 7320 4151 7332 4149 7333 4147 7331

TIME...MOT...LOC 2152Z 236DEG 42KT 4158 7325

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.25 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO ALBANY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 13, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Albany has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southeastern Saratoga County in east central New York...

Southern Washington County in east central New York...

* Until 245 PM EDT.

* At 138 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Saratoga

Springs, moving northeast at 20 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* This severe thunderstorm will be near...

Greenwich around 215 PM EDT.

Fort Edward around 235 PM EDT.

Hudson Falls around 245 PM EDT.

Other locations impacted by this severe thunderstorm include Deans

Corners, Cossayuna, Dunham Basin, Center Falls, Grangerville, Willow

Glen, Northumberland, Coons, Wayville and Middle Falls.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

Please report hail size...damaging winds and reports of trees down to

the National Weather Service by email at Alb.Stormreport@noaa.gov...

On Facebook at www.facebook.com/nwsalbany or twitter @nwsalbany

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO NEW YORK CITY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 13, 2022

_____

TORNADO WARNING

The National Weather Service in Upton NY has issued a

* Tornado Warning for...

Queens County in southeastern New York...

Kings County in southeastern New York...

* Until 500 AM EDT.

* At 434 AM EDT, a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado

was located just south of Coney Island, moving east at 20 mph.

HAZARD...Tornado.

SOURCE...Radar indicated rotation.

IMPACT...Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without

shelter. Mobile homes will be damaged or destroyed.

Damage to roofs, windows, and vehicles will occur. Tree

damage is likely.

* This dangerous storm will be near...

Rockaway Beach around 500 AM EDT.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

TAKE COVER NOW! Move to a basement or an interior room on the lowest

floor of a sturdy building. Avoid windows. If you are outdoors, in a

mobile home, or in a vehicle, move to the closest substantial shelter

and protect yourself from flying debris.

Tornadoes are extremely difficult to see and confirm at night. Do not

wait to see or hear the tornado. TAKE COVER NOW!

If on or near Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay, get away from the water and

move to safe shelter immediately. If you can hear thunder, you are

close enough to be struck by lightning. Severe thunderstorms can

produce large capsizing waves, even on small bodies of water. Move

into dock and seek safe shelter now! Do not be caught on the water in

a thunderstorm.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p.
Indias Supreme Court has generously allowed citizens the right to protest in designated areas. It said this in its judgment and criticism of the Shaheen Bagh sit-in against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens. Its observation was that dissent and democracy go hand in hand, but protests must be (held) in designated areas. What started out as a protest caused inconvenience to commuters. This is what was witnessed in Shaheen Bagh.

Many readers may not know what a designated area means. I didnt know myself till I worked for a civil society organisation only a few years ago. It means some part of the city that is marked off for protest, such as Delhis Jantar Mantar and Bengalurus Freedom Park. People can gather there for a specified period and then disperse. To access these areas, though, the citizen must apply for permission to the police and to the government. Readers will have seen in Europe and the United States, small groups of people spontaneously picket workplaces and corporate offices, holding up placards and chanting slogans. This is illegal in India.

Article 19 reads: All citizens shall have the right to assemble peacefully and without arms. The Constitution says that peaceful assembly is a fundamental right. A fundamental right is defined as something enjoying a high degree of protection from encroachment by the State.

We dont have any such right. We have the fundamental right to apply to the police to gather in a designated area. The police has the right to approve, reject or not respond to us. This last option is exercised often  I can testify to this on the basis of personal experience. It is possible that our Supreme Court judges dont know any of this. It is unlikely they have participated in a protest or have had cause to participate.

As an aside, it will interest readers to know that our judiciary has also apparently edited Article 21, which guarantees life and liberty to citizens, by ignoring and endlessly deferring the pleas of Kashmiris under habeas corpus. Only a few days ago, the BBC exposed how J&Ks lieutenant-governor said Mirwaiz Omar Farooq was not detained, but it was proven that he was. Kashmiris of course have no right to protest.

In the rest of India, designated area protests are preferred by the State because they can be safely ignored. Jantar Mantar  visit it sometime if you havent, its in the heart of Delhi  has dozens of installed protest sites, some of which have been there for years. Nobody cares what they are protesting about; the State certainly doesnt.

The State sees protest  and fundamental rights in general  as a nuisance which must exist on paper but not exercised in defiance of the State. The most peaceful, Gandhian manner of protest won't be tolerated in India. There is nothing more noble than the human being taking what Gandhi did in only token fashion  starve  till the end. A woman in Manipur chose to do that for justice and the State chained and force-fed her through a nasal pipe for 10 years rather than allow her the right to do what the British allowed Gandhi. Irom Sharmila isnt a heroine in this country, let alone a recipient of the Bharat Ratna, as would have been the case in a more civilised nation. She is an enemy of the State.

What the Supreme Court has observed or ordered (its not quite clear which of the two it is) in the matter of Shaheen Bagh doesnt apply to political parties and more organised forces like farmers unions and caste groups. They can and will continue to protest outside designated areas, calling for and enforcing bandhs and hartals, rail rokos, chakka jams and the rest. The State lacks the capacity to prevent this, so it looks away. The Supreme Court also looks away.

What the lordships want is that small groups of women not show their defiance as it offends their sensibilities and their concern for the rule of law in this nation.

But it is this defiance that is the heart of protest. A protest happens because the State doesn't follow its own laws. A protest is an objection and a complaint. It exists because it is otherwise unheard. In the designated areas, it will remain unheard. If the Supreme Court kicks the can down the road on habeas corpus, if the home minister announces his intention of locking up millions and denying them citizenship rights, if the State reverses the burden of proof on this and demands we provide the evidence to its satisfaction, then its naive to assume protests will not happen. If they do happen, that they will happen in a designated area.

A protest is not effective in our part of the world if there is no friction. It must necessarily irritate the State. The State has no obligation to deliver the demands of the protesters otherwise, and the judiciarys record of siding with citizens against the States encroachment and abuse is quite poor.

Shaheen Bagh is seen very differently around the world as for many it is inspirational that a group of marginalised women chose to defy the State. They are admired for it and for their effectiveness, and the women know it. It was precisely because Shaheen Baghs women were effective that the court wanted to send down its judgment on this particular protest.

Such defiance is not going to end because of the court's irritation. After yet another rape and murder by the armed forces, Manipurs women stripped naked and presented themselves for rape before the Army's gates in 2004. One would like to know what they think about the court's order that they only protest in a designated area.
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Think back just a few years; Alexa and Siri were simply peoples names, zoom was a word mostly found in superhero comics, and it wasnt uncommon for charities to baulk at the idea of using social media to promote something as sensitive as legacies. Now, with the vast majority of baby boomers online and active on social media, its no surprise that legacy fundraisers have embraced digital channels, integrating digital activity into their wider legacy marketing programmes.

For legacy fundraisers, the shift to digital, accelerated by the pandemic, has enabled charities of all sizes to enhance their offline activity and reach new audiences with gifts in wills. They can target those with relevant interests or by demographics, and see almost immediately what resonates. Still, the abundance of options on the table  from social media channels through to pay-per-click, social posts, email and virtual events  means that its not always easy to choose the best path.

Charities use of digital

A two-year project from Legacy Foresight summarising data and insight from 38 large national charities reveals how widespread digital activity has become. Among the Legacy Fundraising 2.0 participants, digital accounts for one-fifth of legacy fundraising budgets and one hour in every six spent by their team. They all expect to upscale resource on digital over the next five years. And yet, just two in five have a documented digital and social legacy fundraising strategy and few feel very confident about their approach.

Those charities tend to find Facebook paid ads, promotion of free wills and paid search services such as Google Ads most effective in driving legacy leads and prospects. However, channel usage is limited, dominated by charities websites, Facebook and email, with half using Twitter. Looking ahead, there is growing consideration for using Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn, which are gaining appeal with older audiences.

Meg Abdy, development director at Legacy Foresight, says: Its clear that digital offers great scope to make legacy stories more topical and less maudlin than they have been in the past. There are some fantastic examples of inspirational campaigns, but I think theres greater potential. The sector could be pushing further  beyond the abundance of free-will messaging  and be even more creative in this space.

Building organisational buy-in

Legacy fundraisers often face stiff competition from other fundraising and communications teams. Lack of air space is a common challenge and thats heightened for legacy teams as they cant always produce the immediate metrics sought by digital marketers.

Digital impact consultant, Madeleine Sugden, adds: Until recently, digital was an add-on for many charities legacy programmes. During the pandemic, digital became front and centre and its here to stay. This means that digital teams are often key gatekeepers for legacies. Some are really open to this, especially where there is a legacy-first culture. In other organisations, theres tension between digital comms teams and fundraisers because they have different attitudes to messaging, goals and KPIs.

Fundraisers understand that a few tweets just wont cut it anymore. They need to take a strategic approach and work more closely with digital teams to build understanding to optimise digital channels for legacy campaigns.

Last year, legacies made the headlines when Uncle Ewan from the TV series Succession chose to donate his fortune not to his grandson Greg, but to Greenpeace. In the storyline, Greg then decides to sue Greenpeace, carrying the legacy plot across three episodes. The legacy, digital and social media teams joined forces to capitalise on this unexpected opportunity, quickly posting a blog and Twitter posts linking to their legacy giving information (including one directed at lead actor Nicholas Braun, who replied in character) and changing their Twitter handle to @gregpeace. Their quick work sparked a tenfold surge in traffic to the charitys legacy webpage.

John Hutchin, head of key relationships marketing at Greenpeace UK, explains: Weve done lots of work internally at Greenpeace on the importance of legacies, which fund one in six of our campaigns. So, when this opportunity struck, excitement took hold and everyone got behind it; our digital team came up with the idea of writing a blog, and our social media team reached out to the actor. Legacy fundraising rarely has cool moments, but this was it and we knew how important it was to seize that moment and run with it.

It helps that Greenpeace is a dynamic place. Were used to being quick and responsive, and we already have a playful tone on social media, so taking a cheeky approach and tweeting the actor to dissuade him from suing us was very much in keeping with that. When it comes to awareness-raising, this was great. For the next couple of weeks we had huge amounts of traffic to our website.

Fast-paced and accessible

Legacy audiences may be tech-savvy, but when they go online, they want to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. On charities websites, legacies need to be clearly signposted and accessible, ideally with information about how people can leave a gift and what a difference it makes.

Strong legacy content will often cover the practicalities of writing a will, while also conveying emotively the impact of legacy gifts, appealing to both hearts and minds. This was the case with Brookes How to campaign, which prompted many new pledges and enquiries.

Digital trends move fast. At Remember A Charity, which is a consortium of 200 charities working to promote gifts in wills, digital has played an increasingly prominent part in our year-round consumer outreach programmes; for awareness-raising, equipping members, partners and solicitors with digital assets to share the legacy message, and inspiring the public with stories that showcase the impact of legacies to charities. But its important to be aware that what works one year may not be the best way forward the next.

Take our Wombles ad campaign, for example, which ran on Facebook in several bursts over the past two years, encouraging the public to remember a charity in their will. In 2020, we tested a wildcard short copy ad, which simply read What the Womble!. It was a huge hit. The next year, it performed poorly compared with our longer copy versions. So, we pulled that ad and shifted our focus to those that were outperforming, helping to drive record numbers of new visitors (144,000) to our website in 2021.

This ability to test, learn and adapt is key. This is demonstrated in the RSPBs adaptive acquisition campaign, which saw monthly legacy enquiries rise by 460% in 2020 (see sidebar opposite).

With such a fast pace of change, its hardly surprising that many fundraisers dont feel fully confident in digital, particularly those who are new to it. But successful campaigns dont have to be complex or involve high-budget content. Raw video footage, authentic storytelling, infographics and welltimed emails can rival the most sophisticated campaigns, conveying the need for gifts and their impact.

With digital, we can interact, be playful, responsive, informative and inspirational, drip-feeding the legacy message and widening the net for future stewardship. We can test new ideas and content with relatively little budget. And, critically for legacies, we can communicate sensitively and emotively, inspiring the public with the impact of gifts in wills.

Lucinda Frostick is director of Remember A Charity

Case study: Brooke

With legacies bringing in more than 50% of its voluntary income, Brooke set out to diversify its legacy marketing strategy in 2019, reducing its former reliance on direct mail and events. Then the pandemic hit.

Implementing a digital-first approach, the charity designed a How to campaign that tapped into the publics rising interest in wills and legacy giving by sharing tips on how to write a will when social distancing.

Building on that campaigns success, the next phase in the series launched in September 2021, this time aiming to dispel one of the key myths about will writing  that its difficult and time consuming to do  while inspiring people to leave a legacy to Brooke.

Featuring long-time Brooke supporter and legacy pledger Angela Rippon as its figurehead, the campaign launched with a video showcasing six easy steps to writing a will. It demonstrated how easy it is to include Brooke in a will and the life-changing impact such a gift could have to the lives of working horses, donkeys and mules around the world.

From September to December, campaign content was shared with Brooke supporters, legacy enquirers, internal audiences and promoted to the wider public using social channels (targeting those with relevant interests) and pay-per-click (PPC). It was also communicated by email, in print media and on Brookes website, where it still sits prominently on the homepage.

In November 2021, the campaign landing page ( thebrooke.org/legacies ) attracted the most traffic of all Brooke webpages, while the email became one of the charitys most opened that year, with a 33% open rate. Email proved one of the most successful channels; 50 people responded to the legacy team inbox and yielded 11 new pledges, 13 reconfirmed pledgers, one conversion of an enquirer to pledger and 14 new enquiries.

Brookes social organic Facebook posts achieved 93,000 impressions (with an engagement rate of over 7%), paid for posts reached 289,000 impressions and PPC a further 138,000.

Sarah Squire, legacy marketing manager at Brooke, explains: Facebook ads were most effective for low-cost awareness-raising, driving a high volume of people to our webpages, where they could request a copy of our legacy information pack.

Ultimately, its about delivering the right content, through the right channels to the right audience. Digital is key in enabling us to do that in a way that engages our target audience and is cost-effective; with the added bonus of ensuring that we understand what approach has the most impact.

Continuing with the approach of delivering relevant and timely content across multiple channels, Brooke is now planning the third How to campaign, set to launch in Spring 2023.

Case study: RSPB

Legacies are a crucial income stream for the RSPB and yet, without an active legacy fundraising programme in recent years, the number of pledgers was in decline.

Aiming to reverse that trend and to inspire more nature lovers to consider the charity in their will, the RSPB appointed Catsnake: The Story Agency to help develop a digital storytelling campaign that would convey its mission to protect habitats, save species and help end the nature and climate emergency.

Launching in 2020 on the RSPBs social channels, the video and story-based campaign was a first for the RSPB legacy marketing team. Developed as an adaptive acquisition campaign, multiple variants were trialled, from the emotional drivers woven into the copy to the specifics of the storyline, its length, and more.

In another first, in 2021 the charity launched its DRTV legacy advert, which ran alongside waves of the campaign on social media, amplifying its impact.

With ongoing monitoring and testing, the RSPB was able to continually adjust the campaign around the most successful and timely elements, delivering bursts of activity at key moments and enabling it to keep legacies front of mind with an evolving storyline.

Vicki OHare, head of legacy marketing at RSPB, says: Although we spent a great deal of time planning our narrative and how it could develop, this campaign felt miles apart from what wed done before. It was nerve-wracking doing something so new and different. But we had a great response and its transformed how we feel we can inspire supporters and articulate our legacy message going forwards.

Setting an ambitious goal of increasing the average number of legacy enquiries by 300% per month, the RSPB exceeded this target and, in 2020, topped a 460% monthly increase.

OHare adds: We found that our older audiences are not only increasingly tech-savvy but also that digital channels work for them. Legacy giving and end-of-life planning can be very personal, and they like having the opportunity to download information and digest it in their own time. Still, we arent just thinking about older people here. More people are thinking about wills at a younger age and we want to be visible in that space for them too.

A key success metric for RSPB was the level of opt-ins to future communications from engaged supporters. OHare concludes: Whats worked so well for us is that, thanks to the quality of the new enquirers weve had from our digital campaigns, weve been able to build on that engagement and steward those supporters. More people have signed up for communications from us and, in just a year, our newsletter open rate has jumped from 23% to 42%, and our click-through rate more than doubled.

Fundraising Magazine is a practical and inspiring magazine that provides fundraising professionals with the tools to unlock new revenue streams, yield better results from campaigns and boost donor income. Subscribe today to receive 10 issues per year and access to premium fundraising content on civilsociety.co.uk. Find more information here and subscribe today! is a practical and inspiring magazine that provides fundraising professionals with the tools to unlock new revenue streams, yield better results from campaigns and boost donor income. Subscribe today to receive 10 issues per year and access to premium fundraising content on civilsociety.co.uk.
Jess Cole is fundraising manager at Kids Club Kampala

I joined Kids Club Kampala as fundraising officer in March 2021. At the time, the charity was looking to grow its fundraising and income streams. I jumped straight into mainly digital fundraising, communications and social media. Because it is a small charity, I have been able to work in lots of different areas of fundraising from the start, which was really exciting and an opportunity I wouldnt have had in a larger organisation.

Why people give, what makes them give and how people give has always interested me. I studied the psychology of giving and some of the theories behind messaging, storytelling and images during my MA in media and international development. Working in fundraising I am able to explore how we can change some of the more stereotypical narratives about international development.
Around a third of the largest charities go beyond reporting requirements to publish the exact figure of their highest earner in their accounts and on their websites.

Currently, charities with an income of over 1m are required to outline how many staff are paid more than 60,000, as well as what they are paid, within 10,000 bands.

Analysis by Civil Society News looked at whether the largest 100 charities posted the exact salaries of their highest earner on their websites or annual accounts, which are available on the Charity Commission website.

The research found that 34 of the largest 100 charities published their highest earners exact salary, compared to 51 in 2020, when Civil Society News last ran the analysis . However, the largest 100 charities are no longer all the same as in 2020.

NCVO recommends that charities should set the gold standard by publishing the exact salary details of their highest paid staff within two clicks of their websites home page.

Largest 25 charities more likely to go beyond requirements

The analysis showed nine of the largest 100 charities published the exact salary of their highest earner on their websites, the same number as in 2020, and a further 25 published the exact figure in their annual reports.

Most of the largest 25 charities published the exact salary of their highest earner, either on their websites or in the annual accounts, with 15 doing so.

An additional 62 of the largest 100 charities published only the salary band of their highest earner.

Meanwhile, four charities did not publish any salary details as they had no staff hired through the charity.

Many charities posted links to accounts on their websites, explaining that salary information could be found there. In the analysis this has not been counted as being directly on a website. Other charities also noted that they had the salary no more two clicks away from their home page, which is recommended by NCVO.

The Charity Finance 100 Index is compiled by Civil Society Media's Charity Finance magazine and ranks the largest charities in the UK by their average income over three years. This was used as the basis for the analysis.

We need to set the gold standard when it comes to transparency

Rebecca Young, lead policy and influencing manager at NCVO, said: We welcome charities going beyond what is required when it comes to transparency. We are glad to see that the majority of the UKs largest charities are choosing to be transparent with the public. We need to set the gold standard when it comes to transparency and those who are not as open will soon look out of place.

She noted that in 2020 the UK public donated 11.3bn to charities, and said they deserve to know how that money is being spent.

The most important currency for charities is trust, and given the privileged position and authority they enjoy they have an even greater responsibility to be open. Transparency builds public trust in our sector and without it we cannot serve our communities.

At NCVO we believe charities should publish the exact salary of their highest earners and this information should be no more than two clicks away from their home page.

We strive to be fair and open

A Cancer Research UK spokesperson said the decision to publish the exact salary of their highest earner was about maintaining public trust in its work, adding we strive to be fair and open in what we say and do.

They said: Thats why we share the details of our CEOs salary on our website and a detailed breakdown of staff pay in our annual report and accounts.

The General Medical Council (GMC) also publishes the exact salary of their highest earner on their website.

A GMC spokesperson said as the independent regulator of doctors, it follows the principles of good governance set out in the Charity Governance Code, including acting with openness and accountability.

They said: We want to be leaders in the way we follow these values and believe we should be able to clearly account for both our regulatory and operational decisions.

The charity said it published annual salaries based on the Information Commissioners Office guidance and summarise the salaries of our highest paid staff; the reports are publicly available online for clarity and ease of reference.

Similarly, the RNLI said it strives to be transparent and as it is funded by the generosity of our incredible supporters, we are fully accountable to them, hence the decision to publish the exact salary on their website.

We owe it to our donors to be transparent

Other charities going beyond reporting requirements included household names, such as National Trust and the British Heart Foundation.

Liz Girling, head of inclusion and belonging at the National Trust, said: As an independent charity with significant public interest in our work, we feel it is important to be open and transparent about our finances, including senior pay. As such, we choose to share our director-generals salary in full.

Kerry Smith, chief people officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: We owe it to our donors to be transparent about how we spend their money, and that this information is easily accessible. As part of this commitment, we choose to publish a clear explanation of our reward policy and pay details of our chief executive in both our annual report and on our website.

A Sightsavers spokesperson told Civil Society News transparency in all areas, not just senior staff salaries, is very important.

They said: We strongly believe we need to be accountable to our supporters, donors and partners if we are to maintain their trust and support.

We aim to perform to the highest standards, and we aim to be as transparent as possible over how we operate, how we spend the money we raise, and how we perform as an organisation.

Sightsavers commits to publishing a report each year in which we share our performance across a range of accountability standards. We use this process to reflect on our performance and ways of working so we can learn and improve. As well as publishing salaries on our website, we also publish our policies on things such as whistleblowing, and global expenses, and data on programme finances.

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An appeal brought by Mermaids, a transgender rights charity, against the regulators decision to register LGB Alliance as a charity is being heard this week, in the first tribunal of its kind.

It is believed that this is the first tribunal where one charity has attempted to strip the legal status of another. The tribunal began on 9 September and is now on its third day.

The Charity Commission registered LGB Alliance as a charity in April 2021, despite noting that it used inflammatory language on social media . The charity was initially formed as a private company in opposition to LGBT rights charity Stonewalls transgender policies in 2019 and applied for charitable status a year later.

LGB Alliance aims to advance the rights of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals but holds gender-critical beliefs.

Mermaids argument

In Mermaids appeal, which is being supported by the Good Law Project, the charity argues that LGB Alliance does not have charitable purposes or serve the public interest. It has asked the tribunal to review whether it meets the legal tests to be a charity.

In its skeleton argument, it argues that LGB Alliance is not tackling problems facing lesbian, gay and bisexual people, as it professes to do, but is instead seeking to prevent solving the problems of transgender people and has an exclusively anti-trans focus.

The charity's argument concludes by asking the tribunal to find that LGB Alliance is not a charity and direct the Commission to remove it from the register. LGB Alliance denies these claims.

LGB Alliances argument

In its skeleton argument, LGB Alliance states there is a considerable lack of clarity in Mermaids appeal and in essence and reality, the appellants appeal is simply predicated on ideological disagreement with the values and beliefs that underpin LGB Alliances work.

It disputes Mermaids claims, stating that LGB Alliances purposes are charitable and that it exists for the public benefit.

LGB Alliance concludes that Mermaids argument lacks standing and that is a basis by itself for dismissing this appeal.

It also disputes Mermaids assertion that LGB Alliance is operating on a misreading of the Equality Act 2010, as its charitable objectives do not extend to trans people. The LGB Alliance has argued that its work lawful, protected and underpinned by the Act.

The charity has argued that there is no detrimental effect to Mermaids or anyone, arising from LGB Alliances work, thus quashing the need for an appeal.

Over 4,000 pages of evidence

Mermaids have also criticised the large amount of documentary evidence LGB Alliance has provided for the hearing, which surpasses 4,000 pages.

The charity argues that 2,545 pages make no mention of LGB Alliance or LGB rights, which they believe strengthens their viewpoint that the charity is near-exclusively focused on transgender issues.

However, LGB Alliances appeal argues that this amount of documentation proved necessary due to the appellants amount of anecdotal evidence and reiterates that the appeal is predicated on a difference of view.

Mermaids v LGB Alliance

Mermaids are publishing daily updates on the hearing on its website. LGB Alliance has also been publishing the witness statements from the hearing in full.

A crowdfunder set up to defend LGB Alliances charitable status has raised almost 175,000 while Mermaids has currently raised over 80,000.

In its latest set of annual accounts, a quarter of LGB Alliances expenditure was on legal costs.

The hearing is ongoing.

30. We stood up for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals who refuse to be redefined in the name of gender identity ideology.



Thank you for your support https://t.co/kyDtfomUN5 pic.twitter.com/BGdjY3mrsk  LGB Alliance (@ALLIANCELGB) September 9, 2022

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Ten days ago, a public-records request came to light involving the Columbia Missourian, a newspaper that is affiliated with the University of Missouri and staffed by students in its journalism school, and Eric Schmitt, the states attorney general and Trump-endorsed (well, kinda) Republican candidate for US Senate. Routine enoughexcept for the fact that it was Schmitt who requested records related to the Missourian, not the other way around. Journalists are not typically required to show their work under freedom-of-information laws, but the University of Missouri is public, and so some of the Missourians records are, too.

In his requestwhich was filed in June, a few weeks before his Senate primarySchmitt asked to see correspondence between Mike Jenner and Tom Warhover, two professors who have worked with the Missourian, and the executive director of PolitiFact, which partnered with the professors on a class that tasked student journalists with compiling fact checks related to Missouri politics for publication in the Missourian. Its not totally clear why Schmitt wants to see the correspondencethe PolitiFact partnership hasnt been active since 2020; even when it was, it covered Schmitt only once, and then to endorse a comment he made about the opioid crisis as mostly truebut some of the language in his request allows for an educated guess; hes asked for messages containing phrases like political speech and the future of political reporting. The dean of Missouris journalism school suggested that it would comply with Schmitts requestSunshine is a good thing, he said, weve got to be responsivebut the Missouri Press Association accused Schmitt of weaponizing laws that hes supposed to administer on behalf of the public as a battering ram against student journalists. Nor is this the first time that Schmitt has requested records from an educational institution. Last year, he even sued a school district over documents related to critical race theory, a high-level academic framework that Republicans have recently weaponized as an all-purpose boogeyman.

ICYMI: The killing of Jeff German

The Schmitt case is bizarre in its particulars, but in one sense, its not so unusual: student journalists and publications, at various levels, have often faced battering rams before, and those have sometimes been shot through, of late, with culture-war animus. A troubling example came earlier this summer in Grand Island, Nebraska, where a public school district shuttered the Viking Saga, a long-running high school paper, after it published an issue dedicated to Pride Month and LGBTQ+ issues (including, ironically, censorship in public education). Students working for the paper, at least one of whom is transgender, had already been reprimanded for using their preferred names and pronouns. When a school staffer told the paper that it could no longer print, she reportedly said that it was because the school board and superintendent were unhappy with its editorial content; the superintendent denied censorship, insisting that the paper had only been paused, but two senior school board officials publicly criticized the Sagas Pride issue, with one talking explicitly about wanting to control inappropriate content. (There were editorials that were essentially, I guess what I would say, LGBTQ, he said.) The Nebraska Press Association suggested that the school had violated its students First Amendment rights.

For students in public high schools, these rights are not unfettered: in 1988, the US Supreme Court ruled, in a case involving a Missouri high school that stripped articles on teen pregnancy and divorce from its student paper, that school-sponsored student media outlets are not necessarily public forums and that administrators can thus censor them. Any interventions must stem from legitimate pedagogical concerns and cannot amount to viewpoint discrimination, but these conditions can be slippery in practice, as Justice William Brennan wrote in a dissent at the time. The Student Press Law Center, an organization that supports student journalists (and maintains a handy guide to the application of the 1988 decision), notes that the courts decision dramatically changed the balance of student press rights. At some schools, censorship has since become standard, the group writes, and elsewhere, it is a threat.

Threats to high school journalism, then, are far from new. The same may be said for journalism at public colleges, even though the 1988 decision has (mostly) not been applied at that leveland private schools and colleges can set their own rules, beyond the reach of the First Amendment. As a glance at CJRs archives suggests, college journalists have often faced at least attempted censorship over the years, with faculty advisers silencing or pushing out student editors, and administrators silencing or pushing out faculty advisers, as Zainab Sultan reported for CJR in 2019. Chris Evans, then the president of the College Media Association, told Sultan that reported cases of censorship, though numerous, likely constituted the tip of the iceberg, with many going unreported for fear of further reprisal. More recently, a survey by fire found that 60 percent of college papers face at least one instance of administrative censorship each year.

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Recent years have nonetheless brought fresh challenges for student journalistsfrom broader Trumpian press threats and cries of fake news to particularly sharp instances of tension and attempted censorship related to students coverage of the fallout from #MeToo and the murder of George Floyd. (A lawyer for the Student Press Law Center told BuzzFeed in 2019 that the year after the #MeToo movement ignited was the most challenging year of my professional career.) Then came the pandemic, which simultaneously placed student journalists on the front lines of a vital storywhat schools and colleges were doing, or not, to keep their students and staff safeand further muddied the legal protections they enjoyed as the distinction between on- and off-campus blurred, as Jonathan Peters wrote for CJR in 2020. All the while, the broader local-news landscape in the US has continued to erode, placing a further burden on student journalists in some places to cover the community beyond their university gates. In May, a Pew survey found that 10 percent of statehouse reporters nationwide are student journalists working for a student publication or as an intern at a local outlet. That figure rose above 50 percent in two states: Missouri and Nebraska. Them again.

The Pew data points to the vital role that student journalists perform: they are, simply, journalists, both in the sense that they do journalism (which is an open democratic act, not a professional identity bestowed by third-party accreditors) and in the fact that, often, they are already working at the same level as their professional counterparts. They thus face the same challenges as other journalists, includingas Anne Wen and Mary Retta have recently documented for Teen Vogueonline harassment, lawsuits (though these are rare), and even subpoenas. In some ways, though, they are more vulnerable, finding themselves locked in uneven power balances with administrators (as I outlined above) and their professional counterparts, who, as Hannah Docter-Loeb recently wrote for The Objective, routinely crib their work without attribution. At the same time, we task student journalists, at least implicitly, with figuring out the future contours of a craft whose philosophical and representational shibboleths are up for grabs. Marissa Martinez, the first Black woman to lead the Daily Northwestern, told CJR in 2020 that there is no precedent set by legacy papers on how to do this stuff, so we have to come up with innovative ways to make journalism more diverse and inclusive.

Amid all these challenges, some opportunity is at hand, at least in some areas. Sixteen statesfrom Arkansas to Washington Statehave laws guaranteeing student journalists greater protection against censorship, with the oldest taking effect in California in the seventies and the most recent passing in Hawaii earlier this year; many other states, meanwhile, have recently considered similar laws (an effort in Nebraska last year won majority support in the states legislature but fell short of overcoming a filibuster), as the New Voices movement, a student-driven campaign under the aegis of the Student Press Law Center, has sought to expand the map of student press protections. On a different note, the state of California last week awarded the journalism school at UC Berkeley twenty-five million dollars to administer a fellowship program that will pay students and graduates from Berkeley and other schools to report in underserved areas statewidean allocation that the school believes is the largest a US state has ever invested in local journalism. The program should generate great enthusiasm for student journalists across California looking to break into the field after they graduate, a spokesperson for the state senator who pushed the idea told Berkeleys Daily Californian newspaper.

The Berkeley program is a reminder of the porous boundary between student and professional journalism, and a reminder, too, that as officials in some states go after student publications (with public-records laws, for instance), officials elsewhere seem more inclined to be supportive. Again, though, threats to student journalism persist everywhere. In recent days, a major student press controversy has blown up in California, despite the generosity of its state lawmakers and relative strength of its student press laws. The Pearl Post, a high school paper in Los Angeles, reported months ago that a school librarian had refused to comply with a local covid vaccine mandate; the librarian asked the papers faculty adviser to remove her name from the story, claiming that it violated federal health-privacy regulations, but an attorney from the Student Press Law Center told the paper that it could leave the name in, so it did. The schools headteacher also demanded that the librarians name be removed, however, and threatened to discipline the papers adviser if it wasnt. Recently, the adviser was issued a three-day suspension. (She is appealing.)

The Pearl Post is named for the school where it operates, Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, which is itself named for Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was murdered by terrorists while reporting in Pakistan in the aftermath of 9/11 and was educated within the same school district. The schools focus is on journalism and communications; on its website, it boasts about its rigorous academics and award-winning student newspaper. The irony has not been lost on observers. The Student Press Law Centers executive director called it mind boggling.

Below, more on student journalism:

Student Journalists Reveal a Changing World. Let Them: After the Viking Saga was shut down in Nebraska, Margaret Renkl, a contributing columnist at the New York Times, called the decision a travesty and pointed out that it was only the latest episode in the increasing efforts to censor student publications across the red states, particularly when students are writing about LGBTQ issues. The high school newspaper is not the enemy of frightened adults, Renkl wrote. It is one of the few windows they will ever have into what is actually happening in their own childrens world, perhaps in their own childrens hearts. Isnt that what a parent is supposed to want?

After the Viking Saga was shut down in Nebraska, Margaret Renkl, a contributing columnist at the New York Times, called the decision a travesty and pointed out that it was only the latest episode in the increasing efforts to censor student publications across the red states, particularly when students are writing about LGBTQ issues. The high school newspaper is not the enemy of frightened adults, Renkl wrote. It is one of the few windows they will ever have into what is actually happening in their own childrens world, perhaps in their own childrens hearts. Isnt that what a parent is supposed to want? Canceled: Marcus Pennell, the student at the Nebraska school who was reprimanded for not using his birth name in the pages of the Viking Saga, also wrote about the episode, in a column for the Washington Post. Changing my name wasnt supposed to be a political statement. But our local school board has turned it into one, Pennell wrote. Policies that block our ability to write on LGBTQ topics or publish stories that humanize LGBTQ peers only serve to create a more hostile educational environment, Pennell added. Being bullied by peers is one thing. But to be punished by the people who are supposed to be protecting your constitutional right to an education is despicable.

Marcus Pennell, the student at the Nebraska school who was reprimanded for not using his birth name in the pages of the Viking Saga, also wrote about the episode, in a column for the Washington Post. Changing my name wasnt supposed to be a political statement. But our local school board has turned it into one, Pennell wrote. Policies that block our ability to write on LGBTQ topics or publish stories that humanize LGBTQ peers only serve to create a more hostile educational environment, Pennell added. Being bullied by peers is one thing. But to be punished by the people who are supposed to be protecting your constitutional right to an education is despicable. Harassment: Last month, Jody Santos, Meg Heckman, and Myojung Chung, journalism professors at Northeastern University, published new research finding that female journalism students of color are more likely to face violent, sexualized harassment in their work. The main takeaway is that student journalists are not practicing journalism in some idyllic, parallel universe where theyre insulated from the challenges that professional journalists out of college face, Heckman said. One of those problems is unfortunately anti-press harassment, and journalism educators need to do a better job of acknowledging that and preparing students to deal with it as much as they can.

Last month, Jody Santos, Meg Heckman, and Myojung Chung, journalism professors at Northeastern University, published new research finding that female journalism students of color are more likely to face violent, sexualized harassment in their work. The main takeaway is that student journalists are not practicing journalism in some idyllic, parallel universe where theyre insulated from the challenges that professional journalists out of college face, Heckman said. One of those problems is unfortunately anti-press harassment, and journalism educators need to do a better job of acknowledging that and preparing students to deal with it as much as they can. Media literacy: Recently, Tiffany Hsu, of the Times, checked in with teachers who are doubling down on media-literacy education. With young people spending more time online, where misleading and false narratives swirl around the upcoming midterm elections, the Covid-19 pandemic and other topics, educators are increasingly trying to offer protection, Hsu wrote. Using techniques updated for the digital age, they are teaching students that virality does not confer legitimacy. (ICYMI, CJRs Alexandria Neason wrote about a media-literacy program in the Hamptons in 2019.)



Other notable stories:

ICYMI: Pomp and circumstance and the press

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Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, and The Nation, among other outlets. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.
A 48-year-old worker entered a tanker-trailer in Lemont, Illinois, to inspect it as part of an annual U.S. Department of Transportation requirement and was overcome from exposure to bleach and chlorine gas. The worker was found unconscious in the tanker-trailer, he later died of his injuries.

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined his employer, B & R Repair Inc. of Lemont, failed to identify and evaluate atmospheric hazards in the confined space, train workers on the confined space program, and ensure employees filled out a confined-space permit before entry into a confined space. OSHA also found the employer failed to equip the worker rescuing the unconscious employee with a retrieval system, implement its own procedures for summoning rescue and emergency services, and numerous other violations of its permit-required confined space regulations. The company was also cited for failing to provide fall protection to an employee working on top of tanker trailers and provide training on fall hazards, respirators and hazard communication.

In total, OSHA cited two willful and 10 serious violations and proposed penalties of $326,306.

B & R Repair is an American truck and trailer repair company that provides services to all makes and models of tractors, tankers, trailers, trucks, buses and various cargo transport units. In addition to the main facility in Lemont, Illinois, the company has service locations in Lansing and Wampum, Pennsylvania.
a Yemani man holding a banner honouring the late queen from inside the courtyard of Mecca's Grand Mosque was arrested. (Photo: AP)

DUBAI: Saudi police arrested a Yemeni man this week after he advertised on social media his pilgrimage to Mecca, where he paid tribute to the memory of Queen Elizabeth II.

The pilgrim, who was not identified by name, had posted footage earlier this week that showed him holding a banner honouring the late queen from inside the courtyard of Mecca's Grand Mosque.

The clip quickly spread online, sparking outrage among devout Muslims and leading to the man's arrest on Monday for violating the regulations and instructions of the holy site. Security forces referred him to the public prosecutor to face charges.

The Grand Mosque, among the holiest sites in Islam, is off-limits to non-Muslims. Saudi Arabia also bans signs and political slogans from the sacred courtyard for fear of offending Islamic sensibilities. Queen Elizabeth, who died last week, was head of the Church of England.

Umrah for the soul of Queen Elizabeth II, may Allah grant her peace in heaven and accept her among the righteous, the banner read in English and Arabic.

The mosque's white-and-gray marble complex is visible behind the Yemeni man. Umrah is the lesser pilgrimage to Mecca, which can performed at any time of the year.
Citigroup Inc. is entitled to recoup about $500 million of its own money that it accidentally wired Revlon Inc. lenders three years early, a U.S. appeals court said on Thursday.

Reversing a lower court ruling, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said it was improper to give the lenders a huge windfall by letting them keep Citigroups money, and that they had been on notice the wiring was a mistake.

The case highlights risks in a banking industry that wires an estimated $5.4 trillion each day.

Citigroup, acting as Revlons loan agent, had in August 2020 intended to make a $7.8 million interest payment on a loan for billionaire Ronald Perelmans now-bankrupt cosmetics company, but instead paid off the $894 million loan though it was not due until 2023.

Citi Sues Revlon Over Lender Status After $900 Million Mistake

Some creditors returned what they received, but 10 asset managers including Brigade Capital Management, HPS Investment Partners and Symphony Asset Management, whose clients included the Revlon lenders, did not.

They said Citigroup paid exactly what was owed, and they had no reason to believe a sophisticated bank would err so badly. They also noted that Perelman had bailed out Revlon before.

In February 2021, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan ruled against Citigroup after a nonjury trial, saying the prepayment was a discharge for value.

But in Thursdays 3-0 decision, Circuit Judge Pierre Leval rejected that conclusion.

Here, the debt on which Citibank mistakenly made a payment was not due for another three years, Leval wrote in a 93-page opinion. Defendants may not invoke the discharge-for-value rule as a shield against Citibanks claims for restitution.

Lawyers for the Revlon lenders did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Citigroup praised the decision.

Todays ruling reaffirms our long-held belief that these mistakenly transferred funds should be returned as a matter of law, as well as ethics, Citigroup said in a statement. It also said it has taken steps to avoid a recurrence.

Industry Warning

Industry groups warned a ruling against Citigroup could subject banks to excessive liability risks and destabilize the approximately $1.2 trillion U.S. syndicated loan market.

Revlon filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors on June 15, and Thursdays decision could result in the asset managers being involved in restructuring talks.

The New York-based companys shares fell about 10 percent within minutes of the Citibank decision, but recouped those losses.

Citigroup argued its appeal last September 29.

Leval said the court took a long time to rule in part because it initially planned to ask New York states highest court for guidance on the complex case, before deciding it would take even longer and that Citigroups arguments were persuasive.

Finding the best accommodation between the objectives of speed and legal soundness is not always easy, Leval wrote.

The case is In re Citibank August 11, 2020 Wire Transfers, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 21-487.
During one overnight shift, a bumbling conspiracy of thieves just west of Charlotte, N.C., stole more than $17 million from Loomis Fargo.

Paying the money back has taken a lot longer, and time is running out for the U.S. government to collect.

Turns out, most of the thieves and their accomplices have been about as effective coming up with their court-ordered restitution as they were hiding their original crimes.

Twenty people were convicted of roles big and small in the massive 1997 armored-car warehouse heist in west Charlotte. Fourteen defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to Loomis Fargo totaling almost $19 million.

Only a nickel on every dollar have been collected so far.

Loomis has received $978,983.79, according to Sally Butcher, an assistant clerk in the federal courts of the Western District of North Carolina who specializes in criminal debt. More than half of the amount came from the seizure of a luxury home purchased by husband-and-wife defendants during their post-heist spending spree.

That sounds like a lot of money  until its compared to the $18,930,201.26 the group was ordered to pay.

Restitution is a familiar part of sentencing in federal court. The figures can be astounding. In 2017, for example, Paul Burks of Lexington was ordered to pay $244 million to the victims of his worldwide Ponzi scheme, Zeek Rewards. Burks was also ordered to serve 15 years in prison, limiting his ability to balance his books.

A report by the General Accounting Office found that as of budget year 2016, $110 billion in restitution ordered by the federal courts was outstanding and that more than 90 percent of the amount had been classified as uncollectible.

The Loomis case is another example where the amount of restitution ordered vs. what is actually paid are two dramatically different numbers.

Thats pretty standard in restitution matters. Some of that money is just gone. Its in the ether. Theres no way to get it back, Butcher told The Charlotte Observer. And with Loomis, were looking at only one case. There are multiples of thousands of these things coming every year. We dont have the manpower to track all that (restitution) money down  I pay (restitution to) thousands of people, but its in drips and drabs.

On Oct. 5, the Loomis heist celebrates its 25th birthday. The theft  at the time the second-largest cash robbery in U.S. history  has been the brunt of mocking movies and books, mostly on how the thieves, who had little money to begin with, could not control their spending habits once they did.

The case resurfaced in the federal courts on Thursday, Sept. 1, when the U.S. Attorneys Office in Charlotte posted a public reminder in the case file of Loomis defendant Kelly Campbell that she had fallen behind in her restitution. Campbell, a former Loomis employee and one of the original masterminds of the caper, has paid off less than $21,000 of the $4,701,694.18 she was docked.

According to Butcher, Campbells last official payment came in June 2021 when the government appears to have seized a tax refund of $81.24.

Jim Gronquist, Campbells defense attorney during the Loomis case, says the financial penalties levied against his client and her co-defendants are grossly excessive and unjust, particularly since most of the stolen Loomis money was actually recovered.

Anybody who gets caught up in the system is getting chewed up by it, the now-retired Gronquist told the Observer. Why do we feel its so necessary to treat people like this, to say, OK, well just ruin the rest of your life because you made a bad decision.

Punishment should not last a lifetime. Punishment needs to be fair and realistic. You cannot fine low-income people millions of dollars. What purpose does that serve other than to denigrate that person into abject poverty?

One number is working in Campbells favor. Federal law stops government collection efforts 20 years after a defendant leaves prison. Campbell was released from federal custody in 2004 after serving five years, meaning her collection case will age out in December 2024.

A few of the Loomis restitution cases have already been closed either because the amount was paid in full or because the 20-year clock wound down.

Many of the lesser players in the conspiracy have been the most effective in paying their debts. Thomas Grant, who served three years in prison for bank larceny, paid off restitution of $70,000; brother Eric Grant paid all of his $26,000; as did David Craig, $40,000; and Dennis and Sandra Floyd; $27,000.

The bigger the amount, however, the bigger the damages to victims that likely will never be repaid:

Amy Paynes collection account was closed in 2020 with her having paid $53,000 of the $274,000 she owed.

Jeffrey Guller, who at 81 is by far the oldest of the Loomis defendants, still owes almost $1.1 million on his original court debt of $1.14 million and will remain on the governments books for another four years. Records show the government has garnished his Social Security checks. Guller was the attorney for Steven Chambers, who came up with the original idea for the Loomis theft.

Some of the biggest numbers remaining on the Loomis collection board, as is the case with Campbell, belong to those who played the biggest role in the crime:

David Ghantt, the Loomis employee who loaded all that money  2,800 pounds in all  into the back of a company van before escaping to Mexico, has paid just under $50,000 of the $3.81 million he was assessed. His collection case closes in two years.

Husband and wife Steven and Michelle Chambers, whose conspicuous consumption of a luxury home, a BMW convertible, breast implants and a $600 wooden Indian, among other purchases, helped the FBI solve the crime, were assessed $3.81 million and $4.8 million, respectively. His collection case, which closes in November 2026, got credit for the couples $540,000 house on Cramer Mountain in Gaston County, Butcher says. Michelle Chambers paid off only $27,000. Her case closes in 2025.

The Loomis defendants face no additional legal jeopardy for not paying off their debts. The government does not run debtors prisons, says U.S. Clerk of Court Frank Johns of Charlotte.

You can garnish wages. You can seize property. But you cant get blood from a stone, Johns said. Criminals dont usually get high-paying jobs after leaving prison. Getting restitution, its like pulling teeth.

Butcher says the federal courts in the Western District of North Carolina have never handled a case quite like Loomis. The biggest restitution numbers for victims of financial crimes generally involve Ponzi schemes or sweepstakes fraud, not cash thefts.

White-collar criminals are pretty good at hiding their money, she said. These (Loomis) guys, not so much.

In one case, the restitution for a Loomis defendant may be a moving target. Eric Payne got out of prison in 2006 for his role in the heist and has since paid $11,357 on his $292,000 debt. Next month, Payne will back in the Charlotte federal courthouse, this time to be sentenced from weapons and methamphetamine trafficking charges.

In Campbells case, Gronquist says his client was buried in court-ordered debt despite the fact that she took responsibility for what she had done and cooperated with prosecutors and the FBI. He says the Loomis case shows how the criminal justice system and the courts treat lower-income people differently.

Youre supposed to get less time for cooperating, a lesser penalty, and instead, you see what she got hit with. Gronquist said. She will never get beyond the debt. What that says is, We will never forgive you for what youve done.'

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
People with disabilities in Portland, Oregon, have sued the city, saying they cant navigate its sidewalks because of sprawling homeless encampments.

The federal class action lawsuit says the city has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by allowing homeless peoples tents to block city sidewalks, making it difficult for people using wheelchairs, walkers or canes to use them.

The entire class of persons with disabilities are regularly deprived of the benefits of services of the city of Portland, said John DiLorenzo, lead counsel for the plaintiffs.

The suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland.

The plaintiffs include nine people with disabilities and a caretaker. Among the plaintiffs is Keith Martin, a 71-year-old Portland resident who has used a wheelchair since having a stroke three years ago.

I couldnt get to my breakfast in the morning because there was a tent covering the whole sidewalk, Martin said. I was forced onto the street and narrowly missed a streetcar that came around the corner.

Oregons homelessness crisis has been fueled by a housing shortage, the coronavirus pandemic and high drug addiction rates. Federal data from the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 9 percent of teens and adults in Oregon had illicit drug use disorders in 2020. That year, the state also ranked last in access to drug addiction treatment, according to the survey.

The class action suit seeks to require the city to clear all sidewalks of tent encampments and debris, and to construct, purchase, or otherwise provide for emergency shelters in which to house the unsheltered persons who may be affected.

Such measures would make sidewalks accessible for people with disabilities in a safe manner while providing a safe place for unhoused people, DiLorenzo said.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheelers office said the mayor is meeting with the city attorney before providing comment.

About 13 percent of Portland residents live with a disability, according to the lawsuit, including 6 percent with mobility impairments and 2.4 percent with visual impairments.

Plaintiff Steve Jackson, 47, is legally blind and uses a cane to walk. He said tents prevent him from navigating the sidewalk and accessing bus stops.

Often theres tents blocking the entire sidewalk, where I dont see them because they werent there the day before, and I hit the tent and then people are mad at me and think Im attacking them, Jackson said during a news conference.

There were about 3,000 unsheltered people living in Multnomah County, home to Portland, during the most recent point-in-time count in January 2022, county figures show.

The Portland City Council declared a state of emergency on homelessness in 2015 and has extended it five times since then. The measure, now set to expire in 2025, reduces the bureaucratic hurdles surrounding the creation of homeless shelters.

Despite the citys years-long emergency measure, the estimated number of people experiencing homelessness spiked 25 percent in the Portland area between 2020 and 2022, according to point-in-time counts reported to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This year alone, Wheeler has issued four emergency declarations to address homelessness issues. Most recently in August, he expanded a previous declaration that prohibits camping along high-speed corridors such as highways to include key walking routes to K-12 schools.

The state has wrestled with a debate over the best way to reduce homelessness. Some business groups have called for more encampment sweeps and stricter enforcement of anti-camping ordinances, while others want more investment in social services and affordable housing.

Oregon lawmakers earlier this year approved a budget that includes $400 million to address homelessness and housing.

Claire Rush is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Feature: Father-son duo's pursuit of promoting Tibetan intangible heritage

Xinhua) 16:52, September 13, 2022

LHASA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- In a studio on the top floor of a three-story Tibetan-style house in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Phuntsok Tobgye and his apprentices are busy working on a thangka painting measuring more than 10 meters in length and nearly three meters in width.

The painting, featuring mainly warm green tones, depicts Tibet's breathtaking scenic beauty and many famous attractions like Potala Palace. "Do not grind the thangka pigments too hard, otherwise its color will lighten," Phuntsok Tobgye instructed his apprentices while holding a coloring bowl.

Phuntsok Tobgye, 49, hails from Tsedong Village in the city of Xigaze and is one of the inheritors of Tsedong Thangka. It is a branch of the Miantang painting, the most influential school of Tibetan thangka painting since the 15th century, which was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006.

With the unremitting efforts of thangka painters like Phuntsok Tobgye, the intangible heritage skills have been passed to younger generations, with their works reaching a wider range of art lovers.

Tsedong Village has a tradition of painting thangka. When he was a child, Phuntsok Tobgye developed an interest in thangka paintings hung in the homes of the villagers. He then started sketching the landscape of his hometown and portraying the stories told by his parents. After graduating from primary school, he began to learn thangka painting.

In the beginning, his master asked him to draw on a white powder-covered blackboard on his lap. His drawing hand was not allowed to touch the board to avoid messing up the white powder.

"Sometimes, I practiced with the same pose for more than 10 hours a day," he recalled, adding that rigorous training helped him acquire the essential basic skills.

When Phuntsok Tobgye was 18 years old, he came to Lhasa, learning from other thangka masters to help repair the murals in the Potala Palace. It was where he learned different thangka styles.

"I had always longed to see all kinds of murals in the Potala Palace. The restoration project made my dream come true," Phuntsok Tobgye said.

He continued to learn the artform in the following years in Lhasa. During this period, his works were displayed at various thangka exhibitions, including one in Beijing and one in Vancouver, Canada. His solo thangka exhibition held in Lhasa in June 2015 attracted nearly 1,000 visitors on its opening day and his works gained extensive popularity among art collectors.

Penpa, vice chairman of the regional artists association, called Phuntsok Tobgye's works "flavorful," adding that they exude a strong sense of ancient charm.

"His thangkas have an unadorned tone compared with other works from the Miantang school of painting. The proportions of portraits and landscapes in his paintings are also peculiar," Penpa said.

Early last year, Phuntsok Tobgye established a thangka art company with his younger brother. The company has sold thangka paintings to Beijing, Anhui and other places in China.

Sonam Wangden, Phuntsok Tobgye's son, is learning thangka painting from his father together with other apprentices. The 24-year-old said that he can only recall his father being constantly busy with the canvas.

"I respect my father. He is gentle and tenacious and regards thangka painting as his lifelong pursuit," Sonam Wangden said.

Not long ago, Sonam Wangden and his father went to the outskirts of Lhasa to undertake restoration work of temple murals. After winding up their work, they sat by the wall and savored Tibetan yogurt while chatting about their restoration work.

"Thangka brings me closer to my father and makes me understand his persistence better. I will also make thangka painting my lifelong pursuit and pass on the intangible heritage," Sonam Wangden said.

Now, not only Phuntsok Tobgye's son but many of his relatives paint thangkas. Phuntsok Tobgye is proud of them. "I am getting older, but more confident that many people will continue to pass on such traditional skills."

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
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7 September 2022. Today, the World Health Organization (WHO), with support from the International Humanitarian City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, airlifted the first of three shipments of emergency medical supplies to Benghazi airport in Libya. The supplies will help health facilities respond to health needs across the country, particularly in the south where the situation continues to deteriorate.

The shipment comprises more than 23 tonnes of medicines and medical supplies such as personal protective equipment, emergency health kits, burns kits, anaesthetics, and essential medicines and supplies to diagnose and treat patients with tuberculosis. The shipment has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the European Union, the Government of Germany and The United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Head of Mission and WHO Representative in Libya, Ms Elizabeth Hoff, welcomed this support, saying, This shipment is the first of several emergency airlifts to arrive in the next few weeks. It comes at a critical time. It will help enable WHO to reach the most vulnerable people in the country with essential medical assistance.
The US and Kyiv are bumping heads to stop the Russian advance, as the Biden administration and Ukraine are active in discussions on how to keep the Zelensky regime alive as Moscow orders its planned blitz of the Ukrainian positions.

Attempts To Defeat Russia

According to a Saturday article in The New York Times, Ukraine could have increased intelligence gathering with the United States ahead of the time of its military offensive against Russian forces in the Kharkov Region.

Even after Washington provided Ukraine with specifics on Russian command centers, ammunition dumps, and other targets, Ukrainian officials had been reluctant to discuss operational plans with their American counterparts relatively early in the dispute, noted Fars News.

The newspaper noted that there are worries that it might reveal flaws and endanger continued American support, reported RT.

Everything shifted over the summer when Ukraine decided that divulging its military campaign strategies might, in contrast to previous worries, start giving rise to Washington to provide more assistance, stated an unnamed senior US official who talked to the NYT.

Depending on the sources, this transition gave the US the chance to provide better and more relevant information about Russian vulnerabilities.

According to reports, those who declined to comment on the number of details communicated between both parties or the extent to which the US and Kyiv have been involved in the planning and preparation for the Ukrainian military offensive.

Despite what one official claimed, Washington was in touch with all parties involved.

Read Also: Mark Zuckerberg Net Worth 2022: How Did Facebook Founder Lose $30 Billion in 1 Day?

Ukraine's Offensive

After Ukraine's initiatives to expand in other areas had been disappointing due to Ukrainian losses, a huge offensive by Ukraine that used weapons provided by the US and other Western nations started on Thursday in the northeast Kharkov Region.

The Russian Defense Ministry declared on Saturday that its troops were exiting Izyum and the few other nearby settlements, trying to claim that they were being restructured to ramp up their endeavors in the Donetsk position.

During the operation, it added, the military had performed what it called several distracting and demonstration activities imitating the actual action of troops, citing Yahoo News.

Vladimir Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, lauded the Russian pullback as progress; however, the NYT mentioned that it is ambiguous how substantial of a strategic implication these same gains will have.

Moscow has repeatedly warned Washington against equipping Ukraine and communicating classified intel, asserting that in doing so, the United States runs the risk of becoming implicated in the conflict.

On February 24, Moscow deployed troops into Ukraine for failure to carry out the Minsk agreements, which had been intended to give the Donetsk and Lugansk territories special status inside the Ukrainian state.

The protocols were officially signed in 2014 and were influenced by Germany and France. Pyotr Poroshenko, the former head of Ukraine, has already acknowledged that Ukraine's main goal was to use the ceasefire to stall for time and create powerful armed forces.

The US and Kyiv are attempting to stop Russian from adding more Ukrainian losses; Kyiv is losing despite media claims of victories.

Related Article: US Tries To Drive a Wedge in the Russia- China Partnership

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By Jennifer K. Morita

Salma Pacheco knew Sacramento State was her destiny.

Even when scheduling complications threatened to derail her freshman year, prompting her dad to question her college choice.

With tears streaming down my face, I said, Yes. I was made to go to Sac State, Pacheco said.

I knew I was made to come here to affect the change that students need. Not every student advocates for themselves, not every student feels they have a voice, and I know I have a very strong voice to advocate for them.

Pacheco is the 2022-23 Associated Students Inc. (ASI) president, and creating a community of caring and support for students is high on her agenda. Her upbringing in a strong, loving, close-knit family drives much of what she does.

Student government is super important to me because it allows students to have the space to talk to us and be a liaison between them and their administration, Pacheco said. Its overwhelming and nerve-wracking when they have problems and no help or guidance.

Her leadership role commences as the University celebrates Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Week and Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15-Oct. 15. Sac State earned HSI designation after its enrollment of Hispanic/Latinx students surpassed 25% of the total student body in 2013.

The University also earned the Seal of Excelensia designation for its commitment to accelerate Latinx student success in higher education.

I found through student government, I have a huge passion for advocating for the minority community and those who are under-represented." -- Salma Pacheco, ASI President

The youngest of four sisters, Pacheco grew up in Pacoima, a working-class neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Her strong, independent mother was ambitious and attended night school to learn English and computer skills while raising a family and working full time at Whole Foods.

My mom is the epitome of time management, Pacheco said. Every time I sit in the AIRC (Academic Information Resource Center) very late at night, complaining how I cant finish my paper, I just think about my mother, who was able to give me the most fortunate upbringing I couldve possibly asked for, while doing things to make herself better to make more money to help raise us.

If she could do that, then I can finish my paper.

When the girls were little, their dad stayed home to shuttle them from school, to club meetings, to volunteer work and swim practice  beginning at 4 a.m.

Hes a girl dad, so hes our strongest supporter, Pacheco said. If I have an issue, hell dissect the whole thing and have amazing ideas on how to handle the situation.

"It did take him a while to learn how to do our hair.

Choosing a college was easy for Pacheco.

A Political Science major who one day wants to work in The Building  her name for the state Capitol  Pacheco watched her older sister first succeed at Sac State and later in the seat of California government as a lobbyist for the Los Angeles City Chamber of Commerce.

I saw the connections and relationships she built here, and how she forged a career for herself, and I fell in love with that, Pacheco said.

Also, my favorite color is green, she said, referring to the bold Sac State color.

Overachiever is an understatement when it comes to Pacheco, who took so many college courses in high school that she was mistaken for a transfer student when she arrived at Sac State.

Salma is bringing a lot of great energy and asking a lot of questions, ASI Executive Director Sandra Gallardo said. Shes been very motivated, working through the summer and meeting with President (Robert S.) Nelsen and Vice President for Student Affairs Ed Mills to get her agenda started.

Pacheco joined clubs such as Phi Alpha Delta and Ignite, which helps women become involved with politics. She also worked with Mujeres Ayudanda la Raza, a nonprofit organization supporting Latina students.

It helped me build a lot of friendships with people who look like me and have similar experiences, Pacheco said. I believe it helps students be successful if they have a sense of belonging.

I have friends from all walks of life thanks to Sac State being so diverse. But it was beneficial to have a place to practice my Spanglish, a hybrid that combines words and idioms from both Spanish and English. It was definitely helpful to feel like I was still me, and that we were acknowledged.

In spring 2022, Pacheco and Laura De La Garza Garcia ran unopposed and were elected ASI president and executive vice president, respectively, advocating for students, particularly underrepresented minorities on campus.

I found through student government, I have a huge passion for advocating for the minority community and those who are under-represented, Pacheco said.

De La Garza Garcia is from Monterey, Mexico, and lived in Michigan for several years before her family eventually settled in Manteca.

Moving to California was a huge culture shock, De La Garza Garcia said. In a good way. You see people who look like me, not necessarily in leadership because that is something I recognize is still missing. But youve got people from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds.

The ASI Board of Directors recently set goals for the 2022-23 school year during a strategic planning retreat.

They have their fingers on the pulse of the University since theyre students themselves, Gallardo said. So its always great to see them create these goals and work through how they will accomplish them in the coming year. Theres a lot of great energy, and Im excited for this group.

In addition to student advocacy and mental health issues, one of the boards priorities this year is to consider how to help students find jobs after graduation.

Students were online for two years, and they didnt have access to internships or networking so theyre struggling to find jobs, De La Garza Garcia said. We want to bridge that gap by working with partners on campus, highlighting the opportunities that are already there that students dont know about.

Both women want to hold University leaders accountable and ensure students are supported.

We are the voice for more than 30,000 students, De La Garza Garcia said. Were advocating for students, and trying to make the campus better.

ASI Board members, including President Salma Pacheco, second from right, and Executive Vice President Laura De La Garza Garcia, right, recently set goals for the 2022-23 academic year, including advocating for students and helping students with job-seeking efforts after graduation. (Sacramento State/Andrea Price)

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This years scary season starts with Barbarian.

Its a dark and stormy night when documentary researcher Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) arrives in Detroit for an important job interview. Finding the Airbnb accommodation shes rented, she realizes its ominously situated in a rundown neighborhood thats filled with abandoned houses.

When the key is missing from the lockbox, Tess discovers that the dingy, dimly lit place is already occupied. Awkwardly explaining that the house was double-booked by a different service, Keith Toshko (Bill Skarsgard) is not only friendly but he offers to give Tess the bedroom while he sleeps on the couch. Of course shes suspiciously hesitant but a local convention has filled all the available hotel rooms.

While shes asleep, the bedroom door mysteriously opens and she hears Keith moaning in fear, obviously suffering from a dreadful nightmare. Nevertheless, the next morning Tess gets up and goes to her job interview.

When she comes back to the Airbnb, she ventures into the basement, looking for toilet paper. Thats where she finds a secret door leading to hidden corridors and subterranean bedrooms that comprise this real house of horrors.

Not to reveal too much, lets just say there are malevolent twists and turns, revolving around its former owner (Richard Brake) and current owner, a disgraced, despicably loathsome and glibly entitled Hollywood type (Justin Long).

Within its solid three-act structure, scripted by Danny Chan, Alex Lebovici, Bill Skarsgard and director Zach Cregger, it unexpectedly blends gross, brutal comedy with sleazy horror. Which is not surprising since Zach Cregger is a former member of The Whitest Kids UKnow sketch group. As a result, there are allusions to white flight, #MeToo and toxic masculinity.

Credit goes to cinematographer Zach Kuperstein who makes the most of the creepy, claustrophobically cramped setting.

FYI: The title Barbarian refers to a cruel, primitive, dangerously uncivilized person.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, Barbarian barges in with a surprising, savage 6, playing only in theaters.

Susan Granger has been an on-air television and radio commentator and entertainment critic for more than 25 years. Raised in Hollywood, Granger appeared as a child actress in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, and Lassie. She currently resides in Westport.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  When local school officials voted down a Tennessee charter school linked to Hillsdale College this summer, staffers at the state commission that would soon have to decide whether to let the controversial school open anyway reacted with shock at how things unfolded.

The text messages they exchanged, obtained through a records request by The Associated Press, showed the close attention state staffers paid to the school board's resounding rejection in the wake of Hillsdale President Larry Arnns disparaging comments about teachers. When no one showed up to make the case for the Hillsdale-affiliated charter school application, the alarm among those who would be left holding the bag was palpable.

What!!!! They invited both schools to speak and (they) did not show!!! texted Beth Figueroa, the commissions director of authorizing.

WHAT, replied Chase Ingle, commission spokesperson.

Im speechless!!! Figueroa wrote.

Critics ranging from some Democratic lawmakers to educators have argued the Tennessee Charter School Commission was designed to rubberstamp charters that local communities don't want, with several members tied to pro-charter groups. The nine members are handpicked by Republican Gov. Bill Lee  a vocal charter schools supporter and proponent of Hillsdale Colleges charter initiative  and confirmed by lawmakers in the GOP-supermajority General Assembly. The staffers work for the commission.

Hillsdale, a small conservative college in Michigan, holds outsized influence with Republican politicians. Arnn had recently spearheaded the 1776 Curriculum, inspired by former President Donald Trumps short-lived 1776 Commission, as a direct response to The New York Times 1619 Project focusing on Americas history of slavery. Curriculum materials glorify the founders, downplay Americas role in slavery and condemn the rise of progressive politics.

Its prominence has strengthened among conservatives amid the national debate over the role schools should play in teaching race and sexuality. South Dakota, for one, turned to a former Hillsdale politics professor to write proposed social studies standards for its public schools. They align with the 1776 Curriculum.

Tennessee's state commission will be put to the test this week during public hearings run by commission staffers  as board members consider whether to approve applications from three Hillsdale-affiliated charter schools appealing their rejections by local school boards.

The texts were among hundreds of documents the commission provided after the AP requested all conversations relating to Hillsdale College and their charter school affiliates. Most of the records showed commission staffers helping applicants navigate the appeals process, telling them what information was needed and offering appeals training.

But the documents also included texts as staffers watched the fallout of Arnn's disparaging remarks on teachers as local school boards in Rutherford, Jackson-Madison and Clarksville-Montgomery school board denied the Hillsdale-affiliated applications.

Are we having fun yet? texted Tess Stovall, commission executive director, on Aug. 10 after sending a link to a news article on the panel's independence being tested. I like my quotes.

During the Rutherford County school board meeting on July 18, Ingle and Figueroa texted while watching the livestream. When no one showed from the Hillsdale-affiliated school to defend their application, both expressed alarm. Board members voted 6-1 to reject the charter.

Ingle wrote, Beth, thats a tough look.

This does not help us, Ingle continued. He said the Rutherford school board member who voted against rejecting Hillsdale calls him once a quarter.

The text messages drew further skepticism about the commission from Jim Wrye, a representative of Tennessee's largest organization representing educators.

The administration sold the state charter commission to the General Assembly as a neutral appellate body," Wrye, Tennessee Education Association government relations director, told the AP. "We believed the goal was to undermine local control and drop charter schools on communities that do not want them. That belief is only growing.

In 2010, Hillsdale began establishing charter schools nationwide. Hillsdale maintains it does not operate or manage them, but instead offers support by licensing their curriculum for free and providing training and other resources to so-called member schools.

Tennessee's state commission could overrule local decision-makers on Hillsdale-affiliated schools. Or, the panel could spike them after Arnn's comments, including a declaration that educators are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country. The governor, who was on stage with Arnn during some of his remarks, has refused to condemn his words.

Asked about the texts, the commission said staffers regularly monitor local school board meetings to stay fully prepared" for potential appeals.

(At) the time of these text messages, commission staff was anticipating 16 new start appeals. Of those 16 possible appeals, we are currently handling 13 public charter school appeals, an unprecedented number in Tennessee since the state started hearing appeals in 2002, Ingle said via email, noting the commission only had three appeals last year, its first year operating.

Any charter school approved at the local level spares the commission from the time and effort required for additional appeals, Ingle said.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Jeff Yarbro questioned the commission's logic, saying, Hillsdale's poor showing only makes the commission's job harder if their mandate is to greenlight new schools.

The commission shouldnt have a rooting interest in the charter schools under review, Yarbro told the AP. Here, the danger is a commission and staff focused on opening more charters rather than ensuring a fair and independent process.

Tennessee's Charter School Commission was formed in 2019. Rep. Mark White, the Republican who sponsored the legislation backed by Gov. Lee, said at the time the proposal would move the charter school appeals process from the state education board  which has a wide variety of oversight responsibilities  to a new charter-focused panel.

White, who joined in widespread outcry against Arnn's comments, told the AP he still believes the state commission is the best option for vetting and ensuring Tennessee has quality charter schools. He said the text messages show staffers carefully watch the proceedings because it would affect their workload.

I know where theyre coming from, and I know theyre solid, he said.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Tess Stovalls last name.
The Rev. Matt Currys parents were children of the Great Depression, just like The Waltons  the beloved TV family whose prime-time series premiered 50 years ago.

When Curry was growing up on a farm in northern Texas, his carpenter father and teacher mother often argued playfully over who had a poorer childhood.

The Depression was the seminal time of their lives  the time that was about family and survival and making it through, said Curry, now a 59-year-old Presbyterian pastor in Owensboro, Kentucky. My dad used to talk about how his dad would go work out of town and send $5 a week to feed and clothe the family.

So when The Waltons, set in 1932 and running through World War II, debuted on CBS on Sept. 14, 1972, the Currys identified closely with the storylines. Millions of others felt the same, and the Thursday night drama about a Depression-era family in rural Virginia became one of TVs most popular and enduring programs.

At a time when the networks generally avoided dangerous content, The Waltons was notable for taking on difficult topics  religion, in particular  said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse Universitys Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture.

I think it was an important show, and I think it actually doesnt get the attention that it deserves, Thompson said.

The Waltons really did get down and roll around in some very, very serious spiritual themes, he added. For example, an atheist comes to town, and we get this whole discussion between atheism and spirituality.

The Waltons ran for nine seasons and 221 episodes, ranking as high as No. 2 in the Nielsen ratings. A half-century later it still stirs nostalgia among loyal fans who cant resist taking in cable TV reruns, binging episodes via streaming apps and keeping up with former stars through social media.

Based on the life of its creator, the late Earl Hamner Jr., the show followed a large extended family living in a white, two-story farmhouse and running a sawmill in the fictional Blue Ridge foothills town of Waltons Mountain. The parents, grandparents and seven children  John Jr., Jason, Mary Ellen, Erin, Ben, Jim-Bob and Elizabeth  were depicted wearing overalls and dresses, praying at meals and overcoming adversity through hard work and grace.

The Waltons focused on John Jr., known as John-Boy, played by Richard Thomas and modeled on Hamner. The oldest sibling, he aspired to be a writer and experience the world beyond his humble upbringing.

Now 71 and starring as lawyer Atticus Finch in a touring production of To Kill a Mockingbird, Thomas said he still hears fans call Good night, John-Boy! after each performance. The familiar catchphrase pays homage to the Emmy-winning role that made him famous.

Its kind of astonishing that were still talking about a show 50 years later, said Thomas, who narrates A Waltons Thanksgiving, a made-for-TV movie airing this fall on the CW network.

To have that kind of longevity and then have it mean enough for people to want to do a new version of it  Im not sure exactly why, he added. I know it affected a lot of peoples lives. But I think primarily Earl Hamners writing was just so great and the cast loved each other so much and we were so committed.

John-Boy had a lot to do with the shows popularity  and inspired many a crush back then among fans like Jerri Harrington, now 67, of Centreville, Virginia.

Harrington still watches an episode every night with her husband of 47 years. During the frightening early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, its characters  particularly grandma Esther, played by the late Ellen Corby  brought a sense of comfort and return to childhood.

It just feels familiar, said Harrington, a grandmother herself.

Another lifelong fan, Carol Jackson, like Curry the daughter of Depression-era parents, sees her own familys story reflected.

She became a fan as a kindergartner and as an adult placed Waltons DVDs in the resort cabins that her family operated in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas. The homespun stories still connect with the 55-year-old mother of three.

I just told my kids, One day when Im old and in my wheelchair  just wheel me in front of The Waltons on a continual loop, and Ill be happy, Jackson said.

Kami Cotler, who was 6 years old when she first starred as youngest sibling Elizabeth in a 1971 holiday TV movie that launched the series, still interacts regularly with such fans via her Facebook page, which has nearly 150,000 followers.

Cotler said The Waltons shared universal truths that help explain its lasting popularity.

The show frequently told really simple human stories that resonate with people because thats what life is like, said Cotler, now an educator in Southern California. People will joke that it was very saccharine sweet, but I dont think that it actually was.

On the show, parents John Walton Sr. and Olivia Walton  played, respectively, by the late Ralph Waite, an ordained minister in real life, and Michael Learned  frequently clashed over their differing approaches to God. Olivia was a devout Baptist, but John Sr. was not a churchgoer.

Ive always looked for God in my own way, he said in one episode.

An ongoing theme was the appearance in Waltons Mountain of an outsider  a Jewish family fleeing Nazi persecution, a Black boxer and preacher raising money for a new church, a Hollywood actress who smoked and drank  who met a mixed reception.

In 1972s The Sinner episode, a young pastor played by the late John Ritter arrived preaching fire-and-brimstone Bible verses. But he inadvertently became intoxicated after drinking too much of the secret recipe served by the Baldwin sisters, two prim and proper recurring characters who didnt seem to realize they were bootleggers.

After the mishap touched off something of a scandal, John Sr. made a rare appearance at church and pointed to Jesus words from John 8:7: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.

The religious aspect of the show had to do with the fact that Earl Hamner was talking about a time and a place ... where those issues were very much in play, said Thomas, now a grandfather of four. I mean, in a small community in the mountains of Virginia in the Depression, if you dont deal with the church aspect of things, then you dont deal with things as they were.

Over the shows long run, the Waltons and their neighbors learned valuable lessons about overcoming differences and treating everyone with love and respect. Those lessons, Cotler said, are perhaps even more relevant today.

On a personal note, Cotler, a secular Jew, credits grandpa Zeb, played by the late Will Geer, with teaching her how to sing church songs on the show.

Curry, the Kentucky pastor, said The Waltons reflected how Jesus often rebukes religious people for hypocrisy in the Bible, while commending an unexpected person  such as a Samaritan who helped a stranger  for showing love and grace.

The show talked about religion and faith  in a way that does not demean people, Curry said. Theres something in there that we are missing today, and its the sense of community, of unity, of battling through hard times.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
NEW YORK (AP)  Bill Gates says the global hunger crisis is so immense that food aid cannot fully address the problem. Whats also needed, Gates argues, are the kinds of innovations in farming technology that he has long funded to try to reverse the crisis documented in a report released Tuesday by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates points, in particular, to a breakthrough he calls magic seeds," crops engineered to adapt to climate change and resist agricultural pests. The Gates Foundation on Tuesday also released a map that models how climate change will likely affect growing conditions for crops in various countries to highlight the urgent need for action.

In assigning technology a pre-eminent role in addressing the worlds food crisis, Gates puts himself at odds with critics who say his ideas conflict with worldwide efforts to protect the environment. They note that such seeds generally need pesticides and fossil fuel-based fertilizers to grow.

Critics also contend that Gates' approach doesn't address the urgency of the crisis. Developing magic seeds takes years and wont immediately deliver relief to countries currently enduring widespread suffering because they rely on food imports or are experiencing historic droughts.

Its a debate that could intensify international pressure to meet the shared goals for global prosperity and peace, known as the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, ahead of a 2030 deadline. The 17 goals include ending poverty and hunger, battling climate change, providing access to clean water, working toward gender equality and reducing economic inequality.

"Its pretty bleak relative to our hopes for 2030, Gates, 66, said in an interview with The Associated Press. He added, though, I'm optimistic that we can get back on track.

Gates pointed to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic as the main causes for the worsening hunger crisis. But his message to other donors and world leaders convening for the U.N. General Assembly this September is that food aid won't be enough.

Its good that people want to prevent their fellow human beings from starving when conflicts like Ukraine interrupt the food supply, Gates writes in the new report. But the real problem, he says, is that many food insecure countries dont produce enough of their own food  a problem sure to be exacerbated by the consequences of climate change.

Temperature keeps going up," Gates said. "There is no way, without innovation, to come even close to feeding Africa. I mean, it just doesnt work.

As he has for more than 15 years, Gates called for investment in agricultural research, highlighting corn seeds that thrive at higher temperatures and in drier conditions than other varieties. Those seeds were developed under a program of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation to which the foundation has given $131 million since 2008.

Since then, the Gates Foundation has spent $1.5 billion on grants focused on agriculture in Africa, according to Candid, a nonprofit that researches philanthropic giving. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is by some measures the largest private foundation in the world and is best known for its work on global health, including vaccines. It began in its current form in 2000, after Gates left his CEO position at Microsoft, the tech giant he co-founded. Forbes estimates his net worth to be around $129 billion.

The foundation's spending on agricultural development is why Gates view on how countries should respond to food insecurity has taken on heightened importance in a year when a record 345 million people around the world are acutely hungry. The World Food Program said in July that tally represents an increase of 25% from before Russia invaded Ukraine in February and a 150% jump from before the pandemic struck in the spring of 2020.

In Ghana, field trials for four varieties of modified seeds began in 2013. But only this past summer has one been approved for commercialization, said Joeva Rock of the University of Cambridge. Activists there, she said, have asked whether those resources could have been better spent elsewhere.

What would happen if those went into increasing funds to the national research centers in Ghana, to building roads, to building storage, to building silos or helping to build markets? said Rock, who has written a book about food sovereignty in the country.

When asked, Gates acknowledged the importance of infrastructure like roads and other transportation systems.

If you want your inputs like fertilizer to come in, if you want your output to go out, its just too expensive in Africa without that infrastructure, he said, adding that building and maintaining roads is highly expensive.

Some researchers question the wisdom of pursuing the fundamental premise that Gates has embraced: Increasing agricultural production through the use of modified seeds along with fertilizers and pesticides. They point to the environmental footprint of industrial agriculture, including the use of fossil fuel-based fertilizers, the degradation of soil quality and the diminishing of biodiversity.

Alternatives could include agroecological interventions, like developing locally managed seed banks, composting systems to promote soil health and pesticide interventions that dont rely on chemicals, experts said. Over time, those approaches can reduce the need for food aid and build more resilient farming systems, according to Rachel Bezner Kerr, a professor of global development at Cornell University.

Kerr, a lead author of the food chapter of the latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change, said that while the panel doesnt make recommendations, overall, the kind of focus on a few technologies and reliance on fossil fuel-based inputs isnt in line with ecosystem-based adaptation or a biodiverse future.

Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, defends its approach warning that limiting access to fertilizers means farmers cannot increase their yields.

Fertilizer is necessary. You simply cannot meet the overall productivity gains without it, Suzman said, speaking on a call with reporters.

In his interview with the AP, Gates himself dismissed criticisms of the foundations emphasis on modified seeds.

If theres some non-innovation solution, you know, like singing Kumbaya, Ill put money behind it," Gates said. But if you dont have those seeds, the numbers just dont work." He added, "If somebody says were ignoring some solution, I dont think theyre looking at what were doing."

Another project the foundation has funded is the development of computer models that try to measure crop loss caused by disease or pests. The idea is to direct research and responses to where they are needed most.

Its not just, how do we get through this crisis and get back to normal? Its, what does the future normal look like? said Cambria Finegold, the director of digital development for CABI, an intergovernmental nonprofit that is developing the models.

Melinda French Gates, the other co-chair of the Gates Foundation, highlighted in a separate letter the halting progress toward gender equity worldwide. Since January, the foundation has expanded its board, adding six new members to help direct its work, a move that followed the announcement of the Gateses' divorce last summer.

French Gates has agreed to step down after two years if the two decided they could not continue to work together. French Gates, who also founded an investment organization called Pivotal Ventures, was not available for an interview.

Gates said he is lucky that his former wife has continued to put her time and energy into the foundation. In July, Gates said he would contribute $20 billion to the foundation in response to the significant setbacks caused by the pandemic, raising its endowment to approximately $70 billion.

Through his giving, investments and public speaking, Gates has held the spotlight in recent years, especially on the topics of vaccines and climate change. But he has also been the subject of conspiracy theories that play off his role as a developer of new technologies and his place among the highest echelons of the wealthy and powerful.

Gates said he does not spend time thinking about conspiracies and that his foundations work has nothing to do with his personal reputation.

If you go into these countries, theyve never heard of me or the foundation, Gates said. Maybe in the rich world somebody is reading some internet thing, but the people we care about have never, will never, and its not important that they ever know who I am.

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
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LOS ANGELES (AP)  Heavy rains Monday unleashed mudslides in a mountain area east of Los Angeles that burned two years ago, sending boulders and other debris across roads and prompting evacuation and shelter-in-place orders for thousands of residents.

Firefighters went street by street in the community of Forest Falls to make sure no residents were trapped. Eric Sherwin, spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Fire Department, said crews hadnt found anyone who needed to be rescued and no one was reported missing.

Many structures in the area had varying levels of damage, Sherwin said, including a commercial building where the mud was so high it collapsed the roof.

The rains were the remnants of a tropical storm that brought high winds and some badly needed rainfall to drought-stricken Southern California last week, helping firefighters largely corral a wildfire that had been burning out of control about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of the mudslides.

The mud flows and flash flooding occurred in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains where there are burn scars  areas where there's little vegetation to hold the soil  from the 2020 wildfires.

All of that dirt turns to mud and starts slipping down the mountain, Sherwin said.

One of the wildfires, the El Dorado Fire, was sparked by a smoke device used by a couple to reveal their baby's gender. A firefighter died and the couple was criminally charged in a pending case.

Concerns about additional mud and debris flows Monday night prompted authorities to put 2,000 homes in the San Bernardino Mountain communities of Oak Glen and Forest Falls under evacuation orders after nearly 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain fell on Yucaipa Ridge.

For some homes in Forest Falls it was too late to evacuate and residents were told to shelter in place through the night because it was safer than venturing out.

"The roads are compromised or theyre covered in debris, Sherwin said, adding that crews planned to work all night using heavy equipment to clear routes.

The mudslides came after a week that saw California endure a record-long heatwave, where temperatures in many parts of the state rocket past 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), and pushed the state's electrical grid to the breaking point as air conditioners sucked up power. The Fairview Fire and the Mosquito Fire burning east of Sacramento broke out and raged out of control.

The tropical storm aided crews battling the Fairview Fire about 75 miles (121 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles. The 44-square-mile (114-square-kilometer) blaze was 56% contained by late Monday. Two people died fleeing the fire, which destroyed at least 30 homes and other structures in Riverside County.

The Mosquito Fire has grown to 76 square miles (197 square kilometers), with 16% containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. While crews were able to take advantage of cooler temperatures and higher humidity Monday to strengthen control lines, more than 5,800 structures in Placer and El Dorado counties remained under threat, and some 11,000 residents were under evacuation orders.

Smoky skies from wildfires in many areas of the West caused air quality to deteriorate Monday, with dangerous levels of particulate pollution detected by government and private monitors in portions of eastern Oregon and Washington, Northern California, central Idaho and western Montana. In some areas, people were told to avoid all outdoor activity until the pollution cleared.

In Washington, fire officials scrambled to secure resources for a blaze sparked Saturday in the remote Stevens Pass area that sent hikers fleeing and forced evacuations of mountain communities. As of Monday, the Bolt Creek Fire was 2% contained and had scorched nearly 12 square miles (31 square kilometers) of forestland about 65 miles (104 kilometers) northeast of Seattle. A larger incident management team and additional fire crews were slated to arrive Tuesday, officials said.

In Oregon, utility companies said Monday they restored power to tens of thousands of customers after shutting down service over the weekend to try to prevent wildfires during high winds, low humidity and hot temperatures.

Both Portland General Electric and Pacific Power enacted planned power shutoffs Friday as gusting winds and low humidity moved into Oregon, posing extreme fire danger. The utilities were concerned that the winds would cause power lines to break or sag, making sparks that could ignite tinder-dry vegetation.

South of Portland, evacuation levels were reduced near the 135-square-mile (349-square-kilometer) Cedar Creek Fire, which has burned for over a month across Lane and Deschutes counties. Firefighters were protecting remote homes in Oakridge, Westfir and surrounding mountain communities. Sheriffs officials warned that people should remain ready to leave at a moments notice should conditions change.

Scientists say climate change has made the West warmer and drier over the last three decades and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. In the last five years, California has experienced the largest and most destructive fires in its history.

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For more AP coverage of the climate and environment: https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Fifteen years after being rejected as too controversial, Malcolm X is the first Black honoree to be inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame.

The organizations commission selected the civil rights icon on Monday with a 4-3 vote, edging out the late University of Nebraska educator and author Louise Pound.

Malcolm X used the lessons he learned early in life and his intellectual power, dedication and perseverance in the fight for freedom and equality for all during the civil rights movement in America," said commission chairman Ron Hull. "His work and his legacy continue to impact the citizens of the world.

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1925 as the son of a Baptist preacher. His family left for Milwaukee the following year after threats from the Ku Klux Klan.

At 20, he was convicted of burglary in Boston and sentenced to nearly seven years in prison, where he converted to Islam and later changed his name. He emerged as a fiery Nation of Islam minister with a message that Black people should cast off white oppression by any means necessary, before later splitting from the Nation of Islam and renouncing racial separatism.

He was assassinated in Manhattans Audubon Ballroom by gunmen who opened fire during a speaking engagement.

The firebrand was first nominated for Nebraska's Hall of Fame in 2004, but passed over by a commission made up solely of white men who instead selected a mid-1900s U.S. senator who made a name for himself with his campaign to remove gay men from government posts in the 1940s and 1950s. The pick of Sen. Kenneth Wherry was later nixed because of an open-meetings violation.

Malcolm X was passed over again in 2007 for little-known botanist Charles Bessey.

Each Nebraska Hall of Fame member is immortalized with a bronze bust displayed in the state Capitol.

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This story has been corrected to show that Malcolm X was convicted of burglary in Boston.
The European Commission will give details on the gas price cap this month so that Russia cannot charge a premium.

EU Caps Natural Gas Prices

In an interview with the newspaper Repubblica on Saturday, Italian Minister for Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani stated that the agency might complete its proposition this month to start imposing a general price limit on all gas imports, reported RT.

This specific gas price limit suggestion has been made and has received support from 15 member states, such as Germany.

A proposal is anticipated to be completed by September, and he continued that more work is needed to get more nations to support it.

Gas prices are already rising fast all over the bloc from a few months earlier as a direct consequence of sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine as well as a reduction in the supply from Moscow, noted the Good Word News.

Before this sudden decline, EU leaders had announced a legitimate plan to cut gas consumption by 15% from August 1 thru March 31, 2023.

Contributing nations are free to choose whether they wish to decrease their gas use by 15% between August 1 and March 31, 2023, as they adhere to definite recommendations.

Even before the upcoming winter season, the European Commission within the bloc is also establishing a plan to deal with the energy shortage, like the gas price cap.

Read Also: Mark Zuckerberg Net Worth 2022: How Did Facebook Founder Lose $30 Billion in 1 Day?

The steps recommended by the European Commission, as shown by Politico relatively early this week, entail price caps on Russian gas imports, a drop in energy expenditure, help for power companies, and the imposition of a tax on fossil fuel firms to generate big profits.

According to reports, the package will be authorized on September 14.

In the Financial Times, a minimum price on imports from all providers, not just Russia, is an option that about ten EU states want. Based on reports, the suggestion by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to constrain prices for only Russian gas has been spurned by Italy, Poland, and Greece.

The Netherlands, Hungary, and Austria resist the levying of a price ceiling.

In the circumstance of a price limit, Brussels is worried that Moscow may very well halt gas shipments. Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier threatened to halt oil and gas consignments to nations that make decisions on the expenditure of contract agreements.

EU Verifies Gas Proposal by Brussels

Earlier this week, the European Council gave its final approval to a plan that would see EU nations cut their gas consumption by 15% over the ensuing months.

Based on a press release published on the European Council website, the assessment aims to improve the energy supplies of the bloc by stashing gas for the winter season if Russian supply disruptions occur.

According to the update, member countries agreed to decrease their gas consumption by 15% from their normal mean over the previous five years, starting on August 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023.

The European Commission and member states remarked to the Italian Minister about the gas price cap to lessen natural gas costs.

Related Article: US Tries To Drive a Wedge in the Russia- China Partnership

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ROME (AP)  The leader of Italy's center-left campaign alliance on Tuesday cited the gains of a Swedish populist party with neo-Nazi roots as further proof that fear is propelling the far-rights growth in Europe. He also warned that the outcome of his own country's approaching election could determine Italy's future role in Europe.

"Fears are today a big part of the way in which our societies are living this period,'' former Premier Enrico Letta said, citing the pandemic and its economic woes, the energy crisis of soaring utility bills and Russia's war against Ukraine.

It's easier for the right, for the extreme right to push, to boost (itself) on these fears,'' Letta, who leads the Democratic Party, told The Associated Press in an interview.

In the Swedish election last weekend, a populist, anti-immigration party, Sweden Democrats, surged in balloting to become the country's second-largest political force. Fears of gang violence dominated Sweden's election campaign.

Its a moment in which sentiments of fear are getting a foothold in Europe, Letta said.

The elections in Italy on Sept. 25 "are like a Brexit referendum in the U.K,.'' Letta said, referring to the stunning 2016 vote that saw Britain decide to leave the European Union.

You have just two possible solutions. The solution that the right is raising is a solution of nationalism,'' Letta said. The other solution is on our side, and our solution means Europe.

His chief rival in Italys election is Giorgia Meloni, who leads the far-right Brothers of Italy party, which has roots in neo-fascism. She hopes to become the first woman to hold the Italian premiership.

In opinion polls, Lettas Democratic Party has been running neck-and-neck with Meloni's party. Voter surveys indicate her party, which has called for a naval blockade of Africa's Mediterranean coast to try to stop migrants from reaching Italy, could garner more than 20% in the upcoming balloting. In the previous election it won only a 4% share.

Because Italy's electoral system rewards parties that join forces in campaign alliances, Meloni holds a big advantage over Letta.

She has forged alliances with the right-wing, anti-migrant League leader Matteo Salvini and former Premier Silvio Berluscon,i who heads the center-right Forza Italia party. Letta, meanwhile, has refused to ally with the 5-Star Movement  Italy's biggest populist party in Parliament which helped collapse Premier Mario Draghi's government in July  while his overture for a campaign alliance with two small centrist parties was rebuffed.

Should the right triumph, it's a danger for the future of Italy,'' said Letta. It is a danger because Italy needs European cooperation. And without European cooperation it would be impossible to find solutions to all our problems.''

Letta in the interview ruled out any Draghi-style broad coalition government, like the one the former European Central Bank chief formed in early 2021 to help Italy's pandemic-battered economy recover.

There won't be any governments of national unity, he said.

Letta spoke during a break from campaigning across Italy in an electric bus. He chose that vehicle type to highlight a scarcity of charging stations in Italy. The country isnt modern, Letta said.

His Democratic Party views the election outcome as critical for civil rights.

Italy is years behind on rights, Letta said. For example, Italy doesnt allow same-sex marriage or adoption by singles. The right proposes going backward, he said.

He reflected on polemics over Peppa Pig, the popular cartoon character. Recently, a candidate from Melonis party expressed outrage that the cartoon featured a family with two female polar bears as parents and demanded that Italian state TV, funded by taxpayers, never air such an episode.

Meloni has hailed what she calls natural families and has denounced LGBTQ+ lobbies.

The campaign demand to censor a cartoon is really madness, said Letta.

Our model is Europe, our model isnt the Hungary of (Viktor) Orban or the Poland of (Jaroslaw) Kacynzski," Letta said, referring to the leaders of right-wing political parties whose policies have been hostile to LGBTQ+ communities.

Some Italian women have voiced concern that Meloni might seek to abolish a law that allows abortion in the first 12 weeks, and after that if the womens health or life is endangered.

Meloni is very ambiguous on this topic and on this question, Letta said. In some regions of Italy, including the central Marche, where Brothers of Italy govern, the shortage of doctors willing to perform abortions in public hospitals has forced women to travel across Italy for the procedure.

Meloni has said that any government she leads wouldnt change the law. But she says there should be more assistance for those who want to give birth.
CHICAGO (AP)  Jurors began deliberating Tuesday at R. Kelly's federal trial in Chicago, sorting through a month of evidence and arguments on charges accusing the singer of producing child pornography, enticing minors for sex and rigging his 2008 child porn trial.

Standing at a podium a few feet in front of jurors, Kelly attorney Jennifer Bonjean told jurors in her closing earlier Tuesday that key government witnesses were admitted liars who testified with immunity to ensure they couldnt be charged.

At times sounding indignant and raising her voice, Bonjean likened their testimony and other evidence to a cockroach and the governments case to a bowl of soup.

If a cockroach falls into soup, she said, you dont just pull out the cockroach and eat the rest of the soup. You throw out the whole soup," said told jurors. She said of the prosecutions case: There are just too many cockroaches.

As Bonjean spoke, Kelly, wearing a gray suit and black mask, looked calm at a nearby defense table. As a prosecutor spoke later and repeatedly looked toward Kelly, he often averted his eyes. Later, when the prosecutor described him abusing minors, he shook his head.

Jurors withdrew to start deliberating early Tuesday afternoon, heading home without reaching a verdict several hours later. They were set to pick up where they left off Wednesday morning.

Kelly, 55, was sentenced in June to 30 years in prison during a separate federal trial in New York where he was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking. Convictions on just a few of the 13 counts Kelly faces at his current trial could add years to his imprisonment.

Delivering the government's rebuttal after Bonjean's closing, prosecutor Jeannice Appenteng told jurors to remember the girls and women Kelly allegedly abused.

When you are in the quiet of the jury room, consider the evidence in light of who is at the center of this case. Kellys victims: Jane, Nia, Pauline, Tracy and Brittany, Appenteng said, referring to five Kelly accusers named in charging documents by their pseudonyms or first names.

Four of them testified. Brittany did not.

The prosecutor also pointed to testimony that as Kelly's fame boomed in the mid-1990s, his staff and associates increasingly geared everything they did to what Kelly wanted.

And ladies and gentlemen, what R. Kelly wanted was to have sex with young girls, she said.

Earlier, Bonjean implored jurors not to withdraw to the jury room with an impression of Kelly informed by media coverage of him in recent years or by prosecutors at the trial.

They throw around labels like sex predator, she said about prosecutors. "Labels and sweeping generalizations are distractions meant for you to lose your humanity for this man.

She described Kelly as a flawed genius who was functionally illiterate since childhood and was ill-equipped to navigate his celebrity and fortune. She said having been abused as a child also deeply affected him.

Bonjean said some witnesses who testified with immunity hadn't come to the courthouse in Chicago, Kelly's hometown, to tell the unvarnished truth.

They came in here to tell the government's version of the truth," she said.

Among others, Bonjean cited Kelly ex-girlfriend Lisa Van Allen, who testified about how she stole a sex tape from a Kelly gym bag in the early 2000s. She also pointed to former Kelly merchandizing agent Charles Freeman, who testified that he asked Kelly for $1 million in exchange for returning another, potentially incriminating, video. Both testified with immunity.

During her closing Monday, prosecutor Elizabeth Pozolo told jurors that weeks of evidence proved the singer parlayed his fame to sexually abuse minors and record the abuse on video. She described Kelly as a secret sexual predator.

Robert Kelly abused many girls over many years," Pozolo said, referring to Kelly's full name. He committed horrible crimes against children.  All these years later, the hidden side of Robert Kelly has come out."

Bonjean twice called for a mistrial Monday, complaining that closing arguments by attorneys for Kelly co-defendants Derrell McDavid and Milton Brown were grounded in the presumption that the world now knows Mr. Kelly is a sex predator."

The presumption of innocence has been abolished for him, she said. Judge Harry Leinenweber denied the requests.

Known for his smash hit I Believe I Can Fly and for sex-infused songs such as Bump n Grind, Kelly sold millions of albums even after allegations of sexual misconduct began circulating in the 1990s. Widespread outrage emerged after the #MeToo reckoning and the 2019 Lifetime docuseries Surviving R. Kelly.

Kelly and McDavid, the singer's former business manager, are accused of fixing Kelly's 2008 trial on state child porn charges by intimidating and paying off witnesses.

Kelly faces 13 counts, including four counts of producing child porn, one count of conspiring to obstruct justice by rigging the 2008 trial, one count of conspiring to receive child porn, two counts of actually receiving it and five counts of enticing minors for sex.

McDavid is charged with four counts, including two counts of receiving child porn, one of conspiring to do so and one count of conspiring to obstruct justice by rigging the 2008 trial.

Brown faces a single count of conspiring to receive child porn.

Pozolo focused much of her closing argument on the government's star witness, an accuser who went by Jane and who said Kelly sexually abused her hundreds of times starting when she was 14.

"He performed degrading acts upon her for his own sick pleasure, Pozolo said.

She reminded jurors of graphic video footage they had watched, which Jane testified depicted Kelly, at around age 30, abusing her when she was 14. The videos shown included one at the heart Kelly's 2008 trial. Jurors said later they had no choice but to acquit Kelly because Jane didn't testify.

Who uses a 14-year-old child to film a video like this?" she said. This man. Robert Kelly.

Before the 2008 trial, Pozolo said, Kelly and his associates scrambled to recover multiple sex videos that had gone missing from a collection he often carried around in a large gym bag.

By doing so, she said, Kelly associates sought to cover up the fact that ... R. Kelly, the R&B superstar, is actually a sexual predator."

In his closing, an attorney for McDavid said prosecutors had to show that his client actually knew about any abuse of Jane by Kelly in the 2000s  not just that it was likely he knew.

Did they prove he knew ... behind a reasonable doubt?" Beau Brindley asked. They did not.

Pozolo balked at the idea that McDavid had no inkling in the 2000s that the abuse allegations might be credible after helping to recover missing recordings and handing bags of cash to people who returned videos McDavid knew could destroy Kelly.

___

Follow Michael Tarm on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mtarm and find APs full coverage of the R. Kelly trial at https://apnews.com/hub/r-kelly
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LOS ANGELES (AP)  Succession and Ted Lasso topped the Emmy Awards on Monday, in a ceremony that touted the influence of TV and extended honors to global sensation Squid Game and winners who delivered messages of empowerment.

The evening's uplifting tone, as voiced especially by Zendaya, Lizzo and Sheryl Lee Ralph, was in contrast to the darkness that pervaded the storytelling of best drama series winner Succession and even comedy series victor Ted Lasso."

Thanks for making such a safe space to make this very difficult show, said Zendaya, claiming her second best drama actress award for Euphoria, about a group of teens' tough coming-of-age.

My greatest wish for Euphoria was that it could help heal people. Thank you for everyone who has shared your story with me. I carry them with me, and I carry them with Rue, her character, Zendaya said.

Succession, about a media empire run by a grasping and cutthroat family, split drama series honors with Squid Game, the bold South Korean-set drama about the idle rich turning the poor into entertainment fodder.

Lee Jung-jae of Squid Game, who played the show's moral center, became the first Asian to win the Emmy for best drama series actor.

Thank you for making realistic problems we all face come to life so creatively on the screen, Lee said to Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, who earned the Emmy for best drama series directing. In Korean, Lee thanked the audience in his native country for watching.

Backstage, Hwang said this was "a major moment for us, and Lee said he expected the awards to open doors for other Asian actors.

Jason Sudeikis and Jean Smart collected back-to-back acting trophies, but several new Emmy winners were minted, with Lizzo and Quinta Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph of Abbott Elementary" collecting trophies.

Brunson, who created and stars in the freshman series, won the Emmy for comedy series writing. ABC's Abbott Elementary, also nominated for best comedy, is a rare bright spot for network broadcasting in the age of streaming and cable dominance.

Sudeikis won his second consecutive trophy for playing the unlikely U.S. coach of a British soccer team in the comedy Ted Lasso, with Smart matching that haul for her role as a veteran comedian in Hacks."

Sudeikis gave a rare awards show shoutout to TV consumers: Thanks to the people who watch this show and dig it as much as we dig making it."

There was a ripple of reaction in the theater when Succession creator Jesse Armstrong mentioned Britains new king, Charles III, in accepting the shows trophy, the cast standing alongside him.

Big week for successions, new king in the U.K., this for us. Evidently a little bit more voting involved in our winning than Prince Charles, Armstrong said. Im not saying were more legitimate in our position than he is. Well leave that up to other people.

Ralph stopped the Emmy Awards show by accepting the best supporting actress comedy award for Abbott Elementary" with a brief but rousing song of affirmation.

I am an endangered species, but I sing no victim song. I am a woman, I am an artist and I know where my voice belongs, she belted out. She then encouraged anyone doubting their dream I am here to tell you this is what believing looks like.

The audience, including Lizzo and many of television's biggest stars, leapt to their feet to cheer on Ralph.

When Lizzo herself accepted the award for best-competition series trophy for Lizzos Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, she offered another emotional pep talk.

When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see was me in the media. Someone fat like me, Black like me, beautiful like me, the music artist said.

There were also cheers for presenter Selma Blair, who has discussed her multiple sclerosis diagnosis publicly and who used a cane on stage.

Ted Lasso co-star Brett Goldstein, won comedy supporting actors, while Matthew Macfadyen of Succession and Julia Garner of Ozark earned drama series supporting actor honors.

It's such a a pleasure and privilege for me to play this bonkers gift of a role in this wonderful show, Macfadyen said in accepting the trophy for his role as a scheming member of a media empire family.

Garner was among the winners who took advantage of covering all bases by thanking her husband and others in an on-screen message.

The White Lotus collected several honors, including best limited or anthology series.

The achievements of Squid Game, Abbott Elementary and a few other shows didnt change the relative lack of diversity in this years nominations, which included significantly fewer people of color than in 2021.

Host Kenan Thompson kicked off the Emmys with a tribute to TV, dismissing Tik-Tok as tiny vertical television, and a musical number saluting series theme songs from Friends to The Brady Bunch to Game of Thrones.

Once the music stopped, Thompson provided a mic drop moment  announcing Oprah Winfrey as the first presenter. Winfrey strutted onto the stage holding an Emmy statuette, declaring the night a party! The nights first award went to Michael Keaton for his role in Dopesick. Winfrey and Keaton hugged before she handed him his trophy.

It means something, Keaton said of the award for playing a caring doctor ensnared with his patients by addiction. He went on to recall the magic of being introduced to TV when his dad won a set at a raffle and thanked his parents for not mocking his youthful attempts at acting.

Amanda Seyfried earned the limited-series lead actress trophy for The Dropout, in which she played ill-fated Silicon Valley whiz kid Elizabeth Holmes. She thanked a list of family and colleagues and even her dog, Finn.

Murray Bartlett won the best supporting actor award for The White Lotus, a tragicomedy set in a Hawaii resort. Jennifer Coolidge, who won best supporting actress honors for the show, delighted the audience by shimmying to the music intended to cut off her acceptance speech.

The award for best variety talk show went to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, with stand-up special Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel winning for best writing for a comedy special.

"Good night, everybody. Ima go home. Im not like a sore winner, but Im going to go home because I cant top this right now, an overcome Carmichael told the audience.

Glamour was back with some metallic sparkle and lots of bright color as an otherworldly Britt Lower, Old Hollywood Elle Fanning and their fellow stars posed for photographers.

___

AP Writers Beth Harris and Jonathan Landrum Jr. contributed to this report.

___

For more on this years Emmy Awards, visit: www.apnews.com/EmmyAwards
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Get the latest live updates from the Alex Jones Sandy Hook defamation trial that continues Wednesday in Waterbury. Tuesday's live coverage is below.

The second of three defamation damages trials for Alex Jones is underway in state Superior Court in Waterbury. The Infowars host is facing the trial after losing a defamation lawsuit over his claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a giant hoax. Jones has already been ordered to pay $49 million to the parents of a slain Sandy Hook boy following a trial in Texas this summer.

Opening arguments began at 10 a.m. Tuesday in a jury trial to determine how much Alex Jones owes eight Sandy Hook families and an FBI agent in defamation damages.

Well be providing updates throughout the day as opening arguments and testimony begins.

Alex Jones attorney questions sister of Sandy Hook teacher before court adjourns for day

On cross-examination, attorney Norm Pattis asked Carlee Soto Parisi about her knowledge of Alex Jones, asking whether or not she watched Jones outside of her lawyers office.

Pattis is attempting to show that harm caused to Parisi by Jones is being exaggerated for the sake of the trial.

Following an objection, the questioning ends and Parisi is excused, at which point Judge Barbara Bellis ends the trial for the day.

Sister of Sandy Hook teacher says 'I feared for our lives' due to threats

Parisi said that after she moved to North Carolina when her husband, who was in the military, was transferred, her address was posted online.

There were awful messages posted online. She said it was scary.

It was terrifying, she said. I feared for our lives.

The messages, she said, included threats sent by email and social media, Parisi testified.

Police were informed in both Connecticut and North Carolina.

A foundation started by Parisis family holds an annual race in her sisters honor, and she testified that a person showed up at the race one year waving a picture and screaming that they were crisis actors.

Attorney Koskoff then showed a video of Alex Jones mocking the parents on television.

Sister of Sandy Hook teacher cries as she describes learning Vicki Soto was killed

Describing her arrival to Sandy Hook after the massacre, Parisi describes families crying, children crying.

Wheres Mrs. Soto, she asked, sobbing. They all just looked at me and said they didnt know.

Parisi said she texted her sister repeatedly on her way to the school, just hoping to see those three little dots.

At the time, Parisi had never heard of Alex Jones, she testified. She did not know that he was already questioning the shooting.

Everyone was in tears. Everyone knew that something serious had happened. It was traumatic being in that firehouse, she testified.

When asked how she learned that her sister had died, Parisi says they were told by the governor that their loved ones had expired, that everyone in that room had lost someone.

I ran out of the room and fell into a firefighters arms. My dad came up behind me and said we need to go home. Theres no reason for us to stay here anymore, she said.

In the backseat of a police car, Parisis mother called friends and family to inform them that Soto had died.

Sister of Sandy Hook teacher testifies

After a short break, the plaintiffs bring Carlee Soto Parisi to the stand.

Parisi, from Stratford, was sister to teacher Victoria Leigh Soto, who died in the massacre.

Plaintiffs attorney Josh Koskoff shows Parisi a photo, which she identifies as one of the last times she spent with her sister. It was eight months before the Sandy Hook massacre.

At the time, Parisi was 19. Her older sister, Soto, was 26 at the time. All four children lived in the family home in Stratford at the time.

Koskoff asked Parisi of her sister, Did she ever take any acting lessons? No, she replied.

I was there when she set up her very first classroom, Parisi said.

Koskoff asked, And she was a real teacher, wasnt she?

Very much so, Parisi replied.

Sandy Hook lawyer says Alex Jones' team is trying to 'politicize this case'

Mattei objected when Pattis asked Aldenberg if he knew that Hillary Clinton raised Sandy Hook in her presidential campaign, or if he had petitioned TV host Megyn Kelly to refrain from showing her 2017 interview with Alex Jones in Connecticut,

The judge then excuses the jury to discuss the line of questioning with attorneys.

Mattei argues that Pattis is attempting to inject politics into the discussion, that Pattis trial strategy is to politicize this case.

Pattis replies that the plaintiffs have made this case into a political broadside.

Should we address whats coming next? the judge asked. No, Pattis replied. I understand your ruling. I will move on.

Alex Jones' attorney Norm Pattis questions FBI agent

Jones attorney Norm Pattis is now cross-examining retired FBI Agent William Aldenberg.

Pattis has admitted to losing Jones confidence. He is, however, leading the defense after the trials judge limited another lawyers ability to defend Jones.

FBI agent: 'This whole thing is messed up'

Aldenberg testified that he could not quantify the number of threats he received, but that he was mostly concerned for the safety of his family.



He testified that he attended an FBI-sponsored counseling program, in part due to those threats, at which point he broke down crying: This whole thing is messed up. This is 10 years of ... this is just awful. What are we doing here?

Its not an understatement to say that some of these people are deranged, he said.

FBI agent who sued Alex Jones testifies to harassment Sandy Hook families faced

After the shooting, Aldenberg testified, the FBI became aware that family members had become targets of harassment.

We were briefed that we would be assigned to cover funerals, Aldenberg said, hearing that there might be people who would cause trouble at the funerals of victims.

As an attorney working for the FBI in the months after the shooting, Aldenberg said he supervised the FBIs assistance with families, specifically helping those families manage threats and harassment.

He said the families received death threats, including phone calls to residents threatening the deaths of children.

Serious stuff, from seriously disturbed people, he said.

When Aldenberg said such calls will continue today, Alex Jones attorney Norm Pattis objects, calling to speculation.

Its not speculation, Aldenberg replied. Its been going on for 10 years.

At that point, Aldenberg testified, he became aware of Alex Jones, describing him as a radio personality claiming that he and other survivors were crisis actors.

Aldenberg himself became a target of harassment, he said, in 2014 and 2015: I said to my wife, Theres something going on online.

He later learned people online falsely claimed that he was an actor pretending to be both an FBI agent and David Wheeler, the father oa boy killed in the massacre.

FBI agent describes finding victims at Sandy Hook school

FBI agent Aldenberg continues his testimony following a lunch break, describing in detail the condition in which he found the school on arrival, and how the teams were initially allocated.

After entering the school, one team went to the left, another to the right. Through a pair of double doors, down a hallway, there were two victims, Aldenberg testified.

He later learned the two victims were Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach. Their families sued Jones.

After establishing the school was free of further danger, Aldenberg said he went back to the front of the school.

At some point it was determined, I guess they had found an adult female or two adult females alive, they were hiding somewhere, he said. They determined they wanted the process done again.

Reentering the school, Aldenberg said he went to the other side of the school this time. Aldenberg leading, followed by two teammates, the team entered a classroom.

Speaking through tears, Aldenberg described going classroom to classroom.

I observed a teacher who I later learned was Ms. Soto, he said, referring to teacher Victoria Leigh Soto, who died in the massacre. Her family is among those who sued Jones.

It overwhelms your senses. Its frigging horrible, he said, crying on the stand.

Pattis, objecting several times, is asked to sidebar with the judge.

Highlights from the first morning of the Alex Jones Sandy Hook trial in CT

Court is in recess until 2 p.m. after a contentious and emotional opening to Alex Jones Connecticut trial to determine what he owes parents and an FBI agent he defamed after the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.

Just before lunch, former FBI agent William Aldenberg, one of the plaintiffs in the case, became emotional when describing approaching the scene on the day of the shooting, noting law enforcement officers usually don't get too emotional.

Jones lawyer Norm Pattis was dealt an early blow when the judge ruled his team may not argue that Jones did not profit from Sandy Hook coverage.

The judge said Jones team has engaged in a stunningly cavalier attitude regarding evidence and said the practice was obstructive.

Opening remarks saw attorney for the Sandy Hook families Chris Mattei characterize Jones as a bully who profited off of products and lies. Pattis opening remarks tried to paint Jones as a political victim exercising free speech.

Several objections from Mattei were sustained and the judge threatened to cut Pattis remarks short if he didnt focus on the basis of the trial. That led to discussions with the judge regarding politicization of the trial.

Emotional FBI agent describes arriving at scene of Sandy Hook shooting

FBI agent William Aldenberg, one of the plaintiffs in the case, became emotional as he described arriving at the scene of the Sandy Hook massacre.

I wasn't really sure what was going on, he said. I just know that whatever it was, it was a shooting.

He said he knew it was bad stuff happening at the school.

Aldenberg testified that he had been training in Middletown when the call came in, that he and others in the FBI drove fast down I-84 to arrive at the scene.

Once there, he said he saw law enforcement personnel being openly emotional, which is rare.

Law enforcement people don't get too emotional, he said.

Carol Kaliff/For Hearst Connecticut Media

Lawyers argue about political undercurrents in Alex Jones trial

Following lawyer Norm Pattis opening remarks, attorneys conferred with the judge, with the families attorney Chris Mattei arguing that Pattis repeatedly violated the judges instructions.

I expect when Alex Jones comes up here, he's gonna violate the court's orders, he said. Jones has already been found guilty of defamation, and Mattei argued that Pattis injected politics into the proceedings.

Pattis countered that it was plaintiffs lawyers who made the trial about politics.

This has nothing to do with stopping Alex Jones, he said. They went 15 minutes before they even turned to anything related to Mr. Jones, 35 minutes before they mentioned the family and then they gave a passing reference to damages. Alex Jones must be stopped, they said.

Plaintiffs transformed money into a political weapon, Alex Jones lawyer says

In his opening remarks, Alex Jones attorney argues that plaintiffs are attempting to make a decision on damages into a political statement.



This trial is not a cultural moment, Jones attorney Norm Pattis said. It was 35 minutes in before the word damages even arose.

They transformed money into a political weapon in this trial, he said.

After reading the names of the victims of the massacre, Pattis said the jury is being asked to make an example of Alex Jones, and money is their weapon of choice.

Listen carefully what is said about money in this case, he said. This is not a casino. You're not clerks at a grocery store selling quick pick tickets.

Attorney: Alex Jones made $232K in a single day on Sandy Hook denial

Chris Mattei, the attorney for Sandy Hook families, said during opening remarks that Alex Jones Infowars made more than $200,000 a day in 2014, as he was claiming the Sandy Hook massacre never happened.

Mattei said that Jones made $232,000 in a single day, when the website published a story claiming that the FBI said there were no deaths.

Infowars and Jones made $232,000 in a day, just on that one platform, he said.

Sandy Hook families attorney calls Alex Jones a bully

During opening remarks, attorney Chris Mattei describes Alex Jones as a bully.

Unless you stop a bully, a bully will never stop himself, he told the jury.

Infowars, Mattei said, is designed to elicit fear and paranoia in their audience.

Infowars message, under Jones leadership, has been that there is a global plot of financial and media and political elites including in our own government who are trying to establish a one-world tyrannical government to enslave and kill people.

That message began when Jones was only on the radio, and it continued when he began televising that show and later on social media.

Infowars, during 2011, attracted 32.4 million users, resulting in 208.7 million page views, according to Mattei.

The ultimate goal, Mattei said, was to sell products: Youre going to hear Mr. Jones's father, David Jones, testify about how they would connect what they saw in the news to the products they were selling people.

Sidebars to be live-streamed in Alex Jones trial

Before a brief recess, plaintiffs attorney Chris Mattei asked that sidebars should be live-streamed as well as regular court proceedings.

Attorney Pattis argues that the purpose of a sidebar is to address complex issues. The judge agrees with plaintiffs that sidebars will be live-streamed.

Most of the sidebar we just had was discussing the coffee setup in Mr. Farrars office, and the Oreo Cookies, she said.

Alex Jones barred from arguing he did not profit from Sandy Hook coverage

The judge has ruled that Jones attorneys may not argue that they did not profit from Sandy Hook coverage.

Lawyers for Sandy Hook families have asked the judge in the case to bar Alex Jones lawyers from arguing that he did not profit from Sandy Hook coverage, saying a Google Analytics spreadsheet shows they did. Attorney Alinor Sterling says the spreadsheet was "concealed" but eventually obtained by the plaintiffs.

Jones attorney Pattis replied that the analytics spreadsheet is not a book on the shelf, but a database. Theres no evidence that the database was consulted until 2022, he said.

I think that the plaintiffs ask for too much, he said.

In response, attorney Sterling said this is a pattern to conceal Infowars analytics. This is a long history of them denying that they use Google Analytics, she said.

The judge said that the standard is the defendants responsibility to produce evidence requested by the plaintiffs. Defendants knew of the existence of the spreadsheet.

Defendants have engaged in a stunningly cavalier attitude regarding evidence, calling it obstructive, the judge said.

Carol Kaliff/For Hearst Connecticut Media

Sandy Hook families in court for Alex Jones trial

As opening arguments begin in the civil trial against Alex Jones, present in the courtroom gallery are Sandy Hook family members Nicole Hockley, Mark Barden and Bill Sherlach among others.

This trial, being held in Waterbury, was filed by eight Sandy Hook families and an FBI agent. Chriss Mattei is representing the plaintiffs, with Norm Pattis representing Jones.
/

DERBY  A firefighter was reportedly injured while battling a blaze early Sunday morning, but not in the way you might expect.

Derby fire officials said firefighters with the Derby Fire Department were called to the 30 block of Spring Street at 5:47 a.m. on Sunday for a report of a fire. Upon arrival, they discovered a fire had broken out on the third floor of an occupied multiple-dwelling building and struck a second alarm to request backup, according to officials.
STRATFORD  For the first time since the state began keeping records, at least one in 10 educators working for the towns majority-minority school district last year was a person of color.

The share of teachers and administrators of color climbed to 12 percent for the 2021-22 school year, up from 9.7 percent a year earlier, according to district data compiled by the state Department of Education.

The jump represents the largest year-over-year increase in staff diversity at Stratford Public Schools since the state began collecting and publishing demographic information for each school district in 2009.

At a public community meeting last week, Yvonne Temple, the Stratford school systems supervisor of diversity, equity and inclusion, credited the increase to a renewed focus on diversity.

But she also noted the percentage of teachers and administrators of color still lags far behind the proportion of students of color who attend the towns 13 public schools.

While 12 percent of educators last year were non-white, more than 70 percent of the districts 6,800 students were Hispanic, Black, Asian or Native American, according to the demographic data.

To further increase the percentage of educators of color, Temple said the district has developed a recruitment plan to identify and hire more minority candidates. The effort is a part of the school systems newly developed strategic plan.

We want to make sure that people understand that we are truly committed to making sure we have an inclusive environment for everyone, especially our students and our families, to ensure that they thrive once they leave our district, Temple said.

The district's student body has diversified rapidly over the past 13 years. The state data shows that students of color made up 46.6 percent of the student body during the 2009-10 school year.

Stratford share of educators of color has not increased nearly as quickly, but it has surpassed the state average and has eclipsed other towns in the Greater Bridgeport region.

Statewide, about 10 percent of educators were people of color last year. In neighboring Bridgeport, that number stood at nearly 30 percent, while in Trumbull it was 4.7 percent and in Milford it was 1.8 percent.

The annual demographic figures represent the makeup of the school district on Oct. 1 of each academic year. Data for the 2022-23 year, which began earlier this month, is not yet available.

Temple outlined the districts diversity initiatives during a meeting of Stratford Citizens Addressing Racial Equity, a coalition of residents that aims to tackle racial equity issues facing the town.

In addition to increasing staff diversity, Temple said school system officials are also working to retain minority educators who have already been hired by the district.

As part of that effort, the district plans to create what are known as affinity spaces  places where teachers can connect with colleagues of similar backgrounds to exchange ideas and share experiences.

While we might not have the staff now, we have to create an inclusive environment for all of our staff members, it doesnt matter their race, their language or their sexual orientation, she said. We want to make sure everyone feels as though they have a space in Stratford Public Schools.

richard.chumney@hearstmediact.com
MILFORD  A vacation in England turned into a brush with history for Carol Haase and her family.

The Milford native said she and her family arrived in London Sept. 8  the day Queen Elizabeth II, Britains longest-reigning monarch, died after 70 years on the throne at the age of 96.

We got to London at 6 a.m., and it was announced around 6:30 that evening, said Haase. We so happened to be at the palace when she passed away, but we didnt know she had passed away at the moment. We were there when the double rainbow came out.

The palace announced she died at Balmoral Castle, her summer residence in Scotland, where members of the royal family had rushed to her side after her health took a turn for the worse.

When we arrived, it was very normal. But later on, we heard on the news the family was being called to Balmoral, said Haase. After we heard that, we didnt think that was good that all the senior family members were being called. But we went about our business, and went down to Buckingham Palace.

The next day, Haase and her family walked to St. James Palace, and they were the first ones there for the proclamation of King Charles III.

It was pretty surreal, said Haase. Then we were walking by the Marble Arch in London and all of a sudden they started bringing out the royal horses to prepare them for the funeral.

Haase said they had a tour booked for Friday to see Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

The palace tour got canceled, so we decided to go down to the palace on this sad day with everyone else, and we so happen to be front row, center when the king and queen consort showed up to the palace, she said. They got out of the car right in front of us, and we didnt get the pleasure of curtsying or shaking their hand, but they were right there. It was like we could reach out and touch them.

Haase said it was a mixed bag of emotions for herself and her family.

We blended in with everybody, and they were all chanting God save the king, singing the anthem, and we joined into that, we just felt we were part of Britain, England and the Commonwealth and all of that, even though we are not, but we felt very much included. It hit all of us very hard, and it was unbelievable, she said.

It is still hard to believe for Haase how she and her family found themselves in the middle of everything when visiting England.

You cant make this up, she said. My family is somber, like everyone else, and they just cant believe what they are seeing. Its not what we expect at all coming here.

She said the experience of being in England for a generational moment in history was hard to put into words.

You kind of had to be here, she said. I think this will be with us for the rest of our lives, and its something my children can tell their children  that they were there when Queen Elizabeth passed away and when King Charles was proclaimed. Its going to be something they and I will remember for the rest of our lives and be embedded in our heads for a long time.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  West Virginias Legislature passed a sweeping abortion ban with few exceptions Tuesday, approving a bill that several members of the Republican supermajority said they hope will make it impossible for the states only abortion clinic to continue to offer the procedure.

It is going to shut down that abortion clinic, of that I feel certain, Republican Sen. Robert Karnes said on the Senate floor, amid shouts from protesters standing outside the chamber doors. I believe its going to save a lot of babies.

Under the legislation, rape and incest victims would be able to obtain abortions at up to eight weeks of pregnancy, but only if they report to law enforcement first. Such victims who are minors would have until 14 weeks to terminate a pregnancy and must report to either law enforcement or a physician.

Rape and incest victims would have to report the assault within 48 hours of getting an abortion, and a patient must present a copy of a police report or notarized letter to a physician before the procedure can be performed.

Abortions also would be allowed in cases of medical emergencies.

West Virginia joins the ranks of states moving to ban abortion in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Courts decision earlier this year to end the constitutional right to privacy that protected abortion rights nationwide. That left it to states to decide whether abortion should remain legal, which in turn has ignited intense state-level debates, especially in states controlled by Republicans, about when to impose the ban, whether to carve out exceptions in cases involving rape, incest or the health of the woman giving birth, and how those exceptions should be implemented.

The West Virginia bill now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who has signed several anti-abortion bills into law since taking office in 2017. Lawmakers resumed debate on the bill Tuesday after failing to come to an agreement in late July, giving up the chance for the state to become the first to approve new legislation restricting access to abortions since the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling in June removing its protected status as a constitutional right.

Both the Senate and the House of Delegates speedily approved the bill, after several hours of debate. Dozens of protesters wearing pink shirts reading bans off our bodies and holding signs reading abortion is healthcare" staged a rally in the Capitol rotunda while lawmakers were in session.

Some of the group sat in the gallery as legislators discussed the bills, with some shouting down to legislators in frustration as they spoke in support of the bill. Legislative leadership asked that the onlookers remain silent as lawmakers conducted business. At one point, at least one protester was escorted out of the building by police.

Lawmakers inserted several provisions they said were specifically targeted at the Womens Health Center of West Virginia, which was the states first abortion clinic when it opened in 1976 following the U.S. Supreme Courts landmark Roe v. Wade case. It has existed as the states sole abortion clinic for years, making it the ever-increasing target of anti-abortion lawmakers and protesters.

The bill states that surgical abortions can only be performed at a state-licensed hospital by a physician with hospital privileges. Anybody else who performs an abortion, including nurse practitioners and other medical professionals, could face three to 10 years in prison. A physician who performs an illegal abortion could lose their medical license.

Pregnant people who obtain illegal abortions will not face any form of prosecution under the bill, however.

Kaylen Barker, spokesperson for the Women's Health Center of West Virginia, said the clinic will not be shutting down, even if the staff is no longer able to provide abortions. Like many clinics that perform abortions, the facility did not offer the procedure daily.

Most days are dedicated to services like gender-affirming hormone therapy, HIV prevention and treatment and routine gynecological care  cervical exams, cancer screenings  mostly for low-income patients on Medicaid with nowhere else to go.

Democratic Sen. Owens Brown, West Virginias only Black senator, spoke against the bill before it passed the Senate. He said when he looks around at his fellow lawmakers, he sees a body that is overwhelmingly comprised of white, middle-aged to elderly men who are middle-class or above.

Brown compared groups of men passing legislation that overwhelmingly impacts women to laws that were passed by white lawmakers when slavery was legal in the U.S. He said all laws are not good laws made by men.

Thats somewhat irrational in many ways to be able to apply a law that will never apply to you, he said to his fellow lawmakers. "Its easy for you to sit there and do that because you will never have to face the consequences of your actions.
Twitter Inc. claimed on Monday that paying a whistleblower did not break any of the terms of Elon Musk's $44 billion deal to buy the company. This came after Elon Musk tried again to get out of the agreement.

Attorneys for Musk, the richest person in the world, claimed in a letter addressed to Twitter on Friday that the company had broken the terms of the merger agreement by not getting his approval before paying whistleblower Peiter Zatko and his lawyers $7.75 million, Reuters reported. The merger deal limits when Twitter may make such payments.

In response, Twitter's legal counsel stated on Monday that Musk's justification for pulling out of the agreement is "invalid and wrongful."

Twitter shares fell nearly 2% to $41.37, much below Musk's $54.20 bid price.

No Breach on Obligations

According to Twitter, none of its obligations have been broken.

In a letter to Musk's representatives, the social media company's lawyers stated "As was the case with both your July 8, 2022, and August 29, 2022, purported notices of termination, the purported termination set forth in your September 9, 2022 letter is invalid and wrongful under the Agreement," the social media giant's legal team wrote to Musk's representatives.

Twitter has not violated any of its promises or commitments under the Agreement, and after receiving the affirmative vote of Twitter's stockholders at its "special meeting" on September 13, 2022, all requirements will be met for the merger to close according to the lawyers

The letter to Musk's lawyers comes before a special meeting of Twitter shareholders on Tuesday, where the deal will be voted on.

Read Also: India Launches Its Stealth Frigate Taragiri as Indian Navy Commissions the INS Vikrant

Twitter's former chief of security, Zatko, charged the social media corporation last month with making false claims about its security measures and misrepresenting how it protects itself against spam accounts and hackers.

He was dismissed by the company in January

On September 13, the whistleblower will speak with the U.S. Senate Judiciary committee to examine the accusations.

A Complicated Issue

Wedbush analysts wrote in a note that tomorrow's hearing will be closely watched by Wall Street because the Musk camp will be able to talk about the Zatko claims in its testimony for Delaware, per CNBC.

The Twitter-Musk controversy has grown quite convoluted. In April, Musk first suggested purchasing the business. After considerable opposition, Twitter endorsed the agreement.

But soon after, Musk started griping that there are more phony or spam accounts on the social networking site than is publicly acknowledged.

The legal team for Tesla's CEO filed a notice to terminate the Twitter acquisition with the SEC on July 8 because "Twitter has not fulfilled its contractual duties."

Last month, Zatko said that the social media firm had "severe, flagrant faults" in terms of privacy, security, and content moderation, per NBC News.

Unless they first find a resolution, Twitter and Musk will go to court on October 17 in Delaware to address Musk's request to revoke his acquisition of the company.

Musk will be permitted to incorporate Zatko's accusations in his counterclaim.

Related Article: Jeff Bezos, College Professor Who Wished 'Excruciating' Death for Queen Elizabeth II Get on Twitter Fight: What Happened?

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I am a long time Shelton resident and voter. In November, we will vote to decide who will represent us in the 21st Senate District. One issue that is most important to me is womens rights and specifically our right to control our own bodies and health. That includes the right to an abortion.

Chris Green, who is running for this seat, has promised to defend these rights for the women of Connecticut. Our current senator has not openly expressed his position  not a good sign. Moreover, his party does not support this fundamental right.
According to a new book by New York Times writer Maggie Haberman, former President Donald Trump promised aides after the 2020 presidential election that he would stay in the White House beyond President Biden's inauguration.

CNN reports that Trump appeared to acknowledge he had lost to Biden shortly after the election, but his mood eventually shifted.

Book: Trump Intended to Stay in White House Despite Loss

'Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,' Haberman's book, will be released early next month. During Trump's presidency, the New York Times reporter, who formerly worked for Politico, the New York Post, and the New York Daily News, built a reputation for consistently breaking scoops on the government.

According to Haberman's new book, Trump urged advisors in the immediate aftermath of the election to tell him what went wrong, telling one adviser "we did our best," CNN said, adding that he also told junior press aides, "I thought we had it."

Later, when Trump's staff launched steps to reverse the election, Trump allegedly began stating his determination not to leave the White House in January 2021, when Biden's term began. Multiple investigations have been launched on Trump and his allies' activities following the 2020 election.

A House select committee is examining the Capitol incident on January 6, 2021, and is set to hold another public hearing later this month. A second Justice Department investigation is also looking into the attack.

In Georgia, an Atlanta-area district attorney is examining whether Trump and his associates sought to illegally reverse the state's election. Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who helped organize the post-election operations, has stated that he is a target of the investigation.

Read Also: President Joe Biden Heads to JFK Library in Boston for 'Cancer Moonshot' Speech, Pushes To End Deadly Disease

Trump Has Yet to Declare if He Will Run in 2024 Election

Per The Hill, Trump has hinted that he may run for president a third time in 2024. He has stated that he has decided whether or not to run, but Trump has yet to make an official campaign declaration.

The sections from the book obtained by CNN do not specify when Trump allegedly made the remarks. However, according to Haberman, a well-sourced writer who has covered Trump for decades, Trump appeared to recognize his defeat early in the election, when he behind Biden by 7 million votes in the popular vote and lost the electoral college 306-232.

But that changed over time, despite a run of legal failures as his backers attempted to sue to overturn results in battleground states, only to be defeated in court. If the real estate mogul was squatting in the White House, it happened at a time when other top officials were following Trump's lead, and leading Republicans in Congress were pushing for a wait for Trump's fraud accusations to be resolved in court.

On Election Night 2020, Trump publicly questioned the election results. The story comes as Trump, who arrived in Dulles, Virginia on Sunday night, is embroiled in a number of legal investigations.

The House committee investigating the election reversal effort is meeting on January 6. The Justice Department is looking into the removal of sensitive documents discovered during an FBI search last month at Mar-a-Lago, Daily Mail reported.

A number of prominent former Trump advisers have appeared before a federal grand jury, which is said to be investigating the submission of "fake" electors before Congress gathered to tally the electoral votes.

Related Article: Judge Dismisses Donald Trump's Lawsuit Against Hillary Clinton Over Russia Probe

@YouTube

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This summer, I was fortunate enough to spend six weeks in a small city called Segovia, Spain, for an advertising and public relations study abroad program. Segovia, famous for its Roman aqueducts, cochinillo (roasted baby pig) and festivals dating back to the 15th century, is truly one of a kind.

While in Spain, I ate my way through tapa after tapa  small bites or appetizers in Spanish cuisine  and explored various restaurants throughout Segovia, Madrid, Barcelona and even Tenerife, a Spanish island off the coast of Morocco.

During my six week stay, I lived with an incredibly kind and generous host family who introduced me to many authentic, delicious Spanish dishes. Every day after my summer classes, I would walk up the hill back to my host familys house and sit down for lunch with them. Lunch is considered the most important meal of the day in Spain, and the food prepared usually represents that. My host mom explained to me that in Spain, its very important for the whole family to be together to enjoy lunch, and oftentimes there will be multiple courses served.

I ate delicious meals at lunch time, such as a seafood paella and bonito stew. Some of my favorites were mixed salad dressed with oil and vinegar, pasta with chorizo and tomato sauce and my host dads white rice.

What could be so special about white rice, you may ask? This was genuinely the most flavorful and delicious rice I have ever tasted in my life. I probably ate this rice at least three times a week once my host dad Angel saw how much my roommate and I enjoyed it.

This recipe is quick to follow and only uses three ingredients, but it still manages to be packed full of flavor. The rice works well with chicken, steak and any other protein you want to add to your meal.

Angel even asked my roommate and me to video record himself making the rice so we could follow the recipe back home and share it with anyone else who may be interested. If you want to follow along with the recipe directly, click here.

Ingredients:

White onion

Sunflower oil

My host dad uses the brand KoipeSol, but any sunflower oil should be just fine.

White rice

Jasmine, Uncle Bens and any other white rice should work.

Instructions:
The White House is working to negotiate with union leaders and rail companies on Monday as protesters are calling for more than just money, demanding better working conditions and safety regulations.

United States President Joe Biden is pressing for a deal to avert a national railroad strike that is days away from shutting down much of the country's transportation infrastructure. Biden administration officials have also started to prepare for a potential shutdown, warning a strike could seriously damage the U.S. economy, as well as hurt Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections.

National Railroad Strike

The president's calls come after unsuccessful emergency meetings at the White House last week, which have been led by the White House National Economic Council. They included Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was also invited in trying to broker the impasse.

The stalemate situation pits two of Biden's top priorities against each other, to defend union workers and the nation's transportation infrastructure. The shutdown of the latter would disrupt commuter and passenger services nationwide, as per the Washington Post.

The Biden administration has little time to act as the nationwide rail shutdown is set to go into effect after midnight on Friday, and labor and management have been at an impasse over difficult issues such as sick time and penalties for missing work. The strike would be the first recorded in the last three decades.

Read Also: Donald Trump Refused To Leave White House After 2020 Election Loss to Joe Biden, Claims New Book

Amtrak has already started to warn passengers, noting that interruptions will begin on Tuesday on its national network. The passenger railroad added that it is pulling trains on three long-distance routes to "avoid possible passenger disruptions while on route."

According to Politico, a person familiar with the conversations said, "There is this narrative being developed that a work stoppage is inevitable and unions are chomping at the bit. My view is that a strike is unlikely and that the likeliest scenarios are, one, that they reach an 11th hour or 11th hour and 59-minute deal. The second-likeliest scenario is they extend the cooling off period so that they can have more time to cross all the t's and dot all the i's."

Unions Call for Better Working Conditions

While the majority of the 13 unions involved in negotiations have either reached a tentative agreement with the railroad companies or close to one, the two unions representing engineers and conductors have rejected the compromise deal proposed by a presidentially-appointed board of arbitrators. This is because it does not include a change to work rules, like new attendance policies that workers have found onerous.

The situation comes as there has been a surge in union activism, including strikes and organizing efforts, in the last year, being driven primarily by factors far beyond pay rates and benefits packages. If money was the only issue, the U.S. probably would not be facing the risk of the railroad strike.

The unions said that they were rejecting the work rules, staffing, and scheduling proposals that require them to be on call, and ready to report to work, seven days a week for much of the year, CNN reported.



Related Article: US Teacher Shortages: Why Educators Are Quitting?

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There is just time to change the mistaken decision to fly Her Majesty's remains from Edinburgh to London today.

I do so very much hope that somebody realises how much better, more ceremonious, more reverent and more fitting it would be if she returned to the capital by train.

We have seen, during the past few days, how the people of Scotland came to stand by the roadside as she was driven from Balmoral to Holyrood.

Imagine how many hundreds of thousands would line the route if the Royal Train carried Queen Elizabeth from the splendour of Edinburgh's Waverley station south across the border, through Tyneside and past the great cathedral cities of Durham and York, perhaps then turning south-west to travel through the Midlands before eventually arriving at one of the majestic London railway termini, where she could be properly received with all the honours due to her.

Though this may be too much to ask, to add to the grandeur and emotion of the occasion, the train might be hauled by a steam locomotive, as happened in the state funerals of her father and grandfather.

PETER HITCHENS: There is just time to change the mistaken decision to fly Her Majesty's remains from Edinburgh to London today. Sombre sight: George VI's casket arrives at King's Cross station from Sandringham

I'd guess that millions of us would like to have some chance to say a direct farewell to the monarch who has been the focus of our loyalty all our lives. The arrangements for her lying-in-state, announced in detail yesterday, are discouraging for all but the most determined and the most physically fit.

Those who make the attempt are warned they will be subject to 'airport-style security', a procedure for which there are plenty of excuses but no really good reasons. Bring food, we are told, but eat it before you go through security. Prepare to wait all night but bring no bedding, only a tiny bag, etc.

I had thought (am still thinking) of trying, but these off-putting arrangements now make me wonder if I can face it.

I can stand a lot of waiting but the prospect of being herded, corralled and patted down by jobsworths seems to me to be the opposite of the spirit of this country. And for most people, London is far away, inhospitable, vast and expensive.

This is not a new idea. After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, his coffin was carried by train around much of the U.S., drawing gigantic crowds of reverent mourners. Presidential pomp: The engine Nashville drew the 'Lincoln Special' around the US

While it is impossible for a royal funeral train to travel fully round the country, it would give far more people the opportunity to mark the passing of a beloved monarch and of an era.

This is not a new idea. After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, his coffin was carried by train around much of the U.S., drawing gigantic crowds of reverent mourners, who lined the tracks in cities and countryside alike.

Those who saw it pass always remembered it. The poet Walt Whitman wrote an astonishing poem about the journey, entitled When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom'd. One passage runs:

Coffin that passes through lanes and streets,

Through day and night with the great cloud darkening the land,

With the pomp of the inloop'd flags with the cities draped in black,

With the show of the States themselves as of crape-veil'd women standing,

With processions long and winding and the flambeaus of the night.

A little over a century later, in June 1968, the body of another murdered American leader, Robert Kennedy, was taken by train from New York City to Washington DC. The pictures taken from the train by the photographer Paul Fusco are astonishingly moving: rich and poor, black and white for once mingled together, old men and children, young men and their girlfriends, saluting police officers and firemen, praying nuns, the whole of America, cram the station platforms or stand patient and respectful on grassy embankments.

A little over a century later, in June 1968, the body of another murdered American leader, Robert Kennedy, was taken by train from New York City to Washington DC. Goodbye Bobby: Workers and their families await Robert Kennedy's funeral train in 1968

At North Philadelphia, mourners linked arms to sing the 'Glory, glory Hallelujah' chorus of the Battle Hymn Of The Republic as the 21 carriages rumbled slowly by. One passenger recalled: 'In the marshlands of northern Jersey, hardened workers stood atop trucks with their hands placed over their hearts. One man knelt in prayer by the trackside.'

Many of those aboard stood by open windows to hear the crowds singing and (sometimes) crying as the train went by. It is impossible to know, but two million people may well have watched it pass. All had waited long hours (the train was four hours late by the time it arrived in Washington, but what did that matter?) and I doubt whether anyone who was there has ever forgotten it. It is one of the events of the century that I wish very much I had witnessed.

But this sort of thing is not just for Americans. The same is also true of the last journey of that titan of Britishness, Winston Churchill.

After his vast triumphal procession through the London he saved, the old man's coffin was carried aboard a train by ten soldiers from his own first regiment at Waterloo Station (Paddington would have made more sense, as the train was bound for Oxfordshire, but Churchill had chosen this starting point specifically to annoy France's General de Gaulle, who had so many times annoyed him).

The dark green veteran steam engine Winston Churchill had been saved from retirement and the scrapyard to do this one great task.

Once again, as it gathered speed, those aboard the train were impressed and moved to see how many thousands came to line platforms, bridges and trackside fields to say a final, silent farewell.

The same is also true of the last journey of that titan of Britishness, Winston Churchill. Our hero: Churchill's coffin is loaded on in Waterloo in 1965

As Jan Morris recorded on the moving last page of her book about the end of Empire, Farewell The Trumpets: 'They put the old statesman's body reverently on a train, for he was to be buried in the family churchyard in Oxfordshire: and so as dusk fell, with white steam flying from the engine's funnel, and a hiss of its pistons through the meadows, it carried him sadly home again, to the green country heart of England.'

I think there is a reason why these events proved so powerful and memorable and that is why we, too, should take the chance to focus national grief, mourning and love in a way that will help to bind a sorrowful people.

The passing of a motor car, however grand and polished, simply lacks the power, drama and beauty of the long-awaited passing of a great train headed by a mighty locomotive.

In this country, the web of railways still reaches much of the nation and allows incalculable numbers of people to travel reasonable distances to say a final goodbye to a person who has symbolised goodness, peace and order among us for 70 years.

Could we not, even at this last moment, have a change of plan? This is the greatest goodbye, outside our own families, most of us will ever express. Please, whoever is in charge of these arrangements, give us the chance to do so in person.
Admittedly somewhat irrationally, I had long convinced myself the late Queen (now Elizabeth the Great to me) would live for another decade at least.

Perhaps I did so because, as I expressed honestly to you over the past few months, the prospect of King Charles III filled me with a sense of impending dread and fear about the future of our precious monarchy that I believe is so important for this United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

While I will not shy away from my criticisms of the former Prince of Wales  the revelations including accepting banknotes from a Middle Eastern dictator in a Fortnum & Masons bags and railing against the governments important Rwanda policy were deeply concerning  never have I been more delighted to admit I may well have been wrong.

King Charles, deep in his own incalculable grief for his mama, has given himself to the British people in a way that I have found deeply emotional and convincing.

While his mother is peerless, I feel what Charles has done, with the face time, the hugs and even the kisses, is reach out to the public in a way that suggests he will be a more hands-on monarch.

His work ethic this week has been truly phenomenal  like a force of nature, this 73-year-old knows hes been waiting his entire life for this moment and nothing will hold him back now.

And its made a difference  on the biggest stage he will ever have, Charles has been pitch perfect, from pledging to remain apolitical and stop campaigning for controversial issues in his Kings Speech, to taking control of the wayward members of his family, there hasnt yet been one misstep.

Its not just me undergoing this sort of re-evaluation of Charles these past five days of national mourning.

New polling from YouGov released today reveals an unprecedented surge in support for the new monarch.

The King's worth ethic this week has been truly phenomenal to witness  like a force of nature

Within days of the Queens death, the publics evaluation of Charles has completely flipped

In March just 39 per cent predicted Charles would be a good king, while 31 per cent thought he would be bad in the role.

But within days of his mothers death, the publics evaluation has completely flipped.

Now 63 per cent think he will be a good king, with only 15 per cent saying he will do a bad job.

Despite republicans desperately hoping the late Queens death would lead to a re-evaluation of our political system, support for the monarchy remains stable at 62 per cent, with just 21 per cent calling for a revolution.

Even Camilla, who the public (and, yes, again that includes me) have harboured significant doubts about becoming Queen now has the support of the majority, with 53 per cent saying she will do a good job, with only 18 per cent believing she will be bad.

So while there is no doubt in my mind that Charles has done much in just a few days time to overturn years of apprehension about how hed cope in the top job, now he has to prove he can faithfully stick to his solemn pledges to the British public.

The tests are going to be almost daily.

Take Saturday afternoon when the new King met Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats whose long-time opposition to fracking and nuclear energy is at least in part why Britons are facing a devastating energy crisis this winter.

King Charles III waves as he leaves St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, during his visit to Northern Ireland

The bearer party carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II to a hearse as they prepare to depart from St Giles Cathedral

In comments broadcast by TV cameras, the king said to the Energy and Climate Change Secretary from 2012 to 2015: I have not seen you for far too long.

Davey replied: I would love to come to talk to you about similar issues on the environment and climate change in due course.

Firstly, what a bizarre opening gambit for a politician to make to a man who less than 48 hours ago lost his mother.

That aside, I hope Charles responded by saying: Sorry, Mr Davey, as I said in my address to my subjects on Friday night, my days as an eco-campaigner who would regularly offer strong political views and lobby ministers are over for the good of the Crown.

The temptation from the new king to interfere in these thorny issues is going to become even more acute as the energy crisis rightly forces a re-evaluation of our march to Net Zero.

But, as Charles himself stressed in 2018, he is not that stupid to continue interfering in politics, no matter how important the issue may be.

Until I see evidence to the contrary, I will trust and support he will stick to this mantra unequivocally.

Sadly, there are intra family crises that could derail Charles soon, which he has far less control over.

King Charles III is visiting Northern Ireland for the first time since ascending to the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II

King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle today

Prince Harrys biographer Tom Bower revealed on my GB News show last night that the Duke of Sussex is insisting his autobiography  expected to include criticism of both the new king and queen  be published this November.

Bower said: Im told tonight that Harry is insisting that his book is published in November  its astonishing. Apparently the publishers are not too certain, but he says if they dont publish its a breach of contract, thats what Im told.

This would mean any sort of honeymoon period for Charles as the new monarch would be short-lived, with the grenades set to be detonated by the books release coming even before his coronation.

The stakes could not be higher, with the YouGov poll showing younger Brits, who are far more likely to be influenced by Harry and Meghan, wearier of the idea of Charles as king (46 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds think he will do a good job, compared with 78 per cent of elderly Brits).

And over a third of the population (35 per cent) still believe Charles should hand over to his son William at some point before his death.

Charles was right to reach out to Harry and Meghan in his kings speech, by stressing his love for the couple.

But that is not enough  now he must engineer a more fulfilling peace deal that would see Harry agree to withdraw publication of the book out of respect for his grandmother.

If he refuses, surely the time has come for the Sussexes to be stripped of their titles?Managing the expectations of the disgraced Duke of York Prince Andrew, who still harbours ambitions of a comeback, must also be considered to protect the reputation of the monarchy.

Charles also has to harness the hard work and stoicism of his sister Princess Anne and brother Prince Edward, especially given the increasing popularity of his wife Sophie, rightly a favourite of the late Queen.

The next few months for Charles will be the biggest emotional and political test of his life.

The grief our new king suffered after the death of his father  largely hidden from public view  was immense and, at times, overwhelming.

This time last week, I would have doubted if Charles was up to this challenge. But he has thrived in his early days as king and given me the faith to support him through what is going to be a seismic year where he has the chance to secure the future of the monarchy for another generation.
Two months ago, my work as a conflict journalist took me to Kharkiv in north-eastern Ukraine. Over a million people once called it home  but today it is known as 'the city of broken windows'.

Now largely deserted, many of its buildings had been pulverised by the relentless Russian bombardment.

In the teeth of Vladimir Putin's inhumanity, the Ukrainians I spoke to remained optimistic that they would prevail. And yes, their courage was humbling: but even so, few of them perhaps foresaw how swiftly events would unfold around Kharkiv.

Over the past few days, a bold and bravura Ukrainian counter-attack has seen the mass surrender of Russian troops throughout the Kharkiv region.

In a Ukrainian lightning-strike, its forces have liberated village after village, reclaiming what President Zelensky says is an astonishing 2,317 sq miles of territory  an area roughly the size of Lincolnshire.

A Ukrainian soldier stands on a tank in the middle after the road in the Kharkiv region after troops took back a wide swathe of territory from Russia on Monday

Governor Oleg Sinegubov speaks to journalists after Russian Forces withdraw from the Balakliya, Kharkiv

Unfolding just 12 miles from the Russian border, it represents a stunning blow both to Moscow's prestige and its military planning. So what should we make of Russian troops simply fleeing, leaving behind their Soviet-era military hardware, the evidence that they have been using Iranian-supplied drones, and their charred and abandoned tanks?

And what should we make of reports that so many Russian soldiers have recently been captured  including a large number of officers  that Ukraine is running out of space to hold them? Well, some of this may be propaganda. But there is no question that these latest developments in and around Kharkiv are a disaster for Putin. Even his Kremlin lickspittles have been struggling to spin the news into anything positive.

Yesterday, Russia's military leaders admitted their troops had left three key cities  Balakliya, Izyum and Kupiansk, all in the Kharkiv province.

It was an acknowledgment that would have been unthinkable three months ago, just like the remarkable proclamation by a politician on Russian state-sponsored TV on Monday evening.

Ukraine would never be defeated, declared Boris Nadezhdin, and Putin had been misled by his officials. As such, he continued, peace talks were the only way forward.

As with anything spouted from Russia's slavishly Putinite media, we cannot take Nadezhdin's comments at face value. It is possible they were a Kremlin-approved ploy to test the waters of public opinion.

Nonetheless, that peace talks are being openly mooted at all in Russia is highly significant. Even the Kremlin's army of online trolls  typing regime propaganda in chat rooms and forums across the internet  have begun to whisper of withdrawal.

All of this suggests a genuine tipping point in this torrid conflict. Ensconced in his bunker, Putin must be feeling the pressure. The dictator knows that what limited gains his army has made over the past six months have come at a terrible cost. He could barely have imagined the scale of the losses his troops have suffered.

David Patrikarakos: 'The big question, however, is what Putin will do next. None of his options is ideal. His preferred tactic  simply ignoring information that he does not like  will no longer do'

Of the original 200,000-strong force mustered by the Kremlin for the invasion in February, the Pentagon has estimated that up to 80,000 have been killed or wounded.

That's tens of thousands of soldiers sent home in body bags or on stretchers, rather than parading in victory through Kyiv. Now to this grim toll the Russian propaganda machine is having to add desertion and retreat.

The big question, however, is what Putin will do next. None of his options is ideal. His preferred tactic  simply ignoring information that he does not like  will no longer do.

Putin's second option is to continue to lie, claiming that his withdrawal from the Kharkiv region is a 'regrouping' aimed at focusing troops in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in Ukraine's east. That might suffice as an excuse  but not for long.

David Patrikarakos: 'Of course, Putin retains one final chilling threat: the use of nuclear weapons, whose deployment he has threatened from the start of the conflict'

Third, he will do what the Russian military always does when it finds itself in a tight corner  take it out on the civilian population. This was the tactic Putin deployed so devastatingly in Syria, when Russian forces pulverised the city of Aleppo into near oblivion.

The 'Aleppo-isation' of Ukrainian cities in the south and east is already well under way. Russian missiles have pounded the infrastructure in Kharkiv so relentlessly that large parts of the remaining civilian population are now without water and electricity.

Putin does not blanch at such brazen war crimes, and there is already a mountain of evidence of mass graves and torture in areas of Ukraine freed from the Russians. I have no doubt that more atrocities will surface in Kharkiv.

President Zelensky has said that given a choice of living under Putin's boot or not having water and electricity, his people would choose the latter.

Of course, Putin retains one final chilling threat: the use of nuclear weapons, whose deployment he has threatened from the start of the conflict.

The White House takes this possibility seriously, noting that every Russian military exercise of an invasion of the Baltic states has involved a nuclear scenario.

But I think it is the least likely course of action. Putin may be a despot, but he is a pragmatic one. He knows that unleashing the first nuclear missiles on the world since 1945 would cross a terrible line. Should he do so, even Germany, so reliant on Russian gas, would refuse to accept it. That would plunge the Russian economy into bankruptcy: a collapse as total as that suffered by the Soviet Union in 1990, a moment that Putin regards as the biggest catastrophe in Russian history.

David Patrikarakos: The liberation of much of Kharkiv is, too, a timely rejoinder to the siren voices of the Corbynista Left, who warned that the West's decision to arm Ukrainian fighters would only prolong the war and lead to more civilian deaths

And even a small 'tactical battlefield' nuke would be likely to cause fallout in neighbouring countries, possibly including Poland or the Baltic states, all Nato members.

The alliance would, in that instance, have no choice but to respond militarily, effectively marking the start of World War Three.

Putin doesn't want Armageddon  and nor do his generals. They, we must hope, would step in if he ever tried to lash out with nuclear weapons.

So let's not get ahead of ourselves. There have been many false dawns marking the end of this filthy war, and still the fighting rages.

Nonetheless, the past few days have offered us the most heartening news to emerge from the conflict in months.

The liberation of much of Kharkiv is, too, a timely rejoinder to the siren voices of the Corbynista Left, who warned that the West's decision to arm Ukrainian fighters would only prolong the war and lead to more civilian deaths.

These appeasers have been among us since the first days of the war, urging Ukraine  and us  to surrender.

Thank God we ignored them. Today they look like the fools they are.
There is stern policing; and there is idiotic policing. On Sunday afternoon, a history tutor living in Oxford called Symon Hill was handcuffed for shouting 'who elected him?' during the proclamation of King Charles III in the city.

The next morning, outside Parliament, a woman holding up a placard on which she had written 'not my king' on one side and 'abolish the monarchy' on the other was swiftly moved on by a gaggle of police.

In Scotland, a 22-year-old man heckling Prince Andrew as he processed behind the Queen's coffin along Edinburgh's Royal Mile on Monday afternoon was grabbed by members of the crowd and the police, and later charged with a public order offence.

Idiotic

Another woman, also 22, was arrested and charged in Scotland's capital on Monday for holding a sign that read 'f*** imperialism, abolish the monarchy' before the accession proclamation outside St Giles' Cathedral.

There have been a smattering of other similar cases making headlines, too.

Now, each of these events is different. The tutor in Oxford, for instance, may have been provocative and irritating to monarchists standing around him when he demanded: 'Who elected him?' But it was  in this freedom-loving nation  a question he was perfectly within his right to ask.

As for the man in Edinburgh who shouted abuse at the Duke of York, I thought he was being grotesque, given the solemnity of the moment. He was, frankly, being a pillock. 'There's a time and place,' as my parents would have said.

But take these all together and it might begin to look as if people who don't want the monarchy or a new king  and are prepared to say so in public  are being targeted by the police. And that is democratically unacceptable, writes Andrew Marr

In Scotland, a 22-year-old man heckling Prince Andrew as he processed behind the Queen's coffin along Edinburgh 's Royal Mile on Monday afternoon was grabbed by members of the crowd and the police, and later charged with a public order offence

But take these all together and it might begin to look as if people who don't want the monarchy or a new king  and are prepared to say so in public  are being targeted by the police. And that is democratically unacceptable.

The most bizarre example of all came on Monday  again outside Parliament  and echoed a form of protest that was first seen in Russia during the early days of Putin's barbaric war in Ukraine.

A barrister and environmental activist named Paul Powlesland held up a blank piece of paper. When he later moved on to Downing Street, a police officer asked him for his details and told him that if he wrote 'not my king' on the paper, he would be arrested under the Public Order Act.

Videos have gone viral online of brave Russians similarly holding up blank pieces of paper and being bundled into Black Marias by Putin's goons.

When I interviewed Powlesland for my LBC radio show, he was bemused and amused, calling the experience 'ludicrous'. But his style of protest appears to have caught on: yesterday, a group gathered in Edinburgh outside St Giles' Cathedral  where the Queen was lying in rest  and held up blank sheets of paper and a plain white banner. They seemed to be protesting in support of Powlesland  and freedom of speech in general.

But surely if you go around deliberately saying things that infuriate others, provoking them at a time of heightened public emotion, and end up getting thumped, it's nobody's fault but your own? This is called personal responsibility

Conservative MP David Davis is not the only one in the kingdom troubled by this heavy-handed policing.

'At a time of national mourning, we should all ensure that we behave respectfully,' he tweeted yesterday. 'But we must not sacrifice the principle of free speech upon which modern Britain is built.'

On Monday, Davis wrote to the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, expressing his concern that the female protester who held the 'f*** imperialism' placard outside St Giles' Cathedral had been charged. Davis wrote: 'If the individual concerned committed acts of violence, or the police had reason to believe she would, then action would obviously be necessary. But if the individual was simply stating an opinion, I trust you agree that a liberal approach would be desirable.'

Quite so. In each case, however, the police excuse seems to be the same: that someone else might be offended by the protest. They might then retaliate and commit a breach of the peace  so, to prevent that, the protester should be removed.

But surely if you go around deliberately saying things that infuriate others, provoking them at a time of heightened public emotion, and end up getting thumped, it's nobody's fault but your own? This is called personal responsibility.

And if the police still insist someone must be arrested, perhaps it should be the thumper, rather than the possible thumpee.

On Monday, Davis wrote to the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, expressing his concern that the female protester who held the 'f*** imperialism' placard outside St Giles' Cathedral had been charged

Heavy-handed

At any rate, holding up a politely worded placard is so inoffensive that the public order argument implodes. Some of the messages have been rude, I concede, but 'not my king' or even 'abolish the monarchy' are surely well within the boundaries of civil disagreement. And since when has swearing been a crime?

There is a bigger point here. We are a robust democracy based on free speech. And that means we don't have the right not to be offended, whatever the issue in question. There are protections against speech which is deliberately intended to generate hatred or violence  but beyond that it is, or should be, open season. How else are ideas challenged and tested?

One of those ideas is monarchy itself. But, perhaps ironically, over-zealous policing is dangerous for monarchism.

For centuries, kings and queens have been booed as well as cheered as they clatter past on their horses and in their ornate carriages.

At the time of the Union of Scotland and England in 1707, that same Royal Mile echoed to the extremely abusive anti-English and anti-royal jeers of a Scottish patriotic mob (we have Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe and sometime English spy, to thank for an eyewitness account).

Some of the messages have been rude, I concede, but 'not my king' or even 'abolish the monarchy' are surely well within the boundaries of civil disagreement. And since when has swearing been a crime?

Responsibility

Monarchy has always been unpopular with some. Even Queen Victoria faced a rise in republicanism towards the end of her reign, when she had withdrawn from public life as the 'widow of Windsor'.

Before her, the Hanoverian monarchs were confronted by some of the rudest cartoons ever drawn by human hand. Yet somehow the cavalcade went on.

Is the modern British monarchy really such a flimsy, uncertain thing that it is threatened by a history tutor asking a question, a woman holding up a small hand-made placard or a young man shouting on the street? What a ludicrous, offensive thought.

Overwhelmingly, this country prizes its monarchy, particularly at times like these: opinion polls suggest King Charles's approval ratings have rocketed this month. But we prize our liberties and our free speech, I would argue, even more.

The state would be well advised never, ever to suggest that we might have to choose between them. And I would wager a fair wad of money that the King agrees.

n Andrew Marr presents Tonight With Andrew Marr on LBC.
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Kamala Harris' stepdaughter Ella Emhoff has now been named a style 'icon' - one year after her quirky inauguration outfit shot her to fashion stardom and launched a major modeling career for the 22-year-old.

Ella was honored at the 2022 Harper's Bazaar Icons & Bloomingdale's 150th Anniversary party on Friday, where the outlet listed her as one of this year's fashion 'icons' - but how did Kamala's stepdaughter go from an average college student to style sensation practically over night?

Ella - who is the daughter of the vice president's husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, and his first wife, Kerstin - was propelled into the spotlight after she attended the event with her stepmom in January 2021, and caught the world's attention by wearing a dazzling Miu Miu coat and a custom Batsheva dress.

Kamala Harris' stepdaughter Ella Emhoff has now been named a style 'icon' - one year after her quirky inauguration outfit shot her to fashion stardom and launched a major modeling career for the 22-year-old

Ella was honored at the 2022 Harper's Bazaar Icons party on Friday, where the outlet listed her as one of this year's fashion 'icons' - but how did Kamala's stepdaughter go from an average college student to style sensation practically over night?

Ella is the daughter of the vice president's husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, and his first wife, Kerstin. She is seen with her brother, dad, and stepmom

From how she turned her inauguration day attention into a full-time career and everything she has achieved since then to her love life and celebrity friends, here's everything you need to know about Kamala's fashionista stepdaughter Ella

At the time, she was studying at Parsons School of Design and was working on her own knitwear collection, but the student soon became a top model, walking in shows for big brands like Balenciaga and posing for top-notch magazines like Vanity Fair.

She also launched her own line of clothing, attended the Met Gala, and signed with a major modeling agency in less than a year. And now, she was branded as one of Harper Bazaar's style 'icons.'

From how she turned her inauguration day attention into a full-time career and everything she has achieved since then to her love life and celebrity friends, here's everything you need to know about Kamala's fashionista stepdaughter Ella.

Where it all started: Ella gets shot to overnight stardom after catching eyes at the 2021 inauguration

Ella was skyrocketed into fashion fame practically over night, after she wore a Miu Miu tartan coat with crystal-encrusted shoulders and a wide collar over a burgundy Batsheva dress during President Joe Biden's inauguration in January 2021

It appeared that Ella completely stole the show, and she landed headlines across big outlets like Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and The Hollywood Reporter due to her eye-catching look

Before the inauguration, Ella was already showcasing her strong sense of style on her Instagram account by sharing snaps of herself wearing funky clothing

She wore rainbow striped leggings, a shirt made out of all different patches, and other various bright and patterned outfits - most of which she made herself

The 22-year-old was skyrocketed into fashion fame practically over night, after she wore a Miu Miu tartan coat with crystal-encrusted shoulders and a wide collar over a burgundy Batsheva dress during President Joe Biden's inauguration in January 2021.

Though performers like Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, and John Legend hit the stage at the event, it appeared that Ella completely stole the show, and she landed headlines across big outlets like Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and The Hollywood Reporter due to her eye-catching look.

Before the inauguration, Ella was already showcasing her strong sense of style on her Instagram account by sharing snaps of herself wearing funky clothing - like rainbow striped leggings, a shirt made out of all different patches, and other various bright and patterned outfits, most of which she made herself.

Ella, who was attending Parsons School of Design at the time, was a budding designer before the inauguration, and was attempting to launch her own line of crocheted clothing

According to Batsheva Hay, the designer behind her inauguration dress, a friend had discovered Ella's creations online and told her to reach out. She said: 'I became obsessed, and was like, wow can we make this happen?'

As for the inspiration behind her inauguration day dress, Ella (seen in the dress) told Vogue that she was trying to portray a 'little girl.' She said, 'This momentous of an event deserves a momentous outfit'

Ella, who was attending Parsons School of Design at the time, was a budding designer before the inauguration, and was attempting to launch her own line of crocheted clothing.

According to Batsheva Hay, the designer behind her inauguration dress, a friend had discovered Ella's creations online and told her to reach out.

'My friend was like, Kamalas stepdaughter is so cool, you have to check out her work,"' she recalled to Vogue, when asked how she came to design her look for the inauguration.

'I never thought shed know who I was, but my friend was like, You should definitely shoot her. Then ... we followed each other, and I went down the rabbit hole of seeing all of Ellas knitwear.

'I was literally trying to buy stuff, and it was all sold out! I became obsessed, and was like, what do I have for her? How can we make this happen?'

As for the inspiration behind her inauguration day dress, Ella told Vogue that she was trying to portray a 'little girl.'

'My mood board was very little girl, in a sense, a lot of scalloped collars and big silhouette shoulders and small buttons,' she dished.

'I was going for something girlier, to embrace my feminine side. How many times do you prepare yourself to attend an inauguration? This momentous of an event deserves a momentous outfit.'

Breaking onto the scene: Ella goes from stealing the show at the inauguration to landing her own modeling contract

Just by attending the inauguration in the custom Batsheva dress, Ella was propelled into the spotlight, and her career quickly took off. Batsheva teamed up with the then-student to launch her knitwear collection, which sold out in minutes

She then signed signing with modeling agency IMG, and made her runway debut at the Proenza Schouler show (seen above) during New York Fashion Week in early 2021

She also starred in her first Vogue shoot, graduated from college, posed for Vanity Fair, attended the Met Gala (left), walked in Balenciaga's show in Paris (right), and became the face of the Adidas by Stella McCartney line throughout 2021

Just by attending the inauguration in the custom Batsheva dress, Ella was propelled into the spotlight, and her career quickly took off.

According to the star, she never expected to come so far, especially because she was plagued with insecurities as a teen

Batsheva teamed up with the then-student to launch her knitwear collection, which sold out in minutes.

She then signed signing with modeling agency IMG, and made her runway debut at the Proenza Schouler show during New York Fashion Week in early 2021.

At the time, IMG president Ivan Bart gushed that she represented 'authenticity,' telling the New York Times, 'Ella communicates this moment in time. Theres a cheekiness and a joy she exudes.'

She also starred in her first Vogue shoot, graduated from college, posed for Vanity Fair, attended the Met Gala, walked in Balenciaga's show in Paris, and became the face of the Adidas by Stella McCartney line throughout 2021.

According to the star, she never expected to come so far, especially because she was plagued with insecurities as a teen.

'Growing up, I never saw myself as someone stylish, at all,' she admitted to Elle. 'Obviously, I loved fashion and cared a lot about it.

'But I was really into doing my own thing and being really comfortable in my own body, you know? I never saw myself as a "fashion person." And I dont know if my classmates did either.'

She told the outlet that she doesn't put too much thought into what she wears, and she simply puts on things that she 'feels good' in.

'If I had to describe my style right now, its not even a way of dressing. Its just wearing clothes that you feel good in, not really being influenced by what other people want you to be wearing,' she explained.

'Growing up, I never saw myself as someone stylish, at all,' she admitted to Elle . 'Obviously, I loved fashion and cared a lot about it. But I never saw myself as a "fashion person." And I dont know if my classmates did either'

Ella (seen walking the runway for Vogue World: New York) told the outlet that she doesn't put too much thought into what she wears, and she simply puts on things that she 'feels good' in

'And also, not getting boxed in by what you used to wear, or what people think you would be wearing. Because its not the actual clothes youre wearing. Its the confidence you have, and the ability to live your life, in those clothes.'

She also said her job felt like much more than selling clothes or posing for pictures.

'I think modelling now is not just about modeling, but its about creating space for people who do other things, whether it be art, activism, writing, any type of creation,' she added.

'I get really excited when Im able to do things and work with brands that actually let me not only be the model, but actually share my own thoughts and have [conversations] like this where I can talk about sustainability and activism in general. Thats what gets me so excited about the whole industry.'

Too far? Ella receives backlash after walking the catwalk with her breasts out

As 2022 New York Fashion Week kicked off last week, Ella made an even bigger splash when she walked on Prabal Gurung's catwalk and bared her breasts for the entire audience to see (seen above)

The 22-year-old stepdaughter of the vice president wore a revealing, barely-there, mint top for the show and a tiny leather skirt. The shirt was made by pieces of fabric tied together, and it left her chest on full display

As 2022 New York Fashion Week kicked off last week, Ella made an even bigger splash. She attended a slew of events and runway shows - and she made headlines when she walked on Prabal Gurung's catwalk and bared her breasts for the entire audience to see.

The 22-year-old stepdaughter of the vice president wore a revealing, barely-there, mint top for the show and a tiny leather skirt.

The shirt was made by pieces of fabric tied together, and it left her chest on full display; she paired the look with black, leather gloves, and strappy heels.

The nip slip appeared to be a deliberate choice, and there's no suggestion that there was a wardrobe malfunction - which left some people raising their eyebrows.

The nip slip appeared to be a deliberate choice, and there's no suggestion that there was a wardrobe malfunction - which left some people raising their eyebrows

Ella has also gained a lot of attention online for some of her other radical moves - including not covering up her tattoos or shaving her armpit hair, which is uncommon for models

While speaking to Harper's Bazaar last month, the model admitted that it's becoming 'harder' for her to 'feel iconic' amid some of the backlash she has received

One person said the look went against 'runway standards' and accused her of trying to be 'woke,' while another called it 'disgusting.'

While speaking to Harper's Bazaar last month, the model admitted that it's becoming 'harder' for her to 'feel iconic' amid some of the backlash she has received.

'These days, I think its harder to feel iconic. I think just with the state of everything, theres less moments where Im like, "Wow, Im doing something iconic," or, "Im being the most iconic,"' she admitted.

'But I felt really iconic when I was a kid. I really had a lot of confidence, and I would do things that just felt like Im the boss bitch of this world. I think whenever I try to feel iconic, I think back to little Ella and what would she do?'

Ella has also gained a lot of attention online for some of her other radical moves - including not covering up her tattoos or shaving her armpit hair, which is uncommon for models.

Inside her personal life: Ella's hoard of celebrity friends and adorable relationship with GQ fashion writer Sam Hine

The star is currently in a relationship with GQ fashion writer Sam Hine, 28, who defended her ability to be unapologetically herself to People magazine

'What always impresses me most about everything she does is she has her own way and through the lens of personal style,' he gushed. 'She is no pushover you know, she knows herself really, really well and what's going on inside'

The star is currently in a relationship with GQ fashion writer Sam Hine, 28, who defended her ability to be unapologetically herself to People magazine.

'What always impresses me most about everything she does is she has her own way and through the lens of personal style,' he gushed.

'You know, others, they wear whatever and in this position, they do what people tell them to do, and she is no pushover you know, she knows herself really, really well and what's going on inside.

'She does herself and that's the message. She is a true individual. And that's the most important. That's what being an icon really is.'

As for what makes their romance work, Ella added that 'open communication' is key, even if it's 'sometimes uncomfortable.'

'Communication, a lot of deep and sometimes uncomfortable open communication,' she told the outlet.

'We try not to worry too much about things that don't need to be worried about, even though some of us do,' she added, while pointing to herself.

As for what makes their romance work, Ella added that 'open communication' is key, even if it's 'sometimes uncomfortable'

'We try not to worry too much about things that don't need to be worried about, even though some of us do,' she added, while pointing to herself

During her whirlwind rise to fame, Ella has made a few celebrity friends, and back in May, she was seen hanging out with Steve Jobs' daughter Eve, 23, who signed with dna Model Management in March

'There's no sugarcoating it. Like, sometimes it's really hard. Life is not easy. So, talk about it, and then you do it together. In a relationship, you're sharing a life.'

During her whirlwind rise to fame, Ella has made a few celebrity friends, and back in May, she was seen hanging out with Steve Jobs' daughter Eve, 23.

The two women posed together at Louis Vuitton's 2023 Womenswear Cruise Collection show in Los Angeles, where they both dressed to impress.

Ella picked a gray tweed jacket from the designer's Spring 2022 Ready-to-Wear collection, which was embellished with rhinestones.

She layered it over a crisp white button-down, which had layered necklaces tucked under the collar, and finished off the look with black slacks, black boots, and a slicked-back hairdo with a center part.

Meanwhile, Eve - who signed with dna Model Management in March - was equally chic in a white bandeau top baring Louis Vuitton's LV logo print.

Her long black skirt, too, was covered in LVs, and she finished off with a jacket, heels, and a small pink leather handbag.

What's next? Where Ella plans to go from here

The Parsons School of Design student-turned-catwalk queen told People magazine that she was 'shocked' but 'incredibly honored' to have been branded as an 'icon' by Harper's Bazaar on Friday

She gushed: 'This is an incredible honor and as someone who doesn't really think of herself like that it's nice reassurance. And it makes me check myself and the way I perceive myself... So exciting. I'm so grateful'

When it comes to Ella's future, she said she's living in the moment, and keeping her plans 'loose and open.' She is seen with her stepmom, Kamala

'What I like now could be completely different from what I like next season,' she explained to People. 'So I just like the process and the journey of it. The only way to make it in this industry is to keep a level head, keep expectations level'

The Parsons School of Design student-turned-catwalk queen told People magazine that she was 'shocked' but 'incredibly honored' to have been branded as an 'icon' by Harper's Bazaar on Friday, especially since she described herself as someone who still doesn't think of herself as a pro.

'It's kind of shocking,' she told them. 'This is an incredible honor and as someone who doesn't really think of herself like that it's nice reassurance. And it makes me check myself and the way I perceive myself... So exciting.'

'I'm so grateful,' Ella continued. 'For some reason, I feel like I'm seeing myself from the outside.

'It's a very interesting experience that I will never forget. I feel like every day it sinks in a little more. It's a slow process.'

When it comes to Ella's future, she said she's living in the moment, and keeping her plans 'loose and open.'

'What I like now could be completely different from what I like next season,' she explained to People. 'So I just like the process and the journey of it, and I've already got to walk for so many great designers like Miu Miu, Balenciaga, Proenza - those are already above and beyond my lists.

'The only way to make it in this industry is to keep a level head, keep expectations level.'

She previously told Vanity Fair that her dad has other plans for her - he wants her to follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer like him, but she doesn't see that in her future.

'My dad asks me very often, "So have you reconsidered law school?" and I keep saying, "Doug, not happening,"' she said. '"I'm going to leave it to you and I will be the artist."'
A United Nations mission in Afghanistan claims that the Taliban militant group, which took control of the country's government after the withdrawal of American troops in August 2021, is harassing female employees.

The mission urged local officials to respect all of its staff in a statement released on Monday. It read, "There has been an emerging pattern of harassment of Afghan UN female staff by the de facto authorities."

Staggering Repression of Women

The statement added that three Afghan women who were working for the UN were recently detained briefly and questioned by "armed security agents of the de facto authorities." The UN also called for an immediate end to all such acts of "intimidation and harassment targeting its Afghan female staff."

The agency reminded local authorities of their obligations under international law to guarantee the safety and security of all UN personnel operating in Afghanistan. The Taliban released a statement late Monday evening that denied that local authorities had "detained" any UN employees, as per the New York Post.

The militant group added that in southern Kandahar province, authorities had stopped a group of women, but when they realized they were UN employees, stopped questioning them. Now, a year after the group took power in the country's government, teenage girls are still not allowed to go to school, and women are required to cover themselves from head to toe in public.

Hard-liners appear to hold sway in the Taliban-led government, which imposed severe restrictions on access to education and jobs for girls and women, despite initial promises to the contrary.

Read Also: Russia-Ukraine War: US Official Believes Western Weapons Can 'Tilt the Battlefield in Ukraine's Favor'

According to ABC News, Taliban authorities on Saturday shut down five girls' schools above the sixth grade in eastern Afghanistan's Paktia province. The school had briefly opened after a recommendation by tribal elders and school principals.

Harassment of Female Employees

Four girls' schools in Gardez, the provincial capital, and one in the Samkani district, began operating earlier this month without formal permission from the Taliban Education Ministry. All five schools were once again closed by authorities on Saturday.

The situation comes as the UN has repeatedly urged the Taliban militant group to ensure respect for international human rights in Afghanistan. The incident also came as the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, called for radical changes to the situation in the country.

He said, "The severe rollback of the rights of women and girls, reprisals targeting opponents and critics, and a clampdown on freedom of expression by the Taliban amount to a descent towards authoritarianism."

On the other hand, Afghanistan ambassador Nasir Ahmad Andisha, who represents the topped government, went further, describing a "gender apartheid" in the country. Many female Afghans addressed the same meeting, including rights activist Mahbouba Seraj, who urged the 47-member council to set up a mechanism to investigate abuses.

She said, "God only knows what kind of atrocities are not being reported. And I want that to be reported because this is not right. World: this is not right. Please, please, you've got to do something about it," The Guardian reported.



Related Article: Ukrainian Forces Recaptures 20 Northeastern Areas in One Day as Russian Troops Further Struggle

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The Queen's coffin, which tonight lies in state in Edinburgh, has been ready for more than 30 years, the royal funeral director revealed.

Andrew Leverton runs Leverton & Sons, the independent family firm of undertakers from Camden, north London, which has worked on royal funerals since 1991.

In an interview with The Times, he explained his company had inherited the coffin that had been made for the Queen by the previous royal funeral directors.

The Queen's coffin, which tonight lies in state in Edinburgh, has been ready for more than 30 years, the royal undertaker revealed. Pictured, the Queen's coffin arrives at St Giles's Cathedral

The Queen, pictured in Balmoral days before her death, will be honoured at a state funeral on Monday 19

Speaking in 2018, he said: 'It is made from English oak, which is very difficult to get hold of. Oak coffins are now made from American oak. I don't think we could use English oak for a coffin now. It would be too expensive.'

As per royal tradition, it is lined with lead, which helps preserve the body for longer.

Mr Leverton explained the coffin has been ready for decades because it is 'not something you can just make in a day'.

'There are fitments on the coffin lid which allow the instruments of state to be fitted,' he added.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey at 11am on Monday, September 19.

It will be the first funeral service at the Abbey - which was the background to much of the Queen's astonishing life, from her marriage to her beloved Duke of Edinburgh to the Coronation - for a British monarch since that of King George II in 1760.

Left to right: Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward, Prince Andrew, King Charles III, Camilla, Queen Consort, The Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence sat alongside the Queen's coffin at St Giles' Cathedral

As God Save the King was sung in the church, Charles looked mournfully at his mother's coffin

The Queen had herself held the crown in the same church - St Giles' Kirk - just after her coronation

The funerals of kings and queens have been at St George's Chapel in Windsor since the reign of George III.

However, in a break with convention, Her Majesty - who died at Balmoral on Thursday aged 96 following many months of concern over her health - decided her funeral should be in the much bigger setting of Westminster Abbey.

Scotland Yard has now been tasked with organising the most significant security arrangement in British history for the funeral.

Her coffin, which is now lying in state in St Giles's Cathedral, will be flown to London on Tuesday, acccompanied by the Princess Royal, before being driven to Buckingham Palace.

King Charles III during a Service of Prayer and Reflection for the Life of Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles' Cathedral

(left to right) The Countess of Wessex, the Earl of Wessex, the Duke of York, King Charles III, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence during a Service of Prayer and Reflection for the Life of Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles' Cathedral

The Queen's lying in state will begin in Westminster Hall in London on Wednesday afternoon.

Then on Monday, the coffin will be moved from the Houses of Parliament that morning on the state gun carriage and transported to the neighbouring Abbey.

King Charles III and other senior members of the Royal Family, as well as the military, will follow the coffin while hundreds of thousands of mourners line the streets to pay their final respects to the late monarch.

Around 2,000 guests including Prime Minister Liz Truss and US President Joe Biden will then attend the hour-long televised service in the Abbey, which is expected to be one of the most watched live events in history - before the coffin is solemnly carried to Wellington Arch at 1pm via Whitehall, The Mall and past Buckingham Palace.

The coffin will then be carried to Windsor, before the Queen is buried at St George's Chapel next to her husband Prince Philip.
The Prince and Princess of Wales want to 'keep things as normal as possible' for their three children following the death of the Queen, according to reports.

Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, moved house, started a new school and lost their 'Gan-Gan' in just six days.

During a 40-minute walkabout in Windsor at the weekend, Kate Middleton and Prince William spoke to members of the public about their children Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven and Prince Louis, four.

And according to one well-wisher who spoke with the pair, they are trying to maintain a sense of continuity amid the major changes going on in their lives.

The Prince and Princess of Wales want to 'keep things as normal as possible' for their three children following the death of the Queen, according to reports

According to Elaine Gee, a teacher from Wokingham who spoke to the royal couple during the walkabout, they discussed this upheaval, and how it could affect children.

Elaine told People she told Prince William that she works at a school, and it's been 'a strange year celebrating the Jubilee and now it's all changed and we are talking about this'.

She added: 'William spoke about George, Charlotte and Louis, saying that they were trying to keep some sense of continuity for them at school and keep things as normal as possible.'

When speaking briefly with the Princess of Wales, Elaine said she told the royal how impressed she was with how she has conducted herself amid this very difficult period of mourning.

The Prince of Wales told a well wisher at Windsor how he hoped to keep life as 'normal as possible' for his three children following the death of their great-grandmother. The Prince is pictured here with the Princess of Wales and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis on their first day at their new school

Elaine said: 'Catherine thanked me, and she said that all the nation were feeling it.

'They were both very kind and gentle and genuine. It was very special - definitely a moment I will always treasure.'

The conversation took place during a 40-minute walkabout in Windsor on Saturday evening.

As well as being attended by the newly appointed Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex also joined the engagement last week, meeting and chatting with many of the well-wishers who had come to pay their respects.

Among them were Sanj Chowdhri who told People that he was 'surprised but delighted' to have the opportunity to meet the Duchess of Sussex face-to-face.

He added that she was 'very gracious', and shook his hand and said it was nice of them to come and support the family.

Meanwhile, his wife Minal Chowdhri said it was 'surreal', and that they hadn't expected to meet the royal.

The Cornwall Cambridge children took part in the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations earlier this year. The family are pictured here with King Charles III and Queen Elizabeth II

Elsewhere, it was reported the Prince and Princess of Wales are expected to move to Windsor Castle but will postpone the relocation to prevent their children's lives from facing more upheaval.

Kate and William told courtiers they hope to give their children time to settle in school before having to deal with moving house again, The Telegraph reported.

A source told the newspaper: 'They wont be starting from scratch when it comes to decisions on what happens to all of the royal properties because there have been lots of conversations about that over the years, but things can change when family dynamics are taken into account and they will want as little disruption to their childrens lives as possible right now.

It comes as Kate and Prince William's children adopted new titles after their grandfather ascended the throne.

Kate and William met many people over the weekend in Windsor including a baby and her mother

King Charles III, 73, announced in his first public address to the nation that he has bestowed the Prince and Princess of Wales titles upon Prince William and Kate Middleton.

This means that while their parents take on this new title, their three children will now be known as Prince George of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales and Prince Louis of Wales.

Prince William and Prince Harry were known as William and Harry of Wales before they were given their own titles.

As Charless eldest son, William has also inherited the title the Duke of Cornwall upon the death of the Queen.

The royal couple were seen accepting flowers and sharing touching moments with the public who had travelled to Windsor

In his first televised address to the nation since the death of the Queen, King Charles III confirmed his son Prince William would inherit his title of the Prince of Wales and his wife Kate would become Princess.

The King said: 'Today, I am proud to create [William] Prince of Wales, Tywysog Cymru, the country whose title I have been so greatly privileged to bear during so much of my life and duty.

'With Catherine beside him, our new Prince and Princess of Wales will, I know, continue to inspire and lead our national conversations, helping to bring the marginal to the centre ground where vital help can be given.'

As Kate and William's children, Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven and Prince Louis, four, will now be known as Princes and Princess of Wales until they get their own personal titles.
The Queen Consort's two adorable rescue dogs are expected to make Buckingham Palace their new home.

Camilla, 75, is expected to bring her beloved Jack Russells Beth and Bluebell, who she adopted from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home to the palace in London when she moves in, according to the Daily Express.

Buckingham Palace is no stranger to fury friends as Queen Elizabeth owned over 30 corgis and dorgis during her reign.

The Queen Consort, 75, and King Charles', 73, two adorable rescue dogs are to make Buckingham Palace their new home

Camilla will bring her beloved Jack Russells Beth and Bluebell, who she got from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, of which she is patron, to the palace in London when they move in

Meanwhile the Queen's two corgis will be cared for by Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York in Windsor.

Muick and Sandy, who will now be adopted by the Queen's third son and Ms Ferguson, were gifted to the late Queen following the death of Prince Philip.

In an ITV documentary showing an intimate glimpse into Camilla's personal life, called Camilla's Country Life, the Duchess spoke about her rescue dogs, Beth, 11, and Bluebell, 10.

Buckingham Palace is no stranger to fury friends as Queen Elizabeth owned over 30 corgis and dorgis during her reign (Princess Elizabeth holding a corgi in 1950)

King Charles, 73, also seems very found of the pooches as they featured in the couple's 15th wedding anniversary portrait in 2020.

Speaking previously about the dogs, the Queen Consort said: 'The nice thing about dogs is you can sit them down, you could have a nice long conversation, you could be cross, you could be sad and they just sit looking at you wagging their tail.'

Camilla first adopted Beth from the renowned charity after the poor pup was dumped, BBC News reports.

'They found [Bluebell] two or three weeks later wandering about in woods, no hair on her, covered in sores, virtually dead,' she revealed.

'And they nursed her back to life and her hair grew again. She's very sweet, but a tiny bit neurotic, shall we say.'

In an ITV documentary showing an intimate glimpse into Camilla's personal life, called Camilla's Country Life, the Duchess spoke about her own rescue dogs

The Queen Consort shared this photo of her walking her beloved rescue dog Bluebell on Instagram

The Queen owned more than 30 corgis throughout her reign, however, had resisted taking on any new dogs in recent years not wanting to leave the dogs behind after her death.

Muick, pronounced Mick, joined the royal family at the start of 2021 along with a so-called 'dorgi', a cross between a corgi and a dachshund, called Fergus.

Muick had been named after Loch Muick on the Balmoral Estate, where the Queen died on Thursday. Fergus had been named after the Monarch's uncle who was killed during battle in the First World War.

Fergus died after just five months and was later replaced with a new corgi called Sandy, as a 95th birthday present from Prince Andrew and his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Queen Elizabeth II was joined by one of her dogs, a Dorgi called Candy, as she viewed a display of memorabilia from her Golden and Platinum Jubilees in the Oak Room at Windsor Castle

Speaking at the time of the new corgi arrivals, the Queen's dresser Angela Kelly, said: 'I was worried they would get under the Queens feet, but they have turned out to be a godsend.

'They are beautiful and great fun and the Queen often takes long walks with them in Home Park.'

The late Queen was gifted her first corgi, called Susan, for her 18th birthday from her late father King George VI. Ten generations of her corgis then descended from Susan.

Her dogs were given the Royal treatment having their own rooms with elevated wicker baskets and meals of beef, chick, rabbit, liver, cabbage and rice being prepared by a chef each evening.
Married At First Sight UK is back - and this series promises to be more sexy, shocking and scandalous than ever before

Experts Paul C Brunson, Charlene Douglas and Mel Schilling are back on the show to guide the couples through their Married at First Sight journey

THE GROOMS

NAME: Adrian

AGE: 37

HOMETOWN: Manchester

OCCUPATION: Digital designer

Adrian is a confident and caring northerner with a heart of gold. He's a creative person who loves expressing himself through fashion and takes time on his appearance.

He loves socialising on a night out, hosting dinner parties and movie nights at home.

Adrian hasn't had the best experience with the relationships he's been in and puts it down to people taking advantage of his nice guy persona.

He says he's been a serial dater for the last three years, but is now ready to settle down.

He's looking for an upbeat and positive partner who'll make him laugh, be up for an adventure and, most importantly, be someone he can trust.

He explained: 'I hope that this experiment goes really well, and we end up falling in love.'

Adrian, 37, is a digital designer from Manchester who describes himself as a 'serial dater' looking for an upbeat and positive partner. Can he find his match?

NAME: Duka

AGE: 31

HOMETOWN: Birmingham

OCCUPATION: HR Coordinator

Duka has lived in the UK since he was 10 years old, when his family fled the former Yugoslavia to escape conflict.

He arrived not speaking a word of English and was bullied because of it. His struggles growing up had a definitive role in shaping the man he's become; he finds it difficult to let people in and puts up his guard when people start to get close emotionally.

Nowadays Duka's a man about town. He says women fall at his feet, but they're never the right girl.

He finds that the girls he fancies are often superficial and he gets bored of them easily.

Duka loves art and poetry and wants to find an 'Instagram girl' that loves looking after herself, but can also have a deep conversation about world issues.

He explained: 'People see me and think 'oh he's a d**k head'but that's not the case  people are too quick to judge me.'

Duka, 31, from Birmingham, is a HR coordinator who came to the UK aged 10 when his family fled the former Yugoslavia to escape conflict

NAME: George

AGE: 40

HOMETOWN: Worcester

OCCUPATION: Financial Advisor

Father-of-four George is generous, loyal and dedicated to his kids. After divorcing from his wife, George has struggled to find that special someone who he can share his life with.

He loves his life in the countryside and lives with his two eldest children, whilst his two younger daughters live with their mother.

George is content with everything in his life, but there's something missing - he hopes the relationship experts can solve this for him.

George is a true and old fashioned romantic and was heartbroken when his relationship with his wife broke down. He wants someone who excites him, someone to keep him on his toes and who can be open emotionally.

The single father revealed: 'I might not be good enough for her. '

Financial advisor George, 40, from Worcester, is a father-of-four who is an old-fashioned romantic and wants a partner who can keep him on his toes

NAME: Jordan

AGE: 29

HOMETOWN: Darlington

OCCUPATION: Account Manager

Jordan is a fun, outgoing guy with a massive sense of adventure. He's a spontaneous guy who owns his own home, has a great job, is close to his family and does all his own cooking  by his own admission 'I'm a great catch!'

Jordan's open about his emotions and feelings. However when it comes to relationships, he is not willing to settle with someone and cruise through life for the sake of being comfortable.

He wants to find true love and a real connection. In the past it has been known for Jordan to overthink situations, and he is not someone to stick around if he believes someone isn't right for him.

He acknowledges that he's single because he's too particular about what he wants and knows he needs to relax and give girls more of a chance.

But Jordan said he does ultimately want to settle down, adding: 'I want to get married and have kids, and the clock is ticking.'

Jordan, 29, from Darlington, is an account manager who describes himself as a 'great catch' who doesn't wan to settle. Will his bride catch his eye?

NAME: Kwame

AGE: 42

HOMETOWN: London

OCCUPATION: Business Consultant

Kwame is a confident and sophisticated business owner who exudes charm and style. He says he's done it all: he's travelled extensively, established himself in a successful career, got married, had kids and got divorced.

He's a self-professed ladies man who can talk the talk and although he admits he's a bit cocky, he also says he's a nice guy and not arrogant.

Growing up, Kwame lacked confidence. He puts this down to his appearance, but this changed once he reached college where he bulked up and grew his beard.

With his newfound confidence he entered and won Mr Ghana in 2000 and has never looked back since. Kwame came from humble beginnings, but his father pushed him towards education and he is now a successful bachelor who wants another chance at finding love.

He added: 'It's not just a match ' it's a wife. '

Kwame, 42, from London, is a business consultant and a self-professed ladies man. This former Mr Ghana 2000 wants to wife not just a match, but a wife

NAME: Pjay

AGE: 31

HOMETOWN: Birmingham

OCCUPATION: Dancer/ Performer

Birmingham boy Pjay wants to find love with someone with whom he can create a peaceful and loving environment.

Pjay is part of the world famous, Dreamboys. He's never been short of attention, yet he can't seem to find the right person that he wants to settle down with and his job has been a barrier to finding the right woman.

His ex-partners have struggled with trust, but he's a firm believer in providing reassurance when he's off touring and performing for thousands of screaming fans.

His best friends are his mum and his sister. He tells him mum everything and his future wife will need her seal of approval!

Pjay explained: 'I want to find out who I really am. I've got a lot of love to give and I just want to give it 110 per cent'

A a member of the Dreamboys, Pjay is not short of female attention, but is looking to settle down with someone who can create a peaceful and loving environment

NAME: Richie

AGE: 51

HOMETOWN: Sheffield

OCCUPATION: Sales Advisor

Richie worked in the music industry for 23 years, and was constantly on the road, meeting new people, which he credits with keeping him young.

He's written a song, which appeared on a Russell Watson album, and boasts that he'd be able to get him to perform at his wedding.

Richie has also done session work with Sheryl Crow ( but didn't manage to get her number).

Richie considers himself to be deep, emotional, a good laugh, clever, and socially and emotionally intelligent.

He explained: 'I don't care what the consequences are or what they uncover  never underestimate a man who has got nothing to lose.'

At 51, sales advisor from Sheffield Richie has been all about his career in the music industry for the past 23 years, and even worked with Sheryl Crow

NAME: Thomas

AGE: 31

HOMETOWN: Liverpool

OCCUPATION: Mental Health Care Assistant

Thomas is bursting with energy, sarcasm, and bawdy humour and, for as long as he can remember, he's always loved being the centre of attention.

He's extremely sociable, unapologetically loud, and not one to back down in an argument. Thomas' worst nightmare would be for someone to describe him as 'nice'.

When he enters a room, Thomas is used to having all eyes on him. He's looking for a partner to help balance him out.

He explained: 'I'm really concerned they might not like me. That's ok, but I don't want to waste their time or my own time.'

Thomas, 31, from Liverpool, is a mental health care assistant bursting with energy, who wants a partner who will help balance his impulsive side out

AND THE BRIDES...

NAME: April

AGE: 32

HOMETOWN: London

OCCUPATION: Dress Designer

April is a dress designer and successful wedding dress designer and former Miss Great Britain. However, she's not so good at finding the right guy; in fact April's friends joke about her being 'always the bridal designer, never the bride'.

For April this joke is wearing a bit thin. Determined to change this label, she's ready to take the plunge and put her love life in the hands of the relationship experts.

April thinks she is the most driven and ambitious person she knows and her friends say she won't stop until she succeeds in anything she gets involved in.

In her first two Miss GB beauty pageants she came second but, not to be deterred, she came back the next year to win it.

April considers herself a positive, bubbly sociable butterfly, with a 'live everyday like it's your last' ethos, and says her personality can be quite silly and jokey, but also sensitive and empathetic towards others.

April wants someone who won't mind her being independent and who wants to live life to its fullest with her. It's a dealbreaker if they don't love cheese.

She revealed: 'The experts have a great success rate, so I feel like I've got nothing to lose and potentially a lot to gain.'

April, 32, from London, is a dress designer and a former Miss Great Britain, hopes to finally get to design her own wedding dress for once

NAME: Chanita

AGE: 29

HOMETOWN: Derby

OCCUPATION: Social Worker

Chanita is a caring, loyal and protective social worker from Derby. After leaving school, she decided she wanted to spend her life helping young people and has dedicated her life to being a social worker.

She makes friends wherever she goes and is always checking in on them to make sure they're all okay  lots of people think of her as their best friend.

Having come out of a 10-year relationship two years ago, Chanita feels now is the time for her to meet her future partner.

Other than helping young people through her work, Chanita's big ambition is to be happily married with a family and a stable home.

She revealed: 'It's so hard to pick out the right people, so I thought why not give the experts a challenge and they can do all the hard work for me.'

A 29, Derby social worker Chanita has dedicated her life to her work. She just came out of a 10-year relationship two years ago, and feels it's time to write the next chapter of her love life

NAME: Jenna

AGE: 32

HOMETOWN: Blackpool

OCCUPATION: Zero Waste Shop Owner

Small business-owner Jenna never envisaged herself getting married. She hated the traditional concept of marriage, as it did not sit right with her that traditionally the woman would take the man's name.

She wants to find love, commit to someone and build a long life together.

She explained: 'I don't like dating apps and I don't go out anywhere to meet anyone, so this is the only way I'm going to find love hopefully.'

Zero waste shop owner from Blackpool Jenna, 32, wants to find love, and admitted she doesn't like dating apps, and says the experiment is the only way for her to find love

NAME: Jess

AGE: 31

HOMETOWN: Cambridgeshire

OCCUPATION: Dental Hygienist

Jess describes herself as unique, weird, but extremely fun and outgoing. For Jess, the key ingredient to life is laughter and enjoying herself.

She is not afraid to do something that will make her look silly; she will happily get up on a table and start dancing and believes she needs her future partner to match the same energy as her.

Equally, Jess says if she has the hump with someone, then they will know about it. Her face often says it all! If she wants to do something, she will do it and does not necessarily think about the consequences, which has hindered her relationships in the past.

Jess admits that jumping into something quickly does get her in trouble sometimes and she thinks that this is the main reason why she is still single.

She has a habit of moving fast in relationships and tends to skip the 'dating' bit.

A self-proclaimed Harry Potter fan, she will happily force her future partner to watch a Harry Potter marathon with her and wear one of her cloaks, even if they hate it!

She said: 'On dating apps, people just want to get their leg over  they don't want to settle down. I want to settle down!'

Jess, 31, from Cambridgeshire, is a dental hygienist looking to sink her teeth into a new romance. She admitted she tends to fall fast and hard

NAME: Kasia

AGE: 36

HOMETOWN: London

OCCUPATION: Businesswoman

Kasia left school at 16 to have her first child and says she felt that the odds were stacked against her.

However, through sheer graft and determination, Kasia has not only managed to raise two children and have a successful career, but she's also launched her own business, a successful body contouring clinic.

Now that her kids are older, she's decided to focus on herself and (hopefully) meet a partner that she can settle down with forever.

She's a calm, focused, and extremely driven individual who won't let anything stand in her way until she finds the right guy.

Kasia hasn't worked a 9-5 since 2015 and loves the freedom it brings. Her appearance is very important to Kasia, she loves makeup and making the best of herself.

Despite being the boss at work, she's after a man who can take the lead, but shares the same drive and passion that she does.

She said: 'I'm successful in a lot of other areas in my life and I've been through a lot, but the one area that I'm not successful in is my love life. '

At 36, Londoner Kasia, had her first child aged 16 and says she felt the odds were stacked against her. But she is now a successful mother-of-two and businessman, looking for a man who can take her on

NAME: Lara

AGE: 49

HOMETOWN: Nottingham

OCCUPATION: Waitress

Canadian ex dancer Lara has lived an extraordinary life. Shes been married and divorced twice and has led a luxury lifestyle.

She once flew from Japan to New York for dinner and was used to spending vast sums on clothes. Her life is very different today though.

Laras relationship role models are her parents who have been married for 51 years and are one anothers best friend.

Lara says they are madly in love all these years later. Lara finds herself trying to force every relationship she has to be like theirs, often letting red flags slide to try and make the relationship work.

Although shes been single for 12 years now, Lara still believes in fairy-tale romance and is forever looking for her prince, to introduce to her two sons.

She confessed: 'The experts couldnt pick any worse than I could pick.'

At 49, Lara, a waitress from Nottingham originally hails from Canada and is twice married and divorced, having led a life of luxury

NAME: Whitney

AGE: 31

HOMETOWN: St Albans

OCCUPATION: PA

Fun, confident and sexy, Whitney isnt short of male attention, but in order for her to settle down and commit, a man has got to tick all of her boxes. This has never happened.

After losing her mother, Whitney has had a tough couple of years. Her mum was her best friend, and though she had a strict upbringing, shes proud it made her the strong and independent woman she now is.

Although she has dated lots of men on a superficial level, shes never found anyone good enough to bring home to her family.

She has such high expectations for her potential partner and worries shell never actually let anyone in.

Now her biggest fear is ending up 50 and single, alone with her dogs! Finally, she feels ready to give someone a chance, and thinks that putting the responsibility of finding her partner into the experts hands might be her only solution.

She said: 'I need to get my s**t together and embrace the situation.'

Whitney said she isn't short of male attention, and has dated a lot of men on a superficial level, but she's never brought anyone home to her family

NAME: Zoe

AGE: 30

HOMETOWN: West Midlands

OCCUPATION: Quantity Surveyor

Zoe is an outgoing, ambitious and successful professional. She works hard and plays even harder. She describes herself as dominant and assertive but is looking for a genuine connection, someone she can share her softer, more intimate side with.

Having recently turned 30, Zoe no longer wants to be known as a serial dater.

She is bored with the stale repetition of dating and wants to settle down and eventually start a family. Zoe is hoping 2022 will be the year she finally finds true love.

She said: 'Ive never been with someone and thought I want to grow old with you.'
Camilla paid tribute to the Queen yesterday by donning a thistle brooch gifted to her by the late monarch during yesterday's vigil in Scotland.

The Queen Consort was solemn but stoic as she joined her husband King Charles III at a vigil for the Queen in Edinburgh last night.

The 75-year-old sat alongside the Countess of Wessex on seats opposite the Queen's coffin, where King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward stood guard.

Both Camilla, 75, and Sophie Countess of Wessex, 57, appeared sombre as they looked on at their husbands, who stood with their hands clasped and heads towards the floor.

Today, PEOPLE confirmed that Camilla's poignant thistle brooch was gifted to her by the late monarch.

Camilla paid tribute to the Queen yesterday by donning a thistle brooch gifted to her by the late monarch during yesterday's vigil in Scotland

The late monarch, who was known for her love of sentimental and poignant brooches, gifted the new Queen Consort the thistle piece

Meanwhile Camilla also gave a subtle nod to the Duke of Edinburgh with her outfit yesterday.

She donned the same black coatdress with white piping detail across the bodice which she wore for the Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021.

It was a touching sartorial decision, and appeared to be a subtle link between yesterday's poignant event and that of the Queen's husband.

After years, decades even, of uncertainty over what Camilla's official title would be when King Charles finally took the throne, the late Queen took matters into her own hands by making a surprise announcement in February 2022.

In recent years, Camilla has grown into life as a senior royal, with the Queen declaring in February she would be Queen Consort (pictured, with the Queen in 2014)

It is a remarkable transformation for Camilla, who was once branded the 'third person' in Charles' stricken marriage to Diana, and received a lukewarm reception from the royal family when the then Prince announced his intention to make Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall.

In recent years though, Camilla has grown into life as a senior royal and ahead of the Coronation, the new Queen Consort will undoubtedly be a great support to King Charles in a time of grief and long-anticipated change.

The treasured Monarch declared it was her 'sincere wish' for her daughter-in-law to be fully acknowledged when Charles succeeded her - and the wish made in the twilight of her life has now come to fruition.

The wife of King Charles III has remained by her husband's side since the loss of the Queen, providing support and care for him.

Meanwhile Camilla also gave a subtle nod to the Duke of Edinburgh with her outfit yesterday, by wearing the same coatdress she wore to Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021 (left) to the vigil in Edinburgh (right)

During the vigil she looked on at the coffin for a while before bowing her head and looking away.

She kept her emotions under tight control despite the gravity of the situation.

Members of the public continued to file past in St Giles' Cathedral, where Her Majesty's coffin lies in state.

Following the 10-minute vigil, Camilla left the cathedral alongside her husband, walking down the steps by his side.

The couple have made a string of high profile appearances in the days since the Queen's death aged 96.

Camilla, the Queen's Consort looked solemn as she attend a vigil for the late Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh

Camilla, 75, has been by her husband's side since the passing of his mother on Thursday 9th September. She joined him at the Vigil of Princes alongside his three siblings

Camilla wore a black midi dress for the vigil, paired with a matching jacket, large pearl necklace and a brooch of thistle

The Queen Consort was joined by Sophie, Countess of Wessex at St Giles' Cathedral. The pair looked solemn and only briefly looked at the coffin

Charles paid tribute to his wife's unwavering support in his first address as King.

After a short procession, King Charles III, Anne, the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward each stood on one of the four corners of the oak coffin with their heads bowed in a ceremony known as the Vigil of the Princes.

The Duke of York kept his eyes closed for a period of time during the 10-minute vigil, while the Princess Royal and Earl of Wessex had their eyes fixed towards the floor. The King - his eyes moistening - kept his hands joined and also looked towards the floor as members of the public filed past.

The King and his family stood alongside four suited members of the Royal Company of Archers, who were standing guard dressed in long-feathered hats and armed with arrows and quivers.

Camilla, Queen Consort arrives to hold a vigil at St Giles' Cathedral, in honour of Queen Elizabeth II as members of the public walk past

The Countess of Wessex, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and King Charles III Ieave St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, after taking part in a vigil as Queen Elizabeth II's coffin lies at rest

Camilla looked downcast as she left the Cathedral after the service, rejoining her husband King Charles III

Earlier on in the day the Queen Consort attended the Queens service of thanksgiving in Edinburgh alongside King Charles III, his siblings, the Countess of Wessex and Princess Anne's husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.

As the Queen's casket made its way to St Giles, Camilla followed the procession by car, where she was snapped looking downcast.

While the coffin was lifted out of the hearse, the Queen Consort appeared pensive.

It was carried through the cathedral, as the choir sang Thou Wilt Keep Him In Perfect Peace, Whose Mind Is Stayed On Thee.

Then the Queen's coffin was placed on a wooden catafalque as the congregation continued to stand.

At this point, the King, Queen Consort, and other members of the royal family, then walked to their seats alongside the coffin.

Today, the Queen will make her final journey down to London, where King Charles III and Camilla will follow.

Camilla, the Queen Consort, looked downcast as she attended a service of thanksgiving for the Queen in Edinburgh

Camilla, 75, appeared emotional as she followed the procession of Queen Elizabeth's coffin by car from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles' Cathedral earlier today
King Charles III and the Queen Consort will this evening make their first joint public appearance with the Prince and Princess of Wales since the death of the Queen.

The King and his wife Camilla will be joined by Prince William and Kate to receive the Queen's coffin as it arrives at Buckingham Palace.

The couples have made independent appearances, and Prince William has been seen with the King and Queen Consort, but they have yet to be seen together.

King Charles III and the Queen Consort will this evening make their first joint public appearance with the Prince and Princess of Wales since the death of the Queen. Pictured, the couple following their visit to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh yesterday

The Prince and Princess of Wales joined the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for an appearance in Windsor on Saturday but have not yet been seen together with the King and Queen Consort

Prince William joined his father King Charles and the Queen Consort for the proclamation ceremony on Saturday

It will mark the first time they will be seen as a foursome since becoming the monarch and heir to the throne, respectively.

King Charles is travelling to Edinburgh Airport for his flight to Northern Ireland as he continues his tour of nations.

Today, the Queen's coffin will be flown from Edinburgh to London, accompanied by Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence.

After remaining overnight on public view at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, the Queen's coffin will leave the church on a hearse at 5pm.

At 6pm, it departs Edinburgh on an RAF Globemaster C-17 flight and is expected to arrive in RAF Northolt, west London, at around 6.55pm.

King Charles III leaves for Edinburgh Airport with Queen Consort Camilla in the as he heads to Northern Ireland this morning

It will then be transported on a state hearse, accompanied the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, to Buckingham Palace.

Its route will be via Eastbourne Terrace, Lancaster Gate, Bayswater Road, Marble Arch, Park Lane, Hyde Park Corner and Constitution Hill.

Waiting to receive the coffin at the Palace will be the King and the Queen Consort. The Prince and Princess of Wales will also be present.

A guard of honour formed of three officers and 96 soldiers from The King's Guard will be mounted in the Palace Quadrangle.

tMembers and staff of the Northern Ireland Assembly stand during a minute silence in remembrance to Queen Elizabeth II in Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast

King Charles III, Anne, the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward each stood on one of the four corners of the coffin in a ceremony known as the Vigil of the Princes

The Queen's coffin will rest in the Bow Room overnight.

Meanwhile the King and Queen Consort have left the Palace of Holyroodhouse to fly to Belfast as part of Operation Spring Tide - Charles' tour around the UK's home countries.

At Hillsborough Castle, Charles and Camilla will view an exhibition of pictures, showing the Queen in Northern Ireland.

The King will then meet Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and party leaders, and receive a message of condolence led by the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly and make a reply.

The Queen's children stood vigil over her coffin at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh this evening. Pictured is King Charles (centre front), Princess Anne (left), Prince Andrew (centre back) and Prince Edward (right)

The King kept his hands joined and also looked towards the floor as members of the public filed past

Charles and Camilla will attend St Anne's Cathedral for a service of prayer and reflection.

They are expected to be greeted by thousands of members of the public, who have been encouraged to line the streets of the city in the afternoon.

Their royal cavalcade will travel through Wellington Place, Donegall Square North, Chichester Street and Victoria Street.

The King and Queen Consort will then undertake a walkabout at Writers' Square, before leaving Northern Ireland.
Royal fans have praised the Queen's oldest children, King Charles and Princess Anne, for being 'on the go' since their mother the Queen passed away last week.

Since the Queen's death on Thursday, the Royal Family has rallied around to support one another and ensure the late monarch's legacy is upheld.

Meanwhile the new King Charles has travelled around the country attending ceremonial services to ensure the succession is as smooth a process as possible.

In particular the Queen's eldest children, King Charles and Princess Anne have taken leading roles in the processions as their mother's coffin travels around the country before Her late Majesty lies in state in London ahead of the funeral on Monday.

King Charles, 73, and his sister Princess Anne, 72, have remained stoic and committed to their royal duties as they pay their respects to their late mother

King Charles and his siblings were pictured looking emotional as they surrounded their late mother's coffin at the Vigil of Princess on Monday night

Charles, 73, is the oldest monarch ever to ascend the throne, and at 72-years-old, the Princess Royal has remained stoic in her grief.

Monday night saw the Queen's eldest children along with Prince Andrew, 62, and Prince Edward, 58, attend a 'Vigil of the Princes' inside St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, where they stood surrounding their mother's coffin.

Earlier that day the Princess Royal and King Charles marched behind the Queen's coffin as it left the Palace of Holyroodhouse and travelled 1,200 yards to the Cathedral, where she will lie in rest until tomorrow, when she is flown to London.

On Twitter, Tracy Edwards MBE, a sailor, noted that the Queen's children had been 'on the go' since 5am yesterday morning, on their feet for much of the day to take part in the procession and pay their respects to their mother at the vigil.

King Charles and Princess Anne marched behind their mother's coffin with their younger siblings, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, as it headed to St Giles' Cathedral

Following a 170-mile journey to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the coffin rested overnight in the oak-panelled throne room (Pictured: The Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence on Sunday)

Many will point out that, even into their seventies, King Charles and Princess Anne have remained utterly commited to their royal duties.

The Queen's two eldest children, who are believed to have been by her bedside when she passed away at Balmoral, have been exceptionally busy since her death.

On Sunday, Princess Anne was spotted showing rare emotion as she followed the hearse carrying her mother's coffin from the Aberdeenshire Estate to the Palace og Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, a six hour journey.

Following on from her attendance in yesterday's procession as she accompanied her mother's coffin to the Cathedral, she became the first woman ever to take part in the 'Vigil of the Princes'.

She is also expected to follow her mother's coffin down to London on Wednesday where the late Queen will lie in state until her funeral on Monday.

Meanwhile the new King has put a brave face on his grief to ensure his ascension to the throne remains smooth.

Just a day after his mother passed away King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla, 75, flew from Aberdeen to London where he met with well-wishers outside Buckingham Palace that evening, before making his first address to the nation.

The new monarch honoured his mother in his speech as he vowed to serve his subjects with 'loyalty, respect and love'.

The following morning he and the Queen Consort attended St James's Palace where the Accession Council met to formalise the new King's accession to the throne. There, he signed an oath to uphold the Church of England and addressed the Council.

Once the ceremony had concluded, the King flew back to Scotland where he joined the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward to march behind their mother's coffin as it made its way to St Giles' Cathedral and attend the Vigil of Princes.

Today the King has travelled to Belfast, where he and the Queen Consort will attend a number of royal engagements.
A nine-year-old girl was left 'in shock' after receiving a note of 'grateful thanks' from the Queen the day after she died.

Primary school pupil Lois Hanson, from West End, Hampshire, had sent Queen Elizabeth II a poem in the summer to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee - and forgotten all about it.

But after receiving a response from the late monarch on Friday, Lois and her family realised it was perhaps one of the Queen's final pieces of correspondence.

Primary school pupil Lois Hanson, from West End, Hampshire, was left 'in shock' after receiving a note of 'grateful thanks' from The Queen the day after she died

The response from Britain's longest reigning monarch is thought to be one of her final pieces of correspondence

The cream coloured envelope dropped through Lois's letterbox, from Her Majesty, the day after she had passed away peacefully aged 96 - thanking Lois for her kind words.

The letter was signed 'Elizabeth R' and included two photographs of the Queen alongside a Royal coat of arms.

The monarch's message gave 'grateful thanks for your kind message on the occasion of the Seventieth Anniversary of my Accession to the Throne'.

Lois said: 'She was a wonderful Queen and her Jubilee showed us all the wonderful things she has done for us and I wanted to do something for her.

Lois said the monarch was a wonderful Queen and her Jubilee showed us all 'the wonderful things she has done for us'

'I was in shock. I felt happy that I had a card from her, but sad because she had died the day before.'

Lois' mum, Zoe Hanson, checked the postmark of the reply - which was 7 September 2022 - the day before The Queen had died.

She said: 'Lois wanted to send [the poem] to The Queen and so we put it in an envelope to Buckingham Palace, never ever expecting a reply.

'It had completely disappeared from our minds over the last four months, until the postman came on Friday, the day after the Queen had died.

'The only letter through the door that day, it was a posh envelope, so I checked the postmark, which was Buckingham Palace, 07.09.22.

'It must be one of the last things to come from [the Queen].

'When it came through the post I was very excited about it - because I had completely forgotten that she'd written to the Queen, as [her Jubilee] was four months ago now.'

The letter was signed 'Elizabeth R' and included two photographs of the Queen alongside a Royal coat of arms and arrived in a posh cream envelope

Ms Hanson, 47, then had to wait for Lois, who has just gone into Year 5, to return home from school.

The mother added: 'I said to her 'there's something really, really important for you to open'. And she got very excited to see her name on there and that it had come from Buckingham Palace.

'It's just a lovely, lovely piece of history.'

Lois' poem that prompted such a thankful reply from Her Majesty read:

'You shine oh so bright, like stars in the night. Happy Jubilee, I know you'll have a cup of tea. The Jubilee will be history and it's you they will see. Happy Jubilee.'

Ms Hanson revealed that she has had to stop Lois taking the original letter into school and has instead given her a photocopy to show her school friends.

She said: 'Lois wanted to take it to school, and I said "no, no - you're not putting that in a school bag" because then it gets yoghurt on it.

'I know what goes on in a school bag - well, no, who knows what goes on in a school bag?'

Lois and her mother now have the tricky task of finding a frame for the response from the late monarch.

Ms Hanson added: 'We're trying to decide what happens to it. We think we're going to get it framed. I think probably in the living room somewhere - pride of place.'
A journalist has recalled how the 'kind' Queen wiped blood from his knees after he took a tumble near Windsor Castle when he was a boy.

Journalist Paul Thomas grew up in Windsor and was friends with the children of some of Her Majesty's members of staff.

Speaking on This Morning today, he recalled how the kind Queen whipped out a handkerchief and wiped his knees after he fell off his bike when he was eight years old.

He also revealed that around the same time, he was 'sniffed' by one of the Monarch's Corgis, which made her giggle.

Years later, when Thomas met the Queen as a reporter at a reception following the Queen Mother's death in 2002, the journalist said the Sovereign remembered him and joked he knew his way around the Castle's grounds.

Journalist Paul Thomas grew up in Windsor and was friends with the children of some of Her Majesty's members of staff

He revealed that the Queen took out an handkerchief and wiped this bloody knees after he fell off his bike during his playtime aged eight (pictured on June 5)

'If you're born and bread in Windsor, you grow up with the children of people working in the royal household or the cavalry, or the infantry, because of course we're a garrison town in Windsor as well,' he explained.

'So I was running my bicycle around Windsor Castle with a friend but ran down a hill too fast on the gravel, tried to take the horse halt at too fast a pace and I came off.

'It took the skin off my knees. I was in dreadful trouble and crying, but looked up and all of a sudden there was this very kindly face who gently took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood off my knees.

He added that the late Monarch told him: 'Just a scratch, there, there, it will be better. She grabbed my arm, helped me up and that was it.'

Thomas said he grew up in Windsor and was friends with the children of people working at the Castle

He also added he had a fun encountered with the royal Corgis 'roughly at the same time as well.'

He revealed he had been playing around the Castle ground with a battery operated Tommy gun and that his play took him near the Queen's private apartments.

'All of a sudden I found a nose up again mine. and there was a Corgi sniffing around and a pair of ankles approaching saying "are you having fun",' he added.

Thomas revealed he simply replied 'yes' to the Monarch's query, which amused her, and she 'giggled and just walked off, after a bit more sniffing, so did the corgis.'

As Paul Thomas's career in journalism took off, he revealed he was invited to a reception at Windsor Castle a month after the death of the Queen Mother in 2002.

Phil and Holly listened to touching tributes for the Queen during today's episode of This Morning

'I was tapped on the shoulder by a military type who then asked me to turn around. And there she was,' he said.

He said the Monarch told him 'I've been looking for you,' to which he replied: 'It's a very big place but you seem to have found me,' he added.

He added that the Queen said: 'Yes, I think you know your way around, don't you,' in a nod that she had recognised him from his younger years.

'We managed to get on to another subject of conversation and she thanked me for the coverage of her mother's death, which I was really proud of, I had a great team around me in those days,' he continued.

'What people don't know or don't realise about the Queen is that she does keep - and I also say this about King Charles as well - they do keep in contact with individuals.

'And it's that individual care that I think is resonant, passing from the late Queen to King Charles III.'

Tributes for the Queen have been pouring in since it was announced she died last Thursday in Balmoral.

Yesterday, Mike Tindall paid a touching tribute to the Monarch, sharing an illustration of a corgi weeping next to a crown.

Throughout her historic reign that spanned decades, one constant in the Queen's life was always her unwavering love for her Corgis, so much so the pets have become a symbol of British royalty around the world.

And the husband of Princess Anne's daughter Zara Tindall, 43, posted the picture yesterday depicting the Queen's beloved dog breed as the UK, Australia and the world mourns the monarch's passing.

The picture was drawn by artist Danielle Davis, who shared the illustration on her Instagram page @danielled.art, days ago.

The former England Rugby pro, who met the Queen's granddaughter in a Sydney bar in 2003, previously said he thought the monarch was 'unbelievable' and people believed she was 'invincible.'

His post came after his wife Zara was seen joining her mother Anne to look at floral tributes in Balmoral following the Queen's death at the estate on Thursday. It is not known if Mike joined the family at the estate.
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Lizzo came as a lurid red Boeing 747 struggling to take off in a storm. Melanie Lynskey was a bright green holiday candy. Laverne Cox, reporting from the red carpet for E!, turned up as an extra from Thunderbirds  not one of the astronauts, but a spare part from a rocket.

The Emmys is the precursor to all major awards ceremonies. As with the others, we gazed in disbelief as Fraggle Rock hit the road - and all because a deluded someone, earlier that night, had said: You look really great!

It was the first time Laverne had hosted the networks red carpet event (taking over from Giuliana Rancic). Sporting two silver chest pyramids (cone bra, if you want to be technical about it), she threatened the eyeballs of guests who came within kissing distance while gushing enthusiastically over every other hideous outfit.

Christina Ricci looked as if her upper half had obtained its own visa and was already en route to pastures new; Sarah Paulson, in bizarrely angled Louis Vuitton black (they really should stick to baggage), appeared to have been invaded by a sinister Cubist. Nicole Bayer, in turquoise trousers and an unmatching top, had millions reaching for the remote, convinced their TVs had suffered a horrific color malfunction.

Up, up, and away? The Emmys is the precursor to all major awards ceremonies but this year we all gazed in disbelief as Fraggle Rock hit the road, with Lizzo dressing as a lurid red Boeing 747 struggling to take off in a storm

Laverne Cox turned up as an extra from Thunderbirds  not one of the astronauts, but a spare part from a rocket, Melanie Lynskey was a bright green holiday candy, and Sarah Paulson, in bizarrely angled Louis Vuitton black, appeared to have been invaded by a sinister Cubist

There were some elegant, welcome exceptions: Amanda Seyfried in Armani  Ive come as a mermaid; Jean Smart in a Laura Basci glamorous pillow of white, and dripping with diamonds; Lily James in Versace gold. Their fine taste and grace stood out amid the sewer of sequins elsewhere.

And lets not forget the men  Nicholas Braun in stunning Christian Dior white, and so many in traditional, classy suits and ties that never fail  Steve Martin, Matthew Macfadyen, Seth Meyers. Maybe the men should start dressing the women.

Sketches and dance routines introduced each category, so although Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson had been billed as host, apart from the opening monologue his contribution was rather lost in a show that, at three hours, was a century too long. A second stand-up comedy piece, with a couple of digs at Netflix, was amusing, but hardly side-splitting, although in all fairness, the red carpet was a tough act to follow in terms of inducing belly laughs.

The most dreaded phrase in the English language is resident DJ. Its a euphemism for forthcoming hell. So hearts sank when Kenan introduced house DJ Zedd. He churned out such a racket, for the first time in my life I prayed the acceptance speeches would be longer.

Comedian Sam Jay joined the throng as the announcer. Boy, did she like to announce! Competing with Zedds cacophony of horrors for most irritating noise of the night, it was impossible to see what her contribution added. So many cooks spoiling the broth it could have been served up as a Ramsays Kitchen Nightmare.

Presenters were stars in their own right. You could only empathize with their pain as they delivered allegedly funny lines obviously scripted by writers with a sense of humor bypass. Excruciating doesnt begin to cover it.

There were some elegant, welcome exceptions: Amanda Seyfried in Armani  Ive come as a mermaid; Jean Smart in a Laura Basci glamorous pillow of white, and dripping with diamonds; Lily James in Versace gold

And lets not forget the men  Nicholas Braun in stunning Christian Dior white, and so many in traditional, classy suits and ties that never fail  Steve Martin, Matthew Macfadyen, Seth Meyers. Maybe the men should start dressing the women

The normally hilarious Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler (who probably did write their own skit) limped through a routine that was as unfunny as it was embarrassing; likewise, Will Arnett and Jimmy Kimmel, the latter being jokingly dragged onto the stage as if unconscious, having imbibed too many drinks after losing out to John Olivers Last Week Tonight, enjoying its seventh Emmy for Variety Talk Series in a row.

A notable exception to the pairing failures were Mindy Kaling and BJ Novak, who were hilarious. Novak poked fun at writers with a string of jokes about their basically doing nothing all day at home. On the evidence of this night, if only.

Also welcome was the contribution of Law & Order stars Christopher Meloni (Organized Crime) and Mariska Hargitay (SVU), who frankly can do no wrong. Its always joyous to see them reunited either in their respective shows (they worked together on SVU) or in real life.

Will Elliot and Olivia get it together is the question we have been asking for eons (Mariska is coming up to 25 years on the show), and the pair teased the ongoing tension with a near kiss onstage. Looks like well have to wait longer for the real thing.

The inevitable screaming banshees sobbing about their dream accomplishments were out in force.

Oprah Winfrey, looking stunning in white, led the way with a speech about the difficulties of winning the most coveted television accolade on the planet and the importance of never losing belief in yourself. She received one of many ovations of the night  or maybe everyone kept standing up in the hope of doing a runner from Zedd and his noise machine.

Although Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson had been billed as host, apart from the opening monologue his contribution was rather lost in a show that, at three hours, was a century too long. The normally hilarious Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler (who probably did write their own skit) limped through a routine that was as unfunny as it was embarrassing

The most dreaded phrase in the English language is resident DJ. Its a euphemism for forthcoming hell. So hearts sank when Kenan introduced house DJ Zedd. He churned out such a racket, for the first time in my life I prayed the acceptance speeches would be longer

A notable exception to the pairing failures were Mindy Kaling and BJ Novak, who were hilarious. Also welcome was the contribution of Law & Order stars Christopher Meloni (Organized Crime) and Mariska Hargitay (SVU), who frankly can do no wrong. And thank goodness, at the end of a long night, for Pete Davidson, one of the most naturally funny people on stage

Sheryl Lee Ralph, who won Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Abbott Elementary, also received an ovation and burst into song before declaring, To anyone whos ever had a dream, never give up on YOU.

Alas, as the nights dream turned into a nightmare in which daylight seemed forever receding, there was genuine shock for many winners.

Without wishing to rain on the parade, it was clear that as with all awards ceremonies now, more than a passing nod must be given to diversity, irrespective of whether the person was the best in their category. Most deserving winners were for Succession  Matthew Macfadyen for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and the show itself for Drama Series  and the inventive Squid Game (the most-watched Netflix show ever), which saw awards go to Hwang Dong-hyuk for Directing, and Lee Jung-jae for Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Thank goodness, at the end of a long night, for Pete Davidson, presenting the penultimate award for Comedy Series. One of the most naturally funny people on stage all night, and poking fun at the microphone that had not been adjusted for his six-foot three frame (you had one job, microphone adjuster! One job!), he commanded the stage.

There is a sadness that lurks barely below the surface with Davidson, as you imagine for a boy who, at age seven, lost his firefighter father in the 9/11 attacks. Maybe an inherent sadness that is often a mere breath away from the biggest laughs is characteristic of all the best comedians.

And so, with Selma Blair announcing Succession as the winner of the final gong, it was all over. My lasting memory will be of Lizzo, in her Jason Rembert cloud, collecting the award for Competition Program (for Watch Out for the Big Grrrls) and engulfing the stage with color like she was the Red Sea. The frock was bigger than my New York apartment. Next time I go camping, I know who Im going to call.
A China-Europe freight train arrives at Xi'an international port in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Aug. 31, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The number of China-Europe freight train service surged by 18 percent year on year last month, hitting a record-high 1,585 trips, according to the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.

About 154,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) of goods were shipped through the freight trains in August, up 19 percent from a year ago, according to the company.

During the first eight months, the number of China-Europe freight train trips rose 5 percent year on year to 10,575. The trains transported a total of 1.02 million TEU of goods, an increase of 6 percent from a year ago.
The United States Justice Department issued roughly 40 subpoenas last week as part of its ongoing criminal investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot, with the majority of recipients being close to former President Donald Trump.

Among the people subpoenaed by the agency include close advisers to the Republican businessman as well as former White House officials and staffers from Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, ranging from lower-level staffers to those at the highest levels of the campaign.

DOJ Subpoenas to Trump Colleagues

Sources familiar with the matter said that at least one Trump adviser, Boris Epshteyn, recently had his phone taken as part of the investigation. Epshteyn did not respond to a request for comment regarding the situation.

The subpoenas are reportedly seeking information from witnesses about the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the events leading up to and surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill attack, and the fundraising and spending efforts of the Trump-aligned Save America PAC, as per ABC News.

The list of individuals given subpoenas includes former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and Sean Dollman, who worked for Trump's 2020 presidential campaign as chief financial officer. Also included is Trump's former deputy chief of staff, Dan Scavino.

Read Also: Mar-a-Lago Raid: Trump's Lawyer Scolds DOJ for Fighting Against Special Master Request To Review Seized Documents

The DOJ's subpoenas involved more than 30 individuals with connections to the former president as the department aims to get documents and in some cases, testimony before a grand jury in Washington, D.C.

According to CNN, the issued subpoenas and other investigative activity came in the days just before the Justice Department began its standard pre-election quiet period, a 60-day period before the midterm election during which the department generally seeks to avoid taking overt investigative action in politically sensitive probes to avoid the appearance of trying to affect the election.

Criminal Investigations

Despite issuing more than three dozen subpoenas, they were broad in scope, as reviewed by CNN, seeking information on a range of issues, including the fake elector scheme, Trump's primary fundraising, and political vehicle, Save America PAC, the organizing of the Trump rally on Jan. 6, 2021, and any communications with a broad list of people who worked to overturn the 2020 election results.

One of the subpoenas seek records related to compensation provided to or received from a list of people that included Trump lawyers and campaign staffers through Jan. 20, 2021. It also requests communications with anyone in the Justice Department.

Furthermore, the subpoenas seek communications with some of the same players previously identified in subpoenas served to fake electors in various states earlier this year, including former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Victoria Toensing.

Some of the subpoenas also seek any information that recipients previously turned over to the House Select Committee that is investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot. A former New York City police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, also received a subpoena for documents and testimony.

The extent of the investigation has come into focus in recent days despite being overshadowed by the government's legal clash with Trump and his lawyers over a separate inquiry into the handling of presidential records at Mar-a-Lago, the New York Times reported.



Related Article: Donald Trump Refused To Leave White House After 2020 Election Loss to Joe Biden, Claims New Book

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A woman has revealed she's visited Queen Elizabeth II's coffin at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh at least seven times.

Elizabeth Sabey, a 43-year-old evangelist and missionary, explained to the BBC her reasoning for lining up for the visit on a number of occasions, saying that 'there's something divine there and it's deeply moving'.

She travelled from the Isle of Lewis and started queueing at 5pm yesterday, reported the Telegraph, and by 6.30am she had seen the late monarch's coffin around five times.

Throughout the night, thousands of mourners queued and filed past Her Majesty, before her body begins the journey to London at 5pm today ahead of the funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19.

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Elizabeth Sabey (pictured), a 43-year-old evangelist and missionary, explained to the BBC her reasoning for lining up for the visit on a number of occasions, saying that 'there's something divine there and it's deeply moving'

She travelled from the Isle of Lewis and started queueing at 5pm yesterday, reported the Telegraph , and by 6.30am she had seen the late monarch's coffin around five times. Pictured, King Charles III, centre, and other members of the royal family hold a vigil at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh

Speaking to the BBC, Ms Sabey said: 'It's beautiful when you enter into the Cathedral, it's the atmosphere, the presence, there's something of definitely the divine there.

'It's beyond words and I feel deeply moved every time I go through. I wouldn't miss it so every time I've gone back again and again.

'Queen Elizabeth II was such a notable... irreplaceable and I wanted to pay my respects but it was more than that, it was an experience I just didn't want to miss. Every time I've gone back... it's been so beautiful.'

Ms Sabey was also inspired by the late monarch's faith in God, according to The Telegraph.

The Christian, who plans to visit the coffin as many times as she can before it departs for London, told the publication that she felt 'God's presence' when visiting.

She added: 'Sometimes I've gone in and they've been praying or they've been changing the guards around her. It's a once in a lifetime experience, and when you go round just once it's like you just want to remember it.

Speaking to the BBC, Ms Sabey (pictured) said: 'It's beautiful when you enter into the Cathedral, it's the atmosphere, the presence, there's something of definitely the divine there

People queue to enter St. Giles' Cathedral and pay respects to Britain's Queen Elizabeth

'I am a Christian, a really strong Christian, and [the Queen] lived her life, faith was central to her life and essential to my life.

'Shes not just a figurehead shes actually a spiritual representative that actually walked the life of Jesus in a pure way, humble way.'

Ms Sabey had worked as a missionary in Cambodia, and in lockdown she said she 'positioned myself on a bench' to chat with people who were concerned or anxious about the Covid pandemic.

Sharon Baum, 53, and her partner Alison Evans, 50, were at the front of the queue yesterday, as members of the public paid personal tributes to the beloved late monarch.

The couple queued up for nearly 11 hours and told MailOnline of their extraordinary experience on an historic day at St Giles' Cathedral.

People queuing in the Scottish capital to catch a glimpse of the coffin of Her Majesty before her body is flown to London later today

Thousands of mourners queued into the night to catch a glimpse of the Queen's coffin in Edinburgh before the late monarch's body is flown to London later today

Mrs Baum, from Chesterfield, Derbyshire said: 'It was really serene and peaceful and solemn. We feel so privileged to be allowed to see it and do what we did. We felt like we were involved in a little bit of history.

'You can't prepare yourself for how you are going to feel when you go through the door. I knew I would be upset. As soon as you are there it brings it all home. We are really big Royalists.

'I shed a tear  several. I said a little prayer and bowed my head. We probably could have stayed a little bit longer. There was nobody rushing you but there were so many people waiting.

'It was one of the most memorable and sad experiences of my life. I will remember it until my dying day. It was so emotional.'

The couple set off from their home at 10pm on Saturday and drove through to travel to Ballater near Balmoral at 5am as the Queen made her final journey from the castle.

Nicola Sturgeon tells Kind Charles how her husband saved one of the Queen's corgis from being electrocuted - as she vows Scotland 'stands ready' to support the new monarch First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has told how her husband saved one of the Queen's corgis from being electrocuted - as she vowed Scotland 'stands ready' to support King Charles III as he continues his mother's legacy of public service. Speaking as she moved a motion of condolence in honour of the late monarch, Ms Sturgeon told of how Peter Murrell stopped the dog, a puppy named Sandy, from chewing through a lamp switch after a light began to flicker at Balmoral. 'To my great alarm, he was, after all, in the presence of Her Majesty, my husband suddenly leapt up and darted across the floor,' the First Minister said. 'Peter had spotted the cause of the flickering light. 'One of the Queen's young Corgis, a beautiful pup called Sandy, was eating through a lamp switch. 'Thankfully, tragedy was averted and Sandy emerged unscathed, though not before a ticking off from his mistress.' She continued: 'We are honoured by the presence today of His Majesty, King Charles III, and The Queen Consort. Your Majesty, we stand ready to support you, as you continue your own life of service - and as you build on the extraordinary legacy of your beloved mother, our Queen. 'Queen Elizabeth, Queen of Scots - we are grateful for her life. May She now rest in peace.' Advertisement

Last night the couple were returning home but are hoping to be in London for the Queen's funeral.

Eleanor Wardrop, 72, and her twin sister Jennifer Davis were among the first in the queue arriving at 8am yesterday.

The former executive PA said: 'It was a priceless moment. It really was very, very special. It was completely serene, just so dignified and quiet. It was just so beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

'People were taking their time, walking slowly. Men were saluting to the Queen, bowing to the Queen and the women were curtseying. I did a little curtsy as I went past. I was so glad that I was able to honour her in that way.

'It was very quiet. There were two ministers on duty saying prayers as we walked through. It was very dignified. There were the archers standing there with their heads bowed and there were police guards as well.'

Describing the experience Eleanor said: 'We wanted to come to the vigil to pay a personal tribute. We grew up with the Queen. She has been a constant in our lives. She was our true north.

'She took an oath and she stood by it her whole life. As a young woman she promised to do her duty and she did that right to the end.

'She was a remarkable woman and nobody else will ever be like her. She has been a role model to us all.'

Peter Binder, 60, travelled down with wife Georgina from the north of Scotland arriving at 7am.

He said: 'There were literally half a dozen people but that changed very quickly. It's been a very long day but it has certainly been worthwhile.

'There has been a very good spirit in the crowd. Everyone has got to know each other. We have been supporting each other and there has been a good camaraderie. I suppose we are proud British monarchists. It has been a very moving experience.'

King Charles III, his sister the Princess Royal and brothers the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex all arrived at St Giles' Cathedral after the sun had set over the Scottish capital, then kept a vigil by their mother's coffin from 7.46pm until 7.56pm while members of the public walked past silently.

The King, who was wearing the Prince Charles Edward Stuart tartan and white heather in his lappelle from Balmoral, kept his hands joined and looked towards the floor as he stood alongside four suited members of the Royal Company of Archers, who were standing guard dressed in long-feathered hats and armed with arrows and quivers.

Afterwards, tears appeared to fill his eyes as the monarch completed an emotional day which began with him addressing MPs in the Palace of Westminster.
Details of a hilarious voicemail Prince Harry recorded for the Queen, and her reaction to it, have been revealed.

Royal author Phil Dampier, writing in the Express, shared details of the message which the prince put together when Her Majesty first got a mobile phone, and asked him to help her with it.

The message said: 'Hey, wassup? This is Liz. Sorry I'm away from the throne. Press one for Philip, two for Charles and three for the corgis!'

According to Phil, while the monarch's private secretary Robin Janvrin 'got the shock of his life', the Queen laughed at the funny recording.

The Queen (left) and Prince Harry (right) are said to have enjoyed a very close bond, enjoying each other's sense of humour (pictured here in 2019, after leaving a wedding in Windsor)

According to royal author Phil Dampier, the Queen (pictured here in 2017 at Royal Ascot) just laughed when she heard the funny voicemail Prince Harry recorded for her

The Queen is believed to have enjoyed a close bond with Prince Harry, with the pair said to have enjoyed each other's sense of humour.

Following Her Majesty's death at Balmoral last week, aged 96, the Duke of Sussex, 37, released a statement, which he shared yesterday.

In it, he praised his grandmother's 'sound advice' and 'infectious smile' and called her a 'guiding compass' through her commitment to service and duty.

Harry also referred to his 'darling wife' Meghan Markle; said he was grateful that the Queen had hugged her 'beloved great-grandchildren'; and spoke of how he 'cherished' the times spent with the 96-year-old.

It said: 'In celebrating the life of my grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen - and in mourning her loss - we are all reminded of the guiding compass she was to so many in her commitment to service and duty.

'She was globally admired and respected. Her unwavering grace and dignity remained true throughout her life and now her everlasting legacy.

The Duke of Sussex paid an emotional tribute to his late grandmother the Queen in a statement he released yesterday

The statement came two days after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (right and far right) joined the Prince and Princess of Wales for a walkabout in Windsor

'Let us echo the words she spoke after the passing of her husband, Prince Philip, words which can bring comfort to all of us now: 'Life, of course, consists of final partings as well as first meetings.''

He added: 'Granny, while this final parting brings us great sadness, I am forever grateful for all of our first meetings-from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my Commander-in-Chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved great-grandchildren.

'I cherish these times shared with you, and the many other special moments in between. You are already sorely missed, not just by us, but by the world over.

'And as it comes to first meetings, we now honour my father in his new role as King Charles III. Thank you for your commitment to service. Thank you for your sound advice.

'Thank you for your infectious smile. We, too, smile knowing that you and grandpa are reunited now, and both together in peace.'

The statement came two days after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined the Prince and Princess of Wales for a walkabout in Windsor, looking at floral tributes left for Her Majesty, and speaking with members of the public.
The Queen's funeral will be 'hard' for Prince William and Prince Harry who will be 'remembering Diana's 1997 service under the same roof in Westminster Abbey', royal experts have said.

The Duke of Sussex and the Prince of Wales have a well-documented troubled relationship but the death of their grandmother saw the rivals shelve their differences when, with their wives, they viewed floral tributes left to the late Queen.

However experts have now told FEMAIL how the Queen's funeral on Monday could be bringing up difficult memories for the two brothers, who will be thinking of their mother's own service in the same venue in 1997.

Editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine Ingrid Seward said: 'I think the Abbey carries so many conflicting memories, both happy and sad. The emotion of the actual funeral service will certainly be hard for them as they remember their own mothers funeral under the same roof of Westminster Abbey.'

Meanwhile royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams added: 'The memory of that sad time will undoubtedly be with them during these next few days as they, as expected, walk behind the Queens coffin as it is taken from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, as both were close to the Queen in very different ways.'

The Queen's funeral will be 'hard' for Prince William and Prince Harry who will be 'remembering Diana's 1997 service under the same roof in Westminster Abbey, royal experts have told FEMAIL

The Duke of Sussex and the Prince of Wales have a well-documented troubled relationship but the death of their grandmother saw the rivals shelve their differences when, with their wives, they viewed floral tributes left to the late Queen

Richard continued: 'The emotion at the time of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales was extraordinary.

'It was a tribute to someone who, despite being personally unhappy, was able to reach out, to give and to communicate with those less fortunate.

'The unprecedented outpouring of grief led to the funeral where William aged 15 and Harry aged 12 joined Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Earl Spencer in walking behind her coffin in front of an audience of billions.

'Harry later said it was an agonising experience. She was the worlds most glamorous woman who used her talents for charitable causes and she did immense good.

Experts said the Queen's funeral on Monday could be bringing up difficult memories for the two brothers, who will be thinking of their mother's own service in the same venue in 1997

'She died at just 36, no one has forgotten the way the nation showed its feelings with floral tributes and even clapping after Earl Spencers oration. Her memory lives on.'

He continued: 'This Monday another unique figure is being laid to rest who is without doubt one of the greatest monarchs in our history and whose reign spans over 70 years, the longest in our history.

'Time honoured rituals are marking her passing, but the way she touched the lives of those she served as she swore she would do when she was 21, has been truly extraordinary.

'The huge crowds who are making their way to the Palace, as I saw yesterday, are paying homage to her unfailing sense of duty until the end.

Prince William and Prince Harry stood side-by-side as they watched their mother coffin following the funeral in London in 1997

Now King Charles with Prince Harry, Earl Spencer, Prince William and the Duke of Edinburgh watching the coffin bearing the body of Diana, Princess of Wales

'The scale of her funeral will probably surpass that of Britains wartime leader, Sir Winston Churchill, as so many world leaders, including President Biden, pay tribute to her memory at Westminster Abbey, where Dianas funeral was also held.

'The effect of Dianas death has always been with both William and Harry. Harry said it was extraordinary to meet strangers publicly weeping for someone they hadnt met when her children could not show emotion.

'Sometimes idle ceremony as Shakespeares Henry V put it, can be very potent.'

Meanwhile Ingrid said comparisons between the two events should not be drawn lightly, adding: 'One was a horrible shock accident and the other the death of a 96-year-old woman.

The comments come after it emerged William and Harry could walk side by side behind the Queen's coffin at her funeral next week in a potential royal truce

Days after the Prince of Wales offered his brother an 'olive branch' by inviting him on a walkaround to meet mourners outside Windsor, there is a suggestion they could put their differences aside during the time of national mourning

'The feelings of grief would be quite different.'

However she added: 'William and Harry might recall the outpourings of affection from the crowds.

'But their crowd was sobbing if I remember and the queens crowd are quiet and on the whole dignified.'

The comments come after it emerged William and Harry could walk side by side behind the Queen's coffin at her funeral next week in a potential royal truce.

It comes as the royal family attempts to put on a united front during the period of national mourning, as they try to put aside their differences for the greater good following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral on Thursday

Days after the Prince of Wales offered his brother an 'olive branch' by inviting him on a walkaround to meet mourners outside Windsor, there is a suggestion they could put their differences aside during the time of national mourning.

The pair had been separated by their cousin Peter Phillip at the funeral of Prince Phillip last year, and since then have only been seen in public together once before Saturday's surprise walk.

What form the truce takes at the Queen's service on Monday, September 19, remains to be seen, with reports suggesting that Prince Andrew is also set to play a key role despite controversies in the last few years.

The Duke of York is expected to join his family as they unite in their grief, with sources saying it would be 'out of the question' for him to be excluded.

However, despite this apparent reprieve for the disgraced prince, there would seem to be no way back into public life for him, with both the king and the Prince of Wales previously saying he would have no formal role during their reigns.

It comes as the royal family attempts to put on a united front during the period of national mourning, as they try to put aside their differences for the greater good following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral on Thursday.

The deterioration in the 96-year-old monarch's health was sudden, with Charles being the only one of her children or grandchildren to make it to her side before she passed away.

While arrangements for the funeral service are still being ironed out, the Sun reports that discussions are underway that could see William and Harry stand side by side during the procession.
Cucculelli Shaheen showcased their Spring/Summer 2023 collection, titled La Trouvaille, on Monday, September 12th.

The runway presentation took place at the historic Bowery Hotel located in downtown Manhattan.

Partners Anthony Cucculelli and Anna Rose Shaheen delivered an exquisite custom collection, fit for the contemporary woman who loves to wear special, head-turning fashions.

Cucculelli Shaheen showcased their Spring/Summer 2023 collection, titled La Trouvaille, on Monday, September 12th

Partners Anthony Cucculelli and Anna Rose Shaheen delivered an exquisite custom collection, fit for the contemporary woman who likes to stand out in a crowd

The brand is defined by its synthesis of lush embroidery and effortless silhouette, drawing inspiration from classical art, music, mythology, and New York City

The duo met while working in Diane von Furstenbergs West Village studio in the mid-aughts.

A stint working in Florence, Italy amplified their design partnership and in 2016 Cucculelli Shaheen was born.

The brand is defined by its synthesis of lush embroidery and effortless silhouette, drawing inspiration from classical art, music, mythology, and New York City.

Spring is a masterful mix of textures and movement through hand beading and embroidery combined with lacquered laces and jewels

A black and white palette with pops of green and pink, geometric cut-outs and handmade fringe evoke style, sophisticated and sensual

From suiting to evening gowns, these flattering silhouettes deliver on the promise that every woman should feel special in her clothes.

The presentation was beautifully styled by Anissa Silvas with jewelry from Faberge

La Trouvaille, meaning 'lucky find' in French, is a masterful mix of textures and movement through hand beading and embroidery combined with lacquered laces and jewels.

A black and white palette with pops of green and pink, geometric cut-outs and handmade fringe evoke style, sophisticated and sensual.

From suiting to evening gowns, these flattering silhouettes deliver on the promise that every woman should feel special in her clothes.

Models strutted their stuff to the tunes of DJ Xtian looking fresh faced with barely there makeup by Janell Geason for Aveda, and effortless and undone hairdos by Clay Nielsen for Aveda

Natural beauty allowed the intricacies of the garments to shine

Letting the fashions take center stage, hair and makeup was simple and clean.

Models strutted their stuff to the tunes of DJ Xtian looking fresh faced with barely there makeup by Janell Geason for Aveda, and effortless and undone hairdos by Clay Nielsen for Aveda.

Nails were perfectly manicured by Pattie Yankee.

Each of the 31 looks were beautifully styled by Anissa Silvas with jewelry from Faberge.
The King was delighted after spotting a corgi in the crowd during a walkabout in Northern Ireland this afternoon.

King Charles III and the Queen Consort, 74, greeted well-wishers as they touched down in Belfast for the latest leg of their tour of the UK.

The new Monarch, 73, was deeply moved by the outpouring of love the Northern Irish public showed his late mother and the confidence they showed in him after he ascended the throne.

However, it was a cheeky Corgi named Connie that stole the show during a stop in Hillsborough.

The King was delighted as a fan greeted him with her pet Corgi in Hillsborough, Northern Ireland this afternoon

A cheeky Corgi named Connie, in Hillsborough, that stole the show, as the sovereign and his wife swooned and paused to pet the furry subject and chat to his owner

Royal fans have been bringing their Corgis on royal walkabouts as a homage to the late Queen, who passed on Thursday and was known for her love of the breed.

Charles, who grew up with his mother's generous pack of Corgis and Dorgis, seemed delighted to spot the familiar breed this afternoon as he arrived in Northern Ireland.

The sovereign, who had come to meet his Northern Ireland subject, was drawn to the pet who was being carried by his owner.

The Monarch was seen swooning as he offered his hand to the Corgi so the pet could give it a sniff.

The King then snuggled the pup while chatting to his owner and the schoolchildren who had skipped class to witness his historic visit to Hillsborough.

The new Monarch extended his had to Connie so she could give it a sniff as they got better acquainted during the walkabout

The Corgi, who was being carried by his owner, was seen leaning towards the King, clearly interested in make friends

The moment offered some levity for Prince Charles, whose schedule has been filled with official events since the announcement of his mother the Queen's death last week.

The new sovereign today looked solemn as he vowed to follow the 'shining example' of his late mother as he and his wife were met with raucous applause and joyful cries after arriving in Northern Ireland.

In a powerful speech praising Queen Elizabeth II's 'long life of public service', King Charles remarked on the 'momentous and historic' changes she witnessed in the province throughout her illustrious life, and said she had 'never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and its people'.

The cheeky pup immediately caught the eye of the Monarch, who was seen swooning as he made his way along the crowd

Charles pointed towards the Corgi with apparent delight as schoolchildren greeted him in Hillsborough

Paws for thought. The King, who grew up with his mother's cohort of Corgis and Dorgis, was happy to see the pet in Northern Ireland

Cameras captured the sweet moment the King and Queen Consort spotted the animal and spoke to the children

A royal smile. Charles kept his eyes on the Corgi as he shook hands with royal fans this afternoon

The schoolchildren gave the new monarch and his wife a warm welcome in the historic village of Hillsborough

Speaking to the assembled guests in the official royal household, the new monarch, addressing the province as King for the first time, pledged to uphold his late mother's 'steadfast faith' and 'seek the welfare of all the inhabitants of Northern Ireland'.

Earlier in the day, King Charles and Queen Consort, both clad in black, shook the hands of official dignitaries before departing for the historic village of Hillsborough, where they greeted mourners outside the royal residence.

The jet carrying His Majesty touched down at the George Best Belfast City Airport shortly before midday for his 40th visit to the province - but his first as King, and his saddest.

Well-wishers, including children clasping onto bouquets of flowers, lined the streets outside Hillsborough Castle, standing five-deep behind large metal barriers as they prepared for the King's first address in Northern Ireland.

Tuesday marked the latest in Charles' tour of the UK, after the new King spent last night in Edinburgh where he and his three siblings held a silent vigil for their mother by forming a guard of honour around her coffin.
In an interview with Deadline the former first lady dubbed the Queen as 'gutsy' despite leaving her out of her book and docuseries

In response to criticism, Clinton said she left out the monarch because 'there are just too many amazing women in the world'

Their book, which is now a docuseries on Apple TV+, has been slammed by Ingraham for leaving out the Queen

Clinton has clapped back at Fox News host after she claimed Clinton snubbed Queen Elizabeth II from her docuseries about 'amazing woman'

Hillary Clinton has fired back at a Fox News host who accused her of snubbing Queen Elizabeth II from her book and docuseries about 'amazing women' days after she paid tribute to the monarch for being a 'gutsy woman'.

In 2019, Clinton, 47, and her daughter Chelsea, 42, created a book about many woman who accomplished incredible feats and overcame mountains of obstacles.

Their book included the likes of Coretta Scott King, Billie Jean King, Amy Schumer and even Kim Kardashian; however the two woman failed to include an important woman in history, Queen Elizabeth II.

And with the book recently being turned into a docuseries on Apple TV+, the Clinton women are now facing criticism from news host Laura Ingraham for their decision to leave out the monarch.

Clinton has clapped back at critics who feel she snubbed Queen Elizabeth II from her docuseries about 'amazing woman' after she paid tribute to the monarch

In 2019, Clinton and her daughter Chelsea penned a book about many women who accomplished incredible feats and who they called 'gutsy'

Their book, which is now a docuseries on Apple TV+, has been slammed by Fox News host Laura Ingraham who felt the two had disregarded Queen Elizabeth II

Ingraham felt the two had disregarded Queen Elizabeth II and made her feelings clear in a tweet to the former first lady.

'Hillary Clinton just wrote a book about ''gutsy'' women. Guess which 96-year-old reigning monarch of 70 years she failed to include?' The news host tweeted.

The former first lady quipped back: 'Thanks for getting the word out about #Gutsy, Laura.

'A book now turned [Apple TV+] docuseries, it was a challenge to narrow down who to feature because - it's true- there are just too many amazing women in the world,' Clinton added.

The former first lady also included a link to her series on Apple TV+.

Clinton's response comes just days after she paid tribute to the Queen.

On the day of the monarch's death, the former secretary of state tweeted: 'Few individuals in the history of humanity have led their people with such steadiness and grace as Queen Elizabeth. My condolences to everyone mourning her passing today, and the end of an era.'

Following the backlash for not including the Queen in her show about 'amazing women', Clinton appeared on Deadline for an interview where she talked about the monarch's death and even called her 'gutsy' despite snubbing her from her series.

'The world lost a gutsy woman with the death of Queen Elizabeth. A woman who served her country with distinction and honor going back 70 years, but even before that as a young woman during the war.

'Her sense of duty, honor and commitment I think are real models of virtue that we can each learn from going forward.' she told Deadline.

In response to criticism, Clinton said she left out the monarch because 'there are just too many amazing women in the world'

Her criticism comes just days after she paid tribute to the Queen and called her a 'gutsy' woman in an interview with Deadline

Two days after the Queen's death, Clinton compared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the United Kingdom's late Queen Elizabeth II on CNN's State of the Union

During a presentation of her new series at the Toronto International Film Festival, moderator Sophie Gregoire Trudeau - the wife of Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister- asked the former first lady what she would've said to the Queen if she had featured her.

'I would say to her: Where did you find the continuing resilience, the courage, the gutsiness to do your duty every day? Not missing a day  including two days before she died, when she came out to greet the new prime minister [Liz Truss].

'Maybe she would be willing to share some of the ways that she did keep herself going... when you're in the public eye, it's exhausting, and we need all the help we can get.'

Two days after the Queen's death, Clinton compared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the United Kingdom's late Queen Elizabeth II because the two both 'fought' for what they believed in.

'I think Nancy Pelosi is the gutsiest woman in politics right now,' Clinton said on CNN's State of the Union.

'She has shown, through all kinds of turmoil and challenge, what it means to - somewhat like the Queen to be drawing an analogy here - get up every day, put on those high heels she wears, suit up to fight for the values and ideals that she strongly believes in.'

Clinton remembered the queen as an 'engaging and lively conversationalist' who she had met multiple times, both as Barack Obama's Secretary of State and years prior as the First Lady of the United States.

'One of my favorite memories is when Bill and I stayed with her and Prince Philip on the Britannia, what used to be the royal yacht, as we commemorated the 50th anniversary of D-Day. So we were in close quarters,' she said.

'The Queen Mother was there. It was just like being with a family that was having a good time together despite the solemnity of the occasion.'

She added that the Queen had a longstanding 'devotion to duty and her sense of obligation to the people of her nation,' from when she first took the throne until meeting with the UK's newest prime minister just days before she died.

During her interview with Deadline she said: '[The Queen's] sense of duty, honor and commitment I think are real models of virtue that we can each learn from going forward'

She added that the Queen had a longstanding 'devotion to duty and her sense of obligation to the people of her nation'

Although the former first lady's series fails to include the monarch, the Clinton women do feature other powerful women such as Megan Thee Stallion and Kim Kardashian

'But I also saw a more playful and somewhat, you know, funny and very incredibly warm side of her as well,' Clinton added.

Clinton also said she had exchanged jokes with the monarch about their roles as female leaders, despite their vastly different roles.

'Sometimes there would be, you know, a wry exchange about, you know, how as a woman leader, you always have to have your hair done, well, she always looked perfect, unlike some of us,' she said.

'She had a sense of style that really stayed with her. And so I knew that her sense of who she was and the role she played literally governed her life from every second of it.'

Although the former first lady's series fails to include the monarch, the Clinton women do feature other powerful women such as Wanda Sykes, Megan Thee Stallion, Gloria Steinheim and Jane Goodall.

Gutsy follows the Clintons as they connect with 'amazing' woman across the country.

The former first lady later told Deadline that the 'biggest challenge' was that Apple TV+ wouldn't allow them to feature any 'inspiring' woman who are 'no longer with us.'
A touching message to the Queen left by a grieving royal fan who insisted that the 'pain is unbearable' has left social media users in tears - with some saying it 'perfectly describes the nation's feelings'.

At royal residences across the UK, thousands of people have left heartfelt tributes to Her Majesty after she died aged 96 at Balmoral on Thursday.

But one of the notes has gone viral and left social media users in tears after 'truly capturing everyones feelings'.

The message, written by royal reporter Rick Petrachi and placed inside a plastic wallet to keep it safe from the rain, read: 'It hurts, maam. It hurts so bad. Were not ready to bid you farewell.

A touching message to the Queen left by a grieving royal fan who insisted that the 'pain is unbearable' has left social media users in tears - with some saying it 'perfectly describes the nation's feelings'

'You have taught us everything, except how to live in your absence. Our hearts are shattered in pieces. A world without you is simply unimaginable.

'A Britain without its Platinum Queen is unimaginable,' it said, adding that Her Majesty is 'irreplaceable'.

The note continued: 'Wherever you are, never stop guiding and protecting us like you have done all these years.

'Wake us up and tell us this is just another bad dream because the pain is unbearable. After all, like Philip to you, you were our strength and stay.'

The tribute concluded by thanking the late monarch for her 'love' and insisted that she will be 'forever in our hearts'.

The message, written by royal reporter Rick Petrachi (pictured) and placed inside a plastic wallet to keep it safe from the rain, read: 'It hurts, maam. It hurts so bad. Were not ready to bid you farewell'

Social media users were quick to praise the message, with one writing: 'Such beautiful words, Im sure she feels them.'

'Hope youre watching us eating your marmalade sandwich,' it added, referring to the Queen's skit with Paddington Bear for her Jubilee Celebrations in June.

Sharing his note on Twitter, Rick said: 'Ive spent the past three days in denial and then today found the courage to go and leave my tribute to the great woman The Queen was.

'It hurts so bad but I find comfort that you found your peace. May you rest in peace, Maam. I can now say: God Save The King!'

Social media users were quick to praise the message, with one writing: 'Such beautiful words, Im sure she feels them.'

Another said: 'Perfectly put! Brought tears to my eyes,' while a third added: 'Oh wow you made me cry. Such touching words, you truly captured everyone's feelings.'

The bearer party carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II to a hearse as they prepare to depart from St Giles Cathedral

Princess Anne watches as the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is taken to a hearse as it departs St Giles' Cathedral

A photo of the note was also shared on Instagram by a fan, who wrote, according to The Sun: 'This perfectly sums up how we all feel. I really do wish she left us a recorded goodbye message. Rest on our dearest Lilibet.'

The post received at least 4,000 likes, with one person commenting: 'I was barely holding it together, but then that last sentence, I lost it again.'

Another said: 'Whoever wrote that beautiful message... our thanks. True to every word. She is irreplaceable and it's difficult to imagine the UK without a Queen.'

King Charles III and the Queen Consort, his sons Princes William and Harry and their wives Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle are among senior members of the Royal Family who will receive the late Queen after she made her last journey from her beloved Scotland to her home of 70 years, Buckingham Palace - where she will spend one final night.

The Queen's coffin being carried into the hearse by pallbearers outside St Giles' Cathedral

The hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II makes its way up the Royal Mile

The RAF Globemaster C-17 plane carrying Her Majesty's coffin from Edinburgh landed at RAF Northolt in west London at around 6.55pm this evening, after she spent 24 hours in St Giles' Cathedral where tens of thousands of mourners paid their respects to Britain's longest-reigning monarch.

Prime Minister Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace were assembled on the tarmac at the military base alongside members of the Guard of Honour.

The bearer party will then carry the Queen from the aircraft to the waiting state hearse to begin the journey by road along the A40 towards Buckingham Palace.

When she arrives at the palace, a further guard of honour will be formed by the King's Guard as the coffin arrives at the Grand Entrance. There, she will be received by the King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - who have reportedly called a truce in their feud - among other members of the Royal Family.

The Queen will stay in the Palace overnight before she is transported to the Palace of Westminster, where she will lie in state until Monday, September 19 - the day of her state funeral at Westminster Abbey and burial at St George's Chapel in Windsor.
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The Princess of Wales was photographed making a subtle tribute to the Queen as she and the Prince of Wales headed towards Buckingham Palace to receive Her Majesty's coffin.

Dressed in a smart black ensemble, mother-of-three Kate, 40, donned an elegant pearl necklace when appearing with her husband Prince William, 40, en route to the royal London home. It's thought she may have donned the simple jewellery option in a sweet nod to the late monarch, who was known to favour wearing pearls.

Earlier today, the Queen's coffin left St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, and was flown to RAF Northolt, before being driven to the palace, where it will spend a night.

Senior royals, including the King and Queen Consort, were seen making their way towards the palace to receive the Queen's coffin.

The Prince and Princess of Wales (pictured) en route to Buckingham Palace to join other senior royals and receive the coffin of the Queen, which was flown from Edinburgh today

Kate, who looked downcast as she made her way towards central London alongside her husband William, donned a pearl necklace and earrings. Her Majesty was a huge fan of pearls, which are traditionally worn by royal women when in mourning

The Duchess, who was dressed all in traditional mourning black, added a necklace featuring multiple strings of pearls, as well as pearl earrings. Pearls are often worn by royals when they are mourning, in a tradition that dates back to Queen Victoria.

They were also a staunch favourite of the Queen, who regularly wore a pearl necklace, including following the death of her husband Prince Philip last year.

Arseiny Budrevich, founder of Budrevich Fine Jewellery Studio, told Express.co.uk that royals, notably Queen Elizabeth, loved pearls because they 'represent the aristocratic virtues of liberality, magnificence and generosity', and they 'symbolise purity and chastity'.

'Pearls have been associated with class, elegance and sophistication since the Ptolemaic dynasty in ancient Egypt, where the Royal Family wore pearls to show their status,' he added.

'This tradition was then passed down through the holy Roman empire to the French monarchs who carried it into fashion in the middle ages, where it was subsequently dispersed through Europe. This is when the British empire picked up the style.'

King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla arriving at Buckingham Palace

The car carrying Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex driving towards Buckingham Palace

The state hearse carries the Queen's coffin through the gates of the palace as the crowd erupted in cheers and applause

The cortege carrying the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth II heading towards Buckingham Palace

When the Queen arrived at Buckingham Palace for the final time this evening, she was received by Royal Family members including the King, the Queen Consort, Princes William and Harry and their wives Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle.

Mourners cheered and clapped in the rain as the new state hearse travelled down Constitution Hill and around the Queen Victoria Memorial as it slowed, then drove through the gates of the palace and through the central arch into the quadrangle.

Outriders stopped with their heads bowed at the end of the journey, while a police officer at the gate saluted.

People cheered 'hip hip hooray' after the coffin drove under the arch. Many lining the street put down their umbrellas as a sign of respect while some could be seen wiping tears from their eyes, while phone camera lights lit up the crowds.

King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive at Buckingham Palace

Crowds gather outside Buckingham Palace, waiting to catch a glimpse of the Queen's coffin

Upon arriving at the Grand Entrance of the palace, a guard of honour was formed by the King's Guard.

Her Majesty was received by all her children and grandchildren, including the King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Shortly after witnessing the arrival of the coffin, Charles and Camilla left Buckingham Palace.

The Queen will stay in the Bow Room in the palace overnight before she is transported to the Palace of Westminster, where she will lie in state until Monday, September 19 - the day of her state funeral at Westminster Abbey and burial at St George's Chapel in Windsor.
The Queen Consort was photographed making a statement with her jewellery this evening, as she wore a brooch with special significance to receive Her Majesty's coffin at Buckingham Palace.

Earlier today, the Queen's coffin left St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, and was flown to RAF Northolt, before being driven to the palace, where it will spend a night.

Senior members of the Firm, including the King and Queen Consort, were seen making their way towards the palace.

The royal, who was dressed in traditional mourning black, made a sentimental choice with her jewellery, opting to wear a diamond and turquoise shamrock brooch, which is thought to have special ties to the late monarch.

It boasts a shamrock design, with three diamond leaves. Persian turquoise gems are set into the centre of each of the leaves.

King Charles (right) and Queen Consort Camilla arriving at Buckingham Palace this evening. Camilla's shamrock brooch is pinned to her lapel

The royal couple waved at crowds as they made their way to the palace, to receive the Queen's coffin

While the exact history of the brooch is unknown, it is thought it could have been a wedding gift to the Queen from the Dowager Duchess of Portland

While the provenance of the shamrock does not appear to be confirmed, a brooch matching its description appears on Queen Elizabeth's list wedding gifts.

The brooch on the list was given to the royal by the Dowager Duchess of Portland.

Camilla was seen sporting the brooch earlier today, as she visited Belfast with King Charles, as part of the couple's tour of the four nations ahead of the Queen's funeral next week.

Other notable occasions she's been seen wearing the piece include a previous Northern Ireland tour in March, and for the 2014 funeral of the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire.

She chose to wear the brooch again tonight as she joined the King, the Queen Consort, Princes William and Harry and their wives Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle and other royals at Buckingham Palace, for the Queen's arrival.

The Prince and Princess of Wales (pictured) en route to Buckingham Palace to join other senior royals and receive the coffin of the Queen, which was flown from Edinburgh today

The cortege carrying the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth II heading towards Buckingham Palace

The car carrying Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex driving towards Buckingham Palace

Mourners cheered and clapped in the rain as the new state hearse travelled down Constitution Hill and around the Queen Victoria Memorial as it slowed, then drove through the gates of the palace and through the central arch into the quadrangle.

Outriders stopped with their heads bowed at the end of the journey, while a police officer at the gate saluted.

People cheered 'hip hip hooray' after the coffin drove under the arch. Many lining the street put down their umbrellas as a sign of respect while some could be seen wiping tears from their eyes, while phone camera lights lit up the crowds.

Crowds gather outside Buckingham Palace, waiting to catch a glimpse of the Queen's coffin

The state hearse carries the Queen's coffin through the gates of the palace as the crowd erupted in cheers and applause

Upon arriving at the Grand Entrance of the palace, a guard of honour was formed by the King's Guard.

Her Majesty was received by all her children and grandchildren, including the King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Shortly after witnessing the arrival of the coffin, Charles and Camilla left Buckingham Palace.

The Queen will stay in the Bow Room in the palace overnight before she is transported to the Palace of Westminster, where she will lie in state until Monday, September 19 - the day of her state funeral at Westminster Abbey and burial at St George's Chapel in Windsor.
The Princess Royal is trying to 'emulate her parents' resilience and strength by keeping 'formal and regimented' - but 'her grief is clearly taking its toll', a body language expert has claimed.

Princess Anne, 72, appeared stoic when arriving in London after travelling alongside the Queen's coffin from Balmoral on Sunday to Edinburgh on Monday, before returning to the British capital today.

Her Majesty's daughter said it had been 'an honour and a privilege' to accompany the monarch on her final journeys in a statement released this evening - in which she told how she was 'fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest mother's life'.

Yet body language expert Judi James told FEMAIL that Anne 'seems to be putting herself under pressure to sustain the traditional royal stance of the stiff upper lip'.

Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence and Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, look on as Queen Elizabeth II's coffin arrives at RAF Northolt

The Princess Royal (pictured) is trying to 'emulate her parents' resilience and strength by keeping 'formal and regimented' - but 'her grief is clearly taking its toll', a body language expert has claimed

Judi said: '[Anne is] trying to show strength in mourning in the style of her mother and her father. The memory of her mother sitting isolated but still resilient at Prince Philips funeral seems to be a stance Anne is trying to emulate.

'But the grief is clearly taking its toll, possibly more than for her other siblings who seem to be more open about expressing and sharing their grief and receiving tactile support from those around them.

'Anne arrived in London with her mothers coffin and despite having her husband close by there appeared to be no exchanges between them. This could have been deliberate.

'When someone is trying to show a brave front under extreme emotions it can often be looks or words of kindness and sympathy that can bring on tears.

'The way she picked up a matching marching step with the RAF woman who greeted her suggested a desire to keep as formal and regimented as possible.'

The expert added: 'Annes face looked even more drawn and the way she kept touching her bag and shoving it under one arm suggested anxiety.

'At one point she clasped her hands in a steepled gesture of self-control but her thumbs were rubbing against one another in a self-comfort ritual.'

Princess Anne (pictured earlier today in Edinburgh), 72, appeared stoic when arriving in London after travelling alongside the Queen's coffin from Balmoral on Sunday to Edinburgh on Monday, before returning to the British capital today

Her Majesty's daughter (pictured centre) said it had been 'an honour and a privilege' to accompany the monarch on her final journeys in a statement released this evening - in which she told how she was 'fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest mother's life'

Judi said that it was Anne's military uniform that 'probably helped sustain her' during the 'Vigil of Princes' - when she stood vigil by her mother's coffin alongside her brothers King Charles, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward.

'Wearing it would prompt feelings of discipline and self-control,' said the expert.

Earlier today, the Princess Royal paid tribute to her mother and said it had been 'an honour and a privilege' to accompany the Queen on her final journeys as she travelled with the monarch's coffin back to London.

Princess Anne, the late monarch's only daughter, told how she was 'fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest mother's life'.

She said the love and respect shown to the Queen on her journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh and onto London had been 'both humbling and uplifting'.

Anne also thanked the nation for the 'support and understanding offered to my dear brother Charles' as he takes on his duties as King.

She ended her statement with the words: 'To my mother, The Queen, thank you.'

Princess Anne's statement was shared to the Royal Family's Instagram account along with the above photograph, which was first released to mark the late monarch's 90th birthday in 2016. The mother and daughter posed on a sofa in the White Drawing Room of Windsor Castle

Statement: Princess Anne released this statement (pictured) today. She offered her 'thanks to each and every one who share our sense of loss'

The Princess Royal (pictured) paid tribute to her mother and said it had been 'an honour and a privilege' to accompany the Queen on her final journeys as she travelled with the monarch's coffin back to London

Her tribute was shared to the Royal Family's Instagram account along with a photo of Anne and the Queen, which was first released to mark the late monarch's 90th birthday in 2016. The mother and daughter posed on a sofa in the White Drawing Room of Windsor Castle

The princess was in Scotland when the Queen was taken ill, and stayed at her bedside at Balmoral Castle, as senior royals rushed to say their final farewells.

Elizabeth II - the nation's longest reigning monarch - died peacefully on Thursday September 8.

Anne has taken on the duty of accompanying her mother's body back to London, with the Queen leaving Scotland for the last time bound for RAF Northolt on Tuesday.

The Queen's oak coffin, accompanied by Anne and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, travelled to Buckingham Palace where King Charles III, the Queen Consort, the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be waiting to receive it.

Anne (pictured at RAF Northolt in London) also thanked the nation for the 'support and understanding offered to my dear brother Charles' as he takes on his duties as King

The royal (pictured with Timothy Laurence, left) was by her mother's side throughout the last 24-hours of the monarch's life, and today travelled with her casket from Scotland to London

Also there will be the Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Duke of York, Princess Beatrice and husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Eugenie and husband Jack Brooksbank, Zara and Mike Tindall, Lady Louise Windsor and Viscount Severn, and Princess Margaret's children Lady Sarah Chatto and Earl Snowdon.

Anne's full statement said: 'I was fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest mother's life. It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys.

'Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting.

'We will all share unique memories. I offer my thanks to each and every one who share our sense of loss.

The Princess Royal watches as the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is taken to a hearse as it departs St Giles' Cathedral

Princess Anne, Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence watch as pallbearers carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II from St Giles' Cathedral

The bearer party carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II to a hearse as they prepare to depart from St Giles Cathedral

Princess Anne and her husband Sir Tim Laurence arrive at St Giles' Cathedral

'We may have been reminded how much of her presence and contribution to our national identity we took for granted.

'I am also so grateful for the support and understanding offered to my dear brother Charles as he accepts the added responsibilities of the monarch. To my mother, The Queen, thank you.'

The princess, who was with her mother leading up to her death, has also been beside her in the days since she died.

Last night, Anne made history when she became the first royal woman to take part in the 'Vigil of Princes' - standing vigil by her mother's coffin alongside her brothers King Charles, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward.

During the 20-minute vigil at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, Princess Anne, who wore her navy ceremonial uniform, kept her eyes fixed towards the floor.
An inmate discovered dead in his detention cell over the weekend was a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the county saying that in 2019, he and other detainees were tortured by jail officials who forced them to listen to the children's song "Baby Shark" for hours on end.

According to an Oklahoma County Detention Center press release, John Basco, 48, was discovered unconscious in his cell early Sunday morning.

Inmate Suing Over Alleged Torture Found Dead

He was pronounced dead after correctional personnel attempted to save his life, according to reports. Basco's death is the 14th this year at the prison, which has been chastised for inmate fatalities, escapes, and other issues, Fox News reported.

According to Mark Opgrande, a jail spokesperson, there were no clear indicators of foul play and detectives will look into the possibility of a drug overdose. The cause of death will be determined by the State Medical Examiner's Office.

Basco, who was arrested on a drug trafficking charge on Thursday, was one of many inmates who sued the county in federal court for allegedly being shackled to a wall and forced to listen to the song "Baby Shark" on loop for hours during separate events in 2019. In connection with the occurrences, a prison lieutenant retired and two detention officers were dismissed; all three face misdemeanor charges.

Cameron Spradling, Basco's attorney, told The Oklahoman that the circumstances surrounding his death were "disturbing" and urged the preservation of all evidence as the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation examines.

Basco has a long history of criminal convictions in Oklahoma County extending back to the mid-1990s, largely for drug, property, and weapons charges, according to Oklahoma jail records. He was sentenced to ten years in jail for second-degree murder in 2000 and released in 2007, according to documents.

Read Also: New York in State of Emergency Amid Poliovirus Threat: Here's Who Should Get Vaccine, Booster Shot Now

Oklahoma Jail's "Baby Shark" Lawsuit

Daniel Hendrick, Joseph Mitchell, and John Basco claimed in the Baby Shark lawsuit that they were taken from their cells at the Oklahoma County Detention Center by two officers, placed in a "standing stress position" with their arms handcuffed behind their backs, and then forced to listen to the popular children's song on repeat for hours.

The conduct was described in the claim as "tantamount to torture," and the two policemen involved, Christian Charles Miles and Gregory Cornell Butler Jr., were described as "wanton, depraved, and sadistic."

Per Daily Mail, it compared the behavior to heavy metal music played at Guantanamo Bay as a "enhanced interrogation" approach to undermine the will of Iraqi inmates, and referenced academic research to explain why the Baby Shark song by Pinkfong, which went viral in 2019, is particularly irritating.

Lawyers for the since-released detainees stated in the complaint that when they were forced to listen to the music in November and December 2019, they "presented no threat to the police or anyone else," were compliant, and were not aggressively defying any legal instruction.

The lawyers argue that the "prolonged restraint under the conditions described herein is tantamount to torture, was excessive, and not rationally related to any legitimate governmental or penological purpose," and that failing to address those issues rendered them "deliberately indifferent to citizens' health and safety."

Related Article: Eliza Fletcher Missing Case: Body of Memphis Teacher Found, Suspect Charged with First-Degree Kidnapping and Murder

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry travelled to Buckingham Palace this evening to join the entire Royal Family - including King Charles III, the Queen Consort and the Prince and Princess of Wales - as they received the Queen's coffin.

The US-based Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have remained in the UK following what was supposed to be a whistlestop tour of Europe, were spotted in their vehicle when arriving at the London royal residence.

Earlier today, the Queen's coffin left St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, and was flown to RAF Northolt, before being driven to the palace, where the late monarch will spend the night for the last time.

On the steps of the grand entrance Charles and Camilla were joined by William, Kate, Meghan and Harry along with the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their children Lady Louise and Viscount Severn, the Duke of York and his daughters Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank and Princess Beatrice and her spouse Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

Lady Sarah Chatto and Earl Snowdon, the children of Princess Margaret the Queen's sister, were among the group to pay their respects to their aunt.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry travelled to Buckingham Palace this evening to join the entire Royal Family - including King Charles III, the Queen Consort and the Prince and Princess of Wales - as they received the Queen's coffin

The US-based Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have remained in the UK following what was supposed to be a whistlestop tour of Europe, were spotted in their vehicle when arriving at the London royal residence

The Prince and Princess of Wales (pictured) en route to Buckingham Palace to join other senior royals and receive the coffin of the Queen, which was flown from Edinburgh today

Standing in the palace's quadrangle was a guard of honour formed from the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards and they gave the royal salute as the hearse came to a stop.

The bearer party, from the Queen's Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, carried the coffin into the bow room and in a poignant moment the sovereign's piper, Pipe Major Paul Burns of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, played a lament.

Prince Harry's appearance comes after a royal author today said the Duke's autobiography will be published as planned in November despite the Queen's death.

Tom Bower, whose biography of Meghan Markle was released earlier this year, claimed the Duke of Sussex was 'insisting' on the original date being honoured.

Prince Harry (pictured left with Meghan) today said his 'decade of service is not determined by the uniform he wears' after he was 'banned' from donning a military outfit at the Queen's funeral or the events leading up to it

The Duke of Sussex , who saw action on the front line during two tours of duty in Afghanistan , revealed he will wear a morning suit during the official commemorations. Pictured, the Duchess of Sussex

King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla arriving at Buckingham Palace, where they were meeting the entire royal family

Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank looked emotional as they arrived at Buckingham Palace this evening

Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi is pictured supporting Princess Beatrice as they receive Queen's coffin at Buckingham Palace

'I am told tonight that Harry is insisting that his book is published in November,' he told GB News. 'Apparently the publishers are not too certain, but he says if they don't publish it will be a breach of contract. That's what I'm told.

His decade of military service is not determined by the uniform he wears: Fuming Harry issues terse statement reminding the world of his years in the army after being banned from donning military outfits during events honouring the Queen Prince Harry today said his 'decade of service is not determined by the uniform he wears' after he was 'banned' from donning a military outfit at the Queen's funeral or the events leading up to it. The Duke of Sussex, who saw action on the front line during two tours of duty in Afghanistan, revealed he will wear a morning suit during the official commemorations. Harry has been prevented from wearing his military uniform at the late monarch's state funeral even though his disgraced uncle the Duke of York will be permitted to do so at the Vigil of the Princes in Westminster Hall. Following a series of reports about the issue, the Duke of Sussex's spokesman said today: '[Prince Harry] will wear a morning suit throughout events honouring his grandmother. 'His decade of military service is not determined by the uniform he wears and we respectfully ask that focus remain on the life and legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.' Only working royals - which Harry and Andrew are not - are being permitted to dress in uniform at five ceremonial occasions. These are the St Giles' Cathedral service in Edinburgh, which took place on Monday, and the coffin's procession to Westminster Hall, the vigil at the lying in state, the funeral in Westminster Abbey and the committal service in Windsor. But an exception has been made for Andrew who will wear a uniform as a 'special mark of respect' for the Queen when he stands guard around her coffin during the Vigil of the Princes. He is expected to be joined by the Queen's other children - the King, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex - at the proceedings during the lying in state later this week. It is likely to be a bitter blow for ex-solder Harry, who is proud of his decade in the forces, and who was saddened after being stripped of his honorary military roles including Captain General of the Royal Marines by the Queen post-Megxit. Today, a royal expert suggested the Queen would have wanted Harry to be able to wear his uniform during at the funeral and the events leading up to it. Camilla Tominey, who is associate editor at the Telegraph, said the decision looks 'out of step with what his beloved grandmother would have wanted'. She said the move, which she branded 'needless friendly fire', may be due to 'ongoing concerns' about the upcoming publication of Harry's tell-all autobiography. She added: 'All it has succeeded in doing is give the couple more ammunition for their next salvo against an institution they claim resented their presence from the very beginning.' Harry was forced to stop wearing military uniform at ceremonial events after he had to give up his honorary titles when he and his wife Meghan Markle stepped down as working royals. On Monday, Harry wrote of his special memories of when the Queen attended his passing out parade in 2006 when he became an officer in the British Army. He told of his 'first meeting' with his Granny as 'my Commander-in-Chief' - and was believed to be referring to the occasion when the late monarch made him grin and blush while she reviewed the cadets. Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. He went on to pay millions to settle, without admitting liability, a civil sexual assault case to a woman he claimed never to have met. In January, ahead of his legal settlement, the Queen stripped him of all of his honorary military roles, including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and he gave up his HRH style. Andrew, a former Royal Navy officer who served in the Falklands War, retained his rank as a Vice Admiral, and is expected to wear the coinciding uniform. Virginia Giuffre sued him for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew denied the claims. At the service of thanksgiving in St Giles' on Monday, Andrew was in a morning suit, while his siblings, including Edward who dropped out of the Royal Marines, wore military dress as they processed behind the Queen's coffin. Andrew wore eight medals and decorations - his South Atlantic Medal for service in the Falklands, his Silver, Golden, Diamond and Platinum medals, a Royal Navy Long Service Medals with Bars, Canadian Forces Decoration with Bar and New Zealand Commemoration Medal. At the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral in April 2021, the dress issue was dealt with by the Queen who decided that no members of the royal family should wear uniform. It was a break with tradition but seen as the most eloquent solution to the problem. Reports had suggested Andrew was considering wearing the uniform of an admiral. He was due to be promoted to Admiral in 2020 to mark his 60th birthday, but this did not go ahead following the fallout from his disastrous Newsnight appearance. Advertisement

'It's extraordinary. But on the other hand it fits the bill, because Harry and Meghan's finances depend entirely on the book and on Netflix.

'And also, I think they are convinced they're in the right and they want to get their own back.'

Today, a source close to the Duke denied the claims Bower made to GB News. Meanwhile, Penguin has previously announced that Harry will be donating proceeds from the book to charity.

Earlier this week, royal experts told MailOnline it would be a very bad look for Harry to publish anything controversial at this time.

Meanwhile, publishing sources have suggested that it may be pushed back to 2023 to allow Prince Harry time to write additional chapters on the passing of the Queen.

Phil Dampier suggested that despite Harry and William's walkabout at Windsor earlier this week, the rift between the Sussexes and the rest of the Royal family is 'as raw as ever'.

And fellow Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said he never thought the book should have been written but for it to be published now, even with an additional chapter discussing the late Queen, would be ill-advised.

He said: 'It is not a matter of a re-write, it's a matter of a re-think. Were it to be published, if it had anything sensational it would be tasteless.

'It is a matter for him how he wants to be perceived. With a new reign it is natural that his loyalty is to his father who is very fond of him.

'What better way to show his loyalty than by postponing, even permanently, the memoir which never should have been linked to the Queens jubilee year.

Mr Fitzwilliams said the damage to Prince Harry's reputation would naturally depend on what the book discusses, which is still a mystery.

'But it would be inappropriate for him to publish anything that had any controversial content especially at this time,' he said.

Mr Dampier said publishing the memoir would ruin any chance of a family reconciliation, adding: 'If Harry makes things worse there is no way back for him. That would be a line crossed and Charles and William would find it hard to forgive him.'

Sources allege neither King Charles nor Prince William, or their lawyers and advisers, have been given the opportunity to preview any parts of the manuscript.

The family has also received no specific information about the expected release date of the book, which is being published by Penguin Random House.

It was revealed in July that Harry and ghostwriter JR Moehringer had finished the book and the final manuscript had been signed off by lawyers. But now there might be a frantic re-write if the Prince does still intend to release the memoir this year.

According to a report in Radar earlier this week, a publishing expert has said that the book will be delayed to allow Harry time to write additional chapters to talk about the passing of the Queen.

'They dont want the book to be out of date before its even published,' the source added. 'It will also give Harry a chance to reflect on his thoughts about his father.'

Penguin Random House has described the book as 'a heartfelt memoir from one of the most fascinating and influential global figures of our time'.

The publisher's website says: 'Prince Harry will share, for the very first time, the definitive account of the experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons that have helped shape him.

'Covering his lifetime in the public eye from childhood to the present day, including his dedication to service, the military duty that twice took him to the frontlines of Afghanistan, and the joy he has found in being a husband and father, Prince Harry will offer an honest and captivating personal portrait, one that shows readers that behind everything they think they know lies an inspiring, courageous, and uplifting human story.'

Prince Harry, who will be donating any proceeds to charity, said he hopes his story will 'help show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think'.

Penguin Random House has not yet released a statement on whether the explosive release will be delayed in light of Queen Elizabeth's death.

Meanwhile, mourners tonight cheered and clapped in the rain as the new state hearse - which the late monarch helped to design - travelled down Constitution Hill and around the Queen Victoria Memorial, slowing on its approach, before driving through the gates of the palace and through the central arch into the quadrangle.

With a glass roof and large side windows, the hearse was designed to give members of the public a clear view, and featured interior lights that shone brightly in the gloomy London evening.

For one night the coffin will lie at rest in the palace's bow room before the monarch is handed to the nation to allow the public to pay their respects when she lies in state at the ancient Westminster Hall for four days.

The King will be joined by his sons William and Harry as they walk behind the coffin as it is transported tomorrow.

Charles, William and Harry - along with the Duke of York, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex - will follow the coffin on foot. Anne's son Peter Phillips and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence will also walk in the procession, as well as the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Snowdon.

The Queen Consort, the Princess of Wales, the Countess of Wessex and the Duchess of Sussex will travel by car.

Earlier today, the RAF Globemaster C-17 plane carrying Her Majesty's coffin from Edinburgh landed at RAF Northolt at 6.55pm after she spent 24 hours in St Giles' Cathedral - where tens of thousands of mourners paid their respects to Britain's longest-reigning monarch.

The Princess Royal, her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, and the Lord Chamberlain disembarked the plane and walked in silence to join the Reception Party, including Prime Minister Liz Truss and Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace, on the airfield.

Moments after the aircraft landed, Princess Anne issued a poignant statement telling of how she was 'fortunate to share the last 24 hours of my dearest Mother's life'.
Australian retailer Big W is selling an $8 pair of slides that have been described by fashionistas as a 'dupe' of the original Yeezy shoes.

Sydney TikToker Chelsea first spotted the budget buy in stores and shared an Instagram video encouraging followers to buy a pair.

'If you love a high-ticket item you bet I'll track down a dupe version of it and today Big W has the Yeezy slides for $8 in four colour ways!' she captioned the post.

'Better run for these ones before they sell out!'

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Sydney TikToker Chelsea spotted a pair of shoes from Big W (pictured) that look near-identical to Kanye West's 'Yeezy' slides

The Yeezy slides, which were originally designed by Kanye West, aren't available in Australia, but Adidas sell a near-identical version for $350 (pictured: Adidas Yeezy slides)

While the Yeezy slides, which were originally designed by Kanye West, aren't available in Australia, Adidas sell a near-identical version for $350.

But the affordable Big W 'Wave Zone' women's slides are perfect for those on a budget.

The 'no fuss' moulded design is ideal for summer and features textures soles to make it easy to slip the shoes on and off.

The product is available in store and online in brown, black, khaki and grey.

At first glance, there seem to be few design differences between the two shoes besides a variation in the shoe's sole.

It's likely the more expensive shoe would feel more comfortable to wear compared to the cheaper version.

But regardless of this, many said they need the pair from Big W 'immediately'.

One person commented: 'These are insanely cheap and they look heaps better than the Cotton On ones! brb (be right back) running to Big W!'

Another added: 'I want these!'

At first glance, there seem to be few design differences between the two shoes besides a variation in the shoe's sole (pictured: Big W slides)

It's likely the more expensive shoe would feel more comfortable to wear compared to the cheaper version (pictured: Adidas Yeezy slides)

Last month Chelsea stumbled across another 'dupe' of a popular pair of $200 sandals while browsing the aisles of Target.

She found the the Maia Double Band slides that look near-identical to the Alias Mae Paris sandals.

At the store Chelsea recorded her excitement and shared footage of the budget shoes in a TikTok video seen by thousands.

'I found the best dupes for the the Alias Mae sandals,' she wrote in the video.

Last month Chelsea stumbled across the Maia Double Band slides (pictured) at Target that look near-identical to the Alias Mae Paris sandals

The Alias Mae sandals (pictured) cost more than five times the price of the Target dupe, but are made with real leather

In the comments Chelsea confirmed she bought the Target shoes which are 'surprisingly comfortable'.

According to the product description, the sandals are made from soft faux leather and lightly cushioned innersole for comfort.

The Alias Mae sandals cost more than five times the price of the Target dupe but are made with real leather.

Both shoes are also available online in sizes five to 10, but the Target sandals would be idea for those on a budget (pictured: model wearing Alias Mae sandals)

Chelsea's video has since been viewed more than 30,000 times and eager shoppers said they'll 'be running' to Target to grab a pair.

Both shoes are also available online in sizes five to 10, but the Target sandals would be idea for those on a budget.
The team from an online-famous Australian lolly store have touched thousands with their sweet tribute to Queen Elizabeth II following her death on Thursday.

Sydney-based Sticky Lollies, who boast 6.6million followers on TikTok, made a special-edition peppermint 'LIZ' rock candy decorated with a crown and in the colours of red, white and blue.

Bags of the candy are unfortunately not available for purchase but will be sent in all orders to the UK free of charge until stocks last.

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Online famous sweet shop, Sticky Lollies Australia, in Sydney, have paid a touching tribute to Queen Elizabeth II in the form of a special-edition rock candy

A video was also posted to TikTok showing how the team made the sweets that racked up more than 3.2million views.

Hundreds of the lolly-maker's social media fans were delighted by the 'beautiful sentiment'.

'Such a kind and thoughtful gesture for those of us in the UK who are heartbroken,' one woman said.

'Thank you Sticky crew! This is a beautiful, thoughtful thing you have done. The effect of our Queen's passing is profound,' wrote another.

The team made a peppermint 'LIZ' rock candy decorated with a crown and in colour of red, white and blue exclusively and free for UK customers

'I love the idea of giving them to orders from the UK instead of trying to get in on the whole profiteering from her death,' a third replied.

Sticky Lollies attracted worldwide attention online when Annabelle King, the daughter of owner David, started posting behind-the-scenes videos of the Sydney store on social media.

Before Covid reached Australia in early 2020, Sticky, a family-run confectioner in The Rocks, attracted a near-constant audience at its front window, as tourists and passers-by stood transfixed by staff making hard-boiled lollies from scratch.

When sales dropped to 'zero' after Covid reached Australian shores in early 2020, lolly shop owner David King (right, with daughter Annabelle) turned to social media to save his business

But when the pandemic forced the closure of the country's international border in March 2020, Sticky - like countless other tourism-reliant businesses - saw its revenue drop to 'literally zero' in the space of three weeks.

Annabelle turned to TikTok, YouTube and Instagram in a desperate attempt to save the shop from collapse, live streaming videos of the theatrical lolly making that used to draw crowds to the window on Playfair Street.

'Sticky was on the brink of collapse after the pandemic seriously impacted sales. We went from busy to bust. Desperate to turn things around, I took to social media to save the struggling business and it worked,' the teenager told Business Insider.

That last-ditch decision not only propelled Sticky into the international spotlight, with viral videos reposted by stars including US rapper Snoop Dogg, but made it more profitable than ever with a revenue of 'well into seven figures' for 2021.

Mr King (pictured) opened Sticky with wife Rachel in 2001 after quitting their respective jobs in corporate law and pharmaceuticals

The Sticky TikTok account had more than one million followers in its first month of launching and now has a tidy six million watching their every candy creation.

The store is once again hiring new candy makers and retaining staff, rather than letting anyone go and they are set to turn over $1 million.

'I spend about three-quarters of my week taking photos of the candy-making process at Sticky for Instagram, or videos for TikTok and YouTube,' Annabelle said.

'I spend between two and five hours each day turning what I film in the shop into something interesting.'

Annabelle also cleans, serves customers - who are now returning in their hundreds - packs lollies and juggles the copious online orders, but she said the saving of the shop is entirely a team effort.

The small team of dedicated professionals produce 60 kilos of candy a day and none of it is wasted - with customers from the UK and US in particular purchasing the Sticky treats to the point of selling out.

'I spend about three-quarters of my week taking photos of the candy-making process at Sticky for Instagram, or videos for TikTok and YouTube,' Annabelle (pictured) said

The small team of dedicated professionals produce 60 kilos of candy a day and none of it is wasted - with customers from the UK and US in particular purchasing the Sticky treats to the point of selling out

'I'd love to say it was genius what we did, but it was more desperation!' Mr King told Daily Mail Australia in August.

What might sound like an obvious marketing strategy to millennials and Gen Z'ers was totally alien to Mr King and his wife Rachel, 47, who opened their sweet shop in 2001 after quitting their respective jobs in corporate law and pharmaceuticals.

I was distressed, I was devastated, I was in a daze. I thought it was the end.

They had a website, but for the 19 years before Covid hit their online presence drew in an average of just 10 orders per week.

But when the virus destroyed brick-and-mortar business as we knew it, they had no choice but to take their lollies fully online.

'Not only did all the tourists disappear, everyone cancelled their weddings and their corporate events,' Mr King recalled.

'I was distressed, I was devastated, I was in a daze. I thought it was the end. We were standing staff down, we were about to pull the doors down.'

Mr King and his team began livestreaming videos of the theatrical lolly making that used to draw crowds to the shop window on Playfair Street (pictured)

Determined to go down fighting, the Kings used JobKeeper payments and money borrowed from a long-time friend to invest in cameras - then set about filming.

Their first Facebook livestream drew in just 60 viewers, but a little over one year later Sticky has 581,000 YouTube subscribers, one million followers on Facebook and a monthly reach of about 45 million.

A comedian associate of Snoop Dogg stumbled across the feed and shared one of the videos to his own account, with the rapper himself later reposting it on Instagram.

Determined to go down fighting, Mr King (right) used JobKeeper payments and money borrowed from a long-time friend to invest in cameras - the rest is history

Sticky's TikTok fame is thanks to Mr King's daughter, Annabelle, 19, (pictured) who made the account and drew in 1,000 fans in the first 24 hours

That endorsement alone saw followers shoot up by 1.5 million in a single weekend.

'We were almost back to capacity before we got onto TikTok in July last year, but once my daughter convinced me that it was a thing, we went viral in a way we hadn't on other platforms,' Mr King said.

'It melted down the website.'

Just one year into the digital era, Sticky's business has increased by a whopping 230 percent.

The shop employs 10 staff 'working around the clock' and products often sell out 10 minutes after dropping online, with 80 percent of stock now being shipped around the world.

Taking his business to social media has reunited Mr King with the international customers shut out by Australia's border closure, with significant sales also coming from the Germany, Italy and Canada.

Thanks to its viral videos reshared by the likes of US rapper Snoop Dogg, Sticky now has 4.3 million followers on TikTok, 200,000 YouTube subscribers and 980,000 Facebook fans

Million dollar idea: Taking business online made Sticky more profitable than ever, with a revenue of 'well into seven figures' for 2021 according to Mr King

The website is restocked twice a week on Friday and Saturday mornings, with products selling out in 'about 40 minutes' every time.

'I hate to say it but at the moment we're actually disappointing customers all over the world!' Mr King said of the constant sell-outs.

While anyone with a smart phone and 4G connection can promote their business on social media, the lolly boss believes the key to success is to focus on the people behind the brand.

'What's worked for us is focusing on the social part of social media,' Mr King said.

'You have to be genuine and be "you" - I think you have to share the human in your business.'

The confectioner has enjoyed extraordinary success in the midst of the most catastrophic public health crisis in modern history, but not all small businesses have been so lucky

Sticky has enjoyed extraordinary success in the midst of the most catastrophic public health crisis in modern history, but not all small businesses have been so lucky.

Tourism-dependent shopping precincts like The Rocks have been decimated by the pandemic, with hundreds of stores - including many of Mr King's neighbours - unlikely to ever reopen.

'The Rocks is like 28 Days Later - it's worse now than it was at the start [of Covid]' he said.

'We were seeing people coming back, the fear was going away a bit, but this lockdown is probably the most severe its been in terms of trade for everyone here.

'I look around at the people I've worked next to for 20 years and it's difficult to see how they can open again. I don't know what the future holds, it's so bleak.'
An Australian mother-of-two has shared why she continues to breastfeed her five-year-old son beyond what's deemed to be the 'normal' timeframe.

Lauren McLeod, from Perth, is open and honest about her parenting decisions on Instagram with hope to inspire and reduce the stigma centred around breastfeeding.

But the 29-year-old doula - a person who provides support during childbirth - has been labelled as 'sick' and an 'abuser' for breastfeeding her son Bowie.

Lauren told FEMAIL she chooses to breastfeed because it's what has 'always worked best' for herself and two children.

Aussie mum Lauren McLeod, from Perth, (pictured, centre) is open and honest on Instagram about why she chooses to still breastfeed her five-year-old son Bowie (left)

But the 29-year-old doula - a person who provides support during childbirth - has been labelled as 'sick' and an 'abuser' for breastfeeding her son Bowie

Lauren told FEMAIL she chooses to breastfeed because it's what has 'always worked best' for herself and two children

'I've been very fortunate to have had a relatively smooth breastfeeding journey with minimal issues along the way, and the benefits outweigh any tough times we may come across,' Lauren said.

'My children and I have a beautiful bond, and I'm so grateful to be able to support their growing bodies and brains with my breastmilk, as well as providing that comfort and safety they feel while breastfeeding.

'I'm sure we would have had just as strong a bond if we weren't breastfeeding, but this is just what works for us.'

She also shares photographs on Instagram of herself feeding Bowie, five, and daughter Tigerlily, two, and says she has 'no time' for hate.

On Instagram Lauren outlined that as her children have aged, she has 'set boundaries along the way' and now only breastfeeds Bowie at bedtime.

She said the children find comfort in breastfeeding and it also 'soothes them to sleep faster', calms them if they're upset, offers pain relief and supports their immune systems.

On Instagram Lauren outlined that as her children have aged, she has 'set boundaries along the way' and now only breastfeeds Bowie at bedtime

She said the children find comfort in breastfeeding, and it also 'soothes them to sleep faster', calms them if they're upset, offers pain relief and supports their immune systems

Despite the nasty comments, Lauren turns her head to those who criticise her.

'I just don't read the comments sections on social media posts that aren't my own, so I don't see the majority of nasty things that are said about me,' she told FEMAIL.

Lauren said if someone's being negative online, she simply blocks them and deletes the comment.

'It's not worth my time and energy to respond to someone who has made up their mind about me already, and takes time out of their day to be nasty,' she said.

'At the end of the day, if someone doesn't agree with my choices then that's fine, that's their opinion.

She added how the positive impact left on other parents who choose to breastfeed 'outweighs the negativity'. And hundreds have praised Lauren for having the courage to sharing her story

'A lot of the negative opinions people have about breastfeeding are often based on cultural bias and lack of education on the topic, which is part of the reason I share my story - to help people understand that natural term breastfeeding is biologically normal.'

She added how the positive impact left on other parents who choose to breastfeed 'outweighs the negativity'.

And hundreds have praised Lauren for having the courage to sharing her story.
A rescue dog pop-up wine bar is coming to a major Australian city next month where guests can enjoy sipping and snacking while cuddling up to pooches in need of a home.

Sit Stay Society Wines will host its first-ever rescue dog pop-up bar for one weekend only in Sydney from October 7-9 with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to animal charity PetRescue.

Guests who wish to take one of the pups home with them can even start the adoption process with PetRescue and potentially welcome a new furry member of the family after the pop up is over.

Sydneysiders will soon be able to enjoy the first-ever rescue dog wine bar from October 7-9 with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to animal charity PetRescue

A herd of furry friends will take over a pop-up space in the inner-city suburb of Darlinghurst which will be transformed into a chic bar with outdoor furniture and faux-grass turf.

While getting up close and personal with the dogs, punters can enjoy a tasting of Sit Stay Society's brand new Big Dog Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio as well as three glasses of choice from the classic range.

There will also be a selection of charcuterie boards to nibble on and the dogs will be available for cuddles for an hour during each session.

Guests who wish to take one of the pups home with them can even start the adoption process and potentially have a new furry member of the family after the pop up is over

There will also be a selection of charcuterie boards to nibble on and the dogs will be available for cuddles for a hour during each session

Patrons can buy tickets for an 80-minute session in the afternoon or evening on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

Tickets are $50 each for over-18s only with all sales going towards the rescue partners involved in the event.

Sit Stay Society Wines are grown and produced in South Australia and donate 50 cents from each 750ml or 375ml bottle sold to PetRescue with $230,000 raised so far.
But few have been deterred by the claim and the falls remain a popular spot

One person said the waters get filled with faecal bacteria after a bout of rain

However locals warn its water may not be hygienic due to a nearby waste facility

Images of the secret swimming destination have been flooding social media

Woy Woy Falls and Pool is in Brisbane Water National Park an hour from Sydney

Adventurers are travelling to a secluded infinity pool at the bottom of a waterfall

As summer nears and the weather starts to warm up, adventurous Aussies are journeying into the wilderness in search of an incredible infinity pool carved into the side of a waterfall.

Woy Woy Waterfall Pool is near the town of the same name and lies within the Brisbane Water National Park, an hour and 15 minutes drive north of Sydney.

The falls cascade down a towering rock face into a man-made swimming pool - but locals warn its waters may not be as hygienic as it looks.

Scroll down for video

Adventurers are flocking to an incredible infinity pool beneath a stunning waterfall amid the warmer weather however locals warns its waters may not be as pristine as they seem

Woy Woy Waterfall Pool is near the town of the same name and lies within the Brisbane Water National Park, an hour and 15 minutes drive north of Sydney

One traveller attracted a lot of attention online when she posted a video of her visit to Woy Woy Waterfall Pool, however one viewer pointed out the murky brown water may be due to a nearby waste disposal.

'The water comes from a rubbish disposal nearby, definitely be careful putting head underwater,' they said.

'It's a nice spot, but don't swim in it after rains as linked to runoff and has lots of faecal coliforms,' another wrote.

While there is no evidence to back the commenters' claim, there is a waste management facility mere kilometres away that shares natural waterways with Woy Woy Falls.

The falls cascade down a towering rock face into a man-made swimming pool - but locals warn its waters may not be as hygienic as it looks

One traveller attracted a lot of attention online when she posted a video of her visit to the pool however one viewer pointed out the murky water may be due to a nearby waste disposal

While there is no evidence to back the commenters' claim, there is a waste management facility mere kilometres away that shares natural waterways with Woy Woy Falls.

However, few have been deterred by the rumour and continue to make the journey to the falls and share impressive snaps of the unique swimming spot on social media.

The reason for the construction of the pool is somewhat of a mystery and many have been speculating about its history online.

'Apparently it was used to put water into an abattoir nearby since they didn't have access to any other water on the property,' one person theorised.

However, few have been deterred by the rumour and continue to make the journey to the falls and share impressive snaps of the unique swimming spot on social media

The reason for the construction of the pool is somewhat of a mystery and many have been speculating about its history online

'I read just the other day. They believed it was build to service a need for water on the property that used to be in the area. I don't know how much truth there is to the story,' a second wrote.

Woy Woy Falls and Pool is hidden deep within the national park and, despite its popularity, there are many different ways to get there and it can be difficult to find.

Adventure blog Walk My World has pieced together a step-by-step guide to finding the waterfall.

Woy Woy Falls and Pool is hidden deep within the national park and, despite its popularity, there are many different ways to get there and it can be difficult to find

Tourists can access the stunning location by walking from a parking spot at the Tunnel Fire Trail turn off on Woy Woy Road.

The walk to the waterfall is about 5.4kilometres round trip and is not described as being difficult as most of the route is flat.

From the parking spot, there is about a 1km walk down the fire trail until bushwalkers reach a gate they can walk through.

About 700metres later, tourists will find a junction with signs for a number of trails including the Tunnel Track and Rocky Ponds.

Walk My World advises bushwalkers to turn left and continue down an unmarked track to a dead end with a pylon.

The walk to the waterfall is about 5.4kilometres round trip and is not described as being difficult as most of the route is flat

Tourists are advised to take safety precautions when jumping in for a dip as the ledge beside the pool is narrow and drops down to large rocks underneath

To the right of the pylon is a path that continues down to a shallow creek that bushwalkers can follow to where they catch a glimpse of the trough pool.

About 100metres down the creek there is a dead end. To the right is a narrow and rocky bush track - which can become muddy after heavy rainfall - taking bushwalkers down to the waterfall and pool.

The final stretch is a narrow ledge which can become wet and muddy.

Tourists are advised to take safety precautions when jumping in for a dip as the ledge beside the pool is narrow and drops down to large rocks underneath.

The area surrounding the pool is also described as being small and not conducive to large crowds. While the pool is said to be perfect for a waterfall shower and to cool off, it is too small for swimming.
The UK's soon-to-close child gender clinic has been accused of wrongly convincing gay and bisexual people that they are trans.

London-based Tavistock Clinic was ordered to close it doors in July after a damning report found it was 'not safe' for children.

The clinic, which opened in the 1980s, was criticised for allegedly rushing teenagers onto life-altering puberty blocking drugs.

LGB Alliance, a charity which touts itself as protecting the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people, has now accused the clinic of 'transing the gay away'.

It presented data that showed two-thirds of children referred to the clinic  the only one of its kind in Britain  identify as gay or bisexual. For comparison, roughly one in six people in the general population are thought to identify as non-heterosexual.

The charity claimed the decision to rely on gender-affirming treatments risked sterilising a 'disproportionate number of lesbian children'  as it treats three times more girls than boys.

Some of the drugs it prescribes to transitioning children can lead to infertility.

Keira Bell, who was prescribed the drugs when she was 16-years-old, replaced Mrs Evans as lead claimant in January 2020. She underwent breast-removal surgery but regretted transitioning, claiming she was given puberty blockers after 'superficial conversations' with social workers' and was receiving testosterone shots a year later'. Ms Bell, who said she was suffering from anxiety and depression at the time, said medics should have considered her comorbidities, 'not just reaffirm my naive hope that everything could be solved with hormones and surgery'. She said Tavistock 'failed to protect young patients' and had 'conducted what amounted to uncontrolled experiments on us'

HOW THE TAVISTOCK SCANDAL UNFOLDED 2005: Sue Evans, a nurse at Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust's Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), warned that youngsters were being assessed too quickly and their treatment was influenced by transgender rights groups. 2009: GIDS became a national service responsible for treating all children in England with gender and identity issues. Demand skyrocketed, with fewer than 100 patients referred to the clinic in 2010, jumping more than 2,500 by 2018. 2018: A senior member of staff told the trust's board that children were wrongly fast-tracked into changing their gender  with the mental health and social reasons behind their wishes being overlooked February 2019: An internal report by Dr David Bell, who was on Tavistock's board, set out how patients were suffering 'long term damage' because GIDS could not 'stand up to the pressure' from 'highly politicised' campaigners and families. February 2019: Consultant psychotherapist Dr Marcus Evans  who had worked at the trust for decades and whose wife Sue first raised concerns about its practices in 2005  resigned in protest at the Tavistock's response to doctors who raised the alarm. July 2019: Dr Kirsty Entwhisle, a psychologist at GIDS Leeds hub, went public with accusations that staff misled patients and made decisions about young people's 'bodies and lives' without 'robust evidence'. October 2019: Former GIDS nurse Sue Evans and an anonymous mother of a 15-year-old GIDS patient launched the first legal action against Tavistock. They claimed the trust should not prescribe puberty blockers to children who could not give informed consent. January 2020: Keira Bell, who was prescribed the drugs when she was 16-years-old, replaced Mrs Evans as lead claimant. She underwent breast-removal surgery but regretted transitioning, claiming she was given puberty blockers after 'superficial conversations' with social workers' and was receiving testosterone shots a year later'. December 2020: In response to the claim, the High Court decided that under-16s could not give informed consent to the treatment. 2020: NHS England asks paediatrician Dr Hillary Cass to conduct a review into Tavistock. September 2021: Tavistock appealed the decision and it was overturned by the Court of Appeal, which claimed the previous ruling was 'inappropriate' and placed patients, parents and medics in a 'very difficult position'. September 2021: Sonia Appleby, the trust's safeguarding lead, awarded 20,000 by tribunal after claiming trust managers tried to stop her from carrying out her role when staff raised concerns. January 2021: The UK's health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission, gave GIDS the lowest rating it can, 'inadequate', after finding 'significant concerns' about how it operates. It demanded improvement. March 2022: In an interim report, Dr Cass hit out at the lack of 'open discussion' at the trust about its treatment, which was not subject to quality controls. She found other mental health issues were 'overshadowed' in favour of gender identity issues when children were referred to GIDS. She called for a 'fundamentally different service model' and 'rapid' research on the use of the drugs after she found 'insufficient evidence' on their benefits. July 2022: In a letter to the NHS, Dr Cass called for regional centres to be commissioned for gender identity treatment, with 'strong links' to mental health services and academic hubs that conduct ongoing research. July 2022: The NHS confirmed that GIDS will be replaced by regional centres at existing children's hospitals, which will provide more holistic care with 'strong links to mental health services'. Advertisement

The revelations came to light during a legal dispute over whether the LGB Alliance, founded in 2019, can identify as a charity.

Trans charity Mermaids, a trans youth charity, appealed against the Charity Commission's decision to grant charity status to LGB Alliance.

Mermaids argues that the LGB Alliance causes more harm than benefits to the public by discriminating against transgender people  and therefore cannot be a charity.

In its defence, LGB Alliance claims it is needed to protect young gay people against treatment given to trans children who want to change gender.

According to The Telegraph's account of the hearing in London yesterday, the LGB Alliance said the 'greatest threat' to the community it represents is gender dysphoria treatment.

This is because health staff are wrongly convincing gay children that they are trans, LGB Alliance claims.

The Tavistock clinic, which has treated 9,000 children since it opened in 1989, has faced a myriad of accusations that it rushed children to change gender.

Concerns were first raised in 2005, when one of its nurses warned youngsters were being assessed too quickly and their treatment was influenced by transgender rights groups.

LGB Alliance said 60 per cent of boys and 70 per cent of girls referred to Tavistock are gay or bisexual, while just 17 per cent of the population are not heterosexual.

And there has been a huge 4,400 per cent increase in the number of girls referred to the clinic, with triple the number of girls attending the clinic compared to boys.

Lawyers for LGB Alliance equated this with 'transing the gay away' and said it may leave a disproportionate number of lesbian children unable to have children.

Some youngsters referred to the clinic were given puberty blockers, which stop any physical changes, such as breast development and facial hair.

Little is known about their long-term effects and almost all patients who receive them go on to start treatment with cross-sex hormones, which cause irreversible changes such as breast development and deepening of the voice. They can also cause infertility. 100%

Keira Bell was prescribed the drugs by the clinic when she was 16 and has since claimed she was given them after 'superficial conversations' with social workers'.

Ms Bell, who said she was suffering from anxiety and depression at the time, has previously said that medics should have considered her comorbidities, 'not just reaffirm my naive hope that everything could be solved with hormones and surgery'.

She said Tavistock 'failed to protect young patients' and had 'conducted what amounted to uncontrolled experiments on us'.

LGB Alliance also argued it works to protect gay people from 'homophobic' attacks, including lesbians who are pressured to 'drop their sexual boundaries' and have sex with those born as men but identify as women.

Its barrister argued that LGBT charity Stonewall has labelled those not wanting to date trans people as discriminatory, comparing it to refusing to date 'people of colour, fat people or disabled people'.

This could trigger conflict between those attracted to members of the same sex and trans people, with the former needing a charity to 'represent them in this conflict', LGB Alliance's barrister said.

However, LGBT Consortium, an membership group for Britain's LGBT groups, denied that any bodies were 'transing the gay away' and accused LGB Alliance of being formed to attack trans people.

Paul Roberts, head of LGBT Consortium, said it was 'transphobic' to claim 'a person with a female body cannot be a gay man'.

It comes after Tavistock was finally ordered to close its doors in July after Dr Hilary Cass, a top paediatrician leading an NHS-commissioned review into the clinic, told health chiefs that the centre needed to be overhauled.

In an interim report in March, Dr Cass hit out at the lack of 'open discussion' at the trust about its treatment, which was not subject to quality controls.

She found other mental health issues were 'overshadowed' in favour of gender identity issues when children were referred to GIDS.

Dr Cass called for a 'fundamentally different service model' and 'rapid' research on the use of the drugs after she found 'insufficient evidence' on their benefits.

In a letter to NHS England, she called for regional centres to be commissioned for gender identity treatment, with 'strong links' to mental health services and academic hubs that conduct ongoing research.

The NHS subsequently confirmed that the clinic will be replaced by these local hubs at existing children's hospitals, which will provide more holistic care with 'strong links to mental health services'.

The closure of the service for young people at Tavistock has been hailed as a victory by campaigners who have previously accused GIDS of rushing children onto puberty blocking drugs.
An NHS hospital was today accused of putting a stroke victim in a rat-infested room and leaving her to sleep in her own faeces.

Grim footage posted online shows filthy floors allegedly covered in rat droppings at Homerton University Hospital in Hackney, east London.

An unidentified woman, admitted to the facility following a stroke, was allegedly put in the room, which MailOnline understands is next to a ward.

Her daughter, who has terminal lung cancer, says she was forced to visit the hospital nearly every day during her mother's stay to change her, after being horrified to find she was left to sleep in her own excrement.

A Homerton Hospital spokesperson said it takes the concerns 'seriously' and will 'continue to liaise with pest control specialists'.

It said it has spoken with the patient's family so they can 'raise any concerns they may have with us'.

Footage posted online shows filthy floors allegedly covered in rat droppings at Homerton University Hospital in Hackney, east London. An unidentified patient, admitted to the hospital following a major stroke, was allegedly put in the room, which is understood to be next to a ward

Her daughter, who has terminal lung cancer, says she was forced to visit the hospital nearly every day during her mother's stay to change her, after being horrified to find she was left to sleep in her own excrement

Kwajo Tweneboa, a social housing campaigner from London, shared the horrifying video on Twitter.

He said it was sent by the daughter of the woman admitted to hospital. Neither were named.

It shows filthy wooden floors covered in dirt and what appears to be droppings from a rat or mouse.

MailOnline understands that it is a side room attached to the hospital's main ward and the hospital is looking into the pest problem.

Mr Tweneboa said the stroke patient has also 'been left to sleep several times in her own faeces', with a picture purporting to show one of the incidents.

The patient's daughter, who shared the gritty footage and image with Mr Tweneboa, is said to be a terminally-ill stage four cancer patient.

She claims she was forced to visit and change her mother's clothing and bedding 'pretty much every day' over concerns hospital staff were failing to do so, according to Mr Tweneboa.

A spokesperson from the hospital told MailOnline: 'We take these concerns seriously and continue to liaise with pest control specialists to address the problem of mice accessing one of our inpatient wards at the rear of our hospital.

'We have spoken to the family of the patient featured in a recent Tweet to enable them to raise any concerns they may have with us.

'The safety and care of our patients is paramount to us and we will make every effort to ensure that the quality of care is maintained at all times.'

One Twitter-user, who tweeted as Vix and claimed she was a nurse, said the images were 'disgraceful and repulsive'.

She said: 'I don't care how short staffed they are there, I'm a nurse [and] I'd not EVER leave a patient in that filth.

'Report. Complain, loudly. Housekeeping [and] medical staff need to be accountable.'

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), which gave the hospital an 'outstanding' rating during a 2020 inspection, said it has shared concerns with the inspector responsible for the hospital.

A CQC spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We are following up with the trust in response to the Twitter post to understand what measures they have in place to ensure the premises are clean, that infection prevention and pest control are prioritised and that patient needs are being met.

'This includes checking that every action possible is being taken to identify and mitigate any safety risks and ensure the welfare and safety of patients  in line with national guidance.'
A blood test that could detect 50 types of cancer has shown 'promise' in early trials, scientists said  after it spotted the disease in previously healthy people.

New York-based scientists detected 35 cases of cancer using the test, but another 57 people were wrongly diagnosed with the condition.

It was not possible to determine its accuracy because the 6,000 participants were not screened using standard tests at the same time.

The Galleri blood test uses a single swab to look for a signal made by many cancers, including types affecting the breasts, lungs and kidneys. Scientists say it has great promise in detecting some cancers  like pancreatic  early, whereas current tests can only detect them in later stages when survival chances are reduced.

It is available on prescription for $949-a-pack, but experts say the test should not be used in place of standard screening procedures.

Scientists at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who carried out the research said although the test was good, it still needed to be refined. It comes just a day after President Joe Biden unveiled plans to halve cancer deaths to 300,000 a year by 2042 by piling millions of dollars into developing blood tests for it.

New York-based scientists detected 35 cases of cancer using the test, but another 57 people were wrongly diagnosed with the condition (file photo)

The study results were presented today at the annual Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) held in Paris, France.

The trial recruited 6,621 people over the age of 50 years old who were otherwise healthy.

Each had a blood sample taken which was run through the Galleri test to check for cancers.

How does the Galleri cancer test work? The Galleri cancer test works by screening the blood for signals that could indicate cancer. Its developers say the test can detect over 50 types of cancer, including ones that are usually only picked up in late stages by routine screening. It works by looking for chemical changes in fragments of genetic code  cell-free DNA (cfDNA)  that leak from tumors into the bloodstream. Some cancer tumors are known to shed DNA into the blood a long time before a person would start experiencing symptoms. Galleri says it takes around 10 days to turn around a test. They add that their test should be used in conjunction with normal screening programs. Scientists found in clinical trials that the test detected cancer correctly in 51.5 per cent of cases. The test is available on prescription in the U.S. for about $949-a-pack. Source: Galleri Advertisement

The tests work by searching for cancer signals in the blood dumped by tumors, and is able to pick up more than 50 types because each makes the same distinct signal.

Results showed 92 patients tested positive for cancer.

But after each was put through routine screening it emerged only 35 (or 38 percent of the total) actually had the disease.

Separate screening was not carried out at the time to check the patients who got the all-clear for some cancers.

But a year after the trial 86 more participants were diagnosed with cancer.

It was not clear whether they already had the cancer at the time the test was carried out, or if it was not present when the test was done.

Fourteen of the cancers detected were in stage I or II  when they are easier to treat , and seven were found in people who had cancer in the past.

A type of circulatory cancer called lymphoma was the most common detected (12 patients), followed by cancer of the breasts (five), blood (three), colon and rectum (two), prostate (two) and throat (two).

There was also one case of liver, pancreatic, small intestine, ovary, uterus, bone, plasma cell and bile duct cancer.

And one patient who tested positive using the tests was found to have both breast and uterus cancer, the scientists said.

Data was not collected on whether the survival chances of patients improved thanks to the earlier diagnosis.

Commenting on the research, a release from the ESMO conference said the test showed 'promise' in the study.

Dr Deb Schrag, the oncologist who led the research, said: 'This study indicates that hope is on the horizon for detecting cancers that are currently unscreenable, but of course much more work is needed and, with experience and larger samples, [this] will improve.

'The tests need to be refined so they are better at distinguishing tumor DNA from all the other DNA that is circulating in the blood.'

It comes after Biden announced a boost for his 'cancer moonshot' programme yesterday saying he planned to halve deaths from it over the next two decades.

To achieve this the President said he would funnel millions of dollars into developing diagnostic tests for cancer. The final amount is yet been revealed.

The battle against cancer is personal for Biden who lost his son Beau to brain cancer in 2015.
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Pagani, arguably the sexiest supercar brand in the world, has this week taken the covers off its third model, the Utopia.

Unveiled on Monday evening by the flamboyant Italian marque, the follow-up to the jaw-dropping Zonda and Huayra is an equally-stunning piece of four-wheeled art that will be produced in limited numbers - just 99, in fact.

Traditionalists will salute the brand's decision to opt for a monstrous V12 twin-turbocharged petrol engine and manual gearbox rather than heading down the same electric route taken by rivals, with eccentric boss Horacio Pagani recently stating that current battery technology is too heavy and lacking in emotion to be fitted to a car that wears the company's famed badge.

Prices are said to start from around 2.2million, though all 99 cars have already been promised to customers who likely already have a Zonda or Huayra in their collections - possibly both.

World's sexiest supercar maker's trilogy model: This is the new Pagani Utopia, which costs in excess of 2million and the production allocation has already sold out

Pagani says it has been developing electric drivetrains for the last four years, but it appears to be some way off bringing its first zero-emission model to market.

Instead, the new Utopia 'goes against the main trends of the time' with 'no heavy batteries' and 'no hybrid power', the maker says in its official announcement.

Horacio has argued in recent weeks that the climate impact of low-production-volume supercars is almost irrelevant, no matter how big the engine. And the Utopia's powerplant is certainly substantial.

It's a Mercedes-AMG developed twin-turbocharged 6.0-litre V12 petrol - a far cry from the hybrid powertrains being conceived by many of its supercar rivals, including Ferrari, which is based just 20 kilometres down the road from Pagani's HQ.

The thunderous motor produces 864bhp, which is 58bhp more powerful than the most potent Huayra that came before it.

The Utopia 'goes against the main trends of the time' with 'no heavy batteries' and 'no hybrid power'. Instead, it uses a twin-turbo 6.0-litre V12 engine developed by Mercedes-AMG. Pagani says electric-car tech is currently not suitable for its models

 Slide me  Unveiled on Monday evening by the flamboyant Italian marque, the follow-up to the jaw-dropping Zonda and Huayra is an equally-stunning piece of four-wheeled art that will be produced in limited numbers - just 99, in fact

Horacio Pagani, the brand's boss, argued in recent weeks that the climate impact of low-production-volume supercars is almost irrelevant, no matter how big the combustion engine

It's also lighter than its predecessor, tipping the scales at a Ford Fiesta-like weight of 1,280kg - some 67kg less than Huayra. This is mostly thanks to an evolution of the brand's monocoque chassis, which has been upgraded with new composite materials, including 'Carbo-Titanium' and 'Carbo-Triax', while a new 'A-class' carbon fibre is used for the bodywork.

While the combination of these vital elements should, in theory, help to better the Huayra's 0-to-62mph time of 3.5 seconds and 220mph-plus top speed, Pagani has remained tight lipped about its outright performance figures for now.

What we do know is that Pagani has reverted back to a manual gearbox for the 99 cars it has promised to make as part of the brand's underlying bid to deliver ultimate driving pleasure to its well-heeled customers - which happens to be one of three new pillars the Utopia, which the brand refers to as an 'Act III', aims to achieve.

Building on top of its portfolio for creating 'exceptionally fast and beautiful cars', the company says its clients have also asked for the third-generation model to add simplicity and lightness in addition to improved enjoyment.

With fun being a major factor for customers, Pagani has taken the bold decision to revert to a seven-ratio manual 'box co-developed with British transmission specialists, Xtrac

While its electrified rivals are forced to adopt automatics, the flamboyant Italian supercar brand has taken a step back to the iconic supercars of yesteryear with this glorious gated manual shift design

Horacio Pagani claims the Utopia has been under development for six years, including 'more than four thousand stylistic drawings, ten scale models, one wind tunnel model, two 1:1 scale models and eight complete prototypes'

With fun being a major factor for customers, it has taken the bold decision to delete the seven-speed sequential automatic transmission used in its second model and in its place is a seven-ratio manual 'box co-developed with British specialist company, Xtrac.

While its electrified rivals are forced to adopt automatics, Pagani has taken a step back to the iconic supercars of yesteryear with a gated manual shift design, as was the case when the brand first hit headlines with its Zonda, built from 1999.

'All this [is] to ensure that the car would respond better than ever to its driver's every action and work with them to be the purest form of driving, a 'classic' experience defined in new ways,' it says.

'However intelligent automatic transmissions may have become, nothing can replace the drivers own mastery of the gearchanges: the prevailing logic is his alone, each change up or down is totally unique and depends solely on his decision and good judgment, the exact combination of circumstances, the nature of the road and the mood of the moment,' the company goes on.

There is also the choice of an 'automated manual' - likely with paddle shifts - for those clients who would prefer not to have the conventional stick shift.

Pagani Utopia: What we know so far On sale: Sold out Price: Over 2million Production: 99 examples Engine: Mercedes-AMG 6.0-litre twin-turbo V12 petrol Power: 864bhp @6,000RPM Transmission: Xtrac 7-speed manual or automated manual Acceleration 0-62mph: TBC Top speed: TBC Dry weight: 1,280kg Chassis: Monocoque Carbo-Titanium and Carbo-Triax construction Suspension: Forged aluminuim alloy independent double wishbone with helical springs and electronically controlled shock absorbers Brakes: Brembo 4-ventilated carbon-ceramic discs brake unit, 410x38 mm with 6 pistons monolithic callipers at the front and 390x34 mm with 4 pistons monolithic callipers at the rear Wheels: APP forged monolithic aluminuim alloy, 21 at the front and 22 at the rear Tyres: Pirelli PZero Corsa 265/35 R21 at the front and 325/30 R22 at the rear (also sold with Pirelli SottoZero for driving in low temperatures)

Horacio Pagani claims the Utopia has been under development for six years, including 'more than four thousand stylistic drawings, ten scale models, one wind tunnel model, two 1:1 scale models and countless ideas, research and experiments on eight complete prototypes'.

While the company describes the design as 'so different from anything Pagani has offered us before,' after the shortest of glimpses it is pretty easy for any petrolhead to guess which supercar firm has built the Utopia.

Customers were brought into the development phase to shape the new model, which has resulted in 'softer contours' that are said to give it 'a new expression, a new outline' that 'sticks in your memory from the first time you see it'

 Slide me  It wouldn't be a supercar without having a pair of butterfly doors. These fitted to the Utopia add plenty of drama

Design bosses have ditched big wings and gaping air intakes often incorporated by its supercar competitors. Instead, the Utopia has a cleaner look and aerodynamic performance and downforce is generated by the car's natural shape

Customers were brought into the development phase to shape the new model, which has resulted in 'softer contours' that are said to give it 'a new expression, a new outline' that 'sticks in your memory from the first time you see it'.

It says it has ditched big wings and gaping air intakes, instead tuning its aerodynamic performance and generating greater downforce from the car's natural shape.

There are a few design features that are said to hark back to the 1950s, with the headlights penned to replicate that of a Vespa scooter, and other elements inspired by speedboats of the generation.

The forged wheels which have a turbine-shaped carbon-fibre extractor that draws hot air away from the brakes to stop them overheating and to reduces turbulence under the body

Some of the design features that have been retained. This includes the titanium quad exhaust outlets that typify all Pagani models

While the first batch of 99 coupes is already sold out, a convertible and track version is expected to follow later in the Utopia's life

Other elements are for function over form, such as the forged wheels which have a turbine-shaped carbon-fibre extractor that draws hot air away from the brakes to stop them overheating and to reduces turbulence under the body.

Features that have been retained include the titanium quad exhaust outlets that typify all Pagani models. And it wouldn't be a supercar without having a pair of butterfly doors.

Inside, the customers' calls for more simplicity have been headed with the restricted use of large digital screens, with just one in the driver's instrument cluster. The rest of the clocks are purely analogue to make them easy-to-read on the move. Some even subtly reveal parts of their mechanisms 'as if it were revealing the skeleton movement'.

The steering wheel is completely new and milled from a solid piece of aluminium, while the pedal box is also made from one metal block piece. The gated gear shifter and other switches and dials are also crafted from lightweight metals.

Inside, the customers' call for more simplicity have been headed with the restricted use of large digital screens, with just one in the driver's instrument cluster. The rest of the clocks are analogue

The steering wheel is completely new and milled from a solid piece of aluminium, while the pedal box is also made from one metal block piece

The thunderous mid-mounted motor produces 864bhp, which is 58bhp more powerful than the most potent Huayra that came before it

Purist are likely to fall in love the with Utopia, given it could be one of the last combustion-engine supercars made before the market-wide shift to EVs

'We put our passion, effort and sacrifice into creating something timeless and cutting-edge in terms of technology,' Horacio Pagani said.

'After being completely absorbed by this strenuous creative process, the ideals represented by the project became so intimate to me, that any attempt to describe it would have seemed inadequate.'

A convertible and track version is expected to follow later in the Utopia's life.
Following the death of the chairman of the board of Russia's largest private oil company in what Russian news agencies described as an accidental fall from a hospital window, questions were raised once more about whether suspicious deaths among Russian oligarchs and critics of President Vladimir Putin have become far too common to be entirely coincidental.

Initially, his company Lukoil claimed Ravil Maganov "died following a serious illness" on Thursday, but provided no additional information.

Putin Allegedly Orders To Kill Seven Russian Oligarchs

According to later Russian news reports, his corpse was discovered on the grounds of Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital, where Russia's political and financial elite are frequently treated.

According to sources, Maganov looked to have fallen from a sixth-story window. Other reports claim he stumbled and fell while smoking, and a pack of cigarettes was discovered near the window. Investigators are also looking into the potential of suicide.

Lukoil was one of the few Russian firms to officially demand an end to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, asking for the "prompt termination of the armed war" in March. Maganov was not the only Lukoil executive to die under strange circumstances since the Kremlin launched a full-scale offensive against its western neighbor in late February, as per Yahoo.

In May, Aleksandr Subbotin, a former senior manager, was discovered dead in the basement of a home in a Moscow suburb. According to Russian media, the residence belonged to Shaman Magua, a self-proclaimed healer who practiced purification rites.

Subbotin, according to Magua, came to his residence under the influence of alcohol and drugs and asked that the healer, whose true name is Aleksei Pindurin, conduct a hangover curing ceremony. According to investigators, the preliminary reason of Subbotin's death was heart failure.

However, it was Ravil Maganov's death that drew the media's attention, as it was the latest in a spate of unintentional self-defenestrations and other strange deaths of persons who either gained from Putin's good connections or were a thorn in his side - or both.

At least six more Russian oligarchs have died in mysterious circumstances since the crisis in Ukraine began. All had tight ties to the Kremlin, vast riches, a connection to Russian gas, and an anti-war posture toward Ukraine. International investigators are beginning to suspect that these deaths were staged suicides or killings in response to their position on the Kremlin's assault towards Ukraine or their ties to corruption in the Russian gas corporation Gazprom.

According to others, they may have been killed since their deaths resembled one another. An anti-Kremlin Telegram channel General SVR claims that Maganov was murdered on Putin's instructions. Law enforcement officials stated that no suicide note was located at the location. However, they are only the latest strange deaths among the Kremlin's former inner circle since the outbreak of the Ukraine war.

Alexander Tyulakov, a top Gazprom finance and security executive at the deputy general director level, was discovered dead by his lover on February 25 - the day after Putin sent his forces into Ukraine. Just three weeks previously, Leonid Shulman, chief of transport at Gazprom Invest, was discovered dead in the same luxury gated housing estate in the Leningrad area.

The 60-year-old was discovered in a pool of blood on his bathroom floor with several stab wounds. Meanwhile, affluent Vladislav Avayev, 51, a former Gazprombank vice president and Kremlin official, was discovered shot dead in his posh Moscow penthouse. Sergey Protosenya, 55, was discovered dead by hanging in Spain a few days later. Protosenya was a former vice chairman of Novotek, a Kremlin-connected corporation.

Read Also: [Watch] "Rude" Meghan Markle Sparks Online Debates on What Duchess of Sussex Tells Royal Aide During Confrontation Over Bunch of Flowers

Russian Lawmakers Urge Putin To Resign

In March, the death of Russian businessman Vasily Melnikov was discovered in his fancy residence in Nizhny Novgorod with stab wounds. Here are the clues that imply the seven were murdered, amid suspicions that Putin is purging his closest circle as his invasion of Ukraine stalls.

Russian sources, including a former FSB colonel on the Telegram chat channel, have all labeled at least five of the purported suicides as "suspicious." Gennady Gudkov said on Mozhem Obyasnit - which means We Can Explain - that there were similarities in the deaths of top managers and their families from prominent gas corporations, The Sun reported.

Some local lawmakers have signed a petition demanding Vladimir Putin quit, and his terrifying Chechen loyalist friend, the LORD or Ramzan Kadyrov, has "warned" that he may be "forced to meet with the leadership."

Two groups of municipal officials from Moscow, St Petersburg (Putin's hometown), and Kolpino signed petitions calling for Putin's resignation last week. On Monday, September 12, a third group of St Petersburg legislators joined the demand, as per DailyO.

Related Article: Xi Jinping Set To Leave China To Meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Battle for Domination Over West

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A few weeks ago, I left my mobile phone in the back of a taxi. I was laden with bags and had briefly put it on the seat next to me while I paid. By the time Id realised, the driver had disappeared around the corner.

Oh, the panic. Like so many people, I am lost without my phone. It has all my family and friends numbers, my personal and work emails and, most alarmingly, my many banking apps.

Fortunately, thanks to Apples miraculous app Find My iPhone, I was able to get my mobile back.

Risk: Many people keep their mobiles and bank cards in the same place, such as a handbag, but few would realise how vulnerable this makes them to fraud

This clever tool allows you to track on a map where your phone has gone and make it play a sound so someone (the taxi driver in this case) can find it and call a phone number which will flash up.

But the ordeal hammered home just how reliant we have become on these gadgets. Its why Im militant about backing up my phone so that even if it goes missing, my photos, files and contact details are safe.

I also wrote my husbands number on a piece of paper which I keep in my purse, so I can call him in an emergency.

Then a story posted on Twitter last month really set my alarm bells ringing. Charlotte Morgan described how someone had broken into her gym locker, stolen her smartphone and bank card and gone on an 8,000 spending spree.

When her current account ran dry, the criminal even managed to transfer thousands of pounds from her savings to continue spending.

And the worst part was that her bank, Santander, had refused to refund a penny. It claimed she must have been negligent and kept her Pin with her debit card  which was, of course, nonsense.

As the Mail reported last Thursday, it has since emerged she is not the only victim. Police are hunting a prolific thief suspected of stealing thousands of pounds from women in gyms across London. One claims to have lost close to 20,000 in an hour and a half.

But just how did this happen? Weve always been told crooks cant get into our mobile banking accounts. After all, the phone itself is protected by a passcode.

And the apps are secured by facial recognition or fingerprint technology. Well, an investigation by BBC Radio 4s You And Yours claims to have worked it out.

In order to spend big sums of money using your card, fraudsters need your Pin  which is (somewhat unbelievably) available to view in your mobile banking app.

To access this, you would usually need to enter a passcode or unlock it using your face or thumbprint. But if the crook has your card, they can download your mobile banking app onto their phone.

The bank will want to check its really you doing this, so they will send a text message with a one-time authorisation passcode.

But if the criminal also has your phone, they can see this (even if it is locked), get into your account, change the passwords and, crucially, get their hands on your Pin  all within a few minutes.

Banks need to jump on this glaring security flaw fast. Lots of people keep their mobiles and bank cards in the same place. Few would realise how vulnerable this makes them to fraud.

I also find it hard to believe that the banks  which regularly brag about their sophisticated fraud detection systems  didnt freeze these victims cards sooner.

You might expect one unusual transaction to go unnoticed. Yet Charlotte says her card was used to make multiple purchases totalling thousands of pounds at one Apple store  where she has never shopped in her life.

Eventually, under pressure from the Press, Santander agreed to reimburse her. But it again raises serious concerns about why some banks are still so quick to blame the victim and deny refunds.

One lesson Ive learned is to change your phones security settings so messages dont flash up if the device is locked.

That way crooks wont be able to see any verification texts sent by your bank. And ensure your phones sim card is protected by a password.

In the meantime, perhaps we need to rethink how much personal data we store on phones. As this tale shows, our mobiles have left us worryingly exposed to scammers.

v.bischoff@dailymail.co.uk
Goldman Sachs will cut jobs as early as this month after pausing the annual cull for two years during the pandemic.

The Wall Street giant typically trims about 1 per cent to 5 per cent of its staff each year, and the 2022 cuts will likely be in the lower end of that range, according to Reuters. The staff reductions may begin as early as next week.

Goldmans headcount grew to 47,000 at the end of June, up 15 per cent from a year earlier.

Goldman Sachs typically trims about 1% to 5% of its staff each year, and the 2022 cuts are expected to be in the lower end of that range

A 1 per cent cut to staffing would imply a reduction of about 500 bankers. The investment bank declined to comment.

In July, Goldman Sachs warned that it might slow hiring as well as cut expenses as the economic outlook worsens.

It reported a 48 per cent slump in quarterly profit, which beat forecasts due to gains in fixed-income and commodities trading.

Banks will likely continue to be under pressure to cut costs where they can and layoffs and slowdowns in hiring are quite possible, said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at advisers Carson Group.
A law firm representing investors in the collapsed Woodford Equity Income Fund has criticised the financial watchdog over its 306million redress plan.

Savers lost more than 1billion when Neil Woodfords flagship fund collapsed in 2019 and the Financial Conduct Authority said yesterday the vehicles administrator Link Group, which took the decision to suspend the fund before its eventual collapse, could be responsible for compensation for Woodford investors.

But Leigh Day on Tuesday claimed the law firms own calculations suggest that if the thousands of affected investors signed up to collective litigation the court claims could be in the billions.

Link is denying any breach of City rules and plans to defend itself in the claim.

Losses: The Woodford Equity Income Fund was frozen after a flood of investors tried to pull their money out after a run of poor performance from manager Neil Woodford (pictured)

The FCA has been investigating the circumstances leading to the collapse of the fund and it has now confirmed it is likely to seek to require Link to pay a financial penalty and/or consumer redress.

It added that Links bill had been set at 306million, as this reflects the FCAs current view of Links failings in managing the liquidity of the Woodford Equity Income Fund.

However, multiple parties are said to be under the FCA's microscope for potential wrongdoing and therefore total redress paid to investors via the regulator's intervention could be much higher.

But Meriel Hodgson-Teall, a solicitor at Leigh Day, has dismissed the figure attributed to Link's failings as nowhere near enough to compensate the many thousands of people who suffered huge and life changing financial losses investing in this fund.

She added: Leigh Day calculates that if all of the individuals who suffered losses as a result of investing in this fund signed up to the claims proceeding through the courts, the court claims could be in the billions.

Leigh Day has been recruiting claimants for some time for a group litigation order, which is currently scheduled for December of this year.

Dye & Durham, a Canadian software company, is planning to buy Link for 2.1billion.

D&D said it had received a warning from the FCA, stating that the City regulator would not approve the takeover unless D&D promised to cover any restitution and/or redress payments which Link was ordered to pay.

Hodgson-Teall said: It is astonishing that it has taken a takeover bid of Link Group for the FCA to give this indication that it considers Link did breach its duties regarding the Woodford Equity Income Fund.

The FCA, which was led by now Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey at the time of the funds collapse, has faced criticism for its handling of the scandal.

It has not been alone, however, with critics pointing to wider problems and conflicts of interest with the asset management industry.

Neil Woodford was once perhaps the biggest name fund manager in Britain, amassing huge sums of investor cash in his solo venture after a successful career at Invesco. The 62-year-old is also understood to be a target of the FCAs investigation.

Hodgson-Teall said: What is not clear is how the FCA will impose a fine or require a redress scheme to be set up to compensate investors, and when this will actually happen. A redress scheme could still be many months, if not years, away.

If a redress scheme were to be established, this would be separate to the claims which are ongoing through the courts, including those which Leigh Day is bringing on behalf of our clients.

Leigh Day is continuing to work on the court claim, which seeks to compensate investors fully for the losses they have sustained.
Twitter shareholders have approved Elon Musk's 38billion buyout  despite the entrepreneur trying to wriggle out of the deal.

Investors in the social media giant backed Musk's offer in a vote yesterday.

This will come as a blow to the Tesla boss, who originally made an offer for Twitter in April but has since tried to drop it, claiming bosses misled him about the number of 'bots' and spam accounts on the site.

Backing out: Investors in the social media giant Twitter backed Tesla Tycoon Elon Musk's 38bn offer in a vote yesterday

Twitter has denied Musk's claims, and has sued him in an attempt to force the deal to go ahead. Musk is counter-suing, and a trial is set for October 17.

Meanwhile, Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko, its former head of security, gave evidence to US lawmakers yesterday claiming the company is 'misleading the public' about how secure it is.

In his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Zatko painted Twitter as a company prioritising revenue above all else.
Jacob Rees-Mogg could be set to reverse a controversial Chinese-backed takeover of a British chip firm as he grapples with wider concerns about the hollowing out of industry.

The Government plans to order Dutch firm Nexperia  owned by China's Wingtech  to reduce its stake in Newport Wafer Fab substantially, the Financial Times reported.

A decision from the Business Secretary is due by October 3 and the South Wales firm's former owner is said to be orchestrating a bid, together with private equity group Palladian Investment Partners, to buy it back.

China threat: A decision on the future of chip maker Newport Wafer Fab from Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured) is due by October 3

Former science minister George Freeman backed the intervention, saying: 'The Government is right to take steps to restore Newport Wafer Fab.'

Also likely to be on Rees-Mogg's agenda is whether to call in a takeover of London-listed software firm Aveva for closer scrutiny.

France's Schneider, which already holds a majority stake in the Cambridge-based firm, is closing in on a 9billion agreement to swallow up the rest of its stock.

Under takeover rules, Schneider must make a formal offer by a week today, having disclosed last month that it was exploring the move.

Aveva shares rose 3.1 per cent, or 91p, to 3050p yesterday as the deadline approached.

The deal could be subject to further scrutiny given Schneider's joint venture with Chinese firm Delixi Group.

The decisions crystallise the delicate balance Rees-Mogg must strike between showing the UK is open for business and protecting key industries.

Nexperia, which previously held a 14 per cent stake in Newport Wafer Fab, took over the rest of the company last year in a 63million deal.

The firm makes semiconductor 'wafers' which are then shipped to the Philippines and sliced up for use in products such as cars and smartphones.

Freeman, who opposes the takeover, said Newport Wafer Fab was the 'jewel in the crown' of a cluster of chip firms in South Wales.

'If we are serious about becoming a science and technology superpower we can't sit back and allow our top technology  with huge strategic geopolitical importance  to be bought out by hostile states engaged in economic war like Russia or China,' he said.

The United States, meanwhile, is reportedly looking to broaden curbs on shipments to China of chips used for artificial intelligence, as well as chipmaking tools.

Washington has already sent letters to big US chip companies Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices instructing them to halt shipments of several AI chips to China unless they obtain licences.

Susannah Streeter, Hargreaves Lansdown's senior investment and markets analyst, said there would 'inevitably be cooperation with the US' on chip technology.

The Government declined to comment on the FT report. Nexperia declined to comment. The Mail has contacted Palladian for comment.
Major banks, telecoms giants, energy suppliers and travel firms are burying their telephone numbers on obscure pages of their websites to deter customers from calling for help.

Many companies are instead urging people to use live chat services or demanding complaints are made via social media sites such as Twitter.

A Money Mail audit this week found that in one of the worst examples, customers have to click through six pages on telecoms giant BTs website to find its phone number.

Fines: Our Pick Up or Pay Up campaign is calling for a new law to force big businesses to pick up their phones within ten minutes

The Telecoms giant says this can be reduced to three clicks  but only if you know exactly the right boxes to tick in the endless options and drop-down menus.

It also took a reporter nearly two minutes to locate contact information for Barclays and Sky. And we could not find a number at all for Amazon.

Many  including British Airways, Santander and Scottish Power  have messages online advising customers not to bother ringing at all due to high wait times.

Some firms even make customers fill out an online form or answer a series of questions before revealing their helpline number.

Our experiment used a desktop computer but experiences may vary between devices.

Money Mail is calling for a new law to force big businesses to pick up their phones within ten minutes  or face big fines.

Our Pick Up Or Pay Up campaign aims to bring an end to customers being left on hold for hours. It is supported by 34 MPs and is set to be discussed in Parliament after Conservative member Robert Halfon applied for a backbench debate on the issue.

But first, customers must be told the numbers they need to call. We audited a range of businesses which are repeatedly named and shamed by readers.

Many people said they struggle to even get to the point of being on hold because firms are deliberately making it difficult to find their phone numbers.

PayPal asks users to log in to access contact details  unless they spot a small continue as guest option.

British Airways buries its telephone information at the very bottom of its help page under a drop-down section headed All other enquiries.

Ironically, companies use an icon of a telephone next to their contact us section on websites  despite not giving a number. Instead, websites direct people to their live chat services, or Frequently Asked Questions page.

For example, Skys website reads: Over 90 per cent of our customers who use our online guides get the help they need before even having to get in touch.

The Scottish Power website states: Call waiting times may be longer than usual. While Virgin Media says: Please only get in touch if you need to. And Barclays advises: Talk to us directly through social channels too.

We found that the quickest way to get a number was often by searching the complaints section of a website.

Its clear from Money Mails postbag that this online-heavy approach does not meet everyones needs. As one reader points out: Most companies assume everyone has the internet and a smartphone, and people feel they are being forced online. This unfairly penalises the elderly, who get treated abysmally in this country now.

Campaigners and politicians have joined our calls for firms to improve customer service.

Consumer expert Martyn James says: Now more than ever customers need one-to-one help. But trying to find a number for a business is like an endurance test. Companies are making it as difficult as possible to find their numbers so that people just give up and dont phone them.

That is especially unforgivable for the telecoms companies.

Blocked: Customers have to click through six different pages on telecoms giant BT's website to find its phone number.

Consumer champion Jane Hawkes adds: Customers not only face lengthy waits on hold, but in many instances cant even find company contact details. This is unacceptable.

Our campaign manifesto is simple: we want the Government to update the Consumer Rights Act 2015 with a statutory instrument  secondary legislation which can make changes to an existing Act of Parliament.

This would give regulators such as Ofgem and Ofcom the power to fine firms who do not answer the phone within ten minutes.

Recently, a similar law was passed in Spain.

Over the summer Money Mail hosted a drop-in event for MPs in Parliament, armed with thousands of letters and coupons of support sent in by readers.

We are also calling for firms to be forced to offer a working phone line service for customers, a callback service if they cannot answer and publish their daily wait times.

A BT spokesman says the company makes it very easy for customers to contact them. Sky says its contact number is clearly listed on its website.

Octopus Energy claims most customers find its number through a Google search and that it comes up straight away, while PayPal says it is easier and quicker if customers log into their account online before ringing.

Virgin Media, Santander, British Airways and Barclays all say that for conveniences sake, they offer a variety of ways for customers to contact them.

British Gas is investing in 500 more call-centre staff to meet increasing demand. Scottish Power says it actively encourages customers to self-serve only so they can get help as quickly as possible.

Amazon operates a chatbox and callback service which customers can access if they enter their number online.

h.kelly@dailymail.co.uk
The Queens death last Thursday marked the end of an era in British history. And as millions reflect on her momentous life, many are keen to secure keepsakes and collectibles.

Google searches for Royal memorabilia rocketed by 100 per cent on Friday morning as newspapers packed with moving obituaries hit the stands.

The Royal Mint website crashed after customers flocked to snap up commemorative coins, with more than 6,390 online shoppers waiting in a queue on Thursday evening.

Favourite: Luxury department store Harrods says sales of Paddington Bears have increased

By 11am on Friday, several were already out of stock, including the 3,575 gold proof Elizabeth II Trafalgar Five Pounds minted in 2005 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

And a 5 coin celebrating the Queens 70-year reign, which was previously priced at 13, was sold out last night.

Searches for Queen Elizabeth mugs also doubled over the weekend, according to Google data. And nearly 150 commemorative cups marking all manner of royal occasions over the years were listed on auction site eBay on Monday alone.

Meanwhile, copies of the Daily Mails historic edition published last Friday are on sale for up to 99.99.

Luxury department store Harrods also says sales of Paddington Bears have increased, after mourners began placing them outside Buckingham Palace following the Queens sketch with the famous bear earlier this summer. The 42cm-tall soft toy is currently out of stock.

Pauline Maclaran, professor of marketing and consumer research at Royal Holloway, University of London, says: Theres all the high-end collectors pieces and then, of course, you have the huge range of keyrings, mugs, plaques and flags. I think that this is part of wanting to be involved in the historic moment and to mark the occasion.

But it does not take long to uncover a huge range of prices being offered by different vendors.

One limited-edition Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee Barbie doll was priced at 4,995 on eBay earlier this week. Yet another was bought from the same site on Monday for 461.

In demand: A coin marking the Queens Platinum Jubilee

Laura Suter, head of personal finance at investment firm AJ Bell, says: If someone is currently buying up royal memorabilia purely with profit in mind, they should proceed with caution.

Theres no guarantee all items will rise in value and its very tricky to predict what will see a significant increase in worth and what will maintain value, or even fall.

Sales websites such as eBay and Gumtree are awash with crockery, handkerchiefs and brooches commemorating royal events.

A nd it is thought that as much as 281 million was spent on souvenirs and keepsakes during the Platinum Jubilee this year, according to earlier estimates by the Centre for Retail Research.

Auctioneers Reeman Dansie have sold hundreds of lots relating to the Royals over the years. In 2019 a pair of 9ct gold and enamel cufflinks, which the late Queen had gifted to a senior member of her royal household, were bought for 2,900.

James Grinter, managing director of the Colchester-based firm, says: Personal gifts, cards and letters are worth far more than mass-produced mugs and crockery.

Members of the Royal Family will usually give gifts to retiring staff or members of the public who have assisted them in some way  such as a helpful stationmaster.

Signing autographs is against royal protocol. However, Queen Elizabeth II wrote many letters and cards.

A Christmas card signed by the monarch could be worth up to 2,000, according to Mr Grinter.Letters signed by Lilibet, a nickname used by the monarchs close friends and family, would be particularly valuable.

But any card with her signature posted after 1960 would be worth less as it was likely signed by a machine.

Rising value: An Emma Bridgewater God Save The Queen Jubilee mug sold for 104 on eBay, despite retailing at 22 a few months ago

While few can boast of personal gifts and correspondence, some mugs could still prove valuable.

Around 1,000 limited-edition loving cups were made by ceramic manufacturer Royal Doulton to mark Queen Elizabeths coronation in 1953.

David Broom, of Keys Auctioneers, says: While most mugs bought during the coronation will sell for around 20 maximum, these cups can go for up to 400 because there are fewer of them.

Other crockery made by popular British brands has also seen a surge in value. On Monday, an Emma Bridgewater God Save The Queen Jubilee mug sold for 104 on eBay, despite retailing at 22 a few months ago.

However, Mr Broom warns that even those who have had a brush with royalty may not be able to sell an item for its true value, unless they can prove that it is authentic.

Fridays historic Daily Mail is going for 100 on eBay - but you can get a copy plus two royal magazines for 4.99!

A woman once showed him a china cup and saucer which was given to her father by the late Queen Mother while he was on duty as a police officer one Christmas Eve at Sandringham.

Mr Broom says: It was a lovely story, but it looked like any other cup and saucer and there was no way of proving it was given to him by a member of the Royal Family.

It had great sentimental value for the police officers daughter, but the set would not have made much at auction.

Many royal enthusiasts also enjoy collecting stamps which document a monarchs reign.

Searches for Queen Elizabeth stamps were up by 85 per cent on Friday morning, Google data reveals.

James Coulbault, of stamp dealer Stanley Gibbons, says the firm saw a surge in demand during the Jubilee celebrations.

He adds: We are regularly fielding requests for the original coronation stamps, featuring the portraits by Edmund Dulac and Dorothy Wilding, from 1953 and the first set of stamps to feature the Arnold Machin portrait from 1967, which is now synonymous with British stamps.

Royal memorabilia tends to increase in value once the members of the family they pertain to have died.

However, interest in items relating to King Charles III and the Queen Consort have also risen.

A bone china mug marking the couples wedding in 2005 sold for 46.61 on Friday, while similar items have sold for between 1 and 15 earlier this year.

f.parker@dailymail.co.uk
She lifted the lid on life at the firm after the death of Aishwarya Venkatachalam

An entrepreneur who secretly quit her job at consulting giant Ernst & Young to start her own business has lifted the lid on what it's really like in the high pressure environment of a Big Four accounting firm.

Jane Lu, 36, built her fashion empire Showpo into a business that is now worth $50million after quitting the accounting job she hated at EY more than 10 years ago.

The firm has been grappling with allegations of a toxic culture and launched a major investigation after one of its workers took her own life at the company's Sydney office on August 27.

Aishwarya Venkatachalam, 27, a senior auditor in real estate assurance for EY, fell to her death from the 11th floor of her building after complaining friends she was being bullied at work and was a victim of racism.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Ms Lu said she often spent endless hours doing spreadsheets when working at EY and her 'heart wasn't in it'.

Jane Lu, 36, who now runs online clothing giant Showpo worth $50million, quit her job 10 years ago in order to pursue her own business

Aishwarya Venkatachalam, 27, (pictured left) died on August 27 after falling from the Ernst & Young building in Sydney's CBD

Aishwarya Venkatachalam, 27, a senior auditor in real estate assurance for EY, fell to her death from the 11th storey of her building (pictured) after confiding in friends she was being bullied at work and was a victim of racism

'I was working on Showpo in the background during my time as an accountant so my priorities and focus were very much on driving Showpo,' Ms Lu said.

'My head and heart wasn't in it, I realised I wanted something different for my career, which is why I was building Showpo in the background.'

The mother-of-one, who is pregnant with her second child, has previously spoken about working at EY and competing firm KPMG.

'I remember I was staring at this spreadsheet for hours. I had this moment of realisation that I'd wasted three hours. I was three hours closer to death and my life had not improved,' she previously told the podcast How I Made It.

'I thought, I can't do this for the rest of my life, I'm never going to be a good accountant.'

Ms Lu said she didn't know how to explain to her parents, Queenie, 62, and Frank Lu, 68, that she just didn't enjoy the accountancy job after quitting during the global financial crisis.

The mother-of-one, who is pregnant with her second child, has previously spoken about her work at EY and KPMG

Jane said she eventually told her parents of her decision to ditch accountancy about two years after she'd actually done so. She told the podcast they finally accepted her decision by the time she was able to pay off their mortgage and buy them a car

Her parents, who worked as cleaners in Sydney, had arrived from China with Ms Lu as an eight-year-old.

They had encouraged her to do accountancy and work for a big corporate firm.

In 2010, a friend suggested to Ms Lu they start a business selling clothes from a pop-up stall.

In 2010 a friend suggested to Jane they start a business selling clothes from a pop-up stall. She quit her job, maxed out her credit card buying stock, and shoved it into the garage of her parents' Balmain home

She quit her job, maxed out her credit card buying stock, and shoved it all into the garage of her parents' Balmain home.

But when her partner withdrew and the start-up floundered, Ms Lu feared she had made the wrong decision.

'People were just trying to get rid of everyone, so I could not have been more rock bottom,' she said.

'I'm like "how do I even tell my parents?"'

It took Ms Lu two years to tell her parents she had decided to ditch accountancy.

She told the podcast they finally accepted her decision by the time she was able to pay off their mortgage and buy them a car.

In November 2010, she opened a permanent store in Broadway with her partner under the brand name 'Showpony', which eventually morphed into 'Showpo' after dropping the 'ny' to avoid trademark disputes in the US

'They were shocked,' she said.

'They just couldnt believe how I had the balls... Theyre like, "We dont have anyone really entrepreneurial in our family. How did you know to take that risk?"'

Eleven years later, she is widely regarded as one of Australia's most successful self-made businesswomen, whose knack for social media marketing created a clothing website that turned over a reported $85million in 2019 alone.

She has made the AFR's Young Rich List every year since 2017.

Ms Lu's comments come as the culture at Big4 accounting firms - EY, KPMG, PwC and Deloitte - has been thrown into the spotlight by the tragic death of Ms Venkatachalam.

The Sydney staffer had been at work until around 7.30pm on Friday when she left her office in the golden EY skyscraper before returning again around midnight.

Neeti Bisht (left) is pictured with Ms Venkatachalam during her trip to Sydney in April this year - the last time they saw each other in person

It was also originally believed she attended work drinks between 5.30pm and 7.30pm, but Daily Mail Australia now understands she was at the office until 7.30pm.

Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday revealed the Indian national had complained to friends about racsim she had suffered in Australia and 'mean colleagues' at work.

EY has vowed to probe the accusations and take whatever action is necessary to stamp it out, promising 'zero tolerance'.

And close friend Neeti Bisht revealed Ms Venkatachalam, a bridesmaid at her wedding, had struggled to fit in since moving to Australia 11 months ago.

Bosses at Ernst and Young have launched a major investigation into claims Aishwarya Venkatachalum (pictured on her wedding day with husband, Nakul) died after she was bullied at work and was a victim of racism

'She was a happy soul and was finding her feet in Australia... She mentioned how mean some of her colleagues were,' Ms Bisht told Daily Mail Australia.

Ms Bisht said Ms Venkatachalam told her she was dealing with bullying and racism at work, but she was otherwise thriving in Australia.

'I think things had just started to brew then... Her colleagues and the racist angle was at play,' she said.

A spokeswoman for EY this week told Daily Mail Australia the company 'has a zero tolerance response to bullying, harassment and racism, and we take any allegations that relate to these issues very seriously'.

'The review we launched last week following this tragedy is ongoing and it would be inappropriate to comment further until it is complete,' she said.

'We are continuing to offer all our people counselling and support.'
Alan Eugene Miller says the state lost the paperwork he turned in selecting the alternate execution method of Nitrogen hypoxia

Alabama could be ready to use a new, untried execution method called nitrogen hypoxia to carry out a death sentence later this month, a state attorney told a federal judge on Monday.

James Houts, a deputy state attorney general, told U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr. that it is 'very likely' the method will be available for the execution of Alan Eugene Miller, currently set for September 22 by lethal injection.

The final decision on whether to use the new method is up to Corrections Commissioner John Hamm, he said, and litigation is likely.

Miller, a delivery truck driver, was convicted in the workplace shootings that killed Lee Holdbrooks, Scott Yancy and Terry Jarvis.

Prosecutors said Miller killed Holdbrooks and Yancy at one business and then drove to another location to shoot Jarvis. Each man was shot multiple times.

Jurors convicted Miller after 20 minutes of deliberation and then recommended a death sentence, which a judge imposed.

Testimony indicated that Miller was delusional and believed the men were spreading rumors about him, including that he was gay.

Shelby County coroner's employees bring out one of two bodies from Ferguson Enterprises in Pelham, Alabama where two employees, Lee Holbrooks and Christopher Yancy were killed in August 1999 by Alan Eugene Miller

A defense psychiatrist hired for the trial found that Miller suffered from severe mental illness, according to court documents, but he also said Miller's condition wasn't bad enough to use as a basis for an insanity defense under state law.

He was sentenced to death. And while lethal injection is Alabama's primary execution method, the state in 2018 approved an untried method, nitrogen hypoxia, as an alternative amid mounting questions over lethal injection.

State law gave inmates a brief window of time in which to designate hypoxia it as their preferred execution method.

In a federal lawsuit filed last month attorneys argued Miller turned in a form selecting nitrogen, but the state lost it. They are seeking to block the lethal injection from going forward.

'If the State had not lost Mr. Millers form, Mr. Miller would otherwise be executed by nitrogen hypoxia,' his attorneys wrote in the court filing seeking to block his execution by lethal injection.

Alabama has not yet developed a system for using nitrogen to carry out executions so the state isn't setting execution dates for inmates who choose that untested method. Miller signed a sworn statement saying that he had given the form to a corrections officer.

Alan Eugene Miller is seen being led away from the Pelham City Jail in Alabama on August 5, 1999. Miller was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on September 22, 2022, for a workplace shooting rampage in 1999 that killed three men

Miller shot two co-workers to death at their office then killed a third person at a company where he used to work

'I gave my signed form to the correctional officer who was collecting the forms,' the affidavit stated. MIller said he asked the officer for a copy of the form and the officer refused.

Miller also cited alleged problems with past lethal injections including that of Joe Nathan James Jr., who was put to death in July in a procedure that was delayed for hours. Death penalty opponents contend the execution was botched

While Miller's lawsuit names Marshall, Prison Commissioner John Hamm and Holman Warden Terry Raybon as defendants, the attorney general's office argued the suit treats all three as 'interchangeable cogs in the machinery of government' and should be dismissed.

Miller also cited alleged problems with past lethal injections including that of Joe Nathan James Jr., who was put to death in July in a procedure that was delayed for hours. Death penalty opponents contend the execution was botched.

'The information that is publicly available to date shows that Mr. Jamess body was in `great distress during the execution as executioners sliced into his skin several times to find a vein, and that he suffered many `unusual punctures that do not normally appear on an executed body,' Miller's lawyers wrote in a request filed Thursday seeking a preliminary injunction against a lethal injection.

Pictured: Alabama's lethal injection chamber at Holman Correctional Facility

The state has acknowledged that James' execution was delayed because of difficulties establishing an intravenous line, but has not specified how long it took. James was pronounced dead hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his request for a stay.

The final decision on whether to use nitrogen hypoxia is up to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm

Nitrogen hypoxia, which is supposed to cause death by replacing oxygen with nitrogen, has been authorized by Alabama and two other states, Oklahoma and Mississippi, for executions but has never been used.

Convicted in a triple killing in 1999, Miller is trying to block his execution at Holman Prison.

The disclosure about the possibility of using the new method came during a court hearing on Miller's claim that prison staff several years ago lost his paperwork.

In it, he requested nitrogen as his execution method rather than lethal injection.
Wild footage has emerged of the moment a smiling 'behemoth' manages to fend off at least eight cops - before they eventually force him into the back of a police wagon.

The video shows police tackling the tall man at a tobacconist in Kings Cross, in Sydney's east, about 2.45am on Saturday.

The 28-year-old man, estimated to be about 6 foot 5, wrestles with the officers as they struggled to throw him into the back of a paddy wagon - using his foot to stop them from pushing him into the cage.

Eshay onlookers are heard shouting 'keep fighting brother ... don't let the piggies take you' and pretend to act as TV news reporters as the officers wrangle the man into the back of the wagon.

More than eight police officers were filmed arresting a man in a tabacco store in Kings Cross (pictured) before spilling into the street as they wrestled him into the back of a police vehicle

The man is then heard yelling 'yeah the boys' as he kicks the back door open from the inside in one last ditch attempt to get away.

The officers push back against the door and eventually lock the man in before driving away.

A group of young eshays provide running commentary - with one holding a pretend microphone and acting like a news reporter.

'Just another day in Sydney's gangland wars,' the eshay said.

The eshay questions a 'witness' asking him about the unfolding events, to which he replies: 'We've seen some coppers, some piggies, bashing the f*** out of some random'.

The TikTok video has received over 765,000 views with users praising the young man's news reporting.

'Better coverage than 9 News,' one user quipped.

Other users were in disbelief that it took a group of police officers to arrest one man.

'Took the whole cop shop to get him in the van,' one user wrote.

Another shocked user commented: 'How many cops does it take?''

The 28-year-old man, who is believed to be 6 foot 5 tall, wrestled with the officers as they struggled to throw him into the back of a paddy wagon (left). Once inside, the man kicked open the back door as more than 10 officers pushed against it (right)

Others joked the height difference between the man and the group of police officers was the reason why the arrest was so difficult.

One user commented: 'Bro look at the size of him.'

'Do they only hire 4ft cops in Sydney or sum [something],' another user commented.

'The cops look like Hobbits next to the guy they trying to put in the vehicle,' a third chimed.

In a statement, the NSW Police Force said officers were patrolling the Potts Point area when they were called to Darlinghurst Road at 2:45am on Saturday following reports a man had been assaulted.

A group of young eshays provide running commentary - with one holding a pretend microphone and acting like a news reporter (pictured)

Police allege the 28-year-old man resisted arrest and assaulted multiple officers pushing one probationary constable to the ground with others receiving cuts and bruises.

The man allegedly kicked the back door of the police vehicle causing internal damage.

He was taken to Kings Cross Police Station and charged with six offences including resisting arrest, assaulting police, destroying/damaging property and affray.

The 28-year-old man was granted conditional bail and will face Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday.
Ukrainian troops on Tuesday applied constant pressure to Russian forces withdrawing to maintain the rapid momentum that had led to significant territory advances.

Ukrainian soldiers examined burnt Russian tanks left in largely devastated villages near Kharkiv as fresh yellow-and-blue flags flew from the tallest buildings, AP News reported.

In his nightly message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: "From the beginning of September until today, our soldiers have already liberated more than 6,000 square kilometers of the territory of Ukraine - in the east and south. The movement of our troops continues."

British intelligence added insult to injury by claiming that the 1st Guards Tank Army, one of Moscow's top troops, had been "severely degraded" during the invasion. It added that Russia's conventional army built to oppose NATO got "severely weakened," and rebuilding this capability in Russia will probably take years.

However, Russian attacks on Ukrainian positions continued despite the withdrawal. According to Oleh Syniehubov, the regional governor, Moscow bombarded the Kharkiv region's Lozova city early on Tuesday, killing three and wounding nine.

The Nikopol area was bombarded six times throughout the night, but no casualties were recorded, said regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko. The largest nuclear facility in Europe was at risk due to ongoing shelling.

Russian Troops Waving the White Flag

Meanwhile, Russian forces near Kherson were reportedly negotiating surrender, as per a Yahoo! News story.

According to Natalia Humeniuk, the head of the joint coordination press center of the Defence Forces of South Ukraine, Russian troops there "are attempting to negotiate conditions of laying down arms, under the norms of international humanitarian law."

She claims that the Russian unit leaders attempt to leave their posts by any means necessary. This can entail feeling to the Russian back lines or putting down their guns.

Humeniuk also noted that Russian commanders now recognize they have nowhere to go because of the grave damage and demoralization they sustained.

She added hostile soldiers know about Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast win.

Since they can't easily cross the Dnipro River, Russian forces on the western side of the river were forced to look for ways to get out of the area, a spokesperson said.

However, the situation is presented bravely by Russian official media. The events that took place in the Kharkiv region are not being referred to as a "retreat" in this context.

Rossiyskaya Gazeta said that the Russian defense ministry denied rumors that soldiers abandoned Balakliya, Kupiansk, and Izyum in embarrassment.

Read Also: Queen Elizabeth II Funeral: Where Will the Queen Be Buried?

According to BBC, the Russian newspaper reported: "They didn't flee. This was a pre-planned regrouping."

After a Ukrainian push forced Russian soldiers into an unorganized retreat in the north, US President Joe Biden and top military officials are taking caution not to celebrate an early success.

Military leaders plan to give Ukraine more weaponry and boost training as they anticipate Russia's response to the abrupt, devastating combat setbacks.

US: No Need To Celebrate Yet

Although the victories made by Ukraine over the weekend were widely celebrated, US officials are aware that Russian President Vladimir Putin still has soldiers and resources at his disposal, and his forces continue to hold vast portions of the east and south, AP News reported.

Retired US Air Force general Philip Breedlove believes that "Russia still has cards it can play" so celebrating victory is still too early.

"Ukraine is now clearly making durable changes in its east and north and I believe that if the West properly equips Ukraine, they'll be able to hold on to their gains," Breedlove remarked.

US Lawmakers pointed to the precision-guided High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and the High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM), which is designed to target and destroy radar-equipped air defense systems, as key to the dramatic change in momentum.

Related Article: Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Shuts Down Amid Threats to Safety

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Bumbling Rudy Giuliani sheepishly admitted that he 'got nothing' from his efforts to dig up dirt on the Bidens in Ukraine after teaming up with a suspected Russian agent in a bid to smear Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential race, a new book reveals.

The former president's personal attorney made the confession in a text message to Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian associate who would later be jailed for campaign finance violations, journalist Andrew Kirtzman reveals in new biography, Giuliani: The Rise and Tragic Fall of America's Mayor.

Giuliani confessed that claims against the Bidens were 'very weak' and 'not consistent with the facts', despite daily calls from Trump who became 'obsessed' with them.

The former mayor of New York spent weeks meeting Ukrainian officials and former prosecutors as he tried to link Joe Biden and his son Hunter to a Democrat plot to overthrow Trump.

A 'deeply frustrated' Rudy Giuliani admitted that his efforts to dig up dirt on the Bidens were fruitless, according to a new book

Giuliani infamously met with Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach (pictured) who took a keen interest in the allegations against Hunter Biden in the Burisma affair, and later turned out to be a suspected 'active Russian agent'

He also worked closely alongside Lev Parnas (pictured) a Ukrainian associate who would later be jailed for campaign finance violations in 2021

But all he got instead was a load of conspiracy theories that Trump's advisers dismissed as so tangled, they sounded like a 'bowl of spaghetti.'

So shambolic was Giuliani's investigation that one of his most promising sources turned out to be a Russian agent.

Giuliani's failure marked a point of tension between him and Trump even though they had 'brilliant' chemistry, according to the new book, published on Tuesday, September 13.

Kirtzman describes how Giuliani joined Trump's campaign out of desperation to stay in the spotlight and shredded his reputation as 'America's mayor' in a foolhardy effort to please his new boss.

Giuliani's willingness to do deals with shady people went back to his 'catastrophic' loss in the 2008 presidential election.

Out of the public spotlight, Giuliani was free to 'chase money down dark avenues' and used his fame as 'leverage', Kirtzman writes.

The new biography, written by author and journalist Andrew Kirtzman, will be released Tuesday, September 13

He began to take on unsavory clients such as an Iranian militia group called MEK, accused of slaughtering Kurds on behalf of Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Gulf War.

The prospect of 'America's Mayor' being a cheerleader for a group of Islamists on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations seemed no problem for Giuliani - if the money was right.

Indeed, Giuliani went all in, calling them 'freedom fighters' during one appearance on their behalf.

Other clients included Keiko Fujimori, the son of the former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori who was jailed for 25 years for murder and kidnapping.

Giuliani represented Aleksandar Vucic, an ultranationalist from Serbia during his run to be Mayor of Belgrade - Vucic is now the country's President.

Giulani went 'looking for money in all the wrong places' including Ukraine where he became the pitch man for Vitali Klitschko, a professional boxer who was running for Mayor Kyiv.

So years later when Trump wanted someone to go to Ukraine and try to find a link between the Bidens and the Democrats, Giuliani seemed like the obvious choice.

Kirtzman writes that Giuliani's 'appetite for trouble' led him to enlist the help of two Ukrainian friends, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.

The two men came into Giuliani's orbit because they 'did everything I wanted and they never got involved in asking questions', as he once put it.

The pair attended several MAGA events and in 2018 committed $1million to a pro-Trump Super PAC, which helped to earn them an intimate dinner with Trump.

The former mayor of New York spent weeks meeting Ukrainian officials and former prosecutors as he tried to find damaging information about Joe Biden and his son Hunter's dealings in Ukraine

Kirtzman writes that Giuliani's 'appetite for trouble' led him to enlist the help of two Ukrainian friends, Lev Parnas (pictured together in 2019) and Igor Fruman

(Left to right) Vice President Mike Pence, Igor Fruman, Lev Parnas, President Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani

They paid Giuliani $500,000 from a Republican donor to market their insurance product designed to stop identity theft with the unfortunate name of 'Fraud Guarantee'.

The Ukraine inquiry became a moral crusade for Giuliani, one which could vanquish the Mueller inquiry into Trump's dealings with Russia in one go.

Giuliani brought Parnas and Fruman to the White House to meet Trump and in exchange the pair took Giuliani to Ukraine and introduced him to current and former prosecutors.

Among them was Viktor Shokin, who was the top prosecutor in the country from 2015 to 2016 before being fired for allegedly turning a blind eye to corruption.

Shokin claimed that Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company where Hunter Biden was a board member, paid Hunter millions of dollars to stop prosecutors from cracking down on corruption at the company.

He further alleged that Joe Biden himself had ordered Shokin fired before he could crack the case.

Giuliani thought the claims were a 'gift' and he eagerly met with Shokin's successor, Yuriy Lutsenko, who was the prosecutor general at the time, the highest law enforcement official in Ukraine.

Lutsenko urged Giuliani to persuade then US Attorney General Bill Barr to open up his own investigation but that was never going to happen.

As the meetings drew on, Giuliani became 'deeply frustrated' and he confided to Parnas in a text saying: 'I've got nothing'.

The meetings with current and former Ukrainian prosecutors were 'equivocal at best' and 'very weak', Giuliani admitted.

He wrote: 'And not consistent with facts. Story would get blown up. Don't want to lead with my weakest hand'.

Viktor Shokin, Ukraine's former top prosecutor from 2015 to 2016, claimed that Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company where Hunter Biden was a board member, paid Hunter millions of dollars to stop prosecutors from cracking down on corruption at the company

Giuliani thought the claims were a 'gift' and he eagerly met with Shokin's successor, Yuriy Lutsenko, who was the prosecutor general at the time

Giuliani implored Parnas to get Lutsenko 'on the record about Biden' and if he wouldn't do it, perhaps former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko would talk.

Giuliani wrote: 'Can u make that happen?'

Kirtzman writes that Giuliani had always 'lived dangerously', but now he was 'playing with fire' and likely should have registered as a foreign agent if he was seeking to influence US policy.

Giuliani was once the top federal prosecutor in New York who chased corrupt Wall St executives and mafia mobsters but by now he had 'decayed into rabid impulsiveness'.

Meanwhile Trump was growing 'antsy' and called Giuliani every day for updates.

The former President was 'obsessed' with fringe reports that Ukraine was somehow linked to the Bidens even though he ignored other more urgent - and reality-based - areas of government.

John Bolton, Trump's former national security advisor, was forced to listen to one session of Giuliani explaining his wild, unproven theories about the Bidens and Ukraine.

Bolton said that he could 'barely separate the strands of multiple conspiracy theories' and said it sounded like a 'big bowl of spaghetti'.

In desperation Giuliani wrote a letter to Ukraine's new President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskyy asking for a meeting on the behalf of Trump, a 'private citizen'.

The meeting never happened and Giuliani sent an aide to threaten a Zeleknskyy aide that unless his government investigated the Bidens, Vice President Mike Pence would cancel his upcoming trip to Zeleknskyy's inauguration.

Giuliani made a return to politics in 2016 after joining Donald Trump's presidential campaign, during which he became the president's right-hand man and staunch defender

When the Ukranians refused, Pence canceled his trip.

Among the other blunders by Giuliani was meeting with Andriy Derkach, a Ukranian Parliament member who took a keen interest in the Burisma affair.

He passed Giuliani 'leaked' documents he claimed linked the Bidens to a conspiracy against Shokin.

Giuliani told Derkach: 'I wish I'd met you earlier'.

In an embarrassing moment Giuliani later learned the US government considered Derkach to be an active Russian agent and he had likely been given misinformation.

By this point Trump had grown fed up with negative stories appearing in the press about Giuliani's efforts in Ukraine.

When a US delegation sent to Zeleknsky's inauguration gave Trump a report to the Oval Office, he said: 'I don't want to have a f****** thing to do with Ukraine!

'They tried to f*** me. They're corrupt. I'm not f****** with them.

Trump's energy secretary Rick Perry tried to speak but Trump said: 'I don't give a s***....I want the f****** DNC server', referring to the Democratic National Committee whose emails had been hacked during the election.

An outraged Trump called Zeleknsky himself, a call which formed the basis of his second impeachment.

Giuliani was investigated by the federal prosecutors in Florida for possibly acting as an unregistered foreign agent but he wasn't charged.

Parnas was jailed for 20 months after being found guilty of campaign finance violations for getting a Russian businessman to send them $1m which they donated to political parties in the US.

Fruman was sentenced to one year in prison for his part in the scheme.

Kirtzman plays down the material found on Hunter's laptop which Giuliani is said to have obtained from a computer repair shop in Delaware and passed to journalists with the first stories appearing in October 2020.

He writes that Giuliani expected the revelations from the computer to 'blow up' the election the following month but it became a 'bellwether of his collapsing credibility'.

However the laptop did provide some embarrassing revelations about Hunter's relationship with his father.

In an email one of Hunters business associates referred to Biden in 2017 as the big guy, raising questions about how much the President knew about his son's activities.

The laptop had a slew of pictures and videos on it showing Hunter having sex with prostitutes and doing drugs which caused further embarrassment to Biden.

Hunter is the subject of a criminal investigation in Delaware into his tax affairs which has widened to include possible violation of tax laws, money laundering and foreign lobbying.

Prosecutors are looking at Hunters work as an executive for Burisma while his father was Vice President.

They are also examining his work on securing a deal with CEFC China Energy to invest in US energy projects after his father left office in 2017.
A female teacher at a pricey private school in Florida was arrested Sunday for allegedly having sex with one of her students.

Jamie Melton, 42, was charged with sexual battery upon being taken into custody a day after a warrant was issued for her arrest.

She's a language and literature teacher at Carrollwood Day School in Tampa, a $25,000-a-year school serving second through 12th grade in Tampa Bay.

Melton was charged with having 'sexual relations' with a student over the age of 12 but under the age of 18, according to Carroll Principal Sara Rubenstein.

In a statement, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said: 'This woman was a trusted member of this community who was responsible for the education and well-being of students. Instead she violated that trust.'

Jamie Melton, 42, was charged with sexual battery upon being taken into custody a day after a warrant was issued for her arrest

Melton is a language and literature teacher at Carrollwood Day School in Tampa, a $25,000-a-year school serving second through 12th grade in Tampa Bay

Melton was charged with having 'sexual relations' with a student over the age of 12 but under the age of 18, according to Carroll Principal Sara Rubenstein (pictured)

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said: 'This woman was a trusted member of this community who was responsible for the education and well-being of students. Instead she violated that trust'

'As a parent, I am disgusted and hope she faces full consequences for her actions.'

Deputies allege this was an isolated incident but are trying to investigate whether there may have been a pattern involving any other students.

The exact age and gender of the student involved was not released by officials or the school.

In a letter to parents, Rubenstein said: 'Ms. Melton has had an unblemished teaching record and we have not had any concerns about her conduct prior. Ms. Melton has been suspended from her position immediately.'

The Sheriff's office is asking anyone with information to get in touch.
One Twitter user said ABC's coverage was an 'indulgent order of mourn porn'

Cassidy said the ABC had misread its audience by putting on non-stop coverage

Former political journalist and longtime ABC host Barrie Cassidy has slammed the national broadcaster's coverage of the Queen's death.

Mr Cassidy said the network has made a mistake and not paid attention to its audience by broadcasting almost non-stop coverage of the long-reigning monarch's death.

'I suspect the ABC has misread its audience. If you want wall to wall royalty you can get it elsewhere in spades,' Mr Cassidy said.

'The ABC is better when it offers an alternative to populism.'

The ABC cut into its regular programming to break the news of the Queen's passing last Friday at 3.30am, shortly after the news was announced in the UK.

Australian political journalist and ABC commentator Barrie Cassidy (pictured) has slammed the ABC's coverage of the Queen's death

'I suspect the ABC has misread its audience. If you want wall to wall royalty you can get it elsewhere in spades,' Mr Cassidy said

ABC News Breakfast was on air before 4am with co-hosts Michael Rowland (pictured) and Lisa Millar, dressed in formal black outfits and speaking on the importance of her legacy

ABC News Breakfast was on air before 4am with co-hosts Michael Rowland and Lisa Millar, dressed in formal black outfits and speaking on the importance of her legacy.

Since then its coverage has crowded out almost all other domestic and international news.

Mr Cassidy has been a feature on the ABC for more than two decades, firstly as the host of the Sunday morning political commentary program Insiders from 2001 to 2019, before taking over as the host for interview program One Plus One in 2020.

The latest controversy is the fact the ABC has sent local hosts such as ABC News Breakfast host Michael Rowland and production crews to London to cover the aftermath of the Queen's passing.

On September 12, Michael Rowland posted to Twitter that the broadcaster would be doing the morning show out of London which was met with anger.

.@BreakfastNews live from London this morning (or evening over here..). pic.twitter.com/ViDN6LQYYR  Michael Rowland (@mjrowland68) September 11, 2022

Nonsense. She was our head of State. The fact that she lives in London necessitates travelling there. If you find it bizarre that our Head of State lives in London, that is something Australians will have to sort out in the months and years ahead. https://t.co/n863zRjjHv  Ellen Fanning:Journo (@ellenmfanning) September 12, 2022

Twitter user @RonniSalt was especially outraged, labelling the ABC's coverage of the death 'an indulgent order of mourn porn'.

'In an act of bizarre recreational grieving, the ABC have flown highly-paid talking heads and crew halfway across the world at our expense ... A shocking abuse of the ABC's charter - and our money,' she wrote.

ABC journalist and host of The Drum Ellen Fanning, however, leapt to the defence of the network in response.

'Nonsense. She was our head of State. The fact that she lives in London necessitates travelling there. If you find it bizarre that our Head of State lives in London, that is something Australians will have to sort out in the months and years ahead,' she wrote.

Some people commenting online wondered how the ABC could justify the expense of sending talent and crews to the UK when the organisation has also complained of cuts to its funding by the Federal government in recent years.

Others noted the ABC did not get a ratings boost for its extended coverage of Queen Elizabeth's death and its audience had 'softened' by Saturday night.

ABC's coverage on Friday night in a program entitled Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) was only the 17th most popular show, according to OzTAM metropolitan ratings data for Australias five biggest cities.
One of the Ivy League's finest has seen a big drop in the US News & World Report college rankings following a clash that involved a math professor accusing the university of messing with statistics used in the rankings.

Columbia University collapsed from second to 18th in the influential rankings released Monday and announced this past weekend they were withdrawing from them.

The magazine said in a statement that it 'requires a high-level academic official to attest to any data submitted by institutions directly.'

Columbia had previously said it was looking into the allegations from Professor Dr. Michael Thaddeus, who accused the school of submitting bad data regarding class sizes and number of professors with advanced degrees.

The university told the New York Times: 'While many of Columbias undergraduate classes have long had under 20 students, the prior methodologies used resulted in over-reporting the number of classes with under 20 students and underreporting of classes with between 20 and 29 students.'

Columbia University collapsed from second to 18th in the influential rankings released Monday and announced this past weekend they were withdrawing from them

Columbia had previously said it was looking into the allegations from Professor Dr. Michael Thaddeus (pictured), who accused the school of submitting bad data regarding class sizes and number of professors with advanced degrees

On Friday, the university admitted they were using 'outdated or incorrect methodologies.'

They have apologized for the poor data, saying 'We deeply regret the deficiencies in our prior reporting and are committed to doing better.'

According to the Times, the magazine receives errors in data submitted by schools every year, but Columbia is perhaps the most prestigious to have the accusation levied against it.

US News & World Report did not accuse the school of intentionally fudging their data and adds that it doesn't have an independent auditor to check.

Columbia argues that whether or not the errors were on purpose, the problem is what they call the 'complexity' of how the data is recorded and reported.

According to the Times, the magazine receives errors in data submitted by schools every year, but Columbia is perhaps the most prestigious to have the accusation levied against it

Jed Macosko, a physics professor at Wake Forest and the head of a rival company trying to formulate an 'objective' ranking that can't be gamed by the schools, bemoaned the power US News & World Report has

Thaddeus has criticized the rankings methodology in his accusations, saying it no longer relies enough on a survey of university presidents and now just deals in analytical data.

He also believes it's too easy to game the system, with US News & World Report admitting that it relies on the schools' integrity.

This year's rankings saw Princeton, MIT, Harvard, Yale and Stanford in the top five.

Jed Macosko, a physics professor at Wake Forest and the head of a rival company trying to formulate an 'objective' ranking that can't be gamed by the schools, bemoaned the power US News & World Report has.

Macosko said: 'I wish that U.S. News werent so powerful because it makes for bad dynamics. So if the person in charge wants you to be No. 18, they can jiggle the U.S. News rankings until you are No. 18.'

US News & World Report told the times it is a customer service that operates with the 'highest level of integrity' and says because Columbia withdrew from this year's rankings, they had to used data sets without any of their information.
Young Australian family forced to live in tent after being kicked out of home

A young Australian couple are living in a tent with their two young children after moving to Queensland and finding it impossible to secure somewhere affordable to live.

Eric and Bec Reader recently relocated to Brisbane from Western Australia, and are now forced to live with their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and four-month-old son in a tent.

'Unfortunately, I've run out of money and the ability to do it anymore. It's now a case of I have to do what I have to do to keep a roof over my family's head,' Mr Reader told Today.

A young Australian couple have been forced to live in a tent with their two young children after being kicked out of their home and being unable to afford a motel or rent

The father said a family member had 'caused a hell of a lot of drama' and kicked him out of their WA house.

Shortly after, the rest of his family had also been asked to leave.

'Unfortunately, I was forced to move out of the house and stay in motels,' he explained.

'Now it got to the point where my wife and children have been kicked out of the house as well.'

The family are now living in a tent in Eight Mile Plains in the city's south, using portable cooking equipment to prepare meals for the children.

'We've just run out of money. We've run out of the ability to stay in motels. So now we've resorted to this,' he explained.

Eric and Bec Reader have been living in the tent in Eight Mile Plains, a suburb in Brisbane's south

The mother provides comfort to their daughter by telling her they are just on a 'little camping trip.'

The family are now saving money to move down to Tasmania where they have family to stay with and a job opportunity, but they are struggling to afford the relocation.

The parents said they're desperate to get their newborn son out of the tent, saying they need to get him somewhere 'dry and warm'.

Despite several attempts to reach out to government services, the father said the system had let them down.

'The worst part is I've contacted organisation after organisation. For example, I went to Centrelink and I was given a list of different services to call,' he explained.

'I'd already called those services, and they told me they couldn't do anything.'
Julie Bishop's story about King Charles being 'funny' was met with awkward silence on morning television - although the interviewers eventually saw the humour.

Ms Bishop was giving Today Show hosts Karl Stefanovic and Ally Langdon personal insights from the time she has spent with King Charles as a former foreign minister and as the Australian chair of his charity The Prince's Trust.

'He has a self-deprecating sense of humour, he's very funny,' Ms Bishop said of the new British king.

Former foreign minister and chair of The Prince's Trust charity Julie Bishop has given some personal impressions of her time spent with King Charles

Ms Bishop then told an anecdote to back up her claim.

'An example is when we were in Vanuatu visiting the Port Vila Hospital in 2018.

'I was holding a little boy who held out his hand to Prince Charles, who was holding a cup of tea at the time, and Prince Charles scooped up a bit of tea as if he was going to feed it to the little boy,' Ms Bishop said, mimicking the King using the tea spoon.

'And I looked at Prince Charles, like, 'what are you doing?'

'And he said 'Come now Julia, a silver spoon never hurt anyone'.'

Ms Bishop then looked back at her interviewers with an expectant smile.

However, when the camera panned back to Stefanovic and Langdon they both appeared frozen as if unsure how they should react.

Today Show hosts Karl Stefanovic and Ally Langdon appeared to not know how to react when Ms Bishop told a story to illustrate how 'funny' King Charles is

After a couple of seconds of awkward silence Stefanovic broke out into a loud laugh.

'See, I told you she'd have great stuff,' he said to Langdon.

Perhaps you had to be there.

Ms Bishop, who was then Australia's foreign minister, spent four hours with King Charles at Port Vila in Vanuatu to inspect how the Pacific island nation was rebuilding after a hurricane.

He also picked up a souvenir for Queen Consort Camilla, and Ms Bishop revealed her services were required as a shopping advisor.

'We picked out a woven basket and a hat and then we had to scramble around to find some local currency to pay for it, which he ultimately did,' Ms Bishop said.

'I am sure they are somewhere in the royal palaces.'

The then Prince Charles went shopping for a gift to give Queen Consort Camilla while being accompanied by Ms Bishop during their visit to Vanuatu in 2018

Ms Bishop said she had come to know Charles well, especially in her role with his charity The Prince's Trust.

'He is extraordinarily intelligent, has a very inquiring mind and asks lots of questions, is incredibly well briefed,' Ms Bishop said.

She also remarked on the King's 'keen and deep interest in all things Australian', as evidenced by his schooling years in Geelong and 16 visits Down Under.

She recounted how the King had contacted her after the devastating 2019 Australian bushfires to find a community that the charity could help.

Eventually they chose the Stokes Bay community on Kangaroo Island off South Australia.

King Charles and Ms Bishop eventually settled on a woven basket and hat to give Queen Consort Camilla during the trip to Vanuatu

Ms Bishop said the Trust, which the then Prince of Wales established with his 7,400 ($8,600) severance pay from the Royal Navy in 1976, had helped establish 100 business ventures made by veterans.

The charity, which has branches in Canada and NZ as well, also helps young people and those involved with creating a sustainable future.

On the ABC's 7.30 program on Monday night, Ms Bishop declared that King Charles will be 'a magnificent and refreshingly modern monarch'.

Ms Bishop believed Australia's acting High Commissioner in London had already been to an audience with King Charles.

'That indicates the priority he does have for Australia,' she said.

Ms Bishop again spoke admiringly of King Charles, who she said she had spent 'a lot of personal time with' in her capacity as Prince's Trust chair.

A view of the damage done by bushfires in the Stokes Bay area of Kangaroo Island in 2020, with the area picked to receive help from The Prince's Trust to rebuild

'I believe he has a very profound understanding of the role he must undertake after all he has been preparing for it for many, many years,' Ms Bishop said.

'He has a profound sense of duty and service, he's witnessed his mother's reign at close hand.'

Ms Bishop said King Charles, who as Prince of Wales is known for his environmental activism, will remain 'passionate' about those issues but will follow Queen Elizabeth's example in not voicing political opinions.

'He has already said he understands the difference between being the Prince of Wales and being the monarch,' Ms Bishop said.

'He has already said he has a deep sense of constitutional responsibility and I believe he will be above the political fray.'

'That doesn't mean he won't still be passionate about these topics, I expect he will continue to do his work through the Prince's Trust, which he will remain the president of as King.

'I am sure he understands his duties and responsibilities very well.'

Ms Bishop was confident that the death of Queen Elizabeth would not usher in an immediate move for Australia to become a republic.

'There won't be a referendum for a republic this term of the Labor government,' Ms Bishop said.

'That's obvious because Prime Minister Albanese knows he needs an election mandate to introduce such a subject.'
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Legendary American photographer William Klein has died aged 96 after a career that saw him revolutionize fashion and street photography in the late 20th century.

Klein, who was born and raised in New York City, passed away 'peacefully' in his adopted city of Paris, his son Pierre said in a statement on Monday.

His family said they will hold a 'very intimate' funeral at his request but the millions of fans of his striking depictions will be able to grieve his loss at a public memorial.

Klein was one of the 20th century's most influential artists, having been celebrated for his worked across the film and fashion industries.

He also created shots of the grit and violence of city life that helped revolutionize photography, including being one of the first to show models outside of the studio and out of the streets.

Tributes flooded in on Monday and Tuesday for a 'visionary' who 'disregarded the social and artistic attitudes of his time to cut a unique path'.

Revolutionary American photographer, William Klein, (pictured in 2016) who built his legacy with imagery of fashion and urban life has died age 96 in Paris.

Gun 1, New York, 1954: Klein, who grew up in Manhattan, was commissioned by Vogue to produce a book of photography focusing on the city. In this photograph, above, Klein asked two boys on Upper Broadway to pose. One pointed a gun at the camera, his face erupting with rage. Klein said his famous image was often misinterpreted. He said: 'It's fake violence, a parody. I asked the boy to point the gun at me and look tough. He did, and then we both laughed, which the next frame shows. Knowing this, I see it in another context. And even more, another: as a double self-portrait. 'I was both the street kid trying to look tough and the timid, good little boy on the right.'

Antonia + Simone, Barbershop, 1961: Vogue became one of Klein's earliest patrons and over a decade of work, starting in the 1950s, he brought his own unique style to fashion photography. He took models out of the studios and into the streets. In one shoot on Manhattan's Lower East Side (pictured above), he had two models post outside a barber shop he'd painted pink and on a whim, asked a black man working nearby to pose in the window.

Nina + Simone, Piazza di Spagna, Rome, 1960: In his work for Vogue, Klein photographed models in elegant clothes in gritty urban environments. In a 2003 New York Times interview he said of his fashion work: 'My photographs are mostly parodies. The intention was to show how phony the poses were... but nobody complained. I always made sure that you could see the dress.'

Antonia and Yellow Taxi, New York, 1962: With the glossy Vogue magazine as one of his earliest patrons, he became among the first photographers to take fashion models from the studio into the streets for shoots. The result was game-changing and much emulated: he photographed models through telephoto lenses as they made their way through traffic

Klein depicted the restlessness of city life through gritty portraiture often inspired by tabloid sensationalism and was one of the first to take models out of the studio and into the streets.

He photographed them through telephoto and wide-angled lenses in the middle of rush hour traffic which marked a dramatic, game-changing style that was often emulated.

His mostly black-and-white work plays with off-center subjects and boosted contrast, with young men brandishing weapons at point-blank range or scowling faces seen in close-up, sometimes out of focus.

He was also a noted filmmaker, producing several documentary and feature films throughout his career, addressing topics like the fashion industry, the war in Vietnam and famed boxer Muhammed Ali.

Klein first ventured into cinema in 1956, when Italian director Federico Fellini, impressed by Klein's raw images of New York City street life, had asked him to work on his 1957 film 'Nights of Cabiria,' about a prostitute in Rome.

Alain Genestar, head of the French photography magazine Polka, told the Guardian Klein marched to the beat of his own drum.

He said: 'Klein is one of those legendary photographers who made his own rules, like Man Ray. People always look at the camera in his pictures, because he believed that people's eyes do not lie.'

It echoes what Klein himself told The Observer in 2012: 'I wasn't part of any movement. I was working alone, following my instinct.

'I had no real respect for good technique because I didn't know what it was. I was self-taught, so that stuff didn't matter to me.'

'William Klein took pictures like a boxer,' said Alain Genestar, director of the specialist magazine Polka and its associated gallery.

The International Center of Photography in New York said Klein 'was a visionary in all ways, disregarding the social and artistic attitudes of his time to cut a unique path'.

'Innovative and uncompromising, he opened countless doors for subsequent imagemakers around the world,' it added.

Backstage 'Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?,' 1966: Klein directed the French satirical film that poked fun at the fashion industry and its excess

4 Heads, Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, New York, 1954: Klein told The Observer newspaper in 2012: 'I wasn't part of any movement. I was working alone, following my instinct. I had no real respect for good technique because I didn't know what it was. I was self-taught, so that stuff didn't matter to me.'

Moves and Pepsi, Harlem, New York, 1955

Watchman, Cinecitta, Rome, 1956

Bikini, Moskva (River), Moscow, 1959

Born in New York City in 1926 to Hungarian Jewish parents, Klein grew up in Manhattan and studied sociology at the City College of New York.

After serving in Europe with the U.S. Army during World War II, he moved to Paris to study painting at the Sorbonne under the G.I. Bill.

He directed hundreds of ads for French brands including carmakers Citroen and Renault. Klein's documentaries would take a political turn, as in the pro-North Vietnamese 'Far from Vietnam' in 1967 or 'Muhammad Ali the greatest' in 1974.

'This black boxer who had converted to Islam had a real political side,' said Klein, who developed a keen interest in Black American struggles.

As the Ali film was getting underway, the director met Black nationalist leader Malcolm X on the plane to Miami. 'It was the only free seat, because no one wanted to be near him. We got on very well,' Klein later said.

Klein returned to photography in the 1980s, releasing several books over the following decades.

Klein met and married Jeanne Florin, a model and painter, soon after his arrival in Paris. The couple lived together in France until her death in 2005.

Klein, who studied briefly with French painters Andre Lhote and Fernand Leger, had his first solo exhibition of paintings in Brussels in 1951, and another in Milan a year later.

In 1954, he turned his attention to photography after winning his first camera in a poker game, beginning immediately to shoot Paris monuments with the German-made Rolleiflex.

He also met Alexander Liberman, the artistic director at Vogue, and began a 10-year collaboration with the popular magazine starting when he was just 26.

During the same period, he created a ground-breaking photographic diary of his native New York, titled 'Life is Good & Good For You in New York.'

The book featured Klein's unconventional use of wide angles, contrasts in composition and unusual framing, which came to define the still-nascent genre of street photography.

Independence Day Parade, Dakar, 1963

Klein photographed Serge Gainsbourg made up as a 'diva' for the cover of his 1984 album Love On The Beat. The album included the controversial Lemon Incest duet with Gainsbourg's daughter Charlotte.

This photo provided by William Klein's family shows a self-portrait taken in 1993, painted by the artist on a contact sheet. Klein's innovative portraiture style strongly influenced fashion and street photography in the second half of the 20th Century

Born in New York City in 1926 to Hungarian Jewish parents, Klein grew up in Manhattan and studied sociology at the City College of New York. He gained international fame in the early 1960s for a series of photo books on urban life, with raw, blurred photos differing from traditional photography at the time

Klein died 'peacefully in Paris' at the weekend, confirmed by his son, Pierre Klein, in a statement released on Monday

From the book, 'New York 1954  5' Klein said he was often misunderstood. A portrait of two boys, one holding a gun to the camera and the other looking at him was often 'misread' according to Klein.

'Well, to start with, I'm getting tired of seeing it in print and, in addition, misread. It's fake violence, a parody,' he said.

'I asked the boy to point the gun at me and look tough. He did, and then we both laughed, which the next frame shows.

'Knowing this, I see it in another context. And even more, another: as a double self-portrait. I was both the street kid trying to look tough and the timid, good little boy on the right.'

The book was published in Paris, London and Rome in 1956 and won the Nadar Prize the following year. He published other photo diaries of other cities, Rome in 1959, Moscow and Tokyo in 1964, and Paris in 2002.

In a 2003 New York Times interview he said of his fashion work: 'My photographs are mostly parodies. The intention was to show how phony the poses were... but nobody complained. I always made sure that you could see the dress.'

Announcing his death, his son Pierre said: 'According to his wishes, the funeral will be a very intimate event.' A retrospective of Klein's work at New York's ICP has been extended through September 15.
Qantas boss Alan Joyce has come under savage attack from 2GB radio host Ben Fordham after the airline chief was paid almost $80 million in just 10 years.

Passengers have heavily criticised the Australian national carrier over its performance since services resumed after Covid lockdown restrictions.

Travellers have complained about huge queues, cancelled flights, lost baggage and having to wait months for refunds for flight tickets that were never used.

But despite the massive slide in the airline's former luxury reputation, Mr Joyce has been earning millions as its CEO, raking in $75million between 2012 and 2020, and another $4.2 million in the last two years.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce has come under savage attack after the airline chief was paid almost $80 million in just 10 years

'That just blows my mind,' said 2GB's Ben Fordham on Tuesday as he unloaded on the Qantas boss, whose $19million home was egged in a mystery midnight attack in July.

'It's shameless that while 1000s of people are stranded on the tarmac, the boss gives himself a massive payday.'

In 2017, Mr Joyce - who bought his stunning harbourside mansion on Sydney's ritzy north shore earlier this year - earned a staggering $25million in just 12 months.

Even in the midst of the pandemic - when the airline was effectively mothballed and shut down, Mr Joyce still pocketed $4.2million in 2021 and 2022.

And even when Qantas made a $2.8billion loss in 2014, Mr Joyce managed to earn $50million in salary and shares in the three years that followed, reported the AFR.

2GB radio host Ben Fordham slammed the CEO's pay as 'shameless' and questioned his worth

Qantas boss Alan Joyce splashed out on a sprawling $19million Mosman waterfront mansion overlooking Sydney harbour. He moved into the property with his husband Shane Lloyd in May

But the CEO's reign has seen the company's reputation slip from the third-highest in the world to now ranking eighth in the World Airline Awards.

Despite the passenger backlash, Qantas has been quietly putting flight prices up.

Citigroup analyst Samuel Seow found Qantas ticket prices have risen by almost a third on pre-pandemic fares in 2018-19.

'It is staggering - and with eye-watering amounts of money being paid to the CEO comes some critical attention,' said Fordham.

'The buck really has to stop at Alan Joyce's desk and when you've got so many bucks going to Alan Joyce, the pressure is really on the Qantas CEO.

The airline has faced some of its worst performance levels in history with more than half of Qantas passengers having their flight either delayed or completely cancelled in one week

'When a company's reputation is copping a hit, people start asking questions, and they look towards the CEO.

'With such an extraordinary amount of money being paid to one individual, that pressure on that individual is going to mount so they need some performance improvements, and they need them fast.

'If that doesn't happen soon. I think Alan Joyce is going to have a tough time justifying his jumbo sized salary.'

Fordham said part of the blame lay with the board and shareholders for backing Mr Joyce in the face of the declining standards and rising fury from passengers.

'Part of me says Good luck to him,' added Fordham.

'If you've got the shareholders behind you and the quarters board or saying well, this is what he's worth, then good luck to him.

'But is Alan Joyce worth it?'
A 40-year-old man has been arrested after he allegedly committed four acts of gross indecency on four young children.

The man allegedly forced the children - aged 4, 7, 7, and 9 - to perform oral sex on him last Wednesday evening in Alice Springs, the Australian reported.

The accused was denied bail after his arrest on Thursday and will be remanded until October 13

Northern Territory authorities said the man did not rape the kids and is known to the children (pictured, a stock photo)

Authorities said the man did not rape the kids and is known to the children.

Th alleged offender was denied bail after his arrest on Thursday and will be remanded until October 13.
A leading Aboriginal activist has recalled his unexpected but powerful moment with Queen Elizabeth II, which led to the eventual recognition of Aboriginal land rights almost two decades later.

Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania chairman Michael Mansell reflected on his memorable meeting with Her Majesty 45 years ago following her death at Balmoral, Scotland, last week, aged 96.

He detailed the hurdles endured to get his face-to-face meeting, which he hailed as a significant breakthrough for indigenous Tasmanians.

In 1977, the Queen visited Hobart during an Australian tour while celebrating her Silver Jubilee.

At the time, a petition to the Tasmanian government demanding that land be returned to Aboriginal Australians fell on deaf ears.

Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania chairman Michael Mansell (pictured) has recalled his powerful encounter with the Queen during her tour

Mr Mansell learned a civic reception would be held in Queen's honour but was told by government officials it was an all-white affair and that no Aboriginal representatives were invited.

That was until the 11th hour, when a limousine pulled up outside the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre with an official invite for an Aboriginal representative to attend.

Everyone had gone home for the day, except Mr Mansell, who saw the invitation as a golden opportunity to personally present the Aboriginal land rights petition to the Queen and raise awareness of the issue.

Mr Mansell recalled how he was surrounded by police upon arrival to the reception at Wrest Point Casino and was stopped from entering.

The commotion attracted the attention of not only the Tasmanian Premier and Her Majesty's chief secretary but also the Queen herself.

'So they took me up, and she asked what the problem was. I said 'I've got a petition that they won't let me show you. We think you should be doing something about it,' Mr Mansell wrote for NITV.

The Queen (pictured with Lord Mayor of Hobart D.R. Plaister) was also confronted by demonstrators during her visit to Hobart on her 1977 Silver Jubilee tour of Australia

'I made it plain that I was Aboriginal, that the Crown had taken our country, we got absolutely nothing back, and it wasn't acceptable.'

'She listened to me, and she understood what I was saying. All this caused a problem with the dignitaries because she had walked past them to come and see me!'

Mr Mansell presented the petition to the Queen, along with a box containing Aboriginal artefacts, including 'beads and trinkets'.

'I said, 'Here you can have this, now give our Country back.' I was half-joking, but she kept a straight face!' he recalled.

He said Queen's Secretary would not let him give the Queen his petition but assured it would not be ignored as he shared more details about the artefacts he presented her.

'I had planned to offer these in exchange for her telling Bill Neilson (then-Tasmanian Premier) to give our lands back to us  beads and trinkets for a country, I thought she might take the point,' Mr Mansell wrote for the Mercury.

'She trumped me again, going on about similar artefacts she had seen in New Guinea. New Guinea? ... what's that got to do with your ancestors stealing my people's lands, I thought. But before I could get the words out, she was gone. Missed me bloody chance.

'I realised then that this lady was not Queen of the Commonwealth for nothing, and hadn't come in on the latest breeze. She was an accomplished diplomat, able to deftly deflect demands from people like me, no matter how valid those demands were.'

Mr Mansell claimed he was the only guest at the reception who was pulled over and had their car searched by police while leaving the casino, which also made headlines the next day.

Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania chairman Michael Mansell (right) says Aboriginal land rights legislation would not have passed in Tasmania had the Queen not agrred to meet him

He described his meeting with the Queen as a significant breakthrough for indigenous Tasmanians as it put the issue of land rights front and centre of politics.

He also described the encounter as a turning point as ministers could no longer ignore the issue once it was raised with the Queen.

The Tasmanian parliament finally passed Aboriginal land rights legislation 18 years later.

Mr Mansell insists the legislation would not have passed had the Queen not agreed to meet him.

The Queen visited every state and territory during her 1977 visit.
Ukrainian gains on the battlefield have even pro-Kremlin voices in Russia questioning the war in Ukraine.

In light of recent developments and the retaking of Russian-occupied territory, there have been several stories of pro-Putin analysts appearing on state-run TV networks and questioning the rationality of extending the battle in Ukraine.

Although Putin's press secretary stated on Monday that what Russia refers to as the "special military operation" will continue, Russia has remained mum over the withdrawal of Russian forces from the whole Kharkiv region above Donbas.

The Teneo consultancy group stated in a report Monday night that "military losses and the humiliation of Russian troops" also pose threats to President Vladimir Putin Presidency, as public criticism of the conduct of the so-called special military operation is increasing from multiple perspectives, according to CNBC.

"As a result, Putin faces growing pressure to respond to increasingly unfavorable dynamics on the frontline, which might include either escalatory moves or calls to start ceasefire talks," it added.

Putin Urged To Use Extreme Measures in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin faces mounting pressure to use force, say experts.

Influential Russian nationalists and pro-war voices are advocating for more extreme measures, including full-mobilization and intensified attacks against the infrastructure of the Ukrainian civilian population. Per CNN, some have even suggested using tactical nuclear weapons.

Russian pro-war experts and commentators generally exhibit an open feeling of terror, according to Russian political analyst Anton Barbashin.

Russia observers say it is doubtful that Putin will order a widespread mobilization because he understands that doing so would be unpopular and would be interpreted as an acknowledgment that the "special military operation" is a war. The Kremlin has so far rejected the concept.

Putin issued an order last month to add 137,000 service members to the military, bringing the total to 1.15 million. But analysts predict Russia will find it harder and harder to attract recruits.

Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said Sunday that certain regional administrations have been criticized for recruiting contract personnel and volunteers toRussia Ukraine war.

Read Also: Moscow, Beijing To Benefit From Sanctions Chinese Firms Expand to Russian Markets

Ukraine's recent victories and capacity to keep them are unknown.

However, analysts claim that if the Ukrainian counteroffensive proceeds at the same tempo, Putin could find it harder to portray himself as a competent tactician.

Kremlin Keeps Calm

An authoritarian leader's loss of invincibility might generate complications. And Vladimir Putin is familiar with Russia's history wherein Russian leaders who engaged in wars but lost them have not ended well.

The first Russian Revolution of 1905 resulted from Russia's loss to Japan.

The 1917 Revolution and the fall of the Tsar were triggered by military setbacks in World War One.

President Vladimir Putin, though, makes it clear that he doesn't want to lose.

BBC reported that the Kremlin shows no alarm yet. State TV in Russia is more upbeat, calling recent Russian rocket assaults on Ukraine's power infrastructure a "turning point in the special operation."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media that Russia's "special military operation continues and will continue until all the tasks that were initially set have been fulfilled."

Media outlets in Russia report that Ukraine's military advancements were attributed to Western assistance for the country. According to Russian state television, Kyiv began a counteroffensive with NATO's support.

Related Article: Clues Pinpoint Vladimir Putin as the "Mastermind" in Mysterious Deaths of Russian Oligarchs

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Two photographers say a herd of 11 brumbies they documented for many years have been brutally slaughtered in a national park as they claim culling of the wild horses is based on 'lies and propaganda'.

On Sunday Cooma couple Michelle and Ian Brown made the gruesome discovery that the entire herd of 11 were dead and left to rot at Kosciuszko National Park.

They were found with bullet holes in their heads and bodies. At least three of the mares were pregnant at the time of death.

It's believed the horses were shot as part of 'wild horse control' measures to protect the park's fragile ecology, implemented by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).

The presence of the wild horses in the national park has been an ongoing source of tension between brumby lovers and ecologists for years.

But Ms Brown told Daily Mail Australia that a brumby recount must take place as she claimed the estimated total numbers of wild horses in the park are false.

'We want a proper brumby population recount to take place. The whole trapping and removal of our brumbies and wild horse management plan is based on a flawed population count,' she said.

On Sunday Cooma couple Michelle and Ian Brown made the gruesome discovery that the entire herd of 11 brumbies were dead and left to rot at Kosciuszko National Park with bullet holes in their heads and bodies

Two photographers say a herd of brumbies they documented for many years have been brutally slaughtered, claiming culling measures are based off 'lies and propaganda'

'National Parks and Wildlife Service and those involved with the removal of the brumbies state that there are 14,000 horses up there when in fact there are less than 1,500 now, maybe even less.

'I have been hiking the area for years and years, I honestly dont think that there are more than 1,500 brumbies up there. Its all based on lies and propaganda. Us locals love the brumbies.'

Ms Brown said she and her partner were with the brumby clan last week and she was 'angry' and can't stop thinking about what happened.

A NSW NPWS spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the details of the control measures used would not be publicly disclosed but assured 'standards are being met'.

'NPWS is implementing wild horse control in accordance with the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan,' a NPWS spokesperson said.

'The Plan balances protection of the heritage value of wild horses and maintaining the exceptional conservation values of the park.

'To protect the safety of NSW NPWS staff, contractors and visitors, and the welfare of wild horses, operational details about control will not be publicly released.'

A NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the details of the control measures used would not be publicly disclosed but assured animal welfare standards 'are being met'

They say all measures are carried out at the highest possible animal welfare standards.

A plan to reduce the brumby population at the park was introduced in November 2021 under the Kosciuszko Wild Heritage Act.

The act states it will protect the values of the wild horse population at a number of 3,000 horses in 32 per cent of the park.

The act states that it, 'maintains the environmental values of the park by reducing the wild horse population from an estimated 14,380 horses to 3,000 horses by 30 June 2027. Under the plan, there will be no wild horses across 68 per cent of the park.'

On radio 2GB on Tuesday morning, veteran broadcaster Ray Hadley weighed in on the killing of the brumbies saying he had information the killings weren't 'clean kills' with many dying from bleeding out.

Mr Hadley said he reached out to the NSW Environment Minister James Griffin but that he was 'strangely' unavailable.

'Did you kill the horses in this fashion which has been depicted to me, left them to die, did you do that?' Mr Hadley asked during his morning program.

'Well, I've got a tip for you, James  I don't think I've ever spoken with you, privately or on-air  but I have a history over the last 25 or 30 years of not relenting.

'I'll drive you cuckoo right up until the election, demanding an answer as to whether National Parks and Wildlife had anything to do with the slaughter of these 11 horses, including mares in foal.'

The Kosciuzsko Wild Heritage Act it 'recognises and protects wild horse heritage values in Kosciuszko National Park and enables active management of the wild horse population to reduce their impact on the park's fragile environment'.

'The removal of wild horses will occur in accordance with best practice animal welfare requirements.'
Scotland Yards new Commissioner yesterday said masterminding the Queens funeral will be the biggest security operation in British history.

On his first day in office, Sir Mark Rowley acknowledged the scale of the task ahead as he said his first priority would be to enable mourners from all over the world to safely pay their respects to the Queen.

After becoming the UKs first police chief to swear allegiance to King Charles III, Sir Mark said he would pour thousands of officers into the security operation to protect the one million people expected to descend on the capital over the mourning period.

On his first day in office, Sir Mark Rowley (above) acknowledged the scale of the task ahead as he said his first priority would be to enable mourners from all over the world to safely pay their respects to the Queen

Its a massive challenge for the Met and for me personally, Sir Mark admitted. But we have been preparing for many, many years.

I have a lot of trust and confidence in the fantastic police officers who are going to support this event and help make it safe.

The new Commissioner faces a baptism of fire as he takes control of Britains biggest police force.

Sir Mark has the task of transforming a scandal-hit force at an unprecedented time of uncertainty with a new monarch, Prime Minister and Home Secretary.

After becoming the UKs first police chief to swear allegiance to King Charles III, Sir Mark said he would pour thousands of officers into the security operation to protect the one million people expected to descend on the capital over the mourning period

But his first priority will be masterminding the biggest security operation this country has ever seen.

As Britains former head of counter-terrorism, Sir Mark has years of security planning experience. He also led policing of the Diamond Jubilee and supported security for the London 2012 Olympics.

Around 10,000 police officers will be on duty every day in London in the lead-up to the Queens funeral.

The Met will also need extra specialist officers from across the UK, including close protection and firearms, to take part in the meticulously planned operation.

And British Transport Police is boosting the number of officers at main railway stations.
Prince Andrew was banned from wearing his military outfit and saluting at last night's vigil for his mother in Edinburgh.

The Duke of York turned up to yesterday's ceremony in a suit, a sharp contrast to his siblings - Princess Anne and Prince Edward - who wore their military uniforms for the traditional Vigil of the Princes at St Giles Cathedral.

It was a public dressing down for the Queen's third child, and a reminder of his lowered status after he was stripped of his military titles and booted from public life by the Firm for his links to notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

In recent years he has been plagued with accusations made by one of Epstein's 'sex slaves' alleging the royal had sexually abused her when she was a minor under American law.

This culminated in a bombshell US lawsuit and a multimillion-pound out of court settlement, although the Duke of York has consistently denied the allegations.

In the fallout Andrew gave up his HRH status and was stripped of all his honorary military titles, including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.

And this became apparent yesterday as his siblings arrived to take a vigil over their mother's coffin in their military uniforms, while Andrew was left wearing only a suit and his medals.

Members of the royal family stand at a Service of Prayer and Reflection for the life of Queen Elizabeth II at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh today

Prince Andrew was not permitted to wear his military uniform at the vigil for his mother today. Here he is pictured speaking to his elder brother, King Charles (right) outside St Giles Cathedral

Princess Anne (left) and Prince Edward (right) attended the vigil in full military uniform, while Andrew (centre back) was dressed in a suit

Prince Andrew returns to the fold - but not for long For the last couple of years Prince Andrew has been keeping a relatively low profile after allegations about his links to notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. He has been rarely seen in public and was only scheduled to appear at one event during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations - something he ended up missing due to getting Covid. With his mother's passing he has been allowed to return to the public eye to take part in the national mourning that will come over the next couple of weeks. However, this is not expected to be a permanent return, with the Telegraph reporting the new king is not likely to allow him to restart formal functions. King Charles, along with his son, Prince William, were two of the key driving forces behind Andrew's banishment from public life as they fought to contain the fallout from his relationship with Epstein and subsequent civil sex abuse case with one of the paedophile's victims. It reports they are likely to force him back out of the public eye once the mourning for Her Majesty is over. Advertisement

After a short procession, King Charles III, Anne, the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward each stood on one of the four corners of the oak coffin with their heads bowed in a ceremony known as the Vigil of the Princes.

The Duke of York kept his eyes closed for a period of time during the 10-minute vigil, while the Princess Royal and Earl of Wessex had their eyes fixed towards the floor. The King - his eyes moistening - kept his hands joined and also looked towards the floor as members of the public filed past.

The King and his family stood alongside four suited members of the Royal Company of Archers, who were standing guard dressed in long-feathered hats and armed with arrows and quivers.

Members of the public - who have been filing past the coffin in their thousands throughout the afternoon - were briefly held back to allow the royals to take their place.

However, they continued to file past once the vigil began, offering them an extraordinary perspective on the historic moment.

A number of members of the public bowed as they passed the King, with others walking solemnly by with heads down.

Charles wore the Prince Charles Edward Stuart tartan and white heather in his lappelle from Balmoral, while Anne and Edward appeared in military uniform.

However, Andrew - despite having served in the Falklands War - wore only a morning suit, having been banned from wearing uniform on public occasions following his exile from public life amid the fallout from his role in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

The Duke of York will only be permitted to appear in military dress during a second Vigil of the Princes in Westminster Hall later this week.

This is in contrast to Prince Harry who will not be allowed to wear his military uniform at the same event, it is being reported.

Meghan Markle's friend and preferred journalist Omid Scobie claimed that the Duke of Sussex - who has also seen military action by serving two tours of Afghanistan - has been banned from wearing his uniform at all ceremonial events during mourning for Her Majesty.

'I understand that, unlike Prince Andrew, Prince Harry will NOT be allowed to wear uniform at the final vigil in Westminster Hall. No doubt a huge blow for the Duke of Sussex, who served for 10 years and this morning spoke of the Queen being his ''commander-in-chief''', he tweeted yesterday.

Harry and Meghan were also stripped of their titles after they quit royal duties and left the UK for California.

The ensuing Megxit saga, which has seen the Duke and Duchess of Sussex make a series of astonishing allegations against The Firm including claims of racism against Meghan and her unborn son Archie by an unnamed senior royal, has sparked a civil war in the House of Windsor and plunged the monarchy into one of its most severe crises.

King Charles III, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew, who was not in military uniform but whose medals were pinned to his morning suit, walk behind the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Edinburgh

Royal sources have said the disgraced Duke of York - a Falklands War veteran who exiled from public life amid the fallout from his role in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal - will be entitled to wear military colours if he attends the ceremonial event on Wednesday. However, Meghan Markle's friend and preferred journalist Omid Scobie claimed that the Duke of Sussex - who has also seen military action by serving two tours of Afghanistan - has been banned from wearing his uniform at all ceremonial events during mourning for Her Majesty

The temporary reprieve granted to the Duke of York this week is set to be short lived, with King Charles expected to resist any attempts by his brother to return to Royal duties.

His involvement in the national mourning following Her Majesty's death at Balmoral Castle last Thursday is being done as the royal family attempts to put on a united front.

On Saturday, while Charles was sworn in as King, Anne, Andrew, Edward and their children thanked well-wishers who had gathered outside the gates of Balmoral.

He was seen reading tributes to his late mother and embracing his daughter Princess Eugenie.

And the 62-year-old's joined other members of the family in Edinburgh yesterday for the arrival of the Queen's coffin, with his apparent banishment from public life seemingly brought to a temporary halt.

The Duke of York was present at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in the Scottish capital with his sister Princess Anne, and brother Prince Edward, as the cortege arrived.

Andrew is thought to have been incredibly close to his late mother, and is believed to have spent large amounts of time in recent months.

He has often been described as the Queen's 'favourite son', and was seen walking arm-in-arm with his mother for the funeral of his late father, Prince Phillip.

Princess Beatrice bends down with her father the Duke of York to look at tributes and flowers left outside Balmoral Castle in Ballater on September 10

Prince Andrew, Duke of York views the flowers left by mourners outside Balmoral Castle on September 10

He has rarely been seen in public since his association with notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein became public knowledge, with other members of the family railing against his involvement in royal functions.

His appearance at the Duke of Edinburgh's memorial was his first appearance after settling a civil sex abuse case with Virginia Giuffre, with no admission of liability.

He was not seen at the summer's Platinum Jubilee celebrations due to Covid.

Over the weekend a palace source was quoted as saying it would be 'out of the question' for him not to be involved when the royal family is trying to present a united front.

But this temporary reprieve is not set to become permanent, with both King Charles and Prince William making it clear that Andrew will not play any formal role in their reigns.

'Once it is all over, he will be expected to retreat back to a life lived well under the royal radar,' the Telegraph reported.
The Princess Royal will remain by the Queens side as she embarks on the next leg of her historic journey to her final resting place.

Princess Anne, the late monarchs only daughter, will accompany her coffin as it leaves Scotland for London on a flight at 6pm today.

The 72-year-old, pictured, was the only one of the Queens four children to accompany the funeral cortege on its six-hour road journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh.

The coffin will leave St Giles Cathedral, where it has been lying in state, by hearse at 5pm.

The Princess Royal will remain by the Queens side as she embarks on the next leg of her historic journey to her final resting place. Pictured: Anne in the procession as the Queen's coffin is moved to St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh yesterday

At the citys airport, a bearer party of the RAF will carry it to a military aircraft for the flight to RAF Northolt, west London, where it is due to land shortly before 7pm.

King Charles and the Queen Consort will be waiting with a guard of honour before the coffin is driven in the State Hearse into the capital.

The Prince and Princess of Wales will be at Buckingham Palace this evening to greet the coffin.

The 72-year-old, pictured, was the only one of the Queens four children to accompany the funeral cortege on its six-hour road journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh

Throughout the historic procedure, words of command will be given as quietly as possible while remaining consistent with their being heard by the guard of honour.

The bearer party will then carry the Queens coffin to the Bow Room where it will be placed on trestles in the centre, witnessed by King Charles and the Queen Consort.

Here the Queen will spend a final night at Buckingham Palace where a rota of Chaplains to the King, who were formerly appointed by the Queen, will keep watch over her whilst she rests.

Tomorrow, the coffin carried on a gun carriage will be conveyed to the Palace of Westminster where it will lay in state for four days until the funeral.

Princess Anne, the late monarchs only daughter, will accompany her coffin as it leaves Scotland for London on a flight at 6pm today. Pictured: King Charles and Princess Anne in the procession in Edinburgh yesterday

While the Queen is being accompanied by his sister on the flight, the newly appointed King will be carrying out his new duties as monarch with the first part of his tour of the nations.

King Charles will be visiting Belfast and will travel to Hillsborough Castle where he will be met with a royal salute of 21 rounds before viewing an exhibition on the late Queens long association with Northern Ireland.

The King will also meet the Secretary of State and party leaders before receiving a message of condolence led by the Speaker of Northern Ireland Assembly at 1.20pm.

After a short reception, the King and Queen Consort will travel to St Annes Cathedral for a service of reflection where they will be joined by the Prime Minster.

They will then meet leaders from major faiths in Northern Ireland before leaving for London to arrive in time to meet the Queens coffin.
Raymond J. Dearie, the former top federal judge in the Eastern District of New York, was proposed by the Trump team as an overseer of the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation: on Monday the Justice Department said they approved of his candidate

One of the candidates proposed by Donald Trump's team to serve as the special master to investigate the top secret documents found at Mar-a-Lago was accepted for consideration by the Justice Department on Monday.

Federal Judge Raymond J. Dearie was one of the judges to approve an FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) request to surveil Carter Page, who at the time was a foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign.

Trump requested the appointment of an independent arbiter to handle the case into whether the former president improperly took documents from the White House was approved by a judge in Florida.

His team submitted their candidates for the role of special master on September 9, and on Monday the Justice Department responded in the affirmative for one candidate and negative for another.

The DOJ said they would accept for consideration in the role Dearie and the two government picks  Barbara S. Jones, Thomas B. Griffith.

A fourth candidate, Paul Huck, was rejected by the Justice Department, with the government saying he 'does not appear to have similar experience'.

They said their chosen three have suitable staff to assist them with the task.

Trump said earlier on Monday he opposes the DOJ's proposed candidates, but offered no explanation, with his lawyers claiming they want to be 'respectful to the candidates from either party.'

'Plaintiff objects to the proposed nominees of the Department of Justice. Plaintiff believes there are specific reasons why those nominees are not preferred for service as Special Master in this case,' Trump's lawyers wrote.

The Justice Department said all three retired judges 'have substantial judicial experience, during which they have presided over federal criminal and civil cases, including federal cases involving national security and privilege concerns'.

Judge Barbara S. Jones (left) served on the federal bench in Manhattan, while Thomas B. Griffith (right) served as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida

Jones served on the federal bench in Manhattan and has performed the same role in prior high-profile investigations. She reviewed materials seized in FBI raids on Trump's one-time personal lawyers Michael Cohen, in an investigation related to hush-money payments, and Rudy Giuliani, in a probe of his dealings in Ukraine.

Griffith was a federal appeals court jurist in the District of Columbia. He was named to the federal appeals court in Washington in 2005 by then-president George W Bush, and previously represented the institutional interests of the Republican-led Senate during the impeachment case of former president Bill Clinton.

Dearie was the former top federal judge in the Eastern District of New York. He was nominated in 1986 by then-president Ronald Reagan to the federal court based in Brooklyn. He served a seven-year term on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court  also known as FISA court.

The proposed special master was one of the judges who approved an FBI and Justice Department request to surveil Trump campaign foreign policy adviser at the time Carter Page.

This was as part of the federal inquiry into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

Huck was a prominent Florida lawyer who served as general counsel to Charlie Crist when Crist was the Republican governor of Florida. He is married to Barbara Lagoa, a judge on the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which would hear any appeal in the Trump case from Florida. He is listed on the Federalist Society website as a contributor to the conservative legal group.

Lawyers for Trump said they believe the so-called special master should review all documents seized by the FBI during its search last month of Mar-a-Lago, including records with classification markings, and filter out any that may be protected by claims of executive privilege.

The Justice Department, by contrast, said it does not believe the arbiter should be permitted to inspect classified records or resolve potential claims of executive privilege.

A page from the Justice Department's motion to appeal against a judge's decision to name an independent arbiter

District Judge Aileen Cannon had given both sides until September 9 to submit potential candidates for the role of a special master, as well as proposals for the scope of the person's duties and the schedule for his or her work.

The back-and-forth over the special master is playing out amid an FBI investigation into the retention of several hundred classified documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago within the past year.

Though the legal wrangling is unlikely to have major long-term effects on the investigation or knock it significantly off course, it will almost certainly delay the probe by potentially months and has already caused the intelligence community to temporarily pause a separate risk assessment.

The Justice Department proposed an October 17 deadline for the special master to complete the review process, while the Trump team said the work could take as long as three months.

Though both sides met Judge Cannon's deadline to provide potential candidates, their filings made clear that they have core disagreements about the job of special master.

That is not surprising given that the Justice Department had strenuously objected to the Trump team's desire for such an arbiter, and gave notice on Thursday that it would appeal against the judge's decision to grant the ex-president's request.

Central to the dispute is precisely what documents the yet-to-be-named special master should be tasked with reviewing.

Roughly 11,000 documents  including more than 100 with classified markings, some at the top-secret level  were recovered during the FBI's August 8 search.

In granting the request for a special master, Judge Cannon directed the department to temporarily pause its use of the seized records for investigative purposes.

The Justice Department had said a special master was unnecessary in part because it had already completed its own review of the seized documents, locating a limited subset that possibly involve lawyer-client privilege.

It has maintained that executive privilege does not apply in this investigation because Trump, no longer president, had no right to claim the documents as his.

Though the government does not believe the special master should inspect documents with classification markings, the Trump team maintains the arbiter should have access to the entire tranche of seized records.

According to a summary of its position outlined in a filing on Friday night, it disputes the idea that the Justice Department's 'separation of these documents is inviolable' or that a document with classification markings should be forever regarded as classified.

And, the lawyers say, if any document is a presidential document then Trump has an 'absolute right of access to it'.

'Thus, President Trump (and/or his designee) cannot be denied access to those documents, which in this matter gives legal authorization to the Special Master to engage in first-hand review,' the filing states.

Pages from the order granting a request by former president Donald Trump's legal team to appoint a special master to review documents seized by the FBI during a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate

Executive privilege generally refers to a president's power to shield information from the courts and public so as to ensure the confidentiality of presidential decision-making, though there are limits.

A separate dispute concerns the special master's fees and expenses. The Trump team has suggested splitting the costs evenly with the Justice Department. The government says the Trump team should bear the cost.

The department has been investigating the unlawful retention of top-secret records at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House, as well as whether anyone sought to obstruct that probe.

It is not clear if Trump or anyone else will be charged.
The new Prince and Princess of Wales could tour Australia early next year  and may even take their children.

It is understood the Palace is looking at plans for Royal Family members to travel to as many realms  countries where King Charles III is also head of state  and leading Commonwealth nations as possible next year. They would formally accept condolences on the death of the Queen.

William and Kate toured Australia in 2014 with a baby Prince George.

It came as New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern said the country will not look to become a republic in the wake of the Queens death.

The new Prince and Princess of Wales could tour Australia early next year  and may even take their children

In addition to the UK, Charles now rules in 14 Commonwealth countries - Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.

It is understood that a trip the new King and Queen had been due to undertake in October to a Commonwealth country is now doubtful with a coronation to plan and pressing affairs of state.

But there is already talk that William and Kate will be deployed to Australasia.

They had been due to travel there in 2020 but the visit was cancelled due to Covid.

There is speculation that they could try to travel in the school holidays next Easter and take their young family with them.

The issue is likely to be raised during the visit of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Governor-General David Hurley when they are in London next week for the Queens funeral.

Charles, who is extremely fond of Australia, would also tour the nation at an early opportunity in his reign, a source said.

This would be followed by other realms and leading Commonwealth countries.

But there will not be wont be a repeat of the Queens epic six-month Commonwealth tour in 1953, when she and the Duke of Edinburgh visited 13 Commonwealth realms shortly after her coronation.
Boris Johnson's resignation honours list is 'signed off and ready to go', I hear.

The late Queen's late Lord Chamberlain, Baron 'Chips' Maclean (1971-1984), suggested that PMs should issue their own medals to distance the monarch, and the honours system, from being tainted by scandal.

Nothing came of the idea.

EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Boris Johnson's (pictured on September 12) resignation honours list is 'signed off and ready to go', I hear

Three Degrees star Sheila Ferguson will discuss her 'complicated' relationship with King Charles in a long-promised autobiography.

She has suggested that there was no impropriety: 'I didn't want to be a notch on his bedpost.

'I valued myself a little more than that.'

Judging by the photo of them together at Charles's Privy Council accession ceremony, a cheery-looking Gordon Brown, 71, is weathering life's storms better than frowning Tony Blair, 69, who appears to have dyed his hair unsuccessfully.

Judging by the photo of them together at Charles's Privy Council accession ceremony, a cheery-looking Gordon Brown, 71, is weathering life's storms better than frowning Tony Blair, 69, who appears to have dyed his hair unsuccessfully

Sir Rod Stewart's statuesque, 6ft 1in wife Penny Lancaster, recalls being required to walk alongside our 5ft 10in King Charles after a dinner: 'He commented on my height, so I said, 'I can do something about that', and took my shoes off.

'He held my hand as we walked along.'

No doubt humming Sir Rod's Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?

Addressing Tory leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt as she made her debut as Leader of the Commons, show-off Labour MP Chris Bryant added a sly dig: 'I warmly welcome her to her new job  not least, because she got to be leader after all.'

Once he was known as Captain Underpants after posing in his Y-fronts on a dating site.

Now it's Captain Smartypants.

The BBC's international editor Jeremy Bowen criticises his ex-colleague, Emily Maitlis, saying it was 'appropriate' for corporation mandarins to 'have a word with her' over her controversial monologue about ex No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings.

She should have written it 'a bit more cleverly', he remarks.

Who cares? Licence fee payers might be more interested in why the BBC needs a world affairs editor (John Simpson), a chief international correspondent (Lyse Doucet) and an international editor (Bowen).

Bewigged Tory MP Michael Fabricant says he backed Liz Truss for the top job because Rishi Sunak didn't return calls from West Midlands mayor Andy Street, the 'life partner' of the resident House of Commons clown.

He gloats: 'I've been on a walking holiday in North America with Andy and the number of phone calls he got from Liz Truss was remarkable!'

Having dubbed Boris Johnson The Convict, The Guardian now calls his successor Librium Liz, referencing a drug used to treat anxiety disorders.

Doubtless her arrival in No 10 causes jittery Lefties on the paper to reach for their Librium tablets.
It was an extraordinary and deeply moving spectacle. The new King, resplendent in military regalia, walked solemnly with his siblings behind the Queen's coffin, on its journey along Edinburgh's Royal Mile to a thanksgiving service for her remarkable life.

Ahead of the cortege, a piper from Balmoral played a haunting lament. Soldiers flanking the hearse wore flashes of tartan. Cannons boomed out a sorrowful salute to our departed but much-loved sovereign.

Nobody does pageantry better than the British Royal Family, and it was fitting that this display of pomp and ceremony was rich with Scottish symbolism.

Elizabeth II adored this proud country, and its people adored her. Thousands lined the cobbled streets to pay their respects, in both appreciation of her selfless service and a profound sense of loss at her passing.

This outpouring of shared grief and gratitude has been echoed across Britain. As Dominic Sandbrook wrote in yesterday's Daily Mail, 'from the peaks of the Highlands to the coast of Cornwall, we've been reminded of all the things we have in common'.

The new King, resplendent in military regalia, walked solemnly with his siblings behind the Queen's coffin, on its journey along Edinburgh's Royal Mile to a thanksgiving service for her remarkable life

But with our longest-serving monarch gone, this is a moment of peril. Those who want, for coarse political reasons, to splinter this country will be re-energised.

Separatists in Scotland and Wales will seek to exploit the fact there is a relative novice on the throne to pile on the pressure for independence. Nationalists in Northern Ireland will clamour more loudly for Irish reunification.

So on this week's tour of the four nations, King Charles must use his considerable diplomatic skills to build on the huge goodwill towards the monarchy that his mother generated over her lifetime, and reassure the public the Union will not only be safe, but positively thrive in his hands.

Of course, the Queen's own immaculately judged intervention in the Scottish independence debate in 2014  that people should 'think very carefully' before voting  is credited with persuading the electorate to preserve the UK. Charles  now the very embodiment of the Union  must work hard to avoid the destruction of history's most successful partnership.

There are, however, heartening signs that it  and the monarchy's place at its helm  has been strengthened by the succession.

By passing at Balmoral, the Queen lies at rest in Edinburgh, which means her people north of the border can celebrate and grieve her properly, rather than feeling shunned at having to peer 500 miles south to events in London.

Even the SNP has acknowledged over these sad few days that Scotland is 'absolutely central' to the UK's constitution  a far cry from its usual grumbling that it is a downtrodden nation with no influence.

Earlier yesterday, Charles addressed MPs and Peers in 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall. Didn't it show the unifying power of the monarchy that politicians, normally at their opponents' throats, were enjoying each other's company?

And the ceremony reminded us that we live in a parliamentary democracy. The sovereign is head of state but sovereignty remains with Parliament  an arrangement that has served the Union well for more than 300 years.

Time to change track?

The vast numbers of mourners who stood respectfully by Scotland's roadsides to see the Queen begin her final poignant journey starkly illustrated two things.

First, the huge affection in which this most beloved monarch was held. And second, the missteps of the authorities in deciding to fly her body back to London.

Carrying it by Royal Train would have allowed many more people to line the route and say farewell directly to a sovereign who touched all our lives. Is it really too late for the funeral planners to change their minds?
It comes after a double rainbow appeared over Buckingham Palace alongside another one at Windsor Castle, with many convinced the Queen had 'sent a sign' and that she had 'really left us'

King Charles III led a procession to the cathedral behind the Queen's coffin which was draped with Royal Standard in Scotland and dressed with a wreath of flowers

The symbolic moment was captured on camera during a procession which saw the Queen's coffin taken to St Giles' Cathedral for a service of thanksgiving

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A single ray of sunshine beamed down from the heavens has been captured on camera shining down on Queen Elizabeth II's coffin, during a procession to transport her body to St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Hundreds of thousands can be seen lining the streets during the procession led by King Charles III, in a bid to say their final goodbyes to the longest-serving British monarch of all time.

The image appears to show a beam of light shining down from the heavens in a direct line with the black hearse in which the Queen's coffin was transported.

The photograph was taken as part of a procession led by Charles III with his three siblings, which saw a lone piper from Balmoral playing a lament, as Her Majesty was carried from the Palace of Holyroodhouse where she was lying in rest.

As the national anthem played the coffin was gently lowered into the hearse, watched by a visibly emotional King Charles and his siblings, Anne, the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, who then marched dolefully for 1,200 yards behind their beloved mother.

The symbolic moment is the second in a series of signs following the announcement of Her Majesty's passing, the first coming in the form of a double rainbow over Buckingham Palace alongside another rainbow at Windsor Castle.

One twitter user said: 'The rainbow at Windsor Castle made me cry. The rainbow Queen sent us a sign.'

Another said: 'A rainbow breaks out, as the Union Jack is lowered to half-mast at Windsor tonight. A remarkable image. Farewell, Ma'am.'

Others took it as a sign that the Queen has 'really left us' as the rainbows appeared shortly as the news of the monarch's death was announced.

A single ray of sunshine from the heavens has been captured on camera shining down on Queen Elizabeth II's coffin, during a procession to transport her to St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh

The symbolic moment is the second in a series of signs following the announcement of Her Majesty's passing, the first coming in the form of a double rainbow over Buckingham Palace (pictured)

Another rainbow was also captured at Windsor Castle. The Queen's death will see Britain and her Commonwealth realms enter into a ten-day period of mourning as millions of her subjects in the UK and abroad come to terms with her passing

During the procession The Duke of York was not in military uniform like his siblings after Her Majesty stripped him of his titles because of the Epstein scandal. He was briefly heckled during the procession and Police Scotland said a 22-year-old man had been arrested.

As seen in the image hundreds of thousands lined the streets and applauded as the Queen was taken to the cathedral where her family, and a congregation drawn from all areas of Scottish society, attended a service of thanksgiving for her life.

The Queen's casket was draped with the Royal Standard in Scotland and dressed with a wreath of flowers consisting of white Spray Roses, white Freesias, white button chrysanthemums, dried white heather from Balmoral, spray eryngium, foliage, rosemary, hebe, and pittosporum.

Bagpipes played the National Anthem from Holyrood Palace as the Queen's coffin cortege began the walk up the Royal Mile. The hearse was flanked by a Bearer Party found by The Royal Regiment of Scotland and The King's Body Guard for Scotland. Mounted police in ceremonial dress rode ahead of the parade.

King Charles walked solemnly in step with his brothers and sister behind the Queen. The assembled well-wishers fell silent as the hearse appeared. The crowd then broke out in spontaneous applause as the cortege approached and many shouted God Save the King and God Save the Queen.

Around 30 minutes later the Queen arrived at St Giles' Cathedral where the Crown of Scotland was placed upon the coffin. After the service, members of the public will be allowed to file past to pay their respects for 24 hours before Her Majesty is moved to London by plane.

Earlier the King met with well-wishers who lined the streets of Edinburgh to see him today in an unplanned walkabout as Scotland's capital welcomed the new monarch and mourned the Queen - with so many people turning up that police were forced to turn many away.

The Queen's children followed by the Princess Royal's husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence (centre left)

Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward line up to follow the hearse carrying their mother on her final journey

King Charles watches mournfully as he watches the coffin be moved on its journey to St Giles' Kirk

King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward walk behind the cortege carrying Queen Elizabeth II

Huge crowds lined the streets of Edinburgh to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II

King Charles III (L), Britain's Princess Anne, Princess Royal (2L), Britain's Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Britain's Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex walk behind the procession of Queen Elizabeth II's coffin, from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral, on the Royal Mile

The city was rammed with people desperate to catch a glimpse of the Queen and her family

The cortege carrying Queen Elizabeth II from Palace of Holyroodhouse arrives at St Giles Cathedral

King Charles III and members of the royal family join the procession of Queen Elizabeth's coffin from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles' Cathedral,

People gather in tribute as the cortege carrying the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth II passes

Huge crowds turned out to see the Queen for the last time in Scotland before she is taken to London tomorrow

The procession travels through the Scottish capital today

King Charles travels in a convoy of cars to Holyrood to return with the Queen's coffin to St Giles Cathedral, where the Vigil of the Princes will take place

There were cheers and clapping as the limousine passed through the Scottish capital

Members of the public watch the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, as it is driven through Edinburgh yesterday

People gathered in Edinburgh to pay tribute to Her Majesty as her cortege passed through the Scottish capital yesterday

Hundreds of thousands turned out for the procession - with Police Scotland forced to stop letting people into the city centre

King Charles, Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex walk behind the procession of Queen Elizabeth's coffin

Enormous crowds turned out to the watch the procession through the Scottish capital this afternoon

The procession of the coffin of Britain's late Queen Elizabeth II from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles' Cathedral accompanied by members of the royal family

The coffin travelled from the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the sovereign's official Edinburgh home, to St Giles Cathedral, where a service of thanksgiving for the life of the late monarch was held before the public pay their respects

The coffin was lifted out of the hearse and brought into the place of worship, with the King, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of York, and the Earl and the Countess of Wessex walking behind.

As the coffin made its way through the cathedral the choir sang Thou Wilt Keep Him In Perfect Peace, Whose Mind Is Stayed On Thee.

The Queen's coffin was placed on a wooden catafalque as the congregation continued to stand.

The King, Queen Consort, and other members of the royal family, then walked to their seats alongside the coffin.

The King has his wife to his left and the Duke of York to his right.

Crowds gather to watch the procession of Queen Elizabeth II's coffin from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles' Cathedral

Draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland and with a wreath of Balmoral flowers, the Queen's coffin was placed at the head of the congregation and was given the honour of having the Crown of Scotland placed on top

Following in a car was the Queen Consort and the Countess of Wessex but the new Prince of Wales and his brother Harry did not take part in the procession

A hush descended on Edinburgh's Royal Mile as the crowds 10-deep first caught sight of the procession which featured the coffin's bearer party - servicemen from the Royal Regiment of Scotland - flanking the hearse and they in turn were flanked by the King's Body Guard for Scotland

The silence was broken at one point by a woman who called out 'God bless the Queen' a number of times and many of the public held up camera phones to record the historic moment

All those in the procession walked in step, moving from side to side as one, within touching distance of the coffin draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland with a wreath of Balmoral flowers on top

The coffin travelled from the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the sovereign's official Edinburgh home, to St Giles Cathedral, where a service of thanksgiving for the life of the late monarch was held before the public pay their respects

People gather in tribute as the cortege carrying the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth II passes this afternoon

Draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland and with a wreath of Balmoral flowers, the Queen's coffin was placed at the head of the congregation and was given the honour of having the Crown of Scotland placed on top

Following in a car was the Queen Consort and the Countess of Wessex but the new Prince of Wales and his brother Harry did not take part in the procession

This morning, the new King quoted Shakespeare when he responded to the formal expression of condolence from MPs and peers, spoke movingly about the tributes to his mother and described the 'weight of history' as he stood inside the historic hall

The cortege carrying Queen Elizabeth II from Palace of Holyroodhouse arrives at St Giles Cathedral

Massive crowds gathered in Edinburgh for the historic moment, filling the city's medieval streets

The coffin travelled from the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the sovereign's official Edinburgh home, to St Giles Cathedral, where a service of thanksgiving for the life of the late monarch was held before the public pay their respects

Crowds gathering in Edinburgh to watch the Queen's coffin passing by this afternoon

The hearse was surrounded by a military escort, while police officers lined each side of the street

Following in a car was the Queen Consort and the Countess of Wessex but the new Prince of Wales and his brother Harry did not take part in the procession

Earlier, during an event at Westminster Hall in London, where both Houses of Parliament gathered to express their condolences to the new monarch, the King promised 'faithfully to follow' the example of his mother

Edinburgh city centre looked stunning on the bright, dry afternoon

King Charles III, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex walk behind Queen Elizabeth II's coffin during the procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles' Cathedral

Crowds gathering in Edinburgh to watch the Queen's coffin passing by this afternoon

The military escort surrounding the hearse at it made its way to St Giles' Cathedral

The coffin bore the Royal Standard of Scotland and a wreath

Draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland and with a wreath of Balmoral flowers, the Queen's coffin was placed at the head of the congregation and was given the honour of having the Crown of Scotland placed on top

Crowds gathering in Edinburgh to watch the Queen's coffin passing by this afternoon

Following in a car was the Queen Consort and the Countess of Wessex but the new Prince of Wales and his brother Harry did not take part in the procession

King Charles III and members of the royal family join the procession of Queen Elizabeth's coffin from the Palace of Holyroodhouse

The Queen's casket was draped with the Royal Standard in Scotland and dressed with a wreath of flowers consisting of white Spray Roses, white Freesias, white button chrysanthemums, dried white heather from Balmoral, spray eryngium, foliage, rosemary, hebe, and pittosporum.

The Queen's coffin was placed into the hearse from the Palace of Holyroodhouse on its way to St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh

Prince Andrew walks behind the cortege. He wore medals but not military dress like his siblings. He was heckled by one man in the crowd

Sophie, Countess of Wessex, guest and Camilla, Queen Consort are seen outside St Giles Cathedral

At the beginning of the service, Reverend Calum MacLeod welcomed the royal family, 'representatives of our nation's life' and 'people whose lives were touched by the Queen in so many unforgettable ways'.

He said: 'And so we gather to bid Scotland's farewell to our late monarch, whose life of service to the nation and the world we celebrate.

'And whose love for Scotland was legendary.'

Senior church officials stood patiently at the entrance to the church as the procession made its way up the Royal Mile from the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Crowds packed in 10 deep along the narrow pavements of the historic old town while others took up positions in windows along the route during the solemn procession.

Military personnel saluted as two police officers on horseback signalled the arrival of the Queen's body.

All four of the Queen's children led by the new King Charles followed close by as the hearse arrived at the iconic place of worship.

Princess Anne's husband was also among the party.

Alison Evans from Derbyshire (in a wheelchair) and Sharon Baum wait in a queue to see Britain's Queen Elizabeth lying in state at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh

Members of the public queue to pay respects to Queen Elizabeth II in Edinburgh today

. Public queue to pay respects to Queen Elizabeth II, St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland,

The Queen's coffin arrives at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh

Princess Anne has not left her mother's side since her death on Thursday. Charles has been in London while Andrew and Edward were also in Scotland

The Royal Family watch as the Crown of Scotland is place on the Queen's coffin this afternoon

The Queen had herself held the crown in the same church - St Giles' Kirk - just after her coronation

King Charles III and the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, and the Duke of York, follow the coffin as they enter the cathedral for a Service of Prayer and Reflection

The Royal Family process past the Queen's coffin as they as they take their seats in the Cathedral

Pallbearers carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, into St Giles' Cathedral for a service of Thanksgiving for her life

The Queen's coffin entering St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh

The from above as the coffin is placed in the church followed by Her Majesty's four children

Camilla, the Queen Consort and Prince Edward's wife Sophie arrived in a following car.

The silence was perfectly preserved during a pause as military guards removed the flag draped casket from the vehicle before carrying it into the cathedral with the Royal party following close by.

Sophia Bruce, from Edinburgh, said: 'It was very moving to be here and watch the Queen followed by her children enter St Giles for the last time.

'There was an dignified silence from the whole crowd. You could have heard a pin drop.

'It was very respectful with everyone wanting to say their last goodbye.

'I've been here for three hours and there had been a tremendous camaraderie amongst the whole crowd.'

Enormous queues of royal fans were seen lining up with Union Flags and colourful homemade signs outside St Giles' Cathedral as the sun's first light began to break through the morning clouds today.

But by midday, Police Scotland officers were preventing any newcomers from joining the swelling crowds that had lined the narrow streets around the 12th-century stone cathedral as city officials warned of significant disruption ahead of the proceedings.

A soldier looks moved by the scene with a mournful King Charles behind him

King Charles follows the hearse carrying the coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth on the Royal Mile

The Royal Family follow Her Majesty down the world famous Royal Mile

King Charles, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew walk behind the hearse carrying the coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth

The Queen leaves the Palace of Holyroodhouse

Royal guards carry Queen Elizabeth II's coffin at the start of the procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles' Cathedral

Charles looked emotional yet again as his mother's body was moved from Holyroodhouse

There were cheers, clapping and cries of God Save the King as his limousine went along the Royal Mile and through the Scottish capital. He then got out and spoke to crowds, thanking them for coming and their best wishes followed by the Queen Consort, Camilla.

This afternoon the new King will be reunited with his mother where he will be seen in public for the first time with her coffin on the latest leg of her final and saddest journey before the monarch leads a vigil at the casket with his brothers tonight.

The monarch left for Scotland on a private jet from RAF Northolt shortly after addressing Parliament and being moved to tears by tributes to his mother and a rousing rendition of the national anthem. He landed in the Scottish capital at just before 12.30pm, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon waiting for him on the Tarmac.

This afternoon he travelled to the Palace of Holyroodhouse to inspect a guard of honour where his mother has been overnight. There was then a gun salute from the city's castle.

King Charles III meets well-wishers who welcomed him to Edinburgh for the first time as King

The monarch inspects the Guard of Honour as he arrives to attend the Ceremony of the Keys at the Palace of Holyroodhouse

Charles and Camilla inspected flowers, cards and other tributes outside Holyroodhouse

King Charles III took part in the Ceremony of the Keys at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh today

Charles inspects an honour guard waiting for him in Edinburgh

Britain's King Charles and Britain's Queen Camilla arrive at the Palace of Holyroodhouse,

King Charles III shaking hands with Lord Provost of Edinburgh Robert Aldridge during the Ceremony of the Keys at the Palace of Holyroodhouse

Camilla, Queen Consort, smiles as she and Charles are driven along the Royal Mile towards the Palace of Holyroodhouse

King Charles III and the Queen Consort leave Edinburgh Airport by car after travelling from London, ahead of joining the procession of Queen Elizabeth's coffin from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles' Cathedral

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was waiting for the King on the tarmac along with civil servants and police chiefs

Charles steps off his plane at Edinburgh Airport this afternoon as he heads to Holyroodhouse

King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla land in Edinburgh before they follow the Queen's coffin

King Charles boards a jet for Edinburgh where he will follow his mother's coffin through the streets of Edinburgh

King Charles III and the Queen Consort depart by plane from RAF Northolt in west London

People gather on the Royal Mile to pay tribute as the cortege carrying the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth II will pass later today

Pallbearers, one with his eyes closed another looking to the sky, carry the coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth as the hearse arrives at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh

King Charles III leaves after his first visit to Parliament with Queen Consort Camilla

Prince Andrew and Prince Harry will not wear military uniform for the Queen's funeral Working members of the royal family will wear military uniform when present at five ceremonial events during this period of mourning the Queen. These are the Service of Thanksgiving at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, the procession to Westminster Hall and service of prayer and reflection, the Vigil at Westminster Hall, the state funeral at Westminster Abbey and the Committal Service at St George's Chapel Windsor. But as a non-working member of the royal family, the Duke of York will not wear uniform except as a special mark of respect for the Queen at the final vigil in Westminster Hall, sources said. Advertisement

The coffin was lifted out of the hearse and brought into the place of worship, with the King, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of York, and the Earl and the Countess of Wessex walking behind.

As the coffin made its way through the cathedral the choir sang Thou Wilt Keep Him In Perfect Peace, Whose Mind Is Stayed On Thee.

The Queen's coffin was placed on a wooden catafalque as the congregation continued to stand.

The King, Queen Consort, and other members of the royal family, then walked to their seats alongside the coffin.

The King has his wife to his left and the Duke of York to his right.

At the beginning of the service, Reverend Calum MacLeod welcomed the royal family, 'representatives of our nation's life' and 'people whose lives were touched by the Queen in so many unforgettable ways'.

He said: 'And so we gather to bid Scotland's farewell to our late monarch, whose life of service to the nation and the world we celebrate.

'And whose love for Scotland was legendary.'

The Rt Rev Dr Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, delivered the homily in St Giles' Cathedral.

He said: 'These last few days, as tributes to Her Majesty have poured in and we have watched images of her on screen from her earliest years, capturing that remarkable life, yet now beginning to sink in that she is gone from us, 'gone home' to express her own words.

The Ceremony of the Keys: Explained King Charles III and senior members of the Royal Family will be attending the Ceremony of the Keys at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh today. The ancient custom - which takes place every time the monarch stays in the Scottish capital - was performed as recently at the end of June this year, making the historic ritual one of the late Queen's last public engagements before her death at Balmoral on Thursday. When the King arrives this afternoon, he will be presented with the keys of the City of Edinburgh - borne by the City Chamberlain on a cushion of red velvet, edged with gold braided fringe and with thistles embroidered at is four corners. The Lord Provost will then declare: 'We, the Lord Provost and the members of the City of Edinburgh Council, welcome Your Majesty to the capital city of your Ancient and Hereditary Kingdom of Scotland and offer for your gracious acceptance the Keys of Your Majesty's good City of Edinburgh.' In keeping with convention, the monarch will then return the keys, saying: 'I return these keys, being perfectly convinced that they cannot be placed in better hands than those of the Lord Provost and Councillors of my good City of Edinburgh.' After the Ceremony of Keys, King Charles will carry out an inspection of the guard - before leading the procession as the Queen's coffin is taken from the palace some 1,200 yards up the Royal Mile to St Giles' Cathedral, where the royal family, and a congregation drawn from all areas of Scottish society, will attend a service of thanksgiving for her life. Advertisement

'Today we gather in this place of worship, and throughout the nation, to express our thanks to God, for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's extraordinary life.

'We are united in sorrow at the death of our monarch, but we are also so aware that His Majesty King Charles and all his family are not just grieving the loss of their Queen, but their Mother, Grandmother and Great-Grandmother.

'Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth began her reign, like King Solomon by asking for wisdom, something that she demonstrated in large measure and to which was added duty, honour, commitment, and faith, these are the words that we reach out for today to describe the life and the reign of Queen Elizabeth, whose passing is mourned not only in her native land but across the Commonwealth and the world, as has been so evident to us in thes

Members of the public will be able to view the coffin to pay their respects for 24 hours before it is taken to London to lie in state.

At 7.20pm the King and his brothers will perform the Vigil of The Princes. The coffin is expected to be flown to London tomorrow evening, again with Princess Anne accompanying her mother.

On arrival at RAF Northolt in west London at 6.55pm, the coffin will be transferred to the State Hearse. At Buckingham Palace, a guard of honour will receive the coffin.

A bearer party of the Queen's Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, will carry it to the Bow Room where it will be placed on trestles, witnessed by King Charles and the Queen Consort. Chaplains to the King will keep watch over the coffin.

King Charles III looked close to tears today as Parliament sang 'God Save the King' after he addressed MPs and peers for the first time telling them he could 'feel the weight of history' on his shoulders following their own tributes to his beloved mother the Queen.

His Majesty also looked moved as the Lord Speaker and the Commons Speaker expressed their condolences and said: 'Deep as our grief is, we know yours is deeper.'

The King stood at a gilded lectern to speak to the crowd assembled in Westminster Hall and thanked the hundreds of politicians and peers, including Liz Truss, Sir Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson, for their tributes his mother.

In his short, poignant speech, Charles quoted Shakespeare in his tribute to his 'beloved mother' as he addressed Parliament for the first time since becoming monarch, saying of the Queen: 'As Shakespeare said of the earlier Queen Elizabeth, she was a pattern to all princes living.'

He said: 'As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history which surrounds us and which reminds us of the vital parliamentary traditions to which members of both Houses dedicate yourselves with such personal commitment, for the betterment of us all.'

Charles said the late Queen had 'set an example of selfless duty which, with God's help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow.'

He added: 'I am deeply grateful for addresses of condolence, which so touchingly encompass what late sovereign beloved mother meant to us all'.

The hundreds of dignitaries then stood for the national anthem, which moved the new King to tears on a day where he will be seen in public with the Queen's coffin for the first time in Scotland this afternoon.

King Charles III was visibly emotional as MPs and peers sang the national anthem following tributes to his mother

Charles also looked tearful as he heard tributes to his mother and was told: 'Deep as our grief is, we know yours is deeper'

Britain's King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla stand for the national anthem

Charles said he was moved by the tributes to his mother - who he said 'set an example of selfless duty' that he said he would faithfully folllow

The King said Parliament is the 'living and breathing instrument of our democracy' as he referenced the connections to 'my darling late mother'

Charles said he felt the weight of history around him as he spoke in the ancient Westminster Hall. where his mother will lie in state later this week

King Charles III and Camilla Queen Consort arrive at Houses of Parliament

'The Queen set an example of selfless duty which I am resolved faithfully to follow': Charles' Westminster Hall speech in full My Lords and Members of the House of Commons: I am deeply grateful for the Addresses of Condolence by the House of Lords and the House of Commons, which so touchingly encompass what our late Sovereign, my beloved mother The Queen, meant to us all. As Shakespeare says of the earlier Queen Elizabeth, she was 'a pattern to all Princes living'. As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history which surrounds us and which reminds us of the vital Parliamentary traditions to which Members of both Houses dedicate yourselves, with such personal commitment for the betterment of us all. Parliament is the living and breathing instrument of our democracy. That your traditions are ancient we see in the construction of this great Hall and the reminders of Mediaeval predecessors of the Office to which I have been called. And the tangible connections to my darling late mother we see all around us; from the Fountain in New Palace Yard which commemorates The late Queen's Silver Jubilee to the Sundial in Old Palace Yard for the Golden Jubilee, the magnificent Stained Glass Window before me for the Diamond Jubilee and, so poignantly and yet to be formally unveiled, your most generous gift to Her late Majesty to mark the unprecedented Platinum Jubilee which we celebrated only three months ago, with such joyful hearts. The great bell of Big Ben  one of the most powerful symbols of our nation throughout the world and housed within the Elizabeth Tower also named for my mother's Diamond Jubilee  will mark the passage of The late Queen's progress from Buckingham Palace to this Parliament on Wednesday. My Lords and Members of the House of Commons: We gather today in remembrance of the remarkable span of The Queen's dedicated service to her nations and peoples. While very young, Her late Majesty pledged herself to serve her country and her people and to maintain the precious principles of constitutional government which lie at the heart of our nation. This vow she kept with unsurpassed devotion. She set an example of selfless duty which, with God's help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow. Advertisement

The King told MPs and peers assembled in Westminster Hall that he was 'resolved faithfully to follow' the example of his mother, the Queen.

He concluded his first formal address to Parliament as King by saying: 'We gather today in remembrance of the remarkable span of the Queen's dedicated service to her nations and peoples.

'While very young, Her late Majesty pledged herself to serve her country and her people and to maintain the precious principles of constitutional government which lie at the heart of our nation.

'This vow she kept with unsurpassed devotion. She set an example of selfless duty which, with God's help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow.'

There were wild cheers and cries of 'God Save the King' as the monarch drove from Clarence House down The Mall for the historic moment before MPs and peers bowed and curtseyed as he walked slowly to his throne with Queen Consort, Camilla.

Liz Truss and her predecessor Boris Johnson were also in Westminster Hall this morning along with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and hundreds of politicians.

His Majesty heard tributes for the Queen in the near-1,000-year-old Westminster Hall - the ancient heart of the Palace of Westminster where his mother will lie in state from Wednesday evening for four days until her funeral next Monday. At times Charles looked deeply moved.

The Lord Speaker and the Commons Speaker expressed their condolences to His Majesty in a ceremony in Westminster Hall. Charles received a motion of confidence from both houses of Parliament - in another constitutional event that has never been seen on TV before.

The Lord Speaker Lord McFall of Alcluith said people will continue to draw strength from the Queen's 'shining example'.

Speaking in Westminster Hall, he said: 'In 2012, Her late Majesty came to Westminster Hall to mark her Diamond Jubilee and we saw the unveiling of the splendid memorial window, commissioned by both members of Parliament's Houses, which now graces the north wall of this historic space.

'Like the light that shines through this memorial window, Her late Majesty's magnificent achievements will live on by permanently illuminating and enriching our lives and our national discourse.

'Your Majesty, even as we mourn the loss of our dear Queen, we and future generations will draw strength from her shining example.

'Your Majesty, on behalf of all the members of the House of Lords, I pledge my loyalty to you. I wish you and Her Majesty the Queen Consort well in the life of service to which you have dedicated yourself.

'We are proud and indeed humbled to welcome you as our King. And we look forward to welcoming you on many more occasions to Parliament, and to this hall in the years ahead.'

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle told Westminster Hall that in his first address King Charles 'pledged to uphold constitutional principles at the heart of our nation'.

Sir Lindsay said: 'In your first address to the nation you recognised your life would change as a result of the new responsibilities.

'You pledged yourself to uphold constitutional principles at the heart of our nation.

'These are weighty responsibilities, as the early Queen Elizabeth said in her final speech to parliamentarians 'to be a king and wear a crown is a thing more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasant to them that bear it'.'

He added: 'We know you hold the greatest respect, the precious traditions, the freedoms, and responsibilities of our unique history and our system of parliamentary government.

'We know that you will bear those responsibilities which fall to you with the fortitude, dignity, demonstrated by Her late Majesty.'

It is perhaps 'very British' to celebrate revolutions by presenting an address to Her Majesty, Sir Lindsay said.

Presenting an address to the King on behalf of the lower house, the Commons Speaker told Westminster Hall: 'Let me repeat a welcome to you and to Her Majesty, the Queen Consort, on this solemn occasion.

'Members of both Houses of Parliament gather here to express our deep sympathy for the loss we have all sustained in the death of our sovereign lady, Queen Elizabeth. We have seen that this is a loss that is felt around the world.'

He went on: 'Our late Queen was here to mark the historic moments, such as the 50th anniversary of the Second World War, a war in which she herself served in the armed forces.

'And in 1988, we celebrated the 300th anniversary of the revolutions of 1688 to 1689.

'It is perhaps very British to celebrate revolutions by presenting an address to Her Majesty; but those revolutions led to our constitutional freedoms, set out the foundation for a stable monarchy, which protects liberty.'

The medieval hall was full to bursting with peers and MPs crammed in to see the King and Queen Consort.

As well as the party leaders those present included Labour left wingers likeJeremy Corbyn, John McDonnel and Zara Sultana, who would not be counted among the most royalist of MPs.

Apart from music from the Band of the Household Cavalry the crowd was completely silent.

The only noises that could be heard before the royal arrival was the thud of circling news helicopters outside and the sharp clack of staffs carried by the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, who provided a symbolic bodyguard.

As the King left the hall he appeared to speak to those he was passing and was repaid with bows and curtsies from those lining the passage.

King Charles and the Queen Consort take the thrones in Westminster Hall - where the Queen will lie in state later this week

Charles looked moved and emotional as he heard tributes to his late mother the Queen

MPs and peers bowed and curtseyed to the monarch and his Queen consort

The royal couple smile as they are met by Black Rod and the Lord Great Chamberlain at the start of the historic moment in London this morning

Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, leaves to address Parliament for the first time in an event of immense symbolic importance

Labour leader Keir Starmer and Prime Minister Liz Truss, ahead of the arrival of King Charles III

Boris Johnson takes his place in Westminster Hall - days after he left No 10

Even anti-monarchist Jeremy Corbyn was in Parliament for the historic event

Yeomen Warders march out of Westminster Hall, in the Palace of Westminster, where the House of Commons and the House of Lords meet to express their condolences

King Charles and the Queen Consort will fly into the Scottish capital after Midday and travel to the palace to inspect a guard of honour. The King follow the hearse to St Giles' Cathedral - the first time he will have been seen with his mother's coffin - amid rumours Prince William, Prince Harry and their wives Kate and Meghan could also be there after their shock reunion outside Windsor Castle on Saturday.

At 2.35pm, Charles and Camilla will join a procession to St Giles' Cathedral 1,200 yards away. Charles and other royals will walk behind the hearse as it makes its way along the Royal Mile.

Full details about the royal mourners have yet to be released but there is speculation the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the new Prince and Princess of Wales, who on Saturday put on a united front during an appearance at Windsor Castle, will be part of the group.

Charles will lead some of the royals on foot, expected to be the Duke of York, Earl of Wessex, Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence - while the Queen Consort and other members of the monarchy will follow in cars.

At the cathedral, the Crown of Scotland will be placed upon the coffin. After a service, members of the public will be allowed to file past to pay their respects.

At 7.20pm the King and his brothers will perform the Vigil of The Princes. The coffin is expected to be flown to London tomorrow evening, again with Princess Anne accompanying her mother.

On arrival at RAF Northolt in west London at 6.55pm, the coffin will be transferred to the State Hearse. At Buckingham Palace, a guard of honour will receive the coffin.

A bearer party of the Queen's Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, will carry it to the Bow Room where it will be placed on trestles, witnessed by King Charles and the Queen Consort. Chaplains to the King will keep watch over the coffin.

Mourners and wellwishers camped overnight as they wait outside St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh and will pay their respects to the Queen on Monday

A man with his dog arrive early as they wait to view the cortege carrying the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth II in Edinburgh

The Princess Royal curtseys as the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland, completes its journey from Balmoral to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh

The Countess of Wessex was pictured comforting Princess Anne yesterday as members of the royal family watched Queen Elizabeth II's coffin arrive in Edinburgh to lie in rest at the Palace of Holyroodhouse overnight

The Countess of Wessex was pictured comforting Princess Anne yesterday as members of the royal family watched Queen Elizabeth II's coffin arrive in Edinburgh to lie in rest at the Palace of Holyroodhouse overnight.

Sophie, 57, the wife of the Queen's youngest son Prince Edward, 58, was seen placing her hand on the Princess Royal's back in a supportive gesture after the coffin made the journey from Balmoral to the Scottish city.

The Queen's children and their spouses - Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex - watched as soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Scotland carried the coffin into the Palace.

In a touching moment, deference to the monarch was still observed, with the royal women curtseying and the men bowing their heads.

Her Majesty did not travel alone during her 180-mile journey, Anne and her husband were in a limousine as part of a procession directly behind her.

The Queen will stay at the palace overnight before being moved to St Giles' Cathedral tomorrow afternoon - where earlier a large crowd had gathered to witness the midday proclamation of King Charles as head of state.

Yesterday, both Princess Anne and Sophie appeared teary-eyed as they looked at floral tributes to the Queen left at Balmoral, alongside other members of the royal family.

Meanwhile, Scottish mourners paid tribute to Her Majesty by lining the route of her coffin procession in their thousands as she left Balmoral for the last time.

Silent, sombre and respectful, well-wishers gathered beside country roads, bridges and in village and city centres to say goodbye to the woman who was never more at home than when in Scotland.

By the time the procession reached its destination of Edinburgh's Palace of Holyroodhouse, after more than six hours, the crowds were 10 deep in places on the famous Royal Mile, a famous thoroughfare the Queen knew well.

As the procession neared its end, flowers were thrown in front of the hearse - from William Purvis, a family run funeral directors based in Scotland - and spontaneous applause broke out from sections of the crowds in the Royal Mile.

At one point, as the cortege travelled through Dundee, a lone long-stemmed flower could be seen on the hearse windscreen and in a rural part of the route farmers paid homage to the Queen with tractors lined up in a field.

Tomorrow, King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort will visit Edinburgh and join his other siblings walking behind his late mother's coffin when it is moved from the Palace to St Giles' Cathedral. At 7.20pm, the monarch will hold a vigil at the late Queen's coffin with other members of the Royal Family.

Earlier yesterday, a single motorbike police outrider led the way as the hearse travelled at a stately pace through the Aberdeenshire countryside. At one point, as the cortege travelled through Dundee, a lone long-stemmed flower could be seen on the hearse windscreen and in a rural part of the route farmers paid homage to the monarch with tractors lined up in a field.

Hundreds lined the main street of Ballater, the picturesque Victorian village closest to the Balmoral estate, where locals considered her a neighbour, as the Queen's coffin was driven slowly through. Her Majesty and her family were often seen in the village in Royal Deeside, which she had visited since childhood and where the Royal Family have space to be themselves.

The hearse passed Glenmuick Church, where the Rev David Barr rang the church bells 70 times after the Queen's death was announced.

Flowers were thrown into the hearse's path by well-wishers on both sides of the road in Ballater, which was sombre and silent. The hearse slowed to a fast walking pace and mourners could clearly see the royal standard-draped coffin and the wreath featuring flowers from the Balmoral estate, including sweet peas - one of the Queen's favourite flowers - dahlias, phlox, white heather and pine fir.

Crowds have descended on Edinburgh's Royal Mile today as thousands head to the Scottish capital to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II

In a touching gesture, deference to the monarch was still observed, with the royal women curtseying and the men bowing their heads

Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, the Duke of York, the Princess Royal, the Countess of Wessex and the Earl of Wessex at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, awaiting the Queen's coffin

On arrival at Holyroodhouse she was met by three of her children and other family members. Pictured here from left to right is Prince Andrew, the Countess of Wessex and the Earl of Wessex

The Duke of York, the Countess of Wessex, and the Earl of Wessex outside the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh

Princess Anne watches as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth arrives at the Palace of Holyroodhouse

The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, paid tribute to the Queen when her final journey through the Scottish Highlands began just after 10am.

Ms Sturgeon said in a tweet: 'A sad and poignant moment as Her Majesty, The Queen leaves her beloved Balmoral for the final time. Yesterday, as she made her journey to Edinburgh, Scotland will pay tribute to an extraordinary woman.'

The Queen's oak coffin, draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland with a wreath of Balmoral flowers on top, began its journey from the Queen's summer sanctuary in the Highlands and the first settlement it reached was Ballater.

Locals from Ballater considered the Queen a neighbour with the monarch and her family often seen in the village in Royal Deeside, which she had visited since childhood and where the monarchy have space to be themselves.

The death of the Queen became a stark reality for tens of thousands who took to the streets to witness the first stage of her final journey yesterday.

Many had travelled through the night to secure their place along the route after Her Majesty left her beloved Balmoral for the last time.
Two mystery backpacks could hold vital clues to the 'horrific' stabbing death of a Comanchero bikie gang associate - as a manhunt is launched for three men and a fourth is charged with weapons offences.

Face-tattooed Levi Johnson, 23, died after being attacked by four men near the corner of Pine Mountain and Creek roads at Carindale in southern Brisbane at 1pm on Monday.

One man, 34, arrested near the scene not long after the attack was charged with possessing a revolver and an explosives charge, but three further men who got away in a white Nissan Patrol are still at large.

Taskforce Maxima, a specialist police unit focused on outlaw bikie gangs, is closely involved in the investigation.

Levi Johnson (pictured) was stabbed to death in a southern Brisbane suburb on Monday

A Black Audi hatchback initially blocked the dead man's car in a gym car park before the Nissan four wheel drive rammed his car from the opposite side.

The police said the two backpacks that were later found nearby had come from the Audi.

Four men got out of the attackers' cars and started smashing the windows of the 23-year-old's car before he got out through a passenger door and ran away.

Two men chased him to a nearby residential street where one of them allegedly stabbed him multiple times.

Three men fled the scene in the Nissan, while the fourth ran away but was tracked down with police dogs and arrested.

Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham said the attack, which happened in front of members of the public, was deeply concerning.

'These males were extremely motivated to hunt this individual down,' he said at the scene on Monday.

'This incident was fully captured on CCTV. I have viewed that CCTV and it is confronting and horrific.

An officer searches bushes for clues after the stabbing death of a 23-year-old in Brisbane

One man has been arrested and four others are still on the run after escaping from the scene in a four wheel drive car. Pictured are bushes being searched

'We don't know the motive of what's occurred, whether there was planning involved or whether there was an incident that escalated in the nearby streets.

'What was clear was their intent to cause significant harm to this individual.'

On Tuesday morning, the gym was closed to all but a few pre-booked classes with others turned away at the door.

A State Emergency Service tent was set up in the car park as volunteers searched bushes and the surrounding streets for clues.

The search appears focused on finding the murder weapon.

On Tuesday morning, the gym (pictured) was closed to all but a few pre-booked classes with others turned away at the door

SES officers are pictured searching for the murder weapon in a murder inquiry in Brisbane

Four police divers in wetsuits and wielding metal detectors waded though a creek next to where one of the alleged assassins was arrested hiding in a park.

Mr Johnson was an associate of a Comanchero bikie gang in Brisbane, though he is understood not to have been a patched member.

He was previously stabbed a year ago on the Gold Coast during a fight involving outlaw bikie gang associates.

It is not known whether the two incidents are connected.

Superintendent Massingham said Monday's attack was 'a disturbing act, it is a brazen act... it is cowardly'.

He added that the stabbing was over in 'less than five seconds'.

Flowers (pictured) have been left for stabbing victim Levi Johnson at the scene of his death

Superintendent Massingham told reporters that off duty medical personnel tried to help the victim at the scene but were unable to save him.

Though the motivation for the killing is unknown, police are reportedly investigating if the stabbing is connected to motorcycle gang activities.

A bystander said up to 50 people were at the scene and the gym was evacuated.

Another said they saw police chase a man up a hill away from the gym.

'Police were redirecting traffic,' they said.

police divers in wetsuits (pictured) waded though a creek next to where a man was arrested hiding in a park

Police divers used metal detectors (pictured) while searching for the murder weapon in a stabbing

'Then across the road from the gym, paramedics were attending to someone on the ground who did not look like they were in a good condition.

'There was a huge crowd of people there and everyone had their phones out filming.

'Lots of police and paramedics on scene and a chopper flying too.'

Officers on scene closed the intersection of Pine Mountain and Creek roads in Carindale.

SES volunteers (pictured) have been taking part in the hunt for clues after a stabbing murder

SES volunteers are pictured joining the hunt for clues after a 'horrific' stabbing murder in Queensland

Superintendent Massingham said a post-mortem examination would be carried out on the victim on Tuesday.

He said significant resources have been allocated to the case and he is hopeful of a 'swift resolution'.

Police have appealed for witnesses to come forward and for people to share any dashcam footage they may have with the police.
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have made history today.

The ESA has recently announced that the Solar Orbiter it made in collaboration with NASA has found "compelling clues" as to the origin of solar switchbacks.

The solar orbiter is the same one that was bombarded by the sun's coronal mass ejection in early September, though it was able to capture data as it encountered the sun's ejection.

ESA-NASA Solar Orbiter Measurement Details

The ESA mentioned in its announcement that the Solar Orbiter had made the first-ever remote sensing observation that revealed the presence of a solar switchback, revealing its origins.

For those unaware, a solar switchback, which is also called a magnetic switchback, is a sudden and large deflection or disturbance of the solar wind's magnetic field, causing it to bend back on itself, per NASA.

The orbiter's observations indicated that the solar wind's rapidly changing magnetic fields could have their origin near the surface of the sun.

The data and pictures the Solar Orbiter's Metis instrument took on March 25 showed a distorted S-shaped kink in the coronal plasma.

The Solar Orbiter's Metis is the spacecraft's coronagraph which will be used to simultaneously take images of visible and ultraviolet emissions of the sun's corona, per the Metis website.

Daniele Telloni from the National Institute for Astrophysics-Astrophysical Observatory of Torino, Italy, saw the S-shaped kink and said that it look suspiciously like a solar switchback.

He then compared the picture that showed the kink with a concurrent image taken by the orbiter's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument and saw that it was taking place above an active region on the sun cataloged as AR 12972.

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Active regions are where sunspots and magnetic activity usually occur.

Telloni then thought of the theory proposed by Prof. Gary Zank of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, which tackled the way different magnetic regions near the surface of the sun interact with each other.

With the picture from the orbiter's Metis and EUI instruments, as well as Zank's theory on solar switchbacks, the two astronomers proved that switchbacks occur when there is an interaction between a region of open field lines and a region of closed field lines.

This interaction happens when the two field lines crowd together and reconnect into more stable configurations. However, rather than cracking a whip, the reconnection releases energy and creates an S-shaped disturbance that travels into space, allowing spacecraft to record it as a switchback.

The Impact of the Solar Orbiter's Discovery

Telloni and Zank's discovery, with the help of the Solar Orbiter's data and pictures, helps astronomers understand the origins of solar switchbacks, per Spacewatch Europe.

As a result, scientists are now closer than ever to answering questions about the source of solar wind acceleration.

Telloni said that the next step in understanding the behavior of solar wind is to "statistically link" switchbacks observed using other spacecraft with their source regions on the sun.

Daniel Muller, ESA Project Scientist for Solar Orbiter, said that the observations the orbiter produced is what the ESA is hoping to achieve, adding that it obtains more data from the space agency's suite of ten instruments with every orbit.

"Based on results like this one, we will fine-tune the observations planned for Solar Orbiter's next solar encounter to understand the way in which the Sun connects to the wider magnetic environment of the Solar System," Muller said. "This was Solar Orbiter's very first close pass to the Sun, so we expect many more exciting results to come."

Related Article: Sun's Massive Coronal Mass Ejection Slams Venus-Bound Solar Orbiter Spacecraft
The beeps have been turned down on till scanners at Morrisons as a mark of respect to the Queen.

The unusual move is part of a wider decision that has seen music and tannoy announcements turned off at its stores.

At other supermarkets, the normal upbeat selection of music has been switched to a more sombre playlist.

There is no official government advice on how retailers should behave during the period of mourning. Morrisons confirmed that till beeps have been turned down, but can still be heard.

There is no official government advice on how retailers should behave during the period of mourning. Morrisons (pictured) confirmed that till beeps have been turned down, but can still be heard

Most chain stores will close on Monday as the funeral takes place, among them John Lewis, Waitrose, Homebase, Aldi, Apple and Primark. Harrods will also shut, with others expected to close from 10am to 2pm.

Chief operating officer at John Lewis, Andrew Murphy, confirmed store closures, saying: We are deeply saddened by the death of Her Majesty The Queen.

We are closing our stores on the day of her funeral as a mark of respect, and because we believe this is the right thing to do for our Partners and customers.

The official government advice is: Some businesses may wish to consider closing or postponing events, especially on the day of the state funeral, however, this is at the discretion of individual businesses.
Australian coins released this month before the Queen's death are set to become instant collectors' items because they are dated 2023.

The Royal Australian Mint in Canberra routinely releases new, special-edition coins in September with the following year's date.

An example is the lunar series featuring a rabbit to denote 2023 as the Chinese zodiac year of the rabbit.

Mint chief executive Leigh Gordon said this batch with the Queen's profile would be worth a lot.

'We do not intend to mint any coins in 2023 with the Queen's effigy on it, but we are in the period of transition,' Mr Gordon said.

'There are some coins that are out there now with a 2023 date and the Queen on it - they're collectable and investment coins that have been released as we do normally in September each year for the following year.'

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Australian coins released this month before the Queen's death are set to become instant collectors' items because they are dated 2023

Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, said the mint would start making new coins in 2023 featuring King Charles III, with the new monarch looking to his right.

'Australians should expect to see [the] King on coins,' he said.

'One thing that Australians will notice - as the transfer happens - on the current coins the Queen faces to the left.

'By tradition the direction the monarch faces will change and so King Charles III will face to the right.'

Since the start of decimal currency in February 1966, 15billion Australian coins were produced with the Queen's image.

She had also appeared on the old pennies before the Australian dollar replaced the pound currency.

The Royal Australian Mint in Canberra routinely releases new, special-edition coins in September with the following year's date

Royal Australian Mint chief executive Leigh Gordon said this batch with the Queen's profile would be worth a lot

The Royal Australian Mint will update all of its coins for the first time in 57 years from 2023.

The changes will affect the five, 10, 20 and 50 cent coins, along with the $1 and $2 coins, plus the $5 banknote produced by the Reserve Bank of Australia's polymer printing arm Note Printing Australia in Melbourne.

The Queen had featured on the one and two cent coins from February 1966 until they were taken out of circulation in February 1992.

She had been on the $1 coin since it replaced a paper banknote in May 1984 and the $2 coin since it debuted in June 1988, also replacing a banknote that had first been in circulation since 1966.

Apart from the UK, Australia is one of 14 countries the Queen reigned over as head of state for 70 years, which means currency designs will also be changed from New Zealand to Canada.

The mint stopped making coins on Friday, following the early morning September 9 announcement the Queen had died aged 96.

Coin printing resumed on Monday morning.
An American living in Australia has compared her kind Aussie manager to a nasty US boss who called her 'useless and a waste of time' via text.

The former Volleyball player raved about her Australian boss, who sent nice messages to her and staff on RUOK Day, in a video posted to TikTok last week.

'Australia having a national holiday to check in on each other to see if they are doing OK, is actually the cutest thing I have ever heard,' she said.

'You have become useless and waste of time, so don't come in tomorrow,' the text message from her boss said (pictured)

'Tonight my boss texted us and said, "hey guys, happy RUOK day, if you ever need anything, I'm always here to talk.'"

'It was so sweet and it reminded me of what my American boss said to me ... this is when I told him someone else was covering my shift.'

The text reply from the boss read, 'you have become useless and waste of time, so don't come in tomorrow.'

Australians were shocked that an employer would send such a nasty text.

'Deadset? Your old boss sent you that?' one commenter asked.

'I wish I was lying,' she replied.

She captioned the video 'I shouldve sued,' and copped some correction over the day not being a 'national holiday'.

'Not holiday just a national acknowledgement day,' said one, while another added 'Holiday. HOLIDAY. I wish doll.'

RUOK Day is an annual observance day in Australia that is recognised every second Thursday in September since 2009.

It is run by a suicide prevention charity and encourages people to connect and support each other, by asking, 'Are you OK?'

'Its more like say youre fine when youre not really fine day,' one joker said on the social media post.

'It creates one day a year where people ask if your ok, they dont actually want to know and they dont ask any other day,' one more said.

'No this day is horrid. One day to help is not enough. I'm sick of getting the RUOK?!' another wrote.

'It's a HR thing and comes with free lunch at my work. I'm okay after a free lunch,' one commenter admitted.
An Oklahoma County inmate found dead in his jail cell over the weekend was a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the county - alleging that in 2019, he and other inmates were tortured by jail employees who forced them to repeatedly listen to the children's song Baby Shark for hours on end.

John Basco, 48, was found unresponsive in his cell early on Sunday morning, Oklahoma County Detention Center officials said.

He was pronounced dead after jail workers began lifesaving efforts, they explained.

Basco's death is the 14th this year at the jail, which has faced criticism over inmate deaths, escapes and other incidents.

John Basco, 48, was found unresponsive in his cell early on Sunday morning. He was part of a lawsuit against the jail

Former inmates at the Oklahoma County Detention Center (pictured) have filed a civil rights lawsuit against county officials and former officers

Jail spokesman Mark Opgrande said there were no obvious signs of foul play and that investigators will look into the possibility of a drug overdose.

The State Medical Examiner's Office will determine the cause of death.

Basco, who was booked into the jail on Thursday on a drug trafficking complaint, was among a group of inmates suing the county in federal court for allegedly being handcuffed to a wall and forced to listen to the song Baby Shark on repeat for hours during separate incidents in 2019.

A jail lieutenant retired and two detention officers were fired in connection with the incidents, and all three face misdemeanor charges.

Basco's attorney, Cameron Spradling, told The Oklahoman that he found the circumstances surrounding Basco's death 'disturbing' and called for the preservation of all evidence as the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation probe of it unfolds.

'I'm really bothered by this,' Spradling said. 'One of the Baby Shark victims is conveniently dead within three days of his arrival at the jail. How does that happen? District Attorney David Prater just lost one of his witnesses for the upcoming criminal trial. For me, this one does not pass the smell test.'

The popular children's song went viral in 2019 - with the video having been viewed more than 11 billion times

Oklahoma prison records show Basco had a long history of criminal convictions in Oklahoma County dating back to the mid 1990s, mostly for drug, property and firearms crimes.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a second-degree murder conviction in 2000 and was released in 2007, records show.

In the Baby Shark lawsuit, Daniel Hendrick, Joseph Mitchell and John Basco alleged how they were taken from their cells at the Oklahoma County Detention Center by two officers, put in a 'standing stress position' with their arms handcuffed behind their backs, and were then forced to listen to the popular children's song on a loop for hours.

The suit called the conduct 'tantamount to torture,' and said the two police officers involved, Christian Charles Miles and Gregory Cornell Butler Jr., were 'wanton, depraved and sadistic.'

It compared the conduct to the heavy metal music played at Guantanamo Bay 'as an "enhanced interrogation" technique to weaken Iraqi captives' resolve, and cited academic studies as to why the Baby Shark song by Pinkfong, which went viral in 2019, is particularly irritating.

In the lawsuit, lawyers for the since-released inmates claimed that they 'posed no threat to the officers or anyone else,' were 'compliant,' and were 'not actively resisting any lawful command' when they were forced to listen to the music in November and December 2019.

They claim they were taken from their cells, forced to stand with their arms handcuffed behind their back, as the song Baby Shark played on a loop for hours

The lawyers argue that the 'prolonged restraint ... under the conditions described herein, is tantamount to torture, was excessive and not rationally related to any legitimate governmental or penological purpose.'

The suit further claims: 'This history of mistreatment was well known to supervisors at the Jail, but no action was taken to stop the conduct and no reasonable measures were taken to alleviate the risk of harm to detainees like Plaintiffs.'

It claims these actions were 'open, obvious and repeated. Yet, no one from' Oklahoma County, the sheriff's office and the criminal justice authority 'stepped into take remedial action.

'This exemplifies a systemic and deep-seated failure to train and supervise, with respect to the most basic aspects of correctional operations and constitutional conditions of confinement.'

Not addressing those issues, they added, made them 'deliberately indifferent to citizens' health and safety.'

The former detainees were each seeking $75,000 in retribution.
A business owner has written a heartfelt letter to three young men caught on CCTV allegedly robbing his store.

Ali Farez discovered his Haberfield business, in Sydney's inner-west, was robbed on Sunday night after a 'group of youths' stole the letter 'b' from his burger sign.

In a post shared to a community Facebook group on Monday, Mr Farez wrote a heartbreaking plea to the three young men caught on CCTV.

The petrol station and burger shop owner made a heartfelt plea asking the three young men caught on CCTV cameras (pictured) robbing his business to 'please do not steal from us, as we cannot afford it'

'At the Haberfield metro servo, a group of youths tried to enter the shop in the servo, and then they stole a letter off the sign 'WORLD BURGER,' Mr Faraz wrote.

The petrol station and burger shop owner offered the young men words of advice rather than using the page to insult or berate the thieves.

'My dear young fellas in the video, sooner or later, you're going to start a job in this community,' Mr Farez wrote.

'Those businesses that are struggling right now like us may be options for you to consider working for.'

Mr Farez went on to reveal his financial struggles as he 'collects dollar by dollar' and barely has money for his family after paying costs incurred by his business.

'We collect one dollar by one dollar to pay our rent, materials, wages, council etc,' Mr Farez wrote.

'If we are lucky, we get some money for our family (that hasn't happened yet).

'Please do not steal from us, as we cannot afford it.'

The three thieves allegedly stole the letter 'b' from the World Burger sign (pictured) on top of his burger shop in Haberfield, Sydney

It marks the second time his business has been robbed within a month - with cash allegedly stolen from his burger shop on August 20.

'There will be no job opportunities for anyone - if everyone does what you do to businesses,' Mr Farez wrote.

'I hope you get enough money from your dad to start something big.

'Nevertheless, I'm certain you won't want others to do what you did to us to you.'

NSW Police told Daily Mail Australia that the incident has not been reported.
The bitter row sparked by a Pakistan-born Australian Greens MP who refused to mourn the Queen's death has deepened, with Mark Latham now lashing out at an independent who defended her.

Within hours of the Queen's death, deputy Greens leader Mehreen Faruqi tweeted saying she 'cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples'.

She was soon blasted by Pauline Hanson for taking 'advantage' of Australia after emigrating here in 1992, and told to 'pack your bags and p*** off back to Pakistan'.

The racism row sparked by a Pakistan-born Australian Greens' MP Mehreen Faruiqi (pictured left, with Adam Bandt, centre) refusing to mourn the Queen's death has deepened with Mark Latham lashing out at an independent who defended her

Pauline Hanson (pictured) told a Greens senator to 'p*** off back to Pakistan' after she called the Queen 'a leader of a racist empire' on the day of her death

But Hanson's savage burn was called out by Independent MP Sophie Scamp, a former Sydney GP-turned politician.

'So wrong,' the Mackellar MP posted in response to Hanson.

'Where does this hatred of others come from? Except for our First Nations peoples, we all came from somewhere else,' Dr Scamp posted on twitter.

Latham took issue with Dr Scamp's claim that 'we all came from somewhere else'.

'That's just factually incorrect,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Northern Beaches GP Dr Sophie Scamp defended Mehreen Faruqi saying Pauline Hanson's brutal burn of the Pakistan-born deputy Greens leader was 'so wrong'

'I'm a native Australian, I was born here and I've lived here for 61 years, not for a nanosecond have I wanted to live anywhere else.

'I've always regarded myself Australian. My parents and grandparents were born here too.'

On Twitter, Latham replied to Dr Scamp saying: 'I come from Crown Street Hospital, Sydney, not overseas.'

In response to Dr Scamp's comments, one social media follower pointed out that all serving Australian senators swore allegiance to the Queen when they joined parliament.

Latham (pictured) told Daily Mail Australia said Ms Faruqi had unnecessarily disrespected the Queen and that the claim that 'we all come from somewhere else' is 'factually incorrect'

Ms Faruqi emigrated to Australia in 1992 from Pakistan with her husband Omar (pictured, the couple on their wedding day)

Since King Charles was sworn in, that allegiance has been updated.

It now reads: 'I, do swear that I will well and truly serve the people of Australia in the office of (position) and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles the Third, King of Australia. So help me God.'

Latham told Daily Mail Australia Ms Faruqi had unnecessarily disrespected the Queen.

'I'm a Republican, I'm not a supporter of the Monarchy, but a mother, a grandmother and a great grandmother has just died, so if you cant say something respectful, just say nothing,' he said.

'It's not that hard to say nothing.'

Even though he's a Republican, Latham said the Queen's service was 'flawless'.

Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral is expected take place at Westminster Abbey in central London on Monday, September 19

'You have to acknowledge she's a woman who dedicated her life to to public service for 70 years, not seven months or seven years.

'She performed remarkable and honourable service to her nation and the Commonwealth.'

Latham said Ms Faruqi was welcome to rethink her 'residential choices.'

'I dont think theres anything wrong trying to help her with residential choices. Shes already had a couple, maybe she could go back to the original one?

'Ms Faruqi is so unhappy about our country, saying it's genocidal and full of racists and homophobes and all the other things the Greens claim, maybe it's good to remind people that she came from Pakistan and maybe she's be happier living there, having found so many things to be unhappy about here?'

Last year senator Ms Faruqi slammed the British empire for 'enslaving millions of black and brown people around the world'.

But commentators have pointed out that Ms Faruqi's faith, Islam, also has a long history of colonisation, across Asia, North Africa and Europe.

On Saturday, Hanson unloaded on Ms Faruqi on social media.

'Your attitude appalls and disgusts me. When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country,' Ms Hanson said on Twitter.

'You took citizenship, bought multiple homes, and a job in a parliament. Its clear you're not happy, so pack your bags and p*** off back to Pakistan.'

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie endorsed Hanson's broadside, responding 'Pauline right on the mark!!!'

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie endorsed Hanson's broadside, responding 'Pauline right on the mark!'

'Condolences to those who knew the Queen. I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples,' Green senator Mehreen Faruqi posted to Twitter

Some pointed out that as an Aboriginal woman, Senator Lambie shouldn't be supporting such language and should be be more sympathetic to Senator Faruqi's point about Indigenous Australians.

'No, she isn't Jackie (sic). How can a white Australian tell a coloured Australian to go back where they came from? I'm a white Australian ashamed at what the crown has done in this nation,' one wrote.

Another added: 'No Jacqui! Just no... she is a racist, and to attack someone because they weren't born here... it's low, and it's lazy.'

Ms Faruqi's post was one of a number by Greens MPs using the Queen's death to make political points, including Greens leader Adam Bandt.

He said it is time to move forward and become a republic only hours after news of the monarch's death broke.

In a post to Twitter, Mr Bandt said now it is time to form a treaty with First Nations people.

Mr Bandt is a staunch republican, who refuses to put the Australian flag with its Union Jack corner behind him at press conferences.

Daily Mail Australia has approached Mehreen Faruqi for comment.
A payroll officer for a famous dumpling restaurant chain said they were instructed by managers to make a fake payroll to hide staff being underpaid, a court has heard.

Din Tai Fung is facing accusations in Federal Court of underpaying 17 staff a total of $157,000 for work in its Sydney outlets at Chatswood and World Square as well as its Emporium Melbourne store.

The Fair Work Ombudsman's barrister Victoria Brigden told the court the payroll officer, who worked for the company between 2016 and 2018, admitted they were told to create two payrolls.

World-famous dumpling restaurant Din Tai Fung has been accused of underpaying staff in its Sydney outlets at Chatswood and World Square as well as its Emporium Melbourne store (pictured, Din Tai Fung's Chatswood restaurant)

One payroll would show an accurate record of staff working hours and pay while a fake one would mark staff as working less hours at a higher pay rate, the court heard.

The company reportedly focused on underpaying young migrant workers and used cash payment incentives to keep them quiet.

'We say it was to deceive authorities,' Ms Brigden told the court.

'Either the FWO in investigating underpayments and compliance with the Fair Work Act or immigration authorities regarding hours worked by people holding visas, as there are strict conditions on that. Possibly there is a tax element also.'

A payroll staffer who worked for Din Tai Fung between 2016 and 2018 said they were told to keep a real and a fake record of staff hours and pay rate (pictured, dumplings from Din Tai Fung)

The court heard the cash incentives still did not accumulate to the workers being paid minimum wage.

Ms Brigden gave a box containing her evidence to the court and said her claims were 'frankly, not directly challenged'.

Din Tai Fung is famous around the world for its dumplings, with one restaurant in Hong Kong awarded a Michelin star in 2010.

It has opened 10 restaurant venues in Sydney and Melbourne since 2008.
The Prime Minister has blasted a reporter who asked him if he would like to see an Australian replace The Queen on the $5 note in the wake of Her Majesty's death.

Anthony Albanese expressed frustration during a press conference on Tuesday at what he seemed to think was a trivial question.

'I'm speaking about a funeral that will take place of Queen Elizabeth II next Monday - and I'm being asked a question about a replacement on the $5 note.

'I think this is a time for a bit of respect is required.

'And, you know, we will deal with these issues appropriately, in an orderly way, in a way that is respectful - so, I have not turned my attention towards that matter.'

Anthony Albanese (pictured) exploded at a reporter who dared ask him a question on Monday, calling for 'a bit of respect'

Queen Elizabeth's death after 70 years on the throne heralds a raft of changes that will come into place in Australia, with the country's coins set to bear the new king's face.

But some Aussies have flocked online to demand famous Australians instead be memorialised on the country's legal tender when the printing press kicks into gear.

'Time to replace Queen Elizabeth's face on cash with Steve Irwin or Heath Ledger, I reckon,' one woman Tweeted.

Earlier, Mr Albanese was called out live on radio over a bizarre ramble about next week's public holiday on September 22 to mourn the Queen.

Asked by Ben Fordham on 2GB to explain how the holiday wouldn't result in long-booked hospital appointments being cancelled, Mr Albanese tripped over himself.

Some Aussies want Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin to be inscribed on the $5 note instead of the new king. Pictured is a mock up of a $5 note with Steve Irwin's face on it

'The day after in Melbourne, for the Melbourne doctors ... is a public holiday because it's the day before the AFL grand final,' he said.

Fordham interrupted to ask 'So what does that mean?', and then the Prime Minister stumbled on.

'Well think about, the AFL grand final happens every year, they have a day off every year ... on the Friday before,' he said, before finally forming a coherent sentence.

King Charles III will be printed on Australia's $5 note and on the nation's coins as he ascends the throne

The announcement of the Thursday public holiday to commemorate the Queens Victorians will get a four-day holiday as they already have the following day off for the ALF grand final.

'This is a one in 70 year event and I'm sure that these issues, with a bit of common sense can be worked through,' the PM said.

'If someone needs chemotherapy on that specific day of course they should receive it.'
Mark David Chapman, the man who shot and killed John Lennon outside his Manhattan apartment building in 1980, has been denied parole for a 12th time.

Chapman, 67, appeared before a parole board at the end of August, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

He was 25 when he shot Lennon dead outside the apartment building on December 8, as Lennon and wife Yoko Ono were returning to their Upper West Side apartment.

State officials have yet to make transcripts of Chapman's latest board interview available, but he has repeatedly expressed remorse in previous parole hearings.

Chapman called his actions 'despicable' during his hearing in 2020, and said he would have 'no complaint whatsoever' if they chose to leave him in prison for the rest of his life.

Mark David Chapman, the man who shot and killed John Lennon outside his Manhattan apartment building in 1980, has been denied parole for a 12th time

Chapman was 25 when he shot Lennon dead outside the musician's apartment building on December 8, 19080, as Lennon and wife Yoko Ono were returning to their Upper West Side apartment

Chapman, 67, appeared before a parole board at the end of August, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision

He added at the time: 'I assassinated him ... because he was very, very, very famous and that's the only reason and I was very, very, very, very much seeking self-glory. Very selfish.'

He has said previously that he feels 'more and more shame' every year for the crime.

On the day of the murder, he went to The Dakota in the afternoon and asked Lennon to sign an album for him.

He obliged him then got in his waiting limo to go to the recording studio.

'I was too far in,' Chapman told a parole board in 2018. 'I do remember having the thought of, `Hey, you have got the album now. Look at this, he signed it, just go home. But there was no way I was just going to go home.'

Chapman is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility, north of New York City, according to online state corrections records

Chapman said at a 2020 hearing of Lennon: 'I assassinated him ... because he was very, very, very famous and that's the only reason and I was very, very, very, very much seeking self-glory. Very selfish.'

On the day of the murder, he went to The Dakota in the afternoon and asked Lennon to sign an album for him

When Lennon returned to the building with Yoko at around 10.30pm that night, Chapman was still there.

He shot him four times in the back and shoulder. Lennon was pronounced dead in the hospital an hour later.

When police arrived to arrest Chapman, he was flicking through pages of The Catcher in the Rye.

At trial, he rejected his lawyer's attempts to enter an insanity plea and instead pleaded guilty.

He was first eligible for parole in 2000.

In prison, he is kept in isolation against his will to protect him from other inmates.

He works as an administrative clerk and is only allowed out of his cell for three hours a day.

Chapman is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility, north of New York City, according to online state corrections records.

He is next due to appear before the parole board in February 2024.
For the second time in two weeks a group of Jetstar passengers trying to get to Australia has been marooned and left hungry for days in a Japanese airport.

The latest stranded group landed at Tokyo's main Narita Airport on Sunday for what was meant to be a short stopover before boarding a flight to the Gold Coast that evening.

They are still there after Jetstar cancelled their original connecting flight and then a replacement one on Monday.

A group of Jetstar passengers have been forced to spend two night marooned in Tokyo's main airport after the airline cancelled their original connecting flight and then another one the next day

The rescheduled flight was meant to leave at 9pm local time on Monday but Jetstar sent a text at 5.15pm alerting the despairing group that it had been cancelled indefinitely, dooming them to a second night in the terminal.

They have been forced to sleep on airport lounges and almost forage for food with transit passengers in Japan not allowed to leave the terminal where they landed.

Japan's strict Covid rules mean only travellers with a negative test taken within 72 hours prior to arrival and those with an approved visa are allowed into the country.

'Gate 26 has become our home,' Victorian Judy Jenkins told the Today Show on Tuesday.

'We tried to transfer to a different terminal but were told we weren't allowed to leave.

'Now we're starting day three with no news from Jetstar that we're going anywhere.'

The passengers say on Monday they were informed that their replacement flight was cancelled at a time too late to get dinner from the shops

By the time Jetstar informed passengers the Monday flight had been cancelled the group of 16, which includes a toddler, said they had no food options.

'It was too late at that point to go to any shops because at that point they were shut so we had pretty growly tummies,' Ms Jenkins said.

Thankfully airport staff took pity on them and sent over two-minute noodles, sandwiches and bottled water around midnight.

A Jetstar spokesman told NCA Newswire that lightning strikes had caused the initial fight cancellation.

It's been a long wait for the passengers who had two different flights to Australia cancelled

On Sunday Jetstar tried to get the group on an alternative flight to Australia via Singapore but not all of them were able to make it.

Teejay Hoch told the Today Show he was heading to Australia with his wife Krysta to attend his best friend's wedding.

'It's been very tough,' he said.

'He's been my best mate of 20 years and it's two days of negligence from Jetstar.

'Don't know why I'm getting emotional but it's been taken away from us with no accountability or responsibility from them.'

Jetstar has booked the passengers on a 9pm flight, which passengers are anxiously hoping will take off without a hitch.

The airline has also provided the airport castaways with food, meal vouchers, water and blankets.

'We have apologised sincerely to passengers and our team is working hard to get them on their way as soon as possible,' the spokesman said.

At the end of August passengers who were also flying Jetstar to the Gold Coast were stranded at the same airport for 24 hours.

Australian Gordon Knight told Daily Mail Australia the airline had abandoned them as they slept on the floor, a table and uncomfortably arranged across armchairs.

Jetstar said it had provided the passengers with food and other essentials as their long wait continues

'We were left to fend for ourselves. I got no sleep, the combination of frustration and looking after our bags meant I stayed awake the whole night,' he said.

He disputed claims from Jetstar that the passengers were offered meal and accommodation vouchers.

'They sent us an email saying they would reimburse us for food if we kept our receipts but it was the equivalent to about $35,' Mr Knight said.

In recent days thousands of Australians were also stranded in Bali after Jetstar cancelled a raft of flights.
iPhones that can run iOS 16 worldwide will soon have Google widgets on their lock screens.

Google recently announced that the lock screens of iOS 16-capable iPhones would soon be able to sport its widgets, allowing users to access Google's applications with just a tap without opening their phone.

The company did not disclose when these widgets will be available to users of ios16-capable phones, though it mentioned it would be in the coming weeks.

Google Widgets Sneak Peek Details

Google mentioned in its announcement that iOS 16 w come with widgets that would give iPhone users quick access to the company's many offerings, such as Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Drive.

According to the California-based search giant, iPhone users can unlock their device to access their favorite Google features and see some updates with just a tap on the phone's lock screen.

These widgets can also come in three sizes: circular and rectangular, which will appear below the lock screen's clock, and inline, which is located above the clock and takes the form of a line of text and symbols, per Tech Crunch.

Although Google did not mention the exact number of widgets that would be available for iPhones with iOS 16, it did reveal a few applications that do.

For starters, iPhone users can look forward to searching anything from their lock screen with Google Search's widget. It could even be configured to start searching with their voice or their phone camera for various needs, such as translation.

Having Google Chrome installed on an iPhone with iOS 16 will also create a widget for it, allowing users to quickly launch Chrome, start a search with their voice, or open incognito mode.

Read More: Harry Styles, Rest of Amazon Prime Video's 'My Policeman' Cast Receive TIFF Tribute Award for Ensemble Performance

iPhone users could even play Chrome's dino game directly if they so wish with just a tap of the Chrome widget.

The same is also true for Google Drive's widget, which allows iPhone users to open a suggested Drive file or starred files and folders with a tap.

Navigating unfamiliar places has also become easier with an iPhone, thanks to Google Maps' upcoming widget. With this, users can get real-time traffic updates and estimated travel times from their lock screen.

The Google Maps widget also contains quick access widgets for restaurants, shops, cafes, and even hotels. A tap on the Google Maps Search widget provides access to these additional widgets.

Google also added a widget for Google News and Gmail, providing users a way to keep themselves updated with the latest happenings and messages to their Gmail inbox.

Google also said that users could customize Gmail's lock screen widget to see which inbox categories, like Social or Updates, contain new messages.

Google iOS 16 Widget Availability

Google mentioned that the previously mentioned widgets would be available for iPhones with iOS 16 "in the coming weeks," with the company advising iPhone users to download and install their favorite Google apps on their device with iOS 16 to prepare for the widgets' arrival.

Once the widgets arrive, pressing and holding down the iPhone's lock screen will allow users to start customizing it to their preference.

Apple's iOS 16 is set to be released by Apple on September 12, per MacRumors.

Related Article: iOS 16 Will Not Have the iCloud Shared Photo Library at Launch
A frustrated family called the hospital system 'broken' after a new mother was forced to wait four days to see her premature babies for the first time.

Grandmother Anne said her daughter, Sally, was rushed for the caesarean birth of her six-week premature twins at Melbourne's Sunshine Hospital.

However, a short supply of hospital beds meant her newborn babies where immediately sent to stay at Sandringham Hospital, 40km away.

Devastated first-time mother Sally didn't get to see or hold her premature babies for the first time until four days after her caesarean at Sunshine Hospital (above), Melbourne

First-time mum Sally didn't get the chance to see or hold her babies before they were taken and needed to stay in her hospital for four days due to complications with her surgery.

'They gave her no reason why, they just said hopefully the babies can come back,' Anne told Melbourne radio station 3AW.

Once Sally was released from hospital she was offered no patient transport to go see the twins despite still being unwell, on several medications and ordered to rest.

'I went and picked her up Thursday and took her straight to see the babies,' Anne said.

Since then the mother has made the four-hour journey from her home to the twins' hospital everyday.

The two babies were taken to Sandringham Hospital, 40km from their mother, just moments after their birth because there weren't enough beds at Sunshine Hospital

Sally's husband has decided to stay at work until the babies are back at home so they can make the most of his time off.

However, that means Sally either needs to drive herself or ask Anne for help.

'I'm so upset for them,' Anne said. 'Being first-time parents you're meant to be together and they're not, they're separated.

'Mum's not doing too well mentally because she's not with her babies. The hospital system's broken.'

Anne then revealed Sunshine Hospital had been talking about taking the twins interstate before their dad intervened.

Now Sandringham Hospital is discussing moving the babies from their care to Werribee Hospital, which is closer to where their parents live.

'Still though, everyday they're saying tomorrow, tomorrow,' said Anne.

She added that the care at Sandringham Hospital has been great and that it's not their fault the twins are so far from their parents because 'their job is to look after babies'.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted VicHealth for comment.
A woman is speaking out after she believes a QAnon conspiracy theory drove her father over the edge and led to him fatally shooting his wife and dog and injuring the woman's sister.

Rebecca Lanis, 21, went viral over the weekend posting on the 'QAnon Casualties' Reddit page, where people discuss family members they see as having been 'ruined' by QAnon.

She wrote that her father, 53-year-old Igor Lanis, got into Q after the 2020 election and would entertain conspiracy theories about that election and the COVID vaccine to 'keep us safe and healthy' as she put it.

On Sunday, after months of what Rebeca describes as Igor's mental health taking a turn for the worse, he took out the family's guns in the early hours of the morning and fatally shot his wife, Tina, and the family dog. He also seriously injured Rebecca's 25-year-old sister Rachel.

The Oakland County Sheriff's Office responded and after Lanis shot at them, they returned fire and killed him, according to a statement on Facebook.

Rebecca Lanis spoke out after she believes the QAnon conspiracy theory drove her father over the edge and led to him fatally shooting his wife and dog and injuring the woman's sister

Lanis, 21, went viral over the weekend posting on the 'QAnon Casualties' Reddit page, where people discuss family members they see as having been 'ruined' by QAnon

On Sunday, after months of what Rebeca describes as Igor's mental health taking a turn for the worse, he took out the family's guns in the early hours of the morning and fatally shot his wife, Tina, and the family dog. He also seriously injured Rebecca's 25-year-old sister Rachel

She wrote that her father, 53-year-old Igor Lanis, got into Q after the 2020 Election and would entertain conspiracy theories about that election and the COVID vaccine to 'keep us safe and healthy' as she put it

The sheriff's office writes that when they arrived at the house at around 4:16 a.m. in the town of Walled Lake, about 30 miles from Detroit, they heard a gunshot and began to approach.

Igor Lanis was then seen leaving out the frontdoor with a shotgun and fired on the police.

A police officer and a sheriff's deputy returned fire, killing the man.

They then observed daughter Rebecca crawling toward the front door in an attempt to escape. Authorities say they eventually dragged her to safety.

Rachel Lanis told police that her father had shot her mother. She was taken to a local hospital and has since been upgraded from critical to stable condition.

Sheriff Michael Bouchard of Oakland County Sheriff's Office responded to the shooting which left Igor Lanis dead

Rachel Lanis told police that her father had shot her mother. She was taken to a local hospital and has since been upgraded from critical to stable condition

Inside, officers discovered the body of Lanis' wife and the girls' mother, 56-year-old Tina. She had been shot multiple times in her back and police said it looked like she too had attempted to crawl to the door.

The family's dog had also been shot multiple times and been killed.

Rachel Lanis wrote on the subreddit: 'I'm shocked and I don't even know what to say. F**k you, QAnon. I hope the FBI tightens its grip on you and that your lackies rot in prison (and hell) for poisoning so many people.'

Lanis told The Daily Beast that her once 'extremely loving' father - who worked as a car designer and had no history of violence - had become heavily influenced by far-right figures like Alex Jones.

She added: 'He had a sense of reality. But then after 2020, when Trump lost, he started going down these crazy rabbit holes. Its a very big contributor to what happened.'

Inside the family home in Walled Lake (pictured), officers discovered the body of Lanis' wife and the girls' mother, 56-year-old Tina. She had been shot multiple times in her back and police said it looked like she had attempted to crawl to the door

Lanis said her father would insist the family watch videos about 5G cellular towers, vaccines, the idea that the election was stolen and theory that certain world leaders were 'alien-lizard people in disguise.'

The daughter said the family would try and pull him back but that it became 'pointless.'

She said that 'it could happen to anybody' when she reflected on what became of her father.

QAnon has been linked to fatal shootings in the past. In January, another Michigan man who followed Q pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing his newlywed wife, whom he believed was a CIA asset - and President Joe Biden's transgender daughter - who was involved in sex trafficking.

Troy Burke, 45, was arrested in January 2021 on open murder and firearms charges for the shooting death of his wife of just three months, 29-year-old Jessica Burke.

Lanis told The Daily Beast that her once 'extremely loving' father - who worked as a car designer and had no history of violence - had become heavily influenced by far-right figures like Alex Jones

QAnon has been linked to fatal shootings in the past. In January, another Michigan man who followed Q pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing his newlywed wife, whom he believed was a CIA asset - and President Joe Biden 's transgender daughter - who was involved in sex trafficking

Last September, Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, was charged with two counts of foreign first-degree murder of United States nationals. 'By law, the charges are eligible for death penalty,' the news release from the attorney's office read.

He allegedly used a spear gun to fatally shoot both his children was indicted by a federal grand jury for the 'heinous, cruel and depraved' crime, according to court documents.

The town and county police are continuing to investigate the Lanis shooting.
Anthony Albanese has strongly indicated he supports the state and territory push to extend emergency pandemic leave payments beyond the end of September.

The payments were already extended in June when the then newly elected Labor government bowed to widespread public pressure to do so.

That criticism is building up again, with unions and the Greens supporting calls from NSW, Victoria and the ACT to keep the payments until isolation rules are lifted.

On Tuesday, Mr Albanese said 'while governments place imposed restrictions, then governments therefore have responsibility as a result of those decisions'.

He was referring to the fact that people who test positive for Covid-19 are still subject to compulsory isolation periods, despite the period being reduced.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured at the Midwinter ball in Canberra with his partner Jodie Haydon) has indicated he may support the further extension of Covid-19 isolation payments

The support was recently changed due as isolation periods were reduced, with those who are required to isolate for five days eligible for up to $540 and those in high-risk workplaces still able to get $750.

An announcement to extend the payments, if it happens, will probably be made after national cabinet meets virtually on Wednesday.

An ACT government spokesperson said the payments should continue at a reduced amount, to reflect the reduced mandatory quarantine arrangements.

'This will ensure casual workers without sick leave entitlements are able to isolate as necessary,' they said.

The Victorian government spokesperson said its position had not changed and 'people should be financially supported if the public health advice is that they are required to isolate.

There is growing pressure on the federal government to again extend Covid isolation payments. Pictured is a stock shot of a woman blowing her nose

'The alternative means making people choose between being able to put food on the table or isolate to keep others safe,' a spokesperson said.

Covid-19 isolation rules On September 9, 2022, isolation periods for Covid-19 positive cases reduced from seven to five days following a positive test if you have no symptoms on day five. Seven days isolation remains for workers in high-risk setting including aged care, disability care and those providing care in the home. Source: Department of Health Advertisement

'You want staff to come back when they're healthy and to take time off when they're sick, but not to take advantage of the situation.'

ACTU Assistant Secretary Liam O'Brien said 'If (workers) need to isolate and lose a week of work, they should be paid for a full week of work.'

The Greens also back the retention of the payments.

'As much as we all wish it wasn't, the pandemic is still with us, and national cabinet still has Covid isolation requirements in place,' said Greens social services spokeswoman Janet Rice.

'Amid the cost of living crisis, a pandemic that is still with us and the fuel excise due to end this month too, people need support.'

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's previously said he would like to see the payments reviewed.

'Many small business employers that you speak to talk about that being a problem for them, to get staff back,' he told Sky News in August.

'You want staff to come back when they're healthy and to take time off when they're sick, but not to take advantage of the situation.

What does isolation mean? Isolation means you: must not leave your home or isolation location, except in an emergency or to get essential medical care

must not go into public places including work and shops must not let any other person into your home unless the person A lives with you and cannot live somewhere else B is providing medical care for you C is entering for an emergency. Advertisement




Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has called an emergency summit to tackle Queensland's housing crisis after a mass interstate migration saw 50,000 people move to the state in just one year.

On Tuesday, Ms Palaszczuk announced an initial roundtable of government and non-government stakeholders will take place on Friday, followed by the summit in October.

The premier said the Queensland Housing Summit would address housing challenges caused by recent flooding, interstate migration, population growth and delays in construction.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced an emergency housing summit to address the state's housing crisis. The premier promised the initial roundtable discussion this week and October's summit would result in 'key actions' to fix the crisis

'Nothing is more important than having a roof over your head - it's a basic need - and the stories of people without secure housing are heartbreaking,' Ms Palaszczuk said.

'In a modern economy where we have one of the fastest growths of the economy in the nation, you know, it is a shock to see people living out of their cars or not being housed.

'I want Queenslanders to understand I recognise that this is an issue.'

The premier promised the summit would not just be a talk-fest and would result in 'key actions' - including land supplies and social housing - to fix the crisis.

'We've been thinking [how to address] for a while and I think approaching it in two stages is the right way,' Ms Palaszczuk said.

'Nothing is off the table and we don't pretend to have all the ideas.'

In a joint statement with Ms Palaszczuk, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said housing pressure was being driven by mass interstate migration, with about 1,000 people moving to Queensland each week.

'We expect this population growth to continue for the foreseeable future,' Mr Miles said.

'Stories of single mothers sleeping in their cars with their children should be a call to action for all elected and industry leaders [that] we need more affordable housing.'

Ms Palaszczuk added 50,000 people had moved to Queensland during the past financial year - 30,000 more than the number recorded 'pre-Covid'.

Ms Palaszczuk said challenges including recent floods, population growth, delays in construction and mass interstate migration - which has seen 50,000 people move to the state in one year - has contributed to Queensland's housing crisis (pictured, Brisbane, Queensland)

Queensland Council of Social Services (QCOSS) CEO Aimee McVeigh welcomed the announcement and called on the state government to ensure all Queenslanders are housed by 2032.

'Nothing is more important than having a roof over your head. That should be a goal for the summit,' Ms McVeigh said.

'By the 2032 Olympics, all Queenslanders should have a place to call home.

'Right now, Queensland workers and families are living in tents, women and children are returning to domestic violence relationships and the elderly are sleeping on sofas because there is nowhere to go.'

Ms McVeigh added the summit must result in a tangible plan as about 5,000 social homes need to be built annually for the next 10 years to keep up with demand.

She said QCOSS wants the government's Housing Investment Fund to be expanded, more investment in infrastructure to support housing developments in the regions, and existing housing stock to be repurposed, rebuilt and reused.

QCOSS called on the state government to ensure all Queenslanders are housed by the 2032 Olympic Games (pictured, Ms Palaszczuk celebrating Brisbane being announced as the host city for the 2032 Olympic games during the 138th IOC Session in Tokyo on July 21, last year)

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli backed October's summit and called for 'targets and action' from the government.

He urged the government to release an analysis on the impacts of its new land tax on renters and transparency on delivering infrastructure to open more housing land such as roads, water and sewerage.

It comes after the state recorded a severe shortage of homes, with 27,437 households on the waiting list for government housing, and tight private rental vacancy rates.

Property Council of Australia's report showed that Queensland's population grew by almost 750,000 between 2011 and 2021, with close to 90 per cent in south-east Queensland.

The Queensland Council of Social Services, the Local Government Association of Queensland, the Property Council of Australia, Q Shelter and Master Builders Queensland will take part in Friday's talks.
A taxi driver falsely accused of rape was robbed and bashed when a gel blaster-wielding vigilante tracked him down, a court has been told.

Mark Thomas Kilminster, 41, was 'triggered' when a girl told him she had just been sexually assaulted by a cab driver.

What had actually happened was the girl had stolen the taxi driver's phone during an alleged fare evasion in Brisbane's south in July 2021, the District Court heard on Wednesday.

The girl assaulted the taxi driver and fled with the phone and two other females without paying the fare after the cab arrived at an Inala address.

When she entered the address the girl told Kilminster she had been raped by the taxi driver, prompting a group to emerge from the house and start throwing rocks at the cab.

The taxi driver left and made a complaint to police but soon after leaving Inala police station his cab was followed by another car for about 10km.

A vigilante who bashed a taxi driver who'd been falsley accused of rape has faced court

Kilminster - armed with a gel blaster - had jumped in his car with a co-offender and drove around looking for the cab after one of the girls had provided the taxi's licence plate number.

When he spotted the taxi, Kilminster drove dangerously in pursuit, at one stage travelling on the wrong side of the road and trying to block the cab.

After the taxi driver managed to arrive at his father's house, Kilminster got out of his car and produced what the cabbie believed was a gun before accusing him of raping the girl.

Kilminster - a father-of-three who was on parole at the time - pointed the gel blaster at the taxi driver and told him he would shoot if he got out of the car, the court heard.

The cab driver tried to appease Kilminster by handing over $200 but instead was struck nine times in the head with the butt of the gel blaster before escaping.

'Vigilantism must be deterred by the courts (but) if (the girl) had told the truth this would never have happened,' Judge Paul Smith said of the incident.

Defence barrister Dominic Nguyen said the girl's rape claim provoked the reaction from Kilminster because he had been allegedly sexually abused while in and out of juvenile detention years ago.

'Clearly there should be no condoning of his vigilante actions (but) that (rape claim) triggers a significant issue for him,' Mr Nguyen said.

Kilminster pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, threatening violence at night, armed robbery in company with personal violence, deprivation of liberty and wilful damage.

He will be sentenced on Friday.
The police have released dramatic footage of officers swooping in to arrest a shirtless, tattooed man in thongs in connection to the killing of a Comanchero bikie associate.

Levi Johnson, 23, died after allegedly being attacked by a group of four men near the corner of Pine Mountain and Creek roads at Carindale in southern Brisbane at 1pm on Monday.

Johnson's older sister is world champion boxer Cherneka 'Sugar Neekz' Johnson who won the IBF super bantamweight title in April.

Ms Johnson posted a photo of the pair on social media after the deadly attack.

A 34-year-old man from East Brisbane was arrested by dog squad officers just a few hundred metres from where Mr Johnson was fatally stabbed.

Three other men suspected of being involved in the alleged incident are still on the run.

The footage, shot on body-worn cameras shortly after the killing, shows a male and two female officers approaching the man in a park, not far from where the incident occurred.

The man (pictured right, with police officers) is questioned in connection with a stabbing death before he is arrested

Pictured: Alleged stabbing victim Levi Johnson with his boxing champ sister Cherneka 'Sugar Neekz' Johnson

The man, who was wearing knee-length shorts, is then seen with his hands on his hips, talking to the officers.

He then calmly walked on a path through the park, flanked by police.

The man is next seen sitting with his back to a chain-link fence, holding his hands up to his ears while police officers discuss the situation and keep an eye on him.

He is then seen handcuffed and being helped into a blue paper suit, which is used to preserve any evidence on a suspect's body. The man was then walked to a police van and helped into it.

He has since been charged with one count each of unlawful possession of a weapon (revolver), possession of detachable magazines without license and authority required to possess explosives.

The man's case was mentioned in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday morning and he was remanded in custody to appear on September 29.

Earlier, it emerged that two mystery backpacks could hold vital clues to the 'horrific' stabbing death of the face-tattooed Mr Johnson.

Taskforce Maxima, a specialist police unit focused on outlaw bikie gangs, is closely involved in the investigation.

Stabbing victim Levi Johnson (pictured right) was an associate of Comanchero bikies

Levi Johnson (pictured) was stabbed to death in a southern Brisbane suburb on Monday

A Black Audi hatchback initially blocked the dead man's car in a gym car park before the Nissan four wheel drive rammed his car from the opposite side.

The police said the two backpacks that were later found nearby had come from the Audi.

Four men got out of the attackers' cars and started smashing the windows of the 23-year-old's car before he got out through a passenger door and ran away.

Two men chased him to a nearby residential street where one of them allegedly stabbed him multiple times.

The man (pictured in blue overalls) is handcuffed by police in a Brisbane park on Monday

He is pictured in the back of a police van after being helped into it by officers

Three men fled the scene in the Nissan, while the fourth ran away but was tracked down with police dogs and arrested.

Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham said the attack, which happened in front of members of the public, was deeply concerning.

'These males were extremely motivated to hunt this individual down,' he said at the scene on Monday.

'This incident was fully captured on CCTV. I have viewed that CCTV and it is confronting and horrific.

An officer searches bushes for clues after the stabbing death of a 23-year-old in Brisbane

One man has been arrested and four others are still on the run after escaping from the scene in a four wheel drive car. Pictured are bushes being searched

'We don't know the motive of what's occurred, whether there was planning involved or whether there was an incident that escalated in the nearby streets.

'What was clear was their intent to cause significant harm to this individual.'

On Tuesday morning, the gym was closed to all but a few pre-booked classes with others turned away at the door.

A State Emergency Service tent was set up in the car park as volunteers searched bushes and the surrounding streets for clues.

The search appears focused on finding the murder weapon.

On Tuesday morning, the gym (pictured) was closed to all but a few pre-booked classes with others turned away at the door

SES officers are pictured searching for the murder weapon in a murder inquiry in Brisbane

Four police divers in wetsuits and wielding metal detectors waded though a creek next to where one of the alleged assassins was arrested hiding in a park.

Mr Johnson was an associate of a Comanchero bikie gang in Brisbane, though he is understood not to have been a patched member.

He was previously stabbed a year ago on the Gold Coast during a fight involving outlaw bikie gang associates.

It is not known whether the two incidents are connected.

Superintendent Massingham said Monday's attack was 'a disturbing act, it is a brazen act... it is cowardly'.

He added that the stabbing was over in 'less than five seconds'.

Flowers (pictured) have been left for stabbing victim Levi Johnson at the scene of his death

Superintendent Massingham told reporters that off duty medical personnel tried to help the victim at the scene but were unable to save him.

Though the motivation for the killing is unknown, police are reportedly investigating if the stabbing is connected to motorcycle gang activities.

A bystander said up to 50 people were at the scene and the gym was evacuated.

Another said they saw police chase a man up a hill away from the gym.

'Police were redirecting traffic,' they said.

Police divers in wetsuits (pictured) waded though a creek next to where a man was arrested hiding in a park

Police divers used metal detectors (pictured) while searching for the murder weapon in a stabbing

'Then across the road from the gym, paramedics were attending to someone on the ground who did not look like they were in a good condition.

'There was a huge crowd of people there and everyone had their phones out filming.

'Lots of police and paramedics on scene and a chopper flying too.'

Officers on scene closed the intersection of Pine Mountain and Creek roads in Carindale.

SES volunteers (pictured) have been taking part in the hunt for clues after a stabbing murder

SES volunteers are pictured joining the hunt for clues after a 'horrific' stabbing murder in Queensland

Superintendent Massingham said a post-mortem examination would be carried out on the victim on Tuesday.

He said significant resources have been allocated to the case and he is hopeful of a 'swift resolution'.

Police have appealed for witnesses to come forward and for people to share any dashcam footage they may have with the police.
NSW health authorities have responded to the state's first case of measles since February 2020 by issuing a list of 'exposure sites' in a move that brings back horrible memories of the measures used to stop the spread of Covid in Australia.

The health department has traced the movement of the measles patient, who is now isolated in hospital, to a church, a university and shopping centre over the space of four days.

The patient is a 50-year-old who contracted the virus while travelling in Asia.

Measles is a highly infectious, vaccine-preventable disease that is spread through the air when someone who is infectious coughs or sneezes.

NSW health authorities issued an alert about the first measles case detected in the state since early 2020

The health warning said that while infectious the victim had attended a Catholic church in the south-eastern suburb of Malabar on Sunday morning.

On Tuesday the person spent the entire day at Tyree Energy Building on the University of NSW campus while having lunch at the Lounge Restaurant.

They also made a visit to Pacific Square shopping mall, in the south-east Sydney suburb of Maroubra, from 9am to 11am.

NSW Health Executive Director Dr Jeremy McAnulty urged people who were at those locations to monitor themselves for measles symptoms up until September 24.

The NSW health department sent out a list of 'exposure sites' and the times the measles sufferer visited them

A Catholic mass held in the south-eastern Sydney suburb of Malabar is one of the exposure sites visited by the measles patient

The alert applies to people who have not had two lifetime dose of measles vaccine, a confirmed history of measles infection, or who have a weakened immune system.

Unvaccinated people who attended these locations on the same times should contact their local public health unit on 1300 066 055 for advice.

Symptoms of measles include fever, sore eyes and a cough followed three or four days later by a red, blotchy rash spreading from the head and neck to the rest of the body.

Anyone who display these symptoms is urged to call ahead to their GP to make sure they do not sit in a waiting room while infectious with other patients.

The large Pacific Square shopping centre in the south-eastern Sydney suburb of Maroubra was one of the exposure sites

Dr McAnulty said the incident shows the importance of getting the measles vaccine, particularly for those travelling overseas in areas of transmission.

'Maintaining high rates of measles immunisation within the community reduces the risk of measles being imported into Australia by returned travellers,' Dr McAnulty said.

Building herd immunity reduces the spread of the virus locally if it is introduced and protect infants and people with weakened immune systems.

The measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is safe and effective protection against measles,' Dr McAnulty said.

The tell-tale sign of measles is a red blotchy rash that can break out over the whole body

'Its free for anyone born during or after 1966 who hasnt already had two doses. If youre unsure whether youve had two doses, its safe to have another,' Dr McAnulty said.

In June NSW Health reported a case of measles in a Victorian resident who visited the border region but stayed in Albury while unknowingly infectious.
Rapper PnB Rock posted a video to his Instagram showing off diamond chains just before being shot and killed in a robbery at a chicken eatery in Los Angeles after his girlfriend gave away their location by tagging it in a post.

The rapper, 30, was shot to death around 1 p.m. on Monday at a Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles in south Los Angeles, police said, days after revealing he'd been the target of several recent failed robbery attempts.

In the video posted to his Stories on his since-deleted Instagram, Rock is seen wearing a Louis Vuitton sweatshirt with massive diamond chains around his neck as he raps into the camera while driving around with his influencer girlfriend Stephanie Sibounheuang just before the fatal shooting.

Rock was then geo-tagged in a since-deleted Instagram story by her as she shared a photo of her food and the location of the restaurant where they were eating - and where the rapper was gunned down a short time later. Her account has since been deleted.

LAPD Captain Kelly Muniz said a suspect approached a couple inside Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles and demanded they hand over personal items - which led to 'some sort of verbal exchange' before the rapper was shot several times. No arrests have been made.

Following news of PnB Rock death, fellow rapper Kodak Black posted to his reaction on Instagram and is receiving backlash after he appeared to blame Rock's girlfriend, writing: 'That h*e might as well kill herself.'

PnB Rock was geo-tagged in a social media post by his girlfriend Stephanie Sibounheuang, who posted a photo to her personal Instagram tagging the location of the restaurant

Rock's girlfriend posted this photo to Instagram and tagged their location, which some say led the suspect to them and resulted in the shooting

In the photo that Kodak posted to his Instagram stories, was his view from a plane and wrote over it, saying, 'Big jets. Only jets anyways. Mannn I been low all day due to a headache I had earlier so I'm just getting to the news RF.'

He continued, 'Ion usually speak on deaths! Go to funerals or nun kuz life goes on, but, SMH. PnB was my boy, I was jus OTP wit em last night! We be talkin bout him comin back out & poppin his shit again in this rap shit.'

'That hoe might as well kill herself,' he concluded.

Nicki Minaj and Cardi B also reacted to the rapper's death and the social media tagging debate - each taking different stances.

'After Pop Smoke there's no way we as rappers or our loved ones are still posting locations to our whereabouts,' Minaj wrote in a tweet. She was referencing how Pop's address had been posted on social media before his death.

'To show waffles & some fried chicken????! He was such a pleasure to work with. Condolences to his mom & family. This makes me feel so sick. Jesus.'

However, Cardi B discouraged people from blaming the girlfriend for the rapper's death.

'I highly doubt n****s was looking at PMB's babymom IG. He was in a bad location and people stay outside plotting. It's very irresponsible and inconsiderate to blame her for something so tragic. We should be sending nothing but love to her and his family at this time.'

Doomed rapper PnB Rock posted a video to Instagram showing off diamond chains just before being shot and killed in a robbery at a chicken eatery in Los Angeles

Following news of PnB Rock death, fellow rapper Kodak Black posted to his reaction on Instagram and is receiving backlash after he appeared to blame Rock's girlfriend, writing: 'That h*e might as well kill herself'

PnB Rock posted a video to his Instagram showing off his diamond chains - and his girlfriend

In an interview with DJ Akademiks on September 2, PnB Rock spoke to the brazen nature of criminals in LA compared to his hometown in Philadelphia.

'Where I'm from we like sneaky criminals like LA is like they bold,' he said.

'They want you to know, they want to spark a conversation with you first before they get into sh*t.'

'Some of them some of them might just go crazy.'

The 30-year-old said he was surprised to see this criminal activity in broad daylight and in the company of his family members.

'The majority of times that I got into some sh*t they drop up too fast you feel me,' he said.

'So the second time I got into some sh*t they wanted me to hear their conversation.'

'And I'm like, I'm with my peoples, I'm with my daughter, I'm with my girl, and I'm thinking, why you talking 'bout this gangser sh*t with this around.'

Rapper PnB Rock was shot dead on Monday at a Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles in South Los Angeles just days after revealing that he'd been the target of several failed robbery attempts

In an interview with DJ Akademiks on September 2, PnB Rock, born Rakim Hasheem Allen, spoke to the brazen nature of criminals in LA compared to his hometown of Philadelphia

The latest: PnB Rock, 30, was shot to death Monday during a robbery at a Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles in South Los Angeles, police said

Los Angles police Capt. Kelly Muniz told the Los Angeles Times that there was a shooting at the eatery - which is located at Main Street and Manchester Avenue - at around 1 p.m. Monday.

A video circulating on social media appeared to show the rapper lying face down in a pool of blood as he was tended to by people inside the restaurant.

A suspect in the incident pulled out a firearm and ordered PnB Rock to hand over items, Muniz said, adding, the suspect 'shot the victim and ran out the side door to a getaway car and then fled the parking lot.'

Insiders told the paper that the musical artist was specifically targeted because he was wearing jewelry at the time.

The shooting victim was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead at 1:59 p.m., Muniz told the outlet.

Police sources with the LAPD said investigators were probing security footage from the establishment in addition to nearby businesses in an effort to identify the suspect in the fatal shooting, and if they departed the crime scene on foot or in a vehicle.

The musical artist was seen onstage in Anaheim, California in August of 2019

The performer was seen in November of 2019 in LA

Rock first burst on the scene with the 2015 song Fleek, and went on to work with performers including Ed Sheeran, Meek Mill, YFN Lucci and Chance the Rapper.

He had commercial success with the single Selfish, which hit the 51st spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in November of 2016.

He had released his most recent single Luv Me Again this past September 2.

A number of notable names took to Twitter to mourn the tragic death Monday, including Drake, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj and Offset.

Offset wrote, 'Pray for pnb rock.the man got family and kids smh God be with the man,' while Juice Wayne said, 'PnB Rock really died because of the greed of bummy a** n*****. Disgusting. Rest In Peace to the fallen.

Another user wrote, 'PNB Rock life is worth a lot more then sum money & ice. we will never learn.'

Drake posted an image of himself alongside the late rapper

Cardi B gave her theory after fans speculated that the rapper was targeted after being seen in a geo-tagged social media post

Nicki Minaj said that the incident should spread awareness to celebs not to keep people in the loop on their whereabouts

Offset was among those to pay tribute to the late rapper on Monday
Indigenous politician lost her brother, Leonard, to leukaemia when she was 3

Jacinta Price has opened up about the heartbreak of losing her older brother to leukaemia when she was just three years old.

The Indigenous Senator shared a post to her social media on Monday to raise awareness about cancer affecting young kids as part of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

She revealed how the disease has personally impacted her life with her older brother, Leonard, tragically dying from cancer at the age of 10 while her nephew, Pipantji, is now in remission.

Indigenous Senator Jacinta Price (right with her nephew Pipantji) shared a post to social media on Monday to raise awareness about Childhood Cancer month and revealed how the disease has personally affected her life

'September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month,' Senator Price wrote.

'The Kids' Cancer Project supports groundbreaking medical research projects to develop better treatments and to find a cure for childhood cancer.'

The Country Liberal politician said that creating awareness about childhood cancer was important to her as it had 'touched my life as well as those in my family'.

'As a 3 year old I lost my brother when he was just 10 to childhood cancer.'

'I've supported my nephew Pipantji (pictured with me) and his family as he has battled cancer from his newborn years up until more recently,' she continued.

Senator Price revealed her nephew had been in remission for the past two-and-a-half years.

'We are so grateful that he is living a healthier and more rewarding life as a lively 4 year old.'

As his mother always says, 'He is our T21Warrior!'

Senator Price lost her brother Leonard to leukaemia when he was 10 years old and she was three (pictured L-R, Jacinta Price, brother Leonard Price, father David Price and mother Bess Price)

The Country Liberal politician raised money for her nephew's family after Pipantji was born with medical complications

Pipantji, who is now four-years-old, battled leukaemia before he turned two.

He was born with down syndrome and medical complications back in December 2017.

Senator Price launched a GoFundMe at the time to raise money for her nephew's family that would go towards medical bills, travel expenses and other costs.

She has previously reflected on how the death of her brother from leukaemia personally affected her and her family in a piece she wrote for The West Australian back in 2016.

'My brother and I were very close, and even being so young, I felt a great loss,' she said.

'I dont remember my mothers sadness but more my fathers. I think being a Warlpiri woman she had learned to maintain a brave face through such heartache.

'After all, heartache was no stranger to my mother. Death was - as I learned from early on - a very significant part of life.'
The first police investigator to work on fraudster Melissa Caddick's disappearance has told an inquest her husband gave conflicting accounts of her final moments.

Detective Sergeant Michael Kyneur told the second day of the Caddick inquest that early on Anthony Koletti's behaviour and his reporting to police were 'unusual'.

Some 30 hours after Ms Caddick was heard leaving their house in Sydney's eastern suburbs early on November 12 her husband reported she was missing.

'I was also aware he attended the coastline at Raleigh Reserve (and) he had taken a photograph of a shoe print,' Det Sgt Kyneur said on Tuesday.

The first investigator to work on fraudster Melissa Caddick's disappearance has revealed details of Anthony Koletti's 'unusual' behaviour (pictured, Koletti and Caddick together)

Detective Sergeant Kyneur (pictured) gave details of Anthony Koletti's behaviour and how he gave conflicting account of his wife's disappearance on the second day of the inquest

'I thought that was extraordinary.

'That's a dog park. It's like saying I found a footprint on Bondi Beach.'

And he found Mr Koletti's demeanour strange.

'He didn't appear to be overly concerned,' he said.

'In my experience, if your spouse or loved one goes missing there is usually some genuine concern or some type of emotion.'

But he did not believe that Mr Koletti had murdered his wife.

'There was no evidence that Ms Caddick had suffered injury at the hands of Mr Koletti,' he said.

'I concluded that was not a viable proposition.'

The last known sighting of Ms Caddick was a day after ASIC raided her Dover Heights home on November 11, 2020.

Her Ponzi scheme victims, mostly family and friends, lost $20-$30 million she used to fund her lavish lifestyle.

Mr Koletti is seen outside the NSW Coroner's Court in Lidcombe on Tuesday morning - one day after the inquest heard police suspected him of playing a role in Melissa Caddick's disappearance during the early days of her disappearance. However, police later dismissed those suspicions and found she is strongly believed to have taken her own life

The disappearance of high-rolling conwoman Melissa Caddick after stealing $23.5million to fund a glamorous lifestyle has become one of Australia's greatest unsolved mysteries

In February 2021 her foot encased in a shoe washed ashore at Bournda Beach on the state's south coast.

Det Sgt Kyneur on Tuesday said he believed Ms Caddick had either taken her life due to the financial pressure she was under or 'gone to ground,' and was voluntarily missing.

Ms Caddick's risk assessment was deemed 'high' following Mr Koletti's report that she was missing on November 13, at 1pm.

That suggests Ms Caddick was injured or killed by another person resulting from her criminal activity, or that she possibly fled or committed self-harm in the face of her pending prosecution.

The detective read notes on the police system that Mr Koletti was sweating profusely, flustered and unsure of details regarding when he last saw his wife.

Louise Coleman, junior counsel assisting the coroner, asked if he pressed Mr Koletti on these details when he interviewed him on November 16.

'No,' he said.

'This was a statement.

'I didn't cross-examine what he was saying in fairness to him, I also realised his wife was missing and I took that into consideration.'

ASIC raided Caddick's Dover Heights home on November 11, 2020 acting on the suspicion that she had run a Ponzi scheme misappropriated $30 million from investors, including her friends and family

Koletti reported his wife missing to police 30 hours after he said she left the house to go for a walk or a run

Some of the discrepancies include that Mr Koletti said he first became concerned his wife was missing when he noticed her phone in their walk-in wardrobe, saying he left a post-it note and a gift beside it.

But on his first account to police, Ms Caddick's son alerted him to her phone in the common living area.

Barrister Lachlan Gyles SC, on behalf of the NSW police, said until the morning of a press conference and not including the ASIC search warrant that had precipitated it, it was not an unusual missing persons investigation.

'Ms Caddick at this point could well have walked into her residence or walked into Rose Bay Police Station, or a Gucci retail shop and the investigation would have completed largely without controversy,' he said.

The inquest continues.
Sony's gaming showcase event is returning soon, and it seems to promise to be chock full of content to excite gamers for what's to come.

The popular tech giant recently announced on its official Twitter account that its State of Play event would come back and be available for live streaming on Sept. 13.

Sony previously had a State of Play event in early March, with Square Enix games such as Valkyrie Elysium, Forspoken, and other games such as Jojo's Bizare Adventure: All-Star Battle R' being revealed during the event.

Sony State of Play Sept. 2022 Live Streaming Details

Sony mentioned in its announcements on the PlayStation Blog and its official Twitter account that its State of Play event would go live ahead of the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, which will be held on Sept. 15 through Sept. 18, per Gematsu.

Gamers who wish to watch the live stream of the event can do so at Sony PlayStation's Twitch and YouTube Channels on Sept. 13 at 3 PM PST / 6 PM ET / 11 PM BST.

It also stated that the event would feature around 20 minutes of reveals, new updates, and "fresh gameplay footage" for ten games coming to the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and the PlayStation VR 2.

Additionally, the event will contain updates from its Japanese partners, along with a handful of other "surprises" from developers worldwide.

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According to IGN, gamers can expect to see Sony Santa Monica Studio's God of War: Ragnarok and other PlayStation Studios games during the event, though it may be highly unlikely as the focus of the upcoming event will be on its Japanese partners than its first-party studios.

You may remember that Sony Santa Monica Studios previously announced that God of War Ragnarok is slated for release sometime in November.

However, as a result of Sony wishing to focus on its partners, it is highly possible for Sony to feature games like Final Fantasy 16, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Sonic Frontiers, Resident Evil 4 Remake, and more.

However, Destructoid mentioned in its article that the vent would come and go quickly due to its allotted time limit. According to the publication, the event only has two minutes to showcase their game, meaning that the upcoming State of Play event will probably be a "fast and to-the-point show."

Friendly Company Rivalry

Sony isn't the only one planning to host a big event on Sept. 13. Nintendo has also announced in its various official regional Twitter accounts that it would hold a Nintendo Direct live stream on Sept. 13 as well.

This event, which can be watched live on Nintendo's official YouTube channel, will feature approximately 40 minutes of information regarding various games for the Nintendo Switch launching later this year.

Sony has reacted to Nintendo's announcement with anticipation, with the company stating that tomorrow will be a "big day" for gamers worldwide.

Related Article: PS5 Update: 1440p Support, Party Features, and More Roll Out Globally  Is VRR Included?
Azerbaijan has been accused of trying to invade its arch enemy Armenia as fighting erupted across the border last night with missiles and drone strikes reported in the former Soviet republic.

Both sides have blamed each other for the flare up amid claims Azerbaijan is targeting civilian infrastructure, with at least 49 Armenian soldiers killed, although figures are expected to be higher.

Russia, Armenia's ally, previously brokered a ceasefire between the Caucasus neighbours in 2020 after six weeks of fighting saw 6,500 killed.

But with Putin distracted by his own savage war in Ukraine, Azerbaijan capitalised and struck while he is unable to offer any military aid or assistance to Armenia.

The Kremlin said in a statement today: 'We express our extreme concern over the sharp aggravation of the situation in areas of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

'We call on the sides to refrain from further escalation of the situation, exercise restrain and strictly observe the ceasefire.'

Footage circulating online appears to show a string of rockets being launched in the middle of the night into Armenia.

Azerbaijan said its forces were responding to Armenian provocation and denied claims that they were hitting civilian infrastructure.

The countries have been involved in a decades-long conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

The countries have been involved in a decades-long conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces

Azerbaijan has been accused of trying to invade its arch enemy Armenia as fighting erupted across the border last night

'Azerbaijani armed forces are undertaking limited and targeted steps, neutralising Armenian firing positions,' it said in a statement.

Armenia said that Azerbaijani forces 'launched intensive shelling, with artillery and large-calibre firearms, against Armenian military positions in the direction of the cities of Goris, Sotk, and Jermuk' shortly after midnight.

But Azerbaijan's defence ministry accused Armenia of 'large-scale subversive acts' near the districts of Dashkesan, Kelbajar and Lachin on the border, adding that its army positions 'came under fire, including from trench mortars'.

A ceasefire was agreed early this morning but it fell apart minutes later.

Today, Turkey sided with its ally and told Armenia to 'cease its provocations' and 'focus on peace negotiations and cooperation with Azerbaijan', Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted after a phone call with Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov.

But Armenia has appealed for help from world leaders, saying early this morning: 'Azerbaijani forces continue using artillery, trench mortars, and drones... striking military and civilian infrastructure. The enemy is trying to advance (into Armenian territory).'

Azerbaijan said its forces were responding to Armenian provocation and denied claims that they were hitting civilian infrastructure

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's office said he called Emmanuel Macron, Vladimir Putin and the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to demand 'an adequate reaction' to 'Azerbaijan's aggressive acts.'

Pashinyan also discussed the escalation in tensions with the European Union's Charles Michel.

Michel, president of the European Council, said the EU was 'ready to make efforts to prevent further escalation' and said there was 'no alternative to peace and stability in the region,' according to an Armenian readout of the call.

The United States called for an end to the conflict, with Blinken saying he is 'deeply concerned' over the situation, including 'reported strikes against settlements and civilian infrastructure' in Armenia.

'As we have long made clear, there can be no military solution to the conflict,' Blinken said in a statement. 'We urge an end to any military hostilities immediately.'

Last week, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of killing one of its soldiers in a border shootout.

In August, Azerbaijan said it had lost a soldier and the Karabakh army said two of its troops had been killed and more than a dozen injured.

The neighbours fought two wars - in the 1990s and in 2020 - over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated enclave.

Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

With Putin distracted by his own savage war in Ukraine, Azerbaijan capitalised and struck while he is unable to offer any military aid or assistance to Armenia

Under the 2020 ceasefire, Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades and Moscow deployed about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce.

During EU-mediated talks in Brussels in May and April, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to 'advance discussions' on a future peace treaty.

Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The ensuing conflict claimed around 30,000 lives.

Armenia's security council gathered to invoke a mutual assistance and cooperation treaty with Russia which guarantees joint defence and military assistance in instances of aggression towards its signatories.

A statement read: 'It was decided to officially appeal to the Russian Federation in order to use the provisions of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.'

It adds that Armenia will also turn to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, the Russian-led security bloc, and the UN Security Council.
Scott Honeycutt, 43, called 911 last month to tell emergency services that a juvenile was overdosing in his house after taking an unknown narcotic

A Florida man has been arrested for allegedly giving a child fentanyl to see if they would test positive during a drug test.

Scott Honeycutt, 43, called 911 last month to tell emergency services that a juvenile was overdosing in his house after taking an unknown narcotic.

Charlotte County Fire and EMS responded to Honeycutts home in the area of Ingraham Boulevard & Olsen Street in South Gulf Cove.

When officers arrived at the scene, Honeycutt told them the victim needed Narcan  medication used to reverse the effects of opioids  but said he didn't know what drug the child had taken.

He appeared pale and lethargic, according to reporting from Wink News.

Police found a cut straw and white powder in the victim's room when they arrived, which later tested positive for fentanyl.

When questioned, the child said he had taken the drug from Honeycutt's workbag  but detectives couldn't find the bag when they searched.

At first, the victim said Honeycutt had given them the drug, but later changed their story.

Police found a cut straw and white powder in the victim's room when they arrived, which later tested positive for fentanyl. The photo shows Honeycutts home area of Ingraham Boulevard & Olsen Street in South Gulf Cove

Bodycam footage later showed the bag on the table when officers entered, but it had been moved when they returned.

The Department of Children and families provided the sheriffs office with a report that said Honeycutt provided the victim with the drugs to see if he could pass a drug test.

After searching his car, police also found a bottle of fake urine, further supporting the DCF's report.

When officers took Honeycutt in for questioning, he denied knowing what drugs the victim took.

Honeycutt faces charges of aggravated child abuse and tampering with evidence. He has been released on a $12,500 bond.
China is willing to shape the international order together with Russia in a 'more just and rational direction', a senior Chinese diplomat said as the two countries' leaders prepare to meet this week.

Former Cold War allies with a tempestuous relationship, China and Russia have drawn closer in recent years as part of what they call a 'no limits' relationship acting as a counterweight to the global dominance of the United States.

'Under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President (Vladimir) Putin, the relationship between the two countries has always moved forward on the right track,' the Communist Party's foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi told Russia's ambassador to China Andrey Denisov on Monday, according to a foreign ministry readout.

Russia has sought to bolster ties with Asian countries, particularly China, since being hit with unprecedented Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine

Yang said China was 'willing to work with Russia to continuously implement the spirit of high-level strategic cooperation between the two countries, safeguard the common interests of both sides, and promote the development of the international order in a more just and rational direction', according to the ministry.

Denisov in response praised the 'fruitful results' of bilateral relations, the readout said.

Russia has sought to bolster ties with Asian countries, particularly China, since being hit with unprecedented Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.

Heightening tensions between China and the West, Beijing has not condemned Moscow's interventions in Ukraine, and provided diplomatic cover by blasting Western sanctions and arms sales to Kyiv.

The Russian military announced sweeping military drills in the country's east that will involve forces from China last week, another show of increasingly close ties between Moscow and Beijing amid tensions with the West over the military action in Ukraine.

Beijing has not condemned Moscow's interventions in Ukraine, and provided diplomatic cover by blasting Western sanctions and arms sales to Kyiv

Xi and Putin's idea of a 'just world order' has been crushing dissent and democracy in Taiwan and Hong Kong too.

At least 47 democracy activists, aged 23 to 64, were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law and detained last year over their involvement in an unofficial primary election in 2020 that authorities said was a plot to paralyze Hong Kong's government. The primary showed strong support for candidates willing to challenge the Beijing-backed local government.

Hong Kong was handed over from British to Chinese rule in 1997 with a pledge that it would retain its own legal, economic and social systems for 50 years.

China also claims Taiwan as its own territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Beijing has also boosted its relations with Russia and is seen as tacitly supporting Moscow's attack on Ukraine.

China says it plans to annex Taiwan under the 'one country, two systems' format applied in Hong Kong, which critics say has been undermined by a sweeping national security law that asserts Beijing's control over speech and political participation. The concept has been thoroughly rejected in Taiwanese public opinion polls in which respondents have overwhelmingly favored the status-quo of de-facto independence.

Putin and Xi are set to meet in Uzbekistan this week, on the sidelines of a summit of regional countries

A CM-11 tank fires cannons during the 2-day live-fire drill in Pingtung county, Taiwan, amid intensifying threats military from China

Along with staging the exercises, China cut off contacts with the United States on vital issues, including military matters and crucial climate cooperation, raising concerns over a more aggressive approach by Beijing. It also called in U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns to formally complain. He later said China was overreacting in order to manufacture a crisis.

Putin and Xi are set to meet in Uzbekistan this week, on the sidelines of a summit of regional countries.

The two leaders will meet at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, held in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on September 15-16.

Putin and Xi last met in Beijing in February, weeks before the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine. The two presidents oversaw the signing of an agreement pledging that relations between the sides would have 'no limits.' It remains unclear whether Xi knew at the time of Russia's plan to launch what Moscow is calling 'a special military operation' in Ukraine.

They are also expected to be at the G20 summit which is due in November in Bali. The US president, Joe Biden, is due to take part too. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he would participate remotely.

The summit will be an opportunity for critical discussions about the Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

While offering its tacit support for Russia's campaign in Ukraine, China has sought to appear neutral and avoid possible repercussions from supporting the Russian economy amid international sanctions.

Last week, Beijing's top legislator Li Zhanshu became the highest-ranking Communist Party politician to travel to Russia since the Ukraine invasion.

Li on his visit hailed an 'unprecedented level' of trust and cooperation between Moscow and Beijing.
The majority of Britain's biggest supermarkets will close to honour the Queen on the day of her funeral - as smaller stores and many pubs remain open.

Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose, Aldi, Morrisons, Iceland and Lidl are among the big chains which have announced they will close stores on September 19 as the country comes to a halt to commemorate Her Majesty.

Poundland, Argos, and John Lewis stores will also close their doors on the day of the service, which is being held at Westminster Abbey.

M&S has confirmed it will close stores in the UK for the entire day, with some limited exceptions in London and Windsor, which will close during the service.

Asda will close stores until 5pm and will not be doing online deliveries.

DIY giant B&Q also said it will close all of its stores and will suspend its click and collect and home delivery services on Monday September 19.

Clothing giant Primark confirmed that all of its 191 stores will close out of respect for the late monarch.

Many pubs are expected to stay open, including the Fullers Group which has 400 pubs across the country.

Sainsbury's supermarkets will close and its convenience stores and petrol stations will only be open from 5pm to 10pm on the evening of the Bank Holiday

Tesco has said its large stores will also be shut all day and it will not be fulfilling online orders, while Express stores will remain closed until 5pm

What are the 'Big Four' supermarkets doing on September 19? Tesco - The UK's largest supermarket chain is closing all of its large stores all day on September 19. It is also cancelling all home deliveries scheduled for Monday. Its Express stores will be open from 5pm, while a small number of stores in central London and Windsor will remain open all day for people attending the commemorations. Sainsbury's - Britain's second biggest chain has announced it will be closing all of its supermarkets and Argos stores on the day of the funeral. It added that convenience stores and petrol filling stations will only be open from 5pm to 10pm, while select stores in central London will be open for those attending the funeral in person. Asda - The third largest supermarket chain in the country will be closing stores until 5pm and will not be offering online deliveries. Morrisons - The retailer is another that plans to close its stores on September 19. Advertisement



The shutting of supermarkets and other retail across the country means people looking to do their shopping will have to plan around the Bank Holiday, with commuters and travellers also being impacted by some of the closures.

Sainsbury's has announced that its convenience stores and petrol stations will only be open from 5pm to 10pm on the evening of the Bank Holiday.

Argos stores will also be closed, Sainsbury's told MailOnline, and its convenience stores and petrol stations will only open in the evening on the Bank Holiday - from 5pm to 10pm.

Meanwhile Tesco has said its large stores will also be shut all day and it will not be fulfilling online orders, while Express stores will remain closed until 5pm.

Lidl told MailOnline they would be closing their stores across England, Scotland and Wales in honour of Her Majesty.

Aldi supermarkets confirmed they will close as a mark of respect to the Queen and to allow staff and customers to watch the service at Westminster Abbey on TV.

Meanwhile, John Lewis department stores and the majority of Waitrose shops are to shut all day.

John Lewis Partnership, which owns Waitrose, will keep just 'a handful' of food shops open along the funeral procession route.

Poundland has also said its 770-plus UK stores will close for the whole day, with staff who had been set to work still receiving their pay in full.

Most smaller convenience stores are expected to stay open as usual on Monday so people can still shop.

Meanwhile, Morrisons says it has 'turned down' the beeps on its self-checkouts and the music and tannoy announcements in its stores have been switched off in a mark of respect.

Tesco Express stores will remain closed until 5pm on the day of the funeral, as the nation mourns

Lidl said they would be closing their stores across England, Scotland and Wales in honour of Her Majesty

Aldi supermarkets confirmed they will close as a mark of respect to the Queen and to allow staff and customers to watch the service at Westminster Abbey on TV

'When full details of the funeral are confirmed, an exception may be a very limited number of Waitrose stores on the route of the funeral procession to serve members of the public who we know will be lining the route for many hours,' John Lewis said in a statement.

The few shops that could be left open in London, however, will close for the funeral itself, they added.

The company is also set to close the remaining 300-plus Waitrose stores for the day.

Waitrose holds a Royal Warrant and sells products from the Duchy of Cornwall - the estate formerly held by King Charles III before his accession to the throne and which now has passed to his son, Prince William, the new Prince of Wales.

The retailers' 34 John Lewis department stores across the country will all close on the day of the funeral.

Andrew Murphy, Chief Operating Officer, The John Lewis Partnership said: 'We are deeply saddened by the death of Her Majesty The Queen.

'We will be closing our stores on the day of her funeral as a mark of respect, and because we believe this is the right thing to do for our Partners and customers.'

A spokesperson for Sainsbury's said: 'We are deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

'In honour of Her Majesty and so our colleagues can pay their respects, all Sainsbury's supermarkets and Argos stores will be closed on Monday, 19 September.

John Lewis Partnership is set to keep 'a handful' of shops open and close the remaining 300-plus Waitrose stores for the day

John Lewis department stores across the country will all close on the day of the funeral

'This includes Groceries Online and Argos Fast Track delivery.

'Our convenience stores and petrol filling stations will be open from 5pm-10pm to allow our customers to pick up essential items, while select stores in central London will open to serve those attending the funeral in person.

'We thank our customers for their understanding.'

Jason Tarry, Tesco UK CEO said: 'We want to express our deepest condolences to the Royal Family, as well as our gratitude to Her Majesty The Queen for her unwavering service.

'On Monday 19th September, in order for our colleagues to pay their respects, our large stores will be closed all day and our Express stores will remain closed until 5pm.'

Announcing their closure on Monday, Lidl said: 'We can confirm that as a mark of respect and in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, we will be closing all of our stores across England, Scotland and Wales for the day of Her Majesty's funeral, Monday 19th September.

'We are grateful to all Lidl customers for their understanding and will be keeping all who mourn Her Royal Highness in our thoughts during this time.'

An Asda spokesperson: 'As a mark of respect for Her Majesty The Queen, all Asda stores will be closed on Monday 19th September until 5pm to allow our customers and colleagues to recognise the passing of our late Monarch and commemorate her steadfast service to our nation. We will not be offering online deliveries on Monday 19th September.

'All our stores will close by midnight on Sunday, 18th September and reopen at 5pm on Monday, 19th September. Those colleagues contracted to work while the stores are closed will receive their normal pay.

'Any colleagues who work when the stores reopen will be paid double time for the rest of the day.'

Aldi supermarkets have confirmed today they will close UK stores next Monday as a mark of respect to the Queen

A spokeswoman from Morrisons said: 'All our supermarkets will be closed on Monday 19 September as a mark of respect and so colleagues can pay tribute to Her Majesty. At 5pm our petrol filling stations will reopen.'

Stuart Machin, CEO of M&S said: 'All of us at M&S  and indeed across the country and beyond - feel a real and deep sense of loss and sadness at the passing of Her Majesty, as well as huge respect for the grace with which His Majesty King Charles III and the wider Royal Family have led the nation in our mourning.

'It is right that we make changes to our operational arrangements on the day of the funeral to ensure our colleagues across our stores and distribution network can participate, whilst supporting customers as they show their respects too.

'That's why on Monday 19th September we will cease customer delivery services and close M&S owned stores in the UK for the entire day, with some limited exceptions in London and Windsor, which will close for the duration of the service.'

Franchise stores at travel locations and in public service sites, such as hospitals, are expected to remain open on Monday.

Iceland was another who confirmed they would be closing on Monday - but said any colleagues scheduled to work that day would be paid in full.

'We are deeply saddened by the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and we extend our sincere condolences to the Royal Family.

'We have come to the decision to close all UK stores on Monday 19th September to allow our colleagues the opportunity to pay their respects and commemorate Her Majesty's years of service. Any colleagues that were schedule to work on this day will still be paid in full.'

Wilko also confirmed they would be closing all stores on Monday.

Jerome Saint-Marc, wilko CEO, said: 'The whole wilko family continues to mourn the loss of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

'As a mark of respect, we will be closing our stores all day on Monday 19th September so that team members can commemorate the life and service of Her Majesty with their families.'

DIY chain B&Q has also said today it will close its doors next Monday.

A spokesperson said: 'As a mark of respect for the State Funeral for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and to offer our colleagues the opportunity to pay their respects, we have taken the decision to close all our UK stores on Monday 19 September.

'Our click and collect and home delivery services will also be temporarily suspended on the day.'

DIY retailer Toolstation that has 556 branches across the UK will also close on Monday.

'As a mark of respect for the life of service and leadership of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Toolstation has decided that its stores in the United Kingdom will close all day on Monday 19 September to coincide with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's State Funeral and mark the last day of the period of national mourning. This includes all 556 of Toolstation's stores across the UK,' a spokesman said.

Stores will re-open for business on Tuesday 20 September.

High street clothing chain Primark will also close, with its spokeswoman saying: 'Our stores, depots and head office in the UK will be closed on Monday September 19 to give our colleagues the opportunity to pay their respects and watch the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Clothing giant Primark has confirmed that all of its 191 stores will close as a mark of respect

Many pubs around the country are expected to remain open, including Fullers pubs (stock image)

'We will reopen as normal on Tuesday September 20.'

Holland & Barrett is closing all UK stores to its customers on Monday.

Customer Managing Director, Harvey Bennett said: 'All of us at H&B join the country in mourning for HM Queen Elizabeth, and we offer our deepest condolences to her family. We are closing our stores to enable our customers and colleagues to join their families and local communities in memory of the Queen's incredible 70 years of service.'

A spokesperson for the Fuller Group told the Telegraph: 'We anticipate that Fullers pubs will be opening on the day of the funeral to provide a place for people to come together and pay their respects.'

The government has issued advice regarding the Bank Holiday to businesses.

'Some businesses may wish to consider closing or postponing events, especially on the day of the State Funeral, however, this is at the discretion of individual businesses,' it said.

A two minutes' silence will be held at midday next Monday for the Queen's state funeral and the London Stock Exchange will close.

Businesses and schools up and down the country are set to close their doors on September 19, which King Charles III declared a bank holiday, as the nation mourns Queen Elizabeth II.

Away from retail, schools across the country will close, giving children the chance to watch Her Majesty's funeral as it is shown on television.

The commemorations for the late monarch will also see museums across the capital close for the day, with the British Museum, Natural History Museum and National Gallery all shutting their doors.

Royal Mail has also announced it will not be making deliveries on the day of the service.

English Heritage, which cares for historic monuments and buildings including Stonehenge, Dover Castle, Eltham Palace and the Roman forts on Hadrian's Wall, said all of its sites would be closed on Monday for the Queen's funeral.

The organisation said coast and countryside car parks and pre-booked holiday cottages and campsites will still remain open for visitors.
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Bill Bee suffered three traumatic brain injuries during his 13 years as a Marine and is still waiting to be medically retired and receive full military benefits, even though he was declared fully disabled and unable to be deployed in combat.

In the months after an IED blast in Marjah, Helmand Province, in 2010, he was struggling to come to terms with the head injuries he sustained that induced memory loss, flashbacks and violent outbursts. He was also wracked with guilt and felt responsible for the death of two Marines he led into the compound rigged with explosives.

It was two years since the moment he was almost hit by a Taliban sniper was captured and shared around the world.

The Purple Heart winner was at the start of his recovery, and would soon have to deal with a Veterans Administration where he waited months for an appointment and was given a long list of powerful and potentially deadly prescription pills as he waited to see a specialist.

In his memoir The Shot, he details the the moment where he had enough and wrote a goodbye letter to his wife Bobbie after she left with their son during an argument. He is sharing his story because he believes it should be far easier for struggling veterans to get decency and the care they deserve after risking their lives thousands of miles from home.

Below is the account of how he took two bottles of Tequila and drank as fast as he could, hoping to end it all, and his continued fight to get full compensation.

Bill Bee suffered three traumatic brain injuries during his 13 years as a Marine and is still waiting to be medically retired and receive full military benefits, even though he was declared fully disabled and unable to be deployed in combat

It was September 2010, nine years since that day in New York that sparked the War on Terror, and accelerated my journey to Afghanistan to destroy the terrorists responsible.

My fight against the Taliban had fueled my desire to go into every gunfight without fear, and to make sure I wiped the insurgents out of Garmsir and Marjah.

Marines were still fighting and dying in Helmand Province, despite promises from the Pentagon brass it would soon be over, while I was at home battling a brain condition I still didn't understand.

I knew I had multiple traumatic brain injuries, but that was it.

I still hadn't gone through a full neuropsychological examination to find out the finer details of what was wrong with me, and my frustration grew every day. I still hadn't fully come to terms with the fact I wouldn't be able to serve overseas again, and the anger and dejection made me more alienated than ever.

My depression, and constant need to get drunk to try and escape my dark reality, weighed down on my marriage.

The Marines I hung out with were dealing with similar issues, and we found ourselves racking up enormous bar tabs during insane benders, and breaking down with each other to talk about what was going on.

It helped having people around me, but there were points where Bobbie ran out of patience and was sick of my behavior. She finally had me back after months away, and had endured multiple phone calls where she thought I wouldn't be coming home, but instead of having a happy father and husband, she had an absent Marine. I wish I could remember what we were arguing about when she one day gave me an ultimatum.

'If you want to be miserable all the time, then you can be miserable by yourself. I am taking Ethan out for a doctor's appointment, and when we come back we are going to leave and stay with my parents in Pennsylvania.'

She left, and I didn't think she would come back. The thoughts of the two Marines whose deaths I felt responsible for and that IED blast circled around my head again, and that's when I thought to myself: You know whatf*** it all.

I'd witnessed Marines die from alcohol poisoning on base, and figured it would be the best way to die. I raided our liquor cabinet and found two one-liter bottles of Milagro tequila.

I wrote her a letter saying sorry, sent text messages to my friends that my wife had left me, and just started drinking as fast as I could.

Within minutes of the first shot I was already throwing up, but I just kept going. It didn't matter by that point. My mind was made up and I was going to finish the job. I'd had enough. Between sips I thought about the two Marines whose deaths I felt responsible for, the IED blast in Marjah a few months earlier that ended my combat career and my decision to take my squad into a compound rigged with explosives.

This was the only option to stop the pain and the brain injuries making my life a living hell. Bobbie was an hour away with Ethan and had no idea why her phone kept ringing.

Bee's wife Bobbie came home to find him passed out on the bathroom floor after he drank two bottles of tequila as fast as he could because he couldn't take it anymore. She had walked out after an argument and Bee didn't think she was coming back

Like the day in 2008 with the sniper shot and the explosion just a few months before, I plunged into darkness. Was that it? Had I finished the job? Would I stop feeling pain? I suddenly woke up and realized I was sitting upright, and someone had strapped my head to the fridge with duct tape.

I was panicking. I had no idea what was happening and no clue who had tied me down. I tried to look around but couldn't move.

Bobbie had come home and found me passed out outside the bathroom floor and couldn't wake me, so she had called my best friend Dustin Bohde, next door.

He was a corpsman with the 2nd battalion, 10th Marines, so he always had medical equipment on him, knowing he could be called to deal with a situation at any time.

He somehow got me to vomit so he could get all of the tequila out of my system, and then stuck an IV line into each arm.

He saved my life. If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't be here. Dustin understood my actions, but it was his duty to save me.

The Veterans Administration has declared me 100 percent disabled, but I have still not been medically retired

I have still not been medically retired by the Marines. The VA declared me 100 percent disabled and gave me benefits, but in the eyes of the military, there wasn't enough evidence to prove I was too wounded to carry on being a Marine. I was put on limited duty, told I wasn't healthy enough to be deployed, and I knew I wasn't able to lead a platoon.

In his new memoir The Shot, Bee goes into detail about his journey from an Ohio trailer park to one of the first Americans in Afghanistan after 9/11

My PTSD and rage disorder made me a liability. Even though I was broken and knew my brain would never heal, I continued to give it my all. I didn't want my injuries to define me, so I kept performing well in my physical tests and made it clear I still wanted to fight.

I wanted to go back to the battlefield; there was just no way I could. If I had completely given up my dream of joining my friends to fight again, I may have been retired and given the full package of benefits that come with it. Now we have a team of lawyers taking the government to court to fight my case.

I am trying to help myself come to terms with my life, and increase the understanding of what thousands of Marines and ex-servicemen and women go through, not just in the United States but around the world. I want to be clear: some troops get good treatment, some don't even need it and don't seek it.

But far too often, those in trouble are left to fend for themselvesand that often means they are forced into homelessness, a life of crime, or suicide.

In June 2020a decade after leaving Marjahone of the Marines who fought alongside me on that fateful day and spent years grappling with the anguish, took his own life.

His scars had never healed. He was thirty-seven years old, with a wife and seven-year-old son. He wasn't the first who decided life was too much, and he won't be the last.

Those photos of me were shared as an example of the bravery and sacrifice by Marines in the battlefield. I sacrificed everything for my country, and can only say I am brave some of the time.

But even those images, and standing in the firing line of the world's most evil fighters, still didn't get me the help I needed.

Some have good experiences with the VA and others simply don't need their care. Others struggle like me when it should be far easier.

They should be able to get a doctor's appointment without waiting weeks, and should be given the decency of care after risking their lives thousands of miles away.

It took more than ten years for me to finally build up the courage to tell my story and now I know, more than ever, that it is an experience that needs to be shared and understood.

I'm not the only one. There are men and women who need help now, and there will be many more in the future. Every day is a battle, and it will be for generations.

The Shot: The Harrowing Journey of a Marine in the War on Terror goes on sale in most book stores on Tuesday. Order it here.

Bee's final tour and combat career ended in 2010 when IEDs hidden in the walls of a compound in Marjah exploded and left him with a third traumatic brain injury and neurological issues that still impact him to this day. He is pictured being taken away from the blast site on a stretcher
Commonwealth nations could 'rush for the door' of the bloc after the death of the Queen, an expect has warned.

In addition to the UK, Charles III now rules in 14 Commonwealth countries that were former dominions of the British Empire.

With republican movements gaining ground from Australia to the Bahamas, the new king also faces a challenge keeping the Commonwealth realms in the royal fold.

Several are already set to vote on becoming republics and replace him as head of state now that nostalgic ties to the late monarch are broken by her death.

Barbados became a republic last year and Jamaica has indicated its desire to follow suite. And yesterday Antigua and Barbuda's prime minister Gaston Browne said it would vote on whether to remove the royal family as head of state.

Professor Philip Murphy, the former director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, said that the movement had already started before the Queen died last week.

Barbados became a republic last year and Jamaica has indicated its desire to follow suite and replace the King as head of state

And yesterday Antigua and Barbuda's prime minister Gaston Browne said it would vote on whether to become a republic

Aussies to join PM Albanese at funeral Ten ordinary Australian citizens will attend the Queen's state funeral in London with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Governor-General David Hurley. The Australian PM recently announced that he will not be travelling alone. Writing on Twitter, Mr Albanese said that, on top of inviting Australia's heads of state, Buckingham Palace had extended the invitation to 10 Australians for their 'extraordinary contributions to their communities'. They include this year's Australian of the Year, Dylan Alcott, Senior Australians of the Year from this year and last, Valmai Dempsey and Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann, Local Heroes Shanna Whan, Saba Abraham and Kim Smith, Western Australian of the Year Helen Milroy, South Australian Young Australian of the Year Trudy Lin, i4give Day founder Danny Abdallah, and the Australian Racing Hall of Fame's Chris Waller. Mr Albanese's announcement of the exclusive invitations comes after he faced a backlash from the business and healthcare sectors for declaring a one-off bank holiday to mark a national day of mourning for the Queen. He announced on Sunday that Australia will observe a bank holiday on September 22 following the monarch's funeral on September 19. However, the news quickly drew criticism from healthcare professionals, retail and business groups who said the short-notice nature of the bank holiday will cause huge disruption for them. Advertisement

'A movement had already started before she died,' he told the Times. He said it was being driven by 'a combination of things like the Black Lives Matter movement, the Windrush scandal and the growing momentum behind the move for reparations for slavery and colonialism'.

'If you want to write a history of the world of international relations, certainly since the 1990s, you would be hard pressed to find a reason to mention the Commonwealth,' he added.

'The Commonwealth is so insubstantial it doesn't have any impact at all, and no one would notice if it disappeared tomorrow, in terms of its practical effects.'

As well as the UK, Charles is now head of state in Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.

Gaston Browne made the announcement minutes after signing a document that confirmed King Charles III as the new head of state but emphasised that the move was 'not an act of hostility'.

By contrast, Australia's Labour prime minister, Anthony Albanese, a republican, ruled out holding a referendum for at least four years. Mr Albanese instead announced Australians would be given a one-off public holiday next week as a day of national mourning in tribute to the Queen's reign.

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern said the country will not look to become a republic in the wake of the Queen's death.

It is understood that a trip the new King and Queen had been due to undertake in October to a Commonwealth country is now 'doubtful' with a coronation to plan and pressing affairs of state.

But the new Prince and Princess of Wales could tour Australia early next year  and may even take their children.

It is understood the Palace is looking at plans for Royal Family members to travel to as many realms  countries where King Charles III is also head of state  and leading Commonwealth nations as possible next year. They would formally accept condolences on the death of the Queen.

William and Kate toured Australia in 2014 with a baby Prince George.

They had been due to travel there in 2020 but the visit was cancelled due to Covid.

There is speculation that they could try to travel in the school holidays next Easter and take their young family with them.
Iranian state-run TV has called the Queen 'one of the greatest criminals in the history of mankind' and even compared her to Adolf Hitler in a series of shocking rants.

While the world is in mourning for one of the most beloved figures in modern history, the authoritarian regime claimed the passing of the monarch is 'good news for the world's oppressed people' and said her legacy is 'full of crime, abomination and filth.'

Leaders of similarly authoritarian regimes, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, extended their condolences towards the royal family last week.

But Iran's foreign ministry has not commented on her death or the ascension to the throne of King Charles III, and its government-linked TV channels have been spreading vile remarks about her legacy.

On Iran's Channel 1 network, scholar Foad Izadi of Tehran University said, in comments translated by the Middle East Research Institution: 'Perhaps, in light of her 70 years on the throne, she should be included in the same list with Hitler.

Iranian state-run TV has called the Queen 'one of the greatest criminals in the history of mankind' and even compared her to Adolf Hitler

The British royal who presided over Britain and the Commonwealth for 70 years was compared to the Nazi leader who oversaw the deaths of millions in the Holocaust

'From a certain perspective, we should be sad that this person died because she died without standing trial, without being punished, and without paying for her crimes.'

In an English-language broadcast on government network PressTV, he added: 'The queen is a famous imperialist, colonialist, war criminal, aggression of the British army throughout the world is done under her name.

'British armed forces are the queen's armed forces.

'So we have just a handful of people who have engaged in so many atrocities in the last century: Hitler, for example, some American presidents belong to that list, and Queen Elizabeth that oversaw the end of the British empire.

'The number of people that have been killed are in the millions and the queen is responsible for that. Justice was not delivered to one of the most vicious individuals of that last century.'

Foad Izadi of Tehran University said the passing of the monarch is 'good news for the world's oppressed people'

Iran's foreign ministry has not commented on her death or the ascension to the throne of King Charles III. PIctured: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

PressTV's website also posted a commentary online blasting the Queen for presiding over a 'colonial reign' which 'inflicted excruciating suffering on millions across the world'.

They blamed her for Iran not having sovereignty over Bahrain and the deadly crackdown on protesters against the Iranian regime in 2009.

The website claimed demonstrators had been indoctrinated by the Queen and the BBC to demand free and fair elections and call for the end of the theocratic regime.

While there has been some backlash to the monarchy, the vast majority of the outpouring of emotion for the Queen has been mournful and sombre, focussing on how she has steered Britain through the past seven decades of social upheaval.

Unlike many countries with wall-to-wall coverage, state television in the Islamic republic reported the bare minimum on the death Thursday of the world's longest reigning monarch, with just a brief announcement along with archive footage and photographs.

Haniyeh, a student, told AFP she had learned of the queen's death from social media.

The Queen and Prince Philip pose with Iran's Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his wife Farah Pahlavi during their state visit to Tehran in 1961

The then Prince Charles talks to an Iranian man who badly burnt his hands during an earthquake in 2004 in Bam

'I saw the news of her death on Instagram. I felt nothing, and frankly I couldn't care less,' she said.

Broadcasters around the world interrupted normal programming to announce her death, but young north Tehran market trader Faraz said he hadn't even heard of her.

'I don't have a television at home and I've no interest in politics. I didn't know her,' he said.

Many Iranians are interested in politics, both domestic and international. But most remain indifferent to the world's royal families ever since the Islamic revolution of 1979 toppled the country's own monarchy.

Faezeh, a 26-year-old nurse, told AFP: 'I knew nothing about her, and her death means nothing to me.'

Queen Elizabeth visited Iran in 1961, staying in the magnificent Golestan Palace in Tehran. She also visited Isfahan, Shiraz and Persepolis, accompanied by Farah Pahlavi, the then empress.

King Charles III visited Iran on a humanitarian mission following the devastating 2003 earthquake in Bam in the southeast that cost tens of thousands of lives.

British and Soviet forces invaded Iran in 1941 to secure British oilfields at Abadan.

Tehran has avoided official comment on the death of Queen Elizabeth II, but some Iranians expressed outright hostility

During the occupation, the pro-Axis Shah Reza Pahlavi was forced into exile and replaced by his young son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Britain also supported Pahlavi's army during the 1946 crushing of the Kurdish republic of Mahabad.

But what Iranians remember most is the overthrow in August 1953 by the British and American secret services of prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh who had nationalised the oil industry.

'Queen Elizabeth II was one of those who orchestrated the coup that overthrew Dr Mossadegh's government' to restore the shah, wrote Twitter user Helma.

Another Twitter user, Majid, was more forthright.

'Don't make a saint of the queen of England,' he wrote.

'Among her crimes were helping Iraq's Baathist regime against Iran (in the 1980-1988 war), the coup against Mossadegh, the killing of Princess Diana, helping the US attack Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003, and murdering the people of Northern Ireland.'

However, a passage in the recent book 'The Secret Royals' by Richard J. Aldrich and Rory Cormac gives a rather different view.

The authors write that the late queen 'considered the shah a crushing bore and hated his company as he only talked of administrative matters'.

But they also say that in 1979 after the Islamic revolution she was 'angry about letting the shah down' when the government in London baulked at suggestions that he be offered asylum in Britain.

However, Britain's royals were remembered by supporters of Mohammad Khatami, Iran's fifth president between 1997 and 2005.

The '@Khatamy' Instagram account, with nearly a million followers, shared photographs of the queen, as well as pictures of her son Charles with Khatami.

Khatami, considered a moderate in Iranian politics, had said the English should be appreciated for 'having established democracy'.
The Chinese military is developing a supersonic anti-ship missile that will be able to travel further and faster than any traditional torpedo.

The 16ft 5in missile will be able to go as fast as 2.5 times the speed of sound at about 32,800 feet for 124 miles before diving and skimming across the waves for up to 12.4 miles.

When it arrives within about 6.2 miles of its target, the missile will go into torpedo mode, travelling underwater at up to 100 metres per second using super-cavitation, which makes a giant air bubble around it, will significantly reduces drag.

DF-17 Dongfeng medium-range ballistic missiles equipped with a DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle, involved in a military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People's Republic

U.S. ally Japan, one of China's chief regional rivals, said it would boost its defenses against what it interpreted as a new offensive Chinese weapon

Lead scientist Li Pengfei and his team said no existing ship defence system was designed to handle such a fast 'cross-media' attack. 'This can greatly improve the missile's penetration capability,' they said.

Developers said one of the biggest challenges is the power system, because of the need to produce considerable thrust while breathing in either air or water. But they said the issue could be solved by using boron  a light element that reacts violently when exposed to both, releasing a huge amount of heat, according to South China Morning Post.

China's space program is run by its military and is closely tied to its agenda of building hypersonic missiles and other technologies that could alter the balance of power with the United States.

Alongside its space program, China's expansion into hypersonic missile technology and other advanced fields has raised concerns as Beijing becomes increasingly assertive over its claims to seas and islands in the South China and East China Seas and to large chunks of territory along its disputed high-mountain border with India.

Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound in the upper atmosphere, or about 6,200 km per hour (3,850 mph). This is slower than an intercontinental ballistic missile, but the shape of a hypersonic glide vehicle allows it to manoeuvre toward a target or away from defences.

Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound in the upper atmosphere

U.S. ally Japan, one of China's chief regional rivals, said it would boost its defenses against what it interpreted as a new offensive Chinese weapon.

The United States and Russia are also developing hypersonic missiles, and last month North Korea said it had test-fired a newly-developed hypersonic missile.

The Pentagon's 2023 budget request already includes $4.7 billion (4 billion) for research and development of hypersonic weapons. It includes planning that would have a hypersonic missile battery fielded by next year, a sea-based missile by 2025 and an air-based cruise missile by 2027.

Russia has used hypersonic missiles 'multiple' times in Ukraine, according to the top U.S. commander in Europe.

Last fall, as U.S. intelligence officials had become increasingly concerned about the massing of Russian forces on the Ukraine border, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the country's arms manufacturers to develop even more advanced hypersonic missiles to maintain the country's edge in military technologies.

The Russian military has said that its Avangard system is capable of flying 27 times faster than the speed of sound and making sharp maneuvers on its way to a target to dodge the enemy's missile shield.

It has been fitted to the existing Soviet-built intercontinental ballistic missiles instead of older type warheads, and the first unit armed with the Avangard entered duty in December 2019.
Students who 'pranked' a school administrator by pretending a gunman had entered Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida, are facing criminal charges.

Pupils ran for their lives after school girls approached a staff member and told them they had seen someone carrying again, sparking a mass panic that left dozens of children in hysterics.

'This entire incident appears to have been a cruel prank by several students that has now gotten out of control due to internet trolls, miss-informed people and in some cases, people that are not even in Florida, or have kids that go to school at Mainland,' said the Daytona Beach Police Department in a Facebook post.

The panic appears to have begun when graffiti appeared on a bathroom wall, threatening an attack.

Pupils ran for their lives after a group of students at Mainland High School in in Daytona Beach, Florida, decided to capitalize on a mass panic and pretend a gunman had entered the school

Two students interviewed after the graffiti was discovered denied any involvement.

The graffiti was a common occurrence in the school, police said, and determined that no actual threat existed.

But sensing an opportunity, some of the students appeared to have orchestrated the 'prank' on Friday after police began investigating the graffiti, prompting the scare.

The next day, two groups of students in the Mainland Cafeteria allegedly decided to take advantage of the threat from the graffiti and start a panic.

Video showed the two groups getting into specific positions and timing their actions, police said.

One male student waited near the exit while the female students approached the administrator to tell them about the gun.

The student then ran out of the building after the firearm is mentioned, panicking nearby students and causing the stampede.

The school administrator pushed the emergency button upon being told about the firearm.

But recordings of the scene showed that none of the students observed a gun, nor did they react to shots being fired, police said.

'At no time in the video, does anyone stand on a table and present a gun, or fire shots as some people have posted,' the police statement read.

The Daytona Beach Police Department released an image of their route when reports of gunshots were reported, quickly updating with the news that they had discovered no evidence of firearms or gun shots

** UPDATE **

All rooms and buildings have been cleared. Nothing located. At this point it appears to be a false alarm and no threat to the school or the students. The roadway will remain closed for a short time while we clear the scene.  Daytona Beach Police (@DaytonaBchPD) September 9, 2022

The police are increasing their security presence around the school to sooth panic about the event, even though they have determined there is no threat to the school.

Charges are pending for those who made a false report concerning the use of firearms in a violent manner, a 2nd degree felony in Florida.

Officers said they are recommending expulsion from the school for all those involved.

Parents who said they had children in the school took to the comments to say they agreed.

'My son was literally terrified when he heard what he thought was gunshots (lots of kids heard these pop pop sounds) and ran for his life,' said Trisha Faye in reply to the post. 'It was real for them while they were hiding and fearing for their lives.'

She added: 'No second chances, our kids deserve to feel safe.'
A funeral directors who sparked a social media storm after leaving a 'diabolical' advert on a hearse transporting the Queen's coffin to Edinburgh have today insisted the offending logo was scraped off at 'the earliest opportunity'.

The large sticker with the name of the undertaker William Purves was spotted as Her Majesty's transport left the Royal Scottish estate of Balmoral, Scotland, on Sunday.

By the time the cortege arrived in the Scottish capital, however, the branding had been mysteriously removed.

But millions of people had been watching the monarch's 175-mile journey through Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen, Angus and Tayside on Sky News, with eagle-eyed royalists quick to vent their fury online over the 'tasteless' advert.

Undertakers William Purves caused a social media storm after leaving an advert for its firm on the hearse transporting the Queen's coffin to Edinburgh

The offending logo was removed during a brief stop to refuel at Brechin before the hearse arrived in Edinburgh

'Shameful conduct by the undertaker,' one wrote, with another saying: 'How in earth was this allowed to happen? Diabolical.'

Now, the company behind the gaffe has broken its silence following the intense social media backlash.

A spokesperson for William Purves insisted the signage was removed 'at the earliest opportunity' during a brief stop to refuel in Brechin.

'When the procession left Balmoral, we became aware of the negative attention our company was receiving in relation to the branding and removed the logo at the earliest opportunity,' reported The Sun.

'We took action as soon as possible and pride ourselves on being discreet for all our clients.'

The undertaker's website crashed as hundreds of people visited it following the advert gaffe

Scores of people took to social media to vent their outrage at the 'tasteless' free advertising

A spokesperson for William Purves insisted the logo was removed at the earliest opportunity

The company added it had changed the colour of its hearse from silver to black to mark the occasion and that branding was a 'common feature' on its vehicles.

But despite 'meticulous' planning and rehearsals over the years, the company failed to remove the logo from its vehicle - which was directly in front of Her Majesty's casket.

'We noticed there was a deflection of attention during the procession which was playing out on social media,' a spokesperson added. 'We acted at the earliest opportunity.'

The foul-up led to hundreds of people flocking to William Purves' website, causing it to crash.

The site is now up and running for people to visit. Upon entering the website it reads: When you place your trust in William Purves you can expect the highest standards of professionalism, compassionate care and a truly distinct service.

Speaking to the MailOnline earlier this week, a spokesman for William Purves said: It was a heavily rehearsed and meticulously planned event with all parties including the hearse and funeral directors under lord chamberlains authority.

We received a high volume of attention as soon as the hearse left Balmoral and we took the first opportunity we could to redirect the attention to Her Majesty - its not about us, its about her Majesty.

Mourners queued throughout the night in Edinburgh to pay their respects to the Queen

Her Majesty's coffin is expected to arrive in London at about 7pm this evening, where it will spend the night at Buckingham Palace

Last night, thousands of tearful mourners queued through the night to pay their respects at her Majesty's coffin in Edinburgh.

Pensioners slept on benches, others caught up on rest in camping chairs or even sat on pavements or chose to go without sleep at all to be among those to enter St Giles' Cathedral before she is taken to Buckingham Palace later this evening.

One man in the Edinburgh queue said this morning: 'If she could do 70 years, I can do 12 hours'.

Her Majesty is lying in rest in the Scottish capital until the late monarch is flown to London from Edinburgh Airport by the RAF at 6pm.

Mourners described being 'overwhelmed with the power and emotion of the occasion' with many wiping away tears as they briefly stood in prayer looking at the coffin. Most bowed or curtseyed when they arrived.

King Charles III attends a Vigil at St Giles' Cathedral, in Edinburgh, with Prince Edward, Prince Andrew and Princess Anne

Dozens came to queue after travelling from England. Some came from London, believing that it would be easier to see the Queen in Scotland with 30-hour queues predicted in the English capital.

Dawn Legge, from Manchester said: 'I needed to come. We needed to pay our respects and mourn our Queen before we want to celebrate our King'.

Catherine Gray, from London, said with tears in her eyes that she had made the 800-mile round trip because she felt 'weird' without Her Majesty in her life. She said seeing the coffin was 'surreal' and 'one of the most emotional moments of my life'.

Hundreds filed past the casket last night when King Charles III and his three siblings stood in silent revery at the four corners of Her Majesty's oak coffin with their heads bowed in a ceremony known as the Vigil of the Princes.

Mitch Stevenson, who queued for just under five hours with his sister, made it into the cathedral at just after 1am. He said: 'It was a very important occasion for us - we lost our mum earlier this year and she would have loved to have been able to go, so we went for her memory also'.

The Queen's coffin is due to be transported later today by an RAF jet, accompanied by a royal guard of honour made of 96 gunners from the RAF regiment, the Queens Colour Squadron.

It is expected to arrive in London at 7pm and will be received by another guard of honour before being put into a hearse and taken to Buckingham Palace.
A camera specializing in dark energy reaches its 10th-year milestone and captures a fascinating image of the glowing red Lobster Nebula.

At the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Coquimbo, Chile, one charge-coupled device (CCD) device that's specially designed to capture dark energy has turned ten years old. The Dark Energy Camera (DECam) is a high-performance, wide-field CCD imager that is mounted on the Victor M. Blanco Telescope, a 13-foot or four-meter telescope at the Chilean observatory, where parts of the universe are being captured. Its latest image is that of NGC 6357, nicknamed Lobster Nebula, which glows red in the image.

How the Dark Energy Camera Works

The Dark Energy Camera or DECam is part of the Dark Energy Survey program, which uses the Victor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope built in the 1970s. It was upgraded with the installation of the DECam to capture dark energy.

The Dark Energy Camera is equipped with five optical lenses, a Hexapod positioning and alignment system, a shutter, several color filters, and a digital imager. One of the DECam's five lenses measures about 3.3 feet across and weighs up to 176 kilograms, and is the largest optical corrector component being used in astronomy today.

Another critical component of the Dark Energy Camera is its imager, which features 74 CCDs that are arranged in a hexagonal layout on the focal plane of the DECam, where the space images are recorded. The DECam has the speed and efficiency to read out in less than 30 seconds, which is faster than most CCD cameras in use in astronomy today.

The CCDs present in the DECam, which are ten times thicker than regular CCDs, were developed by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) specifically for the purpose of observing red light from distant galaxies, such as that which could be found in the Lobster Nebula.

Read Also: #SpaceSnap: The Hubble Telescope's Photo of the Prawn Nebula Looks Like Christmas Time in Space - Find Out How It Was Captured

What is the Lobster Nebula?

On Monday, in celebration of the Dark Energy Camera's 10th anniversary, the National Science Foundation's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory or NOIRLab shared an image of NGC 6357, or the Lobster Nebula, a star-forming region that sits about 8,000 light-years away from Earth, tucked into the Scorpius constellation. The image shows the NGC 6357 spanning 400 light years across, with bright young stars littering its massive clouds of dust and gas, Space.com reported.

Scientists have observed what they call an open star cluster at the heart of the Lobster Nebula, describing it as a "loose group of very young and massive stars." Meanwhile, the cluster is surrounded by bright little lights called protostars, which are nascent stars that are tightly wrapped with dust and gas. Scientists also noted that the nebula is characterized by interstellar winds, galactic radiation, and powerful magnetic fields that cause gas and dust within the nebula to be squeezed and twisted.

These stunning details are captured by the Dark Energy Camera, which has the capacity to take 400 to 500 images every night. The DECam recently reached a milestone of not just ten years but also a million individual exposures.

The newest image of the Lobster Nebula was unveiled during the 10 years: Looking Back, Looking Forward conference that took place in Tucson, Arizona, on Monday.

Related Article: #SpaceSnap The Alluring Crab Nebula Captured by the Hubble and Herschel Space Telescopes
A majority of Australians believe the country should remain a monarchy - with the number increasing from a decade ago, according to a new survey.

Social and market research firm Roy Morgan polled more than a thousand Aussies on Monday, asking them the question: 'In your opinion should Australia remain a monarchy or become a republic with an elected president?'

About 600 respondents or 60 per cent said they supported King Charles III and a monarchy while 40 per cent said the nation should cut ties and become a republic.

The poll was conducted after the passing of the Queen aged 96, and Charles taking the oath to be proclaimed King.

The number of people wanting to remain in the Commonwealth in the new survey was up 5 per cent from 2012, while the number of those favouring a republic was down 5 per cent.

King Charles III hears addresses from both British Houses of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster this week (pictured)

The majority of Australians want the country to remain a monarchy, according to a new poll

According to the research, all age groups favoured a monarchy but the margin was closer for those under 35 and widening among older groups.

Among reasons given for their answer, many people supporting the monarchy said 'why change something that works' with some pointing to the highly charged political system in the US.

Poll Who should be Australia's new head of state after the Queen's death? King Charles III - we should remain a monarchy A President - we should become a republic Who should be Australia's new head of state after the Queen's death? King Charles III - we should remain a monarchy 348 votes

A President - we should become a republic 46 votes Now share your opinion





While those for a republic said the monarchy was outdated and an Australian should be the head of state.

Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan pointed out there seemed to be a shift back towards the Royal Family in the mid-2000s.

'A look at previous results on this question shows that more Australians have been in favour of remaining as a monarchy than becoming a republic consistently since November 2010,' she said.

'Prior to that point there was a consistent majority in favour of becoming a Republic from 1994-2008.'

Me Levine added that even with King Charles III taking the throne: 'A clear majority of Australians are in favour of retaining the current system  and this has consistently been the case for over a dozen years now.'

As well as the UK, Charles is now head of state in Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a republican, has ruled out holding a referendum for at least four years.

Australians leave flowers outside Government House in Sydney to pay respects to the Queen

Australian PM Anthony Albanese (pictured) has said he will not hold a republic referendum during his first term of government

Mr Albanese instead announced Australians would be given a one-off public holiday next week as a day of national mourning in tribute to the Queen's reign.

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern also said her country will not look to become a republic.

Barbados became a republic last year and Jamaica has indicated its desire to follow suite. And yesterday Antigua and Barbuda's prime minister Gaston Browne said it would vote on whether to remove the royal family as head of state.
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Oprah Winfrey has been slammed for saying she hopes that 'burying the dead' will help Prince Harry and Meghan Markle finally make 'peace' with the royals - one year after the couple's explosive interview with the host appeared to contribute to the family's falling out.

The TV personality, 68, on Sunday spoke out about where Prince Harry and Prince William stand, and she said that she feels hopeful that the tragic loss of their grandmother could bring them back together.

'I think in all families - you know, my father passed recently, this summer - and when all families come together for a common ceremony, the ritual of, you know, burying your dead, there's an opportunity for peacemaking,' she told Extra. 'And hopefully, there will be that.'

The pair's relationship with the royal family - particularly Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton with whom Harry and Meghan were pictured on Saturday in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II's death - appeared to fracture after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced that they were stepping away from their royal duties and relocating to the US in early 2020.

But Harry, 37, and Meghan, 41, who are now raising their two kids in a $14 million mansion in Los Angeles, California, later spoke out about their decision on Oprah's show.

They made a series of bombshell accusations, including that an unnamed royal raised 'concerns and conversations' about how dark Archie's skin would be before he was born, and that Kate once made Meghan cry over a flower girl dress before her wedding to Harry.

Now commentators are questioning why Oprah has re-inserted herself into the ongoing Royal Family saga given her perceived role in widening the divide between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the rest of The Firm.

Her words drew staunch criticism on social media, with many users accusing her of exacerbating the existing tensions once the couple had pulled away from royal life.

Her statement comes more than a year after the couple's explosive interview with the host (pictured) appeared to contribute to the family's falling out

Prince Harry, 37, and Meghan, 41, have reunited with Prince William, 40, and his wife, Kate Middleton, 40, in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II's death. They are seen together on Saturday

Oprah Winfrey said she hopes that 'burying the dead' will help Prince Harry and Meghan Markle finally make 'peace' with the royals

'Oprah talks about ''burying the dead'' and says she hopes it will help Prince Harry and Meghan ''make peace'' with the royals. She's priceless isn't she,' one user said. 'Never scrutinised a word [Harry and Meghan] said... She calls herself a serious talk show host.'

'Oprah forgets she started this. Maybe an apology would help with the peacemaking,' another quipped.

One user commented: 'Oprah, you had plenty of opportunities to ask real questions and dispute some of the things said. But, you didn't. And trying to convince the public that this wasn't choreographed to the nth degree? Come on, Sis. You can't fool us anymore...'

Some were plainly outraged: 'Hey @Oprah if you cared for that family you wouldn't have given them a platform to badmouth the RF family. After your interview the anger between them widened. So stop the BS talk.'

'Oprah has a cheek, when she provided the platform for Meghan to trash our Queen and Royal Family - and encouraged her!' another comment read.

Others simply poked fun at Oprah's perceived hypocrisy, posting memes and gifs illustrating how the talk show host was now trying to 'U-turn out of the drama she soaked and bathed in last year.'

Twitter users piled in on Oprah, criticising her for manufacturing and exacerbating drama between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Royal Family

The Queen, who reigned more than 70 years on the British throne, passed away 'peacefully' in her sleep at age 96 last Thursday, and her entire family have put on a united front in the wake of her death.

The two brothers, along with their wives, visited the hoards of grieving fans lined up outside of Windsor Castle on Saturday, which marked the first time the foursome has been seen together side-by-side since March 2020.

During the Oprah interview, which aired in March 2021, Meghan addressed previous rumors that she had brought Kate to tears in the days before she married Prince Harry, explaining, 'No, the reverse happened.'

While she didn't share many details about the rift, she said the disagreement pertained to the flower girls' dresses.

'I don't say that to be disparaging to anyone, because it was a really hard week of the wedding, and she was upset about something,' she told Oprah, adding, 'It made me cry, and it really hurt my feelings.

'But she owned it, and she apologized, and she brought me flowers and a note apologizing.'

The couple later spoke out about their decision on Oprah's show - during which, they made a series of bombshell accusations about the royals

Now, Oprah, 68, has spoken out about where Prince Harry and Prince William stand, and she said she feels hopeful that the tragic loss of their grandmother could bring them back together

The two brothers, along with their wives, visited grieving fans outside of Windsor Castle on Saturday, which marked the first time the foursome has been seen together since March 2020

The Queen (seen on September 6) passed away 'peacefully' on September at age 96

The siblings' (seen on Saturday) relationship appeared to fracture after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced that they were stepping away from their royal duties and leaving the monarchy behind to relocate to the states in early 2020

During the interview, Meghan also said she felt like she was 'silenced' by the royals, and that she was 'given a very clear directive from the moment the world knew she and Harry were dating to always say, 'No comment.''

'I've always been outspoken, especially about women's rights, and that's the sad irony of the last four years - I've advocated for so long for women to use their voice,' she continued.

She also said it felt like she wasn't being 'protected' by them, while 'other members of the family' were.

'It was only once we were married and everything started to really worsen that I came to understand that not only was I not being protected, but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family,' she stated. 'They weren't willing to tell the truth to protect me and my husband.'

During the Oprah interview, which aired in March 2021, Meghan claimed the royals raised 'concerns and conversations' about how dark Archie's skin would be before he was born

She also said Kate once made Meghan cry over a flower girl dress before her wedding to Harry. The couple is seen during the interview

While she was pregnant with her first child, Meghan alleged that some of the royals voiced concerns about how dark Archie's skin might look, since she is half black.

'In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, we have in tandem the conversation of, he won't be given security, he's not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born,' she said.

The couple did not specify who raised the worries over Archie's skin color, but Prince Harry told Oprah privately that it was not the Queen or Prince Phillip.

Meghan also revealed that she had suicidal thoughts after joining the royal family, telling Oprah, 'I just didn't want to be alive anymore. That was a clear and real and frightening and constant thought.'

Earlier this year, a royal expert revealed to The Mirror that Kate found it 'mortifying' when Meghan spoke about her to Oprah, adding that she will 'not forget' how she was treated, but wanted to end their feud.

Last December, a source also told People magazine that Kate was 'really, really upset' about the estrangement between the family.
The President of the National Union of Students who is currently suspended over claims of antisemitism says she's received multiple death threats.

Dallali, is currently under investigation for anti-Semitism following a tweet that she wrote 10 years ago referencing the Battle of Khaybar - an ancient battle between Muslims and Jews.

But during this investigation, Dallali says she has been threatened with her life and subjected to a torrent of racist abuse..

One email, allegedly sent to Dallali, reads: 'I will kill you in the name of Israel and all Israelis you f***in terrorist.'

Another read: 'I hope you die a painful death you f***ing Arab sandbag. We will find you and kill you.'

Addressing the threats in a tweet, Dallali wrote: 'I always knew it would be difficult being a black, Muslim woman in the public eye but the racist and Islamophobic abuse I have been subjected to and death threats I have received since becoming NUS president are not ok.'

Shaima Dallali said that the attacks have taken a toll on her mental and physical health but that the thousands of students who elected her has kept her going

'I came into this role with so much hope and enthusiasm to build on the amazing work of the student movement and to serve students across the UK. Instead, I've been subjected to the most horrifying attacks on my character, my faith and my identity,' she told The Tab.

'No doubt, these attacks have taken a toll on my mental and physical health.. But what keeps me going is the thousands of incredible students who elected me with an overwhelming majority. I was elected by them with the promise of serving them and that I would never give up on them.

'There are those who are working tirelessly to make sure that women who look like me never feel welcomed or safe in public positions. I'm also working hard to make sure that no black, Muslim women who assume this role in the future has to ever experience what I've experienced.

Shaima Dallali is subject to an ongoing probe into her own conduct focusing on a tweet she sent ten years ago that referenced a massacre of Jewish people.

'I'm proud to be Muslim and I'm proud to be serving students across the country who are facing some of the most difficult challenges that students have ever had to face' she added.

Shaima Dallali is subject to an ongoing probe into her own conduct focusing on a tweet she sent ten years ago that referenced a massacre of Jewish people.

Dallali has been subject to claims of antisemitism largely focused on a tweet she wrote ten years ago that referenced a massacre of Jewish people.

In 2012, she sent out a Tweet which read: 'Khaybar Khaybar O Jews  Muhammad's army will return #Gaza.'

Last month, the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) accused Dallali of 'attacking the Jewish community,' while a group of former NUS presidents wrote a letter calling on the union to investigate the claims.

Battle of Khaybar: 7th century battle that still ignites controversy today The ancient battle was fought in the 7th century in 628 CE at Khaybar (present-day Saudia Arabia)

Islamic sources say that Muslim troop led by Muhammed marched on Khaybar against the Jews

According to the same sources, the Jews breached an agreement with the Muslims

According to sources, the Muslim army had 1400 to 1800 men, some Muslim women also joined

As part of the terms of surrender, the Jews were forced to evacuate the area and surrender their wealth A slaying at the Battle of Khaybar Advertisement

Dallali, who has also apologised for the historical tweet.

At the time, Dallali told The Tab: 'My hands are outstretched to all students that work in our movement, including Jewish students, and I have already expressed my willingness to arrange a meeting once I take office.'

Shaima Dallali was due to take up her post in July but has been suspended by the NUS, awaiting an outcome of the independent inquiry.

Palestinian societies at LSE, King's College London, Manchester Uni and Liverpool Uni are all coming out in support of Dallali.

Students at those unis, and others, are sharing an Instagram post that reads: 'Since her election, Dallali has been targeted for her advocacy of Palestinian rights; she has been abused online with death threats, anti-black and Islamophobic remarks.

'As students we reject this concerted attempt to remove and delegitimise a black, Muslim woman from a position of leadership within the student movement.'

The Campaign Against Antisemitism said: 'While the details of this unprecedented reported suspension of Shaima Dallali are not yet clear, it may be a very promising first step by NUS as the investigation by Rebecca Tuck QC, to which we have contributed, progresses.

'We hope that this suspension represents the first acknowledgement by NUS of how dreadful its relations with Jewish students have become, and augurs real change at the union, but it is too early to tell. We will continue to ensure that NUS is held to account for its record and is supported if it shows, for the first time, a real good faith effort to reform.'

The NUS said: 'We cannot comment at this time as we are in the middle of an independent QC-led investigation into allegations of antisemitism. But as we have said before, we are prepared to take any and all actions recommended by Rebecca Tuck QC's investigation.'
Police told royal superfans camping out on the Mall to pack away their tents for 'security reasons' as crowds descended on Buckingham Palace ahead of the Queen's funeral.

John Loughrey, 67, Maria Scott, 51, and Sky London, 62, earlier said they planned to stay the whole 10 days of mourning.

Mr Loughrey said they'd already been there since Thursday, camping out to pay their respects to the Monarch.

But video footage has emerged showing police telling Mr Loughrey and Ms Scott they would have to take their tents down with an officer explaining it was 'for security reasons'.

'I understand why you guys are here but obviously there's loads of stuff going on, we can't have tents here for security reasons and under regulations,' a policewoman said.

'So I'm going to ask you to pack everything up and take your tent down.

Police explained to people camping on the Mall that they would have to take down their tents

An officer explained to royal superfan John Loughrey why they couldn't camp in the area

Mr Loughrey, 67, had planned to camp out for 10 days of mourning the death of the Queen

He and Maria Scott from Newcastle have been camping on the Mall since the news came that Queen Elizabeth II had died, they have to take their tents down during the day due to crowds

'It's up to you where you go but if you do end up camping somewhere else you'll probably be asked the same thing again.'

She then says 'you can sit here, nobody's going to stop you from sitting here, but you just can't have a tent here'.

Ms Scott earlier told The Sun: 'We're here for the whole ten days - we just have to be.

'The three of us go to all these Royal events together and we're not afraid to sleep on the path to be in line to see The King.

'We're very comfortable - we have a blow up bed and food from nearby shops. It's a small price to pay to be here.

'The Queen has been such a constant presence in our lives. She's got the country through so much.'

Ms London had said they wanted to be there for the events that were happening every day.

Mr added that they would take turns to pay their respects to the Queen's coffin so that they could keep their spot on the Mall.

Officers said the tents would need to come down due to 'security reasons' as crowds flocked to the Palace to pay their respects

Mr Loughrey earlier said they'd been camping there since Thursday, to pay their respects to the Monarch

After news of the Queen's death spread on Thursday, thousands of shocked mourners descended on Buckingham Palace as the nation paid tribute to the Queen.

Crowds sang the National Anthem, applauded and cheered, while others quietly wept, lost in personal memories of the monarch.

Supporters scaled the wrought iron railings outside the palace to fix bouquets to the gates - the first of what has become a sea of floral tributes.

Within hours of the announcement the crowd swelled into the Mall, where jubilant scenes marked the Queen's Platinum Jubilee just three months ago.

Royal superfan John Loughrey wept as paid tribute to the 'inspirational' Queen, who he met on two occasions.

He said: 'She was inspirational. She served her duty. Her duty always came first, her family next... God save the Queen.'

Mr Loughrey said he would camp near the Palace for 10 days as a mark of respect before lighting a candle at Westminster Abbey.

Police told campers they could not set up tents on the Mall 'for security reasons' as fans flocked to Buckingham Palace

Royal fan Mary Johnson, 63, said on Thursday: 'At first no one knew what to do, how to react.

'Then one person started singing and everyone around them joined in. It was the perfect reaction - a dignified tribute sung with love and respect.'

Retired history teacher Annette German, 84, held back tears as she told how her grandmother had taken her to Buckingham Palace for the Queen's coronation.

She said: 'I was here with my grandmother for the coronation and when I heard the news I knew I should come here.

'I share a birthday with the Queen and I remember hearing her speech on her 21st birthday, when she dedicated her life to the country.

'She did just that and served us all her life.'

Today thousands of people are queuing through the Meadows in Edinburgh to get a chance to see the Queen's coffin before it leaves St Giles's Cathedral for Edinburgh Airport later on Tuesday afternoon.

Stewards are informing members of the public who wish to show their respects that they may not be guaranteed entry to the cathedral if they join now.

The line of mourners stretches back as far as Melville Drive at the southern edge of the Meadows.

Royal superfan John Loughrey pictured outside the Palace gates after the death of the Queen

Eight people are already queuing to see the Queen lying in state in Westminster Hall on Wednesday at 5pm.

Number four in line said he is visiting the coffin so future generations of his family can feel connected to this historic moment.

Delroy Morrisons, 61, who lives in Wembley and has 16 grandchildren, said he wants them to be able to look back and feel a connection to the monarch.

The dad-of-five first arrived last night at around 9pm but decided to return this morning with supplies.

He said he can feel a community building in the queue.

Delroy brought his 'royal gown' which he has worn to the last few jubilee celebrations - but insisted he would not wear it until tomorrow.

The grandfather also came with a fold up chair and camera, as well as biscuits, fruit and sweets for everyone.

He said: 'The Queen meant, comfort, safety, respect and guidance to everyone, she will always be in my heart.

'I loved my Queen, she was the one and only, it's going to be a great privilege to visit her.

'I'm also doing it for my family, so they have a connection to the event.

'I have 16 grandchildren and they will be able to look back and say I was there.'
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Protesters have held a 'free speech' demonstration outside the Edinburgh cathedral where the Queen is lying in state amid a furious backlash against Britain's 'overzealous' police forces after a former counter-terrorism chief and civil liberties groups blasted officers for their 'heavy-handed' clampdown on anti-royalists protesting the monarchy since Her Majesty's death.

The small group held up blank signs and banners as they gathered outside St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile ahead of a prayer service for the late monarch.

Police have come under fire for their 'excessive' shutdown of anti-monarchy protests - often by lone activists - in Scotland's capital as well as London and Oxford in the days since the Queen's death at the Balmoral estate on Thursday at the age of 96.

The backlash intensified today after a 22-year-old man was charged with breaching the peace after a spectator heckled the disgraced Duke of York as he solemnly marched with a sorrowful King Charles III and their siblings the Princess Royal and Earl of Wessex behind their mother's coffin during a procession in Edinburgh yesterday.

Nick Aldworth said the late monarch would not have wanted 'interference with legitimate protest' and branded the actions of some officers in the days since she passed away at Balmoral 'inappropriate overprotectiveness towards the dignity of the event'.

Video showed a man shouting at shamed Prince Andrew as his mother's hearse slowly made its way up the Royal Mile in Scotland's capital to St Giles' Cathedral, where the late monarch is lying in state until it is flown to London later this afternoon.

Footage then showed the heckler being shoved to the ground by angry mourners as others in the crowd continue to shout 'God Save the King'. The youngster was then helped up and pulled away by a police officers, as those grieving the late Queen continued to push him. He was then dragged away from the road he yelled 'disgusting' and 'I've done nothing wrong'.

In Edinburgh on Sunday, a woman, 22, who had been seen holding a sign that said 'F**k imperialism, abolish monarchy' during the accession proclamation for the King was charged in connection with a breach of the peace and will appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court at a later date.

Meanwhile in Oxford, a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of 'disorderly behaviour' after shouting 'Who elected him?' as Charles was proclaimed King. He was later de-arrested, Thames Valley Police said.

And in London, a woman holding a sign bearing the message 'Not my King' outside the Palace of Westminster on Monday appeared to be moved on by police before the arrival of King Charles III - while another man in the same location tweeted footage of police asking him for details after he held up a blank piece of paper. Neither was arrested.

Protesters hold a free speech demo opposite St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh

The protest comes ahead of a a prayer service for Queen Elizabeth II to be held at the cathedral

Video showed a man shouting at shamed Prince Andrew as his mother's hearse slowly made its way up the Royal Mile in Scotland's capital to St Giles' Cathedral. Footage then showed the heckler being shoved to the ground by angry mourners as others in the crowd continue to shout 'God Save the King'

Andrew wore a morning suit for yesterday's occasion. He is pictured alongside King Charles III, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex

The Duke of York was shouted at by a protester as the funeral procession passed by

Mr Aldworth, the former national co-ordinator for UK counter-terrorism policing, said: 'There was an inappropriate overprotectiveness towards the dignity of the event. And I think the Met has come out very strongly and said ''no, that's not right.'' The nature of cops and the military is we all swear an oath of allegiance and I think sometimes we forget that part of allegiance is upholding what the Crown would want.

'I met the Queen on countless occasions across my career and the one thing I'm pretty certain about was that she was an advocate of democracy and she would not want that level of disruption and interference with legitimate protest. They didn't act appropriately, it's overzealous.'

Nick Aldworth said the late monarch would not have wanted 'interference with legitimate protest'

Ruth Smeeth, chief executive of Index on Censorship, said the arrests were 'deeply concerning', adding: 'The fundamental right to freedom of expression, including the right to protest, is something to be protected regardless of circumstance.

'People across the country and beyond continue to mourn the loss of the Queen, a loss felt keenly by so many. However, we must guard against this event being used, by accident or design, to erode in any way the freedom of expression that citizens of this country enjoy.'

Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, said: 'If people are being arrested simply for holding protest placards then it is an affront to democracy and highly likely to be unlawful. Police officers have a duty to protect people's right to protest as much as they have a duty to facilitate people's right to express support, sorrow, or pay their respects.

'As millions come together to respect Britain's traditions and national identity, it is important to remember that the right to freedom of speech is the foundation of British democracy and to disrespect it at this moment, when our country is under an international lens, would be to flagrantly disrespect the values that define our country.'

Jodie Beck, policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, said: 'Protest is not a gift from the State, it is a fundamental right. Being able to choose what, how, and when we protest is a vital part of a healthy and functioning democracy.

'Whoever you are, whatever your cause, it is vital you are able to stand up for what you believe in without facing the risk of criminalisation. It is very worrying to see the police enforcing their broad powers in such a heavy-handed and punitive way to clamp down on free speech and expression.'

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said on Twitter: 'People are being arrested for expressing their opposition to unelected, hereditary power.

'If this was happening in Russia, the Government would be denouncing it on the international stage. Instead, they're pushing ahead with further legislation to curb our right to protest.'

Andrew (second from right) with King Charles, Princess Anne and the Earl of Wessex on the streets of Edinburgh yesterday

Led by a lone piper playing a lament, Her Majesty was carried from the Palace of Holyroodhouse where she was lying in rest since a six-hour journey from her Aberdeenshire castle yesterday. Andrew is seen towards the rear of the procession

What anti-protest arrests have police made in the days since the Queen's death? EDINBURGH Monday A 22-year-old man was arrested in connection with a breach of the peace after a spectator heckled Prince Andrew during a procession carrying the Queen's coffin to St Giles' Cathedral. He was later charged and will appear at court. Sunday Police Scotland said a 22-year-old woman was charged in connection with a breach of the peace after being arrested during the Accession Proclamation for the King outside St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh on Sunday. She was released from custody and is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court at a later date. LONDON Monday A protester bearing a hand-made sign saying 'not my king' was ushered away from the Palace of Westminster by police, as the King was due to arrive for his address to MPs and peers in Westminster Hall. The woman was spoken to by police before being escorted away from the entrance to the Palace by a group of officers. OXFORD Sunday Symon Hill, 45, was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence under Section 5 of the Public Order Act after shouting 'who elected him?' during a public formal reading of the proclamation of the accession of King Charles III. Thames Valley Police said he was later de-arrested and was helping officers 'voluntarily' as they investigate a public order offence. Advertisement

The Prime Minister's official spokesman would not comment on individual cases or operational matters for the police, but said: 'More broadly, obviously, this is a period of national mourning for the majority, the vast, vast majority of the country.

'But the fundamental right to protest remains as a keystone of our democracy.'

Under Scottish law, someone can be charged with a public order offence of breaching the peace if their behaviour is disorderly and could have a negative effect on those who witness it such as swearing or shouting.

In England and Wales, offences of disorderly behaviour - such as threatening or abusive language, behaviour, signs or writing - which is likely to cause others present harassment, alarm or distress fall under section 5 of the Public Order Act and could lead to a fine.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: 'A 22-year old man was arrested and charged in connection with a breach of the peace on the Royal Mile around 2.50pm on Monday, 12 September 2022.

'He was released on an undertaking to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court at a later date and a report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.'

Andrew, a Falklands War veteran who was exiled from public life amid the fallout from his role in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, was not allowed to wear military dress for the occasion and instead wore a morning suit.

The prince will have to appear in civilian clothes at all the other public events to mourn his mother, although an exception will reportedly be made as a special mark of respect for the Queen at the final vigil in Westminster Hall.

However, Meghan Markle's friend and preferred journalist Omid Scobie claimed that Prince Harry - who has also seen military action by serving two tours of Afghanistan - has been banned from wearing his uniform at all.

'I understand that, unlike Prince Andrew, Prince Harry will NOT be allowed to wear uniform at the final vigil in Westminster Hall. No doubt a huge blow for the Duke of Sussex, who served for 10 years and this morning spoke of the Queen being his ''commander-in-chief''', he tweeted yesterday.

'I understand that, unlike Prince Andrew, Prince Harry will NOT be allowed to wear uniform at the final vigil in Westminster Hall. No doubt a huge blow for the Duke of Sussex, who served for 10 years and this morning spoke of the Queen being his ''commander-in-chief''', he tweeted yesterday.

Andrew gave up his HRH status and was stripped of all his honorary military roles, including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, over his friendship with Epstein and allegations made by one of the paedophile's 'sex slaves' Virginia Roberts that the royal sexually abused her when she was a minor under American law - claims that culminated in a bombshell US lawsuit and a multimillion-pound out of court settlement with no admission of liability. The Duke of York has consistently denied the allegations.

Harry and Meghan were also stripped of their titles after they quit royal duties and left the UK for California.

The ensuing Megxit saga, which has seen the Duke and Duchess of Sussex make a series of astonishing allegations against The Firm including claims of racism against Meghan and her unborn son Archie by an unnamed senior royal, has sparked a civil war in the House of Windsor and plunged the monarchy into one of its most severe crises.

Yesterday, Andrew walked with his siblings as Her Majesty was carried from the Palace of Holyroodhouse where she was lying in rest since a six-hour journey from Balmoral Castle.

Prince Andrew walks behind the cortege. He wore medals but not military dress like his siblings. He was heckled by one man in the crowd

The Queen's children follow their mother along the 1,200-yard route to the church

Prince Andrew and King Charles follows the hearse carrying the coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth on the Royal Mile

The Queen's casket was draped with the Royal Standard in Scotland and dressed with a wreath of flowers consisting of white Spray Roses, white Freesias, white button chrysanthemums, dried white heather from Balmoral, spray eryngium, foliage, rosemary, hebe, and pittosporum.

As the national anthem played the coffin was gently lowered into the hearse. Bagpipes played the National Anthem from Holyrood Palace as the Queen's coffin cortege began the walk up the Royal Mile.

The hearse was flanked by a Bearer Party found by The Royal Regiment of Scotland and The King's Body Guard for Scotland. Mounted police in ceremonial dress rode ahead of the parade.

King Charles walked solemnly in step with his brothers and sister behind his beloved mother. The assembled well-wishers fell silent as the hearse appeared.

The crowd then broke out in spontaneous applause as the cortege approached and many shouted God Save the King and God Save the Queen.

Around 30 minutes later the Queen arrived at St Giles' Cathedral where the Crown of Scotland was placed upon the coffin. After the service, members of the public will be allowed to file past to pay their respects for 24 hours before Her Majesty is moved to London by plane.
A 50-year-old German man was jailed for life Tuesday for shooting dead a petrol station cashier because he was angry about being told to wear a mask while buying beer.

The man had a problem with Covid mandates as the restrictions had prevented him from visiting his mother in hospital.

His father shot himself and also tried to kill his wife after he was diagnosed with cancer in early 2020.

The man had a problem with Covid mandates as the restrictions had prevented him from visiting his mother in hospital

His mother was in the hospital for a long time, but she was not allowed to receive visitors because of Covid restrictions.

'I blame Covid restrictions for my father's suicide and my mother's death,' he said according to the Bild.

He was also not allowed to go to his father's funeral because of the pandemic.

The September 2021 murder in the western town of Idar-Oberstein shocked Germany, which saw a vocal anti-mask and anti-vaccine movement emerge in response to the government's coronavirus restrictions.

The suspect was also convicted of illegal weapons possession because he didn't have a license for the gun used in the killing

The row started when 20-year-old student worker Alex W. asked the man to put on a mask inside the shop, as required in all German stores at the time. After a brief argument, the man left.

The perpetrator - identified only as Mario N. - returned about an hour and a half later, this time wearing a mask. But as he bought his six-pack of beer to the till, he took off his mask and another argument ensued.

He then pulled out a revolver and shot the cashier in the head point-blank.

On Tuesday, the district court in Bad-Kreuznach convicted Mario N. of murder and unlawful possession of a firearm, and handed him a life sentence.

German has relaxed most of its coronavirus rules, although masks are still required in some settings, such as public transport

Authorities have said the man told officers he acted 'out of anger' after being refused service by the 20-year-old cashier for not wearing a mask while trying to buy beer at the gas station.

A requirement to wear masks in stores was among the measures in place in Germany at the time to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Under German law, people given a life sentence can usually seek parole after 15 years. His defence team had sought a sentence of manslaughter, rather than murder.

At the start of the trial, prosecutor Nicole Frohn told how Mario N. had felt increasingly angry about the measures imposed to curb the pandemic, seeing them as an infringement on his rights.

'Since he knew he couldn't reach the politicians responsible, he decided to kill him,' she said.

He initially fled the scene but turned himself in to police after a large-scale manhunt was launched.

The suspect was also convicted of illegal weapons possession because he didn't have a license for the gun used in the killing.

German has relaxed most of its coronavirus rules, although masks are still required in some settings, such as public transport.
A former Stone Roses manager has been ordered to pay his neighbours 400 in compensation after launching a bizarre campaign of harassment against them.

Gareth Evans, 76, would prove to be a general irritant after he 'constantly provoked' the married couple living next door in Trearddur Bay, North Wales, despite being ordered by a court to leave the husband and wife alone.

Evans, who managed the Manchester-based rock band Stone Roses in the 1980s, was accused of going through his neighbours' bin in the early hours of the morning as well as taking pictures of their boat, hot tub and picnic table.

The former music executive also used a hose to spray water on their door and bounced a ball which hit their car, a court had earlier heard.

Caernarfon Magistrates heard the victims, Bella and Joaquin Plana-Oliveira, also blamed Evans for provoking their dog into biting him - an act which led to their beloved pet having to be put down.

Evans was yesterday handed a restraining order banning him from contacting or approaching the married couple and ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work.

He must pay also 200 each to Mr and Mrs Plana-Oliveira in compensation 'for the distress caused', and 620 towards costs.

Fools Old: Gareth Evans, 76, would prove to be a general irritant after he 'constantly provoked' the married couple living next door in Trearddur Bay, North Wales, despite being ordered by a court to leave the husband and wife alone

Caernarfon Magistrates heard the victims, married couple Bella and Joaquin Plana-Oliveira (pictured above), blamed Evans for provoking their dog into biting him - an act which led to their beloved pet having to be put down

Evans was formerly the manager of Manchester-based rock band Stone Roses in the 1980s. The group shot to fame during the ensuing decade with hits including Love Spreads and Fools Gold

In a victim impact statement Mrs Plana-Oliveira said: 'We had to have our dog put down because of him. He constantly provokes us into a reaction which he never gets.'

She said they could not invite friends to their home in Trearddur Bay, Anglesey, because they are so 'shocked' at Evans' behaviour.

Mrs Plana-Oliveira said Evans had spread false rumours that she was a drug user and had been in prison.

She said: 'I want to be able to live our lives without having to worry about what he will do next.'

Evans denied breaching a community protection notice but was found guilty at Caernarfon Magistrates.

A probation report heard that despite his conviction Evans continues to make 'negative and disparaging' remarks about his victims and held an 'element of animosity' towards them.

Andrew Scot, mitigating, said Evans had led a 'generally law-abiding life'.

Iconic rock band Stone Roses split up in 1996, but reunited a decade ago for a legendary reunion tour across Europe. Pictured left to right: John Squire, Mani, Ian Brown and Reni

Magistrates chairman Elfed ap Gomer said: 'The cumulative effect of all these offences has had a detrimental effect on the lives of the complainants. We have heard from probation that Mr Evans still does not accept his guilt.'

Evans was ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work. He must pay 200 each to Mr and Mrs Plana-Oliveira in compensation 'for the distress caused', and 620 towards costs.

He was also handed a restraining order banning him from contacting or approaching Mr or Mrs Plana-Oliveira for two years.
A record number of migrants have already crossed the English Channel by small boat this year.

Monday saw another 601 people make the perilous journey in 19 boats, bringing the number of migrant arrivals so far in 2022 to a record 28,561 - exceeding the 28,526 making the crossings in the whole of 2021.

Around 30 to 40 people were brought into Dover, Kent on the 25-metre Border Force catamaran Hurricane around 8am.

Some clutched smartphones as they disembarked the boats with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

A group of people thought to be migrants, are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel

Following a small boat incident in the Channel migrants were brought into Dover, Kent

Following a small boat incident in the Channel migrants were brought into Dover, Kent

The new figures are hugely embarrassing for the Government after vowing to curb arrivals

The mostly male group were escorted into a new, secluded part of the dock - the former jetfoil terminal - behind a large fence and out of view of the public.

Migrants continued to make the crossing throughout the day, bringing the total number of small boat arrivals to 3,518 so far in September.

Channel crossings first started to become significant in 2018 when 539 refugees attempted to reach the UK.

The number of migrants who have crossed the English Channel on small boats currently stands at a record 28,561 - exceeding the 28,526 making the crossings in the whole of 2021

The enormous numbers come despite hard line taken by the Home Office, ignored by migrants

Economic migrants have been told them could be deported to Rwanda from the UK

2022's record migrants The number has increased steadily each year since 299 people were detected making the journey in 2018. There were 1,843 crossings detected in 2019, 8,466 in 2020 and 28,526 in 2021, according to the Home Office The current cumulative total for 2022, 28,561, is nearly double the number at this point last year (14,474). Of the 28,561 people who have been provisionally detected so far this year, 23,293 have crossed since the Government announced on April 14 that it had agreed a deal to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda. The first deportation flight - due to take off on June 14 - was grounded amid a series of legal challenges. In 2021 more than half of the people detected crossing the Channel were of Iranian or Iraqi nationality (30% and 22% of the total respectively). A further 10% were Eritrean, 9% were Syrian and 5% were from Afghanistan. Former home secretary Priti Patel said in the House of Commons on September 5 that Albanian nationals accounted for around 60% of the people arriving in the UK via small boats over the summer. The average has risen steadily since the start of 2021. In 2018 there were fewer than 10 people per boat, while in 2019 and 2020 the figure tended to fluctuate between single figures and the high teens. From 2021 the average started to increase, reaching 20 in March and 30 in August. Advertisement

Over the course of 2019 almost 1,900 people had made the treacherous journey and in 2020 a total of 8,410 asylum seekers had arrived on British soil by small boat.

Figures began to significantly increase by 2021 when 28,526 migrants crossed the Channel, according to data released by the Home Office.

But with over three months of the year left to go, the number of people to journey across the 21-mile Dover Straits in inflatable dinghies and other small craft has already surpassed last year's total figure by 35 - making 2022 a record year for migrant crossings.

August saw a record month with 8,644 people arriving on the Kent coast and the busiest day came on August 22 when 1,295 migrants crossed the Channel in 27 boats - an average of around 48 people per vessel.

Numbers are expected to continue rising today as dozens more migrants arrive in the UK.

An RNLI lifeboat brought a number of men and women into Dungeness, Kent in the early hours of this morning.

They could be seen carrying their belongings in black bin bags.

A second group of asylum seekers are thought to have landed on the beach at Ramsgate, Kent around the same time.

Shortly after 9am Border Force vessel Hurricane could be seen escorting dozens more migrants into the port at Dover.

They clutched blue blankets around their shoulders after battling cold and windy conditions at sea.

Natalie Elphicke MP for Dover has said: 'France have a moral and international obligation to protect vulnerable people, save lives, stop people smugglers and tackle organised crime.

'They should not need to be paid to do their duty.

'It is even more ridiculous that we pay them tens of millions of pounds and get so little in return.

'This is a shocking waste of taxpayers' hard-earned money.'
The husband of a teacher who died after being strangled just six months after she gave birth via IVF faces life behind bars after admitting to her murder.

Matthew Fisher, 29, pleaded guilty to murdering Abi Fisher, also 29, whose body was found in undergrowth 12 miles from her home following a major police hunt.

Abi had given birth to her daughter just six months before her death, after going through fertility treatment.

The primary school teacher died as a result of strangulation at the hands of her husband.

In January this year, the couple welcomed their daughter Sydney who was conceived through IVF.

Abi, a primary school teacher, was reported missing from her house in Castleford, West Yorkshire, on July 9.

Her family said her disappearance 'completely out of character' and a major police search was launched.

During the search for Abi, her husband posted on Facebook: 'Has anyone seen Abi if you have can you please let me know or get her to give me a ring.'

It is said Fisher murdered Abi between July 7 and July 10 this year, and she died as a result of strangulation.

Her body was found by police officers the next day in undergrowth next to a country lane in South Yorkshire - more than 12 miles from her home.

Fisher was arrested and charged with her murder just days later.

He will be sentenced on November 10, providing full medical reports have been received.

Judge Tom Bayliss KC warned him that murder comes with a life sentence, but the minimum term will have to be determined.

He said: 'The sentence will be life imprisonment, come what may.

'It's necessary for the judge to set a minimum term.

'There are certain matters that need to be considered before then.'

Wearing a grey T-shirt, Fisher confirmed his name, date of birth and plea during a brief appearance before Leeds Crown Court via video link this morning.

An inquest opening into her death heard the provisional cause of death was strangulation, though further investigations were underway.

At the time of her death, her family paid tribute to her, describing her as a 'beautiful angel' and said they were 'utterly devastated' about their loss.

A statement released after her death read: 'Our beautiful Abi. Words cannot describe how utterly devastated we are at the loss of you.

'We miss you dearly. We promise to make you proud every single day, and will continue to bring up your amazing little baby girl the way you would.

'Heaven may have gained an angel but we have lost you and that for us seems like the most unjust act to happen.

'We as a family would like to thank every single person who showed enough heart and love to look for our precious angel.

'Words will never describe how much this means. For now our beautiful angel.. We love you so much.'

Matthew Jones, head teacher at Featherstone All Saints CofE Academy, where Abi taught year three children, also paid tribute, saying: 'She will be remembered as an enthusiastic, kind and caring teacher and colleague, who gave her all each day.

'In particular, her passion for science inspired countless children over the years - she made a real difference to so many lives.

'We are all devastated by Abi's tragic death, and will continue to pray for her and her family.

'As a school we are supporting each other through this very difficult time.'

Abi was last seen leaving her home in Walton Park Street in Castleford on July 8 around midnight but did not tell anyone where she was going, her family told police.

West Yorkshire Police (WYP) launched a missing person investigation, and the community in Castleford conducted searches to try and find the mum-of-one.

On July 11, the force confirmed they had found Abi's body in undergrowth off Southmoor Road, near Brierley, South Yorkshire the day before. Fisher was arrested and charged.

In an emotional tribute released after her death, Abi's heartbroken family described her as a 'beautiful angel' and promised to bring up her baby girl 'the way she would.' In a statement, they said: 'Words cannot describe how utterly devastated we are at the loss of you.

'We miss you dearly. We promise to make you proud every single day, and will continue to bring up your amazing little baby girl the way you would.

'Heaven may have gained an angel but we have lost you and that for us seems like the most unjust act to happen. We as a family would like to thank every single person who showed enough heart and love to look for our precious angel. Words will never describe how much this means.

In an emotional tribute released after her death, Abi's heartbroken family described her as a 'beautiful angel' and promised to bring up her baby girl 'the way she would.'

The husband of Abi Fisher has pleaded guilty to murdering her just six months after she gave birth to their daughter.

School teacher Abi from Castleford, was last seen leaving her home in Walton Park Street on July 8 around midnight but did not tell anyone where she was going, her family told police.

'For now our beautiful angel. We love you so much.'

His honour Judge Tom Bayliss QC told Fisher he would be given a life sentence, but the case would need to be adjourned until November 10.

He said: 'You have pleaded guilty to the murder of Abi Fisher. The sentence for murder is fixed by law to be imprisonment for life and in due course I will pass a sentence of life imprisonment upon you.

'It is necessary for a judge sentencing to seta minimum term which cannot be reduced and the minimum period before which the Parole Board will be able to decide when you are fit to be released.

'Whenever that is, and it is to that end that I am adjourning. The sentence will be life imprisonment, come what may.

'You will be sentenced on the 10th November. There are certain matters that need to be considered before then but by then I will be in a position I hope to sentence you.'
The Queen's death is an opportunity to 'reset' relations between Britain and Ireland following bitter Brexit disputes, the Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin has said.

The Taoiseach claimed Her Majesty's passing should offer 'time for reflection' and 'remind us of the need to proactively nurture the relationship' between the two countries.

Mr Martin this afternoon attended a memorial service for the Queen at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast.

The service was held as part of King Charles's Operation Spring Tide tour of all UK nations, following his proclamation as monarch.

The King and Queen Consort, Camilla, were joined at the Belfast service by Irish President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina, as well as Mr Martin and Irish Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney.

Earlier today, Charles and Camilla met with new Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and the leaders of Northern Ireland's political parties at Stormont.

Their visit - and the Queen's death - have come at a time of heightened political tensions at Stormont and between the UK and Irish governments over post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland.

But Mr Martin, in an interview with the BBC prior to today's memorial service, suggested it could now be a moment to repair relations that have been damaged by the Northern Ireland Protocol row.

The Taoiseach described the Queen's historic visit to Ireland in 2011, the first by a British monarch in 100 years, as a 'watershed moment' for Anglo-Irish relations and said it had left his country with a 'fondness' for Her Majesty.

Micheal Martin speaks with Liz Truss at today's memorial service for the Queen at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast

Ireland's Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney also attended the service, which is part of King Charles' Operation Spring Tide tour of all UK nations

Ms Truss also spoke with Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill at the Belfast memorial service

Her Majesty's death has come at a time of heightened political tensions at Stormont and between the UK and Irish governments over post-Brexit arrangements

The Queen visited Dublin's Croke Park as part of her historic visit to Ireland in 2011, the first by a British monarch in 100 years

'I would like to think that the visit of Queen Elizabeth II first of all to Ireland, her passing would give us all time for reflection,' Mr Martin said.

'And will remind us of the need to proactively nurture the relationship between Britain and Ireland to enhance it in the time ahead.

'And that this moment gives us that opportunity for reflection and for resetting, in a good way, that relationship.'

Mr Coveney this morning suggested King Charles would see 'strengthening the relationship between Britain and Ireland' as part of his role as monarch.

'Don't forget, the Royal Family themselves have been deeply impacted by violence in Northern Ireland in terms of their own family and loss,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

'I expect that he will want to see his role being part of protecting and building and strengthening the relationship between Britain and Ireland given the complexity of our past and given the polarisation of political opinion, particularly in Northern Ireland.'

Lord Mountbatten, the King's great uncle to whom he was close, was murdered by the IRA in 1979.

The 'bureaucratic' implementation of the Protocol by the EU - including the imposition of physical customs checks - has been blamed by UK ministers for hampering trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The DUP have refused to re-enter a power-sharing administration in Northern Ireland until the Protocol, part of the UK's Brexit deal with the EU, is reformed.

New Prime Minister Liz Truss is also threatening to push ahead with legislation at Westminster to scrap key elements of the Protocol if negotiations with the EU on revamping trade rules continue to stall.

This has caused a furious response from both Dublin and Brussels, with the bloc launching fresh legal action against the UK.

Once the period of national mourning for the Queen ends in the UK, it is expected that a focus will return to the future of the Protocol.

New elections are due in Northern Ireland unless a new power-sharing administration can be formed before 28th October.

European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic, who leads the EU's negotiations over arrangements for Northern Ireland, this week claimed Brexit border checks could yet be reduced.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Sefcovic said the trade border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland would be 'invisible' under his proposals - if the UK handed over real-time data on trade.

'If the data are downloaded into the system, when the goods are put on the ferry from Britain... I believe that we can remotely process them while sailing to Northern Ireland,' he said.

Mr Sefcovic added that physical checks would only be conducted 'when there is reasonable suspicion of . . . illegal trade smuggling, illegal drugs or dangerous toys or poisoned food'.

He insisted this would typically be a 'couple of lorries a day'.

British ministers and Downign Street have not publicly responded to Mr Sefcovic's comments due to the national mourning period.

But Government officials have dismissed his proposals as 'nothing new' and suggested they did not address the 'key concerns' with the implementation of the Protocol.
The Emmy Awards for Best Actor of 2022 goes to Lee Jung-jae!

At the 2022 Emmys, Lee Jung-Jae made history when he won best actor in a drama series for his performance in Netflix's Squid Game.

Netflix went to Twitter to congratulate the actor. Lee Jung-jae did not just win as the best actor, but also made a significant contribution to the history of acting.

As captioned by Netflix, the Squid Game star is the first actor from a non-English show to ever win at the Emmy Awards.

Lee Jung-jae just made history!



The Squid Game star claimed Best Actor in a Drama and became the first actor from a non-English show to win ever at the #Emmys pic.twitter.com/TSkMKz1bFI  Netflix (@netflix) September 13, 2022

As he received his award, the actor expressed gratitude to Netflix, the staff of Squid Game, and Hwang Dong-Hyuk for directing and writing the drama series.

He thanked Director Hwang for making a drama series based on the realistic problems that are faced in everyday life and yet creating it so beautifully with a great script and amazing visuals.

During the awards show, actor Lee Jung-jae is not alone with his nomination. Director Hwang was also nominated and won an award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.

In addition, in his speech, he also thanked the people watching back home in South Korea.

Emmy Awards 2022: Best Lead Actor Lee Jung-jae

The Emmy Awards' Best Actor was brought to Lee due to the impressive portrayal of his character in the hit Netflix series Squid Game.

Netflix predicted that Squid Game would soon be its most renowned original series, and that has been proven right. The Squid Game has surpassed every other show on the charts of the streaming platform.

It took the world by storm with a dominating trend that spawned globally, making it the most watched series on Netflix. When the series was first released in 2021, Netflix stated that the series reached 111 million fans just 28 days after it was first released.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "This is Lee's first Emmy nomination and first win for his role in the groundbreaking Netflix drama series, which made history this year as the first non-English language series to be nominated at the Emmys."

In a pool of foreign and non-English speaking series, Lee was the first actor to win an award at the Emmy. This award also makes Lee the first actor to win an Emmy award in acting for a non-English performance.

Additionally, Lee was presented with the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Drama Series back in February of this year.

Read Also: Apple's October 2022 Event Leaks Point to a New iPad Pro, Mac Mini With M2 Chips

Emmy Awards 2022: Best Actor Nomination

The Emmy Awards 2022 today had a tough call for its most outstanding actor in drama.

According to Comicbook, other shows such as Succession, Severance, Better Call Saul, and Ozark also had actors who were strong candidates for the role of best lead actor.

One of the actors from those shows will definitely take home another Emmy award. Other nominees included Jeremy Strong, Bob Odenkirk, Brian Cox, Adam Scott, and Jason Bateman. However, at the end, the award-giving body chose Lee Jung-jae and he was awarded the Best Lead Actor.

Additionally, it has also been reported that Lee is also going to be a part of the cast in the upcoming Star Wars: Acolyte series on Disney+.

Of course, he is also expected to star in the second season of Squid Game, which Netflix has confirmed that they will be producing.

Related Article: 'Squid Game' Season 2: Possible Cast, Theories, Release Date, Storyline, and MORE
The head of the Royal Air Force (RAF) has today insisted there is 'no discrimination against any groups' in the service following claims 'woke' military leaders were favouring women and ethnic minorities in recruitment drives.

The RAF has come under fire after the reports emerged in August which claimed one of the force's senior officers refused to follow an order to prioritise females and ethnic minority candidates over white men because she believed it was 'unlawful'.

The group captain told her boss she was not willing to allocate slots on training courses based purely on a specific gender or ethnicity, according to a leaked message seen by Sky News.

The diversity drive was later scrapped amid a closed-door clash between military top brass, which sparked an inquiry into how such a controversial policy was devised and very nearly implemented.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston insisted there is 'no discrimination' within the RAF after an email revealed the air force was prioritising female and ethnic minority staff over males

The probe was launched by Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, head of the RAF, who today insisted there had been 'absolutely no drop in operational standards' amid the recruitment row.

'There was no discrimination against any group, no standards were dropped, there was no discrimination against any group,' the military boss told Sky News.

'Im here to talk about the Royal Air Forces phenomenal record of operational delivery from the north of Norway through to the Mediterranean and defending Nato airspace, defending our allies, were in the Middle East tackling threats to our security from the pernicious, violent extremists.

'And no approach to recruiting, or any measures that weve taken to recruit from the widest pool of talent in the UK workforce, has in any way detracted from our operational standards and our operational service.'

The diversity row sparked an inquiry into the RAF's recruitment campaign

Speaking to Sky News, Sir Mike said that there had been 'absolutely no drop in operational standards' amid the row, which led to the resignation of Group Captain Elizabeth Nicholl

The military chief's comments come following a bombshell email, leaked from within the RAF's ranks, which appeared to show the service's recruitment team actively discouraging white males from appearing in PR stunts.

The email, revealed by the Daily Mail, was appealing for base commanders to find the 'face' of the RAF to join the premier of Tom Cruise's new Top Gun movie.

It read: 'Gents, do any of you have a "pilot who is preferably not a white male" who would like to be the "RAF" face at a press event for the release of Top Gun 2? Shy guys get no cakes so shout quick as offer has also gone out to other units.'

The email offered a sobering insight into a culture that appears to have become normalised at the very highest echelons of the RAF.

Ultimately, it led to the resignation of Group Captain Elizabeth Nicholl, who clashed with her boss, former dentist Air Vice-Marshal Maria Byford, the RAF's head of recruitment - who is believed to have been behind the controversial campaign.

A bombshell email was seeking a 'pilot, who is preferably not' a white male to join Tom Cruise for a PR stunt during the actor's premier of his movie, Top Gun: Maverick

The email, pictured above, ignited a bitter row among top brass in the RAF

It believed that Air Vice-Marshal Maria Byford, pictured, was behind the controversial recruitment campaign.

Since then the air force has been under intense scrutiny - with fresh allegations of misogyny, bullying and sexual harassment being made against the Red Arrows - the RAF's elite display team - rocking the service to its core.

The Times reported in August that members of the Red Arrows were being investigated over the claims.

The newspaper later claimed the aerobatic display team received 'unacceptable behaviours and active bystander training' after more than 40 personnel, including young female recruits, gave evidence against the team to an inquiry.

Speaking to Sky News today, Sir Mike added: 'Weve been very clear where we stand. We will continue to examine our practices, we will do everything we can to recruit from the widest pool of talent.

'We will be very clear about how we approach any attempts to widen that pool of talent, widen our diversity, and we will continue to protect the nation, we will secure our skies and patrol our seas.'

Allegations have of misogyny, bullying and sexual harassment have been against the Red Arrows - the RAF's elite display team - rocking the service to its core

Last week, Sir Mike acknowledged for the first time the fall-out from the extraordinary row after a tense meeting with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, and revealed that Group Captain Nicholl, who walked out rather than put the plan into practice, had requested the investigation.

Before her resignation she emailed senior officers saying: This is unlawful. I am not prepared to delegate or abdicate the responsibility of auctioning that order to my staff.

Documents seen by the Daily Mail suggest she was asked to make offers of employment to additional women and EM [ethnic minority] candidates solely on the basis of their protected characteristics and in preference to non-EM men who had passed all selection criteria ahead of them.

After his meeting with Mr Wallace, Sir Mike said: Earlier this year we explored a recruiting practice to improve the diversity of our workforce. This policy was challenged and never implemented, but I regret that challenge led to our head of recruiting and selection stepping down from her role.'
As news of the Queen's death broke last Thursday evening, the UK entered an official mourning period which will last until after her state funeral on September 19.

This has caused much of the UK to close out of respect for Her Majesty - but some closures, cancellations and initiatives designed to show respect for the late monarch have raised a few eyebrows instead.

From bike rack closures, lowering the volume of the bleeps on supermarket checkouts to stopping clocks on the very minute the monarch died, here are some of the more 'obscure' ways businesses and organisations are honouring Queen Elizabeth II's death.

Responding to the various reported cancellations and closures, tweeters have been joking: 'It's what she would have wanted'.

Bike racks close in Norwich during period of national mourning

Norwich City Council put up a sign saying the cycle rack will be closed from September 9-21

Norwich City Council was forced to clarify the sign after backlash from social media users

A local council was forced to change signs banning people from using bike racks due to the period of official mourning caused derision online.

People complained after Norwich City Council's decision to close various bike racks throughout the city to mourn the late monarch, who died on Thursday.

The metal racks have been closed from September 9 until September 21.

The original sign gave no explanation other than the period of mourning and threatened to remove any bike found on the rack during this time.

It caused outrage with one person saying it was 'the stupidest thing I've ever seen'.

Another said 'locking up your bike is now disrespectful'.

Following the reaction, new signs have been put up to explain the bike racks have been temporarily closed to make room for mourners laying flowers and queuing up to sign a book of condolences.

Morrisons turns down its checkout bleeps

Pictured: A customer using the self-service checkout (stock image)

Supermarket chain Morrisons has turned its checkout bleeps down and music and tannoy announcements have been switched off in stores as a mark of respect to the Queen.

The change was noticed by one customer, who took to Reddit to explain he was struggling to pay for his shopping after not being able to hear the 'bleeps'.

He then said he was told by a member of staff that they had been adjusted due to the period of national mourning.

Morrisons confirmed the change to MailOnline.

Busking banned on TfL services

Busking on the London Underground has been suspended while the nation mourns.

Transport for London (TfL) said the busking suspension applies to underground and railway stations throughout the period of national mourning, which ends following the Queen's funeral on September 19.

A TfL spokesperson said: 'During the period of national mourning, we have taken the decision to pause the busking scheme across our network, and we will reopen the scheme following this'.

However, the move has caused outrage for some buskers who say that this will affect their monthly incomes.

One person said: 'Busking on the London Underground has been suspended until 'after the funeral'.

'I'm a busker on the London Underground with a daughter to support and rent and bills to pay. More than quarter of my monthly income gone, along with many others.

'Doubt her Maj would have approved'.

Royal Yacht Britannia cancels visits

Visits to the Royal Yacht Britannia has also been cancelled as the attraction in Edinburgh announced it was closing until the end of the official mourning period.

In a tweet they said: 'All at The Royal Yacht Britannia are deeply saddened by the death of Her Majesty The Queen and would like to pay tribute to the unfailing and outstanding dedication, and service that Her Majesty gave to our Nation.'

The Royal Yacht Britannia announced its closure until the end of the official mourning period

'Please note that Britannia will now be closed until the end of the period of official Royal Mourning.

'For those with pre-booked tickets, we will be contacting you in due course.'

Met Office mocked for announcing partial halt to social media posts

The Met Office was mocked last week after announcing a partial halt to social media posts out of respect for the Royal family following the Queen's death.

The weather forecaster told its followers it would 'only be posting daily forecasts and warnings' as 'a mark of respect.'

But users were quick to question why sharing more detailed weather forecasts could be seen as 'disrespectful' when it is a vital public service.

The forecaster tweeted: 'We are saddened by the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Our thoughts are with her family and all those affected by this news. As a mark of respect during this time of national mourning we will only be posting daily forecasts and warnings.'

Followers quickly branded the decision 'nonsense' and 'nuts', while others quipped that cancelling the weather would have been 'just what she wanted.'

Former BBC broadcaster Jon Sopel also waded in on the row, writing: 'I am totally bewildered. Why is it a mark of respect to give us the weather forecast for today, but not tomorrow?

'Or to put it another way, why is it disrespectful to give us tomorrow's weather?'

But the Met Office said people had misunderstood its intentions.

The Met Office later clarified its initial tweet: 'The use of the word 'daily' in our earlier Tweet may have given the false impression that we'll only be posting once a day.

'It was always our intention to continue to provide forecasts and warnings for the days ahead, through Twitter, multiple times a day.

'It is right at this sad time to pause other non-operational content that isn't a forecast or warning, to ensure the public can focus on any potential impactful weather during this period.'

Local councils halt bin collections to show 'respect'

Local councils have been ridiculed for halting bin collections on the day of the Queen's funeral.

A number of local authorities across England have announced the decision to delay bin collections on their social media pages as a 'mark of respect for Her Majesty'.

One person responded: 'nothing says respect more than stopping the bin collections'.

Clock stops in Brighton at time of Queen's death

Clocks have been stopped at the time of the Queen's death at the Regency Town House in Brighton

The Regency Town House in Brighton has stopped the clocks at the time of the Queen's death as a mark of respect to Her Majesty.

They said: 'The shutters are closed, the windows draped. Clocks are stopped at the time of death, volunteers will wear armbands & servants will put black bows in their mob caps.

'The front door has black ribbon & spruce

'The Regency Town House's Regency mourning for the Queen's funeral has begun.'

Center Parcs decides to shut its doors on September 19

Holiday company Center Parcs has announced it will close its UK sites on Monday due to the Queen's funeral.

It said in a statement: 'We have made the decision to close all our UK villages on Monday 19 September at 10am as a mark of respect and to allow as many of our colleagues as possible to be part of this historic moment.

'Guests who were due to arrive on Monday September 19 should not travel, we will reopen on Tuesday September 20 to welcome guests.

'All impacted guests will receive an email from us today.

'We hope our guests will understand our decision to support our Queen on her final journey.'

Wetherspoons dismisses 'fake' poster about condom machines

Wetherspoons dismissed claims they have stopped selling condoms from pub bathrooms machines, saying they never sold them in the first place.

It comes after a picture purporting they had halted dispensing them during the royal period of mourning caused derision on social media.

Fake news: Picture showed a sign purporting to be Wetherspoons is dismissed as fake

Wetherspoons said it has never stocked condom machines in any of their 900 pubs across the UK.

A photo recently surfaced of an alleged poster in a Spoons bathroom saying the condom machine would no longer work due to the 'Royal period of Mourning'.

Taking to Twitter, one user shared the spurious image alongside the tweet, 'This is getting ridiculous!!!'.

A spokesman for the company said: 'This is fake. Wetherspoon don't even have condom machines in its pubs.'

Which shops and businesses will and will NOT close for the Queen's funeral? John Lewis, Aldi, Primark, Tesco and Waitrose are among retailers shutting their doors on Monday - while pubs and smaller supermarket convenience stores stay open

Supermarkets up and down the country will close their doors on September 19

Sainsbury's has confirmed all supermarkets, its online store and Argos will close

Tesco will shut their larger supermarkets and it will not be fulfilling online orders

Lidl said they would be closing their stores across England, Scotland and Wales

Waitrose to close all stores for the day except a 'handful' along the funeral route

Primark confirmed all of its 191 stores will close and B&Q is also closing its doors

The majority of Britain's biggest supermarkets will close to honour the Queen on the day of her funeral - as smaller stores and many pubs remain open.

Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose, Aldi, Morrisons, Iceland and Lidl are among the big chains which have announced they will close stores on September 19 as the country comes to a halt to commemorate Her Majesty.

Poundland, Argos, and John Lewis stores will also close their doors on the day of the service, which is being held at Westminster Abbey.

M&S has confirmed it will close stores in the UK for the entire day, with some limited exceptions in London and Windsor, which will close during the service.

Asda will close stores until 5pm and will not be doing online deliveries.

DIY giant B&Q also said it will close all of its stores and will suspend its click and collect and home delivery services on Monday September 19.

Clothing giant Primark confirmed that all of its 191 stores will close out of respect for the late monarch.

Many pubs are expected to stay open, including the Fullers Group which has 400 pubs across the country.

Sainsbury's supermarkets will close and its convenience stores and petrol stations will only be open from 5pm to 10pm on the evening of the Bank Holiday

Tesco has said its large stores will also be shut all day and it will not be fulfilling online orders, while Express stores will remain closed until 5pm

What are the 'Big Four' supermarkets doing on September 19? Tesco - The UK's largest supermarket chain is closing all of its large stores all day on September 19. It is also cancelling all home deliveries scheduled for Monday. Its Express stores will be open from 5pm, while a small number of stores in central London and Windsor will remain open all day for people attending the commemorations. Sainsbury's - Britain's second biggest chain has announced it will be closing all of its supermarkets and Argos stores on the day of the funeral. It added that convenience stores and petrol filling stations will only be open from 5pm to 10pm, while select stores in central London will be open for those attending the funeral in person. Asda - The third largest supermarket chain in the country will be closing stores until 5pm and will not be offering online deliveries. Morrisons - The retailer is another that plans to close its stores on September 19. Advertisement

The shutting of supermarkets and other retail across the country means people looking to do their shopping will have to plan around the Bank Holiday, with commuters and travellers also being impacted by some of the closures.

Sainsbury's has announced that its convenience stores and petrol stations will only be open from 5pm to 10pm on the evening of the Bank Holiday.

Argos stores will also be closed, Sainsbury's told MailOnline, and its convenience stores and petrol stations will only open in the evening on the Bank Holiday - from 5pm to 10pm.

Meanwhile Tesco has said its large stores will also be shut all day and it will not be fulfilling online orders, while Express stores will remain closed until 5pm.

Lidl told MailOnline they would be closing their stores across England, Scotland and Wales in honour of Her Majesty.

Aldi supermarkets confirmed they will close as a mark of respect to the Queen and to allow staff and customers to watch the service at Westminster Abbey on TV.

Meanwhile, John Lewis department stores and the majority of Waitrose shops are to shut all day.

John Lewis Partnership, which owns Waitrose, will keep just 'a handful' of food shops open along the funeral procession route.

Poundland has also said its 770-plus UK stores will close for the whole day, with staff who had been set to work still receiving their pay in full.

Most smaller convenience stores are expected to stay open as usual on Monday so people can still shop.

Meanwhile, Morrisons says it has 'turned down' the beeps on its self-checkouts and the music and tannoy announcements in its stores have been switched off in a mark of respect.

Tesco Express stores will remain closed until 5pm on the day of the funeral, as the nation mourns

Lidl said they would be closing their stores across England, Scotland and Wales in honour of Her Majesty

Aldi supermarkets confirmed they will close as a mark of respect to the Queen and to allow staff and customers to watch the service at Westminster Abbey on TV

'When full details of the funeral are confirmed, an exception may be a very limited number of Waitrose stores on the route of the funeral procession to serve members of the public who we know will be lining the route for many hours,' John Lewis said in a statement.

The few shops that could be left open in London, however, will close for the funeral itself, they added.

The company is also set to close the remaining 300-plus Waitrose stores for the day.

Waitrose holds a Royal Warrant and sells products from the Duchy of Cornwall - the estate formerly held by King Charles III before his accession to the throne and which now has passed to his son, Prince William, the new Prince of Wales.

The retailers' 34 John Lewis department stores across the country will all close on the day of the funeral.

Andrew Murphy, Chief Operating Officer, The John Lewis Partnership said: 'We are deeply saddened by the death of Her Majesty The Queen.

'We will be closing our stores on the day of her funeral as a mark of respect, and because we believe this is the right thing to do for our Partners and customers.'

A spokesperson for Sainsbury's said: 'We are deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

'In honour of Her Majesty and so our colleagues can pay their respects, all Sainsbury's supermarkets and Argos stores will be closed on Monday, 19 September.

John Lewis Partnership is set to keep 'a handful' of shops open and close the remaining 300-plus Waitrose stores for the day

John Lewis department stores across the country will all close on the day of the funeral

'This includes Groceries Online and Argos Fast Track delivery.

'Our convenience stores and petrol filling stations will be open from 5pm-10pm to allow our customers to pick up essential items, while select stores in central London will open to serve those attending the funeral in person.

'We thank our customers for their understanding.'

Jason Tarry, Tesco UK CEO said: 'We want to express our deepest condolences to the Royal Family, as well as our gratitude to Her Majesty The Queen for her unwavering service.

'On Monday 19th September, in order for our colleagues to pay their respects, our large stores will be closed all day and our Express stores will remain closed until 5pm.'

Announcing their closure on Monday, Lidl said: 'We can confirm that as a mark of respect and in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, we will be closing all of our stores across England, Scotland and Wales for the day of Her Majesty's funeral, Monday 19th September.

'We are grateful to all Lidl customers for their understanding and will be keeping all who mourn Her Royal Highness in our thoughts during this time.'

An Asda spokesperson: 'As a mark of respect for Her Majesty The Queen, all Asda stores will be closed on Monday 19th September until 5pm to allow our customers and colleagues to recognise the passing of our late Monarch and commemorate her steadfast service to our nation. We will not be offering online deliveries on Monday 19th September.

'All our stores will close by midnight on Sunday, 18th September and reopen at 5pm on Monday, 19th September. Those colleagues contracted to work while the stores are closed will receive their normal pay.

'Any colleagues who work when the stores reopen will be paid double time for the rest of the day.'

Aldi supermarkets have confirmed today they will close UK stores next Monday as a mark of respect to the Queen

A spokeswoman from Morrisons said: 'All our supermarkets will be closed on Monday 19 September as a mark of respect and so colleagues can pay tribute to Her Majesty. At 5pm our petrol filling stations will reopen.'

Stuart Machin, CEO of M&S said: 'All of us at M&S  and indeed across the country and beyond - feel a real and deep sense of loss and sadness at the passing of Her Majesty, as well as huge respect for the grace with which His Majesty King Charles III and the wider Royal Family have led the nation in our mourning.

'It is right that we make changes to our operational arrangements on the day of the funeral to ensure our colleagues across our stores and distribution network can participate, whilst supporting customers as they show their respects too.

'That's why on Monday 19th September we will cease customer delivery services and close M&S owned stores in the UK for the entire day, with some limited exceptions in London and Windsor, which will close for the duration of the service.'

Franchise stores at travel locations and in public service sites, such as hospitals, are expected to remain open on Monday.

Iceland was another who confirmed they would be closing on Monday - but said any colleagues scheduled to work that day would be paid in full.

'We are deeply saddened by the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and we extend our sincere condolences to the Royal Family.

'We have come to the decision to close all UK stores on Monday 19th September to allow our colleagues the opportunity to pay their respects and commemorate Her Majesty's years of service. Any colleagues that were schedule to work on this day will still be paid in full.'

DIY chain B&Q has also said today it will close its doors next Monday.

A spokesperson said: 'As a mark of respect for the State Funeral for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and to offer our colleagues the opportunity to pay their respects, we have taken the decision to close all our UK stores on Monday 19 September.

'Our click and collect and home delivery services will also be temporarily suspended on the day.'

DIY retailer Toolstation that has 556 branches across the UK will also close on Monday.

'As a mark of respect for the life of service and leadership of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Toolstation has decided that its stores in the United Kingdom will close all day on Monday 19 September to coincide with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's State Funeral and mark the last day of the period of national mourning. This includes all 556 of Toolstation's stores across the UK,' a spokesman said.

Stores will re-open for business on Tuesday 20 September.

High street clothing chain Primark will also close, with its spokeswoman saying: 'Our stores, depots and head office in the UK will be closed on Monday September 19 to give our colleagues the opportunity to pay their respects and watch the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Clothing giant Primark has confirmed that all of its 191 stores will close as a mark of respect

Many pubs around the country are expected to remain open, including Fullers pubs (stock image)

'We will reopen as normal on Tuesday September 20.'

A spokesperson for the Fuller Group told the Telegraph: 'We anticipate that Fullers pubs will be opening on the day of the funeral to provide a place for people to come together and pay their respects.'

The government has issued advice regarding the Bank Holiday to businesses.

'Some businesses may wish to consider closing or postponing events, especially on the day of the State Funeral, however, this is at the discretion of individual businesses,' it said.

A two minutes' silence will be held at midday next Monday for the Queen's state funeral and the London Stock Exchange will close.

Businesses and schools up and down the country are set to close their doors on September 19, which King Charles III declared a bank holiday, as the nation mourns Queen Elizabeth II.

Away from retail, schools across the country will close, giving children the chance to watch Her Majesty's funeral as it is shown on television.

The commemorations for the late monarch will also see museums across the capital close for the day, with the British Museum, Natural History Museum and National Gallery all shutting their doors.

Royal Mail has also announced it will not be making deliveries on the day of the service.

English Heritage, which cares for historic monuments and buildings including Stonehenge, Dover Castle, Eltham Palace and the Roman forts on Hadrian's Wall, said all of its sites would be closed on Monday for the Queen's funeral.

The organisation said coast and countryside car parks and pre-booked holiday cottages and campsites will still remain open for visitors.

Are you puzzled by a Monday closure? Email eleanor.blake@mailonline.co.uk
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Archie Battersbee was laid to rest today with his mother paying tribute to the 'best boy ever' - as friends remembered how the 12-year-old 'always had a smile on his face'.

Archie's glittery silver coffin arrived at St Mary's Church in Prittlewell, Southend, flanked by dozens of members of his family, all wearing purple ribbons and other purple items.

During the service, a video of the youngster singing One Call Away by Charlie Puth was played, before the choir performed a rendition of the song. 'One Sweet Day' by Mariah Carey was also sung.

Archie's mother tearfully addressed the congregation before someone shouted 'we love you Hollie, we're so proud of you' and the crowd broke into spontaneous applause.

Ms Dance said, from the front of the church: 'He was just such a beautiful little boy and just he made the most of absolutely everything that he did. He lived a very fulfilled and happy life. He was very, very energetic.'

She continued: 'He was the best little boy ever, just perfect. There were a few little challenges along the way but he was just moulding into such a perfect little man. I love him so much.'

The song Someone You Loved by pop star Lewis Capaldi was played over speakers, and there was poetry, hymns, a bible reading and a video montage of photographs and film of Archie, including some of him doing somersaults.

Flowers arranged on top of the coffin read 'son', with others reading 'Archie's army'.

During the service, a representative of Southend Gymnastics Club - which Archie went to - recalled the first time she met him as a toddler with his 'gorgeous eyes and bright blonde hair' and 'the cheekiest smile I have ever seen'

She said he showed 'all of the courage, bravery and determination that he had shown in the past few months' and that he 'always had a smile on his face'.

The coffin of Archie Battersbee is brought into St Mary's Church, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, ahead of his funeral today

During the service, a representative of Southend Gymnastics Club - which Archie went to - recalled the first time she met him as a toddler with his 'gorgeous eyes and bright blonde hair' and 'the cheekiest smile I have ever seen

Archie's mother, Hollie Dance, and other members of his family all wore purple ribbons with the words 'Archie's Army' written on them

The Christian Legal Centre, a campaign group which has supported the family, said Reverend Paul Mackay will oversee a service featuring music and poetry

The 12-year-old who was at the centre of a life-support treatment fight during the summer, died on August 6

Hollie Dance addressing the congregation during her son's funeral at St Mary's Church in Prittlewell this afternoon

During the service, a video of Archie singing One Call Away by Charlie Puth was played, before the choir performed a rendition of the song

A High Court judge ruled in July that doctors could lawfully stop providing life-support treatment to the youngster, who suffered brain damage in April after a suspected TikTok challenge at his home in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.

Doctors stopped treatment in early August after Archie's mother, Hollie Dance, and father, Paul Battersbee, failed in bids to overturn Mr Justice Hayden's ruling.

Judges were told Ms Dance found Archie unconscious with a ligature over his head on April 7.

She thinks he may have been taking part in an online challenge. The youngster did not regain consciousness.

Doctors treating Archie at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, thought he was brain-stem dead and said continued life-support treatment was not in his best interests.

Bosses at Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, asked a High Court judge to make decisions on what medical moves were in Archie's best interests.

Mrs Justice Arbuthnot initially considered the case and concluded that Archie was dead.

But Court of Appeal judges upheld a challenge, by Archie's parents, against Mrs Justice Arbuthnot's ruling and said evidence should be reviewed by a different High Court judge.

The media are attending Archie's funeral at the permission of Archie's family. Pictured is the scene inside St Mary's Church in Prittlewell

St Mary's Church in Prittlewell, where Archie's funeral is taking place, dates back to the 7th-century when a small Anglo-Saxon chapel was built on the site

Family members wearing purple ribbons make there way through the churchyard behind Archie's silver coffin

Archie's glittery silver coffin is carried by undertakers out of St Mary's Church following his funeral this afternoon

The coffin is taken from St Mary's Church, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex after his funeral

Mr Justice Hayden then ruled, after a further hearing, that ending treatment would be in Archie's best interests.

Ms Dance is preparing to discuss the implications of Archie case with a health minister.

She wrote to Steve Barclay, who was health secretary when Archie died, asking if she and her MP Anna Firth could meet for talks.

Mr Barclay, who is no longer health secretary, replied to say a minister would discuss Archie's case.

The Christian Legal Centre said no date had yet been fixed for a meeting.

During the service, a representative of Southend Gymnastics Club - which Archie went to - recalled the first time she met him as a toddler with his 'gorgeous eyes and bright blonde hair' and 'the cheekiest smile I have ever seen'

The grieving mother wrote to Steve Barclay, who was health secretary when Archie died, asking if she and her MP Anna Firth could meet for talks
Two sadistic parents who tortured a five-year-old girl by leaving her in an ice-cold bath until 'death was just minutes away' have each been jailed for more than three years.

The child's mother Georgia Newman, 29, and stepfather Jordan Michael Kilkenny, 29, inflicted the cruel punishment for up to three hours for misbehaving, a Leeds Crown Court heard.

When the child eventually passed out, the panicked duo thought only of themselves as they delayed calling an ambulance by 30 to 45 minutes and tried to warm her up themselves, the court was told.

When the paramedics got to the property in Leeds, West Yorkshire, the young girl was described as unconscious, blue in appearance and frothing at the mouth.

Newman and Kilkenny both admitted cruelty on a basis that they had tried to get her out of the bath, but claimed the youngster had refused.

Newman was jailed for three years and six months while Kilkenny received three years and four months.

Heavily pregnant Georgia Newman, left, told her boyfriend Jordan Michael Kilkenny, right, to put her five-year-old daughter in an ice-cold bath before telling paramedics the child had hit her head

The child had also suffered a seizure and was put on a ventilator while doctors predicted she would not survive.

They used a 'Bair Hugger' heated blanket to raise her temperature, and even a bladder wash to push warm fluid through her body, prosecutors said.

The paramedic could also not straighten out her body because she was so stiff from the cold, prosecutor Richard Woolfall told the court.

The child's core body temperature had plummeted to 25c - around 12 less than normal.

One medical expert even said it was similar to someone who had been 'floating in the North Sea' and had never known anyone survive from such extreme hypothermia.

But against the odds, the youngster made a full recovery and now lives with her biological father.

After their arrest, Newman claimed the child had slipped and hit her head, and Kilkenny said he had no idea why she was cold.

He had previously Googled what would happen if a child was placed in a cold bath for 45 minutes, the court heard.

When interviewed, the child told the police said that it had been Kilkenny who had put her in the bath, at the direction of her mother, for her misbehaving.

Sentencing the pair at Leeds Crown Court (pictured) judge Robin Mairs said: 'It was a cruel and unusual punishment and you must have known it would have caused considerable discomfort'

Mitigating for Newman, Alex Menary said the mother was heavily pregnant at the time and had anxiety and depression.

He said: 'She has had three years to reflect on her behaviour, she bitterly regrets what happened. There is clear and genuine remorse.'

Mark Foley, representing Kilkenny, said: 'At no point did he intend to cause serious harm. He is disgusted by his actions.'

Sentencing the pair, judge Robin Mairs said: 'It was a cruel and unusual punishment and you must have known it would have caused considerable discomfort.

'She was subjected to an extreme, calculated and torturous punishment.

'Medical staff recognised that death was just minutes away. That was the punishment you inflicted on your daughter.

'The delay in calling the ambulance, I have little doubt, was concern for yourself and not the child.

'Your parental culpability is equal.'
The U.S. is seeing its first nation-wide abortion restriction proposal following the overturn of Roe v. Wade as Senator Lindsey Graham seeks to ban terminating a pregnancy after 15 weeks.

Comes less than three months after the Supreme Court overturned a ruling that protected abortion rights across the country.

'This bill is wildly out of step with what Americans believe,' White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre said in a statement on the bill.

Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer lambasted the bill, claiming the South Carolina senator is 'making good on' Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's 'warning' of a federal ban on abortion being 'possible.'

'Proposals like the one today send a clear message from MAGA Republicans to women across the country  Your body, our choice,' Schumer said during remarks from the Senate floor ahead of the bill unveiling on Tuesday.

The New York senator added: 'Rather than expand women's rights, MAGA Republicans would curtail them.'

'Republicans are twisting themselves into pretzels trying to explain why they want nationwide abortion bans when they said they'd leave it up to the states,' Schumer said.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham will introduce Tuesday a bill banning abortion nationwide at 15 weeks into a pregnancy

The bill, Graham's office claims, is aimed at 'protecting' unborn children who are 'pain-capable'.

While there is much debate in the medical community over when a fetus can feel pain, if ever, some studies show pain starts to develop somewhere between eight and 25 weeks.

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is a reintroduction of a bill that Graham put forward in January 2021 that banned abortion at 20 weeks, which he has also proposed in previous Congresses.

There's no change that Graham's proposal will become law while Democrats still control the upper chamber and President Joe Biden is still in office.

His proposal, in fact, is seen by many as a way for Republicans to remain more mainstream by not proposing an outright ban on abortion.

The Supreme Court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, overturned on June 24 the longstanding precedent set by Roe v. Wade nearly 50 years prior. The case protected Americans' medical privacy by allowing them to make choices with their doctors without the interference of the government.

Abortion was one of the biggest medical procedures that benefited from this new privacy protection.

Over time, red states have pushed more fervently to pass more restrictive bans on abortion at certain milestones in a pregnancy  like when a heartbeat can be detected or when a fetus can feel pain.

Heartbeats can be detected as early as five weeks into a pregnancy, which is a point when many women with unplanned pregnancies do not know they are carrying.

Graham will officially introduce his bill during a press conference on Capitol Hill at noon.

Democrats will seize on the bill as the left continues to try and make the 2022 midterms about abortion rights in some key swing Senate races.

The nation plunged into opposing protests after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this summer. Pictured: Pro-abortion demonstrators are shown during a protest for abortion rights in New York City on September 5, 2022

Others lauded the decision by the 6-3 conservative majority bench to put an end to nationwide abortion protections

The Supreme Court decision led to nationwide demonstrations  both in favor and against abortion rights. It even led to leftist protesters showing up outside the homes of conservative justices.

Many are concerned that the overturn of Roe v. Wade will bring into question other protections that were awarded under the ruling, including the rights to obtain and use contraceptives as well as marry an individual of the same sex.

Activists are calling on Democrats in Congress to codify same-sex marriage before the October recess  and some lawmakers are trying to tie it to a continuing resolution to keep the government funded past September, which is a nonstarter for many Republicans.
Vladimir Putin may resort to using nuclear weapons in Ukraine to try and terrify Kyiv into capitulating, a former NATO leader has warned.

Rose Gottemoeller, who was deputy secretary general of the alliance from 2016 to 2019, said the Russians may 'strike back in really unpredictable ways' after Ukraine inflicted a humiliating rout on their forces in the north.

Ms Gottemoeller said those strikes could include firing a nuclear weapon into the Black Sea or at a Ukrainian military base as a demonstration of might.

'The goal would be to get the Ukrainians, in their terror, to capitulate,' she added.

Russia could launch nuclear weapons at Ukraine as a show of might to try and force Kyiv to capitulate, a former NATO leader has warned

Ms Gottemoeller said Russia is unlikely to use long-range nuclear weapons against the US, but will hope to deter Ukraine's western allies from supporting its war effort.

Quizzed on the BBC's Today Programme about how the West should respond, she added: 'I stress that if [the Russians] do go down that route then we should not respond in a nuclear way.

'[We] should bring our other considerable capacities to bear, whether that be a cyber response or conventional [weapons] response.'

Ukraine has been preparing for a nuclear disaster as its counter-offensive against Russia gathers pace

She also stressed that western military aid and training to Ukraine should continue, but that diplomatic channels should be kept open to the Kremlin.

Asked what the West should be telling the Russian leader, she said: ' We've done an excellent job sending a clear message to Moscow of: No impunity.

'We know what you're up to, you're not going to get away with it'

'If there is a move towards weapons of mass destruction, and I have seen no indication so far that there is, but if there is then we need to get it out there and say to the Russians: "No impunity here".'

Ms Gottemoeller was speaking after Ukraine launched a surprise counter-attack east out of the city of Kharkiv which led to a rout in Russian forces.

In the course of just a few days of fighting, and facing only token resistance, Ukrainian troops were able to drive Russia out of the entirety of the Kharkiv region.

Kyiv's men are now in control of vital supply lines running into the eastern Donbas region, and are looking to press the advantage by attacking Russian positions there.

A second counter-attack towards the city of Kherson is also continuing to make progress, with some Russian troops said to be negotiating their surrender after running out of ammunition.

Rose Gottemoeller said Russia could 'strike back in really unpredictable ways' following its latest humiliation in the east of Ukraine, including using nuclear weapons

Oleksiy Arestovich, adviser to President Zelensky, said the military has captured so many Russians over recent days that it is running out of space to house them.

Military intelligence spokesman Andrey Yusov added that 'significant' numbers of Russian officers are among them.

Zelensky, speaking in a late-night address, said Ukraine's armies had captured a total of 2,300 square miles in the east and south since the beginning of September.

That is about four times the size of Greater London, with Zelensky calling on Western allies to supply more weapons to help consolidate the gains.

Ukraine and the West must 'strengthen cooperation to defeat Russian terror', he said, while calling specifically for air defence systems to help protect civilian areas that Putin's commanders have begun targeting as 'revenge'.

Zelensky described the strikes as 'a sign of the desperation of those who invented this war.'

He added: 'This is how they react to the defeat of Russian troops in the Kharkiv region. They can't do anything to our heroes on the battlefield and that's why Russia is directing its vile strikes against civilian infrastructure.'
Shocking video footage shows a Lexus ablaze at a funeral after it was blown up by an assailant who hurled a bomb into the car, before driving off and firing shots.

The bomb, which exploded on August 23, exploded with such force that multiple trees in the cemetery in Auburn, Washington, were ripped from their roots.

Eyewitnesses say the bomber was the passenger in a dark colored sedan, which may have been an Acura.

No one was injured in the explosion at Mountain View Cemetery on August 23, but officers are appealing for information on the suspect.

Auburn Police Department says their officers followed the suspect car, with the occupants then firing gunshots at them.

The name of the Lexus' owner has not been released, and police say they remain mystified as to whether the car was deliberately targeted - and why.

Horrific video of the incident shoes the skeleton of the car being burnt from the inside as trees were uprooted during the incident at Mountain View Cemetery on August 23

No one was injured in the explosion at Mountain View Cemetery on August 23, but officers are appealing for information on the suspect. They have released footage of a car they are searching for in the investigation

Police say the vehicle is a black Acura RL with no license plates and described the suspect as a tall man wearing a black ski mask.

In a statement they said: On August 23rd, while a funeral occurred at Mountain View Cemetery, the passenger of the pictured vehicle placed an explosive device in an attendees car.

The explosive device created an immense fire destroying the victims vehicle and surrounding trees. City of Auburn employees followed the suspects vehicle as it fled the area.

The suspect vehicle's passenger then shot several rounds at the employees as they followed.

The vehicle was described as a black Acura RL, with no license plates. The suspect was described as a tall male and was wearing a full black ski mask.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Auburn PD Tip Line at 253-288-7403.

Police say the vehicle is a black Acura RL with no license plates and described the suspect as a tall man wearing a black ski mask.

Police are appealing for anyone with information on the vehicle or the suspects to come forward
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At her Coronation, the Queen wore a crown glittering with jewels and wielded a sceptre boasting the world's largest white diamond.

But a royal expert has predicted that Her Majesty will be buried with just two pieces of jewellery.

Lisa Levinson, head of communications at the Natural Diamond Council, told Metro.co.uk that it would be 'unlikely' that the 'humble' Queen will be buried with anything other than her 'simple Welsh gold wedding band to rest and a pair of pearl earrings'.





She added that her engagement ring, which contains diamonds taken from a tiara owned by Prince Philip's mother Alice of Battenberg, will likely be given to her daughter Princess Anne.

The Queen's wedding ring was passed to her after being given to her parents for their wedding in 1923. It began a royal tradition of having wedding rings made from Welsh gold. It was made from the Clogau St. David's gold mine.

Her Majesty's private jewellery collection holds around 300 pieces, including 98 brooches, 34 pairs of earrings and 15 rings. When not worn by the monarch, they were stored in the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace.

The official Crown Jewels are held in the Tower of London. Dating back to the 17th-century, the collection includes more than 23,000 diamonds, sapphires and rubies.

Her Majesty's state funeral will take place in Westminster Abbey next Monday, after she lies in state in her oak coffin for four days at Westminster Hall nearby.

The Queen's coffin is currently in Edinburgh's St Giles Cathedral, where thousands of mourners filed past overnight and this morning to pay their respects. It is set to be flown to RAF Northolt tonight and will then be driven to Buckingham Palace.

At her Coronation, the Queen wore a crown glittering with jewels and wielded a sceptre boasting the world's largest white diamond. But a royal expert has predicted that Her Majesty will be buried with just two pieces of jewellery. Above: The Queen wears the Imperial State Crown as she returns to Buckingham Palace whilst holding the Orb and Sceptre after he coronation in 1953

Lisa Levinson, head of communications at the Natural Diamond Council, said it would be 'unlikely' that the 'humble' Queen is buried with anything other than her 'simple Welsh gold wedding band to rest and a pair of pearl earrings'. above: The Queen's wedding ring is seen beneath her engagement ring in 2007

Ms Levinson said: 'Her Majesty is an incredibly humble woman at heart who is unlikely to be dressed in anything but her simple Welsh gold wedding band to rest and a pair of pearl earrings.'

She added that most of the Queen's jewels are likely to remain in the royal collection rather than being buried with her because the Her Majesty's life 'has always been about the legacy of the royal family, in the UK and Commonwealth.

'Her jewels form very much part of that legacy'.

Welsh gold also furnished rings for the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Princess Anne, and Diana, Princess of Wales before it ran out.

The Duchess of Cambridge's wedding ring was later created from a piece of Welsh gold the Queen had gifted Prince William after the couple's engagement.

When the Queen lies in state, her coffin will be draped with the Royal Standard, as it was in Edinburgh.

The standard will be accompanied by the Imperial State Crown, which was worn once a year by the Queen at the State Opening of Parliament.

It boasts nearly 3,000 precious stones, including sapphires, emeralds and rubies.

The crown was made for Queen Victoria in 1838. It contains more than 3,000 precious stones, including 2,700 diamonds.

The most historically significant stones in it include the Sapphire of Edward the Confessor, which was taken from the coronation ring of Edward.

With Edward having been crowned in 1042, it is the oldest stone in the entire royal collection.

When the Queen lies in state, her coffin will be draped with the Royal Standard, as it was in Edinburgh. The standard will be accompanied by the Imperial State Crown, which was worn once a year by the Queen at the State Opening of Parliament. The Sovereign's Orb and Sceptre will also be on the coffin. The diamond on the sceptre - the Cullinan 1 - was cut from the largest rough diamond ever found. It was discovered in a mine in South Africa in 1905

Her Majesty's much-beloved pearl necklace and earrings were a renowned part of her day-to-day look. Above: The Queen wears pearls as she attends the Christmas Day service at the Church of St Mary Magdalene at Sandringham in 2017

The then Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten posing for their first engagement pictures at Buckingham Palace

The crown also boasts the Stuart Sapphire and the Black Prince's Ruby, along with pearls that are believed to have belonged to Queen Elizabeth I.

The Sovereign's Orb and Sceptre will also be on the coffin. The diamond on the sceptre - the Cullinan 1 - was cut from the largest rough diamond ever found. It was discovered in a mine in South Africa in 1905.

It weighed 3,106 carats (1.37pounds). Nine major stones were made from it, and 96 smaller ones.

The Orb acts as the symbol of Godly power within the monarchy.

The item was made for Charles II's coronation in 1661 and is a 30cm-wide hollow gold sphere with a crucifix above it, adorned with nine emeralds, 18 rubies, nine sapphires, 365 diamonds, 375 pearls, one amethyst and one glass stone.

Worn and wielded by Her Majesty on dozens of occasions throughout her reign, the Crown Jewels have a central place in the history of the English Royal Family. Above: The Imperial State Crown is seen in a recent BBC documentary

The Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross is one of two that have been used at coronations since the restoration of the monarchy in 1661. Her Majesty wielded it at her own Coronation in 1953. It boasts the world's largest clear cut white diamond, which weighs nearly four ounces (106 carats)

Possibly the most controversial jewel in the collection is the 108-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is set in the Crown of the Queen Mother. The gem, which came into British hands during the colonial era, is the subject of a historic ownership dispute and has been claimed by at least four countries, including India

Another post-revolution addition to the Crown Jewels was the Sovereign's Orb, which acts as the symbol of Godly power within the monarchy

The cross remaining above the orb represents the dominion of Christ over the world with the monarch holding it as God's representative on Earth.

After the state funeral in Westminster Abbey, the Queen's coffin will be taken to St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for a televised committal service.

Later in the evening, there will be a private interment service with senior members of the royal family.

The Queen's final resting place will be the King George VI memorial chapel, an annex to the main chapel - where her mother and father were buried, along with the ashes of her sister, Princess Margaret.

Her husband Prince Philip's coffin will move from the Royal Vault to the memorial chapel to join the Queen's.

Her Majesty's personal crown jewels! From her favourite pearls and 40,000 diamond brooch to sapphires from the President of Brazil for her coronation - and the 3 carat engagement ring from Philip she never removed

By Harriet Johnston for MailOnline

Throughout her life, the Queen amassed a jewellery collection full of family heirlooms, priceless treasures and gifts from world leaders.

The monarch was rarely seen without diamonds, pearls or gemstones adorning her clothes, with royal commentators sometimes suggesting she used the pieces to send unspoken signals.

Particular attention was paid to her brooches: Her Majesty would often choose one with a connection to the person, country or organisation she was visiting.

The Queen was renowned for generously loaning both elaborate and simple pieces to royal wives including Meghan Markle, Sophie Wessex, Kate Middleton and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, over the years.

Now, upon her death at the age of 96 after 70 years on the throne, FEMAIL looks at Her Majesty's jewellery collection.

The Queen was rarely seen without a dazzling array of diamonds, pearls and gemstones decorating her bright and colourful clothes (pictured, in 2022 at the Platinum Jubilee celebration wearing her favourite pearl necklace, earrings and one of her favourite brooches the Kensington Bow brooch)

Her Majesty was often gifted her pieces for special occasions and wore wedding gifts throughout her life (left). She was renowned for generously loaning pieces to other royals including Kate Middleton (pictured right, at the Jubilee wearing the Queen's earrings)

The Queen's amazing collection of jewels included glittering brooches, earrings and necklaces.

Some have been passed down to Her Majesty through the royal family, while others were gifted to the monarch to mark important milestones, including her wedding, coronation and jubilees.

The most impressive jewels were reserved for high profile occasions like state dinners.

Otherwise the Queen preferred to keep her jewellery low-key and was rarely seen without three strings of pearls gifted to her by her grandfather.

The Queen was able to recall the meaning and occasion behind each item she had been gifted over the years, experts have claimed. Pictured left, in 1983 on a banquet in India, and right, in 2007 wearing a necklace gifted by President of Brazil for the Queens Coronation in 1953

The monarch, pictured here on one of her final engagements in July 2022, always wore her engagement ring in a sign of her dedication to her husband Prince Philip

The Royal Collection was held in trust by the Sovereign for her successors and the nation, and was not owned by The Queen as a private individual.

However she did have her own smaller private collection, which she has been known to loan to members of the royal family for formal occasions and state visits, at her own discretion.

NECKLACES

While we associated the Queen with her incredible Royal Collection of priceless tiaras, intricate brooches and dazzling diamond earrings, she was, like many Englishwomen of a certain age, most at ease in her pearls.

Pearls were the Queens first serious piece of jewellery.

When her grandfather George V celebrated his Silver Jubilee in 1935, he gave both his granddaughters pearl necklaces.

Among the collection Elizabeth owns today are two stunning necklaces - the 18th-century Queen Anne pearl necklace and the 50-pearl Queen Caroline necklace, both given as a wedding present from her father.

Her favourite necklace for quiet days was her single-strand version, one of the first pieces she acquired, and very much in the English tradition, matching the timeless elegance of her treasured pearl and diamond studs.

Meanwhile the royal also had a huge range of other opulent necklaces, including the stunning sets gifted from her coronation in 1953.

One striking set formed from unusual aquamarine stones, was a gift from the President of Brazil for the Queens Coronation in 1953.

The striking necklace was made by Mappin & Webb in Rio de Janiero, and the stones are set in diamond and platinum surrounds.

It came with matching earrings - and in 1958 she was presented with a large brooch and bracelet. The stones are perfectly matched - it took a year to collect them from mines across Brazil.

The Queen's much beloved glittering Festoon necklace, gifted to the royal by her father, is pictured during an outing to a concert with President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy in America in 1983

The nation continued to supply the Queens aquamarine collection, including providing stones for a tiara she had adapted in 1971.

She toned down the piece by replacing the pendant with a smaller stone, and attaching the aquamarine to her tiara.

The royal also adored jewellery presents from family members, including one glittering Festoon necklace given to Princess Elizabeth in 1950 by her father that remained her favourites throughout her life.

It was made from 105 loose diamonds that were kept in reserve at Garrard, stored in pouches marked C for Crown, in case a monarch wanted to extend a necklace or improve a tiara.

Queen Mary, the Queens grandmother, was said to have made regular use of the service.

The resulting triple strand necklace has rows of graduated stones, suspended between two diamond triangles.

It was also the Queens preferred necklace for wearing without a tiara.

Among the Queen's more recent pieces was a gift from Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, former Emir of Qatar, during a state visit to Britain in 1985.

Where did the Queen keep her extensive jewellery collection? At home in Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, the jewellery she wore regularly was not kept in one of the boxes of battered leather lined with mushroom velvet that house her grand occasion pieces. Instead, they lived on trays that house stones according to colour  rubies, sapphires, emeralds. Advertisement

A diamond swag shape, set in gold and designed around two central gemstones, it came with a matching set of earrings  and had been one of the Queens favourite ruby pieces ever since.

Because of its rich, exotic colour, she preferred it for foreign engagements, such as this state banquet in Turkey in 2008, but has also worn it twice to the state opening of Parliament.

The royal also lent her Nizam of Hyderabad necklace, originally created by Cartier in 1930s to family members.

One of the Queen's more recent acquisitions was the necklace and earring set from Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, former Emir of Qatar, who gifted it to the royal during a state visit to Britain in 1985.

Did the Queen ever wear gold? The Queen rarely wore gold jewellery, but opted for this gold and emerald piece to a film premiere in 2004 The Queen rarely wore gold, preferring silver or platinum for her everyday jewels, so this gold and emerald necklace is something of a curiosity in the royal collection. Its a pared-down look, more akin to costume jewellery than royal regalia, worn to a film premiere in London in 2004 - and paired with matching emerald drop earrings in a pretty bow shape. The provenance of the 18-stone chain is unknown, and Her Majesty wasn't known to have worn it before or since, suggesting it may have been a gift not quite to her taste. Advertisement

It was gifted to Majesty as a gift when she married in November 1947 and consists of a long chain of 38 diamonds (reduced from the original 46) with a diamond-encrusted snap.

The centre of the necklace was pave-set with detachable double-drop pendant 13 emerald-cut diamonds and a pear-shaped drop. The original necklace consisted of eight double-drop and three triple-drop pendants.

Kate Middleton borrowed the diamond stunner to attend a black tie Portrait Gala in 2014 at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

It set off her midnight blue Jenny Packham evening gown, which was plain to show off the beauty of her diamonds.

Left, The Queen wearing the Nizam of Hyderabad necklace - part of the Royal Collection - which was made by Cartier, the George IV State Diadem and the insignia of the Order of the Garter, circa 1953. Right, the Duchess of Cambridge wearing the necklace in 2014

The Queen's remarkable memory Journalist Sali Hughes, author of Our Rainbow Queen, explained the Queen had an 'outstanding memory' and put it to good use when it comes to her wardrobe. 'There are no mistakes; there are no accidents,' Hughes said in an interview with Vanity Fair. 'Everything is forensically thought of, considered, and documented, and her memory is outstanding. 'She does not forget who gave her something, and she doesnt forget the meaning it has when she was given her gifts and her jewellery.' Advertisement

BROOCHES

Brooches, usually worn on the left shoulder, were a favourite for the royal and the Queen was believed to have over 100 in her collection.

A selection that would go with an outfit were presented to her - usually three at a time - by her senior dresser and confidante Angela Kelly on special trays that once belonged to Queen Mary.

The royal had a wide variety of different brooches which she often wore with her usual pearl earrings and necklace, including a spray of flowers brooch by the people and government of Australia during her Coronation tour of 1954.

She was also regularly seen in the Queen Mothers Shell Brooch from the late Queen Mothers jewellery collection, a shell shape consisting of solid rows of diamonds with a single pearl cradled at the base, and strings of diamonds suspended underneath.

One of the royal's favourites was the Kensington Bow brooch, a wedding gift from the residents of Kensington to her grandmother in 1893, costing 450 (about 40,000 today).

The brooch features two rows of diamonds set in silver and gold, tied in a bow around a single large diamond, and it was often used to secure a sash or as a clasp for remembrance poppies.

Among the brooches she favoured was the Cullinan V Brooch, which was an unusual and distinctive heart shape.

The diamond, of 18.8 carats, was one of six numbered stones cut from the Cullinan diamond, the biggest in the world, and given to Queen Mary, the Queens grandmother, by the people of South Africa in 1910.

Many have suggested the Queen may have tried to send messages with her selection of brooches - some commentators pointed out the royal wore a brooch given to her by President Obama when she met President Trump on a visit in 2019.

When Prince Philip was in hospital in 2021, the Queen paid tribute to her late husband with her brooches for public appearances.

The Queen had a huge selection of brooches, with over 100 in her personal collection. One of her favourites was the Cullinan V Brooch, given to Queen Mary, the Queens grandmother, by the people of South Africa in 1910 (pictured wearing it during a visit to Tuvalu in South Pacific)

One of the royal's favourites was the Kensington Bow brooch, a wedding gift from the residents of Kensington to her grandmother in 1893, costing 450 (about 40,000 today). (pictured in 2005 visiting Bristol university)

It was occasionally suggested the royal selected her brooches in order to send a signal about her beliefs (pictured left, with President Obama and Michelle Obama, wearing the pin they gave her in 2011, and right, the pin)

The royal had a wide variety of different brooches which she often wore with her usual pearl earrings and necklace (pictured left, The Queen was given this spray of flowers brooch by the people and government of Australia during her Coronation tour of 1954, the Queen was presented with this brooch from the people and government of Australia. It depicts a spray of flowers with mimosa leaves and tea tree blossoms in white and colored diamonds. pictured right, The Queen Mothers Shell Brooch from the late Queen Mothers jewellery collection and takes the shape of a shell made of solid rows of diamonds with a single pearl cradled at the base and strings of diamonds suspended underneath.)

Another of the 2,500 wedding presents given to the Queen on her marriage to Prince Philip, the Carrington Sapphire Feather brooch (right) was a gift from Carrington jewellers. A fine diamond feather with a sapphire centre, its always paired with blue or purple, as here in 2019

The Queen was generous with her jewellery collection, often lending pieces to other senior royals. The New Zealand Fern brooch was presented to the Queen in 1953 by the women of Auckland. She is seen wearing it in 2008 (left) and it was loaned to Kate for her 2014 tour of Australasia (right)

The Queen kept Prince Philip close to her heart while he was in hospital in 2021 by donning significant brooches for public engagements - in February, she chose to wear the same six-petal diamond flower brooch she had worn when the couple announced their engagement in 1947 (left and right)

The Queen kept her husband close to her heart in 2021 while the Duke spent several weeks in hospital, donning the same six-petal diamond flower brooch she wore when the couple announced their engagement in 1947 for a virtual engagement.

The monarch wore the glittering accessory on a video call with health leaders from Windsor Castle in which she made a historic intervention in the coronavirus vaccination drive, suggesting it is selfish not to have the jab.

And during his funeral on April 18, Her Majesty brought out the diamond Richmond Brooch, a present from the town of Richmond for her grandmother Queen Mary's 1893 wedding to the future King George V which she inherited.

The Queen wore a brooch gifted to her by Prince Philip during a visit to the Royal Navy flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth

The gold Scarab brooch, with ruby and diamond embellishments, was a 1966 gift from the Duke of Edinburgh (pictured the couple together in 1966, with the Queen wearing the brooch)

Weeks later, as she visited the Royal Navy flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Queen wore a brooch gifted to her by Prince Philip.

Her Majesty, 95, paid tribute to her beloved husband of 73 years, who died on April 9 2021 aged 99, by wearing the piece, which she teamed with a brick-red military-style cashmere coat for her appearance at HM Naval Base, Portsmouth.

The gold Scarab brooch, with ruby and diamond embellishments, was a 1966 gift from the Duke of Edinburgh.

EARRINGS

When the Queen turned 21, jewels flooded in, mostly in the form of gifts from relatives.

Among them was a pair of heavy diamond chandelier earrings that had been given to her mother Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother as a wedding present.

Soon, she had acquired many other pairs of earrings that could be worn only with pierced ears, and so in 1951, just before her state visit to Canada, the 25-year-old Queen gave in to the inevitable and had her ears pierced.

Some of the royal's favorite earrings remained her pearl pieces throughout her life, with the Queen often choosing a simple stud or pearl drop for her daily appearances.

Day-to-day Her Majesty often wore the simple but chic Queen Mary's Button Earrings, which feature a pearl and a diamond (pictured here visiting the Royal British Legion Industries Village, Aylesford in November 2019)

The Queen regularly wore pearl drop earrings, but often chose the Ladies of Devonshire earrings for formal day events (pictured waving to the crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2017)

Day-to-day, the Queen often chose between two almost identical pearl earrings.

The royal's favourite earrings for casual wear were the simple Queen Mary's Button Earrings, which featured a single pearl with a small diamond on top.

Meanwhile she would wear the Ladies of Devonshire earrings for more formal day events, such as the Diamond Jubilee service or the Order of the Garter service, as well as for evening occasions.

Queen Mary gave the Devonshire Earrings to her granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth, as a wedding present in 1947.

The Queen is believed to have gifted Meghan Markle a similar pair of earrings to her own for their first joint engagement in June 2018

A present to the Queen from the kingdom of Bahrain to celebrate the Queen's wedding to Prince Philip in 1947, the Bahrain pearl drop earrings were hidden away from public view for many decades but have recently been seen more regularly.

The Queen chose to wear the pieces to the Remembrance Day service in 2015, with Kate Middleton wearing them the following year to the same event.

The Countess of Wessex has also sported the diamond-supported pearls. And Kate, who is known to adore a pearl earring, also wore them while staying at Balmoral during the summer of 2018.

The Bahrain Pearl Drop earrings were a present to the Queen from the kingdom of Bahrain to celebrate her wedding to Prince Philip in 1947

Kate wore the jewels as she joined Prince William and other senior royals at the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee

Sophie, The Countess of Wessex, also wore the Bahrain pearl drop earrings in 2012 to attend a performance of the Massed Bands and Bugles of The Rifles at the Royal Albert Hall

Kate has also donned another set of the Queen's diamond-and-pearl earrings, which the monarch herself last wore in 1977.

In 2016, the Duchess was spotted wearing them while on a trip to Canada, and later in the year in Holland.

The Queen gifted Meghan Markle a similar (but smaller) pair prior to the Duchess' first royal joint engagement without her husband.

The monarch continued to generously lend her earrings to her granddaughters-in-law during the final years of her life.

At the Silver Jubilee in 1977, the Queen donned a pair of diamond-and-pearl earrings that she hasn't worn since in public. However, the monarch has gifted them to her grandaughter-in-law, with Kate spotted wearing them twice in 2016

New generation, same jewels: The Duchess of Cambridge was spotted wearing the same earrings in 2016 during a royal visit with Prince William to Canada, they appeared again on a trip later that year to the Netherlands

In 2021, the Duchess of Cambridge honoured the Queen on her birthday by borrowing her pearl earrings for a visit to an air cadet centre.

Kate borrowed the silver jubilee diamond and pearl earrings from the monarch who first wore them to celebrate her silver jubilee in 1977.

The visit, which took place on the Queen's 95th birthday, was carried out in honour of the Duke of Edinburgh, who was Honorary Air Commodore-in-Chief of the squadron for 63 years before Kate took over as Commandant-in-Chief in 2015.

But it was not just pearl pieces that the royal favoured, with the royal occasionally donning large costume-style jewellery from her collection of diamond pieces.

The Duchess of Cambridge honoured the Queen on her 95th birthday by borrowing her pearl earrings for her visit to an air cadet centre

The origin of the stunning large teardrop-shaped diamond adornments is unknown and they may even be a more modern addition to the Queen's collection.

The monarch was spotted wearing them at the State Opening of Parliament in 2012 before they were next seen gracing Kate's ears, most notably at a gala held at Kensington Palace in November 2017.

The royal would also occasionally don pieces that were part of a set with her elegant necklaces, such as the aquamarine set gifted to her by the President of Brazil for her coronation.

The origin of these teardrop-shaped earrings is unknown and they may have first been seen in public as late as 2012, when the Queen wore them to the State Opening of Parliament. A different look: Kate has worn the drop diamond earrings on a number of occasions including at a dinner while on a royal visit to Sweden and Norway

A closer look: The Duchess of Cambridge at a 2017 Gala Dinner for The Anna Freud National Centre held at Kensington Palace in 2017

All that glitters! The Duchess of Cambridge borrowed the Queen's emerald and diamond earrings and matching bracelet (both pictured) for the Caribbean tour in 2022 (left) Treasured: The Queen has worn the set on a number of occasions, including at a reception for the Obamas in 2011 (right). There is also a necklace (seen here) which Kate did not wear

When she was not wearing her trademark pearls, the Queen opted for pendants such as these dazzling purple stones, part of the Kent Amethyst set, which belonged to Queen Victorias mother.

The set also included three brooches, a necklace and hair combs, but the earrings  worn to a state banquet in Portugal in 1985 - are the only items seen in public.

These ornate diamond frames, each containing an oval pearl drop, are the Duchess of Gloucesters Pendants, first owned by Queen Marys great aunt.

They passed to the Queen on her grandmothers death in 1953. She chose them for her wedding in 1947, on a visit to Mauritius in 1972 and wears them often nowadays.

If shes not wearing her trademark pearls, the Queen opts for pendants such as these dazzling purple stones (left), part of the Kent Amethyst set, which belonged to Queen Victorias mother. These ornate diamond frames (right), each containing an oval pearl drop, are the Duchess of Gloucesters Pendants, first owned by Queen Marys great aunt

BRACELETS

The Queen mainly wore bracelets for formal occasions and events, such as foreign tours and the State Opening of parliament.

The royal had many diamond bracelets, and mainly choose them for black tie events, occasionally if she didn't wear a tiara.

Her collection included a set of two matching bracelets composed of chain links between diamond plaques which came from Queen Marys collection.

The Queen regularly wore bracelets for black tie and formal events, donning two diamond pieces for the State Opening of Parliament in October 2019

Mary bought them in 1932, and then had a matching one made three years later to hold a 9.75 carat diamond from the Premier Mines given to her during a visit to South Africa.

The bracelets were made to join together to create a choker. They are nearly identical, one having a larger plaque for the South African diamond.

One of the sets the Queen most often wore was the sapphire set.

The royal often wore the glittering pieces of jewellery to formal black tie events, donning the chain links between diamond plaques from Queen Mary's collection over white gloves. The Queen also had a selection of pearl evening watches for formal events (pictured left in Canada in 2002) She occasionally wore bracelets as part of a set of jewellery (pictured right, leaving the Ritz after celebrating her Golden Jubilee in 2002 wearing emerald-cut sapphires and diamonds collection, which included a necklace, earrings, a bracelet and a ring).

It began with a mid-19th century set of necklace and earrings bought by her father, King George VI, at Carrington & Co. and given to her as a wedding present in 1947.

The set features a necklace of emerald-cut sapphires surrounded by diamonds and separated by individual diamonds, plus a pair of earrings, each with a large sapphire in a diamond cluster.

As given to the Queen, the necklace had 18 sapphire clusters, which she had shortened in 1952.
A Pennsylvania man wearing a rainbow clown wig was arrested after walking into a Dairy Queen with a loaded handgun and told police he was looking to make former President Donald Trump 'king of the United States.'

Jan V. Stawovy, 61, was intercepted by police at the Delmont ice cream parlor on Saturday after responding to reports of an erratic driver wearing unusual clothes like a bright yellow safety vest and a rainbow wig.

Stawovy was found to have two more loaded handguns in his car and 62 rounds of ammunition which were seized by police.

He has now been charged the man with firearms not to be carried without a license, person not to possess, terroristic threats and disorderly conduct.

Stawovy told investigators after the incident that he was 'undercover' and had the guns to protect himself from 'drug traffickers' and also indicated he intended to kill 'Democrats and liberals.'

Police also said in a news release that Stawovy told them he wanted to 'restore Trump to President king of the United States.'

Jan Stawovy, 61, entered a Pennsylvania Dairy Queen on Saturday dressed in a clown wig and told police he wanted to 'kill Democrats and liberals'

Police found two more loaded handguns in Stawovy's car after his erratic behavior was reported, and he was arrested without incident

He also told investigators that he was 'undercover' and had the guns to protect himself from 'drug traffickers'

According to his Facebook, Stawovy was banned from a church after turning up in a clown wig and full makeup before becoming 'argumentative and belligerent'

He carried the .40 caliber handgun into the store along with some loose rounds of ammunition, just as a group of people with mental disabilities were entering the restaurant.

Stawovy was arrested without incident and is now awaiting arraignment. It is currently unclear whether he has an attorney representing him.

According to his Facebook, this was not the first time he adorned the clown wig. A September 9 letter from Barren Run United Methodist Church said Stawovy attended church service in a 'clown costume and full makeup.'

Stawovy's appearance 'frightened' other attendees and he 'once again became argumentative and belligerent,' leading to the church banning him from the property.

He wrote '2nd Love Letters' and 'Praise the Lord' on the letter, which also said they 'wish that you are able to seek out the help that you need.'

While there's no confirmation Stawovy was involved in QAnon, his description of Trump as a 'President king' is common terminology among QAnon believers.

Stawovy's arrest in Pennsylvania came just hours before a more shocking incident occurred in Michigan that came from unhinged beliefs about Trump.

53-year-old Igor Lanis shot and killed his wife and dog and also injured his daughter in the shooting.

Lanis' other daughter, Rachel, posted on a Reddit community dedicated to discussing the effects of QAnon, a far-right fringe group that supports a set of conspiracy theories surrounding Trump.

Rebecca Lanis, 21, posted on Reddit's QAnon Casualties page that her dad 'started going down the Q rabbit hole' after Trump lost the election.

Rebecca Lanis spoke out after she believes the QAnon conspiracy theory drove her father Igor Lanis to fatally shoot his wife and dog and injure her sister

She wrote on Reddit that her father got into Q after the 2020 Election and would entertain conspiracy theories about that election and the COVID vaccine to 'keep us safe and healthy'

QAnon has been linked to fatal shootings in the past. In January, another Michigan man who followed Q pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing his newlywed wife

Rebecca said her father would insist the family watch videos about 5G cellular towers, vaccines, the idea that the election was stolen and theory that certain world leaders were 'alien-lizard people in disguise.'

She wrote 'I'm shocked and I don't even know what to say. F**k you, QAnon. I hope the FBI tightens its grip on you and that your lackies rot in prison (and hell) for poisoning so many people.'

Rebecca told The Daily Beast that her once 'extremely loving' father - who worked as a car designer and had no history of violence - had become heavily influenced by far-right figures like Alex Jones.

She added: 'He had a sense of reality. But then after 2020, when Trump lost, he started going down these crazy rabbit holes. Its a very big contributor to what happened.'

QAnon has been linked to fatal shootings in the past. In January, another Michigan man who followed Q pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing his newlywed wife, whom he believed was a CIA asset, as well as President Joe Biden's transgender daughter, who he thought was involved in sex trafficking.

Troy Burke, 45, was arrested in January 2021 on open murder and firearms charges for the shooting death of his wife of just three months, 29-year-old Jessica Burke.

And last September, Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, was charged with two counts of foreign first-degree murder of United States nationals. 'By law, the charges are eligible for death penalty,' the news release from the attorney's office read.
Aerial photo taken on Sept. 10, 2022 shows a full moon in the sky in Kunshan, east China's Jiangsu Province. The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Sept. 10 this year. (Photo by Wang Xuzhong/Xinhua) BEIJING, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Round-shaped white lanterns on top of 33 "moon boats" were lit in the iconic West Lake in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province in east China Saturday night. The gathering was the highlight of a moon worship activity to celebrate one of the most important traditional festivals in China, the Mid-Autumn Festival, which fell on Saturday this year. The festival is usually marked by family reunions, enjoying the sights of the full moon, and eating mooncakes. Since ancient times, the Mid-Autumn Festival has had the custom of moon worship. Today, people still worship the moon during the festival to express good wishes for home and country and sincere hopes for a happy life. A slew of cultural activities to celebrate the occasion also took place in other parts of China. In southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, colorful "jade rabbit" lights and a gigantic moon-shaped light lit up the hilltop observation deck at Longmenhao old street. In addition, the city's lovers of hanfu, the traditional clothing of the Han ethnic group, also gathered on the carefully decorated old street Saturday night to enjoy the festival. With bright lights and air filled with the fragrance of osmanthus flowers across the street, residents dressing in hanfu, some with flower lanterns, strolled along. It complemented the vintage street with its many old buildings. "The old street not only has gorgeous lights but also preserves the traditional architecture featuring Chinese blue bricks and tiles. You won't have the feeling of not fitting in walking here," said Deng Yuhua, a Chongqing resident. This year's Mid-Autumn Festival also coincided with Teacher's Day in China. As Chinese people have the same traditional respect for teachers as they do for family, many have decided to celebrate bigger than usual. Guo Jiguang, 60, is from east China's Fujian Province, and he used to be a teacher. He is also a practitioner of the "Fumao Cake" craft, a form of intangible cultural heritage from Fujian. To celebrate the dual festival, Guo designed a special mooncake with four Chinese characters, meaning "Remembering your teachers," sculpted on the surface. He has made about 60,000 such mooncakes and decided to give them away to local teachers as gifts. "Parents give us life, friends give us support, and teachers give us knowledge and guidance. They are the most important people in our lives. That is my belief," Guo said. Over the past decade, more than 4,500 teachers across the country have been awarded at the national level for their professionalism and dedication to education. "The two festivals meeting is a rare and precious occasion. It feels beautiful to see various traditional Chinese values celebrated harmoniously under the full moon," said Wan Jianzhong, a professor at the School of Chinese Language and Literature of Beijing Normal University.
Peloton announced that two of its co-founders are leaving the company.

On Monday, Peloton announced that its co-founder and now executive chairman of the board John Foley has resigned effective Monday, while co-founder Hisao Kushi will no longer serve as the company's chief legal officer on October 3. Another executive, Kevin Cornils, who served the company as chief commercial officer since 2018, will also end his tenure on September 23.

The shakeup comes after Peloton laid off hundreds of employees three times in 2022 alone and closed a number of stores. Insider reported that in August, Peloton let go of more than 700 employees in its customer service and distribution department after cutting 2,800 jobs in February and laying off 570 employees in Taiwan in July.

Peloton's Stock Crashes Post-pandemic as Economy Reopens

Peloton was founded in January 2012 by Foley, Kushi, Graham Stanton, Tom Cortese, and Yony Feng. The company went public in 2019 and soon after saw its stock reach a high of about $167 in October 2020 amidst the pandemic, when people moved towards working out at home instead of the gym due to pandemic restrictions. But that all soon came crashing down as Peloton stock now stands at $11.05, seeing an almost 70% drop this year alone, CNBC reported.

When Foley stepped down from his role as CEO in February, Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy took his place. Now, McCarthy is looking to dramatically change the business to keep it afloat. Adding to McCarthy's team who will steer the ship moving forward is Tammy Albarran, who will serve as both chief legal officer and corporate secretary, TechCrunch reported.

In a prepared statement, McCarthy expressed his gratitude towards Foley and Kushi for their "countless contributions" to Peloton. Foley, on the other hand, promised in a statement that he is "leaving the company in good hands."

Read Also: Peloton Increases Prices of Bike+, The Tread; Plans to Cut Jobs Once More

How Peloton is Moving Forward Under McCarthy's Leadership

McCarthy believes that personalization is key in helping renew the Peloton brand. The CEO had spent almost 20 years at Netflix and Spotify, two companies in which personalization is central to the way the product is presented to consumers.

According to Axios, McCarthy revealed on Monday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference that Peloton is considering a "more Netflix-like experience" through personalization. For now, Peloton offers some degree of personalization, but McCarthy believes that the platform can improve on providing customers with an "incredibly engaging experience."

McCarthy also admitted that the company has not "invested in personalization nearly to the degree that will drive an infinitely better user experience" and promised that in the next 12 month, the company will make personalization central to the user's content experience.

Last month, a spokesperson for Peloton told Insider that their price increases, decision to distribute on Amazon, and layoffs are all part of the company's strategy to ensure "long term success." The spokesperson added that by enacting these steps, the fitness company could "become more efficient, cost effective, and agile."

Related Article: Peloton to Restructure? Company to Replace CEO, Cut Jobs, and Appoint New Board Members
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A professional bull rider was shot dead by his on-and-off girlfriend after the pair attended the Utah State Fair on Monday, police said.

Demetrius Omar Lateef Allen, 27, known professionally as 'Ouncie Mitchell,' was found with 'at least one gunshot wound' outside an apartment belonging to LaShawn Denise Bagley, 21.

Allen is survived by a 4-year-old daughter that he had with a previous partner named Nyteshea Haywood.

Bagley has been charged with first-degree murder and third-degree felony discharge of a firearm.

Allen had traveled to Salt Lake City from Houston to compete at a rodeo at the Utah State Fair and had arranged to stay with Bagley, whom Salt Lake City Police say Allen had a 'on-and-off relationship' with, during his trip.

Allen is assumed to have first met Bagley in Houston, where his residence is currently listed and where Bagley previously lived nearby in the suburb of Pearland.

Demetrius Omar Lateef Allen (pictured), 27, known by his professional name 'Ouncie Mitchell' was found dead outside an apartment belonging to an 'off-and-on' girlfriend

Allen had traveled to Salt Lake City to participate in a rodeo at the Utah State Fair. He arranged to stay with Bagley, whom he presumably met while living in Houston, while he competed

The 27-year-old bull-rider is survived by his 4-year-old daughter whom Allen had with Nyteshea Haywood

The pair had attended the fair together and later left for a bar. They then had an argument in which Allen said he wanted to return to Bagley's apartment to pack his things, police said.

Upon arrival at the scene in the parking lot of the apartment complex, police discovered bullet holes coming from a nearby apartment belonging to Bagley.

Blood evidence was investigated outside of the apartment, indicating Allen had not been inside when he was shot, according to court documents.

Salt Lake City Police added there was 'no indication of any forced entry or attempted forced entry into the apartment.'

Allen was the 23rd ranked bull-rider in the world according to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association

Allen earned the nickname 'Ouncie' because he was 'born small,' according to Professional Bull Riders commissioner Sean Gleason. 'He grew up to compete with a huge heart'

Explaining Allen's death to their daughter was difficult, mother Nyteshea Haywood (pictured) said. 'She loved her daddy. She loved him and loved him and loved him'

A witness confirmed that Allen had not attempted to force his way into Bagley's apartment.

A report by FOX 13 said Bagley fired multiple rounds through the apartment's glass door, striking Allen once through his torso.

Emergency medical care was provided to Allen before he was transported to a local hospital where he later died.

Allen was ranked 23rd in the world in bull riding with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

Sean Gleason, commissioner and CEO of Professional Bull Riders, expressed his condolences to Mitchell's family on Twitter.

'We are shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of Demetrius Allen, who fans knew as Ouncie Mitchell,' Gleason said. 'Ouncie was a talented cowboy and a familiar face on the Velocity Tour.

'The PBR extends our heartfelt condolences to Ouncie's cousin Ezekiel Mitchell and the entire family.'

'I don't understand and I don't know how long it's going to take me to understand,' Mitchell said. 'The guy that would give the shirt off his back to anybody, why would you take his life away?

'Every time I put my hand on a bull rope from now on it'll be him right there in the back of my mind. He was a once-in-a-lifetime person and a once-in-a-lifetime family member and friend and more so, a brother.'

Police say Allen and Bagley had attended the Utah State Fair (pictured) before leaving for a bar. They then had an argument before they left for Bagley's apartment complex

Allen was found with 'at least one gunshot wound' outside the 965 Central apartment complex in Salt Lake City. Police investigated blood found at the scene to bullet holes in the walls of Bagley's apartment

Allen competed alongside his cousin, Ezekiel Mitchell. 'He was a once-in-a-lifetime person and a once-in-a-lifetime family member and friend and more so, a brother'

'She loved her daddy,' Haywood said. 'She loved him and loved him and loved him. It was always, 'My daddy this, my daddy doing this, my daddy took me fishing.'

'She loves her dad, and so having to break that news to her was a huge distraught.'

In extending his message to Allen's family, Gleason also explained the meaning behind 'Ouncie Mitchell.'

'Ouncie got his name because he was born small,' Gleason said. 'He grew up to compete with a huge heart.'

Police said the incident was isolated and was related to a domestic dispute between Allen and Bagley with 'no threat to the public at this time.'

Bagley is currently being held at Salt Lake County Metro Jail without bond.

Detectives at the Salt Lake City Police Department are continuing to investigate.

Allen competed alongside his father, Demetrius 'Teaspoon' Mitchell, early into his bull-riding career. Mitchell said Allen first fell in love with the sport at 2 years old

Mitchell said he opposed Allen's mother, Laquita, suggesting their son participate in a 'mutton busting' competition: 'Do you know what you just did? You messed up everything, because I don't want him to ride bulls'

Before he became known as 'Ouncie Mitchell,' Allen shared his father's 'Teaspoon' nickname

Allen fist started bull-riding when he was 2 years old in Fresno, Texas. Before he was known as 'Ouncie,' he shared a nickname with his father, Demetrius 'Teaspoon' Mitchell.

His father recalled Allen entering in his first 'mutton busting' competition and said he did not want his son to become a bull rider, according to PBR.

'Are you crazy?' Mitchell remembers asking Allen's mother, Laquita. 'Do you know what you just did? You messed up everything, because I don't want him to ride bulls.'

Allen became a professional bull rider at 18 years old and qualified for the 2019 PBR World Finals that same year. He competed alongside his father at the Bill Pickett Invitational, a traditionally all-black rodeo, in 2021.

'It is amazing,' Mitchell said. 'What father wouldn't want to be with their child?

'He has been around it all my career since his mom entered him in the mutton busting. The boy wasn't even walking all the way when he got started.'

Allen first rode a steer at 5 years old and he credits his father with teaching him how to ride.

'I try to ride loose and cool and have fun,' Allen said. 'My dad used to always say, 'Forget the form and make the horn.' Whatever I have to do, just make it.'
Former President Donald Trump has amassed at least $99 million in the bank for his Save America PAC  a sum that gives him tremendous ability to help shape the Republican field, but that faces restrictions should he run for president.

Trump has yet to say he is an official candidate for president, giving him more flexibility in collecting and spending the funds. Under the current scenario, he has doled out money to fund 'election defense' for staffers who went before the House January 6 committee, funded presidential portraits, aided political allies.

His campaign cash haul is coming under new scrutiny, after revelations about dozens of grand jury subpoenas to Trump associates.

Sitting on top of more than $115 million across several political committees, Trump has positioned himself as a uniquely indomitable force in the GOP who would almost certainly have the resources to swamp his rivals if he launched another presidential campaign.

The money advantage matches his polling advantage on other Republicans, even as he faces a slew of investigations, including a Justice Department probe of national security documents uncovered at Mar-a-Lago.

Former President Donald Trump is sitting on top of more than $115 million across several political committees. His Save America PAC had $99 million in the bank at the end of July. But he can't simply transfer the funds to a campaign account should he run for president

But that massive pile of money is also emerging as a potential vulnerability. The Save America PAC is Trump's chief fundraising vehicles, while also serving as a public face for Trump's slashing attacks on his rivals.

Now, the PAC is under new legal scrutiny after the Justice Department issued a round of grand jury subpoenas that sought information about the political action committee's fundraising practices.

The scope of the probe is unclear. Grand jury subpoenas and search warrants issued by the Justice Department in recent days were related to numerous topics, including Trump's PAC, according to people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

The subpoenas seek records as well as testimony and ask at least some of the recipients about their knowledge of efforts to engage in election fraud, according to one of the people.

Trump has been using the PAC to fund his campaign-style rallies. But he has also used it to pay legal expenses for former aides testifying to the Jan. 6 panel

Dozens of grand jury subpoenas have gone out to Trump allies amid investigations of the election overturn effort. There are also indications Trump's fundraising is a focus for investigators. A November 19, 2020 photo shows the personal lawyer of US President Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, speaking at a press conference watched by Trump campaign advisor Boris Epshteyn (R), at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, DC

The subpoenas also ask for records of communication with Trump-allied lawyers who supported efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and plotted to line up fake electors in battleground states. A particular area of focus appears to be on the 'Save America Rally' that preceded the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, the person said.

That event came up again and again during hearings of the House Select Committee proving the events of that day.

Subpoenas have gone out to Trump-linked figures including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former campaign manger Bill Stepien, Trump advisors Boris Epshteyn and Mike Roman, according to the New York Times. Former speechwriter and White House aide Stephen Miller has also been subpoenaed.

The investigation is one of several criminal probes Trump currently faces, including scrutiny of how documents with classified markings wound up at the former president's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. Regardless of Save America's ultimate role in the investigations, the flurry of developments has drawn attention to the PAC's management, how it has raised money and where those funds have been directed.

Donald Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn seen arriving at Trump in 2016 (left) and Mike Roman, who was a Trump campaign strategist both had their cell phones seized by the DOJ

One thing Trump can't do is simply slide the funds into a presidential campaign.

'There's almost no restriction on it, because it's not campaign money. He cannot put it into his campaign, that's one thing he can't do with it ... but there's no rule, law, or regulation restricting the use of those funds,' elections expert Ken Gross told NPR.

Once Trump begins a campaign, he needs to raise funds through a campaign account, and he can't use the money for personal use.

He can also exploit gray areas of the law during a period when he can say he is merely 'testing the waters' of a presidential campaign, and use the funds to pay for the exploration.

California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren during a June Jan. 6 hearing called Trump's fundraising a 'rip-off' that 'misled' donors by claiming the funds would go to fight what Trump was claiming was election fraud.

'Throughout the committee's investigation, we found evidence that the Trump campaign and its surrogates misled donors as to where their funds would go and what they would be used for,' Ms. Lofgren said. 'So not only was there the big lie, there was the big rip-off.'

Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich slammed the subpoenas, saying a 'weaponized and politicized Justice Department' was 'casting a blind net to intimidate and silence Republicans who are fighting for his America First agenda.' Representatives for the Justice Department have declined to comment.

While Trump has more than $115 million held across various committees, the vast majority of it is stored at Save America. The PAC ended July with more than $99 million cash-on-hand, according to fundraising records  more than the Republican and Democratic national campaign committees combined.

Trump has continued to shovel up small-dollar donations in the months since, frustrating other Republicans who have been struggling to raise money ahead of the November midterm elections.

Save America is set up as a 'leadership PAC' designed to allow political figures to fundraise for other campaigns. But the groups are often used by would-be candidates to fund political travel, polling and staff as they 'test the waters' ahead of potential presidential runs. The accounts can also be used to contribute money to other candidates and party organizations, helping would-be candidates build political capital.

Much of the money Trump has amassed was raised in the days and weeks after the 2020 election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. That's when Trump supporters were bombarded with a nonstop stream of emails and texts, many containing all-caps lettering and blatant lies about a stolen 2020 election, soliciting cash for an 'election defense fund.'

But no such fund ever existed. Instead, Trump has dedicated the money to other uses. He's financed dozens of rallies, paid staff and used the money to travel as he's teased an expected 2024 presidential run.

Other expenses have been more unusual. There was the $1 million donated last year to the Conservative Partnership Institute, a nonprofit that employs Cleta Mitchell and former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, both of whom encouraged Trump's failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

There was the $650,000 'charitable contribution' in July to the Smithsonian Institution to help fund portraits of Trump and the former first lady that will one day hang in the National Portrait Gallery, according to the Smithsonian spokesperson Linda St. Thomas.

Much of the money has also funded a different sort of defense fund  one that has paid the legal expenses of Trump confidants and aides who have been called to testify before the Jan. 6 committee.

Overall, Trump's sprawling political operation has spent at least $8 million on 'legal consulting' and 'legal expenses' to at least 40 law firms since the insurrection, according to an analysis of campaign finance disclosures.

It's unclear how much of that money went to legal fees for staffers after a congressional committee started investigating the origins of the attack. But at least $1.1 million has been paid to Elections LLC, a firm started by former Trump White House ethics lawyer Stefan Passantino, according to campaign finance and business records.

An additional $1 million was paid to a legal trust housed at the same address as Passantino's firm. Passantino did not respond to a request for comment Monday night. Payments have also been made to firms that specialize in environmental regulation and real estate matters.
A judge refused to throw out a case in which a woman is accused of stalking her oncologist after an operation.

Lisa Addison, 50, is said to have bombarded Myles Smith with unwanted gifts and emails between April 1, 2020, and March 24 last year following an operation at the Royal Marsden hospital in Chelsea, west London.

A hearing was due to take place today at City of London Magistrates' Court to decide whether a Stalking Protection Order should be imposed.

But District Judge Louisa Cieciora adjourned the hearing because a bundle of evidence had only been submitted yesterday.

Criminal proceedings against Ms Addison were dismissed earlier this year after the Crown Prosecution Service dropped its case against her - though an interim stalking protection order is in place.

Sean Minihan, representing Ms Addison, argued stalking could not be proved in the Crown Court previously and that it would be wrong to impose a Stalking Protection Order now.

However the judge denied his request to throw the case out on the grounds of abuse of process.

Lisa Addison is alleged to have stalked oncologist Myles Smith (pictured) following a procedure at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea, west London, in 2020. Today, an appeal to throw out a Stalking Protection Order case was rejected

Mr Smith had been subjected to a 'barrage of communication' and has been under a great amount of 'upset and distress' due to receiving gifts and the personal nature of the cards contained within those gifts.

Mr Minihan said: 'We say that in the circumstances, the way that this has come about, the way they are trying to go behind what evidence suggests cannot be proved, the stalking elements which they would need to prove to this court is inherently unfair and, in our submission, undermines the integrity of the justice system.'

Mark O'Brien O'Reilly, representing the Met Police, responded: 'If Stalking Protection Orders are an abuse of process then every acquittal is an abuse of process.

'These are not criminal proceedings, they are civil. The point of imposing a Stalking Protection Order is to provide protection going forward.

'The questions you need to consider are very different questions to those which have to be considered in the context of criminal proceedings.'

The alleged stalking campaign began following a procedure carried out by Mr Smith at the Royal Marsden Hospital in west London (pictured)

District Judge Cieciora said: 'It seems this case has not gone as planned. I was disappointed to discover that the directions I set at the last hearing had not been complied with.

'I came back on Sunday and there was no bundle, checked again on Monday.

'Said bundle was uploaded on Monday after my prompting and I realised it was just shy of 1,000 pages. It was evident at that point I was not going to be able to read and digest the contents of that bundle for this hearing.'

She did not accept there had been an abuse of process and a new hearing for the evidence of stalking to be heard has been set for January 6 at Westminster Magistrates' Court with a preliminary hearing on December 16 at City of London Magistrates Court.

Addison, of Richmond, south west London, denies stalking and remains subject to an interim order that prohibits her from contacting Mr Smith, his wife Kara Heelan, or any other staff at Royal Marsden.

She is also prohibited from entering the hospital unless by appointment or through a genuine medical emergency.
A teenager who was allegedly kidnapped and raped was rescued by police after she secretly used a tracking app on her smartphone to reveal her location in Georgia.

The 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped at knifepoint by Dalton Ramsey, 28, after he convinced the teenager to meet him by offering to drive her to Pennsylvania to meet her boyfriend, police said.

Ramsey, who had met the victim online, allegedly detoured to B.T. Brown Reservoir in Coweta County, Georgia, on September 5 where he allegedly bound the girl's hands with tape before raping her whilst holding a knife to her throat, reports the Times Herald.

The suspect then allowed the victim, who is from Harris County, to use her phone and she quickly shared her location with her boyfriend before using the app Noonlight to alert authorities of where she was, Coweta County Sherriff's Office said.

Dalton Ramsey, 28, (pictured) allegedly raped the 17-year-old girl at knifepoint after he convinced the teenager to meet him by offering to drive her to Pennsylvania to meet her boyfriend, police said

Her boyfriend searched for the B.T. Brown Reservoir online and found an image of a sign warning people that an alligator had been sighted in the area before sending it to the victim

But the victim quickly used the app Noonlight to send a distress call, allowing the company to track her phone and alert authorities

What is the Noonlight app? The Noonlight app allows users to send a distress call, allowing the company to track their phone and alert the authorities. Once opened, the app asks users to hold down a circular button on their screen until they are safe. When the user is safe, they can release the button and enter their 4-digit passcode within a certain amount of time. But if a person is still in danger, they can release the button and not enter the passcode. In these cases, the Noonlight team contacts the police with the person's exact location and emergency. Advertisement

Her boyfriend searched for the B.T. Brown Reservoir online and found an image of a sign warning people that an alligator had been sighted in the area before sending it to the victim, reports Fox 5.

The victim confirmed that she had seen the sign outside the park, police said.

Ramsey, who was seen on CCTV pulling up outside the park in his grey sedan, then drove the girl along the highway.

But the victim quickly used the app Noonlight to send a distress call, allowing the company to track her phone and alert authorities.

Once the Noonlight app is opened, if the user does not type in a passcode within a certain amount of time, the app will try to contact them.

The girl managed to respond and type the word 'rape' and a description of Ramsey's car, meaning authorities were able to quickly track down the victim and the suspect.

Police in the nearby Habersham County pulled over Ramsey's car and rescued the teenager before arresting the suspect at around 5.20am on September 6, the morning after the victim was abducted.

The victim has since been reunited with her family.

Ramsey is currently in custody at Habersham County Sheriff's office where he is facing charges of kidnapping.

Once released from Habersham County, Ramsey will be transferred to Coweta County to face charges of rape, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a weapon and possession of a knife during the commission of a crime, police spokesman Toby Nix said.


First Lady Dr. Jill Biden said during a Tuesday morning television interview that she and President Joe Biden have not discussed him running for a second White House term.

Her claim is raising eyebrows considering the commander-in-chief's public eagerness to seek re-election.

Speaking with NBC's Today Show, the first lady admitted that being on the campaign trail is 'taxing.'

Asked if they'd talked about doing it again in 2024, Biden answered: 'Not yet.'

'We've been a little bit too busy - not yet,' she laughed. 'But I'm sure it'll be a discussion.'

She brushed off concerns about the grueling toll of campaigning with words of encouragement for her husband.

'Look at all Joe has done. He has kept true to what he said he would do. And so I think he just needs to keep going,' the first lady said.

But Biden's lack of a formal declaration has earned him an FEC complaint from watchdog group Americans for Public Trust.

'Their discussion(s) on the topic are irrelevant. Joe Biden and his proxies have already clearly stated that he's running in 2024,' the group stated in response to the NBC interview.

'He is now required by law to file - his failure to do so is why we have filed an FEC complaint against him.'

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden said she and her husband have not had time to discuss another White House race

Dr. Jill Biden says exclusively to TODAYs @SheinelleJones that President Biden and her have not talked yet about him running for a second term  but that she thinks he needs to just keep going. pic.twitter.com/4MXsBDXSAR  TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 13, 2022

At another point during the interview she called for teachers and parents to 'work together in their school districts' to 'decide what they want in their curriculum.

The subject of public school educations has become a culture war lightening rod ever since the COVID-19 pandemic upended the way students, parents and teachers approach learning.

'All books should be in the library. This is America, we don't ban books,' the first lady said.

The president bluntly expressed confidence in the prospect of another head-to-head against rival Donald Trump in a December 2021 interview.

'Why would I not run against Donald Trump as the nominee?' he told ABC World News Tonight. 'That would increase the prospect of running.'

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters more recently from her podium that the president intends to run again.

But not all Democrats appear to be on board, though overt signs of mutiny are normally rare this early in a president's first term.

Many cite his age as a concerning factor - Biden would be 81 years old on Election Day 2024.

Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, who is running for Senate against Trump-backed Republican JD Vance, said a new generation of leaders was needed when asked last week about Biden's 2024 prospects.

'My hunch is that we need new leadership across the board,' Ryan told local network WFMJ. 'Democrats, Republicans, I think it's time for a generational move.'

'The environment politically across the country is poisonous, and people I think want some change.'

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk with British ambassador Karen Pierce, right, and her husband Charles Roxburgh, permanent secretary of HM Treasury of United Kingdom, at the British Embassy in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022

Some recent forecasts show Democrats favored to maintain control of the Senate, after a series of wins in Congress. But not all candidates welcome Biden's campaigning support.

Wisconsin Democratic Senate hopeful Mandela Barnes, the state's current lieutenant governor, opted not to appear alongside Biden during a Labor Day speech last week. His campaign told DailyMail.com at the time that Barnes was engaged in other activities celebrating American workers throughout the state.

In Pennsylvania, progressive Senate candidate and lieutenant governor John Fetterman spoke with Biden on Labor Day but did not join him at an earlier Key Stone State event.

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat running for governor, appeared with Biden in Wilkes-Barre but did not on Labor Day.

But Biden is still backed by his own vice president, Kamala Harris, who said on Sunday that she would 'proudly' run with him in 2024.

'Listen, the president has been very clear that he intends to run again,' Harris said. 'And if he does, I will be running with him proudly.'
A nuclear-capable B-52 bomber is roaming the skies over Britain after emitting an emergency squawk.

The US Air Force jet, coded SPICY22, took off from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire earlier today before it began to circle in a constant loop after issuing an emergency Squawk 7700 code - thought to be because one of the bomber's engines has failed.

The jet is currently covering a path which takes in the northern end of Gloucester, Churchdown, Bishop's Cleeve, Newent, Tewkesbury and Cheltenham. It is understood that it is in a loop so that it can burn off fuel before it can land again, according to local reports.

B-52 bombers were deployed to Fairford this year in response to Putin's barbaric invasion of Ukraine.

A nuclear-capable B-52 bomber is roaming the skies over Britain

The jet is currently covering a path which takes in the northern end of Gloucester, Churchdown, Bishop's Cleeve, Newent, Tewkesbury and Cheltenham. It is understood that it is in a loop so that it can burn off fuel before it can land again

The US Air Force jet, coded SPICY22, took off from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire earlier today before it began to circle in a constant loop after issuing an emergency Squawk 7700 code - thought to be because one of the bomber's engines has failed

They have regularly been used in training and reconnaissance missions over Europe alongside other NATO powers

Having returned to the US, the bombers made their way back to Fairford in August and remain based there.

Residents on the ground in Gloucester have described the 'very loud' rumble of the bomber as it flies over the city.

B-52 bombers were deployed to Fairford this year in response to Putin's invasion of Ukraine

File image of plane fans watching a B-52 bomber arriving at RAF Fairford

MailOnline has contacted the Ministry of Defence for further information.

Brand new F35s and U2 spy planes were also spotted arriving at the airfield earlier this year.

The latter can cruise at 70,000ft and are used for intelligence gathering. The former are based over at Lakenheath.
Tony Blair today recalled how the Queen reminded him of her long reign after he became prime minister - by pointing out she met with Winston Churchill before the former Labour leader was born.

Mr Blair, who was in Downing Street for a decade from 1997, spoke to US television about the monarch, including his 'surprise' at her death.

He revealed she had been 'warm and humorous' when they had last met, but he said she had been physically frail and ''a problem with her leg'.

Talking to NBC's Today show, he said: 'She was on great form. She had a problem with her leg, physically, and she was obviously frail - she was 96.

'But in terms of how she was she was in amazing form. She was warm and humorous. She kept a very keen and sharp eye on the country and how it was changing and what its people thought right up until the end.'

Discussing their first meeting after he won his landslide 1997 election victory, he added: 'When I was appointed PM I remember she said to me. Her first words to me ''my first prime minister was Winston [Churchill] and that was before you were born''. She had this extraordinary grip on history.'

Asked if that put him in his place he said 'it did a bit'.

Mr Blair, who was in Downing Street for a decade from 1997, spoke to US television about the monarch, including his 'surprise' at her death.

He revealed she had been 'warm and humorous' when they had last met, but he said she had been physically frail and ''a problem with her leg'.

.@SavannahGuthrie sat down with Sir Tony Blair to talk about his final recent meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, what he learned about her privately, remembering the Queens legacy, and more. pic.twitter.com/cdtLgmEecn  TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 13, 2022

Discussing their first meeting after he won his landslide 1997 election victory, he added: 'When I was appointed PM I remember she said to me. Her first words to me ''my first prime minister was Winston [Churchill] and that was before you were born''.'

He continued: 'It was so strange to me because as a child I remember standing in the street and waving my little flag as she drove by.

'For someone of my generation she was all we had known and we had grown up with her and therefore when you are suddenly her prime minister it's a pretty humbling moment.'

Sir Winston was in his second term as prime minister when the Queen ascended tot he throne in 1952. He was the first of 15 premiers she met weekly throughout her 70-year reign.

Sir Winston quit power in 1955 due to ill health, just three years into her reign, and died in in 1965. He was the last non-royal to receive a state funeral.

Born during the reign of Victoria, the man who won World War II was almost 80 when the 25-year-old Elizabeth became Queen, and regarded her with grandfatherly affection.

He proclaimed a new 'Elizabethan Age' when she became Queen, while she offered to make him Duke of London.

Their weekly meetings were so successful that they often ran for two hours, with the unlikely couple laughing and gossiping about horse racing.

One courtier confided that their meetings were 'punctuated by peals of laughter, and Winston generally came out wiping his eyes'.

Asked, decades later, which of her PMs she had most enjoyed meeting, the Queen reportedly replied: 'Winston, of course, because it was always such fun.'

Churchill made no secret of his adulation for the Queen. He told a friend that 'all the film people in the world, if they had scoured the globe, could not have found anyone so suited to the part'.
The former top prosecutor in New York has accused the Palace and British establishment of 'protecting' Prince Andrew from his investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

In a bombshell memoir published days before the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, Geoffrey Berman said he got 'absolutely nowhere' with his efforts to bring her favorite son to justice over his links to the pedophile financier.

Berman, the former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, writes that Andrew's lawyers brushed off his requests for an interview by saying they would 'consider it.'

He claims that even Scotland Yard did not help when he formally requested assistance in relation to the Duke, though they were normally very cooperative.

Berman's conclusion was that 'someone' was rebuffing his efforts to save Andrew from having to answer questions about allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old Epstein victim.

Former top prosecutor Geoffrey Berman says he got 'absolutely nowhere' with his efforts to bring Prince Andrew to justice over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein

Berman, the former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, writes in his new book that Andrew's lawyers brushed off his requests for an interview. Berman is seen announcing charges against Epstein in 2019

Epstein and Prince Andrew are pictured walking in Central Park in New York in 2010. The Duke has been forced to retreat from public life due to his association with Epstein

The timing of Berman's memoir could complicate the already thorny arrangements for Andrew's role in his mother, Queen Elizabeth's, funeral.

The Duke has been forced to retreat from public life due to his association with Epstein, but he will be present on Monday for the service in honor of his mother.

Andrew has reportedly been banned from wearing military uniform and has already been shouted at by one heckler as he followed his mother's coffin to St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh.

His new memoir Holding the Line: Inside the Nation's Preeminent US Attorney's Office and Its Battle with the Trump Justice Department is out now

Berman served in his office until June 2020 when he was fired by Donald Trump - Berman claims for refusing to investigate the former President's enemies.

In Holding the Line: Inside the Nation's Preeminent US Attorney's Office and Its Battle with the Trump Justice Department Berman writes that he 'does not normally mention anyone's name in relation to an ongoing investigation' but Andrew was an 'exception.'

The Duke's sparring with Berman began in November 2019 when Andrew gave a 'disastrous' interview to the BBC about his association with Epstein.

Epstein was arrested in August that year and Andrew was under fire over claims from Virginia Roberts that she was trafficked to him three times for sex when she was 17.

Andrew issued a press statement saying that he would be willing to help with any law enforcement inquiries and said the same to the BBC.

But Berman writes that he quickly became frustrated after he asked two of his prosecutors to contact Andrew's people to set up an interview.

They spent 'two weeks just trying to find out who his lawyers were,' Berman writes.

He writes: 'We tried calling Buckingham Palace and they were not helpful. We tried the Department of Justice attache and State Department, no luck. When we finally got his lawyers, they had all these questions.

'What kind of interview will it be? Are there any protections? Is there this? Is there that? And we kept answering, and all that led to further questions and they're saying you know 'We'll consider it'.

Berman writes that it was an 'endless email exchange and it was clear we were getting the runaround'.

The book states: 'He was not going to sit down for an interview with us, despite assuring the public he was ready, willing and able to cooperate'.

Berman claims that 'someone' was trying to save Andrew from having to answer questions about allegedly having sex with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts. Andrew, Virginia and Ghislaine Maxwell are seen in 2001

'Prince Andrew clearly knew Epstein and Maxwell. He was on the island. He was at the mansion in New York. He was in London with them. We had a lot of questions for him and those questions remained unanswered,' Berman says. Andrew and Maxwell are pictured in 2000

In January 2020 Berman was asked at a press conference outside Epstein's mansion about Andrew's help in the investigation. He replied there had been 'zero cooperation.'

Berman's comments brought Andrew's lawyers 'to the table again.'

He writes: 'But it was more of the same. Repetitive emails back and forth with no commitment on his part. We said that if they are serious about cooperating just name the time and place and we will be there. The lawyers never did'.

Berman writes that he 'does not normally mention anyone's name in relation to an ongoing investigation' but Andrew was an 'exception'

Berman says they were 'getting nowhere' so decided to 'compel' Andrew to speak with them by seeking an MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty'=) request through the State Department, which stands for .

An MLAT is an agreement between countries to help each other in criminal investigations.

Berman writes that because of his 'very good relations' with Scotland Yard they 'almost always got what we asked' with an MLAT request.

He writes: 'But that's not what happened with Prince Andrew. We got absolutely nowhere. Were they protecting him? I assume someone was'.

A war of words escalated between both sides and Andrew's lawyers accused Berman of 'seeking publicity rather than accepting the assistance proffered' in a June 2020 statement.

Berman writes: 'Just to be clear. There was no assistance proffered. The prince offered to send us some kind of written statement but that's not how we do investigations, even for British royals.

'Prince Andrew clearly knew Epstein and Maxwell. He was on the island. He was at the mansion in New York. He was in London with them. We had a lot of questions for him and those questions remained unanswered'.

According to Berman, then Attorney General Bill Barr phoned him after he made his zero cooperation remarks to congratulate him.

Barr supposedly said: 'I really liked your comments on Prince Andrew. Could you keep it up?'

The Duke's sparring with Berman began in November 2019 when Andrew gave a 'disastrous' interview to the BBC about his association with Epstein

Andrew was known as The Queen's favorite son. They are pictured in 2019 during the Trooping The Colour before he was stripped of his military titles

Berman writes that Barr saw the Andrew situation as a 'chit' in a dispute with the UK over Anne Sacoolas, the American wife of a CIA agent who had killed a British teenager near the military base in the UK where her husband was working.

Sacoolas crashed head on into 17-year-old Harry Dunn while driving on the wrong side of the road and fled the country, claiming diplomatic immunity.

Britain wanted Sacoolas extradited to face a criminal trial but the Trump administration refused.

Berman writes: 'Barr told me the public rift over Prince Andrew's refusal to sit for an interview was useful in this other case.

'It inflicted PR damage, was my impression, and made it more palatable for the administration to hold firm', apparently referring to its refusal to extradite Sacoolas.

Berman said that this seemed 'questionable' but it 'did not affect' his approach to Andrew, who even today has still not given an interview to prosecutors.

Last year Roberts, a mother of three who lives in Australia under her married name, Giuffre, sued Andrew in New York for sex abuse in a civil case which caused him further embarrassment.

Her lawyers spent weeks trying to serve the Duke who eventually settled the case for a reported $12m.

Andrew is said to have been discussing a possible return to public life with The Queen before her death, but faces strong public opposition from doing so.
A 16-year-old who was found dead after being 'groomed' by county lines drug dealers feared 'dangerous men' were hunting him down after police arrested him and seized his drugs, an inquest heard today.

Ben Nelson-Roux, until recently a pupil of St Aidan's Church of England High School in Harrogate, was forced to deal Class A drugs, including crack cocaine, in cities including York and Sheffield, the hearing heard.

He was tragically found dead at a hostel for homeless adults in April 2020 after warnings from his psychologist that 'something terrible would happen to him' if he did not get proper help.

Ben Nelson-Roux, with his mother, Kate, was found dead at a hostel for homeless adults in April 2020. Kate had built an annex for him to stay in at home

Ben's devastated mother, Kate Roux, told how she discovered her son had been lying dead on his bed all day at his hostel despite her repeated warnings he was vulnerable and at risk.

The businesswoman, from Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, said that on the day of the tragic discovery, April 8, 2020, she was due to have a Skype meeting with Ben and a psychologist in London.

She said: 'I went to the hostel to pick him up and take him out for something to eat. But when she arrived she was told by staff that her son had ''gone out''.

'I banged on his door again and I got no reply. I kicked the door in with the help of an unknown male. I entered the flat. Ben was on his back on the bed, fully dressed.

'I rang 999. I was told to start chest compressions. After a short time, paramedics arrived and took over. But they stopped working on him because it was obvious he was dead.'

Asked by Coroner Jonathan Heath when she had last spoken to her son, she said she last heard from Ben at 9.55pm the night before - Tuesday April 7 - when she rang him.

'He sounded happy,' she recalled. 'He said he had managed to get hold of some cannabis and had split up from his girlfriend.'

The hearing heard Mrs Roux, a massage therapist and Tai Chai teacher who runs Pendulum Holistic Therapies, had built a special annex at her home for Ben to live in.

North Yorkshire Police said they were aware of people gathering at the annex to smoke drugs and had been keeping a close eye on it.

But Ben's behaviour had become so 'chaotic and risk taking lifestyle' had led to increased drug taking and suicide attempts over Xmas 2019, according to reports read by consultant psychologist David Loveday-Sims to an earlier hearing.

He had started smoking cannabis aged 12 but his favourite drug by this time was said to be ecstasy, Mr Loveday-Sims added.

Reports by substance misuse workers also stated: 'He felt his life had little meaning and he was wasting his time. He is aware the problem exists but has no commitment to action.

'He states he hates the police because when he was arrested last time he was stripped naked and placed in a special suite.

'He hates his family getting caught up with his drug abuse. It was clear he would not ask for help and realistically could not help himself.'

Ben's behaviour had become so 'chaotic and risk taking lifestyle' had led to increased drug taking and suicide attempts over Xmas 2019, according to his phycologist

His goals were described as 'routinekeeping out of debt. It was clear he had no plans to harm himself or kill himself.'

The hearing was told the teenager's main concern was not getting into debt. He had repeatedly blamed drug debts for his serial shop lifting and other offending.

Mr Loveday-Sims interviewed Ben shortly before his death when he insisted 'he was not a slave to anyone'.

'He agreed he needed more structure but added he was only 16 and has time to get his life together' the psychologist added.

'Who is responsible for the health and safety of a 16 year old who lots of agencies are trying to assist? It is not entirely clear who is responsible. He said he needed housing - and justice.'

He told the hearing he feared 'something terrible would happen' to Ben, a reluctant mental health patient, unless the lad got the help his parents were seeking,

But he agreed his condition did not warrant the use of powers under the Mental Health Act despite the concerns about him being housed in a hostel for homeless adults.

On his final encounter with Ben's mother, he said: 'I agreed with Mrs Roux his accommodation posed a significant risk to Ben. But there were no current grounds to detain or treat Ben under the Mental Health Act.'

The youngster had been interviewed by Special Branch officers in the months before his death but North Yorkshire Police have been so far unable to explain why.
Vice President Kamala Harris announced last April that the U.S. will no longer conduct direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) missile tests. She specifically mentioned the effect of these tests, which creates orbital debris.

And now, the U.S. is currently hoping that other countries will follow suit in prohibiting ASAT missile launches globally.

Harris Said the U.S. Will Ban ASAT Missile Tests

In a speech on Apr. 18 at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the U.S. Vice President and Chairwoman of the National Space Council stated that the country will prohibit ASAT missile testing that produces orbital debris, according to Space News.

The White House-led interagency National Space Council coordinates commercial, civil, and national security space activities.

In an effort to kick off a global movement to establish new norms for responsible behavior in space, the U.S. has self-imposed a restriction on testing ASAT weapons.

According to Harris, the U.S. will collaborate with business leaders and partners to take the lead in the creation of new policies that support the long-term sustainability and safety of space activities.

Russia and China Carried Out ASAT Missile Tests

One of the most urgent dangers to the safety and sustainability of space is believed to be tests like those undertaken by China in 2007 and Russia in November 2021.

Russia's missile strike on its own defunct satellite on Nov. 15 in low Earth orbit was widely criticized for being reckless and dangerous since it left behind a massive cloud of at least 1,500 pieces of debris.

Meanwhile, Harris pointed out that the 2007 test by China left behind 2,800 pieces of debris.

These debris are critical for space exploration since they might put future human spaceflight and orbiting satellites in danger.

In fact, the International Space Station's astronauts and cosmonauts were forced to look for shelter as a result of this incident.

In line with the crucial implications of ASAT missile testing, Harris said that using such technology to destroy satellite is "reckless and irresponsible."

Read More: Russian Satellite Was Hit By Destroyed Chinese Satellite

The U.S. Is Planning To Introduce a U.N. Resolution To Ban ASAT Missile Tests

Harris said during his speech at the National Space Council meeting on Sept. 9 that the U.S. will present a resolution to the UN General Assembly asking other nations to stop ASAT missile testing. In other words, the U.S. is now hoping that other countries will follow suit and ban ASAT missile tests globally, according to a report by Gizmodo.

Harris said "later this month, the United States will introduce a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly to call on other nations to make the same commitment."

According to Gizmodo, it's possible that the decision to prohibit ASAT missile tests indicates the U.S.'s growing concern over its space assets. The publication specifically mentioned the ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Russia.

Related Article: ISS Accident: Russian Anti-Satellite Missile Explodes; Astronauts Find Shelter in SpaceX Crew Dragon
Following the initial response, Anya doubled down on her comment and called the Queen a representative of 'white womanhood' and worse

The Carnegie Mellon professor who wished the late Queen an 'excruciatingly painful' death, said her job at the prestigious university is safe despite her outrageous sentiments.

'From what I've been told, there is no plan to sanction or fire me, and my job is not in jeopardy. My university leadership showed very clearly they did not approve of my speech; however, they stand in firm support of my freedom of expression on my personal social media,' wrote Uju Anya, an applied-linguistics professor at the Pittsburgh college, in a Monday evening Twitter thread.

'I am not in battle with Carnegie Mellon University. As the letters of support from the students, faculty, staff, and others in my university community clearly show, I am wanted and I belong here.'

After learning of the dire state of the Queen's health last Thursday, Anya tweeted, 'I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.'

The Queen's death at age 96 was announced later that same day.

Anya now says she does not believe her employer - Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - has any interest in retaliating against her for voicing her extensive criticism of the Queen and the Crown

Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022 at the age of 96. The monarch will be honored throughout the week, leading up to her state funeral on September 19

Though Carnegie Mellon expressed disapproval toward Anya's sentiments, it appears the university will not sanction the linguistics professor meaningfully

She added that she has received ample support from her academic community, proving to her that she is where she 'belongs'

Anya disparaged the British ruler on Twitter as she was in her final hours in Scotland.

'If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star.'

After backlash against her tweet - including Twitter removing it from the site - Anya told NBC that her father is from Trinidad and her father is from Nigeria. She described herself as 'a child of colonization' whose perspective on the monarchy was shaped by the Civil War in her father's country of origin.

'Rebuilding still hasn't finished today,' she told the outlet, adding that Queen Elizabeth II represented 'the cult of white womanhood.'

She continued, 'There's this notion that she was this little-old-lady grandma type with her little hats and her purses and little dogs and everything, as if she inhabited this place or this space in the imaginary, this public image, as someone who didn't have a hand in the bloodshed of her Crown.'

The linguistics professor's controversial tweet immediately received significant backlash online as news broke that Queen Elizabeth II's health was in dire straits last Thursday

From the outset, Anya was firm in her position of angst and anger toward the Queen and the institution of which she was emblematic

Despite the statement Carnegie Mellon put out distancing itself from what it called Anya's 'offensive and objectionable' messages, the university has now evidently informed Anya there will be no further action from them.

A letter written by university students defending Anya read, 'Public condemnation of her tweet provides no institutional protection from violence and places her in a precarious position, ignoring a long history of institutional racism and colonialism.

'Rejecting calls for 'civility' that are frequently leveraged against the marginalized to silence dissent, we express our solidarity with Dr. Anya and reject the tone-policing of those with legitimate grievances,' it continued, providing cover for the professor's bitter words.

Anya has continued her campaign of hatred toward the late Queen and the monarchy in the wake of Her Majesty's death, telling The Cut magazine that the Queen represented 'the cult of white womanhood'

Anya thanked those who have supported her as she's faced massive backlash online. 'You showed me something very important: I have people.'

In an interview with New York Magazine's The Cut, Anya further defended her position.

'Even the crowns she wears are looted, plundered from the lands they exploited and extracted from. The entire treasury is a legacy of thievery that was achieved by murder, by enslavement, and it didnt stop after independence,' she said.

The Cut is the same outlet that, just weeks earlier, ran a lengthy cover-story about Meghan Markle, her life with Harry, their decision to leave England, and their precarious roles within the monarchy.

In the extensive spread, Markle, who is currently in the UK with Harry at least through the late Queen's State Funeral on September 19, said she and Harry were 'upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy ... just by existing.'

Anya continued to defend herself in an interview with New York Magazine's The Cut, the same outlet that weeks before ran an extensive cover story on Meghan Markle and her new life away from the rules and regulations of the monarchy

Harry and Meghan are expected to remain in the United Kingdom at least through September 19, when the Queen's state funeral will be held

In her interview with the outlet, Anya also claimed that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, 'incited violence against me.'

In response to her first Tweet, Bezos wrote to his 5.1 million Twitter followers, 'This is someone supposedly working to make the world better? I don't think so. Wow.'

'He rarely tweets in his own voice, but he took the time to single me out when literally half the planet rejoiced over the news,' she said.

Anya claims Bezos singled her out because she recently met with Chris Smalls, the young black man who led efforts to unionize Amazon.

Bezos surprised observers last week when he weighed in on Anya's controversial tweet, criticizing her overtly hostile tone directed at the ailing monarch
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The tragedy was the first deadly kangaroo attack in Australia since 1936

Occurred in WA's Great Southern Region, home to the western grey kangaroo

Kangaroo shot dead by police after it posed threat to emergency responders

An elderly man who was savagely killed by his pet kangaroo in the first deadly attack in 86 years, was a respected and loving alpaca farmer.

Peter Eades, 77, was found by a relative at his property in Redmond, near Albany in Western Australia's Great Southern region, suffering serious injuries at about 5pm on Sunday.

Police were called to assist after the kangaroo became aggressive and prevented paramedics from accessing Mr Eades injuries, and he tragically died at the scene.

Peter Eades, 77, was found by a relative at his property in Redmond, near Albany in Western Australia 's Great Southern region, suffering serious injuries at about 5pm on Sunday

'The kangaroo was posing an ongoing threat to emergency responders and the attending officers were required to euthanize the kangaroo by firearm,' a spokesman said.

Emergency services are yet to release specific details of the Mr Eades' injuries.

According to The West, Mr Eades started the Agonis Alpaca stud in Albany back in 1997.

In 2017, Mr Eades said: 'I think they're the most beautiful animal in the world... They're very curious, they're very affectionate, they're very homely animals.'

He created an alpaca cemetery on his property after his favourite alpaca Claudia Wonninup died in 2002.

The fatal kangaroo attack occurred in Redmond, less than 30km from Albany

Mr Eades had dug a hole next to Claudia's grave and revealed that he desired to be buried next to her.

The last fatal attack was in 1936 when hunter William Cruickshank, 38, tried to rescue his two dogs from a fight with a kangaroo in Hillston in western NSW.

He suffered a broken jaw and extensive head injuries and later died in hospital.

The Great Southern region is home to the western grey kangaroo, which can grow to be about 70 kilograms and 97 to 223 centimetres from head to tail.
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Her father-in-law blinded her by throwing acid on her face, but Masume Attaie, 39, has started a new life as model, to show her beauty.

She does not want to be defined only as someone blinded by an act of evil. She wants to be known as an artist and model.

She never got justice for the brutal attack 12 years ago that left her permanently disfigured. Her father-in-law threw acid in her face because she had sought a divorce from her husband, but under Iran's Islamic law, her two eyes were worth only one of his.

Iranian fashion designer Amen Hadem hires acid attack victims as models to reintegrate them into society, saying that people who are still beautiful even after being doused with acid add beauty to the clothes.

The 39-year-old Iranian never got justice for the brutal attack 12 years ago that left her permanently disfigured. Her father-in-law threw acid in her face because she had sought a divorce, but under Iran's Islamic law, her two eyes were worth only one of his.

At the end, the family threatened that the same punishment would befall her son if she pressed charges. 'I chose my son over justice,' she said

She has joined a group of other victims of acid attacks as model to show their inside and outside beauty to the outside world. She makes pottery, sculpted bowls and statuettes as well

Acid attacks are excruciating assaults used in many countries to rob women of their looks. In Iran where volunteer militia operate as the self-appointed guardians of Islamic behavior, local media suggested there may have been twice as many attacks as officially confirmed.

At the end, the family threatened that the same punishment would befall her son if she pressed charges. 'I chose my son over justice,' she said.

Ataei said in an interview: 'Perhaps facial beauty of a woman is all she has got. When that is destroyed, it is very difficult for a person to come to terms with it and return to the society once again.'

A spate of attacks in 2014 triggered protests and claims the culprits were targeting women wearing 'immodest' clothing.

The most infamous case came in 2011 when a young woman, Ameneh Bahrami, was blinded by a man after rejecting his offer of marriage.

Public pressure meant the courts granted her full retribution, ordering him to be blinded in both eyes, though she spared him at the last moment.

An Iranian filmmaker has made a film based on the same story. The film is titled 'Lantory.'

Ataei said in an interview: 'perhaps facial beauty of a woman is all she has got. When that is destroyed, it is very difficult for a person to come to terms with it and return to the society once again'

Acid attacks are excruciating assaults used in many countries to rob women of their looks. In Iran where volunteer militia operate as the self-appointed guardians of Islamic behavior, local media suggested there may have been twice as many attacks as officially confirmed.

Dozens of women in Iran have been attacked with acid in recent years by family members or presumably by hardline supporters of the Islamic Republic and compulsory hijab. Iranian health ministry's statistics puts acid attacks at 60 to 70 cases every year.

Iranian Parliament passed a legislation in 2019 that approved death sentence for perpetrators of 'acid attacks aimed at bringing about terror and instability in the society.'

The legislation was marked as a victory for acid attack victims campaign.

Iranian fashion designer Amen Hadem hires acid attack victims as models to reintegrate them into society, saying that people who are still beautiful even after being doused with acid add beauty to the clothes

Special Police units are often deployed in Iran's cities to enforce the hijab, pulling aside women they consider to be overly made-up or allowing their hair to spill out from underneath the obligatory headscarf.

This behavior sometimes triggers some radical youths, mostly members of Basij, to 'act at will' and throw acid on those women's faces they consider them in non-Islamic or western clothes.

The Basij (Persian for mobilization) is a large paramilitary organisation with multifaceted roles, and acts as what they call as the eyes and ears of the Islamic regime. They have presence at schools, universities, state and private institutions, factories, and even among tribal areas in southern Iran.

A spate of attacks in 2014 triggered protests and claims the culprits were targeting women wearing 'immodest' clothing. The most infamous case came in 2011 when a young woman, Ameneh Bahrami, was blinded by a man after rejecting his offer of marriage

'We must make the social environment unsafe for these people.  We can't let them simply break the norms in streets and parks,' said a cleric, referring to Iranian women who violate the Islamic Republic's mandatory dress code known as hijab

Special police units are often deployed in Iran's cities to enforce the hijab, pulling aside women they consider to be overly made-up or allowing their hair to spill out from underneath the obligatory headscarf. This behavior sometimes triggers some radical youths, mostly members of Basij, to 'act at will' and throw acid on those women's faces they consider them in non-Islamic or western clothes.

Though officials have denied links with these militant groups that conducting the acid attacks, there is an overlap between their activities and that of the Basij, wish is overseen by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In some occasion, Islamic clerics are motivate people to throw acid on women faces.

'We must make the social environment unsafe for these people.  We can't let them simply break the norms in streets and parks,' Ayatollah Yousef Tabatabai, friday prayer's Imam of central Isfaham province said, referring to Iranian women who violate the Islamic Republic's mandatory dress code known as hijab.

'We should have no fear in facing those norm breakers,' the cleric added.

In a stronger statement from supreme leader Ali Khamenei in 2017, he introduced the phrase of 'atash-beh-ekhtiar,' the Persian word for 'fire at will' or 'act at will'. Under this concept, Khamenei advised 'revolutionary youth', like members if Basij not to wait for orders but rather to act independently on cultural and social problems.

Supreme leader Ali Khamenei in 2017 he introduced the phrase of 'atash-beh-ekhtiar,' the Persian equivalent for 'fire at will' or 'act at will'. Under this concept, Khamenei advised 'revolutionary youth', like members if Basij not to wait for orders but rather to act independently on cultural and social problems.
A Venezuelan teenage migrant's journey to the United States-Mexico border endured a heartbreaking moment when he had to separate himself from the pet dog who accompanied him on his long journey.

Brayan Pinto, 18, and his small fluffy white dog, Brandy, traveled through several Central and South America countries, a treacherous tropical jungle in Panama, and all the way north through Mexico in order to seek asylum with the United States government.

Brandy was given to Pinto two years ago by his mother before she passed away.

'Leaving her is like leaving a family member, like leaving a sister, a son on this side,' Pinto said.

The petite pooch and Pinto, along with his uncles, walked across a shallow part of the Rio Grande to turn themselves over to the U.S. Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, on Sunday when he learned that he could not do so with Brandy in tow.

Venezuelan national Brayan Pinto, 18, hugs his pet dog Brandy after he walked from El Paso, Texas to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on Sunday to leave his pooch with a local photographerHe nestled his face into her curly fur for a final farewell before turning himself in

Brayan Pinto received his pet dog Brandy two years ago as a gift from his mother before she passed away in their native home of Venezuela. The dog kept Pinto company as he made the long journey north to reach Texas

Pinto then walked back over to Ciudad Juarez in order to find the dog a temporary home. There, he came across Carlos Sanchez, a photographer with the local newspaper El Diario de Juarez and father of two girls, who agreed to open his home to Brandy while Pinto finds a way to be reunited.

'They tell me that I have to leave her, because you can't cross to the other side, that they do a lot of helping us to help the puppies too,' Pinto said, as quoted by El Diario de Juarez.

In an email statement to DailyMail.com, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that the agency follows guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in admitting dogs and other pets into the United States.

According to the CDC, 'all dogs must appear healthy upon arrival. Dogs that arrive sick or injured will be required to undergo veterinary examination and testing at the importer's expense to rule out diseases that can spread to people.'

Dogs are required to be vaccinated against rabies if they are brought from one of the high-risk countries.

'If the pet's owner is an inadmissible noncitizen in DHS custody and an animal's owner does not transfer possession to family or friends, U.S. Customs and Border Protection works with local officials from animal health services, such as a local humane shelter, to see if there can be placement for the animal while its owner remains in custody,' CBP said in a statement.

Pinto's relationship with Brandy strengthened after his mother gifted him the dog - a mix of Pekingese and toy poodle - before her death two years ago. Since then, Brandy has become his emotional support pet.

Brayan Pinto, an 18-year-old migrant from Venezuela, says goodbye to his dog Brandy after crossing the Rio Grande to turn himself in to U.S. Border Patrol agents to request asylum in El Paso, Texas

Venezuelan migrant Brayan Pinto and family members were joined by his pet dog Brandy for the journey that took them through Central and South America before reaching the United States-Mexico border

Venezuelan migrant Brayan Pinto (center) left Brandy with Carlos Sanchez (right), a photographer with the El Diario de Juarez newspaper. Pinto says he will make arrangements to be reunited with his pet in New York once his asylum process is being handled by U.S. immigration authorities

Pinto and family members started documenting their odyssey to the southern United States border region in August when they opened a TikTok account for his dog.

The account, under the user handle of @brandysp_, highlighted the group's trip across Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala.

TikTok videos show Brandy walking with his human family, playing with other dogs and sitting patiently on long bus rides.

Pinto recalled the most grueling part of their journey - a nine-day trek through the notoriously dangerous Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia.

He sadly put Brandy into the arms of Sanchez and nestled his face into her curly fur for a final farewell before turning himself in.

U.S. Border Patrol agents have reported 128,556 encounters with Venezuelan migrants who have crossed the United States-Mexico border without legal documents in fiscal year 2022

Pinto is among the nearly 7 million Venezuelans who have left their homeland since 2014, when an economic crisis took hold of the country of some 28 million people.

The majority have gone to nearby nations in Latin America and the Caribbean, while others have risked their lives by crossing the United States-Mexico border.

The huge migration slowed as the pandemic cut economic opportunities and complicated travel across the region and as Venezuela's socialist government adopted reforms that slowed the country's economic free-fall and gave some appearance of revival.

About 150,000 Venezuelans returned to their homeland at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, according to United Nations' estimates, and some host countries reported a decline in the overall count of Venezuelan immigrants for the first time in years.

According to CBP data, U.S. Border Patrol agents have reported 128,556 encounters with Venezuelan migrants who have crossed the United States-Mexico border without legal documents in fiscal year 2022 - which spans from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022.

A total of 48,678 interdictions were documented in fiscal year 2021 after only 2,787 encounters were registered in fiscal year 2020.
A millionaire dentist and his father have been jailed in France for performing thousands of unnecessary procedures - but they're not the ones making headlines.

Instead, the internet's attention has focused on the policewoman walking Lionel Guedj and dad Carnot into court and her Kim Kardashian-like posterior.

'We need to get to the bottom of this', quipped one observer, while another wrote that she 'has backup for days' - amid plenty of jokes about 'police bootality'.

Others considered resorting to crime in order to meet her, with one writing: 'Someone please give me the name of this district, I need to be arrested.'

A French policewoman (left) has gone viral after her Kardashian-esque posterior caught attention during the jailing of two con-artist dentists

Some even began to doubt whether the officer was real, or had in fact been photoshopped to get attention.

But internet sleuths quickly discovered video of her walking the Guedjs into court and confirmed she is genuine.

Kim Kardashian is pictured at the CFDA Fashion Awards in New York in 2018

'Does anyone know her,' user rafael6969 asked Reddit. 'I'm still lookin,' was the reply.

Once inside the courtroom, 41-year-old Guedj was jailed for eight years for performing unnecessary procedures on thousands of poor patients in Marseilles.

Seeing up to 70 patients per day from 2006 to 2012, he would hastily perform root canal treatments on patients who came in for fillings.

He would then claim the money back through social security, raking in millions of pounds per year.

At the peak of his malpractice, he was Europe's highest-earning dentist - taking home 2.9million in 2010.

The court heard he owned a Ferrari, a 700,000 yacht, and paintings by Warhol.

He also amassed a property empire with three flats in Paris, two in the Alps and a whole block in Perpignan in the south of France.

Meanwhile many of his patients developed serious problems that included chronic pain and teeth falling out due to his botched work.

'I had lost half my teeth by the time I was 45, and at 55 I no longer had any, only implants,' said Ouassila, who declined to give her full name, ahead of the ruling.

Social media users were quick to crack jokes, with some suggesting they were willing to go to jail for the chance to meet her

The court found them guilty of mutilating more than 300 patients, killing the nerves inside almost 4,000 teeth in the process.

Father Carnot, who is also a dentist and worked for his son, was jailed for five years.

Lionel and Carnot had denied the charge of mutilation, but suggested they would admit to a lesser charge of involuntary wounding.

Lionel told the court that he had not set out to harm his patients.
A therapist wept as he was cleared today of theft relating to almost 270,000 allegedly stolen from his mother's Israeli Bank Leumi account.

Jonathan Feld, 62, was accused by his sister Louise Radley of helping himself to 89-year-old Hannah Feld's life savings after she became too ill to look after her financial affairs.

Mr Feld was said to have helped himself to large sums of cash belonging to Hannah Feld, 89, between 2014 and 2018.

He was accused of stealing more than 1.5 million from his wealthy mother, but last week was cleared of stealing 1.3 million from a joint Swiss bank account in his and Mrs Feld's names.

Today, Mr Feld was cleared of the remaining charge of theft of almost 270,000 from his mothers Israeli Bank Leumi account by the jury at Southwark Crown Court.

Southwark Crown Court heard how he bought an 80,000 Porsche, withdrew large bundles of cash from ATMs and went on shopping sprees for "skinny jeans and puffer jackets".

Mr Feld, a therapist, was cleared by jury of stealing nearly 270,000 from his mother's bank account today

Feld denied two charges of theft from his mother, who was said to be suffering from "significant cognitive decline", claiming any money was a gift from Mrs Feld, with whom he still has an "excellent" relationship.

She retired to Tel Aviv, Israel, with her late husband Monty - who died in 2010 - after selling the family clock and watch firm.

Giving evidence, Feld told how he was banned from his sister's home in around 2006 and said their relationship was: "Fraught. Frightening. Non-existent."

He was last week cleared of stealing 1.3 million from a joint Swiss bank account in his and Mrs Feld's names between May 2015 and November 2017 after Judge Gregory Perrins directed the jury: "As a matter of law it is not legally theft to effectively steal from yourself."

It has been alleged that Jonathan Feld, 62, helped himself to large sums of cash belonging to his mother Hannah Feld, 89, over the course of four years

Today, he was cleared of a further charge of theft relating to almost 270,000 allegedly stolen from his mother's Israeli Bank Leumi account between October 2014 and September 2017.

Feld, from Kilburn, north-west London, who had entered the dock carrying a suitcase, clutched his chest, wept and clasped his hands in prayer after the verdict.

Speaking outside court, Feld thanked his legal team and said: "I'm looking forward to spending time with my family and my mum and the verdict speaks for itself."

A statement from Stephen Fidler & Co Solicitors, the firm representing Feld's sister - who brought the private prosecution, said: "We are obviously disappointed that the jury did not feel there was sufficient evidence to convict Jonathan Feld in relation to the allegation of theft.

In his closing speech, Adam Gersch, prosecuting, said Mr Feld had purchased a brand-new Porsche with his mother's money. (stock image)

"It was alleged that Jonathan Feld, over a long period of time stole a fortune from his mother who was suffering with dementia.

"There was no dispute he received considerable funds but the jury were clearly not satisfied so that they could be sure he acted dishonestly."

The statement added: "It was always the aim of the prosecutor in this case, Louise Radley, to seek justice for her mother and not seek anything for herself but to recover monies to be used in the provision of care for her mother Hannah who is unable to care for herself.

Mr Feld said he is looking forward to spending time with her after he was cleared of theft in a prosecution brought by his sister.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin announced that his panel will probe 'astonishing' claims by former US Attorney Geoffrey Berman about political interference from the Trump Justice Department.

The longtime Illinois Democrat revealed the investigation in a letter Monday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, where he ran through a series of allegations the Trump-appointed Berman included in his new book and in media interviews.

They include pressure to prosecute prominent Democrats, and even a push to pull back references to 'Individual-1' in a criminal information for longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. As Berman notes, that person has been identified as Trump himself.

'These reported claims indicate astonishing and unacceptable deviations from the departments mission to pursue impartial justice, which requires that its prosecutorial decisions be free from political influence,' wrote Durbin, who took over the panel when Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 89, stepped back.

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said the Judiciary Committee will probe 'astonishing and unacceptable deviations' from the Justice Department's traditions of impartial justice

Durbin's letter notes that Berman contends DOJ officials 'pressured his office to remove references to President Trump from the charging document for Michael Cohen, his personal lawyer, as well as later attempts by Attorney General Barr himself to reverse Mr. Cohen's conviction and stop related investigations and prosecutions entirely.'

'If accurate, Mr. Berman's claims indicate multiple instances of political interference in the Department's investigative and prosecutorial decisions The Senate Judiciary Committee will investigate these episodes.'

He goes on to ask Garland to furnish all documents and communications between SDNY and the the AG and other top officials at 'Main Justice.'

These include all documents on removing references to 'Individual-1' from Cohen's charging documents relating to the 'hush money' charges against Cohen relating to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claimed she had an affair with Trump.

Trump denied her claims. Cohen pleaded guilty to tax and campaign finance violations.

Durbin's letter follows up on media reports and Berman's claims in his new book. He leads with Berman's claims about former Obama White House Counsel Gergory Craig, who Berman's office declined to prosecute

The letter also brings up Berman's claims about the Michael Cohen case and former Secretary of State John Kerry

Durbin is asking AG Merrick Garland for documents related to the claims

Berman was appointed by Trump, and writes that he was pushed out by former AG Bill Barr. He worked for Trump and was a member of his 2016 presidential transition

'Throughout my tenure as U.S. attorney, Trumps Justice Department kept demanding that I use my office to aid them politically, and I kept declining  in ways just tactful enough to keep me from being fired,' he writes in his memoir, which was obtained by the New York Times.

Durbin's call to investigate comes after Berman wrote about efforts he says Trump's DOJ took to press his office to target political enemies and drop references to 'Individual-I' in the Michael Cohen case.

Geoffrey Berman said the interference was unprecedented and on at least one occasion it followed tweets by then President Donald Trump.

'People who had been in the office for 40 years never saw anything like that,' he said. 'It was unprecedented and scary.'

Details emerged as Trump himself is under intense legal pressure over presidential records he removed from the White House. It is just one of a number of court battles that has dogged the former president since leaving office.

And Berman's account, in a book published this week, casts Bill Barr, Trump's attorney general, in a rather different light to the moral crusader he has claimed to be in recent TV appearances criticizing his former boss.

Berman was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, leading some of the nation's most high-profile prosecutions and investigating several of Trump's allies, until he was fired in 2020.

In an interview on Good Morning America to promote his book, he described how he resisted some of the worst interference.

I had never seen anything like that before  It was unprecedented and scary.



Former top federal prosecutor Geoffrey Berman discusses his new memoir, Holding the Line, where he claims Pres. Trump and his allies pressured him to target political enemies.@GStephanopoulos pic.twitter.com/qlbkSnS1b9  Good Morning America (@GMA) September 12, 2022

Geoffrey Berman was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, leading some of the nation's most high-profile prosecutions, until he was fired in 2020

He said the Justice Department tried to get him to drop references to 'Individual-1' in its filings about the prosecution of Michael Cohen, the former president's fixer. 'Individual-1' was Trump

In particular, he described how the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., tried to get involved in one of his office's blockbuster prosecutions - the case of Cohen, who had been Trump's lawyer and fixer, and admitted responsibility for paying off women who claimed they had affairs with the then president.

'In the first instance, on the eve of Cohen's guilty plea, main Justice tried to get our office to remove any reference to 'individual one' who was President Trump, and they were unsuccessful in that venture and they were unsuccessful in every attempt to politically interfere with our office,' said Berman.

'We held the line in every instance.'

Prosecutors generally refrain from naming people who have not been indicted, and so 'Individual-1' duly appeared in court papers.

They said 'Individual-1 directed Cohen to make the payments, which should have been declared under campaign finance laws because their purpose was to help Trump win the election.

During his appearance, Berman also said a Justice Department official had called his office to demand an investigation into Greg Craig, a former lawyer in the Barack Obama White House who was running for Congress.

'The Justice Department told us, 'Hey, you had just indicted two allies of the president - Chris Collins, who was a Republican congressman from upstate New York and Michael Cohen, who's the president's lawyer and fixer - and it's time for you guys to even things out and indict a Democrat before the midterm elections,'' he said.

He called his team together, he said, adding: 'My jaw dropped.'

'It was something we'd never heard or seen before,' he said.

He refused to take the case, and Craig was later charged by prosecutors in Washington, D.C., under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

In their filings, prosecutors alleged that 'Individual-1' directed Cohen to make payments to women, which should have been declared as campaign contributions

Berman said his office was pressured to prosecute former Secretary of State John Kerry (left) and Greg Craig, a former Obama White House lawyer Greg Craig who was later cleared

He was acquitted. Berman, whose book 'Holding the Line' is published on Tuesday, said he was also pressured to go after Kerry.

'President Trump attacks John Kerry in two tweets, saying that Kerry engaged in possible illegal conversations with Iranian officials regarding the Iran nuclear deal.

'The very next day the Trump Justice Department refers the John Kerry criminal case to the Southern District of New York - two tweets by the President, and the John Kerry criminal case becomes a priority for the Department of Justice.

'And the statute they wanted us to use was enacted in 1799 and had never been successfully prosecuted. So in about 220 years, this criminal statute was on the books there were no convictions.'

Berman's book does not pull its punches in describing political pressure in the Department of Justice.

Yet he is a Republican and volunteered on Trump's 2016 campaign.

But after being fired, he describes Barr as a liar and a bully.

'I would describe Barr's posture that morning as thuggish,' he writes about his dismissal. 'He wanted to bludgeon me into submission.'

He claims Barr told him: 'If you do not resign from your position, you will be fired. That will not be good for your resume and future job prospects.'
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A smirking Democratic official has appeared in court charged with the murder of a Las Vegas journalist who exposed his affair.

Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, 45, is accused of killing Jeff German, a reporter with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, outside his home.

German, 69, was stabbed to death on September 3 after publishing a series of articles exposing married Telles' affair and mismanagements of public office.

Telles appeared in front of a judge today smirking as he was told his next appearance in the case would be September 20th.

He wore a navy prison issued uniform, smiling and nodding during the proceedings as he remained in handcuffs before being led away.

The official did not speak during the hearing, and had white bandages up his arms from his suicide attempt before officers arrested him over the murder.

An arrest report obtained by DailyMail.com shows that he barricaded himself inside his home, made suicidal statements and slashed his arms with a knife when SWAT teams arrived to arrest him.

He was also suspected of taking drugs in the moments before he was cuffed, forcing officers to take him to the hospital before he was booked into the county jail.

Clark County DA Steve Wolfson says he plans to ask the judge to set Telles bail 'very high' because he 'poses a flight risk and danger to the community.'

Telles is currently being held without bail and faces one count of murder with the use of a deadly weapon.

It comes after city officials said despite the murder charge, Telles will remain in his role and continue receiving his $130,000 salary until another person is elected.

Telles was seen smirking in court as a judge arraigned him on the murder charge and organised another appearance

Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles (right) had been the focus of recent articles by Las Vegas journalist Jeff German (left) who had spent three decades covering crime and corruption in the city before he was stabbed to death on September 3

He wore a prison issued navy uniform, remaining in handcuffs while smiling and nodding during the short hearing, and appeared to have bandages covering his arms

Police officers dressed in tactical gear descended on Telles's home Wednesday, moments before he was wheeled out of the home on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance

Police said in a press conference last week they had discovered a straw hat and a pair of shoes that matched the outfit of a suspect caught on surveillance video in Germans neighborhood around the time he was stabbed seven times in the torso.

Both shoes and hat had been cut into pieces but blood was still visible on the soles of the sneakers.

German spent months reporting on the turmoil in Telles' office and how he lost his re-election bid in June.

He also revealed that Telles was having an affair with a colleague after German published a video of him exiting a vehicle with his lover.

Staffer Roberta Lee-Kennett, 45, left the backseat of the car at the same time as the official, and can be seen hoisting her skirt down.

Telles has denied all of the allegations made against him by German, including the affair and the claims that he oversaw an abusive workplace.

His home was searched by Las Vegas plice hours before his arrest, after they issued a release saying they were serarching for an individual dressed in a large sunhat and high-vis jacket.

He was released by officers, and refused to deny that he was responsible for the murder of the journalist when approached by reporters.

By 6pm on Wednesday, police had returned to Telles's home in tactical gear and were surrounding the home while Telles remained inside.

Roberta Lee-Kennett, 45, (pictured with her husband) was accused of having an affair with Telles. German claimed that the two were having an affair, and published video of her getting out of a car and pulling her skirt down after being in the back seat with the official

Tellas is being held without bail and faces one count of murder with the use of a deadly weapon and will next appear on September 30

Telles (pictured left with his wife) failed to get reelected after German wrote a series of stories exposing his alleged 'inappropriate relationship' with a member of his staff

Reporters who worked with German at the Las Vegas newspaper tracked down the suspect's home and realized that a red car, matching the police description, was parked in the driveway

About 30 minutes later, he was wheeled out of the home on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance.

Police sources also claim that DNA from under Germans fingernails matched a sample taken from Telles, which led to his arrest.

DailyMail.com previously revealed Telles had been railing against German for months  including in an angry series of messages on social media in which he accused him of rifling through his trash and writing 'lying smear pieces' about him.

His colleagues at the review-Journal helped to track down the suspected killer when they staked out the suspects home, after recalling the tweets sent by Telles to German.

They discovered that a red GMC Yukon Denali - matching the police description - was parked in his driveway.

Using skills they learned on the job with German, the five-person team at the newspaper sprung into action 'because that's what Jeff would have wanted us to do.'

Police later carried out a search warrant on the home, and his car was towed by midday on Wednesday.

Telles accused the reporter of writing several 'smear' pieces against him after losing a re-election bid in June

Staffer Roberta Lee-Kennett, 45, left the backseat of the car at the same time as the official, as she pulled her skirt down. The clip was published by the late reporter in May

Alleged killer Robert Telles, 45, seen leaving the backseat of his car, along with a member of his staff. The story was reported by the journalist he allegedly killed

Telles is understood to have returned to his property around 2pm and was, according to local news station 8 News Now, dressed in a hazmat suit

German was the author of the 2001 true-crime book 'Murder in Sin City: The Death of a Las Vegas Casino Boss,' the story of the death of Ted Binion, heir to the Horseshoe Club fortune

The DNA of the public official was found at the site of the investigative reporter's fatal stabbing.

Telles lashed out at German in a series of public Twitter posts, accusing the reporter of preparing 'lying smear piece #4 by Jeff German, #onetrickpony I think hes mad that I havent crawled into a hole and died.'

In a second post he added: 'Wife hears rustling in the trash* Her: "Honey, is there a wild animal in the trash?"

'Me: "No, dear. Look like its Jeff German going through our trash for his 4th story on me." Oh, Jeff'

German's colleagues said that they were just doing what he had taught them to do -follow the story and 'aggressively' try to find out what happened.

Following the arrest, Executive Editor Glenn Cook said: 'The arrest of Robert Telles is at once an enormous relief and an outrage for the Review-Journal newsroom.

'We are relieved Telles is in custody and outraged that a colleague appears to have been killed for reporting on an elected official.

'Journalists cant do the important work our communities require if they are afraid a presentation of facts could lead to violent retribution.

'We thank Las Vegas police for their urgency and hard work and for immediately recognizing the terrible significance of Jeffs killing.

Now, hopefully, the Review-Journal, the German family and Jeffs many friends can begin the process of mourning and honoring a great man and a brave reporter.'
Pope Francis appears to be getting a boot in his face from a guard, in an optical illusion caused by the angle of the photo, as he kicked aside concerns over his ailing health.

Pope has his first visit to Muslim-majority Kazakhstan, where he was greeted with an energetic military welcome at the former Soviet Republic's presidential palace.

The Argentine pope, who is forced by knee pain to use a wheelchair and has admitted he must slow down or consider retirement, will take part in an inter-religious summit in the capital, Nur-Sultan.

His plane landed shortly after 5:15 pm (1115 GMT), and the 85-year-old pontiff was greeted by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev before addressing the authorities and the diplomatic corps.

Pope Francis appears to be getting kicked in his face from a guard as he kicked aside concerns over his ailing health

The 85-year-old pontiff was greeted by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev before addressing the authorities and the diplomatic corps

Pope, who is forced by knee pain to use a wheelchair and has admitted he must slow down or consider retirement, will take part in an inter-religious summit in the capital, Nur-Sultan

Greeting Francis, Tokayev said the visit was a 'great honour'.

Francis said Sunday that the 38th trip abroad since his election in 2013 would be 'an opportunity... to (have a) dialogue as brothers, animated by the common desire for peace, peace that our world is thirsty for'.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, was initially expected but has pulled out of the September 14-15 event, dashing hopes of a meeting with Francis over the Ukraine conflict.

While the pope has called for peace and denounced a 'cruel and senseless war', Kirill has defended Putin's 'military operation' and the fight against Russia's 'external and internal enemies'.

About 100 delegations from 50 countries are expected to take part in the event in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic that gained independence in 1991.

'Dialogue, a coming together, the search for peace between different religious and cultural worlds are at the heart of this trip,' Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Monday.

Tokayev, 69, is an ally of Russia, though there have been tensions between the two countries since Moscow launched the invasion in February.

He has refused to support the war and the presence of a large Russian community in the north of Kazakhstan has sparked fears of a revival of Moscow's imperial ambitions in the area.

Kazakhstan borders other former Soviet republics, as well as China and the Caspian Sea.

Tokayev, 69, is an ally of Russia, though there have been tensions between the two countries since Moscow launched the invasion in February

Pope Francis, on a wheelchair, is helped to board a plane to Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

Francis said Sunday that the 38th trip abroad since his election in 2013 would be 'an opportunity... to (have a) dialogue as brothers, animated by the common desire for peace, peace that our world is thirsty for'

Lyudmila, a 74-year-old pensioner who declined to give her last name, said she hoped the papal visit would encourage people around the world to learn more about Kazakhstan.

'Maybe it will raise the profile of our country, that such a great spiritual figure is visiting us,' she told AFP.

On Wednesday, Francis will address the opening of the plenary session of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, before celebrating a mass in the afternoon and winding up his trip Thursday by meeting Catholic leaders.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will be in the country at the same time as Francis at a time when the Vatican is hoping to renew a historic accord appointing bishops in China.

Asked by journalists during the flight about a possible meeting with Xi, Francis said he had 'no information' about any possible talks.

He added, however, that he was 'always ready to go to China'.

Energy-rich Kazakhstan has 19 million inhabitants, 70 percent of whom are Sunni Muslims, while 26 percent are Christians - mainly Russian Orthodox. Less than one percent are Catholic.

Tokayev began a series of reforms after his election in 2019, but the country was rocked by protests over fuel prices earlier this year that left more than 200 people dead and shattered its image of stability.

Francis is the second pope to visit Kazakhstan after John Paul II's trip in September 2001.

He said last week that doctors had forbidden him from travelling to Ukraine or Moscow for now, as he recovers from a knee problem that has forced him to cancel numerous events at the Vatican.
A mother has claimed she and her children suffered from stomach pains after going for a paddle at the seaside and encountering sewage.

Biologist Emma Oldham, 33, and her husband took their three children on a camping holiday in Lincolnshire and decided to spend one of the days at the beach in Huttoft, East Lindsey.

She said she noticed something was wrong after her twin three-year-olds and five-year-old ran into the sea.

'As a conservation biologist, I know why the sea can be muddy sometimes. But with there being heavy rains the night before, I was trying to process what was going on,' she said.

Despite being only ankle-deep in the water, Ms Oldham said she smelt an overwhelming smell of human waste.

'The water was filled with these grainy bits and they were sticking to my skin, at that point my daughter came up to me and said "there's brown everywhere",' she added.

The mother posted a video on Twitter purporting to show the sewage washing up on the beach. She was heard saying 'it literally stinks of poo'.

However, local water firm Anglian Water and the Environment Agency said no sewage was found in the water or on the beaches and instead said Ms Oldham's video and pictures showed sea algae.

Anglian Water said the algae is 'a natural phenomenon, completely unrelated to sewage', whilst the Environment Agency added that it is 'easy to mistake' it for sewage because both have an 'unpleasant smell'.

A mother has claimed she and her children suffered from stomach pains after going for a paddle at the seaside - but the waves were full of sewage. Emma Oldham, 33, and her husband took their three children on a camping holiday in Lincolnshire and decided to spend one of the days at the beach in Huttoft, East Lindsey. Above: Ms Oldham's video allegedly showing sewage

Ms Oldham said she noticed something was wrong after her twin three-year-olds and five-year-old ran into the sea

Mrs. Oldham had several good memories of the tourist spot because she's been going there for most of her life and even decided to bring along two other families.

'I love it as the beach is really lovely and it's great to take the kids to,' she said. 'It's just a really safe environment and you can park cars right on the beach.'

But after seeing what appeared to be sewage, the family spent just three minutes in the water before rushing to the showers of the nearby campsite they were staying at.

Ms Oldham said she suffered from chronic stomach pains for days afterwards and was forced to miss work, while her twins also had be off school due to feeling unwell.

'After looking back on that video, I realised I'm not in a rush to go back to the sea, which is heartbreaking,' she said,.

'I'm really disappointed as I know there's been a huge campaign against sewage in the water, it's such a detriment to local tourism as well as the local wildlife.

Kirsty Nizinkiewicz, 33, another mother who took her children to the beach, said: 'Over the weekend, I went on a final holiday of the year with some friends, all of whom have young children.

'So it was natural for us to want to go to the beach on our last day and enjoy jumping in the waves as so many children love to do.

Despite being only ankle deep in the water, Ms Oldham said she smelt an overwhelming smell of human waste

'I have never seen sea water looking so brown and smelly and hate to think what sort of impact this is having on the wildlife local to the area.'

Anglian Water said no sewage was found in the water or on the beaches after an inspection.

How can you tell whether it's sea algae or sewage? Sea algae is a microscopic plant that forms the base of the food chain for marine life. There are several different types of algae with only a few being toxic. The most common type of algae in British waters is called Phaeocystis which can end up looking like 'frog spawn' or be mistaken for oil drops. When the algae die, it breaks down and sometimes creates a light brown-coloured foam which can be mistaken for sewage. It also has a harsh odour which can smell like rotten eggs or gone off vegetables. The advice published by South West Water has said there are a few ways that people can tell the difference between decaying algae and sewage. Algae blooms generally appear between April and August so foam from the decaying plant is expected between those months. Sewage overflows, caused by storms, usually create a grey discolouration of water and often have an identifiable source. Sewage does not usually cause foaming, however, foam can be created if washing powder or detergent has been leaked from pipes. Source: South West Water Advertisement

A spokesperson said: 'We have thoroughly inspected the area, both at Huttoft and the surrounding beaches. There is no sewage in the water or on the beaches.

'The picture in her post on social media is of sea algae, which is a natural phenomenon, completely unrelated to sewage.'

The Environment Agency has echoed Anglian Water's comment, saying: 'We have not been notified of any pollution incidents at Huttoft beach over the weekend.

'The Environment Agency assesses all reports received, and anyone wishing to report suspected pollution should phone the 24-hour incident hotline 0800 807060.

'The Environment Agency receives many reports of suspected sewage pollution every year, at coastal waters in particular, that are in fact the breakdown of algal blooms.

'It is easy to mistake algae for sewage, particularly as both have an unpleasant smell. If people notice brown foam on the water's surface or on the beach it is more likely to be the result of an algal bloom breaking down.'

Last week, water companies were given a two-week deadline by government to outline how they will be preventing sewage from being dumped into open water - as Labour called for 'tougher sanctions'.

New Environment Secretary Ranil Jayawardena asked for water company chiefs to set out 'significant improvements' to the problem in the next fortnight.

His demands came as he faced calls from Labour for 'tougher sanctions' - including prison sentences - for water bosses responsible for pumping sewage into the UK's rivers and beaches.

Mr Jayawardena told the Commons: 'The volume of sewage spewed out by water companies is completely unacceptable and the public have rightly shown their outrage.

'Yesterday, in my first day in office, I told water chief executives that it is not good enough and I have instructed them to write to me formally by September 21 with a plan on how they are going to make significant improvements.'

It comes after it was revealed last month that water companies have spent more than nine million hours pumping raw sewage into Britains seas and rivers since 2016.

Ms Oldham's three children are seen with another child on the beach in Huttoft, Lincolnshire

Environment Agency figures showed the staggering amount discharged into areas including tourist and bathing hotspots.

The Labour Party, which obtained the data under Freedom of Information laws, warned that the full scale of pollution could be much worse.

The data shows that, since 2016, raw sewage has been released into the UKs seas and rivers for a total of 9,427,355 hours.

It also shows that there has been a 2,553 per cent increase in the number of monitored discharge hours between 2016 and 2021, with the party arguing that the situation is drastically worsening under the Conservatives.

In 2016, the Environment Agency recorded 100,533 hours worth of spills.

By 2021, that figure had rocketed to 2,667,452.
DuckDuckGo, Brave, Mozilla, others that proclaimed themselves as privacy-focused companies urged the U.S. Congress to cast their votes on the American Innovation and Choice Online Act.

The companies sent a letter to the U.S. Congress urging them to vote on the legislation that would rein in giant tech companies such as Alphabet's Google and Meta's Facebook, as per Reuters.

They legislation aims to ban "self-preferencing" of these big tech companies.

Companies Say Tech Giants Steer Consumers Away

According to CNET, if the bill would be approved, these big tech companies would be ban "from promoting their products on their platforms over their competitors."

This only imply that once you use Amazon to search for a product, the top results that would appear are not necessarily products being sold by Amazon.

The privacy-focused companies sent a letter to the Congress complaining that the strategies used by these big tech companies "steer consumers away" from competitors. Likewise, they complained that it restricts competition.

Moreover, the letter stipulated that big tech companies "used non-public data" for their benefit. With this, they make it "impossible or complicated" for consumers to modify the settings of their app.

In an email to CNET, Jennifer Hodges, the head of Mozilla's US public policy and government affairs group, said that "amaller, independent companies want to offer products that give people real control online."

However, because of harmful "self-preferencing practices" of big tech companies, what people experience online is dictated by the few tech giants.

Amid the call of these privacy-focused company, tech giants such as Apple and Google have expressed their stance against similar legislation.

According to Apple, after the left and right problems on the online platform, "it would be ironic if Congress responds by making it much harder to protect the privacy and security of Americans' personal devices."

Meanwhile, Google said that approving the bill would eventually lead to consumer getting worse, less relevant, and less helpful versions of products.

Read Also: Tech Giants are Challenging Didi's Dominance in China's Ride-Hailing Market

Senator Klobuchar Seeks Passage of the Bill

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, introduced the American Innovation and Choice Online Act in October 2021.

Since the legislation was created, its versions have obtained bipartisan support from lawmakers. Among its supporters are Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina.

Klobuchar, a U.S. congressional leader on antitrust, has been urging the Senate to approve the bill. However, her efforts were to no avail.

According to Klobuchar, 60 votes are needed for the passage of the bill. However, given the situation, it seems that it won't become a law this year.

In July, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been urged by supporters to schedule a vote on the bill. Now, the companies like DuckDuckGo and Mozilla are calling the attention of the Congress to vote on the said legislation.

According to Klobuchar, it is necessary to pass the legislation in order to "put rules of the road in place for dominant tech companies."

Related Article: Tech Giants Pledge To Fight Bots, Deepfakes, Disinformation Online in EU
A former security officer at Twitter told senators on Tuesday that he learned a Chinese intelligence agent was on the social media company's payroll a week before he was dismissed.

It was just one of a string of vulnerabilities unveiled by Peiter 'Mudge' Zatko, a respected cybersecurity expert.

He was hired in November 2020 after a hack that compromised high-profile accounts but was fired barely a year later.

Such were the security failings, he said he was not surprised to learn that an agent of the Chinese Ministry of State Security was operating inside Twitter.

'I had been told because the corporate security physical security team had been contacted and told that there was at least one agent of the MSS, which is one of China's intelligence services, on the payroll inside Twitter,' he told a hearing of the Senate Judicial Committee.

'While it was disturbing to hear, I and many others, recognising the state of the environment at Twitter, were really thinking if you are not placing foreign agents inside Twitter - because it's very difficult to detect them ... it is very valuable to a foreign agent to be inside there - as a foreign intelligence company, you're most likely not doing your job.'

Twitter Inc.'s former security chief Peiter 'Mudge' Zatko is sworn in to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to discuss allegations from his whistleblower complaint that the social media company misled regulators

He told senators he learned a Chinese intelligence agent was on the social media company's payroll a week before he was dismissed, one of a string of security vulnerabilities

His warnings echo similar criticisms of other social media giants, such as Facebook, that they are not doing enough to protect user data.

And he accused executives of ignoring engineers and their concerns, putting profits ahead of security.

When he raised the problem of a foreign agent, it got short shrift.

'I'm reminded of one conversation with an executive when I said, "I am confident that we have a foreign agent," and their response was, "Well, since we already have one, what does it matter if we have more? Let's keep growing the office," Zaitko said.

Too many Twitter staff had access to sensitive data, he continued, coupled with a culture of only reporting good news.

'They don't know what data they have, where it lives and where it came from and so, unsurprisingly, they can't protect it,' he said.

'It doesn't matter who has keys if there are no locks.'

Zatko filed a whistleblower complaint in July with Congress, the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Among his most serious accusations is that Twitter violated the terms of a 2011 FTC settlement by falsely claiming that it had put stronger measures in place to protect the security and privacy of its users.

Senators focused on his claims that foreign agents had worked inside Twitter.

Elon Musk, who is locked in dispute with Twitter, appeared to be enjoying the hearing

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the committee, said Zatko's disclosures also revealed that India had managed to place two foreign assets inside the company

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the committee, said the platform had a trove of information that would be useful for adversaries.

'Because of his disclosures, we've learned that personal data from Twitter users was potentially exposed to foreign intelligence agencies,' he said in his opening statement.

'For example, his disclosures indicate that India was able to place at least two suspected foreign assets within Twitter.

'His disclosures also note that the FBI notified Twitter of at least one Chinese agent in the company.'

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But the company has previously disputed Zatko's claims. It says he was fired for poor performance and that his complaint is 'riddled with inaccuracies.'

However, his evidence will almost certainly be used by Elon Musk as he battles to get out of his deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion.

Zatko accused the company of deception in its handling of automated 'spam bots' or fake accounts - one of Musk's key arguments.

Musk even tweeted a popcorn emoji, suggesting he was watching the live hearing.

And Sen. Lindsey Graham alluded to Musk's bid, asking: 'Would you buy Twitter given what you know?'
Prince Harry today said his 'decade of service is not determined by the uniform he wears' after he was 'banned' from donning a military outfit at the Queen's funeral or the events leading up to it.

The Duke of Sussex, who saw action on the front line during two tours of duty in Afghanistan, revealed he will wear a morning suit during the official commemorations.

Harry has been prevented from wearing his military uniform at the late monarch's state funeral even though his disgraced uncle the Duke of York will be permitted to do so at the Vigil of the Princes in Westminster Hall.

Following a series of reports about the issue, the Duke of Sussex's spokesman said today: '[Prince Harry] will wear a morning suit throughout events honouring his grandmother.

'His decade of military service is not determined by the uniform he wears and we respectfully ask that focus remain on the life and legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.'

The Duke of Sussex has been denied the chance to wear military uniform at official events, even though his disgraced uncle will be permitted to do so at the lying in state vigil

Harry, who saw action on the front line during two tours of duty in Afghanistan, will be in civilian dress for official events including the late monarch's state funeral

Only working royals - which Harry and Andrew are not - are being permitted to dress in uniform at five ceremonial occasions.

These are the St Giles' Cathedral service in Edinburgh, which took place on Monday, and the coffin's procession to Westminster Hall, the vigil at the lying in state, the funeral in Westminster Abbey and the committal service in Windsor.

But an exception has been made for Andrew who will wear a uniform as a 'special mark of respect' for the Queen when he stands guard around her coffin during the Vigil of the Princes.

He is expected to be joined by the Queen's other children - the King, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex - at the proceedings during the lying in state later this week.

It is likely to be a bitter blow for ex-solder Harry, who is proud of his decade in the forces, and who was saddened after being stripped of his honorary military roles including Captain General of the Royal Marines by the Queen post-Megxit.

Today, a royal expert suggested the Queen would have wanted Harry to be able to wear his uniform during at the funeral and the events leading up to it.

Camilla Tominey, who is associate editor at the Telegraph, said the decision looks 'out of step with what his beloved grandmother would have wanted'.

She said the move, which she branded 'needless friendly fire', may be due to 'ongoing concerns' about the upcoming publication of Harry's tell-all autobiography.

She added: 'All it has succeeded in doing is give the couple more ammunition for their next salvo against an institution they claim resented their presence from the very beginning.'

Prince Andrew wearing a civilian suit while leaving St Giles' Cathedral following the Vigil of the Princes

Harry was forced to stop wearing military uniform at ceremonial events after he had to give up his honorary titles when he and his wife Meghan Markle stepped down as working royals.

On Monday, Harry wrote of his special memories of when the Queen attended his passing out parade in 2006 when he became an officer in the British Army.

He told of his 'first meeting' with his Granny as 'my Commander-in-Chief' - and was believed to be referring to the occasion when the late monarch made him grin and blush while she reviewed the cadets.

Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

He went on to pay millions to settle, without admitting liability, a civil sexual assault case to a woman he claimed never to have met.

In January, ahead of his legal settlement, the Queen stripped him of all of his honorary military roles, including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and he gave up his HRH style.

The Duke of York in his uniform for an event at St Paul's Cathedral in 2009 (left) and Harry in 2019 during the Founder's Day Parade at Royal Hospital Chelsea

Andrew, a former Royal Navy officer who served in the Falklands War, retained his rank as a Vice Admiral, and is expected to wear the coinciding uniform.

Virginia Giuffre sued him for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew denied the claims.

At the service of thanksgiving in St Giles' on Monday, Andrew was in a morning suit, while his siblings, including Edward who dropped out of the Royal Marines, wore military dress as they processed behind the Queen's coffin.

Andrew wore eight medals and decorations - his South Atlantic Medal for service in the Falklands, his Silver, Golden, Diamond and Platinum medals, a Royal Navy Long Service Medals with Bars, Canadian Forces Decoration with Bar and New Zealand Commemoration Medal.

At the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral in April 2021, the dress issue was dealt with by the Queen who decided that no members of the royal family should wear uniform.

It was a break with tradition but seen as the most eloquent solution to the problem.

Reports had suggested Andrew was considering wearing the uniform of an admiral.

He was due to be promoted to Admiral in 2020 to mark his 60th birthday, but this did not go ahead following the fallout from his disastrous Newsnight appearance.
This is the moment the King blasts a leaking pen that threatens to ruin his mood just hours after the new monarch was warmly embraced by the people of Belfast.

King Charles, sitting inside the royal residence of Hillsborough Castle, Northern Ireland, appeared flustered by dripping ink as he tried signing a book towards the end of his visit.

Charles complained about the pen he was using to sign his name, announcing he 'can't bear this bloody thing' as he appeared to furiously rub the ink from his fingers.

The Queen Consort later suggested it was leaking and asked for a replacement, as the King briskly turned on his heels and left the room flanked by aides.

The faulty instrument was swiftly removed and replaced by flustered courtiers before Camilla sat down to sign the book herself from inside the historic residence.

It comes days after viewers of Charles' historic accession to the throne found themselves distracted when the new monarch suddenly gestured furiously to one of his aides to remove a pot of ink.

King Charles, sitting inside the royal residence of Hillsborough Castle, Northern Ireland, appeared frustrated by the dripping ink as he tried signing a book towards the end of his visit

Charles complained about the pen he was using to sign his name, pronouncing he 'can't bear this bloody thing' as he appeared to furiously rub the ink from his fingers

The faulty instrument was swiftly removed and replaced by flustered courtiers before Camilla sat down to sign the book herself from inside the historic residence

The clip AT Hillsborough Castle begins with Charles asking what the date was, as he prepares to sign a visitors book in front of cameras.

Venting his frustration as the pen begins to malfunction, the new King exclaims: 'God I hate this [pen]' as he hands it over to the Queen Consort.

He adds: 'I can't bear this thing... every stinking time'.

The new monarch was visiting Northern Ireland on the latest leg of his royal tour of the United Kingdom in the wake of the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Charles enjoyed an emotional first trip to Northern Ireland as the new monarch after he and the Queen Consort inspected a remarkable show of flowers and were met with roars of approval as the people of Belfast today greeted their new sovereign with open arms.

The Queen Consort later suggested the pen was leaking and asked for a replacement, as the King briskly turned on his heels and left the room flanked by aides

King Charles III and the Queen Consort arrive at Belfast City Airport today as the King continues his tour of the home nations

Shouts of 'God save the King' were heard and at one moment a corgi in the crowd (pictured above) snuggled up to Charles when its owner held it up during the walkabout by the royal couple in Hillsborough, Northern Ireland

The royals were met with huge roars of approval as they exited their blacked-out BMW and started their walkabout, grabbing onto outstretched hands, accepting flowers and speaking with those who turned out to greet them

King Charles III waves to the crowd as he inspects the sea of flower tributes at Hillsborough Castle and prepares to give a brief speech to assembled guests, including representatives from all sides of the political spectrum

The royals' trip began with deafening chants of 'God Save the King' as they exited their blacked-out BMW to meet adoring crowds on the latest leg of their royal tour of the United Kingdom on Tuesday.

From official dignitaries to GirlGuides and Scouts to local residents, Charles and Camilla charmed all in their path; warmly grabbing onto outstretched hands, accepting bouquets of flowers and speaking with those who had patiently waited hours to meet them.

A local corgi, famously his late mother's favourite breed of dog, was even seen snuggling up to King Charles as he shook hands with well-wishers, before he received a 21-gun salute as they entered the grounds of Hillsborough Castle - the province's official residence of the reigning monarch and members of the Royal Family.

It comes days after viewers of Charles' historic accession to the throne found themselves distracted when the new monarch suddenly gestured furiously to one of his aides to remove a pot of ink.

As he went to sign the historic Proclamation, the King frantically motioned to an aide to move a pen box from his desk, which viewers described as 'far too small' for the huge document and stationery.

Despite the gravity of the moment, viewers could not help but find the apparent difficulty the King had with the pen amusing.

Charles asked a nearby aide to get the box off the table so he could sign the second part of the large document.

The fountain pen set he used to sign the momentous document was a gift from his sons Princes Harry and William.

Some viewers joked the new King 'stole' the pen after spotting him put it in his pocket before taking it out again.

It comes days after viewers of Charles' historic accession to the throne found themselves distracted when the new monarch suddenly gestured furiously to one of his aides to remove a stray ink pot

One Twitter user said it was 'relatable' that he 'pocketed' the pen after signing the official document

Despite the seriousness of the moment viewers could not help but find the apparent difficulty the King had with the pen amusing
Celebrity magazine publisher Jason Binn has been cleared of all charges leveled against him in June when he was accused of molesting an underage female relative.

Binn, 54, was arrested in June for allegedly groping the buttocks of a 16-year old girl after a family dinner at the ritzy New York City restaurant Cipriani on Valentine's Day last winter.

The founder and CEO of the glitzy magazine DuJour was charged with forcible touching intimate parts, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse in the third degree.

As the New York District Attorney's office dropped the charges, Binn said the allegations were fabricated by his estranged wife, Haley Lieberman Binn, amidst their bitter divorce battle.

'I hope no one ever has to go through this nightmare,' Binn told Page Six.

Binn and Lieberman separated in 2016 after 12 years of marriage, and began divorce proceedings in 2020. The two have two girls and one boy together.

'As to the future of my relationship with my children, I will continue to be the best and most loving father a man can be,' Binn said.

Celebrity magazine publisher Jason Binn was cleared of all charges after he was accused of molesting an underage female relative

After he was exonerated Binn said the allegations were fabricated by his estranged wife, Haley Lieberman Binn, amidst their bitter divorce battle

According to the June criminal complaint obtained by DailyMail.com, Binn was accused of touching the minor 'for the purpose of [self-gratification]' and without her consent, and said the victim alleged Binn 'placed his hand over her clothing and squeezed her buttocks.'

Photos from his arraignment showed Binn - typically clean cut and smartly dressed - disheveled with his shirt untucked as he was read his charges in a Manhattan criminal court.

Binn vehemently denied the charges, with his attorney characterizing them as being a part of the nasty divorce.

'This is unfortunately the latest chapter in a long and bitter divorce proceeding,' Binn's attorney, Valentina Shaknes, said after his arrest.

Binn at the Manhattan Criminal Court in June after he was accused of groping an underage girl

Binn maintained his innocence after his June arrest, and his attorney said the accusations were part of an ongoing divorce battle

Binn has made luxury not only his lifestyle but his business. As founder and chairman of Niche Media, he has an estimated net worth of $50million and is the man behind an array of 'boutique' magazines including Hamptons and Gotham.

Binn had previously founded and run Niche Media, the former publisher of high-end magazines such as Los Angeles Confidential, Aspen Peak, Ocean Drive, Gotham and Hamptons, to name just a few.

He has owned properties in Tribeca, Aspen, Miami and Southampton where he is a fixture of the elite Hamptons cocktail party and celebrity scene.

He has been a guest at Kris Jenner's birthday parties, posing for pictures with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. He has rubbed shoulders with Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, and he has partied with Lenny Kravitz and Lionel Ritchie in Miami's Art Basel.

The luxury magazine publisher with Kim Kardashian and at a Niche Media party in 2010

Jason Binn with Kanye West at a DuJour magazine event in Los Angeles in 2017

Now billed as a 'publishing legend,' he began his career at advertising agency D'Arcy Masius Benton and Bowles at the age 23 having graduated early and magnum cum laude from Boston University's College of Communications.

In 1992 he moved to Miami and founded Ocean Drive Magazine. Six years later in 1998 he founded Niche and a slew of other haute society titles followed including Hamptons Magazine, Capitol File, Gotham, Los Angeles Confidential, Aspen Peak and Michigan Avenue.

In 2005 he was profiled in Forbes Magazine's, 'Forbes 400,' and was named Ernst and Young's 'Entrepreneur of the Year.'

Two years later he was the only media member inducted into the American Advertising Federation's 'Advertising Hall of Achievement' and in 2008 he was listed in Crain's '40 Under 40' list of successful entrepreneurs.

In 2010 he was appointed chairman of Niche the same year that he was appointed Chief Advisor to online luxury shopping company, Gilt.

Jason Binn (second from right) pictured with Donald Trump, and rock star Steven Tyler in 2008

Jason Binn and Beyonce Knowles at the Gotham Magazine annual gala in New York City, 2008

His quarterly publication DuJour Magazine unashamedly caters to a readership of clients who have a minimum net worth of $5million.

In order to receive a copy of the magazine, one had to meet five of seven qualifications including an average net worth of $5million and liquid assets of more than $1 million, average home values above $1.5 million, average income of more than $250,000, annual offline luxury purchases of more than $100,000 or annual online purchases and philanthropic donations respectively totaling more than $10,000.

Profiled by Forbes last August the magazine praised Binn for his ability to network, singling out his focus on 'connections' as lying at the heart of his success that saw his company grow from just five employees in 1992 to over 300.

But while his professional fortunes sky rocketed Binn's private life foundered.

In the first edition of DuJour he wrote, 'Without the love and support of my wife Haley, and my children, what you are about to see on these pages would not be possible. They are my partners for life.'

But it didn't work out that way and the couple quietly split in 2016 with neither commenting on the reasons. Binn had married Haley Liebermann, 46, who formerly worked in real estate, in December 2003 at a ceremony in Fontainebleau, Miami. Her parents Diane and Alan Lieberman own the South Beach Group Hotels in Miami.
National Archives staff have told the House Oversight Committee that they are 'not certain' Donald Trump surrendered all the presidential records he removed from the White House - even after the Mar-a-Lago raid.

House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney revealed the concerns in a letter Tuesday written to acting Archivist of the United States Debra Steidel Wall asking that the Archives conduct an 'urgent review' to find out what's missing.

Maloney, a New York Democrat, also demanded that the Archives get written certification from Trump that all documents have been returned.

In late August, Archives staff told Oversight committee staff on a call that they weren't sure if Trump had returned every record he was supposed to.

This admission happened after the August 8 FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago, in which more than 11,000 government records were found at Trump's Florida home and private club - including more than 100 with classified markings, and a number with the highest classification distinction.

Staff for the National Archives recently informed the House Oversight Committee that they are 'not certain' whether former President Donald Trump (pictured) surrendered all the presidential records he removed from the White House

House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (pictured) revealed that tidbit in a letter Tuesday written to acting Archivist of the United States Debra Steidel Wall asking that the Archives conduct an 'urgent review' to find out what's missing

The raid of Mar-a-Lago (pictured) uncovered some 11,000 government records - including more than 100 with classified markings, and a number with the highest classification distinction

A Department of Justice image attached to a court filing released on August 31 purportedly shows the documents retreived by FBI agents during the August 8 raid of Trump's Florida home and private club, Mar-a-Lago

The House Oversight committee is conducting a separate investigation from that of the Justice Department.

'On at least three separate occasions, Mr. Trump had the opportunity to turn over all presidential records and classified documents, as demanded by federal authorities, but failed to do so,' Maloney observed.

She noted that Trump could have turned over the documents at the completion of his term in January 2021, after receiving the May 2021 request from the Archives and, once again, after receiving a grand jury subpoena in May 2022.

'The Committee is concerned that, given this pattern of conduct, Mr. Trump may continue to retain presidential records at non-secure locations, including classified material that could endanger our nation's security and other important records documenting Mr. Trump's activities at the White House,' Maloney wrote.

'NARA's staff recently informed the Committee that the agency is not certain whether all presidential records are in its custody,' the congresswoman said.

Maloney asked the Archives to conduct an urgent review 'to identify any presidential records or categories of presidential records, whether textual or electronic, that NARA has reason to believe may still be outside of the agency's custody and control.'

'Please also assess any other limitations on the completeness, accuracy, and accessibility of presidential records provided to NARA by the Trump Administration,' the New York Democrat said.

In the letter, Maloney wrote that she'd like the Archives to provide an initial assessment of the review by September 27.

She also argued that Trump should sign a certificate that would show 'that he has surrendered all presidential records or classified materials, has not made any copies or reproductions of such materials, and has not transferred any records or government documents to any party other than NARA or DOJ since his term ended.'

'Although the President is not required under current law to provide such a certification, I believe that the exceptional circumstances in this case warrant that Mr. Trump do the same so Congress and the American people can fully understand the impact of his actions on our nation's security, take mitigating action, and consider legislative reforms,' Maloney said.
Dubai's ruler should be not be invited to Queen's funeral the best friend of his daughter, who tried to flee the country and was forcibly returned, has said.

Princess Latifa was allegedly abducted by her father Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a close horse-racing friend of Her Majesty's, when she tried to escape him and Dubai in 2018.

Her best friend Tiina Jauhiainen told MailOnline today that the ruler of Dubai must be snubbed by Buckingham Palace and the British Government along with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud.

Ms Jauhiainen told MailOnline: 'I don't think a person with his reputation should be invited to the Queen's funeral.

'I hope we are not going to be seeing MBS [what the Crown Prince is colloquially known as] either.'

The best friend of Dubai's Princess Latifa (left), Tiina Jauhiainen (right) has said the the princess' father and leader of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, should not be invited to the Queen's funeral

'I don't think a person with his reputation should be invited to the Queens funeral,' Ms Jauhiainen told MailOnline

Disturbing footage last year emerged of the 35-year-old royal in which she said she was being kept in solitary confinement inside a 'villa-jail' and feared for her life

Princess Latifa had twice asked her friend Ms Jauhiainen to assist with her escape from Dubai.

But the princess was found with Tiina aboard the yacht Nostromo off the coast of Goa, India, in March 2018 and was taken back to the United Arab Emirates.

In 2021 she was seen alive for the first time in public since she claimed she was being held hostage by her father.

Ms Jauhiainen is now safely living in the UK - and in February last year she made a personal plea to the Queen to intervene when her missing friend.

In an open letter in The Mail on Sunday, Tiina Jauhiainen pleaded with the Queen to use 'whatever influence' she has with her long-term horse-racing friend, Princess Latifa's father Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

A week prior to her plea disturbing footage emerged of the 35-year-old royal in which she said she was being kept in solitary confinement inside a 'villa-jail' and feared for her life.

The videos, released by Ms Jauhiainen and human rights lawyer David Haigh, are believed to have been made in 2019.

The billionaire ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (right) has yet to confirm if he will attend the Queen's funeral on Monday. Pictured: The Queen attends an unveiling of a design for the Shiekh Zayed National Museum accompanied By Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum during a state visit to Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Mohammed was slammed by a High Court ruling recently

The Duke of Cambridge with Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai during his visit to the UK Pavilion at Expo2020 in Dubai, as part of his tour of the United Arab Emirates in February this year

Ms Jauhiainen has said she hoped Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman would not attend the funeral too. Pictured: Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the G20 Leaders' Summit for Saudi Arabia

The billionaire ruler of Dubai has yet to confirm if he will attend the funeral on Monday.

Before her death, Her Majesty was under pressure to ditch him after the High Court found he was responsible for illegal UK phone hacking.

A senior judge concluded that Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the horse race-loving friend of the Royal Family and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, committed a 'total abuse of trust and indeed an abuse of power'.

He previously orchestrated the armed kidnap of his runaway daughter Princess Shamsa from Cambridgeshire in 2000, persuading Tony Blair's government to hush it up, the High Court heard. He also allegedly abducted her sister Princess Latifa when she too tried to flee.

But with the limit on numbers, it could be he is not asked because he is not technically a head of state - Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is leader of the United Arab Emirates and Sheikh Mohammed is his deputy.

King Charles III, Anne, the Princess Royal, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward each stood on one of the four corners of the coffin in a ceremony known as the Vigil of the Princes last night. They will lead the mourning at the state funeral

The octogenarian King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud will have received an invite to the Queen's funeral but is highly unlikely to attend due to his age and health.

His son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the nation's de facto leader who mixed with world leaders at the G20, could head to Britain in his place - a decision that would likely spark protests.

MBS is accused of ordering the murder journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. He vehemently denies the claims and said recently that that the journalist would not be among his top 1,000 targets to kill, 'if that was how we did things'.

But US intelligence agencies concluded in a declassified intelligence report that the Saudi crown prince had approved the 2018 murder.
Potential terrorists among crowds of well-wishers remembering the Queen would seem 'blatantly out of place' and uninterested in ceremonial events, a former counter-terrorism police chief has warned.

Nick Aldworth, who was the national co-ordinator for UK counter-terrorism policing until 2019, said members of the public should report people who seem more interested in what the police are doing and are acting secretively.

He said: 'We are looking for people who are blatantly out of place.

'The ones who really aren't paying any attention to what's going on, they are not interested in the ceremonial events. They might be overly observing police officers or cameras. They will be potentially acting furtively.

'We all know when somebody's out of place. Those are the people that the public need to be reporting.

'The police are calling for the public to be vigilant. That's not a bland cliche, there's a long history of terrorism and crime being disrupted by public observation.'

Potential terrorists among crowds of well-wishers remembering the Queen would seem 'blatantly out of place' and uninterested in ceremonial events, a former counter-terrorism police chief has warned. Pictured are crowds gathered waiting to see the hearse carrying the coffin of the late monarch leave from St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh today

Pallbearers from the Queen's Colour Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF) carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, into a RAF C17 aircraft at Edinburgh airport today, before it is transported to Buckingham Palace in London, where hundreds of thousands of people are expected to queue to see the Queen lying in state

The terrorism threat is very different to when the Queen Mother was lying in state after her death in 2002, when the landscape was dominated by international groups trying to plan large scale attacks, Mr Aldworth said.

Now, so-called lone actor terrorism, in particular knife attacks, are considered the main threat.

Police guarding the King and senior royals also have to consider risks posed by people who are fixated with certain individuals in the public eye.

Simon Morgan, a Metropolitan Police veteran who worked in Royal protection including as the Queen's bodyguard during his career, said armed officers guarding the monarch are trained to consider a range of different threats.

Mr Morgan, who now runs his own private security firm Trojan Consultancy, said: 'Yes we have terrorism, but we also have the threat from fixated individuals who ultimately... the events of the last couple of days will have triggered something in some people's minds.

'They may feel that they wish to do something, they may feel that they are the rightful heir to the throne, that they should be Queen Consort, or something along those lines.'

Police are likely to use sniffer dogs and human behavioural detection methods as they monitor the crowds of hundreds of thousands of people who are expected to queue to see the Queen lying in state.

As they move into the building, well-wishers would then face full 'airport-style' security checks, Mr Aldworth said.

On Monday a man was filmed by Sky News running in front of the King's car on the A40 to take a picture, prompting protection officers to get out of their 4x4 while it was still moving.

Mr Morgan said the bodyguards have to make split-second decisions on what action to take.

'When you see an individual running along stationary traffic and they're about to become level, you do think, well: "What is this?"' he said.

'In that split second you've got to make a decision that ultimately has tremendous ramifications for a lot of people.

Security workers gather to be deployed near the Palace of Westminster in London today. Police are likely to use sniffer dogs and human behavioural detection methods as they monitor the crowds of hundreds of thousands of people who are expected to queue to see the Queen lying in state

People queued through the night outside St Giles's Cathedral in Edinburgh to catch a glimpse of the Queen's coffin before her body travelled to London today. Nick Aldworth, who was the national co-ordinator for UK counter-terrorism policing until 2019, said members of the public should report people who seem more interested in what the police are doing and are acting secretively at royal events

The hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, leaves from from St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh today, headed for Edinburgh airport and then onto London, with huge crowds descending on the area. The public has been urged to be 'vigilant' at these royal events

'As you can see the protection officers in the back of the car behind, they crack the door and two of them are already on the pavement to deal with whatever this was going to be.

'As a protection officer you're always looking for what you expect to see and what you don't expect to see.

'You're going through that filing cabinet in your head: What is this person doing?, Can I see what they're wearing?, Can I see what they're holding?

'All these things as, ultimately [as] a firearms officer, you're assimilating all that information very quickly and coming to a decision.'

Mr Aldworth said: 'I would argue there was no risk of that person getting to the King's car without being tackled beforehand or very, very quickly thereafter.'

Such unpredictable situations are a 'challenge' for police, but it is more likely such behaviour by the public is going to be a 'benevolent act rather than a malevolent act'.

While there is a risk, the protection teams are well prepared to deal with such incidents and they are more a 'disruption than a threat'.

'It's a concern because it happens, but we are ready for it,' he added.
But source close to the Duke of Sussex denied Bower's claims to GB News

Prince Harry's autobiography will be published as planned in November despite the Queen's death, a royal author said today.

Tom Bower, whose biography of Meghan Markle was released earlier this year, claimed the Duke of Sussex was 'insisting' on the original date being honoured.

'I am told tonight that Harry is insisting that his book is published in November,' he told GB News. 'Apparently the publishers are not too certain, but he says if they don't publish it will be a breach of contract. That's what I'm told.

'It's extraordinary. But on the other hand it fits the bill, because Harry and Meghan's finances depend entirely on the book and on Netflix.

'And also, I think they are convinced they're in the right and they want to get their own back.'

Today, a source close to the Duke denied the claims Bower made to GB News. Meanwhile, Penguin has previously announced that Harry will be donating proceeds from the book to charity.

Tom Bower, whose biography of Meghan Markle was released earlier this year, claimed the Duke of Sussex was 'insisting' on the original date being honoured. Today, a source close to the Duke denied the claims Bower made to GB News

Earlier this week, royal experts told MailOnline it would be a very bad look for Harry to publish anything controversial at this time.

Meanwhile, publishing sources have suggested that it may be pushed back to 2023 to allow Prince Harry time to write additional chapters on the passing of the Queen.

Phil Dampier suggested that despite Harry and William's walkabout at Windsor earlier this week, the rift between the Sussexes and the rest of the Royal family is 'as raw as ever'.

And fellow Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said he never thought the book should have been written but for it to be published now, even with an additional chapter discussing the late Queen, would be ill-advised.

He said: 'It is not a matter of a re-write, it's a matter of a re-think. Were it to be published, if it had anything sensational it would be tasteless.

'It is a matter for him how he wants to be perceived. With a new reign it is natural that his loyalty is to his father who is very fond of him.

'What better way to show his loyalty than by postponing, even permanently, the memoir which never should have been linked to the Queens jubilee year.

Previously, sources have claimed that neither King Charles nor Prince William, or their lawyers and advisers, have been given the opportunity to preview any parts of the manuscript

Mr Fitzwilliams said the damage to Prince Harry's reputation would naturally depend on what the book discusses, which is still a mystery.

'But it would be inappropriate for him to publish anything that had any controversial content especially at this time,' he said.

Mr Dampier said publishing the memoir would ruin any chance of a family reconciliation, adding: 'If Harry makes things worse there is no way back for him. That would be a line crossed and Charles and William would find it hard to forgive him.'

Sources allege neither King Charles nor Prince William, or their lawyers and advisers, have been given the opportunity to preview any parts of the manuscript.

The family has also received no specific information about the expected release date of the book, which is being published by Penguin Random House.

It was revealed in July that Harry and ghostwriter JR Moehringer had finished the book and the final manuscript had been signed off by lawyers. But now there might be a frantic re-write if the Prince does still intend to release the memoir this year.

According to a report in Radar earlier this week, a publishing expert has said that the book will be delayed to allow Harry time to write additional chapters to talk about the passing of the Queen.

'They dont want the book to be out of date before its even published,' the source added. 'It will also give Harry a chance to reflect on his thoughts about his father.'

The prospect of the book being published has been hanging over the Royal Family for some time. Pictured is King Charles

Even before the Queen's death, Page Six reported that publishers had been querying the imminence of the book's release as it was still not available on Amazon or elsewhere for very important pre-sales.

One source told the website: 'I have heard that Harry has some truth bombs in his book that he is debating on whether to include or not.'

Penguin Random House has described the book as 'a heartfelt memoir from one of the most fascinating and influential global figures of our time'.

The publisher's website says: 'Prince Harry will share, for the very first time, the definitive account of the experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons that have helped shape him.

'Covering his lifetime in the public eye from childhood to the present day, including his dedication to service, the military duty that twice took him to the frontlines of Afghanistan, and the joy he has found in being a husband and father, Prince Harry will offer an honest and captivating personal portrait, one that shows readers that behind everything they think they know lies an inspiring, courageous, and uplifting human story.'

Prince Harry, who will be donating any proceeds to charity, said he hopes his story will 'help show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think'.

Penguin Random House has not yet released a statement on whether the explosive release will be delayed in light of Queen Elizabeth's death.

MailOnline has contacted the publisher and the Duke's lawyers for comment.
The eyes of the world are on the United Kingdom. The future of the British monarchy has come together to mourn the loss of Queen Elizabeth II. It has been a dramatic and emotional experience for billions.

Most remarkably, the 'Fab Four' appeared to have called a truce.

A global audience watched as feuding brothers Prince William and Harry - and their feuding wives - walked together in a rare joint appearance to greet the queen's mourners and review the flowers and gifts left outside Buckingham Palace, where the Queen's coffin returned Tuesday after its 500 mile journey from Scotland.

Why, after Harry and Meghan accused their family of racism, cruelty and much more, even Oprah thinks that there's now hope for royal reconciliation

What happens from here is anyone's guess. But here's mine: This peace is temporary.

It's more of a ceasefire.

I never really held very strong thoughts about the Royals until Harry and Meghan splashed onto the scene.

The future of the British monarchy has come together to mourn the loss of Queen Elizabeth II. It has been a dramatic and emotional experience for billions. Most remarkably, the 'Fab Four' appeared to have called a truce.

Since then, I've recognized that there is much to appreciate  especially the inspiring example set by the queen. But I've also come to recognize something else: Meghan doesn't mind tearing the Royal family apart.

And here's why: Harry and Meghan are in the business of Harry and Meghan. And when they're creating chaos, business is good.

Because these professional troublemakers have made their choice.

After skipping town, they are no longer working Royals and they don't want to be.

They want to be A-list celebrities in America. They want to make Barack and Michelle Obama-sized money off podcasts and streaming deals. And possibly most significantly, they do not want to play second fiddle to anyone.

To be blunt  they want to be King Harry and Queen Meghan.

There was a minor uproar this week after the Royal family updated the line of succession to the throne.

Prince William is now number two after King Charles, and Prince Williams' three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, are next in line.

Then comes Harry and his kids, Archie and Lilibet. But they haven't officially been given the titles prince and princess, which is their traditional right as grandchildren of a monarch  as they now are.

I know! Who cares!

Well, I bet there's one person that does, and her name rhymes with beggin'.

This is just one of many insignificant flare-ups that may convince Meghan to once again shout, 'Off with their heads,' and run off to Oprah to spill all the Royal dirty laundry.

No matter how many magazine covers Harry and Meghan grace, or interviews they give or bombshells they drop to Oprah, they will never reign over England.

This peace is temporary. It's more of a ceasefire.

The spotlight will never be on them the way it is on William and Kate. They have made it abundantly clear over the past two years that is an unacceptable way for them to live.

So, the next best thing for Harry and Meghan and Co. is to keep everyone fighting. To be a little bit crass, it is better for business for them if we're divided.

They cannot make the same kind of money inside the Royal family as they can outside of it -- estranged and victimized. It is easier for them to get attention and showcase their increasingly progressively political beliefs if everyone is forced to pick a side.

Remember, Harry has a tell-all book coming out to promote.

But I have a warning for them. Public opinion is turning.

With the passing of Queen Elizabeth there is grief, respect and understanding for just how large a role she played in the world.

And there's the very human aspect of it all. The Queen spent her final years dealing with the drama they brought to her and the rest of their family. It puts things in perspective.

There was once a time when even the slightest criticism of Harry and Meghan got one branded a racist and possibly caused them to lose their job  ask Piers Morgan or Sharon Osbourne.

Now criticism of Harry and Meghan is more commonplace and does not have the same kind of backlash in the media it once did.

Woke-superhero and CNN host Don Lemon conceded that Meghan was coming from a 'place of privilege' before she married Harry.

(Ouch! To say someone is privileged is almost a slur nowadays.)

Even Oprah Winfrey herself said she hopes that with Queen Elizabeth's death Harry and Meghan have an opportunity to 'make peace' with their family.

And that's the point.

One of the most pertinent questions now is: Can the royal family survive the melodrama and chaos of the Harry and Meghan-era?

Woke-superhero and CNN host Don Lemon conceded that Meghan was coming from a 'place of privilege' before she married Harry.

It looks like an uphill climb.

According to recent polling, while the monarchy is supported by a plurality of people across most age groups in Great Britain, it is among over 65 year-old's where the level of support is highest at 77 percent.

Younger age groups are progressively more likely to oppose the monarchy, with 31 percent of 18-24 year old's opting instead for an elected head of state.

So, is it curtains for the Royals? I'll leave that quandary to my British friends.

But I do know this: If Harry and Meghan perceive some unconscionable slight, or even if their bank account runs low, they will return to their righteous crusade against the Royal family.

For all her hand-wringing over reconciliation, Oprah will welcome them back on her show to spew more vicious allegations  without the slightest pushback.

The progressive stars of the American media will happily usher them back into the fold to tell us all how terrible British (and American) culture really is.

This is the reality. And if King Charles and Prince William want to have a fighting chance, they better start fighting back.

William and Kate should make their case to the Generations Z'ers of the world.

Explain how they can continue the legacy of your grandmother and work to maintain the critically important U.S./U.K. bond.

Push back against vague and self-serving attacks on your characters.

Because if they don't, the centuries of tradition will only be used as fodder for the budding career of King Harry and Queen Meghan.
Emily Tuite says she's been traumatized after an airline lost the bag containing her waterproof prosthetic leg, which she needed for activities on her beach vacation, including swimming and standing up in the shower.

Tuite, 26, of Texas, spent her entire recent San Diego vacation on the phone with Allegiant Airlines in a desperate search to retrieve the bright blue bag she checked ahead of her September 1 flight.

Finally, on Monday afternoon (September 12), Tuite's bag with her expensive, custom medical device inside was returned days after her vacation had ended.

'I spent almost every day of my 8-day trip stressed, worried, and trying to get information from Allegiant,' she said. 'I couldn't believe that it took 12 days to get my medical device back.'

'It can take over a year to have a leg made. Its not easy with insurance to have medical devices remade for you. I was like I need to do everything in my power to get the bag back somehow, so, yeah, I did a lot to get there,' she told local Austin station KXAN.

Emily Tuite's waterproof prosthetic leg that was lost by Allegiant Airlines for the duration of her beach vacation only to be found 12 days later in an airport in Provo, Utah

Tuite flew from Austin, Texas to San Diego, California on September 1 only to be informed days later that the suitcase containing her prosthetic never made it aboard the flight

Tuite told the Daily Mail her experience with Allegiant Airlines was 'traumatic' because of how much time she devoted to speaking with employees that amounted to zero progress.

'They never called me back after promising to do so. It seemed near impossible to get in touch with them,' said Tuite.

At one moment in the saga, she was told by an airline representative that her bag never successfully made it onto her flight out of Austin, despite being given a tracking number.

Tuite concluded that someone must've stolen her bag containing precious cargo.

But just one day after KXAN reached a media spokesperson with Allegiant, Tuite received a call that her bag had been located.

The blue suitcase had somehow mistakenly been tagged with another passenger's information and was sitting in a baggage claim in Provo, Utah the entire time.

'So they were calling that person saying, 'We have your bag,' and that person was saying, 'It's not mine,' Meanwhile, I'm frantic, panicked, thinking that my items are gone, like just stolen from the airport, so I really learned a lesson for sure about flying and tracking your stuff,' Tuite recounted.

Allegiant refunded Emily the price of her checked bag, which seems insufficient given her inability to enjoy much of her 8-day vacation without her medical device

A spokesperson for the airline said Allegiant provided Tuite with a 'refund in the amount of $60, which covers her baggage fees.'

'In addition, we kindly asked Ms. Tuite to submit receipts for compensation and processing,' added the spokesperson.

Tuite said she asked the airline to refund the cost of her flight, which they declined.

Tuite expressed disappointment that the airline failed even to offer covering the cost of her flight, given that her entire trip was 'spent on the phone trying to contact them.'

'It's frustrating to think that theres no other compensation for losing someones medical device for 12 days,' she added.

Tuite said that for future trips she will be investing in Apple AirTag devices so she is able to keep tabs on her luggage herself.

Despite the weight of her waterproof prosthetic, she said she will also lug it around as a carryon rather than experience such a nerve-wracking delay again.

'As a disabled person, you dont always want to be carrying your device with you the whole time. You would hope that you could check it. But hopefully, if I check it with an Apple AirTag in there, Ill at least know where it is myself,' she said.

Tuite advised passengers to be vigilant at the baggage check desk and ask to see that the correct information is listed on luggage so that it doesn't end up in the wrong place.

'I'm not sure why they put the incorrect label on my luggage, but it impacted both my trip and my trust in future travel as someone who has to fly with a medical device,' she told the Daily Mail.

American Airlines handled 52million bags within the last six months and 'mishandled' 454,000 of them

American was the worst airline for baggage mishandling in the first six months of the year, losing 8.7 out of every 1,000 bags. JetBlue was next at 7, followed by United at 6.6, Delta at 6.1, and Southwest at 4.5 bags

Allegiant is not the first airline this summer to struggle with passenger luggage issues.

Several weeks ago, it was revealed that American Airlines has lost nearly half-a-million bags in the last six months alone.

According to the Daily Mail report, other leading airlines, including Jet Blue, United and Delta, were not so far off American's mark as baggage missteps across the globe plagued summer travelers.
Meta seems willing to do anything necessary to win the lawsuit it is facing.

The popular social media company has reportedly subpoenaed its many rivals to have them divulge their secrets for them to win the antitrust lawsuit it received from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2020, per Bloomberg.

You may remember that the FTC served Meta with the lawsuit due to it alleging that the company monopolized the social networking market in part through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

Meta's Subpoenas To Its Many Rivals

Meta has recently subpoenaed 132 companies, including Snap Inc., Bytedance's TikTok, and audio startup Clubhouse, for them to provide the company with some of their closely guarded secrets to win the antitrust lawsuit the FTC served in 2020.

According to court filings, Meta has asked its rivals for their most important and sensitive information on how they do business, including how they acquire users, scale up products, and make money from features.

Meta also wants to know its rivals' marketing and sales strategies, quality metrics, contact information for their biggest advertisers, and details on their campaigns to attract users from competitors, among others.

The company also added through its spokesperson, Christopher Sgro, that it is willing to seek closely guarded information from 100 more rival companies for it to win and that its subpoenas were a "natural step" in its preparation for the FTC's lawsuit.

Read More: Sony's Next State of Play Event is on September 13: Here's What to Expect

Despite Meta's preparations, a trial isn't likely to be in session until 2024 at the earliest.

Reaction Of Meta's Rivals

Understandably, Meta's rivals, particularly Snap, Inc., were not happy with Meta's subpoena. In a court filing, Snap, Inc, represented by Attorney Justina K. Sessions, mentioned that Meta's request is "overboard and abusive."

She also added that Snap Inc. should not be forced to hand Meta insiders a competitive playbook to how it operates.

"[The information Meta is requesting] is exactly the type of information Merta would use to further harm Snap competitively," Sessions said in the court file. "Thus, Snap offered to produce its most sensitive material only if Meta agreed to restrict such material to Meta's outside counsel. Meta refused."

Snap, Inc, which Meta previously tried to acquire, was not the only one raising its grievances on Meta's subpoena. ByteDance's TikTok also complained about Meta's request, stating that what its rival company is asking is "most confidential and highly sensitive business information."

Pinterest Inc., Microsoft Corp.'s LinkedIn, and other companies also aired their grievance to Meta's request, calling it "highly invasive" in a separate court filing.

They also called Meta's request a manifestation of the company's history of hoarding intelligence on competitors, and that it should also be considered in the lawsuit's proceedings.

Kellie Lerner, an antitrust litigator at Robins Kaplan LLP, said that Meta's requests seek "massive amounts of competitively sensitive information."

"You have a company accused of anticompetitive conduct who is now seeking very competitively sensitive information in discovery," Lerner said. "The sheer breadth of what they are trying to get through discovery is something that, in my view, is not typical."

Although Lerner is an antitrust litigator, they are not involved in the FTC's antitrust lawsuit against Meta.

Related Article: Meta's Quest Pro headset Leaks in a Video a Month Before Its Launch
A New York City subway robber was killed after jumping between cars and falling onto an electrified rail on Tuesday morning.

Four brazen thieves in the Bronx were robbing a 46-year-old passenger at gunpoint on the number two train located at E 174th street around 5.30am before they rushed away, according to police. Within seconds, the escape plan went wrong.

One suspect attempted to jump between train cars, but missed the jump, fell beneath the train, and was killed.

The other three suspects aged 16, 17, and 18, arrived at the 180th Street station from the number five train and were met by police. One suspect was tased by police for resisting arrest and had to be taken to a local hospital.

Services along the train routes were temporarily halted as the body was removed.

Police haven't announced the charges against the suspects, and the deceased has yet to be identified.

Police are investigating after a subway thief in the Bronx was struck and killed by a moving train after attempting to flee the scene. The other three suspects aged 16, 17, and 18, arrived at the 180th Street station, pictured, from the number five train and were met by police

Four thieves were robbing a 46-year-old passenger at gunpoint on the number two train located at 174th street around 6am before rushed away. One suspect who made it safely to the 180th street station was tased by police for resisting arrest and had to be taken to a local hospital

One of the suspects died after failing to land on a moving train. The suspect attempted to jump between train cars, but missed the jump, fell beneath the train, and was killed

The other three suspects aged 16, 17, and 18, arrived at the 180th Street station from the number five train. Police were waiting for them upon their arrival

The identity of the thieves hasn't been released and their charges are pending

The early morning subway robbery is no surprise to city-dwellers as overall crime is up a dramatic 35.31 percent since last year.

Approximately 11,737 robberies have been reported as of September 4 - about 3,318 more in comparison to the same time last year.

Meanwhile, 10,500 burglaries have been reported, which is about 2,600 more than in 2021.

Felony assaults are also up by 18.2 percent, with grand larceny leading the way in the uptick of crime with more than 10,000 cases reported in comparison to last year.

Crime in New York City is up 35.31 percent in comparison to last year

Subway riders are well aware of the bizarre scenes that occur underground, from violent assaults to robberies.

Earlier this year in May, a woman riding the subway was assaulted by as other riders ignored her plea for help.

The suspect wearing black leggings and white sneakers, stormed around the train while screaming expletives. After the suspect took a seat, others rushed to leave the area.

As one female passenger, closest to the hoodlum, tries to flee, he grabs her and terrorizes the victim.

The bandit is seen in the video grabbing hold of the woman's hair while pushing her down into the seat.

The victim is visibly distraught and crying out: 'Help! Help!' as other riders ignore her pleas, as the disturbing scene plays out.

Moments later, the vandal screams to the woman, 'Get Up!' before shoving her to another area of the subway car, and walking away.
Twitter's shareholders have voted in favor of selling the company to Elon Musk for $44 billion, a deal that the billionaire is now furiously scrambling to terminate.

Twitter said that a preliminary tally of the shareholder vote on Tuesday found a majority in favor of accepting Musk's April 25 offer to buy the company for $54.20 per share.

Shares of Twitter rose 2 percent following the vote, to $42.30 -- but remained priced well below the deal terms, indicating high investor uncertainty that the buyout will go through.

Musk has fought tooth-and-nail to back out of the deal, claiming Twitter lied about the prevalence of fake accounts on the site. The dispute will go to trial in Delaware business court next month.

Hours before the shareholder vote, the former security chief at Twitter bolstered Musk's criticisms by telling Congress that the company is plagued by weak cyber defenses that make it vulnerable to exploitation by 'teenagers, thieves and spies'.

Twitter 's shareholders have voted in favor of selling the company to Elon Musk for $44 billion, a deal from which the billionaire is now scrambling to back out

Twitter whistleblower Peiter 'Mudge' Zatko, a respected cybersecurity expert, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to lay out his allegations Tuesday

As Zatko began his testimony, Musk tweeted an emoji showing a box of popcorn. He later tweeted, without further explanation, 'My tweets are being suppressed!'

Peiter 'Mudge' Zatko, a respected cybersecurity expert, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to lay out his allegations Tuesday.

'I am here today because Twitter leadership is misleading the public, lawmakers, regulators and even its own board of directors,' Zatko said as he began his sworn testimony.

'They don't know what data they have, where it lives and where it came from and so, unsurprisingly, they can't protect it,' Zatko said. 'It doesnt matter who has keys if there are no locks.'

Zatko said 'Twitter leadership ignored its engineers,' in part because 'their executive incentives led them to prioritize profit over security.'

However, in his testimony, Zatko did not once mention 'bots', the fake spam accounts that are at the center of Musk's criticism of the company.

As Zatko began his testimony, Musk tweeted an emoji showing a box of popcorn. He later tweeted, without further explanation, 'My tweets are being suppressed!'

He later tweeted a GIF depicting a scene from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in which a peasant character protests that he is being 'repressed'.

Musk has nearly 106 million followers on Twitter, and his tweets on Tuesday did appear to be garnering fewer comments and 'likes' than normal.

A Twitter spokesperson did not immediately respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com on Tuesday afternoon.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal is seen above. The company is taking Musk to court and vows that it will force him to complete the buyout on the agreed terms

Shares of Twitter rose 2 percent following the vote but remain priced well below the deal terms, indicating the level of investor uncertainty that the buyout will go through

Musk has seized on Zatko's claims, also citing a purported severance payment to Zatko in his latest letter to Twitter's board demanding to terminate his buyout offer.

In the letter on Friday, lawyers for Musk said Twitter's failure to seek his consent before paying $7.75 million severance to Zatko and his lawyers violated the merger agreement, which restricted when Twitter could make such payments.

The payment, which included $7 million for Zatko, 'cannot be cured,' and Musk is therefore 'not required' to complete the merger, the letter said. A copy was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Twitter slammed Musk's latest attempt to back out of the deal as 'invalid and wrongful'.

Musk has also subpoenaed Zatko, and a judge has ruled that his claims can be used in next month's trial to adjudicate the buyout dispute.

Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware's Court of Chancery ruled that Musk can use Zatko's allegations that Twitter hid weaknesses in its security and data privacy.

However, judge refused to delay the start of next month's trial as requested by Musk's attorneys.

A Twitter spokesperson said at the time: 'We look forward to presenting our case in court beginning on October 17th and intend to close the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk.'

Twitter fired Zatko in January, citing 'ineffective leadership and poor performance.'

Zatko's lawyers have rejected Twitter's claim, contending instead that he was terminated after a clash with top executives who refused to acknowledge his concerns about platform security.

Zatko's allegations are now considered the wildcard in Musk's court battle with Twitter, which legal experts say otherwise has a strong case.

'Once both parties step into court it's a high risk/high reward scenario for both parties with the major X variable now being the Zatko whistleblower claims,' Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors.

'We continue to view the Zatko situation as a Pandora's Box scenario for Twitter.'

If the court focuses on the fact that the world's richest man declined to do fact gathering typically associated with big-money mergers, Zatko's allegations could wind up being moot.

If Twitter prevails at trial, the judge could order Musk to pay billions of dollars to the company to compensate for backing out, or even complete the purchase.
A watchdog group is filing a complaint asking the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate why Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman did not disclose eight real estate assets on his most recent personal financial disclosure.

The total value of the properties he left off his disclosure form was $108,800. All eight of the properties were in Braddock, Pa.- Fetterman's hometown where he served as mayor. His name is listed as owner on all of them on the Allegheny County website. Many of the properties appeared to be empty lots worth between $10,000 and $20,000 that are surrounding Fetterman's home. One was a building structure worth over $40,000.

Fetterman did not list a single real estate asset on his most recent July 29 disclosure, but his team says he did not have to because they did not produce income and weren't classified as investments.

'These properties don't produce any income and are not investment properties, so John did not need to disclose them,' Fetterman spokesperson Nicholas Gavio told DailyMail.com.

'Report any real property held for investment or the production of income,' the Senate Ethics Committee's disclosure rules read.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) wrote a letter, obtained by DailyMail.com, to Ethics Committee Chairman Sen. Chris Coons, D-De., and Vice Chairman James Lankford, R-Okla., asking them to 'immediately investigate' whether Fetterman violated the law by withholding the assets from his disclosure form.

Federal law and Senate ethics rules require Senate candidates to file a financial disclosure statement that provides a 'full and complete' statement of their assets, debts, and income, as well as any position held. Candidates are required to report any property with a 'fair market value' of $1,000 or more.

A watchdog group is filing a complaint asking the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate why Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman allegedly failed to disclose eight real estate assets on his most recent personal financial disclosure

The total value of the properties he reportedly left of his disclosure form was $108,800

All eight of the properties were in Braddock, Pa.- Fetterman's hometown where he served as mayor

Many of the properties appeared to be empty lots worth between $10,000 and $20,000, one was a building structure worth over $40,000

According to FACT, at least seven of the eight properties Fetterman did not disclose were valued over $1,000- though the precise fair market value is not known, their assessed values are $41,500, $22,100, $14,100, $10,500, $9,600, $9,300, $1,000 and $700.

Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor is locked in a highly competitive race with Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz to replace retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, and potentially decide control of the upper chamber. The two have traded barbs in viral social media tirades, including one where Fetterman knocked Oz for calling vegetables 'crudite' and Oz claimed Fetterman may not have had a stroke if he ate vegetables.

Recently Fetterman knocked Oz for saying he owns two houses, despite having investments in 18 properties. The Democrat frequently paints Oz as being disconnected with the state and accuses him of spending more time at his New Jersey residence.

In August Oz was captured on video at a campaign event saying: 'Well I, legitimately, I own two houses. But, uh, one of them we're building on; the other ones I rent.'

The Daily Beast later reported he owns 10 houses, including a 18,559-square-foot estate in Palm Beach, Fla., that has been valued at more than $36 million.

Oz clarified in a tweet that he owns '10 properties (disclosed when I announced). 2 homes,' referring to his campaign finance disclosure. The disclosure shows he has investments in 18 properties, 10 of which have houses on them. The two he calls 'homes' are a Pennsylvania property purchased last year and his New Jersey mansion.

A Fetterman spokesperson criticized Oz for not including the investment properties in comments to CBS. 'A house? A property? An investment property? What? Dr. Oz is so out of touch that he doesn't even get that real peoplepeople who he claims he will fight for in Washingtondon't care about the difference,' said Emilia Rowland, the spokesperson.

Fetterman suffered a stroke in May and took three months away from the campaign trail, and lately Oz allies have raised questions about whether he is healthy enough to perform as U.S. senator.

Recently Fetterman knocked his opponent Dr. Oz for saying he owns two houses, despite having investments in 18 properties.

Above is an overhead image of Mehmet Ozs Louwana property in Palm Beach, Florida

On Tuesday even the Washington Post editorial board slammed Fetterman over his refusal to commit to a debate with Oz before the election and called on him to release his health records for an independent review.

'Fetterman has seemingly been reluctant to commit to firm debate dates,' the newspaper wrote. 'And that troubling stance has raised questions about whether he, still recovering from a serious stroke, is fit to serve in the Senate.'

'Fetterman is asking voters for a six-year contract without giving them enough information to make sound judgments about whether he's up for such a demanding job,' the Post added. 'We have called for full disclosure of health records from candidates for federal office in both parties, including Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and we believe Mr. Fetterman should release his medical records for independent review.'

Fetterman committed to a debate last week, though did not say when or where it would be.
Columbia University students have blasted their college after it plummeted 16 spots in the US News & World Report rankings for incorrectly reporting data.

One branded the school's alleged actions 'appalling' and said others 'feel like they have a lot of egg on their face now.'

Another slammed the institution for charging 'crazy' sums to study there and then 'lying to us' over its quality.

But some believed the rankings would not affect them yet admitted the fallout was 'a bit of a mess'.

It comes after the Ivy League school collapsed from the No. 2 spot to the No. 18 spot in the influential rankings list that was released on Monday.

It was stripped of the prestigious placing after one of its own math professors accused it of 'fudging some statistics' to help climb the rankings.

Columbia has admitted it massaged figures in two categories - class sizes and number of doctors working there - and is looking into his claims.

Columbia University students blasted their school after it dropped a whopping 16 spots in the US News & World Report college rankings for incorrectly reporting data

Noah Smith, 20, is a philosophy major from Ohio, said: 'Columbia is lying to us! It's like we are their customers and this is their business'

Furious students on Tuesday laid into the university and said the move had left them feeling embarrassed.

'Personally, I find it appalling because I've come to this university thinking it is the best for what I wanted to study and an elite place to be proud of,' one former student, who asked not to be named, told DailyMail.com.

'People who felt that pride when they spent so much money on their graduate degree probably feel like they have a lot of egg on their face now.'

Noah Smith, 20, a philosophy major from Ohio, said: 'It's absolutely hilarious a lot of people here put too much behind prestige. People were clearly upset.

'Personally, this university is everything it says it is but on the other hand they did lie about some important things - like how much they spend on each student and they gave a much higher percentage of their faculty who had PhD degrees.'

'We are paying how much and Columbia is lying to us! It's like we are their customers and this is their business.'

'It's crazy expensive. My parents are paying hand over fist to have me come here.'

'They said the ranking may affect me if it is 18 place rather than second place when I am out in the working world.'

'They said others may feel differently but the general consensus is that prestige is overrated but people got screwed because Columbia was lying about certain things.'

'I am disappointed about a lot of things administration does and this just adds to the pile. '

Ali Hussein, 21, who is from London, is studying economics and just started his senior year at Columbia said: 'I think it's a bit of a mess honestly.'

'There is always so much unrest and protest again with the University leadership and this was one more point of contention. I think especially at a time when the university president is going to be changing it's a lot to be going on and a lot of controversy to be surrounding one campus. '

Ali Hussein, 21, who is from London, is studying economics and just started his senior year at Columbia said: 'I think it's a bit of a mess honestly'

Hussein (right) and friend Nathan Abraham, 21, (right) who is a senior studying economics, doubted that the drop in rankings will impact Columbia's 'ability to attract talent at the school'

'I think there were some students that were taken aback. I think regardless, the quality of the education hasn't changed in these four years because of a number on a site. Plus, a lot of people go to university based on its network not on its rank.'

'From what I understand, I just view it as bragging rights, but if there is actually misinformation out there someone should be held accountable.'

Hussein added: 'I know so many universities that try so hard to prove themselves but if a school like Columbia is cherry picking what they want to use and making up numbers then they should be duly punished.'

Nathan Abraham, 21, who is a senior studying economics, doubted that the drop in rankings will impact Columbia's 'ability to attract talent at the school.'

'I think at least there are more parents than students who care about the rankings,' he told DailyMail.com.

'I haven't spoken to everyone but definitely the vibe is WTF is going on ... but people are laughing about it and quite confident the news will pass.'

Nathan Abraham, 21, who is a senior studying economics, said that he doubted that the drop in rankings will impact Columbia's 'ability to attract talent at the school'

Maxine Su, 24, a graduate student from China who is studying computer science said: 'I don't pay attention to the ranking' and said it 'seems more about bureaucracy'

Both Abraham and Hussein are seniors, but said they wouldn't feel any different if they were freshman. 'No, we are in too deep now,' they said with a laugh.

Maxine Su, 24, a graduate student from China who is studying computer science said: 'I don't pay attention to the ranking.'

'I saw some posts about it and it seems more about bureaucracy. I am totally neutral but personally I don't think it's very accurate. How can it go from #2 to #18.'

'And, I definitely don't think it's serious enough to do a criminal investigation.'

Another female student studying computer science at the university said she wasn't shocked by the news and added that 'a lot of schools really cheat their way through the rankings.'

'The math professor spoke out about the exaggeration and the difference between Columbia and the other schools and we were caught - the rest just haven't been caught yet.'

The sophomore told DailyMail.com that she is a low income student from Africa and got full financial aid for her education.

'I don't value the rankings as much as other students do. I was looking mostly at the financial aid,' she laughed, 'than the rankings of the school.'

She added: 'The opportunity the school has provided is more than I could've imagined.

Chuck, 20, a student lives in London and New York and is studying cognitive science said the ranking does matter specifically for those students who come to Columbia to study from abroad.

'It's a big deal. I wouldn't go that far about a criminal investigation though.'

'Personally, for me at the end of the day the ranking doesn't matter. My education here is still the same.'

The release of the rankings list comes after a clash that involved Professor Dr. Michael Thaddeus, a math professor who accused the university of submitting bad data

The release of the rankings list comes after a clash that involved Professor Dr. Michael Thaddeus, a math professor who accused the university of submitting bad data regarding class sizes and number of professors with advanced degrees.

The university told the New York Times: 'While many of Columbia's undergraduate classes have long had under 20 students, the prior methodologies used resulted in over-reporting the number of classes with under 20 students and underreporting of classes with between 20 and 29 students.'

On Friday, the university admitted they were using 'outdated or incorrect methodologies.'

They have apologized for the poor data, saying 'We deeply regret the deficiencies in our prior reporting and are committed to doing better.'

According to the Times, the US News & World Report receives errors in data submitted by schools every year, but Columbia is perhaps the most prestigious to have the accusation levied against it.

US News & World Report did not accuse the school of intentionally fudging their data and adds that it doesn't have an independent auditor to check.

Columbia argues that whether or not the errors were on purpose, the problem is what they call the 'complexity' of how the data is recorded and reported.

Thaddeus has criticized the rankings methodology in his accusations, saying it no longer relies enough on a survey of university presidents and now just deals in analytical data.

Columbia had previously said it was looking into the allegations from Professor Dr. Michael Thaddeus (pictured), who accused the school of submitting bad data regarding class sizes and number of professors with advanced degrees

According to the Times, the magazine receives errors in data submitted by schools every year, but Columbia is perhaps the most prestigious to have the accusation levied against it

He also believes it's too easy to game the system, with US News & World Report admitting that it relies on the schools' integrity.

This year's rankings saw Princeton, MIT, Harvard, Yale and Stanford in the top five.

Jed Macosko, a physics professor at Wake Forest and the head of a rival company trying to formulate an 'objective' ranking that can't be gamed by the schools, bemoaned the power US News & World Report has.

Macosko said: 'I wish that U.S. News weren't so powerful because it makes for bad dynamics. So if the person in charge wants you to be No. 18, they can jiggle the U.S. News rankings until you are No. 18.'

US News & World Report told the times it is a customer service that operates with the 'highest level of integrity' and says because Columbia withdrew from this year's rankings, they had to used data sets without any of their information.
The 15-year-old attackerhas since been found guilty of sexually assaulting Smith's daughter, as well as another girl in a different school in October

A Virginia judge has pulled a liberal Loudoun County prosecutor from a case surrounding the father of a girl who was raped by a 15-year-old boy in a public school bathroom - after he donned a skirt to get inside and take advantage of the school's lax transgender policies.

Scott Smith's daughter was attacked by the unnamed student at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia, in May of last year - spurring school officials to deny the girl had been sexually assaulted after she reported it.

A month later, the school board of Loudoun County held a meeting, during which officials reiterated that the school's gender-fluid bathrooms - where the rape took place - were not problematic.

Smith reacted with fury, in scenes that were filmed and went viral, as he was dragged out of a school board meeting by police, bloodied, after teachers falsely asserted they had not received reports of sex assaults in the girls' toilets.

The 15-year-old attacker- who DailyMail.com is not naming because he is a minor - has since been found guilty of sexually assaulting Smith's daughter, who was also not named due to her age, as well as another girl in a different school in October.

Smith, meanwhile, was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest for the June outburst, which saw him allege the school board was engaging in a cover-up of the assault, which was proven in court to be a rape.

Convicted of two misdemeanors following the board meeting - disorderly conduct and a since-dismissed obstruction charge - Smith is now trying to appeal the remaining charge, after successfully campaigning to remove prosecutor Buta Biberaj from the case.

Smith accused Biberaj, one of several 'woke' DAs bankrolled by billionaire Democrat donor George Soros, of having a 'clear bias', saying she sought to make 'an example' of the Virginia father.

In a court order Tuesday, Loudoun County Circuit Court Judge James Plowman said while he did not find 'sufficient grounds' to determine a 'direct conflict' that would grant the dismissal, he found Smith's argument 'persuasive' and 'sufficiently grounded,' and that the father's 'due process right's' were subsequently in jeopardy.

He would then sign off on the prosecutor's removal - the second time he was forced to do so in a matter of months.

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Liberal Loudoun County prosecutor Buta Biberaj has been pulled from a case surrounding the father of a girl who was raped by a 15-year-old boy in a public school bathroom - after he donned a skirt to get inside and take advantage of the school's lax transgender policies

Scott Smith's daughter was attacked by the unnamed student at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia , in May of last year, spurring him to react with fury at a school board meeting by police, where he was beaten and arrested by police and charged with assault

Last June, Scott Smith was dragged out of a Loudoun County school board meeting after listening to the school board justify its transgender bathroom policies. He says he was trying to tell the room that his daughter had been raped by a boy 'wearing a skirt' in the girls' bathroom just weeks earlier and that the school ignored it

The bombshell ruling came after Bill Stanley, the attorney for the Smith family, relentlessly argued during a May hearing that chief Loudoun prosecutor Biberaj was inherently biased against Smith, which interfered with Smith's right to a fair trial.

The decision to remove the jurist comes on the heels of a similar decision from the same Judge, that saw him remove the Commonwealth's Attorney from a June burglary case in which he said Biberja's office was purposely misleading the public.

In that case, Judge James Plowman - who served as the Loudon Commonwealth Attorney before Biberaj's election in 2019 - said a faulty plea deal set up by proved Biberaj was incapable of prosecuting the case 'consistent with professional standards,' after she repeatedly downplayed the Hispanic suspect's criminal history.

Now, Biberaj, who has received $861,039 from George Soros' Super PAC in 2019, has been nixed yet again - with Plowman again explaining his reasoning behind the decision.

'The position as articulated by counsel for the Defendant during oral argument is persuasive,' the judge wrote.

'The concerns about the public confidence in the integrity of the prosecution as well as the Defendant's concerns regarding the impartiality of the Commonwealth's Attorney are sufficiently grounded.

'As a result, the integrity of the Defendant's due process rights is in jeopardy and must be protected,' he declared, approving Smith's request.

Smith was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. He said he tried to contain himself after teachers falsely asserted they had not received reports of sex assaults in the girls' toilets

The case will now be transferred to another county, with Stafford's Commonwealth's Attorney Eric Olsen now handling the disorderly conduct appeal.

After the ruling, both Smith's attorney hailed Plowman's decision as a victory.

'All that Scott Smith and his family have ever asked for is that the Loudoun County school system protect their daughter and treat them fairly; it has not,' Bill Stanley, the attorney for Virginia dad, said in a press release Monday.

'The Court's Order today has corrected, in some measure, the injustice created by Ms. Biberaj's bias against Mr. Smith, and the Court has restored his hope for a fair trial on the remaining charge against him in his quest to protect his beloved daughter,' Stanley added.

'We are very grateful for the Court's ruling.'

In his own statement, Smith also touted the news, reiterating claims that the prosecutor had sought to make an example of the irate father for her own political agenda.

'A fair system of criminal justice that is void of both bias and political agendas is the cornerstone of a free society,' Smith wrote.

Biberaj - who has received $861,039 from George Soros' Super PAC in 2019 - has previously faced scrutiny for her handling of a case involving a father who accused a 15-year-old 'boy in a skirt' of raping his daughter in high school

'From the beginning, Ms. Biberaj has sought to make an example of me for simply standing up to defend my daughter at the now infamous Loudoun County School Board meeting.'

He went on: 'Buta Biberaj has demonstrated a bias against me throughout the court proceedings, and she has continued to fan the flames of those who would label parents like me who stand in protection of their kids against dangerous school policies as being 'domestic terrorists.'

'Nothing could be further from the truth.'

Smith was pictured being arrested and dragged out of a heated meeting school board meeting in May with with his torso exposed after he protested the school board's policies on its gender neutral bathrooms - a policy officials inexplicably fell back on while at first denying that a rape had taken place.

Weeks earlier, Smith had trying to tell that same room that his daughter had been raped by the boy in the girls' bathroom at Stone Bridge High School only weeks earlier.

The boy was then moved to Broad Run High School with the support of Biberaj, where he is said to have molested another student.

The underage attacker is currently in juvenile detention until his next court appearance.

Biberaj would then later push to have Smith jailed for his outburst on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, while defending her decision to move the 15-year-old student to another school.

Smith was then given a suspended sentenced of 10 days in jail, contingent on a year of good behavior, while the student was charged with two counts of forcible sodomy.

The teen was then fitted with an ankle monitor and transferred to another school - where he was later accused of sexual assault against another female student.

The specifics of that incident have yet to come to light.

In a court order Tuesday, Loudoun County Circuit Court Judge James Plowman said that while he did not find 'sufficient grounds' to determine a 'direct conflict' that would grant the dismissal, he found Smith's argument 'persuasive' and 'sufficiently grounded'

Plowman, at left, added that Biberaj put the father's 'due process rights' in jeopardy with her handling of the case, which saw her move the student to a different school where he assaulted another underage victim

Still, Biberaj defended the decision to move the student to a different school, stressing the choice was made based on the information at the time and the view that it was unlikely the teen would re-offend.

'We believed based on the facts that he had no history of having done this prior to this offense that was alleged,' Biberaj inexplicably said at the time.

'I would ask this: for people to be patient because as we know what sometimes is reported initially is not then what the end result of all the facts are,' Biberaj told Fox 5. The prosecutor would never comment on what those additional facts were.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares sent a letter to judicial officials in June saying the court 'has rightfully lost confidence' in Biberaj and her office and that his team was willing to take over the case

Eventually, though, the 15-year-old boy was found guilty of the assault on October 25, when a judge 'substantiated' charges of forcible sodomy and forcible fellatio, the juvenile equivalent of a conviction.

However, that was not the end of Biberaj's problems.

Now in the public eye for her hesitance to prosecute the child - whose nationality has not been revealed publicly - Biberaj soon faced backlash for how she ran her office, with one former prosecutor saying employees were 'pushed to bond people out in domestic violence cases.'

Earlier in the year, the chair of the Loudon County Board of Supervisors also voiced outrage with Biberaj, after FOX 5 reported she hired a convicted sex offender as a paralegal.

Then, in June, Plowman elected to remove the woke prosecutor from a burglary case surrounding 19-year-old Kevin Enrique Valle, after he said she downplayed the repeat offender's criminal history.

Valle was accused of engaging in a 'possible 12 burglary crime spree spanning four counties over 10 days,' and charged with three misdemeanors for destruction of property and false identification, as well as two felony burglary counts.

Plowman argued that an attorney for the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office downplayed Kevin Enrique Valle's criminal history to offer him a plea deal in a serial burglary case

However, instead of prosecuting the teen to the fullest extent of the law, an attorney from Biberaj's office, Michele Burton, sparked outrage after offered Valle a six-month plea deal by downplaying his previous criminal history and not including other burglary charges lodged against him.

In response, Plowman asserted that the plea deal wrongfully stated that the crimes all occurred within a matter of hours last year - rather than 10 days.

Plowman also pointed out that Valle has previously pleaded guilty to three other felonies, had other pending criminal charges as well as a juvenile record.

Court records obtained by DailyMail.com show Valle had more than 40 cases against him in various counties throughout Virginia, including for grand larceny, burglary, and for carrying a concealed weapon - a record conveniently overlooked by Biberaj's office.

'Biberaj and the Loudon County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office is hereby REMOVED AND DISQUALIFIED from further prosecution as counsel of record in this matter,' he wrote at the time.

Following that order, the state's Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares sent a letter to the chief judge saying the court 'has rightfully lost confidence' in Biberaj and her office.

He wrote that his team was ready to assist and even prosecute the case 'considering this unprecedented development,' Fox News reported at the time.

Still, Biberaj insisted that her office was acting properly, and even filed petitions to the State Supreme Court asking for the order to be annulled and preventing the court from removing the office from the case. Those petitions proved unsuccessful.

In the case of this most recent decision, Biberaj again questioned Plowman's reasoning behind nixing her from Smith's still pending assault appeal, saying she was surprised by the ruling.

'I'm surprised by the court's decision, since I was never given the opportunity to come back and have conversations about the disorderly conduct,' Biberaj told WTOP.

She remains adamant that she had no bias against Smith, and that the case could have been resolved months ago if the father had 'accepted responsibility.'

The remaining disorderly conduct charge Smith is facing will be addressed in an upcoming trial.

The Loudoun County teenager known as the 'boy in a skirt' who raped his classmate, meanwhile, was spared jail earlier this year, after his victim's family mercifully asked a judge to send him to a residential treatment center and not prison.

What's more, the teen reportedly is not transgender, and used the skirt as a means to get entry to the gender-neutral bathroom.

Smith, meanwhile, wrote Tuesday of the decision to drop Biberaj: 'I am pleased by the Court's fair and just ruling, and I look forward to proving my innocence for my actions at the June 22, 2021 Loudoun County School Board meeting at the upcoming criminal trial.'
This is the moment when a Royal Archer collapses as the Queen's coffin was being carried out of St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh.

The Royal Company of Archers had been standing outside the Cathedral waiting to march alongside the Queen's coffin when one of its members had a wobbly moment.

Footage shows one of the Archers in the back row swaying from side to side, before collapsing into his colleague as the Queen's coffin was leaving St Giles.

Three other Archer's then rush to his side as his company continued with their ceremonial duties and bagpipes continued to play.

The dizzied military member was then spotted sitting out of sight behind the statue of Walter Montagu Douglas Scott.

A Royal Archer was seen fainting outside St Giles' Cathedral as Queen Elizabeth II's coffin was carried into the hearse. He could then be seen sitting behind the Walter Montagu Douglas Scott statue with his cap in his hands

The dizzied military member was then spotted sitting out of sight behind the statue of Walter Montagu Douglas Scott

He can be seen holding his cap between his hands as the coffin was laid in the hearse before being driven up the Royal Mile.

The Royal Company of Archers were the Queen's official bodyguards whenever she was in Scotland.

They will now serve as the King's Scottish bodyguards.

The military company duties are requested by the monarch and during Scottish ceremonial occasions.

Today the Queen began her final journey from Scotland to Buckingham Palace.

At around 4pm this afternoon, her coffin was draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland and decorated with a large wreath before being carried to the hearse.

The RAF Globemaster C-17 plane carrying Her Majesty's coffin from Edinburgh, accompanied by Princess Anne, landed in RAF Northolt in west London.

The bearer party will then carry the Queen from the aircraft to the waiting state hearse to begin the journey by road along the A40 towards Buckingham Palace.

Upon arrival, she will be received by King Charles and the Queen Consort as well as the Princes and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The Queen will remain in Buckingham Palace overnight before she is taken to the Palace of Westminster, where she will lie in state until her state funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19.

More than one million mourners are expected to visit the Queen's coffin in London over the next week, according to Whitehall bosses.
A fed-up mom in Castle Rock, Colorado, wants her son's tormentor to be expelled from school after she says the bully AirDropped an image of a swastika with the n-word written out on it more than 60 times into the child's phone.

Jana Veasey, the mother of a Mesa Middle School seventh grader, was shocked to learn that on September 7, at about 7:30 a.m. her son, who just moved with the family to the area a few months ago, received the fascist symbol on his phone, according to a report from Fox31.

Her son, Isaiah doesn't even know who did it.

'Theyve never had a conversation, theyre not even on the same schedules. They dont eat lunch together, they dont do anything together. So this kid just took the time out to make this disgusting picture then he AirDropped it to my son during breakfast, Veasey during an interview.

Mesa Middle School seventh grader Isaiah Veasey, pictured here with his mom, Jana Veasey, received an AirDrop of a swastika formed the the n-word typed out more than 60 times

Douglas County, Colorado school district officials said that they suspended the student who sent the hateful image, but they declined to comment further

This is the hateful image that was AirDropped into the phone of Isaiah Veasey, according to his mom Jana Veasey. She's going to the police after school officials suspended the offender (the message here has been blurred in part for this article)

Douglas County School District knows who did it and they suspended the student for an undisclosed period.

That's not good enough for the furious mother.

'It was a swastika sign with that word in it, in the shape of a swastika sign,' Veasey told Fox31.

'I dont understand how they can kick kids out of school for bullying, but they cant kick a kid out for being racist. That should be in the same category. It is a type of bullying, just in a different way,' she said.

Outraged mom Jana Veasey said that police reached out to her about filing a complaint against the student who sent her son the hateful message

School administrators refused to talk about the incident or the discipline against the offending student.

'We are committed to the safety and wellbeing of our students and staff and take any allegation of this nature very seriously,' Douglas County school officials said in a statement.

Veasey wasn't satisfied that they were taking the incident seriously enough and is now turning to the police.

'The cops called and asked me if I wanted to press charges and I said yes. At first, I wasn't going to because maybe he's just a kid but then I thought, you know what, no,' Veasey told the news channel.

'There are too many excuses in the world on why people can get away with certain things and I really don't care that he is a kid, because I feel like his intentions were real. He knew what he was doing, so he should be punished for what he has done,' she added.
A Texas mom faked a pregnancy, then murdered her pregnant friend and cut the fetus from the victim's womb to try and pass it off as her own, a court heard.

Taylor Parker, 29, is accused of killing 34 weeks pregnant Regan Simmons-Hancock, 21, and her unborn baby daughter Braxlynn Sage in New Boston, in October 2020.

Parker, who also goes by the surnames Morton and Griffin, pleaded not guilty to capital murder and kidnapping, as well as non-capital murder in connection with the baby. Her trial began Monday, and she could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole if she is convicted of capital murder.

Authorities believe that Parker was so terrified of losing her boyfriend Wade Griffin that she faked a pregnancy for nearly 10 months.

She is a mom of two, but had undergone hysterectomy surgery, meaning she was unable to have further children.

She is accused of faking ultrasounds as well as having a gender reveal party and posting on social media about her false pregnancy while searching for a victim.

Taylor Parker, 29, (pictured) has denied murdering her friend Regan Simmons-Hancock and her unborn child in October 2020. She could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole if she is convicted of capital murder

Parker, a mother-of-two, underwent a hysterectomy so was unable to have any more children but went on to fake that she had conceived over fears Griffin would break up with her

Regan Simmons-Hancock, 21, was killed by Parker after befriending her with prosecutors saying that the 'layers of fraud are staggering'

Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp told the Bowie County jury that Parker was an actress of the highest order while opening the case on Monday.

Parker cut out Regans baby, called Braxlynn Sage, after killing her mother by stabbing her with a scalpel and crushing her skull with a hammer

She said: The lies and fraud go on and on; the layers of fraud are staggering. You are going to have to understand the fraud to understand what happened on Oct. 9.

This started months and months ahead of time until it passed the point of no return, and it ended up in homicide.

Parker is accused of leaving Regan, who she was friends with, to die in front of her three-year-old daughter.

She stabbed and cut Regan, who was 34 weeks pregnant with Braxlynn Sage, more than 100 times and crushed her skull with a hammer, before using a scalpel to remove the baby.

Prosecutors claim that she drove alone with the baby in her lap and put the placenta in her own trousers to make it appear as though she had given birth as the umbilical cord was still attached.

Parker was stopped by a state trooper at around 9.37am and could be seen performing CPR on the infant before being transported to a hospital.

Reagans mother had called 911 just minutes before Parker was pulled over after finding her daughter on the ground with a large abundance of blood

Parker is accused of leaving Regan, who she was friends with, to die in front of her three-year-old daughter

Wade Griffin, left, Parker's then boyfriend believed that she was pregnant and having his child. He told officers that he had been planning to meet Parker at hospital to be induced on the day of the murder

Reagans mother had called 911 just minutes before Parker was pulled over after finding her daughter on the ground with a large abundance of blood.

It covered the floor, furniture, walls, appliances and other items in the home, with emergency services seeing a large cut across Regans abdomen.

When she was interviewed by officers, Parker admitted that she had not given birth to the infant and said she had assaulted Reagan before abducting the child.

Parker told her then-boyfriend Wade Griffin she had been due to be induced to have their child on the day of the murder.

Griffin told officers that he was scheduled to meet her at the hospital for the birth of their child around lunch time.

Witnesses also claimed that Parker had offered $100,000 for a surrogate mother after lying to Griffin about her pregnancy.

Defense attorney Jeff Harrelson asked the six male and six female jurors not to fall prey to their emotions and to keep an open mind.

He said: Its a complicated case, factually and emotionally. The law is the lens and filter you must view these facts through. Sometimes its not black and white but a shade of gray.
An Argentina federal judge has ordered an increase in security around Vice President Cristina Fernandez after she received a death threat phone call Monday - 11 days after she was nearly assassinated in front of her home in Buenos Aires.

Judge Maria Capuchetti, who is overseeing the investigation of the case, made the request after she was notified by the Ministry of Security that a woman had called the vice president Monday afternoon and told her that she was going to murder her.

Online news portal Infobae first reported the verbal death threat.

Authorities have been analyzing the recorded phone call to determine the exact location of where the call was placed and hopefully identify the caller.

A federal court judge in Argentina has called for increased security presence for Vice President Cristina Fernandez (pictured greeting supporters September 8) after the Ministry of Security reported she received a death threat phone call Monday, 11 days after she was nearly assassinated by Brazilian national Fernando Sabag

A gun held by Brazilian national Fernando Sabag is pointed at the face of Vice President Fernandez while she greeted supporters in front of her home in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Recoleta

Fernandez, who served as first lady to her president husband Nestor Kirchner from 2003 to 2007, and then as president herself from 2007 to 2015, is currently in the middle of a corruption trial. She was returning home from court the night of September 1 when she survived the assassination attempt.

Brazilian national Fernando Sabag, 35, approached her, drew his gun in front of her face and pulled the trigger. Fortunately for Fernandez, the loaded gun got jammed.

Sabag was taken into custody at the scene and his girlfriend, Brenda Uliarte, 23, who was standing near the scene of the assassination attempt - despite telling the police that she had not seen him in two days - was arrested three days later.

Each defendant been charged with attempted homicide.

Sabag has refused to talk to authorities about the motive behind the murder attempt, while Uliarte has said that she was not aware that Sabag would try to kill the vice president.

Fernando Sabag has refused to answer questions as to why he wanted to murder Vice President Cristina Fernandez

Brenda Uliarte was taken into custody September 4 by Federal Police agents at a train station in the capital, Buenos Aires. She is the girlfriend of Fernando Sabag, who nearly shot and killed Argentina's Vice President Cristina Fernandez before his gun got jammed. It was revealed Monday that she sent messages to a friend about the plot to assassinate Fernandez

Among the evidence recovered from the home rented by Fernando Sabag was 100 bullets

The Bersa .32 gun that was recovered from the scene after Fernando Sabag pointed it at Vice President Cristina Fernandez and tried to kill her before it got jammed

Investigators analyzing Uliarte's confiscated cellphone revealed Monday that the couple where going to assassinate Vice President Fernandez on August 27 while she was interacting with supporters at an amphitheater near her home.

'No, it's not that she notices it, the issue is that there is a camera from C5N [a local television station], and there are few people, and people are leaving,' Sabag texted Uliarte around midnight on August 27. 'And that was the moment, now it is too late ...'

The would-be assassin sent his girlfriend another message which read: 'Do you understand? Later we are going to see on TV to see what happened because when she got in, they followed her and that's where it should have been.'

In an additional message, Sabag told Uliarte: "No, she went inside me  I touched (the governor of Bueno Aires) Axel Kicillof on the back and he got into a Toyota Etios, ah, and he left, what a mess. She's upstairs but I don't think she'll come out, so she's already gone, leave, I'm going there, stay there. Don't bring anything.'

Authorities on Monday arrested Agustina Diaz, 21, a friend of Uliarte, in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of San Miguel after conducting three search warrant operations that led to the confiscation of three mobile phones.

A source with knowledge of the investigation told La Nacion newspaper that Diaz and Uliarte are very close friends.

Uliarte saved Diaz's phone number under the moniker, 'the love of my life,' and a string of audio and text messages revealed that Uliarte shared the assassination plot with Diaz.

Uliarte also contacted Diaz after Sabag failed to carry out the hit job on Fernandez so that she could remain quiet about it.

'She was a person of extreme confidence for Brenda,' the source said.
Warner Bros. Discovery will lay off hundred of employees on Tuesday, according to reports.

Rumors about the firings have been swirling since June and come months after WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. merged in a $43billion deal in April.

The layoffs will be centered around the advertising sales teams of both WarnerMedia and Discovery, according to Axios, with about 30 percent of the ad sales team expected to be cut.

As of last June the company's ad sales team consisted of about 3,000 according to The Information, suggesting that about 1,000 employees could be fired today.

As expected following massive merger, CEO David Zaslav has been aggressively cutting costs and trimming staff as the new company merges operations.

Just last month 70 people were fired from the Warner Bros. Discovery owned HBO, and in the spring CNN saw layoffs with the dropping of the streaming network CNN+.

As expected following the $43 billion merger between Discovery and Warner Bros., Zaslav has been aggressively cutting costs and trimming staff as the new company merges operations

Warner Bros. Discovery will lay off hundred of employees on Tuesday, according to reports

The HBO layoff landed Warner Bros. Discovery in hot water last month after after the company was accused of wiping out HBO's diversity by cutting the jobs of non-white staffers.

Of the 70 people fired, as many as 13 were people of color, according to a Daily Beast report on citing two former HBO executives who asked not to be named.

The layoffs have 'amplified the lack of diversity at HBO,' one of the former execs said, adding that 'a lot of black and brown people lost their jobs.'

'I don't think anyone knows just how white the staff is,' one of the executives said.

Among those laid off were reportedly Jen Kim, an Asian woman who served as the senior vice president of the international team, and Kaela Barnes, a black woman who worked on Kim's team.

A source familiar with the matter told DailyMail.com that Kim and Barnes were not the former HBO executives who were interviewed by the Daily Beast, saying they had not participated in calling attention to the matter.

The executives suggested that Discovery, which acquired HBO parent company Warner Bros in the April merger, has a different content strategy that they fear will be pushed on the premium cable network.

The Discovery+ streaming platform is expected to merge with HBO Max at some point, and the combined platform may even be re-branded entirely.

One former exec described Discovery+ as a 'more general audience platform that doesn't have the specificity that HBO Max was tailored to.'

'I think Discovery is just a very 'all' audience, [they] don't wanna make things that are political, topical, alienate Middle Americamore Chip and Joanna,' the person said, referring to the home renovation show Fixer Upper: Welcome Home hosted by Chip and Joanna Gaines.

One laid off exec said that Zaslav would 'program Chip and Joanna all day long' if he could, referring to Fixer Upper: Welcome Home hosted by Chip and Joanna Gaines (above)

The Batgirl film was 'canned' by WBD execs after spending more than $90M on the movie because studio executives want to move away from made-for-streaming projects

'If David Zaslav had his wish, he would just program Chip and Joanna all day long,' the person said. 'There was just a massive, 'We don't need you. You're not offering the things we're focused on.'

HBO responded in a statement to the Daily Beast: 'HBO and HBO Max have always shown a commitment to diverse programming and storytellers, and always will.'

Since the April merger, Zaslav has moved quickly to slash costs in the combined company, with an expected $3 billion in cost savings projected from eliminating redundancies.

One of his biggest moves was to immediately pull the plug on the $300 million CNN+ streaming service, just weeks after it launched.

The latest cuts come just weeks after WBD executives suddenly scrapped its $90 million Batgirl origin film and the upcoming Scoob! sequel Scoob!: Holiday Haunt, which cost $40 million to produce.

Warner Bros. Discovery will not be releasing the anticipated Batman: Caped Crusader show onto HBO Max

The Batgirl film was slated to be released on HBO Max later this year, but after a series of test screenings were panned by audiences, studio executives thought it would hurt the future of the brand as they seek to streamline the DC Extended Universe.

HBO productions canceled after Discovery+ merger A merger between the two streaming services has led several Warner Bros. productions to be canceled. This is a list of each of the recent cancellations: Batgirl

Merry Little Batman

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Toons Movie

Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Toons Musical

Did I Do That to the Holidays: A Steve Urkel Story

The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie

The Gordita Chronicles

Moonshot

House Party

Wonder Twins

Scoob!: Holiday Haunt

Raised by Wolves

Made for Love

Time Traveler's Wife

Close Enough

Little Ellen Advertisement

The movie was first given the greenlight in 2021 as part of a company-wide effort to create feature films specifically for HBO Max, Variety reports.

It would have featured Latina actress Leslie Grace in the titular role as she battled Brendan Fraser's Firefly who turned to a life of crime after he is fired from his job, loses his health insurance and could no longer care for his sick wife.

According to those who have seen the now-scrapped film, Michael Keaton's Batman was only featured in a few scenes  and did not serve as a mentor to Grace's Barbara Gordon, and the costumes were subpar.

'I'll say I'm not that surprised Batgirl got canceled as it features a woke Latino Batgirl and Barbara Gordon in a story that sounds downright awful,' Matt McGloin wrote for Cosmic Book News.

A source also told the Post: 'They think an unspeakable Batgirl is going to be irredeemable.'

And Collider Editor-In-Chief Steven Weintraub tweeted: 'Spoke to people that saw #Batgirl, and they said it was a huge disappointment.

'Also that the costumes looked cheap, especially Keaton's Batman costume.'

WBD execs also pulled the plug on a range of animated shows for HBO Max in another cost-cutting move.

Deadline reported the media giant would not be releasing the Batman: Caped Crusader animated series, along with five other cartoons.

The animated Batman show was being produced by Warner Bros Animation, Bad Robot Productions and 6th & Idaho.

It was supposed to mark Bruce Timm's return to the franchise, after he successfully produced Batman: The Animated Series.

The show was advertised as using state-of-the-art animation technology to 'reinvent Batman and iconic rogue's gallery with sophisticated storytelling, nuanced characters and intense action sequences all set in a visually striking world.

It was given a straight to series order in May 2021, prior to the merger of Warner Bros and Discovery.

Executives have since sought to rethink their strategy on releases to the streaming platform as they try to tamp down on costs.

Batman: Caped Crusader will now be shopped to other outlets, TV Line reports, along with other animated films like family action comedy Merry Little Batman, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Toons Movie, Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Toons Musical, Did I Do That to the Holidays: A Steve Urkel Story and The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie.
Swiss director Jean-Luc Godard listens to question during a press conference for his film entry "Notre Musique" which is screened out of competition at the 57th Cannes Film Festival, in this 2004 file photo. Reuters-Yonhap



Jean-Luc Godard, the ingenious "enfant terrible" of the French New Wave who revolutionized popular cinema in 1960 with his debut feature "Breathless" and stood for years as one of the world's most vital and provocative directors has died. He was 91.



Swiss news agency ATS quoted Godard's partner, Anne-Marie Mieville, and her producers as saying he died peacefully and surrounded by his loved ones at his home in the Swiss town of Rolle, on Lake Geneva, on Tuesday.



French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Godard as "the most iconoclastic of the New Wave directors" who "invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art form."



He added: "We have lost a national treasure, the eye of a genius."



Godard defied convention over a long career that began in the 1950s as a film critic. He rewrote rules for camera, sound and narrative.



His films propelled Jean-Paul Belmondo to stardom and his controversial modern nativity play "Hail Mary" grabbed headlines when Pope John Paul II denounced it in 1985.



But Godard also made a string of films, often politically charged and experimental, which pleased few outside a small circle of fans and frustrated many critics through their purported overblown intellectualism.



Cannes Film Festival Director Thierry Fremaux told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he was "sad, sad. Immensely so" at the news of Godard's death.



Born into a wealthy French-Swiss family on Dec. 3, 1930 in Paris, Godard grew up in Nyon, Switzerland, studied ethnology at the Sorbonne in France's capital, where he was increasingly drawn to the cultural scene that flourished in the Latin Quarter "cine-club" after World War II.



He became friends with future big-name directors Francois Truffaut, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer and in 1950 founded the shortlived Gazette du Cinema. By 1952 he had begun writing for the prestigious movie magazine Cahiers du Cinema.



After working on two films by Rivette and Rohmer in 1951, Godard tried to direct his first movie while traveling through North and South America with his father, but never finished it.



Back in Europe, he took a job in Switzerland as a construction worker on a dam project. He used the pay to finance his first complete film, the 1954 "Operation Concrete," a 20-minute documentary about the building of the dam.



Returning to Paris, Godard worked as spokesman for an artists' agency and made his first feature in 1957  "All Boys Are Called Patrick," released in 1959  and continued to hone his writing.



He also began work on "Breathless," based on a story by Truffaut. It was to be Godard's first big success when it was released in March 1960.



The movie stars Belmondo as a penniless young thief who models himself on Hollywood movie gangsters and who, after he shoots a police officer, goes on the run to Italy with his American girlfriend, played by Jean Seeberg.



Like Truffaut's The 400 Blows, released in 1959, Godard's film set the new tone for French movie aesthetics. Godard rejected conventional narrative style and instead used frequent jump-cuts that mingled philosophical discussions with action scenes.



He spiced it all up with references to Hollywood gangster movies, and nods to literature and visual art.



Godard also launched what was to be a career-long participation in collective film projects, contributing scenes to "The Seven Deadly Sins" along with directors such as Claude Chabrol and Roger Vadim. He also worked with Ugo Gregoretti, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini on the Italian movie "Let's Have a Brainwash," with Godard's scenes portraying a disturbing post-apocalypse world.



Godard, who was later to gain a reputation for his uncompromising left-wing political views, had a brush with French authorities in 1960 when he made "The Little Soldier." The movie, filled with references to France's colonial war in Algeria, was not released until 1963, a year after the conflict ended.



His work turned more starkly political by the late 1960s. In "Week End," his characters lampoon the hypocrisy of bourgeois society even as they demonstrate the comic futility of violent class war. It came out a year before popular anger at the establishment shook France, culminating in the iconic but short-lived student unrests of May 1968.



Godard harbored a life-long sympathy for various forms of socialism depicted in films ranging from the early 1970s to early 1990s. In December 2007 he was honored by the European Film Academy with a lifetime achievement award.



Godard took potshots at Hollywood over the years.



He remained home in Switzerland rather than travel to Hollywood to receive an honorary Oscar at a private ceremony in November 2010 alongside film historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, director-producer Francis Ford Coppola and actor Eli Wallach.



His lifelong advocacy of the Palestinian cause also brought him repeated accusations of antisemitism, despite his insistence that he sympathized with the Jewish people and their plight in Nazi-occupied Europe.



Though the academy received some complaints about Godard being selected to receive the award, academy President Tom Sherak said the director was recognized solely "for his contributions to film in the New Wave era."



In 2010, Godard released "Film Socialisme," a film in three chapters first shown at the Cannes Film Festival.



Godard married Danish-born model and actress Anna Karina in 1961. She appeared in a string of movies he made during the remainder of the 1960s, all of them seen as New Wave landmarks. Notable among them were "My Life to Live," "Alphaville" and "Crazy Pete,"  which also starred Belmondo and was rumored to have been shot without a script. They divorced in 1965.



Godard married his second wife, Anne Wiazemsky, in 1967. He later started a relationship with Swiss filmmaker Anne-Marie Mieville. Godard divorced Wiazemsky in 1979, after he had moved in with Mieville to the Swiss municipality of Rolle, where he lived with her for the rest of his life. (AP)




A senior official in the Pentagon's education wing who has written books on anti-racism has a history of mocking white people on Twitter, recently-resurfaced posts revealed on Tuesday.

Kelisa Wing is the chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer in the Department of Defense's Education Activity office, which oversees schooling for children of Pentagon employees including active duty service members.

But before she landed the role, Wing made a few controversial social media posts including one that disparaged a woman for stating that black people 'can be racist too.'

She's also listed as an author on several progressive children's books in a series called 'Racial Justice In America.'

One book is called 'What Is White Privilege,' while another is 'What Does it Mean To Defund the Police?'

The former has lines such as: 'If you are White you might feel bad about hurting others or you might feel afraid to lose this privilege.'

It also asks white children to consider if they will 'really feel good at the end of the race when you look back and see others fighting obstacles that you didn't even have?'

But the main controversy is with Wing's now-private Twitter account.

Kelisa Wing is the chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer in the Department of Defense's Education Activity office

She previously boasted about being 'woke' on Twitter in posts first uncovered by Fox News

Her Twitter account is now private. Fox reported that it had been a public profile until after the outlet had reached out to her for comment about the tweets

Fox News resurfaced her old posts, but her account was reportedly set to private after the outlet reached out for comment.

'I'm exhausted with these white folx in these [professional development] sessions,' Wing wrote on July 23, 2020.

[T]his lady actually had the CAUdacity to say that black people can be racist too I had to stop the session and give Karen the BUSINESSwe are not the majority, we don't have power.'

'Caudacity' and 'Karen' are both well-worn slang terms used to mock white people. 'Caudacity' is a portmanteau of Caucasian and audacity.

In other posts she referred to Donald Trump as the 'whole boy version of a Karen' and his Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, as 'the queen of Karens.'

She responded to one user's complaint about 'white nonsense' in education by tweeting: 'If another Karen tells me about her feelings I might lose it...'

Wing has also proudly touted herself as 'woke' on multiple occasions, including a post with a photo of herself in a Jay-Z shirt.

As a children's book author, Wing helped write several books under a series titled 'What Is White Privilege'

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Department of Defense Education Activity for comment.

Before joining the Defense Department, Wing had been a teacher and served in the US Army. During her military service Wing rose to the level of Staff Sergeant, according to a biography on her eponymous website.

Republicans have for months accused the military of going 'woke' ever since it came under President Joe Biden and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin's stewardship.

In particular, GOP lawmakers have harped on Austin's focus on stamping out racial bias and extremism in the military while foreign threats continue to grow.

Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott unveiled an 11-point proposal in June for his party to act on if they retake Congress in the November midterms.

Among his action items is firing military leaders who continue to promote diversity training and 'critical race theory.'

'American war fighters are being indoctrinated with left-wing woke foolishness,' Scott wrote.
El Paso is experiencing its own influx of migrants, officials say, as the local government tries to work with the White House for a solution

Some migrants have made their way to the outskirts of the town, where they 'killed the dogs' on one property 'in order to steal something'

An influx of migrants into a Texas border town killing local pets, stealing from shops, and knocking on doors late at night has prompted residents to buy more weapons to defend themselves.

The Del Rio section of the border at Eagle Pass, Texas, has seen over 376,000 migrant encounters since October 2021, according to Customs and Border Protection, which doubles the number from the previous year.

One Eagle Pass resident said she taught her children to use tasers and other weapons to defend their family business.

'It's something that has had to be done because we don't know what can happen,' Laura Ramos told Fox News. 'We don't know these people or where they come from.'

Another resident said his youngest sister heard a knock on her bedroom window late at night.

'It's pretty scary,' he said. 'We're getting used to it already because unfortunately, nothing is really being done.'

Eagle Pass, Texas, residents have decided to arm themselves after a recent influx of migrants into the border town

The Del Rio section of the border, which includes Eagle Pass, has doubled its number of migrant encounters from the previous year to over 376,000 since October 2021

The town has three official border crossings, though the main entryway into the town has been the nearby Rio Grande

The town has three official border crossings on its western edge, though locals say migrants continue to cross the nearby Rio Grande.

One Eagle Pass business owner said she now closes her business at 7pm because she employs a staff comprised entirely of women.

'We now close at seven because it gets dark, people are walking around, all girls, you just never know,' she said.

She added that she now keeps 'several weapons' in the store to defend her employees.

A local who lives outside of downtown said migrants move out toward ranches to steal food.

'I live far from the downtown, but in that area, it's a lot of ranches, a lot of big properties,' they said.

They added that they were aware of some migrants who entered one property 'and in order to steal something, they killed the dogs.'

'They are like robbing stuff or killing animals to eat,' they said. 'That's what concerns me.'

Eagle Pass residents the influx of migrants has led to the killing of local animals and an increase in theft

Because so many migrants attempt to cross the Rio Grande into Eagle Pass, the town is also experiencing an increase in drownings. Fire Chief Manuel Mello says the town performs a daily body recovery

One resident says they have adjusted to the migrants in their town: 'We're getting used to it already because unfortunately, nothing is really being done'

A local identified as 'Cesar' said incoming migrants have started to leave trash on ranches while 'a lot of migrants are dying in the river, too.'

'All those things are affecting the city,' Cesar said.

According to Eagle Pass Fire Department Chief Manuel Mello, the town performs a body recovery from the river daily, an experience which he described as 'very traumatic.'

'There are so many bodies being recovered that the morticians are asking for assistance,' Mello said. 'I had never seen so many drownings like we're seeing right now.'

Mello added that when he joined the fire department 25 years ago, the town would average 12 body recoveries a year. That average has risen to 30 a month.

'Sometimes you'll be walking in an area where the water will never go above your knee, but all of a sudden you'll have a drop of about 10, 12 feet,' he said.

'If you're carrying a baby, you're going to go down 10 or 12 feet with that baby.'

El Paso is experiencing its own recent influx, leading to many migrants sleep on the city's streets

El Paso's Deputy City Manager said the city has been in contact with the White House to work toward a solution

The city recently approved funding for a new center to mitigate its issues. Once migrants are released from border patrol, they will now go to the center rather than straight into the city

Recently, Vice President Kamala Harris noted issues at the country's border.

'The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system, in particular, over the last four years before we came in and it needs to be fixed,' Harris said.

'We have a secure border in that that is a priority for any nations, including ours and our administration, but there are still a lot of problems that we are trying to fix given the deterioration that happened over the last four years.'

Ricardo, who owns a food truck in Eagle Pass, said 'the situation, it's not under control.'

'My understanding is that we need to close off our borders because if we don't do nothing, more people will come, and those people are suffering,' he said.

Vice President Kamala Harris recently addressed issues at the border: 'The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system, in particular, over the last four years before we came in and it needs to be fixed'

One Eagle Pass resident said he doesn't expect change: 'My understanding is that we need to close off our borders because if we don't do nothing, more people will come, and those people are suffering'

El Paso's Deputy City Manager, Mario D'Agostino, says his city has contacted the government directly to combat similar issues.

'We've been in communication with the White House directly,' he said. 'We've been talking about some of the needs we're seeing in our community and we need to continue helping in this effort.'

The city, also a border city opposite Ciudad Juarez, recently experienced a surge of migrants sleeping on the streets downtown in tents.

D'Agostino added the city wants to be in contact with customs and border patrol so that it could be better prepared for another influx of migrants.

El Paso County Commissioners approved a funding source on September 12 to set up the city's own processing center - which could be used to mitigate any incoming issues.

Through this new center, migrants released from customs and border patrol would be sent to the center rather than straight to the city's streets.
They accuse Starbucks of suppressing unions and wrongfully firing union advocates that they employ

Union protestors gathered outside the meeting to make their voices heard, as they want investors to know their struggles

Executives now seek to invest in drive-thru stores and move away from their traditional caf

Starbucks revealed a new 'Reinvention' plan at an investors meeting on Tuesday that will overhaul the way the company runs

Starbucks unveiled a 'Reinvention' plan on Tuesday to overhaul their current stores with speedier technology and implement new stores that will only offer delivery services and a drive-thru.

The plan will cost the company $450 million to execute and will increase Starbucks' store growth rate in the US from 450 to 2,000 annually. The new plan will roll out next month and will take two years to fully implement.

The 'Reinvention' plan will also include a new rewards system called Starbucks Odyssey and seek to automate much of the coffee-making without any cuts to employees, outgoing Chief Operating Officer John Culver said.

The new automated systems will decrease the time it takes to make a Frappuccino from 86 seconds to 35 seconds, while the 20-hour cold brew process will soon only take 4 hours.

Starbucks founder Howard Schultz speaks to investors at Starbucks Investors Day, where he announced the company's 'Reinvention' plan to create growth

John Culver, North America group president and chief operating officer, introduces the Siren System, an overhaul of equipment used to make drinks and prepare food in stores

Starbucks employees who support unionization protest in the company's hometown ahead of Investor Day, in Seattle

The company has seen an explosion in drinks sales and attributes much of that to Gen-Z becoming enamored with heavily customized cold drinks.

'Customization is what customers want today, truly,' said Starbucks Chief Marketing Officer Brady Brewer.

The numbers behind Starbucks' excellent sales show their cafe stores only made up 3% of new store openings in 2022, while stores with a drive-thru accounted for 86% of store openings.

The company plans to open 44% drive-thru cafe stores, 35% drive-thru only stores and 14% pick up only stores, with cafe only stores making up merely 2% of their planned openings.

Culver said existing stores that are designed in the typical Starbucks cafe style were built for a different time and must adapt to meet what customers want.

Executive Katie Young indicated stores that aren't meeting demand may be forced to close.

Starbucks founder Howard Schultz said the Covid-19 pandemic changed the way customers interact with the company as they are 'no longer coming to the store the way they used to.'

He said that despite Starbucks delivery only being available for eight months, it has driven sales with the help of delivery apps like UberEats and Doordash.

But not everyone is happy with the announced changes - 400 protestors from Starbucks Workers United showed up outside the headquarters.

Joe Gormley, equipment development team senior manager, right, demonstrates a Clover Vertica, a single-serve on-demand coffee maker

One union worker who protested outside the headquarters said the company should look to hire new employees instead of upgrading their machinery

The group is the most prominent in the fight to unionize Starbucks stores across the country, and have so far been responsible for 244 of 8,900 corporate-owned Starbucks locations unionizing.

The company has taken a staunchly anti-union stance, and union activists say the company wrongly fired union supporters and denied them raises.

Arthur Pratt, a worker at a unionized Starbucks store in Portland, told the Seattle Times that the protestors wish to alert investors of the issues they face.

'We know that Howard Schultz is never ever going to change his mind on unions, hes made that clear,' Pratt said. 'So were going to the investors.'

Pratt also said Starbucks should invest in hiring more employees rather than upgrading their machinery and equipment. He claimed the company refused to hire his store an additional employee, even when the bathroom went uncleaned.

Starbucks says the unions are causing a rift between employees and managers and are a 'third-party' entity.

'We believe we can do more for our partners working side-by-side than across a negotiating table,' a Starbucks spokesperson said.

Executives told investors they believe now is the time to upgrade their operations and drive growth.

'Were accelerating growth,' Culver said. 'This is an opportunity in a moment in time where we can reinvent the company.'
A United States Navy sailor killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor will be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, 80 years after his tragic death.

Herbert 'Bert' Jacobson's body was identified in 2019, but his burial was postponed for two years by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jacobson was one of the over 400 sailors and marines who died when the USS Oklahoma was struck by nine Japanese torpedoes on December 7, 1941. He was 21-years-old when he died.

Jacobson's remains were identified as a part of Project Oklahoma, which the Defense Department launched in 2015 to try to put names to the bodies of nearly 400 servicemen who died aboard the Oklahoma but remained unidentified.

Jacobson's family said they had long ago given up hope of ever finding out for sure what happened to him, and said his identification and burial will finally give them some closure.

'This has kind of been an unsolved mystery and it gives us closure to finally know what happened to Bert,' nephew Brad McDonald told CBS News, 'Where he is and that he's being finally laid to rest after being listed as an unknown for so long.'

Herbert 'Bert' Jacobson's body was identified in 2019, but his burial was postponed for two years by the COVID-19 pandemic

Jacobson was one of the over 400 sailors and marines who died when the USS Oklahoma was struck by nine Japanese torpedoes on December 7, 1941. He was 21-years-old when he died

Jacobson came from the small northern Illinois town of Grayslake, and was stationed aboard the USS Oklahoma before the outbreak of World War Two.

Exactly how the young sailor died on December 7 remains unclear, but McDonald said witnesses told his family Jacobson had spent several hours ferrying troops from the ship to shore before the attack.

One of Jacobson's best friends in the Navy told the family Jacobson 'was asleep in his bunk and died before he even knew a war was going on. But we don't really know,' said McDonald.

After the attack the Oklahoma remained submerged for two years, and when it was salvaged many of the 429 servicemen who had gone down with the ship could not be identified. Their bodies were buried in the crater of a dormant volcano nearby on Hawaii.

Over the years a number of those casualties were disinterred and identified, but the names of the vast majority remained unknown despite numerous efforts.

Then in 2015 the Defense Department launched Project Oklahoma with the hopes that modern forensic technology would finally yield results.

The project was a massive success and has led to the identification of 355 bodies - including Jacobson's in 2019.

A United States Navy sailor killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor will be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, 80 years after his tragic death

The USS Oklahoma floats on its side as rescue crews struggle to save whatever sailors they can on December 7, 1941. The ship later foundered and remained underwater for two years

McDonald said the toll his family paid for not known definitively what happened to Jacobson was heavy, and that it only grew more difficult with each failed identification project.

According to one Associated Press story, Jacobson's mother broke down in tears every year on December 7.

'She always had the hope the phone would ring and it would be Bert,' McDonald said.

McDonald said he wished those of his family who waited so long for answers but never got them could be around today.

'I wish they could have seen this,' McDonald said of his grandparents, parents and others.
Deep-pocketed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones reaped nearly a quarter of a million dollars in just one day off of the bogus claim that the horrific Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was a hoax, the lawyer for the families suing the InfoWars host said Tuesday.

The trial will determine how much money the Texas media mogul will have to pay to the families of the victims of the mass murder at the Newtown, Connecticut school. He was found liable for damages last November in a default judgment.

The civil case, the second of three, is a consolidation of lawsuits by 15 family members and an FBI agent against the shock jock. It could potentially be far more financially devastating than the $50 million Texas verdict against Jones last month in a civil case by the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, who died in the shooting on December 14, 2012.

Attorney Chris Mattei, who is representing 15 people suing the Texas media mogul, said that Jones made $232,000 in a single day when the InfoWars website published the story that the FBI said that there were no deaths reported.

Alex Jones made $232,000 in a single day when the InfoWars website published the story that the FBI said that there were no deaths reported

Chris Mattei, the lawyer for the families suing Jones, tried to draw a direct line between the lies on InfoWars about Sandy Hook and the money he made

'$232,000 in a day, just on that one platform,' Mattei said, according to the News Times. 'What you see there is the relationship between the lie, the audience, and the money tree.'

The lawyer said that the case is not just about the money, though.

'Unless you stop a bully, a bully will never stop himself,' he said.

In February, 2020, Jones sent an email about another single day take, this time the number had grown dramatically.

'We ended up about $810K yesterday,' he wrote.

'One day. Do the math,' Mattei told the jury.

Jones, who is expected to testify, didn't show on the first day of the trial, prompting Watertown, Connecticut, Judge Barbara Bellis to sanction the millionaire podcaster.

'This stunningly cavalier attitude toward their discovery obligations is what lead to the default judgement in the first place,' a clearly annoyed Bellis said. 'The defendants have consistently engaged in dilatory and obstructive discovery practices from the inception of these cases right through to the trial.'

She also admonished his lawyer, Norman Pattis, that they may not argue that he did not profit off his coverage of the brutal slaughter of adolescent children.

'The court hereby sanctions the defendants by precluding them from presenting evidence or argument that they did not profit from the Sandy Hook coverage,' she said from the bench.

Jones testified in the Texas trial, admitting that he was wrong to deny the massacre, which took the lives of 20 children and six adults.

'Especially since I've met the parents. It's 100 percent real,' the right-wing media mogul admitted on the stand.

Starting today a jury of six will hear evidence to consider how much Jones should pay. The trial is expected to last six weeks.

Alex Jones took the stand in Austin, Texas and admitted that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was '100 percent real'

Jones speaking to a Connecticut News12 reporter outside of the deposition in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Prior to this, Jones paid two separate fines of $25,000 and $50,000 for missing appearances in March

The podcast host's lawyer said that the goal of the families is to stop Alex Jones, but he questioned what the greater harm would be.

'Our suggestion is that if you stop Alex Jones you do a greater harm upon the public,' Pattis said during his opening arguments. 'They hate him because he says outrageous things and the haters want him silenced.'

Pattis pointed out that one of the flashpoints of the current culture wars is gun control and that the motivation for going after his client is not just because of the lies that he spun.

'It is our contention that the plaintiffs in this case exaggerated the harm that he caused them and they exaggerated it for political reasons,' he said.

Jones may have admitted that he spread lies about Sandy Hook, but he's still unrepentant about the harm the families say he caused.

Jones continues to argue that his coverage was protected by the First Amendment.

Recently, during an interview with YouTube journalist Andrew Callaghan, he pushed back against accusations of irresponsible journalism or wrongdoing.

'Do I feel responsible that someone that played shoot-em-up video games, on a bunch of drugs, went and killed a bunch of kids and then the internet questioned it, and I covered that?' he said. 'No, I don't feel responsible - and I don't apologize,'

In their lawsuits, the families and FBI agent William Aldenberg say that they have been subject to harassment, abusive comments on social media and even death threats because of the hoax conspiracy.

Some of the plaintiffs say strangers have videotaped them and their surviving children. And some families have moved out of Newtown to avoid threats and harassment.

'I can't even describe the last nine and a half years, the living hell that I and others have had to endure because of the recklessness and negligence of Alex Jones,' Neil Heslin, Jesse Lewis' father, testified during the Texas trial.

The Connecticut lawsuit alleges defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the state Unfair Trade Practices Act. The families claim when Jones talked about Sandy Hook, he boosted his audience and raked in more profits from selling supplements, clothing and other items.

A parent with two children confers with an official on the day of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on Dec. 14, 2012

The victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre are pictured here: starting on the top row, from left to right, are Ana Marquez-Greene, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos, Emilie Parker, and Noah Pozner; Jesse Lewis, Olivia Engel, Josephine Gay, Charlotte Bacon and Chase Kowalski; Daniel Barden, Jack Pinto, Catherine Hubbard, Dylan Hockley and Benjamin Wheeler; Grace McDonnell, James Mattioli, Avielle Richman, Rachel Davino and Anne Marie Murphy; Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach, Victoria Soto, Dawn Hochsprung and Nancy Lanza

Twenty children, between the ages of six and seven years old, and six adults were killed when 20-year-old Adam Lanza went on a shooting spree - with their families now setting their sights on Jones for his troubling assertions that the massacre was carried out by 'crisis actors'

A parent walks away from the Sandy Hook Elementary School with her children following a shooting at the school in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14, 2012

Veronique De La Rosa, mother of Noah Pozner, who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, wipes away tears during a news conference in Trumbull, Connecticut on February 15, 2022

The families have not asked for any specific amount of damages, some of which may be limited by state laws. There are no damage limits, however, under the Unfair Trade Practices Act.

In all the Connecticut and Texas cases, Jones and his lawyers repeatedly failed to turn over records as required to the families' attorneys. In response, judges handed down one of the harshest sanctions in the civil legal world  they found Jones liable for damages by default without trials.

Jones, who runs his web show and Infowars brand in Austin, Texas, also faces a third trial over the hoax conspiracy in another pending lawsuit by Sandy Hook parents in Texas.

Pitbull defense attorney, Norman Pattis, seen here, said that his client Alex Jones will take the stand in his defense this week

In a reversal from what he said on his show for years following the shooting, Jones now says he believes the massacre was real.

But he continues to say his comments about the shooting being a hoax involving crisis actors to encourage gun control efforts were protected by free speech rights.

During a deposition in the case in April, a defiant Jones insisted he wasn't responsible for the suffering that Sandy Hook parents say they have endured because of his words.

He also has said the judges' default rulings against him  finding him liable without trials  were unfair and suggested they were part of a conspiracy to put him out of business and silence him.

'If questioning public events and free speech is banned because it might hurt somebody's feelings, we are not in America anymore,' he said at the deposition. 'They can change the channel. They can come out and say I'm wrong. They have free speech.'

At the Texas trial, however, Jones testified that he now realizes what he said was irresponsible, and did hurt people's feelings and he apologized.

The judge, who found Jones liable for damages, is the same judge who oversaw Sandy Hook families' lawsuit against gun maker Remington, which made the Bushmaster rifle used in the school shooting. In February, Remington agreed to settle the lawsuit for $73 million.

The trial is expected to be similar to the one in Texas, with victims' relatives testifying about the pain and anguish the hoax conspiracy caused them and medical professionals answering questions about the relatives' mental health and diagnoses.
An immigration watchdog has slammed the staggering $20.4 billion U.S. taxpayers spend each year on the education, healthcare and other services for the 2.3 million migrants who have entered the country under President Joe Bidens watch.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) said the Biden administration had let 1.3 million undocumented aliens across the southern border since January 2021 and an estimated 1 million had snuck in undetected.

Each of those newcomers costs taxpayers $9,232 in education, healthcare, welfare, justice, law enforcement and other government schemes each year, the group said in a statement on Tuesday.

Its president Dan Stein panned the staggering cost of a border crisis that has been heaped onto the backs of American taxpayers, who already spend $140 billion annually on the country's long-term undocumented population.

$20.4 billion could address some very important needs of the American public, instead of covering the costs of the surge of illegal migration triggered by this administrations policies, said Stein.

Migrants walk after being detained by U.S. border guards, having crossed into the U.S. from Mexico to turn themselves in to request asylum, in El Paso, Texas, this week

Asylum-seeking migrants, mostly from Venezuela, walk near the border wall after crossing the Rio Bravo river, in El Paso, Texas, U.S., this week

The funds would be better spent on helping homeless veterans, giving food vouchers to poor families or hiring 315,000 new cops or 330,000 teachers to make up for shortages in those sectors, he added.

Whether immigrants  undocumented or otherwise  place a burden on society is fiercely contested. The reform-minded National Immigration Forum says undocumented migrants pay hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes every year.

Andy Biggs, a Republican congressman for Arizona, says hospitals are at a breaking point due to the costs of an influx of migrants

FAIRs analysis comes amid record numbers of migrants entering the U.S., stoking fears of a border crisis and what many deem an invasion, even as others call for a humane approach to people from broken countries seeking work.

Customs and Border Protection agents made 21 arrests in the Rio Grande Valley on Monday and Tuesday, after four people-smuggling vehicles were chased down and halted after smashing through fences and damaging ranch land, the agency said.

Andy Biggs, a Republican congressman for Arizona, warned on Tuesday that the border states hospitals were at a breaking point due to the costs of an influx of migrants, mostly from Central and South America.

The Biden Administration wont pay their share and frankly doesnt care about the financial distress being imposed on these hospitals, Biggs told his half-million social media followers.

A man shows a sign that reads: 'emigration is not a crime, it is a right. We want free transit', during the walk of hundreds of migrants, most of them Central Americans, in a caravan from the city of Tapachula, in Chiapas, southern Mexico, 31 August 2022

Vice President Kamala Harris, the administrations point person on immigration, said this week that the U.S.-Mexico frontier was secure despite the influx of millions, in comments that were widely criticized as incoherent and out of touch.

She also criticized the administration of former president Donald Trump, an anti-immigration hardliner, saying the U.S. had a broken system for determining who could move to the U.S. that still needs to be fixed.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has been bussing hundreds of migrants to Democrat-led cities like Washington, D.C., New York and now Chicago in a political ploy designed to show them what Texas has been feeling.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey followed suit. The political move prompted Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser to call in the help of the National Guard to deal with the influx of migrants, calling the matter a 'humanitarian crisis.'

New Yorks Mayor Eric Adams echoed that sentiment, requesting help to deal with the influx of migrants to his city.

More than half of Americans say the situation at the southern border amounts to an 'invasion' while another third of respondents to an Ipsos poll last month expressed worry over being replaced by illegal immigrants.

An Ipsos poll last month showed that more than half of Americans think there is an 'invasion' while another one-third expressed worry over being 'replaced' by illegal immigrants

Migrants detained by U.S. border guards this week after crossing into the U.S. from Mexico to turn themselves in to request for asylum, in El Paso, Texas
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Tens of thousands of people have lined the streets of London tonight to welcome back the late Queen Elizabeth II as she arrived at Buckingham Palace for the final time.

As the late monarch's coffin journeyed from RAF Northolt, many witnessing put down their umbrellas as a sign of respect and some could be seen wiping tears from their eyes, while phone camera lights lit up the crowds.

Mourners also cheered and clapped in the rain as the new state hearse travelled down Constitution Hill and around the Queen Victoria Memorial as it slowed then drove through the gates of the palace and through the central arch into the quadrangle.

Huge numbers have turned out despite the rain, with many still remaining outside the palace.

People gather to pay respects in the rain as the cortege carrying the coffin arrives at Buckingham Palace

Many put down their umbrellas as a sign of respect and some could be seen wiping tears from their eyes, while phone camera lights lit up the crowds

Huge numbers have turned out despite the rain, with many still remaining

Mourners cheered and clapped in the rain as the new state hearse travelled down Constitution Hill and around the Queen Victoria Memorial as it slowed then drove through the gates of the palace and through the central arch into the quadrangle

The Queen Elizabeth Coffin procession making its way into London on the A40 at Hangar Lane this evening

The Queen's coffin arriving at Buckingham Palace as thousands of mourners applauded the late monarch

Tens of thousands of people have lined the streets of London tonight to welcome back the late Queen Elizabeth II as she arrived at Buckingham Palace for the final time

Onlookers watch as the hearse transporting the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II arrives at Buckingham Palace

The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II leaving RAF Northolt

Seen from the top of the Wellington Arch, the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is taken in the Royal Hearse to Buckingham Palace

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is taken from RAF Northolt to Buckingham Palace

Upon arriving at the Grand Entrance of the palace, a further guard of honour was formed by the King's Guard. The late monarch was received by all her children and grandchildren, including the King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Shortly after witnessing the arrival of the coffin, Charles and Camilla left Buckingham Palace.

For one night the coffin will lie at rest in the palace's bow room before the late monarch is handed to the nation to allow the public to pay their respects when she lies in state at the ancient Westminster Hall for four days.

Last night, thousands in Edinburgh queued through the night to catch a glimpse of the Queen's coffin before her body began the journey to London at 5pm today ahead of the funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19.

Respectful well-wishers were overcome with emotion, as they solemnly walked past the Queen's coffin, reflected on her historic 70-year reign, and bowed their heads or even curtsied, after queuing for hours through the streets of the Scottish capital.

Many visiting the cathedral were seen with tears in their eyes, hugging loved ones and finding comfort in the mass of people that had arrived to pay their respects to the late monarch.

Some people travelled to the Scottish cathedral from England, in the belief that paying their respects to the Queen would be easier in Edinburgh than visiting Westminster Hall in London - where queues are expected to stretch for miles, and could last up to '30 hours'.

Thousands of people lined the streets around a west London military airbase tonight as Queen Elizabeth II made her final journey home.

The RAF Globemaster C-17 plane carrying Her Majesty's coffin from Edinburgh landed at RAF Northolt at 6.55pm this evening, after she spent 24 hours in St Giles' Cathedral where tens of thousands of mourners paid their respects to Britain's longest-reigning monarch.

Huge crowds gathered at RAF Northolt to witness the arrival of Her Majesty's coffin.

Workers left offices early while parents brought their children straight from school to be present at the poignant moment the RAF Globemaster C-17 carrying the Queen's body swooped in through the clouds before touching down on the runway shortly before 7pm.

The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II leaves RAF Northolt in west London

People get out of their cars to watch as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II passes along the A40

People gather near the Marble Arch as the State Hearse carrying the coffin drives from RAF Northolt to Buckingham Palace

Many told how the arrival of the Queen's coffin would be their one and only opportunity to pay tribute to the much loved monarch.

Some stood for hours in the pouring rain in a bid to catch a glimpse of the coffin as it began the journey to Buckingham Palace where almost the entire Royal Family gathered for the first time since the Queen died last Thursday.

Mourners stood six deep behind metal barriers on the pavements outside the airbase.

Many held up umbrellas while others took shelter under bus stops and the forecourt of a nearby petrol station.

There was a respectful silence in the moments before and after the jet carrying the coffin, which was accompanied by Princess Anne, roared in.

Because of the overcast skies and unusual flight path of the jet, it was the sound of the engines that signalled the arrival for many of those who had gathered.

When the coffin was driven out of the base around 25 minutes later there was a huge round of spontaneous applause.

It rippled along the route to the A40 as the cortege made its way up to the A40.

Three police outriders with their lights flashing led the jaguar hearse with glass windows.

The Queen's coffin could be clearly seen with the Royal Standard draped over it and a white wreath on top.

The hearse was followed by four black Range Rovers and an old Rolls Royce carrying Princess Anne.

A marked police followed at the back of the courtage.

It came amid a massive security operation which with hundreds of police officers drafted in to ensure the arrival went smoothly.

Soldiers and security guards were also brought in to help in the operation.

Thousands of mourners are drenched in rain as the coffin arrives at Buckingham Palace

The hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth arrives at Buckingham Palace

The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II arrives in the Royal Hearse at Buckingham Palace

Teaching assistant Emma Keech told how she rushed from school with her mother Pat, sister Claire and two great-nephews Codey, eight, and Caleb, six, to make the 50-mile drive from Bedford.

She said: 'I literally finished work and drive up the M1 to get here.

'We made it two hours before the arrival. There were hundreds of people here already.

'I knew this was our only chance to say goodbye. We don't want to take the little ones into Lindon for the ceremonies because there will be so many more people then.

'I've got work commitments as well apart from the day of the funeral itself.'

Emma said: 'I rang at 7am and said 'We need to do this for the boys'. This is a moment of history. There are three generations of us and it is something we will never again see in our lifetimes.'

Janet Price, 70, brought her six-year-old granddaughter Sophie, six, to mark the historic moment.

Janet, from Ruislip, said: 'I stood in this very spot 25 years ago after Princess Diana died. Her body was flown into RAF Northolt. That was a day I will never forget - like this one.

'I'm sure Sophie will feel the same in years to come. We got here two hours before the flight came in. It was something we just had to come and see. It was very emotional.'

Nurse Kristina Carter, 47, watched from the roadside with husband Robert, 49, who works for the government. She said: 'We wanted to see the Queen come home. It's a moment in history. We knew there would be many people here but we live close by so we thought we had to try.'
January 28, 1965

Two rivers run silently through London tonight, and one is made of people. Dark and quiet as the night-time Thames itself, it flows through Westminster Hall, eddying about the foot of the rock called Churchill.

And for all the tears and the stiff, awkward movements of Englishmen ashamed to give in to mourning, the first day of the lying-in-state of Sir Winston Churchill is ending on a note well removed from grief.

If you could distil the emotion that has flowed through England's most venerable hall today into a sound the heart would recognise, it would never fit the plaintive oboe.

You would have to play it bravely, distantly, on a bugle made for war.

People grieving give up something of themselves. The people who came back to Churchill today seemed, on the contrary, to be drawing some intangible strength from him.

Cold in his coffin, he was no less an inspiration.

It showed itself in many ways as the true tapestry of England  not the braided, glinting highlights of ceremonial, but the rough and ready weave of the people  went by.

Vigil: Guards at the catafalque in Westminster Hall as crowds pass Sir Winston's coffin in January 1965

And for all the tears and the stiff, awkward movements of Englishmen ashamed to give in to mourning, the first day of the lying-in-state of Sir Winston Churchill is ending on a note well removed from grief. The cortege at the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill, makes its way down Whitehall on January 30 1965

There was no form, scarcely any precedent, so people did the best they knew, out of a rich diversity of background and breeding.

Soldierly men came to the sort of attention which must have hurt their old backs and, without breaking the smooth pace of those pressing behind, bowed their heads in a clipped, military way.

And there were some, even, who managed to fall on both knees as they passed the catafalque and immediately rise without ostensibly embarrassing those behind.

Some blessed themselves with the Sign of the Cross. Some shook their heads as though impatient with death for taking him away. Some even seemed to walk by without looking up at the coffin.

But all looked back.

Before they left, some instinct of history made them pause, turn, and take a last look at the scene.

The incredibly patient queue grew and shrank with the passing hours. But for most of the day it stretched two or three deep, from the St Stephen's entrance to the House of Commons, along Millbank, across Lambeth Bridge, and turned back on itself along the South Bank of the Thames almost to St. Thomas' Hospital, forming three sides of an oblong.

They went into the Palace of Westminster by the route many a commoner has gone to see the MP who lay there tonight.

But instead of going straight ahead to the central lobby, they turned left and came in a slow cascade down the steps into Westminster Hall.

The chief illumination came from soft lights directed on to the bronze forest of Sussex oak which is the glorious hammerbeam roof of the Hall. Below, all was as grey and chill as the atmosphere which pervaded the Hall, save for the catafalque area, lit by six candles.

Day-long, the three Services took part in the death watch over their old chief. The Navy, the Guards, the strangely young successors of The Few who fought the Battle of Britain, succeeded each other at the four corners of the catafalque.

For a brief time this morning there happened one of those splendid bursts of pageantry, when the four Defence chiefs  Earl Mountbatten, Admiral Sir David Luce, General Sir Richard Hull and Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Elworthy, took their 20-minute spell in the death watch by the bier.

For two hours Churchill's contemporaries, friends and ex-foes alike, moved by. Peers and Commons, the Royal Household and foreign ambassadors were the only figures on this momentous scene. For the first two hours of the lying-in-state, these people claimed Churchill for themselves.

The Earl Marshal of England had decided that this unique moment was not for the history books. No reporters were allowed in. No record was made.

As Big Ben struck 11, fateful hour in two world wars, the physician who pronounced Sir Winston dead joined the VIP queue moving slowly across the silent, carpeted floor.

They went into the Palace of Westminster by the route many a commoner has gone to see the MP who lay there tonight. Pictured: the gun carriage carrying the coffin of Sir Winston Churchill crossing Trafalgar Square during his state funeral

Princess Elizabeth shakes hands with Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister, at a dinner to mark the launching of the Lord Mayor's National Thanksgiving Fund in London on March 22 1950

Lord Moran was as much a friend as doctor to the man beneath the Union Jack. He walked, black topper in hand, explaining the scene to a grave-faced boy in grey.

As the chimes of Parliament's clock died away, the guard about the bier went about its silent change, every movement ordered by two smart raps from a scabbard on the stone floor.

The flow of people, on either side of the bier halted as the new guard took over.

S o, for a full minute, Lord Moran gazed at the bright Garter emblems resting on a black velvet cushion on the coffin of his knightly friend.

Throughout the day, policemen, strangely gentle, urged the twin flows along. By nightfall, as offices closed and the queue grew, they were passing through at the rate of 4,000 an hour.

The interminable, anonymous stream flowed on through the night. Occasionally, a famous face went slowly by. The Marquis of Exeter  Lord Burghley the athlete  limped steadily past the bier on two walking-sticks. Behind him came an unknown, grey-bearded man, a crucifix clutched to his chest.

Mothers carried sleeping babies. Small, uncomprehending boys clutched comics and even tried to read them by the light of the tall saffron candles.

Always there were tears, women blowing their noses hard, men flicking away something that seemed to have got into their eye.

But for everyone who cried there were a hundred who straightened their shoulders. It wasn't grief which invested Westminster Hall tonight, it was pride.
A magistrate in Florida unredacted more details on Tuesday of the FBI affidavit outlining its case to search Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago home, revealing that the former president's lawyer said he had been told there were no sensitive records stored in private offices there.

In fact, court filings show agents recovered three classified documents from a desk drawer in Trump's office on August 8.

And it said some documents returned in June bore Trump's handwritten notes - and that his lawyer's made no mention of any presidential effort to declassify them.

The details will only raise more questions about why Trump kept the documents and whether he made enough of an effort to return them when asked.

Critics of the former president jumped on the new details to claim that wrongdoing went all the way to the top.

It came after federal prosecutors asked for more details from the affidavit to be unredacted.

Magistrate Judge Aileen Cannon agreed, with an order signed on Tuesday.

The FBI searched Trump's Florida headquarters on August 8 triggering a political storm

Trump has repeatedly accused the Department of Justice of leading witch hunts against him, and his supporters have demanded that the FBI be defunded or abolished. But the latest details on Tuesday will raise fresh questions about what he knew

More details of the FBI's affidavit setting out the case against Trump were unsealed Tuesday

It included new details of what one of Trump's (indicated here as Former President of the United States) lawyers said in June when he handed over a set of documents found at Mar-a-Lago.

'During receipt of the production, FPOTUS COUNSEL 1 stated he was advised all records that came from the White House were stored in one location within Mar-a-Lago, the STORAGE ROOM, and the boxes of records in the STORAGE ROOM were "the remaining repository" of records from the White House,' said one of the newly unredacted portions.

'FPOTUS COUNSEL 1 further stated he was not advised there were any records in any private office space or other location in Mar-a-Lago.'

The new lines also describe annotations to some of the documents returned in June.

'Multiple documents also contained what appears to be FPOTUS's handwritten notes,' it says.

A court filing included this photograph from the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. It triggered accusations from Donald Trump that agents were trying to frame him for leaving documents on the floor - but former agents said it followed standard practice for documenting items seized during a search, and would include a log showing where they were found

Among them were 38 documents marked classified: five were 'confidential,' 16 were marked 'secret' and 17 were 'top secret.'

Some were marked 'HCS' for Human Intelligence Control System, which could potentially identify informants.

'When producing the documents, neither FPOTUS COUNSEL 1 nor INDIVIDUAL 2 asserted that FPOTUS had declassified the documents,' reads the new portion.

Trump publicly claimed he had declassified any documents that were taken home - a defense treated skeptically by national security lawyers.

The new lines also reveal that investigators sought surveillance footage from Trump's estate dating all the way back to January.

'Any and all surveillance records, videos, images, photos, and/or CCTV from internal cameras located on ground floor (basement) - on the Mar-a-Lago property ... from the time period of January 10, 2022 to present,' it says.
Millions of people are expected to flock to London in the coming days

But more than half of them could be turned away disappointed after long waits

Millions could miss out on paying their final respects to the Queen, it was warned last night.

From today mourners will be able to bid farewell to the monarch as she lies in state at Westminster Hall until her funeral on Monday.

But they face having to join a line snaking back up to five miles  and could have to queue for as long as 35 hours.

Up to a million people are expected to seek to pay their respects to her coffin in central London.

But officials estimate that at most 400,000 will be able to do so  meaning more than half could be turned away disappointed.

There were calls yesterday to lengthen the Queen's final journey to her resting place at Windsor Castle to maximise the number of people who can line the route.

Up to a million people are expected to seek to pay their respects to her coffin in central London. The Queen's coffin is pictured above leaving RAF Northolt, west London on the way to Buckingham Palace

Whitehall officials said plans were in place to fast-track vulnerable people in the queue for the lying-in-state and ensure as many people as possible get a chance to say goodbye.

But experts including a former Downing Street adviser warned making people wait overnight  especially the elderly  risked doing them harm.

Yesterday a 75-year-old grandfather in the queue was the first to buckle.

The arrangements for marking the monarch's death have come under intense scrutiny, with millions expected to flock to London in the coming days. Last night the Queen was returned from Edinburgh to London by the RAF.

But the decision to cancel proposals to transport her coffin by the Royal Train meant far fewer people could witness the spectacle.

The Government last night published details for people wanting to file past the Queen's coffin at Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster.

Her lying-in-state begins at 5pm today and lasts four-and-a-half days until her state funeral on Monday. It will be open 24 hours a day

Ministers have warned the queue, stretching along the Thames, could last between 17 and 35 hours, with little opportunity to sit down or sleep.

Families have been advised to consider whether children can cope. Some 1,500 soldiers, sailors and airmen have been drafted in to assist stewards.

Experts including a former Downing Street adviser warned making people wait overnight  especially the elderly  risked doing them harm. Yesterday a 75-year-old grandfather in the queue was the first to buckle

Jonathan Haslam, communications director at No 10 under Sir John Major, said: 'It is marvellous that so many want to pay their respects to Her Majesty. But not everyone will be able to do so in person.

'There has been a reality failure by the planners. When someone said, 'People could be queueing for 30 hours', who said, 'That's insane, we need a better answer'?'

He told Times Radio: 'I've got real concerns about the health of people of my generation, and even younger people.

'Good people may be doing themselves harm by joining long queues. Her Majesty would not have wanted that, nor does the King. There are fair ways of getting as many people as possible through Westminster Hall efficiently. Sensibly-allocated number-timed tickets, using the technology we have, would been a sensible way forward. I have a fear that we might be sleepwalking into a really difficult situation.'

Mourners began queueing at midday on Monday, some 53 hours before the start of the lying-in-state at 5pm today, along the embankment on the south side of Lambeth Bridge.

One of the first to arrive, 75-year-old David Carlson, buckled in the rain yesterday. The former soldier, of Wandsworth, south London, refused to sacrifice his place and vowed to walk into Westminster Hall today 'if it's the last thing I do'.

In true British style the queue has taken on a carnival atmosphere. It was joined by the Archbishop of York leading a singsong last night, who said: 'The Queen's last gift was to bring us all together.' He declared the strength of the mourners 'an inspiration'.

People are pictured above in 1952 waiting in line to pay their respects to King George VI in London's Great Hall of Westminster

Dame Esther Rantzen, founder of the Silver Line charity, said: 'A lot of people want to take part in the historic moment and see the lying-in-state. But for anyone fragile, I am worried it may be impossible for them to see the late Queen's coffin.

'The long queues could be a real problem, and a timed-ticket system would have been a very good idea.'

Whitehall officials have stressed that frail and elderly people struggling with the physical demands of the queue will be fast-tracked.

A Government source said stewards will be asked to 'proactively' identify them and ensure they get assistance. They said: 'They will take them out of the queue, sit them down and make sure they are OK, and then look to see if they can be moved forward in the queue to make it easier for them.

'For the first time there will also be a special access queue, with timed access for those whose circumstances mean they cannot queue for long periods.'

Officials have based models on estimates that around 3,000 people an hour can pass through Westminster Hall. But one source said this was 'on the conservative side', and could end up significantly higher.

The Government has secured 500 portable toilets, to be installed along the queue. Some public buildings will also be opening their facilities.

Officials also plan to provide predicted queuing times, but a source acknowledged these would initially be 'rough and ready estimates'.

Downing Street denied there would be a cap on visitor numbers but said some who want to pay their respects in person are likely to be disappointed.

The PM's spokesman said: 'We do want everyone who wants her to see her to be able to but we recognise there is a limited amount of time and a great deal of people who wish to do so.'

After Monday's state funeral the coffin will follow a 'processional route' to Hyde Park Corner then transfer to a hearse to travel to the final committal at Windsor Castle. There have been calls to extend the route so more people can witness Her Majesty's final journey.
Lotte Card's headquarters in central Seoul / Courtesy of Lotte Card

MBK Partners seeks to sell 59.83% stake in Lotte Card



By Anna J. Park



Hana Financial Group turns out to be the only major financial group that has joined a preliminary round of bidding for acquiring Lotte Card that ended last week. Other major candidates that the market had previously anticipated to see joining in the acquisition race, such as Shinhan Financial, KT, Toss Bank and Woori Bank, are said to have not participated in the preliminary bidding.



According to local credit card industry sources, Hana Financial Group along with some strategic investors joined last week's preliminary bidding to acquire a 59.83 percent stake in Lotte Card owned by private equity firm MBK Partners. JPMorgan organized the process of the preliminary bidding round.



Hana Financial as well as MBK Partners both declined to confirm any facts about the bidding process, only saying there's nothing that they can publicly offer. But sources familiar with the issue said Hana's participation is aimed at strengthening its non-banking businesses.



In 2019, the private equity firm purchased the stake from Lotte Group at a price of 1.38 trillion won ($1 billion), becoming the largest shareholder of the card company. The remaining Lotte Card shares are held by Woori Bank and Lotte Shopping, which each own a 20 percent stake. MBK Partners is said to be eyeing around 3 trillion won for the selling price.



As Woori Bank already holds a 20 percent stake in the firm, it has a prior claim in the acquisition bidding, if it wants to join the race. But the bank didn't join the preliminary bidding round, as Woori Financial Group has put a priority on the acquisition of a securities company in the near future.



KT, a major Korean telecommunications firm, was also considered a major acquisition candidate, given that the company has BC Card as its subsidiary. Yet, the firm also would not clarify its official position on the matter, just adding that it is currently reviewing various options to strengthen its financial competitiveness.



Some market watchers anticipated whether digital banks, such as KakaoBank and Toss Bank, would show interest in acquiring the card company to broaden the scope of their businesses. But an official from Toss Bank said there has been no internal discussion on the matter.



Regarding the lukewarm atmosphere surrounding the acquisition bid, a market insider pointed out that it's still too early to judge, as last week's bidding round was just an initial phase of the acquisition deal that entails many further procedures ahead.



"Literally, the preliminary round of bidding is regarded as just a preliminary phase of the actual bidding process," the market insider, who is familiar with corporate M&A deals told The Korea Times. "The preliminary bidding is simply taken as a primary step through which sellers could get a grasp of potential buyers' level of interest and their pricing of the acquisition."



Under MBK Partners' ownership, Lotte Card has posted significant growth over the past years. The card company logged an annual net profit of 241.4 billion won last year, which is more than triple the 57.1 billion won it posted in 2019, the year when the private equity firm acquired the card company. It also boasts a diverse business portfolio, ranging from its mobility business and strong retail partnership with Lotte Shopping to solid overseas financial licensing in the Vietnamese market.


The husband of a Texas teacher who was fired earlier this month after she defended pedophilia in class has said she was an exemplary teacher who was 'taken completely out of context'.

Amber Parker, 53, taught English at Franklin High School in El Paso until she was sacked after making the comments in class, which were captured on video and subsequently shared to social media.

During the 18-second long clip that was posted to TikTok, the teacher can be heard telling students: 'Stop calling them that. You're not allowed to label people like that. Stop it, Diego. We're not going to call them that.

'We're gonna call them MAPs, minor attracted persons. So don't judge people just because they want to have sex with a five-year-old.'

The term 'minor attracted persons' allows people to escape the 'stigma' attached to the word pedophile.

The clip was recorded during a class discussion on The Crucible, and some of her students said she was not expressing her own views, but rather discussing provocative opinions.

Jason Parker, her husband of 30 years, said they were left shaken by the fallout.

'We were shaken to the core about these accusations,' he wrote on Facebook.

'It is both scary and disturbing that an edited 18 second clip could destroy a 30 year career when taken completely out of context.'

Amber Parker, 53, who taught English at Franklin High School in El Paso, was fired for telling students 'don't judge people for wanting to have sex with five-year-old's' and asking them to call pedophiles 'minor attracted persons'

Parker was said to have been teaching students about The Crucible play when the subject suddenly veered onto pedophiles. She is pictured with husband Jason and their two grandkids

Jason Parker (left) who came to his wife's (right) defense after her dismissal over comments defending pedophiles, saying the couple has been 'shaken to the core about these accusations'

Parker's comments in class which were all captured on video and subsequently shared to social media

Jason Parker said that his wife was dedicated to her students, and condemned the decision to fire her. He said it was misguided.

'She is exemplary as a teacher and truly cares about the students,' he said.

'Needless to say we have spent many sleepless nights because of this cruel release to social media of the 18 seconds.'

Parker wrote in response to a Facebook post by Daniel Call, vice president of the El Paso Independent School District board, who said the video was lacking context.

Daniel Call, a school board trustee, said he believed Parker was pretending to advocate a position to challenge her students and prepare them to read the play. He then changed his mind

'Update on my last post; After hearing from some of the students that were in the class, including my own nephew, I believe now that the teacher that appeared to be promoting and normalizing pedophilia was pretending to advocate a position she didn't actually believe in order to challenge the students in preparation for them reading the [play] 'The Crucible,'' Call wrote.

'The video that many of us saw was missing this important context.

'I regret the negative attention that this situation has brought on this teacher and wish her well. I'm told she is a great educator.'

Jason Parker continued: 'We pray that you and the rest of the board will see this for what it is and not allow and edited video destroy an innocent woman, her career and her family in the process.'

But Call later deleted the post, commenting: 'My opinion about this situation changed once I was briefed by the district in closed session regarding the results of their investigation.

'There are facets of this situation that are not public knowledge.'

Amber Parker has not responded.

Parker, a married mother-of-five children and two grandchildren, was identified by the El Paso Teachers Association as the woman on the recording

The school district was immediately informed of the incident, which occurred at the end of August - and an investigation was launched, initially leading to Parker's suspension.

El Paso's Independent School District board of trustees, led by Superintendent Diana Sayavedra, then unanimously voted to fire Parker following her controversial remarks.

Liza Rodriguez, communications officer for the school district, said: 'After a thorough investigation was conducted, on September 6, 2022, during a Special Board Meeting, the Board of Trustees approved a decision to notify a Franklin High School teacher of proposed termination.

'Any allegation of potential misconduct is investigated thoroughly, and the safety of our students is a top priority.'

Some students and parents were quick to defend the teacher - who believed that the clip did not represent Parker's beliefs and the conversation was taken out of context.

But others condemned her for her words.

The Texas teacher has been fired after she was caught on tape instructing students not to use the term pedophiles, but instead use the term 'minor attracted persons'

El Paso's Independent School District board of trustees, led by Superintendent Diana Sayavedra (pictured), unanimously voted to fire Parker following her controversial remarks

The school district was immediately informed of the incident, leading to Parker's suspension and subsequent firing

Ryann Ruvalcaba, a junior at Franklin High School told Fox 17: 'She [the teacher] was expressing how it was ridiculous how we [society] might not be able to call people pedophiles.

'That we [society] will probably have to start calling them MAPs because it can be offensive to them [pedophiles].

'The class agreed.'

Parker, a married mother-of-five children and two grandchildren, was identified by the Teachers Association as the woman on the recording.

When DailyMail.com reached out to Parker, she claimed she was 'not legally allowed to comment at this time.'

Norma De La Rosa, the El Paso Teachers Association president, said she is disappointed and angry that the decision to terminate Parker was approved so quickly.

The school board had recommended Parker's suspension without pay or end-of-term termination of the 2022 to 2023 probationary employment contract.

Parker has the ability to appeal the decision.

Former Old Dominion University professor Allyn Walker, 34, - who was forced to resign last year after they defended pedophiles by saying society should call them 'Minor Attracted Persons' - has been hired by a Johns Hopkins center aimed at preventing child sexual abuse

Parker isn't the only educator to use the term 'minor attracted person'.

In 2020, a transgender Old Dominion professor was forced to resign after they defended pedophiles by saying society should refer to them as 'Minor Attracted Persons'.

Allyn Walker, 34, was later hired by Johns Hopkins University as a postdoctoral fellow for the Baltimore school - at a center aimed at preventing child sexual abuse.

The center, created in 2012, describes itself on its website as 'a research center that creates, through rigorous science, a public health approach to preventing child sexual abuse.'

Walker, who uses they/them pronouns, was forced out of Virginia's Old Dominion University in November 2019, after more than 15,000 outraged onlookers signed a petition to have them removed for the contentious remarks.

The professor later expanded on those comments in the 2021 book 'Long Dark Shadow: Minor Attracted People.'

In the book, Walker attempts to destigmatize pedophilia and encourages people to refer to them as 'Minor Attracted People,' asserting they should not be ostracized for their urges - which Walker says cannot be helped.

Other contentious claims made by the professor - who possesses a doctorate in criminal justice - in the book include suggestions that pedophiles should also be provided with child-like sex dolls to satisfy their urges, and that the sex crime was not 'immoral.'

While promoting the publication, Walker said: 'A lot of people when they hear the word pedophile, they automatically assume that means sex offender. That isn't true. And it leads to a lot of misconceptions.

'They believe pedophiles don't 'choose' who to be attracted to - so [it] shouldn't be considered 'immoral.'

Professor Walker - who possesses a doctorate in criminal justice - suggests pedophiles should also be provided with child-like sex dolls to satisfy their urges, and that the sex crime was not 'immoral'

The professor further said pedophiles should be offered 'help' and aren't' 'destined' to act on physical urges.

Walker was also panned for remarks they made in a November interview, where they argued people can be attracted to children without acting on that impulse.

Pictured: Walker's book, in which the 34-year-old attempts to destigmatize pedophilia and encourage people to refer to them as 'Minor Attracted People,' asserting they should not be ostracized for their urges

The professor defended using the term 'minor-attracted persons' to describe the phenomenon.

'It's less stigmatizing than other terms like pedophile,' Walker said.

'A lot of people when they hear the term pedophile, they automatically assume that it means a sex offender. And that isn't true. And it leads to a lot of misconceptions about attractions toward minors.'

The remarks quickly inspired outrage among students, who said the professor was using a 'blanket' term for pedophilia and was an apologist for criminals.

The university's own Trans Advisory Board released a statement to call Walker's remarks 'reprehensible', damaging to the victims of pedophilia and not reflective of the views of the trans community at large.

The backlash spurred school brass to place Walker on leave, saying it was for their own safety.

A petition was then drafted by students calling for Walker's nixing, which - along with fierce protests on the Virginia school's campus

Following the announcement of Walker's firing they said in a statement: 'I want to be clear: child sexual abuse is an inexcusable crime.

'As an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice, the goal of my research is to prevent crime,' Walker asserted.

'I embarked on this research in hopes of gaining understanding of a group that, previously, has not been studied in order to identify ways to protect children.'
A South Australian woman has died after she was struck by a train in Adelaide's southern suburbs.

The 63-year-old woman was hit near Clarence Park Train Station in Black Forest just before 1pm on Tuesday.

It is believed the woman was attempting to save her dog from the train when she ventured onto the tracks.

A 63-year-old woman was hit and killed by an Adelaide train with early reports suggesting she ventured onto the tracks to rescue her dog (pictured, emergency services at the scene)

Both the woman and her dog died at the scene.

Police say they are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the fatal crash.

The Seaford and Flinders train lines were closed for some time while emergency services worked at the scene.

The railway corridor reopened to trains on Tuesday afternoon.
The Peter FitzSimons-led Australian Republic Movement (ARM) will call for Queen Elizabeth II's image to be removed from the country's existing $5 note.

The ARM will also ask the government not to replace the Queen with King Charles III's head on coins from next year, Daily Mail Australia understands.

The group has temporarily suspended its campaign for a republic until after the Queen's burial next week in London.

But ARM reportedly considers removing royals from Australian currency an important factor in the group's advocacy when it renews activities.

Peter FitzSimons (pictured) is the leader of the Australian Republic Movement, which advocates for an Australian head of state

In June, FitzSimons told Daily Mail Australia that 'there is no doubt that (republican sentiment) will get a surge once Australia leans in close and looks at King Charles'.

David Flint, national convenor of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy since 1998, takes the opposite view, though.

He acknowledged that Charles would not, initially at least, have the same support as his mother, but thinks that 'will improve as people see that he behaves properly as King'.

'I don't think there will be any interest in Australia becoming a republic,' he said.

A member of the ARM told The Australian it was 'ridiculous' for the Australian Government to have already said it would use the King's image on coins, starting in 2023.

Poll Should Australia remove all members of the Royal family from its notes and coins? Yes, it's about time to honour more Australians on our currency No, we should stick with having the Royals on our coins and the $5 note Should Australia remove all members of the Royal family from its notes and coins? Yes, it's about time to honour more Australians on our currency 68 votes

No, we should stick with having the Royals on our coins and the $5 note 476 votes Now share your opinion





ARM is thought likely to bide its time before proposing an Australian-born replacement to the royals on coins and the $5 note.

It will initially focus on sparking a public debate on the issue.

Last week, the ARM issued a statement saying it is 'deeply saddened by the news of Queen Elizabeth's passing and express deep gratitude and thanks for her service to the Commonwealth'.

The Queen replaced humanitarian Caroline Chisholm on the $5 note in 1992 when Australia switched to polymer banknotes.

The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese said he would not consider changes to the $5 note until after her funeral.

'I think this is a time where a bit of respect is required,' he said. 'We will deal with these issues appropriately, in an orderly way, in a way that is respectful.'

On Tuesday, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Andrew Leigh, was asked in the government is open to putting an Indigenous Australian on the $5 note, such as Eddie Mabo, Vincent Lingiari or Evonne Goolagong?

'That'll be a conversation to be had down the track,' he replied.

'Our focus now is on the coins, which necessarily need to change over ... There's no rush about it.

'So the priority now is changing over the coins, which is a much larger operation ... 15 billion coins have been produced with Queen Elizabeth II on them,' said Mr Leigh.

Prince Charles (left) is pictured with his late mother, Queen Elizabeth at her Platinum Jubilee celebrations

Australian coins released this month before the Queens's death are set to become instant collectors' items because they are dated 2023.

Mint chief executive Leigh Gordon said this batch with the Queen's profile would be worth a lot.

'We do not intend to mint any coins in 2023 with the Queen's effigy on it, but we are in the period of transition,' Mr Gordon said.

'There are some coins that are out there now with a 2023 date and the Queen on it - they're collectable and investment coins that have been released as we do normally in September each year for the following year.'

Australian coins released this month before the Queen's death are set to become instant collectors' items because they are dated 2023
MAFS UK's Bob Voysey admits he regrets not being 'completely myself' on series and says a lot of couples on show now want to 'try and become famous'
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Britain may not be famed for its rich history of dinosaur species, but the country actually sits among the top 10 worldwide in terms of the number of fossils discovered.

From megalosaurus to iguanodon, and even the 'heavy claw' baryonyx, there were plenty of huge dinosaurs that used to roam what is now the UK up to 252 million years ago.

Of course, the British Isles landmass didn't exist during either the Jurassic or Cretaceous periods. It split off from the North American plate around 130 million years ago and joined what became northern Europe 30 million years later.

But up and down the country people are never too far away from where more than 100 different dinosaur species once walked the Earth, including three cousins of America's top predator the Tyrannosaurus rex.

MailOnline has created a map showing where stegosaurs, ankylosaurs and ornithopods lived in what was once a 'dinosaur paradise', with most fossils recovered from rocks dating to the Middle Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

The majority come from Oxfordshire and the Isle of Wight, but significant finds have also been made in Bristol, Cambridgeshire, the south of England, Nottingham and Yorkshire, as well as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Dr Susannah Maidment, of the Natural History Museum, told MailOnline: 'During the Early and Middle Jurassic and for much of the Late Cretaceous, much of the UK was under the sea, meaning that the rocks that were deposited [on land] were marine rocks, and have very few dinosaurs in them.

'However, during the Early Cretaceous, in southern England there were river systems, deltas and lagoons alongside which dinosaurs lived.

'We therefore have quite a lot of dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous in southern England.'

She added: 'Much of southern England is covered by trees, agricultural land and houses, which means dinosaur fossils don't often weather out.

'However, in the sea cliffs of areas around Hastings on the south coast and the Isle of Wight, dinosaurs are frequently found as the rocks are eroded by the sea.

'This makes southern England and particularly the Isle of Wight the best place in the UK to find dinosaur fossils.'

Where dinosaurs lived near you: MailOnline has created a map showing where the likes of megalosaurus, ankylosaurs and ornithopods walked in what is now Britain, with most fossils recovered from rocks dating to the Middle Jurassic and Cretaceous period

Sauropods

Sauropods were the first successful group of herbivorous dinosaurs, dominating most terrestrial ecosystems for more than 140 million years, from the Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous.

They had long necks and tails and relatively small skulls and brains.

The dinosaurs stretched to 130 feet (40 metres) and weighed up to 80 tonnes (80,000kg)  14 times the weight of an African elephant.

They were also widespread  their remains have been found on all the continents except Antarctica  and in Britain, several of the species detailed below are actually types of sauropod.

The reason some fossils found in the UK are only classified as belonging to sauropods, rather than anything more specific, is because it can often be difficult to identify a certain type of dinosaur based on what may be limited remains discovered.

Sauropods such as the Diplodocus began to diversify in the Middle Jurassic about 180 million years ago.

They had nostrils high up on their skulls, rather than being located at the end of the snout like those of so many other terrestrial vertebrates.

Some fossils show that these nostril openings were so far up the skull that there were very close to the eye openings.

Where did they live in the UK?

Sauropod remains have been found all over the UK, including Britain's oldest example known as Alan which was revealed in 2015. The long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur roamed what is now the North Yorkshire coast 176 million years ago during the Middle Jurassic period.

It was nicknamed Alan after the walker who found its fossilised vertebra, Alan Gurr.

The large vertebrae, which measured 11 inches (29 cm) long and four inches (11cm) high, fell out of a cliff face in Whitby.

Sauropods have also been found in Dorset, Sussex, the Isle of Wight, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Sauropods were the first successful group of herbivorous dinosaurs, dominating most terrestrial ecosystems for more than 140 million years, from the Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous

Britain's oldest sauropod dinosaur was identified by a piece of fossilised backbone (pictured) discovered on the North Yorkshire coast

The large vertebrae, which measured 11 inches (29 cm) long and four inches (11cm) high, fell out of a cliff face in Whitby

Theropods

By the same token, some of the dinosaurs below are also theropods. Fossils belonging to the group have been found throughout Britain, although not all of them have been broken down into specific types.

Theropods were two-legged, typically predatory dinosaurs with hollow bones and three-legged toes from which modern birds are thought to have evolved.

It is the group which includes Tyrannosaurus rex and modern birds. Of course, T.Rex lived throughout what is now western North America, but three cousins of the fearsome carnivore called Britain home.

That is according to Dr Dean Lomax, who is a palaeontologist and Visiting Scientist at The University of Manchester.

He has claimed that T-rex's UK cousins were likely smaller and more agile.

Tyrannosaurs rex (pictured) was a species of bird-like, meat-eating dinosaur classified as a theropod. It lived between 6866 million years ago in what is now the western side of North America, but three cousins of the carnivore called the UK home

A number of bones that were found on the Isle of Wight (pictured) belong to a new species of theropod dinosaur that was a cousin of the Tyrannosaurus rex, according to researchers

After studying the four vertebrae, palaeontologists from the University of Southampton confirmed that the bones are likely to belong to a genus of dinosaur previously unknown to science

Where did they live in the UK?

Pendraig milnerae is the earliest example of a theropod found in the UK so far, living between 200 and 215 million years ago during the Late Triassic period. It likely had a body size around that of a modern-day chicken and would have been 3 feet (1 metre) long including its tail.

Theropods remains have also been found in the following areas:

Antrim

Avon

Dorset

Glamorgan

Gloucestershire

Isle of Skye

Isle of Wight

North Yorkshire

Oxfordshire

Somerset

Sussex

Swansea

Warwickshire

Wiltshire

Megalosaurus

Megalosaurus, which means Great Lizard, was a meat-eating dinosaur which lived in the Middle Jurassic, around 167 million years ago.

It would have been about nine metres long and weighed about 1.4 tonnes (1,400 kg).

This dinosaur had a large head and short forelimbs, walked on two legs and used its horizontal tail for balance.

Megalosaurus (pictured in this artist's impression), which means Great Lizard, was a meat-eating dinosaur which lived in the Middle Jurassic, around 167 million years ago

The footprint of a 175million-year-old dinosaur described as being a 'real Jurassic giant' was spotted on the Yorkshire coast by a woman collecting shellfish for dinner. Archaeologist Marie Woods was 'shocked' to stumble across the 3ft-long trace fossil

Where did it live in the UK?

The first remains of megalosaurus to be discovered in Britain were found in a slate quarry in Stonesfield, Oxfordshire in 1824 and date to the late Middle Jurassic period.

There is also evidence to suggest megalosaurus may have lived in what is now North York Moors National Park in north-eastern Yorkshire.

Fossilised bones linked to the species have also been found in Portland, Dorset, as well as the following counties:

North Gloucestershire

Northamptonshire

Somerset

Sussex

Bedfordshire

Baryonyx

Baryonyx was a large theropod dinosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous period 125 million years ago.

It has a large claw, about 12 inches (31cm) long, probably on its thumb, and was a carnivorous species that fed on fish and Iguanodon.

The creature may have waded in rivers and shallow seas to catch fish, just as some modern-day bears do.

Baryonyx was about 32ft (10m) long, weighed around two tonnes (2,000kg) and had a mouth that was very similar to that of a crocodile.

Baryonyx (pictured) was a large theropod dinosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous period 125 million years ago

Where did it live in the UK?

The first skeleton was discovered in 1983 in the Smokejack Clay Pit in Surrey by the British amateur fossil hunter William Walker.

It was the first carnivorous dinosaur found in England and the most complete example of its species.

When this dinosaur lived, the south of England down to the northern edge of France was mostly a huge expanse of swampy lagoons and meandering rivers.

Fossilised bones linked to the species have also been found in East Sussex.

Cetiosaurus

Cetiosaurus was a sauropod dinosaur that was about 53ft (16m) long and weighed roughly 11 tonnes (11,000kg).

It lived from the Mid to Late Jurassic period 181-169 million years ago, in what are now Europe and Africa.

The creature got its name because its discoverer, Sir Richard Owen, thought it was an extremely large crocodile.

Owen initially did not recognise cetiosaurus for a dinosaur but believed it to be a gigantic sea-dwelling reptile.

Where did it live in the UK?

Different types of cetiosaurus have been found across Britain, including cetiosaurus oxoniensis in Rutland, Lincolnshire, cetiosauriscus stewarti in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and cetiosaurus oxoniensis near Cirencester, Gloucestershire.

Remains have also been discovered in the following areas:

Isle of Wight

Leicestershire

Northamptonshire

Oxfordshire

Sussex

Wiltshire

Neovenator

Meaning 'new hunter', neovenator lived in the Early Cretaceous period 127-121 million years ago.

It was a large theropod that was carnivorous and grew up to 24ft (7.4m) in length and weigh up to two tonnes (2,000kg).

'The pointed toes of this track may indicate a type of dinosaur known as a large theropod, perhaps Neovenator [pictured] or the Spinosaurus Baryonyx,' Theo Vickers said

The print  shown here highlighted  is thought to have been left by a Neovenator  a carnivore that could reach 25 feet (7.6 m) in length and weigh up to 4,400 pounds (2,000 kg).

Palaeontologists believe that Neovenator could walk on its long hind legs  and had three clawed toes on each foot and three digits on each fore limb

Where did it live in the UK?

A neovenator footprint believed to be 130 million years old was found on Sandown Bay, on the Isle of Wight's southeastern coast, on February 12, 2020.

The first-found fossil of neovenator was unearthed on the Isle of Wight in the summer of 1978.

Notable fossilised finds found on the Isle of Wight in recent years 210-pound ammonite Pictured, an ammonite which has been described as a 'behemoth' and as 'truly titanic' An enormous fossil weighing almost 210 pounds and measuring around two feet in diameter was found on the Isle of Wight in 2020. The ammonite was spotted and pried loose of surrounding rock by university students Jack Wonfor, 19, and Theo Vickers, 21. Ammonites are extinct sea creatures and part of the mollusc family, like sea snails, with Mr Wonfor and Mr Vickers calling their specimen an 'amazing example'. The 210-pound (96kg) fossil is thought to be around 115 million years old, living during the Cretaceous period. Iguanodon tail The fossilised remains of the the dinosaur  believed to be an iguanodon  were found embedded at the base a cliff-face near Brighstone A fossilised tail from a dinosaur that roamed the world 125million years ago was discovered at the bottom of a crumbling cliff on the Isle of Wight in 2019. The remains of the the dinosaur  believed to be an iguanodon  were found embedded at the base a cliff-face near Brighstone. But excavations and attempts to salvage the tail for detailed analysis are currently being thwarted, due to safety risks posed by the crumbling cliff. It is thought around six vertebrae have been uncovered, and local media reported that the dinosaur died and was exposed to the elements for several months before being buried by a large flash flood. Footprint uncovered of a 130 million-year-old therapod A dinosaur footprint, pictured, uncovered on a beach on the Isle of Wight by Storm Ciara belongs to a 130-million-year-old therapod, fossil hunters claim A dinosaur footprint uncovered on a beach on the Isle of Wight by Storm Ciara belongs to a 130-million-year-old therapod, fossil hunters claim. The print is thought to have been left by a Neovenator  a carnivore that could reach 25 feet (7.6 m) in length and weigh up to 4,400 pounds (2,000 kg). The footprint was discovered by the Wight Coast Fossils group at Sandown Bay, on the island's southeastern coast, on February 12, 2020. Chinese pterodactyl The fossil of a pterosaur that is commonly found in China and Brazil was found on the Isle of Wight. The petrified remains of the flying reptile's jawbone was spotted by a dog walker in Sandown Bay, on the island's south-east coast. The jaw of the specimen  which has been dubbed 'Wightia declivirostris'  lacked teeth and is related to a group of pterosaurs known as the 'tapejarids'. 125million-year-old superpterosaur with 20ft wingspan With a 20-foot wingspan and weighing a colossal 650lbs, the giant pterosaur cast an imposing figure swooping through the skies of the Jurassic Age. And 125million years later, the beast's massive size continues to marvel scientists who have discovered the remains of one of the beasts wedged deep into the cliffs of the Isle of Wight. The Hatzegopteryx fossil has shed new light on this magnificent species which some believe was the biggest flying creature of the period. Tiny crocodile that roamed Earth 126 million years ago Pictured, the remains of a 126million-year-old crocodile A news species of crocodile that lived 126million years ago was discovered after a pair of skull fragments were found three months apart back in 2014. Two fragments of crocodile fossils were found by two different collectors and led to the discovery of the ancient button-toothed crocodile. It might have only measured two feet long, but the diminutive crocodile walked with Dinosaurs and had sharp teeth. Based upon the two fragments, which were pieced together on the Isle of Wight and together measure around 11cm long, the animal is thought to have been around 2ft long from nose to tail. A piece from the back half of the crocodiles skull was found on a beach near Sandown on the island by collector Diane Trevarthen. Crow-sized flying dinosaur that lived 115 million years ago Pictured, the fossil found by Daisy Morris which belongs to a previously unknown type of pterosaur A young girl, then just five years old, called Daisy Morris, spotted a fossil on the Isle of Wight in 2008. Palaeontologists later studied the remains and found it was a previously unknown type of pterosaur. It was named Vectidraco Daisymorrisae after Daisy was roughly the size of a crow and was a previously unknown type of pterosaur. The flying reptile is from 115 million years ago in the Lower Cretaceous period. With a pelvis length of 40 mm, the new animal would have had a total length of 350 mm, and a wingspan of 750 mm, the researchers say. The pterosaur has now been donated to the Natural History Museum. Advertisement

Echinodon

Meaning 'hedgehog tooth' or 'prickly tooth', echinodon is a type of heterodontosaurid dinosaur that lived during the earliest Cretaceous of southern England and possibly western France in the Berriasian epoch.

The first specimens were jaw bones named echinodon becklesii by Sir Richard Owen in 1861. Since their original description only additional teeth have been discovered.

When Owen first named echinodon he thought he was dealing with a lizard that had a similar lifestyle to a hedgehog, hence its title.

Where did it live in the UK?

Remains of echinodon becklesii were discovered by Samuel Beckles in the Purbeck Beds near Swanage in Dorset on the Jurassic Coast.

Beginning in Exmouth, East Devon and continuing for 95 miles to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage, the Jurassic Coast is England's only natural World Heritage Site thanks to the outstanding value of its rocks, fossils and landforms.

Meaning 'hedgehog tooth' or 'prickly tooth', echinodon is a type of heterodontosaurid dinosaur that lived during the earliest Cretaceous of southern England and possibly western France in the Berriasian epoch

Pantydraco

A type of prosauropod, pantydraco was a herbivore which lived during the Early Jurassic period in Wales.

The small, plant-eating dinosaur  whose name means 'Pant-y-ffynnon dragon'  would only have been about 6.5 feet (2 metres) long.

It had a pointed head with a strong jaw. The forelimbs of the dinosaur were developed for grasping while the hindlimbs were adapted for supporting the creature's body weight.

A type of prosauropod, pantydraco (pictured) was a herbivore which lived during the Early Jurassic period in Wales

Where did it live in the UK?

A partial juvenile skeleton of pantydraco was discovered in a quarry in Bonvilston in South Wales in 1952.

The estimated height of a juvenile is from about 2 feet 4 inches to 3 feet 3 inches (0.7 to 1 metre), while adults are believed to have been about just under 10 feet (3 metres) long.

Iguanodon

Iguanodons were herbivores that measured up to 30 feet (10 metres) tall and weighed more than four tonnes (4,000kg).

They walked the earth around 132 million years ago, during the Lower Cretaceous period.

Iguanodons would have been prey for one of England's biggest predators, Baryonyx, a relative of Spinosaurus.

They had a highly specialised, five-fingered hand which would have made them excellent foragers, while a thumb spike is one of the dinosaur species' best-known features.

It would have made an excellent stiletto-style weapon against predators and also could have been used to break into fruit.

Experts also believed that iguanodons held their long, heavy tail high in the air for balance.

The genus was named in 1825 by English geologist Gideon Mantell.

Iguanodons were herbivores that measured up to 30 feet (10 metres) tall and weighed more than four tonnes (4,000kg)

Fossilised remains of a dinosaur's tail (pictured)  believed to belong to an iguanodon  were found at the bottom of a crumbling cliff on the Isle of Wight in 2020

Where did it live in the UK?

Iguanodons have been discovered in the following areas:

Bedfordshire

Buckinghamshire

Cambridgeshire

Dorset

East Sussex

Isle of Wight

Surrey

Sussex

WHAT IS AN IGUANODON DINOSAUR? Iguanodon is a genus of herbivorous dinosaurs which could grow to the size of an African elephant and run at 14mph (23kmh). They walked the earth around 132 million years ago, during the Lower Cretaceous period. They grew to around 10 feet (three metres) tall, 30 feet (10 metres) long and weighed 4.5 tons. Different species flourished in both Europe and North America. They would have been prey for one of England's biggest predators, Baryonyx, a relative of Spinosaurus. These large dinosaurs were able to walk on both two legs or all four. They had a highly specialised, five-fingered hand which would have made them excellent foragers. The thumb spike is one of their best-known features. It would have made an excellent stiletto-style weapon against predators and also could have been used to break into fruit. It's believed they held their long, heavy tail high in the air for balance. The genus was named in 1825 by English geologist Gideon Mantell. Advertisement

Ankylosaurs

Ankylosaurs were wide-bodied, four-legged dinosaurs covered in bony plates and spikes.

The oldest known ankylosaur dated from around 160 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period.

A bony tail club  a bludgeon used in combat that may have given even the ferocious Tyrannosaurus rex reason to worry  was possessed by the heavily armoured dinosaur ankylosaurus and its cousins.

Where did it live in the UK?

Ankylosaur remains have been discovered in the following areas:

Cambridgeshire

Dorset

Kent

Sussex

Wiltshire

Ankylosaurs (artist impression pictured) were wide-bodied, four-legged dinosaurs covered in bony plates and spikes
Liz Truss set herself up for a new fight with environmental groups and green Tories last week, as she confirmed she is lifting Boris Johnson's ban on fracking.

The Prime Minister told MPs the moratorium in place since 2019 will be lifted in areas where local communities support the technology.

Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before inserting a high-pressure water mixture to release natural gas.

However, it's proved controversial due to its use of chemicals, groundwater contamination, noise, air pollution and even earth tremors.

MailOnline has answered all the key questions about fracking, including whether it really causes earthquakes and if it'll make your energy bills cheaper.

Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before inserting a high-pressure water mixture to release natural gas. Water, sand and chemicals are injected at high pressure into underground boreholes to open up cracks in the rock, which allows trapped gas to flow out to the surface

LIZ TRUSS ON FRACKING On September 8, new Prime Minister Liz Truss announced the reversal of the fracking ban. 'It is vital we take steps to increase our domestic energy supply,' Truss said in Parliament. 'We will end the moratorium on extracting our huge reserves of shale, which could get gas flowing as soon as six months, where there is support for it.' Local support for fracking may be hard to find; according to a recent government survey, just 17 per cent of Brits support fracking, compared with 45 per cent who oppose it. Advertisement

WHAT IS FRACKING?

Fracking is a process used to extract natural gas  one of the UK's main energy sources  from underground shale rock.

Fracking involves the injection of more than a million gallons of water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into wells.

The pressurized mix causes the shale to crack, and these fissures are held open by the sand so that gas from the rock can flow up the well.

When natural gas flows out of the well, it's kept in storage tanks and then piped to the market to be used as an energy source.

Fracking as a technique has been widely used in the US, a country with wide open spaces, but some fear it is unsuited to a smaller country like the UK.

This is due to geological differences between the two countries, according to Professor Stuart Haszeldine, a geologist at the University of Edinburgh.

'The British Isles are geologically complicated, through many hundreds of millions of geological history,' Professor Haszeldine told MailOnline.

'That means there are many faults and fractures already present  which can be reactivated by injection of fracking waters at extremely high pressures.

'The much simpler geological history of the US and Canada means that very few faults and fractures are present and that large deposits of layered shale gas source rocks remain undamaged.'

WHY IS FRACKING CONTROVERSIAL?

Fracking involves drilling, gas extraction and flaring  the burning off of natural gas byproducts, which releases organic compounds, nitrogen oxide, and other chemicals and particulates into the air.

Additionally, each fracking well requires the constant transportation of equipment, water, and chemicals, as well as the removal of waste water from the fracking process, further contributing to air pollution levels.

Fracking wells remain in operation for several years, prolonging exposure to people who work at the well sites and those who live nearby.

A study from earlier this year found fracking-related chemicals including dangerous volatile organic compounds are making their way into groundwater that feeds municipal water systems in the US.

Another study from last year found people who live in areas with a high concentration of fracking wells are at higher risk for heart attacks.

New Prime Minister Liz Truss is reportedly set to announce she is scrapping the ban on fracking as she unveils her long-awaited plan to guard Britons against crippling costs while boosting the country's energy security. Pictured, a worker at the Cuadrilla fracking site in Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, Lancashire

FRACKING HAS INCREASED GLOBAL METHANE EMISSIONS: 2019 REPORT Fracking for shale gas has 'dramatically increased' global methane emissions in the past decade, a 2019 study warned. Much of the rapid rise in levels of methane, a significant greenhouse gas has been attributed to cows, tropical wetlands and rice fields but fracking also played a role. Researchers from Cornell University looked at the 'chemical fingerprint' of methane in the atmosphere and found a third of methane emissions in the past decade came from shale gas. Study author Professor Robert Howarth said the recent increase in methane 'is massive'. 'It's globally significant. It's contributed to some of the increase in global warming we've seen and shale gas is a major player.' Read more Advertisement

But perhaps the biggest criticism of fracking is that it causes earth tremors by causing faults in the rock to slip.

According to British Geological Survey (BGS), fracking is accompanied by 'microseismicity'  very small earthquakes that are too small to be felt.

In October 2018, Cuadrilla, an oil and gas exploration company, restarted fracking operations at its site in Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, Lancashire after a seven-year suspension.

Following the resumption, 18 earthquakes were detected in the space of nine days, although these had a magnitude of only up to 1.5 on the local magnitude scale (ML), according to BGS.

'Earthquakes with a magnitude less than 2 are not usually felt and if they are felt then only by a few people very close to the epicentre,' BGS said.

However, the 2.9 seismic event occurred in August the following year, leading to a moratorium (a ban) in England by the government.

According to environmental groups, fracking causes air, water and sound pollution, as well as earth tremors and muddy eyesores in the natural land.

Fracking has angered protest groups for its effects on the environment, resulting in physical demonstrations at fracking sites.

'Fracking is disruptive and deeply unpopular with communities everywhere it has been proposed,' said Danny Gross, energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth.

WHY DID BORIS JOHNSON BAN FRACKING?

In November 2019, Boris Johnson's government announced the moratorium on fracking, on the basis of a scientific report published by the Oil and Gas Authority.

The report concluded that it is not possible with current technology to accurately predict the probability or magnitude of earthquakes linked to fracking.

It also followed a seismic event caused by fracking that registered 2.9 on the local magnitude scale (ML) on August 26, 2019.

Pictured, the Cuadrilla hydraulic fracturing site at Preston New Road shale gas exploration site in Lancashire

The event, which stemmed from Cuadrilla's Preston New Road fracking site, caused damage to property reported by 197 households.

BGS told MailOnline that a 2.9 ML is large enough to be felt strongly at distances up to a few kilometres from the epicentre but wouldn't usually cause any damage.

Fracking has caused larger earthquakes including earthquakes greater than magnitude 4 in Canada and greater than magnitude 5 in China, BGS said.

WHY HAS LIZ TRUSS LIFTED THE FRACKING BAN?

The new PM has lifted the moratorium as a way of increasing domestic energy production in the face of soaring bills.

Truss said she hopes to get gas flowing from onshore shale wells in as little as six months where there is 'local support'.

However, local support for fracking may be hard to find; according to a recent government survey, just 17 per cent of Brits support fracking, compared with 45 per cent who oppose it.

The PM believes that tapping England's hidden resources of gas through fracking will reduce the need for expensive imports during an energy crisis, which could cut customer energy bills.

Prime Minister Liz Truss said: 'We will end the moratorium on extracting our huge reserves of shale, which could get gas flowing as soon as six months, where there is support for it'. The PM is pictured leaving Downing Street on September 8

Cuadrilla welcomed the decision as it would make use of the UK's domestic energy supply.

'I am very pleased that the new Government has acted quickly to lift the moratorium,' said Cuadrilla CEO Francis Egan.

'This is an entirely sensible decision and recognises that maximizing the UKs domestic energy supply is vital if we are going to overcome the ongoing energy crisis and reduce the risk of it recurring in the future.'

WILL FRACKING REDUCE ENERGY BILLS?

Professor Chris Hilson, an expert in environmental law at the University of Reading, also said 'it is very unlikely' that fracking will reduce energy bills.

'Any gas that results from successful fracking operations will be sold into the world market  and we are never going to be a large enough producer of gas to shift the dial on world prices,' he told MailOnline.

'It might possibly lower bills for local communities around sites if district heating schemes with cheap gas could be worked out, but the logistics of that seem unlikely to benefit more than a small number of households.'

According to Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng, soaring energy bills are not due to a scarcity of gas, but rather high prices.

'The situation we are facing is a price issue, not a security of supply issue,' the former Business Secretary tweeted earlier in the year.

Fracking has angered protest groups for its effects on the environment, resulting in physical demonstrations at fracking sites. Pictured, protesters at the fracking site in Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, near Blackpool, on September 8, 2022

'Additional UK production wont materially affect the wholesale market price. This includes fracking.'

This contrasts with a statement from Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley, who previously said the UKs gas storage levels are 'historically low'.

When he was business secretary, Kwarteng was sceptical about the speed and extent of the impact on gas prices.

In March, he wrote in The Mail on Sunday: 'Even if we lifted the fracking moratorium tomorrow, it would take up to a decade to extract sufficient volumes  and it would come at a high cost for communities and our precious countryside.'

According to Professor Haszeldine at the University of Edinburgh, fracking will take 'several years' to significantly increase oil and gas production, but will not reduce overall energy prices.

The new PM has lifted the ban on fracking as a way of increasing domestic energy production in the face of soaring bills (file photo)

'All oil and gas is usually sold on international markets at international prices,' he told MailOnline. 'That will not decrease UK prices and bills for consumers.

'If government is prepared to create a nationalised purchase system, which makes UK producers sell to the UK at less than the international price, then energy bills can decrease.

'But the reason UK bills have increased much more than many others in Europe is because political choices mean the UK sets all energy prices at the highest international price.'

Ian Paton, building partner at property consultancy Cluttons, which specialises in energy and sustainability, also pointed out that natural gas that's released from fracking is a fossil fuel, not a renewable energy source.

Using renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels is key to the UK reaching net zero  where carbon emissions are balanced by schemes to offset an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Fracking wells operate around the clock and the process of drilling, gas extraction, and flaring - the burning off of natural gas byproducts - release organic compounds, nitrogen oxide, and other chemicals and particulates into the air. Pictured, fracking protesters at Preston New Road in Lancashire in 2017

'Removing the ban on fracking is a knee jerk reaction and is not the right solution,' Paton said.

'Aside from it being largely untested, fracking is still relying on fossil fuels and is not a long term solution even if it was a reliable and proven method of extracting more affordable energy.'

Danny Gross at Friends of the Earth Furthermore said any impact fracking has on energy security or fuel bills will be 'negligible'.

'UK energy bills are soaring because we are very dependent on expensive gas to heat our homes.

'The government can reduce our reliance on gas by introducing a council-led, nationwide street-by-street home insulation programme and by investing in our huge potential for renewables.'

'The government should also do much more to remove the barriers to onshore wind and solar. They are quick to build, popular with the public and produce electricity many times cheaper than gas.'
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A camera that's meant to unlock the secrets of dark energy captured a gorgeous image that shows the inside of a glowing star-forming region nicknamed the Lobster Nebula and located 8,000 light-years from Earth.

The image shows a region formally called NGC 6357 that's 400 light-years across (one light-year is 5.8 trillion miles) in which bright, young stars are scattered amidst clouds and dust.

Within its center is something called an open star cluster, which is astronomers' name for a loose group of massive and young stars.

Some of the bright dots you see are protostars, which are tiny baby stars still wrapped in dust and gas, that haven't fully emerged yet.

The Dark Energy Camera (DECam) is an instrument mounted on the 13-foot Victor M. Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

The image (above) shows a region formally called NGC 6357 - nicknamed Lobster Nebula - that's 400 light-years across (one light-year is 5.8 trillion miles) in which bright, young stars are scattered amidst clouds and dust

DECam, which was built in part with U.S. Department of Energy funds, is celebrating ten years of existence and is part of the Dark Energy Survey project that hunts for evidence of dark energy - a mysterious force that makes up 68% of the universe but which scientists know very little about.

The twisting loops of dark clouds and complex structures inside the nebula are formed by the tumultuous pressure of interstellar winds, radiation, and powerful magnetic fields.

The camera is able to capture an astonishing 400 to 500 images per night and can capture extremely faint sources of light.

Astronomers used special filters that isolate specific wavelengths of light in order to build this image - similar to what's been done to create the images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.

When they examine distant stellar clusters at these different wavelengths, astronomers can better understand not just the motions, but also the temperatures and chemistry of the distant star-forming regions.

The Dark Energy Camera (DECam) is an instrument mounted on the 13-foot Victor M. Blanco Telescope (seen above) at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. DECam, which was built in part with U.S. Department of Energy funds, is celebrating ten years of existence and is part of the Dark Energy Survey project that hunts for evidence of dark energy

This NASA image shows the distribution of dark matter galaxies, and hot gas in the core of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 520. The result could present a challenge to basic theories of dark matter

To build the final picture in its fiery red glowing glory, scientists made a composite of multiple exposures that are stacked atop each other in order to build an image that showcases the Lobster Nebula as it would appear in the night sky when seen by the naked eye - if it were much brighter.

The wide-field, high-resolution image shows the power of DECam and its ability to produce stunning images while helping astronomers study the universe's fundamental properties.

Astronomers are looking for evidence of dark energy in the images by studying how distant objects move - and they have multiple potential explanations for it, all of which have yet to proven.

NASA describes one theory about it this way: 'Another explanation for dark energy is that it is a new kind of dynamical energy fluid or field, something that fills all of space but something whose effect on the expansion of the universe is the opposite of that of matter and normal energy.

'Some theorists have named this "quintessence," after the fifth element of the Greek philosophers. But, if quintessence is the answer, we still don't know what it is like, what it interacts with, or why it exists. So the mystery continues.'

Another possibility, according to NASA, is that Albert Einstein's theory of gravity is not correct, which would then imply that a new theory is needed - and that puts you in the realm of string theory and M-theory.

The Lobster Nebula image was shared at the DECam at 10 years: Looking Back, Looking Forward conference in Tucson, Arizona on Monday.
Computer scientists at Google have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can describe what something will smell like by its chemical structure.

It uses an 'odour map' to visualise the indicative scents of a particular molecule, building on work from 2019 where the technology described scents using words.

Points that represent similar odours appear close together on the map, which can be used to predict what a substance will smell like before humans have a sniff.

'The model is as reliable as a human in describing odor quality,' the researchers from Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA wrote.

They hope that the AI model could be used to identify new scents for fragrances, or flavour profiles in food formulation.

It may even be able to suggest new, effective repellents for mosquitoes or other disease-carrying insects.

The AI uses an 'odour map' to visualise the indicative scent labels of a particular molecule. Points that represent similar odours appear close together on the map, and it can be used to predict what a substance will smell like before humans have a sniff

Left: An example of a colour map where locations give values for hue, saturation and wavelength of light. Similar colours lie near each other. Right: The Principal Odour Map. Individual molecules correspond to points (grey), and the locations of these points reflect predictions of their odour character

Mapping the range of scents perceptible to our noses is more difficult than, say, colours our eyes can pick up.

This is because the cone sensors in our eyes can only pick up three colours - red, blue and green - whereas we have more than 300 equivalent scent receptors.

This means that an individual can perceive a hugely diverse range of smells, and that there is an even larger range of smell capacities people could possess.

We also have subjective opinions on what things smell like, as there is a lack of any defining scents that are known to smell the same for all.

The Google team trained a neural network using flavour and fragrance datasets of over 5,000 different molecules, which resulted in the new 'Principal Odour Map' (POM).

In a paper published this month in bioRxiv, the researchers outlined three tests they performed with the Principal Odour Map to probe its scope.

To test the AI's accuracy, they asked a panel of 15 people to describe the smell of 320 molecules that it had not been trained on.

As individuals perceived each odour slightly differently, the average of all the panellists was taken and compared to the AI's results for these molecules.

'We found that the predictions of the model were closer to the consensus than the average panelist was,' the researchers wrote in a Google blog post.

'In other words, the model demonstrated an exceptional ability to predict odor from a molecule's structure.'

Top: Prediction of scent profiles by Google's AI model for the molecule 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran-5-carboxaldehyde. Bottom: Average ratings given by trained panellists for the same molecule. Each bar corresponds to one odour character label. The model correctly identifies four of the top five, with high confidence. R = Prediction's correlation to the full set of 55 labels

HOW DID THE RESEARCHERS TEST THE AI'S ACCURACY? After training the AI to predict the odours of a dataset of molecules, the researchers performed three tests. 1. Accuracy of predicting odour of new molecules - The model was asked to predict the smell of molecules it had not been trained on, and its results were found to be close to the consensus of 15 panellists. 2. Linking smells to evolutionary principals - The model was trained to perceive smells that represent 'metabolic states' - like ripe or rotten - how different animal species would. They found that if the metabolic states were very chemically distinct, they would appear far away on the map, supporting the theory that an animal's ability to smell helps it distinguish between metabolic states. 3. Identifying insect repellents - The model was trained on molecules with a known level of mosquito repellent ability, and was then able to predict this ability in new molecules. Advertisement

The AI was also able to accurately detect the smell strength and its similarity to other odours, as well as how it could be perceived by other animals.

The researchers said: 'We found that the map could successfully predict the activity of sensory receptors, neurons, and behavior in most animals that olfactory neuroscientists have studied, including mice and insects.'

For the latter, they collected data on how different species perceive molecules that represent 'metabolic states' - or metabolites - like ripe or rotten, nutritious or inert and healthy or sick.

They found that, if a long series of metabolic reactions is required to turn one metabolite into another, then they would appear very far apart on the map.

In contrast, odorous metabolites that are very similar and appear close together only require a few metabolic reactions to be converted into one another.

This mirrors the evolutionary theory that animals' ability to smell helps them clearly distinguish between these metabolic states.

'The POM shows that olfaction is linked to our natural world through the structure of metabolism and, perhaps surprisingly, captures fundamental principles of biology,' said the researchers.

It is hoped this information could enable the model to detect human and animal diseases.

In a third test, the team wanted to see if their AI could identify molecules that would work as mosquito repellents.

They retrained the neural network using two datasets that describe how well a given molecule can keep mosquitoes away.

Left: Illustration visualising metabolic reactions found in 17 species across 4 kingdoms. Each circle is a distinct metabolite molecule and an arrow indicates that there is a metabolic reaction that converts one molecule to another. Metabolites without an odour are shown in grey. The metabolic distance between two odorous metabolites is the minimum number of reactions necessary to convert one into the other. In the path shown in bold, the distance is 3. Right: Metabolic distance was highly correlated with distance in the POM

It was found to be able to predict the mosquito repellency of nearly any molecule, including ones not from the datasets that were validated experimentally.

The researchers wrote: 'We...found over a dozen of them with repellency at least as high as DEET, the active ingredient in most insect repellents.

'Less expensive, longer lasting, and safer repellents can reduce the worldwide incidence of diseases like malaria, potentially saving countless lives.'

The same method could be applied to find molecules that repel other disease-carrying organisms in future.

The researchers retrained the neural network using two datasets that describe how well a given molecule can keep mosquitoes away. One was from the USDA, and the other used laboratory mosquito feeder assay data, which was used iteratively to improve predictions.

The model identified many molecules that showed repellency greater than the most common repellents used today (DEET and picaridin)

Some scientists, however, are sceptical about the efficacy of the AI, claiming it does not look at how the human brain receives and translates scent information.

The work also does not account for smells that are the result of a complex combinations of scent molecules.

Barry Smith, from the School of Advanced Stud at the University of London, told New Scientist: 'Nearly all of the smells we are aware of  wine, coffee, soap, other people, the sea  are due to a mixture of several hundred volatile molecules.

'Eating food, there's the saliva in our mouths, there's the taste receptors contributing, the texture of the food.

'Many things are interacting to give you a multi-sensory experience. So I think we are still far away from simply predicting flavour from food molecules.

'We will still have to fill in the biology eventually if we want to understand how humans perceive odours.'
Children's days are filled with lessons, whether it's maths at school or their parents telling them to eat with their mouth closed.

However, a new study has found that kids as young as six start to question what they are being told by adults, by seeking out additional information or testing the claim.

The study by researchers from the University of Toronto and Harvard University investigated if and why children begin to question what they are told by authority figures.

They found that most study participants, between the ages of four and seven, tested surprising claims made to them by adults.

However, older children demonstrated a better understanding of how to properly explore and verify the claim, showing an increased awareness of their own doubts.

'The research shows that as children age, they become more sceptical of what adults tell them,' said Samantha Cottrell, from the Childhood Learning and Development Lab at the University of Toronto.

'This explains why older children are more likely to try to verify claims and are more intentional about their exploration of objects.'

Samantha Cottrell, from the Childhood Learning and Development Lab at the University of Toronto, said: 'The research shows that as children age, they become more sceptical of what adults tell them' (stock image)

Young children are known to learn through observation, experimentation and by what they are told by others.

The latter is especially true of adults, like parents or teachers, who they see as authority figures.

When the children learn something surprising or conflicting, they will seek out additional information by asking questions or by testing claims experimentally.

Research has shown that the older children get, the more likely they are to try and verify the claims, particularly over the age of six.

The psychologists carried out two studies, published yesterday in Child Development, to investigate why children seek out information in response to being told something surprising by adults.

In the first study, 109 children between the ages of four and six were presented with three familiar objects: a rock, a piece of sponge-like material and a hacky sack. An experimenter would then ask the children 'do you think this rock is hard or soft?', to which they all responded that it was. They were then told something that either supported or contradicted this belief, before asked again if the rock was hard or soft. Almost all the children responded with what they were just told by the experimenter. The experimenter then left the children to explore the object on their own, and their behaviour was recorded

CHILDREN ASK THEIR PARENTS MORE THAN 200 QUESTIONS A WEEK Inquisitive children ask their parents an average of more than 200 questions every week and often leave them having to search online for answers, a survey has found. The study found that the most asked questions involve Father Christmas, and include, How old is Father Christmas? and Who gives Santa presents?. Other popular subjects included questions about animals which are asked by 47 per cent of children, maths asked by 45 per cent and spelling asked by 41 per cent. But the survey of more than 2,000 parents of children aged three to 12 in the UK, found that an incredible 61 per cent were often asked questions they did not know the answer to. Advertisement

In the first study, 109 children between the ages of four and six were presented with three familiar objects: a rock, a piece of sponge-like material and a hacky sack.

An experimenter would then ask the children 'do you think this rock is hard or soft?', to which they all responded that it was hard.

They were then told something that either supported or contradicted this belief, like 'that's right, this rock is hard' or 'actually, this rock is soft, not hard'.

The children were then asked again if the rock was hard or soft, and almost all the children responded with what they were just told by the experimenter.

The experimenter then left the children to explore the object on their own, and their behaviour was recorded.

Most children who were told that the rock was soft engaged in testing surprising claims by reaching out to touch it.

According to the researchers, this could show children's ability to use exploration to test more complex claims increases as they age.

Their motivation for testing the claim may also change, as younger children could be exploring what they were told out of a desire to experience the surprising event.

However, older children could be exploring because they were sceptical of what they had been told.

Results show that children increasingly justify their exploration as a means of verifying the adult's surprising claim as they age. This suggests that they are becoming more aware of their doubts about what adults tell them, so their exploration strategies becomes more intentional, targeted and efficient (stock image)

The second study involved telling 154 children between the ages of four and seven over Zoom that an adult had made a surprising claim.

The children were then asked what another child should do in response to that claim and why they should do that.

Six and seven-year-old children were more likely than younger children to suggest an exploration strategy tailored to the claim they heard, as opposed to offering none or an unrelated exploration.

For example, when they were told 'the rock is soft', the older children were more likely to suggest touching the rock.

When told 'the sponge is harder than the rock' they would suggest touching both the sponge and the rock in response.

The results also show that children increasingly justify their exploration as a means of verifying the adult's surprising claim as they age.

This suggests that they are becoming more aware of their doubts about what adults tell them, so their exploration strategies becomes more intentional, targeted and efficient.

'There is still a lot we don't know,' said Samuel Ronfard, assistant professor at the University of Toronto.

'But, what's clear is that children don't believe everything they are told. They think about what they've been told and if they're sceptical, they seek out additional information that could confirm or disconfirm it.'
Apple is planning to release an update to iOS 16 later this year that will optimise iPhone charging times for when the grid is using cleaner energy sources.

Dubbed 'Clean Energy Charging', the feature is intended to decrease the carbon footprint of the iPhone, according to Apple.

It will only be available to users in the US initially, but could roll out elsewhere at a later date.

The new feature comes amid fears the war in Ukraine could impact power grid capacity this winter, as Russia withholds gas supplies.

Dubbed 'Clean Energy Charging', the feature is intended to decrease the carbon footprint of the iPhone, according to Apple

iOS 16: KEY FEATURES - Personalised lockscreen - Ability to edit and unsend messages in Messages app - Scheduling emails - Live Text updated to include video - Visual Look Up - Lockdown Mode - Apple Pay Later - Next generation CarPlay Advertisement

Apple revealed the Clean Energy Charging feature in the footnotes of a press release announcing the availability of its iOS 16 operating system.

iOS 16 brings a host of new features, including a redesigned lock screen and the ability to edit and 'unsend' messages.

However, some features did not make it into the day-one release of iOS 16, such as iCloud Shared Photo Library, which will allow up to six users to contribute to a single iCloud library.

iCloud Shared Photo Library was first announced at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June, and was supposed to be part of the initial iOS 16 release on September 12.

A few days before the launch, Apple quietly added a note to its website revealing that the feature would be delayed until 'later this year'.

By contrast, the Clean Energy Charging feature, which will presumably be released as part of the same iOS 16 update later this year, has not previously been announced by Apple.

The company did not reveal any details about how the feature would work in its press release, other than it would 'decrease the carbon footprint of the iPhone by optimising charging times for when the grid is using cleaner energy sources'.

This may mean offloading iPhone charging to a time when power grids are less constrained and more clean energy capacity is available.

Apple revealed the Clean Energy Charging feature in the footnote of a press release announcing the availability of its iOS 16 operating system

How to unsend a message in iOS 16 1. In the Messages app, open the chat containing the sent message that you want to unsend 2. Long press the sent message that you want to fix 3. Tap Unsend from the pop-over menu 4. The message will disappear and be replaced by the text 'You unsent a message' Advertisement

The news comes amid fears that millions of Britons could be asked to limit their energy use this winter to head off blackouts by avoiding using gas and electricity at peak times and turning off the lights on days when the wind doesn't blow.

Kathryn Porter, from consultancy Watt-Logic, said it was possible households could be asked not to use energy-guzzling appliances at peak hours or eat their dinner at a different time.

In the US, tens of millions of people have been asked not to use washing machines, dishwashers and ovens between 2pm and 8pm because of the global energy crisis. Charging cars before 9pm is also not advised.

Away from the home, in Germany, street lights are being dimmed, traffic lights at quieter junctions are turned off, hot water and central heating is off in public buildings and monuments will no longer be lit overnight.

Ms Porter has said that it's 'very possible' the UK will see plans for energy rationing, despite Liz Truss absolutely ruling it out.

She told BBC's World at One: 'Unfortunately, as each winter goes by, the risk of blackouts is increasing because we have been replacing thermal and nuclear generation with intermittent renewables. That makes us vulnerable in times when wind output is low.

'We have had quite low wind output in July and August...Demand is a lot higher in the winter, so if we have those weather conditions in the winter, our system is going to get very tight and that raises a risk of blackouts.'

With similar schemes in California and Texas - Ms Porter expects that authorities could ask consumers to reduce their use of electricity during peak hours - although in the US all these schemes are not enforced in law.

'It is possible we will see something similar here this winter,' she said, adding: 'I think it would be more an appeal or request for people to have their dinner earlier or later, or avoid using large appliances like washing machines during peak hours. I think it would be voluntary rather than compulsory'.




Korea's finance ministry said Tuesday it will push to introduce fiscal rules that would mandate a sharp drop in the deficit in case the national debt exceeds 60 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).







The move came in line with the Yoon Suk-yeol government's push to implement a belt-tightening policy as part of effort to improve the country's financial soundness following years of expansionary fiscal spending.







During the emergency economic ministers' meeting, the government decided to push for the introduction the fiscal rules, which call for capping the fiscal deficit to 3 percent of GDP, according to the finance ministry.







If the debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 60 percent, the government shall lower the deficit to 2 percent or less, it added.







This year's debt-to-GDP ratio is likely to hit 49.7 percent.







"The introduction of the regulation that controls and manages the total amount of the budget is necessary to ensure the financial soundness," Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said during the meeting. "We will work closely with the National Assembly for its swift enactment."







The country saw the national debt grow more than 400 trillion won ($291.04 billion), or some 62 percent, over the past five years, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)


Climate impacts are heading into 'uncharted territories of destruction', the head of the United Nations (UN) has warned.

The bleak words of the UN's secretary general Antonio Guterres come as the annual 'United In Science' report is released, setting out the scale of the climate crisis.

The report details how greenhouse gas levels  largely carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels  are continuing to rise.

They were higher at the start of this year than before the pandemic, which saw a temporary drop in emissions due to lockdowns around the world.

Coordinated by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the United In Science report compiles the most recent science related to climate change, impacts and responses.

This year's data reveals that the world is experiencing increasingly high global temperatures and destructive climate-driven floods, droughts and heatwaves.

'Without ambitious action, the physical and socioeconomic impacts of climate change will be devastating,' it warns.

The bleak words of the UN's secretary general Antonio Guterres (pictured) come as the annual 'United In Science' report is released that sets out the scale of the climate crisis

According to the Global Carbon Project, global emissions recorded between January and May this year are 1.2 per cent higher than those of the same period in 2019

Coordinated by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the United In Science report compiles the most recent science related to climate change, impacts and responses

WHAT IS THE PARIS AGREEMENT? The Paris Agreement, which was first signed in 2015, is an international agreement to control and limit climate change. It hopes to hold the increase in the global average temperature to below 2C (3.6F) 'and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C (2.7F)'. Other goals include getting global emissions to peak as soon as possible, and to undertake rapid reductions thereafter. Other goals include getting global emissions to peak as soon as possible, and to undertake rapid reductions thereafter. Source: European Commission Advertisement

According to the Global Carbon Project, global emissions recorded between January and May this year were 1.2 per cent higher than those of the same period in 2019.

The last seven years have been the warmest on record, but analysis from the Met Office shows there is a 93 per cent chance one of the next five years will exceed all of them.

The report predicts that we could soon see irreversible changes being made to climate systems, like melting of the polar ice sheets.

Heat and humidity levels beyond which outdoor human labour is not possible also cannot be ruled out.

Highly populated cities will face more heatwaves, downpours and coastal flooding, making billions of people vulnerable.

According to the data, there is a huge gap between the pledges countries made under the Paris Agreement to curb global warming and the action they are taking.

Those that signed up in 2015 agreed to try to limit the rise of the average global temperature to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

In fact, there is a 48 per cent chance the world will reach this threshold in the next five years, as the pledges made last year at COP26 will not be enough.

The last seven years have been the warmest on record, but analysis from the Met Office shows there is a 93 per cent chance one of the next five years will exceed all of them

Mr Guterres said in a video statement that the report reveals the world is 'way off track' with stalling the impacts of climate change.

'Floods, droughts, heatwaves, extreme storms and wildfires are going from bad to worse, breaking records with ever alarming frequency,' he warned.

The Portuguese diplomat referred to the heatwaves that scorched Europe over the summer along with severe droughts in China, Africa and the US.

He said: 'There is nothing natural about the new scale of these disasters.

'They are the price of humanity's fossil fuel addiction.

'This year's United In Science report shows climate impacts heading into uncharted territories of destruction, yet each year we double-down on this fossil fuel addiction, even as the symptoms get rapidly worse.

'The current fossil fuel free-for-all must end now. It is a recipe for permanent climate chaos and suffering.'

Mr Guterres also called for far more finance from rich nations and development banks to help developing countries and vulnerable communities adapt to climate change and disasters.

Desert-like landscapes in areas of the UK that would normally be filled with swathes of greenery after the country experienced record-breaking temperatures of 40C (104F) in July

Flames rip through tinder-dry woodland in Gironde, in the south of France, when a record-breaking summer of heatwaves and drought turned pine forests into firewood

WMO secretary general Professor Petteri Taalas added: 'Climate science is increasingly able to show that many of the extreme weather events that we are experiencing have become more likely and more intense due to human-induced climate change.

'We have seen this repeatedly this year, with tragic effect.

'It is more important than ever that we scale up action on early warning systems to build resilience to current and future climate risks in vulnerable communities.'

The UN is working to make these early warning systems, which reduce risks, losses and deaths, accessible to everyone on Earth within five years.

Tasneem Essop, executive director of the global Climate Action Network of environmental and social organisations and aid agencies, added: 'The terrifying picture painted by the United In Science report is already a lived reality for millions of people facing recurring climate disasters.

'The science is clear, yet the addiction to fossil fuels by greedy corporations and rich countries is resulting in losses and damages for communities who have done the least to cause the current climate crisis.'

She called for an end to the dependence on fossil fuels through a transition to clean economies that is fair and equitable.

The climate advocate also urged leaders to agree new funding for those already hit by the crisis at the forthcoming COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

The report comes as Pakistan suffers from catastrophic flooding over the past few weeks that has killed over a thousand people. Pictured: A flooded area on the outskirts of Sukkur, Pakistan

The Indus River and the city of Mianwali in northern Pakistan before (left) and after (right) flooding last month. There is mounting evidence that the floods are the effects of climate change, as Pakistan also experienced record-breaking heat in April, with temperatures reaching over 40C

The report comes as Pakistan suffers from catastrophic flooding over the past few weeks that has killed over a thousand people.

Mr Guterres made an urgent appeal to the international community to provide $160 million (136.6 million) in support to help the 33 million people in the country.

The historic deluge, triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rains, has destroyed homes and businesses, infrastructure and crops.

In August this year, the country has received nearly 190% more rain, totalling 390.7 millimetres, than the in 30 years on average.

There is mounting evidence that these are the effects of climate change, as Pakistan also experienced record-breaking heat in April, with temperatures reaching over 40C.
U.S. Army veteran Richard Neider is able to walk again after suffering a spinal-cord injury in Iraq thanks to a robotic exoskeleton.

Neider, who is the first veteran in Phoenix to receive the ReWalk Personal 6.0 Exoskeleton through a Veterans Affairs program, was unable to walk after being injured in an incident with an improvised explosive device (IED) in Iraq and has spent almost ten years in a wheelchair.

The battery-powered, motorized device has sensors that detect when he shifts his weight and then tells Neider's other leg to move - creating a walking motion. The light exoskeleton helps to stabilize his knees and hip.

'I can't ever stop smiling when I'm in it,' the former Army sergeant, who saw his May 2005 injury worsen over time, tells AZFamily. 'It's complete independence, being able to be on my feet, be eye-to-eye with everybody.'

'I can be a stand-up guy again - not just a role model,' he adds, with a laugh.

U.S. Army veteran Richard Neider (above) is able to walk again after suffering a spinal-cord injury in Iraq thanks to a robotic exoskeleton

Neider (seen above during his Army service) says that when he first ended up in a wheelchair, he was depressed and angry - and would see someone walking and want to yell at them. 'To be able to get up and actually see my feet moving, it's one of the most amazing experiences for me,' he says

The technology behind the ReWalk has been in development for many years and received FDA approval about eight years ago. Neider is seen above during his time in the military

'I can't ever stop smiling when I'm in it,' Neider, who saw his 2005 injury worsen over time, tells AZFamily . 'It's complete independence, being able to be on my feet, be eye to eye with everybody'

How ReWalk's Personal 6.0 Exoskeleton works The battery-powered system from ReWalk Robotics features a light, wearable exoskeleton There are motors at the hip and keen joints and a battery pack worn on a person's back The device has sensors to detect changes in a person's center of gravity It then prompts the person to take a step and move the opposite leg The device received FDA approval about eight years ago The company, with offices in Israel, Germany and the U.S., works with Veterans Affairs to provide the machine on a trial basis Once that trial has been completed, the VA covers the $75,000 cost Advertisement

The soldier comes from a long line of family members who have served their country, according to a biography at VeteransCharityRide.org. His father was a championship boxer in the Army and his uncle served in the Marines Corp, while his grandfather was in the Air Force and his great-grandfather was in the Navy.

Neider says that when he first ended up in a wheelchair, he was depressed and angry - and would see someone walking and want to yell at them.

'To be able to get up and actually see my feet moving, it's one of the most amazing experiences for me,' he says.

Having to move using a wheelchair happened after walking with a cane and a walker, as his injury got worse over the years.

Dan Bonaroti, a physical therapist and owner of Touchstone Rehabilitation, tells DailyMail.com that the technology also has broader potential uses than just patients like Neider.

'It can be used for someone who is completely paralyzed but can also be used by people who have some ability to walk but have difficulty,' he says. 'It's almost a bigger purpose for the second reason, that expands it people with stroke and incomplete spinal cord injury.'

The technology behind the ReWalk has been in development for many years and received FDA approval about eight years ago.

The ground-breaking device costs $75,000 but the VA has been trialing it since 2015 so that people can be trained and take it home for a short rental period - logging their experience with it - to make sure they're using it properly.

The soldier comes from a long line of family members who have served their country. His father was a championship boxer in the Army and his uncle served in the Marines Corp, while his grandfather was in the Air Force and his great-grandfather was in the Navy

Neider emphasizes that wife, Kerry (above), has been his driving force of support for the past decade, and hes looking forward to his future

Neider, who is the first veteran in Phoenix to receive the ReWalk Personal 6.0 Exoskeleton through a Veterans Affairs program, was unable to walk after being injured in an explosion in Iraq and has spent almost ten years in a wheelchair

'To be able to offer something that can literally get them walking at a functional capability, the first of its kind,' he says.

According to Bonaroti, it takes 28 sessions over about 2.5 months for a patient to be fully trained to use the exoskeleton.

For his part, Neider is planning to take the ReWalk in his sidecar for next year's bike ride to Sturgis, Michigan with fellow combat veterans.

'Ill have legs and be able to walk with everybody instead of rolling with everybody!' he tells AZFamily.

Neider emphasizes that wife has been his driving force of support for the past decade. He lives with his wife, Kerry, in a home in the Valley.

'Its more than freedom. Its complete independence, being able to be on my feet, to be eye to eye to everybody,' he explains.

'The biggest disability is not my inability to walk, but the way I was looking at things. It was the mental side of it.

'Once I figured that out, I was able to just start moving forward and realize I can do everything everybody else is doing. I just do it a little bit differently.'

The ground-breaking device costs $75,000 but the VA has been trialing it since 2015 so that people can be trained and take it home for a short rental period - logging their experience with it - to make sure they're using it properly
The Champions League anthem will not be played in England or Scotland this week as a mark of respect for the Queen.

The well-known tune, which is simply titled 'Champions League' and was written by the English composer Tony Britten in 1992, is closely based on George Frideric Handel's composition Zadok the Priest.

Ironically, Zadok the Priest is traditionally performed at the coronation of British monarchs but won't be heard ahead of the Champions League matches on British soil this week.

Britten said in a 2013 newspaper interview: 'There's a rising string phase which I pinched from Handel and then I wrote my own tune.

'It has a kind of Handelian feel to it but I like to think it's not a total rip-off.'

Liverpool play Ajax at Anfield on Tuesday night before Chelsea host Red Bull Salzburg at Stamford Bridge, Manchester City entertain Borussia Dortmund at the Etihad and Rangers take on Ajax at Ibrox on Wednesday evening.

The traditional Champions League anthem will not be played before matches in the UK this week following the death of Queen Elizabeth II

Britain's longest-serving monarch passed away at Balmoral last Thursday aged 96

The United Kingdom is currently in a 10-day period of mourning following the death of its longest-serving monarch at the age of 96 last Thursday.

While black armbands will be worn and a minute of silence observed ahead of the Champions League games, the Daily Telegraph reported that the anthem won't be played as is traditional ahead of kick-off.

British clubs will return to action in European competition after all fixtures were postponed over last weekend following the Queen's passing.

Tottenham have an away fixture at Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday night, while Celtic will play Shakhtar Donetsk on neutral ground in Warsaw, Poland because of the conflict in Ukraine.

The 'Champions League' anthem is played as the players line up on the field before matches

Rangers' fixture was pushed back 24 hours to Wednesday because of 'severe limitations on police resources and organisational issues related to the ongoing events surrounding the national mourning.'

No Napoli supporters will be allowed to attend the match, with Rangers fans similarly barred from the return fixture in Naples later in the group stage.

Other fixtures later in the week have been postponed because police resources will be concentrated on the Queen's funeral and the events of mourning leading up to it.

Rangers played Ajax last week - their home game with Napoli has been pushed back 24 hours

They include Arsenal's Europa League match at home to PSV Eindhoven on Thursday evening.

Two Premier League games have been postponed on Sunday for the same reason - Chelsea vs Liverpool at Stamford Bridge and Manchester United vs Leeds United at Old Trafford.
Having spent the golden years of his playing career in London, Thierry Henry was well placed to recognized the significance of Queen Elizabeth II's death last week.

The Frenchman paid tribute to her during his appearance on Tuesday's CBS Champions League show and opened up on when he introduced Her Majesty to his Arsenal team at Buckingham Palace.

Renowned for being suave and cool on and off the pitch, Henry admitted he was anything but when in the presence of royalty.

Thierry Henry paid an emotional tribute to Queen Elizabeth II after her passing last week

In 2007, Henry introduced the Queen to his Arsenal team after they were invited to Buckingham Palace for afternoon tea

'I had the opportunity to meet the Queen and I was nervous, as hell,' Henry said. 'I remember thinking "I am about to play a game or something".

'When you are at Buckingham Palace and you are meeting the Queen -I looked at Julio Baptista and forgot his name! I was like "who is that?".

'It was my duty to introduce everybody (as Arsenal captain). When you are nervous you want to go back into your own language? I don't think that if I had spoken French it would have worked.

'It is very difficult to talk about her in the past tense. I am French, I am proud to be French... but I am a Londoner. I tend to understand what the royal family was, what she did represent and I have only respect for her.

'It was a great moment, I was nervous as you saw. Everyone is still mourning, it is fresh in everybody's mind and I think it will be for a long time.'

Henry said he was so nervous when meeting the Queen, he nearly started speaking in French

The Arsenal side were invited for afternoon tea with the Queen in 2007, a year after she was unable to open the club's Emirates stadium.

Last week, Arsenal had travelled to Switzerland to face Zurich in their opening group game of this season's Europa League campaign and only learnt the news of the Queen's passing at half-time.

The resumption of the second half was delayed so that both sides could pay their respects with a minute's silence in memory of Her Majesty.
The beautiful Greek mainland and its amazing collection of islands have so much to offer, it's no surprise they've long been the destination of choice for summer holidaymakers.

But with the peak holiday period passing and the crowds dying down Greece is wonderfully atmospheric during the quieter months too and it's a great time to enjoy the country's authentic personality.

With the temperatures cooling its easier to spend more time outdoors, ideal for lazy cafe days, sightseeing and exploring the stunning walking and hiking trails which criss-cross much of Greeces spectacular landscape.

Crete is the largest island in Greece, and the fifth largest one in the Mediterranean Sea

And of all the incredible destinations in Greece, perhaps the most magical and enchanting is Crete - the largest island in Greece, and the fifth largest one in the Mediterranean Sea.

Crete truly has everything - whether youre on a trip with friends, a family holiday, a romantic break for two or adventuring solo.

As summer draws to a close, theres never been a better time to visit, so here are just 10 reasons to check out this idyllic island during the off-season.

1. Natural beauty

Samaria Gorge - one of the many stunning areas of natural beauty on Crete

Whilst its beaches are amongst the best in the world, the rest of Crete's beautiful landscape, made up of breathtaking mountains, fertile valleys and steep gorges, is also worth exploring.

The high temperatures of summer arent ideal for trekking, but off-season you can set out on an adventure and discover the joys of Crete's natural wonders.

A walking holiday in Crete is an unforgettable experience, allowing visitors the opportunity to marvel at the verdant scenery, explore the rare cedar forests and enjoy the blossoming flora and trees full of lemons, oranges, and pomegranates.

Make sure to include Mt. Psiloritis Natural Park in your itinerary. You can book a variety of guided tours giving you the chance to explore caves, sinkholes, rock shelters and underground rivers.

Take a packed lunch and eat it while you take in an incredible view or reward yourselves with a long lunch at a local taverna after a morning of walking and climbing.

You'll have earned it.

2. Historic Heraklion

Heraklion is the largest city of Crete and one of Greeces major urban centres

Fans of history and tradition can find more than enough to keep them busy in the fascinating city of Heraklion.

The largest city of Crete and one of Greeces major urban centres, Heraklion is the meeting place of multicultural influences which have made their mark throughout the centuries. This means you can expect to see examples of the Byzantine, Ottoman and Venetian civilisations all across the city.

Start your visit at the old Venetian port before making your way into the heart of Heraklion where there's an ancient monument to discover around every corner.

The Palace of Knossos in Heraklion - the seat of the legendary king Minoa

Churches and ornate fountains abound, while the Archaeological Museum is a must-see for history buffs, showcasing unique treasures from the Minoan civilisation unearthed from the Palace of Knossos. This Palace, which you can still visit today, was the seat of the legendary king Minoa, connected to the Greek myths of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur.

Once you've had your fill of history, Heraklion is also home to a fantastic food market where you'll find traditional Cretan products like the famous Cretan olive oil, raki, local wine, honey and herbs. Make sure you stop by to pick up a souvenir, before heading for dinner in this vibrant city.

From Heraklion a beautiful drive south reveals the ancient Phestos and Matala areas or venture further to Lassithi plateau to visit the cave where legend has it Zeus (Jupiter) himself was born.

The whole island of Crete is brimming with historic sites, best discovered through excursions to its many ruins and temples. And in the off-season, with fewer tourists around, not only will queues be smaller, you'll really be able to take your time.

3. Serene Spinalonga

Take a boat trip to the tiny isle of Spinalonga

For a gentle walk in the balmy temperatures of autumn, take a boat trip to Spinalonga.

In the peak of summer, between 1200 and 1500 visitors tour this tiny island every day, so by going in the off-season you'll enjoy a less crowded visit.

It may be small but there's much to see and you can take a gentle 1.5km walk around the island's perimeter, taking in the remains of a 16th-century fortress, as well as the ruined houses and buildings of what was Greece's official leper colony.

It's a fascinating peek into both ancient and more recent history.

4. Cretan cuisine

Cretan food is famous for its unique ingredients and flavours

Greek food is renowned for its freshly caught seafood and homegrown produce and on Crete you'll be able to experience the best of this delicious cuisine.

In fact, Cretan food is famous both within Greece and internationally for its unique ingredients and flavours, with a huge variety of local produce including mountain herbs, bulbs, cheeses, fresh fish, olive oil and raki all made on the island. And a visit to Crete later in the year is ideal for experiencing truly seasonal food, with only some fragrant herbs and vegetables available in the autumn.

Signature soft cheeses made from sheep and goats milk can be found in every village and are best enjoyed in salads or tempting Cretan pies, where they're encased in pastry and drizzled in Cretan honey.

And whether you're looking for a relaxed beachside snack or a more formal dining experience, you're guaranteed a true gastronomic treat.

5. Authentic experiences

Stroll along the narrow alleys and streets of Rethymno

The off-season period allows visitors an opportunity to get to know the real Crete.

The old towns of Chania and Rethymno - with their fascinating combination of Venetian and Ottoman architecture - are best enjoyed during quieter periods.

Away from the crowds, their atmospheric charm comes to the fore. Stroll along their narrow alleys and streets, enjoy a coffee or snack in one of the many cafes and tavernas and soak up the fascinating history, abundant everywhere you look.

Cretes traditional mountain villages also make for a great adventure in the cooler, less frenetic months.

Here, old customs and traditions remain unchanged and provide an authentic insight into true Cretan culture. Head to Archanes, Zaros and Asites in Heraklion region, Vamos and Chora Sfakion in the Chania region and Anogeia, Axos and Margarites in the Rethymno region.

This is where you'll find the real heartland of traditional Crete.

Loutro, a tiny little fishing village on the south coast is only accessible by boat or a trek across the mountains

And for the intrepid traveller, make a pilgrimage to Loutro, a tiny fishing village on the south coast.

Only accessible by boat or a trek across the mountains, it's truly a hidden gem. Make sure to wander along the waterfront enjoying the views, stopping for a traditional meal at one of the nearby tavernas.

6. Agios Nikolaos

You'll find plenty of cafes, bars and restaurants overlooking Voulismeni Lake - perfect for people-watching

Agios Nikolaos is a lively spot in the summer with tourists making a beeline for its shopping streets, but for a more relaxed experience visit in the autumn.

The town is still vibrant with lots going on and you can take your time getting to know every corner, feeling like a local in just a couple of days.

Set around Voulismeni Lake, Agios Nikolaos manages to be both leisurely and bustling. The subject of many legends, Voulismeni is surrounded by red rock formations and lush vegetation and was once believed to be bottomless, as well as the waters where the goddesses Athena and Artemis bathed.

You'll find plenty of cafes, bars and restaurants overlooking the lake, ideal for a few hours of people-watching as the sun goes down.

Stroll through town to indulge in some retail therapy at shops selling fabrics, china, clothes, homewares and locally produced food and delicacies, before reaching the marina where opulent yachts find a home.

7. Beautiful beaches

The pink sands and crystal waters of Elafonissi beach in the Chania region

With average temperatures in September and October in the low and mid-20s (C), spending a day relaxing on one of Crete's many beaches is still an option in the autumn months.

And from family-friendly spots to hidden coves, there's a huge choice of coastline to choose from, with the most incredible stretches of sand to be found in the Chania region.

Balos and Elafonissi beaches have crystal waters and the latter is famous for its pink sands, while locals love the secluded cove of Marathi beach.

Enjoy a refreshing dip after soaking up some of the last warming rays of the year.

8. A thrillseekers heaven

Waves in resorts like in Falassarna are a real attraction for amateur and seasoned surfers alike

Fans of watersports will also find much to delight them in off-season Crete.

Surfers can find plenty of fantastic spots in winter and the waves in resorts like Falassarna are a real attraction for amateurs and seasoned pros alike. No wetsuits required.

Away from the sea, Cretes rivers and gorges fill up in the autumn and winter and the thousands of waterfalls on the island spring back to life, creating the perfect environment for canyoning and kayaking.

10. A warm welcome

If youre lucky enough to be invited to a Cretan feast, you can experience a vibrant and energetic evening the way the local people do

The people of Crete are kind and hospitable.

And its much easier to meet and get to know the locals in the off-season.

If youre lucky enough to be invited to a Cretan feast, you'll experience a vibrant and energetic evening the way the local people do.

Delicious food, folk dancing and the evening air filled with mantinades songs - whose words are improvised and sung on the spot - creating a truly authentic and magical night.

And it's much easier to stumble across in the milder months when summer has passed.

So why not book your off-season break to Crete now? Find out more at www.visitgreece.gr

You'll want to stay forever...
Filming for the 2023 season of Married At First Sight is well and truly underway.

And as next year's brides and grooms prepare to settle into their new 'married' lives, some of the show's past participants have offered words some advice.

'If you're confused about something that's being said that makes absolutely no sense they've already come up with a story line for you,' Jackson Lonie warned.

Married At First Sight's Jackson Lonie (pictured) issued a warning to upcoming participants on Tuesday

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday, Jackson recalled: 'There was one time when we were on the couch and what the experts were saying made absolutely no sense to us and anybody else.'

Jackson urged the new cast to pay attention to what the experts are saying to them at the commitment ceremonies as it will give you an indication to your storyline and not to be afraid of walking out at any time.

'If you starting to feel like you are the bad guy then I'd be having chats with producers, but you've got to trust your gut,' he said.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Jackson urged the cast to pay attention to what the experts are saying to them as it will give you an indication to your storyline

'If you starting to feel like you are the bad guy then I'd be having chats with producers, but you've got to trust your gut,' he explained. Jackson is pictured with Olivia Frazer

'If you feel like your producer is pushing you in a certain direction it's because they've created a narrative for you and you need to just do what's right for you.'

Jackson revealed a secret trick he used while filming last year's series if he didn't want producers or camera crews to enter his room at a certain time.

'I would just always answer the door naked so that they wouldn't wanna come in,' he laughed.

'Me, Cody [Bromley] and Brent [Vitiello] would always catch up for drinks on the weekend because we weren't allowed to go out because of COVID.'

Meanwhile, Matt Ridley, who was paired with Kate Laidlaw on this year's season, told the 2023 cast to 'be 100% unapologetically yourself'

Meanwhile, Matt Ridley, who was paired with Kate Laidlaw on this year's season, told the 2023 cast to 'be 100% unapologetically yourself'.

'People know bulls**t, people see it and they call you out on it. Not just at the time of filming (within the group) but also when it goes to air,' he warned.

'If you are 100% yourself from the moment you arrive to when you leave the experiment, you will have nothing to worry about.'

'People know bulls**t, people see it and they call you out on it. Not just at the time of filming (within the group) but also when it goes to air,' he warned

'You can walk away either in love with your partner, or with your head held high, being proud.

'My advice to Season 10 couples is to work hard on your relationship. You are put together as a couple for a reason.'

'Once you write "leave" on commitment night, there is usually no coming back. It sends a clear sign to your partner that you're checking out and that you do not want to be there.'

'My advice to Season 10 couples is to work hard on your relationship. You are put together as a couple for a reason,' said Matt. Pictured with bride Kate Laidlaw

Meanwhile, Rebecca Zemek, who failed to find love with Jake Edwards in 2021 said: 'What you see on TV will never be a true reflection so don't stress about the story line'

'What you see on TV will never be a true reflection so don't stress about the story line,' urged Rebecca Zemek, who failed to find love with Jake Edwards in 2021.

'Go with the flow and secretly record everything,' Beck continued.

Kerry Knight, who recently got engaged to her MAFS groom Johnny Balbuziente, warned: 'Just remember, this isn't 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!!'

'Go with the flow and secretly record everything,' the 29-year-old told Daily Mail Australia on Monday. Pictured alongside her TV 'husband' Jake Edwards, left

'It's so easy to get caught up in the moment or the grandiosity that is the production of MAFS,' Kerry continued.

'Whatever your motivation is, try to run every decision through a filter of what would make yourself, your parents and your friends proud. Don't lose sight of that!'

Meanwhile, Booka Nile, who failed to find love with Brett Helling, encouraged the new cast to be prepare themselves for a whirlwind of emotions and not be scared to reach out for support when needed.

Meanwhile, Booka Nile, 33, encouraged the new cast to be prepare themselves for a whirlwind of emotions and not be scared to reach out for support when needed

'I'd say it's an experience synonymous to having a fever dream,' she said of her experience.

'There's no way to really describe what the entire experience was like using words. It will be what you decide to make it.'

'Just try and remember who you are and use the time to reflect on the best and worst parts of yourself,' she said.

Brisbane-based beautician Melinda Willis will be among the 10 brides hoping to find love on the upcoming season. Pictured with her groom Layton Mills during a filming break

Also appearing on the show is Sydney content creator Tahnee Cook, who will be paired with professional voice over artist Oliver 'Ollie' Skelton. Pictured together during a filming break

'Prepare yourself for the fact that it won't be what you expect. Prepare yourself for the fact that it'll be a whirlwind of emotion in the best and worst way.

'Don't be scared to be vulnerable, don't be scared to reach out for support when you need it and cherish the friendships you form while you're there,' she urged.

'They're the only ones in your life who will truly understand what this experience was like and if you cherish the bond you all share, then you'll walk out of there with love in your life whether it works out with your match or not.'

The cast will be paired by experts Mel Schilling, John Aitken and Alessandra Rampolla, who will all be returning for season ten next year.
Film critic and TV producer Margaret Pomeranz has sold her amazing beachfront cottage on the NSW Central Coast after listing it for $4.5million.

Pomeranz, 74, bought the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in 1995 for $345,000 while she was a co-host of The Movie Show on SBS with David Stratton.

Located in the tiny fishing village of Patonga, 96.2km north of Sydney, the home was sold to an unknown buyer for an undisclosed sum close to the asking price.

Film critic Margaret Pomeranz has sold her beachfront cottage on the NSW Central Coast after listing it for $4.5million. (Pictured: a front view of the Patonga beach house)

Surrounded by bushland, the area is known as one of the Central Coast's most exclusive post codes, reports Domain.

The sale of Pomeranz's property ranks as the second highest in the area after power-tool wholesaler David Mills scored just over $6million for his home last year.

Named 'Wylena', the charming, light-filled getaway has a holiday feel.

Built on 443sqm of land, the single-storey home has 18m of beach frontage, providing ocean views of Brisk Bay and the lighthouse at nearby Palm Beach.

Highlights include an open-plan design, floor-to-ceiling windows, a large built-in library bookcase and a wrap-around beachfront deck.

Pomeranz bought the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in 1995 for $345,000 while she was a co-host of The Movie Show on SBS with David Stratton. (Pictured: the lounge area)

One of the three bedrooms inside the beach house is seen here

Details such as the stone fence and original garage (pictured) have been maintained

There is also a sunroom that could double as a home office, as well as a spacious kitchen with stone benchtops.

Meanwhile, Pomeranz is rumoured to have splashed out $3million on a smaller property that fronts onto nearby Patonga Creek.

Pomeranz first rose to fame as the host and producer of The Movie Show, which debuted on SBS in 1986.

Pomeranz first rose to fame as the host and producer of The Movie Show, which debuted on SBS in 1986. (Pictured with her co-host David Stratton)

She and co-host Stratton were a ratings winner for the network as they reviewed new film releases each week, and interviewed stars and filmmakers.

In 2004 they took the format over to the ABC as At the Movies.

Their final episode went to air on December 9, 2014.
Nicky Hilton Rothschild and Olivia Palermo stunned at the Pamella Roland fashion show in New York City on Monday.

Hilton Rothschild, 38, donned a low-cut sparkly black blazer held together by a large button in the center.

She matched it to her tight trousers and high heels.

Stunning: Nicky Hilton Rothschild and Olivia Palermo stunned at the Pamella Roland fashion show in New York City on Monday

The New York City native wore her long blonde locks back in a tight ponytail that collected on her right shoulder.

She held a silver clutch and painted her full lips a pinkish-red for the amazing runway show.

Palermo, 36, wore a long white blazer covered in vibrant purple and blue frills on the shoulders and chest.

All black: Hilton Rothschild, 38, donned a low-cut sparkly black blazer held together by a large button in the center

Enjoying the weekend: Hilton was spotted at multiple shows during fashion week including the Stacey Bendet Spring 2023 Presentation (pictured Sept. 10, 2022)

She kept her lower half casual in tight blue jeans, and she stood on hot pink high heels.

Her dirty blonde hair was parted in the middle, and she let it fall down to the top of her chest.

The pair sat alongside one another at the Pamella Roland fashion show, one of the many events of New York Fashion Week.

So many events: This iteration of New York Fashion Week began on September 9 and will come to a close on September 14 according to Reuters (Palermo pictured Sept. 10 at Jason Wu fashion show)

So many events: It is made up of more than 140 individual showcases featuring some of the biggest names in the fashion industry (Hilton pictured at Prabal Gurung fashion show on Sept. 10, 2022)

This iteration of New York Fashion Week began on September 9 and will come to a close on September 14 according to Reuters.

It is made up of more than 140 individual showcases featuring some of the biggest names in the fashion industry.

Pamella Roland is a luxury evening wear line which debuted back in 2002. Many Hollywood stars like Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry have worn the fashionable brand.

Vision in blue: Nicky was later seen in NoHo on Monday, putting on a leggy display in a blue minidress and coordinating high heels
He's an expert when it comes to listing some of Sydney's most expensive homes.

Now Luxe Listings Sydney star Gavin Rubinstein has taken himself off the market.

The real estate mogul, 33, is said to have started quietly dating Alexandra Dankwa almost a year ago.

Luxe Listings Sydney star is off the market! Real estate mogul Gavin Rubinstein has been 'secretly dating model Alexandra Dankwa'

Gavin has remained tight-lipped about the romance and so has the stunning brunette model, 30.

The pair rarely interact or speak of one another on their social media accounts.

A source told the Daily Telegraph they spoke to Alexandra one early morning a few weeks ago after Gavin dropped her off outside her home in his Range Rover Vogue.

She allegedly told the source: 'I just had the weirdest night of my life.'

The leggy brunette once dated The Apprentice host Mark Bouris' son Dane for about two years back in 2015.

Meanwhile, Gavin told Daily Mail Australia in July 2021 he had been crushing on his Luxe Listings co-star D'Leanne Lewis for years.

The pair often go head-to-head as they compete to sell some of Sydney's most incredible homes.

Gavin has remained tight-lipped about the romance and so has the stunning brunette model, 30

But behind-the-scenes, it appears the handsome property mogul and stunning boss lady, 50, aren't always at odds.

'Full disclosure, when I got into this industry I actually had a crush on D'Leanne when I was 21,' he said.

'And I think he still does... he's only human,' D'Leanne cheekily added.

, Gavin told Daily Mail Australia in July 2021 he had been crushing on his Luxe Listings co-star D'Leanne Lewis for years

The new season of Luxe Listings Sydney will premiere on Prime Video on September 30.

Australian pop legend Delta Goodrem made an appearance in the latest trailer for the show's third season.

Gavin and co-star Simon Chen are betting 'big money' to see which one of them can get Delta her new Sydney home first.
Konrad Bien-Stephen has revealed he is single and ready to mingle.

The Bachelorette star, 32, spoke about his dating life during an Instagram Q&A with his 57,000 followers on Monday.

'Are you ready to mingle?' one follower asked.

Konrad Bien-Stephen has revealed he is single and ready to mingle. The Bachelorette star, 32, spoke about his dating life during an Instagram Q&A with his 57,000 followers on Monday

Konrad simply replied: 'Yes.'

It comes after Abbie, 27, confirmed the pair's split earlier this month. They had been in an open relationship for less than a year.

Admitting she felt 'anxious' about releasing a statement, she said she probably wouldn't share her relationship publicly again.

'Are you ready to mingle?' one follower asked, to which Konrad replied: 'Yes'

'This is going to seem really out of the blue and really strange timing,' Abbie began.

'I guess I wanted to confirm that yeah, Konrad and I have broken up. We've been broken up for a couple of months now.'

'No one did anything bad or awful, there's no drama to it,' she continued.

It comes after Abbie Chatfield confirmed the pair's split earlier this month. They had been in an open relationship for less than a year

'It was not because we were in an open relationship. Nothing bad happened.'

'I wasn't being deceitful by not telling people, there was a reason why there was a delay in telling you all,' she said of her silence up until now.

Abbie denied rumours their break-up was 'messy', adding: 'I don't really owe any of you an explanation.

The TV and radio host took to Instagram to reveal their break-up had nothing to do with their open relationship status

'I just feel like nipping it in the bud  We're broken up, it's not a secret, it's not anything bad, it's not anything dramatic, it just is what it is,' she repeated.

'I probably won't ever share my relationship publicly again to be honest because this whole situation and the way the media have f**king reported on it

'Like, it's a game, like my relationship is a game it's quite f**ked.'

'I wasn't being deceitful by not telling people. There was a reason why there was a delay in telling you all,' she said of her silence up until now

Daily Mail Australia broke the story that Konrad and Megan Marx, his co-star on the upcoming Channel 10 reality show The Challenge, had struck up a romance during filming in Buenos Aires last month.

Two separate sources confirmed the pair's tryst, with one revealing: 'Oh, my gosh! The drama is insane. Konrad is sleeping with Megan [Marx].

'Konrad said he was single and his relationship with Abbie was over because she broke up with him.'
This photo shows stacks of containers at a port in Korea's southeastern city of Busan, Sept. 7. Yonhap



Korea's exports fell 16.6 percent on-year in the first 10 days of September due mainly to fewer working days over the Chuseok holiday, with its trade deficit widening on high energy costs, data showed Tuesday.



The country's outbound shipments stood at $16.25 billion in the Sept. 1-10 period, compared with $19.48 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.



Imports also went down 10.9 percent on-year to $18.69 billion during the cited period, resulting in a trade deficit of $2.44 billion.



It is larger than $1.48 billion logged the same period a year earlier.



If the current trend continues, Korea is likely to post a trade deficit for the sixth straight month in September for the first time in about 25 years.



The number of working days during the period came to 6.5 days, with the comparable figure for last year coming to 8.5 days.



The Chuseok holiday, or the Korean fall harvest celebration, started Friday and ran through Monday this year.



The daily exports, however, grew 9 percent on-year, and the average per-day imports jumped 16.6 percent on-year during the cited period, the agency said.



By sector, exports of semiconductors grew 7.9 percent on-year. Chips are one of the country's key export items, accounting for about 20 percent of the total exports.



Last month, the semiconductor exports fell for the first time in 26 months amid the fall in global chip prices.



The outbound shipment of petroleum products also increased 11.7 percent on-year during the Sept. 1-10 period.



But exports of cars and auto parts fell 17.9 percent and 15.8 percent, respectively, on-year, and those of steel products also dived 36.4 percent, the data showed.



By country, exports to China, Korea's largest trading partner, fell 20.9 percent, following three months of on-year fall from June.



Those to the United States also went down 11.6 percent and those to the European Union retreated 23.2 percent on-year during the first 10 days of September, according to the data.



The growth in imports this month was due mainly to high oil and gas prices amid the prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict.



Imports of crude oil rose 15.7 percent to $3.28 billion and those of gas spiked 92.3 percent to $2.16 billion during the cited period, according to the agency. (Yonhap)


Natalie Portman was spotted checking in at the airport earlier on Monday after attending the star-studded Toronto International Film Festival.

The 41-year-old talented actress kept her look comfortable and casual for her busy day of travel.

The star attended the premiere of Carmen at the film festival Sunday evening to support her husband, Benjamin Millepied, 45, as he celebrated his directorial feature film debut.

Beautiful: Natalie Portman, 41, was pictured at an airport in Toronto on Monday after attending the city's renowned film festival

The mother of two opted for comfort for flying on a crowded plane, and wore a pair of high-waisted, classic blue jeans.

She paired her pants with a short-sleeved, printed T-shirt which she tucked into the waist of her jeans.

Natalie had a pair of shades hanging on the neckline of her shirt, and later placed the black sunglasses on top of her head.

The beauty had a quick airport shopping spree, and was pictured carrying a large, white Dior gift bag. The gorgeous star has been an ambassador for the luxury brand since 2011.

Busy day: The mother of two appeared to be in good spirits as she prepared to board a plane to fly out of Toronto on Monday

Along with carrying a Dior gift bag, Natalie also had a tote bag from the brand slung over her left shoulder.

She was also seen rolling a small, Dior suitcase, which is priced around $3,900, according to the brand's official website.

On the back of the luggage, the letters NP were monogramed on a thin strip of fabric, which appear to be initials of her name.

Her brunette hair was parted in the middle, and fell down to brush her shoulders in elegant waves. Natalie added a touch of dark eyeshadow and eyeliner for a stylish edge to her look for the day.

After going through the process of checking in and receiving her boarding pass, the Black Swan actress was all smiles and appeared to be in good spirits ahead of her flight.

Fashionable: The actress donned a pair of blue jeans and a printed shirt to stay comfortable during her travels

Big supporter: Natalie attended the premiere of her husband's film, Carmen, at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday evening

Natalie was by her husband's side as they both attended the red carpet premiere and screening of his film adaptation titled, Carmen, at the Toronto Film Festival.

The movie is a reimagined remake of the famous 1875 opera and musical of the same title, with its setting taking place at the U.S. and Mexico border, according to IMDB.

With Benjamin directing, the cast included Keep Breathing actress, Melissa Barrera and Normal People star, Paul Mescal.

The Thor actress posed for photos with her choreographer husband wearing a stunning gold, Dior ensemble. Benjamin also looked classy in a black suit with a white dress shirt.

Stunning: Natalie recently celebrated her 10 year wedding anniversary with her husband, Benjamin last month in August; pictured in July in Rome

Long-lasting: The two stars first met on the Oscar winning movie called, Black Swan, and began dating shortly after; seen together in July in London

Natalie and Benjamin recently celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary last month in August after tying the knot in 2012.

The couple first crossed paths in 2009 while filming the Oscar winning movie, Black Swan. While the actress played the leading role, Benjamin was hired as the main choreographer.

When reminiscing about falling in love with her current husband on set during an interview on Sirius XM Town Hall, the star explained, 'I met my husband on it, so I think I was in, like, dreamland, so it seemed pretty fun the whole time.'

'We had a whole, like, he was teaching me to dance,' Natalie added. 'It was definitely exciting and fun. It was beautiful. I don't know about instant. It was like I really got to know him and that was when it seemed like, 'Oh, right, this is the person.'

The couple share two children together, five-year-old Amalia, and 11-year-old son, Aleph.
Delta Goodrem and her boyfriend Matthew Copley keep a tight lid on their relationship, rarely packing on the PDA in public.

But the musical lovebirds could barely keep their hands off each other as they attended a friend's birthday party on Tuesday.

The 37-year-old pop star's talent manager Lizzi Dayney Morrissey posted a photo to Instagram of the couple cuddling up at the dinner table.

Notoriously PDA-shy couple Delta Goodrem and Matthew Copley could barely keep their hands off each other as they attended a friend's birthday party on Tuesday

She captioned the post, 'Blue Velvet Crush,' referencing the matching blue velvet outfits the couple were wearing.

Delta and Matthew, 36, donned gold party hats and smiled for a photo with their faces pressed together as she gripped the front of his suit jacket.

They first met while on tour in late 2017 and confirmed they were dating in January 2018, but have mostly kept their romance under wraps.

The musical lovebirds first met while on tour in late 2017 and confirmed they were dating in January 2018, but have mostly kept their romance under wraps

But Matthew let slip earlier this year he was madly in love with Australia's sweetheart.

The guitarist shared a tribute post on Instagram in May to celebrate the final show of Delta's Bridge over Troubled Dreams tour.

'Words can't describe the feelings I have today for the last show of tour! Humbled, excited, nervous, sad, proud, nostalgic just to name a few,' he began.

Matthew let slip earlier this year he was madly in love with Australia's sweetheart

Matthew then told Delta how 'proud' he was of her and their incredible team.

'I have loved every minute of this process and can not thank you enough for trusting me with the responsibilities and roles I have done with you!' he added.

'Here's to taking this show worldwide as, the best is yet to come... I love you.'

The guitarist shared a tribute post on Instagram in May to celebrate the final show of Delta's Bridge over Troubled Dreams tour

Speaking to 9Honey in May last year, Delta explained it 'feels right' to just keep the details of their romance to themselves.

'I understand that people are interested, and I get it. I think that's a lovely thing. But [keeping things private] feels right,' she said.

She went on to say her private life would stay private because she 'got into [the industry] for music and connection and touching lives', not to be a public figure.
Jean Smart gave nod to Old Hollywood glamour as she stepped onto the red carpet ahead of the 2022 Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Monday evening.

The legendary actress, 71, wowed in a striking white Laura Basci gown that that clung to her hourglass frame and pooled at her feet.

The gown hung off Smart's shoulders, allowing her to showcase her enviably smooth decolletage.

Timeless: Jean Smart gave nod to Old Hollywood glamour as she stepped onto the red carpet ahead of the 2022 Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Monday evening

The Hacks star's cropped blonde hair was parted to one side and styled in voluminous curls that were inspired by screen icon Marilyn Monroe, according to her hairstylist Robert Vetica.

To achieve this timeless look, Robert used tools from Olivia Garden - including the Ceramic + Ion Hair Dryer, the EcoHair Bamboo Combo Vent Round Brush, and the Style Up Teasing Brush - as well as products from R+Co - including the Dallas Thickening Spray and the Featherlight Hairspray.

She donned a pair of dazzling pear-shaped earrings by Rahaminov, as well as two striking rings by the renown diamond house.

As for makeup, Smart let her natural beauty shine by opting a radiant complexion and a soft sweep of brown eyeshadow across her lids.

Her lips were painted a glossy mauve shade and her long eyelashes were coated in black mascara.

Stunner: The legendary actress, 71, wowed in a striking white gown that that clung to her hourglass frame and pooled at her feet

Nominee: Smart is nominated in the Outstanding Led Actress in Comedy Series for the second year in a row for her incredible performance in HBO's hit series Hacks. She walked away with the coveted award during last year's ceremony

Smart is nominated in the Outstanding Led Actress in Comedy Series for the second year in a row for her incredible performance in HBO's hit series Hacks.

She walked away with the coveted award during last year's ceremony, where she tearfully paid tribute to her late husband Richard Gilliland during her acceptance speech.

Gilliland passed away unexpectedly in March 202 at the age of 69. Smart and the Designing Women star were married for 34 years.

Smart was joined on the red carpet on Monday by her Hacks co-star Hannah Einbinder, who snagged her second nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category this year.

For TV's biggest night, the 27-year-old comedian was a vision in a black strapless gown with a sexy cat ear neckline.

Co-star: Smart was joined on the red carpet on Monday by her Hacks co-star Hannah Einbinder, who snagged her second nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category this year

A vision: For TV's biggest night, the 27-year-old comedian was a vision in a black strapless gown with a sexy cat ear neckline

Her short strawberry blonde hair was swept off her face and a diamond choker was secured to her neck.

The 2022 Emmy Awards returned to the Microsoft Theater on September 12, after a two-year absence during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that saw the ceremony moved to the Crypto.com Arena in 2020 and the Event Deck at L.A. Live in 2021.

Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson will be taking over hosting duties for the first time, and he promised that controversies such as Will Smith's shocking slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards 'won't happen again' under his watch.

'Even if I am roasting [someone], it shouldnt come across as any sort of malice,' he told the Associated Press.

The 74th annual award show, which celebrates the best in television, has already awarded a number of honors at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony.

It's that time again: The 2022 Emmy Awards will take place on September 12 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The show airs at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock.

The earlier ceremony, spread out over two nights on September 3 and 4, was dominated by scripted shows including The White Lotus, Euphoria and Stranger Things, along with unscripted fare like Adele's One Night Only special.

HBO's acclaimed series Succession leads the nominees this year with 25 nominations.

The premium network is also poised for gold thanks to its limited series The White Lotus, which scored 20 nominations and already won five technical awards at the earlier ceremony.

Netflix's hit South Korean series Squid Game, which made history as the first non-English language nominee in the Best Drama Series category, is once again nominated.

Apple TV+'s feel-good comedy Ted Lasso, which stars Jason Sudeikis, is also competing for an impressive 20 awards at the Emmys.

Among the presenters who have already been announced are Selena Gomez, who is up for the Best Comedy Series award as a producer of Only Murders In The Building, Kerry Washington and Squid Game's stars Jung Ho-yeon, competing for Best Supporting Actress, and Lee Jung-jae, who is up for Best Actor.

At the helm: Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson will be taking over hosting duties for the first time, and he promised that controversies such as Will Smith's shocking slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards 'won't happen again' under his watch; seen in November 2021

Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers will likely bring some of the comedy from their late-night shows to the Microsoft Theater, and Jean Smart, who plays an aging comedian on HBO Max's Hacks, will be presenting along with her costar Hannah Einbinder.

Academy Award winning West Side Story star Ariana DeBose will also be joining the presenters, as well Angela Bassett, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Kelly Clarkson, Law & Order: SVU veterans Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni, Taye Diggs and Diego Luna, among others.

After adopting a Golden Globeslike atmosphere at the 2021 ceremony, the Emmys will continue to seat nominees at tables close to the stage, though the larger venue will now allow more guests to sit in the rows of seats behind them.

Many of the Covid-related restrictions from last year's event appear to have been dropped for the 2022 edition.

Viewers can catch the Emmy Awards at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on both NBC and its streaming platform Peacock.
Emmy nominee Sydney Sweeney dazzled during her time on the red carpet at the 2022 Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Monday night.

The starlet, 25, highlighted her ample bust in a low-cut pleated Oscar de la Renta gown that was made custom by the renown Dominican fashion designer.

Made of a sheeny taffeta fabric, Sydney's dress was covered in silver beaded floral appliques that caught the light as she posed.

In the running: Emmy nominee Sydney Sweeney dazzled during her time on the red carpet at the 2022 Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Monday night

The Washington native's shoulder-length golden tresses were worn in loose, uniform waves that flows from a precise middle part.

As for makeup, Sydney let her natural beauty shine by opting for a radiant, bronzed complexion and muted pink lip gloss on her pout.

Her eyes were softly contoured with a blend of light brown eyeshadows, while she amped up her lash line with a pair of fluffy faux lashes.

Due to the beaded nature of her gown, Sydney's stylist kept accessories to a minimum with just a pair of stud earrings and a diamond ring.

Custom creation: The starlet, 25, highlighted her ample bust in a low-cut pleated Oscar de la Renta gown that was made custom by the renown Dominican fashion designer

Details: Made of sheeny taffeta fabric, Sydney's dress was covered in silver beaded floral appliques that caught the light as she posed

Sweeney snagged her first-ever Emmy nominations for her performances in the hit HBO series Euphoria and the premium cable network's critically lauded limited series The White Lotus.

For Euphoria, she was face off against Ozark's Julia Garner and Squid Game's Jung Ho-yeon in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category.

Meanwhile, she was be pitted against three of her White Lotus co-stars for the Outstanding Supporting Actress in A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie gong.

Sweeney snagged her first-ever Emmy nominations for her performances in the hit HBO series Euphoria and the premium cable network's critically lauded limited series The White Lotus

The 2022 Emmy Awards returned to the Microsoft Theater on September 12, after a two-year absence during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that saw the ceremony moved to the Crypto.com Arena in 2020 and the Event Deck at L.A. Live in 2021.

Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson will be taking over hosting duties for the first time, and he promised that controversies such as Will Smith's shocking slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards 'won't happen again' under his watch.

'Even if I am roasting [someone], it shouldnt come across as any sort of malice,' he told the Associated Press.

The 74th annual award show, which celebrates the best in television, has already awarded a number of honors at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony.

The earlier ceremony, spread out over two nights on September 3 and 4, was dominated by scripted shows including The White Lotus, Euphoria and Stranger Things, along with unscripted fare like Adele's One Night Only special.

It's that time again: The 2022 Emmy Awards returned to the Microsoft Theater on September 12, after a two-year absence during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that saw the ceremony moved to the Crypto.com Arena in 2020 and the Event Deck at L.A. Live in 2021

HBO's acclaimed series Succession leads the nominees this year with 25 nominations.

The premium network is also poised for gold thanks to its limited series The White Lotus, which scored 20 nominations and already won five technical awards at the earlier ceremony.

Netflix's hit South Korean series Squid Game, which made history as the first non-English language nominee in the Best Drama Series category, is once again nominated.

Apple TV+'s feel-good comedy Ted Lasso, which stars Jason Sudeikis, is also competing for an impressive 20 awards at the Emmys.

Among the presenters who have already been announced are Kerry Washington, who is nominated for executive producing Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: The Facts Of Life And Diff'rent Strokes, Selena Gomez, who is up for the Best Comedy Series award as a producer of Only Murders In The Building, Squid Game's stars Jung Ho-yeon, competing for Best Supporting Actress, and Lee Jung-jae, who is up for Best Actor.

At the helm: Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson will be taking over hosting duties for the first time, and he promised that controversies such as Will Smith's shocking slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards 'won't happen again' under his watch; seen in November 2021

Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers will likely bring some of the comedy from their late-night shows to the Microsoft Theater, and Jean Smart, who plays an aging comedian on HBO Max's Hacks, will be presenting along with her costar Hannah Einbinder.

Academy Award winning West Side Story star Ariana DeBose will also be joining the presenters, as well Angela Bassett, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Kelly Clarkson, Law & Order: SVU veterans Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni, Taye Diggs and Diego Luna, among others.

After adopting a Golden Globeslike atmosphere at the 2021 ceremony, the Emmys will continue to seat nominees at tables close to the stage, though the larger venue will now allow more guests to sit in the rows of seats behind them.

Many of the Covid-related restrictions from last year's event appear to have been dropped for the 2022 edition.

Viewers can catch the Emmy Awards at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on both NBC and its streaming platform Peacock.
PnB Rock was shot to death Monday during a robbery at a Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles in South Los Angeles, police said.

Los Angles police Capt. Kelly Muniz told the Los Angeles Times that there was a shooting at the eatery - which is located at Main Street and Manchester Avenue - at around 1 p.m. Monday. Muniz did not confirm the name of the victim.

The 30-year-old rapper, whose real name is Rakim Allen, was geo-tagged in a social media post by his girlfriend, which was subsequently deleted from Instagram.

A video circulating on social media appeared to show the rapper lying face down in a pool of blood as he was tended to by people inside the restaurant.

The latest: PnB Rock, 30, was shot to death Monday during a robbery at a Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles in South Los Angeles, police said

A suspect in the incident pulled out a firearm and ordered PnB Rock to hand over items, Muniz said, adding, the suspect 'shot the victim and ran out the side door to a getaway car and then fled the parking lot.'

Insiders told the paper that the musical artist was specifically targeted because he was wearing jewelry at the time.

The shooting victim was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead at 1:59 p.m., Muniz told the outlet.

Police sources with the LAPD said investigators were probing security footage from the establishment in addition to nearby businesses in an effort to identify the suspect in the fatal shooting, and if they departed the crime scene on foot or in a vehicle.

The musical artist was seen onstage in Anaheim, California in August of 2019

The performer was seen in November of 2019 in LA

Rock first burst on the scene with the 2015 song Fleek, and went on to work with performers including Ed Sheeran, Meek Mill, YFN Lucci and Chance the Rapper.

He had commercial success with the single Selfish, which hit the 51st spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in November of 2016.

He had released his most recent single Luv Me Again this past September 2.

A number of notable names took to Twitter to mourn the tragic death Monday, including Drake, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj and Offset.

Offset wrote, 'Pray for pnb rock.the man got family and kids smh God be with the man,' while Juice Wayne said, 'PnB Rock really died because of the greed of bummy a** n*****. Disgusting. Rest In Peace to the fallen.

Another user wrote, 'PNB Rock life is worth a lot more then sum money & ice. we will never learn.'

Drake posted an image of himself alongside the late rapper

Cardi B gave her theory after fans speculated that the rapper was targeted after being seen in a geo-tagged social media post

Nicki Minaj said that the incident should spread awareness to celebs not to keep people in the loop on their whereabouts

Offset was among those to pay tribute to the late rapper on Monday
Sunrise weatherman Sam Mac introduced his newborn daughter Margot Grace to his co-stars live on the breakfast show on Tuesday alongside his girlfriend Rebecca James.

Sam, 40, spoke to Natalie Barr and David Koch from Sydney while they report on the Queen's death near Buckingham Palace, London.

As Sam spoke about his bundle of joy, the camera panned down to a pram where Margot laid sleeping before Rebecca gently lifted her out.

Sunrise weatherman Sam Mac introduced his newborn daughter Margot Grace to his co-stars live on the breakfast show on Tuesday alongside his girlfriend Rebecca James

'This is little Margot. She was born two days ago. She's absolutely captured us just so quickly,' he said.

He went on to say it felt strange this one little baby was his whole world despite there being '7.5 billion people on the planet'.

Sam also revealed that Rebecca had a difficult birth, explaining: 'It wasn't the smoothest process.

Sam, 40, spoke to Natalie Barr and David Koch from Sydney while they report on the Queen's death near Buckingham Palace , London

'Epidurals are great when they work, not so much when they don't kick in. The second attempt got there.'

Sam and Rebecca welcomed Margot on Sunday evening.

The affable TV star posted a touching video of himself crying over his gorgeous newborn daughter to Instagram.

As Sam spoke about his bundle of joy, the camera panned down to the pram where Margot laid sleeping before Rebecca gently lifted her out

In the heartwarming clip, Sam wiped away tears of joys while seated opposite his daughter.

Little Margot was seen lying asleep, wrapped tightly in a pink, blue, and yellow striped baby blanket, with another white blanket on top keeping her snug and warm.

Sam captioned his post: 'Yep. This is about all Ive got today. Best day of my life. Margot ]followed by a red heart emoji].'

Sam and Rebecca welcomed Margot on Sunday evening. The affable TV star posted a touching video of himself crying over his gorgeous newborn daughter to Instagram

He posted a tribute to Rebecca earlier in the day, praising her for her strength as he called her a 'warrior'.

Sam announced he was going to be a first-time father on Instagram in April.

The TV star shared a sweet image of Rebecca holding an ultrasound to her stomach, saying the pair were absolutely delighted with the pregnancy.
There were plenty of laughs on the Today show on Tuesday when a corgi became a little too excited during a live broadcast outside Buckingham Palace in London.

The moment happened while hosts Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon were interviewing 'corgi specialist' Dr Roger Mugford about Queen Elizabeth II's love of her often misbehaving dogs.

While much of the news coverage of Her Majesty's death has been sombre, George the corgi added some levity to proceedings when he took an unexpected shine to Langdon.

There were plenty of laughs on the Today show on Tuesday when a corgi became a little too excited during a live broadcast outside Buckingham Palace in London

When the show returned from an ad break just before 9am, a giggling Langdon was standing between Stefanovic and Mugford while cradling George like a baby.

George was sprawled on his back facing the camera, leaving little to the imagination.

Mugford joked that the dog was 'making a chemical attack on Karl at this moment', which prompted Stefanovic to say: 'This is why I've got the business end.'

The moment happened while Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon were interviewing 'corgi specialist' Dr Roger Mugford about Queen Elizabeth II's love of her often misbehaving dogs

Seemingly oblivious to the amusement he was causing, George snacked on dog treats that Mugford periodically fed him.

At one stage, Langdon felt obliged to cover the lower part of the pooch's body with her forearm before handing him back to the animal expert.

'It looks like George is enjoying Aunty Ally's gentle massage. That is a bad look, Ally,' Stefanovic quipped.

While much of the news coverage of Her Majesty's death has been sombre, George the corgi added some levity to proceedings when he took an unexpected shine to Langdon

'I'm just protecting George's dignity!' Langdon replied, to which Stefanovic added: 'The crown jewels are at work!'

Following the Queen's death, the Today hosts anchored seven-and-a-half hours of live coverage on Friday, which began with them breaking the news at 4.30am.

They didn't hand over to Today Extra presenters Sylvia Jeffreys and David Campbell until midday. Jeffreys and Campbell usually start broadcasting at 9am.

Following the Queen's death, the Today hosts anchored seven-and-a-half hours of live coverage on Friday, which began with them breaking the news at 4.30am

Langdon and Stefanovic then hosted a special weekend edition of Today on Saturday dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II, replacing regular Weekend Today presenters Richard Wilkins, Belinda Russell and Charles Croucher.

Langdon then hopped on a plane to England to co-anchor Monday's show live from Buckingham Palace with Croucher. Stefanovic joined them a day later.

The palace announced the death of Britain's longest-serving monarch at 6.30pm local time on Thursday evening. The Queen was 96.
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They've been recognized for their performances in some of television and streaming's most acclaimed series', from Netflix's Ozark to HBO's controversial coming-of-age drama Euphoria.

But acting prowess couldn't save stars like Julia Garner, Sydney Sweeney and Kaley Cuoco from committing style sins on the red carpet at the 2022 Emmy Awards.

Julia bared her belly in a bizarre black velvet cut-out dress while Sydney and Kaley failed in eyebrow-raising floral frocks.

Missing the mark! Julia Garner, Sydney Sweeney and Kaley Cuoco led the worst dressed celebrities on the red carpet at the 2022 Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Monday night. Julia bared her belly in a bizarre black velvet cut-out dress while Sydney and Kaley majorly failed in eyebrow-raising floral frocks

The cut-out on Julia's dress was positioned over her stomach in the shape of a large diamond.

Reminiscent of 1980s glamour, it also had dated shoulder pads with dull floral sequin appliques dominating the neck and skirt.

She rounded out the look with a pair of nude sky-high heels and her bright blonde hair was swept up in wild curls.

Rising star Sydney Sweeney - who is up for two nominations for her performances in Euphoria and the HBO limited series The White Lotus - underwhelmed in a custom Oscar de la Renta dress.

Diamond are NOT a girl's best friend! The cut-out on Julia's dress was positioned over her stomach in the shape of a large diamond

Dated: Reminiscent of 1980s glamour, it also had dated shoulder pads with dull floral sequin appliques dominating the neck and skirt

Over it: Once the ceremony ended, the Emmy-winner was eager to ditch her sky-high Gucci heels and opted to make her way around the star-studded Governors Ball in barefeet

Unashamed: Willing to poke fun at herself, Julia posed with her heels in one hand and her Emmy in the other

Despite being known for her ample bust and petite hourglass frame, the custom creation's pleated design and weighted taffeta fabric created a clunky silhouette.

It was covered in beaded floral appliques that were more reminiscent of a Bed Bath And Beyond bedspread than a luxury designer gown.

Kaley - who nabbed an Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series gong for her role in HBO's The Flight Attendant - arrived in a bubblegum pink tulle dress that looked straight out of Katy Perry's stage costume arsenal.

Underwhelming: Rising star Sydney Sweeney - who is up for two nominations for her performances in Euphoria and the HBO limited series The White Lotus - underwhelmed in a custom Oscar de la Renta dress. Despite being known for her ample bust and petite hourglass frame, the custom creation's pleated design and weighted taffeta fabric created a clunky silhouette

Not quite: It was covered in beaded floral appliques that were more reminiscent of a Bed Bath And Beyond bedspread than a luxury designer gown

The Big Bang theory alum's bizarre getup was asymmetrical with an A-line skirt in the front and a floor-length tulle train.

Plastered across the front were an array of fuchsia, hot pink and baby pink flowers -- many of which were doused in glitter or decked out in sequins.

Laura Linney turned heads for all the wrong reasons as she posed for shutterbugs in an unflattering black and white gown.

There were layers of ruffles around the neck and on the hips that distorted the actress' slender physique.

Over-the-top: Kaley - who nabbed an Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series gong for her role in HBO's The Flight Attendant - arrived in a gaudy pink tulle dress that looked straight out of Katy Perry's stage costume arsenal

The Big Bang theory alum's bizarre getup was asymmetrical with an A-line skirt in the front and a floor-length tulle train

Each layer of ruffling was lined with black piping that matched a bizarre two-dimensional belt high up on Linney's midsection.

Hannah Einbinder left much to be desired in a bland black strapless dress.

Instead of amping up the look with a statement making accessory, the Hacks star's stylist kept the minimalism going by pairing her gown with a dainty diamond choker and stud earrings.

She plays one of the most stylish characters on television to date.

Unflattering: Laura Linney turned heads for all the wrong reasons as she posed for shutterbugs in an unflattering black and white gown

Bizarre: There were layers of ruffles around the neck and on the hips that distorted the actress' slender physique

But why? Each layer of ruffling was lined with black piping that matched a bizarre two-dimensional belt high up on Linney's midsection

That's it? Hannah Einbinder left much to be desired in a bland black strapless dress

But Rachel Brosnahan of Amazon Prime's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen as she bared cleavage in an ill-fitting navy blue gown.

The plunging number sat unflatteringly on the actress' chest with the beading along the seams creating major buckling from the shoulders to the waistline.

It was covered in bizarre blue appliques with three periwinkle tulle pieces stemming from a bundle of varying sized pearls.

Last but not least, Yellowjackets actress Jasmin Savoy Brown strutted down the red carpet in an odd faux leather dress that sat awkwardly on her hips.

The star's dress had a small circle shaped cut-out between the cleavage and a drop waist with side cut-outs that shortened her already petite silhouette.

Ill-fitting: She plays one of the most stylish characters on television to date. But Rachel Brosnahan of Amazon Prime's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen as she bared cleavage in an ill-fitting navy blue gown

Buckling: The plunging number sat unflatteringly on the actress' chest with the beading along the seams creating major buckling from the shoulders to the waistline

The 2022 Emmy Awards returned to the Microsoft Theater on September 12, after a two-year absence during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that saw the ceremony moved to the Crypto.com Arena in 2020 and the Event Deck at L.A. Live in 2021.

Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson will be taking over hosting duties for the first time, and he promised that controversies such as Will Smith's shocking slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards 'won't happen again' under his watch.

'Even if I am roasting [someone], it shouldnt come across as any sort of malice,' he told the Associated Press.

The 74th annual award show, which celebrates the best in television, has already awarded a number of honors at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony.

Awkward: Last but not least, Yellowjackets actress Jasmin Savoy Brown strutted down the red carpet in an odd faux leather dress that sat awkwardly on her hips

Disjointed: The star's dress had a small circle shaped cut-out between the cleavage and a drop waist with side cut-outs that shortened her already petite silhouette

The earlier ceremony, spread out over two nights on September 3 and 4, was dominated by scripted shows including The White Lotus, Euphoria and Stranger Things, along with unscripted fare like Adele's One Night Only special.

HBO's acclaimed series Succession leads the nominees this year with 25 nominations.

The premium network is also poised for gold thanks to its limited series The White Lotus, which scored 20 nominations and already won five technical awards at the earlier ceremony.

Netflix's hit South Korean series Squid Game, which made history as the first non-English language nominee in the Best Drama Series category, is once again nominated.

Apple TV+'s feel-good comedy Ted Lasso, which stars Jason Sudeikis, is also competing for an impressive 20 awards at the Emmys.

It's that time again: The 2022 Emmy Awards will take place on September 12 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The show airs at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock.

At the helm: Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson will be taking over hosting duties for the first time, and he promised that controversies such as Will Smith's shocking slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards 'won't happen again' under his watch; seen in November 2021

Among the presenters who have already been announced are Kerry Washington, who is nominated for executive producing Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: The Facts Of Life And Diff'rent Strokes, Selena Gomez, who is up for the Best Comedy Series award as a producer of Only Murders In The Building, Squid Game's stars Jung Ho-yeon, competing for Best Supporting Actress, and Lee Jung-jae, who is up for Best Actor.

Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers will likely bring some of the comedy from their late-night shows to the Microsoft Theater, and Jean Smart, who plays an aging comedian on HBO Max's Hacks, will be presenting along with her costar Hannah Einbinder.

Academy Award winning West Side Story star Ariana DeBose will also be joining the presenters, as well Angela Bassett, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Kelly Clarkson, Law & Order: SVU veterans Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni, Taye Diggs and Diego Luna, among others.

After adopting a Golden Globeslike atmosphere at the 2021 ceremony, the Emmys will continue to seat nominees at tables close to the stage, though the larger venue will now allow more guests to sit in the rows of seats behind them.

Many of the Covid-related restrictions from last year's event appear to have been dropped for the 2022 edition.

Viewers can catch the Emmy Awards at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on both NBC and its streaming platform Peacock.
She gave birth to her second child earlier this year.

And Australian model Jessica Hart enjoyed some 'me time' on Monday, heading to a quick gym session in West Hollywood.

The glowing Victoria's Secret was in good spirits, flashing her famous gap-toothed smile as she left the workout.

Glowing Jessica Hart flashed her famous gap-toothed smile as she headed to a gym session in West Hollywood, California, on Monday

She sported a pair of grey three-quarter leggings and an oversized Las Vegas motorcycle racing jumper which swamped her incredible figure.

Carrying her phone in one hand and car keys in the other, she paired the outfit with a pair of black sneakers and safety pin earrings.

The LUMABeauty founder kept her blonde hair unbound and tucked behind her ears as she let her natural beauty shine through without a lick of makeup.

At one point, Jessica threw up her signature peace sign.

She sported a pair of grey three-quarter leggings and an oversized Las Vegas motorcycle racing jumper which swamped her incredible figure

Jessica welcomed her second child, - son Glorious Hart - with her NASCAR driver fiance James Kirkham in February.

Jessica posted a tribute to her baby boy on Instagram last month.

Alongside some precious snaps of her bub she wrote: 'Here he is . Our main man, Glorious!

The LUMABeauty founder kept her blonde hair unbound and tucked behind her ears as she let her natural beauty shine through without a lick of makeup

Jessica welcomed her second child, - son Glorious Hart - with her NASCAR driver fiance James Kirkham in February

'He came into our lives on 2.2.22 and has completed our family. He is the happiest most chill baby and his big sisters adore him.'

The former Victoria's Secret model announced she was expecting her second child in June last year, confirming she was six weeks pregnant.

Her happy announcement came just seven months after she and James, 37, welcomed daughter Baby.
Dylan Alcott was honoured with an invitation to Queen Elizabeth's funeral this week, making him one of just ten non-dignitary Australians to attend.

But it was the Paralympian's sexologist girlfriend Chantelle Otten, 31, who stole the spotlight on Monday as she gave a live sex seminar at the Sydney Opera House.

Chantelle's seminar, titled How To Have Sex, focused on topics such taboo sex acts and the use of sex toys.

Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott, 31, (centre)supported his sexologist girlfriend Chantelle Otten, 31, (right) at a sex seminar on Monday at Sydney Opera House. Chantelle shared this Instagram photo of couple at the event with a female companion

'V-spots, dildos, erogenous zones, oh my! Psychosexologist Chantelle Otten guides us to move beyond just consent to fantastic encounters, and feel comfortable and excited to communicate about our bodies and desires,' the official event description reads.

Posting to Instagram after the seminar, Chantelle, 31, shared a photo of herself posing in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with her Paralympian beau, 31, and a female pal.

Australian of the Year Dylan beamed with pride as he wrapped one arm around his girlfriend-of-three-years.

Chantelle's seminar, titled How To Have Sex, focussed on topics such taboo sex acts and the use of sex toys. Pictured: Chantelle presenting on-stage at the seminar

On Tuesday it was announced that Dylan was one of ten 'everyday Australians' invited to travel to London for the Queen's funeral next week. Dylan is pictured with Chantelle at the Australian Open in January 2022

Queen Elizabeth's funeral will be held on Monday night Australian time at Westminster Abbey. Pictured is Queen Elizabeth II in October 2020

In her caption, Chantelle praised her colleagues who helped organise the seminar, before making special mention of her 'love' Alcott showing up in support.

On Tuesday it was announced that Dylan was one of ten 'everyday Australians' invited to travel to London for the Queen's funeral next week.

The funeral will be held on Monday night Australian time at Westminster Abbey.

Dylan famously made the Queen laugh when they met during a Zoom meeting in May to commemorate the monarch's 70 years of service. Pictured is Queen Elizabeth laughing at Dylan's joke

Dylan famously made the Queen laugh when they met during a Zoom meeting in May to commemorate the monarch's 70 years of service.

During his introduction the retired athlete discussed his sporting achievements and showdowns.

'I fortunately won a couple Wimbledon titles and beat some Great Britain players, which I was happy about but maybe you weren't so happy about,' he joked, drawing a giggle from the Queen.

The 15-time Grand Slam singles title holder then explained the reason he 'gets up in the morning' is to change people's perceptions of disability and what the Australian of the Year award has meant to him.

'I get emotional talking about it to be honest,' he said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho speaks as he presides over an emergency meeting of economy-related ministers at Government Complex Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap



By Yi Whan-woo



The government said Tuesday that it will place a 3-percent ceiling on the ratio of fiscal deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) as part of a shift to a belt-tightening mode to improve fiscal health, in contrast to the pandemic-era stimulus policy embraced by the previous Moon Jae-in administration.



It also said it will bring down the fiscal deficit-to-GDP ratio below 2 percent if the amount of national debt exceeds 60 percent of GDP.



A fiscal deficit refers to a shortfall in the government's revenue compared to spending in a given year, while national debt refers to the accumulated amount of borrowing by the government to make up for such shortfalls over several years.



Announced during an emergency meeting of economy-related ministers, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's plan to curb the fiscal deficit is a part of envisioned regulations being legislated to curb snowballing national debt.



Korea saw its fiscal surplus reach 1.3 percent of the corresponding year's GDP in 2017 and 1.6 percent in 2018.



But it posted a fiscal deficit for the next three years, which, compared to annual GDP, was 0.6 percent in 2019, 3.7 percent in 2020 and 1.5 percent in 2021.




Selma Blair received a standing ovation from the crowd at the 2022 Emmy Awards Monday at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, amid her courageous yearslong battle with multiple sclerosis.

The 50-year-old actress was showered with cheers as she made her way to center stage, telling the audience 'I am so, so honored,' and thanking them as her eyes welled with tears.

The Cruel Intentions star was the award show's final presenter of the evening.

The latest: Selma Blair, 50, received a standing ovation from the crowd at the 2022 Emmy Awards Monday at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, amid her courageous yearslong battle with multiple sclerosis

'I am honored to be here this evening to present the final award for Outstanding Drama Series, said Blair, who looked stunning in a black Alexander McQueen gown with yellow embellishments and her blonde locks neatly parted to the side.

The Legally Blonde actress, who is mother to son Arthur, 11, with ex Jason Bleick, in 2018 went public with her diagnosis, which has impacted her ability to speak and use her left leg. She detailed her journey in the 2021 documentary Introducing, Selma Blair.

The American Crime Story alum on Saturday revealed that she will be on the 31st season of Dancing With the Stars, partnering with pro dancer Sasha Farber.

Blair told E! News, 'I'm so happy, so invigorated by this,' adding that her stint on the series marks 'a new chapter of growing my stamina and really healing - not just healing, but finding strength and support.'

The actress was showered with cheers as she made her way to center stage

She told the audience 'I am so, so honored,' and thanked them as her eyes welled with tears

Blair, who looked stunning in a black Alexander McQueen gown with yellow embellishments and her blonde locks neatly parted to the side

The Anger Management star told the outlet that she hopes to spread awareness about multiple sclerosis, which impacts a person's brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.

'Kindness and visibility is so important, to explore, be curious and expose people to differences of speech or movement,' said Blair. 'It's for everyone at home that it resonates with.'

Dancing With the Stars' new season will commence September 19 on Disney+.

Blair said, 'I am honored to be here this evening to present the final award for Outstanding Drama Series,' which was won by Succession

The Legally Blonde actress in 2018 went public with her diagnosis, which has impacted her ability to speak and use her left leg
She recently split from her longtime boyfriend Atis Paul.

But newly single Mikaela Testa showed no signs of heartbreak on Monday as she danced with a handsome man in a video she posted on TikTok.

However, Mikaela, whose personal life is followed closely by her fans, immediately shut down any romantic talk.

Newly-single Mikaela Testa showed no signs of heartbreak on Monday in a cheeky clip of her dancing with a handsome man following her split with long-time boyfriend Atis Paul

'I don't wanna see any shipping edits, this is my stepbrother,' she joked in the caption of the clip.

A number of her fans then enjoyed some banter with the playful starlet.

'''Step brother'' like we ain't seen these videos before,' one wrote.

However, Mikaela, whose personal life is followed closely by her fans, immediately shut down any romantic talk. 'This is my longtime bestie of like 5 years just to clarify for everyone,' she wrote

'She made it worse by saying that,' another added.

'Step bro I'm stuck in the washing machine,' yet another added.

Mikaela went on to clarify the pair have been platonic friends for a number of years.

A number of fans enjoyed some banter with the playful starlet when she joked that it was her 'stepbrother'

'This is my longtime bestie of like 5 years just to clarify for everyone,' she wrote.

Mikaela is living her best life following her split from fellow influencer Paul.

After spending several months holidaying in Europe, she is now living it up in Los Angeles with a group of pals.

In May, Mikaela came clean about her various cosmetic surgeries.

Mikaela is living her best life following her split from fellow influencer Paul

After spending several months holidaying in Europe, she is now living it up in Los Angeles with a group of pals

She posted a link to a video of Gold Coast surgeon Dr Mitchell Kim explaining the procedures he had performed on her.

'Mikaela showing off her body contouring perfection,' Dr Kim explained.

'Vaser lipo to her midsection and arms, and a fat transfer to her hip dips to create this jaw-dropping silhouette,' he said.

Vaser liposuction uses ultrasound technology to break apart fat cells and loosens them from deeper tissues.

It is considered more targeted than traditional forms of liposuction.

Mikaela reportedly earns more than $162,000 per month selling X-rated images and videos on OnlyFans.
Mia Goth showed off her eccentric sense of style as she attended a screening of her new horror film Pearl at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday.

The actress, 28, turned heads in a dramatic black lace veil and matching gown as she hit the red carpet alongside her co-stars and director Ti West, 41.

The film is a prequel to Ti's movie X, and is about the origins of the titular character, Pearl.

All eyes on her: Shia LaBeouf's wife Mia Goth wore a dramatic lace veil and matching dress on Monday at a screening of her new horror film Pearl at the Toronto International Film Festival

Her vintage-inspired dress featured a high neck and lace sleeve and a flowing sheer skirt.

She teamed the look with black stockings and heels and wore her blonde locks in a low bun.

The actress appeared to have bleached her eyebrows and finished her look with a bold deep red lip and matching red nails.

Mia, who is married to actor Shia LeBeouf, 36, happily posed with fans for selfies and signed autographs as she hit the red carpet.

Gothic glamour: The actress, 28, turned heads in the veil as she hit the red carpet alongside her co-stars and director Ti West, 41

Vintage vibes: Her vintage-inspired frock featured a high neck and lace sleeve and a flowing sheer skirt

Meeting fans: Mia happily posed with fans for selfies and signed autographs as she hit the red carpet, with the films becoming a cult hit

Shia and Mia began seeing each other in 2012. They tied the knot in Las Vegas in 2016, but divorced two years later, and Shia was involved with both FKA Twigs and actress Margaret Qualley during that time.

The couple reconciled sometime after the Honey Boy actor and Margaret broke up and were then seen wearing wedding rings again in March 2020.

They now share five-month-old daughter Isabel together and recently enjoyed a holiday in Italy.

Director Ti meanwhile, looked stylish in a pair of black trousers and a white shirt as he hit the red carpet at the screening, teaming his look with a velvet blue jacket and red pocket square.

Stylish: Ti looked stylish in a pair of black trousers and a white shirt, which he teamed with a velvet blue jacket

New horror series: The film is a prequel to Ti's movie X, and is about the origins of the titular character, Pearl

Stepping out: Also joining the pair on the red carpet was actor David Corenswet, 29, who stars in the film as The Projectionist

Also joining the pair on the red carpet was actor David Corenswet, 29, who stars in the film as The Projectionist.

He looked dapper in a light grey suit a blue shirt and a navy bow tie.

Director Eli Roth, 50, also stepped out to show his support for the film, wearing a bright turquoise green jacket and white T-shirt underneath.

Pearl is receiving rave reviews from film critics, while Mia is being praised for her acting ability.
The night was devoted to Care Delevingne and her new collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld's iconic fashion house, but Candice Swanepoel dominated the red carpet as she joined an array of stars in New York City on Monday evening.

The South African model was in attendance as Delevingne's CARA LOVES KARL capsule collection of sustainable clothes received an official launch party during the city's bi-annual fashion week.

And with its principal designer curiously absent following a series of erratic public displays, Swanepoel, 33, was given the opportunity to shine as she rubbed shoulders with fashion luminaries Lara Stone and Stella Maxwell.

Here she comes: Candice Swanepoel dominated the red carpet as she joined an array of stars in New York City for the launch of Cara Delevingne's new capsule collection on Monday night

In good company: The South African model was joined by Lara Stone (L) and Stella Maxwell (R) as the CARA LOVES KARL collaboration with Lagerfeld's fashion house officially launched

Making her way onto a somber black carpet - an acknowledgement of Her Majesty the Queen's recent passing - the model commanded attention in a microscopic minidress and raunchy thigh-high boots.

Opting to go braless on the night, Swanepoel added to her latest look with a loose fitting dress shirt, suggestively unbuttoned and neatly tucked into her skirt.

Meanwhile fellow models Stone and Maxwell appeared to honour the Queen's death by wearing funereal black, a recurring theme among guests on the night.

Other guests in the night included Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev, John Travolta's daughter Ella Bleu, singer Becky G and American model Amelia Grey Hamlin.

However Cara was missing from the black carpet, with her absence from what was essentially her own event unexplained - despite the elusive model sharing posts about the new capsule collection across social media on Monday evening.

Standing out: With its principal designer curiously absent following a series of erratic public displays, Swanepoel was given the opportunity to shine on Monday evening

Don't mind me: Making her way into the event, the model commanded attention in a microscopic minidress and raunchy thigh-high boots

Side by side: Swanepoel posed for a photo alongside Stone as they arrived at the capsule collection launch party

Each item to feature in the new collection is said to be "crafted from more sustainable and premium materials" and features gender neutral aesthetics and inclusive sizes ranging from XXS to XXL.

Commenting on her new collaboration with the iconic German fashion house, she admitted Lagerfeld - who passed away aged 85 in 2019 - had been a key figure in her modelling career.

She said: 'I am so proud of the collection I have created along with the incredibly talented team at Karl Lagerfeld.

'Karl was, and still is, an extremely important influence in my life and I'm honoured to have created this collection under his name.

Revealing: Opting to go braless on the night, Swanepoel added to her latest look with a loose fitting dress shirt, suggestively unbuttoned and neatly tucked into her skirt

Visions in black: Stella Maxwell (L) and Lara Stone (R) both wore subdued outfits on the night in acknowledgement of Her Majesty The Queen's recent passing

Stepping out: Amelia Gray Hamlin was also in attendance at the New York launch party on Monday evening

'I believe that Karl would have been very proud of the sustainable, genderless direction we went with, and I like to imagine he even would have worn some of the pieces himself. I can t wait to see how people wear all the different pieces we created.'

Delevingne will also star in a 3D campaign featuring herself and Lagerfeld interacting as avatars in a digital playground, while 15 dedicated CARA LOVES KARL shops will open in different cities across the world, including in Milan, Los Angeles and Paris.

The collection will be available from September 8, 2022, at KARL LAGERFELD stores, on KARL.COM, and via select premium wholesale partners worldwide.

Unusual: The American model appeared to have shaved her eyebrows ahead of the event

Guests: Actress Nina Dobrev (L) and model Shaun Ross (R) posed for photos after arriving at the Lagerfeld launch party in New York City

Lovely: Dixie D'Amelio carried a Karl Lagerfeld handbag from Delevingne's new collaboration with the fashion house

Delevinge's fans have been voicing their worries for the star after she was seen smoking a pipe of some kind while sitting alone in a car last week and then appearing erratic and out of sorts at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles on Monday.

Now, her friends and family are searching for ways to help the troubled former 'it girl.'

'We are all incredibly concerned. The situation has been building for a few weeks now, and Cara's family is involved,' a close friend told The Sun on Wednesday.

'There is talk of staging some kind of intervention and making sure Cara gets the help she may well need,' the person added. 'She has been burning the candle at both ends of late, and it's clearly taking its toll.'

Stunning John Travolta's daughter Ella Bleu opted for a semi-sheer lace Basque beneath a tasteful black blazer

Party time: Actresses Charly Jordan (L) and Nathalie Emmanuel (R) also wore black during their appearance at the event

Stranger things have happened: Actor Jamie Campbell Bower posed for photos on the black carpet

Getting involved: Becky G (L) caught the eye in a sequinned minidress, while Olivia Ponton (R) opted for a tasteful white dress shirt and black slacks

Smart: Ella Bleu Travolta rounded off her own looks with a pair of black dress trousers and matching heels

Delevingne made her latest worrying appearance on Monday in Los Angeles, appearing disheveled and jittery prior to boarding Jay-Z's private jet.

According to DailyMail.com sources, the cover girl appeared unable to control her body movements at certain points as she was seen on the phone, bending over, dropping her phone, and walking around looking very jittery and as if she was unable to stop moving.

Recently, Delevingne spent some time at the Burning Man festival at Black Rock desert in Nevada. Sources told DailyMail.com at that time the she didn't eat or shower while at the event.

Smitten: Sam Hine and Ella Emhoff shared a kiss outside the event on Monday evening

Incoming: Dizzy Fae (L) and Ella Emhoff (R) posed for photos before making their way inside

Rubbing shoulders: Alejandra Divo and Eva Jari were side by side as they attended the celebratory launch party on Monday evening

Say cheese: Anna Shumate (L) and Lauren Wolfe (R) opted for wildly contrasting but equally engaging ensembles

Upbeat: : Nina Dobrev and Pier Paolo Righi were in high spirits as they toasted the new range

The source said: 'She had just spent days in the desert, not eating all that much and she looked disheveled because she hadn't had time to scrub up yet.'

He went on: 'Her friends are worried about her generally after some erratic behavior, but she has a good group around her. Her sister was at the festival with her. She wasn't alone and she has her back.'

The source continued: 'Burning Man isn't lined with burger vans like other festivals. You chuck everything you need in an RV and that's what you have to live on while you're there. Everything works on a swapping system.'

All mine: Cara Delevingne stars in a dramatically shot campaign for sustainable capsule collection CARA LOVES KARL, developed by Delevingne with the German fashion house
Have You Been Paying Attention? host Tom Gleisner made a risque joke about the death of Queen Elizabeth II during Monday's episode.

The comedian posed a question to the contestants about which official duty Her Majesty was undertaking in a recent photo.

The image on screen showed the Queen shaking hands with new British Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Have You Been Paying Attention? host Tom Gleisner (pictured) made a risque joke about the death of Queen Elizabeth II during Monday's episode, implying British Prime Minister Liz Truss was a 'suspect' in the death

'She's meeting the current UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, then she's putting the bins out,' comedian Sam Pang responded.

Tom then joked: 'Last duty? That makes Liz now a suspect I guess?'

The tasteless comment caused the guests and audience alike to erupt in loud guffaws.

Tom then asked what the official titles of Prince William and his wife Kate will now be, following the Queen's death. Tom put to the the panel: 'They will now be known as?'

Contestant Emma Holland (pictured) hit her buzzer and quipped: 'The accused?'

Keeping the jokes going, Tom then asked what the official titles of Prince William and his wife Kate will now be, following the Queen's death.

Tom put to the the panel: 'They will now be known as?'

Contestant Emma Holland hit her buzzer and quipped: 'The accused?' to great laughter from her co-stars.

Her Majesty died 'peacefully' at age 96 at her castle in Balmoral, Scotland, with Buckingham Palace issuing a statement from King Charles III at 4.04am on Friday AEST

'Hopefully not!' Tom replied, 'They're loving grandchildren!'

Her Majesty died 'peacefully' at age 96 at her castle in Balmoral, Scotland, with Buckingham Palace issuing a statement from King Charles III at 4.04am on Friday AEST.

A statement from Buckingham Palace early on Friday (AEST) confirmed her death.

Australia has joined much of the world in mourning Queen Elizabeth II, as her death prompts the first change in head of state in more than seven decades.
Hannah Waddingham paid a moving tribute to Queen Elizabeth II as she attended the 2022 Emmy Awards on Monday.

The Ted Lasso star, 48, who walked the red carpet for the event just four days after the monarch's passing, admitted her death has hit her 'far worse than she thought it would.'

Hannah added that she was 'deeply upset' when she heard the news that the Queen had passed away on Thursday, describing her reaction as being akin to 'a grandmother dying.'

Sad news: Hannah Waddingham paid a moving tribute to Queen Elizabeth II as she attended the 2022 Emmy Awards on Monday

Speaking to Variety on the red carpet, Hannah said: 'It makes me emotional to think about it.'

'I sat with my dad on the sofa and I watched it all night until I couldn't keep my eyes open because I couldn't believe it. It is like a grandmother dying.

'It hit me far worse than I thought it would and the enormous pressure that our King has on his shoulders now.'

Tragedy: The Ted Lasso star admitted the monarch's death (the Queen is pictured in 2016) hit her 'far worse than she thought it would, describing it as being akin to 'a grandmother dying'

Hannah took to the stage alongside her Ted Lasso co-stars to accept the award for Outstanding Comedy Series, with star Jason Sudeikis also awarded Lead Actor for his role in the Apple TV+ show.

Queen Elizabeth's death was announced by Buckingham Palace on Thursday, saying in a statement she passed away 'peacefully' in Balmoral at the age of 96.

Senior royals dashed to be at the Queen's bedside on Thursday, but did not reach Balmoral in time before she passed, it is believed.

Only her eldest children, King Charles and Princess Anne, who were already in Scotland at the time of the Monarch's sudden turn for the worse, were able to make it to the royal estate before her death, sources said.

Sad news: Speaking on the red carpet, Hannah added that she was 'deeply upset' when she heard the news that the Queen had passed away on Thursday

Success: During the Emmys Hannah took to the stage with her Ted Lasso co-stars after they were awarded Outstanding Comedy Series

Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, his wife Sophie, and Prince William all flew in from Berkshire via private jet to Aberdeen on Thursday as they dashed to Balmoral to see her. But it is understood that they did not reach the estate before she passed.

Prince Harry, who was due to attend a charity event with wife Meghan in London on Thursday, also attempted to reach Balmoral in time. But he arrived at 8pm, nearly an hour-and-a-half after the public were informed of the Queen's death.

The Queen's son Charles, the former Prince of Wales, is now King Charles III, while Prince William has inherited his father's title and is now, along with his wife, styled The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge. William is also now the 'heir apparent' to the British throne.

The UK has since entered a period of national mourning, with Charles ascending to the throne to become King.

Tragedy: Queen Elizabeth's death was announced by Buckingham Palace on Thursday, saying she passed away 'peacefully' in Balmoral at the age of 96 (pictured on September 6)

Waiting: The Queen's coffin is currently lying in state at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, with thousands of the members of the public queuing through the night to pay their respects

Following his official proclamation on Saturday, King Charles III has begun a condolence tour of the nations, accompanied by his Queen Consort Camilla, ahead of the Queen's funeral on Monday, September 19.

Her coffin is currently lying in state at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, after Charles stood guard over his mother alongside his brothers Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, along with his sister Princess Anne in a ceremony known as the Vigil of the Princes.

The King, who was wearing the Prince Charles Edward Stuart tartan and white heather in his lappelle from Balmoral, kept his hands joined and looked towards the floor as he stood alongside four suited members of the Royal Company of Archers, who were standing guard dressed in long-feathered hats and armed with arrows and quivers.

Moving: King Charles stood guard over his mother alongside his brothers Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, and his sister Princess Anne at St Giles Cathedral on Tuesday

Afterwards, tears appeared to fill his eyes as the monarch completed an emotional day which began with him addressing MPs in the Palace of Westminster.

On Tuesday evening the Queen's coffin will be flown to London, with Charles and Camilla ready to welcome Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace, before she is taken to Westminster Hall where she will again lie in state.

For four days members of the public will be able to queue up and pay their respects to Her Majesty, before her funeral takes place on Monday.
Peter Helliar paid tribute to legendary Indigenous actor Uncle Jack Charles on Tuesday following his death at age 79.

The comedian, 47, shared a precious photo to Instagram of Jack embracing Pete and Waleed Aly on the set of their panel show The Project.

The pair are seen beaming as the iconic actor hugs their shoulders while they pose for a studio snap.

Peter Helliar (left) shared a precious photo to Instagram of Uncle Jack Charles (second from left) embracing Pete and co-host Waleed Aly (centre) on the set of The Project

Helliar captioned the photo with some heartwarming words.

'Small in stature but larger than life. I loved anytime I was in Uncle Jack's company,' he wrote.

'Thoughts are with his family, loved ones and the indigenous & First Nations community who will no doubt be feeling this profound loss. An Aussie icon. A legend.'

Many of Helliar's 151,000 followers were quick to offer their well wishes with one posting a broken heart emoji and another writing 'RIP Uncle Jack'.

Helliar captioned his tribute with some heartwarming words

The sweet tribute follows the news the celebrated Indigenous actor, author and activist passed away after suffering a stroke.

The senior Elder of the Boon Wurrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Woiwurrung and Yorta Yorta passed away at Royal Hospital of Melbourne on Tuesday morning, surrounded by close friends and family.

In a statement, his family said 'he will live on in our hearts and memories through his numerous screen and stage roles'.

Celebrated Indigenous actor Jack Charles died on Tuesday at the age of 79 after suffering a stroke

The actor revealed in his Jack Charles vs The Crown show in London that he struggled with a drug addiction as a child, often turning to petty crime as a result.

During the 1970s he was key in establishing Aboriginal theatre and achieved fame for his performances in movies such as The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Mystery Road and Pan.

The Indigenous icon was named NAIDOC male Elder of the year in 2022.
Amelia Hamlin showed off her bold new look as she stepped out in New York on Monday.

The model, 21, showcased her freshly-bleached eyebrows as she attended the Cara Loves Karl capsule collection launch party.

Amelia, the daughter of reality star Lisa Rinna and actor Harry Hamlin, cut a casual figure in a pair of black high-waisted trousers and a black denim jacket.

Dramatic change: Amelia Hamlin showed off her bold new look after bleaching her eyebrows to attend the Cara Loves Karl capsule collection launch in New York on Monday (left)

She wore her dark locks neatly straightened and opted for porcelain foundation, blue eyeshadow and a soft pink lip.

The event was held in honour of designer Karl Lagerfeld's collaboration with supermodel Cara Delevingne, although the woman of the hour was not in attendance at the bash.

Amelia's appearance comes after she walked the runway in the Tommy Hilfiger show as part of New York Fashion Week on Sunday.

Her doting parents, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa, 59, and actor Harry, 70, were in attendance to cheer her on.

Edgy style: The model, 21, cut a casual figure in a pair of black high-waisted trousers and a black denim jacket as she attended the bash

Amelia was famously in a relationship with Keeping Up With The Kardashians star, Scott Disick, 39.

After dating for nearly a year, the two split and went their separate ways in September 2021.

A few months after the relationship ended, Amelia's father Harry opened up on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen about the split.

He said: 'Look, Amelia's doing great. She's living in New York and she's having the time of her life solo.'

Experimenting: Amelia wore her dark locks neatly straightened and opted for porcelain foundation, blue eyeshadow and a soft pink lip

Case of the ex: Amelia was famously in a relationship with Keeping Up With The Kardashians star, Scott Disick, 39. They went their separate ways in September 2021

A source also opened up to People at the time, stating, 'She is taking some time to figure out what she wants in her next relationship but is having fun hanging out with guys and finding something new.

'She's done with Scott and she'd be fine never speaking to him again and her parents are happy about that.'

Amelia enrolled in 2019 at the The New School in New York to study nutrition, wellness and psychology, but dropped out of college due to anxiety issues.
The stage was set, the black carpet rolled and New York Fashion Week employed as a glamorous backdrop for supermodel Cara Delevingne and the official launch of her brand new capsule collection CARA LOVES KARL - an exciting collaboration with the late Karl Lagerfeld's iconic fashion house.

But as guests converged on New York's financial district and Pine Street restaurant Saga, no doubt chosen for its sweeping 63rd floor views, the brand's principal designer appeared to be curiously absent.

The British model, 30, who recently lauded Lagerfeld as one of the major influences on her career, was nowhere in sight as the sustainable collection of inclusive clothing and accessories was celebrated by a guest list of stars from fashion, film and music.

AWOL: Cara Delevingne, seen here in a new campaign for her latest capsule collection, was curiously absent from its official launch in New York City on Monday evening

Delevingne's absence from her own event was all the more curious by virtue of her very obvious presence on social media, where she paid tribute to the legendary designer on Monday evening while guests filed into the New York venue.

Reposting the collection's promotional video, she wrote: 'Happy belated birthday @karllagerfeld. What an honor that the #CaraLovesKarl collection is now available! Im so proud of it.'

Lagerfeld, who passed away in 2019 aged 85 from complications related to pancreatic cancer, would have celebrated his birthday on September 10, two days before the official launch.

Commenting on her new collaboration with the iconic German fashion house in a recent press release, she admitted Lagerfeld had been a key figure in her modelling career.

Getting involved: Guests including models Candice Swanepoel (L) and Lara Stone (R) converged on New York's financial district and Pine Street restaurant Saga for Monday's launch

Worry: The model's fans have been voicing their worries for the star after she was seen smoking a pipe of some kind while sitting alone in a car last week and then appearing erratic and out of sorts at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles (pictured)

She said: 'I am so proud of the collection I have created along with the incredibly talented team at Karl Lagerfeld.

'Karl was, and still is, an extremely important influence in my life and I'm honoured to have created this collection under his name.

'I believe that Karl would have been very proud of the sustainable, genderless direction we went with, and I like to imagine he even would have worn some of the pieces himself. I can t wait to see how people wear all the different pieces we created.'

Delevingne has also starred in a 3D campaign featuring herself and Lagerfeld interacting as avatars in a digital playground, while 15 dedicated CARA LOVES KARL shops will open in different cities across the world, including Milan, Los Angeles and Paris.

Online: Delevingne's absence from her own event was all the more curious by virtue of her very obvious presence on social media, where she paid tribute to legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld

Striking: Delevingne's airbrushed appearance in her new campaign is a far cry from her recent disheveled appearances in California

The model's fans have been voicing their worries for the star after she was seen smoking a pipe of some kind while sitting alone in a car last week and then appearing erratic and out of sorts at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles on Monday.

Now, her friends and family are searching for ways to help the troubled former 'it girl.'

'We are all incredibly concerned. The situation has been building for a few weeks now, and Cara's family is involved,' a close friend told The Sun on Wednesday.

Bizarre: Little more than a fortnight ago she was seen ingesting a clear liquid from a dropper while sat in her parked car

Exhausted: Worse was to come at Van Nuys airport, where she appeared to be completely out of sorts while attempting to board a private jet owned by Jay-Z

'There is talk of staging some kind of intervention and making sure Cara gets the help she may well need,' the person added. 'She has been burning the candle at both ends of late, and it's clearly taking its toll.'

Delevingne made her latest worrying appearance last Monday in Los Angeles, appearing disheveled and jittery prior to boarding Jay-Z's private jet.

According to DailyMail.com sources, the cover girl appeared unable to control her body movements at certain points as she was seen on the phone, bending over, dropping her phone, and walking around looking very jittery and as if she was unable to stop moving.

In attendance: Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev with Pier Paolo Righi at the Lagerfeld launch in New York City on Monday evening

Close: Delevingne with her supportive model sister Poppy. It's understood that her family are now planning an intervention in a bid to help the troubled star

Recently, Delevingne spent some time at the Burning Man festival at Black Rock desert in Nevada. Sources told DailyMail.com at that time the she didn't eat or shower while at the event.

The source said: 'She had just spent days in the desert, not eating all that much and she looked disheveled because she hadn't had time to scrub up yet.'

He went on: 'Her friends are worried about her generally after some erratic behavior, but she has a good group around her. Her sister was at the festival with her. She wasn't alone and she has her back.'

The source continued: 'Burning Man isn't lined with burger vans like other festivals. You chuck everything you need in an RV and that's what you have to live on while you're there. Everything works on a swapping system.'
She's expecting her first child with her fiance Ollie Piotrowski.

And Jorgie Porter showed off her bare baby bump on Monday as she sat in bed while lamenting having to drink pregnancy friendly caffeine-free coffee.

The Hollyoaks star, 34, pulled a disgruntled face while chilling out in a hotel room, captioning her humorous post: 'Your face when they pass you a decaf'.

Not impressed: Jorgie Porter showed off her bare baby bump on Monday as she sat in bed while lamenting having to drink pregnancy friendly caffeine-free coffee

Despite her dissatisfaction at her hot beverage, mum-to-be Jorgie looked simply glowing as she went make-up free for the shots.

The actress displayed her burgeoning bump in a grey cropped T-shirt, while her blonde locks loosely cascaded over her shoulder.

Captioning her post, she penned: 'Your face when they pass you a decaf.'

'#PreggoLife': The Hollyoaks star, 34, pulled a disgruntled face while chilling out in a hotel room, captioning her humorous post: 'Your face when they pass you a decaf'

She continued: 'I mean seriously decaf coffee doesnt hit the spot does it.

'What one thing did you miss eating or drinking whilst pregnant?'

Her post was met with a plethora of comments from fans remarking on how great she looked while others shared what foods they missed during pregnancy including rare steak, sushi and Pate.

Thoughts: Captioning her post, she penned: 'Your face when they pass you a decaf. I mean seriously decaf coffee doesnt hit the spot does it'

It comes after Jorgie sparked speculation that she is expecting a baby girl after sharing a new video to Instagram last month.

She posted a clip of herself going shopping ahead of welcoming her new arrival and was seen looking at a pink teddy and a pink baby grow, suggesting she could be expecting a girl.

Jorgie looked at some other baby essentials on the shopping trip including a cot and car seat.

Alongside the post, she wrote: 'If you saw my stories yesterday you wouldve seen that I went shopping for all things baby and came back with nothing.

'I went from being so excited to feeling completely overwhelmed (see the end of the reel) Did anyone else feel this way?

'Who knew there were so many things to consider and so many options and variations of literally everything.'

Something to tell us? It comes after Jorgie sparked speculation that she is expecting a baby girl after sharing a new video to Instagram last month

Getting ready: The actress posted a clip of herself going shopping ahead of welcoming her new arrival and was seen looking at a pink teddy, suggesting she could be expecting a girl

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Jorgie Porter for comment.

It comes after Jorgie previously she wasn't planning on finding out the sex of the baby ahead of the birth.

Speaking to The Sun, the actress also said that she has gone off the smell of Olivier's aftershave and she currently 'can't stand chicken caesar salad' while pregnant.

Jorgie got engaged to her boyfriend Oliver in December, revealing he unexpectedly got down on one knee on their trip to Scotland, three weeks before Christmas.

The soap star announced her pregnancy at the start of June and shared the happy news with an adorable Instagram video.

Retail therapy: Jorgie looked at some other baby essentials on the shopping trip including a cot and car seat

Exhausted: Alongside the post, she wrote: 'If you saw my stories yesterday you wouldve seen that I went shopping for all things baby and came back with nothing'

It comes eight months after Jorgie lost quadruplets at 14 weeks in a devastating miscarriage.

The short clip, which the soap star captioned 'Hopeful beginnings [sic]', captured a sweet unveiling of a baby scan.

Oliver, his son from a previous relationship, Jorgie and their pet pooch took it in turns to remove their hands - and paws - to uncover the scan underneath.

The post's comment section was awash with congratulatory messages, including from TOWIE's Georgia Kousoulou and Jorgie's fellow Hollyoaks star Chelsee Healey.

Congratulations: The actress shared the happy news of her pregnancy in an adorable Instagram video in June

Hollyoaks' official Instagram profile reposted Jorgie's video with a heartfelt message: '@themissyporter #REPOST HUGE NEWS! We have a little, tiny new McQueen on the way! [sic] our beautiful @themissyporter is pregnant!  congratulations all round, this is the best news ever! '.

In an interview in March, Jorgie revealed she had no idea she'd lost her quadruplets because her body was 'still being pregnant' after enduring a missed miscarriage.

She explained she opted for surgical removal while her fiance Ollie discussed feeling 'helpless' throughout the ordeal, as the couple appeared together on Loose Women.

Jorgie first recalled learning about the pregnancy, telling the Loose Women panel: 'I was excited that we got pregnant because that's what we wanted. We went for an early scan because we've got twins in our family - on both sides.

Tough times: It comes nine months after Jorgie revealed she had lost quadruplets at 14 weeks in a devastating miscarriage (pictured in March)

'The doctor said we can see three sacks - we had no idea what that meant. They said 'we're gonna rush you into a hospital appointment'.

'With that one we were told there were four sacks. We were still not the wiser, until she said 'quadruplets.'

Ollie, who she's been dating since 2020, added: 'I fell over!' while Jorgie admitted she panicked: 'My body is too small!'

She continued: 'So we were just shocked. And throughout the pregnancy it was not really enjoyable - my hormones were just...

What is a missed miscarriage? A missed miscarriage, also known as a missed abortion or a silent miscarriage, occurs when a foetus dies, but the body does not recognise the pregnancy loss or expel the pregnancy tissue. As a result, the placenta may still continue to release hormones, so the woman may continue to experience signs of pregnancy. It's usually diagnosed during a routine checkup, where the doctor will fail to detect a heartbeat. A subsequent ultrasound will show an underdeveloped foetus. Advertisement

'When you are pregnant you wanna tell some people, and you don't tell many people early on. I'm not sure why. But, I don't like to keep a secret. I like to tell everyone what's going on in my life.

'Having the hormones times four was just really stressful. I was in work with costumes. Within three or four weeks my body started to change dramatically and costumes wouldn't fit.

'Before we found out it was quadruplets I thought 'this is insane what pregnant women go through'.'

Turning to her devastating miscarriage, Jorgie recalled: 'We were going for scans regularly because we were being looked after.

'And it was during our fifth or sixth scan, they said 'you've had a miscarriage, they've gone.'

Asked if there were any signs she'd miscarried, she explained: 'No, that was another thing. It was a missed miscarriage, so my body was still being pregnant and doing the symptoms of pregnancy.

'The next bit is really heartbreaking, the question of how they're gonna go. The hospital said... there are options where... how do we get rid of this?

'So we went through the route of surgery so I could be knocked out. I didn't wanna see and hear things...

'They've never really done this surgery before so they didn't know what the outcome could be. They said there could be a lot of blood loss.'

Ollie added: 'It was kind of just thrown on just that it was a miscarriage. As a man it was really helpless and scary.

Thankfully the couple have come out even stronger, with Georgie admitting: 'We do talk a lot. We are really good the fact that we communicate a lot.'

Ollie explained: 'I cried straight away, while you were really tough and strong. Then a few days later you had a meltdown and I had to be strong.'




The chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Monday there are signs that North Korea is operating the Yongbyon nuclear complex's uranium enrichment facility while carrying out construction work there.







Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), made the remarks amid speculation that North Korea appears to be preparing for what would be its first nuclear test since 2017.







"We have observed indications that the reported centrifuge enrichment facility at Yongbyon continues to operate and is now externally complete, expanding the building's available floor space by approximately one-third," Grossi said in a statement to the board of governors.







He said there are indications that the 5MW reactor is operating at the Yongbyon site and intermittent activity at the radiochemical laboratory has been observed.







Grossi also said there are "ongoing indications of activities" at the Kangson complex and Pyongsan uranium mine and concentration plant.







"The continuation of the DPRK's nuclear program is a clear violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and is deeply regrettable," Grossi said, referring to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.







North Korea conducted its sixth and last nuclear test in September 2017. Nuclear talks between the U.S. and North Korea have remained stalled since the 2019 Hanoi summit between the two nations ended without a deal. (Yonhap)


Martha Kalifatidis has revealed her terror at the thought of impending childbirth.

The former Married At First Sight star, who is expecting her first child with fiance Michael Brunelli, shared the confession with her fans on Tuesday.

Posting a photo of her positive pregnancy test, which she took overseas, the 34-year-old replied to a fan who asked her if she was 'scared of childbirth'.

Martha Kalifatidis (pictured) has revealed her terror at the thought of impending childbirth. The former Married At First Sight star, who is expecting her first child with fiance Michael Brunelli, shared the confession with her fans on Tuesday

She replied: 'Terrified! I think about it every day'.

It comes after Martha shared a photo of herself at 16 weeks pregnant, revealing how thin her battle with hyperemesis gravidarum has left her.

In the photo, she looks frail and pale, her clothes hanging off her noticeably thinner frame after a 10 kilo weight loss.

Posting a photo of her positive pregnancy test, which she took overseas, the 34-year-old replied to a fan who asked her if she was 'scared of childbirth'. She replied: 'Terrified! I think about it every day'

It comes after Martha shared a photo of herself at 16 weeks pregnant, revealing how thin her battle with hyperemesis gravidarum has left her

She revealed in her caption that she is now 16 weeks into what has been a difficult pregnancy which left her so sick she could not leave her bed for months.

Martha and Michael announced last week that they were expecting their first child together and explained the reason for Martha's absence from social media was because she is ill with hyperemesis gravidarum, which causes persistent and excessive nausea and vomiting in pregnant women.

The reality star disappeared offline for several weeks, leading to concerns for her well-being.

In the photo, the 34-year-old looks frail and pale, her clothes hanging off her noticeably thinner frame after a 10 kilo weight loss. She is pictured before and after

The couple explained they had to wait until Martha was feeling better and had reached a safe point in her pregnancy before sharing their news.

'We wanted to explain our situation and make a little bit of an announcement. Martha is pregnant,' Michael said in the video.

'It hasn't been this exciting, wonderful time for us. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining,' Martha added.

She revealed in her caption that she is now 16 weeks into what has been a difficult pregnancy which left her so sick she could not leave her bed for months

'I was so sick. I could not eat or drink anything. There were days I didn't even get up to pee. I lost ten kilos in five weeks.

'We have been in and out of the emergency room and hospital'.

Martha then said she was feeling better thanks to a doctor she visited in Melbourne.

'She has given me some medication which has literally been life-changing. It is helping me feel human again,' she said.

Martha and Michael (right) announced last week that they were expecting their first child together and explained the reason for Martha's absence from social media was because she is ill with hyperemesis gravidarum, which causes persistent and excessive nausea and vomiting in pregnant women

The couple also shared harrowing videos from Martha's multiple hospital and doctor visits.

'I don't know, Michael, if I'm going to survive,' Martha says in one clip, to which her husband-to-be replies: 'You will.'

'I don't know. I don't know if I wanna do it. I don't know if I can,' Martha continues.

'I don't know how you're feeling,' he says. 'But we're gonna get through it.'

The couple also shared harrowing videos from Martha's multiple hospital and doctor visits

In his caption, Michael expressed his heartache and admitted he'd been feeling 'completely helpless' during Martha's illness.

He said Martha had spent the 'best part of the last 10 weeks in bed 24 hours a day, dehydrated, nauseous, vomiting, restless, tired, anxious, fatigued and unable to properly sleep or eat'.

Despite visiting the hospital on multiple occasions, receiving medical advice and being prescribed different medications, she has still be suffering with the sickness.

'But she is a f**king warrior! And so is every other woman that is diagnosed with HG [hyperemesis gravidarum] or any pregnancy-related condition,' Michael added.
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The Crown has already resumed production on its sixth and final series in Barcelona after filming was paused for a single day following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Elizabeth Debicki, who is taking on the role of Princess Diana, was seen filming one of the late royals' final public appearances, when she visited the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, just four days after work on the series was paused following the monarch's passing.

On Friday, The Crown bosses confirmed that they were briefly suspending filming as a mark of respect after Buckingham Palace announced the Queen's passing, but they have quickly got back to work on the show, after pausing production for just a single day.

Back to work: The Crown has resumed production on its sixth and final series in Barcelona (left), recreating Princess Diana's 1997 visit to Bosnia (right) after filming was paused for just one day following the death of Queen Elizabeth II

No doubt The Crown is adhering to a strict filming schedule to ensure its sixth and final series is released by Netflix on time, having been pushed back by its day-long pause in the wake of The Queen's passing.

Recreating Diana's look from her Bosnia visit to promote the Landmine Survivors Network, Elizabeth donned a pale pink shirt and black trousers as she spoke to staff at the event.

The actress carried a bouquet of flowers as she met those who had lost loved ones due to the deadly weapons, having been an avid campaigner to abolish them throughout her life.

According to the BBC, The Princess spoke for 45 minutes with Franjo Kresic, a former soldier who lost his leg in a mine blast during the country's three-year war, which took place from 1992 to 1995.

Sad appearance: Elizabeth Debicki, who is taking on the role of Princess Diana, was seen filming one of the late royals' final public appearances, when she visited the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, less than a month before her death

Insightful: In 1997 Diana paid a visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo to speak with people who were the victims of land mines, that had remained buried in the country during its three-year war

On a deadline: No doubt The Crown is adhering to a strict filming schedule to ensure its sixth and final series is released by Netflix on time, having been pushed back by its day-long pause in the wake of The Queen's passing

Relaxed: Recreating Diana's look from her Bosnia visit to promote the Landmine Survivors Network, Elizabeth donned a pale pink shirt and black trousers as she spoke to staff at the event

Stunning: The actress carried a bouquet of flowers to recreate the moment the Princess met those who had been injured by the deadly land mines, having been an avid campaigner to abolish them throughout her life

On hold: It comes after The Crown paused filming for a day as a mark of respect, after Buckingham Palace announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II (pictured in 1999) on Thursday

She also visited the homes of land mine victims and met local disability groups and rehabilitation specialists.

The Princess' trip to Bosnia was organised by The Land Mines Survivors' Network, a group founded in 1995 by two American victims of land mines, Ken Rutherford and Jerry White, and as part of the visit, the Princess made a surprise visit to the Suljkanovic family in their modest home in the small village of Dobrnja near Tuzla.

Several weeks earlier, the father of the family, Muhamed Suljkanovic, had lost both his feet after stepping on a land mine in the forest outside his house, a remnant of Bosnia's three-year war, and his wife recalled Diana brought him some cake for his birthday.

Spitting image: Once again Elizabeth (left) was the spitting image of the Princess in her final months (right), before she was tragically killed in a car crash in Paris at the age of 36

Remote: A rural part of Barcelona acted as a substitute for Bosnia during the latest round of filming for The Crown's sixth series. Series five is due to be released on Netflix in November

Historic: According to the BBC, The Princess spoke for 45 minutes with Franjo Kresic, a former soldier who lost his leg in a mine blast during the country's three-year war, which took place from 1992 to 1995 (Elizabeth is pictured during filming)

Iconic: Diana's visit to the country came just weeks before she travelled to France, where she was tragically killed in a car crash in Paris that left the UK devastated

Just weeks after Diana's visit, the family were devastated to learn the Princess had been killed in a car accident in Paris, but were stunned when they were giving a donation from the Royal Family, after Diana promised financial support for Muhamed for a new prosthesis, and just a couple of months after she died.

Another land mine victim, Malic Bradaric, was 13 in 1996 when he stepped one of the deadly weapons while playing in his village of Klokotnica, and the incident left him without most of his right leg.

When Diana came to visit, he said that he expected a royal in a shiny dress wearing a crown. Instead, she arrived on his doorstep wearing jeans and a white shirt.

Kind-hearted: Diana (pictured) also visited the homes of land mine victims and met local disability groups and rehabilitation specialists

Heartbreaking: It came after the country was utterly devastated by a three-years war, with her trip aiming to promote the Landmine Survivors Network

On hold: On Friday it was revealed that filming for The Crown been suspended for one day as a 'mark of respect to the late monarch', who passed away aged 96 on Thursday afternoon at Balmoral Castle

Paused: Bosses have also confirmed that filming will not take place on the day of The Queen's funeral, Monday September 19

Final farewell: The country is expected to come to a standstill for The Queen's funeral, which will take place 11 days after her death on September 8

On Friday it was revealed that filming for The Crown been suspended for one day as a 'mark of respect to the late monarch', who passed away aged 96 on Thursday afternoon at Balmoral Castle.

Filming will also not take place on the day of the Queen's funeral.

In a move that could be branded insensitive by fans, when the cast and crew return they will be covering Princess Diana's death in 1997 and the Queen could be seen in mourning clothes.

The potentially controversial scenes will be filmed while the nation comes to grips with the loss of their late Queen during a 10 day mourning period which will end with a state funeral.

Not long now! In a move that could be branded insensitive by fans, when the cast and crew return they will be covering Princess Diana's death in 1997 and the Queen could be seen in mourning clothes

Not yet: A scene covering Princess Diana's tragic death in Paris in August 1997 was scheduled to be filmed on Friday in Barcelona, Spain

Anticipated: It's expected that the scenes will feature in The Crown's sixth and final series, which will take viewers up to 2003 when The Queen marked her Golden Jubilee

On Thursday, star Imelda Staunton, who is playing an older version of Her Majesty in the Netflix series following predecessors Claire Foy and Olivia Colman, was seen in character as she prepared to leave the set.

A scene covering Princess Diana's tragic death in Paris in August 1997 was scheduled to be filmed on Friday in Barcelona, Spain.

As series five of the drama is set to air this autumn, filming for the sixth series is well underway with Elizabeth taking on the role of the late Princess of Wales alongside Imelda as the late Queen Elizabeth II.

However, SER Catalunya have reported scenes that would cover Princess Diana's death in August 1997 were being suspended following the death of Her Majesty.

In the works: As series five of the drama is set to air this autumn, filming for the sixth series is well underway with Elizabeth taking on the role of the late Princess of Wales alongside Imelda as the late Queen Elizabeth II

Stopped: However, SER Catalunya have reported scenes that would cover Princess Diana's death in August 1997 were being suspended following the death of Her Majesty

'Suspended': The decision not to film comes as the Netflix show announced it will also suspend filming on the day of Her Majesty's funeral

The set, which had been built in a district of Barcelona, had been modified to resemble a Parisian street with French road signs.

A reporter for the outlet tweeted a video and photos of the set which now looks completely empty.

The decision not to film comes as the Netflix show announced it will also suspend filming on the day of Her Majesty's funeral.

A Netflix spokesperson said: 'As a mark of respect, filming on The Crown was suspended today. Filming will also be suspended on the day of Her Majesty The Queen's funeral.'

Statement: A Netflix spokesperson said: 'As a mark of respect, filming on The Crown was suspended today. Filming will also be suspended on the day of Her Majesty The Queen's funeral'

Ongoing: Filming was due to start in Majorca next week and run to late October following casting for extras for the forthcoming series - but plans changed after news of the Queen's death broke

Filming was due to start in Majorca next week and run to late October following casting for extras for the forthcoming series - but plans changed after news of the Queen's death broke.

Netflix had reportedly devised a plan, also named Operation London Bridge like the official funeral plan for the Queen, to outline what the production company for The Crown would do in the event of her passing.

One of the show's creators Stephen Daldry said when the show first premiered in 2016 the cast would likely stop production, saying: 'It would be a simple tribute and a mark of respect. She's a global figure and it's what we should do.'

Arrangements: Netflix had reportedly devised a plan, also named Operation London Bridge like the official funeral plan for the Queen, to outline what the production company for The Crown would do in the event of her passing

'Respect': One of the show's creators Stephen Daldry said when the show first premiered in 2016 the cast would likely stop production, saying: 'It would be a simple tribute and a mark of respect. She's a global figure and it's what we should do'

'Silence': Peter Morgan, writer of the drama, was quoted after news of the Queen's death was confirmed late yesterday/on Thursday as saying: 'The Crown is a love letter to her and I've nothing to add for now, just silence and respect'

Where to film: Locations in Palma and Andratx are said to have been considered for the sixth series, which will cover the romance of Charles and Camilla and William's university studies

Peter Morgan, writer of the drama, was quoted after news of the Queen's death was confirmed late yesterday/on Thursday as saying: 'The Crown is a love letter to her and I've nothing to add for now, just silence and respect. I expect we will stop filming out of respect too.'

Locations in Palma and Andratx are said to have been considered for the sixth series, which will cover the romance of Charles and Camilla and William's university studies.

Part of season five of the popular series was shot on the Balearic island last year, with Sant Elm beach on the west coast and the Port of Soller among the locations where filming took place.
Amanda Holden continued her daily fashion parade on Tuesday as she left work at Heart FM.

The TV and radio star showed off her chic look as she made her way through London's Leicester Square after presenting her breakfast show.

Strutting to her car, the stylish star looked gorgeous in a smart polka dot green dress.

Gorgeous in green: Amanda Holden continued her daily fashion parade on Tuesday as she left work at Heart FM in London

Amanda flaunted her trim physique in the satin midi, which featured chic detailing including an oversized white collar.

She accessorised the LK Bennett dress with matching white stiletto heels and slung a khaki green leather bag over her shoulder.

A pair of oversized sunglasses completed her chic work ensemble.

Tuesday's look: The TV and radio star showed off her chic look as she made her way through London's Leicester Square after presenting her breakfast show

Chic dress: Amanda flaunted her trim physique in the satin midi, which featured chic detailing including an oversized white collar

On Friday Amanda cut a sombre figure as she joined the crowds outside of the Palace paying tribute to Her Majesty.

Amanda shared a picture of the rose to her 1.8M Instagram followers, with the royal residence seen in the background.

And filming for her Stories, she gently lay the single flower amongst the stacks of floral arrangements that graced the gates.

The pink grandiflora rose Queen Elizabeth was introduced in honour of the Queen back in 1954, a year after her coronation.

Accessories: She accessorised the LK Bennett dress with matching white stiletto heels and slung a khaki green leather bag over her shoulder

It followed in the tradition of naming flowers after monarchs, her ancestor Queen Victoria is commemorated by the bourbon rose La Reine Victoria'.

Amanda decided to pay her respects after presenting her Heart Radio Breakfast show in nearby Leicester Square.

Donning a navy blue midi dress with a mid-sleeve design and metal belted detail, she appeared sombre while joining the crowds.

While the star also took to social media to share an emotional post following the sad news, sharing pictures from Her Majesty's reign.

Tribute: Amanda paid tribute to the Queen on Friday as she lay a floribunda rose in her honour outside of Buckingham Palace

Respects: Amanda shared a picture of the rose to her 1.8M Instagram followers, with the royal residence seen in the background

She wrote: 'I think we all believed our Queen would live forever.. her grace, good humour and indomitable spirit were the backbone of Great Britain..

'I cannot imagine our country without her... #GodsavetheQueen.'

Amanda has had the pleasure of meeting Queen Elizabeth in person on several occasions, most recently in 2015 at an event held at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

'God Save The Queen': While she also took to social media to share an emotional post following the sad news, sharing pictures from Her Majesty's reign

Royal Highness: Amanda has had the pleasure of meeting Queen Elizabeth in person on several occasions, most recently in 2015 at an event held at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home
Footage has surfaced of Married At First Sight's Domenica Calarco fangirling over Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton at Sydney's 2014 Royal Easter Show.

In the video, originally uploaded to YouTube eight years ago, Domenica has a front row position watching the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wave at an excited Easter Show crowd while carrying out royal duties.

'We just saw the royals and we're freaking out! It's really exciting,' a fresh-faced Domenica tells the camera as William and Kate walk by.

Footage has surfaced of Married At First Sight's Domenica Calarco (pictured) fangirling over Prince William and Kate Middleton at Sydney's Royal Easter Show in 2014

In the clip, Dom, who was 21 at the time, is seen wearing a grey T-shirt while carrying a pink backpack.

The former reality star also tightly grips two phones in her hands in the footage which has been viewed 900 times.

Prince William is now first in line to the British throne after his father Charles III became King last week following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday.

Domenica was excited to see Prince William and Kate Middleton in person during their royal Australian visit in 2014. (The Royals are pictured in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge)

It was announced earlier this week that Channel Nine may be forced to shelve plans for a Married At First Sight spin-off web series hosted by Domenica after her former co-stars refused to take part.

Multiple cast members declined to be interviewed by her for the proposed show, which was set to launch next month on 9Now and run until the premiere of season 10 of MAFS in early 2023.

The format for the series would have seen her FaceTime her fellow MAFS alumni to 'check in' on them and see how they're coping after the show.

She captured some never-before-seen footage of the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge greeting the crowd at Sydney's Royal Easter Show. Pictured: Kate Middleton waving at her fans

Prince William was seen walking through the crowd with a focussed expression

Earlier this year, Domenica confirmed she was dating again following her split from her on-screen MAFS 'husband' Jack Millar.

The tenth season of Married At First Sight is currently being filmed in Sydney.

Season 10 will feature a diverse mix of cast who include a dental hygienist, a baker, a beautician and a construction worker who works as a part-time male stripper.
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Amanda Seyfried exuded glamour as she celebrated her first Emmy win on Monday at The Walt Disney post-show bash in Los Angeles.

The actress, who took home the Outstanding Lead Actress gong for her performance in The Dropout, donned a lilac gown - which was emblazoned with diamantes.

Also hitting the post-Emmy celebration was Lily James, who showed off her stunning frame in a plunging mini dress, alongside Heidi Klum, who turned heads in a sparkling tassel maxi dress.

Glamorous: Amanda Seyfried (left) was ever the gracious winner in an embellished lilac gown while Lily James (centre) exuded glamour in a plunging mini dress as they joined a sparkling Heidi Klum (right) for the The Walt Disney Post Emmy bash on Monday evening in Los Angeles

Amanda's dazzling gown featured a strapless neckline and a mesh overlay - scooping up over the bust in a decadent netted detail.

The actress had her golden locks sleekly styled back in a tight bun away from her face, adding a dewy palette of makeup with a pink lip.

Amping up the ante, she added a pair of diamond drop earrings, a jewel encrusted bangle and a collection of silver lings for some extra bling.

She appeared proud as punch while displaying her first Emmy, which she received at the earlier Microsoft Theater ceremony.

Winner! Amanda appeared proud as punch while displaying her first Emmy, which she won for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie at the earlier Microsoft Theater ceremony

Glimmering: Amanda's dazzling gown featured a strapless neckline and a mesh overlay - scooping up over the bust in a decadent netted detail

Natural beauty: The actress had her golden locks sleekly styled back in a tight bun away from her face, adding a dewy palette of makeup with a pink lip

Enjoying it: Amanda was in high spirits as she chatted on the red carpet, clutching on to her award

The Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie was awarded to Amanda for her portrayal of Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu's The Dropout.

'Thanks for recognizing me among these amazing actors,' said an emotional Amanda as she took to the stage earlier in the evening to accept the award, continuing: 'This is a really nice feeling!'

After posing for snaps with her new trophy on arrival to the bash, Amanda let her hair drop from it's pristine bun while partying inside - stopping for a shot with Hulu executive Craig Erwich.

Party time: After posing for snaps with her new trophy on arrival to the bash, Amanda let her hair drop from it's pristine bun while partying inside - stopping for a shot with Hulu executive Craig Erwich (pictured)

Crew: New Girl screenwriter Elizabeth Meriwether stopped for one shot with Amanda inside the party

Stunner: Lily also took to the star-studded event as she sported a black ad gold mini dress, which featured a plunging neckline and gold metal embellishing

Wow! The Mamma Mia actress's incredible figure was accentuated in the ensemble - as she elevated her height with a pair of open-toed heels

Emmy Award winners 2022: At a glance Drama series: Succession (HBO) Comedy series: Ted Lasso (Apple TV+) Limited series: The White Lotus (HBO) Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Lee Jung-jae (Squid Game) Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Zendaya (Euphoria) Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso) Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Jean Smart (Hacks) Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie: Michael Keaton (Dopesick) Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie: Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout) Variety Talk Series: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO) - WINNER Competition Program: Lizzos Watch Out for the Big Grrrls (Amazon Prime Video) Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Julia Garner (Ozark) Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary) Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso) Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie: Jennifer Coolidge (The White Lotus) Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie: Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus) Variety Sketch Series: Saturday Night Live (NBC) Writing for a Drama Series: Jesse Armstrong (Succession) Directing for a Drama Series: Hwang Dong-hyuk (Squid Game) Writing for a Comedy Series: Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary) Directing for a Comedy Series: MJ Delaney (Ted Lasso) Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: Mike White (The White Lotus) Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: Mike White (The White Lotus) Writing for a Variety Special: Jerrod Carmichael (Rothaniel) Advertisement

Lily James also took to the star-studded event as she sported a black ad gold mini dress, which featured a plunging neckline and gold metal embellishing.

The number pulled pieces of material together with metal gold hoops, with a crisscross tie detail and mesh black tassel hem.

The Mamma Mia actress's incredible figure was accentuated in the ensemble - as she elevated her height with a pair of open-toed heels.

Lily's copper-dusted locks were left to fall freely behind her ears, as she opted for a bronzed palette of makeup with a caramel eyeshadow look and nude-pink lip.

Loved up: The star was joined by her boyfriend Michael Shuman, who donned a bright blue pair of trousers with a matching, pocket-detailed shirt

Ombre metallic: Meanwhile, Heidi m made quite the entrance to the bash as her Dolce and Gabbana gown was completely covered in metallic tassels

Glowing: The supermodel had her lengthy blonde locks flowing in a slightly tousled style, as she opted for a sparkling eyeshadow look with her glowing base of makeup

Couples night: Heidi attended the bash alongside husband Tom Kaulitz, who looked dapper in a black tuxedo jacket with complementing trousers - dressing the look down with a T-shirt underneath

The star was joined by her boyfriend Michael Shuman, who donned a bright blue pair of trousers with a matching, pocket-detailed shirt.

The Queens of the Stone Age musician accessorised with a collection of gold metal bangles and rings, wrapping an arm around Lily for the rare red-carpet appearance.

Earlier in the evening, Lily took to the red carpet at the annual awards in a glitzy gold Versace gown - which was custom made for her by the fashion house.

Chic: Elle Fanning also appeared at the Disney bash, nailing a Hollywood glamour look in a satin black slip maxi dress, which featured a sweetheart neckline and lace panel

Glamour: The actress had her blonde locks pinned back as she added a winged eyeliner look

Familiar faces: Actress Judy Greer looked glamorous in an embellished black gown with a long-sleeved design

Extras: She added a matching clutch handbag to the look, attending with her husband of 11 years Dean E. Johnsen

All smiles: Executive television producer Dean opted for a patterned blazer with a maroon tie and navy blue trousers as he stood alongside his wife

Suited and booted: Jimmy Kimmel looked dapper in a black three-piece tuxedo - complete with a bow tie

The actress was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her role in Hulu series Pam and Tommy - losing out to Amanda.

Meanwhile, Heidi Klum made quite the entrance to the bash as her Dolce and Gabbana gown was completely covered in metallic tassels.

The dress's detailing created an ombre effect, beginning silver at the strapless bust as it fell into a golden lower section.

Supermodel Heidi had her lengthy blonde locks flowing in a slightly tousled style, as she opted for a sparkling eyeshadow look with her glowing base of makeup.

She attended the bash alongside husband Tom Kaulitz, who looked dapper in a black tuxedo jacket with complementing trousers - dressing the look down with a T-shirt underneath.

Congratulations: Sheryl Lee Ralph, who won the Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series gong for Abbott Elementary earlier in the evening also attended the event

Proud: The beauty sported a velvet gown with a strapless neckline and hip-grazing slit, as she proudly displayed her new trophy

Bedazzled: Keeping with the glitzy theme, she even added gems to her eyelashes

Here come the boys... Sebastian Stan (left) and Russell Hornsby (right) both put on smart displays in suits for the after-party

Date night: Comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his writer wife Emily V. Gordon put on a sweet display as they took to the red carpet - with the latter donning an off-the-shoulder marbled blue gown

Colourful: Emily matched her vibrant blue dress with a complementing blue clutch, as her golden locks were pushed over to the side

This year marked a return for the Emmy awards after a two-year absence during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that saw the ceremony moved to the Crypto.com Arena in 2020 and the Event Deck at L.A. Live in 2021.

And celebrating the return, the Walt Disney bash was held at the lavish Otium restaurant in Los Angeles - welcoming a slew of A-list guests.

Sheryl Lee Ralph, who won the Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series gong for Abbott Elementary earlier in the evening also attended the event.

The beauty sported a velvet gown with a strapless neckline and hip-grazing slit, as she proudly displayed her new trophy.

Bold: Comedian and actor Kumail sported a champagne blazer, layering it over a black shirt

Exclusive: Cinematographer Checco Varese (left) attended the party in an all black suit while Batman star Michael Keaton (right) stuck to darker shades

(pictured) Michael Keaton and Danny Strong

Pose: Martin Short, Sean Douglas and Micheal Keaton all stopped for a snap inside

Elle Fanning also appeared at the event, nailing a Hollywood glamour look in a satin black slip maxi dress, which featured a sweetheart neckline and lace panel.

Actress Judy Greer looked glamorous in an embellished black gown with a long-sleeved design, as she attended with her husband of 11 years Dean E. Johnsen.

Executive television producer Dean opted for a patterned blazer with a maroon tie and navy blue trousers as he stood alongside his wife.

Unique: Ayo Edebir (left) stunned in a pleated maxi skirt and paneled corset top for the event, while Michelle Ortiz (right) went for a black and neon green look

Height elevating: Michelle added satin heels with a rounded toe and platform detail, with a silver chain ankle strap detail

Svelte: Actress Adelaide Kane showed off her gorgeous figure in a grey maxi dress with a scooping neck and dark pattern

High-spirited: Kristen Schaal put on an animated display as she posed a storm on the red carpet

(Home Economics stars Jordyn Curet, Chloe Jo Rountree, Shiloh Bearman, JeCobi Swain pictured)

The 74th annual award show, which celebrates the best in television, already awarded a number of honours at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony earlier this month.

The earlier ceremony, spread out over two nights on September 3 and 4, was dominated by scripted shows including The White Lotus, Euphoria and Stranger Things, along with unscripted fare like Adele's One Night Only special.

HBO's acclaimed series Succession leads the nominees this year with 25 nominations.

The premium network is also poised for gold thanks to its limited series The White Lotus, which scored 20 nominations and already won five technical awards at the earlier ceremony.

Netflix's hit South Korean series Squid Game, which made history as the first non-English language nominee in the Best Drama Series category, is once again nominated.

Apple TV+'s feel-good comedy Ted Lasso, which stars Jason Sudeikis, is also competing for an impressive 20 awards at the Emmys.

Lavish: Celebrating the return of the Emmys, the Walt Disney bash was held at the lavish Otium restaurant in Los Angeles - welcoming a slew of A-list guests

Elegant: Stefania Spampinato oozed chic in a satin two-piece trouser and shirt co-ord

Boss lady: President of Disney Branded Television Ayo Davis also attended the company's bash

Chic: Executive producer Karey Burke went for a glitzy navy gown with a bardot neckline
Sylvester Stallone looked handsome as he posed at the photocall for Tulsa King in Rome on Tuesday.

The actor, 76, wore a black T-shirt and a pair of denim jeans which he teamed with some colourful red and blue cowboy boots.

Hollywood heavyweight Sly shielded his eyes behind a pair of silver mirrored sunglasses.

Casual: Sylvester Stallone looked handsome as he posed at the photocall for Tulsa King in Rome on Tuesday

His salt and pepper hair was slicked back and he appeared in good spirits as he promoted the Paramount+ TV series.

Tulsa King is an upcoming mob drama television series created by Taylor Sheridan, which marks Sylvester's scripted TV debut.

He plays Dwight 'The General' Manfredi, who is sent to Tulsa by his boss after completing a 25-year prison sentence, in order to establish criminal operations there.

Split: It comes after Sylvester's separation from his wife of 25 years Jennifer Flavin, 54, was confirmed in August

Quirky: The actor, 76, wore a black T-shirt and a pair of denim jeans which he teamed with some colourful red and blue cowboy boots

It comes after Sylvester's separation from his wife of 25 years Jennifer Flavin, 54, was confirmed in August.

The musclebound star, best known for his role as punch-drunk boxer Rocky Balboa, is going through a rocky patch after Flavin, the mother of his three daughters, filed for divorce.

According to divorce documents obtained by DailyMail.com, she claims Stallone 'has engaged in the intentional dissipation, depletion and/or waste of marital assets which has had an adverse economic impact on the marital estate.

Stylish: Hollywood heavyweight Sly shielded his eyes behind a pair of silver mirrored sunglasses

New show: His salt and pepper hair was slicked back and he appeared in good spirits as he promoted the Paramount+ TV series

Plot: Tulsa King is an upcoming mob drama television series created by Taylor Sheridan, which marks Sylvester's scripted TV debut

Lead role: He plays Dwight 'The General' Manfredi, who is sent to Tulsa after completing a 25-year prison sentence to establish criminal operations there (pictured in the show)

'Moreover, the Husband should be enjoined from, selling, transferring, assigning, encumbering, or dissipating any assets during the pendency of proceedings.'

Jennifer, who took her husband's last name, is also seeking to restore her maiden name, Flavin.

'I love my family. We are amicably and privately addressing these personal issues,' Sly told DailyMail.com in a statement via his publicist.

All over: The musclebound star, best known for his role as punch-drunk boxer Rocky Balboa, is going through a rocky patch after Flavin, the mother of his three daughters, filed for divorce.

However Flavin said in divorce docs: 'The marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken.'

The former couple married on May 17, 1997 at the posh Dorchester Hotel in London, and with Stallone's reputation as a playboy, few predicted they would last long.

'I'm not naive about what may go on when I'm not around  he's a 45-year-old man  I can't change the way he is,' Flavin told People at the time.

'Still, he's not a cheating dog every day of the week,' she added. 'We spend five out of seven nights together, so I don't know where he'd find the time.'

But last it did and just this May they celebrated their silver wedding anniversary. The marriage produced three daughters, Sophia, now 25, Sistine, 24, and Scarlet, 20.

He also had two sons with first wife Sasha Czack, Sage, who died of coronary artery disease in 2012 aged 36, and Seargeoh, 43.
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Patricia Arquette made a political statement as she held onto an Ariel Taub clutch with a 'bans off our bodies' on it at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California on Monday evening.

As she arrived to the red carpet linking arms with her longtime boyfriend Eric White, the 54-year-old Boyhood star looked absolutely incredible in a plunging black gown and diamond stud earrings as she subtly rallied for abortion rights after Roe v. Wade was overturned three months ago.

Her handsome partner, who she first sparked dating rumors with back in 2014, looked dapper in a navy tuxedo, white dress shirt and a black bow tie.

Subtle: Patricia Arquette made a political statement as she held onto an Ariel Taub clutch with a 'bans off our bodies' on it at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles , California on Monday evening

On June 24, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, the True Romance actress tweeted that the reversing the five-decade-old decision was an 'an absolute disaster.'

'From giving people the right to carry guns to taking away Womens rights of autonomy over their own bodies. We weren't being reactive we saw it coming,' she wrote on Twitter.

During a recent interview with The New Yorker ahead of the ruling, the Severance actress reflected on how 'all the same people who've been discriminated against historically are still being discriminated against.'

Political: As she arrived to the red carpet linking arms with her longtime boyfriend Eric White, the 54-year-old Boyhood star looked absolutely incredible in a plunging black gown and diamond stud earrings

Making a statement: The star was subtly rallying for abortion rights after Roe v. Wade was overturned three months ago

'L.G.B.T. people are getting their rights pulled away, and Black people are getting voting rights taken away. Clinics are drying up in predominantly Black neighborhoods. And women's rights, for sure,' she continued.

The Oscar and Emmy-winning actress, who has previously used her acceptance speeches at award shows to advocate for equal pay and universal rights, has even appeared in front of Congress to show support for the Equal Rights Amendment back in 2019.

The performer cited 'a groundswell in this country' to institute the amendment, which places legal protections for women against discrimination on account of gender.

'Women are rising up by the millions and saying they will not be sexually assaulted, they will not be paid less, they will not be treated as subhuman and they will have their voices heard,' said the actress, according to the Huffington Post.

Happy couple: Her handsome partner, who she first sparked dating rumors with back in 2014, looked dapper in a navy tuxedo, white dress shirt and a black bow tie

Arquette famously gave a powerful Oscar acceptance speech calling for equal pay for women back in 2015.

'To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer of this nation. It's our time to have wage equality once and for all in the United States of America,' she told the audience while accepting the trophy for Best Supporting Actress.

Her speech had received raucous applause, in particular from fellow Oscar winner Meryl Streep, who punched the air and shouted 'yes!' while Jennifer Lopez clapped enthusiastically.
Demi Moore looked radiant as she arrived on set in the South of France to film her new movie The Substance on Tuesday.

The actress, 59, stood out from the crowd as she got into costume donning a bright yellow long coat which she cinched in at the waist.

The American star donned a knitted purple turtle neck jumper and wide legged blue jeans under the eye catching jacket.

Incredible: Demi Moore looked radiant as she arrived on set in the south of France to film her new movie The Substance on Tuesday

The GI Jane star beamed wearing a simple but glamorous palette of makeup and styled her dark tresses poker straight as they cascaded past her bust.

Demi was seen waving on set before raising her hands in the air and looking rather serious as she got into her role.

The beauty seemed focused as cameras closed in on her while her locks blew in the wind.

Chic: The actress, 59, stood out from the crowd as she got into costume donning a bright yellow long coat which she cinched in at the waist

In character: The American star donned a knitted purple turtle neck jumper and wide legged blue jeans under the eye catching jacket

Looking good: The GI Jane star beamed wearing a simple but glamorous palette of makeup and styled her dark tresses poker straight as they cascaded past her bust

Later in the day the star rocked a plain white top with the blue trousers as she kept cool while climbing into a car to leave the set.

She carried her personal belongings in an bright red chic handbag as she was joined by her security.

The Substance is an upcoming American body horror film written and directed by Coralie Fargeat and starring Demi and Netflix's Maid actress Margaret Qualley, 27.

High spirits: Demi was seen waving on set before raising her hands in the air and looking rather serious as she got into her role

Action! The beauty seemed more serious as cameras closed in on her as she filmed

Long day: Later in the day the star rocked a plain white top with the blue trousers as she kept cool while climbing into a car to leave the set

Home time: She carried her personal belongings in an bright red chic handbag as she was joined by her security

In February it was announced that the late Ray Liotta joined the cast however after his death in May 2022 production had to be re-evaluated and began again in August.

Demi is the ex of actor Bruce Willis and shares three daughters with him - Rumer, 33, Scout, 30, and Tallulah, 28 - who have all grown up and left her nest.

In June the beauty finally unveiled the hot romance she's been cooking up with Swiss chef and restaurant owner Daniel Humm, 46.

The actress has been dating Daniel in recent months and went Instagram official earlier this year with a sweet snap.

Wow: The Substance is an upcoming American body horror film written and directed by Coralie Fargeat and starring Demi and Netflix's Maid actress Margaret Qualley, 27

So sad: Filming was meant to begin in May but after Ray Liotta joined the cast and shortly passed away after, production had to be re-evaluated and began again in August
Charlize Theron and Kerry Washington are responsible for shaping a new generation of heroes and villains in Netflix's upcoming film The School For Good And Evil.

In the upcoming adaptation of Soman Chainani's popular book series of the same name, Theron, 47, portrays Lady Lesso, head of the School for Evil while Washington, 45, plays Professor Dovey, head of the School for Good.

'Every so often, a very lucky candidate from the outside is selected for admission to this hallowed institution,' the Atomic Blonde star says in movie's first official trailer.

headmistresses: Charlize Theron and Kerry Washington are responsible for shaping a new generation of heroes and villains in Netflix's upcoming film The School for Good and Evil

Theron was referring to new students Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso), who dreams of being a princess, but is surprisingly placed in the School for Evil.

While her best friend, Agatha (Sofia Wylie) was placed in the School for Good, Sophie tries to explain she was getting 'all' she 'ever wanted by not settling for an 'ordinary life.'

Agatha seems to struggle to find her place at the school as she tells her headmaster that she doesn't 'belong here.'

Battle of good and evil: In the upcoming adaptation of Soman Chainani's popular book series of the same name, Theron, 47, portrays Lady Lesso, head of the School for Evil while Washington, 45, plays Professor Dovey, head of the School for Good

Former dreams of being a princess: Theron was referring to new students Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso), who dreams of being a princess, but is surprisingly placed in the School for Evil

Making it work: While her best friend, Agatha (Sofia Wylie) was placed in the School for Good, Sophie tries to explain she was getting 'all' she 'ever wanted by not settling for an 'ordinary life'

When a classmate assumes she is lost, Agatha jokes: 'That is an understatement.'

Meanwhile Sophie is forced to choose between good and evil as she seemingly takes a trip to the dark side.

'I'm tired of being pathetic little Sophie,' she says while looking into a mirror.

Finding her place: Agatha seems to struggle to find her place at the school as she tells her headmaster that she doesn't 'belong here'

Scary: In response to Sophie's incredible powers as she unleashes her evil side, the Schoolmaster warns: If Sophie becomes evil, none of us will survive

A man in the mirror responds: 'You can be more than you ever dreamed you could be... You won't just be the fairest of them all, you'll be the strongest.'

In response to Sophie's incredible powers as she unleashes her evil side, the Schoolmaster warns: If Sophie becomes evil, none of us will survive.

As Agatha desperately begs her former friend to stop letting evil control her, Sophie callously responds: 'But, I like the new me.'

Plot twist: As Agatha desperately begs her former friend to stop letting evil control her, Sophie callously responds: 'But, I like the new me'

Adjusting: When a classmate assumes she is lost, Agatha jokes: 'That is an understatement'

'Every so often, a very lucky candidate from the outside is selected for admission to this hallowed institution,' the Atomic Blonde star says in movie's first official trailer

Latest project: In March 2021, Washington told People she was 'super excited' to be in the movie

In March 2021, Washington told People she was 'super excited' to be in the movie.

'It's a fantasy land, so I'm actually having a lot of fun thinking about what the nails will look like for that character!' she said.

The film also stars Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Sofia Wylie and Kit Young.

The book is the first in a six-part saga released by Chainani, and was an instant New York Times bestseller when it was published in 2013.

The series has sold over 2.5 million copies and has been translated into 30 languages, with the final book in the series  named 'The School of Good and Evil: One True King'  was released by HarperCollins in 2020.

'It's a fantasy land, so I'm actually having a lot of fun thinking about what the nails will look like for that character!' she said

Star-studded cast: The film also stars Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Sofia Wylie and Kit Young
Rocker Teddy Gentry was arrested in Cherokee County, Alabama on Monday morning.

The 70-year-old, who is the bassist for the band Alabama, was charged with second degree unlawful possession of marijuana and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, according to law enforcement.

The two drug charges are both misdemeanors.

Booked: Alabama bassist Teddy Gentry was arrested in Cherokee County, Alabama on Monday morning

Gentry was arrested and booked at 10:38am and released just a half hour later at 11:06am.

The county sheriff said 'the arrest was made during a traffic stop,' AL.com reported.

His mugshot shows the sullen faced musician looking into the camera with a scruffy grey beard and dark brown hair. He was dressed in an orange prison uniform.

A rep for the bassist told the Associated Press that they were aware of the arrest but offered no further comment.

Bad news: The 70-year-old was charged with second degree unlawful possession of marijuana and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, according to law enforcement

Teddy, who is a resident of Fort Payne, is one of the founders of the band Alabama which was created in his hometown.

The famous group is a family affair, consisting of lead vocalist Randy Owen, Gentry on bass and vocals and Jeff Cook who plays guitar, fiddle, and keyboards. The trio are cousins.

Alabama formed in the late 1960s under a different name and then took on the southern state as their moniker in 1977.

They are known for hits such as Tennessee River, Mountain Music, Dixieland Delight and Song of the South.

The band stopped performing in the late 2000s but since reunited and is currently touring.

Their next scheduled concert date is on September 23 at the Ball Arena in Denver, Co - where, incidentally, recreational marijuana use is legal.

Alabama's performances are then scheduled through December and its unclear if Gentry's arrest will impact shows.
The National Healthcare Security Administration recently announced a number of measures aimed at making dental implants more affordable, including capping medical service fees per tooth at tertiary public hospitals to under 4,500 yuan ($650). Medical service expenditures of dental implantation, which currently stand around 6,000 to 9,000 yuan at public hospitals across the country, primarily contribute to the widespread impression that the procedure is expensive and overpriced, the administration said on Thursday. "Based on suggestions solicited from the public, the majority agree that price regulation should be implemented to bring the fee into a reasonable range," it said, adding that some also advise taking into consideration the value of technical skills and risks involved in the process, as well as the scarcity of specialists. While a general goal of lowering medical service fees to around 4,500 yuan has been set, the administration noted that more developed areas that see higher labor costs will be allowed to request a higher maximum limit based on local circumstances. The administration is also planning provincial-level bulk procurement of medical consumables such as replacement teeth and crowns to reduce patients' financial burden. For instance, high-end replacement teeth cost around 4,000 to 6,000 yuan per tooth, while a less costly tooth is priced at around 2,000 to 3,500 yuan at public hospitals. With improving living conditions and a quickly aging society, the demand for dental implants in China has registered double-digit growth in recent years, the administration said. It added that regional healthcare security authorities should also set up an alert system to detect irregular pricing of dental implants and expose institutions that stick to overpriced products or refuse to participate in bulk purchase programs. The administration also said that these new pricing measures will be first and foremost enforced at public hospitals, but private institutions are also asked to charge reasonable prices that comply with market competition rules as well as expectations of the public. Misleading promotional tactics such as using fake subsidies to swindle customers are strictly prohibited, and those committing such sales strategies will be exposed to the public.




North Korea on Tuesday called for increased cooperation among developing countries in order to scrap what it claims to be an "old and unfair" international economic order devised by the U.S. and the West.







The North made the call in a note posted on the website of its foreign ministry, marking the U.N. Day for South-South cooperation on Sept. 12 meant to underline the importance of cooperation among people and countries in the global South.







"In the past, the socio-economic growth and progress in the developing countries were hindered considerably by the old international economic order devised by the U.S. and the West to serve their interests," the English-language post read. "Strengthening South-South cooperation is the way out for the developing countries to abolish the old and unfair international economic order and to cast off political and economic yoke of the U.S. and the West."







"Our Republic, as in the past so in the future, will make every effort to further strengthen the friendly and cooperative relations with all the developing countries across the world," it added. (Yonhap)


Matt Hancock has reportedly signed up for the next series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.

The former heath secretary, 43, is said to have met with producers this month to work out the details of his appearance on the gruelling reality show.

This will make Mr Hancock the first MP to take part in the Channel 4 series, which sees contestants compete in a two-week intensive training course designed to replicate the UK Special Forces selection course.

Mr Hancock is said to be hoping to 'show a different' side of himself after he resigned from his post when it emerged he had broken social distancing rules and cheated on his wife with a senior aide last year.

New gig: Matt Hancock has reportedly signed up for the next series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins

A source told The Sun: 'Matt impressed Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins producers when he spoke to them and has now agreed to take part.

'He is the biggest name to have signed up for the next series and it is a real coup for the show.

'Matt knows there is a mixed perception of him in the public eye and he wants to go on the show to reveal a different side to himself.'

A spokesperson for Matt Hancock said: 'Matt gets a huge number of offers and is asked to appear on TV shows all the time but he has not signed up to anything.'

Challenge: The former heath secretary, 43, is said to have met with producers this month to work out the details of his appearance on then show

CCTV: Mr Hancock is said to be hoping to 'show a different' side of himself after he resigned from his post in disgrace after it emerged he had broken social distancing rules and cheated on his wife with a senior aide last year

Mr Hancock will be put through his paces on the show by former soldier Jason Fox and former US marine Rudy Reyes.

The politician is passionate about fitness and was regularly seen going for early morning runs around the capital while in government.

He previously vowed to whip the nation into shape during the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, citing the UK's obesity rates as a reason for high Covid deaths and hospitalisations.

He told The Sun: 'One of the reasons we've had such a bad time of Covid is that we're one of the fattest countries in Europe and we need to tackle that.

'The way to do that is supporting people and motivating people to do what's right for them and what's right by the NHS. It's a call to action, a national effort that we need.'

Tough: Hancock will be put through his paces on the show by former soldier Jason Fox and former US marine Rudy Reyes

Mr Hancock became Health Secretary in July 2018 and was retained in Boris Johnson's cabinet the following year.

He resigned as Health Secretary after it was discovered he had breached Covid-19 social distancing rules with Gina Coladangelo and was replaced in the role by Sajid Javid.

Hancock later latter admitted he had 'blown up every part of my life' after he was caught on CCTV cheating on his wife with his most senior aide.

The ex-health secretary was caught on camera passionately kissing his married aide and millionaire lobbyist Coladangelo against the door of his Whitehall office in June last year.

He lost his job when it emerged they were seeing each other despite her being his aide and them breaking social distancing rules that Mr Hancock had created.

In his first interview since quitting as health secretary and losing his wife over the affair, Mr Hancock apologised again to those he had hurt and admitted he had 'let people down'.

Speaking to ITV political editor Robert Peston on his show, Mr Hancock said: 'Well, as you can imagine, the first thing that I focused on was my personal life, and then I focused on my professional responsibilities, and I decided that I had to resign.

'I had blown up every part of my life and I concentrated on my personal life first as you can probably imagine. It was the right thing to do.'

Keeping fit: The politician is passionate about fitness and was regularly seen going for early morning runs around the capital while in government

The Hancocks, who married in 2006, had lived with their daughter, 14, and two sons, 13 and eight, in London and West Suffolk, until last year when Mr Hancock's affair was exposed.

After the footage emerged, Mr Hancock confirmed his resignation and said he wanted to 'reiterate his apology for breaking the guidance'.

He said: 'The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis.

'I want to reiterate my apology for breaking the guidance, and apologise to my family and loved ones for putting them through this. I also need (to) be with my children at this time.'

Affair: The Tory MP was exposed in June cheating on his wife Martha after he was caught kissing Ms Coladangelo, who he had appointed as an adviser (pictured in 2019)

And a letter issued to the public read: 'I am writing to resign as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

'We have worked so hard as a country to fight the pandemic. The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis.'

The most recent series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins is currently airing with the likes of Ashley Cain, AJ and Curtis Pritchard, Ferne McCann and Maisie Smith taking part.

Love Island winner Amber Gill was the first contestant eliminated while TOWIE star Pete Wicks was forced to medically withdraw after he knocked himself unconscious and broke his ribs during a challenge.
Katie Price looked sensational as she stripped down to some lime-hued lingerie on a shoot for her OnlyFans page in Spain on Tuesday.

The model, 44, kept her fans up to date after jetting off to the country on Monday, taking to her Instagram Stories to share a short clip of herself in her underwear.

Reality star Katie said: 'So, I'm getting ready for my OnlyFans shoot, love it!', as she panned the camera to ensure her followers got a full glimpse at her slimline figure and elaborate body art.

Looking good: Katie Price, 44, looked sensational as she stripped down to some lime-hued lingerie on a shoot for her OnlyFans page in Spain on Tuesday

Katie's lingerie featured delicate lace detail and black ribbons which crossed over her body.

She went for a glamorous look with her make-up and wore her long blonde hair in loose curls.

The former Celebrity Big Brother housemate looked sensational as she posed in a swimsuit while lounging by the pool on Monday after arriving in Spain.

Strike a pose: The model kept her fans up to date after jetting off to the country on Monday, taking to her Instagram Stories to share a short clip of herself in her underwear

On set: Katie said: 'So, I'm getting ready for my OnlyFans shoot, love it!', as she panned the camera to ensure her followers got a full glimpse at her slimline figure and elaborate body art

She shared several clips to her Instagram Stories, giving her 2.6 million fans an update on her work trip.

Katie sported a glam makeup palette while styling her blonde locks straight in the sizzling video.

Speaking to the camera, she said: 'What an exciting day, I'm on my way to Spain for a day to do an OnlyFans shoot. I love it!'

Keeping in touch: It comes after Katie kept her fans in the loop as she touched down in Spain for an OnlyFans photoshoot on Monday

In the next clip Katie explained: 'So here I am at the villa, looking at a beautiful view and I can't wait to do the photoshoot tomorrow.

Followers originally paid 11-a-month to access her site but last month Katie slashed the subscription price to 6.30 in an attempt to rake in some new subscribers.

It comes after an emotional Katie hit back at trolls who accused her of fabricating the story about being raped at gunpoint in South Africa.

Getaway: The former glamour model shared several clips to her Instagram Stories, giving her 2.6 million fans an update on her work trip

During an appearance on Steph's Packed Lunch last week, Katie declared that she 'didn't make any of it up' and is constantly branded a 'liar'.

Katie, who is set to detail her traumatic ordeal in a hard-hitting Channel 4 documentary, previously revealed to MailOnline that she was raped at gunpoint during a 2018 carjacking, which led her to suffer a mental breakdown.

The television personality, who is set to detail her traumatic ordeal in a hard-hitting Channel 4 documentary, previously revealed to MailOnline that she was raped at gunpoint during a 2018 carjacking, which led her to suffer a mental breakdown.

Having her say: An emotional Katie recently hit back at trolls who accused her of fabricating the story about being raped at gunpoint in South Africa

Hitting back at trolls who have accused her of making up her traumatic stories, she told Steph: 'I can't make kidnap threats, you can't make up these situations, they're events. Facts. They are real horrific things.

'I don't make any of it up. Everyone knows me, I've been called a liar so many times and the truth always come out. I'm not here for sympathy.'

'It was horrific being held at gunpoint. It was horrific. That was three years ago.'

Elsewhere in the interview she spoke about her mental health battle contributed to her drink-drive crash in her BMW last September.

She explained: 'If I was happier, I wouldn't do something stupid. That night. I'm not even a big drinker. I got a phone call which I didn't like and I got in the car.'

It comes after earlier last week Katie revealed that she attempted suicide after suffering from 'anxiety, depression and major trauma' following her horrific 2018 carjacking.

The reality star admitted she hit rock bottom after she was raped at gunpoint during the ordeal and tried to hang herself, but after passing out she 'saw her kids faces' and realised she 'never wanted it to happen again.'

Katie is mother to sons Harvey, 20, Junior, 17, and Jett, nine, and daughters Princess, 15, and Bunny, eight.
Sylvester Stallone cut a casual figure as he enjoyed a shopping spree in Rome on Tuesday.

The actor, 76, wore a black polo shirt and a pair of denim jeans which he teamed with some colourful red and blue cowboy boots.

Hollywood heavyweight Sly shielded his eyes behind a pair of silver mirrored sunglasses as he shopped in Brunello Cucinelli's store accompanied by a couple of friends and a bodyguard.

Out and about: Sylvester Stallone cut a casual figure as he enjoyed a shopping spree in Rome on Tuesday accompanied by some friends and a bodyguard

His salt and pepper hair was swept to one side and he appeared in good spirits during his trip to Europe.

The Rocky actor was spoiled for choice during his trip to the Italian luxury fashion brand while he viewed a collection of menswear.

As the filmmaker made his way to the Roman street - a soldier on guard recognised Sly and saluted him at attention.

Later that afternoon he was seen strolling through the Piazza di Spagna, appearing in good spirits waving at fans and onlookers.

What to wear? The Rocky actor was spoiled for choice during his trip to the Italian luxury fashion brand while he viewed a collection of menswear

Luxury: Sly viewed a selection of goods at the popular store

Company: Sylvester was accompanied by a member of his security team and some friends as he left the store

Shades: Hollywood heavyweight Sly shielded his eyes behind a pair of silver mirrored sunglasses

Sylvester put his domestic disputes to one side on Sunday as the actor made a welcome appearance at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

The actor, whose separation from wife Jennifer Flavin, 54, was confirmed in August, was in a buoyant mood as he made his way across the paddock for an informal chat with the Red Bull team.

Respect: As the filmmaker made his way the Roman street - a soldier on guard recognised Sly and saluted him at attention

He looked relaxed as he greeted onlookers before introducing himself to Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner, the husband of Spice Girl Geri Horner.

The musclebound star, best known for his role as punch-drunk boxer Rocky Balboa, is going through a rocky patch after Flavin, his wife of 25-years and the mother of his three daughters, filed for divorce.

According to divorce documents obtained by DailyMail.com, she claims Stallone 'has engaged in the intentional dissipation, depletion and/or waste of marital assets which has had an adverse economic impact on the marital estate.

Chirpy: He seemed in good spirits as he waved at fans and onlookers

'Moreover, the Husband should be enjoined from, selling, transferring, assigning, encumbering, or dissipating any assets during the pendency of proceedings.'

Jennifer, who took her husband's last name, is also seeking to restore her maiden name, Flavin.

'I love my family. We are amicably and privately addressing these personal issues,' Sly told DailyMail.com in a statement via his publicist.

Greetings: Stallone joined Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner for a photo at Autodromo Nazionale Monza ahead of the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday amid his troubles

However Flavin said in divorce docs: 'The marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken.'

The former couple married on May 17, 1997 at the posh Dorchester Hotel in London, and with Stallone's reputation as a playboy, few predicted they would last long.

'I'm not naive about what may go on when I'm not around  he's a 45-year-old man  I can't change the way he is,' Flavin told People at the time.

All over: Jennifer Flavin has filed for divorce from Stallone after 25 years of marriage

'Still, he's not a cheating dog every day of the week,' she added. 'We spend five out of seven nights together, so I don't know where he'd find the time.'

But last it did and just this May they celebrated their silver wedding anniversary. The marriage produced three daughters, Sophia, now 25, Sistine, 24, and Scarlet, 20.

He also had two sons with first wife Sasha Czack, Sage, who died of coronary artery disease in 2012 aged 36, and Seargeoh, 43.
Georgia Harrison left little to the imagination as she stepped out at the Boohoo x Kourtney Kardashian Launch Party in London on Tuesday.

The former Love Island star, 27, put on a show-stopping display in a sheer grey jumpsuit, embellished with floral and heart patterns and featuring flared trousers.

She went braless as she posed up a storm in the figure-hugging ensemble and slung an olive leather jacket across her shoulders to complete the look.

Wow! Georgia Harrison left little to the imagination as she stepped out at the Boohoo x Kourtney Kardashian Launch Party on Tuesday

Georgia added a few extra inches to her frame with a pair of black strapped heels and clutched a brown handbag with a silver chain strap in one hand.

She let her sensational ensemble do all the talking as she kept her accessories simple with a gold watch, hoop earrings and a dainty green Van Cleef necklace.

The TV personality styled her golden tresses in a half-up half-down style, with her locks secured away from her face with an olive green scrunchie.

She accentuated her natural good looks with lashings of mascara and opted for a slick of pink lipstick for the event.

Sizzling: The former Love Island star, 27, put on a revealing display in a sheer grey jumpsuit, embellished with floral and heart patterns and featuring flared trousers

Jessica Hayes also put on an equally stylish display at the launch party as she stepped out with her boyfriend, who she has just moved in with.

Jessica ensured all eyes were on her in a black corset-style top and leather-look trousers, which she teamed with beige heels and a houndstooth jacket.

The TV personality slung a matching black jacket over one arm and accessorised with a green Van Cleef necklace.

She bolstered her striking features with a glamorous make-up palette and styled her rouge locks down in loose waves.

All eyes on her: She went braless as she posed up a storm in the figure-hugging ensemble and slung an olive leather jacket across her shoulders to complete the look

Stylish: Georgia added a few extra inches to her frame with a pair of black strapped heels and clutched a brown handbag with a silver chain strap in one hand

Show-stopping: Elsewhere at the event, Jessica Hayes put on an equally stylish display as she stepped out with her boyfriend, who she has just moved in with

Jessica appeared to be in excellent spirits as she walked alongside her mystery boyfriend, whose identity is yet to be disclosed.

He kept it casual in black jeans and a grey long-sleeved jumper, which he styled with white trainers for the outing.

Ahead of the event, Jessica said the pair were having a 'break from unpacking' as they headed to the event after confirming they had moved in together.

Their romance comes after Jessica confirmed her split from partner of three years Dan Lawry in May last year, which came just six months after they tragically lost their second child - a baby boy named Teddy - 19 weeks into pregnancy.

Stylish: The TV personality slung a matching black jacket over one arm and accessorised with a green Van Cleef necklace

Beauty: Jessica ensured all eyes were on her in a black corset-style top and leather-look trousers, which she teamed with beige heels and a houndstooth jacket

Gorgeous: She bolstered her striking features with a glamorous make-up palette and styled her rouge locks down in loose waves

Elsewhere at the event, Love Island's Summer Botwe put on a sensational display in a black-and-white ensemble.

She showed off her incredible figure in a clinging back long-sleeved jumpsuit, which she wore beneath a black corset top.

The Casa Amor bombshell kept comfortable in a pair of black trainers and slung an oversized white rain jacket over her ensemble.

She accessorised with a silver necklace with a 'S' initial on it and kept her essentials in a small black handbag.

Gorgeous: Elsewhere at the event, Love Island's Summer Botwe put on a sensational display in a black-and-white ensemble

Sensational: She showed off her incredible figure in a clinging back long-sleeved jumpsuit, which she wore beneath a black corset top

Vision: The Casa Amor bombshell kept comfortable in a pair of black trainers and slung an oversized white rain jacket over her ensemble

Summer styled her dark tresses in a tight high-bun, while she let two strands fall loosely and frame her features.

She accentuated her natural good looks with a touch of bronzer and a slick of beige lipstick at the Boohoo x Kourtney Kardashian launch party.

Summer was joined by her fellow Love Islanders Coco Lodge and Chyna Mills, who cut equally glamorous displays.

Coco flaunted her taut abs in leather-look trousers and a cropped white long-sleeved shirt, which she teamed with black heeled boots.

Sensational: Love Island's Coco Lodge flaunted her taut abs in leather-look trousers and a cropped white long-sleeved shirt, which she teamed with black heeled boots

Beauty: She showed off her good looks with a dusting of nude make-up and styled her brunette locks loosely in a straight fashion

She showed off her good looks with a dusting of nude make-up and styled her brunette locks loosely in a straight fashion.

Meanwhile, Chyna - who is said to be dating Strictly's Neil Jones - looked effortlessly chic in distressed denim wide leg jeans and a white corset top.

She slung a white blazer over her shoulders and kept her essentials in a cream handbag, while she opted for a pair of white and red trainers.

Dazzling: Meanwhile, Chyna - who is said to be dating Strictly's Neil Jones - looked effortlessly chic in distressed denim wide leg jeans and a white corset top

Chyna slicked her dark tresses back into a tight bun and flashed the peace sign as she showed off her stunning features.

The Boohoo x Kourtney Kardashian launch party comes after Kourtney was mocked online for launching a 'sustainable collab' with the brand.

Earlier this month, Kourtney's appointment as a 'sustainability ambassador' for the fast fashion brand Boohoo was slammed on on social media.

Laid back: Emily Miller kept it casual in leather-look trousers and an oversized black hooded jumper, which she paired with a houndstooth jacket

Good spirits: Emily opted for a vibrant yellow handbag slung over her shoulders and appeared to be in good spirits

The US reality star, 43, was announced as the new ambassador of the UK-based retailer, teaming up with the brand on a partnership focused on sustainable, conscious practices which will see the launch of two 46 limited edition piece collections.

After the collaboration was announced social media went into overdrive, pointing out the Kardashian's family reputation for excess, while some slammed Boohoo for using the celebrity association to 'greenwash' its reputation.

Criticism: It comes after Kourtney Kardashian's appointment as a 'sustainability ambassador' for the fast fashion brand Boohoo was slammed on on social media

Kourtney said in a statement: 'When boohoo first approached me with this idea that was all about sustainability and style, I was concerned about the effects of the fast fashion industry on our planet.

'It's been an enlightening experience speaking directly with industry experts.'

'There's still lots of work to be done and improvements to be made, but I truly believe that any progress we can make when it comes to sustainability is a step in the right direction and will open up the conversation for future advancements,' Kourtney added.

The first of two collections will include 46 limited-edition pieces using recycled fibers, traceable cotton, recycled sequins and recycled polyester, which debuted at New York Fashion Week on September 13.

Having a laugh: After the collaboration was announced social media went into overdrive, pointing out the Kardashian's family reputation for excess

Looking good: One user said that Boohoo was looking to greenwash its reputation in using the star, who is teaming up with the brand on a partnership focused on sustainable practices

The collaboration has been heavily critcised though with one tweeter summing it up as: 'A private-jetting Kardashian worth $65 million is now 'sustainability ambassador' for fossil fuel fashion brand boohoo, where she'll chat 'with sustainability experts to better understand challenges and opportunities in the fashion industry.' We absolutely KANNOT.'

'BOOHOO MAKING MORE S*** IS NOT SUSTAINABLE IN ANY WAY ... Using a Kardashian is the perfect overconsumption tactic ... Greenwashing us with a popular celebrity so no one has to do any critical thinking because she's clearly done it all for us,' pointed out another.

'This can't be real life ... A Kardashian as the sustainability advisor?? This rock in space is actually done for ... This is the literal perfect culmination of all the crap Boohoo can possibly do rolled into one.'

Unserious: Another user said that the company's decision to appoint a reality star as opposed to an established sustainability person indicated its general apathy toward the issue

Another user said that the company's decision to appoint a reality star as opposed to an established sustainability person indicated its general apathy toward the issue.

'Boo Hoo's new sustainability advisor???' the user wrote. 'This is how you know they don't give a f***. If they cared they'd pick an actual sustainability person instead of a reality tv star. We are in hell. I'm convinced.'

One user noted that the brand, in its stated mission to promote sustainability, hired 'someone promoting over consumption and capitalism,' which came off as 'insulting' to those truly passionate about environmental causes.

'This is insulting to an entire community working tirelessly to educate / change / provide alternative solutions / invest in climate positive solutions - to hire someone promoting over consumption and capitalism is beyond absurd! Not that Boohoo cares.. They don't deserve our work,' the user said.

Poor mascot? One user noted that the brand, in its stated mission to promote sustainability, hired 'someone promoting over consumption and capitalism'

Not buying it: The first of two collections will include 46 limited-edition pieces using recycled fibers, traceable cotton, recycled sequins and recycled polyester

Staying up to date: Kardashian spoke about 'worker welfare' and 'textile waste' in a segment on Booho's YouTube

Boohoo released a promotional clip for the collab on its YouTube channel, showcasing Kardashian modeling different fashions in the line in addition to chats with friends and experts about her goal with the new endeavor.

'Reusing, repurposing, like I don't have all the answers but just like opening up to have these conversations and get it started is really important,' Kardashian said.

She added: 'I am so excited to share everything that I've been learning on this journey with the world and just trying to like broaden the conversation and hopefully make a difference.'

Boohoo was named one of the least sustainable fashion brands by the UK Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee in 2019.

The brand later promised they had a 'clear strategy' for being more sustainable.

The retailer's CEO John Lyttle told the BBC last year that '20% of all our ranges will be sustainable this autumn... 40% next spring/summer.'

In addition, it was alleged in 2020 that some factories in the UK working for the firm were paying staff as little as 3.50 an hour and had working conditions which did not meet lockdown restrictions.
Kourtney Kardashian shrugged off a controversy over fast fashion as she modeled sexy new styles from her collaboration with Boohoo on Tuesday.

The reality star, 43, turned up in the heat in a series of photos and a video to promote the collection which is being released as Boohoo by Kourtney Kardashian Barker.

In her caption the beauty defended working for the 'fast fashion' company adding she 'knew it would get backlash' but realized that 'fast fashion, or the fashion industry in general, isnt going anywhere.' She also said that she has brought 'attention' to the issue and has been successful in 'pushing' Boohoo to make changes.

Controversy: Kourtney Kardashian,43, shrugged off a controversy over fast fashion as she modeled sexy new styles from her collaboration with BooHoo Tuesday

The influencer showed off her toned tummy and legs in a sheer black lace slip dress with a faux leather coat and high heel boots in one look.

She adopted a secret-agent persona for her snap in a faux alligator leather trench coat. In both looks The Kardashians star slicked her hair back into a French twist and wore dark sunglasses.

Her makeup showcased Kourtney's flawless complexion, but was neutral so as to keep the focus on the clothes.

A third look showed the influencer stunned in an oversized black pinstripe suit. She declined to wear a top under the jacket, displaying a glimpse of her cleavage.

Sexy styles: The reality star, 43, turned up in the heat in a series of photos and a video to promote the collection, including this two piece pinstripe suit, which is being released as BOOHOO by KOURTNEY KARDASHIAN BARKER

Secret agent: Kourtney adopted a secret-agent persona for her snap in a faux alligator leather trench coat with dark sunglasses

In my defence: Hours before her NYFW show on Tuesday, Kourtney took to her Instagram to address the backlash

The newlywed, who tied the knot with her vegan husband Travis Barker in May, admitted in a lengthy Instagram post that she struggled over whether to collaborate with the fast fashion brand, but ultimately decided to move forward.

'The first thing I think about when I hear the words fast fashion is that its bad for our planet, she explained.

'BooHoo approached me to be a sustainability ambassador, and though I knew it would get backlash because the two just dont go hand in hand, I thought about the fact that fast fashion, or the fashion industry in general, isnt going anywhere.

'I thought about the attention this collaboration would bring to people who may otherwise have no idea about the impacts of fast fashion on our planet.'

She then said she 'pushed' Boohoo to make changes.

Reluctance: In a lengthy Instagram post, The Kardashians star admitted reluctance is collaborating on the collection because 'The first thing I think about when I hear the words fast fashion is that its bad for our planet'

And she held them accountable to larger change that would be impactful.

'Its definitely making some noise which is exactly what I was hoping for. I certainly dont have all the answers, but for someone who has done a fast fashion line collaboration in the past, which didnt get backlash because I was not calling attention to trying to make better changes, I feel proud about doing it with intention and purpose,' Kourtney added.

She then said that she invited experts who have ideas and suggestions to reach out.

'I want to help and from my experience so far working with the team I work with at Boohoo, they do too. I will be elaborating on their changes, how weve made this line more sustainable, and what Ive learned we as consumers can do to help all to come!' she ended the note.

Pollution: According to Earth.org, 'Fashion and its supply chain is the third largest polluting industry, after food and construction, emitting 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions

The clothing, which is sold in the US and in the UK will mostly likely lure customers with their low prices. Both pieces in the suit retail for $18 each. The slip dress sells for $25 while the coats retail for $90 and $95 respectively.

According to Earth.org, 'Fashion and its supply chain is the third largest polluting industry, after food and construction. It emitted 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, releasing 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, more than the shipping and the aviation industry combined.'

The Poosh founder said she was approached to be a 'sustainability ambassador' for the brand, decided to push for some changes and hold them accountable.

Not going anywhere: Ultimate, Kourtney decided to accept the title of 'sustainability ambassador' because 'fast fashion, or the fashion industry in general, isnt going anywhere'

'I certainly dont have all the answers, The Kardashians star admitted, 'but for someone who has done a fast fashion line collaboration in the past, which didnt get backlash because I was not calling attention to trying to make better changes, I feel proud about doing it with intention and purpose.'

She then invited any experts to come forward with their ideas and suggestions.

Her followers seemed to be appeased by the message, giving approving comments on social media.

Approval: The Poosh founder's followers seemed to be appeased by Kourtney's online post, giving approving comments on social media

'I love this and you!' came from the Alice + Olivia brand, and 'LOVE this. Cant wait to see your collection tonight,' from model Allie Rizzo Sartiano.

Boohoo sought to soften any criticism, releasing a fast paced video on social media, showing even more looks with the designer.

The company posted, 'A collaboration to discover sustainability and style ranging from sizes 6-28 and XS-XXXL.'
Sam Faiers and her sister Billie Shepherd have revealed time their mother Suzie Wells was rushed to hospital with life-threatening sepsis.

Former The Only Way Is Essex stars Sam, 31, and Billie, 32, said their mother's water infection 'massively deteriorated', prompting her to be hospitalised.

The siblings said their parent was experiencing excruciating back pains and was 'delirious' before doctors diagnosed her.

Traumatic: Sam Faiers (left) and her sister Billie Shepherd (right) have recalled the harrowing time their mother Suzie Wells (centre) was rushed to hospital with life-threatening sepsis

They said on their podcast The Sam and Billie Show: 'Our mum wasnt very well. It started last week, she had a water infection and it got worse and worse which resulted in it going into mums kidneys.

'So we took her to A&E because she massively deteriorated.

'She had antibiotics and it wasnt working. I managed to speak to a doctor and I told him all of her symptoms so he told me to take her to A&E because she needs medical attention.

Worries: Former The Only Way Is Essex stars Sam, 31, and Billie, 32, said their mother's water infection 'massively deteriorated', prompting her to be hospitalised

'Basically the water infection had got so bad that it turned into sepsis.'

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused when the body releases chemicals to fight an infection.

These chemicals damage the body's own tissues and organs and can lead to shock, organ failure and death.

Scare: It comes after their estranged father Lee, 60, (pictured) was reportedly hospitalised after suffering a heart attack in recent weeks

Organ failure and death are more likely if sepsis is not recognised early and treated immediately.

Suzie is now home and and has recovered from her ordeal, with the sisters adding: 'Mum was in the hospital for about 15 hours in total and they flushed her system through.

'Shes on the mend which is really good.'

It comes after Sam and Billie's estranged father is 'lucky to be alive after suffering a heart attack' just weeks ago.

Both Billie and Sam have remained estranged from their biological father Lee, 60, since he and their mother Suzie split when they were toddlers.

A source told the publication: 'Lee is lucky to be alive. His family were terrified and thought they were going to lose him. It's been a big wake-up call.

'Lee loves his girls. Whether they speak or not, they're still his daughters.

'You can argue about silly things, but the heart attack made him realise life is very precious and it can be taken away at any point. You only get one life.'
It was recently reported that she has split from her long-term boyfriend Sam Arnold.

But Rose Ayling-Ellis appeared to be in good spirits as she touched down in the Maldives with her pals for a sun-filled getaway.

The EastEnders actress, 27, took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday to share an array of sizzling bikini snaps from her relaxing holiday.

Stunning: Rose Ayling-Ellis appeared to be in good spirits as she touched down in the Maldives with her pals for a sun-filled getaway

She flaunted her incredible figure in a red bandeau bikini top with matching bottoms as she got out of the sea after snorkelling.

Rose let her damp brunette tresses fall loosely across her shoulders and showed off her fresh-faced beauty as she soaked up the sun.

She clutched a snorkel in one hand and flashed a huge grin while climbing up a set of wooden steps out of the sea.

A second picture showed her standing in the middle of the crystal clear ocean and she joked in a caption that the snaps showed 'Instagram VS reality'.

Sea views: A second picture showed her standing in the middle of the crystal clear ocean and she joked in a caption that the snaps showed 'Instagram VS reality'

Rose described the Maldives as 'heaven' as she shared a photograph of the stunning sea views after arriving in her hotel with her pal.

Her holiday comes after she met her former pro dance partner Giovanni Pernice's family in Italy after reportedly splitting from her long-term boyfriend Sam Arnold.

The TV star had been with her partner Sam for seven years, with him cheering her on as she lifted the glitterball trophy with partner Giovanni last year.

In a snap from the trip, Rose beamed beside Giovanni and his sister Angela at her dance studio in Sicily, as well as being joined by Strictly's Anton Du Beke.

Relaxing: Rose described the Maldives as 'heaven' as she shared a snap of the stunning sea views after arriving in her hotel with her pal

Giovanni was reportedly filming a new BBC1 travel show with Anton, 56, when Rose turned up to surprise the pair.

It comes following Rose's reported split from her long-term boyfriend Sam.

According to The Sun, the couple have called it quits, with Sam leaning on Rose's pal and CBeebies host Aimee Campbell-Nottage for support.

A friend told the publication: 'Rose and Sam's relationship is definitely over, it's very amicable and they'll remain close friends, but unfortunately there is no future for them romantically.

Meet-up: Her holiday comes after she met her former pro dance partner Giovanni Pernice's family in Italy after reportedly splitting from her long-term boyfriend Sam Arnold

Split: The EastEnders actress, 27, had been with her partner Sam for seven years, with him cheering her on as she lifted the glitterball trophy with partner Giovanni (pictured) last year

They continued: 'They spent a lot of time apart while Rose was away on tour, which has had an impact. It's been difficult for them both, of course, but they're certain it's the right move  and Sam's had a shoulder to cry on in their mutual friend Aimee.'

The source added that Rose has been throwing herself into her work as she has been inundated with offers after Strictly.

MailOnline contacted representatives for Rose for comment at the time.

It came after Rose's friends expressed doubt over the couple's future due to their busy work schedules and said they were worried the infamous Strictly curse would strike again.

Sad: But Rose has reportedly split from her long-term boyfriend Sam (pictured together)

Rose - who has kept her relationship fairly private over the years - holidayed in Barcelona by herself earlier this year.

A source told the publication: 'Rose and Sam drifted apart, especially after she became so busy with work projects and was in-demand with new work opportunities.

'They still have a lot of love and respect for each other, but they're also still young and working out their lives.

Travel: In 2019, the couple went on holiday to Peru where Rose shared a snap of the relaxing in the Huacachina desert together

'Rose went to Barcelona on her own to gather her thoughts and think about what she wanted. They have both grown as people since they first starting dating.

'This is Rose's moment and she is grabbing life by the horns, focusing on her career and taking any opportunity that she can.'

The Strictly curse sees couples who appear on the show break up with their partners after appearing on the programme.
Jedward have sparked a furious backlash from former Coronation Street actor Charlie Lawson over the twins' recent social media posts about the monarchy after the death of the Queen.

Former X Factor stars John and Edward Grimes, 30, called for the royal family to be abolished just days after Charles became King, after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Thursday.

The duo took to Twitter on Saturday, demanding King Charles III 'give the people real democracy' and 'hand back' the six counties of Northern Ireland, just days after the brothers were criticised for sharing 'insensitive' comments about the Queen's health before she passed away.

Now, actor Charlie, 62 - who played Jim McDonald in Corrie across a number of stints from 1989 to 2018 - has hit back at Jedward's tweet which read: 'King Charles should hand back the six Irish counties on his visit to Northern Ireland - No war! Just words! It's time.'

Unimpressed: Jedward have sparked a backlash from former Coronation Street actor Charlie Lawson over the twins' social media posts about the monarchy after the death of the Queen

The screen star responded: 'Shut up y'pair of t**ts!!'

The brothers were inundated with responses from the public who were unimpressed with their stance.

One follower wrote: 'Any chance you two could just be quiet? It is not Ireland's place to call for the abolishment of the monarchy of another country. What about Andorra, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden?'

Controversial: John and Edward Grimes, 30, called for the royal family to be abolished days after Charles became King, after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died in Scotland on Thursday

Other outraged Twitter users added: 'British affairs are nothing to do with the Republic of Ireland or Planet Jedward so do one'; 'What has this got to do with Ireland and YOU?';

'The monarch doesn't 'rule' in that sense of the word. We are a democracy!'; 'Guys your embarrassing yourselves now enough enough!'; 'Whoever is babysitting these two clowns needs to be reprimanded.'

Another outraged user posted: 'I do hope you don't mean that and this is some pathetic excuse to get clicks . I'm Irish and I don't think you have any say in what the uk want. Expected better boys.'

'Luckily you're Irish lads, so you don't have a monarchy to abolish! Chill!,' another added.

Honest: The Irish twins took to Twitter on Saturday to voice their opinion and asked the new king to 'give the people real democracy'

The monarch's death was confirmed on Thursday evening as a Buckingham Palace spokesman said: 'The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow'.

The Queen's son Charles, the former Prince of Wales, is now King Charles III, as the world grieves his mother, Britain's longest-reigning monarch.

Jedward's posts come just days after the pair came under fire on social media for sharing 'insensitive' comments about the Queen's health after it was revealed doctors are 'concerned' for her health.

On Thursday the pair took to Twitter to speculate about the Queen's condition in a set of tweets deemed 'not appropriate' by enraged followers.

All Her Majesty's children had rushed to Balmoral today after doctors became 'concerned' for her health. Hours later she died, surrounded by her family.

Under fire: The former X Factor duo were criticised for sharing 'insensitive' comments about the Queen 's health before she passed away

In one tweet, they joked new Prime Minister Liz Truss 'must have done something' on her visit to see the Queen at Balmoral Castle on Tuesday - referencing Her Majesty's decline in health.

Their first tweet read: 'The Queen is Dead?'

The twins then posted another, which said: 'Liz Truss must have done something on that visit to the Queen!'

Furious Twitter users were quick to pile on the criticism as they slammed the musicians for their 'really not funny' and 'inappropriate' comments.

They fumed that Jedward should be 'ashamed of themselves' and argued it was not the time for 'sassy jokes' as people flocked to condemn the brothers.

'Not appropriate': Jedward took to Twitter on Thursday to speculate about the Queen's health in a set of tweets deemed 'not appropriate' by enraged followers

'Really not funny': In one tweet, they joked new Prime Minister Liz Truss 'must have done something' on her visit to see the Queen at Balmoral Castle on Tuesday

The Queen's death will see Britain and her Commonwealth realms enter into a ten-day period of mourning as millions of her subjects in the UK and abroad come to terms with her passing.

And as her son accedes to the throne, there will also be a celebration of her historic 70-year reign that saw her reach her Platinum Jubilee this year - a landmark unlikely to be reached again by a British monarch.

Charles, the King, said: 'The death of my beloved mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family.

'We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished sovereign and a much-loved mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world.

'During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which the Queen was so widely held.'
Jordana Brewster seemed to be in a summer mood when she went out for coffee in Los Angeles on Monday.

The 42-year-old Fast & Furious star wore a white summer dress, paired with tan sandals, a blue crystal necklace, and black sunglasses. She had her brunette hair up in a pony tail, while carrying her purse and coffee around town.

This sighting comes just after the beauty wed Mason Morfit.

Summer fun: Jordana Brewster is feeling the summer vibes, during a coffee date in Los Angeles. The 42-year-old Fast & Furious star wore a white summer dress, paired with tan sandals, a blue crystal necklace and black sunglasses

The star - who is best known for playing Mia Toretto in the blockbuster action franchise F&F - got hitched surrounded by her cast mates and loved ones at Redondo Beach in California in early September, and even had some of the cars from the films on display.

Among her co-stars in attendance were Vin Diesel and Ludacris, while the late Paul Walker's daughter, Meadow, was also there.

Along with a picture of the aforementioned trio at the wedding, rapper-and-actor Ludacris posted a tear-jerking caption about Paul - who tragically died in a horrific car crash aged 40 in 2013 - that read:

'My Brother @paulwalker is Smiling Down From Heaven. His Daughter @meadowwalker is EVERYTHING the World Created Her to Be. Legacy Lives On.'

Meadow shared the same snap and simply wrote: 'Family.'

on cloud nine: The Fast and Furious actress - who is best known for playing Mia Toretto in the blockbuster action franchise - got hitched surrounded by her cast mates and loved ones at Redondo Beach in California, and even had some of the cars from the films on display

The brunette bride wore a breathtaking gown by Carolina Herrera with an embroidered strapless bodice and a lengthy veil.

The groom, meanwhile, donned a classic tuxedo with a giant bow tie.

The 42-year-old actress announced her engagement to Mason last September, and she's determined to savor 'each step' of their romance.

Jordana- who was previously married to film producer Andrew Form between 2007 and 2020 - explained: "It feels really exciting. I'm starting to plan and I'm going to take it really slowly and I'm going to really savour each step.

Fast & furious family: Among her co-stars in attendance were Vin Diesel and Ludacris, while the late Paul Walker's daughter, Meadow, was also there

'I'm actually going to have an engagement party and I have a Pinterest for the dress and I'm doing all the girly girly stuff I never did. So I'm really excited.'

Asked how she knew that Mason was the perfect man for her, Jordana said: 'That was just a given. Yeah, there was no second guessing.'

Jordana previously admitted that Mason's proposal was 'super romantic and traditional.'

The 'American Heist' star revealed that the proposal was only witnessed by the couple themselves and their puppy.

It's love: This sighting comes just after the beauty wed Mason Morfit; seen in 2021

She said: 'It occurred a couple of weeks ago, and it was super romantic and traditional. And it was...It was really awesome. 'And it was just the two of us, and my puppy was there.'

Jordana also gushed over her relationship with Mason, admitting she feels 'completely safe and loved' by the businessman.

Asked to reveal the best part of their romance, Jordana replied: 'Where do I start? It just  he makes me blush. But one of the things that I really love about our relationship is that we're growing together. And that he pushes me to be better, and I push him to be better.

'And we have a partnership where I feel completely safe and loved. And that feels amazing.'
Ryan Reynolds revealed doctors discovered an 'extremely subtle polyp' during a 'potentially life-saving' colonoscopy, after undergoing the procedure with Rob McElhenney for a new YouTube video.

The Deadpool star, 45, decided to share his experience having the vital check to raise awareness for colon cancer, but joked he only agreed to publicly broadcast the procedure if McElhenney learned Welsh.

'It's a simple step that could literally, and I mean literally, save your life,' the father-of-three told viewers of the medical screening, that sees doctors examine the rectum and lower bowel for abnormalities and disease.

Awareness: Ryan Reynolds revealed doctors discovered an 'extremely subtle polyp' during a 'potentially life-saving' colonoscopy, after undergoing the procedure for a YouTube video

After the 30-minute exam, Reynolds was told by his doctor that they found an 'extremely subtle polyp,' a growth of cells that typically do not cause any symptoms.

Certain types of polyps can develop into cancer, meaning doctors usually recommend that they are removed.

'This was potentially life-saving for you  I'm not kidding, I'm not being overly dramatic,' Ryan's doctor told him, adding: 'This is exactly why you do this. You had no symptoms.'

After removing the polyp, Ryan's doctor noted: 'You are interrupting the natural history of a disease of something of a process that could have ended up developing into cancer and causing all sorts of problems.'

Screening: The Deadpool star, 45, revealed he only agreed to publicly broadcast the procedure if McElhenney, also 45, learned Welsh

'It's a simple step that could literally, and I mean literally, save your life,' the father-of-three told viewers of the medical screening

Funny: McElhenney couldn't help but poke fun at his pal, who joked he couldn't 'go wrong in terms of comparing' himself to Reynolds

McElhenney couldn't help but poke fun at his pal, who joked he couldn't 'go wrong in terms of comparing' himself to Reynolds.

'They either find nothing and that means my colon was cleaner than his, or they find a polyp and it's either bigger than his, which is awesome, or it's smaller than his, which means I had less of an opportunity to have cancer  either way, I win,' he joked.

While McElhenney had three polyps, he were told they 'were not a big deal.'

Cheeky: Ahead of undergoing the procedure, Rob joked: 'They either find nothing and that means my colon was cleaner than his, or they find a polyp'

Doing good: The video was made in collaboration with the organizations Lead from Behind and the Colorectal Cancer Alliance to raise awareness of the disease

The video was made in collaboration with the organizations Lead from Behind and the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.

Earlier this year, Reynolds also spoke about his struggles with anxiety, during an interview with CBS' Sunday Morning.

'I've had anxiety my whole life really,' he revealed. 'And you know, I feel like I have two parts of my personality, that one takes over when that happens.'

'When I would go out on, like, Letterman back in the day, I was nervous,' said the husband of Blake Lively.

'But I remember I'd be standing backstage before the curtain would open, and I would think to myself, ''I'm gonna die. I'm literally gonna die here. The curtain's gonna open and I'm just gonna be, I'm just gonna be a symphony of vomit,'' just, like, something horrible is gonna happen!'

The preventable cancer that affects nearly 20 per cent of American adults What is colon cancer? Colon cancer - also known as bowel cancer - typically starts in the large intestine/bowel. Around one in 20 Americans are diagnosed with disease. The disease normally affects older adults over the age of 50 and begins with benign polyps. Over time the polyps can become cancerous. Roughly 20 to 30 per cent of colon cancer patients will develop the disease following benign polyps. Those with a family history of colorectal cancer - especially in parents or siblings - or has a history of Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis for more than eight years are at a heighten risk. Polyps can cause little to no symptoms in some patients and it is recommended to get regular screening tests. Colon cancer can be treated several ways, including through surgery, radiation therapy and drug treatments, such as chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy. The disease is preventable through early detection through colonoscopies and polyp removal. The average age for patients to start getting colon cancer screenings is 45. Those with a family history of the disease are recommended to start getting tested earlier. What are the symptoms? Change in bowel habits with diarrhea, constipation or the feeling of incomplete emptying

Thin or loose bowel movements

Blood or mucous in stools

Abdominal pain, bloating and cramping

Anal or rectal pain

Lump in the anus or rectum

Unexplained weight loss

Fatigue

Unexplained anemia Source: Cancer Council Australia, Mayo Clinic, ASCRS Advertisement

Open book: Earlier this year, Reynolds also spoke about mental health struggles during an interview with CBS' Sunday Morning

Revealing how his anxiety attack eventually dissipates, he added: 'As soon as that curtain opens  and this happens in my work a lot too  it's like this little guy takes over.

'And he's like, 'I got this. You're cool.'

'I feel, like, my heart rate drop, and my breathing calm, and I just sort of go out and I'm this different person. And I leave that interview going, 'God, I'd love to be that guy!''

The actor - who has three daughters with his wife Blake Lively - said he believed his problems with anxiety stem from his upbringing with his father, James Reynolds, who was a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman.

Tough deal: 'I've had anxiety my whole life really. And you know, I feel like I have two parts of my personality, that one takes over when that happens,' the actor said during an interview on CBS show Sunday Morning; seen on February 24 in Toronto

The Free Guy star shared: 'My dad was a tough guy. He was good in many ways as well, but he was tough on us.

'This is not meant to be some sob story  everyone carries their own bag of rocks around and I am no different in that regard  but growing up in my house, it was never relaxing or easy and I know that, throughout my life, I've dealt with anxiety in different ways.

'I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but anxiety is also a great fuel. I mean, my God, it's the anti-complacency pill, but it's also something that you need to manage.'

Adorable: Earlier this month, Ryan took to Instagram to share a gushing tribute to his wife Blake as she celebrated her 35th birthday

Earlier this month, Ryan took to Instagram to share a gushing tribute to his wife Blake as she celebrated her 35th birthday.

'Happy Birthday, @blakelively. You're spectacular. I'm not sure if you were born or invented,' captioned Ryan, who included a slideshow of snaps with the Gossip Girl actress.

He concluded his post's caption by poking fun at the actress periodically needing some space from him.

'Also, thank you for urging me to leave the house every now and again,' Ryan wrote, followed by a red heart emoji.
This photo shows Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, right, visiting a frontline Army unit to inspect troops' readiness, Sept. 12. Yonhap



South Korea's defense ministry warned Tuesday that North Korea's attempt to use nuclear weapons would lead to its regime's "self-destruction," responding to Pyongyang's recent codification of an apparently assertive nuclear policy.



Col. Moon Hong-sik, the ministry's deputy spokesperson, issued the warning after the North promulgated a law on its nuclear policy on Thursday last week that hinted at the possibility of the regime launching a preemptive nuclear strike in a contingency.



"We warn that should North Korea attempt to use nuclear arms, it would face the overwhelming response from the South Korea-U.S. alliance, and its regime would enter a path of self-destruction," Moon told a regular press briefing.



Moon added the North's nuclear policy move would further strengthen the alliance's capabilities to deter and respond to the security threats, deepen its international isolation and aggravate the suffering of ordinary North Koreans.



In addition, he highlighted the South's "firm" resolve to push for the North's "complete" denuclearization and its focus on strengthening the credibility of the U.S.' extended deterrence to make the North unable to use its nuclear arms.



Extended deterrence refers to America's stated commitment to mobilizing the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear options, to defend its ally.



The North's announcement on the nuclear policy codification came as the allies are preparing to hold a session of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) in Washington, D.C., on Friday for the first time since 2018.



The EDSCG, a gathering of the two countries' vice-ministerial defense and diplomatic officials, has not been held since its second and last session in January 2018, when the then liberal Moon Jae-in administration pushed for an initiative to promote inter-Korean rapprochement.



On Friday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported the law on its nuclear policy was promulgated.



The law stipulated that in case the command and control system over the country's nuclear forces is put in danger due to an attack, a nuclear strike will be launched "automatically and immediately."



The North's nuclear policy is expected to be part of discussions between the South and the U.S. that have been working on updating their joint wartime contingency plans to reflect the North's evolving military threats, observers said.



"I would like to say that the efforts to update wartime operational plans are ongoing at this point," Moon said of the plans that the allies agreed to update during their defense ministerial talks in December last year.



Meanwhile, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup met Michele Flournoy, the chair of the Washington-based Center for a New American Security (CNAS)'s board of directors, to discuss the two countries' alliance and North Korean threats, according to his ministry.



Noting the North has hinted at its intention to use nuclear weapons, Lee called the security situation here "very grave," and stressed that the allies are maintaining a firm combined defense posture to counter the threats.



He added that there would be "substantive" discussions between Seoul and Washington about strengthening their defense posture during the EDSCG session later this week.



Lee and Flournoy, who served as under secretary of defense for policy from 2009 to 2012, agreed to work together in the process of the two countries' partnership developing into a global comprehensive strategic alliance, the ministry said. (Yonhap)


Sophie Kasaei looked sensational as she posed in black swimwear for a selfie shared to Instagram on Tuesday.

The Geordie Shore OGs star, 32, showed off the results of her recent breast reduction as she posed in the bikini which featured a halter neck top with white straps.

Television personality Sophie's bottoms rested high on her waist with bows visible at the sides.

Snap happy: Sophie Kasaei, 32, looked sensational as she posed in some black swimwear for a selfie which she shared to Instagram on Tuesday after undergoing a recent breast reduction

She was seen pulling her long blonde hair off her body to one side, with the reality star wearing a piercing in her tummy button.

Former Geordie Shore star Sophie sported a healthy tan as she snapped a picture of herself in the mirror.

She captioned her post: 'Holding on to that last bit of bikini season.'

Breast reduction: Sophie Kasaei oozed confidence on Monday as she slipped into a blue patterned bikini while showing off the results from her recent surgery

Sophie underwent a breast reduction last month as well as other procedures to remedy past 'botched' operations.

And she oozed confidence on Monday as she slipped into a blue patterned bikini while showing off the results from her recent surgery.

The screen star struck a duo of sexy poses as she remarked: 'No more back or shoulder pain and no more boob tape,' while praising the surgeon who did her procedure.

Looking good: She struck a duo of sexy poses as she remarked: 'No more back or shoulder pain and no more boob tape,' while praising the surgeon who did her procedure

Sophie looked fantastic as she modelled the sparkly two-piece which she teamed with towering wedged heels and a cream shirt.

Captioning her post, she penned: 'Hot Single summer. Appreciation to one of the best surgeons I have known @dr.serkanbaltafor making me feel so confident this summer.

'Having a breast reduction was not an easy decision or recovery but I am so glad I did it. No more back or shoulder pain and no more boob tape. if you are ever considering a breast reduction please make sure you do your research.

Relief: She said: 'Having a breast reduction was not an easy decision or recovery but I am so glad I did it. No more back or shoulder pain and no more boob tape'

Transformation: Sophie reveals she went from an E cup to a 'small C' after undergoing a breast reduction

'This kind of procedure is not for the faint hearted. But the feeling I have now is worth it, all breasts and bodies are beautiful but this was my own personal decision after years of thought and suffering with severe pain in my neck shoulders and back.

'I went from a size E to a small C. I have a full interview of the procedure and how it was performed. Head to my stories to find the link.'

As well as a breast reduction surgery, Sophie also had a reverse tummy tuck and corrective work to her Brazilian Bum Lift (BBL) procedure following a past 'botched' procedure in her twenties.

Choice: 'This kind of procedure is not for the faint hearted. But the feeling I have now is worth it, all breasts and bodies are beautiful but this was my own personal decision after years of thought and suffering with severe pain in my neck shoulders and back'

In a recent interview, she told how she 'felt like I was going to die' and likened her surgery experience in Turkey to 'horror film' after going to have a procedure in a 'run-down' hospital with pal Chloe Ferry.

Speaking to Closer magazine, she detailed how she and her Geordie Shore girls craved to look like Kim Kardashian but failed to do her research after being inundated with offers for surgery.

She explained: 'Id get messages on social media from surgeons in Turkey, who would offer me free work, and it was exciting. Theyd tell me my body would look amazing afterwards and that I was a great candidate. I thought, "Wait, someones offering to make me look f--king amazing? Absolutely, yeah!"'

Sophie went on to say that following her BBL, she ended up with a 'bad fever', a numb leg and a lump on her bottom that needed to be drained of pus.

Sophie also opened up about having a lack of self-confidence when she soared to fame on Geordie Shore, leading her to want to go under the knife.

She told the publication: 'I was only 20 when I joined Geordie Shore, and I wasn't used to seeing myself on-screen. We were on TV along with shows like Made In Chelsea and TOWIE and they were full of glamorous, gorgeous girls and we were the polar opposites.

'We were known for being these drunken, loud lasses, yet deep down we also wanted to be beautiful and have that sex appeal, but society didn't put us in that category. It was the era where the likes of Victoria Beckham and Katie Price made big boobs fashionable.

Sophie added she 'felt pressure' to have that 'fullness in my bust', adding that she had the surgery as she 'caved in'.
Jennifer Garner stuck to her morning routine on Tuesday.

The 50-year-old actress looked low-key in a gray hoodie, dark leggings and sneakers as she walked hand-in-hand with her son Sam, 10, to school in Los Angeles while her other hand held a coffee mug.

This comes one day after she was spotted wearing a diamond eternity band that may be from her 44-year-old beau John Miller.

Usual routine: Jennifer Garner stuck to her usual routine Tuesday in Los Angeles, one day after she was spotted wearing a new diamond eternity band

The Adam Project actor also held a lunch bag on the walk to school.

Her hair was brushed straight and the Peppermint star appeared to be makeup free.

It appeared Sam decided to ditch his navy blue sweatshirt, handing it over to his mom, who was seen holding it as she chatted with a friend outside the school in the Brentwood neighborhood.

A smile on her face: She seemed to be in good spirits as she got into her car

School walk: The 50-year-old looked low-key in a gray hoodie, dark leggings and sneakers as she walked hand-in-hand with her son Sam, 10

The mother of three shares Sam and daughters Violet, 16, and Seraphina, 13, with ex-husband Ben Affleck, 50.

The down-to-earth star has instead focused on posting funny videos on her social media as well as a cinnamon toast recipe as part of her Pretend Cooking Show efforts.

The Love, Simon actor claimed the 'indulgent Sunday morning or after school snackand will give you instant Mom Hero Status.'

No makeup: Jennifer's hair was brushed straight and the Peppermint star appeared to be makeup free

Chat: The Love, Simon star spent a few moments chatting with a friend after the school drop off

Speculation: Speculation continues as to whether the diamond encrusted ring was a gift from her boyfriend, John Miller, 44

In the meantime, speculation continues as to whether the diamond encrusted ring was a gift from her boyfriend Miller.

The entrepreneur is a divorced father of two, Violet and Quest, whom he shares with his ex-wife, violinist Caroline Campbell, 42.

It's believed she has been dating the Caliburger founder since 2018, although they rarely appear in public together.

Dating: It's believed the Alias star has been dating her beau since 2018. The pair are rarely seen in public together

This sighting comes after Lopez said she feels like she's in 'heaven' with Affleck.

The 53-year-old star and Ben married in an spectacular ceremony in Georgia in August, and Jennifer has opened up about her wedding in her latest On The JLo newsletter.

Speaking about her wedding reception, Jennifer - who was actually engaged to Ben in the early 2000s - shared: 'The truth is everyone's story is different and we all have our paths to travel. No two people are the same.

'But for us, this was perfect timing. Nothing ever felt more right to me, and I knew we were finally 'settling down' in a way you can only do when you understand loss and joy and you are battle tested enough to never take the important things for granted or let the silly insignificant nuisances of the day get in the way of embracing every precious moment.

The ring is on: The star was seen with the diamond band on when grocery shopping in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles this week

'We find ourselves in that long-desired time of life: having gratitude for all that life has shown us, even its trials and tribulations. That night really was heaven...'

Jennifer and Ben rekindled their romance last year, after previously getting engaged in 2003.

And the 'Jenny from the Block' admits that they've both gone through lots of ups and downs in their lives to arrive at this point.

Jennifer - who has previously been married to Ojani Noa, Cris Judd and Marc Anthony - said: 'Years ago, we had no idea the road ahead would mean navigating so many labyrinths and hold so many surprises, blessings, and delights. It all culminated in this moment, one of the most perfect of our lives.

'We couldn't have been happier. I wish all of you the same kind of happiness ... the hard-earned kind that's all the sweeter for the journey that came before it.'

They tied the knot in August: Meanwhile her ex Affleck has wed Jennifer Lopez

Running: Jennifer Garner goes on a run around her Brentwood neighborhood
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Selling Sunset star Vanessa Villela tied the knot with Nick Hardy during a 'magical' and intimate ceremony at The Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego, California, just five miles from the Pacific Ocean, earlier this month.

For the epic celebration, which the lovebirds told Brides they wanted to be 'intimate yet grand,' the 44-year-old reality star wore three looks, including a stunning Galia Lahav strapless ball gown, a floor-length veil and tiara.

While speaking about their vision for their big day, the Mexican-American actress and groom, 43, said they aspired 'create something that would blow people's minds just like' their 'fairytale love story.'

Blushing bride: Selling Sunset star Vanessa Villela tied the knot with Nick Hardy during a 'magical' and intimate ceremony at The Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego, California, just five miles from the Pacific Ocean, earlier this month

The real estate agent broke the news to her 865,000 Instagram followers by sharing a slideshow of dreamy snaps from her wedding, spent with their closest 69 loved ones, on September 3.

Upon seeing Villela in her dress, Hardy looked teary-eyed as he placed one hand on his chest and stared at his mesmerizing bride walk down the aisle as strings played the traditional Canon in D by Pachelbel.

'Turning around and seeing Vanessa walk down the aisle for the first time took my breath away,' he admitted. 'I felt like I was going to pass out. It was beautiful. Thanks to Adrian, my best man, I didn't fall over.'

Gorgeous: For the epic celebration, which the lovebirds told Brides they wanted to be 'intimate yet grand,' the 44-year-old reality star wore three looks, including a stunning Galia Lahav strapless ball gown, a floor-length veil and tiara

Whirlwind romance: While speaking about their vision for their walk down the aisle, the Mexican-American actress and groom, 43, said they aspired 'create something that would blow people's minds just like' their 'fairytale love story'

The pair read heartfelt vows to each other that they wrote themselves as they stood outside under arches adorned in white florals.

Looking back, there was only one hiccup 'when the rings were requested' and 'no one knew who had them.'

Eventually, the page boy, who is responsible for the safe arrival of the wedding rings at the altar, revealed he had them.

Wow: Upon seeing Villela in her dress, Hardy looked teary-eyed as he placed one hand on his chest and stared at his mesmerizing bride walk down the aisle as strings played the traditional Canon in D by Pachelbel

'Turning around and seeing Vanessa walk down the aisle for the first time took my breath away,' he admitted. 'I felt like I was going to pass out. It was beautiful. Thanks to Adrian, my best man, I didn't fall over'

After saying 'I do' and kissing the bride, they released a white dove into the air.

After releasing cold fireworks off during their grand entrance, they surprised guests with videos and photos throughout their relationship on a 'giant LED screen' at the reception.

'We wanted our guests to be surrounded by the romance between us,' the couple, who had their first dance to Because You Loved Me, explained.

Gorgeous: At this point, she slipped into a figure-hugging gown by Charbel Karam Haute Couture

At this point, she slipped into a figure-hugging gown by Charbel Karam Haute Couture.

Villela and Hardy 'met online as brides' while he was living in England and she resided in Los Angeles.

'It was an instant amazing connection we felt and after three months of beautiful friendship, we met in person in Mexico. It has been a fairytale since then,' she told Brides.
Ben Affleck was seen wearing light colors with a black backpack over his shoulder when heading to an office in the Santa Monica neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon.

This is the first time the 50-year-old actor has been seen since his ex-wife Jennifer Garner wore a diamond eternity band while grocery shopping over the weekend. The piece of jewelry may be from her 44-year-old beau John Miller.

Affleck has started a new life since wedding his former fiancee Jennifer Lopez in Georgia in August which means he is wearing a new band of his own too.

Happy man: Ben Affleck was seen wearing light colors as he smiled while in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon

Ben looked comfortable in an untucked light blue shirt with cream-colored belted slacks.

The Argo star added cream-colored sneakers with a maroon line on the sole as he added a silver bracelet to his wrist that matched his silver-rimmed sunglasses.

The star had a black backpack slung over his shoulder and he carried what appeared to be a can of Coca-Cola.

The Tender Bar shares son Sam, 10, and daughters Violet, 16, and Seraphina, 13, with ex Garner.

The speculation continues as to whether the diamond encrusted ring Garner wore on Sunday was a gift from her boyfriend Miller.

The Cali look: Ben looked comfortable in an untucked light blue shirt with cream colored slacks. The Argo star added cream colored sneakers with a maroon line on the sole as he added a silver bracelet to his wrist that matched his silver-rimmed sunglasses

The entrepreneur is a divorced father of two, Violet and Quest, whom he shares with his ex-wife, violinist Caroline Campbell, 42.

It's believed she has been dating the Caliburger founder since 2018, although they rarely appear in public together.

This sighting comes after Lopez said she feels like she's in 'heaven' with Affleck.

The 53-year-old star and Ben married in an spectacular ceremony in Georgia in August, and Jennifer has opened up about her wedding in her latest On The JLo newsletter.

Speaking about her wedding reception, Jennifer - who was actually engaged to Ben in the early 2000s - shared: 'The truth is everyone's story is different and we all have our paths to travel. No two people are the same.

Like a college kid: The star had a black backpack slung over his shoulder and he carried what appeared to be a can of Coca-Cola

'But for us, this was perfect timing. Nothing ever felt more right to me, and I knew we were finally "settling down" in a way you can only do when you understand loss and joy and you are battle tested enough to never take the important things for granted or let the silly insignificant nuisances of the day get in the way of embracing every precious moment.

Lopez then shared she had 'gratitude' for her new life.

'We find ourselves in that long-desired time of life: having gratitude for all that life has shown us, even its trials and tribulations. That night really was heaven...' she added.

The ring is on: This is the first time the 50-year-old actor has been seen since his ex-wife Jennifer Garner wore a diamond eternity band. The piece of jewelry may be from her 44-year-old beau John Miller; seen in LA on Sunday

She and Ben have a bond for life: The mother of three shares son Sam, 10, and daughters Violet, 16, and Seraphina, 13, with ex-husband Affleck. Seen last week

Jennifer and Ben rekindled their romance last year, after previously getting engaged in 2003.

And the Jenny From The Block admits that they've both gone through lots of ups and downs in their lives to arrive at this point.

Jennifer - who has previously been married to Ojani Noa, Cris Judd and Marc Anthony - said: 'Years ago, we had no idea the road ahead would mean navigating so many labyrinths and hold so many surprises, blessings, and delights. It all culminated in this moment, one of the most perfect of our lives.

'We couldn't have been happier. I wish all of you the same kind of happiness ... the hard-earned kind that's all the sweeter for the journey that came before it.'
Heidi Klum resembled a Lakers girl as she arrived for another taping of America's Got Talent in Pasadena, California on Tuesday.

The 49-year-old America's Got Talent judge looked stunning in a purple and yellow Puma dress, along with red high-heel boots and matching red purse.

The model's blonde hair flowed down, as she walked into the venue with her sunglasses on. The reality TV personality was all smiles as she waved to fans.

Puma on the sprawl: Heidi Klum, 49, resembled a Lakers girl as she arrived for another taping of America's Got Talent. The AGT judge looked stunning in a purple and yellow puma dress, along with red high-heel boots and matching red purse

The four judges on America's Got Talent have a strong bond both on and off-camera - none more so than Sofia Vergara and Heidi.

While the pair have become close friends due to their time spent together, the unconscious comparisons do arise, especially in Sofia's mind.

The actress sat down with fellow judge Howie Mandel on his podcast Howie Mandel Does Stuff to discuss her life and career.

The fab four: The four judges on America's Got Talent have a pretty strong bond both on and off-camera - none more so than Sofia Vergara and Heidi Klum

Ageless beauty: Sofia revealed: 'I feel like I'm secure. But imagine, being 50 and sitting next to a supermodel,' talking about inherent comparisons between the two and how she had internalized some of them

While talking about feelings of security among the group, they both asserted that Heidi was 'super secure, being a supermodel.'

Sofia continued: 'I feel like I'm secure. But imagine, being 50 and sitting next to a supermodel,' talking about inherent comparisons between the two and how she had internalized some of them.

The group broke out into laughter when Sofia suggested that if there were an emergency, Heidi would have to be barefoot so they could run together.

Her pal: Klum's AGT co-star Sofia Vergara said they had a lot in common; seen at the Emmys on Monday evening in LA

She did add at the end: 'I love having fun with her because I love her. And she's so stunning, I love her getting dressed to the nines every time,' with Howie also mentioning that they've become quite close off the show.



Klum recently revealed that she and her daughter, 18-year-old model Leni Klum, disagree on fashion, and she's OK with that.

When asked if she and her daughter disagree on any major fashion trends, Klum noted that they 'probably disagree on most things.'

'But that's the fun thing,' Klum said. 'She has her own point of view on fashion and what she loves and so do I. She does what she wants. She's 18, and I feel like she has a good sense of style. I like it.'
Brian May has recalled his terror at performing God Save The Queen solo live on the roof of Buckingham Palace during the Queen's Golden Jubilee Celebrations.

The Queen guitarist, 75, revealed he broke royal protocol when she subsequently didn't recognise him.

According to the Daily Mail's Eden Confidential column, Brian said of the 2002 performance: 'It was very, very frightening.

Performance: Brian May has recalled his terror at performing God Save The Queen solo live on the roof of Buckingham Palace during the Queen's Golden Jubilee Celebrations (pictured in 2002)

'[I thought] if I mess up God Save The Queen in front of a billion people [on TV], that will be what I am [remembered] for the rest of my life  the guy who messed up.'

Happily, he didn't  and a few weeks later was presented to the monarch along with fellow guitar legends, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck.

He said: 'There was a silence. And of course, protocol says you're not allowed to open a conversation with the monarch, but I thought, someone has to say something.

'So I said, "Very happy to meet you, Ma'am  I'm the guy who was standing on your roof." And she said, "Oh, that was you, was it?" '

Brian said: '[I thought] if I mess up God Save The Queen in front of a billion people [on TV], that will be what I am [remembered] for the rest of my life  the guy who messed up' (the Queen pictured in 2018)

Her Majesty did invite him to her Platinum Jubilee bash nevertheless.

Speaking previously about his nerves on The One Show, Brian said: 'It still gives me chills, that little rush because the adrenaline was insane and I thought to myself: I am never going to be afraid of anything again.

People say: Were you scared of falling off? No, I was scared of being the guy who f***** it up on top of Buckingham Palace with a billion people watching. It was totally live and totally dangerous!'

All Her Majesty's children had rushed to Balmoral on Thursday after doctors became 'concerned' for her health. Hours later she died, surrounded by her family.

Rules: A few weeks later was presented to the monarch along with fellow guitar legends, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck and broke protocol (pictured with Adam Lambert in June 2022)

At 6.30pm Thursday her death was confirmed. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: 'The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow'.

Charles, the King, said: 'The death of my beloved mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family.

'We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished sovereign and a much-loved mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world.

'During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which the Queen was so widely held.'
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Special prosecutor Ahn Mi-young announces the result of her team's probe into the suicide of a sexually abused Air Force servicewoman during a press conference in Seoul, Sept. 13. Yonhap



Special prosecutor Ahn Mi-young has indicted five Air Force officers and two others in connection with the suicide of a sexually abused servicewoman on charges of attempting to cover up the abuse case or defaming the victim.



Wrapping up the 100-day investigation, Ahn's team concluded that the officers' mishandling of the sexual assault case deepened the despair of 23-year-old Air Force master sergeant Lee Ye-ram and led to her suicide in May 2021.



Lee of the Air Force's 20th Fighter Wing was sexually abused by a male superior of the same rank two months before taking her own life. The abuser was later indicted and sentenced to nine years in prison before the sentence was reduced to seven years in an appeals trial in June this year.



Bereaved family members have claimed that their loved one took her own life as her voice was not heard properly in the sexual abuse case, and said that senior officers at her unit attempted to cover up the case or blamed the victim.



The special investigation into such allegations was launched in June.



The indicted include the assailant in the sexual abuse case, two former and incumbent squadron commanders of the 20th Fighter Wing, a military prosecutor, a former Air Force public affairs officer and the Air Force's chief legal affairs officer, Brig. Gen. Jeon Ik-soo.



The two 20th Fighter Wing officers failed to provide necessary protection to Lee in the wake of the sexual assault by either making false reports to the Air Force personnel department or making defamatory remarks about Lee to a squadron commander of another fighter wing she was relocated to after the abuse case.



The military prosecutor who was in charge of Lee's case allegedly neglected his duties to investigate suspected defamation and delayed his review of the case.



The Air Force public affairs officer also allegedly made defamatory remarks about Lee to reporters with the intention to turn negative public opinion against the Air Force while Brig. Gen. Jeon was accused of meddling in the initial probe into Lee's case.



The special counsel team concluded frustration and helplessness Lee felt from such secondary victimization following the sexual abuse led to her decision to take her own life.



"I hope the military's wrong culture and the old custom of neglecting the fear and the pain of sexual abuse victims can change," Ahn said, pledging further actions to bring the accused to justice. (Yonhap)








The number of "criminal youths" has been on a steady decline over the past five years, but their reoffending rate has remained almost unchanged, police data showed Tuesday.







Criminal youths refer to juvenile offenders between the ages of 14-19 who can be subject to criminal punishment.







The number of criminal youths has steadily decreased from 72,752 in 2017 to 66,259 in 2018, 66,204 in 2019, 64,584 in 2020 and 54,074 in 2021, according to the National Police Agency data obtained and released by Rep. Kim Hoi-jae of the Democratic Party of Korea.







But one in three juvenile offenders became reoffenders, and their recidivism rate has remained above 30 percent in the past five years, the data said.







In 2017, there were 23,989 repeat offenders, or 32.9 percent, among all criminal youths. The reoffending rate of criminal youths stood at 33.6 percent in 2018, 32.3 percent in 2019, 32.9 percent in 2020 and 30.2 percent in 2021.







There were also many habitual juvenile offenders.







About half of criminal youths who reoffended between 2017 and 2021 committed more than three crimes. The ratio of juvenile offenders who have committed six or more crimes also ranged from 24.1 percent to 29.5 percent in the five-year period. (Yonhap)


Ruling People Power Party interim leader Chung Jin-suk answers reporters' questions at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Tuesday. Joint Press Corps



PPP unveils list of six interim committee members



By Nam Hyun-woo



Ruling People Power Party (PPP) interim chief Chung Jin-suk said Tuesday that courts should refrain from excessively interfering in the party's internal affairs, as the Seoul Southern District Court is poised to decide whether it will accept the filings of PPP ousted leader Lee Jun-seok of four injunctions to suspend the interim leadership.



"It is desirable for the courts to refrain from excessively intervening in the decisions made independently, autonomously within a political party," Chung told reporters.



"If the line of judicial restraint is crossed, very worrisome things could happen," Chung said. "Meaning ultimately that the courts will rule over politics."



Chung's comments came hours before the PPP to named six members to Chung's interim leadership committee. The six consist of three lawmakers, Reps. Kim Sang-hoon, Jun Joo-hyae and Jeong Jeom-sig, and three aspiring lawmakers.



Rep. Park Hyeung-soo, a PPP spokesman, said the six people represent their regions and the region-based selections aimed for unity of the party. "They have enough experience in their areas of specialization as well as the capabilities to represent their regions," he told the reporters, explaining the selection criteria.



However, it remains uncertain how long they will be able to stay in those positions, as a court hearing on former Chairman Lee's injunction filings is scheduled for Wednesday and a subsequent ruling on the PPP's new leadership is also pending.





Former People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok speaks during a press conference with party members at the Kim Kwang-seok Street Outdoor Concert Hall in Jung District, Daegu, Sept. 4. Yonhap
MSMEs have increased their headcount by 45 per cent in the past two years and by 15 per cent in the last one year. (ANI image)

Chennai: MSMEs have increased their headcount by 45 per cent in the past two years and by 15 per cent in the last one year. Enterprises in the environment and renewable energy space have been the highest contributors to this grow-th, says a study by CIEL HR Services, based on an analysis of 350 MSME-related job postings and government data.

The MSME sector has witnessed a steep growth of 45.5 per cent in employee numbers over the past two years. The rate of growth in the past six months has been 5.8 per cent and 15.3 per cent in one year.

The study has compared the employment data in the past two years between August 2020 and August 2022. After the first lockdown in 2020, several MSMEs had seen significant reduction in headcount. Compared to the low employment levels in August 2020, MSMEs have witnessed a 45 per cent growth by August 2022, said Aditya Narayan Mishra, MD & CEO, CIEL HR Services.

By the government data, there were over 7.9 million MSMEs in 2021-22, contributing about 30 per cent to the GDP and 48 per cent to the overall exports.

Companies in the environment and renewable energy space saw the maximum headcount growth over the past two years. In the past six months, these companies have increased their headcount by 8 per cent, preceded by 20 per cent in one year and 72 per cent in the past two years.

In manufacturing, the growth was 6 per cent in six months, 17 per cent in one year and 44 per cent in two years. The trend was similar in the services sector as well. IT and ITeS MSMEs recorded a slightly slower growth.

Female participation is relatively high in the MSME sector where 24 per cent workforce is women against 18 per cent across industries.
Hyderabad: Telangana irrigation Special Chief Secretary Rajat Kumar is in the soup, with the Delhi High Court taking up a case relating to a top infra company footing the astronomical bill for the lavish wedding of the senior bureaucrats daughter.

Justice Yashwant Varma of the Delhi High Court, who took note of the department of personnel and training (DoPT) forwarding a complaint filed against Rajat Kumar to Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, gave two weeks to the DoPT to reply to a petition moved in the court and posted the matter for October 12.

The petitioner, G. Srinivas, raised objections over the DoPT sending a complaint lodged by Supreme Court advocate Sravan Kumar on Rajat to the Telangana state government. He urged the High Court to direct the DoPT to sanction prosecution against what he described as serious allegations of corrupt practices of Rajat Kumar.

According to the petitioners counsel Mohit Jakhar, when the court was informed that Rajat Kumar was serving as a special chief secretary, Justice Varma asked the DoPT counsel if the Centre forwarded the complaint made against the officer of the level of chief secretary to the state government. He sought to know the procedure, but the DoPT counsel sought time to file a reply.

In the petition, the historic Supreme Court judgment in the Vineet Naraian vs Union of India case was referred to and the petitioner argued that the Centre had to grant sanction for prosecution against an Indian Administrative Service officer under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.

Sources told Deccan Chronicle that Sravan lodged a complaint with DoPT on January 28 this year and undersecretary Rupesh Kumar forwarded it to the CS for action as appropriate on March 2. The DoPT, in some cases, according to a senior general administration department official, will ask the state government to inquire into the allegations and file a report.

The use of action as appropriate is nothing but leaving the matter completely to the state government. The second option is rather serious because the state which otherwise would prefer to ignore the complaint is bound to send a report to the DoPT, the official said, adding that in such case a preliminary inquiry is also warranted to inquire into the allegations made in the complaint.

The petitioner informed the court that Rajat Kumar had performed a lavish wedding for his daughter and hosted dinner parties in five-star hotels in Hyderabad. The bills, however, were paid by companies that have direct or indirect links with a top infra company, which is famous for executing large-scale irrigation and pipeline projects.
To prevent the procession, the West Bengal Police has turned the 5-kilometre radius around Nabanna into a fortress. (ANI)

Raniganj: A clash broke out between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and Police outside the Raniganj railway station as workers leave for Kolkata to take part in Nabanna Abhiyan on Tuesday.

Police took many workers into preventive custody in Raniganj.

Further, a clash broke out between BJP workers and police inside the Bolpur railway station as police prevented workers to leave for Kolkata to participate in the Nabanna Chalo march. Several workers were detained.

"With hundreds of BJP workers heading towards Kolkata to join BJP's Nabanna march via trains, police barricaded paths to railway stations. 20 of our workers were stopped by police near Durgapur railway station. I reached here using other paths," said BJP leader Abhijit Dutta.

Meanwhile Police made heavy deployment of personnel to stop BJP's Nabanna Abhiyan. The borders of Kolkata have been cordoned off with tight security to prevent the procession.

Various roads across Kolkata have been blocked with barricades. To prevent the procession, the West Bengal Police has turned the 5-kilometre radius around Nabanna into a fortress.

BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul on Monday said, "The preparations for Nabanna Chalo Abhiyan have been done. It is not just BJP's protest, but the protest of all people of Bengal. Mamata Banerjee has to answer why her government has cheated the people of Bengal."
Coimbatore/Chennai: Officials of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) held multi-city searches at the premises of two AIADMK former ministers in connection with two different cases.

Searches were held at 26 premises belonging to AIADMK leader S P Velumani, a party strongman from Coimbatore, over a case of replacing existing street light with LED lights in rural areas during 2015-28.

DVAC registered a criminal case against him over the allegation that he abused his official position in awarding tenders injudiciously to his close associated companies in replacing the lights with LED lights.

This has caused loss to the government exchequer approximately to the tune of Rs 500 crore, DVAC sources said.

Based on the FIR, searches were held at 26 locations, including in Coimbatore, Chennai and Tiruchirappally, they said.

Hearing the news of searches, a large number of AIADMK workers and leaders gathered in front of Velumani's house on Palakkad Main Road in the city, leading to tense moments, even as more police personnel were deployed.

Similarly, DVAC held searches against AIADMK's C Vijayabaskar, a former health minister, in connection with alleged irregularities in issuing essentiality certificate to a private medical college, against National Medical Commission regulations.

Based on the FIR, searches were being held in his native Pudukottai, Theni and Chennai among others, the sources added.

Both leaders are sitting MLAs and are already under the DVAC scanner in disproportionate assets cases against them.
President Yoon Suk-yeo, center, speaks during a visit to a welfare center dedicated to helping young people who have left the care of the social welfare system in Asan, 86 kilometers south of Seoul, Sept. 13. Yonhap



President Yoon Suk-yeol traveled south Tuesday to meet with and pledge support for young people who have left the care of the social welfare system.



Yoon traveled to Asan, 86 kilometers south of Seoul, where he visited a welfare center dedicated to helping children and young people settle into society within five years after their period of foster care ends.



The visit was a demonstration of Yoon's commitment to expanding welfare services for vulnerable groups amid a spate of suicides among struggling citizens, including two young people who had left their orphanages in recent years.



Yoon said he was not well aware of the problems faced by young people preparing to support themselves until he had a chance to speak with some of them around Christmas last year.



"I understood that the state is unable to properly listen to their voices and that these citizens are really abandoned," he said as he met with four young people under the center's care and relevant officials.



Yoon recalled that one person told him children in foster care and under the care of other social welfare services are made to leave when they turn 18 with no preparation other than 5 million won ($3,630) in cash.



"I thought to myself that when I take office, if I am elected, that even though I may not be able to change everything at once, I would take an interest and take proper care of these young people because they are our nation's precious assets," he said.



Yoon also addressed representatives of organizations supporting the center, including Samsung Electronics, Chungwoon University and an association of faith groups, saying he is grateful to the private sector for their contributions.



"Even if the government runs a tight fiscal policy due to difficult economic conditions, I will tell you that we will try hard to spend money on these areas where it is needed to help our young people prepare for the future," he said. (Yonhap)


India will assume the Presidency of the G20 for one year from December 1, 2022, to 30 November 2023. (Photo: ANI Twitter)

NEW DELHI: India is expected to host over 200 G20 meetings during its yearlong Presidency of the influential group which will culminate with an annual summit on September 9 and 10 next year.

India will assume the Presidency of the G20 for one year from December 1, 2022, to 30 November 2023.

"Under its Presidency, India is expected to host over 200 G20 meetings across the country, beginning December 2022. The G20 Leaders' Summit at the level of Heads of State/Government is scheduled to be held on September 9 and 10, 2023 in New Delhi," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Tuesday.

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world's major developed and developing economies.

It comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US, and the European Union (EU).

Collectively, the G20 accounts for 85 per cent of the global GDP, 75 per cent of international trade, and two-thirds of the world population, making it the premier forum for international economic cooperation.

India is currently part of the G20 Troika (current, previous, and incoming G20 Presidencies) comprising Indonesia, Italy, and India.

During India's Presidency, India, Indonesia and Brazil would form the troika.

This would be the first time when the troika would consist of three developing countries and emerging economies, providing them a greater voice, the MEA said.

In addition to G20 members, there has been a tradition of the G20 Presidency inviting some guest countries and international organisations to its G20 meetings and summit.

Accordingly, in addition to regular international organisations like the UN, IMF, World Bank, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization, and International Labour Organization among others, India, as G20 Presidency, will be inviting Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain, and the UAE as guest countries, the MEA said.

It said the ISA (International Solar Alliance), CDRI (Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure), and ADB (Asian Development Bank) would also be invited as guests. "Whilst our G20 priorities are in the process of being firmed up, ongoing conversations inter alia revolve around inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth; LiFE (Lifestyle For Environment); women's empowerment; digital public infrastructure and tech-enabled development in areas ranging from health and agriculture," the MEA said.

The other key areas are education, commerce, skill-mapping, culture and tourism, climate financing, circular economy, global food security, energy security, green hydrogen, disaster risk reduction and resilience, developmental cooperation, fight against economic crime and multilateral reforms.
HYDERABAD: Union tourism minister G. Kishan Reddy said that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Raos entry into national politics by floating Bharat Rashtra Samiti was the biggest joke of the decade. Family-run parties and corrupt forces like AIMIM are trying to oust Narendra Modi from Prime Ministers post, which is an impossible task, he said. He alleged that Rao was offering money to other political parties in the country to fight against Modi, who enjoys the support of 13 crore people.

BJP will demonstrate the real Telangana model after it comes to power in the state, he said. He advised Rao to parade the Kalvakuntla model of governance for looting public money.

He was speaking at the inaugural of BJP Praja Sangrama Yatra-IV at Ramlila grounds in Suraram colony of Quthbullapur Assembly constituency here on Monday.

Reddy predicted that TRS would not win a single Lok Sabha seat in the next elections. All its incumbent members will be taught a lesson by the electorate, he said.

Reddy made it clear that no meters will be installed at agriculture pump sets. As of now, electricity employees are unable to get regular salaries, if TRS rule continues, the situation will become worse, he said.

Senior leaders D.K. Aruna, P. Muralidhar Rao, P. Sudhakar Reddy, Dr. K. Laxman, Vijayashanthi, Etala Rajender, Kuna Srisailam Goud, N. Indrasena Reddy, P. Swamy Goud, N.V.S.S. Prabhakar and Yendala Laxminarayana were present on the occasion.
HYDERABAD: State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Monday slammed Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao for making "false accusations" against the Modi government, claiming that the Centre had introduced a new electricity bill requiring the states to install electricity metres on agricultural pump sets.

Addressing a rally at Ramlila grounds in Quthbullapur before starting his fourth phase of Praja Sangrama Yatra, Bandi Sanjay said that if the CM proved his claims regarding the power metres to be genuine, he would tender his resignation. If the accusations against the Centre are proved, I will resign from my post, said Sanjay.

Sanjay, who spoke at the meeting, claimed that CM K. Chandrashekhar Rao was attempting to install current metres at agricultural pump sets in order to blame the Central government. "We will not spare the CM," he warned. Due to the TRS government's ineptitude, Telangana Discoms owes Rs 70,000 in debts, he claimed. He said that the Chief Minister was utilising free electricity for his farm house, which would be enough to power 30 villages. If the TRS government is sincere about electricity reforms, it should collect arrears from Old City, he suggested.

In response to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao's call for resignation over changes to the Electricity Bill, the BJP president criticised that CM for disseminating false information and exhibiting outdated documents in the Assembly.

Sanjay claimed that the Telangana government was attempting to impose a burden of another Rs 4,000 crore by raising power tariffs in the guise of installing metres to farm pump sets and blaming the Centre.

The state BJP president mocked KCR's exaggerated assertions that he will transform Hyderabad into a city equal to Dallas, London, Singapore, and New York, noting that the majority of colonies lack basic services, and the city's roads are littered with potholes. Purification of Musi River is still pending. Water from Jeedimetla is not potable. I will send water from Jeedimetla to CM to drink or bathe, he remarked.

On September 17, Bandi Sanjay declared that National Integrity Day would not be observed; instead, it would be observed as Liberation Day. He referred to the CM as "Kasim Chandrasekhar Rizvi.

Sanjay conducted special pujas at the Chittaramma temple in GajulaRamaram before the 10-day padayatra under the Malkajgiri Parliamentary constituency began.
Rama Rao added that the state government is installing Ambedkars 125-foot-tall statue by January 2023 near Prasads Imax and urged Congress leaders not to insist on installing the statue at Punjagutta.  Facebook

Hyderabad: The Telangana state Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed two resolutions urging the Centre to name the new Parliament building in New Delhi after Dr B.R. Ambedkar, and also withdraw the new Electricity Amendment Bill 2022 proposed by the Centre keeping in view the interests of farmers and poorer sections.

The House also passed seven bills on the last day of the Monsoon Session on Tuesday. The session ended in just three days after Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy adjourned the House sine die.

Minister K.T. Rama Rao, who moved the first resolution, said it would be appropriate to name the newly-constructed Parliament building after Ambedkar, who is the architect of the Indian Constitution. He said if not for Article 3 incorporated by Ambedkar in the Constitution, Telangana state would never be a reality.

If today we are sitting in the Telangana Legislative Assembly, debating various issues and making legislations, the credit goes to Ambedkar entirely. Telangana state became a reality due to Article 3 incorporated by Ambedkar in the Constitution which gave power to Parliament to bifurcate a state irrespective of whether the respective state Assembly approves bifurcation or not. There is no Telangana state or Telangana Assembly if there is no Ambedkar or Article 3, remarked Rama Rao.

He said Telangana state government was implementing Ambedkars principles for welfare and development of all sections without any discrimination.

Ambedkar gave the nation a direction and there is no better person to honour than having the new Parliament building named after him, he added.

The Congress and the AIMIM supported the resolution while the lone BJP MLA M. Raghunandan Rao was not present in the House when the resolution was passed. Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka urged the state government to allow installation of the statue of Ambedkar at Punjagutta Junction. He said police shifted Ambedkar statue to police station when senior Congress leader V. Hanumantha Rao and others tried to install at Punjagutta two years ago and it continues to lying in the police station.

Rama Rao informed the Assembly that the state government was only following the Supreme Court directions which barred installation of statues on roads and it has nothing against installation of Ambedkar statue.

Rao added that the state government is installing Ambedkars 125-foot-tall statue by January 2023 near Prasads Imax and urged Congress leaders not to insist on installing the statue at Punjagutta.

Energy minister G. Jagadish Reddy moved the resolution opposing the Electricity (Amendments) Bill 2022 and demanding that the Centre withdraw the Bill. He said the Bill was against the interests of farmers, the poor, and the 20 lakh employees of the power sector across the country. The resolution was passed by the Assembly unanimously.

The House also passed seven bills which include the Telangana Goods and Service Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Azamabad Industrial Area (Termination and Regulation of Leases) (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Telangana Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Telangana Public Employment (Regulation of Age of Superannuation) (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the University of Forestry Telangana Bill, 2022, the Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill, 2022 and the Telangana Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2022. While moving the Azamabad Industrial Area (Termination and Regulation of Leases) (Amendment) Bill, 2022, Rama Rao said the state government resumed 1,234 acres from various industries which failed to set up operations or became non-functional after allotment of land from 2014 to 2020.
The Telangana state government is setting up its first university in the state with the Chief Minister as Chancellor against the convention of having Governor as chancellor of universities.  DC File Image

Hyderabad: The Telangana state government is setting up its first university in the state with the Chief Minister as Chancellor against the convention of having

Governor as chancellor of universities. The state government introduced "University of Forestry Telangana Bill, 2022" in the Legislative Assembly on Monday.

The House will debate and pass the bill on Tuesday. The move assumes significance in the wake of strained relations between Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.

Minister for forests and environment Allola Indrakaran Reddy moved the bill in the House for setting up University of Forestry in Telangana state aimed at the development of forest sciences in the state.

The bill says, "The Chief Minister of the state of Telangana shall be the Chancellor of the University. He shall, by virtue of his office, be the Head of the University and shall, when present, preside at any convocation of the University. He shall exercise such other powers as may be conferred on him by or under this Act.

The bill also says that the vice-chancellor shall be appointed by the chancellor. "The vice-chancellor shall be a whole time officer of the University and he shall be appointed by the Chancellor," the bill says.

The relations between Governor Tamilisai and Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao turned sour after Governor did not approve the nomination of TRS leader Padi Kaushik Reddy as MLC under Governor's quota last year, which was approved by the state cabinet.

Following this, the CM avoided visiting Raj Bhavan. The CM also skipped Republic Day event in Raj Bhavan this year. Later, the CM decided to convene Budget session of Legislative Assembly in March this year without the customary Governor's address.

The relations between them further strained after Governor launched Praja Darbars and grievance box at Raj Bhavan this year and also complained to Centre about protocol violations by TS government officials during her visits to districts with collectors, SPs and other officials staying away from her tours and making political statements and adverse remarks on state government with media during her visits to Delhi and also in meetings held at Raj Bhavan.

The CM recently skipped "At Home" hosted by Governor at Raj Bhavan on the occasion of Independence Day on August 15 at the last minute after conveying to Raj Bhavan that he would be attending.
Reddy said Naidu doesnt want development of this region, hence the party workers should tell the people these conspiracies. The Amaravati padayatra was nothing but a part of the TD conspiracy and an attack on north Andhra. The YSRC activists must stage a peaceful protest without resorting to any violence, Subba Reddy said.  DC Image

Visakhapatnam: TTD chairman and regional coordinator of YSRC for Vizag, Anakapalli and ASR districts Y.V. Subba Reddy said the process of making Visakhapatnam as capital of Andhra Pradesh would soon begin after the legal disputes were resolved.

Addressing a meeting of party workers in Anakapalli on Tuesday, Subba Reddy said Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was determined to implement decentralisation and as a part of it he introduced village and ward secretariat system and reorganisation of districts.

The system was showing good results and with the three capitals, the state would witness better administration and development in all the regions, Subba Reddy said.

TD supremo and Opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu is trying to mislead the people on the three capital concepts. Yet we are going ahead facing his conspiracies, Subba Reddy said.

He said Naidu doesnt want development of this region, hence the party workers should tell the people these conspiracies. The Amaravati padayatra was nothing but a part of the TD conspiracy and an attack on north Andhra. The YSRC activists must stage a peaceful protest without resorting to any violence, Subba Reddy said.

Minister for industries and IT Gudivada Amarnath said the north Andhra region would develop only if Visakhapatnam was made an administrative capital. But the Opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu has been opposing the three capital concept and provoking Amaravati farmers to take out padayatra to north Andhra region.

Those who love this region should thwart such padayatras peacefully, Amarnath said.

He said the government initially refused to accord permission to padayatra expecting trouble. If any untoward incident took place during the padayatra, Chandrababu would be responsible, the minister warned.

Government whip Karanam Dharmasri and other local leaders were present at the meeting.
Hijab ban: We are not interpreters of Quran, says...
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has agreed to restore the former name of the country's capital just three years after he renamed it in honour of his predecessor, his spokesperson said Tuesday.

One of Tokayev's first moves upon taking office in 2019 after President Nursultan Nazarbayev stepped down was to call for Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, to be dubbed Nur-Sultan instead.

Nazarbayev, who led the country for three decades under the Soviet Union and after it gained independence in 1991, relocated the capital from Almaty to Astana in 1997.

The move was widely questioned because of the city's relative isolation in the northern steppes and notoriously frigid winters in which temperatures plunge as low as 51 degrees Celsius below zero (minus-60 F).

He made the city into a showplace of gaudy architecture, including an observation tower where visitors can place their hands in a print of Nazarbayev's.

After he stepped down, Nazarbayev retained enormous influence as head of the county's ruling party and security council.

But Tokayev removed him from those posts after deadly unrest in January that hinged partly on dissatisfaction with the power that Nazarbayev still wielded.

Tokayev's spokesman, Ruslan Zheliban, said the president agreed to the name change after an initiative by a group of parliament members.
Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping will discuss Ukraine and Taiwan at a meeting in Uzbekistan on Thursday which the Kremlin said would hold "special significance" given the geopolitical situation.

Xi will leave China for the first time in more than two years for a trip this week to Central Asia where he will meet Putin, just a month before he is set to cement his place as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

"The presidents will discuss both the bilateral agenda and the main regional and international topics," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said at a briefing in Moscow.

"Naturally, they will give a positive assessment of the unprecedentedly high level of trust within the bilateral strategic partnership," he added.

Ushakov said Moscow values China's position towards what he called the "Ukraine crisis", saying Beijing had struck a "balanced approach" towards the conflict.

China "clearly understands the reasons that forced Russia to launch its special military operation. This issue, of course, will be thoroughly discussed during the upcoming meeting," Ushakov said.

The meeting between Xi and Putin in Uzbekistan will take place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's summit in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan.

The deepening "no limits" partnership between the rising superpower of China and the natural resources titan of Russia is a geopolitical development the West is watching with anxiety.
An anti-corruption protest march, organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal, aimed at the Trinamool-led state government, brought commoners life to a halt in and around Kolkata for hours on Tuesday.

While a police van was set on fire in the heart of the city and protesters threw stones injuring karyakartas, the police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the agitatorsthis was the outcome of the show of strength between the BJP in the Opposition and the Trinamool-led administration.

Read | Suvendu Adhikari, Locket Chatterjee detained on way to BJP's protest march in Kolkata

The BJP had planned Nabanna Chalo Abhiyan: a march to the state secretariat located in Howrah, the city adjoining Kolkata across the Hooghly river. Two venuesSantragachi Bus Stand and Howrah Maidanin Howrah and one in Kolkata were the starting points of the protest march.

BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari and two other leadersthey were driven away in a police van before they could join the supporterswere to lead the Santragachi march. The protesters led by Adhikari, however, on the way to the secretariat were stopped by a barricade.

The jostle at the barricade led to the pelting of stones at police personnel, injuring around 27 of them. Water cannons and tear gas were then used to disperse the crowd. The march from the other two points, too, met with obstructions. The BJP had earlier claimed that its supporters were prevented from taking trains to Kolkata to join the march.

#WATCH | West Bengal: BJP workers & police clash inside the Dholpur railway station as police prevent workers to leave for Kolkata to participate in the Nabanna Chalo march; workers detained https://t.co/mka8igISyX pic.twitter.com/7qTPhxKQeU  ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2022

#WATCH | West Bengal: BJP workers & police clash outside the Raniganj railway station as workers leave for Kolkata for Nabanna; police takes workers into preventive custody https://t.co/jmotBSVjlY pic.twitter.com/Ryw9Tf59ns  ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2022

In the city, a police van was set on fire. BJPs Bengal co-in-charge Amit Malviya claimed on Twitter that Mamata Banerjee sent TMC cadres to pelt stones at the police so that later BJP could be blamed for it.

The Trinamool Congress countered in a tweet: Eye-witnesses say people carrying lathis and BJP flags were pelting stones, setting fire to police cars. Both handles shared television visuals of the burning vehicle, apparently shot at two different moments in time.

A video posted by Trinamool showed a group of people with lathis beating a policeman.

Also Read | Some parties, media houses never talk of Bengals growth; state making strides in MSME sector: CM Mamata Banerjee

After the days incident, around 90 people were arrested in Kolkata, while the police said they were investigating to identify the culprits who set the police vehicle on fire.

Samik Bhattacharya, state spokesperson for the BJP said that 363 workers were injured, of which 35 were admitted to hospital. Bhattacharya also said that Adhikari (along with the other two leaders) was arrested before he could join the protest. The state BJP president was arrested, he said.

Kunal Ghosh, the Trinamool spokesperson, claimed that the police force was able to contain and nullify bigger disturbances that could have taken place.
gettyimagesbank



By Nam Hyun-woo



More than 260 billion won ($189 million) of taxpayer funds was wasted through the improper execution of power generation businesses during the previous Moon Jae-in administration, mostly those involving solar or other renewable energy sources, a government investigation outcome showed Tuesday.



According to the government joint corruption prevention task force at the Office of Government Policy Coordination (OPC), 261.6 billion won from a government-run electricity infrastructure fund was found to have been paid out or loaned to illegally installed power generation projects and projects that submitted fraudulent or manipulated information in 12 municipalities.



The amount accounted for 12.5 percent of a total of 2.1 trillion won paid from the fund to assist power generation projects in the regions. The fraudulent cases mostly involved solar power generation projects, such as loans extended to install fake agricultural facilities under the solar power facilities so as to abide by the law that farmland must be cultivated, contracts with unregistered solar power generation companies and exaggerated tax invoices for solar projects.



The total amount of state budget wasted through such improper projects is anticipated to snowball, because the investigation took only 12 samples out of the total 226 municipalities across the country. The previous Moon government poured 12 trillion won into the electricity infrastructure fund from 2018 to early this year.



"Many of the solar power projects investigated this time were cases of approving businesses without a license," Minister of the OPC Bang Moon-Kyu said during a press briefing.



"As the previous government put strong emphasis on its renewable energy policies, it seems that there was not enough time for municipalities to prepare thoroughly, and in the process of implementing them, cases of poor execution were confirmed on a large scale," Bang said.



While ordering a full investigation into projects assisted by the fund, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo reportedly said, "Taxpayers' money was wasted in a bottomless pit of solar power projects."



Solar power industry officials said that the wasting of public funds had been widely expected from the beginning of the Moon administration, which strongly promoted the expansion of renewable energy  mostly solar power  to address concerns about pollution from fossil fuels and the safety of nuclear energy, as well as to complement the possible power shortage stemming from policies to phase out nuclear power.



"As the previous government attempted to promote the country's solar power industries as fast as it could, lax standards were applied in extending loans, and there were countless loopholes in the government's assistance programs," an industry official said.




The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday said that the explosives seized in Mizoram in January this year were meant for Chin National Front (CNF), a group fighting against the military regime in neighbouring Myanmar.

"Investigations have revealed that the consignment of explosives was meant for the Myanmar-based outfit, Chin National Front (CNF), which has been accumulating arms, ammunition and explosives for armed struggle against the Government of Myanmar.

Three accused, including one Myanmar national, were arrested in this case and were charge sheeted in April," the NIA said in a statement on Tuesday after conducting searches at two locations in Mizoram capital Aizawl related to the case.

The NIA has been carrying out an investigation related to the recovery of 2,400 kgs of explosives including 1,000 detonators and 4,500 metres of detonating fuse wire, cash of Rs. 73,500 and 9,35,500 Kyat (Myanmar currency) in Mizoram's Siaha district in January this year. The case was first registered at Tipa police station in Siaha and was subsequently handed over to the NIA in March.

The Chin National Army, the armed wing of the Chin National Front, has been demanding greater autonomy for Chin state in western Myanmar. After the military coup in February this year, the group, however, reportedly joined hands with the National Unity Government (pro-democracy forces) for toppling the military regime.

Mizoram shares a 510 km border with Myanmar.

"During the searches conducted today, incriminating material, including mobile phone and bank documents have been seized from the premises of some suspects," NIA further said.

The agency had carried out similar searches in June this year in three districts in Mizoram for investigation related to the case.
By Ragini Saxena

A deadly incident involving electric scooters in Telangana has once again sparked concerns about the worlds third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases playing with human lives in the race to embrace cleaner transport.

A fire erupted at an electric scooter showroom of Gemopai, a joint venture between China-based Opai Electric and New Delhis Goreen E-Mobility, killing eight people, police inspector Y. Nageshwar Rao said by phone, without specifying what caused the blaze.

The tragedy prompted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to offer Rs 200,000 ($2,500) compensation to the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those injured.

Also Read | Panel probing incidents of fire in electric two-wheelers to submit report on May 30

A representative for Indias road transport ministry didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Gemopai said on Twitter that its teams from Telangana and Delhi rushed to the incident site and are investigating the root cause of the fire.

Frequent accidents involving electric scooters that catch fire are denting public confidence in India. Scores of people have taken to social media to urge the government to enforce stricter regulations on EV manufacturers, while others have faulted officials for aggressively promoting battery-powered vehicles without ensuring they are safe.

Also Read | Battery defects caused EV fires, DRDO says: Report

All that could jeopardize Indias nascent shift to clean transport, a push being led by electric scooters because theyre more affordable than expensive battery-powered cars, which remain out of most peoples reach.

Several electric scooters have caught fire this year due to a lack of testing and research around Indias hot climate and potholed roads. The incidents have also raised concerns about Indias reliance on imported EV parts from China, which deprives automakers of full control over the quality of their products.
India pulled up Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and expressed its concern over the lack of measurable progress by the government of the nation in implementing its commitments for a political solution to the ethnic conflict in the country.

Indias consistent view on peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka has been for a political settlement within the framework of a united Sri Lanka, ensuring justice, peace, equality, and dignity for the Tamils of Sri Lanka, Indramani Pandey, India's envoy to the UNHRC, said during an interactive dialogue in Geneva on the report of the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights on Sri Lanka.

India's statement at the Interactive Dialogue on the report of OHCHR on promoting reconciliation, accountability, and human rights in Sri Lanka at the 51st session of the Human Rights Council. @MEAIndia @SecySanjay @IndiainSL pic.twitter.com/hFt80EB8GM  India at UN, Geneva (@IndiaUNGeneva) September 12, 2022

India also nudged Sri Lanka for full implementation of the 13th amendment to its Constitution to ensure devolution of power to the local governments in its Tamil-majority Northern and Eastern Provinces. It also stressed holding provincial council elections in Sri Lanka at the earliest.

Read | Sri Lanka must reverse 'drift towards militarisation': UN

The 13th amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was an outcome of the July 29, 1987 accord between New Delhi and Colombo. It was passed by the Sri Lankan parliament in November 1987 resulting in the creation of the provincial councils.

The process of devolution of power to the local governments as envisaged by it remained incomplete though. The elections to the provincial councils of Sri Lanka are long overdue. The terms of the elected provincial councils ended in 2018 and 2019.

It is in Sri Lankas best interests to build the capacity of its citizens and work towards their empowerment, for which devolution of power to the grassroot level is a prerequisite, Pandey told the UNHRC. In this connection, operationalisation of Provincial Councils through early conduct of elections will enable all citizens of Sri Lanka to achieve their aspirations for a prosperous future. We, therefore, urge Sri Lanka to take immediate and credible action.
Hitting back at BJP over its T-shirt barb at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday claimed that Home Minister Amit Shah's muffler costs Rs 80,000 while saffron party leaders wear sunglasses worth Rs 2.5 lakh.

The chief minister said the opposition is worried because the 'Bharat Jodo yatra' is getting an "extraordinary response" from people.

"What problems do they have with the Bharat Jodo Yatra? They are talking about Rahul Gandhis T-shirt while they themselves wear sunglasses of Rs 2.5 lakh and muffler of Rs 80,000. The price of the muffler which the home minister wears is Rs 80,000," Gehlot told reporters in Churu.

Read | Shah takes swipe at Rahul's 'foreign T-shirt' in yatra

"They (BJP) are doing politics on T-shirts," he added.

Gehlot said the public response to the yatra was extraordinary and the BJP leaders were perturbed.

"Prime minister, home minister and other leaders are leaving their work and attacking Rahul Gandhi," he said.

The BJP on Friday took a dig at Rahul Gandhi by suggesting that he was wearing a T-shirt costing over Rs 41,000 during the Bharat Jodo Yatra which started from Kanyakumari last week.
Piers Corbyn, the brother of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, has been fined at Derry Magistrate's Court today for breaching Covid regulations by attending and addressing a rally in the Guildhall Square in November 2020.

Piers Corbyn (75) of Innis House, East Street in London was charged with two counts of breaching Covid regulations on November 1 2020.

Dr Anne McCloskey (65) of Chapel Road in Derry faced two similar charges.

Corbyn defended himself and Dr McCloskey did not appear and she was tried in her absence.

The prosecution called the investigating officer who supplied videos taken from the evidence gathering vehicle in the Guildhall Square on November 1.

The video showed a crowd of around 50 people attending a rally in the Square being addressed by McCloskey.

One of the videos showed Corbyn in the crowd and in another he is seen addressing them.

Corbyn asked the police officer if she would agree there was only 3 people around him but she said she would not agree.

A second police officer gave evidence of being on duty on the day in question.

He said following the rally he approached the defendant and offered him a fixed penalty notice which was declined.

He said that the defendant said he wanted a hearing in court.

In response to a caution Corbyn answered 'fair enough'.

Another police officer told the court of going to McCloskey's home that same day to offer her a fixed penalty notice and he said she replied she would rather go to Maghaberry Prison.

District Judge Ted Magill said that there was no dispute that the defendant was at the protest.

The prosecution in closing their case said the regulations were clear that no more that 15 people could gather.

He said Corbyn 'chose' to attend the protest and there were more than 15 people present.

Addressing the court Corbyn said he had 'a reasonable excuse' for his actions.

He said there was no evidence that his attendance at the rally had led to anyone becoming ill or dying.

He quoted the former British chancellor Rishi Sunak who said there had been too much reliance on scientists.

Judge Magill asked was he expected to take something 'Rishi Sunak said as Gospel' and the defendant said no.

The defendant argued that there was a lot of evidence that that Covid itself did not exist.

Judge Magill said it was not his job to act as a medical expert.

He said there was no dispute that the defendant had participated in the protest.

He said that the defendant was not entitled to any credit for the manner in which the case had been dealt with.

He fined Corbyn 120 and fined McCloskey 240 as she had not turned up.
Derry ice cream store, Joe Jackson's, is set to host a 'Free Ice Cream Day' to raise vital funds for youngster Caitlin Strain who is currently battling cancer.

On February 18, 2021, three days before her 8th birthday, Caitlin was diagnosed with a brain tumour; this was devastating news for Caitlins parents and siblings.

Caitlin, from Burnfoot, Donegal, celebrated her 8th birthday in Temple Street Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, surrounded by close family. Three days later, Caitlin underwent the first of three surgeries to attempt to remove the tumour.

After a six-week admission to Temple Street Hospital, Caitlin and her family travelled to Essen in Germany, where Caitlin received six weeks of Proton Radiotherapy and returned home to County Donegal at the end of May 2021.

On July 12th, 2021, Caitlin commenced approximately nine months of Chemotherapy in Our Ladys Children's Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland.

Caitlin is now nine years old and her family describe her as a "very outgoing, bubbly child."

"Her high-spirited personality helped her through all the hard times and treatment she received," they wrote.

Caitlins chemotherapy was completed in March of this year. Following a four-month break, an MRI scan was arranged.

Caitlins family, once again, received the devastating news that the treatment had not worked. Caitlin was given a terrible prognosis.

Caitlins parents and family researched possible treatments that America could offer. Caitlin was accepted for treatment in Houston, Texas, where her treatment commenced on August 31. The family say that Caitlin is tolerating treatment well and is in good spirits.

Caitlin is a regular at Joe Jackson's and the store would like to help with fundraising for her treatment as they set out to give away free ice cream in exchange for donations.

The Derry ice cream shop will be giving free ice cream away in exchange for donations for Caitlin's treatment

Joe Jackson's would like to raise as much as possible towards Caitlin's cause, "We are organising a fundraiser for Caitlin Strain who is one of our regulars at JJ's," they wrote.

"Caitlin and her family are currently in Texas and require funds for life saving treatment.

"On Tuesday 20th we will be giving away ice cream and we ask you make a donation of your choice in store to the fundraiser."

A GoFund me page has also been set up to help the family with the high cost of medical treatments in America.

The page reads: "We are asking everyone for help; please help in any way you can by donating, arranging fundraising events, assisting with events, sharing, promoting etc.

"People are so good; through your prayers, efforts, and donations, we have gotten this far, and we cannot describe how helpful this has been for Caitlin and her family. All help is graciously appreciated and welcomed.

"Caitlin now needs us more than ever. We need to raise substantial funds for Caitlins treatment in America.

"We want to encourage everyone, individuals, groups, colleagues, clubs, schools, community groups, businesses etc., to assist with fundraising in any way they can."

To donate to the GoFund me, please visit: https://www.gofundme. com/f/help-caitlin-receive- vital-treatment-in-america

Or pop down to Joe Jackson's on Tuesday September 20 at 15a Ferryquay Street in Derry to donate.
There are concerns that an attack on homes in a predominately unionist County Derry village that forced a pregnant woman to flee the area could be repeated.

Four homes in the area were targeted in what police called a 'sectarian hate crime' last Wednesday night in Culnady, close to Upperlands, with a car also damaged during the incident.

Living room windows in the four properties had been smashed by three masked men, one of whom carried a stick.

Three front doors were also damaged, with the windows of a car parked outside one of the addresses broken during the incident.

Police have said no one was injured as a result of the attacks, but a pregnant woman has been forced to flee the area and move in with a friend in a neighbouring village.

Local Sinn Fein councillor Sean McPeake helped one of the couples affected by the attack relocate to temporary accommodation over the weekend and described the attacks as 'appalling'.

The four homes attacked in Culnady were not attacked randomly, he said.

Sinn Fein councillors Brian McGuigan and Sean McPeake on site in Culnady.

The homes were carefully chosen by loyalist sectarian thugs because of the perceived religious background of the home owners.

It is totally appalling that at this time we have a situation where a number of parents and young children have been forced to leave their homes because of loyalist sectarian intimidation.

I would call on the perpetrators to publicly justify their actions as there can be no excuses for it. What happened was totally despicable and should be condemned outright.

To watch a heavily pregnant mother pack her cherished belongings and leave her family because of sectarian intimidation is heart breaking.

I would call on PSNI to redouble their efforts to bring the perpetrators of this despicable hate crime to justice and I would call on anyone who can assist in providing information to the PSNI on the events last Wednesday night in Culnady to do so.

SDLP councillor Martin Kearney also condemned the incident as 'unacceptable'.

I am shocked to learn of these late night sectarian attacks. It must have been a very frightening experience for these families, he said.

To see so many windows boarded up and a vehicle damaged is completely unacceptable in this small rural village. I appeal for any information, however insignificant, to be forwarded to the PSNI.

DUP MLA for Mid Ulster, Keith Buchanan, also condemned the attacks.

I condemn the recent attacks in Culnady and I have visited the homes of those who were attacked, he said.

I would urge anyone with information to contact the PSNI if they have any information about the incident.

A pregnant woman, whose partner is Catholic, has been forced to move out of the village following the incident.

The blame for the attack has fallen largely on loyalists, with a source indicating further attacks were possible when the police presence has receded.

One Catholic in is alright, two is alright, but when there is four Catholics in, they think they're going to own the place, they said.

The police may sit there forever, because as soon as the police move out they'll slap the homes again. There are going to be more incidents.

Police maintained a presence in the village throughout the weekend and said investigations into the incident were ongoing.

This was a frightening experience for residents and, in one of the houses, a young child was asleep upstairs, said Inspector Hughes following the incident.

Your home is where you should feel safe and this was a shocking attack. We are treating this as a sectarian hate crime and are appealing for your help in our investigation.

"We understand that the masked men made off on foot in the direction of Culnady Road before getting into a white Vauxhall Cavalier and driving off towards Gulladuff.

Enquiries are continuing in the investigation into reports of criminal damage to four properties in the Culnady area on Wednesday night, 7th September, added a spokesperson.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting reference 1993 07/09/22.

A report can also be submitted online using the Police Service's non-emergency reporting form via www.psni.police.uk

/makeareport/.

You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org/.

Cllr Sean McPeake said Sinn Fein has sought a meeting with the PSNI to discuss the incident.
A former sub-postmaster at a County Derry post office has launched a legal bid to have his conviction for fraud-related offences quashed.

Lee Williamson, along with Alan McLaughlin from Belfast are hoping to mount a challenge on the basis of a defective Post Office accounting system  Horizon.

The Horizon IT scandal led to numerous branch managers wrongly who were wrongly found guilty of offences having their convictions overturned.

Over 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were prosecuted as information from the Horizon system made it appear that money was missing from their sites.

Legal representatives for Mr Williamson and Mr McLaughlin are arguing that the same accounting software was central to their convictions.

Mr Williamson was convicted of fraud by misrepresentation and abuse of a public office offences in November 2014.

It was alleged he had stolen and falsified accounting records relating to a Post Office in Portstewart. He is seeking permission to extend the time permitted to bring an appeal.

Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan listed both cases for an update on October 10, with the law firm representing both men welcoming the development.

Many Postmasters caught up in the Post Office Horizon scandal will find the process of

applying to quash their convictions very difficult, said Michael Madden of Madden & Finucane.

We are glad that our two clients have taken the first steps toward clearing their names and we eagerly await to see whether the PPS will consent to our application to quash the convictions.
The King asked two children Are you enjoying your day off school? as they presented him and the Queen Consort with chocolates and flowers upon their arrival in Northern Ireland.

Charles and Camilla touched down in Belfast on Tuesday afternoon as part of a tour around the UKs home countries following the Queens death and his accession to the throne.

Charles and Camilla are leading the UK in a period of national mourning for the Queen, but local schoolchildren Lucas Watt and Ella Smith, both 10, appeared to brighten their day with gifts.

On meeting Charles at George Best Belfast City Airport, Lucas said: He said its a pleasure to meet us and that we are getting a day out of school.

I felt quite anxious but, when it was over, quite happy and probably going to look back at it for quite a long time.

He said he gave Charles a little box of chocolates with King Charles III, Your Majesty written on it, to which the King replied: Oh, are these for me? Thank you.

Ella said she was shocked but happy to meet Charles, saying he told her: Its a pleasure to meet you, and are you enjoying your day off school?

She replied: Oh yeah, I am.

She added: I gave the Queen a bouquet of flowers from Hillsborough Castle.

Lucas said their parents and friends would be pretty jealous to learn about them meeting the royal couple.


By Robert Skidelsky





LONDON  Amid the many, and deserved, tributes to Queen Elizabeth II, one aspect of her 70-year reign remained in the background: her role as monarch of 15 realms, including Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. She was also the head of the Commonwealth, a grouping of 56 countries, mainly republics.



This community of independent states, nearly all of them former territories of the British Empire, has been crucial in conserving a "British connection" around the world in the post-imperial age. Whether this link is simply a historical reminiscence, whether it stands for something substantial in world affairs, and whether and for how long it can survive the queen's passing, have become matters of great interest, especially in light of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.



In the 19th-century era of Pax Britannica, Britain exercised global power on its own. The sun never set on the British Empire: the British navy ruled the waves, British finance dominated world markets, and Britain maintained the European balance of power. This era of "splendid isolation"  never as splendid or isolated as history textbooks used to suggest  ended with World War I, which gravely wounded Britain's status as a world power and correspondingly strengthened other claimants to that role.



As the results of WWI were confirmed by World War II, British foreign policy came to center on the doctrine of the "three circles." Britain's influence in the world would rely on its "special relationship" with the United States, its position as head of the Commonwealth (the empire's successor), and its position in Europe. By its membership of these overlapping and mutually reinforcing circles, Britain might hope to maximize its hard and soft power and mitigate the effects of its military and economic "dwarfing."



Different British governments attached different weights to the three roles in which Britain was cast. The most continuously important was the relationship with the U.S., which dates from WWII, when the Americans underwrote Britain's military and economic survival. The lesson was never forgotten. Britain would be the faithful partner of the U.S. in all its global enterprises; in return, Britain could draw on an American surplus of goodwill possessed by no other foreign country. For all the pragmatic sense it made, one cannot conceive of such a connection forged or enduring without a common language and a shared imperial history.



Imperial history was also central to the second circle. The British Empire of 1914 became the British Commonwealth in 1931, and finally just The Commonwealth, with the queen as its titular head. Its influence lay in its global reach. Following the contours of the British Empire, it was the only world organization (apart from the United Nations and its agencies) which spanned every continent.



The Commonwealth conserved the British connection in two main ways. First, it functioned as an economic bloc through the imperial preference system of 1932 and the sterling area that was formalized in 1939, both of which survived into the 1970s. Second, and possibly more durably, its explicitly multiracial character, so ardently supported by the queen, served to soften both global tensions arising from ethnic nationalism, and ethnic chauvinism in the "mother country." Multicultural Britain is a logical expression of the old multicultural empire.



The European link was the weakest and was the first to snap. This was because Britain's historic role in Europe was negative: to prevent things from happening there which might endanger its military security and economic livelihood. To this end, it opposed all attempts to create a continental power capable of bridging the channel. Europe was just 20 miles away, and British policy needed to be ever watchful that nasty things did not happen "over there."



John Maynard Keynes expressed this permanent sense of British estrangement from the continent. "England still stands outside Europe," he wrote in 1919. "Europe's voiceless tremors do not reach her: Europe is apart and England is not of her flesh and body." The Labour leader, Hugh Gaitskell, famously evoked this sense of separation when he played the Commonwealth card in 1962, urging his party not to abandon "a thousand years of history" by joining the European Economic Community.



Britain's policy toward Europe has always been to prevent the emergence of a Third Force independent of U.S.-led NATO. Charles de Gaulle saw this clearly, vetoing Britain's first application to join the EEC in 1963 in order to prevent an American "Trojan Horse" in Europe.



Although Prime Minister Tony Blair wanted Britain to be at "the heart" of Europe, Britain pursued the same game inside the EU from 1974 until 2021. The only really European-minded prime minister in this period was Edward Heath. Otherwise, British governments have sought to maximize the benefits to Britain of trade and tourism, while minimizing the dangers of political contamination. Today, it is not surprising that Britain joins the U.S. to project NATO power in Eastern Europe over the stricken torso of the EU itself.



So, Britain is left with just two circles. In the wake of Brexit, the queen's legacy is clear. Through her official position and personal qualities, she preserved the Commonwealth as a possible vehicle for projecting what remains of Britain's hard power, such as military alliances in the South Pacific. And whatever one may think of Britain's hard power, its soft power  reflecting its trading relationships, its cultural prestige in Asia and Africa, and its multicultural ideal  is a global public good in an age of growing ethnic, religious, and geopolitical conflict.



I doubt whether the two remaining circles can compensate for Britain's absence from the third. The question that remains to be answered is how much the Commonwealth's durability depended on the sheer longevity of the late monarch, and how much of it can be preserved by her successor.





Robert Skidelsky, a member of the British House of Lords and professor emeritus of political economy at Warwick University, was a non-executive director of the private Russian oil company PJSC Russneft from 2016 to 2021. This article was distributed by Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).


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Minister Coveney meets with Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn

Press release

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney TD, welcomed his Luxembourgish counterpart, Jean Asselborn to Iveagh House today, during Minister Asselborns visit to Ireland to mark the opening of the new Embassy of Luxembourg in Dublin.

Speaking following his meeting with Minister Asselborn, Minister Coveney said:

I am delighted to welcome Foreign Minister Asselborn to Ireland. Minister Asselborn is one of the longest serving Foreign Ministers in the EU and is a great friend to Ireland. During our meeting today, we had an in-depth discussion regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine, EU-UK relations, EU enlargement and both of our countries preparations for UN High Level Week next week.

We also discussed Irelands work on the United Nations Security Council in relation to some of those pressing issues currently before the Council, including Syria, Iran, Ethiopia and the importance of renewing progress towards a viable, negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Minister Asselborn is visiting Dublin in order to officially mark the opening of the new Embassy of Luxembourg to Ireland. Welcoming this, Minister Coveney said:

The opening of the new Embassy of Luxembourg is a very significant step in Irish-Luxembourg bilateral relations. It clearly demonstrates the importance that Luxembourg places on their bilateral relationship with Ireland and will provide substantial scope to develop the already warm and productive cooperation and relations between our two countries.

ENDS

Press Office

13 September 2022

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San Francisco, Sep 13 (IANS) A cyber security researcher has discovered a sophisticated relay attack that can allow someone with physical access to a Tesla Model Y to unlock and steal it in a jiffy.

Tesla claims that this security issue is mitigated with the "PIN to Drive" feature, which would still allow attackers to open and access the car, but would not allow them to drive it.

Josep Pi Rodriguez, principal security consultant for independent computer security services firm IOActive, said that this feature is optional, and Tesla owners who are not aware of these issues may not be using it.

IOActive contacted Tesla about this issue in the Model Y and believes that Tesla is well aware of this issue in other models.

"However, we have made several attempts to contact them and let them know that the same issue exists in the Model Y, with no response," said Rodriguez in a paper.

According to the researcher, attackers can steal a Tesla Model Y as long as they can position themselves within about two inches of the owner's NFC card or mobile phone with a Tesla virtual key on it, reports The Verge.

"There are several ways Tesla could fix or mitigate this issue, although they may require hardware changes," Rodriguez added.

Earlier this year, another researcher found a way to start a Tesla car with an unauthorised virtual key.

In 2020, a group of Belgian cyber security researchers discovered major security flaws in the keyless entry system of the Tesla Model X, demonstrating how the battery-powered Tesla Model X priced at over $100,000 can be stolen in a few minutes.

(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
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By AMANDA SEITZ

Associated Press

WASHINGTON  When Emmanuel Obeng-Dankwa is worried about making rent on his New York City apartment, he sometimes holds off on filling his blood pressure medication.

If there's no money, I prefer to skip the medication to being homeless, said Obeng-Dankwa, a 58-year-old security guard.





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BERLIN (AP)  Switzerland's nuclear waste authority has proposed building the country's permanent waste storage site close to the border with Germany, a decision viewed warily by its northern neighbor.

The choice of the Noerdlich Laegern site ends a 14-year search for a preferred location, itself preceded by previous failed attempts. The head of waste authority Nagra, Matthias Braun, said on Monday that the geology has spoken and Noerdlich Laegern is the best location with the biggest safety reserves.





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Photo by Benjamin Minnick [enlarge] Stoneway Concrete made a delivery last week as crews built new lanes near the southern end of Alaskan Way in Seattle.





Teamsters Local 174 members spent over four months on the picket line, and still didn't have a new contract when they went back to work in April. The union reported on Monday that a new contract was finally inked for more than 225 concrete workers at Cadman, Glacier Northwest/CalPortland, Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel and Stoneway Concrete. It wasn't clear if workers for two other companies that were being struck  Lehigh Cement and Gary Merlino Construction Co.  were part of that. Lehigh and Merlino had been bargaining separately with the union, although Merlino owns Stoneway.





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SKYWAY  Portions of a future development site at 12536 Renton Ave. S. in Skyway sold last week for $2.3 million, according to King County records.

The seller was Thai Investments LLC, which acquired the property in 2006 for $920,000. It was then a grocery store, and has since been used by Holy Temple Evangelistic Center.





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Policymakers should not play down warning signals



A warning light flashes on Korea's trade front. According to the Bank of Korea, the nation's current account surplus plunged to $1.07 billion in July from $7.71 billion a year earlier. It was due in part to the deficit of $1.18 billion in merchandise trade, the first red-ink figure in goods trade in 10 years and three months. Imports of oil and gas surged 99.3 percent and 58.9 percent, respectively, while semiconductor exports inched up 2.5 percent. As a result, the export increase slowed at 6.9 percent but purchases from abroad soared 21.2 percent.



Reflecting Korea's sputtering export engine, the nation's currency is also weakening rapidly against the U.S. dollar. The won-dollar exchange rate broke the 1,380 range for the first time since April 2009, increasing the burden from energy and commodity imports. The central bank warned the current account might even turn into a deficit in August. If the twin deficits of fiscal and current accounts become a reality, Korea Inc. will fall into a combined crisis with a decline in overseas credit standing and the outflow of foreign capital.



This is no time for economic officials to repeat, "Our economic fundamentals are solid." The Korea Development Institute (KDI) recently said, "Due to the global economic slowdown, downward pressure on the economy has increased, mainly in the manufacturing industry." It was a warning that economic recovery has become uncertain because of sluggish exports. The government must reexamine its economic policies, not downplay danger signals.



For instance, it should diversify its export destinations from China to India and Europe, reorganize the energy-guzzling industrial structure, maintain the technological lead and develop new growth engines. Policymakers must not let go of the current difficulties, saying they have little to do with external circumstances. Officials should prevent the aggravation of the trade balance, even by holding daily export promotion meetings if needed. Koreans remember well how the neglect of the trade deficit drove the exchange rate out of control and triggered a currency crisis, about a quarter century ago.




King Charles III and his Queen Consort were greeted by cheering crowds when they arrived at Hillsborough Castle ahead of receiving a message of condolence from the people of Northern Ireland.

Charles and Camilla left Edinburgh for Northern Ireland after the new monarch and his siblings staged a vigil around their mothers coffin on Monday evening at St Giles Cathedral.

The couples jet touched down at George Best Belfast City Airport, where the new Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris was waiting to greet the King and his wife, who are touring the four home nations.

Royal visits usually prompt gifts and, despite the solemnity of the occasion, schoolboy Lucas Watt, 10, from the local cross-community Forge Integrated primary school, presented the King with a tin featuring an image of the famous Giants Causeway.

The King looked pleased and tapped the present from Art on a Tin, a business set up by couple Bill and Caroline Skillen to promote local artists, and filled with truffles made by the Chocolate Manor from the Northern Ireland seaside village of Castlerock.

Camilla received a posy of flowers, from schoolgirl Ella Smith, 10, with the blooms taken from Hillsborough Castle.

After touching down in Belfast, Charles and Camilla travelled to Hillsborough Castle in Co Down, the royal residence in Northern Ireland, for several engagements.

The couple went on a walkabout when they first arrived at the castle, shaking hands with some of the hundreds of flag-waving people who had waited hours to catch a glimpse of the new King.

Well-wishers cheered when they first caught sight of the couple and the King and his wife received a 21-gun salute as they entered the grounds.

Shouts of God save the King were heard and at one moment and a corgi in the crowd snuggled up to Charles when its owner held it up during the walkabout by the royal couple.

There were many school children behind the barriers and one group handed over letters they had written to the King decorated on the reverse with a colourful image of the Union flag they had drawn.

A round of applause broke out as they inspected floral tributes to the late Queen before entering the grounds of the castle.

Later the King held a private audience with the Northern Ireland Secretary as well as meeting representatives of political parties in the region.

The couple will then receive a message of condolence on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland from the speaker of the Stormont Assembly Alex Maskey.

They will then go to a reception at the castle, hosted by Mr Heaton-Harris, which some members of the public will also attend.

Charles and Camilla will then travel to St Annes Cathedral in Belfast where they will attend a service of reflection for the life of the Queen.

The new monarch will also meet leaders from all the major faiths in Northern Ireland.

Before leaving, Charles and Camilla will undertake a walkabout at Writers Square near St Annes Cathedral.
It was more than a simple gesture; it was a statement of intent.

When the King turned to leave St Annes Cathedral, he crossed the aisle and made a beeline to the President of Ireland Michael D Higgins and warmly clasped his hand.

The two heads of state, who have developed a strong personal relationship in recent years, are keenly aware of symbolism.

The example set by the late Queen and Mr Higgins predecessor Mary McAleese, during visits to their respective countries, is clearly one they are keen to follow.

If protecting Anglo-Irish relations amid the ongoing turbulence of Brexit is a priority for them both, their friendly encounter at the close of Tuesdays ecumenical service in Belfast offered ample evidence of it.

Only a few paces away stood Prime Minister Liz Truss and Taoiseach Micheal Martin, two leaders who will have pivotal roles if the thorny impasse over the Northern Ireland Protocol is to be settled.

The pair had earlier spoken intently as they waited for the service in the cavernous Anglican cathedral to begin.

Behind them Sinn Feins vice president Michelle ONeill sat beside DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, two other politicians at opposing sides of the protocol dispute.

Nearby were new Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney.

It was almost as if the seat planner was keen to get some conversations going.

The watching elected representatives were certainly left in no doubt that the King and President are intent on strengthening the British Irish bond, irrespective of recent political strains.

Earlier, the King and the Queen Consort were met with cheers as they arrived at the cathedral for the service in memory of the Queen.

Dozens of students, cadets, scouts in their uniforms, as well as charity workers, were among those who gathered opposite the cathedral and waited in the hot sun to catch sight of the new monarch.

The crowds cheered and sang God Save the King as the royal motorcade arrived.

As the new King ascended the steps of the cathedral, he turned and waved to the crowd that had waited to see a moment of history.

Students from Belfast Royal Academy Kaitlyn, 17, Lucy-Beth, 17, and Sophia, 18, were among those invited to gather at the metal barricades at St Annes.

Its a historic moment, said Sophia, with Lucy-Beth adding that it was bittersweet coming to see the new monarch while also mourning the death of the Queen.

He waved and seemed interested. It was nice to see he appreciated the crowd, Kaitlyn said.

Florence, 17, from Bloomfield Collegiate School, said it was a monumental occasion and very symbolic to have Ms ONeill and Sir Jeffrey unite in showing their respects to the late Queen.

She said that a couple of decades ago no-one would have expected such unity.

Im so proud to be a part of it, she said.

Following the service, the Royal couple emerged into the blinding sunshine to a rousing rendition of God Save the King.

Charles and Camilla then greeted the well-wishers that had waited outside shaking hands and exchanging a few words with people who expressed their condolences to the new King.

Carol Williams, from Atlas Womens Centre in Lisburn, was among those who shook his hand.

It was wonderful because we thought it was going to be very long today but it has passed so quickly, she said.

And we were right at the front and we got to shake hands with both of them. That was lovely.

She added: I think hell make a wonderful King. I think hes had a great role model because of his mother, and hes had plenty of time to watch her, and know how to deal with things and I think hell be great.

Gay Sherry-Bingham and Mandy Gilmore, from Atlas, said that when they shook Charles hand, he recognised them from having met them twice before.

He spoke to us and said how lovely Belfast was and as he was walking past, one of our other colleagues heard him saying, my two supporters, Gay said.

Mandy added: And he said thank you for being here and thanks for your support, very thoughtful.

When asked whether hell be a good king, they answered in unison: Absolutely.

Among the young people who met Charles outside the cathedral was Noah Workman, a member of a junior Orange Lodge in the Ballynafeigh district of south Belfast.

I was really excited. I wasnt expecting to get really close to him, said nine-year-old Noah, who was wearing his orange collarette.

Hes an amazing person, so kind, hes going to be one of the greatest kings that have ever been.

Its been the most amazing day for all of the people around the world.

For Karen McShane, a trustee of the local LGBT charity the Rainbow Project, it was a very important day for Belfast, and the unity shown was a signal of hope for the future.

The atmosphere here today was very relaxed, she said.

A lot of people think of Belfast as being quite tense and quite difficult. But everybody is here today with the same agenda. We all wanted to see something positive as a result of the Kings visit today.

And I for one, from a nationalist community, am very glad to have been invited along to be able to support that message.

There was a couple of hundred people here invited in front of St Annes Cathedral to participate in proceedings today.

Im delighted to see the next generation of young people coming through, a lot of school children here, some studying history, some studying politics, who were very keen to see the new king.

They were very keen to pick up on the symbolism of what was involved today.

She said it signified a positive direction for Northern Ireland.

For too long we have been two different societies, yet we all occupy this one island, and this one area of Northern Ireland, she said.

We have to be able to live together.

Hopefully today is the symbolism of King Charles now moving forward to try and unite those two different sides of the community.
North Korea makes preemptive nuclear strike possible



North Korea has expanded the possible use of nuclear weapons from deterrence to a preemptive nuclear strike. It has also declared its determination not to give up its nuclear arsenal, heightening tensions on the Korean Peninsula.



North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said that his regime has no intention of abandoning its nuclear program, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) last Friday. The previous day, Kim revealed his hardline stance in a speech at the meeting of the Supreme People's Assembly which promulgated a law on the North's nuclear policy.



The law defines the role of the North's nuclear force, its composition and its command and control. It allows Kim to have the exclusive right to order the use of nuclear weapons. It also enables Pyongyang to launch a nuclear strike automatically if attacked. The legislation opens the possibility of launching a preemptive nuclear strike in a contingency.



The law is raising concerns because it enables the North to respond to a non-nuclear attack with nuclear weapons. In 2012, Pyongyang inserted a clause into its constitution that North Korea is a nuclear weapons state. In 2013, the country enacted a law that calls for the use of nuclear arms only in the case that a country possessing such weapons invades or strikes the North.



But the new law states that a nuclear strike can be carried out automatically and immediately to destroy the origin of a provocation, if the command and control system of the nuclear forces is in danger of an attack by hostile forces. In other words, the North has expanded the use of nuclear arms beyond deterrence. This is a serious cause for concern for South Korea.



We cannot help but express our deep regret and dismay at the North's aggressive move toward its nuclear arsenal. The North's new position is a reversal of its 2016 commitment not to use nuclear weapons first. That commitment has begun to change this year. Kim said during a military parade on April 25 that the North's nuclear arsenal cannot be confined to preventing war although its basic role lies in deterrence.



There are growing fears that the North could use tactical nuclear weapons, which are in the development stage, against the South Korean military and the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). The Kim regime might face a security crisis if it scraps its nuclear weapons as seen in Ukraine. But the North's move is making its denuclearization much more difficult. Tensions will be heightened further if Pyongyang conducts its seventh nuclear test.



Against this backdrop, South Korea needs to step up its security alliance with the U.S. to deal with mounting nuclear threats from the North. The two allies are expected to hold an Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) meeting in Washington, D.C, Friday. They should work out effective measures against the North's nuclear blackmail. The Yoon Suk-yeol administration must map out a new strategy as the North has virtually rejected its "audacious initiative" to provide Pyongyang with generous assistance in exchange for starting denuclearization.


Louth primary school pupils around the country are being challenged to get creative in how they learn and think about Europe through the Blue Star Programme, coordinated by European Movement Ireland.

The Blue Star Programme teaches primary school children about Europe through creative activities and projects that complement the national primary curriculum.

Each participating class carries out projects on history, geography, the institutions of the EU, culture and creativity with a European twist. Teachers and their classes can be creative and tailor their projects to their own individual needs and interests.

Since its pilot year in 2011, almost 1,200 schools have taken part in the Blue Star Programme nationwide.

Teachers, parents, guardians, carers and the whole school community are encouraged to get involved in Blue Star Programme projects, creating an awareness of the EU and European cultures that reaches far beyond the school walls and out into the wider community.

My European Union, My Ireland, My EU50!

To commemorate 50 years of EU membership in Ireland, the Government of Ireland in partnership with European Movement Ireland want to celebrate with young people across the country and to see their creativity and new ideas about Ireland and Europe.

MyEU50: The Ireland EU50 Youth Competition will run throughout the 2022/2023 academic term, over all three levels of education in Ireland; primary, post-primary and third level.

The winner at primary and post-primary school levels will receive a prize of 2,000!

All primary schools who sign up for the Blue Star Programme will be encourage to take part in this special commemorative competition. For more information see here.

Primary schools interested in taking part in the Blue Star Programme 2022-2023 can register here anytime until 5 October 2022.

To complete the Programme, schools are asked to take part in online quizzes and/or submit a Blue Star Programme Report outlining how each of the key elements were explored, at the end of the year.

Schools are also encouraged to host an event for Europe Day on May 9, in school or online.

Further information about the programme can be found at www.bluestarprogramme.ie
File photo shows a lights and fireworks show in Qingdao, the host city of the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng) With fruitful achievements, the SCO has grown into the world's largest and most populous regional institution, and it has endeavored to explore new ground, both theoretically and with actual steps, with a view to building a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind. BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the city of Samarkand, and pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from Wednesday to Friday. Xi's trip is expected to promote the development of the SCO and enhance China-Kazakhstan and China-Uzbekistan relations. SHANGHAI SPIRIT Since its founding in 2001, the SCO, the first inter-governmental organization named after a Chinese city, has had an extraordinary journey. After 21 years, the organization, now with eight full members, four observer countries and multiple dialogue partners, has become not only a strong pillar of global peace and development, but also a major force for international equity and justice. "The SCO enjoys strong vitality and momentum of cooperation. This, in the final analysis, is attributed to the Shanghai Spirit, a creative vision initiated and followed through by the SCO that champions mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development," Xi said at the 18th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the SCO in 2018. Within the framework of the SCO, countries have supported each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and major concerns. Together, they have fought against terrorism, separatism and extremism, and taken tough actions to curb the spread of drug trafficking, cybercrime and transnational organized crime. People-to-people programs such as art festivals, the SCO University and the SCO Forum on Traditional Medicine have been launched. With such fruitful achievements, the SCO has grown into the world's largest and most populous regional institution, and it has endeavored to explore new ground, both theoretically and with actual steps, with a view to building a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind. Practices over the years have shown that the values embodied and advocated by the Shanghai Spirit have been fully recognized by the member states, said Zhang Ming, secretary-general of the SCO. As this year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the SCO Charter and the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation of the SCO Member States, global attention has been placed on the upcoming Samarkand Summit of the SCO, where Xi and other leaders will discuss how to jointly address global challenges and promote security and development. In fact, as a founding member of the SCO, China has been committed to promoting a sound development of the organization. Since 2013, President Xi has put forward a series of initiatives while participating in the SCO summits, which have enriched the Shanghai Spirit. People visit the 2021 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) International Investment and Trade Expo in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, April 26, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng) From elaborating on China's visions on development, security, cooperation, civilization and global governance, to calling for the building of "a community of health," "a community of security," "a community of development" and "a community of cultural exchanges," the Chinese leader played an important role in the SCO's steady and long-term development. The Chinese president's remarks have summarized the SCO's practices, and adequately met the needs of regional governance and the requirements of the organization's development, said Deng Hao, secretary-general of the China Center for SCO Studies. As the world is witnessing profound changes, especially after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese leader has proposed the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, which have been widely recognized by the international community, including SCO countries. CLOSER COOPERATION At the Qingdao Summit of the SCO in 2018, Xi said that the Chinese government supports building a demonstration area in Qingdao for local economic and trade cooperation between China and the SCO. Since then, the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area in Qingdao has grown into an important logistics hub with flourishing freight train services. China's efforts to promote SCO development in economic and trade, as well as in other areas including health and poverty alleviation have benefited people in different countries. Within the framework of the SCO, the member states are witnessing significant economic development, great improvement in people's lives and closer relations with each other, which has attracted countries outside the organization, Zhang, secretary-general of the SCO, said. Last year, the SCO launched procedures to admit Iran as a full member state. Moreover, it has granted dialogue partner status to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar. Committed to true multilateralism, the SCO has always opposed hegemonic, domineering and bullying acts, and will never attempt the forming of cliques. To translate true multilateralism into practice, the organization has been making full use of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group and actively cooperating with such international and regional organizations as the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia. It has also been promoting synergy between the Belt and Road cooperation and the development strategies of various countries and regional cooperation initiatives such as the Eurasian Economic Union. File photo taken on Nov. 9, 2020 shows a train carrying tires, auto parts, electronic components and other goods from Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) preparing to leave the Qingdao multimodal transportation center in the China-SCO local economic and trade cooperation demonstration zone in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng) Meanwhile, the SCO calls for observing the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, providing a new platform and model for multilateral cooperation to improve global governance. As B.R. Deepak, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, has said, the SCO "has proved to be an excellent example of multilateralism in the 21st century," and "has played an important role in enhancing the voice of developing countries in global institutions and forums." BRIGHT FUTURE This year marks the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Kazakhstan as well as between China and Uzbekistan. Over the past 30 years, China's relations with the two countries have maintained a sound momentum of development. In 2013, 2015 and 2017, Xi paid three visits to Kazakhstan where the Silk Road Economic Belt was initiated. Since 2013, China-Kazakhstan relations have achieved leapfrog development with the Belt and Road cooperation, bringing tangible benefits to the people of the two countries. In 2021, the Zhanatas wind power plant, the Turgusun hydropower station and other China-built projects were completed and put into operation. Kazakh companies have participated in the China International Import Expo for four consecutive years. The import and export of goods between China and Kazakhstan totaled 25.25 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, up 17.6 percent year-on-year. Their economic cooperation has withstood the tough test of the pandemic and shown strong resilience. Wind turbines are seen at central Asia's largest wind farm built by a Chinese firm near the city of Zhanatas in the Zhambyl Region, Kazakhstan, May 24, 2021. (Photo by Kalizhan Ospanov/Xinhua) Meanwhile, China-Uzbekistan relations are at a historic high. The two countries have strengthened political mutual trust, achieved fruitful practical cooperation and maintained close coordination in international and regional affairs. Xi visited Uzbekistan in 2013 and 2016. In 2016, China-Uzbekistan relations were upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership. Since then, China has been Uzbekistan's largest trading partner and largest destination of exports. Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, the two sides have carried out close cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, investment, energy, transportation, agriculture and people-to-people exchanges, and undertaken a number of projects like the Pengsheng industrial park and China's Ming Yuan Silu Corp-funded plate glass manufacturing and deep-processing facility. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are both important participants and contributors to Belt and Road cooperation. More than 2,000 years ago, along the ancient Silk Road linking Asia and Europe, civilizations in the East and West told a story of mutual assistance and mutual learning. Now the Belt and Road has carried forward that spirit across the Eurasian continent, bringing SCO members even closer. Sun Zhuangzhi, director of the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that in line with the concepts of "a green Silk Road" and "a digital Silk Road," practical cooperation among SCO member states will be expanded to green development, digital economy and other areas in the future. After more than 20 years of development, the organization has been forging ahead toward closer cooperation. As the Samarkand Summit is approaching, the SCO is expected to continuously uphold the Shanghai Spirit, commit itself to building a closer SCO community with a shared future, and make greater contributions to lasting peace and the common development of the world.
A Coupang Eats delivery driver delivers food ordered online by bicycle in Seoul on Jan. 29, 2021. Korea Times file



By Kim Jae-heun



Coupang, Korea's largest e-commerce company, has denied a recent media report that it was looking to sell its food delivery platform amid intensifying competition and market saturation, company officials said Monday.



"The ongoing rumor that we are going to sell our business is not true. Also, we cannot comment on any issues related to M&A deals," a Coupang official said, dismissing the sale of Coupang Eats as a groundless rumor.



About its delivery driver shortage and the deterioration of its delivery services, the official said Coupang Eats is looking for a business partner to secure a sufficient number of full-time workers.



Citing an unnamed industry official, a local newspaper said that ever since April when the government lifted COVID-19 social distancing measures that limited private gathering sizes and multi-facility operating hours, Coupang Eats has been losing customers as more people started returning to restaurants to dine in person. It also failed to beat Baedal Minjok (Baemin) in single-order delivery services, which has hobbled its efforts to expand its market share.



According to the data analysis service for apps, Mobile Index, Coupang Eats' monthly active users (MAU) decreased to 4.34 million last month, losing nearly 2.7 million from a peak of 7.02 million last December.



Meanwhile, Baemin's MAU increased some 780,000 from 20.74 million to 21.52 million in the same period. This situation led Coupang Eats to reduce its promotional benefits for delivery drivers, resulting in a decrease in the quality of the company's delivery services. In the second quarter of this year, the company's sales decreased 7 percent year-on-year.



"Coupang Eats does not want to invest more in the domestic food delivery market, which is already a red ocean. The company has reportedly contacted local retail giants such as Lotte, Shinsegae and GS Retail to sell its business to them. I think the company knows it cannot show any more consecutive losses in its game of chicken against Baemin," a local food delivery firm official said.



Naver's attempt to jump into the food delivery market is threatening Coupang Eats too. The IT giant revealed its plan recently to launch its N Delivery service in the second half of this year.


On Monday, September 12, Israels defence minister, Benny Gantz, asserted that Iran is transforming Syrian military installations into missile factories. Gantz continued by saying that within a few weeks, Iran would be able to generate enough highly enriched uranium to create three nuclear weapons.

Gantz described all 10 locations in Syria on a map that are reportedly being used to supply Hezbollah and other Iranian allies with weapons. Using more than ten military installations in Syria, he claimed, Iran has been manufacturing sophisticated missiles and weaponry. For its own reasons, Iran is constructing terrorist factories in Syria. Recently, it also began constructing cutting-edge factories in Yemen and Lebanon. This pattern must be reversed , Gantz remarked while participating in a seminar in New York.

Gantz stated these were military facilities of the Centre DEtudes et de Recherches Scientifiques (CERS), a Syrian government organization that produces missiles and other weapons for Iran, while displaying the map. Iran converted CERS into factories that produce precision, medium- and long-range missiles and armaments for Hezbollah and Iranian affiliates. In other words, it evolved into a factory for cutting-edge strategic weaponry, constituting another Iranian front, explained Gantz.

Notably, Israel has been stepping up its assaults on sites in Syria that it claims are connected to Iran for many years. The Masyaf area, a location in the western Hama district where Gantz said an underground weapons development complex threatens Israel and the region, has been the target of many Israeli airstrikes. Masyaf in particular is utilised to create sophisticated missiles, he claimed. Iran and Syria have not yet released any public statements in response to Gantzs allegations.
EBRD and GCF provide financial package of US$ 25 million to XacBank of Mongolia

Latest project under EBRDs GEFF

Support for investment in climate mitigation and adaptation technologies

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is promoting green lending in Mongolia by organising a financial package of US$ 25 million to XacBank, the countrys most active creditor of green economy projects.

The package consists of an EBRD loan of up to US$ 18.75 million and concessional financing of up to US$ 6.25 million provided by the Green Climate Fund (GCF). It will help support domestic individuals and businesses willing to invest in climate mitigation and adaptation technologies and services. Beneficiaries can identify climate-friendly technologies with the help of the Green Technology Selector and dedicated technical support is available through a consultancy team funded by the GCF and Japan.

This is the latest project in Mongolia under the Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) programme, which is part of the EBRDs Green Economy Transition (GET) approach, through which the EBRD aims to become a majority green bank by 2025. The programme operates through a network of more than 170 local financial institutions across 28 countries, supported by more than 5.8 billion of EBRD financing for over 220,000 clients to date. These projects have led to annual CO 2 emission reductions of more than 9 million tonnes so far.

XacBank, the sustainability-award-winning financial institution and the first financial institution to join GEFF in Mongolia, will benefit from the EBRDs experience in energy and resource efficiency and climate resilience financing.

The project is supported by technical assistance from the GCF and the Japan-EBRD Cooperation Fund.

GEFF Mongolia supports gender activities that aim to enhance equal opportunities for men and women to access finance for green technologies.

To date, the EBRD has invested almost US$ 2.17 billion in Mongolias economy through 122 projects.




By Baek Byung-yeul







Seoul Semiconductor filed a lawsuit against U.S.-based lighting company Feit Electric for infringement on 12 patents held by the Korean LED tech company, it said Tuesday.







The company said the case was filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. In a complaint filed in August, the company asked the court to ban sales of lighting products of Feit, which manufactured and sold lighting products in violation of 12 patents of Seoul Semiconductor.







Seoul Semiconductor said it launched lawsuits five times in the U.S. against Feit's continued patent infringement, saying it already won two cases. In 2019 and 2020, the U.S. courts ordered companies distributing Feit's patent-infringing products to ban their sales.







Despite the order, Feit's patent infringement practices have not been corrected, Seoul Semiconductor said. "We have drawn a ban on sales in patent lawsuits against distributors of Feit products. However, Feit's infringement was not corrected after the lawsuits, so we filed a lawsuit directly against Feit this time," a spokesperson for Seoul Semiconductor said.







The Korean LED company has a history of taking legal action against companies alleged to have violated its patents. In previous lawsuits, the company launched a series of patent infringement lawsuits against Taiwan-based Everlight Electronics, which once accounted for the fifth-largest share of the world's LED packaging market.







As a result, a German court prohibited the Taiwanese firm from selling LED products and ordered recalls of its products in 2018 and 2019. A court in Korea also fined the Taiwanese company in June for stealing trade secrets of the Korean company.







"There are many bad companies that ignore intellectual property rights while proclaiming their desire to achieve environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG)," the company official said, emphasizing that intellectual property rights should be respected to ensure fairness.


As permitted by paragraph 2.6 of Section III of the Access to Information Policy, disclosure of this PSD was deferred in accordance with paragraph 1.4.4 of the Directive on Access to Information.

Project Description

Provision of a senior unsecured long-term loan to Barry Callebaut South East Europe d.o.o. (the "Company") in the amount of up to EUR 82.3 million, consisting of EUR 52.3 million committed tranche and EUR 30 million uncommitted tranche.

Project Objectives

The loan will support the Company's investment in the development of the chocolate production plant and Chocolate Academy in Serbia, as well as future investments in Serbia.

Transition Impact

ETI score: 61

Competitive: the project will support the development of the Company to become a regional production hub, which will introduce new state-of-the-art production processes and new types of services in Serbia and the region.

Green: the project will support energy efficiency improvements through BREEAM certification of the new production plant in Serbia.

Client Information

BARRY CALLEBAUT SOUTH EAST EUROPE DOO

The Company is a chocolate producer that will become the production hub for the region.

The Company is indirectly owned by Barry Callebaut AG ("BC"), the world's leading manufacturer of high quality cocoa and chocolate products.

EBRD Finance Summary

EUR 82,300,000.00

Total Project Cost

EUR 82,300,000.00

Additionality

The Banks's additionality stems from setting standards in energy and resource efficiency, and mitigation of non-financial risks.

Environmental and Social Summary

Categorised B (ESP 2019). Environmental and social due diligence for this Project was undertaken internally by the Bank's Environment and Sustainability Department based on the standard environmental and social (E&S) questionnaire, completed by the Company, and follow up dialogue with Company management. The Greenfield production facility is located to the north-east of the city of Novi Sad, within an industrial zone, neighbouring other industrial and retail facilities. The facility was subject to a national environmental impact assessment and the Company received positive approval to proceed with the development.

The Company has developed a comprehensive approach to environmental and social management as evidenced by the questionnaire and the many public disclosures covering environment, health and safety, labour management and, in particular, supply chain management. Staffing for E&S issues has been appointed at the local level with oversight provided from headquarters. Management systems will be developed and applied in accordance with standard Company practice with improvement targets identified and translated into site specific actions. Key environmental targets cover energy consumption, water usage, protection of habitats and reduction of emissions. It is noted that the facility has been developed in line with best industrial practice and the aim is to achieve a "BREEAM In Use" certification with at least a "Very Good" rating.

The Company has created a Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) Plan, which covers all aspects of health, safety, fire-protection and environmental matters. This document covers a wide range of issues including requirements for arrival to site, how to act when performing activities on site, and how to leave your workplace after work. For all workplaces and activities a risk assessment is undertaken, and the whole site is covered by a work permit system (general permits and specific permits for high risk activities). In terms of human resources management, the Company is likewise covered by a comprehensive system of procedures. All sites are subject to audits in accordance with the Sedex methodology and are required to comply with the ETI Base Code and other SMETA standards. This is managed on a permanent basis at the parent level and any reported non-compliances require corrective actions and follow-up.

The Company pays particular attention to supply chain issues given the multiple risks associated with, among other things, farmer poverty, child labour and biodiversity impacts. BC has in place robust and well-resourced supply chain management system as evidenced by the fact that the company (i) conducts supply chain mapping in Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and other countries (ii) assesses child labour/ forced labour risks in its supply chain (iii) seeks to remediate identified risks in supply chain by engaging directly with farmers (where child labour risks lie), cooperatives and other key stakeholders (iv) monitors, verifies, and reports on delivery of remediation measures.

BC does not use child labour in any of its processing facilities or any other facility directly controlled by BC and this element is covered by the Barry Callebaut Global HR Labour Policy.

To address E&S issues, specific to the Serbian facility, the Bank has agreed an environmental and social action plan with the Company. The plan is designed to ensure that the commitments already made by the Company at the corporate level are applied for the new facility and to ensure that the Project is structured to meet the Bank's Performance Requirements. The Company will be required to report annually on the implementation of the ESAP and compliance with the PRs.

Technical Cooperation and Grant Financing

TC support for this operation was provided by the Republic of Austria under the Delivering Resource Efficiency Investments (DRIVE) Fund, with significant contribution by the Company.

Company Contact Information

Claudia Pedretti

claudia_pedretti@barry-callebaut.com

+41792758395

www.barry-callebaut.com

Hardturmstrasse 181 8005 Zurich Switzerland



Implementation summary





PSD last updated

12 Sep 2022

Understanding Transition

Further information regarding the EBRDs approach to measuring transition impact is available here.

Business opportunities

For business opportunities or procurement, contact the client company.

For business opportunities with EBRD (not related to procurement) contact:

Tel: +44 20 7338 7168

Email: projectenquiries@ebrd.com

For state-sector projects, visit EBRD Procurement:



Tel: +44 20 7338 6794

Email: procurement@ebrd.com

General enquiries

Specific enquiries can be made using the EBRD Enquiries form.

Environmental and Social Policy (ESP)

The ESP and the associated Performance Requirements (PRs) set out the ways in which the EBRD implements its commitment to promoting environmentally sound and sustainable development. The ESP and the PRs include specific provisions for clients to comply with the applicable requirements of national laws on public information and consultation as well as to establish a grievance mechanism to receive and facilitate resolution of stakeholders concerns and grievances, in particular, about environmental and social performance of the client and the project. Proportionate to the nature and scale of a projects environmental and social risks and impacts, the EBRD additionally requires its clients to disclose information, as appropriate, about the risks and impacts arising from projects or to undertake meaningful consultation with stakeholders and consider and respond to their feedback.

More information on the EBRDs practices in this regard is set out in the ESP.

Integrity and Compliance

The EBRD's Office of the Chief Compliance Officer (OCCO) promotes good governance and ensures that the highest standards of integrity are applied to all activities of the Bank in accordance with international best practice. Integrity due diligence is conducted on all Bank clients to ensure that projects do not present unacceptable integrity or reputational risks to the Bank. The Bank believes that identifying and resolving issues at the project assessment approval stages is the most effective means of ensuring the integrity of Bank transactions. OCCO plays a key role in these protective efforts, and also helps to monitor integrity risks in projects post-investment.

OCCO is also responsible for investigating allegations of fraud, corruption and misconduct in EBRD-financed projects. Anyone, both within or outside the Bank, who suspects fraud or corruption should submit a written report to the Chief Compliance Officer by email to compliance@ebrd.com. All matters reported will be handled by OCCO for follow-up. All reports, including anonymous ones, will be reviewed. Reports can be made in any language of the Bank or of the Bank's countries of operation. The information provided must be made in good faith.

Access to Information Policy (AIP)

The AIP sets out how the EBRD discloses information and consults with its stakeholders so as to promote better awareness and understanding of its strategies, policies and operations following its entry into force on 1 January 2020. Please visit the Access to Information Policy page to find out what information is available from the EBRD website.

Specific requests for information can be made using the EBRD Enquiries form.

Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM)

If efforts to address environmental, social or public disclosure concerns with the Client or the Bank are unsuccessful (e.g. through the Clients Project-level grievance mechanism or through direct engagement with Bank management), individuals and organisations may seek to address their concerns through the EBRDs Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM).

IPAM independently reviews Project issues that are believed to have caused (or to be likely to cause) harm. The purpose of the Mechanism is: to support dialogue between Project stakeholders to resolve environmental, social and public disclosure issues; to determine whether the Bank has complied with its Environmental and Social Policy or Project-specific provisions of its Access to Information Policy; and where applicable, to address any existing non-compliance with these policies, while preventing future non-compliance by the Bank.

Please visit the Independent Project Accountability Mechanism webpage to find out more about IPAM and its mandate; how to submit a Request for review; or contact IPAM via email ipam@ebrd.com to get guidance and more information on IPAM and how to submit a request.
A hurling fan who was hoping to get to last years All-Ireland Final spent 240 online for two tickets that were advertised for sale but it turned out to be a scam.

Now at Cork District Court, Ian OSullivan, who faced sentencing for the crime has brought 240 to court to compensate the man who was conned.

Ian OSullivan pleaded guilty to theft by deception arising out of the incident in August 2021.

The injured party agreed to send 240 to the seller of tickets for the Limerick V Cork final. The money went to Ian OSullivans accounts but unfortunately for the purchaser there were no tickets.

Gardai investigated the matter and traced the payment to the defendants bank account.

The defendant had previous convictions of a similar nature.

Joseph Cuddigan said of Ian OSullivan of Cherry Lawn, Church Road, Blackrock, Cork:

He is an unusual man. It is a taker but he is also a giver as well. He is the person who started Gamblers Anonymous in Cork Prison which is ongoing to this day. And it was set up back in 2016.

Mr Cuddigan said the defendants own addiction to gambling gave him a deep insight into the issue, making him an ideal person to help others.

The defendant, who is aged 40, is keen to continue in education and Judge Marian OLeary adjourned sentencing in this case to see what progress he makes.

Sentencing was adjourned at Cork District Court until December 19.
Key stakeholders from the wind sector in Ireland and The Netherlands have come together this week, as a memorandum of understanding has been signed between Irelands first green hydrogen company, EIH2, the Port of Cork and the Port of Amsterdam.

This partnership will help to enable the establishment of a supply chain for green hydrogen between Ireland and Europe via the port of Amsterdam.

It will also enable Ireland to maximise its use of offshore wind as a source of energy, by providing an alternative route to market for such renewable electricity.

Earlier this year, the Government identified an additional 2GW of offshore wind to be used for green hydrogen production and this partnership provides the route to market that is needed for Ireland to become a net exporter of energy over time.

The event forms part of a major offshore wind mission organised by the Netherlands Embassy in Ireland, running until tomorrow in Cork. The purpose of the mission is to increase collaboration on the energy transition between Ireland and The Netherlands at a national level and business to business.

Rob Jetten, Minister for Climate and Energy Policy of The Netherlands and Ossian Smyth, Minister of State with Responsibility for Public Procurement, eGovernment and Circular Economy in Cork City Hall for the MOU signing between Port of Amsterdam, Port of Cork and EIH2, as part of the Dutch delegations Offshore Wind Trade Mission, to Ireland 11-14 September. Photo Darragh Kane

The signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding was attended by the Dutch Minister for Climate and Energy Policy, Mr Rob Jetten, and the Irish Minister of State for Public Procurement, eGovernment and Circular Economy, Mr Ossian Smyth, as official witnesses to the agreement.

Also represented were Lord Mayor Cork City, Cllr Deirdre Forde and Deputy Lord Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Anthony Barry.

Pearse Flynn, EIH2s founder said: Our goal at EIH2 is to help both Ireland and Europe achieve their ambitious energy targets.

"This partnership is the beginning of a supply chain for green hydrogen from Ireland where there is a lot of wind but not a lot of hydrogen demand to Europe where the situation is reversed.

Conor Mowlds, Chief Commercial Officer of the Port of Cork Company said: At the Port of Cork Company, we see significant opportunities for Cork Harbour to become a hub for renewable energy, which will benefit the environment, local businesses and create employment in the region. We hope to utilise our facilities at this strategic location, working together with like-minded partners to support the development of renewable energy opportunities.

Ireland and the Netherlands have traditionally enjoyed strong and historic trade relations and both countries have placed strategic priority on the development of production capacity and international distribution of green hydrogen.

Gert-Jan Nieuwenhuizen, Director Business Development Cargo of Port of Amsterdam said: Port of Amsterdam is very pleased with the signing of this MoU with such valuable partners. It underlines both the strong ties between Ireland and our port and the increasing importance of green hydrogen."
A pensioner who has not taken a drink for 36 years was convicted of driving with cannabis in his system  after smoking what he believed was a normal cigarette rolled for him by another man outside a chipper.

Defence solicitor, Michael Quinlan, said of the case against Florence OSullivan of 2 Dan Desmond Terrace, Station Road, Carrigaline, County Cork, This is an interesting one."

He is a man who does not take a drink. He has not taken a drink in 36 years. What happened was he had left a chipper and there was a guy outside who rolled him a cigarette and gave it to him outside the chipper.

Mr Quinlan said it transpired that the cannabis was in this cigarette, unknown to the defendant.

Inspector Jason Lynch said the drug-driving incident was detected on June 15, 2021. He was stopped driving at Glounthaune village. He was taken to Midleton garda station and processed for suspected drink driving. Cannabis was detected in his blood.

Insp. Lynch said the accused had multiple road traffic and theft offences previously.

Judge Marian OLeary convicted and fined him 300 and imposed a one-year disqualification from driving. The judge agreed to postpone the disqualification for six months.

Florence OSullivan pleaded guilty to the drug-driving charge.

Mr Quinlan solicitor said in the course of mitigation that the accused had no previous convictions for driving under the influence of any intoxicant.
MAYOR of County Cork Danny Collins told the Council chamber he had "mixed feelings" about the Taoiseachs directive to fly the flag at half mast on Monday, the day the funeral of Queen Elizabeth.

Speaking at the first council meeting after the summer break, the Independent Councillor and County Mayor responded to a proposal from the floor to mark the Queens death with a vote of sympathy by saying he had "mixed feelings" about the directive from Government.

Fianna Fail Councillor Gearoid Murphy suggested an acknowledgement of the Queens passing.

Its not directly related to the state, but I think it would be fitting to pass a motion of sympathy to the late Queen of England, Elizabeth II, Mr Murphy said, She was the head of state of our closest neighbour, the UK, and just to acknowledge the high esteem she was held in particularly by the unionist community in the North.

I think any true 32 county republican must acknowledge that in order to achieve unity as a nation, we must respect and indeed honour the traditions of our brethren in the North, both nationalist and unionist.

The County Councillor went on to say Ireland and Britain were closely connected and highlighted Queen Elizabeths efforts in visiting Ireland in recent years.

Cllr Danny Collins, Mayor of the County of Cork.

A conservative estimate on top of that would be that a quarter of British citizens at least have Irish ancestry and the numbers could be higher than that, so I think in recognition of the special connection between our countries, as well as of course the efforts she personally made through her visits to Ireland on her state visit ten years ago, such as bowing to the graves of our freedom fighters from the war of independence as well as addressing the president in Irish, small touches but I think in recognition of that I would like to propose that motion of sympathy.

In response, County Mayor Danny Collins said: We have a directive from the Taoiseach's office, to lower the flag at half mast on the day of her funeral, next Monday, I dont know, my own feelings Ill be quite honest, are quite mixed, but we did get a directive from the Taoiseachs office so I suppose we have to do it.

Following these comments, Fine Gael Councillor Kevin Murphy who was mayor at the time of Queen Elizabeth's visit to Ireland spoke about meeting the Royal.

I was Mayor when that royal visit took place in Cork city in 2011 and I was the last person to shake her hand before she boarded a plane at Cork Airport.

I was privileged, in actual fact, she spent about three-quarters of an hour in the airport at that time, and it was very personal for the people who were there, and her husband Philip was interested in how old the Chain of Office was and he said he must be worth an awful lot of money.
A murder investigation has been launched into the death of a man found in a flat complex in Dublin.

The body was discovered in a flat at Kevin Barry House on Coleraine Street at around 6.20pm on Monday.

Gardai believe the body of the man in his 20s was there for more than five days.

The scene remains preserved and a technical examination is ongoing by the Garda Technical Bureau.

The body of the male was removed to the City Morgue, Whitehall, and a postmortem is being conducted this afternoon by State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster.

Investigating Gardai are appealing for anyone with any information in relation to this matter to contact Bridewell Garda Station on 01 6668200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.

Local councillor Christy Burke told Newstalk there was "utter shock and dismay" from local residents about the news.

Cllr Burke asked anyone with information about the death to get in touch with gardai at Bridewell Garda Station.
Visitors are seen at Celltrion's booth during the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Paris in this photo provided by the company, Monday. Courtesy of Celltrion



By Baek Byung-yeul



HLB, Celltrion, NeoImmuneTech and other Korean biotech companies confirmed their competitiveness in Europe as they showcased their new drug development capabilities at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress, an annual medical oncology fair to share the latest developments in cancer research, they said Tuesday.



This year's ESMO Congress was held in Paris for five days from Sept. 9 to 13, featuring around 20,000 medical oncology experts and clinical professionals from around the world.



At the fair, local biotech company HLB announced that a liver cancer treatment using its Rivoceranib drug was confirmed to be effective in liver cancer patients after going through Phase 3 clinical trials.



The company said Shukui Qin, chair of the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO), announced the clinical results of a combination therapy that uses Rivoceranib and Camrelizumab in front of medical professionals, investors and company officials at the fair.



Qin said the clinical trials which began in 2019 showed that the liver cancer treatment recorded 22.1 months of median overall survival (mOS), which refers to the time from the start of the treatment to the death of the patient.



The drug was tested on 543 patients in 13 countries including the United States, China, Korea and European countries, after the company earned approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory agencies to begin the Phase 3 clinical trials.



"It is very surprising that the combination of Rivoceranib and Camrelizumab demonstrated high efficacy and safety in primary treatments for liver cancer regardless of region and race," Stephen Chan, a clinical professor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a committee member of the ESMO Congress, was quoted as saying by HLB.



"We hope that we can prescribe this new treatment option in actual medical situations involving patients with liver cancer who are in dire need."



For commercializing the treatment, HLB applied for a pre-new drug application (NDA) meeting with the FDA. Given both Rivoceranib and Camrelizumab received orphan designations from the FDA, the company expects the approval procedure to proceed quickly.



Celltrion also attracted visitors to its promotional booth during the fair. The company said the booth garnered around 400 visitors, most of whom were medical professionals from European countries such as the U.K. and France.



At the congress, the company unveiled the clinical test results of its anti-cancer treatment biosimilar Vegzelma and clinical trials on 689 patients in Europe, South America and Asia, and that the drug proved its similarity in survival analysis compared to the original drug.



"At the global Phase 3 clinical trials of Vegzelma, we have confirmed similarities compared to original drugs in survival analysis indicators and safety," a Celltrion spokesman said. "We will do our best to strengthen the company's anti-cancer drug portfolio and create synergy with existing anti-cancer drugs."



Another local biotech company, NeoImmuneTech, also announced the results of biomarker analysis of its T-cell amplifier NT-17 at the congress and a Phase 2a study, which was conducted on patients with pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer and ovarian cancer, and confirmed effective results such as reducing tumor size.


President Joe Biden speaks on the cancer moonshot initiative at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Sept. 12, in Boston. AP-Yonhap



President Joe Biden on Monday invoked the national effort to land a man on the Moon 60 years ago in a speech touting his Cancer Moonshot initiative, which aims to slash cancer death rates across the United States by half.



The Democrat was in Boston for an address deliberately echoing John F.



Kennedy's famous 1962 "Moonshot speech" in which he called for landing an American on the lunar surface  something achieved in 1969, after his assassination.



This time, Biden is pushing government-backed efforts to coordinate and fund treatment of cancer, search for cures and generally to prevent the disease through better public health.



Cancer remains the number two cause of death after heart disease and Biden said his Cancer Moonshot can halve death rates over the next 25 years.



"I know we can do this together, because I know this: there's nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity or ability if we work together as the United States of America," he said.



Biden said that as in 1962, when the country was in the thick of the Cold War and domestic tensions were high over civil rights, the United States today is at an "inflection point."



And like Kennedy with his Moon program, Biden said he wanted to set "a national purpose that could rally the American people in a common cause."





U.S. President Joe Biden listens to an introduction from President John F. Kennedy's daughter Caroline Kennedy as he prepares to deliver a speech on his "Cancer Moonshot" initiative at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.,



Backing from JFK's daughter



Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the assassinated JFK and now U.S. ambassador to Australia, said her father had defied the doubters in the 1960s, when "scientists weren't sure even that a Moon landing on the surface of the Moon was possible."



Kennedy, however, "understood the power of the idea" and saw the project as a way to unite the country. "No one embodies that spirit more than President Joe Biden," she said. "As president, he has restored the soul of America."



The battle against cancer is personal for Biden: his son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015 when Biden was vice president to Barack Obama.



Biden noted that cancer "does not discriminate..., it doesn't care if you're a Republican or Democrat."



"I give you my word as a Biden: this Cancer Moonshot is one of the reasons why I ran for president."



The linkage to the Moon program also sought to add to Democratic momentum ahead of November's midterm congressional elections where the Democrats face the possibility of a Republican sweep in Congress, severely complicating the last two years of Biden's first term.



Change the trajectory



Biden said his plan will push for cures and ways to manage cancer, turning "more cancers from death sentences into chronic diseases that people can live with."



"We know we can change the trajectory," he said.



The president said he was harnessing funding but also government expertise in high-tech research similar to the defense industry, where public-private partnerships drive innovations in weaponry and other military needs.



A new agency named Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and the White House's new "cancer cabinet" will "increase funding to break log jams and to speed breakthroughs," while getting entrepreneurs support from cutting edge scientists with NASA, the Pentagon and the energy department.



The goal is to "use all the assets we have," Biden said, and this "may require unusual partnerships."





President Joe Biden speaks on the cancer moonshot initiative at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Sept. 12, in Boston. AP-Yonhap
Blue Origins recent NS-23 flight didnt go according to plan. On Monday morning, the private space firm was forced to abort the uncrewed mission after one of its New Shepard rockets suffered an unspecified booster failure. The problem came up about a minute after the flight took off from Blue Origins West Texas launch site at 10:26AM ET. You can see the entire incident unfold in the video the company shared on Twitter.

Booster failure on todays uncrewed flight. Escape system performed as designed. pic.twitter.com/xFDsUMONTh  Blue Origin (@blueorigin) September 12, 2022

It appears we have experienced an anomaly with todays flight, a commentator said during the NS-23 livestream. This was unplanned and we don't have any details yet. But our crew capsule was able to escape successfully, well follow its progress through landing. As you can see, the drogues have deployed, and the mains are going to be pulled out next.

The capsule was carrying NASA-funded research equipment. Its useless to speculate about what happened at this point. Not even the company knows the cause, tweeted Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, adding in a separate post that had the spacecraft been manned, the crew would have felt a serious jolt, but would have been safe.

Blue Shepard wont be able to fly again until Blue Origin investigates the incident and the Federal Aviation Administration signs off on the companys findings.
The worlds largest motorcycle manufacturer is going electric. On Monday, Honda announced it would introduce 10 or more electric motorcycles by 2025. The majority of those wont be available in North America, with the automaker set to focus most of its attention on Asian and European markets. Dont expect many performance models either. Honda shared a slide showing the silhouettes of 11 potential electric models, and all but four look like mopeds.

The good news is that the remaining full-sized models are the ones that are likely to make their way stateside. Honda is developing a new FUN platform and plans to introduce three large-size EV models in Japan, the US and Europe between 2024 and 2025. Its also working on a kids-sized bike based on the same powertrain and solid-state battery technology to power all of the models it plans to introduce before the second half of the decade.

Honda

At the same time, the company said it would continue to produce internal combustion engine models, but pledged to make them more environmentally friendly by introducing more flex-fuel motorcycles that can use E20 and E100 ethanol-based fuels in 2023 and 2025. However, those models wont be available in the US.

Honda plans to make its motorcycle business carbon neutral by 2040 and for electric models to account for about 15 percent of its motorcycle sales by 2030. All of that amounts to an electrification strategy that doesnt seem particularly urgent but is in line with other automakers like Ford and GM.
During a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Twitters former security chief turned whistleblower, Peiter Zatko, shed new light on his claims that the companys lax security practices harmed U.S. national security. Among the new allegations was that the company had a Chinese agent working for the country's Ministry of State Security (MSS) on its payroll.

During his opening statement, Sen. Chuck Grassley stated that the FBI notified Twitter of at least one Chinese agent in the company." In the public version of his whistleblower complaint, Zatko stated he had been warned that the company was employing one or more people who were working on behalf of another particular foreign intelligence agency. But the version of the complaint made public, parts of which were redacted, didnt specify what country the FBI was referring to.

In his testimony, Zatko confirmed the company had been warned about the presence of Chinese agents. This was made aware to me maybe a week before I was summarily dismissed, Zatko said. I had been told because the corporate security/physical security team had been contacted and told that there was at least one agent of the MSS, which is one of Chinas intelligence services on the payroll inside Twitter.

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Zatko also raised concerns about the presence of foreign agents from other countries, including India, which he said "forced" Twitter to hire government agents.

Notably, Zatko's disclosures are not the first time Twitter has had to contend with the presence of unregistered foreign agents on its payroll. A former Twitter worker was recently convicted of acting as an agent for Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors alleged the man was paid to turn over sensitive information about dissidents.

Zatko alleged that the danger posed by foreign agents was even greater due to a litany of factors: the vast amount of data the platform collects and its lack of insight into that data, as well as the broad and largely unfettered access Twitter's engineers have to it. "It's not far-fetched to say that an employee inside the company could take over the accounts of all of the senators in this room," Zatko said.

The hearing is likely to amp up the pressure on Twitter, which has so far declined to address Zatkos claims in detail. Senator Grassley said that the committee had also invited CEO Parag Agrawal to testify at the hearing but that he had refused to appear.

He rejected this committee's invitation to appear by claiming that it would jeopardize Twitter's ongoing litigation Mr. Musk, Grassley said, referring to the companys legal battle with Elon Musk over his $44 billion acquisition of the company. Protecting Americans from foreign influence is more important than Twitter's civil litigation in Delaware. If these allegations are true, I don't see how Mr. Agrawal can maintain his position at Twitter going forward.
Pope Francis heads to board a plane for his visit to Kazakhstan, at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Tuesday. Reuters-Yonhap



Pope Francis said on Tuesday he was willing to go to China at any time but had "no news" to offer over speculation he might meet Chinese President Xi Jinping during a papal visit to Kazakhstan this week.



Speaking to reporters accompanying him on his flight to the central Asian republic, Francis was asked whether he might meet Xi in its capital Nur-Sultan, where both men will be on Wednesday.



"I don't have any news about that," the pope replied. "I am always ready to go to China."



Francis has tried to ease the historically poor relations between the Holy See and China, and told Reuters in an interview in July that he hoped to renew a secret and contested agreement on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops in China.



Xi is visiting Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from Sept. 14 to 16 in his first official trip to a foreign nation since China all but shut its borders due to COVID-19.



Francis will be in Kazakhstan until Thursday for a peace meeting of world religious leaders marked by the conspicuous absence of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who supports the war in Ukraine.



Kirill had been expected to attend the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, and Francis had several times said he was willing to talk to him.



Francis, who suffers from a knee ailment, used a cane to walk around the plane greeting reporters as he usually does on such trips. He appeared in pain by the time he returned to his own seat. (Reuters)


King Charles III made royal fans worried as he showed signs of deteriorating health soon after succeeding Queen Elizabeth II.

The royal fans' worries are far from over as now-viral photos of King Charles III sparked new health concerns. After Queen Elizabeth II's death on Thursday, the public thought that her 73-year-old successor looked like he might be suffering from a yet-to-be-publicized health condition.

In the photos shared by RadarOnline, it can be seen that His Majesty's hands looked red and swollen. Dr. Gareth Nye told Daily Mail that the condition is seemingly caused by water retention or old age. The King's hands were already described as "sausage fingers" in 2012 following his trip to Australia.

"Oedema is a condition where the body starts to retain fluids in the limbs, normally the legs and ankles but also in the fingers, which causes them to swell. To see if this is the cause, pressing the swollen area for about 15 seconds would cause a depression in the area," the British doctor said.



Dr. Nye also said that arthritis might also be its cause. The condition mostly affects three main areas of a person's hand - the thumb joint or any joints in the fingers. Although medications can ease the pain, the swelling in the area can remain.

King Charles III Has Pre-Existing Health Issues

Before the talks about his sausage fingers emerged, Scotland's top doctor once explained why the now-king and his queen consort, Camilla, were tested for COVID-19 months ago.

Scotland's chief medical officer, Dr. Catherine Calderwood, sat for an interview with The Telegraph and said that the royal couple had good reasons why they opted to be tested. However, she did not fully disclose it because of patient confidentiality.

READ ALSO: Elias Theodorou Tragic Cause of Death: Ex-UFC Star Dead at 34s

But one thing was clarified at that time, that King Charles and Camilla both had underlying health issues that made them more vulnerable to the dreaded virus. Royal correspondent Richard Palmer tried reaching Clarence House for a comment, but it did not give clear details on whether they truly had pre-existing health issues.

Meanwhile, Edward Argar, UK's minister of state for health, said that Prince Charles did not undergo a COVID-19 test because of his royal status. Instead, he underwent it because of his symptoms and condition. He told Sky News that King Charles did not use his title to jump the queue.

READ MORE: Britney Spears' Sons 'Killed' Her by Doing THIS Amid Family Dramas
An unspoken truth of the climate-change crusade is this: Anything the U.S. does to reduce emissions wont matter much to global temperatures. U.S. cuts will be swamped by the increases in India, Africa and especially China. Look no further than Chinas boom in new coal-fired electricity.

Under the nonbinding 2015 Paris climate agreement, China can increase its emissions until 2030. And is it ever. Between 2015 and 2021 Chinas emissions increased by some 11%, according to the Climate Action Tracker, which evaluates nationally determined contributions under the Paris agreement. The U.S. has reduced its emissions by some 6% between 2015 and 2021. Beijing made minimal new commitments at last years Glasgow confab on climate, despite world pressure.

S&P Global Commodity Insights recently estimated that China is planning or building coal-fired power plants with a total capacity of at least 100 gigawatts. Those are merely the projects whose development status is confirmed, so the real number is almost certainly higher. Total U.S. power capacity is some 1,147 gigawatts. One gigawatt is enough energy to power as many as 770,000 homes.

The nonprofit Global Energy Monitor tracks coal-fired power projects world-wide of 30 megawatts or more, including those planned for the long-term. It estimates that, as of July 2022, China had some 258 coal-fired power stationsor some 515 individual unitsproposed, permitted or under construction. If completed they would generate some 290 gigawatts, more than 60% of the world's total coal capacity under development.

Global Energy Monitor also reports that as of July China had 174 new coal mines or coal-mine expansions proposed, permitted or under construction that when complete would produce 596 million metric tonnes per year. China has also invested in hydro, wind and solar energy, which account for a growing share of its power generation. But energy demand continues to grow, and coal accounted for nearly 64% of Chinas power generation in 2021, according to the energy think tank Ember.

Since China signed the Paris pact, its coal-fired power capacity has increased by some 185 gigawatts, S&P Global Commodity Insights estimated earlier this summer. The U.S. has decreased its coal capacity by about 80 gigawatts since late 2015. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported in January that U.S. operational coal capacity was 209.6 gigawatts.

Natural gas plants that emit less CO2 are replacing coal power in the U.S., which accounts for most of the decline in U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions. Yet the climate lobby and Biden Administration want to cut off financing for natural-gas production and make drilling and transport more difficult and expensive.

The reason for Chinas coal boom is obvious: The Communist Partys priority is economic growth, higher living standards, and becoming the worlds leading power. Carbon emissions are an afterthought, and promises of future reductions are the compliment Chinese vice pays to Western virtue signalers.

President Xi Jinping addressed carbon-neutrality goals in March, saying we cant be detached from reality. . . . We cant toss away whats feeding us now while what will feed us next is still not in our pocket, according to a South China Morning Post report that cited the state-run Peoples Daily. But Biden officials dont want to believe what they hear.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry spent much of 2021 trying to convince leaders in Beijing to reduce emissions, but they wont even slow down their construction of new coal plants. Chinese officials have also made clear that any concessions on climate will require U.S. concessions on Chinese priorities such as Taiwan, trade policy and human rights.

After House Speaker Nancy Pelosis recent visit to Taiwan, Chinas Foreign Ministry suspended cooperation with the U.S. on climate change, among other issues. Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Mr. Kerry last September that China-U.S. cooperation on climate change cannot be divorced from the overall situation of China-U.S. relations.

While the Biden Administration does all it can to restrict U.S. fossil fuels, no matter the economic harm, Beijing is charging ahead with coal imports, coal mining and coal power to become the worlds leading economy. They must marvel at their good fortune in having rivals who are so self-destructive.

: wsj.com
U.S. tech companies are rolling up their sleeves and bracing themselves for an onslaught of regulation in India that will change the way they do business in the South Asian nation.

On Saturday, India opted out of trade talks with a U.S.-led group of Asian countries, saying the benefits arent clear from trade commitments related to issues around the environment, labor and digital trade. It added that it is in the process of firming up its own digital framework and laws, particularly regarding privacy and data. By doing so, India became the only participant in the 14-nation Indo-Pacific Economic Framework that didnt sign on to the groups negotiation track on trade.

Indias hard pushback on digital trade is symbolic of how the country of 1.4 billion wants to lead the charge in how it lets foreign internet and technology companies work within its borders. Over the next several months, India is likely to come up with a fresh privacy bill, a new Digital India Act to replace its archaic Information Technology Act, and an overhauled competition law to tighten control on global technology firms by seeking wider authority over their acquisitions.

With IPEF, the U.S. seeks to expand its political and economic leadership in the Indo-Pacific region. While the Biden administration is eager to cozy up to India to balance Chinas growing influence, the new barrage of bills could potentially strain relations between New Delhi and Washington. U.S. tech firms Twitter and Meta Platforms  WhatsApp are already embroiled in lawsuits with the government over alleged privacy violations and censorship. Google-parent Alphabet and Amazon.com are under investigation by Indias antitrust authority.

India withdrew a privacy bill from parliament in August that proposed stringent regulations on cross-border data flows, treated social-media firms as publishers and gave the Indian government powers to seek user data from companies. It had alarmed big technology companies, who worried India might set a precedent globally. Details of a coming new bill to take its place arent yet known, but it is unlikely to be too friendly to American tech firms.

Indias approach to U.S. tech is in line with what several countries in the world are advocating, but its newfound confidence stems from being the second-largest internet market in the world by users behind China. The countrys digital market has exploded in recent years thanks to cheap data and increasing penetration of smartphonesmaking it a key market for technology giants from around the world. Increasing its importance is the fact that it will remain far more open and globally connected than Chinas internet market, even after the new regulations.

Foreign firms had better start adapting. Total number of internet users in India are estimated at 640 million by Bain & Co.around twice the population of the U.S. With that kind of size inevitably comes influence.

Megha Mandavia

: wsj.com
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ricoh, a leading provider of smart workplace technology, today announced it has been appointed as a Medius Cloud Partner in Australia, enabling the company to sell and integrate the Medius range of autonomous account payable solutions. Medius cloud partners are responsible for pre-sales, client engagement, deployment, post implementation and support. At the same time, they receive ongoing support from Medius to ensure the best possible end customer experiences.

The addition of Medius's solution extends Ricoh's range of digital services solutions, including optimized workflows, anytime anywhere collaboration, intelligent capture, automation and digital infrastructure. It will now offer customers the Medius suite of market-leading solutions that enable organizations to automate the process of receiving, handling, approving, and paying of invoices to support better management of spend, risk management of fraud, and optimize procure-to-pay processes.

The partnership between the two companies in Australia extends a successful working relationship forged between the two organizations in New Zealand where Ricoh has been a Medius cloud partner since 2016.

Lars Mellergaard, Managing Director Medius Australia, said: "Medius is actively growing our Australian channel partners to expand our reach and introduce a broader cross-section of customers to the benefits of AP automation. Ricoh's Australian market presence, broad customer base and expertise in the provision of digital services in the cloud makes it an ideal partner for Medius at a time when there are growing requirements for electronic accounts payable governance and compliance."

Branden Jenkins, COO, Medius, comments: "As Medius scales globally, the APAC market is a fantastic growth opportunity for the business. Building on the success of partnerships in the region, including our partnership with Ricoh is key as we look to accelerate mutual new business opportunities, and bring our technology to more businesses, as their requirements evolve and develop."

The addition of Medius accounts payable solutions will enable Ricoh to provide Australian businesses with cloud-based accounts payable solutions to meet market demands for automated solutions which are highly configurable, customized and easy to use while supporting pressures to understand, control and optimize spend.

Shane Baker, Digital Services National Manager, Ricoh says: "We were looking for an accounts payable solution that was a great fit for the Australian mid-market business, that could also scale. We also needed a solution that had a proven track record, with a comprehensive set of features and functions, including procurement, raising PO requests, onboarding suppliers and contract management. Medius's industry-leading offering was the clear choice for us. Medius has been incredible to work with in New Zealand, and customers love their products."

Baker adds, "We're laser focused on working together with our customers as they continue to push the boundaries of their own digital transformation agendas introducing them to the award-winning benefits of Medius AP automation and its operational advantages."

CONTACT:

For more information, please contact:

Laurel Case, Fight or Flight for Mediuslaurel@fightorflight.com | +1 315 663 6780

Medius@fightflight.co.uk | +44 330 133 0985

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/medius/r/ricoh-australia-appointed-medius-cloud-partner,c3629901
Biden to hit China with new curbs on U.S. chips

The Biden administration plans to broaden curbs on U.S shipments to China of semiconductors used for artificial intelligence and chipmaking tools, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Monday, September 12, 2022

At age 10 I fell in love with magazines. The rest is history. A history that you will read about it soon in the book I am working on The Magazines And I. What follows is part 2 of the books introduction. Hope you will enjoy*

Superman and I: The magazine that started my journey into the magazine world.

My Family Roots

There were five children in my family, my older sister, my three brothers and me. My eldest brother, who was three years older than me, died in 1999 of multiple sclerosis. He was the pride of the family and carried my grandfathers name  Khalil, like Kahlil Gibran, but spelled correctly. He was the first one in our entire family to have a Ph.D.  it was in English Literature and from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. My sister and my two younger brothers are still in Lebanon. I am the poor, misunderstood middle child and maybe that explains my tendencies to be different from what my family deems normal. My wife, Marie, is also the middle child. Possibly the reason we understand each other so very well.

My father was Presbyterian and my mother was Greek Orthodox. They moved from our village called Hakour 20 miles to the north of the big city of Tripoli so my dad could find work. My grandfather was the mouhtar (mayor) of the village, and we had olive groves and an olive mill to make olive oil. When my parents married, my mom was 14 and my dad was 20. It took my mom five years until she had her first child. It was always looked upon as wrong if you didnt have a child. My dad was the only son, and he had six sisters. My mom had no brothers. So I had no uncles  just aunts.

Dad found work at the Iraqi Petroleum Company, which was owned by the British. He worked in shifts, and whenever there was a holiday they paid him double. When I was born in 1953, Tripoli was the second largest city in Lebanon. Tripoli comes from the word Tri-po-lis, which goes back to Greek or Roman days, and means the tri-city. The city flooded in 1955 when the river, Abu Ali, overflowed. For some reason, I can remember my dad carrying me on his shoulders and walking in the mud. I was only two, but I recall that he was wearing rubber boots and the mud was high. We lived on the first floor, of the apartment building and the entire floor was filled with mud.

Our family of seven lived in a two-bedroom apartment. Mom and Dad had a room and the rest of us shared a room. Being Presbyterian, we kids were sent to a Presbyterian school started by American missionaries. From the first day that you start school at age three, you learned to speak, read, and write Arabic and English at the American school or Arabic and French at the French school. If you were Presbyterian, you went to the American school.

At age 10 my long lasting relationship with magazines started

We had two American schools in Tripoli: the boys school and the girls school, run by Presbyterian missionaries. It wasnt until 1958 that the missionaries gave the schools to the Presbyterian Synod in Lebanon and Syria to be run by locals. The American boys school was a good walk away on a hilltop, and the girls school was closer to our house, so thats where I went, the girls school, until the third grade.

The Tripoli Boys School, where I studied from grade 4 to 12, before the beginning of Lebanese Civil War in 1975. The school was occupied and semi destroyed during the war.

I visited my original school in 2018. It has been renovated and is now a public school in Tripoli, Lebanon. Tripoli Evangelical School is now the combination of both Boys and Girls school and is located east of Tripoli.

They were actually called Tripoli Boys School (TBS) and Tripoli Girls School (TGS), but everybody referred to them as American Schools. Today they are combined and called Tripoli Evangelical School (TES). After third grade, the boys and girls went to separate schools. That was the environment that I grew up in.

Words of Wisdom

From an early age, my dad used to give me what he thought the principles of life were that any employed man should live by: comb your hair, keep your clothes clean and shine your shoes. Simple as that. Before school, hed shine our shoes. Or if he was busy, hed get somebody to do it for him. He was so adamant about this, and neither he nor my mom even had a high school education. Dad did his best to study English on his own because most of his employers were British. Because of this, and recognizing the need for a formal education in the future, my parents recognized the importance of education early on, and invested in sensing us to private schools instead of the free public schools.

Names carry heavy meaning with them in middle eastern culture. All children carry their fathers first name as their middle name. First born sons have the privilege of naming their own first born sons after their fathers. So after my brother was diagnosed with MS and before his death in 1999, he gave me his blessing and his privilege of naming any son that I might have after my dad, Afif (Afif is the French spelling that we Americanized to Afeef, the English spelling for easier pronunciation), because he would never have the opportunity to do so. Sometime after that, when my wife was pregnant with my son, I was on the phone with my father and he asked me when he was going to have his Afeef. Until that point, we had not truly considered calling our son Afeef. After that, we knew we had to honor my brothers memory and my fathers wishes and give him a namesake. When my son, Afeef, was born, Dad said he could die in peace.

Thats why a name is so important  its a commitment, a culmination of all things past and present that make up a deeper meaning for all who hear it. Some people have asked me why I would call my son a difficult name like Afeef in America. People dont understand the importance of that name. My dads name was Afif, which means pure, and my moms name is Afifi, which is exactly the same thing, just feminine. They were not related, just pure coincidence. In Arab culture, often times people can distinguish what religion you are based on your name. All of the names of the children in my family were genuine Arabic names, not named after any particular saint or prophet. My grandfather used to say all the time that people should know your religion by deeds, not by what you tell them, not by what they call you. Myth has it, or what I heard growing up, that if you are Presbyterian and you appear in court, you dont have to swear on the Bible because Presbyterians dont swear. Only one percent, if not less, of Lebanon is Presbyterian. So, needless to say, we were from the minority of minorities.

The True Beginning

In the ninth grade, I started calling and harassing editors and complaining to them. That was about the time I started creating my own small magazines. Because at that age, we would visit my grandparents village in the summer where there were no magazines. I felt like I had magazine asthma without my ink on paper. I started making my own as an idea to kill time. I would borrow my grandfathers transistor radio and all day I would sit down and create my own little daily. Id use candles from my grandmothers house, rubbing the candles on paper and then rubbing the paper back on old newspapers to get pictures. Im not sure how I knew to do that, how I knew that images could be lifted in that way, but I did. And I was ecstatic.

That was when I discovered the concept of what I now believe in wholeheartedly. Its what I preach, teach and consult about: the audience of one.

In those early publications of mine, I was the editor, designer, reporter, and the publisher. At the end of the day, Id sit down and read my own creations. This whole concept of one theory was both an epiphany and also unbelievable to me. I made my magazines for me, to my specifications. Those may have been some of the first niche productions. At that point in time, without really realizing it, I had targeted an audience: myself.

The First Byline

But the breakthrough in my childhood magazine career happened when I had the opportunity to visit Beirut in 1969 and tour some actual magazine publications. I met the publisher of a magazine called Al-Biet Al-Saeid (Happy Home), and I told him how much I loved the magazine. On the day I left Beirut, his wife called me and asked if I wanted to be the correspondent from the north for the magazine. I said absolutely.

The Happy Home magazine where my very first printed byline appeared in April 1970.

My first assignments consisted of sending actual reports from our area of the country back to Beirut. It wasnt long until I was doing News from the North with my byline. I would include items like so and so died or so and so got married. I actually still have a copy of that. My late cousin, God rest her soul, sent me a copy because I wrote a piece about her when she was christened and included her picture. The combination of doing my own writing and starting to buy every issue I could get my hands on changed my approach to things in junior high and later in high school. At that time the number of titles flooding the marketplace continued to grow, names like Superman, Tarzan, Batman, and even a pure born and bread Lebanese magazine called Magic Carpet, with the other Egyptian titles such as Mickey and Samir (my namesake, ha ha ha).

Even having a magazine with my name it continuously didnt satisfy me. I wanted all magazines in general. During that time period, I was very involved with my church. It was not an option for us growing up. If it was Sunday, that meant Sunday school and church. I remember spending my Sunday allowance, which my dad gave me 50 cents, one quarter for Sunday school and one for a piece of cake from the pastry shop next to the church. One time, on my way to church, I lost one of the quarters. It was a big debate. Did I lose the Sunday school quarter or my allowance quarter to buy the piece of pastry? I made up my mind. God can see everything. That was his quarter and he knew where it was. My parents didnt seem to agree. Beside that piece of cake, all my allowances went to buying magazines. I dont think my parents ever really understood my magazine obsession. Their dream was for me to either go to seminary because I was so involved with the church and become a preacher, or become a dentist- both noble professions in their eyes.

Math Meets Magazines

In Lebanon, once you reach the 11th grade, you declare an education concentration: scientific or literary. And if you are going to dental school, you have to go with science and take classes like physics, geometry and calculus. If you want to study languages, you do literary.

It was a struggle. I had to listen to my dad. I went with the scientific orientation. Id be sitting in the geometry class, which I was never good at because I never had any patience to sit down and find the area of a triangle or a circle; Id find myself sitting in class relating the triangles and circles to magazines. What would I create? My entire notebook had more magazine covers than any geometry problems.

I was an average student in high school, but that fascination was always with me. It led me to daydream a lot about this business. Triangles and circles became magazines. And of course, I discovered how this business worked. I learned about wholesalers, distribution, which day they would go on sale, etc. I worked my way from the newsstand sellers to the wholesalers. I tracked the line backwards from how the magazine came to the consumer.

It was at that time that I became acquainted with the wholesale distribution house in Tripoli, which was owned by a family called Jarrous. And because the man had told me to start coming at night so that I could see the magazines before anyone else, I became a fixture there. The distribution house was in an alley near the old center of Tripoli. I remember the first time before he offered me the see-before-anyone opportunity, I would stand sheepishly by the door because I didnt want them to scream at me. The magazines were unloaded and people from newsstands came to collect them. One day I got the guts to go in and ask the guy if I could take a look. A few days later, I talked to him and he began to explain how distribution worked. It was so fascinating to me that hed let me see magazines before they were on the newsstands. It was on one of those days when Mr. Jarrous asked me if I wanted to come the night before and hed let me take whatever magazines I wanted so I wouldnt be late for school. I would have magazines in my hand before anybody else in the entire city. I dont think I slept that night.

All the while I stayed on the scientific course I had set for myself. I loved algebra and loved statistics, but I hated geometry. When I took the national test, the math exam was all on geometry. I flunked it badly. But when things were tough, I fell back on my hobby, when things were dark, Id start dreaming, and when things were light, I kept on going.

The Success of Failure

Since that time, I have thought about one defining fact in my life, if I hadnt flunked that year, my whole academic career would have ended one year earlier. My life would have been tragically different. I would have graduated before the Civil War in Lebanon began. I wouldnt have met my wife and I wouldnt have had a job at the newspaper. So many things would have been different. But there is a reason and a time for everything, I truly believe.

When I was repeating that year, my youth director came to me one day and said, Samir what have you decided you want to do? I said that I didnt know  my parents wanted me to go to seminary or dental school. He looked me in the eye and said he knew it wasnt his place to disagree with my parents, but, If you do anything in your life besides journalism, you are disregarding the gift that God has given you. You dont have to be a preacher to tell people about God and his love. You dont have to be a dentist and spend the whole day looking in peoples mouths. God has given you this gift called journalism, and thats what you need to do. That year I passed the exam because it was mainly algebra and statistics, and I told my parents that I was going to journalism school.

I had built up these expectations that they were going to be angry. But amazingly, they were resigned to the fact that this was going to be my chosen path. I realized that this was it. What I had been dreaming of the last decade from age 10 to 19 was about to become a reality. I was going to journalism school. And they said okay. (More on that later)

*To see the first part of the beginning of my journey with magazines please click on the link below
Denver, CO September 13, 2022  The Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame is presenting five aspiring unpublished authors with $2,000 scholarships and an 18-month mentorship each to support them in their publishing success on Friday, September 16 at the University of Denver in the Tuscan Ballroom at a festive luncheon celebration..

The five Winners are: Vanessa Gomez, J. P. Wolfe, Erica Reid, Hailey Swanbom, and Kaylee Schuller. The two Finalists are Chris Veasey and Brenda Maross. They will receive a smaller amount of cash and a partial mentorship.

Scholarships are underwritten Barnes & Noble, Judith Briles - The Book Shepherd, Mara Purl & Larry Norfleet - MarLar Charitable Foundation, Marilyn Van Derbur  Atler Foundation, the Colorado authors Hall of Fame Board, plus numerous individual donations.

Denver's Channel 7 and The Villager have partnered with the efforts of the Hall in supporting this next generation of writers as well. Award Winning and Bestselling Author Patricia Raybon will speak at the first Aspiring Author Scholarship Awards ceremony. Raybon was among those inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021. Board Chairperson and bestselling author Mara Purl will emcee the event.

Scholarships will be awarded again in 2024. Information and submission guidelines are on the Hall's website, www.ColoradoAuthorsHallofFame.org.

Tickets to the luncheon are available to the public at https://coloradoauthorshalloffame.org/events.html

About Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame



The Hall strives to educate the people of Colorado and the country about the stories of the authors who shaped their works using their personal presence and the environment of our State with courage, leadership, intelligence, compassion, and creativity. Inductees are authors who've made a major impact on others with their published works. The Authors' Hall of Fame recognition endeavors to ensure their legacies never die.

The next Induction of the Hall of Fame will be held September 16, 2023. Nominations for authors to be inducted are now open to the public on the Hall's website, www.ColoradoAuthorsHallofFame.org. Additional information about the upcoming events, donations, Attitudes at Altitude newsletter, board members and past inductees is also available on the website.

The public is invited to visit the website, read the criteria for nominations, and encouraged to nominate authors who they believe would be ideal to include in the 2023 celebration.

Press inquiries: Judith Briles, Judith@Briles.com or 303-885-2207.
With City Council set to decide how to spend a $75 million windfall collected from city-owned CPS Energy, Mayor Ron Nirenberg is making his view clear: Send the money back to San Antonio ratepayers.

People have been feeling pain as a result of high energy costs, Nirenberg said Monday in a meeting with the Express-News editorial board. $31 or $29 may not be a lot for many families. But for the most vulnerable families, it might be.

How the surplus is spent became a hot issue around City Hall a month ago, when City Manager Erik Walsh proposed doling out $50 million of the excess cash to the city-owned utilitys customers in the form of a bill credit worth about $30. His proposal would spend the rest on other projects.

On ExpressNews.com: CPS Energy bills jump 43% in July to a record $254, but unpaid bills creating headaches for utility

The issue arose as record-high utility bills this summer pushed the revenue City Hall is receiving from CPS far beyond what was budgeted.

The surplus is a result both of high prices for natural gas  which fuels most CPS generating plants and the cost of which is passed to customers  and record-high temperatures that set in weeks earlier than usual. So the city, which collects 13 percent of the utilitys top-line revenue, is set to receive $75 million more than expected this fiscal year.

Council members have pushed back against the idea of providing customers a bill credit. District 1 Councilman Mario Bravo has led the way, arguing the city should spend the money to weatherize low-income customers homes, plant trees and establish cooling or heating centers with backup power for weather emergencies. Hes argued that investing the money in those ways would have more impact on customers bills over time than a rebate.

Nirenberg threw cold water on Bravos proposal Monday. Spending money on planting trees or adding insulation or energy efficient windows to a home doesnt help if there arent enough contractors in the area to perform the work, he said.

How much raw investment can you put through a capital investment pipeline until youre not getting more out on the other end? Nirenberg said. We have $5 million thats been sitting in the tree mitigation fund. Its not for lack of wanting more canopy, its the ability to get that money out the door and actually working.

Meanwhile, CPS Energy this spring approved spending $350 million over five years on the Save for Tomorrow Energy Plan  called STEP  that pays to weatherize low-income customers homes and incentives customers to get efficient appliances. CPS has run STEP for more than a decade, and about 3,500 San Antonio homes were weatherized through the program annually from 2013 through 2019.

Theres a limit on how much money we can push through that program pipeline at any given time, said Nirenberg, whos one of five CPS trustees.

Marios ideas are great ideas, he added. Those alternatives he has put forward are things that were already investing in. It is debatable, at best, whether or not additional investments in those areas will produce more impact.

City Council is set to conduct a third session discussing the rebate today. Theres been sharp division among members, and after the most recent discussion in late August it appeared just four of 11 council members supported the rebate.

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.

Nirenberg and city officials in late August sought to get council members on board with the rebate by adding an option that would let customers who dont need or want the bill credit choose not the receive it. Instead, the credit would go to CPS Residential Energy Assistance Partnership fund, which helps low-income customers pay their utility bills.

On ExpressNews.com: CPS Energy makes official its hiring of Rudy Garza as president and CEO. Hell be paid $655,000

District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval has proposed carving out a $10 million chunk of the money the city would usually collect from CPS and direct it each year toward weatherization initiatives.

There is a middle ground in terms of trying to achieve what everybody wants, Nirenberg said. Which is additional emphasis on resilience and climate change mitigation goals  investment in that. Plus providing relief, especially to those who need it the most.

Council will decide on the issue by Thursday, when the group is set to vote on the citys annual budget.

The $50 million is not the elixir to everything going on with climate, Nirenberg said. I wish it were.

diego.mendoza-moyers@express-news.net
SAN ANTONIO  L. Lowry Mays, the accidental owner of a San Antonio radio station who built a global radio, television and billboard advertising juggernaut, died Monday. He was 87.

Mays co-founded and for decades led Clear Channel Communications  now known as iHeartMedia  once the countrys largest radio station operator and outdoor advertiser.

He was recalled Tuesday as an industry trailblazer, a devoted friend and father, a lover of the outdoors and a prolific philanthropist.

He and his late wife, the former Peggy Pitman, started the Mays Family Foundation, and the familys name is on institutions including the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio and the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University, his alma mater.

A really big tree fell in the Aggie forest today, A&M Chancellor John Sharp said Monday. We will never forget what he did for Aggieland.

B.J. Red McCombs, who partnered with Mays to start Clear Channel, said he was a great business partner but more importantly he was a special friend to Charline and me and to our family.

He was an extremely talented guy and was the driving force behind the growth of Clear Channel Communications, and I loved every minute of that ride with him, McCombs said in a statement provided by his daughter Marsha Shields. We have lost a great man, and I have lost a great friend.

LELAND A. OUTZ, FREELANCER / SPECIAL TO THE EXPRESS-NEWS

Mark Mays described his father as a risk-taker and entrepreneur who believed hard work boosted all odds of success and told his children, If it aint fun, dont do it.

He was also humble, a great storyteller and an avid hunter and fisherman who enjoyed outdoor activities with his children and grandchildren.

Its always hard to lose your dad, but we have a true belief hes in a better place and reunited with his wife, Mark Mays said.

Curtis LeGeyt, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, called him a trailblazing icon whose historic career revolutionized and reshaped the broadcasting industry.

It wasnt the path Mays had chosen while growing up in the University Park section of Dallas.

Clear Channels history

Mays dreamed of a life in the oil field and enrolled in the petroleum engineering program at A&M, working summers as a roughneck.

After a stint as a petroleum engineer, he ended up serving in the Air Force to fulfill an ROTC commitment he made in college, according to a biography on the Mays foundations website. He was stationed at the former Brooks AFB in San Antonio, where he met his future wife.

As a second lieutenant at Brooks, Mays served as base petroleum officer, according to the foundation website. Subsequently, in an exchange program with the Nationalist Chinese government, the Air Force assigned him to oversee construction of a pipeline in Taiwan.

Upon his return to the United States, Mays was accepted to Harvard Business School. He earned his MBA, and he and Peggy returned to San Antonio, where he went to work for investment bank Russ & Co.

He formed his own investment banking company in 1970. He got into the radio business about two years later.

Some San Antonio Express-News archive stories suggest it occurred when a group of investors asked Mays about purchasing a country music radio station then known as KEEZ. He wasnt interested but agreed to co-sign a bank loan for the group. He forgot about the deal until the bank called to inform him he owned the station after the owner defaulted on the loan.

Other accounts state that Mays was advising on the deal to buy the station. When it fell through, he convinced McCombs to buy it with him.

We both thought FM radio had a high-growth potential, Mays said in a 1992 interview.

He continued buying stations, including WOAI in 1975, and changed the companys name from San Antonio Broadcasting Co. to Clear Channel Communications. The companys growth came as the popularity of FM radio was peaking through the late 1970s, ending AM radios historical lead among listeners and continuing to grow into the 1980s.

Pushing for change

Clear Channel went public in 1984, and Mays began buying television stations in 1988.

He lobbied for changes in regulations restricting how many stations one company could own in a single market and nationally. After Congress altered the rules, Clear Channel snapped up more stations.

Mays also began expanding into billboard advertising and concert production. His empire swelled through acquisitions of companies such as Jacor Communications and Eller Media.

Clear Channel had operations in the U.S. as well as Europe, Mexico, China, Australia and New Zealand, and it was one of the best-performing stocks on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company drew pushback, though, with critics contending it had become too large and unfairly uses its clout to set advertising rates, squeeze out competitors and decide which artists get played on the radio and centrally control content for stations, according to an Express-News article in 2003.

Mays sons, Randall and Mark, had executive roles at Clear Channel.

You hear all these stories about families that dont necessarily work well together, Mark Mays said. We all worked well together, and I credit him because he just made it effortless. It was never about ego  it was always about finding the best idea.

Amid declining stock prices, concerns about the future of the mediums, competition from the internet and how the advertising industry was changing, two private equity firms purchased Clear Channel in 2008 in a $24 billion leveraged buyout.

It had a market capitalization of $17 billion and owned about 1,200 radio stations at the time, and the Mays family divested their interests in the industry, according to the foundation website.

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.

Mays founded and built one of the foremost media companies in the world through bold and innovative thinking, while his philanthropic and generous spirit helped countless people during his lifetime of service, LeGeyt said in a statement.

The company is known today as iHeartMedia, which filed for bankruptcy in 2018. Under a reorganization plan, billboard division Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings was spun off.

Philanthropic work

The Mays Family Foundation was created in 1994. Mays was a Texas A&M System regent from 1985 to 1991 and from 2001 to 2007.

In 1996, Mays donated $15 million to his alma mater and Texas A&M named its business school after him. He contributed an additional $25 million from his foundation in 2017, the largest gift in the universitys history.

The Mays family were longtime supporters of UT Health San Antonios cancer center. Both Lowry and Peggy had battled cancer, according to Express-News archives.

In 2018, the Mays Family Foundation gave $25 million to the center and it was renamed the Mays Cancer Center.

When I asked Lowry about a naming gift for the center years ago, he offered his help without hesitation, and, in subsequent discussions, he expressed the pride he had that his name was associated with the centers growth in scale and excellence, William L. Henrich, president of UT Health San Antonio, said in a statement. Lowry, Peggy and their family embraced the love that lies at the heart of giving.

Mays was also a United Way campaign chairman.

Former Mayor Henry Cisneros praised Mays business acumen and civic leadership.

Cisneros was president and chief operating officer of Univision in the late 1990s and said he watched Mays expand Clear Channel into an industry behemoth.

Mays and Cisneros served on the A&M board of regents together, and Cisneros was also on the board of Live Nation, which was then Clear Channels entertainment division.

Lowry was a force within the broadcast industry on national legislation, financial matters and trends, Cisneros said. I was able to see up close the drive, the vision, the energy, the network of support that allowed him to build these things.

He was not a person who would tout his own accomplishments. ... But he built one of the most significant businesses in San Antonio, Cisneros added.

In addition to his two sons, Mays is survived by daughters Kathryn Mays Johnson and Linda Mays McCaul, 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be sent to the Texas A&M Foundation.

madison.iszler@express-news.net
UPDATE: 6:47 a.m.

Hollywood Park police arrested Darrick Davon Oliver Jr. in connection with a fatal shooting that killed two people and injured a third Sunday morning at the Rose Bistro Bar and Lounge, according to a department Facebook post.

According to information released by the Hollywood Park Police Department, Oliver was caught in Waco, where he was staying with a family member. The U.S. Marshals Service had suspected Oliver would be and the location and was in the area.

Oliver's mother and Hollywood Park detectives convinced him to surrender. Oliver has been transported back to Bexar County.

Hollywood Park Police Department

ORIGINAL STORY CONTINUES:

Police have identified the two people who were shot and killed early Sunday at a Hollywood Park bar as 26-year-old Justin Huchinson and 27-year-old Alaina Henderson.

In a news release, the Hollywood Park Police department also identified a suspect in connection with the shooting as Darrick Davon Oliver Jr.

A third individual, who was hospitalized with gunshot wounds to his right hand and facial area, was identified as Franklin Peden III. Peden is in stable condition, according to the release.

Police responded to the shooting at Rose Bistro Bar and Lounge in Hollywood Park at around 1:15 a.m. to find three individuals suffering from gunshot wounds. Police said an argument between Oliver and one of the two men who were shot escalated into Oliver pulling out a handgun and shooting at the two men in close range.

In the process, a stray bullet hit Henderson, police said. Authorities don't believe she was involved in the incident and was visiting San Antonio. She was rushed to North Central Baptist Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

Police said Oliver is on the run and may have changed his appearance, forgoing dreadlocks by either shaving or cutting his hair. Authorities are urging anyone with information regarding his whereabouts to contact the police.
A researcher analyses items caught by System 001B in the North Pacific Garbage Patch, looking for clues on the items' origin based on language and country codes. SCMP





More than three-quarters of the plastic mass in the North Pacific Garbage Patch comes from fishing activities, including floating nets and ropes, an analysis of ocean debris shows.



The researchers, from Dutch non-profit The Ocean Cleanup, also identified Japan and mainland

China as the top sources of plastic emissions after scanning 230 plastic objects bearing recognizable text in different languages or carrying brand logos or other clues such as an address.



They found that Japan contributed 34 percent and mainland China 32 percent to the formation of the world's largest build-up of ocean plastic, which could be found between Hawaii and California. They are followed by Korea, the United States and Taiwan.



"We attribute this observation to inputs from fisheries, with Japan being a major fishing nation, but also to the anthropogenic debris released by the 2011 Tohoku tsunami," the researchers wrote in an article published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports early this month.



As for China, the size and high activity of the country's fishing fleets in the region could account for a greater chance of lost gear accumulating, said Laurent Lebreton, lead author and head of research at The Ocean Cleanup.



The analysis of 570kg (1,256lbs) of debris from the North Pacific Ocean showed that almost half the plastic objects carried production dates before 2000.

Among 6,100 debris items collected in 2019, the oldest identified item was a buoy from 1966, according to the study.



"That informs us on the persistence of plastic. It has been accumulating for decades now and it's not going anywhere by itself," Lebreton said.



He said fishing gear floating in the ocean was not only a problem for the environment and marine life, but also for fishing activities and the economy.



"Last time when our researchers were at the sea, [the vessel] got tangled into fishing nets. Sailors had to dive under the boat and manually cut the fishing nets while all operations stopped. Sailors and the captain told us it's quite frequent and becoming more and more of a problem," he said.



In addition to fishing and aquaculture equipment like oyster nets, eel traps and fish boxes, the researchers also found items such as party poppers, pens and toothbrushes in the ocean.





Samples of plastic retrieved from the North Pacific Garbage Patch includes a crate with visible Japanese text, eel traps and nets, all of which originated from fishing activities. SCMP
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A Houston woman with a history of threats against public figures and of mental illness, last week was charged with threatening the federal judge presiding over the dispute over secret documents between the FBI and former President Donald Trump.

Tiffani Shea Gish, 49, of Houston, was accused of threatening to kidnap or injure U.S District Court Judge Aileen Eileen Cannon, according a complaint filed by the FBI on Sept. 6 in the U.S. Federal Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Cannon is the judge presiding over a lawsuit filed by Trump against the United States government after the Aug. 8 FBI raid at his Florida home where agents searched for government documents, including classified material. Cannon is the judge who ordered a special master be appointed to review the documents taken from Mar-a-Lago be reviewed before the FBI could continue its criminal investigation into the matter.

On ExpressNews.com: Trump team dismisses records probe, opposes arbiter picks

Gish is accused of leaving three threatening voicemails on Cannon's office phone on Sept. 1.

In the messages, which were transcribed in the FBI's complaint, Gish identified herself as "Evelyn Salt" -- the name of a character from a 2010 Angelina Jolie movie -- and said she was "in charge of nuclear for the United States Government," according to the complaint.

Gish called herself "Trump's hitman," and said that Trump himself was "marked for assassination" and threatened to have Cannon shot and to bomb her house, according to the complaint.

Cannon shared the voicemails with federal agents, who matched the phone number that left the voicemails with Gish's public Facebook page. The Facebook page had "recent posts that mirror the language in the voicemails," according to the complaint.

FBI agents interviewed Gish on Sept. 4. During the interview, Gish said she left the voicemails for Cannon, according to the complaint. She was arrested on Sept. 6, and remained in custody as of Monday, according to court records.

According to court documents, Gish had previously made threats against Trump, Hillary Clinton and a governor of Arizona. She had previously been convicted of assault and disorderly conduct and has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and is a "borderline schizophrenic", according to court documents.

During a detention hearing last week, Gish's attorney argued that she hadn't carried out her threats. However, Magistrate Judge Peter Bray wrote he considered the threats themselves to be harmful and ordered Gish to remain in custody.

"Threats such as these are designed to place the victim in fear and cause distress and apprehension," Bray wrote. "These things are harmful even if the defendant had no subjective intent to carry out the threats."

Gish is set to appear at a competency examination hearing on Sept. 21, according to court records.

john.ferguson@chron.com
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A suspected false report of gunmen Tuesday at a Houston high school scrambled police and panicked parents who descended on the area on foot and in vehicles, frantically trying to confirm that children locked down on campus were safe.

Police responded shortly after 1 p.m. to a shooting-in-progress call at the school at 413 E. 13th St. after someone made a false report that 10 people had been shot in a room at Heights High School, according to Chief Troy Finner.

Officers found the room locked and immediately breached the door, Finner said, where they found no one injured.

PARENTS SPEAK OUT: After Uvalde, Houston area girls' softball league planned to raffle AR-15 as fundraiser

We have no injuries here, Finner said at a news briefing as a crowd of parents stood at an intersection near the high school. Thank god for that.

Officials did not know who made the false report but said they are investigating and will hold that person accountable. Finner said police believe the call may have come from outside the school.

There was no active shooter here - there was a fight, said Constable Alan Rosen.

No injuries were reported and two sweeps of the school found nothing, according to the Houston Police Department. The school remained in lockdown, as did Hogg Middle and Harvard and Travis Elementary schools.

"As a precautionary measure, we went into lockdown mode," said Wendy Hampton, principal of the school in an email to parents. "Houston Police Department and HISD Police are onsite and continue to investigate, though no evidence has been found to substantiate the threat. We take all threats seriously as the safety of our students and staff is always our top priority."

Parents were asked to gather to pick up students at the corner of E. 15th Street and Columbia Street. Each student will be signed out by teachers and connected with their parents, officials said, which could take some time.

School buses are en route to transport students who normally ride buses home, according to the district.

Immanuel Lutheran, which runs a child care center at their Heights location one block from the high school campus, opened a convocation hall for parents, so they could wait in air conditioning for their children to be dismissed.

Quedia Daniels, 38, rushed to the scene from work after hearing a television report. She immediately called her son, and demanded he stay on the phone with her.

Dug Begley

Im not leaving until I have my son come out, she said.

Numerous parents gathered, only to have police keep them two blocks away, but assuring them there is no evidence of a shooting. Parents were at times directed south of the school grounds, then north of it to rendezvous with their children.

Many parents expressed they were confused about where to go to pick up their kids.

As if this isn't bad enough? said Shannon Velasquez, a parent. I feel horrible. It's a terrible feeling -- to not know.

Dug Begley Dug Begley Parents wait for their children near Heights High School in Houston. (Dug Begley/Houston Chronicle) Parents wait for their children near Heights High School in Houston. (Dug Begley/Houston Chronicle)

Annette Garza Delgado left work and rushed to her daughters high school when she got a text from Amanda, 14, that said, Mom we just went on lockdown. Im scared.

Delgado tried to calm her breathing as she made the 20 minute drive from Bellaire.

Her daughter called and whispered, Come get me, come get me.

She told her mother that she could hear sirens outside and law enforcement officers rushing through the hallways as she and her classmates hunkered in a classroom.

The cops came in to check on them and let them know that they had the situation under control, Delgados daughter told her.

Parents parked cars up and down the street on blocks surrounding the school, including many parked in the median on Heights Boulevard.

People ran and walked with phones pressed to their ears while law enforcement officers and patrol cars surrounded the school.

As parents poured in, police assured them there was no evidence of a shot being fired, classes were locked down so police could do a thorough search and releasing students under the hectic conditions could take some time.

The false report at Heights was not the only one Tuesday where police rushed to schools allegedly under siege. Waco Police, in a social media post around 2:40 p.m., said rumors of a shooter at Waco High School were unfounded. Police in Los Angeles also confirmed a reported shooting at Hollywood High School was a hoax.
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STOCKHOLM (AP)  A populist anti-immigration party has surged to become Sweden's second-largest political force after a national election dominated by fears of gang violence, which has given the once-safe Scandinavian country one of Europe's highest levels of gun violence.

Overall, a conservative opposition bloc including the anti-immigration party, the Sweden Democrats, had an extremely narrow lead over the incumbent center-left with 94% of the votes counted.

Analysts expect the final tally will confirm a conservative bloc win, but the election was so close that electoral officials said they would not have the final result until outstanding postal votes and votes from abroad are counted.

With eight parties contending for seats in the 349-member Riksdag, Swedens parliament, none can secure a majority of 175 seats, meaning that laws can only be passed with different parties working together. The parties campaigned under two general blocs, one conservative and the other a center-left group headed by Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, Swedens first female prime minister.

The not-yet-final count indicated that the conservative bloc would have 175 seats and the center-left would have 174.

It is extremely close. Things can change, but I doubt it, said Zeth Isaksson, a sociologist at Stockholm University, who added that votes from abroad are traditionally conservative. As it is now, it is more likely that the right side will win.

One certainty, however, is that the result marked a success for the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats, which won its best result since entering parliament in 2010. The party's founders in the 1980s had links to fascist and neo-Nazi movements but over the past two decades it has worked to move to the mainstream under its 43-year-old leader Jimmie Akesson.

Its transformation included changing its official logo from a torch to a flower and expelling the most radical members.

Those who support it like its tough vows to crack down on crime and strictly limit immigration, while opponents fear that its historic roots make it a threat to Sweden's democratic identity.

Mark Johnson, a 50-year-old Swedish finance worker, said while the party's strong showing was expected, it is still shocking for many Swedes because its hard to understand that we would be taking such an obvious turn to the right, to the far-right even.

The Sweden Democrats, which won 20.6% support in Sunday's vote, according to preliminary figures, up from 17.5% four years ago, gained on the rising fears of crime in largely immigrant neighborhoods.

This year so far there have been 273 shootings, 47 of them fatal, according to police statistics. Those shootings also wounded 74 people, including innocent bystanders.

Andersson's Social Democrats, who have been in power in Sweden since 2014, remain the largest party, even gaining slightly to take 30.5% of the vote Sunday, according to the incomplete results. Andersson said Sunday night it was obvious that the social democratic movement, which is based on ideals of creating an equal society and a strong welfare state, remains strong in Sweden.

The Sweden Democrats wants to be part of a government, but this is unlikely to happen because there are parties in the center-right bloc that oppose it, Isaksson said.

Richard Jomshof, the Sweden Democrats party secretary, said Monday: "It is clear that we must be able to discuss ministerial posts. It is clear that we must be able to talk about the position of prime minister, speaker of parliament and the presidium positions in the various Riksdag committees.

But a senior member of the center-right Liberals told Swedish radio Monday that it cannot allow the Sweden Democrats to be part of a government.

Still, if the right prevails, the Sweden Democrats will have very strong leverage" and will push for some of its issues, like tightening immigration laws, Isaksson said. He said a likely outcome could be for the Sweden Democrats to end up outside a government but as supporters of it.

In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Germany party congratulated the Sweden Democrats on their sensational success in the parliamentary elections. Frances far-right leader Marine Pen also tweeted her congratulations to the patriotic Swedish party, saying: Everywhere in Europe, people aspire to take their destiny back into their own hands!

Isaksson also ruled out a governing coalition combining the center-right Moderates, which have been leading the center-right bloc, and the Social Democrats. Such a coalition has not occurred since World War II.

The Moderates dropped to become Sweden's third-largest party and won 19% support, based on the incomplete vote tally. However, party leader Ulf Kristersson on Monday appeared to be the most likely candidate to be the next prime minister. He told his supporters that he stands ready to try to create a stable and effective government.

Andersson, a 55-year-old economist, became Swedens first female prime minister less than a year ago and led Swedens historic bid to join NATO following Russias invasion of Ukraine in February.

___ Olsen reported from Copenhagen, Denmark. Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed.
New data released earlier this month put Texas near the bottom of the list of states with the best high school volunteerism and activism rates. The data comes from Opportunity Insights at Harvard University and looks at the share of former students who are members of certain groups on Facebook.

While Texas high schools lagged behind the national average civic engagement rate of 5.5% by a full percentage point, landing the state 45th out of 52 (including DC and Puerto Rico), the Express-News looked at individual school rates in Bexar County to see which schools bucked the trend.

Smaller Texas schools generally had higher engagement rates, and some Bexar County schools did quite well nationally considering the data looks at more than 17,500 high schools across the U.S.

While this trend could be partly due to how rates are calculated  since one students action from a smaller school makes a bigger difference to the percentage  these schools have also worked hard to encourage civic engagement.

Schools in the top spots tended to have the idea of community involvement baked right into their mission statement.

One of our school pillars is having our kids have a servant heart, Andrew Eickstead, Head of Lutheran High School of San Antonio in northwest Bexar County, said. Lutheran topped the county list with a civic engagement rate of 11.8%.

We want kids to go out and be looking for ways to serve rather than looking for ways to be served, Eickstead said, And it changes your whole culture.

In North East Independent School District, The International School of the Americas (ISA) is second on the list with a rate of 9.7%.

We're asking kids to look at investigating their world, look at communicating ideas, being curious about it and weighing multiple perspectives  and then taking action, Steve Magadance, principal of ISA, said. He emphasized the importance of students becoming global citizens for which volunteerism and activism are integral parts.

Building a culture of service and involvement is an active focus at both schools, Magadance and Eickstead say. And each school shares a common method of building that culture: school days devoted entirely to community projects.

But administrators find it just as important to empower the students to lead their own projects.

Reagan High School, also in NEISD, has a rate of 4.8% placing it within the top five in the county among schools with over 1,000 students. The principal, Charles Reininger, cited a long list of student-driven organizations that prioritize community service, from helping with bingo at Independence Hill Retirement Community to the Book Buddies Youth literacy program  a particular favorite of students.

Students get to have fun as well as work with younger kiddos. Book Buddies is a unique opportunity as volunteers help organize libraries, and the volunteer number has grown to almost 200 this year, Reininger said.

In addition to community service programs, Alamo Heights High School, which also placed in the top 5 for larger schools with a rate of 5%, shows students how civic engagement is directly tied to the democratic process. There are active chapters of both Young Republicans and Young Democrats, its Junior State of America program hosts lunchtime debates, and students in government and economics classes routinely reach out to representatives over issues, according to Principal Cory Smith.

Last year, more seniors reported voting for the first time than in the last 15 years. Its an encouraging sign that were moving in the right direction with this younger generation, Smith said.

Policy projects like ISAs Make a Difference program run the full length of a high school students career. Starting with research questions developed as freshmen, students choose an area in which they would like to effect change  this research evolves into a concentrated effort to push for social change in their junior year, and then into a public policy proposal in their senior year.

Kids voices really matter here at ISA, Magadance said. Thats something here that we tend to lean into a lot, so that kids feel safe and supported and competent in speaking up when they have something to say.

Magadance and Eickstead both noted that schools that do not just allow, but empower students to take ownership of causes can be what drives a student to carry this mentality of involvement throughout their life  and beyond the statistics, there are tangible examples too.

Lutheran High School of San Antonio

Students at the Lutheran High School of San Antonio partner with Kinetic Kids, a mentorship organization that works with kids with special needs, to help them engage with the field of robotics. In the 2017-18 school year, these students also helped establish a no boys allowed team to create a space where girls can feel empowered to participate in an area typically biased toward boys, Eickstead said. The girls who initially formed the team have since graduated, but now they come back to work with current students.

Eickstead also noted that the idea of service is often a virtuous circle  once it becomes natural, it grows on itself within a community. If you provide good opportunities, kids rise to the challenge and it's just awesome to watch them grow, he said.
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Former Bexar County Constable Michelle Barrientes Vela was a cancer to her own office, a former lieutenant who worked for her said at her sentencing hearing Monday, detailing her interactions with two of her deputies who had accused her of harrassment and retaliation.

Testifying for the state, Jeremy Miner spent Monday describing an office that was in chaos, with policies always changing amid several disrupters, including Vela herself.

A jury on Sept. 1 found Vela, 48, guilty of two counts of tampering with evidence related to a shakedown of a San Antonio family on Easter Sunday in 2019 at a West Side park.

On ExpressNews.com: Prosecutor: Well drop park shakedown charges after ex-Bexar constable Michelle Vela is sentenced

The other charges against Vela stemming from that accusation  that she coerced the parkgoers into paying her $300 in cash for security at a park pavilion they already had paid for  are to be dropped after she is sentenced.

Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer

The jury was not allowed to hear that Vela had been charged with three counts of official oppression, a Class A misdemeanor, but they can be taken into consideration for punishment.

Vela chose to be sentenced by state District Judge Velia Meza, who presided over the eight-day trial. She faces up to 10 years in prison and has applied for probation, court records indicate.

On ExpressNews.com: I will hold you in contempt: Judge admonishes Texas Ranger who investigated Bexar constable Vela

Questioned by prosecutors Dawn McCraw and Oscar Salinas, he testified about Leonicio Barrera Moreno, one of Velas deputies who filed a federal complaint alleging hazing  citing laughter during his swearing-in ceremony  and harassment and retaliation because he said Vela forced him to work security for the Precinct 2 justice of the peace courtroom.

Miner said Moreno at times could not leave his post to go to the restroom.

Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer

Vela placed Moreno on administrative leave, then terminated him. He was later reinstated at some point, according to testimony.

A video was shown in court of at least six deputies showing up at Morenos home for a welfare check in February 2019 to collect his county-issued service weapon, which happened weeks after Moreno filed to run against Vela in the 2020 election.

There was a concern he would hurt himself, Miner said. There were so many officers because they saw it as a safety issue. He had a lot of firearms.

Miner also said Vela asked him to review a complaint lodged by Moreno with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, because part of Miners duties were to oversee the constables offices civil division, internal affairs and disciplinary actions and she wanted his thoughts. He said he did not believe the claims had merit.

Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer

I just looked at it from the perspective of what the allegations were, said Miner, now a sheriffs deputy in McMullen County. I was not doing a criminal investigation. I thought I was reviewing it for the constable, not for discipline.

He told the court Moreno and another deputy, Christopher De La Cerda, had called in sick several times and were being observed for possibly violating the Family Medical Leave Act.

Under cross-examination, defense attorney Jason Goss pressed Miner on whether Moreno was a disruptive force in Velas office, specifically asking if Moreno was a cancer there.

He did stuff that was disruptive, Miner said. I believe she was a cancer in her own office. She was doing things.

Testimony in the punishment phase is expected to continue Tuesday, with the hearing to continue in early October.

ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863
Christian Abraham, Staff Photographer / Hearst Connecticut Media

Today is an ozone action day for the San Antonio area, according to the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality. It is the fifth day this year with possibly harmful levels of ozone pollution.

Young children, older folks and those with respiratory issues  such as bronchitis, emphysema or asthma  are more vulnerable to the pollutions effects. People with such conditions are advised to stay indoors or limit outside activity if possible.
Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News

Those looking for fall getaway opportunities will find plenty of cheap flight opportunities out of San Antonio International Airport.

For just $39, you can fly to Philadelphia to discover the history of the founding of America, including Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and the Museum of the American Revolution.
Express-News /File photo

Police arrested a 31-year-old San Antonio man after he shot himself in the buttocks at a Southwest Side home early Sunday.

Reports of a shooting in the 3000 block of Owasso Street led police to the residence at around 12:30 a.m. Though the victim was uncooperative, officers learned that he had been firing shots into the air before he accidently shot himself in the rear end.
A Texas State student has raised enough money to adopt a 3-month-old baby found abandoned in a trash pile in Haiti and covered in fire ants.

Jimmy Amisial started a GoFundMe fundraiser in July to raise $60,000 to pay for the costly adoption, but has received over $167,000. The extra money will be given to local orphanages in Haiti and will go toward the child's future and to help pay for Amisial's college expenses.

Amisial named the boy Emilio Angel Jeremiah, who is now 5. Amisial's grandmother has taken care of Emilio while the former attends school in Texas. Amisial told the Express-News last month that he visits Haiti twice a year and hopes his family will move to the U.S. soon.

On ExpressNews.com: 400-pound alligator, possibly looking for love, strolls through Texas neighborhood

"It hasnt been easy, but its a blessing," Amisial wrote on the GoFundMe page. "One thing I know is that you can never go wrong when you choose love."

Amisial, who was 22 at the time, brought the child home after finding him covered in fire ants in 2017 while walking to a New Year's Eve party in Haiti. After reporting the incident, Amisial was told that he could become the child's guardian and has been working to become the child's legal guardian since 2019.

I was looking at the precious living soul, just crying, and my heart dropped to my throat, Amisial told the Express-News last month.

The fundraiser was still accepting donations as of Monday, when the last donation was made. More than 3,800 people have donated.

"Thank you for all your kind words and blessings," Amisial wrote in an update to the page on Aug. 28. "My heartfelt appreciation to you guys. Thanks for your continuing support."

shepard.price@express-news.net | @shepardgprice
After the Uvalde massacre, hundreds of thousands of people had something to say. They took to Twitter to criticize elected officials and express horror at the carnage. Depending on their political leanings, they called for stricter gun controls or opposed the very idea as unconstitutional and un-American.

But the intensity of feeling faded quickly, at least as measured by Twitter activity.

The Express-News collected 10,000 to 18,000 tweets about Uvalde nearly every hour between May 26, two days after the massacre, and July 5  about 1 million messages in all.

Twitter posts with the word "Uvalde" peaked on May 26 at 133,535 tweets. Starting on May 28, the number dropped by 42% in 48 hours, and kept falling.

Tweets directed at politicians fell from 16,984 on May 26, two days after the shooting, to 3,602 on June 4.

The most common two-word phrase detected was Uvalde police, followed by school shooting and police chief.

The name Greg Abbott was tweeted 9,002 times, becoming the most frequently cited name associated with the topic. Actor and activist Matthew McConaughey, a Uvalde native, and then-Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo, who was blamed for bungling the police response, were the next most cited names, mentioned 7,564 and 7,099 times respectively.

Additionally, #nra or #guncontrolnow were used 4,399 times and 6,102 times respectively. Some hashtags referred to other mass shootings such as #sandyhook or #buffalo.

Other hashtags, such as #gasprices, were used in tweets about Uvalde to talk about the trending stories of the day.

Several popular tweets came from "Roland for Texas," the Twitter account of state Sen. Roland Gutierrez. The Democrat from San Antonio's district includes Uvalde, and he has heavily criticized the state's actions since the shooting.

The Express-News identified hashtags used more than 100 times in all collected tweets. Then, we identified the tweet with the highest number of retweets with those hashtags.

In the case of #gop, the most popular tweet criticized the GOP, claiming the party did not care about the tragedys victims.

Thoughts and prayers

Mary Blankenship, a graduate student who studies social sciences and chemistry at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, has been researching Twitter dialogue after mass shootings since the 2017 Las Vegas massacre, in which a gunman killed 60 people attending a music festival on the Strip.

Blankenship said conversations about Uvalde lasted slightly longer compared to other mass shootings because of the number of casualties (21) and the age of the victims (who were mostly 9 and 10). Additionally, anger over a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., where 10 people were killed at a supermarket patronized by African Americans on May 14, carried over to Uvalde. She said the number of tweets about Uvalde decreased in part because the massacre was eclipsed by other major news events.

She noted that conversations about mass shootings used to be more positive and hopeful.

What we've seen over time [...] thoughts and prayers have really decreased and almost disappeared from the discussion, she said. With the more recent shootings, instead of the positive emotions, you really just have a lot of the negative emotions like fear, anger, particularly around groups that are politically active.

The phrase thoughts and prayers was identified about 3,532 times, making up less than 1% of tweets. Even then, 30% of tweets containing that phrase were directed at politicians and several tweets directed at officials asked if they could do something besides offer thoughts and prayers.

The hashtags #UvaldeStrong, #prayersforuvalde and #thoughtandprayers each appeared more than 100 times, landing them in the top 150 most common hashtags. Negative hashtags, such as #uvaldepolicecowards and #nomoreinnocentblood were more popular.

All eyes on the politicians

Republican Gov. Greg Abbotts personal Twitter account was mentioned 12,558 times and his official gubernatorial account  @GovAbbott  was mentioned 6,903 times.

Users directed tweets at Democrat Beto ORourkes personal account more than 6,000 times. Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruzs personal account was mentioned 10,318 times, and his senatorial account was mentioned 5,943 times.

Frustration across the aisle

In her research, Blankenship has studied how different political parties react to mass shootings.

Republicans tweets try to change the subject, according to Blankenship. For instance, instead of talking about gun reform, they focus on the confused police response.

The Express-News identified a tweet from Arizona State Sen. Wendy Rogers as one of the most popular tweets by a conservative. In the message, Rogers criticized "RINOS" in the U.S. Senate, a pejorative term for "Republicans in name only," for working with "communist Democrats" on a package of modest gun controls in response to the Uvalde shooting.

Democrats tended to tweet about the victims, talking about how some children survived by pretending to be dead or how one child, 10-year-old Maite Rodriguez, was so badly disfigured by high-velocity rounds from the gunman's semi-automatic rifle that she was identifiable only by her green Converse sneakers. President Joe Biden followed this trend by talking about the process of identifying a dead child.

Who was tweeting?

Most tweets are from unverified users, meaning Twitter has not identified the user as a public figure.

Some accounts  such as those that tweeted about Uvalde the most often  showed sporadic moments where they tweeted about Uvalde hundreds of times in one day and then slowly tapered off.

News organizations, such as Houston Chronicle, Texas Tribune and KENS5, tweeted about Uvalde more than 500 times. Political figures or organizations make up less than 1% of users who tweeted about the incident.

What does it all mean?

When people do reflect on mass shootings, Blankenship said they often use Twitter to rant  not to develop solutions.

Even when they are able to find common ground and when there is basically cause to reach across the aisle and have constructive discussions, any potential for those kinds of constructive discussions gets completely trampled with the conspiracy theories, disinformation, cynicism that gets spread within the most retweeted tweets, Blankenship said.

The Uvalde shooting also occurred around primary season. Blankenship said some political figures used the situation to spread conspiracy theories.

That's one of the things that makes it so frustrating, she said. [You expect] elected officials to have a greater sense of responsibility at what they tweet out or what they send out to their bases. But they're really also one of the ones propagating this kind of cynicism and information pollution.

Though the discussion surrounding the shooting wasnt productive, Blankenship said public anger over mass shootings came through loud and clear.

I think people are still having a very negative, visceral and a loud reaction to these kinds of tragedies, she said. People are very sick of having to deal with the possibility of having someone shoot you.
SAN ANTONIO  Former Bexar County Constable Michelle Barrientes Vela summoned several of her deputies to a Family Dollar store where she interrogated a store manager who had accused one of her sons of shoplifting shoes, according to courtroom testimony.

Deputy Vanessa Pena, testifying Tuesday at a sentencing hearing for Vela, said the constable was angry and upset on Feb. 28, 2019, and could be heard on the radio calling her traffic enforcement officers to join her at the Family Dollar on Zarzamora Street.

Pena said that when Carlos Vela Jr. went to the store that day, the manager said she recognized him as someone who had stolen shoes a few months earlier and asked him to leave. The younger Vela is believed to have been 24 or 25 at the time.

Pena said that when the constable arrived, she and another deputy stood back and Vela was the one actually interrogating the manager.

The manager looked really nervous under Velas questioning, Pena added. She was really scared.

Vela, 48, an elected Democrat, was convicted Sept. 1 of two counts of tampering with evidence stemming from an investigation into a complaint that she shook down a family for $300 to provide security at an Easter Sunday party in Rodriguez Park in 2019.

Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer

Vela also is charged with three counts of official oppression tied to her treatment of two deputies who had accused her of harassment and retaliation. The jury that convicted her of evidence tampering was not allowed to hear anything about the official oppression charges. Nevertheless, state District Judge Velia Meza can take them into account in determining Velas sentence.

After hearing about the Family Dollar incident, Meza asked Pena whether it was the first time Vela ordered deputies to intervene in a situation where she had a personal stake.

How many times did she ask (deputies) to do that? the judge asked.

Twice, Pena replied.

Was the constable ever in danger either time? Meza asked.

No, Pena replied.

Pena was the first of a handful of deputies who testified for the prosecution on Tuesday, the second day of the sentencing hearing, which is not expected to conclude until early October.

Precinct 2 Deputy Joshua Lugo testified that Vela stopped approving his requests to accept part-time work outside of Bexar County once Vela became aware that he had spoken to two of her adversaries within the Precinct 2 constables office, Leonicio Barrera Moreno and Christopher De La Cerda, at a funeral.

Moreno filed a complaint accusing Vela of harassment and retaliation because he refused her sexual advances, allegations she has denied. De La Cerda made a similar complaint against Vela.

Lugo said Vela told him not to speak to Moreno and De La Cerda, specifically them, because they were not part of our team.

Lugo added, She made it clear in roll call she didnt want me to talk to them.

Vela fired Moreno and De La Cerda but the two regained their jobs through arbitration.

Vela, who has no previous criminal record, could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. She has applied for probation.

ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863
The Kabul airlift was one of the biggest in history. Over 124,000 people were evacuated from Afghanistan as the U.S. ended the longest war in American history.

As the final C-17 airplanes departed Afghanistan and news outlets around the world reported on the final evacuation, America let out a collective sigh of relief. My emotions overwhelmed me as I watched the chaotic withdrawal unfold that night, too.

I joined the Air Force 13 years ago, graduated pilot training shortly after, and have flown four deployments in Afghanistan and thousands of hours in the C-17 Globemaster III all around the world.

During those dangerous and frenzied 18 days in August last year, I was not at the controls of a C-17 saving lives in Kabul, but in Montgomery, Ala. studying strategy, history and leadership.

On ExpressNews.com: A year later, honoring lessons of Afghanistan

As the Afghanistan war and the Kabul Airlift ended, the presidential administration, senior military leaders and the public seemed eager to move on from the disorder of the United States withdrawal.

After U.S. forces left Afghanistan, I was taken aback by the misguided lessons learned that military leaders compiled in the immediate aftermath of the airlift. So, I dedicated the next six months of my life to capturing the stories, sacrifices, relationships and dedication of U.S. contingency response forces and air mobility personnel who supported Afghan partners and adapted to difficult and unique circumstances on the fly.

Here are some of the lessons I gathered from more than 70 interviews across the military chain of command and all aspects of the Kabul Airlift.

First, a narrow focus on the final tally of Afghans, interpreters, U.S. civilians and allies evacuated during the final weeks of the Afghanistan war masks the true realities of the operation. The entire Kabul airlift was conducted without a cohesive strategic plan and the final withdrawal represented a collection of tactical plans that masqueraded as a strategy.

On ExpressNews.com: As Afghanistan falls, memories haunt

Second, the Kabul airlift was a success, but it was not preordained to be one. The success came by way of the professionalism, skill and dedication of U.S. service members, in spite of significant oversights at the national level. A lack of a comprehensive withdrawal plan plagued Department of State and Department of Defense efforts throughout the operation.

Third, the staggering 124,000 people evacuated from Afghanistan in hellish circumstances is a testament to the empowerment of the lowest ranking members of the U.S. military and the tactical accomplishments this empowerment can achieve. Enlisted soldiers, Airmen and Marines secured Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, processed and loaded Afghan refugees, provided medical care, made life and death decisions to pull Afghan partners from the masses that surrounded the airfield and paid the ultimate sacrifice when an ISIS-K bomber detonated a suicide vest five days before the end of U.S. operations.

The number of Afghan lives saved is crucial to the Kabul airlift story, but to truly understand how we were able to bring about this accomplishment, we must appreciate the context and the stories of the people involved in the airlift.

In the immortal words of Winston Churchill, those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. The stories, insights, innovations, and sacrifices made by heroic women and men during the Kabul Airlift must be shared for future generations to understand the significance of the largest airlift in history. Therefore, I will continue my work to capture and compile the stories of the Kabul Airlift so the U.S. will never repeat the chaos that plagued the end of the Afghanistan War.

Air Force Maj. Joey Brewer is a career C-17 pilot. The conclusions and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Air Force.
Gov. Greg Abbotts gun talk is neither sustainable nor honest.

On Thursday, after a shooting at a Uvalde park left two wounded, the governor said in a statement that he was outraged to learn that gang violence has endangered the Uvalde community and innocent Texans.

He framed the shooting as a gang problem, with no mention of guns or easy access to them, and pledged more state troopers to help the small city bring the full force of justice down on these heinous criminals.

The shooting came more than three months after an 18-year-old used an AR-style rifle to murder 19 children and 2 teachers at Uvaldes Robb Elementary School. And the governors pledge to battle gang violence followed a recent claim that he cant do anything to raise the purchase age of assault-style rifles from 18 to 21.

On ExpressNews.com: Editorial: Abbotts allegiance is with the NRA

There have been three court rulings since May that have made it clear that it is unconstitutional to ban someone between the ages of 18 and 21 from being able to buy an AR, Abbott said on the campaign trail Aug. 31. It is clear that the gun control law that they are seeking in Uvalde, as much as they want it, it has already been ruled to be unconstitutional.

But, as weve seen before, the governors comments are bereft of context.

While some lower courts grapple with the issue, the Supreme Court hasnt taken a stand on age restrictions for any type of weapon.

On ExpressNews.com: Editorial: A powerful man does nothing

I think the governor is wrong, Al Kauffman, a constitutional law expert and professor at St. Marys University, told us. I think the states could increase the age for access to unusual weapons like an AR 15, and that would be upheld.

Kauffman said theres no doubt that the U.S. Supreme Court has supported gun rightsin 2008 for self-defense in the home and this year for self-defense outside the homebut these rulings have been about handguns.

All of these cases have tried to make it clear that theyre not throwing out all gun regulations or gun control, he said. I think theres a very good chance that if Texas were to extend the age for access to things like AR-15-type guns, to 21, that that would be upheld.

According to Kauffman, the high court hasnt restricted reasonable gun laws in states and communities. Nor has it thrown out laws in 43 states that outline various requirements, including licensing, for gun ownership.

On ExpressNews.com: Commentary: With recent rulings, an activist court sets other liberties in its sights

The U.S. Supreme Court has always said that the government controlled access to unusual weapons, and that would include the AR-15, he said. Were talking about these extremely dangerous weaponsI just think that the courts are not going to give carte blanche to more people having those guns than if the state were to take that position.

We are reminded of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalias words in the 2008 Heller decision: Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited. [It is] not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.

Kauffman also disagrees with Abbotts claim that increasing the age to purchase assault-style rifles is unconstitutional, and the idea that possible unconstitutionality would stop the state in trying to pass a law. Just think of how aggressive the state has been with anti-abortion legislation. Earlier this year, Abbott mused about overturning the landmarke Plyler decision, which ensures states cannot deny public education for migrant children.

The state of Texas has never been shy about proposing legislation or passing legislation that on its face would appear to be unconstitutional, Kauffman said.

Uvalde parents have been outspoken about the need to raise the purchase age for assault-style weapons, but the governor has ignored these calls.

The most recent shooting in Uvalde merits outrages. But we should be outraged by all acts of gun violence  gang violence, mass shootings, suicides, domestic violence, accidental shootings  wherever they occur. And we should channel that outrage into policies that reduce gun violence. But Abbott is unwilling to go there.
At least six current members of Congress from Texas or their families bought or sold assets tied to their committee work, according to the New York Times. The transactions include stocks, bonds and other financial assets.

Among them is Republican U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, one of Congresss most active filers, according to the Times.

McCauls wife and children bought and sold shares of major Department of Homeland Security contractors IBM and Accenture while he sat on the Homeland Security Committee, the newspaper found.

You might also like: These are highest-paying jobs in the San Antonio area

His family also traded millions of dollars worth of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, before and after a 2019 Home Security Committee hearing examining social medias role in the spread of misinformation, according to the Times.

McCauls lawyer told the Times that the trades were made by an outside adviser on behalf of his wife, using her assets. The lawyer said she does not provide direction.

Members of the House and Senate are not prohibited from investing in companies, including those that could be impacted by their Congressional work. However, the trading patterns revealed by the Times underscore longstanding concerns about the potential for conflicts of interest or use of inside information by members of Congress, government ethics experts say.

Also on ExpressNews.com: A cancer in her own office: Deputy who worked for Bexar Constable Michelle Vela testifies at sentencing

To examine potential conflicts, the Times used a comprehensive database called Capitol Trades, which was created by the German financial data firm 2iQ Research. Reporters matched the trades against relevant committee assignments and the dates of hearings and congressional investigations.

There were 97 members of Congress who reported trades in companies influenced by their committees, the Times found.

All but one of the nine transactions reported by Michael C. Burgess, a Republican representing North Texas, were in companies tied to his work on House energy and commerce subcommittees, according to the newspaper.

In a statement, a spokesman told the Times that Burgess complies with the trading rules set for Congress and that his trades are made by a financial adviser without his prior knowledge, approval or instruction as to what is being sold or bought.

Dan Crenshaw, a Republican who represents Houston, sold shares worth $1,000 to $15,000 to Kinder Morgan, an energy infrastructure firm, while he was a member of the House Energy Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change, according to the Times.

"He also bought from $1,000 to $15,000 in shares of Boeing, which is a contractor for the Homeland Security Department, while serving as a member of the committee that oversees the agency," according to the Times.

These are incredibly low dollar amounts being traded, especially when you put them in context with other members who trade huge sums of money in the stock market," a spokesperson told the Times. "All of these trades were made using publicly available, well-reported information. The claim that there is any conflict of interest behind these transactions is absurd.

Among the other members of Congress list were Lizzie Fletcher, a Democrat who represents a small area of western Harris County; Pete Sessions, a Republican who represents a district that includes a strip of central Texas stretching from Waco to Bryan-College Station; and Pat Fallon, a Republican who represents a district that covers 18 counties along the Red River in northeastern Texas.

Fletcher and her husband bought and sold stock during the first six months she served in Congress while she was sitting on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Among them were shares of the cruise operator Carnival Corporation.

Afterward, the Fletchers sold all of their shares in individual company stock. A spokesperson told the Times that Fletcher fully understands she is in a position of public trust.

timothy.fanning@express-news.net
Texas health officials have missed a key window to complete the states first major updated count of pregnancy related deaths in nearly a decade, saying the findings will now be released next summer, most likely after the Legislatures biennial session.

The delay, disclosed earlier this month by the Department of State Health Services, means lawmakers wont likely be able to use the analysis, covering deaths from 2019, until the 2025 legislative cycle. The most recent state-level data available is nine years old.

RELATED: Risk of serious pregnancy complications has doubled since Texas abortion bans, study finds

In a hearing this month with the states Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee, DSHS commissioner Dr. John Hellerstedt said the agency wanted to better align its methodology with that of other states, and that there hadnt been enough staff and money to finish the review for a scheduled Sept. 1 release.

The information we provide is not easily understood, and not easily and readily comparable to what goes on in other states, Hellerstedt told the committee. And the fact it isnt easily understood or easily comparable in my mind leaves room for a great deal of misunderstanding about what the data really means.

In a statement, DSHS spokesman Chris Van Deusen said the agency is reviewing its internal processes to try to develop more timely data.

I expect well be having conversations with legislators about what could be done to speed up the lengthy review process, he said.

The setback comes four months before the start of the legislative session and two months before the midterm election, which has been dominated in part by the states new Republican-led abortion ban. Those restrictions have placed more scrutiny on the states maternal mortality rate, which is among the 10 highest in the country, according to national estimates that track pregnancy-related complications while pregnant or within a year of giving birth.

There are a lot of us that want to know whether or not pregnancy in Texas is a death sentence, said state Rep. Ann Johnson, a Houston Democrat and member of the Texas Womens Health Caucus. If weve got a higher rate of maternal mortality, we sure want to figure it out. You cant figure it out if somebodys sitting on the numbers, and thats my worry.

RELATED: Texas' abortion laws led to 3-day delay for Houston woman's pregnancy loss treatment, doctor says

Like in other states, maternal outcomes in Texas are worse for Black women, who have died at about three times the rate of non-black women. This years findings were expected to drill further into the causes behind those disparities.

Rep. Shawn Thierry, a Houston Democrat who has described going through her own dangerous birthing experience, said the data is critical for understanding the role cesarean sections play in maternal deaths and whether implicit bias is playing a factor in the quality of maternal care for Black women.

There is so much to unpack from the data, Thierry said, adding that no woman who chooses life should have to do so in exchange for their own.

Members of the states maternal mortality committee, which compiles the official report, said they were disappointed by the decision to hold the preliminary findings.

(We) do the work to honor the lives of women who lost their lives, and families that are forever impacted by the loss of a mother, said Dr. Carla Ortique, the committee chair. So theres disappointment on both fronts: that were not honoring those women and families, and that we may be negatively impacting efforts to improve maternal health outcomes in our state.

Ortique said the state has already identified 149 potential maternal deaths in 2019, of which 118 have been analyzed by the committee to see if they were pregnancy-related. Six newly identified deaths may be added to that group, she said. The numbers cover deaths during the pregnancy through one year after giving birth.

The state has published a maternal death report every other year since 2014, often based on preliminary data updated later. For example, the maternal death report in 2018 identified 29 deaths in 2012 that were not included in the previous report. The committee also released updating findings from its most recent report, studying deaths from 2013, at the Sept. 2 meeting.

Out of 175 potential maternal deaths in 2013, 70 have since been determined to be pregnancy-related.

The state has been collecting the updated numbers as part of the requirements of a new CDC grant, awarded to the DSHS in 2019. The balance, according to advocates, is in making sure data is as accurate as possible, but also released quickly enough to be of use to researchers and policymakers.

The reports usually come with wide-ranging recommendations to improve maternal health in the state, including expanding Medicaid to one year postpartum, proactively treating chronic conditions and addressing the disproportionately high number of maternal deaths among Black women.

Texas has extended Medicaid coverage for pregnant women until six months after they give birth or miscarry, but the state has declined to expand coverage to the recommended 12 months.

The unexpected delay has frustrated advocates, who are gearing up to push Republicans in the Senate and the governor to back the full 12-month extension, as many other states have done.

State leaders will be able to make better policy decisions for Texas moms if they have more recent data on maternal deaths as well as health challenges like infections or postpartum depression that new moms are facing in Texas, said Diana Forrester, director of health care policy at Texans Care for Children.

Republican leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, who is running for re-election, have celebrated the overturning of federal abortion protections this summer by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Many have committed to boosting resources for pregnant women and new mothers. A spokesman for Abbott did not respond to a request for comment. Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan, who supports the 12-month extension, was critical of the delay, saying it comes at a time when Texas must support moms and families.

Our work will start with passing legislation that further extends postpartum health coverage for new Texas mothers to a full year, which our chamber approved overwhelmingly in 2021 and I expect will do so again next year, Phelan said in a statement.

In addition to providing updated recommendations for lawmakers, the report also helps nonprofits compete for grants that support new or expectant mothers, said Nakeenya Wilson, an Austin-based maternal health advocate and member of the states maternal mortality committee.

Her group, the Maternal Health Equity Collaborative, used data from past reports to earn a $1 million grant that provides childcare for new mothers in Central Texas.

If they dont have the most up-to-date information, then we run the risk of disenfranchising some of the most vulnerable in our state, she said.

Johnson said the delay was unacceptable given the high rate of maternal mortalities.

It is a crisis that we claim on bipartisan grounds to want to investigate, Johnson said. And yet here we are told at the last minute on the date that the report was supposed to be due, Sorry, we couldnt get around to it.

julian.gill@chron.com

jeremy.blackman@chron.com


Croatia Airlines has finalised its network for the 2022/2023 winter season which begins on October 30 and runs until March 25 of next year. The carrier will introduce two new routes, with limited operations from both Split and Pula to Zurich. Both routes have so far been maintained on a seasonal summer basis. During the upcoming winter, they will both run twice per week, each Wednesday and Saturday, with the Dash 8 turboprop aircraft. At this point, the two services have been scheduled to run until mid-January of next year. As a result, this winter, for the first time in years, Croatia Airlines will run international flights out of Pula, complementing its domestic operations to Zagreb and Zadar. Croatia Airlines has finalised its network for the 2022/2023 winter season which begins on October 30 and runs until March 25 of next year. The carrier will introduce two new routes, with limited operations from both Split and Pula to Zurich. Both routes have so far been maintained on a seasonal summer basis. During the upcoming winter, they will both run twice per week, each Wednesday and Saturday, with the Dash 8 turboprop aircraft. At this point, the two services have been scheduled to run until mid-January of next year. As a result, this winter, for the first time in years, Croatia Airlines will run international flights out of Pula, complementing its domestic operations to Zagreb and Zadar.





The Croatian carrier will maintain thirteen international destinations out of its Zagreb hub. The airline will restore services from the Croatian capital to Dublin, which have been suspended for most of the summer season. It will run until the end of January. Furthermore, it will run flights to Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London Heathrow, Munich. Paris, Rome (via Split), Sarajevo, Skopje, Vienna and Zurich. In addition, it will maintain domestic services to Dubrovnik, Pula, Split and Zadar. The carrier will operate the same number of destinations as during the previous winter season. Compared to the pre-pandemic 2018/2019 and the start of the 2019/2020 winter, it will not serve Barcelona, Lisbon and Mostar from its main hub.





Elsewhere in its network, Croatia Airlines will operate flights from Split to Frankfurt, Munich, Rome and Zagreb, in addition to its new Zurich service. Operations to Dubrovnik have been reduced to a single domestic route, in contrast to its pre-pandemic winters which also included flights to Frankfurt. From Osijek, the carrier will continue to maintain services to Munich, which were launched earlier this year. Similarly, from Rijeka, the airline will boast flights to the Bavarian capital, while services from Zadar will be maintained to Pula and Zagreb. Overall, Croatia Airlines will run over 8.500 scheduled flights during the 2022/23 winter season with 890.000 tickets on sale, representing an increase of 29% on last year.






Wizz Air will suspend three routes out of its Skopje base in the coming days, with flights slated to resume next summer season. The budget carrier will end operations from the Macedonian capital to Turin, Billund and Turku. The last service to the Italian city is scheduled for next Wednesday, to Billund on Thursday and to Turku on Saturday. At this point, flights are set to resume during the last week of March 2023. As previously reported, Wizz has also removed a number of routes over the winter from its other bases in the former Yugoslavia, including from Belgrade and Tuzla, although Sarajevo will see the biggest reduction with flights to six destinations to be halted until next summer season. Wizz Air will suspend three routes out of its Skopje base in the coming days, with flights slated to resume next summer season. The budget carrier will end operations from the Macedonian capital to Turin, Billund and Turku. The last service to the Italian city is scheduled for next Wednesday, to Billund on Thursday and to Turku on Saturday. At this point, flights are set to resume during the last week of March 2023. As previously reported, Wizz has also removed a number of routes over the winter from its other bases in the former Yugoslavia, including from Belgrade and Tuzla, although Sarajevo will see the biggest reduction with flights to six destinations to be halted until next summer season.





The low cost airline boasts its biggest base in the former Yugoslavia in Skopje, with five aircraft stationed in the city. The carrier introduced services from the Macedonian capital to Turin this June, while flights to Billund were inaugurated last December. The Finnish city of Turku has been a fixture of Wizz Airs Skopje network since 2019. The low cost airline has faced a number of operational issues this summer due to a lack of staff and capacity, which forced it to reduce frequencies across its network, including those from Skopje.





Wizz Airs CEO, Jozsef Varadi, visited Skopje earlier this year. The carrier is believed to be preparing to take part in the Macedonian governments tender aimed at subsidising the launch of new routes, which it has won on all three previous occasions. Tender procedures were expected to kick off this summer, although the process is yet to be launched. Wizz Air is said to be considering flights from Skopje to Slovenia, as well as a destination on the Croatian coast, Prague and the resumption of some routes which have been discontinued by the carrier from the Macedonian capital over the past few years. New services from Ohrid are also expected.




Fairfield, MT (59436)

Today

Mostly sunny. High 71F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low around 40F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
A Texel double-header  the second annual Blue Texel Sheep Society sale as well as a new fixture for the Badger Face Texel Sheep Society  created major interest on Saturday as customers flocked to secure quality among these two up-and-coming breeds.

Of the Blues, noted Scottish breeders David and Jennifer Alexander, who run the Millside flock in Ayrshire, far eclipsed their 2,100gns top price for the female champion and reserve supreme at last years inaugural sale when topping the 2022 renewal at 5,000gns with their fifth prize shearling ewe.

The February, 2021, twin by a home-bred ram whose own sire was Beili Blues Dylan, out of a home-bred ewe by an imported Dutch-bred tup, sold for what was the highest ever sale price for an Alexander Blue Texel when claimed by N&L Blenkhorn, of Driffield.

The Alexanders, who established their Blue Texel flock in 1998  now consisting 50 breeding females - were also responsible for the fourth prize shearling ewe, another March-born fully home-bred, sold for 1,200gns to Joanne Lyth, of Stacksteads, Bacup. The consignment of six gimmer shearlings from the Alexanders averaged 1,575.

Trade for females was notably strong, with the same show class also responsible for the days second top call of 4,800gns, this also coming from Scotland and falling to the first prize winner, female champion and overall supreme champion shearling ewe from Stasa Moyes and partner Stuart Wood, of the Saltire Blue flock near Skene in Aberdeenshire.

Their Saltire Blue Tooty Fruity is a January, 2021, daughter of Caryls Blue Captain, acquired some four years ago for 2,500gns, who has bred ram lambs to 10,000gns, out of the home-bred Saltire A Beauty, who has herself bred daughters to 6,000gns.

Her full sister stood overall Blue Texel champion at this years Royal Highland and Royal Welsh Shows, the Skipton victor returning to Aberdeenshire with Alfords Mark Wattie.

Making 1,900gns from the same home was a full sister to the title winner, Saltire Blue For The Moment, which found a new home in Lancashire with Leylands SR Taylor.

Another shearling ewe, Saltire Blue Frisky Lady, a March-born single by the same sire, out of Saltire Blue Betty, a maternal sister to A Beauty, also finished runner-up in its show class, selling for 1,600gns and again returning to Aberdeenshire with Gordon Troup, of Sauchen.

A Frisky Lady full sister, Saltire Blue First Timer, also hit four figures at 1,300gns when again claimed by SR Taylor, another with similar breeding making 1,000gns.

The title-winning duo also chipped in with the third prize shearling ram, Saltire Blue Flash Harry 11, a February, 2021 twin by Pistyll Elite, which made 800gns. The Saltire consignment of ten averaged 1,699.

Top price of 2,000gns among the males fell to the first prize ram lamb, male champion and overall reserve champion from Welsh breeders Martin and Gemma Sivills Glanrafon Blue flock in Tremeirchion St Asaph, Denbighshire.

Their Glanraton Blues Gunner Maverick, a February-born single by Cleenagh Fandabadosey, acquired last year and the first to be sold by the son of Cleenagh Exteremist, out of a home-bred dam by Dulas Va Va Voom, returned to Wales with Carmarthenshires DL&BWH Jones.

Badger Face Texels sell to 1,600gns

Blue Texel show judge Dylan Jones, of Carmarthernshire, had earlier also judged the Badger Face Texels, when his chosen reserve champion, the first prize ewe lamb from Derbyshire father and son, Dean and Jayden Clamps Riverside flock in Ashbourne, went on to secure top price in sale of 1,600gns.

Jayden Clamp with the Skipton Badger Face Texel reserve champion and 1,600gns top price

Their Riverside Dorris, a January-born single by renowned Dutch breeder Jan Rodenburgs Turbo Das Notorious, is the first daughter out of a Turbo dam acquired in-lamb last year.

She has now been shown four times this year, standing third in all her appearances, including to another Clamp ewe lamb that won its show class at the Great Yorkshire. The overall reserve found a new home in Calderdale with G&R Booth, of Huddersfield.

The Clamps, who arrived with lambs from leading bloodlines and half sisters to their unbeaten 2022 Great Yorkshire ewe lamb, made a clean sweep of the prizes in the ewe lambs show class, the runner-up making 700gns, the third prize winner 550gns.

Making 800gns was the first prize ram lamb and overall show champion from Andrew Baileys Baileys flock in Chipping, near Preston. His Baileys Dancing Brave is a February-born twin by Llwyn Derw Conan, acquired as a lamb from her Welshpool breeder.

The sire has already performed with credit in the show arena, standing champion and reserve interbreed at Cheshire, breed champion at Shropshire and male and reserve breed champion at the Great Yorkshire, also one of the first prize pairs.

Out of another imported Turbo ewe, the victor joined fellow exhibitor Sam Duggans Cornhill flock at Boughrood, near Brecon, a second shearling ram from the same home making 500gns.

Aberdeenshires Stuart Wood was also represented with his own Woodies flock, claiming two solid selling prices of 800gns and 750gns for a brace of March, 2021, shearling ewes, both Dutch imports, both selling locally to Anthony Thompson in Foulridge.
Farmers, retailers and social media influencers came together to celebrate the sustainable credentials of sheep farming as part of Love Lamb Week 2022 at the beginning of September.

The annual campaign, backed by the National Sheep Association (NSA), UK levy boards and farming unions, once again attracted high profile attention.

Farmers shared stories of their sheep farming systems, the environmental management that goes hand in hand with that and also the meat's nutrition.

A variety posts were published on social media, including recipes, farming daily tasks and also restaurant meals available with British-produced lamb.

Bizza, a shepherdess from Warwickshire, talks about animal welfare standards and reminds you to look for the @RedTractorFood logo to ensure you are eating the best, nutritious, British lamb ?? #BackBritishFarming #LoveLambWeek pic.twitter.com/NRd0hcKA84  National Farmers' Union (@NFUtweets) September 7, 2022

Celebrity chefs also found publicity in national media, encouraging shoppers to add different lamb cuts to their weekly shopping baskets.

Further industry promotion from the UK levy boards will now continue into the autumn as several high profile campaigns carry on where Love Lamb Week has left off.

NSA communications manager, Katie James said this year's Love Lamb week had provided "a great opportunity to showcase all that is so fantastic about our industry."

It's #lovelambweek so @debbiesutcliffe served shoulder of #woldslamb roasted on the bone. Absolutely delicious, so sweet and tender. Followed by pineapple upside down sponge pudding and ice cream but no picture as I had eaten it before I remembered to take a picture ???? pic.twitter.com/KlzNdkfPdO  Charlie Sutcliffe (@ChasSutcliffe) September 4, 2022

She said: "Our members responded. The sector should take pride from the way in which it promoted itself during the weeks campaign.

Having acted as the faces of the campaign since last year, Amy Matravers from Leicestershire and Ernie Richards from the Herefordshire-Powys border kept the campaigns social platforms busy sharing stories.

Mrs James added: Special recognition must go to our Lambassadors, Amy and Ernie, who worked so hard to keep the Love Lamb social accounts so active and engaging all week."

Your wonderful British countryside, maintained and cared for by British farmers, creating habitats for our native wildlife ????. #LoveLambWeek

Join the #LoveLamb conversation with our social media infographics ? https://t.co/OESJ99DYgf pic.twitter.com/ShVyXrlcaC  AHDB (@TheAHDB) September 6, 2022

Love Lamb Ambassador and Leicestershire sheep farmer Amy said: Thank you to everyone who engaged with #LoveLambWeek. Id love to keep the momentum going all year round promoting our produce - #LoveLamb.

Ambassador and Welsh Borders sheep farmer Ernie added: Being a Love Lamb Ambassador, not only for Love Lamb Week, but all year, has been brilliant to promote and educate about UK sheep farming.

"This years campaign appears to have really inspired the sheep farming community to get involved with this promotion also.

Love Lamb Week was first established in 2015 by late Cumbrian sheep farmer Rachel Lumley.

Since then, its reputation has grown ensuring it is now firmly fixed in the sheep farming calendar at a time of peak supply of British produced lamb.
Consumers and retailers must back British as the long-running pig sector crisis continues to take its toll on farms across the country, the National Pig Association (NPA) has said.

The body today (13 September) warned that there could be a reduced choice of favourite British pork products over the Christmas festive period 'unless things change rapidly'.

Recent figures from AHDB showed pig producers lost, on average, an unsustainable 52/pig in the second quarter of this year, following losses of 59/pig in Q1.

After seven successive quarters of negative margins, producers have lost, collectively, 600 million since the autumn of 2020, AHDB estimates.

The financial woes are continuing through this quarter, the NPA warned, as rising pig prices have failed to keep pace with soaring feed and energy costs.

Meanwhile, Defras June Agricultural census showed a massive 17% reduction in the English pig breeding herd, which industry data suggests is mirrored on a UK-wide basis.

The pig sector has been impacted with significant challenges, with farmers seeing increased feed costs, as well as problems with moving pigs off-farm for slaughter.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the continued lack of an available skilled labour have had a disproportionate impact on the sector.

The situation has also been exacerbated by Russias invasion of Ukraine, leading to increased input costs, including feed, fuel, energy, and fertiliser.

Responding to the threats, NPA chief executive Lizzie Wilson said shortages of pork products at Christmas would leave the supply chain more reliant on EU imports.

She pointed to reports from those involved in the marketing of pigs, which suggest that demand for British pork is sluggish at the moment, with EU imports still a cheaper option, despite the rising EU prices.

With more producers feeling the strain amid weekly reports of more businesses quitting the industry, Ms Wilson said UK retailers and consumers could do their bit to save the pig sector by sourcing and buying British.

As pig farmers continue to lose money following a two-year struggle, sadly increasing numbers are having to make the very difficult decision to reduce their herd or close.

This will potentially mean less British pork available on the supermarket shelf in the run-up to Christmas."

Ms Wilson added: It is a challenging time for everyone, not just our pig farmers, but what will help is for retailers to continue to support our domestic supply by buying British Red Tractor pork wherever possible, and for shoppers to buy British too.

Pork is still very competitively priced and so provides excellent value for money when budgets are increasingly being squeezed.
Scottish growers are being encouraged to provide yield and area details from this harvest to inform industry engagement with the government.

Many parts of Scotland have completed harvest well ahead of schedule, and planting for 2023 harvest is well underway.

Now NFU Scotland is asking growers across the country to complete its 29th annual harvest survey.

Information is only needed on yields and crop area for barley, wheat, oats, oilseed rape and rye.

There is the added incentive that all those who complete the survey will be entered into a draw for a bottle of malt whisky, the nations premium product.

NFU Scotlands crops policy manager, David Michie said: The better informed we are about crop areas and yields, the better placed we are when we enter discussions with trade and governments.

"The results from this annual survey  the 29th annual survey undertaken by NFUS - will keep us informed and credible when speaking to government and industry."

He added: We will use the online survey information to give policy and regional NFUS teams a better idea of what is happening across the country."

The online survey, which closes for responses on 7 October, should only take a few minutes to complete.

It comes after the NFU in England and Wales encouraged growers there to take part in its annual harvest survey to help build a detailed picture of yields.
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Funeral homes often submit obituaries to the newspaper as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we are happy to accept obituaries from family members. You may use the form linked below, or you may email Jeanne Cobert at jcobert@fauquier.com or call her at 540-270-4931.

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Sara Ali Khan is the apropos representation of a new-age woman. She is confident, witty, and from what we could see on Koffee With Karan, extremely savvy about handling money and saving it. She's also fashionable but in the most relatable way because her outfits still seem achievable and the kind that will look good even when we Everywomen will wear it and not just A-lister celebrities. Perhaps why she is the best person to look toward for inspiration when you are looking for some, especially where Indian festivities and ethnic wear is involved. With the festive/wedding season just around the corner, you will probably need a barrage of clothes to continue looking chic through them all. For that, here's a round-up of our favourite Sara Ali Khan looks which can very well moonlight as your festive looks.

Image: Instagram



A sari is timeless. But this transparent number by designer Manish Malhotra is especially new-age thanks to its blouse which features the ruff around the neck.

Image: Instagram



For fans of the gharara, here's an intricately embroidered look from the Dubai-based designer Faraz Manan that features the most shapely kurta which cinches the smallest part of the waist.





If you're looking for a wedding-worthy number where the dress-code demands that you put a little more effort into dressing up, this lehenga by designer Mayyur Girotra is perfect for the occasion.

Image: Instagram If you're looking for a wedding-worthy number where the dress-code demands that you put a little more effort into dressing up, this lehenga by designer Mayyur Girotra is perfect for the occasion.

This laidback lehenga look is from the actor, who is wearing a black and gold Manish Malhotra design, is great for at-home celebrations  be it wedding or any other festival. We love how she's kept her hair and makeup simple, too.

Image: Instagram





Want something simple yet festive? This kitschy number from Madhurya Creations is perfect for a fun festive time with family and friends. A sleeveless bralette blouse will only make it more fun.Wear it to weddings or Diwali or Dussehra, this daintily embroidered number from Anita Dongre is a failsafe style for any and all occasions. For a grand look, throw on a polki choker.

Stealing from one of Sara's most-loved Diwali look, this kurta-churidar number from Manish Malhotra is instilling the power of keeping things simple back into our minds.



What do you think of Sara's looks?



Also Read: Katrina Kaif Is Our Unlikely Inspiration for Sari Looks


The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) recently expressed concern that the situation of most commercial banks being averse to opening letter of credit (LC) under the Export Development Fund (EDF), usance paid at sight (UPAS) and deferred-payment systems due to dollar shortage may lead to suspension of production of basic raw material for apparel.

Domestic spinners may continue production activities for the next three months till the existing raw materials stock lasts, it said.

The Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) also admitted facing similar problems.

The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) recently expressed concern that the situation of most commercial banks being averse to opening letter of credit (LC) under the Export Development Fund (EDF), usance paid at sight (UPAS) and deferred-payment systems due to dollar shortage may lead to suspension of production of basic raw material for apparel.

In a letter to the central bank, signed by BTMA president Mohammad Ali Khokon, the association said factories could not import required raw materials like cotton, polyester staple fibre (PSF) and viscose staple fibre (VSF) to feed the readymade garment (RMG) exporters despite receiving orders.

"Declining stocks of raw materials amid commercial banks' unwillingness to open LCs might severely hamper production and exports of textile and apparel items," Bangladeshi media reports quoted the letter as saying.

Textile mills need to have raw material stocks for at least four to five months for uninterrupted production and export activities, he pointed out, explaining that it also takes three to four months to get imported raw materials.

The production disruption would not only deepen the existing dollar crisis, but also hit export earnings, the association cautions, fearing unemployment as well.

BTMA requested the central bank to take necessary measures and instruct the commercial banks accordingly.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Germany exported goods to the total value of 127.6 billion in July 2022, which was a 10.8 per cent increase compared with July 2021. Exports to Russia dropped by 56.8 per cent to 1 billion over that period as a consequence of the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

In contrast, exports to the United States, the most important destination of German exports, increased by 14.6 per cent to 12.4 billion.

Germany exported goods to the total value of 127.6 billion in July 2022, which was a 10.8 per cent increase compared with July 2021. Exports to Russia dropped by 56.8 per cent to 1 billion over that period as a consequence of the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

Other important trading partners in terms of exports were France and the Netherlands. German exports to France increased by 12.7 per cent over the same period, amounting to 9.5 billion, while that to Netherlands rose 12 per cent to reach 9.2 billion in July 2022, as per data released by Destatis.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)
Swedish company Coloreel has appointed Elin Wengstrom as the new vice president (VP) marketing. Wengstrom has more than 20 years of experience in leading positions within branding, marketing and communications. She joined Coloreel in mid-August and will be based in Stockholm.

Wengstroms most recent role was as marketing director at Stora Enso Wood Products, and she has previously worked for brands such as Daily Sports, Geberit, Statoil (now Circle K), BMW and Swedbank - both as an employee and as a brand strategy consultant, Coloreel said in a media release.

Swedish company Coloreel has appointed Elin Wengstrom as the new vice president (VP) marketing. Wengstrom has more than 20 years of experience in leading positions within branding, marketing and communications. She joined Coloreel in mid-August and will be based in Stockholm. Her most recent role was as marketing director at Stora Enso Wood Products.

Torbjorn Back, CEO Coloreel, commented: I am very happy to welcome Elin Wengstrom to Coloreel. She will be important in our work to build the Coloreel brand, and she will play a crucial role in our international expansion. With her combined experience and competence, I am convinced that she can lead our marketing successfully.

Wengstrom said: I am thrilled to be able to build a brand around a world-unique and patented product, which can truly revolutionise an entire industry in a sustainable way. Building a strong brand is always a team effort, and I look forward to developing Coloreel together with my colleagues. We will focus on increasing awareness of our pioneering technology to create a solid foundation for global growth.

Coloreel is known for a technology that modernises digital embroidery. By digitising and streamlining an otherwise rather complicated process, Coloreel offers a new way of using embroidery for the textile and fashion industry. The technology enables both accurate colour reproduction and creative effects, such as gradients and textures not possible to produce before, the release added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)
The United States and Mexico will work to improve the regional business climate and strengthen the resilience of US-Mexico supply chains. At the US-Mexico High-Level Economic Dialogue (HLED) in Mexico City recently, both sides agreed to address climate change by accelerating the transition to clean energy, especially through the adoption of zero-emission vehicles.

Both sides committed to work with the private sector to identify locations with the right skillsets, infrastructure and industrial capabilities for greater investment in the semiconductor and information and communication technology ecosystem, a joint statement issued by the White House said.

The United States and Mexico will work to improve the regional business climate and strengthen the resilience of US-Mexico supply chains. At the US-Mexico High-Level Economic Dialogue in Mexico City recently, both sides agreed to address climate change by accelerating the transition to clean energy, especially through the adoption of zero-emission vehicles.

Since relaunching the HLED a year ago, both the countries have furthered cooperation and commitment to our regional economic growth, integration, and longstanding strategic partnership.

Both sides reviewed accomplishments under the HLED and discussed new areas for collaboration, such as partnering to address climate change challenges to meet our commitments under the UNs 2030 agenda and greening transportation at the border to improve air quality and public health.

They also discussed collaboration on electromobility, digital economy, workforce development and supply chain resilience.

Federal agencies on both sides are working with state and municipal governments, the private sector, and civil society organisations to develop green spaces and sustainable economic development zones to benefit sister communities across the shared border.

To promote sustainable economic development in southern Mexico and Central America, both the countries cooperate to improve the regional business environment and livelihoods through the creation of jobs and opportunities in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and southern Mexico.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Vietnam has exported garments worth $92.4 million to the UK in August 2022, which is an increase of 88.6 per cent compared to the corresponding month last year and 3 per cent month-on-month, according to data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC). The surge in exports can be attributed to the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA).

Despite being included in the top 10 biggest markets for Vietnams garment exports, the UK accounts for less than 2 per cent of Vietnams total export value. Lower tariffs enabled by the UKVFTA have made it possible for Vietnam to develop its share in the market.

Around 42.5 per cent of Vietnamese textile and garment exports will be liberalised at entry and some garment goods will have their tariffs removed after six years as per the UKVFTA.

Vietnam has exported garments worth $92.4 million to the UK in August 2022, which is an increase of 88.6 per cent compared to the corresponding month last year and 3 per cent month-on-month, according to data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC). The surge in exports can be attributed to the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA).

However, textile industry regulations introduced by the European Union (EU) such as using green products, replacement rates, and opting for sustainable fashion instead of fast fashion make it more difficult for Vietnamese apparel goods to gain a foothold in the European market.

Total earnings from garment exports for the Southeast Asian nation added up to $26.3 billion for the last eight months  24.3 per cent more than those for the same period in 2021, as per Vietnamese media reports.

At present, Vietnam is the third biggest garments exporter in the world and among its main markets are Europe, the US, Japan, and South Korea.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 12, 2022 / Lucky Minerals Inc. (TSXV:LKY)(OTC PINK:LKMNF)(FRA:LKY) Lucky" or the "Company"). Lucky announces that further to its news releases dated July 22, 2022 and May 27, 2022, the Company will be issuing additional shares to Franklin Vinicio Viera Ramos pursuant to the services agreement (the "Agreement") which has received approval from the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Company will issue 159,310 common shares of the Company for the services provided pursuant to the Agreement, and are issued in partial consideration for technical and other consulting services provided to the Company by Mr. Viera Ramos during the months of July 2022 and August 2022. The common shares are issued at a deemed prices per share of $0.057.

Any common shares issued to Mr. Viera Ramos are subject to a hold period expiring January 13, 2023 in accordance with Canadian securities laws.

Franklin Vinicio Viera Ramos

As announced in the May 27, 2022 news release, Mr. Viera provides services to the Company as a technical consultant for the drilling phase of the Company's Ecuador property. Services provided include 3D modeling, GIS, drill hole planning, geochemical analysis, core logging, field geological mapping property evaluation, database management and occasional field program supervision and other duties that may be required by the Company.

Mr. Viera is a well known geologist in Ecuador and has been involved in many significant projects including the discovery of Quimsacocha which is now called the Loma Larga project.

About Lucky

Lucky is an exploration and development company targeting large-scale mineral systems in proven districts with the potential to host world class deposits. Lucky owns a 100% interest in the Fortuna Property.

The Company's Fortuna Project is comprised of twelve contiguous, 550 km2 (55,000 Hectares, or 136,000 Acres) exploration concessions. Fortuna is located in a highly prospective, yet underexplored, gold belt in southern Ecuador.

Further information on Lucky can be found on the Company's website at www.luckyminerals.com and at www.sedar.com, or by contacting Francois Perron, President and CEO, by email at investors@luckyminerals.com or by telephone at (866) 924 6484.

Or by contacting:

Renmark Financial Communications Inc.

Kerry Schacter: kschacter@renmarkfinancial.com

Tel: (416) 644-2020 or (514) 939-3989

www.renmarkfinancial.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Adjacent Properties and Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the future operations of the Company and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future plans and objectives of the Company are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: uncertainties related to exploration and development; the ability to raise sufficient capital to fund exploration and development; changes in economic conditions or financial markets; increases in input costs; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological or operational difficulties or inability to obtain permits encountered in connection with exploration activities; and labor relations matters. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect the Company's forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations also include risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators.

The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will not update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements unless required by Canadian securities law.

SOURCE: Lucky Minerals Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715693/Lucky-Announces-Issuance-of-Shares-for-Services-Performed


NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and BioNTech SE (BNTX) said that a 30-microgram booster dose of their Omicron BA.4/BA.5 bivalent-adapted COVID-19 Vaccine has been recommended for conditional marketing authorization by the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) for individuals ages 12 years and older.



The European Commission will review the CHMP recommendation and is expected to make a final decision soon.



The Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine contains 15- microgram of mRNA encoding the wild-type spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 in the Original Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, and 15- microgram of mRNA encoding the spike protein of the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants. Apart from the addition of the mRNA sequence of the BA.4/BA.5 spike protein, all other components of the vaccine remain unchanged.



If an authorization is granted, the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent Omicron BA.4/BA.5 COVID-19 vaccine will be available within the coming days to all 27 EU member states supporting the European vaccination campaigns. Local supply may vary based on individual country government requests.



In early September, Pfizer and BioNTech were granted a conditional marketing authorization for an Omicron BA.1-adapted bivalent COVID-19 vaccine in the EU. An Omicron-adapted vaccine based on the BA.4/BA.5 subvariant was also authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a booster for ages 12 and older on August 31, 2022.



The companies noted that they are also planning to file the data with other regulatory authorities in the coming weeks and are planning to submit data to the FDA and the EMA to prepare an application for an Omicron-adapted bivalent vaccine in children younger than 12 years of age.



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Waga Energy

Waga Energy rolls out first RNG project in British Columbia, accelerating its Canadian growth plans



13-Sep-2022 / 07:00 CET/CEST

Dissemination of a French Regulatory News, transmitted by EQS Group.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Waga Energy rolls out first RNG project in British Columbia, accelerating its Canadian growth plans

Waga Energy (EPA: WAGA) and the Capital Regional District are kicking off a high-capacity RNG project at Hartland Landfill on Vancouver Island. This marks Waga Energy's first landfill gas project in British Columbia and its fourth in Canada.

Waga Energy, a specialist in the production of Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) from landfills, has signed a contract with the Capital Regional District (CRD), one of 28 districts in British Columbia, to build an RNG production facility at Hartland Landfill on Vancouver Island. The new production unit will leverage the WAGABOX technology developed and patented by Waga Energy to produce RNG from landfill gas. RNG is a renewable substitute for fossil-based natural gas.

Waga Energy will build a high-capacity WAGABOX unit at Hartland Landfill. Expected to go online in the second half of 2024, the unit will be able to process 2,000 scfm (3,200 m3/h) of landfill gas. Based on expected gas volumes, it will be producing up to 345,000 mmBTU (100 GWh/y or 365,000 GJ/y ), and will save 450,000 tonnes of eqCO2 over the next 25 years, by replacing fossil-based natural gas.

A 25-year contract

The WAGABOX unit for the Hartland Landfill will be built in Quebec by Waga Energy's Canadian subsidiary, with the exception of a cryogenic distillation module to be imported from France. The facility will be operated and maintained by Waga Energy for 25 years. The RNG produced by this unit will be sold by the CRD to Canadian utility FortisBC and injected into the gas grid via a pipeline extension.

Waga Energy's proposal came out on top following the CRD's request for proposals in 2021. This is the company's first project in British Columbia and its fourth in Canada.

The CRD encompasses thirteen municipalities and serves a population of 432,000 on southern Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands. It operates Hartland Landfill, which receives waste from residents across the region. The WAGABOX unit will replace a gas-to-electricity plant which has been in operation at the landfill since 2004, significantly increasing the amount of energy produced on site.

Waga Energy CEO Mathieu Lefebvre said, "We are excited about the opportunity to work with the Capital Regional District to support British Columbia's energy transition by enabling the production of significant amounts of competitively priced Renewable Natural Gas. Over the past five years we have built, commissioned, and operated thirteen units in Europe, allowing us to develop substantial know-how in the production of RNG from landfill gas. In the past eighteen months alone, we have initiated five WAGABOX projects in North America, so there is clearly growing interest in our technology."

Colin Plant, CRD Board Chair said, "Adopting long-term solutions that reduce our region's emissions is a crucial part of the CRD's commitment to take meaningful action on climate change. Partnering with Waga Energy on the design, construction and operation of a state-of-the-art landfill gas upgrading facility marks a significant investment in the future sustainability of our region."

About Waga Energy

Waga Energy (EPA: WAGA) produces competitively priced Renewable Natural Gas (also known as "biomethane") by upgrading landfill gas using a patented purification technology called WAGABOX. The RNG produced is injected directly into the gas distribution networks that supply individuals and businesses, providing a substitute for natural gas. Waga Energy finances, builds and operates its WAGABOX units under long-term contracts with landfill operators for the supply of raw gas, and generates income by selling the RNG it generated. Waga Energy operates 13 WAGABOX units in France, representing an installed capacity of 480 GWh/year. Thirteen units are under construction in France, Spain, Canada and the US. Each project initiated by Waga Energy contributes to the fight against global warming and the helps the energy transition. Waga Energy has been listed since October 27, 2021, on Euronext Paris. waga-energy.com

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For media inquiries, please contact:

Laurent Barbotin,

Head of Communication

+33 772 771 185

laurent.barbotin@waga-energy.com
13 September 2022 LSE: PDL

Petra Diamonds Limited

("Petra")

Petra's wholly owned subsidiary, Petra Diamonds US$ Treasury Plc, has today made the following announcement on the Irish Stock Exchange:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

This announcement is not an invitation to participate in a tender offer with respect to any Notes (as defined below). The Offer (as defined below) is being made solely pursuant to the Tender Offer Memorandum (as defined below) which sets forth the complete terms of the Offer.

This announcement and any materials relating to the Offer do not constitute, and may not be used in connection with, any form of offer or solicitation in any place where such offers or solicitations are not permitted by law.

The distribution of this announcement in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this announcement comes are required to inform themselves about, and to observe, any such restrictions.

THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. IF YOU ARE IN DOUBT ABOUT THE ACTION YOU SHOULD TAKE, YOU SHOULD CONSULT IMMEDIATELY YOUR STOCKBROKER, BANK MANAGER, SOLICITOR, ACCOUNTANT OR APPROPRIATELY AUTHORISED INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL ADVISER.

Petra Diamonds US$ Treasury Plc

Company Number: 09518557

(the "Offeror")

Announces an Offer to Purchase for Cash in a Modified Dutch Auction up to $150,000,000 in aggregate total cash consideration of its outstanding $336,656,000 in aggregate notional principal amount of Senior Secured Second Lien Notes due 2026

(ISIN No. XS2289899242, Common Code 228989924 (Private Placement))

(ISIN No. XS2289895927, Common Code 228989592 (Regulation S))

13 September 2022

Petra Diamonds US$ Treasury Plc (the "Offeror") has today launched an offer (the "Offer") to holders (the "Noteholders") to submit tenders to sell to the Offeror for cash the $336,656,000 Senior Secured Second Lien Notes due 2026 (the "Notes") up to a maximum consideration of $150,000,000 (the "Acceptance Consideration"), subject to the offer and distribution restrictions set out below, and upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in a tender offer memorandum dated September 13, 2022 (as it may be amended or supplemented from time to time, the "Tender Offer Memorandum") in accordance with a modified Dutch auction procedure.

Capitalised terms used in this announcement but not otherwise defined have the meanings given to them in the Tender Offer Memorandum. Copies of the Tender Offer Memorandum are available, subject to the offer and distribution restrictions and registration, from the Offer Website: https://deals.is.kroll.com/petradiamonds.

Summary of the Offer

Description of

the Notes ISIN/Common Code Outstanding Notional Principal Amount(1) Early Tender Premium(2)(3) Total Consideration(2)(3) Total Consideration Acceptable Bid Range(2)(3)

$336,656,000 in aggregate notional principal amount of Senior Secured Second Lien Notes due 2026 (the "Notes") Private Placement:

ISIN: XS2289899242

Common code: 228989924 $336,656,000 $50 To be determined pursuant to a modified Dutch auction procedure $970 to $1,010 Regulation S:

ISIN: XS2289895927

Common code: 228989592

(1) Represents the notional outstanding principal amount. The actual principal amount after application of a pool factor of 1.14362 is $385,006,534.72. Unless stated otherwise, all references to outstanding principal in this announcement are to the notional outstanding principal amount prior to the application of the pool factor.

(2) Per $1,000 of principal amount of Notes.

(3) Total Consideration per $1,000 of principal amount of Notes includes the Early Tender Premium and will be multiplied by the pool factor of 1.14362. Total Consideration will only be paid to Noteholders validly tendering their Notes at or prior to the Early Participation Deadline and accepted by the Offeror. Noteholders validly tendering their Notes after the Early Participation Deadline and accepted by the Offeror will receive the Tender Consideration, which is equal to the Total Consideration minus the Early Tender Premium.

The Offeror intends to accept for purchase validly tendered Notes up to the Acceptance Consideration. Acceptance of Notes tendered may be subject to scaling as described herein. The Offeror reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to amend the Acceptance Consideration to accept significantly more than or significantly less than the Acceptance Consideration, or to accept none of such Notes, for purchase pursuant to the Offer, not to accept any tender or purchase Notes or to modify in any manner any of the terms and conditions of the Offer.

Tender Instructions submitted on or prior to the Early Participation Deadline will be accepted in priority to those Tender Instructions submitted after the Early Participation Deadline.

Assuming the Acceptance Consideration has not been met at the Early Participation Deadline, Noteholders validly tendering their Notes after the Early Participation Deadline but on or prior to the Expiration Deadline will only be eligible to receive the Tender Consideration. The Offeror may choose not to accept any Tender Instructions submitted after the Early Participation Deadline. No accrued interest will be payable in addition to the Total Consideration.

No accrued interest will be payable in addition to the Total Consideration or, with respect to Tender Instructions submitted after the Early Participation Deadline, the Tender Consideration.

Rationale for the Offer

The purpose of the Offer is to enable the Offeror to manage its overall funding level and to reduce its gross debt, while maintaining a prudent approach to liquidity.

Total Consideration

The Offeror will pay per $1,000 of principal amount (to be multiplied by a pool factor of 1.14362 (the "Pool Factor")) of the Notes validly tendered and accepted by it for purchase pursuant to the Offer a cash purchase price (the "Total Consideration"), as determined pursuant to the Modified Dutch Auction Procedure, as defined below. The Total Consideration will be not less than $970 (the "Minimum Total Consideration") nor more than $1,010 (the "Maximum Total Consideration") per $1,000 of principal amount of the Notes and shall be an amount that is a multiple of $1,000. The Total Consideration is inclusive of the Early Tender Premium of $50 per $1,000 of principal amount of the Notes. Such Total Consideration is payable only to the Noteholders who validly tender their Notes prior to the Early Participation Deadline and the Offeror accepts such validly tendered Notes for purchase. No accrued interest will be payable.

No Accrued Interest

No accrued interest will be payable in addition to the Total Consideration or, with respect to Tender Instructions submitted after the Early Participation Deadline, the Tender Consideration.

Modified Dutch Auction Procedure

The amount that the Offeror will pay per $1,000 of principal amount of the Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Offer will be determined pursuant to a modified Dutch auction procedure (the "Modified Dutch Auction Procedure").

Under the Modified Dutch Auction Procedure, the Offeror will determine, in its sole discretion, for the Notes tendered prior to the Early Participation Deadline, as soon as practicable following the Early Participation Deadline, (a) the Acceptance Consideration and (b) the Total Consideration (expressed as the amount payable per $1,000 of principal amount of Notes), taking into account the principal amount of the Notes so tendered and the Total Consideration Bid Prices specified (or deemed to be specified, as set out below) by tendering Noteholders.

The Total Consideration for the Notes will represent the lowest price that will enable the Offeror to purchase an aggregate principal amount of the Notes for which the total consideration paid by the Offeror will not exceed the Acceptance Consideration and shall be an amount that is a multiple of $1.00.

If the total amount of Tender Instructions received by the Offeror is less than the Acceptance Consideration, then the Total Consideration will be equivalent to the Maximum Total Consideration.

Tender Instructions may be submitted in the form of either a Competitive Offer or a Non-Competitive Offer. Competitive Offers can only be submitted prior to the Early Participation Deadline.

Competitive Offers

Noteholders may submit one or more Competitive Offers in respect of the Notes on or prior to the Early Participation Deadline, provided that the aggregate principal amount of the Notes that are the subject of these Competitive Offers, together with the aggregate principal amount of the Notes that are the subject of any Non-Competitive Offers submitted by each such Noteholder, does not exceed the aggregate principal amount of the Notes that each such Noteholder holds. Competitive Offers must specify:

a purchase price per $1,000 of aggregate principal amount of the Notes, in increments of $1.00 , which is above the Minimum Total Consideration and at or below the Maximum Total Consideration, that such Noteholder would be willing to accept as the Total Consideration in respect of Notes that are the subject of the particular Tender Instruction (the "Total Consideration Bid Price"); and the principal amount of the Notes, in minimum denomination of $1,000 and in integral multiples of $1.00 in excess thereof, that the relevant Noteholder is tendering at that Total Consideration Bid Price.

If a Competitive Offer specifies a purchase price that is not in increments of $1.00, such purchase price will be rounded up to the nearest number divisible by $1.00.

If the Offeror accepts a Competitive Offer (or Competitive Offers), the relevant Noteholder will receive the Total Consideration for the Notes. In respect of each Competitive Offer (or Competitive Offers) that is accepted, the Offeror will pay the Total Consideration to each Noteholder whose Competitive Offer of Notes is accepted, even if the Total Consideration is higher than the Total Consideration Bid Offer Price specified by the tendering Noteholder in its Tender Instruction. In the event that the Competitive Offers submitted at the Total Consideration (following acceptance of all Non-Competitive Offers as described below) result in more Notes being offered than the Acceptance Consideration, such Competitive Offers will be accepted on a pro rata basis, as described below.

Non-Competitive Offers

Alternatively, Noteholders may submit one or more Non-Competitive Offers in respect of the Notes on or prior to the Expiration Deadline. Non-Competitive Offers must specify the principal amount of the Notes, in minimum denomination of $1,000 and in integral multiples of $1.00 in excess thereof, that the relevant Noteholder is offering pursuant to such Non-Competitive Offer, provided that the aggregate principal amount of the Notes that are the subject of these Non-Competitive Offers, together with the aggregate principal amount of the Notes that are the subject of any Competitive Offers submitted by each such Noteholder, does not exceed the aggregate principal amount of the Notes that each such Noteholder holds.

Tender Instructions that (i) do not specify a Total Consideration Bid Price, (ii) specify a Total Consideration Bid Price equal to the Minimum Total Consideration or (iii) are received after the Early Participation Deadline will be treated as Non-Competitive Offers. Each Non-Competitive Offer falling within (i) or (ii) above, if received on or prior to the Early Participation Deadline, will be deemed to have specified the Minimum Total Consideration. Each Non-Competitive Offer submitted after the Early Participation Deadline will be deemed to have specified the Tender Consideration. Tender Instructions which specify a Total Consideration Bid Price more than the Maximum Total Consideration or less than the Minimum Total Consideration will not be accepted.

A separate Tender Instruction must be submitted on behalf of each beneficial owner of the Notes due to possible scaling.

The Offeror will accept all Non-Competitive Offers if it accepts any Competitive Offers. If the Offeror accepts a Non-Competitive Offer, the relevant Noteholder will receive the Total Consideration for the Notes (or, if such Non-Competitive Offer was submitted after the Early Participation Deadline, the Tender Consideration). In the event that the Non-Competitive Offers submitted would result in total consideration paid by the Offeror that is higher than the Acceptance Consideration, such Non-Competitive Offers will be accepted on a pro rata basis, as described below.

Acceptance of Tender Instructions

Once the Offeror has determined the Total Consideration and the Acceptance Consideration for the Notes, the Offeror will accept Tender Instructions validly submitted on or prior to the Early Participation Deadline in the following order:

all validly submitted Non-Competitive Offers will be accepted first, subject to possible scaling in the event that Tender Instructions in respect of such Non-Competitive Offers have been submitted that would result in a greater total consideration paid by the Offeror than the Acceptance Consideration; all validly submitted Competitive Offers that specify Total Consideration Bid Prices lower than the Total Consideration will be accepted second; and all validly submitted Competitive Offers that specify Total Consideration Bid Prices equal to the Total Consideration will be accepted third, subject to possible scaling in the event that such Competitive Offers, when aggregated with all Tender Instructions referred to above and accepted for purchase, would result in a greater total consideration paid by the Offeror than the Acceptance Consideration.

Such pro rata allocations will be calculated by multiplying the aggregate principal amount of the Notes represented by each Tender Instruction subject to scaling by a factor (the "Scaling Factor") derived from (i) the maximum amount of notes that could be purchased taking into account the Acceptance Consideration less the aggregate principal amount of the Notes accepted for purchase not subject to scaling, divided by (ii) the aggregate principal amount of the Notes validly tendered in the Offer that are subject to scaling. Each tender of Notes reduced in this manner will be rounded down to the nearest $1.00 in aggregate notional principal amount. In the event of any scaling on a pro rata basis and such scaling would result in either (i) the Offeror accepting Notes from the relevant Noteholder in an aggregate principal amount of less than $1,000 or (ii) the principal amount of Notes not purchased and returned back to the relevant Noteholder being an aggregate principal amount of less than $1,000, the Offeror may elect to accept or reject such Tender Instructions in full.

If the Offeror accepts tenders of Notes for purchase on a pro rata basis, Noteholders will only receive the Total Consideration (or, with respect to Tender Instructions submitted after the Early Participation Deadline, the Tender Consideration) in respect of those Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase by the Offeror. All Notes not accepted as a result of scaling will be returned to Noteholders.

If at the Early Participation Deadline the aggregate principal amount of Notes validly tendered by Noteholders would result in a greater total consideration paid by the Offeror than the Acceptance Consideration, the Offeror may not accept any Notes tendered by Noteholders after the Early Participation Deadline. In such case, any Notes tendered after the Early Participation Deadline and on or prior to the Expiration Deadline will not be accepted for purchase by the Offeror and shall be promptly returned without cost to the tendering Noteholder. If the Offer is oversubscribed at the Early Participation Deadline, then the Offeror will issue an announcement promptly after the Early Participation Deadline stating that Notes tendered after the Early Participation Deadline will not be purchased pursuant to the Offer and Notes tendered before the Early Participation Deadline may be subject to scaling.

If at the Early Participation Deadline the aggregate principal amount of Notes validly tendered by Noteholders would result in a total consideration paid by the Offeror that is less than the Acceptance Consideration, the Offeror expects to accept for purchase all Notes validly tendered at or prior to the Early Participation Deadline without scaling, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the Transaction Conditions set forth in this Tender Offer Memorandum. In such case, the Offeror also expects to accept for purchase Notes validly tendered after the Early Participation Deadline and on or prior to the Expiration Deadline, up to a total consideration paid by the Offeror equal to the Acceptance Consideration, and only Notes tendered after the Early Participation Deadline and on or prior to the Expiration Deadline, to the extent that the aggregate principal amount of all Notes tendered as of the Expiration Deadline would result in a greater total consideration paid by the Offeror than the Acceptance Consideration, will be subject to scaling.

If the Offeror decides to increase or decrease the Acceptance Consideration or adjust the Early Tender Premium, it will announce any such change during the pendency of the Offer. If the Acceptance Consideration is increased or decreased or the Early Tender Premium is adjusted and there are fewer than 10 Business Days until the scheduled Expiration Deadline, the Offeror will extend the Offer so that at least 10 Business Days remain until the Expiration Deadline.

Notes offered for purchase at a Total Consideration Bid Price higher than the Total Consideration of the Notes will not be accepted pursuant to the Offer. The Offeror may elect not to purchase any Notes.

The determination of the Total Consideration by the Offeror will, in the absence of manifest error, be final and binding on all parties.

Early Tender Premium

Any Noteholder who validly tenders its Notes prior to the Early Participation Deadline will be entitled to receive a fee of $50 per $1,000 of principal amount of Notes for the Notes accepted for purchase in the Offer (the "Early Tender Premium"), with such Early Tender Premium included in the Total Consideration and payable on the Early Settlement Date. Noteholders whose Notes are not accepted for purchase or who validly tender their Notes after the Early Participation Deadline, but prior to the Expiration Deadline, assuming the Acceptance Consideration has not been met, will be eligible to receive the Tender Consideration, and will not receive any other additional cash consideration.

Further Information

The Offeror has appointed Kroll Issuer Services Limited to act as Information and Tender Agent. The Tender Offer Memorandum and all announcements and supporting documentation in relation to the Offer will be posted on the website operated by the Information and Tender Agent for purposes of the Offer (the "Offer Website"): https://deals.is.kroll.com/petradiamonds

An indicative timeline for the Offer is set out below:

Commencement of the Offer: September 13, 2022 Early Participation Deadline: September 26, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. London time Early Results Announcement: On or about September 27, 2022 Early Settlement Date: On or about September 28, 2022 Expiration Deadline: October 11, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. London time Final Announcement Date: On or about October 12, 2022 Final Settlement Date On or about October 13, 2022

Noteholders are advised to check with any bank, securities broker or other Intermediary through which they hold Notes when such Intermediary would require the receipt of instructions from a Noteholder in order for that Noteholder to be able to participate in, or (in the limited circumstances in which revocation is permitted) revoke their instruction to participate in, the Offer before the deadlines specified above. The deadlines set by any such Intermediary and each Clearing System for the submission of Tender Instructions will be earlier than the relevant deadlines specified above.

The Offeror has the right to extend, amend or terminate the Offer at any time before the Expiration Deadline.

The Offer is being made solely by means of the Tender Offer Memorandum, dated September 13, 2022, which sets forth the complete terms of the Offer. Noteholders are advised to read the Tender Offer Memorandum carefully and in full for details of, and information on the procedures for participating in, the Offer.

Noteholders whose notes are held on their behalf by a broker, dealer, commercial bank, custodian, trust company or accountholder must contact and request such broker, dealer, commercial bank, custodian, trust company or accountholder if they wish to participate in the Offer.

NONE OF THE OFFEROR OR ITS AFFILIATES, THE TRUSTEE OR THE INFORMATION AND TENDER AGENT MAKES ANY RECOMMENDATION AS TO WHETHER OR NOT NOTEHOLDERS SHOULD TENDER THEIR NOTES. EACH NOTEHOLDER MUST MAKE HIS, HER OR ITS OWN DECISION AS TO WHETHER TO TENDER NOTES. NOTEHOLDERS ARE URGED TO EVALUATE CAREFULLY ALL OF THE INFORMATION IN THE TENDER OFFER MEMORANDUM AND TO CONSULT THEIR INVESTMENT AND TAX ADVISORS IN MAKING THEIR DECISION AS TO WHETHER TO TENDER THEIR NOTES.

Absa Bank Limited and Merrill Lynch International are acting as Dealer Managers for the Offer (the "Dealer Managers").

The Offeror is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petra Diamonds Limited ("PDL"). PDL's shares are listed on the premium listing segment of the Official List maintained by the Financial Conduct Authority (the "FCA") and traded on the London Stock Exchange's main market for listed securities. Accordingly, PDL is subject to and must comply with the Listing Rules (as defined in the Tender Offer Memorandum). The Listing Rules regulate transactions that constitute Related Party Transactions (as defined in Chapter 11 of the Listing Rules), which can include a transaction between the Offeror, being a subsidiary of PDL, and a Substantial Shareholder (as defined in the Tender Offer Memorandum) of PDL. The Offeror makes no offer to Noteholders to the extent the purchase by the Offeror of Notes (or a certain portion of Notes) from a Noteholder would be a transaction to which Chapter 11 of the Listing Rules would apply. Accordingly, the Offer is restricted by the RPT Condition (as defined in the Tender Offer Memorandum) and the RPT Condition must be satisfied (or waived) in order for a Noteholder's Notes to be validly tendered. The Offeror reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to refuse any Notes tendered by Noteholders in the event the purchase of those Notes by the Offeror would constitute a transaction to which Chapter 11 of the Listing Rules would apply.

Any questions and requests for assistance concerning the terms of the Offer may be directed to the Dealer Managers at the telephone number and location listed below:

Absa Bank Limited

15 Alice Lane

Sandton

Johannesburg 2196

South Africa

Telephone: +44 203 961 6067, +44 738 411 8926

Attention: Simon Rankin

Email: Simon.Rankin@absa.africa

Merrill Lynch International

2 King Edward Street

London EC1A 1HQ

United Kingdom

United Kingdom Telephone (Europe): +44 207 996 5420

Telephone (U.S. Toll Free): +1 (888) 292-0070

Telephone (U.S.): +1 (980) 388-3646

Attention: Liability Management Group

Email: DG.LM-EMEA@bofa.com

Any questions and requests for additional copies of the Tender Offer Memorandum may be directed to the Information and Tender Agent at the telephone number and location listed below:

Kroll Issuer Services Limited

The Shard

32 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9SG

United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 20 7704 0880

Attention: Thomas Choquet

Email: petradiamonds@is.kroll.com

Offer Website: https://deals.is.kroll.com/petradiamonds

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements, which are based on current intentions, beliefs, assumptions and estimates by the management of the Offeror concerning, among other things, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies of PDL and its subsidiaries (the "Group") and the industries in which the Group operates. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that the Group's actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industries in which it operates, may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement. In addition, even if the Group's or its affiliates' results of operations, financial condition and liquidity and the development of the industries in which it operates are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods. The Offeror undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements and will not publicly release any revisions that may be made to these forward-looking statements which may result from events or circumstances arising after the date of this announcement.

This announcement includes inside information as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No. 596/2014 and is being released on behalf of PDL by the Company Secretary.

~ Ends ~

For further information, please contact:

Petra Diamonds, London Telephone: +44 20 7494 8203

Patrick Pittaway investorrelations@petradiamonds.com

Jill Sherratt

Julia Stone

About Petra Diamonds Limited

Petra Diamonds is a leading independent diamond mining group and a supplier of gem quality rough diamonds to the international market. The Group's portfolio incorporates interests in three underground producing mines in South Africa (Finsch, Cullinan Mine and Koffiefontein) and one open pit mine in Tanzania (Williamson).

Petra's strategy is to focus on value rather than volume production by optimising recoveries from its high-quality asset base in order to maximise their efficiency and profitability. The Group has a significant resource base of ca. 226.6 million carats, which supports the potential for long-life operations.

Petra strives to conduct all operations according to the highest ethical standards and only operates in countries which are members of the Kimberley Process. The Group aims to generate tangible value for each of its stakeholders, thereby contributing to the socio-economic development of its host countries and supporting long-term sustainable operations to the benefit of its employees, partners and communities.

Petra is quoted with a premium listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker 'PDL'. The Group's US$336.7 million notes due in 2026 are listed on the Irish Stock Exchange and admitted to trading on the Global Exchange Market. For more information, visit www.petradiamonds.com.
Avaada has agreed to supply electricity from 300 MW of PV capacity to Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. (MSEDCL) on a long-term basis.From pv magazine India Indian developer Avaada has emerged as one of the winners in a 500 MW solar auction (phase eight) held by Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. (MSEDCL). It won 300 MW of PV capacity at a tariff of INR 2.83 ($0.036)/kWh. The developer can connect the projects to the inter-state or intra-state grid, anywhere in India. It will supply the generated power to MSEDCL through the state grid in Maharashtra on a long-term basis. ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Mr. Kim Brings Significant Global Private Equity and Leveraged Finance Experience to Support Ares' Continued Growth in Europe

Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) ("Ares") announced today that James Kim has joined Ares as a Partner and Head of European Special Opportunities in Ares' Private Equity Group. Based in London, Mr. Kim will lead Ares' Special Opportunities activities in Europe, adding to Ares' growing private equity presence in the region, while leveraging Ares' leading European private credit and real estate platforms.

"James is a seasoned and accomplished investment professional with whom I've had the opportunity to develop a strong working relationship over the last decade," said Scott Graves, Partner, Co-Head of the Ares Private Equity Group and Head of Special Opportunities. "His extensive experience leading investment strategies and partnering with European businesses to deliver bespoke debt and non-control equity capital solutions will be an invaluable asset to our team. Given the significant opportunities we see in Europe, we believe our sourcing and execution capabilities will meaningfully benefit from an enhanced local presence."

"We continue to see a significant opportunity for expansion of our private equity franchise in Europe," said Matt Cwiertnia, Partner and Co-Head of the Ares Private Equity Group. "We believe that under the leadership of James and Stephane Etroy, who has led our European Corporate Private Equity strategy since 2020, our business is well positioned to continue to grow and thrive in the region."

"I am thrilled to join Ares and look forward to collaborating closely with both the Corporate Private Equity and Direct Lending teams in Europe," said Mr. Kim. "There is a growing need for partnership capital to provide bespoke financing solutions in Europe. We believe Ares is strategically placed to continue being a strong partner given its extensive and deep relationships, leading market reputation and flexibility to provide creative debt and equity capital solutions to corporates and sponsors in the region."

Mr. Kim has more than 18 years of global private equity and leveraged finance experience. Prior to joining Ares, Mr. Kim spent over 11 years at Apollo Global Management where he most recently served as a Partner and the European Co-Head of Hybrid Value, focused on providing innovative debt and equity solutions to European corporates. Mr. Kim also served on Apollo's European Operating, Strategic and Risk committees. Prior to joining Apollo, Mr. Kim was a Senior Associate in Citi's European Leveraged Finance team where he focused on structuring and syndicating European leveraged loans and high yield bonds. Before Citi, he worked in the private equity team at the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Mr. Kim graduated with distinction from The Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario with an Honours in Business Administration.

About Ares Management Corporation

Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) is a leading global alternative investment manager offering clients complementary primary and secondary investment solutions across the credit, private equity, real estate and infrastructure asset classes. We seek to provide flexible capital to support businesses and create value for our stakeholders and within our communities. By collaborating across our investment groups, we aim to generate consistent and attractive investment returns throughout market cycles. As of June 30, 2022, Ares Management Corporation's global platform had approximately $334 billion of assets under management, with over 2,300 employees operating across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.aresmgmt.com.

About Ares Private Equity Group

With a track record spanning two decades, the Ares Private Equity Group is a leading provider of both control and non-control hybrid capital solutions for middle market companies primarily in North America and Europe. The private equity professionals have a demonstrated ability to deploy flexible capital, which allows them to stay both active and disciplined in various market environments. As of June 30, 2022, the Ares Private Equity Group had approximately $33.4 billion of assets under management and 90 investment professionals.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220912005699/en/

Contacts:

Media:

Brittany Cash, 212-301-0347

or

Jacob Silber, 212-301-0376

media@aresmgmt.com
Rio Tinto and Volvo Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to create a strategic partnership where Rio will supply responsibly sourced low-carbon products and solutions to Volvo Group and the companies will work towards decarbonising Rio Tinto's operations through piloting Volvo Group's sustainable autonomous hauling solutions.

The multi-materials partnership will allow Rio Tinto, a leading global mining and metals company, to progress sustainability commitments in its operations and supply chains. It will support Volvo Group, one of the world's largest transport and infrastructure providers, in its ambition towards a net-zero future. The partnership aims to secure supplies of materials including lithium, low-carbon aluminium, copper, and metallics.

Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said: "We look forward to partnering with Volvo to progress our contribution to a net-zero future, as we collaborate to deliver sustainable outcomes from the mine to the showroom floor. We will be working together to support the decarbonisation of Rio Tinto's operations and deliver low-carbon materials for use in Volvo's innovative product range, including electric and autonomous vehicles."

Volvo President and Chief Executive Officer Martin Lundstedt said: "We are eager to partner with Rio Tinto, a true collaboration aiming to accelerate our ambitions towards a fossil-free, decarbonised future. By addressing the full value chain, from the use of low-carbon materials in our products, to providing our customers with sustainable autonomous hauling solutions, we can contribute to a better and more sustainable future."

The companies will work together to strengthen the supply of responsibly sourced low-carbon materials such as RenewAlTM aluminium, aluminium produced using the ELYSISTM zero-carbon smelting technology, Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certified aluminium and Copper Mark certified copper, and explore product development opportunities such as the supply of lithium for batteries.

Notes to editors

Volvo Autonomous Solutions

The autonomous hauling solution offered by Volvo Autonomous Solutions is based on Transport as a Service (TaaS) and includes a vehicle purpose-built for autonomous driving, a virtual driver, required infrastructure, operations and uptime support as well as a cloud solution that controls the transport system and manages logistics flows. The solutions developed by Volvo Autonomous Solutions are tailor-made for each customers' needs and intended to make their operations more safe, productive and sustainable.

Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is an industry leader in the supply of responsibly produced materials.

In 2016, Rio Tinto launched RenewAlTM, the world's first certified low CO2 primary aluminium brand. It has helped to pioneer responsible production standards for the global industry as a founding member of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI), becoming the first producer to offer ASI Aluminium in 2018. Learn more at www.aluminium-stewardship.org.

ELYSIS is a technology company created through a partnership between aluminium industry leaders Rio Tinto and Alcoa, with support from Apple and the governments of Canada and Quebec. ELYSIS is scaling up a revolutionary technology that enables the production of metal without direct carbon dioxide emissions during the aluminium smelting process, instead emitting pure oxygen. The technology uses inert anodes to replace the carbon anodes traditionally used during electrolysis, the process used to make primary aluminium. Learn more at www.elysis.com.

In 2020, Rio Tinto's Kennecott and Oyu Tolgoi operations became the first producers to be awarded the Copper Mark, the copper industry's independent responsible production programme. To achieve the Copper Mark developed according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Kennecott's and Oyu Tolgoi's copper was assessed against 32 criteria covering Environment, Community, Business and Human Rights, Labour and Working Conditions and Governance. Learn more at www.coppermark.org.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220912005780/en/

Contacts:

Please direct all enquiries to media.enquiries@riotinto.com



Media Relations, UK



Illtud Harri

M +44 7920 503 600



David Outhwaite

M +44 7787 597 493



Media Relations, Americas



Matthew Klar

T +1 514 608 4429



Investor Relations, UK



Menno Sanderse

M: +44 7825 195 178



David Ovington

M +44 7920 010 978



Clare Peever

M +44 7788 967 877



Rio Tinto plc



6 St James's Square

London SW1Y 4AD

United Kingdom



T +44 20 7781 2000

Registered in England

No. 719885



Media Relations, Australia



Jonathan Rose

M +61 447 028 913



Matt Chambers

M +61 433 525 739



Jesse Riseborough

M +61 436 653 412



Investor Relations, Australia



Amar Jambaa

M +61 472 865 948



Rio Tinto Limited



Level 7, 360 Collins Street

Melbourne 3000

Australia



T +61 3 9283 3333

Registered in Australia

ABN 96 004 458 404



riotinto.com
Workai is attending the industry-leading HR Technology Conference & Expo 2022, held this year on September 13-16 in Las Vegas, Nevada .

in . During the conference, Workai will officially launch a new addition to its Employee Experience Platform - Workai Mobile, to connect and engage frontline workers.

In addition, the Workai Platform is growing with new communication channels and capabilities: Enterprise Social Network, Teams App, Tasks Center, Forms, and new integrations.

BIALYSTOK, Poland, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

Workai at HR Technology Conference & Expo 2022

The largest HR technology and services exposition in the world gathers every year around 10,000 people: top HR experts, HR practitioners, journalists, and influencers. Workai chose this event to announce its biggest launch to date.

Workai launches Employee App to engage frontline workers

Workai is a European startup providing innovative Employee Experience solutions that combine internal comms, knowledge management, social engagement, workflows, and more. By leveraging artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, and a multi-channel approach to internal communications, Workai effectively streamlines processes, builds productive experiences, and engages employees at the largest enterprises in the financial, retail, telco, logistics, and energy industries.

During the conference, Workai officially launches Workai Mobile - an Employee App that helps organizations effectively communicate and engage remote and frontline workers. Workai Mobile is a one-stop app for employees to get company information, news, and events. Connect with co-workers through the internal social network, provide feedback, search for people and knowledge, develop skills, plan work and get things done.

By creating the Workai platform, we defined a new category of software called Employee Experience Platform (EXP). At the world's largest HR trade show, we are pleased to showcase our new solutions - among them a mobile application for employees. Our presence here is combined with our entry into the US market where we are looking for new customers, partners, and investments.

Lukasz Sklodowski, CEO of Workai

Delivering multi-channel Employee Experience Platform

Workai Platform is growing with new communication channels and features: Enterprise Social Network, Microsoft Teams App, Tasks Center, Assets Management, Forms and Workflows, and new integrations. With its new additions, Workai aims to streamline the entire employee journey and help companies reach employees everywhere, with less effort and more confidence.
Alludo provides software tools that liberate knowledge workers from the 9-5 grind, enabling them to create, ideate, and share any time, anywhere, on any device.



OTTAWA, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corel, a global technology company helping people work better and live better, announced today that it is undergoing a full rebrand, including a new name: Alludo (http://www.alludo.com/). Alludo had more than 2.5 million paying customer relationships in more than 130 countries across diverse industries this past year. Leveraging a 35+ year history, Alludo is behind award-winning, globally recognizable brands including Parallels, CorelDRAW, MindManager, and WinZip. This rebranding is part of Alludo's commitment to reimagining the future of work-not just where people work, but also how, when, and even why they work.

"This is a watershed moment for us," said Christa Quarles, Chief Executive Officer, Alludo. "We're reimagining the way the world works by not just writing a new chapter, but a whole new playbook. This new playbook reimagines what work feels like-for our customers and ourselves. We believe in working better and living better, and we want our solutions to deliver just that, boldly and intentionally. That's why we've decided it's time for a new brand. We're delighted to share this news with you today, by welcoming you to Alludo."

It's impossible to overstate how much the world has changed since Corel was founded in 1985 -and Corel, too, has evolved beyond its original brand with the acquisition of several software brands. The name Alludo (pronounced "ah-LOO-dough") represents a cohesive identity and is a nod to the company's purpose: to empower "all you do." That's because Alludo's software products have a broad impact that gives knowledge workers freedom and flexibility to work, dream, and live in the best way for them. With this purpose in mind, the company will continue to focus on growth - organically and through mergers and acquisitions.

Alludo is reimagining the world of work and innovating to make every day easier so its customers-and its employees-have the freedom to devote more time to what matters most. In line with its new vision for what the new world of work needs, it recently gave its employees the freedom to choose where they wanted to work from, and 95% opted for working remotely.

The Alludo parent brand respects the identity and purpose of its world-renowned sub-brands while tying them more closely together. Now, all employees are united under one brand, no matter what they're working on or where they are in the world. Customers can expect the same great products and service from the brands they love supporting all they do with renewed energy and thought leadership.

For more information, visit www.alludo.com (http://www.alludo.com).

About Alludo

Alludo is a global technology company helping people work better and live better. We're the people behind award-winning, globally recognizable brands including Parallels, CorelDRAW, MindManager, and WinZip. Our professional-caliber graphics, virtualization, and productivity solutions are finely tuned for the digital remote workforce delivering the freedom to work when, where, and how you want. With a 35+ year legacy of innovation, Alludo empowers ALL YOU DO helping more than 2.5 million paying customers to enable, ideate, create, and share on any device, anywhere. To learn more, visit www.alludo.com. (http://www.alludo.com)

Media Contact

Beatrice Vogel

Director of Global PR at Alludo

Beatrice.vogel@alludo.com (mailto:Beatrice.vogel@alludo.com)

 2022 Cascade Parent Limited trading as Alludo. All rights reserved. Alludo, and the Alludo logo are trademarks of Cascade Parent Limited in Canada, the United States and/or elsewhere. Corel, CorelDRAW, MindManager, and WinZip are trademarks or registered trademarks of Corel Corporation. Parallels is a trademark or registered trademark of Parallels International GmbH. All other company, product and service names, logos, brands and any registered or unregistered trademarks mentioned are used for identification purposes only and remain the exclusive property of their respective owners. For all notices and legal information please visit www.alludo.com/en/legal (http://www.alludo.com/en/legal), www.corel.com/en/legal-information/ (https://www.corel.com/en/legal-information/) and www.parallels.com/about/legal/ (http://www.parallels.com/about/legal/)

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a8943424-48dd-4808-aa9e-2371747c49d9

(https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a8943424-48dd-4808-aa9e-2371747c49d9)https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d2c4d870-8c69-42d0-aa3b-1db09997fda4 (https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d2c4d870-8c69-42d0-aa3b-1db09997fda4)

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/93fca496-36ab-4774-a0fe-fe084921c63c

(https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/93fca496-36ab-4774-a0fe-fe084921c63c)https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/13a64c45-315a-4875-b418-6f27c487d345

(https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/13a64c45-315a-4875-b418-6f27c487d345)https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b8e98866-c1e7-48c6-9c3d-36685e3be103 (https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b8e98866-c1e7-48c6-9c3d-36685e3be103)

A video accompanying this announcement is available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/43d8e8dc-3827-4356-b597-5d27bbef034b (https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/43d8e8dc-3827-4356-b597-5d27bbef034b)
MONACO / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / Envelop Risk, a global specialty cyber underwriting firm, today launches Bermuda-based Envelop Capital Markets, a practice led by veteran underwriter and ILS specialist David Ross (Executive Vice President of ILS & Capital). The practice will develop a market for tail risk protection, retrocession, and cyber reinsurance through both indemnity, and parametric / index structures. Envelop Capital Markets will underwrite transactions from Envelop's own Class 3A Reinsurer, Augmented Re, and structure and underwrite transactions on behalf of ILS funds.

Ross commented: "Envelop Risk has developed a market-leading capability in underwriting Cyber Reinsurance supported by best-in-class analytics. At Envelop Capital Markets we match Cyber risk with capital, and expect ILS investors to be a growing part of this capital base. I look forward to developing Envelop Capital Markets into the primary global risk transfer hub for cyber risk."

Ross will work closely with Envelop Risk CUO Ari Chatterjee in Bermuda, and Envelop's cyber risk and portfolio analytics teams in the UK. Jonathan Spry, Envelop co-founder and CEO, said: "We all know capacity is at a premium throughout the value chain; we seek to unlock growth by aligning capital deployment needs with investment opportunities that expand the business of our insurance and MGA clients."

About Envelop Risk

Envelop Risk is a global specialty cyber underwriting firm based in London (UK) and Bermuda. The firm began underwriting cyber risk in late 2018 and has established itself as a leading cyber reinsurer globally, with over $500m in GWP underwritten to date. Envelop's mission is to become the leading global capital allocator for cyber-related risk by combining superior capital management, underwriting, structuring, and data-driven proprietary modeling. Envelop's advanced cyber modeling tools include threat intelligence, cyber posture analytics, global economic and financial data, and comprehensive global claims history. The firm is backed by Softbank Vision Fund 2, MS Amlin, Alpha Intelligence Capital, and Integra Partners, and Chimera Abu Dhabi. For more information visit www.enveloprisk.com or follow @enveloprisk on Twitter.

# # #

MEDIA CONTACT:

Jonathan Spry

CEO & Co-Founder

+44 7889 168 074

Jonathan.spry@enveloprisk.com

SOURCE: Envelop Risk

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715691/Cyber-Underwriting-Firm-Envelop-Risk-Announces-Launch-of-Envelop-Capital-Markets-Practice-with-David-Ross-as-Head
Adds further support for its broad-spectrum mechanism of action following other recent TBI, ALS and tropical virus studies

VIKEN, Sweden, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TikoMed today announced the inclusion in bioRxiv* of an in vitro study evaluating the ability of the company's lead drug candidate ILB to:

inhibit infection of human cells by the NL63 coronavirus assessed by immunofluorescence of viral particles; and directly block the interaction of the SARS-CoV-2 viral spike protein with the ACE2 receptor; and modulate the downstream consequences of viral infection including the reactive cytokine release from human microglia induced by various SARS-CoV-2 variant spike proteins.

The study shows that ILB blocked ACE2:spike protein interaction and inhibited coronaviral infection. ILB also attenuated the omicron-induced release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNFa, from human microglia, indicating control of post-viral neuroinflammation.

"This work extends our findings of ILB's antiviral impact upon flavivirus infections to now include coronavirus. Furthermore, we are excited to have uncovered a potential molecular mechanism for these findings by showing that ILB inhibited SARS-CoV-2 spike protein interacting with ACE2, the key docking site for SARS-CoV-2 to gain entry to human cells," said Professor Ann Logan PhD (Professor of Regenerative Medicine & CSO, Axolotl Ltd).

Professor Nicholas Barnes PhD PBPhS (Professor of Pharmacology & CEO, Celentyx Ltd) also commented: "In pathological post-viral fatigue syndromes such as long COVID, a key brain cell called microglia appear overactive and promote the associated neuroinflammation. This data showed that activated microglia are calmed by ILB in vitro and suggests ILB has the potential to inhibit neuroinflammation and hence improve symptoms of patients with conditions such as long COVID."

TikoMed recently announced the publication of a peer-reviewed article on the mode of action of ILB. In multiple preclinical and clinical studies across a variety of neuroinflammation-driven diseases. ILB both mobilized and modulated naturally occurring tissue repair mechanisms, released heparin-binding growth factors, and restored cellular homeostasis and function, https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.983853.

Additionally, TikoMed has reported that ILB inhibited infection of human cells by Dengue, Zika and Yellow Fever viruses in vitro, https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.31.503293v1.full.

Media:

International: Richard Hayhurstrichard@rhapr.eu or +44 7711 821527

Nordics:Ola Bjorkmanola.bjorkman@letemknow.se or +46 70 245 7497

About Corona viruses

Coronaviruses are a large family of enveloped, positive-stranded RNA pathogenic viruses that cause infectious disease in animals and humans. For example, the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 virus causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19) which causes a mild to moderate respiratory disease in most humans, but susceptible individuals can become dangerously ill, developing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) that can result in organ damage[1]. The global pandemic of COVID-19 disease that has spread since 2019 has had devastating health, social and economic consequences that remain burdensome[2]. By August 2022 that World Health Organisation report 599,825,400 confirmed cases of COVID19 and 6,469,458 confirmed deaths (https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019), representing just over 1% of those infected.

*bioRxiv is a free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints in the life sciences. It is operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a not-for-profit research and educational institution. By posting preprints on bioRxiv, authors are able to make their findings immediately available to the scientific community and receive feedback on draft manuscripts before they are submitted to journals.

For full study details on "A clinical stage LMW-DS drug inhibits cell infection by coronaviruses and modulates reactive cytokine release from microglia," please access the publication: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.07.506919v1.

[1]Mistry P, Barmania F, Mellet J, Peta K, Strydom A, Viljoen IM, James W, Gordon S, Pepper MS.

SARS-CoV-2 Variants, Vaccines, and Host Immunity. Front Immunol. 2022 Jan 3;12:809244. doi:

10.3389/fimmu.2021.809244. PMID: 35046961; PMCID: PMC8761766.

[2]Koelle K, Martin MA, Antia R, Lopman B, Dean NE. The changing epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2.

Science. 2022 Mar 11;375(6585):1116-1121. doi: 10.1126/science.abm4915. Epub 2022 Mar 10.

PMID: 35271324; PMCID: PMC9009722

CONTACT:

Contact: info@tikomed.com or +46 42 23 84 40

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/tikomed/r/tikomed-s-ilb--inhibits-cell-infection-by-coronaviruses-and-modulates-reactive-cytokine-release-from,c3629814
DUBAI, UAE, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Inovalis and Investment House closed their ninth transaction globally and the first US transaction of 2022 on behalf of the Global Wakala Trust Program. The Program is actively managed by Inovalis since 2019 with nearly USD 120M under management. Investment House is the sole distributor of the Shariah-compliant Program in Qatar.





This latest transaction comprises a real estate portfolio of high-quality assets focused on community centres in affluent neighbourhoods with long leases in various locations in the US.

The first asset is in Phoenix Arizona ideally situated along Peoria Avenue, a major east/west highway that connects Central Phoenix to Surprise. Over recent years, the area has become a highly sought-after submarket for retailers.

The second asset is in Carmel, Indianapolis most affluent suburb and is located within Hamilton County, one of the top ten most affluent counties in the US. Carmel's Meridian Street Corridor is home to the second largest concentration of office workers in the State of Indiana.

The third asset is in Palm city Florida and consists of four exceptionally well positioned buildings at a busy intersection which dominates the trade area marketplace. Florida is one of the largest export states in the U.S. and is a major gateway for merchandise trade.

"After successfully investing in European Real Estate markets through the Global Wakala Trust Program, we have extended our offering to US assets. The portfolio was acquired at a price which can generate attractive returns for our investors and as such we continue to position Investment House as the preferred Shariah-compliant investment solution provider in Qatar. Our geographical footprint expansion and our pursuit of attractive risk adjusted returns will continue throughout the year,'Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Suwaidi, Chairman and Managing Director of Investment House."

"Inovalis international footprint offers deal-making capabilities to our Middle Eastern institutional partners at a global scale while maintaining strong local know how through teams, operations, experience, and expertise in each country we invest in," said, Khalil HANKACH, Managing Director of Inovalis.

About Investment House

Established in 2001, Investment House (www.invhouse.com) is a regulated investment company operating under the umbrella of Qatar Central Bank. Investment House offers Investment Banking, Asset Management and Wealth Management services and products designed for individuals and institutional investors.

About Inovalis Group

Inovalis S.A. is a French Alternative Investment fund manager (www.inovalis.com), authorized by the French Securities and Markets Authority (AMF) under AIFM laws. Inovalis S.A. and its subsidiaries (Advenis S.A., Advenis REIM) invest in and manage Real Estate Investment Trusts such as Inovalis REIT, open ended funds (SCPI) with stable real estate focus such as Eurovalys (for Germany) and Elialys (Southern Europe), Private Thematic Funds raised with Inovalis partners to invest in defined real estate strategies and direct Co-investments on specific assets.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1897326/INOVALIS_Investment_House.jpg
LUND, Sweden, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Safeture AB has signed a partnership agreement with Amarante International, one of France's leading providers of security advisory and management services.

Through the agreement, Safeture has quickly gained several new customers. Large companies such as Airbus, Lufthansa and Corsair, part of TUI, will be able to access Safeture technology in the future.

The innovative platform provider for travel and employee security provided by Safeture is now also active in France on a large scale. The SaaS company's services are offered through its new partner Amarante International. Amarante is one of the leading providers of security advisory and management services in France.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Paris, the company employs 1 250 people in 20 offices worldwide. Amarante's services include risk analysis, crisis management, security awareness training and personal protection. In addition to the European Union, governmental organizations, and internationally active corporations such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) such as BASF, Schindler, Givaudan, Layher and Airbus. Amarante's clients also include many tourism companies such as the airline Corsair, which belongs to TUI, or the French branch of Lufthansa.

"Security in global mobility becomes more and more important for our customers and the demands get higher with ever-increasing complexity. We realized that to continue to leverage our business, we want to partner with the best," says Amarante CEO Alexandre Hollander.

"We got a call from Amarante after they had screened suitable providers in the market and then it was a swift process from the first demo to finalization of the agreement. In our discussions, we covered how Amarante could leverage their business with Safeture, migration of customers, post-sales, integration of risk intelligence onto the platform and much more. The first joint customer was up and running within days and are already looking into several joint tender requests as of now," says Magnus Hultman, CEO of Safeture.

Safeture operates a fully cloud-based platform on travel security, risk and crisis management and emergency communication. The central components of the platform are the Safeture Management Tool, with which companies can locate their employees anywhere in the world, communicate with them and support them in crises, and the Safeture App. It offers users a real-time alert system on security-related issues in their environment and, using the Emergency Button, the possibility to call for help in an emergency with one click. The app includes various other features such as country information, medical databases, flight information, currency converters, and e-learning.

Alexandre Hollander and Magnus Hultman

About Amarante:

Created in 2007 by former executives of the French armed forces, Amarante celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2022. With 1,250 employees in more than 20 countries, the group is now a leading operator in the security market in France and abroad.

For additional information, visit www.safeture.com or contact:

Safeture CEO Magnus Hultman: +46 706 00 81 66. Magnus.hultman@safeture.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/safeture-ab/r/safeture-takes-a-major-step-into-the-french-market,c3629992

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Liquidnet joins industry peers to be a force for ESG change in financial trading

Liquidnet, a leading technology-driven agency execution specialist, today announced that it became a member of Sustainable Trading, a non-profit membership network dedicated to transforming environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices within the financial markets trading industry.

This announcement solidifies the wider TP ICAP Group ambition to be the broker for the energy transition. In April 2022, the Group set new ESG targets including a commitment to being Net Zero by 2026 across Scope 1 (direct emissions from its own operations) and Scope 2 (indirect emissions including purchased/acquired electricity).

Brian Walsh, TP ICAP's Group Head of Sustainability, said: "Increasingly, a broad set of stakeholders, from employees, clients, suppliers, regulators and business partners to a growing number of investors, have enhanced expectations of companies. Liquidnet joining Sustainable Trading marks a step towards meeting these expectations. We believe it's possible to drive positive social and environmental impact alongside financial value."

Sustainable Trading brings firms together to devise practical and sustainable solutions to industry-specific ESG issues as well as providing a mechanism for self-assessment and benchmarking.

Rob Cranston, Global Head of Equities Product at Liquidnet, said: "We are enthused to be joining the Sustainable Trading Network. If we have learned anything from the past couple of years it is that global issues require global collaboration. There is clear shift within the corporate world and financial services as a whole to create shared value within society, addressing societal needs and challenges through business models. We are hopeful the group can be a strong part of the solution to these challenges. We look forward to exploring how Liquidnet can play a role and collaborate with peers in building a more equitable and sustainable future."

Duncan Higgins, Founder and CEO of Sustainable Trading, added: "We are delighted to welcome Liquidnet to Sustainable Trading, and look forward to benefiting from their experience and expertise. Liquidnet joins a fast-growing network of financial firms committed to driving positive ESG change in the financial markets trading industry." Higgins continued "We look forward to their valuable contributions to the member-led workstreams that are considering ESG challenges and defining industry best practices, on wide-ranging topics from environmental impacts of global trading infrastructures to workplace diversity, equity and inclusion."

About Liquidnet

Liquidnet is a leading technology-driven, agency execution specialist that intelligently connects the world's investors to the world's investments. Since our founding in 1999, our network has grown to include more than 1,000 institutional investors that collectively manage $33 trillion in equity and fixed income assets. Our network spans 46 markets across six continents. We built Liquidnet to make global capital markets more efficient and continue to do so by adding additional participants, enabling trusted access to trading and investment opportunities, and delivering the actionable intelligence and insight that our customers need. For more information, visit www.liquidnet.com and follow us on Twitter @Liquidnet.

About TP ICAP Group plc

TP ICAP is a leading global markets infrastructure and data solutions provider. The Group connects buyers and sellers in global financial, energy and commodities markets. We are the world's largest wholesale market intermediary, with a portfolio of businesses that provide broking services, trade execution, data analytics, and market intelligence. www.tpicap.com

2022 Liquidnet Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries. Liquidnet, Inc. is a member of FINRA/SIPC. Liquidnet Europe Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, is licensed by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority in South Africa, and is a member of the London Stock Exchange and a remote member of the SIX Swiss Exchange. Liquidnet EU Limited is authorised and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland and is a remote member of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Liquidnet Canada Inc. is a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada and a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund. Liquidnet Asia Limited is regulated by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission for Type 1 and Type 7 regulated activities and is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a Recognized Market Operator. Liquidnet Japan Inc. is regulated by the Financial Services Agency of Japan and is a member of JSDA/JIPF. Liquidnet Australia Pty Ltd. is registered with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission as an Australian Financial Services Licensee, AFSL number 312525, and is registered on the New Zealand Financial Service Providers Register (FSPR number FSP3781). Liquidnet Singapore Private Limited is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a Capital Markets Services Licensee, CMSL number CMS 100757-1. Liquidnet Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries are part of TP ICAP Group plc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005646/en/

Contacts:

Sophonie Robichon, Liquidnet

Head of Communications

+44 20 7614 1753

srobichon@liquidnet.com
HONG KONG, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Held successfully in August, ITE Hong Kong 2022 attended physically by 2752 trade visitors from locally and 31098 public visitors, respectively up 8.2% and 14.7% over 2021, and about 38% and 42% of 2019. Of its 100 plus exhibitors from 32 participating countries and regions, 71% come from abroad.

Its first 1.5 days admitted only registered trade visitors, while in remaining 2.5 days visitors paid for admission.

In 2019, S.Korea and Hong Kong respectively spent US$32.3 billion and US$26.9 billion on outbound, ranked second and third in Asia after mainland China. But by per capita outbound spending, Hong Kong at US$3583 came ahead of South Korea at US$625. Before pandemic, each ITE draws some 2000 buyers and trade visitors from Guangdong cities of the Bay.

Reflected in exhibitors' comment and survey findings, ITE2022 visitors are travel enthusiasts with spending power and effective pent-up demand! All helpful in kick-starting tourism recovery. Based on interviews on last show day, media reported exhibitors received 10 times more serious enquiries, believing many in Hong Kong can (afford) and have strong travel interest!

ITE's over 60 trade and public seminars, including those faraway destinations like aurora in Canada, Iceland and holidays in Maldives and Saint Petersburg, were often full each with around 100 audiences.

ITE2022 August's online survey on its public visitors found:

55% of 3344 respondents will increase travel budget for the coming year while 35% uncertain;

7% will travel abroad within 1 month, 21% within 3 months while 44% within 6 months;

23% picked Europe and N.America among preferred post-pandemic destinations.

In fact, Hong Kong residents are free to travel abroad even travel restrictions in place upon return including mandatory hotel quarantine, number of departures grew from 71000 in January to 147500 in July this year!

On August 12, Hong Kong cut mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals from 7 to 3 days. One major travel agent project this will lead to 4 to 5 fold increase in number of tour groups, say, to Japan in coming months. What's more, further relaxation widely expected.

Organized by TKS Exhibition Services Ltd., ITE 2023 comprising the 37th ITE (Leisure) & 18th ITE MICE will be held from 15-18 June 2023 at Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. Website: www.itehk.com.
LONDON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The USA dominates the world's Top 20 Cities with the Most Millionaires in 2022, with New York taking the crown with 345,600 millionaires, and five other American cities - San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Dallas - securing places on the coveted world's wealthiest cities ranking. Tokyo is in 2nd place with 304,900 resident high-net-worth individuals worth over USD 1 million, and London, the wealthiest city in the world for many years, drops to 4th place below the San Francisco Bay Area with just 272,400 millionaires, according to the latest Henley Global Citizens Report, which tracks private wealth migration trends worldwide.

Two Chinese cities, Beijing (9th) and Shanghai (10th), make it into the Top 10, and Switzerland and Australia each manage to secure two top city spots, with Sydney (11th), Zurich (15th), Melbourne (17th), and Geneva (19th) all making the cut. Singapore (5th), Hong Kong (SAR China) (12th), Frankfurt (13th), Toronto (14th), Seoul (16th), and finally Paris, plummeting 3 places to 20th, make up the rest of the 2022 ranking.

The report features exclusive data from global wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth , and includes the five wealthiest cities in each major region, and the 25 fastest growing cities in terms of millionaire growth.

Dr. Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley & Partners , points out that 14 of the Top 20 are in countries that host investment migration programs. " The right to live, work, study, and invest in leading international wealth hubs such as New York, London, Singapore, Sydney,and Torontocan be secured via residence by investment . Being able to relocate yourself, your family, or your business to a more favorable city or have the option to choose between multiple different residences across the world is an increasingly important aspect of international wealth and legacy planning for private clients."

The millionaire populations of Dubai, Mumbai, and Shenzhen are expected to break into the Top 20 wealthiest cities by 2030, according to Andrew Amoils, Head of Research at New World Wealth. "Cities with strong oil and gas industries are performing especially well this year, including the likes of Riyadh, Sharjah, Luanda, Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Lagos. Others on the fastest-growing list include Lugano, a Swiss hotspot for affluent retirees, Bengaluru, the 'Silicon Valley of India', and Hangzhou, one of China's most scenic cities."

Commenting on the latest Henley Global Citizens Report ,Dr. Jose Caballero, Senior Economist at the IMD World Competitiveness Center, says "quality of life is a fundamental driver of global mobility, and for business executives, high living standards and effective institutions are significant city drawcards."

Dr. Steffen agrees, saying "cities are centers of opportunity, innovation, prosperity, and culture. We've seen record growth this year, with more and more high-net-worth investors exploring investment migration solutions that offer location fluidity and optionality, enabling them to live and conduct their businesses across a wide range of different jurisdictions and cities."

Read the Full Press Release
Members of Burg Chinese Chorus perform during the cloud concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany in Essen, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2022. A cloud concert sung by youth from China and Germany was held here on Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei) ESSEN, Germany, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- A cloud concert sung by youth from China and Germany was held here on Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. In the offline part of the concert, students from the local Burg Chinese Chorus sang via video link with their peers from several high school choirs in Chengdu, China. They presented famous songs from both countries in Chinese and German and garnered warm applause from the audience. Music is a language that crosses borders, Wu Ken, Chinese Ambassador to Germany, said at the event. Wu said he hoped the students would continue to use their songs as a link to be explorers of Chinese and German cultures, promoters of friendship between the two countries and practitioners of cross-cultural understanding. Speaking at the event, Olaf Millmann, organizing director of the Burg Chinese Chorus, said that the chorus has continued to build bridges through music which helps deepen the exchanges between young people from Germany and China. He said he hoped that the chorus would continue to contribute to deepening the friendship between the two countries in the future. Chorus member Ben Hanenberg said that participating in chorus activities and learning to sing Chinese songs had always been an essential part of his Chinese learning. He said he plans to study in China and looks forward to discovering the country. Members of Burg Chinese Chorus perform during the cloud concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany in Essen, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2022. A cloud concert sung by youth from China and Germany was held here on Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei) A member of Burg Chinese Chorus performs during the cloud concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany in Essen, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2022. A cloud concert sung by youth from China and Germany was held here on Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei) Members of Burg Chinese Chorus perform during the cloud concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany in Essen, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2022. A cloud concert sung by youth from China and Germany was held here on Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei) Members of Burg Chinese Chorus perform during the cloud concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany in Essen, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2022. A cloud concert sung by youth from China and Germany was held here on Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei) Members of Burg Chinese Chorus perform during the cloud concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany in Essen, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2022. A cloud concert sung by youth from China and Germany was held here on Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei)
In the last few days, Ukrainian forces have made significant advances on the Kharkiv front, forcing the Russians into a disorganised retreat. Where did this surprise counteroffensive come from and what is its significance for the war overall?

Perhaps the less we have, the more we are required to brag.

 John Steinbeck, East of Eden

How they crowed! Even after so many months of noisy propaganda, the headlines that followed the Ukrainian advances on the Kharkiv front really broke all decibels.

The Daily Telegraph trumpeted:

Putin is finished. The Ukrainians have him on the ropes with a stunning victory in their sights.

If we were to judge by the size of the headlines one might assume that the war was already won. The heroic Ukrainian forces had defeated the Russians, who were running back to the border as fast as their legs could carry them.

Our gallant Ukrainian allies would then pursue them right up to the gates of Moscow, where the head of the villainous Putin would already be on display at the top of a pike

A very pretty picture! Unfortunately, the same imaginary scenario has been constantly played and replayed so many times that one begins to suspect that it is the fruit of wish-fulfilment, rather than reality. Here, the information war seems to be more important than what is actually happening on the battlefield.

In all matters pertaining to Ukraine, it is therefore necessary to maintain a sense of healthy scepticism at all times if we wish to penetrate through the thick fog of lying claims and counter-claims, and arrive at some kind of objective appraisal of what is really going on.

A serious defeat

What is the meaning and significance of this counteroffensive and how is it likely to impact the course of the conflict? Firstly, it is true that the collapse of the Russian forces on the Kharkiv front was a serious defeat. In the last few days, Ukrainian troops have made important inroads in the Kharkiv front. Analysis by the US-based Institute for War talks of 2,500 square kilometres having been retaken from the Russian forces.

The Ukrainian forces have pushed back the Kharkiv frontline about 70km eastwards to the Oskil river and conquered key strategic points, chiefly Izyum and the western bank of Kupyansk.

Ukrainian soldiers standing in front of the entrance sign to Shevchenkove (Kharkiv region), shortly after its liberation from the Russian army / Image: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

The propaganda war

In the last few months, as the winter approaches, there was increasing worry amongst Ukraines western backers about the development of the war. Billions of dollars, euros and pounds being sent to Kyiv in ammunition, artillery pieces, equipment, intelligence sharing, etc. seemed to have no real impact on the frontline, with the Russians advancing slowly but relentlessly on the basis of significant firepower superiority.

The question started to be raised: is it worth pouring resources into a war which, it seems, cannot be won? This was posed starkly as Russian supplies of gas to Europe were cut off and governments in the EU feared that high energy bills might provoke mass discontent.

Increasingly anxious that the West would lose interest in Ukraine and disengage under growing pressure from public opinion, or at least reduce the flow of arms and money to a trickle, Zelensky was becoming desperate. He needed to show his bosses in Washington that their money was not being wasted, that the war was still ongoing, and that Ukrainians were ready to launch a great counteroffensive.

In other words, he needed some kind of dramatic stunt that would make his donors sit up and pay attention. He needed a quick victory. But how to get one? That was the question.

The Kherson offensive

Before these latest events, all attention was concentrated on the so-called Kherson counteroffensive of Ukrainian forces in the south, which started on 29 August. This had been publicly announced by Kyiv for months.

Now, if Zelensky was really serious about this, it was very strange, because in any war, surprise is a key factor. A real counter-offensive needs to rely on the element of surprise, so why announce it publicly? Yet here was Zelensky loudly proclaiming to the four winds that an offensive against a specific target  Kherson  was imminent.

The reason is that Kherson was never meant to see a real offensive, but rather one designed to draw Russian troops from other sections of the front in order to slow down their advance particularly in Donbass.

Actually, from a military point of view, an attack on Kherson made no sense. The Russian forces were well dug in and the open terrain would inevitably expose the Ukrainian forces to terrible losses. For that reason, a significant layer of the Ukrainian generals were against it  as were the Americans. But Zelensky remained adamant.

The Ukrainian manoeuvre was partially effective. The Russians did move a lot of troops and equipment to the Kherson front. After the Russian takeover of Severodonetsk and Lysichansk at the beginning of July, the Russian advance on the Siversk-Bakhmut-Horlivka Ukrainian line of defence had been extremely slow.

However, just as predicted, the Kherson offensive came at a great human cost for the Ukrainian army. Though Kyiv had declared a complete ban on any information coming out of the front, it is clear and has been reported in the US media, that the Kherson counter-offensive was a meat grinder for the Ukrainian forces. Very little terrain was gained, and some of it was then lost again, at a great cost. Ukraine was playing to its strength: manpower. Russia was playing to its strength: superiority in artillery.

But the Kherson counter-offensive had another result. By concentrating the attention of the Russians on that front, it inevitably weakened their position on other fronts. At this point, the Ukrainian high command stepped up intelligence sharing with the US allowing them to identify the weakest points of the Russian frontline and launch a surprise offensive.

This information was invaluable to the Ukrainians. There is a well-known principle of warfare that states: full strength at the point of attack. The weakest point was identified as the area north of the key strategic point of Izyum. The city was taken by the Russian army at great cost at the end of March. Izyum is important because it is a crucial railway hub, but also because it opens the main road towards Sloviansk from the north. The front here had been more-or-less static for months.

Thus, while all the attention was concentrated on the Kherson front, on 8 September, the Ukrainian army launched a surprise offensive on Balakliya, north of Izyum. This clearly took the Russians completely by surprise. Their defences here were weak and were quickly overrun. While fighting was still going on in the actual town, Ukrainian forces kept pushing further east, by-passing it, and found almost no resistance.



Within a couple of days, they had reached Shevchenkove to the north east of Balakliya and then they occupied the west bank of the crucial city of Kupyansk. At the same time, they advanced very quickly south in the direction of Izyum.

A timelapse of the Ukrainian offensive in Kharkiv Oblast so far.



(Approximate situation each day as of 00:00 UTC) pic.twitter.com/Lnqe2layH6  Ukraine War Map (@War_Mapper) September 12, 2022

Repercussions in the Kremlin

The Russian Ministry of Defence made a feeble attempt to concoct an explanation for the defeat:

Over the course of three days an operation was undertaken to curtail and organise the transfer of troops from the Izyum-Balakliya groups to the territory of the Donetsk Peoples Republic. During this period a number of distracting and deflecting measures were taken regarding the real movements of the troops.

Such an explanation will satisfy nobody. By 12 September, Russia had been forced to withdraw its forces also from the strip along the border, north of Kharkiv region and moved the front from the Siverskidonestk river back eastward to the Oskil river.

This was a far-more humiliating defeat than the earlier withdrawal from Kyiv. That was a more-or-less orderly affair. But not so here. This was not an orderly retreat, but rather a rout. The Russians fled, abandoning their positions, leaving behind large quantities of weapons and equipment.

There are reports of Russian soldiers being left behind, changing into civilian clothes in order to flee on foot or by bicycle. There were also columns of civilian cars fleeing from all the cities, towns and settlements towards the Russian border, fearing the reprisals of the advancing Ukrainian army and far-right volunteer battalions.

The nature of the Putin regime

The question must be asked: how were the Ukrainians able to conduct such a surprise offensive and win such a stunning success? An absolutely key factor was the intelligence provided by the Americans, who almost certainly helped to co-ordinate and direct the whole operation.

One of the key weaknesses of Putin's Bonapartist regime is the suppression of criticism / Image: kremlin.ru Wikimedia Commons

But that cannot explain everything. In the old days of the Soviet Union, the quality of Soviet intelligence was second to none. Surely, they should have been able to identify the build-up of Ukrainian troops on that section of the front and react accordingly?

The debacle on the Kharkiv front exposes a fatal weakness of the Russian forces in this war, and that is the poor quality of their intelligence. But this, in turn, is only one symptom of the degeneration at the very heart of Putins regime.

The collapse of the Soviet Union has turned Russia from a bureaucratically deformed workers state into a bourgeois Bonapartist regime, run by a corrupt clique of oligarchs who have enriched themselves through the massive theft of the property of the people.

This rotten regime is ruled by the Kremlin clique that serves the interests of the oligarchs, while simultaneously lording it over them; bullying and fleecing them in exchange for the services of its police and the FBS, the inheritor of the old KGB, which was the ladder by which Vladimir Putin climbed into the Kremlin.

Putin likes to present himself as the Strong Man, but in reality, he is a giant with feet of clay. One of the weaknesses of a Bonapartist regime is precisely that the Strong Man does not tolerate dissent or criticism of any kind.

The man in the Kremlin lives in a kind of bubble: an artificial world inhabited by corrupt cronies and sycophants in which everyone just wants to tell him good news, irrespective of whether this bears any relation to the truth or not. This has undoubtedly played a most negative role in Russias conduct of the war from the beginning.

It partly explains the overconfidence on Putins part. This is reflected in the fact that he persists in the nonsense that this is not a war at all, but only a special military operation  a very strange formulation that has no known equivalent either in history or in military theory. Hiding behind this pretence, Putin has so far avoided declaring war and carrying out a full mobilisation. But this has limited the number of forces he is able to commit to the conflict.

To draw an historical analogy, used by Zelenskys presidential advisor Arestovych: when the Red Army liberated Ukraine from the Nazis, Stalin sent a force of two and a half million into battle. By contrast, Russia has so far committed a relatively small number of soldiers to this war, perhaps 170,000.

The reasons for this are political. A declaration of war and a full mobilisation would have a much bigger impact on Russian society and might give rise to opposition. But it has seriously hampered Russias war effort.

Thus, when the Russians moved troops to reinforce the Kherson front, sections of the Kharkiv front were left extremely weakened. The enemy was able to seize the opportunity and staged a lightning attack that caught the Russians completely by surprise. The result was a rout, as we have seen.

Consequences

What will be the consequences of this Russian defeat in the Kharkiv region? From the Ukrainian point of view this is a much-needed morale booster. The propaganda element has been key for the Ukrainian-Western side since the beginning. But propaganda has its limits; unless it is followed up by concrete advances on the ground it becomes empty and counterproductive.

As one might have predicted, the men in Kyiv are now puffed up with their own importance. To quote a phrase used by Stalin, they are dizzy with success. Dizziness in everyday life can cause unpleasant accidents. One can lose ones balance and experience a painful fall. But in warfare, the consequences can be infinitely more serious.

There is now talk of Ukraine preparing a similar counter-offensive in Vuhledar, on the Zaporizhzhia front. However, the real situation is shown by the latest appeals from Kyiv, demanding that the West speed up the delivery of arms and vastly increase the quantities.

For what purpose? Not to stage a triumphal march to Moscow, or Crimea, or even Mariupol, but merely to hang on to the territory they have just won.

To win one battle is not to win the war, which consists of many battles. The Ukrainians may win one battle, or ten battles. But such victories can be ephemeral and do not necessarily signify a change in the general balance of forces.

An existential question

These are very dangerous developments for Putin. The war in Ukraine is an existential question for him and his regime. The collapse of Russian defences in Kharkiv was perhaps the most serious set-back for Russia in this war. Military and Russian reactionary nationalist commentators, who have supported the invasion of Ukraine, are now openly voicing their criticism of the leadership of the campaign, some questioning even Putin himself.

Chechen leader Kadirov, who has been an important part of the war on Ukraine, openly expressed his criticism of the Russian forced retreat in Kharkiv: Mistakes were made. I think theyll draw conclusions. It might not be nice when you tell someone the truth to their face, but I like telling the truth.

So far, these cracks are only mild, but unless the situation on the ground in Ukraine is turned around and Putin has some victories to show, then dissent will grow, particularly amongst those who supported the war so far. This could become very dangerous for Putins position. Defeats in war often lead to revolution.

For this reason, Putin needs to act decisively and quickly. His first reaction came on the night of 11 September, with a series of coordinated attacks that damaged electricity power plants across Ukraine, provoking a general blackout. That is just the beginning. In the next few days, he needs to make sure that Russia does not suffer any more significant defeats and it manages to achieve some victory or another.

He might have to resort to full mobilisation, though that would be a risky move on his part. A Russian comrade comments: mobilisation is going on in an unofficial manner. People from regions far from major cities were mobilised. The question is whether now they'll start to mobilise recruits from the main cities like Moscow, Leningrad or Kazan. There's a major political risk in that.

One way or another, Putin needs to strengthen what is one of the weakest points of the Russian army in this war, as revealed in this recent defeat: manpower. This will be done by either making further use of its firepower superiority or by bringing additional troops. Probably through a mixture of both.

Imperialists face problems

Considered objectively, the recent rout is a setback and has led to serious difficulties in the Russian campaign, but whether this will have any lasting effect on the overall balance of forces is open to doubt. Some military and political leaders in Kyiv and the West are striking a note of caution.

During his recent visit to Ukraine, US Secretary of State Blinken brought a message from Joe Biden about the need to start negotiations with Putin. / Image: Secretary Antony Blinken

Zelensky is clearly a gambler who is not averse to taking risky decisions. His Kherson-Kharkiv offensive was a desperate gamble aimed at keeping international support. And sometimes desperate gambles can succeed. It might seem that Zelensky is now in a stronger position to demand even more military and financial aid from the US and Europe.

But Zelensky has his own domestic problems. Rumours abound in Kyiv that the military high command was not too keen on the Kherson offensive. Western analysts were sceptical and advised limiting its aims and scope. Zelensky nevertheless pushed ahead with it. The reason was not so much military but political.

Temporarily, this victory will have an impact on the morale of Ukrainian soldiers and public opinion, which had until now only seen defeats and retreats since April. It allows Ukraine to keep alive the hope of further advances in the war after the winter period, which is likely to bring warfare to a standstill.

But all is not what it seems. Paradoxically, the recent military success of the Ukrainian side has created difficulties for the imperialists and what you might call the Peace Party. In fact, several Ukrainian newspapers report that during last weeks visit by US Secretary of State Blinken to Kyiv, he brought a message from Joe Biden about the need to start negotiations with Putin. (Ukrainska Pravda).

But Putin will be in no mood to negotiate with anybody so soon after a humiliating defeat. The recent attack took the Russians by surprise. But that is unlikely to be repeated. The Russian forces will regroup and they will be reinforced by new and fresh divisions.

Russia still has considerable reserves to draw upon. To look no further, starting on 1 September, the Vostok 22 joint military drills with China and other countries were held in the Far East, and lasted for eight days. Thus, tens of thousands of Russian troops were involved in military exercises in the Far East, which could have been destined for the Ukrainian front.

Putin will do whatever is necessary to be able to present a victory in Ukraine. For that he needs, as a minimum, to keep the territory he holds in Kherson, Zaporizhzhya and Lugansk, and complete the takeover of the Donbass by reaching the administrative borders of Donetsk.

And there is no question of Putin giving up as a result of temporary setbacks, which are inevitable in any war. On the other hand, Ukraine is in an extremely difficult situation from an economic point of view, having been almost cut off from foreign trade (despite the grain export agreement) and completely dependent on Western help for its day-to-day budget.

The imperialists  especially the Europeans  are thus faced with a stark dilemma. Winter is approaching, without any guarantees for the supply of gas and oil. This is fuelling a cost-of-living crisis with potentially explosive social and political effects. The pressure towards reaching some sort of deal or compromise will continue to grow. What we saw in the Czech Republic is highly symptomatic of changes in public opinion which are taking place across Europe.

It is impossible to predict what will happen in the next few months. As Napoleon said: war is the most complex of all equations. It is a constantly moving picture with many unknown variables. Our task as Marxists is to follow the course of events and patiently explain to the advanced layers, to agitate against the war from a revolutionary point of view, addressing our opposition first and foremost against the enemy at home: our own ruling class.
New analytics-driven solution informs smarter underwriting decisions to drive higher revenue

Earnix, a global provider of real-time AI-driven rating, dynamic pricing, product personalisation, and fully operationalised telematics solutions for Insurance and Banking, today announced Underwrite-It, a new purpose-built underwriting solution in the Earnix Intelligent Insurance Operations suite that brings the full power of analytics to underwriting. Underwrite-It empowers business users to create and manage rules and decision logic, leading to better underwriting decisions.

Traditional underwriting solutions lack the modern analytical, simulation and agility tools needed to maximize the value of underwriting decision. This leads to missed opportunities and higher risk. For example, staff underwriters often create and manage thousands of underwriting rules leading to difficult and slow processes that can take months to implement and modify as IT departments code, manage, and update rules. Smarter underwriting decisions are made with Underwrite-It because it combines the standard rules-based approach of underwriting with advanced machine learning and simulation.

Underwrite-It fully automates underwriting decisions, achieving straight-through-processing, empowering staff underwriters to stay focused on managing underwriting rules and forecasting the KPI impacts of underwriting actions. The solution also offers greater business agility as it manages all rules in one place to create a single source of truth, enabling underwriters to update rules and models without burdening IT.

"It is crucial that staff underwriters are able to break away from legacy approaches that are common in underwriting today," said Yaron Lavie, vice president, product. "Unlike other solutions, Underwrite-It is built for agility and business user success. With the full power of analytics, it allows underwriters to have a fast and direct impact on rules and make fast and well-informed decisions."

Underwrite-It tightly integrates with the Earnix suite, connecting underwriting and pricing in one coordinated process, breaking down silos, and sharing intelligence across solutions. Using the solutions together creates collaboration opportunities that result in better overall decisions, improved business results, and underwriting and pricing teams working in unison to achieve shared business goals.

For more information on Underwrite-It, or to schedule a demo, please visit https://earnix.com/our-solutions/products/underwriting/.

About Earnix

Earnix is the premier provider of mission-critical composable and intelligent solutions that are designed to transform how global insurers and banks are run. Its solutions unlock value across all facets of the business, breaking away from the status quo imposed by legacy, inefficient systems. Earnix's solutions offer systemised, enterprise-wide value with ultra-fast ROI. It has been innovating for Insurers and Banks since 2001 with offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Israel.

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Connect with Earnix via Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Read the Earnix Blog.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005603/en/

Contacts:

Jena Murphy

jena.murphy@earnix.com
BEIJING, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report by People's Daily:

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the city of Samarkand, and pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from Sept. 14 to 16.

This year is of landmark significance for the SCO, as it marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the SCO Charter and the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation of the SCO Member States.

Since the founding of the organization, it has been closely obeying the above two documents and following the Shanghai Spirit, exploring a new development path for regional organizations and setting a good example for regional and international cooperation.

As the world has entered a period of new turbulence and transformation, the role of the SCO is not diminishing, but expanding, and SCO member states are not seeing a shrinking demand for cooperation, but an increasing one.

It is expected that the SCO can contribute its strength to safeguarding and practicing true multilateralism and protecting international justice and equity, when the world is seeing a complicated international situation, frequently emerging hotspot issues and a relapse into unilateralism and protectionism.

As an important founding member of the SCO, China always values, supports and promotes the development of the organization.

Since 2013, President Xi has attended multiple SCO summits where he raised a series of important proposals and initiatives to promote SCO development and regional cooperation. These proposals and initiatives have received warm response from relevant parties.

In the Qingdao Declaration, the SCO members made "building a community with a shared future for humanity" a common concept, and organization is promoting synergy between the Belt and Road cooperation and the development strategies of various countries and regional cooperation initiatives such as the Eurasian Economic Union, creating important opportunities for regional development.

The Global Development Initiative proposed by President Xi has been recognized by relevant parties under the SCO framework. They believe that the initiative is of great significance for alleviating today's global development predicament.

China advocates independence and security for all, and opposes creating bloc confrontation and undermining regional stability. At the SCO Samarkand Summit, President Xi will exchange views with relevant parties on enhancing SCO construction in the new era and better dealing with major international and regional challenges, which will be conducive to safeguarding true multilateralism and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries, and make important contributions to promoting regional peace and development.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the five Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

President Xi's upcoming visit to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will definitely further deepen China's cooperation with the five Central Asian countries.

Over the past 30 years, China's relations with Kazakhstan have been constantly lifted to new levels, and the two countries have established a permanent comprehensive strategic partnership, which is important for regional and even international peace and stability.

It was in Kazakhstan nine years ago that President Xi proposed the building of the Silk Road Economic Belt, a component of the landmark Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which also includes the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The two countries implemented a series of cooperation projects of strategic importance and achieved fruitful results, which brought tangible benefits to the two peoples and set a good example for win-win cooperation.

Over the past 30 years, China-Uzbekistan relations have achieved leapfrog development. The two countries have become good neighbors sharing mutual respect and trust, good partners for mutually beneficial cooperation, and good friends benefiting from people-to-people exchanges.

At present, the two countries are facing important opportunities to enhance their comprehensive strategic partnership. They have pledged to achieve an annual trade turnover of $10 billion as soon as possible and set new targets, and decided to jointly implement the five-year plan for economic, trade and investment cooperation, and draw up a list of priority cooperation projects for the future. The two sides will continue deepening cooperation on connectivity, poverty alleviation and medical care.

China fully supports Uzbekistan's chairmanship of the SCO and is willing to work with the country to jointly achieve national development and vitalization.
The deal closed today extends Eurotech's footprint in Germany and accelerates its growth strategy in the Edge Computing market in AIoT.

AMARO, Italy, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Eurotech S.p.A. ("Eurotech"), a leading provider of Edge Computing solutions for mission critical applications, is pleased to announce that it has successfully finalized today, concurrently with the signing of the related binding agreement, the acquisition from InoNet GmbH of the entire share capital of InoNet Computer GmbH ("InoNet"), a German company based in Taufkirchen (south of Munich), operating in the sectors of Industrial PCs (IPCs) and embedded systems for special applications.





The Enterprise Value of the target amounts to Euro 10 million, on the basis of which a cash consideration of Euro 9.45 million has been determined; there is also an earn-out of up to a maximum of 300,000 Eurotech shares, to be paid depending on the achievement until the year 2024 of specific targets for organic growth, implementation of synergies and retention of identified key figures. The aforementioned cash amount of the acquisition consideration was paid in full using the Eurotech Group's cash and cash equivalents.

Founded in 1998, InoNet is an established and recognized player in the DACH market, where it supplies custom and configured systems to renowned customers in the medical, industrial, and automotive sectors. For fiscal year 2022, ending March 31, 2023, InoNet expects revenues of 17.5 million (15.2 million in fiscal year 2021) and EBITDA of 0.7 million (0.4 million in fiscal year 2021), calculated according to German GAAP. This corresponds, according to IFRS used by Eurotech and based on preliminary estimates, to approximately 0.8 - 0.85 million.

The implied multiple of the transaction is 0.6x with respect to sales and 14.3x with respect to EBITDA (11.8x - 12.5x with respect to EBITDA calculated according to IFRS).

We expect to be able to bring InoNet's EBITDA margin into double digits within the next two and a half years. We have identified, on the one hand, cost synergies on the supply chain and, on the other hand, growth synergies related to cross-selling actions, both to InoNet's existing customers and to new customers in the DACH area.

Strategic rationale

1. EXPANSION INTO THE SECOND LARGEST MARKET FOR INDUSTRIAL IOT

The addition of InoNet gives Eurotech relevance and critical mass in Germany, and creates an important access to the DACH market, which is the world's second largest market for industrial IoT after the United States.

2. HIGH COMPLEMENTARITY

InoNet shares with Eurotech the same focus on critical applications, high-quality products, and high value-added solutions. In addition to this affinity, the two companies have a strong complementarity of products, markets, and channels.





Eurotech InoNet Sales Global 2000 customers High Low

Mid Cap customers Low High Products IPCs No Yes

Edge Gateways Yes No

Edge AI Yes Yes

Edge Software Yes No Footprint USA Yes No

Japan Yes No

DACH No Yes

Rest of EU Yes No Channels to market Direct to OEMs Yes Yes

System Integrators Yes No

Hyperscalers Yes No

Technology Partners Yes No Operations Assembly, configuration & test Yes Yes

SMT production lines No No

3. ACCELERATING GROWTH IN THE EMERGING EDGE AI SECTOR





InoNet represents a solid platform for Eurotech to accelerate in the emerging global Edge AI market, growing over 30% YoY, starting from Industial PCs type of products.

In addition, integration with our Edge SW and cybersecurity certifications will enable important differentiation and accelerate our journey towards being a leading provider of integrated devices for Edge AIoT applications.

Finally, InoNet's portfolio of customers in the midcaps of the DACH region provides the basis for up-selling opportunities of our Edge SW (ESF and EC).

Paul Chawla, CEO of Eurotech, said: "I'm happy to welcome InoNet to the Eurotech family. InoNet allow us to have a direct presence in Germany, which has been a white space so far in our footprint. We share similar DNAs when it comes to helping customers solve challenging problems. The complementarity of our offerings will help us scale in DACH, the second fastest growing IoT market in the world, with strong differentiation in cybersecurity linked to integrated HW & SW solutions."

Michael Schmohl, founder of InoNet, said, "25 years after founding InoNet Computer GmbH, I am excited to hand over the company to an Industrial IoT player that fits so perfectly with our corporate culture and our customers."

Ioannis Armenis and Ralph Ostertag, Managing Directors and co-owners of InoNet, added, "We are all thrilled by the opportunity to create a leading provider of Edge AI devices. With InoNet's presence in DACH and Eurotech's presence in the Americas, UK and Asia, the two companies truly complement each other. We look forward to building on our companies' consistent commitment to innovation and customer service."

In connection with the transaction, Eurotech was assisted by ARTHOS Corporate Finance GmbH (M&A advisor), Lexia Avvocati (legal advisor Milan), SLB Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH (legal advisor Munich), PwC (financial, tax & HR due diligence).

Eurotech

Eurotech (ETH:IM) is a multinational company that designs, develops and delivers Edge Computers and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions complete with services, software and hardware to system integrators and enterprises. By adopting Eurotech's solutions, customers have access to components and software platforms for IoT, Edge Gateways to enable asset monitoring, and high-performance Edge Computer for applications including Artificial Intelligence (Edge AI). To offer more and more complete solutions Eurotech has activated partnerships with leading companies in their field of action, thus creating a global ecosystem that allows it to create "best in class" solutions for the Industrial Internet of Things. More information: www.eurotech.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1897403/Eurotech_Logo.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1897402/Eurotech_InoNet.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1897405/Eurotech_accelerating_growth.jpg




TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Microtech, a wholly owned subsidiary of Medinol, Inc., a leader in global MedTech research and development, announced that its implantable microsensor platform will be presented at the 34th Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT), the annual scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation on Friday, September 16. A prestigious selection, this session will highlight a limited number of cutting edge technologies important to advancing cardiovascular treatment. Microtech is honored to be selected as one of the organizations participating.





Microtech implantable microsensor platform is the culmination of decades of development in a new class of sensor technology that can be used not only as a stand-alone device but can also be integrated onto any existing device turning it from treatment only to smart, data gathering devices able to perform multiple functions at once.

The session entitled, "Microsensors: Turning Implantable Devices Into Real-Time Physiologic Monitors (Microtech)," will feature a procedure showing a device incorporating Microtech implantable microsensor platform implanted in the left atrium for the ongoing assessment of Heart Failure. In addition to the case presentation, Dr. Yoram Richter Ph.D., CEO of Medinol Ltd, will be presenting the technology platform followed by a Q/A with the invited panel and a roundtable discussion.

"Adding sensors to existing medical devices gives physicians the ability to treat patients based on quantifiable physiological parameters instead of symptoms and is a critical step to growing access to equitable healthcare across the global community. Using a compact home unit, a patient with Microtech implantable microsensor platform can deliver immediate and highly accurate pressure readings directly to their physician turning geographical distance or mobility challenges into a non-issue," says Dr. Yoram Richter. "Since Microtech implantable microsensor platform can be used for widely varying scenarios including patients suffering from Heart Failure, Glaucoma, Hydrocephalous, Portal Hypertension, AAA Endoleaks and many more, the integration, adoption and implantation of this innovative platform will provide wider healthcare access and fewer office/hospital visits. From the standpoint of treating clinicians and device manufacturers, sensor enabled devices will go beyond acute anatomical fixes, extending treatment to lifetime patient care."

About Medinol

At Medinol, we are aggressively changing paradigms in how disease states are diagnosed and treated. Whether designing cutting edge devices for stenting multiple areas of the body, dramatically reducing complications in Structural Heart procedures or providing real time insights into the physiological metrics of the human body through implantable sensors, we boldly reassess current technology and procedures and look years into the future to pioneer new devices to broaden the reach of physicians both physically and geographically. Working with our physician and industry partners, Medinol is creating the future today.

For more information see www.medinol.com or contact Jeff Roach, Chief Commercial Officer at JeffR@medinol.com.

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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - Lara Exploration Ltd. (TSXV: LRA) ("Lara"), Lara is pleased to report the results of seven follow-up drill holes from the Cupuzeiro target, the best of which, 22-007, made a sulphide-copper intersection of 380.79 metres from near surface, averaging 0.575% Cu equivalent, including two zones of higher-grade mineralization: 78.81 metres grading 1.083% Cu from 17.8 metres, and 40.4 m at 1.308% Cu from 121.68 metres downhole.

Drilling on the Cupuzeiro target from late 2021 (see news release of May 16, 2022) intercepted wide zones of higher-grade copper mineralization (notably hole 21-002 with an intercept of 341.30 metres at 0.65% copper equivalent and hole 21-005 which intercepted 339.75 metres at 0.53% copper equivalent). Hole 22-007 from this follow-up program, drilled diagonally across this zone on a northeast azimuth, confirmed the presence of a significant core of high-grade copper mineralization, over more than 100 metres in strike length, on a north-south trend in this target.

Four holes testing the north extension of this core zone: 22-006, 22-008, 22-009 and 22-010, indicate that significant, albeit lower grade mineralization, is still present for up to 300 metres to the north and is still open up-dip, to the north and at depth. Two holes, 22-004 and 22-005, drilled to test the west extension to the high-grade core zone, also made significant copper intersections.

Table 1: Composite copper and gold analyses for follow-up drill testing in 2022 on the Cupuzeiro target, Planalto Copper Project, Para, Brazil.

Drillhole

Number Cut off

(%) From

(m) To

(m) Width

(m) Cu

(%) Au

(ppm) Cu Eq

(%) 22-004 0.1 12.10 183.85 171.75 0.393 0.044 0.426 Incl 0.3 12.10 20.18 8.08 1.663 0.171 1.795 Incl 0.3 31.77 65.46 33.09 0.546 0.067 0.598 Incl 0.3 96.92 105.92 9.00 0.747 0.079 0.808 Incl 0.3 131.77 166.77 35.00 0.417 0.047 0.453 And 0.1 208.87 337.76 128.89 0.343 0.041 0.375 Incl 0.3 210.87 228.56 17.69 0.551 0.086 0.617 Incl 0.3 246.45 251.87 5.45 0.587 0.077 0.646 Incl 0.3 287.29 316.09 28.80 0.602 0.059 0.648 22-005 0.1 21.00 146.04 125.04 0.276 0.036 0.304 Incl 0.3 69.99 75.63 5.64 0.429 0.035 0.456 Incl 0.3 133.42 146.04 12.62 0.832 0.132 0.934 And 0.1 263.27 293.06 29.79 0.537 0.064 0.568 incl 0.3 263.27 281.03 17.76 0.714 0.117 0.804 22-006 0.3 123.27 133.16 9.89 0.332 0.046 0.367 And 0.1 187.05 352.14 165.09 0.269 0.033 0.294 Incl 0.3 189.05 199.05 10.00 0.565 0.111 0.651 Incl 0.3 216.63 233.17 16.54 0.363 0.044 0.397 Incl 0.3 245.13 255.12 9.99 0.653 0.075 0.711 Incl 0.3 329.07 340.45 11.38 0.441 0.066 0.492 And 0.1 373.49 414.39 40.9 0.576 0.086 0.642 Incl 0.3 373.49 390-44 16.95 0.924 0.137 1.030 22-007 0.1 17.80 398.59 380.79 0.526 0.063 0.575 Incl 0.3 17.80 96.61 78.81 1.083 0.133 1.186 Incl 0.3 121.68 161.72 40.40 1.308 0.131 1.409 Incl 0.3 171.75 179.74 7.99 0.565 0.071 0.620 Incl 0.3 223.67 231.67 8 0.382 0.048 0.419 Incl 0.3 248.80 262.70 13.90 0.404 0.056 0.447 Incl 0.3 360.53 366.52 5.99 0.685 0.084 0.750 22-008 0.1 18.85 273.48 254.63 0.303 0.028 0.325 Incl 0.3 47.78 53.07 5.29 0.495 0.073 0.552 Incl 0.3 75.64 120.44 44.80 0.431 0.042 0.436 Incl 0.3 240.78 273.48 32.70 0.713 0.114 0.801 Incl 0.3 406.95 412.94 5.99 0.359 0.057 0.403 22-009 0.3 319.46 325.41 5.95 0.361 0.082 0.424 22-010 0.1 336.19 476.75 140.56 0.339 0.035 0.366 Incl 0.3 350.06 376.71 26.65 0.854 0.069 0.907 Incl 0.3 392.62 398.64 6.02 0.460 0.049 0.498 Incl 0.3 434.50 442.48 7.98 0.784 0.120 0.877

Notes: Copper equivalent values in this table were calculated using a copper price of US$3.40/lb and a gold price of US$1,800/oz, with only sulphide values, a minimum interval width of four metres and a maximum of six metres of internal waste considered. No allowance has been made for metallurgical recoveries of either copper or gold. The intercepts reported are down hole intervals and additional offset holes are required to better define the trend and attitude of the mineralized envelope and the higher-grade zones within it.

Link to Figure 1 - Cupuzeiro Drillhole Map:

https://laraexploration.com/site/assets/files/1581/2022_drillhole_map.jpg

Additional drill testing at the Homestead Copper Target

Three drill holes: 22-001, 22-002 and 22-003, were also completed in early 2022 to test IP (Induced Polarization) anomalies to the south, east and west respectively, testing for extensions of the Homestead Target (See previous news releases of July 23, 2019, and April 20, 2020).

Hole 22-001 intersected 27.67 metres at 0.417% Cu at considerable depth down hole (362.03 to 389.70 m) indicating the there is potential to find extensions up-dip and southwards of the Homestead mineralization. No significant copper mineralization was intersected in hole 22-002 located to the east of Homestead and only thin high grade vein intervals of less than 1 metre were intersected in the hole 22-003 located out to the west of Homestead.

Table 2: Composite copper intersections in drilling around the Homestead target

Drillhole

Number Cut off

(%) From

(m) To

(m) Width

(m) Cu

(%) Au

(ppm) Cu Eq

(%) 22-001 0.3 362.03 389.70 27.67 0.417 0.023 0.435 22-002 No significant intercepts 22-003

68.27 68.77 0.50 1.89 0.336 2.15

Drillhole collars, Sampling methodology, Chain of Custody, Quality Assurance and Quality Control

Drillhole E-UTM N-UTM Azimuth Hole Angle Length (m) 22-001 636960 9294749 45 -75 491.31 22-002 637249 9295097 90 - 60 400.08 22-003 636120 9294999 90 - 60 401.63 22-004 636949 9295551 270 - 75 369.69 22-005 636891 9295635 270 -75 338.32 22-006 636749 9295698 45 -45 517.77 22-007 636947 9295543 45 -45 503.46 22-008 636901 9295683 45 -45 511.44 22-009 636515 9295794 45 -45 499.46 22-010 636649 9295870 45 -45 515.53

All the drill core is cut and sampled under the supervision of the company's Vice President Exploration and the chain of custody of the drill core from the Project area to the Company's sample preparation facility in Canaa dos Carajas was continuously monitored. Sample intervals for the drill core were mostly maintained at about 2m with some variation in the weathered saprolite zones and at times guided by the degree of copper mineralization. Blank, duplicate core or certified gold and copper reference materials were inserted at approximately every 10th sample.

The drill core samples were delivered by company personnel to the ALS preparation laboratory located in Parauapebas, 65 km to the north from the Project, where they were crushed and pulverized. The sample pulps were then dispatched to the ALS laboratory in Lima for analysis. The pulps were subjected to multi-acid digestion with copper and 47 other elements were determined by ICP-MS. Gold was determined by fire assay fusion and an ICP-AES finish on a 30-gram charge.

About the Planalto Project:

The Planalto Copper Project covers meta-volcano-sedimentary sequences and intrusives of early Proterozoic-age with IOCG-type mineralization, located near Vale's Sossego mine and Cristalino deposit and Oz Minerals' Pedra Branca mine, in the Carajas Mineral Province of northern Brazil. Lara now owns 100% of the main Planalto Project and the Homestead discovery, subject to a 2% NSR royalty payable on any production (Lara retains the right to purchase 50% of this royalty for a cash payment of US$2 million). Lara has further options to acquire outright two adjacent licenses, covering northward strike extensions to the Homestead mineralization, from Mineracao Tariana and Mineracao Zaspir (see news releases of January 11 and March 15, 2021, for details). Lara has a staged earn-in agreement with a subsidiary of Capstone Copper Corp., (see Company news release of February 4, 2019, for details), whereby Capstone can earn up to a 70% in the Project by funding exploration, feasibility studies and electing to finance, build and manage a commercial mining operation, with Lara repaying its pro-rata share of the production financing out of cash flow.

About Lara Exploration:

Lara is an exploration company following the Prospect and Royalty Generator business model, which aims to minimize shareholder dilution and financial risk by generating prospects and exploring them in joint ventures funded by partners, retaining a minority interest and or a royalty. The Company currently holds a diverse portfolio of prospects, deposits and royalties in Brazil, Peru and Chile. Lara's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "LRA".

Michael Bennell, Lara's Vice President Exploration and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and has approved the technical disclosure and verified the technical information in this news release.

For further information on Lara Exploration Ltd. please consult our website www.laraexploration.com, or contact Chris MacIntyre, VP Corporate Development, at +1 416 703 0010.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

-30-

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/136795
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - Roscan Gold Corporation (TSXV: ROS) (FSE: 2OJ) (OTCQB: RCGCF) ("Roscan" or the "Company") is pleased to announce positive Reverse Circulation ("RC") drilling results at Kabaya KB1 & KB2 (Figure 1) from an additional 21 holes totaling 3,122 meters (m).

The recent drilling results provide significant intercepts at depth, in the fresh rock, demonstrating the continuity of the mineralization beyond the gold envelope under the $1,500 pit shell (see press release of June 8th, 2022), confirming the resource upside potential in this area. A similar southern plunge as KB1 was demonstrated in KB2 by drill hole RCDBS22-0112, creating the opportunity to grow the resources despite a lack of gold signature at the surface (see section figure 2).

The total strike length of KB1 & KB2 is currently 1,100 m, 180 m horizontal width and 250m vertical depth. This zone is open at depth and laterally.

Drilling Highlights:

Kabaya - RC Drill Holes

3.29 gpt gold over 22m from drill hole RCDBS22-0112 from 151m Including 5.78 gpt gold over 4m from 159m Including 5.05 gpt gold over 4m from 169m



1.99 gpt gold over 21 m from drill hole RCDBS22-0111 from 86m Including 5.84 gpt over 3m from100m



3.11 gpt gold over 7m from drill hole RCDBS22-0115 from 138m Including 15.25 gpt gold over 1m from 139m



1.74 gpt gold over 12m from drill hole RCDBS22-0084 from 6m Including 7.99 gpt gold over 1m from 10m Including 4.48 gpt gold over 1m from 13m.



And 1.10 gpt gold over 14m from 98m

Including 3.24 gpt gold aver 2m from 101m

1.76 gpt gold over 8m from drill hole RCDBS22-0108 from 39m Including 4.4 gpt over 1m from 43m



1.44 gpt gold over 10m from drill hole RCDBS22-0113 from 70m

Notes: 1: True width yet to be determined; 2: Table 1 - Assay Highlights, 3: 0.5gpt used as cut-off with 2m internal dilution, 4: No top-cut.

Nana Sangmuah, President and CEO, stated, "Drilling at Kabaya continues to expand the footprint of the gold mineralization which bodes well for further resource growth as expected. We are excited by new high-grade intercept in the fresh rock, suggesting a southern plunge in KB2, which is wide open for follow up drilling."

Figure 1: Kabaya KB1 & KB2 drilling plan view, gold and lithological contouring envelopes projected to the surface and drill hole locations



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4821/136812_bc8e7454e48708ab_001full.jpg

The gold mineralization at Kabaya KB1 & 2 is disseminated and associated with a strong kaolinization. From rock observations, this powdery zone (strong kaolinization) corresponds in the fresh rock at depth, with the albite-dolomite-pyrite-arsenopyrite alteration in a volcano-sedimentary sequence. The gold host rock is an alternate between tuffaceous and greywacke facies. As in the Mankouke gold deposit, the carbonaceous bedded mudstone constitutes the footwall for KB1 and the hanging wall for KB2. The gold zone is also limited by an NNE-SSW weakness, fractured, and sheared zones in hanging and footwall contacts resulting in rheology contrast.

The higher-grade zone doesn't appear at the surface and from the longitudinal section the mineralization is plunging around -25 to the South. This higher-grade extension hasn't been captured in the resource estimation (Press Release June 8th, 2022).





Figure 2: Kabaya gold deposit, KB1-KB2, section A 1389400N



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4821/136812_bc8e7454e48708ab_003full.jpg

Figure 3: Kabaya KB2, Leapfrog Geo longitudinal section



To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4821/136812_bc8e7454e48708ab_004full.jpg

The Kabaya Deposit is part of the prolific regional Siribaya-Mankouke-Seko structural corridor (Figure 4). The Kabaya gold mineralized body is on the Eastern edge of this major structure and is well within the Roscan land package.

Several additional positive assay results from the last Kandiole KN1, Kabaya KB3, and Mankouke South drilling program will be available soon.

Figure 4: Roscan permits on the Airborne Magnetic geophysics background with the Roscan resources zones, the targets in development, the gold deposits around



To view an enhanced version of Figure 4, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4821/136812_bc8e7454e48708ab_005full.jpg

Drilling and Analytical Protocol

Roscan uses Geodrill Reverse Circulation (RC) to drill until maximum 170m to reach the target. In 2021, (holes RCDBS21-026 to RCDBS21-048), the samples have sent for preparation and 50g fire assays to Bureau Veritas Bamako laboratory and since January 2022, the samples are sent to the ALS Laboratories in Bamako, Mali and assayed at their analytical facilities to Ouagadougou for 2 kg Bottle Roll with atomic absorption finish including tail analysis for results more than 0.05ppm. Roscan applied industry-standard QA/QC procedures to the program using reference materials, blanks, standards, and duplicates.

Table 1: Drillhole Highlights at Kabaya KB3 (Dabia South)





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4821/136812_table1aa.jpg





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4821/136812_table1b.jpg





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4821/136812_table1c.jpg

Table 2: Drillhole ID of Kabaya (Dabia South)





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/4821/136812_table2.jpg

Qualified Person (QP) and NI 43-101 Disclosure

Greg Isenor, P. Geo., Director for the Company, is the designated Qualified Person for this news release within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") and has reviewed and verified that the technical information contained herein is accurate and approves of the written disclosure of same.

About Roscan

Roscan Gold Corporation is a Canadian gold exploration company focused on the exploration and acquisition of gold properties in West Africa. The Company has assembled a significant land position of 100%-owned permits in an area of producing gold mines (including B2 Gold's Fekola Mine which lies in a contiguous property to the west of Kandiole), and major gold deposits, located both north and south of its Kandiole Project in West Mali.

For further information, please contact:

Nana Sangmuah

President & CEO

Tel: (902) 832-5555

Email: info@Roscan.ca

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information is characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, changes in the state of equity and debt markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in obtaining required regulatory or governmental approvals, and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, including those risks set out in the Company's management's discussion and analysis as filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information in this news release is based on the opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable as of the date hereof, including that all necessary governmental and regulatory approvals will be received as and when expected. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/136812
The Company's CognICA Tool to be Deployed in Baylor College of Medicine's Pivotal Study Involving the World's Largest Ethnically-Diverse Population with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - Cognetivity Neurosciences Ltd. (CSE: CGN) (OTCQB: CGNSF) (FSE: 1UB) (the "Company" or "Cognetivity"), a technology company that has created a unique brain health screening platform for use in medical, commercial and consumer environments, is pleased to announce that its Integrated Cognitive Assessment ("ICA") technology in the form of the FDA-registered CognICATM, will be deployed in a multicenter clinical study (the "Study") conducted by the prestigious Baylor College of Medicine ("Baylor") located in Houston, Texas. It will aim to understand how genetic factors influence the risk of developing obsessive-compulsive disorder ("OCD") in Latin American individuals.

The Study will utilize the CognICATM platform's unique capabilities to help quantify subtle variations in cognition in those affected by the disease to help Baylor researchers understand whether specific genetic variants are responsible for the more clinically significant symptoms and thus identify treatment targets. OCD and related disorders are of major public health importance owing to their profound personal and societal costs. OCD alone represents 5.7% of the overall costs of mental illness1 that is projected to rise to $6 trillion by 20302. The Study is being conducted across the USA and Latin America and will involve 5,000 individuals from Latin America, which is the world's largest ancestrally-diverse sample of OCD cases.

Dr. Eric Storch, Chief Investigator at Baylor, commented, "Overall, the Study will improve our understanding of the causes of OCD, with a view towards improving sufferer's lives and reducing the incidence and impact of this disease. Using Cognetivity's powerful CognICATM platform and its ability to sensitively and repeatedly measure cognitive function, regardless of linguistic and cultural differences, gives researchers the precise tool they need to better understand how patients' cognitive performance changes in various stages of OCD in a way that has up to now been impossible."

Cognetivity's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Chris Kalafatis commented, "We are delighted to be collaborating with the Baylor College of Medicine in a world-first investigation of the interplay between genetics and the clinical manifestations of OCD. As we continue to commercialize the CognICATM platform, these types of unique and vitally important deployments not only help prove out the unique capabilities of our platform for both clinical work and research, but also provide us with large amounts of high quality data that can be used to fine tune and further add to the technology, thereby widening the scope for new and compelling future applications." Dr. Kalafatis added, "The scope for our technology to help address the massively growing problem of mental health is enormous and making help accessible to as many people as possible is a huge part of our mission at Cognetivity."

About Cognetivity Neurosciences Ltd.

Cognetivity is a technology company that has created a cognitive testing platform for use in medical, commercial and consumer environments. Cognetivity's CognICA uses Artificial Intelligence and machine learning techniques to help detect the earliest signs of cognitive impairment by testing the performance of large areas of the brain. CognICA is currently available for clinical use in the USA, UK, Europe, and UAE with regulatory approval for other regions planned for 2022.

About Baylor College of Medicine

Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) in Houston is recognized as a health sciences university and is known for excellence in education, research and patient care. It is ranked 22nd among medical schools for research and 17th for primary care by U.S. News & World Report. Baylor is listed 20thamong all U.S. medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding and No. 1 in Texas. The Baylor pediatrics program ranked 7th among all pediatric programs, reflecting the strong affiliation with Texas Children's Hospital where our faculty care for pediatric patients and our students and residents train. Nationally our physician assistant program was ranked 3rd in the health disciplines category and our nurse anesthesia program ranked 2nd. Located in the Texas Medical Center, Baylor has affiliations with seven teaching hospitals and jointly owns and operates Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, part of St. Luke's Health. Currently, Baylor has more than 3,000 trainees in medical, graduate, nurse anesthesia, physician assistant, orthotics and genetic counseling as well as residents and postdoctoral fellows. Follow Baylor College of Medicine on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/BaylorCollegeOfMedicine) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/BCMHouston).

For more information, please visit: www.cognetivity.com or contact: info@cognetivity.com

For media enquiries, please contact: Josh Stanbury | josh@sjspr.co | 416-628-7441

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Sina Habibi"

Sina Habibi

Chief Executive Officer and Director

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking information or statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including those identified by the expressions "anticipate", "assume" "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "should" and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Company or its management. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect current expectations regarding future results or events. This news release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Such statements are based on current expectations and various estimates, factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. Readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements.

The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

_____________________________

1 DuPont RL, Rice DP, Shiraki S, Rowland CR. Economic costs of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Med Interface 1995;8:102-9

2 Lancet Global Health VOLUME 8, ISSUE 11, E1352, NOVEMBER 01, 2020

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/136860
New Location Opens in Chile, Reinforcing the Firm's Presence in Latin America

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 13, 2022, announced today its expansion to Chile with the appointment of Francisco Larrainas Managing Partner, Jorge Ihnenas Partner, and Cristian Uretaas Executive in Residence. Headquartered in Santiago, Mr. Larrain will be responsible for the firm's operations in Chile and neighboring countries and will report directly to Kelli Vukelic, CEO of N2Growth.

Kelli Vukelic (https://www.n2growth.com/team/kelli-vukelic/), CEO said, "I am so pleased to welcome our new team in Chile. The collective experience of this team is a valuable asset for Chilean businesses looking for exceptional leaders who can produce extraordinary results."

Before joining N2Growth, Francisco spent over 20 years in the professional and organizational development of leaders in profit and non-profit institutions. He also developed Addval Personas, a human resources company that supports processes on payroll and people management services for a wide range of companies and industries.

"The expansion of N2Growth in Chile and Latin Americais great news. The effects of the multiple global challenges on the reality of the Chilean companies require a unique leadership capability, which combines high aspirations, mastery of the activity, and caring for the teams. The N2Growth's experience in searching and developing the best leaders will be a decisive contribution to the continued growth of Chilean companies," said Mr. Larrain

N2Growth's expansion into Chile follows the recent news of establishing a presence in Mexico and Brazil, solidifying the firm's commitment to serving our clients throughout Latin America, and enabling greater access to premiere executive talent and leadership advisory servicesworldwide.

About N2Growth

N2Growth is a global leadership consulting and executive search firm, consistently ranked in the Top 10 of America's Best Executive Recruiting Firms by Forbes. N2Growth serves more than 50 markets across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. You can find more information about the firm at www.n2growth.com.

Media

Dan Evans

Chief Marketing Officer, N2Growth

press@n2growth.com

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Image 1: N2Growth









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Attachment
Leading digital wholesale ecosystem delivers global payment options and net terms to buyers via JOOR Pay





NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- JOOR (https://joor.com/), the world's premier wholesale management ecosystem, has announced the introduction of JOOR Pay, their market-leading embedded global checkout solution. JOOR Pay enables brands to accept multiple forms of payment across 135 currencies and experience payouts within days of processing a transaction. Retailers have the ability to pay with their preferred method or pay later with 60-day net terms. JOOR Pay also simplifies foreign transactions and offers business critical features including fraud protection and streamlined settlement and reporting.

JOOR Pay has been developed to ease and accelerate cash flow for fashion brands and retailers, particularly small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Many SMBs currently struggle with international growth and cash flow due to the complex challenges of accepting and processing payments globally.

JOOR has accumulated an expansive network of over 13,700 brands and more than 394,000 retailers transacting nearly $20 billion in wholesale order volume within its ecosystem annually. JOOR Pay streamlines the wholesale buying and selling process by functioning as the merchant of record using advanced embedded payment capabilities within the JOOR platform. Key features of JOOR Pay include:

Multiple payment types including credit card, bank transfers and PayPal

60-Day Net Terms Provided to Qualified Buyers

Universal Payment Acceptance (across 135+ countries)

Elimination of FX Currency Risks

Best-In-Class Fraud Coverage and Prevention Tools



For brands, JOOR Pay is a revolutionary solution that facilitates increased sales volumes, improves cash flow, reduces payments friction, and promotes buyer retention. Now, brands have access to more buyers by extending 60-day net terms and by expanding forms of payments to include PayPal, credit cards, and bank transfers in almost every currency and geography.

"We've never been able to offer a global payment option before and it's been a game-changer for our business. Since adopting JOOR Pay, we can accept over 135 currencies and still get paid in our currency of choice. The intuitive, easy to use interface has been a breeze to adopt and we've already seen faster payments and been able to simplify our reconciliation," explained Aaron Smith, Chief Operating Officer of Alex Crane (https://alexcrane.co/).

"Recognizing the pain points our clients face with the traditional offline invoicing and payments process, we developed a comprehensive solution to address their needs and support their growth," said Kristin Savilia, CEO of JOOR. "JOOR Pay empowers brands and retailers to build a future for their businesses without bearing the pain of accepting global payments. We are proud to round out the JOOR ecosystem with this industry-leading payment solution."

For more information on JOOR Pay, please visit, https://joor.com/joor-pay (https://joor.com/joor-pay).

About JOOR

JOOR is the world's leading wholesale management platform, with over $1.7Bn in wholesale transactions processed every month. More than 13,700 brands and over 394,000 curated fashion retailers across 150 countries connect on the platform every day. With a commitment to fueling the advancement and growth of both brands and retailers, JOOR provides a digital ecosystem that combines dynamic virtual showrooms with collaborative tools including JOOR Passport, which centralizes the trade show experience across multiple global fashion events. JOOR is the exclusive platform for leading luxury conglomerates including LVMH, Kering and Richemont, as well as brands such as Balenciaga, Valentino and Saint Laurent. JOOR has exclusive partnerships with 30+ leading global retailers using the JOOR Retail Partner platform including: Harrods, Neiman Marcus, Harvey Nichols, Printemps, Bergdorf Goodman, Shopbop, 24S.com, Revolve, FWRD, Liberty London and Dover Street Market. JOOR is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Paris, London, Milan, Madrid, Berlin, Melbourne, Tokyo and Shanghai. For more information visit: JOOR.com.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4aeaecb4-28bb-40f5-b886-8eed5047ae6a (https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4aeaecb4-28bb-40f5-b886-8eed5047ae6a)
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / Marijuana Company of America, Inc. (OTC PINK:MCOA) ("the Company"), which operates, invests, and acquires companies in the cannabis sector; today announced that the Company's subsidiary, cDistro distribution has signed a Master Distribution Agreement with Mitra-9 Brands LLC Suite of alcohol alternative beverages derived from the natural herbs Kava and Kratom.

cDistro distributes THC - free cannabis brands and smoke and vape shop-related products to wholesalers, c-stores, specialty retailers, and consumers in North America.

The Master Distribution Agreement is for cDistro to distribute Mitra-9, which has developed a suite of alcohol alternative beverages derived from natural herbs called kava and kratom which are made from plants found in Southeast Asia. Depending on how the herbs are dried and fermented, they can produce different therapeutic effects ranging from increased optimism, motivation, focus, or relaxation. With 50% of adults making deliberate efforts to reduce their alcohol consumption, Mitra-9 is building a CPG brand of kava and kratom beverages, an export business to manage the flow of Kratom into the US, breweries to produce their products, a distribution network to market and sell their own beverages, and opening up owned and operated retail locations nationally to the alcohol alternative market which has grown by $7bn since 2018.

Jesus Quintero, MCOA CEO, said, "We are thrilled to begin offering these amazing Mitra9 products through our cDistro distribution channels. Mitra-9 is poised to become the dominant player in this emerging industry. The product already has early consumer brand loyalty and being in the cannabis beverage industry, offers many exciting distribution opportunities for MCOA and cDistro. MCOA's cDistro continues to offer distribution and marketing for innovative products with a strategy to build long-term value proving an excellent fit for our services."

Mitra-9 brews and manufactures Kava and Kratom canned beverages and mixers that offer great taste. Capturing the momentum of the alcoholic seltzers, Mitra-9's top-selling products are canned, fizzy drinks that come in a variety of flavors. Since launching only one year ago Mitra-9 has quickly scaled its production capacity and is producing to 150,000+ cans per month.

Dallas Vasquez, CEO of Mitra-9 Brands LLC said, "We are excited to work with the entire CDistro team! The cDistro and Mitra-9 team have a lot of synergies. They think very big picture and know how to execute. The CDistro team is excited and off to an amazing start with our product portfolio. We are expecting brand exposure to thousands of potential customers and placement in thousands of new retail locations within our first year of working together."

The company currently has been selling sits products via B2C online channels and B2B retail channels. 80% of the sales are currently through B2B, with 1000+doors as of August 2022. Their B2C channel has a 60% reorder rate, indicating early consumer brand loyalty. With plans to own the supply chain, Mitra9 is positioning itself to be a beverage industry juggernaut. Since launching one year ago, Mitra9's B2B and B2C sales have grown at 64% month-over-month rate.

For more details about Mitra-9 beverages, please visit: www.Mitra-9.com.

About Marijuana Company of America, Inc.

MCOA is a vertically integrated cannabis company whose core mission is to expand and innovate in the cannabis sector by developing its portfolio of cannabis assets through acquisitions of distressed cannabis companies strategically aligned with our blueprint for business development. This strategy drives innovation, pace, cooperative management, and capital efficiency to optimize growth opportunities and long-term investments.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements," which are not purely historical and may include statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the development, costs, and results of new business opportunities and words such as "anticipate," "seek," "intend," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "project," "plan," or similar phrases may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects, the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company's" reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based products. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations, and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other periodic reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For more information, please visit www.marijuanacompanyofamerica.com or visit www.sec.gov.

CONTACT:

info@marijuanacompanyofamerica.com

info@mcoainvestments.com

888-777-4362

SOURCE: Marijuana Company of America Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715560/MCOA-Distributor-Signs-Master-Agreement-with-Mitra-9-Suite-of-Alcohol-Alternative-Beverages-Derived-from-the-Natural-Herbs-Kava-and-Kratom
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Drilling Highlights include:

104.72* g/t Au over an estimated true width of 2.8m

15.77 g/t Au over an estimated true width of 3.2m

9.53 g/t Au over an estimated true width of 7.5m

(*uncut)

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / Jaguar Mining Inc. ("Jaguar" or the "Company") (TSX:JAG; OTCQX:JAGGF) is pleased to announce results from recent in-mine diamond drilling and plans for deep drilling which will target additional Life of Mine Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources at its Pilar Mine Complex, located in the Iron Quadrangle in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

In-mine diamond drilling at Pilar in 2022 has targeted extensions to the mine's principle and subordinate mineralized structures which are accessible from current mine development throughout the mine, and importantly, down plunge extensions to depth beyond current production areas below level 13. Drilling at shallow levels is aimed at adding production areas while deeper drilling is primarily aimed at adding to the Life of Mine and will inform long-term capital planning.

Drill intersections show results consistent with the mine's current published Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource in terms of both grade and width and include several important intersections with a grade x thickness (GT) greater than 20 (please refer to Table 1 and Figure 1). Mining development and drilling in the lowermost levels of the mine continue to demonstrate consistency in the ounces per vertical metre profile of > 2000 Oz/ Vm and in the case of Level 15 show an increase in Oz/Vm to around 2500 Oz/Vm.

A directional drilling program is planned to start in Q3 2022 which will target the projected depth extensions located down plunge of the principle mineralized structures. Drilling will target mineralization below level 17 down to level 25, representing a vertical interval of approximately 400m.

Vern Baker, President, and CEO of Jaguar Mining stated: "Drilling and development at Pilar Mine has validated our expectation of continuing economic mineralization at depth. Our drilling on level 15 (currently being developed) has indicated that the ounce per vertical meter mineral resource has increased in comparison to the level 12 mineral resource. This and good intercepts below level 15 indicating continuity of economic mineralization have us encouraged to initiate a deeper drill program which can extend our resources to depth by multiple hundreds of vertical meters. Over the next year we expect to develop the next two levels (16 and 17) while building the resource base to go significantly deeper. Having some intersections with excellent grade and one very anomalous grade intercept have brought excitement to our team working on this resource extension."

Figure 1 - Pilar Mine Long Section showing 2022 drilling intersections with grade x thickness (GT) > 20

TABLE 1 Pilar Mine 2022 drilling intersections with grade x thickness (GT) > 20 Hole ID From (m) To (m) Down Hole Interval (m) Estimated True Width (m) Gold Grade (g/t Au) GT (ETW) Orebody PPL1003 114.60 129.70 15.10 10.00 3.34 33.40 LFW 216.00 232.00 16.00 7.90 4.89 38.63 BF/BFIII? 202.50 228.25 25.75 7.50 9.53 71.48 BF 239.25 262.30 23.05 7.30 4.58 33.43 BF 282.25 290.00 7.75 4.50 5.64 25.38 BF 294.35 307.25 12.90 5.80 6.80 39.44 BF PPL970 42.95 50.50 7.55 2.30 12.89 29.65 BF PPL818 89.00 97.00 8.00 2.20 12.11 26.64 TORRE PPL1012 176.30 182.05 5.75 3.00 8.84 26.52 LFW PPL956 103.30 121.55 18.25 6.50 10.53 68.45 BF FSB870 10.45 33.00 22.55 6.05 10.73 64.92 BF PPL902 155.00 163.20 8.20 5.00 5.16 25.80 BF PPL904 67.00 97.15 30.15 5.25 5.07 26.62 BFII 99.15 142.45 43.30 6.90 5.62 38.78 BFIII PPL714 55.30 62.90 7.60 4.50 11.18 50.31 BF PPL818 89.00 97.00 8.00 4.00 12.11 48.44 BA PPL911 182.00 202.70 20.70 8.00 6.09 48.72 LPA FSB950 0.00 8.55 8.55 4.24 6.94 29.43 BFII PPL1009 176.40 199.20 22.80 7.30 3.99 29.13 LFW PPL881 245.25 251.05 5.80 2.80 104.72 293.22 BF FSB926 23.25 45.45 22.20 5.00 5.43 27.15 LPA FSB993 18.25 29.30 11.05 4.30 9.48 40.76 LPA FSB1004 6.00 16.00 10.00 3.18 13.94 44.33 LPA PPL835 182.15 189.45 7.30 3.50 8.61 30.14 LFW 197.45 208.30 10.85 5.50 9.03 49.67 PPL743 267.45 282.60 15.15 5.20 5.86 30.47 LFW FSB1013 13.75 23.45 9.70 4.80 4.97 23.86 LPA 57.95 71.10 13.15 6.30 4.01 25.26 PPL833 75.50 83.40 7.90 3.20 15.77 50.46 BA

Figure 2 - Pilar Mine Long Section showing the Mineral Resource by classification (Measured - Indicated and Inferred), and the area targeted for down plunge extension diamond drilling from level 17 to level 25.

Qualified Person

Scientific and technical information contained in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Jonathan Victor Hill, BSc (Hons) (Economic Geology - UCT), FAUSIMM, Vice President Geology and Exploration, who is also an employee of Jaguar Mining Inc., and is a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

The Iron Quadrangle

The Iron Quadrangle has been an area of mineral exploration dating back to the 16th century. The discovery in 1699-1701 of gold contaminated with iron and platinum-group metals in the southeastern corner of the Iron Quadrangle gave rise to the name of the town Ouro Preto (Black Gold). The Iron Quadrangle contains world-class multi-million-ounce gold deposits such as Morro Velho, Cuiaba, and Sao Bento. Jaguar holds the third largest gold land position in the Iron Quadrangle with over 50,000 hectares.

About Jaguar Mining Inc.

Jaguar Mining Inc. is a Canadian-listed junior gold mining, development, and exploration company operating in Brazil with three gold mining complexes and a large land package with significant upside exploration potential from mineral claims. The Company's principal operating assets are located in the Iron Quadrangle, a prolific greenstone belt in the state of Minas Gerais and include the Turmalina Gold Mine Complex and Caete Mining Complex (Pilar and Roca Grande Mines, and Caete Plant). The Company also owns the Paciencia Gold Mine Complex, which has been on care and maintenance since 2012. The Roca Grande Mine has been on temporary care and maintenance since April 2019. Additional information is available on the Company's website at www.jaguarmining.com.

For further information please contact:

Vernon Baker

Chief Executive Officer

Jaguar Mining Inc.

vernon.baker@jaguarmining.com

416-847-1854 Hashim Ahmed

Chief Financial Officer

Jaguar Mining Inc.

hashim.ahmed@jaguarmining.com

416-847-1854

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's expectations and plans relating to the future. All of the forward-looking information made in this news release is qualified by the cautionary statements below and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators in Canada. Forward-looking information contained in forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "are expected," "is forecast," "is targeted," "approximately," "plans," "anticipates," "projects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "believe" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "might," or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, may be considered to be or include forward-looking information. This news release contains forward-looking information regarding, among other things, expected sales, production statistics, ore grades, tonnes milled, recovery rates, cash operating costs, definition/delineation drilling, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, costs and timing of the development of projects and new deposits, success of exploration, development and mining activities, currency fluctuations, capital requirements, project studies, mine life extensions, restarting suspended or disrupted operations, continuous improvement initiatives, and resolution of pending litigation. The Company has made numerous assumptions with respect to forward-looking information contained herein, including, among other things, assumptions about the estimated timeline for the development of its mineral properties; the supply and demand for, and the level and volatility of the price of, gold; the accuracy of reserve and resource estimates and the assumptions on which the reserve and resource estimates are based; the receipt of necessary permits; market competition; ongoing relations with employees and impacted communities; political and legal developments in any jurisdiction in which the Company operates being consistent with its current expectations including, without limitation, the impact of any potential power rationing, tailings facility regulation, exploration and mine operating licenses and permits being obtained and renewed and/or there being adverse amendments to mining or other laws in Brazil and any changes to general business and economic conditions. Forward-looking information involves a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including among others: the risk of Jaguar not meeting the forecast plans regarding its operations and financial performance; uncertainties with respect to the price of gold, labour disruptions, mechanical failures, increase in costs, environmental compliance and change in environmental legislation and regulation, weather delays and increased costs or production delays due to natural disasters, power disruptions, procurement and delivery of parts and supplies to the operations; uncertainties inherent to capital markets in general (including the sometimes volatile valuation of securities and an uncertain ability to raise new capital) and other risks inherent to the gold exploration, development and production industry, which, if incorrect, may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company and described herein. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of gold exploration, development, mining and production, including environmental hazards, tailings dam failures, industrial accidents and workplace safety problems, unusual or unexpected geological formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding, chemical spills, procurement fraud and gold bullion thefts and losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance, or the inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks). Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking information made in this news release, see the Company's most recent Annual Information Form and Management's Discussion and Analysis, as well as other public disclosure documents that can be accessed under the issuer profile of "Jaguar Mining Inc." on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information set forth herein reflects the Company's reasonable expectations as at the date of this news release and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE: Jaguar Mining Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715542/Jaguar-Mining-Reports-Confirmed-Continuity-of-Mineralization-at-Pilar-Gold-Mine--Life-of-Mine-Extension-Drilling-to-Follow




MUMBAI, INDIA, Sept 13, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - After completing a series of high-level future-tech events on Cloud and Data Centers in Jakarta, Manila, Dubai, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Africa, Qatar and Egypt, Trescon's World Cloud Show is set to make its return to India, as a physical, in-person event.The 18th edition of this global series is anticipated to create a significant impact on the cloud and data center landscape in India.Taking place on 14 September 2022, at the Taj Lands End in Mumbai, C-suit attendees such as Global CIOs & CTOs, Chief Cloud Officers, Heads of IT Infrastructure, Heads of IT Networks, IT Compliance, and Cloud Specialists among other Cloud & Data Center decision makers will be attending the India edition of World Cloud Show.Innovative solution providers are expected to showcase emerging projects, products, solutions, and breakthroughs in the cloud sector. The widespread presence will offer a fantastic opportunity to maintain the 'Cloud Vision,' while presenting a strong international outlook - on which Indian government's initiatives are centered. India is intended to become the top location for investments in cloud computing, data dissemination, and other cloud-related services under the Cloud Vision initiative.To explore the latest cloud and digital infrastructure trends, along with data centers that will drive the next phase of cloud transformation in India, following early adopters of this future-tech have confirmed their participation as speakers:- Roberto Frongia -- Strategy & Operations Director, Technology and Digital Compute & Innovation, Neom- Amajit Gupta -- CEO, Lightstorm- Prasanna C -- Head of Product and Marketing, Lightstorm- Ananth Kumar -- Engineering Leader, Site 24x7- Ashish Sharma -- Strategy Head Special Projects, Web Werks- Suresh Chandrasekaran -- Executive Vice President, Denodo- Suresh Sankaranarayanan -- Senior EVP & Chief Technology Officer, Kotak General Insurance- Ankur Varshney -- Chief Technology Officer, SBI Payments- Nikunj Jain -- CIO and Digital Leader, Procter & Gamble, India- Dr. Avadhut Chandrakant Parab -- Chief Information Officer, Parle Agro- Rajgopal Nayak -- CTO, Metro Brands- Vamsi Krishna Ithamraju -- CTO, Axis Mutual Fund"Cloud Native architectures are as much an engineering cultural choice (if not more) as they are about solving for scale," stated Vamsi Krishna Ithamraju, CTO of Axis Mutual Fund, a leader with over 18 years of industry experience, and also one of the esteemed speakers at World Cloud Show - India."We're happy to gather industry leaders, innovative solution providers, and regional & international policymakers under one roof; to embark on the exciting digital transformation journey," Mithun Shetty, CEO of Trescon was found quoting."Data and Technology are at the heart of our digital business strategy and Cloud is what gives life to this heart. This is how great organizations create a superior experience for consumers and customers," stated Nikunj Jain, CIO and Digital leader of Proctor & Gamble, India.World Cloud Show -- India edition is officially:- Supported By: NITI Aayog- Co-Powered By: Lightstorm- Gold Partner: Site24x7 & Web Werks- Silver Partner: DenodoAbout World Cloud ShowWorld Cloud Show takes place in strategic locations across the world which gathers pre-qualified CIOs, CEOs, CTOs, Heads of Research, Industry Practitioners, IT Decision Makers, and Experts in Cloud Computing among others from cross industry verticals.The show will feature exciting keynotes, government and enterprise use-case presentations, product showcase, panel discussions and tech talks to discuss the latest challenges and explore latest applications of cloud-based solutions.About TresconTrescon is a global business events and consulting firm that provide wide range of business services to a diversified client base that includes corporations, governments and individuals. Trescon is specialises in producing highly focused B2B events that connect businesses with opportunities through conferences, roadshows, expos, demand generation, investor connect and consulting services.For further details about the announcement, please contact:Nupur AswaniHead - Media, PR and Corporate Communications, Trescon+91 9555915156 | media@tresconglobal.comSource: tresconCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mandalay Resources Corporation ("Mandalay" or the "Company") (TSX: MND, OTCQB: MNDJF) is pleased to provide an update on drilling progress at its Costerfield operation in Victoria, Australia.



New Drilling Highlights:

Shepherd infill drilling supports and extends high-grade veining to the north and extends and upgrades southern portion. 234.7 g/t gold over 4.17 m (Estimated True Width "ETW" 1.49 m) in BC262; 377.4 g/t gold over 0.54 m (ETW 0.40 m) in BC371;

Mineralization located 300 m to the south along trend of Shepherd and a further 150 m at depth including: 332.0 g/t gold over 0.33 m (ETW 0.26 m) in BC274W1;

Potential third veining horizon at Shepherd located in three drill holes approximately 40 m further west of the known Shepherd veining including; 17.6 g/t gold & 18.6% antimony over 0.17 m (ETW 0.17 m) in BC299;

Additional veining located to the east of Youle with high potential for extension including: 22.2 g/t gold & 16.0% antimony over 0.24 m (ETW 0.12 m) in BC295;

Drilling above Youle intercepts an undiscovered and unmined panel of veining including: 27.8 g/t gold & 31.5% antimony over 0.67 m (ETW 0.36 m) in BC328.





Note: Further intercept details including significant intercepts within composite intervals can be found in the appendices to this document.

Dominic Duffy, President and CEO of Mandalay, commented:

"During the course of 2022, Mandalay has been focused on confirming grade continuity through Shepherd and extending the veining horizon both at depth and to the south. The ongoing drilling at Costerfield is achieving these goals, however, the programs are not yet complete and will progress into 2023 before the potential of the Shepherd trend is better understood. Excitingly, drilling has intercepted a potential third veining horizon within the Shepherd domain. This new discovery is slightly deeper and further to the west of the domain and could represent the continuation of a stepped progression of gold concentration across structures.

"The results of the infill program have largely supported the findings discussed in our previous Shepherd update (see October 5 2021, press release) with the northern and southern higher-grade domains within Shepherd confirmed and, in the case of the Suffolk vein, improved results in both the northern and southern extents . Furthermore, the transition from Youle to Shepherd has now been mined on 13 levels with in-mine sampling showing strong correlation to drilling.

"Mandalay has also been focused on investigating the surrounds of the upper Youle and Kendal area. Two areas have emerged with the potential to be near mine sources of ore and are a focus of continued exploration.

"Currently, drill platforms underground are not optimally placed for the emerging veining system at depth at Costerfield. Mandalay is currently designing a purpose-built drill drive that will extend from the Shepherd underground infrastructure. This location will allow for shorter drill holes and will access the veining at a more favourable angle. In the meantime, Mandalay is taking the opportunity to progress on other near mine and regional targets with a view to discovering and developing new deposits within the Costerfield region."

A video has been prepared by Mr. Chris Davis, Vice President of Operational Geology and Exploration, to further explain the information in this release. The video can be found on Mandalay's website or by clicking here.

The Shepherd Zone Infill Drilling

The Shepherd veining system contains a series of gold bearing quartz veins that, in some locations, also contains stibnite. The gold within the veining is characterized as being of coarse grain size. This characteristic lends itself to greater variability in gold grades across intercepts compared to those seen in the Youle orebody. As such, Mandalay has invested in further drilling to increase the confidence of high-grade domains as well as sparsely drilled extensions. Since the last update in October 2021 a further 57 holes have been drilled into the inferred veining of Shepherd, improving grade confidence through these areas.

Excitingly, the northern high-grade zone of Suffolk has been confirmed by three additional intercepts of the same vein with a highlight of 377g/t gold over 0.54m (ETW 0.40m) in BC317 (Figure 1) and 347g/t gold over 0.27m (ETW 0.20m) in BC316 (Figure 2).





Figure 1. BC317 Core tray showing gold baring quartz veining representative of the northern portion of the Suffolk vein.





Figure 2. Longitudinal sections of Shepherd and Suffolk veining with new results labelled with hole ID. Results of grade above 7.5 g/t AuEq when diluted to 1.8m are also annotated with estimated true width and grade.

Additionally, the southern portion of the Suffolk vein has recently been upgraded and extended with ongoing drilling highlighting an emerging high-grade domain with 204 g/t gold and 15.9% antimony over 0.11m (ETW 0.08 m) in BC335 (Figure 3) and 361 g/t gold and 8.1% antimony over 0.52 m (ETW 0.19 m) in BC336.





Figure 3. BC335 Core tray showing quartz-stibnite veining representative of the southern portion of the Suffolk vein.

Extension Drilling

During 2022, Mandalay has also embarked on an extension drilling program of the Shepherd veining. Navigational drilling and long, sweeping drillholes from surface have been required in order to access some of the areas due to a lack of appropriate drilling platforms underground, leading to the extension program progressing slowly. To this end, Mandalay is designing an appropriate, purpose-built underground drill platform to further access the areas required.

Initial drill results, however, are encouraging and show the system is mineralized for a further 150 m below previous drilling and a further 300 m to the south. Two intercepts approximately 50 - 100 m below previous known mineralization and 170 m from each other show good potential for an extension immediately below the higher-grade southern portion of Shepherd veining. These intercepts are 332g/t gold over 0.33 m (ETW 0.30 m) in BC274W1 and 46.7 g/t gold over 0.27 m (ETW 0.15 m) in BC342W1 (Figure 4).





Figure 4. Longitudinal and inclined plan section of Shepherd system showing the outlines of known shepherd veining and results from the extension drilling programs. The location of the Youle East program is also shown. Results of grade above 1.5g/t AuEq when diluted to 1.8 m are also annotated with estimated true width and grade.





Figure 5. Tray photograph and photomicrographs of the Shepherd depth extension intercept in BC274W1 showing gold within the veining. Note the appreciable amount of gold visible below the surface of the quartz at bottom left.

The southern portion of Shepherd is yet to be sufficiently understood, however, an intercept furthest south along the Shepherd trend (BC315) could be an indication of grade building again along strike. Repetition of grade shoots at Costerfield is common within the Augusta and Cuffley deposits which exist along trend of Shepherd approximately 1.5 km to the south.

Excitingly, this drilling campaign has also highlighted another veining horizon to the west which has now been intercepted in three drill holes. When projected north this veining could parallel the Shepherd veins and be a host for a westward grade step across the Shepherd system. This potential is the focus of near future exploration.

At depth the Shepherd system appears to progress through a series of westward offsets over flat lying laminated quartz veins. The system at depth remains underexplored and with the encouraging results of BC274 and BC342W1 the area remains a high priority for near future exploration by Mandalay.





Figure 6. Cross-section of the Shepherd and Youle system showing the location of veining highlighting the stepped nature of Shepherd at depth.

Youle East

Above the southern extension to Shepherd and again within the footwall of Youle, further veining has been located within the Youle East drill program. The results are not as high grade as the main portions of Youle and Shepherd. However, like the Shepherd South program, it has shown grade further to the south of current workings. This new veining horizon is approximately 100 m from the Youle access infrastructure and has only been tested locally however it is likely that this mineralization persists to the north alongside Youle. The location of the intercepts can be seen on figure 4 and 6 with the southern-most intercept (BC298) grading 9.98 g/t gold over 0.29 m (ETW 0.12 m). A highlight within this area is 131 g/t gold and 45% antimony over a true width of 7 cm in MB011.

Kendal

Like the Shepherd veining, the Kendal system is made up of subvertical stibnite-quartz-gold veins. However, instead of residing below Youle the Kendal veining diverges from the top of Youle. This style of veining was prominent within the historic Costerfield mine operated between the 1860s and 1930s. Recent drilling to the south and west of the historic mine has resulted in the upward extension of Kendal veining that was also mined in the initial development of Youle in 2018.

Initial results for this area are encouraging with 40.6 g/t gold and 40.4% antimony over 0.40 m (ETW 0.26 m) in BC308 and 27.8 g/t gold as well as 31.5% antimony over 0.67 m (ETW 0.36 m) in BC328. Geological interpretation of the area so far indicates that the veining exists between two flat lying structures, with the Youle orebody at its base and the number 3 fault at its upper limit. The panel grows in height towards the South and is closed off where the number 3 converges with Youle to the north (Figure 7). The southern extent of the panel is not understood and will be the focus of a coming drill program.





Figure 7. Longitudinal section, with cross section on right hand side, of the newly extended Kendal veining. Results of grade above 1.5g/t AuEq when diluted to 1.8m are also annotated with estimated true width and grade.

Drilling and Assaying

All diamond drill core was logged and sampled by Costerfield geologists. All samples were sent to On Site Laboratory Services (OSLS) in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, for sample preparation and analysis by fire assay for gold, and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) for antimony. Samples featuring coarse grained visible gold were assayed using a variant of fire assay known as screen fire assay. This method is routinely used to mitigate potential problems associated with heterogeneity in the distribution of coarse gold within drill samples. The procedure collects all coarse heterogenous coarse gold by screening at 75m after crushing and pulverisation, and subsequently fire assays the resultant mass to extinction. A mass weighted average of gold grade of the sample is subsequently calculated from the +75m and -75m fractions of the sample. Site geological and metallurgical personnel have implemented a QA/QC procedure that includes systematic submission of standard reference materials and blanks within batches of drill and face samples submitted for assay. Costerfield specific reference materials produced from Costerfield ore have been prepared and certified by Geostats Pty Ltd., a specialist laboratory quality control consultancy. See Technical Report entitled "Costerfield Operation, Victoria, Australia NI 43-101 Report" dated March 30, 2020, available on SEDAR ( www.sedar.com ) for a complete description of drilling, sampling, and assaying procedures.

Qualified Person:

Chris Davis, Vice President of Operational Geology and Exploration at Mandalay Resources, is a Chartered Professional of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (MAusIMM CP(Geo)), as well as a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (MAIG) and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. He has reviewed and approved the technical and scientific information provided in this release.

For Further Information

Dominic Duffy

President and Chief Executive Officer

Edison Nguyen

Director, Business Valuations and IR

Contact:

647.260.1566 ext. 1

About Mandalay Resources Corporation

Mandalay Resources is a Canadian-based natural resource company with producing assets in Australia (Costerfield gold-antimony mine) and Sweden (Bjorkdal gold mine). The Company is focused on growing its production and reducing costs to generate significant positive cashflow. Mandalay is committed to operating safely and in an environmentally responsible manner, while developing a high level of community and employee engagement.

Mandalay's mission is to create shareholder value through the profitable operation and continuing the regional exploration program, at both its Costerfield and Bjorkdal mines. Currently, the Company's main objectives are to continue mining the high-grade Youle vein at Costerfield, bring online the deeper Shepherd veins, both of which will continue to supply high-grade ore to the processing plant, and to extend Youle Mineral Reserves. At Bjorkdal, the Company will aim to increase production from the Aurora zone and other higher-grade areas in the coming years, in order to maximize profit margins from the mine.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securitieslaws,includingstatementsregardingtheexplorationanddevelopmentpotentialof theShepherddeposit(Costerfield).Readersarecautionednotto place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things,changesincommoditypricesandgeneralmarketandeconomicconditions.Thefactors identifiedabovearenotintendedtorepresentacompletelistofthefactorsthatcouldaffect Mandalay.Adescriptionofadditionalrisksthatcouldresultinactualresultsanddevelopments differingfromthosecontemplatedbyforward-lookingstatementsinthisnewsreleasecanbe foundundertheheading"RiskFactors"inMandalay'sannualinformationformdatedMarch 31, 2022, a copy of which is available under Mandalay's profile at www.sedar.com. In addition, there can be no assurance that any inferred resources that are discovered as a result of additionaldrillingwilleverbeupgradedtoprovenorprobablereserves.AlthoughMandalayhas attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differmateriallyfromthosedescribedinforward-lookingstatements,theremaybeotherfactors thatcauseactions,eventsorresultsnottobeasanticipated,estimatedorintended.Therecan be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results andfutureeventscoulddiffermateriallyfromthoseanticipatedinsuchstatements.Accordingly, readersshouldnotplaceunduerelianceonforward-lookingstatements.

Appendix

Table 1. Drilling Composites

DRILL HOLE ID FROM (M) TO (M) DRILL WIDTH (M) TRUE WIDTH (M) AU GRADE (G/T) SB GRADE (%) AU (G/T) OVER MIN. 1.8M MINING WIDTH VEIN NAME BC243 175.10 175.30 0.20 0.13 82.5 LLD 5.9 Coopworth BC245 345.89 346.75 0.86 0.51 16.1 LLD 4.6 Coopworth BC246 319.59 319.79 0.20 0.10 99.3 LLD 5.7 Coopworth BC249 135.41 135.52 0.11 0.11 0.1 LLD 0.0 Coopworth BC262 73.64 73.85 0.21 0.16 168.0 LLD 15.2 Coopworth BC263 65.00 65.72 0.72 0.46 164.0 0.2 42.3 Coopworth BC271 68.05 70.38 1.45 0.75 24.2 7.1 16.9 Coopworth BC267 140.85 141.00 0.15 0.14 0.1 LLD 0.0 Dorper BC268 184.70 184.89 0.19 0.12 0.1 LLD 0.0 Dorper BC269 189.73 190.03 0.30 0.23 13.6 LLD 1.7 Dorper BC316 199.10 199.30 0.20 0.12 113.0 0.2 7.6 Dorper BC317W1 189.35 189.57 0.22 0.19 9.2 LLD 1.0 Dorper BC261 156.66 156.76 0.10 0.06 0.1 LLD 0.0 Hampshire AG023 68.05 69.67 1.62 0.85 21.0 31.8 44.3 Kendal BC001 279.55 279.62 0.07 0.06 3.1 LLD 0.1 Kendal BC125 42.11 42.55 0.44 0.33 1.6 10.9 4.9 Kendal BC126 38.92 39.14 0.22 0.19 1.1 8.2 2.1 Kendal BC307 68.61 68.99 0.38 0.22 39.0 14.3 9.0 Kendal BC308 51.96 52.36 0.40 0.26 40.6 40.4 19.2 Kendal BC311 48.09 51.45 3.36 2.38 6.0 5.0 17.4 Kendal BC325 62.61 62.73 0.12 0.07 52.3 13.2 3.3 Kendal BC326 66.16 66.28 0.12 0.07 9.0 6.8 0.9 Kendal BC328 78.34 79.01 0.67 0.36 27.8 31.5 20.3 Kendal KD529 71.6 71.81 0.21 0.19 50.0 48.3 16.9 Kendal KD530 74.5 74.65 0.15 0.14 2.7 6.3 1.4 Kendal KD553 35 35.1 0.1 0.08 23.7 3.1 1.4 Kendal KD557 51.25 52.3 1.05 0.72 0.1 2.0 1.9 Kendal KD574 51.36 51.485 0.125 0.09 47.2 25.2 5.3 Kendal KD576 68.72 68.88 0.16 0.08 20.1 10.4 1.9 Kendal KD580 18 18.27 0.27 0.18 65.5 21.3 11.8 Kendal KD588 16.27 16.6 0.33 0.27 20.9 9.3 6.4 Kendal KD688 29.87 30.01 0.14 0.11 50.7 0.2 3.1 Kendal MA005 206.47 206.73 0.26 0.19 9.1 6.9 2.6 Kendal BC243 157.85 158.21 0.36 0.22 26.2 LLD 3.2 Merino BC244 196.20 196.33 0.13 0.11 0.9 LLD 0.1 Merino BC245 333.45 336.74 3.29 1.34 11.2 LLD 8.4 Merino BC246 307.94 308.21 0.27 0.00 7.4 1.0 0.0 Merino BC270 96.25 96.40 0.15 0.12 0.8 LLD 0.1 Merino BC272 142.24 143.46 1.22 0.85 0.8 LLD 0.4 Merino BC273 140.07 141.10 1.03 0.72 120.2 LLD 47.8 Merino BC299 912.39 912.56 0.17 0.17 17.6 18.6 5.7 Perendale BC300 351.46 351.69 0.23 0.13 0.1 LLD 0.0 Perendale BC344 375.86 376.67 0.81 0.58 0.4 2.3 1.8 Perendale BC320 26.78 27.45 0.67 0.38 0.4 LLD 0.1 Shepherd BC321 279.43 279.75 0.32 0.29 0.4 LLD 0.1 Shepherd BC323 64.17 64.29 0.12 0.07 1.7 LLD 0.1 Shepherd BC323 76.54 76.65 0.11 0.07 50.7 16.5 3.4 Shepherd BC324 50.74 52.70 1.96 1.85 LLD LLD 0.0 Shepherd BC324 116.08 118.10 2.02 1.07 39.2 LLD 23.4 Shepherd BC327 147.68 149.34 1.66 1.00 0.9 LLD 0.5 Shepherd BC329 27.78 30.47 1.38 0.73 2.1 LLD 0.9 Shepherd BC330 17.06 18.55 1.49 1.26 1.5 LLD 1.0 Shepherd BC331 20.23 20.43 0.20 0.10 0.5 LLD 0.0 Shepherd BC332 23.90 24.30 0.40 0.30 0.1 LLD 0.0 Shepherd BC333 27.76 28.47 0.71 0.41 2.3 LLD 0.5 Shepherd BC242 98.76 99.05 0.29 0.17 24.3 LLD 2.3 Shepherd BC243 165.38 167.54 2.16 0.98 18.4 0.8 11.0 Shepherd BC244 212.76 212.91 0.15 0.06 1.2 LLD 0.0 Shepherd BC245 338.78 340.31 400.20 0.62 107.8 14.8 48.9 Shepherd BC246 314.89 319.79 4.90 1.19 37.9 7.9 37.0 Shepherd BC247 174.29 174.89 0.60 0.32 359.4 0.4 64.1 Shepherd BC249 126.94 127.30 0.36 0.19 119.0 LLD 12.6 Shepherd BC250 159.86 160.47 0.61 0.43 6.1 LLD 1.5 Shepherd BC250W1 158.88 159.65 0.77 0.48 22.2 LLD 5.9 Shepherd BC258 45.80 46.75 0.95 0.52 24.0 LLD 6.9 Shepherd BC260 107.53 107.71 0.18 0.14 2.4 LLD 0.2 Shepherd BC260W1 106.47 107.00 0.53 0.33 1.2 LLD 0.2 Shepherd BC261 126.01 126.54 0.53 0.41 4.5 LLD 1.0 Shepherd BC262 60.76 64.93 4.17 1.49 234.7 LLD 194.4 Shepherd BC263 55.39 56.14 0.75 0.26 70.6 LLD 10.2 Shepherd BC266 237.58 237.98 0.40 0.33 0.5 LLD 0.1 Shepherd BC270 109.11 110.43 1.32 0.70 63.0 11.4 34.7 Shepherd BC271 62.45 63.20 0.75 0.34 18.1 36.5 19.3 Shepherd BC273W1 148.25 149.15 0.90 0.25 0.5 LLD 0.1 Shepherd BC274 321.48 321.72 0.24 0.19 65.0 LLD 6.9 Shepherd BC275 382.65 386.35 3.70 2.17 5.1 LLD 5.1 Shepherd BC276 38.07 38.74 0.67 0.68 0.5 LLD 0.2 Shepherd BC279 65.67 66.08 0.41 0.17 41.3 LLD 3.9 Shepherd BC281 26.75 26.96 0.21 0.13 282.0 39.6 26.9 Shepherd BC282 95.53 98.62 3.09 1.59 11.0 LLD 9.7 Shepherd BC287 279.36 279.49 0.13 0.07 2.8 7.6 0.8 Shepherd BC287 290.97 292.04 1.07 0.53 35.6 10.9 17.9 Shepherd BC296 235.31 236.88 1.69 0.64 2.6 LLD 0.9 Shepherd BC301 293.24 293.35 0.11 0.08 0.6 LLD 0.0 Shepherd BC319 26.80 27.30 0.50 0.32 28.2 20.8 13.6 Shepherd BC274W1 380.89 381.22 0.33 0.26 332.0 LLD 48.0 Shepherd Depth BC274W2 423.08 430.56 7.48 5.29 0.2 LLD 0.2 Shepherd Depth BC303 208.94 209.05 0.11 0.08 3.5 LLD 0.2 Shepherd Depth BC304 218.37 218.51 0.14 0.11 6.1 LLD 0.4 Shepherd Depth BC309 201.03 201.30 0.27 0.13 LLD LLD 0.0 Shepherd Depth BC310 211.77 211.90 0.13 0.09 5.1 LLD 0.3 Shepherd Depth BC322 381.20 381.40 0.20 0.13 6.6 LLD 0.5 Shepherd Depth BC339 457.71 458.74 1.03 0.77 1.8 LLD 0.8 Shepherd Depth BC342W1 324.31 324.58 0.27 0.15 46.7 LLD 3.9 Shepherd Depth BC290 340.17 340.31 0.14 0.09 0.9 LLD 0.0 Shepherd South BC299 810.41 810.53 0.12 0.08 1.6 0.5 0.1 Shepherd South BC299W1 758.61 758.82 0.21 0.14 0.1 1.6 0.3 Shepherd South BC299W1 731.77 731.88 0.11 0.11 0.1 4.9 0.7 Shepherd South BC299W1 909.57 909.97 0.40 0.37 0.3 LLD 0.1 Shepherd South BC299W1 579.84 580.04 0.20 0.10 2.1 LLD 0.1 Shepherd South BC315 719.35 720.02 0.67 0.38 1.7 3.5 2.1 Shepherd South BC315 713.05 713.43 0.38 0.32 0.2 6.4 2.7 Shepherd South BC243 246.36 246.82 0.46 0.16 86.4 4.1 8.5 Suffolk BC244 271.55 271.80 0.25 0.22 9.3 LLD 1.1 Suffolk BC244 271.55 271.80 0.25 0.22 9.3 LLD 1.1 Suffolk BC245 428.61 430.55 253.02 1.40 24.0 LLD 18.7 Suffolk BC246 425.59 427.33 1.74 1.27 44.5 LLD 31.4 Suffolk BC247 202.14 202.41 0.27 0.19 0.6 LLD 0.1 Suffolk BC250 197.26 197.68 0.42 0.22 93.9 LLD 11.6 Suffolk BC264 124.20 124.97 0.77 0.38 2.4 LLD 0.5 Suffolk BC266 211.07 211.61 0.54 0.51 1.0 LLD 0.3 Suffolk BC267 133.94 134.13 0.19 0.17 308.0 LLD 29.9 Suffolk BC268 153.62 153.95 0.33 0.28 LLD LLD 0.0 Suffolk BC269 161.96 162.08 0.12 0.07 4.1 LLD 0.2 Suffolk BC273 187.19 187.33 0.14 0.11 0.5 LLD 0.0 Suffolk BC274 376.78 377.07 0.29 0.19 24.1 LLD 2.6 Suffolk BC275 291.53 291.70 0.17 0.09 59.7 2.5 3.2 Suffolk BC277 16.38 16.96 0.58 0.56 LLD LLD 0.0 Suffolk BC278 29.15 29.74 0.59 0.25 3.0 LLD 0.4 Suffolk BC279 39.12 40.33 1.21 0.55 0.1 LLD 0.0 Suffolk BC286W1 259.36 259.65 0.29 0.28 0.1 LLD 0.0 Suffolk BC297 332.81 333.05 0.24 0.14 1.4 LLD 0.1 Suffolk BC316 176.11 176.38 0.27 0.20 347.0 LLD 38.6 Suffolk BC317 165.06 165.60 0.54 0.40 377.4 LLD 83.9 Suffolk BC317W1 167.24 167.38 0.14 0.12 246.0 LLD 16.4 Suffolk BC318 162.76 162.89 0.13 0.12 64.2 LLD 4.3 Suffolk BC321 233.42 234.08 0.66 0.55 10.1 LLD 3.1 Suffolk BC335 104.55 104.66 0.11 0.08 204.0 15.9 10.7 Suffolk BC336 80.20 80.72 0.52 0.19 361.4 8.1 40.1 Suffolk BC337 59.32 59.69 0.37 0.31 43.2 4.6 9.3 Suffolk BC338 194.79 194.90 0.11 0.08 2.3 LLD 0.1 Suffolk BC007 634.76 635.24 0.48 0.39 0.2 LLD 0.0 Youle East BC041 377.22 377.32 0.10 0.07 0.5 LLD 0.0 Youle East BC041 385.41 386.23 0.82 0.14 5.9 1.5 0.7 Youle East BC291 115.28 115.59 0.31 0.14 0.3 7.5 1.4 Youle East BC291 124.08 124.39 0.31 0.07 8.1 LLD 0.3 Youle East BC292 151.60 151.77 0.17 0.12 1.0 LLD 0.1 Youle East BC294 103.25 103.68 0.43 0.42 4.0 2.9 2.5 Youle East BC295 93.38 93.62 0.24 0.12 22.2 16.0 3.9 Youle East BC298 135.58 135.87 0.29 0.12 10.0 LLD 0.7 Youle East MB011 306.96 307.10 0.14 0.14 30.8 18.7 5.7 Youle East MB011 317.98 318.05 0.07 0.07 130.9 44.6 9.1 Youle East

Notes

1. The AuEq (gold equivalent) grade is calculated using the following formula:





AuEq g per t=Au g per t+Sb% Sb price per 10kgSb processing recovery

Au price per gAu processing recovery

Prices and recoveries used: Au $/oz = 1,700; Sb $/t = 12,500; Au Recovery = 93% and; Sb Recovery = 95%

2. LLD signifies an undetectable amount of antimony. Detection limit for the analysis used is 0.01%

3. Composites that are not interpreted to be connected to a named vein and are below 1 g/t AuEq when diluted to 1.8m are not considered significant and are not recorded here.

Table 2. Drill Hole Collar Details

Drill Program Drill Hole ID Easting Northing Elevation Depth Dip Azimuth Date Complete Kendall Upper AG023 15374 6773 959 89.66 5.3 45.5 16/09/2019 Kendall Upper BC001 15203 6724 1193 394.30 -40.7 110.8 8/07/2014 Kendall Upper BC125 15380 6794 953 60.37 10.7 65.2 8/07/2020 Kendall Upper BC126 15380 6794 954 51.48 19.0 85.2 10/07/2020 Kendall Upper BC307 15377 6725 969 153.50 52.0 101.1 11/04/2022 Kendall Upper BC308 15377 6724 969 150.00 39.7 77.7 16/04/2022 Kendall Upper BC311 15407 6879 953 74.60 32.5 113.2 4/07/2022 Kendall Upper BC325 15377 6725 969 113.80 44.6 131.0 16/06/2022 Kendall Upper BC326 15377 6724 969 137.30 34.9 146.1 24/06/2022 Kendall Upper BC328 15374 6734 969 117.78 32.2 54.8 27/06/2022 Kendall Upper KD529 15344 6759 959 82.80 5.8 80.0 26/07/2019 Kendall Upper KD530 15344 6758 959 81.00 15.0 103.0 28/07/2019 Kendall Upper KD553 15383 6765 961 44.30 22.1 77.9 9/09/2019 Kendall Upper KD557 15373 6773 958 82.00 11.8 58.6 23/09/2019 Kendall Upper KD574 15374 6740 969 70.00 16.5 62.4 22/10/2019 Kendall Upper KD576 15374 6740 969 90.45 12.8 40.1 23/10/2019 Kendall Upper KD580 15399 6795 951 35.00 23.7 66.6 25/10/2019 Kendall Upper KD588 15396 6735 970 34.90 10.9 135.4 8/11/2019 Kendall Upper KD688 15399 6824 952 39.15 30.5 122.7 1/04/2020 Kendall Upper MA005 15531 6501 1188 230.10 -41.1 289.5 6/11/2020 Shepherd Depth Extension BC274W1 15379 6754 958 603.00 -66.7 289.1 11/04/2022 Shepherd Depth Extension BC274W2 15379 6754 958 605.80 -66.7 289.1 20/05/2022 Shepherd Depth Extension BC303 15064 7178 632 254.80 -47.5 79.9 7/03/2022 Shepherd Depth Extension BC304 15064 7177 632 257.10 -54.3 90.1 15/03/2022 Shepherd Depth Extension BC309 15063 7179 632 308.70 -49.1 54.5 1/04/2022 Shepherd Depth Extension BC310 15063 7176 632 313.50 -49.4 119.3 27/04/2022 Shepherd Depth Extension BC322 15379 6754 634 549.00 -65.5 268.5 21/06/2022 Shepherd Depth Extension BC334W1 15329 7089 736 480.00 -70.1 254.9 29/07/2022 Shepherd Depth Extension BC339 15379 6755 958 518.80 -65.5 292.5 28/07/2022 Shepherd Depth Extension BC342W1 15329 7089 736 549.90 58.0 222.0 22/08/2022 Shepherd Infill BC242 15311 6889 820 150.00 -48.5 232.8 15/09/2021 Shepherd Infill BC243 15347 7057 764 312.00 -13.6 220.5 16/09/2021 Shepherd Infill BC244 15346 7057 763 500.00 -31.8 224.0 1/10/2021 Shepherd Infill BC245 15380 6755 958 500.00 -56.2 313.9 4/10/2021 Shepherd Infill BC246 15380 6755 958 454.10 -57.0 313.1 21/10/2021 Shepherd Infill BC247 15347 7061 763 227.80 -44.1 301.0 14/10/2021 Shepherd Infill BC249 15346 7060 763 230.00 -40.7 276.1 6/10/2021 Shepherd Infill BC250 15346 7061 763 224.69 -46.2 287.4 26/10/2021 Shepherd Infill BC250W1 15346 7061 763 162.80 -46.2 287.4 28/10/2021 Shepherd Infill BC258 15226 7153 652 84.50 -9.1 48.5 21/12/2021 Shepherd Infill BC260 15184 7195 697 155.60 -37.0 70.5 5/10/2021 Shepherd Infill BC260W1 15184 7195 697 191.50 -37.0 70.5 18/10/2021 Shepherd Infill BC261 15185 7195 696 177.40 -57.8 88.9 11/10/2021 Shepherd Infill BC262 15285 7030 737 117.80 -21.6 219.3 5/10/2021 Shepherd Infill BC263 15285 7032 736 68.60 -42.7 255.6 10/10/2021 Shepherd Infill BC264 15147 7139 658 182.00 -56.5 61.9 2/11/2021 Shepherd Infill BC266 15055 7175 634 264.00 -4.5 135.7 3/11/2021 Shepherd Infill BC267 15093 7177 633 225.10 -22.8 71.9 26/11/2021 Shepherd Infill BC268 15093 7178 632 243.26 -20.8 51.0 13/12/2021 Shepherd Infill BC269 15079 7180 632 242.13 -31.7 60.2 17/11/2021 Shepherd Infill BC270 15309 6942 792 144.00 -32.8 216.4 28/11/2021 Shepherd Infill BC271 15283 6971 756 120.00 -21.9 210.1 3/11/2021 Shepherd Infill BC272 15297 6965 774 153.00 -46.3 220.1 9/11/2021 Shepherd Infill BC273 15346 7059 764 218.20 -33.2 243.1 12/11/2021 Shepherd Infill BC273W1 15346 7059 764 155.40 -33.2 243.1 16/11/2021 Shepherd Infill BC274 15379 6754 958 400.00 -66.7 289.1 18/11/2021 Shepherd Infill BC275 15054 7175 635 442.50 7.9 151.0 19/11/2021 Shepherd Infill BC276 15210 7142 652 72.60 5.7 120.5 16/12/2021 Shepherd Infill BC277 15210 7142 651 75.19 -34.5 124.8 14/12/2021 Shepherd Infill BC278 15210 7142 650 85.00 -58.1 119.8 13/12/2021 Shepherd Infill BC279 15209 7140 651 108.01 -35.7 160.9 9/12/2021 Shepherd Infill BC281 15274 6851 794 156.70 -52.1 233.1 23/11/2021 Shepherd Infill BC282 15296 6881 811 141.50 -46.9 215.7 29/11/2021 Shepherd Infill BC286W1 15055 7174 635 420.00 8.5 146.7 18/01/2022 Shepherd Infill BC287 15379 6754 958 386.80 -60.5 265.1 6/12/2021 Shepherd Infill BC296 15379 6754 958 453.00 -57.1 273.1 27/01/2022 Shepherd Infill BC297 15379 6753 958 370.00 -53.4 257.2 3/02/2022 Shepherd Infill BC301 15379 6753 959 410.80 -58.0 252.6 22/02/2022 Shepherd Infill BC316 15065 7180 632 246.00 -24.5 55.0 8/06/2022 Shepherd Infill BC317 15065 7179 632 215.13 -28.8 64.6 17/06/2022 Shepherd Infill BC317W1 15065 7179 632 193.03 -28.8 64.6 21/06/2022 Shepherd Infill BC318 15065 7178 632 209.00 -30.2 75.1 28/06/2022 Shepherd Infill BC319 15270 6789 760 60.80 -44.7 315.6 27/04/2022 Shepherd Infill BC320 15271 6786 760 90.00 -37.0 232.5 28/04/2022 Shepherd Infill BC321 15063 7175 634 407.70 -6.3 146.6 20/05/2022 Shepherd Infill BC323 15277 6783 760 113.20 -46.1 244.0 2/06/2022 Shepherd Infill BC324 15278 6786 760 150.00 -45.4 325.6 7/06/2022 Shepherd Infill BC327 15275 6785 760 155.00 -58.5 250.0 2/08/2022 Shepherd Infill BC329 15275 6784 762 130.10 12.7 230.3 19/07/2022 Shepherd Infill BC330 15274 6785 761 109.80 0.6 254.6 25/07/2022 Shepherd Infill BC331 15274 6785 760 149.31 -25.0 263.2 15/07/2022 Shepherd Infill BC332 15275 6784 761 151.59 -3.5 233.3 27/07/2022 Shepherd Infill BC333 15275 6784 761 139.39 -21.3 236.3 21/07/2022 Shepherd Infill BC335 15243 6892 712 142.00 -17.6 215.2 7/08/2022 Shepherd Infill BC336 15243 6892 712 134.60 -5.8 226.9 11/08/2022 Shepherd Infill BC337 15243 6892 712 106.70 -25.1 221.9 19/08/2022 Shepherd Infill BC338 15064 7180 632 281.50 -31.5 50.3 11/07/2022 Shepherd South Extension BC290 15379 6753 959 393.00 -58.4 249.5 13/01/2022 Shepherd South Extension BC299 15823 6150 1188 995.00 -36.0 300.0 20/04/2022 Shepherd South Extension BC299W1 15823 6150 1188 995.00 -36.0 300.0 24/03/2022 Shepherd South Extension BC300 15379 6753 958 450.00 -49.5 238.4 11/02/2022 Shepherd South Extension BC315 15822 6149 1187 953.80 -34.8 287.7 21/07/2022 Youle East BC007 15863 6476 1189 779.50 -40.0 295.7 30/06/2017 Youle East BC041 15205 6728 1192 452.72 -60.9 85.7 16/10/2018 Youle East BC291 15347 6755 958 228.20 -43.9 157.8 12/01/2022 Youle East BC292 15347 6755 959 200.00 -19.8 156.7 17/01/2022 Youle East BC294 15297 6659 961 201.03 -8.4 139.4 21/01/2022 Youle East BC295 15297 6659 960 201.20 -35.3 141.9 25/01/2022 Youle East BC298 15297 6660 961 203.00 -33.6 163.0 28/01/2022 Youle East MB011 15220 6670 1189 480.00 -61.0 104.9 24/10/2011

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

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Infosys Cyber Next platform and Palo Alto Networks strengthen Bpost's security posture as part of the cloud transformation journey

BENGALURU, India, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced that it has collaborated with Bpost (Belgium Post), a leading postal operator and growing parcel and omni-commerce logistics partner in Europe, to secure the cloud environment and build robust cyber resilience for Bpost's mail delivery and logistics services. Even as the postal services industry is challenged by sophisticated cyber threats, Infosys, along with Palo Alto Networks - a global cybersecurity leader, has equipped Bpost with solutions to identify and rapidly respond to suspicious security events.





Infosys securely accelerated Bpost's cloud transformation journey with its tailored Cloud SecOps delivery model. The model improves Bpost's Azure and AWS cloud security posture by leveraging Infosys Cyber Next platform. This brings the advantages of 24/7 security monitoring, security analytics, threat intelligence, advanced security controls such as endpoint detection and threat response, vulnerability management, and deception management. For response to incidents, Infosys has implemented Palo Alto Networks' Cortex XSOAR with fully automated response playbooks and AI-led predictions to prevent similar threats in the future. Palo Alto Networks will also provide Bpost with new next generation security solutions to further strengthen the security of its cloud estate and improve customer experience.

Vishal Salvi, CISO & Head of Cyber Practice, Infosys, said, "Our clients count on us to bring robust cybersecurity capabilities especially to their business-critical cloud transformations. Combining the strengths of Palo Alto Networks' portfolio and our own service-based offerings we believe we can equip them with the most effective path to navigate a rapidly changing threat landscape. In the case of Bpost, our partnership is helping them leapfrog to the next generation of cybersecurity maturity."

Rony Monnaie, CISO, Bpost, said, "While we embarked on our cloud transformation journey, Infosys drove several well-considered cybersecurity initiatives to protect our environment and improve Bpost's overall security posture. Today, both our employees and customers benefit from the secure foundation we now have to deliver and track both mail and parcels."

Don Jones, SVP Ecosystems, Palo Alto Networks, said, "While easy to use is an important feature, using AI and Automation to quickly and accurately identify and respond to security events, is too. Together with Infosys, we are pleased to support Bpost - an organization that embraces cybersecurity as integral to their business transformation."

About Bpost group

Bpost is Belgium's leading postal operator and a growing parcel & omni-commerce logistics partner in Europe, North America, and Asia. Our 36,000 employees in Belgium and across the globe connect consumers, businesses, and government, by delivering mail and parcels to millions of doorsteps and providing e-commerce logistics services. As a people- and planet-friendly company we create long-term sustainable value for our customers and shareholders. In 2021 Bpost generated a turnover of EUR 4,333.7 million.

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. Over 300,000 of our people work to amplify human potential and create the next opportunity for people, businesses and communities. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer clients, in more than 50 countries, as they navigate their digital transformation powered by the cloud. We enable them with an AI-powered core, empower the business with agile digital at scale and drive continuous improvement with always-on learning through the transfer of digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. We are deeply committed to being a well-governed, environmentally sustainable organization where diverse talent thrives in an inclusive workplace.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India and the US, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

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WHITE ROCK, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / TDG Gold Corp - (TSXV: TDG) (the "Company" or "TDG") is pleased to provide a comprehensive update on exploration progress (including drill core images) from diamond drilling underway at its mineral resource stage, former producing gold-silver ("Au-Ag") Shasta project located in the Toodoggone Production Corridor of north-central B.C. This current news release should be read in conjunction with TDG's previous Shasta news releases of June 21, 2022 (link) and July 11, 2022 (link), which provided an overview of the priority targets at Shasta and the proposed drill program to test them.

All commentary on exploration progress contained within this news release is subject to assay results which are still pending and therefore should be read and interpreted with appropriate caution.

Highlights within this news release include:

3,494 metres ("m") of oriented HQ diamond drilling completed at Shasta as of September 08, 2022, in 15 drillholes. Core from 10 drillholes have been submitted to an ISO/EIC certified laboratory (ALS Laboratories Group, Kamloops) for precious metal and multi-element assay, with preliminary results expected by mid-late October.

Two structural drillholes completed between the JM and Cayley-Rainier zones with further drillholes to be planned subject to preliminary results.

All work underway remains on time and budget with Stage One drilling (4,000-4,500 m) of the current program at Shasta expected to be completed by end-September to mid-October. Stage Two drilling (1,500-2,500 m) is fully funded and will be subject to exploration progress at TDG's other projects, weather, preliminary results and wider market conditions.

Geophysics, soil sampling and mapping work completed at other Shasta targets located within the broader "Shasta Mine Complex" (see TDG news release June 13, 2022 - link). This has included over 100 line kilometres ("km") of ground magnetic and Very Low Frequency ("VLF") surveys completed across Shasta, Shasta South and the Newberry target located approximately 1,500 metres to the north of Shasta. Initial results are expected by end-September.

Steven Kramar, TDG's Vice President, Exploration commented: "We're pleased with our exploration progress at Shasta to date particularly our ability to add real time data and information from the oriented core. Our updated geological model has suggested to us that the most direct route to resource growth at Shasta is through drilling the extension potential down dip at Shasta west and below the JM zone (see Figure 1 below) - so that has been the focus of our 3,494 m drilled so far.

Meanwhile, we're also very excited to start getting the results from the broader work being led by Chris Dail to help us understand the bigger opportunity at Shasta - what we're calling the 'Shasta Mine Complex' - and which includes, i) outcropping south of Cayley-Rainier which stretches at surface for an estimated 1,000 m, ii) to the east of the known mineralization at Shasta where soil geochemistry and indicates a gold in soil anomaly coincident with a large NE-SW structural trend, iii) the Newberry target located 1,500 m north of Shasta, hosting a gold in soil anomaly and a structural element that may be a continuation from Shasta. Our 2022 high resolution ground magnetics and VLF survey was designed to provide blanket coverage of Shasta Mine Complex to supplement geological and geochemical data for 2023 drill targeting."

Figure 1 - 2022 DDH Completed to Date.

Shasta West

3,069 m completed in 15 drillholes of 16 drillholes planned. The concept of the Shasta West drilling was to test the down dip of the Shasta Fault structure, and the potential of continuation of mineralization at depth. The method could complete two objectives: i) to reclassify material adjacent to 2021 drilling from inferred to indicated category and, ii) encounter more mineralized material in an area left untested. Drilling to date encountered expected mineralization consisting of appreciable pyrite/acanthite in volcaniclastic rocks with quartz/carbonate veining or complete hydrothermal brecciation, with potassic/silicic alteration. Depths of encountered mineralization and to the intersection of the Shasta Fault were predicted by the updated geological model.

As examples, SH22-057 & 058 presents the opportunity for the down dip potential of the Shasta Fault (Figure 2). Drillholes 057 & 058 encountered appreciable disseminated pyrite and acanthite, silicification and K-feldspar alteration below the Shasta Fault, with increasing alteration, mineralization, and quartz-sulphide- veins hosting acanthite/native silver. These geological observations were also present in drillholes from the 2021 program, SH21-004/005. Images 1-4 present drill core from SH21-005, SH22-057 and SH22-058 to demonstrate similar geological observations described in 2021 drillcore that was assayed and 2022 drillcore that have assays pending.

Figure 2 - Section 6,34,275E, 2022 Drillhole SH22-057&058.

Image 1 - SH21-005 (108.3 - 111.4 m). From 108.5 to 111.0 (2.5 m) 1.62 g/t Au, 73 g/t Ag, 2.53 g/t AuEQ. Vein/brecciated Potassic altered, silicious volcaniclastic rocks hosting pyrite, acanthite; sulphides.

Image 2 - SH22-057 (130.41 - 133.7 m). Vein/brecciated Potassic altered, silicious volcaniclastic rocks hosting pyrite, acanthite; sulphides.

Image 3 - SH22-058 (117.6 - 120.8 m). Vein/brecciated Potassic altered, silicious volcaniclastic rocks hosting pyrite, acanthite; sulphides.

Image 4 - SH22-058 (130.0 - 133.3 m). Vein/brecciated Potassic altered, silicious volcaniclastic rocks hosting pyrite, acanthite; sulphides.

JM Depth Extension

Currently 5 drillholes planned for a total of 1,337 m and scheduled to be drilled in late September. The JM drilling is planned with the same concept as the Shasta West target: step east, outside of the resource model and test the down dip extension of the JM structure, beneath the mine workings, at depth. This presents an opportunity to potentially increase the resource size and gold grade in an area of historically low drilling density and consequently, assay density. These planned holes are designed to test step outs (approximately 50 m) from holes such as SH21-043 &SH21-045/045B (see TDG news release April 26, 2022 - link).

JM Zone to Cayley-Rainier

425 m completed in 2 drillholes designed to collect additional structural information to investigate the orientation of veins/vein sets that might trend from the Cayley-Rainier zone in the South, toward the JM Zone in the North, beyond the historical mine workings. This area has a historically low assay density and may represent an opportunity to expand the resource, as the current resource (see TDG news release May 17, 2022, for MRE Pit Boundary - link) does not include mineralized material from the Cayley Rainier zone. Finalization of the proposed additional drillholes in this zone will be subject to review of the preliminary results, which are expected in by end-September to mid-October.

Drillhole SH22-053 encountered intervals strongly silicified, K-altered crystal tuff with high density of quartz/carbonate veining and disseminated sulphides, at shallow depths. This intersection was subsequent to a high degree of fracturing/faulting at the top of the hole. The veining at high angle to core axis, suggests an appropriate drill direction, and additional drilling to the north, will be assay dependent.

Image 5 - SH22-053 (36.0 - 42.3 m). Vein/brecciated Potassic altered, silicious volcaniclastic rocks hosting pyrite.

Image 6 - SH22-053 (129.3 - 135.7 m). Vein/brecciated Potassic altered, silicious volcaniclastic rocks hosting pyrite.

Proposed Shasta Additional Drillholes

Review of the 2021 oriented core has indicated the potential for laddering of veins between the two principal structural controlling features of the main mineralized zones of Shasta (Figure 1-the Shasta Fault and the JM brecciated body). TDG is considering drilling two holes between the Shasta Creek and JM Zones to test this theory. This will be subject to exploration progress at TDG's other projects, weather, preliminary results and wider market conditions.

Shasta Mine Complex Ground Magnetics / VLF

TDG completed approximately 100 line-kilometres of high resolution ground based magnetics and VLF surveying around Shasta and the greater Shasta Complex. The magnetic data provides full coverage of the Shasta Complex to supplement an already robust dataset, and VLF is a technique with known success of identification of narrow vein structures. The survey is complete, and the geophysical contractor (Aurora Geosciences, Whitehorse, YT) is processing the data for final delivery and interpretation.

Figure 3 - Completed ground magnetics and VLF around the Shasta Complex.

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Steven Kramar, MSc., P.Geo., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

This news release includes historical information that has been reviewed by the Company's geological team and qualified person. The Company's review of the historical records and information reasonably substantiate the validity of the information presented in this news release; however, the Company cannot directly verify the accuracy of the historical data, including the procedures used for sample collection and analysis. There is insufficient exploration on these prospects to define a mineral resource. It is uncertain if after additional exploration a mineral resource will be delineated. Therefore, the Company encourages investors to exercise appropriate caution when evaluating these results.

About TDG Gold Corp.

TDG is a major mineral claim holder in the historical Toodoggone Production Corridor of north-central British Columbia, Canada, with over 23,000 hectares of brownfield and greenfield exploration opportunities under direct ownership or earn-in agreement. TDG's flagship projects are the former producing, high grade gold-silver Shasta, Baker and Mets mines, which are all road accessible, produced intermittently between 1981-2012, and have over 65,000 m of historical drilling. In 2021, TDG advanced the projects through compilation of historical data, new geological mapping, geochemical and geophysical surveys, and, for Shasta, drill testing of the known mineralization occurrences and their extensions. In May 2022, TDG published an initial NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate for Shasta. For the 2022 field season, TDG will prioritize drilling the known mineralization at Shasta which extends south for ~500 metres from the historical JM Pit. TDG currently has 96,343,142 common shares issued and outstanding.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Fletcher Morgan

Chief Executive Officer

For further information contact:

TDG Gold Corp.,

Telephone: +1.604.536.2711

Email: info@tdggold.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: the actual results of current exploration activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans to continue to be refined; possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing; and fluctuations in metal prices. There may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

SOURCE: TDG Gold Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715732/TDG-Gold-Corp-Provides-Shasta-Exploration-Progress-Update
SCOTTSDALE, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / Today FBC Holding, Inc. (OTC PINK:FBCD) through its wholly owned subsidiary, Formrunner Apparel Inc. is pleased to announce that the company has purchased land in the Sandbox metaverse.

Formrunner Apparel Inc. has decided to dive even deeper into the metaverse with intentions to open a clothing retail store inside of the Sandbox and the first step has been completed by buying a piece of land to begin. President & CEO Lisa Nelson states "We will be working with top notch developers to start construction on site and build Formrunner's first ever virtual clothing store where people will be able to purchase our latest fashion and wear our clothing on their avatar wherever they go!" Lisa Nelson also states, "The amount of revenue and growth that may come out of this is explosive and this is only the beginning! We will be expanding across platforms as time goes on." The company will keep the public informed on this matter moving forward and FBC Holding, Inc. cannot wait to see what the future holds!

Link to Sandbox Land: https://www.sandbox.game/en/lands/843e973f-1a37-4289-8150-6ee38b84c8e2/

Link to Sandbox Website: https://www.sandbox.game/en/

Millions of gamers worldwide buy accessories, clothing, and skins (graphics that change the look of an item in a video game) for their digital avatars. In fact, Ralph Lauren attributed some of its strong third quarter earnings to these virtual investments and the younger generation of shoppers it has attracted. The overall gaming market was valued at $173 billion in 2021. Other companies like Nike, Adidas, and Vans World are now betting there's room for even more growth, and that gaming becomes just one component of a more far-reaching metaverse. And as the virtual world expands, more people are diving into computer-simulated online communities that replicate the real world. The fashion industry thinks it may have found its next pot of gold there. Already, customers can dress up their avatars for virtual worlds like Horizon Worlds and Decentraland. But virtual fashion is not limited to avatars. You can wear virtual garments on Snapchat or Zoom meetings or pose with them for photos for social media feeds. You can show up to a work meeting with a black-tie dress when in real life it is just a t-shirt; or post a picture on Instagram of a luxury jacket that was never touched in real life. Virtual fashion is being sold in a variety of ways: from gaming platforms and digital photos to videos that use augmented reality. The metaverse in the Fashion Market is poised to grow by $6.61 billion during 2022-2026, accelerating at a CAGR of 36.47% during the forecast period.

Streetwear is one of the most striking retail and fashion trends to have appeared in recent years, involving the production, promotion, sale, and resale of casual fashion - footwear, T-shirts, and other items - in ways that bypass traditional retail channels. Customers are often rallied via social media to be the first to buy products that are only available directly from the brand, either in-store or online. The anticipation of a time-limited chance to buy, helps create a tight-knit and almost cult-like relationship between streetwear brands and their consumers. This has helped propel streetwear from being an eye-catching fashion phenomenon that drew its inspiration from the countercultures of the 1980s and 1990s - including graffiti, hip-hop, skate and surf - into a multi-billion-dollar retail market.

Formrunner Apparel Inc. has built its reputation by delivering on both Clothing quality and price to become one of the most respected and trusted names in the Retail Clothing Space. Our customers admire our variety of high-end clothing, top notch customer service, competitive pricing, and easy payment alternatives. Since Hyperviolent first opened, Formrunner Apparel Inc. has managed to set up valuable long-term relationships with customers and distributors.

About Formrunner Apparel Inc.

Formrunner Apparel Inc. is a owned subsidiary of FBC Holding, Inc. Formrunner Apparel Inc. carries a variety of Top-Notch Streetwear & Accessories found in Scottsdale, Arizona. Formrunner can be viewed and bought on the Company's website at www.formrunnerapparel.com

Formrunner Apparel Inc's main website at www.formrunnerapparel.com

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/fbc_holding

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Formrunner

Instagram (Mall Location): https://www.instagram.com/Hyperviolentaz

Hyperviolent Main Website: https://www.hyperviolent.com

IR Contact:

info@formrunnerapparel.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties. See FBC Holding, Inc filings with OTC Markets, which may identify specific factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

Safe Harbor Statement

This release includes forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and reflects management's current expectations. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Some of these factors include: general global economic conditions; general industry and market conditions, sector changes and growth rates; uncertainty as to whether our strategies and business plans will yield the expected benefits; increasing competition; availability and cost of capital; the ability to identify and develop and achieve commercial success; the level of expenditures necessary to maintain and improve the quality of services; changes in the economy; changes in laws and regulations, including codes and standards, intellectual property rights, and tax matters; or other matters not anticipated; our ability to secure and maintain strategic relationships and distribution agreements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking ability to secure and maintain strategic relationships and distribution agreements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking.

SOURCE: FBC Holding, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715707/FBC-Holding-Inc-FBCD-Purchases-Real-Estate-in-Sandbox-Metaverse
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / Infinitum Copper Corp. (TSXV:INFI)(OTCQB:INUMF) ("Infinitum" or the "Company") is pleased to report results from the first two of twelve diamond drill holes at Infinitum's flagship project, La Adelita in Sonora and Sinaloa states, Mexico. Drill hole AD-22-0018 returned 20.60 metres (m) of 1.91% copper (Cu), 2.00 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) and 40.91 g/t silver (Ag) starting at 163.15 m down hole in the Cerro Grande zone (see figures 1, 2 and 3). This mineralization is hosted in pervasive skarn alteration with abundant magnetite coinciding with the highest-grade mineralization (See Table 1). Drill hole AD-22-0017 was drilled above AD-22-0018, on the same section, and encountered a 26.05 m long interval of strong skarn alteration with trace mineralization before it reached the target depth. The Hole AD-22-0018 intersection is open in all directions along the favorable contact between limestone and the intrusive.

Magneto-telluric (MT) geophysical survey results for this area were received subsequent to drilling and interpretation indicates that mineralization may strengthen at depth below drill hole AD-22-0018.

Rafael Gallardo, Senior Exploration Manager states "This phase of drilling was designed to extend the high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralized trends cut in historic drilling, which terminated against previously unrecognized folding and faulting of the host limestones. We are pleased that our team's improved geologic model has found strong mineralization across these apparent barriers and are very eager to see whether the magnetite and anomalies revealed by our MT geophysical survey add additional important layers to our targeting."

"Our drilling is off to a great start with these initial drill results confirming the high-grade mineralization at Cerro Grande and the geophysics indicating the system may strengthen to depth" states Steve Robertson, President & CEO of Infinitum Copper. "La Adelita is clearly a very large system, and we are delighted to see such high grades across wide geographic areas. The more work we do, the more we like how our model for the overall mineralization model is developing".

Click here to watch the video

Phase 1 Diamond Drilling Program

Recognizing that La Adelita is a big system, Infinitum's exploration has followed a methodical approach, focusing on areas with the best opportunities to encounter continuous zones of high-grade mineralization. To date, Infinitum has focused on two of the five main target areas (Figure 1): A) the La Adelita Anticline and B) the Las Trancas zone, where a 2022 discovery trench revealed 9.15 m of 16.45 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 1.90% copper and 3.50 g/t silver.

Phase 1 drilling consisted of 12 holes totaling 2,574 metres focused on the high-grade copper-gold-silver skarn targets at Cerro Grande and the Cerro Grande Footwall (see Figure 1). Phase 2 drilling, expected to commence following the summer rainy season, will include targets at Las Trancas. This news release reports the first two of the twelve drill holes. The Company will release additional drill hole results as they are available in the coming weeks.

Drill holes AD-22-0017 and 0018 were drilled 70 meters north of the old Adelita adit to seek the extension of the high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralization of the Cerro Grande zone and the recently discovered Cerro Grande Footwall zone. Cerro Grande Footwall was identified as a fold repeat of the favorable host limestone through surface mapping completed by Infinitum's geological team earlier this year. Drill hole AD-22-0017 was the first attempt to test the target but was lost at a depth of 145.50 metres in massive skarn with trace mineralization. Drill hole AD-22-0018 was drilled at a steeper angle from the same pad as 0017 and successfully cut the entire zone.

HOLE ID FROM (m) TO (m) WIDTH (m) TRUE WIDTH (m) Cu (%) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Zn (%) AD-22-0017 46.70 55.85 9.15 9.15 0.14 0.06 1.24 NSV* AD-22-0018 163.15 187.50 24.35 20.60 1.91 2.00 40.91 NSV

* No Significant Values

Table 1 - Significant Drill Intercepts, Cerro Grande zone.

Drill Hole AD -22-0018

Drill hole AD-22-0018 intersected a zone 20.60 m wide of grossularite-andradite skarn with semi-massive magnetite and disseminated copper mineralization grading 1.91% Cu, 2.00 g/t Au and 40.91 g/t Ag (Table 1). This zone corresponds well with the surface mapped Cerro Grande Footwall zone (see Figures 2 and 3) and the intercept is open up-dip, to depth, and to the north and south along the favorable contact between limestone and the intrusive. The mineralization consists of chalcopyrite, bornite and covellite and the richest chalcopyrite, bornite and covellite zones correlate well with higher gold values. The magnetite content is estimated to vary from 15% to 75% over the 20.60 m length and iron values average 24%. The semi-massive magnetite associated with the high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralization is expected to be detectable with detailed magnetometry, which should be a very positive factor for future exploration. A detailed magnetometer survey will be undertaken after vegetation dies back following the rainy season.

Figure 1: La Adelita Project Exploration Zones

Figure 2: La Adelita Project Cerro Grande Zone

Figure 3: La Adelita Project AD-22-0017 and AD-22-0018 Cross Section

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

Diamond drill core sampling from the 2022 program was supervised by Infinitum Copper personnel. The split core samples were delivered to the internationally certified ALS Minerals laboratory facilities in Hermosillo City, where the samples were prepared by creating a pulp, and then shipped to Vancouver, Canada for analysis. Assaying was done by ALS in Canada under an ISO 1702 Quality management system. Samples were fire assayed for Au (Au-AA24) and analyzed for multi-elements using method code ME-ICP61, following an aqua regia digestion. Over limits were analyzed using the most appropriate method. Multi-element geochemical standards, blanks, and duplicates are inserted systematically into the rock sampling series to monitor lab performance. The control samples are inserted into every 20 samples in the case of standards, blanks, and duplicates, and for rejects and pulps duplicates, each 30 samples intercalated. Chain of custody controls track the samples which are transported from La Adelita project to the camp in Picachos village and then to ALS in Hermosillo City, by Company personnel.

Qualified Person

Steve Robertson, President and CEO of the Company, has acted as the Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 for this disclosure and supervised the preparation of the technical information in this release.

For more information, please contact Anna Okopnaya, Manager of Investor Relations for Infinitum Copper at anna@infinitumcopper.com, +525534417980, or Steve Robertson, President and CEO of Infinitum Copper, at steve@infinitumcopper.com, (604) 409-3917.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of

INFINITUM COPPER CORP.

Steve Robertson

Chief Executive Officer

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

About Infinitum Copper

Backed by a strong team of industry veterans, Infinitum Copper is advancing La Adelita project, where the Company has an option to earn an 80% interest. The high-grade copper-silver-gold La Adelita Project is located in Sonora and Sinaloa states in Mexico and is subject to a 2% NSR. La Adelita is a Carbonate Replacement Deposit located in a mineralized district with a rich history. Infinitum Copper also has an option to earn 100% interest in the Hot Breccia project in the heart of the Arizona Copper Belt about 90km north of Tucson, AZ. The Hot Breccia project is prospective for porphyry copper and copper skarn mineralization.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. The forward-looking information contained in this press release represents the expectations of the Company as of the date of this press release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. - 2 - Forward-looking information is based on, among other things, opinions, assumptions, estimates and analyses that, while considered reasonable by the Company at the date the forward-looking information is provided, are inherently subject to significant risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that may cause actual results and events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. The risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information may include, but are not limited to, risks generally associated with the Company's business, as described in the Company's Filing Statement dated February 11, 2022. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. While the Company may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws.

SOURCE: Infinitum Copper

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715470/Infinitum-Copper-Reports-2060-Metres-of-191-Copper-200-gt-Gold-and-4091-gt-Silver-in-Drilling-at-La-Adelita-Project


A picture of the panel discussion from the World Cloud Show - Qatar that was streamed live on September 6, 2022

QATAR, UAE, Sept 13, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - A virtual conference with an explicit focus on Cloud and data centers technologies was held on September 6, 2022, where more than 150 C-level tech decision makers participated virtually, including key stakeholders in Qatar's Cloud ecosystem were gathered by the event's host, Trescon.Leading solution providers in the cloud industry such as GBI, Prime Holding, and Manage Engine congregated at the virtual conference to discuss the potential for the cloud and data center ecosystem in Qatar.The event featured an intriguing collaboration between experts like:- Santiago Banales Lopez - Managing Director, Iberdrola Innovation Middle East, Doha, Qatar- Dr. Antonio Sanfilippo - Chief Scientist and Program Director, Qatar Foundation/Qatar Environment & Energy Research Institute, Qatar- Dr. Ahmed Darwish Elsayed - Head of Digital Delivery, Bank Albilad, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia- John Mankarios - Vice President, QInvest LLC, Qatar- Manish Khanijo - Manager - Technology & Security, Qatar Free Zone Authority, Qatar- Chadi Rahi - Director of Technology & Business Development, Prime Holding, Qatar- Belal Hafnawi - Commissioner - Board Member, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC - Jordan), Jordan- Gigi Mathew Thomas - Group Head - IT & Digital Transformation, Ittihad International Investment LLC, United Arab Emirates- Imran Chowdhury - Global Head of Data Protection and Governance, Al Jazeera Media Network, Qatar- Karthik Ananda Rao - Regional Technical Head, Manage Engine, MEA, UAE- Mahdi Khorram - Product Development and Marketing Director, GBI- AWS Hattab - Sr. Director of Contact Center, Bank Al Etihad, Jordan- Thuraya Al-Harthi - Senior Specialist - Innovation & Emerging Technology Development, MTCIT, Oman- Mohamed Ghazala - Head of Data Architecture & Analytics, Leading bank in Egypt, Egypt- Mai Alowaish - Chief Data and Innovation Officer, Gulf Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait- Ahmad Musa - Head of Planning and a DBA candidate, University of Strathclyde, UAE- Hamid Ali Raja - Senior Audit Manager, GWC Logistics, Qatar- Ahmed Sharif - Senior IT Support Engineer & Cloud Solutions expert, ADDA, UAE- Fady Rafla - Chief Digital Officer, Post for Investment, EgyptJohn Mankarios discussed at length on 'Leveraging Cloud Technology for Workplace Digital Transformation.' He was reported as saying, "Cloud enables employees to improve their CX. With Cloud infrastructure employees have access to real time measurements and analytics tools that they can use to make smarter decisions about their customers journey."While speaking about 'Connectivity in Digital Transformation', Mahdi Khorram, Product Development and Marketing Director, GBI mentioned that, "When we talk about banking or financial applications, latency is really significant. I hear people talk about blockchain, crypto, stock market, and so on, a lot of finance industries pertains to, but latency is very crucial to make sure the services reach the end user very quickly.""In this era of digitalization, space and culture do not have such an impact on the employees as technology does," said Karthik Ananda Rao, Chief Technical Evangelist, Manage Engine, A Division of Zoho Corp Inc, in his tech talk on the topic," Enhancing Employee Experience through Cloud IT Management.Santiago Banales Lopez, Managing Director, Iberdrola Innovation Middle East spoke at length on 'Cloud and Energy Transition: The Case of Iberdrola'. He was quoted saying, "It's not only about investing in infrastructure; but it's also about investing in people, building our own knowledge, building our capital knowledge in order to be able to do this transformation across different businesses, across different countries."In addition to other panel discussions, the event featured one on the subject of 'Cloud - A Brighter Future: Exploring Strategies to Deliver Cloud Transformation,' which was chaired by Belal Hafnawi."The last three years have crunched every budget and pushed every strategy to ensure fast adoption of digitization. Businesses that have not yet gone digital may not last much longer. The cloud has become an essential part of every organization's growth strategy, and virtualization is the path that everyone, (especially enterprises with both legacy and modern IT infrastructures) need to take," says Mithun Shetty, CEO, Trescon.The 12th global edition of World Cloud Show - Qatar was officially sponsored by:- Gold Sponsor - GBI | Prime Holding- Silver Sponsor - Manage EngineAbout World Cloud ShowWorld Cloud Show is a thought-leadership-driven, business-focused, global series of events that takes place in strategic locations/time zones across the world.The show featured exciting keynotes, and enterprise use-case presentations, panel discussions and tech talks that discussed latest challenges and explored latest applications of cloud-based solutions.About TresconTrescon is a global business events and consulting firm that provide a wide range of business services to a diversified client base that includes corporations, governments, and individuals. Trescon is specialized in producing highly focused B2B events that connect businesses with opportunities through conferences, roadshows, expos, demand generation, investor connect, and consulting services.For further details on the announcement, please contact:Nupur AswaniPR, Media & Corporate Communications, Trescon+919555915156 | media@tresconglobal.comSource: tresconCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Company Seeks Property as a Base in Michigan To Grow, Process, and Sell Cannabis for Medicinal and Recreational Use

DOVER, DE / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / Hero Technologies (OTCQB:HENC) (Twitter: @heroicmindtech), a cannabis company focused on a "seed-to-sale" vertical integration strategy, today announced that it is aggressively pursuing opportunities to purchase real estate in Michigan. The company's goal is to acquire at least 10 acres to serve as the company's base of cannabis operations in the state.

"We are pleased to report that we are making progress in discussions to acquire land in Michigan," said Hero Technologies' CEO Gina Serkasevich. "Michigan is a major part of our strategic go-to-market plan. According to regulatory data, sales of legal cannabis in the state should increase over 50% this year to over $2.7 billion. With the company's in-state cannabis license already pre-approved, closing a real estate deal is our next step in executing our end-to-end cannabis cultivation and sales strategy."

Hero Technologies' subsidiary in Michigan, BlackBox Systems and Technologies LLC, plans to grow cannabis both indoors and outdoors, process the plants, and market cannabis products both wholesale and directly to consumers. The company's strategy focuses on using a proprietary aeroponic growing system to produce high-yield, high-quality cannabis.

About Hero Technologies

Hero Technologies Inc. is a cannabis company working toward a vertically-integrated business model. The company owns a majority stake in BlackBox Systems and Technologies LLC, an aeroponic cannabis cultivation system that provides optimal growing conditions to enhance photosynthesis and cultivation of large flowering plants, creating increased harvest efficiencies. The company's strategic business plan includes cannabis genetic engineering, farmland for both medical and recreational cannabis cultivation, production licenses, distribution licenses, consumer packaging, and retail and dispensary operations that make the company a multi-state operator (MSO).

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements may include: management plans relating to the proposed project; the expected timing of the completion of the proposed project; the ability to complete the proposed project; any statements of the plans and objectives of management for future operations, products or services, including the execution of plans proposed project; any statements of expectation or belief; projections related to certain financial metrics; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "outlook," "plan," "project," "seek," "should," "target," "will," "would" and other similar words and expressions or negatives of these words. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time and are beyond our control. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Neither Hero Technologies Inc. nor its holding company or subsidiaries assumes any duty and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements. Because forward-looking statements, by their nature, are uncertain or assumptive to varying degrees, actual results or future events could differ, possibly materially, from those that Hero Technologies Inc., its holding company or subsidiaries anticipated in the forward-looking statements, and future results could differ materially from historical performance.

Hero Technologies Contact:

Ms. Gina Serkasevich, CEO

(302) 538-4165 | gs@herotechnologiesinc.com

SOURCE: Hero Technologies Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715657/Hero-Technologies-HENC-Pursues-Land-Acquisition-in-Michigan-to-Build-Cannabis-Business
Rock Chips Assayed up to 14.2 g/t Gold and 5.2% Copper

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - C3 Metals Inc. (TSXV: CCCM) (OTCQB: CUAUF) ("C3 Metals" or the "Company") is pleased to report the discovery of a large-scale, intermediate sulfidation epithermal gold and copper vein swarm at the Company's 100% owned Arthurs Seat project. First rock chip assays from this discovery returned up to 14.2 g/t Au, 5.2% Cu and 53 g/t Ag. The Arthurs Seat project is in the highly prospective Crawle River-Rio Minho Fault Porphyry and Epithermal District ("CRF District") of Jamaica.

An extensive area of epithermal veins and breccias (Figure 1) has been outlined on the Arthurs Seat project. Field mapping to date indicates quartz vein and breccia structures up to 25 metres in true width that have been discontinuously traced over two kilometres of strike. This newly discovered vein swarm is located approximately 500 metres southeast of the previously announced high-grade copper-silver mineralization (see assays up to 13.8% Cu and 492 g/t Ag in press release dated June 2, 2022).

Exploration Highlights:

Epithermal veins and breccias at the Crofts Hill target within Arthurs Seat: A true maiden discovery with no prior modern-day exploration - never drilled; A high density of intermediate sulfidation quartz vein and breccias over an area of 3 km x 2 km ; Rock chip assays up to 14.2 g/t Au, 5.2% Cu, and 53 g/t Ag ; Over 30% of the initial 137 rock chips collected assayed highly anomalous gold values; and Sheeted quartz vein and breccia zones up to 25m true width.

Copper-Silver Zone at the Brandon Hill target within Arthurs Seat: Exploration limited to selective surface sampling in the 1960s - never drilled; Recently completed ridge and spur soils confirm a 2.5 km x 1.2 km copper in soil anomaly; and Discovery of amygdaloidal basalts flooded with secondary copper.



Dan Symons, President & CEO, stated, "We believe that the CRF District is a completely untapped district scale play of which C3 Metals holds 20,700 hectares. True greenfields discoveries in this day and age are very rare. We now have two highly prospective targets to evaluate within our Arthurs Seat project. We believe the underexplored nature of our Jamaican projects and the 25 km strike potential of the CRF District represents a compelling opportunity for the Company. Drill permit applications have been filed and are expected to be received in the near term. As soon as the permits for Arthurs Seat drilling are in hand, we intend to commence testing these exciting discoveries."

Exploration Update

The Arthurs Seat project is situated over the regionally significant CRF District, a major mineralizing structure that bisects the island of Jamaica. Very little exploration has been carried out at Arthurs Seat with many areas having never been subject to field mapping and evaluation. Arthurs Seat is contiguous to the highly prospective Bellas Gate project, where C3 Metals is currently undertaking a 5,000-metre diamond drill program and recently announced an intersection of 309.0m at 0.44% Cu and 0.33 g/t Au in the upper portion of the first drill hole of the program (see press release dated September 12, 2022).

C3 Metals' exploration activities continue to identify copper, gold and silver mineral occurrences throughout the Arthurs Seat project. The anomalous geochemical copper-gold-silver footprint has now been expanded to 7 km x 4 km (Figure 1), covering both Brandon Hill through to Crofts Hill. Although various mineralization styles have been identified, an important vein / breccia discovery at Crofts Hill confirms potential for a large-scale and well-preserved epithermal gold vein system.

Epithermal Vein Discovery (Crofts Hill)

The extensive field of intermediate sulfidation epithermal veins and breccia zones up to 25m wide is similar to the Pueblo Viejo epithermal gold-silver deposit in the Dominican Republic with Arthurs Seat epithermal veins are hosted in volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of Cretaceous Age. Pueblo Viejo has reserves and resources that include proven and probable gold reserves of 5.7 million ounces; measured and indicated gold resources of 15.0 million ounces; and, inferred gold resources of 2.2 million ounces (Source https://mininglifeonline.net/company-article/pueblo-viejo/10531).

Exploration activities undertaken thus far by C3 Metals have consisted of reconnaissance geologic mapping, ridge and spur soil sampling, the collection of representative rock chip and grab samples from different vein styles and spectrometer analyses. Mapping has outlined mineralized quartz veins and breccias over a 3 km x 2 km area at Crofts Hill. Assays have been received for 137 rock chip samples collected at Crofts Hill, with over 30% assaying highly anomalous gold and up to 14.2 g/t Au and 5.2% Cu (Figure 2).







Figure 1: Arthurs Seat geology map showing copper geochemistry, anomalous zone is 7 km x 4 km.



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2661/136911_fig1.jpg







Figure 2: Rock chip samples from epithermal vein swarm at Crofts Hill area (Top Left) Vuggy quartz vein sample 768757 assayed 5.5 g/t Au. (Top Right) quartz breccia sample 768744 assayed 1.5 g/t Au. (Bottom Left) Vuggy quartz vein sample 768739 assayed 14.2 g/t Au. (Bottom Right) Banded quartz vein sample 768808 assayed 0.81 g/t Au and 5.2% Cu.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2661/136911_1d2e4c3464bc99c7_002full.jpg

Copper-Silver Zone (Brandon Hill)

The Company continues to discover significant zones of copper mineralization at the Brandon Hill area, comprising secondary copper species (malachite, azurite, brochantite, cuprite and native copper) occurring in conglomerate, volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks. Ridge and spur soil sampling was recently completed over the entire Brandon Hill area and partial assays have outlined a copper in soil anomaly measuring 2.5 km x 1.2 km (Figure 3). Follow-up field mapping in an area of high copper in soils (up to 2780ppm Cu) identified significant secondary copper (brochantite) mineralization in a basalt (Figure 3), assays pending.







Figure 3: (Left) Significant secondary copper (brochantite) mineralization developed in an amygdaloidal basalt (Right) well-developed malachite on fracture faces in a basalt.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2661/136911_1d2e4c3464bc99c7_003full.jpg

QP Statement

Stephen Hughes, P.Geo. is Vice President Exploration and a Director for C3 Metals and is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Hughes has reviewed the technical information in this news release and approves the written disclosure contained herein.

For additional information, contact:

Dan Symons

President & CEO

+1 416 716 6466

dsymons@c3metals.com

ABOUT C3 METALS INC.

C3 Metals Inc. is a junior minerals exploration company focused on creating substantive value for its shareholders through the discovery and development of large copper and gold deposits. The Company's holds the Jasperoide project is located in the prolific high-grade Andahuaylas-Yauri Porphyry-Skarn belt of Southern Peru and covers 27,200 hectares. Mineralization at Jasperoide is hosted in a similar geological setting to the nearby major mining operations at Las Bambas (MMG), Constancia (Hudbay) and Antapaccay (Glencore). C3 Metals also holds a 100% interest in five licenses covering 20,700 hectares of highly prospective copper-gold terrain within the CRF District of Jamaica, where mining history dates to the 1500s and 1800s when Spanish and British mining companies targeted high grade copper in veins. The Company also holds a 2% royalty in Tocvan's Rogers Creek project.

Related Link: www.c3metals.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Technical Program

C3 Metals adheres to a strict QA/QC protocol for handling, sampling, sample transportation and analyses. Chain-of-custody protocols are designed to ensure security of samples until their delivery at the laboratory.

Samples are analysed by 4-Acid digest ICP-MS finish for 63 elements, including pathfinder REE elements with pulps from samples reporting greater than 1.0% copper being re-assayed by the ore grade method. Gold is analysed by 30g Fire Assay AAS finish, with pulps from samples reporting greater than 5ppm re-assayed by 1kg Screen Fire Assay. The Company inserts blanks and certified reference standards in the sample sequence for quality control.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the exploration operations of the Company and the timing which could be affected by the current global COVID-19 pandemic. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to the Company. Although such statements are based on reasonable assumptions of the Company's management, there can be no assurance that any conclusions or forecasts will prove to be accurate.

While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available, they may prove to be incorrect. Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral deposits, including risks relating to changes in project parameters as plans continue to be redefined, risks relating to variations in grade or recovery rates, risks relating to changes in mineral prices and the worldwide demand for and supply of minerals, risks related to increased competition and current global financial conditions and the COVID-19 pandemic, access and supply risks, reliance on key personnel, operational risks, and regulatory risks, including risks relating to the acquisition of the necessary licenses and permits, financing, capitalization and liquidity risks.

The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof, and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/136911
The organisation of the very first Forum of the Regions of Africa at the continental level proved to be a success. Held in Saidia, in the Oriental region of Morocco, the forum took place on September 8th and 9th, 2022.

Around 500 delegates, from 30 countries including 21 African countries, and more than 80 Presidents of African regional governments participated in the event that was an historical event according to many.

The praise for this fruitful first edition organised by United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa), in collaboration with the Association of Moroccan Region (ARM), the Oriental Regional Council (CRO) and the Ministry of Interior (through the DGCT) went along with a massive expression of gratitude from the majority of the participants towards the Moroccan authorities in general, and particularly towards His Majesty, King Mohammed VI.

This acknowledgement of gratitude was also expressed in the Saidia Declaration read by Professor Anyang Nyongo, Governor of Kisumu County in Kenya, which highlighted the need to make the regions of Africa structuring clusters of sustainable development on the continent and important milestones in the building of the integrated Africa We want. The Saidia Declaration also affirmed the importance to call on national governments and development partners to make sure that the financial means of implementation of national public policies and global agendas reach the budgets of regional governments.

One of the key moments of this closing day was the presentation of the FORAF Roadmap which was drafted to give concrete objectives to all the presidents of the regions of Africa and invited them to strengthen their regional governments, financially, technically and democratically. The actions presented in the Roadmap took into account the ten-year plan of UCLG Africa, also known as GADEPPA 2.0. The Participants committed to collaborate with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) secretariat and Afreximbank and encouraged the UCLG Africa secretariat to conclude a MoU with the aforementioned institutions. The Roadmap will be translated into an action plan that will be worked out by a working group composed of five (5) members, one (1) per region. This work plan will be presented during the Panafrican Council of UCLG Africa to be held in Tangiers, from November 1st to 3rd, 2022.

The office bearers of the FORAF was elected during the assembly held on September 9, 2022. The Executive Bureau of the FORAF is now composed of four vice-presidents (of Amoroni Mania Region Madagascar, represented by her President, Madam Aline Mamiarosa; the Association of the Regions of Morocco represented by her President, Madam Bouaida Mbarka, President of the Guelmin Region, Morocco; the North Region, Cameroon, represented by his President, Mr Oumarou Ousmanou; the Gauteng Province, South Africa, represented by its Premier, Mr. David Makhura (who was represented by Mr. Lebogang Maile, MEC of Gauteng Province, South Africa); and as President, the Forum of Governors of Nigeria represented by Dr John Olukayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State, Nigeria. In his acceptance speech, the new president-elect of the FORAF emphasised that it is about time that Africans stop agonising and start organising!. The Forum of the Regions of Africa is a concrete first step leading to the emergence of the Africa of the Peoples called for by Agenda 2063 of the African Union, and a major shift for a bright future of the continent.

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Rise in industries and commercial buildings in developing and developed nations and increase in demand from energy sector have boosted the growth of the global busway-bus duct market.

PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research recently published a report, titled, "Busway-Bus Duct Market by Type (Isolated Phase Bus Duct, Segregated Phase Bus Duct, Non-segregated Phase Bus Duct), by Voltage (High-voltage, Medium-voltage, Low-voltage), by End User Industry (Residential, Commercial, Industrial): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031". As per the report, the global busway-bus duct industry was pegged at $12.1 billion in 2021, and is expected to reach $21 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 5.5% from 2022 to 2031.





Drivers, restraints, and opportunities

Rise in industries and commercial buildings in developing and developed nations and increase in demand from energy sector have boosted the growth of the global busway-bus duct market. In addition, rise in urbanization and growth of the service sector supplement the market growth. Moreover, developments in the chemical, automotive, consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals sectorswould open new opportunities in the future. The report offers a detailed analysis of the changing market trends, top segments, key investment pockets, value chain, regional landscape, and competitive scenario.

Download Sample PDF (297Pages with More Insight): https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/14361 Covid-19 scenario:

The pandemic negatively affected the market, due to restrictions on manufacturing and construction activities.

The economic slowdown resulted in reduced spending on various busway-bus duct systems by commercial and industrial users.

The non-segregated phase bus duct segment dominated the market

By type, the non-segregated phase bus duct segment held the largest share in 2021, accounting for around half of the global busway-bus duct market. This is due to its cost effectiveness. However, the segregated phase bus duct segment is expected to register the highest CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period, owing to higher operational efficiency and enhanced safety.

The low voltage segment to manifest the highest CAGR through 2031

By voltage, the low voltage segment would showcase the highest CAGR of 5.9% from 2022 to 2031, due to increasing popularity of busducts in residential buildings. However, the medium-voltage segment held the largest share in 2021, contributing to more than half of the global busway-bus duct market, due to extensive use of medium voltage power transmission systems in various industries.

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The residential segment to showcase the highest CAGR by 2031

By end user industry, the residential segment is projected to register the highest CAGR of 6.0% during the forecast period, owing to increasing popularity of busducts in high rise buildings. However, the industrial segment held the lion's share in 2021, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global busway-bus duct market, due to requirement of safe power transmission systems.

Asia-Pacific held the largest share

By region, the global busway-bus duct market across Asia-Pacific held the lion's share in 2021, accounting for nearly half of the market, due to large manufacturing industry in the region. However, the market across LAMEA would showcase the highest CAGR of 7.1% from 2021 to 2030, owing to rapid growth of industries in Latin America.

Major market players

ABB

Accu-Panels Energy Pvt Ltd.

C&S Electric Limited

Current Midwest

DBTS IND

Eaton Corporation PLC

General Electric Company

Godrej and Boyce Company Limited

Huapeng Group Company, Ltd.

L&T Electrical & Automation

LS Cable & System Ltd.

Powell Industries Inc.

Schneider Electric

Siemens AG

TAIAN-ECOBAR TECHNOLOGY

Tricolite Electrical Industries

Vidhyut Control India Pvt. Ltd.

The report analyzes these key players of the global busway-bus duct market. These players have adopted various strategies such as expansion, new product launches, partnerships, and others to increase their market penetration and strengthen their position in the industry. The report is helpful in determining the business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and developments by every market player

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Assays Demonstrate Excellent Continuity with Strong Potential for Extending High Grade Silver and Gold Zones in Nevada

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - Summa Silver Corp. (TSXV: SSVR) (OTCQX: SSVRF) (FSE: 48X) ("Summa" or the "Company") is pleased to report continued intersections of high-grade silver and gold mineralization from the Hughes Project, near Tonopah, Nevada. Seven of the eight holes tested the Murray target on the western side of the project demonstrating excellent continuity from previous drilling results.

Murray Target:

 All holes intersected multiple zones of stacked, vein-hosted silver and gold mineralization. Highlights include (see attached figures):

535 g/t silver equivalent* (335 g/t Ag and 2.73 g/t Au) over 4.6 m including 1,273 g/t silver equivalent* (811 g/t Ag and 6.35 g/t Au) over 1.4 m in SUM22-57.





233 g/t silver equivalent* (146 g/t Ag and 1.2 g/t Au) over 5.8 m in SUM22-53.

Belmont Target:

 One hole tested 100 m along-strike from the core of the stacked and high-grade Rescue Veins:

 Intersected several zones of vein-hosted silver and gold mineralization.

 496 g/t silver equivalent* (173 g/t Ag and 4.0 g/t Au) over 0.5 m in SUM22-58.

Dimensions of Mineralization:

 High-grade mineralization at Murray has been intersected in several stacked structures over an area of 500 x 300 m where it remains open to expansion.

 High-grade mineralization at Belmont has been intersected in several stacked structures over an area of 400 x 100 m where it remains open to expansion.

 Further mineralization is present in multiple additional areas over a length of 3.5 km, including the Ruby discovery, a 1.3 km step-out from the historic Belmont Mine.

*AgEq is calculated using US$20/oz Ag, US$1,800/oz Au, with metallurgical recoveries of Ag - 90% and Au - 95%. AgEq = (Ag grade x Ag recovery)+((Au grade x Au recovery) x (Au price / Ag price)). True widths are not yet known.

Galen McNamara, CEO, stated: "We continue to be pleased with the results from the Hughes project in the historic Tonopah district. This classic American high-grade silver district still has much to offer, and we have the feeling that between the two companies active in the district, we are only beginning to scratch the surface of the full discovery potential here."

Table 1: Assay Results

Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) AgEq (g/t) Vein Set SUM22-0051 382.5 382.8 0.3 1.3 55 157 Murray and 444.2 445.6 1.4 0.9 82 147 and 451.7 452.6 0.9 1.5 174 283 and 456.8 457.3 0.5 0.5 67 104 SUM22-0052 369.5 369.9 0.4 1.0 107 182 Murray and 403.3 405.3 2.0 0.9 69 136 including 404.8 405.3 0.5 1.5 211 317 SUM22-0053 406.6 412.4 5.8 1.2 146 233 Murray including 411.4 412.4 1.0 2.3 261 433 including 412.2 412.4 0.2 9.8 1081 1812 SUM22-0054 238.4 238.7 0.3 1.0 64 142 Murray and 277.0 277.2 0.2 2.2 127 302 and 280.1 280.4 0.3 0.9 80 152 and 336.6 337.7 1.1 2.4 200 388 including 336.9 337.2 0.3 3.2 283 525 SUM22-0055 413.9 414.7 0.8 0.6 114 153 Murray and 464.5 464.9 0.4 1.9 67 222 SUM22-0056 326.3 326.6 0.3 0.5 82 114 Murray and 371.9 372.5 0.6 0.6 53 101 and 377.8 379.8 2.0 0.9 82 152 and 383.1 383.7 0.6 0.8 92 154 and 386.9 387.2 0.3 0.8 76 139 and 393.8 394.7 0.9 1.3 101 200 and 397.9 402.4 4.5 0.9 85 154 including 399.9 401.2 1.3 1.4 118 222 including 401.6 402.4 0.8 1.7 184 312 and 405.1 406.1 1.0 2.8 318 526 and 410.7 411.8 1.1 1.3 101 204 SUM22-0057 335.4 337.5 2.1 2.6 166 372 Murray including 337.0 337.2 0.2 19.6 1245 2793 and 411.5 412.8 1.3 1.4 189 289 and 417.2 421.8 4.6 2.7 335 535 including 419.1 420.5 1.4 6.3 811 1273 and 424.0 425.6 1.6 0.6 64 132 and 434.0 435.3 1.2 1.9 124 277 and 442.9 448.2 5.3 1.0 74 149 including 442.9 443.4 0.5 7.0 316 887 SUM22-0058 417.8 421.2 3.4 1.0 65 141 Rescue including 417.8 418.2 0.5 4.0 173 496 and 436.4 437.5 1.1 0.8 88 147 and 451.5 451.8 0.3 0.6 61 103

*AgEq is calculated using US$20/oz Ag, US$1,800/oz Au, with metallurgical recoveries of Ag - 90% and Au - 95%. AgEq = (Ag grade x Ag recovery)+((Au grade x Au recovery) x (Au price / Ag price))

Drill Program

Murray Target

Results from all seven holes that tested the Murray vein-system on the western side of the Hughes project in 2022 are reported in Table 1. The infill and exploration holes were designed to further investigate grade continuity and the extension of mineralization up- and down-dip along the Murray vein-system. Previous drilling at Murray has identified significant broad zones of high-grade silver and gold mineralization (e.g., 455 g/t silver equivalent* over 6.1 m in SUM21-40; see September 22nd, 2021 news release).

Figure 1: Murray Target drill hole locations



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7983/136878_672189d6c4eef984_002full.jpg

Recent geological modelling at Murray suggests that mineralization is hosted in a series of stacked veins and oblique vein-splays rather than one complex vein. Mineralization is associated with broad intervals of strong argillic alteration cored by zones of quartz stockwork up to 30 m wide and local Ag-sulfide bearing, banded quartz veins. This stacked vein interpretation is supported by hole SUM22-57, which intersected a broad 110 m zone comprised of numerous intervals of epithermal-related mineralization and associated veins and vein-breccias (e.g., 2,793 g/t AgEq over 0.2 m and 535 g/AgEq over 4.6 m including 1,273 g/t AgEq over 1.4 m). Similarly, hole SUM22-56 intersected multiple zones of mineralization over 85 meters (Table 1).

Figure 2: Murray Target long Section



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7983/136878_672189d6c4eef984_003full.jpg

Hole SUM22-53 represents one of the largest down-dip step-out holes drilled to date at the Murray target (Figure 2). The hole intersected 233 g/t AgEq over 5.8 m and supports the down-dip potential of the Murray vein-system.

Further drilling down-dip as well as drilling focused on targeting veins and interpreted vein-splays higher-up in the Murray system is warranted. Geological modelling is ongoing and targets across the project, including Murray, are being ranked and prioritised for the next round of drilling.

Belmont Target

Results from one hole (SUM22-58) that tested the Rescue Veins of the Belmont Target are reported in Table 1. The hole was designed to test for the along-strike and down-dip extent of the high-grade core to the complex, multi-vein, stacked system (e.g., 3,971 g/t silver equivalent* over 2.8 m in SUM21-30 and 1,559 g/t silver equivalent* over 4.3 m in SUM21-31; see news releases from July 21st, 2021 and September 22nd, 2021). The hole intersected multiple zones banded to brecciated quartz  adularia veins with local silver sulfides and associated argillic alteration halos highlighted by 496 g/t silver equivalent over 0.5 m within 141 g/t silver equivalent over 3.4 m (Table 1). The results demonstrate mineralization continuity within many of the high-grade Rescue veins along strike to the west. Further drilling and modeling are required to fully evaluate the new zone for additional higher-grade and plunging mineralized shoots.

Figure 3: Belmont Target drill hole locations



To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7983/136878_672189d6c4eef984_004full.jpg

Figure 4: Rescue vein system long section



To view an enhanced version of Figure 4, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7983/136878_672189d6c4eef984_005full.jpg

Table 2: Collar Information for SUM22-51 to SUM22-58

Target Area Drill Hole Easting Northing Azimuth Dip Final Depth (m) Murray SUM22-0051 479333 4214215 92 -82 539 Murray SUM22-0052 479305 4214150 142 -77 464 Murray SUM22-0053 479598 4214379 214 -70 587 Murray SUM22-0054 479305 4214150 195 -45 442 Murray SUM22-0055 479598 4214379 230 -76 671 Murray SUM22-0056 479430 4214109 153 -88 475 Murray SUM22-0057 479333 4214215 150 -77 528 Belmont SUM22-0058 481056 4213620 188 -63 553

UTM Z 11 NAD27

Analytical and QA/QC Procedures

All samples were sent to Paragon Geochemical Laboratories in Sparks, Nevada for preparation and analysis. Paragon meets all requirements of the International Accreditation Service AC89 and demonstrates compliance with ISO/IEC Standard 17025:2017 for analytical procedures. Samples were analyzed for gold via fire assay with an AA finish ("Au-AA30") and silver via atomic emission spectroscopy or inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy after four-acid digestion ("AgMA-AAS or 48MA-MS"). Samples that assayed over 8 ppm Au were re-run via fire assay with a gravimetric finish ("Au-GR30"). Samples that assayed over 200 or 100 ppm Ag (depending on Ag method) were re-run via fire assay for Ag with a gravimetric finish ("Ag-GRAA30"). In addition to Paragon quality assurance / quality control ("QA/QC") protocols, Summa Silver implements an internal QA/QC program that includes the insertion of sample blanks, duplicates and certified reference materials at systematic and random points in the sample stream.

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Galen McNamara, P. Geo., the CEO of the Company and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Summa Silver Corp

Summa Silver Corp is a Canadian junior mineral exploration company. The Company owns a 100% interest in the Hughes property located in central Nevada and has an option to earn 100% interest in the Mogollon property located in southwestern New Mexico. The Hughes property is host to the high-grade past-producing Belmont Mine, one of the most prolific silver producers in the United States between 1903 and 1929. The Mogollon property is the largest historic silver producer in New Mexico. Both properties have remained inactive since commercial production ceased and neither have seen modern exploration prior to the Company's involvement.

Follow Summa Silver on Twitter: @summasilver

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/summa-silver-corp/

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Galen McNamara"

Galen McNamara, Chief Executive Officer

info@summasilver.com

www.summasilver.com

Investor Relations Contact:

Giordy@summasilver.com

(604)288-8004

This news release contains certain statements that may constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. All statements, other than those of historical fact, which address activities, events, outcomes, results, developments, performance or achievements that Summa anticipates or expects may or will occur in the future (in whole or in part) should be considered forward-looking information. Such information may involve, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: exploration and development of the Company's mineral exploration properties, including but not limited to expansion potential at the Hughes Project; and discovery potential at the Tonopah District. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or statements formed in the future tense or indicating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" (or other variations of the forgoing) be taken, occur, be achieved, or come to pass. Forward-looking information is based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data and operating plans, strategies or beliefs as of the date of this news release, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Summa to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors may be based on information currently available to Summa, including information obtained from third-party industry analysts and other third-party sources, and are based on management's current expectations or beliefs regarding future growth, results of operations, future capital (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof) and expenditures. Any and all forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Trading in the securities of Summa should be considered highly speculative.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/136878
Kroger, the Largest Grocery Retailer in the United States, Is Adding Three New Hope and Sesame Non-GMO Sesamemilk Shelf-Stable SKUs to Its Plant-Based Milk Grocery Aisle in 681 Stores

This Adds to Existing Kroger Distribution of Two Hope and Sesame  Sesamemilk Refrigerated SKUs Which Rolled Out in January 2022

The Kroger Distribution Includes Ralph's (Southern California), King Soopers (Rocky Mountains), Fred Meyer (Northwest) and More Kroger Banners and Stores

Hope and Sesame Barista Blend Sesamemilk Named the Best Plant-Based Beverage at FoodBev Media's World Plant Based Awards 2022, Announced at the 2022 Plant Based World Expo & Conference in NYC

CHICAGO, IL and VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / The Planting Hope Company Inc. (TSXV:MYLK)(OTCQB:MYLKF)(FRA:J94) ("Planting Hope" or the "Company"), a plant-based food and beverage company focused on producing the world's most nutritious and planet-friendly products, is pleased to announce that its Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk shelf-stable line is launching in stores nationwide across multiple retailer banners at Kroger, the largest grocery retailer in the United States. Beginning in Q3 2022, Kroger customers will enjoy access to three new Hope and Sesame flavors in shelf-stable 32 oz cartons: award-winning Hope and Sesame Barista Blend, Unsweetened Vanilla, and Chocolate. The Kroger divisions now carrying shelf-stable Hope and Sesame Non-GMO Sesamemilk span 681 stores across Ralph's (Southern California), King Soopers (Rocky Mountains), Fry's Food and Drug (Arizona), Fred Meyer (Northwest), Smith's Food and Drug (Southwest), and Kroger stores across the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Southeast, and Texas.

"Kroger is the gold standard when it comes to national grocers in the United States," said Julia Stamberger, CEO and Co-founder of Planting Hope. "We're thrilled to collaborate with Kroger, a company committed to giving communities across the United States access to high quality, plant-based food and beverages that are nutritious, sustainable, and better for people and the planet."

Sesamemilk is nutritionally comparable to dairy milk, with 8g of complete protein per serving with all 9 essential amino acids - that's 8x more protein than almond milk and 2-3x more protein than most oat milks. Sesamemilk is also an excellent source of calcium and vitamin D.

Hope and Sesame Barista Blend Sesamemilk, optimized to froth, foam, and steam like a dream for hot or iced beverages, has 4g of complete protein and is designed for excellent performance in coffee and tea.

Sesamemilk is extraordinarily sustainable, using 95% less water than almond milk and 75% less water than oat milk to produce.

Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk in shelf-stable 32 oz cartons are produced with 12 months of shelf life and require no refrigeration before opening.

Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk 32 oz cartons can be found in the Grocery aisle wherever shelf-stable plant milks are sold. Many of the same Kroger stores also carry two flavors of refrigerated Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk in 48 oz bottles, Unsweetened Original and Unsweetened Vanilla, in the Plant-Based Milk section of the refrigerated case. This new shelf-stable distribution replaces the previous organic Hope and Sesame shelf-stable cartons, a product line that the Company phased out in favor of the new branding, lower cost, and improved formulation of the new Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk Non-GMO product line.

Caption: Hope and Sesame  Barista Blend Sesamemilk Wins Best Plant-Based Beverage, World Plant Based Awards, at the 2022 Plant Based World Expo

Hope and Sesame  Barista Blend Sesamemilk Receives Another Significant Industry Award: Best Plant-Based Beverage, World Plant Based Awards, at the 2022 Plant Based World Expo

The Company is also celebrating another exciting win for its popular Hope and Sesame Barista Blend Sesamemilk which was awarded the Best Plant-Based Beverage at FoodBev Media's World Plant Based Awards 2022, announced at the 2022 Plant Based World Expo & Conference in New York City last week. This is the fourth time in the past 12 months that Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk has been recognized as the winner in significant plant milk categories at the World Plant Based Awards: In December 2021 at the 2021 Plant Based World Expo, Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk won in the Best Plant-Based Sustainability and Best Milk Alternative categories and gained an Honorable Mention for Best Plant-Based Beverage. In addition, Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk won Best Product at CoffeeFest Chicago 2022, won a 2020 Sofi Award for Best New Product, and was the only plant-milk recognized as a finalist for Best Product at the 2022 Specialty Coffee Association show.

"Continued validation by plant-based experts, coffee experts, baristas, chefs, and widespread positive media coverage, are all indicators that Hope and Sesame Barista Blend Sesamemilk is the next big plant-based milk trend, answering the question: 'what's the next big thing in plant milk after oat milk?'" added Stamberger. "It's an exciting time for us."

For more information about Planting Hope and where to find its award-winning plant-based brands, please visit plantinghopecompany.com, sign up for Planting Hope news emails HERE and follow on LinkedIn. To follow the brands on Instagram and Facebook, please visit: @hopeandsesameco, @veggicopia, @rightrice, and @mozaicschips.

About Hope and Sesame

Hope and Sesame has cracked the code on unlocking the dense nutrition in tiny sesame seeds, creating an important new trend in plant milk: sesamemilk, both ultra-nutritious and highly planet-friendly. Sesame is sustainable, requiring very little water to cultivate, is naturally drought- and pest-resistant, and can self-pollinate. Sesamemilk is nutritionally comparable to dairy milk, delivering 8g of complete protein per 3 serving (including all nine essential amino acids) - that's 8x the protein in most nut milks and 3x the protein in most oat milks! Specifically developed for and tested by top baristas, Hope and Sesame Barista Blend Sesamemilk froths, steams, and foams like a dream, great for latte art, and delivers 4g of complete protein per 8oz serving. Sesamemilk is an excellent source of Vitamin D and Calcium and is upcycled from the byproduct of sesame oil extraction. Hope and Sesame Sesamilk creamers are free from saturated fat and contain only 40 calories per serving. All Hope and Sesame products are vegan, Certified Gluten-Free and Certified Kosher, free from soy and dairy, Non-GMO Project Verified, and Certified by the Plant Based Foods Association. Hope and Sesame Barista Blend Sesamemilk was awarded Best Plant-Based Beverage in FoodBev's 2022 World Plant Based Awards, Best Product at Coffee Fest Chicago 2022 and was a finalist for Best Product of the Year at the 2022 Specialty Coffee Awards; Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk was awarded Best Milk Alternative and Best Plant-Based Sustainability in FoodBev's 2021 World Plant-Based Food Awards; signature Chocolate Hazelnut Sesamemilk flavor received the 2020 Sofi Award for Best New Product, Plant-Based Milk from the Specialty Food Association.

About The Planting Hope Company Inc.

Planting Hope develops, launches, and scales uniquely innovative plant-based and planet-friendly food and beverage brands. Planting Hope's award-winning and cutting-edge products fill key unmet needs in the skyrocketing plant-based food and beverage space. The Planting Hope brand family includes Hope and Sesame Sesamemilk and Sesamilk creamers, RightRice Veggie Rice, Mozaics Real Veggie Chips, and Veggicopia Veggie Snacks. Founded by experienced food industry entrepreneurs, Planting Hope is a women-managed and woman-led company focused on nutrition, sustainability, and diversity. For more information, visit: www.plantinghopecompany.com.

Company Contact:

Julia Stamberger

CEO and Co-founder

(773) 492-2243

julia@plantinghopecompany.com

Investor Relations Contacts:

Glen Akselrod, Bristol Capital

(905) 326-1888 ext. 1

glen@bristolir.com

Caroline Sawamoto, IR Labs

(773) 492-2243

ir@plantinghopecompany.com

Media Contact:

Alex Jessup, Jessup PR

(323) 529-3541

alex.jessup@jessuppr.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively referred to hereafter as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements that address activities, events, or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will, or may, occur in the future, including statements about the Company's ability to execute on its goals, the timing pertaining to these goals the potential demand for the Company's products, the timing and success of anticipated product launches and distribution of the Company's products, and the Company's business prospects, future trends, plans and strategies. In some cases, forward looking statements are preceded by, followed by, or include words such as "may", "will," "would", "could", "should", "believes", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "continues", or the negative of those words or other similar or comparable words. In preparing the forward looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, the assumption that demand for the Company's product will be sustained or increase in accordance with management's projections, that the Company's internal research and analysis is indicative of broader market trends and the Company's anticipated future demand for its products, that changes in consumer preferences in the plant-based food industry will continue in accordance with the Company's expectations, that the Company's current business objectives can be achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected, and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner. Although the management of the Company believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any forward-looking statement herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company, as well as trends identified by the Company affecting its industry can be found in the Company's annual information form dated January 6, 2022 and the Company's continuous disclosure record available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Such cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements made in this news release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE: The Planting Hope Company Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715685/Planting-Hope-Launches-Hope-and-Sesame-Non-GMO-Sesamemilk-in-Shelf-Stable-Cartons-Across-the-United-States-with-Major-Grocery-Retailer-Hope-and-Sesame-Barista-Blend-Sesamemilk-Wins-Best-Plant-Based-Beverage-at-Plant-Based-World-2022
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - Mundoro Capital Inc. (TSXV: MUN) (OTCQB: MUNMF) (www.mundoro.com) ("Mundoro" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on the Company's financials and project portfolio in Q2-2022 along with the outlook for H2-2022.

Teo Dechev, CEO and President commented: "Mundoro will continue to generate value for its shareholders through funded partnerships on the existing project portfolio while generating new project areas for future partnering. The Company has grown the fees and payments it has received during the first half of 2022 and anticipates additional growth in the second half of the year while our exploration team gears up for ~10,000 meters of drilling over three programs sole funded by partners."

Follow our weekly updates on: LinkedIn and Twitter @Mundoro

Figure 1: The Western Tethyan Belt



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2408/136931_42862d7784b27b6f_001full.jpg

Financial Highlights and Outlook

Strong Cash Position: As of June 30, 2022, the Company held C$4.1 million in cash and cash equivalents ("Cash Position") and no long-term debt.





As of June 30, 2022, the Company held C$4.1 million in cash and cash equivalents ("Cash Position") and no long-term debt. Generating Cash to Cover Expenses: In H1-2022, the Company has generated C$368k in Fees and Payments while Corporate Expenses were C$453k for the same period. For H2-2022 the Company anticipates receiving C$ 0.7 of fees and payments which are expected to exceed 2H 2022 corporate expenses. As a result, the Company does not anticipate a need to raise capital for the next twelve months.





In H1-2022, the Company has generated C$368k in Fees and Payments while Corporate Expenses were C$453k for the same period. For H2-2022 the Company anticipates receiving C$ 0.7 of fees and payments which are expected to exceed 2H 2022 corporate expenses. As a result, the Company does not anticipate a need to raise capital for the next twelve months. Growing Partnerships and Drilling in Q4: From 2016 to 2022, Mundoro's generative and partnership business strategy has successfully negotiated 10 option and earn-in agreements with five different major miners including: JOGMEC, Vale, Kinross, Freeport McMoRan and First Quantum Minerals. In H2-2022, the Company's exploration teams are preparing for ~10,000 meters of drilling over three programs sole funded by partners: ~3,000 meters at GT7 in Central Serbia, ~4,000 meters at Bobot and Odej in South Timok, and ~3,000 meters at Dos Cabezas in Arizona.

Project Portfolio and Transaction Highlights

New Commencement of Drill Program at Zeleznik Project: Drill permitting approvals were received in Q3-2022 and as a result the Company began a drill program at the Zeleznik Project at the northern portion of the Timok Magmatic Complex (" Timok ") in eastern Serbia. The drill program is designed to test the southern extension of the mineralized intrusion related dykes in the West Zone.





Drill permitting approvals were received in Q3-2022 and as a result the Company began a drill program at the Zeleznik Project at the northern portion of the Timok Magmatic Complex (" ") in eastern Serbia. The drill program is designed to test the southern extension of the mineralized intrusion related dykes in the West Zone. New Mundoro-Kinross Transaction for GT7 Property in Serbia: Mundoro entered into an Option Agreement with Kinross Gold Corporation ("Kinross") setting out the commercial terms for Kinross to earn-in to the GT7 Property in Serbia. The budgeted exploration program has commenced and completed detailed geochemical soil sampling, mapping, and ground magnetics over the entire license area. In Q4-2022, the exploration program will complete further geophysics over selected areas to advance targets for drill testing for approximately 3,000 meters of drilling which is expected to commence in Q4-2022. For further information see our press release dated August 31, 2022. Mundoro is the operator of the work program.





Mundoro entered into an Option Agreement with Kinross Gold Corporation setting out the commercial terms for Kinross to earn-in to the GT7 Property in Serbia. The budgeted exploration program has commenced and completed detailed geochemical soil sampling, mapping, and ground magnetics over the entire license area. In Q4-2022, the exploration program will complete further geophysics over selected areas to advance targets for drill testing for approximately 3,000 meters of drilling which is expected to commence in Q4-2022. For further information see our press release dated August 31, 2022. Mundoro is the operator of the work program. New Mundoro-JOGMEC Copper Project in Bulgaria: Mundoro and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation ("JOGMEC") , announced the commencement of exploration for the recently approved work program on the JOGMEC-Mundoro Copper Project located in Bulgaria. The budgeted work program during this year's field season consists of: geochemical stream sediment sampling, geochemical soil sampling and geophysics over several target areas in order to develop drill targets. For further information see our press release dated September 6, 2022. Mundoro is the operator of the work program.





Mundoro and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation , announced the commencement of exploration for the recently approved work program on the JOGMEC-Mundoro Copper Project located in Bulgaria. The budgeted work program during this year's field season consists of: geochemical stream sediment sampling, geochemical soil sampling and geophysics over several target areas in order to develop drill targets. For further information see our press release dated September 6, 2022. Mundoro is the operator of the work program. Advancing the Mundoro-Vale Dos Cabezas Project in Arizona, USA for Drill Testing: Several porphyry copper targets have been identified for drill testing. In Q2-2022, as part of the budgeted work program, the exploration team completed: (i) detailed mapping of 5 target areas to further refine the understanding of alteration, lithology, and structures with the geochemistry received to date from a broad sampling program, (ii) interpretation of the results from an aeromagnetic and radiometric survey over the entire project area which has elevated the ranking of several targets for drill testing, and (iii) commenced permitting for a Phase 1 drill program for approximately 3,000 meters of drilling which is expected to commence around the end of Q4-2022. For more information, please see the press release dated June 13, 2022. Mundoro is the operator of the work program.





Several porphyry copper targets have been identified for drill testing. In Q2-2022, as part of the budgeted work program, the exploration team completed: (i) detailed mapping of 5 target areas to further refine the understanding of alteration, lithology, and structures with the geochemistry received to date from a broad sampling program, (ii) interpretation of the results from an aeromagnetic and radiometric survey over the entire project area which has elevated the ranking of several targets for drill testing, and (iii) commenced permitting for a Phase 1 drill program for approximately 3,000 meters of drilling which is expected to commence around the end of Q4-2022. For more information, please see the press release dated June 13, 2022. Mundoro is the operator of the work program. Advancing the Mundoro-Vale Projects in South Timok, Serbia for Drill Testing: Several porphyry copper targets have been identified for drill testing. The budgeted exploration program completed soil sampling, geological mapping and ground geophysics to cover the areas of the licenses which were not previously surveyed. Reprocessing and modeling were completed of the geophysical data along with the geological data to refine the drill targets planned for drilling. Permitting has commenced for the drill program for approximately 4,000 meters of drilling to commence in September 2022. For more information, please see MD&A filed for Q2-2022. Mundoro is the operator of the work program.





Several porphyry copper targets have been identified for drill testing. The budgeted exploration program completed soil sampling, geological mapping and ground geophysics to cover the areas of the licenses which were not previously surveyed. Reprocessing and modeling were completed of the geophysical data along with the geological data to refine the drill targets planned for drilling. Permitting has commenced for the drill program for approximately 4,000 meters of drilling to commence in September 2022. For more information, please see MD&A filed for Q2-2022. Mundoro is the operator of the work program. Two Additional Copper-Gold Licenses Granted in Serbia: The Company continues to generate new opportunities for copper exploration. As part of the Company's ongoing generative programs, the Company has received approvals for two additional exploration licenses: Vitanovac (40 sqkm) and Ponor (93 sqkm) located at the southern-end of Timok. These license areas represent an expansion of the Company's land position along similar lithological units as in Timok, which is one of the most prolific metallogenic domains in the western portion of the Tethyan Belt. The Company subsequently received interest from various third parties for optioning these license areas.





The Company continues to generate new opportunities for copper exploration. As part of the Company's ongoing generative programs, the Company has received approvals for two additional exploration licenses: Vitanovac (40 sqkm) and Ponor (93 sqkm) located at the southern-end of Timok. These license areas represent an expansion of the Company's land position along similar lithological units as in Timok, which is one of the most prolific metallogenic domains in the western portion of the Tethyan Belt. The Company subsequently received interest from various third parties for optioning these license areas. Discussions with Third Parties for Additional Property Transactions: Mundoro continues to receive interest in the Company's available project areas in Serbia and Bulgaria. The Company announced it had entered into a Letter of Intent with a third party in Q2-2022, please see MD&A filed for Q2-2022. The Company continues to have ongoing discussions for these projects with third parties.

Qualified Persons

The exploration work programs described herein for Serbia and Bulgaria were reviewed and approved by Y. Khrischev, EurGeol, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, and the Company's Senior Exploration Manager in Serbia and Bulgaria. The exploration work programs described herein for the USA has been reviewed and approved by T. Dechev, P.Eng (PEO, APEGBC), a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, and the Company's Chief Executive Officer.

Mundoro Capital Inc. www.mundoro.com

Mundoro is a publicly listed company on the TSX-V in Canada and OTCQB in the USA with a portfolio of mineral properties focused on primarily base metals. To drive value for shareholders, Mundoro's asset portfolio generates near-term cash payments to Mundoro from partners and creates royalties attached to each mineral property. The portfolio of mineral properties is currently focused on predominately copper in two mineral districts: Western Tethyan Belt in Eastern Europe and the Laramide Belt in the southwest USA.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This News Release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "will", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe" or "continue" or similar words or the negative thereof, and include the following: completion of earn-in expenditures, options and completion of a definitive agreement by the parties. The material assumptions that were applied in making the forward looking statements in this News Release include expectations as to the mineral potential of the Company's projects, the Company's future strategy and business plan and execution of the Company's existing plans. We caution readers of this News Release not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements contained in this News Release, as there can be no assurance that they will occur and they are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include general economic and market conditions, exploration results, commodity prices, changes in law, regulatory processes, the status of Mundoro's assets and financial condition, actions of competitors and the ability to implement business strategies and pursue business opportunities. The forward-looking statements contained in this News Release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this News Release are made as of the date of this News Release and the Board undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Shareholders are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and for a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information, please visit Mundoro Capital's website www.mundoro.com

Teo Dechev,

Chief Executive Officer, President and Director

+1-604-669-8055

info@mundoro.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/136931


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - NASA will make another attempt to launch the giant Moon rocket carrying Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission on September 27.



A 70-minute launch window will open at 11:37 a.m. ET; and if the launch turns out to be successful, the rocket is scheduled to land on Moon on November 5.



The US space agency said it will conduct the demonstration test no earlier than September 21, with a potential backup opportunity for launch on October 2 under review.



'The updated dates represent careful consideration of multiple logistical topics, including the additional value of having more time to prepare for the cryogenic demonstration test, and subsequently more time to prepare for the launch. The dates also allow managers to ensure teams have enough rest and to replenish supplies of cryogenic propellants,' NASA said in its latest update.



Two previous attempts to launch the 322-foot-tall stack, consisting of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida were failed due to technical glitches.



The historic maiden test flight, originally scheduled for August 29, was abandoned after encountering an issue with one of the four RS-25 engines on the bottom of the rocket's core stage.



The second launch attempt on September 3 failed when engineers could not overcome a hydrogen leak in a quick disconnect, an interface between the liquid hydrogen fuel feed line and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.



Over the weekend, Artemis I teams completed repair work to the area of the hydrogen leak. The Artemis I test flight with no crew on board is aimed at laying the foundation for a sustained long-term human presence on and around the Moon.



Artemis 2 and 3 missions aim to send astronauts back to the lunar surface for the first time after half a century.



Meanwhile, NASA and SpaceX set October 3 for the launch of the Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station. Teams are working the upcoming commercial crew launch in parallel to the Artemis I planning and both launch schedules will continue to be assessed over the coming weeks. NASA and SpaceX will review the Artemis I and Crew-5 prelaunch processing milestones to understand any potential impacts. The agency's Crew-4 return will continue to be planned following a short handover on the space station with Crew-5, NASA said.







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Led by Energize Ventures, this latest funding round accelerates Patch's ability to fulfill growing global demand for companies to take climate action through carbon markets

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Patch (https://www.patch.io/), the climate-tech company that is making meaningful climate action a part of everyone's business, announced today a $55M series B funding round, customer growth and overall company momentum. Energize Ventures led the round with participation from new and existing investors including Coatue Management and Andreessen Horowitz, bringing the company to a total of $80M in funding to date.



Scientific consensus from the UN IPCC shows that reaching global climate goals will require carbon removal to scale 1 million times current capacity by 2050. Patch plays an essential role at the intersection of climate and technology by powering the ability to embed, through an enterprise grade API, climate action into every product and service - a critical component to achieving this level of scale.

With Patch's platform, businesses of any size, with any budget, can easily purchase carbon credits as a means of taking climate action. The transparent infrastructure is transforming a traditionally complex and opaque system for purchasing carbon credits. Patch also provides those developing the climate solutions with the infrastructure they need to grow and scale their businesses, facilitating impactful transactions on the voluntary carbon market, which is projected to become a $100B market by 2050.

More than 100 Corporate Customers Spanning E-Commerce to Financial Services

In the last year, Patch saw incredible demand, growing its customer base five times to more than 100 companies worldwide. Using Patch, forward-thinking companies across all industries are incorporating climate action directly into their business:

Afterpay (https://www.patch.io/case-studies/afterpay), the buy now pay later group, touted the ease of Patch integration which was built into Afterpay's system in less than three months and now enables thousands of customers to both understand and take action to neutralize the emissions associated with their purchases.

(https://www.patch.io/case-studies/afterpay), the buy now pay later group, touted the ease of Patch integration which was built into Afterpay's system in less than three months and now enables thousands of customers to both understand and take action to neutralize the emissions associated with their purchases. European investor, EQT, has leveraged Patch to position themselves at the forefront of climate innovation, using the platform to neutralize their own carbon footprint through bold investments in frontier technologies.

Shop Apotheke Europe - one of Europe's leading e-pharmacies - used Patch to procure credits that will neutralize their company's emissions for the first half of 2022, part of the company's robust decoupling measures.

Restaurant company Just Salad recently integrated Patch right into their mobile app, offering customers the ability to easily neutralize the carbon footprint of their lunch order with one simple swipe.

Company Momentum Towards Scaling Climate Action

Patch has quickly grown its team by 400 percent to more than 60 employees worldwide in the last 12 months and opened a European headquarters in London. The company continues to attract top talent from leading technology companies like Shopify, Stripe and Plaid, leveraging veteran tech expertise to address the most important problem to solve of our time.

This latest funding round was led by Energize and had new investor participation from B Capital Group, AENU, Blue Impact, Andrew Robb, Frank Slootman, GIC, and MCJ Collective, as well as participation from existing investors Coatue Management, Version One Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. The capital will continue to support hiring, growth into new markets and development of an expanding technology footprint, putting the company on track to deliver massive climate impact across the globe.

Supporting Quotes

"The market for carbon credits is on a trajectory to reach $50 billion in the next 10 years, making it one of the largest and most paramount markets of our time," said Energize Ventures Partner Tyler Lancaster, who joins the Patch board of directors. "However, today's carbon credit infrastructure is highly fragmented and lacks standardization - making it difficult and complex to tap into. Patch's platform provides a much-needed digital backbone that simplifies the transaction complexity of the carbon management ecosystem for both buyers and suppliers, increases transparency, and enables the carbon market to scale to meet global climate goals."

"We are at a crucial pivot point, and it's essential we get as many companies as possible taking action to reverse climate change, but many struggle with how to integrate this action into their business," said Brennan Spellacy, CEO and co-founder of Patch. "At Patch, we are changing that. Our infrastructure lowers the barrier to entry for both businesses and climate project developers looking to enter the carbon market which, in turn, could help unlock 20% of the climate change solution the world so desperately needs."

Additional Resources

For a deeper dive from Patch co-founders on the series B funding round, visit the Patch blog here (http://www.patch.io/blog/patch-series-b-funding-scales-unified-climate-action).

(http://www.patch.io/blog/patch-series-b-funding-scales-unified-climate-action). For more insights into why Energize invested in Patch, visit the Energize blog here (https://www.energize.vc/news-insights/why-we-invested-in-patch).

(https://www.energize.vc/news-insights/why-we-invested-in-patch). To learn more about how Patch works, visit the Patch website here (https://www.patch.io/how-it-works).



About Patch

Patch is the platform scaling unified climate action. With Patch, companies can embed climate action into their own products, neutralizing the carbon impact of everyday transactions like shipping, travel and financial services. Companies can also compensate for emissions within their own operations and supply chain using Patch. Whether leveraging an API integration or directly purchasing trusted credits, Patch is the platform for businesses and consumers to seamlessly take meaningful climate action. For more information, visit patch.io (http://www.patch.io).

About Energize Ventures

Energize Ventures is a leading global alternative investment manager focused on accelerating digital transformation in energy and sustainability. Founded in 2016, Energize has funded 22 companies to-date and is backed by strategic and institutional LPs including CDPQ, Invenergy, Schneider Electric, General Electric, Caterpillar, and more. With an unmatched depth and breadth of industry and operational expertise, Energize works in partnership with its portfolio companies to realize their full potential from early commercialization to growth scaling and into the public markets. For more information on Energize Ventures, please visit www.energize.vc (http://www.energize.vc).
Dr. Horne possesses more than 30 years of domestic and international experience managing the development and commercialization of advanced energy storage systems

Dr. Horne to accelerate Energy Vault's development of complementary energy storage solutions to Energy Vault's existing technologies portfolio

Energy Vault Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: NRGV) ("Energy Vault"), a leader in sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions, today announced the appointment of Craig Horne, Ph.D., as Vice President, Advanced Energy Storage Development. Dr. Horne will be based in Energy Vault's U.S. headquarters in Westlake Village, Calif.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005520/en/

Dr. Craig Horne (Photo: Business Wire)

Dr. Horne began working with energy storage technologies more than 30 years ago and joins Energy Vault with deep domestic and international experience. Over multiple decades, Dr. Horne managed the development and commercialization of advanced energy storage systems, as well as materials, processes, and diagnostic methods for energy, electronics, and telecom applications.

In response to a fast-moving market requesting more sophisticated storage solutions, Dr. Horne will be responsible for the expansion of Energy Vault's portfolio of energy storage solutions that complement the company's current offerings, supporting early-stage research at the company, and supporting commercial activities involving the current solution offerings.

"We are privileged to have Craig join as a leader of Energy Vault. Craig brings extensive experience to Energy Vault with a proven track record in leadership roles across a unique set of storage industry segments, including technology and product development, project integration and project execution," said Marco Terruzzin, Chief Commercial and Product Officer, Energy Vault. "Dr. Horne will be responsible for driving new technologies and solutions to market that address customer demand for a wide range of storage requirements, while further enhancing our current portfolio."

Dr. Horne's appointment further demonstrates Energy Vault's successful rapid execution of the Energy Vault Solutions (EVS) technology-neutral integration and software strategy, introduced in Q4 2021, to provide customers with the most flexible and cost-effective energy storage solutions regardless of the underlying storage and generation technology. EVS leverages the most advanced software architecture, cyber security protocols, and optimization algorithms to enable the secure integration and orchestration of multiple energy assets under a multitude of use cases.

As recently announced, Energy Vault through its EVS offering, signed three EPC contracts for a total of 495 MWh with Jupiter Power and Wellhead Electric. This includes a 100 MW (200 MWh) battery energy storage system in Fort Stockton, Texas to provide Fast Frequency Response and energy support to the ERCOT market, a 10 MW (20 MWh) system in Carpinteria, California for Resource Adequacy in the CAISO market as well as energy resiliency in a disaster-prone, transmission-vulnerable stretch of the Southern California coastline, and a 68.8 MW (275.2 MWh), in Stanton, California, to meet critical power needs for southern California.

"I am delighted to join the Energy Vault team and am especially excited to capitalize on my thirty years working with battery technologies, the last seven of which have been spent in the system integration, EPC, and owner/IPP sectors of the industry to bring additional breakthrough storage solutions to the market," said Dr. Craig Horne, Vice President, Advanced Energy Storage Development, Energy Vault. "It recently became clear to me just how drastic the limitations are related to how far incumbent lithium-ion based solutions can go in satisfying the accelerating demand for energy storage. With the shift to intermittent renewable energy assets, the power sector needs a diverse set of economically competitive energy storage technologies for long-duration applications. In addition, the competition for Li-ion batteries from the transportation sector has increased prices and squeezed supply. These market forces have created an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate the development of alternative energy storage technologies for stationary energy applications. I believe Energy Vault's strategy to create multiple solutions that satisfy the wide range of requirements across the spectrum of storage projects is best positioned to capitalize on this opportunity and enable a renewable world."

Immediately prior to joining Energy Vault, Dr. Horne served as Managing Director of Energy Storage at Wellhead Electric Corporation, a leading developer and operator of innovative energy generation and energy storage facilities. Prior to his role at Wellhead Electric Corporation, Dr. Horne held senior leadership energy storage roles with Swinerton Renewable Energy, RES Group and EnerVault, which he co-founded and served as Chairman, CEO and Chief Strategy Officer. Dr. Horne also served six years on the Board of the Energy Storage Association (now American Clean Power), including Chairman from 2018-2019, and two years on the Board of the California Energy Storage Alliance. Fifteen of his 22 awarded U.S. patents are in the fields of batteries, fuel cells, and grid storage.

Dr. Horne holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science Mineral Engineering from University of California, Berkeley, an M.S. in Materials Science Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles, and a B.S. with high honors in Materials Science Engineering from University of Florida, Gainesville.

About Energy Vault

Energy Vault develops and deploys sustainable energy storage solutions designed to transform the world's approach to utility-scale energy storage in realizing decarbonization while maintaining grid resiliency. The company's proprietary gravity-based energy storage technology, battery storage technology, and energy storage management and integration platform are intended to help utilities, independent power producers and large industrial energy users significantly reduce their levelized cost of energy while maintaining power reliability. Utilizing eco-friendly materials with the ability to integrate waste materials for beneficial re-use, Energy Vault is facilitating the shift to a circular economy while accelerating the clean energy transition for its customers. For additional information, please visit: www.energyvault.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions including statements regarding Energy Vault's future expansion, deployments and capabilities. There are a significant number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made in this press release, including: risks related to the deployment of Energy Vault's energy management software the projects announced in this press release, risks related to Energy Vault's ability to supply equipment, engineering, procurement, construction and balance of plant services for the projects announced in this press release, the fact that the project is the first such deployment for Energy Vault and as a result, there could be unforeseen issues with the system, the ability to meet milestones in order to receive payments, unforeseen delays in the projects announced in this press release, whether these projects will be constructed on time or whether they will operate as planned, developments and changes in the general market, the continuing impact of COVID-19, political, economic, and business conditions, and the impact of competing technologies on demand for battery powered projects. Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect our financial results are included under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, filed with the SEC on August 8, 2022, which is available on our website at investors.energyvault.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in other filings that we make with the SEC from time to time. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we do not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made, except as required by applicable law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005520/en/

Contacts:

Energy Vault

Investors

energyvaultIR@icrinc.com

Media

media@energyvault.com
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd. ("Naturally Splendid", "NSE" or "the Company") (FRANKFURT:50N)(TSX-V:NSP)(OTC:NSPDF) is pleased to announce the Company has successfully negotiated a purchasing program for its PlanteinTM plant-based entrees with Greenbridge Foodservice, a group of Independent Distributors across Canada.

Greenbridge Foodservice will market the complete PlanteinTM line including Burgers; Nuggets; Crumbed Tenders; Sweet Chili Tenders; Schnitzel; Garlic Kiev; and Phishy Fillet throughout their extensive network and has already received their first purchase order.

Greenbridge Foodservice is a national sales and marketing organization that supports Canadian privately owned and operated foodservice distributors across Canada. Collectively, the group is comprised of seven (7) distributor members from coast to coast, with fifteen (15) distribution centres and an estimated 250 sales professionals.

CEO Mr. Craig Goodwin states, "We are pleased to have our PlanteinTM products available through the Greenbridge Foodservice. This collective group of independent distributors compliments the distribution network we have initiated and increases the availability of our healthy plant-based foods across Canada. Having PlanteinTM available in Greenbridge's distribution centres will allow us to serve our current customers better and reach new ones. We look forward to growing our PlanteinTM business with Greenbridge."

About Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd.

Naturally Splendid is a plant-based food manufacturing and technology company that produces and distributes nutritious and delicious plant-based commodity products.

Founded in 2010, the Company operates a certified food manufacturing facility located just outside Vancouver, BC in Canada, focusing on producing an extensive range of plant-based entrees.

Naturally Splendid has an exclusive 10-year manufacturing and distribution agreement for Canada with a division of Australia's largest plant-based food manufacturer, Flexitarian Foods Pty. Ltd.

In addition to producing the Company's own branded products, Naturally Splendid provides contract manufacturing services and private labelling for a variety of nutritional plant-based food products destined for multiple distribution channels.

The Company has established healthy, functional foods under brands such as Natera Sport, Natera Hemp Foods, CHII, Elevate Me and Woods Wild Bar. The Company launched Plantein Plant-Based Foods, a line of delicious plant-based meat alternatives for the rapidly growing plant-based market segment.

Naturally Splendid has reached an agreement with Biologic to terminate the agreement with Plasm Pharmaceutical and is negotiating a compensation package for work done to date pursuing a potential treatment for Covid with the target drug Cavaltinib.

NSE has also developed proprietary technologies for the extraction of healthy omega 3 and 6 oils, as well as a protein concentrate from hemp.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Mr. J. Craig Goodwin

President, Director

Contact Information

Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd.

(NSP - TSX Venture; NSPDF - OTCQB; 50N Frankfurt)

#108-19100 Airport Way

Pitt Meadows, BC, V3Y 0E2

Office: (604) 570-0902

E-mail: info@naturallysplendid.com

Website: www.naturallysplendid.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Naturally Splendid cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Naturally Splendid's control including, Naturally Splendid's ability to compete with large food and beverage companies; sales of any potential products developed will be profitable; sales of shelled hemp seed will continue at existing rates or increase; customers will complete on sales contracts; and the risk that any of the potential applications may not receive all required regulatory or legal approval. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Naturally Splendid undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

SOURCE: Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715760/Naturally-Splendid-PlanteinTM-Adds-Greenbridge-Distributor-Network
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - Omai Gold Mines Corp. (TSXV: OMG) (OTCQB: OMGGF) ("Omai" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. John Jentz as an independent Director of the Company. Mr. Jentz replaces Mr. Denis Clement who has resigned to pursue another opportunity and the Company thanks him for his commitment through the formative stages of the Company. The Company's CEO, Elaine Ellingham, Director Don Dudek and our newly appointed Director, John Jentz will be at the Beaver Creek Precious Metals Summit this week in Colorado.

Mr. Jentz is an experienced mining professional and corporate director. During his 20+ year career in mining, Mr. Jentz has held roles across investment banking and mining corporates - most notably in recent positions of VP Corporate Development of Semafo Gold and Director of North American Palladium, each of which were acquired for ~C$1B in the last 3 years. He has a strong strategic mindset, capital markets experience which spans institutional, HNW and retail investor bases, and a corporate finance skill base relevant across the capital structure. Mr. Jentz has an HBSc (Actuarial) from the University of Western Ontario, and MBA from McMaster University and is both a Charted Accountant (CA) and Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA). He is currently a Director of Consolidated Uranium Inc. and Mawson Gold Limited.

Elaine Ellingham, CEO, commented "I am very pleased to welcome John to the Board. His wealth of experience both in the capital markets and with successful mining corporations will further strengthen our Board as we continue to unlock the potential of our Omai gold project in Guyana. We are nearing our second major milestone in one year, with an updated NI 43-101 resource expected in mid-October. John's experience will be valuable as we continue our strategy of building resources and pursuing new discoveries, to drive increased value for all stakeholders."

The Company also wishes to acknowledge Mr. Clement for his contributions to Omai and we wish him the best in his next venture. In a statement Mr. Clement said, "As a result of my recent appointment as President and CEO of Critical Minerals Americas Inc., I have determined that I must devote my full time and attention to this exciting new company. I want to thank the shareholders of Omai for their ongoing and loyal support, and I am confident that Omai is well on the path to success."

In connection with the appointment of Mr. Jentz, the Company has granted incentive stock options to purchase 1,000,000 common shares of the Company. The options have a five-year term with an exercise price of $0.07 per common share.

ABOUT OMAI GOLD

Omai Gold Mines Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiary Avalon Gold Exploration Inc., holds a 100% interest in the Omai Prospecting License that includes the past producing Omai Gold Mine, and a 100% interest in the adjoining Eastern Flats Mining Permits. Once South America's largest producing gold mine, Omai produced over 3.7 million ounces of gold between 1993 and 2005. In 2022, the Company announced an initial Mineral Resource Estimate on its new Wenot gold deposit. The Company's short-term priorities are to build on the known Mineral Resources, while advancing exploration on key targets, providing a solid opportunity to create significant value for all stakeholders.

For further information, please see our website www.omaigoldmines.com or contact:

Elaine Ellingham P.Geo.

President & CEO

elaine@omaigoldmines.com

+1-416-473-5351

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the timing of completion of exploration, trenching and drill programs, and the potential for the Omai Gold Project to allow Omai to build significant gold Mineral Resources at attractive grades, and forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals; the price of gold and copper; and the results of current exploration. Further, the Mineral Resource data set out in the Omai Gold news release are estimates, and no assurance can be given that the anticipated tonnages and grades will be achieved or that the indicated level of recovery will be realized. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/136909
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - Angold Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AAU) (FSE: 13L) (OTCQB: AAUGF) ("Angold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has commenced the first field work season on its Uchi Project in the Birch-Uchi Greenstone Belt, in the prolific Red Lake mining district in Ontario, Canada. The Property covers an area of approximately 6,868 hectares (340 contiguous mineral claims) and was staked in 2019 and 2020. All claims are wholly owned by the Company, without royalties or other encumbrances.

The Uchi project is strategically located north and on strike of two past producers, the South Bay Cu-Zn-Ag mine and the Uchi Au mine. Also situated 40 km south of First Mining Gold's Springpole Project (Figure 1), boasting a probable reserve of 3.80 Moz Au and 20.5 Moz Ag[1]. The Red Lake Greenstone Belt, contiguous with the Birch-Uchi Greenstone Belt, hosts a historical production greater than 29 million ounces of gold[2]. The Uchi Trend itself boasts 114,000 ounces of past gold production during the 1940s; however, the region was only mined and explored to shallow depths[3].

Figure 1: Uchi Project location in the Confederation Lake area, Red Lake Mining District, Ontario.

Angold's program includes sampling, prospecting, and mapping of areas surrounding the main target, where the Company intends to carry out an extended soil, and spatiotemporal geochemical hydrocarbon ("SGH") sampling survey in the southeastern part of the Property with potential for Greenstone hosted gold. The program will also include prospecting and sampling the north-central gold occurrences at Mimi Point and the Crabb Point VMS showing, as well as volcanic massive sulphide ("VMS") targets in the western portion of the project (Figure 2).

Figure 2: The targets were selected based on a geophysical target model determined from the characteristics associated with the known mineralization occurrences on the Property and from a literature review of similar deposits.

Angold's CEO, Mr. Adrian Rothwell, stated: "We believe that exploration at the Uchi Project provides low cost added value to Angold's exploration portfolio in North America while we continue exploration in the United States, and advance permitting at our 100% owned Dorado Project in Chile. On-trend with known operations, with no recent exploration, Uchi has incredible potential."

Key Highlights

Exploration Program: The Phase I exploration program will include prospecting, geologic mapping and over 3,000 soil and SGH samples in a west-east grid located in the eastern part of the Property.

High-Grade Potential: The north central Uchi claims to host the Mimi Point, a Greenstone Hosted type gold occurrence with a historical sample up 13.03 g/t Au over a 0.49 m channel[4].

New Targets: In 2019, the Company completed an airborne magnetic and electromagnetic survey over the Property (VTEM Survey). In addition, the VTEM survey was reprocessed in May 2022, with 22 targets identified. Five high-priority targets are VMS targets, and another three high-priority are Greenstone-Hosted Gold (Figures 2 and 3).

Other Highlights: The Uchi project has a large land package with road access from Ear Falls, excellent regional infrastructure, with a paved highway, electric power, natural gas, and skilled workforce. It shares features with the Dixie Project (now called the Great Bear Project), recently acquired by Kinross.

Figure 3: Geology is from Lemkow et al, 2006. Mineral occurrences and historical production are from Parker, J.R., and Atkinson, B.T., 1992 and Ontario MDI database.

Geology and Exploration Work

The Property is underlain by the Birch-Uchi Greenstone Belt volcanic, sedimentary, and intrusive rocks. Based on the continuity of geology and magnetics from the Uchi Gold Belt to the north of the Property, it can be interpreted that the eastern part of the project has exploration potential for Greenstone Hosted Gold Deposits. This is supported by lineaments inferred from magnetics, as well as regional structures.

The Uchi Mine and its adjacent properties (Grassett, Jalda and Hanalda; Figure 2) produced 114,467 ounces of gold for an average grade of 4.25 g/t, the largest recorded producer in the Birch-Confederation lakes area4. The Uchi Gold Belt forms a well-defined north-south trend directly south of the Uchi Project, and the geology shows a north-northeast trend of mafic volcanic flows intercalated with felsic and intermediate pyroclastic rocks that are continuous into the Uchi Project. The volcanic rocks are intruded by large gabbro sills and smaller dioritic and felsic porphyritic sills and dikes. The quartz veins system at Uchi Mine occurs at the contact between units, and the primary ore zone consists of a central crack-seal quartz vein or quartz leader 0.6 to 1.5 m wide. The Uchi Mine orebody consisted of 4 separate ore shoots which are exposed at surface, and range in grade between 4.81 g/t Au to 21.82 g/t Au[5].

The Uchi Gold Belt extrapolated to the north and along the eastern north-northeast trending fault represents a target domain for gold exploration, and the following geological work proposed in the first exploration campaign will help to understand the major faults mapped by the Ontario Geological Survey[6]. Patterns of magnetic anomalies and magnetic gradients can be traced from the Uchi Gold Belt to the north and through the Property[7] (Figures 3 and 4).

Figure 4: Major structural lineaments, targets and claims overlaid on Mag 1 VD from DIGHEM, VTEM and GEOTEM.

The South Bay Mine, with a resource of 800,000 tons grading 2.4% Cu, 15% Zn, and 3.5 oz Ag per ton, was discovered through electromagnetic ("EM") geophysics followed by drilling. The deposit is not exposed at surface, lying in low ground between outcrops of felsic volcanic rocks and under glacial sands and clays 1.8 m to 7.7 m or more in thickness. The orebodies are lenses of massive sulphide within rhyolitic flows and tuffs at their contacts with an enveloping mass of quartz-feldspar-porphyry, with widths ranging from under a metre to 25 m and a strike of ~150 m to 183 m, dipping vertically to steeply northward and striking northeasterly[8]. Historical exploration mapping confirms that the South Bay Mine geology, mineralization, and alteration extends into the southwest portion of the Uchi Project. Sulphides are confirmed in historical drill holes on the western side of the Uchi project, though data is limited. In Angold's upcoming exploration program, prospecting and sampling will be completed to confirm these targets.

A belt of conductivity derived from the VTEM survey extends from the southwest part of the Property in a north-easterly trend. Possible explanations for the bedrock conductors include VMS type sulphide mineralization hosted by the felsic volcanic unit that hosts the South Bay Mine, VMS type sulphide mineralization within other units of the Birch - Uchi Greenstone Belt, and exhalative-sedimentary units.

Planned Exploration

Phase I work will include:

Prospecting and geological mapping in most of the VTEM high-priority identified targets in the southeast part of the project.

Prospecting and sampling the north-central targets, including the Mimi Point and Crabb gold occurrences.

Prospecting and mapping the western and north targets.

SGH survey of 25 m sample-spacing x 100 m line-spacing in an east-west grid located in the eastern part of the Property.

Geophysics and SGH Survey

In 2019, the Company completed an airborne magnetic and electromagnetic survey over the Property (VTEM Survey). Later, in May 2022, the VTEM survey was reprocessed, and available historic GEOTEM, DIGHEM EM and magnetic data were added. All the geophysical products were considered in the context of the current geologic interpretations on the Property.

A total of 22 target zones have been identified; eight are high priority, seven are medium priority, and seven are low priority. Of the high-priority targets, 5 are VMS targets, and 3 are greenstone-hosted gold targets. Of the medium priority, 4 are VMS targets, and 3 are greenstone-hosted gold targets.

The geochemistry survey includes over 3,000 soil and SGH samples distributed over the southeastern gold targets (Figure 5). SGH is deep penetrating geochemistry and uses near-surface samples with measures of 162 organic compounds in the C5-C17 carbon series range. The technique reports low part-per-trillion concentrations and successfully identifies blind mineral targets at depths.

Figure 5: SGH survey in an east-west grid located in the eastern part of the Property.

Figure 6: Detail of the SGH survey of 25 m sample-spacing x 100 m line-spacing.

About SGH Geochemical Analysis[9]

SGH analysis is a high-performance deep penetrating geochemistry which has successfully shown the presence of deeply buried mineral or petroleum deposits. In a Canadian Mineral Research Organization (CAMIRO) project initiated in 1997, nine of ten mineral deposits were successfully detected at study sites that were specifically chosen where other geochemical methods were previously unsuccessful. These study sites included gold, VMS, nickel, copper, kimberlite, uranium, lithium pegmatites, IOCG, silver, SEDEX, tungsten, platinum, molybdenum, and polymetallic-type deposits, wet gas plays, oil plays and coal.

The SGH technique involves a collection of soil samples in the field and then desorbing the weakly bound heavy hydrocarbons in the C5-C17 carbon series range (pentane through to heptadecane) at the laboratory. Using a new technology developed by Actlabs, the desorbed organic compounds are collected and introduced into a Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS), where over 160 of these heavier hydrocarbon compounds are measured. Heavy hydrocarbons are used instead of light hydrocarbons (C1-C4 or methane through to butane) as they are much less affected by decaying biogenic material and diurnal variability. SGH is also more robust in terms of sample collection, shipping and storage conditions. Detection limits at low ppt (pg/g) levels are possible by this technology which allows back-ground levels to be readily determined.

SGH has resulted in the availability of a cost-effective method which can be used in tandem with geophysics to improve success rates.

Qualified Person

Jamie Lavigne M.Sc, P.Geo, a Qualified Person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for supervising the exploration program at the Uchi project and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

About Angold

Angold is an exploration and development company targeting large-scale mineral systems in the proven districts of the Maricunga, Nevada and Ontario. Angold owns a 100% interest in the Dorado, Cordillera and South Bay-Uchi projects, and certain claims that append the optioned Iron Butte project.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF ANGOLD RESOURCES LTD.

"Adrian Rothwell"

Chief Executive Officer

Further information on Angold can be found on the Company's website at www.angoldresources.com and at www.sedar.com or by contacting the Company by email at investors@angoldresources.com or by telephone at (855) 917 4091.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance and includes expectations of the resumption of trading of the Company's common shares on the Exchange. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements and information are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "appear", "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "approximate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe", "would" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, timelines and information contained in this news release.

_______________________________



[1] NI43-101 Technical Report and Pre-Feasibility Study on the Springpole Gold Project, Ontario, Canada, dated February 26, 2021, prepared for First Mining Gold Corp. by AGP Mining Consultants Inc., SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., Swiftwater Consulting Ltd., and Knight Piesold Ltd.

[2] Paterson, W., Ravnaas, C., Lewis, S., Paju, G., Fudge, C., Daniels, C. and Pettigrew, T. 2020. Report of Activities 2019, Resident Geologist Program, Red Lake Regional Resident Geologist Report: Red Lake and Kenora Districts; Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 6363, 136p.

[3] Source: Lichtblau, A.F., Paterson, W., Ravnaas, C., Tuomi, R.D., Pettigrew, T.K., Lewis, S. and Wiebe, K. 2018. Report of Activities 2017, Resident Geologist Program, Red Lake Regional Resident Geologist Report: Red Lake and Kenora Districts; Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 6336, 100p.

[4] Parker, J.R., and Atkinson, B.T., 1992, Gold Occurrences, Prospects and Past Producing Mines of the Birch-Confederation Lakes Area, Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 5835, 332p.

[5] As above

[6] Lemkow, D.R., et al. GIS compilation of geology and tectonostratigraphic assemblages, western Uchi Subprovince, western Superior Province, Ontario; Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 5269, Manitoba Geological Survey, Open File Report 2006-30, Ontario Geological Survey, Miscellaneous Release Data 203. Scale 1:250 000. 1 CD-ROM.

[7] NI43-101 Technical Report on The South Bay -Uchi Property, Agnew, Dent and Earngey Townships, Red Lake Mining Division, Ontario Canada, prepared for Federal Gold Corp. by Jamie Lavigne P. Geo., Francis Minerals Ltd. 2020.

[8] L.E. Reed and J.S. Auston, Selco Mining Corporation Limited. The Uchi Orebody - A Discovery Using Airborne and Ground Geophysical Methods. April 17, 1973.

[9] https://actlabs.com/geochemistry/tools-for-buried-deposit-targets/sgh/

https://actlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Actlabs-SGH-1.pdf

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/136876
Motorola Solutions , a global leader in public safety and enterprise security, has opened its new office in Dubai including a new Innovation and Training Center, expanding its presence in the Middle East region.

His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, the U.A.E. Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, said Motorola Solutions Innovation and Training Center will boost the nations digital economy.

The U.A.E. is moving rapidly to offer accelerated learning and development opportunities because we recognize that no industry or job is exempt from digitalization. Reskilling and upskilling initiatives that are laser-focused on transformative technology are critical to creating a resilient future workforce that remains competitive in a fast-changing world. Motorola Solutions is a major player in communications technology. Its new Innovation and Training Center will add tremendous value to our knowledge-driven economy and global reputation as an attractive talent and technology hub.

In his opening remarks, His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti, Director General of the U.A.E. Cyber Security Council, highlighted the need for innovative and reliable partners as the foundation for achieving digital transformation across sectors, particularly in public safety and cyber security.

During the official opening ceremony, Sean Murphy, Charge dAffaires, U.S. Embassy U.A.E. also welcomed the companys investment in the region at its new location in Dubai Internet City, underscoring the important contribution by Motorola Solutions to the overall development and growth of the U.A.E. s thriving technology and ICT sector.

Motorola Solutions new Innovation Center showcases the companys deep commitment to the U.A.E. through outstanding customer support and the forging of new partnerships. The culture of innovation at Motorola Solutions enables first responders and global business leaders to operate safely and smoothly, with mission-critical solutions that the U.A.E. and the world need, said Charge dAffaires, Sean Murphy.

His Excellency Matar Al Hemeiri , CEO Smart Dubai Government Establishment, Digital Dubai, expressed appreciation for Motorola Solutions new center: It is no secret that the U.A.E has long become a hub for technology and ICT leadership, as cited in our national innovation strategy. Our government is innovation driven, forward-thinking, and focused on sustainable development across all sectors. It is very encouraging to see global companies such as Motorola Solutions invest into the country fostering the regions innovation ecosystem.

The U.A.E. is thriving with strong engineering talent, said Patrick Fitting, Regional Vice President, Middle East, Africa and Central Asia at Motorola Solutions. Through our new Innovation and Training Center, we will advance mission-critical technologies in close collaboration with our customers and deliver leading innovations for public safety and enterprise security. We are proud to support the U.A.E. Governments ambitious National Innovation Strategy of becoming one of the most innovative nations in the world.

Adding to his comments, Ammar Al Malik, Executive Vice President Commercial Leasing, at TECOM Group and Managing Director of Dubai Internet City, said, Dubai has emerged as the tech capital in the region. For more than two decades, TECOM Group has provided specialized and competitive work environments in strategic locations across the Emirate for major institutions, SMEs and start-ups. We are pleased to welcome Motorola Solutions to Dubai Internet City as they join our diverse and innovation-driven community.

Motorola Solutions has significantly grown in the Middle East and Africa in recent years, providing public safety and enterprise customers with its unique ecosystem of mission-critical technologies  including public safety radio communications, video security, access control, analytics, cybersecurity services and command center software solutions  that help make communities safer and workplaces more resilient.

While the new Motorola Solutions Innovation Center will provide customers, partners and businesses with a unique opportunity to experience these technologies firsthand, the new Training Center will offer space for collaboration and co-development of purpose-built solutions to address some of the most complex challenges facing public safety and enterprises.

The Dubai office and Innovation and Training Center will serve customers in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and support the companys 100+ employees in both office-based and hybrid working models. The company offers graduate internships as well as high school programmes with diversity and inclusion as core values and priorities. Details of available roles can be found on the Motorola Solutions careers website (https://bit.ly/3qsrJMi).

The new Dubai office is located at Dubai Internet City, Building 4, Second Floor, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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DUBLIN (dpa-AFX) - Aptiv Plc (APTV), an Irish-American automotive technology firm, said on Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire an 85 percent equity stake in Intercable Automotive Solutions, an arm of Intercable S.r.l., for 595 million euros. Kevin Clark, CEO of Aptiv, said: 'Intercable Automotive Solutions is an excellent strategic fit with Aptiv's Signal & Power Solutions segment. The combination strengthens our position as a full system supplier for electric vehicle manufacturers. In addition, Intercable's differentiated technology design and manufacturing capabilities enable a more efficient and cost-effective vehicle assembly operation for our customers.' With expected sales of over 250 million euros for 2022, Intercable is based in Bruneck, Italy. It has manufacturing sites in Europe and Asia, providing high-voltage power distribution and high-precision connection technologies. Aptiv expects the transaction, expected to be closed by the end of 2022, to add to its earnings in 2023. APTV is trading up by 0.25 percent at $100 per share in pre-market on the New York Stock Exchange. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global bearings market size is expected to reach USD 226.8 billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 8.5% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Bearings are essential in almost every application that involves motion, and they help minimize friction between different mechanical components in several industrial machinery and equipment, resulting in reduced energy consumption. Hence, this machine element finds application in all industries, ranging from automobiles, household appliances, and aerospace to industrial machinery, using machinery or related motor-driven linkages.





Key Industry Insights & Findings from the report:

The development of cost-effective wind energy generating product has resulted in their increased espousal within wind turbine applications that aid in increasing energy production, reduce lubricant consumption, and enhancing turbine performance and reliability.

The roller bearings segment is anticipated to emerge as the largest product segment by 2028 ascribed to their ability to carry heavy loads and shock or impact loading.

The railway and aerospace segment is estimated to witness the fastest CAGR of over 10.0% over the foreseeable years, due to their growing demand in applications such as shock absorbers, gearboxes, doors, and tilting mechanisms to name a few.

Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness the fastest CAGR of over 9.0% by 2028. This can be attributed to the increased demand for fuel-efficient passenger vehicles, industrialization, and infrastructure development in various countries such as China , India , and Japan .

is anticipated to witness the fastest CAGR of over 9.0% by 2028. This can be attributed to the increased demand for fuel-efficient passenger vehicles, industrialization, and infrastructure development in various countries such as , , and . Various leading companies are investing in high-level R&D to come up with innovative solutions. These solutions are focused on being cost-effective as well as on enhancing the overall quality of the end-product.

Read full market research report for more Insights, "Bearings Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product, By Application (Automotive, Agriculture, Electrical, Mining & Construction, Railway & Aerospace, Automotive Aftermarket), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028", published by Grand View Research.

Bearings Market Growth & Trends

The market is estimated to witness considerable growth in the forthcoming years, ascribed to the aim to achieve energy efficiency. Energy-saving and bearings go hand-in-hand. The main objective of this element is saving energy by reducing friction, be it during the rotation of shafts of a transmission or the wheel of a vehicle. Additionally, the rising demand for commercial vehicles is expected to catapult the demand from the automotive sector across the world.

Technological advancements including smart bearings, development of advanced materials and lubricants, and integrating sensor units, are anticipated to provide high growth potential to the market. With the objective of enhancing performance, vendors are incorporating sensor units of the product. Sensor units help digital monitoring of rotation speed, axial movement, load-carrying capacity acceleration, and deceleration. These units are presently being used in conveyors forklifts, road rollers, and electric motors. Furthermore, the integration of IoT capabilities facilitates manufacturers to monitor operations constantly.

The market is mature with a dynamic demand closely related to the state of engineering industries and capital goods. Companies are offering integrated products that significantly decrease the number of bearings that go into an assembled product and reduce the overall cost of equipment. This in turn is also increasing the shelf-life and reliability of the product. Product manufacturers are increasingly investing in R&D to address the intensifying competition by providing innovative products.

Bearings Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global bearings market based on product, application, and region

Bearings Market - Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2016 - 2028)

Ball Bearings

Deep Groove Bearings



Others

Roller Bearings

Split



Tapered



Others

Others

Bearings Market - Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2016 - 2028)

Automotive

Agriculture

Electrical

Mining & Construction

Railway & Aerospace

Automotive Aftermarket

Others

Bearings Market - Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2016 - 2028)

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

U.K.



Germany



France



Italy



Eastern Europe

Asia Pacific

China



India



Japan

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico

Middle East & Africa

List of Key Players in the Bearings Market

Brammer PLC

Harbin Bearing Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

HKT Bearings Ltd.

JTEKT Corporation

NBI Bearings Europe

NSK Global

NTN Corporation

RBC Bearings Inc.

Rexnord Corporation

RHP Bearings

Schaeffler Group

SKF Corporation

The Timken Company

Check out more related studies published by Grand View Research:

Bioactive Materials Market - The global bioactive materials market size is estimated to reach USD 5.85 billion by 2028 registering a CAGR of 14.0% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research Inc. Growing geriatric population coupled with the advancement in various surgical procedures is expected to drive the product demand in the market. Rising consumer awareness about health and well-being is projected to drive market growth during the forecast period.

The global bioactive materials market size is estimated to reach by 2028 registering a CAGR of 14.0% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research Inc. Growing geriatric population coupled with the advancement in various surgical procedures is expected to drive the product demand in the market. Rising consumer awareness about health and well-being is projected to drive market growth during the forecast period. Civil Engineering Market - The global civil engineering market size is expected to reach USD 12.05 trillion by 2028 registering a CAGR of 5.7% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The rapidly growing residential construction sector on account of the rising population across the globe is expected to drive the growth of this market during the forecast period.

- The global civil engineering market size is expected to reach by 2028 registering a CAGR of 5.7% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The rapidly growing residential construction sector on account of the rising population across the globe is expected to drive the growth of this market during the forecast period. Modular Chillers Market - The global modular chillers market size is expected to reach USD 4.02 billion by 2028 registering a CAGR of 6.7%, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The growing demand for energy-efficient buildings on account of the rising awareness regarding environmental degradation coupled with stringent government regulations is anticipated to fuel the product demand over the forecast period.

Browse through Grand View Research's Advanced Interior Materials Industry Research Reports.

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research Helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

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PUNE, India, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a recent market study published by Growth Market Reports, titled, "Global EV Charging Cables Market" by Cable Length (Below 5 Meters, 6 Meters To 10 Meters, and Above 10 Meters), Power Supply (Direct Charging (DC) and Alternate Charging (AC)), Shape (Coiled Cable and Straight Cable), Charging Level (Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3), Applications (Public Charging and Private Charging), and Regions: Size, Share, Trends, and Opportunity Analysis, 2021-2030, the market was valued at USD 664 million in 2021 and is expected to grow at a healthy growth rate of 29% by the end of 2030. The global EV charging cables market growth is attributed to rising demand for fast charging connections and rapid advancements in EV charger equipment.





Key Market Players Profiled in the Report

Dyden Corporation

Coroplast

Chengdu Khons Technology Co., Ltd.

BESEN-Group

Aptiv

SINBON Electronics

TE Connectivity

Phoenix Contact

Leoni AG

General Cable Technologies Corporation

The report covers comprehensive data on emerging trends, market drivers, growth opportunities, and restraints that can change the market dynamics of the industry. It provides an in-depth analysis of the market segments which include products, applications, and competitor analysis.

Download PDF Sample here: https://growthmarketreports.com/request-sample/4539

This report also includes a complete analysis of industry players and covers their latest developments, product portfolio, pricing, mergers, acquisitions, and collaborations. Moreover, it provides crucial strategies that are helping them to expand their market share.

Highlights on the segments of the EV charging cables market

In terms of cable length, the global EV charging cables market is segmented into below 5 meters, 6 meters to 10 meters, and above 10 meters. The 5 meters segment is anticipated to expand at a sustainable CAGR during the forecast period, owing to rising adoption of private electric vehicle charging globally. Cables below than 5 meters are widely used in household applications and are easier to store and utilize. It is difficult for service providers to select the right length of an electric vehicle charging cable depending on customer demand and the simplicity of use to charge automobiles. Moreover, charging stations needs cables that are 18 to 20 feet long approximately due to the rising electric vehicle option. Thus, 6 meters to 10 meters segment is estimated to register a CAGR of around 27% during the forecast period.

Based on power supply, the global EV charging cables market is bifurcated into direct charging (DC) and alternate charging (AC). The direct charging segment is expected to grow at a significant pace during the forecast period, owing to the number of improvements made to public stations. DC fast chargers swiftly transfer energy, enhancing the feeling of flexibility for EV drivers. Direct charging gives faster results in less time. The alternate charging segment accounted for a key market share, as alternate charging offers a 120 V with a 22 kW charging speed, depending on the automobile and the requirements of the charging infrastructure.

Based on regions, the market is segmented into five major regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. The market in Asia Pacific is projected to expand at a significant CAGR during the forecast period. China dominates the regional market for charging cables, as the government of China has developed a number of events and programs to attract major market players to produce EV charging infrastructure in their own countries.

To Buy the Complete Report: https://growthmarketreports.com/report/ev-charging-cables-market-global-industry-analysis

Key Takeaways from the Study:

Battery electric vehicles have lower levels of noise, greenhouse gas emissions, and air pollution. These cars can be charged at public or private charging stations. Therefore, the demand for charging cables for recharging vehicles is growing exponentially.

Wireless charging is more convenient than conventional charging, and thus it is anticipated to hinder the market growth during the forecast period.

The straight cable segment is anticipated to grow at a significant pace. Straight cables are used in many public charging stations because they are inexpensive, easy to install and have low maintenance.

The level 3 segment is anticipated to expand at a sustainable CAGR during the forecast period, due to their growing usage in semi-commercial and residential sectors including parking lots, apartments, condominiums, and individual homes. the rising demand for rapid charging systems in countries such as Japan , South Korea , and China is a key factor contributing to the segment's growth.

, , and is a key factor contributing to the segment's growth. Technological advancement in EV and R&D investment is anticipated to create lucrative opportunities for the market players.

Read 198 Pages Research Report with Detailed ToC on "Global EV Charging Cables Market" by Cable Length (Below 5 Meters, 6 Meters To 10 Meters, and Above 10 Meters), Power Supply (Direct Charging (DC) and Alternate Charging (AC)), Shape (Coiled Cable and Straight Cable), Charging Level (Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3), Applications (Public Charging and Private Charging), and Regions (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa) - Global Industry Analysis, Growth, Share, Size, Trends, and Forecast 2021 - 2030

For Any Questions on This Report: https://growthmarketreports.com/enquiry-before-buying/4539

Key Segments Covered

Cable Length

Below 5 Meters

6 Meters To 10 Meters

Above 10 Meters

Power Supply

Direct Charging (DC)

Alternate Charging (AC)

Shape

Coiled Cable

Straight Cable

Charging Level

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Applications

Public Charging

Private Charging

By Regions

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa (MEA)

Other Related Reports:

Global Electric Vehicle Power Inverter Market By Type (Mild Hybrids, Full Hybrids, Others), By Application (Household, Commercials, and Others) and Region ( North America , Latin America , Europe , Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa )

Global Electric Vehicles Charging Stations Market by Type (AC Charging Station, DC Charging Station, Inductive Charging Station), By Application (Personal Use, Commercial) and Region ( North America , Latin America , Europe , Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa ), Forecast To 2028

Global Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Fans and Blowers Market by Type (Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Fans, Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Blowers), By Application (Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV), Other) And By Region ( North America , Latin America , Europe , Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa ), Forecast From 2022 To 2030

Global Electric Vehicle (EV) Management Solution Market by Type (Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment (EVSA), Electric Vehicle Charging System Management, Electric Vehicle Detection, Electric Vehicle Customer Engagement, Others, Electric Vehicle (EV) Management Solution), By Application (Government Departments, Business Enterprises) And By Region ( North America , Latin America , Europe , Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa ), Forecast From 2022 To 2030

About Growth Market Reports:

Growth Market Reports provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Industry Intelligence Solutions". Growth Market Reports has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domains.

Our key analysis segments, though not restricted to the same, include market entry strategies, market size estimations, market trend analysis, market opportunity analysis, market threat analysis, market growth/fall forecasting, primary interviews, and secondary research & consumer surveys.

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RALEIGH, NC / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / Issuer Direct Corporation (NYSE American:ISDR) (the "Company"), an industry-leading communications and compliance company, announced today the availability of Investor Relations websites that comply with the technology requirements set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and the Accessible Canada Act (ACA) of 2019.

The ADA and ACA IR Compliant sites are available to publicly traded companies based in the U.S. and Canada either via Issuer Direct's IR Site Pro platform, or as an add-on to existing IR sites hosted by Issuer Direct.

"At the end of the day, Issuer Direct's goal is to facilitate communication wherever and whenever possible," said President and CEO Brian Balbirnie. "Because we also dedicate ourselves to offer products and services that are inclusive of everyone, we were determined to find a way to help our clients communicate with all audiences, as directed by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and by the Accessible Canada Act for our business neighbors to the north."

The ADA/ACA Compliance website solution fulfills the ADA's and the ACA's requirements for all publicly traded companies to keep their Investor Relations websites free of all barriers to visitors with varying degrees of hearing or vision impairment. The product also offers a 48-hour turnaround time for software installation, and re-scans every 24 hours to ensure these sites continue to meet their respective country's compliance guidelines.

"I am proud to be part of a product that addresses the needs of IR website visitors with varying degrees of physical impairments, while also making sure our customers' IR websites keep them in good standing with all technology standards required by law" said Balbirnie.

Please visit https://www.issuerdirect.com/lp/get-in-touch to schedule a demo.

###

About Issuer Direct Corporation

Issuer Direct is an industry-leading communications company focusing on the needs of Public Relations and Investor Relations Professionals for over 15 years. Offering a comprehensive suite of communications products, Issuer Direct connects thousands of private and public organizations with journalists, investors, and shareholders, ensuring their most important moments are reaching their audiences. For more information, please visit www.issuerdirect.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act") (which Sections were adopted as part of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Statements preceded by, followed by or that otherwise include the words "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "plan," "project," "prospects," "outlook," and similar words or expressions, or future or conditional verbs, such as "will," "should," "would," "may," and "could," are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any anticipated results, performance, or achievements for many reasons including the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The Company disclaims any intention to, and undertakes no obligation to, revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, a future event, or otherwise. For additional risks and uncertainties that could impact the Company's forward-looking statements, please see the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, including but not limited to the discussion under "Risk Factors" therein, which the Company filed with the SEC and which may be viewed at http://www.sec.gov/.

Issuer Direct Corporation Media Contacts:

Brian R. Balbirnie

+1 919-481-4000

brian.balbirnie@issuerdirect.com

James Carbonara

1+ (646)-755-7412

james@haydenir.com

SOURCE: Issuer Direct Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715667/Issuer-Direct-CorpR-Announces-New-ADA-and-ACA-Compliance-for-IR-Websites
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ricoh, a leading provider of smart workplace technology, today announced it has been appointed as a Medius Cloud Partner in Australia, enabling the company to sell and integrate the Medius range of autonomous account payable solutions. Medius cloud partners are responsible for pre-sales, client engagement, deployment, post implementation and support. At the same time, they receive ongoing support from Medius to ensure the best possible end customer experiences.

The addition of Medius's solution extends Ricoh's range of digital services solutions, including optimized workflows, anytime anywhere collaboration, intelligent capture, automation and digital infrastructure. It will now offer customers the Medius suite of market-leading solutions that enable organizations to automate the process of receiving, handling, approving, and paying of invoices to support better management of spend, risk management of fraud, and optimize procure-to-pay processes.

The partnership between the two companies in Australia extends a successful working relationship forged between the two organizations in New Zealand where Ricoh has been a Medius cloud partner since 2016.

Lars Mellergaard, Managing Director Medius Australia, said: "Medius is actively growing our Australian channel partners to expand our reach and introduce a broader cross-section of customers to the benefits of AP automation. Ricoh's Australian market presence, broad customer base and expertise in the provision of digital services in the cloud makes it an ideal partner for Medius at a time when there are growing requirements for electronic accounts payable governance and compliance."

Branden Jenkins, COO, Medius, comments: "As Medius scales globally, the APAC market is a fantastic growth opportunity for the business. Building on the success of partnerships in the region, including our partnership with Ricoh is key as we look to accelerate mutual new business opportunities, and bring our technology to more businesses, as their requirements evolve and develop."

The addition of Medius accounts payable solutions will enable Ricoh to provide Australian businesses with cloud-based accounts payable solutions to meet market demands for automated solutions which are highly configurable, customized and easy to use while supporting pressures to understand, control and optimize spend.

Shane Baker, Digital Services National Manager, Ricoh says: "We were looking for an accounts payable solution that was a great fit for the Australian mid-market business, that could also scale. We also needed a solution that had a proven track record, with a comprehensive set of features and functions, including procurement, raising PO requests, onboarding suppliers and contract management. Medius's industry-leading offering was the clear choice for us. Medius has been incredible to work with in New Zealand, and customers love their products."

Baker adds, "We're laser focused on working together with our customers as they continue to push the boundaries of their own digital transformation agendas introducing them to the award-winning benefits of Medius AP automation and its operational advantages."

CONTACT:

For more information, please contact:

Laurel Case, Fight or Flight for Medius

laurel@fightorflight.com | +1 315 663 6780

Medius@fightflight.co.uk | +44 330 133 0985

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/medius/r/ricoh-australia-appointed-medius-cloud-partner,c3629901
DGAP Post-admission Duties announcement: Glanbia Co-operative Society Limited / Transfer of shares

Glanbia Co-operative Society Limited: Release of a capital market information



13.09.2022 / 13:45 GMT/BST

Dissemination of a Post-admission Duties announcement transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Glanbia Co-operative Society Limited confirms the transfer of 12 million Glanbia plc shares to over 11,000 members

13 September 2022 - Glanbia Co-operative Society Limited ("Glanbia Co-op") announces that it has transferred, via "spin-out", a total of approximately 12 million Glanbia plc shares to over 11,000 members of Glanbia Co-op. This equates to approximately 4.4% of the issued share capital of Glanbia plc. The average number of shares in Glanbia plc received by each individual member of Glanbia Co-op is 975.

Following the completion of the spin-out, Glanbia Co-op will remain the largest individual shareholder in Glanbia plc, with 27.64% of the issued share capital.

The spin-out was among a number of measures approved by the eligible members of Glanbia Co-op at a special general meeting held on 17 December 2021, including the purchase by Glanbia Co-op of the remaining 40% interest in Glanbia Ireland from Glanbia plc which was completed on 1 April 2022, bringing full ownership of Glanbia Ireland under Glanbia Co-op.

For further information contact:

Glanbia Co-operative Society Limited

Pat O'Keeffe, Corporate Affairs Director +353 87 241 4970

13.09.2022 GMT/BST The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.dgap.de


NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Global skilled business support services firm Williams Lea announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire UK-based outsourced support solutions provider Intelligent Office. The deal is expected to complete on October 1, 2022.

As part of the acquisition, Intelligent Office brings a strong client base and over 800 talented employees into the Williams Lea organization. The clients, including a number of UK top 200 law firms will benefit from Williams Lea's best-in-class corporate infrastructure, global reach and focus on leading-edge technology.

"This acquisition perfectly aligns to Williams Lea's business growth strategy and strengthens our offerings in the UK legal market," said Clare Hart, CEO Williams Lea. "Intelligent Office's regional expertise and presence, added to our expanding global product and operational capabilities, solidifies our commitment to serving the global business services needs of our clients," she added.

Rachel McCorry, CEO Intelligent Office commented on the acquisition: "Williams Lea's values and their commitment to clients aligns perfectly with Intelligent Office's vision. Over the last 20 years, Intelligent Office has built an attractive portfolio of office, administrative and secretarial support services to the legal sector, and joining the Williams Lea family combines complementary talent, expertise and culture from our two businesses which further strengthens the services we deliver to our collective clients and expands opportunities for all our employees. I am very much looking forward to integrating our operations and supporting clients in our EMEA region to revolutionize their support services."

James Savage, Partner at YFM, Intelligent Office's Private Equity investor added: "When we backed Intelligent Office in 2014, we knew that Rachel and her team were well placed to capitalize on a growing legal market. Since then, the business has broadened its product offering, supporting its clients through the pandemic and in the evolution of working practices and more than doubling revenue and profits. We're pleased to realize this strong return for our investors and think that Williams Lea is a great home for the business."

About Williams Lea

Williams Lea is the global provider of skilled business-critical support services to financial, legal and professional services firms, connecting people, processes and technology to streamline key business and administrative functions and helping companies adapt to a more virtual and digital workplace.

Built on a strong heritage, great client relationships and a talented team, Williams Lea is the trusted global outsourcing provider to clients in highly regulated environments.

Williams Lea serves clients in 20 countries across four continents and has 5,500 employees worldwide. Williams Lea is backed by Advent International, one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors.

For more information, please visit www.williamslea.com.

Contact: Jennifer Materkoski

Director, Communications

+01 304-559-9491

jennifer.materkoski@williamslea.com
Suvoda President and CEO Jagath Wanninayake to be a featured speaker at DPHARM to discuss Innovation Without Disruption.

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Suvoda LLC , a global clinical trial technology company that specializes in complex studies in therapeutic areas such as oncology, central nervous system (CNS), and rare disease, today announced its new free-picking capabilities included in its latest Interactive Response System (IRT) release, used for patient randomization and supply chain management, at the 12th Annual DPHARM Disruptive Innovations Conference in Boston.





The level of clinical trial complexity today is putting an increased strain on the drug and biologics supply chain. Suvoda's latest free-picking functionality in its IRT system allows sponsors more flexibility in how they manage their supply-side packaging, labeling, and distribution operations, empowering them to effectively and safely begin their journey to a Just-in-Time (JIT) paradigm.

"Supply chain logistics continue to comprise the majority of clinical trial supply chain budgets, making it crucial to prioritize the development of flexible software solutions that enable sponsors to maximize manufacturing and distribution efficiencies," said Lisa Li, director of IRT product management at Suvoda. "With free-picking capabilities as a choice when using Suvoda IRT, sponsors are free to implement the right strategy for each trial based on their unique requirements and protocols."

With free picking, sponsors can have more choices and flexibility in how they fulfill clinical supplies demand. Instead of being constrained by an IRT request for specific drug units for a shipment, with free-picking, the shipment request can contain a set of parameters such as quantity, drug type, and a minimum expiration date without dictating the exact units that need to go into a shipment request. Free-picking enhances Suvoda's IRT offering to support drug supply strategies like flexible shipment fulfillment and bright stock pooling with JIT labeling. This enables sponsors to reduce waste and optimize labeling and destruction costs, especially in trials that include biologics.

"Suvoda has a history of creating flexible solutions that combine innovative technologies and offerings with pragmatic approaches to adoption, to drive efficiency in life-sustaining studies," said Jagath Wanninayake, president and CEO of Suvoda. "The launch of our free-picking functionality is another example of curating choices for customers that enable them to innovate when and how they are ready so that they can start moving towards new paradigms of efficiency while serving the urgent and critical needs of patients in today's clinical trials."

Jagath Wanninayake will be a featured speaker on September 14, 2022, where he will participate in a fireside chat for Today Show @DPharm . His discussion, "Innovation Without Disruption: The Practical Path to Patient-Centric, Accessible Clinical Trials" will highlight how sponsors and CROs can adopt innovation to effect positive change for clinical trials in an inclusive manner while minimizing disruption.

About Suvoda

Suvoda is a global clinical trial technology company that specializes in complex, life-sustaining studies in therapeutic areas like oncology, central nervous system (CNS), and rare disease. Founded in 2013 by experts in eClinical technologies, Suvoda empowers clinical trial professionals to manage the most urgent moments in the most urgent trials through advanced software solutions delivered on a single platform. Headquartered outside Philadelphia, Suvoda also maintains offices in Portland, OR, Barcelona, Spain, Bucharest, Romania and Tokyo, Japan. The company consistently boasts a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of close to 70, far exceeding the technology industry average of 50, and has been selected by trial sponsors and CROs to support more than 1,000 trials across 65 countries. To learn more, visit suvoda.com . Follow Suvoda on Twitter and LinkedIn .

Media Contact

Morgan Reese

Clyde Group

Morgan.Reese@clydegroup.com





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Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ 046890), a leading global innovator of LED products and technology, announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against Feit Electronic ("Feit"), the largest light bulb maker in the U.S.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005622/en/

General household light bulbs and filament bulbs (Photo: Business Wire)

The complaint asserts that Feit lighting products infringe twelve LED patents, and seeks a permanent injunction against the sales of those products.

Seoul Semiconductor ("Seoul") has already secured permanent injunctions against several retailers selling Feit products in the Eastern District of Texas in 2019 and the Central District of California in 2020.

However, the distribution of suspected infringing products has continued. For that reason, in 2022, Seoul filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Ace Hardware, another distributor of Feit, as well as a patent infringement lawsuit directly against Feit, to cut off the distribution of products believed to be infringing Seoul's patents.

Seoul has a history of continually pursuing companies that infringe its patents. Everlight Electronics ("Everlight"), a Taiwanese LED package maker, is the world's eighth biggest LED maker. Based on Seoul's enforcement, the German District Court of Dusseldorf ordered multiple permanent injunctions and a recall of Everlight's LED products in 2018-19. In June 2022, Suwon District Court in Korea found Everlight guilty of criminal misappropriation of Seoul's trade secrets and industry technology, awarding the maximum criminal fines.

Seoul triumphed in six-year litigation against Enplas Corporation, the largest backlight unit (BLU) lens maker, when the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that Enplas willfully infringed Seoul's LED patent, and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Seoul's victory in 2019. Civil damages by Enplas are still pending in another litigation.

"There are unethical companies that do not respect intellectual properties despite emphasizing corporate responsibility, such as ESG," said an official at Seoul. "Intellectual property rights are necessary to respect in order to create fair competition in the market."

About Seoul Semiconductor

Seoul Semiconductor is the world's second-largest global LED manufacturer, a ranking excluding the captive market, and has more than 18,000 patents. Based on a differentiated product portfolio, Seoul offers a wide range of technologies, and mass produces innovative LED products for indoor and outdoor lighting, automotive, IT products, such as mobile phones, computer displays, and other applications, as well as the UV area. The company's world's first development and mass production products are becoming the LED industry standard and leading the global market with a package-free LED, WICOP; a high-voltage AC-driven LED, Acrich; an LED with 10X the output of a conventional LED, nPola; a cutting edge ultraviolet clean technology LED, Violeds; an all direction light emitting technology, filament LED; a natural sun spectrum LED, SunLike; and more. For more information, please visit www.seoulsemicon.com/en.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005622/en/

Contacts:

Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd.

Jinseop Jung

Tel: +82-10-5472-8732

Email: jjs8732@seoulsemicon.com
Built on the Opus digital network platform to provide complete upstream visibility and full interoperability with direct suppliers

BOSTON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TraceLink Inc., the leading digital network platform company, today announced the availability of Supply Chain Work Management for Direct Supply-the first solution to enable healthcare and life sciences companies to connect and collaborate with all suppliers, including contract manufacturers, in real-time and ensure complete upstream visibility. Supply Chain Work Management for Direct Supply is the fastest and easiest path to supply chain digital transformation for leaders in Supply Chain, External Manufacturing, Procurement, and more.





Powered by the Opus Platform, Supply Chain Work Management for Direct Supply enables full digitalization of the purchase order process by linking systems to share purchase order data in real-time, linking people to enable collaboration as needed, and digitalizing an unlimited number of supporting multienterprise planning and procurement processes. Purchase orders are shared through three modes of integration between ERP and the suppliers via the TraceLink Opus Digital Network Platform:

Full B2B Data Exchange : Purchase orders and updates are communicated between customers' and suppliers' ERP systems.

: Purchase orders and updates are communicated between customers' and suppliers' ERP systems. Hybrid B2B Exchange : Purchase orders and updates are communicated from customers' ERP to the Opus network and manually reviewed and updated by the suppliers through an interoperable interface, eliminating one-off portals which stymie supply chain digitalization efforts.

: Purchase orders and updates are communicated from customers' ERP to the Opus network and manually reviewed and updated by the suppliers through an interoperable interface, eliminating one-off portals which stymie supply chain digitalization efforts. Manual: Engage with suppliers through the Supply Chain Work Management user experience -- with full information interoperability across the network of companies using the solution -- to share, review, and update purchase orders.

"Integrating with suppliers' systems to exchange B2B data in real-time to achieve effective supply chain visibility and execution has eluded supply chain leaders for more than 30 years," said Shabbir Dahod, President and CEO of TraceLink. "With the Supply Chain Work Management for Direct Supply solution, manufacturers will be able to link with all suppliers and CMOs to replace EDI and outdated point-to-point integrations with Opus network-based integration. Coupled with the solution's work management capabilities, supply chain leaders can empower internal teams and engage suppliers to create agile network ecosystems that are a true competitive advantage, with a level of visibility and orchestration that has eluded them for years."

The Supply Chain Work Management for Direct Supply tasks capability digitalizes manual work between supply chain partners-from purchase order collaboration, material shortage resolution, alternate supplier selection, and shared forecasts, to tech transfers, new product launches, phase 3 commercialization, and beyond. The unique multienterprise task management workflows enable visibility and collaboration across multiple tiers of supply chain partners, allowing them to execute cross-company processes faster and more effectively than ever before. When task management is coupled with additional pre-built supply chain process templates for issue management and change requests, as well as the ability to leverage no-code customization capability for modifying workflows, user experiences, and user roles and access controls, Supply Chain Work Management for Direct Supply provides distributed teams with the tools required to accelerate supply chain digitalization efforts.

"Supply Chain Work Management for Direct Supply is a revolutionary new solution," said Karl Waldman, TraceLink General Manager for Agile Process Teams. "Managers can track tasks from beginning to end, assign unique subtasks to different supply chain partners, and set deadlines to ensure projects get done on time. Dashboards help executives at each company to monitor processes by due date, priority, and workflow status. Frequently used cross-company processes can be quickly digitalized using predefined task templates that are easily customized to meet different partner ecosystem needs. Executives can expect to improve key business metrics including on-time, in-full and lower cost of goods sold. There is nothing like Supply Chain Work Management available in the marketplace."

About TraceLink

TraceLink is the only business network creation platform for the Internet of Supply Chains-integrated business ecosystems built with multienterprise applications on the TraceLink Opus platform. Business networks are the foundation of an end-to-end supply chain digitalization strategy that delivers customer-centric agility and resiliency leveraging the collective intelligence of an industry. The TraceLink Opus Digital Network Platform enables speed of open innovation and implementation with a partner ecosystem for no-code and low-code development of solutions and applications.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1004729/TraceLink_Logo.jpg
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - Datametrex AI Limited (TSXV: DM) (FSE: D4G) (OTCQB: DTMXF) (the "Company" or "Datametrex') is pleased to announce that Medi-Call Inc., the Company's wholly owned telehealth company, has commenced its services to the international foreign students in Canada.

Nearly 30 percent (30%) of Canadians report chronic difficulty accessing healthcare, (Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/9111584/canada-health-care-access-poll/) and about half of Canadians report they either can't find a family doctor or waited longer than a week for an appointment. (Source: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/about-half-of-canadians-either-cant-find-a-family-doctor-or-wait-longer-than-a-week-for-an-appointment-poll).

With the ongoing healthcare crisis, Canadians are being negatively impacted. The most impacted, are students who live abroad away from family. Finding timely healthcare or urgent care is difficult. Latest data shows there are currently 388,782 international students enrolled in higher education in Canada (Source: https://erudera.com/statistics/canada/canada-international-student-statistics/).

Latest data reported from an Angus Reid survey found that six (6) million Canadians were without a family doctor and have been searching for over a year to get access to a general practitioner. (Source: https://tnc.news/2022/09/11/family-doctor/#:~:text=An%20Angus%20Reid%20survey%20found,access%20to%20a%20general%20practitioner.)

With Canadians struggling to find efficient healthcare, the current status of the healthcare system and lack of accessibility will be a much larger burden for international students settling into a new country. Medi-Call plans to be the service provider for international students in Canada with its easy access and ability to provide necessary healthcare services to students.

"Management has tapped into an international network that connects the Company with students abroad coming into Canada who are actively looking for healthcare solutions. This is an opportunity for Medi-Call to grow its patient base and help provide fast and efficient healthcare services to those who need it," said Marshall Gunter, CEO of the Company.

About Medi-Call

Medi-call is a subscription-based software as a service (SaaS) mobile application that connects patients with doctors. It is an integrated grid system that connects patients with providers in real time. Medi-Call solves accessibility issues for patients living in rural or isolated communities and those also have limited mobility while improving coordination and communication of treatment among healthcare team members and their patients. Medi-Call facilitates mobile health care services, including prescriptions and is passionate about building doctor-patient relationships virtually.

Visit Medicallmd.ca to learn more about the Company.

Download the Medi-Call App for Android: https://bit.ly/MCGooglePlay

Download the Medi-Call App for iOS: https://apple.co/3oos9m2

About Datametrex

Datametrex AI Limited is a technology-focused company with exposure to artificial intelligence, machine learning, telehealth and has recently entered the electric vehicle (EV) market. Datametrex's mission is to provide tools and solutions that support companies in fulfilling their operational goals, including health and safety, with predictive and preventive technologies. By working with companies to set a new standard of protocols through artificial intelligence and health diagnostics, the Company provides progressive solutions to support the supply chain. For additional information on Datametrex and other corporate information, please visit the Company's website at www.datametrex.com.

For further information:

Investor Relations & Communications

Priya Monique Atwal, Director of Communications

Email: investors@datametrex.com

Tel: 416-901-5611 x 204

Marshall Gunter, CEO

Email: mgunter@datametrex.com

Tel: 514-295-2300

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

All statements included in this press release that address activities, events, or developments that the Company expects, believes, or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the Bid. These forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions made by the Company based on its experience, perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. In addition, these statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections, and other forward-looking statements will prove inaccurate, certain of which are beyond the Company's control. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake to revise or update these forward-looking statements after the date hereof or revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/136957
SEATTLE, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Yadea Group, a leading player in the electric scooter industry, has scooped three International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), demonstrating the company's strengths in the field of industrial design.





Yadea is increasingly receiving acknowledgements and validation for its innovative electric two-wheeler designs. This time, the company received three nominations for its products. The DV6 e-scooter and Y80 ebike picked up Bronze Awards, while the KS2 electric kick-scooter was named a Finalist. The awards provide commendations to products based on their user-friendly designs, as well as their overall aesthetic and appearance, while also focusing on the product and functional performance.

"At Yadea, we are honored to have been nominated and to have received these awards, and we would like to extend our thanks to IDEA for this symbol of recognition," said Aska Zeng, CEO of Yadea Europe. "We are also deeply indebted and grateful to Yadea's outstanding R&D and design team for their continuous innovations when developing these excellent designs with users in mind."

Now in its 42nd year, the iconic IDEA is one of the longest-running design awards globally and receives thousands of entries worldwide on an annual basis. The IDEA jury reviews entries against multiple criteria spanning design innovation, benefits to the user, client, brand and society, as well as appropriate aesthetics.

"At Yadea, we have always prided ourselves on our product design," added Steve Mo, Design Director of Yadea. "During the product development process, as well as prioritizing function and performance of the product itself, we also strive to provide our users with the most comfortable experience, and this works its way into our design process."

Renowned in the industry for its sleek yet convenient foldable design, the Yadea Y80 took a Bronze IDEA award home. Featuring a minimalist one-piece cast-body, this elegant two-wheeler looks like a typical bicycle at first glance. It actually comes equipped with a 350W 100Nm high-power motor, providing a range that makes it ideal for commuters.

Yadea's other Bronze IDEA award winner was the DV6 electric bicycle. Despite its simple, diminutive, and elegant design, the V-shaped DV6 packs in a variety of innovative features. The product's small stature, intentionally worked into its design, makes it perfect for those who do not wish to deal with a heavy electric scooter.

The company's other product to receive plaudits at the IDEA Awards was the KS2, Yadea's new-generation electric scooter. With the KS2, the company incorporated a compact and ergonomic design. The subsequent improvements in portability and manoeuvrability compared with other models make the KS2 ideal for use as a last-mile mobility solution in urban areas. Yadea is currently putting the final touches on a roll-out for the KS2 across the North American market. Customers in the US will be able to purchase the product on Amazon from Sep 12th.

The company has always laid a strong emphasis on the design of products, with its portfolio of products boasting a strong design aesthetic and a high level of artistic flair. The IDEA awards are not the first instance of industry recognition for Yadea. The company also won the IDEA award in 2019, as well as a Red Dot Design Award in 2020. Yadea also collaborates with world-leading design studios such as Giovannoni Design, AMV Design, and KISKA.

While adhering design excellence, Yadea has continued to devote itself to a mission of providing people with eco-friendly mobility solutions. The company remains steadfast in this commitment and industry recognition of its products spurs Yadea on to create even more outstanding innovative two-wheelers in the future.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1897469/Yadea_s_Industrial_Design_Excellence_Recognized_by_IDEA.jpg
LONDON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dwight School London , a leading independent international school, is excited to launch a new electric bus service in partnership with the global smart bus transport company, Zeelo . The school has committed to electrifying part of its school transport offering as part of its ongoing mission to reduce its overall carbon footprint while also lowering operational costs. Dwight School London will run an electric bus service for one of three routes serviced by Zeelo for the home to school run. The switch from petrol buses to electric, will enable Dwight School London to reduce its annual carbon emissions from school transport by as much as 33%.The new electric bus route forms part of the school's wider sustainability initiative, aligning with its Development Plan towards the reduction of scope 3 carbon emissions.





Zeelo has been providing smart bus commute services to Dwight School London since 2021 to run efficient, safe, and reliable home-to-school transport and is already Europe's only bus transport company that offers 100% carbon neutral bus rides. Zeelo currently offsets the entirety of CO2 emissions of all its private bus & shuttle services for over 200 organisations, including the dead leg, and averages a saving of over 12,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. [1] Encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles for its services forms part of Zeelo's ESG Strategy to drive a transition towards net zero-bus transport in the UK by 2030, with Dwight School London becoming the first educational organisation in its portfolio to adopt Zeelo's electric bus offering.

Sam Ryan, CEO of Zeelo commented: "Offsetting carbon emissions goes some way towards helping us meet our sustainability targets but does not resolve the issue of air quality around schools and educational campuses. We're delighted to support Dwight School London with their CO2 reduction plans by enabling the transition of their school transport services from diesel to electric vehicles and help pave the way for all our education customers to switch to a net-zero transport service."

Dwight School London, through its partnership with Zeelo, has already seen 10,802 car journeys taken off the road in the last year, amounting to 23.87 tonnes of CO2 emissions removed from the atmosphere since the original service launched in September 2021.The new option to switch to a 100% electric bus service allows all Zeelo customers not only to significantly reduce the CO2 emissions (an extra 3 cubic tonnes of CO2 emissions savings) but also enhance the quality of the air around their campus. Through a managed service solution that is supported by an advanced routing engine and operations technology that has been modified to include vehicle range and charging opportunities, Zeelo will make the transition to electric bus commuting painless.

Chris Beddows, Head of the School, said: "We place innovation and sustainability at the heart of our school's mission, vision and values. We are thrilled and immensely proud to be the first school in the whole of the United Kingdom to add this electric vehicle to our fleet of school buses and our whole community is excited by this new initiative. As a school who takes pride in taking action for the betterment of the world, the electric bus will help make the world a greener place and signify to our students that the climate is something that is hugely important to us as a school. The Zeelo electric bus was showcased to the students and there was a real buzz of excitement and interest which spilled back into the classrooms."

Zeelo provides tech-enabled, flexible turn-key and plug-in transportation services for over 1.8 million passengers per year on their daily commute to work and school across the UK, North America and South Africa, and hopes that this initiative will pave the way for more organisations making a switch to EV.

[1] https://fpm.climatepartner.com/tracking/16626-2111-1002/en

For media inquiries, please contact:

Dwight School London

Angelo Evangelou

Marketing and Communications Manager

aevangelou@dwightlondon.org | +44 (0)7810 503 630

Zeelo

Sonia Afzal

Head of Communications

sonia@zeelo.co | +44 (0)7950 467 773

About Dwight School London:

Dwight School London is part of the internationally renowned global Dwight family of schools with outstanding student to teacher ratios. It is celebrating its 50th year anniversary this year and remains a leading independent international school located in the North Finchley, Woodside Park and Friern Barnet areas of north London, United Kingdom. It educates children from the ages of 2-18 and consists of a nursery, junior and senior schools.

About Zeelo

Zeelo is a smart bus platform for organisations. The global tech company is modernising daily bus commutes for frontline workers and students so that they can get to work and school in a faster, smarter, and much greener way. Zeelo serves large businesses and independent schools and moves nearly 150,000 riders each month across the world. Zeelo's tech-optimised bus routes not only reduce carbon emissions by 78% by replacing 30 cars for every bus journey, but also offset 100% of each Zeelo bus journey. Its innovative transport management software system comprises a SaaS platform, proprietary routing algorithms, and multiple consumer apps, and 24 / 7 customer service support (4.9 TrustPilot rating) that ensure people located in transport deserts have a regular, subsidised and sustainable bus service for their daily commute, wherever they are based. Headquartered in London with over 160 employees, an R&D team in Spain and live operations in the UK, South Africa and the US, Zeelo was founded in 2016 by Sam Ryan, Barney Williams and Dani Ruiz. It closed its Series A in 2018 and has raised over US$ 30 million in funding, including VC-backed investment from ETF Partners, InMotion Ventures and Dynamo. The co-founders previously sold their pioneering ride-sharing app JumpIn to Addison Lee in 2014. For additional information, please visit www.zeelo.co

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1897664/Zeelo_Dwight_School_London.jpg
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Government will import 4.9 million bottles of infant formula from Australia on Friday under Operation Fly Formula Mission to address the nationwide shortage of the product caused by Abbott Nutrition recall. The Biden Administration announced Monday that his Administration is sourcing a flight, facilitated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to transport 330,000 pounds of Bellamy's Organic Infant Formula to Dallas, TX. These products will be distributed through retailers nationwide, the White House said. In May, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the agency is exercising enforcement discretion so that Bellamy's Organic can export 1.4 million pounds of infant formula into the U.S., which is equivalent to 21 million 8-ounce bottles. Biden launched Operation Fly Formula in May to speed up the import of infant formula that meets U.S. health and safety standards, and stock enough product in stores as soon as possible. The Biden Administration is sourcing the Defense Department's commercial aircraft, facilitated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), for Operation Fly Formula. These flights will bypass regular air freighting routes to speed up the importation. Under Operation Fly Formula, by September 16, the United States will have imported nearly 90 million 8-ounce bottle equivalents of baby formula from abroad, the White House said. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
NEW YORK, NY and MONTVALE, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / Today, IMA (Institute of Management Accountants), the association of accountants and financial professionals in business, launched a new global, integrated advertising campaign in support of the CMA (Certified Management Accountant) certification program. The multi-channel campaign was developed in partnership with The Gate, an international advertising agency and marketing services company, for the seventh consecutive year.

The ads look to empower accounting and finance professionals to take control and explore how the CMA certification can help advance their careers. The videos and digital executions take an empathetic look at feeling invisible and being stuck in executing routine, daily tasks. They serve to inspire real, behavioral change among individuals to get to the next level, where they can drive strategic decisions, make an impact on their business, and step up to a leadership role. The message remains that accounting and finance professionals with a CMA will always be in demand and this year's campaign emphasizes that the certification will make professionals visible to their colleagues, managers, and organizations.

"Our campaign taps into the insight that many accountants feel invisible at work and stuck in a slow-moving career. But if they step up and get their CMA, they'll have the skills they need to feel seen and appreciated," said David Bernstein, Chief Creative Officer, The Gate.

The ads are accessible here:

"Take control of your career as a CMA"

"You'll go places with the CMA"

"At a time when companies are facing new challenges, rising costs, resource constraints, and looking at completely new ways of doing business, the skills of CMAs are more valuable than ever," said Ellen Gurevich, CAE, CMO and senior vice president of marketing at IMA. "Employers need to have finance and accounting leaders who can step up to create insights and strategies to keep up with the pace of change and break through. CMAs are equipped to analyze and deliver results in ways that others cannot. They have the skills necessary to serve as strategic advisors in their organizations, and in turn, advance their careers."

The CMA verifies mastery of the 12 most critical practice areas in management accounting, including planning and analysis, performance management, and risk management. Earning the CMA enables finance and accounting professionals to contribute actively to organizational strategy as business partners and to make the leap from more traditional and junior-level finance roles into more strategic leadership positions. This means that CMAs are well-positioned to make the leap from more traditional and junior-level finance roles into strategic leadership positions.

The campaign utilizes connected television, programmatic display, social media, streaming audio, search engine marketing, industry specific newsletters, and has global extensions in IMA's key regions. There will also be a concurrent public relations campaign, and promotions on IMA's website and social channels.

About IMA (Institute of Management Accountants)

IMA is one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting profession. Globally, IMA supports the profession through research, the CMA (Certified Management Accountant) and CSCA (Certified in Strategy and Competitive Analysis) programs, continuing education, networking, and advocacy of the highest ethical business practices. Twice named Professional Body of the Year by The Accountant/International Accounting Bulletin, IMA has a global network of about 140,000 members in 150 countries and 350 professional and student chapters. Headquartered in Montvale, N.J., USA, IMA provides localized services through its four global regions: The Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe and Middle East/India. For more information about IMA, please visit www.imanet.org.

About The Gate

The Gate, New York is a full-service advertising agency. We take bigger leaps with fewer steps by blending strategy, creative, media and technology to make sure nothing gets in the way. So, when you find The Gate, you can walk through walls. This approach has led to successful communication programs for clients in finance, consumer goods, luxury, insurance, energy, and more. The Gate manages over $250 million in client advertising and has a network of offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Edinburgh, and Shanghai. For more information, visit us.thegateworldwide.com.

CONTACT:

Giuseppe Barone

IMA

(201) 474-1681

giuseppe.barone@imanet.org

Brian Sherry

Stern Strategy Group

(908) 325-3860

ima@sternstrategy.com

Nancy Aresu

The Gate

(917) 539-0621

nancy.aresu@thegateworldwide.com

SOURCE: IMA (Institute of Management Accountants)

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715630/IMA-Launches-Global-Ad-Campaign-Highlighting-the-Need-for-Skilled-CMAs-in-Businesses
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - Southern Silver Exploration Corp. (TSXV: SSV) ("Southern Silver" and the "Company") reports that it has received assay results from the first two drill holes of its approximate 4,000-metre diamond drilling program currently underway to test several Laramide-age copper porphyry and skarn targets at its wholly owned Oro property, located in southwestern New Mexico, USA. The first two deep holes tested the main porphyry target on the Oro property, identified through earlier geological compilation, clay-alteration studies and ZTEM airborne geophysics.

Drilling successfully intersected:

Classic geochemical and alteration zoning demonstrating near surface lower temperature prophyllic alteration transitioning at depth into a thick zone of strong pyritic/phyllic-alteration, and at further depth transitioning into higher temperature potassic alteration with strong copper enrichment;

Increasing molybdenite concentrations with depth within the potassic alteration, suggesting the strongest copper mineralization lies deeper in the hydrothermal system; and

Unexposed hydrothermal diatreme breccias with copper oxides directly beneath gravel cover in one hole, a potential host for high-grade copper at depth.

Regionally important Cretaceous carbonate host rocks were not adequately tested in either hole due to the complex array of dikes encountered beneath Laramide-age volcanic rocks; thus, the carbonate sequence remains a high priority to test for high-grade skarn development.

Results from these initial two holes provide the company with a better understanding of the underlying stratigraphy, the distribution of the main alteration phases and, importantly, the relationship between the ZTEM geophysical signatures and the alteration assemblages to enhance further drill targeting within this 4km2 area.

Thick zones of copper mineralization were intersected in hole OR22-011 (Total Depth of 1,005.8m), which includes 644m (2,113 feet) of 0.030% Cu from 359m to 1,003m depth, with the lower 180m (590 feet averaging 0.048% Cu. Copper and molybdenum concentrations, as well as the intensity of alteration, generally increase to the end of the maximum permitted depth. The complex assemblage of high-level dikes, hydrothermal breccias, and the erratic increase in molybdenum concentrations from generally less than 10 ppm to narrow zones of +0.01% Mo indicate higher grades of copper should lie deeper in this rotated porphyry system.





Figure 1. Initial drill hole locations for 4,000-metre diamond drilling program



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5344/136891_b882954c144de830_002full.jpg

Hole OR22-010 (Total Depth of 914.4m) encountered similarly increasing phyllic alteration into potassic alteration, intersecting 143m of 0.012% Cu from 569 to 712m depth, and then back into lower temperature phyllic alteration, suggesting the hole skimmed the edge of copper mineralization.

Drilling continues at Oro with hole OR22-012, which is testing a strong ZTEM geophysical anomaly where regionally important Cretaceous-age carbonate host rock is projected to lie at relatively shallow depths.

Consultant Joe Kizis comments, "Oro is a large, well-zoned mineral system situated along a trend containing major copper deposits and mines; the trend extends from southwestern New Mexico into eastern Arizona. Our clay studies of surface samples confirm the presence of high-temperature clays that are diagnostic of a lithocap, now recognized as the nearly barren top of porphyry copper systems. Several lines of geologic evidence suggest that Oro was tilted down to the northeast after mineralization, with the strongest lithocap alteration near our first two holes. Hole OR22-010 indicated that we skimmed the copper zone before transitioning back into more distal phyllic alteration. Based on that zoning pattern, hole OR22-011 was reoriented to successfully cut across the alteration zoning into a copper-enriched potassic alteration zone before ending the hole at permitted depth. The complex array of dikes, hydrothermal breccia and geochemically erratic concentrations of molybdenum suggest we are still too shallow in the porphyry system. Due to the post-mineral tilting, we will need to drill deeper into the system southwest of hole -011 to test beneath the thick zone of low-grade copper mineralization. Other planned holes, such as OR22-012 currently underway, will test regionally important Cretaceous-age carbonate host-rocks guided by ZTEM and magnetics geophysics."

VP Exploration Rob Macdonald comments, "Oro is located in an important belt of copper porphyry deposits in the southwestern US, and our interpretation that the entire hydrothermal system is preserved beneath a tilted Lithocap explains why previous copper exploration companies have failed to make a significant copper discovery interior to the ring of numerous silver-zinc-lead-gold carbonate-replacement bodies. Verification of classic copper porphyry metal zoning in these two core holes, even at this relatively shallow level of the porphyry system, is very encouraging."





Figure 2. OR-22-011 Downhole Geochemical Zonation



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5344/136891_b882954c144de830_003full.jpg



HoleID Easting_NAD27 Northing_NAD27 Bearing Inclination Depth_ft Depth_m OR22-010 739841 3532589 0 -70 3,000 914.4 OR22-011 740748 3533066 315 -70 3,300 1005.8





Figure 3. OR-22-011 Core. ~2590.3-foot (789.5m) depth - Chalcopyrite on late fracture [within 3.2m of 0.019% Cu/6ppm Mo]



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5344/136891_b882954c144de830_005full.jpg







Figure 4. OR-22-011 Core. ~2760-foot (842.2m) depth - Strong potassic alteration with Cpy & Mag [1.5m of 0.063% Cu/4ppm Mo]



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Figure 5. OR-22-011 Core. ~3105.4-foot (946.5m) depth - potassic alteration in anhydrite veinlet [1.8m of 0.046% Cu/60ppm Mo]



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About Oro

The Oro property consists of patented land, New Mexico State leases, and Federal/BLM mineral claims acquired by purchase, staking and lease over the past several years. Several historic mines produced copper, lead, zinc, silver, and gold from discrete portions of the amalgamated property. The property covers a large, well-zoned Laramide-age mineral system consisting of a ring of Carbonate Replacement Deposits (CRDs) around a core of intense sericite-pyrite alteration, which clay mineralogy indicates is the lithocap overlying an unexposed porphyry centre. Targeting for copper mineralization is based upon 3D modelling of data generated by geologic mapping, historic drill holes, geochemical zoning studies, alteration clay zoning studies, and geophysical surveys. A 6-hole (4,000-metre) diamond drill program currently in progress will focus on porphyry and skarn targets.

Surrounding the CRD zone are distal-disseminated, sediment-hosted, gold showings, such as at the Stockpond target, where the Company has conducted limited exploratory drilling. The drilling encountered strongly oxidized, disseminated gold mineralization beneath shallow gravel cover that was limited by a post-mineral fault which buried potential extensions beneath a thick cover of gravel and which remains open for further exploration.

About Southern Silver Exploration Corp.

Southern Silver Exploration Corp. is an exploration and development company with a focus on the discovery of world-class mineral deposits either directly or through joint-venture relationships in mineral properties in major jurisdictions. Our specific emphasis is the 100% owned Cerro Las Minitas silver-lead-zinc project located in the heart of Mexico's Faja de Plata, which hosts multiple world-class mineral deposits such as Penasquito, Los Gatos, San Martin, Naica and Pitarrilla. We have assembled a team of highly experienced technical, operational and transactional professionals to support our exploration efforts in developing the Cerro Las Minitas project into a premier, high-grade, silver-lead-zinc mine. Our property portfolio also includes the Oro porphyry copper-gold project where a diamond drill program is underway and the Hermanas gold-silver vein project where permitting applications for the conduct of a drill program is underway, both located in southern New Mexico, USA

Robert Macdonald, MSc. P.Geo, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and supervised directly the collection of the data from the ORO Project that is reported in this disclosure and is responsible for the presentation of the technical information in this disclosure.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Lawrence Page"

Lawrence Page, Q.C.

President & Director, Southern Silver Exploration Corp.

For further information, please visit Southern Silver's website at; https://www.southernsilverexploration.com or contact us at 604.641.2759 or by email at ir@mnxltd.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the timing and receipt of government and regulatory approvals, and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. Southern Silver Exploration Corp. does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/136891
September 13, 2022

Philips Foundation and RAD-AID International leverage Philips' expertise in mobile ultrasound services to improve access to virtual care in hard-to-reach areas

New partnership sets up intensive program in 10 countries to train a wide range of health workers and specialists through real-time distance education and simulated procedure demonstrations

Co-created program aims to reach 50 million people by deploying hundreds of ultrasound devices that allow for remote healthcare thousands of kilometers away

Amsterdam, the Netherlands - Philips Foundation , with its mission to provide access to quality healthcare for 100 million people a year in underserved communities by 2030, together with Philips and RAD-AID International, today announced a multi-year cross-continental partnership to promote access to diagnostic ultrasound services in ten countries.

RAD-AID International , a US-based non-profit organization, will leverage the virtual care capabilities of Philips ultrasound solutions to provide a highly scalable, remote 'train-the-trainer' model to improve access to diagnostic and point-of-care ultrasound through curriculum-based education and clinical hands-on teaching. With these solutions, ultrasound experts, such as radiologists and sonographers, can communicate with training program participants thousands of kilometers away via voice, video and text messages, view the ultrasound images taken in real time, and remotely demonstrate equipment settings during guided ultrasound exams if necessary.

"By adopting a 'train-the-trainer' model, first-generation healthcare workers can contribute to the education of the next generation of ultrasound practitioners," said Daniel J. Mollura, President and CEO of RAD-AID International. "This innovative and ambitious initiative has a remarkable reach, and is both sustainable and scalable. We at RAD-AID look forward to working with the Philips Foundation in the coming years to improve the lives of millions of people through real-time ultrasound education and remote support."

"Despite the well-known benefits of early detection and timely treatment, diagnostic imaging is not available in many rural and remote areas where resources are scarce," said Margot Cooijmans, Director of the Philips Foundation. "Through this collaboration with RAD-AID International, who provide a high quality of service delivery, we can offer equipment and enable remote training in ten underserved areas, with a clear focus on increasing the number of patients who benefit from remote access to professional radiologists. Enhancing technology to improve healthcare for underserved populations defines this collaboration and is at the heart of our mission."

Philips Foundation, Philips and RAD-AID International all have a track record of improving access to ultrasound by training local health workers. For example, in recent years, Philips Foundation has developed several innovative models to address various gaps in access to ultrasound solutions . Together with healthcare experts, non-governmental organizations, and social entrepreneurs, it has pioneered task-sharing models and explored aspects such as delivery, referral, and income models to enable access to ultrasound for prenatal care. Philips innovates in connected care solutions that support healthcare systems and improve access to care for millions of people across the world. The company has set up tele-ultrasound programs that link specialists around the globe with local physicians in underserved communities to train them and enable them to provide potentially life-saving ultrasound scans to pregnant women.



This multi-year initiative aims to reach around 50 million people across Africa, Asia, North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Kenya, Laos, Nepal, Malawi, Tanzania, and the US. During the project's initial phase, RAD-AID International is deploying the model in the first five high-impact regional sites. Learnings from phase-one deployment will help Philips Foundation and RAD-AID International co-create new educational strategies for second-phase deployment.

For further information, please contact:

Joost Maltha

Philips Global Press Office

Tel: +31 6 10 55 8116

E-mail: joost.maltha@philips.com

Yannick Eshuijs

Philips Foundation

Tel.: +31 6 1852 6633

E-mail: yannick.eshuijs@philips.com

Daniel J. Mollura

RAD-AID International

E-mail: info@rad-aid.org

About Philips Foundation

Philips Foundation is a registered non-profit organization established in 2014 - with a mission to provide access to quality healthcare for underserved communities across the globe. By leveraging Philips' capabilities and combining them with the experience and expertise of non-governmental organizations and other community-focused and impact-driven enterprises, Philips Foundation helps create innovative pathways to open up affordable healthcare for communities most in need. By also partnering with innovative social entrepreneurs rooted in the local ecosystem, Philips Foundation aims to increase access to healthcare for 100 million people a year by 2030. More information can be found at www.philips-foundation.com

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips

About RAD-AID

RAD-AID International is a non-profit




Meltwater's AI-powered visual listening and company search support 11 enrichment types and 14M+ company names, setting the industry standard.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Meltwater, a global leader in media and social intelligence, today announces industry-defining visual listening and company search capabilities. As a result, Meltwater's 27,000+ customers immediately benefit from faster, more precise searches of their brand and competitors, as well as logo detection, object recognition, and scene analysis to provide unique context and insight into how brands appear on visual platforms.



Today's businesses are drowning in data. Every day, billions of social media posts and news articles spark conversations about their brand, competitors, and industry. The sheer volume of this data and the introduction of new data types, such as images, pictures, and memes, create a growing challenge for businesses to accurately and consistently structure data and extract relevant, real-time insights.

Meltwater's new visual listening capabilities enable users to search and analyze images, identifying specific logos, celebrities, memes, emotions, age groups, and more. Using state-of-the-art, deep learning techniques, Meltwater's in-house computer vision model ingests and classifies images across 11 different enrichment types, and identifies logos and celebrities at 95 and 98 percent accuracy. This enables Meltwater customers to quickly and accurately gain insights about their brand and tackle everything from crisis management to content ideation.

With Meltwater's new company search, Meltwater users benefit from AI-powered, pre-populated queries for over 14M companies which collect all relevant company mentions across news, social media, and visual content. Company search connects the most extensive knowledge graph in the industry-over 14M companies across 194 countries-with the most comprehensive set of owned and earned editorial, social, and broadcast data. This improves search accuracy and provides expert-level search results for Meltwater customers looking to manage their brand and perform competitive analysis. With company search, testing shows that search results are 52% more precise for company names that are also commonly-used words, such as Apple, Square, and Amazon, and additionally include content where the company logo is present, without a text mention.

"We're democratizing AI at a speed and scale unseen in our market by pairing our newest updates with unlimited searching," remarked Meltwater CTO Aditya Jami. "Businesses benefit from faster time to insights and more agile decision-making without bearing the cost of building and maintaining in-house data science models."

"From name brands to local governments, customers use Meltwater to understand their consumers and constituents and build more authentic and engaging communications," added CEO John Box. "Our newest updates help customers measure brand value and learn how visual assets can impact their content, brand, and competitive strategies. Both company search and visual listening are the product of Meltwater successfully integrating recently acquired companies, Linkfluence, Owler, and DeepReason.ai."

Meltwater's customers can leverage the new capabilities when creating Explore searches. Prospective customers are encouraged to visit Meltwater.com to learn more.

These are just two of the exciting releases that will be featured in Meltwater's upcoming live customer webinar on September 20th, when the Meltwater team will present The Latest & Greatest with Meltwater Explore, highlighting the largest product innovations in the last several months. Learn more at meltwater.com .

About Meltwater

Meltwater provides social and media intelligence. By analyzing ~1 billion online documents each day, Meltwater enables PR, Communications, and Marketing professionals to make informed strategic decisions and influence the world around them. The Company was founded in Oslo, Norway, in 2001 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with 50 offices across six continents. The Company has 2,300 employees and 27,000 corporate customers, including industry leaders in several sectors. Learn more at meltwater.com .


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - As Ukraine's forces continue a counter offensive stunning the Russians in the eastern and southern borders, Ukraine has retaken more than 6,000 sq km of its territory from Russian control in September alone, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.



'From the beginning of September until today, our warriors have already liberated more than 6,000 sq km of the territory of Ukraine - in the east and south,' Zelensky said in his video address to the nation Monday night.



This amounts to nearly 10 percent of Ukrainian territory that the Russian forces captured since its invasion in February.



'The movement of our troops continues,' added the top commander.



Ukrainian fighters are said to have repelled Russian forces back from key cities in the north-eastern Kharkiv region that they have held for more than six months.



US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that though the Ukrainian force made 'significant progress' in their counter-attack, it was too early to say if the success is short-lived.



'The Russians maintain very significant forces in Ukraine as well as equipment and arms and munitions. They continue to use it indiscriminately against not just the Ukrainian armed forces but civilians and civilian infrastructure as we've seen,' Blinken said.



Ukrainian reports say Putin's troops are fleeing east to the Russian border.



Meanwhile, the Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko was quoted as saying Tuesday that Kharkiv is in blackout following 'insidious shelling by Russian (forces).'







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Zug, Switzerland--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - The cryptocurrency company, which has presence in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the UAE, is launching a new, unique product named TRES Gold, which helps investors all around the world buy gold in digital form. The crypto asset industry is changing; the relationship between the real world and the virtual world is developing.





Tres NFT Gold

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The launch of Tres Gold NFT: what can it do for the world?

The Tres Gold NFT product is being developed by the holding company TRES, which was founded in 2020. The company's key area is storing, purchasing, selling, and issuing cryptocurrencies.

TRES Gold NFT is a product that allows users all over the world to purchase gold in the form of a unique NFT. The physical gold from these purchases is stored in Liechtenstein and the United Arab Emirates.

The idea behind NFTs is that it's a cryptographic certificate that proves you own a unique item. NFTs can represent any unique object, e.g., an image on the internet. However, NFT technology can also be combined with things from the real world.

The fact that digital tokens could have these features prompted the Tres Gold NFT team to create a new product that could combine the unique nature of NFTs with real gold.

The result is that people all over the world can now easily buy real gold. By buying NFT gold in digital form, you're buying a gold bar without needing to go somewhere like a bank.

This service is suitable for people that want to diversify their financial portfolio and buy bars of real gold from the comfort of their own home.

Legality and innovation

"The main benefits of our product is that it's quick and easy to buy gold in digital form, the gold is reliably stored in some of the most protected jurisdictions on the planet, and the fact that the process of interacting with the company's product itself is fully legal at every step," said TRES Holding's R&D department.

The company has a license to create and issue NFTs, and to store, purchase and sell cryptocurrency in Dubai and Liechtenstein. It also has approval to carry out its activities from Dubai's financial regulator. The group of companies has a great number of licenses that give it the legal right to work with digital gold. These include TRES DLT DMCC in Dubai in 2021 to issue utility tokens, SIMBA STORAGE DMCC in Dubai in 2021 to store BTC and other cryptocurrencies, and TRES OTC DMCC in Dubai in 2021 to purchase and sell BTC and other cryptocurrencies.

The process of purchasing gold on the platform looks like this:

Users need only to register on the website https://my.simba.storage/, confirm their identity and funding origin, connect a wallet, and carry out a payment, and they'll have a gold bar in digital form that can be stored long term, resold on popular NFT trading platforms, or traded for a real gold bar.

What's the verdict?

Thanks to Tres Gold's new product, millions of investors all over the world can now balance their portfolios not just with shares and cryptocurrencies, but also real gold. The world at the moment is unstable, both national currencies and cryptocurrencies are unstable. If you want the purchasing process to be completed quickly, properly, and legally, then it's no stretch to say that it's best to look towards licensed companies and their innovative products.

Contact details:

Anton Katin

Email: zug@tres.swiss

https://simba.storage/gold

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/136984
Smithers, a leading provider of testing, consulting, information, and compliance services, announces the appointment of Dr. Stewart B. Jacobson, DVM, DACVP, as President of the Smithers Environmental Risk Sciences Division.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005968/en/

Dr. Stewart B. Jacobson, DVM, DACVP, President, Smithers Environmental Risk Sciences Division. (Photo: Business Wire)

Stewart has responsibility for operations and business strategy in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia Pacific, overseeing Ecotoxicology, Environmental Fate, Plant and Animal Metabolism, and Chemistry services for the pharmaceutical, crop protection, and industrial and specialty chemical industries. He joins Smithers with over 20 years in toxicology and preclinical research, with roles ranging from staff pathologist to the leader of large multi-site contract research organizations (CROs).

"Stewart is a strategic innovator who is highly respected in the industry for scientific excellence and delivery of services that meet client expectations," said Susan Shepherd, Group President, Smithers. "His breadth of leadership experience, understanding of regulated markets, and expertise in managing global operations will reinforce our commitment to deliver accurate data, on time, through high-touch relationships."

Stewart earned his Bachelor of Science in Engineering/Computer Science from University of Illinois, and his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from Tufts University. After completing a residency at the University of Connecticut, he was certified as a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (DACVP). He is a member of the Society of Toxicologic Pathologists and the Society of Cardiovascular Pathologists. His previous roles included high-level leadership positions at Inotiv, Battelle Memorial Institute, SNBL, Charles River Laboratories, and Covance Laboratories. Prior to his roles in pharmaceutical and medical device testing, he was a software engineer and entrepreneur focused on developing computer models for the space shuttle and building software engineering systems for aerospace and engineering applications.

For more information about Smithers, please visit https://www.smithers.com/

About Smithers:

Founded in 1925 and headquartered in Akron, Ohio, Smithers is a multinational provider of testing, consulting, information, and compliance services. With laboratories and operations in North America, Europe, and Asia, Smithers supports customers in the transportation, life science, packaging, materials, components, consumer, dry commodities, and energy industries. Smithers delivers accurate data, on time, with high touch, by integrating science, technology, and business expertise, so customers can innovate with confidence.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005968/en/

Contacts:

Glenn G. Goldney

Executive Vice President of Sales Marketing

ggoldney@smithers.com

+1 (330) 203-2188
Initiated by the French government and led by the French Treasury, the TIBI label brings together leading institutional investors, who have committed an initial investment of 6 billion, now valued at more than 18 billion, to finance technology companies.

eureKING, the first European SPAC in healthcare dedicated to bioproduction, aims to develop the pharmaceutical outsourcing sector in Europe by acquiring companies specialized in biomanufacturing.

Supported by eureKARE, the French specialist in the creation and financing of biotech companies, eureKING raised 150 million in May 2022 with the objective of making its first acquisition within 15 months.

Regulatory News:

eureKING (mnemonic: KINGS ISIN: FR0014009ON9) (Paris:KINGS), the French SPAC dedicated to healthcare and more specifically to biomanufacturing in Europe, officially announces the successful attainment of the TIBI label. The French Government's initiative allows labeled technology companies to access an initially 6 billion investment fund, valued today at more than 18 billion, comprised of 21 leading French institutional investors.

"eureKING is very proud to receive the TIBI label, which marks the recognition and realization of our project to develop one of the most promising sectors of the healthcare industry in Europe and to initiate sustainable and innovative projects in the biopharmaceutical and biomanufacturing fields. This labeling allows us to initiate a new dialogue with important institutional investors and potential partners, and further strengthens our ambition to complete our first acquisition project by 2023," said Michael Kloss, CEO of eureKING.

The TIBI Label, an initiative of the French government that allows French institutional investors to dedicate 6 billion to the development of technology companies.

Presented in July 2019 to the Minister of the Economy and the Secretary of State for Digital, the report behind the TIBI label, written by Philippe Tibi, President of Pergamon Campus and Professor of Economics at the Ecole Polytechnique, highlighted the insufficient financing capacity of French technology companies.

To address this shortfall, the French presidency engaged, in September 2019, 21 French institutional investors to dedicate 6 billion initially. In January 2020, these investors met at Bercy to formalize the project by signing a commitment document. To date, the cash-flow generated by the creation of Label TIBI exceeds 18 billion euros.

The obtaining of the TIBI label by eureKING thus allows the SPAC to engage in a dialogue with new potential investors in order to effectively meet its acquisition objective.

eureKING's ambition: to create a leading player in the biomanufacturing sector through the acquisition of European companies specialized in biopharmaceutical outsourcing

eureKING is the first European SPAC to invest in the healthcare sector and more specifically in biomanufacturing. With a fundraising of 150 million finalized at the time of its listing on Euronext, eureKING intends to acquire CDMOs (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization), companies specialized in the production and manufacturing of biopharmaceutical products on behalf of other companies in the healthcare industry, mainly in Europe.

EureKING's acquisition and development strategy is thus based on three key segments of the biopharmaceutical industry and new health technologies: the production of biologics, the production of cell and gene therapies and the production of Live Biotherapeutics Products.

Supported by its first investor eureKARE, a pioneer company specialized in the financing and creation of biotech companies whose portfolio of companies in the Life Sciences sector continues to grow, eureKING intends to make its first acquisition within 15 months of its first listing on Euronext.

About eureKING: eureking.com

Founded in March 2022, eureKING is a French SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) formed with the aim of acquiring European companies in the field of biomanufacturing, with the ambition of creating a leading bio-CDMO in Europe capable of meeting the growing outsourcing needs of this industry. EureKING has chosen to focus on three highly specialized and strategic segments of the biopharmaceutical industry: the production of biologics, in particular new generations of monoclonal antibodies or complex proteins, the production of cell and gene therapies and the production of live biotherapeutics (with applications in the microbiome).

With a 150 million capital raising in May 2022, eureKING is led by an international management team of experienced healthcare industry talent, 100% dedicated to the SPAC project and its development strategy. eureKING is supported by a Board of Directors with complementary pharmaceutical and financial expertise to achieve its goal of developing and promoting the promising biomanufacturing sector in Europe on an international scale.

eureKING is listed on the professional compartment of Euronext in Paris since May 12, 2022.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005842/en/

Contacts:

Presse:

eureKING

info@eureking.com



Agence NewCap

Nicolas Merigeau

+33 (0)1 44 71 94 98 nmerigeau@newcap.fr



Arthur Rouille

+33 (0)1 44 71 00 15 arouille@newcap.fr
The licence agreement complements the collaboration between Medincell and the health agency Unitaid that funds the development of mdc-STM, an investigational long-acting injectable formulation for the prevention of malaria.

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is a United Nations-backed public health organisation working to increase access to, and facilitate the development of life-saving medicines for low- and middle-income countries.

The licence agreement relates to a 3-Month active injectable formulation of ivermectin using Medincell's BEPO technology to fight malaria transmission.

The licence agreement aims to ensure that the product be widely distributed in low- and middle-income countries if proven effective and safe.

Malaria remains endemic in 91 countries leading to 627,000 deaths in 2020. Children under 5 are the most vulnerable, accounting for 80% of deaths.

Regulatory News:

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and French pharmaceutical company MedinCell (Paris:MEDCL) today announced that they have signed a licence agreement for a candidate long-acting drug formulation that could be used to fight malaria in low- and middle-income countries.

This non-exclusive licence agreement, made possible with funding to both parties from global health agency Unitaid, will enable MPP to support the identification of suitable partners for the development and commercialisation of mdc-STM, an injectable formulation of ivermectin with a three-month action-duration, using MedinCell's BEPO technology. Under the terms of the licence, the manufacturing can be carried out in any country worldwide, for distribution in low- and middle-income countries.

Now at a pre-clinical stage, the product is based on BEPO, a MedinCell polymer-based injectable technology that enables the sustained release of ivermectin after a single injection administered subcutaneously at the beginning of the malaria transmission season to people living in malaria-endemic areas. Mosquitoes feeding on persons having received ivermectin injections will be killed or made less capable of transmitting malaria parasites further. Through this community-based intervention the individual receiving the injection will not be protected against malaria directly the number of mosquitoes will be decreased, thus benefiting the whole community by lowering the risk of transmission of malaria, particularly in children.

If proven safe, effective and acceptable, this long-acting injectable candidate could have a significant impact on transmission of malaria among vulnerable populations in high-transmission areas, in particular young children who are adversely affected.

"We are very proud to be partnering with MedinCell to accelerate the development of such paradigm-changing interventions and ensure these innovations, if proven safe and effective, are available in low- and middle-income countries as soon as possible" said Charles Gore, Executive Director of MPP.

"This long-acting technology offers an exciting new avenue in the fight against malaria, and this licence is key to allow rapid access to innovation for those who need it most."

Malaria remains endemic in 91 countries representing 50% of the world's population. According to WHO estimates, 241 million people were infected worldwide in 2020, 95% of them in Africa, leading to 627,000 deaths. Children under 5 are the most vulnerable, accounting for 80% of deaths from malaria.

"Collaboration and innovation are key to face major Global Health challenges, said Christophe Douat, CEO of MedinCell. Bringing together the best players to move this project forward is crucial to ensure that this innovative product based on our long-acting Injectable technology, if proven safe and effective, can have a positive impact for affected population. We are delighted to join forces with MPP which could play an essential role in enabling rapid and global access to this new complementary tool to fight the malaria scourge."

This successful early-stage collaboration is part of Unitaid's larger strategy to accelerate the development of affordable, quality, long-acting products for infectious diseases. As part of that work, Unitaid is funding both MedinCell to develop long-acting antimalarial products and MPP to facilitate generic production of the new technologies without delay. "In the fight against malaria, there is no time to lose. We know that, if proven safe and effective, this long-acting malaria prevention will hold tremendous potential. By supporting development and access pathways simultaneously, Unitaid is investing on all fronts to fast-track access to new malaria fighting tools," said Dr Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of Unitaid.

The licence agreement covers all low- and middle-income countries and is royalty free in the public sector, with reasonable royalty in line with industry standards to be agreed in case there would be a private market for the licensed product in low and middle- income countries.

Access the licence agreement

The press release is also available in French and Spanish (translation by MPP).

More on MPP's work in long-acting therapeutics

About MPP

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is a United Nations-backed public health organisation working to increase access to, and facilitate the development of, life-saving medicines for low- and middle-income countries. Through its innovative business model, MPP partners with civil society, governments, international organisations, industry, patient groups, and other stakeholders, to prioritise and license needed medicines and pool intellectual property to encourage generic manufacture and the development of new formulations.

To date, MPP has signed agreements with 16 patent holders for 13 HIV antiretrovirals, one HIV technology platform, three hepatitis C direct-acting antivirals, a tuberculosis treatment, four long-acting technologies, two oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19 and 12 COVID-19 technologies. MPP was founded by Unitaid, which continues to be MPP's main funder. MPP's work on access to essential medicines is also funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). MPP's activities in COVID-19 are undertaken with the financial support of the Japanese Government, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and SDC.

About MedinCell

MedinCell is a pharmaceutical company at premarketing stage that develops a portfolio of long-acting injectable products in various therapeutic areas by combining its proprietary BEPO technology with active ingredients already known and marketed. Through the controlled and extended release of the active pharmaceutical ingredient, MedinCell makes medical treatments more efficient, particularly thanks to improved compliance, i.e. compliance with medical prescriptions, and to a significant reduction in the quantity of medication required as part of a one-off or chronic treatment. The BEPO technology makes it possible to control and guarantee the regular delivery of a drug at the optimal therapeutic dose for several days, weeks or months starting from the subcutaneous or local injection of a simple deposit of a few millimeters, fully bioresorbable. MedinCell collaborate with tier one pharmaceuticals companies and foundations to improve Global Health through new therapeutic options. Based in Montpellier, MedinCell currently employs more than 150 people representing over 30 different nationalities.

www.medincell.com

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Company's expectations for (i) the timing, progress and outcome of its clinical trials; (ii) the clinical benefits and competitive positioning of its product candidates; (iii) its ability to obtain regulatory approvals, commence commercial production and achieve market penetration and sales; (iv) its future product portfolio; (v) its future partnering arrangements; (vi) its future capital needs, capital expenditure plans and ability to obtain funding; and (vii) prospective financial matters regarding our business. Although the Company believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, any statements other than statements of historical facts that may be contained in this press release relating to future events are forward-looking statements and subject to change without notice, factors beyond the Company's control and the Company's financial capabilities.

These statements may include, but are not limited to, any statement beginning with, followed by or including words or phrases such as "objective", "believe", "anticipate", "expect", "foresee", "aim", "intend", "may", "anticipate", "estimate", "plan", "project", "will", "may", "probably", "potential", "should", "could" and other words and phrases of the same meaning or used in negative form. Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control that may, if any, cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those anticipated or expressed explicitly or implicitly by such forward-looking statements. A list and description of these risks, contingencies and uncertainties can be found in the documents filed by the Company with the Autorite des Marches Financiers (the "AMF") pursuant to its regulatory obligations, including the Company's registration document, registered with the AMF on September 4, 2018, under number I. 18-062 (the "Registration Document"), as well as in the documents and reports to be published subsequently by the Company. In particular, readers' attention is drawn to the section entitled "Facteurs de Risques" on page 26 of the Registration Document.

Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of the Company speak only as of the date they are made. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements, including in the event that new information becomes available. The Company's update of one or more forward-looking statements does not imply that the Company will make any further updates to such forward-looking statements or other forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

This press release is for information purposes only. The information contained herein does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for the Company's shares in any jurisdiction, in particular in France. Similarly, this press release does not constitute investment advice and should not be treated as such. It is not related to the investment objectives, financial situation, or specific needs of any recipient. It should not deprive the recipients of the opportunity to exercise their own judgment. All opinions expressed in this document are subject to change without notice. The distribution of this press release may be subject to legal restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Persons who come to know about this press release are encouraged to inquire about, and required to comply with, these restrictions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913006009/en/

Contacts:

MPP

press@medicinespatentpool.org

MedinCell

David Heuze

Communication leader

david.heuze@medincell.com

+33 (0)6 83 25 21 86

NewCap

Louis-Victor Delouvrier/Mathilde Bohin

Investor Relations

medincell@newcap.eu

+33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

NewCap

Nicolas Merigeau

Media Relations

medincell@newcap.eu

+33 (0)1 44 71 94 94
Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

For immediate release

13 September 2022

FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOME TRUST PLC

(the "Company")

MARKET PURCHASE OF COMPANY'S OWN SHARES

The Company announces that it has today purchased 20,212 of its own shares ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 838.02 pence per Ordinary Share. Such shares will be held in treasury by the Company.

The transaction was made pursuant to the authority granted at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 9 February 2022.

Following this transaction, the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury is 7,825,442; the total number of Ordinary Shares that the Company has in issue, less the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury following such purchase, and therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 217,165,861.

The figure of 217,165,861 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for calculations of interests in the Company's voting rights in accordance with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

For and on behalf of

Frostrow Capital LLP

Company Secretary

For further information, please contact:

Victoria Hale

Frostrow Capital LLP

Tel: 020 3 170 8732
The "Contract Research And Manufacturing Services (CRAMS) Global Market Report 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report provides strategists, marketers and senior management with the critical information they need to assess the global contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) market.

The global contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) market is expected to grow from $108.01 billion in 2021 to $119.82 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.9%. The contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) market is expected to grow to $163.95 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 8.2%.

Companies Mentioned

Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH

Catalent Inc.

Lonza Group Ltd.

Pharmaceutical Product Development LLC

Baxter BioPharma Solutions

AbbVie

Grifols International S.A.

Dalton Pharma Services

Reasons to Purchase

Gain a truly global perspective with the most comprehensive report available on this market covering 12+ geographies.

Understand how the market is being affected by the coronavirus and how it is likely to emerge and grow as the impact of the virus abates.

Create regional and country strategies on the basis of local data and analysis.

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Outperform competitors using forecast data and the drivers and trends shaping the market.

Understand customers based on the latest market research findings.

Benchmark performance against key competitors.

Utilize the relationships between key data sets for superior strategizing.

Suitable for supporting your internal and external presentations with reliable high quality data and analysis

Major players in the contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) market are Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Catalent Inc., Lonza Group Ltd., Pharmaceutical Product Development LLC, Baxter BioPharma Solutions, AbbVie, Grifols International S.A., and Dalton Pharma Services.

The contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) market consists of sales of outsourcing services by entities (organizations, sole traders, and partnerships) that provide outsourcing research services or product manufacturing activities from low-cost providers in the form of contract research organization (CROs) and contract manufacturing organizations (CMOS).

A contract research organization is an organization that provides services on a contract basis in the form of preclinical and clinical research services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. A contract manufacturing organization is an organization that manufactures pharmaceutical products under contract and offers to a client a wide range of services from drug development to manufacturing.

The main types of services provide by contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) are manufacturing and research. Manufacturing services include outsourcing drug development services to companies operating in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry on a contract basis. The contract manufacturing organizations are involved in the entire development process, right from the clinical trial and phases till the commercialization of the drugs.

Research services outsourcing of research services such as clinical trial data management, database design and build, data entry and validation, medicine and disease coding, project management, quality, and metric reporting, safety and efficacy summaries, statistical analysis plans and reports, on a contract basis. The contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) are used by pharmaceutical biotechnology companies, medical device companies, and academic institutes.

North America was the largest region in the contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) market in 2020. Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at a faster pace in the forecast period. The regions covered in contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, and Africa.

The rising aging population with various chronic diseases is expected to have a positive impact on the growth of the contract research and manufacturing services market in the forecast period. The world's aging population is growing rapidly and is expected to continue over the forecast period. With the increase in the geriatric population, the prevalence of various diseases like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, arthritis, and other diseases will also rise, and the demand for various drugs or medicines will increase, as a result, the need for contract research and manufacturing services will grow.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used by the contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) market to strengthen its market position. Artificial Intelligence is a branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of human behavior in machines. AI can help to avoid costly maintenance by predicting when maintenance is needed by supporting the healthcare system.

In April 2021, Thermo Fisher Scientific, a US-based company offering scientific instrumentation, reagents, consumables, and software services announced the acquisition of the clinical research services provider PPD for a total of $17.4 billion. Through this acquisition, PPD will become part of Thermo Fisher's laboratory products and services business and will provide pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers with a series of clinical research and laboratory services to help them improve the efficacy of drug development. Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD), was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in the United States. It is a global contract research organization (CRO) that provides comprehensive and integrated services in the fields of drug development, laboratory, and lifecycle management.

The countries covered in the contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK, USA.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/xn3c5x

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913006089/en/

Contacts:

ResearchAndMarkets.com

Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900
The partnership provides close collaboration on creating international trade opportunities for WTCA members in the U.S.

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The World Trade Centers Association (WTCA), an international trade organization connecting over 300 World Trade Center (WTC) locations in nearly 100 countries, signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) yesterday with the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA) to formalize its cooperation in facilitating and promoting global trade by combining the strengths of both the ITA's and the WTCA's global networks. The signing took place at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center (WTC Washington, D.C.) with 15 representatives and guests in attendance.





The MOA between the ITA and the WTCA will help further drive corporate investment and trade opportunities for U.S. companies seeking to increase exports and imports, and offers the ITA a platform to communicate about investment and trade opportunities in the U.S. to the WTCA's global network of companies.

The MOA establishes a preferred partnership between the WTCA and the ITA. Joint activities will focus on:

Running a webinar series that offers a framework on international trade best practices.

Organizing inbound and outbound trade missions.

Mutually offering service support for inbound and outbound trade missions to the members of each of the parties.

Exchanging networking opportunities that will benefit WTCA members located in the U.S.

One of the first engagements following the establishment of the MOA will be the rollout of a webinar series entitled "Make Trade Work." The series is a joint initiative to help educate and increase global trade and investment opportunities. The first of the five webinars, hosted over the course of a year, will take place on September 29 - "Protecting Your Business Interests: Corporate Espionage, Global Security and Compliance" - and will be open only to U.S. companies.

Future dates and topics of the webinar series - which will be open to a global audience - include:

 October 3, 2022 Planning and Maximizing Trade Missions February 9, 2023 Managing Global Supply Chain May 18, 2023 Attaining Global Talent and Diversity Inclusion  September 7, 2023 Grants and Trade Finance

"With our mission to promote international trade, this new partnership will support our network of World Trade Centers and their many business partners in the U.S. and globally," said John E. Drew, WTCA Chair, Board of Directors.

"I am proud that through our partnership with the ITA, we will strengthen our respective organizations in their efforts to promote and facilitate international trade opportunities. The partnership between the WTCA and the ITA will be extremely beneficial to both parties," said Robin van Puyenbroeck, WTCA Executive Director-Business Development. "Together we will continue to foster new relationships and expand our global reach."

There are currently 48 World Trade Center-branded facilities located throughout the U.S. which are home to mostly small- and medium-sized businesses, representing a wide swath of different industries.

"Exporting is key to the U.S. and global economic recovery, and now is an important moment for businesses of all shapes and sizes to seize opportunities to reach new markets and customer bases," said Arun Venkataraman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets, and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service Global Markets. "Many conversations about exporting begin at World Trade Center locations everywhere, and the ITA looks forward to deepening our partnership with the WTCA on programming, training, events and resources that will help U.S. businesses achieve international success."

Mr. van Puyenbroeck added, "Our mission to facilitate and promote trade is now more important and relevant than ever. This is not just a trade project, but a peace project through trade to bring the business community together."

MEDIA CONTACTS:

World Trade Centers Association (WTCA)

Chanelle Kasik

Phone: +1 212 432 2644

Email: ckasik@wtca.org

Violet PR

David Margolis

Phone: +1 917 331 4855

Email: david@violetpr.com

About World Trade Centers Association

The World Trade Centers Association (WTCA) is a network of more than 300 highly connected, mutually supporting businesses and organizations in 92 countries. As the owner of the "World Trade Center" and "WTC" trademarks, the WTCA licenses exclusive rights to these brands for Members to use in conjunction with their independently-owned, iconic properties, facilities and trade services offerings. Through a robust portfolio of events, programming and resources that it offers its Members, the goal of the WTCA is to help local economies thrive by encouraging and facilitating trade and investment across the globe through Member engagement. To learn more, visit www.wtca.org.

About the International Trade Administration

The International Trade Administration (ITA) at the U.S. Department of Commerce is the premier resource for American companies competing in the global marketplace. ITA has more than 2,200 employees assisting U.S. exporters in more than 100 U.S. cities and 75 markets worldwide. For more information on ITA, visit www.trade.gov.





Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1897651/WTCA_ITA_MOA_Signing.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/704442/WTCA_Logo.jpg
13 September 2022

Rightmove plc

Share buy-back programme

Rightmove plc - Transaction in own shares

Rightmove plc ('Rightmove') announces that today it purchased 151,000 of its 0.1p ordinary shares at a volume weighted average price paid per share of 630.184p. The highest price paid per share was 641.000p and the lowest price paid per share was 620.200p. Rightmove purchased these shares through Numis Securities Limited.

The number of shares purchased represented 0.0181% of the voting rights attributable to the total ordinary shares in issue prior to such purchase. The purchased shares will be cancelled.

Since announcing a share buy-back programme on 28 December 2007, Rightmove has purchased in aggregate 473,534,303 ordinary shares.

The total number of ordinary shares in issue (excluding treasury shares) following this announcement is 833,144,725. Rightmove holds 12,375,052 shares in treasury.

In accordance with Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (the Market Abuse Regulation) as amended by The Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the "UK MAR"), the schedule below contains detailed information about the purchases made by Numis Securities Limited on behalf of the Company as part of the buyback programme.

Contact: Michelle Palmer, Deputy Secretary CompanySecretary@rightmove.co.uk

Schedule of Purchases - Individual Transactions
QUEBEC, QC / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / NuRAN Wireless Inc. ("NuRAN or the "Company") (CSE:NUR) (OTC:NRRWF) (FSE:1RN), a leading supplier of mobile and broadband wireless infrastructure solutions is pleased to announce that five new sites have been deployed in Cameroon. NuRAN now has a total of 58 live sites in Cameroon and 87 live sites in total across five countries in Africa covering a total population of approximately 530,000.

The Company is also pleased to provide the following update on scheduled site deployments previously announced:

As announced on August 11, 2022, 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 intends to 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 2,000 sites.

NuRAN is expected to 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.

As previously announced on August 11, 2022, NuRAN is 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.

"We are pleased to announce new site deployments in Cameroon. Crossing the initial milestone of over 500,000 people covered is only an initial short-term goal achieved as we drive to cover millions of Africans with affordable and reliable mobility. 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 completion of the proposed $27M USD of African debt financing, we are pleased to continue the process of deploying sites. We remain committed to accelerating 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 3,142 sites already under contract" stated Francis Letourneau, CEO and President of NuRAN."

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 include those relating to the deployment of and number of sites proposed in Africa and the proposed debt financing of $27,000,000. 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 refinance its long term debt that is currently in default; 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 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.

SOURCE: NuRAN Wireless Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715799/NuRAN-Deploys-New-Sites-in-Cameroon-and-Reaches-500K-People-Connected-in-Africa
DGAP-News: Polyus Finance Plc / Key word(s): Miscellaneous

Polyus Finance Plc: Update on coupon payments in respect of 2024 Notes



13.09.2022 / 19:15 CET/CEST

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO, OR TO ANY PERSON LOCATED OR RESIDENT IN, ANY JURISDICTION WHERE IT IS UNLAWFUL TO RELEASE, PUBLISH OR DISTRIBUTE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. Press Release 13 September 2022 PJSC Polyus Update on coupon payments in respect of 2024 Eurobonds PJSC Polyus (LSE, MOEX - PLZL) ("Polyus", or the "Company") notes the announcement made earlier by Polyus Finance plc (the "Issuer"), an indirect wholly-owned finance subsidiary of the Company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales, about an update on coupon payments in respect of its outstanding U.S.$500,000,000 4.70% Guaranteed Notes due 2024 issued by the Issuer and guaranteed by PJSC Polyus and JSC Polyus Krasnoyarsk (the "Notes"). On 29 July 2022, the Issuer fulfilled its obligation and transferred the funds denominated in U.S. Dollars to The Bank of New York Mellon, London Branch acting as a paying agent in respect of the Notes (the "Paying Agent"). The Issuer expected the Paying Agent to make coupon payments to the holders of the Notes, the rights to which are recorded in foreign depositories (the "Offshore Noteholders"), in accordance with the Paying Agency Agreement. Despite instructions and active attempts of the Issuer to reach out to the Paying Agent, the Issuer has not received confirmation that the Paying Agent has transferred the coupon payments to the Offshore Noteholders as of the date of this announcement. The Issuer informed i2 Capital Trust Corporation Ltd acting as a trustee under the Notes (the "Trustee") that the Paying Agent has not completed the coupon payments to the Offshore Noteholders. Under the terms of the Notes the Issuer was instructed to transfer the funds to the Trustee account for the subsequent transfer of such funds to the clearing systems for onward payment to the Offshore Noteholders. The Issuer acted in the best interest of its bondholders and effectively duplicated the coupon payments to the Offshore Noteholders, completing the transfer of funds to the Trustee on time and fulfilling its obligations under the terms of the Notes. The Trustee is seeking written confirmation from the relevant clearing systems that such funds can be transferred to them from the Trustee. The Issuer now expects that the funds would be transferred to the clearing systems for onward payment to the holders of the Notes either by the Paying Agent or by the Trustee. As a reminder, JSC Polyus Krasnoyarsk (the "Guarantor") transferred the funds denominated in Russian rubles to National Settlement Depository ("NSD") as coupon payments for the subsequent transfer of such funds to the holders of the Notes, the rights to which are recorded in Russian depositories, on 19 July 2022, in line with the requirements of the Russian regulations presently in force and terms of Notes, now in effect. The Issuer confirms its commitment in respect to all outstanding Eurobonds and will continue its efforts to facilitate the coupon payment to its bondholders. The Issuer will provide further updates in case the Issuer receives the confirmation from the Paying Agent. Polyus Polyus is the world's fourth-largest gold mining company by production volumes and the largest gold miner in terms of attributable gold ore reserves. The Company has the lowest production costs among major global gold producers. Its principal operations are located in Siberia and the Russian Far East: Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk and Magadan regions and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Investor and Media contact Victor Drozdov, Director Communications & Investor Relations (CIR) Department +7 (495) 641 33 77 drozdovvi@polyus.com Forward-looking statements This announcement may contain "forward-looking statements" concerning Polyus and/or Polyus group. Generally, the words "will", "may", "should", "could", "would", "can", "continue", "opportunity", "believes", "expects", "intends", "anticipates", "estimates" or similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements relating to future capital expenditures and business and management strategies and the expansion and growth of Polyus' and/or Polyus group's operations. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond Polyus' and/or Polyus group's ability to control or estimate precisely and therefore undue reliance should not be placed on such statements which speak only as at the date of this announcement. Polyus and/or any Polyus group company assumes no obligation in respect of, and does not intend to update, these forward-looking statements, except as required pursuant to applicable law. This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

13.09.2022 CET/CEST Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.dgap.de


Dieppe, New Brunswick--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - Colibri Resource Corporation (TSXV: CBI) (OTC Pink: CRUCF) (FSE: 2CO) ("Colibri" or the "Company") wishes to announce voting results for the annual meeting of shareholders of the Company held on September 9, 2022 (the "Meeting").

A total of 31 shareholders holding an aggregate of 22,325,795 common shares of the Company ("Common Shares") were represented at the Meeting in person or by proxy, representing approximately 23.08% of the total votes attached to all issued and outstanding Common Shares as of September 7, 2022, the record date for the Meeting.

At the Meeting, shareholders approved:

The election of Ronald J. Goguen, Sr., Jamie Lavigne, William MacDonald, Roger Doucet, Kevin O'Connor and Camilla Cormier as directors of the Company;

The re-appointment of Wasserman Ramsay, Chartered Professional Accountants, Chartered Professional Accountants, as the Company's auditor; and

The continued use of the Company's current stock option plan (the "Plan") in accordance with TSX Venture Exchange policies.

"We are most appreciative of the continued support of our shareholders and look forward to providing them with another year of solid development of the Company's properties," said Ron Goguen, CEO.

About Colibri Resource Corporation

Colibri is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company listed on the TSX-V (CBI) and is focused on acquiring and exploring prospective gold & silver properties in Mexico. The Company has six exploration projects of which five currently have exploration programs being executed in 2022. (1) The flagship Evelyn Gold Project is 100% owned and explored by Colibri, (2) the Pilar Gold & Silver Project (optioned to Tocvan Ventures (CSE: TOC), (3) the El Mezquite Gold & Silver Project , (4) the Jackie Gold & Silver Project, and (5) the Diamante Gold & Silver Project. 3,4, and 5 are subject to 50% earn-in agreements by Silver Spruce Resources (TSXV: SSE).

For more information about all Company projects please visit: www.colibriresource.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain certain "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

For further information, please contact:

Ronald J. Goguen, President, CEO and Director

Tel: (506) 383-4274

rongoguen@colibriresource.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/137000
Dubai, United Arab Emirates--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - The 22nd global edition of the World Blockchain Summit will bring together some of the world's leading crypto influencers, policymakers, key government delegates, media, family offices, HNIs, and other curated investors among others to foster the crypto and blockchain community across the globe. The big return to Dubai will take place on October 17-18, 2022 at Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai, UAE being one of the most elite gatherings of the global crypto and blockchain ecosystem.





Figure 1



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8653/136943_bf2496d6c4824af8_001full.jpg

Dubai has set its sights on becoming a global tech hub by attracting entrepreneurs, investors and even crypto influencers as marketing capitalization hits US$1.4 trillion up 86% year-to-date, with the Middle East's blockchain market anticipated to be worth US$3.2 billion by 2023.

The UAE has begun implementing crypto regulation in the past year, issuing more than 30 exchange licenses and establishing a devoted regulatory body. But will UAE's new regulatory structure make the market grow even faster? And will the Emirati government be able to regulate cryptocurrency quickly and effectively? World Blockchain Summit looks to answer the most pressing questions and bring together industry experts and thought leaders to understand what the future of blockchain and crypto looks like not just in the case of Dubai, but also the world.

In line with Dubai's vision of being a global Web3 hub, leadership backing, and digital asset regulatory framework, the summit will feature presentations, use-case studies, and educational sessions by global technology providers who will be showcasing their latest innovations designed with the primary focus on enabling businesses and organizations to adopt Blockchain and Crypto solutions.

"The government's focus on blockchain is evident in the UAE, with various initiatives and ventures related to the technology. The event will essentially explore what lies ahead for the UAE in terms of blockchain adoption in various industries, technological and regulatory advancements." stated Mohammed Saleem - Founder, World Blockchain Summit

World Blockchain Summit - Dubai is sponsored by:

 Headline Sponsors - Decentralized Investment Group; GBR Coin

 Platinum Sponsors - Quai Network; SafuuX

 Silver Sponsors - Coinstore; Aura Dogs

Ecosystem Partner: Crypto Oasis

Exhibitosr: Dreamster; Galaxy Heroes; Khaleeji

Badge Sponsor: SafuuX

Lunch Sponsor: SafuuX

Lanyard Sponsor: Quai Network

Official PR Partner: Luna PR

Media Partners: Be In Crypto; TyN Magazine; CryptoNewZ; Crypto Academy; Women In Blockchain Canada; Bitcoin World; Coinspeaker; BinBits; Coinvestasi; Cointelegraph; The Cryptonomist; Coinstelegram; The Jordan Times; Security Middle East; Regtech Times

About World Blockchain Summit (WBS)

World Blockchain Summit is a global series of elite gatherings that take place in 19+ destinations across the world. It is a thought-leadership-driven initiative that brings together the most important stakeholders from the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency ecosystem such as investors, blockchain and crypto projects, exchanges, enterprises, government representatives, and technology leaders - to discuss and deliberate the future of the industry and the revolutionary ways it can transform businesses and government functions.

The summit also features inspirational keynotes, pitch competitions, panel discussions, investor meet-ups, project showcases, industry use-cases and a host of formal and informal networking opportunities.

Don't miss out on the world's premier blockchain and crypto event. Book your tickets now and avail up to 30% off on early bird offers. To book your tickets, visit: https://worldblockchainsummit.com/dubai/book-tickets

Media contact:

Elisha Patel

elisha@lunapr.io

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/136943
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / The Power Play by The Market Herald has announced the release of new interviews with Tocvan Ventures, Heritage Mining, and Green River Gold discussing their latest news.

The Power Play by The Market Herald provides investors with a quick snapshot of what they need to know about the company's latest press release through exclusive insights and interviews with company executives.

Tocvan Ventures (CSE:TOC) identifies San Ramon Prospect at El Picacho as a high-priority drill target

Tocvan Ventures Corp. (TOC) completes data compilation and surface evaluation of the San Ramon Prospect at the El Picacho Gold-Silver Project in Sonora, Mexico. Sampling of the underground by past operators has returned consistent high-grade gold and silver mineralization. Tocvan CEO Brodie Sutherland sat down with Sabrina Cuthbert to discuss the results.

For the full interview with Brodie Sutherland and to learn about Tocvan Ventures, click here.

Heritage Mining (CSE:HML) provides field program update and completes airborne geophysical survey at the Drayton-Black Lake project

Heritage Mining (HML) has reported the preliminary results from its ongoing exploration program at the flagship Drayton-Black Lake project. Peter Schloo, President and CEO of Heritage Mining, sat down with Sabrina Cuthbert to discuss the program.

For the full interview with Peter Schloo and to learn about Heritage Mining, click here.

Green River Gold (CSE:CCR) confirms magnesium and nickel values

Green River Gold (CCR) is releasing the latest round of assay results from its Quesnel Nickel Project. CEO Perry Little sat down with Sabrina Cuthbert to discuss the results.

For the full interview with Perry Little and to learn about Green River Gold, click here.

Interviews for The Power Play by The Market Herald are released daily. To learn more about the companies featured in The Power Play or to explore our other interviews visit The Power Play by The Market Herald.

About The Market Herald

The Market Herald Canada is the leading source of authoritative breaking stock market news for self-directed investors. Our team of Canadian markets reporters, editors and technologists covers the entire listed company universe in Canada. We cover over 3,985 businesses, their people, their investors, and their customers. We write the stories that move the Canadian capital markets.

DISCLAIMER: Report Card Canada Media Ltd. ("Report Card") is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Market Herald Limited, an Australian company ("Market Herald"). Report Card is not an advisory service, and does not offer, buy, sell, or provide any other rating, analysis or opinion on the securities we discuss. We are retained and compensated by the companies that we provide information on to assist them with making information available to the public. All information available on themarketherald.ca and/or this press release should be considered as commercial advertisement and not an endorsement, offer or recommendation to buy or sell securities. Report Card is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority in any province or territory of Canada, will not be performing any registerable activity as defined by the applicable regulatory bodies and do not provide nor claim to provide investment advice or recommendations to any visitor of this site or readers of any content on or originating from themarketherald.ca. Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees may from time to time acquire, hold or sell securities and/or commodities and/or commodity futures contracts in certain underlying companies mentioned in this site and which may also be clients of Market Herald's affiliates. In such instances, Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees will use all reasonable efforts to avoid engaging in activities that would lead to conflicts of interest and Market Herald and/or its affiliates will use all reasonable efforts to comply with conflicts of interest disclosures and regulations to minimize any conflict. All the information on this document and/or the website - themarketherald.ca - is published in good faith and for general information purpose only. Report Card does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability, and accuracy of this information. Any action you take upon the information you find on this document and/or website (themarketherald.ca) is strictly at your own risk. Report Card will not be liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use of our website. From our website, you can visit other websites by following hyperlinks to such external sites. While we strive to provide only quality links to useful and ethical websites, we have no control over the content and nature of these sites. These links to other websites do not imply a recommendation for all the content found on these sites. Site owners and content may change without notice and may occur before we have the opportunity to remove a link which may have gone 'bad'. Please be also aware that when you leave our website, other sites may have different privacy policies and terms which are beyond our control. Please be sure to check the Privacy Policies of these sites as well as their "Terms of Service" before engaging in any business or uploading any information.

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View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715829/The-Power-Play-by-The-Market-Herald-Releases-New-Interviews-with-Tocvan-Ventures-Heritage-Mining-and-Green-River-Gold-Discussing-Their-Latest-News
SEATTLE, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Coherent Market Insights, the global Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension drug market is estimated to be valued at US$ 7,310.1 Million in 2022 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 5.5% over the forecast period (2022-2030).







Key Trends and Analysis of the Global Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Drug Market:

Major players are focusing on drug releases and regulatory approvals, which are expected to drive the global Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension drug market growth during the forecast period. For instance, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved United Therapeutics' Trevyent New Drug Application (NDA) in September 2019. Trevyent is a drug-device combination product that includes PatchPump technology, which allows treprostilin to be administered subcutaneously.

Furthermore, key players operating in the market are focusing on adoption of inorganic growth strategies such as acquisition and collaboration, in order to expand their product portfolio and presence in the global Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension drug market. For instance, in September 2018, United Therapeutics Corporation, an American publicly traded biotechnology company and MannKind Corporation which is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapeutic products, collaborated on the development and commercialization of dry powder formulations of treprostinil. The companies also intend to sign a research agreement for MannKind to conduct research. This research must be conducted by Mannkind on behalf of United Therapeutics on products outside the scope of the license and cooperation agreement.

Request for Sample Copy of this Report @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/203

Key Market Takeaways:

The global Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension drug market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 5.5% during the forecast period, owing to increasing launches and approvals of new products. Major market players are focusing on developing the product and obtaining regulatory approval, which is expected to promote market growth during the forecast period. For instance, in March 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first generic drug for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), Ambrisentan (Letairis).

Among distribution channel, hospital pharmacies is estimated to account for highest market share in 2022. Increasing number of hospitalization due to patients suffering from Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension is fuelling the market growth of hospital pharmacies segment.

Among Region, North America is expected to dominate the market in the forecast period as the medical infrastructure developed in the U.S. promotes the availability of advanced therapies. In addition, increased awareness, high diagnostic rates and supportive government initiatives have controlled the growth of the regional market. Moreover, supporting legislation such as the Rare Disease Act of 2002 and the Orphan Drug Act (ODA) of 1983 in the U.S. encouraged the development of new drugs for PAH.

Key players operating in the global Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension drug market include United Therapeutics Corporation, GlaxoSmithKline plc., Novartis AG, AstraZeneca, Bayer AG, Merck KGaA, Pfizer Inc., Gilead Sciences, Inc., Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Arena Pharmaceuticals, Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited, Sandoz AG, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Mylan N.V.

Request for Customization @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/203

Detailed Segmentation:

Global Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Drug Market, By Drug Class:

Endothelin Receptor Antagonists (ERAs)

Phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) Inhibitors

Soluble Guanylate Cyclase (sGC) Stimulators

Prostacyclin Analogue

Calcium Channel Blockers

Others

Global Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Drug Market, By Route of Administration:

Oral

Inhaled

Intravenous

Subcutaneous

Global Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Drug Market, By Distribution Channel:



Hospital Pharmacies

Retail Pharmacies

Online Pharmacies

Global Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Drug Market, By Region:

North America

By Country:



U.S.





Canada

Europe

By Country:



U.K.





Germany





Italy





France





Spain





Russia





Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

By Country:



China





India





Japan





ASEAN





Australia





South Korea





Rest of Asia Pacific

Latin America

By Country:



Brazil





Mexico





Argentina





Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa

By Country:



GCC Countries





Israel





South Africa





Rest of Middle East & Africa

Buy this Complete Report Now @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/buy-now/203

About Us:

Coherent Market Insights is a global market intelligence and consulting organization focused on assisting our plethora of clients achieve transformational growth by helping them make critical business decisions. We are headquartered in India, having sales office at global financial capital in the U.S. and sales consultants in United Kingdom and Japan. Our client base includes players from across various business verticals in over 57 countries worldwide. We create value for clients through our highly reliable and accurate reports. We are also committed in playing a leading role in offering insights in various sectors post-COVID-19 and continue to deliver measurable, sustainable results for our clients.

Contact Us:

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Senior Client Partner - Business Development

Coherent Market Insights

Phone:

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UK: +44-020-8133-4027

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The successful navigation of a college and career fair is a valuable life skill. This event helps our students at a time when students can benefit the most from career exploration, a process of building self-awareness, learning about potential careers, and developing a plan for reaching future goals.

DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / The 15th Annual Uplift Education College and Career Fair is a free event for Uplift Education students, which will be held on Tuesday, September 20th from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. at the Duncanville Field House.

Uplift anticipates over 1,000+ Uplift seniors to attend with 100+ post-secondary pathway representatives from all over the country on hand to share information. Students will have the opportunity to explore colleges, universities, military options, trade schools, and potential careers over the course of a few hours. This event is intended for scholars to ask questions, make great first impressions, and find the best option for their future.

The Uplift College and Career Fair is significant for Uplift seniors as it kick-starts the college application and post-secondary planning process. The fair allows students to see how their passions and interests can convert to college majors and careers and helps them learn about college campus life and culture to determine what colleges will fit their personalities. Seniors will also be able to attend sessions to gather more in-depth knowledge about various colleges and post-secondary pathways.

For the third year, Uplift will also offer sessions for families to learn about the Road to College and Career initiatives that will impact their students. This year's parent session is titled, "A Play by Play for College and Career". There will be a panel consisting of Uplift parents and college and career experts, providing insight on the family experience of the last 2 years of high school when students are exploring and making college and career decisions. This virtual session will be held in both English and Spanish.

Uplift is dedicated to closing the opportunity gap for students, regardless of their ethnicity or socioeconomic background, by providing equitable access to high-quality education, programs and experiences that empower students to reach their highest potential. Uplift's unique Road To College &

Career programs are unparalleled in how we prepare our scholars for life after high school. Through events like the College and Career Fair, we help students discover their strengths and passions and learn how those might translate into a college major or future career that will help them reach their long-term personal goals.

Uplift Education

Uplift Education is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the lives of teachers, families, and, most importantly, students. With a network of 45 college-preparatory public charter schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Uplift offers students of any background the powerful chance to study within a multidisciplinary curriculum and prepare for the college career they deserve. Uplift is the largest International Baccalaureate district in Texas and the #2 IB district in the nation because of the number of holistic extracurricular and educational programs. The incredible educators in the Uplift network guide and teach over 21,000 students in Pre-K- 12th?grades, with the majority being low-income and minority students who will be the first in their family to attend college. For more information, Uplift's mission and their blind lottery selection system, visit?uplifteducation.org?or?facebook.com/uplifteducation.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Deekay Fox

Senior Marketing and Communications Director

dfox@uplifteducation.org

661-378-2353

RELEASE DATE:

09/13/22

SOURCE: Uplift Education

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/715840/Uplift-Education-Brings-Unprecedented-Opportunity-to-Students-at-College-and-Career-Fair-2022
Fort Worth, Texas--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - Fanboys Marketplace, toy and pop culture store for gifts and collectibles, launches Fanboys Cares, a charity focused on giving back and helping children in need.

Fanboys Marketplace has always had a heart for children. Fanboys hosts movie screenings in partnership with Cook Children's Medical Center where all proceeds from tickets sales go to supplying young patients with action figures. They recently launched a "Free Comics for Good Grades" program to encourage kids to read by trading free comic books for every A and B grade on students' report card. Even more recent, Fanboys Marketplace donated over 5,000 toys to Cook Children's Medical Center.

Fanboys Cares will be the umbrella under which these initiatives, as well as future philanthropic ones, will exist. Emphasis will be on this upcoming holiday season as, "Fanboys will help kids in need at holidays during Christmas and also help local schools," says Mike Rogers, Fanboys CEO. "We'll be collecting toys and items on Cook Children's Medical Center's wishlist and providing it to them."

As the program grows, Fanboys Marketplace will be implementing ways for customers to give at each store, per transaction. All money raised will be used toward providing toys for patients at Cook Children's Medical Center.

Lisa Montgomery, Fanboys Marketplace President, said, "We were donating to Cook's even before we were a brick and mortar. We'd set out boxes for people to donate." Fanboys Cares is the natural extension of that sentiment.

About Fanboys:

Fanboys Marketplace began in 2018 as Fanboys Comic Con, a series of pop culture conventions that took place at local shopping malls. When COVID-19 forced Fanboys to pause events in 2020, the company opened a storefront along South Hulen Street in Fort Worth to allow vendors to continue selling their collectibles, toys, comics and other pop culture inspired novelties during the pandemic. Fanboys has since moved to a larger location at 6385 Camp Bowie Blvd in Fort Worth.

Fanboys has opened four new locations in 2022 alone: their fourth, located in Garland, Texas and two new locations in Hulen mall in Fort Worth and The Parks Mall at Arlington. Fanboys also recently signed a 10-year lease on a new headquarters and distribution center to open in 2023.

Voted Best Toy Store by Fort Worth Magazine and Gold Winner of Best Collectibles Store in DFW by Dallas Morning News in 2021. Fanboys carries collectible toys from Funko to D&D! Fanboys has six locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Find out more about Fanboys at www.fanboysmarketplace.com or on Facebook and Instagram.

Mike Rogers

817-521-6153

fanboysmarketplace@gmail.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/137041
Richmond Minerals Inc. (TSXV: RMD) ("Richmond" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the acquisition (through map staking) of 245 exploration licenses ("Freischurfe") covering an area of 114.6 km2 in total. The licenses cover ground that is considered prospective for lithium occurrences in Styria mining district of Austria. The licenses are grouped into three separate properties (collectively referred to as the "Lithium Group" of properties) designated as the Wildbachgraben Project consisting of 32 licenses covering 14.9 km2; the Klementkogel Project consisting of 22 licenses covering 10.5 km2; and the Bretstein Project consisting of 191 licenses covering 89.2 km2

Additonally, 219 exploration licenses covering an area of 107.1 km2 were acquired in Lower Austria. These licenses are located within the Variegated Series of the Moldanubian Zone and are prospective for and have recorded historical production of graphite. Specifically the licenses are grouped into eight separate properties (collectively referred to as the "Graphite Group") near the hamlets/villages of Furholz, Hengstberg, Muhldorf, Wurschenaigen, St. Marein, Ranzels, Zettlitz, and Rabesreith.

After the acquisition of these exploration licenses Richmond now holds one of the largest exploration license areas in Austria targeting Au, Ag, Co, Cu, Li, Ni, Pb, Sb, Zn, W, and graphite.

Acquisition and Description of licenses

Lithium Group

Bretstein is the most prospective of these three Li license areas as spodumene pegmatite occurrences have been mapped historically at surface. Mali (2004) describes spodumene pegmatite outcrops at Bretstein with Li2O grades up to 2.93% and spodumene crystal sizes as large as 10 cm. Additional grab samples have been collected from several pegmatite outcrops located within the Bretstein Property and Li2O assays will be reported as soon as available. A mapping and sampling campaign is the planned next step of exploration in the fall of 2022.

In the Wildbachgraben and Klementkogel area spodumene bearing pegmatite findings have been reported in the past, however little is known about the existing outcrops and spatial distribution of spodumene pegmatites there. Geological mapping and sampling of these pegmatites is the planned next step.

Graphite Group

Muhldorf is the largest area consisting of 90 licenses covering an area of 43.7 km2, followed by St. Marein with 36 licenses covering 17.6 km2, Zettlitz with 30 licenses covering 14.7 km2, Wurschenaigen consisting of 28 licenses covering 13.6 km2, and Ranzels consisting of 14 exploration licenses covering 7.0 km2. The Fuhrholz, Hengstberg, and Rabesreith properties each consist of 7 licenses covering 3.5 km2

The European committee lists graphite as a critical raw material. Austria produces 2.5% of the world's graphite, ranking 10th in the world, and is one of the world's largest sources of high-grade graphite. The Waldviertel area of Lower Austria is well known for its historic graphite mines. Mining started in the 19th century and the last mine was abandoned in 1999. In this period 832,000 tons have been mined in total, in open pits and in underground mining. The deposits belong to the orogenic metamorphic deposit type and consist predominantly of flake or crystalline graphite. Typically these graphite deposits are brecciated and have a siliceous matrix and can have lateral widths from 20 to 60 m and a thickness of up to 12 m. The carbon content varies from 25 40% for flake graphite, 40 50% for the hard graphite which increases to 60 to 70% in weathered sections near surface. The sulfur content varies between 0.02% and 9.43%.

Warren Hawkins, P.Eng, a "Qualified Person", within the meaning of Nation Instrument 43-101- Standards of Disclosure for Minerals Projects, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. Mr. Hawkins is not considered to be "independent" of the Corporation (as defined in National Instrument 43-101), as he currently holds securities of the Corporation.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: This news release contains forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, Richmond's objectives, goals or future plans, including successful completion of the Transaction and Offering. There is no guarantee that the Transaction and Offering will be completed on the terms announced in this press release or at all. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; the ability of Richmond to raise funds pursuant to the Offering; changes in demand and prices for minerals; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments, and those risks set out in Richmond's public documents filed on SEDAR. Although Richmond believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Richmond disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913006248/en/

Contacts:

For information, please contact:



Warren Hawkins, P. Eng.

Exploration Manager

E: warren@richmondminerals.com



Tel: 416-603-2114


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Peiter 'Mudge' Zatko, who earlier served as the security chief at Twitter, testified before the U.S Congress that the social media platform has many security lapses and can be easily attacked by 'teenagers, thieves and spies', thus risking the online security of many Twitter users. Zatko appeared before a Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to present his side of the story.



While starting his sworn testimony, Zatko said, 'I am here today because Twitter leadership is misleading the public, lawmakers, regulators and even its own board of directors.'



'They don't know what data they have, where it lives and where it came from and so, unsurprisingly, they can't protect it. It doesn't matter who has keys if there are no locks,' he added.



Zatko was the head of security at Twitter until he was laid off earlier in 2022. He sent a whistle blower complaint in July to the Congress, the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Zatko made many allegations against the social media company, main among which is that Twitter went against the terms of a 2011 FTC settlement by making false claims that it had a fool proof security system in place.



Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who was heading the Judiciary Committee, said that Zatko has detailed flaws, which 'may pose a direct threat to Twitter's hundreds of millions of users as well as to American democracy.'



According to Zatko, a lot of the personal information submitted by Twitter users has been leaked and Twitter did not even consider the 'basic systematic failures', put forward by Twitter users.



Zatko said, 'The FTC has been 'a little over its head', and far behind European counterparts, in policing the sort of privacy violations that have occurred at Twitter.'



Twitter had rubbished most of Zatko's claims saying that they are wild claims and have no documentary back-up. The company has described Zatko's claims as 'a false narrative . riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies'.



One of the most notable allegations made by Zatko was that Twitter knowingly let the Indian Government keep its agents on company payroll, by which they had easy access to confidential information. 'Twitter's lack of ability to log how employees accessed user accounts made it hard for the company to detect when employees were abusing their access,' Zatko said.



The whistle blower also alleged falsehood in how Twitter handled the matter of automated 'spam bots,' or fake accounts. This issue is one of the main bone of contention in the case between Elon Musk and Twitter over his decision to abandon his $44 billion takeover deal.



Senator Charles Grassley, the committee's ranking Republican, said that Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal will not testify at the hearing because of the ongoing case. Other than the above-mentioned allegations, Zatko has also accused Agrawal and many other senior officials of many crimes like making 'false and misleading statements to users and the FTC about the Twitter platform's security, privacy and integrity.'







Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Chicago, Illinois--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2022) - Greenspoon Marder LLP , a national full-service law firm servicing the cannabis industry, will be participating in the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, which will take place on September 13 and 14 at The Palmer House in Chicago.

Irina Dashevsky, Cannabis Law Co-Chair will be speaking at 1:10 PM ET on September 14th. Interested parties can register to attend here.

Members of the Greenspoon Marder LLP management will also be taking meetings throughout the day. Take advantage of the opportunity and meet your favorite industry executives.

"The biggest cannabis event is returning to the Midwest, bigger and better than ever. The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference will bring more the top movers and shakers in the cannabis industry together, concentrating 90% of the cannabis market cap in one place," said Chief Zinger Jason Raznick. "This conference will be the best place to raise money, create partnerships, and expand media visibility in a context of tough capital market conditions."

To register and access please follow this link.

About Greenspoon Marder LLP

Among the first national law firms to establish a dedicated Cannabis Practice Group, the team at Greenspoon Marder understands the unique challenges facing the cannabis industry. With full-service capabilities and over 20 offices in the U.S., our attorneys help cultivators, retailers, product manufacturers, distributors, and testing facilities, as well as ancillary businesses and investors around the country.

About The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference

The premier gathering of cannabis entrepreneurs and investors in North America is returning to Chicago.

The next iteration of the famed Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference will gather industry insiders, investors and leading executives from around the world once again on September 13 and 14 in Chicago. Attendees can expect two full days of keynotes, panel discussions, fireside chats, networking, company presentations, celebrity appearances, and more.

The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is guaranteed to offer participants all the benefits of an immersive and robust in-person conference from any remote location. The conference will feature an interactive forum of live and on-demand presentations from top CEOs, investors and leaders in the cannabis space.

For further information:

Natalie Villanueva

Director of Marketing

9543334308

natalie.villanueva@gmlaw.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Twitter's (TWTR) shareholders have voted to approve a deal with Elon Musk to buy the company for $44 billion. Based on a preliminary tabulation of the stockholder vote, approximately 98.6% of the votes cast at the Special Meeting approved the proposal to adopt the deal. Now, Twitter will legally try to force Elon Musk to buy the company after he terminated the deal earlier. Twitter has sued the SpaceX and Tesla CEO in an attempt to force him to complete his agreement to acquire the social media company in the $44 billion deal. In April, Twitter agreed to sell the company to the world's richest person. However, Musk later terminated his deal to acquire Twitter, claiming that the social media giant failed to comply with its obligations in the merger agreement. Musk's legal team claimed that Twitter did not provide Musk with relevant business information. Musk previously wanted to assess Twitter's claims that about 5% of its monetizable daily active users are spam accounts. 'Twitter continues to believe that Mr. Musk's purported termination of the merger agreement is invalid and without merit, and that the Musk parties continue to be bound by the merger agreement and obligated to complete the merger on the agreed terms and conditions,' Twitter said in a statement. Twitter is currently valued at $32 billion, far below the $44 billion offer from Musk. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Celerium, a Tyson Corner, VA-based provider of cyber defense solutions, acquired Dark Cubed, an Alexandria, VA-based provider of automated network defense to small- and medium-sized businesses and U.S. Department of Defense contractors.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed.



With the acquisition, Celerium will shift its overall focus to powering active cyber defense from enabling cyber threat sharing. The Dark Cubed solution will work with Celeriums Cyber Defense Network suite of solutions to provide enhanced capability and functionality for Celeriums customers and the MSP partners working with Dark Cubed. Over the next few months, Celerium will make additional product announcements, including planned enhancements of Dark Cubeds signature product and new active defense solutions.

Led by CEO Vince Crisler, who will become Celeriums Chief Strategy Officer, Dark Cubed provides cyber security solutions to small businesses and U.S. Department of Defense contractors. The SaaS based solution delivers 100% automated threat detection and blocking, is deployed in minutes, and requires no new hardware, no software to install, no agents, and no cyber security analysts to operate. The company sells its solution exclusively through a network of MSP partners.

Led by Aubrey Chernick, founder and chairman, Celerium powers active cyber defense solutions to help companies in the fight against increasing cyberattacks. Its CMMC Academy initiative, launched in early 2020, provides resources to help government contractors navigate the Department of Defenses cybersecurity compliance programs (CMMC and NIST 800-171).

FinSMEs

13/09/2022
Cognitive3D, a Vancouver, Canada-based spatial analytics platform that measures how users behave within 3D environments, raised a $2.5M Seed funding round.

The round was led by Konvoy, with participation from Space Capital and Boost VC.

The company, which has built a team of nine, all based in Canada, plans to use the funds to double the headcount over the next 18 months.

Founded in 2015 by CEO Tony Bevilacqua, Cognitive3D provides a spatial analytics platform that collates and measures how users behave within immersive 3D environments. The system uses immersive technology to help provide an innovative way of researching consumer behavior within a 3D extended reality (XR) setting. As users move from content consumption through 2D web and mobile platforms, towards a more interactive content participation in 3D apps, Cognitive3D provides the ability to understand what happens within a 3D space, including how users interact with objects in the chosen environment.

Jim Preston, Lead Technical Producer at Electronic Arts (EA), with over 20 years of experience in frontier technology and video games, and Konvoy Principal Taylor Hurst will be joining Cognitive3Ds board.

FinSMEs

13/09/2022
GrowerIQ, a Toronto, CA-based cannabis enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform, closed a $3m CAD ($2.3 million USD) seed funding round.

The round was co-led by Golden Section and MaRS IAF, with participation from LAGO, Delbridge, GTM Fund and Gaingels.

The company intends to use the funds to invest in tech and continue building its cannabis management platform.

Launched in 2020 by CEO Andrew Wilson, GrowerIQ provides a solution for cannabis businesses to simplify operations, stay compliant and leverage data to improve their bottom line. The companys ERP includes modules for cultivation, manufacturing, warehouse, CRM, orders and quality management.

GrowerIQ now powers facilities in more than a dozen countries, and four languages.

FinSMEs

13/09/2022
How have you become a venture capitalist? Do you need to be rich or born with the right connections? The answer to the latter is not, but becoming a VC can seem shrouded in mystery.

The fact is that there are several different paths to becoming one, and its not a world that cannot be breached, however much it may seem that way. Without a considerable amount of your cash to invest, rather than starting your own company, youll move into the VC world from related industries and work your way up.

Getting Your Degree

Venture capitalists come from several different types of backgrounds, so there is no single major that will set you up for success in this area. Finance, accounting, math, economics, and statistics are all majors that can prepare you for a career in this area. Later, after youve had some work experience, you may want to consider getting an MBA, but for now, focus on your undergraduate degree. You can look online to find out more about scholarships for college students that can help you cover the costs of your education.

Understanding the Job Market Itself

Since we have already detailed that there is no set course of study to help you break into this sector, you probably want to know what your days will look like as a professional in this industry. Traditionally venture capitalists provide funds for little-known startups and allow them to become high-growth companies. The tradeoff is that these firms will have a higher percentage of control over the company and, inevitably, the profit margin.

Since you will need experience before becoming an actual VC, one great way to gain is to hold another position at a venture-backed venture. This opens the job market up for you to be much larger, especially starting. This job market is notoriously competitive and naturally weeds out people who lack the necessary skills based on the grit required to enter the industry. It is critical that you understand this to be a competitive candidate yourself.

Your First Job

You are unlikely to go straight into working for a VC firm with the ink still wet on your diploma. Financial advisors and some academics may move into this career path, but investment banking is one of the best places for you to focus and start gaining the experience and contacts youll need. Work hard on your networking skills since this ability will be critical to your later success as a VC. Pay attention to beginner investor guides and strategies so that you learn the fundamentals of the industry while you build up your professional network.

Becoming an Associate

Youll most likely start as a VC associate at a firm on the career ladder to become a partner. One alternative that you may want to consider is working in private equity. This differs from becoming a VC because it focuses on established companies rather than up-and-coming ones. If you love the thrill of discovering the next entrepreneurial stars and helping them move to the next level, stick with the VC side of things. Still, if you are interested in working with companies that have been around for a while to find funding, private equity might be the right choice. What you dont need to succeed at this stage is a large amount of personal wealth; the money you are investing belongs to a third party, not you personally.

Benefits and Items to Consider When Taking a VC Career Path

One of the most significant benefits of being a professional venture capitalist is that you can spend your days surrounded by some of the brightest and most innovative entrepreneurs in the business world. Having the opportunity to help make multiple companies find success through your efforts is incredibly rewarding. Your take-home pay and a certain level of freedom of schedule are two significant benefits you will enjoy.

However, one of the biggest things you will need to consider is how practical your communication skills are and how adaptable your people skills are. A considerable part of this job will include dealing with your partners, and you need to understand that many of these interactions will be fueled by passion and have the potential to be challenging. Another thing to consider is the possible volatility of the companies you invest in. Part of the allure of startups is that they can provide some high highs but dont neglect to understand what the tradeoff of that means.

Other Tips

If you are an expert in a particular technical field, this can be helpful if you focus on funding companies in your area of expertise. Whether or not you focus on a single industry or type of technology, you should stay abreast of whats happening in the VC world and maintain a strong presence on social media platforms. When it is time to get your MBA, try to get into the best school you can because you will be competing against others whose educations were at the best universities in the country.
Kapor Capital, an Oakland, CA-based venture capital firm that invests in early stage startups that close gaps of access for all, launched $126 million Fund III.

Limited partners include Cambridge Associates, Align Impact, Ford Foundation, Bank of America, PayPal, Twilio, Footlocker, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, EIP Elevate Future Fund, Southern Poverty Law, The California Wellness Foundation, National Geographic Society, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and Stardust Equity.

Raised by managing partners Ulili Onovakpuri and Brian Dixon, the fund will invest in tech startups affecting social change that positively impact low-income communities and communities of color.

The vehicle has already invested in 15 companies, including Cayaba Care, a maternity support service; Daylight, a digital banking platform designed for the LGBTQ+ community by the LGBTQ+ community; and TomoCredit, a credit card for young adults, students and immigrants.

FinSMEs

13/09/2022
LetsGetChecked, a Dublin, Ireland- and New York-based global health care solutions company that provides clinical tools to conveniently and easily manage patients health from home, received a $20M investment from Morgan Health, the JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) business unit.

The deal was part of a series D-2 round led by Casdin Capital and Transformation Capital (LTP Equity).

In conjunction with the investment, Robin Leopold, Executive Vice President and Head of Human Resources for JPMorgan Chase, and a member of the companys Operating Committee, will join LetsGetCheckeds Board.

The company intends to use the funds for its continued business expansion.

Led by Peter Foley, Founder and CEO, LetsGetChecked provides a vertically integrated platform that supports the full spectrum of patient care, providing direct access to diagnostic testing, genetic insights, virtual consultations and medication delivery. The global company offers a complete end-to-end solution for patients with access to more than 100 laboratory panels and personalized treatment plans. In addition, physician practices and virtual care providers can integrate LetsGetCheckeds services directly into their workflows. It also provides employers and providers with clinical insights to inform population-based health initiatives designed to address the prevalence of common health issues, including diabetes, high cholesterol and a range of other chronic conditions.

Founded in 2015, LetsGetChecked has delivered more than 10 million tests and partnered with more than 300 business clients in the United States, United Kingdom and European Union. The company serves Fortune 500 organizations, health plans, provider groups and the public sector.

LetsGetChecked recently acquired BioIQ, in addition to Veritas Genetics and Veritas Intercontinental, which has expanded the companys services to include whole genome sequencing as well as targeted laboratory panels, such as Pharmacogenomics (PGx). These new offerings allow LetsGetChecked to support the full lifecycle of care across womens health, mens health, sexual health as well as general health and wellness.

FinSMEs

13/09/2022
UnionTech, a Shangai, China-based leader in the 3D printing industry, completed a $30m Pre-IPO funding following the completion of the Series D round in November last year.

This round was led by CITIC Goldstone, followed by Oriza FOFs, and joined by three existing shareholders, including Cash Capital, Dragonrise Capital, and Mount Morning Capital.

The company will use the funds to develop new materials, extend product lines, build a printing system platform, and promote applications of printing technology.

Led by Mr. Ma Jinsong, General Manager, UnionTech focused on additive manufacturing offering 3D printers, 3D printing materials, 3D printing software, and printing applications for global customers, building a complete 3D printing ecosystem. Currently, the company mainly markets its products in five regions including China, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East, and serves over 3,000 customers in more than 50 countries and regions worldwide.

FinSMEs

13/09/2022
On August 8, 2022 local time, Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh met with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Ulaanbaatar.

Khurelsukh asked Wang Yi to convey his sincere greetings to President Xi Jinping, saying that exchanges between Mongolia and China date back to ancient times, and the two countries are always friendly neighbors and tested friends with no political divergence nor unresolved issues. Mongolia firmly pursues the one-China principle and holds that affairs related to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xizang and Xinjiang are China's internal affairs. This is Mongolia's consistent policy, which will never change. Mongolia heartfully admires the great development achievements made by the friendly neighbor under the outstanding leadership of President Xi Jinping, and is glad to see that with the joint efforts of both sides, the important consensus between the two heads of state has been effectively implemented, and the goal of 10-billion-U.S. dollar bilateral trade volume has been reached. Mongolia appreciates China's persistent efforts to share development opportunities with neighboring countries to help Mongolia achieve common development and win-win cooperation. Mongolia is ready to seek greater synergy between the development strategies of the two countries, and deepen cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, ports, infrastructure, and desertification prevention and control, so as to elevate the Mongolia-China comprehensive strategic partnership to a new height. Mongolia looks forward to stepping up exchanges between the Mongolian People's Party and the Communist Party of China (CPC) to usher in a new century of cooperation between the two Parties, both in their 100s. He wishes the 20th National Congress of the CPC a complete success.

Khurelsukh said Mongolia highly appreciates China's pandemic prevention policy, which has not only effectively protected the health and well-being of the 1.4 billion Chinese people, but also made important contributions to global solidarity against COVID-19. He sincerely thanked China for providing Mongolia with many batches of vaccines and other anti-pandemic materials despite its own difficulties. Mongolia speaks highly of China's positive contributions to defending the UN Charter, attaches great importance to the significance of the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative in promoting world peace and security, and will actively support and participate in the two initiatives and deepen synergy and implementation in this regard.

Wang Yi conveyed President Xi Jinping's warm greetings to President Khurelsukh, saying that China and Mongolia are good neighbors more valuable than gold, good brothers sharing joys and sorrows, and good partners going through thick and thin together. The two sides have joined hands to fight the pandemic and gifted one another with sheep and tea, writing a new tale of friendship between the two countries. Following the philosophy of putting people and their lives first, China has protected the lives and health of the Chinese people, and at the same time contributed to the global pandemic response, demonstrating the sense of responsibility as a country with a huge population. China will stay committed to the established policy, respond to COVID-19 and pursue economic and social development in a well-coordinated way, and continue to provide anti-pandemic support for Mongolia as needed to jointly defeat the pandemic and expel the virus. We will continue to carry out all-round mutually beneficial cooperation with Mongolia under the guidance of the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness and the principle of upholding justice while pursuing shared interests, both put forward by President Xi Jinping. China will be a major country that makes its neighbors rest assured, provides support and assistance for them, and develops together with them. China is ready to join hands with Mongolia to follow through on the important consensus between the heads of state, work in the direction of jointly building a community with a shared future, and seek greater synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Steppe Road Program, between the Global Development Initiative and Mongolia's New Revival Policy, and between China's "two-step" development strategy and Mongolia's long-term development vision, so as to help Mongolia turn its advantages in resources and geographical position into development advantages, and make the development outcomes of China-Mongolia relations better benefit the Mongolian people.

Wang Yi said that China appreciates Mongolia's reaffirmation of its firm support for the one-China principle and its opposition to interference in China's internal affairs. China also supports Mongolia in safeguarding its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and backs Mongolia in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions. As Chinese people say, "For our friends, we have fine wine. For jackals or wolves, we welcome with shotguns". We are ready to work with Mongolia and the vast developing countries to maintain solidarity and cooperation, forge ahead hand in hand, continue to support each other on issues involving respective core interests, jointly safeguard peace and tranquility, and build beautiful homes to benefit future generations.

During Wang Yi's visit to Mongolia, Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene and Speaker of the Parliament Gombojav Zandanshatar met with Wang Yi respectively.

On the same day, Wang Yi also held talks with Mongolian Foreign Minister Batmunkh Battsetseg and jointly met the press. The two sides signed cooperation documents between the two foreign ministries and witnessed the signing of cooperation documents on railway ports, and health and quarantine, among others.
Quote: Theboneskes Originally Posted by Thats a typical response I expect! You didnt see any of that stuff going on under the previous administration! People vote for the current morons in office and the country falls apart, and you still blame it on the Republicans!

I assume youre joking, yes? Show me where repub politicians reversed the penalties and fines against diesel tuners. Show me where repubs actually downsized govt.Dems and Repubs have done a decent job of convincing many people that the two parties are worlds apart. But when it comes down to their actions for the most part they are one and the same. More govt spending, more govt power. Both Ds and Rs. Lately Ds have been acting even more insane than usual, but unless some true conservative/freedom oriented people get into office the establishment republicans arent gonna do sheeeit.
Attah Ameh Oboni was a revered Igala King.

At a particular meeting held in Kaduna which consisted of all paramount traditional rulers in Nigeria and which had the queen of England in attendance, Attah Ameh was asked to remove his cap to greet the Queen of England as others had done.

Though he refused until they said he should leave the meeting if he would not remove his cap. But Attah was not like others, or was he?

It was a taboo for Attah to remove his cap in the public. The entire hall where they were staying was occupied by swan of bees which emanates from the cap of Attah Ameh Oboni which he removed in order to greet the Queen.

The Queen of England as well as other rulers in the meeting ran helter-skelter except the friendly Oba of Benin who was asked by Attah Ameh to go out before he removed his cap. The hall became empty as some were stung by the bees and the meeting ended.

According to history, Attah Ameh Oboni was asked to be arrested and handcuffed by the security people, which they did, but the handcuffs fell off his hands.

He was later locked up in a room on the instruction of the Northern rulers and guarded by the security personnel but only to find out later by the personnel that he had left the room. Yes, when the security were taking him to be locked up, he told his driver, Amanabo of blessed memory, to take the car and be going to Idah while the security locked him in the room.

He then warned Amanabo not to look back until he felt a cool breeze in the car. Though Amanabo argued a little that he cannot leave the Attah there but later obeyed and started driving back to Idah from Kaduna.

After some time, he felt the cool breeze in the car, and Attah Ameh was sitted inside the car.

The incident in the meeting made many traditional rulers which were mostly northerners to be angry especially making kings run in such a manner because of bees.

This became one important sin, and it was like one sin too many.

The queen of Englnad was also not happy and they (the Queen and northern leaders) started looking for a way to remove Attah Ameh from the throne since he was getting tougher and uncontrollable like others, as well as searching for an obedient replacement.

Igala has various cultural festivals, one of which is Ocho. Ocho is celebrated before farming starts, and it is the time that Attah Igala prays to God for sufficient rainfall, bountiful harvest, success in hunting. It is celebrated in the bush and the venue is called Ere-ocho, where the Attah will hunt until he kills a Buffalo or a strong animal. The community in Idah where Ocho takes place is called Ogo-Efa. He performs a little sacrifice to the ancestors using a fowl in the process, and this was to find out if there will blessings or problems in the land after the Ocho.

Before this time, the enemies at home (among the Igala people), especially those having connections with the leaders of the northern region, were working hard to get any evidence either true or false which can be used to remove him from the throne. The blood of the animal used as sacrifice at Ocho ground now became what the enemies would use against him.

Petition was written by these two Igala people to the Queen and some other Northern leaders that Attah Ameh was sacrificing humans during the Ocho festivals. Since they were looking for any means to displace him with, judgment was quickly passed that he must be dethroned, even when investigations were not yet concluded.

In addition, all the Igala cultural festivals including the Ocho were immediately banned and this remained for almost 63 years until Governor Yahaya Bello unbanned them based on the appeal of the present Attah Igala.

Already, before this time, the Oba of Benin who had such friction with the British had already been dethroned and banished from Benin. So, Attah Ameh Oboni knew that at that point, no matter what spiritual approach applied, it can only postpone the evil day as his enemies will never relent until he was removed by them.

The result of the blood sample which was taken from the Ocho venue and taken to University of Ibadan for analysis had arrived and it was proved that it was the blood of an animal and not human. Sadly, the revered King, Attah Ameh had passed on before the result was brought.

But Attah Ameh, being very sure that he was wrongly accused and framed up by his enemies, especially those from Igala who wrote the petition against him marking the beginning of his planned dethronement, made some pronouncements before his death.

He was allegedly quoted to have said that  the person who wrote the petition against him would have that hand dried up, and that the leader of the gang or petitioners would be buried three times. And they all came to pass.

While the hand dried as said, the other was buried as stated, first was the leg, second was his hand and the third was himself, all buried at various times at different locations.

In addition, as this information of his dethronement was given to him in a meeting from where he was supposed to go back to Idah and prepare to leave the throne, he stopped on the way in another Igala land called Dekina.

That was where he committed suicide.

Before taking his life, he was allegedly quoted to have said that the town, Dekina will be popular but its development will not be as much as its popularity.

He was also quoted to have said that because Igala was the genesis of his ordeal, there will be disunity among the Igala people until the reign of his own blood (son) as Attah, and all Igalas irrespective of their locations will be reunited again.

I think from the reconnection and reunification of Igala people across Nigeria and beyond which has been going on and still going on under the reign of his son, Agabaidu Idakwo Ameh Oboni II, the present Attah Igala, that pronouncement of reunification of Igala people is also coming through. #BKQHISTORY
Brigadier General Charles Kaneta, who died on Saturday after collapsing at his farm in Nyanga, has been declared a national hero in honour of the immense contributions he made to his country before and after independence.

He died at the age of 64.

He collapsed at his farm on Saturday and was rushed to Hauna District Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival at around noon.

Brig-Gen Kaneta was the Director General Logistics at the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Headquarters.

In his condolence message last night, President Mnangagwa said he learnt with shock and sadness the death of Brig Gen Kaneta.

It was with profound shock and sadness that I learnt of the untimely passing on of Brigadier General Charles Kaneta at his rural home in Honde last Saturday, said President Mnangagwa.

What makes his demise painful and difficult to accept is that he showed no signs of being unwell and was on a routine visit to his rural home.

The passing on of Brigadier General Kaneta, whose Chimurenga name was Santana Tongai, is a great loss to our nation, and to our Defence Force whose crop of wartime field commanders is gradually being whittled down.

Brig-Gen Kaneta joined the liberation struggle in 1975 in Mozambique at a young age.

He was a graduate of the Nanjing Military Academy in China, as well as a beneficiary of specialised military training in Syria.

President Mnangagwa said Brig-Gen Kanetas contribution to the liberation struggle stands out in our annals of liberation history.

He was a tough and brilliant military instructor through whose hands passed many cadres, including senior party officials such as the late national hero Cde Herbert Ushewokunze, late Cde Crispen Mandizvidza and Dr Sidney Sekeramayi, he said.

Following his attestation in 1981 into the integrated Zimbabwe National Army, Brig-Gen Kaneta had an illustrious military career, rising through the ranks to become a Brigadier General.

He served our nation well. On behalf of the party, Zanu PF, Government, the people of Zimbabwe, my family and indeed on my behalf, I wish to convey my heartfelt condolences to the Kaneta family, especially to his wife, Amai Kaneta, and the children who have lost a loving husband and father respectively.

May they take comfort from the knowledge that we are together during their darkest hour of grief and sorrow.

In recognition of his immense contribution to the liberation of our nation and to our independence in the service of the Zimbabwe Defence Force, the party has seen it fit and proper to honour the late Brigadier General Charles Kaneta with national hero status.

May his dear soul rest in eternal peace, said President Mnangagwa.

Mourners are gathered at Number 7 Married Quarters Cranborne West, Harare. Herald
Jayathi Y. Murthy began her role as President of Oregon State University on Friday, and in her 10 days since moving to Corvallis, shes already decided the city has some of the best pizza shes had.

The Indian food is also excellent, she added.

Murthys presidency was announced June 7 after a long hiring process. She previously served as the dean at UCLA Engineering and started the Women in Engineering at UCLA program to promote a sense of safety and belonging for women in the male-dominated field.

Similarly, OSU has the Society of Women Engineers, and Murthy said she plans to work with diversity officer Scott Vignos to continue increasing representation and building a respectful climate for women in engineering. She said the university, however, has already done a wonderful job in doing so.

This is very near and dear to my heart, she said.

So far, Murthy said, she does not miss anything about Los Angeles  the serene greenery is a welcome change from the chaos and traffic of Southern California.

The farmers market has got to be one of my favorite places Ive been to, she said. Such beautiful produce.  Ive been there twice already.

Murthy recalled her visit to Oregon when she was 21, while in a graduate program at Washington State University. She and her friends piled in a car and went to Crater Lake, a spot she has wanted to return to ever since.

I had just come to the U.S, Murthy said. Thats certainly a big part of it now  getting back to the outdoors.

She added that OSU has a large footprint across Oregon, and she plans to explore the universitys extension services in every region as a way to understand the state.

I'm going to be making the rounds both inside the university and outside to understand what the drivers are, what the issues are, what's working really well and what needs work, Murthy said. Nothing in a university of this scale can really happen without relationships and without collaboration.

Learning and connecting with students is the highest item on her agenda, she said. While the school year does not start until Sept. 21, she has already spoken with student leaders who came to campus early to prepare for their leadership roles.

I'm looking forward to understanding what their concerns are, what their needs are, Murthy said.

But before the school year starts, Murthy plans to check off one Oregon must-do: travel a few hours east this weekend for the Pendleton Round-Up.

I even bought a cowboy hat, she said.

With lots of new ideas circling around in her mind, Murthy said she is ready to hit the ground running.

Were in this together, she said.

Related articles:
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
RADNOR, Pa., Sept. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP (www.ktmc.com) informs investors that a securities class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against MINISO Group Holding Limited (MINISO ) (NYSE: MNSO). The action charges MINISO with violations of the federal securities laws, including omissions and fraudulent misrepresentations relating to the companys business, operations, and prospects. As a result of MINISOs materially misleading statements and omissions to the public, MINISO investors have suffered significant losses.



CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR MINISO LOSSES. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER: https://ktmc.com/new-cases/miniso-group-holding-limited?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=miniso&mktm=r

CANNOT VIEW THIS VIDEO? PLEASE CLICK HERE

LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE: OCTOBER 17, 2022

CLASS PERIOD: OCTOBER 15, 2020 THROUGH AUGUST 17, 2022

CONTACT AN ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR RIGHTS:

Jonathan Naji, Esq. at (484) 270-1453 or via email at info@ktmc.com

Kessler Topaz is one of the worlds foremost advocates in protecting the public against corporate fraud and other wrongdoing. Our securities fraud litigators are regularly recognized as leaders in the field individually and our firm is both feared and respected among the defense bar and the insurance bar. We are proud to have recovered billions of dollars for our clients and the classes of shareholders we represent.

MINISOS ALLEGED MISCONDUCT

Headquartered in the People's Republic of China, MINISO purports to be a fast-growing global value retailer which serves consumers primarily through its large network of MINISO stores. On October 15, 2020, MINISO conducted its IPO, issuing approximately 30.4 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs) to the investing public at $20.00 per ADS.

On July 26, 2022, market researcher Blue Orca Capital published a report on MINISO which alleged several alarming issues with MINISO, including that: 1) many MINISO stores are secretly owned by MINISO executives or insiders closely connected to the chairman; 2) MINISO misleads the market about its core business; and 3) based on Blue Orcas analysis, MINISOs Chinese corporate filings indicate that the chairman siphoned hundreds of millions from the public company through opaque Caribbean jurisdictions as the middleman in a crooked headquarters deal.

As of July 27, 2022, MINISO ADSs closed at $5.66 per ADS, representing more than a 70% decline from the $20.00 IPO price.

WHAT CAN I DO?

MINISO investors may, no later than October 17, 2022, seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP or other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP encourages MINISO investors who have suffered significant losses to contact the firm directly to acquire more information.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CASE

WHO CAN BE A LEAD PLAINTIFF?

A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.

ABOUT KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLP

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country and around the world. The firm has developed a global reputation for excellence and has recovered billions of dollars for victims of fraud and other corporate misconduct. All of our work is driven by a common goal: to protect investors, consumers, employees and others from fraud, abuse, misconduct and negligence by businesses and fiduciaries. The complaint in this action was not filed by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP. For more information about Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP please visit www.ktmc.com.

CONTACT:

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP

Jonathan Naji, Esq.

(484) 270-1453

280 King of Prussia Road

Radnor, PA 19087

info@ktmc.com

A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5d9d035d-54ac-41db-838b-5c500565fb3d
NEW YORK, Sept. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of regulated markets for 12,000 U.S. and international securities, is pleased to announce that it has hired Catherine Chao Shang, as Vice President, Corporate Services and Market Data Business Development, headquartered in Singapore.



OTC Markets Groups expansion into Asia is part of a broader strategy to assist global issuers looking to access the U.S. Capital Markets as well meet demand for OTC data distribution across the region.

"We are thrilled to welcome Catherine to our international team," said Jason Paltrowitz, EVP, Corporate Services, OTC Markets Group. "Building out our presence in Singapore will play a pivotal role in the growth of OTC Markets internationally and will help us further cultivate relationships with companies throughout Asia."

Catherine brings over a decade of experience in the financial markets. She was most recently a VP at Trumarx Data Partnership, where she was the Asia based representative selling their OTC energy trading platform. Prior to that she held roles at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Omega as a manager and trader.

Matt Fuchs, EVP of Market Data continued, Adding resources on the ground in Asia will allow us to further capitalize on the demand we are seeing from brokerages, institutions and retail investors throughout the region. We are excited to have Catherine onboard to help drive our business development efforts across Asia.

About OTC Markets Group Inc.

OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates regulated markets for trading 12,000 U.S. and international securities. Our data-driven disclosure standards form the foundation of our three public markets: OTCQX Best Market, OTCQB Venture Market and Pink Open Market.

Our OTC Link Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs) provide critical market infrastructure that broker-dealers rely on to facilitate trading. Our innovative model offers companies more efficient access to the U.S. financial markets.

OTC Link ATS, OTC Link ECN and OTC Link NQB are each an SEC regulated ATS, operated by OTC Link LLC, a FINRA and SEC registered broker-dealer, member SIPC.

To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com.

Media Contact:

OTC Markets Group Inc., +1 (212) 896-4428, media@otcmarkets.com
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Sept. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global cancer tissue diagnostics market is expected to reach a market valuation of US$ 5.3 Billion by the year 2022, accelerating with a moderate CAGR of 6.6% by 2022-2032. Cancer Tissue Diagnostics market size is anticipated to be valued at about US$ 10.04 Billion by 2032 end.



The global cancer tissue diagnostics market looks promising for several reasons. These include the increasing prevalence of cancers of all types, rising demand for preventative health services, the proliferation of digital pathology's applications, the escalation of cancer awareness campaigns, the creation of more efficient diagnostic and monitoring tools, and the general improvement in diagnostic accuracy.

The high cost of diagnostic methods and a lack of skilled and professional personnel in the cancer tissue diagnostics market are anticipated to restrain the growth of the global cancer tissue diagnostics market during the forecast period.

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) has the greatest cancer tissue diagnostics market share in 2019 due to its widespread use in cancer treatment and therapy research and development. Because of the distinct differences it reveals between tumour types, IHC is generally favoured over traditional enzyme staining techniques. While traditional approaches can only pick up on a small subset of tumour-specific tissue structures, enzymes, and proteins.

Request a sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4191



The field of digital pathology in the cancer tissue diagnostics market is anticipated to expand at a rate higher than any other during the predicted time frame. One of the primary forces propelling the category forward is the rising popularity of whole-slide imaging (WSI) among practising pathologists. To further aid in cancer diagnosis and give informative clinical measures for tumours, WSI can extract and quantify individual aspects of tumours.

Key Takeaways

The cancer tissue diagnostics market is anticipated to reach a valuation of US$ 10.04 Billion by 2032.

North America held 45.9% of the cancer tissue diagnostics market in 2020. Because of the high overall cancer incidence rate and public programmes to lower cancer rates and raise demand for alternative cancer diagnostics.

Germany has the most developed cancer tissue diagnostics market in Western Europe and is projected to maintain its dominance. The expansion is driven by Germany's established manufacturing centres and public awareness of early cancer detection.

Growth in personalised cancer diagnosis and treatment, improvements in imaging technology, and rising cancer incidence rates are all factors fuelling the cancer tissue diagnostics market expansion.

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Competitive Landscape

In response to rising demand, leading firms in the field of cancer tissue diagnostics are focusing more resources on digital pathology. This is anticipated to encourage technology suppliers and digital pathology platforms to create strategic alliances in the worldwide cancer tissue diagnostics market.

In July of 2020, Koninklijke Philips N.V., a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation and one of the world's largest electronics companies with a focus on health technology, announced that it had partnered with Proscia Inc., a Philadelphia-based provider of digital pathology platform, to establish an open ecosystem for diagnostic laboratories to boost and scale their operations on the platform of digital pathologies.

As a result of this collaboration, Philips' iSyntax picture format is likely to be made available on Proscia's Concentriq digital pathology platform, and Proscia's suite of AI modules will be integrated into the Philips Pathology SDK software toolset.

In June of 2020, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, a Swiss pharmaceutical and diagnostics company, will release the CE-IVD version of its state-of-the-art, fully automated digital pathology platform uPath PD-L1 (SP263) for studying non-small cancer lung cells. (NSCLC).

According to the company, the decision was driven by the need to improve consistency and trustworthiness in diagnostic labs using artificial intelligence-driven image analysis tools.

Cancer Tissue Diagnostics Market by Segmentation

By Test Type:

Immunohistochemical (IHC) Test

Breast Cancer

Stomach (Gastric) Cancer

Colorectal Cancer

Prostate Cancer

Others

In Situ Hybridization (ISH) Test

Breast cancer

Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

Bladder Cancer

Others





By Region:

North America

Latin America

Europe

East Asia

South Asia

Oceania

Middle East and Africa





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Table of Content

1. Executive Summary

2. Cancer Tissue Diagnostics Introduction

2.1. Cancer Tissue Diagnostics Definition

2.2. Cancer Tissue Diagnostics Taxonomy

3. Cancer Tissue Diagnostics Analysis Scenario

3.1. Cancer Tissue Diagnostics Size (US$ Mn) and Forecast

3.1.1. Market Size and Y-o-Y Growth

3.1.2. Absolute $ Opportunity

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Did you lose money on investments in NIO? If so, please visit NIO Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@bernlieb.com to discuss your rights.



NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of NIO Inc. (NIO or the Company) (NYSE: NIO) between August 20, 2020 and July 11, 2022, inclusive (the Class Period). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

NIO designs, develops, manufactures, and sells smart electric vehicles. It purports to differentiate itself through technological breakthroughs and innovations, such as its battery swapping technologies (i.e., Battery as a Service) and proprietary autonomous driving technologies, including Autonomous Driving as a Service.

Plaintiff alleges that Defendants made materially false and misleading statements throughout the Class Period. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants failed to disclose that: (1) NIO pulled forward revenue by selling batteries to a related party which owned the batteries and managed users subscriptions; (2) through the related party, NIO also recognized enormous depreciation savings; and (3)as a result of the foregoing, the Companys revenue and net loss were overstated.

On June 28, 2022, Grizzly Research published a report alleging, among other things, that NIO inflated its net income by about 95% through sales to a related party, Wuhan Weineng Battery Asset Co. (Weineng). In sum, the report alleged: that [b]y transferring the burden of collecting monthly subscriptions to Weineng, NIO has accelerated its revenue growth. Instead of recognizing revenue over the life of the subscription (~7 years), Weineng allows NIO to recognize revenue from the batteries they sell immediately.

On this news, the Companys American Depositary Shares (ADSs or shares) fell $0.59, or 2.5%, to close at $22.36 per share on June 28, 2022.

Then, on July 11, 2022, NIO announced that it formed a special committee to oversee an investigation into the allegations in the Grizzly Research report.

On this news, the Companys shares fell $2.03, or 8.9% to close at $20.57 per share on July 11, 2022.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than October 24, 2022 . A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesnt require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.

If you purchased NIO securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit NIO Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@bernlieb.com.

Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journals Plaintiffs Hot List thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for ten consecutive years.

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NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of Azure Power Global Limited (Azure or the Company) (NYSE: AZRE) between June 15, 2021 and August 26, 2022, inclusive (the Class Period). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Azure sells renewable power in India on long-term fixed price contracts. The Company operates approximately 45 utility scale projects.

Plaintiff alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants allegedly made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) there were procedural irregularities, including deviations from safety and quality standards, at one of Azures plants; (2) certain project data was manipulated; (3) as a result of the foregoing, the Companys internal controls and procedures were not effective; and (4) Azure had received a credible whistleblower report alleging such misconduct.

On August 29, 2022, Azure announced the resignation of its CEO, less than two months after his appointment. The Company also disclosed that it had received a whistleblower complaint in May 2022 alleging potential procedural irregularities and misconduct by certain employees at a plant belonging to one of its subsidiaries. During the Companys review of these allegations, Azure discovered deviations from safety and quality norms and also identified evidence of manipulation of project data and information by certain employees.

On this news, the Companys stock fell $4.61, or 44%, to close at $5.85 per share on August 29, 2022.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than October 31, 2022 . A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesnt require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.

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Dublin, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Latin America Data Center Physical Security Market - Industry Outlook and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The Latin America data center market is witnessing strong growth and is dominated by colocation providers, followed by internet and cloud service providers.

Physical security layers are installed in data centers to prevent unwanted entry and threats. Companies are increasingly working toward ensuring that customer data is protected, by installing physical security measures at the perimeter, building, data hall, and cabinet level.

For instance, Equinix's MX2 data center facility is equipped with card readers, biometric access, mantraps, metal detector points, CCTV surveillance, and 24x7 on-site security.

SEGMENTAL ANALYSIS

The data center physical security market is commonly divided into four layers - Perimeter Security, Building Security, Data Hall Security, and Cabinet Security.



Perimeter Security Layer

In the perimeter security layer, a perimeter fence is installed with continuous monitoring devices such as video surveillance, sensors, and motion detectors. The height of the security fence in most data centers is 3 meters high, with some going up to 5 meters, depending on the facility location.

Sensors installed near the perimeter fence detect intrusion and are integrated with video surveillance systems, intrusion alarms, and motion detection security systems. Security systems near the fence respond to intrusion and immediately access network systems. Video surveillance is the most responsive to security breaches and captures H.D. images of threats and intruders; video analytics can identify objects and tactics to spot threats easily.



Building Security

Building security features many procedures to go through before entering the building. They are installed with mantraps, multi-factor authentication comprising biometric scans, key cards, PIN access, and video surveillance to verify the identity of the person entering access points by swiping an access card.

These access points prevent tailgating, and video content analytics count the number of people going through the doorway. These access cards and biometrics are used inside the building to access the server and monitoring rooms. Modern data centers include a retina scanner as part of their multi-factor authentication systems.



Data Hall Security

The data hall is the most sensitive area of the data center and has security systems such as CCTV surveillance, biometrics, PIN, and key cards. Data halls are secured through multiple forms of verification and monitor authorized access. Access to the data hall is restricted to a few individuals. Anyone entering the data hall must carry the right key card or token and enter their biometrics, iris scans, and vascular patterns. CCTVs are monitored continuously in the data hall.



Cabinet Security

Cabinet security is equipped with PIN access, biometric scanning, and key cards, and some feature mechanical lock systems. Each rack is monitored by video surveillance, and the data center provides insights, such as which rack is accessed by whom and when these details are recorded, for security purposes.



The Latin America physical security data center market in terms of end-users is divided into Enterprise data centers and Colocation data centers.

Enterprise data centers

Across Latin America, the number of enterprise-owned data centers is still higher than that of colocation facilities. Over the past decade, enterprises have faced difficulties building, operating, and managing their data centers. As a result, they are moving to colocation, managed hosting, and cloud services providers for their operational business needs. Enterprises prefer colocation facilities because of budget constraints, scalability, faster market time, interconnectivity, and cloud connectivity.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LATIN AMERICA DATA CENTER PHYSICAL SECURITY MARKET

Increased deployment of the cloud-based and edge data center facilities will increase the demand for physical security solutions such as video surveillance and access control systems.

Many data centers use Building Management System (BMS) to manage the physical security of their data centers (as part of the overall management of the building), including CCTV cameras, access controls, and even rodent repellent systems.

In 2021, Brazil and Mexico significantly contributed to the Latin America data center physical security market. In terms of Product, Video Surveillance is the major contributor to the Latin America data center physical security market.

The rise in data center facilities deployed across the region, mainly in Brazil and Mexico, will increase the demand for physical security solutions such as video surveillance and access control systems.

There have been advancements in video surveillance systems connected to cloud systems, which provide services such as recording, image captures, analytics, and notification services. These cloud-based video cameras upload constantly and need a reliable connection since they do not come with local storage. Cloud-based video analytics has become the latest trend in data center physical security.

Cloud computing and edge processing will drive the adoption of advanced video content analytics in the coming years. IoT-based sensors are also increasingly being deployed along with camera-based surveillance solutions.

Augmented reality (A.R.) is also being tested in data centers for training purposes for technicians. Remote monitoring using Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is increasingly being done to ensure advanced security on the premises.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is the primary security solution in data centers. With the integration of Artificial Intelligence, MFA has become more advanced. For instance, Ascenty's Queretaro, Mexico 1 facility is equipped with 24/7 monitoring using CCTV cameras, high-definition automatic movement detection, and dual authentication for access control using biometric and magnetic cards.

The demand for video surveillance systems is rising as data center investments increase YOY. The Latin America video surveillance security market will reach USD 9 million in 2027.

Installing racks in existing data centers boosts the adoption of cabinet security solutions. The Latin America cabinet security market will grow at a CAGR of 14.04% by 2027.

GEOGRAPHY AND VENDOR ANALYSIS

In 2021, Brazil and Mexico were significant contributors to the Latin America data center physical security market, wherein Mexico alone contributed to more than 36% of investment within the market.

The increase in the data center investments across countries such as Chile, Peru, and Colombia is likely to increase the investments in physical security in these countries over some time.

Major Physical Security service providers in Latin America include ASSA ABLOY, Axis Communication, ABB, Bosch Security Systems, Cisco Systems, Johnson Controls, Legrand, Siemens, and Schneider Electric.

The deployment of 5G services, the opening of cloud regions by major operators such as Google, Microsoft, AWS, and Alibaba Cloud, and increasing colocation investment by operators such as Equinix, Ascenty (Digital Realty), ODATA, HostDime, Scala Data Centers and others will be a significant revenue booster for the players operating in the market.

Key Vendors:

AMAG Technology

ASSA ABLOY

Axis Communications

ABB

Bayometric

Boon Edam

Bosch Security Systems

Convergint Technologies

Cisco Systems

Dahua Technology

Digitus Biometrics

Eagle Eye Networks

Gunnebo

Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology

Horton Automatics

Johnson Controls

Legrand

Pelco

Siemens

Schneider Electric

SUPREMA

Verkada

Key Topics Covered:



1 Research Methodology



2 Research Objectives



3 Research Process



4 Scope & Coverage

4.1 Market Definition

4.2 Base Year

4.3 Scope of the Study

4.4 Market Segments



5 Report Assumptions & Caveats

5.1 Key Caveats

5.2 Currency Conversion

5.3 Market Derivation



6 Market at a Glance



7 Premium Insights

7.1 Key Highlights

7.2 Segmental Analysis

7.3 Geography and Vendor Analysis

7.4 Market Overview

7.5 Physical Security Layers of Data Centers

7.5.1 Perimeter Security Layer

7.5.2 Building Security

7.5.3 Data Hall Security

7.5.4 Cabinet Security



8 Market Opportunities & Trends

8.1 Increase in Deployments of Edge Data Centers

8.2 Advancements in Video & Cloud-Based Analytics

8.3 Adoption of Anti-Climb Perimeter Security



9 Market Growth Enablers

9.1 Increasing Colocation Investments

9.2 Increasing Adoption of Multi-Factor Authentication Solutions

9.3 Impact of Covid-19



10 Market Restraints

10.1 Cost of Physical Security Solutions

10.2 Security Challenges in Data Centers



11 Market Landscape

11.1 Market Overview

11.2 Market Size & Forecast

11.3 Five Forces Analysis

11.3.1 Threat of New Entrants

11.3.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

11.3.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers

11.3.4 Threat of Substitutes

11.3.5 Competitive Rivalry



12 Product

12.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine

12.2 Market Overview

12.3 Video Surveillance

12.4 Access Control

12.5 Other Physical Security Products



13 Physical Security Layers

13.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine

13.2 Market Overview

13.3 Perimeter Security Layer

13.4 Building Security

13.5 Data Hall Security

13.6 Cabinet Security



14 End-User

14.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine

14.2 Market Overview

14.3 Colocation Data Centers

14.4 Enterprise Data Centers



15 Geography

15.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/o1zxdm
Dublin, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "AI in Fashion Global Market Report 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global AI in fashion market is expected to grow from $0.47 billion in 2021 to $0.65 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40.0%. The AI in fashion market is expected to grow to $2.66 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 42.1%.



North America was the largest region in the AI in fashion market in 2021. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in AI in fashion report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.



The growing influence of social media on the fashion industry is driving the growth of AI in fashion market. Social media is a primary source of information for the fashion industry as there are many opinions and information from all sources globally. Fashion today is mainly dependent on brand promotion and fashion influencers that use social media to communicate their views on fashion.

For instance, according to influencer marketing hub, a social media resource for influencers, the marketing influencer market grew from $ 9.7 billion in 2020 to $ 13.8 billion in 2021. The increasing popularity of short video formats on platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, as well as the impact of the global pandemic on consumers, which catalyzed social media consumption, and the optimization of data collection, which marketers used for social media ads, are all contributing to this growth. Such growing influence of social media is driving the growth of the market.



Machine learning is shaping the AI in fashion market. Machine learning is a part of artificial intelligence which defines the capabilities of the machine to copy human behavior. A machine can understand visualize and perform an action that helps in providing better information and suggestions to customers according to their behavior. For instance, in April 2021, Tommy Hilfiger, a renowned designer fashion brand applied machine-learning tools for product images of 15,000, and 600,000 publicly available runway images, and almost 100,000 fabric patterns sites. The applied AI gave insights into trending colors, and patterns, silhouettes to Tommy Hilfiger's style.



In September 2021, Syte company, an Israel-based software development company acquired Slyce for an undisclosed amount. Through this acquisition, Syte wants to expand its market in North America and support new and old clients. Slyce, is a US-based visual search company that has integrated apps and website technology for more than 60 retailers.

Scope

Markets Covered:

1) By Category: Apparels; Accessories; Footwear; Beauty And Cosmetics; Jewelry

2) By Deployment Mode: Cloud; On-premise

3) By Components: Solution; Services

4) By Application: Customer Relationship Management; Virtual Assistants; Product Recommendation; Product Search And Discovery; Supply Chain Management And Demand Forecasting; Creative Designing And Trend Forecasting

5) By End Users: Fashion Designers; Fashion Stores



Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. AI in Fashion Market Characteristics



3. AI in Fashion Market Trends And Strategies



4. Impact Of COVID-19 On AI in Fashion



5. AI in Fashion Market Size And Growth



6. AI in Fashion Market Segmentation

7. AI in Fashion Market Regional And Country Analysis



8. Asia-Pacific AI in Fashion Market



9. China AI in Fashion Market



10. India AI in Fashion Market



11. Japan AI in Fashion Market



12. Australia AI in Fashion Market



13. Indonesia AI in Fashion Market



14. South Korea AI in Fashion Market



15. Western Europe AI in Fashion Market



16. UK AI in Fashion Market



17. Germany AI in Fashion Market



18. France AI in Fashion Market



19. Eastern Europe AI in Fashion Market



20. Russia AI in Fashion Market



21. North America AI in Fashion Market



22. USA AI in Fashion Market



23. South America AI in Fashion Market



24. Brazil AI in Fashion Market



25. Middle East AI in Fashion Market



26. Africa AI in Fashion Market



27. AI in Fashion Market Competitive Landscape And Company Profiles



28. Key Mergers And Acquisitions In The AI in Fashion Market



29. AI in Fashion Market Future Outlook and Potential Analysis



30. Appendix



Companies Mentioned

Microsoft

IBM

AWS

SAP

Facebook

Adobe

Oracle

Catchoom

Huawei

Vue.ai

Heuritech

Wide Eyes

FINDMINE

Intelistyle

Lily AI

Pttrns.ai

Syte

mode.ai

Stitch Fix

Lily AI

Heuritch

Alphabet Inc.(Google)

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/1816zk
Pune, India, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The military antenna market size was USD 3.3 billion in 2021. The market size is expected to rise from USD 3.67 billion in 2022 to USD 6.61 billion by 2029 at a CAGR of 8.76% during the projected period. Fortune Business Insights publishes this information in a report titled, "Military Antenna Market, 2022-2029". The market is anticipated to rise during the forecast period due to increasing technological advancements in smart antennas and the adoption of developed equipment instead of conventional equipment.

List of Key Players Profiled in the Report:



Antcom Corporation (U.S.)

Cobham Advance Electronic Solutions (U.K)

Comrod Communication AS (Norway)

Eylex Pty Ltd. (Australia)

Hascall-Denke (U.S.)

L3Harris Technologies Ltd. (U.S.)

Lockheed Martin Corporation (U.S.)

MTI Wireless Edge Ltd. (Israel)

Raytheon Technologies Corporation (U.S.)

Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co KG (Germany)

Terma A/S (Denmark)

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Report Scope & Segmentation:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2022-2029 Forecast CAGR 8.76% 2029 Value Projection USD 6.61 Billion Base Year 2021 Historical Data 2018-2020 No. of Pages 178 Segments Covered By Application, By Type Military Antenna Market Growth Drivers Rising Technological Advancements to Bolster Market Growth

Russia-Ukraine War Impact:



The current Russia-Ukraine war crisis altered the dynamics of the European defense industry in 2022. Approximately 25 nations planned to support the Ukraine war crisis. These countries provide support in terms of weaponry support, finance, special military operations, and others. The European and NATO countries provide ammunition, ground surveillance radars, firefinder weapons, and other systems into western Ukraine via Poland. Thus, rise in demand for military antenna has been observed in recent times. These factors are expected to surge the product demand for the satellite communication and defense sector.

Browse Detailed Summary of Research Report with TOC:

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Segment-

Ground Military Antennas Dominates Market Due to Rising Border Security Issues

By frequency, the market is divided into high frequency, ultra-high frequency, super high frequency, and extremely high frequency.

Based on type, the market is segmented into dipole antenna, aperture antenna, traveling wave antenna, loop antenna, and array antenna.

On the basis of application, the market is segregated into communication, surveillance, SATCOM, electronic warfare, and telemetry.

According to platform, the market is trifurcated into airborne, marine, and ground.

Geographically, the market share is categorized into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the rest of the world.

Report Coverage:



The report provides complete information about recent developments and trends in the industry. Also, drivers and restraints affect market development and global expansion. Furthermore, the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war crisis and COVID-19 pandemic is highlighted in this report. A list of prominent players in the market is given, along with the companies' recent launches and business growth strategies. Furthermore, regional market insights are provided with statistical data and factual information about the market.

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Drivers & Restraints:

Rising Technological Advancements to Bolster Market Growth

The market is projected to grow significantly during the forecast period due to rising demand for replacing conventional equipment with technically advanced equipment. Also, there are government initiatives to modernize military programs and develop border security by strengthening satellite communication activities. Thus, satellite communication equipment demand is surging due to increasing space exploration programs. These factors are anticipated to ensure the global military antenna market growth in the coming years.

However, high costs associated with the R&D of military antenna is likely to hinder the market growth.

Regional Insights:

North America Holds Prominent Market Share Due to Dominant Defense Industry

North America holds the highest global military antenna market share during the forecast period due to military dominance in the U.S. Also, rising investment in the defense sector is expected to drive the regional market. The regional market stood at USD 1.25 billion in 2021.

Europe is expected to hold the second-highest global market share due to the adoption of technological advancements in the industry. Also, European countries support Ukraine, which aids in increased product demand in the defense sector.

Competitive Landscape:

Long-Term Contracts Allow Key Players to Propel Growth

The key market players focus on forming strategic alliances, partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions to expand their business in segmented regions. Also, implementing innovative product development strategies allow companies to enhance their product portfolio and attract global customers.

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Detailed Table of Content:

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities

Key Insights Key Industry Developments  Key Contracts & Agreements, Mergers, Acquisitions and Partnerships Latest technological Advancements Porters Five Forces Analysis Supply Chain Analysis

Quantitative Insights - Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic and Russia Ukraine War Analysis on Global Military Antenna Market Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Military Antenna Market Key Development in the industry in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic Impact of Russia Ukraine War Analysis on Global Military Antenna Market

Global Military Antenna Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2018-2029 Key Findings / Definitions Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Frequency High Frequency Ultra-High Frequency Super High Frequency Extremely High Frequency Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Type Dipole Antenna Aperture Antenna Travelling Wave Antenna Loop Antenna Array Antenna Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Platform Airborne Marine Ground Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Application Communication Surveillance SATCOM Electronic Warfare Telemetry Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Region North America Europe Asia-pacific Rest of the world



TOC Continued!

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Key Industry Development:



November 2021: L3Harris Technologies, Inc. received a USD 125 million multi-year contract to produce space electronic warfare and adverse communication systems that safeguard the U.S. military operations and warfighters.

Read Related Insights:

C5ISR Market Size, Share, Trends | Industry Growth Report, 2028

Electronic Warfare Market Size, Report & Industry Growth [2028]

Military Radar Market Size, Growth | Global Report [2021-2028]

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Dublin, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "The Cellulose Nanofibers Market in Japan 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Japan is by far the largest producer and consumer of CNF products.

Strong government and industry funding has given Japan the world's largest cellulose nanofibers (CNF) "industry" with commercial production facilities operating across the country. Also, ambitious national targets for reducing CO2 emissions make nanocellulose particularly attractive for product development.

CNF research and development started in Japan around 2000, and more than 50 companies are seriously developing their manufacturing technologies and applications. Additional companies are also involved in government projects. These companies produce CNF on a pre-commercial and commercial scale and produce numerous products or supply to OEMs.

Companies profiled include Ashai Kasei Chemicals Corporation, Chuetsu Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd., Toagosei Co. Ltd., Daicel Corporation, Hexa Chemicals, Daio Paper, Daishowa Paper Products Co. Ltd., DIC Corporation, DKS Co. Ltd., Hokuetsu Toyo Fibre Co., Ltd., Kao Corporation, KRI Inc. and many more.

Several CNF-based products have come onto the market in Japan including:

Ballpoint pen ink gels

Adult deodorizing products

Audio equipment

Hygiene wipes and other products

Footwear

Cosmetics

Food additives

Packaging additives

Concrete additives

Automotive composites

Report contents include:

Demand for CNF in Japan.

In-depth details on CNF production processes, materials development and products in Japan.

Impact of global market situation and future outlook.

Production capacities for cellulose nanofiber in Japan.

End user markets in Japan.

Trends in cellulose nanofibers in Japan.

Key Topics Covered:

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1 The market for cellulose nanofibers

1.2 Industry developments 2020-22

1.3 Market outlook in 2022 and beyond

1.4 Global production of nanocellulose (cellulose nanofibers, microfibrillated cellulose and cellulose nanocrystals)

1.4.1 Global nanocellulose production capacities 2021, by type

1.4.2 Cellulose nanofibers (CNF) production capacities 2022, in metric tonnes by producer

1.4.3 Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) production capacities 2022

1.4.4 Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) production capacities 2022

1.5 Market challenges for cellulose nanofibers

1.6 Cellulose nanofibers commercial products

1.7 Cellulose nanofibers market by region

1.7.1 Japan

1.7.2 China

1.7.3 Malaysia

1.7.4 Western Europe

1.7.5 North America

1.8 Global government funding

2 CELLULOSE NANOFIBERS PRICING

3 MARKETS FOR CELLULOSE NANOFIBERS

3.1 Composites

3.1.1 Market overview

3.1.2 Applications

3.1.2.1 Automotive composites

3.1.2.2 Biocomposite films & packaging

3.1.2.3 Barrier packaging

3.1.2.4 Thermal insulation composites

3.1.2.5 Construction composites

3.1.3 Global market in tons to 2032

3.1.4 Product developers

3.2 Automotive

3.2.1 Market overview

3.2.2 Applications

3.2.2.1 Composites

3.2.2.2 Air intake components

3.2.2.3 Tires

3.2.3 Global market in tons to 2032

3.2.4 Product developers

3.3 Buildings and construction

3.3.1 Market overview

3.3.2 Applications

3.3.2.1 Sandwich composites

3.3.2.2 Cement additives

3.3.2.3 Pump primers

3.3.2.4 Thermal insulation and damping

3.3.3 Global market in tons to 2032

3.3.4 Product developers

3.4 Paper and board packaging

3.4.1 Market overview

3.4.2 Applications

3.4.2.1 Reinforcement and barrier

3.4.2.2 Biodegradable food packaging foil and films

3.4.2.3 Paperboard coatings

3.4.3 Global market in tons to 2032

3.4.4 Product developers

3.5 Textiles and apparel

3.5.1 Market overview

3.5.2 Applications

3.5.2.1 CNF deodorizer and odour reducer (antimicrobial) in adult and child diapers

3.5.2.2 Footwear

3.5.3 Global market in tons to 2032

3.5.4 Product developer profiles

3.6 Biomedicine and healthcare

3.6.1 Market overview

3.6.2 Applications

3.6.2.1 Wound dressings

3.6.2.2 Drug delivery stabilizers

3.6.2.3 Tissue engineering scaffolds

3.6.3 Global market in tons to 2032

3.6.4 Product developers

3.7 Hygiene and sanitary products

3.7.1 Market overview

3.7.2 Applications

3.7.3 Global market in tons to 2032

3.7.4 Product developers

3.8 Paints and coatings

3.8.1 Market overview

3.8.2 Applications

3.8.3 Global market in tons to 2032

3.8.4 Product developers

3.9 Aerogels

3.9.1 Market overview

3.9.2 Global market in tons to 2032

3.9.3 Product developers

3.10 Oil and gas

3.10.1 Market overview

3.10.2 Applications

3.10.2.1 Oil recovery applications (fracturing fluid)

3.10.2.2 CNF Membranes for separation

3.10.2.3 Oil and gas fluids additives

3.10.3 Global market in tons to 2032

3.10.4 Product developers

3.11 Filtration

3.11.1 Market overview

3.11.2 Applications

3.11.2.1 Membranes for selective absorption

3.11.3 Global market in tons to 2032

3.11.4 Product developers

3.12 Rheology modifiers

3.12.1 Market overview

3.12.2 Applications

3.12.2.1 Food additives

3.12.2.2 Pickering stabilizers

3.12.2.3 Hydrogels

3.12.3 Global market in tons to 2032

3.12.4 Product developers

3.13 Other markets

3.13.1 Printed, stretchable and flexible electronics

3.13.2 3D printing

3.13.3 Aerospace

3.13.4 Batteries

4 CELLULOSE NANOFIBER COMPANY PROFILES (64 company profiles)

ANPOLY, Inc.

Asahi Kasei Corporation

Chuetsu Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd.

Daicel Corporation

DaikyoNishikawa Corporation

Daio Paper Corporation

Daishowa Paper Products Co. Ltd.

Denso Corporation

DIC

DKS Co. Ltd.

Ehime Paper Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

Fillerbank Limited

Fuji Pigment Co., Ltd.

Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd

Gen Corporation

GS Alliance Co. Ltd.

Hattori Shoten K.K.

Hexa Chemical Co. Ltd./Nature Gift

Hokuetsu Toyo Fibre Co., Ltd.

Kami Shoji Company

Kao Corporation

KRI, Inc.

Kusano Sakko K.K.

Maniwa Biochemical

Marine Nanofiber Co., Ltd.

Marubeni Corporation

Marusumi Paper Company Limited

Marutomi Seishi Co., Ltd.

Masuko Sangyo Co., Ltd.

Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation/Mitsubishi Paper Mills Limited

Mori Machinery Co., Ltd.

Nippon Paper Group, Inc.

Nippon Shizai Co., Ltd

Nissin Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Oji Holdings Corporation

Omura Paint Co., Ltd.

Onkyo Corporation

Osaka Gas Group

Panasonic

Rengo Co., Ltd.

Ripro Corporation

Risho Kogyo Co. Ltd.

Sanwa Kako Co. Ltd

Seiko PMC Corporation

Sharp Chemical Ind. Co., Ltd.

Shinwa Kako KK

Starlite Co., Ltd.

Sugino Machine Limited

Taiyo Holdings Co Ltd

Take Cite Co., Ltd.

Tentok Paper Co. Ltd

The Japan Steel Works Ltd

Toagosei Co. Ltd.

Tokushu Tokai Paper Co., Ltd.

Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.

Toray Industries, Inc.

Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

Toyota Boshoku Corporation

TS Tech Co., Ltd.

Ube Industries, Ltd.

Unitika Co., Ltd.

Yokohama Bio Frontier, Inc.

Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd.

Yoshikawakuni Plastics Industries Co., Ltd.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ows40w




MONACO, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Under the aegis of the collective Monaco, Capital of Advanced Yachting approach, Yacht Club de Monaco is organising another of its Captains Forums for superyacht captains, just one of the activities organised by the Captains Club which unites 150 professionals with the Captain 500 diploma working on superyachts flying the YCM flag.

The theme for this 26th edition has been developed in partnership with Jutheau Husson, Oceanco and the MB92 Group and focuses on an original yet fundamental topic: Man vs Machine.

Discussions will begin through the human aspect prism following an exceptional keynote speech by Scott E. Parazynski, a former NASA astronaut who flew five Space Shuttle missions and conducted seven spacewalks.

A highly decorated physician, he has forged an atypical career: astronaut, best-selling author (The Sky Below) and Founder-CEO of Fluidity Technologies, he is also widely sought-after as a keynote speaker on innovation, risk management, mentorship and leadership in extreme adversity. On 20th May 2009, he became the first astronaut to stand on top of the world, the summit of Everest.

High level debate

His talk will lead into a debate to establish parallels between the worlds of space and sea: how do astronauts prepare, what commitment level is required for their mission, how can superyacht professionals be supported to help them aim for the moon and dream of a vastly improved sector via technology?

Captains Barry Sadler, La Belle Classe Academy instructor, Craig Coker (M/Y Skyfall - 58m) and Luca Triggiani (M/Y Roe - 74m) then pick up the baton. All three will be distilling advice and recommendations to train the right people, ensuring an effective management and leadership method to improve the sectors human approach to the future.

Machine  lever for the future

Man is becoming ever closer to and dependent on the Machine. The relationship between the two is developing largely thanks to the way it can optimise communication. So much is being done behind the scenes so we can interact as easily and intuitively as possible with machines. It is in this area that superyacht captains contribute to the design and build of tomorrows yachts.

Their keen eyes are best placed to determine how technology is essential in shaping the superyachts of the future so that their technological features and appeal instil a positive image for the yachting industry. On stage to lead discussions on these issues will be: Armelle Roudaut-Lafon, Director Maritime Affairs, Monaco, Snorre Halvorsen, Senior Executive Advisor for Norwegian Hull Club Risk, Norway, Matteo Morra, Area Sales Manager for Wartsila, Italy, and captains Luca Mosca (M/Y Quantum Blue 104m) and Pierre Makdessi (M/Y Najiba 58m).

Rendezvous 9.00am to 12.30pm Thursday 29th September at Yacht Club de Monaco for the 26th Captains Forum, held in English, which constitutes a platform of exchange so captains from all walks of life can build and develop the yachting of the future.

For more information:

LaPresse SpA Communication and Press Office Director

Barbara Sanicola - barbara.sanicola@lapresse.it

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9d095481-1889-456a-bf94-ae9cf1dee669

The photo is also available at Newscom, www.newscom.com, and via AP PhotoExpress.
New York, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kenneth Research has published a detailed market report on  Global Microserver Market  for the forecast period, i.e. 2022  2031 which includes the following factors:

Market growth over the forecast period

Detailed regional synopsis

Market segmentation

Growth drivers

Challenges

Key market players and their detailed profiling

Global Microserver Market Size:

With the increase in digital world, need of data centers is also rising. Data centers are integral part of digital economy, everything that take place online is stored in these data centers. Global microserver market is poised to grow at about 14% CAGR throughout the forecast years, while nailing USD 47 billion for 2021. They are full of videos, imported software and severs, moreover, they are a spot for exchange of data between different networks. Companies are migrating towards digitization and relying on digital networks. To ease their work and to efficiently organize, analyze and to process the data, organizations demand for data centers is escalating. In 2021, the total number data centers present globally has reached to nearly 8 million.

Get a Sample PDF of This Report @ https://www.kennethresearch.com/sample-request-10154391

Global Microserver Market: Key Takeaways

Asia Pacific region gains the largest portion of the revenue

Cloud computing application segment to dominate the revenue graph

Intel processor segment remains prominent in the processor segment

Higher Usage of Cloud Computing, Increased Digitization and Digital Data is to Augment the Market Growth

Enterprise needs to access their scattered networks from one point and to provide the best security to protect the data is elevating the use of cloud computing. As of 2022, approximately 95% of organizations are using cloud computing for their work and nearly 85% of companies have deployed their workload on cloud in 2021. Furthermore, with the rising usage of internet and mobile phones & laptops, digitization is flourishing rapidly. By 2023, the revenue produced from digitally transformed companies will be equal to almost half of global GDP. Government, public and private sectors are migrating towards digitization and most of the service, products and information is digitally available. With the rise in digitization, the data generated at online platforms is also expanding massively. According to United States International Trade Commission, in 2020, digital data was around 59 zettabyte and it is expected to reach to 175 zettabyte by 2025.

Global Microserver Market: Regional Overview

The global microserver market is segmented into five major regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa region.

Browse to access In-depth research report on Global Microserver Market with detailed charts and figures: https://www.kennethresearch.com/report-details/microserver-market/10154391

Asia Pacific Regional Market to Elevate by Accelerated Digitization and Higher Deployment of Cloud Services

Rising need for cost effective data storage solution is leading Asia Pacific to deploy cloud services and it has been accelerated by the impact of COVID-19. Nearly 60% of companies have boosted their migration journey to cloud service due to COVID-19. Furthermore, increased prevalence of digital transformation is prompting government, public and private sectors to digitize their work process and the service provided by them. Around 60% of business have elevated their speed of digital transformation which is nearly 45% higher than rest of the world. Rise in number of data center is expected to further augment the growth of microserver market. Currently there are approximately 100 data centers in Asia Pacific with server room space of nearly 185,000 m2 and around 30,000 m is under development.

Higher Use of Cloud Service and Increased Number of Data Centers is to Elevate the Market Growth in North America

Onset of COVID-19 has fueled the utilization of cloud services in every industry in United States. It is estimated that about 95% of U.S. companies have deployed at-least one cloud service for their workload. Furthermore, As of January 2020, United States have nearly 2700 data centers, thus higher number of data center is likely to propel the market growth

The study further incorporates Y-O-Y growth, demand & supply and forecast future opportunity in:

North America (U.S., Canada)

Europe (U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg, NORDIC [Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark], Poland, Turkey, Russia, Rest of Europe)

Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Rest of Latin America)

Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia-Pacific)

Middle East and Africa (Israel, GCC [Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman], North Africa, South Africa, Rest of Middle East and Africa).

Get a Sample PDF of Global Microserver Market @ https://www.kennethresearch.com/sample-request-10154391

Global Microserver Market, Segmentation by Processor

Intel

ARM

Others

Intel is expected to contribute notably to the growth of microserver market. Intel is the worlds largest semiconductor chip makers. It has sustained the position for very long by constantly improvising the processor and producing new innovations. It is well known for radiating less heat and is best suitable for mini laptops. Furthermore, it gives wide variety of motherboards and is comparatively less expensive than other processors. In the second quarter of 2022, the share of x86 computer processor or CPU tests recorded from Intel is around 65%, and for laptops it is nearly 75%.

Global Microserver Market, Segmentation by Application

Media Storage

Data Center

Data Analytics

Cloud Computing

Others

Companys rising need to secure their all network ends and to easily manage the employee all over the world is prompting them to deploy their work on cloud computing. Around 60% companies have started using cloud computing to avoid the risk of data theft and to secure critical data. Furthermore, smart feature of hybrid cloud, the flexibility usage between public and private cloud is increasing its popularity. Enterprises are counting on hybrid cloud in order to leverage their company with different types of cloud with the deployment of just hybrid cloud. As of March 2022, nearly 79% enterprises have installed hybrid cloud for carrying out tasks.

Global microserver market is further segregated based on solution, type, and, and end-user.

Access full Report Description, TOC, Table of Figure, Chart, etc. @ https://www.kennethresearch.com/sample-request-10154391

Global Microserver Market, Segmentation by Solution

Software

Hardware

Service

Global Microserver Market, Segmentation by Service Type

Consulting Services

Installation & Support Services

Professional Services

Global Microserver Market, Segmentation by End User

Small Enterprise

Medium Enterprise

Large Enterprise

Few of the well-known market leaders in the global microserver market that are profiled by Kenneth Research are FUJITSU Limited, Dell Technologies, Inc., IBM Corporation, Acer Inc., Hitachi, Ltd., Intel Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., NVIDIA Corporation, and Ambedded Technology Co., LTD. and others.

Enquiry before Buying This Report @ https://www.kennethresearch.com/sample-request-10154391

Recent Developments in the Global Microserver Market

May 2022, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) announced completion of acquisition of Pensando Systems. The acquisition held at the approximate value of $2 billion, with this acquisition, AMD is to leverage their expansion of data center product portfolio by using Pensandos distributed networks. AMD is to strengthen their data center with a software stack and high processing data processing unit (DPU) that is already in action for many of their customers.

May 2022, FUJITSU made an announcement about it strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to elevate the digital transformation of their customers in the financial and retail industry. Under this agreement, FUJITSU is to deploy new services provided by AWS in Japan and in global marketplace of AWS. By using AWS professional services, Fujitsu is likely to help customers in developing and operating new systems and modernize the existing system.

Browse More Related Reports:

Robotics Process Automation (RPA) Market Segmentation by Operation (Rule-Based and Knowledge-Based); by Deployment Mode (On-Premises, and Cloud); by Application (Customer Support, Administration & Reporting, Data Migration & Capture Extraction, Analysis, and Others); by Industry (BFSI, Healthcare, IT & Telecom, Manufacturing, Retail, Hospitality, and Others)-Global Demand Analysis and Opportunity Outlook 2031

Enterprise Data Management Market Segmentation by Deployment Type (Cloud, and On-Premise); by Component (Services, and Solutions); by Verticals (IT & Telecommunication, BFSI, Retail, Healthcare, Government, and Others); and By Organization Size (Large Size Organizations, and Small & Medium Size Organizations)-Global Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2031

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About Kenneth Research

Kenneth Research is a leading service provider for strategic market research and consulting. We aim to provide unbiased, unparalleled market insights and industry analysis to help industries, conglomerates and executives to take wise decisions for their future marketing strategy, expansion and investment, etc. We believe every business can expand to its new horizon, provided a right guidance at a right time is available through strategic minds. Our out of box thinking helps our clients to take wise decision so as to avoid future uncertainties.

Contact for more Info:

AJ Daniel

Email: info@kennethresearch.com

U.S. Phone: +1 313 462 0609




TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For more-than 30 years, the Breast Cancer Society of Canada has been the leading organization for breast cancer research. Today, the organization has rebranded to become Breast Cancer Canada, signaling a renewal in their commitment to research-driven change.



With a focus on precision oncology, Breast Cancer Canada continues the fight to raise awareness about the number one diagnosed cancer in the world. Despite the pervasiveness of the disease, Canadians felt unprepared when they, or a loved one, received a breast cancer diagnosis  according to a new national survey by Breast Cancer Canada.

The Know More Breast Cancer Survey, an Angus Reid study of 1508 Canadians, provides insights into the knowledge and understanding of breast cancer, revealing a disconnect between what Canadians know, and the research available.

With pandemic restrictions being lifted, Canadians are left to deal with a backlog of personal medical demands as 50 per cent of people who responded stated they had delayed hospital visits during the pandemic. Additionally, almost 60 per cent of respondents put off routine medical checkups over the past two years  women being more likely than men to do so.

Table: Canadians health habits during the pandemic

Health habits during the pandemic Total Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+ I delayed hospital visits during the pandemic 50% 50% 50% 55% 48% 48% I feel I have lost ground with my health due to diagnostic delays during the pandemic 37% 36% 38% 43% 39% 32% I neglected urgent medical needs because of the pandemic 26% 25% 27% 32% 27% 20% I seek a second opinion when I receive any diagnosis 37% 39% 36% 43% 38% 33% I neglected routine medical checkups during the pandemic 59% 57% 61% 68% 59% 52%



Given that one-in-eight women in Canada will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, the results from our Angus Reid poll were shocking to see, said Kimberly Carson, CEO of Breast Cancer Canada. We conducted this survey to get a benchmark of Canadians knowledge and awareness of breast cancer and clearly there is an opportunity for Canadians to know more about the disease that affects us all.

The study shows that 87 per cent of respondents diagnosed with breast cancer felt unprepared when they or a loved one received their diagnosis. One-quarter (26%) of women are not worried about getting breast cancer because it is not common in their families and nearly six-in-10 men (57%) feel that they would lack the knowledge of how to help, or where to look for help, if a woman in their life were diagnosed with breast cancer.

On a positive note, 74 per cent of Canadians trust healthcare professionals to properly identify, diagnose and treat cancer. Additionally, 68 per cent of Canadians feel that their doctors are informed with the best or latest treatment information and 59 per cent of Canadians have experienced the best and latest cancer treatment available, either personally or someone they know.

Table: Knowledge and understanding of breast cancer

Canadians knowledge and understanding of breast cancer Total Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+ I trust healthcare professionals to properly identify, diagnose and treat cancer 74% 76% 71% 74% 70% 77% I feel that my doctors are informed with the best or latest treatment information 68% 70% 66% 62% 63% 76% I or someone I know has experienced the best and latest cancer treatment available 59% 63% 56% 52% 56% 67%



Table: Womens knowledge of breast cancer

Womens knowledge of breast cancer Total Female 18-34 35-54 55+ I am not worried about getting breast cancer because it is not common in my family 26% 26% 30% 27% 22% I have a family history of breast cancer 31% 31% 34% 30% 28% I put off mammograms because of fear or uncertainty 13% 13% -- 17% 11% I dont think routine mammograms are necessary 15% 15% -- 13% 16% When I or a loved one was diagnosed with breast cancer, I felt unprepared 87% 87% 100% 79% 84%



Any cancer diagnosis feels earth-shattering, said Kimberley Carson, CEO of Breast Cancer Canada. We are committed to demystifying research and information so that people feel less afraid when they, or a loved one, receives an unexpected diagnosis.

Increasing our understanding of breast cancer research starts with making information more accessible. Three-quarters of respondents (77%) were unable to even provide an approximate guess when asked how many known types of breast cancer there are, made even more shocking when only one per cent of respondents were able to provide the correct answer of more than 50. The data depicts that although research has been rapidly progressing, general awareness is lacking amongst Canadians.

It is no surprise that diagnosis catches so many off guard, as three-quarters of women responded that they could learn more about breast cancer and how it could affect them. Breast Cancer Canada is funding a new era of research that presents knowledge in a meaningful and fresh way, making lifesaving information both inspiring and accessible.

The more we know about breast cancer, the sooner we can end it

In an effort to remind women of the risks and to elevate the awareness of breast cancer, the organization is launching a provocative, multimedia campaign that showcases the amazing progress thats been made in breast cancer research.

The Know more campaign evokes raw emotion featuring both researchers and patients with messages including Behind every survivor is a researcher on a mission, aiming to show the power of research, and the impact of their charity.

For more information, visit www.breastcancerprogress.ca.

About the Know More Breast Cancer Survey by Breast Cancer Canada

From August 10 to August 12, 2022, an online survey was conducted among a representative sample of 1,508 Canadians who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. For comparison purposes, the sample plan would carry a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

About Breast Cancer Canada

Breast Cancer Canada (formerly the Breast Cancer Society of Canada) is a national non-profit charity dedicated to saving lives through breast cancer research. With a specific focus on precision oncology (personalized care/medicine) it is the only breast cancer organization in Canada that has a clear mandate to raise money for research. The organization receives no government funding, meaning all research is funded through the generosity of donors. For more information visit, www.breastcancerprogress.ca

Media Contact

Megan Dunscombe

647-972-2373

megan@wearemaverick.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f55b5ab4-132e-4f4d-9f90-088b144c7286
Klerksdorp, South Africa, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Despite its massive growth in popularity over the recent years, blockchain remains an alien topic for some. For this reason, its crucial for blockchain-based platforms to properly communicate their message  even for people who are learning about the concept for the first time. That said, this is where the need for an effective project website comes in.

An outstanding website should be eye-catching, easy to navigate, and fully functional. Aside from these qualities, it is essential that it should have detailed project information, a clear roadmap and whitepaper, and an amazing team page.

Keeping these fundamentals in mind, Megatech, an alternative energy supply firm that advocates sustainability by utilizing blockchain technology, has decided to give its brand a new look. Today, the company proudly announces the completion of its rebranding stage.

With this bold move, the company highlights its step in heading into the future with innovative sustainable investment. Consequently, users can finally enjoy an immersive experience through its revamped website brimming with exciting updates to look forward to.

Another thing worth mentioning is that holders of MGT, the native token of Megatech, can now directly swap their tokens on the newly-improved website. This was made possible through the integration of the BSC-built DEX, Pancakeswap. In fact, on the websites homepage, several video tutorials are available to walk through users the step-by-step process of swapping their tokens.

A whitepaper is a critical ingredient in a solid blockchain projects success, as potential investors or interested enthusiasts usually check this document out before making a financial decision. With this, Megatech is also happy to say that its updated whitepaper is already available on the website for viewing.

Overall, Megatech users  old or new  are in for a seamless experience.

About Megatech

Megatech is an alternative energy supply company that utilizes blockchain technology to solve real-world problems like climate change. It provides token holders with financial returns on solar fields owned by the firm, thereby giving every individual a chance to earn cryptocurrency by using sustainable energy solutions.

To learn more about Megatech, visit our Website | Twitter | Telegram | WhitePaper


Vancouver, BC, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Skyharbour Resources Ltd.s (TSX-V: SYH) (OTCQB: SYHBF) (Frankfurt: SC1P) (the Company) partner company, Basin Uranium Corp. (Basin Uranium) is pleased to announce the completion of a ground based gravity survey and a heliborne Mobile MT Electromagnetic and Magnetic survey at its Mann Lake project located 25 km southwest of the McArthur River Mine and 15 km to the northeast along strike of Camecos Millennium uranium deposit.



Mann Lake Uranium Project

https://www.skyharbourltd.com/_resources/maps/SKY_MannLake_20211129.jpg

The recently collected and interpreted geophysical data has generated new drill targets over prospective areas on the Mann Lake property. The Phase two drill program will test the potential for uranium mineralization along interpreted lineament or structural corridors at the unconformity and in the basement, that correspond with resistivity and magnetic lows and the margins of gravity lows.

The summer geophysical programs identified a number of new prospective targets, in addition to refining the resolution and coverage over the Mann Lake claims. commented Mike Blady, CEO of Basin Uranium. With the additional data, our focus will be on coincident geophysical anomalies that sum together to provide the most fertile geophysical environment along with incorporating known uranium mineralization from our Phase one drilling.

Mobile MT Electromagnetic and Magnetic Survey:

The Mobile MT survey successfully identified conductive zones and structures along the unconformity contact and deeper in the basement. These conductive zones are prospective for graphite and/or its breakdown products, which are considered to be responsible for uranium mineralization. In addition, deep structures within the basement allow for fluid migration, which can create pathways for the precipitation of uranium mineralization along the unconformity contact and within the basement rocks.

The purpose of the Mobile MT survey was to identify deep structures along the unconformity and in the basement, including possible alteration and mineralization zones. A total of three production flights were flown to complete 376 line-kilometers of the survey over a 70 km2 area. The main conductors along the unconformity contact are shown as resistivity lows (blue) in the accompanying map (Figure 1). The Mobile MT apparent conductivity and magnetics data have also delineated NE and NW trending prospective structures that cross-cut the basement throughout the property (Figure 2).

Figure 1: Mobile MT Geophysics  EM Inverted Resistivity

https://www.skyharbourltd.com/_resources/images/Mobile-MT-Geophysics-EM-Inverted-Resistivity.png

Figure 2: Mobile MT Geophysics  Magnetics

https://www.skyharbourltd.com/_resources/images/Mobile-MT-Geophysics-Magnetics.png

Gravity Survey:

Multiple gravity low anomalies are defined along the southern and south-eastern portions of the tenure. Gravity lows are prospective in uranium exploration, as they can correlate to a de-silicification of the rocks that may indicate the presence of a fault structures, which are prospective for graphite and/or uranium mineralization (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Mobile MT Geophysics  Gravity

https://www.skyharbourltd.com/_resources/images/Mobile-MT-Geophysics-Gravity.png

MWH Geo-Surveys completed a 2539 station gravity survey over the southern portion of the Mann Lake tenure in July 2022. Results were merged with the historic (2006, 2008) gravity survey data, to complete the coverage over the central and southern portions of the property.

About Mann Lake:

Skyharbour has entered into an Option Agreement (the Agreement) with Basin Uranium whereby Basin Uranium has an earn-in option to acquire a 75% interest in the Mann Lake Uranium Project. Under the Option Agreement, Basin Uranium Corp will contribute cash and exploration expenditure consideration totalling CAD $4,850,000 over a three-year period (Project Consideration). Of the Project Consideration, $850,000 will be in cash payments to Skyharbour and $4,000,000 will be in exploration expenditures on the project. Basin Uranium Corp will also issue to Skyharbour the equivalent value of CAD $1,750,000 in shares of Basin Uranium over the three-year earn-in period to complete the earn-in.

The Mann Lake Uranium Project is strategically located 25 km southwest of the McArthur River Mine, the largest high-grade uranium deposit in the world, and 15 km to the northeast of Cameco's Millennium uranium deposit. The Mann Lake project is also adjacent to the Mann Lake Joint Venture operated by Cameco (52.5%) with partners Denison Mines (30%) and Orano (17.5%). Denison Mines acquired International Enexco and its 30% interest in the project after a 2014 winter drill program discovered high-grade, basement-hosted uranium mineralization at this adjacent project.

Qualified Person:

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed and approved by David Billard, P.Geo., a Consulting Geologist for Skyharbour as well as a Qualified Person.

About Skyharbour Resources Ltd.:

Skyharbour holds an extensive portfolio of uranium exploration projects in Canada's Athabasca Basin and is well positioned to benefit from improving uranium market fundamentals with fifteen projects, ten of which are drill-ready, covering over 450,000 hectares of land. Skyharbour has acquired from Denison Mines, a large strategic shareholder of the Company, a 100% interest in the Moore Uranium Project which is located 15 kilometres east of Denison's Wheeler River project and 39 kilometres south of Cameco's McArthur River uranium mine. Moore is an advanced-stage uranium exploration property with high-grade uranium mineralization at the Maverick Zone that returned drill results of up to 6.0% U 3 O 8 over 5.9 metres including 20.8% U 3 O 8 over 1.5 metres at a vertical depth of 265 metres. Adjacent to the Moore Uranium Project is Skyharbours recently optioned Russell Lake Uranium Project from Rio Tinto, which hosts historical high-grade drill intercepts over a large property area with robust exploration upside potential. The Company is actively advancing these projects through exploration and drill programs.

Skyharbour has a joint-venture with industry-leader Orano Canada Inc. at the Preston Project whereby Orano has earned a 51% interest in the project through exploration expenditures and cash payments. Skyharbour now owns a 24.5% interest in the Project. Skyharbour also has a joint venture with Azincourt Energy at the East Preston Project whereby Azincourt has earned a 70% interest in the project through exploration expenditures, cash payments and share issuance. Skyharbour now owns a 15% interest in the Project. Preston and East Preston are large, geologically prospective properties proximal to Fission Uranium's Triple R deposit as well as NexGen Energy's Arrow deposit. Furthermore, the Company owns a 100% interest in the South Falcon Point Uranium Project on the eastern perimeter of the Basin, which contains a NI 43-101 inferred resource totaling 7.0 million pounds of U 3 O 8 at 0.03% and 5.3 million pounds of ThO 2 at 0.023%.

Skyharbour has several active option partners including: ASX-listed Valor Resources on the Hook Lake Uranium Project whereby Valor can earn-in 80% of the project through CAD $3,500,000 in exploration expenditures, $475,000 in cash payments over three years and an initial share issuance; CSE-listed Basin Uranium Corp. on the Mann Lake Uranium Project whereby Basin Uranium can earn-in 75% of the project through $4,000,000 in exploration expenditures, $850,000 in cash payments as well as share issuances over three years; and CSE-listed Medaro Mining Corp. on the Yurchison Project whereby Medaro can earn-in an initial 70% of the project through $5,000,000 in exploration expenditures, $800,000 in cash payments as well as share issuances over three years followed by the option to acquire the remaining 30% of the project through a payment of $7,500,000 in cash and $7,500,000 worth of shares.

Skyharbour's goal is to maximize shareholder value through new mineral discoveries, committed long-term partnerships, and the advancement of exploration projects in geopolitically favourable jurisdictions.

Skyharbours Uranium Project Map in the Athabasca Basin:

http://www.skyharbourltd.com/_resources/images/SKY-SaskProject-Locator-20220324.jpg

To find out more about Skyharbour Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: SYH) visit the Companys website at www.skyharbourltd.com.

SKYHARBOUR RESOURCES LTD.

Jordan Trimble



Jordan Trimble

President and CEO

For further information contact myself or:

Nicholas Coltura

Corporate Development and Communications

Skyharbour Resources Ltd.

Telephone: 604-558-5847

Toll Free: 800-567-8181

Facsimile: 604-687-3119

Email: info@skyharbourltd.com

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.

The securities offered have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor in any other jurisdiction.
Chattanooga, TN, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. and NEW YORK, New YorkSeptember 13, 2022FreightWaves and MerQube today announced the launch of the MerQube FreightWaves Supply Chain Tech Index that will provide exposure to publicly traded global companies operating in the supply chain technology sector. This index is the first such index to track the financial performance of listed companies that are focused on driving innovation and growth in the critical supply chain and logistics industry. By providing transparency into the $9.6T global supply chain sector, FreightWaves and MerQube are helping investors, companies and industry analysts better allocate resources to confront the most pressing supply chain challenges.

FreightWaves and MerQube teamed up to develop the MerQube FreightWaves Supply Chain Tech Index to give participants the ability to monitor companies operating in the supply chain market and capture exposure through investment products linked to the index. The index will measure the performance of large and liquid global stocks identified by FreightWaves as best in class in delivering freight technology solutions from the following specific sectors: tech-enabled third-party logistics (3PL), logistics software, E-commerce logistics, and alternative energy/autonomous technology.

When I founded FreightWaves five years ago, I saw that data visibility and transparency  long absent in the supply chain industry - were critical for businesses to be successful, said Craig Fuller, Founder and CEO of FreightWaves. The launch of the Supply Chain Tech Index is another chance for FreightWaves  working with MerQube - to build upon our commitment to getting our readers and data intelligence customers information about the companies that are fueling tremendous breakthroughs and growth in this vital global sector.

Combining FreightWaves unrivaled expertise in supply chain and logistics with MerQubes cutting edge index calculation technology will enable investors to monitor and effectively target some of the most dynamic companies in the freight technology space, said Roby Muntoni, Chief Commercial Officer, at MerQube. We are thrilled to create a world class partnership that will bring innovation to a fast developing and vital sector.

The MerQube FreightWaves Supply Chain Tech Index is rebalanced semi-annually from the universe of companies operating in supply chain technology, as identified by FreightWaves. Potential constituents are required to have a float market capitalization of at least $500 million and average daily trading value over the last six months of at least $3 million. The value of the indices are calculated daily. The indices include pure supply chain stocks (80% of the weighted average) and non-pure supply chain stocks (20% of the weighted average) for companies that have significant interests in other sectors.

Index levels are available on Bloomberg at MQFWSCTP and MQFWSCTT and Reuters at .MQFWSCTP and .MQFWSCTT. They are also available on the MerQube website at www.merqube.com and through MerQube REST APIs. To access, receive, use, or distribute the indices or any related (historical) data, a subscription or license agreement with MerQube would be required. The index levels will also be available on the FreightWaves website at www.FreightWaves.com and to FreightWaves SONAR customers through the SONAR platform and associated APIs.

About FreightWaves

FreightWaves is the worlds leading supply chain intelligence platform. More than one million professionals and 500+ global enterprises use FreightWaves intelligence to make informed decisions about their current and future supply chain operations. FreightWaves provides supply chain organizations with fundamental data and context that help benchmark, analyze, monitor and forecast activity, pricing and risks in the global freight market to help drive more accurate pricing, higher utilization of assets and lower emissions.

FreightWaves flagship SaaS product, SONAR, offers billions of data points on the global logistics industry, updated daily. The platform is used throughout the industry, by capacity providers and organizations that contract with capacity providers, to make more informed and efficient decisions about how to route, manage and forecast their supply chains. FreightWaves is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee and is a work-from-home first company. To learn more, visit www.FreightWaves.com.

Contact

media@freightwaves.com

About MerQube

MerQube is an innovative technology provider offering design and calculation solutions for rules-based investment strategies and passive solutions. Launched in 2019 by a team of index industry veterans and technology experts, MerQube was created as a technology driven answer to the most complex rules-based investment strategies. MerQube today calculates a wide variety of strategies, ranging from defined outcome to volatility and risk control, from end-of-day to real-time calculations. MerQubes capabilities extend to any rebalancing schedule, including intraday, and incorporate sophisticated TWAP and VWAP algorithms. For more information, please visit www.merqube.com.

Contact

Barbara Mahe: barbara.mahe@consultancy32.com; +41 78 683 8938

Alex Brown: alex.brown@consultancy32.com; +44 (0) 781 705 1670

sales@merqube.com






15 of 20 Signed Merchants Already Live

San Francisco, CA, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RocketFuel Blockchain Inc. (OTCQB: RKFL) (RocketFuel or the Company), a global provider payment and infrastructure solutions for cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and other altcoins, and ACH bank transfers, is pleased to announce its partnership with merchant services provider PaymentCloud.

PaymentCloud strives to secure payment processing for all business types, including those in high-risk, low-risk, or simply hard-to-place industries. By utilizing a results-driven approach, PaymentCloud now enables its merchants to harness RocketFuels invoicing feature through which vendors and customers can pay bills and buy products and services using cryptocurrency.

Peter Jensen, Chief Executive Officer of RocketFuel, commented, We are excited to work closely with PaymentCloud as they realize the benefits of utilizing blockchain technologies for e-Commerce payments and check-out solutions and our Pay with Crypto solution. PaymentClouds personalized approach sets it apart from other payment processors regarding its relationships with its merchants. In just a short time, we have already gone live with 15 of their 20 merchants that have signed. Our super-fast processing power, real-time payment options, and secure and stable transactions are a huge value-add to PaymentCloud merchants.

Shawn Silver, Chief Executive Officer of PaymentCloud, stated, We chose RocketFuel Blockchain for our cryptocurrency infrastructure payment solution as we always seek to offer our merchants new and innovative solutions keeping them ahead of the curve. It fits perfectly with PaymentClouds mission of supporting businesses weather the constantly changing payment landscape and setting their companies up for a faster, safer, and easier payment process. I look forward to accelerating the rollout of Pay with Crypto to our merchants. For additional information on PaymentClouds crypto solutions, please visit https://paymentcloudinc.com/cryptocurrency/.

About RocketFuel Blockchain, Inc.

RocketFuel is a global payments solution company that provides online shoppers with a simple, easy-to-use, one-click checkout process that accepts payments with bank transfers, Bitcoin and 50+ cryptocurrencies. RocketFuel delivers a highly secure and efficient shopping cart experience with significantly low fees for merchants, along with the benefits of no chargebacks and no card declines. RocketFuel's solutions focus on enhanced customer privacy protection eliminating the risk of a data breach while improving speed, security, and ease of use. Shoppers on RocketFuel powered online stores enjoy seamless check-out and forget the clunky cart paradigm of the past. RocketFuel merchants can implement new impulse buying schemes and generate new sales channels that are unavailable in other present-day e-commerce solutions. More information about RocketFuel is available at: www.RocketFuelBlockchain.com

Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer:

The Company believes that this press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Terms such as may, might, would, should, could, project, estimate, pro-forma, predict, potential, strategy, anticipate, attempt, develop, plan, help, believe, continue, intend, expect, future, and terms of similar import (including the negative of any of these terms) may identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements regarding the plans and objectives of management for future operations, are based on managements current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Actual results and the timing of certain events and circumstances may differ materially from those described by the forward-looking statements as a result of these risks and uncertainties. Factors that may influence or contribute to the accuracy of the forward-looking statements or cause actual results to differ materially from expected or desired results may include, without limitation, market acceptance of the companys products and services; competition from existing products or new products that may emerge; the implementation of the companys business model and strategic plans for its business and our products; estimates of the companys future revenue, expenses, capital requirements and need for financing; current and future government regulations; and developments relating to the companys competitors. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because of the risks and uncertainties related to them. For further information on such risks and uncertainties, you are encouraged to review the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2022. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events or developments, except as required by law.

For more information, please contact:

Corporate:

contact@RocketFuelBlockchain.com

Investors:

Ben Yankowitz, CFO

b.yankowitz@RocketFuelBlockchain.com

ClearThink Investor Relations

nyc@clearthink.capital
Chico, CA, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Work Truck Solutions, provider of the only operations, marketing, and lead-gen platform for commercial vehicle sales, is proud to announce a strategic partnership with FordDirect to assist Ford and Lincoln dealers in capitalizing on the value and profits associated with the growing B2B business opportunity. This partnership provides Ford dealers with the choice of two unique Work Truck Solutions offerings created specifically to serve the commercial department needs of a single manufacturer's entire dealer body.

Dealers across the nation face the complicated realities of inventory shortages, unstable supply chains, and the volatile economy, and Work Truck Solutions provides the tools and services so that dealers can fulfill the needs of their work truck and van customers.

As part of this strategic partnership with Work Truck Solutions, FordDirect will connect Ford and Lincoln dealers to this innovative commercial vehicle business offering which includes a custom bundle of tools, special consultative services, and a true partnership relationship. Information is being made available to dealers in conjunction with this announcement.

For business owners, their work truck or van is their job or business. Without it, theyre just not working. Given the current inventory shortage, buyers are looking to work with dealers to plan for, find, or order the right vehicle, said Kathryn Schifferle, CEO of Work Truck Solutions. Helping dealers be that consultant for their business customers vehicle needs, as well as offer additional products and services before and after the sale, is critical to maximizing a commercial departments success.

Currently, dealers online shopping tools don't address the unique needs of their commercial vehicle buyers; business shoppers are focused on the actual configuration of the vehicle and their specific business use case. That is what Work Truck Solutions specializes in, and its mission is to create a frictionless path for business owners to find the vehicles they need by providing dealers with the right tools to serve this unique customer base.

FordDirect partners with only a select few companies to fill unique needs of Ford and Lincoln dealerships, added Schifferle. Were honored to partner with FordDirect and assist dealerships with digital strategies, solutions, and services that will drive their commercial business growth.

About Work Truck Solutions

Work Truck Solutions is a smart, technology-based platform for the Commercial Vehicle Industry, an efficient, customer-focused end-to-end experience for commercial vehicle buyers, dealers, manufacturers, and upfitters. Our innovative technology is the one-stop inventory management, operational analytics, and digital marketing solution that maximizes commercial sales and profitability. Our national marketplace, Comvoy.com, seamlessly connects the right commercial buyers to the vehicles and services they need to run their businesses. VAST, the Vehicle Acquisition Search Tool, offers access to many inventory sources specifically for the wholesale acquisition of commercial work trucks, vans, and pickups for a one-stop-shop experience. EZOrder minimizes customer frustration surrounding inventory shortages and gets their vehicle order to the head of the line. Learn more at www.worktrucksolutions.com.

About FordDirect

FordDirect, headquartered in Dearborn, Mich., connects the worlds of data, analytics and technology to provide best-in-class digital marketing and advertising solutions exclusively for Ford and Lincoln dealers. FordDirect is a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and its franchised dealers with a mission of helping Ford and Lincoln dealerships sell more cars and trucks.
PHOENIX, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Copperstate Farms, a vertically integrated Arizona cannabis operator, today announced a community partnership with the Arizona Trail Association (ATA), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect, maintain, enhance, promote and sustain the Arizona Trail as a unique encounter with the natural environment. As a Premier Legacy Partner, Copperstate Farms is donating $20,000 to support new trail construction and maintenance.



The company will also serve as the presenting sponsor for AZ Trail in a Day, an annual tradition now in its fifth year that will take place Saturday, October 8. For more information, visit aztrail.org.

Copperstate Farms is proud to be a locally owned company, and we love this state, said Fife Symington IV, CEO and co-founder at Copperstate Farms. Arizona is filled with natural beauty, and the Arizona Trail is one of the best ways to discover its wonders. As a company, wellness is central to our mission and through our partnership with the ATA, we hope to encourage everyone to experience the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of spending time in nature. Our partnership will also help keep our home states scenic trail protected and accessible to the community.

AZ Trail in a Day invites individuals to hike, bike, ride, or run, a segment of the Arizona National Scenic Trail (AZT) with a goal to collectively cover all 800 miles in a single day while raising $50,000 to support priority trail projects and programs. The trail spans from Mexico to Utah and has been divided into nearly 100 sections, ranging in length from 2.1 to 13.8 miles.

Numerous segments are still in need of coverage in order to meet the goal of completing the AZT in a day. Registration is free and individuals can reserve their preferred segment online.

Copperstate Farms has committed to hiking an eight-mile section that starts in the Coconino National Forest and continues into the Tonto National Forest near Payson, Arizona.

Symington, a lifelong outdoor enthusiast who has personally completed the 800-mile AZT in both directions, will participate along with employees at Copperstate Farms. The Symington family has contributed to the ATAs mission for many years.

For over 30 years, the success of the Arizona Trail can be attributed to the generosity and support from the community, said Matthew Nelson, the ATAs Executive Director. From volunteers building and maintaining trails to local communities supporting trail enthusiasts to Arizona businesses supporting our mission  the Arizona Trail represents the collective power of what happens when people come together with a shared vision. With help from Copperstate Farms and hundreds of folks throughout Arizona, we hope to make history in October by completing the entire AZT in a day.

Established in 2016, Copperstate Farms is the top cannabis wholesaler in Arizona and manages a 40-acre glass greenhouse in Snowflake, Arizona. The company is also home to award-winning cannabis brand, Good Things Coming, and operates five Sol Flower dispensaries with retail locations in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Sun City, and two in Tempe.

Throughout the month of October, Sol Flower will donate a portion of sale proceeds from Good Things Coming to the ATA. For more information, visit CopperstateFarms.com.

About Copperstate Farms Management, LLC:

Established in 2016, Copperstate Farms Management, LLC, is a vertically integrated cannabis operator headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. The company manages the licensed production and distribution of cannabis and operates a 1.7-million-square-foot greenhouse in Snowflake, Arizona, on behalf of licensed entity Holistic Patient Wellness Group, Inc. (License #00000019DCGM00234427 and #00000015ESEM68131310). Copperstate Farms is the parent company of multiple product suites and dispensary retail concept Sol Flower, with locations in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Sun City, and two in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun City retail operation includes a public-facing cafe and wellness classroom.

Copperstate Farms is dedicated to bringing growth to the local and state economy through the hiring of local workers, material suppliers, and contractors. For more information, visit CopperstateFarms.com.

About AZ Trail Association:

The Arizona National Scenic Trail is a complete non-motorized path, stretching 800 diverse miles across Arizona from Mexico to Utah. It links deserts, mountains, canyons, forests, history, communities and people. The Arizona Trail Associations mission is to protect, maintain, enhance, promote and sustain the Arizona Trail as a unique encounter with the natural environment. For more information, visit www.aztrail.org.

Copperstate Farms Media Contact:

Neko Catanzaro

Proven Media

Neko@provenmediaservices.com

(401) 484-4980

AZ Trail Association Media Contacts:

Matthew Nelson

matthew@aztrail.org

(520) 404-7992

Shannon Villegas

shannon@aztrail.org
TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Madison Metals Inc. (Madison or the Company) (CSE: GREN) (OTC: MMTLF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement on September 12, 2022 to acquire a 23% interest in Mining Licence 121 (ML121) through the acquisition of 24 shares of Namibia Nuclear Corporation (Proprietary) Limited (Namibia Nuclear) which equals a twenty-four percent (24%) ownership interest in Namibia Nuclear, by way of a share purchase agreement (the SPA). The consideration paid to the vendors will be $2,000,000 (USD) and 2,000,000 common shares in the capital of the Company to be paid and issued on the closing date, subject to certain conditions precedent contained in the SPA. ML121 is located in the renowned Erongo Uranium Province of Namibia, Africa, where Madison already holds rights to Exclusive Prospecting License 7011 (EPL-7011) (Figure 1). Namibia is the worlds second-highest uranium-producing country and holds the fifth-largest total uranium resources in the world.



ML121 and EPL-7011 are neighbours to Namibias two uranium-producing mines, Rossing and Husab, the worlds fifth- and third-largest producing uranium mines, respectively, said Duane Parnham, Executive Chairman and CEO of Madison Metals. The uranium outlook is continuing to strengthen because it is a critical metal for energy transition and energy security. Madisons strategy of acquiring highly prospective concessions in a tier-one uranium jurisdiction provides the Company with an opportunity to establish itself as a key player in the uranium industry.





Figure 1: Location of ML121, EPL-7011 owned by Madison, and uranium producing mines in Namibias Erongo Uranium Province is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7f0ac6fd-3135-4e6f-86cd-88d4d0d17a5c.

ML121

ML121, which contains the Charlie Drilling uranium occurrence, is located 46 kilometres (km) east-northeast of the city of Swakopmund spanning an area of approximately 35 km2. The mining license covers base and rare metals, dimension stone, industrial minerals, nuclear fuel minerals and precious metals.

ML121 has significant potential for leucogranite-hosted uranium mineralization given that its geological and structural setting bears a strong resemblance to the Rossing deposit, with uranium-bearing granites concentrated at the Khan-Rossing boundary within the north-northeasterly trending deformation corridor of the Welwitschia magnetic lineament (Figure 2).

Historical airborne radiometric surveys over ML121 indicate anomalous prospective radiometric signatures (Figure 3) with the most noteworthy anomalies being related to isoclinal fold noses at the contact of the Khan and Rossing formations. Exploration work to date has focused on the radiometric anomaly in the northwest portions of ML121. The 2.3 km long anomaly was followed up with six (6) diamond drill holes and 59 reverse circulation drill holes. Madison will undertake an independent review and verification of the data to define an NI 43-101 compliant resource.





Figure 2: Geological and structural setting of ML121 is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2ecd09cc-67bf-4742-9d68-dd81c51a167f.





Figure 3: Airborne radiometric signature and targets (blue outline) over ML121 is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9d00f7a9-5887-48f8-a3de-f1f62968f1e6. The black dots represent drillholes over the northwestern anomaly.

Madison is conducting due diligence and expects to complete the transaction later this year, at which stage more details will be provided.

The Company also wishes to announce that it has granted incentive stock options to directors, and officers of the Company to purchase an aggregate of 800,000 common shares under the Company's Stock Option Plan. Each option is exercisable at a price of $0.98 per common share, vests immediately and expires five years from the date of the grant.



Qualified Person

Mary Barton, a Professional Natural Scientist (SACNASP) and a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects for ML121, has reviewed, verified and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

About Madison Metals Inc.

Madison Metals Inc (CSE: GREN) (OTC: MMTLF) is a Canadian green energy resource company with experienced management having particular expertise in the uranium mining industry. Madisons corporate objective is to build value by advancing Rossing-type uranium deposits identified in Kenora, Ontario, Canada and Namibia, Africa by utilizing cutting-edge technology and modern strategies.

Additional information about Madison Metals Inc. can be found at madisonmetals.ca and on the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

For further information, please contact:

Duane Parnham

Executive Chairman & CEO

Madison Metals Inc.

+1 (416) 489-0092

ir@madisonmetals.ca

Media inquiries:

Adam Bello

Manager, Media & Analyst Relations

Primoris Group Inc.

+1 (416) 489-0092

media@primorisgroup.com

Neither the CSE nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions and accordingly, actual results and future events could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. You are hence cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include words or expressions such as proposed, will, subject to, near future, in the event, would, expect, prepared to and other similar words or expressions. Forward-looking information contained in this press release includes, but is not limited to, the following: that the transaction will be completed on the terms provided herein or at all; the benefits of the transaction to the Company; the timing and amount of estimated future exploration; and the potential for future exploration to locate uranium deposits.

Where the Company expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is based on assumptions made in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. Such assumptions include, without limitation, that no significant events occur outside of the Company's normal course of business and that sufficient capital and other resources will be available to the Company to carry out its operations as currently planned.

Factors that could cause future results or events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements include general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the state of capital markets; the risk that the Company will not receive all necessary approvals required in order to conduct its operations as currently anticipated, there being no assurances that the proposed exploration program will yield favourable results; risks relating to (i) the impact on the respective businesses, operations and financial condition of the Company resulting from the announcement of the transaction and/or the failure to complete the transaction on terms described or at all, (ii) delay or failure to receive board, shareholder, regulatory or court approvals, wherever applicable, or any other conditions precedent to the completion of the transaction, (iii) failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the transaction; accidents, labour disputes and shortages; environmental and other risks of the mining industry; other unforeseen events and developments; factors causing any of the aforesaid expectations, assumptions, and other factors ultimately being inaccurate or irrelevant; and risks associated with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

You can find further information with respect to these and other risks in filings made with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities that are available on the Companys SEDAR profile page at www.sedar.com. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law.
FORT WORTH, TX, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire  ADM Endeavors, Inc. (OTCQB: ADMQ) is pleased to announce a paid collaboration with Mr. Troy Mingo. Troy is an expert in the Ad Specialty world with over 20 years of experience with well-developed contacts. His primary task for ADM Endeavors is to identify and connect with potential acquisitions for our company.

ADM Endeavors CEO Marc Johnson said, With our new building ever closer we will soon be in the position to take on new acquisitions. These types of moves do not happen overnight and are not always easy to find. Troy has the experience and a great network to help us grow through strategic acquisitions.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/troy-mingo-5b037145/?msgControlName=reply_to_sender&msgConversationId=2-NDFiOGJhOTItOTk5MS01ZWJkLWFmOTAtM2Y4NzJkNzRiMjExXzAxMg%3D%3D&msgOverlay=true

About ADMQ: Since 2010, our wholly owned subsidiary, Just Right Products, Inc., has been consistently increasing sales, with sales topping $6.44 million for the last reported 12 months. The Company sells Anything With A Logo on its website, www.JustRightProducts.com, developing products ranging from unique business cards to coffee cups, T-shirts to boots, with tens of thousands of other unique products from which to select. Just Right Products, Inc. operates a diverse vertical integrated business in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, consisting of a retail sales division, screen print production, embroidery production, digital production, import wholesale sourcing, and uniforms.

Forward Looking Statement:

This press release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Any statements that are not historical facts contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements" that involve a number of risks and uncertainties and are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as strategy, expects, continues, plans, anticipates, believes, would, will, estimates, intends, projects, goals, targets and other words of similar meaning are intended to identify forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means of identifying these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, involve known and unknown risks, a reliance on third parties for information, transactions that may be cancelled, and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in our industry, to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results include risks and uncertainties related to the fluctuation of global economic conditions or economic conditions with respect to the retail industry, the COVID-19 pandemic, the performance of management, actions of government regulators, vendors, and suppliers, our cash flows and ability to obtain financing, competition, general economic conditions and other factors that are detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We intend that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts

ADM Endeavors, Inc. | info@admendeavors.com | 817.840.6271

Investor Relations

Andrew Barwicki | andrew@barwicki.com | 516.662.9461

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MONACO, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Luiss University is at 53rd place in the top 100 of the Financial Times' 2022 Masters in Management ranking, with a leap of 23 places, making Luiss the fastest rising in 2022 and putting it among the top universities in the world. There are many assets at the base of this result; one of the most relevant is the career progress of its graduates. The jump is due to improved performance in various categories, in particular average salary, salary increase, and career progress, which have helped Luiss achieve its highest overall rank since 2017.

"I am proud to read that our Master in Management has climbed over 20 positions in the FTRankings2022. Salary Increase, International Mobility, and, more importantly, career progression are at the basis of such rise," says Andrea Prencipe, Luiss Rector Magnificus. "Students joining Luiss University are immersed in a unique higher education context: international, interdisciplinary, research-based, and linked with the job markets. Luiss educational model - indeed - offers students the opportunity to learn knowledge and skills, develop competencies and acquire tools to build an innovative mindset which is fundamental to progress professional careers in an ever-changing and highly uncertain environment."



"This further recognition in the international rankings for the career progress of our graduates rewards one of the distinctive traits of our University, the ability to network with the business system and anticipate the changes and complexities of the labour market, training young talents with a strong openness to internationalisation," emphasises Luiss President Vincenzo Boccia. These results contributed, in 2022, to the double-digit increase in applications for admission: +18 percent for Bachelor's and Master's Single-Cycle degree programs and +24 percent for applications from abroad. "Luiss' steady growth in international rankings is a testimony to the great work our University has done to consolidate its role at the global level, thanks also to partnership agreements with leading international universities," says Vice President Paola Severino.



The 18th edition of the FT ranking of Masters in Management (MiM) saw a record 135 MiM programmes being part of the ranking, up from 124 in 2021. Schools must meet strict criteria in order to be eligible. The table is calculated according to information collected through two separate surveys. The first is completed by the business schools and the second by alumni who finished their MiM in 2019.

For more information:

LaPresse SpA Communication and Press Office Director

Barbara Sanicola - barbara.sanicola@lapresse.it

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bcc3c9cd-00de-4044-a88c-54c2aaab14d5

The photo is also available at Newscom, www.newscom.com, and via AP PhotoExpress.
New York, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Single-cell Analysis Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product, By Application, By Workflow, By End-user, By Region And Segment Forecasts, 2022 - 2030" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06318470/?utm_source=GNW



Single-cell Analysis Market Growth & Trends



The global single-cell analysis market size is expected to reach USD 15.22 billion by 2030., expanding at a CAGR of 18.5% from 2022 to 2030. Technology advances, expanding applications in cancer research, and higher government funding for cell-based research are the main drivers of the market. In addition, the market is advancing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, in January 2021, according to the American Journal of Physiology, variations in the peripheral blood mononuclear cellular profiles of COVID-19-infected patients were examined by using single-cell analysis (SEA) through mass cytometry, which supplemented the industry growth.



Government agencies around the world have increased funding for vaccine development and production in response to the ongoing pandemics economic and social costs, which has increased the use of SEA tools for COVID-19 research.In order to develop better prognostic and diagnostic indicators and establish suitable therapeutic approaches for people with serious disease presentation, it is essential to know the host immune response throughout pathogenicity.



Therefore, the market is positively impacted by COVID-19 because single-cell analysis helps in the assessment of peripheral immune function in the disease and makes new contributions to the study of the diseases pathophysiology and treatment possibilities.



Single-cell technology aids in the molecular level examination of pathways and processes as well as the assessment of cellular heterogeneity.This technology is developing rapidly with uses in oncology, immunology, and other fields.



Further, the development of sophisticated tools that make transcriptomic and proteomic processes simpler is boosting the use of SEA methods.Researchers are now able to comprehensively examine previously unstudied uncommon cell types owing to developments in scRNA sequencing (scRNAseq).



The application of single-cell genomic/transcriptomic analysis in the biomedical area has been greatly expanded by the development of microfluidics technology. Furthermore, cell dissociation and tissue digestion have been adapted for a large range of microfluidic devices, which have increased the adoption of SEA technology and further boosted industry growth.



The rising investment flow in R&D in this space is reflected in the rising number of research publications.For instance, in April 2020, A USD 2 million funding round was headed by the venture capital firm i&i Biotech Fund for Sampling Human, a young life science technology startup that has created a diagnostic platform that uses genetically modified cells to examine other cells in their environment (i&i Bio).



Further, R&D and business growth will all be advanced by the investment.Moreover, these expenditures indicate a better growth opportunity for this market because R&D efforts serve as the foundation for innovation.



Additionally, scientists are analyzing geographic variability in gene expression profiles at the single-cell level, which is expected to increase the demand for consumables and equipment for analysis, thus propelling the industrys growth.



Single-cell Analysis Market Report Highlights

 By product, the consumables segment held the largest revenue share in 2021. The segment is anticipated to be driven by the extensive use of consumables in genetic research, exosome analysis, and RNA and DNA isolation

 Based on application, the cancer segment captured the largest revenue share in 2021. The segment is being driven by single-cell analysis, which has shown to be successful for earlier cancer diagnoses. These techniques make it simple to determine cell kinds, mutation rates, and growth settings

 In terms of workflow, the single cell isolation and library preparation segment held the largest revenue share in 2021. Increasing research using single-cell analysis is anticipated to boost the revenue growth

 Based on end-user, the academic and research laboratories segment held the largest revenue share in 2021. The widespread use of different SEA techniques in research settings has been influenced by a sizeable number of ongoing research projects at academic institutions that use SEA assays

 North America held the largest revenue share in 2021. This is mostly attributed to the occurrence of significant market participants and rising R&D spending and federal assistance

 Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the highest rate over the forecast period owing to factors such as the increasing prevalence of target diseases, growing aging population, and rising single cell technology adoption

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06318470/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 13, 2022, Los Angeles, CA:, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jewish Life Television, North Americas largest and most robust 24-7 English language, Jewish-themed television network, is proud to announce that it will be launching Servant of the People, starring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Monday, September 19th at 8:00PM ET/PT. Thereafter, Servant of the People will air on JLTV every Monday at 8:00PM ET/PT. JLTV will be the only television network broadcasting Servant of the People in North America.

Servant of the People is the hilarious comedy series about a young, modest, and very honest history teacher Vasily (Volodymyr Zelensky) that is involuntarily elected the President of Ukraine. Vasily is caught on camera raging over the miserable situation in his country. When a pupil posts the video on YouTube, it becomes a viral sensation. Everybody loves Vasily's outrage and people start gathering money for a presidential campaign, which he wins.

Servant of the People follows Vasily's new life as president. He has no interest in changing his life. He wants to stay the same - live in his flat with his parents, borrow money from his friends at the end of the month and take his bike to work. Its just that now, his work is as the most powerful man in the country.

Servant of the People was a huge rating success on Ukraine 1+1, scoring an average rating over 10% and an audience share in excess of 28%. And in a sublime case of life imitating art, following the massive success of Servant of the People, Volodymyr Zelensky, a descendant of both Holocaust victims and survivors, ran for President of Ukraine in 2019, and won in a landslide - with over 73% of the vote.

In the wake of this years Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Zelensky has received global praise (Reuters, August 10, 2022) as a modern Churchill (AP, March 7, 2022), going From Schlemiel to Super Hero (Spectre, March 18, 2022).

JLTVs Senior Vice President of Programming Brad Pomerance said, JLTV is incredibly excited, and frankly honored, to have the opportunity to bring this very funny television series to our North American viewers, at a time when Actor-Turned-President Volodymyr Zelensky has become a worldwide symbol of freedom and democracy.

For more information, additional imagery, or interviews, please contact tina@jltv.tv or 310-266-2061.

About Jewish Life Television

Jewish Life Television is the nations premier 24-7 English language, Jewish-themed television network. More cultural than religious, JLTV welcomes viewers of all faiths and is available in over 50 million homes through Charter/Spectrum, Comcast/Xfinity, Cox, DirecTV nationwide, and other video operators. To find JLTVs channel position in any community, sign onto www.jltv.tv/channels.

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Westford, USA, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With a global population expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, one could imagine the increase in food needs. Yet, due to climate change and other factors, it is becoming more difficult for farmers to produce crops in certain parts of the world. In order to keep food storage viable and affordable for consumers, businesses are turning to cold storage as an option. This, in turn, is projected to drive the growth of the global cold storage market .

When food is stored in a cold environment, it can last up to three times as long as when it is stored at normal room temperature. This type of storage not only helps ensure that people have enough food when they need it, but also reduces expenses related to food spoilage. Additionally, storing foods in colder temperatures can add cultural significance by preserving traditional foods and recipes.

As per SkyQuest analysis, businesses in the global cold storage market have become of the opinion that now is a great time for them to invest in cold storage facilities since there is high demand for them. By taking advantage of technological advancements and understanding consumer needs, businesses are increasing paying attention to ensuring that they are able to meet the growing demand for cold storage while staying compliant with safety regulations.

Our study on global cold storage market provides a detailed market analysis, top players, market share analysis, competitive landscape, import and export data on equipment, top buyers and suppliers, pricing analysis, regional and segmental analysis, supply chain analysis, distribution network, and consumer behavior, among others.

Get sample copy of this report:

https://skyquestt.com/sample-request/cold-storage-market

53% Businesses in Food and Pharmaceuticals to Increase their Cold Storage Capacity within the Next Five Years

The global food and pharmaceutical industry are projected to grow at a rate of 5.8% per year until 2030, resulting in a surge in the demand for cold storage capacity. To meet this demand, businesses are actively working to increase their storage capacity. There are a number of reasons why the demand for cold storage market is increasing. With global trade becoming more complex, it is important that products remain safe and protected from contaminants. In addition, many people are concerned about their health and want to eat healthy foods without having to worry about contamination.

The increase in the demand for cold storage market may have some consequences for the industry. For example, facilities that provide cold storage may need to expand in order to meet the increased demand. In addition, companies that produce food or pharmaceutical products may need to invest in new cold storage facilities in order to keep up with the growing demand.

By 2030, SkyQuest study on cold storage market found that 53% of businesses are expected to increase their cold storage capacity. Increased demand for food and pharmaceuticals, as well as the increased focus on safety, has led to an increased demand for cold storage space. The cold storage industry is expected to grow by 12.7% annually between now and 2030, which is much faster than the overall economy (3.6%). This is because businesses require a reliable and consistent supply of food and pharmaceuticals, even in times of economic volatility.

Browse summary of the report and Complete Table of Contents (ToC):

https://skyquestt.com/report/cold-storage-market

This is likely to increase demand for chilled and frozen products, which in turn, will create opportunities for businesses in the food and beverage industry. The reason for this expansion of the cold storage market is simple  as the world becomes increasingly globalized, more and more products are being produced in different parts of the world and need to be transported quickly and securely to markets across the globe.

As per SkyQuest study on cold storage market the impact of this expansion on businesses will largely depend on two factors  technological advancements and market dynamics. If advances in technology enable new ways to store and transport products, then that will help to support growth in cold storage facilities. However, if market dynamics shift away from demand for chilled and frozen products, then businesses may find it harder to justify investment in these facilities.

Rapid Growth in Import and Export Activities of Food Items and Pharmaceutical to Drive Demand for Cold Storage

Cold storage facilities are witnessing rapid growth in demand owing to the increasing import and export activities. The cold storage market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 12.7% from 2022 to 2028. This growth is attributed to the increasing needs for cold storage among commercial and industrial establishments, as well as regulatory compliance mandates. In 2021, global trade accounted for $28.5 trillion. Most of the growth was observed in developing countries such as India, China, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, among others.

With increasing global trade and the corresponding need for a secure storage infrastructure, the cold storage market is booming. Here are five reasons why:

Rapid growth in import and export activities: The World Trade Organization (WTO) reports that global trade has increased by more than 50% since 1995-leading to an increase in the demand for cold storage facilities.

Emergence of new countries as key players in global trade: As more countries emerge from economic recession and become more industrialized, their exports tend to increase, which in turn drives demand for cold storage facilities.

Enhanced security requirements for imported goods: In order to avoid potential safety risks, environmental hazards, and other issues associated with importing goods, businesses in the cold storage market have increased their reliance on cold storage as a secure storage option.

Reduction of waste generated during production: By reducing waste during the production process, businesses can save money on cold storage costs.

Rise in Green Businesses: As businesses adopt greener practices, they are also looking for ways to reduce their storing and transportation costs. Cold storage offers a cost-effective way to do this.

Speak to Analyst for your custom requirements:

https://skyquestt.com/speak-with-analyst/cold-storage-market

Top Players in Global Cold Storage Market

Lineage Logistics Holdings (US)

Americold Logistics LLC (US)

Nichirei Corporation (Japan)

Kloosterboer (Netherlands)

Tippmann Group (US)

The United States Cold Storage (US)

Henningsen Cold Storage Co. (US)

VersaCold Logistics Services (Canada)

Congebac Inc. (Canada)

NewCold (Netherlands)

Snowman Logistics Pvt Ltd (India)

Wabash National Corporation (US)

Cloverleaf Cold Storage (US)

Related Reports in SkyQuests Library:

Global Hardware Storage Market

Global Automotive Blind Spot Detection System Market

Global PC Peripherals Market

Global Graphics Tablet Market

Global Network Attached Storage Market

About Us:

SkyQuest Technology is leading growth consulting firm providing market intelligence, commercialization and technology services. It has 450+ happy clients globally.

Address:

1 Apache Way, Westford, Massachusetts 01886

Phone:

USA (+1) 617-230-0741

Email: sales@skyquestt.com
SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lane, a provider of integrated fax communication software, is expanding its partnership with Clinisys to provide an integrated cloud solution that incorporates Lane's secure cloud faxing technology.

"For 20 years, we have partnered with Sunquest, now Clinisys, to integrate our innovative faxing technology with Sunquest PowerPath," said Liz Maya, CEO of Lane. "Lane's Passport software is key to giving Clinisys customers a complete range of report-out communications options, now including encrypted digital faxing services in the cloud."

Starting with Sunquest PowerPath version 13.0, which was released earlier this year, customers can now opt for a cloud-hosted or more traditional on-premises AP LIS option. Lane's cloud faxing technology is integrated into both. In the cloud, Sunquest PowerPath with Lane Passport faxing technology offers a scalable, reliable, secure, and lower cost solution to digitizing the complex workflows of modern pathology laboratories.

"The partnership between Lane and Sunquest continues to be seamless. As we developed Sunquest PowerPath for the cloud, we valued how Lane was right beside us to jointly deliver on the new digital capabilities our customers would need," said Annie Carpenter, Senior Manager, Infrastructure Architecture at Clinisys.

About Lane

Lane is recognized globally as a leader in secure messaging communications and fax integration across a wide range of industries. Lane aims to exceed expectations by applying robust and tailored solutions that yield tangible results for their clients. With a strong track record of implementing systems across 50 countries, Lane's team possesses extensive knowledge and experience in developing solutions from the largest financial institutions to healthcare companies, as well as other public and private enterprises. For more information, visit https://laneds.com, call us at +1 (973) 526-2979, or email us at info@lanetelecom.com.

About Clinisys

Clinisys, headquartered in Chertsey, England and Tucson, Arizona, is one of the largest providers of laboratory information systems, order entry and result consultation, and public health solutions in disease surveillance and outbreak management across the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. For 40 years, Clinisys has successfully specialized in complex and wide scale delivery of comprehensive laboratory services and public health solutions in over 3,000 laboratories across 34 countries.

Our combined cross-discipline expertise provides customers with solutions to support laboratory workflow across clinical, histology, molecular, genetics, including order management, reporting and results delivery. Additionally, we serve laboratories in environmental testing, water quality, agriculture and toxicology.

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WESTPORT, Conn., Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HMG Strategy, the Worlds #1 digital platform for enabling technology executives to reimagine the enterprise and reshape the business world and recently recognized as a Top 10 Producer of Tech Events by Business Chief, is excited to be hosting its 2022 Boston CIO Executive Leadership Summit on September 22 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. HMG Strategys highly interactive events bring together the worlds most distinguished and innovative business technology and security leaders to discuss the most pressing leadership, innovation, strategic, cultural, technology and career challenges and opportunities that they face today  and into the future.





This dynamic, in-person CIO summit will bring together the top CIOs, technology executives and industry experts who will share their insights on how the role of the CIO continues to evolve, the factors that are contributing to these changes along with the expanded responsibilities that technology executives have taken on.

Technology executives have an incredible opportunity to act as enterprise change agents as they sit at the intersection of how technology can be leveraged to drive transformative change across the organization, said Hunter Muller, President and CEO of HMG Strategy. But in order to drive such dramatic changes across the organization, bold leadership is needed to execute on digital business opportunities and go-to-market strategies while guiding the cultural transformation thats necessary to succeed.

World-class technology leaders and industry executives speaking at the 2022 Boston CIO Executive Leadership Summit will include:

Puru Amradkar , Chief Product Officer, Aisera

, Chief Product Officer, Aisera Snehal Antani , Co-Founder & CEO, Horizon3.ai

, Co-Founder & CEO, Horizon3.ai Wolfgang Bauriedel , Practice Lead, Technology Sector, Russell Reynolds Associates

, Practice Lead, Technology Sector, Russell Reynolds Associates Michael Cato , SVP & CIO, Bowdoin College

, SVP & CIO, Bowdoin College Jim Chilton , EVP & CIO, Cengage Group

, EVP & CIO, Cengage Group Tim Crawford , CIO Strategic Advisor, AVOA

, CIO Strategic Advisor, AVOA John Ferguson , Senior Director, Solution Architecture, Americas, OutSystems

, Senior Director, Solution Architecture, Americas, OutSystems Shannon Gath , CIO, Teradyne

, CIO, Teradyne Pete Gibson , Former CIO

, Former CIO Tyler Gilbreath , VP, CISO, Bain & Company

, VP, CISO, Bain & Company Ken Grady , SVP & CIO, IDEXX

, SVP & CIO, IDEXX Anjana Harve , Global CIO, Fresenius Medical Care North America

, Global CIO, Fresenius Medical Care North America Jamie Head , Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Ocean Spray

, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Ocean Spray Todd Mazza , VP, Head of Enterprise Technical Capabilities, FM Global

, VP, Head of Enterprise Technical Capabilities, FM Global David Morris , Founder, Chairman & CEO, HiPER Solutions

, Founder, Chairman & CEO, HiPER Solutions Shamla Naidoo , Head of Cloud Strategy, Netskope; Board Director, QBE, SAC and Reference Point

, Head of Cloud Strategy, Netskope; Board Director, QBE, SAC and Reference Point Hanna Pickering , Director of IT, City of Portland, Maine

, Director of IT, City of Portland, Maine Mark Polansky , Senior Partner, Technology & Digital Officers Practice, Korn Ferry

, Senior Partner, Technology & Digital Officers Practice, Korn Ferry Kevin Powers , J.D., Director, MS in Cybersecurity Policy & Governance, Assistant Professor of the Practice, Business Law and Society Department, Boston College

, J.D., Director, MS in Cybersecurity Policy & Governance, Assistant Professor of the Practice, Business Law and Society Department, Boston College Ramesh Razdan , Global CIO, Bain & Company

, Global CIO, Bain & Company Brian Shield , SVP, CTO, Boston Red Sox

, SVP, CTO, Boston Red Sox Niren Sirohi , Head of Clinical, Operations, and Business Analytics, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

, Head of Clinical, Operations, and Business Analytics, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Mike Towers, Chief Digital Trust Officer, Takeda Pharmaceuticals International



Valued Partners for the 2022 Boston CIO Executive Leadership Summit include 8x8, Aisera, Akamai, Aryaka, BetterCloud, Citrix, Darktrace, Delphix, Fortinet, Gigamon, Intelliswift, LastPass, Moveworks, Netskope, Nutanix, Okta, OutSystems, Palo Alto Networks, Ping Identity, RingCentral, SafeGuard Cyber, Tonkean, Upwork, Zoom, and Zscaler.

To learn more about the 2022 Boston CIO Executive Leadership Summit and to register for the event, click here.

HMG Strategy will also be hosting its 2022 Chicago CIO Executive Leadership Summit on September 20 at the Ivy Room at Tree Studios in Chicago. At this highly regarded in-person event, top-tier CIOs, CISOs and senior-level technology executives will discuss the need to lead boldly and authentically in a time of extreme turbulence.

Prominent technology leaders speaking at the 2022 Chicago CIO Executive Leadership Summit will include:

Puru Amradkar , Chief Product Officer, Aisera

, Chief Product Officer, Aisera Wayne Bulmahn , Chief Information/Security Officer, UNITE HERE HEALTH

, Chief Information/Security Officer, UNITE HERE HEALTH Michael Chahino , EdD, CIO, Elgin Community College

, EdD, CIO, Elgin Community College Stephen M.R. Covey , Global Authority on Trust, Leadership and Culture, The FranklinCovey Global Speed of Trust Practice

, Global Authority on Trust, Leadership and Culture, The FranklinCovey Global Speed of Trust Practice Jamey Cummings , Partner  Cybersecurity and Technology, JM Search

, Partner  Cybersecurity and Technology, JM Search Paul Fipps , Senior Vice President, Customer and Partner Excellence, ServiceNow

, Senior Vice President, Customer and Partner Excellence, ServiceNow Scott Glenn , Partner, BearingPoint

, Partner, BearingPoint Sumit Johar , CIO, Automation Anywhere

, CIO, Automation Anywhere Glenn Kapetansky , Chief Security Officer and Technology Capability Lead, Trexin

, Chief Security Officer and Technology Capability Lead, Trexin Vladimir Klasnja , Competitive Intelligence Director, Netskope

, Competitive Intelligence Director, Netskope Kristy Lapidus , Director of Digital Strategy, Gagen MacDonald

, Director of Digital Strategy, Gagen MacDonald Tony Leng , Managing Director, Practice Lead and OMP, Diversified Search

, Managing Director, Practice Lead and OMP, Diversified Search Susan Malisch , VP & CIO, Loyola University Chicago

, VP & CIO, Loyola University Chicago Paul Martin , Former SVP & CIO (Retired), Baxter International; Board of Directors  Unisys Corp., Owens Corning and Ping Identity

, Former SVP & CIO (Retired), Baxter International; Board of Directors  Unisys Corp., Owens Corning and Ping Identity Rick Merrick , CIO, TCS Education System; President, SIM Chicago

, CIO, TCS Education System; President, SIM Chicago Mark Polansky , Senior Partner, Technology & Digital Officers Practice, Korn Ferry

, Senior Partner, Technology & Digital Officers Practice, Korn Ferry Atif Rafiq , Director of Information Security, BRYTER

, Director of Information Security, BRYTER Madhu Reddy , EVP & CIO, Republic Bank of Chicago

, EVP & CIO, Republic Bank of Chicago Evin Safdia , Director of Product Marketing for the Americas, Cato Networks

, Director of Product Marketing for the Americas, Cato Networks Bruce Schinelli , VP IT & CIO, TTX Company

, VP IT & CIO, TTX Company Julia Vander Ploeg , Director, Extra Space Storage

, Director, Extra Space Storage Jim Wisnionski , SVP of Operations and CIO, Kingsbridge Holdings

, SVP of Operations and CIO, Kingsbridge Holdings Frank Yanan, SVP, GIS Business Information Security Officer (BISO), Bank of America



Valued Partners for the 2022 Chicago CIO Executive Leadership Summit include 8x8, Aisera, Akamai, Aryaka, Automation Anywhere, BearingPoint, BetterCloud, Cato Networks, Darktrace, Delphix, Fortinet, LastPass, Moveworks, Netskope, Nutanix, PagerDuty, Palo Alto Networks, Persistent, Ping Identity, RingCentral, SafeGuard Cyber, SentinelOne, ServiceNow, Tonkean, Upwork, Zoom, and Zscaler.

To learn more about the 2022 Chicago CIO Executive Leadership Summit and to register for the event, click here.

On September 15, HMG Strategy will host its 2022 Southern California CIO Executive Leadership Summit in Partnership with Southern California SIM at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa. Foremost CIOs and technology executives attending this event will share best practices for acting as a talent magnet to attract the best and the brightest.

Distinguished CIOs, CISOs and industry leaders speaking at the 2022 Southern California CIO Executive Leadership Summit in Partnership with Southern California SIM will include:

Dave Abbott , Vice President, Technology Operations, Childrens Hospital

, Vice President, Technology Operations, Childrens Hospital Rushdi Ariss , Executive Director, Enterprise Applications & Data Platforms, The Walt Disney Company

, Executive Director, Enterprise Applications & Data Platforms, The Walt Disney Company Patricia Connolly , CEO, Founding Partner, SMC2

, CEO, Founding Partner, SMC2 Stephen M.R. Covey , Global Authority on Trust, Leadership and Culture, The FranklinCovey Global Speed of Trust Practice

, Global Authority on Trust, Leadership and Culture, The FranklinCovey Global Speed of Trust Practice John Damalas , Senior Director  Enterprise Data & Analytics, Walmart

, Senior Director  Enterprise Data & Analytics, Walmart Lea Eriksen , Director of Technology & Innovation and CIO, City of Long Beach, CA

, Director of Technology & Innovation and CIO, City of Long Beach, CA Jeff Farinich , SVP Technology Services and CISO, New American Funding

, SVP Technology Services and CISO, New American Funding Carol Fawcett , Corporate VP & CIO, Golden State Foods

, Corporate VP & CIO, Golden State Foods Bob Gilbert , Chief Evangelist and VP, Product Marketing Netskope

, Chief Evangelist and VP, Product Marketing Netskope Gregory J. Goff , Board Director, ExxonMobil

, Board Director, ExxonMobil Barry Goffe , Senior Director, Platform Strategy, OutSystems

, Senior Director, Platform Strategy, OutSystems Allison Henry , CISO, University of California  Berkeley

, CISO, University of California  Berkeley Justin Hooper , VP Global IT Operations, Ingram Micro

, VP Global IT Operations, Ingram Micro Michael Keithley , CIO, United Talent Agency

, CIO, United Talent Agency Nancy Kim Yun , Group Director, UCI Beall Applied Innovation

, Group Director, UCI Beall Applied Innovation Sai Koorapati , SVP, Global IT, Callaway Golf

, SVP, Global IT, Callaway Golf Howard Miller , CIO, UCLA Anderson School of Management

, CIO, UCLA Anderson School of Management Helen Norris , VP & CIO, Chapman University

, VP & CIO, Chapman University Thomas Phelps , VP of Corporate Strategy & CIO, Laserfiche

, VP of Corporate Strategy & CIO, Laserfiche Rocio Romero , Recruitment & Admissions Manager, NPower

, Recruitment & Admissions Manager, NPower Ashish Seth , VP of Product Management, Customer Engagement, RingCentral

, VP of Product Management, Customer Engagement, RingCentral George Sheth , MBA, FHIMSS, Managing Partner, Diligent Partners, LLC

, MBA, FHIMSS, Managing Partner, Diligent Partners, LLC Abhishek Uppal , VP  Data & Analytics, Development, Infrastructure & IT Operations, Callaway Golf

, VP  Data & Analytics, Development, Infrastructure & IT Operations, Callaway Golf Denis Zerr, CIO, Radiology Partners

Valued Partners for the 2022 Southern California CIO Executive Leadership Summit in Partnership with Southern California SIM include 8x8, Aisera, Akamai, BetterCloud, Centripetal, Cyderes, Darktrace, Delphix, Fortinet, The Judge Group, LastPass, Moveworks, Netskope, Nutanix, OutSystems, Palo Alto Networks, Persistent, Ping Identity, Qualitest, Qumulo, RingCentral, SafeGuard Cyber, SentinelOne, SMC2, SnapLogic, Tata Consultancy Services, Tonkean, Upwork, Varonis, Zoom, and Zscaler.

To learn more about the 2022 Southern California CIO Executive Leadership Summit in Partnership with Southern California SIM and to register for the event, click here.

To learn more about HMG Strategys upcoming CIO and CISO Summits, click here.

About HMG Strategy

HMG Strategy is the world's leading digital platform for connecting technology executives to reimagine the enterprise and reshape the business world. The HMG Strategy global network consists of more than 400,000 CIOs, CTOs, CISOs, CDOs, senior business technology executives, search industry executives, venture capitalists, industry experts and world-class thought leaders.

HMG Strategys global media model generates more than one million impressions per week, providing vast opportunities for business technology leaders and sponsor partners to promote themselves and their brands.

HMG Strategy was founded in 2008 by Hunter Muller, a leadership expert who has worked side-by-side with Fortune 2000 executives with strategic planning and career ascent for the past 30+ years.

HMG Strategys regional and virtual CIO and CISO Executive Leadership Series, authored books and Digital Resource Center deliver unique, peer-driven guidance from CIOs, CISOs, CTOs, CDOs and technology executives on leadership, innovation, transformation and career ascent.

HMG Strategy offers a range of peer-led research services such as its CIO & CISO Executive Leadership Alliance (CELA) program which bring together the worlds top CIOs, CISOs and technology executives to brainstorm on the top opportunities and challenges facing them in their roles.

HMG Strategys Global Peer Actionable Insights Services Stack is a unique set of research services that are designed to keep business technology executives up to speed on the latest leadership, business, technology and global geo-economic trends that are impacting businesses and industries.

HMG Ventures is a venture capital unit thats designed to connect CIOs, CTOs, CISOs and other technology executives with innovative early-stage technology companies from Silicon Valley to Tel Aviv. HMG Ventures provides technology executives with a window into hot emerging technology companies that can help move the needle for their businesses while also offering these executives unparalleled personal investment opportunities. One early-stage investment in an enterprise-level AI-powered service management provider has generated a 100X return.

HMG Strategy also produces the HMG Security Innovation Accelerator Panel, a new webinar series thats designed to connect enterprise technology and security leaders with the most innovative technology and cybersecurity companies from across the world.

To learn more about the 7 Pillars of Trust for HMG Strategy's unique business model, click here .

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/762faddc-101b-456e-8343-9d8d4579189b
Los Angeles, California, United States, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Ethereum 2.0 merger is just around the corner. Basically we are talking about the merger that will take place between the two Ethereum networks, and that will end the possibility of mining it using GPUs.

The Ethereum final Merge date has been scheduled for September 15/16th and 3 days later, exactly from 19th September to 3rd October 2022, the Spanish crypto token Pesetas (PTAS) will be presented officially on crypto market with a Presale and an Airdrop.

The PTAS presale and airdrop page is actually in a countdown mode and it will be start working only from day 19th September.

The PTAS minimum purchasing order is 10 USD dollars and from over 100 USD dollars the buyer will receive also an extra 10% airdrop of PTA token.

For more information, this is the direct link of PTAS presale page: https://www.pinksale.finance/launchpad/0xD87D241213a7d72CB5C3CD06E074396aDBE61Cb3?chain=ETH



PTAS presale comes with an innovative idea: add a second token airdrop (PTA) to its launchpad.

So, every PTAS buyer during the presale participates in 2 crypto projects but investing only in one.



Now it is time to speak a while about the story of Spanish Pesetas:



On October 19th, 1868, the peseta (PTA & PTAS) was born in Spain as a monetary unit by decree of the Spanish Provisional Government after the overthrow of Queen Elizabeth II.



The peseta (PTA & PTAS) has been the official currency in Spain for 134 years until in 2002 it gave way to Euro. On December 31st, 2020, it ceased to be exchanged for Euro and as of mid-2021 it ceased to exist completely.



On December 17th, 2021 the Spanish foundation La Peseta (www.peseta.finance) launched in CoinMarketCap its first cryptocurrency: La Peseta (PTA), a token created on Binance Smart Chain (BSC) network, which reached 120,000% of its value in just 3 days of Trading. (That means: whoever put in 10 USD, withdrew 12,000 USD at its peak.)

The Pesetas tokens, PTA and PTAS, are traded with zero fees. So, they are perfect to be used for any kind of transactions.



Do not miss the opportunity to invest some money in PTAS and PTA crypto tokens (but remember: never invest more than you can lose). Over time, probably, its use will become massive and these 2 tokens will also become a refuge for great world capitals, as it happens today with many other renowned cryptocurrencies.



Disclaimer: The information and views set out in this press release are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of PR Distribution, its staff, its associates, its partners or the media outlet(s) that this press release may be distributed on. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this press release lies entirely with the author(s). If you have any questions(s) pertaining to this matter, please contact the author(s) directly at: marco@musumeci.es



F or the original news story, please visit https://www.prdistribution.com/news/the-spanish-pesetas-ptas-token-arrives-at-ethereum/9281082

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Luton, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Exactitude Consultancy, the market research and consulting wing of Ameliorate Digital Consultancy Private Limited has completed and published the final copy of the detailed research report on the Industrial Robot Market.

The global industrial robots market size is estimated to be valued at USD 47.54 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 108.48 billion by 2029, recording a CAGR of 9.6%.

Industrial robots are classified based on their physical characteristics (range, weight, etc.), human interaction, mobility, and degree of autonomy. Stand-alone industrial robots The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) estimates that around 2.1 million stand-alone industrial robots were installed worldwide in 2017, with 381,000 shipped.

Automobiles, OEMs and a growing number of automotive suppliers are the largest sector with 126,000 vehicles, followed by the electrical and electronics industry with 121,000 vehicles.  China is her largest regional market with 138,000 units. The top 5 countries (China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, and USA) account for her over 70% of the market.

Get Sample with Latest Trends and Future Advancements at: (Get Higher Priority for Corporate Email ID):

https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/4138/industrial-robots-market/#request-a-sample

Industry News:

ABB

In October 2020, ABB announced the acquisition of Codian Robotics (Netherlands), a leading provider of delta robots used primarily for high-precision pick and place applications. Codian Robotics offering includes a hygienic design line, ideal for hygiene-sensitive industries including food and beverage and pharmaceuticals. With the acquisition, ABB is expected to increase its delta robot offerings.

KUKA

In September 2020, KUKA(Germany) announced its new SCARA robots under the KR SCARA line-up that excel in applications like in small parts assembly, materials handling and inspection tasks with a payload of 6 kg. The robots will be mainly offered to cost sensitive markets.

COVID-19 impact is boosting the demand of industrial robots treatment market.

Several incentives are being offered by governments in key nations such as India, China, Japan, France, Indonesia, and Singapore to help their industrial sectors cope better with the issues that the COVID-19 pandemic has posed. As a result, industries are better prepared to invest in the financial resources needed to integrate robots into the industrial setup. The demand for collaborative robots is expected to rise across all industries, accelerating automation adoption. These robots are aimed at both small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and major corporations. These robots are being employed for both new and established applications because to their versatility, resulting in widespread adoption.

Regional outlook- The Asia Pacific countries are expected to present good opportunities for market players to market industrial robots products in these regions.

In the coming years, Asia Pacific is expected to become the global markets main player. This can be attributed to increased automation, particularly in Japan, China, and India. Furthermore, as the population and disposable income of individuals rise, so does the demand for consumer goods and other items, resulting in increased production capacity and a larger market. Similarly, there is a growing need for bespoke autos and machines, which necessitates high precision and production capacity. The use of robotics in industrial applications is increasing in order to keep up with demand.

Product Portfolio: The Company has a product portfolio of Industrial Robots Market that includes:

Industrial Robots Market: Growing competition among key players, increasing horizontal and vertical expansion is further expected to fuel the growth of Industrial robots Market.

Key players operating the global Industrial Robots market includes ABB, Yaskawa, Fanuc, Kuka, Mitsubishi Electric, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Denso, Nachi-Fujikoshi, Seiko Epson and Durr.

Industrial Robots Market Scope: Discount on report

Industrial Robots Market Report Coverage of Industrial Robots Market Details Base Year: 2021 Forecast Period: 2022-2029 Historical Data: 2017 to 2020 Market Size in 2020: 9.6% US$ 47.54 Billion Forecast Period 2022 to 2029 CAGR: 9.6% Market Size in 2029: US$ 108.48 Billion Key Market Segments: By Type Traditional Industrial Robots

Articulated Robots

Scara Robots

Parallel/Delta Robots

Cartesian/Linear/Gantry Robots By Component Robotic Arms

Robot Accessories

End Effectors

Controllers

Drive Units

Browse Detailed Research Insights with TOC:

https://exactitudeconsultancy.com/reports/4138/industrial-robots-market/

Intended Audience:

Industrial Robots Market companies

Industrial Robots Market providers

System integrators and third-party vendors

Government bodies

Technology investors

Research institutes and organizations

Market research and consulting firms

End-users/enterprise-users

Managed service providers

Value-added resellers



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Lake City, Colo., Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- After several years of searching for just the right prefab home builder partner, Green Builder Media has joined forces with Dvele to create Transcend Communitiesbeautiful, net zero, all-electric, healthy, resilient, connected, solar-powered home communities.

Configurable to a buyers lifestyle, preferences, climate zone, and lot orientation and size, Transcend homes can be manufactured, delivered, and installed onsite in under 6 months, bringing a new level of sustainability, intelligence, and comfort to the housing sector.

The Transcend project will launch with a demonstration home located in the stunning San Juan mountains of Colorado. Modern and sophisticated, the VISION House Transcend reimagines the future of housing, incorporating sustainable design, building science best practices, and innovative technologies to optimize the occupant experience and reduce the homes carbon footprint.

The high-performance building envelope systems, insulation, windows, radiant heating and cooling, water heating, appliances, and lighting will enable the home to achieve net zero energy, while the smart controls and battery storage system will augment demand-side energy management. To enhance resiliency and wildfire risk mitigation, the home will be built with light gauge recycled steel and exterior materials with high fire ratings.

The VISION House Transcend will also boast a whole-home proactive indoor air quality system and radon detector to ensure healthy air, as well as water-conserving plumbing fixtures, water filtration systems, leak detection, water monitoring systems, and hot water recirculation systems.

The home will be powered by Dveles proprietary intelligent-living platform, DveleIQ, which has been designed with extreme efficiency and comfort in mind.

Green Builder Media chose Dvele as its partner for Transcend because of the companys cutting-edge technology, extreme sustainability, and ability to scale through an automated, precision-engineered manufacturing process, says Sara Gutterman, Green Builder Medias CEO.

The demonstration house will be placed on its site in November and will be open for media tours via video or onsite throughout 2023.

The time for prefab has come, Gutterman emphasizes. Offsite, prefab construction can solve for some of the building industrys biggest obstacles, including labor challenges, material shortages, construction schedule delays, quality control, performance optimization, and waste management.

To learn more about Transcend Communities, including how to become a Transcend developer, contact Sara Gutterman at sara.gutterman@greenbuildermedia.com. For press inquiries, contact Cati OKeefe at cati.okeefe@greenbuildermedia.com.

About Green Builder Media

Green Builder Media is North Americas leading media company focused on green building and sustainable living, affecting positive change by providing inspirational information to over 200,000 progressive building professionals and millions of early-adopter and first-mover consumers who are interested in sustainable living. Green Builder Media generates award-winning editorial, including breaking news, prominent market research, original insights, and visionary thought pieces. With a comprehensive suite of content marketing, digital, social, and print media options, high-profile demonstration projects, market intelligence, and data services, and live events, Green Builder Media offers a blend of visionary and practical information covering a broad spectrum of sustainable living topics, including Internet of Things, smart home technologies, energy efficiency, intelligent water, indoor air quality, resilient housing, renewables, and clean transportation.

About Dvele

Dvele, a prefab home builder based in La Jolla, Calif, builds smart, healthy, and sustainable modular homes. Dvele builds high-performance homes through automation to standardize the home-building process, giving people a reliable home-building experience they can trust.

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Dallas, Texas, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Parker University has been recognized as one of this years colleges and universities deemed a Great College to Work For. Based on employee engagement survey results, the Great Colleges to Work For program honored Parker Universitys workplace with a Perfect Score. In addition to being a Great College to Work For, the university has been named a 2022 Honor Roll Institution. Parker University is proud to be recognized in all 10 categories, including Job Satisfaction and Support, Compensation and Benefits, Professional Development, Mission and Pride, Supervisor/Department Chair Effectiveness, Confidence in Senior Leadership, Faculty and Staff Well-being, Shared Governance, Faculty Experience, and Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. With more than 1,000 institutions in its database, the Great Colleges program has benchmarking capabilities across various categories.

Parker University offers competitive salaries, excellent benefits including tuition assistance, a generous retirement plan, and a strong culture of community. Faculty may also be eligible for Federal Loan Forgiveness Programs. The Parker University job board can be found here.

The Great Colleges to Work For program is one of the largest and most respected workplace recognition programs in the country. In its fifteenth year, it recognizes colleges that get top employee ratings regarding workplace practices and policies.

The Great Colleges to Work For program recognizes institutions that have successfully created great workplaces and furthered research and understanding of factors, dynamics, and influences that impact the organizational culture at higher education institutions.

To learn more about Parker Universitys exciting recognition, visit greatcollegesprogram.com.

About Parker University

Parker University, the fourth-fastest growing college in Texas and the fastest-growing college in Dallas, was founded in 1982 by Dr. James William Parker (formerly Parker College of Chiropractic). Today, Parker University has more than 1,800 students and more than 35 academic programs, including its famed chiropractic program, as well as masters degrees in neuroscience, clinical neuroscience, strength and human performance, and functional nutrition. Currently, Parker Universitys chiropractic cohort is the second largest of any campus in the world. Parker University has been recognized as a Great College to Work For, one of the 25 Fastest-Growing Colleges in the U.S., and as a recipient of the 2021 FutureEdge 50 Awards.

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New York, NY, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- At around 11:26 am ET on September 12, 2022, Google rolled out its second broad core update for this year.



In a tweet posted on September 12, 2022, Google announced the rollout of its September 2022 broad core update. Its Google Search Central Twitter account tweeted a link to its ranking release history page, saying, Today we released the September 2022 core update. We'll update our ranking release history page when the rollout is complete.

We already knew this as it was between the lines when Google rolled out the helpful content update.

According to Google's last update, Are you following our guidance for core updates and product reviews?", underscores Qamar Zaman.

The only detail that Google shared about this core update is that it would be finished rolling out after two weeks.

According to Consultant Qamar Zaman, the timing of the release of this latest broad core update is precisely three days after Google finished rolling out the helpful content update.

For today, September 12, 2022, we can see that there are three major categories with SERP Volatility scores that went badly, Zaman shared. Two of them have recovered already after the helpful content update has finished rolling out, but today numerous websites from these categories change ranking positions, Zaman added.

Zaman cannot conclude if the September 2022 broad core update causes these bad SERP volatility scores, but he promised to keep a close watch in the next two weeks.

We need SERP data in the next two weeks to get a comprehensive insight of the impact brought by this latest broad core update before we can share any conclusions, Zaman explained.

On the other hand, some Google Search Central Twitter followers are not optimistic about the latest news. One user said that it is useless.

These updates are of no use. They still keep (xxxx) websites with old irrelevant content ranking on top, @TheHotshotNerds reply to Googles tweet.

Another one said that it is a follow-up of the helpful content update.

They just reverse them back a few weeks later, this seems to be the trend. I think they just enjoy playing mind games with webmasters! The "helpful content update" was not that helpful, considering some of my niches the top 1-3 are 100% spun content, with spammy backlinks, tweeted @mistressworldx.

Another Twitter follower said it is more likely to push **** content to the first page.

The more they release updates, the more *** contents push to first page. There are so many sites I do see on the first page without useful content. I think Google should start doing this things manually, tweeted @chigomaxy.

Despite the lack of details from Google, Zaman and his team from KISS PR, a Dallas-based digital marketing company, are more likely to believe that this broad core update picks up the changes and trends after the helpful content update.

"Google is attempting to improve search results for users. As a result, all upgrades are intended for the benefit of the user. Any SEO that tries to game Google will not be successful for long. I studied SEO under the tutelage of my mentor, Eric Ward, and if you put the needs of the user first rather than chasing after Google, you'll sleep better." Qamar Zaman.

Lets not forget that Google uses machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized and quality experiences to its users. We cannot ignore the fact that Search is one of its major services that extensively uses machine learning, Zaman shared. After the helpful content update, it is now easier to pinpoint web pages with low-value content using the data from its machine learning model, Zaman added.

As the broad core update is currently rolling out, Zaman and his team at KISS PR remind website owners not to panic if their web pages may not perform well. According to Google, theres not a thing to worry about. The search giant said: In fact, there's nothing in a core update that targets specific pages or sites. Instead, the changes are about improving how our systems assess content overall. These changes may cause some pages that were previously under-rewarded to do better.

For website owners who may encounter a sudden drop in rankings, should wait and not make changes while the update is being done.

About Qamar Zaman

Qamar Zaman is student of SEO expert, digital growth consultant and CEO of KISSPR.com. Follow Qamar Zaman on Forbes.





###

Media Contact

az@kisspr.com

https://kisspr.com/



Read our previous PR on Google Helpful content update

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TORONTO, ON, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pinehurst Capital II Inc. (TSXV: PINH.P) (the Company), a Capital Pool Company, as defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the TSXV), is pleased to announce that, in connection with its previously announced Qualifying Transaction (the Transaction) pursuant to TSXV Policy 2.4 - Capital Pool Companies (the CPC Policy) with Halcones Precious Metals Inc. (Halcones), the Company today filed a filing statement in connection with the Transaction (the Filing Statement) on the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . Following the completion of the Transaction, the Company (the Resulting Issuer) will carry on the business of Halcones and intends to change its name to Halcones Precious Metals Corp..

The completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including, but not limited to, receipt of all required regulatory approvals, including the final approval of the TSXV and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. Upon completion of the proposed Transaction, the Company is expected to meet all of the minimum listing requirements of the TSXV for a Tier 2 Mining issuer (as defined in the policies of the TSXV).

Trading of the Companys common shares will remain halted until such time as the TSXV may determine, having regard to the completion of certain requirements pursuant to the CPC Policy. It is anticipated that the common shares of Company, as the Resulting Issuer, will resume trading under the symbol HPM on or about September 22, 2022, following completion of the Transaction and the publication of a final exchange bulletin by the TSXV in respect of the closing of the Transaction.

Further details of the Transaction can be found in the Filing Statement. The Company will provide additional updates with respect to the Transaction in future news releases.

About Pinehurst Capital II Inc.

The Company is a Capital Pool Company listed on the TSXV. The Company has no commercial operations and has no assets other than cash. The only business of the Company is to identify and evaluate assets or businesses with a view to completing a Qualifying Transaction, in accordance with Policy 2.4 of the TSXV.

About Halcones Precious Metals Inc.

Halcones is a private company incorporated under the laws of the Province of Ontario which owns an option (the Option) to acquire 100% of the right, title and interest of the Carachapampa project located in Diego de Almagro, Copiapo, Chile (the Carachapampa Project or the Project). Halcones was incorporated on July 5, 2021.

For further information, please contact:

From Halcones Precious Metals Inc.

Lawrence Guy, Director

416-930-7660

info@halconesresources.com



From Pinehurst Capital II Inc.

David Rosenkrantz, CEO

416-865-0123

drosenkrantz@patica.ca

The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that constitute forward looking statements. Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Companys actual results, performance or achievements, or developments to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results, and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Companys expectations include the failure to satisfy the conditions to completion of the Transaction set forth above and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company pursuant to applicable Canadian securities laws.

Although the Company believes, in light of the experience of its officers and directors, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. When used in this press release, the words estimate, project, belief, anticipate, intend, expect, plan, predict, may or should and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. The forward-looking statements and information in this press release include information relating to the business plans of the Resulting Issuer, the listing of Resulting Issuer shares on the TSXV and the completion of the Transaction. Such statements and information reflect the current view of the Company. Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements and information.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, among others: (a) following completion of the Transaction, the Company may require additional financing from time to time in order to continue its operations which may not be available when needed or on acceptable terms and conditions acceptable; (b) compliance with government regulation; (c) domestic and foreign laws and regulations could adversely affect the Companys business and results of operations; (d) the stock markets have experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the performance of companies and these fluctuations may adversely affect the price of the Companys securities, regardless of its operating performance; (e) the impact of COVID-19; and (f) the potential inability of the Company and Halcones to complete the Transaction.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of the Company as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that managements beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities in the United States. The Companys securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.
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GENEVA (AP)  Jean-Luc Godard, the iconic enfant terrible of the French New Wave who revolutionized popular cinema in 1960 with his first feature, Breathless, and stood for years among the film world's most influential directors, died Tuesday. He was 91.

Godard died peacefully and surrounded by loved ones at his home in the Swiss town of Rolle, on Lake Geneva, his family said in a statement. The statement gave assisted suicide, which is legal in Switzerland, as the cause of death.

A medical report recently revealed the director had multiple invalidating pathologies, according to the family statement, which did not specify the conditions.

Over a long career that began in the 1950s as a film critic, Godard was perhaps the most boundary-breaking director among New Wave filmmakers who rewrote the rules for camera, sound and narrative  rebelling against an earlier tradition of more formulaic storytelling.

For the low-budget Breathless, Godard relied on a mobile, lightweight camera to capture street scenes and reach moviegoers in a new way.

He dispensed with contrived backdrops and the artifice of Hollywood cinema of the time, said one film expert. The impact was immediate  Breathless arrived like a cinematic thunderclap when it was released in 1960  and lasting.

There's a bit of Godard in nearly all films today, said Frederic Maire, president of the Swiss Cinematheque. Nearly all directors who have gone to film school today, or learned movie-making at cinematheques, have seen Godard's films  and were amazed, jolted and shocked by his way of telling stories.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute, saying: We have lost a national treasure, the eye of a genius.

Godard worked with some of the best-known actors in French cinema, such as Jean-Paul Belmondo, who was propelled to stardom through the director's films, and Brigitte Bardot, who starred in his acclaimed 1963 work Contempt.

Beyond that, he profiled the early Rolling Stones, gave a voice to Marxist, leftist and 1960s-era Black Power politics, and his controversial modern nativity play Hail Mary grabbed headlines when Pope John Paul II denounced it in 1985.

While many of his works were lauded, Godard also made a string of films that were politically charged and experimental, and pleased few outside a small circle of fans, while frustrating many critics who saw them as filled with overblown intellectualism.

Cannes Film Festival Director Thierry Fremaux said by phone he was sad, sad  immensely so" at the news of Godard's death.

Born into a wealthy French-Swiss family on Dec. 3, 1930 in Paris, Godard grew up in Nyon, Switzerland, and studied ethnology at the Sorbonne, where he was increasingly drawn to the cultural scene that flourished in the Latin Quarter cine-club after World War II.

He became friends with future big-name directors Francois Truffaut, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer, and in 1950 founded the short-lived Gazette du Cinema. By 1952 he had begun writing for the prestigious movie magazine Cahiers du Cinema.

After working on two films by Rivette and Rohmer in 1951, Godard tried to direct his first movie while traveling through North and South America with his father, but never finished it.

Back in Europe, he took a job in Switzerland as a construction worker on a dam project. He used the pay to finance his first complete film, the 1954 Operation Concrete, a 20-minute documentary about the building of the dam.

Returning to Paris, Godard worked as spokesman for an artists agency and continued to hone his writing.

He also began work on Breathless, based on a story by Truffaut.

The movie stars Belmondo as a penniless young thief who models himself on Hollywood movie gangsters and who, after he shoots a police officer, goes on the run with his American girlfriend, played by Jean Seberg.

Godard's cinematic creations were suffused with the gritty, sassy tones of a resurgent postwar France  known domestically as the Glorious 30 years through to the late 1970s -- and they served up some of the most poignant images and lines from what was then a rich, avant-garde heyday of French filmmaking.

The images in Breathless of an ingenue Seberg traipsing along Paris Champs-Elysees loudly hawking New York Herald Tribune newspapers in a tight T-shirt, and close-ups of a cigarette-smoking, fedora-wearing Belmondo running a thumb methodically, pensively across his lips could be enshrined among the most memorable images of French cinema.

Along with Truffauts The 400 Blows, released in 1959, Godards film set a new tone for French movie aesthetics. Godard rejected conventional narrative style and instead used frequent jump-cuts that mingled philosophical discussions with action scenes. He spiced it all up with references to Hollywood gangster movies and nods to literature and visual art.

Godard also launched what was to be a career-long participation in collective film projects, contributing scenes to The Seven Deadly Sins along with directors such as Claude Chabrol and Roger Vadim. He also worked with Ugo Gregoretti, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini on the Italian movie Lets Have a Brainwash, with Godards scenes portraying a disturbing post-Apocalypse world.

Godard, who was later to gain a reputation for his uncompromising left-wing political views, had a first brush with French authorities in 1960 when he made The Little Soldier. The movie, filled with references to Frances colonial war in Algeria, was not released until 1963, a year after the conflict ended.

His work turned more starkly political by the late 1960s. In Weekend, his characters lampoon hypocrisy in bourgeois society even as they demonstrate the comic futility of violent class war. It came out a year before popular anger at the establishment shook France, culminating in the iconic but short-lived student unrest of May 1968.

Godard harbored a life-long sympathy for various forms of socialism depicted in films from the early 1970s to the 1990s.

Some of global cinemas greatest directors counted Godards boundary-breaking work as an influence, including Quentin Tarantino, Bernardo Bertolucci, Brian De Palma and Jonathan Demme.

Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky tweeted: learned a lot from my vhs copy of breathless thank you maestro.

Godard took potshots at Hollywood over the years.

He remained home in Switzerland rather than travel to Hollywood to receive an honorary Oscar at a private ceremony in November 2010 alongside film historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, director-producer Francis Ford Coppola and actor Eli Wallach.

His lifelong advocacy of the Palestinian cause also brought him repeated accusations of antisemitism, despite his insistence that he sympathized with the Jewish people and their plight in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Though the academy received some complaints about Godard being selected to receive the award, academy President Tom Sherak said the director was recognized solely for his contributions to film in the New Wave era.

Godard married Danish-born model and actress Anna Karina in 1961. She appeared in a string of movies he made during the remainder of the 1960s, all of them seen as New Wave landmarks. Notable among them were My Life to Live, Alphaville and Crazy Pete  which also starred Belmondo and was rumored to have been shot without a script. Godard and Karina divorced in 1965.

Godard married his second wife, Anne Wiazemsky, in 1967. He later started a relationship with Swiss filmmaker Anne-Marie Mieville. Godard divorced Wiazemsky in 1979, after he had moved with Mieville to Rolle, where he lived with her for the rest of his life.

___

Adamson reported from Paris. Former AP correspondent John Heilprin contributed biographical material to this report.
RTHK: Russia says it's fighting back against Ukraine

Russia said on Tuesday it was carrying out "massive strikes" across the Ukrainian front line and accused Ukrainian soldiers of abusing civilians in territories recaptured in a dramatic counter-offensive.

Moscow's retaliation came after it was forced to pull back its troops from swathes of the northeast, particularly in the Kharkiv region, following Kyiv's lightning assault to wrest back terrain.

The territorial shifts marked one of Russia's biggest setbacks since its troops were repelled from Kyiv in the earliest days of the nearly seven-month war, yet Moscow signalled it was no closer to agreeing to a negotiated peace.

"Air, rocket and artillery forces are carrying out massive strikes on units of the Ukrainian armed forces in all operational directions," the Russian defence ministry said in its daily briefing on the conflict.

"High-precision" strikes have also been launched on Ukrainian positions around Sloviansk and Konstantinovka in the eastern Donetsk region, it added.

The Kremlin accused Kyiv's army of abusing civilians in territory it had recaptured.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said that in the Kharkiv region, reports were emerging of "outrageous" treatment of civilians.

"There are a lot of punitive measures... people are being tortured, people are being mistreated and so on," Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Russia's allegations came after Ukrainian authorities claimed to have found four bodies of civilians with "signs of torture" in the recaptured eastern village of Zaliznychne.

Residents reported that Russian troops had killed villagers, the regional prosecutor's office said, announcing a war crime probe.

Ukrainian forces launched their counter-offensive in early September, seemingly catching Russia's military off guard.

Images posted by the Ukrainian military showed crates of munitions and military hardware scattered across territory abandoned by Russian forces.

Around the north-eastern town of Balakliya, AFP journalists saw evidence of fierce battles, with buildings destroyed or damaged and streets mostly deserted.

By Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine's forces have retaken a total of 6,000 square kilometres from Russian control.

In the northeast, dozens of areas including the cities of Izyum, Kupiansk and Balakliya, have been retaken, Ukraine said.

Ukraine has also claimed significant gains in the southern Kherson region, where the Ukrainian army also said it had recaptured 500 square kilometres.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken assessed that the Ukrainians had made "significant progress", due to their resilience as well as US support.

"It's too early to tell exactly where this is going. The Russians maintain very significant forces in Ukraine as well as equipment and arms and munitions.

"They continue to use it indiscriminately against not just the Ukrainian armed forces but civilians and civilian infrastructure as we've seen," Blinken said on Monday. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2022-09-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
GREENWICH  Citing protections under shield laws for journalists, Project Veritas said it will not comply with a request from the state Attorney Generals Office to preserve the complete footage of Jeremy Boland, a Cos Cob School assistant principal caught on video appearing to speak about discriminatory hiring practices in Greenwich Public Schools.

After Project Veritas posted a video of Boland online late last month, Attorney General William Tong invoked his civil rights enforcement authority to investigate any potentially illegal discrimination or other actionable misconduct related to that video.

The next day, Deputy Associate Attorney General Gregory OConnell sent a letter to Project Veritas and its CEO and chairman, James OKeefe, explaining that they anticipated issuing subpoenas and that Project Veritas should preserve all material potentially relevant to this investigation.

The viral video released by Project Veritas, apparently shows Boland speaking about hiring practices that appear to discriminate against hiring Catholics, conservatives and people over the age of 30 for teaching positions.

Greenwich Public Schools immediately launched its own investigation and placed Boland on administrative leave.

Project Veritas describes itself as a nonprofit journalism enterprise established to continue OKeefes undercover reporting work. It has been criticized for allegedly using edited secret recordings to unfairly discredit Democratic and progressive groups and mainstream media.

The full footage of Boland has not been publicly released  just short clips.

The states investigation will at a minimum cover the period of Bolands employment with the Greenwich Public Schools, OConnells letter said, and the scope and nature of our investigation may evolve as it progresses.

The material relevant to its investigation, which the Attorney Generals Office asked Project Veritas to preserve, includes all material relating to the Greenwich Public Schools and all material relating to Mr. Boland, including communication to, from, including, or concerning, Mr. Boland.

But Project Veritas said it will not honor that request, according to a response letter sent Sept. 10 by Project Veritas attorneys Paul Calli, Charles Short and Lindy Urso

OConnells letter should be retracted immediately, their letter said, because Project Veritas is a national news company whose journalists engage in widely reported on undercover investigative reporting and utilize lawful, surreptitious recording to expose corruption, fraud, waste and abuse.

Among the rationale for denying the order from Tongs office, Project Veritas lawyers said the organizations work was protected under the shield law in Section 52-146t in Connecticuts state statutes and that the attorney generals office was threatening to take action against Project Veritas by saying that it anticipated issuing subpoenas.

Urso, a Greenwich resident and attorney with a Stamford practice, said on Monday that Calli wrote the letter and said that he is serving as local counsel.

On Monday, Elizabeth Benton, director of communications for the attorney generals office, did not offer any response to the letter from Project Veritas.

This is an active and ongoing investigation, Benton said. As the attorney general said when he first announced this investigation, our work will be thorough and comprehensive. We cannot comment further.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
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BRUSSELS (AP)  European Union lawmakers have backed a proposal for a law that would ban the sale in the 27-nation bloc of agriculture products linked to the destruction of forests.

MEPs gathered on Tuesday in Strasbourg, France, supported and strengthened a plan from the EU's executive arm with 453 votes to 57, and 123 abstentions.

The EU Parliament will now start negotiations on the final text with EU member states.

Once approved, the law would force companies and producers to give assurances that products are deforestation-free. Businesses would be forced to verify that agricultural goods sold in the EU have not bee made on deforested or degraded land anywhere in the world," the Parliament said.

Acknowledging that the EU is responsible for around 10% of global deforestation, we have no choice but to ramp up our efforts to halt global deforestation," said Christophe Hansen, the lawmaker in charge of the Parliament's report.

In addition, MEPs proposed that banks and financial institutions should be covered by the law to prevent them from investing in projects linked to deforestation.

This could be the beginning of the end of the money pipeline that is destroying forests around the world  but only if national governments across the EU step up and support this plan to make European banks deforestation-free in negotiations on the final law, said Giulia Bondi, from Global Witness campaigning group.

Deforestation in South America, Africa and Asia is driven mainly by agricultural expansion.

Quoting data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the EU Parliament said that some 420 million hectares of forest were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020. This is an area larger than the EU.

The European Commission, which proposes EU laws and supervises the way they are enacted, suggested last year that the legislation covered soy, cattle, palm oil, wood, cocoa and coffee.

Under the position adopted Tuesday, lawmakers also want to include pig meat, sheep and goats, poultry, maize and rubber, as well as charcoal and printed paper products.

MEPs also want companies to verify that goods are produced in accordance with human rights provisions in international law and respect the rights of indigenous people, the Parliament said.

Environmental group Greenpeace praised the result of the vote.

Nobody wants to worry that their weekly shop might be linked to death and destruction  the vote today is a big step towards breaking that link," said Greenpeace EU forest campaigner Sini Erajaa.

At the U.N.'s climate conference, COP26, last year, over 100 nations representing more than 85% of the worlds forests pledged to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. Among them were several countries with massive forests, including Brazil, China, Colombia, Congo, Indonesia, Russia and the United States.

___

Follow APs climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Two Connecticut senators are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate what they describe as unfair and deceptive marketing tactics employed by firearm manufacturers.

With Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both D-Conn., coauthored a letter that was sent to FTC Chair Lina M. Khan on Monday asking the agency to hold the firearms industry accountable for misleading consumers about the harms guns can cause to themselves, their children and their communities.

The letter was endorsed by nine of their colleagues in the Senate, including former presidential candidates Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Amy Klobucharm, D-Minn.; Kirsten Gillibrand, N.Y.; and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

In the letter, Blumenthal, Murphey and Markey contended that manufacturers such as Daniel Defense target children and teenagers, especially teenage boys, by including references to contemporary cultural touchstones such as the popular first-person-shooter video game Call of Duty in their advertising. Daniel Defense and Remington Arms manufactured the assault rifles wielded in the Uvalde and Sandy Hook school shootings, respectively.

The three senators invoked the massacres, both of which were perpetrated by young men, as examples of the damaging consequences of such marketing tactics. They noted that Uvalde school shooter Salvador Ramos, who was 18 when he murdered 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on May 24, was reportedly a fan of Call of Duty.

The senators also made the case that the firearm industry misleads consumers about firearm safety by portraying firearm ownership as an indispensable safety measure.

The rare instances in which a gun owner successfully uses a firearm for self-defense are far outweighed by the vastly higher number of injuries and deaths for the owners, family members, and other cohabitants, they wrote. In fact, research indicates that for each instance in which a firearm in the home is used successfully in self-defense, there are 11 attempted or completed firearm suicides, seven criminal assaults or homicides involving a firearm, and four unintentional shootings.

Separated by almost a decade, the Uvalde and Sandy Hook school shootings are the deadliest to ever occur in the United States. They killed a combined 47 people, not including the shooters themselves; most of the victims were elementary-school students.

In the months following Sandy Hook, Connecticut, responding to the tragedy, banned assault rifles and large-capacity magazines in the state. However, the ban has been challenged on numerous occasions, most recently by the National Foundation for Gun Rights.

You can read the full letter here.

caroline.tien@hearst.com
A sign in the Guam Economic Development Authority reception area. GEDA will be reaching out to businesses who have received various pandemic assistance grants to help provide information about the state of local businesses.
Williamsport, Pa.  The Lycoming County Commissioners voted Monday to remove a referendum from the November ballot that on September 6, they voted to add to the ballot. The reversal will removes the referendum about discontinuing the user of electronic voting systems in future elections.

The referendum was initially approved by Commissioners Scott Metzger and Tony Mussare.

A small group of residents had asked the commissioners to end the use of electronic machines in favor of reverting to paper ballots. Commissioners agreed to put the question on the ballot in November, voting to add the referendum at their September 6 meeting.

After receiving a letter from the Pennsylvania Department of State warning commissioners that the addition of the referendum would be in violation of the Help America Vote Act, the commissioners made the decision to remove the referendum Monday.

HAVA, passed by the federal government in 2002, created a set of mandatory minimum standards for states to follow in election administration. The law also provided funding for states to update their voting systems.

The state department said the county did not seek the consent of the legislature prior to adding the referendum, which is required under HAVA. The letter also said paper ballots were resolutely not allowed under HAVA.

Metzger said, after conferring with legal counsel, they were told they'd lose in court regarding the former violation listed by the DOS, but that he felt they could have won on the latter.

Knowing the case was lost, Metzger said it wouldnt be good government to continue through with the referendum.

We cant spend taxpayers dollars fighting something the statute didnt give us the authority to do, Metzger said.

Mussare said the actions taken by the Department of State violated the confidence that residents have in election integrity.

Both Metzger and Mussare said multiple lawyers had told them they would lose the case in court.

Commissioner Richard Mirabito voted against the addition of the referendum to the ballot Sept. 6. Monday, he did vote to approve the removal of the referendum in the face of impending legal challenges.

This all came on the heels of Audit the Vote's attempts to get a complete audit of Lycoming County for the 2020 presidential election. Audit the Vote is the organization that spearheaded the addition of the referendum.

Audit the Vote spokesman and attorney Karen DiSalvo and Woodward Township Supervisor Jeffrey Stroehman have continually claimed that the 2020 election was filled with inconsistencies and fraud. They have also said electronic voting systems are susceptible to hacks, though the machines are not connected to the internet.

Disalvo said, reading from the petition that was signed by 3,392 Lycoming County residents, I want Lycoming County to discontinue the use of voting machines, including tabulators and scanners. I want this issue to be placed on the ballot in November.

Those who signed the petition make up less than five percent of Lycoming County's registered voters.

Lycoming County Director of Elections Forrest Lehman has said that there were no issues found with the electronic voting system used by the county. Lycoming County uses electronic tabulators that provide printed paper ballots  a portion of which are counted by hand.

It was also noted during the Monday meeting that the current voting system cost the county $2 million to purchase.

Metzger said that the commissioners will investigate other options for compromise.

Theres two ways that Ive been informed, Metzger said. I think theres a compromise where both systems can work.
Corrections & Clarifications: This story has been updated with the correct name of William Mark Parkinson.

With the results of the 2022 primary election certified and ballot placements drawn, Guam is all set to proceed into this years general election.

Some 398 provisional and absentee ballots were tallied Monday night and members of the Guam Election Commission on Tuesday signed off on what are now the official results for the 2022 primary election. Democrat, Republican and nonpartisan hopefuls in this years races crowded into the GEC conference room in Tamuning afterward to draw for their spots on the November ballot.

Election commissioners will form a working group to address some of the hiccups that occurred during the primary.

Unfair machines

The commission may ditch Express Vote Machines that speed casting and counting of ballots for the general election over concerns the electronic display gives an unfair advantage to legislative candidates that appear higher up on the ballot.

Commissioner Benny Pinaula said some voters who used the machine in the primary were unaware of a second page of candidates on the digital ballot and didnt cast a full 15 votes.

If youre doing it on the express machine, who comes up first, who comes up second, there is a preference there. And so, the senators with the lower (placements), they are not going to have a fair shake, Pinaula said.

GEC Executive Director Maria Pangelinan said her staff was trying to sort out the issue with the vendor that provided the machines.

But what we have as of this time is whats in front of you.

The display was a coding issue and, as of Tuesday, there wasnt any way to display all candidates on screen at the same time.

Many voters at the early voting center reported they enjoyed using the machines, Pangelinan said. The machine does warn voters if they dont cast a full 15 votes for the Legislature.

Commission Chair Alice Taijeron said she was hesitant to keep using the voting machines in the general election if the commission couldnt sort out the issue. Pinaula requested a breakdown of how many people under-voted on the machines, versus the paper ballots.

Motor Voter

The Motor Voter program, which allows residents to update their voter registration when they apply for a drivers license with the Division of Motor Vehicles, was a disaster, according to GEC Vice Chairman Jerry Crisostomo.

More than one voter reported they were registered to vote in Barrigada because their mailing address was at the Barrigada post office, Crisostomo said. Other voters said they were turned away from voting centers instead of being allowed to cast a provisional ballot when they found they werent registered at the precinct.

Pangelinan said precinct officials were trained not to turn voters away.

I cant tell you I have all the answers. One of our challenges is we still dont have full access to the (Motor Voter) system at DMV, Pangelinan said. We hope thats forthcoming.

Pangelinan has said around 1,000 people had their voting registration transferred from one village to another through the Motor Voter program.

Working voters

The early voting center wasnt open on Saturdays for the primary, but the Election Commission is trying to target more voters who cant cast their ballots on weekdays.

According to Republican Party of Guam Chair Juan Carlos Benitez, his preliminary review of early voting numbers showed that between 65% and 70% of early voters were retirees and government of Guam employees.

So there was definitely an under-representation of the private sector of the working class in Guam, Benitez said.

Public and private sector employees are entitled to two hours of administrative leave to vote, which includes early voting, commissioners said.

Early voting for the general election opens Oct. 11 and closes Nov. 3. The early voting center at the Westin Guam Resort will be open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays.




Haiti - Dom. Republic : Haiti imported $674.2 million worth of goods in 7 months





A statistical report by ProDominicana reveals that during the first seven months of 2022 (January to July), Haiti imported US$678.2 million worth of goods from the Dominican Republic.



The products that Haiti has formally purchased are mainly cotton fabrics (for manufactures), portland cement, wheat flour, soybean oil, non-cellular ethylene polymer sheets and strips, cardboard or corrugated cardboard boxes, crockery and other kitchen utensils, among others. The other products which account for more than half of purchases (54.1%) correspond to basic foodstuffs.



An analysis report by the consulting firm DASA, prepared for the Dominican Association of Exporters (Adoexpo) indicates that during the first half of 2022, exports to Haiti increased sharply by 157 million, a variation of +30, 6% compared to the previous year.



Note that exports to Haiti remain overwhelmingly in favor of the Dominicans, as Haiti imports 97.64% of goods from the neighboring country and exports only 2.4% of its goods to the Dominican Republic.



If the export figure for Haiti may seem significant, it must be put into perspective and remember that this amount represents only 9.17% of the 7 billion 388 million dollars exported worldwide by the Dominican Republic over this same period. By way of comparison, in the month of July 2022 alone, the neighboring Republic exported goods worth more than a billion dollars to the world.



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Bahamas : 127 illegal Haitian migrants intercepted off Anguilla Cay





On Friday, September 9 around 7:30 p.m., the US Coast Guard patrol boat "Harriet Lane" (WMEC 903), an 82m vessel specializing in the fight against drug trafficking and illegal immigration, reported a small sailboat overloaded with migrants about 41 miles off Anguilla Cay, an island in the Bahamas archipelago.



After intercepting the small sailboat, the crew of the Coast Guard vessel Harriet Lane transshipped 127 Haitians (54 men, 34 women and 39 minors) as well as 3 Cubans brought aboard the Harriet. All were reported healthy. Once aboard the Coast Guard vessel, all migrants were provided with food, water and basic medical care.



"The Coast Guard maintains a persistent presence patrolling the waters around Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, to help prevent loss of life," said Lt. Cmdr. Salomee Briggs, Coast Guard District Seven Legal. "Taking to the sea is very dangerous, we urge you not to risk you and your loved-ones lives."



Families or relatives in the United States who inquire about possible family members intercepted at sea should contact their local US representative. Families or relatives located outside the United States should contact the local U.S. Embassy.



S/ HaitiLibre


















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Published on 2022/09/12 | Source

Actor Park Hae-soo showed off his exotic visuals.

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On the 11th, two photos were posted on Park Hae-soo's official Instagram account with the hashtags, "#TVAcademyParty #UTAEMMY". On the 9th, he left for Los Angeles via Incheon International Airport to attend the Emmy Awards.

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Published on 2022/09/13 | Source

New still added for the Korean movie "6/45" (2022)

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The bill would effectively enable regional state administrative agencies to restrict strikes affecting essential social and health care services and order employees to work under the threat of fine.

MINISTER of Family Affairs and Social Services Aki Linden (SDP) on Monday announced the government has reached an agreement on the disputed patient safety bill and will present it to the Parliament on Tuesday or Wednesday, reports Demokraatti.

The Left Alliance Parliamentary Group, however, declared immediately after the announcement that it opposes the bill in its current form and will call for substantial amendments to it in the Parliament.

Due to schedule pressure, the Left Alliances ministers are ready to bring the bill from the government for parliamentary consideration exceptionally without the parliamentary groups approval of the content of the bill. The partys legislators intend to continue their efforts to shape the bill during the parliamentary proceedings, the group said in a public statement.

Jussi Saramo, the chairperson of the Left Alliance Parliamentary Group, told STT on Monday that while the government has the duty to move forward with the project to safeguard social and health care services that are essential for the health and lives of patients, many of its provisions undermine industrial action also in respects that are not justified from the viewpoint of the services.

Unless those aspects of the bill are improved, the group will have no choice but to vote against the proposal, he said.

Teemu Muhonen, a political journalist at Helsingin Sanomat, wrote in his analysis that the partys decision could even lead to it abandoning the ruling five-party coalition, as the other ruling parties would unlikely tolerate the party voting against the bill.

The Finnish Union of Practical Nurses (Super) and the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals in Finland (Tehy) have announced strikes targeting intensive care in Hameenlinna, Oulu and Turku. The unions have voiced their dismay with the bill, arguing that it would eradicate the right of nurses to industrial action.

Linden on Monday revealed that the scope of the bill was narrowed moderately in the last stage of the drafting, with the ruling out of all forms of social care except for home care that is essential for the health and life of the patient.

Members of Super and Tehy are to stage a one-day strike at the intensive care unit of Kanta-Hame Central Hospital in Hameenlinna on Friday. While the bill cannot be enacted in time to affect the strike, it could come into force before a four-day strike that is to begin at the intensive care unit of Turku Central University Hospital on Tuesday, 20 September.

Another four-day strike is scheduled to begin at the intensive care unit of Oulu Central Hospital on 27 September.

Kanta-Hame Hospital District and Southwest Finland Hospital District on Monday said they have submitted a request for a preliminary injunction to a district court in an attempt to guarantee patient safety during the strikes.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
Seppo Ranta , the chief executive of Kanta-Hame Hospital District, told Helsingin Sanomat that an injunction was deemed as the only way to guarantee the safety of patients.

THE HOSPITAL DISTRICTS of Kanta-Hame and Southwest Finland on Monday asked the District Court of Helsinki to impose a preliminary injunction on the strikes targeting intensive care services in Hameenlinna and Turku.

Im afraid that this will contribute to further exacerbating the situation, he acknowledged. I think its tremendously regrettable that the labour market situation has aggravated and ended up where it is. I hope that a solution can be found that can be approved by all stakeholders.

The Finnish Union of Practical Nurses (Super) and the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals in Finland (Tehy) are to stage a one-day strike at the intensive care unit of Hameenlinna Central Hospital on Friday. A four-day strike, meanwhile, is to start at the intensive care unit of Turku Central University Hospital on Tuesday, 20 September.

Kanta-Hame Hospital District demanded in its request that each of the unions be issued a one-million-euro fine if they follow through with the strike threat. The amount of the fine was justified, on the one hand, with the resources of the unions and, on the other, with the danger the strike causes to the health and life of patients.

The amount of the fine must be sufficiently proportionate to the danger the strike causes to the lives of intensive care patients, the district argued in its appeal to the District Court of Helsinki.

Ranta told Helsingin Sanomat that the district will prepare for the strike by re-directing patients in need of intensive care to hospitals in Helsinki, Tampere and Turku as of Wednesday.

Petri Virolainen, the acting director of Southwest Finland Hospital District, similarly argued to the newspaper that the hospital district was left with no other choice.

The decision is awfully difficult and regrettable, but we were forced to do this. Its our duty to see to patient safety and the lives of patients. This is a way for us to try to manage with this duty. We have no other choice, he said.

Seppo Koskinen, a professor emeritus of labour law at the University of Turku, stated to Helsingin Sanomat that this is the first time an injunction allowed under the code of judicial procedure is utilised in such a way as part of a labour dispute in Finland. The decision to do so, he added, is good in the prevalent situation  especially compared to prohibiting the strike under the patient safety act that was finalised by the government on Monday.

He believes prohibiting the strikes under the act rather than under a court ruling could further aggravate the labour market dispute.

Thats why Id be in favour of settling the issue at an injunction hearing in court, he said.

Koskinen viewed that the District Court of Helsinki should be able to issue an interlocutory judgement to prohibit the unions from launching the strike under the threat of fine before Friday. The court could then discuss in more detail whether the strike causes such a grave danger to patient health that it can be prohibited.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
ABOUT 200 people gathered in Henley market place on Sunday to hear the proclamation of accession.

Mayor Michelle Thomas read the proclamation to mark the passing of the throne to King Charles III in a ceremony repeated across the country at 2pm.

Dressed in her ceremonial clothes, she was joined on the steps of the town hall by Father Jeremy Tayler, rector of St Marys Church, town clerk Sheridan Jacklin- Edward, Oxfordshire deputy lieutenant Cynthia Hall and town sergeant James Churchill-Coleman carrying the town mace.

Also present were town councillors and a number of former mayors spanning more than 40 years.

Before reading the proclamation, Councillor Thomas gave a speech paying tribute to the Queen, who died on Thursday last week.

She said: We remember with affection and gratitude the lifetime of service given by our longest-reigning monarch.

But the basis on which our monarchy is built has ensured that through the centuries the crown has passed in an unbroken line of succession. Todays ceremony marks the formal proclamation to the people of Henley of our new kings reign.

The proclamation of the sovereign is a very old tradition which has in fact spanned many centuries. The ceremony does not create a new king, it is simply an announcement of accession which took place immediately on the death of the reigning monarch.

In an age where modern methods of communication convey news around the globe in an instant, the proclamation is no longer how people learn for the first time that they have a new monarch.

Today is one of the first occasions when communities have an opportunity to come together and reflect on a moment in our nations history when the reign of our longest-serving monarch came to an end and our new sovereign succeeded.

The Mayor then read the proclamation, which finished with a declaration of God Save the King. This was followed by a rendition of the National Anthem led by a group of musicians from Henley Music School.

Father Jeremy said: This is a wonderfully old tradition and seeing everyone gathered in the town square made me realise how important it was for people to come together.

It is important that we are not just remembering the Queen but also thinking of Charles. He has the heavy burden of becoming King but he is also a grieving son. He needs our support now more than ever.

Mr Jacklin-Edward said: The proclamation was a great success and we were very grateful to all those who attended, especially members of the public, for making it a fitting way to mark the start of the Kings reign.

In particular, wed like to thank those who gave their time free of charge to help make it happen, especially Hugh Legh, of HDL, for arranging the PA system, and Laura Reineke, director of Henley Music School, for arranging a band to lead the National Anthem.

The former mayors present included Julian Brookes, Martin Akehurst, David Smewing, Jeni and Barry Wood, Ken Arlett, Lorraine Hillier and Noel Snell, who was mayor in 1980.

Kellie Hinton, another former mayor, represented South Oxfordshire District Council as its vice- chair.

Mrs Wood, 76, who was mayor in 2010/2011, said: I thought it went really well and I am glad so many former mayors were in attendance.

We obviously didnt have much notice and many probably had weekend plans set, so I am really pleased how many managed to make it.

Mr Wood, 78, who held the position in 2005/2006, said: It was a highly successful event and the crowd were great and really

participated.

I think there was a realisation that this was a once-in-a-lifetime event. It was a fitting tribute to a great monarch. I thought the Mayor did extremely well and gave a very good and sensitive speech.

Loraine Hillier, who was mayor in 2015/2016, said: The whole thing was marvellous and it was a wonderful historic occasion.

There were more people than I expected and it was quite emotional actually.

I will really miss the Queen and Im planning to go up to London for her funeral.

Also present was Supt Rebecca Mears, Aylesbury Vale Area Commander for Thames Valley Police.

After the ceremony, the Mayor placed ceremonial purple flowers beside a picture of the Queen on the left-hand side of the steps.

Many members of the crowd then came forward to do the same.
The first Mama Shelter in Colombia will be in the heart of the El Poblado neighbourhood with 150-rooms, coworking space and rooftop terrace.

Ennismore, the fastest-growing lifestyle hospitality company, announces its latest signing in Colombia, with Mama Shelter Medellin. Due to open in 2026, the hotel will be the brand's first hotel in Colombia and will be in the heart of the El Poblado neighbourhood. The 150-room hotel will host everything a Mama Shelter is famous for - an energetic restaurant and bar space, more than 3,000 square meters of coworking space, 500 square meters of meeting rooms and a restaurant and swimming pool on the first-floor rooftop terrace.

er which will be located within a mixed-use development in Medellin, including retail, office and coworking spaces, allowing guests to live, work and play during their stay in one of Colombia's most promising and innovative cities. The new hotel's destination is well known for its nightlife, with a concentration and variety of more than 200 restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Just a 10-minute walk away, tourists will be able to enjoy areas such as Manila, Parque Lleras, Provenza and Patio Bonito.

Mama Shelter is part of Ennismore, a global collective of lifestyle hospitality brands, which was formed in 2021 in a joint venture between Sharan Pasricha and Accor. Ennismore currently has four operating properties in South America including JO&JOE Medellin and Rio De Janeiro and SLS Puerto Madero, and properties in the pipeline including TRIBE Belo Horizonte and SLS Punta Del Este.

Mama Shelter started in 2008 in Paris as a concept developed by Serge Trigano and his two sons, Jeremie and Benjamin. Mama Shelter is a place to live life to the full: its affordable, irreverent, popular, sassy, and sexy. A haven that Mama has created for her guests. Much like a mother who cares for her children, Mama looks after travellers as if they were her own, now with 15 hotels, spread over 14 cities across 9 countries and 3 continents

The essence of Mama Shelter

Being the first of the brand in the country and being a unique place for its surroundings, amenities and good architecture, this new property will attract locals, tourists, and potential investors, becoming an icon of Medellin.

More than rooms or restaurants, Mama Shelter is a place to live an extraordinary experience, as it is an authentic urban refuge, modern, popular, fun and warm. Mama Shelter will open its doors to people of all ages and places to meet and share good home cooking prepared by the chefs, or a cocktail prepared by the barmaid and bartender.

It also offers comfortable and relaxing meeting rooms to boost visitors' creativity, or its stores, one of them on-line, with the best articles and collaborations, and even state-of-the-art technology such as free access to movies and wifi.

With an estimate investment of US$ 30million, the DALVAL INVERSIONES fund is the Colombian real estate manager that, together with Skema Promotora and Macca, capitalises on the talent and experience of companies from Valle and Antioquia in the structuring and development of this modern project.

Hotel website
Terry Dunbar, general manager of Park Hyatt Washington, D.C. is pleased to announce the appointment of Ilemona Salifu as director of sales, marketing, and events at Park Hyatt Washington, D.C. Salifu has worked with Hyatt for over 15 years, on both the East and West Coast. The Park Hyatt Washington is the seventh Hyatt property and the fifth brand within the Hyatt portfolio of hotels for which he has been a leader in the sales and marketing efforts. Since May 2019, he most recently served as the area director of sales, marketing, and events at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore. In his role here, Salifu was instrumental in guiding and leading the sales and events teams through the pandemic and recovery efforts. He also assisted with facilitating partnerships with local African American small businesses, giving each a solid platform, while also helping the Hyatt Regency maintain its 25-year relationship with the Baltimore Ravens. Frequently spotlighted in the media on behalf of the Hyatt brand, Salifu has also been a mentor to area colleges, promoting five sales and events associates during his tenure in Maryland.

Salifu originally pursued a career in security and finance. He graduated in 2008 from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Science, Accounting and Finance degree, after serving his country from 1999 to 2006, in the U.S. Navy as an aviation electronics technician and in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He began his hospitality career in May 2007, where he started at the position of security officer and became a corporate management trainee (CMT) in 2011, before moving his focus from accounting to sales, at the Hyatt Hotels Corporation of Greater Los Angeles, as a meeting connections sales manager. He remained on the West Coast with Hyatt Regency Century Plaza until January 2016, when he relocated to the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead as associate director of sales. A year later Salifu was promoted to director of sales & marketing at the Hyatt Regency Morristown, a position he held for two years until being tapped to relocate to Maryland as the area director of sales, marketing, and events with the Hyatt Regency Baltimore.

A native of Pittsburg, PA, Salifu also lived in Nigeria from the age of three to 15, and then moved Los Angeles, CA, where he graduated from high school to join the U.S. Navy. He enjoys travel, physical fitness pursuits, mediation, and spending quality time with his wife Vera, and their three daughters.
JW Marriott Hotel Santo Domingo is pleased to announce the appointment of Yudit Garcia as General Manager, at the award-winning luxury property in the Piantini District of downtown Santo Domingo.

A highly skilled hospitality professional with 15 years of experience in the Caribbean and Mexico, Garcia has a proven track record of strong leadership, human resource development and efficient management in all aspects of the hotel's operations.

After beginning her career in 2007 at the Courtyard Santo Domingo, Garcia moved to Mexico in 2013, where she was promoted to Human Resources Manager at the Courtyard Airport Mexico City and in 2015, she returned to Santo Domingo as the opening Director of Human Resources for the Renaissance Santo Domingo Jaragua Hotel & Casino. Before joining the JW Marriott Hotel Santo Domingo team, she served as General Manager of the Courtyard Santo Domingo.

In this new role, Garcia will lead the dynamic luxury team to sustain the hotel's positioning as one of the most preferred destinations for the social and business elite in the country. A highly motivated executive with a commitment to excellence, Garcia is also the current Leader of Marriott's Business Council for the Caribbean and at the present she serves as the President for the Association of Hotels in Santo Domingo.
JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu, the 5-star luxury hotel in Mumbai is pleased to announce the appointment of Chef Rohit Chadha as the new Executive Sous Chef of the iconic property.

With a rich culinary experience spanning over a decade, Chef Rohit Chadha has previously spearheaded the team at Dashanzi, the award-winning progressive modern Asian cuisine restaurant at the JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu, and worked across leading brands in India and the Middle East, in addition to working alongside three-time Michelin Star Chef Allen Passard and industry stalwart Chef Hemant Oberoi. His unparalleled passion for his work, drive for innovation and extensive knowledge of local and international cuisines have been instrumental in his success. Among his many achievements, Chef Rohit was one of the top 10 leading chefs in India selected for the "Himalayan Raw and Fine Journey" contest hosted by a leading travel magazine in 2019 for a culinary tour of Japan.

In his new role, Chef Rohit Chadha will work closely with the culinary team at JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu to curate compelling, innovative and locally relevant dining experiences that are gratifying and fulfilling across the hotel's distinctive restaurants, in keeping with the JW Marriott brand promise.
Miami Springs, Fla. - For five-star Hotel Caribe by Faranda Grand in Cartagena, Colombia, a member of Radisson Individuals, achieving 100% guest satisfaction through service excellence is a top priority. To reach this goal, management turned to Guesthub, a web-based guest experience management solution that facilitates everything guests may need along their journey  from reservation to review  and without the need to download an app.

Delivering a frictionless and memorable guest experience at Hotel Caribe is of the utmost importance, said Faranda Worldwide Hotels CEO Celso Fernandez. We were looking for an automated way to monitor requests and conduct service area inspections to deliver an exceptional stay. An industry colleague told me about the operational efficiencies his hotel achieved with Guesthub, so we gave it a try."

Immediately we saw a vast improvement in service optimization, he said. The tool is enabling our staff to interact directly with guests and respond quickly to their requests by communicating their needs with the relevant operations team leaders. Guesthub has proven to be a great investment. It is helping in the early detection of non-conformities or service shortcomings and solving problems before a complaint is filed by the guest. Better yet, Guesthub is helping us in our sustainability efforts since the digital tool is paperless. Overall, we are extremely happy as the tools is helping us achieve our guest satisfaction goals.

In addition to using Guesthub to manage guest and internal requests, the Hotel Caribe is using the solution to streamline the room service process and eliminate the need for staff to take orders by phone  which is prone to mistakes and often leads to bad reviews and higher food costs. Guesthub is enabling guests use their mobile devices to order from a web-based menu complete with detailed descriptions and photos.

Package tracking is another service feature of Guesthub that is being leveraged by the hotel. When a package arrives, a QR code or barcode label is scanned by staff and the parcel tracking number is automatically uploaded into Guesthub. Simultaneously, Guesthub records which employee is logging the package into the app, along with the day and time the item was entered into the system. Then, by entering the first three letters of the recipients last name, Guesthub is populated with complete guest information through its integration with the hotels property-management system. The location of the package  where it is stored, including room, shelf, or rack location  is also entered. To retrieve a package, a guest shows ID and provides a signature.

GuestHub is delivering five critical results to Hotel Caribe:

Preventing guests from having to wait for requested items and services. Helping employees to do their jobs better by ensuring that no work orders fall through the cracks. Providing fluid communication between staff and guests, and triggers immediate responses based on guest experiences. Increasing onsite sales by digitalizing the food-and-beverage ordering process and protects employees by eliminating direct contact with guests. Giving hoteliers what no pen and paper can  data and analytics on all guest requests and issues.

We are delighted that the Hotel Caribe by Faranda is having such tremendous success with Guesthub, said Thomas Zarikian, CEO and founder of Guesthub. This is the most complete web-based, task-oriented mobile app on the hotel market today, and it was developed by people who are actively managing hotels (vs. former hoteliers) to do what no single app can do as easily as GuestHub. Hotel Caribe is proof that hotels can reduce labor costs, streamline operational efficiency, and increase customer satisfaction if they have the right technology.

For more information on GuestHub, visit www.GuestHub.io.

About GuestHub

GuestHub is a Guest Experience Management Solution which focuses on increasing ADR and Occupancy by improving guest satisfaction. GuestHub enables the guest to submit different requests through their personal device easily and intuitively without the need to download an app, classifying, routing, keeping track, and alerting the staff when needed. GuestHub can handle open guest requests, issues, amenities, food and beverages, courtesy shuttle requests and tracking, guest parcels, lost and found items, real-time guest satisfaction, and more. To learn more, visit https://guesthub.io.

Barbara Worcester

PRPRO

+1 440 930 5770
Chicago  Watermark Lodging Trust, Inc. (Watermark, WLT or the Company) today announced that, at a Special Meeting of Stockholders, the proposed acquisition of WLT by private real estate funds managed by Brookfield was approved by its stockholders. Under the terms of the previously announced merger transaction, WLT common stockholders will receive cash consideration of $6.768 per Class A share and $6.699 per Class T share. The transaction is anticipated to close on or about October 21, 2022; however, closing remains subject to the terms and conditions of the merger agreement and there can be no assurance as to the exact closing date.

I would like to thank our stockholders for their support of this transaction and the entire Watermark team for their hard work and commitment throughout this process, said Michael Medzigian, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Watermark. With this critical step now accomplished, we look forward to completing the transaction with Brookfield and delivering cash liquidity to our stockholders.

The final voting results will be reported in a Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission after certification by Watermarks inspector of election.

About Watermark Lodging Trust, Inc.

Watermark Lodging Trust, Inc. is a publicly registered, self-managed, non-traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in, manages and seeks to enhance the value of interests in lodging and lodging-related properties. Over the past decade, Watermark and its predecessor companies (Carey Watermark Investors Inc., Carey Watermark Investors 2 Inc. and Watermark Capital Partners, LLC) have been among the largest and most active investors in the lodging industry creating a portfolio of high-quality assets in high barrier to entry and growth markets. www.watermarklodging.com
The global brand premiere of Regent Taste Studio was staged in Singapore, featuring Regent Phu Quoc chefs in collaboration with world-renowned visual artist Mr. Dripping.

Regent Taste Studio provides a stage for unique creative collaborations between artists and chefs, merging gastronomic talent with visual, sonic and other sensory experiences curated by partner artists. Regent Taste Studio is a new Regent hallmark that will come to life on-property to provide elevated dining experiences.

Regent Taste Studio will tour the world at Regent Hotels & Resorts, in addition to popping up in unexpected locations.

Singapore  Regent Hotels & Resorts, part of IHG Hotels & Resorts Luxury & Lifestyle Collection, has staged the global premiere of its brand new pop-up immersive dining offering, Regent Taste Studio.

Regent Taste Studio is a one-of-a-kind, interactive dining experience, bringing together creative talent from the worlds of art, design, fashion and gastronomy. The concept brings together Regent chefs and artists from across creative disciplines  from fashion designers to film producers to musicians  where together they go beyond fine dining to create true multisensory culinary moments.

Thoughtfully programmed with the modern luxury traveller in mind, Regent Taste Studio is one of the brands distinctive hallmarks. The concept will make its official on-property debut at the new Regent Phu Quoc in Vietnam later this year, then traverse the globe with pop-up activations across Australia, UK, France, Singapore and the U.S.

Tom Rowntree, Vice President, Global Luxury Brands for IHG Hotels & Resorts, said: Our intention is to deliver unforgettable epicurean experiences, and we are delighted to introduce another aspect of the Regent guest journey with the launch of Regent Taste Studio."

Combining emerging culinary talent and creatives across music, design, performance and visual art, the Regent Taste Studio is something pretty special. We created the Taste Studio to appeal to the most discerning guests  globetrotters and tastemakers who appreciate design and craftsmanship, and seek deeply sensorial, immersive experiences rooted in authenticity. Each edition of the Regent Taste Studio will be a unique, arresting curation to stimulate the senses while showcasing its signature blend of culinary expertise and cultural exploration to captivate guests imagination.

A triple bill with Regent chefs collaborating with world-renowned artist, Mr. Dripping

In this first chapter of Regent Taste Studio, a collective of artists and chefs created an exceptional three-night invitation-only experience to unveil the new concept in Singapore.

The stage was set for an unexpected trio including Executive Chef Bruno Anon and Chef de Cuisine Andy Huynh from Regent Phu Quoc, the first new build Regent to open since acquisition earlier this year, and Spanish visual artist Mark Rios, better known as Mr. Dripping.

2022 marks a year of milestones in the reimagination of Regent following its acquisition by IHG Hotels & Resorts in 2018. Since joining IHG, Regent has been on a journey to reimagine and become the epitome of modern luxury. Regent Taste Studio is one of the bold new hallmarks which come to life in select destinations, seeking to provide elevated gastronomic experiences that go beyond the excellence of the cuisine itself.

In April, Regent Phu Quoc was the first new-build Regent to open since acquisition and Regent Hong Kong is poised to open by years end.

About IHG

IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good.

With a family of 17 hotel brands and IHG Rewards, one of the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries, and a further 1,800 in the development pipeline.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 350,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.

Visit us online for more about our hotels and reservations and IHG Rewards. For our latest news, visit our Newsroom and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Annabel Rayer

IHG
Warsaw, Brussels - Radisson Hotel Group plans to further expand its portfolio in Poland. Just this year, the Group opened the Andersia Hotel & Spa Poznan, a member of Radisson Individuals and Radisson RED Gdansk hotel already in the country. And further openings are planned for the coming months. Radisson Hotel Group holds a portfolio of 23 hotels, representing more than 5,200 rooms, in operation and under development, in Poland.

The Groups unique diverse portfolio in Poland consists of 17 hotels in operation in the midscale to luxury segments across urban settings as well as in resort destinations. This diversity has made Radisson Hotel Group highly resilient to changing travel demands, which was especially felt during the pandemic. Radisson Hotel Group operates hotels under Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson and Park Inn by Radisson brands, and recently introduced two new brands to the Polish market: Radisson RED, the groups upscale lifestyle brand with informal service and standout design, and Radisson Individuals, a complement brand to the other existing brands in the portfolio. Radisson RED Gdansk opened in August 2022 and is located on Gdansks Granary Island. Andersia Hotel & Spa Poznan, a member of Radisson Individuals also opened in August 2022 and is the leading hotel in Poznan.

Radisson Hotel Group in Poland stands out from its peers through its leading position in Polish leisure destinations. Starting with the opening of Radisson Blu Resort, Swinoujscie in 2017, the Group has steadily grown its leisure portfolio with openings and signings in Zakopane, Sopot, Sklarska Poreba, Koobrzeg, Ostroda, Miedzywodzie and Ustronie Morskie  cementing Radisson Hotel Groups pole position in the Polish leisure segment. The recent signing of Radisson Resort & Suites Ustronie Morskie and Radisson Serviced Apartments Krakow are launching the Groups new serviced-apartments brand extension to Poland under the Radisson brand. The serviced apartment product reported more investor and operator appetite during the past 2 years, considering its operating model proved to be more resilient to the volatile market conditions. Alongside its presence in domestic leisure destinations, Radisson Hotel Group continues to drive its prominent position across Polands key cities The group recently introduced its luxury brand Radisson Collection to the country with the rebranding of the former Radisson Blu Hotel, Warsaw to Radisson Collection Hotel, Warsaw after an extensive renovation, positioning it as one of the leading hotels in Warsaw.

Elie Younes, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Development Officer at Radisson Hotel Group, comments: After a record year in 2021 with continued growth of all our brands worldwide, we have set ourselves even higher targets for 2022. Globally, over the past three years, we have invested more than $400 million to further strengthen the relevance of our brands and developed new business offerings. We have invested another $100 million in state-of-the-art IT infrastructure. All this to give owners and guests world-class digital solutions to help serve guests, manage properties, and optimize revenues and costs. Poland is an important market for our growth strategy in Europe.

We reactivated our growth plan for Poland since 2016 when we initiated a growth strategy focused on creating a diverse footprint across urban and leisure destinations, operating in the midscale to luxury segment under management and franchise agreements. Today we are proud to announce that we achieved a strong and resilient portfolio of 23 hotels with more than 5,200 rooms under 6 brands of the Radisson Hotel Group. We thank our partners for their confidence in the Radisson Hotel Group", adds Valerie Schuermans, Vice President Business Development Central & Western Europe.

Future hotel openings

Radisson Hotel Group is continuing its growth and expansion plans in Poland and has a strong pipeline with openings scheduled for the coming months. In early 2023, Radisson Blu Resort & Conference Center, Ostroda will open, with extensive leisure as well as conference and meeting facilities. Summer 2023 will see the opening of Radisson RED Krakow and Radisson Apartments Krakow, both part of the Unity Centre business complex in Polands second-biggest city. In 2024, the Group plans to open another upper-upscale resort on the Baltic coast with Radisson Blu Resort, Miedzywodzie. Radisson Resort & Suites Ustronie Morskie will be the Group's 23rd property in Poland and its eighth resort, reinforcing Radisson Hotel Group's position as the leading international resort operator in the country. It is scheduled to open in 2025.

About Radisson Hotel Group

Radisson Hotel Group is one of the world's largest hotel groups with nine distinctive hotel brands, and more than 1,600 hotels in operation and under development in 120 countries. The Group's overarching brand promise is Every Moment Matters with a signature Yes I Can! service ethos.

The Radisson Hotel Group portfolio includes Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Radisson Individuals, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson, Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, and prizeotel brought together under one commercial umbrella brand Radisson Hotels.

Radisson Rewards is our international rewards program that delivers unique and personalized ways to create memorable moments that matter to our guests. Radisson Rewards offers an exceptional experience for our guests, meeting planners, and travel agents at over 550 hotels in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

Radisson Meetings provides tailored solutions for any event or meeting, including hybrid solutions placing guests and their needs at the heart of its offer. Radisson Meetings is built around three strong service commitments: Personal, Professional and Memorable, while delivering on the brilliant basics and being uniquely 100% Carbon Neutral.

The health and safety of guests and team members remain a top priority for Radisson Hotel Group. All properties across the Group's portfolio are subject to stringent health and safety requirements, as outlined in the Radisson Hotels Safety Protocol.

More than 100,000 team members work at Radisson Hotel Group and at the hotels licensed to operate in its systems. For more information, visit our corporate website. Or connect with Radisson Hotels on:

LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
NEWTON, Mass. - Sonesta International Hotels Corporation (Sonesta) today announced several key developments to support future expansion in Latin America and the Caribbean, including the renewal of its ongoing master franchise relationship with GHL Hoteles and the hiring of three lodging development leaders with extensive hospitality experience in these regions. These developments are expected to provide Sonesta with the infrastructure to expand beyond its Sonesta Hotels & Resorts and Sonesta Posadas del Inca brands and introduce seven new brands  Sonesta Select, Sonesta ES Suites, Sonesta Simply Suites, The Royal Sonesta, The James, Red Lion Hotel/Red Lion Inn & Suites and Signature Inn  to the markets.

"The demand we are seeing in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America encourages us to expand Sonesta's footprint across these key markets," said Brian Quinn, Sonesta Chief Development Officer. "We look to build upon our long-standing presence in Latin America by renewing our significant relationship with GHL Hoteles and by hiring regional Lodging Development leaders to expand the Sonesta and Red Lion brands. We are excited to pursue our first opportunities in Mexico, where there is strong interest in both city and resort destinations, and to increase further our presence in the Caribbean beyond Sint Maarten and Puerto Rico."

Sonesta first established a presence in the Latin American region in 1998 when it flagged the Sonesta Hotel El Olivar in Lima, Peru. The company, through its master licensee, has since added Sonesta Hotels in Colombia, Ecuador, and Chile as well as introduced Sonesta Posadas del Inca in Peru to leisure-focused destinations like Lake Titicaca, the Sacred Valley, and Cusco. Through its master franchise agreement with GHL Hoteles, based in Colombia, Sonesta has added hotels via ground-up development and conversions. As recently as April 2022, Sonesta, through its master franchisee GHL Hoteles, introduced Sonesta Hotel Cali, a 180+ room hotel, marking the 14th property in Latin America and the 8th property in Colombia. In the Caribbean, Sonesta has two resorts in Sint Maarten  family-friendly Sonesta Maho Beach Resort (2004) and adults-only Sonesta Ocean Point Resort (2014), and the Royal Sonesta San Juan in Puerto Rico (2020).

Sonesta continues its commitment to Latin America and the Caribbean with the addition of three lodging development veterans:

Marco Roca | Development Lead  South & Central America/Mexico/Caribbean: Mr. Roca is a senior executive leader with over 30 years of global experience in real estate, hospitality, casinos and restaurants. He has been responsible for the ground-up development of three major brands in the midscale, upscale and upper upscale segments and has served in executive leadership and property operations roles with leading lodging real estate and gaming companies. Over the course of his career, he has been involved in closing more than 1,500 transactions which equate to approximately $50 billion in development expansion.

Mr. Roca is a senior executive leader with over 30 years of global experience in real estate, hospitality, casinos and restaurants. He has been responsible for the ground-up development of three major brands in the midscale, upscale and upper upscale segments and has served in executive leadership and property operations roles with leading lodging real estate and gaming companies. Over the course of his career, he has been involved in closing more than 1,500 transactions which equate to approximately $50 billion in development expansion. Adrian Francois | Franchise Development  Latin America : Based in Brazil, Mr. Francois will be responsible for the development of Sonesta Hotels in Latin America. Prior to commencing work for Sonesta, he held senior development roles in Latin America with multiple lodging companies. Previously, Mr. Francois was the executive global Senior Vice President of Sales & Development for CMNet.

: Based in Brazil, Mr. Francois will be responsible for the development of Sonesta Hotels in Latin America. Prior to commencing work for Sonesta, he held senior development roles in Latin America with multiple lodging companies. Previously, Mr. Francois was the executive global Senior Vice President of Sales & Development for CMNet. Jayson Clemons | RVP, Franchise Development Mexico & Caribbean: Mr. Clemons joins Sonesta after a long career in hospitality in operations, management, sales & marketing and development. Most recently, Mr. Clemons worked as an independent hospitality consultant on several projects for various clients in Europe, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

About Sonesta Hotels & Resorts

Sonesta is one of the fastest growing hospitality companies in the U.S., currently ranked 8th by Smith Travel Research (STR) with 1,200 properties totaling 100,000 guest rooms across 16 brands in eight countries. There are nearly 300 hotels under one of Sonesta's seven brands  Royal Sonesta; The James, Sonesta Hotels & Resorts; Sonesta Select; Sonesta ES Suites; Sonesta Simply Suites; Sonesta Posadas del Inca and Sonesta Cruise Collection  operating in the U.S., Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Peru and St. Maarten. Sonesta also has nearly 900 franchised properties across the U.S. and Canada branded as  Hotel RL; Red Lion Hotels; Red Lion Inn & Suites; Signature Inn; GuestHouse Extended Stay; Knights Inn; Americas Best Value Inn and Canadas Best Value Inn. For more information about Sonesta visit franchise.sonesta.com.

Lorie Juliano

Sonesta International Hotels Corporation

+1 617 421 5429

Sonesta
Lotus Seafood is expanding with its fifth and soon-to-be largest location in Stafford this week, and one customer can win a year's worth of seafood.

Specifically, the grand prize winner will get free "fully loaded Loud packs," a special combo of Louisiana fried rice, peeled shrimp and Cajun garlic butter.
While romance often blossoms backstage at Houston Ballet, rarely do principal dancers arrive as a twosome.

Enter Beckanne Sisk and Chase OConnell, who joined the company this season after about a decade with Ballet West in Salt Lake City, Utah. While they have been engaged since early 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed their original wedding plans; and more postponements piled on because, as Sisk puts it, other things just kept popping up.

The biggest other thing was moving to Houston, a prospect they werent counting on when they visited the city last winter to perform as guests in The Nutcracker. Hungry to push themselves at this point in their careers  they are both 29  they couldnt say no when Houston Ballet artistic director Stanton Welch invited them to return  and stay.

Leaving the company where they built their careers wasnt easy, but it was necessary, Sisk says. She and OConnell felt they were getting a little too comfortable artistically in Utah. (They do still plan to return there occasionally as guest artists.)

The rep at Ballet West is similar to Houstons, with works by Jiri Kylian, George Balanchine and John Cranko. But Houston commissions more new dances and presents more performances across a longer season  which means more studio time and more stage time, critical things when youve chosen a career with a relatively brief life span.

Houston Ballet has such a big name, Sisk says. We loved the environment here and how much the other dancers pushed us. Everyone here is so talented and works so hard. Just having that around us in class was really special.

She and OConnell performed Welchs Madame Butterfly in Salt Lake City in 2016 and loved its challenges. Welch also admired what he saw in them. Not only are they good dancers  thats a given, he says, but like the rest of the Houston company, they have such a hunger and a hardworking quality.

He also likes what they bring as individuals to the palette of performers that inspire him and other choreographers. Welch has never wanted a cookie-cutter company. If you come and see every Swan Queen, you want them all to be unique and different, he says. Beckanne is very unique. She has this hyper extension, incredible legs and feet, and shes a very, very strong technician  and has been like that since she was a child. And Chase is very tall, with long limbs and arms that make a whole range of choreographic excitement.

Long before OConnell and Sisk knew each other, their lives appeared to be on parallel tracks. Both left home at 13 on ballet scholarships, landed their first contracts with Ballet Wests junior company and advanced like bottle rockets through the ranks. (One episode of the short-lived reality television show Breaking Pointe, which was about life behind the scenes at Ballet West, focused on Sisks early success, which made other ballerinas jealous.)

A native of Longview, Sisk went to Philadelphias Rock School, then signed on with Ballet West at 17. Four years later, Washington Post critic Sarah Kaufman pronounced her quite a special dancer, noticing that as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Sisk made an instant connection with the audience and deepened it with a refined, elastic quality of great authority and ease.

OConnell, who grew up dancing at his mothers studio in Fredericksburg, Va., attended Washington, D.C.s Kirov Academy and Londons Royal Ballet School. He joined Ballet West two years after Sisk.

They met during his first day in the company, sharing a barre. She loved his intense work ethic. He loved how easy and natural she made everything look. Somehow, those opposites attracted.

Their chemistry did not go unnoticed. Ballet West artistic director Adam Sklute often paired Sisk and OConnell onstage, and Pointe Magazine called their 2019 performance in Crankos challenging, emotive Onegin a standout of the year.

Sisk and OConnell bunked with his aunt in Kingwood while they decided where in Houston to live, navigating a crazy real estate market, learning which neighborhoods were least likely to flood and finding a good fit that didnt require a long commute. They bought a home in Midtown and are settling in with Panda, the giant 3-year-old sheepadoodle thats the light of their life.

Their offstage life is pretty quiet. OConnell has been starting his days with workouts at the Equinox River Oaks gym, and the couple plans to spend a lot of time at dog parks with Panda when the weather cools. Other than that, OConnell says, We go out to eat, we go out for drinks, we have people over. Bludorn is already a favorite, and theyre looking forward to diving deeper into Houstons delicious food scene.

We cant wait to get into the groove of things and get to know the community, OConnell says.

Dont expect to see Sisk and OConnell paired regularly onstage in Houston. Its important for team building that everyone shifts and switches  that everyone touches and partners and works with each other; so theyre all woven, not just individual couples that only do their thing, Welch says. It brings something out of you as an artist to work with different people. It makes you dance differently.

But no matter how many new partners they may dance with, an offstage wedding is once again in sight. After Houston Ballets season ends in June with Swan Lake, these two lovebirds plan to say I do in Virginia.
Houston interior designer Amy Kummer was thrilled to be asked to participate in the Hampton Designer Showhouse in the prestigious vacation community of Southampton, N.Y., even if she had just six weeks to plan and install her assignment: a child's bedroom suite.

Kummer had participated in HGTV's virtual holiday showhouse  she decorated her own dining room  where she was spotted by Hampton Showhouse marketing manager Tony Manning. The Hampton showhouse is under way now through Sept. 25, and raises money for the Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

In most showhouses, designers are assigned a specific room and are allowed to do whatever they want as long as their room is ready at showtime. They pay for everything out of their own pocket in hopes a visitor or a homeowner will want to buy some of the goods, and have to leave the room in the same condition they found it. So if they install wallpaper for the run of the show, they have to strip it out when it's over unless an owner wants to keep and pay for it.

MORE FROM DIANE COWEN: Designer Marie Flanigan launches home goods collection with Annie Selke

This particular home was for sale, and in the course of preparing the house, it sold to a family who happened to have a young daughter, loved Kummer's room and decided to keep much of it.

The bedroom is filled with pink and blue, in a sophisticated way, so the room could just as easily be a beautiful  and, yes, feminine  guest bedroom. Kummer's chinoiserie-pattern Scalamandre wallpapaper (Jardin de Chine in its Ciel colorway) in blue and white with some chartreuse accents is easy to love, and in a companion ceiling treatment she added trellis work painted Sherwin-Williams' Smoky Salmon.

She soured mainly in the northeast to cut down on shipping costs, but sometimes had to purchase things at places who had items in stock or could turn them around in short order. Plenty of her usual vendors loaned or donated things, too.

The bedroom windows aren't centered, so Kummer's design trick was to use the same pattern for the wallpaper and window treatments so the lack of symmetry is less obvious.

Isobel's Deco Strip pattern in Buttery Blue on Belgian linen  a pattern and color that mixes well with the wallpaper  was used on the bed's headboard and to cover its platform base. Bedding came from the Houston-based Longoria Collection, topped with Jacquelyn Reese Linens' monogrammed pillows.

Beautiful touches in the room include antique French glass opaline lamps on bedside chests made of burled wood. The bedroom's en suite bathroom was refreshed with a Schumacher wallpaper in green with trim painted the same pink as the bedroom.

Plenty of Houstonians have vacation homes in the Hamptons or visit New York in the fall to see the change of seasons. If you're not in that lucky group, there are several other design events happening in Houston and elsewhere in Texas, now through mid-November, so save a few spots on your calendar.

Here's the fall design calendar:

Sept. 23-Oct. 23: The third annual Kips Bay Showhouse Dallas features Houston designer Lucinda Loya of Lucinda Loya Interiors. This showhouse is always full of ideas from the nation's top designers, including Anthony Baratta, Leah Alexander of Beauty is Abundant and Chad Graci, who pull out all of the stops on every room. It's definitely worth the drive to Dallas.

Oct. 10-14: The Houston Design District's Fall Design Week has a busy schedule Oct. 10-14 with architecture and design speakers such as Ken Newberry, Lauren Rottet and Susanna Salk. Purchase your $150 full-week ticket before Oct. 7, when the price goes up to $200.

Oct. 14: The quarterly Access Design event  co-hosted by the Design District and the Houston Chronicle  will be the Friday programming for Design Week. Houston interior designer Veronica Solomon of Casa Vilora Interiors will discuss design changes during the pandemic and designer Joani Scaff of Paisley House will talk about designing vacation homes.

Oct. 15-16: The Norhill Historic District will hold its biannual Bungalow Home Tour in mid-October with six historic homes. The neighborhood of mostly Craftsman-style homes was developed in the 1920s and still holds its original feel.

Oct. 15-16: Eastwood's annual Home Tour is a chance to see one of the largest groups of intact Craftsman, Arts & Crafts, American Foursquare and Mission style homes  the styles that were popular in 1911 and the decade that followed. Eastwood was developed by William A. Wilson, who also developed Woodland Heights.

MORE HOME DESIGN: Architect Michael Hsu returns to Houston with thoughtful modern style

Oct. 22-23: Eight homes will fill out the AIA Houston Home Tour in late October. Tickets ($30 in advance) are available now on aiahouston.org. Work by Mcintyre + Robinowitz Architects, Albany Studio, Architangent, m+a architecture studio, studioMET, Mirador Group, CONTENT Architecture and Arc Three Studio are represented.

Oct. 24-29: Fayette and Washington counties burst with visitors each spring and fall for Texas Antiques Week. This falls event runs late October, with the two main events, the Original Round Top Antiques Fair running Oct. 24-29 and the Marburger Farm Antique Show running Oct. 25-29. The Compound will be open Oct. 15-29 and smaller venues and pop-up tents all along Texas 237 will open in mid-October. If you love shopping for antiques and vintage items  or even some good quality reproductions  plan on a day-long trip.

Nov. 5-6: Preservation Houston's annual Good Brick Tour is always a treat. Each home is an architectural marvel and a history lesson all in one. The tour always offers a range, from sweet bungalows that have been lovingly restored to mansions built in some of the city's earliest exclusive neighborhoods.

Nov. 10-13 and 17-20: ASID Texas Gulf Coast Chapter's annual Showhouse will run two weekends, opening a new construction home in the West U area, fully decorated by some of Houston's top interior design firms. This is a great opportunity to gather ideas for your next decorating, remodeling or new construction project.

diane.cowen@chron.com
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As Bellaires new city manager, Sharon Citino understands shell have to work both inside and outside city limits to be an effective leader, particularly regarding flood mitigation, employee attraction and retention and achieving the citys strategic goals.

Citino, a Bellaire resident who recently took the job following a nationwide search, has already begun to reach out to community members during an August 1 meet and greet. She said shes also working to establish relationships not only with Bellaires elected officials but with staff department heads through listening, effective communication and building trust.

She recently discussed some of her immediate and long-term goals shes set as she settles into her new role.

I want to get to know the people of Bellaire and to learn about the citys policies, procedures, operations and services, Citino said. Next, I want to build a network of city managers who can educate and support me as I learn.

Citino said she knows she must reach beyond Bellaires boundaries if the city is to be successful, particularly in preventing flood water from entering residents homes. She said this objective is specifically important considering more than a third of the citys homes were under water when Hurricane Harvey struck Houston in 2017.

Flooding is a regional challenge; water does not follow jurisdictional boundaries, she said. Bellaire needs and wants to work with regional partners such as the city of Houston, Harris County Flood Control District, the state and other entities to leverage funding opportunities and undertake cooperative projects that benefit the citizens of Bellaire.

City leadership believes Citinos 20-plus-year vocational background makes her well suited to do just that. She began her governmental career in Loveland, Colo., where she worked as an assistant city attorney. Like her current role, her job in Colorado required her to report to and advise local elected officials on city decisions.

Most recently she worked closer to home as a senior assistant city attorney for the city of Houston. According to her bio, that role afforded her the opportunity to gain legal expertise in the city's water operations, including infrastructure projects as well as maintenance and operations.

She leveraged that experience to take on the role of Houston Water Planning Director before moving into the Bellaire city manager position. Indeed her career has come full circle.

Now as she works alongside her neighbors, she plans to implement her belief of alignment around a common core mission and set of values as a leadership guide.

My job is to get clear direction from the City Council regarding its vision and priorities, then work with staff to deliver services that meet those priorities, Citino said.

She said she has no plans to step outside of her lane when it comes to working with staff, but said shes prepared to hold herself accountable for any action she takes that she deems necessary to benefit the city.

I want to enable our directors and their staff to do their very best work by getting them the resources they need and by removing obstacles whenever possible, Citino said  I will be directive if needed, but I prefer to collaborate when possible. Our directors are experts in their respective fields, and I will honor that expertise by seeking their input and guidance before making decisions that affect them.

So far, Mayor Andrew Friedberg has no complaints.

Its been a real joy welcoming Sharon to Bellaire, and she has been very well-received both by the community and by city staff, he said. There's a lot going on, but she jumped right in and got straight to work, and we're excited to have her on board.

In his welcome address, Friedberg said the city was impressed by Citinos more than two decades of municipal experience as well as her team-building skills and strong track record of leadership.

Those traits will likely prove important as Citino tackles flooding issues and works to beef up the citys staff, something she said she wants to tackle in the coming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.

With an employee vacancy rate of 14 percent, Citino understands this is a pressing issue that needs to be solved if Bellaire is going to continue to effectively deliver city services to residents.

I dont believe Bellaire is unique. Nationwide, cities are struggling to recruit and train people, but its critical we identify the citys challenges and brainstorm ways to overcome them, she said.
Nearly four months after an 18-year-old entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and killed 19 children and two teachers with an AR-15-style weapon, a similar firearm was to be raffled as a fundraiser by the South Montgomery Girls Softball League.

A KPRC Channel 2 report revealed the fundraiser Monday night. Online publicity materials said the league would be raffling a a Glock 17 Gen 5 9MM handgun  and a Smith & Wesson 15 II 5.65 AR-15-style weapon.

TODAY: Heights High School in Houston locked down after threat of active shooter

But by Tuesday morning, the website for the fundraiser had been taken down. And by Tuesday afternoon, the league had replaced its original page with a different one advertising that each raffle ticket "will get you a chance to win the grand prize of a $1,400 gift certificate to Spring Gun & Ammo or a $600 gift certificate to Spring Gun & Ammo."

The Houston Chronicle has made several attempts to reach league officials about the genesis of the fundraiser  and the apparent changes to it. Before the change, some parents were upset.

It would be one thing if they were raffling off a hunting rifle, its about to be hunting season, Jessica England, a mother who's daughter is in the league, told KRPC Channel 2. This a semi-automatic Smith and Wesson AR-15 style rifle, one of those big scary-looking guns.

I dont think its appropriate for a childrens activity to be raffling off this type of weapon. They wouldnt raffle off a liquor and tobacco basket, they wouldnt raffle off a gift card to a dispensary, those are not appropriate for childrens activities and I dont think this is either.

In a statement sent to Channel 2, the league said that a gun raffle is legal and common practice, adding that all winners must pass a background check before receiving any prize. League officials at that time did not acknowledge that the nature of the fundraiser would change from raffling specific weapons to gun-store gift certificates.

"SMGSL strives to be responsive to the needs of our membership and will poll all league members to solicit their feedback on the direction of future raffles," The statement read. "If a substantial portion of our membership wants a change in this area, we will make the adjustment in subsequent raffle events.

On May 24, the 18-year-old Uvalde shooter used an AR-15-style weapon when he walked into Robb Elementary and began firing, killing 19 children and two teachers. The CEO of the weapon's manufacturer has said that the gunman is to blame for the tragedy, not the gun itself.

michael.d.garcia@chron.com
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As Conroe veteran Edward Y. Pye reflects on his time in Vietnam, he believes the months he spent there helped shape part of his life.

It showed me what I was capable of, Pye said, Under stressful situations a soldier in combat has to make split-second decisions for his self and his Platoon.

On YourConroeNews.com: Land lease paves way for new veteran's education center in Conroe

Pye was with the U.S. Armys 1/502nd, Delta Company, 101st Airborne Division doing Intelligence and Recon in the northern part of South Vietnam and in Laos.

On Friday and Saturday, Pye will rekindle old bonds and reflect on his time in Vietnam as he participates in the Houston Honor Flight program.

The nonprofit group transports World War II, Korean and Vietnam War veterans residing in the East Texas region and the greater Houston area to Washington, D.C. to visit the memorials dedicated to honor their service and sacrifices in combat.

This weekends trip will feature 23 Vietnam combat veterans on an Honor Flight.

The group will depart from Hobby Airport early Friday morning, travel to Washington to visit monuments, memorials and museums around Washington and fly back to Houston late Saturday afternoon.

Flights were suspended during the pandemic and the group held its first flight since the pandemic back in May. This weekends flight marks the second trip since flights began again.

The veterans will visit The Lone Sailor Memorial, the World War II Memorial, a newer museum the National Museum of the United States Army, Arlington National Cemetery and view a changing of the guard ceremony and finally spend time at the Korean War and Vietnam War memorials.

The last time for an all-Vietnam veteran trip was in 2018, according to Susan de Boisblanc, Chairman of Houston Honor Flight.

It was the most touching trip, she said. When they land, there are volunteers at the Washington, D.C. airport cheering them on and welcoming them home.

Pye, who grew up on 10 acres near Humble, said when returning home, he received a lot of love and respect from family and friends.

After graduating from Smiley High School, he went to work for his father Edward Y. Pye Sr. who was a building contractor in Houston.

Many of his friends though were serving and he felt like it was his patriotic duty. He also wanted to follow in his fathers path as Pye Sr. was a World War II veteran.

On YourConroeNews: Montgomery County Vietnam veterans celebrated at "Welcome Home" event

Pye volunteered for the U.S. Army, later through training became a paratrooper entering the country of Vietnam at Cam Ranh Bay.

We were in a C130 and as it was trying to land at Phu Bai Airport close to the DMZ in I corp, the airport was taking incoming fire from the North Vietnamese Army. They slowed the plane down to about 20 mph and the pilot told us he couldnt stop. He opened up the hatch and we all jumped out, about 40 of us. The plane never stopped, he said.

He served from 1970 to 1971, where he worked with 1st Sgt. Newman also known as The Silver Fox, and specialized in recon and intelligence missions in Vietnam and Laos. Pye received numerous medals and ribbons for his service in combat.

Pye said he didnt experience the things other soldiers did as he returned to Houston with a supportive family waiting for him.

Following his service, Pye went back to college earning a dual degree from Lee College in Baytown. He started a family and went on to a long-time career before retiring in 2005.

One thing Pye wants people to know that there are Vietnam veterans who came back and lived good lives and did well in the community to become business leaders and more.

Pye is involved in the Houston chapter of the 101st Airborne and the Conroe VFW. He and his wife, Willie, also volunteer with their church as a way to give back to the community.

This will be his first trip to Washington in a long time.

He is most looking forward to seeing the Vietnam memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and World War II memorial.

He also looks forward to connecting with Vietnam veterans who shared his experience.

It means a lot to veterans talking about old times, he said.

For more information on the Houston Honor Flight program, visit https://www.honorflighthouston.org/.
SELIGMAN, Ariz. (AP)  Two people have been found dead after a small plane crashed in a remote area of northwestern Arizona, authorities said Tuesday.

Coconino County Sheriffs officials said deputies out of the Williams/Grand Canyon substation responded to a report of a missing aircraft north of Seligman.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Monday cautioned that courts look political and forfeit legitimacy when they needlessly overturn precedent and decide more than they have to.

Speaking less than three months after a five-justice conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade's constitutional guarantee of abortion access, Kagan said the public's view of the court can be damaged especially when changes in its membership lead to big changes in the law.

She stressed that she was not talking about any particular decision or even a string of rulings with which she disagreed.

Still, her remarks were similar to points made in dissenting opinions she wrote or contributed to in recent months, including in the abortion case.

Judges create legitimacy problems for themselves ... when they instead stray into places where it looks like theyre an extension of the political process or when theyre imposing their own personal preferences, Kagan said at Temple Emanu-El in New York. The event was livestreamed.

The 62-year-old New Yorker struck a different tone from Chief Justice John Roberts, who spoke to a gathering of judges and lawyers in Colorado Springs, Colorado, last week.

"Simply because people disagree with an opinion is not a basis for questioning the legitimacy of the court, Roberts said.

The chief justice has been a consistent defender of the court's legitimacy against complaints that the court is not much different from the political branches of the government.

But Kagan said the court risks damaging its own legitimacy when big changes in the law follow changes in the court's membership.

The public has a right to expect, she said, that changes in personnel dont send the entire legal system up for grabs. Kagan joined the court in 2010, an appointee of President Barack Obama.

Three of the justices who are part of the court's conservative majority were appointed by President Donald Trump. They voted to overturn Roe, and also imposed limits on the Biden administration's efforts to fight climate change, expanded gun rights and weakened the separation between church and state.

In the court term that begins next month, the court will take up a challenge to the use of race in college admissions, just six years after the court reaffirmed affirmative action in higher education.

Kagan also briefly addressed the unprecedented leak of the draft opinion in the abortion case, saying it makes the justices' jobs much harder when you might wake up tomorrow morning and there's an opinion on the front page of the newspapers."

She said she does not know if the investigation Roberts ordered in May has determined the source of the leak.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)  U.S. officials have withdrawn parcels of public land near the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana from future mining to protect a reclamation area where more than $80 million has been spent to clean up past mining contamination.

Mining will be barred for 20 years on 4 square miles (10.8 square kilometers) of land at the Zortman-Landusky Mine site now administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
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Texas Democrats were giving their presidential candidate high marks the day after Sen. John F. Kennedy's visited the Bayou City.

The campaign stop included a rally at the Sam Houston Coliseum and a meeting with Protestant ministers at the Rice Hotel.

"He got bigger crowds than Adlai (Stevenson) or Eisenhower got when they campaigned in Texas," Texas Sen. Ralph Yarborough told the Chronicle. "The Houston reaction was very, very fine."

Meanwhile, vandals struck the Pasadena Zoo, leading to the hacking death of all five of the zoo's alligators. In response, the city implemented a 10 p.m. curfew at city parks.

The zoo was located in Memorial Park, across Vince Bayou from Pasadena High School. It closed in 1976.
Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, met on Monday with the outgoing Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov, expressing Beijing's willingness to work with Moscow to enrich high-level strategic cooperation between the two sides.

During the talks, Yang, who is also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, spoke highly of the envoy's positive contributions to promoting the healthy and stable development of China-Russia relations.

Under the strategic guidance of the two heads of the state, Yang said bilateral ties have always been on the right track.

China and Russia have firmly supported each other on issues concerning each other's core interests, and carried out close coordination on international and multilateral occasions, Yang said.

China is ready to work with Russia to continuously enrich the high-level strategic cooperation, safeguard the common interests of both sides, and promote the international order toward a more just and reasonable direction, he added.

Denisov said that under the personal leadership of the two heads of state, Russia-China relations have achieved fruitful results and bilateral ties have reached the highest level in history and entered a new era.

Noting he had experienced China's brilliant achievements in economic and social development over the past 20 years in person, Denisov said he was willing to continue to contribute to the development of bilateral ties.

Denisov, who has been Russia's chief envoy in Beijing since 2013, will step down from the post this year.
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Harris County auditors recommended tighter controls and oversight of county donations to Crime Stoppers of Houston Tuesday after the nonprofit all but thwarted the departments review of its finances, saying its cooperation was not legally required.

The audit of Crime Stoppers followed an April investigation by the Houston Chronicle into the organization following complaints the nonprofit had strayed from its original mission and had become more partisan, particularly in its statements about local crime and bail reform efforts.

Auditors attempted to review all Harris County monies donated to the non-profit between 2012 and 2022  more than $7.2 million in county funds, taxpayer dollars and county-subsidized services  how it was spent, and if the nonprofit complied with contractual obligations and state and federal laws.

When auditors asked Crime Stoppers of Houston for more detailed information including bank statements, accounts payable information, expenditures and other data about county funds, they ran into a wall, according to the audit report presented to Commissioners Court Tuesday.

Crime Stoppers said some of the requested documents fell outside of its financial records retention period and that because certain contracts with the county did not have a right-to-audit clause, it was not legally required to provide that information, the report stated.

The documents they provided were high level summary documents, Chief Assistant County Auditor Errika Perkins said, in an interview with the Chronicle. We needed detailed expenditure documents. They felt like they were not legally obligated to provide those details.

Crime Stoppers did not respond to a request for comment.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Fighting crime or political battles? Crime Stoppers of Houston is drawing scrutiny with partisan voice

In her 17-page report, Perkins wrote that her office used the countys accounting software to pull other information from county departments to identify the funds given to Crime Stoppers over the past decade.

The non-profit gave auditors its annual financial reports  which it publishes every year  and its tax-returns, which are public by law because it is a 501(c)(3), and its annual externally conducted audits. It waited until Sept. 1, however, to finally agree to give auditors the more detailed information they were seeking  too late for it to be included in Tuesdays report.

Now were in a wait-and-see mode, Perkins said.

Those findings prompted Perkins to recommend the county include federally-recommended compliance requirements into any county contracts with Crime Stoppers for donations of money seized through asset forfeiture.

Perkins also recommended the county include legally binding language in future Crime Stoppers contracts that guarantee a right to audit the organizations use of those funds, a practice used in a 2013-2015 contract between the Harris County Sheriffs Office and Crime Stoppers.

The report also suggests the county include language giving it the right to audit financial performance standards, record keeping and retention policies and other specific conditions in the countys contracts with Crime Stoppers.

Commissioners Court adopted the recommendations by a 3-0 vote Tuesday.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Crime Stoppers Houston unveils new index to track, inform public on violent crime in Harris County

Still, the 17-page review of Crime Stoppers finances does provide a glimpse into the nations largest Crime Stoppers organization, including the fact county agencies have donated more than $7.2 million in money or in-kind services to the organization over the past decade.

Over a 10 year period, county commissioners, the Harris County District Attorney and County Attorney offices and several of its law enforcement agencies donated about $2 million, to Crime Stoppers.

The document shows continued support from county entities to Crime Stoppers of Houston, which has been among the nations largest and most prolific chapters since its founding in the 1980s.

Until 2015, state law capped general fund donations to Crime Stoppers organizations at $25,000. The county met that cap from 2012-2015, with the exception of 2013. When the Texas Legislature raised that limit to $100,000, more substantial donations followed: $100,000 in 2015 and 2016; $75,000 in 2017 and 2019, $50,000 so far through the first four months of this year.

At the same time, county agencies also donated tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in seized forfeiture funds, the most significant gift coming in 2021, when Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg  who once led Crime Stoppers  donated more than $500,000 to the organization.

About $1.3 million of the county funds went to law enforcement, according to the audit. Another $475,000 went to Crime Stoppers Safe School Institute, and smaller amounts to fund its Safe Community Program, a media specialist ($45,000) and to victim services ($25,000).

The probe of Crime Stoppers of Houstons finances comes amid a notable spike in homicides in Harris County in recent years  a trend mirrored elsewhere across the U.S.  and as Crime Stoppers has transitioned from its traditional tip-line role into an organization focusing on crime prevention and a wide array of public safety issues, from teen dating to cyber crime to animal cruelty.

The organization, which has just over a dozen employees, is highly regarded across the city, and hosts meetings for relatives of murder victims and holds numerous presentations about safety with schools and community groups. Its proponents credit it with advocating for people they say have no one else to represent them, and has helped solve thousands of crimes.

At the same time, it has courted controversy for taking on a more vocal position on the violence occurring in and around Harris County, with critics accusing it of growing more political and spreading misleading information about the impact of bail reform. Others questioned Mankarious salary, which exceeds that of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez or Houston Fire Chief Sam Pena and rivals that of Houston Police Chief Troy Finner.

Stories in the Houston Chronicle and the New York Times generated angry pushback from Crime Stoppers and its advocates. In April, Victim Services coordinator Andy Kahan told commissioners Crime Stoppers had never deviated from its mission of solving and preventing crime, and that the organization was a victim of the politicization of public safety, and people who felt it had gotten in their way.

On Tuesday, Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis said the audit had stemmed from the Chronicles investigation, as well as the dueling piece from the New York Times. The stories had raised serious concerns about Crime Stoppers use of taxpayer dollars, he said.

I commend the County Auditors and County Attorneys efforts to ensure our taxpayer dollars are being properly utilized, he said, in an emailed statement. Unfortunately, Crime Stoppers has continuously refused to cooperate, and either doesnt know what was done with millions of tax dollars they were entrusted with, or just feels entitled to hide it from the people of Harris County.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, who as sheriff donated $1 million to Crime Stoppers in 2009 to help build its Midtown headquarters, said he was surprised by the organizations reluctance to participate in the audit.

I hope if were going to continue this collaboration with this non-profit will see compliance be what it ought to be, he said. I would hope this non-profit would be an open book.

Pct. 4 Commissioner R. Jack Cagle declined a request for comment. Pct. 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey did not respond to a request for comment.

st.john.b-smith@houstonchronicle.com
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Police and panicked parents scrambled to Heights High School Tuesday afternoon, in frantic response to a false report that a gunman had shot 10 people in a room on the 2,400-student Houston ISD campus.

The school went into lock down around 1 p.m., and police officers found the room locked and immediately breached the door, according to Chief Troy Finner. Two sweeps of the school found nothing, according to the Houston Police Department.

PARENTS SPEAK OUT: After Uvalde, Houston area girls' softball league planned to raffle AR-15 as fundraiser

We have no injuries here, Finner said at a news briefing as a crowd of parents stood at an intersection near the high school. Thank god for that.

Officials intend to determine who made the hoax call and hold that person accountable. Finner said police believe the call may have come from outside the school.

There was no active shooter here -- there was a fight, said Constable Alan Rosen.

An email notified parents later that Heights High, as well as nearby Hogg Middle and Harvard and Travis Elementary schools, were placed in lockdown.

"As a precautionary measure, we went into lockdown mode," Heights Principal Wendy Hampton said in an email to parents. "Houston Police Department and HISD Police are onsite and continue to investigate, though no evidence has been found to substantiate the threat. We take all threats seriously as the safety of our students and staff is always our top priority."

Immanuel Lutheran, which runs a child care center at their Heights location one block from the high school campus, opened a convocation hall so that parents could wait in air conditioning for their children to be dismissed.

CRIME STOPPERS CONTROVERSY: Harris County auditors say Crime Stoppers stonewalled investigation into its finances

Quedia Daniels, 38, rushed to the campus from work after hearing a television report. She immediately called her son, and demanded he stay on the phone with her.

Dug Begley

Im not leaving until I have my son come out, she said.

Numerous parents gathered, only to have police keep them two blocks away, but assuring them there was no evidence of a shooting. Parents were at times directed south of the school grounds, then north of it to rendezvous with their children.

Many parents expressed they were confused about where to go to pick up their kids.

As if this isn't bad enough? said Shannon Velasquez, a parent. I feel horrible. It's a terrible feeling -- to not know.

Dug Begley Dug Begley Parents wait for their children near Heights High School in Houston. (Dug Begley/Houston Chronicle) Parents wait for their children near Heights High School in Houston. (Dug Begley/Houston Chronicle)

Annette Garza Delgado left work and rushed to her daughters high school when she got a text from Amanda, 14, that said, Mom we just went on lockdown. Im scared.

Delgado tried to calm her breathing as she made the 20 minute drive from Bellaire.

Her daughter called and whispered, Come get me, come get me.

'A VERY DIFFICULT TIGHTROPE': Parents face anxiety, confusion after false report about Heights High School shooting

She told her mother that she could hear sirens outside and law enforcement officers rushing through the hallways as she and her classmates hunkered in a classroom.

The cops came in to check on them and let them know that they had the situation under control, Delgados daughter told her.

Parents parked cars up and down the street on blocks surrounding the school, including many in the median on Heights Boulevard. They ran and walked with phones pressed to their ears while law enforcement officers and patrol cars surrounded the school.

Karen Warren/Staff photographer

The false report at Heights was not the only one Tuesday where police rushed to schools allegedly under siege. Waco Police, in a social media post around 2:40 p.m., said rumors of a shooter at Waco High School were unfounded. Police in Los Angeles also confirmed a reported shooting at Hollywood High School was a hoax.
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A man died after being shot at least five times in a drive-by Monday night in southwest Houston.

A white Jeep Renegade drove up to the 33-year-old man and opened fire while he was standing on the side of the road on the 9700 block of Braeburn Glen, Houston police told Metro Video Services. He suffered gunshot wounds to his upper torso and legs and died in the hospital.
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A Houston woman with a history of threats against public figures and of mental illness last week was charged with threatening the federal judge presiding over the dispute over secret documents between the FBI and former President Donald Trump.

Tiffani Shea Gish, 49, was accused of threatening to kidnap or injure U.S District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, according to a complaint filed by the FBI on Sept. 6 in the U.S. Federal Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Cannon is the judge presiding over a lawsuit filed by Trump against the United States government after the August 8 FBI raid at his Florida home where agents searched for government documents, including classified material. Cannon is the judge who ordered a special master be appointed to review the documents taken from Mar-a-Lago be reviewed before the FBI could continue its criminal investigation into the matter.

MORE ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Trump team dismisses records probe, opposes arbiter picks

Gish is accused of leaving three threatening voicemails on Cannon's office phone on Sept. 1.

In the messages, which were transcribed in the FBI's complaint, Gish identified herself as "Evelyn Salt"  the name of a character from a 2010 Angelina Jolie movie  and said she was "in charge of nuclear for the United States Government," according to the complaint.

Gish called herself "Trump's hitman," and said that Trump himself was "marked for assassination" and threatened to have Cannon shot and to bomb her house, according to the complaint.

Cannon shared the voicemails with federal agents, who matched the phone number that left the voicemails with Gish's public Facebook page. The Facebook page had "recent posts that mirror the language in the voicemails," according to the complaint.

FBI agents interviewed Gish on Sept. 4. During the interview, Gish said she left the voicemails for Cannon, according to the complaint. She was arrested on Sept. 6, and remained in custody as of Monday, according to court records.

According to court documents, Gish had previously made threats against Trump, Hillary Clinton and a governor of Arizona. She had previously been convicted of assault and disorderly conduct and has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and is a "borderline schizophrenic", according to court documents.

During a detention hearing last week, Gish's attorney argued that she hadn't carried out her threats. However, Magistrate Judge Peter Bray wrote he considered the threats themselves to be harmful and ordered Gish to remain in custody.

"Threats such as these are designed to place the victim in fear and cause distress and apprehension," Bray wrote. "These things are harmful even if the defendant had no subjective intent to carry out the threats."

Gish is set to appear at a competency examination hearing on Sept. 21, according to court records.

john.ferguson@chron.com
A University of Texas at Austin associate professor has sued the Texas A&M University System on behalf of white and Asian faculty candidates, alleging racial discrimination in a fellowship program intended to improve diversity on the College Station campus.

The federal class-action lawsuit was filed Saturday regarding A&Ms ACES Plus fellowship for mid-career and senior tenure-track hires from underrepresented minority groups. The university this summer began the program using $2 million over the next two years, used to match base salaries and benefits for hires in the program, up to $100,000.

BEST COLLEGES: See which Texas colleges made U.S. News & World Report's new ranking of best universities in 2022-2023

ACES Plus is a spin-off of an earlier hiring program called ACES, which stands for Accountability, Climate, Equity, and Scholarship. While that program is meant for early-career Ph.D.s,, the university created the "Plus" fellowship after the U.S. Department of Education designated A&M a Hispanic Serving Institution. The new program is meant to move the faculty's structural composition toward parity with the state of Texas, Vice President for Faculty Affairs N.K. Anand and Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity Annie McGown said in a July letter to the school's deans.

Plaintiff Richard Lowery, who is white, said in the lawsuit that the program violates Title VI and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

He is represented by America First Legal, a group created by Stephen Miller, who served as senior policy adviser for former President Donald Trump, and Jonathan Mitchell, a former Texas solicitor general who constructed the states Heartbeat Bill largely banning abortions after six weeks.

Texas A&M is hiringand excludingprofessors solely due to the physical appearance of their skin or the ancestry of their family tree. This is vile and outrageous," Miller said. "We must extract the poison of bigotry coursing deep through the leadership of Texas A&M and restore civil rights and equality for all. Our lawsuit will send tremors through our corrupt institutions of higher learning making clear that racial discrimination will be met with righteous legal action in our courts of law."

More from this author: UH's Renu Khator remains the highest paid executive among Texas public universities

Laylan Copelin, vice chancellor of the marketing and communications for the A&M System, responded with the following statement.

Granted, its an unusual job application when Mr. Lowery says in the lawsuit he is able and ready to apply for a faculty appointment at Texas A&M. But our lawyers will review the lawsuit, confer with Texas A&M and take appropriate action as warranted.

Lowery is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as a court monitor to oversee faculty hiring and A&M's diversity office.
The highest-paid public school superintendent in the Lone Star State is Mark Henry of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, the third largest district in the state with an enrollment of 117,000 students, according to data from the Texas Education Agency.

Texas Education Agency's annual salary release for the 2021-22 school year shows Henry, who has been an educator for 40 years, is the only Houston-area superintendent earning more than $500,000 a year.
Curious how much school district top leaders make?

Each year, the Texas Education Agency publishes the salaries of each public school superintendent in the state. The Chronicle has compiled that information into a searchable database.

HOUSTON OFFICIALS: TEA data shows the top 10 highest-paid school superintendents in the Houston area

Public school superintendent pay in Texas

Data reflecting the 2021-22 school year, the most recently available, shows there are four superintendents in the state making more than $400,000 a year. There are 60 school leaders making at least $300,000 and 230 who earn $200,000 or more a year.

For a local comparison, here's a look at top earners in the Houston region.
Harris Countys two Republican commissioners skipped Tuesdays Commissioners Court meeting, preventing county leaders from passing a property tax rate and proposed budget for the next fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1.

State law requires four members of the court be present to set the tax rate. With only the courts three Democrats present, the county was forced to adopt what is known as the no new revenue rate, a levy that brings in the same amount of property tax revenue as last year.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle did not attend the meeting, stopping the court from voting on what already was to be a slightly lower overall property tax rate, or the proposed budget based on that rate.

The courts three Democrats decided to take up the proposed tax rate again at the next Commissioners Court meeting on Sept. 27, setting up a potential rematch where Republican commissioners could skip a second meeting to prevent a vote on the tax rate again.

In a press release, Cagles office cited inflation as a reason behind his decision: Cagle joined Commissioner Tom S. Ramsey in declining to attend todays meeting of Commissioners Court, depriving the court of its quorum and requiring the county to adopt a lower overall property tax rate. As a result, county residents will save millions of dollars on future property tax bills.

In a separate statement, Ramsey disputed any suggestion the county will not be able to pass a budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

In reality, the lack of a quorum simply means that the maximum tax rate allowed by law  without voter consent  cannot be implemented. Instead, a smaller budget will be adopted, the commissioner said.

County Judge Lina Hidalgo said the two Republican commissioners dont have a plan, they have a campaign ad.

Hidalgo added that Ramsey and Cagles decision to skip the budget vote defunds law enforcement by millions of dollars.

Alexandra del Moral Mealer, Hidalgos Republican opponent in the upcoming November election, weighed in with a statement supporting the Republican commissioners.

Commissioners Cagle and Ramsey took a stand against a budget that would have increased taxes on Harris County residents, continued to under-fund local law enforcement relative to the challenges they face, and permitted more spending on Lina Hidalgos pet projects, del Moral Mealer said.

With the adoption of the no new revenue rate instead of the proposed rate, the Harris County District Attorneys Office will lose out on $5.3 million in proposed increases. The Sheriffs Office will lose $16.6 million for patrol and administration, plus another $23.6 million for detention.

In response to that funding difference, Dane Schiller, spokesperson for the Harris County District Attorneys Office, said in a statement: It is crucial that our criminal-justice system be properly funded - the right number of deputies, courthouse staff and prosecutors - and it is up to our elected leaders to set funding priorities.

Overall, the $2.1 billion budget will be $108 million less than the county had proposed.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Harris County inches ahead on budget and tax rate after state acknowledges comptroller cannot block approval

The loss of the proposed increases for law enforcement comes after efforts by Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar that briefly blocked the county from considering its $2.2 billion budget proposal.

The court had moved forward last week with the budgeting process after a lawyer for the state acknowledged in a Travis County courtroom that the comptroller had no authority to block the county from approving its budget. Hegar can take action only after the budget is approved and if it violates a new state law that bars local governments from reducing spending on law enforcement.

Hegar threatened to block Harris Countys proposed budget over its alleged defunding of law enforcement, prompting a county lawsuit challenging Hegars claims. The countys budget process has been in turmoil in the three weeks since Hegar issued a letter saying the county could not approve its fiscal 2023 budget without an election because it reduced law enforcement spending.

The comptrollers actions put the entire proposed budget in jeopardy, including the $100 million infusion slated for the Harris County Sheriffs Office, county constables, and the district attorneys office.

On a 3-2 vote, the court last week proposed the overall tax rate for the county  comprising four rates covering county operations, the Harris Health system, the flood control district and the Port of Houston  at 57.5 cents per $100 of assessed value. That represents about a 1 percent decrease from the current rate of 58.1 cents per $100.

For the owner of a home valued at $200,000 with a standard homestead exemption, the decrease would mean about a $10 decrease in the county portion of the tax bill, assuming the property appraisal remains unchanged from last year.

Hidalgo, Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis and Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia voted for the new rate. Ramsey and Cagle voted against it, saying the slight rate reduction in the face of rising property values was tantamount to an increase in what residents pay.

With the possibility Ramsey and Cagle could skip Tuesdays meeting, Hidalgo held a news conference Monday to outline the potential costs of having to adopt a lower tax rate and budget.

Among potential cuts under the no new revenue tax rate, according to a memo by Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcias office, would be programs and initiatives in the county health, community services, pollution control, flood control, and elections administration, including a reduction in the number of early voting and Election Day voting locations for the November elections.

Cagle and former Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack skipped the tax rate vote in 2019, forcing the county to proceed with a fiscal 2020 budget based on the same revenue as the year before, effectively freezing county spending.

jen.rice@chron.com
Outraged by a 2019 New York Times project focused on slavery, Texas leaders answered with the Texas 1836 project.

We must never forget why Texas became so exceptional in the first place, Gov. Greg Abbott said at the announcement touting the goal of patriotic education.

A committee was appointed by Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan  the states top Republicans  and wrote copy for a pamphlet that would be handed out when drivers get a Texas license.

Critics predicted the document would omit historical controversies, racial unrest and social and economic disparities.

While the draft brochure approved by the committee last week doesnt ignore Texas complicated history with slavery  some version of the word is used 11 times  it still may not have gone as far as some hoped.

Texas is heaven for men and dogs but hell for women and oxen, the draft quotes an early 1800s saying. It adds, This was doubly true for the enslaved.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Patterson, who led Alamo transition, appointed to 1836 Project

In a July blog post, Jason Stanford, co-author of Forget the Alamo, a book that last year argued slavery was the driving force behind the Texas Revolution, offered criticisms of an early draft of the pamphlet  yet called it surprisingly accurate. He reserved judgment until a final version gets through editing by the state education agency and the scrutiny of legislators.

When the Legislature passed a law requiring a patriotic teaching of history, Im pretty sure they didnt have in mind an honest survey of the role of slavery in the creation of Texas as a country and in the evolution of Texas as a state, Stanford wrote.

An Aug. 25 Texas Monthly opinion piece by university scholars Leah LaGrone and Michael Phillips was far less forgiving about what those 15 pages leave out, including the existence and struggles of women, Tejanos and gay, bisexual and trans Texans.

The pamphlet not only erases atrocities, it also scrubs the history of dissenting political movements such as the left-wing Populists of the late nineteenth century, LaGrone and Phillips wrote.

Former Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who sits on the committee, dismissed the Texas Monthly piece as unfair. But he acknowledged that historians have only been telling a broader and inclusive story of the state since the 1980s.

Starting about 40 years ago, the actual academia, the authors and the books started getting it right, he said.

Patterson has discussed prejudicial stereotypes in early historical accounts and failings and abuses of power by the oft-heralded Texas Rangers, particularly in the early 1900s. But he said, Theres been an assumption that were all bunch of redneck meatheads up here.

The draft approved without opposition by the committee touches on:

 Mexicos opposition to slavery in the runup to the 1835-36 Texas Revolution

 Establishment of slavery by the new Texas republic, even though it interfered with U.S. annexation

 Jim Crow laws and voting rights deprivations that discriminated against African Americans

 Other indignities faced by Indigenous people, native Tejanos and other people of color

The pamphlet mentions that some 200 insurgentsmade a stand at the small mission known as the Alamo in San Antonio before Santa Annas Centralist army of Mexico defeated the defenders and wiped out the small garrison at the end of a 13-day siege in 1836. It explains that a spirit of change overtook Texas and the nation in the 1960s, when the U.S. Civil Rights Movement gained momentum and shaped what Texas is today.

This tale is far from perfect, like most human endeavors. Even so, it is full of optimism, energy, grit and gumption that sets a bold example for the rest of the nation and the world, the pamphlet states.

If funded by the Legislature, the welcome to Texas pamphlet will be given to people receiving their first Texas drivers license.

This is not a chronicle or the last word on Texas history. But perhaps this is a first word on the Texas story that many people will have heard, said history scholar Don Frazier, director of the Texas Center at Schreiner University in Kerrville and chair of a subcommittee that guided the text through six iterations.

Though criticized by LaGrone and Phillips as being soft in his characterizations of slavery in past writings, Frazier took it in stride. He said comments about the draft have kept him focused on the task of summarizing a complex history in some 4,500 words.

Texas history: Alamos ties to slavery stir debate

Im happy for the folks that have taken shots at it out there in the big wide world. Because it makes you think. I mean, being able to receive criticism over your work is part of being a grownup, and part of being the kind of people that will be entrusted with this charge, Frazier said.

As part of its advisory duties, the committee will write an expanded 30-to-50-page summary of the states history for the education agency this fall.

Sherry Sylvester, a committee member and former senior adviser to Patrick, said the panel has been neither traditionalist nor revisionist amid criticism from people who are not historians, and they write and read history from a left-wing perspective.

So they project to us that we will write stories from a right-wing perspective or a conservative perspective. We have not done that, Sylvester said. Weve been committed to not doing that. If we dont take that bait and just go with the richness of what we have, I think well be fine.

shuddleston@express-news.net
The Big Lie hasnt just been destructive. Its been profitable.

For months now, the American public has been able to watch the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection debunk claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election and show how former president Donald Trump resisted all evidence to the contrary to disastrous effect.

Harassed and intimidated election workers. Armed supporters storming the Capitol because they said Trump told them to. Bloodied law enforcement attempting to fend them off.

For months now, the truth has been increasingly clear. But the truth is of little interest to many Trump loyalists who have not only stood beside the former president as a parallel FBI investigation unfolds but who have also donated to the Big Lie cause over the years, including some $115 million spread between Donald Trumps own collection of political committees.

Recent filings this week by the Department of Justice underscore the mounting concerns around his political fundraising practices. New subpoenas from the department seek more information about his Save America PAC, according to the Associated Press.

But Trump isnt the only one whos found success fundraising, in part, on his claims of voter fraud.

The Houston-based True the Vote organization has also raked in millions over the years in donations. The fate of those millions and the organizations legitimacy have likewise been the subject of increased scrutiny in recent months. The nonprofit claims it has never-before-seen  and still-not-seen  evidence of voter fraud in hand. But back in June, another type of fraud seemed more likely. A Reveal investigation found that the organization had funneled roughly $1 million to its founder Catherine Engelbrecht and two others linked to the group. The investigation reviewed pages of tax and court records as well as legal filings suggesting that far from uncovering fraud, True the Vote has been busy perpetrating its own.

Engelbrecht is a longtime figure in the conservative Texas scene. In 2010, she led the King Street Patriots into largely Black and Hispanic Houston neighborhoods to poll watch against what they called massive voter fraud. The watchers shouted down elderly disabled citizens who needed help to vote in what Texas Observer called the Battle of Harris County. In 2012, she again raised alarms about mysterious buses full of hopeful voters who did not appear to be from this country and pushed for tighter voter restrictions. The Big Lie is simply the latest, and perhaps a particularly lucrative, opportunity to sell her message.

The Reveal investigation found a more than $40,000 personal loan to Engelbrecht from her own organization as well as roughly $82,500 in payments for services done by two companies she also owns. All of this was before 2016 when Trump first cried fraud after winning the Electoral College but losing the popular vote. True the Vote promised to review the data in a fundraising campaign. Nothing came of it but by 2020, the organization was again promising to uncover fraud, this time through millions of dollars-worth of lawsuits. A lawyer was given roughly $500,000 to pursue those lawsuits but after filing four, they were voluntarily dismissed just days later, according to the Reveal investigation. The investigation also found that True the Vote gave $750,000 to a company founded by True the Votes board member, Greg Phillips, to do voter analysis in 2020. There are, the investigation noted, legal gray areas here but some of these moves are certainly unusual if not unethical. And there hasnt been much to show for them either.

A major donor to the cause later sued when it became clear those lawsuits werent going to materialize. Still their claims helped create the sensational documentary film 2000 Mules with Dinesh DSouza which, once again, claimed to reveal widespread voter fraud but there was no there there either.

Addressing the lack of evidence of voter fraud, former Attorney General Bill Barr referenced the film in his testimony aired during the second January 6 hearing saying, I havent seen anything since the election that changes my mind on that, including the 2,000 Mules movie.

DSouzas book of the same name was abruptly recalled just before its release date for what the author said was the result of a missed error by the publisher. NPR managed to get its hands on a copy, however, and found no such obvious error. It did, however, find a lot of questionable content that even True the Vote sought to distance itself from.

True the Vote had no participation in this book, and has no knowledge of its contents, Brian Glicklich, a representative for the group, told NPR in an emailed statement. This includes any allegations of activities of any specific organizations made in the book. We made no such allegations. The book reflects the views of the author, not of True the Vote, Catherine Engelbrecht, or Gregg Phillips.

That doesnt mean the organization has dialed things back.

True the Votes website is defiant: We will not be silenced by corrupt politicians, government agencies, or media outlets.

In August, it promised to share what was left out of the movie at a summit in Arizona with a cameo from Donald Trumps attorney Christina Bobb. There, Engelbrecht tried to pivot away from the film to their next target: communists and election fraud.

Not, she said, to move on from what happened in 2020, because we still have to understand what happened, Engelbrecht said. That is critical. We have to understand that. But we are 90 some days out from midterms.

The hustle is ever-evolving, as Washington Post correspondent Philip Bump wrote of the Arizona event.

The hustle pre-dates Trump and it will last beyond him, too. As much as he is the crown prince of the movement, True the Votes attempts to pivot are a reminder that he is still just a figurehead and the rot threatening American democracy goes far beyond a single Florida resident. It didnt start in 2020 and it wont end there, either. In Texas, false allegations and concerns of voter fraud go all the way back more than a century when it provided cover for people looking to keep Black and Mexican-American people from voting.

For modern-day vote-restrictors, campaigning and media platforms make the hustle potentially even more profitable. Like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who uses lies to enrich himself, True the Vote likewise seems to look for the well of conservative indignation  and takes it all the way to the bank.
Regarding Opinion: So much for unity. Bidens speech cast millions of Americans as the enemy within. (Sept. 9): Bret Stephens blasts President Bidens speech in Philadelphia two weeks ago because Biden called out MAGA Republicans. Stephens acknowledges that Biden was careful to distinguish between traditional Republicans and those who have embraced Donald Trump, but then asserts that Biden painted with too broad a brush. No one who watched or read the speech and who has paid any attention over the past six years can honestly contend that they dont know exactly who Biden was talking about. Stephens parses the presidents words only so that he can feign disappointment that Biden would condemn those who supported Trump instead of just blaming Trump. Stephens would have Biden focus on the tip of the malignant iceberg and ignore the Mount Everest of malignancy supporting it. The example Stephens cites as the paragon of decency that Biden failed to emulate is President Abraham Lincoln, who showed some amount of grace towards Southerners in his two inaugural addresses. Yet, Stephens ignores Lincolns 1858 speech in which he declared a house divided against itself cannot stand, and forcefully proclaimed that our government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. Lincolns words presented a stark binary choice. Americans could be on one side or the other. No compromise, at all  ever. Biden echoed precisely that sentiment when he said in Philadelphia: You cant be pro-insurrection and pro-American. A stark binary choice  no compromise. Stephens correctly identifies Donald Trump as the worst of the worst but is entirely wrong when he points to Trump as the problem instead of those who support him.

Rand Nolen, Houston

Bret Stephens contrasts President Bidens recent speech with one of conservatives favorite Lincoln quotes: calling for malice toward none and charity for all. Apparently Stephens missed Lincolns preceding paragraph. Like Biden, Lincoln left no doubt which side was right: Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsmans two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, ... still it must be said the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

Unless and until Republicans distance themselves from Donald Trump and his election lies, Biden is absolutely correct in identifying them as a threat to democracy. What do you call the 147 Republicans in the House and Senate who would not vote to recognize Joe Bidens free and fair election even after the violent assault on the Capitol? I call them the Sedition Caucus. (The Responsible Adult Caucus who indicated by their impeachment votes that Trump was unfit for office numbered a mere 17.)

Stephens sees Donald Trump as the gravest threat American democracy faces today, and is not concerned about the Republican Party, MAGA or otherwise. He fails to show how you can separate the two. If there is a silent majority of Republicans opposing Trump, they have been intimidated into silence, if not expelled from the party. Although Stephens shamelessly blames Democrats, it is the fault of Republicans when Trump-endorsed MAGA extremists win their partys nominations.

Walter Kamphoefner, Bryan

Trump

Regarding Editorial: Why did Trump get his way on a special master to review FBI raid documents?, (Sept. 6): Your editorial in the Wednesday edition totally missed the key issue. Judge Cannon was 100 percent correct in her ruling for one simple but important reason. The Biden administrations Department of Justice and FBI cannot be trusted to conduct a fair evaluation of the seized materials. It is obvious that the overly broad search warrant and raid were a pretext in support of an administration-backed effort to find a way to indict Trump prior to the midterms. The judge's ruling may have thrown a wrench into their timetable, but have no fear, their efforts to damage Trump politically will continue well into 2024.

Jon Elmendorf, Houston

So, a Trump-appointed judge in Trumps pocket was the one who said to appoint a special master? Come on, now  how tainted can you get? Any and all judges, representatives, congressmen, people on the street who have any connection to Trump should be recused from submitting any opinion of consequence on this, at all! This is a travesty of law and order, engineered by the guilty party who is desperately trying to buy time and does not want to suffer any consequences for doing what he did. Isnt there some totally unbiased person in some sort of power somewhere, who can throw this ruling out? Makes you wonder if the whole years of that presidency  and probably before and, of course, since  more time was spent digging up the tiniest dirt on everyone, to be used later as collateral for favors and blackmail, than any governmental duties.

Rusti Stover, Houston
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Attorney General Ken Paxton, widely seen as the most vulnerable Republican holding statewide office, has come out with his first attack ad against his Democratic opponent Rochelle Garza, calling her the most radical politician ever nominated by a major party in Texas.

Paxton has mostly ignored Garza until now, but the ad marks his first major acknowledgment of the Democrat whos trailing him by just a few percentage points in public polling. The most recent poll last week by the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston showed Paxton hardly ahead of Garza with 45 percent to her 42 percent.

In the ad, Paxton hones in on immigration and crime, two issues that have been shown to be top-of-mind for Texas voters in recent polling, accusing Garza of wanting open borders and no border wall or enforcement. He also quotes her as calling Border Patrol agents shameless and cowardly and comparing them to terrorists.

Garza, in her campaign and in her response Tuesday, has focused on Paxtons biggest liability: his mounting legal issues. That includes his indictment on felony securities fraud charges that has yet to go to trial for more than seven years and an FBI investigation of corruption claims by his former top aides.

Hes also using taxpayer funds to defend himself against a suit by the Texas Ethics Commission accusing him of professional misconduct related to a legal attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Paxton has maintained he is innocent in all cases.

MORE ON THIS RACE: Why Ken Paxton vs. Rochelle Garza for attorney general may be Texas most interesting statewide race

This attack ad is just a desperate attempt to distract from Ken Paxtons criminality and the issues Texans truly care about, Garza said. Criminally-indicted Paxton is terrified that Texas voters are finally seeing him for what he is  a crook, through and through. ... He is the weakest Attorney General in the country and is too extreme for Texas. Texans deserve better, and thats why Im running  to be an attorney general for the people.

A Garza campaign spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the claim that she is against the Border Patrol.

That accusation from the ad appeared to be referring to a tweet by Garza about a 2019 Brownsville protest against the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy where she witnessed some agents shooting smoke bombs on the bridge where there were children.

In the tweet, which included a video, she used those two critical words to describe the agents and added they were terrorizing our community.

ALSO READ: AG Ken Paxton pushes for dismissal of Texas Bar complaint against him

On her campaign website, Garza says the Remain in Mexico policy, which the Biden administration put to an end in August after the Supreme Court gave it the greenlight earlier this summer, created a humanitarian crisis at the border.

If elected, she says she will put a stop to border initiatives by Gov. Greg Abbott, both his state-funded border wall and the Operation Lone Star program in which hes ordering state troopers and National Guard members to arrest migrants on various state charges, mostly misdemeanor trespassing.

Garza, echoing the cries of immigration attorneys and other advocates, says the program, which has so far cost the state $4 billion, is unconstitutional.

The people suffering at our border must be treated with compassion and respect, Garza said.

taylor.goldenstein@chron.com
WFO LAS VEGAS Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, September 12, 2022

_____

FLASH FLOOD WARNING

The National Weather Service in Las Vegas has issued a

* Flash Flood Warning for...

Southeastern Inyo County in south central California...

San Bernardino County in southern California...

Southeastern Nye County in south central Nevada...

West Central Clark County in southern Nevada...

* Until 415 PM PDT.

* At 111 PM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing

heavy rain along a line from Sandy Valley and southeast Inyo

County extending to the north across Highway 160 and across the

Spring Mountains. Between 0.5 and 1 inch of rain has fallen. 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...

Pahrump, Rainbow Canyon, Spring Mountains, Mt. Charleston, Mary

Jane Falls Campground, Lovell Canyon Campground, Mcwilliams

Campground, Dolomite Campground, Fletcher View Campground, Kyle

Canyon Campground, Mahogany Grove Campground, Hilltop Campground,

Sandy Valley and Willow Creek Campground.

The rain gauge at Harris Springs in the Springs has received nearly

one inch of rain the 30 minutes.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

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.

...FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 315 PM PDT THIS AFTERNOON...

* WHAT...Flooding caused by excessive rainfall is expected.

* WHERE...Northeast portion of the Bobcat burn scar in the eastern

San Gabriel mountains in Los Angeles County.

* WHEN...Until 315 PM PDT.

* IMPACTS...Heavy rainfall could trigger shallow debris flows in and

near recent wildfire burn scars. Dangerous flows over low-water

crossings.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...

- At 112 PM PDT, a stationary thunderstorm has supported heavy

rain with rainfall rates around one inch per hour, with the

heaviest amounts just outside of the Bobcat burn

scar.Flooding and minor debris flows in and near the Bobcat

burn scar is ongoing or expected to begin shortly in the

advisory area.

- Some locations that will experience flooding include...

Angeles Crest Highway between Mount Waterman and Wrightwood.

- http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood

Move away from recently burned areas. The rain will likely trigger

shallow mud and debris flows, minor rock falls, and flooding capable

of localized damage, especially in steep terrain in and near burn

scars.

Remain alert for flooding even in locations not receiving rain.

Arroyos, streams, and rivers can become raging killer currents in a

matter of minutes, even from distant rainfall.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
Chicago, IL (60637)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
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Owner of respected political site Politico wants to take down TikTok

With TokToks huge popularity has come both fair and unfair scrutiny, particularly for its ties to the Chinese government. Now the new owner of influential US political journal Politico is setting his sites on TikTok, even though hes not really sure why

by Karl Bode of Tech Dirt

New Politico owner and Axel Springer CEO Mathias Dopfner has called for a ban on TikTok at the Vox Media Code conference. In fact, the lions share of the conference involved folks hyperventilating in one form or another over the existential threat posed by a popular social media app:

3 hours into #code2022 the most mentioned tech company is TikTok. Mathias Dopfner, CEO of Axel Springer called for a ban on TikTok in any democracy. @amyklobuchar talked about potential bills on TikTok as it became the gatekeeper. @profgalloway called it an existential threat. pic.twitter.com/cW9I7RWrA0  Krystal Hu (@readkrystalhu) September 7, 2022

Like most of the folks freaking out about the social media app (see: FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr), Dopfner isnt quite sure why the app is bad, hes just damn certain its a foundational threat to democracy and should be banned in every country in the world. Because, apparently, its a tool of espionage:

TikTok should be banned in every country, he repeated, in his Q and A with journalist Kara Swisher and professor Scott Galloway. We have at the moment a naivete with dealing with China. We hand over personal data to the Chinese government. He added: It is of course a tool of espionage.

For one thing, Dopfner is a wealthy CEO of a media empire and currently sits on the Netflix board of directors. TikTok is a competitor in both market and mind share, so his motivation for a ban isnt exactly without financial incentives. Most of the outlets covering his comments just float over the fact hes got a fairly obvious financial conflict of interest right out of the gate.

But financial incentives aside, most of the folks generally freaking out about how TikTok provides U.S. user data to the Chinese government dont really understand how the modern privacy landscape works, or that banning TikTok would be akin to trying to stop a river with a wink.

As weve noted several times, you could ban TikTok tomorrow with a giant patriotic hammer and the Chinese government could nab all the same U.S. consumer data from just an absolute parade of companies and dodgy data brokers. And they can do that because U.S. privacy and security standards have been a trash fire for decades, especially when it comes to things like sensitive user location data.

And theyve been a trash fire for decades because most of the same folks crying about TikTok prioritized making money over consumer privacy standards. None of these folks, nor the operators of conferences like Code, seem particularly keyed in to any of this.

TikTok is a symptom of a much bigger problem when it comes to consumer privacy. Theres just a laundry list of dodgy, international and domestic companies hoovering up and selling your data to an absolute ocean of shady third parties with little to no oversight. So this idea that you can just ban TikTok and somehow cure the planets surveillance and propaganda ills is both juvenile and delusional.

Theres been a tendency among some performative politicians (see: Trump) to push scary TikTok stories for xenophobic, political, or cronyistic purposes, yet they turn a completely blind eye to the broader policy failures that made TikTok (and everybody elses) lax privacy practices possible in the first place.

Much of the pseudo-hyperventilation about TikTok privacy is really about money. Facebook routinely pushes bogus moral panics about TikTok because its an existential threat to its fortunes. US telecom has a multi-decade history of riling up politicians about China. Dopfner tells a major conference TikTok should be banned worldwide because he wants the kids reading, watching and listening to his (and Netflixs content), not TikToks.

The last thing on a lot of these folks minds is consumer privacy, the stability of U.S. Democracy, or the potential for mass manipulation. If they cared about those issues, theyd bring them up more than just as they relate to a single hugely popular social media app (that surely just coincidentally threatens their own market share, ad revenues, and ambitions).

Not only does getting DC all hot and bothered about TikTok help these companies, it helps feed xenophobia to a growing right wing base proud of its own bigotry. This kind of scary rhetoric, again, is of great benefit to any U.S. company that doesnt want to compete with China, because it has a tendency to just turn policymaker brains off. Simplistic U.S. tech press coverage very much reflects this.

Yes, the Chinese authoritarian government routinely does terrible things, and there most certainly are legitimate discussions to be had as to how to actually shore up U.S. consumer privacy in the face of such threats (we very rarely actually do those things, nor are they even brought up at the Code conference, because actual meaningful policy is too boring to get clicks).

For most of these folks, hyperventilating about TikTok is a big dumb performance. One that collapses upon itself like a badly made paper mache art project under the most superficial inspection.

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Patreon lays off 17% of workforce, closes offices

Patreon has laid off 80 workers, or 17% of its global workforce. CEO Jack Conte had recently called layoffs a last resort response to current market conditions.



Interest in Patreon, both from artists and fans, exploded during the pandemic, but now that surge in interest is fading.

We built an operating plan to support this outsized growth, wrote Conte in a letter to staff, but as the world began recovering from the pandemic and enduring a broader economic slowdown, that plan is no longer the right path forward for Patreon. I take full responsibility for choosing that original path forward, and for the changes today, which will be very difficult for our team.

Patreon will also close its offices in Berlin and Dublin.

Conte also posted on Instagram.

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Clark Art to Host "Read the Story and Picture" Lecture Sept. 20

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The Clark Art Institutes Research and Academic Program will present a lecture by Clark Fellow Olivier Bonfait entitled, "Read the Story and the Picture" at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 20 in the Clarks auditorium in the Manton Research Center building.

In this lecture, Bonfait will discuss the interplay between the pictorial intelligence of the human history based on a left-right dynamic and the lateralization of vision which is also part of daily experience.

Olivier Bonfait is a professor at the Universite de Bourgogne and the Ecole du Louvre and is also a member of the Institut Universitaire de France. He earned his Ph.D. from the Sorbonne with a dissertation on art and society of Baroque Bologna.

Bonfait has published, in particular on Nicolas Poussin and "Caravaggesque" painting. When he was director of the art history department at the Villa MediciAcademie de France (Rome), Bonfait curated several exhibitions spanning seventeenth- to nineteenth-century European art.

At the Clark, Bonfait is researching the history of large-format painting and considering its important role in the formation of modern nation states.

The event is free and no registration is required. Prior to the lecture, attendees are invited to join a reception in the Manton Research Center Reading Room starting at 5 p.m.

A recorded video of this lecture releases on the Clarks YouTube channel on September 27. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.
Dalton Looks to Tighten Tobacco Products Regulations

DALTON, Mass.  There appears to be no pushback to the town updating its tobacco ordinance.

The Board of Health's public hearing Monday on the topic generated no participation from residents or storeowners.



The main proposed changes include potentially capping the number of tobacco permits, not allowing official smoking bars, minimum packaging of cigar products by price, mandated retailer training, and a blunt wrap ban, and a possibility of restricting other non-tobacco-related products.



The town's current ordinance is 11 pages long and the new proposal is 18 pages.

Notices were mailed to vendors and were posted in the local newspaper as well as the town's website. The board has not voted on any local policy yet.



"I think where Dalton is with the state law being passed a couple of years ago with your local policies being really out of date, the goal was to merge the state law into an updated local Board of Health regulation," Tri-Town Health Department Director James Wilusz said.



"And in that process, there are additional local policy options that the board could entertain if they so choose to."



The Tri-Town Health Department  comprised of Lee, Lenox, and Stockbridge  has been administering a tobacco awareness program since 1994. In April, the board approved working with Tri-Town Health Department to update the town's tobacco regulations better comply with the state regulations.



Pittsfield has also been working on its ordinance with similar recommendations after Wilusz came to its Health Board in May to give an update on tobacco control, warning the panel that products can slip through the state's regulations without specific guidelines.



One of the changes further defines "blunt wrap" as any product made wholly or in part from a tobacco product, manufactured or packaged with loose and removable leaves or section of a leaf, or as a hollow tube that may be used to wrap or contain loose tobacco or other fillers.



"Roll your own" tobacco leaf packages are to be considered blunt wraps in the new regulation. It also stipulates that a rolling paper with a characterizing flavor is considered a tobacco product flavor enhancer.



Additionally, there are proposed changes to penalties for violations and a number of provisions to control the number of tobacco permits in the town.



Draft Tobacco Regulations for Dalton by iBerkshires.com on Scribd
Select Board Chair John Goerlach and Town Administrator Joshua Lang briefly visited the fire station on Monday to accept the ATV on behalf of the town.

New Lanesborough Fire ATV Paid for With Donated Cans



The new ATV, a Can-Am Outlander Max XT, will replace the department's current one, a civilian model Polaris ATV which has been in service for about two decades. LANESBOROUGH, Mass.  To pay for its new emergency response all-terrain vehicle, the Fire Department sorted and recycled about 217,000 cans donated by community members.

The Lanesborough Fireman's Association bought the $15,000 vehicle, a Can-Am Outlander Max XT, entirely with money from its Cans for Lives program, which helps fund the purchase of emergency equipment and vehicles. After sorting, members bring the cans to a facility in Vermont, getting 7 cents for each one.

"We've been able to, essentially, partner with the citizens of the town to help bring this to life for us," said Glen Storie, president of the Lanesborough Fireman's Association. "Their effort to bring the cans here that they collect all year long, and then the effort the membership here puts in to collecting them, sorting them."

The ATV is not the first purchase the volunteer Fire Department has made with funds from Cans for Lives, which has been an ongoing program since the 1990s. Funds from the program have gone toward purchases of other expensive equipment, such as rescue jacks.

"We've actually had to add time to our Wednesday nights so instead of a two-hour meeting, we're a three-hour meeting, because cans take so much time to sort," said Fire Chief Jeffrey DeChaine. "But we're happy to have them because we get this."

The ATV will replace the department's current one, a civilian model Polaris ATV, which has been in service for about two decades. The difference between the new model, tailored for emergency response services, and the old one is night and day, according to Storie.

"That machine wasn't really built for what we do with it, and you can tell. When you have four people, two on there and two on the rescue sled, it really struggles," Storie said, noting the department was getting enough cans to recycle as often as twice a month at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. " ... It's a lot of work, but when you see something like this, or some of the other stuff we have bought, it's a great feeling to give back to the community,"

The vehicle will go into service as soon as it is registered on the town's insurance plan, which DeChaine expects will be later this week. The old ATV, DeChaine said, will still be used by the department for other purposes for as long as it can last.

Select Board Chair John Goerlach and Town Administrator Joshua Lang briefly visited the fire station on Monday to accept the ATV on behalf of the town. Both thanked the department and the fireman's association for its efforts to get the vehicle without affecting the town budget.

"It should be able to do a number of important jobs and things of that sort, so we really appreciate it," Lang said.
Israeli Palestinian journalist Nidal Ighbariya, who specialised in covering violent crime, was shot dead by an unidentified gunman on September 4 as he drove home in the Arab town of Umm al-Fahm in the district of Haifa, Israel. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the murder and urges the Israeli authorities to launch an investigation and hold the perpetrators to account.

Journalists and residents protest crime and violence following the murder of Israeli Palestinian journalist Nidal Ighbariya, at the Arab town of Umm Al-Fahm, on September 5, 2022. Credit: Ahmad Gharabli / AFP

Ighbariya was known for reporting on organised crime in Arab towns, and for being a fierce critic of the Israeli police due to its failure in dealing with the increase of violent crime within the Israeli-Palestinian community.

In June 2021, the journalist was targeted in an assassination attempt. He shared several pictures on Facebook and Instagram, documenting an attack on his house with a hail of bullets.

Speaking to the media, his family held the Israeli authorities responsible for the incident as a result of their failure to protect him, despite him filing complaints about receiving death threats.

The Arab Center for Media Freedom, Development and Research (Ilam Center) declared that: this assassination spreads fear among journalists, who are very worried that they could suffer from similar fate. Several journalists have admitted they are receiving death threats from organised crime and fearing they will be the next target.

IFJ Secretary General Anthony Bellanger said: We mourn the loss of our colleague and call on the Israeli authorities to investigate the case. Further action must be taken to protect Israeli Palestinian journalists and end the climate of impunity in Israel.
Investigative journalist Ruvimbo Muchenje, who works for digital platform The News Hawks, was assaulted by security officials from the Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) political party on September 11, as she tried to enter the venue where the party was holding a rally in Chinhoyi, central northern Zimbabwe. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) in condemning the attack and calling on all political parties to allow journalists to carry out their duties without any form of threat.

The CCC had apologised to Ruvimbo following the incident.

According to a statement issued by ZUJ, there has been an increase in the number of attacks and assaults on journalists.

The increasing number of our members who are being harassed at political gatherings by different political parties is worrying and should not be condoned. Journalism is not a crime and all journalists in the country should be allowed to carry out their duties without any encumbrance.

IFJ Secretary General Anthony Bellanger said the assault was another manifestation of the despicable acts that security officers meted out to journalists who are simply doing their job to inform the public. Such actions must be condemned and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. The Government of Zimbabwe must do everything possible to guarantee the safety and security of journalists and media workers."
Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, today launched its suite of Alibaba Cloud for Financial Services solutions, comprising over 70 products designed to help financial services institutions (FSIs) of all sizes across banking, insurance, securities, and FinTech digitalize their operations.

These solutions are designed to support every stage of a FSIs digital journey and provide easy access to cutting-edge cloud-native technology. Together, they deliver five core capabilities covering over 20 business scenarios to improve FSIs operational efficiency, customer experience, security and compliance:

Robust and elastic cloud infrastructure to enable FSIs to effectively manage their day-to-day operations and the expansion of their digital applications via build-in cloud governance capabilities

to enable FSIs to effectively manage their day-to-day operations and the expansion of their digital applications via build-in cloud governance capabilities Security and compliance solutions give FSIs confidence that they are operating in compliance with regional and industry-specific security and regulatory requirements.

solutions give FSIs confidence that they are operating in compliance with regional and industry-specific security and regulatory requirements. Agility in business application development is achieved through a wide range of financial-grade cloud tools, middleware and distributed database products for developing cloud native applications, as well as the ability for FSIs to manage workloads through Alibaba Clouds public and hybrid cloud platforms, their own premises or via multi-cloud environments in a scalable and flexible way.

is achieved through a wide range of financial-grade cloud tools, middleware and distributed database products for developing cloud native applications, as well as the ability for FSIs to manage workloads through Alibaba Clouds public and hybrid cloud platforms, their own premises or via multi-cloud environments in a scalable and flexible way. Digital onboarding and servicing leverages various Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and hybrid cloud deployments to support mobile and digital operations, remote video-based sales platforms and an electronic know-your-customer (eKYC) solution, helping FSIs verify and onboard users online anytime and from anywhere.

leverages various Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and hybrid cloud deployments to support mobile and digital operations, remote video-based sales platforms and an electronic know-your-customer (eKYC) solution, helping FSIs verify and onboard users online anytime and from anywhere. Customer insights generation and analytics solutions harness AI, blockchain, machine learning and data analytics to help FSIs analyze and visualize omni-channel digital engagement intelligence, aiding the discovery of customer insights and enabling intelligence-driven decision making.

Our new solutions have been built in response to growing demand from FSIs around the world for cloud products capable of accelerating their digitalization and enhancing the customer experience, said Raymond Xiao, Head of International Industry Solutions and Architecture, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. By leveraging our extensive cloud capabilities and industry know-how, we have developed a comprehensive suite of solutions to advance growth and innovation in the finance sector. We look forward to further expanding our product offering as well as the geographic coverage of our services to support more FSIs in the future.

Trusted partner to FSIs across Asia

A recent survey commissioned by Alibaba Cloud found that the financial service sectors top priorities in Asia Pacific were to accelerate multi-cloud migration, increase automation and build analytics platforms.

Alibaba Clouds financial service solutions are designed to help FSIs overcome challenges and meet their strategic priorities. For example, China CITIC Bank International (CITIC), a leading Hong Kong-based commercial bank, was looking for ways to enhance its flagship mobile banking platform inMotion. By leveraging Alibaba Clouds Mobile Platform-as-a-Service (mPaaS) solutions, CITICs remote banking services, including real-time eKYC and video-based sales are now operating seamlessly on customers mobile devices without geographical restrictions.

Rapidly growing FSIs are also seeing value from cloud solutions. GCash, a leading Philippine-based mobile wallet enterprise, partnered with Alibaba Cloud to overcome the challenges their platform was facing from a rapid user base expansion. GCash adopted a mix of solutions, including eKYC, IaaS, ApsaraDB RDS databases and Object Storage Services to scale their operations and accommodate the traffic spike during the pandemic. The FinTech company also adopted security products such as Web Application Firewall and Anti-DDoS to protect their platform from DDoS attacks and other threats.

"The Philippines still has a large unbanked population and one of our goals is to offer a digital life that enables democratization of access to financial services like savings, credit, insurance and investment. With Alibaba Clouds solutions, we have the ability to operate on a secure technology infrastructure that can scale in real-time and keep pace with the customers seeking new ways to transact, said Mark Frogoso, GCashs Chief Information Security Officer.

Touch 'n Go Digital (TnG Digital), a Malaysia-based company providing mobile e-wallet services, required secure, agile and scalable technology to support its business growth. Through Alibaba Clouds Elastic Compute Service, Content Delivery Network (CDN), and EMAS Mobile Test solutions, TnG Digital was able to expand their services effectively. The e-wallet provider also leveraged Alibaba Clouds Database Backup Services and PolarDB solution to reduce backup time and ensure peak performance during traffic spikes.

Alibaba Cloud's dedicated support team actively responds and provides high-quality support services, helping TNG Digital find quick solutions to any problems around the clock. In addition, their cutting-edge cloud technology and comprehensive security solutions enable TNG Digital to meet regulatory requirements and deliver products to market faster. said Leslie Lip Mun Foong, CTO of Touch'n Go Digital.

Bank Sumut, an Indonesian financial bank, was looking for a cloud service provider with robust infrastructure and security capability to accelerate its digital transformation. The bank partnered with Alibaba Cloud for its solution stack  including WAF, Security Center and ApsaraDB for RDS  which was ideal for streamlining Bank Sumuts business processes, addressing its security needs and meeting its application requirements.

Alibaba Clouds complete solution stack plays a critical role in helping us streamline our business processes, enhance the security features and fasten the application deployment and implementation procedures, said Mahdian Dado, Head of IT Division, Bank Sumut. In the future, we plan to further strengthen the collaboration and fully leverage the container and microservice capabilities of Alibaba Cloud to foster our digital transformation journey.
We list Indias key dates in September 2022, which are relevant for taxpayers to fulfill their income tax and goods and services tax (GST) related compliances like TDS deposit, prepare for new e-invoice mechanism, ensure the full utilization of Input Tax Credit (ITC) of previous financial year (FY)  FY 2021-22  and rectify invoices.

Businesses must note that all the tax related deadlines must be completed on or before September 30 and any lapse on the part of taxpayers might invite coercive action from the tax authorities. Heres a date-wise calendar of the relevant deadlines for income tax and GST.

India income tax compliances September 2022

Description Due date Tax deducted/collected at source (TDS/TCS): Due date for deposit of TDS/TCS for August 2022. However, all sum deducted/collected by the government shall be paid to the credit of the federal government on the same day where tax is paid without production of an Income-tax challan. September 7, 2022 Section 194-IA, 194-IB and 194-M: Due date for issue of TDS Certificate for tax deducted under section 194-IA, section 194-IB and section 194-M in July 2022. September 14, 2022 Form 24G: Due date for furnishing of Form 24G by the government where TDS/TCS for August 2022 has been paid without the production of a challan. September 15, 2022 Advance Tax: Second instalment of advance tax for the assessment year (AY) 2023-24. September 15, 2022 Section 194-IA, 194-IB and 194-M: Due date for furnishing of challan-cum-statement in respect of tax deducted under section 194-IA, section 194-IB and section 194-M, in August 2022. September 30, 2022

India GST compliances September 2022

Description Due date GSTR 1: To be filed by the taxpayers having an annual aggregate turnover of more than INR 15 million or the ones who have opted for the monthly return filing. September 11, 2022 GSTR 3B: Annual Turnover of more than INR 50 million in previous FY. Tax period  August 2022. September 20, 2022 GSTR 3B: Annual Turnover of up to INR 50 million in previous FY. Tax period  August 2022. September 20, 2022 GSTR 5A: Monthly return, to be filed by all the non-resident ODIAR services providers for August 2022. September 20, 2022 GSTR 5: Monthly return, to be filed by all the non-resident persons alongside the payment of GST for August 2022. September 20, 2022 GSTR 6: Monthly return, to be filed by every Input Service Distributor (ISD) for the period of August 2022. September 13, 2022 GSTR 7: GSTR 7 is a monthly return to be filed by the persons who are required to deduct TDS under GST. Tax period  August 2022. September 10, 2022 GSTR 8: GSTR-8 is a monthly return to be filed by the e-commerce operators who are required to deduct TCS. Tax period  August 2022. September 10, 2022 PMT-06: QRMP (Quarterly Return Filing and Monthly Payment of Taxes) scheme taxpayers (filed for 1st and 2nd month of every quarter). Tax period  August 2022. September 25, 2022 GSTR 11: Persons having Unique Identification Number (UIN). Tax period  August 2022. September 28, 2022

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To establish a semiconductor facility in Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vedanta Ltd., and Taiwan's Foxconn have struck a deal for $19.5 billion (1.54 trillion rupees). Near Ahmedabad, the major city in the western state, they intend to construct separate facilities for semiconductor and display manufacture.

Bhupendrabhai Patel, the chief minister of Gujarat, said that the project will generate more than 100,000 employees and that Gujarat was ready to provide whatever assistance necessary for the project, which it narrowly defeated Maharashtra, the richest state in India, to win.





In a statement, Foxconn said that the infrastructure of the state and the government's proactive cooperation "increases confidence in building up a semiconductor manufacturing." In order to establish itself as a major participant in the global chip supply chain, the Indian government has stated that it will offer incentives for semiconductor production beyond a $10 billion first plan. Vedanta is the third business to announce the site of a chip facility in India, following the establishment of plants by the multinational consortium ISMC and the Singapore-based IGSS Ventures in TN and KA. While oil-to-metals giant Vedanta is providing the project's finance as part of its effort to expand into the chip manufacturing industry, Foxconn is serving as the project's technical partner.

For feedback and suggestions, write to us at editorial@iifl.com
Following the four-day tour of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas India visit, Dhaka is considering sourcing fuel from India. It is also likely to allow transit rights to New Delhi for transporting fuel to the northeastern states through its territory beyond the November 30 deadline. While India will have to pay taxes to Bangladesh for using its territory for transit, the facility is expected to open up options for Dhaka to import New Delhis excess fuel. Importantly, Dhaka could even look at sourcing Russian oil at a discounted price routed through India.

Typically, to transport goods to the northeast would mean crossing the hilly areas of Silchar in Assam. This is time consuming and prone to natural disasters.

Were going to procure fuel from them and an agreement was signed with an Indian oil company, Bangladeshs Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen told the Financial Express (Bangladesh). So we will also discuss whether they can transport fuel for us too while carrying fuel for their NE states through our land, he said in the interview.

Recently, India was given such transit rights for carrying fuel to flood affected northeastern states by Dhaka up to November 30.

Meanwhile, Russian oil major Russneft has offered to supply petroleum to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) at a highly discounted price. At present, prices of WTI crude  the worlds most actively traded commodity, are hovering around $87 a barrel.

Deepening energy cooperation and security will be the thrust for the two countries which have already embarked on boosting connectivity.

Indias proposed oil export to Bangladesh and also using the countrys territory as a transit route to take consignments to the northeast is part of the larger strategy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hasina reviewed the progress which both sides made on the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline Project (IBFPP). The project connects Siliguri in West Bengal and Parbatipur in Dinajpur district in Bangladesh.

Industrialist Gautam Adani, who met Hasina during her visit here, has assured completion of the transmission line that is being constructed as part of the 1,600 MW Godda power project by this December. This power plant is critical for power exports to Bangladesh, which is currently facing an acute electricity shortage driven by the global energy crisis.

We are committed to commissioning our 1600 MW Godda Power Project and dedicated transmission line to Bangladesh by Bijoy Dibosh, 16 Dec 2022, Adani said in a tweet.

Under Hasina, Bangladesh made significant progress in the energy sector. However, due to the current geopolitical instability driven by rise in global energy prices, Bangladesh has been once again facing acute power shortage.

Also read: Modi and Hasina send a big messageIndia and Bangladesh are re-shaping Asia

Is India positioning itself as Bangladeshs major energy supplier?
In a bid to cultivate ties with Nepals parliament, Chinas top legislator Li Zhanshu signed an agreement with Agni Prasad Sapkota, speaker of the House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, on Monday.

Li and his Nepali counterpart Sapkota inked the six-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) following their hour-long delegation-level talks at the Federal Parliament Building, New Baneshwar.

According to the text of the agreement shared to media, Nepal and Chinas legislatures will intensify their engagements and exchanges on governance, legislative and supervisory practices under the framework of the China-initiated Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI).

The two sides also agreed to enhance cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative as per the understanding reached between the two governments in the past, read the text of the agreement.

#Nepal A high level visit from #China, the Chinese Speaker, Li Zhanshu to Kathmandu. Was received by #Nepals Speaker Agni Sapkota. All international visits to Nepal are being observed closely due to upcoming general elections. https://t.co/s576r54CwR  Navita Srikant (@NavitaSrikant) September 12, 2022

This is for the first time, legislatures of Nepal and China signed the formal agreement to enhance cooperation. Earlier, parliamentarians of the both the countries had normal interactions, including exchange of visits for the past few years.

The agreement seeks to build goodwill and mutual trust between the two legislatures and respect sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and development path and matters of common concern.

China has, of late, stepped up its engagements with the entire political spectrum of Nepal. Lis visit is one of the high-level visits from China to Nepal in recent months. The focus of the current visit is to cultivate ties with parliamentarians also partly due to geopolitical reasons, observers said.

The Chinese could have realized the importance of Nepals parliamentary exercise following the passage of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Nepal Compact, a $500 million US grant agreement, Rupak Sapkota, a China watcher said in a recent interview with the Kathmandu Post newspaper, adding Perhaps that was an added motivation to push for greater engagement with Nepali parliamentarians.

In February this year, Nepals parliament passed the USinitiated MCC Nepal Compact, despite Chinas public displeasure. China and the US also engaged in war of words over the MCC Nepal Compact accusing each other of violating Nepals sovereign decision.

Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the US of employing coercive diplomacy against Nepal while the US countered that it was China who was behind the delay in passing the US grant program MCC.

In whirlwind visit, Li meets Nepals PM, political leaders

Li, the chairman of Chinas National Peoples Congress Standing Committee, who arrived in Nepals capital Kathmandu on Monday afternoon on a four-day visit, is holding a series of high-level meetings.

Chinese Leader Li Zhanshu meets Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. They talked about better partnership, connectivity, implementing agreements and border as well. Pic. Roshan Sapkota/RSS pic.twitter.com/pVdtALdFre  Routine of Nepal banda (@RONBupdates) September 13, 2022

Li, the third-ranked leader in Chinas political hierarchy, held separate meetings with Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka and National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timalsina, on Tuesday.

The two sides discussed a number of bilateral issues including bilateral trade, investment, connectivity, return of Nepali students to China, resumption of passenger flights, and reopening of border ports, according to a statement issued by Nepals foreign ministry.

The Chinese side appreciated Nepal for its stand on One China policy and its commitment not to allow the Nepali territory to be used against the core interests of China, the ministry said.

On Tuesday, the Chinese leader also met chairman of the CPN (Maoist Center) Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda and CPN (Unified Marxist Leninist) chairman KP Sharma Oli in a bid to see the possibility of alliance among the communist forces in Nepal in the post-election scenario. The Chinese have a soft corner for Nepals communist forces and they have been encouraging them to come together and forge an alliance. However, its hopes have been dashed following the vertical split of the then Nepal Communist Party (NCP) in March 2021 due to a bitter factional feud.

In meeting with Prachanda, the Chinese leader sought help to execute connectivity projects under the Belt and Road framework proposed by China, Ramesh Malla, an aide to Prachanda said.

Li is visiting Kathmandu at the invitation of Nepals parliament speaker Sapkota. Sapkota is also former leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda. On Monday afternoon, Li and his Nepali counterpart Sapkota held delegation-level talks at the Federal Parliament Building in which the two sides agreed to enhance parliamentary exchanges.

Lis stopover in Nepal is part of his four-nation tour that includes Russia, Mongolia, Nepal and South Korea.

Li, the leader of the 67-member visiting Chinese delegation, is also part of the big-seven, headed by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), who comprise the standing committee of the 25-member Politburo.

He is the third Chinese leader to visit Nepal this year. In the second week of June, Head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) international department, Liu Jiancho, visited Nepal and gave a message that China wants to enhance ties with all the political parties including the chief ruling party Nepali Congress, which has maintained a close ties with the United States in the recent years.

Prior to that, in the last week of March, Chinas foreign minister and state councilor Wang Yi came to Nepal.

Also Read: Top US official arriving in Nepal on Thursday amid growing US  China rivalry
As concerned citizens and environmentalists continue their protests against the NCR Draft Plan 2041 proposal, on Tuesday over hundred students from various schools across Delhi-NCR joined the campaign to save Aravali.

On Tuesday they protested in front of the Haryana Bhawan in Delhi and sought a rollback of the draft proposal and to ensure the protection of Aravalis for their future.

Bobins Abraham/ Indiatimes

Student call to save Aravali

"We already have just around 3% forest cover. And if we remove Aravali, it will be almost zero. We need to take action and save Aravali, If Aravali is saved our biodiversity and environment will improve and we will be able to breathe cleaner air," Avyan, a Class VI student from Scottish High International School in Gurugram told Indiatimes.



Bobins Abraham/ Indiatimes

It is about our future

Another student who was part of the protest said that the younger generation is taking up the cause of Aravali as their lives will be the most affected.



"I feel that youth movements will be more impactful as we are the future of this country. We will be the ones who will be carrying forward the progress of this country after a few years. That is why I feel that our opinions matter more than the rest. Nobody will be more concerned about our future than we. If the forest cover of Delhi-NCR is not increased, our health will be at serious risk," Ishaan, a student from The Shri Ram School told Indiatimes.

Bobins Abraham/ Indiatimes

Aravali, the lungs of Delhi-NCR

It is not just forest cover that will be affected if Aravali is destroyed. The air quality and water table of NCR will also have a negative impact. It could also expedite the desertification of the region.



"Aravali plays a crucial role, especially in the NCR region. It helps in maintaining the groundwater level and reduces air pollution in the winter. Without Aravali, we also face the risk of desertification. Aravali is like the lungs of NCR and it is essential for us to do what we can to save it," Debangana, and Manasi, two students from Pathways School, Gurgaon said.

Bobins Abraham/ Indiatimes

"Aravali is our source of greenery and biodiversity. It is not only for us but also for the animals and trees there. Illegal mining is affecting a lot of people and animals around so we need to work to save our nature, which is also our heritage" Riya Sharma, another student added.

Why Aravali is important

The Aravali Range which spread across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, is said to be one of the oldest geological features on earth, and is a massive repository of minerals and also biodiversity.

It is also the last green patch of the Delhi-NCR and scientists and environmentalists have warned that any changes to the delicate ecosystem could be disastrous for the region.

Bobins Abraham/ Indiatimes

Aravali and the fight to save it

But over the years, it has been shrinking and is facing ever more increasing threats from development and illegal mining activities.



In Haryana, over the years, several attempts have been made by the governments to change the status of the Aravalis to open for real estate development.

This is despite the fact that Haryana has one of the lowest forest covers in any state in India.

Bobins Abraham/ Indiatimes

Several attempts in the past, including the amendment to the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) which would have opened it for construction work in the ecologically sensitive zone were stopped by environmentalists who had been battling to save the Aravalis for years.



Draft Regional Plan-2041

It however is facing arguably the biggest threat yet as the Draft Regional Plan-2041, which was approved by National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) in December is set to change Aravalis forever.

Bobins Abraham/ Indiatimes

The NCR Draft Plan 2041 doesnt mention the Aravalis in natural zone.

Why Draft Regional Plan-2041 is being opposed

Under the NCR Regional Plan-2021, which was implemented in 2005, the Aravali range in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan is protected. However, the new draft plan, according to experts, may leave a large portion of the range unprotected.

In the 2041 version of the plan, the term natural zone now refers to geographical features such as mountains, hills, rivers, water bodies and forests which shall be notified for conservation under central or state laws, and shall be recognised as such in land records.

Bobins Abraham/ Indiatimes

70% of Aravali will be lost

With this update, it restricts conservation to only those features that are (a) notified under state/central acts and are also (b) recognised in revenue records. Additionally, a waterbody can be considered in the natural zone, as per the draft plan, only if created by the action of nature.

The plan, if implemented, will destroy more than 70 per cent of the Aravalis and other crucial natural ecosystems in the NCR. Not just the Aravalis, this plan will wipe out rivulets and water-recharging zones. It cannot be implemented in its current spirit, the Aravalli Bachao Trust alleged.

For more on the news, sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
The month of October is full of festivals and celebrations all over India. Many private and government banks, offices and schools will remain closed next month due to additional bank holidays.

The most auspicious festival of Dussehra, also known as Vijaydashmi, is around the corner and celebrated with great enthusiasm in India. On this day Lord Rama killed Ravana, and Goddess Durga triumphed over the buffalo Demon Mahishasura. That is why the day is also referred to as the 'victory of good over evil'.

This festival is celebrated every year on the tenth day of Shukla Paksha of Ashwani month which according to the Gregorian calendar falls either in the month of September or October. On this day, effigies of Ravana, his brother Kumbhakaran and his son Meghnath are burnt with fireworks--symbolising the quelling of darkness by light--across the country. Ramlila's stages are based on Ramayan and Ramcharitmanas and are organised for 10 days across the country.

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People participate on this day with great enthusiasm. It is believed that after Dussehra is celebrated, the feelings of greed and ego disappear from the mind. The festival of Dussehra also marks the beginning of the most auspicious and important festival, Diwali. It also signifies the homecoming of Lord Rama after 14 years of exile which falls after 20 days.

Dussehra or Vijayadashami is a very important and auspicious festival celebrated by Hindus on the tenth day of Ashwin month (September-October), according to the Hindu calendar, which falls on the tenth day of Navratri. This year, the festival of Dussehra will be celebrated on October 5, 2022, (Wednesday).

This year, the Dashami Tithi of Shukla Paksha of Ashwin month will start on October 4, 2022, (Tuesday), at 2:20 pm and will continue till 12 pm on October 5, 2022 (Wednesday). Shravan Nakshatra will last from 10:51 pm on October 4 to 09.15 pm on October 5.

Dussehra muhurat -

Dashami Tithi starts at 2:20 pm on 4 October 2022.

Dashami Tithi ends at 12 pm on 5 October 2022.

Shravan Nakshatra starts at 10:51 pm on 4 October 2022.

Shravan Nakshatra ends at 9:15 pm on 5 October 2022.

Vijay Muhurta - 02:13 pm to 2:54 pm on 5 October 2022.

Amrit Kaal from 11:33 am to 01:02 pm on 5 October 2022.

Dur muhurta from 11:51 am to 12:38 am on 5 October, 2022.

What is the meaning of Dussehra?

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The word Dussehra comes from Sanskrit words, 'dasha' and 'hara.' Dasha means ten (Ravana had ten heads) and hara means defeat (Lord Rama defeats Ravana). The festival symbolises the victory of good over evil.



Dussehra History and Significance | Why do we celebrate Dussehra?

Dussehra or Vijayadashami is one of the most auspicious and important festivals in India, especially among Hindus it is also celebrated in Nepal and Bangladesh with different traditions, rituals, and great enthusiasm. There are serval stories behind Dussehra and so the festival is celebrated in different ways across India. Despite being known by different names, its essence remains the same--the victory of good over evil. It also signifies the end of negativity and evil within us and the start of new beginnings.

Here are two stories that are associated with Dussehra according to Hindu mythology:





1. Lord Rama defeated Ravana

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It is believed that on this day Lord Ram who was considered the eighth avatar of Lord Vishnu defeated the ten-headed Ravana, the king of Lanka, because he abducted Lord Ram's wife Sita and took her to his kingdom where he held her captive in hopes of marrying her. According to scriptures when Lord Rama, accompanied by his brother Laxman and an army which included his devotee Hanuman, headed to Lanka to bring back Sita, he worshipped Goddess Durga and got her blessings to defeat Ravana. Then after nine days of a fierce battle with Ravana, Lord Rama finally killed him on the tenth day. Ever since the day is celebrated as Dussehra.

2. Goddess Durga defeated Demon Mahishasura

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The nine-day of worship of Goddess Durga ends on this day, and idols of Goddess Durga along with her children are carried to the nearby river, sea or ocean and immersed. It is believed that on this day Goddess Durga killed the demon Mahishasura and protected the world. Mahishasura got a boon from Lord Brahma that no man or god could kill him.



By misusing his power he started creating terror on earth as well as in heaven. He defeated Indra, the king of heaven, which is when all the gods approached lord Vishnu for help. Then, Lord Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma combined all their powers together to create a female form called Durga-- the incarnation of Goddess Parvati--to defeat the demon because the demon had the boon that no man or god could kill him.

And after a nine-day-long battle Goddess Durga killed the Mahishasura. Devotees worship the nine forms of Goddess Durga during a period called Navratri, which will begin on September 26, 2022, and last till October 5, 2022.

Dussehra celebrations in India

Out of the many festivals celebrated in India, Dussehra or Vijayadashami is one of the most important Hindu festivals celebrated in different parts of the country with great devotion, and different events are organised.

After nine days of Ramlila programs across the country, on the tenth day (Dussehra) effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakaran and Meghnath are burnt in many parts of the country. In some parts like Kolar in Karnataka, Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh, Jodhpur in Rajasthan, Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and Baijnath in Himachal people worship Ravana on this day.

BCCL

In Gujarat, people wear colourful clothes, play dandiya, do Garba, the famous folk dance of the state, and worship Goddess Durga. In Bengal, people celebrate the occasion with Durga puja to mark the victory of Goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasur. In Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district, the festival has been given the status of an International festival by the State Government.



Note: Dates/timings may be subject to change; details mentioned here are as per the information available.

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There are 22 scheduled languages in India and among them, one is Hindi. Mainly spoken in North India, Hindi is also used for communication in other parts of the country. Many state governments carry out their function in this language. They release official notifications in Hindi. Apart from India, Hindi is spoken in Fiji, Mauritius, Trindad and Tobago.

To encourage the use of Hindi in daily life and highlight the contribution of writers and poets of this language, Hindi Diwas is celebrated on September 14 every year.

Hindi Diwas 2022: What is Difference between World Hindi Day and Hindi Diwas? | FreePik

The main aim to celebrate Hindi Diwas was to promote the Hindi language.

On Hindi Diwas, many schools and universities around the country encourage students to engage in literary and cultural activities in Hindi, such as poetry competitions, essays, and letter-writing contests.

But many of us are confused about the difference between Hindi Diwas and World Hindi Day. Here's all you need to know about:

What's the difference between Hindi Diwas and World Hindi Day?

Every year on September 14, Hindi Diwas celebrates the designation of Hindi as the national language of India. Meanwhile, World Hindi Day is celebrated on January 10 in commemoration of the World Hindi Conference.

World Hindi Day or Vishwa Hindi Divas is celebrated every year on January 10 to mark the first World Hindi Conference that was held on January 10 in 1975. This day is celebrated across the world to promote the use of the Hindi language.

Hindi Diwas 2022: What is Difference between World Hindi Day and Hindi Diwas? | Freepik

In a meeting of the follow-up committee on the World Hindi Conference held on June 8 in 2005, it was decided to commemorate January 10 as World Hindi Day every year. Accordingly, World Hindi Day was celebrated for the first time on January 10 in 2006.

However, it's different from Hindi Diwas as National Hindi Diwas is celebrated to commemorate the adoption of Hindi as an official language of India by the Constituent Assembly.

According to a Forbes India report, Hindi is the third most spoken language in the world in 2021 with 600 million speakers and the primary motive of the government behind celebrating Hindi Diwas on this occasion is to promote and spread the culture of the Hindi language.

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Cover Image Attribute: Palais des Nations (United Nations Office at Geneva) / Source: Wikimedia Commons





On September 12, 2022, India voiced its concern over the "lack of measurable progress" in Sri Lanka's promised political solution to the long-standing Tamil national question. India also made an unusual reference to the crisis-hit island nation's "debt-driven" economy in the context of its current crisis, which was somewhat surprising.





In its statement delivered at the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, India stated that it has "always believed in the responsibility of States for promotion and protection of human rights and constructive international dialogue and cooperation." This stance is in line with the principles outlined in the United Nations Charter. "In this regard, the Indian delegation notes with concern the lack of measurable progress by the Government of Sri Lanka on their commitments of a political solution to the ethnic issue  through full implementation of the 13th Amendment of the Constitution, delegation of powers to Provincial Councils and holding of Provincial Council elections at the earliest," India said. Around three years ago, the terms of office for Sri Lanka's nine provincial councils ended, and the councils have been dormant since then. The Indian statement precedes a resolution on Sri Lanka that the Council will likely vote on.





Since 2009, India has voted three times in favor of a U.N. resolution on Sri Lanka, with two of those votes being decisive, and twice abstained, in 2014 and 2021. Regardless of its vote, India has always emphasized the need for a political settlement "within the framework of a united Sri Lanka, providing justice, peace, equality, and dignity for Sri Lanka's Tamils," as it did again on Monday.





Over thirteen years after the end of Sri Lanka's civil war, in which tens of thousands of civilians were killed or disappeared, survivors continue to demand justice and accountability for war crimes. In addition, in the years following the end of the civil war, Sri Lankan human rights activists have regularly expressed alarm over the country's continued militarization, particularly in the Tamil-majority north and east; repression, and the diminishing space for dissent.





Although India has provided Sri Lanka with approximately $4 billion in critical assistance this year, the country has refrained from making public comments on the island's economic policies up to this point. Nevertheless, in a rather unusual move, India stated during the 'Interactive Dialogue' of the current Council session that the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka "demonstrated the limitations of a debt-driven economy and the impact it has on the standard of living."
Its a new name for an old behavior, answered Mary-Lou MacDonald (pictured), national practice lead, health and performance, at HUB International.

People paring down their work output to find more balance in their personal lives is nothing new. The pandemic created a perfect storm for quiet quitting rather than being the source of the phenomenon.

People have been pushed to the edge, given everything weve had to deal with around the pandemic. Theyve realized theyre in control of their health and wellbeing, MacDonald said.

Quiet quitting is likely a result of burnout, an extreme and chronic form of stress which has skyrocketed in the last few years. A study by Canada Life last year showed one in three working Canadians felt burned out. Insurance (39%) was among the five industries that reported burnout rates above the national average (35%).

Read more: Balancing work-life as an insurance professional

Health and patient care had the highest rate, with more than half (53%) of workers feeling burned out, including 66% of nurses. Staff in transportation, education and childcare, and first responders were also experiencing burnout in high numbers.

Its not necessarily that they dont want to give their energy, innovation, and creativity to work, MacDonald said. Rather, they realize that discretionary work should no longer be considered the standard, especially when it comes at the cost of their relationships, health, and wellbeing. They want to provide that extra effort on occasion, and to employers they feel deserve it.

More positively, the trend suggests more employees are being smart around setting boundaries to protect their wellbeing. Its not about quitting; its about readjusting and realigning priorities, continued Macdonald.

The trend is also resonating strongly with younger employees. For MacDonald, quiet quitting reveals much about what the youngest cohort in the workplace values in their professional lives. With Gen Z set to become the dominant force in the working world, organizations should listen closely for cues on what these younger workers want and need to thrive.

Salary used to be the biggest deciding factor for many generations when choosing a career, but, for Gen Z, there are more important things, like mutual mentorship, technology, and mental health, said MacDonald.

The pandemic forced many companies to look at ways to support the mental health of all employees, regardless of generation. But, MacDonald said, for the most part, organizations and leaders were not well equipped for the task.

Maybe the supports werent in place, or they werent robust enough or customized enough, or communicated well enough for the different generations. Many leaders were not trained to recognize when someone is struggling in the workplace, let alone what to do or say, or how to support them, said MacDonald.

Read more: Survey reveals shift in how Canadians perceive mental illness

Rather than blame individual employees for quiet quitting, insurance companies must focus on how to prevent burnout, ramp up support for their workforce, and create a resilient organization.

I always say its a shared responsibility. As employees, its our responsibility to bring our best selves to work every day, mentally and physically. That includes getting enough sleep, getting the exercise that I need to stay healthy and functioning at a high level, managing family or health issues I might have, and eating well, MacDonald explained.

Its employers responsibility to create workplaces where individuals can thrive and do their best work, which means removing obstacles, making the work fair and equitable, and managing the workload and work pace that employees must deal with. They should also clearly communicate their expectations and timelines. Knowing your employees well and building supportive relationships builds mutual trust, which goes a long way.

Leaders should strive to get more mental health education for themselves, so they can better support employees. That includes knowing where to direct resources and benefits so employees can easily access them, but it also means taking the initiative to spot warning signs of burnout.

There are mindsets at work that leaders must be aware of, such as that of perfectionists and pleasers, cautioned MacDonald. Some are super passionate about their roles and will voluntarily overwork themselves.

She said that individuals with these mindsets are more likely to burn out over time. Its the employers responsibility to be aware and remind those super passionate and perfectionist folks to set healthy boundaries themselves, and for leaders to model that behaviour as well. They should also avoid piling more work on to those employees they know will go the extra mile.
The coalition is concerned that the National Adaptation Strategy will be nothing but empty promises and has warned that Canada does not have years to wait until the situation gets worse.

Federal government officials are proposing a National Adaptation Strategy that only focuses on vague and distant goals without any national plan to address them, it said in its statement. While the longer-term impacts of the climate crisis must be addressed, considering the increasing number of extreme weather events already occurring across Canada, we cannot wait until 2030 to limit the impacts of climate change in this country.

Climate Proof Canada has called for officials to ensure that the National Adaptation Strategy focus on setting more realistic targets as part of a five-year implementation plan starting in 2023, adding that preparedness for escalating extreme weather events is within Canadas immediate grasp.

The coalition statement comes as the federal government plans to unveil the National Adaptation Strategy before the COP 27 international climate conference.

Climate Proof Canada consists of insurers and other industry stakeholders, municipal, and environmental organizations. Insurers participating in the coalition include Aon, Aviva, Desjardins, Co-operators, Intact Financial Corporation, Sun Life Financial, TD Insurance, Travelers, Wawanesa, and Zurich Canada. The Canadian Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, the Insurance Brokers' Association of Canada, the Insurance Bureau of Canada, and the Property and Casualty Insurance Compensation Corporation are also backing the coalition.
Donelon aims to convince more insurance companies to write policies in the state to stoke competition and drive down premiums.

We have plans in place to depopulate Citizens and have significant interest being shown by companies that are anxious to get those policies out of Citizens, Donelon said, as reported by Fox8Live. [These are] solvent companies that are looking forward to doing business  competitive business  with each other in the property insurance market, even below I-10 and I-12.

Donelons plan also includes implementing a program that has not been used following Hurricane Katrina  incentivizing private companies to write policies in the state, further revealing that the groundwork has already been laid, but funding from the state legislature will be needed.

State Senator Cameron Henry added that he, Donelon, and State Senator Kirk Talbot have been working closely with other lawmakers at the state capital to implement the program again.
A company release also noted that VistaNational will operate within Brown & Browns retail segment and report to regional president Paul F. Rogers.

For more than 25 years, VistaNationals experienced team has combined their impressive industry knowledge with practical technology solutions to deliver a wide variety of employee benefits products and services to their customers, said Rogers. We are honored they have chosen to continue their journey as part of the Brown & Brown team and look forward to many years of continued success.

This exciting transaction will enhance VistaNationals already focused customer service model by expanding the resources, products and services available to our customers, added Schwimmer.

Read more: Brown & Brown makes raft of key appointments

Last month, Brown & Brown named Matthew Siciliani as executive vice president and healthcare growth officer. The brokerage also added four employees to its analytics team: Hamzeh Gol-Zaroudi as senior CAT modeling analyst; and the trio of Scott Kaminski, Caleb Blodgett and Thomas Scott as analytics and research and development actuaries.
IICF Midwest will honor the founders of the Chicago Apprentice Network  Accenture, Aon and Zurich  for their efforts to raise awareness of apprenticeship and help more businesses establish apprentice programs.

Last year we celebrated the 10th anniversary of IICF in the Midwest, and were excited to look ahead to important ways IICF can convene the insurance industry in the years ahead, said Jeff Kroeger, chair of the IICF Midwest Division board of directors and chief commercial officer at Insureon, a division of Specialty Program Group and Hub International. This includes helping to broaden awareness of apprenticeships and other unique talent acquisition and development opportunities, such as the IICF Talent Hub, as the industry builds for the future. This is just one way were bringing industry leaders together, building hope and ultimately raising vital funds that benefit our local nonprofit partners and our neighbors in need.

Proceeds from Blazing the Trail will benefit IICFs Midwest Community Grants Program, which awards grants to local nonprofit and charitable organizations focused on education, safety and health. The 2021 event raised $400,000. IICF Community Grants totaling more than $520,000 were awarded in 2021 to nonprofits across the Midwest. Since its founding in 2011, IICFs Midwest Division has awarded more than $4 million in grants to more than 200 nonprofits. IICF Midwest is one of five IICF divisions  four in the US and one in the UK. The foundation has granted a total of $43 million globally since its founding in 1996.

Read next: IICF Southeast Division names new board chair

We are working tirelessly with our nonprofit partners to meet the increased needs in our communities, and IICF is grateful for the dedicated support of the insurance community in the Midwest, said Kelly Hartweg, executive director of the IICF Midwest Division. We have seen new companies join our boards of directors this year as we expand our scope of working together in giving back here in Chicago and throughout our chapters serving Ohio and Kansas and Missouri. The IICF Community Grants funded through insurance industry support help to make a real difference in the lives of so many facing food insecurity, homelessness and other significant challenges.
A Missouri judge last week tossed out a lawsuit that sought to knock a recreational marijuana proposal off the Nov. 8 ballot.

The measure would allow those ages 21 and older to buy and grow marijuana for personal consumption and automatically erase records of some past marijuana-related crimes.

Cole County Circuit Judge Cotton Walker ruled that the plaintiff, Joy Sweeney, did not prove shes a Missouri resident, which would have been required for her lawsuit to continue.

Sweeney on Thursday testified remotely from her second home in Alexandria, Virginia, that she still owns property in Missouri and is registered to vote in Missouri. Walker said her testimony came too late because her lawyers had already finished submitting evidence in the case.

But Walker noted that he would have ruled against Sweeneys lawsuit even if she had proven her Missouri residency.

In Missouri, proponents of a constitutional amendment need to gather a certain number of signatures from registered voters to get initiatives on the ballot.

Sweeney claimed that the secretary of states office overstepped its bounds by re-checking voter signatures, which is typically done by local election officials to make sure signees are properly registered to vote.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcrofts office re-checked petition signatures for the recreational marijuana proposal last month after a lawyer for the pro-pot campaign raised concerns that some signatures from registered voters had been incorrectly tossed out as invalid, which the office confirmed after a review.

In his ruling, Walker wrote that Ashcrofts review of the signatures was legal and that he was right to confirm that the campaign gathered enough valid signatures for the measure to be put on the ballot.

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

Topics Lawsuits Legislation Missouri
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Just a few days before the official start of the Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association annual meeting, AIGs chief executive officer gave his take on the dominance of wholesalers in the specialty insurance market.

Peter Zaffino, president and CEO of American International Group, began a presentation at the Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Insurance conference last week by reviewing changes in AIGs risk appetite and underwriting culture that turned around its general insurance (property/casualty) business. Later, he spent several minutes discussing equally dramatic changes hes witnessed in the wholesale market as well.

Id have to give a thought, [but] are there parts of the business that have changed more? he asked rhetorically, when KBW Managing Director Meyers Shields asked the executive to talk about the state of the wholesale market.

Shields informed conference attendees that his interest in Zaffinos perspective on the wholesale market was prompted by news earlier in the day that Liberty Mutual would change its dual-channel distribution strategy for surplus lines and specialty business. Liberty Mutual announced on Sept. 7 that its Ironshore operation is becoming a wholesale-exclusive brand, while specialty and E&S business placed through retail brokers will carry Liberty Mutuals brand. (Related article: Liberty Mutual: Ironshore to Become Wholesale-Exclusive Brand)

The last holdout, Zaffino quipped. Zaffino was referring to the fact that like Liberty Mutual, AIG refocused its Lexington Insurance brand back in 2019.

A January 2019 announcement that Lexington would concentrate on the excess and surplus lines market, with its core property and casualty products available primarily through wholesale brokers, was a key step in AIGs turnaround effort. (Related article: Remaking AIG: CFO Describes Changes in Underwriting, Distribution and More)

Prior to 2019, AIG in Lexington, and a lot of the executives that [have since] left AIG, had the model where you can do dual distribution, which I think has proven to fail, said Zaffino, the former CEO of retail broker giant Marsh. You have to focus on where distribution [is]the admitted market is more retail; the nonadmitted is much more wholesale.

What happened [was] if a wholesale E&S player took both distributions, theyd get the bottom of the barrel of both retail and wholesale, he asserted. Thats just the way it works. Retails not going to go and advocate for a market that a wholesale broker can go to. And the wholesale brokers not going to give its best business to an underwriting company thats going to accept retail.

The winners are the ones that have both businesses and both dedicated distributions that are clear.

Giving his broader perspective on marketwide changes at the KBW conference, Zaffino suggested that the market dynamic in which very difficult-to-place businesses, if you go back 10, 20 years ago, found their way to wholesale brokers, which found their way into excess and surplus lines, is a relic of the past.

Thats the old model.

During the past five or six years, the wholesale distribution channel has grown three or four times that of retail, he reported. Theyre grabbing market share. Theyre growing faster. Thats No. 1. No. 2 is they are creating more delegated authority through their MGUs and MGAs, where the old model would be to get one or two carriers to do a line of business. Now, theyre getting these syndicated. Theyre much more sophisticated. Theyre getting these placements syndicatedagain, grabbing market share. And theyve become a professional placement arm for agencies of mid-to-small size.

All of that is propelling growth for wholesalers. And I dont think its cyclicalIf you go back 20 years, obviously Ryan [Specialty] didnt exist, but they [wholesalers] just werent that large. And so they became much more an adjacency.

Today, the top three wholesale brokers all place $15 billion or more of premium into the marketThey [dont] see, and nor do I, any slowdown in terms of their ability to grow. They have become much more specialized, have much more expertise.

So, I think the [insurance] companies that win are ones that dedicate themselves to understanding that market.

Zaffino suggested that Lexingtons clear distribution strategy is fueling growth in the current market.

If I look at the rate environment, its not something thats shopped a lot, he said, referring to E&S business placed with Lexington. In retail, the traditional placement mechanism is send [a submission] out to multiple carriers [to] figure out the ones you want to align with, get the best pricing and clear the market. On wholesale, it goes to usually one or two markets. You hit the bid, you bind it.

Its less price sensitive.

Weve seen that. Weve had 16 quarters in a row of double-digit rate increases in property wholesale throughout the industry. And Lexington itself has had 13 quarters in a row of greater than 10 percent rate increase, he said.

Returning to the news of the day, Zaffino said, I think Ironshore had the playbook of the old AIG when Lexington was bigger than everybody else and had a dual distributionI dont know what was behind the decision, but [now] its just going to be aligned with the way the rest of the market is.

In a media statement, Ironshore President Matt Dolan offered this rationale: Since Liberty Mutuals acquisition of Ironshore in 2017, we have offered commercial, specialty and E&S products under both the Liberty and Ironshore brands, regardless of channel. [Now], the distinction between Liberty Mutual for retail and Ironshore for wholesale will create a clearer, more consistent experience for customers and partners and demonstrates our dual-channel commitment.

According to the report,  The Bests Market Segment Report, titled Record-High Direct Premiums Written for the U.S. Surplus Lines Segment in 2021 , more than two-thirds of E&S direct premium was placed through wholesalers in 202156.8 percent through wholesalers without binding authority and 19.8 percent through wholesalers with binding authority. Retail agents were the next largest production source, responsible for placing 12.6 percent of U.S. E&S direct premiums in 2021, followed by program managers, placing another 10.0 percent. A day before last weeks KBW Insurance conference, rating agency AM Best published its annual report on the U.S. Surplus Lines market ranking leading production sources of E&S premiums.

At the KBW conference, Zaffino told Shields, Five years agoyoud have to ask the wholesale brokers for the exact number, but wholesale-only insurance companies, I think you could count them. [There were] probably 10 or less. And today theres 50 or more that have said, Were just going wholesale. Thats where were dedicated, and thats where were going get our business from.'

The markets changed, he asserted.

Two days later, another specialty player, AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd., announced that it would launch AXIS Wholesale, a new division dedicated specifically to servicing the wholesale market. (Related article: AXIS Capital Launches Wholesale Division)

AXIS has operated in the wholesale space since our inception, and with the launch of AXIS Wholesale were leaning into what we do best, said Carlton Maner, who was appointed as CEO, AXIS Wholesale. Through the new Wholesale division, were introducing dedicated teams and resources focused specifically on the wholesale channel. This speaks to our ambition to grow profitably with our customers as we introduce new products and services designed directly to meet their needs.

AXIS Capitals latest news followed a June announcement about the companys intention to exit property reinsurance business to focus instead on casualty, specialty, accident and health, and credit lines.

AIGs 2019 declaration that most of the business written out of Lexington would be through wholesalers also ushered in an appetite change at Lexington Insurance at the timeaway from mega-account business written through retail brokers to todays focus on smaller account wholesale business. (Related article: Remaking AIG: CFO Describes Changes in Underwriting, Distribution and More)

Last week, AIG announced a continuation down that path, not just positioning Lexington to write smaller accounts but to officially launch a Middle Market Casualty team, a group of dedicated underwriters focused on providing insurance coverage exclusively to small-to-medium-size commercial enterprises. (Lexington Starts Middle Market Casualty Group for SMEs)

Zaffino reviewed the earlier change in Lexingtons appetite along with a host of other steps in AIG turnaround during his introductory remarks kicking off the KBW session last week.

We needed to address a variety of things. The poor underwriting results. And those were over a prolonged period of time. Our underwriting structure and the team that needed to be overhauled and refocused. We needed to significantly reduce volatility in the portfolio due to large cat and non-cat losses. We needed to establish a more prudent and sustainable reserving philosophy with an overhaul claims and actuarial operations. There were businesses that needed to be exited or totally repositioned.

We had a very ineffective reinsurance strategy and needed to establish a new measured strategy for growth that moved away from taking large positions on single risks and instead place significant focus on combined ratio improvement while positioning businesses for better risk-adjusted returns, as well as top-line growth, he said, before moving on to a high-level overview of AIGs work to modernize its operating infrastructure and a discussion of major changes in the structure of AIGs reinsurance program.

Drilling down on some of the underwriting revamp that would ultimately result in AIG achieving its first sub-90 combined ratio since before the financial crisis during second-quarter 2022, Zaffino said the key change was creating a culture of underwriting excellence, which was largely driven by the hiring of hundreds of experienced underwriters that were not at AIG at the time.

Three thousand underwriters had their authority revised, mostly to reflect our risk tolerances and to reposition businesses based on our view and where we thought we could get the best risk-adjusted returns over time, he said, highlighting portfolio changes involving the reduction of gross limits by over a trillion dollars since 2018 and cumulative rate hikes of over 50 percent from 2018 through the second quarter of 2022. This includes over 100 percent rate increases in retail property, excess casualty, Lexington casualty and property, and in cyber liability, just to name a few. While rate increases have come down on a nominal basis compared to prior years in certain areas, were focused on retention of a high-quality book and maintaining price above lost cost trends and continuing to develop margin, he said.

Recognizing that the AIG turnaround story was likely somewhat familiar to investment analysts in attendance, Zaffino said he felt it was worth repeating because the last five years have been about the heavy lift that was required to position AIG for success, today and over the long term, as a global property and casualty company. Most importantly, I want our stakeholders to recognize that AIG is not the same company it was in 2018, he said.
Twitter Inc.s security lapses were so grave that they threatened national security, the companys former head of security-turned-whistle-blower told senators on Tuesday.

Speaking before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Peiter Zatko, also known by his hacker name Mudge, said Twitter was a decade behind necessary security upgrades, which he described as a ticking bomb of security vulnerabilities.

Twitters unsafe handling of the data of its users and its inability or unwillingness to truthfully represent issues to its board of directors and regulators have created real risk to tens of millions of Americans, the American democratic process, and Americas national security, Zatko said in the hearing.

He also said the companys leadership repeatedly covered up its security failures by duping regulators and lying to users and investors.

Zatko, 51, first testified before Congress in 1998, warning a Senate committee about fundamental weaknesses in the internets infrastructure. He then went on to work at US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Alphabet Inc.s Google and the payment service Stripe Inc. before being hired by Twitter founder and former Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey in 2020 to help address security concerns.

He was fired in January 2022 over what the company said were performance shortcomings.

His claims come as Twitter prepares to go to court to force Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk to complete a $44 billion deal to buy the company. Zatkos allegations, especially about the prevalence of automated accounts known as bots, are likely to feature prominently in the Oct. 17 trial in a Delaware court.

Lawmakers raised concerns in particular about Mudges allegations that Twitter has allowed foreign agents to operate on its payroll and acquiesced to the demands of adversaries like China. Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, compared users trusting Twitter to safeguard their data as they might trust a bank  but at Twitter the vault is wide open, he said.

Twitter is an immensely powerful platform that cannot afford gaping security vulnerabilities, Durbin said in his opening statement.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, the committees top Republican, said Mudges disclosures paint a disturbing picture of a company thats solely focused on profits at any expense.

Grassley said Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal was invited to Tuesdays hearing to respond to the allegations, but declined because he claimed it could interfere with the ongoing litigation with Musk.

The business of this committee, and protecting Americans from foreign influence, is more important than Twitters civil litigation in Delaware, Grassley said, adding that Agrawal should step down from Twitter if the allegations are true.

There is bipartisan support for new internet regulation to protect user privacy and security, but current proposals have failed to gain much traction as Congress focuses on other priorities.

One proposal, the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, was approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this year on a bipartisan vote and received some support in the Senate, but it has stalled amid opposition from House leadership.

Several members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have either introduced or co-sponsored their own privacy bills, including the Kids Online Safety Act from Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal and the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act from Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar and Delaware Democrat Chris Coons, but they have not received floor votes in the Senate.

Photo: Peiter Zatko, former head of security with Twitter Inc., speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 13/Bloomberg

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Two Chilis Grill & Bar Restaurants in Arkansas and Texas subjected female employees, including teens, to sexually hostile work environments in violation of federal law, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charged in lawsuits filed in Little Rock and Dallas today.

Brinker Arkansas, Inc., doing business as Chilis Grill & Bar in Benton, Ark., violated federal law when it subjected a class of female teens to sexual harassment, the EEOC charged. The sexual harassment, committed by a 33-year old male cook, involved several physical assaults and forced one of the victims to resign.

The EEOC also charges that in Prosper, Texas, just outside of Dallas, Brinker International Payroll Company, L.P., also doing business as Chilis Grill & Bar, violated federal law on the same basis. The primary sexual harasser in that case was a 36-year-old male employee who grabbed and touched a female employee from behind and made vulgar sexual comments to her in both English and Spanish. The Texas lawsuit also charges that a number of other male cooks and other hourly employees repeatedly made sexual remarks about teen employees.

According to both EEOC lawsuits, the restaurants hired teens, failed to train the teens on their anti-harassment policy, and failed to monitor the workplace to provide a safe working environment. Both restaurants failed to take proper action when teens complained about sexual assaults on the job. One restaurant continued to schedule a teen to work shifts with the alleged harasser. Both restaurants failed to conduct any onsite investigation, instead relying on offsite Team Member Relations employees who failed to investigate adequately.

The EEOC is committed to protecting younger workers from unlawful harassment and workplace discrimination, said EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows. Teen workers are particularly vulnerable to harassment because they may not fully understand their workplace rights and often lack the ability or self-confidence to resist unwelcome conduct.

Sexual harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suits in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Central Division, Civil Action No. 4:22-cv-00820-KGB and in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, Civil Action No. 3:22-cv-02017-E, after first attempting to reach pre-litigation settlements through its conciliation process. The suits seek monetary relief in the form of back pay, compensatory and punitive damages and compensation for lost benefits, as well as injunctive remedies requiring more effective policies and procedures for training, reporting and investigations to ensure workers have adequate protection from sexual harassment in the future.

Topics Lawsuits Texas Arkansas
A construction company and mortgage lender accused of damaging wetlands on a famous Georgia island have agreed to settle a federal lawsuit brought by landowners.

The site of the controversy is on picturesque St. Simons Island, which gained attention when part of the Netflix series Pieces of Her was filmed there last year. TowneClub Construction Co. and Mortgage of America, both of which owned parcels on the island, were accused of dumping dredge material into sensitive wetland areas, clearing vegetation; building drainage structures and violating permits while building a residential development.

The settlement amount was not disclosed in the courts notice, filed last week, and parties are in the process of finalizing the agreement. The settlement comes two months after the U.S. District judge rejected a request from the construction firm that it be dismissed from the complaint. TowneClub Construction, which owned 34 lots in the subdivision, argued that the federal Clean Water Act does not allow suits against adjacent property owners who do not own the land in question.

The injured landowners had added TowneClub to the suit in 2021, arguing that without the companys cooperation, Mortgage of America cannot implement best practices or comply with a state environmental permit. The plaintiffs also allege continuing violations and the continued presence of fill material, which affects adjacent wetlands.

The judge said in July that it is clear plaintiffs have made the necessary allegations to sustain their claims against TowneClub. And this is so even though TowneClub undisputedly did not commit the initial violations.

That made it possible that the builder could be held liable for some of the damages, creating potential implications for other wetlands litigation.

St. Simons Island, about an hour north of Jacksonville, Florida, is known for its nearby salt marshes, made famous by poet Sidney Lanier. Its also steeped in Revolutionary War and Civil War-era history, including a slave ship rebellion.

Topics Lawsuits Georgia
Flood maps used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency are out of date and understate the risks to homes and businesses from flooding and extreme rain triggered by climate change, FEMA Director Deanne Criswell said.

Those risks are in focus after flooding in Jackson, Mississippi, overwhelmed the citys main water treatment plant a week ago, leaving more than 150,000 state-capital region residents without safe water. Criswell said theres no timeline for restoring service.

I think the part thats really difficult right now is the fact that our flood maps dont take into account excessive rain that comes in, Criswell said on CNNs State of the Union on Sunday. And we are seeing these record rainfalls that are happening.

Complicating the matter is that climate-fueled extreme weather can be hard to predict, as well as whether a city or towns infrastructure can hold up, she said.

We have to start thinking about what the threats are going to be in the future as a result of climate change, Criswell said.

A 2020 evaluation of flood risk by nonprofit group First Street Foundation that analyzed every property in the 48 contiguous US states found that federal maps underestimate the number of homes and businesses in significant danger by 67%.

FEMAs maps right now are really focused on riverine flooding and coastal flooding and we work with local jurisdictions to update the maps, Criswell said.

The water crisis in Jackson illustrates how Americas water systems were built for a climate that no longer exists. The majority Black city has also been plagued by a combination of underinvestment, crumbling infrastructure and more extreme weather.

Federal, state and local authorities have been passing out bottled drinking water in Jackson and are working on increasing pressure and getting the treatment plant operational.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said on ABCs This Week he was optimistic about progress toward restoring safe water within days.

Even when the pressure is restored, even when were not under a boil-water notice. its not a matter of if these systems will fail, but when the systems will fail, he said. There are so many points of failure.

Were seeing not only the ageand the wear and tear on our system but were seeing the effects of climate change, Lumumba added. We have colder winters, hotter summers and more annual precipitation and all of that is taking a toll on our water infrastructure.

Photo: Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, second from right, and White House Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu, second from left, along with and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, left, during a visit to Jacksons water treatment facility this month after flooding exacerbated pump problems. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, Pool)

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics USA Flood Climate Change
Restaurant owners moved recently to at least temporarily block a nation-leading new California law giving more power to fast food workers.

The owners want the states voters to ultimately decide the laws fate.

A coalition calling itself Protect Neighborhood Restaurants filed a referendum request with the state attorney general, the first step before the laws opponents can begin gathering signatures. If they get enough, the law that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Monday, Labor Day, wouldnt take effect unless its supported by a majority of voters.

If it stands, the law will create a 10-member Fast Food Council with equal numbers of workers delegates and employers representatives, along with two state officials, who will be empowered to set minimum standards for wages, hours and working conditions in California.

The law will raise consumer costs, isnt needed, and will create a fractured economy with different regulations for different types of restaurants, objected the coalition. The coalition is co-chaired by the International Franchise Association and the National Restaurant Association, but organizers said it includes small business owners, restaurateurs, franchisees, employees, consumers, and community-based organizations.

As a result of backroom politicking, Governor Newsom has signed a lie into law and maligned all of Californias quick service small businesses and local franchisees as bad employers, the group said.

It said Newsom, a Democrat, signed the bill against the advice of his own Department of Finance to curry favor with special interest groups and organized labor.

Newsoms office did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

It is saddening that the industry is looking for a way out of providing a seat at the table amongst all stakeholders, said the bills author, Democratic Assemblyman Chris Holden. He said the workers make the multi-billion fast food industry possible and that giving equal representation of employees and employers is the recipe for sustainable, long-term growth in an inclusive manner.

Service Employees International Union California President David Huerta said the restaurant chains are attempting to overthrow cooks and cashiers historic victory.

Instead of pouring money to suppress the voices of Black and Latino cooks and cashiers, fast-food corporations should sit down and listen to them, he said.

The opponents would not immediately say if they are shooting for this Novembers ballot or for the 2024 election.

Rules are different for referenda, which seek to overturn laws, than for ballot initiatives that seek to enact them. They can go on the ballot with an expedited process, as little as a month before the election. That compares to initiatives, which must qualify 131 days before.

But to qualify for this Novembers ballot the opponents would have to gather more than 600,000 signatures within a few weeks, or 5% of the votes cast for all candidates for governor in the 2018 election. That makes it far more likely the referendum would go before voters in November 2024 if opponents take the full 90 days they are allotted to gather signatures, with the law on hold until voters weigh in.

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

Topics California
Women who were members of a Utah polygamous group said in a lawsuit that they were forced into underage marriages in which their husbands raped them and that they had to perform child labor in the groups businesses.

The northern Utah-based Kingston Group, also known as the Order, arranged such marriages so that girls would become pregnant and beholden to their husbands and the group, alleges the lawsuit filed last week in state court in Salt Lake City.

Order girls are taught from birth that their primary purposes in life are to be obedient, a submissive wife, and to bear as many children as possible, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit filed by 10 people against Kingston Group members, including leader Paul Eldon Kingston, seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages.

The group sought to maintain Pure Kingston Blood by arranging marriages between cousins and other close relatives and shunning relationships that werent between white people, the lawsuit alleges.

The group teaches its members that only those with so-called pure blood will survive the apocalypse, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit describes a patriarchal group and a doctrine known as The Law of One Above Another, in which everyone has a rank in the groups hierarchy. Women and girls, after theyre married, submit to their husbands and men answer to higher-ranked men.

Men rise in prominence by being obedient and pure of blood and by having large families that can produce a lot of money and workers for the group, according to the lawsuit. Women gain status by being pure of blood and obedient, becoming the first wives of higher-ranking numbered men, and bearing many children, the lawsuit alleges.

But women who are disobedient and fail to bear children _ including because they miscarry _ face ostracism, the lawsuit alleges.

It is a common and intentional practice in the Order to require girls and women to submit sexually to their husbands even if the sexual submission is against their will because having children results in workers for the benefit of the Order, the lawsuit states.

Five of the women suing alleged they were coerced into marriage as juveniles and raped by their husbands; three others including Amanda Grant, who alleges that she endured years of sexual abuse by a half brother as a child, said they fled to escape such a fate. Grant would later appear on the television series Escaping Polygamy. The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly.

Also suing is a young child. The lawsuit said the child was raped by his or her father, who allegedly raped the mother.

The lone man suing said three Order men raped him when he was 16 or 17 and that when he left the group and announced he was gay, was tracked down and severely beaten by a group of boys acting at the direction of the Order, the lawsuit alleges.

Exhibiting LGBTQ+ tendencies can indicate impure blood, according to the lawsuit.

John Gustafson, a representative of the Davis County Cooperative Society, an affiliate of the Kingston Group, disputed the lawsuits claims Friday.

Much of what we have reviewed appears frivolous and unfounded, Gustafson said in an emailed statement. We dont expect any of the claims to prevail in a court of law.

The group has drawn legal attention before.

During a 2020 trial for a California businessman accused of carrying out a nearly $500 million biodiesel fraud scheme with a member of the Kingston Group, attorneys for the businessman called the Kingstons an incestuous polygamous group that is always scheming to defraud the U.S. government in what the group calls bleeding the beast.

A spokesman for the group, Kent Johnson, called those allegations categorically false.

The Kingston Group is not affiliated with a polygamous group based on the Utah-Arizona line that is run by imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting girls he considered brides.

The groups, whose members believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven, are offshoots of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Polygamy is a legacy of the early teachings of the mainstream church, which abandoned the practice in 1890 and now strictly prohibits it.

___

Brady McCombs in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.

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

Topics Lawsuits
News

What are the advantages of alumina?

Due to the maintenance of the only turbine still in operation at the "Portovaya" compressor station, Gazprom stopped supplying gas through the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline for three days from 4: 00 Moscow time on August 31.

Data provided by Nord Stream Natural Gas Pipeline Company, the operator of Nord Stream-1, show that the volume of gas transported by the pipeline has been reduced to zero. Gazprom said that the suspension of gas transmission will last until 4: 00 on September 3, and after the maintenance work is completed, the "Nord Stream-1" pipeline will be resumed without technical failure, when the daily gas delivery volume will be 33 million cubic meters.

The press secretary of the Russian president said on the 30th that European countries, the United States and Canada imposed sanctions on Russia, making it impossible for Russia to carry out routine maintenance and complete the registration and assembly of returned spare parts. apart from that, there are no other factors hindering Russia's supply of natural gas.

Because of the turbulent international situation, the supply and prices of many international bulk Alumina, Alumina Overview, Alumina Applications, Alumina Suppliers, Alumina Price are still very uncertain.

Overview of spherical alumina Al2O3 powder

Alumina is an inorganic substance with the chemical formula Al2O3. It is a high hardness compound also known as bauxite in mining, ceramics and materials science. It is a water-insoluble white solid, odorless, tasteless, and very hard in nature. Moisture absorption but not deliquescence (not hygroscopic after burning).

What are the advantages of alumina?



Alumina is a wear-resistant advanced technical ceramic material commonly used in a variety of industrial applications. It has high hardness and wear resistance, low erosion, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance and biological inertness. Additionally, it can be highly polished, making it suitable for precision sealing applications such as pumps and pistons. Alumina is an excellent high temperature ceramic material due to its high temperature stability. It is the most commonly used high-grade ceramic with a purity of 95-99.9.

How is alumina Al2O3 powder produced?



Spherical alumina is produced by high temperature melt injection method, with high spheroidization rate and high -phase alumina content.

Application of alumina Al2O3 powder



1. Paint: enamel paint, wear-resistant paint, plasma spraying.

2. Ceramics: transparent ceramics, bioceramics, alumina ceramics.

3. Petrochemical products: high-efficiency catalysts, catalyst carriers, and automobile exhaust purification materials.

4. Polishing materials: sub-micron/nano-level abrasive materials, single-crystal silicon wafer polishing, and precision polishing materials.

5. Lighting: long afterglow phosphor raw materials and rare earth tricolor phosphor raw materials, high pressure sodium lamps, LED lamps, etc.

6. Electronic products: integrated circuit substrates, single crystal materials, far-infrared materials.

7. Cosmetics: cosmetic fillers.

8. Inorganic membrane materials.

Alumina powder price



The price of alumina powder will change randomly due to factors such as production cost, transportation cost, international situation, exchange rate, supply and demand of alumina powder. Tanki New Materials Co., Ltd. aims to help industries and chemical wholesalers find high-quality, low-cost nanomaterials and chemicals by providing a full range of customized services. If you are looking for Alumina Powder, please feel free to send an inquiry to get the latest price of Alumina Powder (sales@ozbo.com).

Alumina powder supplier



As a global supplier of alumina powders, Tanki New Materials Ltd. has extensive experience in the performance, application and cost-effective manufacturing of advanced and engineered materials. The company has successfully developed a series of powder materials (molybdenum disilicide, alumina, calcium silicide, iron boride), high-purity targets, functional ceramics and structural devices, and provides OEM services.

If you are looking for high quality alumina powder, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry. (sales@ozbo.com).



Technical Parameter of Spherical Aluminum Oxide Al2O3 Powder Test Items Unit Typical value Test Method Chemical Analysis Al2O3 % 99.7 ICP

Na2O ppm 240 ICP

SiO2 ppm 184 ICP

Fe2O3 ppm 120 ICP Ionic Impurities Na+ ppm 56.3 Atomic Absorption Spectrometer

Cl- ppm 1.4 Auto Electric Potential Titrator

Fe++ ppm 17.6 IC





New Delhi: India's Oil Ministry recently conveyed its intention to five national oil companies including Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Resources LTD to assess the possibility of buying shares in Russian oil projects sold by European and American oil majors.

Bp announced it would give up its 19.75% stake in Rosneft, the Russian oil company. ExxonMobil said on March 1 that it would exit about $4 billion in assets and terminate all of its Russian operations, including the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia's far East.

India's oil ministry has asked the overseas investment arm of India's Oil and Gas Corporation to consider buying ExxonMobil's 30 percent stake in the Sakhalin 1 project in Russia's far East. ExxonMobil is the operator of the project and Indian companies already have a 20 percent stake in the project.

Because of the ever-changing international situation, the supply and prices of international bulk Alumina, Alumina Overview, Alumina Applications, Alumina Suppliers, Alumina Price are still very uncertain.

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When Caroene Santos was 15 weeks pregnant, she did a Zoom call with the doula she was considering hiring to guide her through pregnancy and the birth of her firstborn.

My husband was with us on the call. I liked the way Anita Petry worked so we agreed shed be my doula, says the Brazilian native whos based in Dublin and married to Galway man, Niall Murphy.

As a perinatal psychologist, the 39-year-old knew how invaluable a doulas assistance would be. Shed be there to help and guide me, to hold my hand and make sure everything was fine.

For Santos, it was important that her doula spoke Portuguese and English. I knew in the birth situation Id go completely into Portuguese and she could translate for the midwife and Niall.

At 22 weeks, Santos panicked when she discovered she had a short cervix. It [meant] the baby could arrive early. I was thinking: How did this happen? What can I do? Anita made sure I stayed calm. She showed me articles about the condition and reassured me Id be OK if I followed the doctors prescription to take progesterone and to take it easy around movement.

When Santos went into labour in April this year, her doula felt like a guardian. Her waters broke at 6am and her daughter Elena arrived at 2pm. The plan was to stay home as long as I could after Anita arrived, but the contractions started coming fast and regularly and at a certain point we said, Yes, we need to go.

In hospital, Anita knew my wishes, history, and birth plan. She explained it all to the midwife. When the midwife needed to tell me something, Anita explained. She did massages, made sure I was using the Tens (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) machine. She was with me when I went to the birthing ball, to the shower, putting patches on my back, talking with me, telling me, You can.

Santos had a vaginal birth, needing no interventions and no epidural. With long, heavy contractions, I used gas. Anita guiding me to breathe really helped.

It would have been very difficult without her. Niall was with me, hugging me  you have that attachment with your husband  but my doula was my right arm.

When Santos went into labour, her doula felt like a guardian. Picture: Moya Nolan

Doulas as a support

A doula doesnt give medical advice. Nor is she involved in the pregnant/birthing womans clinical care. Instead, the doula provides emotional and informational support through pregnancy, labour, and in the immediate postpartum period.

And while A-listers including Nicole Kidman, Anne Hathaway, and Gigi Hadid have all used doulas, awareness of doulas is spreading through the general population. Irish data on numbers of families hiring doulas is sketchy, but those working in the area say numbers are rising.

The pandemic was a big driver, says doula and chair of the Doula Association of Ireland, Anita Petry, explaining that many women felt very fearful about lack of support during the restrictions. At one stage partners could come into the hospital when the woman was in active labour, so  often supported by a doula  women tried to wait at home until then.

Dr Krysia Lynch, chair of Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services (Aims), is herself a doula and trains doulas. Since 2019, she has trained 51 birth and 17 post-natal doulas. Demand is definitely growing, and it became very prevalent during the pandemic to hire a doula. Women werent getting one-to-one care in hospital and many GP practices limited appointments. A doula offered companionship, a chance to bounce questions back and forth, to discuss how you were feeling, any concerns you had, says Lynch.

Doula support is invaluable in helping women communicate with caregivers, points out Lynch. The doula might say, You need to ask about that blood sample or, You know you can avail of free physio in the hospital because youre a public patient?. So women get the most out of the short time they have with the care team.

This communication continues during labour with the doula helping the woman to understand whats going on, what questions to ask, how to make informed decisions and how to ask for alternatives. A doula enables the woman to use her voice effectively, says Lynch.

Aims Ireland points to research that finds midwives and nurses are only able to give 10% of their time in supportive roles in labour and birth. Yet a 2017 Cochrane review found people who have continuous support during childbirth have shorter labours  by 41 minutes on average. Doulas have a lot of hands-on skills. They know how to help someone keep going during a long labour, says Lynch.

They enable a woman to find her strength. They physically support  they know what kind of position works better at a particular stage, when to use the birthing ball, when to lean on the bed, when to use the shower/pool. They know how to massage to help with discomfort, how to put pressure around pelvis and hips to enable contractions to be more effective.

Research dating from the 1990s found women using a doula have a 50% reduction rate in Caesarean section, a 40% reduction in rate of forceps deliveries, and a 60% reduction in requests for epidural. Having a doula doesnt guarantee you wont have an unexpected or unwished-for experience  but, if you do, a doulas presence will help you cope much better because she will listen and validate your experience, says Lynch.

Doula Anita Petry emphasises that doulas dont believe every woman needs to birth in the same way. Picture: Moya Nolan

Protecting your space

For Petry, a doula has four roles: To provide educational, emotional, physical, and practical/logistical support. Doula support usually involves two prenatal home visits, she explains.

You get to see the home dynamics, have a cup of tea together, learn the couples sense of humour, how they deal with difficult situations. You educate about choices, interventions, and do a birth plan. Everyone has a birth plan, even if its not on paper, even if its just, Im going to Holles Street and Im going to trust the doctors and let them take the lead.

Before a woman goes into labour, Petry will have established what kind of touch she likes. I ask, Do you like massage? Is it something you do together as a couple? We practice massage for the labour. I ask, Is this too hard, too soft? How do you like it? One client said, Dont touch my head, which was great because I knew if her hair was falling into her face during labour, Id hand her a hair tie  I wouldnt tie it back for her.

Thats the kind of relationship between doula and client  intimate, detailed, allowing us to create a comfortable, safe environment when the time comes.

Petry emphasises that doulas dont believe every woman needs to birth in the same way. I provide quality information. The woman makes an informed decision on how she wants to proceed, and I support her to get there.

The doula profession isnt regulated in Ireland, and training courses come in all shapes and sizes. While Lynchs course runs over six months, comprising 100 in-person hours, other courses are online, over a weekend. While not a regulatory body, the Doula Association of Ireland reviews doula courses available in Ireland and assesses them (under set criteria) for acceptability to the association.

Doula fees vary depending on location and services/packages offered. A basic birth doula package (usually includes at least one prenatal home visit, phone/text communication through pregnancy, in-person labour support and one postpartum visit) ranges from 800-1,200. The hourly rate for postpartum support varies from 25-40, with nightly hours sometimes rising to 50.

Doulas come with different experiences and skill sets, and theres much thats individual and unique about each doula. Ultimately, choosing one depends on what feels like a good match between client and doula. Its a very special relationship, says Petry.

For the woman, its like, Here is this person whose sole purpose is to support me, care for me, see me. We often say doulas hold the space for experiences  a doula protects your space.
A couple from the Midlands exchanged weddings vows over the August bank holiday weekend after the groom, garda Shane Hunter, donated a kidney to his wife, art teacher Briona Reynolds.

Shane, 31, from Athlone, and Briona, 30, from Tubber in Co. Offaly, postponed their wedding last year due to Covid restrictions, and the impact of Briona's health struggles, which saw her having to get dialysis three times a week.

Briona underwent a kidney transplant on June 22 in 2020 after her husband made the decision to donate his kidney to her and she said the operation has changed their life for the better.

Briona and Shane were delighted to celebrate with family and friends. Picture: Moat Hill photography.

"Sometimes we forget the struggles we experienced. We still talk about how things were back then but its always followed by how grateful we are for how much better things are now," she said.

Life after the transplant is "much more relaxed" for Shane and Briona, as the couple are now renovating their house, planning trips away, and doing many things that they found difficult previously.

A week before the operation took place, Briona completed her thesis for an MA in education, allowing her to fulfil her ambition of becoming a secondary school art teacher.

It was the couple's third time attempting to go ahead with the procedure. The first operation date, which was meant to go ahead in February, was cancelled due to safety concerns when Shane's blood results showed irregularities.

By that time, Briona's kidney function had almost fully declined, and her doctors had to start her on haemodialysis treatment to keep her alive.

The second date in March was cancelled when the country went into lockdown.

Shane says that after everything the couple has been through, their recent wedding was the perfect opportunity to celebrate with family and friends. Photo: Moat Hill Photography.

After taking time to fully recover from the transplant operation in June, both Shane and Briona are back to work. Briona is now teaching at Mullingar Community College, and Shane is back working in Tullamore Garda Station.

He says that after everything the couple has been through, their recent wedding was the perfect opportunity to celebrate with family and friends.

We had a great wedding. It is so rewarding and gives me great joy to see Briona so well and that we are both happy and healthy and can look forward to what the future will bring," he said.

"We had a wonderful wedding weekend and it was great to be surrounded by all the people we love. Everything has been going so well for us over the last two years," Briona added.

The Midlands couple are choosing to share their stories to support the work of the Irish Kidney Association ahead of the European Day for Organ Donation & Transplantation on October 10.
A situation in which a student was asked for an intimate photo of herself by her landlord is a clear example of sexual exploitation in the housing market.

That is according to the chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Noeline Blackwell. She was reacting to the experience of Alma Yasbeth Pacheco Correa from Mexico City, who told the Irish Examiner on Saturday that she was asked for the photo by her landlord a number of months after paying him a deposit for a room in his house in Tallaght for the current academic year.

Ms Blackwell said: Asking for that photograph is exploitation. It is hard to see why somebody would be looking to see somebody in an intimate body image for any reason other than for sexual exploitation.

She added: It is something that is not providing a safe tenancy for someone to do that. It is an unsafe place for a person to be.

Ms Pacheco Correa did not respond when her landlord texted her in July asking her for the photo. A month later, he contacted her again to tell her that the room she had paid a 480 deposit for would not be available until October because his ill sister needed it.

He told her she could get her deposit back if that timeframe did not suit her. She opted to get her deposit back but has been unable to do so.

She has now secured alternative accommodation. However, she says she was also offered a bed-sharing arrangement with a different landlord just weeks later.

Ms Blackwell said the case was a terrible indictment of somebody that they would try to exploit somebody who is terribly vulnerable.

The Ban on Sex for Rent Bill 2022 is currently at pre-legislative scrutiny stage by the Oireachtas Justice Committee.

It was introduced in the Dail on March 8, following an investigation since last December by the Irish Examiner into sex for rent offers being made to people seeking homes in the rental sector.

The bill proposes a jail term of seven years and a fine of up to 50,000. The offences in the bill include sex-for-rent propositions, as well as the advertising of such propositions, and the hosting of such advertisements.
Parents are likely to see their childcare costs decline by 200 per month next year and a further 200 per month the following year, after agreement was reached between Government parties ahead of the next budget.

A double payment of child benefit is also expected in the coming months.

Proposals from Childrens Minister Roderic OGorman to reduce childcare fees by 50% over the next two budgets have been accepted and have been described as the number one budget priority aside from the cost-of-living package of once-off measures.

Three Cabinet ministers, speaking to the Irish Examiner, have confirmed that the Coalition parties are agreed that reducing childcare costs will be a centrepiece of this months budget.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have signed up to Mr OGormans proposals, with one minister saying: It is now effectively the Governments position.

A recent survey revealed that, on average, parents pay out nearly 800 per month per child for childcare, though in many regions the cost is substantially higher.

Mr OGorman said a new deal for childcare workers bringing in minimum pay of 13 per hour will be signed off in the next few weeks.

Parents will also likely see a double months payment of the child benefit allowance under the Governments plans to help families with the cost-of-living crisis.

Proposals from Childrens Minister Roderic OGorman to reduce childcare fees by 50% over the next two budgets are described as the 'number one budget priority' aside from the one-off cost-of-living package. File picture: Damien Storan.

A senior Government source has said one strong option on the table is a one-off payment before Christmas, which will be a cost-of-living measure the Government has been signalling.

Child benefit is 140 a month for each child and is payable to the parents or guardians of children under 16 years of age. It is also paid to the parents or guardians of children aged under 18 if the child is in full-time education.

It is also understood that there could be a double payment of pensions and other welfare payments before the end of the year.

When asked about an increase in core social welfare payments and childrens allowance in the budget, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said the Government will focus on helping families financially. He said:

Were looking at all mechanisms by which we can get funding to people as efficiently as possible.

Certainly, were looking at families and children in particular because obviously the costs will be higher there for families  and obviously child-related costs  and there are two elements to it; the cost-of-living package and we want to allocate as much as we possibly can in 2022 financial year to try and give, as quick as possible, ease to people.

Then there are the budgetary measures where we do have to look at it from a policy perspective, a more sustained improvement for example.

It has also been confirmed that people are set to receive at least one but possibly as many as three energy credits of at least 200 this coming winter as part of a cost-of-living package which is now likely to top 3bn.

Officially a proposal for a cap on energy prices is still under consideration, though it is clear the option of the energy credit is the preferred option.

Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, and the three Coalition party leaders  Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar, and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan  will meet on Tuesday evening to decide on the plan.

Three ministers have confirmed to the 'Irish Examiner' that cutting the cost of childcare is a centrepiece of Budget 2023 in the face of the cost-of-living crisis. Stock picture: Getty

Mr McGrath has made clear that the energy credit option is a very live option and senior Government sources have confirmed that while it would kick in this year, its benefit could stretch into 2023. Mr McGrath said:

An electricity credit is obviously a very, very live option because it has worked already and it is something that system could administer quickly.

The previous energy credit scheme  which saw 200 given to every household  cost 400m, and indications are a much greater pot of over 1bn is now in play for this year.

Mr McGrath said the Government is also developing a suite of options around direct supports for households and businesses.

I think that is the most likely scenario, he said. But were not ruling out any option at this stage.

The Government also plans on implementing a windfall tax on energy companies, even if one is not signed off by the EU before September 27, Mr Ryan said.

The Green Party leader said that there is absolute agreement on the tax in Europe, which will claw back excess profits from fossil fuel-burning energy companies.

Budget negotiations

Tough budget negotiations are expected to take place in the coming days, but soundings suggest Health Minister Stephen Donnelly may suffer a spending blow.

Michael McGrath has admitted health spending generally is an issue, which his and Mr Donnellys officials are working through at the moment.

He also said relations between officials are workman-like and very professional but added that budget discussions can be complex and challenging".

He said: The negotiations would be tough, because the scope for new measures is tight.

I recognise everyone has legitimate ambitions, and Ill be as flexible and as supportive as they possibly can be, but there is a constraint and there has to be a constraint.

But Mr McGrath said health has fallen short in completing the level of recruitment that it received sanction for, despite being given the budget.
It was more than a simple gesture; it was a statement of intent.

When Britain's King Charles turned to leave St Annes Cathedral, he crossed the aisle and made a beeline to the President of Ireland Michael D Higgins and warmly clasped his hand.

The two heads of state, who have developed a strong personal relationship in recent years, are keenly aware of symbolism.

The example set by the late Queen Elizabeth and Mr Higgins predecessor Mary McAleese, during visits to their respective countries, is clearly one they are keen to follow.

If protecting Anglo-Irish relations amid the ongoing turbulence of Brexit is a priority for them both, their friendly encounter at the close of Tuesdays ecumenical service in Belfast offered ample evidence of it.

President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina, Prime Minister Liz Truss, Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris at the service (Liam McBurney/PA)

Only a few paces away stood British Prime Minister Liz Truss and Taoiseach Micheal Martin, two leaders who will have pivotal roles if the thorny impasse over the Northern Ireland Protocol is to be settled.

The pair had earlier spoken intently as they waited for the service in the cavernous Anglican cathedral to begin.

Behind them Sinn Feins vice president Michelle ONeill sat beside DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, two other politicians at opposing sides of the protocol dispute.

Nearby were new Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney.

It was almost as if the seat planner was keen to get some conversations going.

The watching elected representatives were certainly left in no doubt that the king and President are intent on strengthening the British Irish bond, irrespective of recent political strains.

Earlier, the king and his wife, Camilla, were met with cheers as they arrived at the cathedral for the service in memory of the queen.

Dozens of students, cadets, scouts in their uniforms, as well as charity workers, were among those who gathered opposite the cathedral and waited in the hot sun to catch sight of the new monarch.

The crowds cheered and sang God Save the King as the royal motorcade arrived.

Prime Minister Liz Truss greets Sinn Fein vice president Michelle ONeill as Taoiseach Micheal Martin looks on (Liam McBurney/PA)

As the new king ascended the steps of the cathedral, he turned and waved to the crowd that had waited to see a moment of history.

Students from Belfast Royal Academy Kaitlyn, 17, Lucy-Beth, 17, and Sophia, 18, were among those invited to gather at the metal barricades at St Annes.

Its a historic moment, said Sophia, with Lucy-Beth adding that it was bittersweet coming to see the new monarch while also mourning the death of the queen.

He waved and seemed interested. It was nice to see he appreciated the crowd, Kaitlyn said.

Florence, 17, from Bloomfield Collegiate School, said it was a monumental occasion and very symbolic to have Ms ONeill and Mr Donaldson unite in showing their respects to the late queen.

She said that a couple of decades ago no-one would have expected such unity.

Im so proud to be a part of it, she said.

Following the service, the royal couple emerged into the blinding sunshine to a rousing rendition of God Save the King.

Charles and Camilla then greeted the well-wishers that had waited outside shaking hands and exchanging a few words with people who expressed their condolences to the new king.

Carol Williams, from Atlas Womens Centre in Lisburn, was among those who shook his hand.

It was wonderful because we thought it was going to be very long today but it has passed so quickly, she said.

And we were right at the front and we got to shake hands with both of them. That was lovely.

She added: I think hell make a wonderful king. I think hes had a great role model because of his mother, and hes had plenty of time to watch her, and know how to deal with things and I think hell be great.

King Charles III greets well wishers outside St Annes Cathedral (Michael Cooper/PA)

Gay Sherry-Bingham and Mandy Gilmore, from Atlas, said that when they shook Charles hand, he recognised them from having met them twice before.

He spoke to us and said how lovely Belfast was and as he was walking past, one of our other colleagues heard him saying, my two supporters, Gay said.

Mandy added: And he said thank you for being here and thanks for your support, very thoughtful.

When asked whether hell be a good king, they answered in unison: Absolutely.

Among the young people who met Charles outside the cathedral was Noah Workman, a member of a junior Orange Lodge in the Ballynafeigh district of south Belfast.

I was really excited. I wasnt expecting to get really close to him, said nine-year-old Noah, who was wearing his orange collarette.

Hes an amazing person, so kind, hes going to be one of the greatest kings that have ever been.

Its been the most amazing day for all of the people around the world.

President Michael D Higgins leaves St Annes Cathedral (Liam McBurney/PA)

For Karen McShane, a trustee of the local LGBT charity the Rainbow Project, it was a very important day for Belfast, and the unity shown was a signal of hope for the future.

The atmosphere here today was very relaxed, she said.

A lot of people think of Belfast as being quite tense and quite difficult. But everybody is here today with the same agenda. We all wanted to see something positive as a result of the kings visit today.

And I for one, from a nationalist community, am very glad to have been invited along to be able to support that message.

There was a couple of hundred people here invited in front of St Annes Cathedral to participate in proceedings today.

Im delighted to see the next generation of young people coming through, a lot of school children here, some studying history, some studying politics, who were very keen to see the new king.

They were very keen to pick up on the symbolism of what was involved today.

She said it signified a positive direction for Northern Ireland.

For too long we have been two different societies, yet we all occupy this one island, and this one area of Northern Ireland, she said.

We have to be able to live together.

Hopefully today is the symbolism of King Charles now moving forward to try and unite those two different sides of the community.
A French student who arrived in Ireland in recent weeks was defrauded of over 3,000 in an accommodation scam.

In a warning to other students about similar scams, gardai have shared details of the woman's ordeal, stating that they met with her on September 3  just two days before she was due to begin her studies in Cork.

Prior to coming to Cork she had posted on a Facebook group looking for accommodation, explained a garda spokesperson.

She was messaged by a male who informed her his landlord had a room for rent.

The man gave details of the landlord, who happened to be French-Irish, and provided a French phone number.

She proceeded to contact him and after some discussion paid him via bank transfer over 3,000 for a deposit and two month's rent, the spokesman added.

However, when she arrived at the rental property advertised, the door was answered by a resident there who said there was no room for rent and that the name she had was not the name of the landlord.

It follows a spate of similar instances in Cork city, with 26 accommodation scams reported so far this year which have scammed victims out of over 60,000.

The woman joined a Facebook group to seek accommodation in Cork city.

These losses have included domestic incidents and also incidents from this jurisdiction to another, said the spokesperson.

Listing other incidents in Cork city, two students paid 2,200 for non-existent accommodation, while another was scammed out of 1,200.

Another student paid over 2,800 as a deposit for a property but discovered the house had been sold to new owners.

Read More Student forced to sleep in car duped out of 600 in rental fraud

Other examples of accommodation fraud given were students seeking Erasmus housing abroad, or holiday accommodation.

Gardai have urged people to spot red flags when seeking accommodation, including:

When the landlord is unable to meet up to show you the property in person;

If all communication with the landlord is solely through text/WhatsApp or other social media platforms;

Cloned sites  where a website looks exactly like a legitimate site, but with very small changes in the web address;

When the property is offered with no questions asked and payment is demanded immediately before any lease is signed;

When you are asked to pay cash, cryptocurrency, or money via a non-bank transfer (such as wire transfer).

An Garda Siochana advise prospective tenants to never agree to rent a property without first having an opportunity to view it, and to never hand over cash and to ask for a proper receipt.

They are also urging people to ensure that the keys work and you have proper contact details for the landlord/agent.
Its hard to imagine anything in the world that Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Enoch Burke could possibly have in common. But actually, there were two things. They both dominated the news cycle nationally and globally. And they both managed to drive the world of Twitter mad.

Twitter is a mad world anyway. Every time you post something you have to be prepared to see your reputation torn to shreds, your personality mocked, your intellect (such as it is) questioned and dismissed, and your appearance jeered at. Theres the other side to social media of course  and thats what I value  it can be a great place to start a decent discussion about stuff, even the occasional lively argument.

But it is extraordinary how the power to stick whatever you like up there can go to some peoples heads. Big events in particular can make social media an ugly place, where the most extreme views can often dominate and where hatred can be spewed.

There can be few bigger events, of course, than the death of Queen Elizabeth. I admit I was surprised at how moved I was by her sudden slipping away. The whole story will be told in time, I suppose, but it was genuinely shocking that one day she was doing her duty by seeing Boris Johnson off the premises and greeting Liz Truss as her new Prime Minister. She looked frail in the pictures but she was upright and smiling. Then suddenly her family was summoned to her bedside. It was as if she had decided she had two more duties to do and that would be enough.

She was a woman of duty, theres no doubt about that. Martin Luther King used to talk about how easy it was to lead with a megaphone in your hand and battalions at your back. And how much harder it was to lead by serving. Queen Elizabeth was and saw herself as a servant of the people and a servant of the weird British constitution.

That seemed to make her frequently tough and unyielding in some of her relationships, but she could never ever be accused of letting her people down.

Like many other Irish people, I have a memory of meeting her, when she made that historic visit to Dublin, at the reception in the Guinness Storehouse.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth in the Gravity Bar at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.

We were all gathered in little pods, and I was with Mandy (who was the only woman with Downs Syndrome in the room). The Queen smiled really warmly at Mandy, and held her hand rather than shook it. I was introduced as the CEO of Barnardos and she twinkled up at me and said Im your patron then. I gabbled something about Barnardos in Ireland being independent but that we were proud of the fact that the founder of both organisations was a Dubliner. She twinkled again and was gone.

But apart from her personal qualities and the impact she had as a major world personality, you had a very strong sense that her death was a genuinely historic moment. Even if the tectonic plates didnt move, you could certainly begin to hear them creak.

The kingdom over which Elizabeth reigned is a deeply divided place. Its divided north and south, its divided by poverty, its divided by increasingly strong nationalist instincts, and its divided perhaps most of all by Brexit.

Brexit has brought out the very worst in some attitudes  the desire to control borders, for instance, has led the country into the unbelievable process of trying to send some of the most oppressed people in the world to Rwanda.

The country still hasnt recovered from Covid-19, and there will undoubtedly be more scandalous revelations about how public money was misused throughout that period. And its entire population is under terrible pressure, which can only get worse, because of the energy crisis. Its government is distrusted and its governing party is at odds with itself.

A country like that needs strong cement to hold it together. Elizabeth was, invisibly, that cement  the only problem is, they may not have known how much they needed her until she was gone. Her successor will do his absolute best, but he will struggle to carry the nation on his back the way Elizabeth did.

This is why youd think that somewhere on social media, youd find reflection. And there is some. But its outweighed enormously by all the contempt and bile  not for Queen Elizabeth, except in a small number of cases, but for the rest of her family.

Tabloids attack

You can see readily enough that the bile is led by some of Britains tabloid newspapers  surely some of them have long ceased to earn the word newspaper being applied to them  and by some of its most rancid commentators, the likes of Piers Morgan. A lot of it  especially the vilest and most racist bits  is aimed at Meghan Markle.

Youd want to be a lot more knowledgeable than me (or the racists) to know the truth behind the attacks. But actually, there are too many social media warriors who have no interest in the truth. Theyre just happy to besmirch the memory of a monarch to whom unity meant a lot by spreading as much disunity and division as they can.

It had only one plus to it. It wiped Enoch Burke off the news and off social media, at least for the moment. And to use a word he might choose, that was a blessing.

Let me declare my position. I suspect (I have no way of knowing for sure) that Enoch Burke is a well-qualified and diligent teacher. I suspect hes also one of those teachers who would be quite offended if any of his students called him anything but Mr Burke.

I find his behaviour in refusing to use the pronoun that one of his students wanted absolutely inexplicable. And I can see no Christianity in his behaviour towards his colleagues or his students.

I also think the school played into his hands. I have the utmost sympathy for the position in which they found themselves. But to be honest, if he wanted to sit in an empty classroom for the duration of his normal working day, Id have locked him in and opened the door when the school bell rang for students to go home.

Facts replaced by prejudice

But the school did what they had to do, and Twitter went mad. More or less equally divided, but the pile-on in his support, as a latter-day Christian martyr, was something to behold.

One person whom I used to respect tweeted gibberish to the effect that this was going to happen to all of us when hate legislation became law. Facts were replaced by prejudice  especially anti-trans prejudice  and the truth of this mans carry-on was ignored.

The fact is that social media  and especially Twitter  cant deal with big stuff. It sets out to trivialise, and that enables people (especially when they can be anonymous) to use it as a platform for bile and nothing else. Not for the first time, its long past time that it had some basic rules of decency, and some regard for truth, forced on it.
The firearms officer who fatally shot Chris Kaba in south London a week ago has been suspended from duty, the Metropolitan Police said.

Mr Kaba, 24, who had been due to become a father, was killed while unarmed on September 5 following a police pursuit of his car which ended in Streatham Hill.

His Audi was hemmed in by two police vehicles in Kirkstall Gardens, a narrow residential street, and one round was fired from a police weapon.

Chris Kaba was shot by armed officers (Family handout)

Mr Kabas family had called for the officer involved to be suspended, and on Monday evening Met Police Assistant Commissioner Amanda Pearson confirmed the force had done so.

She said: This decision has been reached following careful consideration of a number of factors, including the significant impact on public confidence, and in light of the Independent Office for Police Conduct announcing a homicide investigation.

Our thoughts and sympathies remain with Mr Kabas family and friends.

We understand how concerned communities are, particularly black communities, and thank those who are working closely with our local officers.

Ms Pearson had said on Friday that the officer involved was not currently on operational duties and their work status would be carefully considered going forward.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he supported the Mets move to suspend the officer.

Mr Khan said: I welcome this decision and am in regular contact with the IOPC and the new Commissioner.

My thoughts remain with Chris Kabas loved ones at this intensely difficult time as the IOPC continue their independent homicide investigation.
Burma Myanmar Junta Troops Retreat From Southern Shan State Town

Junta firearms and ammunition seized by Karenni groups in Moebye. / Karenni Nationalities Defense Force

Myanmars junta forces have retreated from Moebye in Pekon Township, southern Shan State, after reportedly suffering heavy losses during four days of attacks.

Clashes broke out in Moebye last Thursday when resistance groups and ethnic armed organizations, including the Karenni National Defense Force (KNDF) and the Karenni Army, attacked approximately 300 regime troops raiding the town.

An estimated 85 regime soldiers were reportedly killed, despite regular indiscriminate junta aerial and artillery strikes.

A large haul of weapons and ammunition was purportedly seized by the resistance groups.

On Monday morning, regime forces deployed around a church retreated to their former base near Hwari Suplai village, according to the KNDF and Moebye Peoples Defense Force.

Retreating junta soldiers left numerous landmines around the church, which were defused by resistance groups on Monday. They seized large amounts of junta ammunition left in the church, the groups said.

Fighter jets bombed us like rain but their foot soldiers are weak, a KNDF spokesman told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. We are ready to break any junta offensive.

During the fighting, two resistance fighters and an eight-year-old were killed and more than 50 resistance troops were injured and over 100 buildings destroyed in regime bombardments.

Around 5,000 Moebye residents fled their homes and resistance groups urged them not to come back due to the risk of more clashes and the danger of landmines.

The junta is facing repeated attacks across the country.
Burma NUG: Over 3,000 Civilians Killed by Myanmar Regime Since Last September

Regime troops seen during a crackdown on a peaceful anti-coup protest in the capital Naypyitaw in February 2021. / The Irrawaddy

At least 3,010 civilians were killed by Myanmar junta troops over the past 11 months, while nearly 2,000 were injured, said the parallel National Unity Government (NUG).

With military regime forces stepping up attacks on civilian targets, the NUGs defense ministry said in its latest report published on Monday that the junta committed 6,305 assaults on civilians from September last year to August this year. Sagaing Region suffered the most with 1,923 attacks, followed by Magwe with 864 and Yangon with 601.

Sagaing also saw the highest number of resistance attacks on junta forces, followed by Magwe, according to the NUGs report. Yangon experienced the highest number of bomb attacks on regime targets.

Much of Myanmar has been in revolt since last years coup, with the regimes deadly crackdowns on pro-democracy protesters forcing many young people to take up arms.

Last September, the NUG declared a defensive war against the junta. Since then, the NUGs armed wing, the Peoples Defense Forces (PDF) and allied ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), have escalated their attacks targeting the Myanmar military and regime administrations across the country, including major cities.

The NUGs defense ministry said that since the declaration of the defensive war, over 20,150 junta soldiers have been killed and another 7,000 wounded, while 1,500 resistance fighters have died in clashes. Last week, the NUG said that the regime has now lost control of at least half the country to PDFs and EAOs.

In response, the military regime is committing increasing numbers of atrocities including arbitrary killings, extrajudicial executions, the use of torture, using civilians as human shields, air and artillery strikes on civilian targets, the looting and burning of houses and the use of sexual violence to terrorize the population.

Some 20,153 houses as well as several religious buildings have been destroyed by junta attacks.

On Monday, the United Nations (UN) Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar said that there have been an increasing number of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the regime since the coup.

Nicholas Koumjian, head of the UN Mechanism, called on all countries to support breaking the cycle of impunity in Myanmar and bringing perpetrators of the most serious crimes to justice.

Rights group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said that it had confirmed 2,273 civilian deaths since the military takeover, while over 15,400 people have been arrested by the regime.

AAPP added that the actual numbers of deaths and detentions are likely much higher and that it will continue to update the figures.
Burma Pro-Myanmar Junta Militia Sells NLD Supporters Possessions

Nationalist monk U Wasawa and his Pyu Saw Htee followers in Kantbalu Township. / CJ

Pro-Myanmar junta Pyu Saw Htee militia members are selling off the possessions of National League for Democracy (NLD) supporters in Mingon village in the south of Kantbalu Township, Sagaing Region, according to residents.

Last week they sold six cows and four buffalo owned by five families and a tractor, water pumps and furniture owned by another villager. It was reportedly the second time they sold off NLD supporters property.

U Paw Tar, whose possessions were sold by the Pyu Saw Htee, said: I fled the village and my neighbors told me over the phone. I asked my friends to check and they confirmed all my possessions were gone.

The Pyu Saw Htee members farm my 5 hectares of land and use my house as a base. I heard they are planning to sell my house, he added.

He estimated that the militia members had sold more than 10 million kyats worth of his possessions.

Around 50 militia members, most of whom are villagers, led by Bo Naing, are based in the 200-house village.

An anonymous resident said: Pyu Saw Htee members become increasingly despicable. First they threatened NLD supporters with their rifles, then they stole from those who fled and they sold 14 cows and two buffalo the first time, he said.

Pyu Saw Htee has now sold 26 cattle owned by NLD supporters.

Around 100 villagers have fled Mingon amid Pyu Saw Htee threats and members say they will steal from anyone who does not return.

Pyu Saw Htee members force NLD supporters out. They are beaten and harassed. The militia members are their neighbors so they know who supports the red [NLD] and green [military] and do as they please, said a resident.

A Kantbalu NLD member, U Nyunt Win Naing, said: Pyu Saw Htee members threaten to seize cattle from deserted houses to force villagers to return but they cant risk their lives for their belongings.

Pyu Saw Htee members have set up checkpoints around the village using weapons from the junta, according to the residents.

There have been no resistance attacks on the Pyu Saw Htee in Mingon but the militia members have allegedly killed three villagers and not returned their bodies.

The regime has carried out five air attacks with two Mi35 assault helicopters and one Mi17 transport helicopter and one Yak 130 fighter jet and the regime has airlifted in reinforcements to Kantbalu Township five times since August 23.
Analysis Like Previous Regime, Myanmar Junta Pursuing Nuclear Weapons

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His most recent visit to Russia has made it increasingly clear that junta chief and militarist Min Aung Hlaing is chasing the unrealized dream of his predecessor as military dictator, Than Shwe: to possess a nuclear weapon.

Some two decades ago, revealing his desire for an atom bomb as a deterrent against external threats and provocations, Than Shwe told his confidant, then Science and Technology Minister U Thaung, Ko Thaung, if possible, do make an atom bomb, [I dont mind] even if it is just the size of a bael fruit. The military dictator said this during a regular informal evening meeting of generals at the War Office, according to a military official who was in attendance. U Thaung was also a former military officer.

Min Aung Hlaing, who was handpicked by Than Shwe, has inherited this dream.

During his trip to Russia last week, Min Aung Hlaing again met Alexey Likhachev, director general of Russian state energy company Rosatom. The junta chief previously met him during a weeklong personal visit to Russia in July, his second since last years coup.

On that occasion, the two sides signed memorandums of understanding to cooperate on skills development in nuclear energy in Myanmar, Rosatom said in a release.

Last weeks visit saw the regime sign an initial agreement with Russias atomic energy agency on the possible implementation of a modular reactor project in Myanmar.

Junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun told the press that the project was aimed solely at developing nuclear energy for peaceful use in Myanmar.

But it is not the first time the Myanmar military and Rosatom have announced plans to work together on a nuclear project.

In 2007 the then military regime led by Than Shwe struck a deal with Rosatom to build a nuclear research center in Myanmar, which Rosatom said would be under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency. But construction never moved forward amid pushback from the U.S. and other countries.

In his speeches, Than Shwe constantly invoked the need for a proper defense capability that would ensure total protection of the country, and to apply science and technology to modernize the military.

This perceived need led Than Shwe to approach Russia and North Korea about acquiring technology to produce nuclear energy. Russian and North Korean experts arrived in Myanmar under his rule, and hundreds of Myanmar military officers left for Russian academies to study nuclear science and missile technology.

The regime defended its actions by saying the nuclear energy would used for peaceful purposes in the interests of the peoplethe same justification offered by Min Aung Hlaings current regime.

The No. 3 man in Than Shwes regime, General Shwe Mann, and other military leaders made a secret visit to Pyongyang in 2008 and signed agreements on defense cooperation. In 2012, Shwe Mann, by that time the Speaker of Myanmars Lower House under U Thein Seins government, said the visit was only intended to study air defense systems, and that only a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the countries militaries was signed during the visit.

In 2010, however, Major Sai Thein Win, an engineer in the Myanmar militarys Science and Technology Workshop (known locally as the nuclear unit) who received a doctorate in atomic energy in Russia, publicly disclosed information, including photos, showing that the military regime was conducting research, with technological help from North Korea, on possessing nuclear weapons.

The nuclear research program was abandoned under U Thein Seins quasi-civilian government when the country embarked on its purported democratic transition in 2011.

Myanmar signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 2016 under the democratically elected government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy.

But since the military coup last year, the two countries have grown closer, with Moscow backing the putsch and Naypyitaw supporting Russias invasion of Ukraine, as both become increasingly isolated internationally under US and European sanctions. Russia has become the regimes major arms supplier, selling to the regime weapons to crush the resistance movement.

Though Min Aung Hlaing publicly says he intends to use nuclear energy peacefully for the socio-economic development of the Myanmar people, it is clear that his real intentions arent that simple.

He surely feels irritated that the world has shunned him for his coup and subsequent bloody crackdowns on civilians. He may wonder whether possessing militarized nuclear technology would make a difference in that regarda strategy adopted by North Korea. At the very least, as a military dictator who has demonstrated his total lack of concern for the wellbeing of the people, Min Aung Hlaings promise that such technology would be used for peaceful purposes in health and electricity generation is highly suspicious. He clearly believes possessing a nuclear weapon has the potential to guarantee his position as dictator for life.
Guest Column China-backed Port in Western Myanmar Depriving Locals of Land and Jobs

A China-owned oil refinery on Maday Island off Kyaukphyu, Rakhine State. / AFP

Despite the efforts of Myanmars military regime to expedite the development of the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (KPSEZ) and deep sea port in western Myanmars Rakhine State, the project is facing significant delays due to local protests and the impact of last years coup.

Spanning 4,300 acres, the KPSEZ and the 643-acre port are considered to be the backbone of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), part of Beijings ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.

The project is vital to Chinas interests, as it will provide the country with direct access to the Indian Ocean, so allowing Chinas maritime traffic to bypass the congested Strait of Malacca. Beijing hopes also to use the CMEC to boost development in landlocked Yunnan Province, which borders Myanmar.

China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) inked a framework agreement with the KPSEZ Management Committee in November 2018 for the development of the SEZ. That was followed by the signing of an agreement for the construction of a deep sea port during the January 2020 visit of Chinas President Xi Jinping to Myanmar.

Under the deal, the state-owned CITIC owns 70 per cent of the development, with the Myanmar-owned KPSEZ Deep Seaport Co. Ltd holding the remaining 30 per cent.

But since the agreement was signed, Myanmar has been hurled into turmoil by last years coup.

At the same time, overall progress on the development has been hampered by issues mostly linked to the concerns of locals over the project.

While there has been no development as yet of the KPSEZ, junta-controlled agencies are working to seize 250 acres of land in the proposed industrial zone. The land belongs to more than 70 local farmers from four village tracts, and many of them are opposed to the compulsory acquisition of their land.

A few of the farmers have alleged that dubious legal documents purporting to show that their land is held by other owners are being used to try and seize their land.

Previously, there were reports of many land disputes over the Shwe gas field and pipeline project in Kyaukphyu Township, with locals protesting against the companies involved.

Kyaukphyu residents are also aware of the problems with other China-backed projects in Myanmar, which has added to their hostility towards the KPSEZ and deep sea port development.

Local fisher folk have seen their livelihoods endangered by the Shwe gas field and pipeline, which saw no-fishing zones created and resulted in a scarcity of fish. The situation is most severe on Maday Island, where oil and gas is stored and the movement of tankers prevents fishing.

Nor has the gas field and pipeline created alternative jobs for locals. Residents were promised employment by the companies involved, but they now allege that they are not even allowed to walk past the oil and gas terminals.

Some four villages on Maday lsland, with more than 760 households and 3,000 residents, will be affected by the development of the KPSEZ and deep sea port. Most of the households are dependent on fishing grounds where the deep sea port is set to be constructed.

Part of the port will also be built on Ramree Island, where local fisher folk will also be affected, so around 4,000 families will be impacted by the project.

CITIC has claimed that it is coordinating with local business people to provide new employment opportunities for the local population but, so far, nothing tangible has happened.

While the military regime is working to address operational issues, including the indifferent approach of CITIC after securing the rights to develop the zone and the port, it also needs to take into account the concerns of local people.

China-backed projects can only be beneficial for Myanmar if they add economic and social value to the people of Myanmar.

Yan Naing is a pseudonym for a political analyst on Myanmar and China
The Sycamores traveled out of Terre Haute this past Saturday to take on the Purdue Boilermakers. The Sycamores were coming off a 1-0 start to the season, defeating the North Alabama Lions, 17-14 in overtime. For Purdue, the same can't be said, as they lose their first game of the new season 
GUEST EVENT: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE EVENT INVITE 19 SEPTEMBER 2022. NVIDIA will host its next GTC conference virtually from 1922 September (2023 in ANZ), featuring a news-packed keynote by founder and CEO Jensen Huang, and more than 200 sessions with global business and technology leaders.

Free registration in Australia and New Zealand is open now.

GTC will also feature a fireside chat with Turing Award winners Yoshua Bengio, Geoff Hinton and Yann LeCun discussing how AI will evolve and help solve challenging problems. The discussion will be moderated by Sanja Fidler, vice president of AI research at NVIDIA.

GTC talks will explore some of the key advances driving AI and the metaverse -- including large language models, natural language processing, digital twins, digital biology, robotics and climate science.

Major talks include:

 BMW, ILM, Kroger, Lowe's, Siemens, NVIDIA and others on using digital twins for a range of applications, from manufacturing to neurosurgery to climate modelling

 ByteDance's deployment of large-scale GPU clusters for machine learning and deep learning

 Medtronic's use of AI for robotic surgery and the operating room of the future

 Boeing's digital transformation enabling aircraft engineering and production to be more flexible and efficient

 Deutsche Bank's adoption of AI and cloud technologies to improve the customer experience

 Johnson & Johnson's use of hybrid cloud computing for healthcare, plus a session on its use of quantum computing simulation for pharmaceutical research

 How pharmaceutical companies can use transformer AI models and digital twins to accelerate drug discovery

 United Nations and NVIDIA scientists discussing AI for climate modelling, including disaster prediction, deforestation and agriculture

 Amazon Web Services, Ericsson, Verizon and NVIDIA leaders describing augmented- and virtual-reality applications for 5G and optimising 5G deployment with digital twins

 Mercedes-Benz, Siemens, Magic Leap and NVIDIA executives, joined by author Matthew Ball and journalist Dean Takahashi, discussing industrial Omniverse applications and spatial computing

 Adobe, Pixar and NVIDIA leaders explaining how Universal Scene Description is becoming a standard for the metaverse

GTC offers a range of sessions tailored for many different audiences, including business executives, data scientists, enterprise IT leaders, designers, developers, researchers and students.

Content for developers and researchers

GTC provides participants at all stages of their careers with outstanding learning-and-development opportunities, many of which are free. Developers, researchers and students can sign up for 135 sessions on a broad range of topics, including:

 5 Paths to a Career in AI

 Accelerating AI Workflows and Maximising Investments in Cloud Infrastructure

 The AI Journey From Academics to Entrepreneurship

 Applying Lessons From Kaggle-Winning Solutions to Real-World Problems

 Developing HPC Applications With Standard C++, Fortran and Python

 Defining the Quantum-Accelerated Supercomputer

 Insights From NVIDIA Research

Attendees who wish to strengthen their skills can sign up for hands-on, full-day technical workshops and two-hour training labs offered by the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute (DLI). Twenty workshops are available in multiple time zones and languages, and more than 25 free training labs are available in accelerated computing, computer vision, data science, conversational AI, natural language processing and other topics.

Insights for business leaders

This GTC will feature more than 30 sessions from some of the world's leading companies in key industry sectors, including financial services, industrial, retail, automotive and healthcare. Speakers will share detailed insights to advance business using AI and metaverse technology, including: building AI centres; the business value of digital twins; and new technologies that will define how we live, work and play.

In addition to those from the companies listed above, senior executives from AT&T, BMW, Fox Sports, Lucid Motors, Medtronic, Meta, Microsoft, NIO, Pinterest, Polestar, United Airlines and U.S. Bank are among the industry leaders scheduled to present.

Sessions for startups

NVIDIA Inception, a global program with more than 11,000 startups, will host several sessions, including:

 AI for VCs: Six startup leaders describe how they are driving advancements from robotics to restaurants

 How NVIDIA Inception startups are advancing healthcare and life sciences

 How NVIDIA technologies can help startups

 Revolutionising agriculture with AI in emerging markets

Explore the full GTC session catalog and register to attend today.
Independent analytics company Opensignal has analysed over 100 global markets to take a closer look into the cellular no signal problem that mobile users face, which satellite connectivity seeks to solve.

The analysis comes timely as Apple adds an Emergency SoS using satellites to the iPhone 14 range initially available in the US and Canada. The feature may possibly be available on cellular smartwatches as well.

Huawei has also introduced a similar feature in the Mate 50.

To date, Qualcomm, Ericsson, and Thales are starting to test satellite connectivity as part of their 5G Release 17 development work.

Rugged phones manufacturer Bullitt will launch a smartphone with satellite connectivity in early 2023. Apple and Globalstar are rumoured to be working together.

Elon Musks Starlink has announced a deal with T-Mobile US also for launch in 2023 while Google has confirmed support will arrive in Android 14 also in 2023.

Opensignal said Apple is able to move quickly because it has more in-house control over hardware and software than many of its competitors.

It added companies need to gauge how important low earth orbit connectivity is in order to launch it for mobile users.

This is critical given the other tasks needed such as creating and testing new dedicated hardware, adding software support, gaining per country regulatory approval.

Service providers will likely aim to target users in richer markets first as those users will be most able to pay additional tariff fees.

Across the G7 group of leading economies, Opensignal data shows clear differences in the proportion of time users spend without cellular service, ranging from 2.14% in France to just 0.51% in Japan.

While these percentages may seem small, there are times it will be more valuable to users than others, for example, the ability to send an emergency message when off-grid during a car breakdown or because of a hiking accident.

Some locations are simply extremely costly to reach and there will always be gaps where satellite connectivity can help.

Initial launches of smartphone satellite connectivity by Huawei and Apple focus on emergency messaging because:

1. Smartphones may struggle to see all fast-moving low earth satellites. Existing home broadband satellite data services suffer interruptions when the satellite dish lacks a clear view of the sky and so cannot see the full orbiting constellation. A limited view of the sky can also slow signal acquisition. This situation is more likely for a smartphone user where trees, mountains, or buildings may limit sky visibility. However, a short message service will be able to slip through when the mobile device can see a satellite avoiding the need for continuous service.

2. Battery power may limit more demanding services. Unlike fixed satellite dishes, smartphones have relatively small batteries that are needed for all functions. Off grid, an owner will need the battery to support navigation  GPS is also battery hungry  and may need to use a bright display for daylight visibilityagain a battery drain. Short messaging will minimise the additional drain on the smartphone.

3. Messaging keeps data costs low. Short messages  whether iMessage, Signal, WhatsApp or Line  use modest amounts of data. This means the mobile service provider can manage the roaming data costs. This is similar to the model for SMS in the late 90s.

While nationally, the amount of time users spend without a mobile signal may be relatively low, there are large regional differences that offer opportunities for satellite service.

In the US, the national no signal percentage is 1.09%, but in eight states users spent approximately double or more time than the national average without cellular service: Alaska (4.25%), Wyoming (3.98%), Vermont (3.86%), Montana (3.48%), West Virginia (3.44%), Idaho (2.47%), Colorado (2.08%), and Oregon (2.05%).

Users on vacation will value the peace of mind of satellite connectivity as well as those states residents.

Similarly, across Canada, Opensignal sees no signal time range from 1.26% in Alberta up to 2.2% in British Columbia. In France, and especially in Brazil, the time users spend without service is higher indicating there are clear global opportunities.

The challenge for service providers eyeing satellite connectivity lies in markets with less cellular signal availability which tend to be emerging markets.

In those markets, GDP per head tends to be lower and so the commercial opportunity may need to involve governmental organisations, to tie into meaningful connectivity programs, rather than the private sector alone.

Companies also need to assess the other ways in which to fill in coverage gaps, Opensignal sugested.

In rural locations, regulators and operators may do well to look to national roaming agreements to fill in quick win gaps in service. In other words, where one cellular operator has service, but others currently do not, should regulators intervene to mandate national roaming?

Most likely this will offer a better experience than satellite connectivity, but equally it will not solve the connectivity challenge on its own, Opensignal said.

This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 12 September 2022.
Cyber security has never been more important than it is today, with cyber criminals craftier than ever at breaking into networks, misusing malware, ramping up ransomware attacks, causing havoc with hacking during the COVID chaos, all of which needs the resolute response of pragmatic security solutions - but that's not all, with the impressive Elliot Dellys joining iTWireTV to tell us more.

Phronesis Security. Founded in 2021 by philosopher and former ASD operations manager Elliot Dellys, who is now CEO and Chief Realist, the company is Australias first B-Corp certified cyber security firm.

Trusted by government agencies and technology start-ups to provide pragmatic security solutions, the firm prides itself on its unique business model that dedicates a proportion of revenue to high impact charities that are helping solve the world's greatest challenges.

Specialising in world-class governance, risk and compliance services, cutting-edge penetration testing, innovative security architecture, tailored security awareness and education campaigns, as well as security management and strategy through its proven vCISO offering, the companys B Corp certification was certified in June 2022, genuinely making it the first such cybersecurity company in Australia, and comes in recognition of the positive impact created through its business operations.

More detail on the B-Corp certification is below, but first, here is our video interview with Elliot Dellys, followed by a summary of the topics we spoke about, where Elliot also talks about the importance of mental health in the sector, which in 2022 and beyond is also vitally important.

The video interview is embedded below, after which is a summary of the topics we spoke about, so please watch and read on!

I started by introducing Elliot, and asked him to introduce Phronesis Security to us all, the products and services offered, and the difference the company offers to the market.





We discussed the name Phronesis and why it was chosen, after which Elliot explained why B Corp certification is important, and the difference it makes.





Elliot explained the philanthropic model, which you can also read more about below, why he was inspired to adopt it, and how this fits into the mission of doing cyber security for good.





Next we looked at the dedicated mental health and community leave Phronesis offers its staff, and how this is also a very important development in the modern world.





After this we looked at a typical onboard process for new customers and the lengths taken to understand each customers situation.





We concluded with memories of Elliots first computer, his history in the world of tech and cyber security, great advice received in life, and his final message to viewers, readers, customers and partners.

So, what is more detail on Phronesis Security?

The company has also deployed a corporate philanthropy model, inspired by effective altruism and the 80,000 hours project, in which 10% of monthly profit (capped to 3% of revenue ) is donated to a small number of highly effective charities, selected through a rigorous process to ensure the greatest impact per dollar.

Phronesis Security works with an array of clients including government, critical infrastructure, charities, payment providers and technology start-ups.

Achieving an assessment score of 102.2 from B Lab, and exceeding the minimum certification score of 80 that is calculated through a rigorous assessment measuring the companys overall positive impact on the environment, community, customers, governance, and workers, the company also scored highly for its overall mission transparency and business ethics, with a number of internal initiatives designed to reward environmental awareness, employee wellbeing and culture rather than sales figures and business development.

Recognised in the B Corp Workers score, Phronesis Security also offers a raft of handsome employee benefits as labour shortages increase and the war for talent in the cybersecurity sector heats up. Phronesis consultants receive generous training allowances, dedicated mental health and community leave, work from home office and ICT allowances, and a remote-by-default policy that provides employees with access to coworking spaces over 750 locations across 38 countries.

Underpinning the impressive B Corp impact score is the company's monthly charity donations, embedded into the core operating model of the business and dedicated to supporting charities that are internally validated as being amongst the most effective per-dollar in Australia: Against Malaria Foundation, Australian Indigenous Education Foundation and Carbon Positive Australia.

In the 12 months since launching, Phronesis Security has been able to support the building of 1,433 anti-malaria bed nets, approximately 24% of the cost of an Indigenous tertiary education scholarship, and offset 244 tonnes of CO2 equivalent against a calculated annual footprint of 79.45 tonnes. The plan is for the companys impact to scale with growth.

Phronesis Security proudly believes no client should work with them due to their donation model, which it sees as a happy by-product of its mission of doing cyber security for good. The Melbourne-based firm attracts and retains its clients through a deep commitment to tackling cyber security as a business challenge, rather than a technology challenge, in which communication and understanding the clients core business and culture are utterly essential.

In a sector where improving social and environmental impact is often not the core focus, Phronesis Security CEO and Founder Elliot Dellys has a vision where corporate philanthropy is the norm, not the exception, and hopes his model will be adopted by more in the sector and broader business community.

Dellys said: Were proud to be a part of the B Corp community and hope to demonstrate how maximising impact need not come at the expense of growth. When I worked in the Australian Signals Directorate, mission was at the core of everything we did, and that sense of purpose was something I sought to emulate in my own company. At Phronesis Security, every billable hour contributes to our social and environmental impact. It is part of who we are and guides us towards staff and clientele who share our values and vision.

Our model is predicated on giving the team a data-driven mission thats tied to clear, tangible impacts. We leave work every day knowing that what weve done isnt just helping our clients protect their crown jewels, but also protecting our planet and disadvantaged people. Its our way of using our skills to generate the greatest possible impact.

B Corp Impact and Engagement Manager Kira Day welcomed Phronesis Security into the B Corp community, stating: We congratulate Phronesis on joining our community of Certified B Corporations in Australia and around the world. B Corp Certification is one of the ways businesses can demonstrate that they are committed to being accountable and making decisions with a long-term view. For most businesses, including Phronesis, this milestone is a huge achievement  but also the start of a journey of continuous improvement.

On top of its philanthropic model, emissions reduction has been a core pillar of Phronesis Securitys operations. The company has leaned on the guidance and support of charity partner, Carbon Positive Australia to drastically reduce its emissions and implement a robust carbon offset strategy.

Chief Executive of Carbon Positive Australia, Louise Tarrier says of the partnership with Phronesis, We are always delighted to partner with B Corp organisations because we begin from a place of shared values. Our partnership with Phronesis assists us in planting native trees across Australia. These trees sequester carbon and increase biodiversity by providing habitat for flora and fauna.

The B Corp certification comes off the back of the firm recently becoming a PCI DSS Qualified Security Assessor Company, giving Phronesis Security the ability to perform compliance audits for organisations storing or processing credit card information. With the two certifications it aims to nurture its impact model while simultaneously bolstering its impressive growth by maintaining the highest standards of service delivery.

So, please watch the video interview with Elliot Dellys above to learn more!
GUEST OPINION: In this Q&A, executive director Andrew Shikiar talks about what Fido Alliance hopes to achieve, the state of security in Australia, and dissects new ways how cybercriminals infiltrate systems, files, and sensitive information.

Question: Please start by telling us about the Fido Alliance  what is the basis of the organisation/group, what do you do, and what do you hope to achieve?

Andrew: The Fido Alliance is a not-for-profit industry association featuring leading organisations from IT, finance, consumer services, government and more that work together to establish standards for strong authentication. The Fido Alliance's mission is to change the nature of online authenticationeliminating our dependence on centrally stored, knowledge-based credentials (such as passwords) in favour of a possession-based approach that is cryptographically secure and immune to phishing and other remote attacks. Together with our members and partners, we create open standards and drive an ecosystem of supporting products and programs that are more secure, and yet simpler for consumers and easier for service providers to deploy and manage.

Fido Alliance features over 250 member organisations, including major technology companies like Apple, Microsoft and Google, who have implemented the Fidos authentication standards into software and applications that end consumers use. One thing that makes Fido Alliance unique is that our membership goes far beyond these IT stalwarts to also include leaders in payments and financial services, mobile communications, e-commerce and government.

Q: What are you seeing in Australia at present  are organisations becoming more vulnerable or less?

A: Cyber threats are ever-evolving and cybercriminals are getting more sophisticated. Australia, like many other countries, may be adapting to a new normal now of hybrid work and distance learning. With people going online for everything, our reliance on information and communications technology (ICT) has skyrocketed. This trend has also made us more vulnerable to cyber security risks.

According to a February 2022 survey by MinterEllison, malicious cyber activity is prevalent in Australia. In the past 12 months, 25% of organisations have experienced a cyber security incident that compromised their systems or data, and 90% of respondents have personally received a phishing email or ransomware security threat.

Today, organisations also need to be on the lookout for cyber threats arising from geopolitical incidences around the world. For example, reports indicated that Russia has continued in its attempts to disrupt not only Ukrainian networks and systems but also those of countries that have criticised or sanctioned it. Australias Cyber and Infrastructure Security Centre (CISC) warned Australian organisations to urgently adopt an enhanced cybersecurity posture to address the increased threat of cyberattacks.

Q: What are the main drivers of increased identity security and authentication?

A: The heightened cyber threats have caused organisations to rethink their current security measures and demand stronger, more robust authentication methods. A prime example is passwords. Knowledge-based credentials like passwords are human-readable and can be manipulated from unwitting users or stolen from corporate databases by enterprising hackers.

In fact, a recent study of 600 IT leaders in Australia shows that a majority of them (95%) share serious concerns about user-generated passwords. Many in the IT or security community want stronger, multifactor possession-based methods resistant to remote attacks.

Additionally, todays technologies have improved significantly, allowing organizations to adopt more sophisticated security and authentication techniques such as on-device biometrics.

Recently, Apple, Microsoft, and Google have announced their expanded support for a common passwordless sign-in standard created by the Fido Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium  paving the way for hundreds of millions of people to go passwordless soon.

Q: The Essential Eight cyber rules were introduced here by the Federal government  do these guidelines go far enough or still leave companies vulnerable?

A: Since the introduction of the Essential Eight cyber rules in 2017, Australia has made significant strides to enhance its cyber security posture. It is great to see that Australia keeps its citizens safe online by implementing these rules and strengthening its defence against bad actors.

However, more can still be done to protect businesses and organisations from cyber criminals. Cybercrimes are still rising, and new data breaches are reported every eight minutes. With threats evolving every day, it is critical for companies to continuously reinforce their cyber security systems to prevent them from being vulnerable to attacks.

Q: What are some ways cybercriminals gain access to systems, files and sensitive information?

A: While Australia continues strengthening its security and ramping up its digital capabilities, cybercriminals are adapting and becoming more sophisticated. Besides brute-force attacks, threat actors now adopt more creative approaches such as ransomware and business email compromise (BEC).

These cyber-crimes result in high financial losses and disruptions to the victims and the wider community, making them a serious threat. For instance, BEC has caused Australian businesses to lose over $81 million. Companies and organisations must stay one step ahead by implementing a robust cyber security system featuring unphishable multi-factor authentication to mitigate such risks.

Q: Is insider breach still a major concern or are companies getting on top of it?

A: Insider breach remains a significant concern for every organization worldwide. Companies today face cyber security challenges from every angle  both externally and internally. Insider threats comprise 22% of total security incidents and are costing organisations approximately US$15.4 million ($22.2 million) every year. It is important to note that the majority of insider threats come from negligence - with just 14% stemming from malicious employees.

That is little wonder as many employees these days need to remember multiple passwords and usernames to use company equipment or access the network to perform their work. As such, these employees often reuse the same few passwords.

The problem is that such habits magnify the threat of account takeover as compromised passwords can put all other accounts at risk. Human negligence has highlighted that even good cyber hygiene alone is insufficient in todays cyber landscape. A well-intentioned but careless employee can be as harmful as a hacker looking to steal valuable credentials.

Replacing knowledge-based credentials (like passwords and OTPs) with possession-based factors (like biometrics and security keys) are a good way to counter such insider threats.

Q: How does Australia stack up when compared to other parts of the world  are we ahead of the curve when it comes to authentication and identity safety?

A: According to the International Telecommunications Union Cyber Index, Australia is the world's seventh most committed cyber security country. Undoubtedly, cybersecurity is a crucial priority for the Australian government and many organisations in the country.

Nonetheless, with the growing risk of cyber threats, the demand for authentication and identity safety will only increase. The fact remains that passwords are still one of the primary authentication methods in Australia  a worrying concern, given its vulnerabilities.

Fidos Online Authentication Barometer report also found that only 12% of Australians have used biometrics to access their work computers, which is below the average rate of 26%. The good news is that the majority of tech leaders in Australia do recognise the issue and have expressed their likelihood of adopting passwordless authentication in the near future. As various industries continue to digitise, there is no better time than now for companies to take their first step toward going passwordless.
GUEST OPINION: According to the Information Systems Consortium , there are approximately 2.7 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs around the world today. There are simply not enough people with the required cyber specialisms to carry out the work in this high-growth sector. Australias 2020 Cyber Security Strategy highlighted this issue, and the Government committed millions of dollars via the Cyber Security National Workforce Growth Program to address the skills shortage.

But the cyber skills shortage in Australia cannot be addressed by funding alone. Instead, we have to challenge the traditional recruitment process and broaden our definition of top cyber talent.

As it stands the typical cyber recruitment process can cut off candidates with potential at the first hurdle. Ive seen countless examples of entry-level roles requiring a CISSP certification, which is one of the most highly regarded cybersecurity certifications in the industry. This requirement is a Catch 22, since to be admitted into the CISSP and awarded the certification, candidates must already have five years of experience working in the cybersecurity industry.

These kinds of paradoxical hiring standards are sometimes comically overt. I have seen job descriptions that ask for more years of experience with a given technology than the actual number of years that technology has existed. Another challenge candidates might face is a long list of desirable skills, which would no doubt be advantageous, described as essential, when in reality very few will have developed all of those skills to a proficient level at an early stage in their career. This search for the impossible candidate is hamstringing organisations that could otherwise be hiring and training enthusiastic young talent.

As industry leaders we need to acknowledge that in the face of a skills shortage and rising cyber-threat we cant wait around for the next generation to go through years of traditional cyber specific education. For entry roles we must prioritise passion, curiosity and creative problem solving above technical experience. Skills can be taught, but passion cannot. Businesses can save time and money in the long run by hiring candidates who are eager to acquire the skills needed for the role and investing in defensive technologies that support in-house training. When Darktraces development team created the AI analyst, it was with precisely this in mind. The AI uses natural language processing to create incident reports which anyone can understand, and the user interface is designed according to the principles of videogame layout: prioritising intuitive interaction. This all makes onboarding easier and allows internal security teams to get value out of new hires sooner.

Another important point is that not every role in cybersecurity is technical. Programmers, engineers, and analysts are essential but not comprehensive. In 2013, when Darktrace was founded, the business set out to provide a new way of addressing cyber security challenges. Defying the status quo is in our DNA. The algorithms that underpin our self-learning AI are written by double PhD Cambridge mathematicians, but the success of the technology and the business growth has only been possible because of the work of a diverse range of thinkers.

We needed linguists, historians, gamers and philosophers to work out how to apply technology in new ways, communicate the approach and build a business around the technology  in fact a number of graduates from these non-technical disciplines make up our development team in Cambridge today. At Darktrace we recognise that the cyber challenge is not going to be solved by mathematicians and computer scientists alone, and we hire accordingly. This approach could apply not only to cyber businesses but recruitment for in house security teams.

A refreshing trend in recent years is that many high-profile tech companies such as Google and Tesla have advertised that candidates do not even need a university degree in order to apply for a role with them. They will assess each candidate on their merit, looking at the skills they have learned either themselves or through non-traditional means. We need more of this thinking. Diversity of gender, race, sexuality and background in leadership positions is also a key factor in creating a visibly inclusive sector, and that responsibility lies with every organisation. Cutting edge, innovative technology needs storytellers, linguists, ethicists, accountants, artists, and everything in between. Diversity of perspective is not just complementary to innovation, but absolutely essential

VIDEO Interview Ben Jones talks cyber security, the essential digital service every business needs
Battery manufacturer Redflow is collaborating with the University of Queensland in a research project aimed at extending the operational ability of the companys zinc bromine flow battery.

Redflow has announced the collaboration with The University of Queensland within the Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Hub for Safe and Reliable Energy Storage administered by Deakin University.

Brisbane-based Redflow says the research project entitled Extending Flow Battery Operation was identified to develop a deeper understanding of the electrolyte chemistry and electrode materials to further extend the operational characteristics of the Zinc Bromine Module (ZBM).

Redflow CTO Steven Hickey said: The goal of our four-year project is extending flow battery operation and our first priority is to employ the University of Queenslands extensive facilities to perform advanced electrolyte analysis.

In order for us to advance our competitive position in the market, we see significant opportunity to lower our Levelised Cost of Storage (LCOS). Extending the operation of flow batteries is a key requirement for renewable energy strategy, Hickey said.

Project collaborator from UQs Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Dr Bin Luo said the zinc-bromine flow battery was highly promising technology at the forefront of renewable energy solutions.

We are excited to partner with Redflow and combine our expertise and strengths to solve what is ultimately a practical industrial problem. Flow batteries have emerged as prime candidates in the development of large-scale grid-connected energy storage systems because they are more efficient, have a longer life cycle, and offer a lower cost for applications that require high energy-to-power ratios.

This project will enhance the market competitiveness of Redflows products and extend their application in both residential energy storage and industries that require long-duration energy output, Dr Luo said.

ARC Research Hub for Safe and Reliable Energy (SafeREnergy) was created with $5 million funding from the ARC and contributions from six Australian universities and ten industry partners. Led by Alfred Deakin Professor Ian Chen, SafeREnergy aims to address safety and reliability issues, and environmental impact of current energy storage and conversion technologies.

Redflow says SafeREnergy brings together Australian universities and industry to deliver a new generation of technologies for storage from small-scale portable devices to large scale industrial applications, using recycled and natural materials, and eliminating the serious fire risk in current technologies - and outcomes include innovative integrated energy conversion and storage technologies and new energy materials and devices designed for different scale applications, benefiting the Australian economy, and potentially transforming the energy industry landscape.

Redflow CEO Tim Harris said: The University of Queensland has educated and worked with outstanding people to create positive change for more than a century. We are proud to see Redflows battery technology at the forefront of industry innovation, and be able to partner with The University of Queensland, a top 50 university in the work in the QS World University Rankings, to support adoption of Redflows unique flow battery technology solution, increased use of renewable energy, and create a better world for all of us to live in.
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
VIENNA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Monday reiterated concerns over the nuclear weapon material transfer involved in AUKUS, the trilateral pact between the United States, the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia, calling on the three countries to abandon it over nuclear proliferation risks.

Wang Qun, China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna, made the remark after a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors decided by consensus to set up a formal agenda item on "Transfer of nuclear materials in the context of AUKUS and its safeguards in all aspects under the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons)" at China's proposal.

This move "foiled certain countries' attempt to hijack the IAEA Board meeting," Wang said, adding that it was the fourth consecutive time that the AUKUS issue was included in the formal agenda of the agency's quarterly Board meeting, reflecting the international community's concerns over the transfer of nuclear weapon materials involved in the deal.

In September 2021, the U.S., the UK and Australia announced the establishment of AUKUS, under which the U.S. and the UK will assist Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.

Wang noted that the AUKUS-related nuclear material transfer is at its core an issue of nuclear proliferation.

"AUKUS goes beyond the existing international non-proliferation regime and the mandate of the IAEA Secretariat. The issue should not be handled by the three countries alone and must be handled by the IAEA member states," he said.

He added that China has always advocated discussion of the issue through an intergovernmental process and the previous discussions at the IAEA Board meetings have helped the international community and the agency's member states realize the severe negative impacts of AUKUS, especially its proliferation risks.

The Chinese envoy said the IAEA Secretariat has been providing a platform for the international community to discuss AUKUS in a fair and objective manner according to the Secretariat's mandate. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has recently published a report on AUKUS, marking a right step in urging the three countries to fulfill their non-proliferation obligations.

However, the U.S., the UK and Australia have ignored the AUKUS-related discussions at the IAEA Board meetings and in relevant intergovernmental processes and tried to set up a separate agenda item on the issue, aiming to hijack the IAEA Secretariat to whitewash their proliferation activities and create divisions within the agency, Wang said.

He urged the IAEA to remain neutral and continue to provide the platform for addressing the proliferation risks of AUKUS, and called on the IAEA member states to focus on the illicit transfer of nuclear materials under AUKUS at the agency's ongoing Board meeting and seek solutions to safeguard the NPT.

He also urged the U.S., the UK and Australia to stop hindering the IAEA's performance of its duties and undermining the international order, multilateralism and world peace.
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Four bodies of civilians with "signs of torture" have been found in a village retaken from Russian forces in a key eastern region, Ukrainian authorities said on Monday.

Ukraine has recently claimed sweeping successes in its lightning counter-offensive in Kharkiv region, which saw dozens of settlements and more than 2,000 square kilometres retaken.

The regional prosecutor's office said that after the village of Zaliznychne was recaptured, residents reported Russian troops had killed fellow villagers.

"On September 11, law enforcement officers discovered four bodies. All of them show signs of torture," the prosecutors said on social media.

"Three of them were buried near private houses, the other one was found on the territory of the asphalt factory," the prosecutors reported on Facebook.

The statement added that according to the preliminary investigation, the civilians were killed by Russian troops when they occupied the village.

The prosecutors said the bodies have been handed over for forensic examination and an investigation has been launched "into the fact of violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder".

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International in a statement urged Ukrainian authorities to "prioritise securing evidence" of war crimes allegedly committed by Russian forces.

"Gathering such evidence is extremely resource-intensive," said Marie Struthers, Amnesty International's director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, calling on the international community "to provide resources that will assist Ukraine's efforts".

On Friday, AFP journalists witnessed Ukrainian officials exhuming two bodies in another recaptured village in the region, Grakove, as part of an investigation into a possible war crime.

Ukraine has accused Russian forces of a string of war crimes in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv it recaptured in March when Moscow pulled back its troops after a failed bid to capture the capital.

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The International Criminal Court on Monday ordered the review of a $30 million reparation package for victims of DR Congo warlord Bosco Ntaganda, saying the number eligible for compensation was absolutely unclear.

Named the "Terminator" for his reign of terror in the vast African country in the early 2000s, Ntaganda was jailed for 30 years in 2019 for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Last year the Hague-based court awarded $30 million (29.6 million euros) in reparations including for victims of crimes by child soldiers, rape and sexual slavery.

But judges Monday agreed with Ntaganda's lawyers on a number of points on appeal -- including on the exact number of victims who needed to be compensated and how trial judges determined the amount which Ntaganda had to pay.

"The reparations order was made without having any concrete estimate as to one of its fundamental parameters, namely the number of victims" to be compensated, Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut said.

Trial judges not only failed to say how many thousands of victims there may have been, "but also at least gave the impression that the relevant figure might be anywhere between at least 1,100 to... 100,000," victims, he said.

This had a domino effect, meaning it was also "not discernable... how the sum of $30 million was then arrived at," De Brichambaut said.

"Setting an amount for the award without reference to the concrete estimated number of victims constitutes an error," the judge said.

The ICC's appeals judges "reversed the findings of the Trial Chamber" and sent it back so a new reparations order based on more accurate numbers could be issued.

It was not known when a new ruling on compensation will be issued but the decision delayed the payment of reparations to victims -- many who have been waiting for years.

The ICC last year upheld a 30-year sentence on appeal for war crimes against Ntaganda.

The Rwandan-born 48-year-old was convicted of five counts of crimes against humanity and 13 counts of war crimes, including murder, sexual slavery, rape and using child soldiers.

Ntaganda was the first person to be convicted of sexual slavery by the court.

Many of the other charges related to massacres of villagers in the mineral rich Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray was hit by an air strike on Tuesday, local officials said, two days after rebel authorities there said they were ready for a ceasefire.

The reported drone strike on the regional capital Mekele left at least one person injured, said Kibrom Gebreselassie, a senior official at Ayder Referral Hospital, the biggest in Tigray.

"One injured patient has arrived at Ayder. Total casualties not yet known," he said on Twitter.

The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which has been at war with Ethiopia's army and its allies for nearly two years, said a military drone "bombed" Mekele University in the early hours of Tuesday, causing injuries and property damage.

"This is happening after the Govt of Tigray established a negotiating team & expressed its readiness for peace talks," said TPLF spokesman Kindeya Gebrehiwot on Twitter.

Dimtsi Weyane, a TPLF-affiliated TV network broadcasting in Tigray, said its station was also hit, forcing it off air and "causing heavy human and material damage".

AFP was not able to independently verify the claims. Access to northern Ethiopia is severely restricted and Tigray has been under a communications blackout for over a year.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government has not commented on the reported strike. Government spokespeople did not reply to requests for comment.

Tigray has been hit by several air strikes since fighting resumed in late August between government forces and their allies and TPLF rebels in northern Ethiopia.

- 'Seize this moment' -

The return to combat shattered a March truce that had paused the worst of the bloodshed, and dashed hopes of peacefully resolving a war that began nearly two years ago.

The fresh offensives have also drawn in Eritrean troops and cut off aid deliveries into Tigray, where the UN says a lack of food, fuel and medicine is causing a humanitarian disaster.

Both sides have accused the other of firing first, and fighting has spread from around southern Tigray to other fronts farther north and west.

On Sunday, the TPLF said it was ready for a ceasefire and would accept a peace process led by the African Union, removing an obstacle to negotiations with Abiy's government.

The TPLF said a negotiating team including spokesman Getachew Reda and General Tsadkan Gebretensae, a former Ethiopian army chief now in Tigray's central military command, was "ready to be deployed without delay".

The international community has urged the warring sides to seize the moment for peace.

"The United States welcomes Tigray regional authority statement," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday.

"It is high time for both sides to stop fighting and turn to dialogue to resolve their differences. The Ethiopian government has stated its willingness to go to talks anytime, anywhere, and should seize this moment."

Addis Ababa is still yet to officially comment on the overture by Tigrayan authorities, which dominated national politics for nearly three decades until Abiy came to power in 2018.

- Grinding war -

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, AU Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat, and the East African bloc IGAD have in recent days welcomed the offer by "the regional government of Tigray" to enter into peace talks.

Abiy's government has declared the TPLF a terrorist group, and considers its claim to authority in Tigray illegitimate.

Untold numbers of civilians have been killed since the war erupted in Africa's second most populous country, and grave rights violations by all sides against civilians have been documented.

In March, the UN said at least 304 civilians had been killed in the three months prior in air strikes "apparently carried out by the Ethiopian Air Force".

The UN human rights office has documented aerial bombardments and drone strikes on refugee camps, a hotel and a market.

It has warned that disproportionate attacks against non-military targets could amount to war crimes.

The government has accused the TPLF of staging civilian deaths from air strikes to manufacture outrage, and insists it only targets military sites.

Abiy, a Nobel Peace laureate, sent troops into Tigray in November 2020 to topple the TPLF in response to what he said were attacks on federal army camps.

But the TPLF recaptured most of Tigray in a surprise comeback in June 2021.

It then expanded into the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara before the fighting reached a stalemate.
On September 8, 2022, the hearing began late. Accompanied by two guards, Ruslan Yelkin was slowly led into the courtroom, then into the glass cage of the accused. The accused moved with the help of crutches, as he has only one leg left. He lost the other one last March, when his unit of fighters from the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), a region that has self-proclaimed its separation from Ukraine, came under mortar fire from the Ukrainian armed forces. Seriously wounded and then captured, he was tried six months later in a court in Odesa, in the south of the country, for treason and participation in a terrorist organization.

Yelkin is 42 years old. He was born in the village of Roscha, in the Odesa region. In 2000, he moved to Donetsk, Donbass region, where, three years later, he was hired by the internal affairs authorities. Until 2006, he worked as a policeman before resigning. He married twice and has three children, all minors.

According to prosecutor Yehor Timonov, Yelkin joined the ranks of the DPR separatists as early as May 2014 when the armed conflict spread to Donbass. As part of the "1st Slavic Battalion", he allegedly participated in the storming of such towns as Debaltsevo, Vuglegirsk, Svitlodarsk, Khrustalne (formerly Krasny Luch) and the village of Kadiivka (formerly Stakhanov). Then, after the large-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, he reportedly fought as a grenadier in the 11th motorized rifle regiment of the separate DPR People's Militia. For two weeks, he allegedly participated in the assault on several Ukrainian villages in the Donetsk region, committed to "ridding" them of the Ukrainian army. Thus, between February 27 and March 12, Yelkin's regiment captured the villages of Prokhorivka, Kamianske, Sonyachne, Khlibodarivka, Donetske, Vilne, Blizhne, Bugas, Novotroitske, Olenivka and Berezovo. On March 13, his unit moved to the village of Stepove, where it clashed with the Ukrainian army. It was during this battle that he was wounded.

The campaign of February 2022

There are two indictments against Yelkin in the court of Odessa. The first was in absentia, issued in 2018, for participation in a terrorist organization. Yelkin was then subject to a wanted notice. The second indictment was issued after his capture. In it, he was charged with treason, for fighting on the side of the DPR while still holding a Ukrainian passport. The court joined the two cases.

Yelkin confirmed all these circumstances in court and admitted his guilt. The man recounted in chronological order each visit of the occupation forces to Ukrainian villages - rather curtly and without much detail, giving the impression that his unit had not followed a clear plan of action. He described how his command constantly argued, did not explain anything to subordinates, and disturbed them almost every night for inspections and briefings. He also explained that he often changed his route, returning several times to villages already captured.

The main task of Yelkin's division was to "clean" the already occupied residential areas, looking for Ukrainian soldiers who might be hiding in basements. According to the accused, the captured members of the Ukrainian armed forces were not killed, but "only taken prisoner".

Yelkin also does not deny that his unit was sometimes based in civilian infrastructure: in the village of Prokhorivka they occupied the House of Culture and in the village of Vilne, a school.

The fatal assault

Before the assault on March 13, they were given additional weapons - ammunition, grenade launchers and flamethrowers - and ordered to turn off their phones and "keep completely silent." "Around 6:30 a.m. we approached the landing near the village" of Stepove, the defendant recounted. "We stopped to rest, our artillery went into action. We were ordered to enter the village, occupy the first street and maintain the defense there. We rushed in. We went to the first two houses, mortar fire began on our positions. There were 300 [military code for wounded soldier]. Everyone rushed everywhere. We captured four Ukrainians in one of the houses. On our side, there were 300. The prisoners helped us load the wounded. At the landing stage, where we were earlier, an armored personnel carrier was already waiting for us. We delivered the prisoners and our 300. Then the order came to return to the house where the armed forces position was. As soon as we returned, the mortar fire began. The commander realized that we had fallen into a trap and the Ukrainian armed forces advanced towards us."

The command ordered a retreat. Yelkin was in the first group of seven fighters to leave the village along the landing stage. During their exit, four mines exploded. "I was wounded in the leg, with a fracture below the knee. A friend's leg was blown off. A third had both legs blown off, they were lying next to his head. A doctor ran to us and gave us a painkiller shot. He put a tourniquet on one of them and tied my leg with an elastic bandage. The shelling resumed. Our people started to move away and we stayed. I hoped they would come back for us. We stayed there all night. The first comrade with torn legs died at 11 o'clock at night. The second was still alive. I passed out and woke up at 6:00 in the morning. I touched the second one, but he was already cold," Yelkin says.

The capture

In the morning, Yelkin was able to call his command and ask to be evacuated. His correspondent first promised to "make something up," then admitted that it would be "problematic" to intervene and advised him to make his own way. "Nearby was a highway with destroyed equipment. I said I could crawl to the destroyed tank so they could take me from there. After that, I passed out again. When I came to my senses, the phone rang in my pocket. The company commander asked me if I was alive, if anyone else had survived, and promised to call back. No one called back, so I called them back. They asked me again if I was not a prisoner and told me to crawl to the tank. At that moment, my phone rang. I half-heartedly crawled over, looked up and saw the drone. At first I thought it was our people looking for me. I crawled 15 meters to the intersection, and there I was taken away by the Ukrainian Armed Forces."

Captured on March 14 near the village of Stepove, Yelkin was sent to the hospital, where his leg was amputated. Then he was taken to Zaporizhzhia where, along with other fighters, it was planned to exchange them for Ukrainian prisoners. But the exchange failed. Yelkin being already wanted for trial, he was taken to Odesa.

Maximum sentence

The prosecutor demanded 15 years imprisonment against Yelkin, with confiscation of property - an 8-hectare plot in the Odesa region, which belongs to the accused. Defense lawyer Olga Bayraktar objected, saying that her client cooperated with the investigation, admitted his guilt and testified honestly in court, so the sentence should be more lenient. "Please note that my client has three minor children. He has no prior convictions. Therefore, I think there is every reason to impose the minimum sentence - 12 years in prison," she said.

After deliberation, Judge Viktor Ivanov found Ruslan Yelkin guilty of treason and participation in a terrorist organization, and sentenced him to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property. It is probably the first case on crimes against national security in Odesa where no war crimes trial has taken place so far. It is not yet known whether Yelkin will soon be part of a prisoner exchange.

This report is part of a series on war crimes, produced in partnership with Ukrainian journalists. A first version of this article was published on the Sudovyi Reporter website.
NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) 

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, continues to investigate potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of Twitter, Inc. TWTR following allegations that Twitter may have disclosed materially misleading business information to the investing public.

SO WHAT: If you have purchased Twitter securities, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of out-of-pocket expenses or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. Law firm Rosen is preparing a class action lawsuit to recover investor losses.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To participate in the prospective class action lawsuit, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=8303 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll free at 866-767-3653 or by email [email protected] or [email protected] for information about the Class Action.

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT: on August 23, 2022, CNN published an article titled Ex-Twitter executive blows the whistle, alleging reckless and lax cybersecurity policies, revealing that Twitter has major security issues that pose threats to its own users personal information, to corporate shareholders, to the national Safety and pro-democracy, according to an explosive whistleblower disclosure obtained exclusively by CNN and the Washington Post. The report also states that the disclosure was sent to a number of U.S. government agencies and congressional committees last month, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, and that whistleblower Peiter Mudge is. Zatko, who was previously the companys head of security, reports directly to the CEO. The report goes on to say, among other things, that [w]Hat Zatko says hes found a company [Twitter] with exceptionally poor security practices, including granting thousands of company employees  roughly half of the companys workforce  access to some of the platforms critical controls.
Have you lost money investing in Weber? If yes, please visit us Weber Inc. Shareholder Class Action or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or [email protected] to discuss your rights.

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE)  Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally recognized investor rights law firm, is reminding investors of the deadline for filing a motion by lead plaintiff in a securities class action lawsuit filed on behalf of investors who have purchased or otherwise acquired the Class A common stock of Weber Inc. (Weber or the Company) (NYSE: WEBR) pursuant to and/or traceable to the registration statement and prospectus (collectively, the Registration Statement) in connection with the Companys initial public offering in August 2021 (IPO or the Offering). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleging violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933.

Weber is an outdoor cooking company that sells grills, smokers, grilling accessories, and solid fuel products around the world.

On August 6, 2021, the Company filed its prospectus with the SEC on Form 424B4, which is part of the registration statement. In the IPO, the Company sold approximately 17,857,143 Class A common shares at a price of $14.00 per share. The Company received approximately $237.5 million in proceeds from the offering, net of subscription discounts and commissions. Proceeds from the IPO were said to be used to complete certain restructuring transactions, for general corporate purposes and to pay down certain debts.

Plaintiff alleges that Defendants statements in the Registration Statement were materially false and misleading when made because: (1) Weber would reasonably implement price increases; (2) as a result, consumer demand for Weber products would likely decrease; (3) Due to the resulting inventory build-up, Weber was
Korean celebrities, may they be actors or idols, often make the airport their personal runway. So, if you're thinking of a good OOTD, you may want to check out your fave K-stars' airport 'fit, such as Lee Min Ho's ever-impressive ensembles that inspire us to upgrade our wardrobe.

The top Hallyu star is looked upon in the fashion industry. Apart from his acting portfolio, the heartthrob is also an emerging global fashion icon.

Check out 3 of the many times he impressed us with his 'fits!

Leather Ensemble

The "Pachinko" star never fails to receive applause for his airport outfits. Simple yet stylish, Lee Min Ho often combines dark colors with a comfy vibe from the brands he represents.

On September 6, when he was headed to New York to attend the Fendi Fashion Show, the actor looked dashing in a striking ensemble from the brand.

If you want to cop his look without ending up broke, we got you! Complete the look with a motif zipped jacket, leather ankle boots, and a black leather bag.

Denim Over Denim

Apart from the classy leather, another mix-and-match fashionable wear can save you from being ordinary.

Get this denim jacket over a white t-shirt, similar to what the actor wore. Make sure to add some volume to your appearance and accessorize your casual look with a Baguette trunk mini bag, logo patch denim bucket, and white suede low-top sneakers.

Modern Street Style

As many celebrities make their discoveries on what style would fit them, Lee Min Ho sometimes wears modern street style. And yes, you can cop the actor's stype with a pair of sneakers, denim pants, white tee, and black coat, all of which never go wrong as they look classy yet hip when combined.

Meanwhile, Lee Min Ho attended the Fendi Fashion Show in New York where he sat beside fellow A-lister Song Hye Kyo, who is also Fendi's brand ambassador.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Song Hye Kyo Spotted With THIS K-Actor at Fashion Show in New York

Which of these Lee Min Ho's looks would you love to copy? Tell us in the replies/comments!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity updates, follow and subscribe to KDramastars.

KDramastars owns this article.

Shai Collins wrote this.
Although she participated briefly in "Little Women," Choo Ja Hyun left a great impression on viewers. Her mysterious aura totally enamored fans, getting more curious about her. If you want to see more of her, then keep on reading!

'Arthdal Chronicles'

Choo Ja Hyun has appeared in many big scale dramas in South Korea and in China, and has been known as one of the best stars in the industry with a diverse filmography under her belt.

She joined the star-studded cast of "Arthdal Chronicles" with Song Joong Ki, Kim Ji Won and more, which follows the stories of people from a tribe with one goal.

With its amazing portrayal of people in the Bronze Age, the series received many positive reviews from fans and critics all over the world, signifying its success.

'Beautiful World'

Many fans might know Choo Ja Hyun from her family dramas like "Beautiful World" with Park Hee Soon, Oh Man Seok and Cho Yeo Jeong.

In the series, the actress transforms into a loving wife and a baker who unconditionally loves her children. Though the series received rather low ratings, the series is one of Choo Ja Hyun's most notable works since her debut as an actress.



'Green Mothers' Club'

Also one of Choo Ja Hyun's most popular works is the 2022 friendship drama "Green Mothers' Club." She stars alongside fellow veteran actresses Lee Yo Won, Jang Hye Jin, Kim Gyu Ri and Joo Min Kyung.

"Green Mothers' Club" follows the stories of five mothers who meet at their children's elementary school, each with a baggage in life that they couldn't escape from.

Choo Ja Hyun, like her role in "Little Women," played the role of a mother who lives a lavish life and is more knowledgeable when it comes to beauty, lifestyle and fashion.

The drama instantly hooked the viewers with its simple plot that contains intricate storylines and substories.

'Narco-Saints'

Rather than a small appearance, Choo Ja Hyun jumped from "Little Women" to "Narco-Saints," Netflix's newest crime thriller drama.

It follows the heart-thumping stories of businessmen who work with the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to take down a drug lord.

"Narco-Saints" is one of the most anticipated works of the year, boasting its star-studded cast, huge budget and gravity-defying scenes.

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN THIS: Unfortunate Career? Nam Ji Hyun Finally Stirs Buzz With 'Little Women' After Two Decades As Actress

In the series, Choo Ja Hyun takes on the role of Hwang Jung Min's loving wife. Park Hae Soo, Ha Jung Woo and more are also part of the series.

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
To take down the South Korean drug lord, a businessman works hand in hand with the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

In the star-studded Netflix series "Narco-Saints," Ha Jung Woo, Hwang Jung Min, Park Hae Soo and more deliver a true-to-life story of how civilians and the NIS search high and low to bring down the culprit.

Here's what happened in the first three episodes of "Narco-Saints." Read on to know more!

'Narco-Saints' Episode 1: Kang In Ju Sets Foot To Suriname

"Narco-Saints" episode 1 begins with Kang In Ju (Ha Jung Woo) traveling to the jungle of Suriname.

He is a man made stronger by time. Growing up, he had to parent his siblings as the head of the family after his parents died due to an accident.

With hard work and perseverance, he sent his siblings to great universities. Kang In Ju married a nice woman and they were blessed with amazing children.

He then decides to go to Suriname and gambles his money after his old friend asks him to be his business partner.

The two start their fish export business. As they begin to rise above the ashes, Kang In Ju and his friend get into trouble with a Chinese gang leader who demands 5,000 USD or they will be killed.

Thankfully, they survive. Just when things are starting to smoothen up, their fish export is seized after drugs were found in them. Soon after, Kang In Ju gets arrested by the police.

'Narco-Saints' Episode 2: An Alliance With NIS

In episode 2, Kang In Ju is imprisoned for drug dealing. He calls his wife back home and promises to fix things and return safely.

To his surprise, an agent named Choi Chang Ho (Park Hae Soo) who works with (NIS) visits him and is planning to help him prove his innocence.

It turns out that the pastor Kang In Ju talks to, Jeon Yo Hwan (Hwang Jung Min), is actually a drug lord who used him to control narcotic distribution in all parts of the world.

Kang In Ju asks Choi Chang Ho to seek justice for him and put Jeon Yo Hwan behind bars. Unfortunately, South Korea and Suriname don't have a treaty that binds the law, making it hard for them to arrest the drug lord.

Choi Chang Ho devises a plan to get Jeon Yo Hwan out of Suriname as Kang In Ju convinces him to sell drugs to the West where they will take him down, and finally prove his innocence.

When Kang In Ju is set free from prison, Choi Chang Ho picks him up and visits the leader of the Chinese gang in episode 1, Chen Jin (Chang Chen), to form an alliance.

'Narco-Saints' Episode 3: A Dance With the Devil

While Kang In Ju, Choi Chang Ho and Chen Jin's plans are set in motion, Jeon Yo Hwan continues to use the Bible in his drug deals.

In episode 3, Kang In Ju introduces Jeon Yo Hwan to Choi Chang Ho who pretends to be their contact person in South Korea.

They agreed to deliver cocaine in 30 days while Choi Chang Ho goes back to Brazil and Kang In Ju remains in Suriname.

Meanwhile, Kang In Ju moves into Jeon Yo Hwan's house and asks Chen Jin to kill the pastor and take his drug empire with him and his gang.

When Jeon Yo Hwan meets with his Columbian suppliers, he learns that the drugs were delivered on time but it didn't go smoothly as planned, raising his suspicions.

KDramastars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
Lee Se Young convinces Lee Seung Gi to help her win a case in "The Law Cafe" Episode 3 despite their blurry past. Will the two of them find peace and become friends again or will they both fall?



'The Law Cafe' Episode 3: Kim Yu Ri Stands For Pureun Apartment Residents

In the brand new episode of "The Law Cafe," Kim Yu Ri (Lee Se Young) is adamant to sue Dohan Construction due to the previous complaints of its residents.

She then persuades the residents of the apartment to file a lawsuit. Unfortunately, Kim Jeong Ho (Lee Seung Gi) intervenes, laying down the reasons not to file a case.

This ruins the former's chances as the residents lose their confidence, especially after knowing how much time they should give for a small amount of compensation.

Thankfully, many residents are still interested in filing a lawsuit and seek justice, even if their housing prices would decline.

The Cat and Dog Agree To A Truce

Knowing that she couldn't do it alone, Kim Yu Ri goes to Kim Jeong Ho and asks for his help.

Kim Jeong Ho tells the former not to make rash decisions especially when there is a lot at stake. He also reveals that coming to an agreement is better than suing the company as it could save them time and achieve much better results.

He insists that Palacio Hills, which is the next project of Dohan Construction, be brought in to catch their attention as it would destroy their reputable image to the public.

Together, Kim Jeong Ho, the Law Cafe employees and Kim Yu Ri's client, who is a musician, create a band.

They recorded a music video in different apartments constructed by Dohan Construction, and uploaded it to the Internet, proving how weak the materials used in building the apartments were.

Kim Yu Ri Proposes To Kim Jeong Ho

In just a matter of days, Kim Yu Ri and Kim Jeong Ho are invited to meet the legal counsel of Dohan Construction, offering an 8 million KRW compensation.

The company also insisted on soundproofing the walls of each apartment. After the hardships of Kim Yu Ri and Kim Jeong Ho, they reached an agreement.

To celebrate, the two of them, as well as the Law Cafe employees Bae Joon (Kim Do Hoon) and Seo Eun Gang (Ahn Dong Goo), drink their hearts out at their friends Han Se Yeon (Kim Seul Gi) and Do Jin Ki's (Oh Dong Min) home.

She asks Kim Jeong Ho to be her partner in the Law Cafe, much to the latter's annoyance. At the end of the episode, Kim Yu Ri goes home to a disaster-her cafe was in shambles and blood leaks on her tiled floor.





KDramastars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
A small fire at Kelowna's officially designated campsite for homeless people was quickly extinguished in early July by firefighters. A downtown business group said Monday problems associated with crime and disorder were reaching a "crisis point", and called for more effective action by all three levels of government.
Chris Bocskei is one of eight Rutland residents running for Kelowna city council in the Oct. 15 civic election. There are more candidates from Rutland than any other Kelowna neighborhood.
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An excerpt from Not A Real Enemy: The True Story of a Hungarian Jewish Mans Fight for Freedom.

The first signs that something terrible had happened were the lights. The hospital was brightly lit through every corridor. In communist Hungary, electricity was yet another resource one learned to do without. Lights were used where they were most essential, turned off or low otherwise. But now, every light was on.

Because the Wolfs apartment was in the hospital, Ervin had reached the emergency room just as the first of the ambulances arrived. The first of them were two young women and a young man lying in pools of their own blood, their faces lacerated, their clothing torn. They had been sitting inside the cab of a semitruck when bullets from a snipers machine gun shattered the front windshield and riddled their bodies. Ervin couldnt imagine what they had done to deserve such a fate, yet he knew. They may have participated in the demand for free speech. Just the possibility of their involvement was enough to justify killing them in the eyes of the communists. Ervin seethed to live in such a society, a society that regarded itself as so righteous that any act it carried out, at any cost, was regarded as deserved.

But he had no time to reflect on the communist state, no time to reflect on the lives of those who began pouring in through the hospital doors in numbers beyond anyones comprehension. All were in critical condition or dying, all were riddled with bullets or sliced open from flying glass and metal. Brains spilled from skulls, bowels lacerated. Blood flowed everywhere.

Ervin sterilized his hands and joined the surgical team, his task becoming ever more serious and strained as the gunshot victims were rushed into surgery throughout the night, many dying before they could even be treated. The team worked on their patients throughout the night and into the next day, not finishing until late afternoon. Even then, their work was unfinished as so many were in critical states, needing more surgery and round-the-clock care. Yet as they urgently fought off death, birth continued. Ervin had never been so busy and, as women continued to give birth, he was sent back and forth from the surgical ward to his own OB/GYN department. As much as he truly loved bringing new life into the world, he couldnt help but wonder with every birth what kind of world he was bringing these innocent babies into.

As the night turned to day, gunfire continued to shatter the city, while every able-bodied person on the hospitals staff was recruited to work around the clock attending to the trauma patients. Judit joined the team as well, arranging the countless blood transfusions that so many patients needed, while Ervin worked exhaustively between surgery and obstetrics.

Whenever he had a free moment, he listened to the radio to get a sense of what was going on, but what little information was reported by the Soviet-controlled stations was inconsistent and untrustworthy. The only credible news came from the gunshot victims themselves, as survivors recounted the sudden attack that turned an inspiring, peaceful protest into a bloodied battlefield. The initial shots were fired at the radio station, under heavy guard by the AVO, when a small group split from the massive crowd of protestors and attempted to gain control of the airwaves to broadcast their demands. Before they could do so, they were apprehended and rumors quickly spread like forest fire through the crowd that they had been killed.

As the mood transformed from one of jubilance to fury, tear gas was thrown into the crowd and the AVO agents, under orders from Gero, opened fire on the young protestors. As bullets flew and bodies fell, chaos erupted and the once-organized peaceful demonstrators fought back by surrounding and overturning police cars, smashing windows, throwing rocks, and fleeing in terror. Angered for years as their freedoms, rights, and resources were tightly controlled by the Soviets, inspired that fresh change was on the horizon, then in the height of that emotion, to be fired on indiscriminately by a government that did not hesitate to kill them, the joyous crowd of 200,000 instantly turned into an angry mob once tear gas and bullets rained down upon them. Within hours, all of Budapest had been transformed into a civil war that was anything but civil.

Eventually, the AVO ran out of ammunition and hid in ambulances, but they were quickly found and attacked by the enraged protestors. Soon soldiers were called in to control the crowd, but once they arrived and saw the streets strewn with the bodies of young peoplesome even childrenthey tore the red stars from their caps and joined in the protests. In response, Soviet tanks came rolling in, their turrets rotating at 360 degrees, making it clear that at any moment, too many could be killed.

Despite the terror of the Soviets, it was clear that not even their mighty tanks could eradicate the social tides that now, like a tsunami, could not be turned back. The power of the movement forced Erno Gero, just a few months into his rule, to step down the next day and communist officials appointed Imre Nagy as Prime Minister. Despite this acquiescence, the violence only escalated. The Soviets were intent on crushing the movement with as much brute force as possible, killing and arresting protestors en masse, sending more and more dying and critically injured young people to the hospital where Ervin and his team worked in a constant state of shock.

As they worked, the rural peasants got busy delivering food to the city to supply the freedom fighters and the hospitals, which boosted morale and even further challenged the Soviet machinery as it became clear the protest was no longer a protest, but had become a revolution.

Robert J. Wolf is a neuroradiologist and author of Not A Real Enemy: The True Story of a Hungarian Jewish Mans Fight for Freedom.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
The TSI Building Maynooth University will host an all-ages event next month to explore the vastness of space, and humanity's place in it.

Hosted by the Departments of Theoretical and Experimental Physics at Maynooth University, audiences will have the chance to hear from world leaders in astrophysical research.

The event, which takes place in Maynooth Universitys new 300 seater lecture theatre in the TSI building is suitable for all ages.

Speaking on the event, organiser Dr John Regan said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for visitors to come, visit the University and learn about our work in astrophysics, meet scientists and ask questions about the universe.

He added: "We really want to inspire the next generation with the work that we do, so we would encourage families to come and join us for what will be a really inspiring event."

The event will feature short  visual presentations from Doctors Emma Whelan and John Regan, who are on the hunt for exoplanets and black holes respectively.

Dr Creidhe OSullivan and Prof Peter Coles will show audiences how scientists are imaging the cosmic background radiation at the edge of our universe and how physicists are pushing the boundaries of our current theories about how our universe evolved.

The audience will have a chance to meet with student physicists and ask questions on everything from dark matter and dark energy to the search for life on other planets.

First-come-first served and only ticket holders will be admitted.

Those interested can register here.

Space week at Maynooth University is supported by Science Foundation Ireland and the Royal Society.

PROGRAMME:

18.30 Welcome

18.35: Emma Whelan: Planet Hunting: How Maynooth University Astronomers are Searching for New Worlds

As of this month over 5000 exoplanets or new worlds have been discovered orbiting far flung stars millions of light years away from us. Emma will explore the hunt for exoplanets  planets outside our own solar system - and what scientists can learn about them. Emma will take you on a behind the scenes tour of the techniques astronomers use for finding new planets and the new insights astronomers hope the James Webb Space Telescope will bring.

18.55: John Regan: "Black Holes in Our Universe"

Black Holes are among the most exotic objects in our Universe. In this talk John will discuss the basics of black hole formation, how we can detect them today and the future of black hole hunting using gravitational wave observatories that Maynooth University is a part of. John will also discuss some of the strange effects you might encounter near a black hole - like time slowing down!

19.15: Tea & Coffee Break

19.45: Creidhe O'Sullivan: "Observations of the early Universe"

Creidhe will take us back to the origins of our universe. In her talk she will show you how scientists observe The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) - a specific type of radiation left over from the Big Bang - and what it can tell us about the early Universe and its formation. Creidhe will also take us close to home and talk about the experiments that Maynooth University are involved with to observe the CMB.

20.05: Peter Coles: "The Evolution of our Universe"

Peter will discuss how our Universe evolves over cosmic time from the Big Bang to the Universe we see around us today and the role of dark energy and dark matter in that process. Peter will also talk about the upcoming missions he is involved with which hope to measure dark energy - the unknown force that is pushing our Universe apart.

20.30: Finish.

The event will take place on October 6.
Members from the Kilkenny Chapter of Macra na Feirme recently visited ABPs Demonstration Farm in Clonegal, Co. Carlow to receive a briefing on results from a collaborative research project between ABP, Teagasc and ICBF. The briefing was attended by national and regional representatives of Macra na Feirme.

Joanne Cushen (middle) from the Kilkenny Chapter of Macra na Feirme, is pictured above with (left to right) ABP Sustainability Manager Stephen Connolly, Liam Hanrahan from the Clare Chapter of Macra na Feirme and Liam Brophy from the Laois Chapter of Macra na Feirme.

The research has shown that significant reduction in Irish beef cattle emissions is achievable by improving genetics in the beef herd with emission reduction of up to 13% possible. The research has also led to improved returns for farmers of up to 200 per animal. The findings have the potential to play a significant role in helping Irelands agriculture sector reach the targets set out under the Climate Act and are applicable across different beef production systems.

Gillian Richardson, Macra Agricultural Skillnet Network Manager at Macra na Feirme said: On behalf of Macra na Feirme, I would like to thank ABP, Teagasc and the ICBF for the invitation to ABPs Demonstration Farm and the insightful briefing on their latest research findings in the area of cattle emissions. Farming is a key area of interest for many Macra members, so we are always excited to learn about the latest innovations in the field, particularly when they can lead to potential reductions in emissions and improvements to farmers bottom lines, as is the case with this research.

The research has been conducted on ABPs Demonstration Farm and is based on six years of data and involves over 4,000 animals. The output from the research is already being shared with farmers across the country through the ICBF data base with over 233,000 calves born and reared on Irish farms bred from beef bulls from the programme. Improved genetics allows the animals to grow faster through better feed conversion and as a result they are ready for market at a younger age reducing emissions significantly.
'Vicky', the award winning Irish documentary, will open the 10th IndieCork festival at the Gate Cinema in Cork City on October 2, ahead of its general nationwide release on October 7 through Volta Pictures.

In 2018 on the steps of the High Court in Dublin, Vicky Phelan gave a now infamous address where she exposed the CervicalCheck scandal. A subsequent investigation revealed over 220 women were affected, while 17 women had already died.



'Vicky' is a profound and intimate journey into the Kilkenny natives fight to expose the truth. It also delves into Vickys personal fight to extend her life.

Commenting on the news that Vicky is to open this years IndieCork festival, co-director Mick Hannigan said that the film a fitting choice.

Vicky is a powerful film telling the story of an extraordinary Irish woman and her fight for justice. Its an absolute honour to open our 10th anniversary festival with the film. As well as being the biggest showcase of Independent filmmaking in Ireland, IndieCork prides itself on platforming female directors.

Vicky, directed by the brilliant Sasha King, is one of many films in this years programme with women at the helm, and were delighted about that.

Director of Vicky, Sasha King said:

It is an absolute honour to be chosen as the opening film of the prestigious independent festival IndieCork. It took a tribe of formidable and determined women to help this film see a release. And for that, I am very grateful. We are very excited to bring our film to the big screen in Cork.

IndieCork runs at the Gate Cinema from October 2 to 9 with a diverse programme of international, Irish and local filmmakers. In addition, there will be an online offering from October 2 to 16. The festival is once again sponsored by Blacknight Solutions, Ireland's largest web host and domain registrar.

The music side of the festival will be announced at a later date but promises to be packed with special events and performances. IndieCork is Irelands only arts festival in shared ownership, meaning that members own the festival and have a say in its development.

Tickets will be on sale from The Gate Cinema at: www.gatecinemas.com
China's AG600M, a full-state, new-configuration amphibious firefighting aircraft, has a successful maiden amphibious flight on Aug 29, 2022. [Photo/Aviation Industry Corporation of China]

China will produce four prototypes of the AG600M aircraft, a firefighting variant belonging to the AG600 large amphibious aircraft family, to carry out test flights, its developer announced on Saturday.

The second AG600M firefighting aircraft prototype completed its first flight test mission on Saturday in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, according to Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the country's leading plane-maker.

During the 22-minute flight, the aircraft performed well, and all of its systems were operating stably, AVIC said.

The aircraft will next undergo follow-up test flights involving collecting and dropping water, which are key tasks for the amphibious firefighting variant.

It is expected that the third and fourth AG600M aircraft prototypes will undergo their first test flights respectively this November and in early 2023, AVIC said.

The first AG600M prototype made its maiden flight taking off from land on May 31, and its maiden flight from water on Aug 30.

The AG600M aircraft is expected to carry out firefighting missions from 2023 and enter the market in 2025, according to AVIC.

Code-named Kunlong, the AG600 large amphibious aircraft family is seen as key aeronautical equipment for China's emergency-rescue system. It was developed by AVIC to meet the needs of firefighting and marine rescue missions, as well as other critical emergency-rescue operations.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 64F. SE winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 64F. SE winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
French-Swiss director Jean-Luc Godard -- a key figure in the Nouvelle Vague, the film-making movement that revolutionized cinema in the late 1950s and 60s -- has died aged 91, French media is reporting.
Hyun Jin Preston Moon, left, founder and chairman of the Washington D.C.-based non-profit group Global Peace Foundation, and his wife Jun Sook Moon, clap during the International Forum on One Korea 2022 held at Fairmont Ambassador Hotel in Yeoido, Seoul, on Saturday. Courtesy of Global Peace Foundation



'Change is bound to come. We just don't know when, or in what form it will happen,' says expert



By Kang Hyun-kyung



The unification of the two Koreas seems to be one of the least likely things to happen any time soon, particularly now when inter-Korean relations have become more confrontational and volatile than ever before. There have been few signs of improvement in South-North relations since conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol was inaugurated on May 10.



Unlike his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, who sought peace and sustainable inter-Korean relations and tried to curry favor with the North when the reclusive nation relied on a brinkmanship diplomacy, Yoon is a hardliner showing no appetite for conciliatory gestures. Analysts say that North Korea could be preparing for another nuclear test, following the test-firing of missiles with advanced technology despite international condemnation. This situation is yet more evidence showing the current state of inter-Korean relations.



Amid the prevailing pessimistic views about North Korea, among Korea observers, some have begun to think the unthinkable: the prospect of a unified, peaceful Korea. Their optimism  if not confidence  about a shared future for the two Koreas is based on the rational belief that there are several different ways to achieve unification. One of them is the mutual agreement of the two Koreas on such unification.



On top of dialogue and talks, retired Col. David Maxwell said there are three other paths to unification  namely war, regime change and regime collapse  stressing that peaceful unification is the most complex and difficult path to unify the two Koreas and "possibly the least likely one to occur because Kim Jong-un is unlikely to ever go quietly into the night."



"But it is the morally right path because we must seek to do it as peacefully as possible," Maxwell said during a speech to the International Forum on One Korea 2022 held at the Fairmont Ambassador Hotel in Seoul on Aug. 13 and 14. "However, even if war or regime collapse occurs, all the work done for peaceful planning will still have applicability in the unification process. Regardless of the path taken, planning for peaceful unification planning will provide the foundation for a free and unified Korea."



Maxwell is one of the dozens of experts who gathered in Seoul during the weekend to figure out ways to "make the impossible possible," as he put it. Also joining the two-day international forum were lawmakers, think tank experts, human rights activists and academics.



Also a senior fellow of the Washington D.C-based think tank, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Maxwell called for the active role of civil society, together with the governments of South Korea and the U.S., to make peace on the Korean Peninsula happen.



"I recommend the formation of civil society task forces that are willing to support the goal of a free and unified Korea," he said. "There is much work that can be done in long-term preparation for the future: humanitarian assistance, education, economic engagement, infrastructure development, political process integration and communications, just to name a few areas for consideration."



Maxwell argued that unification costs could become manageable if civil society around the world is willing to step up and show their support for the Korean people.





Retired Col. David Maxwell, senior fellow at the non-profit group Foundation for Defense of Democracies, gives a speech during the opening session of the Interntional Forum on One Korea 2022 at Fairmont Ambassador Hotel in Seoul on Saturday. Courtesy of Global Peace Foundation



During the two-day event, professionals in three areas of specialization  peace and security, the economy and human rights  shared their thoughts and insights into the reclusive state in order to find a constructive way to build peace in East Asia.



Park Ji-hyun, a North Korean defector-turned-human rights activist based in the United Kingdom, addressed human trafficking and modern-day slavery as two of the most acute problems in the North and called for international action to stop them.



In North Korea, she said, "the state is driving its citizens into human trafficking and forced labor," adding that "types of forced labor include forced child labor, illegal recruitment and the deployment of child soldiers."



Park, human rights research manager at the U.K.-based non-profit group, Slavefreetrade, mentioned the prevalence of state-sponsored sex crimes in the North, saying, "The North Korean government welcomes women over the age of 17 with joy by raping them, forcing them to dance and sing in front of them, and commits sexual violence against women without hesitation."



Among others, she underscored information as one of the most important tools that could transform North Korea's younger generations into agents of change to stand up against the repressive Kim Jong-un regime.



"Younger generations who have escaped North Korea have focused much more on defending themselves for (the goal of) freedom than (escaping from) economic hardship," she said. "For those who have hope of freedom and to live their dreams, they say that the collapse of North Korea should be focused and changed through internal forces rather than external forces."



For decades, information has been touted as one of the most effective ways to change the North. Many are convinced that the infiltration of outside information could help the North Korean public realize that they have been deceived and brainwashed by the North Korean authorities and encourage them to launch a grassroots movement to stand up against the dictatorship. This kind of thinking has emboldened some activists, and they have sent leaflets to educate North Koreans about the Kim dynasty, their decades of dictatorship and human rights abuses, despite death threats from the North Korean regime.



Although information can be effective, some claim that its role has been overstated. These skeptics say that knowing is one thing and performing collective action to break the miserable status quo is another. In a country like North Korea, in which its leader makes use of the politics of fear and brutally cracks down on any kind of anti-government activities, the naysayers say organizing anti-government rallies or protests is something unthinkable.





Jagannath Panda, head of the Stockholm Center for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs, speaks at the Peace and Security session of the One Korea forum held at Fairmont Ambassador Hotel in Seoul, Saturday. Courtesy of Global Peace Foundation



Hyun Jin Preston Moon, founder and chairman of the U.S.-based group, Global Peace Foundation, however, believes in the potential of information, noting that North Koreans today are not the same as those of the past.



The origin of his confidence about North Korea having changed is the younger generations, particularly those who are called "the Jangmadang generation," people who were raised when informal markets began to thrive in North Korea, following the great famine in the mid-1990s.



"People in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea no longer live in a cocoon with no information from the world outside. The current generation of North Koreans has experienced the freedom of enterprise and choice  however restricted  offered by the jangmadang informal markets," he said during a keynote speech to the forum. "They watch TV dramas from China and South Korea and do not accept the propaganda that, however harsh their lives might be," he said. "The regime fears the confluence of a more informed, less unconditionally loyal population, with greater hardships."



When loyalty is replaced by fear and the general population suffers increasing hardships, he said, the situation becomes unsustainable. "Change is bound to come. We just don't know when, or in what form it will happen."



The annual One Korea Forum hosted by Global Peace Foundation wrapped up on Sunday.




In this photo, American Heritage Dictionary exclusively used the term "Sea of Japan," the term used in Japan, to describe the body of water between Korea and Japan, instead of concurrently using "East Sea," the term used in Korea. Screenshot from the American Heritage dictionary website



By Lee Hyo-jin



The Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK), a civic organization promoting Korean culture and history online, has pointed out multiple errors and distortions in nearly a dozen English dictionaries and encyclopedias, Monday.



The organization, which searched for "Korea" in 15 well-known dictionaries online, found that 11 of them exclusively used of the term "Sea of Japan" to describe the body of water between Korea and Japan. Such dictionaries include the American Heritage Dictionary, Dictionary.com and Your Dictionary.



Korea and Japan have long been at odds over the issue of the sea's name, with Korea using "East Sea" and the latter calling it "Sea of Japan."



Following a resolution adopted at a U.N. Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names in 1977, which stipulates that "when countries sharing a geographical feature do not succeed in agreeing on a common name, it should be a general rule of international cartography that the name used by each of the countries will be accepted," the Korean government has been campaigning for both names to be used concurrently in official maps and documents.



Meanwhile, VANK pointed out that the U.K. Collins Dictionary contained factual errors about Korea, describing it as "an isolated tributary state of Manchu China for three centuries until the opening of ports to Japanese trade in 1876."



Lookwayup.com and Rhymezone.com incorrectly wrote that the country's Korean name is "Chosun," instead of "Daehanminguk" or "Hanguk."



"Following increased global interest in Korea thanks to hallyu stars such as BTS and Blackpink, or Son Heung-min, many foreign nationals are searching for information about the country on the internet. English dictionaries and encyclopedias that provide incorrect information will give them inaccurate knowledge about Korea," VANK said in a statement, adding that it will soon lodge official complaints with the dictionaries to rectify the errors.






By Doyle McManus







China's economy is in trouble. The juggernaut that once looked bound for global domination is slowing down  and not only in the short run.







The Chinese economy's projected growth this year has slowed to about 3 percent, missing the government's target of 5.5 percent by an embarrassingly wide margin.







After decades of galloping expansion, that would be the second-worst performance in more than 40 years. Only 2020, with its COVID-induced recession, was worse.







Unemployment among young workers has ballooned to 20 percent. Fuel prices are rising thanks to Russia's war in Ukraine. The overbuilt housing industry is teetering. And President Xi Jinping's draconian "COVID Zero" lockdowns have created havoc, most recently in technology-heavy Chengdu (population 21 million).







Remember when Americans fretted about China overtaking the United States to claim the title of world's largest economy? That date has been postponed to 2033 or later, and a few economists suggest it might not happen at all.







Some of those problems may be short term, driven by a slowing global economy and Xi's refusal to import foreign COVID-19 vaccines.







But China also faces long-term challenges that won't go away, beginning with an onrushing demographic decline.







The United Nations projects that China's population will shrink roughly 40 percent by the end of the century, from 1.4 billion to a mere 800 million or so. Some demographers say the decline will be steeper; either way, India will soon take over as No. 1.







The population decline stems from a low birthrate, which also means China's population is aging and its workforce shrinking. By 2050, more than a quarter of the population will be older than 65, Australia's Lowy Institute projects. Lowy expects China's growth rate to slow to an average of less than 3 percent over the next three decades as a result.







China-watchers agree on those doleful forecasts. They disagree, though, on what that means for the country's future and for U.S. policy. How does a rising superpower react when the foundations of its strength appear to be eroding?







Two foreign policy scholars, Hal Brands of Johns Hopkins and Michael Beckley of Tufts, have offered a frightening thesis: China's leaders know their power is about to diminish, and that will make them more likely to take risks in the short run  to invade Taiwan, for example.







China "is losing confidence that time is on its side," they write in a recent book, "Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict With China."







"China will have strong incentives to use force against its neighbors  even at risk of war with the United States," they warn. The "moment of maximum danger," they suggest, is this decade: the 2020s.







A chorus of other China scholars have disagreed.







First, they note, there's no evidence that Xi or other leaders believe their power is declining; they continue to predict the rise of China and the decline of the West.







Even if China's economy slows down, it will be growing  still the second-largest in the world.







"Countries can muddle along with a great deal of poor economic performance and still be a major force in international politics," noted Aaron L. Friedberg of Princeton, author of "Getting China Wrong."







Besides, Xi and other Chinese leaders have a strategy for solving their economic challenge, he argued. "They see advances in technology as the key to solving all their problems," he told me. "That's how they plan to achieve higher productivity and reasonably high economic growth."







"We have to do more  to slow down China's technological development," he said, beginning with tighter controls on the export to Beijing of U.S. and other Western technology.







A rosier scenario, Friedberg and others noted, is that a slowing economy could induce China's leaders to devote less spending to military strength and more to improving the lives of the Chinese people.







"We should not assume that a weaker China would be aggressive," Bonnie S. Glaser of the German Marshall Fund argued. "China could turn inward. Maybe China isn't as intent on unification with Taiwan as it is on internal stability."







So the 21st century may not be Chinese after all. China's rise to global power is neither inevitable nor foreordained.







But even an aging China with a slow-growing economy will be a powerful commercial, technological and military competitor. At least until the end of Xi's third term in 2027, its leaders will still be ambitious, still bent on absorbing Taiwan, still intent on supplanting the United States as the dominant power in Asia.







China's challenge is changing its shape, but it isn't going away.









Doyle McManus (

) is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. This article was distributed by Tribune Content Agency.




By Cho Hee-kyoung





As the month of August drew to a close, it seemed that the long-running epic saga between Lone Star, a private equity fund from Texas, and the government of Korea was finally coming to an end. The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, the World Bank arbitration center based in Washington, ordered the Korean government to pay Lone Star Funds $216.5 million in damages plus interest in a decade-old dispute that arose out of Lone Star's one-time ownership of a controlling stake in Korea Exchange Bank or KEB.



Lone Star made the investment using special purpose entities  essentially paper companies  that Lone Star had incorporated in Belgium and Luxembourg.



Lone Star has become a byword in Korea for predatory foreign capital: one that acquires a valuable local asset at a fire sale price, then sells it shortly thereafter making manifold profits and exiting the country. The latest arbitral award from ICSID arises out of the divestment of KEB shares by Lone Star to Hana Bank. Lone Star attempted to sell its stake in KEB to various parties: initially to Kookmin Bank for $7.3 billion in 2006; then to HSBC for $6.3 billion in 2008. However, with prosecution and other lawsuits still afoot regarding the initial acquisition, the Korean government delayed its regulatory approval for the sale.



In 2011, as a result of its conviction for stock price manipulation, Lone Star was ordered to sell down its stake in KEB to below 10 percent. It ultimately sold the stake to Hana Financial Group for $3.3 billion after first signing the deal in 2010 for $3.9 billion. Given that Lone Star originally paid $1.2 billion for its stake in KEB, it still made a 325-percent return on its investment, a rate of return of 40 percent per annum over eight years, which is almost three times the average annual return rate of private equity funds, of 15 percent. Even the legendary Berkshire Hathaway's average annual rate of return is 20 percent.



But dissatisfied with the $2.1 billion profit it made, Lone Star sued the Korean government in 2012 under a bilateral investment treaty that Korea entered into with Belgium-Luxembourg back in 1973 and renewed in 2006. A bilateral investment treaty typically provides foreign investors with certain legal protection, including the right to "fair and equitable treatment" and "full protection and security," as well as a prohibition against "arbitrary and discriminatory treatment." Accordingly, a foreign investor may sue the host state if it believes that it has suffered harm as a result of not receiving the protection promised by these amorphous standards.



Furthermore, the investment treaty also typically includes an "investor state dispute settlement," or ISDS provision, which allows the foreign investor to bypass the local courts and access international commercial arbitration. The Korea-Belgium Luxembourg investment treaty includes such an ISDS clause.



The ISDS is a "strange animal" that runs counter to the norms of international law and  dare I say it  even the principles of natural justice. It grants private parties the right to sue a sovereign nation in a forum other than the host state's domestic courts using laws other than domestic laws; the proceedings are kept confidential despite the fact that they touch upon matters of national importance; even the tribunal is appointed by the parties which potentially compromises the rule against bias.



Many people are under the impression that international arbitration is conducted by some kind of permanent standing international tribunal of some sort. That is not the case. The arbitrators are usually Anglo-American lawyers who have built their careers in international commercial business, which aggravates the potential bias issue.



Special protection for a foreign investor may be necessary to induce foreign direct investment in the event of uncompensated expropriation by the host state government or where the legal system of the host state is not fully developed, or where protection of private property is weak. But it is not intended nor should it be used to protect a foreign investor from all investment risks, which even in the domestic context include government and regulatory risks.



In a state with fully functioning courts, proper protection for private property and a democratic government, why should a foreign investor receive better protection than a domestic investor just for the sake of being foreign? An investor making investments in a foreign country usually does so with the expectation of a higher return.



The universal truth in investing is that higher returns carry higher risks. What an ISDS does is to allow a foreign investor to transfer all its investment risks to the host state and ultimately to the host state taxpayers. This amounts to discrimination against domestic investors as opposed to foreign ones.



The Justice Ministry has declared that it would seek an annulment of the Lone Star arbitral award. The success rate of an annulment is around 10 percent. The Lone Star arbitration is not the only international commercial arbitration the Korean government has had to contend with. There are currently at least half a dozen international commercial arbitration proceedings against the Korean government, including the one brought by Elliott Investment Management relating to the Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries merger and the role of the National Pension Fund therein.



Increasingly, foreign national individuals and not only corporate entities are using the ISDS to make claims against the government  all the more reason for the government to take measures to protect itself better, from the exclusion of ISDS provisions in future investment treaties, to renegotiating existing treaties to limit the use of paper companies as investment vehicles, to narrowing the scope of liability. The Leviathan in the 21st century is far from the Hobbesian giant.





Cho Hee-kyoung (hongikmail@gmail.com) is a professor at Hongik University College of Law. The views expressed in the above article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.


The site of Gascade and Deutsche ReGas in Lubmin, northeastern Germany, Aug. 30. Korea Times file



By Lee Kyung-min



Concerns are growing over a possible shortage of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the upcoming winter as prices are expected to soar due to Russia's supply cut to European buyers and Australia's move to curb exports of key natural resources, market watchers said Tuesday.



Of particular concern to Korea is Australia's move to secure the resources for domestic winter heating demand, pushing up LNG prices, certain to deepen energy woes for countries in Europe and the Asia Pacific region.



The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Australia's competition regulator, recommended that its government restrict LNG exports, out of concerns about supply being overshot by demand next year.



Data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy showed Korea imported over $6 billion (8.2 trillion won) worth of LNG from Australia in the first half of this year. This is almost twice the amount bought from Qatar ($3.63 billion) in the same period, followed by the U.S. ($2.5 billion), Oman ($2.3 billion dollars) and Malaysia ($2.2 billion).



Experts say the geopolitical uncertainties from Russia's invasion of Ukraine could develop into a full-blown energy crisis in the months to come, a much-dreaded scenario for Korea, with an energy self-sufficiency rate of 3 percent.



Price drop not likely



"The elevated prices of LNG will not come down, at least not any time soon," Korea Energy Economics Institute (KEEI) oil policy research team head Jung Jun-hwan said.



"Russia's weaponizing of its key natural resource is working, and Russia knows it. European countries will have to bear the full brunt of the supply cut, including soaring prices," he added.



Korea's concern is more about gas rate increases rather than an outright LNG shortage, in his view. However the country's winter heating costs will sharply rise due to continued wild fluctuation in global key commodity prices in the face of Russian risks.



"The price will hike if the Russia-Ukraine crisis takes a turn for the worse, a scenario we cannot completely rule out."



Figures



Data from Investing.com an investment information service provider, the futures price of Platts Japan Korea Marker (JKM), the Northeast Asian spot price index for LNG delivered ex-ship to Japan and Korea assessed by S&P Global Platts stood at $53.950 per 1 million British thermal unit (BTU), a unit of heat as of end of last month, more than doubling from $18.2 a year ago.



The figure hovered around $18 as of August last year, but spiked to $51.76 March after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.



It sank to around the $25-range in the first six months, but soared again in June and has since risen to $50.



The energy ministry plans to secure early energy supplies ahead of the winter, as monitored by the weekly supply-demand status at local LNG inventories. LNG consumption will be lowered in part by increasing the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).



The ministry will consider issuing administrative orders to control the volume and timing of exports and imports of privately traded LNG.



"We have secured a lot of energy sources and plan to continue to do so in the months to come," a ministry official said. "We do not expect an energy crisis in the winter, but will continue monitoring the developments in regions including Russia, Ukraine and Europe."




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The DeKalb High School Baron Brigade, competing in Open Class B, placed first and earned caption awards for best visual effect and tied for best general effect at the On the Banks of the Wabash contest at Bluffton High School Saturday.
The 5-billion won luxury villa of Super Junior Heechul was once again featured in a broadcast, following its renovation. Here's what happened.

Super Junior Heechul Unveils All-White Interior Design of 5-Billion Luxury Villa

On September 11, SBS's "My Little Old Boy," featured a housewarming party of Kim Heechul who completed the interior construction of his new house.

On this day, the Super Junior member welcomed Kim Jong Kook, Lee Sangmin, Kim Junho, and Oh Minseok as guests for his first housewarming party. As soon as the interior was finished, he especially invited his close friends.

During the broadcast, Heechul's house attracted attention by transforming his villa-type house into an all-white interior.

From the front door to the living room, kitchen, ceiling, wall, and floor, everything was all painted white. Even the table in the kitchen was white.

Before the interior renovation, it was said that it was a house with floors and decorations made of marble and wood.

Heechul proudly showed off his house saying:

"It's neat, isn't it?"

However, his close friends teased him and expressed embarrassment by making comments, such as:

"You haven't painted it yet, have you?"

"What's wrong with the house?"

"Isn't it an advertising studio?"

As they continue the tour, the show's cast complained even more after seeing more white in the living room and even in the kitchen and bathroom pointing out:

"If it's all white like this, isn't it hard to distinguish it from home?"

"Doesn't your head hurt a little now?"

"Oh, my eyes, eyes..."

"It's like an art museum."

"No, it's like a hospital (inpatient room)."

"It seems like a research institute left on Earth after the nuclear war."

Kim Jong Kook, Minseok and Junho also started complaining about being dizzy and having motion sickness.

Kim Heechul Reveals Reason He Opted For All-White House Interior

Despite such comments, Heechul felt proud about his new house, and viewers understood his decision after hearing his explanation.

In particular, the male idol also revealed that he came up with the all-white interior in preparation for marriage.

Lee Sang-min initially stated:

"When Heechul got married later, he said he made it as minimal as possible in white because he thought his wife would do interior work, but it's too white like drawing paper."

Jong Kook also teased him saying:

"You don't have to worry because I think you will live alone."

However, Heechul is determined with his plans and claims:

"When I get married, I will tell my wife to decorate it as she wants. I'm going to get married here."

Meanwhile, Heechul reportedly moved to a villa-type luxury apartment worth 5 billion won (4 million USD) located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul in February.

In the same program aired in May, the scene of planning the interior of a new house was broadcasted.

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Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 13 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Prime Venture Partners, an early-stage India focussed VC fund today announced the appointment of former Nike and Lenovo India CFO, Alok Garodia, as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), taking over from Tulsi Swamy. Alok will be responsible for all aspects of Fund Finances, Operations, Investor Reporting, Compliance, Legal and Tax matters. Alok joins the Prime leadership team as it expands its investment and operations for the next phase of growth. Given his operating expertise across diverse industries, Alok will also engage, support and advise portfolio companies in building a strong financial and operating backbone.

A Chartered Accountant, Alok joins Prime with almost 25 years of experience working as CFO and other Finance Leadership roles with global companies including Lenovo, Nike, Nokia, and Pepsico. He has spent several years working in India and the Asia Pacific. Alok brings with him deep operating and business finance experience of the FMCG, Retail, Telecom and IT sectors and is passionate about growth, building teams, sustainable processes, and creating value. He has also been active in the startup ecosystem and is an angel investor/advisor to several early-stage startups in Fintech, Social Commerce and SaaS sectors.

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Tulsi Swamy, the former CFO who has been part of Prime's journey since its inception, will be stepping back from day-to-day activities while being engaged with the firm as an advisor. She plans to focus her time and efforts towards projects in sustainability and venture philanthropy. Tulsi has played a pivotal role in the evolution of Prime and its portfolio over the last decade. Her deep understanding of all aspects of venture capital, from fund accounting to regulatory frameworks to company structures have helped inform the fund through a number of strategic choices and the portfolio companies through their own fundraise cycles. Currently investing out of its USD 120 million Fund IV, Prime is typically the first institutional investor in startups and focuses on companies with an innovative approach to solving fundamental problems through technology. Prime's mission is to partner early with entrepreneurs and help build world-class technology companies that are addressing some of India's most important problems. Prime's prominent Limited Partners include International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, a top-tier University endowment, global family offices and institutions, and numerous global technology entrepreneurs. Prime's portfolio of more than 40 companies includes startups such as Quizizz, Niyo, MyGate, WheelsEye, OTO, Sunstone, PlanetSpark, Bolt and Dozee. Several of Prime's portfolio companies have featured in high-profile exits, including Perpule to Amazon, Recko to Stripe, Happay to Cred and Ezetap to Razorpay. Additionally, the firm also delivered a more than 4X return to all LPs of Fund 1 in less than nine years in a secondary transaction by Foundation PE. Supporting Quotes: Alok Garodia, Chief Financial Officer, Priven Advisors LLP (Prime Venture Partners)"I'm thrilled to join Prime VP and can't think of a bigger opportunity to be part of the venture capital and startup ecosystem. I have been closely following the evolution of startups in India over the last few years and am excited about the potential it holds. One of the things that drew me to Prime was its investment philosophy, first principles thinking, and the opportunity to work closely with portfolio companies. The road ahead is full of opportunities and I look forward to being a part of building world-class companies backed by Prime VP." Shripati Acharya, Managing Partner, Priven Advisors LLP (Prime Venture Partners)"We are delighted to welcome Alok to Prime. Alok brings in a wealth of experience in finance with deep operational experience across a range of industries in some of the most well-known global brands. His experience will further add to Prime's ability to closely work and support our portfolio companies across a range of functional areas. The next five years will see more investments and more global companies emerge out of India and we couldn't be more excited to be part of this evolution. We're also thankful to Tulsi for her work in setting up the finance function at Prime, and wish her the best in new endeavors."

This Story has been provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)

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Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 13 (ANI/PRNewswire): As part of its commitment to being net zero in its financed emissions by 2050, DBS today announced sectoral targets that are aligned with science-based decarbonisation glidepaths[1] in its report - 'Our Path to Net Zero - Supporting Asia's Transition to a Low-carbon Economy.' Interim decarbonisation targets set for 2030, reinforcing the commitment to net zero financed emissions by 2050. It represents one of the most comprehensive sets of decarbonisation targets in the global banking industry. The Bank will report the progress against the targets in the Annual Sustainability Report.

A total of nine industry sectors have been covered by decarbonisation and data coverage targets. Decarbonisation targets have been set for the following seven sectors: 1) Power 2) Oil and Gas (O&G) 3) Automotive 4) Aviation 5) Shipping 6) Steel and 7) Real Estate. Data coverage targets have been set for two sectors 1) Food and Agribusiness and 2) Chemicals, paving the way for future sectoral decarbonisation targets.

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With the range of sectors covered, DBS' commitment is among the most comprehensive among global banks. The bank's approach to target-setting is also rigorous and science-based, being benchmarked against internationally recognised and industry-accepted glidepaths such as The International Energy Agency's Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario (IEA NZE).

The publication of this clear actionable plan to net zero follows the bank's announcement in October 2021 that it had become a signatory of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, the first Singapore bank to do so. As a signatory, DBS is required to align its lending and investment portfolios with net zero emissions by 2050.

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Net-zero plan covers the most carbon-intensive segments of DBS' lending book and capital market activities

The nine sectors represent the most carbon-intensive institutional banking segments financed by DBS. They represent 31 per cent of the bank's outstanding loans but constitute the vast majority of the Institutional Banking Group's financed emissions.

Amongst the seven decarbonisation targets set, six[2] of them are set as intensity metrics with the objective to achieve lower emissions per unit of output or activity. This reflects DBS' goal of embarking on a net zero path that is consistent with inclusive and sustainable growth and prosperity.

Acknowledging that the path to net zero requires a lower usage of fossil fuels, an absolute emissions reduction target has been set for the O&G sector. By 2030, the bank has targeted to reduce the absolute emissions in the O&G sector which are attributable to DBS by 28 per cent, fully aligned with the IEA NZE scenario. The bank's O&G target will cover Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

This complements the bank's earlier commitment made in 2019 to progressively phase out thermal coal financing.

In addition, the decarbonisation targets go beyond the bank's institutional banking lending book and will cover capital markets activities as well.

The targets will be reviewed periodically as science and client data evolve. DBS will also update on its progress annually through its Sustainability Report.

Piyush Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, DBS Bank said, "Our firm conviction is that our net zero commitment, made last October, must be supported by a clear and detailed roadmap and plan. However, charting a viable course of action that is constructive and impactful is not easy, given challenges in mapping out suitable industry pathways and realistic medium-term milestones in markets with differing starting points. That is why I am pleased that we are able to announce today a set of ambitious, broad and measurable actions that we can execute against. The decarbonisation targets will act as the 'north star' for our financing activities guiding us to net zero by 2050 through measurable change."

Supporting Asia's transition to a low-carbon economy

DBS' commitments are ambitious as there is widespread recognition that many emerging markets in which it operates will move to net zero at slower rates than their developed market counterparts. Despite this, the bank is committed to moving to net zero by 2050, setting the bank on a path that is proactive and anticipatory of its customers' and society's needs.

With the announcement, the bank aims to encourage and enable its institutional banking customers to pivot their business strategies and accelerate their transition journeys. This could be achieved in various ways including by providing them with sustainable and transition finance solutions.

Tan Su Shan, Group Head, Institutional Banking Group said, "Our ability to achieve our net zero ambition relies heavily upon the success of our clients in delivering their own transition plans. In the past few years, we have seen a significant increase in the demand for green and sustainable finance solutions. To accelerate the transition and meet the vast investment needs in the next few decades, we will proactively partner our customers, providing them with financial advisory and transition finance solutions, as we collectively work towards a low-carbon future."

Gupta added, "Decarbonisation cannot be achieved in silos - the global banking and business community, and world leaders have a part to play in balancing the climate agenda, social equity and economic development. Collectively, we must exercise leadership by working towards a balanced, sustainable and just transition."

DBS' decarbonisation commitments can be found in its report at the following link: go.dbs.com/our-path-to-net-zero. The report was put together by DBS with support from Oliver Wyman.

DBS' steady progress to tackle climate change

DBS has been proactively adopting measures to tackle climate change for several years. The bank has been making steady progress across several areas as part of its broader sustainability efforts.

1) Scaling positive ESG impact through sustainable finance

DBS continued to build on its sustainable financing business, growing its sustainable finance portfolio to SGD52.7 billion as at 30 June 2022, exceeding its SGD50 billion target well ahead of 2024.

2) Tracking steadily towards zero thermal coal commitment

In April 2019, the bank ceased financing new thermal coal assets. Since then, it has continued to progressively phase down its thermal coal exposure.

At the same time, the bank continues to ramp up support towards the renewables sector as evidenced by its increased exposure to renewable energy projects of SGD5.9 billion in 2021, from SGD4.2 billion in 2020.

3) Achieving net zero operational carbon emissions by end-2022

DBS is committed to achieving net zero operational carbon emissions across the bank by end-2022 and continues to reduce the bank's carbon footprint while advancing its sustainable procurement agenda. As at end 2021, 100 per cent of DBS' new suppliers have signed their commitment to the bank's Sustainability Sourcing Principles.

In November 2017, DBS became a signatory to RE100 - the first Asian bank and Singapore company to join the global renewable energy initiative. The bank is committed to using 100 per cent renewable energy for its Singapore operations by 2030.

4) Committing to transparent disclosures

In 2019, DBS became the first bank in Singapore and Southeast Asia to adopt the Equator Principles. The Equator Principles is a globally recognised risk management framework adopted by financial institutions for determining, assessing and managing the environment and social risk in infrastructure projects.

DBS is also among the early adopters of the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), on voluntary disclosures around climate-related risks and opportunities. The Task Force's recommendations will help secure more complete, meaningful, reliable and consistent data across all companies and sectors for climate-related financial disclosures. This provides stakeholders with more meaningful and transparent climate-related financial information, enabling market forces to drive efficient allocation of capital and support a smooth transition to a low-carbon economy.

[1] The carbon emission pathway to the desired target set[2] 1) Power, 2) Automotive, 3) Aviation, 4) Shipping, 5) Steel, and 6) Real Estate

DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia with a presence in 18 markets. Headquartered and listed in Singapore, DBS is in the three key Asian axes of growth: Greater China, Southeast Asia and South Asia. The bank's "AA-" and "Aa1" credit ratings are among the highest in the world.

Recognised for its global leadership, DBS has been named 'World's Best Bank' by Global Finance, 'World's Best Bank' by Euromoney and 'Global Bank of the Year' by The Banker. The bank is at the forefront of leveraging digital technology to shape the future of banking, having been named 'World's Best Digital Bank' by Euromoney and the world's 'Most Innovative in Digital Banking' by The Banker. In addition, DBS has been accorded the 'Safest Bank in Asia' award by Global Finance for 13 consecutive years from 2009 to 2021.

DBS provides a full range of services in consumer, SME and corporate banking. As a bank born and bred in Asia, DBS understands the intricacies of doing business in the region's most dynamic markets. DBS is committed to building lasting relationships with customers, as it banks the Asian way. Through the DBS Foundation, the bank creates impact beyond banking by supporting social enterprises: businesses with a double bottom-line of profit and social and/or environmental impact. DBS Foundation also gives back to society in various ways, including equipping communities with future-ready skills and building food resilience.

With its extensive network of operations in Asia and emphasis on engaging and empowering its staff, DBS presents exciting career opportunities. For more information, please visit www.dbs.com.

This story has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)

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Begusarai, Sep 13 (PTI) One person was killed and 11 others critically injured as two gunmen on a motorcycle went on a rampage in Bihar's Begusarai district on Tuesday evening, firing indiscriminately at people in crowded areas, police said.

The gunmen are yet to be identified, they said.

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Around 5 pm, the gunmen arrived on a motorcycle at Malhipur Chowk in Begusarai town and opened fire targetting shops in the busy area, police said.

Unable to grasp what had happened, panicked people started running for their lives, while shopkeepers fled leaving their shops open.

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The gunmen then went to Barauni Thermal Chowk, Barauni, Teghra, Bachwara and Rajendra Bridge, and continued firing at people, indiscriminately, police said.

A 30-year-old man, Chandan Kumar, was killed and 11 others were critically injured in the mayhem, Superintendent of Police Yogendra Kumar told reporters.

Some of the injured were admitted to the government hospital in Begusarai, while some were sent to Patna for better treatment, he said.

Security has been beefed up in the district, and all the entry points have been barricaded after the incident, he said.

"We will soon nab the accused persons," 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)
Lucknow, Sep 13 (PTI) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has written to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker to allot a seat in the front to Shivpal Singh Yadav, in a surprise overture to his uncle who is seen to be now leaning towards the ruling BJP.

Shivpal Yadav, who floated his own Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) in 2018 after a rift with his nephew, was however given an SP ticket in the last Assembly polls.

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But after the elections, the two have been at loggerheads again.

On Tuesday, the SP's chief spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury told PTI that Shivpal Yadav is the senior-most member in the Assembly and he should be given due respect.

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"No political meaning should be drawn out of it. As he (Shivpal) is the senior-most member, the request was made," Chowdhury said.

The Monsoon Session of the state Assembly begins on September 19.

The Speaker's Office, however, has said it has not yet received any such letter from Akhilesh or his party.

Though Shivpal Yadav had won the Assembly polls on an SP ticket from Jaswant Nagar, the party lost to the BJP.

The SP then held a meeting of its MLAs to review the loss, but decided against inviting Shivpal Yadav to it.

The senior leader then met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, triggering a speculation that he may forge an alliance with the BJP.

During the Presidential polls, Shivpal went against the SP's decision to support Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha and voted for BJP-led National Democratic Alliance candidate Droupadi Murmu instead.

Following this, the SP issued him a letter saying he was free to go where he seemed to be commanding more respect.

Recently, Shivpal launched 'Yadukul Renaissance Mission', aimed at uniting the Yadav voters.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kolkata, Sep 13 (PTI) BJP supporters from across West Bengal started arriving in Kolkata and neighbouring Howrah on Tuesday morning to take part in the saffron party's 'Nabanna Abhijan' (march to secretariat) to protest against alleged corrupt practices of the TMC government.

The BJP has hired several trains - three from north Bengal and four from south Bengal - to bring its party members and supporters from different parts of the state to the metropolis and Howrah for the march.

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Traffic restrictions have been put in place along several key stretches of the city in view of the BJP's 'Nabanna Abhijan', police said.

Barricades have also been placed on the Second Hooghly Bridge, which connects the metropolis with Nabanna, a police officer said.

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BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh is expected to lead the procession from north Kolkata, while leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari will be part of the rally from Santragachi area.

Party state president Sukanta Majumdar is likely to join the procession in north Kolkata.

"The TMC government is scared of public uprising. Even if they try stop our protest march, we will resist peacefully. The state administration will be responsible for any untoward development," Ghosh asserted.

BJP leader Rahul Sinha, meanwhile, accused the Mamata Banerjee government of trying to forcibly stop the "democratic protest".

"Our supporters were prevented from boarding a special train from Alipurduar to Sealdah on Monday evening and even lathicharged by the state police. The train left later with our activists and supporters," Sinha said.

Trinamool Congress spokesperson Joy Prakash Majumdar, however, said the BJP is attempting to create disturbance in the city for its "narrow, partisan politics".

"We urge everyone not to fall in their trap," he said.

The saffron camp has been taking out rallies across the state for the past couple of days, asking party workers to make the 'Nabanna Abhijan' a grand success.

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Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], September 13 (ANI): Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP A Raja sparked a huge controversy after he made derogatory remarks against Hinduism. His remarks caught a sharp reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Speaking at an event, A Raja said, "All individual institutions like Election commission, CBI, Supreme Court, Enforcement Directorate and even Parliament are being captive to this government. To show the truth, Viduthalai Magazine is much needed. Secularism, socialistic, and sovereign republic are what it has been said about India in the Constitution.

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BJP condemned DMK leader A Raja's derogatory remarks against Hinduism that sparked controversy.

Taking to Twitter, Tamil Nadu BJP state president K Annamalai said, "Sorry state of political discourse in Tamil Nadu. DMK MP has yet again spewed hatred against one community with the sole aim of appeasing others. Very very unfortunate mindset of these political leaders who think they own Tamil Nadu."

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Annamalai on his Twitter page, "Sorry state of political discourse in Tamil Nadu. DMK MP has yet again spewed hatred against one community with the sole aim of appeasing others. A very very unfortunate mindset of these political leaders who think they own Tamil Nadu".

Referring to Supreme Court, the DMK leader Raja said the basic structure of the Constitution cannot be altered or cannot be changed. He said even Parliament do not have the right to alter the Constitution.

"But now again the case has been regarding this came to Supreme Court. Even SC came forward to hear that, what is more cruel than this? So, hence Viduthalai, Murasoli and Theekathir should not hesitate to ask who is Hindu? I do not like to be Hindu. Why are you keeping me as Hindu? We should raise this question. I have never seen a religion like Hindu," A Raja stated.

The DMK MP said Lingiyats have filed a petition on the Supreme Court stating that "Ours way of worship is different. Our Spiritual ideology is different. Do not make us Hindus."

But According to Supreme Court, Raja said, "If you are not a Christian, Muslim or Persian you should be a Hindu. Do any other countries have this much cruelty? Till you are a Hindu, you are Sudhra. Till you are a Sudhra, you are a prostitute's son. Till you are a Hindu, you are Dalit and untouchable."

He said the time has come for Murasoli, DMK, Viduthalai and DK to strongly raise the question that "how many are like to be prostitutes' sons and how many are like to be untouchables? Then only we can uproot the base of Sanatanam."(ANI)

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Jammu, Sep 13 (PTI) The BJP on Tuesday paid rich tributes to party's former vice president and prominent Kashmiri Pandit leader Tika Lal Taploo, who was gunned down by terrorists in Srinagar 33-years ago.

A martyr's day (Balidan divas) programme was organised by the BJP's Kashmir Displaced unit at Jammu Club here to pay rich tributes to Taploo.

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The killing of Taploo in 1989 was followed by the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley. His killing also set off a series of target killings of KP leaders and activists in Kashmir.

Homage was also paid to those who were killed by terrorists during these 33 years in various parts of the state including Wandhama, Chitising pora , Doda, Kishtwar, and Rajori.

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Tributes were also paid to security forces and police personnel who made great sacrifices while fighting with the Pakistan sponsored terrorists and got martyrdom.

Two minutes silence was observed as a mark of respect for the departed souls.

Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina, General Secretary (Organisation) Ashok Koul, Seh-Prahbari BJP J-K Ashish Sood, and Prahbari Kashmir Displaced District G L Raina, and other prominent political and social personalities paid floral tributes to Taploo.

A documentary film on Tika Lal Taploo was also shown on the occasion.

Ravinder Raina, said Taploo was a prominent figure of the BJP in Kashmir and his aim was to strengthen the nationalist forces and defeat the design of anti-national forces.

He was a popular leader among the other communities also because he was always available for their help, irrespective of their caste or religion.

Ashok Koul while paying tributes to Taploo said that he was a great leader of BJP and a social activist.

He also served as vice president of BJP and never compromise on his principles. He further said that Tika Lal's influence and popularity was unmatched among the Kashmiri Hindus.

He was also popularly known among Muslim community and hence became a major challenge for the terrorists, Koul said.

Terming Taploo a tallest Kashmiri leader, Ashish Sood said his sacrifices for the nation will always be remembered.

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New Delhi, September 13: The CBI Tuesday started a search operation at 33 locations, including the premises of ex-Jammu and Kashmir SSB chairman Khalid Jahangir, over alleged irregularities in the recruitment process of sub-inspectors in the Union Territory, officials said.

The premises of Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) Controller of Examinations Ashok Kumar are also being searched, they said. The searches are spread across Jammu, Srinagar; Karnal, Mahendergarh, Rewari in Haryana; Gandhinagar in Gujarat; Delhi; Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh and Bengaluru in Karnataka. NIA Recruitment 2022: Apply for 67 Assistant SI and Head Constable Posts on nia.gov.in, Check Details Here.

This is the second round of searches conducted by the CBI in connection with its probe into alleged irregularities, they said. "The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case on the request of the Jammu and Kashmir administration against 33 accused... on the allegations of irregularities in written examination for the posts of Sub-Inspectors in the J&K Police on 27.03.2022, conducted by J&K Services Selection Board (JKSSB)," the CBI said on August 5 after registration of the FIR.

The exam results were declared on June 4 this year after which allegations of malpractices in the examination surfaced. The Jammu and Kashmir administration constituted an inquiry committee to look into the charges.

"It was alleged that the accused entered in conspiracy amongst officials of JKSSB, Bengaluru-based private company, beneficiary candidates and others, and caused gross irregularities in the conduct of written examination for the posts of sub-inspectors. It was further alleged that there was an abnormally high percentage of selected candidates from Jammu, Rajouri and Samba districts," the CBI has said.

JKSSB had allegedly violated rules in outsourcing the setting of question papers to a Bengaluru-based private company, the probe agency had said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], September 13 (ANI): As Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra entered its seventh day, party leaders led by Rahul Gandhi started the march from Kaniyapuram on Tuesday.

The Yatra is its Kerala leg and would traverse through the state for the next 17 days.

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Taking to Twitter, Rahul Gandhi said, "India's dream is broken, not scattered. To accomplish the dream, we are connecting India. 100 km done. And, we have just begun."

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The 3,500-km march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir will be completed in 150 days and cover as many as 12 states. From Kerala, the Yatra will traverse through the state for the next 18 days, reaching Karnataka on September 30. It will be in Karnataka for 21 days before moving north. The Padyatra (march) will cover a distance of 25 km every day.

A political row erupted after Congress posted a picture of a burning pair of RSS shorts on Twitter. Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha President Tejasvi Surya said the picture depicted that the fire Congress has stoked in the past has burned their political fortunes in the country.Earlier today Congress tweeted a picture of fire-lit 'Khakhi' shorts and wrote, "To free the country from shackles of hate and undo the damage done by BJP-RSS. Step by step, we will reach our goal".

The INC tweet came in light of the current Bharat Jodo Yatra which marks day 6 today.

In a series of tweets, Survya recalled various incidents of violence in the past including the Delhi Sikh riots in 1984 and Godhra incident in 2002 where Karsevaks were burnt alive. The BJP leader hit out at Rahul Gandhi who is leading the Yatra and is currently in Kerala, and said that he is "fighting against the Indian state".

Making a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi for meeting controversial Catholic priest George Ponnaiah, Union Minister Ajay Bhatt on Sunday slammed for supporting people who want to divide India and said that Congress has been opposing every decision of PM Modi including the scrapping of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and the surgical strikes in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).Reacting to Catholic priest George Ponnaiah's controversial statement "Jesus Christ is the real God, not like Shakti," Bhatt said that Rahul Gandhi is meeting "divisive personalities, Congress has consistently stood in support of former party president Rahul Gandhi on the priest controversy. The party claims that they don't meet people after doing background checks and in Parliament, their MPs sit with the worshipers of Godse".

"Initially it talked about containers and later about Rahul Gandhi's shirt and shoes. Tomorrow it will raise some other frivolous issues," party leader Jairam Ramesh said at Neyyattinkkara in Thiruvananthapuram district.

"We just started our yatra but it seems the BJP is really worried over the unprecedented response it is getting. We can gauge it from its leaders' reactions. Like PM Modi he is not spending public money on his clothing," Ramesh said.

According to Congress, the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' is being held to combat the divisive politics of the BJP-led Centre and to awaken the people of the country to the dangers of economic inequalities, social polarisation, and political centralization.

The Yatra includes Padayatras, rallies, and public meetings which will be attended by the senior Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Notably, all the party MPs, leaders, and workers along with Rahul Gandhi are staying together. Sleeping beds, toilets, and ACs are also installed in some of the containers. During the journey, the temperature and environment will differ in many areas. The arrangements have been made keeping in view the intense heat and humidity with the change of place.

The Congress suffered a debacle in the assembly polls held earlier this year and the Yatra is seen as an attempt to rally the party rank and file for the upcoming electoral battles. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Goa (Maharashtra) [India], September 13 (ANI): Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday lambasted the Congress over its Bharat Jodo Yatra, saying it is more of a 'Congress Jodo Yatra'.

Congress has a habit of splitting the nation but BJP and RSS have always talked about 'Bharat Jodna', said Sawant.

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Sawant told ANI, "Congress has a habit of splitting the nation. Look at our country's history, they created Pakistan by splitting India before independence. They are targetting BJP and RSS by burning RSS uniform. BJP and RSS have always talked about 'Bharat Jodna'.

Sawant said Congress is conducting a 'Congress Jodo Yatra' on the pretext of 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' by dividing people. They are creating an atmosphere of inferiority by burning the RSS uniform," Sawant told ANI "I condemn this Congress policy".

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Earlier in the day, National Joint Secretary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Manmohan Vaidya slammed the Congress over its Bharat Jodo Yatra accusing the party of political gimmickry.

"The Congress wants to connect people through hatred and political gimmickry that would not serve the purposes of uniting masses. Congress harboured hatred for RSS and tried to curb it but the outfit expanded with the support of society," Vaidya said.

"If anyone does a job of connecting people of India it is a good thing but how do you connect through hatred or love? The spiritual identity of India is called Hindutva in the world. Hindutva is not just a religion. If anyone tries to unite the country by recognizing the element that associates people in the true sense, then he or she is welcomed," he added.

The Congress on Monday slammed the BJP-RSS through its tweet that showed burning 'Khaki' shorts, in wake of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"To free the country from shackles of hate and undo the damage done by BJP-RSS. Step by step, we will reach our goal", read the Congress tweet.

BJP Yuva Morcha President Tejasvi Surya was quick to slam the tweet saying, "Fires they lit in the past have burnt them in most of India. The remaining embers in Rajasthan & Chattisgarh will also reduce to ashes very soon".

In a series of tweets, Surya recalled various incidents of violence in the past including the Delhi anti-Sikh riots in 1984 and the Godhra incident in 2002 where karsevaks were burnt alive. The BJP leader hit out at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi who is leading the Yatra and is currently in Kerala, and said that he is "fighting against the Indian state".

"Congress fire burnt Delhi in 1984. Its ecosystem burnt alive 59 Karsevaks in Godhra in 2002. They have again given their ecosystem a call for violence. With Rahul Gandhi 'fighting against Indian State', Congress ceases to be a political party with faith in constitutional means," Surya tweeted.

The war of words between Congress and BJP continued as a member of the BJP UP legislative council Jitin Prasada was quick to react to the Congress tweet and said that everybody should condemn the "politics of hate".

Taking a jibe at the Congress, he tweeted, "Political differences are natural and understandable but what sort of mindset calls for burning political opponents? This politics of negativity and hate should be condemned by all".

BJP leader Sambit Patra during the press conference on Monday said, "The photo tweeted by Congress is nothing but instigating people for violence. Congress has sent a message, through this photo, that people of particular ideology i.e. Sangh and BJP karyakartas should be eliminated."

"It's not 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' but 'Bharat Todo' and 'Aag Lagao Yatra'. This is not the first time Congress Pparty has done so. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi do you want violence in this country? Congress should take down this picture immediately," he added.

Congress launched Bharat Jodo Yatra on September 7. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], September 13 (ANI): The Saket court in Delhi on Tuesday reserved the order on an Intervention Application (IA) moved by Kunwar Mahender Dhwaj Pratap Singh, who claimed ownership rights over Qutub Minar land, while hearing an appeal that sought worship rights for Hindus and Jains inside the Qutub Minar complex.

In the matter, through IA Dhwaj Pratap Singh had claimed to be an heir of the United Provinces of Agra and said the property of Qutub Minar belongs to him therefore the minaret along with the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque should be given to him.

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On Tuesday, the intervenor submitted that the government after 1947 encroached on his property and he has Privy Council records.

Appearing for the Hindu side, advocate Amita Sachdeva submitted that the intervenor is claiming property rights after 102 years. He is not interested in any kind of relief from the court. This petition is nothing more than a publicity stunt and should be dismissed with heavy costs.

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ASI in its fresh affidavit already submitted that the applicant claims his right over the mentioned cities in and around Delhi has not been raised since independence i.e. 1947 before any Court of Law as surmised from the submissions by the applicant.

Moreover, the applicant's claim of ownership and right of prevention of interference in his property has lapsed by the principle of the case for delay and laches, since the time period to file a recovery/possession/injunction against the same, be it of 3 years or 12 years has already expired by many decades, stated ASI.

During the time of declaring the property in question as a Protected Monument in 1913, the complete procedure was followed and no one came before the authorities to object, and hence counting the period from 1913 to 2022, the period of limitation has already lapsed many times over, stated ASI in the affidavit.

Additional District Judge Dinesh Kumar on Tuesday kept the order reserved on the IA moved by Kunwar Dhwaj and fixed the date September 17, 2022, for pronouncement of order in this regard.

Earlier the Court had clearly said that it will hear/decide the fresh IA first before proceeding with further arguments in the appeal. Court noted that an application was moved by Kunwar Mahender Dhwaj Pratap Singh claiming to be an heir of the United Provinces of Agra and said the property of Qutub Minar belongs to him therefore the minaret along with Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque should be given to him.

The main appellant in the matter had claimed that the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, which is situated Qutub Minar complex, was built after destroying 27 temples.

Appeal suit alleging that the Quwwat-Ul-Islam Masjid situated within the Qutub Minar complex in Mehrauli was built in place of a temple complex.

Advocate Vishnu Jain appearing for the petitioner (Appellant) apprised the court that Quwwat-Ul-Islam Masjid situated within the Qutub Minar complex in Mehrauli was built in place of a temple complex. Jain reads Section 16 of the AMASR Act 1958, "A protected monument maintained by the Central Government under this Act which is a place of worship or shrine shall not be used for any purpose inconsistent with its character."

Earlier Archaeological Survey of India opposed the appeal and said Qutub Minar is a monument, no one can claim a fundamental right over such a structure. As per the Ancient Monuments Act, the Qutub Minar Complex is a monument and no right to worship can be granted at this place.

There is no provision under AMASR Act 1958 under which worship can be started at any living monument. High court of Delhi has clearly mentioned in its order dated 27/01/1999, stated ASI

The suit was filed on behalf of Jain deity Tirthankar Lord Rishabh Dev and Hindu deity Lord Vishnu (through their next of friends), seeking restoration of the alleged temple complex, comprising as many as 27 temples.

"The suit was filed to preserve and protect the religious and cultural heritage of India and to exercise the right to religion guaranteed by Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India by restoring 27 Hindu and Jain temples with respective deities which were dismantled, desecrated and damaged under the command and orders of Qutub-Din-Aibak, a commander of invader Mohammad Ghori, who established slave dynasty and raised some construction at the same very place of temples naming it as, Quwwat-Ul-Islam Mosque," the suit said.

The plea claimed that according to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) 27 Hindu and Jain temples were demolished and Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque was raised inside the complex reusing the materials and seeking to "restore" the demolished temples.

The suit sought to declare that Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh, Lord Sun, Goddess Gauri, Lord Hanuman, Jain deity Tirthankar Lord Rishab Dev have the right to be "restored" within the temple complex at the site of Quwwatul Mosque Complex, Mehrauli, south-west Delhi "after rebuilding it with the same honour and dignity".

It also sought to issue an injunction directing the Central government to create a trust, according to the Trust Act 1882, and hand over the management and administration of the temple complex situated within the area of Qutub Complex in Mehrauli after framing a scheme of the administration to such trust.

"Pass a decree in the nature of a permanent injunction, restraining the defendants permanently from interfering in making necessary repair works, raising construction and making arrangement for the pooja, darshan and worship of deities in accordance with Sections 16 and 19 of 'The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958' by a trust, to be created by the Central government within the area," the suit 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)
New Delhi [India] September 13 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Tuesday permitted a policeman convicted of double murder to attend his deceased father's 'Tehrvi' ceremony in Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh.

Jail authorities have been directed to take him to his village in custody.

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The division bench of justices Mukta Gupta and Anish Dayal directed the Superintendent, Tihar Jail to take the appellant in custody with necessary security to his village in Muzaffarnagar district on September 15, at his residence to attend his father's 'tehrvi'.

The bench observed, "Considering the desperate conduct of the appellant, who despite being a Head Constable in the police acted with impunity and committed robbery with murder as also deterred the person who was chasing him, to kill him with an unlicensed pistol, this court does not find it fit to grant interim suspension of sentence."

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However, the court permitted the appellant to attend the 'tehrvi' of his father on September 15, 2022, in custody.

The appellant had sought interim suspension of his sentence on the ground of the serious medical condition of his father. However, his father died on September 6, 2022.

The counsel for the appellant submitted the cremation of the father that has taken place.

However, the 'tehrvi' is to be performed on September 15. The appellant is the only son of his father and thus his presence is essential.

It was stated in the report filed by police that he was convicted for the murder of businessman Amarjeet Singh on September 24, 2011. The appellant entered his car and fired three shots from his illegally possessed pistol and looted three gold chains and a locket.

On hearing the gunshots, the patrolling police also reached there and with the help of a motorcyclist tried to catch hold of the appellant, who again fired on the police.

In the melee, he shot at the motorcycle rider Shanni who succumbed to his injuries in the hospital later.

Moreover, some more cases are also pending against the appellant. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], September 13 (ANI): The Delhi High Court while rejecting the status report, reprimanded Delhi Police for not giving the information in a matter related to a gunshot injury to a minor allegedly caused by cops.

The court has granted ten days time to the concerned DCP to file a fuller report. This matter pertains to the area of New Usmanpur Police station, Delhi.

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Justice Asha Menon said, "This status report is not acceptable to the court. Ten days' time is granted to the DCP to submit a fuller report.

A case has been registered against the petitioner under sections related to obstructing public servants, attempt to murder and Arms Act.

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The court also said, "In the meantime, since the petitioner's complaint is directed against the police, the DCP would also ensure that the petitioner is protected from unwarranted pressure."

The September 12 court order further read "In case of any grievance in this regard, the petitioner may bring it to the notice of the court by the next date of hearing".

"There is also a reference to gathering some valuable information over which they were working and a possibility that the criminals would be arrested in such valuable information. However, the report does not address the petitioner's grievance that it was the police who had harmed him," the court noted.

Additional standing counsel for Delhi Police, Sanjeev Bhandari submitted that the case has now been transferred to the crime branch. It would submit its status report before the next date of hearing.

The bench also noted that the report of DCP has been filed and a perusal of the report does not reveal anything except an acknowledgement that the petitioner appears to be a victim.

The bench observed, "It was expected that the DCP would have considered the various averments made in the petition filed before the court, particularly that the petitioner had sustained a gunshot injury and the persons responsible were Delhi Police officials."

"Whatever may be the information that they have obtained against the criminals, what was sought was a report on the basis of inquiry that the DCP would have made into the occurrence of the incident and any follow-up action against the police officials found wanting in the discharge of their duty," the court further observed.

The court made some strict observations during the hearing on the petition by the minor. The petition has sought a direction for the transfer of the case to the CBI and to suspend all the officials concerned in the matter.

The bench also noted that "It is not specified in the DCP's report as to what matter has been transferred to the crime branch, whether the investigation of the commission of the undisclosed crime or of the averments in the petition, specifically that the police had shot the petitioner."

Senior advocate K K Manan argued that the petitioner, who is a minor of 16 years of age, was shot at a close range by the police officials in the New Usmanpur area on June 11, 2022, without any apparent reason and against all police protocols, even if it assumed that Anti-Auto Theft Squad (AATS) was suspicious of the activities of the petitioner and his friend.

It was submitted by the senior advocate that a story was set that, police opened fire after hearing some suspicious sounds because large robberies had occurred in the area recently.

It was also submitted that no gun or other weapon was recovered from either the petitioner or his friend. So, ASI Rajdeep's claim that he started firing after he was fired can't be supported. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bengaluru, Sep 13 (PTI) Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah on Tuesday alleged that eggs were thrown on his car in Kodagu district last month at the behest of some BJP leaders.

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The former chief minister also demanded an inquiry into the newly constructed retaining wall of the office of the deputy commissioner of Kodagu district saying that Rs seven crore were spent on it.

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"I was on the way to meet farmers and also to see the retaining wall that fell down. It was built at a cost of Rs seven crore but on the way black flags were shown and eggs were thrown on my vehicle at two places," Siddaramaiah alleged in the Assembly.

The Congress leader condemned the act and said such incidents should not have taken place in the first place.

"We reached this stage after doing all that (black flag protest) during our early days. This should not have happened. It's not good, Siddaramaiah said.

Pointing to the BJP legislators from Kodagu, he said, "You all did it. We are not scared of these conspiracies. Do you think you it was a valorous job? Can't we do the same to you? I can do it across the state."

The Congress stalwart charged that the police did nothing when the protests were happening and eggs were thrown.

When BJP MLA Appachu Ranjan said it happened to protest against Tipu Jayanti started by Siddaramaiah, the Congress leader sought to know what they knew about the 18th century Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan.

He said veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa himself wore the Tipu turban and held the sword after he quit the BJP in 2013.

Regarding the retaining wall, Siddaramaiah alleged that public representatives and contractors squandered the money spent on the retaining wall.

"Order an inquiry. The PWD officers built the retaining wall to support the DC building from falling but the retaining wall itself collapsed. Now, sandbags have been placed to support the retaining wall," Siddaramaiah charged.

(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, Sep 13 (PTI) The Union Home Ministry has ordered the dismissal of a senior IPS officer of Gujarat cadre but it could not be implemented due to a court intervention, officials said.

Satish Chandra Verma, a 1986-batch IPS officer, who had assisted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the investigation into the alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan in Gujarat, was dismissed from service on August 30, a month before his scheduled retirement on September 30.

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However, Verma had approached the Delhi High Court challenging the home ministry order and the court barred the central government from implementing the order, an official said.

The reasons for the dismissal of Verma from the service is not known immediately.

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If the dismissal of Verma comes into effect, he will not be entitled to pension and other benefits.

The senior police officer was last posted as Inspector General with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Tamil Nadu.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Aurangabad, September 13: In view of the spread of lumpy skin disease in cattle, the Nanded district administration in Maharashtra has banned the holding of cattle markets, an official said Tuesday.

Nanded collector Khushal Singh Pardeshi has also banned the mingling of cattle till further orders. Also, races of cattle cannot be held in the district. Among other measures, cattle cannot be taken from one place to another. Animals infected by the lumpy skin disease cannot be brought into regular markets, an official said. Punjab Wants Lumpy Skin Disease to Be Included in National Animal Disease Control.

Cattle coming into the Nanded district will be screened at the borders of the district, the official added. The lumpy skin disease has claimed the lives of 43 cattle so far in Maharashtra, the state Animal Husbandry department said on Monday. The department has directed authorities of all districts in the state to speed up vaccination of cattle which will be offered free, officials had said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Yavatmal (Maharashtra) [India], September 13 (ANI): Around 60 farmers have died by suicide in the last 43 days in the Yavatmal area of Maharashtra failing to repay the debt following the torrential rains.

District collector, Amol Yedge assured that the government is taking steps to reduce the number of suicide incidents in the state.

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According to the official, 205 such cases have been reported in the state this year.Speaking to ANI, Yedge said, "48 farmer suicides were reported in August, 12 have been reported in September. So far, 205 cases have been reported this year (till September 12). Our committee sits on these cases and decides the eligibility and ineligibility of these cases."

Extending support to the farmers, the collector said that government officers will spend a day with the farmers on September 13 and 14.

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"We're with the farmers. As part of the government program, government officers will spend a day with them on September 13 and 14 to know their issues and inform them about government schemes and benefits."

A local in the area informed that the crops were destroyed because of the heavy rains which led to his father die by suicide owing to the inability to repay the debt.

"We had a debt of about Rs 12 lakhs, our crop was destroyed due to heavy rains. We never thought our father will die by suicide but he quietly went to the farm and did it. We didn't get any help from the administration, no No one including BDO or Collector visited us," he said.

Weeks ago in Delhi, a farmer was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a Shiv temple. A mushroom farmer who had sent his workers home to Bihar during the migrant crisis in May 2020, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a Shiv temple in the Alipur police station area in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The deceased was identified as Pappan Singh of Tigipur village. Singh used to visit the Shiv temple in front of his house daily. A priest saw him hanging on the ceiling fan, as per the police.A suicide note was also recovered which stated the reason was some disease. However, the family did not suspect anybody. (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, Sep 13 (PTI) A 44-year-old man has been arrested by the Mumbai Police for the brutal killing of his wife in suburban Malad suspecting her fidelity, police said on Tuesday.

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The couple got married recently.

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The incident occurred on Monday night after Asif Yusuf Sheikh, a painter by profession, spotted his wife roaming with another man in the Malwani area, an official said.

"After his wife returned home, Sheikh confronted her. Not satisfied by her reply, he stabbed her multiple times. After the crime, he surrendered to the police," he said.

A case of murder has been registered and further investigation is underway.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai, Sep 13 (PTI) A 43-year-old leader of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has been arrested after a party worker lodged a complaint that he raped her after promising a ticket for the upcoming Mumbai civic polls and offering a party post, police said on Tuesday.

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The accused, identified as a former Vibhag Pramukh' or division head of MNS, was arrested on Monday after the married party worker lodged a complaint with the VP Road police station.

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A police official said the accused and the complainant have been in touch since 2020.

The woman, 43, claimed in her complaint that the MNS leader assured her that he will help her secure a ticket for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls and also allot her a post in the party, and raped her in July this year, as per the First Information Report (FIR).

The complainant approached the MNS leadership after the accused failed to keep his promise, following which he was removed from the post of Vibhag Pramukh recently.

After the woman approached the police, a case of rape was registered at the VP road police station in Girgaon.

Further investigation is underway.

(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], September 13 (ANI): The petitioners on Tuesday submitted before the Supreme Court that providing reservation on the basis of economic criteria, excluding SC, ST and OBC Non-Creamy Layer, breaches the equality code.

The constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, Justice S Ravindra Bhat, Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice JB Pardiwala, on Tuesday began hearing the pleas.

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G. Mohan Gopal, former director of the National Judicial Academy has argued that the 103rd amendment violates the basic structure norm of democratic government and structure for securing social order.

He said that the 103rd amendment was an assault on the constitution as it nullified and neutralize the constitution's idea of treating unequals unequally.

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Gopal also said that the equality code of the Constitution will be destroyed if forward classes are given reservation as economic weakness results from social and educational backwardness.

Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for one of the petitioners said the impugned 103rd Amendment to the Constitution of India inserting Clause 6 in Article 15 and Clause 6 in Article 16 providing reservation on the basis of economic criteria (excluding SC, ST and OBC - Non-Creamy Layer) breaches the equality code which is the essence of democracy, thereby violating the basic features of the Constitution.

He submitted that economic criteria alone cannot fall within the parameters of "reservation" or "special provision" as conceived under the Constitution andeconomic criteria alone violates the equality code and thereby the democratic principles.

Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora also said that the EWS amendment violates the basic structure doctrine and the equality code.

The Supreme Court was dealing with issues relating to the Constitutional validity of reservations on the basis of economic conditions.

The court is dealing with three issues suggested by the Attorney General including one whether the 103rd Constitution Amendment can be said to breach the basic structure of the Constitution by permitting the State to make special provisions, including reservation, based on economic criteria.

The constitutional validity of the 103rd Amendment Act, 2019 enabled the State to make reservations in higher education and matters of public employment on the basis of economic criteria alone.

A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice UU Lalit had said earlier that the Janhit Abhiyan case will be the lead matter now.

Janhit Abhiyan's matter is relating to the challenging of the constitutional validity of the 103rd Amendment Act, 2019 which enabled the State to make reservations in higher education and matters of public employment on the basis of economic criteria alone.

Moreover, the Janhit matter will be heard together with a case filed by the Andhra Pradesh government against the High Court's decision of quashing its decision of granting reservations in education and public service for the entire Muslim population of the State in 2005. (ANI)

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Puducherry, Sep 13 (PTI) Puducherry reported 82 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday raising the overall tally in the Union Territory to 1,73,460.

Director of Health G Sriramulu, in a release, said the health department examined 1,367 samples in the last 24 hours.

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While Puducherry region alone reported 72 out of the 82 new cases, Karaikal saw eight and Yanam two persons getting infected by the virus respectively.

Mahe, an enclave of Puducherry in Kerala, did not report any new case of viral infection.

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The director said there were 341 active cases comprising 332 people in home quarantine and the remaining nine patients in hospitals.

He said 76 patients recovered during the last 24 hours and the overall recovery tally stood at 1,71,150.

No fresh virus-related fatality was reported from any of the four regions of Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam as the death toll remained unchanged at 1,969.

Sriramulu said the health department examined 23,89,203 samples so far and found 20,24,238 samples out of them to be negative.

The test positivity rate was six per cent while the fatality and recovery rates were 1.14 per cent and 98.67 per cent, respectively.

Sriramulu said the department has administered 21,46,032 doses till now consisting of 9,90,754 first doses, 8,32,285 second doses and 3,22,993 booster doses.

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New Delhi, Sep 13 (PTI) Many lives could have been saved during the second wave of the Covid pandemic if containment strategies were implemented on time, a parliamentary panel has said while pulling up the government for not being able to anticipate the gravity of the situation.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, in its 137th report presented to Rajya Sabha on Monday, said the second wave was undoubtedly marred by high cases, increased deaths, shortage of oxygen and beds in hospitals, reduced supplies of medicines and other important drugs, disruption of essential health care services, hoarding and black marketing of cylinders and medicines etc.

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"The committee is of the considered view that had the Government been successful in identification of the more virulent strain of virus in the population at an early stage and suitably implemented its containment strategy, the repercussions would have been less grave and many lives could have been saved," it said.

The committee observed that India is one of the countries with the heaviest burden of COVID-19 cases in the world. The enormity of the population of the country posed a major challenge in the face of the pandemic.

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With the fragile health infrastructure and the huge shortage of healthcare workers, the country witnessed tremendous pressure, it said.

It noted that the government could not accurately anticipate the gravity of the possible resurgence of the pandemic and its subsequent waves

Even when the trajectory of COVID-19 cases in the country registered a decline in the aftermath of the first wave, the government should have continued its efforts to monitor the resurgence of Covid and its possible outrage in the country, the committee said.

It noted that the ministry had cautioning states to maintain vigil and chalk out strategy for any exigencies that may arise due to resurgence of COVID-19 in their respective regions.

"However, the committee is unhappy to note that many states were unable to cope up with the arising uncertainties and medical emergencies in the wake of the resurgence of COVID-19 during the second wave that caused more than 5 lakh registered deaths," it said.

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Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], September 13 (ANI): National Joint Secretary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Dr Manmohan Vaidya on Monday slammed the Congress over its Bharat Jodo Yatra accusing the party of doing political gimmickry.

"The Congress wants to connect people through hatred and political gimmickry that would not serve the purposes of uniting masses. Congress harboured hatred for RSS and tried to prevent it but the outfit expanded with the support of society," Vaidya said.

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"If anyone does a job of connecting people of India it is a good thing but how do you connect through hatred or love? The spiritual identity of India is called Hindutva in the world. Hindutva is not just a religion. If anyone tries to unite the country by recognizing the element that associates people in the true sense, then he or she is welcomed," he added.

Dr Vaidya spoke after the three-day meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Samanvay Baithak was conducted on Monday in Raipur.

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Briefing the media about this meeting, Dr Vaidya said that Sangh was committed to carving a self-reliant Bharat with a Bharatiya (Indian) economic model that is human-centric, labour-intensive and eco-friendly.

"The meeting also emphasized decentralization, equitable distribution of benefits, village economy, micro-scale, small-scale, agriculture-based industries and women's empowerment," he added.

In this comprehensive meeting that was concluded on Monday, Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat, Sarkaryawah Dattatreya Hosabale, all five Sah Sarkaryawah- Dr Krishna Gopal, Dr Manmohan Vaidya, Arun Kumar, Mukunda and Ramdutt Chakradhar were present.

Besides this, 36 organisations and over 240 representatives from the RSS-inspired organisations attended the meeting.

"On the occasion of Amrit Mahotsav of India's Independence, all the inspired organisations discussed expanding the work for self-reliance. While the Grahak Panchayat decided to promote local goods, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch focused on creating a new measurement system to measure the Indian economy, not only taking GDP as the standard," Dr Vaidya further said.

Promoting organic agriculture, Bhartiya Kisan Sangh said, "it is not only a matter of treating diseases of the body, but the Indian system of medicine is also refined and advanced."

Speaking about the expansion of Sangh, he said that the work was spreading worldwide and a huge increment in the number of Sakha's was being seen.

"A lot of youth had shown their interest to join Sangh via the website also (Join RSS). Between 2017 and 2021, over 1.25 lakh requests had come while in the first eight months of the year, about 90,000 youths have wished to join RSS," he added. (ANI)

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Tarn Taran (Punjab) [India], September 13 (ANI): Sukhpreet Kaur, the wife of Sarabjit Singh who was killed in 2013 in a Lahore jail, died in a road accident on Monday.

According to Swapandeep Kaur, the daughter of Sarabjit Singh, her mother Sukhpreet Kaur fell off a motorcycle on Sunday while going to Jalandhar. The incident took place in Bhikhiwind. She was then admitted to hospital where she succumbed to injuries on Monday.

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Sukhpreet Kaur's cremation will be performed today.

Sarabjit Singh was a farmer from Bhikhiwind town in Punjab, who used to live near the India-Pakistan border, and who mistakenly crossed the border while he was drunk. However, he was sentenced to death by a Pakistan court in 1991.

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Singh was kept in the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore for 22 years and after that, he was beaten up by his inmates and was taken to hospital. Singh was declared dead by doctors at Lahore's Jinnah Hospital after being comatose for five days due to severe injuries in the head after an attack on him on the jail premises in 2013.

During his 22 years in jail, his older sister Dalbir Kaur had fought against the system to release her brother.

Dalbir Kaur had always insisted that her brother, Singh was innocent and had strayed into Pakistan by mistake when he was arrested. She also went to Pakistan to see her brother.

The Ministry of External Affairs had asked the Pakistan government to conduct a probe into Singh's death, while his sister, Dalbir Kaur had also called for an inquiry into the case and said: "If the attack was planned by the government itself, then there is no need for an inquiry. But if Sarabjit was attacked without the knowledge of the authorities, then an inquiry is definitely needed."

Dalbir Kaur also passed away in June this year. (ANI)

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Hisar (Haryana) [India], September 13 (ANI): Amidst the ongoing suspense over the death of actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sonali Phogat, sister Rukesh has suspected political angle in the suspicious death of her sister.

Speaking to ANI, Rukesh said, "The truth will come out only after a CBI probe. We are not satisfied with the investigation by Goa Police. Goa Police was probing the case from a property angle. There could be some big people behind the murder. Sonali could be murdered on political grounds, so there should be an investigation."

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She further thanked Khap Panchayats for exerting pressure on the government for a CBI probe into the matter.

"Khap Panchayats have given their full cooperation. Due to the Khap panchayats, there has been pressure on the Haryana and Goa governments at some places," Rukesh said.

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The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday gave its nod to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the probe into the suspicious death of BJP leader Sonali Phogat in Goa.

According to MHA sources, CBI will take over the case for further investigation.

On Sunday, a Khap Mahapanchayat was held in Hisar demanding a CBI inquiry into the death of Sonali Phogat.

Following the demand for a CBI investigation, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the case would be handed over to CBI on Monday. The family members of Phogat and the Haryana government had also made persistent demands in this regard.

Actor-politician Sonali Phogat -- who hailed from Haryana -- was found dead in Goa last month. Her family immediately alleged foul play. Following allegations by her family, the Goa Police lodged a case of murder and arrested a couple of Phogat's associates.

Phogat, who rose to fame with her TikTok videos, contested the 2019 Haryana election as a BJP candidate but lost to then Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi (he has since joined the BJP). She also appeared in the reality show Bigg Boss in 2020. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], September 13 (ANI): The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) conducted searches at properties related to former AIADMK Ministers SP Velumani and C Vijayabhakar in Tamil Nadu.

DVAC conducted searches from the early morning today in the properties related to SP Velumani and C Vijayabhakar. DVAC has filed criminal cases against both the minister and raids are being carried out according to the FIR.

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According to the official statement, "DVAC registered a criminal case against former minister of rural development and presently a member of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly SP Velu Mani for the allegation that he had abused the official position in awarding tenders in injudiciously to his closed associated companies causing loss to the government exchequer approximately Rs 500 crores in replacing the existing Street Light with Led Lights in rural areas during the period from 2015 and 2018."

Based on the FIR, searches were conducted at 26 places including 10 at Chennai, nine at Coimbatore and seven other places including Tambaram, Avadi, Trichy and Chengalpattu.

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DVAC registered a criminal case against Vijayabhakar in a corruption case of irregularities in the issuance of essentiality certificates in 2020 to Vels Medical College and Hospital against the regulations of the National Medical Commission. Based on the FIR, searches were conducted at 13 places including five at Chennai, three at Salem and one each at Madhurai, Theni, Pudukottai, Thiruvallur and Tambaram.

DVAC has made C Vijayabhaskar and six associates as accused in its FIR. Similarly, DVAC has made P Velumani and others as accused in its FIR.

Meanwhile, AIADMK MP CV Shanmugam slammed the DMK government and called the DVAC raids a political vendetta.

"DVAC raids purely political. They want revenge. We will fight it. They want to suppress the Opposition. Stalin's government could not fulfil election promises. Taxes were raised, EB tariff doubled. He (Vijayabaskar) is living the good way," said AIADMK MP CV Shanmugam.

Notably, DVAC raids are not new in Tamil Nadu since the DMK formed the government. So far raids have been made at premises of many top brass former AIADMK ministers like SP Velumani, C Vijayabhaskar, MR Vijayabhaskar, KC Veeramanai, Kamaraj and others. (ANI)

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Hyderabad, Sep 13 (PTI) The Telangana Legislative Assembly on Tuesday adopted two resolutions -- one urging the Centre to name the new Parliament building in New Delhi after B R Ambedkar and the other opposing the new Electricity Amendment Bill 2022 proposed by the Union government.

State IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao, who moved the resolution, hailed the contributions of Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, to the country.

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Telangana became a reality due to Article 3 of Constitution (which deals with formation of new States), he said.

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Saying that some describe Ambedkar as the leader of certain communities or sections, he asserted that the Dalit leader is not just the leader of weaker sections and was no way inferior to Mahatma Gandhi.

The Assembly proposes to the Centre that it would be appropriate to name the newly-constructed Parliament building after Ambedkar, he said.

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka thanked Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for accepting the CLP's suggestion to pass a resolution urging the Centre to name the new Parliament building after Ambedkar.

AIMIM MLA Ahmed Balala supported the resolution.

Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy announced that the resolution is adopted.

Meanwhile, State Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy moved the resolution opposing the Electricity Bill.

Alleging that the Bill is against the interests of farmers, poorer sections, and the employees of power sector and others, he demanded that the Centre withdraw the Bill.

The Assembly on Monday debated on the Bill.

As part of redevelopment of the Central Vista in the national capital, the new Parliament building is in the final stages of completion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the new building in December 2020. Last month, he unveiled the national emblem on the roof of the building.

The Centre plans to hold the winter session of Parliament in the new building.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], September 13 (ANI): Vigilance raids are underway across several properties of two former Tamil Nadu ministers -- SP Velu Mani and C Vijayabaskar -- for past irregularities in their respective departments.

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption has registered a criminal case against former Tamil Nadu minister presently a member of the state Assembly SP Velu Mani on allegations that he had used the official position in awarding tenders in injudiciously to his closed associated companies.

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SP Velu Mani was the minister for rural development.

The vigilance authority through a statement said awarding of tenders to his closed associated companies caused a loss to the government exchequer worth around Rs 500 crores.

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The tenders were for replacing the existing street lights with led lights in rural areas during the period from 2015 and 2018.

"Based on the FIR searches conducted at 26 places including 10 at Chennai, 9 at Coimbatore and 7 places including Tambaram, Avadi, Trichy and Chengalpattu," a DVAC official statement said.

Further, it registered a criminal case against the state's former health minister C Vijayabaskar in a corruption case of irregularities in the issuance of essentiality certificate in 2020 to Vels Medical College and Hospital against the regulations of the National Medical Commission.

In that context, searches are being conducted at 13 places including five at Chennai, three at Salem and one at Madhurai, Theni, Pudukottai, Thiruvallur and Tambaram, it added.

Besides, premises of Vels Group Chairman Ishari Ganesh, Dr Krishnaraj Dean of Vels Medical College, Dr Balajinathan, former Dean of Govt Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College are being raided, it added. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Ahmedabad, Sep 13 (PTI) Indian conglomerate Vedanta and electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Gujarat government on Tuesday to set up a semiconductor and display FAB manufacturing unit in the state.

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The MoU was signed in the presence of Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, at a function held in Gandhinagar.

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Both the companies would invest Rs 1,54,000 crore to set up the facility in Gujarat, which would create one lakh job opportunities, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said on the occasion.

Patel also said his government will provide cooperation to set up the facility and to make it a success.

(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, Sep 13 (PTI) After the Ukraine crisis, Russia and Argentina have emerged as major suppliers of sunflower oil to India as imports of the cooking oil jumped 89.6 per cent to 1.35 lakh tonnes in August, according to Solvent Extractors Association.

India, the world's leading vegetable oil buyer, is dependent on imports of sunflower oil, which constitutes 16 per cent of the total edible oil imports.

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Before the Russia-Ukraine crisis, 70 per cent of the sunflower oil imported by India used to come from Ukraine, while 20 per cent from Russia. But imports have been severely affected after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in late February this year.

"Russia and Argentina turn to be major suppliers of sunflower oil to India," industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said in a statement.

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In August this year, India imported about 1,35,000 tonnes of sunflower oil mainly from Russia, and Argentina and a small quantity from Turkey, which was 89.6 per cent higher than 71,340 tonnes in the same month of the previous year, it said.

Of the total sunflower oil imports, the shipments from Russia increased to 72,780 tonnes in August this year, from 28,840 tonnes in the year-ago period.

Similarly, the import of sunflower oil from Argentina increased to 30,600 tonnes in August this year from 12,500 tonnes in the year-ago period. About 14,588 tonnes has been imported from Turkey in August.

Whereas in August 2021, the country had imported 30,000 tonnes of sunflower oil from Ukraine, the SEA data showed.

According to SEA, India's major imports comprise palm oil and its shipment jumped by 32.64 per cent to 9,94,997 tonnes in August this year, as against 7,50,134 tonnes in the year-ago period.

Among palm oil products, the import of RBD palmolein rose 7.84 per cent to 2.02 lakh tonnes in August this year, from 1.87 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

The import of CPO rose sharply by 42 per cent to 7.82 lakh tonnes from 5.50 lakh tonnes, while that of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) declined to 10200 tonnes from 11,903 tonnes in the said period. Among soft oils, the import of soyabean oil increased 2.44 lakh tonnes in August this year, as against 1.82 lakh tonnes in the same period of the previous year.

Sunflower oil too falls under the soft oil category.

The country's total vegetable oil imports also increased by 33 per cent to 14,01,233 tonnes in August this year, compared to 10,53,810 tonnes in the year-ago period.

According to the SEA, import of RBD palmolein remained higher than the last year's level mainly due to the high export levy on crude palm oil (CPO) and lower duty on RBD Palmolein which favoured Indonesian exporters to discount RBD Palmolein to push its export. RBD palmolein constitutes 12 per cent of total India's import of edible oils, which was just two per cent last year, it said.

Also, the falling international prices of edible oils in the last four months favoured India which is dependent on imports of edible oils to meet much of its domestic demand, it added.

The SEA said edible oils stock as of September 1 this year, was estimated to have been at 6.11 lakh tonnes and about 18.25 lakh tonnes were in the pipeline.

India imports palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, and a small quantity of crude soft oil, including soyabean oil from Argentina.

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Peshawar, Sep 13 (PTI) At least five people, including a peace committee member and two police officials, were killed in a blast in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district, officials said on Tuesday.

Security officials said a roadside bomb attack targeted the vehicle of the peace committee member, Idrees Khan, who was an ex-Village Defence Council (Aman Committee) Chairman of Kabal Tehsil, in Swat district.

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The blast, which occurred in Bara Bandai area, resulted in the death of Khan, his security guards and two police officers, they said.

A search operation has been launched to nab the culprits, police said.

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Not terrorist outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Mahmood Khan has condemned the incident, and has sought a detailed report and said those responsible would be brought to justice.

Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in the targeted attacks on security forces since the Taliban takeover of Kabul last year in August after the withdrawal of US forces.

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London, Sep 13 (PTI) Britain's King Charles III on Tuesday reaffirmed his vow to follow the "shining example" set by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in a speech at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland during his state mourning tour of all parts of the United Kingdom.

The 73-year-old monarch went on a brief walkabout in Hillsborough shortly after landing in Belfast for what is the first visit to the devolved nation by a British King in nearly 80 years.

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Joined by his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, Charles shook hands and greeted crowds before heading to St. Anne's Cathedral for a service of reflection for the Queen's life.

"At the very beginning of her life of service, the Queen made a pledge to dedicate herself to her country and her people and to maintain the principles of constitutional government. This promise she kept with steadfast faith," he said in a speech in response to the customary message of condolence by the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Alex Maskey.

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"Now, with that shining example before me, and with God's help, I take up my new duties resolved to seek the welfare of all the inhabitants of Northern Ireland. During the years of my mother's reign, it has been a privilege to bear witness to such a devoted life. May it be granted to us all to fulfil the tasks before us so well, he said.

In an apparent reference to the past Troubles of conflict in the region, the new monarch said his late mother "never ceased to pray for the best of times" for Northern Ireland.

"My mother felt deeply, I know, the significance of the role she herself played in bringing together those whom history had separated, and in extending a hand to make possible the healing of long-held hurts, he said.

The reference would be seen as relating to the historic handshake between the late Queen and Martin McGuinness, the former leader of the separatist Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of her reign in 2012.

The British monarch's brief handshake was seen as ushering in a new era in 40 years of troubled history in Northern Ireland and laying separatist forces at rest.

"In the years since she began her long life of public service, my mother saw Northern Ireland pass through momentous and historic changes. Through all those years, she never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and for its people, whose stories she knew, whose sorrows our family had felt, and for whom she had a great affection and regard, stated Charles, in his first address to the region as monarch.

From Belfast, the King and Queen Consort will make their way back to London in time to receive the Queen's coffin at Buckingham Palace as it arrives from Edinburgh.

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Colombo, Sep 13 (PTI) Financial advisory group Lazard has begun talks with countries like India, Japan and China to initiate Sri Lanka's debt restructuring process, a Sri Lankan government spokesperson said on Tuesday, amidst the crisis-hit island nation's worst economic crisis in decades.

In May, Sri Lanka hired Lazard and Clifford Chance, a consortium of international lawyers to kick-start the restructuring of the country's debt.

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Earlier this month, The IMF announced that it will provide Sri Lanka with a loan of about USD 2.9 billion over four years under a preliminary agreement to help the bankrupt island nation tide over its worst economic crisis and protect the livelihoods of the people.

However, for the deal to go through, the country will require debt relief from its three main creditors, namely India, China and Japan.

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Together, they hold about USD 13 billion of Sri Lanka's debt, with China being Sri Lanka's largest bilateral creditor.

"They are in the process of speaking to India, China, Japan, mainly to ensure we come to some sort of consensus", the Daily Mirror Lanka newspaper quoted acting cabinet spokesperson Ramesh Pathirana as saying, while referring to Lazard.

"We will keep our fingers crossed that we will be able to come to an agreement, he added.

Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is going through its worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948 which was triggered by a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves.

In mid-April, Sri Lanka declared its international debt default due to the forex crisis.

The country owes USD 51 billion in foreign debt, of which USD 28 billion must be paid by 2027.

There have been street protests in Sri Lanka against the government since early April due to its mishandling of the economic crisis.

A crippling shortage of foreign reserves has led to long queues for fuel, cooking gas, and other essentials while power cuts and soaring food prices have heaped misery on the people.

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New Delhi [India], September 13 (ANI): Prakash Chand on Tuesday was appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the State of Eritrea.

Chand, a 2004 IFS officer, is Consul General, Consulate General of India,in Indonesia's Bali.

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He is expected to take up the assignment shortly, read the Ministry of External Affairs press release.

Prior to his current assignment in Bali, he was working as Director (Consular) in the Consular, Passport & Visa Division in the Ministry of External Affairs.

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He also served as First Secretary (Consular) in the Philippines from 2010 to 2014. Just before that he worked as Deputy Chief of Protocol (Conferences/Facilities) from 2008 to 2010 in New Delhi.

Prior to that, he served in various capacities in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi as well as in the Indian Missions in Uganda, the UK, Egypt, China and Austria. (ANI)

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Singapore, Sep 13 (PTI) An Indian-origin man was sentenced to six weeks' jail on Tuesday for stealing three cans of Coca-Cola worth SGD3 from a minimart at a local housing estate.

The man identified as Jeswindar Singh Dilbara Singh, 61, pleaded guilty to one count of theft, Channel News Asia reported.

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The court was told that Singh was walking past a minimart in the Bukit Merah public housing estate on August 26 when he stopped and pulled open the fridge door, and took three cans of Coca-Cola without paying for them.

Later that morning, the owner of the shop was preparing for business when his wife noticed that the fridge door was slightly ajar.

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The couple watched their CCTV footage and saw Singh stealing three cans of Coca-Cola valued at SGD3 (approx Rs 170) from the fridge.

The couple then called the police after which Singh was identified using police camera footage and he was arrested that same day.

The police raided his flat and recovered two cans of Coca-Cola from his fridge. The cans were returned to the minimart.

The third can was consumed by Singh, and he did not make any restitution, the prosecutor said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Hyderabad, Sep 13: The Telangana Legislative Assembly on Tuesday adopted two resolutions urging the Centre to name the new Parliament building in New Delhi after B R Ambedkar, and opposing the new Electricity Amendment Bill 2022 proposed by the Union government.

State IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao, who moved the resolution, said it would be appropriate to name the newly-constructed parliament building after Ambedkar, who is the architect of the Constitution. Bharat Jodo Yatra: Blisters Wont Stop Us, We Will Keep Marching To Unite India, Says Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi.

State Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy moved the resolution on opposing the Electricity Bill.

The Bill is against the interests of farmers, poorer sections, and the employees of power sector, he said.

As part of redevelopment of the Central Vista in the national capital, a new parliament building is in the final stages of completion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the new building in December 2020. Last month, he unveiled the national emblem cast on the roof of the building.

The Centre plans to hold the Winter Session of Parliament in the new building.

The Electricity Amendment Bill 2022 seeks to create competition in the power distribution sector by providing consumers options to choose between multiple services providers in an area.

The Bill is likely to come up for consideration and passage in the Winter Session towards the year end, Union Power Minister R K Singh had recently said.

The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on August 8, and was referred for scrutiny to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy on the same day.
Bihar | One person killed, nine injured in firing by bike-borne assailants at different locations today. CCTV footage being examined by police: SP Begusarai https://t.co/w2vjH0uBwu ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2022

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Homegrown Twitter rival #Koo announced that it has collaborated with India Post Payments Bank (@IPPBOnline), a division of India Post, under the Ministry of Communications (@pib_comm) to drive financial inclusion and literacy. pic.twitter.com/t0r2N4zt5J IANS (@ians_india) September 13, 2022

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Police in #Karnataka arrested a man for firing at his wife after she refused to go with him from her parents' home in Belagavi district's Athani town. pic.twitter.com/kh8kSHP0Qk IANS (@ians_india) September 13, 2022

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UP | Yesterday a doctor came & complained that he had received a threatening call on WhatsApp. FIR has been registered. We've given the number to the cyber cell for tracking. He (the doctor) has not asked for security yet.We're probing the matter further: Muniraj G, SSP Ghaziabad pic.twitter.com/JV8mPLr5ij ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) September 13, 2022

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WB | With hundreds of BJP workers heading towards Kolkata to join BJP's Nabanna march via trains, police barricades paths to railway stations



20 of our workers stopped by police near Durgapur railway station. I reached here using other paths: BJP Leader Abhijit Dutta pic.twitter.com/Sn1zDhKJFP ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2022

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New Delhi, Sep 13: Infosys has shot off a missive to its employees, asserting that dual employment or 'moonlighting' is not permitted, and has warned that any violation of contract clauses will trigger disciplinary action "which could even lead to termination of employment".

"No two timing - no moonlighting!" India's second largest IT services company said in a strong and firm message to employees on Monday.

Put simply, moonlighting refers to employees taking up side gigs to work on more than one job at a time.

Infosys' internal communication titled "no double lives" makes it clear that "dual employment is not permitted as per...Employee Handbook and Code of Conduct". It also cites the relevant clause in the offer letter to drive home the point. Twitter Shareholders Reportedly Set To Vote Whether To Approve or Reject Elon Musks $44 Billion Takeover Bid.

"Any violation of these clauses will lead to disciplinary action which could even lead to termination of employment," the mail said. An email sent by PTI to Infosys for comments did not elicit a response. "Moonlighting is a practice of working on a second job during the normal business hours/outside business hours. Infosys as a company strictly discourages dual employment," according to the mailer.

The company has urged managers to sensitise their teams on dual employment and the "consequences" of moonlighting. "You are expected to immediately report any instances of moonlighting to your respective unit HR," Infosys said.

The move comes at a time when the issue of moonlighting by tech professionals has ignited a fresh debate, polarising opinions and raising thorny legal questions within the industry. With the vexed issue now in the spotlight, some industry watchers have been cautioning that employers may consider extra safeguards to protect proprietary information and operating models, especially where employees are working remotely. UPMSP UP Board Compartment Results 2022 for Class 10 and 12 Declared at pmsp.edu.in; Know Steps To Check Marks.

Companies, analysts have said, could also turn tougher on exclusivity clauses in employment contracts. While the practice of moonlighting emerged as a big talking point after Wipro chairman Rishad Premji flagged the issue, equating it to "cheating", the voices and opinions within the industry have been rather divided.

Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), a Pune-based union, has strongly condemned the "threatening email" sent by Infosys to employees. It has argued that moonlighting "is not feasible" for a number of reasons. "Aadhaar card and PAN card are now mandatory for joining any company. The government has also linked the Aadhaar card to the Employees Provident Fund account and each employee has a unique Universal Account Number (UAN) for the provident fund," Harpreet Singh Saluja, president of NITES, said, adding it is not possible for two companies to submit an employee's provident fund contribution in one month.

Further, NITES said employees in the IT sector are working under pressure to meet deadlines. "IT employees are working more than nine hours a day without any overtime benefits. Would there be any energy or time left if an employee is working 10-12 hours a day," it quipped.

Also, many IT companies have developed monitoring systems to measure employee's productivity, the union contended. Terming such employee mailers on moonlighting as "illegal and unethical" and related contract clauses as arbitrary, NITES emphasised "what the employees do outside working hours is their prerogative".
[Photo/IC]

China has strongly protested to the United States embassy in Beijing regarding the US' cyberattack on a Chinese university, and urged Washington to immediately stop such practices.

In a Foreign Ministry news release issued on Sunday, Yang Tao, director-general of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs, lodged solemn representations to the US embassy, saying the facts were clear-cut and there was strong evidence of a US cyberattack on China's Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Noting that this was not the first time the US government has carried out such cyberattacks and stolen sensitive information from Chinese institutions, Yang said such practices seriously violated the technical secrets of the Chinese institutions concerned.

It also endangered the security of China's critical infrastructure, institutions and personal information, which must be immediately stopped.

His comments came as the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center and cybersecurity company 360 released investigation reports last week on the US National Security Agency's cyberattacks on Northwestern Polytechnical University, saying that the NSA-affiliated Office of Tailored Access Operations mounted hundreds of thousands of malicious cyberattacks targeting Chinese objectives.

According to the reports, the US used 41 specialized cyber weapons to launch cybertheft operations more than 1,000 times against Northwestern Polytechnical University and stole core technical data.

The US has also long carried out indiscriminate audio surveillance on Chinese cellphone users, illegally stolen text messages and conducted wireless positioning on them, the reports said.

As a major victim of hackings, China has expressed strong opposition on several occasions to all forms of cyberattacks and urged the US to be a responsible participant in global cyberspace governance and play a constructive role in defending cybersecurity.
Former hacker, cyber security expert, and former Twitter cyber security chief Peiter Zatko, also known for his hacker name "Mudge," has accused his former employer of having security flaws, privacy threats, and lax controls. Now, he will be testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee to talk about his concerns about Twitter.

There had been heightened concern over the safety of powerful tech platforms such as Twitter, and according to the Associated Press, senators have voiced their concerns over the matter.

Zatko is a respected cybersecurity expert and had previously testified before a Senate panel along with a hacker collective to talk about the security concerns over the then-emerging internet age. He went on to serve as the head of security for Twitter before he was fired earlier this year.

This led to him reporting to federal regulators and Congress that the social media giant has misled regulators about its cyber defenses as well as its efforts to control spam and fake accounts. He also filed complaints to the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission that Twitter falsely claimed that it had already placed "stronger" measures to protect the security and privacy of its users.

The SEC had previously raised concerns about bots and fake accounts, as they have no value to advertisers because there is no person behind them.

According to Illinois Democrat Senator Dick Durbin, if the allegations are found to be true, this shows that there are "dangerous data privacy and security risks for Twitter users around the world."

READ MORE: Elon Musk's Twitter Drama Takes New Twist: Tesla CEO Might Be Forced to Complete $44 Billion Purchase

Facebook Whistleblower Agrees With Twitter Whistleblower, Says Why His Testimony Is Important

Frances Haugen, who was a whistleblower against another social media giant Facebook, stated that people should be shocked by weak security systems such as the deficiencies revealed by Zatko.

Haugen talked to NPR about Zatko, and told them that while the public assumes that social media companies like Facebook and Twitter have "deep pockets" to maintain security, their security management is often weak and warned that "if a data center went down, Twitter might not be able to turn itself back on."

She added that companies such as these often underinvest in security and they should be held accountable and transparent as these big tech giants are running critical pieces of communication infrastructure.

According to the Tech Executive-Turned-Whistleblower, these social media companies would rather invest more in growth than security or better protection of their users' data, as this does not lead to greater audiences.

Elon Musk Can Use Evidence Presented by the Twitter Whistleblower

The Delaware judge overseeing the legal battle between Elon Musk and Twitter has ruled that the Tesla CEO can use Zatko's allegations in their high-stakes trial when it begins on October 17. The reason for this court battle was that Twitter wanted Musk to push through with buying the company, but Musk wanted to cancel his purchase because of the bot problem.

Twitter has hinted that the Zatko allegations have been designed to bolster Musk's case. However, the former hacker spoke to Time Magazine and said that he had never even met Musk before.

The Senate hearings on Twitter's cyber security problems will begin on Tuesday, just hours before the Twitter Board will be discussing its future on whether or not to go through the sale to Elon Musk.

READ MORE: Elon Musk Gets Denied in Attempt to Delay Twitter Lawsuit Trial; Judge Says It 'Threatens Irreparable Harm'
Vice President Kamala Harris insisted that the U.S.-Mexico border is "secure" despite migrants crossing the border every month expected to reach two million.

Fox News reported that Harris made the claim during an interview on "Meet the Press," wherein she was asked by NBC News anchor Chuck Todd if she thinks the border is secure. Harris answered that the immigration system was "broken" under former U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.

She added that the immigration system still needs to be fixed, while also placing law and a plan that would pave the way for citizenship for millions of people who are prepared to do what is "legally required to gain citizenship."

Harris said that they do not have a plan as of now because "people are playing politics in a state like this and in Congress." The vice president was referring to Texas.

READ NEXT: US-Mexico Border: Why Did Joe Biden Approve New Wall Construction in Arizona?

Migrants Crossing U.S. Mexico Border

However, many were outraged by Harris' claims, particularly Republicans.

Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs tweeted that around five million "illegal aliens" have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border during the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, according to a New York Post report.

California Rep. Darrell Issa said that Harris was "lying on behalf of this White House" when the vice president said that the border is secure.

In 2020, migrants crossing the border were just around 458,000. In the same year, Biden promised to reverse Trump's migration policies and tapped Harris to oversee border security and migration.

Meanwhile, Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar said that he had given up on trying to work with Harris on border-related issues. Cuellar earlier said that Harris was tasked with the job of border security and she does not look very interested. He added that they are going to move on to other folks that work on the matter.

Migrants Apprehended In 2022

Border officials have migrant encounters of over 1.74 million by the end of June, which is a record-breaking number during the government's 2021 fiscal year. The New York Times noted that it was the highest number of illegal crossings recorded since at least 1960.

Officials noted that about 18% of the people apprehended in July were repeat crossers.

The high number of border crossings comes after the United Nations noted that there are more displaced people around the world than ever before. Some migrants are putting their fate in the hands of smugglers to flee violence, poverty, and life under authoritarian governments. Some are looking for economic opportunities in the U.S. with the widespread job loss during the pandemic.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan noted in a tweet that the border crisis "is out of control."

Meanwhile, the Biden administration attempted to rescind one of the policies used in migration, known as Title 42, in late May.

Last month, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was scrutinized after she claimed people were not walking across the country illegally.

READ MORE: Jalisco Cartel in Mexico Is Creating Homemade Bombs Similar to Those Use by Islamic Militants Amid Drug War

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Kamala Harris Asked Point Blank: 'Would You Call The Border Secure?' - from Forbes Breaking News


King Charles III ascended to the British throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. However, he might not be the King for long... at least in the Caribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda.

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne recently told ITV News that they are planning to hold a referendum on whether or not the new King of the U.K. will continue to serve as the Caribbean country's head of state.

If the country does choose to remove the British monarchy as its head of state, the country will become a republic in the next three years, according to Prime Minister Browne. The referendum is set to happen in three years if things go according to plan, though it is no guarantee that the small Caribbean country will exit the Commonwealth, as its citizens might vote to stay.

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Stressed This Is 'Not an Act of Hostility'

Antigua and Barbuda had been under British rule until it was granted its independence in 1981. However, it is still part of the British Commonwealth, along with Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, with the British Monarch serving as its head of state.

BBC News reported that Prime Minister Gaston Browne emphasized that this was not an act of hostility. He also stated that there are no differences between Antigua and Barbuda and the Monarchy.

Browne explained that this is just "a final step to complete the circle of independence to become a truly sovereign nation."

READ MORE: Queen Elizabeth II Dies: What Happened Before Britain's Monarch Passed Away?

Caribbean Countries Opting Out of the Commonwealth Started With Barbados

Last year, Barbados declared itself a republic and severed its final imperial links to Britain and the Monarchy, as it removed the Queen as its head of state. This raised more questions about the Monarchy's role in the region, as other countries seem to be following suit.

Barbados was the first state in nearly three decades to decide to remove the British monarch as head of state, with the last one being Mauritius in 1992. Dame Sandra Mason, 72, was sworn in as president following the Queen's removal last year.

This fact was highlighted during Prince William and Catherine's trip to three Commonwealth countries in Belize, Jamaica, and the Bahamas, according to CNN. This was all part of Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee celebrations.

However, things did not go as planned for the royals when Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holmes told the Royal Couple that their country was "moving on" and will attain its "true ambition" to be "independent." Prince William stated he respected their decision if ever Jamaica does decide to leave the Commonwealth.

However, not all is lost for the former empire as Australia ruled out a similar vote within the next four years. The Queen's death reignited the monarchy debate in Australia, especially with a staunch republican like Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at its helm.

The Commonwealth currently includes 14 countries, with King Charles III serving as the head of state for Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu, as well as the United Kingdom itself.

READ MORE: Buckingham Palace Confirms Passing of Queen Elizabeth II at 96 Years Old

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Antigua & Barbuda To Vote On Severing Ties To British Monarchy - CBS Miami
Prince Harry will be around during ceremonial events honoring Queen Elizabeth II next week, but he will not be allowed to wear his military uniform.

According to Cosmopolitan, the same measure was also applied to the Queen's son, Prince Andrew. However, it was later withdrawn, and an exception was made for the Duke of York. Andrew was stripped of his titles after he faced sexual abuse allegations that linked him to disgraced sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Royal reporter Omid Scobie reported that only working members of the royal family will wear military uniforms for ceremonial events honoring the Queen. Reports said there will be procession and service in Edinburgh, coffin procession to Westminster Hall, vigil, state funeral, and final committal in Windsor next week.

The royal reporter noted that Andrew will be allowed to wear his uniform during the Queen's final vigil at Westminster Hall "as a special mark of respect." He then said Harry will not be allowed to wear his military uniform, saying it was "no doubt a huge blow for the Duke of Sussex."

Prince Harry served for 10 years and has done "an enormous amount of military duty." He had served two tours in Afghanistan and recently spoke of the Queen being his "commander-in-chief."

READ NEXT: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Reject Prince Charles' Balmoral Open Invitation

Prince Harry Sad Not Wearing Military Uniform in Queen Elizabeth II's Funeral

CBS News contributor Roya Nikkhah said that people will see the difference between " very public " and "who is a working royal and who is not."

Queen Elizabeth II decided during Prince Philip's funeral last year that every family member should wear suits so that "everyone was on a level playing field." However, King Charles III has taken a different approach to this occasion.

Nikkhah said the Queen's funeral is the first state funeral of a monarch since 1952. She noted that the newly ascended king wanted to get everything "absolutely technically right." The royal contributor said the Queen's four children will be standing on the four sides of her coffin.

On the other hand, none of the grandchildren will stand vigil for the Queen, Page Six reported. One royal source noted that Prince Harry "will be saddened not to wear his military uniform to the Queen's funeral."

Queen Elizabeth II Funeral

The U.K. government advises people not to wait or camp out along the route where Queen Elizabeth II's coffin will be brought to London. The Queen's coffin is currently in St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh.

The Queen will lie in state in the capital from Wednesday until Monday. Meanwhile, King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla were at St. Giles' Cathedral. CNN reported that other members of the royal family were also there, such as the King's siblings.

Scotland said it "stands ready" to support the newly ascended king as he continues his mother's legacy of public service, according to Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Sturgeon noted that the Queen has been "the anchor" of their nation while praising the Queen's wisdom and dedication in doing her duties.

The Scottish parliament had a two-minute moment of silence to honor the Queen while King Charles III and his wife were present. The public was allowed to stay outside the cathedral to pay their respect.

READ MORE: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Opt Not to Hold Daughter Lilibet's Christening in the U.K. As It's Likely Be in California: Royal Sources

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Prince Harry Not Entitled to Wear Military Uniform to Queen's Funeral - From Entertainment Tonight
The Biden administration is investing massively in semiconductor production. The United States is now cooperating with Mexico on that front and expanding the production of electric vehicles through Mexico's nationalized lithium industry.

It aims to promote production in North America and close the gap, as Asia currently has the advantage in semiconductors and batteries, which are important components in the manufacture of electric vehicles.

This was one of the main topics discussed as part of the High-Level Economic Dialogue during U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Mexico City on Monday. Blinken said Mexico already has "major elements of the semiconductor supply chains" well established in the country.

U.S. Secretaries Spoke to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador About Opportunities For Mexico

Another top Biden administration official came with Antony Blinken on his Mexico City trip, and she was U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimundo.

Raimundo and Blinken spoke to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and told him there were opportunities in recently passed U.S. legislation. This includes about $28 billion in incentives for semiconductor production, $10 billion for new manufacturing of chips, and $11 billion for research and development.

Blinken further noted that American companies such as Intel and Skyworks were already conducting research and development, design, assembly, and test manufacturing in several places in Mexico.

As for Mexico, the president also has some pretty big plans. According to the Associated Press, Lopez Obrador plans to make the state of Sonora a leader in lithium, electric vehicle, and solar energy production.

A key component of the batteries of electric vehicles is lithium. The Mexican president has admitted that he already discussed this idea with President Joe Biden in their previous meeting.

According to Reuters, Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard was optimistic that a deal could be made between the two North American countries.

READ NEXT: Mexico: The 5 Lucha Libre Wrestlers Who Helped Change the Sport

Mexico Welcomes Washington's 'New Tone' After Energy Row

The dialogue on semiconductor production started between the two countries in 2013, under the Obama administration, with then-Vice President Joe Biden launching it. However, it was stopped during the Trump administration and only resumed last year.

There had been an energy row between the U.S. and Mexico when Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador decided to tighten state control of the energy market. The Biden administration argued that this was unfair to U.S. companies and likely breached a regional trade deal.

However, Mexico's Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier noted that the two governments were working to fix that dispute. The Mexican president had been defiant towards the United States and said he would defend Mexico's position on energy.

However, Lopez Obrador backtracked, noting that he would no longer talk about the dispute. He claimed Biden "responded to his concerns positively." Lopez Obrador welcomed this "new tone" over the energy dispute on Monday.

According to VOA News, the Mexican president said there had been a more respectful attitude from the Biden administration, and it reaffirmed Mexico's national sovereignty.

READ MORE: Cocaine Worth $11.8 Million Found Hidden in Mexican Truckload of Baby Wipes at U.S.-Mexico Border

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: U.S. And Mexico Foreign Ministers Speak After Economic Talks - From Reuters
As his health deteriorated, Guadalajara Cartel founder Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo has been allowed Monday to continue his sentence from home.

However, Infobae reported that the Attorney General's Office (FGR) challenged the order issued by a judge on the same day, which means that the Mexican drug lord will still have to remain in prison in the meantime.

The FGR argued that the judge had only ruled on his 40-year sentence and not his separate 37-year sentence. According to Borderland Beat, another judge still needs to rule concerning his 37-year sentence.

Guadalajara Cartel Founder Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo to Remain in Prison Until Age 120

Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo is currently serving two prison sentences that add up to his 76-year-old age. He was arrested in April 1989 for the kidnapping and killing of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar.

In the same year, a court sentenced the Guadalajara Cartel founder to 40 years in prison for crimes that included stockpiling weapons, drug trafficking, murder, bribery, and money laundering. However, after serving 28 years, a 2017 retrial sentenced him to an additional 37 years for the death of Camarena.

A judge has already rejected the Mexican drug lord's request to reduce and combine his sentences, which means that after serving both sentences, he would be around 120 years of age.

Felix Gallardo was temporarily granted a reprieve in his prison sentence back in July. He has been released from the Puente Grande prison to be taken to a hospital in Mexico's city of Guadalajara to try to save his sight.

In his first interview from prison, the Guadalajara Cartel founder told Telemundo last year that his health was terrible and that his family was already digging a hole under a tree for him to be buried.

He also said he does not have hopes of getting out of prison. He noted that he had lost all hope of being released and believed he would die in prison. Felix Gallardo is currently blind in one eye and deaf in one ear and often needs an oxygen tank in order to breathe.

READ NEXT: Guadalajara Cartel Founder Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, Who Is Almost Deaf and Blind, Temporarily Released From Mexico Prison

Who Is Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo of the Guadalajara Cartel?

Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, also known for his aliases "El Jefe de Jefes"(The Boss of Bosses) and "El Padrino" (The Godfather), has once worked with Rafael Caro Quintero, another Guadalajara Cartel co-founder, who has been named to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Felix Gallardo also oversaw lieutenants like young Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, who later became the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. He was also known to work with Amado Carrillo Fuentes for the fleet of airplanes used to move drugs for his Juarez cartel.

The rise of the Guadalajara Cartel started during the emergence of marijuana and cocaine in the U.S. in the 1960s and '70s. Felix Gallardo's drug cartel reportedly gained power due to their connections to the powerful Colombian drug cartels and the lack of internal rivalries and competition in Mexico at the time.

The Guadalajara Cartel started to split in the late 1980s, partly due to the 1985 murder of Camarena. The Sinaloa Cartel and Tijuana Cartel reportedly assumed control of what remained of the Guadalajara Cartel.

READ MORE: Sandra Avila Beltran Net Worth: How Wealthy Is the 'Narco Queen' Dubbed as Mexico's 'Queen of the Pacific?'

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Top 10 Craziest Things Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo Has Done - From WatchMojo.com
A JUDGE told a banned driver he should be taking the train to Dublin instead of going by car.

There's a fabulous train service from Tullamore. No need to drive, Judge Michele Finan told Michael Ward (27), 2 Kilcruttin, Tullamore when his prosecution came before Tullamore District Court.

Mr Ward pleaded guilty to a number of offences committed at O'Molloy Street, Tullamore on July 19 last year, including driving without a licence and insurance.

Entering a plea of guilty on the man's behalf, his solicitor Donal Farrelly told Judge Finan his client was disqualified when he was stopped.

Garda Conor Shields told the court it was 12.25am when he stopped a Ford Focus driven by the accused.

Garda Shields said the man had 30 previous convictions and 27 of them were for road traffic offences, including seven for no insurance.

In 2018 Mr Ward had been convicted of having no licence and insurance at Athlone Circuit Court and was disqualified from driving for nine years.

Mr Farrelly said Mr Ward was a father of three children aged 10, eight and six and one of them had to be taken to hospital regularly.

Following Judge Finan's remark about the train service, Mr Farrelly said that on the occasion of the offence before the court, he had foolishly decided to give a friend a lift home.

The offence was an aberration and he was fearful of going to jail because he had previously spent three months in prison.

Mr Ward told the court himself the car he had used belonged to his wife.

Judge Finan indicated that she was going to send the accused to Mountjoy for six months.

What do you want me to do? Tie your hands behind your back? she asked him.

She told him he was not able to abide by a court order for the sake of his three children. Mr Ward told her he had driven without insurance again because of stupidness.

Judge Finan responded: It's not stupid, it's you just don't care.

Mr Ward said he was an unemployed man and his wife was expecting another baby next year.

Judge Finan said she would suspend the sentence for two years for the sake of his children but warned the man that if he drove without insurance again he would get a consecutive sentence.

She disqualified him from driving for five years and fixed recognisances for an appeal. She also granted Mr Ward legal aid.
Defunct car dealers in Graiguecullen have left behind two tax bills that exceed 10 million, according to the latest Revenue Commissioner's latest tax default list which also includes a builder and farmer from Offaly.

They are just some of the latest individuals and companies on the new Tax Defaulter list published by the Revenue Commissioners.

The new Revenue's published List of Tax Defaulters covers the period from 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2022. During the same three months nearly 14,000 investigations resulted in more than 3.540 billion in tax, interest, and penalties who chose not to their way due to.

While most people pay up when Revenue calls others don't and have to be subjected to extensive audits to find out how much they owe "careless or deliberate behaviour".

Top of that list are two related car dealerships that traded in Laois near the Carlow town. Both are now in liquidation. Both had addresses on the Sleaty Road which has Carlow address but were located in the Laois border town Graiguecullen.

Meridian Motors Limited, is described by Revenue as a motor vehicle dealer that traded as the Carlow Motor Company but is now in liquidation. A Revenue audit case for under-declaration of PAYE/PRSI/USC and VAT revealed an unpaid sum of 2,276,667. Interest amounted to 1,330,544. Penalties were calculated at 2,241,723. The total owed is 5,848,934 of which 122,411 had been paid by June 30,2022.

Meridian Motors 2014 Limited is also on the list. Described as a motor vehicle dealer it's also in liquidation. A Revenue audit case for under-declaration of PAYE/PRSI/USC and VAT revealed a sum owed of 1,926,340. Interest ran to 1,036,525 while the penalties amounted to 1,922,096. This revealed a total of 4,884,961 owed to the State of which 56,913 had been paid by June 30, 2022.

The fuel trader is on Part 2 of the list compiled pursuant to Section 1086 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997. A total of 12 cases were published with with the total value of these settlements 12.5m for April, May and June.

Also on the list were builder and farmer in Offaly. Retired builder Sean Doughan with an address at Monegall, Birr, Co Offaly reached a total settlement of 210,362 with Revenue. The settlement is made up of 62,770 in tax, 104,795 in interest and 42,797 in penalties. The settlement was made as a result of a Revenue Investigation Case into non-declaration of Income Tax.

John Mooney, a farmer with an address at Kilmaine, Fortal, Birr reached a settlement of 169,955 with Revenue. It came as a result of a Revenue Audit Case into under-declaration of VAT. The settlement is made up of 84,269 in tax, 60,405 in interest and 25,281 in penalties.

Where a taxpayer has failed to pay or failed to enter into an arrangement to pay the full amount of the settlement, the amount unpaid as at 30 June 2022 is indicated in the list.

The Revenue say Part 2 settlements are not published where the taxpayer has made a qualifying disclosure relating to undisclosed tax, as defined in Section 1077E (1) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, where the settlement amount does not exceed the relevant threshold, currently 35,000, or where the amount of fine or other penalty does not exceed 15% of the amount of tax.

See FULL PART 2 LIST HERE.

Revenue also publishes a Part 1 list which includes persons in whose case the Court has determined a penalty relating to a settlement, or has imposed a fine, imprisonment or other penalty in respect of a tax or duty offence.

Details are published when the Court determined penalty exceeds 15% of the total tax (where the total amount of tax only exceeds 50,000) and a qualifying disclosure has not been made:

The biggest penalty was incurred by company director / landlord Clement Kenny, The Residence, NO. 3 Crane Lane, Dublin 2. He incurred a penalty of 25,765 following a determination by the Courts relating to a non-declaration of Capital Gains Tax in the amount of 6,033 (incl. surcharge 287) and an under-declaration of Income Tax in the amount of 84,389 (incl. surcharge of 4,252).

See FULL PART 1 LIST HERE

These published settlements reflect only a portion of all Revenue audits and investigations. In the 3-month period to 30 June 2022 a total of 287 Revenue audit and investigations, together with 13,983 Risk Management Interventions (Aspect Queries and Profile Interviews), were settled, resulting in a yield of 3.540 billion in tax, interest, and penalties.

#EXPLAINER AND FURTHER INFO ON LATEST LIST

Part 1: Court Determinations

Court Determination of Penalty: Subject to certain criteria, in settlement cases where there is no agreement to a penalty, or a person fails to pay an agreed penalty, the Court determines the penalty. Details are published when the Court determined penalty exceeds 15% of the total tax (where the total amount of tax only exceeds 50,000) and a qualifying disclosure has not been made:

There were 2 such cases in the 3-month period to 30 June 2022 with 41,682 being the total amount of the Court determined penalties.

Court imposed fine, imprisonment or other penalty: Details are published when a fine or other Court penalty is imposed in respect of tax or duty offences. Court penalties may include imprisonment, partly suspended or suspended sentences, community service in lieu of imprisonment, and closure orders.

67 such cases are published and 153,300 is the total amount of the court fines imposed these include:

16 cases of failure to file a tax return, delivering an incorrect tax return and failure to produce books and records. Court fines totalling 32,300 and 30 minutes of community service in lieu of imprisonment, 240 hours of community service in lieu of 1 years imprisonment, one 2-year sentence and one 1-year sentence (both fully suspended) were imposed;

22 cases of misuse of marked mineral oil and 2 cases of oil laundering, in respect of which Court fines totalling 58,000, one 3-year sentence and one 2-year sentence (both with 18 months suspended) were imposed;

18 cases of excise offences for tobacco smuggling, illegal selling of tobacco and possession of untaxed tobacco for sale. Court fines totalling 43,000 and one 18-month sentence were imposed;

2 cases of possession of untaxed alcohol for sale, in respect of which Court fines totalling 5,000 were imposed;

1 case of failing to keep a vehicle stationary, in respect of which a Court fine totalling 1,250 was imposed;

5 cases of obstruction of a Revenue Officer, in respect of which Court fines totalling 11,250 were imposed;

1 case of giving false or misleading information, in respect of which a Court fine totalling 2,500 was imposed.

Court Determination of Penalty: Subject to certain criteria, in settlement cases where there is no agreement to a penalty, or a person fails to pay an agreed penalty, the Court determines the penalty. Details are published when the Court determined penalty exceeds 15% of the total tax and the total of the tax, interest and penalty is more than 35,000 and a qualifying disclosure has not been made:

Part 2: Settlements

Settlements are published when the extensive voluntary disclosure options are not availed of and the default arises because of careless or deliberate behaviour:

12 cases are published today and 12.5m is the total settlement amount in these cases.

10 cases were for amounts exceeding 100,000 of which 2 exceeded 1 million

3 are cases in which the settlement was not fully paid as at 30 June 2022.

10,721,226 was the amount unpaid as at 30 June 2022.

Revenue says vigorously pursues collection/enforcement of unpaid settlements. In some cases, collection/recovery of the full unpaid amount will not be possible (e.g. company liquidation).

Background

Revenue says its compliance programme is carried out under the "Code of Practice for Revenue Audit and other Compliance Interventions" (the Code). The significant benefits of making a qualifying disclosure are set out in the Code and include availing of reduced penalties, avoiding publication in the List of Tax Defaulters, and avoiding possible prosecution.

Publication

Revenue says it publishes the List of Tax Defaulters under the provisions of Section 1086 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, as amended. The list is published in two parts:

Part 1: Court Penalty Determinations and Court imposed fine, imprisonment or other penalty

Court penalty determinations are published where a taxpayer has not made a qualifying disclosure, the Court determined penalty exceeds 15% of the total tax, and the total of the tax, interest and penalty is more than 35,000.

All cases where a fine, imprisonment or other Court penalty is imposed by a Court, in respect of a tax or duty offence, are published.

Part 2: Accepted Settlements (and Settlements deemed to be agreed due to full payment)

Where a taxpayer has voluntarily furnished complete information relating to undisclosed tax liabilities and paid the tax and interest due (made a qualifying disclosure of tax defaults), settlements are not published.

Since 1 May 2017, significant changes and restrictions have come into effect where the case involves matters outside the Republic of Ireland, or 'offshore matters'. These changes limit the opportunity to make a 'qualifying disclosure' and coincide with increased international co-operation whereby Revenue gets more and more information automatically from other jurisdictions.

Legislation introduced in the Finance Act 2016 obliges Revenue to identify settlements where the person has failed to pay within the relevant period.

Settlements are not published where the taxpayer has made a qualifying disclosure relating to undisclosed tax, as defined in Section 1077E (1) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, where the settlement amount does not exceed the relevant threshold, currently 35,000, or where the amount of fine or other penalty does not exceed 15% of the amount of tax.

Calculation of Penalties

Where a qualifying disclosure has not been made, Revenu say penalties between 15% and 100% are applied, depending on the category of default and whether or not the taxpayer has cooperated fully with Revenue in the course of enquiries. The categories of default are Deliberate Behaviour or Careless Behaviour.

Deliberate Behaviour involves either a breach of a tax obligation with indicators consistent with intent on the part of the taxpayer or a breach that cannot be explained solely by carelessness

Careless Behaviour involves lack of due care, which results in the incorrect declaration of tax liabilities by a taxpayer, or which results in the making of incorrect repayment claims. The level of penalty may be further reduced having regard to the level of cooperation provided by the taxpayer once the default is uncovered. Full details of the level of penalties applicable to audit settlements are set out in Penalty Table 1 (Paragraph 5.6.2) of the Code.

Innocent errors and adjustments due to different interpretations of legislation

Penalties are not applicable where a tax default is not deliberate or is not attributable in any way to the failure by a taxpayer to take reasonable care to comply with his or her tax obligations. Neither is a penalty applicable where an adjustment to liability arises from differences in the interpretation or the application of legislation, and the taxpayer could reasonably have considered her/his interpretation to be correct.
Bishops across Ireland will lead a special day of prayer for peace in Ukraine this week.

Irish clergy will participate in a Day of Prayer tomorrow (Wednesday September 14) on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which will be celebrated in a particularly solemn way in the Eastern Rite.

Speaking ahead of the Day of Prayer, Archbishop Eamon Martin said, "As a gesture of solidarity with the people of Ukraine, who have been stricken by war since the 24 February, it is proposed that a day of prayer be held throughout the whole continent.

"I welcome this powerful prayerful initiative and invite everyone to pray in a special way for peace in Ukraine on Wednesday.

A message from Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, Apostolic visitator for Ukrainians resident in Ireland and Northern Ireland, stated: "We are now in the seventh month since the 24 February full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia. President Putin was sure that he would overrun Ukraine in three short days.

"He did not expect that the people of Ukraine, regardless of their ethnic background, religious affiliation or language group, love their country and are determined to defend it. For Ukrainians there is no going back to the tyranny and oppression that generations experienced under Russian imperial and Soviet rule from the middle of the 17th century. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, the people of Eastern Europe, including Russia, had hope for the future, and, until Putins first invasion in 2014, Ukraine had made great progress as a post-Soviet state."

He continued: "It is truly hard for us to believe that such a war could even be possible, with the kind of horrific brutality against the civilian population that we have seen in the last seven months. At the same time, we are inspired to see how the people of Western Europe have opened their hearts to the thousands that have fled harms way seeking temporary refuge.

"In this effort communities across Ireland have also extended their traditional and world-famous Irish hospitality to newly-arrived Ukrainians, for which I am particularly grateful. The struggle is not over yet, and the cost of rebuilding will be unimaginablebroken lives and families, destroyed homes, villages, farmlands, cities, infrastructure. But for now, we give glory to God for his many blessings, and for the grace he has shown us through the kindness and generosity of the wonderful people of Ireland."

Bishop Nowakowski also included a prayer for Ukraine for the Day of Prayer (below):

Prayer for Ukraine (composed by Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski)

Almighty and Great God,

accept our gratitude for your boundless mercy towards us.

Hear the supplication of our afflicted hearts for the land and people of Ukraine,

as they confront foreign aggression and invasion.

Open the eyes of those who have been overtaken by a spirit of deception and violence, that they be horrified by their works.

Grant victory over the powers of evil that have arisen and bless Ukraine with your gifts of liberty, peace, tranquility, and good fortune.

We implore you, O Merciful God,

look with grace upon those who courageously defend their land. Remember the mothers and fathers, the innocent children,

widows and orphans, the disabled and helpless,

those seeking shelter and refuge,

who reach out to you and to their fellow human beings looking for mercy and compassion.

Bless the hearts of those who have already shown great generosity and solidarity, and those who prepare to receive their Ukrainian brothers and sisters in Ukraines greatest time of need.

Bring us together as your children, your creation,

and instil in us your strength, wisdom and understanding.

May you be praised and glorified,

now and forever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
Kildare artist Breda Kenny has created a portrait of jockey legend Pat Smullen to mark the second anniversary of his passing on September 15.

Breda was inspired to create the artwork to symbolise his courageous battle with cancer, his achievements in horse racing and his amazing fundraising efforts for cancer research.

She came across a photograph of Pat by renowned equine photographer Caroline Norris and tried to capture Pat's essence which Caroline achieved.

Nine-time Irish champion jockey Smullen won 12 European classics, including the Epsom Derby.

He claimed the 2016 Epsom and Irish Derbies aboard Harzand for friend and former boss Dermot Weld.

Pat was the top flat jockey in Ireland until his untimely retirement in 2018.

He is closely associated with the Curragh Racecourse, not only for his outstanding riding ability and prolific career on the track but also for the incredible awareness campaign and fund-raising drive over Longines Irish Champions Weekend in 2019, which culminated in the Pat Smullen Champions Race for Cancer Trials Ireland.

Last month, the Curragh hosted the Pat Smullen Race Day in aid of Cancer Trials Ireland.

The special race day also included a special charity lunch and auction in aid of Cancer Trials Ireland featuring some outstanding items such as the original silks worn by Rachael Blackmore to win the 2022 Cheltenham Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup, a Cashel Palace racing royalty package, a racehorse ownership experience with Joseph OBrien, Pat Smullens 2019 Champions Race memorabilia signed by all the jockeys who rode in the famous race and a VIP race and stay in Barberstown Castle.
The death of Queen Elizabeth on September 8 has led to warm recollections of her visit to the Irish National Stud, Kildare town, in 2011.

Queen Elizabeth II visited the Irish National Stud on the third day of her State visit to Ireland and INS management said in a tweet that it was  a day to remember, adding that the visit marked her passion for the horse and may she rest in peace.

It was the first official visit by a British monarch in a century and she was widely applauded for her gestures of reconciliation while on her four-day trip to Ireland May of that year.

Her visit is seen by many as an event that should be celebrated as one which encouraged enormous strides towards peace that the island of Ireland.

President Michael D Higgins said the Queen often spoke of how much she enjoyed her own historic State visit to Ireland in 2011, the first such visit since Irish independence, and during which she did so much through eloquent word and generous gesture to improve relations between our two islands.

He said the visit was pivotal in laying a firm basis for an authentic and ethical understanding between our countries.

During those memorable few days eleven years ago, the Queen did not shy away from the shadows of the past. Her moving words and gestures of respect were deeply appreciated and admired by the people of Ireland and set out a new, forward looking relationship between our nations  one of respect, close partnership and sincere friendship.

Read more Kildare news
On Thursday, the Minister for Defence, Mr Simon Coveney accompanied by the Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces, Lieutenant General Sean Clancy, will review the men and women of the 66th Infantry Group prior to their departure for a six-month deployment to Syria as part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).

The deployment of the 66th Infantry Group will see 130 Irish troops deploy to Syria in October 2022.

The review will take place in Cathal Brugha Barracks, Rathmines, Dublin 6.

The 66 Infantry Group will rotate into the mission area in October 2022 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel David McNamara.

Lt Col McNamara resides in Naas. He most recently served as Officer Commanding the 7th Infantry Battalion, Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin.

The group contains 130 personnel of all ranks, consisting of 14 Officers, 115 Enlisted Personnel and one Chaplain.

A total of 34 personnel are on their first tour of duty overseas.

The Group has a wide range of capabilities including Armoured Force Protection, Patrolling and Mobility, Surveillance, Communications, Medical and Operational Expertise.
A North Leitrim councillor has called for the removal of all financial penalties preventing old age pensioners from sharing their home with tenants, noting that this sort of arrangement could help to address urgent housing shortages in the country.

Cllr Felim Gurn said that elderly people living alone could benefit from having a tenant live with them.



This would address the urgent housing shortages in the country, and reduce isolation, loneliness, and safety concerns for the older population by having someone live with them, he pointed out as he brought his proposal before the September Council meeting.



Currently an older person living alone will lose their living alone allowances, i.e. tv license and fuel allowances if they share their home or a home that is empty as a result of participation in the Fair Deal scheme, noted Cllr Gurn.

Of course, any person living with an elderly person in this sort of scheme would have to be garda vetted but there are a lot of benefits to this sort of arrangement.



He said that not only would a tenant in a household be able to assist the elderly homeowners by completing basic jobs around the house like changing light bulbs, but they would also provide companionship for an age group which often becomes increasingly isolated as they age.



Cllr Gurn said this could be expanded further to encompass the renting of homes currently unoccupied because the owners have entered nursing homes under the Fair Deal Scheme.



What is to stop these homes, which are often idle for years, from being rented out to families in need of accommodation? he asked.

This may be a way to help solve the current housing crisis, he pointed out.



His motion was backed by Cllr Des Guckian and Cllr Sean McDermott who observed when houses are scarce this sort of motion makes sense.
Police in Northern Ireland have arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of murder following the sudden death of a 28-year-old woman in west Belfast.

Detectives from the PSNI Major Investigation Team identified the victim as Hollie Thomson.

She was found at a property in the Greenan area of west Belfast on Sunday morning, police said in a statement.

Detective Inspector Michelle Griffin said police were treating the young womans death as a murder following a post-mortem of her body.

Detectives launch murder investigation following the death of 28-year-old, Hollie Thomson from the Greenan area of west Belfast. A 31-year-old male has been arrested on suspicion of murder and being concerned in the supply of a Class A controlled drug. https://t.co/wBAY7uwWFM  Police Service NI (@PoliceServiceNI) September 12, 2022

She added that the man was arrested on suspicion of murder as well as being concerned in the supply of a Class A controlled drug.

The suspect is currently being questioned at Musgrave Police Station in Belfast.

Ms Griffin said police are now appealing to anyone who believes they may have information which could assist detectives with their investigation to contact the Major Investigation Team at Ladas Drive Police Station on 101, quoting reference 626 of 11/09/22.

Alternatively, information can also be provided anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, back to camera, center, prays with evangelical pastors and supporters during a political rally in Sao Goncalo, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. September 9, 2022 RODRIGO ABD / AP

Those in charge of the campaign of former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hoped that it would send out a strong message: Their candidate  favorite in the October 2 presidential election  was photographed in the middle of a meeting of evangelical pastors. It was taken in Sao Goncalo, a city of 1 million inhabitants, in the impoverished suburbs of Rio de Janeiro.

On Friday, September 9, the leader of the Workers' Party (PT) was persuaded to put his faith in the spotlight, although he was firmly against it, in order to repair his image as much as possible with the evangelical electorate. According to the latest poll by the Datafolha institute, released on Friday, 51% of those with evangelical beliefs  almost a third of those eligible to vote  would be backing the incumbent president, Jair Bolsonaro. This is in contrast with just 28% who would vote for Lula.

The extraordinary photo of the leader of the left, which showed him being blessed by pastors as he raised his hand to heaven, was not as successful as hoped. It was another altogether more violent image that left its mark that same day, when a PT activist was stabbed to death by a supporter of President Bolsonaro, in the rural state of Mato Grosso. Benedito Cardoso dos Santos, 42, was the second PT activist killed by far-right supporters during this campaign. Marcelo Aloizio de Arruda was shot dead in July, in the south of the country.

That afternoon, Lula spoke to the press about the climate of "political hatred that should worry all of them," sidelining the matter of evangelicals, which had been the reason for his trip to Rio de Janeiro alongside his vice presidental candidate, Geraldo Alckmin. This first failure of the PT's campaign aimed at this part of the electorate may not have serious consequences.

Read more Subscribers only In Sao Paulo, the priest of the poor is challenging Jair Bolsonaro

Gospel and red flags

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Lula was able to repeat his plan to limit the free circulation of arms  which is defended by President Bolsonaro  one of the main angles of attack of this seduction operation. Christina Vital da Cunha, a researcher at the Institute of Religious Studies, pointed out that here, "Lula is not starting from scratch. He is relying on a movement of the evangelical center-left, which gained momentum in 2020 and is showing even more vigor today.

For this election [the parliamentary elections take place on the same day], 101 center-left candidates are using their religious titles at the ballot box and on social media. An even greater number of candidates on the left are not outright announcing their religion, but are strongly linked to religious communities."

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A NEW DOCUMENTARY about Vicky Phelan and her journey of exposing one of the worst womens health scandals in Irish history is set to release next month.

The documentary is described as a profound and intimate journey into not only Vickys fight to expose the truth of what happened for all women but also her own personal fight to stay alive.

Vicky, who was awarded the Freedom on Limerick earlier this year, underwent a smear test for cervical cancer back in 2011 but the test showed no abnormalities. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014.

An internal CervicalCheck review found that the original smear test result was incorrect, but Vicky was not informed of this fact until 2017.

From there she went on to give her now infamous, emotional speech on the steps of the Supreme Court where she exposed the scandal to the nation and the world.

A trailer for the documentary, released by Volta Pictures, features the Irish Women in Harmony singing Dreams, a cover of the Cranberries hit song.

The documentary was directed by Sasha King of Princess Productions and was voted Best Irish Documentary by the Dublin Film Critics Circle at this years Dublin International Film Festival.

The Evening Echo called the documentary powerfully raw and open a story of remarkable courage and resilience

The documentary delves further into the fact that over 221 women were affected by false negative smear tests that resulted in cancer diagnoses.

Vicky is a Princess Pictures production produced by Sasha King, Bill Snodgrass, and Vicky Phelan with the support of Screen Ireland and enlisted executive producers Martina Niland, and Lesley McKimm.

Vicky opens in theatres across Limerick and Ireland on October 7, 2022.
THE owner of a service station in County Limerick has come up with a tongue-in-cheek way to promote the selling of turf.

Bags of decorative hardened Irish mud for sale. Ornamental use only - not to be burned in fire, read the sign attached to McNultys Fuels turf trolley outside the shop in Hospital village.

Eric McNulty, the owner of the service station said he made the sign as a fun-but-serious way to highlight the struggles he faces as a business owner who mainly sells fossil fuels as the Government plans on banning the sale of turf from October 1.

[Eric McNulty pictured above outside his petrol station in Hospital]

Everything I have the government is trying to ban so theyre not doing me any favours at the moment, Eric said.

Erics qualifications are in renewable energy and he previously worked in that field in the UK for a time before moving home to Ireland.

There were no jobs in my field when I came home. The government are trying to push renewable energy but theres been nothing done for the last ten years to make it a viable option for people, Eric added.

Its a bit of an unorthodox thing for a man with my qualifications to own a petrol station but I had to go in the complete opposite direction in this country to make a living.

Amidst the current energy crisis Eric believes that the governments initiatives to ban fossil fuels is counterproductive.

They're banning smoky coal and the price of smokeless is at an all time high because of it and were now being pushed towards electric cars in a rural area where there is no infrastructure in place for it, Eric said adding that reaction to the sign has been mostly positive.

It's gotten over 13,000 likes online which is incredible. To be honest, I was expecting backlash but most people so far have been supportive and are finding the humour in it, Eric told Limerick Live.
THERE is good news for one large Limerick city suburb that has been described as chaotic since the return of schools.

Last week, local councillor Daniel Butler called on Limerick City and County Council to initiate a complete traffic study for the Raheen, Mungret and Dooradoyle area in relation to what he has called "traffic chaos".

As we have returned to school after the summer break with it has come the traffic. This is what we have come to expect yearly, said Cllr Butler, who lives in the area.

He expressed concern that this year, in the area, constituents are experiencing traffic levels that he said have come to at a near standstill.

He referenced Raheen Business Park, where this year US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly put forward an application to build a new 400m plant, with plans to create 300 new jobs in the area.

Cllr Butler said that with this, the park is growing exponentially, further adding to the traffic chaos.

He referred to Mungret Community College, Crescent Comprehensive and the continued growth of University Hospital Limerick as exacerbating the issue.

He also spoke of four primary schools in the area, each at 100% capacity, in addition to general traffic passing through, going elsewhere.

Following discussions with Limerick council after the call-out, Cllr Butler told Limerick Live that the local authority has agreed to complete a traffic study for the Dooradoyle/Raheen/Mungret Area.

Confirmation has also been given that the Mungret Road, which will open up lands for development and move traffic onto Patrickswell road away from pressure points on R510 by St Nessans has been given a November 2023 completion date.

They have also agreed to examine a possibility of traffic lights at the Mungret College exit/entrance, Cllr Butler relayed, following his deliberations with council officials.
A NUMBER of Limerick councillors have expressed their opposition to the lowering of the tricolour following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last week.

The Taoiseach is also being urged to "rethink his loyalty and respect to the Irish flag" after it was lowered to half mast at City Hall, Merchant's Quay in Limerick city, without giving local elected representatives a say.

Councillor Emmett O Brien told his colleagues at a meeting of the Adare/Rathkeale Municipal District that the national flag represents everything that is dear to this country, and must be protected.

"If the Taoiseach and Tanaiste wish to do it themselves, more power to them, but elected representatives should have a say. I have a lot of concern over this," the independent councillor stated.

The Irish flag has been lowered to half mast at Government Buildings this evening to mark the death of HM Queen Elizabeth.



Statement from Taoiseach @MichealMartinTD  https://t.co/luw9aLl0sl pic.twitter.com/kvs7Ki9zwv  MerrionStreet.ie (@merrionstreet) September 8, 2022

He acknowledged his admiration for the duty that Queen Elizabeth II gave to her country, but remarked that lowering the Irish tricolour to half mast was "not appropriate."

He proposed speaking to the Mayor of Limerick city and county, Cllr Francis Foley, who is due to meet with Taoiseach Micheal Martin in Limerick later this week.

Cllr O'Brien's proposal, which wasn't on the set agenda for the monthly meeting, was seconded by Cllr Bridie Collins (FF).

Cllr Kevin Sheahan (FF), described the decision of his party leader to pay respects in such as manner as being "careless with the flag" and reminded those present of the 800 years of oppression imposed by the British Monarchy in Ireland.

"Amendments to this practice must be made," he stated, stressing that the Taoiseach must "rethink his loyalty and respect for the flag."

He added: "The flag means a lot to me. Emmet's motion should get heartfelt support. Funeral arrangements are their business. We are a Republic after all."
AINE Fitzgerald has been appointed the first female Managing Editor of the Limerick Leader.

A talented journalist with almost 20 years experience in the media, she will take up her position immediately.

A native of Kilmallock in County Limerick, Aine has worked at the Leader since 2006, joining as a reporter and progressing to news editor of the newspaper and website, a position that she has held since 2016.

Aine is the recipient of numerous awards including, most recently, the Local Ireland Best News Story of the Year in 2018 for her sensitive coverage breaking the news of the death of Dolores ORiordan and in 2020 Best Designed Front Page for the Limerick Leader's poignant coverage of the death of boxer Kevin Sheehy.

The daughter of Michael and the late Margaret Fitzgerald, Aine completed a Masters in NUI Galway where she obtained a first-class honours degree in journalism. Prior to that she completed an undergraduate BA degree in Media and Irish in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.

She has a keen interest in current affairs and sport - she trains the local U6 and U8 camogie team in her hometown of Kilmallock.

Commenting on her appointment Aine said: It is a great honour to have been given this opportunity to lead one of the best newspapers in the country and our award-winning website LimerickLive.ie. Im looking forward to working with our team of talented reporters to keep providing the peerless local news coverage that is so valued by our readers and advertisers.
Popular comedian Tommy Tiernan is urging Irish people to support an appeal to save the lives of over 20 million people at risk of famine in the Horn of Africa.

The appeal was launched today (September 13) by Mr Tiernan and the Irish Emergency Alliance (IEA), comprising seven leading humanitarian aid agencies including Action Aid, Christian Aid, Plan International, Self Help Africa, Tearfund, Trocaire and World Vision Ireland.

Four failed consecutive rainy seasons have resulted in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia facing their worst drought in 40 years, with more than a million and a half people already forced to leave their homes and villages in search of food and water.

The Alliance has said children are dying every day due to the hunger crisis, and warned that every minute counts.

Mr Tiernan, who visited Somalia with humanitarian aid agency Trocaire last week, said, "I was in Gedo in Somalia last week and visited two of the 200 internally displaced peoples camps across the region which are accommodating nearly a quarter of a million people.

"They are there because they have no food. The Irish Emergency Alliance needs funds to buy food to stop people starving to death. Many children have already died.

The IEA is asking people to give what they can to the emergency appeal.

In their joint statement: "There have been warnings for months that unprecedented drought, rising food prices and a lack of funding for humanitarian organisations have been creating a silent emergency in The Horn Of Africa. But those warnings were not heeded and we are now on the brink of an unthinkable humanitarian catastrophe.

"Most at risk are the elderly, and children who lack the physical strength and resources to cope with days and weeks of starvation. When a baby is severely malnourished, even if they survive, they may never be the same again as their developing brains are so vulnerable."

Persistent drought is causing harvests to continue to fail, with nearly nine million livestock dying.

The Alliance said, "The unjust reality is that people suffering in the Horn of Africa, many herders, had no hand in causing droughts driven by climate change. Grain is in short supply, with costs soaring in some of the poorest regions in the world because of a faraway war in Ukraine.

Speaking today, CEO of Plan International Ireland, Paul OBrien, who recently returned from Somaliland, said, "Many people we talked to felt they are suffering because of Climate Change. In my 35 years in this sector, I have never heard ordinary people talking about the impact of Climate Change so clearly and relating it directly to their experience. A woman who explained to me the reality of the situation said, 'Our cattle used to feed us, now we are feeding them, they are dying, and we are next'."

CEO of Trocaire, Caoimhe De Barra also remarked: "I have seen at first hand on a visit to Trocaire programmes in Somalia last week the unjust and unthinkable suffering of thousands of people who are hungry and on the brink of starvation, forced to leave their homes in desperate search of assistance.

"It is heart-breaking to hear from our staff stories of children dying en route to internally displaced camps, or in our hospitals because they have presented too late for treatment.

Rosamond Bennett, Chief Executive of Christian Aid Ireland, who travelled to northern Kenya recently, said, "I was shocked by the severity of the drought in northern Kenya. The deadly impact of four back-to-back failed rainy seasons was clear to see.

"I met with families subdued from hunger, saw shrivelled crops starved of water and the carcasses of livestock dotted all around, animals which are the lifeblood of rural communities. The window is fast closing to prevent this devastating crisis we are seeing in the Horn of Africa from becoming a complete catastrophe.

Donations to this urgent appeal can be made through www.IrishEmergencyAlliance.org or by calling 1800 939 979
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
NEW DELHI: Body Cupid Pvt Ltd, owner of D2C beauty brand Wow Skin Science, has appointed actors Kartik Aaryan and Rashmika Mandanna as brand ambassadors of its hair care range. In the past two years, the company has brought on board actors like Kareena Kapoor Khan and Bhumi Pednekar as well as its ambassadors.Manish Chowdhary, co-founder of the firm, said, Kartik Aaryan and Rashmika made complete sense for us. Both have an incredible line of work, champion the right causes and are loved by people across age groups, especially gen Z. Were really excited to have them onboard."Kartik Aaryan said, Personally, Im a strong believer and advocate of natural products and hence the proposition really resonated with me. I am really thrilled to be associated with the brand and be a part of its journey because as an actor I think of the audiences first, this brand does the same - puts people first."Actor Rashmika Mandanna added, I am excited to be a part of the Wow family. The brand is known to be chemical free, nature inspired and most importantly, Eco-friendly - a philosophy that is very close to my heart.
Commuting in the area nearby Delhi Secretariat might get a lot easier and less time taking as the city is planning to seek e-buses to start free shuttle service from Delhi Secretariat to nearby Metro stations and bus stops.

Also Read: Delhi Metro to start bus services for Central Vista visitors from Friday

The cost of the free bus service in the area will be handled by the General Administration Department of the city. To measure the feasibility of the bus service, GAD also surveyed various departments of the Delhi government. The department is hopeful that the free shuttle service will make the daily commutation convenient for the women and elderly.

Also Read:Around 300 e-buses will ply on Delhi roads by September this year: CM Kejriwal

"Last week, the GAD wrote to the transport department requesting for e-buses to run the shuttle service. The cost of service will be borne by the GAD," said a senior government officer.

Also Read: These companies are critical to the success of Indias electric bus revolution

The Secretariat building is the key area from where the Delhi government performs its function. It is the location of all the offices of key ministers and officials. From the chief minister to members of his cabinet as well as top bureaucrats, everyone has their offices.

Along with the officials and minister, the Delhi Secretariat is also a working place of around more than 6000 government officials, staff members, staff members, police personnel, citizens, as well as media persons. That's why a free shuttle service might help those who travel long distances by using public transport like Metro and buses to reach there.

The secretariat building can be reached from ITO and Laxmi Nagar sides through Metro trains and buses. Pedestrians have to travel around one kilometre from nearby Metro stations, ie ITO and Indraprasthha to reach their office. Moreover, the bus stops are also located around a hundred metres away from the secretariat building.

It is worth noting that the Delhi government is working to induce more of electric buses in the public transportation system. In May this year, the government also procured around 1500 electric buses for Delhi Transport Corporation(DTC). Moreover, it is also planning to procure 350 more e buses under the cluster scheme.

(With inputs from PTI)
Even after having the highest literacy rate in the country at 94%, Kerala seems to be on a brighter path towards education as Kerala Chief Minister is scheduled to visit Finland next month. The purpose of to visit is to study the education system of the country. The Chief Minister has an official invite from the European Government and Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty will also accompany the Chief Minister.

Kerala chief minister will visit Finland in the first week of October. He had got an invitation from the Finland government," sources of the news agency ANI said.

Other ministers and leaders of the Kerala Government may also travel with the Chief Minister. The visit is also aimed at attracting investments and understanding models of Finland in key areas like education.

Revered as the best education system in the world, Finland's education system is well-curated with the understanding of the global circumstances and focuses on student-centric learning, rather than some arbitrarily created benchmarks.

No standardized exams

The country's education system takes pride in not conducting any standardized examination and focuses on testing students on an individual basis and grading is done by teachers individually. One National Matriculation Exam is also voluntary in nature and is conducted at the end of high school.

Teaching programs in Finland are quite complex and rigorous. Unlike in India, it is difficult to become a teacher in Finland. Like students, teachers are also dealt with on an individual basis and mostly the principal of the school has the responsibility to make teachers perform.

Overall Growth

Not just great education, the Finland model also focuses on using learning as a medium to balance out social inequality. The students get free meals, access to healthcare, psychological counseling and individual guidance everything at one place- school.

In India, the Delhi model of education is making headlines for quite some time now. With government students cracking national level tough examinations, winning science and math Olympiads, etc. From the happiness curriculum to decent infrastructure, most of the things we see in Delhi schools are inspired by Finland's model of education.

Delhi Government sent their teachers, principals and officials to Finland to study their model of education and tried to replicate the lessons in Delhi schools.
New Delhi: Senior diplomat Prakash Chand has been appointed the next ambassador of India to the State of Eritrea. He is expected to take up the assignment shortly, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday.

Previously, Chand was the Consul General of India in Bali since 2019. He has worked as Director (Consular) in the Consular, Passport and Visa Division in the MEA.

Chand has also served as First Secretary (Consular) in Philippines from 2010 to 2014. Prior to that, he worked as a Deputy Chief of Protocol (Conferences/Facilities) from 2008 to 2010 in New Delhi.

He has served in various capacities in the MEA, New Delhi as well as in the Indian Missions in Uganda, UK, Egypt, China, and Austria.
H-E-B

H-E-B is offering customers a new way to pay for their groceries and home goods, along with added savings.

On Monday, September 12, the H-E-B debit account program will officially launch for Texan shoppers, according to a news release.
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Attendees of the 2022 Emmy Awards came away from the show with a new understanding of the supernova that is Lizzo.

The multi-faceted artist, who ended the night as an Emmy winner for her Amazon Prime Video reality series Lizzos Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, cut quite a figure through the Microsoft Theater. Her fire-engine red tulle dress ran the length of a city block, extending out in all directions with the help of many hoops. During commercial breaks, photographers and Emmy-goers crowded around Lizzos table to snap pics at such a furious pace that it looked like a strobe light to those who werent on the floor as part of the unusual ballroom-style seating for nominees and their entourages.

Moreover, Lizzo brought the party up the Loge level where a cheering section of Big Grrrls performers and producers kept spirits lively by chanting lyrics to her hit About Damn Time. And they erupted with shouts and squeals of joy when the series won for reality competition series. Those that didnt go down to accept the prize were dancing (and shouting) in the aisles. Television Academy chairman Frank Scherma followed her on stage to introduce the Governors Award for Geena Davis, but all eyes followed Lizzo and her red sea of a dress as she made her way through the crowd back to her table.

Others who generated a big response from the room include presenters Oprah Winfrey, Ariana DeBose, Pete Davidson and Selma Blair. Ozark, Severance and Yellowjackets had big cheering sections. Abbott Elementary and Ted Lasso (both produced by Warner Bros. TV) also had a healthy competition going on in the room. We love you Quinta! rang out just as the winner for comedy series writing was unveiled to be Abbott Elementary creator/star/showrunner Quinta Brunson. Read on for more moments you didnt see on TV during the 2022 Emmys.

Fair Warning

The night began with a public service announcement from a production team member as the clock ticked down to the 5 p.m. PT start time. Emmy producers Reginald Hudlin and Done + Dusted made a point of addressing the elephant in the glitzy room with a warning for anyone who had a notion of delivering a sequel to The Slap that dominated the Academy Awards telecast in March. If you come up on this stage, your ass will be severely beaten, warmup comic Chris Spencer told the crowd. Six MMA fighters are strategically placed in the audience and ready to spring into against any threats, he added.

Keen on Keaton

Michael Keatons win for Dopesick got the night off to a strong start  and an F-bomb  with a speech that everyone wanted to hear. And Keaton didnt disappoint with emotional remarks from the heart about his own career trajectory and love for the industry. I fuckin love you, man, he said to his colleagues with a catch in his voice. Meanwhile, the roar of applause for Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, the Hacks stars who followed Keaton on stage to present an award, foreshadowed Smarts win later in the night for lead comedy actress.

Proud of Mom

When Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph took home her first Emmy award for best supporting actress, her daughter Ivy-Victoria Maurice and son Etienne Maurice shot out of their seats, screaming, crying and getting emotional as they yelled We love you, mommy! Not only were they hugging and jumping up and down for their mother as she sang during her speech (and thanked them), they stayed in a tight embrace throughout the commercial break. The outpouring of emotion by the siblings, who both wore bright orange formalwear, spoke volumes about their mother and family bonds. And it reinforced the best aspect of awards competition, which is to throw the spotlight on deserving performers at all stages of their careers.

All Eyes on Lizzo

Throughout the night, Lizzo was at the center of the ballroom  in part because her gown took multiple people to carry, but mostly because she was a winner everyone wanted to meet. Zendaya was spotted snapping selfies with the Watch Out for the Big Grrrls host. Lizzo took home the award for outstanding competition series  beating out Rupauls Drag Race, which has won the last four years in a row  and the crowd sang along to the lyrics of About Damn Time after her win.

Full Commitment

Following Will Arnett and Jimmy Kimmels bit, during which Kimmel laid in the middle of the floor while the pair presented Quinta Brunson with the Emmy for comedy writing, the show cut to a commercial break. Still, Kimmel didnt break  he continued to lay on the floor well into the evening. (He was later up and wandering around during the Disney post-party.) But by many accounts, the bit didnt work well on TV and it didnt play well in the room, either.

Casey, Franny, Nora

A trio of HBO executives  Casey Bloys, Francesca Orsi and Nora Skinner  won the executive mentions derby from winners. White Lotus chief Mike White, limited supporting actor winner Murray Bartlett, variety special winner Jerrod Carmichael and Succession creator Jesse Armstrong were among those who name-checked HBOs top content executives. Bartlett also got huge applause in the room when he shouted-out My P-Town family when he won for White Lotus.

Herding Cats

The table-seating arrangement encouraged more milling about during commercial breaks than is typically seen at an auditorium-style Emmys ceremony. The voiceover announcers became more plaintive as the night wore on in begging people to please sit down before the live NBC telecast resumed. But those pleas were mostly ignored. The crowd movement and the noise level grew with each commercial break. By the end, Emmy-goers were sprinting to get back to their tables. The modular, immersive stage was definitely designed for the telecast audience, not the ticket holders in Microsoft Theater.

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The news was first reported in Liberation on Tuesday morning (Sept. 13) and later confirmed by Godards family in a statement which read, There will not be any official ceremony. Jean-Luc Godard died peacefully in his home surrounded with his close ones. He will be cremated.

French president Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Godard on social media with a message describing Godard as the most iconoclastic of New Wave filmmakers, had invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art. We are losing a national treasure, a look of genius.

Ce fut comme une apparition dans le cinema francais. Puis il en devint un maitre. Jean-Luc Godard, le plus iconoclaste des cineastes de la Nouvelle Vague, avait invente un art resolument moderne, intensement libre. Nous perdons un tresor national, un regard de genie. pic.twitter.com/bQneeqp8on

The prolific icon worked his whole life. He presented his last film The Image Book, a kaleidoscopic bulletin spanning 200 years of history, in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 and was celebrated with the Special Palme dOr. Godard was also planning to adapt The Image Book into an exhibit in Paris, Madrid, New York and Singapore before the pandemic hit.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences awarded Godard an Honorary Oscar at a 2010 event. Godard didnt come to accept; it would have been surprising if he had (he was always the maverick outsider, and Oscar is the ultimate symbol of the film establishment). But at the event, several AMPAS governors spoke of his influence, with scribe Phil Alden Robinson saying, He didnt just break the rules, he ran them over with a stolen car, adding that, for good measure, Godard backed up the stolen car to make sure the rules were dead.

Others pointed out that his use of long takes, jump-cuts and actors asides to the camera all changed the filmmaking vocabulary. He once famously stated that every film needs a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order.

There was cinema before Godard and cinema after Godard, declared Luigi Chiarini, president of the Venice Film Festival not long after the release of Breathless in 1960. Not since Orson Welles, with Citizen Kane 20 years earlier, had a first-time director transformed the grammar of filmmaking in such radical fashion.

Godard directed his cinematographer Raoul Coutard to shoot Breathless like TV reportage with a handheld camera, something almost unheard of at the time. The films kinetic rhythm was further enhanced by Godards use of jump cuts to propel the action along and his snappily feeding the actors lines of improvised dialogue during shooting. Ostensibly a gangster pic about a girl (Jean Seberg), a guy (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and a gun, Breathless was also a film of existential ideas. The film, which was awarded the Prix Jean-Vigo and the prize for best director at Berlin, remains Godards most accessible pic and for many his most accomplished in a career that spanned more than 50 years, some 30 features, numerous shorts and filmed essays.

Aged 29 when Breathless was released, Godard went from being a promising director with several short films to an overnight sensation. Hollywood was ready to welcome him with open arms, but Godard never bit; he turned down an opportunity to direct Bonnie and Clyde, unwilling to compromise his artistic principles.

He won major European film awards including the Golden Berlin Bear for hypnotic sci-fi movie Alphaville (1965) and the Venice Golden Lion for the frankly erotic First Name: Carmen (1983), but Godard never received an Academy Award nomination.

He was critical of everything in Hollywood and occasionally singled out Steven Spielberg, claiming his films lacked artistic merit. His views led to his falling out with his New Wave contemporaries Francois Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol, whose films became more narrative driven and audience-friendly as they grew older.

Born in Paris, Godard had a privileged upbringing as the son of well-off Franco-Swiss parents. His French father was a doctor who owned his own clinic, and his mother was descended from a Swiss banking family.

While Godard was studying ethnology at the Sorbonne in the late 1940s, the first cine-clubs began sprouting up all over the capital. Watching films was akin to a religious experience for Godard. We were like Christians in the catacombs, he once said, referring to himself and contemporaries like Truffaut, Chabrol and Jacques Demy.

In 1951 Godard became one of the first writers, along with Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, to write for Andre Bazins Cahiers du Cinema film magazine. He was a vociferous critic of post-war French films, whose directors, he felt, had run out of ideas, and he helped introduce the idea of an auteur-driven cinema, arguing that certain directors should be given the same consideration as top-tier novelists.

In The Little Soldier (1961), Godard courageously exposed Frances use of torture during the Algerian War of independence. The film was banned in France until January 1963. It was the first time Godard cast the Danish-born actress Anna Karina, whom he married and subsequently divorced.

Godards reputation as one of the most influential members of the French New Wave was cemented in the mid-1960s with a string of popular and critically acclaimed films, many featuring Karina. His marriage to Karina ended in 1964 but he continued as a major world force in cinema with Bande a Part (Band of Outsiders), a return to the world of the gangster film, which he called Alice in Wonderland meets Franz Kafka.

He scored his biggest commercial hit with Contempt, which starred a resplendent Brigitte Bardot as the wife of a disillusioned script writer (Michel Piccoli). Deux ou Trois Choses que je sais delle (Two or Three Things I Know About Her) was also chock-a-block with observations about modern life. Films like My Life to Live, Alphaville, Pierrot le Fou and Masculine, Feminine revealed Godards talent for mashing-up lowbrow and highbrow aesthetics.

The high point of this period was the savage and memorable Week-End, in 1968, with cars piled up in an endless gridlock and commentary about the decline of Western civilization. La Chinoise was remarkably prescient for the way it predicted the French student riots of May 1968. During filming Godard married the pics star, Anne Wiazemsky, whom he later divorced.

The late 1960s saw Godard retreat from mainstream cinema. For the next few years he worked with a group of left-wing political activists, producing his own political films. Godard became increasingly reclusive, making films for his own amusement, before returning to narrative cinema with his 1979 effort Every Man for Himself. During the 1980s, First Name Carmen, Hail Mary and Detective garnered some festival attention.

At the 2010 AMPAS event, documentarian Lynne Littman said, Godard dared us to misbehave, both as grownups and as artists. He is still misbehaving, and Id like to think tonight is the first time weve ever given an Oscar for it.

Godards most ambitious project was his multipart video project Histoire(s) du Cinema (1988-1998), an iconoclastic and very personal study of the concept of cinema and how it related to the 20th century. More recently, his films In Praise of Love (2001) and Notre musique (2004) were well received at the Cannes Film Festival. His Film Socialisme met with a more bemused reaction when it screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2010; the highly experimental work ended with a title card reading No Comment, a statement reflected in Godards conspicuous absence from the festival.

But Godard had a significant career resurgence at Cannes in 2014 with Goodbye to Language, in which he experimented with the 3D format while offering what Varietys Scott Foundas called a characteristically vigorous, playful, mordant commentary on everything from the state of movies to the state of the world. It won the festivals jury prize (shared with Xavier Dolans Mommy) and went on to be named best film of the year by the National Society of Film Critics.

For the last 30 years or more of his life Godard worked in close collaboration with his partner, Swiss filmmaker Anne-Marie Mieville. She survives him.

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Oscar-winning documentarian Laura Poitras slammed the Venice and Toronto film festivals for providing a platform for the Clinton family to engage in a kind of whitewashing.

Her comments come as TIFF this week hosted the Canadian premiere of Poitrass All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, a documentary about the artist and activist Nan Goldin, and just days after the film won Venices top prize, the Golden Lion.

It is the rare doc to land slots at the superfecta of Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York, and Poitras said she thought long and hard about whether or not to voice criticism at the same venues feting her latest work. Nevertheless, she said, journalists need to ask hard questions.

Hillary and Chelsea Clinton have made appearances at both Venice and Toronto in support of both their forthcoming Apple documentary series Gutsy; and in support of Tamana Ayazi and Marcel Mettelsiefens documentary In Her Hands, which the Clintons produced.

Speaking at TIFFs Doc Conference on Tuesday, Poitras said there is nothing more serious that threatens the First Amendment, not just in [America], but also threatens journalism globally, than the prosecution of Julian Assange. The Wikileaks founder is facing extradition to the U.S., where he would be prosecuted under the Espionage Act for his role in publishing revelations about U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Those revelations came at a time when Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State in the Obama administration.

This is literally the most important issue facing journalism globally right now, said Poitras. And its alarming to see some of the most powerful people in the world, such as Hillary Clinton, walking a red carpet at Venice, and at TIFF, and saying nothing.

She added that programming the Clintons feel-good documentary work amounted to engaging in a kind of whitewashing on their behalf. Hillary Clinton was actively involved in the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Poitras said. She supported the escalation of troops. And I really find it troubling that this is all being forgotten and were providing a platform.

Documentary is journalism, she added. Hard questions should be asked. We stand for facts and holding people accountable. And I dont understand why there isnt more interrogation  we really have to look at what this means for the state of documentary.

Poitrass Bloodshed is considered a leading contender for the best documentary feature Oscar, a prize she previously won in 2015 for Citizenfour, her film on exiled NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

She added that there was a degree of hypocrisy to seeing fall festivals program No Bears, the latest film from imprisoned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Pahani, while at the same time welcoming figures such as Clinton. The U.S. governments effort to indict and prosecute Assange is, I would say, not dissimilar to imprisoning Jafar Pahani, she said.

Variety has reached out to TIFF and Venice for comment.

Elsewhere at the Q&A, held with TIFF Docs programmer Thom Powers, the filmmaker explained how making a film about an artist battling the Sackler familys attempts at philanthropic art-world whitewashing didnt feel a world apart from her prior films dealing with the NSA and the Iraq War.

There are a lot of similarities, I think, between the work that I was doing with looking at the War on Terror, which was always sort of a critique of U.S. power, and this, she said, looking at a different struggle, but also [in Goldin] somebody sort of at the forefront of a historical moment whos causing change. I was immediately drawn to that.

Poitras also addressed her position in making a film critical of the Sackler family, given that she herself comes from a wealthy family that has in the past made multi-million-dollar philanthropic donations in the medical sector.

I am very aware of my position and have used it, because I do not wish to perpetuate [those] sort of injustices and inequalities in the world that we inhabit, she said. I can assure you, Ive been very vocal about my problems with the choices that my family made. I dont agree with them, and they know it very well.

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The European Film Academy will honor Palestinian auteur Elia Suleiman with its European Achievement in World Cinema Award.

The Paris-based Suleiman, whose most recent work It Must Be Heaven premiered in 2019 at Cannes, is the first Palestinian director to win this prestigious prize.

Suleiman will be an honorary guest at the 35th European Film Awards ceremony to be held on Dec. 10 in Reykjavik.

Born in Nazareth, Suleiman started his career in New York where in the early 1990s he shot two short films, Introduction to the End of an Argument and Homage by Assassination which won several prizes.

Suleimans debut feature film, Chronicle of a Disappearance, on the loss of national identity in Israels Arab population, won the first film prize at the 1996 Venice Film Festival. In 2002, his Divine Intervention won the jury prize and the Fipresci Intl. Critics Prize of the Cannes Film Festival, as well as the best foreign film prize at the European Film Awards, held in Rome that year.

All of Suleimans works, in which he also stars, provide a personal prism on the sad and surreal aspects of Palestinian life in which humor is crucial to survival.

In 2007, he was chosen as one of the 35 directors of To Each His Own Cinema, a collective film for the Cannes Film Festivals 60th anniversary. His subsequent feature film, The Time That Remains, a meditation on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was in the official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. In 2012, he completed a short titled Diary of a Beginner, part of a collective feature titled 7 Days in Havana. The film was in the official selection of Cannes Un Certain Regard.

In It Must Be Heaven Suleimans vision shifted to the struggle that Palestinians living outside their country have with their identity.

Elia Suleiman is an artistic advisor of the Doha Film Institute. He has received many awards accolades including the Dutch Prince Claus Award as well as the Prize Henri-Jeanson by the French Societe des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD) which annually celebrates an author in memory of one the greatest scriptwriters of French cinema.

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RLJE Films has acquired Nocebo, a thriller starring Eva Green and Mark Strong.

The film will open in theaters on Nov. 4 and on-demand and digitally on Nov. 22. Shudder will release the film in 2023. Both RLJE and Shudder are business units of AMC Networks Shudder focuses on streaming movies in the horror, thriller and supernatural genres.

Nocebo centers on a fashion designer (Green), who suffers from a mysterious illness that confounds her doctors and frustrates her husband (Strong). Help arrives in the form of a Filipino nanny (Chai Fonacier) who uses traditional folk healing to reveal a horrifying truth.

The movie was directed by Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium) and written by Garret Shanley (Without Name). It also stars Billie Gadsdon.

Were huge fans of Lorcans previous work and are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with him on Nocebo, said Mark Ward, chief acquisitions pfficer of RLJE Films. With the incredible cast performances and chilling, thought-provoking themes in the film, we cant wait to bring Nocebo to theaters this fall.

Nocebo was produced by Brunella Cocchiglia and Emily Leo, and was executive produced by XYZ Films. Ward and Betsy Rodgers from RLJE Films negotiated the deal with Nate Bolotin of XYZ Films on behalf of the filmmakers.

Finnegan is repped by Peter Van Steemberg at XYZ Films and by Jack Thomas at Independent Talent Group.

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U.K. viewers have taken to Twitter to lambast Comcast-owned network Sky for apparently cutting two jokes related to Queen Elizabeth II in the local broadcast of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.

In HBOs broadcast, which aired on Sunday night in the U.S., Oliver opens with a joke about the President of Chile before saying: But obviously, we need to start with the U.K., which is clearly still reeling from the shocking death of a 96-year-old woman from natural causes, which is followed by laughter.

Oliver continues: It is a big moment which for some reason absolutely everyone felt that they had to weigh in on from [Swedish CGI dance music act] Crazy Frog, which tweeted out RIP the Queen [and a] candle emoji  a tweet thats impossible to read without mentally adding [Crazy Frogs dance music]  to Dominos U.K. which posted, Everyone at Dominos joins the nation and the world in mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Our thoughts and condolences are with the Royal Family.

Which I guess is nice although if the world is mourning they should maybe tell the U.S. Dominos account whose most recent tweet as of this taping is if ur reading this it means u need pizza like to confirm. Oliver said. Get your fucking house in order Dominos! A LADY IS DEAD.

He then goes on to make a joke about the new British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, saying: The Queens death is sadly not the only traumatic event that Britain has had to deal with this week because on Tuesday, Liz Truss, basically Margaret Thatcher if she were high on glue, became its new Prime Minister.

In the version available on Skys streaming platform NOW, Olivers joke about the Chilean President is followed by a blink-and-youll-miss-it ident for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and then cuts immediately to Olivers joke about Truss. Apparently the same edited version was broadcast on Sky Comedy on Monday night.

Sky attracted dozens of comments from angry fans on Twitter, with many tagging Oliver directly. Sky cut out your joke about the queen last night, one Twitter user said. Cowards. Any chance you can put it up on here? They teased us with her picture and and truly amateurish cut.

@LastWeekTonight .@iamjohnoliver.

Sky cut out your joke about the queen last night. Cowards. Any chance you can put it up on here? They teased us with her picture and and truly amateurish cut.  Patrick Barker (@Patbarker) September 13, 2022

Dont censor my @LastWeekTonight, tweeted another. I am British, I am a monarchist and I CAN TAKE A JOKE!!! @SkyUK If @iamjohnoliver wants to have an intelligent, jovial, factual opinion about our queen I wanna hear it. FFS! The coverage and forced mourning here is getting real out of hand.
Courtesy/Webb County Sheriff's Office

A Nuevo Laredo teen who had crossed the border illegally punched a Texas National Guard staff sergeant in the face, according to an arrest affidavit.

Guillermo Raul Castello de Aquino, 17, was charged with assault of a public servant, smuggling of a person by criminal conspiracy and criminal trespass.
Christian Alejandro Ocampo

The Webb County Commissioners Court gathered Monday to discuss the fiscal year 2022-23 tax rate and budget, which was said to prioritize public safety by increasing the proposed budgetary changes of $42 million to $45 million. The new FY budget was approved as amended unanimously to the sound of applause.

This came after the 2022-23 tax rate was approved to lower to $0.390000 per $100 value for tax which is estimated to save an additional $109,934,445, or 25.91% more in revenue since the 2021 tax rate.
WATERBURY, Conn. (AP)  A sister of a teacher killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre and an FBI agent who responded to the school shooting became overwhelmed with emotion Tuesday as they described what it has been like to be accused of being crisis actors by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and others.

Carlee Soto Parisi and FBI agent William Aldenberg were the first witnesses to testify as a Connecticut jury began hearing evidence in a trial to decide how much money Jones owes for spreading the lie that the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown that killed 20 first graders and six educators didnt happen.

Soto Parisi said she has been hounded, both in Connecticut and after she moved to North Carolina, by those who believe she was acting. Some of the hoax believers went online and posted photos of grieving women, including an Associated Press photo of a distraught Soto Parisi outside Sandy Hook Elementary School after the shooting, saying they were the same actor.

I frequently got threatening emails and messages on all social media," she testified, crying at times. "And it got to a point where they would use the gun emoji. And I spoke with cops in Connecticut and my husband ended up having to speak with cops in North Carolina, because we were scared for our lives.

Aldenberg also broke down as he described being among the first law enforcement officers to enter the two classrooms where 20 children died. He described watching as the phone next to Vicki Soto's body lit up with messages from those trying to reach her.

Was what you saw in that school fake? asked attorney Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

No, Aldenberg said. Its awful. Its awful.

He also testified about how he and others in the community and law enforcement were targeted with threats and conspiracy theories, including one that claimed he was an actor who also pretended to be the father of a victim.

Its one of the worst things that ever happened, if not the worst thing that ever happened here, what happened to them, Aldenberg said. And people want to say this didnt happen? And then they want to get rich off of it? That's the worst part.

The trial in Waterbury, less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Newtown, was attended by more than a dozen family members of victims, including David Wheeler, the father who conspiracy theorists had claimed was the same person as Aldenberg. Wheeler nodded his head as Aldenberg apologized for what Wheeler had to endure because of their resemblance.

Jones did not attend the trial on Tuesday. He is expected in court next week. Jones and his Infowars brand are based in Austin, Texas.

The Sandy Hook families and Aldenberg say they have been confronted and harassed for years by people who believed Jones false claim that the shooting was staged by crisis actors as part of a plot to take away peoples guns.

Some say strangers have videotaped them and their surviving children. Theyve also endured death threats and been subjected to abusive comments on social media. And some families have moved out of Newtown to avoid harassment. They accuse Jones of causing them emotional and psychological harm.

You know, you can say whatever you want about me, I dont care, Aldenberg said. Just say what you want. Im a frigging big boy. I can take it. But then they want to make profits, they want to make millions and millions of dollars. They want to destroy peoples lives. Their children got slaughtered. I saw it myself, and now they have to sit here and listen to me say this.

Its the second such trial for Jones, who was ordered by a Texas jury last month to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of one of the slain children. Jones was not at the trial Tuesday and is expected to attend next week.

A jury of three men and three women along with several alternates will decide how much Jones should pay relatives of eight victims and Aldenberg. Judge Barbara Bellis found Jones liable for damages without a trial last year after he failed to turn over documents to the families lawyers.

The judge also sanctioned Jones on Tuesday for failing to turn over analytic data related to his website and the popularity of his show. She told his lawyers that because of that failure, they will not be allowed to argue he didnt profit from his Sandy Hook remarks.

In opening statements, Jones was described by Mattei as a bully and by his own attorney as a crank in a town square who should be ignored.

Mattei showed jurors data indicating how Jones' audience increased as he spread lies about the shooting. He also showed them photos and videos of things Jones had said, and told the panel they already had the tools from their own life experiences to decide what to do in this case.

What your parents taught you, what your grandparents taught you to know the difference between right and wrong, to know the difference between the truth and a horrible lie, to know the importance of standing up to bullies when they prey on people who are helpless and profit from them and to know unless you stop a bully, a bully will never stop, he said. And when it comes to stopping Alex Jones, that will be the most important work that you do.

Jones' attorney, Norm Pattis, argued that his client has espoused a number of conspiracy theories over the years, something he has a Constitutional right to do.

At what point do we regard him as a crank on the village green, a person we can walk away from if we choose? he asked.

Pattis told the jury that although Jones is liable for damages, any award should be minimal and alleged the families were overstating the harm they say Jones caused them.

On his Infowars web show on Tuesday, Jones portrayed himself as the victim of unfair show trials.

How am I handling it? Were at war. This is total tyranny, he said. Ill tell you this, we can appeal this for years. We can beat this.

The trial is expected to last about a month and feature testimony from more victims' relatives. Jones also will be testifying, Pattis said.

Jones now says he believes the shooting was real. At the Texas trial, he testified that he realizes what he said was irresponsible, did hurt peoples feelings and he apologized. He continues, however, to insist that his comments were protected free speech. He views the lawsuits as efforts to silence him and put him out of business.

Jones lawyers say he intends to appeal the judgment against him in Texas. Jones also will face a third trial back in Texas involving the parents of another slain child.

___

Associated Press writer Pat Eaton-Robb contributed to this story from Hartford, Connecticut.
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PERTH, Australia (AP)  A man who may have been keeping a wild kangaroo as a pet was killed by the animal in southwest Australia, police said Tuesday. It was reportedly the first fatal attack by a kangaroo in Australia since 1936.

A relative found the 77-year-old man with serious injuries on his property Sunday in semirural Redmond, 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of the Western Australia state capital Perth.

It was believed he had been attacked earlier in the day by the kangaroo, which police shot dead because it was preventing paramedics from reaching the injured man, police said.

The kangaroo was posing an ongoing threat to emergency responders," the statement said.

The man died at the scene. Police are preparing a report for a coroner who will record an official cause to death.

Police believe the victim had been keeping the wild kangaroo as a pet.

There are legal restrictions on keeping Australian native fauna as pets, but the police media office said Tuesday they had no information to make public regarding whether the victim had a permit.

Tanya Irwin, who cares for macropods at the Native Animal Rescue service in Perth, said authorities rarely issue permits to keep kangaroos in Western Australia.

This looks like it was an adult male and they become quite aggressive and they dont do well in captivity, Irwin said.

We dont know what the situation was; If he was in pain or why he was being kept in captivity and unfortunately ... theyre not a cute animal, theyre a wild animal, Irwin added.

Irwin said her rescue center always rehabilitates native animals with the aim of returning them to the wild, particularly kangaroos.

You do need a special permit to be able to do that. I dont believe they really give them out very often unless youre a wildlife center with trained people who know what theyre doing, she said.

Western gray kangaroos are common in Australias southwest. They can weigh up to 54 kilograms (119 pounds) and stand 1.3 meters (4 feet 3 inches) tall.

The males can be aggressive and fight people with the same techniques as they use with each other. They use their short upper limbs to grapple with their opponent, use their muscular tails to take their body weight, then lash out with both their powerful clawed hind legs.

In 1936, William Cruickshank, 38, died in a hospital in Hillston in New South Wales state on the Australian east coast months after he'd been attacked by a kangaroo.

Cruickshank suffered extensive head injuries including a broken jaw as he attempted to rescue his two dogs from a large kangaroo, The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported at the time.
BEIJING (AP)  President Xi Jinping is using his first trip abroad since the start of the pandemic to promote China's strategic ambitions at a summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin and other leaders of a Central Asian security group.

The Chinese leader is promoting a Global Security Initiative announced in April following the formation of the Quad by Washington, Japan, Australia and India in response to Beijing's more assertive foreign policy. Xi has given few details, but U.S. officials complain it echoes Russian arguments in support of Moscow's attack on Ukraine.

Xi, 69, is due to meet Putin in Uzbekistan this week at a summit of the eight-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which also includes Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.

China and Russia share the same stance in opposing the Western practice of imposing sanctions and overthrowing regimes of other countries, said Li Xin, director of Shanghai University of Political Science and Laws Institute of European and Asian Studies.

Putin and Xi will hold a one-on-one meeting Thursday and discuss Ukraine ahead of the next day's security summit, the Russian president's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters in Moscow.

The issue will be thoroughly discussed during the meeting," Ushakov said.

Xis trip at a time when his government is urging the Chinese public to avoid foreign travel under its zero COVID strategy emphasizes the importance to the ruling Communist Party of asserting China's role as a regional leader.

The summit takes Xi abroad while the party prepares for an October congress at which he is expected to break with political tradition and try to award himself a third five-year term as leader.

That suggests Xi, China's most powerful leader since at least the 1980s, is confident he doesn't need to stay home to make political deals. It also might help to promote his standing with nationalists in the ruling party.

Beijing-Moscow relations were chilly during the Soviet era, but the two sides have developed political and commercial ties since the late 1990s. They have few common interests but are motivated by shared frustration about U.S. dominance of global affairs and Chinese demand for Russian oil and gas.

Xis government refused to criticize Putins attack on Ukraine. It accuses the United States of provoking the conflict.

China has taken a well-balanced approach to the Ukrainian crisis, clearly expressing its understanding of the reasons that prompted Russia to launch the special military operation, said Ushakov, the Putin adviser.

Xi declared the two governments had a no limits friendship when the Russian leader attended the Winter Olympics in Beijing ahead of the Feb. 24 attack on Ukraine.

The two governments have no alliance and have differing interests in Europe, said Wang Yiwei, an international relations expert at Renmin University in Beijing. He said the no limits language is meant to give them leverage in dealing with the West on Taiwan and other issues.

This is a deterrence, Wang said. He said China wants an independent foreign policy: If we put China and Russia too close, its not necessarily good for China.

Russia expressed support for Beijing amid tension with the United States after Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the House of Representatives visited Taiwan, the self-ruled island democracy claimed by the Communist Party as part of its territory.

China sent 2,000 troops and three warships to take part in a military drill this month in the Russian Far East, Vostok 2022.

En route to Uzbekistan, Xi was due Wednesday to make a one-day visit to Kazakhstan, another oil and gas supplier to China, to meet President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

The two sides are likely to discuss turbulence in the global economy" and "the future of energy markets, said Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko.

Pope Francis is to be in Kazakhstan at the same time as Xi, but there was no indication they might meet. Aboard his flight, the pope was asked about a possible meeting and replied, I dont have any news about this. But I am always ready to go to China.

Xi has participated in other global gatherings by video link. His only trip outside the Chinese mainland since early 2020 was a one-day visit to Hong Kong to mark the 25th anniversary of the end of British colonial rule.

Other SCO governments are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Iran and Afghanistan are observers.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is attracting more countries with a new principle that is completely different from the West in handling relations between nations, Li said.

China sees the group, founded under Xi's predecessor, Hu Jintao, as a counterweight to U.S. alliances across East Asia to the Indian Ocean. Beijing has taken part in in multi-government military exercises, showing off its fast-developing forces.

Relations with Washington, Europe, Japan and India are increasingly tense over complaints about trade, technology, security, Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights and territorial conflicts at sea and in the Himalayas.

In April, Xi said the Global Security Initiative was intended to uphold the principle of indivisibility of security and oppose the building of national security on the basis of insecurity in other countries.

Despite the bland language, U.S. officials and Asian security analysts see Xi's initiative as justification for China, with the world's second-largest military after the United States, to dominate the region.

A State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, said in April it appeared to parrot some of what we have heard coming from the Kremlin as justification for the attack on Ukraine.

This is a blatant effort at the pursuit of an Asian hegemony by China, wrote Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan of the Observer Research Foundation, an Indian think tank, in The Diplomat. It is designed to promote Chinas interests in its great power competition with the United States.

At a July meeting, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, that China would strengthen strategic communication with Moscow about international security, according to a statement by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

That will show the basic momentum of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership and practice true multilateralism, the ministry said.

___

Isachenkov reported from Moscow. AP researcher Yu Bing in Beijing and AP writers Ken Moritsugu in Beijing and Kostya Manenkov in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, contributed to this report.
Sean Murphy/Getty Images

On Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection published a release outlining nearly two dozen arrests involving four migrant smuggling incidents, describing the smugglers as "brazen."

On Monday, a McAllen Border Patrol Station (MSC) agent was attempting to conduct a vehicle stop near Havana involving a Plymouth Voyager when the driver failed to yield, leading to a vehicle pursuit, the release said. After the vehicle slowed, the driver and occupants exited the vehicle and fled with the van eventually colliding with a fence, CBP said, noting that three migrants, each from El Salvador, were arrested although the driver had not been located.
Houston police confirmed that there was no active shooter at Heights High School Tuesday afternoon following initial reports, adding that an incident at the school actually involved two students in a fight. Police Chief Troy Finner said local law enforcement responded to a call reporting 10 people were shot in classroom 213 on the campus located at 413 E. 13th St., around 1:00 p.m. Tuesday.

Officers descended on the school within minutes, Finner said. Upon arriving outside the classroom, they found the door was locked and breached it. "We immediately started searching because we want to make sure our kids are safe," he said. "I am extremely proud of our first responders' response today."

Harris County Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen said deputies initially received a call about an active shooter at 1:01 p.m. and deputies first arrived at 1:10 p.m. "Law enforcement descended on this goal and took the appropriate action to ensure these kids are safe," Rosen said. "Every parent here should be thankful this was not an active shooter and that law enforcement was here to do its job."

Finner said law enforcement believed the report came from someone outside of the school. The source is currently being investigated by police. "It's no joke," Finner said, adding that whoever made the phone call, "were going to trace it down and we're going to hold them accountable."

Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Pena added: "Calls like these are not inconsequential and the police is going to do their job to get down to the bottom of where it originated because the effects it has on resources is one thing. But the effect that has on the public and on the parents is critical. It is just something that should not be done. The heartstrings that people are tugging at when they do this kind of stuff, it's just not acceptable."

Houston ISD Deputy Superintendent Rick Cruz thanked local law enforcement for its quick response but also condemned the false alarm. "We will not tolerate any kind of false alarms such as these," he said. "Anyone who makes false accusations around the schools or any kind of safety situation will be persecuted to the extent possible under the law."

In a statement, Houston ISD officials wrote that Heights High School, as well as nearby Hogg and Hamilton Middle Schools, were placed under lockdown after the initial threat was made. "The security of our students and staff is our top priority," HISD's statement read. "Houston Police Department and HISD Police are onsite and continue to investigate, though no evidence has been found to substantiate the threat." Principal Wendy Hampton reiterated these statements in an email sent to parents.

Brianna Griff

District officials said students at Heights High School were dismissed early and school buses were en route to pick up students who normally ride buses.

Assistant Police Chief Lucretia Rogers said that there was a fight in progress when a call came in from the Houston police chief about the active shooter threat. "There was actually not a report call over the active shooter on our end. We received that information from HPD," she said, adding that district police began searching the building soon after. Rogers asked anyone with information about the "bogus" call to reach out to local law enforcement. "This has caused a great panic but again, all of the kids are safe," she said.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, during Tuesday's commissioners court meeting, said it was preliminarily confirmed that the incident was actually a fight between two students and not an active shooter. "Law enforcement is continuing to verify," she said. "That's the latest information I have and we just wanted to make sure that it wasn't an actual active shooter situation before reconvening."

A parent tweeted a video taken by a student from inside the school, showing SWAT teams with guns drawn going door-to-door checking on classrooms. "This is the new reality for our kids who are just trying to live another day!" the parent wrote.

Amid reports that law enforcement was responding to an active shooter call, parents rushed to Heights High School where a staging area was set up for them at the corner of E. 12th and Columbia streets.

Asked how he was feeling, a father of a ninth grader at the school had few words.

You dont have enough notebooks, he said. How much are kids supposed to endure with COVID, monkeypox and Uvalde?

Police are currently investigating the "bogus" call.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
DALLAS  An employee from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services showed up at a 13-year-old transgender boys middle school to interview him as part of an investigation into his family over the use of gender-affirming medical treatments, according to newly filed court documents.

The child, identified in court documents under the pseudonym Steve Koe, was interviewed in a school conference room for an hour about his gender identity and mental health history, his mother, called Carol Koe, said in a signed declaration. The surprise interview, along with interviews of his parents, has caused the child significant mental and emotional stress, and even caused him to miss school for multiple days because of anxiety, his mother said.

Steve told me he had a meltdown and became very fearful and upset that something might happen to me or his dad because of who he is, Carol said in the declaration.

The familys case is one of at least 11 that DFPS opened following a directive from Gov. Greg Abbott to investigate the use of gender-affirming medical treatments as a form of child abuse, based on an opinion issued by Attorney General Ken Paxton. At least eight of those investigations were closed without a child being removed from their home.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled in June that Abbott and Paxton dont have the authority to order DFPS to undertake such investigations, but the agency decided to continue them despite the ruling.

Koes declaration is one of two filed as part of a June lawsuit that aims to halt such investigations for families who are members of the national nonprofit LGBT group PFLAG. The families that made the new declarations are not being added to the lawsuit as plaintiffs, said a lawyer from Lambda Legal, one of the groups who filed the lawsuit.

A Travis County judge issued an injunction prohibiting DFPS from continuing child abuse investigations into two families as part of the suit, but delayed a decision on whether an injuction could be implemented to cover investigations into all PFLAG member families. Wednesdays declarations were filed to update the court on the need for the broader injunction.

DFPS, the office of the governor and the office of the attorney general did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new declarations.

The investigations have drawn significant criticism from both people outside and inside DFPS. A group of the departments staffers filed a brief in August that said the policy could put the child protection agency over the brink of collapse.

Two weeks before the brief was filed, The Dallas Morning News wrote that internal documents revealed that rollout of the investigations was marked by secrecy and confusion. Already this year, more than 2,000 employees have left the agency.

Both the state and the nations largest medical groups support the use of age-appropriate and individualized gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. The medications are used to treat gender dysphoria, or the feeling of discomfort or distress that can occur for people who identify as a gender different from the gender or sex assigned at birth.

Medical treatments represent just one of many treatment options recommended by the World Professional Organization for Transgender Health, which sets the standards of care for adolescent patients experiencing gender dysphoria. Puberty blockers and hormone therapies are only used after an adolescent has started puberty.
This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, and redacted by in part by the FBI, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 search by the FBI of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
People watch the hearse carrying the coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, following her death, in London, Britain September 13, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Boyers
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RIO DE JANEIRO/LOS ANGELES, Sept 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In 2021, crypto companies were riding high. Last November, the world's largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, jumped to a record high of around $69,000 as investors piled into a bull run.

Meanwhile, blockchain - the distributed ledger technology behind cryptocurrencies - was being touted as a solution to many of the world's problems, including climate change, by increasing transparency and facilitating the sale of carbon offsets.

A number of prominent crypto projects have started creating digital versions of carbon offsets and trading them online.

The underlying assets are credits that companies can buy from green projects on the voluntary carbon market that reduce planet-heating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions via initiatives like protecting forests or building renewable energy facilities.

The buyers usually then "retire" the credits - meaning they are removed from the market and cannot be resold - to offset greenhouse gas emissions from their own activities.

But instead of using them to compensate for emissions, some crypto players have put these credits on the blockchain ledger, and floated them on crypto exchanges where they can be bought, sold and traded for other cryptocurrencies.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation found that one major pioneer in this new market, Brazilian "green" crypto firm Moss, bought carbon credits it said privately were of "low quality" - a judgment it later reversed in response to the investigation - and mixed them with others to back its digital token, selling them on for far more than it paid.

Here's how crypto players have impacted the voluntary carbon market:

How do crypto companies claim to help fight climate change?

Crypto firms say they want to help fill a big financing gap for projects that tackle climate change, arguing that their involvement will expand the market for carbon credits that fund emissions reductions and nature conservation efforts.

A 2021 McKinsey report said about $4 trillion in new funding is needed over the next 30 years to expand such projects - to produce clean energy, deal with waste, or preserve forests and other ecosystems - on the scale needed to curb climate change.

Crypto companies claim that by putting carbon credits on the blockchain, they can expand liquidity and reach a wider customer base, driving more money to conservation efforts worldwide.

One crypto carbon project, KlimaDAO, which issues tokens backed by carbon credit projects, reported more than $3 billion in transactions during the last three months of 2021.

How does tokenization work?

To put credits on the blockchain, crypto firms first "retire" them on the Verra system or on other carbon credit registries like Gold Standard and the American Carbon Registry.

This is a way of showing that the emissions reductions represented by each credit (one tonne of CO2) have been counted towards a corporate or individual's goal - essentially, used up.

Based on this, crypto companies then issue a digital token worth one carbon credit, which can be traded on crypto exchanges or "burned" by the buyer to offset their emissions.

What has gone wrong?

Since 2019, crypto companies have put carbon credits on the blockchain, making it easy for them to be bought and sold.

But researchers have found that a share of these were so-called "zombie credits" - offsets issued more than 10 years after a project had made the emissions reductions claimed.

On registries, they went largely unsold because their quality was dubious, research by nonprofit CarbonPlan found.

But that did not stop the digital tokens backed by them reaching high prices on exchanges, where transparency on the quality of the underlying credits is low.

At the peak of the crypto market, in late 2021 and early 2022, the crypto-backed carbon tokens boomed.

KlimaDAO's coins traded at more than $1,000 each for a brief period, even though the carbon credits behind them sold for less than $10 each. KlimaDAO's tokens were in turn backed by other crypto-carbon tokens from companies such as Moss and Toucan.

But the high price of the tokens did not mean more money was flowing directly to environmental projects on the ground.

At times, speculators and middlemen reaped a significant share of the proceeds, the Thomson Reuters Foundation found, which has caused concern among veteran carbon market players.

What happens next?

In the early months of 2022, the cryptocurrency market crashed. Bitcoin, for example, is now trading at under $20,000.

In May, Verra suspended the tokenization of retired carbon credits on its books, pending the conclusion of a public consultation, which runs until early October.

It has been tasked with deciding in what circumstances credits can be tokenized and used by crypto market players to create financial instruments.

That has led some crypto carbon companies, such as the company Flowcarbon - which raised about $70 million in May to tokenize more carbon credits - to pause their operations.

Also in May, the American Carbon Registry prohibited the tokenization of its carbon offset credits unless it explicitly authorizes the process.

Verra's decision has left the value of millions of crypto carbon tokens in limbo. And while crypto firms want a quick solution for the impasse, registries are taking their time to work out an acceptable way forward for a complex asset.

Last month, the International Finance Corp - a World Bank affiliate - said it was supporting a blockchain-enabled platform to trade carbon offsets, but only unused credits from an established registry that pass its additional quality checks.

Originally published at: https://news.trust.org/item/20220913084445-bwrof

(Reporting by Fabio Teixeira and Avi Asher-Schapiro; editing by Megan Rowling and Kieran Guilbert. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)
(Alliance News) - JTC PLC on Tuesday reported a double-digit rise in interim revenue despite suffering a fall in interim profit due to increased staff costs, as it eyes full-year revenue to top expectations.

JTC is a Jersey, UK-based fund management company.

Shares were up 3.5% at 796.00 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.

For the six months that ended on June 30, JTC reported a 39% rise in revenue to GBP93.0 million from GBP67.0 million a year earlier, reflecting continued strong net organic growth of 9.5%, which was "very close to the top of the firm's medium-term guidance range of 8% to 10%," it said.

Pretax profit, however, fell 43% to GBP21.0 million from GBP36.8 million, as staff costs rose by 52% to GBP51.7 million from GBP34.1 million a year earlier.

JTC hailed its Institutional Client Services division's half-year performance, saying revenue jumped 60% to GBP63.5 million from GBP39.8 million a year earlier.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased by 27% to GBP25.3 million from GBP19.9 million.

Chief Executive Officer Nigel Le Quesne said: "JTC's exceptional resilience and entrepreneurial growth capabilities have been reflected in a strong financial performance, meeting all our guidance metrics, including a substantial reduction in leverage. The ICS division was the star performer, with excellent growth and continued margin progression."

JTC declared an interim dividend of 3.1 pence per share, up 19% from 2.6p a year prior.

Looking ahead, JTC said it is confident to deliver full-year results ahead of market expectations. It also expects 2022 net organic growth to be above guidance range.

By Xindi Wei; xindiwei@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Tungsten West PLC on Tuesday reported that it has signed a non-binding term sheet for a USD30 million royalty investment.

Shares in the London-based mining company were trading 21% higher at 29.00 pence each in London on Tuesday afternoon.

The royalty sale, signed with a global mine royalty investment fund, will help finance the construction of the Hemerdon project. The company says the Hemerdon project is the world's third-largest tungsten resource.

Tungsten West is working towards agreeing definitive documentation and meeting the conditions on the sale of the royalty.

These conditions include a site visit by the royalty holder and obtaining required shareholder, director or regulatory approval. The company said it "has confidence" that the conditions of the drawdown will be met.

The royalty rate is 4.8% until the successful production, processing and sale of seven million metric tonnes of tungsten trioxide at which point it will reduce to 2.4%.

In addition to the royalty sale, the company is in "advanced discussions" with asset backed finance providers to secure additional finance of between GBP5 million and GBP10 million secured against fixed and mobile equipment, and spare parts.

The company noted that it is not seeking a project finance facility. It expects the royalty and asset backed finance proceeds, plus cash on hand, to be "sufficient" to finance the company through to positive cash flow.

A construction schedule and final capex budget is expected to be received from the company's contractor, Fairport Engineering Ltd, by the end of September.

Executive Vice-Chair Mark Thompson commented: "The agreement of a non-binding term sheet for a royalty sale is an important step forward in securing the finance required to enact the plan. We have taken a conscious decision to seek a larger royalty sale, and no project finance debt, in the belief that this will better protect shareholders' long-term interests in these extremely volatile and unpredictable times."

By Chris Dorrell; chrisdorrell@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
It hasn't taken long for Kylian Mbappe's future to once again become a talking point.

After signing a new contract with Paris Saint-Germain over the summer, it looks as though the Frenchman will be considering his options in the not too distant future.

L'Equipe reports that Mbappe's new deal runs until June 2024, meaning he will be free to renegotiate or choose a new club in 15 months.

As a result Real Madrid, who were thought to be Mbappe's next destination before he opted to stay at PSG, are once again monitoring the situation, though this latest news hasn't changed much for the club's directors.

They are focused on what they currently have while continuing to shape the club's future, a strategy that has helped them turn promising players into sure things while protecting the club's finances during the pandemic.

As a result, news of Mbappe's contract hasn't altered their approach. Real Madrid spent a lot of time courting the Frenchman, first in 2017 and then in the summer of 2021 until last spring.

While they haven't closed the door on signing the forward in the future, nobody at the club is focused on that at the moment.

Carlo Ancelotti and the club's directors are always keen to improve the squad, but right now, they are focused on developing the young talent they have within their ranks.

If the chance to sign Mbappe or Erling Haaland were to present itself, they would then consider it.

Sporting and economic strategy

Although Real Madrid closed the 2021/22 season with a profit of 13 million euros, and a net balance of 425 million euros, don't expect that to result in uncontrolled spending.

Los Blancos will continue on the sporting-economic strategy they have set out in recent years, regardless of any pressure put on them by fans or journalists.
One week before his death, Rapper PnB Rock told DJ Akademiks that criminals in Los Angeles were "bold" and that he had previously been confronted while out with his family.

Rock died at age 30 after getting shot while eating with the mother of his children, Steph, at a Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles in South Central LA.

Steph shared an Instagram story of their whereabouts minutes before the robbery occurred.

While speaking with DJ Akademiks, Rock had described a similar situation in the past and called LA criminals 'bold.'

"Somebody tried me on Fairfax mid-pandemic," Rock said. "They see me with my family and they think I'm lacking.

"Where I'm from [Philadelphia], we like sneaky criminals. In LA, it's like they bold."

Witness describes PnB robbery

A graphic video shows PnB Rock fighting for his life on the ground at the LA restaurant.

He was pronounced dead at a neaby hospital hours later and the suspect is still on the loose.

A witness who was visiting Los Angeles with his children for the first time described the horrible incident.

PnB Rock has songs with artists like Ed Sheeran, Wiz Khalifa, Chance the Rapper, Kodak Black, Young Thug, A Boogie wit da Hoodie and 2 Chainz.

He is survived by his two daughters, Milan and Xuri, both whom he shared with Steph. RIP.


kolkata bjp protest The BJP's march to the West Bengal secretariat against corruption issues on Tuesday received a major setback much before it began with the arrest of Suvendu Adhikari.

The BJP's march to the West Bengal secretariat against corruption issues on Tuesday received a major setback much before it began with the arrest of Suvendu Adhikari.



The party's arm led by Adhikari, the Leader of Opposition, and BJP Lok Sabha member, Locket Chatterjee was stopped by a huge police contingent at the entry point to Vidyasagar Bridge, popularly known as Second Hooghly Bridge, that connects Kolkata to Mandirtala in Howrah district, where the state secretariat of Nabanna is located.



After an initial altercation with the police officers present there, both Adhikari and Chatterjee were arrested and put in the prison van.



Adhikari alleged that the women police personnel were specially and deliberately deputed to handle him.



He was also seen shouting at the women police personnel trying to put him in a prison van. "You are a lady. Do not touch my body," Adhikari was heard shouting.



Later both Adhikari and Chatterjee were taken to the Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar.



Adhikari has threatened to tap the legal doors over the development.



"This not the way to behave with the leader of the opposition. The lady constables were constantly pushing me and they were doing this following the instructions of three IPS officers namely Gyanwant Singh, Akash Magaria and Suryapratap Yadav," he said.



Incidentally, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday is out of Kolkata for a three-day official visit to East Midnapore and West Midnapore districts.



Ridiculing her decision to stay out of Kolkata, Adhikari said that the Chief Minister has deputed the entire police forces to stop the BJP rally. "She has done this by fleeing out of Kolkata."



Hitting back at Adhikari, Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim said that the Leader of the Opposition is resorting to such theatrics, understanding that his party has no mass base in West Bengal.



"In BJP, there are only leaders and no workers. So, a party without any worker can never generate mass support. BJP is a worthless party which is surviving just by using some central agencies," Hakim said.






delhi police The Special Cell of Delhi Police arrested two notorious criminals of Neeraj Bawana-Arsh Dala Syndicate The Special Cell of Delhi Police arrested two notorious criminals of Neeraj Bawana-Arsh Dala Syndicate, who made an extortion call, demanding Rs 5 crore from a Vasant Kunj-based businessman.



The accused were identified as Sunny Dagar alias Vikram and Pushpender Lochav alias Dimpy.



The police said that the victim businessman runs a business in village Bamnoli, Dwarka.



"Victim received life threats in the name of Neeraj Bawana Gang through international virtual numbers. The caller introduced himself as "Sunny Issapur from Neeraj Bawana Gang" and demanded Rs 5 crore from him. After few days, the complainant again received another threat call from another virtual number. After which, he approached the police," said the police official.



After receiving a complaint in this regard, a case under section 386 IPC was lodged with the Vasant Kunj North Police Station and investigation of the case was transferred to Special Cell, South Western Range.



"It came to light that one Sunny Dagar alias Sunny Issapur alias Vikram who belongs to Neeraj Bawana Gang and was recently arrested by Punjab Police is involved in this crime. Dagar was interrogated in Patiala jail regarding the extortion call, who confessed his involvement in the crime. Dagar also disclosed that Pushpender Lochav alias Dimpy gave him the tip regarding the victim and shared his whole details," said the police official.



Dimpy also told him that there was family dispute with the complainant and he can get easy money by extending life threat to the complainant.



Dagar further disclosed that he was in direct contact with Canada-based fugitive criminal Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dala through social media and as per the instructions of jailed gangsters Neeraj Bawana-Naveen Bali, he was planning to eliminate their rival gang Lawrence Bishnoi-Kala Jathedi, and in order to procure sophisticated weapons, he made the extortion call to the complainant.



He also disclosed that Dala transferred some money in the account of Dimpy. Police said that Dimpy was held from Dwarka area on September 7.



He disclosed that he was in contact with Dala and they made extortion calls.



The police said that it was learnt that Dala had become radicalised and was associated with terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar of Khalistan Tiger Force to carry out targeted killings. Consequently, he got murdered two Dera Saccha Sauda followers through his associates in two separate incidents in 2020 and 2021




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Creative 360 and Parker Lane Studios have teamed up for the second annual Emerging Artists Exhibition.

We think it is incredibly important to support and encourage new artists, said Creative 360 Director Laura Vosejpka, sharing the goal of the exhibition. There is nothing more empowering as an artist than to see your work in a gallery.

Vosejpka explained that the best way to learn is to be in an authentic setting. Every artist must start somewhere, and this exhibit showcases talent in the local area for artists age 16-55.

The Emerging Artists Exhibition began with an opening reception on Friday, Sept. 9 at Creative 360 gallery, located at 1517 Bayliss St. in Midland. Twenty-eight artists are featured and 50 total art pieces will be on display until Oct. 16. Admission to the exhibit is free, although donations are appreciated.

Winners were announced at the opening reception with three entry categories: 2D art, 3D art and photography. The jurist was Andrew Rieder, associate professor of art and the director of the gallery at Delta College.

Honorable mentions included "New Rural" by Josh Roupe, "Renaissance: Acer Ramulus" by Emily Swierzbin, "The Tree of Life" by Nicholas Turka and "Americana Dream" by Nick Ten Eyck.

Best Photography was awarded to David Dornoff for "San Clemente Beach."

Best 3D art went to Cheyenne Baccary for "Boogie the Disco Orca." Best 2D was awarded to "Collision" by Jason Woertink. Best in Show went to "Afterlife" by Jordan Switala.

The honorable mentions and winning pieces are all marked accordingly, denoting the artists achievements.

A majority of participating artists attended the reception on Friday, including Alan Maciag. He appreciated how the exhibit provided the opportunity for artists to share ideas and suggestions which could help them grow.

Many award winners were surprised because this was their first serious exhibition, Maciag said. It was a thrill to see these young artists merging with the longtime, dedicated, working artists of this community.

Valerie Allen, another local artist who attended the reception, offered congratulations to all who participated in the Emerging Artists Exhibition.

I am so glad I attended the opening reception," Allen said. "There was an energy in this collection of artwork that definitely spotlights new talent in our region.

With the Emerging Artists Exhibition focusing on finding ways to educate, empower and encourage artists, it was a hands on experience for many of the participants.

Jason Woertink is a submitting artist from Midland who won Best 2D for his oil painting that shows a still life made out of components from the board game Container. Woertink considers himself a serial hobbyist who started painting in February 2020, and it took off from there with the help of online tutorials during the pandemic.

Carolina Donoso is a submitting artist from Midland who experienced a lot of art growing up in different countries. After being an artist for 10 years, she started making it her career, with Emerging Artists being her first exhibit. "Trust the Process" is one of her acrylic paintings that is on display.

With three total submissions for her first exhibition, Michelle Marcotte was excited to participate. She found her inspiration at Creative 360 about 10 years ago. Being able to display her bright and colorful acrylic paintings in that space was validating for her.

This is my arena and Im just getting started, Marcotte stated.
MOSCOW (AP)  The Kremlin on Tuesday hailed the significance of Russian President Vladimir Putin's planned meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week, noting that it's particularly important amid tensions with the West.

Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said the two leaders are scheduled to meet Thursday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of a summit of a security pact dominated by Moscow and Beijing.

The meeting has a special significance in view of the current international situation, Ushakov told reporters, saying Putin and Xi will discuss the international situation, along with regional issues and bilateral cooperation.

China has pointedly refused to criticize Russias action in Ukraine and denounced Western sanctions against Moscow. Russia, in turn, has strongly backed China amid tensions with the U.S. that followed a recent visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

China has taken a well-balanced approach to the Ukrainian crisis, clearly expressing its understanding of the reasons that prompted Russia to launch the special military operation, Ushakov said. The issue will be thoroughly discussed during the meeting.

The talks between Putin and Xi follow their meeting in February, when the Russian leader attended the opening of the Beijing Olympics shortly before sending troops into Ukraine.

Ushakov noted that the discussion of issues related to trade and economic cooperation is particularly important," adding that "in the difficult conditions amid unlawful Western sanctions this cooperation has remained stable and continued gaining tempo.

Alexander Gabuev, an expert on Russia-China ties, said the main characteristic of current Russian-Chinese relations is "their asymmetry in favor of China. Beijing, he said, has more options and more bargaining power than Russia.

Gabuev argued that the conflict in Ukraine greatly weakens Russias negotiating position, making it impossible to do anything without partnership with China.

As the West is moving to establish a price cap on Russian energy resources and potentially cut their imports altogether, Russia will grow increasingly reliant on China for selling its oil and gas and will be forced to cooperate on Beijings conditions.

Of course, China would want to take advantage of this opportunity, Gabuev said.

He added that China will serve as the main source of key technologies for Moscow, after Western allies have cut such exports to Russia.

On Friday, Putin and Xi will attend the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security grouping dominated by Russia and China that also includes India, Pakistan and ex-Soviet Central Asian nations. Iran and some other countries are on track to membership.

Putin and Xi have developed strong personal ties to bolster a strategic partnership between the former Communist rivals as they both are now locked in rivalry with the U.S. Even though Moscow and Beijing in the past ruled out a military alliance, Putin has said that such a prospect cant be excluded.

In a show of military muscle amid the tensions with the West, Russia and China have held joint military drills in Russia and the Sea of Japan that also involved several other nations.
Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget McCormack will step down from the bench after 10 years, she announced Monday, explaining her plans to resign by the end of the year.

She said she would step down no earlier than Nov. 22 and no later than Dec. 31. She didn't explain the gap, according to a press release issued by the Michigan Supreme Court.

"After a decade, the time has come for me to move on, to let others lead and to build on a foundation of progress," McCormack said in the release.

In Michigan, governors choose new justices when someone resigns.

McCormack became the 108th justiceand the ninth womanto join the court when she was sworn in on Jan. 1, 2013. She has served as chief justice since Jan. 2019the sixth woman to do so.

McCormack has served as vice president of the Conference of Chief Justices and chairs many conference initiatives, according to the court. She is the vice chair of the American Bar Association Council on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and an advisor on the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Access to Justice Project. She is also a senior strategist in the University of Pennsylvania Law Schools Future of the Legal Profession Initiative.

Before her election to the court, she was a law professor and associate dean at the University of Michigan Law School, where she continues to teach.

In a letter to the judiciary, including nearly 600 trial court judges statewide, she wrote: "I want to express my gratitude for your hard work and dedication to Michigans judiciary and the people it serves. Most of all, I am proud of our work to make courts more accessible. You have proven that justice is not a place, but a process and that the process must be navigable to those whom our system of justice serves. Thanks to all of you, I am confident that Michigan will continue to be a national leader in access to justice."

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called McCormack a "phenomenal public servant," in a press release issued by Whitmer's office on Monday.

"We will ensure a smooth transition for Chief Justice McCormack," Whitmer said in the release. "In the coming months, I will appoint a new justice with Michigan values and an unwavering commitment to the Michigan constitution who can be an arbiter of justice and live up to the great responsibility that comes with the role."

Justice Elizabeth Clement, a Republican, said McCormack has been independent and fair.

"In a world that has become increasing partisan and angry, she is a voice of reason, compassion and thoughtfulness," Clement said in a written statement. "I will miss her on the Court."

McCormack has made no announcement yet about her future, according to the court. By tradition, chief justices typically serve two, 2-year terms.
Huron County Suicide Prevention Coalition/Courtesy Photo

September is Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month, and plenty of organizations and businesses in Huron County are doing all they can to let those who struggle with depression and low self-esteem know that they're not alone.

Harbor Beach Community Hospital's Senior Life Solutions is one of those businesses, teaming up with the Huron County Suicide Prevention Coalition to host a "Walk of Hope" presentation and walk with students, staff, and prominent community members. According to a release from the community hospital, the first event will take place at Bad Axe High School on Tuesday, Sept. 13, and the second will be held at Laker High School on Thursday, Sept. 15. Guests will have the opportunity to learn more about mental health and connect with others in the community such as fire department volunteers and several ministerial leaders, who will be there to show support.
SEATTLE (AP)  Classes will begin Wednesday in Seattle following a weeklong teachers strike that delayed the start of the new school year.

Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association announced Monday night that they had reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, and after 5 p.m. Tuesday the district announced that classes would begin Wednesday morning.

The union's membership voted earlier in the day to suspend the walkout pending ratification of the contract. It's a three-year deal that will maintain ratios of special-education students to support staff, add baseline mental health staffing in all schools, and raise pay above inflation markers, the Seattle Education Association said, though the exact terms were not disclosed.

We should be incredibly proud of what we accomplished together, the union said on its Twitter feed. We won a great tentative agreement and started an important conversation with our community about supporting our students."

The strike began Sept. 7, which was supposed to be the first day for approximately 49,000 students in the district. While 95% of voting union members approved the strike, just 57% voted in favor of Tuesday's resolution to suspend it, the union said.

Picketing teachers said their main concern was educational and emotional help for students, especially those with special needs or learning difficulties that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

This was an incredible effort by both sides, and we put the needs of our students first, Superintendent Brent Jones said in a video message to families.

Teachers in the city have seen healthy raises since their last strike in 2015, with many making more than $100,000, thanks largely to a new state education funding model. The union had said it was primarily focused on winning raises for its lower-paid members, including instructional assistants and front office staff. Paraeducators in Seattle Public Schools start at $19 an hour  nowhere near enough to afford to live in the city, many say.

The district had sought to increase the amount of time disabled children spend in general education classrooms, and also to eliminate ratios dictating how many students may be assigned to each special education professional. The district said that would allow it to focus on student needs rather than fixed staffing ratios, but teachers worried it would mean less support, higher case-loads and less time to spend with each student.

Another issue for Seattle Public Schools is declining enrollment. Projections show Washington state's largest school district losing several thousands students over the next few years, which officials say translates into significant budget deficits.

Districts around the country have faced labor challenges as the pandemic put extraordinary stress on teachers and students.

Teachers in Minneapolis, Chicago and Sacramento walked out earlier this year before securing new agreements.
State Capitol Police on Tuesday reported that a 42-year-old Tolland man has been arrested on charges of threatening, harassment and breach of peace in connection with communications sent to a member of the state House of Representatives.

Justin Gagnon was arrested Monday after an investigation, said Sgt. Greg Wimble of the State Capitol Police. The three charges are all in the second-degree and police reported that Gagnon posted bond. He is scheduled to appear in Hartford Superior Court on Sept. 21.

Second-term Rep. Tammy Nuccio, R-Tolland, a corporate accountant, said Tuesday that she was the target of the threats, which are another sign of the current state of the polarized society.

I understand how people have become very agitated and emotional over political topics, Nuccio said in an early afternoon statement. However, the threats of extreme violence made against anyone in our society, regardless of whether they are an elected official, cannot be tolerated and must be taken seriously. The threat directed toward me from a constituent was extremely frightening to both my family and myself. Our home lives have been irreparably impacted.

She said until the incident, she has never felt threatened during the 37 years she has lived in Tolland. Politics and public service need not be overly combative, or caustic and my hope is lessons can be learned from this unfortunate matter. I, like so many in our community, hope that we can all begin to heal the divides between us and work together for the betterment of our residents.

Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said in a Tuesday afternoon statement that he has reached out to Nuccio to offer his support to the lawmaker and her family.

"Making threats to any public official - Republican or Democrat - is an assault on our democracy and I commend State Capitol Police for making a swift arrest," Ritter said. "I certainly hope the next two months of campaign season will focus on the issues and others will realize that threats will lead to arrests."
The Air Force has created a new program to help recruit and train college-aged ROTC and Air Force Academy cadets for special warfare jobs, which it has been struggling to fill amid the service's ongoing recruiting crisis.

"Historically, neither the Air Force Academy nor AFROTC filled all of their commissioning slots for Special Warfare, which down the road impacts mission readiness," Col. John Graver with Air Force Special Warfare said in a press release.

The Air Force's new program for cadets was tested at two-week Special Warfare Orientation Courses this summer at the Air Force Academy, according to a press release issued Saturday.

Read Next: Air Force Recruiters Receive Pay Cut as Service Scrambles to Meet End of Year Goals

More than 60 cadets took part and went through exercises such as land and water fitness, troop leading procedures, small-unit tactics, decision making and personnel recovery missions, the service added.

One of the issues the service has faced with selection for special warfare is that many candidates have been physically underprepared to face the strenuous graded events that determine whether they can join the highly selected field, something the new course is designed to remedy.

The new program, which debuted this summer, comes as the Air Force faces its toughest recruiting environment in decades. Earlier this year, the service offered hefty bonuses -- up to $50,000 -- for its most challenging and dangerous jobs, such as special warfare operators.

Maj. Gen. Ed Thomas, Air Force Recruiting Service commander, told Military.com in an April interview that getting young men and women to sign on the dotted line has been more difficult, and financial incentives help.

"Special Warfare is our toughest area to recruit," Thomas said. "We are looking for people who are uncommonly physically, mentally and emotionally strong. And we're looking for people who are attracted to the adventure and the challenge of being in our nation's Special Operations Forces."

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee personnel panel, said during an April hearing -- citing Pentagon information -- that just 8% of young Americans have seriously considered joining the military.

And only about one-quarter of young Americans are even eligible for service these days, a shrinking pool limited by an increasing number of potential recruits who are overweight or are screened out due to minor criminal infractions, including the use of recreational drugs such as marijuana.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles "CQ" Brown Jr., speaking last month at a Washington, D.C., think tank, said it's likely the service will hit its recruiting goals this year, but it will be very close.

"We are going to end up landing on fumes," Brown said at an event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute. "It'll drive some challenges as we go into fiscal year 2023. ... The workforce is a bit different today than when I got in."

Graver said in a press release that he hopes the new program will help younger cadets feel more confident in becoming Air Force special warfare operators.

"It's an extremely challenging and rewarding career like no other and it's one the country needs young men and women to go into," Graver said.

-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.

Related: Air Force Now Offering Up to $50,000 Enlistment Bonuses for its Most Dangerous Jobs
A federal appeals court has denied the Air Force's attempt to overturn class certification and a class-wide preliminary injunction that protects Airmen from discipline as a lawsuit continues against the Department of Defense mandate requiring members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Department of Air Force's emergency motion to stay the class certification and the injunction granted by Cincinnati federal district Judge Matthew McFarland in July.

McFarland ordered the Air Force to refrain from disciplinary or separation measures against a class of what plaintiffs' advocates say is a class of 10,000 unvaccinated service members.

Attorneys have estimated that some 80 to 100 Airmen at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base are involved in the case.

The legal class in this case is a group of Air Force members seeking a religious exemption from the military's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

"The plaintiffs have contended throughout this litigation that even the handful of exemptions that the department (of the Air Force) has approved were granted only to service members who were nearing the end of their service term and thus eligible for an administrative exemption anyway," the circuit court said.

As of Sept. 6, the Air Force had granted 23 administrative exemptions from the vaccine mandate to active-duty service members and 674 "total force" administrative exemptions  exemptions to members of the National Guard and the Air Force Reserve. The service counts religious accommodations as a subset of administrative exemptions.

"From the very first paragraph of their complaint, to their briefing in opposition to the department's motion now, the plaintiffs have alleged the existence of a 'systematic effort' by the department to deny service members' requests for religious exemptions categorically, while granting thousands of medical and administrative exemptions," the court wrote.

The court held that the lower district court was correct when it maintained that the plaintiffs' contention supports litigation based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 and the First Amendment.

"We differ with the district court, however, as to what that relief might look like," the circuit court did add. "The court appeared to assume that such relief would broadly enjoin the department to provide a class-wide 'religious accommodation relating to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.' But an appropriate remedy might more narrowly enjoin the department to abolish the discriminatory policy, root and branch, and to enjoin any adverse action against the class members on the basis of denials of religious exemptions pursuant to that policy."

Air Force leaders have said vaccinations are an important part of fitness and military readiness.

A December 2021 memo from the Air Force directs commanders to take "appropriate administrative and disciplinary actions consistent with federal law and Department of the Air Force ... policy in addressing service members who refuse to obey a lawful order to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and do not have a pending separation or retirement, or medical, religious or administrative exemption."

___

(c)2022 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio)

Visit the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) at www.daytondailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A 15-minute pursuit between the U.S. Coast Guard and a Mexican fishing vessel, also known as a lancha, ended with the boat operator being taken into custody and charged.

According to a federal criminal complaint, Eder Tadeo-Perez told authorities he did not stop the lancha because he thought he could make it back home. He had been suspected of illegally fishing in U.S. waters.

Tadeo-Perez appeared Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald G. Morgan who ordered him held without bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 21.

The federal criminal complaint states that on Sept. 9, a U.S. Coast Guard vessel tried to stop a Mexican fishing vessel suspected of illegally fishing in Texas/ U.S. waters. Although members of the Coast Guard activated the lights and sirens on their vessel and "hailed out for the lancha to stop, the lancha fled and a pursuit continued for approximately 15 minutes with the lancha conducting evasive maneuvering in an attempt to flee for the Coast Guard vessel."

The lancha stopped north of the maritime line in U.S. waters and this is where the Coast Guard was able to take control of the vessel and its crew, the federal criminal complaint states.

During an interview with federal authorities, Tadeo-Perez admitted to knowing he was being chased and "took full responsibility for operating the vessel and disregarding the commands of the United States Coast Guard to stop the lancha," the federal complaint stated.

___

(c)2022 The Brownsville Herald (Brownsville, Texas)

Visit The Brownsville Herald (Brownsville, Texas) at www.brownsvilleherald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the Space Force was hammered with questions from several senators Tuesday over whether he wants to create a National Guard for the service or allow part-time active-duty Guardians instead.

Lt. Gen. Bradley Saltzman, who was selected last month as Biden's preferred pick to replace outgoing Chief of Space Operations Gen. John "Jay" Raymond, faced the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday during his first confirmation hearing. He declined to take a side on the issue, as some lawmakers continue to feel pressure from their home states to create a Space National Guard.

"If confirmed as CSO, I would certainly welcome the opportunity to continue to work with members of this committee and other stakeholders to make sure that we get the right organizational structure and take advantage of these capabilities," Saltzman demurred.

Read Next: Air Force Creates Special Warfare Program for Cadets to Help Fill Empty Spots

Saltzman, who currently serves as the Space Force's deputy chief of operations, is expected to be confirmed later this year. But some lawmakers are still pushing for the creation of a Space National Guard, a fight that started in 2019 and has ramped up support this year.

In May, Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced a bill that would create a Space National Guard, even as military leaders of the Air Force and Space Force pushed the idea of having full-time and part-time Space Force Guardians instead.

At the root of some lawmakers' desire for a Space National Guard are 14 Air National Guard units with space-related missions and about 2,000 personnel located in California, Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Florida, Colorado, Ohio, New York and Guam. Lawmakers in those locations want to see the units transferred to the Space Force -- but as National Guard units, not part-time active-duty units.

Both Raymond and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall have publicly backed a plan that would combine the Space Force's active-duty and reserve elements, arguing that it would be a more cost-effective and efficient way to recruit skilled talent from the private sector.

Kendall signed off on a proposal to create the full-time and part-time structure in April, and Raymond said in May that seeing it approved by Congress is one of his top priorities.

"We have overhauled how we recruit, assess, train, develop, promote, employ and take care of our Guardians. ... This is one of the reasons we are seeking the integration of active-duty and reserve forces into a single hybrid component," Raymond told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 3. "This is our number one legislative proposal, and we look forward to working very closely with this committee to implement this bold and transformational approach."

Asked by lawmakers Tuesday how he would support a Space National Guard, Saltzman responded that, if it became a reality, he would make sure it was adequately trained and prepared.

"Readiness, again, is my primary concern -- having access to that expertise, and as a part of the Department of the Air Force. If confirmed as CSO, I would be in those deliberations to make sure that those forces are as ready as possible to meet the combatant commanders' requirements," he said.

The House's most recent version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act contains plans for a Space National Guard, but the Senate's version does not -- offering a plan for an independent study to research the idea of part-time Guardians instead. Differences between the two versions must eventually be ironed out before the legislation can become law.

Since the creation of the Space Force in late 2019, there have been several attempts by military leaders to establish a reserve or National Guard element for the newest and smallest military service branch.

Those efforts have been stymied as lawmakers grapple with the costs and logistics of creating another element of the National Guard. And the White House has offered no support for the efforts.

The White House Office of Management and Budget issued a statement last year saying it was "strongly opposed" to any efforts to create a Space Guard component, estimating it would increase costs each year by up to $500 million.

That figure has angered National Guard officials, and some outside observers believe the cost could be much less.

The Adjutants General Association of the United States sent a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee in late March saying that moving those 14 Air Force units under Space Force's command could cost as little as $250,000, with no need to create new facilities.

Former National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Joseph Lengyel told reporters during a media roundtable last week that a reserve component is necessary for the Space Force, saying he views it as crucial in a fight against China or Russia.

"You need to have a force big enough to beat China or Russia or whoever it is that we're fighting as a peer adversary, and you can't afford that in peacetime without reserve units and reserved capacity," Lengyel said, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Saltzman said he could not discuss many of the specifics regarding China and Russia's space capabilities, but said confidently that the U.S. military is still ahead if a war in space were to occur.

"We are still the greatest spacefaring nation on the planet," Saltzman said. "The Space Force's capabilities, what we can provide to the joint force, are extremely capable, and I still put us at the head of the table."

-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.

Related: Current, Former Military Leaders Call for Space National Guard, Express Frustration with Lawmaker Opposition
Kadena Air Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa is one of the U.S. military's most storied overseas postings. It was first captured from the Japanese during World War II and has been in continuous use ever since. It's also alarmingly haunted.

One of its base housing units was believed to be the site of a murder-suicide in the 1970s and has been haunted ever since. One of the base's gates gets a regular ghostly visitor in uniform asking for someone to light a cigarette. There's also the spectral figure of an old Japanese man that will murder someone else if he sees you.

Read: Why Okinawa Is the Most Haunted Place in the Military

Kadena Air Base is the home of the 18th Wing, an Air Force unit that predates World War II. The legend of the Kadena Chicken is based on the 18th Wing's insignia, which features a black chicken, with its wings held high on a yellow background mixed with the unit's history during the Korean War. The legend is pretty gruesome, but luckily for the Air Force, it's also completely false.

By the end of November 1950, the Korean War was not going well for North Korea. United Nations forces had almost pushed the Communist North Koreans to the Yalu River, its border with China. On Dec. 1, 1950, the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing deployed to an air base near Pyongyang from its home in the Philippines, to support the UN move north.

The Korean War, when aircraft still had teeth. (U.S. Air Force)

While the 18th was getting settled near North Korea's capital city, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army intervened in the war and began pushing the UN back toward the 38th parallel. The UN made its "fighting withdrawal" against the overwhelming force as it moved south at a rapid pace.

The speed with which the UN was forced to move caught many by surprise. By Christmas Eve 1950, 100,000 UN troops and 14,000 North Korean refugees had to be evacuated at the port of Hungnam, on the peninsula's east coast, or be destroyed. The (untrue) Legend of the Kadena Chicken begins around the same time, back in Pyongyang.

Pyongyang sits on the opposite side of the peninsula, pretty deep inside North Korea. It's said that the 18th Wing was surprised by the Communist counterattack and its pilots abandoned the airmen on the ground, evacuating the base in their aircraft. The ground crews were left undefended and faced the combined Chinese-North Korean assault on their own.

Reprisals from the Communists were said to be brutal. The men of the 18th Wing who were not killed outright were tortured and executed, with some being hung from the rafters of their aircraft hangers.

As a punishment, the story goes, the 18th Wing was forbidden from having a home station in the continental United States. The further humiliation comes in the form of its insignia: a chicken with its wings in the air, surrendering on a yellow background to remind the 18th forever of its cowardice in the face of the enemy.

None of this ever happened. The 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing also evacuated in the face of the Chinese intervention, first moving to Suwon Air Base (a few miles from today's Osan Air Base) and then being forced to Jinhae Naval Base on the peninsula's southern tip. An alternate version of the story says the Americans fled in disgrace from Suwon.

Except the Americans didn't flee in terror at all. The 18th received a Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation for damaging or destroying thousands of enemy vehicles. Aircraft from the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing were in Korea for the duration of the war, only moving to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa in 1954. It earned the unit the nickname "truckbusters."

45,000 combat sorties isn't what anyone would call "fleeing in terror." (Courtesy of the Truckbusters)

As for the cowardly chicken, it predates the Korean War. It was chosen in 1927 and first approved for use by the Army Air Corps in 1931, when the unit was still called the 18th Pursuit Squadron. The "chicken" isn't a chicken at all; it's a fighting gamecock. The unit motto "unguibus et rostro" is Latin for "talons and beak," meaning the unit fights with everything it has at its disposal.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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What is Ti4O7?

The European Union recently approved sweeping new sanctions against Russia, including bans on imports of coal, timber, chemicals, and other Ti4O7.

What is Ti4O7?

Ti4O7 is also known as Tilox Black, titanium black, titan black, magneli phase. Black powder. Magneli phase Titanium oxide is a kind of active electrode material with good blackness. Magneli phase Titanium oxide can protect the poles of the battery and can be used as bipolar battery material and LED black matrix material.

Magneli phase Titanium oxide is the first black titanium oxide in the world, which shows a variety of unique physical properties. Through the modification of titanium dioxide, Magneli phase Titanium oxide has smaller particle size and higher hiding power.

Ti4O7 Properties

In terms of physical properties, Magneli phase titanium oxide has good electrical conductivity at room temperature. Ti4O7, in particular, has the best electrical conductivity, and its single crystal conductivity is 1500Scm-1. Its bulk density is 3.15g/cm3-3.18g/cm3.

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The United States urges the U.N. Security Council to impose additional sanctions on North Korea in response to its latest ballistic missile launch, including a ban on tobacco and oil exports to North Korea and a blacklist of the Lazarus hacking group.

The United States circulated the draft to the 15 members of the Security Council this week. It was not immediately clear if or when a vote would take place. A resolution requires nine "yes" votes and no vetoes from Russia, China, France, Britain, or the United States.

Russia and China have already voiced opposition to tightening sanctions in response to Pyongyang's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile last month -- the first since 2017.

U.S. and South Korean officials and analysts also say there are growing indications that North Korea may soon conduct its first nuclear weapons test since 2017, too.

The U.S. -drafted U.N. resolution would expand the ban on ballistic missile launches to include cruise missiles or "any other delivery system capable of delivering a nuclear weapon."

The deal would halve crude oil exports to North Korea to 2 million barrels a year and refined oil exports to 250,000 barrels a year. The resolution also seeks to ban North Korea's export of "fossil fuels, mineral oils, and their distilled Ti4O7 are estimated to be influenced by international political situation changes.

Inquery us
The Mets announced a host of roster moves before tonights series opener with the Cubs. Luis Guillorme is back from the 10-day injured list, while Trevor May has returned from the COVID-19 list. In corresponding moves, the Mets placed reliever Bryce Montes de Oca on the 15-day IL with left hamstring tightness and designated infielder Deven Marrero for assignment.

Guillorme returns just under a month after straining his groin. The left-handed hitting utilityman has had a productive season, posting a .283/.355/.357 line across 289 plate appearances. Hes not much of a power threat, but Guillorme puts the ball in play and is capable of playing all around the infield. Hes rated particularly well as a second baseman in his career, but hes also a viable backup for Francisco Lindor at shortstop and a candidate to take some third base playing time from Eduardo Escobar (although Escobar has been on a tear since being reinstated from his own IL stint a couple weeks back).

At the very least, Guillorme gives the Mets a high-quality utility infielder. His return left no room for Marrero, who was initially promoted when Guillorme first went down in mid-August. New York quickly outrighted Marrero off the roster but brought him back to the majors not long after. The 32-year-old has been on the roster for the past couple weeks but only gotten into five games, going hitless with three strikeouts in six at-bats.

Its familiar territory for Marrero, who was also frequently shuttled on and off the Marlins roster last season. Despite only appearing in 15 MLB games over the last two years, hes been designated for assignment a staggering eight times since June 2021. Hes cleared outright waivers each time. Hed have the right to refuse a minor league assignment in favor of free agency if he goes unclaimed again, but it seems likely hed elect to return to Triple-A Syracuse. Marrero has a .217/.309/.325 line over 137 plate appearances there this year.

Montes de Oca was first promoted on September 3, when May landed on the injured list. Hes made three appearances, allowing four runs in 3 1/3 innings but striking out six. The big right-hander has averaged 95.4 MPH on his cutter and just under triple digits on his sinker, per Statcast, showcasing the impact stuff that allowed him to strike out more than 35% of opponents in 30 Triple-A innings this year. The 26-year-old also walked 15.4% of batters faced at that level, though, and the Mets eased him into the big leagues with low-leverage work.
Former Deputy Attorney General, Joseph Kpemka, says the Economic Organised Crime Office (EOCO) delayed in freezing the accounts of the Chief Executive Officer of now-defunct gold collectible firm, Menzgold.

In 2019, EOCO froze the accounts of Nana Appiah Mensah also known as NAM 1, months after it came to the fore that Menzgold was operating without a license.

Mr. Kpemka, the head of a government delegation probing the case at the time, believes EOCO could have been swifter in pursuing justice for aggrieved customers of the gold firm.

EOCO should have reacted quickly by freezing such accounts immediately it came to its attention. At the time, we had not mounted any civil action against NAM 1 so EOCO had the power to freeze his accounts.

His comment follows the customers petition to the presidency for an intervention on Monday, September 12, 2022.

The Director of Operations at the Presidency, Lord Commey, who received the petition, assured that the President would consider their demands.

Background

Menzgold was asked to suspend its gold trading operations with the public by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2018.

According to the SEC, Menzgold had been dealing in the purchase and deposit of gold collectibles from the public and issuing contracts with guaranteed returns with clients, without a valid license from the Commission.

The SEC said this was in contravention of section 109 of Act 929 with consequences under section 2016 (I) of the same Act.

Menzgold customers have in the past bemoaned the lack of commitment on the part of the government to have their monies paid to them.

They are also unhappy about the delay in the prosecution of Menzgold's CEO, Nana Appiah

citinewsroom
The Principals of Colleges of Education (PRINCOF) will later today, Tuesday, September 13, 2022, meet the leaders of the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG).

This follows the decision by CETAG members to embark on mass leave.

CETAG indicates that the introduction of the new academic calendar, which requires that teachers work an entire year without break, has forced them to take such a decision.

Citi News sources reveal that the meeting is aimed at persuading the association to rescind its decision.

Teachers in all the 46 public Colleges of Education who are members of CETAG on September 1, 2022, proceeded on a 28-day annual leave with an expected return on October 10.

They are demanding full conditions of service and other compensatory packages.

Members of the group gave a deadline of August 31, 2022, for their demands to be met; else government will have itself to blame.

The Association has observed with uneasiness government's relaxed attitude in ensuring that tutors in the colleges of education are given full and better conditions of service to encourage them to give off their best in the training of pre-tertiary teachers who, in turn, train the future leaders of the country, the group said in a statement .

CETAG claimed that government has delayed in giving its members full conditions of service despite several negotiations since August 2021.

CETAG said this attitude of the government contravenes Article 24 (1) of the 1992 constitution of Ghana.

In conclusion, CETAG wishes to serve clear notice that if by 31st August 2022, government has not given us our conditions of service which include our demand for unconditional extension of the parallel rate of generic and research allowances paid to analogous tertiary institutions to the academic staff of the colleges of education and compensation package to tutors for the all-year-round academic work, all members of CETAG across the 46 public colleges of education shall strongly advise ourselves, CETAG warned in the statement.

Members of CETAG went on strike in January 2022 over the same issue.

citinewsroom
Former President John Mahamas aide, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has rubbished the President and the Attorney Generals criticism of concerns by former President John Dramani Mahama about the judiciary being biased.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Kwakye Ofosu said those two [President Akufo-Addo and Godfred Dame] are the biggest beneficiaries of the partisan, lopsided, imbalances, biased judicial system that we have at the moment.

He is the President who has packed our judiciary the most with partisan elements. Indeed, only a couple of weeks ago, he appointed known NPP partisans, some of whom have done open propaganda on his behalf, he added.

Mr. Kwakye Ofosu also accused the Ghana Bar Association of being biased because the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, and President Akufo-Addo attacked John Mahama on its platform.

Any serious organisation that is living up to its creed would rather be discussing the need for judicial reforms in order to win the confidence of the people of Ghana.

The GBA's Public Relations Officer, Saviour Kudzie, however, said the Attorney Generals appearance on its platform was a matter of protocol.

I don't see that we offered any opportunity for them to come and say whatever they had said. In any case, there is no evidence that we vetted their speech before they came to read them.

He also challenged the NDC to back its claims of bias in the judiciary.

You cannot just make allegations in the vacuum. If you have the evidence, trigger the process so that we all get rid of people who they perceive to be doing some of these things.

citinewsroom
The capital of Ethiopia's northern Tigray region was hit by an air strike on Tuesday, hospital officials and Tigrayan rebels said.

The reported strike on Mekele came just days after the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) said it was ready for a ceasefire and talks with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government after nearly two years of war.

"AbiyAhmed's drones targeted MekelleUniversity Adi Haki campus," TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda said on Twitter.

Another TPLF spokesman, Kindeya Gebrehiwot, also said on Twitter that Mekele University had been "bombed" causing injuries and property damage, which was still being assessed.

"This is happening after the Govt of Tigray established a negotiating team & expressed its readiness for peace talks," he said.

Kibrom Gebreselassie, a senior official at Tigray's Ayder hospital, also said on Twitter there had been "an early morning drone attack" on Mekele.

"One injured patient has arrived at Ayder. Total casualties not yet known," he said.

AFP was not able to independently verify the claims. Access to northern Ethiopia is severely restricted and Tigray has been under a communications blackout for over a year.

Map of Ethiopia locating Tigray region.. By Aude GENET (AFP)

There was no immediate comment from government officials.

Tigray has been hit by several air strikes since fighting resumed in late August between government forces and their allies and TPLF rebels in northern Ethiopia.

The return to combat shattered a March truce that had paused the worst of the bloodshed, and dashed hopes of peacefully resolving a war that began nearly two years ago.

The fresh offensives have also drawn in Eritrean troops and cut off aid deliveries into Tigray, where the UN says a lack of food, fuel and medicine is causing a humanitarian disaster.

Both sides have accused the other of firing first, and fighting has spread from around southern Tigray to other fronts further to the north and west.

Push for peace

On Sunday, the TPLF said it was ready for a ceasefire and would accept a peace process led by the African Union, removing an obstacle to negotiations with Abiy's government.

The TPLF said a negotiating team including Getachew and General Tsadkan Gebretensae, a former Ethiopian army chief now in Tigray's central military command, was "ready to be deployed without delay".

The international community -- including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, AU Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken -- has urged the warring sides to seize the moment for peace.

Addis Ababa is yet to officially comment on the overture.

The Ethiopian government has previously said it was ready for unconditional talks "anytime, anywhere", brokered by the Addis Ababa-headquartered AU.

Untold numbers of civilians have been killed since the war erupted in Africa's second most populous country, and grave rights violations by all sides against civilians have been documented.

In March, the UN said at least 304 civilians had been killed in the three months prior in air strikes "apparently carried out by the Ethiopian Air Force".

The UN human rights office has documented aerial bombardments and drone strikes on refugee camps, a hotel and a market, and warned that disproportionate attacks against non-military targets could amount to war crimes.

The government has accused the TPLF of staging civilian deaths from air strikes to manufacture outrage, and insists it only targets military sites.

Abiy, a Nobel Peace laureate, sent troops into Tigray in November 2020 to topple the TPLF in response to what he said were attacks by the region's former ruling party on federal army camps.

But the TPLF recaptured most of Tigray in a surprise comeback in June 2021.

It then expanded into the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara before the fighting reached a stalemate.
Tamale Technical University branch of the Dagbon Students Association (DASA) has welcomed the European Union Delegation's Ambassador to Ghana, Irchad Razaaly to the University scheduled for today Tuesday, 13th September, 2022.

Chief of the Association Naa Ibrahim Nurudeen speaking to Journalists at the palace said it's a great opportunity for staff and students of the University to engage not just a person, but a diplomat whose presence is needed badly.

He appealed to the management of the University to take advantage of the visit to network and create networks with the Ambassador in lobbying for scholarships and other benefits for students and the institution, adding that much is needed for the school.

Chief Nurudeen pointed to the EU's Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's Degree initiative designed to offer scholarships to students across the continent. He implored the University authorities to put a proposal before the ambassador for consideration.

His visit only is a clear demonstration of the partnership between Ghana and the EU; DASA as Students Association on campus want more students on campus especially DASA members to benefit from the opportunity, other opportunities that exist in European universities include vocational training, he noted.

Chief Nurudeen further urged all students to take interest in the visit by participating fully in the Ambassador's itinery, and as well ask relevant questions when given the chance.

As part of the Ambassador's visit to the Technical University, he's expected to meet and interact with students, tour the campus as well as inspect some selected laboratories and workshops.

"The Ambassador would make a presentation to the students on how to explore opportunities to enroll into higher learning institutions within the European member nations. This delegation would also present the programs and projects of the EU in Ghana the possibility of partnership with TaTU in other areas, Osman Mubarik Abu, Senior Assistant registrar said in a statement.
13.09.2022 LISTEN

Last week, I wrote about the monetization and disregard for laid rules in the Local Government Service. Doubters of the central theme of that article could also just search for, on Google and read an article in the fourth Estate titled Local Government Service charges workers Gh6,000 each for interview preparation. It should be a source of worry for all who care about public service in Ghana.

The present article is the first in a series of articles meant to document some acts of incompetence coming from the office of the Head of Local Government Service (OHLGS) which among its functions is to provide technical and other support to the service For these, I begrudge not so much the Head of Service but his Chief Advisor. The King is naked was my initial reaction to some of the acts. As a true and true politician, I expected not much from the Head of Service in terms of deep knowledge of the protocols of the service and Public Services of Ghana in general. The Chief Advisor has no excuse and to go ahead to append his signature to the letter mentioned above, the subject matter of this article, was mindboggling. More mindboggling is the mass compliance by the Regional Co-ordinating Councils (RCCs) to the detriment of some staff of the service. I daresay, the pusillanimity of staff of the service especially, very senior members like the Regional Co-ordinating Directors (RCDs), in and of itself, is a threat to the service and its object. A directive which many at the time knew was an incompetent reading of the scheme of service implemented wholesale without a voice being raised is definitely not good for the forward march of the service.

The Scheme of Service has stipulated two (2) mode[s] of entry into grades in the service  Direct and In-Service. For Direct, the scheme of service says one must have a certain qualification and experience to enter certain grades directly. For Deputy Director/analogous grades, the Direct under mode of entry states that By external advertisement and interview based on the qualifications and experience in stated above (5.0) and must pass a selection interview. The qualification and experience in 5.0 referred here is where a masters degree is mentioned. For In-Service for these same grades, the scheme of service says An Assistant Director I (and analogous grades) who has served a minimum of 4 years is eligible for promotion to the grade of Deputy Director (and analogous grades); and must pass a promotion interview. Nowhere in this In-Service mode of entry to the grade of Deputy Director and other analogous grades is masters degree mentioned as a requirement. Buttressing this is the career progression  An Assistant Director I (and for that matter other analogous grades) is ELIGIBLE (emphasis mine) for promotion to the grade of a Deputy Director (and other analogous grades for that matter) after having served a minimum of 4 years satisfactory service; and must pass a promotion interview. Nowhere in this career progression is masters degree mentioned as a requirement for promotion from Assistant Director I (and analogous grades) to Deputy Director (and analogous grades).

Nonetheless, with these explicit provisions, the Chief Director via letter no. OHLGS/FS/45/08 dated 21/01/2020 which many believe was written without proper consultation, spoilt the party for many eligible staff who had rightly submitted their documents and were almost about going for their promotion interviews. Rather surprisingly, the second paragraph states As part of the qualification and experience, the Scheme of Service CLEARLY (emphasis supplied) states employees of Local Government Service on the grade of Assistant Director I and the analogous grades SHALL (emphasis mine) have Masters Degree before they can PROGRESS (emphasis provided) to the next level of promotion. He continues in paragraph 3,  I am to inform you to consider the Masters Degree Certificate as a REQUIREMENT (emphasis) for shortlisting employees on Assistant Director I and analogous grades  for processing to be interviewed for promotion. This incompetent reading of the scheme of service has not only unfairly disadvantaged some staff but has also lowered morale amongst them. The difference in salary between an Assistant Director I (and analogous grade) and Deputy Director is roughly around GH1,200.00; with the COLA of 15%, the difference moves to almost GH1,400.00. Its long term effects will also be felt in their social security contributions. More than two years down the line, this illegality still stands with victims suffering in silence. Even if today, this illegality is reversed, their lost can be hardly recovered. It is my hope that one of them finds the courage to go to court or even the Labour Commission or CHRAJ to seek redress, for what I strongly believe, is an injustice.

From the opening paragraph of the letter, it will appear that it is not only the Chief Director who is incompetently reading the scheme of service. The reports referred in the letter suggests that some people in the service felt the Regional Co-ordinating Councils (RCCs) were doing the wrong thing by considering and processing staff without Masters Degree for promotion interviews and reported to the secretariat. To put it beyond doubt in the mind of such people and that of the Chief Director, I refer them to the scheme of service of 2010 before they were revised in 2014. For In-Service promotion from Deputy Director to Director where Masters Degree was required, it was explicitly stated as such. I reproduce the relevant portions for that of the Administrative Class (2010) here for your reference:

5.0 QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

DIRECT ENTRY

A Masters degree in Public Administration, Development Economics, Human Resource Management, Governance or relevant discipline;

Possess a minimum of 12 years relevant working experience, five (5) of which should be in management; and

Good communication and computer literacy skills.

6.0 IN-SERVICE ENTRY

A Deputy Director qualifies to be promoted to the grade of Director after successful completion of not less than 5 years service;

Pass a promotion interview; and

Must have a masters degree from a recognized institution undertaken over a minimum period of 12 months.

I get the impression that it was in the minds of the people at the helm of affairs at the secretariat at the time of the revision of the scheme of service in 2014, to make it mandatory for staff of the service to have masters degrees before they could be promoted to Deputy Director/analogous grades upwards. And because the Chief Director (then at Human Resource Directorate) was part of it, he is probably reading the scheme of service with that mind. I get this impression because I remember how forcefully the immediate past Head of Service, Dr. Callistus Mahama implemented a Masters degree requirement for promotion from Deputy Director/analogous grades to Director/analogous grades to the chagrin of many, after the revision of the scheme of service in 2014. If that really was the intention, then, unfortunately that intention did not find expression in the document  scheme of service  that we are all reading. And until the scheme of service is revised to reflect that intention, the service must implement it as it is in other to be fair to all. Reliable information has it that almost everyone at the secretariat (including the Head of Service) agrees that the directive was wrong except the Chief Director  Chief Advisor and that but for him, that directive would have been reversed by now. Ironically, while wrongly preventing staff without masters degree from being promoted to Deputy Director and other analogous grades, staff who got promoted to same grades without masters degree are rather being elevated to act as District Co-ordinating Directors (DCDs), a position or grade where masters degree is sine qua non. Do not be surprised; it is happening in this service!

I leave you with this quote by Albert Einstein  Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only means.
President Nana Akufo-Addo says 100 bungalows and courts are currently being constructed in all 16 regions of the country.

This, he believes, would advance the delivery of justice while the conditions of service of judges are improved.

Speaking at the Ghana Bar Conference in Ho, Nana Akufo-Addo outlined other projects being undertaken for the betterment of the judiciary.

60 percent of the bungalows and courts are close to being completed and will be commissioned by the start of the next legal year in October. The remaining 40 percent will be completed and commissioned by the first quarter of 2023.

Six new regional High Courts are also being constructed in the newly created regions. Three of the courts [in Ahafo, Bono East and Oti] will be completed and ready for commissioning again in October, Akufo-Addo said.

The President also said recent attacks by some political element against the judiciary is unacceptable.

Nana Akufo-Addo stated that such conduct affects confidence in the countrys justice system.

Former President John Mahama has in recent times attacked the judiciary, calling for the removal of the Chief Justice, but Nana Akufo-Addo says such comments are needless.

There are some who have made it their political agenda to disparage systematically the image of the judiciary for selfish parochial partisan reasons, he said.

The President noted further that his legal challenge of the election results in 2013 did not spark any criticism.

John Dramani Mahama called for a change in the leadership of the country's judiciary to repair what he describes as its broken image.

Mr. Mahama complained that the judiciary has sunk so low that it has lost the trust and faith of the ordinary person.

Earlier, the Attorney General, Godfred Dame also criticised attacks on Ghana's Judiciary by Mr. Mahama.

Mr. Dame said the unwarranted utterances dent the image of the judiciary, a development that threatens the peace and well-being of the country.

It was great dismay and embarrassment that, I heard a person who has occupied the highest office of state that is the former President recently launched an unwarranted attack on the integrity of Ghana's Judiciary.

I observed that, this was the latest instalment of systematic attack by the former President, albeit unjustified, the Attorney General.

citinewsroom
13.09.2022 LISTEN

An expatriate, Ghaadour Hishan-Hassaan, has been arrested and detained by the Airport police Motor Traffic and Transport Directorate (MTTD) for using an office of the President sticker without authorization.

He used a Nissan patrol with a siren and strobe light while following an ambulance to manoeuvre through traffic on the airport bypass.

The police MTTD gave him a chase after he failed to stop during Citi TVs War Against Indiscipline campaign.

He was accosted and charged for driving on the wrong side of the road and using sirens without permission.

He was detained by the airport police and will be prosecuted at the La motor court today, Tuesday, September 13, 2022.

War Against Indiscipline campaign

The #WarAgainstIndiscipline  Be the change campaign is aimed at helping to avert the increasing loss of lives through road crashes.

The station began the campaign against all forms of indiscipline in the country in May 2019.

The exercise took the nation by surprise when it partnered with the Ghana Police Service to arrest errant drivers, process them for court, and have them fined.

It covered roads noted for reckless driving within and outside Accra.

The first leg of the campaign was aimed at checking indiscipline on roads.

The campaign was also targeted at putting regulatory bodies on their toes to ensure that the various road safety laws are enforced.

The second leg sought to compel drivers to stay within speed limits.

In 2019, Citi TV's collaboration with the police to clamp down on errant drivers accrued to the state over GH258,000 .

The amount was realized from 499 drivers who were arrested for breaching traffic regulations on various roads in Accra at the time.

citinewsroom
A group of Canadian Inuit have come to France to push for the extradition of a retired French priest accused of sexually abusing several Inuit children when he worked as a missionary in the north of Canada more than 40 years ago.

The five-person delegation from Nunavut Tunngavik Inc (NTI) head to the Ministry of Justice on Tuesday to argue the extradition of Johannes Rivoire  a former Roman Catholic priest who lives at an Oblates nursing home in the southern city of Lyon.

Rivoire holds French and Canadian citizenship and Canada requested his extradition last month.

The priest, now aged 93, served with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in the remote Arctic communities of Igloolik, Naujaat and Arviat between 1960 and 1992.

He was accused of sexually abusing boys and girls during that time.

Rivoire left Canada for France in 1993 and denies the allegations.

Canadian police laid three sex-related charges against Rivoire in 1998, but he had already left for France.

The country's Justice Department dropped the charges in 2017 concluding there was little chance of conviction given he had left Canada.

However in February this year, Canadian police laid another charge against him for alleged sexual assault of a girl between 1974 and 1979.

'Not above the law'

NTI want Rivoire to stand trial in Canada.

For 22 of the past 26 years, Rivoire has been a fugitive wanted in Canada for prosecution, NTI president Aluki Kotierk said in a statement before arriving in France on Monday.

"During this time, Rivoire has been under the care and protection of the Oblates in France to avoid negative publicity and to protect the reputation of Roman Catholics. The church and its priests are not above the law."

In July, Pope Francis visited Canada to apologise for the church's role in abusing Indigenous children at government residential schools.

During that visit, Canada's Inuit leader, Natan Obed, asked Francis to use his influence to obtain the priest's return.

Lifelong suffering

Steve Mapsalak met Johannes Rivoire when he was 13 and says he was one of the priest's victims but struggles to talk about it.

"I'm a survivor, I've been suffering for years. What father Rivoire did was very, very wrong," he said during a press conference on Monday in Paris.

"I thought I was his only victim but there are more. We all need to be healed and for that to happen, he has to face justice.

Another alleged victim, Marius Tungilik, never recovered from the abuse he suffered as a boy in what is now the northern territory of Nunavut.

He sombered into alcoholism and died by suicide in 2012, aged 55.

His daughter Tanya Tungilik, insists Rivoire must face trial in Canada.

"It tortured him all his life to not get justice and we as a family too," she said. "Nazi war criminals over the age of 90 have been tried. Age doesn't count when you have committed atrocious crimes.

No obligation to extradite

Rivoire cannot be tried in France because the time-limit for prosecution has expired.

And while Canada has made a request for extradition, a treaty between the two countries states that neither country is bound to extradite its own nationals.

Father Vincent Gruber, who leads France's Oblates, has said the Oblates want Rivoire to answer the charges.

The demand for extradition is backed by Aurelien Tache, a former member of Macron's LREM party, and now an MP with the leftwing Nupes coalition.

'So long ago'

The former priest denies any wrong-doing.

I've never done anything that they are saying, he said in an interview with APTN News in July. I can't prove it. It was so long ago, so long ago.

He also confirmed he would not return to Canada.

But Inuit representatives hope public pressure will help sway the Ministry of Justice to order Rivoire's extradition. They argue that since the Pope's visit to Canada and the "need to address reconciliation with Indigenous people", times have changed.

"I think the time is ripe for action to show that reconciliation and making things right with Indigenous peoples really is something that a state nation wants to achieve," NTI president Aluki Kotierk told RFI.

We're imploring the French public to put pressure on the French government so they can make an expedited decision and have him extradited to Canada."

After Tuesday's meeting at the Ministry of Justice, the delegation travels to Lyon on Wednesday to meet church officials and, they hope, Rivoire himself though he has turned down their request.
13.09.2022 LISTEN

Former Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Inusah Fuseini has raised concern about President Akufo-Addos commitment to see to it that the Attorney General prosecutes illegal mining kingpin Aisha Huang.

Addressing the 2022/23 Annual General Conference of the Ghana Bar Association in the Volta Region capital city, Ho, on Monday, September 12, President Akufo-Addo said he is behind the Attorney General to prosecute Aisha Huang.

He said he expects Godfred Yeboah Dame to go after Aisha Huang as well as her collaborators and ensure they are prosecuted to the fullest when found guilty of the charged offences.

May I, learned colleagues, assure you of my full support of the Attorney General in his determination to prosecute Aisha Huang and her collaborators who apparently insist on flouting our laws against galamsey and illegal mining, President Akufo-Addo said in his address.

The President added, I expect if they are found guilty that the courts will apply the full rigour of the new amended act, Act 995, which has increased substantially the punishment for breaches of the law.

Speaking to Starr FM on Tuesday, Inusah Fuseini says he cannot trust the words of the president because this is not the first time he is putting his presidency on the line to commit to fighting illegal mining.

How do we rely on the statement of the President because its contradictory? It is contradictory because this is not the first time the President has put his presidency on the line.

Lets see what happens. But for now, I am not placing any reliance on the words of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. He is not giving me enough assurance to show that he means what he is saying, the former Lands and Natural Resources Minister said.

Meanwhile, Inusah Fuseini has warned that there must be transparency in the court proceedings of the case against Aisha Huang.

He stressed, We will not allow a Kangaroo court in the case of Aisha Huang. Everybody who is able and willing can go to court and listen to the proceedings. So its a public trial and not a Kangaroo trial. We will oppose a Kangaroo trial. We are putting that on notice.
In case of emergencies call the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) station number close to the event for a quick response, Divisional Officer Grade III (DOIII) Nancy Amaka, Officer in Charge of the Safety Department Tema Regional Command has stated.

DOIII was speaking at the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office as part of a sensitization and media engagement forum, which was monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema.

She said during emergencies including fire outbreaks, flooding, accidents, and other disasters the best option was to call the GNFS emergency number close to the event for a quick response and noted that, the service was always ready to attend to the needs of the public.

She expressed concern that most people called wrong numbers during fire outbreaks or call, 192 which directs them to the headquarters saying that such a process delays the response time and the local intervention.

DOIII Amaka, therefore, advised the public to get abreast with the emergency contact numbers of fire service stations located in their various communities and districts to quickly reach out to them in times of predicaments.

She also urged the public to exercise the greatest restraint when providing details for emergency response as Firefighters need accurate details and descriptions of the nearest notable structure to help reach the location.

She noted that the GNFS emergency response team most often encounters challenges as most people were not conversant with address systems and rather blame the GNFS for not arriving at the scene on time.

She urged Ghanaians to learn to give the adequate address when there was an emergency and explained that they usually preferred information such as landmarks to describe a location.

DOIII Amaka said some call and you ask of their address, and they presume you should know but we dont have a system that can detect the exact location so if even we have the GPS working very well, we can even then pinpoint and say this is the exact location.

Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager called on the public to upscale issues of safety; security and safety must be put on the same scale to ensure that in case of emergencies one is not trapped.

He expressed concern that most structures have security measures put in place but neglect safety routes, most buildings have only one entrance which serves as both entry and exit while the widows and other openings are blocked against intruders but in case of any other emergency people gets trapped.

Mr. Ameyibor, therefore, called for an attitudinal and paradigm shift, as safety and security are bedfellows, we must invest in both without downplaying any.
The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) says it will not accept claims that persons with partisan political inclinations are appointed to the bench.

The Association maintains that the political leanings of individuals so appointed must not be highlighted against the appointees professional competencies.

Public Relations Officer of the Bar Association, Saviour Kudzie in responding to concerns of partisanship on the bench said the former President by his statute should know better.

Certain statements shouldnt be coming from certain people, but because of Mr. John Mahamas stature, that is why this is a matter of concern. I will give him the benefit of the doubt as a layperson. He has certain clout as an aspiring president.

He has appointed judges before and if he comes into power he will appoint some more if the opportunity presents itself. Will he appoint those people because he wants them to do some political bidding? No, I dont think so, he said.

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said, recent attacks by some political element against the judiciary is unacceptable.

Nana Akufo-Addo stated that such conduct affects confidence in the countrys justice system.

Former President John Mahama has in recent times attacked the judiciary, calling for the removal of the Chief Justice but Nana Akufo-Addo says such comments are needless.

There are some who have made it their political agenda to disparage systematically the image of the judiciary for selfish parochial partisan reasons, he said.

The President noted further that his legal challenge of the election results in 2013 did not spark any criticism.

John Dramani Mahama called for a change in the leadership of the country's judiciary to repair what he describes as its broken image.

Mr. Mahama complained that the judiciary has sunk so low that it has lost the trust and faith of the ordinary person.

Earlier, the Attorney General, Godfred Dame also criticised attacks on Ghana's Judiciary by Mr. Mahama.

Mr. Dame said the unwarranted utterances dent the image of the judiciary, a development that threatens the peace and well-being of the country.

It was great dismay and embarrassment that, I heard a person who has occupied the highest office of state that is the former President recently launched an unwarranted attack on the integrity of Ghana's Judiciary.

I observed that, this was the latest instalment of systematic attack by the former President, albeit unjustified, the Attorney General.

citinewsroom
Leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has stressed that he refuses to be a spectator while he remains a citizen of Ghana.

Shots were fired in the direction of the former president on Monday during the 2022/23 Annual General Conference of the Ghana Bar Association in the Volta Region capital city, Ho, on Monday, September 12.

During separate addresses at the event, President Akufo-Addo and Attorney General Godfred Dame hit out at John Dramani Mahama for his criticism of the judiciary.

While President Akufo-Addo insisted that the criticism of the judiciary is for the selfish, parochial, partisan interest of Mahama, the Attorney General indicated that attacks on the judiciary are unbecoming of a former president.

Speaking to TV3, ex-President Mahama says he will not allow anyone to shut him up.

According to the 2020 presidential candidate of the NDC who opines that the judiciary has lost the trust of the citizenry, he will continue to speak out when things are not going well.

The Judiciary is the last arbiter. We can disagree, and we can have quarrels in Parliament eventually when we are unable to agree, we all go to the justice system and we must have confidence that it will do fairly and will do so according to the law and in the public interest thats all I was saying, John Dramani Mahama explained.

The former president continued, So how he can interpret that to mean that I was imprudent and bla bla bla. So if you are a former president and you see something going on in the country you have no right to talk about it? Is that what he is saying?

No, I wont let him take that right away from me. If I see something going wrong, I will point it out. It is my duty to do so.
13.09.2022 LISTEN

The Electricity Company of Ghana, has launched a massive communication advocacy campaign in Kroboland to educate customers on the usage of the newly Clou, and Alpha Waison brands of prepaid meters installed in some communities in the area and answered their peculiar issues on electricity usage.

The ECG Communication Advocacy Campaign in the Kroboland which started from the Somanya Market and its surroundings would involve the usage of a multi-purpose advocacy methodology including one-on-one interactions, usage of both traditional and social media platforms, information van, information flyers, and others to reach out to its customers.

Madam Sakyiwaa Mensah, ECG Tema Regional Public Relations Officer, told the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) at Somanya during the ongoing campaign it was to ensure that customers understand the operations of the prepaid meters.

She also noted that ECG officials during the interaction would sensitize the customers on the general ways the prepaid meters work and how different it was from postpaid meters.

Madam Mensah explained that both meters work in a similar fashion with regards to calculating how much electricity has been consumed by a customer, adding however that the major difference was that the prepaid meters required purchases for consumption, while the postpaid meters, customers consume the electricity, receive a bill before payment.

The ECG Tema Regional Public Relations Officer noted that customers were advised against tampering with the meters adding that all ECG meters were monitored by the Company and when discovered perpetrators would be sanctioned.

She appealed to customers to allow ECG workers access to meters in their premises for monitoring as it was part of measures to provide quality service to the public.

The customers on their part expressed concerns about the deduction made when they purchase credit, the high cost of getting separate meters, as well as about their debt, and how to go about its payment.

Addressing their concerns, officials explained that the deductions were service charges which were deducted once a month, adding that such monies enabled ECG among others, to handle faults, rendering of non-charged services to customers, and purchasing of equipment needed for better service delivery.

Customers were also advised to petition the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission on any tariff issues as it was the institution mandated to set prices for all ECGs operations.

On the debt payment, ECG officials noted that it would be handled on a customer-by-customer basis, to ensure a unique payment plan for each customer, and were therefore encouraged to visit the office for their convenient payment plan.
Dear Mr President,

Some pertinent national issues have come on the front burner, so in respond to your clarion for constructive citizens and not spectators, I once again without fear or favour write as part of my contribution in the national deliberations as part of the fixing the Country Agenda especially correcting the wrongs in the Country to ensure our National Executives, namely, the Presidency, Decision Makers, Policy makers, Law Makers, Supervisors or Managers, our esteemed Traditional Rulers steer this great nation of Almighty God in the right direction for the wellbeing and prosperity of mankind

As the Head of National Executive, it is essential that you are motivated frequently for you to rise up to the occasion. Firstly, let me remind you that it is God who chooses a Leader herein, a President for a Country as the Holy Bible asserted at Romans 13:1. To ensure you achieved the aspirations of the Citizenry God gave you a dedicated, competent and religious Deputy, in the person of His Excellency Vice President Dr Muhamadu Bawumia.

So, Mr President, It should now be clear to you that God did so because he felt the duo, His Excellency President Nana Addo and His Excellency Vice President Dr Muhamadu were the best choice out of the other Presidential candidates to navigate his good people from the current doldrums, the causal effects of a combination of COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine War as echoed by the MD of the IMF.

As stated in one of my submissions, we are not in normal times, hence, the Citizenry must stop the childish conduct of comparing the Presidencies (Administrations) of Ghana before a global force majeure like the COVID-19 pandemic and a Presidency of Ghana after the COVID-19 pandemic. Suffice to say, Ghana before the invasion of COVID-19 pandemic (before March 2020) is different from Ghana during the war against COVID-19 pandemic which will also be very different from the era of Ghana after the COVID-19 pandemic with the associated hazards or the repercussions of the ongoing Russia and Ukraine war. Hence we need to draw lessons from the current difficulties (suffering) endured globally, which is occasioned by the combination of COVID-19 pandemic/Ukraine War and changer our attitude of Pull Him Down (PHD) and opt for the philosophy of Patriotism, Honesty and Discipline as propounded by Hon Kennedy Agyapong, so that the citizenry unite behind your leadership to navigate Ghana from the doldrums occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic/ongoing Ukraine War to an economic Upturn state.

Mr President, its heartwarming to note that notwithstanding the senseless remarks which were made by some persons in your Administration that it will be a sin for Ghana to apply to the IMF for a bail out to attain an economic stability, the Managing Director of the IMF, recently spoke openly and directly to the Citizenry on the critical contributory factors to their suffering and went further to a make a promise of the readiness of the IMF to bailout the Country with alacrity, before the end of 2022. This should be regarded as Gods intervention as a measure to assuage the anxiety in the country about the current state affairs. Should this happen and the Country is able to recover, then it will put the pessimists (doomsayers) into shame and may help give a signal that the Citizenry should always think positive and think big.

Mr President, we are not in normal times, so for us to surmount the current hardship, the need for everyone to rally behind you cannot be overemphasized. To do so may require the adoption of the excellent philosophy of Patriotism, Honesty and Discipline (a paradigm of a new or positive PHD to be instilled by all Citizens, this can be achieved through you demo good leadership for all to fall in line. Since the buck stop with the President.

It is heartwarming to know that you and your Deputy did acknowledge the hardship, hence, the Country is Hot. Truly, on the onset of or during the COVID-19 pandemic, you forewarned the Citizenry that you and your Deputy know how to revive a dead economy but not dead persons that may be caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, armed with the experience of the difficult nature of the Citizenry and may therefore not cooperate with the order for the stay at home campaign and use of force like other nations did was not an option, you had to use part of the State coffers or Resources to give free power, free water to support the Citizenry whilst obeying the order to stay at home. The combine effects has made the Country Hot. Hence fixing the Country is now the responsibility of the National Executive with you as the Head. The citizenry also need be informed especially by Traditional and Religious Leaders to fix themselves. Hence positive attitude by both parties is a must. Mr Afryie Wutahs song Country Hot, Fix the Country and they say fix yourself must be adopted as a national Song in the path of the economic recovery.

It was good that as part of the economy recovery Plan and the growth of the economy, Vice President Dr Bawumia concentrated in a digitization and digitalization agenda, which facilitated the utilization of IT including zoom facilities etc whilst the citizenry worked/are working from homes. But for the good work of the Minority Leader of Parliament and his team, the Finance Minister with his initial 1.75% E-levy would have derailed the digitalization agendum of the Vice President Dr Bawumia which among other good reason is to ensure almost or the Citizenry have a Bank Account and use of the Ghana Card for the enjoyment future benefits.

Mr President, as the National Executive is working hard to re-boot the economy the urgent need for a second look at some of the provisions of the Constitution which are adding cost to cost with no benefit and those which have hindered and are hindering national cohesion and development cannot be over-emphasized. At this juncture, let me remind you as stated in one of my submission that the 1992 Committee of Constitutional experts Chaired by Professor Dr SKB Asante, the current Paramount Chief of Asante Asokore which drafted the 1992 Constitution recommended a hybrid Constitution with some executive mandate granted to a President as the titular Head of State/Head of National Executive and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (Military, Police and other armed state agencies) of Ghana. Per the proposal of Dr SKB Asantes committee, the whole of Ghana should be the Constituency of the proposed President and he or she was to be the appointing authority for the CDS, Service Commanders and the IGP etc. There was no proposal in the draft report by the Committee of Constitutional experts for a Deputy or Vice President. So in replace of the Vice President was a proposal for a Prime Minister (Primusinter pares or first among equals of Ministers), elected from just one Constituency, hence from a region in Ghana and was to be the leader of the Majority Party in Parliament.

Per the proposal, the Prime Minister, the senior most Minister or simply Senior Minister that is first among equals (Primus inter pares) should be the leader of the Majority members of Parliament. Hence your initial appointment of a Senior Minister (hence a shadow or secret Prime Minister was not only unconstitutional but superfluous, a waste of the national purse and above all a rivalry to the Office of the constitutional Vice President. It gave a wrong signal that you made this appointment to sideline the VP in order to give room to the Finance Minister to run the economy by his whims and caprices. it was felt that he disregarded the warning by His Excellency VP Dr Bawumia, your Deputy against the taxation of Mobile Money Transaction and went ahead to initially put 1.75% levy on the MoMo transaction and without proper stakeholders engagement, he embedded it in the 2022 Budget proposals and submitted it to Parliament for approval. The end results of this scenario included the down grading of the outlook of the economy of Ghana to the very weak grade of CCC level by the financial analysts. The nation has learnt a great lesson from these developments, hence never again should we act in that meaner.

To make the Head of the Government to have the whole of Ghana as his Constituency, the Consultative Assembly which deliberated on the draft of the 1992 Constitution kicked against the hybrid Constitutional government, with a Prime Minister, elected by just a Constituency therefore from just one Region as the Head of Government as recommended by the Committee of Constitutional experts and opted for the current Constitutional Presidential system with a Constitutional Vice President as in the 1992 Constitution, who see the whole of Ghana as their Constituency for a very good reason. But per the 1992 Constitution one may right to say that the Vice President (VP) is made to be on a standby to take over from the President as dictated by the 1992 Constitution. Hence the VP must be a nominee of the President, without interference from any one or interference from a system (especially a political party) thus loyalty to the President by the VP is very important.

Despite this situation, sidelining of the Vice President reared its ugly head during almost all regimes in the Fourth Republic. This gives a big question that is do we need a VP. A study of the 1992 Constitution will reveal that both the elected President and his Deputy must not necessary come from a Political Party and thus seemingly protected from the control of a political party. But a Presidential Candidate can be sponsored by a Political Party which is seen as an election winning machinery and a measure to reduce the huge cost of the election. So Mr President the whole of Ghana is your Constituency, so please do well to visit Keta to take see to their calamity occasioned by the tidal waves or the sea during the visit to the Volta Region.

Mr President both the Dr SKB Asantes Committee of Constitutional Experts and the 1992 Consultative Assembly erred by ceding the Economy Planning segment from the Ministry of Finance and Economy Planning to a seemingly redundant (disused) and or wasteful National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) which incidentally is the Constitutional mandated Economy Management Team which is shockingly not chaired by the Vice President for the function of economy planning but Chaired by any other person nominated by the President other than the VP as by the provisions of Article 86 and Article 87 of the 1992 Constitution respectively.

Mr President the work or the Development plans or recommendations of the NDPC are not binding or used by succeeding administrations because each Presidents in the Fourth Republic or since the promulgation of the 1992 Constitution used his manifesto as presented to the electorate who based on the manifesto elected the President to govern or manage the economy. Hence, the Development plans of the NDPC is not used or roll over in the Administrations of successive Presidents. Hence, a big problem created by Article 86 and Article 87 of the 1992 Constitution, which incidentally is almost a replica of the 1979 Constitution. But, among others, the variation between 1979 Constitution and 1992 Constitution is the numbering of the Articles, Ombudsman in the 1979 Constitution became the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice in the 1992 Constitution. I envisaged that in order to reduce cost the 1979 Constitution at Article 65 restricted the appointment of Ministers by the President to not more than 30 Ministers including cabinet Minister as in Article 65 of the 1979 Constitution also no Minister or Deputy Minister should come from Parliament as in the 1979. Furthermore, Article 47 of the 1979 Constitution mandated the Vice President as the Chairman of the NDPC (which is a Constitutional Economy Management Team). Hence anyone to be selected as the VP must be an educated person, preferably with understanding of economics). Article 86 of the 1992 Constitution on the other hand disrobed the VP from Chairing the NDPC, which is a crucial Economy Management Team as provided by Article 73 of the 1979 Constitution.

Mr President these two provisions of Article 86 and 87 of the 1992 Constitution which ceded establishment and the functions of Economy Planning of the Country to the NDPC have created a huge conundrum (problem) Hence part of the woes of this Country may be attributed to these two bad Articles namely Article 86 and 87 of the 1992 Constitution another serious problem is that both of these two provisions are in Chapter 8 of the of the 1992 Constitution, thus they are also entrenched clauses and therefore can only be amended by a costly referendum. But they must be amended if this Country must succeed in the good management of the Economy. Please check provisions on the NDPC as in Article 73 and Article 74 of the 1979 Constitution and compare with Articles 86 and 87 of the 1992 Constitution and also check for the difficulties stated in the report of the Constitutional Review Commission employed by the Administration of the late Presidential Mills and the corresponding Governments White on the report for issues that need to be addressed.

Mr President, I am aware that you may wish to satisfy the demand for the amendment of some the provisions of the 1992 Constitution especially Article 243, for the election of the District Chief Executives this is not an entrenched clause, so it is very simple for Parliament to amend Article 243. But please it is recommended you add Articles 86 and 87 of the 1992 Constitution when you are to amend an entrenched Clause. So that either a total removal or deletion of Articles 86 and 87 of the 1992 Constitution from it, thus a return of the Economy Planning function to the Ministry of Finance to re-establish a complete Ministry of Finance and Economy Planning otherwise amend it to read as in the wisdom provided in Articles 73 and 74 of the 1979 Constitution. I will soon re-submit a paper on the 1992 Constitution which though has faults was not made to satisfy the late Papa as considered by some people. It is sad that among those who held the view that the 1992 Constitution was made to please the late Papa J, included respected lawyers and professors. I will also give a strong defence for the maintenance of some Provisions like the appointments by the Executive President, as make a recommendation for us do away with a Standby VP, so that to reduce cost, a minister is appointed by the President or the Cabinet to act in his absence from the Country.

Mr President, the amendment of some of the provisions of the 1992 Constitution at the appropriate time and the immediate transformation and the modernization of the economy by a replacement of the Brigadier General Gordon Goggisburg economy template with a prosperous Template are two determinants for the success of this Country. The global hardship (the great depression since the last 100 years) as occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic tells that we were not and are not/or will not be in normal times as in the era of COVID-19 pandemic and thereafter respectively. Hence, we need to use the lessons learnt from the hardships occasioned by both COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russia and Ukraine war to change our attitude for us to navigate from the Doldrums to an upturn level/Ghana beyond Aid. So, we need to do away or minimize the rancor and acrimony with the attended Pull Him Down syndrome and rather unite under your watch, since you are nominated by God as the leader of this great Nation consequently the adoption of philosophy of Patriotism, Honesty and Discipline (a new paradigm of PHD) cannot be overemphasized. Hence, every Tom, Dick and Harry must be motivated by your Leadership for everyone to come on board the Craft with you as the pilot. So you must find a way including using His Excellency Ex-President JA Kofour or the Ashantehene (an excellent peace broker) to bring His Excellency Ex-President Mahama, who has a large following on board as a constructive passenger.

It must be noted that His Excellency ex-President Mahama by virtue of his credential as an ex-Hon MP, ex-VP, and Ex-President is certainly the most seasoned statesman in Ghana and I am sure in the world. Thanks for his recent positive input that by the nations application for the support from the IMF for economic stability, it will make the Nation to acknowledge the need for the transformation and modernization of the Agricultural sector, through massive investment in the Sector. So find a good way to get His Excellency ex-President Mahama for an interaction or a lunch with him and others to generate a good optics showing the two Ex-Presidents and you, with or without the presence of the Ashantehene. This may demo a unity in diversity to motivate all persons to come on board the Ship called Ghana for you to navigate us from the doldrums to the upturn level and hand over to the next person as nominated by God. Hence as the father for all, I wish to recommend you minimize the politics of breaking the eight and talk of working hard to hand over a good Ghana to the next nominee of God but with a good work and a prayer it may be your Partys Presidential Candidate.

Mr President as stated in my submission on Fixing the Country Part 20 dated September 2022, that you can only succeed in conquering an enemy if you know the Characteristics of the enemy and apply the first principle of war or success in Business principle, which is Selection and Maintenance of Aim. So the failure in the combating of the Small Scale Miners is due to the failure of the Officials of the State to understand the characteristics of Small Scale Mining and stop the senseless or cacophonous jargon of illegal mining, because Small Scale Mining globally is characterized as unofficial or off-the- record hence illegal by the definition of unofficial or off-the-record and reason with some of them especially the non-greedy operators who only operating the small scale mining for a living or school fees. We should employ the wisdom of the late Papa J who with the support of the World Bank, after he conducted risk assessment of the situation made him to empathize with some of the operators of Small Scale Mining due to his appreciation of the state of affairs in the Mining sector, So the late Papa came out with a good legislation which isolated those doing the Small Scale Mining for a living as part of poverty alleviation from those especially tycoons doing business in the Small Scale Mining to make a wealth. These were factors considered during the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP)/ Economy Reform or was it a Recovery Programme (ERP) in the 1980s.

Mr President as stated we can only succeed in dealing with the menace in mining sector by the application of common sense in the Mining sector. Hence we need to consider the mining sector also an economy sector, hence the possibility of both formal and informal sectors. Armed with this intelligence, we should categorize the Mining sector into the three sectors of an economy namely the Small Scale Sector, the Medium or Middle Scale Sector and the Large Scale Sector. The Small Scale Sector of the economy, for that reason Small Scale Mining Sector is largely an informal or unofficial or off-the- record sector with poverty alleviation tendencies or working for their living and therefore the Small Scale Miners see their mining operation as God given right to them to escape from their poverty misery. So you may choose to fool yourself and not empathize with the operators who like prostitutes see their operations as a source of livelihood and till they move to an Alternative Livelihood Projects. Hence, to dislodge them one need to get them Alternative Livelihood Projects with short, medium and long time gestation periods.

Hence, we need to behave like the late Papa J and the World Bank who during the Structural Adjustment Programme appreciated the plight of the Small Scale Miners, so he empathized with the operators of the small scale mining and introduced or gave official recognition to Small Scale mining (Galamsey) and enacted Small Scale Mining laws which was then known as Galamsey Law. This was done by the application of two important legal tools namely Legalization (recognition of the Galamsey act or bringing the act into the formal sector or on record, hence legalization was a target or destination to get them operate officially at that time to pay revenue or tax / prevent smuggling, hence criminalize them was not the answer as envisaged by the PNDC) and secondly by Formalization (which is the process or trip to Target or Objective)

So what action did the dreadful Military Administration of the PNDC who could put the fear of God into the Galamsey or artisanal or Small Scale Miners (note the value or the description matches the same issue by the operators only different terms are used) do in 1986.

In the attempt to attract Foreign Direct Investment in the National Economy, the PNDC with the support of the World Bank/IMF came out with the Structural Adjustment Programme which even caused the lay down of a large number of workers including those from the large Scale Mining Companies (the State Gold Mining Companies) and AGC Obuasi (the State then had 50% shares by the good work of the Late General Acheampong as part of his Nationalization and localization agenda). The PNDC established the Mineral Commissions in 1986 and promulgated the Minerals and Mining Law 1986 (PNDCL153) in the Mining Sector.

To bring the small scale miners on record and under strict control (legalization) by the PNDC, Galamsey was legalized, I repeat Galamsey was legalized by the Military Regime when the PNDC included small scale mining laws from Section 77 to the Section 99 of the Minerals and Mining Law 1986 (PNDCL153), which stipulated that Small Scale Mining will only be permissible if and only if it is in the interest or accepted by the affected Community and it must be contingent (dependent) on the use of no sophisticated technology or equipment, no use of substantial amount, no use of explosives and not more than 25 acres will be given to a Cooperative of 10 or more persons and limited to only Ghanaians not more less than 18 years.

Above all a Small Scale Miner must operate within his locality, hence an outsider (person not from the area) including Ghanaians or non-Ghanaians settlers cannot own a Mining Right or Concession, hence no ownership of Small Scale Mining Right at different area but one can work as a menial worker at any location. Hence this was an additional control measure (a master strategy) to ensure acceptance or disapproval by the Chiefs and his people or the Community. So you cannot, I repeat you cannot operate in an area not accepted by the Community whose interest is not for mining but for mainly for farming. Hence, there was no way a person alien to the area, be he/she a Chinese or a businessman from outside the affected like say Kumasi or Accra can operate Small Scale Mining. So, the businessmen from Kumasi etc were compelled to register as gold buyers and sponsored or barons or to finance the operations to buy the gold from the miners. Which was also seen as a problem.

Mr President, as part of the formalization of Small Scale Mining programme, the very sensible Military regime of the PNDC came out with the final law name the Small Scale Gold Mining Law 1989 (PNDC215) in 1989 and the Precious Minerals Marketing Company was established in 1989 and the Small Scale Miners were required by the law to sell their Gold to the Precious Minerals Marketing Company which was also required to register and support gold buyers to buy the gold for it. Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) was initially required to support the Small Scale Miners and take 2.5% or a percentage to meet the backfilling and revegetation of damaged or disturbed lands. Due to mistrust the idea of the PMMC taking 2.5% from the gold sales by the Small Scale Miners was dropped. Hence, small scale mining then did not cause massive destruction or deviation of the rivers, and massive destruction of the environment. Note no massive destruction between 1986 (year of the initial Minerals and Mining Law 1986 (PDNCLaw153) and 2006 that the year that saw the amalgamation of all the Mining Laws before 2006 into the Minerals and Mining Law 2006 (Act 703), hence no massive destruction within 21 years. But note mining at small scale level started before 1471 (the arrival of Diego De Azambujah from Portugal, so between 1471 and 2006 or so that is a period of 535 years.

Sir, as usual pardon me to disclose my experience that is due to the complex security issues in the Mining Sector, in 2004, I initiated the establishment of the Security Committee of the Ghana Chamber of Mines Security Committee by selling the idea to Dr Joyce Aryee, then CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines and got the Bogoso Gold Mine to host the maiden and second meeting at the Bogoso Mine, the Committee contributed in bringing issues of Small Scale Mining to the front burner. So, in 2005, due to the problem of small scale mining activities in Prestea etc, I initiated the need for the National anti-illegal mining operation conducted by the then President Kofours Administration to flash out the illegal miners in the Concessions of Mining Companies. So, the 2005 Operation Flush Out was organized due to the request by the Ghana Chamber of Mine which paid the major cost to remove illegal miners from the Concessions of Large Scale Mining Companies. The current CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines and the current CEO of the COCOBOD, who was then the Western Regional Minister and one Mr Blay, the then Security Coordinator to the Western Regional Security Council can authenticate my claims. So I have dossiers on Small Scale Miners.

Mr President, the big question is what went wrong that made Ghana to suffer for this situation in the Mining Sector? Or Why did the Nation through the Minerals Commission and Forestry Commission or the Responsible Ministry sleep at their work and allowed business tycoons including my son Chairman Wontumi and other business tycoons who are simply interested in making wealth from Mining business allowed to operate in a Small Scale Mining Sector most of them with the collaboration with foreigners since mining is capital intensive.

Cry the Beloved Country, Oh, my God how are we that so stupid to allow one person with more excavators than all excavators used by all the Large Small Scale Mining Companies members of the Ghana Chamber of Mines to operate in the Small Scale Mining Sector meant for Galamsey operations that is gather and sell using the implements mostly with spades or broom or no sophisticated equipment and no use of substantial money to cause massive destruction.

Mr President you need to Google for the definition for Scale Mining or Small Scale Miner or contact the World Bank for their understanding and description of Small Scale Mining and you will be clear that Galamsey is Small Scale Mining and Small Scale Mining is Galamsey and the Small Scale Mining Sector is an informal sector operated by millions of people as part of poverty alleviation. It is the same in South Africa, Tanzania, China, Mongolia, Brazil etc. Small-scale Mining by definition and mode of operation globally is regarded or associated as a disaster sector, hence international emergency area which the UN, USAID, IMF, World Bank, some environmental NGOs have been granting donors to combat it. So, why did Ghana remove herself from the donor support?. It is or was due to our stupidity with the ambiguous Small Scale mining law made in 2006 as sections 81 to 99 of Minerals and Mining Law 2006 (Act 703).

Mr President it took the State 5 years from 2010 to 2015 to respond to call by the Ghana Chamber of Mine Security Committee (in 2010) for amendment of the very weak or useless small scale mining laws under section 99 of Minerals and Mining Law 2006 (Act 703), which was done in 2015 with Section 99 of Act 900 of 2015 by his Excellency President Mahama. It also took 4 years for you to personally detect a problem with the law and came out with Section 99 of Act 995 of the 2019.for stiffer punishments for small scale mining offences, hence it took us 13 years from 2006 to 2019 to do act properly

. Mr President to further demo our stupidity, we have passed good laws but our Prosecutors have been using dead or disused laws to charge offences against small scale mining. So the most shocking and very annoying matter is that Aisha Hung has been charged with a dead or repealed law which was replaced in 2015 with section 99 of Act 900 and further amended in 2019 with section 99 of ACT 995, So what is the rational for charging her under a dead (repealed) law and put the blame on a poor judge when he award a lesser punishment and most annoying no confiscation of equipment by this dead law. Ian any case was she arrested at her house or at a mining site, so a good lawyer should check and use better charges against the exact offence committed by her.

So let us do away with the hypocrisy, deceit and dishonesty, incompetency, therefore the corruption in the system, get the Minerals Commission to come out with a Medium Scale Mining Sector for the business men like Chairman Wontumi and other business tycoons to operate under strict laws and good monitoring by the security agency especially the Military because the whole of Ghana is the Internal Security Area of the Ghana Army hence the Army Commander, EPA, Mineral Commission the Inspectorate Division, Forestry Commission and the Water Resources Commission. We need to bring sanity in the mining sector at low or minimum cost hence we must act swift and brutal to be the fear of God in all.

The Minerals Commission must be required to novate the so called Registered Small Scale Miners with their Companies to operate within the Medium Scale Mining Sector. The affected Companies to operate similar to the conditions by the Large Scale Mining Companies but at a lower cost (say tax, minimum investment say GHC500,000.00), as required by the State. The Minerals Commission to give a list of Registered Medium Scale Mining Companies and the dos and donts to the Commanding Officer responsible for the area to ensure compliance. The operator of permitted or licensed Medium Scale Mining Company must be made to report to Commanding Officer responsible for the area for him to designate an Officer to see the DCE/District Mining Committee and the Chief and elders of his area of responsible and together with the District Mining Committee they should check the Site and mount a billboard to designate as such. Equipment to the area must require the prior approval of the Commanding Officer and must be escorted to the Site.

At the same time give two weeks ultimatum for the stoppage of small scale mining activities including Community Mining or show the areas of Community Mining to/grant permission for Community Mining through the Commanding Officer whose internal operation area is affected. After that, declare 14 days State of Emergency including curfew at the affected areas of small scale mining activities and give an executive order to the CDS to halt small scale mining operations within 14 days. But please get legal authority from the Chief Justice or Parliament for the military to destroy all equipment on site and get Scrap dealers to come and buy them as Scrap also within a further 14 days. Monies from the scrap to be collected by GRA Official or as deem fit.

Either you employ private security Companies under the supervision and support by the Commanding Officer responsible for the area to protect the liberated the area as submitted in my previous paper to you in 2017. And or the liberated areas should be assigned to the DCE and the District Security Committee thus including the Rep of the Commanding Officer as well as the District Mining Committee, the Traditional leaders and the Community for protection through joint monitoring. With the Military and the Police dominate the affected areas with day and night patrols.

Concurrently, get the Ministry of Agric/Minerals Commission for the transition of some of the affected persons within a community to Alternative Livelihood Projects like what USAID is doing for small scale miners in Ivory Coast with the cashew nut farms, rearing of rabbit, fish farming, avocado and oil palm plantations etc. Seek support from USAID and other bilateral donors for the Alternative Livelihood Projects and let the Military be responsible for that

Support the establishment of Community Mining. But minimize the involvement of political actors, so use the Minerals Commission etc, so that in event of change of administration between NDC and NPP, this should not be an area of turf war like what happened with the seizures or occupations of public toilets when a different political party comes on power.

Mr President, the fight against Small Scale Mining (illegal or unofficial mining) cannot be successful if the culprits are not charged with the current laws (offences) which must be combined with a very a good work by the Prosecutors for the Judge to award the right punishments and thus help bring the menace under control. So, It is very sad that the prosecutor for Aisha Hung alleged involvement in illegal mining operation has used a dead or repealed charge of section 99 of the Minerals and Mining law 2006 (Act 703) instead of applying Section 99 of the Minerals and Mining Act 2019 (Act 995) as amended which even repealed Section 99 Minerals and Mining Act 2015 (Act 900). This is part of the problem why we are not making success in the fight against the illegal mining. Stakeholders engagement is key in governance. The Prosecutors and the Judgers at the affected areas need a seminar on the matter

The continue used of the repealed laws or charges by the Police or prosecutors confirms the saying by His Excellency Vice President Dr Bawumia that most Ghanaians do not read at or lack of understanding of issues otherwise they just want to be dishonest with mischievous acts with some with an attempt to hoodwink or satisfy their paymasters by jumping into a matter and run amok with it, especially when they perceived it to be likely associated with corruption. So this lead to issues with the Auditor General Report for 2021. The recent action of the CSOs to get Auditor General to surcharge perceived or alleged persons who have caused irregularities was wrong because it was premature or too early to do because it should be by the procedure required by Constitution. Hence the action was unconstitutional or irregular, they need to read the Constitution very well. Yes I am aware of the Supreme Court for the surcharge of offenders but a procedure must be followed. More to that in my next submission and you will support my assertion. But let me say that an initial study of the breakdown of the alleged huge amount of GHC17.1Billion as termed as cash irregularities in the 2021 Budget Reports of the Auditor General which the media and CSOs wrongly attributed the total amount to corrupt acts will demo they CSOs lacked understanding of auditing matters (risk assessment or analysis) especially the wording of irregularities in an Audit report.

An audit or risk analysis is based among others but two factors, firstly Substance (Budget within or overrun, amount involved and limitation of usage or expenditure approval limit or budget limit, or expected revenue/revenue made or got in the year. Secondly is Process that is whether regulation was followed. Hence was the procedure followed and what was the amount involved for not doing so, any loss) The public must be made to understand the term irregularities in an Audit report which include actions not per Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) or rules, delays, any genuine human error, inability to act. So let take the issues of the Northern Electricity Department cash irregularity of GHC2.8 Billion and that of ECG. Some of the irregularities were occasioned by customers of postpaid meters not paying their bills power consumed. Not able to collect the power debt is an irregularity by auditors. That is why ECG is battling with the people of Somanya to pay their power bills or fix pre-paid meters to make consumers pay in time. In the report, we also have cost of expired drugs say COVID-19 pandemic drugs which were bought or donated to Ghana but expired because the public not ready to go for the vaccines, hence there is nothing a Doctor of a Hospital can do aside seeking the support of the NCCE or the media to make announcement and encourage the citizens who are yet to be vaccinated to report for it. These were some of the examples of irregularity for the Auditor to give his control measures or recommendations etc.

Hence, not all irregularities may be attributed to corruption because some as stated maybe genuine or accepted. Sir, Ex-President Mahama must be very careful with some of his utterances on the report. He should note so far 20% of the debt emanated during his administration and even that of the late Mills Administration. Example of the cash irregularity emanating from case in 2011 in the regime of the late President Mills/ex-President Mahama era which led to a judgment debts but it was determined by a Court in 2021 example over 2.4Billion as court awarded against the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) GBC after Mr Ampem-Darko then Director-General of GBC sued the National Media Commission (NMC) for wrongful termination of his contract and that to be paid to some staff of GBC.

MAJOR MOHAMMED BOGOBIRI (9RTD)

0501387764

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President Nana Akufo-Addo has called out former President John Mahama over what he describes as the opposition leaders systematic attacks on the Judiciary and Electoral Commission.

According to President Akufo-Addo, Just as the government continues to implement policies to advance the rule of law, and, thereby, reinforce the confidence of the people, and shore up our nations reputation as a country governed by the rule of law, there are some who have made it their political agenda to disparage, systematically, the image of the Judiciary for selfish, parochial, partisan reasons.

He stated: These are the plaintiffs, who go to court, indeed, to the highest court of the land, provide not a single shred of evidence to back their claims, and, yet, insist that their claims be upheld, despite the elementary violation of the ancient, common-law rules for the discharge of the burden of proof that such a result would entail.

The President continued: It is no wonder that their claims were unanimously dismissed 7-0 by the apex court  a reference to the apex courts endorsement of the 2020 election result declared by the electoral commission that was challenged by Mr Mahama in court.

The electoral commission  party to the suit  said President Nana Akufo-Addo of the National Patriotic Party (NPP) won 51.59% of the vote and Mr Mahama took 47.36%.

President Akufo-Addo said: The result of this case is in stark contrast to the result of a similar one in 2013, when the unsuccessful plaintiffs managed to persuade four out of a nine-member court, to find for them, and, yet, the earlier plaintiffs chose not to wage a political war against the court.

President Akufo-Addo made this known on Monday, 12 September 2022, when he delivered the keynote address at this years Bar Conference of the Ghana Bar Association.

He told Members of the Bar that Ghana is governed in accordance with the rule of law, and not on the basis of political considerations.

It is important that all of us  especially us lawyers, who cherish the democracy we are building  say no to such persons, and guard jealously our democratic way of life, which we have done so much to bring into being. Independent judges, administering the law, protecting the human rights of citizens, and ensuring public accountability, are strong pillars of our democracy, the President added.

Just as an independent Electoral Commission, noted for its efficiency and the transparency of its dealings, is one other such pillar, President Akufo-Addo noted that the Commission is, predictably, the object of the same anti-democratic attacks as the Judiciary.

Mercifully for all of us, these attacks have not shaken the confidence of the people in these institutions. Genuine democrats should devote their energies to finding ways and means of strengthening the democratic institutions of our Republic, instead of expending profitless time in undermining them, he stressed.

A few weeks ago, Mr Mahama said the image of Ghanas judiciary is broken under the leadership of Justice Anin-Yeboah, and hoped a new Chief Justice leads an image-cleansing crusade in the future, since, in his view, the current Chief Justice cannot lead such a process.

Addressing a conference of lawyers of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Sunday, 28 August 2022, Mr Mahama bewailed that the judiciary has now become the butt of jokes, as a result of its biased rulings and decisions on cases with a political tinge.

Recently, Mr Mahama noted, so badly has the image of our judiciary deteriorated that many of our citizenry openly make a mockery of our justice system and of our justices.

The phrase, Go to court is, these days, is met with derisive laughter, instead of hope that one will truly get justice if he went to the court, Mr Mahama explained.

He said: If people are not poking fun about politics and inducements being used to sway the hand of justice in the lower courts, then it is poking fun and making statements about the 7-0 of the Unanimous FC verdicts, which, mostly, involve cases of a political nature in our Supreme Court.

This is an unfortunate development, he regretted, pointing out: One of the scariest existential threats to any democracy is when citizens think their judiciary holds no value for them or is of no use to them, and this is the security threat that the national security apparatus tried to draw the attention of the nation to, recently but was poorly received by the President and his party.

It is scary because it threatens the peace and stability of our democracy and we must quickly correct this fast-spreading notion, warned Mr Mahama.

He said it is a harbinger of danger.

If care is not taken, well get to a stage where people will have no qualms about taking the law into their own hands because they do not have the confidence that they can get any justice from the system, he cautioned.

Theres, therefore, the urgent need for the Ghanaian judiciary, to work to win the trust and confidence of the citizenry and erase the widely-held perception of hostility and political bias in legal proceedings at the highest court of the land, he urged.

Unfortunately, Mr Mahama noted, we have no hope that the current leadership of our Judiciary can lead such a process of change.

We can only hope that a new Chief Justice will lead the process to repair the broken image that our judiciary has acquired over the last few years, he said.

This is not the first time the former President has lunged at the judiciary.

In March this year, he said: We do have problems with the judiciary, I must say, adding: I think that it is necessary for some internal reforms to take place there.

It is necessary for the Chief Justice or whoever is responsible, to make some reforms, Mr Mahama said when he addressed the US Chapter of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at Bentley University over the weekend.

Bemoaning how, in his view, most of the governance institutions have been politicised, Mr Mahama said: I give the example of the Judiciary  It is only in Ghana that a Supreme Court will make a decision that a birth certificate is not proof of citizenship.

There are many such funny judgments that have been given, he added.

I remember at one time, our colleague, Professor Raymond Atuguba, said that from research he had done, judges turn to give their judgments in favour of the political party or leader that appointed them.

He was subjected to such a whirlwind of indignation by the judiciary but if you bring it down to what is happening today, and you look at it and see who appointed who, you will find that there was some truth in the research.

The thing is, our Constitution gives the security of tenure to judges. Once you have been appointed, you cannot be removed.

That is why we give security of tenure so that you will have the courage, no matter who appointed you, to give judgment according to your conscience. That is what our judges should do. They must rise to the occasion, urged Mr Mahama.

Mahama Jabs EC

Also, in July this year, Mr Mahama took on the Electoral Commission, saying the National Democratic Congress (NDC) does not trust a denial by the election management body that it intends to use the Ghana card as the only source document for registering new voters ahead of the 2024 polls.

The 2020 flag bearer of the NDC told the minority caucus at a workshop on Sunday, 17 July 2022 held at the Volta Serene Hotel in the Volta Region: The style of this administration has been to subjugate and dominate constitutional institutions for parochial and partisan gain.

These institutions have, thus, become pliant tools for the furtherance of the political ends of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and President Akufo-Addo., Mr Mahama alleged.

One such institution is the Electoral Commission, which, instead of making it easy for our citizens to take part in elections, rather takes delight in making it difficult. They appear determined to ensure the disenfranchisement of sections of our population at all costs through a misguided insistence on the use of the Ghana card as the only source of identification for a voter card. How do you do this, knowing that the Ghana card is not available to everyone who should have one? he noted.

The Ghana card, Mr Mahama said, is a relatively new feature of our national life and has its merits in the scheme of things. At the moment, it is being brandished more as a political tool around which all manner of schemes is being fashioned toward elections. There is the need to allow sufficient time for its full integration into our way of life before this kind of unhelpful exclusion of all other legitimately acquired, credible and time-tested forms of identification is implemented.

The National Identification Authority cannot claim to have covered every Ghanaian who should be registered or distributed all the cards printed to those who have been captured in their system. They have failed to distribute hundreds of thousands of cards to people who have registered. Until full and total coverage is achieved in the rollout of the Ghana card, room must be made for those who are yet to be served, to exercise their democratic rights of voting. They cannot be excluded from the voter register due to no fault of theirs, he said.

This should be clear and quite easy to appreciate, he observed, adding: The haste on the part of the Electoral Commission to exclude all other means of identification is, therefore, clearly indecent and informed by an ulterior objective. Last week, you in the Minority raised red flags over suspected attempts to compile a new register on the sole basis of the Ghana card.

The Electoral Commission has been quick to deny that it harbours any such intentions. Until the advent of the current leadership of the Commission, this denial would have marked the end of the matter. The Commission, in its present guise, is known to have walked back on similar commitments in the recent past and, so, we, in the NDC, will maintain eternal vigilance to ensure that no such thing happens.

The process of continuous registration as canvassed by the Electoral Commission must necessarily include a system that enables all political parties and relevant stakeholders to possess the capacity to monitor same in real-time, to avoid fraud and exploitation to the undue advantage of any party. We in the NDC will insist on this, he urged.
Restricting the qualification for voters to the possession of the Ghana Card is a decision better late than never.

To continue to use the antiquated guarantor system with its varied loopholes for electoral fraud is to condone criminality.

We cannot agree more with the Electoral Commission (EC)'s bold decision to take the country further in its modernisation of the electoral system. With digitisation beckoning to us, there is no reason we should be stuck with the old ways of doing things.

Since elections are processes, not events, such aspects of it which deal with eligibility should be devoid of integrity challenges, as we witnessed in the past.

We have reached a stage where election results should be bereft of any iota of doubts when they are declared.

Those who try to stand in the way of the abolishment of the guarantor system and other novelties are showing similar traits, as those who kicked against the abolishment of the opaque ballot boxes and the introduction of photographs on voter identification cards.

We have noticed the points raised in favour of the abolishment of the guarantor system by the Chairperson of the EC, and the Director of Elections of the Commission, and convinced without doubt that it is the greatest stride yet towards protecting our electoral system.

The integrity of elections in a democracy cannot be overlooked. The avoidable and time-wasting litigation over results are actions which come with their drawbacks.

The Ghana Card has come in handy for us and we must be grateful to all who played their parts in making it possible.

With two clear years ahead of us, as the EC Chair said, and based on the interaction between the elections management body and the National Identification Authority (NIA), we can bet nobody who is qualified to possess the card would be denied it.

While supporting the demand of the EC Chairperson that the NIA expedites action in printing the cards, we would be quick to add that the integrity of the citizenship document should be maintained by all means.

Yes, the NIA should speed up the printing process but they must also continue not to make it possible for unqualified persons to possess the Ghana Card.

Former President John Mahama recently complained about how some persons are being denied the Ghana Card because of their ethnicity. We do not agree with him wholly. He appeared to be saying that persons who claim to be from the Zongos should be automatically given the Ghana Card.

We disagree with him because, not all those who live in the Zongos are Ghanaians. Some residents were not even born here let alone claim citizenship of this country.

While some Fulanis, Hausas and Yorubas are Ghanaians because some of them have one of their parents hailing from here, others are descendants of Nigerians and constituting fourth generation of the initial migrants. Some members of the foregone have nonetheless had problems registering for the Ghana Card. The former President should have rather dealt with this category of persons and suggest ways of avoiding the challenges some of them encounter. We disagree, however, when he appeared to be calling rather subtly an outright granting of citizenship to everybody who claims to hail from the Zongos.

By the time the next general elections are due, all eligible persons would have been issued with their Ghana Card. There is no agenda to disenfranchise anybody who is qualified to be given the Ghana Card and the right to choose the political leadership of the country.

Source: Daily Guide
Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo Prampram, Samuel Nartey George has warned that Ghanas conversation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will suffer if SIM Cards of the citizenry are continuously blocked.

Last week, punitive measures by the National Communications Authority (NCA) were initiated as SIM cards of people yet to link with their Ghana cards were blocked from making phone calls.

Already, the Minister of Communications and Digitalisaton, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has warned that all unregistered SIM Cards will be blocked at the end of September.

Amid criticism of the decision taken by the Ministry, Sam George says it is clear the Minister is not aware of the implications.

Speaking to Joy News on Tuesday, September 13, the Ningo Prampram MP said conversations between the government of Ghana and the IMF will be affected.

I can say on authority again that the actions of the minister do not just have an implication for the service sector but have implications for Ghanas own conversations with the IMF as we speak because our internal revenue generations, the scenarios have been sent and considered in the IMF conversation that this is how much government takes internally, Sam George argued.

He further explained, If you block SIM Cards of about 3 million Ghanaians. You are talking about give and take 10 million SIM Cards. Those SIM Cards when used for phone calls generate CST revenue, when they are used for data generate CST revenue. Those who do mobile money generate E-Levy. All of those figures are going to drop.

As we speak the Minister for Communication has not engaged with the Ministry of Finance to look at what the effects will be even on the IMF conversation.

Sam George insists that the deadline set by the Minister of Communications will not solve the SIM Card registration problem.

He proposes that there should be enough time for people to acquire their Ghana Cards from the NIA to be able to successfully go through the registration process.

He said if the NCA is able to block unregistered SIM cards after the September 30 deadline given by the Minister of Communications, then it means Ghana does not have a National Security apparatus.
13.09.2022 LISTEN

The President of the Republic, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has cast doubt on the deportation of Chinese illegal miner, Aisha Huang.

The Chinese national has been arrested recently after sneaking back four years after she was deported for engaging in illegal mining and the trading of minerals without a license.

Speaking on a Ho-based radio station on Tuesday, September 13, the President said he is unsure whether the Chinese national was indeed deported or she just fled the country.

Im not still sure whether she was in fact deported. Or whether she fled the country the first time and has now come back. There still seems to be some uncertainty about itBut whichever way it is, shes become the sort of nickname for all that galamsey represents, President Akufo-Addo said.

The comments confirm claims by North Tongu Member of Parliament Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa that Aisha Huang was not properly deported.

Earlier this week, the NDC parliamentarian said checks with deep-throat sources have revealed that state officials did not follow due process in the deportation of Aisha Huang.

He said she was not handed over to the Chinese and it was never made clear whether she was deported to never return or for a period of time.

Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has backed the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame to prosecute Aisha Huang to the fullest if found guilty of offenses that have landed her in the custody of the police.

The Chinese illegal mining kingpin is expected to reappear in court on Wednesday, September 14, 2022.
Judges of the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights have paid a courtesy call on President Samia Suluhu Hassan of the United Republic of Tanzania at the State House in Dar es Salaam to discuss issues of mutual concern.

The African Court Judges used the opportunity to discuss a number of issues, including the construction of the permanent premises of the African Continental Court in Arusha, Tanzania.

Lady Justice Imani Daud Aboud President of the African Court commended the President, the government, and the people of Tanzania for approving a budget of Tshs 4,000,000,000 (about US$1.7million) to commence the construction of the Courts permanent premises.

This is a big and bold step in ensuring that the African Court gets its permanent premises, Lady Justice Aboud stated during the discussion made available to the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema.

Lady Justice Aboud noted: This is a historic move and we are looking forward to its speedy construction, stressing this was yet another demonstration of Tanzanias commitment to the cause of human rights, and generally, its unconditional support for the objectives of Pan Africanism.

She reiterated the mission of the African Court which is to enhance through judicial decisions, the protective mandate of the African Commission by strengthening the human rights protection system in Africa.

The African Court President emphasized that the long-term vision is an Africa with a viable human rights culture. This vision is very informative because it states that it is only by establishing and upholding a feasible human rights culture, that we can comprehend and attain the Africa we want.

The Tanzanian President Hassan on her part also commended the African Court for its commitment to promote and ensure the protection of human and peoples rights in Africa.

She reiterated the commitment of the government of Tanzania to the African Courts ideals and core values of human rights, good governance, democracy, and rule of law.

President Hassan reaffirmed that Tanzania will not renege on its commitment to support and continue its obligations as the host country in strengthening the existing cooperation with the African Union.

In May this year, the Parliament of Tanzania approved the budget estimates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation which, among others, included the costs for the construction of the African Courts permanent premises.

The African Court, which is located in Arusha, is currently operating from its temporary offices at the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) buildings.

The government of Tanzania had allocated about 25 hectares to the African Court in the Laki Laki area, on the outskirts of Arusha town, for the construction of the permanent premises.

The location is in the vicinity of the UN Mechanism for International Tribunals (ex-ICTR and ex-ICTY).
13.09.2022 LISTEN

Former President John Dramani Mahama is calling for sanctions against government officials involved in the return of galamsey queen Aisha Huang into the country.

Aisha Huang was arrested a few days ago by National Security operatives for her illegal return to the country following her deportation in September 2018.

Her arrest has left many questioning the government for its commitment to the fight against illegal mining in the country.

Speaking on Accra-based TV3, former president Mahama said the government must not shield anyone involved in the return of the Chinese national.

The former president also called out President Akufo-Addo for failing the fight against the menace.

President Akufo-Addo in 2017 put his presidency on the line by stating his resolve to fight the galamsey menace.

I have said in Cabinet, and perhaps this is the first time I am making this public, that I am prepared to put my presidency on the line on this matter, the President said.

Mr. Mahama said President Akufo-Addo should have resigned by now, per his own words.

If you go to the districts, they talk about community mining. Community mining is the NPP party executives and the DCEs who are doing the community mining. So, they are the ones doing what they are doing, so how can you expect him to fight galamsey when his own people are the ones who are doing it.

If we were in some other jurisdiction, he would have resigned by now. By his word, he put his presidency on the line, he added.

Aisha Huang was deported in 2018 because of her illegal mining activities.

The deportation was criticised as many felt she should have been prosecuted instead.

Reports indicate that she returned to Ghana from a neighbouring country through a land border.

She also has a Ghana Card with the name, Huang En. The Attorney General plans to revisit Aisha's past crimes as well as her recent offences.

She has been charged with mining without license and engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals.

---citinewsroom
13.09.2022 LISTEN

A 48-year-old private security man, caught on closed-circuit television (CCTV) stealing from a supermarket he guards, has been jailed two years by the Assin-Fosu District Court.

The convict, Iddrisu Razack, confessed to have been stealing boxes of milk, soft drinks, biscuits, chocolate drinks, and tomato paste from the company for the past two years.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful entry and stealing and prayed the court, presided over by Mr Abdul Majid Illiasu, for leniency.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Gilbert Ayongo said Mr Benjamin Abban, the complainant, was an accountant with LAF Enterprise, a Nestle Ghana products wholesaler at Assin-Fosu in the Central Region.

The company operates from one storey building complex, with three storerooms at the top floor serving as a warehouse and contain boxes of assorted wholesale food products of Nestle Ghana, while the down floor is the supermarket.

The company had engaged salespersons who were given vans to sell their products across the Fosu Municipality and rendered accounts after daily sales, with the unsold items locked up in the van on the shop's premises, prosecutor said.

Razack took charge of the premises and locked up the shop and gate after daily activities, however, management kept recording series of shortages at the wholesale and in the vans.

The management, therefore, alerted him to be on the lookout after which it did two months comprehensive stock taking, where management realised that goods worth GHC34,589.00 had been stolen.

The items included ideal milk, soft drinks, biscuits, chocolate drinks, and tomato paste.

On Thursday, July 7, prosecutor said management played back the CCTV footages on the premises, which captured Razack stealing from the shops, vans and warehouse and caused his arrest.

Later, during investigations, he escorted the police to his house where they discovered all the afore mentioned items, prosecutor said.

Razack then confessed to having stolen from the shop for two years to feed his family. He was charged accordingly.

GNA
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has expressed his impression with the scope of works on projects in the South Dayi District of the Volta region.

He made the remarks when he inspected the Asikuma junction to Have stretch of the Eastern Corridor Road, which is 45 kilometres and has been 75 per cent completed.

In his response to how he felt about the project, President Akufo-Addo said he was impressed.

The President who is in the Volta region for a two-day visit also inspected construction works on the Agenda111 hospital project at Kpeve in the South Dayi District of the region.

The hospital project being undertaken by EON Engineering Solutions is 22 percent completed and expected to be ready by February 2023.

The Asikuma to Have stretch is a Government of Ghana funded project supervised by the Ghana Highway Authority.

Mr Kwasi Amoako-Atta, Minister of Roads and Highways, said the Eastern Corridor Road project would be ready in 2024.

Mr Eric Odosu, Volta Regional Director, Ghana Highway Authority, said there were 12 projects currently undertaken on various sections of the Eastern Corridor Road.

Messrs First Sky Limited is executing the project at a cost of GH235 million.

The stretch was awarded on August 24, 2021, commenced on October 7, 2021 and intended to be completed by October 6, 2023.

The scope included clearing, scarification, concrete drains (trapezoidal), 900mm, 120mm and 180mm pipe culverts.

Others are crush rock base reclamation, rime coating crush rock, wearing course, milling of existing binder, road furniture and marking.

The Eastern Corridor Road if completed would facilitate trade between the Southern and Northern parts of the country.

GNA
Former President John Dramani Mahama has disclosed that he is not receiving entitlements from the state as he is supposed to.

According to him, he is currently paying for his own bills although it is supposed to be catered for by the state as a former President of the country.

I receive only my monthly pension like [former] President Kufuor, and [late former] President Rawlings was receiving [it] before he died. That is all I get, the ex-President stressed in an interview with TV3.

Former President Mahama further explained, I pay the electricity bill for my house and my office, I pay the water bill for my house and my office. I live in my own accommodation so the State does not pay me anything for accommodation.

They havent given me an office, I rent an office in East Cantonments, I pay the rent myself, I pay my own fuel, the State doesnt give me fuel, I pay my own domestic staff, I pay my own medical bills, I pay my own air tickets when I travel.

Meanwhile, ex-President Mahama has also reiterated that allegations that he received GHS14 million as ex-gratia in 2013 are false.

The allegation was made by the Bono Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Kwame Baffoe Abronye earlier this month.

Setting the records straight, the 2020 presidential candidate of the NDC says no such payment was made into his account in 2013.
There has been a heated discussion about the recent comments made by President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo on the re-emergence of Chinese "galamsey queen" Aisha Huang after she was deported in 2018.

Speaking on a Ho-based radio station as part of his tour of the Volta region, the President reportedly said, Im not still sure whether she was in fact deported. Or whether she fled the country the first time and has now come back. There still seems to be some uncertainty about it.

He added, but whichever way it is, shes become the sort of nickname for all that galamsey represents.

The President stressed, we have concerted to work at it. We need to have the cooperation of the courts. Until recently when I came, the punishment for people caught was relatively light. [But] weve changed the law to stiffen the punishment for people caught.

Reacting to media reportages, the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has clarified matters.

In a tweet today, September 13, spotted by Modernghana News, the Ofoase Ayirebi lawmaker wrote, Prez @NAkufoAddo has never said he isn't sure if Aisha Huang left Ghana. Please quote him well.

Explaining further, he said, the reason for the President's comment is that there is a difference between deportation and repatriation.

Watch the President speaking in the video below:
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has responded to comments made by the Minister for Justice and Attorney General (AG), Godfred Yeboah Dame regarding former President John Dramani Mahamas perception of the judiciary in the country.

Mr Mahama had recently said the image of the countrys judiciary had deteriorated.

Speaking at the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Lawyers Conference, on Sunday, 28 August 2022, Mr Mahama said: So badly has the image of our Judiciary deteriorated that many of our citizenry openly make mockery of our justice system and of our justices. The phrase Go to Court is these days met with derisive laughter, instead of hope that one will truly get justice.

Reacting to Mr Mahamas claims, the AG had described the former Presidents concerns about the judiciary as embarrassing and unjustified.

It was a great dismay and embarrassment that, I heard a person who has occupied the highest office of state, that is the former President recently launched an unwarranted attack on the integrity of Ghanas Judiciary. I observe that, this was the latest installment of systematic attack by the former President, albeit unjustified, Mr Dame said, while addressing lawyers at the Ghana Bar Association Annual Conference in Ho on Monday, 12 September 2022.

According to the AG, the former Presidents comments dints the image of the judiciary.

I am compelled to comment on same in this address because they border on the security of the state and constitute a deliberate pattern of conduct aimed at undermining the independence of the Judiciary, an arm of government whose autonomy is crucial to its proper functioning.

The AG further described the former Presidents conduct as deplorable.

Such conduct is clearly deplorable, coming from one who has occupied the highest office of President and aspires again to that office. At this moment, it is important for all to note that I express this sentiment not because I stand in opposition to former President Mahama as a politician.

However, responding to Mr Dame in a statement issued on Tuesday, 13 September 2022, by the Legal Affairs Directorate of the NDC, the party said: Sometimes, Mr. Dame speaks like a typical NPP foot soldier other than a lawyer and for that matter the Attorney-General.

According to the NDC lawyers, choosing to use such a conference to make such remarks is rather disrespectful to lawyers and the legal profession to say the least.

It indicated that: Mr. Dames unjustified outburst is characteristic of the arrogant posturing of his boss, Nana Akufo-Addo and his failing government that is allergic to divergent views and opinions on national issues.

Source: classfmonline.com
Queen Elizabeth II became Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries on February 6, 1952, and was crowned on June 2, 1953.

She was the mother of Prince Charles, heir to the throne, Princes William, and Harry.

As the longest-serving monarch in British history, she tried to make her reign more modern and sensitive to a changing public while maintaining traditions associated with the crown.

She died on September 8, 2022, at age 96, having reigned for 70 years.

Early Life

Queen Elizabeth II was born Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on April 21, 1926, in London, to Prince Albert, Duke of York (later known as King George VI), and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.

At the time of her birth, it was not clear she would someday become the Queen of the UK.

The Queen, nicknamed Lilibet, got to enjoy the first decade of her life with all the privileges of being a royal without the pressures of being the heir apparent.

Elizabeth's father and mother divided their time between a home in London and Royal Lodge, the familys home on the grounds of Windsor Great Park.

Elizabeth and her younger sister Margaret were educated at home by tutors.

Academic courses included French, mathematics, and history, along with dancing, singing and art lessons.

With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Elizabeth and her sister largely stayed out of London, having been relocated to Windsor Castle.

From there she made the first of her famous radio broadcasts in 1940, with a speech reassuring the children of Britain who had been evacuated from their homes and families.

The 14-year-old princess, showing her calm and firm personality, told them that,  in the end, all will be well; for God will care for us and give us victory and peace.

Elizabeth soon started taking on other public duties.

Appointed colonel-in-chief of the Grenadier Guards by her father, Elizabeth made her first public appearance inspecting the troops in 1942. She also began to accompany her parents on official visits within Britain.

In 1945, Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service to help in the war effort. She trained side-by-side with other British women to be an expert driver and mechanic.

While her volunteer work only lasted a few months, it offered Elizabeth a glimpse into a different, non-royal world.

She had another vivid experience outside of the monarchy when she and Margaret were allowed to mingle anonymously among the citizenry on Victory in Europe Day.

Ascension to the Crown

When Elizabeth's grandfather George V died in 1936, his eldest son (Elizabeth's uncle) became King Edward VIII. Edward, however, was in love with American divorcee Wallis Simpson and had to choose between the crown and his heart. In the end, Edward chose Simpson and abdicated the crown.

The event changed the course of her life, making her the heir presumptive to the British crown.

Her father was crowned King George VI in 1937, taking on the name George to emphasise continuity with his father. Her mother became Queen Elizabeth; on King Georges death in 1952, she became Queen Mother, and her daughter became Queen Elizabeth II.

Coronation

Elizabeth was crowned Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953, in Westminster Abbey, at the age of 25.

Elizabeth assumed the responsibilities of the ruling monarch on February 6, 1952, when her father, King George VI, died. For the first time ever, the coronation ceremony was on television, allowing people from across the globe to witness the pomp and spectacle of the event.

Husband Prince Philip

Elizabeth married her distant cousin Philip Mountbatten (a surname adopted from his mothers side) on November 20, 1947, at Londons Westminster Abbey.

Elizabeth first met Philip, son of Prince Andrew of Greece, when she was only 13. She was smitten with him from the start. The two kept in touch over the years and eventually fell in love.

They made an unusual pair. Elizabeth was quiet and reserved while Philip was boisterous and outspoken.

Her father, King George VI, was hesitant about the match because, while Mountbatten had ties to both the Danish and Greek royal families, he didnt possess great wealth and was considered by some to have a rough personality.

At the time of their wedding, Great Britain was still recovering from the ravages of World War II, and Elizabeth collected clothing coupons to get fabric for her gown.

The family took on the name Windsor, a move pushed by her mother and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, which caused tension with her husband.

In 1960, she reversed course, issuing orders that her descendants who did not carry royal titles (or needed last names for legal purposes such as weddings) would use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor.

Over the years, Philip inspired numerous public relations headaches with his off-the-cuff, controversial comments and rumours of possible infidelities.

Philip died on April 9, 2021, at age 99.

Children

Elizabeth and Philip wasted no time in producing an heir: Son Charles was born in 1948, the year after their wedding, and daughter Anne arrived in 1950. Elizabeth had two more sons- Andrew and Edward in 1960 and 1964.

In 1969, she officially made Charles her successor by granting him the title of Prince of Wales. Hundreds of millions of people tuned in to see the ceremony on television.

In 1981, 32-year-old Charles married 19-year-old Diana Spencer (best known as Princess Diana), with later rumours surfacing that he was pressured into the marriage by his family.

The Queen and Africa

Elizabeth II visited Africa 21 times during her 70-year reign.

According to the British Royal Family's website, the Queen had visited nearly every country in the Commonwealth, yet some oversea visits were more impactful than others. Her first trip was particularly important.

She maintained special ties with Britain's former colonies and the members of the Commonwealth states in Africa.

From the beginning of her reign in Kenya to her memorable meetings with Kwame Nkrumah and Nelson Mandela, the Queen had a long-standing relationship with the African continent.

In 1961, she was pictured dancing with Kwame Nkrumah, who led the campaign for Ghanas independence and became its first President.

A supporter of the recognition of African nationalism, she, along with the British government, encouraged the former colonies not only to become independent but to become republics.

Queen Elizabeth ll was one of many global leaders to take a firm stance against Apartheid in South Africa, a far cry from her fathers support of the Afrikaner regime. She notably disagreed with Margaret Thatchers opposition to sanctions against the Apartheid government, avoiding taking Britains side in the matter.

Queen Elizabeth II, amongst various other Heads of State, universally condemned the Apartheid regime at the 5th Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit hosted in Zambia in 1979 as the pressure from the international community began to grow.

The Queen would not return to South Africa until 1995, by which time democratic rule had been established under the leadership of Nelson Mandela. Alongside Nelson Mandela, she delivered an impassioned speech filled with optimism that encouraged the youth of South Africa to rebuild their nation.

No story of Queen Elizabeth IIs relationship with Africa would be complete if it did not mention her strained relations with Amin Dada.

The self-proclaimed King of Scotland and Conqueror of the British Empire seemed to enjoy teasing the Queen.

The Queen's death sent millions into grief with tributes pouring in across the globe and nations flying flags at half-mast.

Monday night, tens of thousands of people were reported to have queued through the night in Edinburgh to view the coffin in St. Giles' Cathedral.

The queues were said to have stretched well over a mile from the church.

Reports say the numbers turning out to view the Queen lying in state in London could dwarf that of Scotland.

The Queen's body is expected to be flown to London today, Tuesday evening and on Wednesday, taken to Westminster Hall, where it will lie in state until the morning of the funeral, Monday, Sept. 19.

GNA
H.E Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo

13.09.2022 LISTEN

Before, many Ghanaians speculated that the notorious Chinese "galamsey queen" Aisha Huang, who was reportedly deported in 2018, may not be true following the stories surrounding her return.

President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo's comment in an interview has confirmed the doubts of many who claim Aisha Huang was not deported.

Speaking on a Ho-based radio station as part of his working visit to the Volta region, the President reportedly said, Im not still sure whether she was in fact deported. Or whether she fled the country the first time and has now come back. There still seems to be some uncertainty about it.

He added, but whichever way it is, shes become the sort of nickname for all that galamsey represents.

The president stressed that we have concerted to work at it. We need to have the cooperation of the courts. Until recently when I came, the punishment for people caught was relatively light. [But] weve changed the law to stiffen the punishment for people caught.

Many have taken to social media to express their disappointment in the President's remarks.

According to some Facebook comments spotted by Modernghana News, President Akufo-Addo is a failed leader because he is unsure about an important issue like this that occurred during his administration.

A netizen on Facebook reacted and you call yourself a leader? What? This is typical made in "efuom. another described President Akufo-Addo as I'm not aware"and "I was mislead" President.

A third said he is not even in charge of the country. another also raised a similar concern saying you have really disappointed Ghanaians very big time.

A disappointed netizen commented, at this point, I have just given up as a Ghanaian.

Watch the Presidents comments in the video below:
The first Deputy National Women's Organizer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Hajia Safia Mohammed has congratulated Madam Mohammed Fatahia and Hajia Ubeida Nurudeen on their appointment as acting regional and deputy women's organizers of the party for the Savannah Region respectively.

In a statement issued and copied to Modern Ghana News, Hajia Safia said she was convinced without any modicum of doubt that the daunting task ahead of them will be fully embraced and well executed by them.

While urging them to put aside their personal interests and spearhead the party's interest first, she also pressed them to work zealously to prove themselves capable of the job.

"I have no doubt in you, it is my hope that eschew personal interest and put the party interest first, work zealously to echo what informed the choice of the appointing authority".

She continued, "I reaffirm my trust and confidence in you and urge you to continue the legacies I left behind to promote the growth and ideals of the women's wing in the region".

Their appointment became necessary after the first National Women's Organizer of the party, Hajia Safia Mohammed who hitherto served as the Regional Women's Organizer was elevated to the National level.

Find full statement below:

*CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE BY HAJIA SAFIA MOHAMMED, 1ST DEPUTY NATIONAL WOMENS ORGANIZER OF NPP ON THE APPOINTMENT OF MOHAMMED FATAHIA AND HAJIA UBEIDAH NURUDEEN AS ACTING REGIONAL AND DEPUTY WOMENS ORGANIZERS**

Our great tradition in the Savannah region, has once again demonstrated its democratic tenets in accordance with the constitution of the party by appointing Acting regional and Deputy Womens Organizer for Savannah region, Mohammed Fatahia and Hajia Ubeidah Nurudeen respectfully.

This appointment is to fill the vacuum created in the womens leadership front at the regional executive committee as a result of my elevation to the national level as 1st Deputy National Womens Organizer.

For and on behalf of my Boss, the National Womens Organizer, Maa Kate Gyamfua Obaatampa and the entire National womens wing, I wish to extend my warm greetings to Mohammed Fatahia and Hajia Ubeidah Nurudeen and congratulate them on their appointment as Acting regional and Deputy Womens Organizers respectively.

I reaffirm my trust and confidence in you and urge you to continue the legacies I left behind to promote the growth and ideals of the womens wing in the region.

I have no doubt in you, it is my hope that you eschew personal interest and put the party interest first, work zealously to echo what informed the choice of the appointing authority.

Ensure that every action you undertake is grounded in the partys constitution, party interest and expressed in service to humanity and society. The task ahead is daunting, however with hard work and passion, we shall overcome.

Please accept my warm congratulations on your appointment and my best wishes for your success as you prepare to take up the responsibilities and challenges ahead of your new roles.

I wish you robustness, Allah Guidance, a successful tenure and look forward to working fervently with you.

*Long Live the NPP*

*Long Live the Womens Wing of the Party*

*And God bless our Homeland Ghana*

*..sign..*

*Hajia Safia Mohammed*

*1st Deputy National Womens Organizer NPP*
Manasseh Azure Awuni, an investigative journalist has chastised President Akufo-Addo and his governments frequent defence of the judiciary.

He asks government to stop acting as the Judiciary's mouthpiece.

Manasseh further asserted in a tweet on Tuesday, September 13, that doing so doesn't paint a good image for the judiciary in the minds of the citizenry, as they will see it as a politically influenced agency.

The executive should not be actively engaged in PR for the judiciary. It doesn't look good for the image of the judiciary, the journalist shared.

Former President John Dramani Mahama, speaking at the 2nd Annual NDC Lawyers Conference on August 29, accused the judiciary of being politically biased. He added that Chief Justice Anim Yeboah has damaged the judiciary's image beyond repair.

The former President stated that only a new Chief Justice would be required to repair the judiciary's tarnished image.

This prompted President Akufo-Addo, speaking at the launch of the Ghana Bar Association's two-day conference in Ho, to dismiss and refute the former President's assertions.

True democrats, he noted, do not undermine democratic institutions, but rather make constructive suggestions to strengthen them.
Deforestation has been an issue of global concern for many years. Deforestation is a major environmental concern because of its adverse effects on ecological sustainability, agricultural productivity and overall quality of life of the people. As populations increase, there is a higher demand for both forest products and forest lands for development activities. The Food and Agricultural Organization reports that only 4 billion hectares of the 6 billion hectares of forest that existed about 8,000 years ago are now available globally. Recent estimates by the FAO suggests that, globally, nearly 10 million hectares of forest was lost between 2015-2020.

World leaders have attempted to address this issue through global conventions and goals, including the sustainable development goals .Unfortunately, these substantial global committments and investments in addressing deforestation have not been effective.

Ghana is one of the countries that has lost forest cover at a high rate. Between 1990 and 2000, Ghana lost about 135,000 hectares of forest annually. From 2001 to 2021, Ghana lost 1.4 million hectares of tree cover, representing a 20% decrease in tree cover since 2000.

Global Forest Watch (GFW) reports that Ghana lost 60% of its primary rainforest in 2018, which was the highest in the world.

One third of Ghana's land area of 238,500 km2 was forest at the start of the 1900s but now forest covers only 35.1% of the country . Forest resources are important in Ghana because most rural livelihoods are dependent on it for food and ecological balance.

The causes of the loss of forest cover are many. They include human activities such as logging, illegal mining and unsustainable farming practices.

The government of Ghana has over the years implemented a number of policies and programmes to reduce deforestation. Still, it has remained a major environmental problem. Programmes were poorly planned and carried out. They lacked sufficient logistics, funding and political commitment. Policies changed as governments did.

In 2018, Ghana launched the Youth in Afforestation programme. Its aim was to restore degraded forest cover through reforestation, rehabilitation and protection. The programme also sought to create jobs for some unemployed youth in Ghana. The plan was to employ 65,000 young people to plant about 10 million tree seedlings of different varieties across Ghana within two years, with the option of an extension based on satisfactory results.

Little research has been done on the Youth in Afforestation programme. We did our research to provide information about what the programme had contributed to forest resources management. Our assessment of its prospects and challenges could be a guide for any necessary reforms to achieve the programme's objectives.

In short, we found that the afforestation programme did create jobs in the agricultural, industrial and service sectors of the economy and help to conserve the natural environment. But there's a need to minimise political interference and ensure that the requisite human, logistical and financial resources are in place. Otherwise the progress won't be sustained.

Youth in Afforestation

The current government of Ghana introduced the Youth in Afforestation programme in 2018. Its challenges include financial, logistical, institutional and forest governance issues.

It has employed over 40,000 recruits since 2018. They are engaged in planting, tending, weeding, and thinning trees. But there are serious concerns about the sustainability of these jobs, because sustainable funding wasn't planned. As per the initial plan, the youths engaged in the programme were to be employed for a period of two years, with the possibility of an extension contingent on satisfactory outcomes.

Most of the forest districts exceeded their targets from 2018 to 2019. Put together, 67.4 million seedlings were planted as part of the programme. This must be interpreted with caution, though, because it did not take into account the seedling survival rates. We found that the programme established about 525 hectares of forest in 2018 and 788 hectares in 2019. Put together, the programme restored about 1,313 hectares of forested areas within two years of its implementation. This indicates that the programme has been effective in restoring the country's lost forest cover.

Other afforestation programmes in sub-Saharan Africa have been much more efficient. For example, the African Union's Green Wall initiative rehabilitated 3 million hectares of land in Burkina Faso from 2007 to 2019 and 15 million hectares of degraded land in Ethiopia. The same initiative led to the restoration of 5 million hectares of land in Nigeria and Niger.

The lack of sustainable funding resulting from change of governments and a lack of political commitment has led to other problems such as inadequate logistics and untimely payment of salaries to employees. We interviewed beneficiaries of the programme and found that 40% of recruits and supervisors complained about inadequate logistics. Delayed salaries were a complaint among 38% of the beneficiaries interviewed.

Political interference appeared to be the major institutional and forest governance issue confronting the sustainable implementation of the Youth in Afforestation Programme.

The Forest Services Division is the implementing agency for the programme and is responsible for supervising the recruits. But the division is not involved in recruiting field officers. That's done by the Youth Employment Agency , whose head is appointed by the ruling party. Also, 60% of the field officers interviewed said they got their appointments through their members of parliament, most of whom were members of the ruling party.

The politicised nature of the implementation process threaten its sustainability, especially when there is a change in government.

Way forward

The rapid depletion of forest resource continues to threaten sustainable economic, social, and ecological development in Ghana. The current forest restoration strategy adopted by the government through the Youth in afforestation Programme is unsustainable. To move it from rhetoric to reality, there is a need to reduce political interference and put the necessary human, logistical and financial resources in place.

The current approach should shift to a community-based and voluntary approach to forest restoration and conservation. This has been shown to work in the Philippines , for example, where students at elementary and high school and college plant 10 trees as a graduation requirement. This initiative has resulted in 175 million new tree seedlings being planted every year in the country .

Kwadwo Nketia Sarpong Kumankuma,a graduate student at the University of Stavanger and Ata Yeboah Senior co-authored this article

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

By Stephen Appiah Takyi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) And

Owusu Amponsah, Senior Lecturer, Department of planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
Residents of Nzulezo, a village on stilts in the Jomoro municipality of the Western Region believe the local gin (Akpeteshie) produced in the area is the best in the country.

They claimed that the area produces top-quality Akpeteshie that can compete with other gins even in the international market.

This came to light when the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah visited the community as part of his working visit to the municipality.

Nzulezo, the village on stilts

The Minister, who was accompanied by the Municipal Chief Executive, Louisa Iris Arde, was elated that apart from being a tourist attraction, the Nzulezo community now produces the best local gin and herbal medicines.

He stressed the need for proper packaging of the products so they would be attractive and compete with others on the market.

Later in an interview, the Minister said the region is poised to strategically position itself to become the preferred tourism destination in Ghana.

He said though the Central Region leads when it comes to tourist attractions, the Western Region intends to take over the leadership role following significant measures being put in place to turn around the fortunes of existing tourist sites.

The minister speaking to me media after the visit

The Minister who also visited Fort Apolonia in the Jomoro municipality remarked that other potential tourists site in the area would be developed to attract more tourists to the region.

He also assured that the region would continue to pursue deliberate activities to ensure that the vision was achieved.

He disclosed that plans are afoot to introduce the Nzulezo festival annually during which a canoe kayaking competition would be organized to entertain the people.

He believed that such an initiative could be a tool to leverage to promote tourism and development.

The MCE, Madam Louisa Arde also indicated that the assembly intends to help put the Nzulezo community and its activities on social media so that many people will get to know and visit the place.

The minister and his entourage on their way to the community

---DGN online
13.09.2022 LISTEN

Minority in Parliament says the Ministry of Communications and the National Communications Authority have no legal basis to implement the restrictions placed on the use of mobile telephony services by persons with unregistered SIM cards.

Last week, the NCA authorized Mobile Network Operators to restrict the making of calls from unregistered cards ahead of the September 30th deadline for registration.

There has been a shift in the policy directive of the NCA since then.

Addressing the press in Parliament, Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu called on the managers of the communications sector to desist from implementing self-serving policies such as the SIM card Re-registration exercise.

Too many silos of data in Ghana. Everybody is keeping biometric data. You cannot synchronize the data, and you still want us to support you in encroaching on the privacy rights of Ghanaian citizens.

We are calling on the Ministry of Communications and the NCA to desist from treating the communication sector as personal property at the peril of the countrys development.

Telecommunications companies have halted the barring of calls by customers who are yet to complete the registration of their SIM cards.

Citi News sources say the National Communications Authority withdrew the earlier directive to the telecommunication companies following the public backlash over the issue.

SIM card owners in Ghana who failed to re-register their cards started facing punitive actions on Monday, September 5, 2022, ahead of the September 30 deadline.

Persons who fail to comply with the directive would have their SIM cards blocked after September 30.

The National Communications Authority (NCA) was sued, with a group asking the Supreme Court to declare the deadline for registration and the associated punitive measures for non-registration null and void.

It argued that the punitive measures are unconstitutional.

By Citi Newsroom
13.09.2022 LISTEN

Former Deputy Information Minister, Felix Ofosu Kwakye has insisted that Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame has no locus to chastise former President John Dramani Mahama over his criticism of the judiciary.

The ex-president speaking at a gathering at the NDCs Lawyers Conference on Sunday, August 28, bemoaned what he termed the growing mistrust in the justice system.

He said there is an urgent need for the Ghanaian judiciary to work towards regaining the trust of the citizenry.

There is, therefore, the urgent need for the Ghanaian Judiciary to work to win the trust and confidence of the citizenry and erase the widely held perception of hostility and political bias in legal proceedings at the highest courts of the land.

Unfortunately, we have no hope that the current leadership of our Judiciary can lead such a process of change, former president John Dramani Mahama said.

The 2020 presidential candidate of the NDC added, We can only hope, that a new Chief Justice will lead the process to repair the broken image that our Judiciary has acquired over the last few years.

Speaking at the Ghana Bar Associations Annual Conference on Monday, Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame has hit out at the former president, insisting that his attack on the judiciary was deplorable.

I am compelled to comment on same in this address because they border on the security of the state and constitute a deliberate pattern of conduct aimed at undermining the independence of the Judiciary, an arm of government whose autonomy is crucial to its proper functioning.

Such conduct is clearly deplorable, coming from one who has occupied the highest office of President and aspires again to that office. At this moment, it is important for all to note that I express this sentiment not because I stand in opposition to former President Mahama as a politician, the Minister of Justice shared.

Reacting to the reply of the Attorney General today, Felix Ofosu Kwakye said Godfred Yeboah Dame is not in a position to give the NDC and John Dramani Mahama any legal advice on the countrys judiciary.

Godfred Dame is ill-suited to offer any legal advice to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Ghana's judiciary.

There's no merit in AG's attacks on John Dramani Mahama over the judiciary, the former Deputy Information Minister said on Asempa FM during an engagement on the Ekosii sen programme.

Felix Ofosu Kwakye continued, Who's Godfred Dame to chastise John Dramani Mahama on the judiciary? He has no locus to talk about the former president.

In his criticism of the President Akufo-Addo government, the aide to ex-President John Dramani Mahama said Ghana is suffering because of profligacy and corruption of the government.

He said the Akufo-Addo government is going down in history as the most corrupt in the country.
The Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) says it is unsatisfied with the Finance Ministry's explanation that it has utilized the over GH600 million unspent allocated oil revenues from 2017 on COVID-19.

Co-Chair of the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, Dr. Steve Manteaw, speaking to Citi News at a Technical Workshop on the 2019 GHEITI report on Mining and Petroleum revenues, said the reason given by the ministry is not satisfactory.

In fact, between 2017 and 2020, I personally campaigned against the Minster of Finance's inability to fully account for petroleum revenues. Thus, the ABFA allocated to the Ministry. In 2017 the government told us that the money was there, and it was being kept in the treasury main account. In 2018 there was a further unutilized Annual Budget Funding Amount, in 2019 there was a further unutilized ABFA. I chased the ministry to account for all these monies and give us proof as to where the money is. The Ministry was unable to respond in ways that are satisfactory, only for the government to come back in the 2021 budget to give the indication that the unspent amount had been used to deal with COVID-19 issues and that they've been used to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. When did COVID-19 hit us? 2020. All this while in 2017, 2018, 2019, you are saying that the monies you could not account for have suddenly been found and used for COVID-19 mitigation? he said.

Dr. Manteaw further said that if it is found that the Finance Minister truly utilized the allocated petroleum revenues to specific projects on COVID-19, it would amount to arbitrary expenditure in breach of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act.

Even if we were to accept that explanation, further questions arise. They went through the Parliamentary processes and were approved by Parliament, so the Finance Minister cannot out of his own discretion use those monies without going back to Parliament. So then if it were even the case that the government has used those monies to take care of the impact of COVID-19, it still would have violated the law if he did so without recourse to Parliament, he noted.
A senior lecturer at the Planning Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr Stephen Takyi has challenged the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) to lead the way for review of the 1992 constriction as well as judicial reform.

He has therefore, urged the GBA to lead the advocacy in the implementation of Constitutional Review commission reports.

Dr Takyi believes the review when done, would help tackle aspects of the 1992 Constitution that have outlived their usefulness.

Speaking on the Kumasi-based OTEC 102.9 FM's morning show dubbed "Nyansapo," on Tuesday, September 13, the planner said, "GBA have a huge responsibility and lead the overwhelming calls for constitutional review of the 1992 constriction as well as judicial reform to protect the interest of the ordinary citizens in Ghana.

"One particular area that needs urgent changes is delays in justice delivery system, the lengthy time used to bring the finality of one case in Ghana to thwart gains in the country's Judicial system and so I am entreating the GBA to aid in these areas".

GBA should also be equally concerned about the appointment of Chief Justice, IGP and EC boss by the Executive", the Canadian trained planner Dr Stephen Takyi the host of the programme Captain Koda.

He continued, the powers given to the executive to appoint Chief Justice and other Justices to the Superior courts is too much and can create suspicion among the political divide, therefore, there is the need to divulge that powers from executives to ensure more transparence and trust of the bench".

Dr Takyi who is an expert in Development Planning observed that even though many operational aspects of the Constitution contained enough reasons to warrant a review, there had not been enough commitment, dedication and determination by successive governments to trigger amendment processes hence the need for GBA to intervene.
North Tongu Member of Parliament, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

13.09.2022 LISTEN

Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says he is horrified by President Akufo-Addos uncertainty about whether or not Aisha Huang was deported or she fled the country in 2018 when she was arrested for her illegal mining activities.

Speaking on a Ho-based radio station in an interview, the President said he is unsure whether the Chinese national was indeed deported or she fled the country.

Im not still sure whether she was in fact deported. Or whether she fled the country the first time and has now come back. There still seems to be some uncertainty about itBut whichever way it is, shes become the sort of nickname for all that galamsey represents, President Akufo-Addo said.

Being interviewed on the latest revelation this evening, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says he is in shock.

According to him, the statement by the President is an indication that Ghana is doomed.

Ghana is in a state of crisis. We are doomed. When the commander in chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, the chair of the National Security Council, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo looks at us in the face, broad daylight in an open interview and tells us that on this matter which has been trending for weeks, which has been topical and has been on the front burners, the president tells us that he doesnt know if Aisha Huang was deported or if she fled. Can you believe that? Absolutely mind-boggling, the North Tongu MP told Citi FM in an interview.

He said the uncertainty on the part of the President is evidence that he is not on top of issues. He alleges that it may also be the case that the President himself is in bed with Aisha Huang and her illegal mining activities.

Is it that this is some form of grand conspiracy where he himself is neck-deep? Because it is one of two things. Either he is sleeping on the job, he is so clueless, he is so inept and he doesnt care about the security and stability of this country because Im frightened to death. The only second plausible option is that he is neck deep in this grand conspiracy, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa opined.

The North Tongu MP further reiterated the need for a full-scale independent national inquiry to get to the bottom of the whole Aisha Huang case.
13.09.2022 LISTEN

The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) in partnership with the African Coconut Group (ACG) will hold the second International Coconut Festival in Ghana under the theme "Repositioning Ghana's Coconut Sector for the Accelerated Industrialization Agenda".

The 2022 edition was launched on Friday, August 12 at Alabokazo in the Ellembele District of the Western Region.

In her address, the CEO of GEPA, Dr. Asabea Asare, assured stakeholders in the coconut industry of GEPA's commitment to supporting the industry to achieve an expected annual revenue of USD2.8 billion in exports.

This year's event will take place from the 20th to the 23rd of September at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).

Other activities include seminar, mentorship for young people and sessions with women in coconut.

In 2019, GEPA partnered with ACG to hold the first ever International Coconut Festival in Ghana, which brought together exhibitors as well as major players to promote the coconut business.

The government of Ghana added coconut to the National Tree Crop Development Authority (NTCDA), which was established in 2019 and mandated to develop and regulate the production, processing, marketing and export of coconut and other selected tree crops.

According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database for the year 2017, Ghana ranked 14th on the list of the world's top coconut producers with 383,960 metric tonnes produced in 2017 alone.

The country's export of desiccated coconut alone amounted to 21.9 million dollars in 2021 from 6.3 million dollars in 2020 and 3.8 million dollars in 2019, making Ghana 9th in global export of desiccated coconut.
Amateur radio historic event set for Oct. 1

The Southern Ohio Amateur Radio Association (SOARA) and the Lawrence County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) members will participate in an On the Air Special Historical Event, Saturday, Oct. 1

The SOARA members will join with other invited amateur radio clubs across the Tri-State area to participate in this event. Several special amateur radios operating on different frequencies will be set up at the Burlington Commons shelter on the Ohio Riverbank in Burlington, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Amateurs will be operating radio equipment that will allow contacts to be made not only across the Tri-State, but throughout the United States and countries around the world. The radio stations will use the SOARAs club FCC call sign, W8SOE.

A rainout date is set for Oct. 15.

In the last several years SOARA has participated in special radio events celebrating the rich historical heritage of Lawrence County. Last year they were at the Lake Vesuvius Iron Furnace, and in prior years, the Lawrence County Courthouse and the Covered Bridge at Scottown.

This year, in keeping with the historical event series, SOARA members will bring attention to the early history of Lawrence County and its first county seat, established in 1817 at Burlington.

Read the full article at:

https://www.irontontribune.com/2022/09/13/amateur-radio-historic-event-set-for-oct-1/
September 13, 2022

A Peace Proposal For Ukraine

b here:

The text below, an outline of a peace agreement over Ukraine, was send to me by a west-European source that wants to stay anonymous. Its purpose is to begin a discussion about the content of such an agreement. As such it is starting point, not an end result.

I personally disagree with many of its clauses. With some for practical reasons, with others for the legal consequences they imply (III.1).

But one has to start somewhere if one wants to discuss how the war in Ukraine should or can end.

---

A Peace Russia Should Propose

By RationalPeacekeeper

Background:

Nobody knows where this is going to end. The only thing for sure is that the risk of nuclear Armageddon for humanity has increased dramatically. This is insane. At the moment, no party seems to be interested in ending the conflict peacefully. However minute the prospect of settling this conflict may be, and however illusory it might be perceived, it is worth discussing visionary plans on which reasonable people could agree on.

This is a Russian-friendly perspective. People brainwashed with western propaganda will have a hard time to digest it. The objective therefore is not to promote to dishonest catchwords such as territorial integrity or defending our freedom but to focus on what is best for peoples lives, based on humanitarian principles and readiness for reconciliation.

Such a peace will need international mediation. Since organizations such as the UN and OSCE are western-dominated, a balanced choice of countries has to be made which have kept a neutral status and no interest in continuing the war. Examples, not complete: Turkey, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, India, China, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico. These will be called peace countries in the following. This is how a sketch of an agreement could look:

I. Military:

1. General ceasefire

2. Soldiers of peace countries are deployed to the front line after conflict parties guaranties.

3. Heavy weapons are retreated at a distance of 30 km from the frontline.

4. Irrespective of details, the overall objectives are transparency of the peace process and to hinder the outbreak of spontaneous hostilities.

5. Peace countries control the ceasefire agreement. Treason of individuals in favor of one of the conflict parties must be severely punished.

6. Conflict parties commit to reveal reconnaissance data when ceasefire violations occur.

II. Territory:

1. Since a referendum with clear outcome has taken place, Crimea remains Russian.

2. The Donbas Republics are recognized, but have to cede a part of their sovereignty to an international administration run by the peace countries. They must be demilitarized.

3. The oblasts Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are under sovereignty and administration of the peace countries for two years and become demilitarized.

4. After two years, a referendum is held to decide whether Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia (each for their own) become independent or remain part of Ukraine. Independence implies the right to become part of the Russian federation later. The anonymous referendum is organized by the peace countries. A majority of 60 percent is required for the decision, otherwise the referendum has to be repeated. After the referendum, there is a transition period in which people are guaranteed a fair compensation for abandoned property.

5. The oblasts Cherniv, Sumy, Kharkov, Dnjepropetrowsk, Nikolaev and Odessa become demilitarized.

III. Politics:

1. Russia acknowledges the violation of international law in 2022, NATO and EU acknowledge their responsibility for the conflict since 2014.

2. Ukraine can politically become a NATO member, but no foreign troops and no missile systems can be deployed on its territory. Ukraine can become EU member.

3. Ukraines constitution must guarantee equal rights to all ethnicities. Russian must become an official language.

4. All political prisoners must be released, all parties prohibited since 2014 must be allowed, all media closed since 2014 must become legal again. All laws concerning collaboration with occupants must be abolished.

5. Extremism and promoting ethnic conflicts must be punished by law.

6. Ukraine must tolerate access and control of the above regulations by peace countries.

7. Arms control negotiations are resumed.

IV. Economics:

1. Russia pays a significant compensation for civilian casualties, such as 100.000 Euro for each documented victim, distributed over 5-10 years.

2. Russia pays for damaged civilian buildings and infrastructure an amount of 100 billion euros, distributed over 10 years.

Remark: this is not to disregard civilian casualties in Russia or Donbas, but a consequence of the economic realities.

3. NATO/EU and allied countries lift all sanctions against Russia. Russia commits to pre-war obligations.

V. Society:

1. Russia, Ukraine and NATO officially regret the casualties since 2014.

2. Amnesty in Ukraine and Russia for all non-violent criminal offenses regarding the conflict.

3. War crimes of individuals are brought to a court consisting of judges of peace countries. Conflict parties cede their right of prosecution and commit to collaborating in the investigations.

4. All restrictions on media are lifted in Russia, Ukraine and EU.

5. A joint internet mourning site is set up for all victims of the war, to document the horrors of war in the spirit of reconciliation.

6. A commission of historians and scientists working on all controversial events of the past decades, such as MH 17, Skripal, etc. (List not complete!) An annual conference is to held, with open access to anyone interested. All governments commit to disclose relevant information. The objective is to allow for dissenting opinions while following an evidence- based approach.

7. An international political discussion forum, similar to talk shows, with automatic translations and video streaming is established. All countries commit to send high-rank officials and guarantee access to journalists.

8. All parties commit to intercultural dialogue. All travel restrictions are lifted, electronic visas for tourists should be issued on short notice.

9. A permanent commission involving peace countries can propose amendments to this treaty.

To be signed by: Russia, Ukraine, all NATO members, EU members, peace countries.

To reiterate: Given the state of western governments, I have no illusions that they are even faintly interested in implementing such a plan. Public discussion about a peaceful solution must start however.

Posted by b on September 13, 2022 at 9:16 UTC | Permalink

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TORONTO (AP)  A man shot and killed a Toronto traffic police officer while he was on lunch break and killed another person and injured three others Monday before police tracked the suspect down and killed him in a cemetery, officials said.

Authorities issued an emergency alert to phones saying they were investigating an active shooter following two shootings in Mississauga and Milton in the province of Ontario.

He was getting food and coffee at Tim Hortons, Toronto Mayor John Tory said of the doughnut and coffee chain.

Tory told The Associated Press he met Constable Andrew Hong previously.

He was a gentle giant, he said.

Toronto Police Chief James Ramer said Hong of traffic services was shot at close range. Hong, 48, was a 22-year veteran of the force. The married father of two was in Mississauga participating in a joint training exercise with Peel and York regional police.

While on lunch break he was shot in an unprovoked, and may I say in an ambush attack," Peel Region Police Chief Nishan Duraiappa said. In the same incident a second victim suffered life altering injuries and is currently being treated.

Duraiappa said the armed suspect then fled the scene in a black Jeep Cherokee. Shortly afterward in Milton, police received information of a shooting that resulted in one death and two others being wounded. He said the suspect then fled the scene and died after a police interaction at a cemetery in Hamilton, Ontario.

Hamilton Police confirmed via Twitter that one person was taken into custody and pronounced deceased in connection with shooting investigations in Mississauga and Milton. Hamilton's police chief said the suspect died in the Hamilton Cemetery.

Ontarios Special Investigations Unit has invoked its mandate at the scene of the death of the suspect. The unit gets involved when there is a death or serious injury involving police.

Police did not identify the deceased suspect.

Police had said in the emergency alert to the public that they were looking for a stolen Black Jeep Cherokee and the suspect dressed in black with a construction vest.

Like all Ontarians, Im horrified by todays senseless violence, including the killing of a Toronto police officer, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a tweet. Im so grateful to law enforcement for bringing this situation to an end. May justice for those killed and injured be swift.

Peel Regional Police Constable Heather Cannon later said the public safety alert is no longer in effect.
PARIS (AP)  French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday announced a national debate on end-of-life options that will include exploring the possibility of legalizing assisted suicide.

A 2016 French law provides that doctors can keep terminally ill patients sedated before death but stops short of allowing assisted suicide.

Macron said in a written statement that a panel of citizens would work on the issue in coordination with health care workers over the coming months, while local debates are organized in French regions.

The government plans to hold parallel discussions with lawmakers from all political parties to find the broadest consensus, with the aim of implementing changes next year, the president's statement said.

Some French patients travel to other European countries to seek further end-of-life options. While campaigning for his successful reelection this year, Macron promised to open the debate in France, suggesting he was personally in favor of legalizing physician-assisted suicide.

Assisted suicide, which involves patients self-administering a lethal dose of drugs, is allowed in Switzerland. Euthanasia, a process in which a medical professional directly gives the drugs, is currently legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain under certain conditions. .

Macron's announcement came the day the family of French director Jean-Luc Godard said he died by assisted suicide at his home in the Swiss town of Rolle.

French polls in recent years steadily showed a broad majority of people are in favor of legalizing euthanasia.

The current law allows patients to request deep, continuous sedation altering consciousness until death but only when their conditions are likely to lead to a quick death.

Doctors are allowed to stop life-sustaining treatments, including artificial hydration and nutrition. Sedation and painkillers are allowed even if they may shorten the persons life.
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CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday his official delegation to Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral next week will include racehorse trainer Chris Waller and wheelchair tennis star Dylan Alcott.

Waller and Alcott are among 10 everyday Australians who will represent Australia at Mondays state funeral at Westminster Abbey in London, Albanese said.
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EDINBURGH, Scotland  King Charles III and his siblings have stood in silent vigil around their mother Queen Elizabeth IIs coffin in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward lowered their heads as they stood at four sides of the oak coffin. They stood for about 10 minutes alongside four members of the Royal Company of Archers, who stood guard armed with arrows and quivers.

As they performed the traditional vigil, a procession of members of the public lined up to view the queens coffin and filed past. Some bowed as they passed the king, while others walked solemnly by with their heads lowered.

___

KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

 Queen hailed in Scotland as a constant in our lives

 Loss of unifying queen could fray the bonds of fractious UK

 People wanting to pay final respects to queen face long wait, strict rules

 For Queen Elizabeth II, Balmoral estate was place to be normal

 Queen Elizabeth II loved corgis breed from childhood

 Former British colonies are conflicted over Queen Elizabeth II's legacy

 Whats next for the UK as Queen Elizabeth II laid to rest

 What will happen to all the currencies that feature the queen?

 The queen, as imagined  from punk rock to mystery novels

 Find more AP coverage here: https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii

___

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

LONDON  Officials in charge of the park outside Buckingham Palace have told people to stop leaving marmalade sandwiches as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II because of the negative impact on the parks wildlife.

Some mourners have left the snacks alongside floral tributes at Buckingham Palace and neighboring Green Park. The sandwiches are a reference to a comedy sketch featuring the queen and an animated Paddington Bear filmed for the late monarchs Platinum Jubilee earlier this year.

In the video, the queen said that like Paddington Bear she also favors marmalade sandwiches and hides them in her purse for later.

The Royal Parks organization said Monday people should not leave the snacks but could leave teddy bears and other items if they wished.

___

EDINBURGH, Scotland  St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh has opened to members of the public who wish to pay their last respects to Queen Elizabeth II, whose coffin is lying at rest inside.

The Scottish government is warning that the line, and waiting times, are expected to be long, with perhaps hours of standing. Visitors can leave the line to use toilet facilities.

Authorities have introduced airport-style security, banning people from taking inside the cathedral any large bags, sharp items, or food or liquids.

Similar crowds are expected in London, where the coffin can be visited from Wednesday.

___

EDINBURGH, Scotland  Four members of the Royal Company of Archers are standing vigil over Queen Elizabeth IIs flag-draped coffin in St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

They are a striking presence, wearing hats called Balmoral bonnets adorned with a single eagle feather. Each of them is holding a wooden bow and a quiver of arrows.

The company, which officially functions as the British sovereigns bodyguard in Scotland, is an archery club established in 1676, according to the royal website.

Membership to the ceremonial company is by election -- members must be Scots or have strong Scottish connection, the site says.

Steeped in history, the company is endowed with perpetual access to public locations including plains and pasturages legally allotted for shooting arrows, in return for presenting the sovereign with three barbed arrows on request.

___

LONDON  A line has already started forming to view Queen Elizabeth IIs coffin when she lies in state in London, even though that wont start till Wednesday evening.

Security staff are preparing for millions of people to pay their respects to the late monarch, whose coffin will be in Londons Westminster Hall until her state funeral on Sept. 19.

Vanessa Nathakumaran, 56, travelled Monday from Harrow near London to Lambeth Bridge in central London, where the entrance of the line is expected to be set up.

I really, really want to be part of it, said Nathakumaran, who is originally from Sri Lanka  a country once called Ceylon and ruled by Britain.

The line is expected to stretch from Parliament along the bank of the River Thames.

Officials have advised commuters in the city to change their working patterns because London is expected to be extremely busy in coming days.

___

EDINBURGH, Scotland  A memorial service for Queen Elizabeth II at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh has ended, and members of the public will soon be allowed inside to pay their respects.

The coffin, with the Crown of Scotland resting on a cushion on top of it, is to stay in the 12th-century cathedral through Tuesday.

Thousands of people lined the route of the procession through the Scottish capitals Old Town to the cathedral, as the former monarchs children  including new sovereign King Charles III  walked behind the hearse.

The memorial service featured Karen Matheson singing Psalm 118 in Gaelic, with harp accompaniment, and a reading from Ecclesiastes by the head of the Scottish government, Nicola Sturgeon.

The congregation sang The Lords My Shepherd, said to be one of the queens favorite hymns.

Members of the royal family were to hold a vigil by the coffin in the evening.

___

EDINBURGH, Scotland  Queen Elizabeth IIs coffin has arrived at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh for a memorial service.

A hearse containing the coffin headed a procession Monday through the Scottish capitals Old Town. Thousands of people lined the street known as the Royal Mile, which links Edinburgh Castle with the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

St. Giles Cathedral, founded in the 1130s, is holding a service of thanksgiving.

Afterward, members of the public will be allowed inside to file past the coffin. Some have been waiting since around dawn.

___

EDINBURGH, Scotland  The children of Queen Elizabeth II are accompanying their mothers coffin on a procession through the Scottish capital.

A military bagpiper played mournful music as the coffin, draped in the royal standard, was carried from the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh and placed in a hearse Monday.

King Charles III, dressed in army uniform, and his siblings Princes Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward are walking behind the hearse as the procession moves slowly toward St. Giles Cathedral.

The hearse is flanked by a bearer party of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and a detachment of The Kings Body Guard in Scotland, the Royal Company of Archers.

The coffin will remain at the cathedral until Tuesday so that members of the public can pay their respects.

___

LONDON  A plane carrying King Charles has landed in Edinburgh, where the new monarch is due to accompany his late mothers coffin in a procession through the heart of the Scottish capital.

The procession Monday will bear the former sovereigns coffin to a cathedral, where it will remain for 24 hours to allow the public to pay their last respects.

Lines of people waiting to file past the coffin at St. Giles Cathedral began forming around dawn.

Charles flew to Scotland after earlier receiving condolences from both Britains houses of parliament.

He told lawmakers he will follow his late mothers example of selfless duty.

___

LONDON  Britain is to observe a nationwide minute of silence Sunday, on the eve of Queen Elizabeth IIs funeral.

The British government says the moment of reflection will take place at 8 p.m. (1900GMT).

People are encouraged to mark the silence at home or at community events.

The queens funeral will be held next Monday at Westminster Abbey.

Britains monarch of the past 70 years died Thursday in Scotland at the age of 96.

___

LONDON  King Charles and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, have boarded a flight to Edinburgh where the new monarch will take part in a procession bearing his late mothers coffin to St. Giles Cathedral.

The plane left RAF Northolt on the outskirts of London for the flight to Edinburgh Airport on Monday.

In the Scottish capital, Charles and Camilla were due at Hollyroodhouse palace where Queen Elizabeths coffin stayed overnight. It arrived there after a six-hour journey in a hearse from the queens beloved Balmoral Castle summer retreat, where the 96-year-old sovereign died Thursday.

The royal couple are to attend a service of remembrance for the queen, visit the Scottish Parliament and meet senior officials.

___

LONDON  A 100-year-old British woman says she received a congratulatory telegram from Queen Elizabeth II the day after the monarchs death.

Gwendolyn Hoare read out the telegram in a recording shared with the BBC by her family and aired Monday.

She said it made her feel quite tearful and added: Im a royalist ... old fashioned.

Hoares niece, Sue Beckett, posted a message to a BBC online page which is compiling tributes to the late queen. She said the telegram arrived Friday, a day before her aunts 100th birthday, and a day after the 96-year-old queen had died at her Balmoral estate in Scotland.

For decades she talked about receiving a telegram from the Queen and was devastated to hear the news ... but her telegram arrived (on Friday) and she was ecstatic, Beckett wrote.

The British monarch traditionally sends a telegram of congratulations to citizens who reach the age of 100.

___

LONDON  King Charles III has addressed lawmakers in Britains Parliament, telling them: I cannot but help feel the weight of history which surrounds us.

Charles told members of the House of Commons and House of Lords that he would follow his late mother Queen Elizabeth II in upholding the precious principles of constitutional governance that underpin the U.K.s political system.

He paid tribute to his mother, saying: As Shakespeare said of the earlier Queen Elizabeth, she was a pattern to all princes living.

Charles is due to travel from Parliament to Edinburgh and accompany the queens coffin to St. Giles Cathedral for a service of remembrance.

___

LONDON  In a first official statement since the queens death, her grandson Prince Harry has hailed her as a guiding compass and praised her unwavering grace and dignity.

The personal statement, posted Monday on Harry and his wife Meghans Archwell website, said he cherished their times together from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my Commander-in-Chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved greatgrandchildren.

Harry quit as a senior royal and moved to the U.S. two years ago. On Saturday, he and Meghan joined his brother Prince William and his wife Catherine in meeting mourners outside Windsor Castle.

___

WELLINGTON, New Zealand  New Zealand has announced it will mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II with a public holiday on Sept. 26.

The nation will also hold a state memorial service in the capital, Wellington, on the same day. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Elizabeth was an extraordinary person and many people would appreciate the opportunity to mark her death and celebrate her life.

As New Zealands queen and much-loved sovereign for over 70 years, it is appropriate that we mark her life of dedicated public service with a state memorial service and a one-off public holiday, Ardern said.

She also said she would be leaving this week for Britain to attend Elizabeths funeral.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  A pro bull rider was killed in Utah overnight Monday in what Salt Lake City police are calling a domestic violence homicide.

Demetrius Omar Lateef Allen, who went by the name Ouncie Mitchell as a pro bull rider, was found shot outside an apartment complex in Salt Lake City, police said in a news release. Allen, 27, was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Police arrested LaShawn Denise Bagley, a 21-year-old woman, on suspicion of murder.

Bagley and Allen had been in a relationship. Allen had come to Utah to attend the state fair and was staying with Bagley. The two got into a fight at a bar, and Allen went to Bagley's apartment to get his things, where he was shot, police said.

Bagley was booked into jail. No charges had been filed as of Monday afternoon. It is unknown if she has an attorney.

Sean Gleason, commissioner of Professional Bull Riders, PBR, said in a statement that Allen is the same person who goes by the name Ouncie Mitchell. He said the organization was saddened to find out about the death of a rider who had become a familiar face on the PBR Velocity Tour and competed in the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo. He was from Fresno, Texas, according to his bio on the PBR website.

Ouncie got his name because he was born small, Gleason said. He grew up to compete with a huge heart. The PBR organization sincerely extends our own heartfelt condolences to Ouncies cousin Ezekiel Mitchell and the entire Mitchell family.
Federico Candoni / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

On Monday, the Odessa Police Department Twitter account posted a series of photos seeking the public's help identifying two woman it said entered the H-E-B located at at 3801 E 42nd St. and "left without paying for several items."

Alongside the photos, the tweet included a short caption reading "Caught on Camera" as well as a link with information about the incident.
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KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukrainian troops piled pressure on retreating Russian forces Tuesday, pressing deeper into occupied territory and sending more Kremlin troops fleeing ahead of the counteroffensive that has inflicted a stunning blow on Moscows military prestige.

As the advance continued, Ukraines border guard services said the army took control of Vovchansk  a town just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Russia seized on the first day of the war. Russia has acknowledged that it recently withdrew troops from areas in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.

Russian troops were also pulling out from Melitopol, the second largest city in Ukraines southern Zaporizhzhia region, the citys pre-occupation mayor said. His claim could not immediately be verified.

Melitopol has been occupied since early March. Capturing it would give Kyiv an opportunity to disrupt Russian supply lines between the south and the eastern Donbas region, the two major areas where Moscow-backed forces hold territory.

Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram that the Russian troops were heading toward Moscow-annexed Crimea. He said columns of military equipment were reported at a checkpoint in Chonhar, a village marking the boundary between the Crimean peninsula and the Ukrainian mainland.

In the newly freed village of Chkalovske in the Kharkiv region, Svitlana Honchar said the Russians' departure was sudden and swift.

They left like the wind, Honchar said Tuesday after loading cans of food aid into her car. "They were fleeing by any means they could.

Some Russians appeared to have been left behind in the hasty retreat. They were trying to catch up," she said.

It was not yet clear if the Ukrainian blitz, which unfolded after months of little discernible movement, could signal a turning point in the nearly seven-month war.

But the country's officials were buoyant, releasing footage showing their forces burning Russian flags and inspecting abandoned, charred tanks. In one video, border guards tore down a poster that read, We are one people with Russia.

Momentum has switched back and forth before, and Ukraine's American allies were careful not to declare a premature victory since Russian President Vladimir Putin still has troops and resources to tap.

In the face of Russia's largest defeat since its botched attempt to capture Kyiv early in the war, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops were hitting back with massive strikes in all sectors. But there were no immediate reports of a sudden uptick in Russian attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces were carrying out stabilization measures across recaptured territory in the south and east, and rounding up Russian troops, saboteurs and alleged collaborators.

In his nightly address, Zelenskyy also pledged to restore normalcy in the liberated areas.

It is very important that together with our troops, with our flag, ordinary, normal life enters the de-occupied territory," he said, citing an example of how people in one village had already begun receiving pension payments after months of occupation.

Reports of chaos abounded as Russian troops pulled out  as well as claims that they were surrendering en masse. The claims could not be confirmed.

Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said Kyiv is trying to persuade even more Russian soldiers to give up, launching shells filled with flyers ahead of their advance.

Russians use you as cannon fodder. Your life doesnt mean anything for them. You dont need this war. Surrender to Armed Forces of Ukraine," the flyers read.

In the wake of the retreat, Ukrainian authorities moved into several areas to investigate alleged atrocities committed by Russian troops against civilians.

Since Saturday, the Kharkiv regional police have repeatedly reported that local law enforcement officers have found civilian bodies bearing signs of torture across territories formerly held by Russia. It was not possible to verify their statements.

On Tuesday, regional police alleged that Russian troops set up a torture chamber at the local police station in Balakliya, a town of 25,000, that was occupied from March until last week.

In a Facebook post, the head of the police forces investigative department, Serhii Bolvinov, cited testimony from Balakliya residents and claimed that Russian troops always kept at least 40 people captive on the premises.

Meanwhile, military analysts sought to understand the blow sustained by Moscow.

British intelligence said that one premier force, the 1st Guards Tank Army, had been severely degraded during the invasion, along with the conventional Russian forces designed to counter NATO.

"It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability, the British officials said.

The setback might renew Russia's interest in peace talks, said Abbas Gallyamov, an independent Russian political analyst and former speechwriter for Putin.

But even if Putin were to sit down at the negotiating table, Zelenskyy has made it clear that Russia must return all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, Gallyamov said.

This is unacceptable to Moscow, so talks are, strictly speaking, impossible, he said.

Putins previous actions have restricted his room to maneuver," so he wouldnt be able to put anything meaningful on the table.

For talks to be possible, Putin would need to leave and be replaced by someone whos relatively untarnished by the current situation," such as his deputy chief of staff, the Moscow mayor or the Russian prime minister, Gallyamov said.

The retreat did not stop Russia from pounding Ukrainian positions. It shelled the city of Lozova in the Kharkiv region, killing three people and injuring nine, said regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.

And Ukrainian officials said Russia kept up shelling around Europes largest nuclear facility, where fighting has raised fears of a nuclear disaster. The Nikopol area, which is across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, was shelled six times during the night, but no injuries were immediately reported, said regional Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko.

Strikes have also continued unabated on the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest and one that has been hammered by artillery for months.

Among Kharkiv's battle-scarred apartment buildings, one man who returned to feed the birds struck a defiant tone, saying that the success of the Ukrainian counteroffensive would likely prompt harsh Russian retaliation against civilian targets. But he said the Kremlin would not succeed in intimidating ordinary Ukrainians.

Putin will strike so we dont have water, electricity, to create more chaos and intimidate us," said Serhii who only gave his first name. "But he will not succeed because we will survive, and Putin will soon croak!

The counteroffensive has provoked rare public criticism of Putins war in Russia. Some of the war's defenders played down the idea that the success belonged to Ukraine, blaming instead Western weapons and fighters for the losses.

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Arhirova reported from Kyiv.

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Follow AP war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Members of the Midland Development Corp. took steps at their monthly meeting to accelerate expansion of Midlands Todd Drive and overpass at County Road 1160.

Board members unanimously approved a resolution amending the MDCs economic agreement with the city that committed $1.73 million to purchase right-of-way to widen Todd Drive between Business Interstate 20 and Loop 250, from north of Loop 250 to Occidental Parkway and then design an overpass at Todd Drive and Loop 250.

The amended agreement reduces the funding for right-of-way purchases to $755,939.01, shifting $974,060 to funding design of the overpass. That $974,060 will be paid to Kimley-Horn under a professional services agreement to design mainline, bridge and intersection improvements at Todd Drive and Loop 250. Those designs will be donated to the Texas Department of Transportation so that the project will be shovel-ready when any TxDOT funding becomes available.

James Beauchamp, president of the Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance (MOTRAN) briefed board members on infrastructure projects and initiatives, telling them having two interstate designations  I-14 and I-27  was significant in potentially opening opportunities for other future projects.

Beauchamp said his organization expects to spend a lot of time this year on advancing the Interstate-14 designation, working with the I-14 caucus to get additional funding for an implementation study.

The most important aspect is better connections to ports, he told the board members, citing the Port of Savannah in Georgia  the nations third busiest port. Savannah already exports some liquefied natural gas and crude and wants to expand, he said, which would give Permian Basin operators another option to send their production.

After his presentation, board members approved a resolution executing an economic development agreement with MOTRAN for $142,500 to continue MOTRANs work raising funds and promoting infrastructure projects in the Permian Basin.,

Weve been supporting MOTRAN since 2010, noted Stephen Lowery, MDC board chairman.

Ann Hankins, part of Midland Community Theaters Strategic Planning Steering Committee, made a presentation on the theaters capital campaign to fund expansion of the theater and requested $100,000 from the MDC for the project.

Wed love you to part of the project and finish (theater founder) Art Coles vision, she said.

The expansion has three aspects: Double the size of the lobby; do away with the small, barely used amphitheater and use that space to double, almost triple the space for educational programs, which serve about 800 Midland kids; and, third, technical upgrades that would convert the back wall of the main stage into a 1,200-square-foot LED wall, one of, if not the, largest LED walls in the country.

Finally, board members approved an $80,000 consulting services agreement with The Perryman Group to provide economic indices and reports.

MDC Executive Director Sara Harris said the reports Perryman provides are well-viewed on the corporations web site and are also highly requested by developers looking at the Midland marketplace.

Midland Mayor Patrick Payton asked that the board consider supplementing Perrymans work with reports from other consultants every couple of years so that the reports arent seen as saying what we want them to say.
Vietnam Opening and Senior Hire for Behaviorally

Shopper and digital marketing consultancy Behaviorally has opened an office in Hanoi, Vietnam, and appointed Tomas Emmers there as Vice President.



The firm, which combines a proprietary behavioral framework with insights and category expertise, continues to expand with new offices recently in the US, Switzerland, France, Germany, Australia, The Philippines and Thailand.



Emmers brings more than 37 years of business experience. He joins from GfK where he was Vice President of Strategy Deployment in the APAC region, and earlier worked as VP of Global Marketing Effectiveness in the Amsterdam office. Earlier he worked as Global Head of CMI at Heineken and Global CMI VP Homecare at Unilever; and agency side at Hall and Partners and AC Nielsen Vietnam.



Group President Crispin Beale comments: 'We are truly excited for Tomas to join Behaviorally's growing Asia team. He is passionate about driving business growth and leading teams. With his extensive knowledge and history in the industry, he's going to be an instrumental team player to help us implement our strategic vision in this region as we keep growing to ensure we help our customers with a global network and local mindset and expertise'.



Web site: www.behaviorally.com .




FatCamera/Getty Images

Jacksonville High School will host a community blood drive from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 30 in the auditorium of the school at 1211 N. Diamond St.

Donors must be at least 17 years old and weigh more than 110 pounds. Photo identification is needed to donate, and masks and appointments are required.
Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Dimaggio R. Trotter, 21, of 336 E. Douglas Ave. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 10:18 p.m. Sunday on a charge of possession of adult-use cannabis by a passenger.

 Jettakiah A. Toney, 21, of 204 E. Main St., Rochester, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 10:07 p.m. Sunday on charges of possession of cannabis, speeding and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

 Justin F. Irsik, 28, of 1206 Sixth St., Pawnee, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 6:05 a.m. Saturday on charges of possession of adult-use cannabis by a driver, improper lane use and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 A 13-year-old girl, a 14-year-old girl, a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old juvenile were cited on charges of violating curfew after police said they were in the 900 block of West Morton Avenue at 2:57 a.m. Monday.

 Trina R. Christian, 44, homeless, was arrested at 3:20 p.m. Sunday in the 700 block of North East Street on a charge of possession of methamphetamine and on a Morgan County warrant accusing her of violating probation.

 Perry Handy, 48, of 1117 E. Morton Ave. was arrested at 9:19 a.m. Sunday on a retail theft charge. He was accused of taking two bottles of Mountain Dew and a bottle of liquid detergent from Jiffi Stop at 841 W. Morton Ave. on Friday without paying.

ACCIDENTS

 A 16-year-old girl was hit by a car about 11:45 p.m. Friday while riding her bicycle at Morton and Clay avenues. She was treated at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital and released, according to a report filed at 7:48 a.m. Monday.

 Kaliya N. Mapes, 29, of 1042 E. Morton Ave. was arrested at 9:33 p.m. Sunday on a charge of driving under the influence and cited on a charge of improper lane use after the car she was driving went off the road in the 600 block of Hardin Avenue and slid into a parking block while turning onto Chambers Street.

THEFTS, BURGLARIES

 A wallet was stolen between 7 p.m. Sunday and 6:56 a.m. Monday from a vehicle parked in the 900 block of East College Avenue.

VANDALISM

 A window was broken at AmVets, 210 E. Court St., according to a report at 10:47 a.m. Sunday.

Brown County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Tammy L. Lewis, 58, of Mount Sterling was cited at 1:32 a.m. Aug. 28 on charges of failing to notify of damage after striking property and failing to wear a seat belt.

 Russell L. Williams, 55, of South Jacksonville was booked into Pike County Jail at 6:50 p.m. Thursday on a charge of probable cause aggravated domestic battery.

Pike County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Mauricio A. Chavez, 31, of Baltimore was booked into Pike County Jail at 7:26 p.m. Wednesday on a charge of driving under the influence.

 Dale D. Bolton, 27, of Griggsville was booked into Pike County Jail at 1:41 p.m. Sept. 6 on a petition to revoke conditional discharge.

 Jernial A. Harris, 50, of Griggsville was booked into Pike County Jail at 8:55 p.m. Friday on charges of making a false alarm or complaint to 911, resisting or obstructing a peace officer, and probable cause possession of adult-use cannabis by a driver.

 Scott M. Shaw, 40, of Griggsville was booked into Pike County Jail at 11:35 a.m. Saturday on a petition to revoke or modify bond.

 James M. Gardiner, 53, of Hull was booked into Pike County Jail at 10:07 p.m. Sept. 6 on a Brown County warrant accusing him of possession of methamphetamine.

 Joseph D. Herbner, 21, of Kennewick, Washington, was booked into Pike County Jail at 9:29 p.m. Saturday on charges of disorderly conduct, resisting or obstructing a peace officer, and obstructing identification.

 Donald L. Smith, 80, of Pearl was booked into Pike County Jail at 5:23 p.m. Sunday on a charge of violating an order of protection.

 Dana S. Johnson, 32, of Pleasant Hill was booked into Pike County Jail at 10:06 a.m. Sept. 6 on a charge of illegal use of an intoxicating compound.

 Nicole R. Saxbury, 47, of Pleasant Hill was booked into Pike County Jail at 1:59 p.m. Wednesday on a charge of manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance.

 Emily A. Shireman, 37, of Pleasant Hill was booked into Pike County Jail at 6:29 a.m. Sunday on charges of driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance.

 Carmella I. Birchum, 38, of Quincy was booked into Pike County Jail at 11:28 p.m. Sept. 6 on a charge of possession of methamphetamine.

 Patrick T. Wallace, 43, of Quincy was booked into Pike County Jail at 5:41 p.m. Friday on charges of driving under the influence and possession of methamphetamine.

 Nicole M. Carpenter, 43, of Quincy was booked into Pike County Jail at 12:19 a.m. Saturday on a charge of possession of methamphetamine.

 Gregory S. Lish, 38, of Quincy was booked into Pike County Jail at 2:36 a.m. Saturday on a charge of possession of a weapon by a felon.

 Jacob C. Garde, 36, of Springfield was booked into Pike County Jail at 10:36 a.m. Sept. 6 on a charge of driving while license is revoked or suspended.

State Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Cody W. Buffington, 26, of Griggsville was booked into Pike County Jail at 10:43 p.m. Sept. 6 on charges of domestic battery, aggravated assault involving a handicapped or elderly person, and violating bail bond and on a petition to revoke or modify bond.
A South Jacksonville couple who turned their daughter's tragic death into decades of advocacy against drunken driving has received one of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Illinois's highest honors.

George and Marilyn Murphy were given the MADD Legacy Award during the state chapter's law enforcement recognition dinner Saturday in Springfield.

The award recognizes their lifetime achievements "in advocacy, victim support, and for the gift of their time and experience for over 30 years," according to the organization. "This award is granted to those that have made consistent efforts in MADDs mission in the campaign to eliminate drunk driving and has spread awareness over several years. George and Marilyn are treasured members of the communities that they serve."

MADD was formed in 1980 by Candace Lightner, whose 13-year-old daughter Cari was killed by a drunken driver. The non-profit group pushes for awareness and enforcement of drunk driving laws and provides support for victims and their families.

The Murphys were instrumental in the formation of a Morgan County MADD chapter in 1985. Their daughter, Kellie Murphy Wheatley, was 24 when she was killed by a drunk driver July 4, 1984.

The chapter is the oldest in Illinois.

The couple used their voices to support others both in and out of the court, and George Murphy served as chairman of the state board and on the board of the national organization. He helped grow the number of chapters in Illinois from seven to 28 during that time. Their advocacy was responsible for changes in several state laws, particularly in amending the Dram Shop Act to hold tavern operators and owners responsible for injuries caused by someone who is over-served.

It became known as the Kellie Murphy Wheatley Bill and was signed into law in 1997.

The Murphys also were honored in 2018 with the federal transportation departments National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Public Service Award for their work in raising traffic safely awareness.

MADD also honors the Murphys through the annual presentation of the Murphy Leadership Award, which this year went to the Carol Stream Police Department for its "dedicated leadership in the area of impaired driving at the local, county and state level."

"They believe in the benefits of training and work tirelessly to bring their knowledge to other law enforcement officers and members of the public. They believe that community crime reduction begins with solid DUI patrol. Their goal is to protect the citizens of Carol Stream and all passengers on Illinois roads," according to the organization. "The Carol Stream Police Department embodies the mission of MADD to end drunk driving, help fight drugged driving, support the victims of this violent crime, to prevent underage drinking, and to create a future of no more victims."

Carol Stream Police Officer Daniel Stafiej's career achievements were honored with him being named recipient of the 2022 Brian McMillen Award, named for an Illinois State Police trooper killed in the line of duty in 2007 by two drunken drivers.

The award is presented to an officer for exemplary achievement in DUI enforcement.

Among 25 other law enforcement and judicial officers recognized for their work was Deputy Caleb Gibson of Jersey County Sheriff's Department.

RELATED: Grief of tragedy inspires couple's advocacy for others

RELATED: DUI fight gets national thanks
Iconic French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard dead at 91 View Photo

GENEVA (AP)  Jean-Luc Godard, the iconic enfant terrible of the French New Wave who revolutionized popular cinema in 1960 with his first feature, Breathless, and stood for years among the film worlds most influential directors, died Tuesday. He was 91.

Godard died peacefully and surrounded by loved ones at his home in the Swiss town of Rolle, on Lake Geneva, his family said in a statement. The statement gave assisted suicide, which is legal in Switzerland, as the cause of death.

A medical report recently revealed the director had multiple invalidating pathologies, according to the family statement, which did not specify the conditions.

Over a long career that began in the 1950s as a film critic, Godard was perhaps the most boundary-breaking director among New Wave filmmakers who rewrote the rules for camera, sound and narrative  rebelling against an earlier tradition of more formulaic storytelling.

For the low-budget Breathless, Godard relied on a mobile, lightweight camera to capture street scenes and reach moviegoers in a new way.

He dispensed with contrived backdrops and the artifice of Hollywood cinema of the time, said one film expert. The impact was immediate  Breathless arrived like a cinematic thunderclap when it was released in 1960  and lasting.

Theres a bit of Godard in nearly all films today, said Frederic Maire, president of the Swiss Cinematheque. Nearly all directors who have gone to film school today, or learned movie-making at cinematheques, have seen Godards films  and were amazed, jolted and shocked by his way of telling stories.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute, saying: We have lost a national treasure, the eye of a genius.

Godard worked with some of the best-known actors in French cinema, such as Jean-Paul Belmondo, who was propelled to stardom through the directors films, and Brigitte Bardot, who starred in his acclaimed 1963 work Contempt.

Beyond that, he profiled the early Rolling Stones, gave a voice to Marxist, leftist and 1960s-era Black Power politics, and his controversial modern nativity play Hail Mary grabbed headlines when Pope John Paul II denounced it in 1985.

While many of his works were lauded, Godard also made a string of films that were politically charged and experimental, and pleased few outside a small circle of fans, while frustrating many critics who saw them as filled with overblown intellectualism.

Cannes Film Festival Director Thierry Fremaux said by phone he was sad, sad  immensely so at the news of Godards death.

Born into a wealthy French-Swiss family on Dec. 3, 1930 in Paris, Godard grew up in Nyon, Switzerland, and studied ethnology at the Sorbonne, where he was increasingly drawn to the cultural scene that flourished in the Latin Quarter cine-club after World War II.

He became friends with future big-name directors Francois Truffaut, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer, and in 1950 founded the short-lived Gazette du Cinema. By 1952 he had begun writing for the prestigious movie magazine Cahiers du Cinema.

After working on two films by Rivette and Rohmer in 1951, Godard tried to direct his first movie while traveling through North and South America with his father, but never finished it.

Back in Europe, he took a job in Switzerland as a construction worker on a dam project. He used the pay to finance his first complete film, the 1954 Operation Concrete, a 20-minute documentary about the building of the dam.

Returning to Paris, Godard worked as spokesman for an artists agency and continued to hone his writing.

He also began work on Breathless, based on a story by Truffaut.

The movie stars Belmondo as a penniless young thief who models himself on Hollywood movie gangsters and who, after he shoots a police officer, goes on the run with his American girlfriend, played by Jean Seberg.

Godards cinematic creations were suffused with the gritty, sassy tones of a resurgent postwar France  known domestically as the Glorious 30 years through to the late 1970s  and they served up some of the most poignant images and lines from what was then a rich, avant-garde heyday of French filmmaking.

The images in Breathless of an ingenue Seberg traipsing along Paris Champs-Elysees loudly hawking New York Herald Tribune newspapers in a tight T-shirt, and close-ups of a cigarette-smoking, fedora-wearing Belmondo running a thumb methodically, pensively across his lips could be enshrined among the most memorable images of French cinema.

Along with Truffauts The 400 Blows, released in 1959, Godards film set a new tone for French movie aesthetics. Godard rejected conventional narrative style and instead used frequent jump-cuts that mingled philosophical discussions with action scenes. He spiced it all up with references to Hollywood gangster movies and nods to literature and visual art.

Godard also launched what was to be a career-long participation in collective film projects, contributing scenes to The Seven Deadly Sins along with directors such as Claude Chabrol and Roger Vadim. He also worked with Ugo Gregoretti, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini on the Italian movie Lets Have a Brainwash, with Godards scenes portraying a disturbing post-Apocalypse world.

Godard, who was later to gain a reputation for his uncompromising left-wing political views, had a first brush with French authorities in 1960 when he made The Little Soldier. The movie, filled with references to Frances colonial war in Algeria, was not released until 1963, a year after the conflict ended.

His work turned more starkly political by the late 1960s. In Weekend, his characters lampoon hypocrisy in bourgeois society even as they demonstrate the comic futility of violent class war. It came out a year before popular anger at the establishment shook France, culminating in the iconic but short-lived student unrest of May 1968.

Godard harbored a life-long sympathy for various forms of socialism depicted in films from the early 1970s to the 1990s.

Some of global cinemas greatest directors counted Godards boundary-breaking work as an influence, including Quentin Tarantino, Bernardo Bertolucci, Brian De Palma and Jonathan Demme.

Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky tweeted: learned a lot from my vhs copy of breathless thank you maestro.

Godard took potshots at Hollywood over the years.

He remained home in Switzerland rather than travel to Hollywood to receive an honorary Oscar at a private ceremony in November 2010 alongside film historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, director-producer Francis Ford Coppola and actor Eli Wallach.

His lifelong advocacy of the Palestinian cause also brought him repeated accusations of antisemitism, despite his insistence that he sympathized with the Jewish people and their plight in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Though the academy received some complaints about Godard being selected to receive the award, academy President Tom Sherak said the director was recognized solely for his contributions to film in the New Wave era.

Godard married Danish-born model and actress Anna Karina in 1961. She appeared in a string of movies he made during the remainder of the 1960s, all of them seen as New Wave landmarks. Notable among them were My Life to Live, Alphaville and Crazy Pete  which also starred Belmondo and was rumored to have been shot without a script. Godard and Karina divorced in 1965.

Godard married his second wife, Anne Wiazemsky, in 1967. He later started a relationship with Swiss filmmaker Anne-Marie Mieville. Godard divorced Wiazemsky in 1979, after he had moved with Mieville to Rolle, where he lived with her for the rest of his life.

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Adamson reported from Paris. Former AP correspondent John Heilprin contributed biographical material to this report.

By JAMEY KEATEN and THOMAS ADAMSON

Associated Press
LaQuan Smith displays his fashions on an aircraft carrier View Photo

LaQuan Smith used the spectacular setting of a historic aircraft carrier for his fashion show exploring the female form.

At a Monday evening soiree on the USS Intrepid, the famed tourist attraction docked on the Hudson River, Smith launched his spring ready-to-wear collection. Milling among wartime relics like the Avenger bomber, fashion insiders, music industry celebrities and social media influencers sipped cocktails and posed for photos while they waited for the show to get under way. Frequent New York Fashion Week muse Julia Fox caught up with friends like Lourdes Lola Leon  Madonnas daughter  while posing for photos in a fur-trimmed mini skirt from Smiths fall show last year.

Its the IT factor, Fox said in an interview. You cant describe it, but LaQuan has it, and he understands women and what makes women feel good.

Swedish model Elsa Hosk opened the show in a refreshing neon pink bodysuit and sporty skirt combo. With long ponytails swinging behind them to the beat, models followed one after the other in barely-there bright fluorescent jewel toned outfits with translucent jewelry and wrap-around heels.

After the show, Smith said his influence for the collection came from his travels including a recent trip to Morocco, which he said left him feeling overwhelmed with ideas. He then came back to New York and applied his city sensibilities to his sketches.

His ideas played out in the romantic elegance of silk chiffon scarves wrapped around the models necks to utility pants fit for a fashionable day out.

This collection was all about sensuality, female formality and really having a sense of freedom and fluidity, Smith said. This season was a great creative challenge for me because I kind of had to think much lighter, much softer.

As with several other designers showing this season, semi-nudity was on display. When models were not baring it on the runway, Smith had crafted structured bodices to adorn their chests.

Norwegian model Frida Aasen sported a bralette made of silver wings and a matching silver waist sash over a sheer black figure-hugging skirt.

Since Smiths debut in 2013, he has taken his brand to new heights. Most recently, Beyonce wore one of Smiths snug dresses for her campaign with jewelry brand Tiffany.

Im living my dream, and it didnt play out the way that I thought that it would, but sometimes I have to pinch myself and realize, Oh my god Beyonce wore LaQuan Smith on the billboard of Tiffany and Co, he said.

By BEATRICE DUPUY

Associated Press
Sheryl Lee Ralph, 66, 1st-time nominee, wins Emmy award View Photo

Veteran actor Sheryl Lee Ralph, an ageless stalwart of the industry who won an Emmy as a first-time nominee at the age of 66, relished in her victory by bellowing powerful lyrics about being an Endangered Species, and imploring others to never give up on themselves no matter how long it takes to be seen.

Ralph took home televisions highest honor Monday night for best supporting actress in a comedy for her role as Barbara Howard, a beloved, matriarchal Kindergarten teacher on Abbott Elementary, the ABC mockumentary sitcom about high-spirited teachers in a woefully underfunded Philadelphia public school.

In tears before gathering herself to accept the trophy inside the Microsoft Theater, Ralph opened her acceptance speech with a powerfully delivered acapella version of the song Endangered Species by Dianne Reeves, belting: I am a woman, I am an artist/And I know where my voice belongs.

To anyone who has ever, ever had a dream and thought your dream wasnt, wouldnt, couldnt come true, I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like, Ralph declared before pumping her fist. This is what striving looks like!

Ralphs honor comes after decades in the business with multiple iconic roles  from Dreamgirls on Broadway in the 1980s, to stepmother to the title character on the 1990s sitcom Moesha.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Ralph relayed excitement about diversity at the Emmys, praising the Korean language Squid Game as well as her own show, Abbott Elementary, which has a majority-Black cast.

The fact that this is the first time since the 1980s that people in a majority Black cast have all been nominated, the first time in 40 years, Ralph said. The fact that it is my first nomination, my first invitation to the awards and guess what? Nothing before its time. Everything is right on time. And Im happy to be here because Im sailing, baby. Im loving it.

Ahead of the award show, Ralph spoke on the red carpet about finally being appreciated in Hollywood, saying she initially thought the Mrs. Howard role would be a thankless gig.

I was just doing my job because I felt like that. I thought that I was just going to be there collecting a check, Ralph said in an interview with People magazine. I had no idea that people would see the subtleties in the work. Its very easy for people to miss the layers that you put in sometimes as an actor. And they saw it all.

She also recalled how decades ago, legendary actor Robert De Niro advised her to keep going even though Hollywood was not looking for the Black girls.

Thirty years later, I am seeing my nomination, and thank God I didnt give up on me because its been a rough climb, but its worth every step, Ralph said moments before her win.

Ralph was resplendent in a black velvet strapless gown with orange underside and a slit to her upper thigh and rocked a bedazzled high ponytail, with social media taking note of her sexy look that defied her age.

You dont make it at 30, you can make it at 50, Ralph said in an interview with E! You dont make it at 50, you can make it at 60 and still give them goodness.

By SALLY HO

The Associated Press
Dubai court rejects Danish extradition request for financier View Photo

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  A Dubai court ruled on Monday that a British man suspected of masterminding a $1.7 billion tax scheme cannot be extradited to Denmark to face charges.

The decision in the high-profile case grants the hedge fund trader, Sanjay Shah, a victory against Danish authorities who sought him for his role in one of the countrys largest-ever fraud cases. Mondays court ruling, which judges delivered without explanation, can be appealed by prosecutors within 30 days.

The elaborate tax scheme, which ran for three years beginning in 2012, allegedly involved foreign businesses pretending to own shares in Danish companies and claiming tax refunds for which they were not eligible.

Of course we will try to get him (out) on bail now immediately, Shahs lawyer, Ali al-Zarooni, told The Associated Press from the Dubai courthouse.

Prosecutors in Copenhagen did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The 52-year-old financier has maintained his innocence in past interviews with journalists but never appeared in Denmark to answer accusations. Al-Zarooni had contested the extradition, arguing in past closed-door hearings that Denmark had breached the rules of international extradition treaties in unspecified ways. He declined to elaborate on Monday.

Shahs lifestyle on Dubais luxurious palm-shaped island over the past few years had sparked outrage in Denmark. After Danish authorities signed an extradition agreement with the UAE, Dubai police arrested Shah in June. Shah is one of several suspects in the tax scheme sought by Danish authorities.

During his time in Dubai, the hedge fund manager ran a center for autistic children that shut down in 2020 as Denmark tried to extradite him. He also oversaw a British-based charity, Autism Rocks, which raised funds through concerts and performances.

His arrest comes as pressure grows on Dubai, the regions financial hub, over its alleged weaknesses in combating illicit finance. The UAE, a federation of seven emirates, has long invited the wealthy, including disgraced public figures, to invest in the country without questioning where they made their money. Scrutiny of Dubai has intensified as the flashy city-state becomes a haven for Russian money amid Moscows war on Ukraine.

In recent months, however, the UAE has arrested several suspects wanted for major crimes, including two of the Gupta brothers from South Africa, accused of facilitating vast public corruption and draining state resources with former President Jacob Zuma. An Emirati official also recently became president of Interpol, the international police agency.

___

Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Dubai contributed to this report.

By MALAK HARB

Associated Press
Armenia, Azerbaijan report 99 troops killed in border clash View Photo

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP)  Fighting on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan killed about 100 troops Tuesday as attacks on both sides fed fears of broader hostilities breaking out between the longtime adversaries.

Armenia said at least 49 of its soldiers were killed; Azerbaijan said it lost 50.

The fighting erupted minutes after midnight with Azerbaijani forces unleashing an artillery barrage and drone attacks in many sections of Armenian territory, according to Armenias Defense Ministry. It said shelling grew less intense during the day but Azerbaijani troops were trying to advance into Armenian territory.

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry said it was responding to a large-scale provocation by Armenia late Monday and early Tuesday. It said Armenian troops planted mines and fired on Azerbaijani military positions.

The two countries have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh in a six-week war in 2020 that killed more than 6,600 people and ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal. Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers under the deal.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged both parties to refrain from further escalation and show restraint. Moscow has engaged in a delicate balancing act in seeking to maintain friendly ties with both ex-Soviet nations. It has strong economic and security ties with Armenia, which hosts a Russian military base, while also has been developing close cooperation with oil-rich Azerbaijan.

The international community also urged calm.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to take immediate steps to deescalate tensions, exercise maximum restraint and resolve any outstanding issues through dialogue and implement previous agreements, his spokesman said.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled closed consultations Wednesday on the renewed fighting.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called Russian President Vladimir Putin and later also had calls with French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Charles Michel and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by phone with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with both Pashinyan and Azerbaijans president, Ilham Aliyev. The U.S. has a special envoy in the region, Blinken said, and my hope is that we can move this from conflict back to the negotiating table and back to trying to build a peace.

Speaking in parliament early Tuesday, Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of having had an uncompromising stance at recent European Union-brokered talks in Brussels.

Armenia said the Azerbaijani shelling Tuesday damaged civilian infrastructure and wounded an unspecified number of people.

On Facebook, Aliyev expressed condolences to the families and relatives of our servicemen who died on September 13 while preventing large-scale provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces in the direction of the Kalbajar, Lachin, Dashkasan and Zangilan regions of Azerbaijan.

Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, also placed the blame for the violence on Armenia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for Aliyev and said in a statement that Turkey and Azerbaijan are brotherly  in all matters.

The governor of Gegharkunik province, one of the regions that came under Azerbaijani shelling, said there was a 40-minute lull in the fighting, apparently reflecting Moscows attempt to negotiate a truce, before it later resumed. The governor, Karen Sarkisyan, said four Armenian troops in his region were killed and another 43 were wounded by the shelling.

The Armenian government said it would officially ask Russia for assistance under a friendship treaty between the countries, and also appeal to the United Nations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Moscow-dominated security alliance of ex-Soviet nations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from comment on Armenias request but added during a conference call with reporters that Putin was taking every effort to help de-escalate tensions.

___

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

By AVET DEMOURIAN

Associated Press
In Northern Ireland, praise for monarchy vies with disdain View Photo

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP)  Its less than ten minutes walk from the Falls Road to the Shankill Road in Northern Irelands capital, where Catholics and Protestants still live in segregated enclaves.

But to hear people in these adjoining neighborhoods explain their almost diametrically opposite views of the British monarchy, it might as well be 1,000 miles.

And so as King Charles III arrived in Northern Ireland for the first visit since his mothers death elevated him to the throne, the voices of Belfast offered a sharp reminder of the countrys persistent, complicated and, at times, bloody political realities.

On the street residents call The Shankill  center of a Protestant neighborhood with a long history of loyalty to the crown  British flags fluttered over shops and from light poles. At the foot of a giant mural of a young Elizabeth II proclaiming her the peoples monarch, many proud to be her subjects came bearing flowers and notes of emotional farewell.

We swore our allegiance to the queen and she stuck by us, said Jacqueline Humphries, 58, once a soldier in the Ulster Defence Regiment, established by the British Army to police Northern Ireland during the decades of sectarian violence known as The Troubles. I think Charles will do just as good a job. She trained him well.

Not half a mile away on the Falls Road  the nationalist stronghold that served as base for the Irish Republican Army and its decades-long guerrilla campaign against British rule  those heading to work Tuesday brushed off any suggestion that Charles visit could validate the crowns claim to Northern Ireland.

They can believe that, but we still believe we will get a united Ireland, said Paul Walker, 55, walking past a 3-story-high mural of Bobby Sands, an IRA militant who died while on a hunger strike in prison in 1981.

Charles is not our king. Bobby Sands was our king here, said 52-year-old Bobby Jones. Queen never done nothing for us. Never did. None of the royals do.

Walker and others said Queen Elizabeth II had earned a measure of respect, if never affection, for her decision in 2012 to shake hands with Martin McGuinness, the former IRA commander who went on to serve as Northern Irelands deputy first minister. But Charles is unwelcome.

He wont be up here much. We dont have a place for Charles, said a man named Christy, 61, who like others declined to provide his full name, pointing to Belfasts fading, but brutally memorable, record of retribution on both sides.

The new king walked a delicate line Tuesday, thanking Northern Ireland officials for their condolences and praise of his mother for her efforts to foster reconciliation.

The queen, he said, felt deeply, I know, the significance of the role she herself played in bringing together those whom history had separated, and in extending a hand to make possible the healing of long-held hurts.

Its not clear, though, if Charles will benefit from goodwill earned by his mother. She had decades to build a reputation as a steadfast leader even in the most difficult of times; not so, her son, who some see as aloof. And nowhere else in the lands that make up this less than United Kingdom is the divide over the crown so fierce.

Most of Ireland gained independence from Britain in 1921 after a guerrilla war. But Northern Ireland, where a Protestant majority favored Britain, remained a part of the United Kingdom.

The shaky peace exploded in August 1969 with sectarian violence after protests by the Catholic minority for civil rights. The British Army sent in forces, ostensibly to contain the violence and protect Catholics.

Army in Control Here For At Least Four Months, warned the front page of The Irish News, now displayed in a museum of IRA history just off the Falls Road.

Instead, The Troubles lasted nearly 30 years, resulting in the deaths of more than 3,000 people.

A few minutes in either neighborhood is all it takes to unearth memories of the violence and the gaping divide over the role of the British government.

Once you saw the Brits, once you saw the police, you went running the other way because you were guilty before you innocent, said Damian Burns, a postal worker, walking to work past the offices of Sinn Fein, the political party long affiliated with the IRA that is now the largest in Northern Irelands power-sharing government.

The Sinn Fein bookstore onsite sells posters with a portrait of Sands over the slogan: England Get Out of Ireland.

Over on the Shankill, Humphries, now a housing assistance counselor, recalled that when The Troubles started she was living in an area mixed with both Protestants and Catholics. After joining the British-allied military she received death threats from the Irish National Liberation Army, forcing a move to the loyalist neighborhood where she has lived ever since. Others on both sides also moved to be near those like them, and the city became even more divided.

The royal family was not immune to the violence. In 1979, the IRA assassinated Lord Louis Mountbatten, a cousin of the queen and mentor to Charles , detonating a bomb planted aboard his fishing boat. Three others also died.

The Troubles finally ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. But all these years later, the Falls Road and the Shankill remain divided from one another by a Peace Line  high walls with steel gates that are still closed each evening.

Charles, unwanted by some here and unproven to others, will have to thread his way carefully through the volatility. But it could offer valuable lessons  at least in what not to do  for the new monarch. In Scotland, where a referendum on independence from Britain was narrowly defeated in 2014, rhetoric remains heated and officials are pushing for a follow-up vote. In Wales, too, some people bridle at being kept under Londons control.

Residents of Belfast will be watching closely, regardless of their allegiances.

On the Falls Road of 25 or 30 years ago, the queen was vilified as a symbol of British oppression, said Walker, who is confident the two Irelands will eventually be united.

He wont change his mind about that, he said, but even with a bitter past, hes become more willing to see the queen, who was 96, as more than a foe.

She was, after all, someones grandmother.

Its always in the back of your mind who these people are, he said, and not just that theyre the head of military forces.

___

AP National Writer Adam Geller is on assignment in the United Kingdom covering the queens death. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/adgeller

By ADAM GELLER

AP National Writer
Sacramento, CA  The state is now offering an experimental program with free online homework assistance, and virtual tutoring services.

It is a 24/7 pilot program being spearheaded through the California Library System and involves the states 1,130 local public libraries. Students can receive online help in math, language arts and other core K-12 subjects. There is no age limit on who is eligible for the service. Adult learners can also access writing assistance, citizenship resources, and other tools. You can access the program by clicking here. It has an option to select either Tuolumne or Calaveras as a home library.

The program was announced by Governor Gavin Newsom, who argues it will help the youngest Californians get a strong start.

The Governors Office further explains, Live, real-time homework assistance from tutors familiar with state curriculum and standards is available 24 hours a day by laptop, tablet, or phone from tutors familiar with state curriculum and standards.

The new program is available, effective immediately.
Update at 4:55 p.m.: PG&E is reporting that 117 customers are without power in the Jamestown area, where the Shell Fire broke out. Their lights went out around 3:15 p.m. a little bit after the fire ignited in some grass in the 18300 block of Shell Road near Rawhide Road in the Jamestown area of Tuolumne County. The utility, however, has stated that crews are investigating a cause and that the estimated repair time is 7:30 p.m. Further details on the blaze can be viewed below.

Update at 3:55 p.m.: CAL Fire reports that firefighters have stopped the forward progress of an estimated 15-acre vegetation fire in the 18300 block of Shell Road near Rawhide Road in the Jamestown area of Tuolumne County.

Evacuation advisories, meaning residents should be prepared to evacuate if ordered, remain in place for Rawhide Road to French Flat Road, Shell Road to Rawhide Mobile Home Park, and along Old Melones Dam Road. Also, Shell Road is closed. Sierra Waldorf School was evacuated and all the students were moved to Jamestown Elementary School off Highway 108 in Jamestown. Sheriffs officials continue to ask the public to avoid the area as firefighters continue to work towards full containment. What ignited the fire is under investigation.

Update at 3:15 p.m.: CAL Fire has dubbed the blaze the Shell Fire, and it is estimated at five to ten acres in size. They noted the flames are burning in the grass along Shell Road near Rawhide Road and east of New Melones Lake in the Jamestown area of Tuolumne County.

The CHP reports that Shell Road is closed between Rawhide and Old Melones Road. Tuolumne County Sheriffs officials have issued evacuation advisories for these areas:

Rawhide Rd to French Flat Rd

Shell Rd to Rawhide Mobile Home Park

Old Melones Dam Rd

Sierra Waldorf School  All students have been moved to Jamestown Elementary School off Highway 108 in Jamestown. Sheriffs officials are asking the public to avoid the area and to be advised that travel on Rawhide Road may be delayed.

Original post at 2:55 p.m.: Jamestown, CA  Columbia aircraft and ground resources are heading to a vegetation fire along Shell Road in the Jamestown area of Tuolumne County.

A plume of smoke can be seen billowing into the skies east of New Melones Lake. CAL Fire reports the flames are burning in the grass along the 18300 block of Shell Road, between Rawhide Road and Old Melones Road. There is no word currently on the fires size, rate of spread, or whether any structures are threatened. An update will be provided as soon as new information comes into the newsroom.
Egypts president in Qatar on 1st visit amid rapprochement View Photo

DOHA, Qatar (AP)  Egypts president met on Tuesday with Qatars ruling emir during his first visit to the energy-rich nation after ties soured following the Egyptian militarys overthrow of an Islamist president backed by Doha.

The scene of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi warmly shaking hands with Qatars Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani would have been unthinkable just years ago, when three Gulf Arab states and Egypt imposed a boycott on Doha over its sympathy to Islamists and other contentious issues.

But amid a rush of diplomacy over the last year, the countries have changed course. The dispute ended in 2021, when Qatar signed a declaration with the four to normalize relations. Qatar never ceded to the boycotts demands, which included that it shutter its Al Jazeera news network, expel a small contingency of Turkish troops from its territory and cut ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Since then, ties between Doha and the four Arab states have improved, and top officials have exchanged visits. In June, Sheikh Tamim visited Cairo, where he was welcomed at the airport by el-Sissi, a trip heralded as a thaw and possible end to long-running regional disputes over political Islam. The fault line has fueled conflict in Libya, Yemen and elsewhere.

Relations between Cairo and Doha frayed in 2013, when el-Sissi, as defense minister, led the militarys overthrow of Egypts Islamist President Mohamed Morsi following a short-lived and divisive rule, and outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi, who hailed from the Brotherhood, was backed by Qatar.
School to start Wednesday in Seattle after weeklong strike View Photo

SEATTLE (AP)  Classes will begin Wednesday in Seattle following a weeklong teachers strike that delayed the start of the new school year.

Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association announced Monday night that they had reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, and after 5 p.m. Tuesday the district announced that classes would begin Wednesday morning.

The unions membership voted earlier in the day to suspend the walkout pending ratification of the contract. Its a three-year deal that will maintain ratios of special-education students to support staff, add baseline mental health staffing in all schools, and raise pay above inflation markers, the Seattle Education Association said, though the exact terms were not disclosed.

We should be incredibly proud of what we accomplished together, the union said on its Twitter feed. We won a great tentative agreement and started an important conversation with our community about supporting our students.

The strike began Sept. 7, which was supposed to be the first day for approximately 49,000 students in the district. While 95% of voting union members approved the strike, just 57% voted in favor of Tuesdays resolution to suspend it, the union said.

Picketing teachers said their main concern was educational and emotional help for students, especially those with special needs or learning difficulties that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

This was an incredible effort by both sides, and we put the needs of our students first, Superintendent Brent Jones said in a video message to families.

Teachers in the city have seen healthy raises since their last strike in 2015, with many making more than $100,000, thanks largely to a new state education funding model. The union had said it was primarily focused on winning raises for its lower-paid members, including instructional assistants and front office staff. Paraeducators in Seattle Public Schools start at $19 an hour  nowhere near enough to afford to live in the city, many say.

The district had sought to increase the amount of time disabled children spend in general education classrooms, and also to eliminate ratios dictating how many students may be assigned to each special education professional. The district said that would allow it to focus on student needs rather than fixed staffing ratios, but teachers worried it would mean less support, higher case-loads and less time to spend with each student.

Another issue for Seattle Public Schools is declining enrollment. Projections show Washington states largest school district losing several thousands students over the next few years, which officials say translates into significant budget deficits.

Districts around the country have faced labor challenges as the pandemic put extraordinary stress on teachers and students.

Teachers in Minneapolis, Chicago and Sacramento walked out earlier this year before securing new agreements.

By GENE JOHNSON

Associated Press
GENEVA (AP)  Jean-Luc Godard, the iconic enfant terrible of the French New Wave who revolutionized popular cinema in 1960 with his first feature, Breathless, and stood for years among the film world's most influential directors, died Tuesday. He was 91.

Godard died peacefully and surrounded by loved ones at his home in the Swiss town of Rolle, on Lake Geneva, his family said in a statement. The statement gave assisted suicide, which is legal in Switzerland, as the cause of death.

A medical report recently revealed the director had multiple invalidating pathologies, according to the family statement, which did not specify the conditions.

Over a long career that began in the 1950s as a film critic, Godard was perhaps the most boundary-breaking director among New Wave filmmakers who rewrote the rules for camera, sound and narrative  rebelling against an earlier tradition of more formulaic storytelling.

For the low-budget Breathless, Godard relied on a mobile, lightweight camera to capture street scenes and reach moviegoers in a new way.

He dispensed with contrived backdrops and the artifice of Hollywood cinema of the time, said one film expert. The impact was immediate  Breathless arrived like a cinematic thunderclap when it was released in 1960  and lasting.

There's a bit of Godard in nearly all films today, said Frederic Maire, president of the Swiss Cinematheque. Nearly all directors who have gone to film school today, or learned movie-making at cinematheques, have seen Godard's films  and were amazed, jolted and shocked by his way of telling stories.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute, saying: We have lost a national treasure, the eye of a genius.

Godard worked with some of the best-known actors in French cinema, such as Jean-Paul Belmondo, who was propelled to stardom through the director's films, and Brigitte Bardot, who starred in his acclaimed 1963 work Contempt.

Beyond that, he profiled the early Rolling Stones, gave a voice to Marxist, leftist and 1960s-era Black Power politics, and his controversial modern nativity play Hail Mary grabbed headlines when Pope John Paul II denounced it in 1985.

While many of his works were lauded, Godard also made a string of films that were politically charged and experimental, and pleased few outside a small circle of fans, while frustrating many critics who saw them as filled with overblown intellectualism.

Cannes Film Festival Director Thierry Fremaux said by phone he was sad, sad  immensely so" at the news of Godard's death.

Born into a wealthy French-Swiss family on Dec. 3, 1930 in Paris, Godard grew up in Nyon, Switzerland, and studied ethnology at the Sorbonne, where he was increasingly drawn to the cultural scene that flourished in the Latin Quarter cine-club after World War II.

He became friends with future big-name directors Francois Truffaut, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer, and in 1950 founded the short-lived Gazette du Cinema. By 1952 he had begun writing for the prestigious movie magazine Cahiers du Cinema.

After working on two films by Rivette and Rohmer in 1951, Godard tried to direct his first movie while traveling through North and South America with his father, but never finished it.

Back in Europe, he took a job in Switzerland as a construction worker on a dam project. He used the pay to finance his first complete film, the 1954 Operation Concrete, a 20-minute documentary about the building of the dam.

Returning to Paris, Godard worked as spokesman for an artists agency and continued to hone his writing.

He also began work on Breathless, based on a story by Truffaut.

The movie stars Belmondo as a penniless young thief who models himself on Hollywood movie gangsters and who, after he shoots a police officer, goes on the run with his American girlfriend, played by Jean Seberg.

Godard's cinematic creations were suffused with the gritty, sassy tones of a resurgent postwar France  known domestically as the Glorious 30 years through to the late 1970s -- and they served up some of the most poignant images and lines from what was then a rich, avant-garde heyday of French filmmaking.

The images in Breathless of an ingenue Seberg traipsing along Paris Champs-Elysees loudly hawking New York Herald Tribune newspapers in a tight T-shirt, and close-ups of a cigarette-smoking, fedora-wearing Belmondo running a thumb methodically, pensively across his lips could be enshrined among the most memorable images of French cinema.

Along with Truffauts The 400 Blows, released in 1959, Godards film set a new tone for French movie aesthetics. Godard rejected conventional narrative style and instead used frequent jump-cuts that mingled philosophical discussions with action scenes. He spiced it all up with references to Hollywood gangster movies and nods to literature and visual art.

Godard also launched what was to be a career-long participation in collective film projects, contributing scenes to The Seven Deadly Sins along with directors such as Claude Chabrol and Roger Vadim. He also worked with Ugo Gregoretti, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini on the Italian movie Lets Have a Brainwash, with Godards scenes portraying a disturbing post-Apocalypse world.

Godard, who was later to gain a reputation for his uncompromising left-wing political views, had a first brush with French authorities in 1960 when he made The Little Soldier. The movie, filled with references to Frances colonial war in Algeria, was not released until 1963, a year after the conflict ended.

His work turned more starkly political by the late 1960s. In Weekend, his characters lampoon hypocrisy in bourgeois society even as they demonstrate the comic futility of violent class war. It came out a year before popular anger at the establishment shook France, culminating in the iconic but short-lived student unrest of May 1968.

Godard harbored a life-long sympathy for various forms of socialism depicted in films from the early 1970s to the 1990s.

Some of global cinemas greatest directors counted Godards boundary-breaking work as an influence, including Quentin Tarantino, Bernardo Bertolucci, Brian De Palma and Jonathan Demme.

Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky tweeted: learned a lot from my vhs copy of breathless thank you maestro.

Godard took potshots at Hollywood over the years.

He remained home in Switzerland rather than travel to Hollywood to receive an honorary Oscar at a private ceremony in November 2010 alongside film historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, director-producer Francis Ford Coppola and actor Eli Wallach.

His lifelong advocacy of the Palestinian cause also brought him repeated accusations of antisemitism, despite his insistence that he sympathized with the Jewish people and their plight in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Though the academy received some complaints about Godard being selected to receive the award, academy President Tom Sherak said the director was recognized solely for his contributions to film in the New Wave era.

Godard married Danish-born model and actress Anna Karina in 1961. She appeared in a string of movies he made during the remainder of the 1960s, all of them seen as New Wave landmarks. Notable among them were My Life to Live, Alphaville and Crazy Pete  which also starred Belmondo and was rumored to have been shot without a script. Godard and Karina divorced in 1965.

Godard married his second wife, Anne Wiazemsky, in 1967. He later started a relationship with Swiss filmmaker Anne-Marie Mieville. Godard divorced Wiazemsky in 1979, after he had moved with Mieville to Rolle, where he lived with her for the rest of his life.

___

Adamson reported from Paris. Former AP correspondent John Heilprin contributed biographical material to this report.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Lawmakers in an Australian state pledged their allegiance to King Charles III on Tuesday with some using the occasion to call for an Australian republic.

Australias center-left Labor Party government wants an Australian president to replace the British monarch as the nations head of state. The death of Queen Elizabeth II last week after a 70-year reign is seen by many as an ideal opportunity for change.

Lawmakers from the minor Greens party used their swearing in ceremony in the Victoria Parliament to advocate for an Australian head of state.

Were here as Victorian MPs to swear allegiance to King Charles III, a new head of state decided for us, but not by us, Greens leader Samantha Ratnam told reporters before the ceremony, referring to members of Parliament.

This is a really important time to reflect on the role of the British monarchy going forward in Australia, the impact of colonization and the need to move forward in this country with a treaty and with a republic, Ratnam added.

Despite the protest, all four Greens lawmakers fell in with the rest in swearing or affirming their allegiance to the king, whose is head of state of Britain, Australia and another 13 countries that were once part of the British Empire.

Three Greens lawmakers wore clothes with slogans that highlighted that the British colonized Australia without signing a treaty with its Indigenous people.

The ceremony in Australias second-most populous state, which is named after the 19th century monarch Queen Victoria, was the result of a legal quirk that underscores how complicated the process of Australia severing its constitutional ties with Britains monarch could become.

Lawmakers pledge of allegiance in the other five states and in the Australian Parliament roll over from the late queen to her eldest son.

Victoria demands a new oath to a dead monarchs successor before lawmakers can vote on motions or legislation  a procedure one expert called a silly quirk.

Theyve got a clause in their constitution that shouldnt be there, George Williams, a University of New South Wales constitutional lawyer, said.

Really, you dont need it. You should have the oath ... to the monarchs heirs and successors as occurs in the Australian Parliament, Williams said.

Australians voted at a 1999 referendum against Australia becoming a republic and breaking its constitutional ties to its former colonial master.

If that referendum had succeeded in establishing an Australian president, the states were expected to eventually take the same step, Williams said.

Williams did not consider an Australian republic with state monarchies would be sustainable in the long term.

It would be symbolically fraught and pretty inconvenient and wouldnt make much sense either to be a republican nation and have state monarchies, Williams said.

I dont think anyone would think it would last very long, but its at least a theoretical possibility, Williams added.

Adelaide University Law Professor Greg Taylor said the potential for states to resist ending their links to monarch was no reason for Australia not to hold a second referendum on becoming a republic.

There are very good reasons for not doing it, but its too hard is not one of them, Taylor said.

He said the German Empire from 1871 until 1918 was an example of a coalition of monarchies and republics.

So such a thing is possible. I think personally it would be rather odd, Taylor, said referring to the possibility of state monarchies remaining in an Australian republic.

The British monarch is represented across the Australian nation by a governor-general who is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister.

The monarch is represented in each state by a state governor appointed on the advice of the state premier.

The Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory dont have the same rights as states and their links to the monarch are less direct.
PHILADELPHIA (AP)  A white Philadelphia police officer became distraught when he learned that a Black motorist he fatally shot after a high-speed chase was unarmed, his lawyer said as the ex-officers third-degree murder trial began Tuesday.

Prosecutors said that former Officer Eric Ruch Jr. shot and killed Dennis Plowden Jr. less than six seconds after arriving on the scene  even as other officers held their fire. A grand jury investigation found that Plowden, 25, was dazed after crashing the car and had his left hand raised as he tried to follow commands on a city sidewalk.

However, defense lawyer David Mischak told jurors that Plowdens right hand remained hidden near a pocket. Only later, he said, did Ruch learn what was inside.

As soon as my client discovered it was heroin and not a gun, he was upset. He was distraught, Mischak said.

He urged jurors to consider not just what happened in the six seconds at the scene, but the two-minute chase beforehand. Police thought the car was linked to a recent homicide. Plowden, who had borrowed the car and was not involved in that case, drove at high speed for several blocks through a city neighborhood before crashing.

It was a tragedy, Mischak said of Plowdens death. To call my client a criminal really compounds that tragedy.

Ruch is one of three city police officers facing murder charges filed by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner over their on-duty actions. In his case, the jury will also weigh voluntary manslaughter and a weapons charge.

The bullet from Ruch's gun went through Plowden's raised left hand before hitting him in the head. He died at a hospital the following day, according to testimony from his widow, Tania Bond, who briefly took the stand. She won a $1.2 million wrongful death settlement from the city.

Krasner brought dozens of lawsuits against police as a civil rights lawyer and has battled with city police since taking office in 2018.

Ruch was fired about 10 months after the Plowden shooting.

In a key pretrial ruling, Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Barbara McDermott barred prosecutors from telling jurors about a series of complaints filed against him during his 10-year police career because he was mostly cleared of wrongdoing by internal affairs, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

And she limited Bond's testimony to a few basic facts on Tuesday. However, in an interview with The Associated Press after the charges were filed in 2020, the widow wondered whether Ruch felt any remorse.

I just want to know, has Ruch ever thought about my family? she asked.

___ Follow AP Legal Affairs Writer Maryclaire Dale on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Maryclairedale
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

Big Sean recently shouted out a couple who met at his show 11 years ago at San Antonio's White Rabbit, which is now known as Paper Tiger. On Monday, September 12, he shared a story on his Instagram from another account called Big Sean's World.

The account shared the story of how two strangers became lovers after the Big Sean show in San Antonio on December 5, 2011. The woman in the story said she and her friend went to the back of the venue to see if they could get a picture of Big Sean after the show.
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EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP)  As Queen Elizabeth II's four children walked silently behind, a hearse carried her flag-draped coffin Monday along a crowd-lined street in the Scottish capital to a cathedral, where a service of thanksgiving hailed the late monarch as a constant in all of our lives for over 70 years.

Four days after the 96-year-old queen died at Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands, a military bagpiper played as her oak coffin, draped in the red-and-yellow Royal Standard of Scotland, was borne from the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh in a solemn procession.

King Charles III, dressed in army uniform, and his siblings Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward walked behind as the hearse traveled to St. Giles Cathedral, flanked by a bearer party of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and a detachment of the Royal Company of Archers, the king's ceremonial bodyguard in Scotland.

Inside the church, the coffin was placed on a wooden stand and topped with the golden Crown of Scotland, encrusted with 22 gems and 20 precious stones along with freshwater pearls from Scotlands rivers.

And so we gather, to bid Scotlands farewell to our late monarch, whose life of service to the nation and the world we celebrate. And whose love for Scotland was legendary, said the Rev. Calum MacLeod.

Because the queen died at her summer home of Balmoral, Scotland has been the focus of the worlds attention for the first part of Britains 10 days of national mourning. Large crowds have lined the route as her coffin journeyed from the castle to Edinburgh, underscoring the deep bond between the queen and Scotland. That bond persisted even as relations soured between the Conservative U.K. government in London and the pro-independence Scottish administration in Edinburgh.

Church of Scotland Moderator Iain Greenshields said most of us cannot recall a time when she was not our monarch.

Committed to the role she assumed in 1952 upon the death of her beloved father, she has been a constant in all of our lives for over 70 years, he said. She was determined to see her work as a form of service to others."

The coffin will remain at the cathedral until Tuesday so the public can pay their respects. Thousands of people lined the 0.7-mile (1 kilometer) route between palace and cathedral, some arriving hours early to catch a glimpse.

I just wanted to be here, just to show  last respects. I cannot believe she is dead, said Marilyn Mclear, a 70-year-old retired teacher. I know she was 96, but I just cannot believe the queens dead.

One man shouted at the passing hearse, while others called out: God save the king! But the procession was greeted mostly with a respectful silence under a blue sky flecked with clouds.

Charles and his siblings later stood in silent vigil at the church, lowering their heads as they stood at four sides of their mother's oak coffin alongside members of the Royal Company of Archers. As they performed the traditional vigil, members of the public filed past.

Charles, Anne and Edward all wore military uniforms, but Andrew did not. The Royal Navy veteran was stripped of his honorary military titles and was removed as a working royal over his friendship with the notorious U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Charles later donned a kilt as he visited the Scottish parliament, where he was greeted by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

The queen, like so many generations of our family before her, found in the hills of this land and in the hearts of its people a haven and a home, Charles told Scottish lawmakers.

Earlier, the queen's grandson, Prince Harry, hailed her as a guiding compass and praised her unwavering grace and dignity."

The government, meanwhile, announced the nation will observe a minute of silence on Sunday, the evening before the queen's funeral. The moment of reflection will take place at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT, 3 p.m. EDT).

Before flying to Scotland, Charles received condolences at Parliament on Monday and told lawmakers he would follow his late mothers example of selfless duty.

Hundreds of lawmakers crowded into the 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall for the service, rich in pageantry, in which Parliament offered its condolences to the king. A trumpet fanfare greeted him and Camilla, the Queen Consort.

Charles told the House of Commons and the House of Lords that he would follow his late mother in upholding the precious principles of constitutional governance that underpin the U.K.s political system.

As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history, which surrounds us and which reminds us of the vital parliamentary traditions to which members of both Houses dedicate yourselves, with such personal commitment, for the betterment of us all, Charles said.

The ceremony was held in Westminster Hall because monarchs are not allowed inside the House of Commons since King Charles I tried to enter and arrest lawmakers. That confrontation led to a civil war which ended with the king being beheaded in 1649.

In a personal tribute to his grandmother, Prince Harry said he cherished their times together from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my Commander-in-Chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved great-grandchildren.

Amid acrimony in the House of Windsor, Harry quit as a senior royal and moved to the U.S. two years ago. On Saturday, there was a possible sign of a reconciliation as Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, joined his brother Prince William and sister-in-law Catherine, the Princess of Wales, in meeting mourners outside Windsor Castle.

Harrys statement alluded to the death of his grandfather, Prince Philip, last year: We too smile, knowing that you and grandpa are reunited now and both together in peace.

The queen's coffin will be flown Tuesday to London, where it will lie in state at the Houses of Parliament from Wednesday afternoon until the morning of her funeral on Sept. 19. U.S. President Joe Biden is among the world leaders and dignitaries planning to attend the service at Westminster Abbey.

Authorities already have issued rules for people wanting to pay their respects in London.

Vanessa Nathakumaran showed up more than two days early to stake out a place. I really, really want to be part of it, she said.

Judging by the size of the crowd in Edinburgh, the line behind Nathakumaran will be long.

Rosamund Allen, 67, came to Edinburgh from Rothbury in northern England to be part of history.

It was very moving. It was very quiet," she said. "I felt very sorry for the family itself to be on show. They are very brave to do that. And I really hope and pray that they get something out of today and have a chance to mourn themselves.

"They were very kind to allow us to be part of their sadness.

___

Corder and Lawless reported from London.

___

Follow AP stories on the death of Queen Elizabeth II and Britains royal family at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii
Creatures that were once only found in storybooks and myths are bringing awareness about protecting the San Marcos River.

The sixth annual Mermaid Capital of Texas Fest is underway and will continue through September 25. The two-week long celebration started with the hope of protecting the local river.

"This started with the spirit of really highlighting something that was really unique about San Marcos and the history that we had with mermaids," said Mermaid Society SMTX Creator/Executive Director July Moreno. "I just had the idea to create something that was really representative of San Marcos in a way that we could perhaps come together as a community in celebration, but for the point of bringing attention towards the San Marcos river and how to protect it."

Courtesy of Mermaid Society SMTX

Moreno said the tie to the mythical creatures stems back from the early 1950s to the 1990s when Aquarena Springs, an amusement park, had an underwater theater. The "submarine-like" theater would submerge the audience into the water where the crowd would see mermaids swimming.

"People came from all over the country to experience it," Moreno added. "It was pretty amazing."

Competition between multiple amusement parks left Aquarena Springs in the rearview mirror. Eventually Texas State University purchased the property and now has transformed into the Meadows Center for Water Environment, Moreno said. Aquarena Springs is also where the headwaters begin for the San Marcos River.

Courtesy of Mermaid Society SMTX

The festival is a two-week celebration similar to San Antonio's Fiesta celebration that is held in the spring every year.

"We play with the whole mermaid theme," Moreno said. "We get out celebrate during the festival and bring awareness about our river, engage with our community, and help celebrate the awesome things in San Marcos."

Courtesy of Mermaid Society SMTX

The Mermaid Society SMTX is a 501(c)3 organization and is now in its seventh year. San Marcos was designated "The Mermaid Capital of Texas" in May 2021. The society has two youth educational programs, "mermaid chats" is where Mermaid Mya goes into the schools and speaks with kindergarten through second grade students about how the children can protect the river. The second program is the Summer SPLASH patch camp for third to fifth graders. They focus on the acronym SPLASH (stewardship, preservation, local arts, sustainability, and heritage) for badges during the program.

"The fact that its in San Marcos and people think, 'oh mermaids? That's by the ocean, right?' And that's the whole point, it opens up the conversation as to why San Marcos would be the Mermaid Capital of Texas," Moreno said.

Courtesy of Mermaid Society SMTX

She said for the first parade in 2016, the San Marcos Police Department told her that the parade was the largest parade the city ever had. Moreno added that the festival has brought over 5,000 people for the parade. After the parade, the Downtown Street Faire begins with vendors, music, food, and more for guests to enjoy.

"It was designed to bring the community together in celebration of the San Marcos River, but it's also designed to create an economic impact," Moreno said. "We have every reason to believe that 2022 will be the best year yet."

Courtesy of Mermaid Society SMTX

The event is free and the biggest part of the celebration begins on September 24 from 10 a.m. to noon with the a parade in downtown San Marcos. The Downtown Street Faire goes from noon to 7 p.m. with over 130 vendors on site. There will be performances from Wendy Colonna, Time of Night Brass, Tracy Weinberg and Co., La Gitana, Kelany and the All-Nighters, and Ace Pepper Group.

Courtesy of Mermaid Society SMTX
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)  A day of terror that left four dead and three wounded in a Tennessee city this week tore a hole in the hearts of those left behind: the grandmother of three children left without parents, the man who lay down beside his fallen best friend and refused to leave, the daughter whose wounded father is her whole world.

Police have so far released few details of the rampage that sent Memphis into lockdown as a shooter drove around town for hours, opening fire on people and streaming some of the attacks on social media.

Police arrested 19-year-old Ezekiel Kelly on Wednesday night when he surrendered after a car chase and charged him with first-degree murder in the shootings.

Although several of the victims have been publicly identified by friends and relatives, police had released the name of only the first victim, Dewayne Tunstall, on Friday.

Marcus Cash was in his house just before 1 a.m. Wednesday when he heard gunfire and ran outside to where Tunstall and some friends had gathered. Cash and Tunstall were so close that they were like brothers, he said. When Cash saw Tunstall's body, he just lay down beside him.

I had his blood all over me," Cash said. "They couldnt get me off the ground.

After police arrived, they held Cash for hours as a precautionary measure, because he was so distraught, he said.

They said I wasnt in the right state of mind to be out, Cash said. I was emotionally torn.

When asked what he told police, he said: You all better catch him before I do.

Tunstall was featured in a news story on Memphis television station WREG-TV last year after he bought gas for a stranger at a local station. Olivia Jennings told a reporter she was standing in line behind Tunstall when she started joking with him about all the orange juice he was buying. Then he offered to buy her gas.

The small act of kindness touched Jennings so much that she asked to take a photo with Tunstall to post online. She told the station she wanted others to know that while Memphis gets a bad rap, there are good people all over the city.

The young man is about the same age as my son, Jennings said. I would just like to know if he did something kind, people would at least say something. You know, Youre a good kid.

Also killed on Wednesday was Allison Parker, a mother of three who worked as a medical assistant at a clinic in nearby West Memphis, Arkansas.

Parkers mother-in-law, Debbie Holland, said Parkers children lost their father  her son  a couple of years ago. Speaking by phone on the way to be with her grandchildren Thursday, she said the killer didnt just take one life but also left the children without parents.

She was beautiful, intelligent, kind-hearted, giving  she would help anybody who asked, Holland said. She didnt deserve to die at the hands of this monster.

A Facebook post from Dr. Trent Pierce at the Family Practice Center of West Memphis, where Parker worked, said the office was grieving her death.

Please pray for her family and our entire office staff as we try to process this senseless loss, it read.

Rodolfo Berger was shopping in an AutoZone when he was shot just before 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to his daughter.

Police said Kelly streamed the shooting on Facebook live, casually speaking to the camera before opening the store door and firing what appeared to be a pistol. Police said the man who was injured was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

Jenny Berger identified the victim as her father in a long post on Facebook.

Today my dad was a victim of a senseless act of violence. Memphis shooting rampage. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time, she wrote.

Berger said she was in agony for hours, not knowing what had happened to the man she considers her best friend.

I love this man so much, she wrote. If you know me, you know hes my world.

A person who answered the phone at Jenny Bergers office said she was not granting interviews. She wrote on Facebook that her father is recovering. A family friend has organized a GoFundMe campaign to help with expenses.

I can feel in my heart he is so STRONG and ready for a journey of healing ahead, Berger wrote.

____

Loller reported from Nashville, Tennessee.
Results from a new online survey of K-12 teachers in Texas, released on Thursday, September 8 shows most seriously considered leaving the profession this year, a 19% increase from two years ago.

For its third annual survey on teacher satisfaction, the Charles Butt Foundation last spring sent an online questionnaire to 1,291 Texas public school teachers who were randomly selected from the Texas Education Agencys 2020 roster of teachers in the state. All of them responded.

The Charles Butt Foundation is a nonprofit organization named after the chair and CEO of H-E-B, the largest privately held employer in Texas. The foundations goal is to make public education more equitable across the state through community partnerships.

Of those surveyed, 77% of them seriously considered leaving the profession in 2022, a 19% jump from the 2020 results and a 9% increase from last year. Among these teachers, 93% have taken steps to leave such as preparing resumes or conducting job interviews within the past year.

Thats a huge, startling number, said Shari B. Albright, president of the Charles Butt Foundation. We need for our public schools to not only survive, but thrive and flourish.

Victoria Wang, a senior research associate at the foundation, warns that when teachers are not supported, that impact is felt elsewhere at a local school.

Schools are not just a place where kids go and they learn math and reading, Wang said. Its where they learn how to interact with each other. Its where they learn how to be in community with each other.

These survey results come as Texas is amid a teacher shortage and school districts are scrambling to find creative ways to attract talent as the state and nation emerge from the global coronavirus pandemic. Some bigger districts, like Houston, have the capacity to approve significant pay increases while some rural districts have shifted to four-day weeks.

A major indicator that points to a shortage now is the states attrition rate, which tracks the number of teachers who have left the field in any given year. Since the 2011-12 school year, Texas attrition rate has hovered around 10%. That number dipped to about 9% during the 2020-21 school year but is going back up  rising to almost 12% during the 2021-22 school year.

Teachers point to low pay, lack of respect from both the community and elected officials, excessive workloads and pandemic school disruptions as reasons they want to leave. In the classroom, about 98% of respondents say they have to buy their own supplies, with the median cost being about $500. The average pay for teachers has not increased between 2010 and 2019; it instead decreased from $55,433 to $54,192, according to a University of Houston report released earlier this year.

In the Charles Butt Foundation survey, 91% of Texas teachers who said they feel unfairly paid earn less than $50,000 a year.

Last spring, Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Education Agency to create a task force to tackle the teacher shortage issue. The task force has met twice so far, and school leaders and teachers have shared different strategies they use to attract and retain their workforce.

In 2019, Texas lawmakers mandated raises for teachers in a $11.6 billion overhaul of public school finance. The bill also included a merit raise system designed to help rural and poorer school districts attract talent. In rare cases, the program rewards Texas highest-rated educators with hefty pay raises that could balloon to a six-figure salary.

These factors contribute to low teacher morale. Results show that only 17% of teachers indicated they felt valued by Texans, and only 5% of survey respondents said they felt valued by elected officials.

Lawmakers over the last two years have put more on teachers plates. Some teachers have been required to take a 60- to 120-hour course on reading, known as Reading Academies, if they want to keep their jobs in 2023. And most have done it unpaid on their own time.

At the same time, teachers have felt the pressure to raise standardized test scores to pre-pandemic levels, but it hasnt been an easy task as teachers workloads have increased because they have also spent more time addressing the social and emotional needs of students returning to school after the pandemic.

The survey results showed that 86% of teachers consider their noninstructional tasks and responsibilities obstacles to being a good teacher. Of those surveyed, 82% said say they lack planning time, and 81% feel pressured to teach to achieve high scores on standardized tests.

Finally, teachers feel caught in the crossfire of the states culture wars as school boards have centered more of their attention in some cities on book bans and removing more inclusive curriculum than on how to help teachers and students have a more productive year.

In the survey, 97% of teachers said a positive work culture and environment would keep them in the profession longer. Only 51% said they currently work in that environment. Teachers also would like greater input in school- and district-level decision-making. Only 16% of respondents said they have input into these decisions now.

I fear an exodus and its not inevitable, Albright said. Teachers told us what we need to do.

Lauren Cook, the foundations senior strategist, said the future of the state and its workforce is at stake if improvements arent made.

Its really on the Legislature and those at the local decision-making level to listen, Cook said. We cant be at a more important turning point.

Disclosure: H-E-B and University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism.
Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images

Austin ISD parents were warned on Monday that the district might start "leveling" its classes soon to contend with the teacher shortage that is affecting schools across Texas. Leveling is the process of moving students from the class they started in at the beginning of the year to another classroom to even out the ratio of students per teacher, Austin station KXAN reports.

KXAN said parents received word from the district that leveling will help better support the district's teachers, however it's not clear when leveling will begin or how many students it will affect. Parents will receive a notice by the end of the week informing them that their child will be moved.
Welcome to Musk Watch, where we examine what Texas' richest (and perhaps most divisive) citizen is up to this week.

After a brief hiatus from the Musk Watch  won't this man do something weird more often?  we're back. This one, once again, concerns the ongoing saga of Musk's personal life. This week, a dip into the past, which is not always totally clear. We know about the minutiae of Musk's daily life, but not so much, you know, if his dad really owned an emerald mine in Zambia or whatever.

A few days ago, news broke that someone was selling off some Musk ephemera. That person turned out to be a former paramour from his time at the University of Pennsylvania, Jennifer Gwynne. Comprising much of the auction, which ends on September 14, are many photos of Musk just vibing as an undergrad. The most expensive, so far, is one showing Musk going absolutely bonkers on the computer.

Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

According to RR Auctions, which is facilitating the sale, they all come from between 1994-95, when Musk and Gwynne were resident advisors at UPenn The couple started dating that fall, and beyond the images of the two lovebirds, there's also a happy birthday card addressed to Gwynn  he calls her "boo-boo," aw  from Musk. That item has already attracted bids north of $10,000.

So what do these items teach us about the world's richest man?

Well, he's a "some pulp" kind of guy, for one. In one image, our boy is holding a carton of Minute Maid Country Style orange juice, which the company's website describes as having "just the right amount of pulp, not too much and not too little." Some moderation for the father of 10, for once, huh? Color me surprised.

Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

Speaking of pulp, another image depicts Musk driving his BMW to a movie with Gwynne. According to Musk's ex, "We were heading out to see Pulp Fiction on one of our first dates off campus. We had to sit in the front row; it was so crowded  a very weird movie to see (up close) with a new beau."

The BMW that Musk fixed up himself tells us that he's an industrious engineer in training, and sitting up front at Pulp Fiction means this man loves the cinema and will suffer a kinked neck in order to enjoy the arts. Certainly there was no necking during this screening of Quentin Tarantino's breakout hit, even if the man has professed his love of copulation.

There's not much to slag on Musk for here, really. He looks like a normal college student: (allegedly) faded on the couch, staring at Niagara Falls, being into Judge Dredd (whom among us, right?). The images, at the very least, paint a picture of a wealthy-looking Ivy League undergrad, nary a care in the world. None are particularly interesting beyond their subject. Had he not become the richest man (and the most talked about online) on the planet, our country's most polarizing businessman, and the most famous resident in our fair state, they'd be mostly unremarkable, and I'd be digging through tweets looking for a column.

But as we know, all of the above is true, and for the same reasons outlined above, seeing Musk doing normal-ish person things are the allure here. Yes, that is a bottle of Eucerin and a detergent bottle clogging his computer desk. Musk next to a bottle of President sparkling wine (retails for about nine bucks in 2022) is funny! This guy did all the dumb shit the rest of us used to do, except his dad maybe owned an emerald mine in Zambia.

But aside from all the staggeringly normal items in the collection, there is one outlier: an autographed one-dollar bill.

Jennifer Gwynne / RR Auction

At first, this appeared to be the work of a cocky  though correct!  entrepreneur in training. It would seem like a floppy-haired musk, just an Ivy League RA at the time, figured this dollar would be the first of a billion or so. But RR Auctions says that this is a series 2017 bill, making its printing much more recent. How did Gwynne get this one in her possession? Did Musk deface U.S. currency five years ago for his ex? The bid is currently above $8,000, which is a lot of money for a one dollar bill.

I have reached out to RR Auctions for more information on what the hell is going on here, as I assume you, dear reader, waits with bated breath. This story will be updated.
John Davenport/San Antonio Express-News

On Monday, September 12, Texas A&M University announced that graduate and the namesake of its business school, Lowry Mays, died at the age of 87. Mays was the founder and former CEO of the San Antonio-based mass media company and broadcasting Clear Channel Communications, now known iHeartCommunications Inc. Texas A&M University renamed its business school to the Lowry Mays College & Graduate School of Business after his $15 million donation.

"A really big tree fell in the Aggie forest today, said John Sharp, chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, in a news release. "We will never forget what he did for Aggieland."
Google

A Texas bar has canceled its Disney-themed drag brunch planned for last weekend after receiving threats over social media. Denton's Cool Beans Bar and Grill shared via social media that it's canceling for the safety of its employees, performers, and customers.

"To those of you out there who have forced us to make this decision, shame on you," bar management stated. "Shame on you for putting fear into us with your threats, your horrible DMs, your aggressive phone calls, and hateful comments. This is not a 'win' for you."
MediaNews Group/Orange County Re/MediaNews Group via Getty Images

Frisco ISD will soon ask parents to acknowledge that they are aware of Texas' gun storage laws that require people to store firearms in ways that keep them out of children's hands. The new initiative is part of a resolution that lays out some of the district's gun safety awareness efforts, part of which will give parents the option to acknowledge that law.

The resolution was approved 4-2 on Monday, September 12, with one board member absent. The two dissenting school board members were Stephanie Elad and Marvin Lowe. The dissenting members were backed by the conservative political action committee Families 4 Frisco that promotes "unbiased, non-politicized learning" and aims to "protect the values of the family within the educational setting," according to the group's website.
Mothers Against Greg Abbott

Uvalde families have asked Mothers Against Greg Abbott to put up billboards opposing the current governor along the route to and from San Antonio, according to a tweet from the women-led PAC on Tuesday, September 13. The Political Action Committee is hoping to raise money to follow through with their wishes.

According to the group, the families have requested the billboards that recite the statement Abbott gave after the Uvalde shooting that "it could have been worse." The mass shooting killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on May 24. The billboard also shows a picture of the Uvalde elementary school and states "Stop School Gun Violence. Vote Beto!"
On Tuesday 13th September, Ambassador Marie Chatardova added her message to the condolence book for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II located at Lancaster House in London.

I wish with deep sorrow that we received news of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty The Queen was an example of bravery, diligence, devotion and humanity. Her passing away is a painful loss not only for the British people and for the people of the Commonwealth but also for the citizens of the Czech Republic. The visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to the Czech Republic in 1996, the first visit of a British monarch to the Czech lands, remains forever in the memory of many of us. Our thought are with the Royal Family, the British people and the people of the Commonwealth. Allow me to express my deepest condolences.

Marie Chatardova

Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Court of St. Jamess
This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 838 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why were doing this fundraiser, what weve accomplished in the last year,, and our current goal, karoshi prevention.

Yves here. Im not an aviation person, but a colleague who knows the industry thought Russia would not have too much difficulty making commercial aircraft since it makes military planes. The reason for turning to the likes of Boeing and Airbus is their planes have much better noise control and were cheaper. So Aeoflot customers wont have as nice a ride until Russian makers get at least adequate at engineering in consumer level comfort.

There is also the non-trivial issue of how long it takes Russian aviation players to add capacity. But my understanding (and readers are free to correct me) is this always was an easier import substitution path than for cars and particularly car parts. But Id welcome comments on this plan.

By John Helmer who has been the longest continuously serving foreign correspondent in Russia, and the only western journalist to have directed his own bureau independent of single national or commercial ties. Helmer has also been a professor of political science, and advisor to government heads in Greece, the United States, and Asia. Originally published at Dances with Bears

It was the American humourist Mark Twain who didnt die in 1897 when it was reported that he had. Twain had thirteen more lively years to go.

The death of the Russian aerospace and aviation industry in the present war is proving to be an even greater exaggeration  and the life to come will be much longer. From the Russian point of view, the death which the sanctions have inflicted is that of the US, European and British offensive against the Soviet-era industry which President Boris Yeltsin (lead image, left) and his advisers encouraged from 1991.

Since 2014, when the sanctions war began, the question of what Moscow would do when the supply of original aircraft components was first threatened, then prohibited, has been answered. The answer began at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 1947 when the first Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) or Parts Manufacturing Approval (PMA) was issued by Washington officials for aircraft parts or components meeting the airworthiness standards but manufactured by sources which were not the original suppliers.

China has been quicker to implement this practice; Chinese state and commercial enterprises have been producing PMA components for Boeing and Airbus aircraft in the Chinese airline fleets for many years. The Russian Transport Ministry has followed suit; in its certification process and airworthiness regulations it has used the abbreviation RMA, Cyrillic for PMA. This process has been accelerating as the sanctions war has escalated.

So has the Russian process of replacing foreign imports entirely.

To understand what has already been done and what the Russians propose to do, here is what Vzglyad (Viewpoint), the leading Moscow source for security strategy and tactics, is reporting from Olga Samofalova. The text of her report has been translated and reproduced here without editing; captioned illustrations, videoclips and references have been added. Click to read the original in Russian.

Source: https://vz.ru/

Russian airlines are massively switching from foreign aircraft to domestic aircraft

September 8, 2022

By Olga Samofalova.

Russia intends to completely rebuild the countrys air transportation. And the first important step on this path is to transfer Russian airlines from foreign planes to exclusively domestic ones. Western sanctions have pushed our carriers to form the largest package of orders for domestic trunkline aircraft in modern history. Is the domestic industry ready for such a challenge?

Russian civil aviation is waiting for systemic rearmament and the transition to Russian-made aircraft, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum. According to the President, the countrys airlines have formed the largest package of orders in modern history, for about 500 mainline aircraft of domestic production.

Source: http://en.kremlin.ru/

The interest in domestic aircraft is more than understandable and logical. Firstly, Russia has been creating its own civil aircraft from scratch for two decades, and finally we have not just the SSJ-100  the first Russian aircraft since the USSR, but also an aircraft in the most popular class in the world  the MC-21 in an importsubstitute version with a domestic engine.

The Wests sanctions strike against Russian airlines, which has seriously limited the use of Boeing and Airbus, spurred the acceleration of the transformation of domestic aviation. This is not only about the fact that airlines will now strive to switch to modern domestic technology as quickly as possible, but about the aviation industry which will have to grow to the production volumes that prevailed in the Soviet years  this is something contemporary Russia has forgotten about. Transformation in the industry means the emergence of new jobs  both in airlines and in aircraft factories.

The main order for the 500 domestic aircraft the President announced falls, of course, on Aeroflot. The Group has contracted 323 aircraft. These are 210 Irkut MC-21, 72 Sukhoi Superjet-100 and 40 Tupolvev Tu-214.

THE IRKUT MC-21

Source: https://www.youtube.com/

MS-21 in Russian, MC-21 in English, stands for Mainline Aircraft of the 21st Century. It was originally developed by the Irkut Corporation and the Yakovlev Design Bureau with the initial designation, YAK-242; first prototype flight was in 2017. Total projected budget for the project to 2025 is estimated at Rb437 billion. The Pratt & Whitney engine was replaced from 2020. The substitution of Russian avionics should be completed by the end of this year. They replace US and European components from Thales, Honeywell and Rockwell Collins. Altogether, it is planned to replace 54 foreign-made units and elements, including the auxiliary power plant, a stabilizer rearrangement mechanism, fuel system, hydraulic hoses, tyres, rescue emergency ladders and rafts, pilot seats, and interior elements of the passenger cabin. Domestic composite materials for the aircraft, include UMT 49S, UMT 42S and UMT 290 carbon fibres based on a domestic PAN-precursor manufactured by UMATEX (part of Rosatom). In addition, it is planned to use a binder tape of the ACM BE-C180UD brand produced by Prepreg-SCM, a company of RUSNANO; and a Robolen 200 tape produced by UNIMTEK. Domestic materials will be used in the design of wing consoles, elevators and rudders, and aircraft mechanisation units. The supplier of the chassis is Gidromash from Nizhny Novgorod. These Russian systems and unit components replace the foreign-equipped pre-war prototype illustrated here:

Source: https://aviation21.ru/

To master the operation of the new aircraft, it will be necessary to attract an additional 3,500 pilots. Aeroflots development strategy is synchronised with the program for the development of the transport industry until 2030, the head of Aeroflot has noted.

The Aeroflot fleet now has about the same number of aircraft as it ordered. These are mostly foreign planes. However, every 10 to 15 years, Aeroflot-class airlines completely update their fleet. Therefore, Aeroflot has outlined its needs: over the next decade, to change its foreign fleet to a domestic one. This is if we do not talk about the growth of air traffic volumes, which will require expanding the fleet, says the head of Avia.ru, https://www.aviaru.net/ Roman Gusarov.

At the same time, civil aviation is quite capable of increasing production volumes not only in order to satisfy the record order of Aeroflot, but also orders from other airlines, Gusarov believes. We are talking about a general order for the creation of 500 domestic airliners; that is, the remaining carriers will have 159 new domestic airliners.

The program for the development of the air transport industry until 2030 worth more than 770 billion rubles, which was approved by the Russian government in the summer, is supposed to deliver as many as 1,036 new domestic aircraft by 2030, but it includes not only the three types of airliners ordered by Aeroflot, but also the Ilyushin series Il-96 and Il-114; the Ural Civil Aviation Plants TVRS-44 Ladoga and the L-410 Baikal.

According to the plan, only two SSJ New [Sukhoi Superjet SSJ100, re-engined by United Engine Corporation] will be produced in 2023, but from 2024 the annual production will be 20 aircraft per year until 2030.

The plant has reached such production volumes, so these are quite realistic indicators. As a result, 142 SSJ New regional aircraft will be produced in Russia in eight years (Aeroflot has ordered 72 of the aircraft).

As for the MC-21, the carriers will get their first planes in 2024. It is planned to assemble six of them this year. In 2025  twice as many  12 MC-21. And then every year the output grows: in 2026  22 MC-21, in 2027  36, in 2028  50, in 2029  72, in 2030  72. That is, the plan is to release 70 MC-21 per year. In just eight years, 270 such airliners will be produced according to the plan (Aeroflot has ordered 210 craft).

The Tupolev Tu-214 production plan shows that from 2025 10 such machines will be produced every year, and by 2030 the total production volume will be 70 units (Aeroflots order is 40 machines).

THE TUPOLEV TU-214

Source: https://www.ainonline.com/

Production volumes exceed the volume of Aeroflot orders. As you can see, there is still a production reserve for other customers and airlines, Gusarov points out.

This is a serious challenge for the Russian aviation industry. After all, we are talking about gradually entering the production of 100 civil aircraft per year. And if we take into account the rest of the small aircraft, then by 2029-2030 the total production of civil aircraft in Russia should grow to a record 186 aircraft per year. Russia has never produced so many civil aircraft in modern history. More than a hundred civil aircraft  this is already the level of the Soviet Union.

So, in the 2000s, no more than 20 aircraft were assembled in Russia. In the 2010s, there were some years when volumes grew, for example, in 2013, 35 civil aircraft were assembled; but it was not possible to keep up this level, and production fell again. Another example: in 2020, 11 SSJ-100 aircraft were built, in 2021  12 planes. The release rate has been one aircraft per month, but we need to double that.

Even if not 500, but only 339 aircraft ordered by Aeroflot are produced, this will already be a great success for the domestic aviation industry, says Gusarov. Understanding that there is a serious portfolio of orders for eight years ahead will allow the industry to see its prospects and invest in expanding production capacities without apprehension. Due to the transfer of the fleet to domestic equipment, Aeroflot is also getting a development strategy for the future so that no sanctions will be able to put pressure on the company, the industry expert adds.

The MC-21 is a mediumhaul narrow-body (single-aisle) aircraft in the most popular and largest-volume class in the world. It is the domestic competitor of Boeing and Airbus. That is why this plane was targeted with individual sanctions. At first, the West banned the supply of composite materials necessary for the production of the unique black wing. Russia has solved this problem by transferring to its own composite materials. Therefore, the West deprived the project of American engines. But even here the project of creating Russias own PD-14 engine has wiped its nose on the sanctions.

THE PD-14 AIRCRAFT ENGINE, REPLACING PRATT & WHITNEY

Source: https://www.youtube.com

There are about 180 seats in the MC-21, this is the most popular variant. You can fly on this plane both in Russia and abroad without restrictions. Except for those countries that simply do not want to see Russian airlines. For the Sukhoi Superjet, its exactly the same situation. You can safely fly it anywhere. But this is a different class of aircraft  it is a shorthaul aircraft with about half the number of passengers, says Gusarov.

The SSJ-100 is a regional aircraft for transporting passengers on less distant routes, where passenger traffic is more modest. In general, this is a niche product, and its demand in Russia has been low all these years precisely because long-haul transportation abroad has been developing. However, now Russia is betting on the development of interregional, regional and local aviation within our vast country. And this is also an important part of the systemic re-equipment of the aviation industry.

If we look at the Soviet aviation structure, where Aeroflot was the largest airline in the world, then the Tu-154 was the most numerous aircraft in operation, and it was supported by the half-sized Tu-134. Now it turns out we shall precisely the same configuration. The Superjet-100 is half the size of the MC-21, and they will work perfectly in tandem, complementing each other. On regional routes, planes for 200 passengers are often redundant, they are under-loaded, and it is more profitable to use a half-sized airliner like the SSJ-100, or even turboprop-class aircraft like the Ilyushin Il-114, the serial production of which is also being prepared. But, of course, not on all the routes where the MC-21 flies, will the Sukhoi Superjet be able to fly because it has a shorter range, says the head of avia.ru.

Aeroflots order portfolio includes 40 Tu-214 aircraft. However, this aircraft is in a quite intermediate stage. This plane also has no restrictions for flights and can fly around the world. But it is unlikely to become mass-produced. This is an aircraft with outdated technologies, and in a number of characteristics it is inferior to Western analogues and the MC-21. But it is needed as a support for the industry for a certain time, while the serial production of the MC-21 will unfold. Our civil aviation needs only about 700 MC-21 mainline aircraft. But by 2030, we will be able to replace only half, at best, twothirds of the fleet of mediumhaul aircraft, and not completely, says Gusarov. In other words, the Tu-214 is needed to close the gap for a while due to the shortage of MC-21 for all airlines as a replacement for the foreign-sanctioned equipment. However, gradually the carriers will hand over the Tu-214 to the state aviation, to special services, and they themselves will switch to the more economical and modern MC-21.
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Yves here. Most readers likely know that the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was pushing hard to get the EU to adopt a price cap on Russian gas and implement other emergency measures last week, and that effort didnt get very far. The article below gives some additional byplay, such as why the, erm, alternative proposal of a price cap on all gas didnt get enough support (neither scheme failed for the obvious reason that it would be counterproductive).

However, one effect of the debate over price limits on Russian gas was to raise the already impossibly high bar for broaching ideas like ending at least some of the self-harming sanctions. Apparently only protestors and (outside Italy) a very few politicians dare suggest such a sacrilegious idea. In keeping, Twitter deems the longer clips from this speech to be sensitive content, which means it wont embed properly:

"We have the stupidest government in Europe" Member of the German Parliament (Bundestag) Sarah Wagenknecht demanded the lifting of anti-Russian sanctions & the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Habek. She stated that Germany would not be able to do without Russian energy pic.twitter.com/H4s7akN4Nd  Seeji Sundarakshan (@Sseeji) September 9, 2022

Reader David had explained earlier in comments why the EU was particularly ill equipped to deal with crises:

The most important part of the explanation, curiously, is technical rather than political. It has to do with the impossibility of managing complex problems (and still more crises) by committee. Experience suggests that perhaps 5 to 6 actors are the maximum that can really manage a crisis collectively. So we are in a situation where, I suspect, many European governments are privately aware of looking into the abyss, and would take sensible measures if they were independent actors, or if they only had to worry about one or two other countries. But an organisation which is not geared for crisis management at all has had to confront the biggest crisis since 1945. The result is a kind of paralysis, where no-one wants to speak out, and no-one wants to disturb a consensus and invite all sorts of extra problems as a result. The problem is that there is no Plan B, and there never has been. Even six months ago, no European government ever thought that it would be even remotely in this situation, and so there is no articulated alternative to the present ruinous policy. The outcome will be, I think, a gradual peeling away of states, and a gradual loosening, which is likely to have disastrous effects on the EU as a whole. International organisations handle stress badly. In 1999, NATO nearly came apart over the much less vexed question of Kosovo, and after the first few days of the crisis, paralysis set in, and all decisions were made in an inner circle of four or five nations. That cant happen here. The EU eventually managed to out-perform the British during the Brexit negotiations, because there was a clear negotiating objective and a powerful and expert bureaucracy familiar with the issues. That isnt the case here. In conditions of stress, people tend towards fantasy worlds, and I think thats whats happening now. European states are clearly telling each other that Ukraine is turning the tide at Kherson [now Kharkiv], and that the Russians will soon have to negotiate. At that point, sanctions will be lifted and all will be well. And of course virtually none of the European leaders have any real-world experience of the parts of the economy likely to be devastated.

By Irina Slav, a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry. Originally published at OilPrice

Last week, the EU considered a price cap on Russian natural gas imports, a cut in energy consumption across the bloc, and a cap on some power utilities revenues.

The only thing the group agreed upon was putting a ceiling on the revenue of non-gas power generators, a move that by itself cannot solve the energy crisis.

With civil unrest growing, energy prices climbing, and winter looming, the EU will have to act uncharacteristically fast to deal with this crisis.

Last Friday, the energy ministers of the 27 EU members met for an emergency discussion of the energy supply situation in the bloc. The one thing they agreed on was implementing a ceiling on the revenues of power utilities that do not use gas to generate power.

What they did not agree on was everything else the Commission suggested last week, including a price cap on Russian gas, a cap on final energy prices, and a direct intervention in EU electricity markets. Its hard to get 27 countries to agree on so many things without any compromise. This is why the EUs survival plans for the winter may never work as intended.

Last week, the European Commission, headed by Ursula von der Leyen, proposed that EU member states impose a price cap on Russian natural gas imports, a mandatory cut in energy consumption across the bloc, and a cap on the revenues of power utilities that do not use gas.

The Russian gas price cap was one of the items that divided the EU at the Friday discussions after Russias President, Vladimir Putin, warned that any country imposing a price cap on Russian oil or gas would stop receiving them.

Some EU members argued in favor of a gas price cap for all gas imports into the bloc, following a similar suggestion made by Poland earlier this month. Some 15 members of the EU were in favor of such a move, but others were skeptical. And they were right to be skeptical: Norway, the EUs gas savior, has signaled it would not accept a cap on the price it gets for its gas.

Thats not a solution wed propose, we dont think it answers the EUs challenges, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said, adding, I tell my European colleagues that Im not the one who sells the gas.

The problem is that the European Union does not have all the time in the world to discuss how to go about saving its economy and its citizens from blackouts this winter. And as Bloomberg pointed out in a recent analysis of the situation ahead of the energy ministers meeting, speed is not among the things the European Union is known for.

Belgiums Prime Minister put it bluntly. A few weeks like this and the European economy will just go into a full stop. Recovering from that is going to be much more complicated than intervening in gas markets today, he told Bloomberg last week. The risk of that is de-industrialization and severe risk of fundamental social unrest.

Protests are already a fact. Tens of thousands took to the streets in the Czech Republic earlier this month to protest the energy and foreign policy of the government. Thousands are protesting against high energy prices in Germany and Italy, too. In France, police broke up an illegal protest this weekend, arresting several dozen people.

As the weather begins to get colder, these protests might grow and multiply, too. This makes the task of the EU governments all the more urgent. Yet there are already internal differences that would be difficult to resolve in a short time.

Croatia, for instance, plans to ban natural gas exports, which has set its neighbor  and gas client  Hungary on edge. Germanys neighbors are not happy, either, after Berlin declared it would not change its mind about its remaining nuclear reactors and will retire them as planned.

I want to make sure that we can provide everything to pass the winter, the EUs internal markets commissioner Thierry Breton said last week. I think its important that every country, which has a capacity to do it for this very period, that they do whatever they can. And thats also a matter of solidarity.

Germany clearly does not see things the same way, and it seems the only one currently seeing things the way Germany does is its neighbor France: the two sealed a deal that will see France send Germany gas and Germany send electricity back. The rest of Germanys neighbors, however, remain reluctant to ink solidarity deals with the EUs largest  and currently most vulnerable  economy.

Even at the best of times, decision-making in the European Union takes quite a while. This is perfectly understandable: getting 27 states with their own national interests to agree on one course of action is often a challenge, and compromises need to be made.

This time, there is little space for compromise and even less time to settle on a course of action. Agreement on a gas price cap appears to be off the table if the EU wants to move fast. The only thing left that can be agreed upon quickly would be an intervention into energy markets to cap prices because consumption caps would be a challenge to negotiate.

This is not the moment to have principal debates on energy markets. We just need solutions right now, Marco Mensink, director general of the European chemical industry association Cefic said, as quoted by Bloomberg, last week. The situation is very alarming  this is about the future of industry in Europe. Companies are shutting production down as we speak, and with these prices, they will not reopen.
(Natural News) To fight the cruel and destructive practice of animal farming, a terrorist group called Animal Rebellion is reportedly vandalizing milk processing centers all throughout the United Kingdom in pursuit of a plant-based future.

Circulating video footage  watch below  shows members of the Animal Rebellion terrorist organization, most of whom appear to be younger white females, blasting white spray paint all over the wall and fence of a company in Great Britain that produces milk and dairy products for consumers.

Why is the government continuing to funnel money into an industry that has continuously proven to be both economically and environmentally unsustainable? Animal farming is cruel and destructive.@trussliz  Support farmers in a transition to a #PlantBasedFuture. pic.twitter.com/vKcIkw22pV  Animal Rebellion (@RebelsAnimal) September 7, 2022

Im here today with other concerned members of Animal Rebellion, one young woman and member of the group said as narration to the video. It is the first day of Liz Trusss questions as PM (prime minister).

We are here asking the most important question facing the British public today: What is she going to do about the current climate and ecological emergency? We want her to invest in a plant-based future.

The woman went on in the video to claim that animal agriculture, including fishing, is the leading cause of the climate crisis  this, despite the fact that humanity has been fishing and raising animals since pretty much the beginning of time.

In the background as the woman is speaking, scenes show members of Animal Rebellion lying down in the streets with banners, signs, and clothing demanding a plant-based future.

Leftist women want you eating GMO plants, not the meat we and our ancestors lived on for millennia

Most of the people depicted appear as you might expect. There is a typical demographic that engages in this type of ridiculous behavior, and at Animal Rebellion it is on full display.

We are also in a cost of living crisis, the woman in the video went on to add to her list of complaints. The current government are doing nothing to protect the people. (Related: The U.K. is among the many Western powers that are engineering a food crisis while blaming Russia for it.)

The solutions, the woman went on to suggest, include closing down all farms and fisheries and transitioning them to a plant-based food system.

If we do that, we can free up the vast amounts of the land of the U.K., the woman added gleefully. We can re-wild and we can draw carbon down from the atmosphere. This is the solution and we are asking her (Truss) to invest in the people.

We are asking her to protect the people, and we are asking for a plant-based future, the video concluded.

In the below video, Animal Rebellion was seen targeting Arla Hatfield, another milk processing and distribution center. Even though millions of Brits rely on Arla Hatfields products to feed their families, Animal Rebellion says it has to go in order to green the planet.

Its Day 5 and Animal Rebellion has disrupted ANOTHER milk processing and distribution centre. Arla Hatfield is the 7th site disrupted. The government must stop funding the destructive animal farming industry, and instead support farmers in a transition to a #PlantBasedFuture. pic.twitter.com/GHJppQgstM  Animal Rebellion (@RebelsAnimal) September 8, 2022

These domestic terrorists are using property destruction, not democracy, to force us all into their way of life, wrote a commenter about Animal Rebellion. How is that acceptable?

Godless people raised in Godless homes, added another. They have no idea about how God created the world and has a plan.

More related news about the militant climate crusade can be found at ClimateAlarmism.news.

Sources for this article include:

CitizenFreePress.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the former director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, admitted during a press briefing that the state inflates the deaths caused by the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).

I just want to be clear in terms of the definition of people dying of COVID. The case definition is very simplistic. It means, at the time of death, it was a COVID-positive diagnosis, said Ezike.

So, that means, that if you were in hospice and had already been given a few weeks to live, and then you also were found to have COVID, that would be counted as a COVID death. It means that if, technically, even if you died of a clear alternate cause, but you had COVID at the same time, its still listed as a COVID death. So, everyone who is listed as a COVID death doesnt [automatically] mean that was the cause of the death, but they had COVID at the time of death. (Related: 82% of COVID-19 cases in an Illinois school caused by fully vaccinated students and staff.)

Does that make any kind of sense to you whatsoever? commented Dr. Daniel Bobinski on his Brighteon.TV program Keep the Republic.

It would be like saying, We had 50 percent of the people who died in this past month all had hangnails, and so we could probably describe the fact that they died of having a hangnail. Its the same logic, continued Bobinski. Theres no cause, they just happened to have COVID when they died, even if they were diagnosed with something else altogether, and the prognosis was death.

Bobinski warned that the number of COVID-19 deaths in Illinois may be severely inflated, especially if the state relied on faulty PCR tests to figure out who had the coronavirus and who didnt.

Well of course that inflates the numbers, he said. That makes the population a little bit afraid of this little thing.

Ezike claims Illinois death count is accurate

In later public appearances, Ezike defended Illinois COVID-19 death statistics, claiming that the number of people in the state who have died of the coronavirus is regularly scrutinized.

When we have looked at all the deaths that have occurred, we have looked at those that were related to an accident or obviously not proximate to the COVID-19 virus, she said to reporters during a different press briefing. It was less than 0.6 percent of those deaths were in that category where it was an accident, or homicide or something where the COVID diagnosis was not the proximate cause of death.

As of press time, 39,445 people in Illinois allegedly died of COVID-19. Due to Ezikes revelation, it is still unclear how many of those were actually caused by the coronavirus and how many died of other causes, but just so happened to have COVID-19 at the time of death.

It is also unclear how many people in Illinois, with a full vaccination rate of over 70 percent, died due to health issues caused by the COVID-19 vaccines and not from the coronavirus.

Learn more about the COVID-19 pandemic at Pandemic.news.

Watch this Sept. 8 episode of Keep the Republic with Dr. Daniel Bobinski.

Keep the Republic with Dr. Daniel Bobinski airs every Thursday at 4-5 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

False data: Minnesota legislators demand audit for inflated coronavirus deaths.

Excess deaths more prominent among those who took third and fourth COVID shots.

Trail of death: Latest actuarial data connects excess deaths to COVID vaccine mandates.

COVID vaccine propaganda busted  High deaths and cancers.

Nearly one-third of all official coronavirus deaths in the US came from nursing home residents.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

NBCChicago.com

NYTimes.com
(Natural News) A series of events has been set in motion that we believe will end in a global Force Majeure (act of God) among Western nations. If this analysis is correct, it means that many financial obligations  potentially including social security, US Treasury debt, pensions, derivatives, commodities paper contracts, industrial deliverables, insurance payout obligations, etc.  would be nullified. This appears to be part of the Great Reset plan to clear out US Treasury debt (and the overbearing debt of other western nations) by defaulting without defaulting  i.e. blaming some other great emergency for the cancellation of financial obligations and the wholesale resetting of the global money canvas.

In order to achieve this, western nations must first invoke global war with either Russia or China. As we have exhaustively documented this year, many efforts are under way by the Biden regime controllers to ignite war with both adversaries. The latest example is the Ukrainian counteroffensive, heavily hyped by western media, that saw Russian military forces withdraw from a region containing around 40  50 small villages and towns in order to avoid being encircled by Ukrainian forces. The key here is to understand that Ukrainian forces were trained and led by NATO military leaders while deploying NATO equipment, including high-precision artillery and long-range rocket artillery (HIMARS, for example) operated largely by British and American troops.

In effect, the counteroffensive against this particular segment of Russias front lines in Eastern Ukraine was run primarily by the UK and USA, not Ukrainian military leadership. This attack was the Wests practical declaration of war against Russia, even if such a declaration has not yet been officially voiced.

Russia already knows world war has begun will be declared soon

Russia fully recognizes this fact. Russia knows it is in a full-scale war with NATO and Western Europe, not merely a special military operation that can be won with reserve units. Thus, Russia is preparing to now officially declare war against the West and invoke its full military forces to engage and destroy Western Europe. In my analysis, Russia has come to the conclusion that NATO will never allow Russia to exist as a sovereign nation, and Russia now faces an existential threat from NATO nations and Western Europe in general.

You may recall that Russia had recently promised the world it would not use nuclear weapons unless it faced an existential threat. The NATO-led Ukrainian counteroffensive has now made it clear that Russia does, indeed, face precisely such a threat, and that failure to defeat NATO as a whole will mean the end of Russia.

There will be no coexistence. Either Western Europe (NATO) or Russia must be defeated.

Thus, the NATO-driven Ukrainian counteroffensive just handed Russia the internal justification it needed to escalate to a full-scale war against the West, which may include the deployment of nuclear weapons (but will almost certainly see the use of non-nuclear thermobaric weapons, which are also devastating in their own way).

This escalation is exactly what Biden and the Democrats need to throw the world into chaos before the midterm elections

Bidens controllers already know they are facing an election wipeout in November. By any means necessary, they believe the November election must be thrown into chaos, or Democrats lose the House and possibly the Senate, rendering the Biden administration largely ineffective for the next two years. Thus, it is in the interests of Democrats to see a world war emerge before Halloween, even if it means staging a nuclear detonation on a US city and blaming it on Russia. Rest assured, this is one of the options in their portfolio of doom that is being considered.

Other options include a national power grid takedown scenario (blamed on Russian cyber attacks) or a financial Armageddon that would freeze banks, halt all transactions and plunge the nation into instant chaos and civil unrest. This can be accomplished at the flick of a switch, all while blaming Russia for a cyber attack.

The more aggressive Russias response to Ukraines counteroffensive, the more quickly Biden / Obama and the globalists can push us all into world war, at which point they can invoke the same unconstitutional abuses of power that America saw in World War II. In case youre not familiar with what happened back then, allow us to refresh your memory:

Forced internment in concentration camps based on your ethnicity (Japanese internment)

Government confiscation of commercial inventory from private and public companies

Government takeover of private business, forcing war-time production

Government price controls on strategic commodities

Criminalization of anti-government speech

Rationing of clothing, sugar, coffee, milk, meat, cheese, butter and other foods  citizens were handed rationing coupons and had to make do with limited supply of food basics

In other words, under war, the US government became a dictatorship. See these rationing line photos from World War II in America to get an idea of whats coming (but all under digital control and with constant surveillance by the government):

This is exactly what Democrats are trying to achieve yet again, as a way to keep themselves in power and nullify the Constitution as well as elections.

They simply need Putin to declare war and start launching more aggressive weapons, including thermobaric missile strikes that can be claimed as nuclear weapons by the dishonest media. Once the big bombs start dropping, Bidens handlers just throw the kill switches to take down the power grid and banking institutions, then declare Putin has unleashed cyber warfare against America. That will be almost instantly followed by wartime powers declarations and the unleashing of military occupation across America, combined with the government suspension of all constitutional rights.



A hyperbaric missile detonation near a sea vessel



Covid-19 lockdowns were a dry run for precisely this scenario.

Under the NDAA, signed into law by Obama in 2012, the federal government has the unrestricted power to seize all food, farms, fuel, ammunition, commodities, fertilizer and anything else it deems to be a strategic national resource. All they need now is war.

The current trajectory puts us into World War III in a matter of weeks

Unless cooler heads prevail, we are on a trajectory to World War III in what could be a matter of a few weeks. Russia is rumored to be just days away from its own declaration of war against the West, and this would almost certainly be followed by a stepping up of missile attacks against Western cities such as Berlin, Paris, London and perhaps even Brussels.

Notably, Western European nations have no means to stop hypersonic missile strikes, nor any real means to stop Russias mid-range nuclear missiles such as the Iskander missiles (which are nuclear capable).

Thus, Russia can turn Europes cities into rubble in mere minutes quite literally. The flight time is under 3 minutes, meaning there will be no warning whatsoever for millions of Europeans who could be vaporized in an instant, even while their cities are turned to rubble and ash.

Western Europe is already facing a devastating winter with obscene levels of food and energy scarcity + cost increases. If the power grid is taken down and the municipal water systems dont function because theyve been hit by Russian missiles, Western Europe would find itself in the Dark Ages, freezing to death, starving, dying from feces-borne diseases and begging for humanitarian assistance from a world thats already in a food and energy crisis.

At this point, NATO has given Russia no option other than escalation. Thats because, once again, the USA wants World War III before November. At this rate of escalating events, they may very well get exactly what they are begging for.

If Europe erupts into world war, the entire western financial system (i.e. debt pyramid Ponzi scheme) will collapse because it is built on highly leveraged debt financialization instruments rather than actual assets and earnings. Right now, the entire western financial system is hanging by a thread, running on hype and faith thats pushed by the lying corporate media. The stock market, real estate market and commercial debt markets are essentially fictitious frauds, with very little in the way of underlying asset values that could justify the current inflated prices. As a result, even a small incursion into the fragile financial pyramid could result in a catastrophic contagion collapse.

Get more details on all this in todays sobering Situation Update podcast:

Brighteon.com/9d2517c9-d88c-4df7-94cc-76e9712af121

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(Natural News) In 1990, as the collapse of the Soviet Union unfolded, NATO along with the United States made agreements and promises to Russia, not to expand their territory.

(Article by Matt Agorist republished from TheFreeThoughtProject.com)

We understand that not only for the Soviet Union but for other European countries as well it is important to have guarantees, then-US Secretary of State James Baker told Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990. If the United States keeps its presence in Germany within the framework of NATO, not an inch of NATOs present military jurisdiction will spread in an eastern direction.

Following that promise, the United States and NATO proceeded to do the exact opposite. Those who have been paying attention, have seen this crisis in Ukraine unfolding for well over two decades.

After increasing provocation, on February 24, 2022, it came to a head as Russias dictator, Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

Yes, it is true that Putins invasion of Ukraine is horrific  but this does not negate the fact that it is also true that the West and NATO knew their actions would eventually cause this. Since the US promised not to expand toward Russia in 1990, the only thing they did was expand.

In 1999, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic joined NATO amid growing Russian opposition. By 2004, another seven Central and Eastern European countries, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, joined NATO.

Albania and Croatia joined in April 2009, while Montenegro and North Macedonia joined in 2017 and 2020, respectively. Below is a map showing NATOs expansion from 1990 to 2019. Notice how the Russians watched from the East as their entire western border slowly became surrounded by countries who were joining an organization sworn to defend the world from the Soviet Union which no longer existed.

The fact of the matter is that the conflict in Ukraine is nothing new and the US and the rest of the West knew that enlarging the size of NATO  which was arguably no longer needed given the dissolution of the Soviet Union  would directly provoke opposition from Russia.

Despite clearly being lied to for years, the Russian government has asked for two very simple concessions to end this war immediately: that Ukraine never join NATO and that advanced conventional weapons never be deployed in Ukraine. The US has rejected both of these proposals and instead has been sending massive weapons systems to Ukraine like anti-armor and ground-to-air missiles  all at your expense.

While the money flowing into Ukraine, which is arguably ending up in the hands of criminals and terrorists, is certainly egregious enough, the Wests sanctions on Russia are causing a firestorm of suffering for hundreds of millions of people.

Just out of curiosity, all the folks with the ?? emojis in your profile, you still okay with paying triple for utilities and fuel, watching Europeans freeze this winter, all while your currencies collapse? To do your part, of course  Matt Agorist (@MattAgorist) September 8, 2022

Since the US began sanctioning Russian energy, the cost of electricity in the US and Europe has skyrocketed. Some folks have seen their utility bills triple, quadruple, or worse. In Europe, even before the war, countries were already suffering with high energy prices but now its gotten to the point where millions can no longer afford to pay their bills at all.

In the meantime, the sanctions are actually helping Russia who is having no problem selling its oil to China and India.

We have not lost anything and will not lose anything, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a speech before the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok this week. In terms of what we have gained, I can say that the main gain has been the strengthening of our sovereignty.

Now we are seeing how production and jobs in Europe are closing one after another, Putin said, pointing out that this is happening as Western elites, who would not, or even cannot acknowledge objective facts.

Putin explained that the sanctions are what have led to the closure of Nord Stream and he is not attempting to starve Europe of energy. He said that restoring the flow of gas back to Europe is as easy as releasing the necessary parts for the safe and proper functioning of pipelines operated by Gazprom.

Give us turbines and well turn on Nord Stream tomorrow, but they wont give us anything, Putin said. There are contractual obligations and if there are any political decisions that contradict them, then we simply wont fulfill them. We wont supply anything at all if it contradicts our economic interests, in this case. We wont supply gas, oil, coal or heating oil.

The West would rather see their citizens freeze than acknowledge the grave effects of their sanctions, according to Putin.

Putin warned the West ?? ?? Wests sanctions fever ?? ?? Europe sacrificed in name of preserving US dictatorship ?? pic.twitter.com/EeSn1Aa4nS  Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) September 7, 2022

As stated above, this entire debacle could have been prevented. Even after the invasion began, there was a way out but the US advised Ukraine not to accept it. Now, as the West faces rolling blackouts, food shortages, supply chain disruptions, and are threated with arrest for turning up their thermostats this winter, the ones responsible for maintaining this madness are laughing all the way to the bank.

In the meantime, your family could freeze to death, starve, or die of heat exhaustion  and your governments are perpetuating it. For Ukraine!

Read more at: TheFreeThoughtProject.com
(Natural News) With global fertilizer prices still at record-high levels, Maximo Torero, chief economist for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), warned that without quick action, the elevated prices could decrease global grain production by at least 40 percent in the next planting season.

Torero gave this warning during an appearance on the Bloomberg show Balance of Power. He warned that the combination of food supply chain disruptions, Western economic sanctions preventing fertilizer-rich countries from exporting their products and crop failures worldwide due to extreme weather are all coming together to tear apart global food production.

But the one key factor that the world can take control of and manage is the price of fertilizer. (Related: Stable fertilizer supply key to stopping surge in food prices.)

What we need to understand is that the situation of increasing prices already was happening before the Ukraine war, said Torero. And prices were already going up. What the Ukraine war did is exacerbate even more this situation.

The war has made the situation worse for two main reasons, according to Torero. First, its because Ukraine and Russia are two of the worlds largest exporters of cereals. Combined, they export around 30 percent of all cereals in the world.

But perhaps more importantly, Torero noted that Russia and Belarus inability to export their massive amounts of fertilizer has had a significant effect on the price of fertilizers and on the price of natural gas because they are both closely linked.

The restrictions on the mobility of gas from the Russian Federation to the production of fertilizers have increased substantially more the price of fertilizers, said Torero.

Torero warned that not even the FAO is certain how elevated fertilizer prices will affect the next planting season. We are calculating that it would be around 40 percent reduction, that means a potential significant reduction in the exports for next year, he said.

Fertilizer costs to affect production of other crops

The International Fertilizer Association warned back in July that if the war between Russia and Ukraine continues to affect the cost of fertilizer, it could also affect the production of global corn, rice, soybean and wheat.

The association warned that production could diminish by at least two percent globally, with many regions of Africa seeing even larger declines.

While a two percent reduction might not seem like much, even small declines in the production of agricultural products could lead to significant price increases.

Corn, rice, soybeans and wheat require significant inputs of ammonia-based fertilizer. About 70 percent of the operating cost of producing fertilizer is dictated by the price of natural gas.

As natural gas prices continue to make fertilizer production even more expensive  especially in Europe due to its reliance on Russian natural gas  production of the aforementioned four staple crops will be severely affected.

More stories about global food production can be found at FoodCollapse.com.

Watch this episode of the Health Ranger Report as David Dubyne talks to Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, and issues an emergency alert over collapsing food supplies in Europe.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

FOOD COLLAPSE: Californias ongoing drought has left over half a million acres of farmland unplanted.

Food supply at risk: Quality of corn, soybean crops in South Dakota and Ohio deteriorating due to worsening drought.

Food banks struggle to meet increased demand for food aid, may not have enough resources for the fall and winter.

Global food supply crisis could kill more people than COVID-19, warns African politician.

Rice crisis incoming: Soaring fertilizer prices threaten rice production in Asia.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

Bloomberg.com

Newsweek.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) India, the worlds leading exporter of rice, has restricted the export of some varieties of rice and is imposing a 20 percent duty on other varieties as the country tries to augment domestic supply and prices after unfavorable weather curtailed planting.

According to the Indian government, it will no longer be exporting broken rice  fragmented grains that are cheaper and more accessible to the poor. (Related: Worlds largest rice exporter, India, warns of output crisis amid heatwave.)

India has also imposed a 20 percent tax on export sales on certain other varieties of rice, including husked brown rice, semi-milled white rice and wholly milled white rice. These three rice varieties alone make up about 60 percent of Indias total global rice sales.

Department of Food and Public Distribution Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey told reporters on Friday, Sept. 9, the day the export ban and export duty came into effect, that domestic prices of rice have been trending higher in recent months, even for broken rice, which is more commonly used in animal feed.

A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of broken rice currently costs 22 rupees ($0.28), up from 16 rupees ($0.2) in January. The secretary further noted that total rice sowing this season is down by 3.8 million hectares (9.39 million acres) compared to last year.

Pandey noted that the worst-case scenario for Indias rice supply was a production loss of 11 to 12 million tons of rice. Sowing has just ended, and if yield is good in some areas, this could get compensated.

He also told reporters that no export duties have been placed on parboiled rice because it mainly goes to vulnerable countries dependent on Indian rice, and basmati rice because it is a popular export.

Loss of Indian rice to affect many nations

India accounts for more than 40 percent of global rice shipments and exports rice to more than 150 countries. In 2021, Indias rice exports reached a record-breaking 23.7 million tons, more than the combined shipments of the worlds next four biggest rice exporters  Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and the United States, respectively.

Himanshu Agarwal, executive director of Satyam Balajee Rice Industries, Indias biggest rice exporter, warned that Indian exports would fall by at least 25 percent in the coming months because of the added duties.

Buyers cant pay 20 percent more over agreed price and even sellers cant afford to pay the levy, said Agarwal. He noted that exporters want the government to include an exemption for export contracts that have already been signed.

The only exception the government has made is for broken rice that was already being loaded before the government announced the new measures. Broken rice shipments will be allowed to leave India until Sept. 15.

Any reduction in rice shipments would increase upward pressure on food prices in the affected nations. Indias latest export ban is unwelcome news, especially for countries already severely affected by rising food prices due to a variety of other factors, including inclement weather and the economic fallout of Western sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The move to ban certain rice exports come just after India banned the export of wheat. But, as Japanese financial company Nomura noted, restricting rice exports would have a bigger material impact, especially for Asian consumers.

Rice is a staple food in Asia, so a sharp rice in rice prices would have a much larger impact on consumers in Asia than higher wheat prices, the company noted.

Learn more about global food supply concerns at FoodSupply.news.

Watch this episode of the Health Ranger Report as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, discusses how the engineered takedown of food will plunge entire nations into the Dark Ages.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Rice crisis incoming: Soaring fertilizer prices threaten rice production in Asia.

Global rice production to plunge by 10%, hundreds of millions to be affected.

Rice production could plunge by 10% due to rising fertilizer prices, threatening half a billion people.

Export bans put in place by different nations WORSEN food inflation.

Bhutan facing food shortages following Indias wheat export ban.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

Reuters.com

Asia.Nikkei.com

WSJ.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) An Indian reporter appeared to pass out during a news broadcast this week.

(Article by Adan Salazar republished from InfoWars.com)

In footage from Tuesday, Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) Samachar News host Yatchna Mishra was covering UK Prime Minister Liz Trusss meeting with Queen Elizabeth when the camera turned back to her and she suddenly fell over.

India: MBC Samachar News Journalist Suddenly Collapsed On September 6, 2022 pic.twitter.com/nigfJE3rzI  Vaccine victims (@RodolpheTola) September 8, 2022

A message obtained by Mauritius news site Defimedia.info, the MBC reportedly confirmed Mishra was doing well following the fainting spell. The report did not mention Mishra by name.

An MBC presenter suddenly fainted on Tuesday, September 6, while presenting the newspaper in Hindustani, Defimedia.info reported. The video of the incident is making the rounds on social networks, causing concern among Internet users. We learn that she received treatment and that she is doing better.

While its unclear what exactly happened to Mishra, her on-air loss of consciousness fits a similar pattern recently observed since the introduction of experimental Covid jabs wherein people have inexplicably fainted, many times on camera.

The issue was first observed on TV when a nurse in Tennessee fainted after receiving the Covid vaccine in December 2020.

A German TV interviewer also fainted earlier this year during a newscast just seconds after she pushed for mandatory vaccinations.

+++ Breaking +++ German TV interviewer pushes for sooner enforcement of generel vax mandate, then collapses live on air due to climate change. @claudisbestpic.twitter.com/xSgYAwNaob  Corona Realism (@holmenkollin) February 15, 2022

That same month comedian Heather McDonald collapsed on-stage just moments after joking about getting vaxxed and boosted.

Cameras were also rolling when Brazilian TV Alterosa journalist Rafael Silva, 36, fainted live on-air while presenting the news. The incident happened just three days after Silva celebrated receiving a third Covid vaccine dose.

Of course, as usual causation doesnt equal correlation and theres nothing to see here!

Read more at: InfoWars.com
(Natural News) A leaked video recording reveals researchers in June shared data with the Israeli Ministry of Health (MOH) showing serious and long-term side effects associated with Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine.

(Article by Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D. republished from ChildrensHealthDefense.org)

However, the MOH did not disclose the researchers findings to the expert committee that met later that month to decide on recommending the vaccine for children under age 5, or with leaders of Israels COVID-19 vaccine booster program.

Additionally, the MOH on Aug. 2 issued a report  on adverse events following the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from Dec. 9, 2021, to May 31, 2022  that contradicted the data presented during the early-June meeting.

In fact, the report completely contradicts what was said in this discussion, Retsef Levi, Ph.D., a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and member of the Israeli Public Emergency Council for the Covid19 Crisis, told GB News in an Aug. 21 interview.

Yaffa Shir-Raz, Ph.D., health communication and pharmaceutical companies public relations strategy researcher at Reichman University in Herzliya, Israel, translated the June meeting from Hebrew into English.

The English translation shows the research team warned MOH officials they should think carefully about how to present the researchers findings to the public because they posed a potential legal risk, as the findings contradicted MOHs claims that serious side effects are rare and short-term.

Shir-Raz tweeted on Sept. 1 an excerpt from the recorded meeting in which the research team warned MOH seniors they would have to think of the legal ramifications of the teams findings.

??In a leaked video, a research team commissioned by the Israeli MoH warns: Well have to think medical-legal  how to present our findings to avoid lawsuits. Why? Because of quite a few side effects we said: OK, it exists and reports exist, BUT STILL GET VACCINATED'. pic.twitter.com/IgXavuYaSH  Yaffa Shir-Raz (@YaffaRaz) September 1, 2022

According to the video recording, the researchers informed MOH officials about the many reports of serious and long-term side effects of the Pfizer vaccine, including side effects Pfizer didnt list on the patient information leaflet, such as digestive side effects  especially abdominal pain in children  and back pain.

Additionally, Levi told GB News:

On the free text part of the form, where patients were allowed to report whatever they wanted to, they [the researchers] observed and got many, many reports of neurological side effects  some not currently listed by Pfizer as side effects of the vaccine.

The researchers also noted many cases of what Levi called the re-challenge phenomenon  or the recurrence or worsening of a side effect following repeated doses of the vaccine  which the researchers said indicated there was most likely a causal link between the vaccine and many side effects.

The research team repeatedly stressed during the discussion, Shir-Raz said in her translation and summary in English, that their findings indicate that  contrary to what we were told so far  in many cases, serious adverse events are long-term, that last weeks, months, a year, or even more, and in some cases  ongoing, so that the side effect still lasted when the study was over.

The side effects included menstrual irregularities and various neurological side effects, muscle-skeletal injuries, GI problems and kidney and urinary system adverse events, Shir-Raz said.

According to Levis review of the meeting footage, the researchers expressed a sentiment of concern and felt their conscience bothered them by the reality of their findings.

The researchers told the MOH officials their findings contradicted the MOHs prior messaging that the vaccine was safe and side effects were both rare and short-lasting.

In 50% of the reports in which a duration was specified by the individual, the researchers said, the duration was over six months, according to the videos English subtitles.

Moreover, in 65% of the neurological cases that mentioned a duration, the individuals reported their symptoms were ongoing, Levi said.

Now it turns out that the reality is not what the narrative was promoting, Levi said. The side effects are long-term and serious.

The research team told the MOH officials:

You have to think very very carefully about how you communicate this to the public because you may open yourself to legal lawsuits and liability issues because what you promoted is, in fact, not the reality in what we see in the reports.

Despite the importance of this discussion, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of public health services at MOH  and the person who signed the contract with Pfizer  was not present during the meeting. The researchers repeatedly asked MOH officials to make sure Dr. Alroy-Preis saw their findings

The MOH commissioned the Shamir Medical Center team of researchers with experience in pharmacovigilance to analyze the data from the adverse effects reporting system launched in Dec. 2021.

Although Israel began its COVID-19 vaccination campaign in 2020, it did not have an adverse effect reporting system until the end of 2021.

Steve Kirsch, executive director of the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation, commented on the news in a Sept. 2 Substack post, asking, Why didnt they release the original presentation made by the safety team?

There needs to be an investigation ASAP into what happened, but the head of the MoH, Nitzan Horowitz, isnt calling for one, he said.

The precautionary principle of medicine now demands an immediate halt to the COVID vaccination program, Kirsch said.

Kirsch also commented on the lack of media coverage of the Israeli researchers findings:

Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the Health Ministrys head of public services and a top COVID adviser to the Israeli government, issued no public statement. Leaders of our trusted institutions all over the world said absolutely nothing after the news broke on August 20, 2022. This suggests that there is widespread corruption in the medical community, government agencies, among public health officials, the mainstream media, and social media companies worldwide: they will not acknowledge any event that goes against the mainstream narrative. This is a level of corruption that is unprecedented. The atrocities here are clear-cut. Everyone should be speaking out and calling for a full investigation and fully evaluating the safety data collected by the Israel government.

Read more at: ChildrensHealthDefense.org
(Natural News) An investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that certain lots of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines linked to extremely high numbers of adverse reactions and deaths were still rolled out to the public.

The public health agency found that specific lot numbers of the COVID-19 vaccines connected to adverse reactions and deaths were already identified, but not withdrawn. They also found that four to five percent of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine batches were responsible for every death reported as an adverse reaction. Moreover, these fatal batches were widely distributed across the U.S., while the other benign lots were sent to just a few locations.

The CDC used data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System submitted until Oct. 15, 2021. It included all adverse reactions linked to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Adverse reactions linked to the flu vaccines were also included to serve as a control data set.

A total of 171,463 adverse reactions, 14,262 hospitalizations and 2,828 deaths were linked to 4,522 Pfizer lot numbers, while 188,998 adverse reactions, 10,225 hospitalizations and 2,603 deaths were linked to 5,510 Moderna lot numbers.

Ninety-six percent of the Pfizer vaccine lots had zero death reports, which meant that the 2,828 vaccine deaths linked to it came from four percent of the batches. Meanwhile, 95 percent of the Moderna vaccine lots had zero death reports, translating to 2,603 deaths associated with five percent of the batches.

Specific batches of the mRNA vaccines distributed between 13 and 50 states across the U.S. had an unusually high number of adverse event and death reports, compared to those distributed to 12 states or less. The CDC concluded that there were concerning findings that warrant further investigation.

Pfizer sweeping COVID-19 vaccine safety issues under the rug

While these reports could simply be blamed on quality control issues, a whistleblower from a Pfizer manufacturing facility said otherwise. She revealed that she was even fired by the company for stepping up and reporting the irregularities in the vaccine quality she found alarming.

Melissa McAtee, former quality auditor at the Kansas Pfizer plant, told World View Report host Brannon Howse last year that she noticed the vaccine was glowing under certain light. After alerting the company, McAtee said the issue was still ignored. (Related: Pfizer petitions court to dismiss whistleblower lawsuit because government was fully aware of fraud when agreeing to work with company.)

While Pfizer said 90 percent of the employees in the plant were vaccinated against the COVID-19 jabs, McAtee said that wasnt the case.

Supposedly half of the plant was not vaccinated or would walk out if they will be forced to submit to the vaccine mandate, she said.

The former Big Pharma staff further stated the most important thing is for the people to get informed consent. I care that people are informed and they know what is injected into their bodies, McAtee said.

McAtee said Pfizer is being deceitful and leaving out information and also noted that the company engaged in secrecy, such as shutting down hallways and certain processes when they knew that the Food and Drug Administration would be coming to the plant.

Browse through BigPharmaNews.com for more about how Pfizer and Moderna are deceiving the people with their experimental vaccines.

Watch the video below that talks about the meaning of the COVID-19 vaccine lots.

This video is from the Prevent Global Genocide channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Whistleblower: Pfizer FORGED signatures of trial participants, falsified and fabricated trial data.

COVID vaccine researcher, whistleblower says he was offered $1 million bribe by Pfizer to keep quiet.

Matrixxx Grooove with Jeff and Shady: Whistleblower reveals Pfizers main goal is to weaponize the immune system to kill itself  Brighteon.TV.

Negligence, fraud, malice  shouldnt we all be wiser to Pfizer?

Sources include:

Expose-News.com

WorldViewWeekend.com

Townhall.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Mark Mills of the conservative Manhattan Institute published a report highlighting how the anti-fossil fuel agenda is a misguided recipe for disaster.

If there is anything the lessons of the recent decade make clear, Mills writes, it is that SWB technologies  meaning solar, wind, and battery  cannot be surged in times of need.

So-called green energy is also not even close to being clean like its proponents claim. They are not independent of hydrocarbons, Mills explains, and are not cheap.

Mills report comes at the same time that the European energy crisis has taken center stage as an emergency of serious concern. Leftists want to blame Russia and Vladimir Putin for it while ignoring the green agenda that landed the continent in this predicament.

Had countries like Germany not phased out their fossil fuel production plants and replaced them with wind and solar farms, it would be more energy independent and less prone to shock during geopolitical events such as this.

Western sanctions against Russia and its cheap and abundant fuels are another culprit that leftists are choosing to ignore. (Related: Because of the energy crisis in Europe, the European Union parliament recently declared fossil fuels to be green after all.)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says electricity use in Europe must be cut during peak hours to flatten the curve

In a speech she gave about a week after Mills published his report, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) plandemic rhetoric to talk about the energy crisis.

Rather than admit that she and her fellow globalists policies are to blame for the crisis, von der Leyen instead laid all responsibility on the European citizenry, whom she expects to live like paupers in the freezing cold this winter.

In order to flatten the curve of electricity use  yes, von der Leyen actually used those exact words  European energy will need to be rationed, much like the bread lines during the last Great Depression.

In the United Kingdom, newly elected British Prime Minister Liz Truss is taking a slightly more rational approach by ending her countrys moratorium on natural gas fracking, starting on September 8, the same day von der Leyen gave her flatten the curve speech.

While solar and wind technology has somewhat improved over the years, Truss admitted that a complete departure from hydrocarbons is simply not possible  at least not if nations want to survive.

It is also difficult, expensive and very polluting to the planet to harvest the materials needed for green energy solutions like electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The environmental destruction involved with all the mining and refining of EV batteries is far worse for the planet than simply taking advantage of cheap and abundant fossil fuels such as natural gas.

When politicians and petulant children (Greta Thunberg) are used to make policy, what could go wrong? asked an Epoch Times commenter sarcastically.

Most of the idiots running Europe are about to discover what its really like to depend on solar and wind, wrote another.

The intelligent life that visits our planet from time to time are looking at these Green New Deal morons and saying to themselves: well, nothing to worry about here. We can take over this planet whenever we want to,' joked another.

Liberals are heavily invested in restricting the movements of we lesser citizens, wrote another, making a very good point about how somebody is profiting from all this green tyranny.

Geniuses are the stupidest people you will ever know, added another about the ignorant green crusaders who think of themselves as being the smartest of the smart.

The latest news about the green energy scam can be found at GreenTyranny.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Several states are following Californias example of banning gas-powered vehicles in favor of electric vehicles (EVs). Such a ban is unnecessary as states should simply follow the federal Clean Air Act, which mandates federal vehicle emissions standards.

Oregon and Washington are set to follow the Golden States ban. The Beaver State revised its Advanced Clean Cars II order to include a ban on gas-powered cars by 2035. Meanwhile, the Evergreen State said it will adopt a version of Californias ban by the end of 2022.

Over at the East Coast, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Senate Bill S2758 in 2021. The proposal effectively banned gas-powered vehicle sales by implementing a zero-emission in-state sales goal of 100 percent by 2035.

Other states like Delaware, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Nevada have regulations requiring a certain percentage of vehicles sold to be zero-emission by a specific date.

Some others, however, pushed back against the outright ban on cars that run on diesel and gasoline.

Colorado said it will not adopt the standard for now because it is flawed. The Colorado Energy Office explained that while Gov. Jared Polis favored the shift to EVs, he is skeptical about requiring 100 percent of cars sold to be electric by a certain date as technology is rapidly changing.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills, meanwhile, said on Aug. 30 that she does not support the ban. She added that the Pine Tree State would not be included to adopt any mandate along those lines. Instead, Mills suggested that both EVs and rebates should be available, but not a mandate.

Virginia is exploring legal options to resist, while Rhode Island is not yet required to ban gas-powered vehicles as two bills filed for that purpose in its legislature were held for further study.

In Minnesota, the prohibition is facing legal action as the Minnesota Auto Dealers Association (MADA) challenged it in 2020. MADA filed a complaint with the State Court of Appeals, arguing that the law improperly delegates the states authority to the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

Experts: CAs electric grid may be unable to support simultaneous EV charging

In August, CARB voted to ultimately phase out gas-powered cars by 2035, and all efforts are exerted starting now as the state already banned the sale of gasoline-powered cars. (Related: GREEN GOES STUPID: California to ban sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035.)

However, experts say significant investments in grid infrastructure will need to happen to make this a reality.

University of California Irvine (UCI) researchers have been conducting much of that study, learning what exactly will be needed to make all cars zero emissions over the next decade.

The grid does not currently have the capability to add millions of battery electric or even fuel-cell electric vehicles today, said Jack Brouwer, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCI. So, we have some time to make reasonable investments in the grid to enable this to actually happen and to happen well.

Southern California (SoCal) Edison, which provides power to nearly 14 million customers, said it is already making investments in the grid.

SoCal spokesperson Paul Griffo told CBS Los Angeles (CBSLA): Southern California Edison is investing over $5 billion in modernizing the grid, so that we can handle the additional needs of our customers in the future, including electric cars.

Brouwer, however, said California will need to think about more than just battery electric cars in order for the change over to be successful and showed CBSLA a hydrogen-powered vehicle.

If we only use battery electric vehicles, we will fail, Brouwer warned. The grid cannot charge every single transportation application. We must invest in both battery-electric vehicles and fuel-cell electric vehicles.

He further stated that if half of the drivers in 2035 have hydrogen-electric vehicles, the power grid will not be as stressed. Those people can fill up their cars at hydrogen stations, which are much like gas stations, and will hopefully become more available throughout the state in the coming years.

Visit GreenTyranny.news for more news related to states favoring electric cars over gasoline-powered vehicles.

Watch the below video that talks about the green tyranny deal of banning gas vehicles.

This video is from the Sword & Shield channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

California electric company admits it will NEVER be able to charge everybodys electric vehicles.

GO GREEN, GET BROKE: Test finds new electric Hummer costs over $100 to charge  more than it costs to fill up most gas tanks.

Honda, LG to build $4.4 billion electric vehicle battery plant in the US.

EV price hikes cancel out $7,500 tax credits offered by government under Inflation Reduction Act.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

DNYUZ.com

CBSNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) In 2016, Trump spoke to tens of thousands, and Hillary spoke to hundredsand Trump won. In 2020, despite COVID, Trump spoke to tens of thousands, and Biden spoke towell, not even tens. Maybe to fives, all of whom sat in little marked circles far away from each other. And yet its Biden whos in the White House. Now its 2022, and once again, Trump is speaking to tens of thousands, and Biden is speaking to tens. What can and should we take away from that?

(Article by Andrea Widburg republished from AmericanThinker.com)

The head-to-head comparison comes from Benny Johnson, who put together a video showing Trumps and Bidens appearances in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Its important to note that Wilkes-Barre is part of Luzerne County, a Republican-majority county. However, that majority is not equal to, say, San Francisco County, where Biden claimed 85.26% of the votes to Trumps 12.72%  something thats a totally believable result if one knows that San Francisco is self-destructing because of its unopposed leftism.

In Luzerne, the vote split 56.7% for Trump versus 42.3% for Biden. In other words, although Trump carried the day with almost 87,000 votes, over 64,000 people still supported Biden. Both men have a lot of supporters who can turn up at their rallies.

When it comes to Wilkes-Barre rallies in 2022, the video from Trumps rally makes it look as if all 86,929 of Trumps voters tried to squeeze into the venue, and all the attendees are wildly enthusiastic. Meanwhile, the video from Bidens rally shows what looks like a debate at a high school gym when the candidates are the two pathetic losers whom no one in the school likes. The room is mostly empty, and the energy is nonexistent:

Donald Trump and Joe Biden Both held rallies in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania this week. Here is what they looked like back to back. Incredible. pic.twitter.com/Xe7cWQzrQO  Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 4, 2022

So what do these videos mean for 2022?

In 2016, Democrats didnt take steps to address the possibility that Trump could actually win, so he won. In 2020, Democrats took lots of steps to address the possibility that Trump could win (none of which included a viable candidate), so he lost.

We can anticipate that, in 2022, which Democrats are making a referendum on Trump even though hes not on the ballot, the Democrats will take lots of steps to ensure that any candidate who might possibly support Trump loses. Theyll probably get help from the pooh-bahs in the Republican Party who view Trump as a threat to their power.

However, unlike 2020, when the Democrats could focus their energy on a single candidate (Trump), plus a few important Senate seats, this year, there are too many local elections for Democrats to impose a top-down victory across the board. What will make the difference is turnout.

If Republicans allow themselves to be disheartened by polling (which no one should trust anymore), the ones who arent attending rallies may not vote. Thats a sure path to defeat. Its a simple corollary: winners never quit, and quitters never win.

The answer for us is to do exactly what Rush Limbaugh always said: get out there and vote for the most conservative candidate who can win. And vote in numbers that will exceed the margin of fraud. Just remember, Trump is still filling stadiums, and Biden, with his 81 million votes, cant fill a high school gym.

One more thing: Remind your local GOP and/or candidate that they need to speak to voters first about the issues that matter: the economy, national security, and crime. Then talk about how appalling Biden and the Democrats are.

Read more at: AmericanThinker.com
(Natural News) Unionized United Parcel Service (UPS) drivers are expected to go on strike as they call for better working conditions.

The agreement between UPS and the Teamsters Union, which represents freight drivers and warehouse workers, is set to expire on July 31, 2023. Given this, a fresh round of negotiations is set to start in the spring between the company and the labor union.

The 350,000-strong Teamsters in UPS are demanding air conditioning in the back of their delivery trucks after extreme heat caused driver injuries and deaths. Aside from this, they are also demanding better pay packages and benefits.

UPS drivers make around $95,000 annually on average, with an additional $50,000 in benefits for a total of $145,000. Semi-truck drivers make even more than that amount. According to Business Insider, the median salary at UPS amounts to $44,254.

This was not the first time UPS employees went on strike. An earlier demonstration from 1997 saw workers demand full-time positions and the union call for continued control over the pension fund. This 15-day strike affected 80 percent of shipments and costed UPS around $780 million.

In a statement, the company said it wishes to come to a peaceful conclusion that provides wins for our employees and that provides UPS the flexibility to stay competitive in a rapidly changing industry.

UPS and the Teamsters have worked cooperatively for almost 100 years to meet the needs of employees, customers and the communities where we live and work. We believe well continue to find common ground with the Teamsters and reach an agreement thats good for everyone involved, the company stated.

Meanwhile, Teamsters President Sean OBrien reminded striking workers of a $300 million strike fund to cover their salaries. Whether or not there is a strike, thats totally up to the company. We are going to utilize as much leverage as we can to get our members the contract they deserve, he said. (Related: Union sues NYC to block termination of UNVAXXED detectives, citing rising crime rates.)

Brutal summer heat shutting down UPS drivers

One of the battle cries of the impending UPS strike is the demand for air conditioning at the back of trucks, where heat can hit triple-digit temperatures in some parts of the country during the summer.

As UPS makes record profits of $12.89 billion and $6.8 billion for the first two quarters alone, their drivers report the grueling toll of making hundreds of stops a day in sweltering conditions. A typical crew is moving hundreds of pounds of cargo and organizing packages in the back of their brown truck. With shifts that can last up to 14 hours, workers are having a tough time.

Early in August, Teamsters demanded urgent details from UPS on the companys plans, training materials, and assessments on protecting workers from excessive heat.

People are just dropping weekly here. Its not something where that one driver in Arizona is going viral, said Moe Nouhaili, a Las Vegas UPS driver. Its not just the way that UPS is treating workers, it is also how they are making us work, expecting us to meet these unrealistic productivity numbers even though the weather.

In early July, 24-year-old Esteban Chavez Jr. was delivering packages when he suddenly collapsed during his shift in California. His family believes he died due to high temperatures.

Everyone knows, it is pretty hot out there, those trucks are a hot box, his father Esteban Chavez Sr. said. They have all these guys running around, delivering packages and trying to meet their quotas and do their jobs.

Teamster 804 Brooklyn President Vinnie Perrone lamented that nothing was done about the heat-related incidents.

They are just turning a deaf ear to it  a blind eye, Perrone said.

Watch this video of a UPS employee walking like a zombie and passing out due to the intense heat.

This video is from the Alex Hammer channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

FedEx announced plans to go all-electric by 2040; promises to pull carbon out of the atmosphere, depriving food crops of nutrition.

Amazon delivery drivers complain about being unfairly punished by AI cameras.

FedEx delays are just the latest in a long string of supply chain disruptions blamed on Omicron (but really due to lockdowns).

Walmart announces expansion of drone deliveries to 4 million households in 6 states.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

TheGuardian.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) According to virologist and whistleblower Dr. Li-Meng Yan, China is trying to escape accountability for releasing the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) onto the world by using different distractions.

She made this revelation to Ann Vandersteel, co-chair of the Zelenko Freedom Foundation (ZFF), during the Sept. 2 episode of The Zelenko Report on Brighteon.TV.

Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) know: Once the world realizes COVID-19 is from the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and they released it out of the lab intentionally to cause the pandemic, then no one will let them escape from the accountability, said Yan.

Thats the biggest secret for Communist China, and they know that clearly. So thats why they need to divert. They need to distract your attention to other possibilities.

According to the virologist, SARS-CoV-2  the pathogen responsible for COVID-19  was manipulated in the laboratories of what she dubbed the power three network. These were the CCP, the PLA and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Yan added that the virus that formed the backbone of SARS-CoV-2 was developed in the PLA labs.

Furthermore, Yan mentioned that the focus on the Ukraine biolabs, alongside the investigation of compromised scientists who were responsible for COVID-19 did more harm than good. She said this only helped cover up the truth and propagate misinformation, damaging public health in turn.

Ultimately, Yan remarked that COVID-19 itself formed part of Xis biosecurity policy which he first announced in 2013. This policy, which forms the core of the paramount leaders national strategy, was all about unrestricted bioweapons. (Related: Dr. Yan Li-Meng exposes CCPs plan to start another pandemic using even more dangerous biological weapons.)

Yan: Russia, China colluding to bring down the United States

A 2015 document penned by Chinese scientists and public health officials touched on the weaponization of SARS-CoV-2, adding that World War III would be fought using biological weapons. It touted coronaviruses as heralding the new era of generic weapons [that can be] artificially manipulated into an emerging human disease virus, then weaponized and unleashed in a way never seen before.

The document incidentally aligned with Yans remarks during the Brighteon.TV program.

The virologist, however, pointed out that Xis national strategy would involve not trusting foreign experts. Experts involved in the creation of COVID-19 such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, Peter Daszak and Ralph Baric were considered useful idiots who deliver technology and knowledge. Yan condemned the three, calling them greedy and cunning.

She ultimately insinuated that Russia and China were collaborating to bring down America, their common enemy. Yan cited a secret deal between Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which involved the next step of their strategy to control the world.

Vandersteel asked if Putin and Xi were colluding to spread disinformation, to which Yan replied in the affirmative. She added that both Moscow and Beijing rely on mixing information with certain facts to confuse people and muddle the narrative.

Follow BiologicalWarfare.com for more about COVID-19 being a bioweapon.

Watch the Sept. 2 episode of The Zelenko Report below. The Zelenko Report airs Monday to Friday at 1-2 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Chinese scientist who fled to U.S. says coronavirus was created in military lab.

Wuhan lab where coronavirus is believed to have originated eligible for TAXPAYER FUNDING until 2024.

BIOWARFARE: Chinese communists intentionally unleashed Frankenstein COVID-19, says Wuhan scientist.

Fauci KNEW COVID-19 is a biological weapon created in Wuhan lab but chose not to tell Trump  Brighteon.TV.

Dr. Vladimir Zelenko tells Ann Vandersteel: COVID-19 is a bioweapon  Brighteon.TV.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

News.com.au
(Natural News) A leaked internal memo obtained by the City Journal, Manhattan Institutes publication, showed that President Joe Biden and his administration are to launch his woke campaign that would pressure other countries to encourage transgender treatments for children and stop conversion therapy.

Manhattan Institute fellow Leor Sapir reported on August 31 that he obtained a memorandum by Secretary of State Antony Blinken instructing federal agencies to safeguard LGBT youth against what they deem as dangerous practices, including conversion therapy for LGBT people.

The said paper had been leaked by an officer in the state departments foreign service and was derived from Bidens Executive Order 14075 in June.

City Journal said in the report that the directive instructs U.S. embassies to submit robust information on the so-called conversion therapy practices of their host countries as part of the annual human rights reports.

Sapir said the reports will be sent to Jessica Stern, Bidens appointed special envoy to advance the human rights of LGBT persons, and she would design an action plan to combat the practice across foreign policy and foreign assistance lines of effort.

The said policy could make the U.S. classify first-world countries like Sweden, Finland and the U.K. as human rights abusers due to their reticence to fully adopt transgender ideology. It could also effectively turns American consulates and embassies into global gender-affirming spies.

The woke regime defines conversion therapy as efforts to suppress or change an individuals sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

The internal document reportedly provides clarification that conversion includes only those efforts to help a person leave behind a transgender identity and adopt a cisgender one, or the gender identity that corresponds to the sex assigned at birth, thereby explicitly targeting therapies that do not align with radical left-wings gender affirmation.

US government plans to starve states that refuse to impose woke ideology on children

Floridas Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz said last month that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is threatening to withhold funding to states that would not impose woke ideology on children. (Related: Biden regime trying to STARVE school children to force them into LGBT grooming.)

He added that the USDA is already threatening to stop school lunch program funding because of the Parental Rights in Education Act signed by Governor Ron DeSantis, which is the state law to stop school children from being groomed into the LGBT cult.

Weve seen the latest attempt by the federal government imposing their radical agenda here in Floridas schools with the June 23rd USDA guidance that they issued, proposing changes to the regulations in Title IX, and adding sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under that  which was not designed for that, Diaz explained to host Joel Pollak during an episode of SiriusXMs Breitbart News Sunday.

Diaz said the government is basically trying to hold the most vulnerable kids hostage with the food program to implement this radical agenda.

We have a law and were going to stand by it and protect it, he said. Governor DeSantis is leading the way on that, and these federal guidance and regulations are not law. In fact, there are cases pending on that. So were going to put a stop to that and protect our kids here in our state.

He noted that Diazs USDAs directive would end up allowing biological males who identify as females to access female bathrooms and locker rooms, assign biological males who identify as female to female rooms on school trips.

We are not going to allow that in Florida. We are going to protect our children, he said.

Visit Transhumanism.news for more news related to Biden and his woke policies that favor the LGBT ideologies.

Watch this video about how the current administration is punishing pre-schools that do not support LGBT indoctrination.

This video is from the zolnareport.com channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

These violent facts about LGBT couples are so real even Bidens DOJ forced to admit inconvenient truth.

Demonic Washington Post says LGBT drag shows for children are family-friendly.

LGBT meltdown: Florida bans Medicaid coverage for gender-related medical treatments.

Kamala Harris put in charge of Ministry of Gender Truth to harass anyone who doesnt bow down to LGBT insanity.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

City-Journal.org

WhiteHouse.gov

Breitbart.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Daniel Watkins with Watkins & Letofsky and Michael Hamilton with Hamilton & Associates have filed three complaints, one each against Saint Agnes Medical Center, Community Regional Medical Center, and Clovis Community Medical Center  all in California  for giving covid patients remdesivir without informed consent.

The controversial antiviral drug, which padded the pockets of Tony Fauci and others throughout the plandemic, is extremely deadly and does not provide any protection against the Fauci Flu. The drug has been linked to kidney damage, resulting in more hospitalizations and early deaths than if it was never used at all.

Covid patients at the three aforementioned medical facilities in Fresno were administered what the complaints describe as a remdesivir protocol. They received uninformed consent, the complaints explain, meaning they really had no choice in the matter and were simply told that this was the established remedy for Chinese Germs.

The three-complaint lawsuit was unveiled at an event called Remdesivir Death: Landmark Lawsuit, which was attended by supporters such as Dr. Peter McCullough, Dr. Bryan Ardis, Dr. Angie Farella, and Dr. Janci Linsay. Each of these individuals has spoken out in the past about how remdesivir is dangerous and should not be used to treat patients.

At least 14 Fresno-area families are named as plaintiffs in the suit. They say that the three hospitals being sued engaged in medical deception and failed to provide informed consent, as is required by law, before exposing patients to the deadly drug cocktail.

Full informed consent means that patients must be provided with full information about the deadly harm that this dangerous experimental drug causes on its own, the lawsuit states. They must be told that the only time it was ever tested, it was pulled because it killed so many people.

NEJM study finds remdesivir to be least effective, most deadly pharmaceutical remedy for covid

Also referenced in the lawsuit is a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) which found that of the pharmaceutical drug candidates evaluated for the Chinese Virus, remdesivir was found to be the least effective and most deadly option.

Even so, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under former head Francis Collins claims that remdesivir is the only drug currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat the Fauci Flu.

Remdesivir received Emergency Use Authorization in or around May of 2020, after being recommended by an NIH panel that contained nine individuals with financial ties to its creator, Gilead Sciences, the lawsuit adds. It is very nearly the equivalent of a death sentence for a COVID patient, or a patient with real Pneumonia (as opposed to covid pneumonia).

What this means, according to the lawsuit, is that the three hospitals in question violated the Nuremberg Code by engaging in medical experimentation on patients without informed consent. This is a serious violation, representing crimes against humanity that must not go unpunished.

In some of the cases mentioned in the suit, patients were given remdesivir even after they explicitly declined the protocol. This amounts to forced drugging and pharmaceutical assault.

A patient comes to the hospital often for a problem unrelated to COVID-19, the suit explains further. They are told they have COVID-19 or COVID pneumonia.'

From there, patients are separated from loved ones and placed in a room where the only option available to them is remdesivir.

They are placed on a BiPap machine at a high rate, making it difficult for them to breathe, the lawsuit adds. Their hands are often tied down so they cant take the BiPap machine off their face.

The latest news about the plandemic can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Dozens of relevant stakeholders sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, and several others in key position of power calling on them to take immediate action to prevent permanent deindustrialisation from spiralling electricity and gas prices.

Western sanctions against Russia have made it prohibitively difficult for Europes economy to continue functioning. This includes the steel and metals industries, which are losing the ability to stay afloat as the pipelines run dry. (Related: Several of Europes top steel plants have already had to close due to skyrocketing energy prices.)

The letter was sent just prior to an emergency summit concerning the energy crisis in Europe. Industry stakeholders and business leaders in Europes non-ferrous metals industry jointly called on Von der Leyen and the others to deal with the problem in whatever capacity they are able in order to prevent a continental catastrophe.

Our sector has already been forced to make unprecedented curtailments in the last 12 months, the letter reads. We are deeply concerned that the winter ahead could deliver a decisive blow to many of our operations, and we call on EU and Member State leaders to take emergency action to preserve their strategic electricity-intensive industries and prevent permanent job losses.

Half of Europes aluminum and zinc capacity has been forced offline due to Western sanctions against Russia

The letter goes on to explain that many non-ferrous metals industry players have already had to drastically scale back or completely shutter operations due to lack of energy supplies and skyrocketing prices.

[Fifty percent] of the EUs aluminium and zinc capacity has already been forced offline due to the power crisis, as well as significant curtailments in silicon and ferroalloys production and further impacts felt across copper and nickel sectors, the letter further states.

In the last month, several companies have had to announce indefinite closures and many more are on the brink ahead of a life-or-death winter for many operations. Producers face electricity and gas costs over ten times higher than last year, far exceeding the sales price for their products. We know from experience that once a plant is closed it very often becomes a permanent situation, as re-opening implies significant uncertainty and cost.

In other words, we could reach a point where even if the pipelines are turned back on and everything goes back to normal, many industries might never resume operations because it will simply be too difficult and unstable at that point, not to mention prohibitively costly.

Ironically, the metals sectors need to continue producing and expanding in order to meet the requirements of Europes clean energy goals. All those electric vehicle (EV) batteries, for instance, come from metals that must be mined and processed, which requires plenty of energy.

Without that energy, there will be no more green anything, let alone the fossil fuel everything that the green crusade seeks to replace. What we are witnessing in real time, in other words, is a takedown of all energy in the name of fighting Vladimir Putin.

Europes clean energy goals require a competitive and growing metals sector to ensure a secure supply of the extra raw materials needed to shift away from fossil fuels, the letter further explains. Base metals, battery metals, and other metals are all needed in higher volumes for Europes grid infrastructure, electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines, and hydrogen electrolysers, as well as a complex web of other essential value chains across the European economy.

All of this is part of the globalists vision for a worldwide Great Reset. To keep up with the latest, visit GreatReset.news.

Sources for this article include:

Eurometaux.eu

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Farmers and food producers in Europe have called for government support to offset surging energy costs as they warned of possible food shortages and significant price increases during winter.

European Union farmers union Copa-Cogeca and food producer associations FoodDrink Europe and PFP said their members began closing operations and reducing their output as they asked for the food chain to be exempt from any European plans to ration energy.

In a statement ahead of the emergency meeting of European Union (EU) energy ministers, they said the latest increase in energy prices, especially natural gas and electricity, threatens the continuity of agri-food production cycles.

Energy prices have surged this year due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, with the former reducing gas flows to the continent in retaliation for the sanctions set by the West. Russia has already shut down a pipeline to Europe, citing technical issues.

This sparked fears of energy rationing when demand increased in the colder months while also causing a massive surge in natural gas prices that were already on the rise even before the war started due to the rebounding demand as pandemic restrictions eased.

Pekka Pesonen, who served as secretary-general of Copa-Cogeca, said European shoppers would be facing even higher prices and shortages of many fruit and vegetables in the winter. Its something weve never seen before, he said, adding that nobody saw this coming to have such vast consequences.

Dairy and bakery industries hit hard by rising energy prices

Energy is used throughout food production from fertilizers to harvesting to refrigeration. The dairy and bakery industries are especially affected by the rising prices, with Pesonen explaining that the pasteurization and the process of creating milk are energy-intensive.

Butter prices in the EU have also surged 80 percent in the year up to July while milk powder was up mover than 50 percent. Meanwhile, beef is now 28 percent higher. (Related: Fertilizer costs driving up food prices, threatening food security worldwide.)

Fruit and vegetable growers have reduced plantings for the next harvest, while some producers say that operating their greenhouses would cost more than the money they can make selling their produce.

This is because greenhouses rely on regulated temperatures for off-season growing. In the Netherlands, they are switching off or reducing production areas this winter due to the soaring fuel prices.

Nordic Greens, Swedens largest tomato grower, said they will not be planting any winter crops because they cannot afford the electricity.

Alexander Formsma, an energy specialist at Glastuinbouw Nederland, said people will probably not see lit crops of tomatoes and cucumbers in the winter because they are no longer financially feasible.

The 2022 harvest of crops that were grown in heated greenhouses in the U.K., such as cucumbers and peppers, would be less than half because of the high energy prices.

Lee Stiles, who serves as secretary of the Lea Valley Growers Association, said producers that would normally pick until October or November were ceasing harvesting already, while next years planting will depend on ongoing price negotiations with supermarkets.

Those who grow plants outdoors are also planning to produce less as they can no longer afford to refrigerate their products to prolong shelf lives. Even Belgian apple growers are looking at a far shorter season as they cannot afford to preserve their fruit.

Rabobank analyst, Cindy van Rijswick said: Its like we will go back in history again with Spain producing in wintertime and the northern European countries producing their own vegetables in summertime. Some people say maybe thats the way it should be.

Visit FoodCollapse.com for more stories about Europes dwindling food supply.

Watch the video below to know more about food shortages this coming winter.

This video is from the Hgh Hopes channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Agricultural Economy Barometer flashes warning signs over global crop crisis (and looming famine).

Destroying the food supply is the PLAN: Australia trashes fresh avocados while infant formula shipped to US border as Americas own babies go hungry.

Global food scarcity to cause 20+ million refugees from Africa to flee to Europe  mass migration.

Sources include:

StrangeSounds.org

BusinessInsider.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The Biden regime and deep state continue to work overtime to not only subvert our constitutional system but also to crush as many Americans as possible under the thumb of tyranny.

For instance, a noted gun rights organization has just uncovered a diabolical plot by the FBI to fool citizens into giving up their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Specifically, Gun Owners of America, via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, has obtained a form the bureau uses to secure forfeiture of Second Amendment rights, Breitbart News reported.

The outlet cited a 2019 report from Ammoland.com that warned of the FBIs plot after the gun rights group uncovered the NICS Indices Self-Submission Form in December of that year.

The FBI document  allows Americans to voluntarily waive their Second Amendment right to bear arms. Once the person submits the form, they cannot get their rights back, Ammoland.com noted at the time. The waiver of rights states clearly on the form: I may not be permitted to withdraw my name and information in the future.

According to Ammoland.com:

The person filling out the form has to choose between reasons. The first choice is that they are a danger to themselves or others. The Second item that they can check states that the person in question lacks mental capacity adequately to contract or manage the details of their life.

The first option is reminiscent of the language used in the so-called Red Flag laws or extreme risk protection orders. These laws lack due process, and pro-gun groups have used them as an example of the government pushing an overreaching and constitutionally dubious gun law across the country. Right now these laws are only at the state level.

In addition, the form mandates that a mental health professional agree, on the record, that the person in question has adequate mental capacity to voluntarily execute this document. Whats noteworthy about the form is typical government hypocrisy: While the person may have the mental capacity to sign away their Second Amendment right forever, they dont necessarily have the mental capacity adequately to contract or manage the details of their life.

How can you be competent enough to give up a constitutional right but not competent enough to live your life? That only makes sense to a gun-grabbing bureaucrat at the FBI.

There is nowhere in the form where the mental health professional has to certify that the patient under their care doesnt have the mental capabilities to own firearms, notes Ammoland.com. It is only to confirm they are signing the document under a sound mind and body. Gun rights advocates worry about possible abuses because of how the certification is worded in the form.

According to a report by The Daily Caller last week, the FBI has actually taken the form to the homes of some Americans and presented them with the option to surrender their gun rights:

The forms were presented by the FBI to people at their homes and in other undisclosed locations, according to bureau documents unearthed through the Freedom of Information Act by the firearm rights group GOAAt least 15 people between 2016 and 2019 signed the secret forms, which ask signatories to declare themselves as either a danger to themselves or others or lacking mental capacity adequately to contract or manage their lives.

Breitbart News firearms issues reporter Awr Hawkins spoke to GOA Vice President Erich Pratt about the groups FOIA request.

This self-reporting form became a tool for the FBI to pressure law-abiding Americans, who have committed no crimes, to voluntarily forfeit their Second Amendment rights. The agency would put the squeeze on people to surrender their rights, based simply on hearsay evidence. And then, just like Red Flag laws, a gun owner could lose their gun rights without ever appearing before a judge or jury, Pratt said.

Congress must investigate to ensure that this system and any forms tied to it have been destroyed, and most importantly, the officials responsible must be held to account for their actions which have betrayed the trust of the American people, Pratt added. This is just the latest example of the FBI going rogue and abusing their authority to the detriment of Americans Constitutionally guaranteed rights. Given the Bureaus unwillingness to answer questions or cooperate with GOAs investigation, coupled with a total lack of Congressional oversight, this system is likely to have been misused  and the FBI knows it.

Sources include:

AmmoLand.com

Breitbart.com

DailyCaller.com
(Natural News) Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, said via an email that he would be happy to introduce business partners to a senior Chinese Communist Party official (CCP) to catalyze potential investments.

According to emails reviewed and verified by Fox News Digital, this occurred after the Chinese official allegedly sat at Hunters table during a 2013 dinner in Beijing welcoming his father, then-Vice President Biden.

On July 22, 2014, James Bulger, nephew of Boston mobster James Whitey Bulger, wrote an email to the younger Biden, requesting to introduce his business partners to the billionaire Tung Chee-hwa, first chief executive of Hong Kong who was serving as the vice-chairman of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in 2014.

The CPPCC is the key mechanism for multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CCP, the CPPCC website indicated.

Jonathan has asked me to please ask you to make an introduction to Mr. Tung, read the email. J and Andy are very keen to meet Mr. Tung and discuss BHR investment targets as well as fundraising. Bulger said both of their guys believe Tung can be helpful at that time.

BHR Partners is a private investment fund founded in 2013 by Bohai Industrial Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd., which is controlled by Bank of China Limited and backed by the China Development Bank Capital. The companys chief executive is Chinese banker Jonathan Li.

In the leaked email, Bulger was asking Hunter to introduce Li and Andy Lu, a committee member, to Tung to discuss investment targets and fundraising.

The younger Biden replied that he was happy to fulfill the request but said he could not recall the names of the gentlemen who sat next to him at the dinner.

Happy to do this, but I have no email address for Mr. Tung and he very well may have sat next to me, but I dont recall the two gentlemens names to my left and right. Regardless, I would suggest the team draft an email in Mandarin and English for my approval ASAP, Hunter wrote.

To which Bulger replied: Let me reach out to Lin and J will revert ASAP.

Fox said it is unclear if the introduction took place. The news portal also inquired with Hunters lawyer, Bulger, Li, Lu and Tung but has not received any feedback yet.

Bulger was the chairman of Boston-based Thornton Group LLC, a firm that joined forces with Hunters now-defunct Rosemont Seneca to launch its joint venture with Bohai to create BHR Partners.

Hunter Biden was an unpaid board member of BHR until April 2020, according to his lawyer. He held a 10 percent stake in the firm as of last May, according to company records.

Sen. Ron Johnson: Joe Biden is certainly compromised

Two months ago, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson highlighted more shreds of evidence via the presidents sons laptop from hell that the Biden crime family is indeed collaborating with communist China. (Related: Sen. Ron Johnson says he has seen proof that Hunter Biden is working directly for communist China.)

I think the American people deserve the truth on this because Joe Biden is certainly compromised. I heard your last segment there talking about Joe Bidens soft-on-China policies, Johnson said in an interview with Sunday Morning Futures.

He added theres probably a reason why Joe Biden canceled the China Initiative, which was in the Department of Justice (DOJ) program to investigate Chinese theft of intellectual property in Americas university systems.

Why in the world would he cancel that? Is it because he knows that China knows all the transactions and exactly what Hunter Biden was involved in? Johnson stated.

The solon further said this is a huge scandal.

The American public deserves the truth because it is putting at risk our national security, because we have a compromised president who has lied repeatedly to the American public, saying that he never talked to Hunter about his overseas business transactions, he insisted,

According to bank records produced by Sens. Johnson and Chuck Grassley, Hunter and his uncle James, Joes brother, worked with companies connected to Chinas communist regime to assist it in finding projects for global and domestic infrastructure and energy.

Johnson also noted then that the FBI has had the laptop since December 2019. What have they been doing with it? he asked.

He believes a cover-up has been done.

FBI and DOJ wont answer our questions about the potential conflict of interests with people like Nicholas McQuaid, who  and who heads up the Criminal Division. They have not been forthright. I dont think theyre rigorously investigating this. Im concerned they will be involved in a cover-up as well. Even if they do indict, I fear they will seal the records. The American public will never get the full truth, the senator said.

Visit BidenCrimeFamily.news for more news about the Biden familys corrupt ways.

Watch the below video where a whistleblower talked about what is inside Bidens dirty laptop.

This video is from Suzies Search for Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

CNN finally reporting about Hunter Bidens controversial laptop.

The national tragedy of Hunter Bidens laptop.

Hunter Biden evidence wrongly labeled disinformation by FBI: Whistleblower.

Bidens new disinformation chief was pleased by censorship of Hunter Biden laptop stories.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

FoxNews.com

En.CPPCC.gov.cn

En-Volve.com

Grassley.senate.gov

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Attorneys involved in a whistleblower lawsuit against Pfizer say that the drug giant cannot use the government as a cover for making false claims about its Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine.

In response to a motion by Pfizer to dismiss the False Claims Act lawsuit, lawyers representing Brook Jackson, who worked as a regional director at one of the trial sites where Pfizer developed its Fauci Flu shot, had this to say:

Respondents claim fraudulent certifications, false statements, doctored data, contaminated clinical trials, and firing of whistleblowers can be ignored based on the theory that they contracted their way around the fraud. A drug company cannot induce the taxpayers to pay billions of dollars for a product that honest data would show poses more risks than benefits, and that ignores the actual contract and the law itself.

Pfizer and two of its subsidiaries, the suit alleges, violated the False Claims Act by providing bogus clinical trials to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which accepted them without question and authorized the shot at warp speed. (Related: Pfizer also bullied the government of South Africa into shielding it from all liability for injuries and deaths caused by covid shots.)

If successful, the lawsuit will force Pfizer to pay out $3.3 TRILLION in damages

Under federal law, an individual can sue a drug company on behalf of the government and win treble damages if he or she can prove that an individual or company deliberately lied to the government about a drug or vaccine.

In this case, said treble damages could amount to as much as $3.3 trillion, according to Warner Mendenhall, one of Jacksons attorneys. This would be more than enough to completely bankrupt Pfizer and send a warning shot to other pharmaceutical giants to watch their backs.

Mendenhalls law firm has won numerous multi-million-dollar False Claims Act cases over the years. He personally believes, based on the $2 billion the United States government shelled out to Pfizer to buy more than 100 million doses of its mRNA (messenger RNA) poison, that $3.3 trillion is an accurate estimate.

Pfizer is, of course, arguing full innocence on the matter, claiming that it knew about Jacksons claims for at least two years and expressed full confidence in the data it presented to the FDA in favor of the injection.

Mendenhall, conversely, says that Pfizers argument is dead on arrival because a false claims action is independent of the governments knowledge on the matter. All Jackson has to do, he says is prove that Pfizer and its subcontractors presented fraudulent information to the FDA.

Jackson was third in command of the clinical trials conducted by Ventavia Research Group as part of Pfizers application for emergency use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine, reports The Epoch Times about the case. She was there for only 18 days before being fired by Ventavia after reporting what she called absolute mayhem and an utter disregard for safety protocols and federal regulations in developing the vaccine.

Jackson has submitted over 400 exhibits as part of her complaint. Jackson said that a former Tacos cashier was among those tasked with injecting patients with the experimental jab. She alleged that the trial staff falsified patient signatures on informed consent paperwork. And she has described a daily mess of unsanitary conditions.

In a desperate attempt to destroy Jackson over the lawsuit, Pfizer is now claiming that she is anti-vaccine and anti-government, and thus not credible. Pfizer also claims that Jackson is only out for herself and is seeking a large payout because she was fired for telling the truth.

The latest news coverage about Pfizer can be found at Evil.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Politicians in the state of Illinois passed a new law that will do away with cash bail for 12 non-detainable offenses, including second-degree murder.

The so-called SAFE-T Act (Safety Accountability and Fairness Equity Today Act) will also eliminate the bail requirement for aggravated battery and arson, drug-induced homicide, kidnapping, burglary, robbery, intimidation, aggravated DUI, aggravated fleeing and eluding, drug offenses, and threatening a public official.

Starting in 2023, all of these crimes will become non-detainable offenses, meaning criminals who commit them will simply be charged and immediately released back into the community. (Related: Caterpillar and the other companies that have left Illinois in recent months fled over things like this.)

Once the SAFE-T Act takes effect, warns Will County State Attorney James Glasgow, it will be the end of days for the Land of Lincoln. Some are also comparing what is soon to come to what was depicted in the film The Purge.

Chicago is without a doubt most threatened by the new law, which will likely make crime even more of a problem. The citys six-county metro region includes Will County, the second-largest.

Passed on July 17, the SAFE-T Act will destroy the city (of Chicago) and the state of Illinois, Glasgow says. I dont even understand (how) the people who support it cant realize it.

Trespassing and other crimes that used to result in arrest to become ticket-able offenses in Illinois

Another change the bill will make is to curtail which types of criminals can be arrested, resulting in more of them being ticketed as opposed to taken into custody.

Someone who trespasses, for instance, will simply get a citation rather than be thrown into a squad car.

Once the SAFE-T Act takes effect, police and judges all across the state will have their hands tied concerning what will become of the many criminals in Illinois who are right now being held in jail on bail.

In Will County alone, there are 640 of them, 60 of whom have been charged with murder, who will be released on January 1. Also, any new arrests resulting in jail time will not be allowed to persist past 90 days for criminals who demand a trial.

After the 90th day, Glasgow says, these people will be released from jail no matter what crime they committed.

What you see in Chicago well have here, he added about how Illinois crime situation will explode once the SAFE-T Act officially commences.

Those running for office in the upcoming election must be pressed about the issue by constituents, Glasgow says. He wants every single one of them to promise to repeal the SAFE-T Act, especially since most, if not all, of the legislators who signed it did not even read its 800 pages.

Youve got legislators who arent lawyers, (and) youve got legislators who werent criminal lawyers, he says. Trying to read all that in two days, it was impossible.

Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau made an appearance on Fox News to discuss the implications of the bill, stating that we must not allow this law to stand as passed.

I cant even begin to tell you how dangerous this act is, Pekau explained.

The Orland Village Board unanimously passed its own resolution demanding that state legislators work with public safety representatives to address the various problems with the SAFE-T Act.

Someone could decide to live in your shed, and all we could do is give them a ticket, Pekau, who is currently running for Congress, added. This is a massive threat to residents of Orland Park, Cook County and Illinois.

More related news can be found at Violence.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheCounterSignal.com

NaturalNews.com

FoxNews.com
(Natural News) DC Mayor Muriel Bowser is calling foul on all the illegal aliens being bussed to her so-called sanctuary city.

(Article by Bo Banks republished from BigLeaguePolitics.com)

She has been doing this for months now, as its clear she cannot handle mass immigration when it floods into her city. Never mind the fact that thousands of migrants are crossing the US Southern Border daily.

JUST IN  DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announces public emergency over migrants being bused to DC from Texas and Arizona  Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) September 8, 2022

Bowser has routinely made headlines after she called on the national guard to help her deal with the ongoing busings of illegal aliens into her city.

The Biden administration has not stepped in to aid DC despite multiple requests, so Bowser has casted blame onto Governors Abbott and Ducey in an impressive display of its not my fault, its the Republicans politics.

Now, Bowser is sounding the alarms even harder, declaring a public emergency over migrants being bused to DC from Texas and Arizona.

#BREAKING  Mayor Bowser declaring public emergency over migrants bused to DC from TX and AZ. Office of Migrant Services established @wusa9pic.twitter.com/LRJ3ocIEM4  Lorenzo Hall (@LorenzoHall) September 8, 2022

Critics quickly blasted Bowser for claiming DC was a sanctuary city for illegals, then going bonkers when she got what she wished for.

Per a DC city council member: The governors of Texas and Arizona have created this crisis [and] have turned us into a border town.

WATCH:

Bowser has been very vocal against the Abbott-Ducey initiative since the beginning. Along with NYC Mayor Eric Adams who dubbed it as horrific and unimaginable.

Democrat leaders are proving to the nation that they cant handle a taste of their own medicine. They are all for illegal immigration until migrants show up in their backyard.

Comments like these from Adams and Bowser would have been deemed dangerous xenophobia just a few years ago. Which just goes to show how far the corporate press is willing to go to protect the looming radical left-wing agenda that is plaguing American cities today.

Love it or hate it, the Abbott-Ducey initiative is turning out to be more than just a publicity stunt.

Bowser is resorting to all that she can: a cross-state blame game to smear Republicans instead of taking accountability for Democrat failed policy.

But hey, whats new?

Read more at: BigLeaguePolitics.com
(Natural News) The U.S. supply chain could take another critical blow, as tens of thousands of railroad workers prepare for a major labor strike. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has failed to reach a deal with two of the largest labor unions in the railroad industry. Approximately 90,000 railroad workers could go on strike by late September. The failed negotiations have prompted Union Pacific and CSX to announce contingency plans, as a full-blown work stoppage seems inevitable.

The American Bakers Association, representing more than 300 companies, warned that Even a temporary interruption would create a devastating ripple effect across US supply chains.

Contingency plans set in motion as railroad industry prepares for massive labor strike

Norfolk Southern will enact their own contingency plans across their network. This will include a controlled shut down starting Friday September 16th. This is when the cooling-off period expires. The Railway Labor Act was implemented by Biden officials two months ago to prevent a strike. It requires a 30-day cooling period. After September 16, the railroad industry will have to appeal to Congress to reach a deal with the labor unions.

Ten unions have already reached a deal with AAR, but two of the biggest continue to hold out: the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the International Association of Sheet Metal Air, Rail and Transportation Workers.

The railroads are moving quickly to secure shipments of hazardous and security-sensitive materials. The AAR warned: We still do not have a commitment not to strike and [therefore we] must act accordingly.

Our goal is to ensure that in the event of a work stoppage, crews, equipment, and freight safely reach their destinations with minimal disruption, the Association added.

US economy could tank $2 billion per day, if deal is not reached with labor unions

The AAR warns that the major railroad strike would take a $2 billion per day toll on the US economy. Approximately 29 percent of all US freight is transported via rail. About half of all railroad freight includes bulk commodities like food, energy, metals, chemicals, and wood products. The other half includes consumer goods and household items. The backlog in shipments will inevitably contribute to higher food and energy costs.

Over three fourths of the freight is transported by just a handful of companies: BNSF, Union Pacific, Class I intermodal traffic, CSX and Norfolk Southern. BNSF Railway is urging its customers to contact Congressional lawmakers so they will intervene to quickly resolve the service disruption. BNSF is preparing to secure the most important shipments starting Monday, September 19th.

As the cost of energy, food, and housing skyrockets under the Biden administration, working Americans will increasingly look for higher wages. More labor strikes are only inevitable now, as hard-earned money loses its spending power in the hyper-inflated economy. More workers are going to demand salary increases just to pay the rent and survive in a reeling economy that has been irreparably harmed by the useless Biden administration.

Sources include:

Zerohedge.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Just when it seems like we cant possibly go any lower, we always manage to top ourselves. In the old days, every once in a while I would come across a story that would make me shake my head in disbelief because it was just so absurd. Now it is happening on a daily basis. In this article I am going to share some examples with you. I realize that some of these things are difficult to believe, but all of them are true. Our country really is coming apart at the seams right in front of our eyes, and the pace of our national decline only seems to be accelerating. If we are not able to turn our cultural decay around, eventually we will not have a country at all.

(Article by Michael republished from EndOfTheAmericanDream.com)

Let me start with a new law which will go into effect in Illinois on January 1st.

From that point forward, those guilty of second-degree murder, kidnapping, burglary and arson will always be released without having to post any bail at all

When a new Illinois law takes effect next year, it will do away with the cash bail system in the state, meaning suspects charged with felonies, including second-degree murder, aggravated battery, and arson, will be released without bail. The Counter Signal reports the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act, also called the SAFE-T Act, would end cash bail and includes 12 non-detainable offenses, second-degree murder, aggravated battery, and arson without bail, as well as drug-induced homicide, kidnapping, burglary, robbery, intimidation, aggravated DUI, aggravated fleeing and eluding, drug offenses and threatening a public official. When the law takes effect on Jan. 1, 2023, criminals charged with the crimes mentioned above will be released without bail.

How many hardened criminals do you think will actually show up for their trials?

I am sure that there will be a few.

Of course many of our woke judges are doing their very best to make sure that many violent criminals never pay the price for their crimes even if they do stand trial.

In California, a judge recently granted a mistrial to one defendant just because he didnt get a good night of sleep the night before

A California judge, who hails from a powerful Democrat family who endorsed LA DA George Gascon, granted a mistrial for a man facing life in prison because he was sleepy. The alleged criminal apparently did not get a good nights rest before the trial after spending the night in a cell without a bed or blanket.

Seriously?

So now this violent criminal is back on the streets even though he pointed a gun in the face of a female fast food worker and threatened to blow her brains out

Vamazae Elgin Banks, 24, appeared in court after threatening a McDonalds worker with a gun before stealing less than $100. Court records accused Banks of telling the cashier at the fast food joint that he would kill her if she didnt produce the cash quickly enough, allegedly telling her hurry up or Ill blow your brains out!

Our system of justice is systematically being destroyed.

But many Americans simply dont care because they are drugged out of their minds.

The United States has the biggest problem with legal drugs on the entire planet, and it also has the biggest problem with illegal drugs on the entire planet.

When I saw the following story, I thought that it perfectly summed up where we are as a nation today

A speeding woman is accused of driving under the influence of cocaine and alcohol when she crashed into another car, killing its driver who was under the influence of methamphetamine, police said. Summer Butler, 37, faces charges of DUI resulting in death, reckless driving and being in possession of a controlled substance in connection with the fatal crash in January, court documents obtained by the 8 News Now I-Team said.

At this point, it seems like almost everyone is an addict, and that includes many of our government officials. Here is just one example

A Louisiana state official was arrested for allegedly buying drugs from a drug dealer outside of a fast food chain on Tuesday. Bridgette Hull, 37, serves as the executive secretary for the Louisiana State Board of Private Security Examiners. She was purchasing drugs from dealer Steven McCarthy, who was under surveillance, when a Louisiana Attorney General Office employee recognized him at a Livingston Parish restaurant. Hull was arrested onsite, but McCarthy fled the scene after back up was called  resulting in a pursuit. He later crashed into another car and was arrested.

If we would secure our borders, we could at least reduce the flow of illegal drugs into this country.

But the Biden administration refuses to do that.

And so the worst drug crisis in all of U.S. history will continue to escalate, and substances that are laced with fentanyl will continue to kill countless numbers of our young people

San Diego and Imperial County comprise the epicenter of fentanyl drug trafficking in the United States, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which reported that seizures of fentanyl in San Diego were up 323% in FY2019-FY2021 and that fentanyl overdose deaths increased 2,375% in San Diego County between 2016 and 2021. A decade ago, we didnt even know about fentanyl, and now its a national crisis, said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Randy Grossman. The amount of fentanyl we are seizing at the border is staggering. The number of fentanyl seizures and fentanyl-related deaths in our district are unprecedented.

If you are waiting for our national leaders to fix our growing problems, you are going to be waiting for a really, really long time.

Every major decision they make seems to make things even worse, and the Biden administration keeps appointing extremely alarming individuals to top positions of power.

In fact, Biden just appointed a doctor that is absolutely obsessed with pentagrams to be the National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator.

Meet Demetre Daskalakis.

Demetre was just appointed by Joe Biden to be the official White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator. Demetre proudly wears the official symbol of the Church of Satan: The Pentagram.

Joe Biden appointed a Satanist to the White House. pic.twitter.com/TiMPY29AtC  Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 8, 2022

Here is the official glowing announcement from Joe Biden that he has appointed Demetre to this prominent White House position. No mention of the Satanism in this press release. https://t.co/H8AsEdo2wh.  Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 8, 2022

So far, only a very small handful of conservatives are objecting to his appointment to such an important position.

What in the world is wrong with this country?

Have we gone completely and totally nuts?

Perhaps we have. At this point, close to one-fourth of all Democratic voters actually believe that men can get pregnant

A poll conducted by WPA Intelligence has found that almost one quarter of Democratic voters believe that some men can become pregnant. Twenty-two percent of Democrats overall agreed with the statement. The poll also found that more women agreed with the statement, and an incredible 36 percent of white, college-educated female Democrats agreed.

We arent just in a state of decline.

The truth is that we are in a very advanced state of decline and the clock is ticking.

If you love this nation, what has happened to us should deeply sadden you.

We were once the greatest country on the entire planet, but now we are rapidly being destroyed from within.

Please wake up America, because time to do anything about all of this is quickly running out.

Read more at: EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Over the weekend, residents of Washington and Oregon were welcomed with ash and smoke as more than a dozen huge fires raged through the Pacific Northwest forest.

The FOX Forecast Center is tracking poor air quality and smoke throughout the workweek across the Pacific Northwest and into the Upper Midwest.

Pacific Northwest wildfires pose health risks throughout the West

The smoke is expected to drift east on Tuesday, causing foggy conditions in sections of the Upper Midwest, as per Fox News.

The combination of low humidity, strong winds, and dry conditions produced ideal circumstances for flames to spread quickly.

More than 5,000 firefighters are battling huge fires that have devastated over a quarter-million acres.

Over the weekend, smoke and ash were recorded from Seattle to Portland, Oregon, as easterly to southerly winds allowed the fire plumes to drift into inhabited areas.

Due to readings in the harmful range, numerous counties in the region were issued air quality advisories.

Because of the intense smoke, the National Weather Service recommended residents around Seattle to stay indoors, avoid vigorous exercise, and close windows and doors.

Air quality advisories for the eastern half of Washington state, as well as Montana and northern Idaho, remain in effect Monday.

East of Seattle, in the Wenatchee National Forest, and in Idaho, near the Clearwater Mountains, "very hazardous" air advisories have been issued.

Wildfires raging throughout the West are affecting air quality

While Montana is dealing with terrible air quality, regions from the Midwest to the Mountain West are prepared for the potential health repercussions of these hundreds of miles distant fires, as per The Hill.

Such pollution is caused by tiny particulate matter, or particles with a diameter of fewer than 2.5 microns, which is abundant in wildfire ash and can cause respiratory problems.

On Monday morning, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued a smoke forecast, warning that hazy skies and mild to moderate smoke concentrations are anticipated in northern and western Colorado.

According to the EPA, such air quality conditions would be "due to smoke from out-of-state wildfires."

While no severe public health implications were predicted, the agency recommended sensitive persons minimize strenuous exertion in regions where smoke was visible.

According to the Swiss air quality monitoring app IQAir, both Seattle and Portland rated among the top 20 cities in the world for air pollution levels on Monday, far closer to the Pacific Northwest fires.

According to The Seattle Times, Seattle temporarily held the most dangerous slot on the list over the weekend, with air pollution levels appearing to be the worst in over two years.

According to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality's real-time air monitoring system, much of Idaho's northern panhandle was suffering "unhealthy" air quality levels on Monday.

Two monitoring stations along the Washington-Oregon border reported "extremely unhealthy" levels.

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Air Quality Index defines unhealthy air quality levels as those that can have substantial health consequences for individuals of vulnerable populations.

Very unhealthy levels pose a greater risk of adverse health impacts for everyone, and "hazardous" levels warrant an emergency health alert.

According to the EPA's interactive AirNow air quality map, large regions of Montana, Washington state, and Oregon, as well as the Sierra Nevada and Western Canada, had bad air quality on Monday, with some areas having very unhealthy or even hazardous conditions.

Read more: Trees in California Mountain Range Are Dying Due to High Pressure and Wildfire

Cedar Creek Fire

According to the NICC, the fire has burnt over 86,734 acres and is 0% controlled.

The majority of the fires are contained within the Willamette National Forest, although private holdings in the state's west are endangered.

Because the fire is out of control, an estimated 1,900 households have been ordered to evacuate.

Storms in early August are thought to have triggered the lightning that ignited the fire. The storms sparked 20 to 30 new fires, according to the US Forest Service.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared an emergency on Friday to assist deploy resources for the Lane County fire.

The greatest fire in the Pacific Northwest this year has scorched more than 155,297 acres in eastern Oregon near the Snake River. The fire has grown to almost 42,814 acres as of Sunday morning.

According to officials, between 100 and 200 homes are endangered, and the fire is raging near the village of Imnaha.

Similar to the Cedar Creek Fire, the wildfire is being blamed on August thunderstorms that generated lightning.

More than 850 people are trying to put out the fire, which was only around 15% contained as of latest update

Related article: Wildfire Smoke Particles Can Affect the Climate Longer Than Previously Expected
Researchers from Michigan State University, together with colleagues from the University of California Berkeley, the University of South Bohemia, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have helped provide the most precise depiction of crucial biological "antennae" to date.

'Blueprint' for photosynthesis

Nature has created these structures to capture the sun's energy through photosynthesis, yet they do not belong to plants, as per ScienceDaily.

They are present in cyanobacteria, which are the evolutionary successors of the earliest creatures on Earth capable of converting sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into sugars and oxygen.

The results, which were published on August 31 in the journal Nature, instantly shed fresh light on microbial photosynthesis, especially how light energy is absorbed and sent to where it is needed to power the conversion of carbon dioxide into sugars.

In the future, the findings could aid researchers in the remediation of harmful bacteria in the environment, the development of artificial photosynthetic systems for renewable energy, and the inclusion of microbes in sustainable manufacturing that begins with carbon dioxide and sunlight as raw materials.

According to Cheryl Kerfeld, Hannah Distinguished Professor of structural bioengineering in the College of Natural Science, there is a lot of interest in using cyanobacteria as solar-powered factories that capture sunlight and convert it into a type of energy that can be used to make important products.

With a design like the one offered in this paper, you may begin thinking about tweaking and enhancing photosynthesis's light-harvesting component.

When you understand how something works, you can better change and manipulate it. This is a significant benefit, according to Markus Sutter, a senior research associate at MSU and Berkeley Lab in California.

For decades, scientists have worked to visualize the many building parts of phycobilisomes to better understand how they function.

Because phycobilisomes are fragile, this piecemeal method is required.

Researchers had previously been unable to obtain high-resolution photographs of undamaged antennas, which are required to understand how they capture and transfer light energy.

"This study represents a milestone in the science of photosynthesis," said Paul Sauer, a postdoctoral researcher at Berkeley Group and UC Berkeley in Professor Eva Nogales' cryogenic electron microscopy lab.

Until recently, the whole light-harvesting structure of a cyanobacteria's antenna has been missing, according to Sauer.

The study sheds light on how evolution devised methods for bacteria to convert carbon dioxide and light into oxygen and sugar long before plants existed on our planet.

Sauer, like Kerfeld, is a corresponding author on the new piece.

The researchers reported numerous important findings, including the discovery of a novel phycobilisome protein and the discovery of two previously unknown ways that the phycobilisome orients its light-capturing rods.

Before this study, researchers knew that when the phycobilisome received too much sunlight, it may trap compounds known as orange carotenoid proteins or OCPs.

The extra energy is released as heat by the OCPs, preventing the photosynthetic system of a cyanobacterium from burning up.

Previously, scientists disagreed on how many OCPs the phycobilisome could bind and where those binding sites were.

The new study provides answers to these fundamental issues as well as potentially useful insights.

This type of surge-protection technology, known as photoprotection and having analogs in the plant world, is inherently inefficient.

Cyanobacteria are sluggish to switch off their photoprotection once it has served their purpose.

And, despite their contribution to making the world habitable for humans and countless other creatures that require oxygen to thrive, cyanobacteria have a negative side effect.

Toxins produced by cyanobacteria blooms in lakes, ponds, and reservoirs can be lethal to natural ecosystems as well as humans and their pets.

Knowing how bacteria not only gather the sun's energy but also defend themselves against too much of it, may inspire new ways to combat dangerous blooms.

Also Read: Scientists Are Resurrecting Ancient Enzymes in Order To Boost Photosynthesis

What is the significance of photosynthesis?

Photosynthesis is essential to the survival of the vast majority of life on Earth. It is the process through which nearly all of the energy in the biosphere becomes accessible to living organisms, as per Britannica.

Photosynthetic organisms, as primary producers, provide the foundation of Earth's food webs and are devoured directly or indirectly by all higher life forms.

Furthermore, photosynthesis accounts for nearly all of the oxygen in the atmosphere.

If photosynthesis were to halt, there would soon be little food or other organic stuff on Earth, most species would vanish, and the Earth's atmosphere would eventually be almost barren of gaseous oxygen.

Related article: How Well a Soil Microorganism May Stimulate Artificial Photosynthesis According to Experts
Determining what killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period has long been a source of discussion, as scientists try to figure out what caused the five big extinction events that changed life on Earth in a geological second.

Some experts believed that comets or asteroids colliding with Earth were the most likely agents of mass devastation, while others believed that enormous volcanic eruptions were to blame.

What killed dinosaurs and other life on Earth?

The findings gave the most convincing quantitative evidence to date that the relationship between significant volcanic eruptions and widespread species turnover is not just coincidental, as per ScienceDaily.

According to the researchers, four of the five major extinctions occurred concurrently with a form of volcanic outpouring known as a flood basalt.

In the blink of a geological eye, a million years, these eruptions flooded large areas, even an entire continent, with lava.

They left behind massive fingerprints in the form of step-like igneous rock (solidified from erupting lava) that geologists refer to as "large igneous provinces."

According to the experts, the majority of the volcanoes featured in the study spewed a million times more lava than that.

The researchers examined the temporal relationship between mass extinction and big igneous provinces using three well-established datasets on the geologic time scale, paleobiology, and large igneous provinces.

According to lead author Theodore Green, who conducted this research as part of the Senior Fellowship program at Dartmouth and is now a graduate student at Princeton, the large step-like areas of igneous rock from these large volcanic eruptions appear to line up in time with mass extinctions and other significant climatic and environmental events.

In reality, approximately 252 million years ago, a sequence of eruptions in present-day Siberia sparked the most severe of the mass extinctions, unleashing a massive pulse of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and virtually killing off all life.

The Siberian Traps, a huge expanse of volcanic rock nearly the size of Australia, bear witness.

Volcanic eruptions also shook the Indian subcontinent during the period of the great dinosaur extinction, forming the Deccan plateau.

This, like the asteroid hit, would have had worldwide consequences, blanketing the atmosphere in dust and poisonous gases, asphyxiating dinosaurs and other species, and changing the temperature on a long-time scale.

The hypotheses in support of asteroid destruction, on the other hand, rely on the Chicxulub impactor, a space rock that crashed-landed onto Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula about the same time as dinosaurs went extinct, according to the experts.

All previous ideas, including volcanism, that sought to explain what killed the dinosaurs were demolished when the Chicxulub impact crater was discovered, according to co-author Brenhin Keller, an associate professor of earth sciences at Dartmouth.

Despite decades of research, however, he noted that there is very little evidence of similar impact events that correlate with the other great extinctions.

Green used the Dartmouth Discovery Cluster supercomputers to crunch the statistics with Keller and co-author Paul Renne, professor-in-residence of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, and head of the Berkeley Geochronology Center.

The researchers contrasted the best-known estimates of flood basalt eruptions with geological timescales of catastrophic species extinctions, including but not limited to the five major extinctions.

To demonstrate that the timing was not just coincidental, scientists tested whether the eruptions would line up just as well with a randomly created pattern and repeated the experiment with 100 million such designs.

The agreement with extinction times was found to be significantly greater than random chance.

Also Read: What Happened During the Earth's Very First Mass Extinction?

Volcanoes paved the path for dinosaurs

The end-Triassic extinction took off almost three-fourths of the world's marine and terrestrial species about 200 million years ago, as per Big Think.

This was the end of trilobites, ammonoids, and massive crocodile-like creatures known as phytosaurs - fearsome predators that could grow to be 12 meters long.

Following the loss of phytosaurs, a niche was left available for dinosaurs, who survived and ascended to supremacy.

The end-Triassic extinction is supposed to have been caused by a massive eruption of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province.

This vast volcanic zone formed the rift that divided Pangea in half, separating the modern-day Amazon from Western Africa and North America's Atlantic coast from Europe.

Kunio Kaiho from Japan's Tohoku University's team collected limestone and mudstone samples from end-Triassic layers in present-day England and Austria to better understand how broad volcanic activity affects the climate.

They heated the stone in the lab to temperatures ranging from 350 to 1100 degrees Celsius, trying to figure out what occurs when hot magma collided with sedimentary rocks containing hydrocarbons and sulfur.

The first 300,000 years of the end-of-Triassic extinction were distinguished by four main surges of volcanism.

The temperature of magma may be monitored in some ways using coronene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH).

Because this PAH requires high temperatures to develop, its presence may be used to track magma temperatures.

The researchers were able to assess coronene abundance and how it varied during volcanic activity spikes by analyzing their samples.

Related article: Scientists Find Increasing Tell-Tale Signs of an Upcoming Mass Extinction
The planet suffers from climate change and global warming, causing massive environmental damage. Researches suggested that the current global heat could lead to a risk of triggering six dangerous climate tipping points.

In a special UN report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reiterates the importance of maintaining and reducing the global temperature on Earth. It can prevent catastrophic environmental concerns such as the melting of glaciers and damage to ecosystems.

IPCC is the United Nations (UN) responsible for assessing the Science related to climate change.

IPCC introduced the term climate tipping points.

Furthermore, the BBC reported that the current rates of global heat would put the Earth at risk.

It could cause the collapse of ice sheets and damage to coral reefs, and such a scenario could lead to a climate emergency.

The report also added that it might ignite a change in the Earth, affecting oceans, weather, and the environment.

Once it starts, it will be irreversible and unstoppable.

Also read: Collapse of Antarctica's 'Doomsday Glacier' Could Trigger Deadly Tsunamis and Swallow Islands

Climate tipping points

Experts initially thought the tipping points could only be reached if the global temperature increased to more than 5c.

However, the BBC reported that there is evidence that the thresholds may be reached earlier.

As published in Science, the catastrophic tipping points in the research "exceeding 1.5C global warming" could trigger multiple climate tipping points.

The BBC further reported the following tipping points are as follows:

sea ice loss in the Barents Sea

thawing of permafrost in the Northern regions

coral reef die-off in the low latitudes

collapse of ocean circulation in North Atlantic

West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse

Greenland Ice Sheet collapse

The UN reported that Greenland and Antarctica experienced losing ice six times faster than 30 years ago.

It is because of the worsening climate change. Climate tipping points could also increase potential higher risks.

Greenland and Antarctica show signs of losing ice faster than scientists imagined, six times faster than 30 years ago.

In a BBC News report, a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate and Co-author Ricarda Winkermann said that the many tipping points in the Earth pose a serious concern.

Doomsday glacier

The Nature World News reported 'Doomsday Glacier' Raises Concerns for Scientists.'

The Doomsday glacier is also known as the Thwaites Glacier, located in West Antarctica with a size like the state of Florida.

The report said that the glacier, from its seabed, retreated yearly at an alarming rate of 1.3 miles (2.1 kilometers). It is considered twice from the observation of scientists in the past decade.

Moreover, research revealed that the warm water flowing underneath the glacier could melt.

It could result in high-risk sea levels globally.

Global warming is attributed to triggering the six dangerous climate tipping points.

The UN said that human-induced global warming has led to multiple changes in the climate system, increasing ocean temperatures and heat waves affecting humans and the ecosystems.

The UN also reiterated that limiting and reducing global warming is important in addressing potential climate tipping points.

Related Article: 'Doomsday Glacier' Raises Concerns for Scientists

For more similar, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
Zika virus is known as a mosquito-borne disease, which causes either asymptomatic or mild infection like fever, rash, headache, muscle pains, joint pains, and red eyes among humans.

Its most detrimental symptom is an increased risk of microcephaly, a condition where the baby's head is smaller than expected. This is possible when Zika virus-carrying Aedes mosquitoes infect mothers during pregnancy.

Health authorities consider the disease to be generally mild. Severe symptoms only lead to hospitalizations with a relatively low chance of fatality. However, scientists continue to determine the mechanisms behind the zika disease, which is caused by the flavivirus, first detected from monkeys in Uganda back in 1947 and later found among humans in the US, Uganda, and Tanzania in 1952.

Now, a study led by researchers from the United States assert they have figured out the workings of the virus once inside the body, where it uses the human dendritic cells as Zika virus factories. In particular, pathogen uses the human cells to create factories and replicate itself. While other viruses work the same way, the target of the flavivirus are cells that we are supposed to rely for an immune response.

Unlike the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), zika has not reached pandemic-level type of outbreak. In recent years since its first discovery, related cases of the zoonotic disease have been reported mostly in Africa, South America, and Asia. Meanwhile, acquisition of the disease occurs due to travel-related reasons, especially from passengers coming from infected countries, including Brazil and India.

New Zika Virus Findings

The new research was published in the journal Nature Communications on Monday, September 12, and it was led by researchers from the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. The research team considered zika as a global health threat due to the absence of vaccines and anti-viral treatments.

With this, the team developed a genomics profiling method which led to the discovery that it targets the immune system's trusted cells.

The virus is able to do this by forcing the dendritic cells to stop acting or functioning as immune cells. According to Professor Sujan Shresta, Ph.D., a professor a La Jolla, dendritic cells are considered as major cells of the "innate immune system," as cited by Medical Xpress.

Following the study, it is still unclear if whether the findings will translate to the development of a vaccine against the zika virus.

Also Read: Zika Virus Update: Natural Family Planning App Offers 1 Million Free Subscriptions to Brazil Women

What is Zika Virus?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Aedes mosquitoes responsible for transmitting the zika virus disease bites during the day, where the first sign of symptoms show approximately after two to seven days. Majority of people reportedly with the virus do not show any evident symptoms.

Aside from microcephaly, the WHO says infants can develop congenital malformations called congenital Zika syndrome. The ailment is also linked to pregnancy complications like preterm birth and miscarriage.

For adults and children, there is an increased risk of neurologic complications is connected with some Zika virus infection, including the myelitis, neuropathy, and the Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Related Article: Dengue Fever and Zika Viruses Transform Host's Body Odor to Attract Mosquitoes: New Study
According to a PR published by Patria on September 13, 2022, the company has delivered the fourth and last modernized Hamina-Class missile boat to the Finnish Navy in Upinniemi. In the Mid-Life-Upgrade (MLU) project Patria has been acting as the prime contractor, designer, and lead system integrator.

Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

Finnish Hamina class missile boat Pori during an exercise. (Picture source: NATO)

The fourth modernized Hamina-Class missile boat, called Pori, started its sea acceptance tests related to the commissioning of the boat already in the spring, which continued over the summer.

Four missile boats in total were modernized between 2018-2022 as a part of MLU project, providing new capabilities to the Finnish Navy.

The large-scale overhaul ensures the capability to countering maritime threats, repelling attacks at sea, protecting sea lines, and monitoring and securing territorial integrity.

With the new torpedo and surface-to-surface missile system, as well as upgrades to the surface-to-air missile system, the ships are capable of impact in the air, surface and underwater.

The planned life cycle of the Hamina class extends until the 2030s with the life cycle update.

About the Hamina class missile boat

The Hamina-class missile boat is a class of fast attack craft of the Finnish Navy. They are classified as "missile fast attack craft" or ohjusvene, literally "missile boat" in Finnish.

The Hamina FACs are based at Upinniemi, and form the 7th Surface Warfare Squadron, part of the Finnish Coastal Fleet, together with the minelayers MLC Hameenmaa, Porkkala and Pyharanta.

The vessel's hull is constructed of aluminum and the superstructures are constructed of reinforced carbon fiber composite. The vessels have a very low displacement and are very maneuverable.

They are equipped with water jets instead of propellers, which allow them to operate in very shallow waters and accelerate, slow down and turn in unconventional ways.

The Hamina class has the latest in surveillance and weapons technology all integrated into an intelligent command system. A Hamina class vessel can monitor about 200 kilometers (120 mi) of air space and its Umkhonto surface-to-air missile system can simultaneously engage a maximum of eight aircraft, up to 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) away, while the vessel's anti-ship missiles have a range in excess of over 250 kilometers (160 mi).

The Hamina class' primary weaponry is four RBS-15 Mk.3 anti-ship missiles. The vessels are further equipped with a Bofors 57 mm gun against surface and aerial targets as well as the Umkhonto-IR surface-to-air missiles, MASS decoy system, and two 12.7 mm heavy machine guns. It is also possible to use the ships for mine-laying.
A growing number of organizations are drawing an invisible line around their internet-connected resources in an effort to keep attackers at bay. Called software-defined perimeter (SDP), it is based on the relatively simple idea of throwing a virtual barrier around servers, routers, printers, and other enterprise network components.

The goal of SDP is to protect networks behind a flexible, software-based perimeter. "Advantages include stronger security and greater flexibility and consistency," says Ron Howell, principal SD-WAN and SASE architect at IT and business consulting firm Capgemini Americas.

It can address security challenges that have become more complex with the advent of applications built out of microservices that may be housed on more than one server rather than traditional, monolithic apps that generally resided on a dedicated server. "More recently, applications have been further modularizedthey are now composed of multiple workload types and microservices in the organizations data center or the public cloud, says Chad Skipper, global security technologist for VMware.

What is an SDP?

The SDP framework obfuscates servers or nodes, typically on an internal network, says Chalan Aras, managing director, cyber and strategic risk, at business advisory firm Deloitte. "SDP uses identity and other substantiation methods to permit visibility and connectivity to network nodes or servers on a least-privilege or need-to-access basis."

An SDP is specifically designed to prevent infrastructure elements from being viewed externally. Hardware, such as routers, servers, printers, and virtually anything else connected to the enterprise network that are also linked to the internet are hidden from all unauthenticated and unauthorized users, regardless of whether the infrastructure is in the cloud or on-premises. "This keeps illegitimate users from accessing the network itself by authenticating first and allowing access second," says John Henley, principal consultant, cybersecurity, with technology research advisory firm ISG. "SDP not only authenticates the user, but also the device being used.

Benefits of SDPs

When compared with traditional fixed-perimeter approaches such as firewalls, SDP provides greatly enhanced security. Because SDPs automatically limit authenticated users access to narrowly defined network segments, the rest of the network is protected should an authorized identity be compromised by an attacker. "This also offers protection against lateral attacks, since even if an attacker gained access, they would not be able to scan to locate other services," Skipper says.

SDP's central benefit is simple: creating a higher level of network protection. "SDP has been instrumental in protecting enterprises against many different attack vectors, including denial-of-service, brute force, credential theft, man-in-the-middle, server exploitation, and session hijacking," Henley says. Other SDP benefits include strengthened and simplified access controls, reduced attack surfaces, simplified policy management, and a generally improved end-user experience.

Since SDP can be dynamically rconfigured, it's well suited to protect rapidly changing environments such as enterprise users accessing applications, or application environments with many micro-services that are spawned, scaled, or terminated on a real-time basis, Aras says.

How an SDP works

An SDP validates users and apps by authenticating them before it connects them to granularly limited portions of the network. This microsegmentation, created by remapping DNS and IP address spaces, provides authorized users with the access they need while denying them access to resources they dont require. This essentially creates individual networks, each with a limited number of nodes so if bad actors do manage to gain access, the damage they cause can be confined.

Central to SDP architecture is the controller, software that facilitates connecting users and devices that are seeking access (initiating hosts) with the resources they seek, such as apps and servers (accepting hosts). The controller authenticates the initiating host and determines the list of accepting hosts it is permitted to connect with. The controller instructs all the authorized accepting hosts to accept communications from the initiating host and shares the list with the initiating host. The initiating hosts can then create direct VPN connections with the accepting hosts.

In some cases, the accepting host is a gateway that acts as a proxy between the initiating host and multiple resources it seeks to connect with. In other cases, an SDP can be set up between two servers that need to communicate as with modern applications built around microservices.

Connectors and proxies, terms often used interchangeably, may sit in front of servers to gate access to them. They connect two network domains together and perform networking functions such as routing, network-address translation, and load balancing to direct traffic from one user or application to another, Arras says.

In micro-service contexts, the proxy may be integrated into the micro-service fabric, such as in the case of the envoy proxy, an open-source edge proxy used in micro-services. In an Istio service mesh, for example, the envoy proxy can be used to connect micro-services so that mini-apps can securely communicate with each other in an open-source service mesh that layers transparently onto existing distributed applications, Aras says.

Zero Trust Network Access



Because of its strict authentication and tightly restricted network access, SDP is a vital part of Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), which is based on the premise that no device is ever really secure. "There's no safe perimeter anymore due to workforce changes, microservices-based applications that can scatter components virtually anywhere, and the increasingly collaborative nature of business processes," Skipper says, "There is no device that's safe: no smartphone, no desktopperiod."

Addressing ZTNA requires tightly controlled network access and limited authorization, and SDP is a good place to start. "SDP helps users to properly authenticate before access is provided, and only to applications to which those users have been granted access," Henley says.

Henley estimates that there over 20 vendors currently offering SDP products, including Akamai (Enterprise Application Access),, Cisco (Duo Beyond), Ivanti (Ivanti Neurons for Secure Access), McAfee (MVISION Private Access), Netmotion (NetMotion SDP), Verizon (Verizon Software Defined Perimeter), and Versa (Versa Secure Access Client).

Deploying SDP also doesn't free enterprises from the responsibility of maintaining existing security practices. "No matter which security technologies your organization implements, or what it may be called, knowing what your important data is, and where it's located, is the key for knowing how to protect it," Jaworski says.

Remember, too, that deploying SDP is not a once-and-done deal. "It's important that organizations actively monitor and upgrade SDP software as required," Jaworski advises. "In addition, tests should be conducted to ensure the software is not leaking and permitting access to the protected resources."
MANZINI - Armed robbers struck three times in a space of about eight hours in Manzini, between Sunday night and yesterday morning.

The first armed robbery incident happened at Ngwane Park at around 11pm on Sunday, while the second one took place in a restaurant at Fairview at around 6am and the other one occurred at around 7am in a supermarket at Ngwane Park. Collectively, the robbers, who were armed with guns, went away with items which amounted to about E133 000, including cash. It is believed that the robberies were committed by the same group of people. In the first incident, a source close to the matter said on Sunday, at around 11pm, unknown armed men attacked a businessman, who operated a drinking hall in Manzini, while entering his house at Ngwane Park. He said they attacked him in front of his family.

Robbers

According to the source, when the man was trying to close the door, the robbers pushed it and they had to fire a shot at the door in order to gain entry. He said the bullet went above the businessmans head. After robbing him, the source said some of the residents, who heard the gunshot, came out and tried to chase after the robbers. However, he said the robbers fired gunshots at them and they aborted the chase for their own safety. The source said the robbers went away with valuables and cash amounting to E62 000. Meanwhile, in the second robbery incident, Emmanuel Jollof Atuobi, a businessman from Ghana, who runs a restaurant business at Fairview, opposite where the Fairview Police Post was located (which was burnt to the ground during the unrest), said he reported for work early yesterday, before 6am. He said after opening, a customer came in and when he was about to attend to him, three men arrived and he thought they were customers as well.

Thereafter, he said they took out their guns (three) and demanded money and car keys. He said one of them kicked him in the face and told him that they were not there to play games with him. After that, the businessman, who is walking with the aid of a crutch, said the robbers took about E2 000 from him and two cellphones. He said he tried to run away but they fired a shot at him, but missed his leg. I then threw my car keys over a fence, which is behind the shop and they fell inside a car wash premises. As I continued to run away, I saw one of the men jumping over the fence to where I had thrown the keys, but we are yet to search for them because I believe the robber did not find the keys as they failed to open the car, a Toyota seven seater, the businessman said.

He said he did not see where they ran to or if they used a getaway car or not because he was running for his own safety. Some of the businesspeople and residents of Fairview, who were found at the scene, asked that the police should at least put a temporary police post as the crime rate was on the rise in the area. They said they were living in fear as they did not know when the robbers would strike again. On the other hand, about 45 minutes later (around 6:45am), a businessman, who operates a supermarket at Ngwane Park, near The Vibe, was also robbed in a similar fashion. According to a source close to the matter, the businessman had just opened the supermarket and there was one customer in the shop when four men entered the shop as if to buy something.

He said two of them were armed with guns and they held the businessman at gunpoint and demanded car keys, money and they also took three cellphones, one of which belonged to the customer who was inside the store. They used the businessmans vehicle as a getaway car, the source said. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the robberies. She said on Sunday at around 11pm, a man was robbed of items worth about E62 000. Again, at around 6am yesterday, robbers went away with items amounting to E9 000 after robbing a businessman at Fairview. She also said at around 6:45 am yesterday, a man was robbed of a car and other items and the total value amounted to E62 000.
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.
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).
MBABANE  A common submission among emaSwati during stakeholders consultation over the Marriages Bill was that desertion of marriage for six months should be grounds for a divorce.

This is according to the Chairperson of the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Portfolio Committee and Kwaluseni Member of Parliament (MP), Sibusiso Mabhanisi Dlamini, who shared the most frequently raised submissions during the consultations with emaSwati on the Marriage Bill, 2022 and Matrimonial Property Bill, 2022. He said as the ministrys portfolio committee, on behalf of Parliament, after the Bills were received in Parliament, the committee was sent out for engagements by the Speaker, Petros Mavimbela, who assigned it to the different regions in the country as per procedure when a piece of legislation was brought to the House.

He stated that to raise awareness on the consultation exercise, it was advertised through print media, so that all those who wanted to make submissions on the law could do so. The portfolio committee went through the stakeholders consultation process and further went to 11 tinkhundla to hear emaSwati submissions pertaining to the Bill. The nation had quite a number of things to say about the piece of legislation, said the chairperson. The MP said one of the main concerns raised during the consultation exercise was the legal age for marriage, with frequent requests for the womans age to be changed from 18 to 21 and the mans age to be changed from 18 to 25. It was stated that a person, who was aged 18, was still too young and incapable of appreciating the value of marriage and carrying out the duties of a wife or husband. Most emaSwati felt the man should be older so as to ascertain maturity and the ability to cater for a family. When they are both 18 and married, the couple is not taken seriously, hence, there was objection over this being the legal age for marriage, he said.

The MP further highlighted that the nation was also particularly concerned about desertion of marriages, which was when a person left their marital home and deserted their family. According to the portfolio committee chairperson, people made submissions that after six months, that marriage should either be dissolved or a divorce instituted. Desertion causes major problems, for instance if the spouse leaves and the other spouse is left to struggle at their marital home and develop that homestead without them. When the abandoned spouse passes away, the deserter can still return to reap the benefits, said the MP. He said emaSwati mentioned that six months was enough for a marriage to be dissolved if the spouse had deserted it.

The MP also spoke on the provision on cohabitation, stating that most had raised concerns about it simply because they had not understood it. The notion was that this provision is already a law yet that is not the case as Parliament based most of the law on the Constitution, which states that there should be protection of property belonging to people who reside together, he said.

Cohabitation

The chairperson further said the clause on cohabitation requiring registration was to rectify challenges the country had witnessed in the past where when people cohabited, once the male died, those from the mans family took possession of all the items, with the belief that these were the belongings of the deceased. The MP was speaking during Eswatini television breakfast show, elaborating on the Bills and the work done by the portfolio committee. EmaSwati spoke and said three years should not pass without the items and property during cohabitation being registered. If the woman comes to live with the man with her own furniture, she needs to declare that these items are hers and further register them, said the MP.

He further said the new provision on distribution of estates in the Matrimonial Property Bill was also new and it would assist emaSwati as previously, when a man passed away, their family would sometimes evict the wife/widow from the marital homestead and further insult her. He said they would then take possession of the property left behind by the husband and leave the wife to fend for herself after being chased away.

For instance if I die, all my possessions and properties will be left in the possession of my wife. If this law is passed, all the relatives who want in on the estate will no longer be able to do so. The gap in terms of this was now very evident, when you look at that there was a piece of legislation from 1964 and 1983 and the Constitution being passed in 2005. When you calculate 2005 to today you realise just how old and outdated the previous Acts on the matter are, he said. The MP highlighted that the next process regarding the Bill which was at its final leg, was to engage pastors, emajaha and one final inkhundla under Sigwe Constituency. The following week will see the portfolio committee and the ministry sitting down to evaluate the content of the submissions. This is to ensure the amendments suit the submissions made by the public. He further said the tinkhundla system was beneficial in that it allowed people to express themselves, although not all tinkhundla were visited. We will also engage parliamentarians to further assess the legislation clause by clause and do the necessary amendments, he said.

Wrongdoing

Meanwhile, in a previous stakeholder consultation, executive members of Eswatini Inter-Denominational Ministers Fellowship (EIMF), which is a council of pastors in ministries, stated that the Bill should not regulate wrongdoing and legitimising cohabiting. It was further reported in a different consultation that the Ministry of Justice Portfolio Committee had identified a need to in-depthly look at the estate distribution clause. The Chairperson, Dlamini, stated that something should give when it came to the winding up of an estate. Within a period of three months something should have happened. You find that in most cases it takes up to 20 years for the estate to wind up and this is wrong, said the Kwaluseni MP. He said three months should be enough for the estate to wind up.

In a previous report, it was also highlighted that 10 civil society organisations, who are championing womens rights and sexual reproductive health issues in Eswatini had, so far, made submissions to the House of Assembly on amendments to the proposed Marriage and Matrimonial Property Bills of 2022. The proposed amendments were on different sections of the Bills on the Marriage Bill 2022. Civil society organisations proposed that cohabitation of an unmarried man and woman living together as husband and wife be six months and more, not the three years that is currently in the Bill.
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Clemson University history Professor Orville Vernon Burton and civil-rights attorney Armand Derfner are co-authors of Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court. Burton was the founding director of the Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts and Social Science at the University of Illinois, where he is an emeritus distinguished teacher/scholar and professor of history, African American studies and sociology.
Long COVID has been defined as the persistence of symptoms or sequelae at least four to twelve weeks after the initial diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.

Over one hundred symptoms have been reported in patients with long COVID, many of which have been associated with poor quality of life, high pressure on the healthcare system, and difficulty in taking self-care. However, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination has reduced the risk of developing long COVID symptoms by about 54%.

Study: Understanding the post COVID-19 condition (long COVID) in adults and the expected burden for Ontario. Image Credit: fizkes / Shutterstock.com

Long COVID patients are not provided with high-quality care due to the lack of potential therapies, diagnostic tests, and support for this condition. In a recent Science Briefs of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table study, scientists identify the basic healthcare requirements for adults with long COVID. They also highlight the different types of support that must be provided to these patients and their caregivers.

About the study

In the current study, relevant literature was collected from PubMed, COVID-19 Rapid Evidence Reviews, Google Scholar, the Joanna Briggs Institutes COVID-19 Special Collection, the World Health Organizations Global Literature on Coronavirus Disease, and other COVID-19-specific resources. Researchers also analyzed data obtained from Evidence Synthesis Briefing Notes published by the COVID-19 Evidence Synthesis Network and Public Health Ontario. All evidence gathered up to August 20, 2022, was scanned for relevant information to be included in the final analysis.

The meta-analysis was conducted using a random-effects model to quantify risk factors. The Mantel-Haenszel fixed-effects model was used to analyze the effect of COVID-19 vaccination. The Quality in Prognostic Studies (QUIPS) tool was used to determine the risk of bias associated with the studies included in the meta-analysis.

Prevalence of post COVID-19 conditions

It has been challenging to precisely estimate post-COVID conditions due to the varying definition of long COVID used in the studies considered for the meta-analysis. These studies have also presented heterogeneity in important factors, such as the severity of initial infection, varied follow-up duration, bias in sampling strategy, sample size, and impact on emerging therapeutics and vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 variants, each of which affect the estimation of long COVID prevalence.

Current estimates indicate that about 10% of vaccinated individuals infected with contemporary SARS-CoV-2 variants experience long COVID. More research is required to confirm this estimate.

Several studies have analyzed the incidence of long COVID based on the emergence of different SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC). These studies have indicated that 4.5% and 10.8% of patients infected with the Omicron and Delta variants, respectively, reported long COVID. This finding indicates that people infected with Omicron are at a lower risk of developing long COVID as compared to those infected with Delta.

No evidence on the identification of biological markers, clinical findings, or symptoms that could predict the development of post-COVID-19 conditions was available. According to a retrospective matched cohort study, female sex, ethnic minority, smoking, obesity, a wide range of comorbidities, and socioeconomic deprivation increased the risk of long COVID.

Treatments of long COVID and their limitations

To date, potential treatments for long COVID are not available. Nevertheless, several therapies have been recommended for the treatment of its common symptoms, such as shortness of breath, increased heart rate, and fatigue.

Several models have been proposed to provide better care for patients with post-COVID-19 conditions. The primary care provider (PCP) model is based on the direct assessment of individuals suspected of having long COVID by their PCP to identify the care requirements. Based on the assessment, the PCP may manage medications, provide self-management support, and/or refer the patient to specialists for ongoing assessment.

The clinical model involves a dedicated multidisciplinary team of healthcare providers who support patients and their multifactorial care needs. The hybrid care model is associated with both specialized clinics and PCP insights. It is difficult to determine which model is most effective for managing long COVID patients.

A high disparity in health human resources (HHR) prevails in rural and remote regions, despite the equivalent health burden in these areas. The lack of specific therapies to treat post-COVID-19 conditions, as well as limited access to care due to staff shortages and long wait times, are factors that pose difficulties in treating long COVID.

In Canada, the current average wait time to access multidisciplinary clinics, which provide long COVID treatments, is between three and six months. Factors that contribute to long wait times are limited numbers of clinics, increased healthcare demands, low staffing, and lengthy process from referral to therapy.

Even though the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) supports many services, it is limited to physiotherapy and psychosocial counseling, which require private insurance. It is important that policymakers proactively develop comprehensive strategies to address the potential barriers to providing the best care to long COVID patients.
For the first time, neuroscientists from Charite  Universitatsmedizin Berlin and the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence (currently in the process of being established) have revealed the precise connections between sensory neurons inside the retina and the superior colliculus, a structure in the midbrain. Neuropixels probes are a relatively recent development, representing the next generation of electrodes. Densely packed with recording points, Neuropixels probes are used to record the activity of nerve cells, and have facilitated these recent insights into neuronal circuits. Writing in Nature Communications, the researchers describe a fundamental principle which is common to the visual systems of mammals and birds.

Two brain structures are crucial to the processing of visual stimuli: the visual cortex in the primary cerebral cortex and the superior colliculus, a structure in the midbrain. Vision and the processing of visual information involve highly complex processes. In simplified terms, the visual cortex is responsible for general visual perception, whereas the structures of the evolutionarily older midbrain are responsible for visually guided reflexive behaviors. The mechanisms and principles involved in visual processing within the visual cortex are well known. Work conducted by a team of researchers led by Dr. Jens Kremkow has contributed to our knowledge in this field and, in 2017, culminated in the establishment of an Emmy Noether Junior Research Group at Charite's Neuroscience Research Center (NWFZ). The primary aim of the Research Group, which is funded by the Germany Research Foundation (DFG), is to further improve our understanding of nerve cells involved in the visual system. Many unanswered questions remain, including details of the way in which visual information is processed in the midbrain's superior colliculi.

Retinal ganglion cells, sensory cells found inside the eye's retina, respond to external visual stimuli and send the information received to the brain. Direct signaling pathways ensure that visual information received by the retinal nerve cells also reaches the midbrain.

What had remained largely unknown until now is the way in which nerve cells in the retina and nerve cells in the midbrain are linked on a functional level. The dearth of knowledge regarding the way in which neurons in the superior colliculi process synaptic inputs was similarly pronounced. This information is crucial to understanding the mechanisms involved in midbrain processing." Dr. Jens Kremkow, Study Lead

Until now, it had been impossible to measure the activity of synaptically connected retinal and midbrain neurons in living organisms. For their most recent research, the research team developed a method which was based on measurements obtained with innovative, high-density electrodes known as Neuropixels probes. Precisely speaking, Neuropixels probes are tiny, linear electrode arrays featuring approximately one thousand recording sites along a narrow shank. Comprising 384 electrodes for the simultaneous recording of electric activity of neurons in the brain, these devices have become game-changers within the field of neuroscience.

Researchers working at Charite and the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence have now used this new technology to determine the relevant midbrain structures in mice (superior colliculi) and birds (optic tectum). Both brain structures have a common evolutionary origin and play an important role in the visual processing of retinal input signals in both groups of animals. Their work led the researchers to a surprising discovery: "Usually, this type of electrophysiological recording measures electrical signals from action potentials which originate in the soma, the neuron's cell body," explains Dr. Kremkow. "In our recordings, however, we noticed signals whose appearance differed from that of normal action potentials. We went on to investigate the cause of this phenomenon, and found that input signals in the midbrain were caused by action potentials propagated within the 'axonal arbors' (branches) of the retinal ganglion cells. Our findings suggest that the new electron array technology can be used to record the electrical signals emanating from axons, the nerve cell projections which transmit neuronal signals. This is a brand-new finding." In a global first, Dr. Kremkow's team was able to simultaneously capture the activity of nerve cells in the retina and their synaptically connected target neurons in the midbrain.

Until now, the functional wiring between the eye and midbrain had remained an unknown quantity. The researchers were able to show at the single-cell level that the spatial organization of the inputs from retinal ganglion cells in the midbrain constitutes a very precise representation of the original retinal input. "The structures of the midbrain effectively provide an almost one-to-one copy of the retinal structure," says Dr. Kremkow. He continues: "Another new finding for us was that the neurons in the midbrain receive a very strong and specific synaptic input from retinal ganglion cells, but only from a small number of these sensory neurons. These neural pathways enable a very structured and functional connection between the eye's retina and the corresponding regions of the midbrain." Among other things, this new insight will enhance our understanding of the phenomenon known as blindsight, which can be observed in individuals who have sustained damage to the visual cortex due to trauma or tumor. Incapable of conscious perception, these individuals retain a residual ability to process visual information, which results in an intuitive perception of stimuli, contours, movement and even colors that appears to be linked to the midbrain.

To test whether the principles initially observed in the mouse model could also apply to other vertebrates  and hence whether they could be more general in nature  Dr. Kremkow and his team worked alongside a team from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, where a Lise Meitner Research Group led by Dr. Daniele Vallentin focuses on neuronal circuits responsible for the coordination of precise movements in birds. "Using the same types of measurements, we were able to show that, in zebra finches, the spatial organization of the nerve tracts connecting the retina and midbrain follow a similar principle," says Dr. Vallentin. She adds: "This finding was surprising, given that birds have significantly higher visual acuity and the evolutionary distance between birds and mammals is considerable." The researchers' observations suggest that the retinal ganglion cells in both the optical tectum and the superior colliculi show similar spatial organization and functional wiring. Their findings led the researchers to conclude that the principles discovered must be crucial to visual processing in the mammalian midbrain. These principles may even be general in nature, applying to all vertebrate brains, including those of humans.

Regarding the researchers' future plans, Dr. Kremkow says: "Now that we understand the functional, mosaic-like connections between retinal ganglion cells and neurons within the superior colliculi, we will further explore the way in which sensory signals are processed in the vision system, specifically in the regions of the midbrain, and how they contribute to visually-guided reflexive behavior." The team also want to establish whether the new method might be used in other structures and whether it could be used to measure axonal activity elsewhere in the brain. Should this prove possible, it would open up a wealth of new opportunities to explore the brain's underlying mechanisms.
The highly selective RET inhibitor selpercatinib was well-tolerated and achieved durable objective responses across multiple tumor types in the Phase I/II LIBRETTO-001 trial, according to researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Results from the tumor-agnostic cohort of patients, published today in The Lancet Oncology, show an objective response rate (ORR) of 44% for the targeted therapy, which was approved in 2020 by the Food and Drug Administration for RET-altered lung and thyroid cancers based on previously published results from the same trial.

The findings from this study demonstrate the potential for RET inhibitors to benefit patients across many tumor types. They are a testament to the power of precision medicine to match the right patients to the right targeted therapy at the right time based on their underlying genetic alteration." Vivek Subbiah, M.D., corresponding author, associate professor of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics

RET fusions occur when a portion of the chromosome containing the RET gene breaks and rejoins with another piece of chromosome, creating a fusion protein that drives cancer development. Relatively rare across cancer types, these mutations are found in just 5-10% of thyroid cancers and 1-2% of non-small-cell lung cancers. Across all other cancer types, they occur with a frequency of less than 1%. However, RET-altered cancers metastasize to the brain at a high frequency.

The open-label basket trial enrolled 45 patients in the tumor-agnostic cohort, with four excluded from the analysis because they did not meet the criteria for follow-up time. Participants were 69% white, 24% Asian, 4% Black and 1% other. The median age was 53, and women accounted for 51% of the participants.

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Eligible patients for the trial had disease progression on or after previous systemic therapies or had no satisfactory therapeutic options, and all patients had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-2.

The primary tumor diagnoses included 12 patients (27%) with pancreatic, 10 (22%) with colon, four (9%) with salivary and three (7%) with either sarcoma or unknown primary cancer. No more than two patients had any other primary diagnosis, and 14 total tumor types were represented.

The most common grade 3 or higher adverse events were hypertension (22%), increased alanine aminotransferase (16%), and increased aspartate aminotransferase (13%). Adverse events occurred in 40% of patients.

Of the patients in this cohort, 5% had a complete response, 39% had a partial response, and 34% had stable disease. The median duration of response was 24.5 months and median progression-free survival was 13.2 months.

The ORR in patients with pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancers was 54.5% and 20% respectively, and responses were observed in all tumor types that had at least two patients enrolled and in four of the seven types with just one patient enrolled.

According to Subbiah, these results across tumor types underscore the need for detecting these rare cancers.

"We observed responses with selpercatinib regardless of cancer type, prior treatment history or gene fusion partner. This confirms RET fusions as a tissue-agnostic target," Subbiah said. "Implementation of comprehensive molecular screening strategies that include the ability to detect RET fusions will be critical for identifying patients across all cancers who may benefit from selpercatinib."

The study was supported by Loxo Oncology, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly.
MANZINI  Government has rejected the appointment of ATUSWA Secretary General Wonder Mkhonza into CMAC Board.

This was after the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) recommended to government that secretary of the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA) should represent the workers, through the federation, in the Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC) Board. The recommendation was done through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. According to an impeccable source, after the federation had made the recommendation for Mkhonzas appointment (who is a founding member of the amalgamation), government, through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, objected to it.

Strike

The source said the reason that was given by government to the federation was that Mkhonza had recently led an unlawful strike action in Nhlangano. It is public knowledge that a recent strike action took place in Nhlangano for textile workers, who were organised under the banner of ATUSWA and they were demanding a pay rise. The strike action lasted for over a month. Thereafter, the source he said the federation had about three meetings with government over the matter and in the last one, the ministry suggested that the appointment of Mkhonza should be altered. He said by this, the ministry meant that Mkhonza should be appointed to another Board, instead of that of CMAC. TUCOSWA then suggested that Mkhonza should take a place which is occupied by the federations secretary general (Mduduzi Gina) as a Board member of Eswatini National Provident Fund (ENPF). However, the ministry rejected this again, the impeccable source said.

He said as things stood, the matter was still open for discussion as the appointment of the Boards had not yet been taken to Cabinet for approval. Meanwhile, the ATUSWA secretary general said he was aware of the matter. However, he said the rightful body to talk about it was TUCOSWA. TUCOSWA Secretary General Mduduzi Gina said he could only confirm that there were some issues with the appointments of some Board members. He said there were discussions between the federation and government regarding the issues, including that of Mkhonza. However, he said he could not go into finer details of the matter because it was still on the table. On the other hand, the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Makhosini Mndawe, said; Appointment of Boards for these two entities have not been concluded, pending Cabinet approval in line with the provisions of Section 6 of the Public Enterprises (Control and Monitoring) Act of 1989.

Section 6 of the Public Enterprises (Control and Monitoring) Act of 1989 talks about the appointment of members of governing bodies of Public Enterprises and it says; Except in the case of the University of Swaziland (Eswatini), the members of the governing body of each category A public enterprise, other than the chief executive officer (CEO), shall be appointed by the minister responsible in consultation with the standing committee and in making the appointments he shall ensure that an overall balance of technical , professional, commercial and financial skills is maintained on the governing body, and shall endeavour to ensure that, in the interest of continuity, not all the members of the governing body shall be retired at the same time. The PS said this when responding to a questionnaire which was sent to him yesterday afternoon on why the ministry objected to the appointment of Mkhonza to CMAC and ENPF Boards. This question was asked after the PS had been given a background of the matter.

Commendation

On the other hand, the source alleged that this was not the first time government rejected a recommendation to have Mkhonza appointed. He alleged that it happened in 2016 when his name was forwarded to government for his appointment to the Textile and Apparel Sector Wages Council and Manufacturing Industry Wages Council, among others. He said he was only admitted to the appointment of the wages councils in 2019. Again, the source also alleged that in 2019, Mkhonzas name was submitted to government to be appointed to CMAC, but he was allegedly left out until mid-term when TUCOSWA reported the matter to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Once more, he alleged that in 2021, Mkhonza was appointed to the Citizenship Board and this was the final year of that term. However, he said it was said that he would be included in the coming term, but was allegedly left out.

As a leader of ATUSWA, Mkhonza had, in several occasion raised their concerns about the wages councils. He said their position was that they should be replaced with bargaining councils/committees. Their argument was that the wages councils were outdated and were the cause of lower wages in various sectors of the economy, like the Textile and Apparel Industry and Security Services Industry. On the other hand, they said the bargaining councils, which they were proposing, would give workers an opportunity to negotiate for improved terms and conditions of service in the workplace. This, they said, was because, the wages councils were not negotiating any more as they were forced to vote every time a deadlock was reached. They argued that the outcome of the balloting always favoured the employers as government would side with them.
In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers in the United Kingdom assessed the aerobiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in United Kingdom (UK) hospitals and the impact of aerosol-generating procedures (AGP).

SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in the air in several healthcare settings involved in managing COVID-19 patients with SARS-CoV-2 nosocomial transmission reported among healthcare workers (HCWs) and patients throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As a result, AGPs have seemed risky, and thereby measures have been enforced to limit their applications in healthcare settings; however, the factors that facilitate nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 transmission have not been completely understood.

Study: The aerobiology of SARS-CoV-2 in UK hospitals and the impact of aerosol generating procedures. Image Credit: Naeblys / Shutterstock

About the study

In the present study, researchers assessed the prevalence of aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 in the rooms of SARS-CoV-2-positive patients requiring AGP or oxygen supplementation compared to those on room air.

Air samples were prospectively obtained from the rooms of hospitalized COVID-19 patients at two tertiary care hospitals in the UK between November 2020 and October 2021, and the SARS-CoV-2 variants dominant in that period were Alpha and Delta variants. Samples were divided into three categories as (i) room samples; COVID-19 patients not undergoing respiratory therapy, (ii) oxygen; patients who were provided oxygen supplementation at flow rates of <15L/min via nasal mask/cannulae, and (iii) AGP; COVID-19 patients undergoing AGP procedures.

A portable air sampler was used to collect air samples at a minimum distance of 1.5 meters from COVID-19 patients to ensure that aerosols were captured and to minimize the collection of large droplets. Subsequently, RNA was extracted from the samples using quantitative revere transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and cell culture experiments were performed using Vero E6 cells. Binomial generalized linear modeling (GLM) was used for the analysis.

In addition, databases such as Medline, Pubmed, Embase, and Web of Science were searched for air sampling studies published between January 2020 and November 2021. The search terms used were SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, indoor air quality, air sampler, indoor airborne, and bioaerosol, as a result of which 326 studies were initially obtained; however, after the abstract screening, only 37 full-text research papers were considered for the review.

Results

In total, the team obtained 219 samples from the rooms of COVID-19 patients, of which 67, 65, and 67 belonged to the room air group, oxygen supplementation group, and the AGP procedure group, respectively. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was identified in 25% (n=54) of the samples, the most significant prevalence of which in patient rooms with room air, oxygen supplementation, and AGP procedures was (22%, n=15), (32%, n=21), and (21%, n=18), respectively.

The probability of an air sample being SARS-CoV-2-positive was unaffected by procedures, and there were no differences in Ct (cycle threshold) values for COVID-19 samples between procedures. However, a reduction in the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) gene, which indicated Alpha presence, was observed in comparison to other targets of the SARS-CoV-2 genome targets [nucleocapsid (N) gene and open reading frame 1 (ORF1) gene] in the RT-qPCR analysis.

The average Ct values obtained for room air, AGP, and oxygen supplementation samples were 34, 32, and 33, respectively, and the cultures observed for every sample were negative. No effect was observed in the days elapsed since symptom onset and the Ct values or SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection frequencies. Further, no correlation was observed between the RT-qPCR reports and the sampling location [e.g., critical care units or emergency departments (ED)].

Notably, no significant differences were observed in positive reports between the oxygen group and room air group when sampled in regular ventilation sites instead of enhanced ventilation sites [relative risk (RR) for the oxygen supplementation group and the room air patient group was 1.2 and 1.1, respectively]. Further, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was identified in five of the additional 16 air samples collected from sites occupied by or utilized by COVID-19 patients [such as nursing stations and bathrooms] or those adjacent to such sites.

For the additional samples, negative cultures and overgrowth of fungi were observed among bathroom samples. Two samples collected from the bathrooms and nursing stations each were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The remaining SARS-CoV-2 RNA-positive air sample was obtained from an ITU (intensive therapy unit) bay. Of the samples, five were collected from nursing stations within red zones, one from an area adjacent to a red zone, and two from hospital wards nursing stations located >3 meters away from the rooms of SARS-CoV-2-positive patients.

Ct values among the five samples ranged between 22 (spike gene) at a nursing station where samples were positive for all SARS-CoV-2 genes tested and 35 (for a single gene) among SARS-CoV-2 RNA-positive samples obtained from nursing stations and shared bathrooms. In addition, the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-positive sample obtained from the ITU bay showed SARS-CoV-2 ORF1 and N gene positivity.

Overall, the study findings showed SARS-CoV-2 RNA present in the air of hospitalized COVID-19 patient rooms, which was not influenced by AGPs. The results indicate that the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission via aerosols is probably equally significant for all rooms included in COVID-19 patient management, and appropriate infection prevention and control measures should be recommended.

*Important notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
Mike Lee's way of life has faded away in most of the United States, and it soon will vanish from southwestern Iowa.

Lee, 57, has spent 44 years at the Glenwood Resource Center, a state-run institution for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. He has autism and epilepsy, and his parents decided when he was 13 that he needed the structure and constant oversight offered by a large facility.

Theirs was a common decision at the time. It no longer is.

The number of Americans living in such institutions has dropped more than 90% since the late 1960s. Seventeen states have closed all their large public institutions for people with disabilities. Just five states  Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina, Utah, and Wyoming  haven't closed any, according to a University of Minnesota expert.

Iowa announced in April that in 2024 it would shutter the Glenwood Resource Center, a sprawling campus near the state's western border. State leaders cited federal pressure to improve conditions for the facility's residents or place them elsewhere.

Many of the remaining residents of such places have lived there for decades, leaving their families with wrenching choices when closures loom.

Lee knows he will move soon, even if he doesn't understand all the implications.

His sister, Connie Bowen, broached the subject during a recent visit. She picked her brother up from the one-story house where he lives with several other residents on the institution's grounds and drove him to a nearby Pizza Hut for lunch.

As he sipped on a root beer, she asked how he felt. "Does it make you sad or happy that you're leaving?" she said.

"Happy! I'm happy," he replied.

Lee wore a black T-shirt decorated with a bald eagle, the American flag, and the words "land of the free, home of the brave." He said he is looking forward to a calmer life away from the institution, where he said other residents often become disruptive.

Bowen, who is her brother's legal guardian, agrees in theory with the idea of caring for people with disabilities in homes or apartments. But like many other relatives of Glenwood Resource Center residents, she worries that the new arrangements might not be safe for people who have been institutionalized for decades.

"I hope I can find a good place that'll take good care of you," Bowen told Lee.

"Yeah, I know," he said.

Dwindling census

The Glenwood Resource Center, founded as an orphanage in the 1860s, housed more than 1,900 people at its peak in the 1950s. Now, 134 people live there.

Many residents face more hurdles than Lee does. Some can't speak. Many also have physical disabilities that make getting around difficult and can pose life-threatening risks. Some residents can become confused or agitated.

Sheryl Larson, a University of Minnesota researcher who tracks institutional care for people with disabilities, said Iowa lags behind most other states in winding down such facilities.

The number of Americans living in state-run institutions plummeted from 194,650 in 1967 to 17,596 in 2018, according to a recent paper that Larson helped write.

The closures partly stemmed from the U.S. Supreme Court's 1999 decision in Olmstead v. L.C., which held that Americans with disabilities have a right to live in the least restrictive setting that is practical.

Like Glenwood, most state institutions opened more than a century ago, and they typically were constructed in rural areas. "There was a movement to create a bucolic environment for individuals," said Mary Sowers, executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services.

Many of the big institutions included farms, where residents helped grow their food. Conventional wisdom held that country life would be healthful. Now, Sowers said, "we recognize that the larger settings really didn't wind up living up to that promise, and individuals are able to thrive more when they're able to live in communities."

Sowers said about 1.3 million Americans are served by public programs for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Only about 1% of them live in large state institutions.

Larson said families of the institutions' remaining residents may feel whipsawed by experts' advice. Years ago, medical professionals told parents that their children could best be served in such places. Now, those same families are urged to move their loved ones out. "They did what they thought was the right thing to do  and now to be told it wasn't the right thing to do is really, really hard for them to accept," she said.

The transition away from institutions for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities has been handled better than the wave of state mental hospital closures over the past 50 years, Larson said. Critics contend that as large state mental hospitals were shuttered, they weren't replaced with sufficient community services. That sparked a surge in people with untreated mental illnesses living on the streets or in jails and prisons.

Facilities like the Glenwood Resource Center serve people with intellectual disabilities, such as severe autism and brain injuries. Larson said that community services for people with intellectual disabilities have increased and that surveys find most families are satisfied with the results after their loved ones move from institutions to community placements.

Scandals preceded closure

The Iowa closure decision came after a series of scandals at the Glenwood Resource Center. Allegations included that insufficient medical care led to several deaths and that administrators planned unethical research on residents. Top administrators were ousted, and the U.S. Justice Department began investigating as allegations of poor care continued.

Federal investigators determined that Iowa violated Glenwood Resource Center residents' rights and that the state relied too much on institutional care.

Justice Department officials declined to comment for this article, noting that negotiations over a legal settlement with the state are ongoing.

In the scandal's wake, Iowa leaders assured residents' families that they had no plans to close either of the state's two institutions for people with disabilities. But the message abruptly changed in April, when state officials announced the Glenwood Resource Center would close. They cited the high cost of complying with federal expectations if it were to stay open.

The state and federal governments spend about $392,000 per resident annually at the institution.

Kelly Garcia, Iowa's director of health and human services, said she understands that contemplating a move can be stressful for residents and their families. But she said Iowa clung too long to an outdated role for such institutions. "This notion that you are admitted at age 2 and you live 80 years there is no longer the way we as a society would want to support a human being," she said.

Garcia said administrators are trying to arrange for longtime roommates and friends to stay together when they move out and for people to be placed near their families.

She said the state is committed to providing money and expertise to the private agencies that will support former Glenwood Resource Center residents. She noted the state has already helped such agencies raise wages so they can hire and retain caregivers. Those that take on clients with high needs could qualify for extra payments to make the transition, Garcia said.

Garcia said the state's commitment is one reason more than 30 agencies showed up in July for a "provider fair" in the institution's gym. Residents' families and guardians met with private care providers and considered their options.

Crest Services, a residential care company for people with disabilities, sent representatives to the event. Director Bob Swigert said in a recent interview that his agency is looking to arrange community placements for 10 residents of the Glenwood Resource Center. The main hurdle has been finding suitable housing for the residents, including those who use wheelchairs, Swigert said. His company might retrofit some homes for that purpose.

Swigert said he and his staff are reassuring residents' families that they will continue to have necessary services, including round-the-clock staffing. "They're concerned, they're anxious  which is very understandable," he said. "These individuals are being required to move from what has pretty much been their lifetime home."

The institution's 380-acre campus includes numerous ranch-style homes, where residents live with oversight from staff. It has several large old buildings, from days when people with disabilities were warehoused. It also includes a fire station, a greenhouse, a water tower, and a cemetery containing the graves of hundreds of people who have died at the institution since the 1800s.

The facility has been a vital part of life in Glenwood, a town of about 5,000 people near the Missouri River. The institution has nearly 470 workers, making it the largest employer in the area, with relatively good wages and benefits. Two or three generations of many local families have worked there.

Some may find new jobs in the Omaha, Nebraska, area, which is less than an hour away, but town leaders worry others will move away. A few may transfer to a similar institution owned by the state in the town of Woodward, which is 150 miles to the northeast.

'Last ones out'

Some of the institution's residents will never understand the situation. One is Seth Finken, 43, who has lived at the Glenwood Resource Center since 1984. Childhood meningitis damaged his brain and left him blind, deaf, and medically fragile.

His mother, Sybil Finken, lives in the town of Glenwood and sees few options for her son in the region. The most advanced care programs she has talked to are in bigger cities, such as Des Moines or Dubuque. "This is Seth's community," she said. "I don't want him moving two or four hours away."

For years, Sybil Finken called for Iowa to keep operating the Glenwood Resource Center. She knew most other states had closed institutions for people with disabilities. She figured Iowa would follow suit eventually, but she believed assurances that longtime residents could live out their lives there.

Now, she said, all she can do is keep talking to private care agencies and hope someone figures out how to keep her son safe in a community setting.

"Seth and I are going to be the last ones out the door," she said.
Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported study results showing that the targeted therapy fruquintinib significantly improved overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. Findings from the global FRESCO-2 trial were presented today at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022.

The OS was 7.4 months with fruquintinib versus 4.8 months in the placebo arm, while the median PFS was 3.7 months with fruquintinib compared to 1.8 months in the placebo arm. These results represent a statistically significant improvement relative to controls.

Patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer have very limited treatment possibilities and poor outcomes. These results are very encouraging and confirm that fruquintinib may be a novel treatment opportunity for patients who previously had no other options." Arvind Dasari, M.D., principal investigator, associate professor of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology

The randomized Phase III FRESCO-2 clinical trial was conducted at 153 sites in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia. The double-blind study evaluated treatment with the novel oral therapy fruquintinib -; a small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFR) -; plus best supportive care compared to placebo plus best supportive care in heavily pre-treated patients with treatment-resistant metastatic colorectal cancer. The primary endpoint was OS.

According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related death in men and in women, and the second most common cause of cancer death for men and women combined. Despite treatment advances, patients with metastatic colorectal cancer still have poor long-term survival rates. After patients progress through several lines of therapy, they typically live only four to five months. Therefore, there is a large need for treatment alternatives after current therapies are exhausted.

In the original Phase III FRESCO study, which led to the drug's approval in China in September 2018, fruquintinib given as third-line therapy or later improved median OS in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer compared with placebo (6.6 months versus 9.3 months). At that time, standard of care for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer in China differed from the U.S., the European Union and Japan.

In June 2020, the Food and Drug Administration granted fast track designation to fruquintinib for the treatment of some patients with previously treated colorectal cancer.

The FRESCO-2 trial randomized 691 patients with advanced refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. Patients were eligible for treatment if they had documented metastatic colorectal cancer and were previously treated either with chemotherapy, anti-VEGF therapy or immune checkpoint inhibitors (if their disease was microsatellite instability-high or mismatch-repair deficient). Patients had an ECOG performance status scale score of 0 or 1, measurable disease and expected survival of 12 weeks or more.

Patients received either fruquintinib or placebo daily for three weeks, followed by one week off, in 28-day cycles. Subsequent anti-cancer therapies were given to 29.4% in the fruquintinib arm and 34.3% in the placebo arm. The disease control rate was 55.5% for fruquintinib versus 16.1% for placebo.

Grade 3 or 4 treatment-related adverse events occurred in 62.7% of patients in the fruquintinib group and 50.4% in the placebo group. The most frequent events seen in those receiving fruquintinib were hypertension (13.6%), asthenia (7.7%) and hand-foot syndrome (6.4%).

"This study supports the meaningful survival improvement and manageable safety profile of fruquintinib," Dasari said." I am excited that this treatment could extend the lives of advanced colorectal cancer patients and preserve their quality of life."

The investigators will continue to review quality of life data from trial participants, as these patients have high tumor burden and residual side effects from multiple therapies that are known to reduce quality of life measures. Ongoing and future studies will explore additional fruquintinib treatment combinations for patients with colorectal cancer.

This study was supported by Hutchison MediPharma Limited. Dasari has received research support and serves as an advisor for Hutchison MediPharma.
Last year, Tim Chevalier received the first of many coverage denials from his insurance company for the hair removal procedure he needed as part of a phalloplasty, the creation of a penis.

Electrolysis is a common procedure among transgender people like Chevalier, a software developer in Oakland, California. In some cases, it's used to remove unwanted hair from the face or body. But it's also required for a phalloplasty or a vaginoplasty, the creation of a vagina, because all hair must be removed from the tissue that will be relocated during surgery.

Chevalier's insurer, Anthem Blue Cross, told him he needed what's known as a prior authorization for the procedure. Even after Chevalier received the authorization, he said, his reimbursement claims kept getting denied. According to Chevalier, Anthem said the procedure was considered cosmetic.

Many trans patients have trouble getting their insurers to cover gender-affirming care. One reason is transphobia within the U.S. health care system, but another involves how medical diagnoses and procedures are coded for insurance companies. Nationwide, health care providers use a list of diagnostic codes provided by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, or ICD-10. And many of those, advocates for transgender people say, haven't caught up to the needs of patients. Such diagnostic codes provide the basis for determining which procedures, such as electrolysis or surgery, insurance will cover.

"It's widely regarded that the codes are very limited in ICD-10," said Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, medical director of the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

She advocates for a move to the 11th edition of the coding system, which was endorsed by the World Health Organization in 2019 and began to be adopted around the globe in February. Today, more than 34 countries use ICD-11.

The new edition has replaced outdated terms like "transsexualism" and "gender identity disorder" with "gender incongruence," which is no longer classified as a mental health condition, but as a sexual health one. This is crucial in reducing the stigmatization of trans people in health care, said Olson-Kennedy.

A move away from the mental health classification may also mean more coverage of gender-affirming care by insurance companies, which sometimes question mental health claims more rigorously than those for physical illnesses. WHO officials have said they hope that adding gender incongruence to a sexual health chapter will "help increase access to care for health interventions" and "destigmatize the condition," according to the WHO website.

However, history suggests that ICD-11 likely won't be implemented in the U.S. for years. The WHO first endorsed ICD-10 in 1990, but the U.S. didn't implement it for 25 years.

Meanwhile, patients who identify as transgender and their doctors are spending hours trying to get coverage  or using crowdfunding to cover big out-of-pocket bills. Chevalier estimated he has received 78 hours of electrolysis at $140 per hour, costing $10,920.

Anthem spokesperson Michael Bowman wrote in an email that "there has been no medical denials or denial of coverage" because Anthem "preapproved coverage for these services."

However, even after the preapproval was given, Anthem responded to Chevalier's claims by stating the electrolysis would not be reimbursed because the procedure is considered cosmetic, rather than medically necessary. This is regardless of Chevalier's diagnosis of gender dysphoria  the psychological distress felt when someone's biological sex and gender identity don't match  which many doctors consider a medically legitimate reason for hair removal.

Bowman wrote that "once this issue was identified, Anthem implemented an internal process which included a manual override in the billing system."

Still, Chevalier filed a complaint with the California Department of Managed Health Care, and the state declared Anthem Blue Cross out of compliance. Additionally, after KHN started asking Anthem questions about Chevalier's bills, two claims that had not been addressed since April were resolved in July. So far, Anthem has reimbursed Chevalier around $8,000.

Some procedures that trans patients receive can also be excluded from coverage because insurance companies consider them "sex-specific." For example, a transgender man's gynecological visit may not be covered because his insurance plan covers those visits only for people enrolled as women.

"There is always this question of: What gender should you tell the insurance company?" said Dr. Nick Gorton, an emergency medicine physician in Davis, California. Gorton, who is trans, recommends his patients with insurance plans that exclude trans care calculate the out-of-pocket costs that would be required for certain procedures based on whether the patient lists themselves as male or female on their insurance paperwork. For example, Gorton said, the question for a trans man becomes "what's more expensive  paying for testosterone or paying for a Pap smear?"  since insurance likely won't cover both.

For years, some physicians helped trans patients get coverage by finding other medical reasons for their trans-related care. Gorton said that if, for instance, a transgender man wanted a hysterectomy but his insurance didn't cover gender-affirming care, Gorton would enter the ICD-10 code for pelvic pain, as opposed to gender dysphoria, into the patient's billing record. Pelvic pain is a legitimate reason for the surgery and is commonly accepted by insurance providers, Gorton said. But some insurance companies pushed back, and he had to find other ways to help his patients.

In 2005, California passed a first-of-its-kind law that prohibits discrimination by health insurance on the basis of gender or gender identity. Now, 24 states and Washington, D.C., forbid private insurance from excluding transgender-related health care benefits.

Consequently, Gorton no longer needs to use different codes for patients seeking gender-affirming care at his practice in California. But physicians in other states are still struggling.

When Dr. Eric Meininger, an internist and pediatrician at Indiana University Health's Gender Health Program, treats a trans kid seeking hormone therapy, he commonly uses the ICD-10 code for "medication management" as the primary reason for the patient's visit. That's because Indiana has no law providing insurance protections for LGBTQ+ people, and when gender dysphoria is listed as the primary reason, insurance companies have denied coverage.

"It's frustrating," Meininger said. In a patient's billing record, he sometimes provides multiple diagnoses, including gender dysphoria, to increase the likelihood that a procedure will be covered. "It's not hard usually to come up with five or seven or eight diagnoses for someone because there's lots of vague ones out there."

Implementing ICD-11 won't fix all the coding problems, as insurance companies may still refuse to cover procedures related to gender incongruence even though it is listed as a sexual health condition. It also won't change the fact that many states still allow insurance to exclude gender-affirming care. But in terms of reducing stigma, it's a step forward, Olson-Kennedy said.

One reason the U.S. took so long to switch to ICD-10 is that the American Medical Association strongly opposed the move. It argued the new system would put an incredible burden on doctors. Physicians would have to "contend with 68,000 diagnosis codes  a five-fold increase from the approximately 13,000 diagnosis codes in use today," the AMA wrote in a 2014 letter. Implementing software to update providers' coding systems would also be costly, dealing a financial blow to small medical practices, the association argued.

Unlike past coding systems, ICD-11 is fully electronic, with no physical manual of codes, and can be incorporated into a medical facility's current coding system without requiring a new rollout, said Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesperson.

Whether these changes will make the adoption of the new edition easier in the U.S. is yet to be seen. For now, many trans patients in need of gender-affirming care must pay their bills out-of-pocket, fight their insurance company for coverage, or rely on the generosity of others.

"Even though I did get reimbursed eventually, the reimbursements were delayed, and it burned up a lot of my time," Chevalier said. "Most people would have just given up."
Obesity is a growing global health problem and its prevalence has tripled since 1975. More than 650 million people are affected by this condition worldwide, and 28% of people in Spain over 18 years of age have this complex pathology. Obesity is linked to conditions such as type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, and certain forms of cancer.

Adipose tissue is responsible for managing the body's fat reserve and there are two types, namely white adipose tissue, which stores energy reserves in the form of lipids, and brown adipose tissue, which oxidises lipids to produce heat.

Researchers at IRB Barcelona, led by Dr. Antonio Zorzano, Professor at the Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona (UB) and member of CIBERDEM, have described a mechanism that regulates the correct formation of brown adipose tissue through autophagy, a natural cell renewal process. In short, the scientists have described the way in which the NCOR1 protein, which regulates several genes, is degraded through a mechanism known as autophagy to ensure the correct development of brown adipose tissue.

NCOR1 is labelled for degradation by the protein TP53INP2, which the Complex Metabolic Disease and Mitochondria lab at IRB Barcelona have spent years studying. Using mouse models, the researchers have also confirmed the association between defective or insufficient adipose tissue (due to the elimination of TP53INP2, which causes NCOR1 degradation to fail) and higher levels of obesity.

There is a clear correlation between low levels of brown adipose tissue and obesity, but we still don't know if it is a cause or a consequence. Our discovery paves the way to intervening in autophagic processes to reinforce this brown adipose tissue and thus prevent or treat obesity and other associated metabolic diseases." Dr Antonio Zorzano, Professor, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona

Autophagy as a regulatory mechanism

Autophagy is a natural process through which cellular components are degraded. Initially, it was believed that this process was mainly devoted to "cleaning up" damaged or aged elements. However, for some years now, scientific evidence has pointed to it being a key element in the regulation of cellular functions by eliminating proteins that perform certain functions.

This study links autophagy and obesity through the development of brown adipose tissue. "In a previous study, we also observed that the TP53INP2 protein has the opposite effect on white adipose tissue formation, that is, it represses this process. This makes this protein an ally for a healthier management of fats, since it promotes its oxidation and prevents its accumulation," says Dr. Alba Sabate, postdoctoral researcher from the same laboratory and first author of the study.
Starting twice daily flushing of the mucus-lined nasal cavity with a mild saline solution soon after testing positive for COVID-19 can significantly reduce hospitalization and death, investigators report.

They say the technique that can be used at home by mixing a half teaspoon each of salt and baking soda in a cup of boiled or distilled water then putting it into a sinus rinse bottle is a safe, effective and inexpensive way to reduce the risk of severe illness and death from coronavirus infection that could have a vital public health impact.

"What we say in the emergency room and surgery is the solution to pollution is dilution," says Dr. Amy Baxter, emergency medicine physician at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University and corresponding author of the study in Ear, Nose & Throat Journal.

By giving extra hydration to your sinuses, it makes them function better. If you have a contaminant, the more you flush it out, the better you are able to get rid of dirt, viruses and anything else." Dr Amy Baxter, Study Corresponding Author and Emergency Medicine Physician, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University

"We found an 8.5-fold reduction in hospitalizations and no fatalities compared to our controls," says senior author Dr. Richard Schwartz, chair of the MCG Department of Emergency Medicine. "Both of those are pretty significant endpoints."

The study appears to be the largest, prospective clinical trial of its kind and the older, high-risk population they studied -; many of whom had preexisting conditions like obesity and hypertension -; may benefit most from the easy, inexpensive practice, the investigators say.

They found that less than 1.3% of the 79 study subjects age 55 and older who enrolled within 24-hours of testing positive for COVID-19 between Sept. 24 and Dec. 21, 2020, experienced hospitalization. No one died.

Among the participants, who were treated at MCG and the AU Health System and followed for 28 days, one participant was admitted to the hospital and another went to the emergency room but was not admitted.

By comparison, 9.47% of patients were hospitalized and 1.5% died in a group with similar demographics reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the same timeframe, which began about nine months after SARS-CoV-2 first surfaced in the United States.

"The reduction from 11% to 1.3% as of November 2021 would have corresponded in absolute terms to over 1 million fewer older Americans requiring admission," they write. "If confirmed in other studies, the potential reduction in morbidity and mortality worldwide could be profound."

Schwartz says Baxter brought him the idea early in the pandemic and he liked that it was inexpensive, easy to use and could potentially impact millions at a time where, like other health care facilities, the Emergency Department of the AU Health System was starting to see a lot of SARS-CoV-2-positive patients.

"We were really looking at what options we had available for treatment," Schwartz says. The first COVID-19 vaccines were given in December 2020 and the first treatment, the antiviral remdesivir was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in October 2020.

They knew that the more virus that was present in your body, the worse the impact, Baxter says. "One of our thoughts was: If we can rinse out some of the virus within 24 hours of them testing positive, then maybe we can lower the severity of that whole trajectory," she says, including reducing the likelihood the virus could get into the lungs, where it was doing permanent, often lethal damage to many.

Additionally, the now-infamous spiky SARS-CoV-2 is known to attach to the ACE2 receptor, which is pervasive throughout the body and in abundance in locations like the nasal cavity, mouth and lungs. Drugs that interfere with the virus' ability to attach to ACE2 have been pursued, and Baxter says the nasal irrigation with saline helps decrease the usual robust attachment. Saline appears to inhibit the virus' ability to essentially make two cuts in itself, called furin cleavage, so it can better fit into an ACE2 receptor once it spots one.

Participants self-administered nasal irrigation using either povidone-iodine, that brown antiseptic that gets painted on your body before surgery, or sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda, which is often used as a cleanser, mixed with water that had the same salt concentration normally found in the body.

While the investigators found the additives really added no value, previous research had indicated they might help, for example, make it more difficult for the virus to attach to the ACE2 receptor. But their experience indicates the saline solution alone sufficed. "It's really just the rinsing and the quantity that matter," Baxter says.

The investigators also wanted to know any impact on symptom severity, like chills and loss of taste and smell. Twenty-three of the 29 participants who consistently irrigated twice daily had zero or one symptom at the end of two weeks compared to 14 of the 33 who were less diligent.

Those who completed nasal irrigation twice daily reported quicker resolution of symptoms regardless of which of two common antiseptics they were adding to the saline water.

Sixty-two of the participants completed a daily survey, reporting 1.8 irrigations daily; 11 reported irrigation-related complaints and four discontinued use.

Study participants and those used as controls had similar ages and rates of common conditions including one or more preexisting health problems.

Older adults, those with obesity and excess weight, who are physically inactive and those with underlying medical conditions are considered most at risk for serious complications and hospitalization from COVID-19. A body mass index, or BMI, which measures weight in relation to height, between 18.5 and 24.9, is considered ideal, and study participants had a mean BMI of 30.3; over 30 indicates obesity.

Others have shown the nasal irrigation, also called lavage, can also be effective in reducing duration and severity of infection by a family of viruses that include the coronaviruses, which are also known to cause the common cold, as well as the influenza viruses, the investigators write. "SARS-CoV-2 infection was another perfect situation for it," Baxter says.

In fact, nasal irrigation is something that has been done for millennia in Southeast Asia, and Baxter had noted lower death rates from COVID-19 in countries like Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. "Those were places that I knew from having been there where they use nasal irrigation as a normal part of hygiene just like brushing their teeth," she says. A 2019 pre-COVID study provided evidence that regular nasal irrigation in Thailand can improve nasal congestion, decrease postnasal drip, improve sinus pain or headache, improve taste and smell and improve sleep quality.

Schwartz said the simplicity and safety of the treatment had him recommending nasal irrigation to positive patients early on and the published results make him even more confident in recommending nasal irrigation to essentially anyone who tests positive.

Baxter noted the skepticism of the medical community before the results could be peer reviewed and published and her frustration with this relatively simple approach not being used when so many were sick and dying.

"Many of the people who have been using this now for months have told me their seasonal allergies have gone away, that it really makes a huge difference in any of the things that go through the nose that are annoying."

A study released in September 2020 indicated that gargling with a saline-based solution can reduce viral load in COVID-19, and another released in 2021 suggested that saline works multiple ways to reduce cold symptoms related to infection with other coronaviruses and might work as well as a first-line intervention for COVID-19.

Despite the two nostrils, the nasal sinus is just one cavity, so the water is pushed into one side and comes out the other, Baxter notes.
New research has found adolescents who are active on social media are being exposed to content that could put them at risk of developing drug and alcohol issues.

The study, led by University of Queensland PhD student Brienna Rutherford from UQ's National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, examined how drug and alcohol use content was portrayed across social media.

"We looked at almost 16 million posts across Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and Weibo and found the majority of drug and alcohol use content was depicted positively," Ms Rutherford said.

"This positive depiction is concerning because adolescents and young adults are the most vulnerable and heaviest users of social media globally, spending an average of eight hours a day online.

"There's evidence to show teens who are exposed to high levels of substance use are more likely to use and develop issues with alcohol, tobacco and cannabis.

"In fact, alcohol and drug use is the main contributor to disease in adolescents and young adults.

"Better restrictions are needed on social media platforms to ensure underage users are not engaging with or exposed to potentially harmful content."

The study found user-generated content depicting substance use as positive was most prevalent on social media which is likely to influence teenage viewer's behavior.

Only around 21 per cent of posts sampled were found to be from public health and educational organizations sharing information on the harmful effects of substance use.

Ms Rutherford says public health education agencies need to do more to communicate the potential risks of substances.

Social media is an incredibly powerful tool for change and, if harnessed correctly, could be a massive asset for public health messaging. Social media is a huge opportunity for public health organizations to educate teens on the risks associated with substance use." Brienna Rutherford, PhD Student, UQ's National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research

Currently, there are age restrictions on graphic content involving sexual themes or high-risk behaviors but substance use is relatively unregulated online.

Many platforms have taken a blanket approach to banning or restricting associated hashtags but they can be easily found by publicly available internet search engines.
A recent study published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open described the sociodemographic features and comorbidities of patients with long COVID and olfactory dysfunction.

Long COVID could be described as signs and symptoms persisting for two weeks or longer after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). More than 50 long-term effects have been identified, with pulmonary dysfunction, fatigue, neurologic disorders, anosmia, and abnormal chest radiographs being the most prevalent. Olfactory dysfunction is one of the most common neurologic symptoms among long COVID patients. Persistent anosmia is observed in 23% of acute COVID-19 patients.

It remains unclear whether COVID-19-associated olfactory dysfunction is reversible, and less is known about its long-term impact. Depression, reduced quality of life, and disturbances in eating behavior are linked to chronic olfactory disorders. Individuals with prolonged olfactory dysfunction experience difficulty maintaining health/nutritional status, social relationships, personal hygiene, and cooking. Determining the type, characteristics, and severity of olfactory dysfunction is critical for prognosis and treatment.

About the study

In the present study, researchers described the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of long COVID patients with persistent olfactory dysfunction. It was conducted among subjects enrolled for a long COVID follow-up program at a Brazilian public university in the Amazon. Patients with long COVID had a history of usual COVID-19 symptoms during the acute phase.

Participants were not vaccinated before COVID-19. Adults (18 years or older) were enrolled via electronic forms, contacted for neurologic consultation, and assessed from September 9, 2020, to October 20, 2021. Excluded participants were those with a history of neurologic disease/surgery and head trauma.

The team accessed electronic medical records for clinical and sociodemographic information such as education, sex, health history, income, symptoms, ageusia, and anosmia post-COVID-19. The sense of smell was evaluated using the Connecticut chemosensory clinical research center (CCCRC) test, comprising threshold and odor identification tests. The CCCRC score was the cumulative score of threshold and odor identification tests ranging from zero to seven.

Participants were considered to have anosmia if the CCCRC score was less than 1.75 and normosmia if the score was six or seven. Additionally, the association between olfactory dysfunction and daily life activities (food preparation and intake, personal hygiene, hazard detection ability, work disturbance, and social relations) was evaluated via a questionnaire.

Findings

The final analytic sample comprised 219 patients, predominantly females (74.9%), with a mean age of 43.2 years. Most patients (94.1%) completed more than nine years of education, and 52.5% of patients had a monthly income of up to USD 192. Eighty patients had normosmia, while the remaining patients had some olfactory dysfunction.

Hospitalization rates were not significantly different between patients with normosmia and those with olfactory dysfunction. Participants with olfactory dysfunction exhibited symptoms for a significantly long period since COVID-19 onset relative to those with normosmia. There were significantly more participants with neurologic symptoms lasting six months or longer in the olfactory dysfunction cohort than in the normosmia cohort.

More patients in the normosmia cohort had headaches, anxiety, and sleep disorders than those with olfactory dysfunction. In contrast, the olfactory dysfunction group had more patients with ageusia. Food preparation, hazard detection ability, and personal hygiene were the life activities associated with olfactory dysfunction.

Univariable logistic regression of clinical and epidemiologic characteristics showed an association between olfactory dysfunction and ageusia and an inverse association of olfactory dysfunction with headache and sleep disorders. Multivariable logistic regression revealed a significant association between olfactory dysfunction with ageusia. Notably, non-hospitalization during the acute COVID-19 phase was significantly associated with severe olfactory dysfunction.

Conclusions

Anosmia was the most common neurologic symptom observed among long COVID patients. Individuals with post-COVID-19 olfactory dysfunction could exhibit varying degrees of olfactory loss even a year after symptom onset. Logistic regression revealed that ageusia was the sole risk factor associated with olfactory dysfunction.

The authors found a long-term association of olfactory dysfunction with daily life activities, particularly among those with anosmia. The findings reaffirm that olfactory dysfunction is an important long-term neurologic symptom of COVID-19; it is most prevalent among adults, primarily females and outpatients. Further research is required to determine if olfactory dysfunction is a chronic or permanent sequela.
A cross-sectional study of more than 25,000 adults has found that with increased screening, the prevalence of adrenal tumors in an unselected community population was 1.4%. The prevalence increased with age, from 0.2% in adults aged 18 to 25 up to 3.2% in adults older than 65 years of age. However, approximately 70% of identified tumors were nonfunctioning, meaning they did not make extra hormones, regardless of the participant's age. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The detection rate of adrenal incidentaloma, or an incidentally found nodule not causing clinical symptoms, has increased as screening techniques have improved and become more common. However, most published literature on the prevalence of adrenal incidentalomas consists of retrospective surveys based on radiographic diagnosis in a medical record system, which might under- or overestimate the prevalence.

Researchers from the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China, conducted a cross-sectional study of 25,356 participants receiving annual health assessments between November 2020 and November 2021. The authors report that of all 25,356 participants, 351 persons were identified as having adrenal tumors. Of these, 337 participants with adrenal tumors were diagnosed with an adrenocortical adenoma and 14 were diagnosed with another benign nodule. No participants were diagnosed with having a malignant mass. The authors also report that of 212 participants who completed endocrine testing, 69.3% were diagnosed with a nonfunctioning adenoma, 18.9% with cortisol autonomy, 11.8% with primary aldosteronism, and no participants were diagnosed with pheochromocytoma.

An accompanying editorial from Mayo Clinic highlights how this research provides important insights into the prevalence of adrenal tumors and supports current recommendations for universal hormonal testing in any patient with an incidentally found adrenal tumor. However, the author cautions that the study is limited by the lack of hormonal testing in 37% of participants, particularly because persons who declined hormonal work-up were older and more likely to have hypertension. As such, both mild autonomous cortisol secretion and primary aldosteronism could have been more prevalent in this group.
Thought Leaders Colin Graham Chief Operating Officer Sepsis Research FEAT For World Sepsis Day 2022, News Medical speaks to Colin Graham, COO of Sepsis Research FEAT, about the importance of sepsis awareness, research, and potentially life-changing breakthroughs. For World Sepsis Day 2022, News Medical speaks to Colin Graham, COO of Sepsis Research FEAT, about the importance of sepsis awareness, research, and potentially life-changing breakthroughs.

Please can you introduce yourself and tell us more about Sepsis Research FEAT and the history behind the organization?

Im Colin Graham, Chief Operating Officer at Sepsis Research FEAT. Our charity was founded in 2013 by Craig Stobo after he lost his wife, Dr Fiona Elizabeth Agnew, and their unborn daughter Isla to sepsis in August 2012.

Originally named FEAT- the Fiona Elizabeth Agnew Trust- the charity changed its name in 2019 to Sepsis Research FEAT. Our main objectives are to fund vital medical research into the understanding and treatment of sepsis and to raise awareness of sepsis amongst members of the public and medical professionals.

Sepsis Research FEATs mission is to save lives and improve outcomes in sepsis patients by funding research and raising awareness. How are you doing this, and what is the ultimate goal?

We are in our 4th year of a research partnership with the GenOMICC Study (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) at the University of Edinburghs Roslin Institute. Led by Professor Kenneth Baillie, the world-leading GenOMICC project aims to find the genetic factors that determine outcomes in critical illness. The researchers are expanding their understanding of sepsis and helping to develop improved treatments by examining DNA samples from patients in intensive care units (ICUs) throughout the UK. There are millions of DNA sequence differences between any two humans, any of which could be important in determining the outcome in sepsis.

Finding the genes that matter requires the recruitment of a large numbers of patients. Typically, the researchers require thousands of patient samples to find genetic associations with disease. They need to recruit over a large area, and for a long time, to acquire the necessary DNA. Early funding from Sepsis Research FEAT helped create the infrastructure to collect and store the samples, and this has enabled the study to grow at pace.

GenOMICC has been able to collect and store over 19,000 samples of DNA from critically ill patients in ICUs across the UK and elsewhere, and is the largest study of its kind anywhere in the world. The aim is to get 100,000 critical illness genomes, with the ultimate goal of making genetic discoveries that will give an unprecedented insight into the biology of critical illnesses, including sepsis, helping to identify new treatments and deliver better outcomes for sepsis patients.

Another key part of our work is raising awareness of sepsis so that people recognize the five key symptoms and know to seek urgent medical help if they suspect sepsis. Press and social media are hugely important in delivering our awareness messaging, and a key aim is to tell sepsis stories through the eyes of people affected by it. The power of sharing individual stories is indisputable in terms of raising awareness of sepsis and its symptoms.

We are delighted to have been able to produce a brand new series of eight podcasts, which we are launching during Sepsis Awareness Month 2022. These new podcasts will tell the stories of those who have been directly affected by sepsis in a fresh and engaging way. By maximizing the audience that we reach, we will educate more people, more powerfully, about sepsis, its symptoms, and its impact.

Finally this Sepsis Awareness Month, we are launching a new national awareness campaign in partnership with the Scottish Government. Sepsis Research FEAT has previously worked with the Scottish Government on awareness campaigns in 2018 and 2019, reaching more than 1.3 million people across Scotland. The latest partnership will build on this success with a nationwide multimedia campaign that will include commercial TV, radio, print, and social media.

Image Credit: Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock

Sepsis is known as a silent killer, affecting almost 50 million people worldwide annually. Can you explain why sepsis outcomes can be so severe if not spotted early?

Sepsis occurs when the bodys response to an infection spirals rapidly out of control. Instead of fighting just the infection, the immune system starts to attack the whole body, potentially leading to multiple organ failure and death.

When dealing with suspected sepsis cases, acting fast and starting early medical treatment can save lives and improve outcomes. However, recognizing and diagnosing sepsis is not always easy. Sepsis begins with an infection - for example, chest, skin, urine, meningitis - but, in the early stages, symptoms can be vague and hard even for doctors and nurses to recognize.

Five key symptoms of sepsis for patients and the public to be aware of are:

Very high or low temperature

Uncontrolled shivering and/or sweating

Confusion

Not passing as much urine as normal

Cold or flushed or blotchy arms and legs

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If someone has any of these symptoms becoming noticeably worse, this could indicate sepsis, particularly if the person has underlying vulnerabilities due to age, illness, or altered immune function.

As sepsis worsens, blood flow to vital organs, such as the brain, heart, and kidneys, becomes impaired.

This can raise the risk of organ failure and tissue death.

Septic shock is the final, most advanced form of sepsis and the most difficult to treat. In septic shock, a dramatic drop in blood pressure can severely affect organs and lead to long-lasting complications or death.

The key message with sepsis is to seek URGENT medical attention- prompt diagnosis and treatment will help to save lives.

Image Credit: Sepsis Research FEAT

Sepsis affects not only adults but also children. How common is childhood sepsis, and how can adults spot these symptoms in children and babies?

There are around 25,000 cases of childhood sepsis every year in the UK. Babies and children may have vague and non-specific symptoms of sepsis, which can make it hard to diagnose, and the signs and symptoms can be slightly different from those in adults. In children and babies, parents should be looking out for:

Rapid breathing or a shortness of breath; cold, mottled or pale skin; a very high or a low temperature; skin or lips that appear bluish; poor feeding; vomiting or diarrhea; lethargy or difficulty waking; little or no urine output; a non-fading rash.

Above all parents should trust their instincts and seek urgent medical help if they are at all concerned about their childs health.

Image Credit: Sepsis Research FEAT

Sepsis Research FEAT funds research into sepsis through various partners. Can you tell us about some promising breakthroughs discovered through such work?

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the GenOMICC project was identified as an urgent public health priority study by the UKs National Institute of Health Research. By pivoting their research to this new and emerging illness, the team was able to identify 23 genes associated with the most severe form of COVID-19. These findings helped in the identification and re-purposing of drug treatments for COVID patients, a hugely important breakthrough for patient outcomes. The successful research on COVID-19 shows the promise of human genetics to understand critical illnesses and is likely to be highly important to the understanding and treatment of sepsis.

The Global Sepsis Alliance celebrates World Sepsis Day annually in September. Why do you believe it is so important to raise awareness of sepsis and how do world days like this one help to achieve this goal?

Sepsis is indiscriminate. It can affect anyone, regardless of age, sex, background or state of health. It seems unthinkable that in 2022 there still exists a condition that can kill a previously healthy adult or child in hours. That is why it is so important for everyone to know what sepsis is, to be able to recognize the key symptoms, and to understand that it is a medical emergency that requires urgent treatment.

Sepsis Awareness Month every September, and World Sepsis Day on the 13th September, provide an opportunity to shine a spotlight on sepsis. We join organizations and individuals around the globe to remember those that have lost their lives to sepsis and renew our pledge to be part of the global movement to help improve diagnosis and treatment for sepsis patients in the future.

Image Credit: Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock

What is next for Sepsis Research FEAT? Do you have any exciting projects coming up?

We are excited to announce increased investment supporting a new pilot study, GenOMICC Acute, in which additional blood samples will be obtained from patients shortly after ICU admission, providing researchers with insight into what happens within a patients body when they are at their most critically ill. It will provide a deeper understanding of the genetics of patients, and their response to critical illness and ultimately could lead to much more targeted patient treatments.

Where can readers find more information?

Please visit our website www.sepsisresearch.org.uk and follow us on social media:

Facebook: SepsisResearchFEAT

Twitter: @stopsepsisnow

Instagram: @sepsisresearch

TikTok: sepsisresearchFEAT

About the Colin Graham

Colin joined Sepsis Research FEAT in October 2018 as the charitys first Chief Operating Officer. Colin is a charity sector veteran with 25 years of experience. He is responsible for advising the board of Trustees, developing awareness of the charity, overseeing its fundraising and marketing strategy, and developing strategic partnerships.
MBABANE  The Indvuna of Luyengweni, Dumisa Ginindza, alleged that after shooting the three men, Ntuthuko Dlamini allegedly went over two of them and shot them again as they lay on the ground.

Ginindza was the first witness to testify yesterday. He alleged that Ntuthuko wanted to ensure that Andreas Tsabedze and Sikhulu Shongwe were dead. Simon Dlamini died at Mbabane Government Hospital where he was receiving treatment. Ginindza narrated that on September 7, 2020, he was at the Luyengweni Royal Kraal, together with members of the inner council, elders and princes (Sizwe Dlamini, Peter Mkhonta, Sihle Dlamini, Bhekokwakhe Mkhabela, Big Boi Maseko, Lokhokha Nhlengetfwa, Fanyana Ndzimandze, Themba Tsabedze, the late, Sikhulu Shongwe and Simon Dlamini). Ginindza said they proceeded to Mhlabubovu to officially hand over a piece of land to one Mbongiseni Dlamini. He said the land was under Prince Lembeleles chiefdom.

Food

While waiting to be served food, Ntuthuko and his three boys arrived. They were travelling in Ntuthukos (Toyota) Fortuner. They parked the car on the other side of a canal and crossed a footbridge to the other side. When they arrived, Ntuthuko asked what we were doing there and no one responded. He asked again, and still no one answered him. He made a call to Mngometulu (Bhunya Police Station Commander) and asked him to rush where we were. He told Mngometulu that if he did not come promptly, he would kill some people. Ntuthuko started calling us names, saying we are timfucuta (useless). Sihle got into an argument with him. While they exchanged words, I suddenly heard a gunshot, said the indvuna. Principal Crown Counsel Ncamsile Masuku asked Ginindza if they responded when the former minister called them names. He said they told him not to call them timfucuta.

Argued

When Sihle and Ntuthuko argued, the others tried to calm the situation. (Simon) Dlamini went where they were pushing each other and I then heard a gunshot. Ntuthuko shot him, alleged the indvuna. After the shot was fired, what happened? enquired Masuku. The indvuna said: I then realised that he was carrying a real gun. I thought it was a toy gun. I saw Simon going backwards and he was bleeding. He sat against a rock and I saw blood on it. There was also Sikhulu Shongwe who, when he heard the gunshot, fired a warning shot in the air. Ntuthuko turned around and shot Sikhulu in the abdomen. Sikhulu was about a metre away from Ntuthuko. He then shot (Andreas) Tsabedze and he fell behind me. Masuku asked: What had Tsabedze done? Ginindza said Tsabedze had not done anything and he was not even armed. Then Ntuthuko went to Sikhulu Shongwe and lifted his jacket to ascertain if he was dead and shot him in the back. From there he went to Tsabedze, who lay face down. He turned him over to confirm if he was dead, and shot him again.

Satisfied

The other people ran away but I remained there alone. Bhekwako asked him if he was not satisfied with all the people he had killed already. Ntuthuko went back to look for the empty cartridges and collected them. He left with his boys and said he was going to report the matter at Bhunya Police Station, Ginindza further narrated. When asked by Masuku what Simon had done before he was shot, the indvuna said he was not aware if he had done anything. He told the court that all he knew was that he was shot. He said Simon carried a knobkerrie on the day and he had put it next to him. Did the deceased persons have a conversation with the accused person before they were shot? asked Masuku. Ginindza said: Words were exchanged when he said his boys must spill the food that was there. (Sikhulu) Shongwe said that should not happen because the people had spent their money buying the food.

Shocked

Masuku also asked the witness if Tsabedze said anything to the accused person. He didnt say anything. Tsabedze was close to the accused person when he was shot. He was just behind Shongwe. I cant be sure how many times he was shot because I was shocked, said the indvuna. Ginindza was also asked how many times Simon was shot and he told the court that it was three times. He alleged that when Sikhulu was shot and he fell to the ground, he was shot again as he lay motionless on the ground. The three boys who arrived in the company of Ntuthuko, according to Ginindza, were just standing there when Ntuthuko was busy going up and down. The witness also showed the court the pistol that was allegedly used by the former minister in the commission of the offences. Meanwhile, Scenes of Crime officer Mpendulo Babongile Dlamini, based at Malkerns Police Station, told the court that at the crime scene, he found two bodies, pots containing food and foam packs. Dlamini handed a photo album he compiled as part of his evidence.
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Showers early with some clearing overnight. Low around 45F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Showers early with some clearing overnight. Low around 45F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Preparations are underway for the Kingdoms hosting of a Bahrain-UAE joint drill by end of this year to boost military cooperation in fighting terrorism and maintaining regional security.

This comes as Royal Guard Special Force Commander, Deputy Director of the Bahrain-UAE joint anti-terrorism drill (Jelmoud 3), His Highness Lieutenant Colonel Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, chaired yesterday the meeting of the exercises high organising committee, which was held in the presence of military and security officials.

During the meeting, the high committee for the preparation of the exercise reviewed the preparatory work and means of military coordination within the framework of promoting cooperation, raising readiness and exchanging field experiences of the participating parties.

HH Lieutenant Colonel Shaikh Khalid pointed out that terrorism, in its various forms, is the main threat to security and stability in the world, which makes addressing this danger a priority that requires more cooperation, coordination and training.

He affirmed that the joint exercise reflects cooperation within the framework of deep historical ties binding Bahrain and the UAE.
By Harish Gopinath

Expecting the unexpected

Several family business leaders reported a renewed appreciation for strategic succession planning after unexpectedly having to assume the reins of their family business post-pandemic. As a consequence, they are making sure that contingency and succession plans are in place to protect their families and businesses for future generations. This is truly a global phenomenon which we are experiencing as we interact with family businesses across our network. Added to this is the complexity that was brought about by the surge in digital transformation across the value chain within the marketplace.

Handing the family business over to a new leader, new management or a new owner is all-encompassing. It isnt exclusively about the selection and development of successors. It is equally about protecting the business brand and reputation, retaining knowledge to make sure that the business is sustainable for years to come, and navigating the digital paradigm shift to be able to transform complex challenges and risks into opportunities.

This is truly one of the most challenging experiences facing any leader, and most particularly an entrepreneur who has built a family business from the ground up. In the Kingdom of Bahrain and across the GCC region, we see some great illustrations of Family businesses which have not just survived the numerous upsets within the marketplace over the past few decades, but have also thrived through a transgenerational leadership shift, with some of them even having grown multiple fold over 4-5 generations.

Across the region, we are also a marketplace that is significantly driven by family businesses and owner managed businesses that have the potential to create and shift behavioral and mindset trends. When a business does not imbibe a disciplined approach towards succession planning and designing the architecture of their future enterprise, this makes it a genuine concern for stakeholders within the marketplace, while also having the potential to impact the confidence on the stability of the marketplace at a regional and international level.

At an enterprise level it is not only a potential impediment to the smooth transition and continuity of the business; but also a disservice to the successor who is ultimately required to assume the leadership role, and the overall legacy of the business that was created over the years.

Giving NextGen a voice

Millennial generation leaders are having an increasingly important voice in the future direction of their family businesses and who will be chosen as a successor. They are being given more space at the management table to address increasingly complex issues, while also supporting the enterprise to leverage innovation and technology to be able to transform risks into opportunities, such as the accelerated digitization of business processes that are emerging globally.

These NextGen successors bring a fresh perspective that will transform certain key aspects of the family business, and potentially uncover previously unexplored opportunities that may redefine and alter the enterprises DNA and its identity down the road.

Many from the Millennial generation also bring a unique perspective and business philosophy from their predecessors as they seek greater personal freedom, a better balance between life and work, and a balanced outlook between profitability and social/ environmental responsibility. Family business leaders may need to be prepared to accept that the emotional attachment to the business may not be as deep for their NextGen successors as it has been with the first-generation entrepreneurs whose life and business have often been deeply intertwined.

The generations coming behind us have a different mindset  a different ecosystem  that isnt right or wrong, its just different. They are inspired by different things, they are fast, machine orientated, and deeply involved in social media. To engage their interest in succession, there has to be a psychological attachment. Its important for them to see that this is a business with a social purpose, and thats what will continue to motivate them.  Mr. Khalid Abunayyan, Chairman of Abunayyan Holding Company in Saudi Arabia. We believe the regenerative capability of family businesses is their superpower. However, there is good news for all stakeholders involved:

For the NextGen leaders:

The life lessons, organizational and family-based support network, and the pragmatic mindset of your predecessors towards growth are the most invaluable guide you can have into the marketplace.

For Family Business Leaders:

if you are still speculating and concerned about handing your business to your next generation  They are ready!

For the marketplace:

Many current-generation successors have learned important lessons from their own succession experiences and are making every effort to make sure that more thorough processes are in place for the next generation, while they work towards securing the confidence in their brands and the marketplace.

With this in mind, we are hosting our annual 2022 MESA Region Family Business Summit this year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia themed Next Generation: Leveraging Innovation to drive Transgenerational Prosperity. The Summit is scheduled to take place between the 11th-12th October 2022, and we hope to attract some of the most innovative minds in the industry.

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Daily Tribune)
Japan's Emperor Naruhito will attend the opening ceremony of the National Sports Festival on October 1 in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo.

It will be his first domestic trip outside Tokyo in about two years and eight months.

The Imperial Household Agency said the Emperor will make a one-day trip to the city of Utsunomiya to deliver a speech at the ceremony. The agency said Empress Masako will accompany him if her health condition allows.

The agency said it considered having the Emperor make a two-day trip or an online appearance. But it decided a single-day trip was the best option after taking Japan's coronavirus situation and the programs at the ceremony into account.

The agency said it would conduct thorough anti-infection measures, such as having the Emperor make the trip by car rather than by train to avoid crowds gathering at stations or along roads. It added that the Emperor's entourage will take PCR virus tests.

The Emperor and Empress decided to abstain from their annual summer retreat to Nasu Imperial Villa in Tochigi Prefecture this year, after Japan's number of COVID-19 infections surged.

The Emperor last visited a location outside Tokyo in January 2020, when he traveled to Saitama Prefecture, north of the capital, with the Empress. ...continue reading
Bahrain is set for solid growth, riding on a $30-billion infrastructure project pipeline which will attract investment in high-potential industries. The key finance and industrial sectors will enable Bahrain to lay firm foundations for the next phase of its growth plans, said a report.

The report produced by the global research and advisory firm Oxford Business Group (OBG) provides details of a drive under way to bring the private sector on board for the infrastructure projects pipeline that is expected to support growth in a number of sectors.

It shines a spotlight on the projects designed to facilitate the movement of both goods and people within and across the kingdoms borders and strengthen the countrys position in the regional logistics industry.

It also explores planned developments to support Bahrains tourism expansion efforts now that an easing of pandemic-related restrictions is reinvigorating the sector and increasing visitor numbers.

According to OBG, the report shines a spotlight on the infrastructure projects pipeline that is expected to support growth in a number of sectors, which include attracting investment in high-potential industries and rolling out big-ticket infrastructure projects.

It analyses the latest developments in the countrys vibrant financial sector, which vies with oil and gas as the largest contributor to the economy. The emergence of the country as a leading financial technology centre is one of several topics examined.

The potential impact of Bahrains new 2022-26 Industrial Sector Strategy is explored in detail, with a focus on how the kingdom can better generate downstream value-added to its natural resources and capitalise on the potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

With oil and gas prices fully recovered from the lows of the pandemic, the report also tracks the latest developments in Bahrains oil and gas industry, including ongoing efforts to commercialise a major shale discovery made in 2018.

Efforts gaining pace to attract investment for the renewables segment are another focal point as the country aims to meet net-zero carbon emissions by 2060, stated OBG in its report.

A major highlight of the report is a contribution by Sheikh Khaled bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure; Chairman of Mumtalakat, in which he shares his views on the kingdoms strategies for economic recovery and longer-term prosperity, together with a detailed sector-by-sector guide for investors.

It also features interviews with a broad range of high-profile political and business leaders, including: Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications; Jean-Christophe Durand, the CEO of National Bank of Bahrain; Ali Al Baqali, the CEO of Aluminium Bahrain (Alba); Mark Thomas, the CEO of nogaholding; and Nasser Ali Qaedi, the CEO of Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority.

The Report: Bahrain 2022 has been produced in partnership with the National Bank of Bahrain, the Bahrain Bourse and KPMG Bahrain. It marks the culmination of more than six months of field research by a team of OBG analysts.

The publication assesses trends and developments across the economy, including those in macroeconomics, infrastructure, banking and others.

Speaking at the launch, OBGs Editor-in-Chief Oliver Cornock pointed out that high international oil prices and a robust project pipeline were helping Bahrain to rebound from the challenges of the pandemic.

"Bahrains economy grew by 2.2% in 2021, buoyed by a recovery in energy and tourism income, with foreign direct investment also rising, by more than half, year-on-year, in the first three quarters of 2021," stated Cornock.

"We expect large-scale projects to continue boosting infrastructure and investment, putting the country on track for a period of sustained growth," he added.

Jana Treeck, Managing Director for the Middle East, OBG, added that well-developed finance and industrial sectors had enabled Bahrain to lay firm foundations for the next phase of its growth plans.

"Bahrain benefits from having one of the most diverse economies in the Gulf, which is now supporting an ambitious programme to attract $30 billion in infrastructure investment alongside efforts to balance the budget by 2024," stated Treeck.

"Higher global oil prices should also help drive economic expansion and recovery, paving the way for Bahrain to achieve its Vision 2030 targets," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Jacques Pepin laughed good-naturedly as he reflected on an upcoming event to celebrate his lifetime of culinary achievement.

"It's very rewarding in many ways," said the renowned French chef, who has made Madison his home for 46 years. "But it tells me that I'm old, too."

Pepin is the guest of honor at Greenwich Wine + Food's 10th anniversary celebrity chef gala on Oct. 7, where he will be feted for his decades of culinary contributions. The 86-year-old chef first cultivated his lifelong love of food at his parents' restaurant and has enjoyed a storied career over the last 60 years as chef to heads of state, a restaurateur in New York City, an educator, an author, TV personality and artist.

He'll be joined at the gala by friends Michel Nischan, the co-founder and chair of Wholesome Wave, and celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, along with other special celebrity guests. Top Connecticut chefs will prepare Pepin-inspired meals for tables of 10 people.

The Jacques Pepin Foundation, which supports free culinary and life skills training through community based organizations, will be one of the beneficiaries from the Greenwich Wine + Food events. Pepin, his daughter Claudine and his son-in-law, Rollie Wesen, launched the organization in 2016, which helps individuals detached from the workforce gain confidence, skills and employment in the food industry.

"I thought maybe it would be good to teach people [culinary skills] who have been a bit disenfranchised by life," Pepin said, noting that the foundation helps people who have faced issues like incarceration, homelessness, addiction or other high barriers to employment. The organization supports community kitchens around the country, including several in Connecticut.

The latest in his long line of achievements hits bookshelves this month. Pepin's newest book, "Art of the Chicken," is a celebration of his lifelong love of the bird, featuring the chef's life stories along with own artistic ventures: dozens of his bright and whimsical paintings and drawings of fowl. Pepin notes in the introduction that the book is about his two passions: cooking and painting.

"From early on, chickens and eggs have been tightly woven into my professional and social life. The unique character of chicken is that fits and is part of all levels of cooking in all parts of the worlds, from very rich to very poor," he writes. "It is truly universal and essential in all cuisines."

The book highlights some of Pepin's favorite chicken and egg dishes, with general descriptions, but not formal recipes.

"I didn't want to do another cookbook," the chef said. "When the publisher came back to me, they said they wanted recipes...I said OK, I'll do some narrative recipes. It's more of a story that you tend to find, rather than a conventional recipe with a list of ingredients."

Those looking for recipes will find a treasure trove of videos on Pepin's Facebook page, During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Claudine asked him to do some short cooking videos for the social media platform, "simple stuff out of the refrigerator, the freezer, the pantry...to show people a simple way of cooking," he said.

With the help of his friend and longtime photographer, Tom Hopkins, Pepin has shot about 300 videos for Facebook, he said. As he cooked and did the dishes, Hopkins captured the process with fixed and handheld cameras. They sometimes shoot eight to 12 recipes a day.

The video outreach was a hit. "We had about 300,000 [followers] when we started and now we have 1.5 million," the chef said.

Pepin has lived on Connecticut's shoreline for nearly five decades, settling in Madison in 1976 after recovering from a serious car accident that led him to re-examine his career in the kitchen. Deciding to focus instead on teaching the culinary arts, he and his wife, Gloria, ended up on the Connecticut shoreline as it was halfway between New York and Boston, where he taught at Boston University.

"It's an easy way to go to New York and Boston," he said. "There's not that many places in the country where you have that type of convenience."

It was an "arbitrary decision" to end up in Madison, he said, but he's made it his home, enjoying walks on the beach with his dog and visits to local restaurants. He's known to frequent spots like The Clam Castle and Bar Bouchee in Madison and Taste of China in Clinton, and was a regular at the recently-closed Le Petit Cafe in Branford, where chef-owner Roy Ip called him a "terrific" mentor and friend.

For years, that same community has warmly embraced Pepin and the impact he's had on the culinary scene. In October 2019, 85th Day Community Group honored him by unveiling a bronze bust of the chef at Stone Acres Farm in Stonington, amid a daylong harvest festival and a special dinner that evening. And when Gloria Pepin died in December 2020, Connecticut restaurateurs, including 85th Day's Dan Meiser and Bun Lai of the former Miya's Sushi, paid tribute to her and her friendship in heartfelt posts.

At nearly 87 years old, the chef doesn't have any plans to slow down. As the executive culinary director of Oceania Cruises, he and his daughter recently hosted a trip on the cruise line's Insignia. He's been doing a fair amount of painting, he said, adding that he likes to be busy.

The one thing that fuels him every day? "I'm always hungry," he said.

The Greenwich Wine + Food 10th anniversary gala, scheduled for Oct. 7 at Stamford's Abigail Kirsch at The Loading Dock, starts at 6:30 p.m. with a cocktail reception. (A VIP reception with Pepin, Michel Nischan of Wholesome Wave, Maneet Chauhan, Rocco DiSpirito and Spike Mendelsohn starts at 6 p.m. for special ticketholders.) Tickets start at $1,500 for two admissions to the cocktail reception and gala.
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NEW FAIRFIELD  A proposed 2.5 mile trail between Danbury and New Fairfield could still be years away, but community leaders are set to plan how to build and maintain one.

The committee responsible for kicking off the planning phase of the long-proposed Margerie Reservoir Trail will hold its first meeting next week, according to New Fairfield officials.

After all of these years, were finally at that point. Its really exciting, First Selectman Pat Del Monaco said during last weeks Board of Selectmen meeting.

The Margerie Reservoir Trail Advisory Committee will convene for the first time Sept. 19, according to Selectman Khris Hall.

She said Danbury will control the meetings, which she believes will be in person.

Like Del Monaco, Hall says shes happy to see another step being made to bring the Margerie Reservoir Trail to fruition. The project has been discussed for at least 15 years.

We are delighted that the process is about to begin to design a trail that the residents of both Danbury and New Faifield will enjoy for years to come, she said Monday.

The New Fairfield Board of Selectmen voted last year to establish the Margerie Reservoir Trail Advisory Committee for the purpose of developing a plan for a roughly 2.5-mile multi-use path along the Margerie Reservoir that connects New Fairfields town center to Peck Road in Danbury.

It took nearly eight months, but the city of Danbury finally got on board with New Fairfields plan and assigned David Day, Vinny DiGilio and Antonio Iadarola to serve on the advisory committee.

Day is Danburys public utilities superintendent, DiGilio is president of the City Council, and Iadarola is the citys public works director and engineer.

They will be joined by New Fairfield residents Peter Hearn, Jeff Main and Ann Marie Mellas. Hearn and Main will be regular members of the committee, according to Hall, and Mellas will serve as an alternate.

Hearn is a longtime Margerie Reservoir Trail proponent and Main is an experienced trail-planner. Hall described Mellas as a trail advocate.

The committee will be responsible for not only planning the trail, but advising the municipalities on requirements for establishing and maintaining it.

It wont be an easy task, but Hall says the Western Connecticut Council of Governments Route 37 corridor study will be a good starting point for the committee as it begins planning the Margerie Reservoir Trail.

Following a more-than-yearlong study of traffic and safety conditions along Route 37, WestCOG published a report that looked at various aspects of the corridor, addressed the proposed trail and provided recommendations on how to best lay it out.

WestCOG estimated the trail project to cost between $2 million and $3.5 million and take about five years to complete. Thanks to the efforts of state Rep. Ken Gucker, D-Danbury, $2.28 million in state grant money has been secured for the design and planning of the trail.

The state has been very generous in providing us with funding, and the money is already available, said Hall, who looks forward to seeing the plans the advisory committee comes up with.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  The chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court is leaving to become president of an international provider of dispute-resolution services.

Bridget McCormack's hiring was announced Tuesday by the American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution, a day after she said she would resign from the court later this year.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP)  Whether casinos should continue to allow smoking is a contentious issue in numerous states, particularly New Jersey, where the governor and more than half the state Legislature supports a bill to ban indoor smoking in gambling halls.

A now-cancelled discussion between a casino executive and smoking foes was shaping up to be a highlight of a major gambling conference later this month in Atlantic City, and would've been the first detailed public airing of the issue.

But the casino executive, Resorts Casino President Mark Giannantonio  who has since become head of the Atlantic City casinos trade association, which vehemently opposes a smoking ban  pulled out of the session.

It's the latest indication of how thorny this dispute has become, and how difficult it will be to find a resolution that will satisfy everyone.

Hundreds of Atlantic City's casino workers have been pushing for two years for an indoor smoking ban, saying secondhand smoke harms their health and that of casino customers. They note that casinos are the only exception to New Jerseys clean air law, which bans smoking from other indoor workplaces. The casinos, however, predict that smoking customers will abandon the casinos if there's a ban, causing lost jobs and plunging revenue as casinos still struggle to return to pre-pandemic performance levels.

A bill that would end smoking in Atlantic Citys nine casinos is pending in the state Legislature, where it enjoys broad bipartisan support, but has remained stalled. No vote has yet been scheduled on it. An identical bill died in last years session, even though Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy has said he will sign it if it passes.

Giannantonio said Tuesday that the groups position remains unchanged.

The Casino Association of New Jersey has been very transparent in its position that an immediate smoking ban would have a significant adverse effect on Atlantic City," he said. We believe that more time is needed to devise and implement a solution that will address the concerns of our employees without jeopardizing jobs and benefits to seniors.

Cancellation of the Atlantic City smoking discussion means that two of the industrys biggest annual gatherings  the East Coast Gaming Congress and the Global Gaming Expo, which is due to take place next month in Las Vegas  will both lack any discussion on ending indoor smoking. That's despite moves in numerous states including New Jersey, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and others to implement casino smoking bans.

Michael Pollock, managing director of Spectrum Gaming Group, which helped organize the East Coast Gaming Congress, said the group tried to find a replacement from the casino industry after Giannantonio withdrew from the panel, but was unable to secure one on short notice.

Organizers of the conference issued a revised schedule on Friday that did not include the planned session on casino smoking.

Aside from Giannantonio, other panelists were to have been Cynthia Hallett, president and CEO of Americans for Nonsmokers Rights Foundation, and Eric Hausler, CEO of Greenwood Racing which owns the Park Casino in Pennsylvania, where smoking is banned.

Hallett said Atlantic City casino executives are avoiding the issue.

Its remarkably telling that Atlantic City casinos couldnt find one person to publicly defend their position in favor of indoor smoking," Hallett said. They know that they cannot win on the facts  even their economic arguments have been thoroughly rebutted  so they are avoiding a public discussion.

We are disappointed that this conversation will be missing from the formal conference program, but rest assured: The presence of casino workers who have been fighting for their health will be felt next week, she said.

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Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC
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OAK GLEN, Calif. (AP)  Rescuers searched for a person missing in a mudslide Tuesday as big yellow tractors plowed through dark, thick sludge and pushed boulders off roads after flash floods swept dirt, rocks and trees down fire-scarred slopes, washed away cars and buried buildings in small mountain communities in Southern California.

With thunderstorms forecast and more mudslides possible into Wednesday, evacuation orders remained in place in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains while a wildfire raging 500 miles (805 kilometers) to the north forced residents to abandon their homes.

The Mosquito Fire burning 110 miles (177 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco erupted in the afternoon just hours after officials had reported making great strides in the battle.

We have all hands on deck, fire spokesperson Chris Valenzuela said as the fire burned near Todd Valley and Foresthill. Its burning very erratic and intensely.

The blaze was one of three large fires in the state.

East of Los Angeles, crews searched street by street for people who might be trapped by mudflows that washed rocks, trees and other debris with astonishing force the day before into Forest Falls, Oak Glen and Yucaipa and left a muddy mess and untold destruction.

Homes and other buildings were damaged, including a commercial building buried so high its roof collapsed, said Eric Sherwin, spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

We have boulders that moved through that weigh multiple tons, Sherwin said. It could take days just to find all the cars that are missing because they are completely covered by mud.

A video showed a slow-moving black river of sludge rolling past the sign for the Oak Glen Steakhouse and Saloon followed seconds later by a surging wave of deeper mud carrying logs. The mud appeared to be head-high in places the next day.

Sherwin said crews were searching for one missing person.

Residents who tried to return home found it tough going in the sticky mess.

Ive never seen anything like this before, said Perla Halbert, whose feet were caked in mud after trying to walk to her home. If you try and take two steps, you get submerged. You just get stuck.

Halbert had been out of town and returned to her Oak Glen home late Monday to find the driveway covered with a few inches of mud. Her family stayed the night with family members and returned after first light to discover several feet of mud and a fence washed away.

Her husband went to buy boots and coveralls before trekking through the muck to assess the damage.

Theres lots of rocks and so much mud. But hopefully the house itself is OK, she said.

Officials lifted some mandatory evacuation and shelter in place orders Tuesday evening.

Workers were able to clear most of Valley of the Falls Drive  the only road to Forests Falls  and teams were assessing damage. Other major roads in the San Bernardino Mountains were reopened.

For some homes in Forest Falls, it was too late to evacuate Monday. Residents were told to shelter in place through the night because it was safer than venturing out.

The rains were the remnants of a tropical storm that brought high winds and some badly needed rainfall to drought-stricken Southern California last week, helping firefighters largely corral the Fairview Fire that had been burning out of control about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of the mudslides.

The mud flows and flash flooding occurred in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains where there are burn scars  areas where theres little vegetation to hold the soil  from the 2020 wildfires.

All of that dirt turns to mud and starts slipping down the mountain, Sherwin said.

One of the 2020 blazes, the El Dorado Fire, was sparked by a smoke device used by a couple to reveal their babys gender. A firefighter died, and the couple was charged with involuntary manslaughter.

The mudslides occurred about 175 miles (280 kilometers) east of Montecito, where enormous debris flows killed more than 20 people and destroyed hundreds of homes in January 2018, a month after a huge wildfire scorched hillsides.

About 40 miles (64 kilometers) west, Cal State San Bernardino reopened Tuesday, a day after the campus was closed when several buildings were flooded during heavy rains.

The powerful thunderstorms came after a week that saw California endure a record-long heatwave. Temperatures in many parts of the state rocketed past 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), and pushed the states electrical grid to the breaking point as air conditioners sucked up power. The Fairview Fire in Southern California and the Mosquito Fire burning east of Sacramento broke out and raged out of control.

The tropical storm aided crews battling the Fairview Fire about 75 miles (121 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles. The 44-square-mile (114-square-kilometer) blaze was 62% contained by Tuesday. Two people died fleeing the fire, which destroyed at least 35 homes and other structures in Riverside County.

The Mosquito Fire has grown to nearly 79 square miles (nearly 204 square kilometers), with 25% containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.

More than 11,000 people have been evacuated and nearly 6,000 structures are threatened  an increase in both figures as the blaze raged Tuesday near Foresthill and Todd Valley after a spot fire jumped the Middle Fork of the American River, officials said.

Increased winds earlier Tuesday pushed out a smoke -inversion layer that had been stifling the blaze and gave fresh oxygen to the flames, Valenzuela said. The area is full of extremely dry fuels that were rapidly igniting, challenging both firefighters on the ground and aircraft.

Scientists say climate change has made the West warmer and drier over the last three decades and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. In the last five years, California has experienced the largest and most destructive fires in its history.

___

Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles contributed.

___

For more AP coverage of the climate and environment: https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
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Nearly half of Connecticut voters intend to support Gov. Ned Lamont for re-election in November, according to a new poll released on Tuesday showing the Democrat with a 10-point lead over his rival, Republican Bob Stefanowski.

Lamonts support among the polls respondents, 48.5 percent, was close to his showing in 2018, when he defeated Stefanowski by around 3 percentage points to win his first term. Four years later, Stefanowskis support has dropped to 38.4 percent, according to the poll.

The poll was conducted by Emerson College through a partnership with The Hill and WTNH-Channel 8.

An earlier version of the same poll released in May showed Lamont with a slightly larger 13-percentage-point lead over Stefanowski, who has since shaken up his leadership team and brought on a new campaign manager, Stamford firefighter Pat Sasser.

Despite trailing the governor by double-digits, Stefanowski released a statement on Tuesday seizing upon the poll as evidence of a tightening race.

As more voters focus on the race post-Labor Day and are reminded of Governor Lamonts record of higher taxes, rising crime and attacks on parental rights in our schools, his support will continue to erode, Stefanowski said.

In a statement Tuesday, Lamonts campaign sought to dismiss the importance of polls as a snapshot in time.

The only polls that matter are the ones that voters will head to in November,  campaign spokesman Jake Lewis said. In the meantime, Governor Lamont is laser-focused on governing and continuing to lead with responsible fiscal management that delivered historic tax cuts for the middle class, and record investments in childcare, education, and workforce development.

In its most recent ad, Lamonts team touted the governors bipartisan efforts on issues such as as a juvenile crime bill, while his running mate, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, has run ads tying Stefanowski to former President Donald Trump.

Stefanowskis campaign, meanwhile, has turned its attention toward cultural issues with a so-called parental bill of rights that would give parents greater say in their childrens school curricula and limit what sports are open to transgender athletes. The leader of an outside political action committee supporting Stefanowski told Hearst Connecticut Media Group last week that its polls showed those issues resonating well with independent and unaffiliated voters.

In the most recent poll, 4 percent of respondents said they planned to support someone besides the top two candidates, an option that was not included in the May poll. The number of undecided voters, meanwhile, fell from 11.6 percent to 9.1 percent.

Lamonts lead in the poll can be attributed to his strong favorability among respondents  55 percent favorable to 40 percent unfavorable  as well as his perceived trustworthiness.

According to the poll, 56.7 percent of respondents said they believe the governor is more trustworthy, versus 43.3 percent who said they trusted Stefanowski more.

Similar to the results of Emersons poll of Connecticut voters in May, the more recent survey showed Lamont beating Stefanowski across a range of voting blocks, including both men and women, Blacks, Hispanics, whites and Asian voters.

Stefanowskis numbers among voters between the age of 35 and 49 did improve, with the Republican leading Lamont 45.2 percent to 39.3 percent among that age bracket.

The governor led among all other ages, however, and with both urban and suburban voters. Stefanowski had more support from rural voters in both May and September, according to Emersons polls.

The poll was conducted between Sept. 7 to 9 among a sample of 1,000 likely Connecticut voters. The margin of error was +/- 3 percentage points.
The most widely used single sign-on and rostering platform in the K-12 market is now available for free to schools across Canada.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 13, 2022 /CNW/ -- Clever, the digital learning platform used in over 70% of U.S. K-12 schools, today announced that its platform is available to use across Canada in the English language.

Clever provides schools with a free portal where students get easy access to all the digital learning tools they use for their classes, eliminating the need to remember unique usernames and passwords for each tool. The company also offers an optional paid identity management product designed specifically for K-12 schools.

Clever's expansion in Canada comes alongside school administrators' and teachers' growing need to simplify access to digital resources and ensure the privacy of student information.

"We saved weeks of work setting up edtech for the district and hours of classroom time that we used to spend troubleshooting login issues," said Mildred Weiss, an education technology specialist from Alberta. "We also have to meet the requirements for our cybersecurity insurance provider, so having Clever adds that extra layer of security that we need to protect our students."

Simplified edtech implementation

With the free Clever platform, schools can simplify edtech implementation and usage. They can:

Safely share data from a school's student information system to create and manage accounts in third party apps in a secure, automated way;

Give students and teachers a learning portal where all digital resources can be found in one place;

Make it easier for young students to log in securely without typing via Clever Badges.

Clever offers this platform, as well as support and training, free of charge to schools with the support of application developers, including many leading global learning providers who partner with Clever to simplify and secure access to their software.

Schools looking to streamline identity management can add on Clever IDM for a low annual fee to automatically provision, update and deprovision user accounts and organizational units for students, teachers and staff in Active Directory and Google Workspace.

"Canadian classrooms are adopting cloud services and digital learning tools at a faster pace than ever," said Trish Sparks, CEO at Clever. "With the Clever platform, educators can simplify and secure digital learning resources for all their students. We're delighted to serve schools in Canada with dedicated onboarding and customer success to help make this back to school season just as easy as we can."

"Setting up classes can be a time-consuming task for teachers and we are happy to have a helpful solution through our partnership with Clever to simplify this in Google Classroom," said Dave Messer, Product Manager at Google. "We have heard great feedback from U.S. school districts and now look forward to expanding internationally with Clever, starting in Canada."

Committed to Canadian data privacy standards

Clever's services follow privacy principles and data security standards that can help public schools comply with provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy legislation and helps private schools comply with private sector personal information protection laws such as the British Columbia Personal Information Protection Act, the Alberta Personal Information Protection Act, and the Quebec Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector.

Boards maintain 100% control of their data, and Clever data minimization features send only the data needed. Clever does not rent or sell data, permit advertising, or profile students. Clever's comprehensive security program is designed to secure student data from loss, unauthorized access, unauthorized use, unauthorized alteration and unauthorized disclosure.

Learn more about Clever's compliance with Canadian privacy laws here . Clever is also a proud signatory of the Student Data Privacy Pledge , a member of the Student Data Privacy Consortium , the first recipient of the IMS TrustEd Apps Seal , and has received CommonSense Privacy Program 's highest possible rating, "Use Responsibly," based on a full privacy evaluation.

For more information or to start onboarding, school leaders can contact Clever at https://www.getclever.com/canada-signup/ .

About Clever

Clever is on a mission to unlock new ways to learn for all students. More than 70% of U.S. K-12 schools now use Clever to simplify access and improve engagement with digital learning. With our free platform for schools and a network of leading application providers, we're committed to advancing educational equity. And Clever makes digital learning more secure with affordable solutions for schools to automate account security. Clever, a Kahoot! company, has offices in San Francisco, CA and Durham, NC but you can visit us at clever.com anytime.

SOURCE Clever

For further information: [email protected] , [email protected]
MONTREAL, Sept. 13, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - At a recent summit on early childhood education organized by the Atkinson Centre at the University of Toronto and the Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development at the University of Montreal, scientists urged governments to embed green solutions into Canada's newly developing child care system.

The event brought 25 experts in areas of climate action, Indigenous knowledge, urban planning, green engineering, and early learning and sustainability, to support climate responsibility and action in early childhood.

Participants agree there is an urgency to act and federal funding to expand child care provides a unique opportunity to do so.

The Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreements (CWELCC) bring $27 billion over the next 5 years to establish a national early learning and child care system. Added to this are funds targeted to Indigenous early learning and child care ; a $625 million Infrastructure Fund ; and money to improve disability access to child care facilities.

Canada's climate goals MUST be reflected in CWELCC spending, policy, and practice, including pending federal child care legislation.

"This funding provides an unparalleled opportunity to incorporate green solutions into the building of a new social program," according to Dr. Emis Akbari, a Senior Fellow in Early Childhood Policy at the Atkinson Centre.

What should governments do?

Summit participants developed a policy brief with five main asks of elected officials:

Incorporate climate goals in all sectors and within all public expenditures;



Incorporate sustainability and pro-environmental learning into the early years' curriculum;



Build reciprocal relationships and partnerships with Indigenous leaders and knowledge keepers and incorporate land-based learning into early childhood programming;



Keep climate action and sustainability as a top priority in urban planning and the design of early childhood facilities;



Use an equity lens in all policy decisions.

"While the crisis affects our entire planet and its population, young children are disproportionately impacted. As with all trials, the more racialized, the more socially and economically disadvantaged, the greater the negative outcomes," adds Isabelle Vinet, Executive Director, for the Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development.

The Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development is the leading resource for the most up-to-date knowledge on the development of young children (0-5).

The Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development is a research centre committed to using the best available evidence on early child development to inform public discourse, public policy and the professional learning of those who work with young children.

SOURCE Atkinson Centre, University of Toronto

For further information: For interviews and information : Dr. Emis Akbari at [email protected]
/NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES WIRE SERVICES/

Second Quarter Fiscal 2022 and Recent Highlights:

Consolidated revenue for the second quarter of 2022 of $40.7 million , consistent with the previous quarter despite a reduction of nine retail stores during the current quarter, and a decrease of 6% compared to the same quarter last year

Launch of Spark Perks Member Pricing program in mid-May 2022 , driving an 18% increase of average annualized sales per store in Q2 2022, compared to Q1 2022, and same store sales increase of 10% in the month of July 2022

Launch of Firebird Delivery marketplace in seven Ontario cities ( Toronto , Kingston , London , Ottawa , Oshawa , Guelph , North Bay ). Firebird Delivery leverages the Hifyre digital platform and Pineapple Express Delivery's logistics capabilities to power fulfillment by the Company's retail network, with same-day delivery windows and new "Rush Delivery" option for estimated delivery within one hour

Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of 2022 was negative $6.0 million , reflecting strategic investments in Spark Perks Member Pricing Program, Hifyre digital platform and launch of Firebird Delivery in the quarter

Launch of the Company's "Get-To-Green" initiative to increase sales and gross profit, and reduce selling, general and administrative expenses with a goal to generate positive Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow

Cash on hand as of July 30, 2022 was $18.6 million

TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2022 /CNW/ - Fire & Flower Holdings Corp. ("Fire & Flower" or the "Company") (TSX: FAF) (OTCQX: FFLWD), today announced its financial and operational results for the fiscal 2022 second quarter ended July 30, 2022.

"Fire & Flower remains focused on the transformation of our business and strategic opportunities with a goal to deliver positive Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow. We are focusing on near-term initiatives such as the Spark Perks Member Pricing program and opportunities to generate additional consolidated gross profit dollars as competitive pressures, and license expansion outpacing market growth create challenging market conditions across the industry. Our Member Pricing program has generated success by getting customers back in our stores and we will look to maximize the margin opportunities from all programs focused on driving gross profit dollars," said Stephane Trudel, Chief Executive Officer of Fire & Flower.

"We continue to invest in our end-to-end Hifyre cannabis consumer technology platform and integrate our Wholesale and Logistics segment to deliver greater sustainable value across our business as one of the leading cannabis retailers. Alongside our strategic partner, Alimentation Couche-Tard, Fire & Flower remains focused on our long term, global outlook on technology-enabled cannabis retail both through our Spark Perks member program and Firebird rapid delivery service, which brings cannabis products to consumers' doors within hours. To deliver on our long term vision, we are focused on how we sustainably grow the business while also improving on near term financial performance and prudent use of capital."

Consolidated Financial Highlights



Thirteen weeks ended Twenty-Six weeks ended (In thousands of Canadian dollars, July 30, 2022 July 31, 2021 July 30, 2022 July 31, 2021 except per share amounts)







Total Revenue 40,742 43,306 81,686 87,390 Gross Profit 9,699 16,173 21,865 32,691 Gross Profit Percentage 23.8 % 37.3 % 26.8 % 37.4 % Adjusted EBITDA (6,037) 3,146 (8,348) 5,453 Net loss (21,557) 19,450 (31,463) (42,148) Basic loss per share (0.48) 0.58 (0.76) (1.33)

Financial & Operational Highlights for the Second Quarter Fiscal 2022

Revenue of $40.7 million for Q2 fiscal 2022, representing a decrease of 6% from $43.3 million in the prior year comparative period, primarily due to increasing competition from new licences issued and pricing pressures in the cannabis retail market.

for Q2 fiscal 2022, representing a decrease of 6% from in the prior year comparative period, primarily due to increasing competition from new licences issued and pricing pressures in the cannabis retail market. Gross profit of $9.7 million (24% of revenue) for Q2 fiscal 2022, compared to $16.2 million (37% of revenue) in the prior year comparative period. The decline in gross profit dollars and margin reflects investment in the Spark Perks Member Pricing program, Firebird Delivery and Hifyre digital platform during the current fiscal quarter.

(24% of revenue) for Q2 fiscal 2022, compared to (37% of revenue) in the prior year comparative period. The decline in gross profit dollars and margin reflects investment in the Spark Perks Member Pricing program, Firebird Delivery and Hifyre digital platform during the current fiscal quarter. Adjusted EBITDA of negative $6.0 million for Q2 fiscal 2022.

for Q2 fiscal 2022. Net loss of $21.6 million for Q2 fiscal 2022, compared to a net profit of $19.5 million in the prior year comparative period.

for Q2 fiscal 2022, compared to a net profit of in the prior year comparative period. Cash and cash equivalents balance of $18.6 million as at July 30, 2022 , a decrease of $1.3 million from the fiscal year ended January 29, 2022 .

Segment Revenue



Thirteen weeks ended Twenty-Six weeks ended (In thousands of Canadian dollars unaudited) July 30, 2022 July 31, 2021 July 30, 2022 July 31, 2021 Revenue







Retail 30,357 31,842 59,913 65,461 Wholesale 8,464 7,797 16,923 15,425 Digital Platform 1,921 3,667 4,850 6,504 Total Revenue 40,742 43,306 81,686 87,390

Segment Adjusted EBITDA



Thirteen weeks ended Twenty-Six weeks ended (In thousands of Canadian dollars unaudited) July 30, 2022 July 31, 2021 July 30, 2022 July 31, 2021 Adjusted EBITDA







Retail (4,540) (741) (7,229) 361 Wholesale (405) 1,323 (513) 2,339 Digital Platform 641 3,308 2,358 5,604 Corporate (1,733) (744) (2,964) (2,851) Total Adjusted EBITDA (6,037) 3,146 (8,348) 5,453

Retail

Retail revenue for Q2 fiscal 2022 decreased 5% to $30.4 million from $31.8 million in the prior year comparative period. Despite a reduction of nine retail stores during the current quarter, retail revenue increased 2.7% quarter-over-quarter as a result of the recent launch of the Spark Perks Member Pricing program.

from in the prior year comparative period. Despite a reduction of nine retail stores during the current quarter, retail revenue increased 2.7% quarter-over-quarter as a result of the recent launch of the Spark Perks Member Pricing program. The new Spark Perks Member Pricing program, which launched in mid-May 2022 , drove increased traffic to stores, resulting in an increase of 18% in average annualized sales per store compared to Q1 2022 and same-store-sales improvement of 10% from June 2022 to July 2022 .

, drove increased traffic to stores, resulting in an increase of 18% in average annualized sales per store compared to Q1 2022 and same-store-sales improvement of 10% from to . Gross profit Q2 fiscal 2022 was $7.0 million (23.3% of revenue) compared to $10.9 million (34.1% of revenue) for the prior year comparative period. The year-over-year decline reflects the investment in launching the new Spark Perks Member Pricing program in the current quarter. Subsequent to quarter end, the Retail segment is already seeing improvement in both gross profit dollars and margin percentage, driven by increased number of transactions and units sold per store.

(23.3% of revenue) compared to (34.1% of revenue) for the prior year comparative period. The year-over-year decline reflects the investment in launching the new Spark Perks Member Pricing program in the current quarter. Subsequent to quarter end, the Retail segment is already seeing improvement in both gross profit dollars and margin percentage, driven by increased number of transactions and units sold per store. Segment Adjusted EBITDA decreased to negative $4.5 million in Q2 fiscal 2022 compared to negative $0.7 million in the same quarter of the prior year.

in Q2 fiscal 2022 compared to negative in the same quarter of the prior year. The Company had 92 stores open and in operation at the end of July 30, 2022 , compared to 101 stores at the end of Q1 2022 and 91 stores at the end of Q2 fiscal 2021.

Wholesale and Logistics

The current fiscal year results include the operations of Open Fields Distribution wholesale business in the province of Saskatchewan and Pineapple Express Delivery, which was acquired on January 21, 2022 .

and Pineapple Express Delivery, which was acquired on . Wholesale and Logistics revenue in Q2 fiscal 2022 of $8.5 million , an increase of $0.7 million or 9% compared to the same quarter of the prior year.

, an increase of or 9% compared to the same quarter of the prior year. Gross profit in Q2 fiscal 2022 decreased to $0.9 million from $1.6 million in the same quarter of the prior year.

from in the same quarter of the prior year. Segment Adjusted EBITDA decreased to negative $0.4 million Q2 fiscal 2022 from positive $1.3 million in the same quarter of the prior year.

Q2 fiscal 2022 from positive in the same quarter of the prior year. The year-over-year decline in gross profit and Segment Adjusted EBITDA reflects increased cost of sales and launch of Firebird Delivery in the current fiscal quarter.

Hifyre Digital Platform

Digital revenue of $1.9 million in Q2 fiscal 2022 compared to $3.7 million in the same quarter of the prior year.

in Q2 fiscal 2022 compared to in the same quarter of the prior year. Gross profit margin was 89.5% for the quarter ended July 30, 2022 compared to 100% for the prior year comparative period.

compared to 100% for the prior year comparative period. Segment Adjusted EBITDA decreased to $0.6 million in Q2 fiscal 2022 from $3.3 million in the prior year comparative period.

in Q2 fiscal 2022 from in the prior year comparative period. The year-over-year decline in revenue and Segment Adjusted EBITDA is primarily due to a delay in renewals of data subscription agreements and reduced project-based data and analytics work in the current fiscal quarter, as the Company prioritized development of new products that have been launched in Q3 2022. Subsequent to quarter end, substantial renewal of data subscription agreements are anticipated to be completed through more favourable economics for data subscription customers, stabilizing monthly recurring revenues in future quarters.

Subsequent Operational Highlights Post July 30, 2022

Announcement of Change in Board of Directors with Ms. Suzanne Poirier , Alimentation Couche-Tard executive joining in replacement of Mr. Guillaume Leger on August 12, 2022 .

, Alimentation Couche-Tard executive joining in replacement of Mr. Guillaume Leger on . Launch of Pineapple Express recreational cannabis delivery in the province of British Columbia on July 13, 2022 .

on . Changed year end to December 31.

Adjusted EBITDA



Thirteen Weeks ended Twenty-six Weeks ended (in thousands of dollars) July 30, 2022 ($) July 31, 2021 ($) July 30, 2022 ($) July 31, 2021 ($) Net loss  as reported (21,557) 19,450 (31,463) (42,148) (Gain) loss on revaluation of derivative liability (59) (25,321) (320) 28,789 Finance costs, net 1,355 1,096 3,096 4,407 Income taxes, net 607 1,368 1,226 2,055 Share-based compensation 678 1,319 1,310 1,851 Acquisition and strategic initiative professional fees 459 259 559 1,048 Depreciation & amortization 6,110 4,182 10,874 8,511 Restructuring, impairment and other costs, net 6,370 793 6,370 940 Adjusted EBITDA (6,037) 3,146 (8,348) 5,453

Lease liability cash payments for the thirteen and twenty-six weeks ended July 30, 2022 was $2.5 million and $4.9 million, respectively (July 31, 2021: $2.1 million and $4.3 million, respectively).

Non-IFRS Measures  Adjusted EBITDA

"Adjusted EBITDA" is a Non-IFRS metric used by management that does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and may not be fully comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Management defines the Adjusted EBITDA as the Income (loss) for the period, as reported, before income taxes and other expense (income) items such as finance costs, finance income, gains and losses related to derivative liability revaluations and debt extinguishments, and adjusted for share-based compensation, depreciation and amortization, impairment expense, impairment of right-of-use ("ROU") assets net of lease liabilities remeasurement, restructuring charges, professional fees associated with acquisitions, financing and strategic initiatives.

Adjusted EBITDA has been calculated differently than in periods prior to Q1 2021, where the Company previously included lease liability cash payments as disclosed in accordance with IFRS 16 "Leases" accounting standards. The updated measure reflects the Company's new approach to analyzing the consolidated operating performance across the business lines. The Company believes the updated definition is an alternative measure to assess performance as it provides meaningful operating results and facilitates period-to-period operating comparisons. As other companies may calculate this non-IFRS measure differently than the Company, this metric may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. We caution readers that Adjusted EBITDA should not be substituted for determining net income (loss) as an indicator of operating results, or as a substitute for cash flows from operating activities.

Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter ended July 30, 2022 was negative $6.0 million compared to positive Adjusted EBITDA of $3.1 million for the comparable quarter for 2021 fiscal year.

Webcast & Conference Call

Fire & Flower will host a webcast and conference call with Stephane Trudel, Chief Executive Officer, and Judy Adam, Chief Financial Officer at 8:30 a.m. EDT on September 13, 2022. The webcast will discuss Fire & Flower's Fiscal 2022 second quarter financial and operational results.

Dial-In Information

Canada dial-in number (Toll Free): 1 833 950 0062

United States (Toll Free): 1 844 200 6205

All other locations: +1 929 526 1599

Access code: 573575

Webcast Sign-Up

https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/217086686

Replay Information (Available until October 4, 2022)

US Toll Free: 1 866 813 9403

Canada: 1 226 828 7578

All other locations: +44 204 525 0658

Replay Code: 292857

Upon completion of the live conference call, a replay of the conference call will be accessible on Fire & Flower's website at https://investors.fireandflower.com/.

Fire & Flower's financial statements and management discussion and analysis for the period are available on Fire & Flower's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com and on Fire & Flower's website at https://investors.fireandflower.com.

About Fire & Flower

Fire & Flower is a cannabis consumer retail and technology platform with more than 90 corporate-owned stores in its network. The Company leverages its wholly-owned technology development subsidiary, Hifyre Inc., to continually advance its proprietary retail operations model while also providing additional independent high-margin revenue streams. Fire & Flower guides consumers through the complex world of cannabis through best-in-class retailing while the HifyreTM digital and analytics platform empowers retailers to optimize their connections with consumers. The Company's leadership team combines extensive experience in the technology, cannabis and retail industries.

Through the strategic investment of Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (owner of Circle K convenience stores), the Company has set its sights on global expansion as new cannabis markets emerge and is poised to expand into the United States when permitted through its strategic licensing agreement with Fire & Flower U.S. Holdings upon the occurrence of certain changes to the cannabis regulatory regime.

To learn more about Fire & Flower, visit www.fireandflower.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "achieve", "could", "believe", "plan", "intend", "objective", "continuous", "ongoing", "estimate", "outlook", "expect", "project" and similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes or that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These forward-looking statements include statements about the sales of Common Shares under the ATM Program and the use of the net proceeds of the ATM Program. These statements are only predictions.

Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management of Fire & Flower at the date the statements are made based on information then available to Fire & Flower. Various factors and assumptions are applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to and involve a number of known and unknown, variables, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Fire & Flower, which may cause Fire & Flower's actual performance and results to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: final regulatory and other approvals or consents; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the ability of the Company to successfully achieve its business objectives, political and social uncertainties, demand for the Common Shares, market conditions, and the use of the net proceeds of the ATM program.

No assurance can be given that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Additional information regarding risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's business are contained under the headings "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form dated April 26, 2022 and "Risks and Uncertainties" in the management discussion and analysis for the thirteen weeks ended July 30, 2022 filed on its issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

SOURCE Fire & Flower Holdings Corp.

For further information: Investor Relations: [email protected], 1-833-680-4948; Media Relations: [email protected], 780-784-8859
Yerevan, Sep 13 (UNI) The Permanent Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is extremely concerned about the situation on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan nad considered proposals to activate CSTO mechanisms to resolve conflict, CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zaynetdinov said on Tuesday.

An extraordinary meeting of the CSTO Permanent Council was held earlier in the day at the request of Yerevan.

"Council members expressed extreme concern about the current situation and considered proposals regarding the possible use of CSTO mechanisms to resolve the situation," Zaynetdinov told reporters.

UNI/SPUTNIK GNK
OTTAWA, ON, TRADITIONAL UNCEDED ALGONQUIN TERRITORY, Sept. 13, 2022 /CNW/ - The Honourable David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of CrownIndigenous Relations, today issued the following statement:

"After decades of work led by Indigenous leaders from Canada and across the globe, on this day 15 years ago, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration) was adopted by the General Assembly. A majority of member states now endorse the UN Declaration.



"The UN Declaration establishes an international framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity, and well-being of Indigenous peoples around the world. It speaks of how the recognition of rights will enhance harmonious and cooperative relations between States and Indigenous peoples, based on the principles of justice, democracy, respect for human rights, non-discrimination and good faith.

"Demonstrating Canada's commitment to the UN Declaration, on June 21, 2021, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act became law in Canada. This Act creates a lasting framework to advance federal implementation of the UN Declaration in consultation and cooperation with First Nations, Inuit and Metis from coast to coast to coast. It ensures sustained and continued efforts to uphold the human rights of Indigenous peoples now and in the future and contains measures to hold the federal government accountable.

"Now, in partnership with Indigenous peoples, we are working on measures to ensure that the laws of Canada are consistent with the UN Declaration and on an action plan to achieve its objectives. The current phase of this process focuses on working in partnership with Indigenous peoples to better understand their priorities. An action plan will be completed based on the priorities identified by Indigenous peoples and a whole-of-government collaboration by June 2023.

"Work to implement the UN Declaration federally includes supporting Indigenous visions of self-determination and better and more equitable economic, social, and health outcomes. Together, we will continue to help develop a stronger, more sustainable, and predictable path for everyone to work together as partners with a shared stake in Canada's future."

Associated Links

SOURCE Department of Justice Canada

For further information: media may contact: Chantalle Aubertin, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, [email protected], 613-992-6568; Media Relations, Department of Justice Canada, 613-957-4207, [email protected]; Justine Leblanc, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, [email protected]; Media Relations, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, 819-934-2302, [email protected]
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Indian and Chinese troops completed the disengagement process at a disputed area along a remote western Himalayan border.

The disengagement process in the Gogra Heights-Hot Springs area between the two armies began on Thursday, September 8 after the discussions between the two sides during the 16th round of corps commander level. The process involved front-line troops moving back to rear locations, dismantling temporary infrastructure, and joint verification to assess the full implementation of the disengagement to follow.

The two sides have agreed to cease forward deployments in a phased, coordinated, and verified manner, resulting in the return of the troops to their respective areas, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. All temporary structures in the area erected by both militaries will also be dismantled, he further added.

The disengagement process comes ahead of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Uzbekistan this week on September 15-16 which will be attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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In recent years, Pakistan and China have had a connection similar to that of two strong mafia families in the UN, helping one other out when it comes to human rights abuses.

They function independently, according to Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist of religions, who wrote about this in Bitter Winter, a publication on human rights and religious freedom. Nevertheless, when the international community criticise them for violating human rights, they each defend the other.

When Pakistan is accused of violating human rights due to its genocidal treatment of Ahmadis, everyday persecution of religious minorities, and strict laws that penalise blasphemy with the death sentence, China strives to prevent any censorship of Pakistan at the UN.

According to Introvigne, Pakistan is anticipated to respond in kind and support China when it is chastised for what the UN has now decided to refer to as its crimes against humanity.

Notably, when the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published a report on the state of human rights in Xinjiang, Pakistan emphasised the UN Charters principles of respect for political independence, sovereignty, and non-interference in internal affairs of states, among others.

Media report stated that if someone uses the term non-interference they are attempting to defend the unjustifiable.

Even the United Nations, where China has significant sway, has concluded that the Beijing government is committing crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. However, Pakistan asserts that because these are Chinas internal concerns, the rest of the world should keep quiet.

Islamabad also commended Beijing for its constructive involvement with the UN human rights system as well as the OIC General Secretariat, as indicated by visits of the previous High Commissioner for Human Rights and OIC delegation to China.
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A journalist was detained by Pakistan Police for reportedly writing about the suffering of Pakistani Hindus who were stranded in the countrys current floods in the Sindh region. Local media stated that these impacted individuals later claimed they were denied access to essential supplies needed to survive the catastrophe.

Journalist Nasrallah Gaddani was detained by Pakistan Police on Wednesday and placed on 5-day detention for exposing the tale of Pakistani Hindus who are a part of the Bhagri community in Sindhs Mirpur Mathelo.

The journalist said that since they were Hindus, the local government had kicked members of the Bhagri group out of the flood relief camp. A video of the broadcast went viral on social media, showing the horrors committed by the Pakistani government and authorities on the Hindu minority, despite frequent assertions to the contrary.

The film shows sobbing flood victims discussing their bad situation in the nation after being denied access to basic necessities like water, food, and shelter during the catastrophic natural catastrophe that has affected over 33 million people.

In the video, members of the Hindu Bhagri group can be heard discussing their horrible predicament and how the local government has treated them. They said that the local government had kicked them out of the flood relief camps and informed them that they werent actually victims of the flooding.

One witness can be heard sobbing and claiming, We were sent out because we were Hindus. Even food and water have been withheld from us by them. They believe that we are not flood victims. Where are we going next? How should our kids live on? Our home was destroyed by the water, and we are destitute. Additionally, the local government claims that we are not flood victims. We are accompanied by little children.

Another victim stated Where are we going next? How would we manage without water and food?

Hindus already face hardship and significant institutional prejudice in Pakistan, which has been made worse by the recent flood catastrophe in Sindh province.

In contrast, the Hindu community in Balochistan has made a show of compassion and religious tolerance by opening a temples doors to those afflicted by floods.
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Outside the Pakistan High Commission in London, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters and leaders staged a protest against the minus-one formula, the governments effort to disqualify PTI Chairman from elections.



As per media sources, the demonstration in London took place in concert with others conducted across Pakistan in response to a request from Imran Khans party central office. The protesters, according to the speakers, gathered to voice their support for Khan and to make it clear that the PTI leader should not be disqualified or eliminated in any other way since doing so would be detrimental to Pakistans democratic process.

The minus-one formula will not be accepted, protesters waving banners and posters supporting their leader stated. For three hours, they shouted minus-one formula na manzoor in front of the Pakistan High Commission.



The recently elected PTI officials, including PTI London President Waqas Sagar, PTI UK President Imran Khalil, General-Secretary Rana Hamid Afzal, Senior-Vice President Taqweem Ahsan, and Youth Secretary Aurangzeb Khan, participated in the demonstration in London.

At the rally, speakers included Sahibzada Jahangir, Farzana Mukhtar, Maheen Faisal, Shahid Destageer, Amir Khan, and Adnan Shareef, the membership coordinator and co-president of the literary organisation, as per media sources.



Nabeel Qureshi, the partys secretary general, said that Pakistanis had rejected the PTI chairmans ouster from office via an alleged American conspiracy and had supported him against the injustice done to him. He noted that specific individuals had planned a wicked minus one scheme against Khan, but such efforts will be destroyed.



Farzana Mukhtar, another speaker, claimed that Pakistan is currently experiencing its greatest crisis and that the only way out is through free and fair elections. No one else would be recognised as the leader of Pakistan, according to Maheen Faisal.

Imran Khan has put up a fight, which is why certain individuals want to remove him from politics, but PTI workers wont allow such an evil scheme to prevail, she said.



Pakistan was liberated in 1947, however, Imran Khalil, the president of PTI UK, claimed that Pakistan never truly experienced independence. He said that Khan was now in charge of the Haqeezi Azadi movement and that the entire country supported him.



If the partys leader was found to be ineligible in any of the cases brought against him, Sahibzada Jahangir declared that hunger strikes and demonstrations would take place all throughout the UK.

Its crucial to avoid taking any action that eliminates Imran Khan via any means other than the electoral process because we would go to whatever lengths to protest, and this will send a very poor message to the world community, he warned.



A statewide demonstration against the minus-one formula was planned for earlier on Saturday by the Pakistani PTI. The demonstration was organised by the party to show support for its leader, Imran Khan. Its anti-government campaign has entered a new phase, as PTI claimed, according to Pakistani media.

Imran Khan stated in a tweet, The last of our current phase of the Haqiqi Azadi Movement will take place in Gujranwala tomorrow. At the jalsa, Ill disclose the crucial next step. The imported government and its managers are so terrified that the country would support PTI wholeheartedly that they are frantically implementing the Minus 1 formula.

Tomorrow our Gujranwala jalsa will be last of our present phase of Haqiqi Azadi Movement. I will announce the next critical phase at the jalsa. Imported govt & its handlers are so petrified that nation is standing firmly behind PTI they are desperately

moving on Minus 1 formula  Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) September 9, 2022



According to the local media outlets, other PTI officials stated that the cancellation of by-elections in 13 National Assembly seats, nine of which Khan was running for, validated their concern that Khan may be barred from holding public office.



The joint investigation team (JIT) looking into a terrorist case against Imran Khan was called by the Islamabad capital city police on Saturday.

The former prime minister was charged in a case for allegedly threatening Zeba Chaudhry, a judge of a lower court, but failed to appear before the JIT at the Margalla Police Station.



Khan should come before the investigative team at 5 pm on Saturday to guarantee that he responds to its inquiries as the notification noted that he is out on bail in the case till September 12 and should do so.

After receiving an unsatisfactory response in the contempt of court case on Thursday, the Islamabad High Court decided to prosecute former Pakistani Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on September 22.

Imran Khans statement was deemed unsatisfactory by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah during the cases hearing, and he added that Imran Khan will be charged in a contempt case on September 22 after two weeks, as per media sources.

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A Raja, a member of parliament for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), made disparaging statements against Hinduism, which caused a significant uproar. Bharatiya Janata Party reacted angrily to his words (BJP).

During a speech at an event, A Raja said, All individual institutions like Election Commission, CBI, Supreme Court, Enforcement Directorate, and even Parliament are being captive to this government. To show the truth, Viduthalai Magazine is much needed. Secularism, socialism, and sovereign republic are what it has been said about India in the Constitution.

BJP condemned DMK leader A Rajas offensive comments against Hinduism that sparked controversy.

Sorry condition of political discourse in Tamil Nadu. DMK MP has again again spewed venom against one community with the sole objective of soothing others. Very very bad attitude of these political figures who think they control Tamil Nadu, said K Annamalai, state head of the Tamil Nadu BJP.

A very sad attitude of these political elites who believe they control Tamil Nadu, Annamalai said on his Twitter page, Sorry condition of political debate in Tamil Nadu. DMK MP has once again spewed vitriol towards one tribe with the sole intention of soothing others.

DMK leader Raja referred to the Supreme Court when he asserted that the Constitutions fundamental structure cannot be amended or altered.
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Three people were detained by the Chhattisgarh Police on Monday for allegedly raping a minor girl.

Suraj Yadav (20), Jitendra Rajak (30), and Sunny Kumar NirmalKar have been named as the defendants (25). On September 13, the incident was reported at Murmunda, Basantpur PS, Rajnandgaon district.

Police Chief Superintendent Gaurav Rai said, Three males attacked a 15-year-old girl in Murmunda on the evening of September 10. One of them took her up on the way home from work.

The victim was reportedly instructed to drop off one of the suspects at her house before being taken to a secluded place where the suspect contacted his two accomplices and raped the girl.

In addition, the accused had intimidated the victim for keeping the event a secret.

Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act was used to file the lawsuit.

All three of the suspects have been taken into custody and will appear in court, according to CSP Rai.

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COVID-19 CLUSTER INFECTIONS IN CHINESE UNIVERSITIES CONTINUE TO RISE AMID NEW SEMESTER
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According to Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, two trials associated with this mission would be completed by the end of 2022 provided all goes according to plan.

Gaganyaan mission preparations are currently in full swing. As per Singh, Gaganyaan is likely to be launched into orbit at the start of 2024.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh recently stated Covid caused the majority of our initiatives to stop, including Gaganyaan. Initially, we had anticipated finishing the Gaganyaan launch by this year, but we are still working to send an Indian so that the project is indigenous.

He also stated The solely Soviet Union-led expedition that sent Rakesh Sharma into space has given us the motivation to launch our own mission thanks to Prime Minister Modis Atmanirbhar programme.

Indian space exploration will soon make history with this space launch. This mission will send people into space.

According to Singh, two testing missions will be placed out of which one will include a robot.

Dr. Singh provided extensive details regarding the Gaganyaan Mission, including the fact that the initial test will be unmanned. A female robot named Vyommitra will then be flown to space for the second try. The Indian Space Research Organization created this robot (ISRO). By the end of 2022, both trials will have been completed. Only after the success of this mission will plans be made to launch people into space a third time.

Earlier on August 15, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Red fort announced the Gaganyaan mission. This mission has an investment of almost 10,000 crore rupees. Following this, the Union Cabinet gave its own approval in 2018. Indian astronauts will spend seven days circling the lower Earths orbit. Russian space agency Glavkosmos has partnered with ISRO to help with their training.

Gaganyaan is Indias first indigenous mission that will send Indian astronauts to space. Gaganyaan initiative aims to show that people may be safely sent into low earth orbit (LEO) and returned to the planet on an Indian launch vehicle.

The introduction of Gaganyaan includes participation from more than 500 enterprises and a number of research modules, including indigenous health and research module led by Dr. Jitendra Singh. India will follow the United States, Russia, and China as the fourth country in the world to launch a human spaceflight mission.

Significance of Gaganyaan for India:

Boost to industries: Participating in space missions will present significant potential for the Indian sector. Nearly 60% of the equipment for the Gaganyaan mission is anticipated to come from the Indian private sector.

Employment: The space organisation would require 900 more employees. 15,000 new jobs would be created by the Gaganyaan expedition. It is anticipated that it would create jobs and train human resources in cutting-edge technology. The initiative is anticipated to boost economic activity inside the nation in terms of improved industrial capabilities and the development of human resources.

Technological development: Science and technologys frontier is human spaceflight. The human spaceflight programme will offer a singular space platform for performing experiments and serving as a test bed for emerging technologies.

Boost to academic organisations: Gaganyaan Program is a nationwide initiative in which governmental agencies and academic institutions will take part. The partnership between ISRO, academia, business, government agencies, and other scientific institutions would be established within a wider framework.

Boost research: It will encourage productive research and technological advancement. It will accelerate major research in fields like material processing, astrobiology, resource mining, planetary chemistry, planetary orbital calculus, and many more areas with a big number of researchers and the right equipment engaged.

Motivation: Youth and the general public will find inspiration from human spaceflight. Many young kids will be motivated to pursue jobs in science and technology for the benefit of the country.

India will undertake a manned space mission as the fourth nation. Gaganyaan will boost the countrys reputation and solidify Indias position as a major participant in the space sector.
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In the Himachal Pradesh district of Kangra, thousands protest the states rising unemployment rate.

On the second day of the Rozgar Sangharsh Yatra, protesters marched through the streets of the districts Nurpur, Indora, and Jawali constituency.

Demonstrators urged the present BJP government to avoid tampering with the next generations future.

In the protest for the Congresss right to employment, almost 5,000 people painted the whole district in the yatra that passed through Kangra and Chamba. Top Congress leaders like Kuldeep Singh Pathania, Neeraj Nayar, Surinder Bhardwaj, Amit Bharmouri, Jagdish Handa, Kartar Singh Thakur, Surjit Bharmouri, Sunabh Pathania participated in this protests.

However, in Chamba, there was a lavish greeting next to the police station. A large crowd gathered to welcome. Right to Live and Right to Employment were fervently chanted on this occasion.

National secretary of the Congress and in-charge of travel, RS Bali addressed the media in Chamba, where he claimed that Congress government will create 5 lakh employment, provide the state with a starting money of 680 crores, and fill all open positions.

According to RS Bali, AICC Secretary if Congress wins the state of Himachal, and organiser of the Rozgar Sangharsh Yatra, they would create 5 lakh employment.

He also slammed the BJP government, accusing it of betraying the people and of crushing the aspirations and ambitions of millions of students by enacting anti-student laws like Agniveer.

He further went on to say that the educational system is appalling. This administration simply cares about raising revenue; by demonetisation and now taxing vasooli, they have already robbed the nation.

Speaking specifically about the government, RS Bali claimed that this tyrannical administration worked to deceive people under the guise of growth. He further said that every brick used in the construction of the nation and each state has the name of the Congress party.

Read Also : National Games: Gujarat CM doubles cash rewards, sets Go for Gold target for team

COVID CASE UPDATE: INDIA REPORTS 5,108 CASES, ACTIVE CASES AT 45,749
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French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna will be on a three-day visit to India from September 13-15. During her visit, Colonna will hold talks with her Indian counterpart S Jaishankar.

To kickstart her official visit from September 13-15, Colonna will be traveling to Mumbai for engagements with industry leaders and site visits on September 15, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday.

On September 14, Colonna will hold talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on bilateral, regional, and international issues of mutual interest.

Colonnas visit will focus on tightening the traditional Indo-French relationship. During her visit, the focus will lie on enhancing long-standing partnerships in trade, defense, climate, migration, education, and health sectors.

Colonna will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and NSA Ajit Doval. The key agenda of Colonnas visit is 25-year strategic partnership between the two countries and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. She will also be discussing preparations for the upcoming Indian G20 presidency.

Other things on Colonnas itinerary are as follows:

1  Visit Delhis Lady Shri Ram College for Women, where she will discuss gender equality with young Indian women

2  Will inspect Indias newest submarine built with French assistance at the Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) shipyard

3  Will deliver a speech at an event hosted by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) think tank

4  Will take part in the 45th Annual General Meeting of the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Read Also: BJP condemns A Raja for controversial remarks against Hinduism

RESEARCHERS FIND NOVEL METHODS FOR TREATING NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS IN PATIENT CELLS AND ANIMALS
AAP MLA Amanatullah Khans close aide arrested on charge of Arms Act 17 Sep 2022 | 10:06 PM New Delhi, Sep 17 (UNI) A day after the arrest of Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) in connection with a two-year-old case related to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Waqf Board, one close aide of Khan was arrested on Saturday after one alleged illegal weapon and some live cartridges were recovered from his house, Delhi Police said. see more..

CBI seeks cancellation of bail granted to Tejashwi Yadav in IRCTC scam case 17 Sep 2022 | 9:38 PM New Delhi, Sep 17 (UNI) A Special Court in Delhi on Saturday issued notice to Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav over a CBI petition seeking cancellation of bail granted to him in connection with the IRCTC scam. see more..

Cheetahs arrived, but when is employment coming? asks Rahul 17 Sep 2022 | 8:29 PM New Delhi, Sep 17 (UNI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said while eight Cheetahs have arrived, the government has not been able to fulfill its promise of providing employment in eight years. see more..

PM launches National Logistics Policy 17 Sep 2022 | 8:24 PM New Delhi, Sep 17 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the National Logistics Policy, and said it is a major step towards becoming a developed country. see more..
State utility regulators have fined a Boston-based third-party electricity provider $1 million and revoked the company's license to do business in Connecticut.

The state's Public Utilities Regulatory Authority also required the Connecticut subsidiary of Sunwave Gas & Power to pay restitution to more than 1,000 customers, commissioners with the regulatory agency ruled last week. The ruling against Sunwave comes following an investigation into the company's business practices.

Investigators with PURA's Office of Education, Outreach, and Enforcement found Sunwave officials violated state rules and regulations by selling electricity in the Connecticut even though the company's membership in ISO-New England had been suspended in January. ISO-NE operates the region's electric grid and oversees the retail electric market.

At that time, the company owed $1.17 million to ISO-NE, officials with the grid operator said and had failed to respond to letters and phone calls from the grid operator.

At a June 8 PURA hearing, PURA's commissioners suspended Sunwave's license for five years because company officials demonstrated "a lack of managerial capability." The company was also ordered to make restitution to customers within 20 days.

But when Sunwave failed to make restitution to customers, PURA officials issued a second violation notice against the company that ultimately resulted last week's action by PURA. Sunwave appealed the decision by regulators, but that appeal was ultimately unsuccessful.

Laura Jurasek, who is in charge of regulatory compliance with Sunwave declined comment on PURA's decision on Thursday. But in testimony filed with PURA in advance of Sunwave's appeal of the regulatory agency's second violation notice, Jurasek said the company "did not provide restitution to customers because it simply did not have the financial capability to do so.

The company had been operating in Connecticut since 2014.

As a result of PURA's ruling, customer of the company will be returned to the standard service offer in which The United Illuminating Co. and Eversource Energy purchase electricity for customers and then pass through the costs of that purchase without any mark up.

An example of the type of restitution former Sunwave residential customers will receive,individuals who had 10 months remaining on their contract at the time will receive $200 restitution. That number is based upon customers whose Sunwave rates were $20 per month less than the standard offer.

All but $50,000 of the fine is to be made payable to Operation Fuel, a Hartford-based organization year-round emergency energy assistance in the state.

This is the second time in less than two months PURA has issued a seven-figure fine against against one of the utilities it regulates. Regulators fined against Frontier Communications $5 million in late July because one of its contractors was "jeopardizing public safety" during underground installation of fiber optic cable that is being done as part of the company's expansion of that network.
PLAINVILLE  A 22-year-old was shot in broad daylight Monday while sitting in his car, police said.

He is expected to survive after being shot twice, Chief Christopher Vanghele said Monday afternoon.

Police are looking for a newer model, black luxury SUV, possibly an Acura, Mercedes or an Audi, he said.

The shooting happened about 10:30 a.m. in the back parking lot of Hamlin View Apartments on Woodruff Avenue, Vanghele said. Numerous calls came in from residents of the apartment complex about the shooting. When officers arrived, they found the wounded man in a stairwell. The 22-year-old, who had been visiting the complex, had gotten out of his car to seek help, he said.

The officers administered first aid while others looked for the shooter, Vanghele said. The man was taken to the Hospital of Central Connecticut, New Britain General Campus, where he was undergoing surgery Monday.

Police searched every apartment in the complex, he said, which took more than an hour. Two nearby schools, Linden Street Elementary and Plainville High schools, were placed on lockdown.

Detectives believe the wounded man was targeted and said the general public is not in danger.

Police dont know the motive for the shooting, Vanghele said at an afternoon news conference.

Vanghele, who started working as chief in Plainville in January, said he was told there hasnt been a shooting in town in at least 15 to 20 years.

This is a rare occurrence in this town, he said.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call police at 860-747-1616.
State officials have confirmed the first local cases of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus type 2 (RHDV2).

First identified in the United States in 2018, RHDV2, which is believed to have originated in Europe or Asia, is not a threat to humans but can be fatal to rabbits and other lagomorphs, according to officials. The disease has previously been detected in domestic rabbits in New Jersey and New York, officials said.

The sudden deaths of 13 of 14 domestic rabbits at a private residence in Hartford County were flagged to the Connecticut Department of Agriculture on Sept. 6; the 14th rabbit died two days later, according to officials. Testing at the USDA Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory confirmed the animals had died with RHDV2, officials said.

Symptoms of the highly contagious disease include fever, anemia, loss of appetite and internal bleeding resulting in bloodstains on the nose, according to officials. Infection with RHDV2 can only be confirmed by analyzing tissue samples collected postmortem, officials said.

Given the potential severity of the disease, officials advise Connecticut rabbit owners to take steps to protect their pets health. Recommended safety measures include washing hands thoroughly prior to interacting with rabbits; preventing contact between wild and domestic rabbits as well as domestic rabbits that do not reside in the same household; and requiring visitors to wear protective clothing when handling or spending time around rabbits.

Vaccination against RHDV2 has also been an option for rabbits since Connecticut State Veterinarian Jane Lewis approved the sale of a vaccine manufactured by the company Medgene Labs in Nov. 2021 after the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics authorized the vaccine for emergency use, according to officials. However, the vaccine can only be administered to domestic rabbits by veterinarians licensed in Connecticut, and vaccinated rabbits must be identifiable by a tattoo or microchip noted in their veterinary record because the vaccine is not licensed, officials said.

Experts say an outbreak of RHDV2 in the wild could spell disaster for Connecticuts only native wild rabbit species, the New England cottontail. Once abundant throughout the region, the cottontail faces steep population declines, mainly due to habitat loss. It was even considered a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act between 2006 and 2015, according to the New England Cottontail Conservation Initiative.

caroline.tien@hearst.com
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MANASSAS, Va. (AP)  In a universe of cloud computing, northern Virginia might be in a perpetual fog.

More of the data centers that feed the cloud are clustered in the region outside the nation's capital than anywhere else in the world.

As cloud computing  which enables data storage and other services to be delivered over the internet  continues its exponential increase, the appetite for new data centers continues to grow. And increasingly, communities that abut the centers are complaining about their new neighbors, mostly about the noise from constantly whirring fans needed to cool the computers and servers warehoused within.

It's just a constant whir at a frequency that's obnoxious, said Dale Browne, president of the Great Oak Homeowners Association. Residents there led a protest recently outside a nearby data center in Prince William County, newly built to support Amazon Web Services.

Browne said he preferred the quarry that used to occupy the land over the data center. And he's worried that the noise will only get worse in winter, when a line of trees that provides something of a buffer sheds its leaves.

Speakers at the protest said they fear Prince William County is on the verge of joining its neighbor, Loudoun County, which is known as the data center capital of the world.

We are the canary in the coalmine, Browne said.

Northern Virginia has been a tech hub since the formation of the internet, and now hosts more data centers than the next five largest U.S. markets combined, according to the Northern Virginia Technology Council.

Collectively, the northern Virginia data centers demand about 1,900 megawatts of power, said Josh Levi, president of the Data Center Coalition, an industry trade group. That's roughly equivalent to the entire output of Dominion Energy's nuclear reactors at its North Anna power plant.

Browne and his neighbors say noise from the data center regularly exceeds the local limit of 60 decibels for noise  a study by Amazon disputes this  but it's largely a moot point because the county noise ordinance exempts air conditioning units. Activists say the ordinance was written more than 30 years ago and never anticipated the massive cooling systems used in data centers.

Amazon Web Services, for its part, said it's installing acoustical shrouds at the site as part of its noise-reduction efforts.

Addressing our neighbors' noise concerns in Prince William County is a priority for us," a company spokesman said in a statement.

Noise is not the only issue. Spencer Snakard, president of Protect Fauquier, worries that more data centers will require more high-voltage transmission lines to deliver the massive amounts of electricity they require, destroying views and posing their own potential health risks.

I see these noisy monstrosities much like computers of the 1960s and 70s: massive, bulky, ugly, and in their infant stage, she said.

Not all residents are opposed to the data centers. In the Gainesville area, a group of property owners proposed having their land rezoned from agricultural use to allow them. County staff recommended approving this ahead of a Sept. 14 planning commission vote.

Mary Ann Ghadban of Gainesville, 68, is one of the property owners who would sell if the area is rezoned. A lifelong county resident, she built what she called her dream barn on her 55-acre horse farm.

"All my neighbors, we were all long-timers. We were going to live here until we died," she said.

But after the electric company built high-voltage transmission lines through her property in 2008, she said her horses suffered ill health effects, and property values dropped. Housing developers took over nearby tracts, and her rural enclave became something else.

"It breaks our heart, but it's a fact: It's not rural anymore," she said. We should have had this area open to data centers years ago, because youve already ruined the property. You've already ruined peoples lives by adding massive transmission towers, so put the data centers where the power is already.

There's also opposition from the nearby Manassas National Battlefield Park. Superintendent Brandon Bies likened the threat to Disney's bid 30 years ago to build a theme park near the battlefield  a proposal environmentalists and other activists famously scuttled  and pushed back against the notion that transmission lines have already destroyed the areas rural character.

While indeed unsightly, the agricultural and historic nature of the battlefield's western edge is still largely intact, he wrote in a letter to the county board.

Counties that snub data centers would be turning down a lucrative source of tax revenue.

Data centers now provide for more than 30 percent of the general fund budget of Loudoun County, a suburb of the nation's capital with more than 400,000 residents.

While the windfall has been a boon to Loudoun, Phyllis Randall, chair of the county's Board of Supervisors, has raised concerns about overreliance on the industry.

I'm not an economist, but even I know that not diversifying your economy to that degree gets a little dangerous, she said at a February meeting where a board committee considered plans to manage the data centers' growth.

Levi, with the Data Center Coalition, said northern Virginia remains a particularly attractive site for a number of reasons. He points to the region's history as an internet hub for starters  in a business where nanoseconds matter, so does proximity to those hubs, Levi said.

In addition, Virginia was one of the first states to establish tax incentives for data centers.

He acknowledged that community resistance has increased as the industry has expanded. The industry is typically tight-lipped because of its security requirements, and needs to do more to promote its beneficial impacts, along with its advances in designing centers to have less environmental impact, he said.

I think youve seen a lot of continuing innovation and design changes in response to community concerns, he said.
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NEW HAVEN  Things were tough when the Dixwell Avenue Congregational United Church of Christ's actual 200th Anniversary rolled around in 2020 right in the midst of the first wave of COVID-19  but its delayed "Bicentennial Plus 2" celebration unfolds this month with a rare glimpse into the historic church's past.

This Saturday, Sept. 17, church members and members of the general public will get a rare look inside archival records of the world's oldest Black UCC church, which are housed and preserved in Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

The all-day event will serve as a prelude to the church's "Bicentennial Plus 2" Anniversary Luncheon, which will take place on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 11 a.m. in the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale, and its "Homecoming Worship Service" on Sept. 25 at 11 a.m. at the church, 217 Dixwell Ave. Tickets for the luncheon are available online.

The Dixwell Avenue Congregational United Church of Christ, founded at 105 Temple Street in 1820 and long located in the historic Dixwell neighborhood is the oldest African American Congregational UCC church in the world.

It is among the oldest Black churches of any denomination in New Haven and played a role in the underground railroad, aiding escaped slaves. Some of Dixwell Avenue Congregational's members were involved with the committee that supported the Amistad captives who were jailed in New Haven during their trial.

Dixwell Avenue Congregational's 125 members have been invited to view Beinecke's historic records related to the church, some of which were donated by the church, itself, in the 1970s, Saturday morning.

The day will begin at the church, where members and friends will view historical items that remain at the church, organizers said. Then the action will shift to the Beinecke Library, where, at 1 p.m., registered members of the general public are welcome to view historic materials from the library collections related to the church, including the papers of Deacon Bias Stanley, scrapbooks of the Rev. Amos Beman  one of the church's earliest pastors  and other important documents of the church, the Black community and New Haven in the 19th century, representatives from both the library and the church said.

"It's really so nice that they've opened everything up and they're going to have a special display for members and then an opportunity for the general public to come in, said Althea Norcott, chairwoman of the church's Bicentennial Plus 2 committee.

"I'm looking forward to learning a lot on the 17th," she added.

Charles Warner Jr., chairman of the church's History Committee, said the idea "came from some early discussion before COVID between the church and Michael Morand," a longtime active member of both the New Haven and Yale communities who is communications director for the Beinecke library.

As was the case through history, much of what happens is driven by personal relationships and "the fact that Beinecke is doing this with us now is in honor of the holdings but it also is because of a relationship that Michael has with us," Warner said.

Tubyez Cropper, the Beinecke's community engagement program manager, said that while people might not know it, much of what's in the Beinecke library is available to the public, he said.

"Our general goal is to share all the collections with the general public," and that includes the church's records, he said.

"Anyone can come and connect and reimmerse with their history. That's what the building is for," Cropper said. "Anyone can come and reconnect with their history."

The Beinecke Library was funded in 1963 by a private endowment by the Beinecke brothers, who wanted the general public to be able to connect with their own history, he said.

The library "holds hundreds and hundreds of classes per year. Local schools actually can come and bring their classes," Cropper said.

What's more, "We don't believe in gloves," he said. "The only thing we ask is that people have clean hands when they come here."

Church member Sharyn Esdaile said "it's certainly a significant event," particularly because so many things have been closed for so long. The records reflect "the early life of the city and the early life of our church," she said.

"I think the Beinecke sets a good tone by encouraging people to know our own local history ... and to see it from a primary source," Esdaile said.

The Dixwell Avenue Congregational United Church of Christ split off from the Center Church on the Green, where Blacks were required to sit in segregated seating, in 1820 under the guidance of Simeon Jocelyn, a white abolitionist, and Bias Stanley, a Black man whom Cropper said was "one of the few free Black men who used his money and his voice" at that time. Stanley became the church's first deacon.

The church initially was known as the Temple Street Congregational Church, initially meeting in a former Episcopal building. James Pennington and Amos Beman were among its first pastors.

When the church moved to the Dixwell location in the 1840s, it sold the building to a synagogue, Congregation B'nai Jacob, which was founded in 1882 by Jewish immigrants from Russia, said Norcott.

Pennington, an escaped Maryland slave who in 1831 was a delegate to the first Convention of Free Colored Persons, was among the first African Americans to get a Yale education  but did not receive a degree, said Cropper.

Pennington was allowed to audit classes but according to Warner was not actually allowed in the classrooms. He did the assignments and listened to the lectures in the hallway, Warner said.

Before Black colleges were established elsewhere, Joceyln tried to create what would have been the nation's first Black college in New Haven, said Cropper. The effort failed, but set the stage for what are now referred to as historically Black colleges and universities being created elsewhere, he said.

"It's very important to acknowledge what once was and the impact it had on the nation," Cropper said.

For the public viewing, registration is required via Eventbrite, at https://bit.ly/3BWOU8s. The viewing will be in the reading room on the librarys courtyard level. Timed tickets are available for 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2 p.m., 2:30 p.m., or 3 p.m. slots.

In accordance with Yale University policy, COVID-19 vaccination (including a booster, if eligible) is required for visitors five and older. You may be asked to present proof of vaccination.

No bags, backpacks, purses, hats, or coats are permitted in the reading room where materials will be on view. Secure lockers are available to store personal belongings. No ink pens are permitted; only yellow pencils are allowed in the reading room and are available in the library. Visitors may take non-flash photographs with a mobile phone or hand-held camera for personal enjoyment.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com
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DENVER (AP)  Police who shot a 22-year-old Colorado man after he called 911 for roadside assistance escalated the situation, needlessly leading to his death, the man's relatives said in a tearful news conference Tuesday in which they called for accountability.

After Christian Glass' June 11 death in the small mountain town of Silver Plume west of Denver, the Clear Creek County Sheriff's office issued a news release saying that Glass was shot after he became argumentative and uncooperative and tried to stab an officer when police broke a car window to grab him.

Christian was experiencing a crisis, and he called 911 for help, said the parents' attorney, Siddhartha Rathod, and yet these officers busted out Christians window, shot him six times with bean bag rounds, Tased him multiple times from two Tasers, and then shot him five times.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation handles police shootings, including the Glass case, but the family wants prosecutors to file criminal charges, Rathod said.

Heidi McCollum, district attorney for the Fifth Judicial District that includes Clear Creek County, released a statement Tuesday saying her office is investigating the case along with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Her office plans to eventually issue a report on the shooting or present the case to a grand jury, which would decide if indictments should be issued, McCollum said.

The videos shared with The Associated Press show Glass refusing to come out of his car while also telling police hes terrified" and making heart shapes with his hands to officers. At one point, he also can be seen praying with folded hands and saying, Dear Lord, please, don't let them break the window.

When the officers did break the window, Glass seemed to panic and grabbed a knife.

Police then shot Glass with bean bag rounds and shocked him with a stun gun before the young man twisted in his seat and thrust a knife toward an officer, the footage showed. Then one officer fired his gun, hitting Glass. The recordings then show Glass stabbing himself before he died.

The family said the videos were only edited to blur the body. The AP has requested that police provide any videos related to the case.

Rathod said Glass had no history of mental illness. When asked about Glass's abnormal behavior, he said unfortunately we are not ever going to know.

Rathod released an autopsy report that found that Glass died of gunshot wounds. It said he had THC, a .01% blood alcohol concentration, and amphetamine in his system, the last of which Rathod said is likely from an ADHD prescription for Glass.

The shooting comes amid a national outcry for police reforms focused on crisis intervention, de-escalation and alternative policing programs. In Denver and New York, behavioral health specialists are sent to 911 callers facing crises that police may not be trained to address or could even exacerbate.

Police haven't said if any behavioral health specialists were called for Glass.

Use-of-force and de-escalation experts who reviewed the footage for The Associated Press said this case is an example of when a behavioral health specialist or crisis response team  programs becoming increasingly popular across the country  may have helped de-escalate the situation and avert Glass death.

There are some real red flags that suggest potential problems, said Seth Stoughton, a former police officer and leading use-of-force expert who reviewed portions of the footage. Stoughton testified in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer who murdered George Floyd.

While police officers may be justified in using force once a situation has intensified, its everything that we do before that in terms of de-escalation that can make those situations go a completely different direction," said Tamara Lynn, the executive council president for the National De-Escalation Training Center, who reviewed the footage.

In particular, both Lynn and Stoughton questioned why officers didn't take Glass up on his offer, recorded by body camera footage, to disarm himself by throwing his knives out of his car window.

While a thrown knife can pose a threat, officers have plenty of opportunity to maneuver themselves and put themselves in a position thats not risky, said Stoughton. I am kind of astonished that they did not take advantage of what looked like a very clear opportunity to have him separate himself from the weapons.

Similarly, Stoughton wondered why they needed to break the car window. He said police don't have all day to spend on one call, but questioned if they needed to.

Its not clear to me that it should have gone that far, he said.

Between tears on Tuesday, Christians mother, Sally Glass, displayed a pendant of Jesus recovered from her sons car that is engraved with the words, Pray for us.

We have to pray for us in America to make this a less violent country, Sally Glass said. I think a lot of people now would agree that there is a systemic problem with policing: Its too aggressive. They escalate at every opportunity, and it looks like they are spoiling for a fight. ... They should be protecting us, not attacking us.

Glass said her son was petrified and paralyzed by fear the night he was killed.

I have a hole in my heart, and it will be there until the day I die, Glass said.



Associated Press writer Thomas Peipert contributed to this report.

___

Jesse Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Bedayn on Twitter.

___

This story has been updated to correct the age of Christian Glass and the date of his death.
WEST HAVEN  A local man today pleaded guilty to a drug trafficking offense before U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala in Hartford.

Jean Mangual-Castro, 35, of West Haven, was involved in shipping cocaine from Puerto Rico through the U.S. Postal Service, according to the Department of Justice. His activities drew the attention of the FBIs New Haven Safe Streets/Gang Task Force and the U.S. Postal Inspection Services Narcotics and Bulk Cash Trafficking Task Force, the DOJ said.

On Dec. 20, 2021, investigators seized approximately two kilograms, or about 4.4 pounds, of cocaine, along with a Rolex watch, jewelry and approximately $2,900 in cash, from Magual-Castros mothers West Haven residence after confirming the delivery of a suspicious package, according to the DOJ. Investigators also seized approximately three kilograms, or about 6.6 pounds, of cocaine that had been shipped from Puerto Rico to Connecticut at another location, the DOJ said.

In total, investigators managed to identify more than 30 suspicious packages that had been shipped from Puerto Rico to Connecticut addresses linked to Mangual-Castro, according to the DOJ.

Mangual-Castro was arrested on the day his mothers residence was searched and has been detained since. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. Sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 5.

caroline.tien@hearst.com
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Ken Starr, a former federal appellate judge and a prominent attorney whose criminal investigation of Bill Clinton led to the presidents impeachment and put Starr at the center of one of the countrys most polarizing debates of the 1990s, has died at age 76, his family said Tuesday.

Starr died at a hospital Tuesday of complications from surgery, according to his former colleague, attorney Mark Lanier. He said Starr had been hospitalized in an intensive care unit in Houston for about four months.

For many years, Starrs stellar reputation as a lawyer seemed to place him on a path to the Supreme Court. At age 37, he became the youngest person ever to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia also had served. From 1989-93, Starr was the solicitor general in the administration of President George H.W. Bush, arguing 25 cases before the Supreme Court.

Roberts said Tuesday: Ken loved our country and served it with dedication and distinction. He led by example, in the legal profession, public service, and the community.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell remembered Starr Tuesday as a brilliant litigator, an impressive leader, and a devoted patriot.

Despite his impressive legal credentials, nothing could have prepared him for the task of investigating a sitting president.

In a probe that lasted five years, Starr looked into fraudulent real estate deals involving a long-time Clinton associate, delved into the removal of documents from the office of deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster after his suicide and assembled evidence of Clintons sexual encounters with Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern. Each of the controversies held the potential to do serious, perhaps fatal, damage to Clintons presidency.

In a Tuesday tweet, Lewinsky expressed mixed emotions on the news of Starr's death. As Im sure many can understand, my thoughts about ken starr bring up complicated feelings, she tweeted. But of more importance, is that i imagine its a painful loss for those who love him.

As Clintons legal problems worsened, the White House pilloried Starr as a right-wing fanatic doing the bidding of Republicans bent on destroying the president.

The assaults took a toll on the investigation, Starr told a Senate committee in 1999. A duly authorized federal law enforcement investigation came to be characterized as yet another political game. Law became politics by other means.

In a bitter finish to his investigation of the Lewinsky affair that engendered still more criticism, Starr filed a report, as the law required, with the U.S. House of Representatives. He concluded that Clinton lied under oath, engaged in obstruction of justice and followed a pattern of conduct that was inconsistent with the presidents constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws. House Republicans used Starrs report as a roadmap in the impeachment of the president, who was acquitted in a Senate trial.

In 2020, he was recruited to help represent Trump in his first impeachment trial. In a memorable statement to Congress, Starr said we are living in what I think can aptly be described as the age of impeachment. He said that like war, impeachment is hell, or at least presidential impeachment is hell.

In a post to his Truth Social account, Trump paid tribute to Starr as a true American Patriot who loved our Country and the Law. I so appreciated his support and his thoughts that our cause against fascists and other mentally sick people in our Country is just.

Clintons legal problems began during the 1992 presidential campaign. Questions arose over the candidates ties to the owner of a failed Arkansas savings and loan. The issue faded quickly. But it caught the attention of federal regulators, who began looking into whether money from the S&L had been diverted to a real estate venture called Whitewater in which Bill and Hillary Clinton and the S&Ls owner, Jim McDougal, shared a financial interest.

Bowing to intense political pressure from Republicans and some members of his own party, Clinton called for appointment of a special counsel to investigate Whitewater. A three-member appeals court for independent counsels selected Starr.

On the Whitewater front, Starrs prosecutors investigated Mrs. Clintons legal work for Jim McDougals S&L. Both she and the president were questioned by Starrs prosecutors and their videotaped depositions were played for juries in criminal trials of McDougal and his ex-wife Susan. Neither of the Clintons was ever charged in connection with Whitewater.

The investigation of Clintons intimate relationship with Lewinsky was a Washington spectacle.

In 1995, Lewinsky went to work at the White House as an intern. During the government shutdown late that year, she and Clinton had a sexual encounter in a hallway near the Oval Office, the first of 10 sexual encounters over the next year and a half. Lewinsky confided the affair to a co-worker, Linda Tripp, who tape-recorded some of their conversations and brought the tapes to Starrs prosecutors. Lewinsky was granted immunity from prosecution in the case that brought Starr celebrity and thrust a presidential sex scandal into America's living rooms. She became Starrs chief witness against the president, who had denied having sexual relations with her.

Putting the investigation behind him, Starr embarked on a career in academia, first as dean of the law school at Pepperdine University where he taught constitutional issues and civil procedures, then as president of Baylor University in his home state of Texas. He also became an author, writing First Among Equals: The Supreme Court in American Life.

Starr was demoted from the presidency at Baylor in 2016 amid a sex assault scandal that rocked the Big 12 school and its football program, as women alleged campus leaders at the nations largest Baptist school bungled or ignored their assault complaints. Baylor eventually settled with several women who filed a cascade of lawsuits, including a case where the victim of a 2015 attack accused Baylor of fostering a hunting ground for sexual predators.

The schools board of regents allowed Starr to stay on as chancellor and law school professor, jobs that carried no operational duties at Baylor. He resigned altogether a few months later. Football coach Art Briles also was fired.

A review commissioned by the school found that under Starr, school administrators discouraged students from reporting or participating in student conduct reviews, and even contributed to or accommodated a hostile environment against the alleged victims.

In a statement, Starr apologized to those victims who were not treated with the care, concern, and support they deserve.

Starr also drew scrutiny for his role helping defend Jeffrey Epstein, the multimillionaire who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges that he sexually abused multiple underage girls. Starr was part of a team that helped Epstein reach a controversial plea agreement in 2008 that led to him receiving a 13-month sentence instead of facing more serious federal charges for sex abuse.

Starr was born in Vernon, a small Texas town near the Oklahoma state, and raised in San Antonio. He earned his B.A. from George Washington University in 1968, his M.A. from Brown University in 1969 and his J.D. degree from Duke University Law School in 1973. He was a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger from 1975 to 1977.

As a young attorney at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles, Starr worked with William French Smith, who became attorney general in the administration of President Ronald Reagan. Starr became counselor to Smith, and from there was nominated by Reagan to the federal appeals court.

___

Bleiberg reported from Dallas. Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Terry Wallace in Dallas and the late Pete Yost contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  A federal judge on Tuesday found a Ridgefield man guilty of some charges after he was accused of crushing a police officer during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Patrick McCaughey III was charged with assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon and obstructing an official proceeding. Two other defendants, Tristan Chandler Stevens and David Mehaffie, were tried in a bench trial by District Judge Trevor N. McFadden at the same time.

All three were found guilty of assaulting or aiding and abetting in assaulting law enforcement officers, interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder, and other charges, federal officials said.

McCaughey, who will be sentenced on Jan. 26, 2023, was found guilty of a total of nine offenses.

They include seven felony charges: Three counts of aiding or abetting or assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers, including one involving a dangerous weapon; one count of obstruction of an official proceeding; one count of interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder; one count of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and one count of engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

The two misdemeanor charges include disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and committing an act of violence in the Capitol building or grounds.

"We disagree vehemently with the convictions pertaining to his alleged use of a dangerous or deadly weapon," McCaughey's Connecticut attorney Lindy Urso said Tuesday night. "We will prepare as best we can for sentencing and very much look forward to our appeal."

Prosecutors allege that during the riot, McCaughey joined a mob attempting to break into the building through an entrance on the lower west terrace. During the scuffle, Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges became pinned in a door frame by a clear police riot shield wielded by McCaughey, according to the government's court filings.

A video from the riot posted to YouTube shows Hodges screaming in pain as his gas mask is ripped off, exposing his bloodied mouth.

Hodges testified before the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack that he feared being dragged out and "lynched" by the mob.

"My arms were pinned and effectively useless, trapped between either the shield on my left or the door frame on my right with my posture granting me no function strength or freedom of movement, I was effectively defenseless and gradually sustaining injury from the increasing pressure of the mob," Hodges told the Jan. 6 committee.

While pinned, another rioter grabbed his gas mask "and used it to beat my head against the door," Hodges said. He was crushed further as the crowd began a "heave-ho" motion against the line of law enforcement officers trying to hold the entrance to the Capitol, according to Hodges and government court filings. A rioter also stole his baton and used it to beat Hodges, the video shows.

Eventually, Hodges was able to retreat back into the Capitol following the assault.

McCaughey's attorney has argued in a court filing that the shield does not constitute a deadly or dangerous weapon, as the government has argued.

If McCaughey was using the defensive riot shield defensively and not in a manner likely to cause serious physical injury or death," then he shouldn't be convicted of those charges, Urso argued during the trial.

In testimony during the trial, Urso repeatedly questioned Hodges about how the shield could cause the pain he described, according to WUSA9. Urso also focused on a section of the video where McCaughey could be seen directing others to get Hodges help. But Hodges testified that getting him help would have removed another officer from the group blocking the entrance to the Capitol, and said members of the mob were trying to recruit officers to their cause during the riot.

McCaughey is also facing charges of disorderly conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, and an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building.

Eight other co-defendants have also been indicted in addition to McCaughey in U.S. Court in the District of Columbia.

McFadden found three other co-defendants in the case guilty last month in a stipulated bench trial. But the judge also issued the courts first outright acquittal of an accused Jan. 6 rioter earlier this year, Politico reported. The defendant, Matthew Martin, of New Mexico, had been charged with entering the Capitol through an entrance at the rotunda. But McFadden said it was plausible Martin had believed it was OK to enter the Capitol building because police appeared to make no attempt to stop protesters there.
Russian Embassy in Afghanistan suspends issuance of visas

Moscow/Kabul, Sep 13 (UNI) The Russian Embassy in Afghanistan has suspended the issuance of visas and documents, asking visitors not to come in-person to the consular department for the time being, the diplomatic mission said on Tuesday.

"Dear applicants, the Russian Embassy in Afghanistan asks you not to come to the consular section until further notice. We are working on options for issuing already accepted documents to you. No applications are temporarily accepted, consular services are not provided, new visas are not issued," the embassy said on Telegram.

The embassy noted that in the event of an emergency, Russian citizens could contact the emergency consular support phone: +93-798-023-793.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  Russia has covertly spent more than $300 million since 2014 to try to influence politicians and other officials in more than two dozen countries, the State Department alleges in a newly released cable.

The cable released Tuesday cites a new intelligence assessment of Russia's global covert efforts to support policies and parties sympathetic to Moscow. The cable does not name specific Russian targets but says the U.S. is providing classified information to select individual countries.

It's the latest effort by the Biden administration to declassify intelligence about Moscow's military and political aims, dating back to ultimately correct assessments that Russia would launch a new war against Ukraine. Many of President Joe Biden's top national security officials have extensive experience countering Moscow and served in government when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched wide-ranging campaigns to influence the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections.

A senior administration official declined to say how much money Russia is believed to have spent in Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his top deputies have long accused Putin of meddling in domestic politics. The official noted allegations of Russian influence in recent elections in Albania, Bosnia and Montenegro, all Eastern European countries that have faced historical pressure from Moscow.

Unlike declared efforts by foreign governments to lobby for preferred initiatives, Russia's covert influence involved using front organizations to funnel money to preferred causes or politicians, the cable alleges. That includes think tanks in Europe and state-owned enterprises in Central America, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

The U.S. has in its history also covertly funded political groups and been responsible for efforts to topple or undermine foreign governments. The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under rules set by the administration, rejected comparisons between Russia's activities and current U.S. financing of media and political initiatives.

Putin was spending huge sums in an attempt to manipulate democracies from the inside, the official said.

State Department spokesman Ned Price called Russia's covert funding an assault on sovereignty.

It is an effort to chip away at the ability of people around the world to choose the governments that they see best fit to represent them, to represent their interests, and to represent their values, he said.

Russia's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The State Department took the unusual step of releasing a diplomatic cable that was sent on Monday to many U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, many of them in Europe, Africa and South Asia, laying out the concerns.

The cable, which was marked sensitive and not intended for foreign audiences but was not classified, contained a series of talking points that U.S. diplomats were instructed to raise with their host governments regarding alleged Russian interference. Among steps diplomats were told to recommend include sanctions, travel bans, and exposure of covert financing.

According to the cable, intelligence officials believe Russia planned to transfer at least hundreds of millions more dollars in funding to sympathetic parties and officials around the world.

The cable does not say how intelligence officials came up with the total figure of $300 million. It also does not address concerns that Russia or other adversaries may again try to interfere in U.S. politics.

The official briefing reporters noted that Biden had recently extended a national emergency declaration addressing the continued threat of foreign election interference.

Were promoting coordination with our democratic peers," the official said. "And well be exchanging lessons learned, all to advance our collective election security, but also our election security here at home.

Josh Rudolph, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund's Alliance for Securing Democracy who researches Russian and Chinese financial influence, compared the White House decision to release its new findings with its declassification of Russian plans and intentions in the Ukraine war.

That made a lot of sense because it got the Ukrainians ready for their own defense and it helped rally the Europeans to build an international coalition, Rudolph said. This can have all of those same benefits but also defang the operation itself. If the target is voters, then what you mainly have to do is reach those voters and let them know what's happening to them.

___

This version corrects that Albania, Bosnia, and Montenegro were not part of the former Soviet Union.

___

AP Diplomatic Writer Matt Lee contributed to this report.
HARTFORD  A panel of judges on Monday found that a Windsor Locks man charged with stabbing his mother to death two years ago was not guilty due to mental illness.

Kevin Landry, 31, was arrested on a murder charge soon after the frenzied killing of his mother, Barbara Landry, on Aug. 31, 2020.

Officers found the 60-year-old woman dead in an upstairs bedroom at the familys John Street home after Kevin Landry called 911 and confessed to killing her, police said. Barbara Landry had been stabbed multiple times, including injuries to her heart and one lung, police said. A piece of the large kitchen knife had broken off in her right leg, police said.

Kevin Landry told police at about 1 p.m. that he just murdered his mother, then asked the emergency dispatcher, can you come pick us up? according to a police report.

The three-judge panel  Judge Frank DAddabbo, Judge Kevin Doyle and Judge Carl Schuman  found Landry lacked the "substantial capacity" to understand his actions were wrong or to control his actions within the requirements of the law.

The panel committed Landry to the care of the state commissioner of mental health and addiction services and he was to be confined at Whiting Forensic Institute pending results of a mental examination. Landry, who was masked and kept his head bowed during much of the proceedings, is due back in court on Nov. 21.

Called by the defense to testify Monday, Yale University psychiatrist Dr. Peter Morgan said Landry has schizophrenia and was under the delusion at the time of the killing that his mother was sexually abusing him.

Police said Landry told officers his mother had raped him when he was younger and more recently around the time of the killing, although police found no evidence she ever harmed him.

Kevin Landry was a bright student, graduating with a 3.9 grade point average from the University of Connecticut and moving on to a successful career on Wall Street, according to police and court testimony. His interests shifted several years ago and he enrolled in the University of California at Los Angeles to study electrical engineering.

By 2019, however, Landry was back in Connecticut and received mental health treatment at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital after an emergency admission in December, according to court testimony. Morgan testified that Landry was prescribed medication at the hospital, but stopped taking it about 10 days after he was discharged.

Landry, according to reports and testimony, apparently was trying to self-medicate with marijuana. He depended on his parents for rides to Northhampton, Mass., to buy marijuana and when they declined, Landry would act out, breaking a television set or hurling water at his mother, his father, Thomas Landry, told police.

On the day of the killing, Kevin Landry had asked his father to take him to Northampton to buy marijuana, but his father refused, saying he needed his car for work, police said. After his father left the house, Kevin Landry apparently badgered his mother to take him, but she also refused.

Landry attacked his mother with a kitchen knife, police said, then calmly called 911 to confess.

Under questioning by public defender Rashad Glass, Morgan testified that Landry was severely mentally ill at the time of the killing. Landry called 911 because he understood what he did was illegal, but was not able to appreciate that it was wrong because he believed he was defending himself against sexual abuse, Morgan said.

Prosecutor Danielle OConnell said the state had proven the murder charge, but did not have evidence to rebut a mental illness defense.

Police said there is no evidence that Barbara Landry ever harmed her son. In fact, she was devoted to helping him with his mental health issues, the family attorney, Stuart Glenn Blackburn, said around the time of Kevin Landrys arrest.

That was a big priority in her life, trying to help him through his struggles, Blackburn said.

Barbara Landry was raised in the Springfield area, Blackburn said. She and her husband ran a Windsor Locks-based telecommunications business, Landry Communications, he said. The couple gave their time and money to numerous organizations in and around Windsor Locks, a family statement said.
An Idaho-based organization with plans to use litigation to rid schools of what it believes is critical race theory is starting in Guilford.

We The Patriots USA Inc. is funding a lawsuit filed last week by three Guilford parents and former Board of Education candidates, according to an email from the organization. Norm Pattis, the attorney handling the lawsuit, on Tuesday confirmed the groups involvement in the suit.

The lawsuit accuses the district of pushing a radical racist agenda, citing such actions as the districts decision to drop the Indians mascot and an alleged requirement that teachers read How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi.

It also alleges the children of the plaintiffs, who unsuccessfully ran for the Board of Education in the 2021 race that captured national attention, were bullied over their parents political views.

We The Patriots USA envisions the lawsuit as a major precedent-setting case that will help to ban the teaching of critical race theory in schools across the nation, according to a fundraising page on its website.

For its part, the Guilford school district, which repeatedly has denied that critical race theory is being taught in schools, said it will not be deterred by the litigation, according to a statement issued Tuesday by Superintendent of Schools Paul Freemans office.

The statement defended school curriculum, which it says merely teaches basic American values including tolerance, inquiry, and independent thought.

Critical race theory is a legal and academic concept that describes racism as not only a characteristic of individuals but of social and political systems.

Guilford Public Schools do not teach intolerance for differing perspectives as alleged, said Tuesdays statement, released by Freemans office. Rather, we teach students about the inherent worth of all persons and the need to promote equity and inclusion of all students irrespective of their race, religion, economic circumstances, or other factors.

The statement, which cites the need to protect student privacy, does not directly address the lawsuits allegations that children were bullied over their parents political beliefs while teachers failed to intervene.

When the facts are established through (court) proceedings, we are confident that the court will dismiss this complaint as without merit, the districts statement says. In the meantime, we are committed to assuring the safety of and respect for all students, irrespective of their political views or those of their parents.

The lawsuit has roots in last years race for Board of Education. William Maisano, Tim Chamberlain and Danielle Scarpellino, the three parent plaintiffs, unsuccessfully ran for board seats in a campaign that accused the schools of indoctrinating children with critical race theory.

We The Patriots USA, the group funding the Guilford lawsuit, operates out of Idaho but was incorporated in Bristol, Conn., according to an email from the organization. It acquired nonprofit status in July 2020, the Internal Revenue Services online database shows.

Its website, which lists priorities ranging from parental rights to capitalism, unencumbered by government regulation, says its goal is to create a powerful network of Patriots to preserve and reclaim our God-given inalienable rights.

Another portion of the site, which is dedicated to fighting critical race theory, also claims that under the guise of critical race theory, students are taught that they are responsible for the oppression of millions over the course of the last 400 years and that they need to make reparations for the alleged sins of their fathers.

meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
Wife of the Edo State Governor, Betsy Obaseki has called on Nigerian youths to assert themselves in nation-building, just as she urged them ...





Wife of the Edo State Governor, Betsy Obaseki has called on Nigerian youths to assert themselves in nation-building, just as she urged them to come out and take back their country.





Obaseki reminded Nigerian youths that with their voice and number they can assert their authority that would make a difference.





Assert yourselves in nation building, you have a voice and you have the numbers. Come out and take back your country.





Obaseki was awarded an honorary Doctorate Degree (Honoraris Causa) by Wellspring University, Benin City as a recognition for her immense contributions to education, business and public service in Nigeria.





Receiving the award, Dr Betsy Obaseki expressed delight that the institution has a curriculum that seeks to impact its immediate and larger community and thanked the University,s authorities for the award.





Earlier, the Chancellor of the University, Pastor Itua Ighodalo admonished the students to believe in themselves. He said theres no doubt youve gotten quality education that could stand you on any platform anywhere in the world and by Gods grace a lot of you will perform not just in Nigeria but anywhere the world finds you.





But most importantly, like Her Excellency, Mrs Obasaki said, Nigeria is the best place in the world.





The Convocation Lecturer, Engr Wale Adediran urged the students to bring their innovative spirit to bear in the midst of the current perceived chaos.





He said you can create billion-m Naira, billion-dollar ventures without even leaving the sitting room of your parents. In your small apartment, you can change the world and when there is chaos it provides opportunities.





For the Paramount ruler of Agbor, His Royal Majesty Benjamin Ikenchukwu Keagborekuzi, It was time to admonish Nigerians on the need for honesty.





According to the Agbor Royal Father, Dont cow-tail too much to persons in government, to persons who believe that they have too much power, you are not helping them by doing so.





What I need is your honesty, I am a leader, I make mistakes. I make mistakes today, I will make mistakes tomorrow. What I need around me are people who can respectfully let me know that I have made those mistakes.





205 persons graduated at the Convocation, out of which 71 were postgraduate students. And of the 134 first-degree graduates, 11 bagged First Class Honours, comprising six girls and five boys.
The All Progressives Congress in Rivers State has faulted the claims by the state governor, Nyesom Wike, that the former Minister of Trans...

The All Progressives Congress in Rivers State has faulted the claims by the state governor, Nyesom Wike, that the former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi did not attract any project as minister.

The APC also dismissed allegations that the former governor did not show any love or interest for the welfare of the late elder statesman, Alabo Graham Douglas when he was alive.

Briefing newsmen at the APC secretariat in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, the acting state Publicity Secretary of the party, Darlington Nwauju, described the claims of Governor Wike as false and plot to blackmail the leader of the APC in the state.

He insisted that the former Minister attracted both Human capital development and infrastructural projects to the state.

Nwauju listed the Afam Power Project Construction, rehabilitation of section one to four of Enugu to Port Harcourt Expressway, Bodo Bonny Bridge, reconstruction of Port Harcourt to Maiduguri rail line, development of Eastern Ports, Naval War College in Ubima, and the Bonny Deep Seaport Project as some of the projects attracted by Amaechi to the state.

The APC spokesman also noted that the former governor had a cordial relationship with the late elder State-man Alabo Graham Douglas and honored him when he was alive.

The APC also debunked claims by the Governor that the party has lost almost all of its members to other parties.
The court of appeal in Abuja has reserved judgment in an appeal filed by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), ch...

The court of appeal in Abuja has reserved judgment in an appeal filed by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), challenging criminal charges against him.

Kanu was re-arraigned on an amended 15-count charge bordering on treasonable felony preferred against him by the federal government.

However, on April 8, the judge struck out eight of the 15-count charge.

But Kanu through his team of lawyers led by Mike Ozekhome, filed an appeal marked CA/ABJ/CR/625/2022, praying the court to quash the remaining seven counts for being devoid of merit.

The appeal is equally praying the court to order his release on bail, pending the determination of his appeal.

Although the appeal was initially fixed for October 11, the court granted Kanus application for abridgement of time.

Moving the application at the court session on Tuesday, Ozekhome alleged that his client was forcefully abducted from Kenya and illegally renditioned back to the country.

He told the court that his client was first arraigned on December 23, 2015, and was later granted bail on April 25, 2017.

My Lords, he was enjoying this bail without breaching the terms. However, he was in his ancestral home when agents of the respondent invaded his home in September 2017, he said.

He barely escaped alive by sheer providence and found himself first in Israel and later in London.

When the appellant travelled from London to Kenya, agents of the respondents, on June 27, 2021, forcefully abducted the appellant, tortured and renditioned him back to the country without following any extradition process.





The senior lawyer argued that under the doctrine of speciality as provided for in section 15 of the Extradition Act, the federal government ought to have proceeded to try Kanu on the initial five-count charge on which he was re-arraigned before he fled the country.

He argued that Kenya, being the country from where Kanu was arrested and extraordinarily renditioned to Nigeria, ought to have authorised his extradition and the new charges he is facing.

This allegation of his forceful abduction and rendition was never denied by the respondent, Ozekhome said.

More so My Lords, the charge appears to give the lower court a global jurisdiction over offences that were allegedly committed by the appellant, without specifying the location or date the said offences were committed.

There was no need for the lower court to have retained the remaining seven-count charge.

The seven counts cannot stand being filed without following due process.





We are therefore urging My Lords to strike out the remaining counts and hold that the respondent has not established any prima-facie case against the appellant for which he could be tried.

Responding, David Kaswe, counsel to the federal government, asked the court to dismiss the appeal for want of merit.

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My Lords, it took four years and huge resources to get the respondent arrested and brought back to face the charges against him, he said.

The prosecution is ever willing and eager to proceed with trial of the appellant.

We are saying that the trial court was even wrong to have struck out the eight counts as it did.

It is only after FG has produced all its witnesses and tendered its evidence that the appellant could claim that no prima-facie case was established.

Finally, we urge this court to dismiss the appeal for lacking in merit.

After taking submissions from both parties the three-member panel of justices led by Jummai Hanatu, said it would communicate a date for the judgement.
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, has said that it will be disappointing and damaging if the party fails to wi...

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, has said that it will be disappointing and damaging if the party fails to win the 2023 presidential election with the support of the labour unions.

He said that he is listening and taking note of what Nigerians want so that he will not have any reason to give excuses when he assumes duty as the president as some elected officials had done in the past.

It will be one of the most disappointing and great damage to Nigerias existence if Labour goes through this effort and support somebody to lead this country and it fails, God forbid.

So for me, I want to listen, I want to take note. That note is more important to me than anything, I dont want to tell you people any idea, I want to listen to you, my job is to listen so that you dont go out there giving them excuses.

Obi, who was speaking at a retreat organised by the party in Abuja on Monday, said that Nigerians are used to hearing excuses from their elected leaders, but he has chosen to be different as the job of a leader is to solve problems and not to give excuses.

What we are used to in this country is for people to get into office and start saying what they saw when they got in there, I dont want to see anything when I get in there, I want to hear it now so that I will know what to do when I get in there.

The job of the leader is to solve problems and show solutions, not to give excuses. I dont want to go there and people will start saying Im blaming the people in the past. If they were doing good you wont hire me.

So Im being hired to solve the problem not to remind them where they are coming from, I dont want to remind Nigerians where they are coming from, I want to start solving the problem, he said.

The former governor of Anambra State also berated the Nigerian government over the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, saying that it is shame that the government has failed to meet up with ASUU demands since 2009.

ASUU is on strike for seven months, you might not know that the issue they are striking for is since 2009, it is not today and they have actually gone on so many strikes about this issue.

From 2010 they have been striking about the same issue while I was governor and if I could remember what they were demanding was about 1.3 trillion naira, you mean Nigeria could not pay that over the past 12 years?

The two-day retreat which started on Monday with speeches from Obi, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, among others, continues in Abuja on Tuesday with more dignitaries billed to speak.
Media aide to the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Valentine Obienyem, has dismissed the purported attack on his principal in Abu...





Media aide to the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Valentine Obienyem, has dismissed the purported attack on his principal in Abuja.





He asked supporters to ignore the falsehood making the rounds on the internet that Obi was attacked.





The rumour picked up steam shortly after Festus Keyamo, the spokesperson for Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubus presidential campaign, alleged a plan by Obi to stage manage his assassination in a press release.





Obienyem disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists on Monday, saying Obi was hale and hearty.





Part of the statement read, Kindly ignore the falsehood making the rounds that Obi was attacked. May God forbid even the very thought of such barbarism be visited on him.





Obi has consistently reiterated his belief that politics should always be devoid of violence; this remains his political credo.





We shall continue to entrust Mr Peter Obi into the protection of the Almighty while he ensures he is adequately protected from seeing through the work of re-building Nigeria that providence has entrusted unto him.
Police in Jigawa State said the gas explosion that occurred in the Babura Local Government Area of the state injured seven persons and destr...





Police in Jigawa State said the gas explosion that occurred in the Babura Local Government Area of the state injured seven persons and destroyed 17 shops and five houses.





It was reported that a gas explosion had injured people and destroyed houses and shops in Babura on Monday night.





Spokesman of the command, DSP Lawan Shiisu Adam, said the incident happened yesterday night when Customs officers on border drill were pursuing the vehicle laden with the smuggled LNG from the Niger Republic to Hadejia.





He explained that on reaching the double junction in Babura town, the gas cylinders exploded.





Shiisu said seven people were injured as a result, and 17 shops and five houses were damaged.





He said the victims were rushed to the Gumel General Hospital for medical attention.
The leadership of Northern Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), has described the allegation of Chief Bode George slapping the Adamawa State c...

The leadership of Northern Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), has described the allegation of Chief Bode George slapping the Adamawa State chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as an attempt to cause unnecessary confusion in the party.

The group lamented that the allegation is also meant to question the integrity of Bode George as an elder statesman that has and still contributing positively to the development of the party and Nigeria as a whole.

Isah Abubakar, the National President of the group in a statement said, The leadership of Northern Youth Council of Nigeria is shocked with the allegation in disbelief of the personality of Chief Bode George that he slapped the Adamawa state Chairman of PDP, Barrister Abubakar Tahir Shehu. Chief Bode George is an elder statesman and respected personality who without any doubt will not involve himself in any kind of malicious activity that will dents his personality and that of his huge followers across the country.

The forum, therefore, wishes to urge the general public to disregard the false information and sees it as another way of bringing the integrity of the elder statesman to disrepute. Chief Bode George as is known to all Nigerians is a man of honour whose contribution to the development of the country is second to known.

The youths opined that a thorough analysis of the elder statesman shows that Chief Bode George has stood to defend the integrity of Nigeria and has throughout his life being at the forefront of ensuring that the right thing is done and has never hide himself to saying the truth of any issue that concern the wellbeing, peace, unity and development of the country.

As such, the youths added that the elder statesman has not been found in his usual character making false allegation or anything wrong against anybody or group of people in any part of Nigeria but as a mature personality, his views to all Nigerians irrespective of political affiliation, tribe or religion has been to put the records straight on anything meant for the overall interest of Nigerians.

As one of the founding members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George is after seeing the PDP is victorious in 2023 General Election and anything short of that I am sure he will never be part of it, Chief Bode George who is funding many youth organizations in support of the PDP will remain resolute to seeing his party win the election and ensuring that the main opposition party, PDP emerged victorious from the presidency to all levels of elective positions in the country, the statement explained.

The youths called on the general public to note that Chief Bode Georges priority is to see Atiku Abubakar wins the general election and by extension ensure the victory of the party in all the states of the Federation so that the party will restore Nigeria back to its old glory.
Former Aviation Minister and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Femi Fani-Kayode has described the presidential candidate o...

Former Aviation Minister and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Femi Fani-Kayode has described the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi as dangerous, deceitful and dishonest.

He also said Obi is attempting to trigger a tribal war between Southeastern and Southwestern Nigerians, thus, asking leaders from the former region to call him to order.

Fani-Kayode disclosed these via his verified social media handles on Monday in a reaction to Obis video where he said Tinubu is not healthy and also questioned the source of his wealth.

Peter, you are nothing but a LIAR, Fani-Kayode began as he revealed the person the former Anambra state governor had his conversation with.

The name of the individual whose WhatsApp message you publicised on your mendacious and childish video, which I have posted here, is one Powell Glad Legbe who is not only an Igbo but also a racist, hate-filled reprobate and delusional delinquent who despises the Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani and Ijaw and who is close to you.

That is why you covered his name and did not want it mentioned in your video.

You now lied and attempted to pass him off as a member of the Tinubu Support Group and a Yoruba man when you knew very well that this was not the case.

Based on this alone it is clear that you are a very dangerous, deceitful and dishonest man who is brimming with mendacity and who is attempting to spark off a tribal war between the Igbo on the one hand and the Yoruba and the rest of Nigeria on the other.

That is what your video was trying to achieve and by Gods grace, you shall fail. You ended by saying that Tinubu is not well and that he is a sick man meanwhile you that sound like an Egyptian eunuch when you talk not only sick in the mind but also sick in body, spirit and soul.

Your sickness has deluded you into thinking that you can be President when deep down you know that you do not have a hope in hell of winning even up to 10% of the vote in ANY state, Fani-Kayode said.

The former minister, however, said that Obi is not representing the Igbo, but his personal agenda, describing him as an opportunist.

I hereby warn you to mind what you say, act your age and stop attempting to create ethnic, racial and religious divisions in our country lest we name you as a closet secessionist who is not fit to be considered as a patriot, a national figure or a serious presidential candidate and who hates anything or anyone that is not from your part of the country.

The truth is that you do not represent the Igbo, you only represent your own stomach. You are a shameless opportunist and a man that is filled with lies.

Your agenda is not an Igbo one: it is a personal one for you and your inner circle and it is a rough, dark, dingy and slippery road that leads to nowhere.

You know you cannot win so you want to provoke a second civil war and God forbid that should ever happen.

I call on the Igbo leadership and elders to call this dangerously deluded, irresponsible and vainglorious man to order and to warn him to desist from provoking the entire nation into a confrontation with those he claims to represent.

We want peace and unity in our country. We do not want a tribal war and neither should we be encouraging or provoking one with our words, actions and fanciful fables, he added.
A Federal High Court, Abuja, has granted a prayer by the Department of State Services (DSS) to detain the former terrorists negotiator, Tuk...





A Federal High Court, Abuja, has granted a prayer by the Department of State Services (DSS) to detain the former terrorists negotiator, Tukur Mamu, for 60 more days.





NAN reports that Justice Nkeonye Maha ruled on the ex-parte motion moved by counsel for the DSS, Ahmed Magaji.





The security outfit, in the motion marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1617/2022 dated and filed Sept. 12, had urged the court to grant its reliefs to enable it to conclude its investigation on Mamu, who had been leading the negotiation with the terrorists for the release of the Abuja-Kaduna train passengers kidnaped in March.





It was reported that on Sept. 6, Mamu was arrested by foreign security agents in Cairo, Egypt.





Mamu was detained before being repatriated back to Nigeria.





The DSS had, on Sunday, warned Nigerians over making comments on its arrest of Mamu.





DSS Spokesman, Peter Afunaya had urged Nigerians to leave the agency alone and allow it to concentrate on the investigations, which it said the outcomes had been mindboggling.





Meanwhile, Islamic cleric, Sheik Gumi, to whom Mamu is an aide, had faulted the arrest of the negotiator.





Gumi, had called on DSS to charge Mamu to court if it had any evidence against him rather than keeping him in custody.
Justice Muhammed Sani of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin has convicted and sentenced a Lokoja- born musician, Onojah Emmanuel Samue...





Justice Muhammed Sani of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin has convicted and sentenced a Lokoja- born musician, Onojah Emmanuel Samuel, and two others to twenty years imprisonment for offences bordering on cybercrime.





Samuel was convicted on Monday, September 12, 2022, alongside Victor Atsumbe Kadiyamo and Jejelowo Segun, after pleading guilty to separate count charges, bordering on internet fraud.





According to a statement by the Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, the convicts were arraigned by the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.





The charge against Samuel reads: That you, Onojah Emmanuel Samuel, sometime in May 2022 at Lokoja, Kogi State within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court fraudulently impersonated one, Richard Philips, via your Instagram account linked to your Gmail account: richardphilips6211@gmail.com with intent to obtain money from one Erika which you did obtain the sum of Eighty Pounds worth gift cards and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22 (2) (ii) of Cybercrime (Prohibition Prevention) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22(2)(b)(iv) of the same Act.





Following their pleas, counsel to EFCC, Andrew Akoja reviewed the facts of the cases and prayed the judge to convict and sentence them accordingly.





In his judgment, Justice Sani convicted and sentenced Samuel to three years imprisonment on counts one and two, with an option of N100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira Only) on each count. The court ordered that the phone used by the convict to commit the crime be forfeited to the Federal Government.





Kadiyamo was also convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment on counts one, two and three, with options of a fine of N100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira Only) on counts one and two, while count three carried an option of a fine of N54,194,680.00 (Fifty Four Million, One Hundred and Ninety-Four Thousand, Six Hundred and Eighty Naira Only).





In addition, the convict forfeited his phone and one Lexus car which he purchased with the proceeds of his unlawful activities to the government.





Similarly, Segun was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment with an option of fine of N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira Only). The judge, in addition, ordered the forfeiture of his Toyota Matrix car and phone to the Government.





Wilson Uwujaren said the convicts began their journey to the Correctional Centre when they were arrested by operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC for internet-related offences.





He added that further investigations linked them with the impersonation of foreigners. They defrauded both local and foreign victims.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Some clouds. Low 64F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low 64F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Gambits September movie night will take us to the Soviet Union during the early 1930s with the 2019 film Mr. Jones.

Based on a true story, the film follows Gareth Jones (James Norton), a Welsh journalist who travels to the Soviet Union, originally trying to interview Stalin. But instead, he learns about the man-made Ukrainian famine and becomes the first Western journalist to report on it under his own name, putting his safety at risk.

Not to mention hes up against a massive disinformation campaign by the Stalin regime to cover up the atrocities theyre perpetrating. In the trailer, Norton as Jones says, I dont have an agenda. Unless you call truth an agenda.

He had the almost unfailing knack of getting at things that mattered, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George said about the real Jones.

The Prytania Theatre Uptown will be screening Mr. Jones on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. As always, tickets are free for Gambit Community members and $10 for non-members.

Watch the trailer below:

Gambit's Community Membership program helps support our journalism mission while giving readers some nice perks. For $5 or $15 a month, members get tickets to special Gambit events, like the movie nights and happy hours, Gambit swag and entry into monthly giveaways. Find out more at bestofneworleans.com/member.
Within the framework of the WCO-SECO Global Trade Facilitation Programme (GTFP), WCO-accredited AEO experts from Denmark and India provided capacity building assistance to the Customs Administration of Serbia (CAS) to enhance its AEO programme in alignment with the SAFE Framework of Standards and WTO TFA Article 7.7.

The mission was delivered from 5 to 9 September 2022 as part of a blended activity that began in July 2022 with two virtual technical meetings with the Serbian AEO team with the overall objective to develop and implement an AEO strategy and an action plan to enhance the AEO programme to reach out to all traders.

During the week the WCO experts held sessions with the Serbian AEO team, other CAS officials from IT, Risk Management, Communication and HR, and private sector participants representing both AEO and non-AEO companies. This approach helped set up channels to receive and include their input in the drafting of the strategy. A visit to an inland Customs terminal in Belgrade provided insight into an actual implementation of the AEO concept in practice.

An important achievement from this mission was the conclusion of the final draft of an AEO strategy and recommendations for further improving the action plan and communication strategy designed to disseminate the benefits of the AEO programme among traders.

For more information on the GTFP, please, contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.
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This August, NIPSCO employees were honored to get out in the community to help local nonprofits across our service territory with what we at NIPSCO call, Charity of Choice.

Charity of Choice is our annual employee giving campaign, focused on meeting the needs of nonprofit groups throughout our service territory.

For the past two years, we have raised funds through online events and donations due to pandemic safety requirements. These donations were made to organizations focused on a specific cause, such as programs to support veterans and mental health. This year, we decided to do things a little differently, and use our own time and efforts to directly provide help to local nonprofit organizations across northern Indiana.

We had some great momentum this year, as our teams were excited to roll up their sleeves and help through in-person volunteer events.

In partnership with the NiSource Charitable Foundation and Besa, an organization that helps connect people and companies with nonprofits, 126 NIPSCO team members volunteered to support an array of local organizations in the month of August.

During the month of August, NIPSCO volunteers:

Beautified supportive housing for veterans with Family Services Association of Howard County

Transplanted native plants and seedlings with Little River Wetlands Project

Distributed food at East Chicagos Mobile Market with Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, Inc.

Painted and beautified spaces at Opportunity Enterprises

Cleaned and beautified outdoor spaces at a TradeWinds Services, Inc. residential home in Griffith

Painted a new home with Habitat for Humanity of Porter County

Painted educational murals at Hilltop Neighborhood House in Valparaiso

Worked to clean and beautify outdoor spaces with Shirley Heinze Land Trust in Aetna (Gary)

Helped prepare for the school year at Challenger Learning Center of Northwest Indiana

Provided quality clothing to Allen County residents with Wellspring Center

Helped install fire detectors in Gary with The American Red Cross of Indiana

Cleaned passenger vans at Opportunity Enterprises

Donated blood with The American Red Cross of Indiana

Overall, NIPSCO employees donated over 500 hours of work across 26 projects in communities across northern Indiana.

Being a good corporate citizen is important to NIPSCO. Last year, we donated more than $2.3 million to our communities through focused grants and targeted donations. That total would not be possible without employee donations and funds provided by the NiSource Charitable Foundation, founded by our parent company to help create strong and sustainable communities where employees and customers live and work.

NIPSCOs donations are centered on areas of identified need, including Basic Needs and Hardship Assistance, Economic and Workforce Development, Environmental Stewardship, Public Safety and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and Energy Education.

Earlier this year, our Environmental Action Grant awarded $69,000 to 17 groups that provide environmental restoration or education projects or programs, including Humane Indiana, Gabis Arboretum, The Wetlands Initiative, Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana-Michiana, and many more.

Our recently announced 22 Public Safety Grant winners will receive a total of $68,000 for local safety education and training programs, including support for first responders and disaster prevention efforts. Organizations include the American Red Cross of Northeast Indiana, Dyer Fire Department, Tri Town Safety Village, Carroll County Emergency Management and more.

To learn more about ways NIPSCO employees give back to the communities we serve, visit NIPSCO.com/givingback.
CROWN POINT  A 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man each made initial court appearances Monday on charges linked to a shootout June 1 that left one man dead and wounded both defendants.

Thurman D. Atkinson Jr., 16, of St. John, is facing one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder, which were linked to two men who accompanied the homicide victim to the scene of the shooting but were not wounded.

Daniel Oloyede, 18, of Merrillville, is facing two counts of attempted murder.

Aahric Whitehead, 20, of Merrillville, died after he was shot six times in the left side of the face and head while he was seated in a 2010 Toyota SUV that Oloyede drove to a parking lot in the 7200 block of Taft Street, according to Lake Criminal Court records.

A magistrate entered not guilty pleas on behalf of both defendants during their initial hearings.

Oloyede told the magistrate he planned to hire a private attorney, records showed.

Defense attorney Scott King filed a petition to let bail for Atkinson.

Murder defendants aren't afforded bail, unless a court determines the presumption of guilt of murder  not a lesser offense such as voluntary manslaughter  is not strong.

Witnesses told police that Whitehead arrived in the parking lot in a blue Ford Fusion with two passengers. A man later identified as Oloyede arrived in the Toyota a short time later and parked to the left of the Ford, records state.

Whitehead got out of the Ford, took a gun box out of his trunk and told the men in the Ford he planned to sell the gun, records state.

After Whitehead sat in the front passenger seat of the Toyota, a person in the backseat of the Toyota sat up, witnesses told police.

Whitehead returned to the Ford to retrieve his phone, handed a handgun to one of his passengers and said, "Watch them," before returning to the Toyota, records state.

Witnesses told police the man in the backseat of the Toyota got out a short time later and pointed a rifle at Whitehead.

Whitehead and Oloyede appeared to be tussling inside the Toyota, and a witness heard someone say, "Shoot him," records state.

Another witness, who was parked in the area, told police he saw two men with handguns and one man with a rifle shooting at each other.

Whitehead's passengers got out of the Ford, and one of them began shooting at Oloyede and Atkinson as Oloyede and Atkinson advanced toward the witnesses while firing guns, according to witnesses. The defendants stopped when the witness shot one of them, records state.

Oloyede and Atkinson are accused of fleeing the homicide scene on foot, but police located them later that day after officers were dispatched to Oloyede's residence for a report of a gunshot victim.

Oloyede had been shot in the right cheek and upper arm, and Atkinson had a gunshot wound to his left foot, court records state.

The two men riding in Whitehead's Ford remained at the homicide scene and talked to police, according to documents.
CROWN POINT  Lake County prosecutors last week dropped charges against a Hobart man accused of molesting a 9-year-old girl during a sleepover at his home in 2018.

Samuel Bontrager, 34, who was represented by attorney Bob Harper, had been facing two felony counts of child molesting filed in January 2019.

In a motion to dismiss the charges, Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Jessica Arnold wrote the state was unable to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt "due to recently obtained information and evidence."

Lake Criminal Court Judge Pro Tempore Shontrai Irving ordered the case dismissed and vacated Bontrager's jury trial, which had been set to begin Monday.
HOBART  Northwest Regional SWAT took a man into custody Tuesday morning after a woman reported he had shoved her to the ground and pointed a handgun at her as part of an ongoing threat to her life, according to Hobart police Capt. James Gonzales.

"Do you want me to take all the pain away?" the man allegedly told the woman while pointing a 9mm gun at her. "He then pointed the gun at his head and stated, 'You can't call the cops if I do this.'"

The alleged victim showed up at the Hobart police department at 5 a.m. Tuesday claiming the man had threatened her because she would not let him use her vehicle, Gonzales said.

After the alleged attack, the woman fled with a friend to her mother's house and then went to the police department to see if officers could help remove the man from her house.

"The victim told the officer that this isn't the first time this has happened and he has threatened to kill her and her dog in the past," Gonzales said.

After obtaining an arrest warrant for the man, SWAT was contacted and the suspect was taken into custody around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday without incident, police said.

"The suspect faces several charges and this case is still an active investigation," Gonzales said.

Anyone involved in or aware of a domestic violence situation is encouraged to contact the Hobart Police Department Victim Advocacy division at bkissee@cityofhobart.org, agraciano@cityofhobart.org or sbull@cityofhobart.org or by calling 219-942-1125, extensions 1069 or 1061.
GARY  Indiana State Police held a news conference Monday morning addressing a recent debate that occurred during a Gary Public Safety Committee meeting.

Held on Sept. 7, the public safety meeting was the second of three meetings intended to discuss a stack of 17 ordinances that would change the hiring, promotion and disciplinary procedures within the Gary Police Department. The ordinances are the result of a six-month partnership between ISP and Gary police. As part of the partnership, ISP Major Jerry Williams has been working out the Gary Police Department since April, evaluating procedures and determining needs.

The ordinances attempt to address deep-rooted issues within the department. Williams said that giving the police chief more authority to discipline officers and creating a clear and fair disciplinary process have been top priorities.

The Public Safety Committee reviewed 10 of the ordinances during an Aug. 31 meeting. During the second Public Safety meeting Sept. 7, the committee only discussed three.

During the contentious 3 1/2 hour meeting, Common Council President Godwin, D-1st, and Councilman Clorius Lay, D-at large, shared a number of concerns. Namely the shift in authority away from the Police Civil Service Commission toward the police chief and the commission's role in the disciplinary process. Godwin has also said he feels the council was excluded from the drafting of the ordinances.

At one point during the Wednesday night committee meeting, ISP Superintendent Douglas Carter told both councilmen "the semantics that you're talking about is not productive." Godwin later said he was offended Carter called his questioning semantics, adding that Carter's behavior as an "outsider" was disrespectful.

During the news conference, Mayor Jerome Prince called Godwin's comments "unprofessional" and "derisive."

"What happened at the council meeting the other night, we're going to leave it alone as of today. I'm not going to get into a tete-a-tete with a young man who has no idea what it is like to run a police agency," Carter said during the news conference. "He doesn't know how to draft an ordinance associated with a police agency. ... We shouldn't expect him to, and I mean that with all due respect."

Carter also said the council was involved with the process once the ordinances were drafted. Godwin's main critique of the ordinances has been that the proposed changes do not address the police department's true issues  manpower and funding. During the news conference, Carter countered Godwin's statement, saying police procedure has to change first.

"Until we fix a foundation, none of that will matter," Carter said.

Councilmen Lay, Ronald Brewer, D-at large, and Cozey Weatherspoon, D-2nd, were all present at the news conference. Godwin was not present but did issue a response.

"To draft 17 ordinances, e-mail them, and then say, let's send it to the council for quick consideration...and then become angry when strong concerns and questions are raised...is not a fair process. The nature of how this process has gone requires the kind of attention to detail that was shown at the Public Safety Committee meeting last week," Godwin said in a statement. "I will continue to ask questions and raise concerns as needed. I will never be a rubber stamp."

The Public Safety Committee will continue to discuss the proposed ordinances Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Brewer, who serves as chair of the committee, said he is going to "take a different approach" on Wednesday, allowing ISP to deliver an opening statement and generally ensuring the dialogue remains open but respectful.

Carter also said ISP's partnership with the city will continue, though not indefinitely.

The city is currently in the process of selecting a new police chief. After receiving 74 applicants, Williams said, the pool has been narrowed to 10 candidates.

Once a new chief is in place, Carter said ISP will "develop an exit strategy." Though Carter and Williams will maintain a dialogue with the city.

"Many states around the country are watching to see what happens in this city," Carter said. "I want this to be a destination city again, I don't want it to be the murder capital of the country or the perception of it being the murder capital of the country, and it's not OK what's happening here to young Black men."

In his statement, Godwin said he agrees with many of the proposed ordinances.

"I hope the ISP will not turn this process into an all or nothing situation," Godwin said.
SCHERERVILLE  Rain made for a somber setting at the town's 9/11 Memorial, where a number of people stopped to pay their respects.

Schererville resident Trevor Davison said he was in high school Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists flew airplanes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

Though Davison didn't have any family members who were personally affected that day, he thought all Americans were affected in some way, he said.

He lay a bouquet of pink flowers at the memorial and reflected on where he was when he first learned of the attacks, he said.

"We can never forget that day," Davison said.

Members of Cub Scout Pack 504 in Schererville greeted visitors to the memorial and offered up programs, pins and small American flags.

Cub Master Dena Beaderstadt said the boys talked about the attacks and what the memorial means.

They also learned about the memorial's twin cylinders, which were installed in 2017 and include 2,977 points of light  one for each life lost.

Many of the boys had watched a video created by Sept. 11 survivor Don Bacso, of Dyer, and Schererville Fire Chief Robert Patterson several times by the end of their day, Police Chief Pete Sormaz said.

The short video featured footage of the Twin Towers, journalists reporting on the attacks and audio of phone calls people made to loved ones during the tragedy.

Beaderstadt said the boys were asking questions, "which is good."

It's important for younger generations to know their country's history, remember those who lost their lives and honor the sacrifices others made by joining the military in the years afterward, she said.

The town's 9/11 Memorial Committee didn't invite any speakers this year, opting instead to welcome visitors to pay their respects at the memorial throughout the day.

Planning for the memorial at Junction and Joliet streets began many years ago, Patterson said.

"It's a tragic event," he said. "It's just like Pearl Harbor, but it's our generation."

The town acquired a beam from the Twin Towers from the New York Port Authority in 2011, and it was installed in 2013.

The two cylinders, which represent the Twin Towers, typically are lit up with white light, but were expected to feature red, white and blue lights Sunday night, Sormaz said.

Patterson said the town added a sidewalk around the memorial this year, which made the site accessible to all.

Travelers on the Pennsy Greenway Trail, which now has a trailhead adjacent to the memorial, often stop by to pause and reflect, officials said.
VALPARAISO  Porter County could spend as much as $4.25 million to fully implement the recommendations of its new wage study, although thats a high figure. The cost of not increasing wages, however, is already being felt.

Debby Gunn, director of the countys E911 dispatch operation, asked the Board of Commissioners last week to approve transferring $50,000 to the overtime budget to cover costs incurred by the loss of full-time employees seeking higher-wage jobs elsewhere.

Gunn, a long-time Porter County employee, is one of several new department heads, the result of an exodus of county employees for higher salaries elsewhere.

When you can leave a job and make $40,000 a year more, I understand why theyre leaving, she said.

The 911 dispatch center has lost 17 employees in the last 1.5 years, she said.

Thats not bleeding, thats bled out, Commissioner Jim Biggs, R-North said.

Weve had problems with overtime out there over more than the past 1.5 years, Board of Commissioners President Jeff Good, R-Center, said. That operation needs proper staffing to reduce overtime, he added.

Biggs asked why employees are leaving.

Were hearing the 911 center is a very good training facility for the private sector, Gunn explained. Railroads, trucking companies and others value the dispatchers trained by the county.

We cant continue down that road, Biggs said. Its not sustainable.

Were going to have to look at wages and make these adjustments somehow, some way, he added.

Four dispatchers from Lake County have been hired from the beginning of July. Thats a help for Porter County because their training period is expedited. It normally takes six months to train a dispatcher.

Were looking at the cost of inaction, Gunn said.

The commissioners approved a big spending request for chairs for the dispatchers, at more than $1,000 per chair. But dispatchers sit in them 12 hours a day, and the chairs are used 24/7, so they must be comfortable and provide proper support, Gunn said.

Addie Rooker, of Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele and Associates, told the County Council the results of a wage study that took several months to complete. Just equalizing pay among county employees in similar positions, following the principle of equal pay for equal work, would cost just over $1 million, she said.

We generally recommend this be your No. 1 priority, Rooker said.

You have a lot of jobs. Youre a very large county, she said.

Rooker gave the example of eight custodians. Six were paid $30,900, one $32,824 and another $37,319. All these custodians have the same basic job description, she said.

Bringing employees up to par with their counterparts elsewhere would cost a bit more than $2.5 million, an 8.72% increase overall. We did find the county is lagging behind the external market in pay levels, she said.

Accomplishing all this and giving the employees a 5.6% cost of living adjustment would cost about $4.25 million, for an average increase of 14.59%. Thats more of a luxury page, Rooker said.

The wage study found large pay discrepancies in some areas, Rooker told the council. Some departments had wide discrepancies. Rooker recommended pay differences of about 5% between ranks, for example, to make sure supervisors were paid more than their subordinates to incentivize promotions.

The Juvenile Services executive director, for example, is paid $82,835, the same as the two subordinates the position supervises.

Rookers study created job classifications for county employees for better comparisons. She recommended additional pay for extra duties that require specialization. They can have as many specialties as they want, she said, so the county should consider capping the extra pay for specialties.

The county could consider phasing in the increases, as some other local governments have done, she said.

Some positions are higher than would be expected, though there are very few outliers in the county. Rooker said pay cuts arent recommended, but those employees might have to wait for other employees to catch up before seeing any significant raises.

Its a lot of information. I know it will take a while for you to digest, Rooker told the council. Budget hearings for next year start soon, so the council will have a lot to think about  including where to get the additional money.

I think this is a long time coming, council President Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, said.

There clearly is a phenomenal amount of information here, council Vice President Mike Jessen, R-4th, said.

We have plenty of people and plenty of categories that are woefully underpaid, he said. Theres going to be some significant changes.

Its a tall order, Jessen said. Weve got to come up with a pay philosophy. We certainly dont want to be the lowest paid.

I think our goal is to get our employees paid to the highest level possible, Councilman Mike Brickner, R-at large, said. He asked last fall for this study to be done.

Jessen has asked for a wage study for years. Now that the first study had landed, the county should expect to have to redo the study periodically  Rooker suggested every three years or so  to make sure salaries dont go out of balance again.

The county had a previous wage study done more than 20 years ago, but it wasnt this comprehensive, County Auditor Vicki Urbanik said.

The council will have a committee of up to three members  more than that would violate the Indiana Open Door Law  to work with the auditors office on implementation.

Weve got to keep this thing moving forward, he said.
Sheryl Lee Ralph won her first Emmy on Monday night, opening her acceptance speech by belting Endangered Species, a song by Dianne Reeves.

I am an endangered species, sang Ralph, who is also a Broadway performer, but I sing no victims song. I am a woman, I am an artist, and I know where my voice belongs.

Ralph won an Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy for her role as Barbara Howard, a no-nonsense kindergarten teacher, in Abbott Elementary. Ralph, 65, who has been a screen actress since the 1970s and has performed on Broadway since the 1980s, was full of emotion as she accepted her award  which followed her first-ever nomination.
The White Lotus, the hit HBO anthology series that, during a season of pandemic travel restrictions, skewered the entitled behavior of wealthy vacationers, scooped up five Primetime Emmys on Monday, including the award for best TV movie, limited or anthology series.

Created by Mike White, the series struck a chord with its timely and incisive satire of privilege and liberal hypocrisy at a Hawaiian resort, and it was highly favored to take home the best limited series award, after receiving 20 nominations overall. In winning, The White Lotus beat a field of similarly buzzy, topical series in a category that has become one of TVs most hotly contested, including Hulus Dopesick, about the opioid crisis, and Netflixs Inventing Anna, about the socialite scam artist Anna Sorokin.

The series also scored wins in major acting categories. Jennifer Coolidge, who plays a grieving hotel guest desperate for love, won best supporting actress, beating four of her co-stars in the category, including Connie Britton, Alexandra Daddario, Natasha Rothwell and Sydney Sweeney. Murray Bartlett, who plays a meticulous resort manager, won best supporting actor, beating out his co-stars Jake Lacy and Steve Zahn.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will investigate allegations that the Justice Department under President Donald J. Trump sought to use the U.S. attorneys office in Manhattan to support Mr. Trump politically and pursue his critics, the committees chairman said on Monday.

The allegations are in a new book by Geoffrey S. Berman, who was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2018 through June 2020, when he was fired by Mr. Trump.

The chairman, Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, made the announcement in a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland, which cited a New York Times report on Thursday detailing the books allegations.
As influencers and celebrities descend on New York City in their black cars and limousines to bask in the glamour and exclusivity of fashion week, dancers in head-to-toe Morphsuits vogued in Brooklyn on Sunday.

They were there as part of the latest Telfar bag drop, at a Rainbow fashion store on Fulton Street. It was the first time the brand had a physical bag drop; all the previous ones were online, and can sell out in seconds.

In true Telfar fashion, it was counterprogramming to the gatekeeper-with-an-iPad events that litter the fashion week calendar  an event aimed at the masses and glorying in its chaos.
Elizabeth I, 1603

Elizabeth Is funeral, at Westminster Abbey, began the tradition of grand royal services. It was the first such ceremony to use the Anglican rites and feature its associated musical liturgy. While we do not know conclusively what was performed, illustrations and surviving accounts from musicians mention the outdoor procession featuring trumpeters and the combined choirs of the Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey. The setting most likely used for the burial service is by Thomas Morley (1557-1602), possibly written in anticipation of the occasion and often considered the first of its kind. Morleys setting reflects the solemnity of both the text and the occasion, and it became standard for royal funerals until the 18th century.

Mary II, 1695

Musical innovations made to the royal funeral began with Mary II and the inclusion of new music by Henry Purcell (1659-95), including one Graveside Sentence: Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts. Referred to as Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary (Z. 860), including the march and canzona also performed, Purcells setting of Thou knowest, Lord might have been composed to match Morleys Sentences, accompanied by flatt, mournful Trumpets mirroring the vocal parts. Purcells Funeral March was a new, thunderous addition, opening with deep, heavy drums before the trumpets enter, both mournful and heraldic.

Anne, 1714
Long known for international activism, it has also emerged as a leading voice on threats to free expression in the United States, issuing a series of widely cited recent reports on the spread of educational gag orders  a term it coined to describe efforts by Republican-dominated state legislatures to restrict teaching on race and gender.

But Suzanne Nossel, the groups chief executive since 2013, also lamented what she said was the erosion of free speech as a cultural value  including among its traditional defenders on the left (and in the publishing industry, where some employees have organized pressure campaigns to drop books by conservatives).

Were at a dangerous precipice, Nossel said in an interview. Young people have been alienated from the idea of free speech, and see it as a smoke screen for hatred and bigotry. At the same time, there are those who may call themselves standard bearers for free speech, but if you look at what theyre doing, theyre banning books, gagging curriculum, eviscerating free speech in our schools and universities.

Salman Rushdies Most Influential Work Card 1 of 5 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.









The attack on Rushdie, she said, was a jolting reminder of why we do what we do, and how pervasive the threats are, she said. This is a very personal catalyst to step it up.
Most important, Mogelson points to a bracing existential truth: One emotional feature of contemporary conflict, he muses, is the ever-present, low-frequency dread of random catastrophe. He relates the missile tearing through the roof in war to a rampage through the nations Capitol in peacetime: When no place is immune from haphazard demolition, more abstract structures  the invisible schema that holds societies together  also become precarious.  I dont think of this as a psychological phenomenon; I think that war reminds us how things are not as sound and solid as we believe. This is the books wake-up call.

Powerful though it is, The Storm Is Here has a few flaws. At times I felt dizzy moving among continents, American states, extremist groups and animating issues (Ebola, Islam, masking, shutdowns, fallen statues, racist police departments, the 2020 election). For my taste, the author doesnt take enough time  camera down, phone ringer off  to ask why this is happening.

Any books importance stems from both the questions it answers and those it raises. According to a new study of people arrested or charged for deeds on Jan. 6, 86 percent of them were not affiliated with an extremist group. What brought them to the Capitol, and what continues to divide our nation, was their belief  despite a great mountain of evidence  in a lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Even today, about 40 percent of Americans  and three-quarters of Republicans  still believe this. (Whether the ongoing congressional hearings change these percentages remains to be seen.)

Why has the big lie stuck? Maybe its because Donald Trump made it appear more plausible by attaching it to a truth. And that truth, for the blue-collar white men among his base, is a powerful sense of loss, suggested by the last word in the slogan Make America Great Again. Red and blue states increasingly represent two economies, with Republicans turning more toward agriculture, extraction and manufacturing, and Democrats toward high-tech and professional services. The gap between them is widening: Between 2008 and 2018, the nations Democratic congressional districts saw median household income rise to $61,000 from $54,000, while incomes in Republican districts fell to $53,000 from $55,000. They have suffered other losses too; white men living in Republican counties have higher death rates than white men living in Democratic counties, and the gap between those rates increased more than sixfold from 2001 to 2019. Poor rural white Americans also report less optimism about the future than do equally poor Black or Hispanic ones.
That, of course, may have been the biggest misjudgment of Obamas career. And after spending the first half of The Long Alliance telling the story of the first dozen years of the Obama-Biden partnership, Debenedetti devotes the second half of the book to the last six  as both men tried to repair their relationship and figure out how best to fight Donald Trump.

Debenedetti, the national correspondent for New York magazine, is an excellent reporter and he provides a satisfyingly detailed account of the 2020 presidential campaign from both leaders perspectives.

Obama, who vowed neutrality in the contest for the Democratic nomination, nonetheless maintained an open-door policy for any candidate who wanted his counsel  and was favorably impressed, at various points, by Beto ORourke, Pete Buttigieg and even Elizabeth Warren. He continued to harbor serious doubts about Bidens chances in the run-up to the Democratic primaries, fearing that his friend would be exposed as out of touch and that his campaign advisers were, as Obama privately griped to a friend, not an A-team.

At one point, Obama summoned Bidens top aides to his office to brief him on the former vice presidents campaign plans  less to discuss Bidens potential path to the nomination than to make sure Bidens image would be protected aggressively in what was likely to be his final act as a public servant.

But Biden stubbornly plowed ahead  convinced that he was the only Democrat with a pre-cemented reputation strong enough to hold up against Trumps one special political power: defining people, especially enemies, in the public eye. And, finally, when Biden was the last candidate standing between Bernie Sanders, who Obama believed stood no chance against Trump, and the Democratic nomination, Obama put his finger on the scale for his old No. 2  privately nudging the remaining Democratic candidates to drop out and endorse Biden. Obama had never quite pulled for [Biden] but never entirely abandoned him either, Debenedetti writes.

Indeed, as Obama and Bidens partnership played out in the 2020 election, the two men effectively switched roles. It was the generationally gifted speaker whod once seemed like a herald of a new era now necessarily playing the part of behind-the-scenes fixer and expert while the onetime sidekick eager for assignments now assumed the mantle of national mass-reassurer and moral leader. But while their half-calculated and fully stressful semi-estrangement was over, the power in the relationship had unmistakably shifted, and a distinct wariness lingered.
 and Russias strengths

Still, recapturing territory in the south and the east is unlikely to be easy for Ukraine. Russia has concentrated more forces in those regions than it had in Kharkiv. Now that Ukraine holds Kharkiv, it also has longer supply lines to defend, John Blaxland, a military expert at the Australian National University, told The Times. The seizure of Izium and its railways may help Ukraine maintain its lengthened supply lines, other experts said.

Biden administration officials continue to express skepticism that Ukraine will be able to reclaim all of the land it held in February, just before the invasion. Russia continues to have vast resources at its disposal, even if the sanctions have created some constraints: Russia has been firing many more artillery rounds per day than the Ukrainians. If that advantage continues, dislodging Russia from territory it holds may be difficult.

Russia also has a history of forcing brutal losses on its own soldiers to win extended wars, and Putin has shown he is willing to commit atrocities (as he did in Syria and Chechnya) to exhaust an opponent. Some analysts  including Ross Douthat of Times Opinion and Anne Applebaum of The Atlantic  have argued that Western leaders should be planning for how they would respond to an escalation in Ukraine.

Ukraine also faces a disadvantage that its allies have imposed on it, my colleague Helene Cooper points out. The U.S. and the E.U. have told Ukrainian officials that they cannot use Western military equipment to strike inside Russia  out of a fear that such attacks might cause Putin to expand the war or use nuclear weapons. From a tactical standpoint, that restriction hurts Ukraines ability to win the war, because it means that Russia does not have to worry about defending its own territory.

Yet its a restriction that seems unlikely to change anytime soon.

THE LATEST NEWS

Politics

The Justice Department has expanded its Jan 6. criminal investigation, seizing the phones of two associates of Donald Trump and issuing about 40 subpoenas.

Voters in Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island cast ballots in primaries today. Heres what to watch for.

The Justice Department said it was open to having one of Trumps proposed special master candidates review documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.

Dr. Renee Wegrzyn, a Boston biotech executive, will lead a new federal agency aimed at advancing cancer and other biomedical research.

Other Big Stories

Opinions

The Founders understood that democracy cannot coexist with deep economic inequality, Jamelle Bouie writes.

Instead of quiet quitting, fill your schedule with things you enjoy, says Laura Vanderkam.

Nations and cultures need people and institutions who transcend politics, David French writes in The Dispatch about the queens significance.
During the pandemic, they were doing hopscotch or leapfrog; they had to adapt on the fly, said Douglas King, vice president of health care at Project Management Advisors, a real estate consulting firm. Now hospitals are identifying wards, usually of 24 to 32 beds, and they can stack some of those wards together to become pandemic wards.

To prepare for that shift, designers are thinking about how traditional rooms can quickly morph into isolation wards by upgrading or overhauling their heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems. Fabrics and finishes, too, are being reconsidered, with an eye toward durable materials that can withstand industrial-level scrubbing.

Finally, the pathways that lead to these wards need to be rethought, Mr. King said, so the transportation for patients and staff allows these spaces to be isolated and operated independently from the rest of the hospital.

A new I.C.U. at Doylestown Hospital in Doylestown, Pa., which opened in 2021, has private rooms meant to flex between intensive care and step-down care. The rooms are clustered in pods of eight to reduce traffic in corridors.

It will be the second new wing with flexible design at Doylestown. After realizing that a new wing for heart and vascular care that opened in January 2020 could be used for critically ill Covid-19 patients during the pandemic, hospital administrators leaned into flexible design.

The pandemic proved the need to have flexible space, said Jim Brexler, chief executive of Doylestown Health. The impact of having adequate critical care space was essential, and you dont want to build all that out and not be able to use it for other purposes.
NBC did not disclose the number of people who watched the Emmys on Peacock, which was also streaming the ceremony live.

Of course, part of the ratings problem could also be with the show itself. Kenan Thompson, the Saturday Night Live veteran, hosted the affair, and reviews were decidedly mixed. The New York Times called the ceremony forgettable, and The New Yorker said the show was ineptly written and paced.

It probably didnt help matters that the winners were a bit predictable. Both Succession and Ted Lasso won for a second time, in the best drama and comedy categories, respectively, and The White Lotus overwhelmed the limited-series categories, taking home five awards on Monday night.

This years Emmy Awards was a full return to the Microsoft Theater for the first time since 2019 (last years ceremony was held in a tent in downtown Los Angeles). Producers of the Emmys also put nominees at tables filled with bottles of wine and champagne, Golden Globes style, to keep the mood light, and keep viewers hooked. This time around, it didnt work.
Starbucks provided a window into its much-anticipated reinvention strategy on Tuesday, highlighting automations it plans to begin using over the next three years that will get food and drink orders to customers faster while cutting down on the work done by employees. It also pointed to high-growth markets like China, where it intends to open thousands of additional stores.

Still, the coffee giant, which has been facing a wave of unionization efforts inside stores across the United States, was light on specifics around some of the concerns that have been raised by its employees, like scheduling.

While Starbucks is largely viewed as a winner of the pandemic, having successfully moved customers away from in-store experiences to drive-through and mobile orders, Howard Schultz, the companys interim chief executive, said the company had also made strategic mistakes. Mr. Schultz, who replaced Kevin Johnson as chief executive five months ago, said that, in certain ways, the company had lost its way.
What Charles has done

As Prince of Wales, Charles spoke out against air pollution, industrial agriculture and deforestation and increasingly called for the world to act on climate change. The eyes and hopes of the world are upon you to act with all dispatch, and decisively, because time has run out, he told world leaders at the international climate talks in Glasgow in November.

In 2015, Buckingham Palace confirmed that his investments, along with his charitable foundation, include no fossil fuel holdings.

He has also been called out.

Climate campaigners have noted his use of private jets, which use huge amounts of dirty aviation fuel. His comments on overpopulation in countries of the global south rankled many people, given that the people of those countries have tiny climate footprints to begin with.

His heir, Prince William, heads a conservation group that invests in a fund linked to food companies whose activities contribute to deforestation, The Associated Press reported.

What Britain faces now

Arguably, for the rest of the world, the most consequential climate action that Britain takes now will not be decided by the new king but the new government of Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Truss has said she will ramp up investments in North Sea oil and gas, she has overturned a ban on fracking, and she has chosen Jacob Rees Mogg, one of the few fierce opponents of climate action in British politics, as her new energy minister. He has said he wants the country to extract every last cubic inch of gas from the North Sea.
Headliner

The Porch

Jazz made Sugar Hill, in the heart of Harlem, sizzle in its heyday 100 or so years ago. Now, with Paul Schermerhorn, who has a background in fine dining, as a partner, Mark Miller, a musician, Sugar Hill resident and the owner of the neighborhoods new jazz venue and barbecue joint, hopes to reheat the beat. The neighborhood can expect smokehouse favorites like baby back ribs, brisket, pork butt and barbecue chicken from the executive chef Matt Fisher, a former pitmaster at Fletchers Brooklyn Barbecue and the nearby Dinosaur Barbecue. At his side is Hassan Salim, the chef de cuisine, who is smoking local bluefish and cod. They are also introducing some Cajun dishes like shrimp beignets, roast beef po boy with debris, and peanut slaw. For now, theres beer and wine, with cocktails to come. Live music, frequently from local performers, starts at 9 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays with a modest cover charge. The restaurant has an open kitchen, seating indoors and out, and decor enlivened with vintage finds.

750A St. Nicholas Avenue (148th Street), 646-895-9004, theporchnyc.com.

Opening

Koloman

The compelling new replacement for the Breslin from the chef Markus Glocker shows off a setting that has been lightened and brightened, with Russell Sage Studio of London highlighting its many architectural details. Named for Koloman Moser, a major designer of the Wiener Werkstatte school in Mr. Glockers native Austria, its decorated with hand-painted and wallpaper patterns of the period. Thonet-style chairs line the bar at the entry and surround tables throughout the spaces many alcoves and dining areas. Theres an open kitchen, where Mr. Glocker, who worked at Batard and Augustine, turns out inventive food that can be called French in dishes like duck liver parfait and roast chicken with Champagne cabbage. But the menu reveals Austrian roots with horseradish, mustard, lingonberries and pumpkin seed oil. On the dessert menu, from the pastry chef Emiko Chisholm, a peach Charlotte vies for attention with Sacher torte. The wine list, by Katja Scharnagl, who worked with Aldo Sohm at Le Bernardin, features mostly French and Austrian selections, with a deep list of Champagnes and sparkling wines. (Opens Thursday)

16 West 29th Street, 212-790-8970, kolomanrestaurant.com.

Manhatta

This aerie from Danny Meyers Union Square Hospitality Group now has Justin Bogle, of Le Coucou and Gilt, as executive chef. His approach is creatively modern for dishes like grilled lobster with black garlic, turnips and Carolina gold rice. Handling the drinks from the stretch of bar with spectacular views is Cameron Winkelman, who controlled the shakers at Dante. (Friday)

28 Liberty Street (William Street), 212-230-5788, manhattarestaurant.com.
1961

A Woman Is a Woman

Arguably the directors most frivolous film, A Woman Is a Woman was described at the time as a neorealist musical  two genres that would seem pretty incompatible. Godards soon-to-be wife Anna Karina plays a stripper, trying to rope one of the men in her life into impregnating her. Emboldened by the success of Breathless, Godard shreds even more conventions. He chops Michel Legrands lush score into disconnected fragments, has characters address the camera, exposes his own artifice, and generally expresses his sense that real life is just one long movie.

Rent or buy it on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play, YouTube, Vudu or Microsoft.

1962

Vivre Sa Vie

Godard followed the giddy playtime of A Woman Is a Woman with the much bleaker, unusually straightforward Vivre Sa Vie (a.k.a. My Life to Live). Anna Karina plays an aspiring actress who has to work as a prostitute to get by, finding herself adopting a variety of different roles to keep her clients satisfied. Leaving aside the self-reference and winks at the audience, the director instead tells this highly metafictional story in a dozen docu-realistic vignettes, revealing the alienation of urban life and the cruelty of men.

Stream it on HBO Max, Criterion or Kanopy.

1965

Alphaville

A chilly take on dystopian science-fiction, this rare Godard fantasy film was shot in early 1960s Paris, unaltered in any way to look more futuristic. Alphaville puts a rumpled, noir-ready secret agent against a backdrop of mid-20th-century modernism, and lets the visual clash between the character and his habitat reflect the artists own dim view of how technology strangles the life out of humanity. Genre filmmakers in a post-Alphaville world would have to reckon with how Godard made the ordinary seem alien.

Stream it on Kanopy or rent it on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.

1967

Weekend

The apotheosis of Godards early work, Weekend crams astonishing imagery and provocative ideas into nearly every minute, all while telling a grabby satirical story about a truly horrible and casually violent upper-middle-class couple, whose trip into the country becomes a suitably ironic nightmare. The films centerpiece sequence is a long tracking shot across an epic traffic jam, dotted with pathetic rage and punctuated by stomach-turning gore. Altogether, this movie is one long howl of disgust, delivered with enough energy and humor to be gripping.

Stream it on HBOMax or Criterion.
Mr. Godard developed the outline of Breathless in 1959, inspired by a newspaper clipping given to him by Mr. Truffaut. For his stars he chose Mr. Belmondo, the son of a well-known sculptor just at the beginning of his acting career, and Ms. Seberg, an American actress whom the Cahiers critics had admired for her performances in two Otto Preminger films, Saint Joan (1957) and Bonjour Tristesse (1958).

Mr. Godard remained best known for Breathless and about a dozen films he made in quick succession afterward, ending with Weekend in 1967. University audiences identified with the doomed romanticism of Mr. Belmondos central character in Breathless, a petty criminal who identified with the doomed romanticism of the characters played by Humphrey Bogart in the American films that Mr. Godard and his Cahiers colleagues admired.

On one level, Breathless, produced on a $70,000 budget, seemed to fulfill Mr. Godards famously dismissive dictum, All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun. But the herky-jerky rhythm  with scenes sometimes out of sequence  fascinated and bewildered audiences.

Writing a few years after the films release, the cultural critic Susan Sontag likened its impact on cinema to the effect the Cubists had on traditional painting. And covering a 2000 revival screening of Breathless, the essayist and novelist Phillip Lopate said he felt as exhilarated by the film as when he first saw it 40 years before.

Other great avant-garde films were released about the same time: Michelangelo Antonionis LAvventura (1960), Mr. Truffauts The 400 Blows (1959) and Ingmar Bergmans The Virgin Spring (1960). Yet only Breathless seemed a revolutionary break with the cinema that had gone before, Mr. Lopate wrote in The New York Times. It seemed a new kind of storytelling, with its saucy jump cuts, digressions, quotes, in jokes and addresses to the viewer.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Cuomo emailed a Daily News opinion article to his supporters that raised questions about some of the claims made against him, and suggested that he may have been the victim of an excess of #MeToo movement zeal. Mr. Cuomo has also spent $60,000 in the last month promoting the article through Facebook ads aimed at reframing the narrative on the circumstances surrounding his resignation.

And earlier in August, he won a court battle when a judge ruled that Mr. Cuomo would not have to turn over the proceeds of his $5.1 million book deal that a state ethics board was seeking to recoup.

Mr. Cuomo spent millions of dollars earlier this year on television ads that sought to rehabilitate his image. He briefly re-emerged from the political wilderness when he spoke at a handful of Black churches, stoking short-lived speculation that he would attempt a political comeback this year, though he has since kept a relatively low profile.
College admissions officers steel themselves against a certain amount of exaggeration on students applications  more extracurricular activities, more debate tournament appearances or more school orchestra performances than any one student could possibly squeeze in. But what if a university puffed itself up and climbed almost to the top of the U.S. News rankings?

Michael Thaddeus, a Columbia math professor, asserted that his school had managed to do just that. He challenged Columbias No. 2 ranking with a statistical analysis that said that supporting data the school had provided was inaccurate, dubious or highly misleading. Thaddeus said he had found discrepancies when he compared the statistics from Columbia with data from publicly available sources.

Columbia originally defended its data, but said in July that it was withdrawing from the 2022-23 rankings. U.S. News, in turn, announced that it was taking Columbia out.

But U.S. News changed its mind and reinstated Columbia in the rankings, which it announced on Monday. It said it had assembled information about Columbia on its own, relying on outside sources. Columbia came in behind No. 17, Cornell, another prestigious Ivy League university, and ahead of No. 19, the University of Notre Dame, among national universities.
The New York State Board of Regents on Tuesday voted for the first time to require private schools to prove they are teaching English, math and other basic subjects or risk losing government funding.

The adoption of the new rules by the board, which oversees the state education department, could prove to be a watershed moment for Hasidic Jewish religious schools that for years have essentially been free to offer little or no secular instruction while still collecting public money.

State education officials had been considering the measure for years, and the vote came days after The New York Times reported that more than 100 boys schools run by the Hasidic Jewish community have collected $1 billion in public funding in recent years but deprived generations of students of a basic education. The gender-segregated schools, which enroll more than 50,000 boys across Brooklyn and the lower Hudson Valley, have also regularly enforced order with corporal punishment, The Times found. The report sparked an outcry from top New York officials, with many pointing to the new state regulations as a first step.
Our American democracy has lurched in cycles from dissatisfaction to crisis to progress. Citizens have the opportunity to speak out and decide for themselves, and events unfold across the country; it could be a referendum that preserves abortion access in Kansas or a primary defeat for Liz Cheney in Wyoming or a protest movement inspired by a video of the extrajudicial killing of a Black man in Minneapolis or a fanatic attacking an F.B.I. office in Cincinnati after engaging online message boards.

According to one poll, only 21 percent of Republicans think the investigations into Mr. Trump should continue. However they arrived at that opinion, that they hold it at all matters. It gives conservatives not just the political cover to subvert the rule of law but also the power to create their own alternative reality.

Since Mr. Trumps defeat in 2020, Republicans have embraced the big lie and tried to restructure state laws to control future elections. You could say this is a brazen attack on democracy itself, but its really a glimpse of democracy shorn of liberal restraints.

It would be much better, of course, if democratic politics yielded to the preferences of measurable public opinion and reflected the will of the people. It would be better still if we were guaranteed protection by our civic and legal institutions, binding the rule of law to society with accountability and fairness.

Yet the truth is, as the political communication scholar Zizi Papacharissi has written, we have always lived in imperfect democracies, and we still do. Democracy is not static. It is not a given, it is not guaranteed, and it is not stable.

Too many people assume that liberalism and democracy are one and the same. They believe that certain norms, like respect for minority rights and the rule of law, are wired into the political system when, in fact, they are just conventions that matter only to the extent that citizens care about them. If nothing else, the past six years are a reminder that democracy is a contest  and there are no inevitable outcomes or assurances that all sides will play by the rules.
You can see this sentiment play out throughout the 19th century as conflicts over land, labor and the concentration of wealth took center stage in American politics. The Democracy (as they liked to style themselves) of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren saw itself as the keeper of the democratic flame against the winds of concentrated political and economic power.

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes, Jackson wrote, when he vetoed the 1832 recharter of the Bank of the United States. To oppose the bank was, for Van Buren, to defend the vital principle  the sovereignty of the popular will  which lies at the foundation of free government.

The political conflict over slavery in the 1840s and 1850s was also as much about the corrosive effect of concentrated wealth and power on free government as it was about the morality of slavery. There are certain elements of the security, welfare and greatness of nations, which we all admit or ought to admit and recognize as essential, and these are the security of natural rights, the diffusion of knowledge and the freedom of industry, William Seward declared on the Senate floor in 1850. Slavery is incompatible with all of these, and just in proportion to the extent that it prevails and controls in any republican state, just to that extent it subverts the principle of democracy and converts the state into an aristocracy or a despotism.

Wherever you look in U.S. history, you see Americans grappling with the connections among equality, inequality and democracy. Crucially, many of those Americans have struggled to make democracy itself a tool for the more equitable distribution of wealth and status. As the historian Lawrence Goodwyn recounts in The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America, A large number of people in the United States discovered that the economic premises of their society were working against them and so they tried through democratic politics to bring the corporate state under popular control and use its power to bring a measure of equality to their lives.

There are many other Americans  some famous, some less so  who have made this connection between democracy and economic inequality. Key to their thinking is the idea that democracy is more than just a set of rules, institutions and procedures: It is a way of life all on its own, one that informs the shape of our society as much as it does the structure of our government. And at its most robust  much to the chagrin of the keepers and defenders of wealth and privilege  democracy holds the promise of a more egalitarian world.
According to Schelling, being in nature  meandering through a forest or walking up a hill  was always also a self-discovery, a journey into oneself. It was a thrilling idea, and this philosophy of oneness became the heartbeat of Romanticism.

Contemporary travel accounts illustrate these changes. Many 18th-century travelers described a village, a city, a landscape or a country as detached observers  as individuals watching from a distance. They saw the countryside through the windows of their carriages and described art and architecture through the prism of their learning and books.

Then, in the early 19th century, as Schellings ideas spread, the young Romantics began to feel a deeper sense of connection to the world around them. Instead of just visiting museums and cities, this new generation scrambled into caves, slept in forests and hiked up mountains to be in nature. They wanted to feel rather than to observe what they were seeing. They wanted to discover themselves in nature.

Humboldt would later describe nature as an interconnected whole where everything was entangled in what he called a wonderful web of organic life. Humboldt had seen these connections during his five-year expedition through South America where he encountered many Indigenous peoples who had long regarded earth as alive and interconnected. Humboldt was also the first scientist to talk about harmful human-induced climate change when he saw the environmental devastation caused by monoculture and deforestation during his explorations.

Once nature is understood as a web, its vulnerability becomes obvious. If one part is damaged, other parts might suffer, too. This concept of nature still shapes our thinking today.

We live in a world of climate emergency  from rising sea levels and torrential floods to a striking loss of biodiversity and mass human migration. This summer there have been extreme and terrifying heat waves across Europe, Asia and the Americas and devastating floods in Pakistan but also in Yellowstone, Kentucky and St. Louis.
The military concluded in its findings that the soldier was operating in an area where Israelis had been fired on by Palestinian gunmen and that it could not rule out that the journalist was killed by Palestinian gunfire. It also said that it would not investigate any soldiers involved because there is no suspicion of a criminal offense.

The Israel Defense Forces has so far not acknowledged that killing a journalist whose helmet and flak jacket were clearly marked Press was a grave violation of how an occupying army should behave. Nor has Israel said that it has any intention of changing the way it operates in the occupied territories.

On that issue, too, Israel has not done nearly enough. There is no question that Israel has the right and obligation to defend its population against terrorists, and journalists and civilians face the risk of being killed and wounded in the Palestinian territories, as they do in other conflict zones around the world. But an army that operates as an occupying force, as Israels does, has a special obligation to combat the callousness and moral corruption that comes with controlling a hostile population over many years.

The raid on May 11 in which Ms. Abu Akleh was killed is one of innumerable such forays the Israeli Army conducts regularly in the West Bank and Gaza, often to seize militants. The target zone on that day was one of the teeming refugee camps from which Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers had exchanged fire during prior forays. Had the victim been less well known and not possessed of an American passport, and had there been no international uproar, her death may well have been added to the list of the many anonymous civilian victims of such raids.
To the Editor:

The report about public funds for Hasidic schools and failed educational standards provides no consideration of the goals of community- and value-based religious education. The Hasidic world has proved that case by fostering multigenerational, self-contained communities that care for each other, protect each other, and, in reality, save public funds by providing support for their own schools.

Community members also find jobs for the graduates of their schools who marry, work and maintain families in the larger community networks around the state. I decry the insinuation that the funding for them is fraudulent.

A couple of days after the article appeared, a state board passed rules for religious schools to show they teach core subjects in English, which could curtail funding for schools that dont comply. Is targeting a successful, but frequently disliked and attacked group of Jews necessary?

Robert S. April

New York

To the Editor:

Why is it so difficult for all New York politicians to pledge that, instead of the morally repugnant hands off policy mentioned in your article about Hasidic schools, they will warn the leaders of that community that they will cut their funding and prosecute them if they continue to violate childrens fundamental rights to an appropriate education?

At long last, the indecent enabling of the abuse taking place in these schools must end. If not now, when?

Gary S. Rappaport

Ardsley, N.Y.

The writer is a lawyer.

To the Editor:

Your report on Hasidic schools is startling and distressing. The fact that a substantial amount of public funds is going to religious private schools is certainly unethical, and in this case, a clear violation of the separation of church and state.
The Chittenango Creek, which runs north for about 30 twisting miles in central New York, has few distinguishing markers: The stream is generally only a couple of feet deep, and the towns it passes through are similarly small and overlooked.

One exception is found a couple miles from the source of the creek, where the riverbed flattens out and drops 167 feet over a series of limestone cliffs that are segmented into ledges and still smaller rock shelves. The fractal qualities are magnified by the foaming water that tumbles in thin layers down the cliffs. On some mornings, sunlight from the southeast illuminates the mist, and the whole area glows.

Around this time on a recent Thursday, a dozen people clustered on one side of the falls, along two ledges that were blanketed in snakeroot, yellow jewelweed, spotted Joe-Pye weed and pale swallowwort. Here, in an area about the size of a living room, is the only known habitat of a small, critically endangered invertebrate with a marbled spiral shell: the Chittenango ovate amber snail.
American lobster may be a beloved and delicious splurge, but it is no longer a sustainable seafood choice and consumers should avoid eating it, according to Seafood Watch, a group that monitors how fish and other seafood are harvested from the worlds oceans.

The organization made the announcement last week, motivated by concerns that the ropes used to fish for lobsters and some other seafoods often entangle critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. The marine mammals population has fallen to the low hundreds, and federal wildlife authorities say it faces extinction in the near future.

Seafood Watch is part of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California and provides scientific guidance to businesses, including formal partnerships with some of the countrys major seafood buyers, about what seafood they sell to customers. The organization also provides seafood recommendations directly to consumers. Its credit card-size seafood purchasing guides can be found sitting next to packets of oyster crackers or stacks of wet wipes at seafood markets and in restaurants across the country.
It also put a temporary bandage over festering family tensions when Prince William and his wife, Catherine, were unexpectedly joined by Charless other son, Harry, and his wife Meghan, in a 40-minute walkabout outside Windsor Castle on Saturday. Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are virtually persona non grata in Britain, at least in the popular imagination, since moving to California and lobbing criticisms at the royal family from across the Atlantic. But the two couples shook hands with star-struck civilians and inspected bouquets of flowers left at the gates.

In another floral inspection at another royal palace, Prince Andrew, the second of Queen Elizabeths three sons, emerged briefly from his disgraced near erasure from the family and walked amicably alongside his siblings.

As she stood in Green Park near Buckingham Palace the other day, bouquets of flowers strewn every which way, Janet Ratcliffe, 75, said that after the unpleasantness of the Diana era, she had come to believe that the monarchy could thrive under Charles, and even under Camilla.

People were very sad, and it was very traumatic, she said of Dianas death. She mentioned Camilla, who by now had driven past (or not driven past) in the possibly royal car. She said that Charles had, as far as she could tell, grown into his new role.
Best Husband Ever

My husband and I are both teachers. On our 10th anniversary, I suggested that we review our vows and give grades for how well we had achieved our commitments. Going line by line, we gave our ratings on vows like, I promise to share lifes joys and to comfort you in its sorrows, and I promise to listen to you when I do not understand; and to trust you when I am in doubt. David kept giving out As and A+s. Wow, I said, do you really think I rated that high? David replied, I thought I was grading myself!  Camille Napier Bernstein
Abandoning trousers, he also ditched his former profession to start the Terry Singh label. His aim? To translate the practicality and elegance of the dhoti for a Western consumer. Though initially the things he made for himself and wore on the streets of Manhattan read as too ethnic, Mr. Singh said, that all changed in a light bulb moment when he decided to add tailoring.

Whereas traditional dhotis are unstitched and wrapped, Mr. Singh sews in pleats, a hidden wallet pocket and buttoning waistband. The waistband detail is key, he explained, because it expands as the wearer does.

The collection Mr. Singh showed at Mens Day featured a full line of dhoti suits with crisp Eisenhower, tuxedo or more conventional single-button jackets, cropped at the waist and reminiscent of outfits the electro-pop duo Sylvan Esso wore to the Grammys.

I used to be inhibited about what I wore, Mr. Singh said. I kept my head down because I felt people were staring. Then I realized I dont know whats in peoples minds, and I started to dress for myself. A question I always ask people is, If today were your last day on earth, what would you wear? Dress like that.
The collapse of the experimental cryptocurrency bank Celsius Network was one of the main drivers of this springs crypto crash, which erased nearly $1 trillion from the market and ruined thousands of investors.

Celsius filed for bankruptcy in July. Now its angling for a comeback.

At a meeting with employees on Sept. 8, Alex Mashinsky, the chief executive of Celsius, outlined an audacious plan to revive the firm, according to a recording of the event shared with The New York Times. He and Oren Blonstein, another Celsius executive, said they hoped to rebuild the company with a focus on custody  storing peoples cryptocurrencies for them, and then charging fees on certain types of transactions. They said the project was code-named Kelvin, after the unit of temperature.

Mr. Mashinsky, 56, faced skeptical questions from employees. He compared the rebuilding process to corporate turnarounds at some of the worlds most famous brands, including Pepsi, which went bankrupt in 1923 and 1931.
Twitters former top security official told lawmakers at a hearing on Tuesday that executives had so heavily prioritized the companys business that they disregarded concerns about foreign governments infiltrating its operations and misled regulators about its privacy practices.

Peiter Zatko, who was Twitters top security official before he was fired in January, testified that the F.B.I. had notified the company during his tenure that there was at least one agent of Chinas Ministry of State Security on the payroll inside Twitter. In another conversation about a possible foreign agent inside Twitter, Mr. Zatko recounted, an executive said that because we already have one, what does it matter if we have more.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which convened the hearing, expressed concerns about Mr. Zatkos accusations, which he first made in a whistle-blower complaint that became public last month. Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the committee, said he did not see how Twitters chief executive, Parag Agrawal, could keep his job if the allegations were true.
A New York woman was sentenced to four months in federal prison after spitting on a passenger, then shoving a flight attendant on an American Airlines flight in February 2021, a year that saw a record number of incidents of unruly and violent behavior on airplanes.

Kelly Pichardo, a 32-year-old single mother who lives in the Bronx, was sentenced on Aug. 29 in U.S. District Court in Arizona, where Judge Dominic W. Lanza also ordered her to pay $9,123 in restitution. After her release from prison she will be placed on supervised release for 36 months, according to court documents.

There is a line between boorish behavior on an airplane and criminal activity, and the defendant clearly crossed it, Gary Restaino, the United States attorney for the district of Arizona, said in a statement.
Just about every election cycle, theres an argument for why, this time, things might be different  different from expectations based on historical trends and key factors like the state of the economy or the presidents approval rating.

The arguments are often pretty plausible. After all, every cycle is different. Theres almost always something unprecedented about a given election year  in just the last few cycles, the pandemic, the first female presidential major party nominee and the first Black president were all truly novel. Theres always a way to spin up a rationale for why old rules wont apply.

In the end, history usually prevails. Thats a good thing to keep in mind right now as Democrats show strength that seems entirely at odds with the long history of the struggles of the presidents party in midterm elections.
Delaware has just one contested primary for a statewide office on the ballot on Tuesday: the Democratic race for auditor of accounts, an unheralded position whose holder is responsible for supervising the states use of taxpayer money. But the campaign is not lacking in drama.

Kathleen K. McGuiness, the incumbent, is facing a primary challenge from Lydia York, a lawyer and former corporate accountant. Ms. York received the state Democratic Partys endorsement this summer after Ms. McGuiness was found guilty by a jury of misdemeanors related to hiring her daughter and payments to a consulting firm that had worked on one of her past political campaigns. The winner will face Janice Lorrah, a Republican.

Unlike felony convictions, misdemeanor convictions do not disqualify people from holding public office in Delaware, according to a Delaware Supreme Court ruling issued last year in a case unrelated to Ms. McGuiness.
In an email she sent to colleagues and friends of the family on Tuesday, Mrs. Starr called her husband a brilliant, kind and loving man who, despite what his critics said, did not have a mean bone in his body and was a friend to everyone he met.

Ever since law school, he was determined to fight for the rule of law, and he labored tirelessly to provide equal justice and religious freedom around the world, she wrote. Ken felt compelled to always respond to the call to serve his country, even when it meant enduring harsh criticism for his service. He was courageous and determined to work for a fair and just outcome no matter the task, and he never responded in kind to hurtful libel or slander.

Mr. Starr was a mentor and boss to many future legal stars, including Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who worked for him in Ronald Reagans administration, and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who worked in the independent counsels office.

Both of them issued statements on Tuesday mourning his passing. Ken loved our country and served it with dedication and distinction, Chief Justice Roberts said. He led by example, in the legal profession, public service, and the community.

Justice Kavanaugh added: Fiercely devoted to the Constitution and to the United States, Judge Starr was a great lawyer, judge, scholar, and teacher.
WASHINGTON  Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina introduced legislation on Tuesday that would institute a federal ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, reigniting debate on an issue that Republicans have worked to confront before midterm elections in which abortion rights have become a potent issue.

There is no chance that Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, would allow such a bill to receive a vote in the Senate, where his party has been focused on preserving abortion access after the Supreme Courts ruling in June ending the constitutional right to abortion.

And the proposal quickly divided Republicans, splitting their leaders and reflecting the difficult politics of abortion for the party in the wake of the Supreme Courts decision.
The committee is requesting that the agency conduct an urgent review of presidential records from the Trump administration to identify any presidential records or categories of presidential records, whether textual or electronic, that NARA has reason to believe may still be outside of the agencys custody and control, Ms. Maloney wrote, referring to the National Archives and Records Administration. Please also assess any other limitations on the completeness, accuracy and accessibility of presidential records provided to NARA by the Trump administration.

The letter asked the archives to complete an initial assessment and provide its findings to the committee by Sept. 27.

Ms. Maloney also requested that the archives seek a personal certification from Donald Trump that he has surrendered all presidential records that he illegally removed from the White House after leaving office.

The archives confirmed on Tuesday that it had received the letter but declined to comment further.

The federal government tried and failed for more than a year and a half to retrieve classified and sensitive documents from Mr. Trump before resorting on Aug. 8 to a search of his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, according to government documents and statements by his lawyers.
Republicans in the Granite State are selecting their choices to challenge Senator Maggie Hassan, a Democrat, and two Democratic members of Congress. Heres what to know about voting in the state:

How to vote

If you are not registered to vote in New Hampshire, its not too late to participate in Tuesdays primary contests, thanks to the states same-day voter registration law.

To register at your nearest polling location, dont forget to bring a document to prove your citizenship, like a passport or a birth certificate, in addition to a document proving that you live in New Hampshire. That can be a New Hampshire drivers license with your current address, a utility bill or many other forms of proof. More information about registering to vote can be found here.

Not sure if youre registered? You can check here.

Polls in New Hampshire are open until at least 7 p.m. Some towns offer later hours. You can find out when your nearest polling location is open by entering your home address here.
The money is also given secretly through Russian Embassy accounts and resources, the document said.

In one Asian country, the Russian ambassador gave millions of dollars in cash to a presidential candidate, the document said. U.S. agencies have also found that Russia has used false contracts and shell companies in several European countries in recent years to give money to political parties.

Some of Russias covert political financing methods are especially prevalent in certain parts of the world, the document said. It added, Russia has relied on state-owned enterprises and large firms to move funds covertly across a number of regions including Central America, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and on think tanks and foundations that are especially active across Europe.

As of last year, the document said, a Russian business figure was trying to use pro-Russian think tanks in Europe to support far-right nationalist parties. The document warned that in the coming months, Russia might use its covert influence tool kit, including secret political financing, across broad swaths of the globe to try to undermine the American-led sanctions on Russia and to maintain its influence in these regions amid its ongoing war in Ukraine.

Although U.S. intelligence agencies have been studying Russian global election interference and influence for years, the intelligence review was ordered by senior administration officials this summer, U.S. officials said. Some of the findings were recently declassified so they could be shared widely. The review did not examine Russian interference in U.S. elections, which intelligence agencies had been scrutinizing in other inquiries, a U.S. official said.

Officials say one aim of the U.S. campaign to reveal details about Russian political interference and influence is to strengthen democratic resilience around the world, a pillar of President Bidens foreign policy. Administration officials are focused on ensuring that nations that took part in last years Summit for Democracy, which Mr. Biden held in Washington, can buttress their democratic systems. The administration plans to convene a second summit soon.

The State Department summary listed measures that the United States and partner nations could take to mitigate Russias political interference campaigns, including imposing economic sanctions and travel bans on known financial enablers and influence actors.
WASHINGTON  Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, plans to transfer $15 million from his campaign account to the Democratic Senate campaign effort as well as to several of the partys key candidates, according to a Democrat with knowledge of his plans.

The infusion of cash comes as Mr. Schumer appears comfortable in his re-election bid in New York. Now he will redeploy his financial resources in the closing weeks of the midterm campaigns to help him hang on to his job as majority leader.

Keeping and growing the Democratic majority in the Senate is my top priority, Mr. Schumer said in a statement.
A woman whose DNA from a rape kit was used by the police to arrest her in connection with an unrelated property crime last year filed a federal lawsuit against the city of San Francisco on Monday, saying that the Police Department had engaged in an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.

The DNA of the woman, who is identified only as Jane Doe in the lawsuit filed in federal court, was provided to the police in 2016 as part of its investigation into her sexual assault, the lawsuit states. About five years later, however, officers used that DNA to charge her with retail theft, her lawyer, Adante Pointer, said in an interview on Monday.

Without her knowledge or consent, Mr. Pointer said, her DNA was placed into a database that was used to identify people as possible suspects in other crimes  a practice that the San Francisco Police Department repeated with other sexual assault victims. The Board of Supervisors in San Francisco approved an ordinance this year that prohibits the Police Department from identifying suspects by using DNA from a rape kit.
The question confronting China is whether to double down or let Russia navigate the setbacks on its own. Both strategies carry risks, and most experts expect China to choose a middle path of continued economic support without openly circumventing sanctions or providing outright military assistance.

China, which has avoided describing Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a war, appears to be tempering its bets. When Mr. Xis second-highest-ranking deputy, Li Zhanshu, met with Mr. Putin in Russia last week, Chinese state media emphasized the two countries shared admiration but steered clear of overt advocacy for Russias actions in Ukraine.

Chinas official Xinhua news agency said Mr. Li has told Mr. Putin that, political mutual trust, strategic coordination and pragmatic cooperation between the two countries have reached an unprecedented level.

Xinhua made no mention of Ukraine, even as Russia state media claimed Beijing backed the invasion, portraying Mr. Li as having said that China understands and supports Russia particularly on the situation in Ukraine.

China keeps avoiding military involvement in any degree in Russias war and will continue to do so, especially when the Russians have been in a drastic failure situation in the field, said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing. Chinas diplomatic and political support or sympathy will not really help them, though dramatic purchases of their energy since April help a little non-militarily.

Mr. Putin, who describes his war as part of a battle against nefarious Western powers that threaten Russias very existence, appears to find Chinas middle ground vexing. He suggested as much last week in describing the long-running negotiations for a new pipeline that could allow Russia to export more Siberian natural gas to China rather than Europe  a matter of critical importance to Moscow as Europe rushes to reduce energy imports from Russia.
Russia and Armenia are part of a Moscow-led military alliance whose charter stipulates that an attack against one member would be treated as an attack against all. Russia has maintained military bases in Armenia for decades and has had up to 2,000 troops deployed as peacekeepers in the disputed region since 2020.

Yet Azerbaijan was in a relative position of strength, militarily and politically, after its successes in the war of 2020, Mr. de Waal said. He cited Bakus signing of a nonaggression pact with Russia, its success getting diplomatic support from Turkey, and its role supplying the European Union with gas as Russian gas comes under pressure from sanctions.

Azerbaijanis, they still have unfinished business with the Armenians, he said. And right now they feel that they are in a superior position to use both diplomacy and force to get those things.

The outbreak of clashes in the Caucasus is an added test for Russia, Mr. de Waal said in an interview Tuesday.

When Russia is flat on its back because of a new Ukraine offensive, he said, do they want to commit themselves to defending Armenia and alienating Azerbaijan?

Baku has increased leverage with Russia as Moscow seeks alternative energy and trade transit routes with Iran and Asia, as well as with Europe, Laurence Broers, associate fellow at the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House in London, wrote on Twitter. He predicted that clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia would continue.
Russias foreign ministry said it had brokered a renewed cease-fire that came into effect midmorning on Tuesday and called on both sides to exercise restraint and observe the agreements that ended the 2020 war.

The president is naturally making every effort to help de-escalate tensions at the border, Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlins spokesman, told reporters Tuesday, referring to Mr. Putin. These efforts are ongoing.

Mr. Pashinyan also talked with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken by phone, and appealed for an adequate reaction from the international community to the aggression launched by Azerbaijan against the sovereign territory of Armenia, the Armenian government statement said.

Mr. Blinken said in a statement that there can be no military solution to the conflict. He added, We urge an end to any military hostilities immediately.

Mr. Pashinyan also held telephone conversations with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, and other leaders, the Armenian government said.

Russia and Armenia are part of a Moscow-led military alliance whose charter stipulates that an attack against one member should be perceived as an aggression against all. Russia also has a military base in Armenia.
LONDON  As news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II reverberated through the world, a headline over the weekend puzzled many on social media: The Daily Mails exclusive that the royal beekeeper has informed the Queens bees that the Queen has died.

Did bees need to be told about human affairs? Would they have any sort of opinion on the matter?

But some beekeepers, backed by folklore historians, say telling the bees is a standard practice that goes back centuries, with potentially grave consequences if not followed.
In the years since she began her long life of public service, my mother saw Northern Ireland pass through momentous and historic changes, Charles said. Through all those years, she never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and for its people, whose stories she knew, whose sorrows our family had felt, and for whom she had a great affection and regard.

The kings visit comes at a politically fraught moment in Northern Ireland, amid a political stalemate that has seen the breakdown of a power-sharing agreement between unionist and nationalist parties on either side of the sectarian divide. The impasse has lasted for months, in part because of a debate over Brexit provisions.

The trip was Charless 40th to Northern Ireland but his first as monarch. Queen Elizabeth visited Northern Ireland a number of times throughout her reign. One of the most memorable visits was in 2012, during her Diamond Jubilee tour, when she shook hands in Belfast with Martin McGuinness, former commander of the Irish Republican Army. The handshake was seen as a significant gesture for both of them, and an affirmation of the peace process.
Russia has the right to plunge Ukraine into the stone age, wrote Oleg Tsaryov, a pro-Russian former deputy of the Ukrainian Parliament who fled the country in 2014.

Others accused the Russian military leadership of poor strategy and coordination for the defeats, which have led Russia to yield hundreds of square miles of occupied territory within days. Some suggested the best course was now to sue for peace.

Though the Kremlin has taken measures to bring in more recruits, analysts say Mr. Putin has strained to avoid the sort of mass mobilization that helped fuel a backlash against previous conflicts such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

After the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government introduced a law that effectively bans all public discussion of the war that deviates from the official interpretation of events. So far, those charged or punished have mostly been pro-Western liberals.
Russian forces began their invasion of Ukraine more than six months ago. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions of Ukrainians have fled and the country has sustained tens of billions of dollars worth of damage.

Here is an overview of the war that highlights one key development for each month since the invasion began on Feb. 24.

February

Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, from the north in an attempt to overthrow President Volodymyr Zelenskys government. With Ukrainian troops outgunned and outnumbered, many military experts expected the attack to succeed swiftly. But after weeks of fighting, Russia retreated, stymied by ferocious Ukrainian resistance. Evidence of atrocities emerged in the wake of the retreat.
A proposal to ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy would stop short of some states limits on the procedure but would upend the longtime standard in most others.

Such a ban would come early in the second trimester, before common screenings for certain health conditions and several weeks before a fetus is considered viable.

Where abortion bans fall on the timeline of pregnancy Weeks after the first day of last menstrual period States with full abortion bans Ala.Ark.IdahoInd.*Ky.La.Miss.Mo.Okla.S.D.Tenn.TexasWis. 1 2 Fertilization 3 4 5 Positive pregnancy test 6 6-week bans Ga.Ohio 7 8 9 10 Chorionic villus sampling can find some abnormalities 11 12 First trimester screening can detect some possible abnormalities 13 14 Second trimester 15 15-week bans Proposed federal banAriz.*Fla. 16 Amniocentesis can find some abnormalities 17 18 18-week ban Utah Second trimester screening can detect some possible abnormalities 19 20 20-week ban N.C. A high-resolution ultrasound can detect some abnormalities 21 22 22-week bans IowaKan.Neb.N.D.S.C.W.Va. 23 24 Fetus is considered viable 25 24-week bans Mass.Nev.N.H.Pa. 26 27 States that prohibit abortion after viability Calif.Conn.Del.HawaiiIll.MaineMd.Mich.Minn.Mont.N.Y.R.I.Va.Wash.Wyo. 28 Third trimester 29 30 31 32 33 34 States with no limits on abortion AlaskaColo.D.C.N.J.N.M.Ore.Vt. 35 36 37 Fetus is considered early term 38 39 Fetus is considered full term 40 Weeks after the first day of last menstrual period 1 2 Fertilization States with full abortion bans Ala.Ark.IdahoInd.*Ky.La.Miss.Mo.Okla.S.D.Tenn.TexasWis. 3 4 5 Positive pregnancy test 6 6-week bans Ga.Ohio 7 8 9 10 Chorionic villus sampling can find some abnormalities 11 12 First trimester screening can detect some possible abnormalities 13 14 Second trimester 15 15-week bans Ariz.*Fla.Proposed federal ban 16 Amniocentesis can find some abnormalities 17 18 18-week ban Utah Second trimester screening can detect some possible abnormalities 19 20 A high-resolution ultrasound can detect some abnormalities 20-week ban N.C. 21 22 22-week bans IowaKan.Neb.N.D.S.C.W.Va. 23 24 Fetus is considered viable 25 24-week bans Mass.Nev.N.H.Pa. 26 27 States that prohibit abortion after viability Calif.Conn.Del.HawaiiIll.MaineMd.Mich.Minn.Mont.N.Y.R.I.Va.Wash.Wyo. 28 Third trimester 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 States with no limits on abortion AlaskaColo.D.C.N.J.N.M.Ore.Vt. 36 37 Fetus is considered early term 38 39 Fetus is considered full term 40 *Indianas ban on abortion is set to take effect Sept. 15, and Arizonas 15-week ban is set to take effect Sept. 24. Data for other states shows their status as of Sept. 13. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

After the Supreme Courts decision to end a constitutional right to an abortion, many states have moved to bar the procedure earlier in pregnancy or to ban it outright, though several of the strictest bans remain tied up in court. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina introduced legislation for a federal 15-week ban on Tuesday, though the bill is considered unlikely to pass in the current Congress.

Under the standard set by Roe v. Wade and later reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood v. Casey  both of which the Supreme Court overturned in June  abortions were protected until a fetus was viable, usually at 22 to 24 weeks gestation. About half of states still follow that standard.

The overwhelming majority of abortions in the United States occur in the first trimester, but 36,000 abortions occurred after 14 weeks of gestation in 2019, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
These 97 Members of Congress Reported Trades in Companies Influenced by Their Committees

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At least 97 current members of Congress bought or sold stock, bonds or other financial assets that intersected with their congressional work or reported similar transactions by their spouse or a dependent child, an analysis by The New York Times has found.

U.S. lawmakers are not banned from investing in any company, including those that could be affected by their decisions. But the trading patterns uncovered by the Times analysis underscore longstanding concerns about the potential for conflicts of interest or use of inside information by members of Congress, government ethics experts say.

Times reporters analyzed transactions between 2019 and 2021 using a database of members financial filings called Capitol Trades created by 2iQ Research. They matched the trades against relevant committee assignments and the dates of hearings and congressional investigations.

When contacted, many of the lawmakers said the trades they reported had been carried out independently by a spouse or a broker with no input from them. Some have since sold all their stocks or moved them into blind trusts. Two said the trades were accidental.

Heres everything The Timess analysis turned up.

Got a confidential news tip? The New York Times would like to hear from readers who want to share messages and materials with our journalists. Learn more.

Show me: All Democrats Republicans Senators Representatives Most frequent traders Highest rate of potential conflicts Traded during an investigation Said trades were unintentional Said they later sold all stocks Opened or opening blind trust Top congressional leaders
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A MOYROSS monk bravely broke up a fight after a man was being punched and kicked on the ground.

Video footage of the incident which took place on Saturday in Moyross has been widely shared on social media.

In the clip, two males can be seen fighting on a green area before one is knocked down and onto the road. There are a number of onlookers and many shouts of "Fair go".

While on the ground the prone man is punched and kicked until the monk steps in. The member of the Community of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFR) ushers the aggressor away. In a sign of the respect that the monks are held in Moyross, the assailant immediately complies.

Limerick Live reports that it contacted St Patrick's Friary in Delmege Park, Moyross, regarding the incident.

Following a query to the Garda Press Office, a spokesperson said: "There are no reported incidents matching the given description recorded on our system at this time."

A relatively new order, the 'Monks of Moyross' as they are colloquially known, swapped the tough streets of the Bronx in New York City to set up a mission in the housing estate in 2007.

It was the former Bishop of Limerick Dr Donal Murrays relationship with one of the founders of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, the late Fr Benedict Joseph Groeschel which helped bring the order to Limerick  in doing so, creating their first mission outside of America and Britain.

They have been welcomed with open arms in Moyross and Limerick as a whole.
A criminal investigation has been launched into a car fire which left two children dead and their mother seriously injured in Co Westmeath.

Lynn Egar remains in a hospital in Dublin after she was pulled from the burning car by a passer-by on Friday.

Her five-year-old daughter Thelma and two-year-old son Michael both died in the incident.

The car went up in flames while on a rural road at Lacken, Multyfarnham.

Post-mortem examinations on the bodies of both children by the state pathologist Dr Sally Ann Collis have concluded.

Gardai will not release the results of the post-mortems for operational reasons.

The Garda Technical Bureau is continuing to forensically examine the car.

Ms Egar, aged in her 40s, continues to be treated for serious, but non-life threatening, injuries in hospital.

Gardai have appealed to anyone with any information in relation to the incident to contact them.

A Garda family liaison officer continues to keep the family updated, gardai said.

On Monday, Taoiseach Micheal Martin extended his deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the two young children.

Speaking in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, Mr Martin said: Were all deeply conscious of the terrible tragedy that happened at nearby Multyfarnham where two young little children, Michael and Thelma, passed away in the most tragic of circumstances.

To their family, their classmates, their teachers we extend our deepest sympathies at this very, very traumatic time for the entire community.

A vigil took place on Sunday in memory of the two children.

Around 500 people took part in the vigil in the village of Multyfarnham, which was attended by school teachers, parents and children and members of the wider community.

Some carried candles and framed pictures of the victims.

Those who took part walked from Michaels pre-school, Children of Lir, to St Cremins National School where Thelma was a pupil, on Sunday evening.

Fr John OBrien, of Multyfarnham Franciscan Abbey, said there is a deep sadness in the village.

There is a terrible feeling of sadness, like a cloud coming down on us. There is a feeling of being dazed and confused, what do we say? How do we come to terms with this? Fr OBrien told RTE Morning Ireland.

This sense of unreality we have to face this terrible tragedy.

Did this really happen? The two little kids are dead. There is an overwhelming feeling of sadness, disbelief and not being able to find the words.

People are meeting informally. Mothers are talking about it and they are worried about their kids going to school and how they will face the news.

It will be hard on the teachers and very hard on the little ones who have to face this sense of grief and loss.

I cant find the words, but just sitting with someone and listening to how they feel and their confusion, in that way we create a healing spirit between us.

We have to do that and do it for each other in the community. We are in shock, it is simply unbelievable.

We dont have a magic wand to take away the tears, we have to sit and be with somebody. It is a lonely time for everybody.

It has been a tremendous shock.

Karl Dermody, principal of St Cremins, said the school community had been devastated by the loss.

In a short statement, Mr Dermody described Thelma as warm, happy and vibrant. The school reopened on Monday.

Gardai are appealing for anyone who was in the Lacken area on Friday between 2pm and 4pm and has any video footage to make it available to the investigation team.

Officers also urged anyone with information to contact Mullingar Garda Station on 044 9384000, or contact the Garda confidential line on 1800 666111 or any Garda station.
The Queens coffin will make a poignant journey to Buckingham Palace on Tuesday while the King will travel to Northern Ireland for the first time as monarch.

Thousands of members of the public moved solemnly past the oak coffin through the night as it stood on public view for 24 hours at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Charles, on his Operation Spring Tide tour around the UK with the Queen Consort, will leave Scotland and head to Belfast before returning to London in the evening.

Members of the public are already queueing for the Queens lying in state at Westminster Hall, which opens on Wednesday, and thousands are still placing floral tributes in Green Park.

Mourners have been asked by Royal Parks not to leave marmalade sandwiches  a nod to the Queens comedy sketch with Paddington Bear  for fear of a negative effect on wildlife.

At 6pm, the Queen will depart Scotland for the last time.

Her coffin will be flown from Edinburgh Airport to London on an RAF Globemaster C-17 flight, accompanied by her daughter the Princess Royal.

The King will be joined by Camilla as he receives his mothers coffin at Buckingham Palace, where she spent so many of her decades as sovereign.

The Prince and Princess of Wales will also be at the Palace.

A guard of honour formed of three officers and 96 soldiers from The Kings Guard will be mounted in the Quadrangle.

Military commands, usually shouted, will be given as quietly as possible in honour of the solemn occasion.

The coffin will be carried by a bearer party to the Bow Room where a sovereigns piper will play a lament.

It will remain in the Bow Room overnight before a procession on Wednesday to Westminster Hall for the start of the lying in state.

The Kings visit to Northern Ireland earlier in the day comes ahead of a trip to Wales later in the week.

After touching down in Belfast, Charles and Camilla are to travel to Hillsborough Castle in Co Down, the royal residence in Northern Ireland, for several engagements.

They will hold a private audience with the new Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, as well as meeting representatives of political parties in the region.

The couple will then receive a message of condolence on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland from the speaker of the Stormont Assembly Alex Maskey.

They will then go to a reception at the castle, hosted by Mr Heaton-Harris, which some members of the public will also attend.

Charles and Camilla will then travel to St Annes Cathedral in Belfast where they will attend a service of reflection for the life of the Queen.

The new monarch will also meet leaders from all the major faiths in Northern Ireland.

Before leaving, Charles and Camilla will undertake a walkabout at Writers Square.

Although the square will be closed to the public, people are being invited to line the route to Hillsborough Castle and the route to the cathedral.

The royal couple will travel along Main Street and Lisburn Street in Hillsborough before heading to Belfast along Wellington Place, Donegall Square North, Chichester Street and Victoria Street.

Irish President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina, Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney are due to attend the memorial service at St Annes Cathedral.

Both Houses of Parliament gathered at Westminster Hall in London on Monday to express their condolences to the new monarch, and Charles promised faithfully to follow the example set by his mother.

Later, the King led the royal family in a procession behind the Queens coffin in Edinburgh as it was taken from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin said he favours energy credits rather than a price cap to tackle rising energy costs, saying it is an effective way help the general population.

He said supports for businesses and further targeted measures to help those at risk of energy poverty will form part of a comprehensive range of measures needed to tackle the energy crisis this winter.

Schools and other entities that provide public services will also need help paying very high bills, Mr Martin said.

We also have to work collectively on demand reduction because that will reduce costs and prices, and we have to be clear about that also, he said on RTEs Morning Ireland programme.

Mr Martin said Russia is weaponising food, energy and migration in retaliation for the EUs support of Ukraine, which Russian forces invaded in February.

Asked about which approach he would prefer between credits and caps, he said: I favour the credit approach along with other approaches which we have executed in relation to earlier cost-of-living packages, not a cap.

There are huge questions around the cap. Who ultimately pays for it and over what time frame? We do have tried-and-trusted ways that we can get money to people quickly in order to meet bills.

Transport minister Eamon Ryan said a further electricity credit will be available to people before Christmas.

When asked about the rotation of the Taoiseach and Tanaiste roll in December as part of the coalition arrangement, and whether Fianna Fail will take the finance portfolio, Mr Martin said: Yes.

Fine Gaels Paschal Donohoe is currently minister for finance, with Fianna Fails Michael McGrath holding the public expenditure ministry.

Asked whether a swap between the two ministers will happen even if it means Ireland loses the presidency of the Eurogroup, a role Mr Donohoe holds, Mr Martin said: Ive read all about that, no one has approached me about that yet.

But the bottom line is the cohesion of the government really does depends on parity of esteem between all the parties and respect across the board.
Jack Charles, also known as Uncle Jack Charles, was an Aboriginal Australian stage and screen actor, known for his advocacy for Aboriginal people. He was involved in establishing the first Indigenous theatre in Australia, co-founding Nindethana Theatre with Bob Maza in 1971. His film credits include the Australian film The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), among others, and more recently appeared in TV series Cleverman (2016) and Preppers (2021).
An Acadieville man who owes the nurse he assaulted $1.3 million walked out of court Monday after warning he was on the verge of hurting others.
Eurasia Review 15 Sep 2022

By Jim Garamone



Ukraines success in its counteroffensive against the Russian invasion did not surprise its allies and..
More than three quarters of a million people will try to visit Westminster for the lying-in-state with British authorities forecasting queues could extend for up to eight kilometres.
King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, have spent time speaking with members of the public who turned out in Belfast to catch a glimpse of their new monarch.
Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers exchanged artillery fire near Nagorno-Karabakh, prompting fears of escalation similar to the 2020 war. Both sides blamed each other for the initial provocations.
The defendant confessed to the murder in the town of Idar-Oberstein, where he shot a 20-year-old gas station worker who asked him to comply with a requirement to wear a face mask.
King Charles III has been visiting Northern Ireland on the latest leg of his tour after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Meanwhile, police are facing criticism over their treatment of anti-monarchy protesters.
A former soldier who waited more than 12 hours to view the Queen's coffin in Edinburgh has said he was "prepared to wait even longer" and that it was an experience he would never forget.
Lauded by some as the father of Indigenous Australian theatre, Charles had an extraordinary career.
OK! Magazine 14 Sep 2022

King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla visited Ireland and were greeted with fans who wished to pay their respects to Queen..
Belfast Telegraph 13 Sep 2022

They could well have been eaten by now by the monarch who often skips lunch. When King Charles III and the Queen Consort landed in..
The Namibian opposition is demanding the renegotiation of a controversial genocide deal between Namibia and Germany. But, the German government rejects these demands, which leads to even more resentment in Namibia.
Meet the first few people in line to see Queen Elizabeth II when she lies in state in Westminster Hall ahead of her funeral on Monday.


As many in around the world mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II, British officials and the country's royalty are preparing for the queen's funeral.


The Department of Justice said Monday that it supports the appointment of Raymond Dearie, a former chief federal judge in New York, to be special master.
The White House is negotiating with unions in an attempt to avoid a national railroad strike, the first in the last three decades, as protesters demand more than just money. President Joe Biden is in talks with union leaders to address their demands of better working conditions.
Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin blasted his state's Democrats for their "desperate" attacks on his campaigning in support for GOP candidates across America.
Residents of southern Sydney, Australia have been in a long-term battle over garbage -- humans want to throw it out, and cockatoos want to eat it. The sulphur-crested cockatoos that call the area home have a knack for getting into garbage bins, and people have been using inventive devices to keep them out.
People have already arrived to queue for the Queens lying in state in London  two days before the line opens.
Succession writer Jesse Armstrong said it had been a big week for successions as his hit HBO drama scooped a top prize at the 74th Emmy Awards.
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This report, which covers developments affecting the freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly in Tajikistan for..

Eurasia Review 15 Sep 2022
Daily Record 14 Sep 2022

Workers at Clarence House were reportedly "livid and shaken" after finding out that they could be left unemployed.
The queue for those wishing to pay their respects to the Queen could stretch all the way to Southwark Park in south-east London, according to the Government plan.
60 years after John F. Kennedy's famed moonshot speech, President Joe Biden spoke at the Kennedy Presidential Library and urged Americans to come together for a new "national purpose" - his administration's effort to end cancer "as we know it." (Sept. 12)


Nearly half of the country's governors, all Republican, have signed off on a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to withdraw his student loan forgiveness plan
As Russian troops were retreating in northeastern Ukraine amid a fierce counter-offensive by Kyiv, Muscovites were celebrating the 875th anniversary of the city's founding. Fireworks boomed, and President Vladimir Putin inaugurated...
US leaders from President Joe Biden on down are being careful not to declare a premature victory after a Ukrainian offensive forced Russian troops into a messy retreat in the north. Instead, military officials are looking towards...
Pakistan scrambled to deliver aid to those most in need on Tuesday as the death toll from record-breaking floods rose further, with no respite in sight from the unprecedented monsoon rains.
Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

The 300 largest pension funds in the world saw their assets under management (AUM) increase by 8.9% to a record $23.6 trillion in 2021, said a study.

According to a report from the Willis Towers Watson (WTW)'s Thinking Ahead Institute, while total AUM has reached record highs, growth has slowed from 11.5% in 2020 to 8.9% in 2021. This was to be expected after a very strong performance in asset markets over 2020; however, the latest performance is enough to take five-year cumulative growth to 50.2% in the period between 2016 and 2021.

The not-for-profit group - which was founded by WTW said that North America now accounts for 45.6% of assets of the 300 largest pension funds, up from 41.7% at the end of 2020. European pension funds account for 25.9%, and Asia-Pacific for 25.5%, with the remaining 4% from Latin America and Africa.

North America's increased global share was largely powered by the fastest annualized growth in invested assets, up 9.2%, followed by Europe (+8.3%), Asia Pacific (+8.0%), and Latin America and Africa (+3.9%) during the same period.

The U.S. now accounts for 39.6% of the top 300 pension fund AuM and has almost half the funds in the ranking, with 148. After the U.S., the countries with the largest number of pension funds in the ranking are the U.K. (23), Canada (18), Australia (15), the Netherlands (12), and Japan (11).

Since 2016, a total of 37 new funds have entered the ranking, with the U.S. accounti......................

To view our full article Click here
Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

Swedish private equity firm EQT has raised a new 2.4bn ($2.43bn) fund, the largest first-time growth fund based in Europe.

Total commitments include funds raised from EQT employees and the EQT Network, which are not fee-generating, according to an announcement from the GP.

"Final close above EUR 2 billion target underlines the attractiveness of EQT Growth's thematic and active approach to investing in European growth-stage tech firms," said a press release from the Stockholm-based global investment organization.

Investment in European technology companies has grown vastly, increasing from around USD 20 billion in 2017 to over USD 100 billion in 2021, but European-based investors only made up 30 percent of investors in growth-stage rounds in 2021.

Targetting a ticket size between 50 million to 200 million, the fund will back strong management teams of companies supported by secular macro trends primarily within four tech sub-sectors - enterprise, con/prosumer, health, and climate. It will explore opportunities at the point where companies have achieved product-market fit and are taking the next step to scale.

The Fund, which still has over two-thirds of capital available, has made seven investments to date and already includes some of Europe's most innovative companies in its portfolio, such as Epidemic Sound, Mambu, and Vinted.

"With a team based in five countries across Europe, EQT Growth's local presence ensures dire......................

To view our full article Click here
On the morning of June 4, in the community of Bia Recuate, the territory of the last Indigenous warrior people contacted in the Bolivian Amazon, celebrated news that renewed their hopes. First, a Yuqui woman gave birth to her baby through a natural delivery performed in safe conditions at the Mariposas Health Center. Like many other members of her tribe who have seen hundreds of their people die of chronic diseases in the last decade, this young woman attended all her medical appointments. Then, when the time came, she traveled to a medical center in the municipality of Tropico de Cochabamba to give birth. Some women travel hundreds of kilometers to check themselves into a hospital to avoid complications that would take their babies away.

The Yuqui people are one of the smallest Indigenous tribes in Bolivia, with approximately 400 members grouped in 50 families (35 of these families live in Bia Recuate, and 15 are nomads). In 2013, the government declared them a highly vulnerable tribe in danger of extinction. Since they were first contacted, the Yuqui tribe has been under much pressure. First, the process of evangelization that started in the 1960s changed their way of life as hunters and gatherers. Later came the threats over their territory from illegal loggers and diseases such as anemia, tuberculosis, and lung mycosis, which contributed to the decimation of its population. Several of these evils resulted from adverse settlement conditions: inadequate access to safe drinking water, no basic sanitation, and insufficient food. Before their first contact with the outside world, the Yuqui population had around 2000 people, living in small, itinerant family groups.

"People tell us the Yuqui are just a few; the Yuqui have all died, and although we are a small tribe, we are not afraid of anything. So whatever we do, we always make headway because even though our grandparents were few, they weren't afraid," says Lucia Isategua, the town's current chief.

The town s chief, Lucia Isategua. Photo: Nicole Vargas.

For the Yuqui people, the emergence of COVID-19 in their territory in March 2020 brought many health complications. Nearly all of the members of the tribe were infected with the new coronavirus, including three health workers at Bia Recuate. However, anthropologist Ely Linares, the technical consultant at the Yuqui Indigenous Council, said in a March report that most of those who fell ill recovered from the disease. The only fatality was an older adult from the community of Bia Recuate who died of complications with other ailments.

More than two years later, a team of journalists from Opinion has traveled here to report on the tireless struggle of this Amazonian tribe to avoid their extinction.

DISEASE AND DEATH

For a Yuqui community member, there is no worse news than a tuberculosis diagnosis, even if health workers say it is better to be told sooner rather than later and start the treatment immediately. Forty percent of the Yuqui population has contracted tuberculosis. According to data from the Bia Recuate Health Center, the most deaths per year occur after complications of tuberculosis such as respiratory failure, fibrosis, and severe anemia.

It took some time for health workers to help the Yuqui people understand that tuberculosis is an infectious disease spread by bacteria (Kochs bacillus) through saliva drops when someone coughs, sneezes, speaks or sings. Likewise, it took them years for families to comprehend that the best thing they could do for their sick relatives was to get them to the doctor early on and make sure they took medication.

A group of Yuqui people gathered around the community kitchen to share food.

"If I hadn't agreed to go to the hospital, I would have died because I was bleeding from my mouth," says Ricardo Isategua. Unfortunately, that was not the first time his family had come face-to-face with the disease. A few years ago, his wife Lucia, the current chief, had to be admitted to the Viedma Hospital in Cochabamba with severe tuberculosis symptoms.

Currently, some thirteen members of the tribe are taking medication to treat tuberculosis. In recent years, the Yuqui people have been adapting to conventional medicine to control tuberculosis, explains David Ramiro, Acting Director of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Chimore.

However, this disease has left several children orphaned. For this reason, the Yuqui Indigenous Council created the Yiti Jitu Kia Childrens Center, which houses 35 children who lost their families to tuberculosis.

THE FEAR OF BEING ALONE

One of the tremendous sacrifices several Yuqui families have made to keep safe from COVID-19 has been to comply with the quarantine regulations and avoid contact with their sick relatives. The word eyebe, which means being alone in their language, represents one of the most feared situations for a Yuqui community member. However, the pandemic forced them to remain isolated to protect themselves individually and collectively.

As with many other Amazonian Indigenous people, the isolation brought by COVID-19 also generated a severe food crisis among the Yuqui people. As a result, during the first year of the pandemic, many families left their community for the city of Cochabamba and started begging in the streets.

A Yuqui hut. Photo: Nicole Vargas.

The Yuqui people overcame their initial doubts about COVID-19 vaccines for fear of their tribes disappearance; many of its members lined up at the Mariposas Health Center to get vaccinated. "We lined up to get the first dose of the vaccine because they said that if we didn't, we would die of COVID. What scared us the most was that my dad was vaccinated, and he almost died that night. Some people didn't want to get the vaccine," says Lucia Isategua.

Currently, in the Yuqui territory, the vaccination rate exceeds 70 percent.

THE SAFE WATER PROYECT

The Yuqui people walk about thirty minutes to the Chimore River to collect water to drink and to use for cooking and washing kitchen utensils and their clothes. Having access to clean water is an old claim by the community. The Governor of Cochabamba, Humberto Sanchez, has been aware of these claims. Still, he has directed them through the bureaucratic channels, arguing that the Mayors Office in Puerto Villarroel must present these to the local legislative assembly and the Chamber of Deputies for discussion.

Chief Lucia Isategua questions the fact that politicians so easily forget their speeches promising solidarity with their people. "I know this water is filthy, full of garbage and everything else (...) unfortunately, governments don't care about us because we don't speak Spanish very well. So we never get any of the help meant for us," says Isategua.

The communitys doctor, Grober Laime, says that consuming contaminated water will only perpetuate those diseases that the Yuqui people have suffered since childhood. "Every day, we see two or three patients with amebiasis for drinking contaminated water," he says.

* Nicole Vargas, Mariela Cossio, Melissa Revollo, Brenda Molina, and Santiago Espinoza contributed to this report.

This report is part of Historias Saludables, a training and support program for producing news stories about health and the environment, led by Salud con Lupa with the support of Internews.
Six dogs will be available for adoption Saturday at the annual Bark for Life event.

The Midland County Chapter of Relay for Life will host the second fundraising event of the year from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Central Park Bandshell, which is located on the corner of Collins and Rodd St. near Kings Daughters Home in Midland.

Its our way of celebrating our furry caregivers who play such an important role in healing, said Melissa Zanke-Detwiler with Relay for Life. (Pets) They always seem to know what a person needs. They listen without judgment and provide comfort beyond what a human can."

The goal of the event is to raise $1,000. The American Cancer Societys Bark For Life is a complementary event to the annual Relay For Life fundraising event, which raises money for cancer research, education and prevention efforts.

The activities will begin with a brief parade down Rodd Street to the Kings Daughters Home. Other offerings reflect the following schedule:

A blessing of the dogs from St. John's Episcopal Church in Midland

Dog adoptions available with Midland County Pit Stop

Brief parade on Rodd Street for residents at the nursing home

Enter pet to compete in several contests: Best Mardi Gras costume, Power in Purple, Best Trick, Best Kiss, Biggest Dog, Smallest Dog and Owner/Dog look-a-like

Silent auction

On site nail trimming opportunity with Studio 851 Pet Spa & Grooming LLC

Shopping vendors, which includes the following: Scentsy, Norwex, Thirty-One bags, Pure Romance, Mary Kay, Blue Bonnet, Sign Lady and Color Street

Photo Provided Gwen Drake

Photo Provided Gwen Drake

The Midland County Pit Stop will bring dogs available for adoption at the event. Bark for Life attendees interested in adopting through the organization are subjected to the application process, which is completed in various parts, including a background check and virtual home visit.

This is a new community opportunity for the Pit Stop, as Founder Gwen Drake said most collaborative events are hosted with a local business, rather than a nonprofit.

They've got a wonderful cause, as do we, and were worlds apart, said Drake. It's really nice that two nonprofits can come and work together for the common good.

The annual event honors dogs as caregivers and supporters of people who face a cancer diagnosis. Zanke-Detwiler added the Relay for Life organization is forever grateful to animal companions, who are a cancer patients superhero.

To celebrate, Relay for Life is throwing a party. This years theme of Mardi Gras continues. However, the theme will be adapted for the pooches as Pawdi Gras.

Attendees are encouraged to wear traditional colors, which are purple, green and gold.

Photo Provided American Cancer Society

Those who would like to attend should register for the event at bit.ly/3d6P0Rb. Registered participants with Relay for Life do not need to register for the Bark for Life event.

There is a limit of two dogs per registration. Event organizers will have a registration table for attendees to access during the event.

More information on the event can be viewed on Facebook. More information on Midland County Pit Stops adoption process can be found at midlandcountypitstop.org.
Andrew Mullin/Midland Daily News

The City of Midland announced that Eastlawn Drive will be closed to traffic from Abbott Road to Waldo Avenue on Wednesday, Sept. 14 as contractors do tree trimming.

Work is estimated to be completed and Eastlawn reopened to traffic by the end of the day Wednesday. A signed detour route for through traffic on Eastlawn will be posted.
MANISTEE  Summer is drawing to a close, but that doesnt mean an end of the festival season just yet. Manistee is sending off the season with the return of Hops & Props on the River this weekend.

The celebration, now in its 10th year, pairs Michigan craft beer (hops) with the nautical fun of boats and yachting (props).

People are invited to visit downtown Manistee on Saturday and drink their way through over 100 locally-crafted beverages from Michigans best breweries, wineries, cider houses and distillers, according to the Hops and Props website.

A highlight of the event is the Thoroughbred Round Up Boat Show, which features classic wooden Century Boats that were made in Manistee.

The Century Boat Club is welcoming all classic boats to the roundup at the Manistee Municipal Marina from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, according to club president and boat show chair Thomas Holmes.

This annual show features many Century boats built in Manistee from the late 1930s to the late 1980s, Holmes stated in an email to the News Advocate.

The boat show is free to attend and open to the public.

The hops portion of the event starts at 1 p.m. and attendees can purchase tickets at Manistee Beverage Company or online at MyNorthTickets.com for $30 in advance, or with an additional cost ($5 more) at the door.

Tickets come with an official 6-ounce Hops & Props glass and six drink tokens.

Hops & Props line-up of breweries, distilleries and wineries  Arbor Brewery

 Atwater Brewery

 Bell's Brewery

 Griffin Claw Brewery

 Farmhaus Cider

 Founders Brewery

 Grand Armory Brewery

 Leelanau Winery

 Ludington Bay Brewery

 New Holland Brewery

 Pigeon Hill Brewery

 Saugutuck Brewery

 St. Julian Winery

 Grand River Brewery

 Big Lake Brewery

 Middle Coast Brewing Co.

 Oddside Brewery

 Short's Brewery

 Old Nation Brewery

 Big Buck Brewery

 Northern Naturals Cider

 Brew Detroit

 Reed City Brewery

 Unruly Brewery

 Blake's Cider

 North Channel Brewery

 Long Road Distillery

 Foggy Mountain Distillery

 Iron Fish Distillery

 Great Mead Hall

 Mitten Brewing Co.

 Distant Whistle Brewhouse See More Collapse

Over 30 Michigan breweries, wineries and distilleries are participating in the beer-tasting celebration, according to Hops & Props committee chair Carrie Mosher.

A lot of the breweries wanted to come back again this year, so we didnt have any issues getting people to come, Mosher said.

Mosher hopes the 10th annual Hops & Props can build off the success of last years event.

It was a great turnout  and I think it was our biggest year as far as attendees go, she said. The Century Boat Club also had their biggest show ever in Manistee with the amount of boats that they had as well.

Food vendors and live music will also be a part of the event, which is presented by the Manistee Downtown Development Authority.

Designated drivers can purchase a separate wristband to gain entry for $5 and tickets for those under the 21 years old are also available at the door.

To sign up to volunteer or for more information, visit manisteehopsandprops.com.
Midland County added 195 COVID-19 cases and one death from Sept. 7-13, according to the State of Michigan's website on Tuesday.

COVID-19 numbers Sept. 7-13

Midland County added 195 cases and one death from Sept. 7-13. Overall, Midland County has 20,037 cases, 1,903 probable cases, 215 deaths and 24 probable deaths.

Bay County added 123 cases and three deaths. Overall, Bay County has 27,051 cases, 3,065 probable cases, 588 deaths and 36 probable deaths.

Gladwin County added 41 cases. Overall, Gladwin County has 5,339 cases, 910 probable cases, 115 deaths and eight probable deaths.

Isabella County added 63 cases. Overall, Isabella County has 14,434 cases, 2,664 probable cases, 200 deaths and 22 probable deaths.

Saginaw County added 284 cases and three deaths. Overall, Saginaw County has 51,863 cases, 4,795 probable cases, 930 deaths and 56 probable deaths.

Overall, Michigan is at 2,804,588 confirmed and probable cases and 38,317 confirmed and probable deaths.

Recovered

According to the Midland County Health Department website, 19,426 Midland County individuals have recovered from COVID. This data was last updated on Aug. 29.

Testing

Midland Countys seven-day rolling test positivity rate between Sept. 2-8 was listed at 18.4%, and Gladwin Countys was listed at 20.4%. Midland County and Gladwin County both have high community transmission.

Our 12-county region was listed at 19.4% and Michigan was at 19.1%.

Every household in the U.S. is eligible to order four free at-home COVID-19 tests for free. Orders will usually ship in 7-12 days. To place an order for at-home COVID tests, visit covidtests.gov.

Midland County vaccinations

Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are available at clinics administered by the health department at the Midland County Services Building, 220 W. Ellsworth St., Midland. The health department will vaccinate anyone who needs a first or second dose; those who need their second dose must bring their vaccination card.

Following FDA approval, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is urging all eligible Michiganders to get a Johnson & Johnson, Moderna or Pfizer booster vaccine if they have received their primary COVID-19 vaccines.

Following CDC approval, MDHHS is urging all eligible Michiganders aged 12 and up to get the Pfizer booster vaccine if they have received their two primary COVID-19 vaccines. Pfizer is the only authorized vaccine for under age 18. The Midland County Department of Public Health has vaccine booster shots available for children ages 5-11.

Michiganders should bring their COVID-19 vaccine card or immunization record with them when getting their booster dose, which is available at any vaccine provider. Downloadable immunization records are accessible free at the Michigan Immunization Portal. To obtain their record, Michiganders must create a MILogin account at Michigan.gov/MiImmsportal and upload a valid government issued photo ID such as a driver's license, state ID or passport. If you do not have records in the portal, contact your healthcare provider or local health department.

Future COVID-19 vaccine clinics in Midland County are listed at www.co.midland.mi.us/HealthDepartment/COVIDVaccineInformation.aspx. Those with questions may call 989-832-6380 or email MCDPH@co.midland.mi.us.
Photo Provided Four Lakes Task Force

More than $71.9 million in long-term recovery funds will come to Michigan communities from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The State of Michigan is asking for public feedback on how to address unmet needs following 2020 and 2021 disaster events in communities, including Midland and Gladwin.
NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (AP)  Pope Francis begged for an end to Russias senseless and tragic war in Ukraine as he arrived Tuesday in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan to join faith leaders from around the world in praying for peace.

Francis flew to the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan to meet with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for an official state visit portion of his three-day trip. On Wednesday and Thursday, he participates in a government-sponsored triennial interfaith meeting, which is gathering more than 100 delegations of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Shinto and other faith groups from 50 countries.

The 85-year-old Francis made the trip despite what appeared to be an aggravation of the strained knee ligaments that have greatly reduced his mobility all year. Francis struggled to walk through the aisle of the aircraft during the 6.5-hour flight from Rome, and he appeared tired and in pain as he limped heavily with his cane, ceding to a wheelchair for most events once in town. Doctors have told him that for the time being, any further travel  to Kyiv, for example  is out of the question.

Speaking upon his arrival to government authorities and diplomats gathered at the Qazaq concert hall, Francis praised Kazakhstans commitment to diversity and dialogue and its progress from decades of Stalinist repression, when Kazakhstan was the destination of hundreds of thousands of Soviet deportees.

Francis said the country, which borders Russia to the north and China to the east and is home to some 150 ethnic groups and 80 languages, now has a fundamental role to play in helping ease conflicts elsewhere.

Recalling that St. John Paul II visited Kazakhstan just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S., Francis said he was visiting in the course of the senseless and tragic war that broke out with the invasion of Ukraine.

I have come to echo the plea of all those who cry out for peace, which is the essential path to development for our globalized world, he said.

Directing himself at global superpowers, he said expanding efforts at diplomacy and dialogue were ever more important. And those who hold greater power in the world have greater responsibility with regard to others, especially those countries most prone to unrest and conflict.

Now is the time to stop intensifying rivalries and reinforcing opposing blocs, he said.

Tokayev didnt mention Ukraine specifically in his prepared remarks to Francis. But speaking in English, he referred in general terms about humanity being on an edge of an abyss as geopolitical tensions escalate, global economy suffers, and mushrooming religious and ethnic intolerance becomes the new normal.

Kazakhstan has had to walk a thin line with the war. Tokayev has vowed to respect Western sanctions against Russia while trying to maintain close ties with Moscow, an important economic partner and ally. At the same time, Tokayev refused to recognize the Russia-backed separatist peoples republics in Ukraine which Moscow recognized days before invading Ukraine.

The most noteworthy aspects of Francis visit to Kazakhstan might boil down to the missed opportunities with both Russia and China: Francis was supposed to have met with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church on the sidelines of the conference. But Patriarch Kirill, who has supported the war in Ukraine, canceled his trip last month.

Francis is also going to be in the Kazakh capital at the same time as Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is making his first foreign trip since early in the coronavirus pandemic.

The Vatican and China havent had diplomatic relations for a half century and the timing is somewhat tense, with the two sides finalizing the renewal of a controversial deal over the nominations of Catholic bishops in China.

The Vatican has said there were no current plans for any meeting between Xi and Francis while they were both in Kazakhstan and the Kazakh deputy foreign minister, Roman Vassilenko said he didnt believe there was time in Xis schedule to meet with Francis.

Asked about the possibility en route to Nur-Sultan, Francis said: I dont have any news about this. But I am always ready to go to China.

The interfaith congress, now in its seventh iteration, is a showpiece of Kazakhstans foreign policy and a reflection of its own multicultural and multiethnic population that has long been touted as a crossroads between East and West.

When St. John Paul II visited in 2001, 10 years after independence, he highlighted Kazakhstans diversity while recalling its dark past under Stalinist repression: Entire villages of ethnic Poles were deported en masse from western Ukraine to Kazakhstan beginning in 1936, and the Soviet government deported hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans, Chechens and other accused Nazi collaborators to Kazakhstan during World War II. Many of the deportees descendants remained and some of them make up the countrys Catholic community, which only numbers about 125,000 in a country of nearly 19 million.

Sophia Gatovskaya, a parishioner at Our Lady Of Perpetual Help Cathedral in the capital, said she attended that first papal visit and that it has borne fruits to this day.

It was actually amazing. And after this visit, we have peace and tolerance in our republic. We have a lot of nationalities in Kazakhstan, and we all live together. And we expect the same from this visit (of Pope Francis) that we will have peace in our republic. And we very much expect that the war in Ukraine will end.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Tereasa Nims.

Monday, Sept. 12

11:35 p.m. - Deputies were dispatched to a Lee Township residence to check the wellbeing of a 16-year-old male. Deputies spoke with the mother, a 39-year-old woman, and learned that her son is at his dad's house in the City of Midland. Midland Police was requested to respond to the residence in the city and check the wellbeing of the juvenile.

10:58 p.m. - Deputies were dispatched to a Jerome Township location for a report of a vehicle on the side of the roadway. Deputies assisted the 38-year-old Beaverton man change his tire.

9:28 p.m. - Police were called to the 6800 block of Eastman Avenue for a private property crash.

9:01 p.m. - A deputy was dispatched to a Lincoln Township location for a two-vehicle private property crash.

8:04 p.m. - A deputy responded to a Village of Sanford roadway for a report of a man sitting near a bridge. The deputy checked the area and was unable to locate the man.

7:21 p.m. - Police were dispatched to the 2500 block of Abbott Road for a drug overdose.

6:07 p.m. - Police were called to the 900 block of Joe Mann Boulevard for a private property crash.

3:17 p.m. - Police were dispatched to North Saginaw Road and West Main Street for a hit and run crash.

2:08 p.m. - A deputy was tasked to check on a 29-year-old woman by her mother. The mother said that she received a garbled unrecognizable call this morning. A deputy contacted the daughter who said that she is diabetic, and her blood sugar was off. She said she was fine now and did not need any assistance.

1:30 p.m. - Deputies were dispatched to Lee Township regarding a 67-year-old woman requesting assistance speaking with a 67-year-old male neighbor regarding excessive noise. Deputies spoke with both parties and the incident was resolved civilly with no additional assistance needed.

11:57 a.m. - An animal control deputy received a complaint of a loose dog at a residence in Lincoln Township. Complainant did not want a formal complaint filed. Contact was made with the dog owner and a verbal warning was issued.

11:09 a.m. - Deputies were dispatched to Greendale Township regarding a report of a road hazard involving loose horses in the roadway. Deputies assisted the 63-year-old female owner with returning the horses back to their property without incident.

10:14 a.m. - Deputies were dispatched to Greendale Township to speak with a 60-year-old man regarding a a civil property dispute with his 28-year-old nephew. Deputies spoke with the man and assisted him with the requested information.

9:20 a.m. - A deputy was sent to check on a possible abandon vehicle at the US-10 and the West River Park & Ride. The vehicle was a located missing its driver front wheel. The deputy tagged the vehicle with an abandon notice to later determine a timeline. The deputy located a phone number for the owner. The owner said she is attempting to get a mechanic to repair the sheared-off wheel. She plans to have it removed within a week.

9:17 a.m. - Police were called to a property damage crash in the 5500 block of Drake Street.

7:34 a.m. - Deputies were dispatched to a death investigation in Homer Township. Through investigation the death appeared to be due to natural causes.

6:48 a.m. Police responded to East US-10 and Ashman Street for a property damage crash.

1:48 a.m. - Deputies investigated an assault involving a 68-year-old man and his 39-year-old daughter. The man was arrested and transported to Midland County Jail without incident. Report to be forwarded to prosecutor.
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What does a China-funded school mean for Uganda children as the two countries will mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties next month? #GLOBALink





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Photo: (Photo : Jill Wellington)

Rachel Fournier, a Michigan mom, told Parents that she found herself doing a daily battle when looking after her three-year-old daughter. The mother said that Isabel, her daughter, was only interested in sparkly clothes.

Fournier said that the last time she chose an outfit for Isabel, she cried all the way to daycare. As soon as she picked her up in the afternoon, Isabel stripped in the car and refused to put her clothes back on. The mother ended up buckling her that way.

Dr. Alanna Levine, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, stated that if your child starts to become vocal about her clothing choices, it's a sign that your child is growing up. Preschoolers are at the stage where they attempt to assert their independence and test limits. Thus, allowing children to get dressed provides children an opportunity to place both things into practice, but this doesn't mean that every morning has to be a showdown.

Read Also: Pixar Announces 'Inside Out 2' Sequel and Reveals It's Full of Whole New Crop of Teenage Emotions

Giving kids clothing choices: What do you want to wear?

Many children ages 3 to 4 are "wannabe" directors and are all grasping control wherever possible. Thus, experts suggest parents allow their children to have these chances. Jim Fay, coauthor of "Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood: Practical Parenting From Birth to Six Years," said to provide your child little choices about things that don't matter to you. If a child wants to wear clothes that you think are inappropriate for events or occasions, give them two choices so they can still choose what they want.

For example, ask, "Would you rather wear your blue sweater or your red one?"

Adults have clothes they are not comfortable with, and children are no different. Dr. Ari Brown, author of "Toddler 411," recommends that parents ask their children what their own likes and dislikes are and try to be as flexible as possible regarding kids' preferences. Giving kids a chance to state what they like or dislike shows that you respect their preferences. If your child wants to get dressed every day, allow them then, especially if they're just in the house. It will enable them to practice and apply their clothing choices.

According to A Little Bit Social, children are excellent observers, which only means that they are constantly developing a greater sense of independence.

Turning time for dressing into a game

Children can manage the basics of getting dressed by three, including pulling underwear, elastic-waist pants, and a sweatshirt. Usually, children below five can still not be able to thread zippers or do buttons; thus, it must not be forced on them. Many kids prefer doing these things as it makes them feel confident and competent. If your kid wants to do certain things, allow them, even if it will take a lot of your time. Dr. Levine said parents must allow kids to get dressed, especially on weekends or days when there's no need to rush. "The more you can give her the power to dress, the less of a struggle it will be," he added.

On the other hand, preschoolers don't feel the same urgency to get out the door as adults usually do in the morning as they would always prefer playing. Thus, experts suggest turning dressing into a game. You can say, "I'll close my eyes and see how long it takes you to put on your shirt and pants." Adults can usually do many things to make their children do what they want them to do.

Creative Child encourages parents to make their children a part of choosing their clothing. Planning a fun shopping trip can make kids have an unforgettable event with their parents and allow them to choose whatever they want to wear.

Related Article: How Many Outfits Do Young Kids Really Need?
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CNBC TV India reported this morning that Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the assembler of most of the worlds iPhones, plans to build a chipmaking facility in India with a local partner to tap the rising demand for semiconductors and the governments support for such projects.

A joint venture of Taiwans Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn, and metals company Vedanta Ltd. will set up a factory in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The total investment in the project, which includes semiconductor fabrication, assembly and testing as well as display production, is set to reach Rs 1.54 lakh crore ($19.4 billion), Vedanta said in a statement Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tweeted: "This MoU is an important step accelerating Indias semi-conductor manufacturing ambitions. The investment of Rs 1.54 lakh crore will create a significant impact to boost economy and jobs. This will also create a huge ecosystem for ancillary industries and help our MSMEs."

While the partners have little experience running large chip operations, they are betting on rising demand as everything from smartphones and cars to home appliances contain an increasing number of semiconductors. Modis government late last year unveiled a $10 billion incentive plan, offering to cover as much as half of a projects cost, to lure display and semiconductor fabricators to set up base in India. The country is also the worlds no. 2 smartphone maker.

The companies plan to build the chip manufacturing plant within the next two years, and the total project will employ about 100,000 people, Vedanta said. Hon Hai will own 40 percent of the chip venture and Vedanta the rest, and the Taiwanese company wont be involved in the display plant. When the companies announced their intention for a joint venture in February, Hon Hai said it would invest about $118 million in its 40 percent stake.

The planned venture is set to make chips using mature 28-nanometer technology. Indias smartphone industry is concentrated in southern India, and the new venture could face challenges in attracting skilled workers to the western state of Gujarat.

Hon Hai is the worlds largest contract manufacturer of electronics and only runs minor chip fabrication operations. Billionaire Anil Agarwals Vedanta produces metals including aluminum and copper.

Whether this new chip plant will be of any value to Apple in the long run is unknown at this time. In the short term it will have no impact, as the company will start manufacturing 28-nanometer processors.
In late July Patently Apple posted a statistical report about Q2 2022 global tablet market and noted that IDC had listed Chromebooks crashing over 50% in Q2. With that news, it's not surprising that Google has stopped development of a next-gen Pixelbook and disbanded the team. The Pixelbook and Chromebooks in general did well during the wicked stages of COVID-19 when schools and workers had to work and learn from home.

As the Chromebook chapter begins to fade, Google is refocusing their attention to fill that void with next-gen foldable devices in the form of both a foldable Pixel smartphone and 'Pro' tablet, according to the Android news site Android Police.

We were aware of Google's eye on a foldable Pixel phone or tablet when we posted a patent report covering such back in April 2021. The patent figures below are from that report. Google claimed in their patent that their foldable devices could include a smartphone, tablet and netbook.

According to the Android Police, "Google released its first in-development build of Android 13 QPR1, and as beta testers take the updated platform for a spin, they're uncovering not just plenty of new features, but also some hints about upcoming Google devices. Buried in the code, references are being spotted that allude to Google's work on both a detachable Nest hub-style Pixel tablet and the rumored Pixel foldable.

The report speculates that either or both of these foldable devices could be coming to market in 2023.

This next-gen trend of large hybrid notebook-tablets has been in the works for some time. Patently Apple covered this subject back in October 2020 in a report titled "Intel, Samsung, Microsoft are Collaborating on the new 'Horseshoe Bend Project' that covers 17" Foldable Display Notebook standards."

Even Apple updated a patent for their back in March 2021 that revealed one of their foldable patents was indeed relating to a "laptop." Their updated patent made that crystal clear 16 times within 20 new patent claims. There was no mention of a smartphone, only a laptop. Apple clearly wanted to establish that one of their foldable patents were emphatically designed as a foldable laptop for legal purposes.

There's no doubt that COVID-19 upended any chance of these next-gen devices coming to market as scheduled due to component shortages. Once the industry is back on track, we'll begin to see these next-gen foldables come to market from Microsoft, HP, Dell and others such as Google.

Apple, on the other hand, may decide to wait and see if the hybrid notebook-tablet trend catches on with consumers before committing to it. Apple may also angle it as as folding iPad with iPadOS and not macOS. Though only time will tell.

At the end of the day, Google's Chromebooks failed to put a dent into iPad or MacBook sales and so they may decide to get an early leap on Apple with a foldable tablet-notebook hybrid. The hidden code discovered this week by Android Police is a positive sign that they're serious about a foldable tablet, and hopefully we'll see it as early as 2023 if the industry gets back on track.

For now, what we know for sure, is that a standard non-folding "Pixel Tablet" is due to debut in 2023, as announced at Google I/O earlier this year as presented below.

Whether Google will decide to deliver a "Pro" foldable tablet at the same time as their first-gen non-foldable Pixel Tablet is unknown at this time.
Will Intels 13th-gen Raptor Lake processors be better than AMDs imminent Ryzen 7000 CPUs? The long answer is no one knows until weve seen both on the battlefield of independent benchmarks. The short answer is yes.

Just how the heck can I say that before the CPUs are even released, let alone tested?! Am I biased, paid off, stupid perhaps? An investor?! The answer is no, no, a little yes, and no.

Besides being a little stupid, Ive also been a cynical watcher of all things PC for more than 25 years and if theres one thing I know, its that big, round numbers work on regular people.

Ergo, AMDs Ryzen 9 7950X and its boost clock of 5.7GHz is clearly, clearly inferior to Intels upcoming 13th-gen Core i9s 6GHz boost clock to normal people.

Im sure youre sputtering that such a take is insane since the core microarchitectures, manufacturing processes, and power and thermal limits all make comparing an Intel CPU at a certain clock speed against an AMD CPU at a certain clock speed meaningless.

Intel Development Centers achievements  including Raptor Lake hitting 6GHz this year Dr. Ian Cuttress

I 100 percent agree with you on all those points and have, in fact, argued those points over the years until I was blue in the face. And no, you shouldnt buy anything until weve seen both Ryzen 7000 and this mysterious 6GHz Raptor Lake chip in action, so you can judge which component is better for your personal computing needs.

None of that matters, however, to the person who has 10 minutes to research a new CPU at the store while staring at a tiny phone screen. What does work is seeing Up to 6GHz! next to a sign that says Up to 5.7GHz!

Sure, even if both CPUs were on the same scale, wed know that less than 6 percent isnt exactly a big deal. But round numbers work on us with CPU clock speeds, just like they do everywhere else in life.

We talk about being in our 30s, and our 40s, and our 50s. We dont talk about being in our 37s, Eugenia Cheng, a scientist in residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, told WHYY in a 2015 story on big round numbers. Cheng goes on to tell WHYY just why base 10 is so popular: Its very intimately linked to the fact that we have 10 fingers.

So yes, although a 6GHz boost clock on a 13th-gen Core i9 CPU currently tells us nothing about how Intels chip compares to a 5.7GHz Ryzen 9 7950X, that number is unquestionably bigger and (more importantly) rounder. And in the five minutes of time the average consumer has to buy the better PC, that may be enough to give it an edge.
Did you know Google makes laptops? Unless youre a hardcore fan of the companys platforms, you might have missed it entirely. Since 2013 Google has made four, count em, four different Chromebooks, designed to show off the operating system to the fullest. The Chromebook Pixel, Pixelbook, and Pixelbook Go were all well-received by critics, but generally ignored by consumers. According to a new report, thats pretty much over: theres no new Google-made Chromebook on the horizon.

The Verge reports that the internal Google team responsible for laptop designs has been split up and reassigned elsewhere. While a refreshed Pixel laptop was apparently in the works for next year, its been scrapped. Googles current focus as far as hardware is concerned is Android, as it beefs up the Pixel phone line with its very first self-branded smartwatch and another stab at an Android tablet. While the budget Pixelbook Go is still technically for sale, its now been three years since it launched.

An expensive device among a sea of cheaper ones is a familiar refrain for Googles Chrome-powered hardware. The original Chromebook Pixel and the convertible Pixelbook were both gorgeous and powerful machines, but their asking price was more than double that of the typical budget-focused Chromebook. The Pixel Slate, to date the companys only Chrome OS-powered tablet, was positioned as a competitor to devices like Microsofts Surface Pro. But with hardware that was decent at best and capability far behind its erstwhile competition, the Slate was an instant flop. The Pixelbook Go was meant to be a simpler and cheaper design with a conventional clamshell form factor, but at $650, it was still hundreds of dollars more expensive than the budget machines that are the heart and soul of the Chromebook market.

In short, it sure feels like Googles Chrome OS and Chrome hardware teams arent on the same page. And if The Verges report is accurate, the latter doesnt really exist anymore. The former isnt doing so hot, either: after a phenomenal sales boom during the pandemic, global Chromebook shipments dropped by more than 60 percent in the first quarter of 2022. Previously outselling Mac hardware and posing a serious threat to Windows in the budget segment, Chrome OS powered just 6 percent of new laptops sold in the same period.

Dont count Chrome OS out just yet. Its still a strong contender for budget machines, propped up by a huge presence in the education market, where its browser-focused structure and super-easy support are appreciated. And if Google doesnt want to sell you a premium Chromebook, someone else will: the HP Elite Dragonfly and Lenovo ThinkPad C14 are just two such examples. But all things considered, Google bowing out of the laptop hardware market makes sense.

That being said, never say never. Google apparently abandoned Android tablets way back in 2015, when the Pixel C failed to make an impression against the iPad. But earlier this year the company announced yet another Android-powered Pixel tablet. As fickle as Googles hardware ambitions seem to be, a return to first-party laptop hardware sometime in the future is far from impossible.
At a glance Expert's Rating Pros Clean, well-balanced audio

Good active noise-cancelling

Highly customizable controls

Excellent value for the price Cons Fiddly controls

Capable of two simultaneously connected devices, but better with only one

Occasional call drop when switching to these buds Our Verdict The Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro has its quirks, but if you can overlook them, youll get great audio and good active noise-canceling for considerably less than top-tier rivals.

Top-shelf earbuds come with top-shelf pricingand sometimes you just cant spend that much. But even at nearly half the price of more expensive rivals, Ankers Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro doesnt feel like a step down. At least, not when it comes to sound quality. In fact its audio chops are so strong that even with its foibles, these buds are a compelling contender.

Note: This review is part of our best wireless earbuds roundup. Go there is to learn more about competing products, what to look for in wireless earbuds, and buying recommendations.

Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro: Specs

MSRP: $169.99

$169.99 Colors: Midnight Black, Frost White, Dusk Purple, Fog Gray

Midnight Black, Frost White, Dusk Purple, Fog Gray Supported audio codecs: LDAC, AAC, SBC

LDAC, AAC, SBC Water-resistance rating: IPX4

IPX4 Bluetooth version: 5.2 (10m / 33ft range)

5.2 (10m / 33ft range) Charging: USB-C

USB-C Warranty: One year

One year Release date: August 2021

Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro: Design, fit, and controls

The number of ear tips and ear wings included with the Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro is generous. Alaina Yee / IDG

With a sleek oval shape and glossy finish, the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro offers an understated, compact profile that comes in four colors (black, white, light purple, and blue-gray) and looks great out of the box. Its carrying case also has a streamlined shape and finish, though the layout for dropping in the buds can feel counterintuitive. Other brands are more straightforward.

The earbuds have a highly customizable fitnot only do you get four ear tip sizes, but four wing sizes as well. (The latter ensure a more secure fit of the buds in your outer ear.) These accessories mix and match easily, though getting the wings on and off can be fiddly. My combination ended up being the second-smallest ear tips and wings; normally Im a medium for ear tips with most brands.

Configuring the touch-based controls is also very flexible. You can assign commands for music playback, skipping tracks, and more to single, double, and triple taps, as well as a two-second press. Consistency of the controls is a little less impressive, thoughcommands dont always execute even when the tap(s) are recognized. The Liberty 3 Pro is also extremely sensitive to single taps. For some people, this weakness will be a deal killer, though you can largely avoid them via controls in Windows or on your phone.

Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro: Sound

These buds perform incredibly well for their price. You get very clear, well-balanced audio for music, movies, and calls. Details are clear and defined, with just the right amount of crispness. For balance, the bass adds warmth and depth without being too heavy or overpowering. The default sound profile isnt as neutral as other buds, but I liked the fullness you get out of the box. And you can still adjust to your taste in the app via a custom EQ profile, or Ankers HearID feature, which creates a personalized sound profile based on hearing tests. (Your mileage will vary with HearIDI found myself preferring the default profile, but Ive also yet to find a form of this technology that works for me.)

For calls, the Liberty 3 Pro were on par with quality buds. Other call participants will know youre using earbuds (the sound is a bit thin and picks up some room echo), but youll still sound clear, if slightly on the quieter side compared to rivals.

Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro: Noise canceling and volume

Alaina Yee / IDG

In indoor situations, the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pros active noise-canceling blocks a palpable amount of background noise. With music playing, most moderately loud chatter or TV programs will get drowned out. When outdoors, the Liberty 3 Pro didnt block as much road noise as rival buds with stronger ANCthe cacophony of a busy San Francisco street during commute hour was reduced by a rough 40 percent.

The Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro also doesnt get as loud as other buds. In Windows, Android, and iOS, I generally had to keep these in the 40 to 60 percent range, and about 50 percent on average. More premium buds were usually closer to the mid-30s to 40s depending on time of day. (For context, I have more sensitive ears and prefer lower volumes.) And as already mentioned, the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro also sounds quiet when using it as a microphone for calls.

Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro: Battery life

Anker estimates up to eight hours of battery life for the Liberty 3 Pro from a single charge, depending on volume level. At roughly 45 to 50 percent volume on either PC or mobile, the buds lasted between 5.5 to 6 hours for continuous music and video playback.

Youll get another two to three full charges from the case, for a maximum total of 32 hours by Ankers count. In the real world, I got closer to 24, which was still plenty before having to charge the whole set again.

One foible I personally found exasperating: Dropping the earbuds into the case always was opposite of what I expected. It took at least a couple of weeks of regular use before my brain could get the orientation correct on the first try.

Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro: Pairing and app

Alaina Yee / IDG

You can connect the Liberty 3 Pro to up to two devices at once, though only one can play at a time. If the buds are paired with more devices, you must first disconnect an active device before switching to a different one. (The easiest way to do this is through the Soundcore+ app.)

Ankers implementation of this feature has a downside, unfortunatelybeing connected to two devices simultaneously (in my testing, a PC and an iPhone) sometimes introduced hiccups in music or other continuous sound if the second device had incoming audio. Youll have a smoother experience with only one device connected at a time.

Another quirk related to connection: Occasionally when in the middle of a phone call on an Android phone, pulling the Liberty 3 Pro buds out of their case would disconnect the call I was on, rather than rolling over to the earbuds.

To tweak your earbuds and get the most from them, you must use the companion Soundcore appits the only way to customize controls and EQ settings, as well as turn off features like wear detection, which automatically pauses audio if you take a bud out of your ear. Navigating through the interface is simple and straightforward.

Final thoughts

Youll pay $100 less for the Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro than top-tier rivals like the Sony WF-1000XM4 and the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, but the Liberty 3 Pro doesnt sound cheaper. If you can tolerate the quirks of these buds, theyre ideal for people seeking great audio and good active noise-canceling on a budget.
A two-member delegation, led by the new IMF Mission Chief for Ghana, Stephane Roudet, on Wednesday paid a courtesy call on the Governor of Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison and the Management of the Bank.



The meeting follows Stephane Roudets appointment as the new IMF Mission Chief for Ghana, effective 1st September 2022.



The new Mission Chief was in the country to engage with various government institutions and other key stakeholders ahead of Ghanas Fund-supported programme.



In Governor Addisons team were the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari, Directors of Research, Financial Markets, Financial Stability and Banking Supervision Departments of the Bank.





Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Bank of Ghana is cautioning customers of banks who issue dud cheques to desist from that since it adversely affects their credit report and chance of securing a credit facility with any financial institution.



The warning was captured as part of the Central Banks financial literacy programme dubbed Improving Your Credit Worthiness.



It is also part of efforts to help customers improve their worthiness to receive new credit from any financial institution.



The Central Bank also urged customers to pay their loan on time to maintain a good credit history.



It noted that this is because ones credit history showed how they managed the repayment of their past loans including the timeliness of the payment, adding that, a weak credit history might affect ones chances of getting new loans from any financial institution.



You need to pay your loan on time to maintain a good credit history. This is because your credit history shows how you managed the repayment of your past loans including the timeliness of the payment. Weak credit history may affect your chances of getting new loans from any financial institution, it said.



The Central Bank also stated that bank customers are entitled to a free credit report once a year.



Your credit report will contain your credit history which outlines your current and past loans, the institutions you took the loans from and how you are paying or repaid the loans. Contact the credit bureaus to see your credit status. Do not wait until you need a loan, it added.



It also noted that Retailers, Telcos, Fintech Service Providers, Student Loan Trust, Utility Companies and other credit providers etc. may share information on ones indebtedness to them to Credit bureaus licensed by BoG.



These institutions will also obtain credit information about borrowers when deciding to offer them credit. This will however be done with their consent.



It reiterated that their consent was required before any authorised institution obtains access to their credit report or share their credit information.



The Central Bank however urged borrowers to submit a complaint to the credit bureau or their financial institution, if they dispute the content of their credit report.

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.

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The Presbyterian University, Ghana (PUG) has honoured the Moderator of the General Assembly (Presbyterian Church of Ghana) Rt. Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante as the first Chancellor of the university after the university was given a Presidential Charter status in August this 2022 by H.E Nana Akuffo Addo, the President of the Republic of Ghana Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.



The Moderator was honoured as the first chancellor of the university during the Unveiling of the Charter Monument by the university to officially name the university as 'Presbyterian University- Ghana' instead of 'Presbyterian University College' in Kwahu Abetifi of the Eastern region.



In 2013, the then Presbyterian University College applied for a Presidential Charter per the standard of the then National Accreditation Board (NAB) which permits any private tertiary institution to apply for presidential status after ten (10) years of its existence.



Ultimately, by April, 2022, Presbyterian University College, Ghana was named among Catholic University College, Ghana, and Methodist University College, Ghana as having qualified for the grant of the Charter Certificate by a publication on Graphic Online, and on 30th August, 2022, the President of the Republic of Ghana Nana Addo- Danquah Akuffo Addo, presented the Charter Certificate to the University at the Jubilee House in Accra.



Speaking during the unveiling of the monument at Kwahu Abetifi, the Moderator who has now become the first Chancellor of the Presbyterian University Ghana said the college was able to attain Presidential Charter status through hard work by the leadership of the college including it affiliated universities such as Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST ), University of Cape Coast (UCC) and University of Ghana (UG) as well as the support of the Presbyterian Church.



"The Presbyterian Church of Ghana initiated tertiary education in this country about a 175 years ago with Akropong College of Education, the establishment of educational institutions falls under the social witness of the church, the establishment of schools is to create space for young men and women to acquire holistic knowledge training of the head , hands and the heart and secondly to create an environment for training and exercise of the christian faith, we intentionally establish these institutions as an extension of our faith simply put we do education because God wants us to do it"



"After operating this institution for over a century in collaboration with the government the church in the spirit of the time decided to establish another private university that will be wholely own by the church, it will interest you to know that the chiefs and people in Kwahu traditional area have always been keen in hosting the proposed university of the church , I vividly recall as I said at once seen at the church that they physical carried money in a bag to present to the church for the establishment of the university on their land,

Toady the Presbyterian Church of Ghana operates seven tertiary institutions made up of five colleges of education and two universities, the two universities both private are fully chartered and accredited I mean the Akrofi Crystalize Institute of Theology Mission and Culture to run post graduate programs and now the Presbyterian University Ghana to run both undergraduate and post graduate programs" he said.





According to the Chancellor/ Moderator, this is the time that all Presbyterians in Ghana and abroad come together to support the university financially and through their technical and knowledge know-how to help lift the university to a higher enrollment status and to build a vibrant and strong faculty.



He reiterated by saying that "the university aims at training and producing graduates in a more holistic approach to ensure that the right caliber of graduates are produced for the country to restore the lost dignity of good ethics in our work places and society which has led to many corrupt practices in Ghana , therefore I will urge parents to enroll their wards in Presbyterian University, Ghana to enjoy the full benefit of the university".



Meanwhile the President of Presbyterian University, Ghana Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu believes that the appointment of the current Moderator as the first chancellor of the university will help put the university to a higher status and make it one of the best universities in Ghana.



Regarding challenges faced by privates universities , he highlighted that government support to private universities is minimal hence more needs to be done to support private universities in Ghana.



He also reiterated that the university is open to individuals who are ready to learn, be morally cultured, and trained but does not necessarily target first class students only.







Source: Michael Akrofi









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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is embarking on a working tour of the Volta Region for the next two days, beginning today Monday, September 12.

As part of his itinerary for the two-day visit, the President will inspect ongoing projects, inaugurate completed ones and also confer with traditional leaders in the area.



Day One



A statement from the presidency said on the first day of his tour, President Akufo-Addo would today attend the opening of the Ghana Bar Association Conference in Ho.



He will also be on Stone City Radio for an interview after which he will depart to Kpeve to inspect the progress of work on the Eastern Corridor Road as well as an Agenda 111 Hospital Project, both in the South Dayi constituency.



Additionally, in Kpando, the President will call on the Chief of the Akpini Traditional Area and inspect the construction of the Steel Bridge.



Day Two



The statement further said on the second day, President Akufo-Addo will visit the 66 Artillery Regiment Military Barracks in Ho to inspect the Ghana Secondary Cities Support programme at the Ho Central Market.



From there, the President will depart to Aflao to inaugurate the Aflao Community Day School, in the Ketu South constituency.



President Akufo-Addo will also visit the North Tongu constituency to inaugurate the North Tongu District Magistrate Court, after a courtesy call on the Paramount Chief of the Battor

Traditional Area, to climax the President's visit to the region, the statement said.







Source: graphiconline.com









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Ghanas leadership in the rule of law on the African continent has been acknowledged by the newly appointed Attorney-General of the United Kingdom, Michael Ellis.

Speaking at a meeting with Ghanas Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, in his office at the House of Commons in London, UK, last Thursday, Mr Ellis also praised Ghana for the strength of its justice system.



Mr Dame had been the guest of Cambridge University for its 39th Annual Symposium on Economic Crime, at which he had given an address on September 5, 2022.



It was the first official meeting Mr Ellis, who had been appointed as Attorney-General by the new Prime Minister a day before, held with any guest.



Godfred Yeboah Dame (right) with Michael Ellis, Attorney-General of the UK



The two Attorneys-General discussed issues bordering on economic crimes, reforms of the criminal justice system to achieve speedy and efficient delivery of justice, the application of the death penalty, the roles of their offices in the drafting of legislation in their respective countries, as well as other matters of mutual concern to Ghana and the UK.



Mr Ellis acknowledged efforts by Ghana to reform its criminal jurisprudence through the introduction of plea bargaining, a move driven by the efforts of the Attorney-General.



He expressed the hope that the reform would be implemented efficiently to achieve the expected goals.



The UK Attorney-General expressed his deep appreciation for the position taken by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the Russia-Ukraine war.



Describing the Presidents position as exemplary, he said it underscored the status of Ghana as a strong voice on global issues.



Mr Dame expressed his appreciation for being the first guest of the UK Attorney-General on his first full day at work.



He underscored the need for closer cooperation between his office and that of the UK Attorney-General, since the two outfits performed similar and important roles in the administration of justice in their jurisdictions, which had similar legal systems.



Legal aid



Mr Dame informed the UK Attorney-General of his intention to strengthen legal aid as a vehicle to boost access to justice and requested for collaboration from his counterpart in that regard.



He also indicated that there was a huge discontent in Ghana for trials with juries, noting that he was seriously considering sponsoring a bill in Parliament to scrap the jury trial system.



Mr Ellis expressed his willingness to assist in any way possible, as a strong justice system was fundamental to every facet of the life of every nation.



Present at the meeting were the High Commissioner of the UK to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, and the High Commissioner of Ghana to the UK, Papa Owusu-Ankomah.









Source: graphiconline.com









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Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame has called on all lawyers to stand up and defend the judiciary against attacks stating that it was a responsibility for them so to do.



His call was related to recent attacks specifically by former president John Dramani Mahama on the judiciary.



In his address at the ongoing Ghana Bar Association's Conference in Ho, Dame stressed that it was worrying that National Democratic Congress, NDC, lawyers had failed to call Mahama to order despite having made the comments at a party event.



"Non-lawyer Mahama made the comments at a meeting of the legal committee of his party, none of the lawyers raised a finger to contest the wrong and dangerous propaganda by the former president. By their silence, they became abettors of the propagation of hate against the judiciary," Dame submitted.



He reiterated the fact that lawyers needed to be the loudest and strongest defenders of an independent judiciary and by extension defenders of the most crucial arm of government.



"I find it worrying because lawyers ought to be the loudest and strongest defenders of the independence, integrity and importance of the judiciary rather than serving as tools for its destruction," he added.



Mahama told a gathering of NDC lawyers at a conference in Ada that a judiciary needed to be trusted by the public at all times because such trust had wide-ranging implications on the security of the state.



He aimed at the current Chief Justice stating that it would take a new CJ to carry out needed reforms in the judiciary because of a growing lack of trust in their work.



The NDC has strongly stood by his views whiles the NPP have slammed it as unwarranted and needless.







Source: ghanaweb.com









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Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, a former First Lady of Ghana, has expressed her deepest condolences to King Charles III over the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.



According to her, the late Queen of England left a lasting impression on her when she met her for the time.



While signing the book of condolence at the British High Commission in Accra, on September 12, Nana Konadu re-echoed the words of Minnie Louise Haskins, a British poet.



She wrote: And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year.



Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.



And he replied:



Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.



So, I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.



In praying for the departed soul of Queen Elizabeth II, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings said both Ghana and the Commonwealth are mourning the loss.



On her part, Harriet Thompson, British High Commissioner, thanked the former First Lady for making time to sign the book of condolence and commiserate with the government and people of the United Kingdom.













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The state of enrollment onto Ghanas National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) will soon be digitized to make it possible for people to do online registration conveniently and securely.



When this positive novelty is implemented, it will ease traffic at the NHIS district offices, where people frequently visit for the same purpose.



The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Governing Board Chair, Dr. Ernest K.P Kwarko made this known in Accra at a ceremony where the Authority sealed some deals with the four new entrants into the local Premier League.



He urged all nonmembers of the Scheme to sign up and gain from the expanded Benefits Package which now includes the diagnosis and treatment of four main childhood cancers, comprising Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, Burkitt Lymphoma, Retinoblastoma and Wilms Tumor.



The Governing Board Chairman, Dr. Ernest K. P Kwarko is optimistic that the partnerships will shore up the Schemes active membership to 80 percent.



The NHIA Chief Executive, Dr. Okoe Boye NHIA repeated the formation of a fact-finding committee to deal with the recurring issue of extra monetary demands by some credentialled health care service providers (copayments).



The authority has established a nine-member committee to mitigate the impact of out-of-pocket payments (copayment) on access to medical services covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).



The Committees mandate is to ensure that the NHIA stays focused on its policy to provide financial risk protection against the cost of quality basic health care for all residents in Ghana.



The committee would be replicated across the 16 regions of Ghana to empower the NHIA Regional and District management teams to be responsible for healthcare facilities visits, writing reports, and escalating issues of copayment to the higher authority for prompt action.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Angeles Foundation, in partnership with The Mastercard Foundation, has launched COVID-19 Vaccine Public Awareness in the Okere District within the Eastern Region of Ghana.



The theme of the Angeles Campaign Obiaa B3 W) is linked to the Mastercard Foundation #ItsUpToUs campaign to achieve the objectives of the Mastercard Foundation Public Awareness Campaign. The primary goals are to encourage Ghanaians in the demographic group aged 18 to 25 to get the COVID-19 vaccine, dispel myths and conspiracy theories associated with COVID-19 vaccines and encourage communities to get vaccinated.



In a keynote address, the District Chief Executive of Okere District, Hon. Kenneth Daniel Addo expressed his gratitude to the people for the turnout. He highlighted the responsibility of individuals to get vaccinated to mitigate the transmission and effects of the COVID-19 virus.







In her speech, the founder of the Angeles Foundation, Mrs Kobi Hemaa Osisiadan Bekoe, indicated that the Obiara b3w) Campaign is linked to the Mastercard Foundation hashtag ItsUpToUs. Through community-based approach, the campaign seeks to encourage individuals to take responsibility for getting vaccinated. In partnership with Mastercard Foundation, the campaign seeks to encourage individuals and communities to get vaccinated by highlighting the objectives of the campaign.



Mr Simon Adu-Poku (District Disease Control Officer- Okere), who represented Ghana Health Services, reiterated Ghana Health Services' commitment to ensuring everyone is vaccinated.



Speaking on behalf of the traditional council, the Abontenhemaa of Abiriw (Nana Awo Amobea) thanked Angeles Foundation and Mastercard foundation for the initiative. She appealed to the people to encourage one another to get vaccinated.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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"I'm not still sure whether she (Aisha Huang) was in fact deported or whether she fled the country the first time, and has now come back", President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said.



In a radio interview with Stone City in the Volta Region on Monday (September 12, 2022), President Akufo-Addo said, "...but whatever, there still seem to be some uncertainty about it, but whichever way it is, she has become some sort of nickname for all that galamsey represents and unfortunately, for the involvement of Chinese nationals in Ghana."



President Akufo-Addo was speaking in reference to En Huang, a Chinese national, popularly known as Aisha Huang, said to be involved in a number of illegal mining [galamsey] activities in Ghana.



She was arrested in the past on many occasions for engaging in illegal mining and ended up being released on a number of occasions.



The last time she was arrested in 2017/2018, she was arraigned but escaped prosecution as a result of the filing of a nolle prosequi by the prosecution.



Subsequently, she was deported to her home country, China in December 2018.



It has just emerged in the last two weeks that, she is back in Ghana and has again been arrested for engaging in illegal mining.



She has been arraigned at an Accra Circuit Court with some other accomplices and has been remanded in police custody.



The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice has called for the docket and promised to prosecute her for the first offences prior to 2018 in addition to the new one.



President Akufo-Addo is this week in the Volta Region for a tour to inspect ongoing projects and commission completed ones.



As usual, wherever he goes on his regional tours, he grants a radio interview and answer questions bothering on local and national issues.



So when on Monday afternoon, the issue of the Chinese national En "Aisha" Huang came up in the radio interview with Stone City, the President answered and raised doubts about the nature of the deportation.

Source: graphiconline.com









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Managing Director of Inter-City STC, Nana Akomea, has backed the National Communications Authority (NCA) directive to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to block unregistered SIM cards.



Speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme, Nana Akomea noted that those who haven't re-registered their SIM cards with their Ghana Card deserve the punishment by the NCA.



He explained that this category of people was given a year to acquire their Ghana Card but due to their recalcitrance, they have decided not to pay serious attention to the ongoing registration exercise.



"If you don't do the registration by the end of this month, it is your own problem . . . there are some people who if you don't compel them, they will never do anything," he said.



Nana Akomea also quashed concerns that some Ghanaians haven't acquired their Ghana Cards because the National Identification Authority (NIA) has failed to issue their cards to them amidst other challenges that have characterized the registration process, so must be spared from this punitive measure by the Telcos which is as a result of the NCA directive.



To him, these arguments if upheld mean there should be no deadlines assigned to the SIM card re-registration which in his view will not help the exercise.



"So, what should we do? We shouldn't do the registration? We shouldn't have a deadline? We should just leave people because everybody will then come up with an excuse?", he asked.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The only legally recognised DIRECTOR/SECRETARY of Big Stone Mining company who has been center of unwarranted media attacks in recent times, seem to have had it to the neck as she has caused her Lawyers to demand unqualified apology and retraction from Ghanas most circulated private newspaper, Daily Guide.



Daily Guide is owned by seasoned Lawyer and NPP former National Chairman, Freddie Blay.



She is also demanding a cessation of defamatory publications and innuendos against her person.



Published below is the letter from her lawyers signed by Sampson Obeng ESQ dated 13th September, 2022



DEMAND FOR RETRACTION, APOLOGY AND CESSATION OF DEFAMATORY PUBLICATIONS AND INNUENDOES CONCERNING WAN SHANHONG



We are writing to you as the lawyers of Wan Shanhong and Liu Yang (our clients). Our clients, particularly Wan Shanhong has referred to us two publications about her which your newspaper has published on 8th September, 2022 (page 6) and on 12th September, 2022(page 6)



Our client is of the view, which we strongly share, that these publications are very malicious, defamatory, and calculated to soil the name and reputation of our client.



We have noticed that you( the Editor) and your newspaper commenced your libel against our clients on both occasions by splashing her photograph on your front cover page side by side with the photograph of Aisha Huang, another Chinese lady who is very much in the news lately as an alleged galamsey queenpin and illegal immigrant.



Having cemented these innuendoes in the mind of your readers and the general public, that our client is of the same character as Aisha Huang you then proceeded on both occasions to accuse our client falsely in both write-ups as a thief who has stolen another persons company and properties and as a brigand who has taken over another persons company forcibly and unlawfully using unlawful contacts with political powers.



There is no doubt that you made all these publications knowing fully well that there is no iota of truth in your allegations.



This is due to the fact that you are very much aware that Lawyer Freddie Blay, who is closely connected with your newspaper has acted as the lawyer of the Company in dispute (Big Stone Mining Company Ltd) where our client was and still is a Director and the Company Secretary.



Also, Mr. Freddie Blays Law Firm (Blay and Associates) is even now the law firm representing the other Chinese and persons who are in court with our client and her Chinese business associate over the ownership of the shares of the said company and the attempt by these clients of Blay and Associates to take over the said company using forged signatures, forged documents and a false Statutory Declaration.



Indeed, Mr. Freddie Blay would have informed you if you cared for the truth that our client had even contacted him and he had promised to resolve the matter amicably and our client only went to court when Mr. Blay failed to do so.



Secondly, the dispute over this company is a matter which our client has and her Chinese associate have taken to court and the case is still pending before the commercial division of the High Court, Accra.



Both parties have filed copious documents and information in court which would have provided you with the facts of the case if you were interested in the truth and maintenance of fair and proper journalistic practices, instead of focusing on libelling our client.



The fact that our clients opponent have access to your newspaper through Lawyer Freddie Blay and his Law firm should not motivate you and your newspaper to dump proper journalistic standards of fairness, truth and justice by seeking to a public lynching of our client.



Since you and your newspaper is not ready to undertake the labour of seeking the truth before rushing into publication, our client has instructed us to draw your attention to the following fact:



These publications relate to the Gold (tailings) processing site/plant at Bogoso which is owned and operated by Bigstone Mining Ltd, a company registered in Ghana.



We also believe that you know from public records filed at the Registrar-Generals Department that Big Stone Mining Ltd has only three (3) directors including our client, who is also the company secretary. This is reflected in the original documents of incorporation at the Registrar Generals Department (RGD).



This company was formed and registered by two Chinese gentlemen, Liu Yang who is also our client and Song Jiangdong. These two gentlemen own 50% each of the shareholders of the company and both are the founding Directors of the company. Our client, Wan Shanhong was later on appointed as the Company Secretary in addition to being one of the founding directors of the Company.



We know this publication has arisen from the case of Wan Shanhong & 1 Other vrs Bigstone Mining Ltd & ors in Suit No. CM/MIsc/0367/2022 which our clients initiated against some persons who have at all material times been represented by Blay & Associates and which case our client was granted an order of Interlocutory Injunction.



We also like to repeat as stated above that even before the commencement of the suit, our client approached Lawyer Freddie Blay, whose law firm was the lawyer for the company and had acted for both the company and our client in the past, to brief him about the facts which had led to the court action and Mr. Freddie Blay promised to use his good offices to resolve the problem. It was when Lawyer Blay failed so to do, that our client had no choice but to go to court for some of the following reliefs:



Their opponents had forged their signatures unto documents to the effect that our clients (including Liu Yang) had resigned from their positions as Directors and Company Secretary of the company.



In addition, another forged document was to the effect that our client Liu Yang had transferred his 50% shares to Jiangdong Song who is being represented by Blay & Associates.



Finally, another fake Statutory Declaration was used to appoint one Yi Liu as a director and company secretary.



All these changes which were found by the High Court in its 15th July, 2022 decision to have been based on forged documents and forged signatures.



These forged documents and forged signatures had earlier been presented to the Registrar-Generals Department by the opponents of our clients which enabled the names of our clients to be removed as the Directors, shareholder and Company Secretary of Big Stone Mining Ltd.



These forged documents and signatures also enabled our clients opponents to appropriate the 50% shares of Liu Yang in the company without his knowledge or consent and further appoint Yi Liu as a director of the company without any valid resolution of the Company.



As we have stated above, all these facts are contained in documents filed on behalf of our clients in the suit which is still pending at the Commercial Division of the High Court, Accra. If you had bothered to contact our clients as part of proper journalistic standards and cross checked your facts from Blay & Associates who are representing the other side, you would have become fully aware and not rushed to print the various falsehoods about our client.



In your blind defence of our clients opponents, you have glossed over the fact that our clients were put in charge of the Bogoso processing plant lawfully per a court order dated 15th July, 2022 issued by the High Court (Commercial Division). This order of Interlocutory Injunction was granted by the court to restore the parties to their status quo ante pending the final determination of the case. A copy of the said injunction order showing the reliefs granted by the court is attached.



Our clients obtained another court order for the police to assist them in serving and executing this interlocutory injunction order on the parties represented by Blay & Associates who had taken over the gold processing plant unlawfully using fake documents. The court in granting the order for police protection was well aware of the violence that was unleashed on officials of the court when they had attempted to serve a previous order of the court (interim injunction order) on those operating the plant unlawfully.



Instead of publishing the true facts of the case, you have chosen to deliberately twist the truth (for reasons best known to yourself) and make false allegations against our clients in order to force the police to withdraw the protection it had afforded our clients based on the court order with the sole purpose of enabling Blays clients (whom the court had expressly forbidden from operating the plant) to return to the plant to carry on with their illegal activities.



We also repeat our position that the innuendo contained in your two publications whereby the photograph of our client (Wan Shanhong) was splashed on the front page of your newspaper together with the photograph of Aisha Huang, who is alleged to be a notorious galamsey queenpin and illegal immigrant to Ghana who is very much in the news has not been lost on us and on right thinking members of the community.



Your newspaper knows very well that our clients are not criminals but Chinese investors who found these business opportunities and brought their Chinese colleagues to partner with them to form Bigstone Mining Ltd to exploit this business opportunity. In the circumstances, your attempt to tarnish the image of our clients and accuse them of being criminals is totally unacceptable.



Secondly, your publication is just a media war to divert the attention of the public from the fact that the clients represented by Blay & Associates have admitted in papers filed before the court that they were the ones who forged the signatures of our clients on the documents that were used to remove them from Bigstone Mining Ltd unlawfully.



We must also warn you that your publications are very prejudicial and calculated to interfere in the court case between our clients and their opponents which is still pending before the High Court (Commercial Division) Accra.



In the circumstances we have been instructed by our clients to demand and we do demand the following:



That you cease immediately and forthwith these false publications about our clients



That you publish an unreserved apology to our clients in respect of your two publications



That you retract wholly these publications you have made about our clients particularly Wan Shanhong



That you apologise for the innuendo contained in your deliberate publication of Wan Shanhong on the front pages of your newspapers on the two occasions in the way and manner complained above.



Please take further notice that if these publications do not cease forthwith and the apology and retraction is not received within 3 days from the date hereof, our clients shall proceed to court against you to seek redress and very punitive damages against you the Editor personally and your newspaper.



Be accordingly advised.



Yours sincerely,



SAMPSON OBENG, ESQ.



Cc:



Client



National Media Commission



The Print and the Electronic Press

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Source: myabclive.com









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Tens of thousands of people cheered as William Ruto was sworn in as Kenya's president at a ceremony in the capital Nairobi following his narrow election win last month.



Mr Ruto hailed it as "a moment like no other", adding that a "village boy" had become president.



Defeated candidate Raila Odinga did not attend. He said he had "serious concerns" about his opponent's victory.



Mr Ruto won the election with 50.5% of the vote, to Mr Odinga's 48.8%.



Mr Odinga has alleged that the result was rigged, but the Supreme Court has ruled the election was free and fair.



Mr Ruto - the former deputy president - was handed a copy of Kenya's constitution and a sword to represent the transfer of power from President Uhuru Kenyatta.



With his hand on a Bible, the 55-year-old swore to preserve and protect the constitution.



"Standing here today is testimony that there is God in heaven. I want to thank God because a village boy has become the president of Kenya," Mr Ruto said, referring to the fact that he grew up in rural Kenya.



He also had conciliatory words for Mr Odinga, and all his opponents.



"Their supporters will be my constituents. I will work with all Kenyans irrespective of who they voted for," Mr Ruto said.



There was also a handshake between the outgoing Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto, his former deputy with whom he fell out during their second term in office.



New Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said the Ruto administration marked "freedom" for Kenya, and the days when people were targeted because of their association with him "are over".



Earlier, at least eight people were reported to have been injured in a crush as they jostled to enter the stadium to witness the ceremony.



But inside the crowd was in high-sprits, with frequent cheering, waving of the Kenyan flag, and groups of people proudly wearing yellow - the colour synonymous with Mr Ruto's campaign.



About 20 heads of state from across Africa attended the event.



Religion was a persistent theme throughout the swearing-in ceremony, with leaders from the Christian and Islamic faiths offering prayers for the new president.



Bishop Mark Kariuki said God had showcased his might by elevating Mr Ruto, who was once a roadside chicken seller, to the presidency.



Mr Kenyatta has stepped down at the end of his two terms. He backed Mr Odinga in the election, saying Mr Ruto was unworthy to serve as president.



Mr Kenyatta congratulated Mr Ruto on his win only a day before his inauguration.

Mr Kenyatta said he was committed to a peaceful transition and urged the new president to serve all Kenyans.



In a statement, Mr Odinga said he had received a call from Mr Ruto inviting him to the inauguration, but that he would not attend as he was abroad and he did not believe the election was free and fair.



This is despite the fact that the Supreme Court handed down a unanimous judgment, confirming Mr Ruto's victory and dismissing Mr Odinga's concerns that the election was marred by widespread irregularities.



Mr Ruto won after portraying himself as a "hustler" who was challenging an attempt by two dynasties - the Odingas and Kenyattas - to hang on to power.



He promised a "bottoms-up" approach to the economy to tackle the high unemployment rate among young people, and to improve the lives of those less well off.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Chairman of Parliaments Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Mr James Avedzi, has cautioned heads of institutions and accountants among other serving officers to do due diligence and ensure strong financial discipline during their tenure.



That, he said, would help them avoid queries by the PAC, Economic and Organised Crime Organisation (EOCO) and Auditors after retirement, adding: We want all serving officers not go in for loans without the approval from the necessary authorities, retirement cant save them.



Mr Avedzi gave the warning when the committee considered some infractions in the 2019 Auditor-Generals Report, during its sitting in Takoradi, which cited OLA College of Education for contracting a loan without prior approval from the relevant authorities.



When the new Principal, Dr Mrs Regina Okyere-Dankwa, and team appeared before the PAC, they reported that the principal and the accountant, who supervised the action under consideration, had retired.



She said though she invited the former principal to accompany them to the PAC hearing to explain the issues, he failed to show up.



The Auditor-General report found that the former Principal of OLA College of Education had contracted a loan of GHc250,000 with an interest of GHc300,000 from Akatakyiman Rural Bank to renovate the colleges chapel without the required approval from neither the College Council, Director General of Ghana Education Service ( GES), Ministry of Education nor the Minister of Finance.



It again noted that the principal was unable to provide any agreement on the loan with the bank.



However, the audit further disclosed that a total amount of GHS 206, 249.94 from a monthly installment of GHS 11,458.94, had so far been repaid, and that the principal indicated that students were billed to finance the loan, resulting in overburdening the students and guardians.



We recommend that the principal and the accountant should desist from the practice and always seek approval from the appropriate authorities before loans are contracted. We further recommend that the two officers should be duly sanctioned for non-compliance of the Act, the report added.



Meanwhile, on cash irregularities, the College raised 27 Payments Vouchers (PVs) totaling GHS 1,378,505.55, the AG report cited, which was due to poor supervision by management and the laxity of the accountant.



These undermined transparency and accountability, it said, indicating that the transactions did not provide reasonable assurance that the funds were used in the interest of the school.



It, therefore, recommended that the principal and accountant should refund the amount to the school.



Also, 11 staff of the College had defaulted in repayment of salary advance totaling GHc24,539, the AG report indicated, attributing the delays to the inability of the accountant to put in appropriate measures to recover same.



The non-recovery of advances could deny other staff from benefitting from the facility, we recommend that management should recover the amount from the staff concerned and further institute measures to strengthen the rate of recovery of advances, the report said.



The OLA College of Education was also flagged for breaching the procurement Act by engaging in non-competitive bidding contrary to section 20 of the Public Procurement Act (Amended) 2016 (Act 914) involving 27 PVs amounting GHc407,547.



Management failure to adhere to requirements of the Procurement Act resulted in the lapses and we could not ascertain whether the amount expended on goods were fair and reasonable and value for money obtained. We recommend the appropriate sanction against the Head and accountant, it said.



On the PVs, Mr Avedzi noted that 17 out of the 27 had been cleared, but we need to know how payments for the outstanding PVs were done.



He asked the College authorities to communicate to those persons to report to the auditors within two weeks, failure for which the PAC would recommend appropriate sanctions.



On the Akatakyiman loan, the PAC Chairman urged the principal and the accountant to endeavour to contact the retired staff to cooperate else they would be sanctioned in accordance with the laws.



Ranking Member, Mr Kofi Okyere Agyekum, MP for Fanteakwa South, said the EOCO, after retrieving monies on behalf of institutions, did not send them back and suggested that the committee took a serious view on that.





Source: GNA









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Three Kitwe women have been arrested by police for circulating, what is now a viral, sex video with a mentally challenged man.



The incident occurred on 4th September at Mindolo market and has now sparked an outrage from members of the public, especially in Zambia where the incident occurred. Copperbelt Deputy Commissioner of Police Sharon Zulu confirmed the arrest of the suspects identified as Thandiwe Phiri, Kangwa Chembeya and Mary Mugala. She said they were arrested after a tip-off from a member of the public.



Zulu said;



Brief facts are that, on September 4th around 14:00 hours, the three were drinking beer at the house they share in Mindolo. As they were drinking, the three called the victim, a mental patient who stays within their area and gave him beers to drink. When he got drunk, they enticed him to have carnal knowledge with Phiri while Chembeya took a video of the act.









Read Full Story .... lindaikejisblog.com/ >>> :

















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The Member of Parliament for the North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has alleged that galamsey queen Aisha Huang was not escorted during her supposed deportation.



It has emerged that Aisha Huang was not escorted during her supposed deportation as international standard practice requires during such high profile deportations, the opposition lawmaker said in a Facebook post on Monday, 12 September 2022.



Mr Ablakwa said, painstaking investigations into the Aisha Huang gate are leading to very explosive findings.



He noted that Ms Huang was not physically handed over to relevant or competent Chinese authorities when she allegedly landed in China which is inconsistent with deportation protocols.



He further noted; Chinese officials had no prior communication and were only informed by the Ghanaian government two days after Aisha Huangs so-called deportation making it difficult for her to be tracked.



There is no available credible evidence suggesting that the Chinese government at any time appealed to their Ghanaian counterparts not to prosecute Aisha Huang or making her freedom a precondition for bilateral trade relations as former Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo recklessly claimed, he stated.



The North Tongu MP indicate that the morbid fear of Aisha Huang by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government cannot be opportunistically blamed on others.



Mr Ablakwa, who had earlier called for an independent enquiry into the matter, maintained his stance to identify the galamsey queens accomplices in high places for swift sanctions.



Meanwhile, the Attorney General, Mr Godred Dame, has called for the new docket prepared on Aisha Huang with regard to the offences she is suspected to have committed recently.



This was disclosed in a tweet by the office of the AG on Tuesday, 6 September 2022.



The Attorney General has called for the new docket on En Huang a.k.a. Aisha, regarding offences she is suspected to have recently committed, the tweet said.



The AG will also re-initiate prosecution in respect of the old offences for which she was standing trial before her deportation in 2018, it added.



The AG further promised to prosecute the Chinese fully for alleged old offences.



There shall be a full prosecution for her alleged new and past offences.



The AG will also re-initiate prosecution in respect of the old offences for which she was standing trial before her deportation in 2018, it added.



The AG further promised to prosecute the Chinese fully, for alleged old offences.



There shall be a full prosecution for her alleged new and past offences.



Aisha Huang was arrested and deported for engaging in illegal mining in 2018 but has returned to the country to engage in the same crime that led to her deportation.



She was re-arrested recently and facing two charges of mining without licence and engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals without a valid licence.



Her arrest has sent social media agog as people wonder how she gained access back into the country.



Some reports suggest she smuggled herself into Ghana through neighbouring Togo and acquired a Ghana card in February 2022 with a new name, Huang En.













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En Huang, aka Aisha Huang, a businesswoman, who has been arrested for engaging in illegal mining will appear before an Accra Circuit Court tomorrow, Wednesday, to answer charges preferred against her.



Aisha, who was deported in 2018 for allegedly engaging in illegal mining, is currently facing two fresh charges.



She is being held on the charges of sale and purchase of minerals in Accra without license and engaging in illegal mining without license.



At the last sitting, the court presided over by Mr Samuel Bright, could not take her plea because the court did not have a Chinese interpreter.



She is expected to stand trial with three other accomplices - Johng Li Hua, Huang Jei and Huaid Hun.



The three accomplices, who were without legal representation, had pleaded not guilty to the charge of engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals without a license.



Aisha after her deportation, re-entered Ghana in 2022 and allegedly engaged in illegal mining at Bepotenten in the Amansie West, Ashanti Region.



The Office of the Attorney General has indicated it would take over the prosecution of Aishas previous and current cases in court.



President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo has declared his support for the AG in prosecuting Aisha and her accomplices.



It is likely the AG will discontinue the case at the Circuit Court and commence trial at the High Court as was done in Aishas previous case.

Source: GNA









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The Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the United States, Eric Goldstein, has disclosed that social media in this modern era of communication is a perfect tool for communication in the cyber space.



According to him, if institutions are going to reach the broad stakeholders, it is vital to adopt the right security measures and all levels of communication must be employed including social media.



Speaking to selected journalists undergoing a virtual cybersecurity training by the U.S. Foreign Press center, the U.S. CISAs Executive Assistant Director intimated that social media has become the global fabric for instant communication and that it has become very necessary for it to be used to reach a larger audience in the bid to educate and the need to protect the cyber space from cyber-attacks.



"If we are going to reach the broad stakeholders that we need to be in touch with to drive adoption of the right security measures, we need to use all levers of communication. And that includes of course in this modern era social media, and so we do a wide range of media availability sessions. Of course, we are ubiquitous on the conference circuit. Just this week in D.C. we are at a major conference called Billington where weve been speaking with the media all week".



"But we also think that social media is really important here, right? That is now really the global fabric for instant communication. Of course, our Director, Jen Easterly, has a significant presence on Twitter and other social media channels, and we have found that to be really effective in getting the word out to stakeholders around the world in a really rapid, frictionless way".



The CISAs Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity Eric Goldstein further reiterated that journalists play a key role in ensuring the safety of the cyber space and in as much as they using the traditional medium to educate the public they need to focus their attention on the new era and brand of communication which is the social media .



We at CISA believe that journalist have a major role to play in disseminating information and we entreat you to adopt modern forms communication including the new norm in order to reach a larger audience.



Highlighting the work of CISA, Mr. Goldstein explained that they bring together partners to engage in this continuous information sharing, planning, and enrichment.



"One great example of this work in execution is our Shields Up effort, which we initiated subsequent to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when we brought together partners, including international partners across Europe and around the world, to rapidly understand evolving malicious cyber activity targeting Ukrainian networks and enabled us to produce products, information, guidance to help organizations not just here in the U.S.



He continued We know that combating Cybersecurity threat cannot be done by government alone, we need a collaborative effort of everybody including the various stakeholders especially journalist who reach a larger audience in their line of work.



About CISA (CYBERSECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY)



CISA has the privilege of serving as Americas Computer Emergency Response Team, or Americas CERT. And in that role, we engage in operational collaboration every day with over 100 countries around the world with their respective cyber defense organizations, because we know that malicious cyber actors are almost never targeting organizations in only one country.













Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/isaac[email protected]









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The Electoral Commission (EC) has called on the National Identification Authority (NIA) to accelerate the pace of the printing of Ghana cards to make it easy for people to acquire their cards, as they will soon be the only form of ID for voter registration.



This follows the confirmation by the EC that it has decided to scrap the guarantor system and rather now use the Ghana Card for the compilation of a voter register for the 2024 general election.



Speaking at the Let the Citizens Know series in Accra last Thursday, the Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, said the commission was aware that the NIA had some challenges in issuing and distributing Ghana cards to Ghanaians, but those hitches were surmountable.



She said the EC had already engaged the NIA, which had given an assurance that the cards would be issued to Ghanaians to help them register.



"We have engaged the NIA and it has assured us that the cards will be issued to Ghanaians to help them register.



More to the point, we have two clear years to the 2024 elections and so people will not be disenfranchised when we use only the Ghana Card for registration.



We thus call on the NIA to make the process of acquiring the cards easier and more efficient to ensure that all eligible voters are able to get their cards and be able to register, she said.



No more guarantor system



Mrs Mensa, explaining why the EC had decided to do away with the guarantor system, said the system, which allowed registered voters to serve as witnesses to authenticate the nationality of prospective registrants, was fraught with challenges, as it created a window for minors and foreigners to infiltrate the voters register.



She said despite the guarantor system not being a better way of identifying prospective registrants citizenship, it had been used for about three decades because of the absence of a national identification document such as the one issued by the NIA, adding that now that there was a national identification card, there was no need to hang on to the guarantor system.



"We do not believe that we should still keep the guarantor system when we have the Ghana Card as the best way of determining who is a Ghanaian. People take advantage of the guarantor system and turn themselves into contractors during voter registration. This is not a system we should encourage at all, going forward," she said.



Situation



Since Ghana returned to constitutional rule, the EC has periodically compiled voters registers.



Until now, the modes of identification had been a valid passport, a national ID, an existing voter ID, or two guarantors for those who had no form of ID. Those guarantors were persons already registered and issued with voter cards.



Last July, the EC placed before Parliament a draft C.I., titled: Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2021, which is expected to regulate continuous voter registration.



The intention is to amend the laws to now have the Ghana Card as the only accepted form of ID for all prospective registrants.



The C.I. has been referred to the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament.



That decision has drawn some criticisms and reactions from various stakeholders, including a former EC Chairman, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan.



In an article exclusively published in the Daily Graphic, Dr Afari-Gyan, who chaired the EC from 1992 to 2015, said the decision of the EC to use the Ghana Card as the only form of continuous voter registration would result in the disenfranchisement of millions of qualified Ghanaians.



He said many Ghanaians were finding it difficult to obtain the Ghana Card and so making it the only form of identification for voter registration was against electoral inclusivity, fairness and justice.



Integrity of register



However, the Deputy Commissioner of the EC in charge of Operations, Samuel Tettey, also at the Let the Citizens know series, explained that the decision to do away with the guarantor system in the continuous voter registration would help preserve the integrity of the poll book.



Today, 30 years on, we cannot continue to use a system that is fraught with challenges when we have a credible system, that is, the Ghana Card, in place, he stressed.



He added that scrapping the guarantor system would save the country a huge amount of money that would have been spent on cleaning up the register of unqualified registrants.



To rid the register of minors and foreigners, the EC established the District Registration Review Committees which sat on several days and weeks in all the districts to expunge the names of minors and foreigners from the register.



This comes at a huge cost to the commission. It is an unnecessary, wasteful and time-consuming exercise that arises as a result of guarantors guaranteeing for persons who are not qualified and we should not condone it, he said.



He stressed that scrapping the guarantor system and using the Ghana Card would prevent foreigners from influencing elections or having a say as to who governed the country.



Case for NIA cards



Mr Tettey said the 2012 National Identity Register Regulations, Legislative Instrument 2111, Regulation 7 (1), stipulated that a national identity card issued to an individual shall be used for a number of transactions where identification is required.



One of the mandatory transactions stated in Regulation 7 (1) j is the registration of voters, he said.



He observed that although the Ghana Card was not the only requirement for registration, at the end of the registration exercise in 2020, over 60 per cent (10 million) of registered voters had used the Ghana Card as the main source of identification.



This means that two years ago about 10 million Ghanaians registered with the Ghana Card. We are reliably informed that over 17 million Ghanaians have registered for the card as of last month and about 16 million Ghana cards had been issued.



On the strength of these numbers, we are convinced that the one million applicants we expect to register as of now following the last registration exercise in 2020 are more likely to possess the Ghana Card.



For our part, as the institution mandated by the 1992 Republican Constitution to compile the register of voters and revise it at such intervals as may be determined by law, we will do everything in our power to register all qualified applicants who wish to register as voters. Our goal is to ensure that no one is left behind, he emphasised.

Source: Graphiconline









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The Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, has called on the youth to demonstrate love and patriotism at all times to propel personal and national development.



He said Ghana was a great country with remarkable history to be proud of, for which reason the younger generation must be resolute in their patriotism to the state.



Mr Agyapong observed that the youth represented the backbone of every nation and, therefore, should be a prioritized asset of the country.



The renowned legislator noted that when more attention was given to the youth, they could become responsible leaders that would uphold the image and values of the country.



Speaking as the Special Guest of Honour during the swearing-in ceremony of the UPSA SRC Executives and Graduate Students Association of Ghana (GRASAG) - UPSA Chapter over the weekend, he admonished the youth to put the countrys interest above other considerations.



As youth, bring together all passionate, selfless and patriotic Ghanaian citizens and use your combined knowledge, skills, ideas and other resources to support the needed development activities in the various communities with a focus on the countrys development agenda, he said.



The Assin Central MP further reminded the students that life was not easy out there, stressing the need for them to be determined irrespective of what the odds may be.



Today is the beginning of your own success and if you will be successful, you will pass through this school of life. Knowledge is not the end of life but your ability to turn the knowledge into making yourself meaningful in society, he said.



Mr Agyapong said the virtues of perseverance, patience and honesty were the hallmark of success.



He advised the youth to take their destinies into their own hands as the government could not single-handedly provide employment to the growing number of graduates, let alone all the youth in the country.



The MP noted that the youth could succeed in Ghana because the country had enormous opportunities, "and that is why the nationals from other parts of the world come to Ghana and make it."



Touching on governance, he said it was worrying that while hundreds of millions of Asians were being taken out of poverty because of successful governance, millions of Africans living on the worlds richest continent in terms of natural resources continued to wallow in abject poverty.



He said the poverty in the African Continent was the result of poor governance.



It is time, therefore, for the current generation to rise to meet the challenges of today. You have to help banish the disgraceful spectre of young Africans dying in the Mediterranean, seeking greener pastures in Europe. A look around will reveal that foreigners are making it in Ghana despite complaints that it is very difficult to make it in Ghana, he said.



The Assin Central MP said it was unacceptable that we are in this country always complaining about hardships and lack of opportunities, but the Syrians and other foreigners come into this country and make it."



To reverse the trend, he urged the youth to dream and think big in order to succeed in life.



"The tendency to accuse others of witchcraft and superstition when faced with failure is not the way to go. Develop the capacity to work hard, he stated.



In his view, some people still believe that to be successful, one needs to be hardworking and go through different struggles on the persons way up.



It is not because the struggles are good, but because they will teach you vital lessons you need as a successful man or woman. How else will you appreciate a pesewa when you have never really been in need of one Ghana Cedi? he quizzed.



Mr Agyapong called on the youth to avoid negative virtues such as dishonesty and I'm patience because such attitudes would not get them to their destination.



If you intend to be celebrated, guard against dishonest and bad behaviours. Channel your resources into building a good reputation for yourself and make people around you happy. In all of these, be proactive and honest in every activity you undertake, he stressed.



Making reference to his personal life, the MP said:



Honesty is the important principle that has taken me far in business, you need to always be honest in your dealings. This is one principle that foreigners have as a weapon, which we lack in this country.



He also urged the youth to be disciplined, exhibit self-control and an unwavering desire to do the right thing.



Indeed, the chaos and filth on our streets, settlement patterns and lack of productivity are but a symptom of the levels of indiscipline that has engulfed our society. We should be disciplined in terms of respect to time, environment and everything, he added.









Source: Armstrong Esaah









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A 43-year-old Ghanaian businessman living in the United Kingdom, Ernest Kwaku Kobeah, has disclosed his intention to contest the opposition NDC presidential primaries.



Mr. Kobeah said he would beat former President John Mahama, who is tipped to win the NDC presidential primaries ahead of the 2024 elections.



Although former Finance Minister and business mogul, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, has also been working hard to lead the party into the 2024 presidential elections, Mr. Kobeah says he will pull a surprise.



He is confident that if given the nod by Ghanaians, he would bring his expertise in sanitation, construction and security to bear for Ghanas benefit.



Ready To Lead NDC



He said even though Ghana, over the years has witnessed different regimes from 1992 to date, the aspirations of the people have not been met.



He said the failure on the part of governments to deliver on their promises was due to international and local economic causes.



According to Mr. Kobeah, he believes given his over 20 years stay in the UK, and his expertise in the construction sector, he stands a better chance to beat Mr. Mahama.



Experience



The businessman continued that he has contributed to creating good sanitation environment in the United Kingdom through his company, City Expert, which is a key player in the UKs sewage construction system, adding his company has been used to win UK Government construction contracts due to its excellent delivery.



His company, City Expert Group, has built several sky-scrapers in the United Kingdom.



He says he is ready to make Ghana develop to the standards in the UK.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









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Nana Akomea has jabbed Ex-President John Dramani Mahama over his recent comments about the Chief Justice and the Judiciary.



Mr. Mahama, speaking at a National Democratic Congress (NDC) Lawyers Conference, argued that the Judiciary has become an object of mockery and therefore called for a new Chief Justice to lead the Judiciary in redeeming its broken image.



So badly has the image of our Judiciary deteriorated that many of our citizenry openly make mockery of our justice system and of our justices. The phrase Go to Court is these days met with derisive laughter, instead of hope that one will truly get justice.



There is, therefore, the urgent need for the Ghanaian Judiciary to work to win the trust and confidence of the citizenry, and erase the widely held perception of hostility and political bias in legal proceedings at the highest courts of the land.



Unfortunately, we have no hope that the current leadership of our Judiciary can lead such a process of change. We can only hope, that a new Chief Justice will lead the process to repair the broken image that our Judiciary has acquired over the last few years, he added.



But the Inter City STC Boss, Nana Akomea, says Mr. Mahama's comments are demeaning to the image and sanctity of the Judiciary.



"President Mahama, as a Ghanaian and as former President, can disagree with the Judiciary or any institution of State. He has the right and he can, based on the disagreement, criticize them . . . You can disagree and criticize but when you go on to say that the Judges' verdict, it is not based on the law but based on bias, then you have been unfair to the Judiciary. You have bastardized the Judiciary and that's what President Mahama is doing," he stated while speaking on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo".



He noted that Mr. Mahama's remarks are an attack on the Judiciary and advised him to know the difference between criticism and attack.



"It's an attack on the Judiciary and not a criticism and it's scandalizing the Judiciary . . . He must be told that there is a difference between criticism and an attack. It has to be pointed out to him."





Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame, in an address at the Ghana Bar Association's Conference in Ho, Volta Region, also reprimanded Mr. Mahama saying, "non-lawyer Mahama made the comments at a meeting of the legal committee of his party, none of the lawyers raised a finger to contest the wrong and dangerous propaganda by the former President. By their silence, they became abettors of the propagation of hate against the judiciary.""I find it worrying because lawyers ought to be the loudest and strongest defenders of the independence, integrity and importance of the judiciary rather than serving as tools for its destruction," he added.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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19 years after breaking out with his timeless classic - Moko be, Pastor Nii Okai announces that yet another baby is on the way, come Sunday, September 18, 2022.



Nii Okai Ministries has announced a weekend of activities to celebrate its founder and President including courtesy calls on media business owners, a stakeholders and associates premiere meet, a thanksgiving service, and a high school outreach to Akosombo International School.



The new 8-track album has been christened - Revealing Jesus, and will be released via Boomplay and all other digital platforms and streaming sites.

Four of the songs namely, Moko be (Praise), Breaking Seals, Kron (Holy), Naano Lala are already enjoying rotation on Apple Music and on key radio stations in the country.



The album was again produced by KODA and features MOGmusic, Eugene Zuta and Pastor Isaiah Fosu-Kwakye among others.



I have come to appreciate that our raison detre is for Jesus to be revealed to and through us. This album marks a new beginning in my ministry as I look forward to what is to come Nii Okai comments.



Nii Okai, who recently clocked over a million views on YouTube for his Praise Remix collaboration with Joe Mettle, has released the visuals of Naano lala (Eternal Chorus), his latest single off the upcoming album.



This is awesome! My jam for the day. Simple, filled with subtle shows of brilliance, and I just love it. Sweet, no unnecessary complex stuff and beautifully done. Fills my heart with joy and I bless God for your unvarnished talent. Comments Lawyer Ace Anan Ankomah, a mentor, composer and music hobbyist.



Nii Okai Ministries is currently hosting a global #naanolalachallenge across social media and it seeks to showcase the dexterity and versatility among music directors and their choirs, using the refrain of his latest single - Naano lala (Eternal Chorus).



Nii Okais Saving Hearts Foundation continues to fund-save open heart surgeries for needy children in collaboration with select Paediatric Intensive Care Units. This year, with support from Citi TV & Citi97.3fm, the Foundation hopes to touch more lives by World Hearts Day on September 29.

Source: graphic.com.gh









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Artiste manager, Lawrence Nana Asiamah Hanson, popularly known as Bulldog admonished rapper Sarkodie to rise above making statements that would divide the media industry and artistes.



According to him, Sarkodie is a big brand now and he should be seen as uniting and encouraging stakeholders in the showbiz industry other than giving attention to destructive statements.



Sarkodie is currently trending over his recent comments that presenters in Ghana who have not crossed over to international platforms like the BBC do not have the moral right to talk about Ghanaian artistes for not going global.



It is easy for someone to sit on the radio and say that Shatta Wale or Sarkodie didnt do this or that. I know that we the artists have things we should do because every time there is a step but if you are on a Ghanaian radio for close to 20 years and youve not moved to a platform like Choice or BBC, I dont think you have the moral right to talk about Ghanaian artistes who have not moved, he said in an interview with Fire Stick.



The comment has since received a lot of mix-reactions. While some supported him, others disagree with him.



But speaking on Hitz fm on Monday, Bulldog said the statement is not necessary. He could have handled whatever question he was asked differently.



If we want to break Sarkodies statement line by line, then the whole of Ghana needs to elevateIf you are on the top of the food chain, you shouldnt be saying things to tear the people beneath you apart.



I am not saying Sarkodie was wrong for saying level up. I am just saying he should rise above that conversation, he said.



He needs to rise above this conversation and bring everybody together. He should not be saying stuff that will tear us apart, he added.

Source: Daily Guide









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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This image from NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System shows the area burned by the Heather Lake wildfire over the past two weeks. The line through the middle of the image depicts the Canada-U.S. border.
Queen Elizabeth II greets part of the crowd of thousands of well-wishers who turned out at Pentictons airport during a Royal visit to the Okanagan on May 6, 1971. In its glowing coverage of the day, The Herald described the Queens visit as transforming Penticton into a wonderland of fantasy, and the Queen herself appearing as if she descended from a cloud covered sky into an Eden with its white and pink orchard blossoms, its officials smart and polished, and its setting lush and inspiring, as only the Okanagan in spring can be.
Queen Elizabeth II is silhouetted in Barbados in 1989 during welcoming ceremonies at the airport. A new poll suggests most Canadians feel no attachment to the British monarchy, and that few have been personally impacted by Queen Elizabeths death. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Peter Bregg
Police vehicles and officers are seen behind tape at a scene in Mississauga, Ont., Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. A Toronto police officer has been fatally shot and a suspect is dead after shooting scenes spanning three Greater Toronto Area cities Monday afternoon, left a third person dead and three others injured. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey
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The DOJs investigation into the fake electors and Trumps coup attempt is gathering information on the participation of House and Senate Republicans.

The New York Times reported:

According to one subpoena obtained by The New York Times, they asked for any records or communications from people who organized, spoke at or provided security for Mr. Trumps rally at the Ellipse. They also requested information about any members of the executive and legislative branches who may have taken part in planning or executing the rally, or tried to obstruct, influence, impede or delay the certification of the presidential election.

On MSNBCs Deadline: White House, Peter Strzok said that the investigation is at the feet of congressmen and senators, So this is right at the feet of not only congressmen but senators as well. And I think a lot of people are probably very uneasy tonight reading this news.

Video of Strzok:

Thanks to the 1/6 Committee, the American people know that Andy Biggs, Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert, Paul Gosar, Andy Harris, Jim Jordan, Scott Perry, and Marjorie Taylor Greene were all at the White House coup plotter meeting. These members of Congress should be very nervous that the DOJ is seizing cell phones and looking for any evidence that members of Congress participated in the fake elector scheme/coup plot.

The Justice Department will get the evidence if congressional Republicans were involved, and it doesnt matter which party wins the midterm election, the DOJ investigation is not going away, as it looks like we now know why some Republicans become terrified when the Justice Department is mentioned.
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The DOJ smartly agreed to one of the choices that Trumps team offered up to serve as special master over the materials seized at Mar-a-Lago. Without admitting that a special master is proper or needed, the DOJ accepted team Trumps offer of Sr. U.S. District Court Judge Raymond Dearie, whose chambers are in Brooklyn. The move is masterful in that Twitter was replete yesterday with prominent attorneys vouching for Dearie as one of the most respected judges in the country with an impeccable past as a fair and intelligent jurist. The fact that DOJ made the move to select one of Trumps proposed candidates cuts off any accusation that the process was rigged or unfair to Trump. From the Washington Post:

The Justice Department filed court papers Monday signaling that it would accept a former chief federal judge in New York as a special master charged with reviewing papers seized by the FBI from former president Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago residence and club.

U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon must approve Raymond J. Dearies appointment for the document review  which has stalled the Justice Departments criminal probe  to go forward.

Dearie, 78, still serves as a judge in Brooklyn federal court, albeit on senior status, which means he can take a reduced caseload if he chooses. Dearie was nominated to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan and became one of the most highly regarded jurists in the Eastern District of New York.

To be sure, the DOJ still strongly objects to the use of a special master at all and is forcefully appealing the review. But they cannot presume that theyll win the appeal with the speed desired, and  perhaps, the sooner the special master starts working, the sooner one will be done. DOJs focus remains on the criminal investigation and getting the injunction against the investigation lifted as soon as possible.

Time is of the essence. Judge Cannon said that the Justice Department could continue its national security review but, just as DOJ said in its filings and just as this site has said in the past, the criminal investigation inextricably overlaps with the national security review and thus investigating our national security posture endangers any future prosecution. If Trump were ever to be charged, one could expect Trumps attorneys to say that the DOJ ignored Cannons ruling to stop the criminal investigation (even though the evidence was found in a national security review), which could cause the case to be thrown out prior to trial or in an appeal after a conviction. One doesnt need a law degree to understand that dynamic.

So DOJs focus remains on getting Cannon to lift her own stay and, absent that order, an emergency filing with the 11th Circuit, asking them to lift the stay pending hearing the full appeal, probably also on an expedited basis. Normally, judges are loathed to involve themselves in anything that touches upon national security, which is one of many issues the DOJ has with Cannons order. Moreover, attorneys such as Bill Barr, Andrew Weissman, and Barbara McQuade, among many others, are on record stating that theyve never seen an order halting a criminal investigation based on an argument over documents. There can be an argument down the line, if charges are filed, about whether the evidence is admissible, but judges do not order investigations to stop. Most attorneys believe that the 11th Circuit could lift the stay on investigating the criminal matter as part of its national security review.

But agreeing to Trumps proposal of Judge Dearie is a deft move that helps DOJ look even more reasonable.
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) promised that if Republicans take back the House and Senate, they will vote on a national abortion ban.

Video:

Graham: If we take back the House and the Senate, I can assure well have a vote pic.twitter.com/BYcg64yj7I  Acyn (@Acyn) September 13, 2022

Graham said at a press conference announcing his 15-week abortion ban bill, I look forward to the debate. I look forward to the vote. If we take back the House and Senate, I can assure you well have a vote on our bill. If the Democrats are in charge, I dont know if well ever have a vote on our bill.

Analysis: Lindsey Graham Just Got More Americans To Vote For Democratic Candidates

Sen. Graham doesnt realize that many voters, especially young voters and women, see never getting a vote on his 15-week abortion ban bill as the goal. Republicans have made oodles of unforced errors during the 2022 election cycle, but Lindsey Graham holding a press conference to announce why Americans who care about personal liberty should vote for Democratic candidates could be one of the biggest.

Lindsey Graham could have introduced his bill in two months after the election. The fact that the South Carolina senator thinks that a federal ban taking away freedom from a majority of the population makes his party look mainstream is such an epic misfire that it is fair to question Grahams grasp on reality.

Every House and Senate Democratic candidate across the country should thank Lindsey Graham for helping them win elections in November.
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Sen. Lindsey Graham has delivered for Democrats by planning to announce a national 15-week abortion ban.

Axios reported:

`Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will announce plans for a new bill on national abortion restrictions Tuesday.

Thats according to an email from Grahams office on Monday night saying he will hold a press conference with anti-abortion leaders on the introduction of the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act.

Graham thinks he is making Republicans more mainstream by introducing a 15-week ban, but a national ban is not popular. A 15-week ban is more popular than fetal heartbeat bills, but that is not saying much.

Analysis: Lindsey Graham Hurts Republicans On Abortion

Lindsey Graham will put abortion on the ballot in every Senate race in America. In places like Pennsylvania, a pro-choice state, Graham just gave Democratic candidate John Fetterman a huge assist.

Abortion is the issue motivating voters to the polls. The last thing Republicans needed was to add fuel to the fire and motivate more voters to show up where abortion is not on the ballot.

Lindsey Graham thinks te is mainstreaming the Republican Party, but he is burying any chance they had of winning the Senate with this terrible move.
On August 9, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a part of a three-country visit to Africa. The previous day, Blinken spoke in South Africa, outlining the U.S. strategy for sub-Saharan Africa.

Blinken stressed the connection between democracy and security; food insecurity; and COVID-19-related economic pain, exacerbated by Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The White House released an accompanying fact sheet. It claimed the U.S. and its allies across the world increasingly regard Africa as integral to their national security but also included this harsh assessment of China:

The Peoples Republic of China (PRC), by contrast, sees the region as an important arena to challenge the rules-based international order, advance its own narrow commercial and geopolitical interests, undermine transparency and openness, and weaken U.S. relations with African peoples and governments.

China took umbrage. In response, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian tweeted side-by-side photographs from Africa, apparently to draw a contrast.

One shows a Chinese surveyor, with the caption: China shares mapping technique in Africa. The other, with a U.S. soldier crouching over an African aiming a rifle, is captioned: The U.S. offers shooting training in Africa.

Zhaos tweet: #China brings techniques to #Africa. The #US brings violence to Africa.

That is false.

The 10-year-old photo actually shows a U.S. Marine training a member of the Uganda Peoples Defense Force in combat marksmanship.

The Ugandan soldiers were combat engineers receiving counterinsurgency training to fight Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, a Somali Islamist militant group.

The combat engineers were sent to support Ugandan infantry already deployed as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), a regional peace-keeping mission unanimously approved by the United Nations Security Council, which includes China, on December 6, 2006.

In other words, China had approved of the very training shown in the photo.

AMISOM's mandate recently ended on March 31, and it was replaced by an African Union Transition Mission in Somalia.

In August 2021, Dai Bing, the charge d'affaires of China's permanent mission to the United Nations, also expressed Chinas support for AMISOM.

Similar images of Chinese troops training soldiers in Africa are also publicly available.

So, what is China really up to in Africa? It's a mixed bag.

For one, China has outpaced the United States on the development front. In April, Deborah Brautigam, director of the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, told the VOAs Kate Bartlett that aside from foreign aid, China is a bigger economic player on the continent than the U.S. in every area.

Chinas investment in Africa is tied to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), its $1 trillion trade and diplomatic program to connect with Eurasia and Africa.

The Indian academic Brahma Chellaney and various Western officials have accused China of engaging in debt trap diplomacy under the BRI, by which unsustainable debt is leveraged for geopolitical ends. Beijing and some independent Western analysts dispute that China has been so onerous as a lender.

On the military front, Bejing has an increasing presence in Africa, selling arms and providing training.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported in March that China was the third-largest major arms supplier to Africa from 2017-2021, accounting for 10% of shipments.

Russia was by far the largest supplier of major arms to Africa, accounting for 44% of the total. The United States was second, at 17%.

Some argue that Chinas arms shipments to Africa are profit-driven. Others say there is a strategic component.

As in the case of Myanmars military regime, China sells arms with the full knowledge they would likely be used in attacks against civilians, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on Myanmarr reported in February. Academic analysts say China maintains a no questions asked arms export model, with human rights considered an internal affair.

The Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, a peer-reviewed journal of the United States Air Force and Space Force, has accused Beijing of implicitly sanctioning the unrestrained flow of weapons to conflict zones.

For example, while the United States was training Ugandan forces in 2012 to combat an insurgency in Somalia, weapons from China surfaced in a string of U.N. investigations in war zones stretching from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Ivory Coast, Somalia and Sudan, The Washington Post reported.

The newspaper noted that China stood apart from other major arms exporters, including Russia, for its assertive challenge to U.N. authority, stifling attempts by U.N. experts to track the flow of arms to Africa and elsewhere.

Meantime, China is also pushing a Global Security Initiative to realize its own vision of indivisible security.

Beijing presents the initiative as a truly multilateral program to maintain world peace and prevent conflicts and wars. Critics say it would usher in a global system friendlier to repressive regimes than the current order, grounded as it is in democratic ideals.

Through that initiative, China aims, in part, to beef up its military presence on the continent.

A July 31 article in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), headlined China using its new Global Security Initiative to build military standing in Africa, states as much:

China is promoting its new Global Security Initiative as a way to boost ties with African nations through military training, intelligence sharing and counter-terrorism  even as Western powers like France and the U.S. face resistance or are cutting back on their African military operations.

The SCMP report noted that Beijing has contributed thousands of troops to the United Nations peace-keeping missions, is training more military officials, and seeks further involvement in the peace process in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel regions.

Writing for the European Council on Foreign Relations, Michael Tanchum, an academic and expert on Sub-Saharan Africa, said China had provided more troops to U.N. Security Council peace-keeping missions than all the other U.N.S.C. permanent members combined.

Tanchum argues that under the auspices of the U.N., Beijing is able to portray its unilateral military presence as part of the international effort to combat piracy and protect global trade passing through the Suez Canal.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, an independent agency of the U.S. government, wrote in a December 2020 study: Chinese leaders aspire to project force and be capable of fighting a limited war overseas to protect its interests in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

To achieve that end, Tanchum wrote, Beijing has integrated a military and security component into its economic partnerships with African states, weaving Chinas defense presence into the fabric of the continents development.

Africa is also the site of Chinas first military base abroad.

In 2017, China opened a military base in Djibouti, an east African state in the Horn of Africa (Somali Peninsula). The base is intended, in part, to facilitate participation in U.N. peace-keeping missions and anti-piracy operations.

Reports suggest that China is also looking to open a second naval base on Africas Atlantic Coast, in the central African country of Equatorial Guinea.
On August 30, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian commented on the Syrian governments allegation that the United States, terrorist groups and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have conducted illegal activities such as stealing and destruction since the start of Syrias civil war in 2011.

Zhao accused the U.S. of plundering in Syria and taking more than 80% of the countrys oil production, a false allegation that Polygraph.info has previously debunked. Both Damascus and Russia have made similar bogus claims.

Zhao blamed Syrias war on the U.S., claiming Washington hoped to to start a color revolution.

Its frequent military interventions in Syria have caused great civilian casualties and inestimable economic loss, and displaced more than 12 million people, he said.

That is a false characterization that whitewashes years of brutalities by Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and Russian military forces allied with his regime. Let's look back.

What began in March 2011 as popular and peaceful protests against Assad, calling for more freedoms, democratic reform and an end to corruption, quickly escalated. Assad ordered deadly attacks on protesters, prompting the opposition to take up arms.

Since then, the conflict has been complicated by varying degrees of foreign involvement. Russia and Iran backed the Assad regime, while the United States, with allies that included Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Israel, supported opposition forces.

Non-state actors, including Iran-backed Hezbollah and the Kremlin-linked mercenary company Wagner Group, also aided the Assad regime. Extremist jihadist groups, including Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaida, took advantage of the chaos and joined the fighting with their own aims.

In short, over 11 years of conflict, many actors took part in the fighting, not just the U.S.

The conflict has killed more than 306,000 civilians and displaced more than 12 million Syrians, according to the United Nations. In ruins and still enduring war, Syria has experienced economic deterioration, extreme poverty, hunger, the COVID-19 pandemic and the destruction of vital infrastructure to meet basic humanitarian needs.

The U.N. estimated in July that 14.6 million people in Syria needed humanitarian assistance, a 9 percent increases from last year.

While all parties to the conflict, the U.S.-led coalition included, have been accused of human rights violations and war crimes, the Assad regime and its key ally Russia have by far perpetrated most of the violence against civilians and caused widespread destruction as a matter of strategy.

As writer Zachary Laub wrote for the Council on Foreign Relations:

Both Assads forces and rebel groups have regularly targeted civilians in areas outside of their control. The deaths of some 1,400 civilians from chemical weapons deployed by the Assad regime in the summer of 2013 mobilized world powers to dismantle the regimes chemical arsenal. However, in the years since, the Syrian government has employed devastating conventional arms that have also caused massive civilian casualties.

The regime has made regular use of sieges and aerial bombardment. These collective-punishment tactics serve dual purposes, analysts say: they raise the costs of resistance to civilians so that they will pressure rebels to acquiesce, and they prevent local committees from offering a viable alternative to the regimes governance. In 2018, the U.N. humanitarian agency said more than one million people lived in areas that were besieged or otherwise beyond the reach of aid.

Russias direct military intervention in Syria in 2015 turned the tide of the war in favor of the Assad regime, prolonging the fighting.

Assads forces were repeatedly accused of using chemical weapons against civilians, including the Ghouta chemical attack in 2013, the 2017 chemical attack in Khan Shaykhun, a town in rebel-held Idlib province and the Douma chemical attack in 2018.

While all sides to the conflict have committed heinous laws-of-war violations, the Syrian-Russian military alliance has conducted indiscriminate aerial bombing of schools, hospitals, and markets  the civilian infrastructure essential to a societys survival, Human Rights Watch wrote in a 2022 report on Syria.

According to Airwars, a British monitoring group, the Russian air force launched more than 45,000 airstrikes from September 2015 to September 2019, many targeting civilian areas and infrastructure, according to observers. The group in September 2021 estimated that about 23,000 civilians had been killed in Syria as a result of Russian military actions since 2015.

A U.N. Commission of Inquiry said in a March 2020 report that Russian forces were directly involved in attacks on civilian targets, such as medical facilities and markets, and called those attacks war crimes.

The report, covering July 2019 to January 2020, focused on two attacks in which evidence of Russian involvement was discovered.

Airstrikes on a market in northern Syria on July 22, 2019, killed 43 civilians, including four children, and wounded at least 109 people. Rescue workers who rushed to the site were also targeted. On August 16, 2019, airstrikes hit a compound for displaced civilians in Idlib province, killing 20 people, including eight women and six children, and injuring 40.

Based on the evidence available, including witness testimonies, video footage, data imagery as well as reports by flight spotters, flight communication intercepts and early warning observation reports, the commission has reasonable grounds to believe that a Russian aircraft participated in each incident described above, the commission's report said.

In both incidents, the Russian Air Force did not direct the attacks at a specific military objective, amounting to the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas.

Both the Syrian and Russian government forces were accused of using vacuum bombs on civilian targets. Vacuum bombs cause a massive blast capable of vaporizing human bodies with extreme heat.

Airwars noted in its 2021 report that Syrian regime or Russian forces had carried out 244 attacks on medical facilities. It cited Physicians for Human Rights, an advocacy group that tracks attacks on medical workers in Syria. The New York Times reported that Russian planes bombed four Syrian hospitals over 12 hours in a May 5, 2019, attack.

[T]he United Nations shared a list of hospitals and clinics in Idlib province with the Syrian government and the Russians, basically in the hopes of getting the Russians to avoid accidentally hitting these places. And, instead, the Russians used this list to target these hospitals, journalist Anand Gopal told the New Yorker magazine.

He added:

So, it was part of the Russian strategy  to attack hospitals. And that was, I think, partly to break the morale of not just the rebel movement but the population. And also, of course, if you are fighting a war against an enemy and you destroy their health centers, then you make it difficult for them to reproduce themselves on the battlefield. So, it got to a point where people in Idlib had to put their clinics literally underground. I saw hospitals that were underground because the Russians would target anything that looked like a humanitarian center or a hospital.

By June 2021, the U.K-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had documented 494,438 deaths in Syria. It said at least 159,774 civilians had been killed, with the Syrian government and its allies responsible for most of those deaths, the BBC reported in March.

The group estimated that the actual toll from the war was more than 606,000, saying 47,000 civilians were believed to have died of torture in government-run prisons and that it had been unable to document almost 53,000 reported deaths due to a lack of information, the BBC added.

The United States has conducted airstrikes inside Syria since 2015 as part of its broader counter-terrorism efforts against Islamic State and al-Qaida. The U.S. has since also targeted Syrian government forces, Iran-backed militias and Russian mercenaries.

The U.S. deliberately attacked Syrian government forces for the first time in April 2017, when it conducted a missile strike on Shayrat Airbase in response to the Syrian governments use of chemical weapons against civilians.

The U.S. military also conducted airstrikes against Iran-backed militias in eastern Syria in February and June 2021. Those militias had attacked U.S. forces in Iraq from facilities in Syria.

There is no denying that U.S. military operations caused numerous civilian deaths in Syria.

The New York Times reported in December 2021  based on confidential Pentagon assessments of more than 1,300 reports of civilian casualties  that U.S. airstrikes in the Middle East had been marked by deeply flawed intelligence, rushed and often imprecise targeting, and the deaths of thousands of civilians, many of them children.

On August 25, the Pentagon announced a 36-page action plan to reduce risks and harm to civilians from U.S. military operations.

The plan directs broad changes at every level of military planning, doctrine, training and policy in not only counter-terrorism drone strikes but also in any future major conflict, The New York Times reported.

The U.S. operations are quite different from those of Russia and the Assad regime.

In an interview with the National Public Radio (NPR), Mona Yacoubian, senior adviser to the vice president for North Africa and the Middle East at the U.S. Institute of Peace, called Russia's targeting of civilians intentional:

I think given how widespread the tactic was used in Syria, which, as you note, for now more than 10 years has seen indiscriminate shelling and bombing of hospitals, medical facilities, schools, residential neighborhoods, areas with no military targets to speak of - that kind of shelling really can't be understood in any other way. And, I would note, there was also, in 2016, the deliberate targeting of a U.N. humanitarian convoy by Russia. The convoy was attempting to bring food and assistance into a besieged part of Aleppo. So I think there's very little question that this was a very deliberate tactic to intimidate and kill civilians and win by brutal force.

The United States is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Syria. According to the U.S. Congressional Research Service, Washington has allocated more than $14 billion since FY2012 for humanitarian efforts in Syria and in neighboring states that host Syrian refugees.

Russia, together with China, has repeatedly used its U.N. Security Council veto power to block sending humanitarian aid into Syrias rebel-held provinces.

China has provided humanitarian aid to Syria through bilateral and multilateral channels. It has also participated in conflict-mediation efforts in the war.

However, China has vetoed multiple U.N. resolutions aimed at halting Syrian government brutality, citing a longstanding policy of not interfering in the internal affairs of other nations.
Five Irish travelers in North Augusta's Murphy Village have been sued over an insurance fraud scheme that led to more than 50 guilty pleas in 2017.

American National Insurance Company filed suit in federal district court (Aiken division) on Sept. 9 against Susan Gorman, Mary McNally, Mary Harrison, Jude Sherlock and Cathy Sherlock over life insurance policies obtained in 2013 as part of a conspiracy to violate South Carolina's laws against wagering contracts.

The suit accuses Gorman of requesting that two people complete an application for a life insurance policy for one of the two people. In the application, the person's annual income, net worth, employment status and health status were misrepresented. Initially, the beneficiary of the policy was listed as one of the insured person's grandchildren.

The company then approved the policy based on the misrepresentations.

From when the policy was approved, Gorman and another female paid the insurance premiums despite not being the beneficiary of the policy or its owner at the time.

On March 4, 2014, at Gorman's request, the people who applied for the policy changed the beneficiary to Gorman and two other women, falsely identifying Gorman and one of the women as the insured person's nieces. On March 7, 2014, at Gorman's request, the mailing address of the insured person was changed to Gorman's address.

The suit alleges that the changes were made to evade South Carolina's law against wagering contracts that requires a person seeking an insurance policy on someone else to have an insurable interest (i.e., be related to) the person who's insured.

The allegations against the others are similar to the allegations made against Gorman, only the dates change.

The Texas-based insurance company asks the court to declare the two policies unenforceable and void due to violations of South Carolina, the Racketeering and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and fraud committed.

American National asks the court to award exemplary damages, reasonable and necessary attorney's fees and pre- and post-judgment interest.

None of the defendants have yet responded to the suits.
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WEST COLUMBIA  A well-known Midlands lawyer and frequent Republican political candidate sexually harassed his female employees and brought prostitutes into his law office for sex acts, according to a new federal lawsuit filed by a former employee.

The Sept. 9 lawsuit alleges a yearslong parade of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment by Billy Oswald, a 74-year-old personal injury attorney who has been active in Lexington County politics for decades.

Oswald, a former Lexington County councilman and ex-Lexington Medical Center board member, exposed himself to employees, frequently pressured them to have sex with him and verbally abused those who pushed back or requested raises, according to the lawsuit filed by Sharon Ross, who did secretarial work for more than a decade at Oswald's firm.

Ross' lawsuit alleges Oswald groped her breasts, placed his hand near her crotch and made inappropriate gestures. Oswald also brought prostitutes, some who were allegedly his legal clients or rental tenants, into his back office and conference room to perform sexual acts on him, according to the lawsuit. Employees "could overhear moans and other noises of their rendezvous from adjacent offices," including during normal work hours, the lawsuit stated.

Ross' lawsuit states that she ultimately left the firm after she requested a raise in June 2020 and Oswald replied: You havent earned a raise. You dont deserve it. The only thing youre good for is laying on your back.

Oswald's attorney, West Columbia lawyer Jake Moore, strongly denied the allegations and questioned Ross' motive.

"The reason is fairly obvious, isn't it? Most people file lawsuits for money," Moore said. "If all of this was going on and she was suffering such emotional injury from it, how come she stayed all of those years?"

Moore said he has spoken with other employees in Oswald's office who say "none of this happened." He said his client has been impotent for years.

"He couldn't do anything if he wanted to," Moore said.

Ross' attorney, Columbia lawyer Jack Cohoon, declined to comment. "We stand by the allegations in our complaint," he said.

Oswald, who is married, is a veteran of Lexington County legal and political circles.

After serving on Lexington County Council from 1978 to 1982, the Columbia native launched eight failed bids for the S.C. House and one for Congress. His most recent run was an unsuccessful 2018 GOP primary challenge of state Rep. Micah Caskey, R-West Columbia.

During those campaigns, Oswald called for term limits and lower taxes and decried the influence of special interests in state government. He even earned the endorsement of The State newspaper in 2000 for his proposal to overhaul the state's tax system and provide more funding for poor school districts.

Ross' lawsuit comes on the heels of the #MeToo movement, which intensified the country's focus on purging workplace sexual misconduct and exposing bosses who abuse their power over subordinates.

In her lawsuit, Ross alleged she accidentally saw a woman performing sex acts on Oswald through a cracked door at the West Columbia office. She stated that others at the firm witnessed similar conduct, alleging it went on as recently as May 2020.

One recent summer, Ross alleged in the complaint, Oswald took a group of female employees out to lunch and told them they could earn raises of $10,000 to $15,000 if they performed sexual acts on him several times a week.

She also accused Oswald of insulting his employees when angered, calling them obscenities and claiming to be their "king" and "god." She reportedly wrote him a 2014 letter asking him to stop and raising concerns about all the sex talk and gossip in the office, and Oswald tore up the note and never addressed her concerns, the lawsuit stated.

Oswald's attorney, Moore, countered Sept. 13 that his client's age and health ailments, including severe diabetes and impotency, have made him "physically incapable of having any form of sexual relations."

Moore said Oswald's wife works in his law office, making it highly unlikely he would engage in such behavior. He vowed to vigorously defend his client from Ross' allegations.

Efforts to reach Oswald's former law partner, Kelly Burnside, for comment Sept. 13 were not immediately successful. Oswald and Burnside split their firm in recent years.

A woman who answered the main phone line at Oswald's firm Sept. 13 referred a request for comment to Oswald's attorney, Moore.
Deputy Managing Editor-Columbia

Frank Taylor oversees the news team in Columbia for The Post and Courier. He previously served as an editor for news organizations in North Carolina, Florida and Georgia.
As mental health effects of the pandemic and the racial reckoning of the past two years continue to reverberate among Charleston County School District students, the district is putting someone new in charge of student support services.

Lisa Allison is taking on the role of the districts interim executive director of student support after veteran CCSD employee Jennifer Coker retires Sept. 30.

Allison has been with the district for more than two decades, starting her career at CCSD as a school psychologist, a role she held for 15 years.

Since then, shes worked in the districts learning services division and department of alternative programs and services as a school climate coordinator.

Allison became CCSDs director of intervention and psychological services in 2019, a role in which she led all of the districts school psychologists.

During her time with the district, Allison has spearheaded restorative practices training within CCSD, as well as intervention framework aimed at improving student literacy and performance in math.

CCSD is fortunate to benefit from her experience working with and removing barriers that often prevent children and young adults from achieving at high levels, Superintendent Don Kennedy said in a prepared statement.

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Kennedy said that her work supporting student wellbeing will help the district reach its big reading goals  research has long shown that student wellbeing is integral to their academic success.

And Allison will be taking the helm of the department as it continues to grow its multi-tiered student support system.

The district has recently increased the number of mental health professionals, such as clinical counselors, school psychologists and social workers, in schools, and renewed its commitment to making sure student support is equitably distributed and accessible, CCSD said in a press release Sept. 12.

CCSD has announced a number of leadership changes over the past few months, which has largely been attributed to Kennedys plan to restructure district administration. Most recently, Vanessa Denney was promoted to interim executive director of communications and Anthony Dixon became the districts interim chief of schools.
The Charleston County School Districts board of trustees covered the latest student data in achievement and mental health at its most recent committee of the whole meeting on Sept. 12.

Scores from the latest South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Assessments, which judge English Language Arts and Math proficiency, were released Sept. 6, and CCSD students on average outperformed the state in all subjects.

However, a closer look reveals that students of color did not fare so well.

There are still massive gaps between Black students and their White peers in Math and English. While 77.1 percent of White students met or exceeded expectations in English on the state test, only 23.1 percent of Black students did. The gap is even starker in Math  73.4 percent of White students met or exceeded expectations, compared to only 17 percent of Black students.

Donald Kennedy, who has consistently emphasized closing achievement gaps between White students and students of color as one of his major goals as superintendent, said at the meeting that next steps will include professional development and support for teachers and more rigorous coursework.

A bright spot highlighted during the meeting was rising student achievement within the districts acceleration schools, 15 campuses identified by the state in 2019 as CCSDs lowest-performing schools. The schools made more than 7-point gains in both Math and English.

Jacqueline Haynes, associate superintendent of acceleration schools, was recognized for her work, and she later gave a presentation on a new teacher incentive pay program that is being piloted at several CCSD acceleration schools this year. The program is aimed at drawing educators to the districts neediest schools and rewards educators whose students show academic progress with thousands of dollars.

Called the Excellence in Teaching Awards, the program is sponsored by Meeting Street Schools, which has established a similar program over the past couple of years.

However, as student state test scores have risen, so have students mental health needs.

Shavonna Coakley, director of CCSDs department of alternative programs and services, presented data that showed CCSD students are increasingly turning to substance use to cope with the isolating effects of the pandemic.

General tobacco-related infractions and drug possession infractions more than doubled during the 2021-22 school year compared to 2019-20. Tobacco distribution, drug distribution, drug usage and alcohol infractions were also up.

Coakley said intervention for students who commit these violations have changed to better suit their needs, such as connecting them with mental health resources. She said her department will continue to monitor the data and make adjustments, and the districts mental health and wellness team outlined CCSDs growing multi-tiered system of mental health supports for students.

During the past school year, more CCSD students have needed intensive mental health support  2,861 students, an increase of more than 300 percent compared to the 2016-17 school year.

Though the district has recently hired more social workers and psychologists, the teams goals include increasing the number of certified mental health professionals within CCSD and creating more pathways internally for people to get involved with student wellness. They also plan to continue music therapy in schools and implementing calming kits and calming rooms for students and staff.

Student outcomes-based governance

The board moved forward in its plan to restructure its governance framework by planning community meetings.

The public meetings will take place over the next two weeks and allow anyone in the community to express their thoughts about the new framework and learn more about it.

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During the meetings public comment section, board candidate Sydney van Bulck expressed her concerns about the pace of the frameworks adoption timeline.

The speed at which this is being conducted is highly concerning, she said.

Later in the meeting, board vice chair Courtney Waters, whos helped lead the initiative, explained why the process seems rushed.

We are doing this work quickly because we needed this yesterday, she said.

In a special session immediately following the regular board meeting, the board also approved the timeline to start restructuring board operations and strategic leadership in line with the new governance model.

On the timeline, the boards list of actions for September include conducting community workshops and listening sessions, starting the superintendent search plan and reviewing the community feedback garnered during the meetings.

During summer, the board narrowed its search down to three firms to help hire the districts new superintendent. Waters, after discussion with the Council for the Great City Schools, underlined the importance of starting the search early.

But she said the responsibility of picking the new superintendent will remain with the next school board, which will be elected in November.

New elementary school

Plans for a new elementary school on Johns Island are moving forward.

At two community meetings in Sept. 2021 and June 2022, community members main concerns were traffic and transportation.

After reviewing the feedback, CCSD chief operations officer Jeff Borowy presented his teams recommendations to the board regarding the new school, which is meant to ease overcrowding, which the board approved.

To avoid rezoning and the contention that often follows, Borowy recommended that the board establish a single attendance zone for District 9. Then, headstart through first grade students would attend Angel Oak Elementary, second through fifth grade students would attend the new school, and Mt. Zion Elementary School would be converted into a family center.

Construction on the new school, a $41 million project, is set to begin next March and will be completed July 2024 and ready for use that school year. It will be able to hold 700 students and can be expanded to hold 900. The districts projections show attendance increasing until 2026, and then decreasing into 2028.

After conducting a traffic study, Borowys team has edited their plans to include a left turn lane, right turn and a roundabout near the schools entrance to ease the flow of traffic.

Borowy also recommended staggering bell times, so parents who might have students at different schools under the new attendance zone can get from one child to the other in time.

The next regular board meeting will be Sept. 26, and the next committee of the whole meeting will be on Oct. 10.
GREENVILLE  Hundreds of apartments in four planned affordable developments around Unity Park will go on the market over the next few years.

Greenville Housing Fund CEO Bryan Brown said he hopes to begin construction on the first of four coming projects near the end of 2022, and on the rest within the next year.

"Once we get them under construction they should be done in 12 to 18 months," he said. "Provided the supply chain stays consistent and we can get windows delivered and things like that, we should be able to do that."

Mayor Knox White said the developer for the first planned project is aiming to open as early as next year.

City officials are hopeful the addition of the new units will help address the area's shortage of affordable housing. A 2020 Housing Fund strategic plan indicated the county needs to add 10,000 affordable units and preserve 3,000 more by 2030 to meet demand. The developments are also intended to stem the tide of displacement in the historically Black Southernside community as redevelopment pushes longtime residents out.

Some have voice concerns that Unity Park itself will accelerate the process of gentrification. The 60-acre park opened earlier this year on the west side of downtown along the Reedy River at a cost of just under $70 million.

In all, the Housing Fund and its partners plan to build 1,000 affordable units on the periphery of Unity Park. The four initial developments planned by the Housing Fund account for about 375.

The city of Greenville donated multiple properties near the park for affordable housing that, combined with financial contributions, amounts to about $15 million, Brown said during a Sept. 12 City Council meeting.

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He said he hopes to begin construction first on the Oscar Apartments, a 52-unit development that will stand at the corner of Oscar and Nassau streets, late this year. Of those units, 39 will be priced affordably for people making between 50 and 100 percent of the area median income.

Brown said he expects work to begin on the other three project shortly after. The Southernside Senior I project will be built off of West Washington Street with 93 age-restricted units affordable at 50 to 60 percent AMI. Southernside Senior II, also an age-restricted development, will stand near the intersection of Trescott Street and West Washington and will offer 54 affordable apartments for renters at 50 to 60 percent AMI.

The largest of the four developments, the Lighthouse Unity apartment complex, will add 252 units between Oscar and Meadow streets, 189 of which will be available for people making 50 to 100 percent AMI.

Brown said environmental reviews are still being done on the other properties where the Housing Fund intends to build more units. The nonprofit plans to firm up financing for those projects when that work is complete.

During the Sept. 12 meeting, Brown shared renderings of the coming apartment complexes. The drawings showed developments designed to blend in with the market-rate projects in the area, Brown said.

The intent, he said, is to make the affordable units indistinguishable from market rate housing, an effort made easier by the city's contribution of land and financial support.

"That takes extra effort," he said. "If you're building an apartment, you're building an apartment. Affordable isn't cheaper to build than market, it's just that the folks that you're serving have less money to spend on their rent and their mortgage. But we shouldn't be able to pick out what's affordable in the community, and I believe this is a testament to that philosophy."
Summerville, SC (29483)

Today

A few clouds. Low 68F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

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A few clouds. Low 68F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Former Hampton County banker Russell Laffitte is scheduled to stand trial on Nov. 8 in Charlestons federal court, the first case stemming from the Alex Murdaugh saga to be heard by a jury.

Laffitte, 51, faces six federal charges, including bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and misapplication of bank funds. Federal prosecutors have portrayed Laffitte, the former CEO of Hampton-based Palmetto State Bank, of helping Murdaugh steal money from his clients. The banker also faces 21 counts in state court.

Laffittes federal trial is expected to last two weeks.

Most of the allegations against Laffitte stem from his work as a court-appointed custodian of settlement funds. On at least a half-dozen occasions, Laffitte was selected to manage money for clients of Murdaugh, a now-disbarred lawyer.

Laffitte acknowledged at a recent court hearing that he loaned client money to Murdaugh without requiring him to put up collateral. He also said he lent himself money, though he secured the loan with his bank stock. He is also accused of making loans listing false purposes and using the banks money to paper over the lawyers large debt when a bank board member started asking questions about Palmetto States relationship with Murdaugh, 53.

Laffitte gave some two hours of testimony on Sept. 6, in which he acknowledged much of the conduct prosecutors have accused him off. But he sought to portray himself as Murdaughs unwitting enabler, not a co-conspirator. He said he rarely asked questions about what Murdaugh was doing and merely granted too much deference to the lawyer.

Murdaugh, who faces some 90 state charges, is accused of killing his wife and son last year and stealing nearly $8.8 million from his law firm and their clients. He has not been charged with any federal crimes. Murdaugh could go on trial in the double-murder case as soon as January.
FLORENCE  Four people were killed Sept. 10 when a SUV drove past a barrier and hit a parked CSX train in Florence.

At about 8:40 p.m. Sept. 10, officers with the Florence Police Department responded with the Florence Fire Department and Florence County EMS to Dargan Street and Baroody Street after a vehicle struck a train which was stopped along the tracks at the North Dargen Street crossing in Florence, according to an Sept. 12 email from Capt. Mike Brandt, FPD public information officer.

Officers learned that the black full-sized SUV was traveling at a high rate of speed, southbound on Dargan Street from Darlington Street. The vehicle veered off the left side of the roadway and collided with an unoccupied train, parked at the intersection.

The accident resulted in four fatalities, while the fifth occupant of the vehicle was seriously injured and was taken to the hospital. The exact condition of the patient is not known at this time, according to police.

The people killed in the crash were Mitchell Carter II, 34; Jeneka Carter, 40; and Antoine Hines, 46, all of Florence; and Ruby Taylor, 27, of Hartsville, according to the Associated Press.

CSX said the train crew was not injured.

"At CSX, safety is our highest priority in the communities we serve," CSX said in a statement. "We remind the public that any activity on or near a rail line can be dangerous."

The Florence County Police Department is investigating the incident.

In 2021, railroad deaths totaled 893, a 20 percent increase from the 2020 revised total of 744 and the highest since 2007, according to the National Safety Council.

From 2020 to 2021, fatalities at highway-rail crossings increased 21 percent, while fatalities involving other types of incidents increased 20 percent. The latter included 617 deaths (94 percent) attributed to trespassers.

Eleven employees were killed while on duty, equal to the 2020 death toll. There were six train passenger deaths, up from two deaths in 2020.

The ratio of railroad-related deaths to nonfatal injuries and illnesses is about 1 in 6, according to the National Safety Council website, injuryfacts.nsc.org.

Twenty-six percent of the 893 deaths in 2021 occurred at rail-crossings.

Anyone with information regarding the accident is asked to contact the Florence Police Department at 843-665-3191 or bhart@cityofflorence.com.
A lack of clear expectations and communication throughout the ranks of the Charleston Police Department affected officers' response to a May 30 mass shooting, according to a newly released report.

Chief Luther Reynolds described its findings in a Sept. 12 memo addressed to Mayor John Tecklenburg. He later elaborated on them at a public safety committee meeting.

The after-action report is a standard police practice following any large event in the city. It allows law enforcement officials to look at "the good, the bad and the ugly" of their response, said Heather Mulloy, a city attorney.

Tecklenburg had specifically asked Reynolds to prepare the report, which detailed the gun violence at a Memorial Day block party on South Street in the city's East Side neighborhood. The gathering drew over 100 revelers, who drank and danced to music on packed residential streets and in a vacant lot. It ended with nine people injured by gunfire, including a pregnant woman. A Charleston police officer was injured by shrapnel after a bullet hit the windshield of his squad car.

Described in the memo as a "pop-up" party, the event was the last of three held near the same address in a month-long period. Charleston police officers had also responded to rowdy gatherings on April 30 and May 28, according to the report.

Officers are often called to handle large, unruly parties. Pop-up parties, however, have proven to be an emerging  and troubling  trend, Mulloy said.

Fueled by social media posts, these gatherings suddenly appear and quickly grow. They're difficult to predict, and law enforcement officials have a hard time collecting intelligence in advance. The parties can attract people who are "confrontational to the police, and they are there to do no good," Mulloy added.

In the past, Charleston cops were able to easily disperse large gatherings. Their response to pop-up parties looks different: "You have that confrontational aspect, and there's some criminal element involved," she said.

Police officials must change how they handle these events, the report found.

Officers addressed the April 30 party in a typical fashion, responding to each call for service and monitoring the crowd until the event ended. Neighbors contacted the police administration in the days after, expressing concern that officers didn't immediately shut it down, according to the report.

An executive-level directive came following the April 30 gathering: When faced with a fast-growing, potentially dangerous pop-up party, officers must work to coordinate a response and disperse the event.

But key players  including command duty officers, supervisors and the responding officers  didn't fully understand the order, the report found.

"The processes for translating changes in practices and procedures into clear guidance and directives needed improvement in this instance," the report states.

When crowds gathered in the East Side on May 28, officers again responded to each service call and waited until the party dispersed on its own. No arrests were made, and the event didn't turn violent.

This wasn't the case two nights later. Officers began receiving service calls about the party around 9 p.m. Neighbors reported a crowd of 100 people, cars blocking the roadway and loud noise. Officers patrolled the area, but they didn't shut down the party.

City Councilman Robert Mitchell, who represents the East Side, criticized police for not stopping the party sooner.

"When the officer was passing by and they saw that people were in the street, they were not on private property anymore  it should've been, to me, shut down at that time," he said at the Sept. 12 meeting.

An officer immediately took gunfire when he responded to a service call at 11:40 p.m., according to the report. Dozens of shots continued to ring out as more officers arrived. Nine civilians were treated for gunshot wounds.

Police officials are working to correct the department's missteps. There are now specific guidelines on how to handle large pop-up parties involving confrontational people. Command duty officers now meet weekly with the deputy chief of operations to discuss current issues and relevant intelligence, the report states.

Supervisors now know how to identify pop-up parties  and how to shut them down as early as possible, Reynolds said.

The report also identified positive takeaways from the police response. Leaders quickly established an incident command system, and help from neighboring law enforcement agencies swiftly arrived. Officers were trained and equipped with life-saving supplies to immediately assist victims.

The ongoing investigation has netted four arrests so far. Charleston County sheriff's deputies arrested two women May 30 on assault charges. Charleston police arrested a man the next day for disorderly conduct. On June 9, police charged 31-year-old Del'Javon Simmons with five counts of attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
A federal judge ordered a South Carolina inmate to serve an additional seven years behind bars after the inmate extorted military servicemen in a catfishing scheme operating from the state's prison system.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel sentenced Darnell Khan at a Sept. 13 hearing to 7 years in federal prison for targeting and defrauding dozens of men serving their country while the defendant was in prison for manslaughter and other crimes.

The judge ordered the 39-year-old Columbia man to serve the federal sentence consecutively, meaning he will be sent to federal prison after serving his time on the manslaughter charge.

Gergel also ordered Darnell to pay roughly $31,000 in restitution, some of which his co-conspirator, Lakeisha Norris, is also responsible for paying. The money will be distributed to 18 identified servicemen defrauded by the enterprising inmate, who used a smartphone smuggled into prison to court military men on dating apps and convince them they had exchanged nude photos with an underaged girl.

The federal government believes the scheme led 49 servicemen to wire a total sum of $62,500 to the defendants.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Bower asked the judge to sentence Khan to the maximum recommended under sentencing guidelines  nearly 9 years in prison. She noted the scheme is not the first case her office has prosecuted involving extortion of military officers.

Gergel did not concur with the government's recommendation. But he also rejected defense attorney Wells Dickson Jr.'s recommendation that Khan serve the federal time concurrent, or at the same time, as his sentence for the manslaughter conviction. The judge said a concurrent sentence for victimizing servicemen would amount to "no punishment" at all.

Khan pleaded guilty May 16 to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The U.S. government dismissed the remaining counts of the indictment  extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion  at the hearing.

Khan is serving a 25-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2015 to voluntary manslaughter, burglary and attempted robbery. He was accused in that case of fatally shooting James Willie Smith Jr. during a gang-related burglary at a Columbia home in January 2009.

Since entering the prison system, Khan has been disciplined nearly 50 times, state records show, including five sanctions for possessing or attempting to possess a cellphone. The most recent cell-phone infraction was in March, according to records.

After the deadly riots in 2018 at Lee Correctional Institution, Khan was one of 48 "problematic" inmates that state officials transferred to a private correctional facility in Mississippi. A prison official said at the time the inmates were transferred there to improve safety in the state's prison system.

He remained at the facility until July 2021, records show, when he and Norris were indicted in the extortion case.

Authorities say Khan used smartphones smuggled into the prison to flirt with U.S. military members through online dating sites. The inmate would send the members nude photos of young women he found online and ask that they send photos of themselves in return.

Khan and other co-conspirators would then call the military members pretending to be a private investigator. The serviceman had been flirting with an underage girl, the scammers warned, and if he did not wire them money, law enforcement and military officials would be contacted.

Norris, who has also pleaded guilty in the case, was responsible for collecting and distributing the wired money, according to the indictment. She is set to be sentenced Sept. 14.

Khan was born in Queens, NY, and lived there with his mother and grandmother until 1997, according to court records. The family then moved to Columbia, where his mother still resides.

Khan is not the only inmate accused of operating a "sextortion" scheme from behind bars. In November 2018, five inmates and 10 other defendants were charged with committing similar crimes from at least 2015 to 2017.

That group allegedly extorted more than $560,000 from 442 military service personnel across the country.

In May 2021, the group's ringleader, Wendell Wilkins, was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison for money laundering. Several other members have also been convicted and sentenced to additional prison terms.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Shoemake said Sept. 13 Khan and Norris were not charged as part of that bust.

Khan is expected to complete his state prison sentence in 2034, at which point he will be transferred to a federal prison to serve the seven-year term.
Charleston police on Sept. 12 arrested a 16-year-old on allegations he instigated a gunfight on King Street during Labor Day weekend that injured six people, including five who were shot.

The North Charleston youth, whom authorities are not identifying because of his age, is jailed on charges of attempted murder, five counts of felony assault and battery, and three firearm offenses.

Investigators determined the teen had perpetrated the shooting, which was "a targeted act" against Maurice Deangelo Smalls Jr., Charleston police Sgt. Beth Wolfsen said.

Smalls, 19, of Charleston, was arrested Sept. 10 and charged with unlawful carrying of a weapon in connection with the shooting, Wolfsen said. Investigators determined he returned fire after being shot but don't know if he hit anyone, she said.

Two officers were near the corner of King and Morris streets shortly before 1 a.m. Sept. 4 when gunfire erupted in a large crowd that gathered at the intersection. Witnesses said the shooting sent revelers, some of them victims and others potential suspects, fleeing from the tourist nightlife area.

Five people suffered gunshot wounds while a sixth person was injured in a fall, authorities say. None of the victims' injuries were life-threatening.

Two people, including a different 16-year-old male, were arrested that night and charged with unlawful carrying of a weapon.

Charleston police continue to investigate. The department asks that anyone with information call 843-743-7200. Anonymous tips can be made by calling Lowcountry Crime Stoppers at 843-554-1111.
WASHINGTON  U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced a bill that would implement a national ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions. This marks the most significant federal effort to restrict women's access to the procedure since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

The South Carolina Republican announced the legislation at a Sept. 13 news conference He stood at a podium surrounded by influential women who are prominent leaders in America's anti-abortion movement.

When Graham entered the room, he smiled as he gave a fist-bump to Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

"I think we should have a law at the federal level that would say after 15 weeks, no abortion on demand except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother," Graham said. "And that should be where America is at."

Graham's proposal faces little chance of advancing while Democrats hold majorities in both the House and Senate. It comes a few months after Graham joined many Republicans in celebrating the Supreme Courts June 24 decision to reverse a nearly 50-year precedent on abortion rights.

At the time, Graham said the ruling represented a "constitutional reset" that returns abortion rights to the states.

Now, Graham predicts his 15-week abortion bill will get a vote if Republicans win back control of both the House and Senate in the November midterm elections.

"Abortion is not banned in America. It's left up to elected officials in America to define the issue," Graham said. "States have the ability to do (so) at the state level, and we have the ability in Washington to speak on this issue if we choose. I have chosen to speak."

The timing of Graham's legislative push is significant and surprising with less than two months to go until the midterm elections, where abortion has emerged as a significant issue for voters and an especially galvanizing issue for Democrats.

Survey results released Sept. 8 by Politico and Harvard University found abortion ranked among the top five issues that 1,815 registered voters characterized as being "extremely important" in determining how they will vote in congressional races this November.

In August, voters in the traditionally Republican state of Kansas rejected a constitutional amendment that would have removed the right to an abortion from the state constitution.

Last week in South Carolina, Republican state lawmakers came up short in their bid to pass a near-total abortion ban.

Despite the recent political developments and public polling, Graham suggested that his proposed 15-week ban on the procedure is a winning position for Republicans.

He characterized the legislation as "eminently reasonable" and claimed "a strong majority" of Americans believe "abortion should be the exception, not the rule."

"There's a narrative forming in America that the Republican Party and the pro-life movement is on a run. No, no, no, no, no, no, said Graham. "We welcome the debate. We welcome the vote in the United States Senate as to what America should look like in 2022."

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Before Graham concluded his press conference, national Democrats were already criticizing the bill. The White House issued a statement calling Graham's proposal "wildly out of step with what Americans believe."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called it "the latest, clearest signal of extreme MAGA Republicans' intent to criminalize womens health freedom in all 50 states and arrest doctors for providing basic care."

On the Senate floor, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called it a "radical bill."

Called the "Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act," the bill marks the fifth time Graham has introduced the legislation. In previous versions, the limit was set at 20 weeks.

The bill also leaves in place state laws with stricter limits, but the federal legislation would supersede laws in state that allow the procedure to be performed after 15 weeks  essentially creating a national ceiling on when abortions can be performed.

The legislation does allow for abortions to be performed after 15 weeks in cases involving rape, incest or dangers to the life of the mother. His bill further states that such considerations would not extend to "psychological or emotional conditions."

Graham said he had not spoken to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., about the bill.

Public response from South Carolina's delegation was muted. U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., declined to comment.

Scott's Democratic challenger, state Rep. Krystle Matthews of Ladson, criticized Graham for pushing federal legislation on abortion weeks after suggesting it was an issue best left up to the states.

"If the Republican Party really wants to leave it to the people, then they'd put it on the ballot," Matthews said.

U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill, tweeted that he was "proud to be one of" 84 co-sponsors to the House version of Graham's bill.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-Isle of Palms, also declined to comment on Graham's proposal.

"Last time I checked, your irresponsible reporting put my life and the life of my children in danger," Mace said in a written statement. The comment was in response to a previous Post and Courier article about her purchasing a new home with fiance, Patrick Bryant.

Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician challenging Mace for her 1st Congressional District seat, cast doubt on Mace and Graham's past comments that abortion was about federalism and states' rights.

"This has never been about 'states' rights.' They have used that lie to give themselves more and more power to enact their tyrannical, anti-science, anti-woman policies," Andrews said, adding that they "will not stop until they have a say in your every decision. They cannot be trusted."

South Carolina's six-week ban is suspended as the state Supreme Court reviews whether it violates privacy rights. In the meantime, the states 2016 ban on abortions 20 weeks after conception is in effect.
UNION  The University of South Carolina School of Law and the South Carolina Bar have partnered to bring free legal services to low-income residents in Union County.

Residents who qualify will receive simple will preparation and health care power of attorney documentation at no cost from Palmetto Leader, a mobile law office in which USC School of Law provides free legal services to underserved communities across South Carolina.

The Palmetto Leader program consists of law students and volunteer attorneys. Within the custom-built bus, there are two private offices and a waiting area.

The event is set to take place Nov. 4 at the Union County Carnegie Library from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

People are asked to bring an ID and a deed if they own property. Participants have to be within 200 percent of the poverty line and cant own a business.

In addition to providing legal documents, attorneys will be available for free legal advice.

Union is a very rural population with limited resources and we don't have public transportation, so this is a really great example of people meeting you where you are, said Taylor Atkinson, executive director of Union County Library System.

A health care power of attorney is a legal document that gives someone you choose the power to make health decisions for you in the event that you cannot make them yourself. A simple will states who will inherit your assets and belongings when you die.

The Palmetto LEADER also came to the library in April. Annie Jones, social worker and special initiatives manager for Union County Library System, said because of the response from the community, those leading the effort decided to bring it back.

In order to receive legal services, an appointment must be scheduled by calling 980-292-2334.
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Blake Masters is running against incumbent Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly in the upcoming November elections. Running for reelection in a purple state, Kelly impersonates a moderate and may even be one in some sense, although he is reliable Democratic vote at a 100 percent level of certainty. In this he presents a telling contrast with his Arizona colleague, Kyrsten Sinema.

Kelly nevertheless holds himself out as Mr. Bipartisan. I assess his claim to be an exaggeration. To the extent it is true, however, we may infer that bipartisanship isnt what its cracked up to be.

Well, we already knew that. In addition to its inherent defects, bipartisanship is also a fraud. Take my Senator Amy Klobuchar  please.

Asked on local Arizona media to assess the performance of President Biden, a cat seemed to have Kellys tongue. It isnt a good look. Indeed, it is pathetic. As Muhammad Ali urged Antonio Inoki in the match Inoki spent on his back, get up and fight like a man!

Masters may have his own problems, but he makes a good point in his comment on this clip: Bidens record is YOUR record. Cant hide from that now. In any event, this is interesting and it matters more than Masters position on abortion, whatever it is.
The Man Died, a memoir of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinkas prison experience initially published in 1972, is set to be adapted for the big screen.

The book chronicles the account of his arrest and 22-month imprisonment during the Nigerian Civil War.

It was revealed on the same weekend that Elesin Oba, a screen adaptation of Soyinkas Death and the Kings Horseman, was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Renowned playwright Awam Amkpa, in an interview BookArtVille on Monday, said that he had received Soyinkas nod to produce the film.

Mr Amkpa is a Drama, Social and Cultural Analysis professor and Dean of Arts and Humanities at the New York University (NYU) in Abu Dhabi.

The 63-year-old said he works on the project with the Nigerian filmmaker Femi Odugbemi and the culture communicator Jahman Anikulapo.

The adaptation

On the new project, Mr Amkpa said it is at the preliminary, pre-production/ script workshop stage.

He added that although there is no clear funding source, he is consulting his extensive contacts list, but the New York University, where he lectures, allowed some $400,000 seed money for the project.

The film will be a fictionalised account of a nonfiction material, he said.

He explained that he has been in meetings with Mr Soyinka and other people across the country on the project.

We are consulting several biographies of the era. A good back story leads to an original film, Mr Amkpa added.

The Man Died

During the Nigerian Civil War, which took place from 19671970, Mr Soyinka was accused of assisting the Biafran secessionists.

In that period, he was arrested and incarcerated for 24 months, most of it spent in solitary confinement in a 4ft by 8ft cell.

The Man Died is a product of the Nobel Laureates experience during that period of confinement.

The book does not follow the conventional storytelling pattern. It is a memoir of the authors extended conversation with himself in confinement.

Other film adaptations

Soyinkas literary pieces have always enjoyed massive theatre adaptations in Nigeria and beyond.

The first literary piece of Mr Soyinka to be adapted for television is Kongis Harvest.

Directed by Ossie Davis, Kongis Harvest is a 1970s Nigerian drama film adapted from Soyinkas 1965 play of the same name.

Mr Soyinka also starred in the leading role as the dictator of an African nation.

In 2015, writer Dapo Adeniyi wrote and produced a film version of Soyinkas autobiography, Ake: The Years of Childhood.

Acclaimed filmmaker Tunde Kelani also adapted The Lion and the Jewel as Sidi Ilujinle in 2017.

Elesin Oba from the play Death and The Kings Horseman is the latest of Soyinkas work to be adapted to film.

The late Biyi Bandele directed it.
Aliyu Sanni is a primary school teacher in Kilankwa, a remote community in Kwali Area Council of Abuja, Nigerias capital city.

He took the job five years ago but says he has almost lost his passion for it due to poor infrastructure at the school where he serves.

We have less than 10 chairs for 50 pupils in this class, Mr Sanni said from his decrepit classroom when this reporter visited his school in July.

The reporter met the same situation when he visited Gwalada, a community in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC). As in Kilankwa, there was no public school to serve the thousands of residents, until the Local Education Authority (LEA) built two primary schools in the two communities, after years of letter writing by the residents.

From Kwali, Bwari, and Abaji to AMAC abound similar stories of absent or poor basic amenities, such as roads, healthcare facilities, schools and electricity power supply, as PREMIUM TIMES moved across remote communities in four of the six council areas of Abuja.

Distressing sights and sounds

It was 12:14 p.m that July afternoon in Kilankwa when the school headmaster, Dogo Emmanuel, pointed at little Halima, one of his pupils, as the girl ran into a nearby bush to ease herself. The bush serves as a toilet for the hundreds of pupils of the school.

The seven years old Halima has no idea of what a conducive learning environment looks like. Her classroom has no door, windows or even a decent roof and the walls have large cracks.

The headmaster, Mr Emmanuel, said there are over 300 pupils between the ages of four and 11 years attending the school. Most of them have their classes under trees in the school compound.

We have a nursery and primary 1 to 6. How many pupils can three classrooms contain? The little things you are seeing are from our efforts. We salvaged materials from the renovated three classrooms to put this up, he said, pointing at a crude structure they also call a classroom. Under this tree that we are sitting now used to be where we took classes for Nursery and Primary 1 and 2.

The headmaster was transferred to the school six years ago. Since then, not much has changed, he said.

If rain starts now, we cannot keep them (the pupils) here. We will have to take them to another classroom because this building is not good. You can see our windows, when rain is falling, it enters through here. We will have to pack our attendants books to the office, Mr Sanni, the primary 1 class teacher, corroborated.

The headmaster and some of his 19 teaching staff have converted the makeshift cubicle under one of the trees as the staff room from where their pupils call on them when it is time to teach.

Dashed hope for electricity

Residents and children in other districts of Abuja shared similar experiences with this reporter.

Despite their location in AMAC, the most developed and cosmopolitan area council in the FCT, Tungan-Ashere, Gwalada and Tungan-Samu are not different from the poorest communities in the poorer council areas of Abuja.

Along a muddy road by the Abuja- Zuba highway, lies a primary school that has about 700 pupils from eight rural communities.

Isah Yakubu, 43, inherited the leadership of one of the communities, Tungan Ashere, from his late father. He was born and has lived in the community of about 2,000 residents all his life.

Like everyone else in the community, Mr Yakubu does not enjoy electricity unless he goes to the offices of the local government chairman or their councillors in the city centre, especially during elections.

After mobilising votes from the community for the last two chairpersons and councillors of AMAC, the community head eventually struck gold twice in a space of two years  the area council built a primary school and then installed electrical poles in Tungan-Ashere.

But the school has not been equipped with furniture, so the pupils sit on the bare floor in their classrooms. And what about electricity? The over N23 million electrification project was billed to be executed over two months when it was announced in October 2021.

In October 2021, when the contractor and engineer met and told us that the project had been approved, we were very excited. We as a community agreed to support the project in every possible means to see that we have light for the first time because so far, we use a generator to power our ICT Centre which helps our children and women to get more enlightened. We contributed about N45,000 to clear the trees in the community so the poles can be rooted in the ground.

We even made our young men join the engineers to do the work in order to facilitate the project. But after digging the holes, they didnt return to continue. All we kept hearing was one excuse and another. We went ahead to inform the higher authority in charge but to no avail, Mr Yakubu said.

As of June when PREMIUM TIMES visited the community, some of the concrete poles were already bent, posing danger to people using the rough roads into the community.

But when this reporter approached the AMAC Supervising Councilor for Works and Housing, Jagaba Sarki, he seemed not to understand why the residents were complaining about electricity, since they have been living there without light all this while.

Mr Sarki told the reporter in a phone interview: The project has been contracted and work has started, they will have to be patient which is the normal thing. And comparing another community that was later approved after that of Tungan-Ashere, is uncalled for because both communities have different contractors and they are of different capacities.

PREMIUM TIMES found that the Tungan-Ashere electrification project is stalled because the contractor has not been paid. The then chairman of AMAC, Abdullahi Candido, did not answer or return calls from this reporter.

Having served the constitutionally allowed two terms of six years, Mr Candido handed over in June to Christopher Maikalangu, who was elected in February.

The change in leadership has, so far, not brought any succour to the residents of Tungan-Ashere.

Marriage at 10 is okay

Since he survived an auto accident, Abdullahi Gimba has redefined his lifes priorities among his kindred in Gwagwa.

Located in the innermost part of Kubwa, Gwagwa has fertile soil and watermelon fruits spread across hectares of land in the area. This reporter bought a big fruit for N100. Later the same day, a seller in Lugbe quoted N1,400 for the same size of the fruit.

Beyond its fresh and cheap agricultural products in his agrarian community, Mr Gimba was eager to access higher education, until 2020 when a car hit him on his way from school. He lost his arms and legs in the accident and to compound his woes, he lost his two parents while he was still bedridden from the accident.

With no primary or secondary school in the area, every child walks 40 minutes daily to attend primary school in Dakwa, one of the closest communities to Gwagwa.

Those attending senior secondary school travel further, crossing the ever-busy Kubwa highway to Mopol Barrack. Mr Gamba is one of the many pupils who have been involved in road accidents while doing this. Sadly, unlike Mr Gamba, some of the victims did not live to tell their stories.

As a result of the constant accidents, the community discourages girls from attending secondary schools and makes the boys wait until they are eight years old before starting school.

Because of these challenges, we do not allow our children to go to school until they are eight (years old), by then they would have known what they are doing, Hussaina Dahiru, a woman leader in the community, told PREMIUM TIMES.

Once our girls are 10 or 12 years old, we tell them to go and marry. We would rather have them alive with us than risk their lives every day on the expressway.

The community leader, Yakubu Tanko, who is called the Mai-Angwa of Gwagwa, spoke in the same vein as Mrs Dahiru.

Scale of needs

Many rural communities in the FCT have common challenges and modest expectations of government.

Mr Sanni, the primary school teacher in Kilankwa, did not rate the construction of toilets as a priority in his school. He puts decent classrooms and potable water tops. For Mr Yakubu, however, his immediate desire is for electricity supply in Tungan-Ashere.

For residents of Gwagwa and neighbouring communities in AMAC, they said potable water and electricity supplies, schools, and public health centres would go a long way in transforming their lives and in making them feel a part of Abuja, Nigerias centre of power.
Ukraines Charge daffaires to Nigeria, Bohdan Soltys, has asked Nigeria to boycott Russia to show that it disapproves of the formers aggression on Ukraine.

He said this in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES.

First of all, voting against Russia at any of the UN resolutions; stopping any cooperation with Russia. You know, the world should boycott Russia to show that they disapprove of Russias aggression against Ukraine, Mr Soltys told PREMIUM TIMES in response to a question about what Nigeria and other countries can do to help stop the war.

Nigeria, Africas largest economy, has not considered boycotting Russia, a major trading partner for the West African nation.

Nigerias imports from Russia totalled $2.09 billion in 2021, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. The major imports were mineral fuels, oils and distillation products ($1.42 billion); cereals ($296.64 million); fish, crustaceans, molluscs, and aquatic invertebrates ($219.48 million) amongst others.

In the same year, Russias imports from Nigeria totalled about $37.34 million. The main products were cocoa and cocoa preparations ($31.28 million); oil seed, oleaginous fruits, grain, seed and fruits ($4.01 million); coffee, tea, mate and spices ($882.14 thousand) amongst others.

Conversely, Nigerias imports from Ukraine in 2021 totalled $604.29 million, about a quarter that of Russia. The major imports were cereals ($491.90 million), iron and steel ($90.73 million), milling products, malt, starches and wheat gluten ($5.62 million) amongst others.

Also, Ukraines imports from Nigeria totalled $8.41 million. Major products were mineral fuels, oils and distillation products ($3.82 million); plastics ($2.23 million); oil seed, oleaginous fruits, grain, seed, and fruits ($1.20 million) amongst others.

Although Nigeria has no plans to boycott Russia, it has expressed its displeasure with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Nigeria at the first UN General Assembly resolution after Russia invaded Ukraine in February voted in favour of condemning Russias attack on Ukraine. It, however, abstained in the subsequent resolution seeking to temporarily suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

The call for Russias suspension was proposed by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN.

Russia had warned countries at the UN that a yes vote or abstention on the US push to suspend the country from the Human Rights Council would be viewed as an unfriendly gesture with consequences for bilateral ties.

Despite Russias threat, the majority of African countries, including Nigeria, abstained.

In the interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Soltys noted that although it would not be easy for countries to boycott Russia, the war on Ukraine sets a dangerous precedent that countries could attack others and get away with it.

Well, nothing in this life is easy but as I said, this war creates a very dangerous precedent. If Russia gets away with this in Ukraine, then who will be the next victim and to whom, maybe not Russia but Nigeria could also be a victim, he said.

The actions of Nigeria and many African countries since the Russia-Ukraine war have been interpreted to indicate neutrality.

Mr Soltys interprets this neutrality as condoning evil.

I think neutrality means condoning evil, he said. This is how many African governments express their position. I want to say that if you do not condemn evil, you do not call what is black, black then you create a very bad precedent because you never know- the next time some other country will decide to attack Nigeria also and everybody will close their eyes saying we are neutral and we want peace.

He, however, said that Africas neutrality will not hinder relations between Ukraine and Africa as both parties have a lot to offer each other.

I believe that in the future, after the war, we will be able to continue mutually beneficial cooperation, Mr Soltys said.

PREMIUM TIMES will publish the full interview with the ambassador in the coming days.

Chiamaka Okafor 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.
Some members of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) at the Federal Ministry of Education (FME) have accused the ministry of promoting about 42 teachers who ought to have retired from the civil service based on their birth dates.

They said the teachers are some of those who were recently promoted as directors and deputy directors, and appointed principals of some of the 104 federal government-owned colleges, otherwise known as unity schools.

The complainants, who do not want to be identified for fear of sanctions, said 42 of the more than 100 officials promoted were not supposed to benefit from the new retirement age for teachers.

But the government has insisted that its action is legal and that though the new law was only gazetted in 2022, its implementation kicked off earlier in 2021.

Allegation

Last week, the Nigerian government inducted 112 directors and deputy directors with some of them appointed principals of the unity schools after successfully participating in promotion examinations.

The two-part examination began with a Computer Based Test on 16 August while those who passed proceeded to participate in an oral interview that was held between 17 and 19 August.

However, some of the colleagues of the new appointees said many of them ought to have retired in 2021.

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They claimed that the law relied upon by the government to grant them an extension of service years only took effect in April when it was gazetted.

Official documents including a memo seen by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that at least 42 persons who took part in the selection process, ought to have retired before 7 April when the new retirement age was signed into law.

At least five of them have been appointed principals in some of the unity schools.

Consequences

According to some of the teachers who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES but asked not to be named, the decision to backdate the implementation of the new retirement age for teachers (65 years) by the government is fraudulent

They said many of the beneficiaries had earlier been sent off by their places of primary assignments but some others held on to their roles across various schools even after official disengagement from service.

Since 2021, many of them have retired but refused to go. Though their salaries were not paid by the government but maybe because they received assurances from the government that they would be helped, they kept on pushing and refused to allow junior officers to move up the ladder of promotion, a source said.

The source added that for more than one year, the retired officers kept working without salaries and that they refused to vacate offices and waited till after the enactment was gazetted so that they could have five years more in service.

Appointment legitimate  Govt

Reacting to the development, the Director of Human Resources Department at the education ministry, David Gende, told PREMIUM TIMES that the implementation of the additional five years of service for teachers/education officers began in January 2021, 16 months before the law was gazetted.

The director, who spoke to our reporter in his office on Monday, said it was normal for implementation to start after pronouncement while the legislation part is being worked out.

According to him, there are several examples of institutions established by the government which had commenced operations even before the law establishing them was passed.

Background

President Muhammadu Buhari on Teachers Day in October 2020, announced reforms for teachers welfare including a new salary scale and extended years of service.

By the announcement, Mr Buhari said unlike other civil servants, teachers and education officers could now retire after clocking 65 years of age or 40 years in service whichever comes first.

The Buhari-led Federal Executive Council (FEC) sent a bill for the harmonisation of teachers and education officers retirement age to the National Assembly in January 2021.

While the House of Representatives passed the bill in November 2021, the Senate passed it in February. To make it a law, President Buhari appended his signature on 7 April, this year.

However, before the bill was passed, the education ministry in January 2021, sent out circulars notifying retiring members of staff who are interested in leveraging on the additional five years to indicate interest as implementation was to begin that month.

Mr Gende said some of the affected staff opted for retirement as the five-year extension was not mandatory.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the education officers who were due for retirement in 2021 have continued to work and have not been paid their salaries for the period.

One of them who was to retire a year ago told PREMIUM TIMES that they had continued to work because the ministry said they are to benefit from the extension.

They asked us to wait. They said it will be taking effect from January 2021, the education officer said. All those who retired before January 2021 have been allowed to leave the system.

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 police in Anambra State said five people were killed, on Sunday, when gunmen attacked the convoy of Nigerian Senator, Ifeanyi Ubah.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the gunmen ambushed the senators convoy and opened fire on them, killing some police officers and aides of the senator in the convoy.

The incident happened on Sunday evening in Enugwu-Ukwu, a community in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigerias South-east.

The police spokesperson in the state, Tochukwu Ikenga, told PREMIUM TIMES, Tuesday morning that the five persons killed by the gunmen were two police officers and three civilians.

Two police officers were killed. The other three that died in the attack were one civilian and two aides of Ifeanyi Ubah, he said.

Mr Ikenga, a deputy superintendent of police, also said another two police officers were still receiving treatment in a hospital in the state.

The police spokesperson said although no arrest has been made, operations were still on-going to track down the suspects.

Mr Ubah, who represents Anambra South District in the Senate, Monday, confirmed the deaths of some of his personal and security aides.

He identified some of those killed in the attack as Obum Ikechukwu and Goodness Mathias.

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The senator said that some officials of Nigerias secret police, State Security Service (SSS), were among those killed by the gunmen. He did not give details of their identity.

It is not clear, for now, if the two officers who were confirmed dead by the police, were the SSS officials.

I dont have that information, Mr Ikenga said, when asked to confirm the killing of the SSS officers.

Peter Obi condemns attack

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has condemned the attack on the senators convoy.

Mr Obi, in a Twitter post on Monday, said there was urgent need to strengthen the security of lives and property in the country. He asked the Anambra State Government to track down those behind the attack.

I deeply commiserate with my brother, Senator @Dr_IfeanyiUbah, and extend my heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones in this ugly incidence.  Peter Obi (@PeterObi) September 12, 2022

I deeply commiserate with my brother, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah and extend my heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones in this ugly incident. The attack is condemnable and unacceptable, he said.

I enjoin the federal and state governments to strenuously strive to curb the menace of insecurity rampaging our nation, Mr Obi added.
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sam Ohuabunwa, has said that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is only seeking justice and equity, and not trying to destabilise the party.

Mr Ohuabunwa stated this when he appeared as a guest on Channels TVs Sunrise Daily on Tuesday.

The PDP has been enmeshed in a crisis after the party presidential primary in May.

Mr Wike was a presidential aspirant of the PDP. He lost to Nigerias former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar.

Aggrieved after the primary election, Mr Wike accused the party of betraying him and breaching its constitution. He subsequently demanded the resignation of the partys National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu  a criterion he said must be met before he discusses giving support to Atiku in next years poll.

The Rivers State governors argument is that both Mr Ayu and the party presidential candidate, Atiku, come from northern Nigeria.

Although Walid Jibrin, the chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), later resigned his position in response to allegations of imbalance in the party leadership, Mr Wike insisted that Mr Ayu must relinquish his office for the party to have peace.

Mr Wike said BoT chairmanship is not a key leadership position in the party.

Mr Ohuabunwa, who said he has been speaking with the Wike and Atikus groups in the party, stressed that the Rivers governor is seeking to correct the wrongs that were done in the PDP in the past.

The truth is that Mr Wike is not crying wolves. He is demanding justice. He is demanding equity. And that is right for him to do, he said.

Mr Ohuabunwa, a former presidential aspirant of the PDP, urged the national leadership of the party to show empathy and heed the governors demand.

Why is everybody going to Mr Wike? It shows that he has a moral right in this matter. There is something that all of us understood has been done wrongly and thats why all the emissaries are going to him, Mr Ohuabunwa stated.

The former presidential aspirant, however, expressed optimism that the crisis would be resolved as soon as the party leadership shows empathy and understanding in the matter.

I dont think Mr Wike is impossible to deal with. He has shown that he is a team player when the team is a reasonable team, he stated.

I think that the party has finally come to understand the enormity of the crisis. The party seems to have woken up to the need not to allow this internal disagreement become a major albatross to its chances of winning elections, the PDP chieftain said.

He dismissed claims that the recent meetings between Mr Wike and officials of opposition political parties could culminate in the governors defection to any of the parties, saying the governor remains a staunch ambassador of the PDP.

For me, it (the meetings with opposition parties) is a way of advertising our party and I believe that those APC and other party leaders that are going there (Rivers State) is a way of sanctioning and endorsing the kind of quality leaders and performances that PDP has and Mr Wike is a poster boy in that regard, Mr Ohuabunwa added.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja, Tuesday, reserved judgement on the remaining seven count charge pending against Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The panel reserved its decision after it listened to lawyers in the case. It said a date for judgement would be communicated to the parties.

Mr Kanu approached the appellate court, urging it to dismiss the Nigerian governments seven counts charge bordering on terrorism and treasonable felony.

The IPOB leader is being tried before Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

On 8 April, Mrs Nyako while ruling on the IPOB leaders preliminary objection challenging the validity of the charge, struck out eight of the 15 counts.

He was accused of various offences in the 15 counts, including treasonable felony and terrorism, offences he allegedly committed in the course of his separatist campaigns.

The judge ruled that Counts 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 14 were incompetent for not disclosing any valid offences against the defendant.

She, however, ruled that Counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,13 and 15 disclosed valid charges against Mr Kanu.

Tuesdays proceedings

At Tuesdays proceedings, a three-member panel of the appellate court chaired by Jummai Hanatu said there was reason for it to inquire into the issue of Mr Kanus bail since the substantive appeal was due for hearing.

The IPOB leaders lead counsel, Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told the panel that his client was forcibly arrested in Kenya and illegally renditioned to Nigeria in June 2021.

Mr Ozekhome argued that Mr Kanu was first arraigned on December 23, 2015 and was later granted bail on April 25, 2017.

But citing reasons for Mr Kanus disappearance from Nigeria, Mr Ozekhome said, My lords, he (Mr Kanu) was enjoying his bail without breaching the terms, until his native home in Abia State was invaded by security forces of the federal government in September 2017.

When the Appellant travelled from London to Kenya, agents of the Respondents, on June 27, 2021, forcefully abducted the Appellant, tortured and renditioned him back to the country without following any extradition process, Mr Ozekhome told the appellate court.

Arguing against the validity of the pending seven counts, the defence lawyer said, the charge appears to give the lower court a global jurisdiction over offences that were allegedly committed by the appellant (Mr Kanu), without specifying the location or date the said offences were committed.

There was no need for the lower court to have retained the remaining seven-count charge, he said.

Mr Ozekhome urged the court to strike out the remaining counts and hold that the Nigerian government has not established any prima-facie case against the appellant for which he could be tried.

FG asks court to dismiss Kanus appeal

But the Nigerian governments lawyer, David Kaswe, urged the court to dismiss the appeal for lacking in merit.

Mr Kaswe said Mr Kanu was returned to Nigeria in compliance with due process of the law.

My lords, it took four years and huge resources to get the respondent arrested and brought back to face the charges against him, Mr Kaswe told the panel.

He argued that the trial court was even wrong to have struck out the eight counts as it did, urging the Court of Appeal to dismiss the appeal.

Background

After Mr Kanus repatriation to Nigeria in June 2021, he was arraigned before Mr Nyako, where the court heard and struck out eight of the 15 counts charge.

The judge asked the prosecution to proceed to trial on the remaining seven charges, ordering the prosecuting lawyer, Shuaibu Labaran, to file a fresh proof of evidence before May 18, the next hearing date.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the judge, in a separate ruling on 8 April, validated the federal governments repatriation of Mr Kanu from Kenya to face the charges pending against him in Nigeria.

Below are the full details of the seven sustained charges and the eight counts that were struck out by the court:

SUSTAINED CHARGES

The judge ordered that the case proceeds to trial on Counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13 and 15.

Five of the sustained charges have to do with alleged acts of terrorism, including professing to be a member and leader of IPOB, a proscribed organisation, issuing inciteful and deadly threats against individuals, and issuing directives, among others.

Count 15 has to do with the illegal importation of a radio transmitter he declared as used household items in violation of section 47 (2) (a) of the Criminal Code Act. Cap, C45 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

Full details of the counts:

Count 1

The prosecution alleged that Mr Kanu, of Afara Ukwu, Umuhahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, as a member of and leader of proscribed IPOB sometimes in September 2021, committed an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people by allegedly making a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria with intent to intimidate the population, threatened that the people would die and that the whole world would standstill. The offence is said to be punishable under section 1(2)(b) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2015.

Count 2

The prosecution accused him of committing an act in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria within the jurisdiction of the court with intent to intimidate the population, issued a death threat against anyone who flouted his sit-at-home order.

Mr Kanu allegedly ordered whoever flouted the order should write his/her will, and as a result banks, schools, markets, shopping malls, and fuel stations domiciled in the eastern states of Nigeria must not open for business. Citizens, and vehicular movements, in the eastern states of Nigeria, the prosecution said, were grounded as a result of the sit-at-home order.

The prosecution said the offence is punishable under section 1(2)(b) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Amendment Act (2013).

Count 3

The prosecution also alleged that on diverse dates between 2018 and 2021 within the jurisdiction of this court, Mr Kanu professed himself to be a member and leader of IPOB, a proscribed organisation in Nigeria.

This, the prosecution said was an offence contrary to and punishments under section 16 of the Terrorism Prevision Amendment Act 2015.

Count 4

M Kanu also, allegedly, on diverse dates between 2018 and 2021, made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria inciting members of the public in Nigeria in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people to hunt and kill Nigerian security personnel.

The offence, according to the prosecution, is punishable under section 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013.

Count 5

Mr Kanu, also on diverse dates between 2018 and 2021, allegedly broadcasted furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, received and heard in Nigeria in furtherance of an act of terrorism, inciting members of the public in Nigeria a to hunt and kill families of Nigeria security personnel.

The offence is said to be punishable under 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013.

Count 13

Mr Kany also alleged between 2018 and 2021 made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria with intent to incite violence, in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, directed members of the public to burn down every federal facility in Lagos resulting in major economic loss to the federal government.

The alleged offences, the prosecution says, are punishable under section 1(2) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Amendment) Act 2013.

Court 15

The prosecution also alleged that on diverse dates between March and April 2015 Mr Kanu was illegally imported into Nigeria and kept in Ubulisluzor in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, a radio transmitter known as Tram 50L concealed in a container of used household items which he declared as used household items.

The alleged offence was said to be contrary to section 47(2)(a) of Criminal Code Act CapC45 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

STRUCK OUT CHARGES

Counts 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 14 struck out by the judge are all terrorism charges relating to his alleged inciting broadcast between 2018 and 2021.

The said broadcasts allegedly incited members of the public to harm or kill security personnel, destabilise the fundamental political and economic structures of Nigeria by inviting members of the public to stop the Anambra State elections.

He also allegedly incited members of the public to destroy or burn down transport and other public facilities in Lagos.

He also allegedly gave a sit-at-home order and threatened violence against anyone who violated the order.

The offences were said to be punishable under 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013.

Section 6

Mr Kanu was alleged to have, on diverse dates between 2018 and 2021, made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria, in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, inviting members of the public in Nigeria to attack officers of the Nigeria Police Force.

The offence is said to be punishable under 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act 2013.

Section 7

Mr Kanu also allegedly broadcasted 2018 and 2021 in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, inviting members of the public in Nigeria to kill officers of the Nigerian police officers.

The alleged offence, according to the prosecution, is similarly punishable under 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism

Section 8

The prosecution similarly alleged that, between 2018 and 2021, Mr Kanu made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its Nigeria directing members of IPOB, a proscribed organisation, to manufacture bombs.

The act, the federal government says, is an offence punishable under section 1 (2) (f) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013.

Count 9

The prosecution also alleged that between 2018 and 2021, Mr Kanu made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria, in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, with the intent to destabilise the fundamental political and economic structures of Nigeria, invite members of the public to stop the Anambra State elections.

The offence is said to be punishable under section 1 (2) (h) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013.

Count 10

The prosecution also alleged that on diverse dates between 2018 and 2021, Mr Kanu made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria, in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, with the intent to destabilise the fundamental political and economic structures of Nigeria, invite members of the public to destroy public facilities.

The offence was said to be punishable under section 1 (2) (h) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013.

Count 11

Also, between 2018 and 2021, Mr Kanu allegedly made a broadcast received and heard in Nigerian, with the intent to intimidate the population of Nigeria, in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people, threatening members of the public not to come out on Monday, May 31, 2021.

This alleged offence, the prosecution says, is punishable under section 1 (2) (h) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013.

Count 12

Mr Kanu, also between 2018 and 2021, allegedly made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria within Nigeria, inviting members of the public to stage a violent revolution in furtherance of an act of terrorism against Nigeria and its people.

The offence also allegedly violates and is punishable under section 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism Prevention) Amendment Act 2013.

Count 14

The IPOB leader, also on diverse dates between 2018 and 2021, allegedly made a broadcast received and heard in Nigeria with the intent to incite violence in furtherance of an act of terrorism against the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its people, directed members of the public to destroy public transport system in Lagos resulting in major economic loss to the government.

The prosecution says the alleged offence is punishable under section 1(2)(h) of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013.
After 21 years of talks, an agreement has been reached that prohibits harmful fishing subsidies  a leading factor in the plunder of global fish stocks. This could be a major development for Africa where the fisheries sector, which provides livelihoods and food security for over 400 million people, is vulnerable to exploitation.

According to the African Development Bank, around seven million tons of fish are caught in Africa annually. Population growth projections say that fish supply must increase to 13 million tons by 2030 to feed 1.7 billion people and to 19 million tons by 2050 to feed 2.5 billion. However, coastal states are not catching enough fish to meet Africas requirements. At least 35 countries on the continent are operating on a fish production deficit and are highly dependent on imports.

As global fish demand is expected to increase by 30 per cent by 2030, the sector faces tremendous pressures that require urgent, global responses. One such response is the 17 June adoption of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. It provides the impetus for African countries to prioritise fisheries governance, sustainable ocean governance and food security for a rapidly growing population.

To make the landmark deal work for Africa though, the capacity of governments to control and monitor fishing activities in their waters will need a significant boost. And cooperation between agencies responsible for fisheries management must improve.

As the exploitation of marine resources increases, fish stocks are facing a collapse in several regions globally. Many governments subsidise unprofitable industrial-scale fishing fleets to cover rising fishing costs and growing consumer demand. The WTO estimates that global fisheries subsidies range from US$14 billion to $54 billion yearly.

Not all subsidies are bad, and removing government financial support for artisanal fishers in most African countries would do more damage than eliminating illegal fishing. The subsidies that should be stopped are those enabling the large-scale plunder of fish stocks. This includes financing vessels to acquire sophisticated equipment to catch more sea life while operating far from their home ports and markets.

These unsustainable approaches exacerbate insecurity in Africa, particularly in coastal communities. With an estimated value of US$24 billion and providing jobs for over 12 million people, the fisheries industry is fundamental to the continents blue economic vision and the African Unions Africa Blue Economy Strategy.

Addressing harmful fishing subsidies is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says this is the first time WTO members have concluded an agreement with environmental sustainability at its heart.

The agreement focuses on three aspects of harmful subsidising. First, it prohibits subsidies for the fishing of overfished stock. This should support conservation efforts in coastal states, especially where maritime governance is poor. Second, it prohibits subsidising fishing on high seas in areas not covered by regional fisheries management organisations. This aims to protect the most sought-after large fish stocks, which migrate in and out of the jurisdiction of multiple states whose enforcement capability can be variable and lacking.

Finally, the agreement prohibits subsidies to fishing vessels and operators engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. When negotiations began in 2001, it was understood that subsidies contributed to overfishing and were linked to increased illegal fishing. In West Africa, research suggests that long-distance industrial fleets, many of which are the primary subsidy recipients, are also the main culprits of overfishing.

The agreement compels countries to temporarily discontinue subsidising a vessel or operator if a coastal state, a flag state or a regional fisheries management organisation determines that they have engaged in illegal fishing. The subsidising state will determine the duration of the prohibition based on the nature, gravity and repetition of the infringement.

The agreements effectiveness relies on several issues. While it restricts the use of subsidies and provides conditions for their withdrawal, the WTO deal does not ban harmful subsidies outright. Progress will depend on the willingness of subsidising states to work with coastal states to address illegal fishing. This is a risk considering that several subsidising states ignore harmful activities attributed to their countrys fishing fleets, flags, and crews.

The WTO dispute system will be the primary vehicle to enforce the agreement if coastal and subsidising states should clash. But the system may be difficult for developing states to use effectively because they lack the bargaining power and resources of more powerful countries.

Another problem is the lack of transparency in the fishing sector  a major factor in illegal fishing. For instance, as part of its sustainable fisheries partnership efforts, the European Union (EU) has negotiated numerous agreements with non-EU states. But although these deals are rooted in sustainability, they have been criticised for loopholes that allow EU vessel owners to hide their ownership and avoid responsibility.

To prevent illegal fishing, global instruments such as the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing should be strengthened. The plan doesnt specify sanctions, but countries apply them. This suggests that illegal fishing should be regulated as an administrative matter rather than a criminal one.

The ability of African governments to patrol and inspect at sea also needs support. Given the scarcity of resources, research is needed to inform fisheries management policies, particularly on the deployment of patrol vessels. Capacity and training for evidence collection to detect offenders are also essential. If this is accompanied by greater international transparency on fishing data, these countries could use their limited patrol assets better.

African countries often struggle to engage profitably in commercial fisheries. They can use the WTO agreements special treatment provisions to negotiate support for scaling up small-scale fisheries and empowering local fisher communities. The WTO has a US$20 million rolling fund to help developing countries improve capacity and management skills for sustainable fisheries governance.

The new subsidies agreement is a notable achievement, but it wont immediately help African countries effectively patrol their exclusive economic zones and prevent the plundering of fish stocks. But it does bolster ongoing multilateral efforts to tackle illegal fishing, which threatens Africans present and future human security.

Tim Walker, Project Leader and Senior Researcher, Denys Reva, Researcher and David Willima, Research Officer, Maritime, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Pretoria

Research for this article is funded by the government of Norway.

(This article was first published by ISS Today, a Premium Times syndication partner. We have their permission to republish).
President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed Nigerian elite for not contributing to the development of the country, particularly the fight against insecurity.

Mr Buhari stated this on Tuesday shortly after commissioning some projects in Imo State done by Governor Hope Uzodinmas administration

The projects commissioned included the dualised 36-kilometer Owerri-Orlu Road and the first phase of the dualised 53-kilometer Owerri-Okigwe Road.

He also commissioned the newly reconstructed Imo House of Assembly Complex.

Mr Buhari said Nigeria has not recorded the expected developments because of a number of factors and inability of the elite to assist the country.

To be frank with you, I am blaming the Nigerian elites for not sitting and thinking hard about our country, he said, without giving details.

Between 1999 and 2015, when we came in  I like people to check (from) the Central Bank of Nigeria and NNPC. The average (oil) production was 2.1 million barrels per day at the cost $100 per barrel.

So, Nigeria was earning, at this time, 2.1 million times multiplied by $100 per barrel. But look at the state of infrastructure. Look at the railway, it was virtually killed. Power, we are still struggling, Mr Buhari stated.

He said despite efforts to reposition the country, his administration was frustrated by growing insecurity in different parts of the country, which affected crude oil production.

When we came, unfortunately, the militants were unleashed, (oil) production went down to half a million barrels. Again, being unfortunate, the cost of petroleum went down from $37 to $28, the president said.

The president also said when he came into power in 2015, Boko Haram terrorists were in control of some local governments in the North-east. He said his administration successfully conquered them on his assumption of office.

He described the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists operating in the North-east region as fraudulent people.

Lauds Uzodinma

Meanwhile Mr Buhari applauded Mr Uzodinma for the three projects which were commissioned, pointing out that he was impressed that the governor has completed some projects within a short period of his administration despite the lean resources available to him.

ALSO READ: Igbo leaders may appeal to Buhari over Nnamdi Kanu as president visits Imo

On our part, the federal government will continue to support the government of Imo State to ensure that it continues to give dividends of democracy to the people, he said.

The president said he would extend the same support to other state governments irrespective of political affiliations.

Our administration recognises the importance of critical infrastructure in economic development. And we are determined to drive the economic development of Nigeria through the provision of vital infrastructures across the length and the breadth of the country.

I am therefore happy that the administration of Governor Uzodinma is doing similar things in Imo State. So, I say bravo to the governor whose name I was informed means Good road, Mr Buhari said.

He thanked residents of the state for giving him with warm reception like they did during his first visit, and urged them to continue to support the state governor to do more projects in the state.
Some families of Plateau civil servants who died in active service have decried the non-payment of death benefits of their loved ones.

Relatives of the deceased, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Jos, accused the state government of refusing to heed their pleas for the entitlements.

Timothy Dalyop, one of the affected relatives, said he started processing the benefits of his late brother, Dung Dalyop, 13 years ago.

He explained that his brother died in 2009 after spending 15 years with the Ministry of Education.

When he died, the burden of fending for his family fell on me. That task gets tougher every year.

The sum of N150,000 was paid to me in August 2021 out of the N1.2 million total amount.

I have been pushing for this money in the past 13 years ; it was just last year that I got N150,000.

I have lost count of the number of times I visited the state pension board all to no avail. My brother died and left a family for me to fend for and it has not been easy.

Death benefit is a one-off thing, so I dont know why goverment is playing politics with it; death benefit is only paid once, unlike pension that one receives on monthly basis.

Mr Dalyop disclosed that he couldnt push for the benefits of his late brothers wife, who also died as a civil servant, due to the cumbersome nature of the entire process.

Aisha Ngari, another relative, told NAN that her mother, Halimatu Ngari, died as a class teacher at the Islamiya School, Bukuru in Jos South Local Government in 2008.

Since she died, nothing has been paid to us as her death benefits.

Mr Ngari said she started pushing for her mothers death benefits 14 years ago but was yet to get anything out of the N2.8 million due to her.

READ ALSO:

Because of the dire need for funds for family upkeep, I was forced to give a bribe of N40,000 to a government official who promised to fastrack the process, but nothing came out it.

My mother died in 2008 and we started processing her death benefits shortly after because we needed money for feeding and school fees.

In 2009, I was told that I have done all thats needed and should expect payment soon, but this is the 14th year and nothing has been paid.

Some officials of the pension board demanded for N200,000 bribe to enable them fastrack the payment and, out of frustration, I took a loan of N40,000 and gave one of them, but as we speak, I have not received any payment.

John Atsen, another relative, said he grew up at an orphanage after both of his parents died, with his father, Joseph Atsen, a staffer of the ministry of education, dying in 2006.

He explained that he began processing his fathers death benefits totalling N1.2 million since 2017, but that there was no sign of success.

When my father died, we were still young, so we moved to an orphanage home because our mother had died earlier on.

It was in 2017 that I started pushing for the payment of my fathers death benefits but noting positive yet, he fumed.

On his part, Bryan Luka, said he had not been able to receive the death benefits accruing to his late father, Luka Musa, who died since 2015.

Mr Luka, who decried the agony families of deceased civil servants were passing through, called on the goverment to ensure speedy payment of the benefits.

He accused officials of the state pension board of corruption, and advised goverment to sanitise the system for optimal productivity and effective service delivery.

Not deliberate

Meanwhile, Dan Majang, the states Commissioner for Information and Communications, while reacting to the accusations, said that the non-payment of the death benefits was not deliberate.

Mr Majang said that the problem was inherited from past administrations, adding that the current government had fashioned out modalities to offset outstanding benefits of retired and dead civil service.

It is not deliberate that we are owing death benefits of some deceased civil servants and gratuities of retirees.

This is an inherited problem, but we are doing everything possible to clear these debts based on available resources.

Payment of pension, gratuities and death benefits remain a priority to this goverment and we are not sleeping over it, he said.

Mr Majang further explained that to make the payment seamless, government had signed a pact with United Capital, a private organisation, to offset the backlog.

We have signed an agreement with United Capital to pay these outstanding benefits while goverment will now pay the company at a later time.

The matter is before the House of Assembly; once the assembly okays it, with the consent of the beneficiaries, payment will commence, he added.

The commissioner called on the beneficiaries to be patient, insisting that government was doing everything possible to pay them.

(NAN)
The National Association of Seadogs (NAS) has unveiled its 70th-anniversary logo as the group officially kicks off celebrations to mark its diamond jubilee.

Abiola Owoaje, the leader of the group, told journalists at the official unveiling on Friday that many activities have been lined up to showcase the organisations nobility, ethos, and continued quest to create a just Nigerian society.

As we celebrate, we shall also use the period, especially as we inch closer to the 2023 elections to continue our push for a just society where no one would be a victim of colour, gender, or creed, said Mr Owoaje, who is known as the NAS Capn.

We shall through our celebrations join Nigerians to demand for free, fair, and credible elections in 2023. This would be the most fitting climax of the celebration of our 70th anniversary.

Last month, the group, also known as The Pyrates Confraternity, hugged news headlines after a viral video on social media showed its members chanting a song about a presidential candidate whose hands and feet are shaking, yet he is saying it is my turn.'

The video, which was apparently referring to the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, drew instant condemnation from Wole Soyinka, one of the founders of NAS.

The group quickly distanced itself from the video, maintaining that it had remained apolitical since it was founded in 1952.

Service to humanity

At Fridays official unveiling, Mr Owoaje recalled that the group was founded by seven passionate young and patriotic Nigerian undergraduates Mr Wole Soyinka, Ralph Opara, Nathaniel Oyelola, Pius Oleghe, Olumuyiwa Awe, Ikpehare Aig-Imoukhuede and Slyvanus Egbuche, at the University College Ibadan, now the University of Ibadan.

He said the founders took a giant revolutionary leap towards greatness and etched their names in the sands of time by standing up to obnoxious conventions to form the Pyrates Confraternity.

In 1952, when the Pyrates Confraternity was formed, its fundamental ethos was not just limited to fighting for the oppressed, speaking for the deprived, and resolving myriad injustices in the march towards the attainment of a just and egalitarian society, said Mr Owoaje.

Certainly, it was a trailblazing initiative by these seven undergraduates, which restored dignity, confidence, and an enduring sense of worth and justice to a large segment of Nigerias population in those heady days of colonial subjugation.

Over the years, from one deck in Ibadan, Pyrates Confraternity has grown to 60 decks spread across five continents and many countries including South Africa, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, and across Europe.

It is, therefore, fitting that the theme of our platinum anniversary: 70 Years of Service to Humanity is a reflective encapsulation of our modest contribution to humanity.

National development

Mr Owoaje said the confraternity has contributed to national development in Nigeria by words and deeds.

It was our organisation in 1986 through a painstaking investigation wholly undertaken by our members that uncovered the pervasive corruption that had bedevilled operations at the Lagos/Ibadan expressway tollgate, he said.

One of the recommendations of that investigation was the privatisation of the toll gates but this was not implemented until many years later.

READ ALSO:

He also highlighted the role played by the organisation when the Nigerian government established the Federal Road Safety Corps in 1988 and appointed Mr Soyinka as the Corps Marshall.

They laid a veritable foundation for discipline, firmness, integrity, and an enviable commitment to humanitarian service turning it into a formidable paramilitary agency, he said.

Indeed Nigerians would attest to the fact that the FRSC in its heyday was devoid of the corruption and the underhand shenanigans associated with its sister agencies. The FRSC of those days drastically brought down the level of carnage on our roads and highways and instilled attitudinal change in motorists.

Mr Owoaje noted that the founding members of Pyrates Confraternity benefitted immensely from the good quality education on offer in Nigeria at the time.

Many of our members who have gone on to excel in their chosen careers and made the country proud both home and abroad had their university education in Nigeria, he said.

We are, however, saddened by the sorry state of education in our tertiary institutions, especially Nigerian universities. It is scandalous that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) would have to embark on a strike to prevent a total collapse of the public university system.

Mr Owoaje said successive governments in Nigeria have habitually treated education with the same rankling levity that we are all witnessing today.

This unfortunate state of affairs imperils the very future of an entire generation of young people. It beggars belief that a government can be so indifferent to what becomes of a largely youthful demography that is the most populous in the continent.

The Federal Government that has not been able to stop the massive leakage of funds meant for development and which does not blink an eyelid while funding the profligate lifestyle of its officials, now finds it difficult to devote funds to run public universities.
A leading independent newspaper in Nigeria, DAILY TRUST, has called for nominations of exemplary personalities for the coveted African of the Year 2022 award. Nominations are open from 12 September 2022, to midnight of 24 October 2022.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Media Trust Group, publishers of DAILY TRUST and owners of Trust TV, Mounir Gwarzo, said ideal nominees should be ordinary Africans who have made extra-ordinary contributions to humanity in any field from any part of the continent.

Mr Gwarzo disclosed that the award consists of three components, namely, a permanent plaque, a certificate of merit and a cash reward in aid of the awardee or his/her chosen charity project.

Valid entries for the 2022 award will be for works, events or activities undertaken by the nominee between 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2022, and nominations are to be made online at award.dailytrust.com. The eventual winner will be selected by a six-member prize committee chaired by His Excellency, Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana.

Other members of the Committee who represent Africas regional blocs are: Mona Omar (North Africa), Amadou Mahtar Ba (West Africa), Gwen Lister (Southern Africa), and Rigobert MINANI BIHUZO (Central Africa). The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Media Trust Group, Kabiru Yusuf, represents the award promoters.

The Group CEO emphasised that a winner will emerge, strictly based on the selection criteria and not the number of entries submitted on his/her behalf.

Mr. Gwarzo also disclosed that the presentation ceremony for the 2022 edition of the African of the Year Award will hold in Abuja, Nigeria, in January, 2023.

Now in its 15th edition, the African of the Year Award was inaugurated in 2008 by DAILY TRUST in fulfilment of the newspapers commitment to African unity and sustainable development across the continent.

With this annual award, Mr. Gwarzo said the newspaper hopes to entrench the culture of selflessness among Africans with the aim of creating a pool of role-models for others to emulate.

The maiden award was presented to a Congolese gynaecologist, Denis Mukwege, in recognition of his exemplary humanitarian offer of free reconstructive surgery to victims of rape in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018, which was 10 years after DAILY TRUST had recognised his remarkable humanitarian gesture.

Issued by:

Mounir Gwarzo, Group CEO, Media Trust Group.
A 55-year-old man, Sule Mosudi, was on Tuesday docked before an Iyaganku Magistrate Court, Ibadan, for allegedly stealing a bunch of plantains worth N4,000 from a farm.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Mosudi of Abanla area, Idi-Ayunre, Ibadan, was arraigned on a count of stealing.

The prosecution counsel, Foluke Oladosu told the court that the defendant allegedly committed the offence on 4 September at about 1:00 a.m. in the Abanla area of Ibadan.

Ms Oladosu told the court that the bunch of plantains was allegedly stolen from one Sikiru Oseni farm at Iyana Ikija, Abanla, Ibadan.

She said the defendant was caught because the community had a laid down rule that forbids anyone from being outside his or her home after 11:00 p.m.

Ms Oladosu said the offence was contrary to Section 383 and 390(9) of the Criminal Code, Laws of Oyo State, 2000.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The defence counsel, Bode Akinbi, urged the court to grant the defendant bail on liberal terms.

The magistrate, I. O. Soho, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties in like sum.

Mrs Osho adjourned the matter until 10 October, for hearing.

(NAN)
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has dissolved the partys executive council in Osun over a leadership crisis.

The dissolution was contained in a letter dated 11th September and signed by the partys National Secretary, Dipo Olayoku.

The News Agency of Nigeria obtained a copy of the letter on Tuesday in Osogbo.

The states executive council was dissolved following a vote of no confidence passed in the chairman, Tosin Odeyemi, and the mass resignation of its members.

The NWC appointed a six-man caretaker committee in place of the dissolved executive council.

The committee will be in charge for three months under the chairmanship of Abdulsalam Abdulateef.

The letter read in parts: the NWC, after reviewing the situation of things with NNPP in Osun and after due consultation with stakeholders, has approved the dissolution of the state executive council.

The headquarters has observed that the Osun State executive council has been depleted due to the resignation of its members.

The remaining executive members have lost confidence in the ability of the chairman, Dr Tosin Odeyemi, to provide the needed leadership for any good showing at the 2023 general elections.

This is evident in the vote-of-no-confidence passed on the erstwhile chairman by members of the executive council.

The NWC is using this medium to call on the chairman of the caretaker committee and other members to show leadership qualities and use this opportunity to heal old wounds.

They should bring every member and the NNPP family together for the task ahead.

The NWC is appealing to all members in Osun to remain calm and await further directives from the national headquarters.

When contacted, the caretaker chairman told NAN that he would use his three months tenure to bring all aggrieved members together ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Mr Abdulateef said members of the caretaker committee would also use their tenure to x-ray why NNPP was lagging in Osun and work for the victory of the partys presidential candidate Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso.

We must be united and be purposeful.

All of us must come on board to know that there is something ahead of us to be done and do it with fairness for the success of our party, he said.

The NNPP members unanimously passed a vote-of-no-confidence in Mr Odeyemi at a meeting in Osogbo on 15 August and removed him as chairman over alleged financial misappropriation.

(NAN)
The National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) has called for more training for legislative support staff to improve the process of lawmaking and other legislative activities.

Ahmed Amshi, the chairman of the commission, made the call on Tuesday, during the opening of a three-day training organised by the management of the House of Representatives for members of staff in Abuja.

Mr Amshi, who was represented by the Commissioner representing North-east, Abubakar Tutare, said most lawmakers elected to the National Assembly are politicians without knowledge of lawmaking.

He noted that the success of the lawmakers depends on the quality of legislative staff supporting them in the endeavour.

Where we are in National Assembly is where laws are made for the country. The laws are made by elected politicians, who may or may not have the knowledge or expertise of lawmaking.

For them to be successful, they will need your contribution and guidance and so they need the necessary training in law drafting for good governance is very necessary.

NASC will at all times, give support to issues of staff training to develop capacity, he said.

Mr Amshi added that training is a priority under my tenure as chairman of NASC, because it is only in training and retraining that we can develop the capacity of our staff and the need to develop capacity cannot be overemphasized.

In his remarks, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, Yahaya Danzaria, appreciated the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, for supporting the training of staff.

He said the training targets the core legislative officers in the areas of chamber services, table duties, rules and business, legislative scrutiny and committee system.

Mr Danzaria said aside from the general training in legislative practice and procedure, there is a need to focus on those key and peculiar areas of legislative activities that only trained officers have the capacity to handle.

I have a strong conviction that the best way to maintain optimum performance and productivity in any system or organisation is to empower the workers that form the pillars of the organisation.

Through this capacity building, we build strong institutions, and make them work; I have no doubt that at the end of the programme, the beneficiaries will be better equipped for greater service to the legislature and the Nigerian state, he said.

I, therefore, urge all participants to this workshop to listen to the experts who will be engaging you these few days to gain more knowledge and experience that would impact further in your daily call to duty.

On our part, we will strive to provide you with the enabling environment with the resources available. I wish you fruitful and result-oriented interactions, he said.

Drafting errors in past bills

Nigerian lawmakers have come under scrutiny for drafting errors in major legislative pieces in the past.

President Muhammadu Buhari on numerous occasions rejected bills due to errors.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how a coalition of civil society organisations identified some errors in the electoral bill rejected by Mr Buhari in December.

The coalition discovered at least 16 errors in the bill. These errors range from grammatical to cross-referencing gaps.

The errors were identified by a coalition of eight civic groups comprising the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) Yiaga Africa, International Press Centre (IPC) and Centre for Citizens with Disability (CCD).
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking inPersons (NAPTIP) has launched a manhunt for a woman suspected to be behind the disappearance of a 16-year-old mother and her three-month-old baby in Anambra State, South-east Nigeria.

The NAPTIP Commander in Anambra, Judith-Chukwu Ibadin, told reporters in Awka on Monday that the suspect took the mother and baby to a neighbouring country, Ghana.

Mrs Ibadin said the suspect engaged a third person, Nzube Nwakamma, 22, to recruit a girl that could work in her restaurant in Ghana for a N100, 000 monthly pay.

She alleged that the suspect, who is said to be resident in Ghana, had successfully moved her victim from Anambra to Ghana for prostitution.

Mr Nwakamma, who facilitated the illicit travel, had been arrested and was assisting the agency in its investigation, she said.

Mrs Ibadin said the facilitator, in his statement, narrated how he recruited the 16-year-old from Awka Etiti in Idemili South Local Government Area.

According to her, Mr Nwakanma confessed he took the lady, who was his girlfriend, to Nnewi, where he handed her and her baby over to the suspect.

They met in Nnewi where the woman paid Nwakamma N100,000 to recruit a girl who would work in her supposed restaurant in Ghana, she further said.

The NAPTIP commander said the transaction was done in May but was reported to NAPTIP by the police in August.

She said the agency was working hard to track down the suspect with the information provided to it by Mr Nwakamma.

She also gave assurance that the agency would rescue the victim and her baby.

The Director-General of NAPTIP, Fatima Waziri-Azi, had taken a special interest in the matter, she said.

READ ALSO: NAPTIP rescues 615 victims of human trafficking in Katsina

He has consequently ordered an intensive manhunt and immediate arrest of all those involved in the illicit trade, Mrs Ibadin said.

She described the case as a trans-border crime, saying that the agency had fully activated all the security apparatuses over the matter.

We shared all information we have about the woman in Ghana with the relevant agencies for tracking and possible arrest, she said.

She said that Mr Nwakamma had been granted bail on the condition that he would report daily at the agencys office.

We want to assure the Awka Etiti people that if the suspect threatens them or becomes a threat, we shall revoke his bail and put him back in detention with a court order, she said.

(NAN)
The Lagos State House of Assembly has given a two-day ultimatum to the Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure, Kabiru Abdullahi, to appear before it.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the summon followed the commissioners refusal to honour previous invitations extended to him by the assembly.

The House issued the order as a sequel to a motion moved by the Chairman, House Committee on Waterfront Infrastructure, Wahab Jimoh, at plenary on Tuesday.

Mr Jimoh described as unacceptable, the commissioners incessant refusal to honour the invitations extended to him by his committee.

Mr Jimoh told his colleagues that the commissioner had always made the committees oversight functions difficult with his refusal to honour invitations and present needed documents.

He said: It will be noted that it is this house that approved his appointment but the commissioner has refused to submit the mid-year budget report for review and appraisal.

Currently, the ministry has been invited but as I am talking, the commissioner has refused to honour the invitation.

I want to suggest that my committee be made to carry out a comprehensive investigation.

While the house should also place on hold, the confirmation of his appointment pending when the investigation is concluded.

Supporting him, another lawmaker, Bisi Yusuff, noted that the legislature was the most important arm of government in a democracy and, as such, must be respected.

Commenting, Adewale Temitope noted that the primary responsibility of the house, beyond representation, was oversight.

He suggested that the commissioner be made to appear to defend why he did not honour previous invitations.

In his contribution, Abiodun Tobun urged the house to allow a full-scale investigation into the commissioners activities in office for treating the house with levity.

His positions were supported by Adedamola Kasunmu, Saad Olumo, and Victor Akande.

In his ruling, the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa directed the Clerk of the House, Olalekan Onafeko, to write to the commissioner to appear with all necessary documents on Thursday.

I have listened to your submissions and I want to appeal to the chairman and the committee members to sheathe their anger on him.

We should give him another opportunity to appear before you on Thursday, unfailingly.

The commissioner should also appear with all necessary documents, the speaker appealed.

In a related development, the house read the Lagos State Electric Bill and the Office of the Public Defenders Amendment Bill for the first time.

It also took the presentation of a report on the Victim Assistance and Witness Protection Bill.

(NAN)
The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday called for the immediate and unconditional release of Ethiopian journalists Gobeze Sisay and Meaza Mohammed, and urged authorities to stop arresting members of the media for their work.

About 8 a.m. Wednesday, September 7, federal police officers arrested Gobeze, editor and founder of privately owned YouTube-based broadcaster The Voice of Amhara, from his home in the capital, Addis Ababa, according to news reports, his brother Kedir Sisay, and one of his lawyers, Henok Aklilu, who both spoke to CPJ by phone. At around 5 p.m. that day, police officers arrested Meaza, founder and chief editor of privately owned YouTube-based news channel Roha TV, while she was shopping, according to news reports, her husband Robel Gebeyehu and Henok, also one of her lawyers, who both spoke to CPJ by phone.

On Thursday, September 8, authorities brought both Gobeze and Meaza before the Federal First Instance Court, Lideta branch, in Addis Ababa, according to Henok. However, citing time constraints, the court adjourned their case until Friday, September 9, when authorities did not file formal charges but said they were holding the two journalists on suspicion of having links with the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, a rebel group at war with the federal government, and attempting to terrorize the public by disseminating information that supports the rebel group through various media platforms, according to a court document reviewed by CPJ. The document did not specify the content in question or when it was published. Robel told CPJ that the court granted police seven more days to keep them in custody while investigating the case.

Both journalists have been arrested previously in connection to their work. Meaza was held without charge for several weeks following arrests in December and again in May, according to CPJ reporting and media reports. In May, armed men thought to be military officers abducted and detained Gobeze for over a week without ever producing him in court, as CPJ documented at the time.

Ethiopian journalists should not have to work under threat of arrest. The pattern of throwing critical journalists behind bars, which has become entrenched during the civil war, must be reversed, said CPJ sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. Police should release Meaza Mohammed and Gobeze Sisay, and ensure that they do not face further harassment in connection to their work.

Roha TVs recent coverage includes a news report about the reignition of fighting on the ground in northern Ethiopia following a months-long lull, a round table discussion on how to stop the war, and a long field report on the killing of civilians in western Ethiopia. Recent coverage by The Voice of Amhara is overwhelmingly about the ongoing war in northern Ethiopia.

CPJ has documented a drastic deterioration in press freedom in Ethiopia amid an ongoing civil war. Since November 2020, when the war started, at least 63 journalists and media workers have been arrested in the country, often without formal charges, according to CPJ research. Some of those arrested have been accused of supporting or communicating with the rebel group, which was declared a terrorist organization by Ethiopias parliament in 2021, as CPJ has documented.

Recently, federal government officials warned members of the press against reporting misinformation or promoting the terrorist groups agenda, according to media reports.

In a statement sent over messaging app, federal police spokesperson Jeylan Abdi told CPJ that he could not comment on the specific cases of Gobeze and Meaza because they were pending in court, adding that anyone violating the law would be held liable, whether or not they are a journalist.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has arrived in Nairobi, to represent Nigeria at the Kenyan presidential inauguration.

The event, which comes up on Tuesday at Kasarani Stadium, Nairobi, will be Kenyas fifth presidential inauguration.

Mr Osinbajo was received at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, by former Governor of Kwale County, Salim Mvurya, Nigerian Ambassador to Kenya, Yusuf Yumusa and other senior government officials.

Deputy President, William Ruto was on 15 August, declared winner of Kenyas presidential election held on 9 August.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman, Wafula Chebukati, said Ruto had won almost 7.18 million votes or 50.49 per cent, against 6.94 million or 48.85 per cent, for his rival, Raila Odinga.

READ ALSO:

Kenyas Supreme Court, on Sept. 5, upheld Rutos electoral victory.

The vice-president is accompanied on the trip by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amb. Zubairu Dada and the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Sen. Babafemi Ojudu.

Nigeria and Kenya, both former British colonies, enjoy good diplomatic relationship and had signed agreements on trade and agriculture, among other areas of cooperation.

(NAN)
The European Union (EU) has tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Civil Society Organisations to demonstrate full neutrality in the 2023 general elections.

The Head of the EU delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Samuela Isopi, made the plea on Monday, at the launch of the Phase II of its democracy support programme for Nigeria.

Ms Isopi said the EU has spent over 150 million on Nigerias elections and other democratic engagements in the last 23 years and that it will not relent in its efforts to encourage democratic practices in the country.

The first phase of the EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (SDGN) which officially ended in April, was launched in 2017 to provide key technical support to INEC, civil groups, media, political parties and the three arms of the countrys government.

Ms Isopi disclosed that a total of 39 million has been earmarked to fund similar democratic concerns until 2027.

She warned politicians against interfering in the activities of the INEC.

The electoral campaign will start in two weeks. As a friend of Nigeria, we would like to see peaceful and issues-based campaigns and we would like to encourage all stakeholders to take a firm stance against violence and hate speech.

The 2019 Peace Accords facilitated by the National Peace Committee played an important role and we welcome new efforts and commitments towards that goal.

READ ALSO:

We must all support and respect the fundamental and independent role of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as it fulfils its constitutional mandate.

INEC must be allowed to operate free from outside pressure, and in turn must demonstrate full neutrality and professionalism, the EU envoy said.

In his opening remarks, INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, thanked the EU for its support in training and capacity building of the commissions officials.

He said the commission was a key beneficiary of the first phase of the EU-SDGN Programme,

Mr Yakubu said the support of the EU has not only enhanced public confidence in the commission, but also provided valuable assistance in strengthening the integrity and credibility of the electoral process.

The event was divided into two sessions.

The first session revolved around the achievements and challenges of the CSOs which benefited from the first phase of the programme.

The second session, moderated by Seun Okinbaloye of Channels Television, focused on the opportunities and shared concerns of Nigerians ahead of the 2023 general polls.

Both sessions had different sets of panelists, who discussed the issues highlighted. The immediate past INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega, was one of the discussants.
President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, commissioned some projects in Imo State done by Governor Hope Uzodinma.

Mr Buhari arrived at Sam Mbakwe Cargo Airport, Owerri, at about 11 a.m. and was received by Governor Uzodinma, alongside other officials of the state.

The projects commissioned by the president included the dualised 36-kilometer Owerri-Orlu Road and the first phase of the dualised 53-kilometer Owerri-Okigwe Road.

Mr Uzodinma said the roads would stimulate economic growth and ensure smooth movement of people in the state.

Mr Buhari also commissioned the reconstructed Imo House of Assembly complex.

The president commended the governor for the successful completion of the projects, saying the projects would greatly benefit residents of the state.

Congratulations on these achievements, Mr Buhari said to the governor.

Meeting with South-east leaders

Mr Buhari was meeting with some South-east leaders in Owerri, at the time of this report.

The meeting is expected to focus on the rising insecurity in the region, particularly the increased attacks by armed men in the state and region.

Like other states in the South-east, Imo State has recently become a hotbed of attacks attributed to the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) which is agitating for a sovereign state for the Igbo-speaking people in the South-east.

Beyond the insecurity in the region, the South-east leaders are expected to make another appeal to Mr Buhari to facilitate the release of the detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

The leaders of the region had, at different times, appealed to Mr Buhari to consider a political solution for the release of Mr Kanu.

Although the president promised to consider it, he later made a U-turn, maintaining that he would not interfere in the judicial proceedings.

The Director-General of the Hope New Media Centre, Paul Ihunanya, in a statement on Saturday, said the presidents visit would be based on sundry matters affecting the region and state, and largely for the commissioning of the projects.

During the last visit, Governor Hope Uzodinma gathered Igbo leaders for the reception of Mr President and utilised the opportunity to galvanise relationship between the Igbos and the federation, with a focus on the inclusion of Igbos in the administration and development of the nation, Mr Ihunanya said.
The Senate Committee on Finance has expressed dissatisfaction with the projected N12.41 trillion budget deficit contained in the 2023-2025 MTEF/FSP.

The Chairman of the Committee, Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos), stated the position of the committee on Tuesday during the interactive session on the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper.

Mr Adeola said the committee is alarmed at the proposal to borrow N12.41 trillion to fund the budget. He noted that borrowings cannot continue at the current pace.

He said the government must explore means to cut down the deficit by increasing revenue generation and cutting down leakages.

Let me place it on record at this point that the Senate Committee on Finance started an investigative hearing on 9th March 2021 on remittances of all revenue generating agencies of government to the Consolidated Revenue for the Federation (CRF) as well as payment of the 1% Stamp Duty on all contracts executed in all MDAs.

The investigation, which is still ongoing, is targeted at blocking revenue leakages as well as boosting revenues of the government in the face of dwindling resources from traditional revenue source of crude oil.

It is also premised on the need to reduce government yearly budget deficits resulting in massive borrowings from local and international sources.

It is in this wise that the committee frowns at the projected N12.41 trillion budget deficit contained in the 2023-2025 MTEF/FSP and the alarming projection of no provision for treasury-funded MDAs capital projects in 2023, he said.

Mr Adeola stated that the borrowing trends cannot be allowed to continue unchecked and conscious efforts must be made to reduce budget deficits.

Proposed budget scenarios by FG

The federal government had proposed two options for the lawmakers to consider for the 2023 budget.

According to the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, in the first scenario, the deficit is projected to be N12.41 trillion in 2023, up from N7.35 trillion budgeted in 2022, representing 196 per cent of total revenue or 5.50 per cent of the estimated GDP.

In this option, she added, the government would spend N6.72 trillion on subsidy.

The second option involves keeping subsidy till June 2023 and this scenario will take the deficit to N11.30 trillion, which is 5.01 per cent of the estimated GDP. In this option, the PMS subsidy is projected to gulp N3.3 trillion.
A former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, on Tuesday, asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss the request by the alleged organ harvesting victim, David Nwamini, seeking to stop the release of his bio-data to British authorities.

The court had, on 1 July, ordered the release of Mr Nwaminis biometric information.

The order was issued in a suit filed by Mr Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, who sought the information to defend themselves over the allegations of an illegal attempt to harvest Mr Nwaminis kidney for their ailing daughter in London.

But last month, Mr Nwamini filed an application asking the court to vacate the order for the release of his biometric information to Mr Ekweremadu.

The London Metropolitan Police had apprehended Mr Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, based on an allegation that they lured Mr Nwanini to harvest his kidney in London.

Prosecutors said the Ekweremadus were charged with trafficking a 15-year-old boy from Nigeria to the United Kingdom by deceiving him with a promise to give him a better life in the UK when the real mission was actually to harvest his organ.

But the couple had denied the charge, insisting that Mr Nwanini was 21 years old. They had called for his official records with Nigerian banks and relevant government authorities to prove their claim.

A judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Inyang Ekwo, after considering their claims, ordered, in his ruling delivered on 1 July, the banks and government authorities to release Mr Nwaninis biometric information to the Attorney-General of the Federation who would transmit the record to the London court where the Ekweremadus needed it.

But challenging the court order in an application he filed in August, Mr Nwamini, urged the court to reverse the order.

He contended that he was denied a fair hearing in the proceedings leading to the court order. He also said the court order violated his right to personal privacy.

Ekweremadus filings

Responding to Mr Nwainis application, the Ekweremadus urged the court to dismiss it.

In a counter-affidavit deposed to by Bright Ekweremadu, a younger brother of the incarcerated senator, Mr Ekweremadu denied asking for Nwaminis bio-data.

Rather, the deponent averred that what the Federal High Court ordered to be released to London Court was Mr Nwaminis bank account opening package and the information supplied in his visa application.

At any rate, Mr Ekweremadu revealed that based on the 1 July order of the court, the required documents have since been transmitted to two different courts in the United Kingdom.

The deponent averred that it was too late in the day for Nwamini to seek the reversal of a valid order that had been executed to determine his authentic age.

He urged the court to dismiss the suit for being frivolous, and lacking in merit having been overtaken by event.

Nwaninis lawyer seeks adjournment

At Tuesdays proceedings, Nwaminis lawyer, Ojonugwa Oguche, prayed the court to adjourn the suit for him to react to Mr Ekweremadus filings.

The request was granted and the matter was fixed for 20 September for hearing by Mr Ekwo.

Mr Ekweremadu was represented by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Eyitayo Fatigun.

Mr Ekweremadu and his wife were on 23 June arrested in the UK by London Met Police and charged with conspiracy to traffic a child to the United Kingdom in order to harvest organs.

While his wife has been granted bail, Mr Ekweremadu, whose bail application has been rejected, remains in custody in London.
Troops of the Nigerian Army have rescued ten kidnap victims during clearance patrols conducted around the Chikun and Igabi Local Government Areas of Kaduna State.

The states Commissioner for Internal Security, Samuel Aruwan, told reporters on Tuesday

On Monday, troops rescued six other kidnap victims around the Kangon Kadi area of Chikun Local Government as they continued their offensive against terror gangs in the area.

Mr Aruwan said the troops also killed several terrorists and dislodged their hideouts in the forest traversing Chikun, and Igabi council areas.

Troops of Operation Forest Sanity neutralized several bandits and dislodged camps during clearance operations conducted across some hard-to-reach locations spanning Chikun and Igabi LGAs.

As disclosed in operational feedback, the troops neutralized an unspecified number of bandits while clearing out insurgent and bandit camps at Apewohe in Chikun LGA.

The operation extended to Dakwala and Kunai hills in the same LGA, where more hideouts were cleared, though no contact was made with bandits, he said.

Mr Aruwan said another camp was also dislodged at Daban Lawal Kwalba in Igabi LGA after the troops overpowered heavily armed terrorists guarding the hostages.

The troops after clearing out the bandits stormed the hideouts and rescued ten kidnapped persons who were chained and bound with ropes. The images attached depict the dire situation in which the hostages were found, Mr Aruwan added.

He said freed hostages are Surajo Aliyu; Ayuba Yakubu; Ibrahim Abdulrasheed; Aliyu Mohammed; and Magaji Tasiu.

Others are Nasiru Ahmed; Mohammadu Ibrahim; Ayuba Abdulsalam; Kelvin Musa and Paul Patrick.

He said the troops, despite coming under severe attacks, successfully evacuated the hostages to a military facility where they are receiving medical attention before they are reunited with their families.

Also, another camp was cleared at Rafin Gwaska, Igabi local government area where guns and other valuables of the terrorists were recovered.

He said the troops recovered three locally made rifles, one AK-47 magazine, one AK-47 top cover, four Bafoeng radio chargers, eleven mobile phones, three music boxes, two sets of military uniforms, one frag jacket, spanners, knives and chains.

The Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai noted the report with satisfaction and thanked the troops for the rescue of the ten citizens. The Governor commended the troops for the relentless spirit displayed in the ongoing operations and encouraged them to sustain these efforts to ultimate victory.

Citizens are strongly advised not to harbour or provide medical aid to suspicious individuals carrying what may be gunshot wounds. Such cases are to be immediately reported to the Security Operations Room on the lines 09034000060 and 08170189999, the official statement said.
The PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday, said he was marvelled by the level of mobilisation of party members in Lagos State ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Atiku, who arrived in the state early in the day to attend a series of activities, spoke at a meeting with party members, leaders, and candidates for various positions in the forthcoming elections.

Now, in all my political career, we are the people who established PDP, I have never seen Lagos state so mobilised like this.

This makes me believe that this electoral time, PDP is going to win Lagos. I believe you are going to win Lagos state this time around, the former vice president said.

Atiku, who promised to support the party to win the 2023 elections in the state, urged the party stakeholders to work harder to achieve the feat.

Therefore, we are ready to support you to any level to make sure that you win Lagos state. You know, when I say I am going to do something, bring the sky down, I will make sure I do it.

Therefore, I want you to work harder, we will cooperate with you, we will support you and protect you to make sure that this time around, you win Lagos state, he added.

The PDP presidential candidate, who noted that campaign had not started, said he was in the state to see the situation of things in the party.

He said: I have come to see for myself that PDP is on ground in Lagos State, and I have seen things for myself.

That makes me believe that this time around Jandor (PDP governorship candidate) is going to be the next governor of Lagos state. You will see what we are going to do when the campaigns start.

He commended the party members for their support, patience and persistence.

In his remarks, Olajide Adediran (Jandor) the governorship candidate of PDP in Lagos State, said the people of the state had never been so hopeful with Atiku.

Mr Adediran said the party members in the state had spoken to themselves and had decided to focus only on Atiku as the Project 2023.

We have spoken to ourselves and we have decided to say, regardless of whatever is happening anywhere, what is paramount to us is to deliver Nigeria and Lagos state for the PDP.

We appreciate you, we believe in you, we cherish you. What we want is a president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come 2023 and that is what we have in you. Our concern is the 2023 election.

I want to appreciate you personally for believing this time that we are going to deliver Lagos state for the PDP, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Atiku was accompanied by a former governor of Niger, Babangida Aliyu; Dino Melaye; Raymond Dokpesi; party stalwarts and some other members of the National Assembly from the party.

Members of the Philip Aivoji-led Lagos state executive committee of the party were in attendance among other bigwigs of the party.

(NAN)
The Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has attacked the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, over his comment on the health of its candidate, Bola Tinubu.

The council, in a statement by one of its spokespersons, Bayo Onanuga, on Tuesday, said Mr Obi lacks the qualification to comment on Mr Tinubus health.

Mr Obi had in a viral video claimed that Mr Tinubu is not physically fit for the office of president but that most people around him are supporting his ambition because of the money they will get from him.

He further claimed that a Tinubu support group sent out a message urging Yoruba people not to vote for him based on ethnic sentiments.

Yoruba shine your eyes o, if you vote for Peter Obi, it is automatically voting for seaports in South-South and South East. The Igbos will stop coming to Lagos State to invest, rather they will go to Delta and Rivers states, they may even stop building houses in Lagos. It will affect a lot of Yorubas. Yoruba ro nu o, Mr Obi said in the video.

On Monday, Festus Keyamo, another spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, had responded to the comment made by Mr Obi. He accused Mr Obi of stoking ethnic rhetoric.

Obi an incurable liar Onanuga

In the statement, Mr Onanuga described Mr Obi as an incurable liar, noting that his comments are unbecoming of a presidential candidate.

We find these statements unbecoming of a man who nurses the ambition to be Nigerias next president.

Since he is not Asiwajus doctor and is not privy to his medical record, Obi, the poor philosophy graduate, has again disgracefully elevated what has for long been a beer parlour gossip and social media lie being propagated by his IPOB supporters. Obi in his characteristic manner is amplifying falsehood which should not have a place in a decent political campaign, he said.

Mr Onanuga further stated that Mr Obi has thrown all caution to the wind, pronouncing on issues he has no moral and professional competence to make a judgement call on.

He insisted that the 70-year-old Mr Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, is fit to continue the campaign to be president.

We want to make it crystal clear to all the traducers of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate that Asiwaju Tinubu is not ill. He is hale and hearty. A man who works for 20 hours a day, meeting people and strategising about finding solutions to Nigerias problems, cannot be said to be ill. We make bold to say that our candidate is as fit as the fiddle, the statement said.

We also want to educate Peter Obi and his horde of gullible followers that Tinubus millions of supporters countrywide are backing him not because of any pecuniary benefit. Asiwaju Tinubu supporters are rooting for him because of their strong belief in his demonstrable ability to provide progressive leadership for our country.

They are supporting him because they believe in his capacity as a transformative leader, who once made a historic mark in Lagos State and is capable of replicating same in Nigeria.

On this score alone, Tinubu is unmatched in the field by even the perennial presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. He is certainly not in the same league with the rabble-rousing Peter Obi by all leadership parameters.

Coming so soon after his gaffe and falsehood in accusing Tinubu of mobilising Yoruba voters not to support him, Obi is coming across as a dangerous politician and a demagogue capable of spewing all manners of lies just to get the votes.

Already discredited with statistical lies and fallacies, Obi is now treading a new ground, spreading lies with unfounded claims on Asiwaju Tinubus health.

Mr Onanuga said Mr Obi has no record of performance after eight years as governor of Anambra State.

A politician who left no worthy legacy in eight years as governor of Anambra state, who instead built his own family Next Cash and Carry retail mall in Port Harcourt and Abuja, not in Awka, the capital of the state he governed is latching on lies after lies to hoodwink his motley crowd of impressionistic and gullible followers, he said.

He, therefore, warned Mr Obi to desist from politics of falsehood, adding, We advise him to canvass on issues and for once give his hollow campaign some credibility by refraining from telling lies.
The anti-monarchists who hold Elizabeth II responsible, as symbol and architect of everything that befell their ancestors, overlook the fact that those same ancestors were as guilty as the imperialists, for the evils of the past. An idyllic reading of the roles of our ancestors in the heritage would fall flat on its face. British imperialism was possible because there were local collaborators. Indigenous peoples benefitted by selling their own kith and kin into slavery.

Post-colonial relations between former European countries and their former colonies have always been coloured by the memory of colonialism, the heritage of slavery and despite the passage of time, this has remained a continual element between former colonial masters and the sovereign, independent states that emerged after the end of colonialism. It is therefore not entirely surprising or shocking that this is being played out as Queen Elizbeth II begins her final journey, having died at the age of 96, after 70 years on the throne, the longest reigning monarchy in British history since the Stuarts took the throne in 1066. Leaders of the world have paid tributes to her distinction as one of the most influential figures of the 20th and 21st centuries who personified dignity, selflessness, graciousness and decency in public life, with great authority on the world stage.

The government of Canada declared ten days of mourning, Brazil has also declared three days of mourning; in countries across the world, including the United States, Australia and Nigeria, flags are being flown at half-mast in honour of a monarch who was a commanding presence in British public life for seven decades, and indeed the only monarch who many Britons have ever known, justifying PM Liz Trusss statement that Elizabeth II was the rock upon which modern Britain was built. She led the monarchy and her people through the best of times and the worst of times  15 prime ministers, from Winston Churchills second coming (1951 -1956) to Liz Truss, whose formal appointment was one of her last duties; more than 10 Summer Olympics; seven Popes of the Catholic Church; and 14 American presidents  whom she met personally, with the exception of Lyndon Johnson. She was an exemplar of duty, and a force for moderation and reconciliation, through milestones and traumas at both personal and public levels. But just as there are many who share these views and have continued to pay tributes to her, there are others who object to these.

Even before the announcement of Her Majestys demise, a Nigerian professor, Uju Anya of the Department of Modern Languages at the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), United States had written on Twitter that she wished the Queen would die an excruciating deathin agony. She said: I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating. Professor Anya accuses the Queen of having had a hand in the genocide against her people, the Igbos of Nigeria, during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and others have since taken her to task. Twitter has taken down her tweet. Carnegie Mellon University has since distanced itself from her statement. But she remains adamant. She blames the Queen for the Nigerian Civil War. In Australia, Professor Sandy OSullivan, a Wiradujuri, sounding very much like her CMU colleague, says Elizabeth II was not a bystander to the effects of colonisation and colonialism, but rather she was an architect of it. She had a job for decades says OSullivan, that oversaw action that made indigenous peoples lives worse. Other politicians have also had their say. In South Africa, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) issued a statement in which the political party describes the late Queen as the head of an institution built up, sustained, and living off a brutal legacy of dehumanization of millions of people across the worldWe do not mourn the death of Elizabeth, because to us her death is a reminder of a very tragic period in this country and Africas history. Specifically, the EEF blames Queen Elizabeth II for the British Royal familys war against the Xhosa, and for the exploits of Cecil Rhodes in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Here in Nigeria, Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) has flayed the Nigerian government for directing that the flag should be flown at half-mast for Queen Elizabeth. In an official tribute, Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari had declared that the history of Nigeria would be incomplete without a chapter on Queen Elizabeth. She first visited Nigeria in 1956, she sent Princess Anne to represent her at Nigerias independence in 1960, and was again in Nigeria in 2003 when the country hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). I observe, however, that Elizabeth II remains popular among ordinary Nigerians. Since her death, there has been an outpouring of tributes from persons who either sighted her in 1956, or 2003, or had the opportunity to meet her or work with the British during her reign. Families have been exhuming pictures of their parents with the Queen or of themselves. Nigerian diplomats who have had cause to serve at the Court of St. James or the Commonwealth have been forthcoming with praise. Nigerian communities in the UK have even announced different patterns of family attires (known locally as aso ebi) at the high price of between 50 and 100 per yard, which at the rate of the standard five yards, would come to a tidy sum of 250 or 500. Nigerians love to celebrate the death of a person who lives up to a ripe age, and the Queen did, and she lived well too.

Blaming the Queen for the heritage of imperialism, slavery and colonialism is a bit rather dramatic, and many of the reactions are overdone. Elizabeth II may have inherited privilege but she had nothing to do with the character of that heritage. When she was born in 1926, the Empire was at the height of its splendour. By 1947, India, the jewel of the British Crown, gained its independence. By 1952, when she assumed the throne at the young age of 25, the Empire was already in transition.

Out of excitement, some Yoruba in the UK are even circulating the news that they intend to perform Oro rituals in honour of the Queen. The Queen was a patron of many charities, trusts and societies around the World. How the Oro cultists would enforce a restriction of movement and insist that all women must stay indoors around Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey at certain ritual hours remains to be seen. Also here in Nigeria, a young politician, Ahmed Garba has suggested that the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, established in the year of Nigerias independence, 1960, should be renamed after Queen Elizabeth. This has been condemned by Alaigbo, an Igbo socio-cultural group, which asked that it is Aso Rock, Nigerias Presidential Villa that should be named after the Queen.

I have deliberately painted the foregoing picture to document, as much as possible, an impression of responses to the Queens exit, as dictated by emotions, politics, memory and ideology. In Edinburgh, Scotland, and also in London, anti-monarchy protesters who held up signs, or asked Who elected him?  disciples of Walter Bagehot, and promoters of Republicanism, were arrested as Charles III was proclaimed King and as the Queens cortege travelled to Edinburgh. In Scotland, anti-monarchists booed and heckled. But would all this, taken together, taint the legacy of Queen Elizabeth II? Certainly not. While it is true that no one should speak ill of the dead, it is also true that some people have inherited ancestral pains that they feel obliged to express. The mixed responses from parts of the Old British Empire are an affirmation of how the sun has since set on that Empire and how the foregoing truly represents the burden of service and duty that the late Queen carried and the price she has had to pay for her hereditary privilege.

Blaming the Queen for the heritage of imperialism, slavery and colonialism is a bit rather dramatic, and many of the reactions are overdone. Elizabeth II may have inherited privilege but she had nothing to do with the character of that heritage. When she was born in 1926, the Empire was at the height of its splendour. By 1947, India, the jewel of the British Crown, gained its independence. By 1952, when she assumed the throne at the young age of 25, the Empire was already in transition. She became Queen while holidaying, with her husband Prince Philip, in Kenya. It subsequently became her lot to lead what remained of the Empire through several transitions. In 1957, Ghana or Gold Coast, as it was then known, gained independence. Other countries would follow, including Nigeria in 1960. In 1926, the British Empire had a population of 600 million; by 1952, that population had shrunk badly, and by the time of her death in 2022, what remained was Great Britain, and 14 countries where she was Queen and Head of State, and a Commonwealth that is no longer the British Commonwealth, but a Commonwealth of Nations and Friends. Concerns have been expressed legitimately about the future of the monarchy, with calls for Republicanism in Australia and Scotland. But the narrative about imperialism and its heritage overlooks the complicity of the former colonies in the construction of that history. It must be said that Queen Elizabeth II was a down-to-earth, relatable person who did her best to put a positive spin on the legacy of the British Empire. She grew to become a treasured link between Old and Modern Britain and shared communities across the world. She was a great diplomat, who though impartial, and politically neutral, visited every country that made up the Commonwealth, with Canada where she was Queen, a record 22 times!

She didnt invent imperialism. She was not the architect of colonialism. Instead, she managed the transition from colonialism to democracy to Twitter, the tabloid era and its melodrama, and Tik Tok, in addition to family/ home troubles, with enormous grace. It can be said of her that she did her duty well. The anti-monarchists who hold Elizabeth II responsible, as symbol and architect of everything that befell their ancestors, overlook the fact that those same ancestors were as guilty as the imperialists, for the evils of the past. An idyllic reading of the roles of our ancestors in the heritage would fall flat on its face. British imperialism was possible because there were local collaborators. Indigenous peoples benefitted by selling their own kith and kin into slavery. They collected the Bible and mirrors and clothes in exchange for the lives of their own people. Our ancestors were glad to be used as tools, exactly the same manner in which African leaders and other leaders in the once conquered territories continue to worship the imperialists. Kemi Badenoch, the British politician of Nigerian origin, who is now UK Secretary for International Trade, once put her finger on the dilemma when she said there were terrible things that happened during the British Empire, there were other good things that happened, and we need to tell both sides of the story. The guilt for that heritage was shared. When the company colonialists arrived in Asia, Africa, and elsewhere, they were assisted by significant others who worked against their own people.

We must look to the future, represented by the emergence of King Charles III, who had to wait for 70 years to succeed his mother, but is nonetheless well prepared for the job. As the accepted, chosen and anointed Head of everything connected with what he inherits, he should have no problems sustaining the legacy. The Elizabeth II story has taught us so much about the resilience of culture, pomp and tradition, the continued relevance of the British monarchy, and the simple fact that royalty is no protection from mortality.

When conflicts erupted, the outsiders were helped by insiders. The great Ovonramwen Nogbaisi of Bini Empire would not have been deposed, and the Benin Expedition of 1897 would not have succeeded, if the Bini Kingdom was not sabotaged by insiders! In the Lagos Colony, Oba Akitoye, in the fight for the throne with Oba Kosoko, went to the British for help in 1851. Akitoye got the throne after Kosoko was defeated with the help of the British in Ogun Agidingbi; Akintoye became King but Lagos later became a colony of the British Empire in 1861/62: quid pro quo. In 1956, when the Attah of Igalla, Ameh Oboni, Ugbakolo (1945-56) refused to remove his cap for the Queen of England, his brother-kings turned against him. They thought he, Agabaidu, was being disrespectful. They were stung by a thousand bees. The same stories can be told across the old British Empire. The likes of Professors Anya and OSullivan and the EEF and Omoyele Sowore may be entitled to their own views of the coin, but they need to be reminded that the colonised were not entirely victims but architects also of their own woes and this had nothing to do with Elizabeth II as a person and monarch. Our ancestors were not saints.

Their descendants too are no saints either. India got its independence from Great Britain in 1947 but it soon splintered into three countries. The countries of Africa that gained independence from Britain in the 60s have not moved beyond the past in any significant manner. There are Nigerian analysts who continue to blame the British for every problem Nigeria has after 60 years of independence. They forget that the same treasures that they say the British looted, Nigeria couldnt even manage them well. Shell discovered oil in the Niger Delta in 1956. We have mismanaged that asset so badly even foreign oil companies are running away from our shores. We are told that the British structured Nigeria to fail, and gave power to Northerners, hence the civil war. How is that a problem caused by Elizabeth II? Former colonies must begin to take responsibility for their own failures and stop whining about stolen treasures. In those days when there was a general clamour for Nigerian independence, there was a little-known female Nigerian politician who campaigned vigorously that Nigeria was not ready and that we were better off with the British managing this country. Adunni Oluwole.

She vehemently opposed Nigerian Independence. In 1954, she founded the Nigerian Commoners Liberal Party. She became so popular she later won a seat in Ikirun, defeating the NCNC and the Action Group. She didnt think Nigeria was ready for independence in 1956 or any other time thereafter, because African politicians simply wanted to replace the British and become colonialists over their own people. She became the leader of a group known in Western Nigeria as Egbe Oyinbo Mailo meaning The White Man Must Not Go Party. Adunni Oluwole was called a harlot for her political views and her insistence on the rights of women. She has since been vindicated, more or less. Professor Uju Anya may well be reminded that it was the same wannabe African colonialists who have caused the Nigerian civil war, and every other thing that has held Nigeria down, and certainly not Elizabeth II. Former colonial subjects must simply learn to get their acts right and stop blaming the past and the outsider. It is ironic today that many members of these same former colonies would rather elect for British citizenship than embrace the post-colonial realities in their own countries. In Nigeria, our leaders regard the UK as their second home. They all have houses, wives and children in the UK. They go there for medical treatment. They hide their stolen loot in that second home.

We must look to the future, represented by the emergence of King Charles III, who had to wait for 70 years to succeed his mother, but is nonetheless well prepared for the job. As the accepted, chosen and anointed Head of everything connected with what he inherits, he should have no problems sustaining the legacy. The Elizabeth II story has taught us so much about the resilience of culture, pomp and tradition, the continued relevance of the British monarchy, and the simple fact that royalty is no protection from mortality. People of the Commonwealth, learn to look inwards. Her work is done The gavel sounds May her soul spring into the newness of life. Farewell, Elizabeth II. So mote it be.

Reuben Abati, a former presidential spokesperson, writes from Lagos.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has renewed his fight with the former minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

Messrs Wike and Amaechi were presidential aspirants in the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress respectively in this years presidential primaries.

They both lost in the primaries.

Governor Wike is currently engaged in a political battle with the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, for refusing to pressure the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to relinquish his position for the sake of a regional balance.

Both Messrs Atiku and Ayu are from northern Nigeria.

Mr Amaechi is a former governor of River State. Mr Wike served him as a chief of staff, after which Mr Amaechi nominated him for appointment as a minister under President Goodluck Jonathan.

The two politicians, who hail from the same Ikwere ethnic nationality, fell out after Mr Ameachi defected to the APC and supported President Muhammadu Buhari for president in 2015, while Mr Wike, a governorship candidate of the PDP then, supported Mr Jonathans reelection bid.

Mr Wike later won the 2015 governorship election against Mr Amaechis preferred successor, Dakuku Peterside.

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Mr Amaechi was at the burial of an elder statesman in the state, Tonye Graham-Douglas on Saturday in Port Harcourt where he expressed displeasure that Late Graham-Douglas was not given a state burial, despite his contributions to the state while alive.

Indeed, when he fell ill, going by the contributions he has made in the state, I was expecting the state to take responsibility for everything concerning Graham-Douglas. You dont need to be a governor for the state to recognise your contributions, Mr Amaechi said.

Late Graham-Douglas, a Nigerian politician who hails from Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of the state, had served as a federal minister during the military era and democratic dispensation.

Wike fires back at Amaechi

Governor Wike fired back at Mr Amaechi less than 48 hours after, saying the former minister should be ashamed of himself.

Speaking during the commissioning of a project in Port Harcourt on Monday, Mr Wike described Mr Amaechi as a total failure, as far as this state is concerned.

Governor Wike recounted what his government had done for the late Graham-Douglas, popularly known as Alabo. He said the state government withdrew from the burial after it was discovered they wanted to play politics with the burial.

Well, let me use this opportunity to say, I am so disappointed that the former minister of transportation, Mr Amaechi, would still come to this state to talk about this government of not giving Alabo a state burial. Its unfortunate.

I asked him (Amaechi) when Alabo was sick, where were you? This State Government committed so much money to make sure Alabo survives. I want to challenge anybody, we (state government) did not spend less than N50 million to make sure our elder statesman survives.

You went for burial and say you are not happy that the state didnt give late Alabo state burial. Why will I do that when I saw you people have brought politics to the mans burial? I said, let me withdraw myself. I dont want to be involved in politics.

This should be the last time you open your mouth to talk about this state because you are a total failure, as far as this state is concerned. Mr Wike said.
The police in Edo State on Tuesday said they foiled an attempt to abduct a resident and arrested four suspected kidnappers, while on a surveillance patrol along Ugbor Road, Benin City.

The police spokesperson in the state, Jennifer Iwegbu, disclosed this in a statement in Benin City.

Ms Iwegbu, an assistant superintendent of police, identified the suspects as Ayo Obazuwa, 50, Sule Jubril, 34, Silas Uwana, 33, and Ogbonmwan Jude, 37.

She said one of the suspects, Mr Obazuwa, wore a military uniform and claimed to be a captain in the Nigerian Army.

The police operatives arrested the suspects when they stopped a suspicious Toyota Corolla car with registration number USL929SS, with people inside the vehicle, Ms Iwegbu said.

On a closer survey of the occupants of the car, one of the suspects, who was later identified as Ayo Jeremiah Obazuwa, was in complete military regalia and claimed to be a captain.

Another occupant, who was later identified as Joseph Bulus, 32, was seen in handcuffs, which led to all the occupants being brought to State CID for further investigation.

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Ms Iwegbu said during the preliminary investigations, Obazuwa confessed to being a civilian and not military personnel.

She said Mr Bulus, in his statement, claimed the man who wore the military uniform came to his house with the other three under the guise of wanting to offer him a job, they handcuffed him, threw him into the boot of the car and drove him away to an unknown location. He said they later removed him from the boot and made him sit inside the car with cuffs in his hands.

The police spokesperson said the suspects were charged to court on Monday under a six-count charge of conspiracy to commit felony and kidnapping.

The suspects have been remanded in prison, she added.

(NAN)
The police in Ogun arrested six gunmen suspected to be members of the Eiye cult for allegedly attempting to kill a monarch in Yewa North Local Government Area of the state.

The suspects were alleged to have invaded the palace of the Oba of Gbokoto land , G.O Olukunle, on the order of the monarchs son.

The police spokesperson in Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident to journalists in Abeokuta on Monday.

Mr Abimbola said the suspects and others who are currently on the run had attacked the monarchs palace shooting repeatedly.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the monarch had made a distress call to the police at Oja-Odan division around 4:25 p.m., saying some cultists were about to kill him in his palace.

In response to the call, the Divisional Police Officer of Oja-Odan Division mobilised his men to the palace where they met the hoodlums shooting within the palace.

Mr Abimbola said the police overpowered the gunmen, leading to the arrest of six of them while others took to their heels.

Upon arrest, police said the suspects told them that they were invited to deal with the monarch on his sons orders. They reportedly said the monarchs son was their member.

The monarchs son, whose name was withheld, was said to be out to avenge his mother whom he claimed was being maltreated by his father.

Mr Abimbola named the suspects to include Michael Ayodele, Monday Samuel, Ademola Matthew, Hammed Jelili, Ogundele Ojeh, and Sunkanmi Fadina.

On interrogation, Mr Oyeyemi said the arrested suspects confessed to being members of the Eiye confraternity.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the police recovered one locally-made double-barrelled pistol, two live cartridges, and one expended cartridge from the suspects.

According to Mr Oyeyemi, the monarchs son has fled with another gun belonging to the group.

Meanwhile, the State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, has ordered the immediate transfer of the six arrested men to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (CIID) of the command.

Mr Lanre also ordered the immediate manhunt of the fleeing prince.
Egbin Power Plc, a subsidiary of Sahara Group, has announced the appointment of Mokhtar Bounour as Chief Executive Officer, a notice by the company said on Tuesday.

The appointment was approved by the companys board, the notice by the company.

The Lagos-based thermal plant powers over 20 million homes and businesses.

Mr Bounours appointment would accelerate Egbins ongoing transformation and propel the companys energy mix transition towards enhanced environmental sustainability, the board said.

Mr Bounour holds a Bachelors degree in electrical engineering, a Masters degree in management and leadership, business administration and international relations.

Prior to this, he worked in Europe for the better part of his career, and led Fertiberia Spain as CEO of Fertial and thereafter, became business development director for Africa, Middle East and Turkey.

ALSO READ: Egbin power plant resumes operations after fire incident

With 24 years of experience across Africa, Europe and Middle-East, Mr Bounour led multi-functional teams in operations and maintenance, power generation and fertilizers plants.

He is multilingual, being fluent in French, English and Spanish  an attribute that is expected to further propel diversity at Egbin Power which has employees from different nationalities.

His experience cuts across setting strategic direction for revamping, rehabilitation and management of change, contracts management, formulation, integration and auditing with implementation of effective customer coordination.

Others include, sales, business development projects, engineering and turn over acceptance policies, procedures and systems management for organizations.

Kola Adesina, Group Managing Director of Sahara Power Group said the appointment would also lead plant optimisation strategies and spearhead the companys emissions reduction and resource efficiency targets.

Speaking on his appointment, Mr Bounour said he was delighted at the opportunity to steer the future of the iconic African power plant.

He added that his interactions with the Board indicate that the future holds a firm promise of unparalleled growth and sustained world-class performance in Egbin.
ZURICH and KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Access to the metaverse is complex and expensive, which is why it is so far used almost exclusively by large companies. The Zurich and Verbier-based PR agency Rent a PR, which has been providing on-demand public relations and communications consulting for five years and has been accepting Bitcoin payments since 2019, is setting another milestone with cooperation and press conferences in the metaverse.

Michael Neidhofer, CEO & Co-Founder von Zreality Brigitte Kaps, CEO & Grunderin von Rent a PR

The new service covers all the processes companies use to contact their various stakeholders. From press conferences and product presentations to general meetings, what was previously done in person is now also possible in the metaverse. 'I am very pleased that we are partnering with Zreality and look forward to working with the professional, international team in the future,' says Brigitte Kaps, CEO & founder of Rent a PR.

The technology partner Zreality is a German company specialising in events, communication, and collaboration in virtual space. 'The metaverse is not just a trend: it has been used productively by companies in the form of virtual and augmented reality solutions in many fields of application such as sales and training for some time. Press conferences are now an additional exciting way for companies to engage with the market,' says Michael Neidhofer, CEO & co-founder of Zreality. 'We are very much looking forward to working with Rent a PR as a pioneer in this field.'

Press conferences: more efficient, larger target group, more sustainable  and timeless

Press conferences held in the metaverse have numerous benefits, both for companies and participants. 'The fact that many companies find it hard to get journalists to attend their press conferences is partly due to a large amount of time it takes,' says Kaps. There is no need to travel to and from press conferences in the metaverse. Interested parties can log in and participate in the event via avatar, regardless of where they are, even without using virtual reality glasses. It is also possible to record the event so that it can be attended at a later point in time. And, of course, there are no limits to the number of attendees in virtual space. The potential of the brand or a product can be experienced at first-hand.

Tailor-made PR Advisory on demand instead of expensive monthly retainers

As always with Rent a PR, businesses also only pay for what they need with the new service. The tailor-made offers, available either as packages or subscriptions, enable start-ups and SMEs to keep the costs and time investment required within manageable limits, says Kaps. 'In cooperation with Zreality, our service enables companies to take their first steps in the metaverse and spark the interest of international journalists.'

About Rent a PR

Rent a PR AG is headquartered in Zurich with an additional location in Verbier (Switzerland), and was founded in 2017. The international PR agency collaborates with around 30 communications freelancers worldwide and advises start-ups and medium-sized companies on communications and media issues, IPOs, and much more. More information can be found at www.rentapr.ch.

Media contact: Brigitte Kaps +41 79 289 20 42, mail@rentapr.ch

About Zreality

Zreality GmbH develops B2B solutions for the metaverse using the 'Zreality Grids' cloud platform  easy-to-use 3D, virtual and augmented reality software for companies to connect people in virtual spaces. Zreality Grids is the best all-in-one solution to enable people to work, meet and learn in immersive 3D environments. Zreality Grids offers virtual communication and collaboration with avatars in highly realistic 3D environments, as well as real-time 3D content management, and can be used on any web-based device, such as a smartphone, tablet, PC, Mac or virtual reality glasses. Zreality supports over 100 major brands, including IBM, BASF, DHL, and ZDF, and has offices in Kaiserslautern, Luxembourg and New York. More information at www.zreality.de

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1896354/Rent_a_PR.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1896360/Rent_a_PR.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1896534/Rent_A_PR_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Rent a PR
DUBAI, UAE, Sept. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ReshaMandi  one of India's largest farm-to-fashion natural fibres digital ecosystem  announced its entry into the Middle East and North Africa market today, intending to become a one-stop sourcing solution for all natural and recycled fabrics. With this move, ReshaMandi hopes to contribute to the global natural textiles ecosystem and become the world's largest natural textile sourcing partner for customers seeking sustainable solutions powered by technology.

ReshaMandi Logo

ReshaMandi has supplied more than 10 million metres of natural fibre fabric to 500-plus domestic fabric, apparel and home furnishings manufacturers in India. Among these 500, more than 200 are exporters providing products to well-known brands across geographies. It offers a wide range of natural fabrics while adhering to sustainability, fair trade and ethical sourcing norms. These include silk, cotton, viscose, bamboo, hemp and other natural fibres.

ReshaMandi's Founder and CEO, Mayank Tiwari, said, "The MENA region has been a strategic focus for ReshaMandi because it is a rapidly emerging market with enormous growth potential. Serving as a significant hub for the apparel and textile industries, it has grown to become one of the world's largest textile hubs for products, including apparel, fibres and home textiles. Given the rising awareness around sustainability in fashion, an increasing number of retailers, mills, manufacturers, designers and allied stakeholders are seeking partners who can provide the best quality natural fibres at standardized prices while ensuring delivery timelines are met. We are committed to providing the benefits of technology to stakeholders so that they can achieve consistent quality, lower prices and complete just-in-time fulfillment. ReshaMandi has touched millions of lives in India by creating jobs, increasing operational efficiencies and paving the path for future growth. We would like to replicate the same model in the MENA."

ReshaMandi begins its journey in the global markets with categories such as yarn, natural and recycled fabrics, home and living, apparel, accessories and design to living solutions, with an ambition to expand this in future.

About ReshaMandi

ReshaMandi works with 60,000 farmers, more than 10,000 weavers, 7,500+ reelers and 3,500 retailers in the entire natural fibre supply chain to improve their productivity, impact the bottom line and eventually be instrumental in improving the quality of their lives.

For more information, kindly visit https://ecosystem.reshamandi.com/

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1894667/ReshaMandi_Logo.jpg

SOURCE ReshaMandi
The ground-breaking metaverse office tower, named The V, will provide an interactive, end-to-end ecosystem for digital nomads, remote workers and global entrepreneurs.

The V will house a state-of-the-art virtual office environment, and will offer a host of features, such as metaverse avatars, online video conferencing and communication capabilities, virtual meeting rooms, event spaces, town halls and more.

DUBAI, UAE, Sept. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Virtuzone  the UAE's leader in company formation and corporate services  has unveiled its plan to build a flagship metaverse office tower in partnership with pax.world, a blockchain metaverse with an early-mover advantage.

Purposefully designed to meet the needs of a burgeoning global digital nomad economy, the ground-breaking metaverse office tower, named The V, will provide an interactive, end-to-end ecosystem for digital nomads, remote workers and global entrepreneurs.

pax.world Founder Frank Fitzgerald and Virtuzone CEO George Hojeige unveil The V at MetaWeek Dubai.

The V will house a state-of-the-art virtual office environment, and will offer a host of features that individuals can use simultaneously, such as metaverse avatars, online video conferencing and communication capabilities, virtual meeting rooms, event spaces, town halls and more.

In addition to providing a wholly digital environment where entrepreneurs can seamlessly connect and network, The V integrates real-world corporate services and business solutions, thus providing a truly global and real-time solution. These services include global banking services, accounting and auditing, Know Your Customer (KYC) and compliance procedures, visas, and HR solutions.

The V also enables businesses to establish highly tax-efficient legal entities, utilise legal decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) structures and benefit from real-world office spaces and mailing addresses, backed by a digitalised mail distribution system.

The iconic metaverse skyscraper is meant to attract and provide a virtual headquarters to millions of digital nomads around the world, further foster and strengthen the UAE's digital economy, attract foreign direct investment and cater to the changing needs of today's modern entrepreneurs and remote workers.

George Hojeige, CEO of Virtuzone, said: "It is our vision as a company to be at the helm of creating a borderless business environment, where geographical boundaries do not exist and entrepreneurs from all over the world enjoy the freedom to do business and transact with one another in a secure environment. Working hand in hand with pax.world signifies our solid commitment to making this a reality and to creating a future filled with possibilities and opportunities for startups, professionals and multinational corporations, especially in the Web 3.0 space."

Frank Fitzgerald, Founder of pax.world, said: "Virtuzone is the perfect partner for our professionally-based metaverse. They will serve as a launch pad for Dubai-based businesses to enter the world of Web3. We are excited and look forward to endless possibilities."

About Virtuzone

Virtugroup is a Dubai-based holding company consisting of Virtuzone, which offers free zone and mainland company formation services; and Next Generation Equity, which offers a range of citizenship and residency-by-investment programmes. With over 100 staff speaking 30 languages, Virtuzone provides impartial advice on UAE company setup while being an end-to-end solution provider for a host of business services, including everything from visas and trade licences to accounting and branding. As the leading company formation specialists in the UAE, Virtuzone removes the complexities of setting up a business so that entrepreneurs can focus on what really matters to their company's success. For more information visit www.vz.ae.

About pax.world

pax.world is a platform that allows you to create your own metaverse and is a meta-universe that enables interested parties to develop and engage with each other within a virtual island. Within pax.world, users can build educational places and businesses and much more.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1896426/V_unveiled_at_MetaWeek_Dubai.jpg

SOURCE Virtuzone
Interim decarbonisation targets set for 2030, reinforcing commitment to net zero financed emissions by 2050

Represents one of the most comprehensive sets of decarbonisation targets in global banking industry

Bank to report progress against targets in annual Sustainability Report

MUMBAI, India, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its commitment to being net zero in its financed emissions by 2050, DBS today announced sectoral targets that are aligned with science-based decarbonisation glidepaths[1] in its report  'Our Path to Net Zero  Supporting Asia's Transition to a Low-carbon Economy.'

A total of nine industry sectors have been covered by decarbonisation and data coverage targets. Decarbonisation targets have been set for the following seven sectors: 1) Power 2) Oil & Gas (O&G) 3) Automotive 4) Aviation 5) Shipping 6) Steel and 7) Real Estate. Data coverage targets have been set for two sectors 1) Food & Agribusiness and 2) Chemicals, paving the way for future sectoral decarbonisation targets.

With the range of sectors covered, DBS' commitment is among the most comprehensive among global banks. The bank's approach to target-setting is also rigorous and science-based, being benchmarked against internationally recognised and industry-accepted glidepaths such as The International Energy Agency's Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario (IEA NZE).

The publication of this clear actionable plan to net zero follows the bank's announcement in October 2021 that it had become a signatory of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, the first Singapore bank to do so. As a signatory, DBS is required to align its lending and investment portfolios with net zero emissions by 2050.

Net-zero plan covers the most carbon-intensive segments of DBS' lending book and capital market activities

The nine sectors represent the most carbon-intensive institutional banking segments financed by DBS. They represent 31% of the bank's outstanding loans but constitute the vast majority of the Institutional Banking Group's financed emissions.

Amongst the seven decarbonisation targets set, six[2] of them are set as intensity metrics with the objective to achieve lower emissions per unit of output or activity. This reflects DBS' goal of embarking on a net zero path that is consistent with inclusive and sustainable growth and prosperity.

Acknowledging that the path to net zero requires a lower usage of fossil fuels, an absolute emissions reduction target has been set for the O&G sector. By 2030, the bank has targeted to reduce the absolute emissions in the O&G sector which are attributable to DBS by 28%, fully aligned with the IEA NZE scenario. The bank's O&G target will cover Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

This complements the bank's earlier commitment made in 2019 to progressively phase out thermal coal financing.

In addition, the decarbonisation targets go beyond the bank's institutional banking lending book and will cover capital markets activities as well.

The targets will be reviewed periodically as science and client data evolve. DBS will also update on its progress annually through its Sustainability Report.

Piyush Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, DBS Bank said, "Our firm conviction is that our net zero commitment, made last October, must be supported by a clear and detailed roadmap and plan. However, charting a viable course of action that is constructive and impactful is not easy, given challenges in mapping out suitable industry pathways and realistic medium-term milestones in markets with differing starting points. That is why I am pleased that we are able to announce today a set of ambitious, broad and measurable actions that we can execute against. The decarbonisation targets will act as the 'north star' for our financing activities guiding us to net zero by 2050 through measurable change."

Supporting Asia's transition to a low-carbon economy

DBS' commitments are ambitious as there is widespread recognition that many emerging markets in which it operates will move to net zero at slower rates than their developed market counterparts. Despite this, the bank is committed to moving to net zero by 2050, setting the bank on a path that is proactive and anticipatory of its customers' and society's needs.

With the announcement, the bank aims to encourage and enable its institutional banking customers to pivot their business strategies and accelerate their transition journeys. This could be achieved in various ways including by providing them with sustainable and transition finance solutions.

Tan Su Shan, Group Head, Institutional Banking Group said, "Our ability to achieve our net zero ambition relies heavily upon the success of our clients in delivering their own transition plans. In the past few years, we have seen a significant increase in the demand for green and sustainable finance solutions. To accelerate the transition and meet the vast investment needs in the next few decades, we will proactively partner our customers, providing them with financial advisory and transition finance solutions, as we collectively work towards a low-carbon future."

Gupta added, "Decarbonisation cannot be achieved in silos  the global banking and business community, and world leaders have a part to play in balancing the climate agenda, social equity and economic development. Collectively, we must exercise leadership by working towards a balanced, sustainable and just transition."

DBS' decarbonisation commitments can be found in its report at the following link: go.dbs.com/our-path-to-net-zero. The report was put together by DBS with support from Oliver Wyman.

DBS' steady progress to tackle climate change

DBS has been proactively adopting measures to tackle climate change for several years. The bank has been making steady progress across several areas as part of its broader sustainability efforts.

1) Scaling positive ESG impact through sustainable finance

DBS continued to build on its sustainable financing business, growing its sustainable finance portfolio to SGD52.7 billion as at 30 June 2022, exceeding its SGD50 billion target well ahead of 2024.

2) Tracking steadily towards zero thermal coal commitment

In April 2019, the bank ceased financing new thermal coal assets. Since then, it has continued to progressively phase down its thermal coal exposure.

At the same time, the bank continues to ramp up support towards the renewables sector as evidenced by its increased exposure to renewable energy projects of SGD5.9 billion in 2021, from SGD4.2 billion in 2020.

3) Achieving net zero operational carbon emissions by end-2022

DBS is committed to achieving net zero operational carbon emissions across the bank by end-2022 and continues to reduce the bank's carbon footprint while advancing its sustainable procurement agenda. As at end 2021, 100% of DBS' new suppliers have signed their commitment to the bank's Sustainability Sourcing Principles.

In November 2017, DBS became a signatory to RE100  the first Asian bank and Singapore company to join the global renewable energy initiative. The bank is committed to using 100% renewable energy for its Singapore operations by 2030.

4) Committing to transparent disclosures

In 2019, DBS became the first bank in Singapore and Southeast Asia to adopt the Equator Principles. The Equator Principles is a globally recognised risk management framework adopted by financial institutions for determining, assessing and managing environment and social risk in infrastructure projects.

DBS is also among early adopters of the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), on voluntary disclosures around climate-related risks and opportunities. The Task Force's recommendations will help secure more complete, meaningful, reliable and consistent data across all companies and sectors for climate-related financial disclosures. This provides stakeholders with more meaningful and transparent climate-related financial information, enabling market forces to drive efficient allocation of capital and support a smooth transition to a low-carbon economy.

[1] The carbon emission pathway to the desired target set

[2] 1) Power, 2) Automotive, 3) Aviation, 4) Shipping, 5) Steel, and 6) Real Estate

About DBS

DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia with a presence in 18 markets. Headquartered and listed in Singapore, DBS is in the three key Asian axes of growth: Greater China, Southeast Asia and South Asia. The bank's "AA-" and "Aa1" credit ratings are among the highest in the world.



Recognised for its global leadership, DBS has been named ' World's Best Bank ' by Global Finance, ' World's Best Bank ' by Euromoney and ' Global Bank of the Year ' by The Banker. The bank is at the forefront of leveraging digital technology to shape the future of banking, having been named ' World's Best Digital Bank ' by Euromoney and the world's ' Most Innovative in Digital Banking ' by The Banker. In addition, DBS has been accorded the ' Safest Bank in Asia ' award by Global Finance for 13 consecutive years from 2009 to 2021.



DBS provides a full range of services in consumer, SME and corporate banking. As a bank born and bred in Asia, DBS understands the intricacies of doing business in the region's most dynamic markets. DBS is committed to building lasting relationships with customers, as it banks the Asian way. Through the DBS Foundation, the bank creates impact beyond banking by supporting social enterprises: businesses with a double bottom-line of profit and social and/or environmental impact. DBS Foundation also gives back to society in various ways, including equipping communities with future-ready skills and building food resilience.



With its extensive network of operations in Asia and emphasis on engaging and empowering its staff, DBS presents exciting career opportunities. For more information, please visit www.dbs.com .

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1769294/DBS_Bank_logo

SOURCE DBS Bank India
RPM solution helps monitor, measure and support at-risk populations in their homes to improve access to care, drive better outcomes and lower costs

BALA CYNWYD, Pa., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 100Plus, a Connect America company and Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) platform for clinicians and patients, announced today that Sweetwater Medical Associates has improved patient adherence and clinical health metrics through its artificial intelligence (AI) assisted RPM platform. By using the platform, the medical practice has seen statistically significant improvements in patients' health metrics over 180 days, including an average blood pressure reduction for patients with hypertension of 5.80 mmHg, and for patients with obesity, a mean weight loss of 3.45 lbs.

Sweetwater Medical Associates is a medical facility devoted to family practice and internal medicine in Sugar Land, Texas. After a thorough evaluation of competing RPM vendors, Sweetwater chose the 100Plus solution for its ease-of-use, cost-effectiveness, and strong customer support.

In addition to Sweetwater benefitting from these patient health metric improvements, the medical facility is also seeing reduced administrative burdens on providers and staff. For example, previously obtaining patients' physiological data such as blood pressure readings required patients to meet with providers for in-office or telehealth visits. Now, patients can take readings on their own  at home  through the 100plus AI-assisted platform and the results are automatically shared with their provider.

"As a busy family practice with time-strapped providers and staff, we often found it challenging to monitor our at-risk patients for signs of impending problems," said Eric Navarette, Practice Manager at Sweetwater Medical Associates. "100Plus' AI based solution has helped us dramatically improve our ability to monitor patients, resulting in improved outcomes and reduced administrative burden on providers and staff."

"We understand the high value of provider and staff time, as well as the heavy toll that unnecessary calls and emails exact on medical practices," said Janet Dillione, CEO of Connect America. "The 100Plus RPM platform delivers an around-the-clock virtual assistant that enables practices to overcome these barriers by monitoring and analyzing patients' behaviors and connecting with them outside of traditional clinical settings. We are pleased Sweetwater has seen such outstanding improvements in patients' health metrics by using the 100plus platform, in addition to easing burden on staff."

The 100Plus RPM platform utilizes AI to assist medical practices with patient outreach, device setup, enrollment, engagement, and education, ensuring that patients test regularly and stay compliant. The platform features an AI-enabled, text message-based chatbot that helps practices scale RPM programs faster, and better educate patients on the value of RPM. With AI outreach, practices more than double RPM adoption rates among patients.

About 100Plus

100Plus, a Connect America company, is the leading AI-assisted remote patient monitoring (RPM) platform that enables healthcare providers to remotely monitor and manage their patients' health conditions. Our complete end-to-end solution makes it easy for practices to implement a successful RPM program quickly, including full-service monitoring, eligibility, enrollment, device setup and delivery, and white-glove service. With actionable insights that help clinicians identify and treat at-risk patients faster and an AI-enabled virtual health assistant that supports patient compliance, the result is higher adherence, fewer hospitalizations, and better health outcomes. To learn more, visit www.100plus.com.

CONTACT:

Mardi Larson

Amendola Communications for Connect America/100plus

[email protected]

SOURCE 100Plus
IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AIVITA Biomedical, Inc., a biotech company specializing in innovative cell applications, today announced that chairman and CEO Hans Keirstead, Ph.D., will deliver a keynote address at AI for Good, a program dedicated to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through practical AI applications. Details for the keynote are as follows:

Keynote title: AI in healthcare is an infant. Intelligence augmentation is an athlete.

When: Wednesday, September 14, 2022, 15:00 CEST (9:00 EDT)

Where: Switzerland - Virtual Presentation

The AI for Good meeting is organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies, in partnership with 40 United Nations sister agencies.

About AIVITA Biomedical

Founded in 2016 by pioneers in the cell therapy industry, AIVITA Biomedical, Inc. utilizes its expertise in cell growth and directed, high-purity differentiation to enable safe, efficient and economical manufacturing systems which support its therapeutic pipeline. Our cancer immunotherapy targets the seed of all cancers, tumor-initiating cells, with a unique pan-antigenic approach that targets all neoantigens specific to the patient's cancer. Our patient-specific cancer treatments have shown tremendous promise in eradicating tumors, without harmful side effects, in melanoma and glioblastoma clinical studies. Our COVID-19 Vaccine Enabling Kit is targeted to emerging nations enabling point-of-care vaccine production in minimally equipped facilities by minimally trained third-party technicians.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as applicable. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our plans, beliefs, expectations and assumptions, as well as other statements that are not necessarily historical facts. You are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve risks and uncertainties. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date as of which it is made, and we do not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements. This communication also contains market data related to our business and industry which includes projections that are based on a number of assumptions we believe are reasonable and most significant to the projections as of the date of this communication. If any of our assumptions prove to be incorrect, our actual results may significantly differ from our projections based on these assumptions. This communication is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein.

SOURCE AIVITA Biomedical, Inc.
Americans surprisingly voted Virginia Beach as the most desirable city in the U.S., which aligns with their top priorities of safety and affordability. Los Angeles is considered the least desirable and most overrated city.

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Although 80% of Americans say they like where they live, 92% could be convinced to move to a new city or state, according to a new report from Home Bay, an online publication that connects readers with expert real estate advice, owned by Clever Real Estate.

Home Bay surveyed 1,000 Americans and found the primary reasons Americans would relocate are economic, including job opportunities (52%), lower costs of living (52%), and affordable home prices (44%).

What makes a city or state desirable? What makes a city or state overrated?

When broken down by generation, baby boomers are five times more likely to stay in their current location than younger generations, while millennials are 70% more likely than boomers to move due to their political beliefs.

Of the 1 in 5 Americans who don't like where they live, more than half (52%) say they can't afford to move. Other factors that prevent Americans from moving include already living near family and friends (29%) and having already established their life in their current city (22%).

When asked to choose the most desirable cities of the 50 most populous in the U.S., Virginia Beach landed on top  1 in 5 listed it in their top five, and the city also takes the crown as the most underrated city.

The top 10 most desirable cities are:

Virginia Beach Seattle San Diego Los Angeles San Francisco Phoenix Denver Miami Nashville Tampa

Despite respondents citing affordability as one of their top priorities, four of the top five cities (Seattle, San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) are actually among the most expensive in the country.

Americans tend to either love or hate certain cities, and several places landed on both the most and least desirable lists.

The 10 least desirable cities are:

Los Angeles Birmingham San Francisco Detroit New York City Chicago Seattle Dallas and Milwaukee (tie) Washington, D.C. Phoenix

In addition, the most desirable states are Florida, California, and Texas, while the least desirable are California, Alabama, and New York.

The study also found that although only 24% of respondents currently live in rural areas, 30% would prefer to move there  an indication that we are still in the midst of the pandemic-induced rural migration trend.

Read the full report at: https://homebay.com/where-should-i-move/

About Home Bay

Home Bay is a web property of Clever Real Estate , an online platform that connects home buyers and sellers with top-rated agents at a discount rate.

Please contact Paulina Colwell at [email protected] to be connected with a researcher with any questions or for an interview.

CONTACT: Paulina Colwell

Clever Real Estate

[email protected]

303-888-6762

SOURCE Home Bay
BERWYN, Pa., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ( NYSE: ANVS) Annovis Bio ("Annovis" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage drug platform company addressing neurodegenerative diseases, announced today the publication of three granted US patents  US11400075 (link), US11376238 (link), and US11382893 (link). The patents cover methods of treating amyloid lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease, and prion diseases by administering buntanetap. They will provide intellectual property protection through 2031, prior to any patent extensions.

The patents strengthen and expand the Company's intellectual property portfolio. The Company now has issued patents covering a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), alpha-synucleopathies, such as Parkinson's disease (PD), tauopathies, such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD), chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and acute injuries such as stroke and traumatic brain injury.

"These additional patents represent further proof for our platform drug, buntanetap, which acts on a variety of neurodegenerative disorders by inhibiting multiple neurotoxic proteins," said Maria L. Maccecchini, Ph.D., Founder, President, and CEO of Annovis.

Summary of key coverage:

A method of treating amyloid lateral sclerosis, a rare progressive neurodegenerative disorder, by administering buntanetap and inhibiting the synthesis of superoxide dismutase protein1 and TDP43.

A method of treating Huntington's disease, a rare progressive neurodegenerative disorder, by administering buntanetap and inhibiting the synthesis of Huntingtin protein.

A method of treating prion diseases, a family of ultra-rare progressive neurodegenerative disorders, by administering buntanetap. There is additional coverage of particular Prion diseases, including scrapie prion, transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME), chronic wasting disease (CWD), bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prion, feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE), exotic ungulate encephalopathy (EUE), kuru prion, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD, nvCJD), Gerst-mann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome (GSS), and fatal familial insomnia (FFI) prion.

About Buntanetap

Buntanetap (previously known as ANVS401 or Posiphen) is an oral translational inhibitor of neurotoxic aggregating proteins (TINAPs), which mode of action leads to a lower level of neurotoxic proteins and consequently less toxicity in the brain. In a Phase 2a clinical trial in AD and PD patients, buntanetap was shown to be well-tolerated and safe, and its pharmacokinetics were found to be in line with levels measured earlier in humans, meeting both the primary and secondary endpoints. Additionally, exploratory endpoints were also met, as treatment with buntanetap resulted in statistically significant improvement in motor function in PD patients and cognition in AD patients. Presently buntanetap is being studied in a phase 3 early PD study and will enter a phase 2/3 study in AD patients later in the year.

About Annovis Bio, Inc.

Headquartered in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Annovis Bio, Inc. is a clinical-stage, drug platform company developing transformative therapies that treat neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and other chronic and acute neurodegenerative diseases. The Company believes that it is the only company developing a drug that inhibits more than one neurotoxic protein, improves the information highway of the nerve cell, known as axonal transport, reduces inflammation and protects nerve cells from dying in chronic and acute neurodegeneration. Annovis conducted two Phase 2 studies: one in AD patients and one in both AD and PD patients. In the AD/PD study, buntanetap showed improvements in cognition and memory in AD as well as body and brain function in PD patients.

For more information on Annovis Bio, please visit the Company's website www.annovisbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release contain "forward-looking statements" that are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "expect," "believe," "will," "may," "should," "estimate," "project," "outlook," "forecast" or other similar words, and include, without limitation, statements regarding the timing, effectiveness, and anticipated results of buntanetap clinical trials. Forward-looking statements are based on Annovis Bio, Inc.'s current expectations and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully in the section titled "Risk Factors" in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as of this date, and Annovis Bio, Inc. undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law.

Media and Investor Contact:

Nic Johnson

Russo Partners, LLC

(303) 482-6405

[email protected]

SOURCE Annovis Bio
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Assisted Living Locators , one of the nation's largest senior placement and referral service, announced the honorees of the company's annual awards of distinction. The Franchisee of the Year, Rising Star of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Most Improved were revealed during the organization's national conference held Sept. 7-9 at the Hyatt Regency Savannah in Georgia. The 2022 conference focused on empowering the franchisee's success with the theme, "It's time: Take Your Business To The Next Level."

The national conference hosted more than 100 attendees celebrating the hard work, dedication and success of the franchisees and company. Leading experts in senior living, caregiving, networking, teambuilding and more shared insight, and top-performing franchisees received awards. Awards were presented to the following franchisees:

Franchisee of the Year: Marcus & Chrissy Moser, Assisted Living Locators Naples, FL

Rookie of the Year: Allison Green, Assisted Living Locators Western Suburbs of Chicago, IL

Rising Star: Rick Campomizzi, Assisted Living Locators Greater Harrisburg, PA

Most Improved: Michael McClernon, Assisted Living Locators Long Island, NY

"Each of the leaders recognized this year are integral, entrepreneurial members of the Assisted Living Locators family who inspire fellow franchisees and help make us the top senior care brand in the industry," said Angela Olea, RN Assisted Living Locators CEO. "Our national conference is a time for us to spend quality time together and give our franchisees the tools to help plan their goals and grow their business to the next level. We also provide education and training to help them bring the best care and service to seniors and their families."

The company's national conference comes on the heels of Assisted Living Locators' recent acquisition by leading in-home care provider Executive Home Care, backed by private equity firm The Riverside Company. Executive Home Care CEO Tim Hadley attended the conference stating, "The energy of the Assisted Living Locators conference was amazing. The series of speakers, networking events and shared franchisee best practices was inspiring and so important in our shared vision to provide next level customer service and quality care."

P.K. Beville, dementia care expert and founder of Second Wind Dreams, a nonprofit organization that helps change the perception of aging through fulfilling elders' dreams, was a featured speaker at the conference. Motivational speaker Mike Pitcher, known for his inspirational leadership and business insights and book "Seven Elements of Leadership for a New Breed of Leader," also addressed franchisees.

About Assisted Living Locators

Assisted Living Locators is one of the nation's largest senior placement and referral service. Through more than 140 franchisees in 36 states and the District of Columbia, local senior care advisors provide a no cost service to help find quality, top-rated in-home care, independent retirement options, assisted living communities and memory care. Founded in 2006 as the first senior placement and referral franchise, Assisted Living Locators is now part of the Executive Home Care family, with private equity backing by The Riverside Company . Assisted Living Locators is ranked in Entrepreneur's 2021 Franchise 500 issue. The company also was named to the Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. To learn more, visit: www.assistedlivinglocators.com.

SOURCE Assisted Living Locators
VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Awale Resources Limited ("Awale" or the "Company") (TSXV: ARIC) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding letter agreement dated September 12, 2022 (the "Agreement") with Colossal Gold Resources Limited ("Colossal") and the shareholders of Colossal (collectively, the "Sellers") to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of Colossal (the "Colossal Shares" and the acquisition of the Colossal Shares the "Acquisition"). In consideration for the Colossal Shares, Awale will issue to the Sellers an aggregate of 21,663,138 common shares of the Company (the "Consideration Shares") which will represent 41% of the outstanding Awale common shares post-closing of the Acquisition but prior to giving effect to any Awale common shares issued under the Financing discussed below (the "Financing Shares"). The Consideration Shares are being issued at an agreed deemed price per share of CAD$0.197, a premium of approximately 40% to the Awale closing share price on September 9, 2022.

Colossal is a private holding company with an exciting gold exploration portfolio focused on the highly prospective, but underexplored, greenstone belt of Suriname, South America (the "Project"). Colossal holds, through its wholly-owned Surinamese subsidiary, Consolidated Gold Resources N.V. ("Consolidated Gold"), a 100% interest in certain existing mineral exploration and exploitation licences in Suriname (collectively, the "Licences").

Colossal, Consolidated Gold and each of the Sellers, other than Glen Parsons, the Chief Executive Officer and a director of Awale, are arm's length to Awale (see "Related Party Transaction Process" below).

Acquisition Highlights

The Acquisition will provide Awale with an immediate presence in the little-explored section of the northern greenstone belt of Suriname, well known for its gold mineralization endowment.

The Licences are located along trend and close to IAMGOLD's Rosebel mine and project area.

The largest License held by Colossal is also contiguous to the NW Extension Project operated by the Barrick/Reunion Gold Alliance.

Furthermore, Newmont operates the world-class Merian mine in the same regional greenstone terrane.

The Licences consist of:

1 exploitation licence covering an area of 38km 2 and expiring 2035 (the Goliath Project);

and expiring 2035 (the Goliath Project);

3 contiguous exploration licenses covering an area of 184km 2 along trend from the IAMGOLD Rosebel and Saramacca deposits; and

along trend from the IAMGOLD Rosebel and Saramacca deposits; and

1 exploration licence covering an area of 360km 2 contiguous to the NW Extension Project licence area being explored by the Reunion Gold / Barrick Alliance .

contiguous to the NW Extension Project licence area being explored by the Reunion Gold / .

An overview of the Licences can be found in the attached figures by following the link: https://www.awaleresources.com/_resources/maps/2022-09-13-Suriname-Acquistion-Figures.pdf

Colossal's existing exploration team will continue advancing the Licenses and Awale intends to build upon Colossal's existing team to achieve accelerated exploration results.

Colossal's existing exploration team is headed by Chris Hughes , current Chief Operating Officer of Colossal, who will drive the Project's exploration activities on the ground in Suriname.

Awale's Strategic Rationale

Awale's strategy is building a value adding multi-jurisdictional exploration portfolio in stable and mining-friendly countries by using the Company's proven delivery capabilities and strong systematic exploration track record.

The Awale team continues to be led by Glen Parsons who has operated successfully in the past as the CEO of Mariana Resources Ltd which had a multi-jurisdictional exploration portfolio including the Hod Maden project in Turkey and which was acquired by Sandstorm Gold Limited.

who has operated successfully in the past as the CEO of Mariana Resources Ltd which had a multi-jurisdictional exploration portfolio including the Hod Maden project in and which was acquired by Sandstorm Gold Limited. The Awale team has experience operating in Suriname through its leadership of Mariana Resources Ltd.

The Odienne Project earn-in Joint Venture with Newmont (see Company News Release dated May 31, 2022 ) provides the solid foundation to enable this value adding multi-jurisdictional strategy to be achieved.

) provides the solid foundation to enable this value adding multi-jurisdictional strategy to be achieved. In accordance with Awale's strategy, the objective is to create value for all stakeholders by responsibly exploring and advancing district scale projects to feasibility; as the Company's focus is on stable jurisdictions with compelling geology that ultimately attract major producers, Suriname fits this strategy.

The strategic rationale for the Acquisition is gaining an immediate foothold on an established exploration portfolio in the northern greenstone belt of Suriname, well known for its gold mineralization endowment, located along trend and close to IAMGOLD's Rosebel mine and project area.

Overview of the Acquisition

Awale will acquire an indirect 100% interest in Colossal's subsidiary, Consolidated Gold, by virtue of its acquisition of 100% of the Colossal Shares.

In consideration for the Colossal Shares, Awale will issue to the Sellers an aggregate of 21,663,138 Consideration Shares at an agreed deemed price per Consideration Share of CAD$0.197 which is the same price as Newmont paid for its interest in Awale (see News Release date May 31, 2022 ).

which is the same price as Newmont paid for its interest in Awale (see News Release date ). The Consideration Shares will represent 41% of the outstanding Awale common shares post-Closing of the Acquisition but prior to the issuance of any Financing Shares.

The Sellers currently own approximately 26% of the outstanding Awale common shares. After issuance to the Sellers of the Consideration Shares, post-Closing of the Acquisition the Sellers will hold approximately 56.62% of the outstanding Awale common shares prior to the issuance of any Financing Shares.

Closing of the Acquisition is subject to receipt of TSX Venture Exchange (" TSXV ") acceptance; receipt of the approval of the shareholders of the Company is required by the policies of the TSXV; Awale being satisfied in its sole discretion with the results of its in-country due diligence review (the " Due Diligence Review ") (to be completed on or before October 15, 2022 , unless mutually extended by Awale and Colossal); Awale having completed a financing to raise a minimum of gross proceeds of CAD$2,000,000 (the " Financing "); the assumption by Awale of the Assumed Obligations (as defined herein); and other closing conditions as are standard for a transaction of the nature of the Acquisition, (collectively, the " Closing Conditions ");

") acceptance; receipt of the approval of the shareholders of the Company is required by the policies of the TSXV; Awale being satisfied in its sole discretion with the results of its in-country due diligence review (the " ") (to be completed on or before , unless mutually extended by Awale and Colossal); Awale having completed a financing to raise a minimum of gross proceeds of (the " "); the assumption by Awale of the Assumed Obligations (as defined herein); and other closing conditions as are standard for a transaction of the nature of the Acquisition, (collectively, the " "); The Consideration Shares issued in the Acquisition will be subject to a statutory hold period under applicable Canadian securities laws which will expire four months and one day after the closing of the Acquisition (the " Closing ") and a voluntary trading restriction preventing the Sellers from reselling any of the Consideration Shares for a period of eighteen months from Closing; and

") and a voluntary trading restriction preventing the Sellers from reselling any of the Consideration Shares for a period of eighteen months from Closing; and The Agreement may be terminated by a party if any of the Closing Conditions for the benefit of the terminating party is not satisfied or waived by October 15, 2022 , unless such date is extended by mutual written consent of Awale and Colossal or by Awale if it determines, acting reasonably, that the results of its Due Diligence Review are not satisfactory to it in all material respects.

Colossal originally acquired the Licenses from a third party (the "Vendor") and agreed to make certain future payments to the Vendor. Upon Closing of the Acquisition, Awale has agreed to assume from Colossal the following payment obligations to the Vendor:

Payment of US$250,000 on Closing of the Acquisition or as otherwise agreed;

on Closing of the Acquisition or as otherwise agreed; Payments totaling a maximum of US$1.75M following issuance of a technical report prepared in accordance National Instrument 43-101  Standards for Disclosure of Mineral Projects establishing a mineral resource on the Project on the following basis:

1. US$0.50 per ounce of gold for reported accumulated ounces of up to 999,999 ounces of gold (the "Initial Ounces )

2. US$1.00 per ounce of gold for reported accumulated ounces of one million ounces or greater of gold plus an additional payment of US$0.50 per Initial Ounce.

Related Party Transaction Process

Glen Parsons, a director and the Chief Executive Officer of Awale, is a "related party" of the Company (as defined by Multilateral Instrument 61-101  Protection of Minority Securityholders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101")). Glen Parsons is also a shareholder of Colossal and, therefore, one of the Sellers under the Acquisition and will be a party to the Agreement. Mr. Parsons' direct and indirect ownership is approximately 12% of Awale's current issued and outstanding shares and 23.4% of the current issued and outstanding Colossal Shares. He will be issued 5,472,978 Consideration Shares under the Acquisition. Accordingly, the issuance of the Consideration Shares to Mr. Parsons will constitute a "related party transaction" within the meaning of TSXV Policy 5.9 which adopts MI -61-101. The Company is relying on the exemptions from both the formal valuation requirement and the minority shareholder approval requirement in MI 61-101 for related party transactions under sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a), respectively, of MI 61-101, in connection with the issuance of the Consideration Shares to Mr. Parsons on the basis that neither the fair market value of the Colossal Shares held by Mr. Parsons, nor the fair market value of the Consideration Shares to be issued to Mr. Parsons, exceeds 25% of the Company's market capitalization calculated in accordance with MI 61-101. The Company did not file a material change report more than 21 days before the expected Closing date of the Acquisition as it has negotiated the Acquisition on an expedited basis.

A special committee was established by the board of directors of the Company, which is comprised of the independent non-executive directors of the Company, and is chaired by Derk Hartman, (the "Special Committee") to evaluate and, if appropriate, approve the Acquisition. Mr. Parsons has not participated in the evaluation and approval process for the Acquisition for either Awale or Colossal.

The Special Committee assessed the merits of the Acquisition and unanimously approved the Acquisition on the following basis:

The Licenses are strategically located on known producing gold trends in the greenstone belt of Suriname;

The greenstone belt of Suriname is an underexplored region with large potential for further major gold discoveries;

Suriname is a stable jurisdiction with existing major operating multi-million ounce mines  IAMGOLD and Newmont;

The Licenses are easily accessible for logistics, exploration and development (just three hours from capital Paramaribo ); and

); and Awale acquires access to an experienced gold exploration team with a proven track record of operating in Suriname.

The Closing of the Acquisition is expected to occur on the fifth business day in the City of Vancouver, British Columbia following the satisfaction or waiver of the Closing Conditions.

Derk Hartman, Independent Director and Chairman of the Special Committee commented:

"Awale's acquisition of Colossal Gold Resources' gold exploration portfolio in Suriname is a transformational and exciting transaction that represents an excellent strategic fit for Awale. The Guiana Shield and West African Shield share the same greenstone belt geology, as it was one continent before the Atlantic Ocean was formed 195 million years ago. Whereas many multi-million ounce gold deposits have been delineated in the West African Shield, the Guiana Shield, and particularly Suriname, remains very underexplored relative to West Africa. With the acquisition of Colossal Gold Resources, Awale is gaining an immediate and highly prospective foothold in the northern greenstone belt of Suriname, well known for its gold mineralization endowment. As Awale succeeds, we look forward to accelerating the exploration programmes in both Suriname and Cote d'Ivoire with the combined exploration teams from Awale and Colossal Gold Resources."

Thomas McNeill, Independent Director to Colossal Gold Resources Limited commented:

"The Directors and Shareholders of Colossal are excited in becoming part of the greater Awale Group. The underexplored Suriname, within the greater Guiana Shield, offers huge potential for Colossal's objective of a successful exploration business that offers scale in jurisdictions where major producers operate. Therefore, Awale's strategy complements and achieves our objective of building a diversified portfolio of highly prospective assets which mitigates project and jurisdictional risk and furthermore enhances the chance of success."

About Awale Resources

Awale is a gold exploration company focused on the discovery of large high-grade gold and copper-gold deposits. The Company currently undertakes exploration activities in the underexplored parts of Cote d'Ivoire. Awale's success to date at the Odienne Project in the Northwest of Cote d'Ivoire has culminated in an earn-in Joint Venture with Newmont (the "Newmont JV") covering the Odienne Project where two primary targets for world-class discoveries have been made: i) the gold-rich Empire corridor and ii) the recently defined Sceptre Iron Oxide Copper Gold ("IOCG") target, while the remaining 200km2 of granted tenure and 400km2 under application remains underexplored and has significant IOCG potential. The Newmont JV forms the foundation for the Company to continue looking at new opportunities in new jurisdictions which offers significant potential for district scale discoveries.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

AWALE RESOURCES LIMITED

"Derk Hartman"- Independent Director and Chairman of the Special Committee

Derk Hartman, Director

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws (collectively "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, plans, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. All statements that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include but are not limited to statements regarding the Closing of the Transaction, the Company's presence in Suriname and ability to achieve results, creation of value for Company shareholders, achievements under the Newmont JV, planned drilling, commencement of operations, . Although the Company believes any forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations and assumptions in such statements will prove to be correct.

The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including the potential inability to obtain required regulatory approvals and satisfy other applicable Closing conditions; possible adverse impacts due the global outbreak of COVID-19; the Company's inability to generate sufficient cash flow or raise sufficient additional financing requirements; volatility in metals prices; the ability of the Company to retain its key management employees and skilled and experienced personnel; conflicts of interest; litigation or other administrative proceedings brought against the Company; actual or alleged breaches of governance processes or instances of fraud, bribery or corruption; exploration, development and mining risks and the inherently dangerous nature of the mining industry, and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks and other risks and uncertainties; property and mineral title risks including defective title to mineral claims or property; changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and Suriname; equipment shortages and the ability of the Company to acquire necessary access rights and infrastructure for its mineral properties; environmental regulations and the ability to obtain and maintain necessary permits, including environmental authorizations and water use licences; extreme competition in the mineral exploration industry; delays in obtaining, or a failure to obtain, permits necessary for current or future operations or failures to comply with the terms of such permits; risks of doing business in Suriname, including but not limited to, labour, economic and political instability and potential changes to and failures to comply with legislation; the Company's common shares may be delisted from the Exchange if it cannot maintain compliance with the applicable listing requirements; and other risk factors described other filings with Canadian securities regulators, which may be viewed at www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether because of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

Cautionary Statement

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE

SOURCE Awale Resources
BOSTON, Sept. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. ( NYSE: BHLB), the parent company of Berkshire Bank, a leading socially responsible community bank with financial centers located in New England and New York, is excited to announce that Ashlee Flores, an experienced industry and Berkshire veteran was promoted to EVP, Chief Compliance Officer. Ms. Flores will replace Deborah A. Stephenson, SEVP, Chief Compliance Officer, who is resigning her position effective September 30, 2022, to pursue another opportunity.

Ashlee Flores

"I want to thank Ms. Stephenson for her years of hard work, dedication, professionalism, and commitment to leading a best in class compliance function at Berkshire Bank. On behalf of the entire Berkshire family, we wish Deb all the best in her next chapter," stated Nitin Mhatre, CEO of Berkshire.

"We are delighted to welcome Ms. Flores to our executive team. She is a proven leader with deep knowledge of Berkshire Bank, our employees, customers, and communities. She has consistently demonstrated her performance in key roles within our compliance function and actively participates in strategic initiatives to advise on potential compliance impacts. Her positive energy and breadth of experience make her the ideal candidate to lead our compliance function into the future under our Berkshire's Exciting Strategic Transformation (BEST) program," added Mhatre.

Ms. Flores will oversee all aspects of the compliance risk management program, including compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act, Community Reinvestment Act, consumer protection laws and regulations, as well as the Security and Fraud Investigations functions. She will report directly to SEVP, Chief Risk Officer, Greg Lindenmuth.

"I'm honored to step into this leadership role at Berkshire as we look to deliver on our vision to be a high-performing, leading socially responsible community bank. Central to this vision is maintaining a strong culture of compliance, risk management and consumer financial protection so that we can best serve our customers and communities," stated Ashlee Flores.

Ms. Flores brings more than 15 years of financial industry, risk management and compliance experience, most recently serving as SVP, Compliance, where she oversaw Berkshire Bank's compliance program. Prior to joining Berkshire Bank, Ms. Flores was a compliance officer at Hampden Bank in Springfield, MA where she managed the compliance and audit program. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Journalism from Boston University in Boston, MA. Outside of work, Ms. Flores volunteers with Leadership Pioneer Valley on their finance committee, Dress for Success, and is a former board member for the Western MA Compliance Association.

ABOUT BERKSHIRE HILLS BANCORP

Berkshire Hills Bancorp is the parent of Berkshire Bank. The Bank's goal is to be a high performing, leading socially responsible community bank in New England, Upstate New York, and beyond. Berkshire Bank provides business and consumer banking, mortgage, wealth management, and investment services. Headquartered in Boston, Berkshire has approximately $11.6 billion in assets and operates over 100 financial centers in New England and New York, and is a member of the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index. To learn more, call 800-773-5601 or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Investor Relations Contacts

Kevin Conn, SVP, Investor Relations & Corporate Development

Email: [email protected]

Tel: (617) 641-9206

David Gonci, Capital Markets Director

Email: [email protected]

Tel: (413) 281-1973

Media Contact:

Gary Levante, SVP, Corporate Responsibility & Communications

Email: [email protected]

Tel: (413) 447-1737

SOURCE Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc.
The new web-based application creates a digital marketplace for developers, IPPs and EPCs to quickly identify and select high-value PV and battery equipment optimized for project-specific inputs.

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Borrego, a leading EPC and O&M provider for large-scale solar and energy storage projects throughout the United States, today officially launched Anza , a new solar and battery storage procurement marketplace and optimization solution. The proprietary technology engine behind the Anza digital marketplace is a cost and performance modeling software that identifies the most optimized solar module and storage components based on customer-provided project details. Through Anza, customers purchase the modules and battery equipment, leveraging Borrego's long-standing supplier relationships and favorable pricing, warranty and delivery terms.

Anza's new technology provides robust modeling and analytics based on customer-submitted project details to deliver the most financially attractive equipment options for developers, independent power producers (IPPs), and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies. Pulling from current equipment availability and pricing from qualified suppliers, Anza provides up-to-date net present value (NPV) ranking reports based on these factors, project inputs, and equipment performance.

"Anza is a completely different procurement experience from what large-scale solar and storage buyers are used to," said Aaron Hall, president of Borrego and Anza. "Instead of looking for and locking in the costs of modules and storage equipment long before they need the items, Anza customers can now see how much any module or battery is worth to a project in real-time when they need it. Anza simplifies the procurement process, saving time and money and enabling buyers to recognize better project returns."

The new marketplace connects suppliers of solar and energy storage equipment with buyers to find project-specific solutions. Solar module and energy storage suppliers have agreements with Anza to ensure a timely delivery of products to the customer, minimizing shipping and project delays caused by today's volatile supply chain. Furthering efficiency, the procurement process, logistics management, freight, warehousing and delivery are all managed within Anza.

To use Anza, customers submit project-specific information to receive a long list of vetted solar modules or energy storage equipment ranked by net present value based on their custom inputs. This analytical horsepower, built on Borrego's own highly refined internal project development optimization tools, is where Anza delivers real value to its users. Customers always have actionable, high-value options that are updated in real-time. The application sends out email alerts to users when there are changes to availability and pricing, helping them always make optimal procurement decisions.

"With our pre-vetted equipment, pre-negotiated contract terms, and buying power at the gigawatt-scale annually, we've seen customers lock in very attractive deals quickly," said Mike Hall, CEO of Borrego and Anza. "We save them substantial amounts of time and we've seen boosts in their project values to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars per project using Anza."

"Anza gives us access to the entire solar module market and information to make informed decisions for our projects. Because of Anza, Renewable Properties didn't need to hire additional procurement or engineering staff to support our module supply needs," said Aaron Halimi, CEO of Renewable Properties. "With modules still under supply constraints, we look forward to continuing to work with Anza to procure more quality modules."

Anza already has significant market traction with nearly 250 projects and 8 GW in the application. In addition, customers have purchased 1.7 GW of solar modules and energy storage equipment, with single orders as large as 350 MW. The company estimates that 90% of solar modules sold in the U.S. and key storage suppliers are already part of the Anza solution.

The Anza team is continuously innovating and plans to add additional analytics and user features for solar modules and energy storage equipment in the coming months.

To see how Anza can help large-scale solar and storage buyers make rapid, optimal purchases, visit anzarenewables.com .

The Anza team will be attending the RE+ event on September 19-22 at the Anaheim Convention Center. To meet with the Anza team and see a product demo, please visit go.anzarenewables.com/demo .

About Borrego

Borrego, a leading EPC and O&M provider, accelerates the delivery and ensures the proper maintenance of large-scale solar and energy storage projects in the US. Borrego has a track record of superior performance in the hundreds of large solar and energy storage projects it has designed, built, and currently maintains nationwide. Established in 1980, it has regional offices in California, Massachusetts, and New York with a nationwide footprint. Borrego creates value by helping partners make better decisions at critical points in every project's life. Its team brings deep technical expertise to its mission of solving the world's energy problems. For more information, visit borregoenergy.com . For more information on its new Anza business that transforms solar and energy storage procurement, visit anzarenewables.com .

Media Contacts

Brooke Parker | for Borrego | [email protected]

SOURCE Borrego Solar Systems Inc
For four years running, Brightview lands the top spot



BALTIMORE, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Brightview Senior Living , a leader in senior living that builds, owns, and operates 45 senior living communities along the East Coast, is thrilled to announce its recognition as the top Fortune Best Workplace in Aging Services 2022 . The Best Workplaces in Aging Services award is based on analysis of survey responses from more than 140,000 current employees in the aging services industry. In that survey, 89 percent of Brightview employees who responded to the survey said the company is a great place to work, compared with 57 percent of employees in a typical U.S.-based company.

"Being number one on the Fortune Best Workplaces in Aging Services for a fourth consecutive year is an incredible honor," stated Doug Dollenberg, President of Brightview Senior Living. "Brightview's continued recognition is evidence of our team's commitment to our people-first culture. It is clear in every Brightview community that our associates are proud of their work and feel empowered to create excellent experiences for residents and families."

Great Place to Work, a global people analytics and consulting firm, evaluated more than 60 elements of team members' experience on the job. These included the extent to which employees trust leaders, the respect with which people are treated, the fairness of workplace decisions, and how much camaraderie there is among the team. Brightview achieved top honors because of direct employee survey feedback:

93% When you join the company, you are made to feel welcome.

92% I feel good about the ways we contribute to the community.

92% People celebrate special events around here.

91% I feel I make a difference here.

91% When I look at what we accomplish, I feel a sense of pride.

Dollenberg added, "We are cultivating a workplace dedicated to growth for our associates across our 45 senior living communities and home office. We encourage anyone with an enthusiasm for service and a passion for people to consider joining our team."

This award follows accolades earlier this month, when Brightview was the only senior living company in the country to be named to the PEOPLE Magazine Companies That Care list.

For more information about Brightview Senior Living and to explore career opportunities, visit www.BrightviewSeniorLiving.com .

About Brightview Senior Living: Brightview Senior Living builds, owns, and operates award-winning vibrant senior living communities in eight states along the East Coast: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. We offer senior Independent Living, Assisted Living, Enhanced Care, and Wellspring Village, a specialized neighborhood for people living with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

Each of our Brightview Senior Living communities focuses on five elements of wellness which we call SPICE. Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Cultural, and Emotional. Our amenities and programs encourage active senior living communities and development in these areas, keeping residents active and healthy.

About the Best Workplaces in Aging Services: Great Place to Work selected the Best Workplaces in Aging Services by gathering and analyzing confidential survey responses from more 140,000 employees from Great Place to Work-Certified companies in the aging services industry. Company rankings are derived from 60 employee experience questions within the Great Place to Work Trust Index survey . Great Place to Work determines its lists using its proprietary For All methodology to evaluate and certify thousands of organizations in America's largest ongoing annual workforce study, based on over 1 million survey responses and data from companies representing more than 6.1 million employees, this year alone. Read the full methodology. To get on this list next year, start here.





About Great Place to Work: Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Their employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a great place to work For All. Learn more at greatplacetowork.com and on LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook and Instagram .





About Activated Insights: Activated Insights is the senior care division of Great Place to Work and provides employee and resident surveys to aging services provides. With an expertise in senior care, Activated Insights is committed to transform the aging experience by impacting the lives of seniors, families, staff, and others in senior care through research, data, and technology. Learn more at activatedinsights.com and on LinkedIn , Twitter, Facebook and Instagram .

SOURCE Brightview Senior Living
IFS solution will provide Hitachi Zosen Inova with full support for construction, operation & maintenance of sustainable energy plants

LONDON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- IFS, the global cloud enterprise software company, today announced that global cleantech company Hitachi Zosen Inova has selected IFS Cloud to support its mission-critical enterprise resource planning (ERP) processes.

Hitachi Zosen Inova operates in energy from waste and renewable gas. The company has their roots in Switzerland, where it was established in 1933. Since 2010 it has been part of the Hitachi Zosen Corporation, one of Japan's largest industrial and engineering firms, and now has 1700 employees.

Sustainability is at the heart of Hitachi Zosen Inova's operations - the company helps their clients recover useful materials contained in waste and dispose of non-recyclable waste hygienically and safely, generating renewable energy to reduce the use of raw materials and fossil fuels through state-of-the-art technologies that support modern and holistic waste management.



Hitachi Zosen Inova develops projects with their clients and draws on its experience as a general engineering, procurement and construction contractor to build and deliver complex turnkey plants and system solutions for thermal and biological energy-from-waste recovery, gas upgrading and power to gas. The company also offers comprehensive after-sales services for operators of existing plants and are expanding their business model to offer operation and maintenance of the plants they build.

To support their global transformation goals, Hitachi Zosen Inova selected IFS Cloud. A lack of transparency and visibility as well as inefficient and non-coherent work and reporting processes across the group didn't support the company's growth strategy and goal of becoming a key player in the global energy market. Hitachi Zosen Inova needed a project-centric ERP solution to replace their complex and fragmented system landscape (SAP and many small applications with different interfaces) and support the full project lifecycle of their operations, including bidding, design, procurement, finance, engineering, construction, services, manufacturing and logistics elements.

IFS Cloud will provide Hitachi Zosen Inova with a modern cloud-based platform, which will accelerate the company's transformation and digitalization. With IFS' cloud technology, Hitachi Zosen Inova will have complete end-to-end visibility and control. IFS' extensive project management capabilities will support Hitachi Zosen Inova in realising their expansion strategy - entering new markets, expanding service offerings across operations and maintenance, and retrofitting projects that deliver complete customers satisfaction on time and on budget.

Finally, IFS Cloud's unique industry functionality will enable Hitachi Zosen Inova to excel across all areas of the business, remove operational silos and connect teams to deliver best practice - all through the innovative user interface IFS Aurena. The IFS Cloud implementation will be supported by Arcwide and will be rolled out across 13 countries.

"We selected IFS Cloud to harmonize our global business operations, an important step in supporting our vision to be a key player in the global energy market. Having a single view of our data across the entire business enables us to get better operational visibility and thereby optimize our processes and support our growth strategy, as we can deliver more projects more efficiently", says Gilles Burckel, Director Business Unit Controlling EfW at Hitachi Zosen Inova.

"We are delighted that Hitachi Zosen Inova has selected IFS Cloud for its OneERP Transformation Strategy. As a global organization it's imperative that Hitachi Zosen Inova can simplify and streamline their operational processes to improve efficiency, project delivery and profitability. IFS understands the increasing demand for sustainable power sources and services and supports Hitachi Zosen Inova's journey. We are happy to welcome Hitachi Zosen Inova into our hero customer program - which will see us working together to make the improbable possible", says Vincent Carvalho, COO Northern and Central Europe at IFS.

About Hitachi Zosen Inova



Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI) is a global cleantech company operating in energy from waste (EfW) and renewable gas. We develop projects with our clients and then draw on our experience as an engineering, procurement and construction contractor to deliver complex turnkey plants and system solutions. We also offer comprehensive, expert and reliable after-sales services for operators of existing plants. The proximity to our clients is important to us. That is why you will find us not only in Zurich, but wherever you need us. https://www.hz-inova.com/

About IFS

IFS develops and delivers cloud enterprise software for companies around the world who manufacture and distribute goods, build, and maintain assets, and manage service-focused operations. Within our single platform, our industry specific products are innately connected to a single data model and use embedded digital innovation so that our customers can be their best when it really matters to their customers-at the Moment of Service. The industry expertise of our people and of our growing ecosystem, together with a commitment to deliver value at every single step, has made IFS a recognized leader and the most recommended supplier in our sector. Our team of 5,000 employees every day live our values of agility, trustworthiness, and collaboration in how we support our 10,000+ customers. Learn more about how our enterprise software solutions can help your business today at ifs.com.

CONTACT:

EUROPE / MEA / APJ: Adam Gillbe

IFS, Director of Corporate & Executive Communications

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +44 7775 114 856

NORTH AMERICA / LATAM: Mairi Morgan

Corporate Communications

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +1 520 396 2155

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/ifs/r/cleantech-company-hitachi-zosen-inova-selects-ifs-cloud-to-support-global-transformation-project,c3629531

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Public/855/3629531/a85e11e5ec82cff7.pdf Hitachi IFS Press Release https://news.cision.com/ifs/i/hitachi-final-pic,c3088419 Hitachi Final Pic

SOURCE IFS
Company Names Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer

DALLAS, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cotton Patch Cafe , a Texas-inspired, scratch-made restaurant serving Texas classics, today announced the appointment of Stephanie Callihan to chief financial officer and Todd McEvoy to chief operations officer. Both will report directly to the CEO and serve on the Cotton Patch Cafe leadership team.

"We are fortunate to have two team members who have dedicated a considerable portion of their outstanding careers to the growth and success of our brand," said Mazen Albatarseh, CEO of Cotton Patch Cafe. "Their institutional knowledge and dedication to Cotton Patch Cafe are invaluable to our organization as we continue to expand our presence throughout Texas," Albatarseh adds.

About Stephanie Callihan

Stephanie Callihan kicked off her restaurant industry career with P.F. Chang's China Bistro & Pei Wei Asian Diner in Scottsdale, Ariz., where she served in various accounting and FP&A roles and was responsible for analysis and insights for the sister companies. After nearly six years, she switched industries and moved into FP&A at GoDaddy. However, the restaurant industry called upon her again, this time with Cotton Patch Cafe - where she has spent nearly a decade moving through the ranks from director of business intelligence, chief administrative officer and now to her current role as chief financial officer.

About Todd McEvoy

McEvoy's 25-plus year career with Cotton Patch Cafe began in 1997 as an assistant manager. Noting his passion for the brand, McEvoy quickly moved into a role as general manager, where he remained for 16 years. His in-depth understanding of local store operations prepared him for more strategic company roles as area director and later as director of brand standards. Noting his passion for the operational side of the business, Cotton Patch's management moved McEvoy to director of operational services and later vice president of operations, where he served until his promotion to COO.

About Cotton Patch Cafe

Founded in Nacogdoches, Texas, in 1989, Dallas-based Cotton Patch Cafe is a Texas-inspired, homestyle restaurant serving Southern classics in its 49 locations across Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Cotton Patch is deeply committed to being a community partner in each town it calls home and gives to many local organizations and charities, in addition to being a major donor to Scottish Rite for Children. For more information, visit cottonpatch.com or follow Cotton Patch Cafe on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .

SOURCE Cotton Patch Cafe
With The New "Free REIGN" Rewards Program Customers Can Earn Points To Redeem Exclusive Swag, Including A Custom Branded AssaultBike Pro

CORONA, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- REIGN Total Body Fuel, the ultimate performance beverage created by Monster Energy, is rewarding their customers with one of the most comprehensive and practical loyalty programs on the market. By earning one point for every can purchased, customers can redeem their rewards for exclusive REIGN swag including sweatshirts, towels, backpacks, massage guns, and even the Custom Branded AssaultBike Pro valued at $1,500.

Natalie Eva Marie and Hafthor Bjornsson Customers WIN Big and Get Rewarded With REIGN Total Body Fuels First Ever National Loyalty Program

Easy to earn, customers can scan the QR code, found in stores on REIGN signage, which will take them to freereign.reignbodyfuel.com. Once they set up an account, they're ready to begin earning rewards. By simply uploading a photo of their receipt, they can start earning points with every purchase.

"Our customers are some of the hardest workers out there," said Monster Energy CMO Dan McHugh. "Whether they're waking up at 5AM to hit the gym before a long day, or burning the midnight oil and getting a workout in after hours, we wanted to make sure we're rewarding them for their continued support. We are so excited to be launching Free REIGN and providing our customers with rewards that actually matter to them and limited-edition swag that they'll actually use."

Keep an eye on REIGN Legends such as Hafthor Bjornsson and Natalie Eva Marie, who will be supporting Free REIGN on social media!

Perfect for energizing consumers pre, during, or post workout, REIGN Total Body Fuel helps refuel, refresh and recover; featuring 300mg of natural caffeine, CoQ10, BCAA's, and electrolytes, all with zero sugar, and zero artificial flavors or colors. REIGN Total Body Fuel is available nationwide in 10 delicious flavors, including the newest addition, Reignbow Sherbet.

Visit ReignBodyFuel.com and follow @ReignBodyFuel on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to join the movement!

About Monster Energy

Based in Corona, California, Monster Energy is the leading marketer of energy drinks and alternative beverages. Refusing to acknowledge the traditional, Monster Energy supports the scene and sport. Whether motocross, off-road, NASCAR, MMA, BMX, surf, snowboard, ski, skateboard, eSports or the rock and roll lifestyle, Monster Energy is a brand that believes in authenticity and the core of what its sports, athletes, gamers and musicians represent. More than a drink, it's the way of life lived by athletes, sports, bands, believers, and fans. See more about Monster Energy including all its drinks at www.monsterenergy.com .

SOURCE REIGN Total Body Fuel
New safes for controlled substances anticipated to help reduce organized retail crime

All 213 CVS Pharmacy locations across Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas now using time delay safe technology

WOONSOCKET, R.I., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of an ongoing commitment to support law enforcement and help build safer communities, CVS Health ( NYSE: CVS) today announced the installation of time delay safe technology in all 213 CVS Pharmacy locations, including those in Target stores, across three states in the southern U.S. The states and corresponding number of pharmacy locations include Louisiana (133), Mississippi (57) and Arkansas (23).

CVS Pharmacy locations now feature signs notifying customers about the chain's time-delay safe technology to help deter pharmacy robberies and diversion of controlled substance narcotic medications. (PRNewsfoto/CVS Pharmacy)

The safes are anticipated to help prevent pharmacy robberies and the potential for associated diversion of controlled substance medications  including opioid medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone  by electronically delaying the time it takes for pharmacy employees to open the safe. In addition, the safes are anticipated to benefit the safety and well-being of CVS Pharmacy customers and employees.

The company's rollout of time delay safe technology is in support of each of these states' partnerships with local and state law enforcement and the retail community to fight back against escalating organized retail crime.

"Supporting law enforcement efforts in their battle against organized retail crime remains a key focus for our company," said Thomas M. Moriarty, chief policy officer and general counsel, CVS Health, today during a news conference at a CVS Pharmacy in New Orleans. "Criminal activities that organized retail crime rings fund are a clear danger to our communities, so it is important that retailers, law enforcement and political leaders work together to solve this problem. Time delay safes can help reduce the theft and diversion of prescription medications and bring added security to our stores which creates a safe environment for our patients and colleagues."

"Crime is out of control, and it is going to take a multi-dimensional approach to help keep our neighbors safe," said Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry. "As I work to combat criminal activities, I am grateful for public and private partners like CVS who are taking proactive approaches to enhancing public safety. Together, we can and we will make Louisiana a safer place to live, work, and visit."

CVS Health first implemented time delay safe technology in 2015 in CVS Pharmacy locations across Indianapolis, a city experiencing a high volume of pharmacy robberies at the time. The company saw a 70 percent decline in pharmacy robberies among the Indianapolis stores where time delay safes had been installed. Since then, the company has introduced time delay safes across 32 states nationwide, and the District of Columbia, resulting in a 50 percent decline in robberies at CVS pharmacies in those local communities.

The time delay function cannot be overridden and is designed to serve as a deterrent to would-be pharmacy robbers whose goal is to enter and exit their robbery targets as quickly as possible. All CVS Pharmacy locations with this technology display visible signage warning that time delay safes are in use to prevent on-demand access to controlled substance narcotics.

The CVS Health time delay safe program is one of many company initiatives to help address and prevent prescription medication misuse and diversion.

Presently, the company supports over 4,300 safe medication disposal units in CVS Pharmacy locations and through local law enforcement organizations nationwide. Together, these existing medication disposal units have collected more than 4 million pounds of unwanted medications that might otherwise have been diverted, misused, or ended up in the water supply.

For downloadable time delay safe photos, please visit the Media Resource Center.

About CVS Health

CVS Health is the leading health solutions company, delivering care like no one else can. We reach more people and improve the health of communities across America through our local presence, digital channels and over 300,000 dedicated colleagues  including more than 40,000 physicians, pharmacists, nurses and nurse practitioners. Wherever and whenever people need us, we help them with their health  whether that's managing chronic diseases, staying compliant with their medications or accessing affordable health and wellness services in the most convenient ways. We help people navigate the health care system  and their personal health care  by improving access, lowering costs and being a trusted partner for every meaningful moment of health. And we do it all with heart, each and every day. Follow @CVSHealth on social media.

Media contact:

Shannon Dillon, CVS Health

346-291-7131

[email protected]

SOURCE CVS Health
Highly decorated veteran and recipient of the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the 2022 ESPYS leads effort to raise awareness and funds for service dogs for veterans

PHOENIX, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dogtopia, the national dog daycare franchise, announced today its new Dogs Save Lives campaign, which runs through Veterans Day on November 11 with retired Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Gretchen Evans leading the way. The campaign includes national speaking engagements and a limited-edition Dogs Save Lives T-shirt that will benefit the brand's charitable arm, Dogtopia Foundation, and its mission to provide service dogs for veterans.

The Dogs Save Lives campaign is an effort to raise the public's awareness of the benefits of service dogs for veterans by highlighting the experience of CSM Gretchen Evans, a US Army veteran whose 27-year military career ended abruptly in Afghanistan when rocket blast threw her headfirst into a concrete bunker, leaving her with a traumatic brain injury and total hearing loss. Evans was feeling hopeless and without purpose when America's VetDogs introduced her to Aura, a service dog who would become her ears and loyal companion on a journey of healing. America's VetDogs is a national nonprofit that trains and places guide and service dogs with veterans, first responders and active-duty service members, with disabilities, free of charge. Evans credits Aura with saving her life and is now on a mission to amplify the importance of service dogs for veterans as the ambassador of Dogtopia's Dogs Save Lives campaign.

"I am living proof that dogs save lives," said Evans. "I'll wear this T-shirt proudly as both an ambassador and as a personal testimony to the incredible healing power that dogs have in the lives of their humans."

Over the next two months, Evans will be wearing a Dogs Save Lives T-shirt as she shares her inspirational story and engages supporters at fundraisers hosted by Dogtopia franchisees in select markets across the country.

Gretchen also can be seen sharing her story and wearing the Dogs Save Lives T-shirt in a video on the campaign website, where supporters across the country can join the effort by purchasing the limited-edition Dogs Save Lives T-shirt for $22.99. One hundred percent of all net proceeds from the T-shirt sales will support the Dogtopia Foundation's efforts to unite service dogs with veterans through its partnerships with America's VetDogs, K9s For Warriors and other Assistance Dog International (ADI) certified nonprofit organizations.

Each limited-edition Dogs Save Lives T-shirt is delivered with a Buy It. Wear it. Share it. call-to-action postcard insert encouraging purchasers to share their tees on social media using the #DogsSaveLives hashtag and engaging friends to join the campaign.

"We are incredibly fortunate to have Gretchen as our ambassador for our Dogs Save Lives campaign," said Dogtopia CEO Neil Gill. "She is a servant leader who has pivoted her life's purpose in a powerful way and with a very important message that resonates with anyone who has a dog in their life. Our hope is to see thousands of people across the country wearing Dogs Save Lives tees and getting behind this noble cause, and Gretchen absolutely has the gumption to make it happen."

About Dogtopia:

Founded in 2002, Dogtopia is an early pioneer and innovator in the pet services industry, offering an experience focused on wellness, quality of care, safety and transparency in the market. The ultimate destination for improving the physical and mental well-being of dogs and pet parents, Dogtopia helps our furry friends live long, healthy, and happy lives with services that address canine wellness in a holistic manner. Pet parents have the assurance of leaving their beloved furry family members in the hands of trained professionals in an environment created with the safety of dogs in mind, including an open-play environment with comfortable rubber flooring to ease joints and paws, top quality meals and snacks, as well as webcams for pet parents to check in on their pups. For more information, visit www.dogtopia.com.

About Dogtopia Foundation

The Dogtopia Foundation's mission is to "enable dogs to positively change our world" and does this by supporting programs, research and initiatives focused around three worthy causes: Service Dogs for Veterans, Youth Literacy Programs that foster the joy of reading, and Employment Initiatives for Adults with Autism. 100 percent of all donations are given directly organizations that help returning veterans, young school children, and adults with autism reach their full potential. To learn more, visit www.dogtopiafoundation.org.

Media Contact: David Robertson, Fishman Public Relations, [email protected] or 847-945-1300

SOURCE Dogtopia
SOLANA BEACH, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Edgevana, the leader in accelerating the foundation for the next-generation of the internet has announced it is working with the Solana Foundation for Tour de Sun 22 in an effort to expand decentralization.

Tour de Sun 2022 was built to encourage the geographic and hardware diversification of the Solana networks. Edgevana's next-generation decentralized bare metal and automation offers a performance-based incentive option for a limited number of validators who participate in the Foundation's Delegation Program.

Edgevana & Solana Foundation - Tour de Sun 2022

Dan Albert, Executive Director of Solana Foundation said "Launching Tour de Sun 2022 with support from Edgevana just made sense. Edgevana has a seamless validator onboarding experience in addition to locations and networks that will truly promote decentralization in the Solana network. Not to mention for the first time ever, validators can pay for hosting with Solana Pay!"

"Over the past few months, Edgevana has been working with protocols to promote decentralization through unique programs such as Tour de Sun. Edgevana is proud to work with Solana Foundation to enable their validator community to participate by reducing barriers to entry and complexity while building a stronger web 3.0 ecosystem and network" Subhan Jahromi Co-Founder & COO of Edgevana. "Validators who onboard with Edgevana can participate within minutes". Jahromi continued.

About Edgevana

Edgevana the leader in accelerating the foundation for the next generation of internet partners directly with protocols to simplify, accelerate, and fully decentralize their networks. Edgevana provides a breadth of services that removes barriers to entry for participation regardless of technical know-how while allowing protocols to gain access to an entirely new market of participants.

About Solana Foundation

The Solana Foundation is a non-profit foundation based in Zug, Switzerland, dedicated to the decentralization, adoption and security of the Solana ecosystem. For more information, please visit https://solana.org/

About Tour de Sun 2022

In an effort to encourage the geographic and hardware diversification of the Solana networks, Solana Foundation offers a performance-based incentive option for a limited number of validators who participate in the Foundation's Delegation Program.

Through the Tour de Sun 22 incentives and the Server Program, the Solana Foundation is helping more validators and RPC operators access infrastructure suited to the requirements of the Solana network.

SOURCE Edgevana
RESTON, Va., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Electrosoft Services, Inc., an award-winning federal IT and professional services firm specializing in cybersecurity, announced today it has been awarded an $11.7 million prime contract from the General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Government-wide Policy (OGP), Identity Assurance and Trusted Access Division (IATAD).

The IATAD coordinates the government-wide civilian agency execution of ICAM policies and standards to align with the Federal ICAM (FICAM) Architecture. Electrosoft will support IATAD programs to assure the availability of a consistent and effective set of ICAM policies, standards and governance practices and compliant, interoperable and secure ICAM products and solutions in the marketplace.

Under the newly awarded Federal Public Key Infrastructure (FPKI) Subject Matter Expert (SME) Support Services contract, Electrosoft will assist IATAD with development, management and execution of the division's responsibilities from an innovative and strategic perspective, including:

FPKI policy and operational governance including support to the FPKI Policy Authority (FPKIPA) and associated working groups;

Strategy development for test and evaluation of shared ICAM solutions under the FIPS 201 Evaluation Program, including operating the Physical Access Control Systems (PACS) test laboratory; and

Guidance and playbook creation based on the FICAM Architecture and identity management policies, standards and initiatives.

"GSA leads the field in delivering government-wide trust services and ICAM solutions that enable agencies to better achieve their mission goals," said Dr. Sarbari Gupta, Electrosoft CEO. "Under this contract, Electrosoft will leverage more than 16 years of FPKI and ICAM thought leadership to provide the GSA OGP IATAD with support and subject matter expertise to meet their mission objectives."

The five-year contract has a one-year base period and four option years.

About Electrosoft

Electrosoft delivers comprehensive technology-based solutions and services that propel mission success for federal government customers. Specializing in cybersecurity, Electrosoft supports civilian and defense organizations in advancing cybersecurity postures, modernizing technology ecosystems and adopting agile approaches to improve operational efficiency and security. Recognized for deep domain knowledge and mature management practices, the company is rated at Maturity Level 3 for CMMI-DEV and CMMI-SVC and is certified under ISO 9001, ISO 20000-1 and ISO 27001. The rapidly growing 8(a), economically disadvantaged, women-owned small business (EDWOSB) and WOSB is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Learn more at www.electrosoft-inc.com.

Press Contact

Jeanne Zepp

[email protected]

SOURCE Electrosoft Services, Inc.
Rumba Meats is celebrating the tremendous impact of the Hispanic community and its youth as the brand surpasses $200,000 in contributions to the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute

WICHITA, Kan., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- For the fourth consecutive year, Cargill and Rumba Meats are donating $50,000 to the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI) to support scholarship and development opportunities for future Hispanic leaders in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. With its brand identity rooted in Hispanic culture and customs, Rumba Meats continues its commitment to recognizing this community that has long enriched the country.

Uplifting Future Hispanic Leaders and Voices

Rumba Meats logo Based in Chicago, USHLI is an award-winning national nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization. Since 1982, USHLI has registered 2.3 million new voters; published 425 reports on Latino demographics in the Almanac of Latino Politics; sponsored 38 annual national conferences, each attended by leaders from 40 states; trained over 1.1 million present and future leaders; and awarded over $1.3 million in scholarships and internships.

Those who observe Hispanic Heritage Month expect brands to authentically honor the rich traditions in a myriad of ways, especially food brands given their role in Hispanic culture. Furthermore, many value organizations that prioritize charitable efforts supporting youth and have a strong presence in local areas where Hispanic populations are present. Knowing these up-and-coming leaders have the power to shape  and re-shape  these communities across the country, Rumba Meats is encouraging the ongoing support of the future Hispanic leaders of America.

This year, Rumba Meats is furthering its partnership with USHLI by providing 25 scholarships of $1,000 for post-secondary education to high school seniors across the U.S. The brand will also donate proceeds from consumer purchases starting September 1 through October 31.

This fourth year marks a total donation of $200,000 in scholarships and additional funding for USHLI's Student Leadership Series program that connects students with resources, tools, and support to achieve higher education. To date, the program has reached 908,104 participants in 39 states.

"At Rumba Meats, our priority remains helping the Hispanic community celebrate and preserve their heritage through food, including empowering today's youth to become tomorrow's leaders at home, work, and in their communities," said Tammy Gonzales, Cargill's Rumba Meats marketing manager. "We are excited to see the endless positive contributions these future leaders will have on our society."

"Through scholarships and efforts such as these, our Hispanic youth can turn a pursuit of higher education into a reality," said Dr. Juan Andrade, Jr., president and co-founder of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute. "The impact Rumba Meats has had on our students and beyond over the past several years has been tremendous. When students are given the tools and support to succeed, they are afforded the confidence to apply themselves to make their futures better, as well as the next generation's."

"I can proudly say that my Hispanic culture and community is just about anywhere and sharing in similar experiences despite our varying backgrounds makes me proud," said Maria Emilia Mancero, a 2022 scholarship recipient. "Our voices are our strongest tool  we use them in politics, music, and education to uplift one another and tell stories, and I want to continue using my voice which Rumba Meats is allowing me to do with this incredible opportunity."

Currently enrolled high school seniors across the country can apply for the Rumba Meats Scholarship now through Nov. 30. To learn more, including eligibility requirements, students can visit: www.ushli.org/rumba.

To learn more about how Rumba Meats is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, visit rumbameats.com/heritage-starts-here and on Facebook @RumbaMeats and Instagram @rumbameats .

About Rumba Meats

Rumba Meats, part of the Cargill family of brands, helps the Latino community celebrate their culture and preserve their heritage through food. With more than 30 different specialty beef cuts available, Rumba Meats delivers high-quality traditional variety meats and thin-sliced beef that are an integral part of Latino traditions and culture. Customers can find Rumba Meats in a variety of retail locations and for delivery nationwide. To learn more, and where to purchase Rumba Meats, visit https://rumbameats.com/ or on Facebook @RumbaMeats, and on Instagram @rumbameats.

About Cargill

Cargill's 155,000 employees across 70 countries work relentlessly to achieve our purpose of nourishing the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. Every day, we connect farmers with markets, customers with ingredients, and people and animals with the food they need to thrive. We combine 157 years of experience with new technologies and insights to serve as a trusted partner for food, agriculture, financial and industrial customers in more than 125 countries. Side by side, we are building a stronger, sustainable future for agriculture.

About the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute

Based in Chicago, USHLI is an award-winning national nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization. Since 1982, USHLI has registered 2.3 million new voters; published over 425 reports on Latino demographics including our biennial Almanac of Latino Politics; sponsored 40 annual national conferences, each attended by leaders from 42 states; trained over 1.1 million present and future leaders; and awarded over $1.4 million in scholarships and internships.

SOURCE Cargill, Inc.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new cost analysis by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), providing for the needs of illegal aliens who entered the country under President Biden adds an additional $20.4 billion annual burden on American taxpayers. This figure is in addition to the well over $140 billion a year cost burden taxpayers are already bearing to provide benefits and services for the longer-term illegal alien population.

The Biden administration has willingly released approximately 1.3 million illegal aliens into the country's interior after removals and Title 42 expulsions are accounted for. Add to this figure approximately 1 million "gotaways" according to FAIR's sources within U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and it can be safely estimated that approximately 2.3 million illegal aliens successfully entered the country's interior after President Biden took office.

Based on the most recent comprehensive cost study, FAIR conservatively estimates that each illegal alien costs American taxpayers $9,232 per year.

"Even in an age in which trillion dollar spending packages are considered modest, the additional $20.4 billion the Biden Border Crisis has heaped onto the backs of American taxpayers is still staggering," noted Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "$20.4 billion could address some very important needs of the American public, instead of covering the costs of the surge of illegal migration triggered by this administration's policies."

The $20.4 billion that taxpayers will spend this year, on just the illegal aliens who have entered the country in the last year and half, could cover the cost of:

Providing every homeless veteran in America $50,000 per year for a decade. This would effectively end veteran homelessness.

per year for a decade. This would effectively end veteran homelessness. Giving every family in America earning $50k or less a grocery voucher of roughly $410 .

or less a grocery voucher of roughly . Providing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to more than 7 million additional needy families.

Funding and expanding the entire National School Lunch Program.

Hiring more than 315,000 police officers to combat rising crime across the country.

Hiring of 330,000 new teachers, which would easily end the long-standing teacher shortage in America.

Construction of nearly the entire Southern Border Wall (which could prevent millions more illegal aliens from entering).

"According to another new report, 35 percent of U.S. families with a full-time worker struggle to meet their basic needs. These are the people President Biden pledged to champion. Instead, he is choosing to divert an additional $20.4 billion away from their needs, in order to fund a radical open borders agenda with no end in sight," concluded Stein.

Contact: Ron Kovach, 202-328-7004 or [email protected]

ABOUT FAIR

Founded in 1979, FAIR is the country's largest immigration reform group. With over 3 million members and supporters nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.

SOURCE Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)
ff Blue & Yellow Heritage Fund targets $50M to back Ukrainian entrepreneurs amid unprecedented challenges

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ff Venture Capital (ffVC), an early-stage venture firm, has launched the ff Blue & Yellow Heritage Fund, the first US venture capital fund exclusively for Ukrainian founders and startups. Targeting $50mm, the Fund has received early commitments for $30mm from leading institutional, family offices and corporate investors. With a signed memorandum with the Ukrainian government and access to ffVC's extensive network of Ukrainian entrepreneurs, the fund will support Ukrainian startups facing unprecedented challenges from the Russian invasion, while enabling breakthrough technology from an emerging innovation hub.

"Ukrainian companies are traditionally among the best software developers in the world. Ukraine has everything to become a powerful IT hub and enter the top five European companies in terms of the number of startups per capita," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in prepared remarks to be delivered at the SALT New York 2022 conference later today. "Ukraine is the biggest economic project of postwar reconstruction in our lifetime. You may ask how you can get involved. My answer is: invest. Invest in Ukrainian companies and startups. Support funds that help Ukrainian talent."

The Blue & Yellow Heritage Fund will invest in startups led by Ukrainian founders, startups relocated from Ukraine and startups that employ Ukrainian refugees. As one of the only US VC firms with established operations in Central and Eastern Europe, ffVC will provide unparalleled access to a business ecosystem to create opportunities across the region. The fund will prioritize providing offices and resources for Ukrainian startups relocating across Central and Eastern Europe and creating jobs for refugees, while accelerating long-term technology development in areas critical to Ukrainian development. Additionally, all investments will include strong oversight and governance controls.

"The IT sphere has become one of the few that continues to steadily fill the Ukrainian state budget, despite the full-scale invasion," said Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation. "Tech companies strongly support the economy of Ukraine. They will become the future recovery of our country. So we have to help existing companies and encourage the development of new ones. ffVC's Blue and Yellow Heritage Fund will play an important role in this. It will invest in our startups and specialists when it is most needed."

Ukraine has a storied tradition of world-class innovation and investment success, including the invention of the harddrive, the market-leading software development platform (Gitlab) and a messaging platform that billions use every month (WhatsApp). Recent unicorns built by Ukrainian entrepreneurs and engineers include Affirm, Gitlab, Grammarly and People.ai; even in the depths of the war, Ukrainian innovation continues in a range of applications from drones to cybersecurity. Ukraine has more graduates with degrees in technology than most European countries and 240,000 citizens employed in the information technology sector. The nation was ranked as fifth for developers in a 2019 SkillValue ranking and is home to R&D centers for more than 100 major tech companies, including Google, Samsung, Snap, Oracle, Nvidia, Lyft and Ring.

"Ukrainian startups continue to thrive amid unprecedented economic headwinds," said Mariusz Adamski, ffVC partner based in Warsaw. "We know from years as one of the only US venture firm with established operations in Eastern Europe that investing in Ukrainian innovation consistently fuels strong outcomes. There is no better time for ffVC to lead the way advancing Ukrainian startups with financial and strategic support that will create more Ukrainian technology powerhouses, while offering immediate help to startups who need it now."

In 2019, ffVC led the seed round for Respeecher, which provides voice-cloning software for content creators and works on prominent projects including The Mandalorian. "Ukrainian entrepreneurs are building world-class products and need support now, but many investors are avoiding our country because of the war and our small early-stage venture ecosystem," said Kyiv-based Respeecher CEO Alex Serdiuk. "ffVC's network and expertise has helped Respeecher avoid any disruption of operations and even grow our customer base during the invasion. They're providing tremendous value not only by accelerating our business, but also by empowering the broader Ukrainian entrepreneurship community."

About ffVC

ff Venture Capital (ffVC) is an early-stage venture firm focused on global opportunities, with 90+ active portfolio companies across emerging technology sectors, including Applied AI, FinTech, Insurtech, Drones and Robotics. Notable investments include: Addepar, Cornerstone OnDemand, Clarity Money (acquired by: Goldman Sachs), Movable Ink, Omaze, Owlet, Plated (Albertsons), Transactis (MasterCard), Rescale and Socure. Founded in 2008, ffVC has offices in New York and Warsaw. To learn more about ffVC and the ff Blue & Yellow Heritage Fund, visit ffvc.com/ukraine.

SOURCE ff Venture Capital
SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tridge, South Korean agricultural trading platform, successfully facilitated the first ever export of Egyptian grapes to Brazil.

A major food wholesaler in Sao Paulo, Brazil, recently purchased two containers- equivalent to 28 tonnes - of Egyptian grapes via the Tridge platform.This is the first consignment of Egyptian grapes imported to Brazil, according to Brazilian trade records.

Brazil, as a main agriculture producing country, rarely imports foreign grapes, with its import volume of grapes ranking 67th last year. However, the demand for foreign grapes is increasing due to the recent extreme weather conditions. A large volume of Brazilian grapes deteriorated this season as heavy rains and cold fronts hit Southern Brazil.

"Now is the perfect time to export Egyptian grapes, which are currently in the midst of grape harvesting." said Oh Kwang, trade manager for Tridge. "The MERCOSUR - Egypt Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2020 opened a pathway to export Egyptian grapes to Brazil, which made this unique trade deal successful."

According to Tridge's data, Brazilian grape exports are estimated to have decreased by more than 45% YoY in the first six months of 2022. The price of Brazilian grapes has increased up to 20% YoY in some regions, according to Tridge's data compilation.

In the midst of a global food crisis, Tridge is actively finding alternate buyers and suppliers for their perishable products with notable successes. For example, when trade sanctions over the war in Ukraine stopped fresh produce exports to Russia, Tridge redirected them to Europe when they were already en route by sea.

Tridge is a global agricultural trading platform that makes cross-border trade easy and frictionless. With its proprietary global sourcing hub, Tridge goes beyond matching buyers and sellers of 15,000 agricultural goods. This is facilitated through our one-stop fulfillment service that includes due diligence, supplier certificate verification, contract negotiation, packaging, shipping, customs, and many more.

SOURCE Tridge
ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Food Forest Abundance, with operations in 12 countries and 35 states, announced today the creation of their new Freedom Farm Academies. This comes at a time when the UN warns of a looming, widespread food crisis. David Beasley, Executive Director of World Food Program said in an August 22 interview with PBS, "It's a very serious problem. And we're facing an unprecedented food crisis globally."

"The solution we demonstrate is not hypothetical, the solution has been proven all over the world, and it has no downside," said Jim Gale, the CEO and Chief Storyteller at Food Forest Abundance. "We believe not just in teaching people how to fish but teaching people how to teach people how to fish. People's eyes light up when they experience and innerstand what we're doing for the world."

The solution we demonstrate is not hypothetical, the solution has been proven all over the world, and it has no downside Tweet this

The Freedom Farm Academies still involve the proven methodology called Permaculture. Permaculture is as old as earth's first forest and is a way of growing food in a manner consistent with what one may find in a forest. The underlying principle is that a forest grows everything, including lots of edible foods, without any pesticides, insecticides or fertilizer. "The forest has seven plus layers," Gale added. "It's all about building soil and designing in foods that we love. The only losers in this process are the companies selling the pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers."

Food grown in healthy soil is described as beyond organic. Food Forest Abundance is helping individuals, families and communities to use their land wisely. The new Freedom Farm Academies are strategically positioned to bring these solutions to every community in the world, so people can experience first hand what true freedom looks, feels and even tastes like. "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete is what Buckminister Fuller said," concluded Gale.

"Nature is abundant therefore food should be too. You should be able to go into your yard, a city park, your kid's school yard or in the area around your church and grab something to eat that's healthy, and most importantly free," said Darin Olien, co-host of the Emmy Award Winning, #1 Netflix docu-series, 'Down to Earth' with Zac Efron. "I did this as a kid and we should do this again. I'm excited that this is igniting a revolution in how we grow our food, how we eat and how we live. I believe it's the key to restoring self reliance and freedom. There should never be anyone going hungry again."

About Food Forest Abundance: Food Forest Abundance helps people grow their own food. By leveraging the science of permaculture (permanent agriculture) and by working in harmony with nature, they are able to design and install beautiful food forests at homes, schools, churches, city parks, long term care homes, corporate campuses and more, that yield incredible amounts of healthy, poison free food. Food Forest Abundance has a team of professional permaculture design specialists and installers around the world who are ready to help you today. Growing your own food, strengthening your community and growing freedom. Connect with Food Forest Abundance today at https://foodforestabundance.com/resources/press-room/

SOURCE Food Forest Abundance
KUWAIT CITY, Sept. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- If you are a pop and rock enthusiast, this one will interest you a great deal. Over the course of two days, on September 29 - 30, the National Theater at Jaber Al-Ahmed Cultural Center, will entertain two high-profile concerts, by the US group Boyce Avenue, who will meet the fans for the first time in Kuwait.

Uninterrupted Return

JACC Presents Boyce Avenue (PRNewsfoto/Jaber Al-Ahmed Cultural Center)

"Hello again" is the suitable label for this musical tour, especially as it comes after a year of the band's forced pause. However, the lack of shows does not mean a lack of music. As a result, the band released their fifth album in early 2021 titled : Boyce Avenue Greatest Hits. It features the group's best songs and top hits.

Of Sarasota Into The World

2004 on Boyce Street in Sarasota, Florida, where the siblings' talent was no secret. After graduating from Pine View High and completing their studies at Florida and Harvard colleges, the band was set up to have three members: Alejandro Luis Manzano, Fabian Rafael Manzano, Daniel Enrique Manzano. And with a strong desire, a big ambition and better chances than ever, the band was formed as amateurs.

Entering Music, Exiting Internet

Halfway through the band's career, YouTube came along, and in September of this year, 15 years have gone by since their first video was published - a cover song of Before It's Too Late by the Goo Goo Dolls - and with brilliant collaborations with other groups, different artists and very successful musical choices, They managed to get six billion views and win millions of subscribers, Today, Boyce Avenue is regarded as one of the site's unparalleled and most popular bands .

Back To Roots

Music is a special treat and Boyce Avenue knows it, so independence has always been the plan. To date, the group has released five albums of their own production, and after a brief troubled experience with a music production company, the band went back to playing by their rules : singing to a certain style, at their convenience and with fewer restrictions. Even-though the band has its own musical assets, it continues to perform covers, considering that at the end of the day, the sole purpose of art is to create it and, as long as the experience is fun, the band insists on repeating it.

Exceptional, Varied, And Original

A mix of pop and rock side by side, no admiration is lost or diminished. So, what can you expect?

You'll find yourself facing a changing, variable performance, not-in-the-least strayed or distorted. Sure thing here, you won't fall into the trap of monotone even for once. It's just fun and different.

Jaber Al-Ahmed Cultural Center JACC is an architectural and cultural landmark in the heart of Kuwait that opened in 2016 and aims to highlight and showcase local and international arts and creations and is a national center for culture in the country .It consists of 4 buildings with attractive jewel-inspired design and contains theaters, conference halls, concert halls,exhibition halls and restaurants surrounded by parks and green spaces.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1896237/Boyce_Avenue.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1829320/Jaber_Al_Ahmed_Cultural_Centre_Logo.jpg

Contact: + 965 22060880, [email protected]

SOURCE Jaber Al-Ahmed Cultural Center
Public and non-profit workers to benefit from enhanced low-cost professionally managed solutions

SAN MATEO, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Franklin Templeton announced today that it is transitioning its 403(b) business to PCS Retirement's Aspire 403(b) platform. This partnership brings together best-in-class investment options made available through Franklin Templeton's global asset management expertise and the transparent, market-leading services offered by Aspire, a division of PCS Retirement, the nation's largest independent recordkeeper serving K-12 retirement plans.

"Everything we do is guided by our core belief that every U.S. worker and household has the right to experience financial wellbeing throughout each phase of life," said Yaqub Ahmed, Head of Retirement, Insurance & 529  U.S. at Franklin Templeton. "By partnering with PCS Retirement, a leader in the public and non-profit space, we are able to provide a traditionally underserved group of workers with high-quality solutions  all with the goal of creating the opportunity for a better path towards financial independence."

403(b) plans are the retirement savings vehicles of choice for employees of public schools and certain tax-exempt organizations. To date, most 403(b) plans have included an annuity structure whereas the Aspire platform leverages mutual funds. Access to mutual funds allows participants to benefit from institutional-level pricing and creates a solution that is mindful of overall costs and focuses on transparency. With Aspire, existing and new Franklin Templeton participants can now gain access to new features, such as Roth 403(b) plans, enhanced financial literacy tools, and access to an unmatched lineup of independent specialist investment managers, including ClearBridge Investments and Western Asset. This partnership will also expand Franklin Templeton's reach in the K-12 market.

"Franklin Templeton's selection reinforces the low cost, transparent model that we've been promoting for the last 15 years," said Pete Kirtland, PCS Retirement's executive vice president of strategic sales. "In this partnership, we look forward to further innovating and evolving our solutions to support our mission of making retirement a reality for these employees who make such an important impact on our communities every day." Matt Drummond, national sales vice president for PCS Retirement, added, "Giving 403(b) participants access to low-cost and transparent investments is one of our core beliefs, and the ability to work with a world-class asset manager like Franklin Templeton, to increase their focus on the 403(b) market is good news for 403(b) participants everywhere".

Franklin Templeton has been committed to offering best-in-class 403(b) plans to plan sponsors and participants for decades, and this move to Aspire will only strengthen the firm's commitment as well as its reach.

About PCS Retirement

PCS Retirement is among the nation's largest independent and conflict-free retirement solution providers in the industry. PCS Retirement acquired Aspire in July 2019 and together, they provide recordkeeping services to 19,000 plans and 850,000 eligible participants representing $26+ billion in retirement assets. The Aspire 403b platform is a comprehensive retirement solution that includes business development tools for financial advisors and data-driven recordkeeping technology supporting individual retirement accounts and health savings accounts. With over 92,000 educators and school administrators and $6+ billion in retirement assets across 6,000 retirement plans, Aspire has developed a strong presence across the individual and multi-vendor retirement markets. To learn more, visit https://www.pcsretirement.com/.

About Franklin Templeton

Franklin Resources, Inc. [ NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 155 countries. Franklin Templeton's mission is to help clients achieve better outcomes through investment management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its specialist investment managers, the company offers boutique specialization on a global scale, bringing extensive capabilities in equity, fixed income, multi-asset solutions and alternatives. With offices in more than 30 countries and approximately 1,300 investment professionals, the California-based company has 75 years of investment experience and approximately $1.4 trillion in assets under management as of July 31, 2022. For more information, please visit franklintempleton.com and follow us on LinkedIn , Twitter and Facebook .

Copyright  2022. Franklin Distributors, LLC. All rights reserved.

SOURCE ASPIRE FINANCIAL SERVICES LLC
Bank Foundation Continues to Raise Funds to Achieve Greater Equality and Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs of Color

FAIRFAX, Va., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Freedom Bank of Virginia ( OTCQX: FDVA) announced today it will be hosting its first annual Freedom Bank Foundation Gala on Thursday, September 29 at Window Plaza in the Reston Town Center. The Gala will raise funds to promote economic inclusion in the local community and build on the exciting work the Freedom Bank Foundation has engaged in with the Community Business Partnership (CBP). The Foundation teamed with the CBP to launch the NOVA Freedom Fund which provides financing and technical assistance for minorities and entrepreneurs of color in the DC Region.

"We are thrilled to host the Freedom Bank Foundation Gala at the beautiful window plaza in the newest phase of the Reston Town Center. We are very thankful to Platinum Sponsor, Boston Properties, who generously donated the amazing venue for the event. It will be a fun evening focused on raising awareness and funds to increase economic inclusion and make our communities, more vibrant, and more equitable. We have already seen the fruits of the Foundation's work with the help of the CBP through the NOVA Freedom Fund. The Fund has assisted several local business owners transform their trajectory with essential funding to help their business grow and thrive," said Joe Thomas, President and CEO. "We invite our clients, vendor partners and community members to take advantage of the numerous ways to participate in the Gala as a sponsor, live auction donor or ticket holder to help the Foundation fulfil its critical mission," continued Mr. Thomas.

The Freedom Bank Foundation is a nonprofit, tax exempt charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are tax deductible as allowed by law. Businesses or individuals who are interested in attending or learning more about the Gala or the Foundation are asked to contact [email protected] or visit freedom.bank/foundation.

About Freedom Bank

Freedom Bank ( OTCQX: FDVA) is a next-generation community bank, headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, offering commercial banking, personal banking, and mortgage banking solutions using banker expertise and innovative technology to build lead relationships with clients. Focusing on businesses, real estate owners, and professionals, Freedom Bank concentrates on key industry verticals to deliver unique, sector-specific solutions to help clients meet their goals and realize their dreams. Freedom Bank has sales office locations in Fairfax, Vienna, Reston, Manassas, and Chantilly, VA. The Freedom Bank Mortgage Division is headquartered in Chantilly, VA and the Freedom Bank Small Business Lending Division is headquartered in Harrison, NY. For information about Freedom Bank, visit our website at www.freedom.bank.

Contact:

Joseph J. Thomas

President & Chief Executive Officer

Phone: 703-667-4161

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE The Freedom Bank of Virginia
Colorado's top staffing agency experiences tremendous revenue growth despite challenges in the industry

DENVER, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Freedom Healthcare Staffing, a rapid response staffing agency that provides skilled professional nurses and allied health professionals to hospitals and medical facilities, makes its fifth appearance on Inc.'s list of fastest-growing companies. With a new ranking at 2,534, Freedom Healthcare Staffing credits its success to its 227% revenue growth from 2018 to 2021.

Freedom Healthcare Staffing first appeared on the Inc. 5000's list in 2010 and since then, the company has worked diligently to grow profits, build relationships and establish leadership within the healthcare industry.

"This recognition is significant for our team because the industry is under tremendous pressure to perform now," said Susan Whitman, executive vice president and COO of Freedom Healthcare Staffing. "The last three years have been beyond stressful for hospital administrators, clinicians and our employees. Burnout has been a big issue and tackling this problem has been especially challenging. But moving up the Inc. ranking confirms that when we work through the tough times, we can accomplish great rewards together."

The companies on the 2022 Inc. 5000 have not only been successful, but have demonstrated resilience amid supply chain woes, labor shortages, and the ongoing impact of COVID-19.

"The accomplishment of building one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., in light of recent economic roadblocks, cannot be overstated," says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. "Inc. is thrilled to honor the companies that have established themselves through innovation, hard work, and rising to the challenges of today."

Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000 . The top 500 companies are featured in the September issue of Inc. magazine.

About Freedom Healthcare Staffing

Headquartered in Denver, Freedom Healthcare Staffing (Freedom) supports more than 60,000 high-quality, experienced nurses, allied professionals and clinical practitioners to healthcare facilities and government agencies across the nation. Founded in 2005 by a leadership team with first-hand, healthcare facility expertise, Freedom's 98% job fulfillment record confirms the company's commitment to meeting staffing demands for short- and long-term assignments. Freedom's focus on premium patient care gives facilities confidence when adapting to quickly changing healthcare environments. For more information about Freedom Healthcare Staffing, visit www.freedomhcs.com .

SOURCE Freedom Healthcare Staffing
Low- and no-code Marketplace applications offer consumable, easily repeatable, and easily sellable solutions that eliminate long development cycles

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan assessed the North American programmable communications industry and, based on its findings, recognizes IntelePeer with the 2022 North American Technology Innovation Leadership Award for its programmable communications solutions. A leading communications platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) provider, IntelePeer addresses the specific needs of business customers, differentiating itself by providing low- and no-code core application programming interface (API)-based communications solutions via the IntelePeer Marketplace.

IntelePeer

Get access to more details on IntelePeer's awards page here.

Marketplace provides both direct customers and channel partners with a new way to consume IntelePeer's CPaaS solutions. Marketplace initially launched with a selection of no-code apps, including Smart Routing, Smart IVR (interactive voice response), and Auto Response, that feature graphical interfaces allowing IT staff or even line-of-business leaders to rapidly deploy and easily manage. Since then, Marketplace has grown to include a selection of low-code applications that need minimal effort to be utilized. These applications include:

Payment Processing : Customers can securely make a payment over the phone.

: Customers can securely make a payment over the phone. Business Continuity Planning : Provides an automated system that can send proactive notifications when unexpected events shut down company operations.

: Provides an automated system that can send proactive notifications when unexpected events shut down company operations. Multi-factor Authentication : Adds an extra layer of protection on top of your username and password by enabling two-factor authentication (2FA).

: Adds an extra layer of protection on top of your username and password by enabling two-factor authentication (2FA). Appointment Reminder : Sends automated appointment reminders via SMS to customers.

: Sends automated appointment reminders via SMS to customers. Cloud Queuing: An app for contact centers that will manage inbound traffic, including unplanned surges, add incremental call queueing capacity, and provide insights into call analytics.

"By moving a suite of communications-focused products out of its Managed Solutions team, IntelePeer has made the most commonly requested solutions consumable, effortlessly repeatable, and easily sellable all while eliminating long development cycles and increasing time to value for the end user. The company launched Marketplace as a technology adoption avenue that enhances the stage-gate process for making new, standalone applications available to its customer base," said Michael Brandenburg, Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst.

IntelePeer Managed Solutions creates tailored solutions for customers that lack the time, staff, or resources to handle their own coding and packages its most frequently requested projects as standalone applications available on Marketplace. In addition, users can unhook, or detach, specific segments from an application and use IntelePeer SmartFlows, a drag and drop communications workflow builder, to easily customize a workflow for a particular business need. The company adds considerable value to businesses that need tactical solutions to address gaps in their existing communications infrastructure but lack the development resources to start from scratch.

Brandenburg further stated that "IntelePeer has long been spearheading the effort to democratize programmable communications by enabling line-of-business leaders to capitalize on what CPaaS can offer through the Marketplace. Businesses can leverage no-code applications to digitize workflows and improve customer engagement, backing the provider's robust platform and network."

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed a product with innovative features and functionality that is gaining rapid acceptance in the market. The award recognizes the quality of the solution and the customer value enhancements it enables.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in various regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

About Frost & Sullivan

For six decades, Frost & Sullivan has been world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.

Contact:

Kristen Moore

P: 1.832.341.8984

E: [email protected]

About IntelePeer

IntelePeer helps companies better engage their customers by creating modern customer experiences from the cloud that augment existing communication solutions in minutes. Its platform is a workflow communications engine that provides management for voice automation, messaging, AI, analytics, and the tools to help businesses tailor their customer engagement without requiring developer resources. IntelePeer provides its clients with instantly available pre-built solutions and workflow-based building tools to infinitely customize their interaction and rich APIs for more customized experiences, all built on its CPaaS platform. IntelePeer's easy-to-use and intuitive no-code templates, low-code, co-creation, and turn-key communication options result in rapid time to value for its customers, regardless of their technical experience. For more information, visit: www.IntelePeer.com

Media Contact:

Valerie Christopherson or Lora Wilson

Global Results Comms (GRC)

+1 949 608 0276

[email protected]

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Students from Georgia and Illinois will have the opportunity this week to hear from astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The two space-to-Earth calls will air live Tuesday, Sept. 13, and Thursday, Sept. 15, on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website.

NASA astronaut Bob Hines and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will answer prerecorded questions from students across Chicago at 10:15 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 13, as part of Junior Achievement of Chicago's Space Week, which provides students with an authentic look at living and working in space. The organization partners with schools to empower students and give them tools for financial success. Media interested in covering the event should contact Lindsey Palaschak at: [email protected] or 219-677-8902.

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren will answer prerecorded questions from students at Franklin County High School in Carnesville, Georgia, at 10:40 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 15. The downlink is part of a series of career events encouraging students to consider STEM careers and explore how non-aerospace industries support NASA missions. Media interested in covering the event should contact Andrew Fowler at: [email protected] or 706-384-4525.

For more than 21 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts living in space aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through the Near Space Network Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS).

Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars. Inspiring the next generation of explorers  the Artemis Generation  ensures America will continue to lead in space exploration and discovery.

See videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station at:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

SOURCE NASA
BEIJING, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in his first foreign visit since the COVID-19 pandemic, and inject more Chinese wisdom to the SCO which remains cohesive and attractive to potential new members by advocating equity, justice and true multilateralism in a turbulent and divided world.

The SCO summit in Samarkand will be the first in-person summit since June 2019 when leaders met in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi are among leaders expected to attend.

According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, Xi will also pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from September 14 to 16 at the invitation of the presidents of the two countries.

First foreign visit

The SCO, the first international organization named after a Chinese city, has a unique significance in China's diplomacy as it includes China's neighbors, regional powers, key BRI partners and plays an important role in coordinating regional affairs, observers said.

At a time when China is summarizing its achievements made in the past 10 years and is ready to embark on a new journey of great rejuvenation, the Central Asia trip and the summit of a Eurasian-spanning organization composed of countries of different development paths, systems and cultures, will be an ideal occasion for China to present its wisdom in development and international relations and make contributions to the world, analysts said.

Choosing the SCO summit as the destination of his first foreign visit since the pandemic demonstrates the great importance Xi attaches to the SCO and China's focus on neighborhood diplomacy, Li Ziguo, a senior research fellow with the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Monday.

Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China stressed that the SCO, accounting for 41 percent of the world's population and 24 percent of global GDP, and which keeps attracting more countries to join, is set to play a pivot role in interpreting and showcasing new forms of international relations, new forms of international organizations, and depicting new forms of human civilization.

Zhang Hong, an Eastern European studies expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said Xi's trip and attendance at the SCO summit will serve as a new booster for cooperation with Central Asian and South Asian countries to develop further, and push forward the BRI.

Given the complexity of international and regional situations, the SCO's development is an important pillar supporting true multilateralism and win-win cooperation, and the establishment of a new, democratic, just and rational political and economic international order, the expert said.

Kazakhstan is the place where Xi first proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. As of today, over 140 countries spanning different regions, cultures and stages of development, and more than 30 international organizations, have signed BRI cooperation documents with China, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

According to official data, China's trade with BRI economies jumped 20.2 percent in the first eight months of 2022 compared to the same period last year.

Highlights

Eight countries enjoy the status of full SCO membership: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India; four countries - Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia - have observer status, and six countries - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, and Sri Lanka - have dialogue partner status.

One of the key agendas for the Samarkand summit is enlarging the membership. The heads of SCO states will adopt a memorandum of obligations for Iran to receive SCO membership. The SCO has also received Belarus' application and admission procedures could begin at the summit in Samarkand.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt will formally become SCO dialogue partners with the signing of relevant documents and negotiations will be held on granting Bahrain, the Maldives and other states' the status of dialogue partner.

Li said that against the backdrop of major changes in international relations, the enlargement of the SCO fully demonstrates that current members and pending partners recognize the organization and its guiding Shanghai Spirit.

Championing mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development, the SCO creates a sphere of fair and just cooperation and sets a model of a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core, Li noted.

At the international level, more members mean stronger voices in global governance. When conflicts and uncertainty create havoc in the world, it is noteworthy that the SCO has cast aside the Cold War mentality, concepts such as the clash of civilizations and superiority of certain civilizations, but upholds non-confrontational principles and maintains cooperation that does not target third parties, experts said.

Zhang Hong from CASS sees the summit as an occasion for bilateral interactions where Xi and other heads of states can exchange views and enhance mutual trust. Zhang in particular mentioned possible bilateral meetings of Xi with Putin and Modi.

Xi met Putin last in February at the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics and analysts believe the two top leaders' first meeting since the Russia-Ukraine conflict will point the direction for the future development of bilateral relations.

China-Russia trade jumped 31 percent year-on-year from January to August to $117.2 billion and the two just agreed to a switch in gas payment currencies from the US dollar to the Chinese yuan and Russian ruble.

On India, Zhang said he expects a further easing of the China-India border tension through effective communication of the leaders with strategic visions. There are positive signs as the two sides just conducted a fourth round of disengagement after being in stalemate for over a year, the Hindustan Times reported Monday.

Though the SCO is more focused on security issues, observers share the consensus that the bloc has a great economic potential with more and more states of various economic structures set to join as members or partners.

Li believes the wider participation of Middle Eastern states as well as emerging manufacturing countries means the SCO has large energy consumption needs and strong supply chains, possibly changing the landscape of the energy industry in the region.

Zhao Huirong, also from CASS, told the Global Times earlier that taking into account the needs of member countries in terms of financial cooperation, the SCO may expand the scale of local currency settlements and currency swaps in the future, and study the possibility of establishing an independent payment system.

Analysts noted the SCO can be a platform for economic multilateralism and boosting regional economic integration.

SOURCE Global Times
Richard J. "Dick" Alario brings decades of experience in oilfield services

Collin O'Mara joins with an extensive career in wildlife conservation

DENVER, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Greenfield Environmental Solutions Group ("Greenfield"), a decommissioning services provider for the energy sector, announced today the appointments of Richard J. "Dick" Alario as Executive Chairman and Collin O'Mara as Independent Director to the company's Board of Directors.

"We welcome Dick Alario and Collin O'Mara to Greenfield's Board," said Michael Rigg, Chief Executive Officer of Greenfield. "Mr. Alario joins our Board with an extensive background in oilfield services and Mr. O'Mara brings deep experience in environmental conservation and restoration. Their insights and respective industry leadership will be invaluable as we expand our plugging and abandonment services to the oil and gas industry and restore, reclaim and regrow the surrounding natural areas."

Mr. Alario brings to Greenfield's Board more than 35 years of experience in the oilfield service business, having served as Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board of Key Energy Services Inc. until his retirement in 2016. Mr. Alario also serves as Chairman of the Board of DistributionNOW (NOW Inc.) and as Lead Independent Director of the Board of Kirby Corporation. His prior board service includes Seahawk Drilling, Sable Permian Resources, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, the Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition, the LSU Petroleum Engineering Advisory Council and the International Tarpon Conservation Association.

Mr. O'Mara is the President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, America's largest wildlife conservation organization. In this role, he represents the organization to the American Wildlife Conservation Partners and the Blue Green Alliance. From 2009 through 2014, Mr. O'Mara led the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control as Cabinet Secretary. His prior board experience includes serving on the Natural Resources and Agriculture Subcommittee of the President's Task Force on Climate Adaptation and Preparedness, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the Ozone Transport Commission, the Climate and Energy Subcommittee of the Environmental Council of the States and the Executive Council of the Chesapeake Bay Program.

About Greenfield Environmental Solutions Group

Greenfield Environmental Solutions Group is a premier end-to-end provider of energy infrastructure decommissioning services. Based in Denver, CO, Greenfield provides plugging and abandonment, methane quantification and land reclamation solutions in the United States. Greenfield allows its customers to outsource the management of their P&A obligations, including all aspects of the decommissioning process, from regulatory filings and operations in the field to methane emissions elimination and land reclamation. For more information, visit: www.greenfieldesg.com

Media Contact:

Forrest Gitlin

Prosek Partners

[email protected]

SOURCE Greenfield Environmental Solutions
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Happy Brands announces their year-long philanthropic partnership with DonorsChoose. DonorsChoose is an education nonprofit that connects public school teachers seeking classroom resources with donors who want to help. DonorsChoose combats systemic inequality by driving a majority of donations to schools that are historically underfunded due to racial and economic inequity.

This long-term, multifaceted partnership is the first of its kind for Happy Brands. They will be choosing projects that foster creativity and innovation in the classroom and will be matching donations to support those initiatives.

Happy Brands is the creator of The Happy Planner , a lifestyle brand whose mission is to inspire customers around the world to live creatively, and this campaign is no different. Donations from the partnership will provide art supplies and other tools to empower teachers to uplift future creators.

"We couldn't be more proud to announce our new partnership with DonorsChoose." said Tom Shaw, CEO of Happy Brands. "Our mission at Happy Brands is to create a world where everyone can define and express their own unique happy. By supporting teachers with the resources they need, we hope they can inspire and create happiness in the classroom. We are excited to bring this campaign to life and help deserving members of our education community."

Throughout the next year, not only will they be matching classroom projects, but donations will also be made to celebrate and support inclusive initiatives including Black History Month, Disabilities Awareness Month, Pride and more.

ABOUT HAPPY BRANDS

Established in 1998, Happy Brands is a women founded, Southern California based, planner, sticker, and organizational lifestyle brand. Their mission is to create a world where everyone can define and express their unique happy and hope their products inspire the community to live creatively, connect with others, achieve goals, and plan a happy life.

SOURCE Happy Brands
Schmidt brings high-level litigation background to lead growing firm's Dallas office

DALLAS, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hilgers Graben PLLC is excited to announce the addition of seasoned Dallas trial lawyer Grant Schmidt as its first Dallas Managing Partner.

The addition bolsters a deep bench of experienced attorneys from major firms including Gibson Dunn, Winston & Strawn, and Fish & Richardson. Hilgers Graben also boasts numerous former federal appellate and district court clerks, as well as firm CEO and former three-time general counsel Sterling Miller.

"Grant is a perfect fit to lead our Dallas office and provide the sophisticated and results-oriented representation that makes this firm stand out in a crowded field," said firm co-founder Mike Hilgers. "He will be key to our continued growth in North Texas and nationally."

Before joining the firm, Mr. Schmidt was a partner in the Dallas office of Winston & Strawn. He was part of high-profile trial teams that recently secured the only acquittal in a health care fraud prosecution involving 21 separate defendants and, in a real estate dispute, won a complete defense verdict and nearly two million dollars in attorneys' fees.

"Grant is a superstar, and any firm in the country would be lucky to have him leading their efforts," said Andrew Graben, the firm's national head of litigation. "Our firm's growth has been built with great stand-up trial lawyers, innovative thinkers, and tremendous people with a heart to serve. Grant is all of those things and more, and having him lead our Dallas office is a game-changer for the firm in Texas and around the country."

Mr. Schmidt's background includes a clerkship with U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and a current role as President of the Federal Bar Association's Dallas Chapter. He has earned repeat peer recognition in D Magazine's Best Lawyers Under 40 and Texas Super Lawyers Rising Stars.

"I am eager to lead this office, where we will work strategically and tirelessly on our clients' behalf with an approach that is collegial yet tenacious," said Mr. Schmidt. "We have an opportunity to build upon the firm's nationwide client base and sophisticated litigation practice while providing services at a fraction of the cost given the firm's efficiencies from top to bottom."

About Hilgers Graben PLLC

With offices in Nebraska, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Miami and West Palm Beach, St. Louis, San Diego, and Washington D.C., Hilgers Graben PLLC is an elite national litigation boutique specializing in complex commercial disputes, intellectual property litigation and discovery counsel services. The firm leverages low-cost locations and innovation to provide top-notch legal services while significantly driving down costs for clients. The firm has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in the U.S. four times and has been honored among the Best Law Firms by U.S. News  Best Lawyers.

For more information, visit www.HilgersGraben.com.

Contact:

Mark Annick

[email protected]

800-559-4534

SOURCE Hilgers Graben PLLC
Announcements Include Launch of Hyperledger Solang, Release of Hyperledger FireFly 1.1, Details on Hyperledger Besu Ethereum Client Incentive Program, Introduction of Free Self-Sovereign Identity Training Course

SAN FRANCISCO and DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyperledger Foundation , the open, global ecosystem for enterprise blockchain technologies, today announced news from across its diverse and expanding ecosystem at Hyperledger Global Forum 2022 (#HyperledgerForum, HGF). From launches and releases on the Hyperledger project front to new products, partnership, deployments and innovations from Hyperledger Members, there is a surround sound of developments being unveiled at this week's event.

The opening keynote today addresses one of the biggest developments on the horizon. The talk, Hyperledger Besu and the Upcoming Merge , will feature Tim Beiko of the Ethereum Foundation and Hart Montgomery, CTO of the Hyperledger Foundation.

There is a surround sound of member and ecosystem developments being unveiled at Hyperledger Global Forum Tweet this

Other keynotes taking place today include:

Free live streaming of keynotes is available here .

"The energy and excitement of the global Hyperledger community is on full display here at Hyperledger Global Forum," said Daniela Barbosa, Executive Director, Hyperledger Foundation, and General Manager Blockchain, Healthcare and Identity at the Linux Foundation. "From demos and workshops to keynotes and case studies, there is endless evidence of the scope and scale of what we are building together and the growing market impact of this collective work. And, as this line-up of news from across the community shows, we are just getting started. The innovation and adoption will only accelerate from here."

Project and Ecosystem News

New Project: Hyperledger Solang

The Hyperledger Technical Steering committee approved a new project, Hyperledger Solang , which is a compiler for Solidity source code and targets different blockchains. The Solidity programming language is the most popular language for smart contracts, and there is clear interest from many blockchains to have support for it. Although some blockchains emulate an EVM environment to maintain compatibility with Solidity built with Solc, they then cannot access features that are missing from Ethereum. Hyperledger Solan offers the ability to compile Solidity to the native execution environment, opening up access to new features and creating many possibilities for innovation in the Solidity language.

Currently, Hyperledger Solang supports Solana and Polkadot (Substrate).

Hyperledger FireFly 1.1 Release

A new Hyperledger FireFly release , version 1.1, includes new functionality that makes it possible for FireFly users to deploy multiple blockchain applications connecting to multiple chains from a single console. The FireFly Supernode now supports two operation modes: Web3 Gateway and Consortium. Web3 Gateway mode configures the FireFly Supernode to connect to a number of chains with transaction orchestration and state indexing. A revamped and expanded connector framework now includes EVMconnect, a robust connector for simple connection management to public blockchains with templates available for Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, Optimism, BNB Chain, and more. Consortium mode activates a number of capabilities for FireFly nodes to connect in a B2B network and exchange data through off-chain and on-chain rails. FireFly also now supports multi-tenancy through the use of namespaces. These new features enable enterprises to accelerate their web3 adoption.

Creation of Hyperledger Cacti

In a Hyperledger first, the community has decided to merge two systems (architectures as well as code bases). Hyperledger Cactus and Weaver, a Hyperledger Lab, will come together to be Hyperledger Cacti, a multi-faceted interoperability platform that will draw on the cutting-edge technical features of Cactus and Weaver and provide a clear path forward for users of both technologies.

Hyperledger Besu Client Incentive Program Kicks Off

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has opted to include Hyperledger Besu in the Execution Layer Client Incentive Program (ELCIP) to foster the community development of enterprise-grade blockchain software. The program, which kicks off with the Merge, will provide execution-layer client teams with locked ETH in the form of live validators to be released according to certain milestones, including post-merge performance and progress towards enabling withdrawals from the beacon chain.

Hyperledger Besu is one of the top three most popular Ethereum execution clients according to Ethernode . EF is making this strategic investment to engage the Hyperledger Besu community in ensuring a diversity of clients and overall health of the network.

"The diverse community is what makes Ethereum special, empowering from builders in underserved or emerging economies to leading enterprises and beyond," said Aya Miyaguchi, Executive Director at Ethereum Foundation. "Similarly a diverse client distribution helps keep Ethereum distributed and healthy, and I applaud the Hyperledger Besu team for their Execution Layer work for Ethereum, and wish you all a great Global Forum this year."

New, Free "Getting Started with Self-Sovereign Identity" Course

To make it easier for enterprises to implement Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) to put their users at the center of their digital identity, Linux Foundation Training & Certification has released a new online training course, Getting Started with Self-Sovereign Identity (LFS178x) . The free, six-to-seven hour course is geared to business and government decision makers looking to get started with SSI on a solid foundation. The course provides a 360 degree overview of its evolutionary journey, key concepts, standards, technological building blocks, use cases, real-world examples and implementation considerations.

Hyperledger Foundation is also hosting an In-depth Member Webinar with Indicio on " Scaling verifiable digital credentials using open source technology " on October 5.

Hyperledger Member News

BTP  announced the general availability of its blockchain-backed, domain-agnostic provenance solution Chronicle . Organizations across industries can now take advantage of Chronicle's capabilities, and keep immutable provenance records that capture the origin and life journey of their physical and digital assets, including ownership history. By recording it on a distributed ledger, provenance information becomes more trustworthy, and its management is more efficient. Chronicle is available with Hyperledger Sawtooth as its default backing ledger, with support for other industry-leading distributed ledgers in the pipeline. Read the full press release here .

BTP  upgraded its blockchain management platform Sextant , by adding support for the distributed ledger software Hyperledger Fabric 2.0. Fabric is now joining Hyperledger Besu and Hyperledger Sawtooth, which the company's clients have already been using in production. Sextant's makeover also includes a marketplace for deployments that will allow users to easily select the option that best suits their needs and use case requirements. Chronicle on Sawtooth will now appear as a new deployment option  in this marketplace  that clients can choose. Read the full press release here .

Espeo Blockchain  recently connected Microsoft Sharepoint technology with a transparent and immutable layer of Hyperledger Fabric for HLB, which is a global network of independent advisory and accounting firms. The new blockchain backend is a game changer in terms of transparency. It's because only verified, approved and standardized data points will be added to the blockchain ledger. At the same time, users still work with the same Microsoft UI they are used to. That enables member firms to access and verify referral and project data in real-time. It also eliminates the need for a siloed process of reconciliation, which makes settlements far simpler and more reliable. More information is available at https://espeoblockchain.com/

Indicio  recently announced the launch of Indicio Proven, a complete, open source solution for authenticating and sharing high value data in a privacy-preserving way using verifiable digital credentials. Built on Hyperledger Aries, Hyperledger Ursa, Hyperledger Indy, AnonCreds, and DIDComm, Proven is designed to make implementing and using these open source codebases simple, providing users with a fully-owned solution that's easy to integrate with existing systems, to innovate on, and to scale. Proven uses the Indicio Network (TempNet, TestNet, DemoNet, MainNet), a professionally maintained, enterprise grade Hyperledger Indy-based network for the exchange of verifiable credentials. Learn more at Indicio.tech .

IoBuilders  has coordinated, designed and implemented a digital bond platform as partner of the Spanish Stock exchange BME. Using the platform, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), with the help of BBVA, issued a two year $10 million blockchain-based bond, the first Spanish bond to be listed on a regulated market. The platform uses a private network based on Hyperledger Besu Ethereum client, where the bond and the money are tokenized, and overall security and cash payment are settled. Read more about it here .

Kaleido  has introduced support for enterprise App Chains, an exciting technology allowing the creation of highly scalable, application-specific chains that can connect to the Web3 ecosystem via bridges or rollups. The first App Chain framework to be supported on the Kaleido Platform is Polygon Edge, and we have formed a partnership with Polygon to accelerate enterprise web3 adoption. Kaleido is also pleased to announce that Hyperledger FireFly version 1.1 is now supported on Kaleido's Blockchain Business Cloud. With the new functionality in FireFly, users will be able to manage multiple blockchain use cases from a single console and connect with leading public blockchains including Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, Optimism, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, Moonbeam, Fantom and more.

The National FinTech Center at Morgan State University  announced The 3rd Annual National HBCU Blockchain and FinTech Conference. This conference is The Center's premier event for connecting with university leaders, faculty, and students discussing today's challenges and opportunities, and shaping the future of FinTech education and research. On November 06-08, 2022 in Orlando, FL, The National FinTech Center will provide a forum for the faculty, students, and administrators in the FinTech Center's HBCU Network to hear and discuss the findings of sponsored research, outcomes of sponsored innovative blockchain projects at various HBCUs, FinTech workshops, and HBCU Presidents' Summit: Digital Transformation, Research, and Education at HBCUs. Click HERE for more information. Any questions, please contact [email protected] .

SIMBA Chain - recently released SIMBA Blocks, a Smart-Contract as a Service platform. Blocks allows users to build on private, public and hybrid chains, including Hyperledger Fabric, with no chain lock-in. The SIMBA Blocks platform auto-generates virtual REST APIs that connect to smart contracts on various protocols - letting you write once and deploy to many with minor configuration. These chain-agnostic APIs simplify application integrations, reducing deployment times by weeks or months. Learn why companies like Boeing (using Hyperledger Fabric to track F/A-18 parts across four data warehouses) rely on SIMBA Chain for their blockchain solutions at simbachain.com .

Zeeve  introduced a major upgrade to its platform, a best-in-class offering for enterprise-grade Hyperledger Fabric automation. Now users can add more organizations to their deployed Hyperledger Fabric networks on runtime and scale up/down the number of nodes. Zeeve has also improved network monitoring & alerting and added the ability to directly download connection profiles of Fabric networks to applications. In addition, in addition to support for Golang, Zeeve has added NodeJS chaincodes support in CD pipelines using Zeeve CLI. Learn more: https://www.zeeve.io/blockchain-protocols/deploy-hyperledger-fabric/

Zeeve  launched IPFS as a service for decentralized applications with two options:- endpoints and dedicated nodes. The focus has been to make it very easy for any business application to switch to the power decentralized file storage without having to worry about the learning curve of infrastructure or development. This has been possible with the ZDFS (Zeeve Distributed File System) service, which allows users to have dedicated or shared endpoint services for IPFS, while ZDFS SDK makes integration with IPFS very seamless. Users can create access credentials for their applications for data APIs as well as pinning services of IPFS. IPFS comes with console-based resource management and an in-depth analysis of consumption for ZDFS services. Learn more: https://zeeve.io/zeeve-distributed-file-system/

About Hyperledger Global Forum (#HyperledgerForum)

Hyperledger Global Forum is the biggest annual gathering of the global Hyperledger community. It is a unique opportunity for contributors, members, service providers and enterprise end users from around the world to meet, align, plan and hack together in person. The event is open to everyone involved or interested in using, developing or learning more about Hyperledger's open source enterprise blockchain technologies. Attendees will hear directly from those who are actively developing and deploying Hyperledger technologies as well as technology and business leaders who are shaping the future of enterprise blockchain. They will also have the chance to talk directly with Hyperledger project maintainers and the Technical Steering Committee, collaborate with other organizations on ideas that will directly impact the future of Hyperledger Foundation, and promote their work among the communities.

Event sponsors and partners include Accenture (Diamond and Keynote Translation), Siemens (Platinum), Digital Asset (Gold and Developer Lounge), Zeeve (Gold), AWS (Silver), BONbLOC (Silver), ConsenSys (Silver), Corsha (Silver), Espeo Blockchain (Bronze), Huawei (Bronze), Kaleido (Bronze), DTTC (Diversity Scholarship), IBM (Birds of a Feather), Black Women Blockchain Council (Community Partner), Blockchain Ireland (Community Partner), Blockchain Research Institute (Community Partner), Digital Euro Association (Community Partner), Diversity in Blockchain (Community Partner), European Blockchain Association (Community Partner), Global Blockchain Business Council (Community Partner), Kerala Blockchain Academy (Community Partner), International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (Community Partner),Trusted Blockchain Initiatives (Community Partner), Trust over IP Foundation (Community Partner), Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (Community Partner), Blocknews (Media Partner), BeinCrypto (Media Partner), Cointelegraph (Media Partner), CoinSpeaker (Media Partner), Forkast (Media Partner), Ledger Insights (Media Partner) and Merge by Fintech Nexus (Media Partner).

About Hyperledger Foundation

Hyperledger Foundation was founded in 2015 to bring transparency and efficiency to the enterprise market by fostering a thriving ecosystem around open source blockchain software technologies. As a project of the Linux Foundation, Hyperledger Foundation coordinates a community of member and non member organizations, individual contributors and software developers building enterprise-grade platforms, libraries, tools and solutions for multi-party systems using blockchain, distributed ledger, and related technologies. Organizations join Hyperledger Foundation to demonstrate technical leadership, collaborate and network with others, and raise awareness around their efforts in the enterprise blockchain community. Members include industry-leading organizations in finance, banking, healthcare, supply chains, manufacturing, technology and beyond. All Hyperledger code is built publicly and available under the Apache license. To learn more, visit: https://www.hyperledger.org/ .

About the Linux Foundation

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation and its projects are supported by more than 2,950 members. The Linux Foundation is the world's leading home for collaboration on open source software, hardware, standards, and data. Linux Foundation's projects, including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, Hyperledger Foundation, RISC-V, and more, are critical to the world's infrastructure. The Linux Foundation's methodology focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users, and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org .

Contact:

Emily Fisher

Linux Foundation/Hyperledger

[email protected]

SOURCE Hyperledger Foundation
If P&C Insurance adopts ICEYE Flood Insights product to enhance flood-related claims capabilities and support proactive response

HELSINKI, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ICEYE, a world-leading provider of natural catastrophe data, announced today that it has entered a pilot scheme with If P&C Insurance to use its Flood Insights product.

Credit: ICEYE

ICEYE's data and insights enable users to gain rapid situational awareness of any flood event globally. High resolution flood imagery is captured via ICEYE's proprietary synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation and combined with auxiliary information, including elevation models, ground sensors and river gauges, to generate flood extent and depth insights within 24 hours of a flood's peak.

If P&C Insurance will use the data produced to support data-driven claims handling processes for flood-related losses and proactively respond to customer needs during an event. Furthermore, the accurate sizing of flood losses will support better understanding of potential financial impacts and reserve setting for events.

"One of the known megatrends is global climate change. We at If want to seek new innovative ways to be on top of this development and increase our ability to be by our customers' side," says Tuomas Raikkonen, Head of Large & International Claims, If P&C Insurance, Finland. "ICEYE provides a great example of technology-enabled and data-driven services that can be embedded into the more traditional claims-handling services."

"We are keen to support If P&C Insurance in their efforts to ensure they are best positioned to respond to the demands of an increasingly flood-exposed world," says Rafal Modrzewski, CEO & Co-founder of ICEYE. "ICEYE's rapid-response data capabilities and ability to monitor floods with accuracy and consistency enables insurers to quickly and efficiently size losses, allocate resources effectively, and deliver a more customer-centric claims process."

About ICEYE

ICEYE delivers unmatched persistent monitoring capabilities for any location on earth. Owning the world's largest synthetic-aperture radar constellation, the company enables objective, data-driven decisions for its customers in sectors such as insurance, natural catastrophe response and recovery, security, maritime monitoring and finance. ICEYE's data can be collected day or night, and even through cloud cover. For more information, please visit www.iceye.com .

SOURCE ICEYE
HERNDON, Va., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Illuminate, a data solutions company that provides tools and services which collect and analyze information for key decision-makers, announced today it is looking to fill more than 100 open positions company-wide, with the majority of those in the Washington, DC area. The openings include jobs in areas ranging from applications developers to intelligence analysts.

Illuminate needs to hire the additional employees due to the strong growth of the company over the past year. Recently, Illuminate was awarded several large federal government and military data analysis contracts.

"We have a critical need across the board for qualified professionals, from tool developers to the analysts that use them," said Gregg Melanson, Illuminate's Executive Vice President, U.S. Operations. "This is a tremendous opportunity for those with military and government agency experience, and particularly those with security clearances. Illuminate is in a strong growth mode, and we expect that to continue indefinitely."

Illuminate offers a supportive and growth-oriented work environment, with an emphasis on employee quality of life and professional development. Our teams tightly integrate and leverage one another to design, deploy, and maintain best-in-breed solutions for the planet's toughest missions. Employees receive competitive salaries and a benefits package that includes performance bonuses, health and dental coverage beginning on day 1, and a comprehensive safe harbor 401K with employee matching contributions.

Illuminate believes in a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion where all people are valued. We embrace the diversity of the rich backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of our global workforce. Different points of view are welcomed and celebrated, as we strive to create an inclusive workplace where all feel empowered to bring their full, authentic selves to work.

Visit our Careers Page to become a part of our team and check out our organization on LinkedIn.

About Illuminate

Illuminate provides data collection and analysis services and software to clients in the defense, intelligence, and Federal Law Enforcement sectors. The company's innovative capabilities include network monitoring, intelligence analysis, cybersecurity, and data engineering. More information can be found at OneIlluminate.com.

Media contact:

Neal Stein

Technology PR Solutions

Ph: (321) 473-7407

[email protected]

SOURCE Illuminate
Infosys Cyber Next platform and Palo Alto Networks strengthen Bpost's security posture as part of the cloud transformation journey

BENGALURU, India, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys ( NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced that it has collaborated with Bpost (Belgium Post), a leading postal operator and growing parcel and omni-commerce logistics partner in Europe, to secure the cloud environment and build robust cyber resilience for Bpost's mail delivery and logistics services. Even as the postal services industry is challenged by sophisticated cyber threats, Infosys, along with Palo Alto Networks - a global cybersecurity leader, has equipped Bpost with solutions to identify and rapidly respond to suspicious security events.

Infosys securely accelerated Bpost's cloud transformation journey with its tailored Cloud SecOps delivery model. The model improves Bpost's Azure and AWS cloud security posture by leveraging Infosys Cyber Next platform. This brings the advantages of 24/7 security monitoring, security analytics, threat intelligence, advanced security controls such as endpoint detection and threat response, vulnerability management, and deception management. For response to incidents, Infosys has implemented Palo Alto Networks' Cortex XSOAR with fully automated response playbooks and AI-led predictions to prevent similar threats in the future. Palo Alto Networks will also provide Bpost with new next generation security solutions to further strengthen the security of its cloud estate and improve customer experience.

Vishal Salvi, CISO & Head of Cyber Practice, Infosys, said, "Our clients count on us to bring robust cybersecurity capabilities especially to their business-critical cloud transformations. Combining the strengths of Palo Alto Networks' portfolio and our own service-based offerings we believe we can equip them with the most effective path to navigate a rapidly changing threat landscape. In the case of Bpost, our partnership is helping them leapfrog to the next generation of cybersecurity maturity."

Rony Monnaie, CISO, Bpost, said, "While we embarked on our cloud transformation journey, Infosys drove several well-considered cybersecurity initiatives to protect our environment and improve Bpost's overall security posture. Today, both our employees and customers benefit from the secure foundation we now have to deliver and track both mail and parcels."

Don Jones, SVP Ecosystems, Palo Alto Networks, said, "While easy to use is an important feature, using AI and Automation to quickly and accurately identify and respond to security events, is too. Together with Infosys, we are pleased to support Bpost  an organization that embraces cybersecurity as integral to their business transformation."

About Bpost group

Bpost is Belgium's leading postal operator and a growing parcel & omni-commerce logistics partner in Europe, North America, and Asia. Our 36,000 employees in Belgium and across the globe connect consumers, businesses, and government, by delivering mail and parcels to millions of doorsteps and providing e-commerce logistics services. As a people- and planet-friendly company we create long-term sustainable value for our customers and shareholders. In 2021 Bpost generated a turnover of EUR 4,333.7 million.

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. Over 300,000 of our people work to amplify human potential and create the next opportunity for people, businesses and communities. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer clients, in more than 50 countries, as they navigate their digital transformation powered by the cloud. We enable them with an AI-powered core, empower the business with agile digital at scale and drive continuous improvement with always-on learning through the transfer of digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. We are deeply committed to being a well-governed, environmentally sustainable organization where diverse talent thrives in an inclusive workplace.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India and the US, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/633365/Infosys_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Infosys
DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Offshore Wind Power Market (2022-2027) by Component, Location, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Offshore Wind Power Market is estimated to be USD 46.07 Bn in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 87.35 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 13.65%.

Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Offshore Wind Power Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors.

There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals. As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks.

Company Profiles

The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are ABB Group, DEME, Deutsche Windtechnik, Doosan, Eew Group, Engie, Envision Group, GE Group, Goldwind Science & Technology, etc.



Countries Studied

America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of Americas)

, , , , , , , , Rest of Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of Europe )

( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA)

and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA) Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Ansoff Analysis

The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Offshore Wind Power Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach. The analyst analyses the using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position. Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth.



Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Offshore Wind Power Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Increasing Global Investments in Renewable Energy

4.1.2 Increasing Government Incentives

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 High Initial Investment and Maintenance Issues

4.2.2 Low Cost of Conventional Electricity Generation

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Deployment of Smart Grid Solutions

4.3.2 Focus on Water Conservation

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Expensive to Land Distribution of Energy

4.4.2 Climatic Challenges During Operations of Wind Farm



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Regulatory Scenario

5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global Offshore Wind Power Market, By Component

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Turbines

6.2.1 Nacelle

6.2.2 Rotors and Blades

6.2.3 Tower

6.3 Electrical Infrastructure

6.4 Substructure

6.4.1 Jacket and Gravity Based

6.4.2 Monopile



7 Global Offshore Wind Power Market, By Location

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Shallow Water (<_0 m="m" />7.3 Transitional Water (30-60 M Depth)

7.4 Deepwater (More Than 60 M Depth)



8 Americas' Offshore Wind Power Market

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Argentina

8.3 Brazil

8.4 Canada

8.5 Chile

8.6 Colombia

8.7 Mexico

8.8 Peru

8.9 United States

8.10 Rest of Americas



9 Europe's Offshore Wind Power Market

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Austria

9.3 Belgium

9.4 Denmark

9.5 Finland

9.6 France

9.7 Germany

9.8 Italy

9.9 Netherlands

9.10 Norway

9.11 Poland

9.12 Russia

9.13 Spain

9.14 Sweden

9.15 Switzerland

9.16 United Kingdom

9.17 Rest of Europe



10 Middle East and Africa's Offshore Wind Power Market

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Egypt

10.3 Israel

10.4 Qatar

10.5 Saudi Arabia

10.6 South Africa

10.7 United Arab Emirates

10.8 Rest of MEA



11 APAC's Offshore Wind Power Market

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Australia

11.3 Bangladesh

11.4 China

11.5 India

11.6 Indonesia

11.7 Japan

11.8 Malaysia

11.9 Philippines

11.10 Singapore

11.11 South Korea

11.12 Sri Lanka

11.13 Thailand

11.14 Taiwan

11.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific



12 Competitive Landscape

12.1 Competitive Quadrant

12.2 Market Share Analysis

12.3 Strategic Initiatives

12.3.1 M&A and Investments

12.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

12.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



13 Company Profiles

13.1 ABB Group

13.2 DEME

13.3 Deutsche Windtechnik

13.4 Doosan

13.5 Erndtebrucker Eisenwerk (EEW) Group

13.6 Engie

13.7 Envision Group

13.8 GE Group

13.9 Goldwind Science & Technology

13.10 Hitachi

13.11 Ming Yang Smart Energy Group

13.12 Nexans

13.13 Rockwell Automation

13.14 Schneider Electric

13.15 Shanghai Electric

13.16 Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy

13.17 Sinovel Wind Group

13.18 Taiyuan Heavy Industry

13.19 Vestas Wind System

13.20 XEMC Darwind



14 Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/5n771g

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
Increases the Strategic Vision of Midwest Food Bank with the Goal of Increasing Awareness of Food Insecurity in Southwest Florida.

CHICAGO and FORT MYERS, Fla., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Midwest Food Bank, an industry leading, faith-based non-profit food bank, announced the appointment of Jeanne Richmond to its Advisory Board to help further the mission of the organization in advancing the fight against food insecurity.

Midwest Food Bank Logo

Midwest Food Bank (MFB) was founded in 2003 by David Keiser and his family on their farm in Bloomington, Illinois. Since then, dedicated staff and countless volunteers have embraced the founder's philosophy of "Humility Equals Success." Since the beginning, Midwest Food Bank has worked diligently to advance this philosophy, providing food relief to those in need while also feeding them spiritually. The organization has expanded to twelve locations in recent years, including Haiti and Kenya.

The Florida location in Fort Myers is positioned in an area where there is both significant wealth and increasing poverty. This gap is accentuated by the frequency of extreme weather events and natural disasters in Florida. Midwest Food Bank is uniquely positioned to bridge this gap by responding to these events and distributing resources where they are needed most.

Jeanne Richmond's appointment to the Advisory Board is very timely and will help broaden the impact of Midwest Food Bank in the region. The role of this board is to provide governance, accountability, and strategic vision for the organization. Jeanne is a proven business leader who grew up in Illinois, and her career has followed a similar growth trajectory as the Midwest Food Bank.

"Jeanne brings fantastic leadership skills and a unique perspective to help us strategically plan and address food insecurity in Southwest Florida," said Karl Steidinger, executive director of Midwest Food Bank Florida.

Richmond is also the chairperson and principal for e2Companies, a leading provider of energy solutions committed to economic stability and sustainability. In addition to Jeanne's Advisory Board appointment, e2 employees will partner with Midwest Food Bank on volunteer activities and fundraising events.

"Looking ahead, the goal of this partnership is to help raise awareness of food insecurity in the region," explained Richmond. "We share many core values, and e2 Companies is grateful to be a part of the growing legacy of the Midwest Food Bank."

About Midwest Food Bank

Midwest Food Bank is an American 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that gathers food donations, primarily from large companies, and distributes them to other non-profit organizations and disaster sites. Midwest Food Bank currently distributes nearly $36 million worth of food to over 2,050 non-profits each month.

If you have a heart to serve, consider the numerous opportunities at Midwest Food Bank for donating and volunteering.

About e2Companies

e2Companies is the creator of the industry's first Virtual Utility and the leading provider of integrated solutions for power generation, distribution, and energy economics. Virtual Utility is the first utility-grade network designed for the end user that delivers full visibility and control with a 360 integrated solution. Including the patented R3Di system.

To learn more about e2Companies, visit www.e2companies.com, or follow via social media @e2companies.

Contacts:

Neil Cowan Scot Buss Marketing Director Marketing and Development Manager e2Companies Midwest Food Bank 844-397-2692 239-690-1722 [email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE E2
NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jetblue nonstop flights to Guadeloupe (PTP) from New York (JFK) are set to resume on November 5. Guadeloupe Islands afficionados can already book their tickets online through the NY based carrier's website. JetBlue will operate three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.

JETBLUE RESUMES NONSTOP SERVICE TO THE GUADELOUPE ISLANDS IN NOVEMBER, JUST IN TIME FOR ACCLAIMED RACE "ROUTE DU RHUM" Tweet this Sailing into the Guadeloupe Islands  B. Dequenne

"We are thrilled about the return of Jetblue in November, these are excellent news for the destination and for Americans who are eager to discover or to return to our French Caribbean archipelago for a unique experience." Said Sonia TAILLEPIERRE, President, Guadeloupe Islands Tourist Board. All health restrictions applied to international travelers entering the Guadeloupe archipelago have been lifted. On August 1, the French parliament declared the end to the public health emergency and subsequent exceptional measures put in place at the outset of the Covid -19 pandemic.

Proof of vaccination is no longer required

No further justification for travel can be required

Travelers no longer must provide a sworn statement of non-contamination

No more covid test is required upon arrival

The Guadeloupe archipelago will be kicking off the winter season with the Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe, its acclaimed international transatlantic sailing race that will leave Saint Malo, Brittany, France on November 6 to reach Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, around a fortnight later. 138 solo sailors will set sail for an epic Atlantic crossing that they have been dreaming of for months, even for years. Some of the best solo racers in the world, professionals, and amateurs, meet every 4 years to taste "The Magic of the Rhum."

"This is a highly anticipated season for all our partners. The future of travel is very promising as all health restrictions have been lifted. We are ready to welcome Americans" adds Taillepierre.

The return of the Accor Group to Guadeloupe is also a strong sign of dynamism for the destination. The opening of The Royal Key, a 4-star Pullman brand Resort under Accor Group management is on the way. Scheduled to be ready for the 2023/2024 winter season, the 102-room and suite Pullman property will be combined with a high-end spa complex.

For more information about the destination's visit the destination website here

SOURCE The Guadeloupe Islands Tourist Board
Demonstrates variety of surfable waves possible in new and existing pools and lagoons

NORTH VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Ka'ana Wave Co. celebrated the launch of their CM7-Series wave machines with a pop-up surf park at Britannia Beach, British Columbia. Their ground-breaking technology represents a new class of artificial surf attraction, one that creates a variety of deep-water surf waves, in new and existing pools and lagoons. With this technology, the company aims to break down barriers to entry and make surfing more accessible for everyone.

Kaana Wave Co. celebrated the launch of their CM7-Series wave machines with a pop-up surf park at Britannia Beach, British Columbia. Their ground-breaking technology represents a new class of artificial surf attraction, one that creates a variety of deep-water surf waves, in new and existing pools and lagoons. With this technology, the company aims to break down barriers to entry and make surfing more accessible for everyone. (CNW Group/Ka'ana Wave Co.)

The pop-up surf park was an opportunity for Ka'ana to reveal the company's first wave shapes, develop CM7 safety protocols, and collect feedback about the surf experience from over 250 people including industry insiders, professional athletes, developers, city planners, architects, resort planners and aquatic designers.

Shaping waves at 60 to 70 per cent of the machine's capacity, Ka'ana Wave Co. showcased the world's first stationary, bathymetry-agnostic, artificial surf waves at the event. These waves included a right break barrel, boat wake, and river jump.

"This has never been done before, so the pop-up surf park was a chance for us to learn and a chance to demonstrate the CM7-Series delivers a surf experience that is both safe and incredibly fun for everyone," says Jamie Watson, Ka'ana Wave Co. Chief Executive Officer. "The event was a huge success and validated much of what we anticipated but could not know without putting people on the waves. The pop-up was also a chance for us to share this huge milestone and memorable experience with our family, friends, and with stakeholders in the surf park space.

A massive thanks to our friends and partners that helped build the park, to the folks that came out to ride the waves, and to the community of Britannia Beach! Your contribution truly helped make this event one for the books."

Ka'ana Wave Co., based in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, helps hotels, resorts, waterparks, municipalities, and mixed-use developments generate revenues with an award-winning surf attraction that creates a variety of waves in a variety of new and existing pools and lagoons. CM7-Series wave machines won first place in the Best New Product category at IAAPA's Brass Ring Awards in 2021.

SOURCE Ka'ana Wave Co.
Honor reflects Sidi's cumulative work and dedication as a leader in the Real estate lending and fintech industries

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Zeenat Sidi, loanDepot Inc.'s president of Digital Products and Services, will receive the Asian American Business Development Center's (AABDC) 2022 "Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business" award recognizing excellence in corporate professionals and entrepreneurs.

Each year, the Outstanding 50 award committee identifies and selects remarkable leaders who have built a successful business or distinguished themselves in their community. The AABDC has to-date conferred the premier award to over 1,000 Asian American corporate executives and entrepreneurs, representing scores of industries nationwide.

loanDepot President and CEO Frank Martell said, "Zeenat's recognition as one of the 50 outstanding Asian Americans in business reflects her considerable accomplishments and dedication as a leader in the real estate lending and financial services industries and shines a light on loanDepot's efforts to ensure our company, at all levels, represents the customers we serve across the country. Congratulations to Zeenat for this well-deserved honor."

"It is truly an honor to be recognized by the AABDC and our community," said Sidi. "As an immigrant coming to the US to pursue higher education, the support I received from the community and my colleagues in the business world who embraced my diverse background and experiences, was instrumental in shaping my career and my passion for financial inclusion. This award comes as loanDepot continues to be an increasingly purpose-driven organization, and I'm proud to continue to advance ways to leverage financial services technology to help those who need it the most in our diverse communities. Congratulations to all the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award recipients. It is humbling to be amongst this esteemed group."

Sidi joined loanDepot in March 2022 to lead LDI Digital Products and Services. With a 25-year track record of accomplishments in fintech and financial services, she's built a reputation for driving important digital transformation initiatives with some of the most recognized companies in the industry. She is also the chair of the Audit Committee of the Texas Women's Foundation, one of the largest regional non-profit organizations dedicated to the empowerment of girls and women, advancing their economic security and leadership through research, advocacy, grants and programs.

Sidi will receive the honor at the 2022 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business dinner gala, September 22. As an industry innovator, she spoke earlier today at National Mortgage News' Digital Mortgage Conference in Las Vegas, Nev. about the future of future of one-shop homeownership.

About loanDepot

loanDepot ( NYSE: LDI) is a digital commerce company committed to serving its customers throughout the home ownership journey. Since its launch in 2010, loanDepot has revolutionized the mortgage industry with a digital-first approach that makes it easier, faster and less stressful to purchase or refinance a home. Today, as one of the nation's largest non-bank retail mortgage lenders, loanDepot enables customers to achieve the American dream of homeownership through a broad suite of lending and real estate services that simplify one of life's most complex transactions. With headquarters in Southern California and offices nationwide, loanDepot is committed to serving the communities in which its team lives and works through a variety of local, regional and national philanthropic efforts.

Media Contact:

Jonathan Fine

VP, Public Relations

(781) 248-3963

[email protected]

SOURCE loanDepot, Inc.
The Leading Professional Crypto Trading Technology Provider Announces Rebrand That Will Bridge the Gap Between Professional and Crypto Trading.

CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercury Digital Assets, the crypto trading technology built by professionals for professionals, has changed its name to Liquid Mercury.

Liquid Mercury is the #1 choice for sophisticated buy-side and institutional sell-side legacy trading professionals moving into crypto. "Sophisticated market participants will lead the next phase of growth in crypto," said Liquid Mercury CEO Tony Saliba. "Liquid Mercury was built for professional market participants moving into crypto."

World-renowned professional trader and "Market Wizard" Tony Saliba has been powering professional trading for the last 30 years. He founded LiquidPoint in 1999, and the company (sold to Bank of New York ConvergEX in 2007) is currently #3 in highest overall execution volumes behind Citadel Securities and Susquehanna. Matrix Executions, founded in 2018 by Tony, is currently #5 in the overall execution volumes. The combined execution volumes of LiquidPoint and Matrix would be second only to Citadel Securities.

"Liquid Mercury represents the best of the best of my last 30 years serving this industry," said Tony. "We've collected the best and brightest minds, including key management from LiquidPoint and Matrix Executions, to create the leading professional crypto trading solution in Liquid Mercury. Everything our customers trust us for - efficiency, scalability, and reliability - encapsulates this exciting rebranding effort."

"This rebranding will help us move faster and be even more responsive to customer needs," said Tony. "At Liquid Mercury, we develop and provide customizable proprietary technology to fit the client's needs ensuring anything they want can be designed, built, and delivered quickly to keep up with the competitive and fast-moving crypto assets world."

Liquid Mercury's expansive knowledge and foundation of trust with sophisticated market participants will continue to be the leading factor in their ongoing mission to power professional crypto trading.

About Liquid Mercury

Liquid Mercury powers professional crypto trading. Liquid Mercury is the #1 choice for sophisticated buy-side and institutional sell-side legacy trading professionals moving into crypto. Institutional grade infrastructure, access to deep liquidity, and best-in-class trading tools and workflow automation; Liquid Mercury was built by professionals for professionals. For more information about Liquid Mercury, visit www.liquidmercury.com.

SOURCE Liquid Mercury
VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Mind Cure Health Inc. (CSE: MCUR) ( OTCQX: MCURF) (FRA: 6MH) ("MINDCURE" or the "Company") today announced its financial results for the three and twelve months ended May 31, 2022. All amounts are stated in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.

The special committee of the Company's board of directors is continuing to explore, review and evaluate a broad range of strategic alternatives with its strategic review process. The Company's cash position and balance sheet remain strong and the Company looks forward to finding the best path forward for all shareholders.

A copy of the Company's financial statements for the three and twelve months ended May 31, 2022 and the related management's discussion and analysis are available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Philip Tapley, Interim CEO

SOURCE: Mind Cure Health Inc.

Forward-Looking Information

Forward-looking information is based on a number of key expectations and assumptions made by management of MINDCURE, including, without limitation: the considerations and outcome of the strategic review process and cost-saving measures; COVID-19 pandemic impact on the Canadian economy and the Company's business, and the extent and duration of such impact; no change to laws or regulations that negatively affect the Company's business; no unanticipated expenses, costs or detrimental consequences of the Strategic Review Process or cost-savings measures will arise; availability of additional capital required to execute the Company's business plan; the lack of necessity of further developmental expenditures related to the Company's business plan with respect to the execution of strategic alternatives for the Company; the ability to preserve the value of the Company's assets, including its public company status with Canadian securities regulators; and the ultimate availability of any strategic alternatives for the Company.

Forward-looking information is provided for the purpose of presenting information the Company's current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking information inherently entails known and unknown risks and uncertainties about the future and actual results and involves significant risks and uncertainties and should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results as actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking information. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information presented, there may be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements as no forward-looking information can be guaranteed. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE Mind Cure Health Inc.
Keynote speakers AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Behring, and GSK headline one of the industry's largest events for driving collaboration and innovation

PLEASANTON, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Veeva Systems ( NYSE: VEEV) today announced that visionaries from AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Behring, and GSK will be keynote speakers at the 2022 Veeva R&D and Quality Summit on Oct.19 and 20 in Boston. Speakers will showcase how innovations and advancements in clinical, quality, regulatory, and safety enable greater efficiency and speed across the product lifecycle.

With more than 2,000 industry professionals and over 100 sessions, Veeva R&D and Quality Summit is one of life sciences' largest and most impactful events. Attendees will learn strategies to establish a clinical data foundation for patient-centric digital trials, transform quality management across the value chain, optimize regulatory operations, and deliver new levels of productivity in safety. Featured keynotes and sessions include:

AbbVie sharing its vision for transforming safety to improve patient outcomes.





sharing its vision for transforming safety to improve patient outcomes. AstraZeneca highlighting how modern quality management enables tangible value creation.





highlighting how modern quality management enables tangible value creation. Boehringer Ingelheim on enabling digital execution in clinical trials to bring treatments to patients faster.





on enabling digital execution in clinical trials to bring treatments to patients faster. Global Blood Therapeutics explaining ways to turn the trial master file (TMF) into a strategic advantage for fast, accurate clinical trials.





explaining ways to turn the trial master file (TMF) into a strategic advantage for fast, accurate clinical trials. GSK showing how they built a unified development ecosystem across clinical, quality, and regulatory for speed and agility.





showing how they built a unified development ecosystem across clinical, quality, and regulatory for speed and agility. Forge Biologics discussing how digital quality management helps to accelerate processes and build trust with partners.





discussing how digital quality management helps to accelerate processes and build trust with partners. Moderna on the benefits of establishing an end-to-end regulatory system for increased agility and visibility.

"Life sciences has made significant progress in streamlining processes and making information sharing easier," said Jim Reilly, vice president, Veeva Development Cloud strategy. "Veeva R&D and Quality Summit will bring the industry back together in person to connect with peers, share learnings, and discuss strategies that can move the industry forward."

The event is open exclusively to life sciences industry professionals. Register and stay up to date on the agenda and program details at veeva.com/Summit.

Additional Information

Register for Veeva R&D and Quality Summit: veeva.com/Summit/register

Connect with Veeva on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/veeva-systems

Follow @veevasystems on Twitter: twitter.com/veevasystems

About Veeva Systems

Veeva is the global leader in cloud software for the life sciences industry. Committed to innovation, product excellence, and customer success, Veeva serves more than 1,000 customers, ranging from the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to emerging biotechs. As a Public Benefit Corporation, Veeva is committed to balancing the interests of all stakeholders, including customers, employees, shareholders, and the industries it serves. For more information, visit veeva.com.

Contact:

Deivis Mercado

Veeva Systems

925-226-8821

[email protected]

SOURCE Veeva Systems
Patriot Cigar Company, handmade in Nicaragua, will feature custom designed cigars from some of the biggest names in the America First movement, including longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Alan Jacoby, popular podcast host of 1776 Great Divide and New York City 9/11 first responder who assisted in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attack as a paramedic, is beginning a new venture with Patriot Cigar Company, which will launch on September 15th.

Jacoby is a successful small business owner, lifelong New York resident and host of the popular The Great Divide Podcast, which is carried on Roku TV, a part of the Patriot Podcast Network that Jacoby founded earlier this year.

Since it's launch, Jacoby's Great Divide show has secured interviews with prominent political activists and advisors to President Trump like Roger Stone, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Kim Klacik, George Papadopolous, along with hundreds of other independent journalists and America First activists across America.

"Patriot Cigar Company is launching to give people not only an exemplary product, but also the comfort in knowing that their money is being spent supporting a Patriot owned and America First focused brand. We will have many custom lines dropping after our September 15th launch, starting with the iconic "StoneZone" line that was personally crafted and curated by longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone, a well known cigar lover and aficionado," said Jacoby.

"I am honored to help American patriot Alan Jacoby launch Patriot Cigar Company in the coming weeks. Those who know me best understand that I only smoke the best quality cigars. Thankfully Patriot Cigar Company will not only be the best, but they will be affordable and support the cause of America First," concluded Stone.

For those looking to try the StoneZone line, and many others in person, Patriot Cigar Company will be at a featured booth at The America Project's "Border 911", event in Long Island, NY on October 14th at the America First Warehouse at 90 13th Ave Ronkonkoma, NY 11779 .

The Border 911 event will feature Tom Homan, Lara Logan, Roger Stone, General Michael Flynn.

SOURCE My Patriot Cigar Company
Helps Automakers, Dealers & Fleet Managers Connect EV Drivers with Public Programs to Offset Home Charging Installation Costs

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Qmerit, the leading provider of installation services for EV charging and other electrification technologies, today announced an enhancement to its digital services platform for automakers, dealerships and fleet managers that seamlessly integrates available public incentives into the price-estimating process for EV home charging installation. This new feature can accelerate EV adoption by helping retail buyers and home-based fleet drivers take advantage of government and utility programs offering rebates, tax credits and other financial incentives for Level 2 charging installation.

Qmerit's digital services platform provides automakers, dealerships and fleet managers with a co-branded portal where their customers and drivers can request a proposal for Level 2 home charging installation. With Qmerit's new incentive functionality, each upfront estimate will include information on available federal, state and local incentives, helping homeowners make a more informed decision.

This enhancement means that in addition to the convenience Qmerit has always provided, automakers, dealerships and fleet managers can now link their customers and drivers to benefits such as federal tax credits, rebates from states, counties and municipalities, and charging discounts from utilities. The system can even point homeowners to local managed charging programs that help them save on their electrical bills while alleviating strain on the grid.

"Utilities and other entities are offering millions of dollars in incentives for home EV charging, but it's a complex landscape that's constantly shifting, making it tough for EV buyers to identify all available opportunities," said Ken Sapp, Qmerit senior vice president of business development. "Our new solution makes it easy for EV drivers to find the home charging incentives that apply to them at every levelfederal, state and local. It's not only good for individual customers, but for addressing a broader awareness gap when it comes to EVs and mass adoption."

According to Consumer Reports' 2022 Battery Electric Vehicle & Low Carbon Fuel Survey , 48% of Americans who haven't owned an EV have never heard of any EV incentives. Only 33% are aware of tax rebates and discounts at the time of purchase or lease, and just 17% know that discounts are available to offset the cost of home charger installation.

"This effort represents one more way that Qmerit is bringing together stakeholders across the EV ecosystem to make the transition away from internal combustion vehicles easier for everyone," said Tom Bowen, president of Qmerit Solutions. "By helping automakers, dealerships and fleet managers connect their customers and drivers with available incentives, Qmerit continues to support the shift to a new, more sustainable era of electrified transportation."

Qmerit's integrated incentive function has been deployed across the company's digital services platform nationwide. Automakers, dealerships and fleet managers that already use Qmerit to provide seamless home charging installation experiences for their customers and drivers will find the enhancement automatically incorporated into their solution. All they need to do is continue sending EV customers and drivers to their installation portal, through a link or a QR code that can be scanned at the dealership. Depending on factors such as where they live and their home setup, homeowners could see their charging installation costs defrayed by up to 100%.

About Qmerit

Qmerit is North America's leading provider of implementation solutions for EV charging and other energy transition technologies, simplifying the adoption of electrification for residential and business markets. Qmerit's value-driven services are delivered through a network of company-owned contractors, independent Certified Solutions Partners, and Certified Installers skilled in system implementation and integration. For more information, visit https://qmerit.com/ , and connect with us on Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook , and Instagram .

Qmerit Media Contact

Samantha Graham

[email protected]

SOURCE Qmerit
The Journey will make two stops in the Missoula area, from 9/13 to 9/16. Please see locations and timing below.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The All of Us Research Program's Journey mobile exhibit is traveling across the country to engage communities that have been historically underrepresented in medical research. All of Us is inviting one million or more people to help advance precision medicine by building one of the most diverse health databases of its kind.

Since the program launched in 2018, the mobile exhibit has visited more than 100 cities in over 40 states. In Missoula, the Journey will be available to educate and register new participants for the program. Participants will be able to take health surveys and provide bio samples, such as a blood sample, as part of joining the program. With more enrollment and representation from area residents, researchers can help better address health issues that are prevalent in the community.

LOCATIONS:

FIRST STOP: Cara's Park (123 Carousel Drive, Missoula, MT , 59812) on Tuesday 9/13 and Wednesday 9/14, from 10 a.m.  4 p.m. MT

SECOND STOP: University of Montana (32 Campus Dr., Missoula, MT , 59812) on Thursday, 9/15 and Friday 9/16, from 10 a.m.  4 p.m. MT

EVENT DETAILS:

All of Us tour managers will be available for interviews at the event or before the event via Zoom or phone.

tour managers will be available for interviews at the event or before the event via Zoom or phone. Journalists are welcome to shoot B-roll and take photos at the event.

The mobile exhibit features hands-on activities to learn more about the program, including a digital gaming hub, an augmented reality experience, and more.

COVID-19 safety guidelines:

All staff are vaccinated against COVID-19.



Staff and attendees are required to wear masks only when mandated by local guidelines.

to wear masks when mandated by local guidelines.

All surfaces are cleaned before, during, and after events to reduce any possible contamination.

ABOUT ALL OF US:

More than 320,000 people nationwide have enrolled and completed the initial steps to participate in the research program, and over 80% of these participants belong to communities that have been historically underrepresented in biomedical research, including 50% from racial and ethnic minority groups. Researchers will use the data that participants contribute to learn how biology, lifestyle, and environment affect health. This may one day help them find more tailored ways to treat and prevent disease.

For more information, visit allofus.nih.gov . | To sign up, visit joinallofus.org .

SOURCE All of Us Journey
The annual awards program recognizes Nintex Partners for helping organizations accelerate digital transformation and drive business outcomes with the Nintex Process Platform

BELLEVUE, Wash., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nintex, the global standard for process management and automation, today announced the regional finalists of the 2022 Nintex Partner Awards across six categories in AMER, APAC and EMEA.

To learn more about the Nintex Partner Awards visit: https://www.nintex.com/partner-awards/

The annual awards program recognizes Nintex Partners for helping organizations accelerate digital transformation and drive business outcomes with the Nintex Process Platform.

Nintex Partner Awards recognize channel partners that drive high-impact results and continuous process improvements for public and private sector organizations across every industry and geographic region by leveraging Nintex's powerful and easy-to-use process management and automation software. Each Nintex Partner Award finalist was selected based on measurable business results during Nintex's fiscal year 2022, extending from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.

"Our customers benefit from the expertise and support of Nintex Partners to deliver and implement successful digital workplace solutions with the Nintex Process Platform," said Joe Peterson, Nintex Vice President Channel Sales and Strategy. "It is an honor to recognize our top-performing partners for their impact helping public and private sector organizations to go digital faster with Nintex."

2022 Nintex Partner Award finalists by category and region include:

Business Excellence  bringing the Nintex Process Platform to new organizations:

AMER: Carahsoft Technology Corp; DocPoint Solutions; Protiviti, Inc.

EMEA: Interactive Saudi Arabia Ltd; Taqniyat; Sure Global Technology

APAC: CDS Solutions; CMG Consulting; Myriad Technologies

Customer Success  supporting long-term adoption and success of the Nintex Process Platform:

AMER: BOOST Strategy Partners; Quantum Rhino; Ricoh

EMEA: Basico P/S FA; Point:Taken; Data One GmbH

APAC: Data Interactive; PT Mastersystem Infotama; Alrighty Labs

Business Acceleration  strong expansion of automation subscriptions year-over-year:

AMER: ImageTech Systems, LLC; BankRPA; BOOST Strategy Partners

EMEA: Synergi Information Technology; Interactive Saudi Arabia Ltd; SoftwareONE Deutschland GmbH

APAC: Cumulus International Co., Ltd.; Insight Enterprise Australia P/L; Hitachi Solutions, Ltd

Regional Spotlight  regional market impact and momentum with customers:

AMER: InnoVelocity; Peak Consulting; Pacific BPA

EMEA: S A Partners; Data One GmbH; Taqniyat

APAC: ACW Solutions; VenTek International; Ricoh Australia

Business Transformation  top customer entries to the 2022 Nintex Solution Innovation Awards

AMER: Elantis

EMEA: SakalGB

APAC: rapidMation

Nintex Workflow Cloud Upgrades  for driving generational upgrades to Nintex Workflow Cloud

AMER: ImageTech Systems, LLC

EMEA: IOZ AG

APAC: PlanB Consulting

Regional winners for each category will be announced on Tuesday, September 27. Learn more about the Nintex Partner Network by visiting https://partner.nintex.com/.

Media Contact

Laetitia Smith

[email protected]

cell: +64 21 154 7114

About Nintex

Nintex is the global standard for process intelligence and automation. Today more than 10,000 public and private sector organizations across 90 countries turn to the Nintex Process Platform to accelerate progress on their digital transformation journeys by quickly and easily managing, automating and optimizing business processes. Learn more by visiting www.nintex.com and experience how Nintex and its global partner network are shaping the future of Intelligent Process Automation (IPA).

Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Nintex
North Las Vegas Joins West Jordan, Utah, and Colorado Springs as Next Location for Sustainable, Western US Wholesale and Colocation Site

SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Novva Data Centers , a state-of-the-art data center company providing purpose-built data center facilities, announced plans to open a new data center in North Las Vegas, Nevada. Construction on the 275,000 square foot, 100MW, $400 Million data center in North Las Vegas began in October 2021, and the facility is expected to open in late 2023. The data center, which will be located on a 20 acre campus, is Novva's third location, joining existing facilities in Colorado Springs, Colorado , and West Jordan, Utah.

A rendering of Novva's new North Las Vegas data center, which is expected to open in late 2023. (Photo: Novva Data Centers)

"Since our founding, Novva has sought to bring purpose-built, futuristic, eco-friendly facilities to the Western United States and we've been very selective and intentional with our site locations," said Wes Swenson, founder and CEO of Novva Data Centers. "North Las Vegas is an ideal location for a data center because it allows us to take advantage of the abundant renewable energy alternatives, and its proximity to the California and regional markets. It is a great addition to our other western data center locations."

"This also gives us another opportunity to implement our water-free cooling technology, which will save approximately 150 to 200 million gallons of water a year, and in 2024 we plan to deploy atmospheric water generation for landscape needs," Swenson continued. "The facility will also benefit from tax abatements from the state of Nevada, which were approved in the summer of 2022."

The new North Las Vegas facility will be built with sustainability in mind using renewable energy, and replicate Novva's signature "wholocation" experience. Wholocation refers to a combination of wholesale scale and retail colocation, which provides the ability to serve clients of any size and scalability needs  from those requiring 1 cabinet to 1,000+ cabinets.

"North Las Vegas is a growing hub for global brands and innovative industries and Novva's new data center will help serve and attract top enterprises to our community" said North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee. "Novva's track record of building thoughtful, sustainable data centers proves they will be good stewards of local resources while bringing major value as North Las Vegas builds upon its reputation as a business hub."

The new facility was made possible with a recent growth equity investment which was announced earlier in the year. Novva plans to expand across the United States and expects to offer 1,000 MW of designed data center capacity by 2027 at several strategic, yet-to-be-named locations in addition to this newest Las Vegas site.

The data center will feature robotics, high density cooling using water-free technology, containment, renewable energy in partnership with NV Energy, and a wholly owned on premise substation.

The Las Vegas data center is currently taking reservations. Companies seeking more information should contact [email protected].

For more information about Novva Data Centers and its futuristic technology deployments and sustainability efforts, visit www.novva.com .

About Novva Data Centers

Novva Data Centers creates purpose-built data centers for the future across the Western United States, providing wholesale and multi-tenant colocation infrastructure services for local, national, and international clients. Novva's human-centric, sustainable data center solutions are married with an extensive portfolio of high capacity, scalable data center amenities to provide turn-key, client-designed solutions for any size of business. Novva's flagship campus in West Jordan, Utah, features 200 MW of capacity and 1.5 million square feet of data center built over four phases. A state-of-the-art waterless cooling system, renewable energy, drone and robot dog facility monitoring and more, provide a one-of-a-kind, modern day data center experience.

Novva Media Contact

Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA)

+1 866.695.3629, ext. 11

[email protected]

SOURCE Novva Data Centers
- ONDA's 2022 H1 GMV reached $81mil, already doubling its 2021 GMV

- Successfully diversifying revenue sources from hotels, resorts, and residences

- ONDA owns South Korea's largest hotel and travel accommodations distribution network.

SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ONDA, South Korea's Hospitality Tech company, reports breakthrough growth for first half H1 2022. ONDA manages South Korea's largest hotel and travel accommodations network with over 42 online bookings channel partners.

ONDA's GMV(Gross Merchandise Value) increased by 100% YoY to $81 million in H1 2022. The number already exceeds last year's total GMV ($76 million).

ONDA, a hospitality tech company, which has the largest accommodations affiliate network with over 42 online booking sales channel partners in South Korea has announced an H1 2022 earnings of $81 million, already exceeding last year's GMV.

ONDA explained that its revenue doubled compared with 2021, along with a rapid increase in GMV. Both signs point to a healthy momentum for this hospitality tech startup.

ONDA's growth was made possible through diversifying revenue sources and lowering dependence on small and medium-sized travel accommodations.

For instance, the percentage of sales from small and medium-sized accommodations such as vacation rentals, which made up most of ONDA's GMV in H1 2019, fell to somewhere between 40% and 50% in H1 2022. During this period, ONDA was able to increase its hotel and resort sales from less than 10% of GMV in H1 2019 to about 30% to 35% in H1 2022. This upturn was accompanied by a boost in luxury accommodations earnings with its high ARPU(Average Revenue Per User), which accounted for 10% of GMV.

Another 2022 milestone for ONDA was expanding its online sales partners. The GDS (Global Distribution System), ONDA's main revenue source, is a B2B platform that distributes hotel and travel accommodations to 42 domestic and overseas channels. It reported 107% growth YoY in H1 2022.

During the same period, ONDA's GMV through its global channels such as Airbnb, Agoda, HotelsCombined, and Trip.com increased by 124.87% YoY. ONDA's D2C (Direct to Customer) business that directly connects travelers and accommodation providers also increased its GMV by 193% YoY.

ONDA Select, a service providing a curated selection of accommodations, achieved a seven-fold increase of GMV in H1 2022. Notably, transactions by foreign users increased by 20%, proving increased demand for inbound travel and signaling the reopening of the Korean travel market.

ONDA also plans to directly operate residences and hotels and deliver substantial revenue this year, after successful trial operations in 2021.

ONDA will continue to focus its efforts on the digital transformation of the hospitality industry. It plans to increase its supply of customized SaaS based PMS (Property Management System) to premium hotels and expand its D2C business to promote the small and medium-sized accommodations sector. In fact, ONDA's average customer transaction per registered room increased by 16% YoY in H1 2022.

"Due to the increasing share of online sales in the hospitality industry, and the growing trend of digital first management, we're experiencing an explosive surge of domestic hotels and prestigious accommodations seeking to join ONDA. Based on our customer first policy, ONDA is committed to advance our mutually beneficial business model across the hospitality industry," said Oh Hyun-seok, CEO of ONDA.

ONDA is a hospitality tech company that analyzes online transaction data and also brokers sales of 70% of South Korea's accommodations market. It has built solid partnerships with global tech companies and has been selected as Google Hotel's first official partner in Korea and as an Airbnb Software Preferred Partner.

ONDA is recognized as a leader in the global hotel tech industry. In 2021, ONDA was selected by both Airbnb (becoming its "Preferred Partner") and Google Hotels as their first official Korean partners.

Recently, it was selected into "The Baby Unicorn Project" by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Also, the Financial Times ranked ONDA 7th among Korean tech companies in its "Asia-Pacific High-Growth Companies 2022" and recently, ONDA was ranked 34th (first among Korean companies) in the "Global PMS Vendor" list selected by Skift, a U.S. travel research company.

SOURCE ONDA
OneUnited Bank's episode launches this first-of-its-kind branded series which focuses on businesses scaling their digital presence in response to changing consumer demands

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- OneUnited Bank is proud to announce its inclusion in '" The Shift ," a new branded video series by Salesforce and NBCUniversal, showing how seven high-growth organizations took on digital transformation during heavy market headwinds  and made it through. "The Shift" will premiere with the OneUnited Bank episode on Sept. 17th, 2022 at 2:30 pm ET on CNBC and will stream exclusively on CNBC.com, Peacock, and Salesforce+. The episode will be available to stream on Salesforce+ and CNBC.com on Monday September 19th, 2022. On Oct. 3, the series will debut on Peacock.

The premiere episode of "The Shift" spotlights how OneUnited Bank , America's largest Black-owned bank, is building a revolutionary new digital product, Cash Please, aimed at upending the predatory payday loan business.

"The Shift" will premiere with the OneUnited Bank episode on Sept. 17th, 2022 at 2:30 pm ET on CNBC Tweet this

"This moment of social reckoning has created an unprecedented opportunity for our country to overcome the sustained damage from our history of systemic racism. Technology provides the opportunity to organize effectively to drive political, social, and economic change. It also creates the biggest opportunity to generate wealth in the history of mankind," said Kevin Cohee, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of OneUnited Bank.

Shot over six months at OneUnited Bank branches in Los Angeles, Boston and Miami, the 30-minute episode will explore the story of the Bank, its history and mission to utilize technology to empower Black America to close the racial wealth gap and create generational wealth. The episode covers the innerworkings of the Bank and features interviews that tell the story of the Bank's progress and march towards technology over the past 25 years.

"We are excited to bring OneUnited Bank's inspiring story to life on the premiere episode of The Shift", said Matthew Jaffe, VP, Head of Salesforce Studios. "They are a great example of industry leaders using business as a platform for change through the use of innovative technology."

Media inquiries: Suzan McDowell, Circle of One Marketing, [email protected] or 305-576-3790

About OneUnited Bank

OneUnited Bank (www.oneunited.com) is the largest Black-owned bank in America, the first Black-owned digital bank, a Minority Depository Institution (MDI), and a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI).



About Salesforce

Salesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies of every size and industry to digitally transform and create a 360 view of their customers. For more information about Salesforce, visit: www.salesforce.com .

About NBCUniversal

NBCUniversal is one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a premium ad-supported streaming service. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

SOURCE OneUnited Bank
Lawsuits By Workers and Surrounding Residents Continue to Mount as a Result of August 15, 2021 Chemical Release

HOUSTON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Two delivery drivers, who were on the grounds of the Lubrizol Corporation plant in Deer Park, Harris County, Texas on August 15, 2021, have filed separate lawsuits against the company alleging that negligence and gross negligence by the company caused them permanent respiratory injuries.

According to the lawsuits filed today in the District Court of Harris County, Lubrizol Corporation's workers caused the release of massive amounts of toxic chemicals, hydrogen sulfide and mercaptan, into the air by overheating a railcar, where the chemicals were being stored, on August 15, 2021.

The two lawsuits state that the two independent contractors were working at the Lubrizol Corporation plant in Deer Park at the time of the leak and inhaled high concentrations of chemicals, which caused severe and permanent respiratory and neurological injuries. The lawsuits also state that adequate emergency management measures were not taken by Lubrizol Corporation's workers after the leak occurred.

Multiple lawsuits have already been filed by residents, who surround the Lubrizol Corporation plant in Deer Park, complaining of similar injuries. More than 49,000 people in and around Houston were forced to shelter in place, with people located as far away from the plant as downtown Houston calling Harris County Pollution Control to complain. A subsequent investigation by Harris County Pollution Control resulted in a finding that Lubrizol violated multiple state health and safety laws. It was also determined that the release constituted a nuisance to the public's normal use and enjoyment of its property.

"Unfortunately, out-of-state companies, like Lubrizol Corporation, who profit from having a plant in the Houston metropolitan area, are not as concerned as they need to be about the safety of Harris County's workers and residents," says Derek Potts, representing the two delivery drivers as well as hundreds of residents in Deer Park who were injured by the release. "We are seeking justice and compensation for all of our clients who were injured and terrified due to the negligent conduct of Lubrizol on August 15, 2021."

The lawsuits are Lisa Curry v. The Lubrizol Corporation, et. al., Cause No.: 2022-57957 and Brian Pitts v. The Lubrizol Corporation, et al., Cause No.: 2022-57984, filed in Harris County District Court. Plaintiffs' attorneys are Potts Law Firm out of Houston, Texas.

SOURCE Potts Law Firm
VISTA, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RinseKit, the original portable shower company with over 300,000 units sold, recently published its new "RinseKit for Work" website - aimed at educating customers to the uses of RinseKit in non-recreational settings. The creation of this website signifies a strategic move by RinseKit to cater its products and marketing to businesses and government organizations.

RinseKit on the job site for hand, tool and eye-washing. RinseKit provides portable, pressurized water in a compact durable case.

RinseKit's portable showers were initially adopted for recreational uses like camping and surfing. Recently fleet drivers, construction workers, first responders and military personnel have begun to use RinseKit in day-to-day operations. During the peak of COVID, many delivery drivers, police officers, animal control and border patrol staff and others purchased RinseKits for their fleets to serve as portable handwashing stations and sanitation solutions. This trend has continued as more professionals recognize that RinseKit is the ultimate solution for staying cool, clean and safe on the job site.

The new RinseKit for Work website is specifically aimed at educating contractors, first responders, fleet managers and other professionals about the many uses of RinseKit in the field.

"We are very excited about the debut of our new "RinseKit for Work" website," said Steven Winters, CEO of RinseKit. "We have seen an explosion of bulk orders from businesses and government organizations in the past few years and are constantly receiving feedback from commercial customers with new and innovative ways that RinseKit is helping teams stay clean, safe, and prepared on the job site. The goal of this new website is to tell the story of those uses, and to use those stories to better inform business owners and fleet managers of how RinseKit can aid in their operations."

To learn more about commercial uses for RinseKit and bulk pricing, go to www.rinsekitforwork.com.

RinseKit is the world's original portable pressurized shower company. RinseKit's patented products range in capacities from 1.5 to 4.5 gallons. Certain models use battery pressurization and have heating options to provide hot water. RinseKit makes the most versatile and high-quality portable showers perfect for outdoor fun adventures and commercial use. With over 300,000 units sold and thousands of positive reviews online, RinseKit has proven that it is the go-to portable shower company in the world.

Media Contact:

Hailey Martinez

8006135764

[email protected]

SOURCE RinseKit
For the second year in a row, ten scholarships were awarded to BIPOC students pursuing careers in physical therapy.

PHOENIX, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rizing Tide , a foundation dedicated to creating a more racially diverse and inclusive physical therapy (PT) workforce, announced today the second cohort of recipients for its Crest scholarship program . Five graduate students from underrepresented racial or ethnic backgrounds enrolled in U.S.-based Doctor of Physical Therapy programs were selected to receive full Crest scholarships to help further their education. Additionally, five Crest "Rizing Star" recipients were chosen to receive partial scholarships.

Each student with a full scholarship will receive up to $14,000 each to subsidize their tuition, room and board, books, and other fees for this school year with the opportunity to annually renew the scholarship until graduation. Each Rizing Star will receive up to $5,000 for the same purposes, also renewable annually. The scholarship recipients were selected by an esteemed panel of diverse healthcare and business professionals and awarded based on future impact potential, academic performance, personal character and conduct, leadership and other distinguished traits.

"Rizing Tide was born out of a passion to fill the void of workforce diversity in the physical therapy profession. With more than 230 outstanding applications for this year's Crest scholarship, the need for student support is clear," said Dr. Heidi Jannenga, PT, DPT, ATC , founder of Rizing Tide. "Although the selection process was brutal, I am even more inspired and convinced that the future of the industry is bright. We are excited to add these remarkable scholars to the Rizing Tide community."

The 2022 Rizing Tide Foundation Crest scholarship recipients include:

Zahraa Darwich , from Michigan , who is attending Wayne State University

, from , who is attending Oliver Dario Artiga , from California , who is attending Northwestern University

, from , who is attending Brittany Darnell Ballentine , from Maryland , who is attending University of Maryland

, from , who is attending Fiorella Barreda , from North Carolina , who is attending Elon University

, from , who is attending Mikaela Renae Holley , from Alabama , who is attending University of Alabama at Birmingham

The 2022 Rizing Tide Foundation Crest Rizing Star scholarship recipients include:

Liam Calvin Odesa Henson, from California , who is attending Samuel Merritt University

, who is attending Samuel Merritt University Maya Jones , from Alabama , who is attending University of Alabama at Birmingham

, from , who is attending Said Mendez, from Nebraska , who is attending Duke University

, who is attending Erika Nicole Gonzalez , from Texas , who is attending Texas State University

, from , who is attending Carolina Mahecha Millan , from Florida , who is attending Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

"Narrowing down the finalists amongst so many qualified applicants was a gut-wrenching process for the selection committee, and while we are proud of the 10 recipients of the 2022 Crest scholarship, we are well aware that many of their fellow applicants were equally accomplished and hold similar promise as future physical therapists," said Mia Gonzales Dean , selection committee member of Rizing Tide and the chief operating officer for DriQ Health, Inc. "The Crest scholarship recipients are truly exceptional scholars and people, who have worked tirelessly, broken many barriers and against all odds have already made an impact on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in the PT profession. We look forward to seeing all they will accomplish throughout their careers."

The next Crest scholarship application process opens April 2023. For more information about the foundation and its scholarship programs, please visit: www.rizing-tide.com .

ABOUT RIZING TIDE:

Rizing Tide was founded in 2020 by Dr. Heidi Jannenga, PT, DPT, ATC, to help bridge the diversity gap in the physical therapy profession. She is the co-founder of WebPT and a physical therapist with more than 25 years of experience in the rehab therapy industry. The foundation awards yearly scholarships to BIPOC PT students and residents in an effort to make a meaningful, generational impact on the industry. Learn more at www.rizing-tide.com .

SOURCE Rizing Tide
Sensia's Intelligent Action technology enables brand equity, creativity and innovation, reduced response time and maximum value, stage gate efficiency, and improved customer experience.

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, Frost & Sullivan reviewed the global oil and gas automation industry and, based on its findings, recognizes Rockwell Automation and Sensia with the 2022 Global Oil and Gas Automation Enabling Technology Leadership Award. Sensia, a joint venture of Rockwell Automation and Schlumberger, provides technologically advanced solutions focused on digital, measurement, and automation within the oil and gas industry, including production, transportation and storage, and processing. Production solutions provide intelligent automation that enhances asset productivity and operational efficiency in onshore and offshore platforms and vessels. Processing solutions help customers increase their operational effectiveness and optimize their processes while maintaining operational safety. In addition, these solutions are applicable to liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, gas processing facilities, and oil refineries.

2022 Global Oil and Gas Automation Enabling Technology Leadership Award

Sensia's innovative portfolio includes a new offering that combines real-time control and edge-computing capabilities in a single device, enabling the company to solve problems, maximize previous investments, and offer a unified platform. Sensia brings together Rockwell Automation's pioneering process automation, real-time control, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, combined with unmatched measurement, instrumentation software, and the analytics capabilities of Schlumberger. The result is a comprehensive suite of oil & gas digital solutions that unifies sensing, intelligence, and action. Intelligent Action offers the following:

Optimizes decision making, such as decision support for key stakeholders and automated decisions where each is appropriate





Can be deployed from the edge to the enterprise to minimize response time and maximize value, differentiating the Sensia proposition





Differentiates Sensia through speed of innovation, creativity, and efficiency





Limits / eliminates the need for the many incompatible point solutions that are often sub-optimally deployed

According to Agustina de Sarriera, an industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, "Digital transformation requires agility and speed, and in today's landscape, businesses need to transform rapidly to keep up with the energy transition that the oil and gas industry is currently undergoing while maximizing their business performance. Intelligent Action and commitment to innovation enable Sensia to make automation capabilities from the edge to the enterprise smarter and more agile for customers."

Sensia's ability to create and provide applications that solve specific problems and rapidly deploy these solutions within an edge-to-enterprise platform provide the company a competitive advantage in the oil and gas automation market. An agile stage-gate process maximizes stakeholder participation, facilitates de-risking, and focuses on the value-based outcomes needed to deliver projects. The company's digital advisory service enables it to assess an operator's digital maturity dynamically, producing a value map that outlines considered incremental projects. As a result, clients can extract maximum value as quickly as possible, achieve their digital goals, realize a return on investment, and accelerate time to value. Rockwell Automation and Schlumberger's shared oil and gas expertise and artificial lift experience further strengthen Sensia, making it the leading automation specialist in oil and gas production, transportation, and processing, with a team of over 1,000 experts that serve oil & gas customers globally.

"Sensia uses the digital twin capability from Schlumberger and a Rockwell Automation control system to identify key operational inefficiencies for customers struggling to meet their ESG targets. With an incremental steps approach, customers realize reductions in energy use and improvements in ESG performance. The technological innovation in the Sensia platform is outstanding in terms of intelligence and agility, excelling in the market based on its significant advancements in the automation segment and the finesse of its technological solutions," explained Sarriera.

Rockwell Automation offers a world-class customer experience business process to help customers and partners navigate the complexity of its ecosystem easily and quickly. Customers are provided a consistent, personalized experience to guarantee satisfaction and build loyalty. With their strong overall performance, Rockwell Automation and Sensia earn Frost & Sullivan's 2022 Global Enabling Technology Leadership Award in the oil and gas automation industry.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to a company that has developed a pioneering technology that enhances current products and enables the development of new products and applications. The award recognizes the high market acceptance potential of the recipient's technology.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in various regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

About Frost & Sullivan

For six decades, Frost & Sullivan has been world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion.

Contact:

Claudia Toscano

P: 1.956.533.5915

E: [email protected]

About Rockwell Automation

Rockwell Automation, Inc. ( NYSE: ROK), is a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation. We connect the imaginations of people with the potential of technology to expand what is humanly possible, making the world more productive and more sustainable. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 25,000 problem solvers dedicated to our customers in more than 100 countries. To learn more about how we are bringing the Connected Enterprise to life across industrial enterprises, visit www.rockwellautomation.com.

About Sensia

As the industry's only dedicated fully integrated automation company, Sensia brings together technical excellence with unparalleled domain experience to help oil and gas operators overcome their most complex challenges.

By unifying measurements, intelligence and action to optimize decisions and dramatically reduce the time and number of interactions between detection, diagnosis and resolution  the Sensia portfolio of automated solutions reduce risk, drive efficiency and maximize performance. Allowing clients to transform months and days into minutes and seconds. All the way from reservoir to refinery.

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
The full line of Santo Blanco, Reposado, and Mezquila created by spirits pioneer Sammy Hagar and iconic chef Guy Fieri, will be available in stores, bars and restaurants across the Caribbean Island

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Santo Spirits, the brainchild of spirits pioneer and Grammy-award winning musician Sammy Hagar, and iconic chef and Emmy Award-winning television personality Guy Fieri is reaching new consumers by launching their portfolio of premium agave spirits in Puerto Rico. Produced with time-honored, artisanal practices in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, Santo Spirits only utilizes 100% blue Weber agave of the highest quality. Santo's expressions are gluten free, unbelievably smooth and made the traditional way, honoring the culture and practices of authentic tequila. Unlike most tequilas on the market in the U.S., Santo tequilas are certified additive free by Tequila Matchmaker meaning there is no coloring or flavoring added to the finished product. The premium portfolio currently consists of the world's first Mezquila, an old-world style tequila Blanco and an ultra-smooth Reposado, all of which will be officially available for purchase in Puerto Rico in October 2022.

"I have been in this business for over 30 years, and I am really proud and impressed by what we have been able to accomplish with the Santo Spirits brand. I'm dedicated to producing the best tequila in the world and I can't wait for fans in Puerto Rico to get a taste of such an authentic product," said Sammy Hagar. "We are using premium ingredients and traditional processes that have given us a liquid that is going to shake up the tequila market."

Santo will be launching all three of their award-winning agave expressions in Puerto Rico in October, with future variants to also be made available upon release. Santo Blanco is smooth, with balanced and notable agave flavor which is complimented by earthy, white pepper and citrus aromas. Delicate spice and floral flavors add to the intensity of the liquid. Santo Reposado begins as Santo Tequila Blanco, resting in lightly charred and used American oak bourbon barrels for four to five months, imparting a smooth, easy-drinking tequila. Santo Mezquila, the world's first ever blend of tequila and mezcal, is made from 100% Blue Weber Agave and 100% Espadin Agave (Angustifolia variety).

"Sammy and I are longtime buddies who share a love for creating and curating memorable experiences, whether it's through food, music or now, tequila. We are stoked to bring the Santo Spirits experience to more folks around the country so that they can share in our passion and join in on the Santo lifestyle," said Guy Fieri.

The Santo portfolio should be enjoyed neat, on the rocks, or in a premium cocktail. For more information and recipes please visit www.santospirits.com.

About Santo Spirits

The Santo Spirits brand was conceived out of longtime friendship, exceptional food, great tequila, and the search for a taste revelation. Santo Spirits is the brainchild of rocker Sammy Hagar, and chef Guy Fieri. Together, the duo created Santo Spirits and found their virtuoso with Juan Eduardo Nunez, a third-generation master distiller from the famed distillery El Viejito, founded in 1937, in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico. Sammy's history of making world-renowned tequila, Guy's world-famous taste buds, and Juan Eduardo's award-winning craftsmanship, bring to life the portfolio of Santo Spirits: The world's first Mezquila, an old-world style tequila Blanco, and the sinfully smooth reposado. For more information about Santo Spirits, please visit SantoSpirit.com

Media Contacts:

Santo Spirits

Jessica Meisels/Fingerprint Communications

[email protected]

Office: 310-276-7500

SOURCE Santo Spirits
Nashville-based fintech solution for college savings and student loans brings accessibility and crowdfunding to employee benefits

Amidst uproar around college debt crisis, SavvyFi is riding wave of interest in college savings and student loan benefits from investors, benefit consultants, and corporations

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SavvyFi , the fintech platform that is making college savings and student loan repayment plans an accessible and popular benefit for employees, today announced the completion of a $4.9M Series A funding round. The company raised its Series A to address the growing demand for its platform from employers, who are discovering the advantage of providing solutions to student loan debt at a time of unprecedented attention around this national crisis.

The funding round was led by Aligned Partners , a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm whose founders have a long track record of building successful companies.

SavvyFi will use this raise to expand its education financing platform to accommodate interest from global partners in joint partnerships that will position them favorably to customers. The product includes cashback and crowdfunding features that have captured the attention of major financial institutions, corporations, universities, media leaders, and other sponsors.

"SavvyFi fills a critical gap in the marketplace for better tools to alleviate the burden of college savings and student loan repayment," said Susan Mason, Co-founder of Aligned Partners. "SavvyFi's platform engages employees and the wider community around a solution, creating new channels of savings and financing that were previously unheard of."

As the product has gained traction in the insurance broker marketplace, SavvyFi has helped to ignite interest in a modern approach to college savings and student debt.

"So many of our employees were asking for these benefits, but we couldn't find a company that offered an easy-to-use platform while also being responsive to our needs," said LoAn Nguyen, Human Resources Manager of Blue Earth Diagnostics, a SavvyFi customer. "SavvyFi is both, and our high employee adoption rate is a testament to the interest in this benefit."

"Whether they understand this or not, every company has a vested interest in our cause," said Jeffrey Hull, CEO of SavvyFi. "The entire employee benefits industry is paying attention and businesses are stepping off of the sidelines and into the arena. This is an exciting moment, and we're proud to be at the center of a solution that is taking off."

About SavvyFi: SavvyFi is a user-friendly fintech platform that makes it easy for employers to provide college savings and student loan benefits to their employees. Because the company's platform is "zero-touch" to HR - without any complicated systems, integrations, or paperwork - SavvyFi unlocks education financing capabilities to even the smallest employers that would not otherwise be able to offer these benefits.

About Aligned Venture Partners: Aligned Partners is an early-stage venture fund focused on highly capital-efficient companies in the enterprise, mobile, and SaaS sectors. Founded by experienced investors with deep venture and operating backgrounds, Aligned Partners helps its portfolio companies achieve tight product-market fit, clear value propositions, rapid growth, and strong company-investor alignment. Aligned Partners is based in Menlo Park, California.

Savvy Financial, Inc. ("SavvyFi") is an investment adviser registered with the SEC.

Important Disclosures: Investing involves risk, including loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee or indicate future results. Please consider, among other important factors, your investment objectives, risk tolerance and pricing before investing. Third Party Quotes shown may not be representative of the experience of all SavvyFi customers and do not represent a guarantee of future performance or success. Please note the context from which the quotes was taken; each testimonial is from SavvyFi leadership, its investor, or an employer customer.

Contact:

Shanna Belott

+1-310-770-7857

[email protected]

SOURCE SavvyFi
College students will gain tangible credentials across business subjects and earn as they learn

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Saxbys, a Certified B Corporation and National Education Company, is expanding its reach by debuting Experiential Learning Badges to augment The Saxbys Experiential Learning Platform (E.L.P.), providing all student cafe leadership the opportunity to broaden their education and skills through tangible, professional credentials.

The Saxbys E.L.P. partners with 14 leading higher education institutions to offer full academic credit and wages to a Student Cafe Executive Officer (Student C.E.O.) who has full autonomy of their on-campus cafe for six months. With the launch of the Badge program, Saxbys is quadrupling the reach of its E.L.P. curriculum, serving not only Student C.E.O.s, but all part-time student cafe leadership.

Saxbys' Experiential Learning Badges allow students to supplement their education at no cost and earn as they learn. Tweet this

Learners can engage with a range of business disciplines that are not tied to any specific major, giving them the chance to explore different interests and bolster their resume experience.

The Experiential Learning Badges will debut with three curricula: Supply Chain Management, Talent Acquisition, and Training & Development. Each teaches broad disciplines before offering hands-on experience within Saxbys' student-run cafes.

This program blends the rigor of the academic approach and the application of corporate training with an important twist. The entire program is designed for students balancing college with work  not only are the Badges free, Saxbys is paying team members who participate, giving them the unique opportunity to 'earn as they learn.'

"We made the intentional decision to pay our learners as a signifier of just how much we value and believe in their education," said Dr. Liz Langemak, Director of Academic Platforms at Saxbys. "This investment from Saxbys lowers the barriers to achieving knowledge across subjects, propelling our team members into impactful careers."

Becoming badged and certified offers pathways to promotions and raises at Saxbys, and grants learners meaningful credentials that they can add to their resumes and LinkedIn profiles.

"We know that our higher education partners and students alike are hungry for skills that differentiate them and set them up for success as they launch their careers," said Nick Bayer, Founder & CEO of Saxbys. "Our Experiential Learning Badges will allow students to supplement their education  at no cost  serving as an investment in their future that will pay dividends."

SOURCE Saxbys
TRUCKEE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Gas Corporation (Southwest Gas or Company), as part of our commitment to meet our customers' goals for sustainable energy and achieve economy-wide carbon reduction targets, is translating purpose into action with its proposed hydrogen-blending demonstration project (Project) filed with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on September 8, 2022. The Project was submitted as part of a Joint Application with Southern California Gas Company and San Diego Gas and Electric Company, that also filed proposed hydrogen projects within their respective service territories. Southwest Gas' Project proposal, if approved, will produce vital information toward implementing meaningful, practical and sustainable energy solutions with measurable impact toward the Truckee Town Council's goal of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2040 and further contributes to Southwest Gas' larger efforts and integral role in supporting economy-wide climate and environmental goals.

The Company's Project aims to establish critical knowledge complementary to the other joint utility Applicants' demonstration projects while uniquely targeting hydrogen-blending scenarios in extreme cold weather and high-elevation conditions, such as those experienced in the Truckee area. Hydrogen, an efficient energy carrier like natural gas, can be blended with traditional natural gas or renewable natural gas (RNG). Yet knowledge gaps exist surrounding the optimal percentages of hydrogen blends in extreme climates  Southwest Gas' Project will help to close these knowledge gaps to ensure safety, system integrity and reliability. Moreover, the Company has committed to employing new sustainable technologies to assist the Town of Truckee in achieving their environmental sustainability priorities.

Given the extreme weather spectrum across California, the Town of Truckee presents a unique opportunity to determine optimal hydrogen-blend percentages in extremely cold areas. The mountain community in the northern Sierra Nevada Mountain Range sits at an elevation of 5,817 feet and experiences average low temperatures below freezing eight months out of the year. These climates necessitate higher heating demands and make use of different end-use appliances such as generators, radiant heaters, furnaces and boilers.

Over an 18-month period, the Project will test a blend of 5% to 20% hydrogen with natural gas, flowing through plastic and steel pipelines. The hydrogen used in this test is created through the process called electrolysis which separates hydrogen from oxygen in water  a low- to no-carbon generating process that releases oxygen beneficially into our atmosphere and stores hydrogen for use, further reducing GHG emissions. This Project aims to provide critical data that will help the creation of the nation's first hydrogen-injection standard for natural gas operators.

"Southwest Gas is committed to offering sustainable solutions for our customers to meet or exceed their expectations. This project is an example of this commitment to partner with our communities on projects that enhance the quality of life in our service territories and provide sustainable energy solutions. Integral to the success of meeting economy-wide net-zero goals are revolutionary technologies and services that will unleash innovation and enhance global energy reliability. Hydrogen and RNG are powerful solutions for our energy future that are helping to transform how we fuel our lives, homes and businesses while honoring our commitment to environmental stewardship and emissions reductions for long-term change," said Dr. Laura S. Nelson, vice president of sustainability and public policy.

This Project proposal is just one of several of the Company's hydrogen pilot programs supporting environmental efforts as part of larger sustainability initiatives, which include hydrogen blending and/or electrolysis projects with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV); Arizona State University (ASU); and Gas Technology Institute (GTI). These initiatives are embracing innovation and supporting sustainability and climate and environmental goals throughout our service territories and communities.

Southwest Gas Corporation is a dynamic energy company proudly delivering safe, reliable and affordable natural gas to over two million customers throughout Arizona, California and Nevada and is committed to exceeding our customers' expectations while innovating sustainable energy solutions for tomorrow. For more information about how Southwest Gas is supporting a sustainable energy future, please visit www.swgas.com/sustainability.

SOURCE Southwest Gas Corporation
https://spendedge.com/sample-report/staff-augmentation-services-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report

Major Price Models in the Staff Augmentation Services Sourcing and Procurement Market

The report discusses in detail each pricing model and the pros and cons attached to every pricing model prevalent in the market. Also, the report provides insights concerning the category supply chain and the margins of various suppliers within the supply chain.

The most widely adopted pricing models in the Staff Augmentation Services Sourcing and Procurement Market

Retainer pricing



Bill-rate pricing



Temporary worker fees pricing

Spend Growth and Demand by Region

The Staff Augmentation Services Sourcing and Procurement market will register an incremental spend of about USD 81.87 Billion during the forecast period. However, only a few regions will drive the majority of this growth. Moreover, on the supply side, North America, Europe, and APAC will have the maximum influence owing to the supplier base. The growth is expected to be primarily driven by increasing demand and adoption of the category across those few regions.

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Most Adopted Procurement Strategies by Buyers Across the Staff Augmentation Services Sourcing and Procurement Market

The report provides a detailed insight into the most adopted procurement strategies by buyers across industries and an analysis of these strategies concerning innovation, regulatory compliance, quality, supply, and cost. Adoption of these procurement strategies will enable the buyers to reduce category TCO and achieve cost savings while sourcing for thermal equipment requirements.

https://spendedge.com/sample-report/staff-augmentation-services-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report

This Staff Augmentation Services Sourcing and Procurement Market report answers help buyers identify and shortlist the most suitable suppliers, for instance:

Am I engaging with the right suppliers?

Which KPIs should I use to evaluate my incumbent suppliers?

Which supplier selection criteria are relevant?

What are the workplace computing devices category essentials in terms of SLAs and RFx?

Our Top Selling Procurement Reports :

Processed Meat Market - Forecast and Analysis: this processed meat procurement market report provides a detailed analysis of procurement strategies deployed by major category end-users across several industries while sourcing for processed meat requirements. In addition, the most adopted and high potential pricing models considered by buyers have been analyzed in this report, which will help understand business scopes for revenue expansion. These data will assist buyers to realize cost savings and identify business strategies to improve sales. Quinoa Sourcing and Procurement Report: The report provides a detailed insight into the most adopted procurement strategies by buyers across industries and an analysis of these strategies with respect to innovation, regulatory compliance, quality, supply, and cost. Adoption of these procurement strategies will enable the buyers to reduce category TCO and achieve cost savings while sourcing for quinoa requirements. Veal Meat - Sourcing and Procurement Intelligence Report: To optimize the value of the purchase, it is crucial to keep a track of current and future price trends. Price forecasts are beneficial in purchase planning, especially when supplemented by the constant monitoring of price influencing factors. During the forecast period, the market expects an incremental spend of USD 10.27 billion due to various market drivers prevalent across multiple regions.

About SpendEdge:

SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions.

Contact

SpendEdge

Anirban Choudhury

Marketing Manager

Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340

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SOURCE SpendEdge
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Feds for Medical Freedom President Marcus Thornton released the following statement today after the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held an en banc hearing in the case of Feds for Medical Freedom, Et Al. v. Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Et Al., Appellants. The suit, in which Feds for Medical Freedom is a plaintiff, argues that the Biden Administration exceeded its Constitutional authority in attempting to require that all federal employees and contractors take a COVID vaccination.

"There are hundreds of thousands of public servants who do not want to get a COVID vaccine for personal, religious, or medical reasons. There are hundreds of thousands more who, regardless of their vaccination status, do not believe the government has the right to compel fellow Americans to inject something they do not want in their body. This hearing, and our year-long legal struggle, is about standing up for our inalienable rights and giving a voice to colleagues who have been heavily censored by those in positions of power.

Feds for Med Freedom called on the Administration to "rescind its unscientific and unconstitutional" vaccine mandate. Tweet this

"Regardless of the court's ruling, Feds for Medical Freedom has won a great victory by taking a stand, speaking truth to power, and making sure the American people know how outrageously their fellow Americans are being treated. Federal workers who stood up for their rights have been subjected to personal and professional ridicule, disciplinary actions, threats of termination, and a generally hostile work environment. These are proud Americans who are being told by this administration that their God-given freedoms do not matter. That is profoundly wrong.

"We continue to call on this this administration to rescind its unscientific and unconstitutional executive orders mandating Americans to choose between jobs or jabs  a heart-stopping overreach and abuse of power. Furthermore, the administration should apologize to the men and women who have been subjected to harassment and abuse, withdraw all COVID vaccination requirements, reverse all disciplinary actions taken regarding vaccination status, and commit itself to upholding individual liberty and medical autonomy.

"We are proud of our members who have taken a stand for freedom and liberty, often at great personal and professional cost, and we will continue to fight this government overreach through every legal means available to us."  Marcus Thornton, President, Feds for Medical Freedom

About Feds for Medical Freedom:

Feds for Medical Freedom is a grassroots coalition of over 8,000 federal employees and contractors who do not believe the U.S. government can or should compel them to get vaccinated or to disclose their vaccination status. For more information, visit feds4medfreedom.org.

Media Contact: Alex Weintz; 914.282.3229; [email protected]

SOURCE Feds for Medical Freedom
CRANFORD, N.J., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Union College of Union County, NJ is announcing it has received a grant from Bank of America to elevate and accelerate the path for Hispanic students in targeted healthcare programs.

Union County College graduates. Photo courtesy of Union County College.

The two-year, $220,000 grant will support Hispanic-Latino students pursuing careers in healthcare through its Progresando Initiative. The program was created to help Hispanic-Latinos achieve upward economic mobility through careers in healthcare, while also helping to increase representation and address the shortage of culturally sensitive, Spanish-speaking health providers.

As part of the initiative, education firm EAB will provide research, technology, marketing, and advisory services to the participating institutions. Over the next two years, the initiative is projected to help more than 6,200 Hispanic-Latino students nationwide commit to healthcare related programs, doubling the current student rate.

The Progresando Initiative at Union aims to increase retention, course completion rates, and licensure pass rates for the Hispanic adult students in targeted healthcare programs such as Nursing, Physical Therapist Assistant, and Social Services. Progresando supports Union County's growing Hispanic population and the College's continued commitment to advancing non-traditional students toward high-demand careers. While nearly 40% of all Union College students are Hispanic, only 27% of students enrolled in the targeted healthcare programs are Hispanic. Moreover, despite high proportions of Hispanic residents within Union County and enrolled at the College, Hispanics represent approximately 20 percent of the county's healthcare workforce. The initiative will provide these students space to collaborate, receive resources, and access to various support networks to promote academic and career success. The initiative will focus on providing students with the following:

Intensive cohort-based tutoring and test preparation;

Emergency financial assistance in the form of stipends;

A bilingual student services specialist who will serve as an advisor and mentor;

Cultural events and activities at the Union campuses.

"At Union, we are proud to be a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution based on our enrollment of Hispanic students. Almost half of our students are Hispanic," states College President Dr. Margaret M. McMenamin. "This is a valuable opportunity to help a large, underserved group in our community, specifically in the healthcare field, a field more necessary than ever. This will be a successful partnership and of great value to our community."

"By focusing on high-demand programs in the healthcare sector, Progresando helps create a pathway for Union County's Hispanic student population toward fulfilling careers," said Alberto Garofalo, President of Bank of America New Jersey. "Demand for healthcare services will only increase in the years ahead, and through this program, we are able to help Hispanic students be part of the solution and create brighter futures for themselves and future generations."

Beginning in the fall 2022 semester, Progresando will provide students with career pathways and opportunities in the healthcare industry. Thanks to the support of Bank of America, Union's Hispanic students in these programs will receive the help they need to continue their education and get the resources and support for their continued success.

The Progresando initiative is available for current and potential students. For more information about Progresando eligibility, please contact Dr. Elizabeth Ramos, Dean of the Elizabeth Campus and Institute for Intensive English at [email protected].

Union College

Union College is a public comprehensive community college providing high-quality, affordable, accessible educational programs to the greater Union County region. It is the first of New Jersey's 18 Associate Degree colleges, serving both career-minded and transfer- oriented students since 1933. Union was named as one of 25 semifinalists for the 2023 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The College enrolls almost 20,000 credit, non-credit, and continuing education students and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Many programs lead to an Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, or an Associate in Applied Science degree. For more information, visit www.ucc.edu or check out the College's social media platforms, @UnionCollege_NJ on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.

Bank of America

At Bank of America ( NYSE: BAC), we're guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better, through the power of every connection. We're delivering on this through responsible growth with a focus on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) leadership. ESG is embedded across our eight lines of business and reflects how we help fuel the global economy, build trust and credibility, and represent a company that people want to work for, invest in and do business with. It's demonstrated in the inclusive and supportive workplace we create for our employees, the responsible products and services we offer our clients, and the impact we make around the world in helping local economies thrive. An important part of this work is forming strong partnerships with nonprofits and advocacy groups, such as community, consumer and environmental organizations, to bring together our collective networks and expertise to achieve greater impact. Connect with us on Twitter (@BofA_News).

For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for news email alerts.

Reporters may contact:

Jaime Segal, Union County College

Phone: 908.709.7501

Margaret Ortuso, Union County College

Phone: 908.709.7054

AnnMarie McDonald, Bank of America

Phone: 332.234.8635

[email protected]

SOURCE Bank of America Corporation
DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Research Report on Vietnam's Automobile Industry 2022-2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

According to the analyst's analysis, the annual sales of automobiles in Vietnam increased rapidly from 2015 to 2019, from 209,000 in 2015 to 306,000 in 2019, which is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. In 2020, due to COVID-19, sales amount decreased to 283,983, by the end of 2021, sales of automobiles increased by 2.5% to 304,149.

The growth rate of Vietnam's GDP in 2021 rose to 362.619 billion US dollars, a real growth of 2.58%

Considering the spread of COVID-19 in 2020-2021, the annual GDP growth rate of 2%-3% is already a good figure in the world. Vietnam's economy has been increasing rapidly for many years, but wages of the manufacturing are still at a low level, which were less than 50% in China and far below that of the developed countries in 2022.



Vietnam auto industry starts late, and the development base is weak. After the reform in 1986, Vietnam auto industry started. In 1991, Vietnam government introduce foreign funds to develop automobile manufacture and assemble industry. After 30-year development, Honda, Toyota, Ford, GM, etc. entered Vietnam through sole proprietorship or joint-investment.



They established automobile assemble enterprises in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Vietnam established domestic auto enterprises. According to the analyst's analysis, the production capacity of complete vehicles in Vietnam is estimated to 755,000 per year by the end of 2021.



There are hundreds of auto part manufacture enterprises, most of which are SMEs featured with low production capacity and low technology. Major products are simple parts, e.g. seats, auto storage batteries.



Since Vietnam's domestic automobile production is low and cannot meet the domestic market demand, it needs to import a certain number of automobiles every year. From 2015 to 2019, Vietnam's annual automobile imports also show an overall upward trend. However, due to the impact of the epidemic in 2020, Vietnamese automobiles the decline in sales has caused the same decline in car imports. During 2021, Vietnam imported 160,035 automobiles, compared with 2020, the import amount increased by 52.1%.



According to the analyst's forecast, as the COVID-19 epidemic has been well controlled in Vietnam, it is expected that the Vietnamese auto market will gradually recover.



According to the analyst's forecast, for auto parts manufacturers and vehicle manufacturers, the Vietnamese market has a lot of room for growth from 2022 to 2030.



With the economic development, the growth of income per capita and infrastructure construction, Vietnam market demands more for passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles. Vietnam auto manufacture enjoys low labor cost, land and energy cost but also faces imperfect auto industry chain.



Major auto manufacturers and companies in Vietnam profiled in this report include Honda Vietnam, Toyota Motor Vietnam, Ford Vietnam, GM Vietnam, Hino Motors Vietnam, Isuzu Vietnam, Mekong Auto Corporation, Mercedes-Benz Vietnam, Vietnam Motors Corp. (VMC) and Vina Star Motors Corp.



Topics covered:

The impact of COVID-19 on the Vietnam Automobile industry

Supply and demand of Vietnam automobile industry

automobile industry Major auto manufacturers in Vietnam

Import and Export of automobiles in Vietnam

Import and Export of automobiles in Vietnam by Section

by Section Competition status of Vietnam automobile market

automobile market Drivers and opportunities of Vietnam automobile market

automobile market Prospect of Vietnam auto industry

Key Topics Covered:



1 Development Environment of Vietnam Automobile Industry

1.1 Economic Environment

1.2 Policy Environment

1.2.1 Preferential Policies on Foreign Investment

1.2.2 Policies Related to Auto Industry

1.3 The impact of COVID-19 on the Vietnam automotive industry



2 Market Status of Vietnam Automobile Industry, 2015-2021

2.1 Supply

2.1.1 Production Capacity

2.1.2 Output Volume

2.2 Demand on Vietnam Auto Market

2.2.1 Total Demand Volume

2.2.2 Demand Structure

2.2.3 Auto Price in Vietnam

2.3 Competition Structure of Vietnam Auto Market

2.3.1 Upstream Suppliers

2.3.2 Downstream Customers

2.3.3 Competition in Auto Industry

2.3.4 Potential Entrants

2.3.5 Substitutes



3 Analysis on Vietnam Passenger Vehicle Market, 2015-2021

3.1 Supply of Vietnam Passenger Vehicle

3.1.1 Production Capacity of Vietnam Passenger Vehicle

3.1.2 Output Volume of Vietnam Passenger Vehicle

3.2 Demand of Vietnam Passenger Vehicle

3.2.1 Demand Volume of Vietnam Passenger Vehicle

3.2.2 Market Size of Vietnam Passenger Vehicle



4 Analysis on Vietnam Commercial Vehicle Market, 2015-2021

4.1 Supply of Vietnam Commercial Vehicle

4.1.1 Production Capacity of Vietnam Commercial Vehicle

4.1.2 Output Volume of Vietnam Commercial Vehicle

4.2 Demand of Vietnam Commercial Vehicle

4.2.1 Demand Volume of Vietnam Commercial Vehicle

4.2.2 Market Size of Vietnam Commercial Vehicle



5 Major Auto Manufacturers in Vietnam, 2015-2021

5.1 Honda Vietnam

5.1.1 Enterprise Profile

5.1.2 Operation Status

5.1.3 Development Strategy

5.2 Toyota Motor Vietnam

5.2.1 Enterprise Profile

5.2.2 Operation Status

5.2.3 Development Strategy

5.3 Ford Vietnam

5.4 GM Viet Nam

5.5 Hino Motors Vietnam

5.6 Isuzu Vietnam

5.7 Mekong Auto Corporation

5.8 Mercedes-Benz Vietnam

5.9 Vietnam Motors Corp. (VMC)

5.10 Vina Star Motors Corp. (VINASTAR)



6 Analysis on Import and Export of Automobiles in Vietnam, 2015-2021

6.1 Import

6.1.1 Complete Vehicle Import

6.1.2 Import of Auto Accessories

6.1.3 Import Sources

6.2 Export



7 Prospect of Vietnam Auto Market, 2022-2031

7.1 Factors Influencing Development

7.1.1 Favorable Factors

7.1.2 Unfavorable Factors

7.2 Forecast on Supply and Demand

7.2.1 Forecast on Output Volume

7.2.2 Forecast on Demand

7.2.3 Forecast on Import and Export

7.3 Analysis on Investment Opportunities in Vietnam Automobile Industry

7.3.1 Complete Vehicle Manufacture

7.3.2 Auto Accessories

7.3.3 Import & Export of Automobiles

7.4 Recommendations on Vietnam Auto Industry Development

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/i05muz

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Research Report on Vietnam's Dairy Industry 2022-2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Vietnam's dairy industry revenues nearly doubled from USD4.4 billion in 2017 to USD8.4 billion in 2021, with less than half of the demand met by domestic production. The value of dairy products imported into Vietnam in 2021 was USD11.8 billion, an increased 12.4% YOY.

According to the analyst's analysis, there are more than 200 dairy producers in Vietnam by the end of 2021. The dairy market in Vietnam is mainly dominated by major players such as Vinamilk, Nestle Vietnam, Nutifood, Frieslandcampina and TH Group. The number of cows in Vietnam will increase from 330,000 in 2019 to 700,000 in 2030.



Vietnam's fresh milk production reached 1.2 billion liters in 2021 and will rise to 2 billion liters by 2030. Despite the rise in production, domestic fresh milk production can only meet 40-50% of domestic demand, with the rest relying mainly on imports.



In addition to relying on imported fresh milk, Vietnam also imports cows, animal nutrition products and production materials of animal feed. To remain competitive, local companies are looking for quality management and food safety solutions, while larger companies are investing in Industrial 4.0 technologies and R&D.



Milk consumption per capita in Vietnam was only 28 liters in 2021, lower than Thailand (35 liters) and Singapore (45 liters), with huge potential for growth. The analyst expects milk consumption per capita in Vietnam to reach 40 liters by 2030. Consumption is gradually increasing, driven by a large, young and fast-growing population (around 100 million people) and the rising purchasing power of the country's middle class.



Dairy companies are also seeing increasing opportunities to serve Vietnam's elderly population (65+), which is expected to reach 14% in 2040, up from 7% in 2020.



In addition, Vietnam's dairy exports are growing rapidly. Vietnam's dairy exports value exceeds USD300 million. Vietnam's dairy products are exported to more than 40 countries. According to this analysis, China has granted transaction codes to eight Vietnam's dairy companies (20 factories), allowing them to export their products to China.



In terms of product segmentation, milk powder and liquid milk total nearly three-quarters of Vietnam's dairy market size. Most of the milk powder imported into Vietnam is processed into remade milk. Among liquid milk, the preferred form is UHT milk because of its longer shelf life, especially in rural areas where cold chain facilities are not well developed.



According to this analysis, the fastest growing segment of Vietnam's dairy market in terms of sales volume in 2021 is milk powder, with production volume reaching about 152,000 tons, up about 13% year-on-year, followed by yogurt, liquid milk, etc.



According to this analysis, the demand for cheese and butter is rising rapidly due to the growing influence of Western food in Vietnam, especially among the younger generation in urban areas.



The analyst the demand for dairy products to rise in Vietnam's market from 2022-2031, with more market opportunities for investors. Organic dairy products, natural fresh milk products, and dairy-containing health food products in Vietnam are expected to maintain a fast growth rate in the coming years.



Topics covered:

Overview of Vietnam's Dairy Industry

Dairy Industry Economic and Policy Environment of Vietnam's Dairy Industry

Dairy Industry What is the impact of COVID-19 on Vietnam's dairy industry?

dairy industry? Vietnam's Dairy Market Size, 2016-2021

Dairy Market Size, 2016-2021 Forecast on Vietnam's Dairy Market, 2022-2031

Dairy Market, 2022-2031 Import and Export Analysis of Dairy Products in Vietnam

Analysis of Major Dairy Companies in Vietnam

Key drivers and Market Opportunities in Vietnam's Dairy Industry

Dairy Industry What are the key drivers, challenges and opportunities for Vietnam's dairy industry during 2022-2031?

dairy industry during 2022-2031? What is the expected revenue of Vietnam's dairy industry during 2022-2031?

dairy industry during 2022-2031? Which segment of Vietnam's dairy industry market is expected to dominate the market in 2031?

dairy industry market is expected to dominate the market in 2031? What are the major adverse factors facing Vietnam's dairy industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Overview of Vietnam

1.1 Geographical Situation

1.2 Demographic Structure of Vietnam

1.3 Economy of Vietnam

1.4 Minimum Wage in Vietnam, 2011-2022

1.5 Impact of COVID-19 on Vietnam's Dairy Industry



2 Development Environment of Vietnam's Dairy Industry

2.1 Brief History of Dairy Products in Vietnam

2.2 Types of Dairy Products in Vietnam

2.3 Policy Environment of Vietnam's Dairy Industry



3 Supply and Demand Situation of Vietnam's Dairy Industry

3.1 Supply Situation

3.2 Demand Situation



4 Import and Export Situation of Vietnam's Dairy Industry

4.1 Import Status

4.1.1 Import Volume and Import Value

4.1.2 Main Import Sources of Vietnam's Dairy Products

4.2 Export Status

4.2.1 Export Volume and Export Value

4.2.2 Main Export Destinations of Vietnam's Dairy Products



5 Market Competition in Vietnam's Dairy Industry

5.1 Barriers to Entry in Vietnam's Dairy industry

5.1.1 Branding Barriers

5.1.2 Quality Barriers

5.1.3 Capital barriers

5.2 Competitive Structure of Vietnam's Dairy Industry

5.2.1 Bargaining Power of Dairy Suppliers

5.2.2 Bargaining Power of Consumers

5.2.3 Competition in Vietnam's Dairy industry

5.2.4 Potential Entrants in the Dairy Industry

5.2.5 Substitutes for Dairy Products



6 Analysis of Major Dairy Companies in Vietnam

6.1 Vinamilk

6.1.1 History of Vinamilk

6.1.2 Vinamilk's Main Products

6.1.3 Vinamilk's Operation Model

6.2 FrieslandCampina Vietnam Co., Ltd.

6.2.1 History of FrieslandCampina Vietnam Co., Ltd.

6.2.2 FrieslandCampina Vietnam Co., Ltd. 's Main Products

6.2.3 FrieslandCampina Vietnam Co., Ltd. 's Operation Model

6.3 Nutifood Nutrition Food Joint Stock Company

6.3.1 History of Nutifood Nutrition Food Joint Stock Company

6.3.2 Nutifood Nutrition Food Joint Stock Company's Main Products

6.3.3 Nutifood Nutrition Food Joint Stock Company's Operating Model

6.4 TH True Milk

6.4.1 History of TH True Milk

6.4.2 TH True Milk's Main Products

6.4.3 TH True Milk's Operation Model

6.5 Abbott

6.5.1 History of Abbott

6.5.2 Abbott's Main Products

6.5.3 Abbott's Operation Model

6.6 Nestle Vietnam

6.7 Vinasoy



7 Outlook on Vietnam's Dairy Industry, 2022-2030

7.1 Analysis of Vietnam's Dairy Industry Development Factors

7.1.1 Drivers and Development Opportunities for Vietnam's Dairy Industry

7.1.2 Threats and Challenges to Vietnam's Dairy Industry

7.2 Forecast on Vietnam's Dairy Industry Supply

7.3 Forecast on Vietnam's Dairy Market Demand

7.4 Forecast on Vietnam's Dairy Import and Export

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pep51h

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
Helps HR and people leaders understand the positive and negative consequences hybrid work has on productivity, happiness and workplace effectiveness

VANCOUVER, BC and LAS VEGAS, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Visier , the globally recognized leader in people analytics and workforce solutions for people-powered business, today announced a new solution: Hybrid Work. As part of the Visier NOW portfolio of targeted use cases, this solution helps organizations track, measure and report on one of the most relevant and vexing workforce challenges facing organizations today. The solution was announced at the HR Technology Conference & Exposition, held this week in Las Vegas, where Visier is a Diamond Sponsor.

"Hybrid work has changed the nature of our workplaces more than anything else since the invention of the internet," said Ryan Wong, CEO of Visier. "There is a lot of confusion for both employers and employees in expectations about work, and the tradeoffs and challenges of a hybrid model. Organizations need a way to understand how hybrid work is impacting their business, both good and bad."

With Visier People, organizations can measure critical elements of their business impacted by a hybrid work model, including:

Productivity : How does hybrid work impact the efficiency and effectiveness of your teams? When you shift to a partial or full remote work model, what effect does that have on critical areas like retention, talent acquisition, and compensation?

: How does hybrid work impact the efficiency and effectiveness of your teams? When you shift to a partial or full remote work model, what effect does that have on critical areas like retention, talent acquisition, and compensation? People: How does hybrid work impact your teams? Balance employee sentiment with business impact to define the right hybrid policy for your employees and business.

How does hybrid work impact your teams? Balance employee sentiment with business impact to define the right hybrid policy for your employees and business. Workspaces: How does hybrid work impact an organization's need for physical space? Visier helps companies create workspace plans that support their current and future hybrid workforces.

With the launch of Hybrid Work, Visier NOW includes a portfolio of nine unique use cases tackling today's most pressing workforce challenges.

This focus on hybrid work comes after Visier's recent launch of Workplace Dynamics , the first and only solution to incorporate both active and passive employee feedback, providing continuous insight on how effectively teams are working together, while also providing early warning signals for burnout and retention issues.

Visit visier.com/now for more details.

About Visier

Visier is the recognized global leader in people analytics, providing on-demand answers to people-powered businesses. Behind every great brand, product, or idea is the Human Truth, and the Visier People Cloud reveals the fundamental questions and actionable truths capable of elevating your employeesand your businessto new heights. Founded in 2010 by the pioneers of business intelligence, Visier has 15,000 customers in 75 countries around the world, including enterprises like BASF, Bridgestone, Electronic Arts, McKesson, MerckKGaA, Uber, and more. Visier is headquartered in Vancouver, BC with offices and team members worldwide.

For more information, visit www.visier.com .

SOURCE Visier
MECHANICSBURG, Pa., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- West Shore Home, one of the fastest growing home remodeling companies in the nation, announced today its newest initiative  West Shore for Warriors. The mission of West Shore for Warriors is to serve U.S. veterans, active military members, and their families. With its national footprint, West Shore Home is uniquely positioned to assist veterans in need.

West Shore Home launches West Shore for Warriors initiative to support U.S. veterans, active military members, and their families.

The centerpiece of West Shore for Warriors is its bath installations. Each year around Veterans Day, the company provides a new bath or shower to select, deserving veterans. The initiative also encompasses veteran hiring, recruiting and training, and non-profit outreach such as the Marine Corps Toys for Tots and Wreaths Across America.

"We could not be prouder to launch this initiative," said B.J. Werzyn, President and CEO, West Shore Home. "Serving our nation's veterans has always been important to our mission and now through West Shore for Warriors we have an even greater ability to serve those who served our country."

West Shore Home specializes in window, door, and bath remodeling and replacement, with most projects completed in just one day. Its vision is to become America's Most Admired Home Remodeling Brand.

With a mission to Bring Happiness to Every Home, the company strives to make home improvement convenient and hassle-free. Its technology enabled platform allows it to efficiently serve its customers, from the first phone call to the project design phase, and through the day of installation.

Founded in 2006, West Shore Home has grown from a locally based home remodeling company to a national brand with over 33 operational locations in 15 states. They include Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia. It has continued national expansion plans.

About West Shore Home

West Shore Home, headquartered in Mechanicsburg, PA., is a leading technology-enabled home remodeling services provider with an expanding national footprint. Founded in 2006, West Shore Home's national brand promise is Bringing Happiness to Every Home by delivering a fast, easy and convenient home remodeling experience. From the first phone call to the final installation, customers have a streamlined experience and associate the West Shore Home brand with consistent high quality, transparency, and trust. For additional information visit westshorehome.com.

SOURCE West Shore Home
The Irish Whiskey's Newest Campaign in More Than a Decade Will Make its U.S. Debut and Features Irish Actor & Comedian Aisling Bea

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Jameson introduced its biggest U.S. campaign in more than a decade, titled Widen the Circle. As a brand that believes in a world where there are no strangers, only friends you have yet to meet, the new campaign is an open invitation to seek out and embrace those spontaneous, serendipitous moments that spark new connections and cherished memories.

Jameson Widen the Circle

"Jameson has always understood the power of togetherness, especially those that are seemingly random or unexpected," said Pam Forbus, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer, Pernod Ricard North America. "Widen the Circle is a celebration of those powerful encounters that authentically bring new friends together and ultimately make the world feel like a smaller place."

Widen the Circle builds upon the world's number one Irish Whiskey's 240-year legacy of craftmanship, collaboration and celebration of life's everyday moments, both big and small. Anchoring the campaign is a :30 second TV spot starring Irish comedian, actor and writer Aisling Bea  the creator and star of BAFTA award-winning show 'This Way Up' and star of Netflix's 'Living with Yourself'  whose witty tone raises a toast to those who embrace authentic, unexpected and often cheeky moments when people find their kindred spirits.

"As a comedian and performer, I always look to connect with my audience. It's those small moments when you recognize a kindred spirit in the crowd that make for the most memorable sets," said Aisling. "And when that unspoken bond happens over a Jameson Whiskey? Well, there's nothing better in my opinion."

Created by TBWA\Dublin, "Widen the Circle" is a 360-degree campaign, running on TV, online video, social and e-commerce. Jameson believes that life is better shared with friends, family and a glass of Jameson Irish Whiskey. To learn more about the new campaign, please visit JamesonWhiskey.com/Widen-the-Circle and check out the new TVC on YouTube .

About Jameson  Irish Whiskey

Jameson is the world's most awarded* and bestselling Irish whiskey, ranked in the top 4 global whiskey brands and number 9 in spirits. Leading the Irish Whiskey category with a 67% market share and having experienced 30 years of consecutive growth up until 2019, Jameson reached unprecedented sales of 10 million cases in March 2022.

The Jameson portfolio is led by its core expression of Jameson Original, with dynamic growth being experienced with its Super Premium offering, Jameson Black Barrel. The range also includes ultra-premium offerings such as Jameson 18 Years, as well as some recently added flavored whiskeys, Jameson Orange and Jameson Cold Brew.

Triple distilled and twice as smooth, every bottle of Jameson is distilled and matured at the world renowned Midleton Distillery in County Cork, Ireland.

Follow @Jameson_US and visit JamesonWhiskey.com for the latest from Jameson.

* Based on the tasting results of the six most influential tasting competitions over the past 10 years (2011-2021), including The Irish Whiskey Masters, IWSC, ISC, Beverage Testing Institute, San Francisco World Spirits Competition and Ultimate Spirits Challenge.

TASTE RESPONSIBLY. JAMESON  Irish Whiskey. 40% Alc./Vol. (80 Proof). Product of Ireland. 2020 Imported by John Jameson Import Company, New York, NY

About Pernod Ricard USA 

Pernod Ricard USA is the premium spirits and wine company in the U.S., and the largest subsidiary of Paris, France-based Pernod Ricard SA., the world's second-largest spirits and wine company. Pernod Ricard employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide, is listed on Euronext (Ticker: RI) and is part of the CAC 40 index. The company's leading spirits include such prestigious brands as Absolut  Vodka, Avion  Tequila, Chivas Regal  Scotch Whisky, The Glenlivet  Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Jameson  Irish Whiskey, Kahlua  Liqueur, Malibu , Martell  Cognac, Olmeca Altos  Tequila , Beefeater  Gin, Del Maguey  Single Village Mezcal, Monkey 47  Gin, Plymouth  Gin, Seagram's  Extra Dry Gin, Malfy  Gin, Hiram Walker  Liqueurs, Midleton  Irish Whiskey, Powers  Irish Whiskey, Redbreast  Irish Whiskey, Aberlour  Single Malt Scotch Whisky; Lillet ; Smithworks  Vodka, Jefferson's  Bourbon, Smooth Ambler  Whiskey, Rabbit Hole  Whiskey, Pernod  and Ricard ; such superior wines as Jacob's Creek , Kenwood  Vineyards, Campo Viejo  and Brancott Estate ; and such exquisite champagnes and sparkling wines as Perrier-Jouet  Champagne, G.H. Mumm Champagne and Mumm Napa  sparkling wines.

Pernod Ricard USA is headquartered in New York, New York, and has more than 700 employees across the country. As "creators of conviviality," we are committed to sustainable and responsible business practices in service of our customers, consumers, employees and the planet. Pernod Ricard USA urges all adults to consume its products responsibly and has an active program to promote responsible drinking. For more information on this, please visit: www.responsibility.org.

Media contact:

Blaine Rueber, [email protected]

Gabby Deitsch, [email protected]

SOURCE Pernod Ricard USA
7,000-year-old winemaking region uncorked

HOUSTON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- North American Wine & Spirit Importers, LLC (NAWSI) has launched Wine from Lebanon, introducing 15 innovative winemakers and four unique indigenous grapes from one of the oldest and finest wine growing regions in the world to the state of Texas. With a thirst for exploring new wine regions and consuming 60.3 million gallons of wine a year, Texas ranks 4th in the U.S. for wine consumption. Wine from Lebanon features 15 winemakers including several female-owned and managed wineries, winemakers under 40 years old and winemakers utilizing indigenous grapes like Obaideh, Merwah, Meksassi and Sobbagiegh. Interested wholesalers, retailers and restaurants can attend tasting events to try the wine firsthand. NAWSI is seeking distribution for the Wine from Lebanon program.

Indigenous grapes from Lebanon will be featured in a new wine program launching in Texas featuring 15 innovative winemakers from one of the oldest and best wine producing regions in the world.

Sam A. Jaoude, who was born in Lebanon and a managing partner of NAWSI, saw this as an opportunity years ago while operating his MadeNLebanon exporting business. "Lebanon's winemaking history stretches as far back to the Phoenicians and Cana where Jesus turned water into wine," explained Jaoude. "We have incredible terroir for growing grapes across the entire country and we felt it was finally time to share our story with the rest of the world," said Jaoude.

Jaoude found a kindred spirit in his now business partner Constance McDerby, co-founder of Food & Vine Time Productions, producers of consumer lifestyle events with a wine and food focus for more than 20 years. McDerby said, "Lebanon enjoys a vast variety of wine production that is unique both in taste and culture. We're excited to introduce this wine collection to consumers with a thirst for new and exciting tastes."

From the mountain peaks of the Batroun region to the fertile Bekaa Valley to the Jezzine Caza in South Lebanon, winemakers have been producing wine for generations. While there is truly a wine renaissance in progress, this is a story as old as civilization itself. 7,000 years ago, the Lebanese people's ancestorsthe seafaring Phoenicians, domesticated grapes, perfected viticulture and spread it throughout the Mediterranean between 2700 B.C. and 300 B.C. Wine was an important trading item, but evidence of winemaking had been scant until the recent discovery of a 2,600-year-old winepress unearthed at Tell el-Burak, five miles south of the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon.

Today's Lebanese winemakers are as unique as the grapes they craft. Generational traditions are carried on while new winemakers look to the future trying their hand at enticing new tastes like Pet-Nat Gold from Couvent Rouge, the first Lebanese sparkling wine. Domaine Wardy, a winery dating back to 1881 and started by a young widow, is run by the fourth generation of winemakers. Mersel is committed to sustainable farming supporting local farmers and shepherding herds of desert goats on their property, the symbol of the winery. Chateau St. Thomas focuses on cultivating local varietals including its Obeidy St. Thomas, featuring the Obadiah grape. Named one of the World's best vineyards in 2021 is Chateau Cana, a father-daughter operation. Atibaia, which focuses its efforts on small yields, sits atop one of the oldest villages in Lebanon where a feudal castle stronghold was built during the Crusades.

Programs like this enable emerging countries to gain a stronghold into the giant wine business. Thouraya Karam, from Karam Wines said, "We are thrilled to have the opportunity to market our wines in Texas as we believe this program will promote Lebanon as a wine producing country and create access to new markets with huge untapped potential for Lebanese wine sales."

Joanna Gerges, managing partner of Chateau Cana commented, "We have been producing wine for over 20 years. I have envisioned spreading the Lebanese culture worldwide and raising Lebanon's profile. I am thankful for this program that will help us reach a market that has so much potential," Gerges added.

A trade tasting event will be held on September 20 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Texas Wine School in Houston. Interested wholesalers, retailers and restaurants can attend. Contact [email protected] or visit winefromlebanon.com for information.

SOURCE Wine from Lebanon
BEIJING, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On the morning of September 6, Beijing International Cooperation Forum and CBD Forum, the main forum of 2022 Beijing CBD International Business Season, opened.

Chaoyang District government has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the International Cooperation Center of the National Development and Reform Commission. In the future, the two sides will promote the gathering of even more international resources in CBD, facilitate enterprises to implement the "going global" and "bringing in" strategies, and carry out a series of pilot projects in application of new consumption scenarios, green finance and green consumption.

The Beijing CBD International Business Festival (formerly known as the Beijing CBD Business Festival) has been successfully held for 22 times and it is one of the most important business activities in Beijing. At present, Beijing CBD is accelerating the pace to gather new consumer products, new brands and new business forms, in the endeavor to create a world-class business circle worth hundreds of billions of yuan.

In 2021, more than 400 first stores were launched in Beijing CBD, which made the area top the city in this regard; and more than one third of all international brands have landed in the area. Among the altogether 34 Michelin restaurants in Beijing, 34 are located in CBD, accounting for nearly 60% of the total. Moreover, Beijing CBD is home to more than 60% of all the Black Pearl restaurants and nearly 50% of all the cafes of the city and the area has the highest concentration of international elements in the city.

According to the Beijing CBD Management Committee, in recent years, Beijing CBD, by taking advantage of favorable policies, has launched the Beijing CBD international business service platform, the cross-border trade digital service platform, the cross-border trade risk service platform, the foreign exchange derivative service platform, Beijing International Commercial Dispute Resolution Center, Beijing International Art Auction and Trading Center, and B&R - RCEP Innovation Service Center. Besides, China's first L4 high-precision city-level digital twin platform has been built, featuring the CBD Digital Virtual Conference Room, and the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Cloud Center.

Themed "Deeply integrating into global cooperation and enhancing the city's opening-up vitality", the forum focuses on the CBD development in the context of globalization, fully taps Beijing CBD's strengths in gathering international high-end resources, and promotes the integrated development of various international factors, with a view of enhancing the openness and vitality of Beijing CBD.

Under the guidance of the International Cooperation Center of the National Development and Reform Commission and China Public Diplomacy Association, the Forum was co-organized by the Chaoyang District People's Government of Beijing Municipality, the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission and the Foreign Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipal People's Government. The Forum won support from national platforms and international organizations such as the Global Business Districts Innovation Club and China CBD Alliance.

Image Attachments Links:

Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=429181

Caption: 2022 Beijing International Cooperation Forum and CBD Forum opened.

SOURCE Beijing CBD Management Committee
India Johnson, the American Arbitration Association's current President & Chief Executive Officer, is retiring after 10 years as CEO of the not-for-profit organization

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR), the global leader in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services, announces the appointment of Chief Justice Bridget M. McCormack as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. Justice McCormack will assume these positions effective February 2023, with current President and CEO India Johnson remaining in these roles until then to ensure a smooth transition.

As President and CEO, Justice McCormack will spearhead and lead the AAA-ICDR's strategic vision and operations, ensuring that it continues to be the world's pre-eminent ADR provider.

"We undertook an extensive and thorough search to find a leader who is not only an expert in the legal field, but who also possesses outstanding business acumen and shares our dedication to enhancing the alternative dispute resolution process and expanding access to it," said Kimberly Wiehl, Chair of the AAA-ICDR's Board of Directors.

Justice McCormack is joining the AAA-ICDR from the Michigan Supreme Court, where she has served as Chief Justice, overseeing the state's judicial system encompassing 244 courts and 560 judges. She has taught as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School for many years, and is currently a Strategic Advisor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School's Future of the Profession Initiative. She is also a member of the boards of directors of Kids Kicking Cancer, the National Association of Treatment Court Professionals, and the Conference of Chief Justices. Justice McCormack also holds various positions on the American Bar Association (ABA), including Board of Elections Chair, and memberships on the board of the Center for Innovation Governing Council as well as the Litigation journal board of editors. She is the Vice-Chair of the ABA's Council on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar.

"I am honored to join the AAA-ICDR team and to serve those who rely on its many services and contributions," said Justice McCormack. "I very much look forward to working to advance AAA-ICDR's critical mission and expand its reach. At a time when so much is changing in the legal profession, the AAA-IDCR's mission and vision are more important than ever."

Justice McCormack is a graduate of New York University Law School, where she received a juris doctorate degree. She earned a bachelor's degree from Trinity College in Hartford, CT with honors in political science and philosophy.

About the American Arbitration Association

The not-for-profit American Arbitration Association (AAA) is the leading provider of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services for parties in commercial disputes, having administered more than seven million ADR cases since its founding in 1926. With 29 offices in the United States, in addition to Singapore, the AAA provides organizations of all sizes in virtually every industry with ADR services and products. For more information, visit www.adr.org.

About the International Centre for Dispute Resolution

The International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) is the international division of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the largest international provider of dispute resolution services. Established in 1996, the ICDR serves parties from over 100 countries with multilingual staff experienced in international dispute resolution proceedings, and a roster of over 725 arbitrators and mediators. For more information, visit www.icdr.org.

Media Contacts:

Michael C. Clark Laura Simpson American Arbitration Association JConnelly +1.212.716.3978 +1.973.713.8834 [email protected] [email protected]





SOURCE American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution
NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of Abbott Laboratories ( NYSE: ABT) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.

This lawsuit is on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired shares of Abbott common stock during the period from February 19, 2021, to June 8, 2022, inclusive.

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 31, 2022

No obligation or cost to you.

Learn more about your recoverable losses in ABT:

https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/abt-lawsuit-abbott-laboratories-loss-submission-form?id=31579&from=4

Abbott Laboratories NEWS - ABT NEWS

CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: According to the filed complaint, defendants touted the strength of Abbott's infant formula brands and their contribution to the Company's sales and revenue growth, despite knowing that the facility that manufactured those products was in flagrant violations of United States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") health, safety, and manufacturing regulations. The complaint further alleges that defendants willfully or recklessly concealed these violations from investors, even though the violations put Abbott's infant formula business in dire jeopardy and left the Company exposed to a risk of severe regulatory action, including the recall of its products and closure of the Sturgis facility. Indeed, according to the complaint, defendants received direct warnings, communications, FDA inspection reports, and consumer complaints identifying in detail the safety and regulatory violations that were rampant at the Sturgis facility.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in Abbott you have until October 31, 2022 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased Abbott securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the ABT lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/abt-lawsuit-abbott-laboratories-loss-submission-form?id=31579&from=4.

ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM

J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

J. Klein, Esq.

535 Fifth Avenue

4th Floor

New York City, NY 10017

[email protected]

Telephone: (212) 616-4899

www.kleinstocklaw.com

SOURCE The Klein Law Firm
Academy has been recognized as a B Lab 2022 Best For The World for exceptional impact on its customers' impact area on the B Impact Assessment.

Academy has been named one of the top 5% worldwide in this category for it's exceptional positive impact.

MANCHESTER, England, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The tech training B Corp Academy has been named a 2022 Best for the World B Corp in recognition of its exceptional positive impact on the customers' impact area. In its B-Corp certification, Academy reached a score of 116 points in the overall B Impact scorecard Assessment with the average ordinary business score being 50.9.



'Best for the World' is a distinction granted by B Lab to Certified B Corporations (B Corps) whose verified B Impact Scores in the five impact areas evaluated in the B Impact Assessment  community, customers, environment, governance, and workers  rank in the top 5% of all B Corps in their corresponding size group.

Examples of Scholar Profieciencies within Academy (PRNewsfoto/Academy)

Academy earned this honor because of initiatives such as leading on diversity and inclusion for individuals who may not otherwise have been a part of the global tech ecosystem. Over the past two years, Academy has been helping diverse individuals reach their full potential by upskilling recent non-tech graduates through a grant-supported, four-month intensive tech training program.



Head of Leadership Natalya Sverjensky at Academy said: "Although the award goes to Academy in name, in reality this is a shared achievement with our brilliant employer partners, like Faculty, Tracsis, Capital on Tap and Soho House."

Helping bolster Academy's credentials in its top 5% B Corp ranking for customer impact, several criteria stand out:

Industry-leading diversity - producing tech talent who are 50%+ female, 60%+ from minority ethic groups and 25%+ black.

Merit over means - Academy removes economic barriers to tech through a 3.7k training grant paid to every person we train into tech, with zero tuition fees.

Over 100+ technologists trained with the skills needed to build the future, for roles in software engineering, machine learning and data

Over 30+ companies powered by Academy talent globally, in cities like Berlin, New York and Oslo .

"This award reflects continued recognition of Academy's core commitment towards providing equal opportunity and unhampered access to a career in tech. We are completely committed to creating positive and long-lasting change within the tech industry." - Peter Tratalos Co-Founder of Academy

The award, administered by not-for-profit network B Lab, certifies and mobilises B corps that have high standards, through the rating of positive social and environmental performance as well as accountability and transparency.



Having this B-Corp certification has allowed Academy to share its knowledge, learnings and best practices with the B Corp community towards continuing to lead the charge on innovation and transformation across the tech industry.



Although Academy was formed just over two years ago, its scholars are already creating positive change within big players like the NHS and Sainsbury's Digital as well as dynamic, global startups and scale-ups like Capital on Tap and Sourceful.

"Each Best for the World edition is an opportunity to raise the bar for how businesses can and should operate to create real and lasting positive impact for their workers, customers, communities, and the environment," said Dan Osusky, Head of Standards and Insights at B Lab Global. "[Academy is an] inspiration on what true leadership in business can look like to make progress on addressing our current global challenges."

See more at www.academy.tech

About Academy

Academy is an EdTech startup that radically expands who gets into tech and how quickly they can progress in the industry. The company identifies the top 0.5% of underserved and overlooked talent, then fast-tracks them into tech roles and leadership trajectories through a grant-funded four month intensive tech training programme, placement in a tech role at a high-growth company, and an additional 2 years of on-the-job leadership development.

Academy was founded by Ashley Ramrachia, former Chief People Officer at THG (The Hut Group), as a solution to the tech skills shortage, diversity deficit and leadership gap. Academy outperforms society on diversity by paying people to learn - achieving a community that is 50% female, 30% Black, 60% minority ethnic and 25% from socioeconomic disadvantage.

Academy Press Contact:

[email protected]

+44 (0) 7702 078341

About B Lab: B Lab is transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. A leader in economic systems change, our global network creates standards, policies, tools, and programs for business, and we certify companies  known as B Corps  who are leading the way.



To date, our community includes 400,000 workers in over 5,000 B Corps across 80 countries and 155 industries, and more than 200,000 companies manage their impact with the B Impact Assessment and the SDG Action Manager.



B Lab has created and led efforts to pass over 50 corporate statutes globally that enable stakeholder governance, with over 10,000 companies using the legal framework. To learn more and join the movement, visit www.bcorporation.net .

B Lab Contact:

press@bcorporation.net

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1893818/Academy.jpg

SOURCE Academy
SAN MATEO, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rocketlane , the leading customer onboarding platform, today shared several significant company achievements that reflect outstanding midyear momentum.

Among these achievements is Rocketlane's ongoing rapid growth. Since securing its series A funding earlier this year, the company continued its upward trajectory by expanding its product capabilities. Rocketlane added status templates to its templatization capabilities, launched the slack integration for seamless customer collaboration, and introduced resource management for effective resource planning and forecasting.

The company has seen strong growth in the SaaS, fintech, healthcare, and services verticals, among others. Some of the notable new customers include Chargebee, Mosaic, Solvvy, Mixmax, and nCloud Integrators, Clari being the latest addition to the list.

Robert Block, Group Vice President of Professional Services & Customer Support at Clari, said, "Rocketlane helps us deliver more for less. It is shifting our customer onboarding experience into high gear, taking us from just task management to strategic delivery with greater visibility and collaboration on project activities, ultimately driving up CSAT. We now have better visibility into project statuses and are equipped with data that helps to continuously innovate our professional services packaging and selling."

Rocketlane has also been ramping up on its leadership hires. The company recently announced the appointment of Ben Brutsch as VP of Sales. Ben brings over 18 years of sales leadership experience from companies including Pluralsight and Podium. Rocketlane has also stepped up hiring globally across development and go-to-market functions, as the business continues to accelerate.

"Rocketlane's growth across multiple areas is a testament of our category-leading product, and execution across functions," said Srikrishnan Ganesan, CEO and co-founder of Rocketlane. "Our recent wins and continued momentum indicate the market's preference for our solution. We'll continue to innovate and present a fresh take as we execute on our product roadmap to streamline customer onboarding and implementations for businesses serving midmarket and enterprise companies."

A number of industry accolades acknowledge the positive impact Rocketlane has made on companies. These awards include:

Leader in Client Onboarding by G2 in the Summer 2022 report

Named a Gartner Cool Vendor in the Technology Go-to-Market report

Rocketlane has been investing in creating learning avenues for its domain: This year the company launched its maiden Propel event, the first and only dedicated conference for customer onboarding and implementation which attracted 1,300 attendees and 3,000-plus registrations. They also run Preflight , a 2000-plus member Slack community that offers opportunities to network and learn for customer onboarding leaders and practitioners. Preflight recently hosted over 120 professionals across their in-person community meetups in San Francisco, New York, and Boston, branded "Preflight Huddle."

Rocketlane is also a Super Gold sponsor at SaaStr (booth #220) and will deliver a talk, "How to avoid the MVP trap."'

For more information on Rocketlane, click here .

About Rocketlane

Rocketlane is a purpose-built customer onboarding platform that helps businesses accelerate their time to value, boost customer satisfaction, and thereby reduce churn. The platform replaces generic project management and document collaboration tools with a unique, unified workspace that improves communication, collaboration, and project visibility for businesses and their customers. It equips teams with trends and benchmarks across projects, which in turn helps them develop and optimize playbooks and best practices.

Media Contact:

Courtney Merolle

[email protected]

754.715.0747

SOURCE Rocketlane Corp
HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Alabama is on track to become a national leader in cyber security with the opening of a new state magnet high school in Huntsville. The Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering will hold a ribbon cutting of its 26-acre campus located in Cummings Research Park on September 23, 2022, at 9:30 a.m. Students from across the state are eligible to attend the school, which emphasizes cyber resiliency across all disciplines.

Students at the Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering (ASCTE) on their first day of the 2022-23 academic year. A student designed the special 'Launch' t-shirts they are wearing. (Photo: ASCTE) The Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering (ASCTE) is located in Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Ala. It is the state's third magnet school and is the first school in the U.S. to implement cyber resiliency into all subjects. (Photo: ASCTE)

Governor Kay Ivey is scheduled to deliver remarks at the formal opening of this first-of-its-kind high school that addresses the critical need for cyber professionals and cyber awareness in every industry.

Alicia Ryan, President of the ASCTE Foundation Board and Vice Chair of the ASCTE Board of Trustees, said the opening of the campus is the result of a multi-year collaborative effort between commercial, private, governmental, academic and non-profit organizations.

"We are humbled by the incredible momentum that continues to propel ASCTE forward as a national leader, preparing high school students with relevant knowledge that will reinforce our position in defense, security and intelligence across all industries," said Ryan. "As our students learn in this state-of-the-art facility, we are optimistic that they will drive the innovation we so desperately need for a prosperous tomorrow."

The distinctive design of the school's two buildings incorporates collaborative learning spaces, engineering workshops, cyber ranges, an accelerator space, STEM labs, high-tech classrooms, a fitness center, a salon, student common areas, conference space and a 400-seat lecture hall. Apartments for staff and residential suites for 150 students are also included in the school's almost 130,000 square feet of space.

"Our Foundation has worked tirelessly to ensure that our campus is something our state can be proud of. And here we are, with one of the most innovative high school campuses in the United Statesserving some of Alabama's most promising students," said Matt Massey, President of ASCTE. "Our work here is changing the landscape of higher education and industry by producing graduates prepared both in theory and practice."

SOURCE Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering
NEW YORK and LOGAN, Utah, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AmyntaGroup, a leading insurance services provider, has acquired the extended warranty operations of iFIT Health & Fitness Inc., operated through its wholly owned subsidiary, Universal Technical Services (UTS).

iFIT is the industry's largest at-home fitness equipment company, whose equipment brands include NordicTrack, ProForm, Weider and FreeMotion. UTS is the exclusive distributor and administrator of branded extended warranty and maintenance plans for all iFIT fitness equipment brands in the U.S. and international markets. As part of the transaction, Amynta has entered into a long-term strategic partnership with iFIT to deliver a full-service platform of extended warranty protection and maintenance plans for all iFIT fitness equipment. UTS is based in Logan, Utah and will operate under the continued leadership of Nick Palmer, Vice President of UTS, and Greg Lindsay, Director of UTS.

"I am excited to welcome Nick, Greg and the UTS team to Amynta," said Tim Mrotek, President of Global Consumer Warranty at Amynta. "This transaction expands our presence into the fitness space through a well-established operating platform serving iconic fitness brands. UTS brings expertise and scale to the fitness category, complementing our offerings and aligning with our strategy of building and growing our position in attractive consumer end markets."

"I'm thrilled to announce the sale of our extended warranty operations and our strategic partnership with Amynta," said Dale Gerard, Chief Financial Officer of iFIT. "Amynta brings best-in-class warranty solutions that will enhance the iFIT member experience throughout our line of fitness products. This partnership will allow iFIT to focus on developing our best-in-class fitness technology, member content and products, while strengthening our extended warranty solutions for NordicTrack, ProForm, FreeMotion and iFIT members worldwide. We look forward to working with Amynta to support our members for years to come."

Truist Securities, Inc. served as financial advisor, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal counsel to iFIT.

About Amynta

Amynta Group is a premier insurance services company with more than $3.5 billion in managed premium and 2,000 associates across North America, Europe, and Australia. An independent, customer-centered and underwriting-focused company, Amynta serves leading carriers, wholesalers, retail agencies, auto dealers, OEMs, and consumer product retailers with innovative insurance and warranty protection solutions. Amynta operates through three segments: Managing General Agencies; Warranty, including automotive, consumer and specialty equipment; and Specialty Risk Services. For more information, please visit amyntagroup.com.

About iFIT

iFIT is a global fitness and well-being subscription technology company that provides unmatched fitness experiences and solutions to its growing community of over 7.7 million members in over 120 countries. iFIT's industry-leading brands  NordicTrack, ProForm, Sweat, Freemotion, Weider and 29029  are powered by the iFIT integrated health and fitness platform, which seamlessly connects the company's proprietary software, experiential content and interactive hardware. Based in Logan, Utah, with offices in Paris, Shanghai, Sydney and Leeds, the company offers immersive, adaptive, personalized workout experiences for every fitness level and interest. iFIT delivers these patented interactive experiences through an extensive offering of live and on-demand content across the industry's broadest range of connected fitness modalities. iFIT is a leader and pioneer in the health and well-being industry with more than 400 issued and pending patents. For more information, please visit ifit.com.

Amynta Media Contact:

Brenna Tetley

Phone: 646.887.9498

Email: [email protected]

Amynta Mergers & Acquisitions Contact:

Chris Ezbiansky

Phone: 646.207.9674

Email: [email protected]

iFIT Media Contact:

Colleen Logan

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE The Amynta Group
Zink plans to focus presidency on IT integration and improving the connection between healthcare and public health

ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association of State and Territorial Officials (ASTHO) announced today that Anne Zink, MD, will now serve as president for the association. Zink also holds the position of chief medical officer for the Alaska Department of Health (ADOH). She takes the reins from Nirav D. Shah, MD, JD, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, who has held the position since January 2021. Zink is the 80th president on the organization's 80th anniversary year.

Anne Zink, MD, FACEP

Zink plans to focus her presidency on improving health information systems to empower the public, healthcare providers, and the public health workforce with the tools and information they need to promote individual and population health.

"First and foremost, I am dedicated to the health of the people we serve," says ASTHO President Anne Zink, MD. "It is a tremendous honor to lead as ASTHO's president and promote their mission of advancing the public's health and well-being though the collaboration of our members, staff, the public, and policy makers not only during public health emergencies, but every day. As a practicing emergency medicine physician who had the honor of serving our state through the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear we must do everything to ensure our systems put the people we serve at the center of all our work, and our tremendous public health and healthcare workforces deserve the basic tools, data, and funding to do the jobs they have been called to do."

Dr. Zink's 16 years of experience in emergency medicine made her acutely aware of the consequences public policy has on the health of the individual, which motivated her to embrace the opportunity to work in public health. Prior to her role at ADOH, she worked at the Mat -Su Regional Medical Center, where she served as the emergency department medical director (2010-2018) and on the Board of Trustees (2012-2018). In addition, she helped create the High -Utilizer Mat -Su (HUMS) program, which aims to improve patient health and cost savings for some of the state's most vulnerable patients.

She led state and federal policy changes, including work on information sharing, addressing the opioid epidemic, addressing workplace violence, and mental healthcare. In her time as Alaska's chief medical officer, she has been recognized locally and nationally as a collaborative leader for her partnership with Alaska's federally recognized tribes, industry partners, schools, municipalities, and healthcare.

"Dr. Zink has been a wonderful resource to ASTHO and its members and partners in her role as ASTHO's president-elect and we look forward to her term as president," says Michael Fraser, PhD, ASTHO CEO. "She has been an incredible leader in Alaska throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. She impresses all of us with her optimistic outlook and calm demeanor in crisis situations. Her background as an emergency physician will serve her well, especially as we head into fall flu season and we continue to navigate COVID-19 and monkeypox."

Dr. Zink grew up in Denver, received her medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine after being a Watson Fellow and completed her residency at the University of Utah. She first fell in love with Alaska while instructing for the National Outdoor Leadership School where mornings start with a run in the mountains and evenings end among the northern nights. She stayed because of the people and medicine, where collaboration comes first and the connection between physical, mental, and environmental health are an integral part of all health work.

Other newly elected ASTHO leaders include Steven J. Stack, MD, MBA, president-elect and Scott Harris, MD, MPH, secretary-treasurer.

Learn more about Dr. Zink in a new Q & A here.

ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the U.S. territories and Freely Associated States, and Washington, D.C., as well as the more than 100,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to ensuring excellence in public health practice.

SOURCE Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
Antenna Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) Completes Acquisition of SI2 Technologies, Inc., Broadening its Product Development Capabilities and Establishing the Technology Innovation Center

LAUREL, Md., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Antenna Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) today announced it has finalized the acquisition of SI2 Technologies. The newly acquired company will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of ARA and will be known as SI2 Technologies, an ARA company. SI2 Technologies, will remain at its Billerica, MA location, collaborating with ARA across various locations in the US in Maryland, Massachusetts and New Hampshire and Europe.

Logen Thiran, President and CEO of ARA, said the transaction will enable the company to establish a product development focused Technology Innovation Center that pursues innovation across the DoD and commercial market priorities, and leverages knowledge to deliver advanced technology solutions.

"ARA's manufacturing expertise and SI2's product development focus is a win for our customers and our two companies." Tweet this

"SI2 Technologies is well-known for its ability to innovate and has an impressive signal mitigation and antenna systems portfolio including Active Electronic Steered Arrays (AESA), additive manufactured, and low-profile low-vis conformal antenna solutions," noted Thiran. "Combining ARA's manufacturing expertise with SI2's product development focus is a win for our customers and our two companies, enabling ARA to provide holistic, advanced Communications Solutions for our customers worldwide with particular focus in C5ISR market in the US."

SI2 Technologies, founded in 2003, is a leading designer and manufacturer of electromagnetic systems for military, government and commercial platforms constrained for space, weight, and power.

"Our companies are perfectly aligned for this transition," noted Dr. Joseph Kunze, former CEO of SI2 Technologies, who will serve as ARA's new Chief Technology Officer and General Manager of SI2. "For nearly six decades, ARA had provided versatile antenna systems for a wide array of DoD applications, and we are looking forward to leveraging the IP we've developed for nearly 20 years to bring ARA's product and subsystems offerings to a new level of innovation and excellence."

About Antenna Research Associates (ARA)

Established in 1963, Antenna Research Associates (ARA) designs, develops, and manufactures Antennas and RF Systems for both military and civilian applications. ARA supplies antennas and subsystems for Communication Networks, SATCOM, RADAR, RF Surveillance and Jamming for Electronic Warfare and Border Patrol, Public Safety Networks, and Civilian markets. ARA supplies unique antenna communication subsystems in both high-volume quantities and smaller order quantities to ensure customer success. ARA's engineering and manufacturing operations include facilities in Laurel, Maryland, Pembroke, Massachusetts and Nashua, New Hampshire, and a long-range antenna testing field in Pembroke and Middleborough, Massachusetts. All facilities are DoD compliant. For more information, please visit www.ara-inc.com.

ABOUT SI2 Technologies (SI2)

SI2 is a leader in designing and manufacturing electromagnetic systems for military and government platforms constrained for space, weight, and power. Established in 2003, SI2 designs, develops, delivers, and supports products for the defense and aerospace markets that not only enhance the warfighter's effectiveness, but provide increased protection against current and emerging threats. The company takes projects from ideation and design to product manufacturing and testing. For more information, visit www.si2technologies.com

SOURCE ARA
DAVOS, Switzerland and COLOGNE, Germany, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The AO Foundation and RIMASYS are pleased to announce that they have taken their strategic partnership to the next level with a full-stake investment by the AO in RIMASYS.

Building on a shared strategic vision and their recent successful collaboration, the AO and RIMASYS have mutually agreed that the AO takes over all remaining shares of the company. Both parties initially joined forces in their efforts to develop high-fidelity and scalable solutions to engage and educate surgeons. RIMASYS's technological capabilities and disruptive product portfolio complements the state-of-the-art expertise in orthopedics and trauma surgery that the AO has built with global impact over the past 60 years. This partnership focuses on advancing the technology and solutions used to train and engage practitioners worldwide in the surgical treatment of trauma and musculoskeletal disorders. It aims to scale and accelerate the growth and geographic reach of RIMASYS's unique technologies beyond Europe and to jointly develop future innovations to advance the surgical education ecosystem. This transaction concludes an initial minority investment in RIMASYS completed by the AO in February 2021.

RIMASYS and the AO remain separate organizations, with RIMASYS operating as a legal entity headquartered in Cologne, Germany, with its dynamic founders group committed to remaining at the helm of their company. RIMASYS retains its name, organizational structure, and business strategy while continuing as a reliable partner serving its customers and meeting its business obligations. Educational offerings such as World Surgery Tour and Trauma Academy will accelerate its growth independently.

Both parties will continue their existing partnerships; the AO continues its exclusive partnership with its industrial partner DePuy Synthes organizing more than 900 educational global events annually while RIMASYS continues its multivendor business model and acts as a source of innovative new educational formats, products, and services for the AO's global surgeon network

RIMASYS will benefit from the AO's expertise and extensive global reach to scale and roll out its educational offerings around the world. Meanwhile, the AO benefits from the fast-paced innovative development cycles of this agile young organization focused on enhancing surgical education, skill training, and medical device development. While lifelike fracture simulations, originally RIMASYS's core technology, have already been used in several AO educational offerings, the company also for the first time showcased their unique mobile OR theater (The Shard) at the recent flagship AO Davos Courses. Alongside this, as another view into the future of medical education and communication, RIMASYS created an immersive 3D platform to give a virtual experience of the famous AO Davos Courses.

"We believe that we complement each other's strengths to jointly address the long-term challenges of converging the real and digital world. Our ambition continues to best satisfy the needs of the new surgeon generation and all our partners who have supported us since the foundation of our company. Our dynamic start-up spirit will benefit from the global reach and reputation of the AO to build the professional network of the future for the surgical communityand ultimately improve patients' lives," says Marc Ebinger, CEO, and co-founder of RIMASYS.

"RIMASYS is a young, agile, and pioneering organization with a proven track record in educational innovation. With its motivated team and ambitious founders, it will help us drive innovation in online and offline education activities. We will ensure that RIMASYS retains its autonomy while receiving the support it needs to maintain its innovative spirit and unconventional solution developmentwe are proud to have them aboard and excited about the opportunities that this creates for both organizations," adds Florian Gebhard, president of the AO Foundation.

About RIMASYS

RIMASYS GmbH is a technology-driven health-tech start-up, founded as a university spin-off in 2016. Core of the Cologne-based company are proprietary biomechanical algorithms describing injury mechanisms, utilized to generate lifelike fractured anatomical specimens with closed soft tissue. RIMASYS focuses on enhancing surgical education with high-fidelity solutions and improving patient outcomes by advancing practical skill training and medical-device development. Further innovation is focused on digital health, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. The team of 50 young and ambitious professionals aims to build a disruptive ecosystem of solutions at a fast pace, enhancing surgeon education and interaction. For more information, visit: www.rimasys.com

About the AO Foundation

The AO is a medically guided, not-for-profit organization, a global network of surgeons, and the world's leading education, innovation, and research organization specializing in the surgical treatment of trauma and musculoskeletal disorders. The AO has a global network of over 460,000 healthcare professionals. Each year over 800 educational events are offered around the world, supported by nearly 7,000 faculty members, and attended by over 98,000 participants. The AO has 18,000 surgeon members working in the fields of trauma, spine, craniomaxillofacial, veterinary, and reconstructive surgery. For more information, visit: www.aofoundation.org

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1895651/AO_RIMASYS_Logos.jpg

For further questions, please contact:



AO Foundation

Olga Harrington, Head of Communications

[email protected]

Phone: +41 79 834 57 42 RIMASYS GmbH

Marc Ebinger, CEO & Co-Founder

[email protected]

Phone: +49 157 337 069 61

SOURCE AO Foundation; RIMASYS GmbH
Key Market Dynamics:

Market Driver

Market Challenges

The faster boarding process and high spending by the aviation industry to enhance the overall passenger experience are some of the key market drivers. However, factors such as passenger boarding bridging a better alternative will challenge market growth. Learn about additional key drivers, trends, and challenges available with Technavio. Request Sample Report Here

The apron bus market report is segmented by type (diesel and electric) and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and the Middle East and Africa).

The diesel segment accounted for a large share of the global apron bus market in 2021. The increasing adoption of advanced technologies and systems to reduce carbon emissions at airports is driving the growth of the segment. Rapid technological advancements in the automotive industry and the growing popularity of luxury airport buses among individuals are also driving the growth of the segment.

North America will be the leading region, occupying 40% of the market's growth during the forecast period. The high volume of luxury buses and increasing preference for luxury shuttles over vans are driving the growth of the regional market. In addition, the presence of leading producers is contributing to the growth of the apron bus market in North America.

Vendor Landscape:

The apron bus market is fragmented. The market is dominated by a few established companies. The market is very competitive, as players eagerly await new deals from airlines and airports. In addition, the construction of new airports and the replacement of old buses will provide new opportunities for the players during the forecast period. Bus manufacturers, to obtain new contracts, expand their product portfolios by introducing new buses with advanced features. Globally, as airlines look to reduce their carbon footprint, bus manufacturers are also turning to electric runway buses with more space for passengers and luggage. The global apron bus market is expected to boost during the forecast period owing to high investment by vendors.

Technavio identifies the following as the key players in the market.

BMC

BYD Co. Ltd

China International Marine Containers Group Ltd.

China Leyuan Airspace Investment Manufacturing Ltd.

COBUS Industries GmbH

Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles SA

Hexagon Studio

KIITOKORI OY

Mallaghan Engineering Ltd.

MCV Group

Nandan GSE Pvt. Ltd.

Panus Assembly Co. Ltd.

Proterra Inc.

Sutlej Motors Pvt. Ltd.

TAM Europe d.o.o.

d.o.o. Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co. Ltd

Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co. Ltd.

King Long United Automotive Industry Co. Ltd. Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co. Ltd.

Gain access to more vendor profiles with their key offerings available with Technavio. Request Sample Report Here

Related Reports:

Apron Bus Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 10.08% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 233.23 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 9.29 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 40% Key consumer countries US, China, Japan, UK, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled BMC, BYD Co. Ltd, China International Marine Containers Group Ltd., China Leyuan Airspace Investment Manufacturing Ltd., COBUS Industries GmbH, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles SA, Hexagon Studio, KIITOKORI OY, Mallaghan Engineering Ltd., MCV Group, Nandan GSE Pvt. Ltd., Panus Assembly Co. Ltd., Proterra Inc., Sutlej Motors Pvt. Ltd., TAM Europe d.o.o., Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co. Ltd, Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co. Ltd., and Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co. Ltd. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of Contents:

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Type



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Type

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Type - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Type - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Type

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Type



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Type

5.3 Diesel - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Diesel - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Diesel - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Diesel - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Diesel - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Electric - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Electric - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Electric - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Electric - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Electric - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 36: Market opportunity by Type ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 37: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 38: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 40: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 42: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 43: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 44: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 45: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 50: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 62: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 63: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 64: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 65: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 66: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 67: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 68: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 70: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 71: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 72: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 73: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 82: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 83: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 84: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 85: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 86: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 87: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 88: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 China International Marine Containers

Exhibit 89: China International Marine Containers - Overview



Exhibit 90: China International Marine Containers - Business segments



Exhibit 91: China International Marine Containers - Key offerings



Exhibit 92: China International Marine Containers - Segment focus

10.4 COBUS Industries

Exhibit 93: COBUS Industries - Overview



Exhibit 94: COBUS Industries - Product / Service



Exhibit 95: COBUS Industries - Key offerings

10.5 Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles

Exhibit 96: Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles - Overview



Exhibit 97: Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles - Business segments



Exhibit 98: Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles - Key offerings



Exhibit 99: Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles - Segment focus

10.6 Mallaghan Engineering Ltd.

Exhibit 100: Mallaghan Engineering Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 101: Mallaghan Engineering Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 102: Mallaghan Engineering Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 103: Mallaghan Engineering Ltd. - Key offerings

10.7 Panus Assembly Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 104: Panus Assembly Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 105: Panus Assembly Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 106: Panus Assembly Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.8 Proterra Inc.

Exhibit 107: Proterra Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 108: Proterra Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 109: Proterra Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 110: Proterra Inc. - Key offerings

10.9 TAM Europe d.o.o.

Exhibit 111: TAM Europe d.o.o. - Overview



Exhibit 112: TAM Europe d.o.o. - Product / Service



Exhibit 113: TAM Europe d.o.o. - Key offerings

10.10 Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co. Ltd

Exhibit 114: Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co. Ltd - Overview



Exhibit 115: Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co. Ltd - Product / Service



Exhibit 116: Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co. Ltd - Key offerings

10.11 Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co. Ltd.

King Long United Automotive Industry Co. Ltd. Exhibit 117: Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co. Ltd. - Overview

King Long United Automotive Industry Co. Ltd. - Overview

Exhibit 118: Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co. Ltd. - Product / Service

King Long United Automotive Industry Co. Ltd. - Product / Service

Exhibit 119: Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.12 Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 120: Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 121: Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 122: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 123: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 124: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 125: Research methodology



Exhibit 126: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 127: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 128: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
LONDON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Aquadrill LLC ("Aquadrill" or the "Company") announced today that it has issued its consolidated Balance Sheet (Successor) as of June 30, 2022, its consolidated Statements of Operations (Successor) for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 and its consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Successor) for the six months ended June 30, 2022 each reflecting black-line presentation as a result of fresh start accounting, along with Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes forward looking statements. Such statements are generally not historical in nature, and specifically include statements about the Company's plans, strategies, business prospects, contracts, agreements, changes and trends in its business and the markets in which it operates. The duration, timing (including both starting and ending dates) and total contract value of customer contracts and any related agreements are estimates only. The actual total contract value over the course of any given contract or agreement may be lower and could be substantially lower, depending on a number of factors (cancellation, suspension, delays, rig downtime, etc.). These statements are made based upon management's current plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs concerning future events impacting the Company and therefore involve a number of risks (some beyond the control of the Company), uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. When considering these forward looking statements, you should keep in mind the risks described from time to time in the Company's regulatory filings and periodic reporting. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of these factors. Further, the Company cannot assess the impact of each such factor on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward looking statement.

CONTACT:

[email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/18924/3629836/1625927.pdf Aquadrill June 30, 2022 Financial Package

SOURCE Aquadrill LLC
Constance N. Hadley and Mark Mortensen win award for best MIT SMR article on planned change and organizational development

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the editors of MIT Sloan Management Review announced that Constance N. Hadley and Mark Mortensen are the winners of the 2022 Richard Beckhard Memorial Prize. The prize is awarded to the authors of the most outstanding MIT SMR article on planned change and organizational development published in the winter 2021 through fall 2021 issues.

MIT SMR awarded the prize for the article "Are Your Team Members Lonely?" from the winter 2021 issue. Hadley is an organizational psychologist and lecturer at Boston University's Questrom School of Business. Mortensen is an associate professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD.

MIT SMR awarded the 2022 Richard Beckhard Memorial Prize to the authors of the article "Are Your Team Members Lonely?" Tweet this

The prize-winning article results from two studies involving nearly 500 global executives, along with informal interviews with other managers. The authors found that workplace teams are changing in today's organizations, and they are now less likely to be relatively stable, with long-lasting group member roles underpinned by close working relationships. Teams have not only become ever present in our work lives but have also grown in number and scope and become more flexible, less stable, and more time-pressed. The result is that we are often "alone together" in the organization.

The authors assert that loneliness or the lack of social connections is often thought of as an individual issue, but in organizations, it is also a structural one that can emerge from the composition, duration, and staffing of teams. Four features of current team design foster such disconnection: fluid membership, with rapid turnover in team composition; modularized roles, with members chosen for discrete skills the team requires; part-time commitment such that members can serve on many teams simultaneously; and short duration, with teams forming for short periods before disbanding. Such scenarios tend to promote transactional, limited, and shallow relationships among members.

"The authors' call for managers to exercise more responsibility for the well-being of employees and their social interconnections would resonate with Dick Beckhard," the judges say. "He was a strong advocate for the use of diverse teams in organizations and was keenly aware of the features that encourage and discourage positive intrateam dynamics."

The authors advise monitoring feelings of loneliness among employees. Leaders might create what the authors call core teams, with longer durations, stable membership, low turnover, common affinities or interests, and a shared work location.

This year's panel of judges consisted of distinguished members of the MIT Sloan School of Management faculty: Kate Kellogg, the David J. McGrath Jr. Professor of Management and Innovation; John Van Maanen, the Erwin H. Schell Professor of Management, Emeritus; and David Robertson, a senior lecturer in operations management.

About Richard Beckhard and the Beckhard Prize

One of the founders and architects of the field of organizational development, Professor Richard Beckhard was a member of the MIT Sloan School of Management faculty for more than 20 years. A longtime friend of MIT Sloan Management Review, Beckhard was known for his efforts to help organizations function in a more humane and high-performing manner and to empower people to be agents of change.

MIT Sloan Management Review About

At MIT Sloan Management Review (MIT SMR), we explore how leadership and management are transforming in a disruptive world. We help thoughtful leaders capture the exciting opportunities  and face down the challenges  created as technological, societal, and environmental forces reshape how organizations operate, compete, and create value.

CONTACT:

Tess Woods

[email protected]

SOURCE MIT Sloan Management Review
PowerHouse Data Centers Owns Land Sites and Provides Flexible Data Center Models for Hyperscalers seeking a one-stop solution to meet Ashburn requirements.

McLEAN, Va., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- American Real Estate Partners (AREP) announces the launch of PowerHouse Data Centers , a next-generation data center company that offers technical real estate solutions for hyperscalers in Northern Virginia. PowerHouse Data Centers has plans to build six data centers representing 2.1 million square feet of data center space in Northern Virginia.

PowerHouse's Arcola Data Center project, set for completion in 2026 will provide 120 MW of max capacity power, with 80 MW of critical power for a two-building facility with 614,300 sq. ft. of developable space and a data hall area of 364,100 sq. ft. of space. PowerHouse's data center campuses also include the site of the former AOL headquarters on Pacific Boulevard in Ashburn known as PowerHouse Pacific , which will host three state-of-the-art data center build-to-suit data centers for hyperscale tenants. Other projects under construction include PowerHouse ABX-1 at Beaumeade , which is bringing a 265,000 sq. ft. two-story powered data center online in 2023.

American Real Estate Partners (AREP) announces that PowerHouse Data Centers plans to build 6 data centers in Northern VA Tweet this

The construction is also backed by a $1 billion joint venture commitment with AREP and Harrison Street to develop and construct world-class data centers. As one of the leading investment management firms focused exclusively on alternative real estate assets, Harrison Street invested approximately $2.4 billion in digital assets that include powered data centers, strategic colocations and dark fiber. Harrison Street has clients in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

PowerHouse Data Centers delivers flexible data center models with the quickest speed to market of any Ashburn project while meeting the exploding market, data and space demands and challenges facing hyperscalers in Data Center Alley.

PowerHouse Data Centers owns its land sites and offers unique fast-track approvals and zoning approvals in the heart of the world's largest data center market. Recently, two prominent telecom veterans, Luke Kipfer and Jarrett Appleby , were appointed to drive PowerHouse Data Centers' deployment of next-generation data centers in Northern Virginia.

"We are excited to offer a new data center solutions company to meet the rising demand of hyperscalers in Ashburn and change the landscape of Data Center Alley," says Doug Fleit, Co-founder and CEO of AREP and PowerHouse Data Centers. "We provide hyperscalers a unique competitive advantage of an accelerated speed to market while overcoming the challenge of a fierce 'data center land run'."

We utilize our in-house development team and decades-long relationships in the area to build out your project from site planning to customized data center completion. The data center models provide Build-to-Suit and Build-to-Spec configurations with robust connectivity, future-proofing and customization.

"We are constantly evolving to meet hyperscaler needs with our fast, flexible and scalable Build-to-Suit data center solutions to fully meet their exacting specifications," comments Greg Rowles, PowerHouse Data Centers Managing Director, Development and Construction. "PowerHouse handles all the heavy lifting from site selection and evaluation, data center design and construction, to infrastructure build-out and delivery."

For more information about the unique Arcola, Pacific and ABX-1 data center opportunities in Ashburn, click here to connect with the PowerHouse team or visit www.powerhousedata.com to learn more.

About PowerHouse

PowerHouse Data Centers, a division of AREP, is a developer and owner of next-generation data centers and technical real estate solutions for hyperscalers in Northern Virginia. The company owns its land sites, offering unique fast-track approvals and zoning approvals right in the heart of the world's largest data center market. As a disruptor, PowerHouse Data Centers provides flexible next-generation data center models with the quickest speed to market of any Ashburn project while meeting hyperscalers' growing market, data, utility and space demands. PowerHouse Data Centers is committed to building six data centers representing 2.1 million square feet of data center space in Northern Virginia. For more information, visit www.powerhousedata.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter .

SOURCE American Real Estate Partners (AREP)
Three parties to sign MOU on September 20 to launch scholarship and 1st The Sandbox Academy in Singapore

SINGAPORE, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Aventis Graduate School, an award-winning graduate school and corporate training provider headquartered in Singapore announces a US$1M ASEAN scholarship in support of Smobler Studio's Metaverse for Good initiative on The Sandbox. Smobler Studios is a leading metaverse architecture firm that builds in The Sandbox, a decentralized gaming world and open metaverse.

This initiative is the brainchild of Smobler Studios' founders Dr Loretta Chen and Ruel Sarmiento in line with their studio's IDEALS  inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, leadership and sustainability. All NGOs, social enterprise and brands can participate in the Metaverse for Good if they pledge to support a worthy cause or charity. The digital real estate or LAND will be provided rent free for up to a year. The LAND is sponsored by the Octava Foundation, a private grant maker based in Singapore whose vision is to empower children and youth with equitable opportunities to contribute to a better world. The Foundation has a 12 X 12 LAND  a unit of virtual real estate in The Sandbox metaverse  that will be developed by Smobler Studios.

Aventis announces USD1M scholarship in support of Smobler Studios' Metaverse for Good initiative in The Sandbox Tweet this

Likewise, Aventis' scholarship aims to empower working professionals across ASEAN. The bond-free scholarship will be awarded to qualified adult learners who are citizens of ASEAN excluding Singapore. The candidates will be selected based on the strength of their application, academic and professional background, overall potential and financial need. Priority will be given to needy students from developing ASEAN countries to provide relief and an added boost for those at a financial disadvantage to achieve success in life.

Samuel Teo, Chairman of Academic and Examination Board of Aventis Graduate School says, "Since our founding in 2007, education and continuous learning is always close to our hearts as it is the foundation for our learners to provide a better future for not just themselves but their family. We are dedicated to providing quality executive education to working professionals across the ASEAN region and want to use this scholarship to build deeper connections and engagement with our learners across ASEAN."

Additionally, Aventis will also enter into a tripartite partnership with Smobler Studios and The Sandbox to establish the first The Sandbox Academy in Singapore. The academy will focus on developing talent and creators for the open metaverse. For starters, the academy will provide technical courses such as Voxel Art and Game Maker Certification and will later expand into more offerings to cater to jobs that will be created in the open metaverse.

Says Chen, who is Co-Founder of Smobler Studios and a professor, "Even as we push the frontiers of technology, we must deepen our connection to society by widening access to education which are the pillars of knowledge and human capital. I am extremely heartened by Aventis' scholarship pledge to our metaverse for Good initiative and The Sandbox's support of the Singapore academy that will lead to the development of a viable career ecosystem. All of us believe in co-creating a bigger, brighter, better future for all in this open metaverse."

Sebastien Borget, who is Co-Founder and COO of The Sandbox says, "The metaverse promises a major disruption in how we will interact, communicate, play, learn, and earn. Yet, the metaverse cannot succeed without both great content and people, who are the center of this innovation. That is why we are deploying great effort to empower users, players, and creators through education to Web3 and the possibilities of The Sandbox, enabling the creation of a multitude of new jobs. This is why we are thrilled to see Aventis step in with this generous scholarship support, positioning ASEAN at the forefront of innovation."

The launch of the Aventis Metaverse for Good ASEAN scholarship and The Sandbox Academy will take place on September 20 at the Aventis campus in Orchard Road.

"This is an exciting new chapter for us and we are extremely grateful for the trust from our partners, Smobler Studios and The Sandbox. Through our tripartite partnership, we will be able to provide for ASEAN learners as well as train and place graduates to kickstart a career in the metaverse. We are actively seeking partners, educators, collaborators, and learners to join us in this exciting journey," said Teo.

The metaverse has been the talk of the town since Facebook changed its name to Meta in October 2021 and pledged to invest $10 billion in its Reality Labs operation in 2022. Bloomberg Intelligence envisions the metaverse opportunity reaching $400 billion by 2024. Metaverse mania has reached Singapore with the announcement of DBS as the first Singapore company and bank to seal a partnership with The Sandbox to make a foray into the metaverse.

About Aventis Graduate School

Founded in 2007, Aventis is a graduate school headquartered in Singapore that champions human capital development. Aventis strives to make graduate and executive education affordable and accessible across Southeast Asia. With more than 60,000 learners, five esteemed university partners across USA and the UK and over 3,000 successful graduates, Aventis aims to be the leading graduate school for professionals in Asia. To Learn more, visit: www.aventis.edu.sg

About Smobler Studios

Smobler Studios is a metaverse architecture and creative design agency headquartered in Singapore. It specializes in creative ideation, design thinking, brand marketing and metaverse development for The Sandbox Game. Its recent clients include Mighty Jaxx, One Group, The Food Bank Singapore and Tools of Rock NFT amongst others. It is backed by The Sandbox, Brinc and Enjinstarter. To learn more, visit: www.smoblerstudios.com.

About The Sandbox

The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, is one of the decentralized virtual worlds that has been fueling the recent growth of virtual real estate demand, having partnered with major IPs and brands including Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, The Rabbids, Gucci Vault, The Walking Dead, Snoop Dogg, Adidas, Deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Richie Hawtin, The Smurfs, Care Bears, Atari, ZEPETO, CryptoKitties, and more. Building on existing The Sandbox IP that has more than 40 million global installs on mobile, The Sandbox metaverse offers players and creators a decentralized and intuitive platform to create immersive 3D worlds and game experiences and to safely store, trade, and monetize their creations. For more information, please visit www.sandbox.game and follow the regular updates on Twitter , Medium , and Discord .

About Octava Foundation

Octava Foundation is a private grant maker based in Singapore. Its vision is to empower children and youth, so they have equitable opportunities to excel as citizens and contribute to a better world, irrespective of their socio-economic background. The Foundation specifically supports organizations and programmes that enable learning attainment, skills development and or employability for underserved children and youth. It also funds projects that have promise of impact and scale and strengthen the pillars of home, learning, and society. The Foundation also provides bursaries in the form of study awards to motivated youth from underserved communities to access tertiary education.

Media Contact

Ms Lim Chye Fen, PR & Branding Manager

Aventis Graduate School

[email protected]

(65) 9853 1370

SOURCE Smobler Studios
Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup provides protection against evolving cyberthreats like ransomware, and is now transactable in Azure Marketplace

Highlights:

Barracuda grew its Data Protection new business sales by 30% year-over-year at the end of Q2FY23, significantly boosted by the growth in its Cloud-to-Cloud Backup SaaS product line that protects data stored in Microsoft 365.

Barracuda Data Protection solutions achieved impressive growth in international markets with sales growth of 75% year-over-year at the end of Q2FY23.

Barracuda has grown its Data Protection customer base to more than 40,000 organizations and protects their data in the cloud.

CAMPBELL, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Barracuda Secured.22 Conference -- Barracuda , a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-first security solutions, today announced product milestones and strong business growth for its data protection business, which accelerated due to the increasing need for secure backup driven by ransomware and other cyberthreats.

Through cloud-first innovations Barracuda grew its Data Protection new business sales by 30% year-over-year at the end of Q2FY23. Barracuda Data Protection solutions achieved impressive sales growth in international markets with new business sales up 75% year-over-year at the end of Q2FY23. Barracuda has grown its Data Protection customer base to more than 40,000 organizations and protects their data in the cloud.

Business momentum was boosted by the growth in Barracuda's Cloud-to-Cloud Backup SaaS product line that protects data stored in Microsoft 365. Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup new business sales are growing at 34% year-over-year at the end of Q2FY23, including 87% growth in international sales.

Now transactable in Azure Marketplace for customers and channel partners that want to take advantage of simplified and streamlined procurement and deployment processes, Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup delivers a fast search and restore experience for Microsoft 365 data, including Teams, Exchange Online, SharePoint, and OneDrive. Compared to traditional backup and recovery solutions, Barracuda's cloud-native solution provides greater scale and resiliency, fast performance, and wide global coverage to protect Microsoft 365 data created in the cloud.

"We saw strong momentum across our data protection business last fiscal year and continuing into this fiscal year," said Tim Jefferson, SVP, Engineering and Product Management for Data, Networks and Application Security at Barracuda. "With the explosive increase in the usage of Microsoft 365 apps, a modern cloud-native approach is required for protection. Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup is built and runs natively in the cloud, which enables fast set up, simple management, and no maintenance for Microsoft 365 apps."

Recent Barracuda Data Protection Highlights:

Customers: Barracuda currently serves more than 40,000 data protection customers worldwide. New customers include: Mendocino Family of Companies (MFC), Belfast Metropolitan College, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, Explore Learning, and more.

Industry Recognition:

Barracuda wins overall in Data Protection category for CRN's 2022 Annual Report Card (ARC)

Barracuda named a finalist for Best Customer Service in 2022 SC Awards U.S.

Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup wins 2021 CRN Products of the Year

Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup named a finalist in 2021 CRN Tech Innovator Awards

Barracuda wins Data Protection Company of the Year at 2021 Storage Awards

Barracuda has added several innovations across its Data Protection technology. For a deep dive into these innovations see this Q&A with Barracuda Product Manager Shawn Lubahn: https://blog.barracuda.com/2022/09/13/qa-barracuda-data-protection-innovation-and-momentum/

Supporting Quotes:

"A massive cyber-attack had hit us overnight. Of all the infrastructure available to us in the IT team we had one working laptop: no servers, no domain controllers, nothing. It had all been corrupted by the PYSA ransomware gang," explains Myerscough College Director of IT, Ian Brown, in a Barracuda case study. "Obviously the first reaction is one of total shock and disbelief," he stated. According to the case study, "A year previously, Ian invested in Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup. Within days the college had recovered most of its key infrastructure to the point where it could begin to support staff and students once again without having to engage with the threat actors or paying any ransom."

According to Vinny Phul, Head of IT for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), in a Barracuda case study, Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup more than met their needs. "It took only minutes to set up," Vinny explained. "Having a true Office 365 backup gives us additional peace of mind against the ransomware threat. Cloud-to-Cloud Backup makes it very easy to find lost files for our day-today needs."

"With a cloud-native solution, you get the benefit of scale on your backup, and your solution is fully managed. So unlike with traditional backup solutions, where you have to do capacity management and capacity planning and make sure you have enough storage, a cloud-native solution, like Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup really offers you a managed solution with virtually unlimited capacity to store your data." - Nills Franssens, Senior Cloud Solution Architect, Microsoft

Read the full Q&A with Nills in this blog post: http://cuda.co/43251

Resources:

Read the blog post:

Barracuda Data Protection innovation and momentum: http://cuda.co/bg0913data

Find Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup in Azure Marketplace: https://azuremarketplace.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/apps?search=barracuda&page=1

Get more information about Barracuda Data Protection:

Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup product page: http://cuda.co/ccb

Barracuda Backup product page: https://www.barracuda.com/products/backup

About Barracuda Secured.2 2

Barracuda Secured.22 Customer Conference, happening this week September 13 and 14, is the company's annual global virtual conference for Barracuda customers. Barracuda Secured.22 is an informative event covering technical security scenarios that enable practitioners to identify, prevent, recover, and respond quickly to cyber security attacks. For more information, please visit: https://barracuda.events/secured.22/.

About Barracuda

At Barracuda we strive to make the world a safer place. We believe every business deserves access to cloud-first, enterprise-grade security solutions that are easy to buy, deploy, and use. We protect email, networks, data, and applications with innovative solutions that grow and adapt with our customers' journey. More than 200,000 organizations worldwide trust Barracuda to protect them  in ways they may not even know they are at risk  so they can focus on taking their business to the next level. For more information, visit barracuda.com.

Barracuda Networks, Barracuda and the Barracuda Networks logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Barracuda Networks, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.

Contacts

Anne Campbell

Barracuda Networks, Inc.

978-328-1642

[email protected]

SOURCE Barracuda Networks, Inc.
New capabilities provide comprehensive Microsoft 365 security with Zero Trust Access

Highlights:

Barracuda adds Zero Trust Access to its Email Protection suite.

Barracuda Email Protection Premium Plus, now with Zero Trust Access included, continuously verifies, and only allows the right users to access specified resources.

The new release allows customers to control and manage access to email systems on a need-to-know basis, providing an additional layer of security for their businesses.

CAMPBELL, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Barracuda Secured.22 Conference -- Barracuda , a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-first security solutions, today announced the addition of Zero Trust Access to its email protection suite. The new capabilities allow customers to control and manage access to email systems and Microsoft 365 applications on a need-to-know basis, providing an additional layer of security for their businesses.

With the accelerated migration of workloads to Microsoft 365, the attack surface for today's businesses has expanded, and securing workloads for collaboration tools such as OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams requires security strategies built for the cloud. A robust approach to email security is especially important when it comes to protecting against account takeover because, when an account is compromised, attackers try to move laterally through the Microsoft 365 environment and access other applications and data.

Barracuda Email Protection Premium Plus, now with Zero Trust Access included, hardens the Microsoft 365 environment by continuously verifying and only allowing the right users to access specified resources. Conditional, time-based, and context-based access policies for Microsoft 365 email and applications can reduce the attack surface and compliance risks for businesses.

"Barracuda Email Protection with Zero Trust security provides complete protection for Microsoft 365, improving resiliency and security," said Don MacLennan, SVP, Engineering & Product Management, Email Protection. "For organizations that need to protect their businesses, brands, and people against the most advanced email-borne threats, Barracuda Email Protection is a comprehensive, easy-to-use solution."

Supporting Quotes

"I was really impressed with Barracuda's multilayered approach. They combine all the different functions needed to secure us against email threats. I also like the management interface. Even though it puts so many different capabilities at your fingertips, it's clear and very easy to use," explained Jamie Milliken, systems analyst at Gateway Mechanical, in a Barracuda case study.

"The bundled capabilities in Barracuda Email Protection were just right for our needs. It's the comprehensive, integrated security solution we needed for our Microsoft 365 deployment," said Andy Shotwell, Senior Vice President Bank of Botetourt, in a Barracuda case study.

Resources:

Check out the blog post:

Enhancing security with Zero Trust Access: http://cuda.co/bg0913zta

Get more information about Barracuda Email Protection:

https://www.barracuda.com/products/email-protection

https://www.barracuda.com/products/email-protection/zero-trust-access

About Barracuda Secured.22

Barracuda Secured.22 Customer Conference, happening this week September 13 and 14, is the company's annual global virtual conference for Barracuda customers. Barracuda Secured.22 is an informative event covering technical security scenarios that enable practitioners to identify, prevent, recover, and respond quickly to cyber security attacks. For more information, please visit: https://barracuda.events/secured.22/.

About Barracuda

At Barracuda we strive to make the world a safer place. We believe every business deserves access to cloud-first, enterprise-grade security solutions that are easy to buy, deploy, and use. We protect email, networks, data, and applications with innovative solutions that grow and adapt with our customers' journey. More than 200,000 organizations worldwide trust Barracuda to protect them  in ways they may not even know they are at risk  so they can focus on taking their business to the next level. For more information, visit barracuda.com.

Barracuda Networks, Barracuda and the Barracuda Networks logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Barracuda Networks, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.

Contacts

Anne Campbell

Barracuda Networks, Inc.

978-328-1642

[email protected]

SOURCE Barracuda Networks, Inc.
BD EffivaxTM Glass Prefillable Syringe Features Enhanced Technology that Builds on Company's Decades of Expertise in the Prefillable Syringe Market and Supports Customers' Manufacturing Needs

FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) ( NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today introduced a next-generation glass prefillable syringe (PFS) that sets a new standard in performance for vaccine PFS with new and tightened specifications for processability, cosmetics, contamination and integrity.1

The new BD EffivaxTM Glass Prefillable Syringe has been designed in collaboration with leading pharmaceutical companies to meet the complex and evolving needs of vaccine manufacturing.

"As biopharmaceutical companies continue to rapidly grow their vaccine pipelines, demand for PFS is accelerating across the globe  given their proven ability to facilitate faster administration, support dose sparing and reduce vaccine waste." said Eric Borin, Worldwide President of BD Pharmaceutical Systems. "The launch of BD EffivaxTM Glass Prefillable Syringe strategically supports this growth and will create needed efficiencies in end-to-end production."

Approximately 70 percent of the top 100 biopharmaceutical companies rely on BD for supply of PFS.2 BD EffivaxTM Glass Prefillable Syringe will further help customers meet the stringent demands of today's vaccine manufacturing through design enhancements focused on fill/finish and container reliability. Through improved quality specifications, BD EffivaxTM is designed to reduce the risk of line stoppage3 and improve the total cost of ownership,4 manufacturing capacity and supply availability.

The BD Effivax Glass Prefillable Syringe will benefit from the $1.2 billion, four-year investment that BD announced in late 2020 to expand and upgrade manufacturing capacity and technology for PFS. As BD plans for the future of vaccinations, including mRNA and those used for COVID-19, the company remains committed to maintaining robust capacity for PFS to help reduce the time and labor required for vaccine preparation with traditional vial formats.

About PFS

Prefillable syringes (PFS) are an important option in the packaging and delivery of injectable drug products, including vaccines, biologics and anticoagulants. PFS help enable the administration of a drug in two ways. First, a PFS is a drug delivery system designed to administer the appropriate amount of the drug to the patient both safely and reliably. Second, PFS packaging helps assure that there are no adverse effects on the quality, purity or potency of the drug over its full shelf life.

About BD

BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world and is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. The company supports the heroes on the frontlines of health care by developing innovative technology, services and solutions that help advance both clinical therapy for patients and clinical process for health care providers. BD and its 75,000 employees have a passion and commitment to help enhance the safety and efficiency of clinicians' care delivery process, enable laboratory scientists to accurately detect disease and advance researchers' capabilities to develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics. BD has a presence in virtually every country and partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. By working in close collaboration with customers, BD can help enhance outcomes, lower costs, increase efficiencies, improve safety and expand access to health care. For more information on BD, please visit bd.com or connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/bd1/ and Twitter @BDandCo.

Contacts:





Media : Investors : Trey Hollern Francesca DeMartino Director, Public Relations SVP, Head of Investor Relations 862.284.8629 201.847.5743 [email protected] [email protected]

References __________________________ 1 BD internal references, Customer Quality Specification BD Hypak(tm) for Vaccine SC000110, BD Effivax(tm) SC000243, BD Medical  Pharmaceutical Systems Le Pont de Claix, France. 2 IQVIA-based analysis and BD internal Systems (SAP) 3 BD internal analysis, TCO Model, BD Medical  Pharmaceutical Systems Le Pont de Claix, France 4 BD internal analysis, TCO Model, BD Medical  Pharmaceutical Systems Le Pont de Claix, France

SOURCE BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company)
SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, Blackview, the world-leading rugged phone brand, announced the launch of the Blackview Super Brand Day promotion from September 14th to 15th on AliExpress. This campaign will cover the hot-sell products, including the Blackview BL8800 series, Blackview BV7100, and Blackview Tab 13.

Blackview BL8800 & Blackview BL8800 Pro: 5G Rugged Phone Flagship

In May this year, Blackview put the Blackview BL8800 series (BL8800 and BL8800 Pro) on the shelves. Featuring top-notch specifications, the series crushes the use limits that rugged phones can't withstand. Shortly after the premiere, both swept the 5G rugged phone market with great popularity.

Unmatched Toughness

The BL8800 series meets the industry-leading IP68 & IP69K waterproof rating and the MIL-STD-810H military standard. For those living an active lifestyle or working in environments full of unpredictable elements like the forest, ships, and construction sites, the BL8800 series is a no-brainer. Moreover, the Glove Mode makes it easier to operate whenever wearing gloves.

Night Vision/Thermal Imaging

Blackview BL8800 series goes the extra mile in photography. Blackview BL8800 features night vision to take pictures or videos in complete darkness, while the BL8800 Pro features a FLIR Lepton thermal camera to measure heat, day or night, providing unimaginable fun to explore the world and serving as a mighty troubleshooting tool for electrical inspection, plumbing issues, and more.

8380mAh Battery Demon

Blackview BL8800 series adopts an astonishing 8380mAh that can last a whole day on binge use, perfect for outdoor goers who travel a lot. 33W fast charge can fully refill the giant battery in just 1.5 hours, equal to a mealtime. More surprisingly, it supports a reverse charge function -- effectively the 8380mAh power bank -- to lend juice to another device.

Silky-Smooth Operation

Blackview BL8800 series runs the 5G MediaTek Dimensity 700 with 8GB RAM and 128GB ROM to enhance almost everything you do -- faster uploads, downloads, streaming, and gaming. And with brand-new Doke OS 3.0, based on Android 11 -- smarter, swifter, and more intuitive, everything is fast, smooth, and efficient.

Blackview BV7100: the 13000mAh Battery Beast

Blackview BV7100 is borns to be mighty by incorporating more than a year of efforts from Blackview's R&D team. Embracing a 13000mAh battery, superior ruggedness, and more powerful features such as up to 10GB RAM, MediaTek Helio G85, and Doke OS 3.0 based on Android 12, Blackview BV7100 changes the rugged lifestyle for users.

Blackview Tab 13: Latest Tablet Flagship

Blackview Tab 13 is Blackview's first-ever 4G LTE tablet flagship with SIMO Internet to access the internet anytime, up to 10GB RAM, TUV Rheinland Low Blue Light certified 10.1-inch FHD+ display, Doke OS P_3.0 based on Android 12, and PC Mode, which redraws boundaries of the Blackview tablet experience on convenience smoothness for work and play.

Price and Availability

From September 14th to 15th, the first 100 orders of the Blackview BL8800 series, Blackview BV7100, and Blackview Tab 13 will enjoy a coupon (only for the U.S.A). The final price of the BL8800 reaches $232.99, the BL8800 Pro at $297.98, the BV7100 at $159.99, and the Tab 13 at $134.99. When the coupons run out, the price will rise to $259.99 (BL8800), $324.98 (BL8800 Pro), $179.99 (BV7100), and $149.99 (Tab 13).

SOURCE Blackview
TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Blade , a North American commercial indoor air quality (IAQ) technology manufacturer, has been awarded a publicly procured, competitively solicited national cooperative contract (R10-1136B) from Region 10 Education Service Center, an Equalis Group Lead Agency.

This partnership allows Blade to provide its suite of indoor air quality (IAQ) solutions and technologies through Equalis, to K-12 schools, higher education entities, local governments, state agencies, and non-profits in the U.S. The available technologies include portable HEPA air purifiers, UVC supplemental air sanitization (induct and standalone options), and electrostatic polarized HVAC filters.

Aedan Fida, CEO of Blade, remarked upon the announcement, "We are very excited about our partnership with Equalis Group. We take great pride in manufacturing our unique, high-quality technologies. This partnership gives us the opportunity to supply schools, government agencies, and municipalities with our leading technologies while ensuring they are easily accessible and cost-effective."

Equalis Group delivers compliant, publicly procured cooperative agreements that public sector entities, including federal and state agencies, local governments, and educational institutions across the country can utilize to: i) quickly acquire the products and services they need; ii) receive better pricing through the collective buying power of Equalis Group Members; and, iii) save time through Equalis Group's legal and compliant alternative to conducting their own resource-consuming solicitation process.

This contract was procured and awarded in accordance with the requirements of 2-C.F.R. Part 200, commonly referred to as "Uniform Guidance". Why is that important? Because public sector entities receiving federal grant and award dollars can typically spend those dollars through Equalis Group's already-procured contracts without having to conduct their own bid or request for proposals (RFP).

Being a North American manufacturer, Blade assures quality, fast lead times, and durability with all products- a company value held high with great pride. "Equalis Group is delighted to have Blade as a supplier partner of our IAQ technology contract. We are certain that Blade will provide value to our clients by helping purchasers navigate procurement guidelines and statutory requirements while reducing costs, enabling them to concentrate on quickly securing the right solution for their IAQ needs," said Stephen Hull, CEO of Equalis Group.

How to Purchase through this Contract:

This cooperative contract vehicle is immediately available to Equalis Group members. Any public sector entity within the United States can join Equalis Group and begin utilizing this competitively solicited contract by completing the membership agreement, located here. There are no dues, fees, or obligations to join Equalis Group.

Contract Information:

Contract #: R10-1136B

Effective Date: September 1, 2022

Expiration Date: August 31, 2025

Renewable Through: August 31, 2027

About Blade

Blade is an industry-leading manufacturer of Canadian-made commercial indoor air quality (IAQ) technology located in Toronto, Ontario. They supply tailored, state-of-the-art indoor air quality solutions that meet the highest industry standards. Currently managing and improving indoor air quality in over 50 million square feet of building spaces across Canada, Blade is a trusted supplier and the preferred vendor of choice to the Ontario government for IAQ technology. In addition, they work with businesses and organizations across all industries.

About Equalis Group

Equalis Group is a national public sector purchasing cooperative that develops and administers a diverse portfolio of cooperative purchasing programs that cover a wide range of products and services. Each program in Equalis' rapidly growing portfolio provides its members with and a legal and compliant exemption to the traditional bid/RFP process and the ability to configure the solution that best meets their individual needs while achieving the lowest total cost.

To learn more about Blade, visit www.bladeair.ca or call (416) 701-0201.

SOURCE Blade Filters Inc.
The defence category is anticipated to grow throughout the projected period due to technological developments in ceramic and steel protective gear.

The global body armor market is being stimulated by the introduction of strong, lightweight devices. In order to give a high degree of ballistic protection and more mobility during combat missions, manufacturers are producing advanced lightweight armors.

WILMINGTON, Del., Sept. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2021, the value of global body armor market stood at US$ 3.8 Bn. The global market is anticipated to rise at a CAGR of 3.11% during the forecast period, from 2022 to 2031. The market is anticipated to attain value of US$ 5.1 Bn 2031. The global market for body armor is being driven by an increase in the use of lightweight, durable bulletproof vests and tactical gear. A piece or item of clothing called body armor is intended to defend the wearer from many types of assaults.

It is used to thwart many dangers, such as needles, knives, and bullets, as well as a variety of attacks. Benefits of modern body armor systems include resistance against the majority of firearms and sharp objects. Additionally, it enables security staff to maintain discretion. In a bid to expand their market share for body armor, market players are concentrating on producing goods from materials like ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), composite ceramic, steel, and aramid.

Body armor sales are increasing as a result of an increase in civilian demand for protective gear brought on by anti-state activities and terrorism in various nations. Online bulletproof body armor manufacturer like Safeguard Clothing US and other websites sell military-grade personal protective equipment (PPE) and bulletproof body armor. Ballistic panels, b Ballistic helmets, and bullet- and stabbing-proof vests are among the Safeguard clothing options available in the US. Civilians, law enforcement protection, and defense are all included in the body armor target market.

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Key Findings of Market Report

The global market for body armor is anticipated to grow as military personnel's safety becomes more of a priority. Operations including counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, and guerilla warfare can cause deadly wounds. Military soldiers are shielded from deadly injuries by ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibres in tactical combat vest platforms. In order to protect themselves against criminals and lawbreakers, law enforcement officials also require personal armor. As a result, demand for portable and reliable armor protection systems is likely to rise.

Due to their exceptional strength and durability, ceramic materials like silicon carbide (SiC) are perfect for stopping rifle rounds. SiC can be incorporated into protective vests together with supporting materials to offer crucial bodily defense against all high-velocity missiles. These technologies and body armor marketing strategy are anticipated to raise demand for advanced body armor systems.

Steel is among the most affordable materials utilized for body armor and can sustain any type of impact without making the wearer defenseless, hence it led the global market based on material in 2021. Steel is a common material in military for body armor and vehicle armor plating.

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Global Body Armor Market: Growth Drivers

The defence segment led the global body armor market in terms of application in 2021 and is expected to account for a considerable body armor market share. Such growth is due to an increase in public spending on the military globally. Body armor is crucial for the safety of military troops.

Given the region's rising gun violence and rioting, North America had the lion's share of the global body armor market in 2021. The demand for enhanced security of military and law enforcement personnel in North America is increasing owing high risk of terrorist strikes. Furthermore, an increase in consumer concern about personal safety and the region's heavy concentration of defence and security organisations are expected to drive up demand for body armor.

Global Body Armor Market: Key Players

Some of the key market players are

Australian Defence Apparel Pty Ltd.

U.S. Armor Corporation

Honeywell International Inc.

Point Blank Enterprises Inc.

KDH Defense Systems, Inc.

Du Pont (E.I.) De Nemours

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Global Body Armor Market: Segmentation

Type

Level I

Level II-A

Level II

Level III-A

Level III

Level IV

Product Type

Soft Body Armor

Hard Body Armor

Accessories

Material

Steel

UHMWPE

Aramid

Composite Ceramics

Others

Application

Defense

Law Enforcement Protection

Civilians

Electronics and Semiconductors Research Report

Personal Protective Equipment Market - The global personal protective equipment market is expected to surpass the value of US$ 98.66 Bn by the end of 2031, expand at a CAGR of 6.2% from 2021 to 2031

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High Reliability Semiconductor Market - High Reliability Semiconductor Market is expected to reach the value of US$ 10 Bn by 2031 and is slated to clock a modest CAGR of ~5% during the projected period.

Wide Band Gap Semiconductors Market - Wide Band Gap Semiconductors Market is expected to reach US$ 9.5 Bn by the end of 2031, It is estimated to advance at a CAGR of 24.6% from 2022 to 2031.

Semiconductor Wafer Cleaning Equipment Market - Semiconductor Wafer Cleaning Equipment Market revenue is anticipated to reach USD 7.28 bn by the end of 2027, after expanding at a CAGR of 7.7% from 2019 to 2027.

GaN Semiconductor Devices Market - GaN semiconductor devices market is expected to reach a valuation of ~US$ 4 Bn by the end of 2027 and it's expected to expand at a rapid CAGR of ~14.5% during the forecast period.

High-reliability Semiconductors for Aerospace & Defense Market - High-Reliability Semiconductors For Aerospace & Defense Market is estimated to reach a value of ~US$ 8.6 Bn by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of ~5% during the forecast period.

Advanced Semiconductor Packaging Market - Advanced Semiconductor Packaging Market 10.9 % CAGR over the 2017-2026 forecast period.

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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.

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JAKARTA, Indonesia, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. (IDX: BBRI) collaborates with PT Syngenta Indonesia to provide financial services for farmers through the CENTRIGO Farming Ecosystem. The end-to-end ecosystem, aimed to support farmers' needs and increase productivity and profitability, will be launched in October 2022.

Left to right: Amam Sukrianto, Director of Small and Medium Business of BRI; Agus Noorsanto, Director of Institutional and Wholesale Business of BRI; Kazim Hasnain, President Director of PT Syngenta Indonesia; Ronnie Keh, Director of PT Syngenta Indonesia; and Rafaela Arancibia - NFE Omnichannel & Customer Experience Lead of Syngenta Asia Pacific.

The collaboration was formally announced at the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Agus Noorsanto, Director of Institutional and Wholesale Business of BRI and Kazim Hasnain, President Director of PT Syngenta Indonesia on 13 September 2022. The collaboration involves various banking services provided by BRI for PT Syngenta Indonesia and all the stakeholders in its business ecosystem.

Agus Noorsanto said this collaboration will help improve the living standards of farmers and advance the agricultural sector in Indonesia. "All financial transaction management will be carried out efficiently through digital solutions, such as the Cash Management Platform - BRICaMS, Corporate Billing Management - BRICBM, Pasar Rakyat Indonesia - PARI, and others."

PT Syngenta Indonesia is committed to advancing agriculture in Indonesia and ensuring sufficiency as well as quality in a sustainable manner. Through cutting-edge technologies, worldwide experience, and partnerships across the value chain, PT Syngenta Indonesia believes it can help accelerate the growth of the agricultural sector in Indonesia.

"We are pleased with this collaboration and confident that BRI's wide range of digital banking services will unlock the potential of Indonesian farmers and support the growth of PT Syngenta Indonesia's business in Indonesia," said Kazim.

On the same occasion, Supari, Director of Micro Business of BRI, and Ronnie Keh, Director of PT Syngenta Indonesia, also signed a cooperation agreement on microcredits and digital solutions for farmers of the CENTRIGO Farming Ecosystem. In addition, A Letter of Intent (LOI) was also delivered to Amam Sukrianto, Director of Small and Medium Business of BRI, regarding business cooperations in the SME sector.

The goal of CENTRIGO Farming Ecosystem is in line with BRI's mission to become the champion of financial inclusion that embraces all levels of society. BRI's experience in disbursing loans from ultra-micro, micro, small and medium enterprises to the corporate segment, will greatly support Indonesia's agricultural ecosystem.

For more information about Bank BRI, visit www.bri.co.id

SOURCE PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BRI)
FinancialNewsMedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Fla., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Uranium and other reactive natural chemicals have had a bad rep in the past. This sentiment is gradually changing, as the world is shifting from fossil fuel to renewable energy resources. Uranium's long-term outlook seems promising, but the constant disruption in the ratio of supply and demand has affected the commodity's price. The industry giant, Cameco, has suspended multiple mining projects in the past to stabilize the price of uranium stocks. The top 10 countries that produce uranium are: Kazakhstan, Canada, Australia, Niger, Namibia, Russia, Uzbekistan, China. USA and Ukraine. An article in The Fintech Mag discussed whether 2022 is the time to buy uranium stocks. They said: "Uranium (U) is a heavy metallic element that has been used as a reliable source of concentrated energy for many years. It has a melting point of 1132C. It is naturally found in most rocks with a concentration of 2 to 4 parts per million. Despite the high value associated with this metal, it is as abundant in Earth's core as other common elements like tin and tungsten. Only one kilogram of uranium can generate energy that is equivalent to the production capability of about 1,500 tonnes of coal. Uranium is a mixture of two isotopes: uranium-238 (U-238) and uranium-235 (U-235). The occurrence ratio of U-238 in natural deposits is about 99% while that of U-235 is 10%." Active companies in the markets today include: BASIN URANIUM CORP. (OTCPK: BURCF) (CSE: NCLR), Denison Mines Corp. ( NYSE: DNN) (TSX: DML), Cameco ( NYSE: CCJ) (TSX: CCO), Ur-Energy Inc. ( NYSE: URG) (TSX:URE), NexGen Energy Ltd. ( NYSE: NXE) (TSX: NXE).

The article continued: "One of the major factors that increase the price of uranium stocks is the increase in the demand for nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuel. As more and more nations are shifting to greener methods for energy generation, the nuclear energy industry is gaining traction worldwide. For example, in France, there are about 56 nuclear power reactors that are currently used as primary power sources in the country. Secondly, the cost of standard fossil fuels, such as coal and natural gas, is directly proportional to the value of uranium stocks. When the price of fossil fuels increases, then this can demand a sudden increase in the demand for greener methods for the production of electricity. Market watchers are optimistic about the prices of uranium stocks in the coming years. With the increase in awareness regarding renewable energy resources, governments are becoming more inclined to approve nuclear projects in different countries."

BASIN URANIUM CORP. (CSE: NCLR.CN) (OTCPK: BURCF) BREAKING NEWS: BASIN URANIUM ANNOUNCES INTERSECTION OF SIGNIFICANT MINERALIZATION FROM PHASE 1 DRILLING AT MANN LAKE  BASIN URANIUM CORP. ("Basin Uranium" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the completion of a ground based gravity survey and a heliborne Mobile MT Electromagnetic and Magnetic survey at its Mann Lake project located 25 km southwest of the McArthur River Mine and 15 km to the northeast along strike of Cameco's Millennium uranium deposit.

The recently collected and interpreted geophysical data has generated new drill targets over prospective areas on the Mann Lake property. The Phase 2 drill program will test the potential for uranium mineralization along interpreted lineament or structural corridors at the unconformity and in the basement, that correspond with resistivity and magnetic lows and the margins of gravity lows.

"The summer geophysical programs identified a number of new prospective targets, in addition to refining the resolution and coverage over the Mann Lake claims." commented Mike Blady, CEO of Basin Uranium. "With the additional data, our focus will be on coincident geophysical anomalies that sum together to provide the most fertile geophysical environment along with incorporating know uranium mineralization from our phase one drilling."

Mobile MT Electromagnetic and Magnetic Survey - The Mobile MT survey successfully identified conductive zones and structures along the unconformity contact and deeper in the basement. These conductive zones are prospective for graphite and/or its breakdown products, which are considered to be responsible for uranium mineralization. In addition, deep structures within the basement allow for fluid migration, which can create pathways for the precipitation of uranium mineralization along the unconformity contact and within the basement rocks.

The purpose of the Mobile MT survey was to identify deep structures along the unconformity and in the basement, including possible alteration and mineralization zones. A total of 3 production flights were flown to complete 376 line-kilometers of the survey over a 70 sq.km area. The main conductors along the unconformity contact are shown as resistivity lows (blue) in the accompanying map. The Mobile MT apparent conductivity and magnetics data have also delineated NE and NW trending prospective structures that cross-cut the basement throughout the property.

Gravity Survey - Multiple gravity low anomalies are defined along the southern and south-eastern portions of the tenure. Gravity lows are prospective in uranium exploration, as they can correlate to a de-silicification of the rocks that may indicate the presence of a fault structures, which are prospective for graphite and/or uranium mineralization

MWH Geo-Surveys completed a 2539 station gravity survey over the southern portion of the Mann Lake tenure in July 2022. Results were merged with the historic (2006, 2008) gravity survey data, to complete the coverage over the central and southern portions of the property. CONTINUED Read the BASIN URANIUM full press release by going to: https://basinuranium.ca/news/

In other news and developments of note in the markets this week:

Denison Mines Corp. (TSX: DML) (NYSE American: DNN) recently reported that assays recently received from exploration drilling completed at the Company's 22.5% owned McClean Lake Joint Venture ("McClean Lake" or "MLJV"), during the winter of 2022, have resulted in a significant expansion of the "new" high-grade unconformity-hosted zone of uranium mineralization discovered in 2021 between the McClean South 8W and 8E pods (see Denison's news release dated April 14, 2021).

Ten drill holes completed during 2022 by Orano Canada Inc. ("Orano Canada"), 77.5% owner and operator of the MLJV, returned notable uranium mineralization, including drill hole MCS-58, which returned 2.96% U 3 O 8 over 15.5 metres, including 24.49% U 3 O 8 over 1.5 metres, located approximately 54 metres to the southeast of drill hole MCS-34, which was completed in 2021 and returned a mineralized interval of 8.67% U 3 O 8 over 13.5 metres.

Cameco (TSX: CCO) ( NYSE: CCJ) recently reported its consolidated financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022 in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

"Our results reflect the very deliberate execution of our strategy of full-cycle value capture. And, we are benefiting from higher average realized prices in both our uranium sales and our fuel services sales as the market continues to transition and geopolitics continue to highlight concentration of supply concerns," said Tim Gitzel, Cameco's president and CEO.

"In the drive for a clean energy profile, policy makers and business leaders must recognize that there is a need to balance affordability and security. Too much focus on intermittent, weather dependent, renewable energy, has left some jurisdictions struggling with power shortages and spiking energy prices, or dependence on Russian energy supplies. The good news for us is that many are turning to nuclear  which provides safe, reliable, affordable, carbon-free baseload electricity while also offering energy security and independence.

Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSEAmerican: URG) (TSX:URE) recently announced that it has signed a multi-year sales agreement with a leading U.S. nuclear utility to supply uranium produced from a project owned and operated by the Company's U.S. subsidiaries, including Lost Creek.

Completing this supply agreement marks the first step of Ur-Energy's strategic product marketing plan by which the Company intends to commit a portion of its future uranium production into term sales agreements with U.S. based nuclear utilities. This initial agreement calls for the annual delivery of a base amount of 200,000 pounds of uranium concentrates over a six-year period beginning in the second half of 2023. Sales prices are anticipated to be profitable on a Company-wide, all-in cost basis and are escalated annually from the initial pricing in 2023.

NexGen Energy Ltd. (TSX: NXE) ( NYSE: NXE) recently announced drill assays from 2021 confirm discovery of a uranium mineralized zone below the known Arrow Deposit and at Camp East:

Below Arrow  multiple intersections of uranium mineralization were made significantly below Arrow, including 0.10% U 3 O 8 over 7.0 m in AR-21-268 from 1128 m to 1135 mdown hole;

Camp East  uranium concentration of 0.10% U 3 O 8 in RK-21-140 from 166 m to 167 m down hole in association with brittle structure and hydrothermal alteration.

Further, NexGen has commenced 2022 drilling focused on regional exploration targets at the 100% owned Rook I project (the "Project"); and an extensive geophysical program over high priority areas of NexGen's mineral tenure in the southwest Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan.

DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates Financialnewsmedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third- party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed FNM was compensated twenty five hundred dollars for news coverage of current press release issued by BASIN URANIUM CORP. by a non-affiliated third party.

FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

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SOURCE Financialnewsmedia.com
Rise in industries and commercial buildings in developing and developed nations and increase in demand from energy sector have boosted the growth of the global busway-bus duct market.

PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research recently published a report, titled, "Busway-Bus Duct Market by Type (Isolated Phase Bus Duct, Segregated Phase Bus Duct, Non-segregated Phase Bus Duct), by Voltage (High-voltage, Medium-voltage, Low-voltage), by End User Industry (Residential, Commercial, Industrial): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031". As per the report, the global busway-bus duct industry was pegged at $12.1 billion in 2021, and is expected to reach $21 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 5.5% from 2022 to 2031.

Drivers, restraints, and opportunities

Rise in industries and commercial buildings in developing and developed nations and increase in demand from energy sector have boosted the growth of the global busway-bus duct market. In addition, rise in urbanization and growth of the service sector supplement the market growth. Moreover, developments in the chemical, automotive, consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals sectorswould open new opportunities in the future. The report offers a detailed analysis of the changing market trends, top segments, key investment pockets, value chain, regional landscape, and competitive scenario.

Download Sample PDF (297 Pages with More Insight): https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/14361 Covid-19 scenario:

The pandemic negatively affected the market, due to restrictions on manufacturing and construction activities.

The economic slowdown resulted in reduced spending on various busway-bus duct systems by commercial and industrial users.

The non-segregated phase bus duct segment dominated the market

By type, the non-segregated phase bus duct segment held the largest share in 2021, accounting for around half of the global busway-bus duct market. This is due to its cost effectiveness. However, the segregated phase bus duct segment is expected to register the highest CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period, owing to higher operational efficiency and enhanced safety.

The low voltage segment to manifest the highest CAGR through 2031

By voltage, the low voltage segment would showcase the highest CAGR of 5.9% from 2022 to 2031, due to increasing popularity of busducts in residential buildings. However, the medium-voltage segment held the largest share in 2021, contributing to more than half of the global busway-bus duct market, due to extensive use of medium voltage power transmission systems in various industries.

Get detailed COVID-19 impact analysis on the Busway-Bus Duct Market: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/14361



The residential segment to showcase the highest CAGR by 2031

By end user industry, the residential segment is projected to register the highest CAGR of 6.0% during the forecast period, owing to increasing popularity of busducts in high rise buildings. However, the industrial segment held the lion's share in 2021, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global busway-bus duct market, due to requirement of safe power transmission systems.

Asia-Pacific held the largest share

By region, the global busway-bus duct market across Asia-Pacific held the lion's share in 2021, accounting for nearly half of the market, due to large manufacturing industry in the region. However, the market across LAMEA would showcase the highest CAGR of 7.1% from 2021 to 2030, owing to rapid growth of industries in Latin America.

Major market players

ABB

Accu-Panels Energy Pvt Ltd.

C&S Electric Limited

Current Midwest

DBTS IND

Eaton Corporation PLC

General Electric Company

Godrej and Boyce Company Limited

Huapeng Group Company, Ltd.

L&T Electrical & Automation

LS Cable & System Ltd.

Powell Industries Inc.

Schneider Electric

Siemens AG

TAIAN-ECOBAR TECHNOLOGY

Tricolite Electrical Industries

Vidhyut Control India Pvt. Ltd.

The report analyzes these key players of the global busway-bus duct market. These players have adopted various strategies such as expansion, new product launches, partnerships, and others to increase their market penetration and strengthen their position in the industry. The report is helpful in determining the business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and developments by every market player

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Leading New York-based trial attorneys recently achieved back-to-back, precedent-setting victories on behalf of clients.

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP continues to expand its Global Litigation and White Collar Defense and Investigations groups, with the addition of high-profile partners Kenneth M. Breen and Phara A. Guberman.

Breen and Guberman are highly experienced trial attorneys who join Cadwalader from Paul Hastings, where Breen most recently served as head of Paul Hastings' New York white collar group after 10 years as chair of the firm's global investigations and white collar defense team.

Their practice focuses on defending corporations and executives in high-stakes investigations, trials, and appeals, typically involving allegations of accounting fraud, securities fraud, insider trading, cybersecurity issues, and money laundering. They are also skilled in conducting internal investigations for companies, teams, clubs, and university systems, and have substantial business litigation experience, representing clients in complex civil matters in federal and state courts and arbitration proceedings.

Together, they recently achieved major back-to-back victories for clients in two of the highest profile white collar matters in the United States. In a precedent-setting appellate victory in U.S. v. Connolly, et al., the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned all counts of conviction and directed a judgment of acquittal in favor of their client, Matthew Connolly, the lead defendant in the case and the first U.S.-based trader to be charged with alleged manipulation of LIBOR. Breen and Guberman represented Mr. Connolly at trial and on appeal. Their win represents the only LIBOR-related criminal case in the U.S. or U.K. to be overturned on sufficiency of the evidence and sets an important standard for all future wire fraud prosecutions. For this they were recognized by The American Lawyer as Litigators of the Week, which referred to the Connolly appellate success as a "remarkable turnaround" and recognized that the "decision is the second white-collar appellate reversal [Breen and Guberman] have won in as many years." Global Investigations Review short-listed the Connolly trial as its "Most Important Case of the Year" for its impact on future investigations and Law360 honored them for securing a sentencing ruling without any period of incarceration for Mr. Connolly, though the government was seeking 15 years.

The duo also represented David Gibson, former Chief Financial Officer of Wilmington Trust Corporation, in U.S. v. Gibson, et al., at trial and on appeal in a matter involving accounting and securities fraud brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware. Mr. Gibson's conviction was overturned on all counts in a matter of first impression for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and the remanded counts were dismissed by the District of Delaware. The Gibson case sets a precedent for false statement prosecutions in the Third Circuit. The American Lawyer deemed this win a "stunning reversal of criminal convictions in a case dating back to the Great Recession."

"Ken and Phara have certainly established a market-leading reputation as white collar attorneys, both individually and as a team," said Cadwalader managing partner Pat Quinn. "They have represented and achieved noteworthy victories for individual and corporate clients on some of the highest profile matters of the past decade. They are outstanding additions to the white collar practice and our firm."

Added white collar defense and investigations practice chair Jodi Avergun: "The arrival of Ken and Phara is another crucial step in the ongoing build-out of our exceptional white collar practice. They are first-rate white collar attorneys  equally as adept in the courtroom as working behind the scenes on behalf of their clients."

Breen is a first-chair trial attorney who has been consistently recognized among the leading white collar attorneys in the country. Prior to private practice, Breen served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, where he was Deputy Chief of the Business and Securities Fraud Section, and in the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division. He has tried 48 cases to verdict and argued 12 appeals as a federal prosecutor and defense attorney. In ranking Breen as a leader in this field, Chambers USA notes that his clients praise his "very shrewd mind," "exceptional legal vision," and "ability to look across the full spectrum of white-collar issues." According to Chambers, he impresses clients as an advocate who is "dedicated, tireless and [someone who] can quickly effectively understand legal issues and the business needs of his clients," and as an "extraordinarily effective trial counsel" who "comes with the experience, gravitas and intellect" that lets the other side know that he will be "really prepared to try the matter."

Guberman is a highly regarded versatile litigator considered a next-generation leader in the field. She was recently honored by Benchmark Litigation as one of the Top 250 Women in Litigation and by Global Investigations Review as one of 100 notable Women in Investigations. Law360 has named her a "Legal Lion" and as one of its five national rising stars in white collar defense for major client victories in high-profile matters. The Legal 500 USA has recognized Guberman for Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Defense: Advice to Individuals and Advice to Corporates. She has successfully defended a wide array of criminal and complex commercial trials, managed investigations, and handled appeals on a full spectrum of legal issues.

Breen and Guberman envision continued growth of their practice at Cadwalader, owing to the firm's outstanding market reputation among financial institutions and funds, as well as leading corporate clients.

"Phara and I are excited to join Cadwalader's world-class white collar defense practice," Breen said. "In our experience, being ready, willing, and able to go to trial leads to the best results for our clients, whether resolutions are reached in or out of court. Our adversaries certainly know our reputation and track record of success in high-stakes and high-profile matters, for company and individual clients alike. Our default setting is not capitulation. Cadwalader's white collar team shares and practices our ethos in this regard. In joining the Cadwalader team, we will continue to bring that fight for our clients in avoiding charges, obtaining client-friendly settlements and, when necessary, winning at trial and on appeal. We believe that the best results come from the ability to deliver for our clients at those levels."

Added Guberman: "The extraordinary group of litigators at Cadwalader are individually known for their fierce advocacy and winning records. We are thrilled to be part of a dynamic and talented team to provide unmatched service and achieve the best results for clients in resolving their most difficult issues. We are honored to join Cadwalader, with its long-standing reputation for legal excellence and collaboration, and to be part of its continued growth."

The arrival of Breen and Guberman represents the next phase of the expansion plan for the white collar and global litigation groups. Over the past 18 months, Cadwalader has added leading litigators Nicholas Gravante, Philip Iovieno, Larry Brandman, and Helen Maher in New York; Phil Khinda, Doug Gansler, and Rachel Rodman in Washington; and Mark Beardsworth and Kevin Roberts in London.

About Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, established 230 years ago, serves a diverse client base, including many of the world's leading financial institutions, corporations and funds. With offices in New York, London, Charlotte, Washington and Dublin, Cadwalader offers legal expertise in antitrust, banking, corporate finance, corporate governance, executive compensation, financial restructuring, health care, intellectual property, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, private wealth, real estate, financial regulation, securitization, structured finance, tax and white collar defense. For more information, visit www.cadwalader.com.

Contact:

Ron Brandsdorfer +1 212 504 6712

[email protected]

SOURCE Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
The Best SaaS Product for Communication, Collaboration or Conferencing.

LONDON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dstny Automate (formerly Qunifi), with its Call2Teams solution, has been declared the winner of the Best SaaS Product for Communication, Collaboration, or Conferencing this week in the international SaaS Awards program.

SaaS Awards Winner

Earlier this year, Dstny announced the acquisition of the leading UK-based Microsoft Teams integration specialist Qunifi, now Dstny Automate. The 2022 SaaS Award reinforces that the unit is an essential part of Dstny's strategy in business integrations and a perfect example of how Dstny brings business value to end users by playing well with others.

Call2Teams is a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solution developed and maintained by Dstny Automate (formerly Qunifi). With extensive interoperability and ongoing innovation, Call2Teams gives Voice, Telco, and IT partners a leading go-to-market solution for voice-enabling Teams. Call2Teams comes with multi-tenant, multi-tiered subscription management, is Microsoft approved, with enterprise-grade encryption and security built-in.

This year's SaaS praises, now in its seventh edition, received hundreds of entries from across the globe, covering the Americas, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Jeannie Arthur, Dstny Automate CEO, said: "It is an incredible honor to win this international SaaS Award for best Communication, Collaboration, or Conferencing product. The last few years have seen huge disruption in how organizations use technology to enable remote, home, and hybrid working. We are proud to work with the biggest global communications and collaboration companies to voice-enable workers wherever they are - in the office, in the field, on the frontline, or at home. It is also a huge honor to work with an incredible team of people. With a remote-first team spread across eight time zones, I'm proud of what we deliver today and excited about what we will deliver tomorrow."

Lead Judge Annabelle Whittall commented, "The leading experts on telephone middleware truly are Call2Teams. A creative way to integrate Microsoft Teams with your current telephony system. Call2Teams deserves to be a winner at SaaS Awards 2022 given its flawless streamlining and cutting-edge integration!"

Head of Operations for the Cloud Awards, James Williams, said: "Call2Teams is a worthy winner of the SaaS Awards, offering something truly and effectively stand-out in an incredibly competitive category.

You can view the full shortlist for the SaaS Awards here: https://www.cloud-awards.com/2022-saas-awards-shortlist/

For further information

For Call2Teams

Helen Johnstone  Marketing Manager

[email protected]

For the SaaS Awards

James Williams  head of operations

[email protected]

About the SaaS Awards

The SaaS Awards is a sister program to the Cloud Awards, which was founded in 2011. The SaaS Awards focuses on recognizing excellence and innovation in software solutions. Categories range from Best Enterprise-Level SaaS to Best UX or UI Design in a SaaS Product.

For more information about the SaaS Awards, please visit www.cloud-awards.com/software-as-a-service-awards/.

About Call2Teams

Call2Teams easily voice-enables Microsoft Teams around existing enterprise-grade telephony. Call2Teams is a cloud-native, middleware product that sits between any phone system, PBX or SIP Trunk provider, and Microsoft Teams. No hardware or software is needed - there is no need to port numbers, change carrier, or throw away an existing phone system.

Call2Teams is a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solution developed and maintained by Dstny Automate (formerly Qunifi). Call2Teams gives Voice, Telco, and IT partners a leading go-to-market solution for voice-enabling Teams. Call2Teams comes with multi-tenant, multi-tiered subscription management, is Microsoft approved, with enterprise-grade encryption and security built-in.

With scalable per-user, per-month pricing, Call2Teams gives businesses a low-cost, flexible, and immediate solution for making and receiving calls in Microsoft Teams. Call2Teams is available worldwide and can be deployed in minutes.

For more information, visit www.call2teams.com

Contact - Helen Johnstone, +44 (0)330 008 4523, [email protected]

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1895633/Saas_awards_winner.jpg

SOURCE Dstny
Join #NegroniWeek, September 12th-18th, in Celebration of the World's Best-Selling Cocktail*

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Campari , Italy's iconic red aperitivo, and Imbibe Magazine will come together this week to celebrate the momentous 10th anniversary of Negroni Week . Over the past decade Campari and Imbibe Magazine, alongside bars and restaurants, have fundraised over $3 million dollars for charitable causes. In 2013 Negroni Week started with 120 participating bars and restaurants and has grown exponentially to over 2,000 participating accounts across the United States this year.

Campari kicked off the 10th anniversary of Negroni Week with a celebratory event honoring the worlds best-selling cocktail* - the Negroni. Bar industry VIPs and New Yorks movers and shakers joined Campari in raising a toast to Negroni Week. (Blake Jones/Campari) Industry veteran Julie Reiner stirs up a classic Campari Negroni at the Negroni Week kick off event. (Blake Jones/Campari) Notable NYC bartenders stirred up one-of-a-kind Negronis inspired by the past, present and future at the Campari headquarters overlooking Bryant Park. (Blake Jones/Campari) CAMPARI & IMBIBE RAISE A TOAST TO A DECADE OF GIVING BACK WITH NEGRONI WEEK

Campari kicked off the 10th anniversary of Negroni Week last night with a celebratory event that raised a toast to the world's best-selling cocktail*, hosted at the artfully designed Campari headquarters overlooking lush Bryant Park. In a beautiful venue that reimagines Campari's Italian heritage through the lens of New York, the event was attended by bar industry VIPs and New York's movers and shakers who joined Campari in raising a toast to Negroni Week featuring one-of-a-kind Negronis inspired by the past, present and future. Celebrating three spectacular ingredients, with Campari at the heart, the iconic Negroni has served as the muse to bartenders and bars across the globe for over 100 years. The celebration was elevated with Negronis mixed up by renowned bartenders including Chris Moore, Nick Bennett, Dale Degroff, Don Lee, Harrison Ginsberg, Julie Reiner, Linden Pride, Natasha David and Orland McCray, alongside Italian bites curated by Chef Michele Casadei Massari and Chef Marc Murphy.

In its landmark tenth year, Negroni Week welcomes a new official giving partner, Slow Food. Slow Food is a global movement of local communities and activists across 160 countries that envisions a world where everyone has access to good, clean and fair food. The Slow Food Negroni Week Fund will directly support Slow Food's projects, while supporting the communities through grants, the preservation of cultural and biological diversity and the promotion of food and beverage education and knowledge exchange.

Campari will honor the 10th anniversary of charitable giving with a $100,000 donation to the Slow Food Negroni Week Fund. Following suit, Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits, the largest wine and spirits distributor in North America, will be contributing to the fund. Additionally, Campari will pay tribute to Negroni Week today through participation in the 5th Annual Campari Day of Service , in partnership with the United States Bartenders Guild National Charity Foundation. Over 800 participants will come together to support Campari Day of Service, with Campari employees and bar industry professionals across the country giving back to their communities through service activities.

"As a longtime Negroni Week partner, Campari is proud to be at the heart of the charitable funds raised since 2013 and the classic cocktail that inspired this global initiative," says Ugo Fiorenzo, Managing Director at Campari America. "We're thrilled to once again be supporting Negroni Week and celebrating the landmark occasion of the 10th anniversary. Together with Imbibe and Slow Food, we invite everyone to join us in raising a Negroni to 10 phenomenal years of giving back and achieving meaningful changeand to many more."

Karen Foley, Publisher of Imbibe, said: "We're incredibly excited to be celebrating the 10th anniversary of Negroni Week with Campari, and to be welcoming Slow Food as our official giving partner in such a meaningful year. The initiative has come a long way over the past 10 years, and we are looking forward to another decade of celebrating and giving back."

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Throughout Negroni Week, consumers can participate in charitable giving by enjoying classic or creative new Negroni offerings at participating bars and restaurants across the country. For those looking to celebrate from home, an array of e-commerce partners are offering special Negroni "Kits" in celebration of Negroni Week; Curiada ($5 per Negroni Cocktail Kit donated to Slow Food Negroni Week Fund) and ReserveBar (dedicated Negroni bundles) and Sourced Craft Cocktails (three Negroni Cocktail Kits). The Negroni Week Shop is once again filled with a variety of creative vendors offering Negroni-inspired items all giving back to the Slow Food Negroni Week Fund.

For more information about what's happening during Negroni Week 2022 visit http://www.negroniweek.com. Stay up to date on all Negroni Week news by following @CampariUSA and @Imbibe on Instagram, @CampariUS and @Imbibe on Facebook, and engaging with the #NegroniWeek, #Campari, and #imbibe hashtags. Campari & Imbibe encourage all who are 21+ to join in toasting to the 10th Anniversary of Negroni Week and remind you to please enjoy responsibly.

[*] Drinks International, 2022

CONTACT INFORMATION: M Booth, [email protected]

ABOUT CAMPARI

Campari, the iconic, unforgettable Italian red spirit sitting at the heart of some of the world's most famous cocktails. Campari was founded in Milan in 1860 by Gaspare Campari, and pioneered by his son, Davide, who created something so distinctive and revolutionary that its secret recipe has not been altered since. Vibrant red in color, Campari's unique and multi-layered taste is the result of the infusion of herbs, aromatic plants and fruit in alcohol and water. As well as being unique and distinctive, Campari is extremely versatile, offering boundless and unexpected possibilities. As a source of this passionate inspiration since its creation seen through its founders' creative genius, artists in different fields and the world's best bartenders, Campari stimulates your instincts to unlock your passions, inspiring limitless creations.

ABOUT THE NEGRONI

It was around the year 1919 in Florence when Count Camillo Negroni contemplated ordering an Americano cocktail but decided it was time for a change. He requested it with a touch of gin instead of soda, inspired by his last trip to London and its prevalent gin scene. The bartender was pleased to honor Count Camillo Negroni's request and added an orange garnish rather than the lemon wedge of the Americano to signify the new drink he had created. In Florence, the Count's 'usual' became known as Count Negroni's Americano, or the "Americano with a touch of gin", but whatever it was referred to as back then, the Negroni was born. The Negroni is now one of the most famous contemporary classic cocktails. Anywhere you go in the world, you will find a mixologist who can make you the iconic Negroni. The original recipe, the perfectly balanced combination of equal parts of Campari, Red Vermouth and London Dry gin, is almost a century old and continues to be enjoyed today. The International Bartenders Association (IBA) lists Campari as an official ingredient of the Negroni, and thus, there is no Negroni without Campari! For more information visit www.campari.com.

ABOUT CAMPARI GROUP

Campari Group is a major player in the global spirits industry, with a portfolio of over 50 premium and super premium brands, spreading across Global, Regional and Local priorities. Global Priorities, the Group's key focus, include Aperol, Campari, SKYY, Grand Marnier, Wild Turkey and Appleton Estate. The Group was founded in 1860 and today is the sixth-largest player worldwide in the premium spirits industry. It has a global distribution reach, trading in over 190 nations around the world with leading positions in Europe and the Americas. Campari Group's growth strategy aims to combine organic growth through strong brand building and external growth via selective acquisitions of brands and businesses. Headquartered in Milan, Italy, Campari Group operates in 22 production sites worldwide and has its own distribution network in 23 countries. Campari Group employs approximately 4,000 people. The shares of the parent company Davide Campari-Milano N.V. (Reuters CPRI.MI - Bloomberg CPR) have been listed on the Italian Stock Exchange since 2001.

ABOUT IMBIBE

Imbibe is the ultimate guide to liquid culture. In every issue of the James Beard award-winning magazine and on imbibemagazine.com, you'll find the world's top drink destinations, recipes and in-depth storieseverything you need to know about the people, places and flavors of drinks. Imbibe also publishes cocktail books and produces drink-related events, including Negroni Week. For more information, visit imbibemagazine.com and follow @imbibe and #imbibe.

ABOUT SLOW FOOD

Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food and beverage cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people's dwindling interest in the food and beverages they eat and drink, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us.

Since its beginnings, Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving millions of people in over 160 countries, working to ensure everyone has access to good, clean and fair food.

Slow Food believes food and drink are tied to many other aspects of life, including culture, politics, agriculture and the environment. Through our food and beverage choices, we can collectively influence how food is cultivated, produced and distributed, and change the world as a result.

SOURCE Campari America
Starting on September 14 in Shakopee, Minnesota, the tour will stop at 52 CASE Construction Equipment dealer locations across the U.S. and Canada

RACINE, Wis., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fans across North America need not wait any longer. Starting September 14, the industry-first CASE Minotaur DL550 will be making its way across the United States and Canada on The Groundbreaker Roadshow  showcased at more than 50 CASE dealer locations.

The CASE Minotaur DL550 Compact Dozer Loader

"Minotaur has a massive fan following and we're giving it the rock star treatment by sending it on a cross-continent tour into 2023," says Terry Dolan, vice president, North America, CASE Construction Equipment. "It's a machine that people have to see to believe  and the common response from people who see it is that it's even bigger, stronger and more versatile than they imagined it would be. It really has that ability to change the industry and how people work."

The CASE Minotaur DL550 compact dozer loader creates a new equipment category. This industry-exclusive machine holds 29 patents, has pushed through more than 12,000 field test hours, countless customer clinics, and typical lab and engineering testing. Attendees of The Groundbreaker Roadshow will get to experience the Minotaur compact dozer loader firsthand, while enjoying a day on the lot with plenty of chances for prizes and giveaways.

The Groundbreaker Roadshow kicks off on Wednesday, September 14 at Titan Machinery of Shakopee, Minnesota. For the full tour schedule, visit CaseCE.com/Roadshow.

More about The CASE Minotaur DL550 Compact Dozer Loader

Weighing in at more than 18,000 pounds and working with 114 horsepower, the new CASE Minotaur DL550 compact dozer loader delivers true dozing and grading performance, as well as powerful site loading capabilities and compatibility with hundreds of attachments. A single platform has never delivered this level of versatility, power and precision  all culminating in an entirely new product category created by CASE: the compact dozer loader.

The hallmark advancement of the CASE Minotaur DL550 is the chassis-integrated C-frame with six-way dozer blade. The C-frame hydraulically couples into both the chassis of the machine, as well as the attachment coupler. This design provides the stability and smooth operating plane of a small dozer while ensuring that all operating power is channeled through the whole body of the machine. This establishes greater performance and long-term reliability than the simple combination of a dozer blade attachment to a traditional compact track loader.

It also comes standard with CASE Universal Machine Control, which makes the machine ready for any of the three major providers of machine control technology, which are sold separately. It's also available with an optional, industry-exclusive fully integrated ripper for tearing up tough terrain to simplify dozing and earthmoving operations.

The C-frame is then easily detached, within minutes, to allow the operator to use it as a loader with a heavy-duty 1.25-cubic-yard bucket, or with hundreds of common loader attachments many equipment owners already have in their fleet.

"The Minotaur is truly a fleet of one, that is second to none," says Jeff Jacobsmeyer, product manager, CASE. "Business owners and fleet managers looking for a compact solution that delivers countless benefits in a single footprint will immediately see the versatility this exciting new machine brings to their fleets and will quickly understand what a 'compact dozer loader' is capable of accomplishing. We are excited to share it with the world."

For more information on the all-new industry-first, groundbreaking CASE Minotaur DL550 compact dozer loader, contact your local CASE dealer, and learn more at http://casece.com/Roadshow.

CASE Construction Equipment is a global full-line manufacturer of construction equipment that combines generations of manufacturing expertise with practical innovation. CASE is dedicated to improving productivity, simplifying operation and maintenance while achieving lower total cost of ownership for fleets around the world. The CASE dealer network sells and supports this world-class equipment, by offering customized aftermarket support packages, hundreds of attachments, genuine parts and fluids as well as industry-leading warranties and flexible financing. More than a manufacturer, CASE is committed to giving back by dedicating time, resources and equipment to building communities. This includes supporting disaster response, infrastructure investment, and non-profit organizations that provide housing and resources for those in need.

CASE Construction Equipment is a brand of CNH Industrial N.V., a World leader in Capital Goods listed on the New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE: CNHI) and on the Mercato Telematico Azionario of the Borsa Italiana (MI: CNHI). More information about CNH Industrial can be found online at http://www.cnhindustrial.com/.

SOURCE CASE Construction Equipment
Assessment Engine Can Identify 20-50%+ Savings on Maintenance of Data Center

Infrastructure, Unlocking Budget For Strategic Modernization Initiatives

EATONTOWN, N.J., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CDS, the leading provider of multi-vendor services (MVS) for data centers worldwide, today launched its new Data Center Modernization Assessment Service, aimed at helping organizations understand and realize their potential for cost savings as hardware refresh cycles become longer and modernization initiatives need funding.

Powered by unique automation, an extension of the CDS Raytrix MVS platform, the Data Center Modernization Assessment Service is built on CDS' industry-first comparison and reporting engine, which:

Accepts data center inventory by model and type of system for servers, storage and networking

Matches system models and serial numbers across an extensive, multi-vendor database

Identifies the type, age, EoSL (end of service life) status and support costs

Produces an interactive report analyzing the infrastructure by age and savings opportunities

Daniel Newton, CEO of CDS, said, "Hardware refresh cycles are getting longer, and aging systems are holding back IT modernization. With these new capabilities, CDS and our partners can quickly identify opportunities for organizations to unlock savings in older enterprise systems and help fund strategic initiatives to meet the rising demands of their customers."

According to the Uptime Institute, 50% of all data center system refreshes are occurring after five years. More than 90% of systems in the average data center today are three years old or older. While server units outnumber storage arrays, storage is the largest area for savings because of its much higher acquisition cost, accounting for nearly 70% of the potential savings in hardware maintenance.

MVS can save customers at least 20% on systems that are between 3 and 4 years old and 50% or greater on systems that are 5 years old or older.

"Aligning system age and criticality with cost of support maintenance across the data center estate -- storage, servers and network devices -- is key to data center cost optimization," Newton continued. "No one has the breadth of coverage or the technology engine that we do to assess these opportunities and help customers cash in on them."

About CDS

CDS is the leading provider of multi-vendor services (MVS) for data centers worldwide. Its Raytrix MVS software platform offers a range of mission-critical data center hardware maintenance and support for high-end storage, server and network equipment. CDS offers post-warranty support services through OEMs and channel partners, servicing a diversified customer base throughout the Americas, EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Japan. The company's maintenance and support services are designed to extend the useful life of its clients' IT infrastructure, further increasing return on investment for these systems. CDS employs highly skilled, industry-certified engineers and dedicated account managers globally. Partnering with the leading data center infrastructure providers to deliver MVS on a global basis, CDS is assisting more than 700 customers in 45 countries to unlock spend in the data center across enterprise IT infrastructure with diverse maintenance needs and cost containment requirements.

Media Contact:

Mark Fredrickson, CTP for CDS

[email protected]

SOURCE CDS
The exclusive event will be held between the 11th and 13th of January 2023 in the luxurious Suvretta House St. Moritz, with speakers from Cornell University, Grayscale, Bitstamp, CME Group, and more.

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The CfC St. Moritz (Crypto Finance Conference) returns to the Suvretta House St. Moritz from 11th to 13th of January 2023. The conference has also announced the Algorand Foundation as the conference's premier partner. The group developing the Algorand blockchain ecosystem will support the conference over the next three years in its bid to enable education, connection and collaboration.

Staci Warden, CEO of the Algorand Foundation, said, "We are pleased to be a strategic partner of the CfC St. Moritz on this preeminent event. This conference sets itself apart by the quality of speakers and attendees, its small size, and the substance of the conversations. Investors appreciate the 'no sales' environment, and all attendees come away feeling like they have learned a lot and made important connections."

Nicolo Stohr, CEO of the CfC St. Moritz, said, "Since the first installment of the CfC St. Moritz in 2018, our aim has been to provide a trusted platform where investors from traditional and digital finance can come together with leading enterprises, government representatives, regulators, traditional banks and central banks, to discover new opportunities. The Algorand blockchain brings security and scale with a low carbon footprint, and the collaboration marks a new era for the conference, one that will highlight the potential for the digital asset ecosystem to tackle problems of global scale."

Other speakers in 2023 will include Eswar Prasad, Meltem Demirors, Michael Sonnenshein, Ambre Soubiran and more.

The Algorand Foundation will support various agenda items at the event, from the bespoke social activations taking place, to a panel discussion delving into the biggest conversation points impacting the traditional and newly emerging financial sectors.

www.cfc-stmoritz.com.

About CfC St. Moritz

The CfC St. Moritz is an intimate international conference for hand-picked opinion leaders and investors in the unique setting of the Swiss Alps. The annual application-only conference fosters a culture of genuine connection and admits a maximum of only 250 international UHNWI, family offices, funds, and institutional investors, uniting the traditional finance sector and the crypto industry. The event was founded in 2017 and has since conducted four in-person conferences in St. Moritz, Switzerland one in Half Moon Bay, USA, one virtual conference and several smaller events.

www.cfc-stmoritz.com | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Media Contact

Joe Garvey

Wachsman

[email protected]

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1896400/CfC_St_Moritz_Logo.jpg

SOURCE CfC St. Moritz
PLANO, Texas, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The federal government recently made an additional $25 million available to assist eligible hospitals with the escalating cost of telecom services. Are you taking advantage of these funds?

Since the mid-90s, federal funding for healthcare telecom services has been made available through the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), an independent not-for-profit designated by the FCC. USAC funding enables qualifying rural healthcare providers or urban hospitals that serve remote areas, to reduce their net telecom costs.

USAC funding has benefited healthcare organizations in providing telehealth services and broadband patient connectivity in areas where many residents have little or no electronic access to hospitals, clinics and other healthcare providers and services.

CHC Consulting Helps Hospitals Cut Costs, Achieve Telecom Savings

Community Hospital Corporation (CHC) has played an important role in helping healthcare providers receive funding through the program. CHC Consulting, the management and consulting arm of CHC, has worked closely with healthcare organizations in successfully navigating the program's time-consuming and complicated application and disbursement process. Since 2012, CHC Consulting has facilitated more than $48 million in USAC funding to 500-plus healthcare providers across 41 states.

Two healthcare providers, CommonSpirit Health and Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services (RMCHCS), serve as good examples of how CHC Consulting reduces costs and identifies savings opportunities.

CommonSpirit Health, one of the nation's largest nonprofit healthcare organizations, selected CHC Consulting to secure USAC funding to help defray the substantial costs of operating the health system's broadband network and telecom services.

High telecom costs were largely due to the merger of two health systems that became CommonSpirit Health, which has more than 140 hospitals and 1,000 care sites in rural and urban areas across 21 states. As a result of the merger, CommonSpirit saw its costs balloon in operating the combined companies' massive network.

CommonSpirit engaged CHC Consulting to maximize USAC funding to help offset the health system's telecom expense growth. Over a three-year period, CHC Consulting helped CommonSpirit achieve that goal. During USAC funding years 2019 to 2021, CHC Consulting's work on CommonSpirit's USAC funding requests helped the health system receive more than $27 million for telecom services.

For RMCHCS, their FCC grant application resulted in a total of $697,000 awarded to the hospital for funding specific to COVID-19-related telehealth services.

Of that amount, $591,256 was dispersed recently in July and August. CHC Consulting is currently working with the hospital to determine the best ways to use the remaining funds.

"We are pleased that the FCC has increased its program's funding for rural healthcare providers' telecommunications services, as they are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to purchasing these services compared with their urban counterparts," said Whittney Walker, CHC Vice President of Telecom Services. "Our unparalleled expertise and experience in the USAC funding process can greatly benefit those healthcare providers seeking assistance in procuring funds for their telecom needs, as well as identify savings in this area. Our ability to reduce costs and increase efficiency in telecommunications services has enabled rural and community hospitals to improve their bottom-line while providing the best patient care possible."

About Community Hospital Corporation  HELP WHERE HOSPITALS NEED IT 

Community Hospital Corporation owns, manages and consults with hospitals through CHC Hospitals, CHC Consulting and CHC ContinueCARE, with the purpose to guide, support and enhance the mission of community hospitals and healthcare providers. Based in Plano, Texas, CHC provides the resources and experience community hospitals need to improve quality outcomes, patient satisfaction and financial performance. For more information about CHC, please visit http://communityhospitalcorp.com.

Contact:

Anne Block

972-943-6470

[email protected]

SOURCE Community Hospital Corporation
NILES, Ill., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As the world mourns the loss of the longest reigning British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, one company is paying homage in a truly unique way.

Located in Niles, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, The Bradford Exchange, a global leader in marketing and eCommerce for nearly 50 years, has a long-standing relationship with the Royal Family and Queen Elizabeth II through their art-based product offerings. They also keep a very special piece of royal history on the premises of their Chicagoland offices.

The Bradford Exchange, a global leader in marketing and eCommerce, honoredthe legacy of Queen Elizabeth II in a special way. The company owns a 1957Rolls Royce that was commissioned for the Queen Mother to use during her1957 Royal Tour of Rhodesia. Later it was used by the Royal Family andQueen Elizabeth II in the United Kingdom. The company brought the historicvehicle out of storage and christened it with a wreath of white lilies andLilies of the Valley - Elizabeth's favorite flower.

In the late 1970s, company founder Rod MacArthur purchased a 1957 Rolls Royce at auction. While this instantly recognizable brand is renowned as the highest standard of British motorcar luxury and is used by many heads of state and world leaders, the Rolls Royce that MacArthur bought has its own fascinating story.

It was built for the Queen Mother (the late King George VI's wife, and the mother of Queen Elizabeth II) and used first during the Royal Tour of Rhodesia in 1957. At the time, Queen Elizabeth II was 31 years old and just five years into her reign as the new Queen, so her Mother took the trip on her behalf. The same exact car was later used by the Royal Family and Queen Elizabeth II in the United Kingdom.

Because this Rolls Royce is such an incredible piece of history, the company rolled it out of storage soon after the announcement of the Queen's passing was issued by Royal Communications. It was bittersweet for their owner-employees and it gave them an opportunity to remember Her Majesty in a special way. Most certainly, Queen Elizabeth II's extraordinary life, her devout service to her nation and people, and the mark she left on the world will not be soon forgotten.

Bernard Frazer, President of The Bradford Exchange Worldwide said, "We are deeply saddened over the loss of Queen Elizabeth II. Our hearts go out to the Royal Family, the people of the UK and those who mourn the Queen all over the world. In our own small way, we wanted to pay tribute to this magnificent lady. Owning a piece of royal history, we displayed the Rolls Royce and laid within a wreath of white lilies and Lilies of the Valley  Elizabeth's favorite flower - to honor her life and legacy."

In addition, to honor the Queen's duty and devotion through the years, The Bradford Exchange has contributed 50,000 to the Royal Foundation. The Royal Foundation is the charity administered by the Prince and Princess of Wales that has focused its philanthropic efforts on conservation, children's early years, the elderly, mental health and emergencies.

ABOUT THE BRADFORD EXCHANGE: The Bradford Exchange is the market leader in affinity-based art and design, advertising and fulfilling a variety of unique product forms direct to the consumer. Since 1973, the company has been partnering with some of the world's most acclaimed artists, popular licenses and manufactures creating original, innovative, exclusive collectibles, home decor, jewelry and beyond. A trusted resource for passion based artistic designs that bring joy and value to its customers.

Media Contact:

Dorothy Coyle

773-332-6201

[email protected]

SOURCE Bradford Exchange Group
CYPHER's NEO for K-20 Platform Honored Among the Most Impressive Solutions That Support Learning in any Environment

PLANO, Texas, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CYPHER LEARNING , a leading provider of intelligent learning platforms for schools, universities and organizations around the world, today announced it is a winner in Tech & Learning's " The Best Tools for Back to School " Awards of Excellence program. The program recognizes the "most impressive products and solutions that will support [teachers' and students'] work in any learning environment."

CYPHER's NEO for K-20 platform was honored among the best tools in the higher-ed category . This is the second year in a row it has earned that distinction.

CYPHER LEARNING's NEO for K-20 platform is a winner in Tech & Learnings Best Tools for Back to School 2022 Awards  recognized for being among the most impressive products that will support teachers and students work in any learning environment.

Since 1980, Tech & Learning has covered the tools and ideas that transform education. As the 2022-2023 school year kicks off in many areas, its award program is designed to help readers find the very best education technology tools and solutions.

"As we head into another uncertain year in education, technology will continue to be one of the key drivers for innovation," said Christine Weiser, Tech & Learning group publisher, in an article . "Our judges chose the winning products recognized here for their versatility, compatibility, value, and ability to help schools solve challenges and support continuous instruction."

Educational institutions all over the world rely on NEO to build and deliver engaging learning content, and manage all learning activities. A complete solution for teachers, students and administrators at all levels (K-20), NEO has an intuitive, highly visual design and flexible capabilities that support inclusive online learning. Intelligent, machine-learning features even drive personalized and competency-based learning  enabling students to take learning paths based on their goals.

This award adds to the many accolades that NEO and CYPHER LEARNING have already netted this year. NEO was also named " Best K-12 Remote Learning Partner " in the 2022 SIIA CODiE Awards, a high performer in G2'S Mid-Market Grid Report for Learning Management Systems  Summer 2022 and more. The platform is a current finalist in the Teach Secondary Awards 2022 (hybrid learning category).

"As schools start, the right technology can help provide a foundation for learning success," said CYPHER LEARNING CEO Graham Glass. "Teachers and students have seen many changes in their learning environments the last few years, and we've been proud to support them, wherever learning takes place. Whether in the classroom, or in hybrid and remote settings, our platform is designed to drive engagement, learning continuity and retention. This recognition from Tech & Learning highlights how we partner with schools and universities to support their needs, along with our commitment to excellence and innovation."

For more information on how schools and universities use NEO to manage and enhance learning experiences, please view these success stories and testimonials.

About CYPHER LEARNING

CYPHER LEARNING provides an intelligent learning platform that is empowering schools, businesses, and entrepreneurs worldwide to reimagine online education and deliver the best learning experiences. CYPHER LEARNING has solutions for all major e-learning sectors: NEO LMS for K-20, MATRIX LMS for Business, and INDIE LMS for Entrepreneurs. Relied on by millions of users at more than 20,000 organizations, CYPHER LEARNING supports 40+ languages and has offices worldwide with global headquarters in Plano, TX. For more information, please visit www.cypherlearning.com .

Contact information

CYPHER LEARNING

[email protected]

SOURCE CYPHER LEARNING
Major data center server market participants include Cisco Systems Inc., Dell Technologies Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, Inspur Group, Huawei Technologies Co, Ltd., IBM Corporation, etc.

SELBYVILLE, Del., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The data center server market is expected to cross a valuation of USD 150 billion by 2030, according to latest research study by Global Market Insights Inc. Growing development of global digital infrastructure will propel the demand for advanced data center servers. Government bodies worldwide are supporting initiatives that leverage IoT and 5G, which will boost the penetration of high-end IT infrastructures. Advanced servers will play a critical role in allowing the implementation of compute-heavy technologies such as IoT, 5G, and deep learning. Data center operators will emphasize the implementation of robust servers that can manage large data volumes, increasing the demand for data center servers.

Data Center Server Market

Data security risks to hinder industry statistics

Growing concerns regarding data security breaches may impede the data center server market growth. As data centers serving the government, BFSI, and healthcare verticals handle personal citizen data, security breaches might cause the loss of critical personal information. Data center server manufacturers must comply with strict norms laid down to regulate the industry.

Request a sample of this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/4930

Surging adoption of expandable motherboards

The tower server segment accounted for more than 23% of the data center server market share in 2021. Tower servers offer a secure, efficient, and affordable data center infrastructure for businesses. High scalability is a primary factor propelling the deployment of tower servers. Furthermore, the growing usage of expandable motherboards is a crucial factor bolstering the requirement of tower servers. The manufacturers are focusing on providing advanced tower servers to amplify the industry growth.

Growing establishment of hyper-scale data centers

The large data center segment valued at USD 25 billion in 2021. The sector growth can be credited to the growing placement of hyper-scale data center facilities by international companies. Cloud service providers are also expanding their footprint in developed regions, which will increase the distribution of large data center servers. Citing an instance, in June 2022, Google LLC set up a new cloud data center in Texas and the tech giant intends to invest close to USD 500 million in the program.

Increasing penetration of the internet in IT & Telecom industry

The data center server market size from the IT & Telecom segment is projected to surpass USD 25 billion by 2030 led by Increasing penetration of the internet and smartphones worldwide. The rising usage of social media platforms and optimized video content is increasing data traffic, encouraging companies to integrate committed and reliable data center systems to reduce data loss and ensure security and business continuity.

Rising importance of the colocation sector in South America to augment product sales

The South American data center server market is anticipated to reach USD 10 billion by 2030. The growth is attributed to the growing interest in the colocation sector owing to financial constraints on SMEs in developing new data centers. Colocation service providers provide necessary data management services to these businesses while assuring security and scalability, states the report.

Availability of new products to expand the business landscape

Cisco Systems Inc., Dell Technologies Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, Inspur Group, Huawei Technologies Co, Ltd., IBM Corporation, etc. are some of the key players operating in the data center server industry. Some major players are offering new products that comply with the latest technologies. Citing an instance, in March 2022, ASUS announced the availability of full server product lines that comply with the latest third-generation AMD EPYC processors with AMD 3D V-Cache technology to expedite critical technical computing workloads and foster data center innovations.

Request for customization of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/roc/4930

Partial Table of Contents (ToC) of the report:

Chapter 2 Executive Summary

2.1 Data center server industry 3600 synopsis, 2018  2030

2.1.1 Business trends

2.1.1.1 TAM trends

2.1.2 Regional trends

2.1.3 Type trends

2.1.4 Data center size trends

2.1.5 Data center application trends

Chapter 3 Data Center Server Industry Insights

3.1 Impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

3.2 Impact of Russia Ukraine war

3.3 Industry ecosystem analysis

3.4 Technological & innovation landscape

3.5 Profit margin analysis

3.6 Patent analysis

3.7 Regulatory landscape

3.8 Industry impact forces

3.8.1 Growth drivers

3.8.1.1 Increase in organizational data traffic and big data analytics in the U.S. and Europe

3.8.1.2 Growth of mega data centers and trend of colocation in Europe and Asia Pacific

3.8.1.3 Development of broadband and internet infrastructure in Asia Pacific and South America

3.8.1.4 Increase in the construction of new data centers and replacement of the existing technologies

3.8.1.5 High demand for advanced servers from hyperscale data centers

3.9 Pitfalls & challenges

3.9.1 Hardware failure resulting in system downtime

3.9.2 Cybersecurity risks

3.10 Growth potential analysis

3.11 Porter's analysis

3.12 PESTEL analysis

Browse Complete Table of Contents (ToC) @ https://www.gminsights.com/toc/detail/data-center-server-market

About Global Market Insights Inc.

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SOURCE Global Market Insights Inc.
NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of Dingdong (Cayman) Ltd. ( NYSE: DDL) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.

This lawsuit is on behalf of persons who purchased, or otherwise acquired, Dingdong American Depository Shares pursuant or traceable to the F-1 registration statements and related prospectus on Form 424B4 issued in connection with Dingdong's June 2021 initial public stock offering.

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 24, 2022

No obligation or cost to you.

Learn more about your recoverable losses in DDL:

https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/dingdong-class-action-loss-submission-form?id=31575&from=4

Dingdong (Cayman) Ltd. NEWS - DDL NEWS

CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: According to the filed complaint, the registration statement and prospectus used to effectuate the Company's initial public offering misstated and/or omitted facts concerning Dingdong's so-called commitment to ensuring the safety and quality of the food it distributes to the market. For example, despite claiming that it applies "stringent quality control across [its] entire supply chain to ensure product quality to [its] users," Dingdong sold food past its sell-by date. Consequently, Dingdong was, in fact, no better at providing or assuring access to "fresh" groceries than the supermarkets, traditional Chinese wet markets, or traditional e-commerce platforms it repeatedly claimed to be displacing. Moreover, the foregoing conduct subjected Dingdong to an increased risk of regulatory and/or governmental scrutiny and enforcement, all of which, once revealed, were likely to negatively impact Dingdong's business, operations, and reputation.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in Dingdong you have until October 24, 2022 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased Dingdong securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the DDL lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/dingdong-class-action-loss-submission-form?id=31575&from=4.

ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM

J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

J. Klein, Esq.

535 Fifth Avenue

4th Floor

New York City, NY 10017

[email protected]

Telephone: (212) 616-4899

www.kleinstocklaw.com

SOURCE The Klein Law Firm
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EARI Beverage Group (OTC:EARI), a diversified beverage and media group, today announced the appointment of Joel Kleinfeld as Chief Operating Officer. With over forty years of experience, Kleinfeld is a proven business leader and sales executive who has a history of creating success, implementing innovative strategies and opportunities, driving substantial sales and revenue growth, streamlining processes, and reducing costs.

"We are delighted to have Joel onboard with us and have the utmost confidence in his ability to grow and consolidate our strategic business units and portfolio of brands. Joel assumes responsibility for supply chain, manufacturing, and sales, focusing on driving the efficiencies and profitability for the group," commented CEO, Bernard Rubin.

Previously, Kleinfeld held the position of President over a twenty year span at MJC, an industry leading retail clothing line, where he grew and ran the product portfolio, generating a consistent $60 Million in annual sales while managing over one hundred employees who worked at offices in California, New York, Illinois and China. At MJC, Kleinfeld also negotiated agreements with over forty licensors, including Coke, Dr. Seuss, Guinness, NFL, Anheuser Busch, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, and The Rolling Stones.

From 2014 to 2016, Joel served as Executive Vice President at Mad Engine LLC, where he developed strong relationships with Fortune 500 retailers, including Wal-Mart, Target, Kohl's, and Fred Meyer, as well as negotiated and secured multi-year license deals with Star Wars, Marvel, and Coke, which boosted sales from $0 to $12M within two years.

Most recently, Joel served as President at Hemp2o, a fast-growing beverage company focused on hemp-infused waters.

"This is a very exciting time to be in the Beverage Space and EARI has a great portfolio of brands including Heritage Brands like New York Seltzer and Cock N Bull with great history behind them. We have an impressive sales team with a wealth of experience and strong relationships with both our Retail and Distributor Partners. I am looking forward to driving the success and growth across the entire EARI network," said Joel Kleinfeld.

We encourage our shareholders to visit our official Twitter account for updates:

https://twitter.com/EARI_Bev_Group

ABOUT EARI:

The Company trades on OTC Markets with the symbol, EARI and is a diversified beverage and media group, with a portfolio of brands in the hand-crafted spirit and functional drinks categories, covering "Craft Soda, Craft Beer, and Craft Spirits". In addition, the company also owns media streaming platforms with proprietary AR/AI/VR technology that can be used to promote the beverage brands.

Company Websites

www.earigroup.com www.betta4ubrands.com www.drinkfury.com

www.whiterhinovodka.com www.neosuperwater.com www.foodytv.com

http://zegen.com.ph/ https://bellcitybrewing.com/ https://laketahoedistilling.com/

https://4elementalspirits.com/ https://www.newyorkseltzer.com/

http://www.labottleworks.com/

Safe Harbor Disclosure

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made under the safe harbor provisions 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. Forward-looking statements are any statement reflecting management's expectations regarding future results of operations, economic performance, and financial condition. The forward-looking statements are based on the assumption that operating performance and results will continue in line with historical results. Management believes these assumptions to be reasonable, but there is no assurance they will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements, specifically those concerning future performance, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. EARI competes in a rapidly growing and transforming industry, and risk factors, including those disclosed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, might affect the Company's operations. Unless required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE EARI Beverage Group
The partnership expands Infineon's ModusToolbox software ecosystem to Edge Impulse's studio environment, allowing for easy configuration of the high-performance, low-power PSoC 6 MCU series for edge ML applications.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Edge Impulse and Infineon have announced cross-platform support for their software environments, allowing for high-powered, flexible machine learning development on the Infineon PSoC 6 microcontroller series.

The collaboration gives Edge Impulse studio users access to ModusToolbox, Infineon's MCU configuration software, allowing them to natively develop and configure applications on the PSoC-6-based CY8CKIT-062S2 Pioneer Kit coupled with the CY8CKIT-028-SENSE Dev Kit, which incorporates accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, microphone, pressure, and temperature sensors. Data from these sensors can now be used with Edge Impulse for the easy generation of TinyML-based AI models, optimized for low-power, private, low-cloud-cost edge environments. These models can then be deployed on any PSoC 6-based MCU.

Infineon's ModusToolbox and Edge Impulse's studio allow for easy PSoC 6 configuration for edge ML applications. Tweet this

Edge Impulse, the leading development platform for ML on edge devices, allows developers to quickly and easily create and optimize solutions with real-world data. The company's platform streamlines the entire process of collecting and structuring datasets, designing ML algorithms with ready-made building blocks, validating the models with real-time data, and deploying the fully optimized production-ready result to an edge target such as the PSoC 6. The Edge Impulse development platform, already in use by thousands of companies, stands to unlock massive value across every industry, with millions of developers making billions of devices smarter.

PSoC 6 MCUs offer Arm Cortex M4 plus M0+ chip architecture, multiple wired and wireless connectivity options, configurable voltage and frequency settings, built-in hardware-based security, state-of-the-art capacitive interfaces, and more, on a single chip. Their combination of power, efficiency, size, and programmability make them perfectly suited for IoT, wearable, or remote monitoring purposes that require the ability to run advanced algorithms.

"We couldn't be more excited to work with Infineon to support PSoC 6 development," said Zach Shelby, CEO and co-founder of Edge Impulse. "This is a proven hardware platform that offers an undeniable set of features, and is the perfect companion to Edge Impulse for almost any use case."

"With the performance and extremely low power design of the PSoC 6, running TinyML models down at the edge becomes even more capable than before. By using Edge Impulse to simplify the barrier to machine learning, product makers can focus on real data they collect from the device to make an innovative and effective product," said Danny Watson, Director, Software Product Marketing Manager of Infineon Technologies.

Infineon and Edge Impulse will be demonstrating the Cypress PSoC 6 integration at the upcoming Imagine conference; for more information and to register, visit edgeimpulse.com/imagine .

About Edge Impulse

Edge Impulse is the leading machine learning platform, enabling all enterprises to build smarter edge products. Their technology empowers developers to bring more ML products to market faster, and helps enterprise teams rapidly develop industry-specific solutions in weeks instead of years. The Edge Impulse platform provides powerful automation and low-code capabilities to make it easier to build valuable datasets and develop advanced ML with streaming data. With over 40,000 developers, and partnerships with the top silicon vendors, Edge Impulse offers a seamless integration experience to validate and deploy with confidence across the largest hardware ecosystem. To learn more, visit edgeimpulse.com .

About Cypress/Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG is a world leader in semiconductor solutions that make life easier, safer and greener. Microelectronics from Infineon are the key to a better future. With around 50,280 employees worldwide, Infineon generated revenue of about 11.1 billion in the 2021 fiscal year (ending September 30th) and is one of the ten largest semiconductor companies worldwide.

Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX) and in the USA on the over-the-counter market OTCQX International Premier (ticker symbol: IFNNY).

SOURCE Edge Impulse
Easterseals Michigan to empower clinicians and care providers with enhanced treatment session insights and reduce administrative burden

Eleos' conversational AI to increase care efficiencies for those with mental health and substance use disabilities

BOSTON and DETROIT, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Eleos Health , the leader in CareOps Automation for behavioral health, today announced that Easterseals Michigan , a major regional arm of Easterseals , will roll out Eleos CareOps Automation, powered by proprietary voice-based AI, to its providers and clinical leadership team. Overlaying mainstream electronic health records (EHRs) and operating ambiently, Eleos can reduce clinical documentation burden by more than 30%, freeing care providers and clinical leadership to focus on care delivery and overall staff well-being. Easterseals Michigan will be the first in the state to use Eleos Health in its day-to-day operations.

As the U.S. moves to expand its behavioral health workforce , care providers like Easterseals Michigan are playing superhero roles in their communities. But technical and administrative requirements can restrict health professionals' ability to reach and care for all those in need. Embedding seamlessly into existing provider workflows, EHRs and telehealth tools, Eleos captures session (conversation) content with client consent, renders suggested progress note documentation , and provides new lines of sight into in-session treatment delivery, modality, concerns of persons served, care needs, and more.

Easterseals Michigan works to lead the way to 100% equity, inclusion and access for people with disabilities, families and communities. Expert health professionals from a variety of disciplines work with each individual to overcome obstacles and gain independence through person-centered planning.

Eleos will equip Easterseals Michigan with augmented intelligence, helping to accelerate its focus on innovation for the benefit of their health professionals and those they serve, including reducing time spent on documentation, thereby allowing clinicians more time to treat. Eleos also serves as a skill development tool for staff and supervisors, to allow for better guidance immediately after sessions, and to help their health professionals utilize the data with service recipients to identify potential key needs and themes. This data helps inform better and more personalized treatment.

"We're looking forward to rolling out Eleos to our clinical team, aiding us in focusing on what truly matters: serving our community," said Brent Wirth, CEO of Easterseals Michigan. "Being able to gather key insights, develop clinical notes and work seamlessly across EHR systems will improve the number of people we can help at a time when the need for mental health care is at an all time high."

"We're proud to be working with such a critical community organization as Easterseals Michigan," said Alon Joffe, CEO and Co-Founder, Eleos Health. "It's clear that Easterseals Michigan's leadership cares deeply about its team of care providers and the community they serve. We look forward to strengthening the vital services Easterseals Michigan provides."

About Eleos Health

Founded in 2020, Eleos Health turns behavioral health conversations into documentation and intelligence that drives better care. Using proprietary, voice-based Natural Language Understanding (NLU) technology built by clinical experts to accurately interpret, analyze and document behavioral health conversations. Eleos reduces the operational burden on providers while unlocking objective insights into evidence-based care and the therapeutic alliance. Leadership teams can scale supervision and training while gaining unprecedented visibility into staff activity, caseloads and performance as well as population health. Eleos is the only technology of its kind that embeds seamlessly into electronic health records (EHRs), telehealth tools and existing provider workflows. With Eleos CareOps Automation, behavioral health providers are setting a new standard for care.

About Easterseals Michigan

Easterseals Michigan provides services to help children and adults with disabilities and/or special needs as well as support to their families. We've been helping families in Michigan since 1920. Today, Easterseals Michigan assists more than 16,200 individuals and their families annually at various service locations around the state and in communities state-wide. We provide top-quality, innovative services tailored to meet the specific needs of the people we serve.

Media Contacts

[email protected]

SOURCE Eleos Health
Global technology conference recognized for customer engagement

RESTON, Va., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ellucian, the leading higher education technology solutions provider, today announced that Ellucian Live 2022, the industry's premier global technology conference, was named a Bronze Stevie Award winner in the Customer Engagement Event category in the 19th Annual International Business Awards.

Ellucian Live 2022, held April 10-13 at the Colorado Convention Center and online, celebrated Ellucian's 10th Anniversary. Framed by the conference-wide theme "Deliver the Future Now," the event was attended by more than 6,100 attendees from over 1,000 institutions -- live in Denver and online -- with diverse panel discussions, captivating keynote addresses, star-studded fireside chats, new partnership announcements, Impact Awards, and engaging breakout sessions. A Stevie Awards judge commented that Ellucian Live 2022 was "a well-packaged event accommodating both online and offline participation, as well as demonstrating the Company's future focus."

"At Ellucian, we believe that community is higher ed's superpower -- working together to achieve better outcomes around common goals -- and we are honored that the Stevie Awards has recognized Ellucian Live 2022 among the most impactful and engaging events bringing the higher ed community together," said Laura Ipsen, President & CEO, Ellucian. "This year's gathering was a special one, being the first hybrid event and first return to an in-person Ellucian Live since the start of the pandemic."

Ellucian Live 2023 is set to take place March 26th  29th, 2023 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, La. Learn more about Ellucian Live 2023 here: www.ellucian.com/ellucianlive/save-the-date

The International Business Awards are the world's premier business awards program. All individuals and organizations worldwide  public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small - are eligible to submit nominations. The 2022 IBAs received entries from organizations in 67 nations and territories.

More than 3,700 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration across a range of categories.

"This year's class of honorees are as innovative, adventuresome, persistent, and successful as we've ever had," said Stevie Awards president Maggie Miller.

Details about The International Business Awards and the full list of Stevie Award winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

About Ellucian

Ellucian is the market leader charting the digital future of higher education with a portfolio of cloud-ready technology solutions and services. From student recruitment to workforce analytics; from fundraising opportunities to alumni engagement; Ellucian's comprehensive suite of data-rich tools gives colleges and universities the information they need to lead with confidence.

Working with a community of more than 2,700 customers in over 50 countries, Ellucian keeps innovating as higher education keeps evolving. Drawing on its comprehensive higher education business acumen and suite of services, Ellucian guides its customers through manageable, sustainable digital transformationso that every type of institution and student can thrive in today's fast-changing landscape. To find out what's next in higher education solutions and services, visit Ellucian at www.ellucian.com.

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com.

Media Contact

Lindsay Stanley

[email protected]

SOURCE Ellucian
Company to receive over $250,000 in research funding to address condition affecting more than 14 million U.S. adults

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EpiVario, Inc., a biotech company developing novel therapeutics for memory-related psychiatric disorders, today announced it has been awarded a grant of nearly $260,000 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) to advance research on its proprietary small molecule inhibitors designed to reduce alcohol craving responses and help people with alcohol use disorder prevent relapse.

Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite clinically significant impairment, distress, or other adverse consequences. As one of the most common substance use disorders, it costs the U.S. healthcare system roughly $28 billion annually, and contributes to over 95,000 deaths each year. Moreover, alcohol use and misuse are thought to contribute to over 200 related diseases and health conditions globally, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, liver cirrhosis, and injuries1.

The current standard of care for AUD is a combination of detoxification, psychotherapy, and community support programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous. The limited number of pharmacotherapeutics available to supplement such treatments are not uniformly effective and are hampered by side effects, creating an urgent need for more effective treatments.

EpiVario has developed an epigenetic approach to AUD that controls neuronal plasticity, inhibiting alcohol-related memory processes, which are known to play a large role in driving the disorder. The metabolic enzyme ACSS2 generates acetyl-CoA, a key cofactor for patterns of histone acetylation important for long-term memory2. EpiVario's co-founders, Drs. Shelley Berger and Philipp Mews, discovered that ACSS2 plays a critical role in alcohol-related learning by coordinating alcohol-induced histone acetylation and gene expression in the hippocampus, which converts alcohol-derived acetate to acetyl-CoA3. This supports the hypothesis that alcohol may exert its addictive properties via ACSS2-dependent histone acetylation. This novel gene regulatory mechanism presents an attractive therapeutic strategy via pharmacological inhibition of ACSS2 to interfere with alcohol-related learning that drives AUD.

EpiVario's research will continue to evaluate the company's existing collection of small molecule inhibitors of ACSS2 for safety and efficacy in vivo, validate ACSS2 as a therapeutic target, and establish ACSS2 inhibition as a potential novel therapeutic strategy to treat AUD.

"This award marks a significant milestone for both our company and the millions affected by alcohol addiction worldwide," said Thomas Kim, President & CEO of EpiVario. "We are one step closer to addressing the urgent need for a reliable and safe AUD pharmacotherapy with minimal side effects. We are excited to deploy this funding to advance our preclinical research and aspire to begin human trials by the first half of 2024."

Dr. Howard Becker, Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), is widely recognized for his development of relevant animal models of AUD and their use in research on mechanisms and strategies for treating excessive, harmful drinking. In collaboration with MUSC, Dr. Becker was selected as Principal Investigator for EpiVario's six-month study.

"I am honored to work with EpiVario on this truly innovative science," said Dr. Becker. "I have previously collaborated with EpiVario and its cofounder, Dr. Mews, and I am now most happy to collaboratively work on advancing EpiVario's drug development program that embraces a therapeutic strategy which is unlike any other AUD treatment available. It is exciting to take an active role in bringing this potentially life-changing therapy to market."

The isolation and stress of the pandemic has only worsened alcohol addiction over the past few years, and it's estimated that binge drinking increased by 21% since 20204. Alcohol consumption changes due to COVID-19 are expected to cause 100 additional deaths and 2,800 additional cases of liver failure by 2023. While the number of affected people continues to rise, only approximately 7% of people who had AUD in the past year received any treatment.

About EpiVario, Inc.

EpiVario is a biotech company developing novel therapeutics to address a wide range of memory-related psychiatric disorders, including PTSD, Alzheimer's, and alcohol and drug addiction. EpiVario's strategy is to treat these psychiatric disorders at the source of the disease  the intrusive memories that often cause relapse. These memories are weakened via epigenetic regulation through the target enzyme acetyl-coA synthetase 2 (ACSS2), which regulates consolidation of fear and drug-craving memories. EpiVario's co-founders discovered that ACSS2 is a key metabolic enzyme that works directly within the nucleus of neurons to turn genes on when new memories are being established, and also when memories are recalled and then reconsolidated. For more information visit http://www.epivario.com .

Media Contact:

Alyson Kuritz

[email protected]

(908) 892-7149

Burnette, E. M. et al. Novel Agents for the Pharmacological Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder. Drugs 82, 251274 (2022). Mews, P. et al. Acetyl-CoA synthetase regulates histone acetylation and hippocampal memory. Nature 546, 381386 (2017). Mews, P. et al. Alcohol metabolism contributes to brain histone acetylation. Nature (2019) doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1700-7. The effect of COVID-19 on alcohol consumption, and policy responses to prevent harmful alcohol consumption. https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/the-effect-of-covid-19-on-alcohol-consumption-and-policy-responses-to-prevent-harmful-alcohol-consumption-53890024/.

SOURCE EpiVario Inc.
Premier Calif. Property Manager Eyes Smarter Loss Protection and Enhanced Resident Experience

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- E&S Ring Management Corporation announced a partnership with LeaseLock to modernize loss protection and provide more affordable move-ins for residents across its portfolio of over 7,000 units. With financial performance technology from LeaseLock, housing providers like E&S Ring are able to optimize asset performance without the need for security deposits and their alternatives.

Based in Santa Monica, Calif., E&S Ring is renowned for its lush and intricately landscaped luxury communities, and focuses on increasing cash flow, maximizing value, and achieving its owners' strategic goals. The progressive management company adopted a deposit alternative in hopes of boosting performance, but made the switch to LeaseLock for its easier, more comprehensive solution and superior support and service.

"LeaseLock has established itself as the premier insurtech provider in the multifamily space, and at E&S Ring we're always seeking best-in-class solutions," said Kevin Hott, Vice President of Information Systems & Technology with E&S Ring. "LeaseLock enables us to protect our assets while removing a huge financial barrier for prospective residents. But the true differentiator is their next-level service and customer support during both implementation and claims processing throughout the entire lease experience."

In addition to removing a significant financial roadblock for renters at the point of lease, LeaseLock helps absorb move-out account balances and reduces vacancy loss enabling clients to unlock incremental net operating incomehundreds of dollars per unit on averageand achieve more valuable, efficient properties, as well as reduce deposit administration and regulatory risk. With over $3 billion in leases insured, the company's ledger-based data platform and AI risk engine is eliminating deposits and their alternatives at scale, helping property owners and operators better manage loss and drive asset value.

"We're honored that E&S Ring recognized the LeaseLock difference and selected us as their preferred partner to improve loss protection and elevate an already top-flight leasing experience for their residents," said Ed Wolff, Chief Revenue Officer at LeaseLock. "Their customer-first vision aligns perfectly with our goal of empowering properties to upgrade the lease experience while optimizing asset performance."

LeaseLock is powering a new generation of financial tools to protect the property revenue stream. Deeply integrated with the industry's top property management systems and existing leasing and billing workflows, LeaseLock's technology platform enables quick, scalable deployment of lease insurance across entire portfolios, creating a seamless experience for operators and residents alike. Top owners and operators such as Greystar, ColRich, Cushman & Wakefield, Harbor Group Management Co., PGIM, Goldman Sachs, LMC, RKW Residential, Pegasus Residential, S2 Residential, and Western Wealth Communities leverage LeaseLock to protect and optimize hundreds of thousands of units across the country.

About Us

LeaseLock financial performance technology is driving the next revolution in residential real estate.

Rental housing providers achieve more valuable, efficient propertiesand a better resident experiencewith LeaseLock. They are able to put more people into homes more quickly, while improving net operating income, mitigating bad debt, and streamlining site operations.

LeaseLock's AI-driven risk platform leverages multiple data sources and smarter risk assessment to optimize lease insurance coverage at the property-level, leading to better lease conversion, stronger property performance, and reduced regulatory risk. Deployed seamlessly within existing property management software, LeaseLock makes the move to modern leasing swift, simple, and straightforward.

LeaseLock has insured over $3 billion in leases backed by insurance rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best. Our global investors include SoftBank Ventures Asia, Wildcat Ventures, Westerly Winds, Vertex Ventures US, Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, American Family Ventures, Moderne Ventures, Mucker Capital, and Hivers & Strivers Investment Fund.

Media Contact:

LinnellTaylor Marketing

Marlena DeFalco

Account Director

(303) 682-3943

[email protected]

SOURCE LeaseLock
Original Source: https://www.collegefashionista.com/deiji-accessories-nyfw-debut/

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Apart from their household names, what do Lady Gaga, Jackie Kennedy, Oprah, Madonna, and J. Lo have in common? They've each worn the unique work of legendary designer, Mark Schwartz. Now, as Creative Director of luxury accessories brand, DEIJI.com, Schwartz continues to create collections worthy of esteem. This time, for NYFW.

Flying Solo model showcasing the Cleopatra tote and the Nefertiti sneakers. Photo Credit: Kyra Surgent Flying Solo model showcasing the Rosa Backpack, the Veronica belt, and the Black Dahlia sneakers. Photo Credit: Kyra Surgent

In collaboration with fashion cooperative, Flying Solo, DEIJI made its New York Fashion Week debut on Saturday, September 10. The brand was showcased as part of Flying Solo's seasonal, 'Ones to Watch' runway event  and DEIJI certainly proved itself as one to watch.

Aligning with Flying Solo's mission of collaboration over competition, DEIJI featured looks with swimwear by The De La Cruz Collection, and jewelry by Saule Label. De La Cruz's glittery swim statements and Saule's bold, layered designs made for the ideal companions to the original DEIJI collection. The unusual yet complementary coupling of elevated resort-wear and structured, leather accessories fostered a memorable runway experience. I've never considered pairing a belt with a bikini, but when DEIJI did it, it worked.

The luxury Italian brand showcased original bag designs, the Elizabeth I, the Rosa, and the Cleopatra. Additionally, the Iris, and the Veronica belts, and the Nefertiti, Black Rose, Arrow, and Black Dahlia sneakers hit the runway among other pieces. Here are the major style takeaways from DEIJI's NYFW runway show:

Structured Silhouettes

The silhouettes of DEIJI's signature leather totes evidence the timelessness of classic shape. Both the Cleopatra and the Elizabeth I hold simple yet striking structures. To elevate any look (even a swimsuit, as proved by the show), add a bag with a strong, timeless silhouette to your wardrobe.

Natural Tones

Creative Director, Mark Schwartz and DEIJI President and designer, Riva Wilkins both stress that the foundation of the brand is their love of natural beauty. Named after the Korean and Japanese word for daisy, DEIJI is intended to capture the essence of the natural world through its design.

Natural tones are not always associated with major statements. This DEIJI collection however, truly popped on the runway thanks to its use of pumpkin, clay, and beige toned patterns. As fall swiftly approaches and you start grabbing for different pieces in your closet, bear in mind that simple, warm shades can definitely still be exciting.

Playful Metallics

The DEIJI Rosa backpack speaks for itself. Metallics are and always will be the best way to make any look more interesting. Isn't that what accessories are all about? Schwartz's use of metallic elements in this runway collection channels the pieces' royal namesakes. From subtle bag and shoe details to full-blown silver patterned backpacks, the metallics in DEIJI's NYFW collection exude a playful sense of luxury.

Shop the unique DEIJI pieces, or incorporate these elevated style elements into your own wardrobe beyond the NYFW runway.

SOURCE DEIJI.com
MIAMI, Sept. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A significant number of pressure cooker lawsuits continue to be filed across the United States on behalf of customers allegedly burned by defective pressure cookers. The pressure cooker lawyers at the Law Offices of Jason Turchin has filed more than 100 electric pressure cooker injury claims against many major pressure cooker companies.

"Unfortunately, some pressure cookers have known defects, yet are still on the market," says national pressure cooker lawyer Jason Turchin. "Many people will have no issues with their cookers, but some units may have safety failures which can cause catastrophic, disfiguring scars that may last forever."

Turchin's firm has already filed pressure cooker lawsuits against many major brands, including Sunbeam for the Crock-Pot Multicooker, Tristar Products for the Power Pressure Cooker XL and Emeril Lagasse Pressure Cooker brands, Gourmia, SharkNinja, Instant Pot, Bella, Bena Casa, Maxi-Matic, and many others.

Common Pressure Cooker Defects

There are many safety features which Turchin suggests could fail or defects which may be seen in various pressure cooker models, including:

Locking pin  the locking pin may be too short or too soft Float valve  the float valve could clog or get stuck Strike plate  the strike plate could bend and allow the unit to open while under pressure Lid locks  the lid locks may not full engage and may allow the cooker to pressurize when not fully locked Instruction issues  instruction manuals may have errors or inadequate instructions

Turchin believes companies can do more to prevent customers from getting hurt. "One injury should be one too many," says Turchin. Turchin's firm has seen numerous errors in instruction manuals, mislabeled parts, and part replacements done without ever telling the public even though the pressure cookers are still sold under the same model number.

If you were injured by a pressure cooker, you may be entitled to compensation. Pressure cooker lawsuits often seek damages including compensation for medical expenses, future medical treatment and pain and suffering.

Turchin continues to represent pressure cooker burn victims in the hopes that companies will fix alleged defects to prevent more people from getting hurt. Turchin adds, "We want to make sure these products are safe." As product liability lawyers, Turchin's firm represents people injured by defective products throughout the US.

Contact:

Jason Turchin

(800) 337-7755

[email protected]

SOURCE Law Offices of Jason Turchin
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and BRUSSELS, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Eyeris Technologies, Inc., a world leader in automotive in-cabin sensing AI, announced today that it will introduce its latest monocular 3D sensing AI software solution at the InCabin event at Autoworld in Brussels on September 15, 2022. Eyeris will have by-invitation meetings and demonstrations to showcase its latest in-cabin sensing AI solutions including the new monocular 3D sensing AI models, which predict depth-aware vehicle interior monitoring features in 3D from a single RGBIR image sensor to further improve in-vehicle safety, comfort and convenience.



Eyeris In-cabin Monocular 3D Sensing AI

Eyeris' Monocular 3D Sensing AI Solution Addresses Increasing In-cabin 3D Sensing Feature Requirements from Carmakers

3D sensing has been slow to be adopted in car interiors because of industry-known high costs, as well as interference and resolution limitations. Also, 3D sensing historically demands higher computation requirements than 2D. However, there has been a remarkable increase for in-cabin 3D feature requirements, rather than 2D, from car OEMs over the last year, demanding the use of a single RGBIR image sensor, rather than stereo camera, ToF sensors or others, because of its low cost and high image quality advantages.

Eyeris uses proprietary technology that accurately regresses depth information with 3D output from 2D image sensors, which applies to all in-cabin features. It is achieved through rigorous collection of naturalistic in-cabin 3D data to train compute-efficient depth inference models that run on AI-enabled processors. The data generated can be used to map the interior of a car, for example, and accurately determine in three dimensions the location of occupants' face, body, hands, objects and everything else inside the car.

Eyeris' monocular 3D sensing features and benefits include:

Providing automotive OEMs and Tier 1s with robust "depth-aware" 3D data using 2D image sensors

Enabling 3D accurate location, distance, size, and orientation estimation data, from flexible camera locations

Providing dynamic interior 3D data transformation from world coordinate system to any OEM-specific camera coordinates (distance relative to the camera)

Enabling new depth-dependent spatial features and use cases such as 3D in-cabin scene reconstruction, which until now, couldn't be achieved with 2D image sensors

Maintaining the same low-computation and power requirements with efficient inference on automotive-grade processors.

"We're proud to introduce our monocular 3D technology that optimizes sensing performance beyond 2D, with added depth estimation of the entire in-cabin space," said Modar Alaoui, founder and chief executive of Eyeris.

"This 3D sensing technology enables automotive OEMs with a new host of features that were never available before, and further enhances safety and comfort by leveraging additional depth data about driver, occupants, objects and surfaces using a single 2D RGBIR image sensor. Additionally, this newly introduced technology will help improve the accuracy of the recently mandated driver monitoring and child presence detection features," added Alaoui.

Eyeris' In-cabin Monocular 3D Sensing AI Solution has been nominated for "Most Novel Research" Award at the 2022 AutoSens Awards

Highlighting the exceptional innovation work realized by the Eyeris team across industry organizations and academia, this award nomination by a panel of industry experts is a testament for the impact and significant technology advancements that Eyeris is committing to the In-cabin industry, globally.

"Congratulations to Eyeris on their nomination as a finalist in the Most Novel Research category, their work on monocular 3D sensing is impressive and we are also proud to be working with them as a sponsor of the inaugural InCabin conference taking place this month," said Robert Stead, Managing Director Sense Media Group.

"Spun out of our successful AutoSens series, this launch InCabin event gives a platform to the key technology developers that are making an impact in automotive safety for drivers and occupants. We are proud to play a role in saving lives, and building a community of experts that will drive this technology forward over the years to come," added Stead.

About Eyeris Technology

Eyeris portfolio of automotive in-cabin sensing AI includes a comprehensive list of features, including the NCAP-mandated Driver Monitoring System (DMS) with accurate eye-gaze tracking, especially from non-frontal camera locations such as rear-view mirror, overhead console, and center stack areas.

In parallel, Eyeris' Human Behavior Understanding (HBU) AI models also enable Occupant Monitoring System (OMS) with accurate tracking of body key-points, height, width, size, posture, movements, and orientation. Furthermore, the last set of Eyeris AI models enable accurate child presence detection, and recognition of common vehicle interior objects under the widest range of lighting conditions.

The reference design integrations from Eyeris and its SOC and image sensor hardware partners help reduce risk to OEMs and Tier1, while accelerating time to market in delivering substantial in-cabin safety, comfort, and convenience benefits for all automotive cockpit occupants.

Eyeris In-cabin sensing AI solutions have been licensed to Ford, Toyota, Jaguar Land Rover, Honda, Mitsubishi Motors, Veoneer, BHTC, Panasonic, Bosch, Karma Automotive, among many other automakers and Tier1 suppliers. Eyeris expects to go into vehicle mass production in 2024.

About Eyeris

Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., along with its R&D lab, Eyeris is a world leader in vision-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) software for automotive in-cabin sensing, and pioneer of the world's first in-cabin sensor fusion AI. For efficient inference, Eyeris uses a wide range of automotive-grade AI-enabled processors, as well as modern AI chips. Eyeris is a winner of several automotive awards at the AutoSens Awards and TU Automotive Awards for the last seven years, including "Best Cockpit of Future Technology," "Most Innovative In-Cabin Perception Application," "Best Automotive Safety System," and "Best Product for driver and occupants monitoring AI." Eyeris holds the world's largest naturalistic in-cabin dataset for vehicle interior monitoring solutions. Visit www.eyeris.ai.

Media Contact:

Jane Wang

PR for Eyeris

Phone: 650-556-4775

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Eyeris
The Leading Sign, Graphics and Visual Communications Franchise Exhibiting at the 2022 SBI/NSSA Northeast Conference and Expo

CARROLLTON, Texas, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- FASTSIGNS International, Inc. , franchisor of FASTSIGNS, the leading sign, graphics and visual communications franchise in the nation, will attend the 2022 SBI/NSSA Northeast Conference and Expo (Booth #308) at the Rhode Island Convention Center on Sept. 19-21. The conference will focus on how sign shops can increase sales and profits through strong business management and operational efficiency. It is also an opportunity for FASTSIGNS to showcase its franchise opportunity in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Massachusetts in particular through the company's co-brands and conversions program for independent sign business and printers.

"We look forward to expanding the FASTSIGNS brand into Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Massachusetts for the first time and growing our presence throughout New England," said Mark Jameson, Chief Support and Development Officer at Propelled Brands. "FASTSIGNS offers a variety of franchising options, from owning a franchise to adapting an existing sign business through a co-brand or conversion. With our proven business model and ongoing support to our franchise network, we're proud to offer new opportunities to New England business owners as we set them up for success."

FASTSIGNS is currently seeking qualified franchisees with an emphasis on existing businesses to co-brand or convert. Owners of sign businesses can convert the business into a FASTSIGNS center to benefit from the proven business model and support system, or add a FASTSIGNS center to an existing business to receive training and support from the franchise system for just $15,000 down.

FASTSIGNS offers a special incentive for veterans and first responders, including paramedics, emergency medical technicians, police officers, sheriffs and firefighters, which includes a 50% reduction on the franchise fee -- a savings of $24,875. To date, FASTSIGNS operates more than 760 locations in 46 states and eight countries. Of these FASTSIGNS franchisees, around 14% are owned by veterans.

For information about the FASTSIGNS franchise opportunity, contact Mark Jameson ([email protected] or 214-346-5679)

For more information about the SBI NSSA Northeast Conference & Expo, visit https://nssasign.org/ .

For more information about owning a FASTSIGNS franchise, visit https://www.fastsigns.com .

About FASTSIGNS

FASTSIGNS is a leading national visual ideas company that creates a wide variety of comprehensive sign and graphics solutions. With over 35 years of experience, FASTSIGNS helps you achieve more than you ever thought possible. We are the worldwide franchisor of more than 760 independently owned and operated FASTSIGNS centers. FASTSIGNS locations span across the United States, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Grand Cayman, Malta, the Dominican Republic and Australia (where centers operate as SIGNWAVE). FASTSIGNS is frequently recognized for franchisee satisfaction and through franchising awards which include being ranked #1 on Entrepreneur's Highly Competitive Franchise 500 List For The Sixth Consecutive Year for 2022 as well as being named a 2022 Best-in-Category Franchise by Franchise Business Review.

In 2021, Propelled Brands was formed, and is now the multi-brand franchisor for FASTSIGNS, NerdsToGo, MY SALON Suite and Salon Plaza brands.

To learn more visit fastsigns.com . Follow the brand on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/fastsigns , Twitter @FASTSIGNS or Facebook at facebook.com/FASTSIGNS . For information about the FASTSIGNS franchise opportunity, contact Mark Jameson ([email protected] or call 214.346.5679).

SOURCE FASTSIGNS International, Inc.
HONG KONG, Sept, 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Akeso, Inc. (9926.HK) ("Akeso"), a China-based biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development and commercialization of innovative therapeutic antibodies for Oncology & Immunology, published encouraging preclinical results in poster featuring its Fc-mutant anti-TIGIT antibody fused with TGF-RII protein (AK130) at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022.

AK130 is the first and only TIGIT/TGF- dual-targeting antibody fusion protein and the first novel dual-targeting antibody fusion protein developed in-house by Akeso. The clinical trial application for AK130 was just accepted by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) not long ago, demonstrating Akeso's ability to develop breakthrough drugs with complete independence and autonomy.

Details of the poster are as follows:

Poster: AK130, a first-in-class Fc-mutant anti-TIGIT antibody fused with TGF-RII protein, elicits potent anti-tumor efficacy in preclinical studies.

Abstract: #486P

Presenters: Jing Min , Vice President of Akeso

Although TIGIT is considered a promising immune checkpoint molecule, the single-agent efficacy of anti-TIGIT therapy is limited. AK130, a novel anti-TIGIT antibody fused with TGF-RII protein, was designed to inhibit TIGIT-mediated immunosuppression while decreasing the TGF- levels in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Mutations were introduced in the Fc region of the antibody with IgG4 backbone to avoid antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) and complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) to minimize lymphocyte loss.

The encouraging observations from preclinical results of AK130 supports its clinical development for the treatment of human cancers:

AK130 could specifically bind to human TIGIT and TGF- with high affinity.

In reporter gene assays, AK130 efficiently blocked the interaction between TIGIT and CD155, as well as TGF-1/TGF-3 and TGF-RII.

As expected, AK130 did not show ADCC or CDC activity compared to tiragolumab.

AK130 shows great anti-tumor efficacy in a mouse tumor model.

About AK130 (TIGIT/TGF- dual-targeting antibody fusion protein)

AK130 is a bifunctional antibody-fusion protein entirely independently developed by Akeso. It consists of an anti-TIGIT monoclonal antibody fused to the extracellular domain of human transforming growth factor- receptor II (TGF-RII). TIGIT is an emerging immune checkpoint that blocks TIGIT-CD155 interaction, relieves the inhibition of tumor-infiltrating CD8 + T cells and NK cells and promotes their anti-tumor function. TGF- signaling can lead to immunosuppression, cancer immune escape, and immune checkpoint inhibitor resistance. Dual blockade of TIGIT and TGF- activates T cell immune responses and reduces TGF--mediated immunosuppressive activity of Tregs, thereby achieving better antitumor effects.

SOURCE Akeso, Inc.
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great Place to Work and Fortune magazine have honored AKASA as one of the 2022 Best Workplaces in Health Care. This is AKASA's first time being named to this prestigious list, this year coming in at #16. Earning a spot means that AKASA is one of the best companies to work for in the country.

Fortune Best Workplaces in Healthcare 2022

The Best Workplaces in Health Care award is based on analysis of survey responses from over 161,000 current employees in the manufacturing and production industry. In that survey, 94% of AKASA's employees said AKASA is a great place to work. This number is 37% higher than the average U.S. company.

"It's an incredible honor to be named one of the best places to work in healthcare," said Malinka Walaliyadde, CEO and co-founder of AKASA. "Our purpose is to enable human health by building the future of healthcare with AI. The mission attracts individuals who want to solve problems that directly impact people's lives. AKASA's cross-functional team of experts helps make that mission a reality."

The Best Workplaces in Health Care list is highly competitive. Great Place to Work, the global authority on workplace culture, selected the list using rigorous analytics and confidential employee feedback. Companies were only considered if they are a Great Place to Work-Certified  organization.

Great Place to Work is the only company culture award in America that selects winners based on how fairly employees are treated. Companies are assessed on how well they are creating a great employee experience that cuts across race, gender, age, disability status, or any aspect of who employees are or what their role is.

"It is our honor to spotlight the Best Workplaces in Health Care," says Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work. "Health care heroes have been on the front lines saving lives, and these organizations dug deep to tailor their support to the rapidly changing demands from the pandemic. We applaud their commitment to inclusive, high-trust cultures."

AKASA was also recognized by Fortune Magazine and Great Places to Work as one of the Best Workplaces in the Bay Area in 2022.

About AKASA

AKASA is the leading developer of AI for healthcare operations. AKASA scales human intelligence with leading-edge AI and ML securely trained on customer data to learn unique systems, continuously adapt to changing environments, and deliver comprehensive automation and analytics for complex workflows. The result is a seamlessly integrated, customized solution that reduces operating costs, frees up staff to do the work they love, and helps health systems allocate resources to where they matter most.

AKASA is a remote-first company and we are hiring. Step into the future of healthcare with AKASA. Learn more at AKASA.com/careers.

About the Best Workplaces in Health Care

Great Place to Work selected the Best Workplaces in Health Care by gathering and analyzing confidential survey responses from more than 161,000 employees at Great Place to Work-Certified organizations in the health care industry. Company rankings are derived from 60 employee experience questions within the Great Place to Work Trust Index survey . Great Place to Work determines its lists using its proprietary For All methodology to evaluate and certify thousands of organizations in America's largest ongoing annual workforce study, based on over 1 million survey responses and data from companies representing more than 6.1 million employees, this year alone. Read the full methodology.

To get on this list next year, start here.

About Great Place to Work

Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Their employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a great place to work For All.

Learn more at greatplacetowork.com and on LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook and Instagram .

SOURCE AKASA
AKRON, Ohio, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great Place to Work and Fortune magazine have honored Signet Jewelers, the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry, as one of the 2022 Best Workplaces in Retail. This is Signet's first time being named to this prestigious list.

The Best Workplaces in Retail award is based on analysis of survey responses from over 72,000 employees from Great Place to Work-Certified companies in the retail industry.

Fortune and Great Place to Work Name Signet Jewelers One of the 2022 Best Workplaces in Retail

"Our team's passion for building lifetime relationships with our customers and fulfilling Signet's Purpose of Inspiring Love is central to everything we do. Their agility, innovation and focus on results continue to be the differentiator for us," said Virginia C. Drosos, CEO, Signet Jewelers. "Congratulations to the other top retail companies who are being recognized as innovators for their customers and teams. We're proud to have emerged from COVID-19 as a stronger and transformed company and honored to be recognized along with them."

The Best Workplaces in Retail list is highly competitive. Great Place to Work, the global authority on workplace culture, selected the list using rigorous analytics and confidential employee feedback. Companies were only considered if they are a Great Place to Work-Certified organization.

Companies are assessed on how well they are creating a great employee experience that cuts across race, gender, age, disability status, or any aspect of who employees are or what their role is.

"These companies have adapted to the challenges of an ever-changing workplace by their commitment to inclusive, high-trust cultures where employees are treated as human beings first and foremost," says Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work. "Congratulations to the Best Workplaces in Retail."

About Signet Jewelers

Signet Jewelers Limited is the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry. As a purpose-driven and sustainability-focused company, Signet is a participant in the United Nations Global Compact and adheres to its principles-based approach to responsible business. Signet is a Great Place to Work Certified company and has been named to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for four consecutive years. Signet operates approximately 2,800 stores primarily under the name brands of Kay Jewelers, Zales, Jared, Banter by Piercing Pagoda, Diamonds Direct, JamesAllen.com, Blue Nile, Peoples, H. Samuel, Ernest Jones and the jewelry subscription service, Rocksbox. Further information on Signet is available at www.signetjewelers.com. See also www.kay.com www.zales.com, www.jared.com, www.banter.com, www.diamondsdirect.com, www.jamesallen.com, www.peoplesjewellers.com, www.hsamuel.co.uk, www.ernestjones.co.uk, www.rocksbox.com and www.bluenile.com.

About the Best Workplaces in Retail

Great Place to Work selected the Best Workplaces in Retail by gathering and analyzing confidential survey responses from more than 72,000 employees in the retail industry at Great Place to Work-Certified organizations. Company rankings are derived from 60 employee experience questions within the Great Place to Work Trust Index survey. Great Place to Work determines its lists using its proprietary For All methodology to evaluate and certify thousands of organizations in America's largest ongoing annual workforce study, based on over 1 million survey responses and data from companies representing more than 6.1 million employees, this year alone. Read the full methodology.

To get on this list next year, start here.

About Great Place to Work

Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Their employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a great place to work For All.

Learn more at greatplacetowork.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE Signet Jewelers Ltd.
NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RealClear Publishing, announces the release of Branding Democrats, a timely new book that gives Democratic candidates a blueprint for winning elections using branding strategies that former DNC Director Les Francis calls "crucial" for upcoming elections.

The Democratic Party has something to learn from the business world: branding and messaging matter. And with the turmoil created by the recent Supreme Court rulings and Democrats' disappointing and haphazard responsethe 2022 elections hang in the balance.

"Branding Democrats" is available now where books are sold. Image courtesy of RealClear Publishing.

Daryl Weber and his fatherfinancial strategist Ken Weber, who co-wrote the booklay out a step-by-step plan to revive a political party that should be easily winning elections. From George W. Bush's economic failures to an impeached incumbent in 2020, Republicans are still winning in the face of massive political missteps. This is inexcusable, according to the Webers. Things fundamentally must changeand the stakes couldn't be higher.

Branding Democrats offers Democrats a way forward: to build a strongerand smarterbrand that works in the volatile political climate today. Using real world examples from past campaigns and years of branding expertise, Ken and Daryl Weber lay out a plan for taking the Democratic Party's brand from nonexistent to a consistent message that resonates with voters.

Daryl Weber is a brand strategist who has worked for some of the biggest brands in the world, including Coca-Cola, Nike, Johnnie Walker, Google, and many others. He was previously global director of creative strategy at The Coca-Cola Company and a strategy director at the brand consultancy Redscout. He is the author of Brand Seduction: How Neuroscience Can Help Marketers Build Memorable Brands. His father, Ken Weber is president of Weber Asset Management and author of the political blog, Sanity-First.com.

More information on Branding Democrats can be found at brandingdemocrats.com.

SOURCE RealClear Publishing
Availability of popular gift cards expands to leading health provider, acknowledging close connection between physical and financial health

PHOENIX, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gift of College, an innovative platform that facilitates crowdfunding for higher education and disability expenses, today announced the launch of its first-of-its kind gift card in select CVS locations across the United States. Available in denominations of $25-$200 and redeemable into most any new or existing 529 (college savings), ABLE (disability savings), or student loan account, Gift of College provides gift givers with a forward-looking gift card option for birthdays, holidays, baby showers, graduations, and other special occasions that can help alleviate the stress associated with higher education expenses and expenses experienced by individuals with disabilities. The gift card is a convenient and thoughtful way to give a contribution toward a loved one's financial wellbeing.

A college education is not only linked to higher pay and upward mobility but to improved overall health, according to The College Board. Given the high cost of many forms of post-secondary education, families need support in preparing for the cost for future students and for those who did not adequately prepare, support in repaying student loan debt. With countless gifting occasions each year, every contribution toward financial well-being can lead to a brighter and less stressful future.

Gift of College, Inc. Launches Higher Education Gift Cards at CVS. Tweet this

"With millions of Americans weighed down by student loan debt, and with nearly 65% of Americans unfamiliar with 529 plans, one of the most effective ways to prepare for the cost of post-secondary education to avoid or minimize educational debt, a partnership with CVS will bring much needed support for those attempting to save for or repay the cost of higher education," says Wayne Weber, CEO Gift of College, Inc.

"There's clearly a close connection between financial and physical health. We are delighted that this unique collaboration will raise awareness of the usefulness of 529 college savings and ABLE plans and will provide a financial wellness gift card option for families across the U.S."

About Gift of College

Gift of College helps families address one of their most critical concerns: paying for higher education. An innovative platform that enables crowdfunding for college, Gift of College helps friends, family, and employers to contribute to any 529 college savings, student loan or ABLE account. Its suite of products and services includes Gift of College Gift Cards (available online and at thousands of retailer locations across the U.S.) and Gift of College At-Work, an employee benefit platform offering payroll deduction and employer contribution technology for student loan repayment and college and disability savings.

Learn more at http://www.giftofcollege.com. Follow Gift of College on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Media Contacts:

Lisa Moriarty

[email protected]

877-244-6630

SOURCE Gift of College
DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Factoring Market (2022-2027) by Type, Industry, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Factoring Market is estimated to be USD 3.36 Bn in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 4.75 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 7.16%.



Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Factoring Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors.

There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals. As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks.

Company Profiles

The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are BlueVine Inc, Canbank Factors Ltd, CIT Group Inc, Infusion Funding, LLC, RMP Capital Corp, SBI Global Factors Ltd., United Capital Funding Group LLC, Universal Funding Corp., etc.



Countries Studied

America ( Argentina , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Colombia , Mexico , Peru , United States , Rest of Americas)

, , , , , , , , Rest of Americas) Europe ( Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Russia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , United Kingdom , Rest of Europe )

( , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Rest of ) Middle-East and Africa ( Egypt , Israel , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , South Africa , United Arab Emirates , Rest of MEA)

and ( , , , , , , Rest of MEA) Asia-Pacific ( Australia , Bangladesh , China , India , Indonesia , Japan , Malaysia , Philippines , Singapore , South Korea , Sri Lanka , Thailand , Taiwan , Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.



Ansoff Analysis

The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Factoring Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification.

The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach. The analyst analyses the Global Factoring Market using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position. Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth.



Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Factoring Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Rising Open Account Trade with Accelerating Expansion of Businesses

4.1.2 Rapid Development of Factoring Services and Rise in Cross-Border Factoring

4.1.3 Growing Need for Financing for SMEs

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 Lack of Upgradation from Old Methods

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Ongoing Development and Implementation of Blockchain Technology

4.3.2 Increasing Use of Digital Platforms for Trade Financing

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Strict Laws Limiting Foreign Currency and the Rights of Assignment



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Regulatory Scenario

5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global Factoring Market, By Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 International Factoring

6.3 Non-notification Factoring

6.4 Notification Factoring



7 Global Factoring Market, By Industry

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Aerospace & Defense

7.3 Automotive & Transportation

7.4 Banking, Financial Services & Insurance

7.5 Government & Public Sector

7.6 Healthcare & Life Sciences

7.7 Information Technology

7.8 Others



8 Americas' Factoring Market

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Argentina

8.3 Brazil

8.4 Canada

8.5 Chile

8.6 Colombia

8.7 Mexico

8.8 Peru

8.9 United States

8.10 Rest of Americas



9 Europe's Factoring Market

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Austria

9.3 Belgium

9.4 Denmark

9.5 Finland

9.6 France

9.7 Germany

9.8 Italy

9.9 Netherlands

9.10 Norway

9.11 Poland

9.12 Russia

9.13 Spain

9.14 Sweden

9.15 Switzerland

9.16 United Kingdom

9.17 Rest of Europe



10 Middle East and Africa's Factoring Market

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Egypt

10.3 Israel

10.4 Qatar

10.5 Saudi Arabia

10.6 South Africa

10.7 United Arab Emirates

10.8 Rest of MEA



11 APAC's Factoring Market

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Australia

11.3 Bangladesh

11.4 China

11.5 India

11.6 Indonesia

11.7 Japan

11.8 Malaysia

11.9 Philippines

11.10 Singapore

11.11 South Korea

11.12 Sri Lanka

11.13 Thailand

11.14 Taiwan

11.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific



12 Competitive Landscape

12.1 Competitive Quadrant

12.2 Market Share Analysis

12.3 Strategic Initiatives

12.3.1 M&A and Investments

12.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

12.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



13 Company Profiles

13.1 AeroFund Financial, Inc.

13.2 American Receivable

13.3 Axiom Bank, N.A.

13.4 BlueVine Inc

13.5 BNP Paribas SA

13.6 Canbank Factors Ltd

13.7 Capital One Financial Corp.

13.8 Catalyst Financial Co.

13.9 CIT Group Inc

13.10 Deutsche Leasing Group

13.11 First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company

13.12 Infusion Funding, LLC

13.13 King Trade Capital

13.14 Mizuho Financial Group

13.15 New Century Financial, Inc

13.16 Riviera Finance of Texas, Inc

13.17 RMP Capital Corp

13.18 RTS Financial Service, Inc

13.19 SBI Global Factors Ltd.

13.20 The Southern Bank Company

13.21 United Capital Funding Group LLC

13.22 Universal Funding Corp.



14 Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/frfxp3

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Givex and Counter Solutions can be found at CD 737 at ExCel in London from September 14 to 15.

TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Givex Information Technology Group Ltd. ("Givex") (TSX: GIVX) announced today it will exhibit at the definitive restaurant, pub and bar event Casual Dining at ExCeL in London September 14-15 with recently-acquired UK-based Counter Solutions.

Casual Dining marks the first trade show that Givex and Counter Solutions will present together after the acquisition was completed in August. At CD 737, Givex will be showcasing its leading point-of-sale system, GivexPOS along with its Kitchen Display System (KDS), Stock System and loyalty and gift card products, while Counter Solutions will demonstrate its kiosk and WAY2PAY unattended retail functionality.

"We are thrilled at how quickly and thoughtfully the Counter Solutions and Givex teams collaborated in a few short weeks to prepare to display our new collective capabilities," said Jurgen Ketel, Managing Director of Givex EMEA. "Our products perfectly complement each other, and we are able to show both new and existing clients how seamlessly our products work together to create efficiencies that are simply not found through other providers."

Counter Solutions' WAY2PAY platform offers micro market & smart-refrigeration technology which allows customers to purchase products from controlled access chillers using their payment card, Apple Pay and Google Pay.

"In addition to our products being aligned and allowing us to offer new and exciting products to our respective client bases, one of the primary reasons we chose to partner with Givex is because of the depth of its team," said Richard Bernans, Managing Director of Counter Solutions. "Both teams worked hard to ensure that we were ready to present together at Casual Dining, and we are excited to be able to showcase new and innovative solutions at the show for our clients across the globe."

About Givex

Givex (TSX: GIVX) ( OTCQX: GIVXF) is a global fintech company providing merchants with customer engagement, point of sale and payment solutions, all in a single platform. We are integrated with 1000+ technology partners, creating a fully end-to-end solution that delivers powerful customer insights. Our platform is used by some of the world's largest brands, comprising approximately 116,000 locations across more than 100 countries. Learn more at givex.com .

SOURCE Givex
DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Undersea Warfare Systems Market By Type, By Mode of Operation, By Application: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The undersea warfare systems market was valued at $15.8 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $24.8 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 4.7% from 2022 to 2031.

North America is a prominent market for undersea warfare systems, owing to high adoption of advanced weapons among government and military agencies. Furthermore, government and military organizations are investing significantly in the development of advanced undersea weapons, owing to rise in security concerns, which fosters market growth.

Moreover, factors such as increased funding to strengthen naval forces, presence of large number of key manufacturers, significant funding for research & development activities, and availability of technologically advanced products such as undersea weapons and communication systems are some of the key contributors to the rapid growth of undersea warfare systems market in this region.

In addition, governments and military organizations are awarding contracts to several companies for the development of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), sonar, mine countermeasures, and surveillance solutions, which propels the market growth.

The different mode of operations for undersea warfare systems include manned operations, autonomous operations, and remote operations.

The remote operations segment is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period. Remotely operated systems are used for undersea observation, surveillance, mine warfare, and payload delivery. Several companies are developing and testing remote undersea warfare systems to increase operational capabilities.

For instance, in March 2022, RE2 Robotics Inc. announced that its maritime mine neutralization system (M2NS) reached 'unprecedented" depth of more than 1 km during open-water demonstration for U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research. M2NS is composed of RE2 Sapien Sea Class robot arms mounted onto VideoRay's Defender inspection-class remotely operated vehicle (ROV). It further utilizes RE2 Detect and RE2 Intellect to enable the precise, autonomous, and clandestine neutralization of a target.

Based on application, the global undersea warfare systems market is segregated into combat, C4ISR, and others. Navies across the globe are upgrading their undersea combat capabilities through numerous contracts from government and military organizations. For instance, in February 2022, the U.S. Navy awarded a $59.5 million contract to Lockheed Martin Corporation to provide anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and torpedo systems for surface warships for the U.S. Navy.

The significant factors impacting the growth of the undersea warfare systems market include increase in demand for stealth undersea warfare systems, surge in adoption of underwater drones for undersea warfare, and government support & investments for strengthening undersea warfare capabilities. Moreover, the market growth is affected by high upfront and operational costs of attack submarines, and operational complexities associated with undersea unmanned systems. In addition, increase in initiatives for development of lightweight torpedoes and rise in global defense spending influence the market growth.

COVID-19 Impact Analysis

The COVID-19 crisis has created uncertainty in the undersea warfare systems market, massive slowing of supply chain, falling business confidence, and increasing panic among the customer segments.

Governments of different regions have already announced total lockdown and temporary shutdown of industries, thereby adversely affecting the overall production and sales. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in delayed development of undersea warfare systems and slowdown of trials & demonstration and restrictions in operation of key players.

Governments across the world prioritized the healthcare industry to combat the widespread COVID-19 virus, which adversely affected performance of the defense industry. However, global defense spending reached $1.83 trillion in 2020, a 3.9% annual increase.

As a proportion of GDP, global spending sharply increased from an average of 1.85% in 2019 to 2.08% in 2020 as military budgets were maintained despite severe economic crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic and series of lockdowns introduced around the world in response. The pandemic lockdowns were lifted and then re-instated to curb ascendance of the COVID-19 infections as public utilities were gradually opened in major countries such as the UK, India, and Italy.

Shortage of components, subsystems, and electronic systems, owing to regulations associated with import and export of goods have resulted in delayed manufacturing. Development of undersea warfare systems was further impacted by material shortage, owing to manufacturing shutdowns in China, South Korea, and Taiwan.

However, post pandemic, the development of undersea warfare systems has been observed. With the relaxation of lockdown measures, vaccination drives, and the consequent opening of markets across the world, the demand for undersea warfare systems is anticipated to grow considerably in the near future.

Key findings of the Study

By type, the communication and surveillance systems segment is anticipated to exhibit significant growth in the near future.

By mode of operation, the remote operations segment is anticipated to exhibit significant growth in the near future.

By application, the C4ISR segment is anticipated to exhibit significant growth in the near future.

By region, Asia-Pacific is anticipated to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

is anticipated to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Key players operating in the global undersea warfare systems market include BAE Systems Plc., General Dynamic Corporation, Kongsberg Gruppen, L3Harris Technologies Inc., Leonardo S.p.A., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Raytheon Technologies Corporation, SAAB AB, and Thales Group.

Key Market Players

BAE Systems Plc

General Dynamics Corporation

Kongsberg Gruppen

L3Harris Technologies, Inc.

Leonardo S.p.A.

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Northrop Grumman Corporation

Raytheon Technologies Corporation

Saab AB

Thales Group

Key Market Segments

By Type

Communication and Surveillance Systems

Sensors and Computation Systems

Countermeasure Systems and Payload

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

Weapon Systems

By Mode of Operation

Manned Operations

Autonomous Operations

Remotely Operations

By Application

Combat

C4ISR

Others

By Region

North America

U.S.

Canada

Mexico

Europe

U.K.

Germany

France

Russia

Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Rest Of Asia Pacific

LAMEA

Latin America

Middle East

Africa

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/67dmbx

Media Contact:

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SOURCE Research and Markets
This news release constitutes a "designated news release" for the purposes of the Company's prospectus supplement dated October 15, 2021, to its short form base shelf prospectus dated September 10, 2021.

VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Great Panther Mining Limited (TSX: GPR) (NYSE-A:GPL) ("Great Panther" or the "Company") announces that it has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent (the "LOI") with Newrange Gold Corp. ("Newrange") to sell 100% of the Company's Peruvian subsidiaries, Great Panther Silver Peru S.A.C. and Great Panther Coricancha S.A.C., which hold the Coricancha Mine in Peru, for a total purchase price of US$750,000 (the "Transaction") payable in cash.

Coricancha, located in the central Andes of Peru approximately 90 kilometres east of Lima, is a past producing mine with an extensive land package in the prolific Central Polymetallic Belt in Peru. The project is currently in care and maintenance and includes an operational 600 tonne per day mill, an underground mine and supporting infrastructure.

Completion of the Transaction is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the completion of definitive documentation, completion of financing by Newrange and receipt by the Company and Newrange of all necessary third-party consents and approvals, including the approval of the Company's proposal trustee, the court in the Company's proposal proceedings and, in the case of Newrange, the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

ABOUT GREAT PANTHER

Great Panther Mining is a precious metals producer focused on the operation of the Tucano Gold Mine in Brazil where the Company controls a land package covering nearly 200,000 hectares in the prospective Vila Nova Greenstone belt. Great Panther is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol GPR and on the NYSE American under the symbol GPL.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws (together, "forward-looking statements"). Such forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding the terms and completion of the Transaction, including the completion of definitive documentation, Newrange's ability to obtain financing and the receipt of all necessary third-party consents and approvals.

These forward-looking statements and information reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant procedural, operational, business, economic and regulatory risks and uncertainties, including the risk that the Company will not be able to successfully negotiate definitive documentation for the Transaction, the risk that certain conditions precedent to completion of the Transaction will not be satisfied and risks related to the Company's previously announced restructuring process and its impact on the Company's operations and financial conditions and uncertainty regarding the ability to obtain protection against all collection and enforcement actions during the judicial reorganization proceedings.

There is no assurance that these forward-looking statements will prove accurate or that actual results will not vary materially from these forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, described, or intended. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements and information are designed to help readers understand management's current views of our near- and longer-term prospects and may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not intend, nor does it assume any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, changes in assumptions, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

SOURCE Great Panther Mining Limited
Cooperation integrates Broncus's energy ablation with Healium's ultrasound technology to create single real-time tool for improved safety and efficacy in lung cancer treatment.

YOKNEAM, Israel, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Healium Medical ("Healium"), innovating a proprietary Dual-Mode Ultrasound Technology (DMUT) for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias announced today a new collaboration and licensing agreement with Broncus Holding Corporation (2216.HK; "Broncus"). Broncus specializes in interventional diagnostic tools and treatments for pulmonary diseases by using ablation energy modalities including radiofrequency and thermal vapor.

Healium Medical signs new strategic cooperation with Broncus Holding Corporation to integrate Broncuss energy ablation with Healiums ultrasound technology for improved safety and efficacy in lung cancer treatment.

The cooperation integrates Broncus's energy ablation with Healium's ultrasound technology to advance lung cancer treatment by allowing operators in real-time to target, treat and monitor ablated tissues with a single tool. The new technology is expected to deliver more predictable treatment outcomes with increased safety and efficacy while simplifying the procedure flow for interventional pulmonologists.

Broncus, a pioneer in the interventional pulmonology market, provides innovative lung solutions globally with extensive experience in product development, clinical research and commercialization, holding a presence in China, Asia, the United States, Europe and Australia.

Ran Sela, Healium's Co-Founder and CEO said: "We are very excited to collaborate with Broncus. This new licensing agreement exposes Healium to the interventional pulmonology market and further validates the broad clinical need and versatility of our proprietary ultrasound technology which supports our vision of building a platform solution."

Healium previously signed a licensing agreement in the cardiology space with Venus Medtech (2500.HK) to develop a therapeutic ultrasound technology for blood hypertension in 2021.

About Healium Medical

Healium Medical, a 12.75M EIC Accelerator 2021 Award recipient, is an innovative Israeli medical-device company part of Alon Medtech Ventures, owned by serial entrepreneur Dr. Shimon Eckhouse. The company's Echomplish system is an integrated ultrasound ablation and imaging platform for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and hypertension with wide future indications. Its unique catheter-based interventional ultrasound technology provides real-time therapeutic and monitoring functions in a single catheter to minimize risk, simplify procedure flow and improve outcomes. For more information: https://www.healiumedical.com/

About Broncus

Broncus is a pioneer in the field of interventional pulmonology, providing innovative lung solutions globally. With dual R&D centers in China and the United States, Broncus has established a powerful pipeline including 17 products, many of which have been commercialized in the United States, Europe, Australia and other mainstream markets globally. For more information: https://www.broncus.com/

Contact: Ran Sela

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Healium Medical
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Health-Ade, the creators of feel-good, bubbly beverages with gut-health benefits, takes kombucha to the next level with the Health-Ade Glow Up line: the kombucha you love with added functional ingredients for a gut-first glow up! Following the success of fan-favorite flavor Strawberry Glow, launched in 2020, Health-Ade has expanded the line to include two new flavors: Ginger Pineapple Belly Reset and Citrus Immune Boost. The Glow Up line provides consumers not only with delicious, refreshing kombucha but also amplified benefits to support hair, skin, and nail health; immunity; and digestion, for a gut-first wellness approach.

Health-Ade's New Glow Up Line: Kombucha Boosted With Even More Benefits

"The Glow Up line is something that I am really excited about," says Daina Trout, Co-founder and Chief Mission Officer at Health-Ade. "A diverse gut microbiome makes a huge difference when it comes to overall health, including benefits in hair, skin and nails, immunity, and, of course, digestion. That's why we developed Health-Ade's Glow Up line  three kombucha flavors with functional ingredients that highlight and boost kombucha's existing benefits! So whether you are feeling a little off, you've overindulged, or your hair and skin are looking dull, sip your way back to your happiest, healthiest you."

Each flavor in Health-Ade's Glow Up line offers carefully selected functional ingredients to support your inner (and outer) glow!

Strawberry Glow: Refreshing notes of strawberry and kiwi join forces with biotin and bamboo extract to nourish skin from the inside out.

Biotin is proven to improve hair health  boosting both shine and volume  and helps improve skin's hydration and appearance.



Bamboo extract is the richest source of natural silica, which our body relies on to make collagen in skin, bones, and hair.

NEW Citrus Immune Boost: Support your inner fighter with immune-boosting Vitamin C, zinc, and a blend of juicy oranges.

An excellent source of Vitamin C, a potent antioxidant, and Zinc to give your immune system a boost

NEW Ginger Pineapple Belly Reset: Reset from within! Paired with 6 times more living probiotics than other Health-Ade Kombucha, zesty ginger and sweet pineapple have what it takes to make your insides smile.

Extra probiotics support a diverse microbiome, and a diverse microbiome supports a healthy gut. Each bottle of Ginger Pineapple Belly Rest includes 6 billion CFU of living probiotics at the time of bottling.



Cold pressed ginger juice has been shown to help increase digestive motility, improve indigestion, decrease bloating, and reduce intestinal cramping.

Get that extra dose of feel-good with the Health-Ade Glow Up line, the most delicious way to add functional ingredients into your life. Whether you're looking for a refreshing drink or are interested in supporting your microbiome and gut health, new Health-Ade Glow up kombucha flavors allow you to support wellness from the inside out.

For more information or press inquiries, please email [email protected].

Follow along on Instagram @healthade, Facebook /HealthAde, Twitter @DrinkHealthAde and TikTok @healthade.

ABOUT HEALTH-ADE

Health-Ade creates feel-good, bubbly beverages with gut-health benefits so you can follow your gut and show the world what you're made of. The brand got started in the Brentwood Farmers Market in 2012 selling its flagship kombucha drinks. Instantly gaining a cult following in Southern California, Health-Ade Kombucha rapidly expanded to sell nationwide in over 50,000 stores including Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, Safeway / Albertsons, Kroger, Publix, Target and more in 16oz single serve bottles (MSRP: $3.99) and 48oz sizes at (MSRP: $8.99). The brand's growing roster of offerings now includes Health-Ade Pop, a full-flavor prebiotic soda. All Health-Ade products are naturally fermented with high quality ingredients and are certified organic, non-GMO, gluten-free and vegan, and each bottle of Health-Ade Kombucha exceeds the World Health Organization's standard for probiotics, which many food and beverage products on the market today fail to meet.

SOURCE Health-Ade Kombucha
NOIDA, India, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report published by UnivDatos Markets Insights the Heat Exchanger Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 7% from 2021-2027. The analysis has been segmented into Type of Solution (Laboratory Information Management, Electronic Lab Notebooks, Scientific Data Management System, Laboratory Execution Systems, Electronic Data Capture & Clinical Data Management Systems, Chromatography Data Systems, Enterprise Content Management); Deployment Model (On-Premise, Cloud-Based, Remotely Hosted); Component (Services, Software); End-Users (Life Science Industry, Chemical Industry, Food & Beverage And Agriculture Industry, Petrochemical Refineries And Oil & Gas Industry, Environmental Testing Laboratories, Other Industries); Region/Country.

The report has been aggregated by collecting informative data from various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the Heat Exchanger Market in the Global context. This report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors that are influencing market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the Global Heat Exchanger Market at the regional & country levels.

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Market Overview

A heat exchanger refers to a device that is generally used in the transmission of heat amongst two or more fluids, mainly between a hard surface and a fluid at dissimilar temperatures and thermal contact. It contains streams of hot and cold fluids, which are utilized to transfer thermal energy among the streams. They may be separated by a thermally conductive tube or plate or kept in direct contact if the fluids are immiscible. Hence, they are widely utilized in boilers, furnaces, refrigerators, automotive radiators, sewage treatment, and air conditioning systems.

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COVID-19 Impact

The outbreak of COVID-19 hurt the heat exchanger market. The lockdown restrictions around the globe have shut down all the industry's activities coupled with halted the ongoing expansion of chemical and power generation projected which had impacted the market demand for heat exchangers. Similarly, COVID-19 had negatively impacted the demand for refrigerators and cooling devices for food and beverages and chemical industries.

The global Heat Exchanger Market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

Based on type, the heat exchanger market is segmented into shale & tube, plate & frame, air-cooled, and others. The shell and tube cater to the considerable market share. It is mainly owing to its ability to operate at higher temperature and pressure, and easy pressure testing which helps in finding the faults which are preferred in a variety of applications such as chemical, petrochemical and oil & gas, food & beverage, and power generation.

Based on material, the heat exchanger market is divided into carbon steel, stainless steel, nickel, and others. Stainless steel captured a significant share in the market and is expected to have significant demand in the future as well. It is mainly owing to the beneficial characteristics of stainless steel such as resistance against corrosion in a wide range of pH levels, lightweight, high thermal conductivity, and no requirement of special fluids as it is compatible with plain clean water.

Based on end-users, the market is classified into chemical, petrochemical, and oil & gas, HVAC and refrigeration, food & beverage, power generation, paper & pulp, and others. Recently, the chemical segment catered significant market share in the global heat exchanger market. As heat exchangers in chemicals are used in the manufacturing process which includes condensation of solvents, benzene heat recovery, cooling of water circuits, cooling of hydrocarbons, heating & cooling of intermediate products, heating and cooling of reactors, and production processes.

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Heat Exchanger Market Geographical Segmentation Includes:

North America ( United States , Canada , and Rest of North America )

( , , and Rest of ) Europe ( Germany , United Kingdom , Italy , France , Spain , and the Rest of Europe )

( , , , , , and the Rest of ) Asia-Pacific ( China , India , Australia , Japan , and the Rest of Asia-Pacific )

( , , , , and the Rest of ) Rest of the World

For a better understanding of the market adoption, the report provides a detailed analysis of major regions and countries including North America (US, Canada, Rest of North America), Europe (Germany, UK, Spain, Italy, France, Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, Australia, Rest of APAC), and Rest of World. The Asia Pacific holds a prominent market share due to increasing industrial operations in developing countries such as China, India, etc.

The major players targeting the market include

Alfa Laval

API Heat Transfer Inc

Danfoss

General Electric Company

Hisaka Works

IHI Corporation

Johnson Controls

Kelvion Holding GmbH

Koch Industries

Boyd Corporation.

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating in the global context. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as global market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions by leading companies in the Heat Exchanger Market. The major players have been analyzed using different research methodologies for getting insight views on market competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

What are the latest trends, new patterns, and advancements in the Heat Exchanger Market?

Which factors are influencing the Heat Exchanger Market over the forecast period?

What are the challenges, threats, and risks in the Heat Exchanger Market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the Heat Exchanger Market?

What are the demanding regions of the Heat Exchanger Market globally?

What will be the market size in the upcoming years?

What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by the companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

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UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

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SOURCE Univdatos Market Insights Private Limited
WALNUT CREEK, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Heffernan Insurance Brokers, one of the largest full-service, independent insurance brokerage firms in the United States, announced that Kate Grasman has joined the company as Chief Information Officer.

Kate comes to Heffernan Insurance Brokers with extensive experience leading IT operations, strategy, and performance management, most recently with The Clorox Company and GE Capital. Kate has her Master of Business Administration from Harvard University and looks forward to driving organizational performance and innovation within the Heffernan Group.

"As our firm continues to grow, we have found opportunities related to technology and innovation that can help us thrive in the future. Heffernan is well positioned to take advantage of those opportunities because of the great work accomplished by our IT department over the past many years," said John Prichard Jr., Chief Advancement Officer at Heffernan. "We couldn't be happier to have Kate onboard as she brings the knowledge and experience to lead the integration of IT with our business and innovation opportunities in the future."

About Heffernan Insurance Brokers

Heffernan Insurance Brokers, formed in 1988, is one of the largest independent insurance brokerage firms in the United States. Heffernan provides insurance and financial services products to a range of businesses and individuals. Headquartered in Walnut Creek, Calif., Heffernan has offices in San Francisco, Petaluma, San Jose, San Mateo, Truckee, Bakersfield, Woodland Hills, Cypress, Los Angeles and Irvine, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Portland, OR; Seattle, WA; St. Louis, MO; Philadelphia, PA; and London UK.

Employee-owned, Heffernan Insurance Brokers was named the Top Mid-Sized Broker in the United States to work for in 2009 by Business Insurance Magazine. The firm has been among the Top Greater Bay Area Philanthropists since 2003.

For more information, visit www.heffins.com. License #0564249

SOURCE Heffernan Insurance Brokers
Initial Indications of Interest Due November 7, 2022

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hilco Streambank (www.HilcoStreambank.com) announced that it is seeking offers to acquire or license the intellectual property portfolio supporting innovative amphibious vehicles. The available assets include a sizable patent portfolio covering multiple product families worldwide, CAD files, bills of materials, test data, specifications, more than a dozen unique trademarks, and additional related materials.

Hilco Streambank Announces Acquisition or License Opportunity: Robust Amphibious Vehicle Intellectual Property Portfolio

Initial indications of interest are due to Hilco Streambank on or before November 7, 2022. The assets are being offered for sale or license via private transaction on behalf of the developer and manufacturer of the technology.

The covered technology is pioneering in addressing a fundamental challenge in producing high-utility amphibious vehicles, namely, achieving high speeds on both water and land with minimal transition time. The patent portfolio covers a number of territories, including the U.S., China, Europe, and the U.K., and several key technology areas, including concept and design, wheel retraction and steering, engine cooling, powertrain, hull and hydrodynamics, and more.

Hilco Streambank CEO Gabe Fried commented, "This technology is the culmination of decades of innovation and more than $200 million in research and development, representing a significant advancement in the field of amphibious vehicle technology." Fried continued, "Consumer and commercial applications of this technology are wide-ranging and should interest many potential buyers or licensees. These vehicles continue to operate worldwide as tender to yachts, rescue and patrol in coastal areas, and general recreation. There are clear paths forward to further develop markets including leisure, military, hunting, search and rescue, agriculture, luxury, and other utility applications."

Interested parties may click here to learn more and are encouraged to contact Hilco to access confidential information.

About Hilco Streambank: Hilco Streambank is a market leading advisory firm specializing in intellectual property disposition and valuation. Having completed numerous transactions including sales in publicly reported cases, private transactions, and online sales through IPv4.Global, Hilco Streambank has established itself as the premier intermediary in the consumer brand, internet, and telecom communities. Hilco Streambank is part of Northbrook, Illinois based Hilco Global, the world's leading authority on maximizing the value of business assets by delivering valuation, monetization, and advisory solutions to an international marketplace. Hilco Global operates more than twenty specialized business units offering services that include asset valuation and appraisal, retail and industrial inventory acquisition and disposition, real estate, and strategic capital investments.

SOURCE Hilco Streambank
HMR's patented and disruptive medical technology offers a dramatic improvement in mobility challenged persons' rehabilitation in clinics or daily living at home with a host of distinguishing and innovative features. It is essentially a self-balancing bipedal robot capable of hands-free dynamic walking and other complex maneuvers for daily use. XoMotion is a superior and intelligent medical exoskeleton device that is beyond the cutting-edge assistive robotic technologies for mobility-impaired people.

HMR received a pre-qualified innovation approval for the ISC Testing Stream funding in 2021, as part of the Call for Proposals 001 issued by Public Works and Government Services Canada on behalf of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. HMR worked with ISC and the proposed federal department innovation tester/sponsor, the DND, over the past year to finalize this contract award in July 2022.

"At HMR, we are so pleased and very excited for this opportunity by Innovative Solutions Canada to demonstrate the unique capabilities of our exoskeleton in revolutionizing physical therapy and to significantly elevate the standard of care worldwide." said Dr. Siamak Arzanpour, HMR's Co-Founder and CEO.

HMR will deliver the first unit of XoMotion to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by the end of the year to begin testing with volunteer participants.

About Human in Motion Robotics Inc.  "Intelligent Innovation in Motion"

Human in Motion Robotics Inc. is a British Columbia, Canada, based developer of the next generation wearable lower-limb exoskeleton, XoMotion. It is designed to (i) revolutionize robotic rehabilitation to elevate the standard of care in physical therapy and (ii) introduce disruptive mobility device to get people out of wheelchairs and walking again with full mobility and independence. XoMotion provides advanced articulation and superior joint range of motion, allowing for natural walking, self-balancing, and independent use. A radical improvement to the current technology, XoMotion offers revolutionary new opportunities in both rehabilitation and personal use for a wide range of mobility-impaired users.

About Innovative Solutions Canada

Innovative Solutions Canada is a Government of Canada innovation procurement program that supports Canadian small businesses by procuring, testing and evaluating promising pre-commercialized technology or late stage R&D prototypes in real-life settings.

For further information

Human in Motion Robotics: Media Inquiries, [email protected]; Investor Relations, [email protected].

Innovative Solutions Canada: Media Inquiries, (343) 291-1777.

SOURCE Human in Motion Robotics Inc.
IDnow is supporting IATA to simplify the passenger journey through digital identity

MUNICH, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- IDnow, a leading European identity proofing platform provider, is pleased to announce its participation in the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) [email protected] 2022 accelerator program. IDnow is working with IATA and its members, providing expertise and regulatory know-how in the field of identity proofing and digital identity. Together, IATA and IDnow are working on the shared goal of making flying more seamless and low-touch for passengers, while lowering fraud risks for airlines.

IATA is the trade association for the world's airlines, representing some 290 airlines or 83% of total air traffic. As a leading industry association, IATA is shaping industry standards and the future of aviation.

Through the [email protected] program, IDnow is contributing to the IATA One ID working group. The goal of IATA One ID is to set industry standards that further streamline the passenger journey with digitalization of admissibility and a contactless process through secure biometric enabled identification. Under the One ID vision, upon completing document checks remotely, passengers will be able to arrive at the airport ready to fly and proceed through each airport touchpoint via simple biometric recognition. The objective is to achieve a truly interoperable global system across airports, airlines and governments.

IDnow is collaborating with airlines and other technology providers members of the IATA Think Tank on a white paper about the application of digital identity in the air travel industry. In parallel, a proof of concept is being developed to show how digital identity can support people with reduced mobility with traveling, and airlines and airports to prioritize the required staff for the necessary support.

"We are very pleased to have IDnow participation in the heart of industry innovation conversations. IDnow brings their expertise on the secure decentralized digital identity to support the airline industry for the journey to customer-centricity."  Kat R. Morse, Senior Manager Innovation, Partnerships and Events at IATA.

"We understand that in the modern air travel industry, digital identities have a huge potential to shape a whole new traveler experience. From lowering the fraud risk for airlines, to creating a more seamless and low-touch experience for passengers and offering a GDPR compliant solution for storing and sharing of biometric pictures for airports and other players  Digital identity is the key. We are excited and proud to have been selected by IATA to work together and to partner with some of the most prestigious airlines of the world to shape the future of air travel", says Michael A. Binner, Director Digital Identity at IDnow.

About IDnow

IDnow is a leading identity proofing platform provider in Europe with a vision to make the connected world a safer place. The IDnow platform provides a broad portfolio of identity verification solutions, ranging from automated to human-assisted from purely online to point-of-sale, each of them optimized for user conversion rates and security.

In 2021, IDnow acquired the French market leader for identity technology, ARIADNEXT, and the German identity Trust Management AG, enabling IDnow to offer its customers one of the broadest identification solutions through a single, integrated platform.

The company has offices in Germany, United Kingdom, France, and Dubai and is backed by renowned institutional investors, including Corsair Capital and Seventure Partners. Its portfolio of over 900 international clients, spans a wide range of industries, and includes leading international players, such as Western Union, UBS, Sixt and Munich Re, as well as digital champions like N26, Solarisbank, wefox and Tier mobility.

UK press contact at IDnow:

Sara Donnelly

[email protected]

07734 237840

James Bentley

[email protected]

07876 899102

Global press contact:

Christina Schwinning

[email protected]

+49 89 41324 6054

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1342896/IDnow_Logo.jpg

SOURCE IDnow GmbH
illy continues to expand its partnerships with the contemporary art world to better leverage the concepts of quality and beauty that typify the illy brand

TRIESTE, Italy, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- illycaffe is broadening its collaborative ventures with the contemporary art world and has become a partner of the Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale, which will run from September 14th to December 31st.

The 16th Lyon Biennale, first held in 1991 and now considered the leading contemporary art event in France, and one of the most influential Biennales in the world, will explore the vulnerability of the contemporary world. "Manifesto of fragility" is the title chosen by the two curators, Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, for the event, inviting participating artists to express their feelings towards the world that surrounds them and to place fragility at the center of all forms of resistance, instead of considering it a form of weakness. Fragility is perhaps one of the few peculiarities that unites our fragmented world and could thus become the basis for a more sustainable future.

illy is the official coffee of the Lyon Biennale. Visitors will be able to enjoy illy's unique 100% Arabica blend at the restaurant in the Usines Fafgor, the event's main cultural venue, or take a break with a Ready to Drink illy coffee available from illy's cargo bike.

"We are happy to be partners with the Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale  comments Cristina Scocchia, Chief Executive Officer of illycaffe - Looking for beauty and making the most of it is one of the hallmarks of illycaffe's corporate culture, and this is the reason why the company has decided to support this very important event."

The beauty referred to by illycaffe reflects the ancient Greek concept of kalokagathia, which holds that goodness and beauty are inextricably tied and depend on one another, encompassing both the ethical and aesthetic dimension. For a company that pursues sustainable quality like illy, opening a privileged communication channel with the world of art is a major component of corporate culture and ethics.

Sam Bardouil and Till Fellrath, curators of the 16th edition of the Lyon Biennale, and directors of the Hamburger Bahnhof, National Gallery of Contemporary Art in Berlin, added: "For many decades, illy has been unwavering in its commitment to supporting the arts. illy's ongoing collaboration with artists on the brand's iconic art cup series is celebrated worldwide. We often associate a cup of coffee with a coming together around a conversation. In supporting the 16th Lyon Biennale, illy is allowing us to further discussions that are pertinent to the current moment, allowing for more possibilities of encounter between art and the public."

illycaffe is an Italian family-owned company, founded in Trieste in 1933. Its mission has always been to offer the best coffee to the world. Illycaffe produces a unique 100% Arabica blend, combining 9 of the best varieties in the world, selected by illycaffe: every day 8 million cups of illy coffee are served in over 140 countries around the globe, in the cafes, restaurants and hotels, in single-brand cafes and shops, at home and in the office. As a result of its innovations, illycaffe contributes to the coffee technology progress at global level. In 1991, the "Premio Ernesto Illy de qualidade sustentavel do cafe para espresso" was launched in Brazil for quality espresso coffee. Illycaffe has contributed to the sharing of the know-how, paying growers a premium price for the best quality selected by illycaffe. Since 2016, with the "Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award", the company has celebrated coffee growers all over the world that, according to illy, have produced the best sustainable coffee. Since 2013, the company has been in the list of the World Most Ethical Companies. In 2019, it enhanced its commitment to pursue a sustainable business model integrating the interest of people with the environment, adopting the status of Societa Benefit (Benefit Company) and adding this commitment into its own bylaws. In 2021, illycaffe was the first Italian company in the coffee sector to obtain the international certification as B Corp as a result of its commitment to comply with the highest standards of social and environmental performance. The company also founded the University of Coffee, which has the objective of sharing culture at all levels, offering a comprehensive and practical training to growers, baristas and coffee lovers. Everything that is "made in illy" is about beauty and art, the founding principles of the brand, starting from its logo, designed by artist James Rosenquist, up to illy Art Collection cups, decorated by over 120 international artists. In 2021, the company had 1305 employees and a turnover of about 500 million. There are 205 illy single-brand shops in over 40 countries all over the world. In 2021, Rhone Capital became a minority shareholder of illycaffe with the aim of contributing to the company's international growth plans.

SOURCE illycaffe
Inaugural Award from the Indianapolis Prize honors conservationists early in their careers

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Officials from the Indianapolis Prize, the world's leading award for animal conservation, today named ten Finalists for the newly created Emerging Conservationist Award. The Winner will be awarded $50,000 to advance their work to protect species.

The Emerging Conservationist Award recognizes professional wildlife conservationists, biologists and scientists under 40 years of age working to make strides in saving animal species from extinction. The inaugural Emerging Conservationist Award Winner will be announced in April 2023 and will be recognized at the 2023 Indianapolis Prize Gala presented by Cummins Inc. in downtown Indianapolis on Sept. 30, 2023.

"The Emerging Conservationist Award supports the next generation of conservationists who are actively making a positive difference for the future of biodiversity," said Dr. Rob Shumaker, President & CEO of the Indianapolis Zoological Society, Inc. "These Finalists, along with all of the Prize honorees, share a deep commitment to protecting nature and inspiring people to care for our world."

The Indianapolis Prize recognizes the world's leading conservationists whose work provides future generations with replicable and actionable conservation practices. The Finalists of the Emerging Conservationists represent the people we can rely on to save species around the world.

The Finalists of the 2023 Emerging Conservationist Award include:

Alejandro Arteaga (Tropical Herping, Ecuador)  Alejandro Arteaga is a biologist, conservationist and wildlife photographer. Arteaga co-founded Tropical Herping, a tour agency that offers nature photography trips and tours throughout the tropics. His research is focused on tropical amphibians and reptiles. He has discovered and described 20 new species to science and raised funds to save 106 hectares of Choco rainforest in Ecuador.

Sergio A. Balaguera-Reina, Ph.D. (University of Florida  Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, USA)  Dr. Sergio Balaguera-Reina is a conservation biologist focused on understanding the roles that crocodile species play in aquatic and coastal systems. Dr. Balaguera-Reina also develops conservation plans that provide support for other species as well as the habitats and landscapes that they inhabit.

Fanny M. Cornejo (Rainforest Partnership, USA; Yunkawasi, Peru)  Fanny Cornejo is a primatologist, anthropologist and the director of Yunkawasi, an organization that works with Amazonian and Andean communities for the conservation of threatened species through sustainable economic development and protected area management approach. Fanny is also executive director of the Rainforest Partnership in Peru, Yunkawasi's strategic partner for conservation and sustainable development activities in Peru.

Akbar John, Ph.D. (Institute of Oceanography and Maritime Studies, INOCEM; International Islamic University Malaysia, IIUM, Malaysia)  Dr. Akbar John is an Associate Professor and conservation scientist focused on advancing the science and conservation of horseshoe crabs in Southeast Asia. Dr. John is responsible for establishing a facility to track global horseshoe crab biology, which serves as a referral source for future research on horseshoe crabs.

Corinne J. Kendall, Ph.D. (North Carolina Zoo, USA)  Dr. Corinne Kendall launched the first effort to protect vultures in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. Dr. Kendall is the founder of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' African Vulture Saving Animals from Extinction program, which has developed a tool for discovering poaching and poisoning activities in real-time, based on the movements of vultures fitted with satellite tracking tags.

Arthur Bienvenu Muneza, Ph.D. (Giraffe Conservation Foundation, Africa)  Dr. Arthur Muneza is a wildlife ecologist investigating a variety of factors affecting the survival and reproduction of giraffe populations across East Africa by calculating population, mapping disease ecology, assessing sources of mortality and evaluating predatory interactions with lions.

Megan Murgatroyd, Ph.D. (HawkWatch International, USA)  Dr. Megan Murgatroyd is a conservation biologist focused on understanding and conserving the world's most understudied and threatened raptors globally. Dr. Murgatroyd investigates the impacts of land-use change on Verreaux's Eagles and implements GPS tracking to understand and predict wind turbine collision risk for Verreaux's Eagles.

Nguyen Van Thai (Save Vietnam's Wildlife, Vietnam)  Nguyen Thai is the founder of Save Vietnam's Wildlife, which works to halt the extinction and champion the recovery of threatened species in Vietnam such as the critically endangered pangolin. He established Vietnam's first anti-poaching units, which have destroyed 9,701 animal traps, dismantled 775 illegal camps, confiscated 78 guns, and arrested 558 people for poaching, leading to a significant decline in illegal activities in PuMat National Park.

Olivier Nsengimana (Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association, Rwanda)  Olivier Nsengimana is responsible for designing and implementing a conservation project to save the endangered grey-crowned crane. He established a database of illegally kept cranes in Rwanda, which led to 233 cranes being freed and 160 of those individuals being reintroduced to the wild. A licensed veterinarian, Nsengimana is the founder and director of the Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association, an organization working to expand research and conservation connected to endangered or threatened species in Rwanda.

Stephanie Vaz Nogueira Campos (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)  Stephanie Vaz is an entomologist dedicated to firefly conservation. She is responsible for describing dozens of firefly species and providing tools and resources to facilitate firefly identification in the Neotropics. She discovered past conservation components were not protecting firefly populations from light pollution.

The Emerging Conservationist Award  made possible through a grant from the Kobe Foundation  was created to identify and support conservationists under 40 years of age with the talent to make a significant impact on saving an animal species or group of species. The Emerging Conservationist Finalists are selected through a two-stage selection process, where a Review Committee evaluates and then narrows the application pool to 10 Finalists who are then sent to the Selection Committee to choose a Winner. The Inaugural Emerging Conservationist Award Winner will be announced in April 2023 and will then be recognized at the Indianapolis Prize Gala presented by Cummins Inc. in downtown Indianapolis on Sept. 30, 2023.

For additional media assets related to the 2023 Emerging Conservationist Finalists, click here.

To learn more about the Emerging Conservationist Award, visit IndianapolisPrize.org/EmergingConservationist/

ABOUT THE EMERGING CONSERVATIONIST AWARD

The Indianapolis Prize Emerging Conservationist Award  made possible through a grant from the Kobe Foundation  is a biennial award that supports conservationists under 40 years of age with the talent and drive to make a significant impact on saving an animal species or group of species.

ABOUT THE INDIANAPOLIS PRIZE

The Indianapolis Prize is a signature conservation initiative of the Indianapolis Zoological Society, Inc. The Indianapolis Prize recognizes and rewards conservationists who have achieved major victories in advancing the sustainability of an animal species or group of species. Winners receive an unrestricted $250,000 award. Remaining Finalists each receive $50,000. Since 2006, the Indianapolis Prize has administered more than $5 million in cash awards.

SOURCE Indianapolis Prize
PRAGUE, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) and the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) have collaborated to offer an Academy course on Mechanical Circulatory Support on 13 November, concurrently with the first day of the ESOT TLJ 3.0 Consensus Conference. This full-day programme is designed for both clinicians and allied health professionals, and will provide a concise review of clinical knowledge and an outline of professional skills in mechanical circulatory support.

"Complex challenges require coordinated solutions; advancing science and improving patient care is a team effort," says Greg Schultz, CAE, ISHLT Chief Executive Officer. "The joint ISHLT-ESOT MCS Academy is a critical building block in the development of a deep and durable partnership between ISHLT and ESOT to support our healthcare professionals and elevate the global standard of care for our patient populations."

Clinicians & allied health professionals to gather concurrently with the first day of ESOT TLJ 3.0 Consensus Conference Tweet this

"ESOT and ISHLT are uniquely positioned to fuel innovative and impactful strategies to meet the need of our respective communities. But we also share common goals, objectives, and interests. So it only makes sense to come and work together towards a joint mission," says Devi Mey, ESOT Chief Executive Officer. "We begin this adventure with the launch of the ISHLT x ESOT Mechanical Circulatory Support Academy. We invite everyone interested in mechanical circulatory support to register and attend the meeting in Prague. At ESOT, we believe that collaboration is the foundation for a more open, connected, and engaged community."

In addition to reviewing clinical knowledge, the Academy will provide an outline of the essential professional skills for candidate assessment and longitudinal support for mechanical circulatory support patients of all ages. This course will be of junior faculty in centres providing mechanical circulatory support, furnishing them with a tool to review their standards of care, develop protocols, and implement guidelines established in management of mechanical circulatory support patients. An additional focus will be laid on career perspectives and advice in MCS to develop a more diverse group of clinicians.

For more information or to register for the course, visit the ISHLT Europe MCS Academy website. ISHLT is also presenting an MCS Academy on 4 November in Chicago, IL USAmore information on that is available at bit.ly/2022MCSNorthAmerica.

About ISHLT

The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation is a not-for-profit, multidisciplinary professional organization dedicated to improving the care of patients with advanced heart or lung disease through transplantation, mechanical support and innovative therapies. With members in more than 45 countries, ISHLT is the world's largest organization dedicated to the research, education and advocacy of end-stage heart and lung disease. ISHLT members represent more than 15 different professional disciplines. For more information, visit www.ishlt.org.

SOURCE The International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation
MIAMI, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- JenCare, a leading national provider of primary care to underserved, Medicare-eligible seniors, announced today the appointment of industry veteran Steve Nelson as CEO of JenCare. The newly created role is intended to continue to drive scalable growth, geographic expansion, and consistent performance. Currently, there are 30 JenCare Senior Medical Centers across six cities in Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, Kentucky, and Louisiana. Having an independent leadership team will enable JenCare to accelerate its growth and serve more patients in more markets.

Steve Nelson, CEO, JenCare

Steve brings more than 30 years of industry experience, with deep expertise at the highest levels of healthcare organizations. He most recently served as the Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Duly Health and Care, one of the largest multispecialty independent provider groups in the U.S. with more than 1,000 primary care and specialty care physicians and more than 7,000 team members across 150 locations.

Prior to Duly, Steve spent 15 years at UnitedHealth serving in leadership positions in both the Commercial and Government businesses. He served as the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, making the $190 billion division of UnitedHealth Group number one nationally in Medicare Advantage. He oversaw the commercial and government-subsidized health insurance businesses, including Medicare Advantage, which covered over five million seniors. He drove efforts that resulted in increased growth, employee engagement and customer satisfaction.

Throughout his career, Steve has demonstrated the ability to scale and build strong organizations while staying focused on reimagining healthcare by working closely with physicians and healthcare delivery systems. His leadership has resulted in exceptional patient experiences and better outcomes through access to high-quality, affordable healthcare services and better navigation across the healthcare system.

"Today marks a pivotal moment for JenCare, and we are proud to have Steve on board to further our mission of honoring seniors by delivering better health outcomes with quality and coordinated care through our physician-led organization. We want to fully unlock JenCare's potential and scale the business to serve more of the neediest populations," said Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of ChenMed, the majority owner of JenCare. "Steve will be instrumental as we enter our next phase of growth, and he has a proven track record of growing large, impactful organizations with strong cultures, missions and performance. Additionally, Steve knows how to harness physician leadership to drive tremendous outcomes. During his tenure at UnitedHealthcare, the company became the leader in Medicare, and I'm confident he will create immense value for JenCare."

JenCare is committed to delivering superior healthcare to Medicare-eligible and dual-eligible seniors. The company employs outstanding physicians who are empowered to deliver VIP service, to detect and effectively manage high-risk diseases, and to reduce hospital sick days for seniors, many of whom are living with multiple and major chronic conditions.

"I'm thrilled to be leading JenCare into the next chapter," said Steve Nelson, CEO of JenCare. "Achieving equity in health access has been a passion since starting my career in healthcare. I admire what JenCare and the Chen family have done for the underserved population, and I look forward to scaling this successful model and expanding the business even further."

About JenCare:

JenCare Senior Medical Center is a senior-focused primary care practice. Currently, there are 30 JenCare centers across six cities in Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, Kentucky, and Louisiana.

JenCare is part of the Chen family of companies, which operates more than 100 centers in 15 states. The company employs outstanding primary care physicians and specialist doctors who are empowered to do whatever it takes to deliver VIP service; to detect and effectively manage high-risk diseases; and to reduce hospital sick days for Medicare-eligible seniors, many of whom are living with multiple and major chronic conditions.

SOURCE ChenMed
Filing accuses nationwide apartment owner of racial discrimination against crime victim

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- UDR Inc. ( NYSE: UDR), a large national real estate corporation, cannot shake a discrimination lawsuit that a former tenant filed in 2021 after he was forced to vacate the premises after unknown assailants shot him at his Washington, D.C. apartment, Capitol View at 14th.

A judge's order, issued Friday, allows key portions of the lawsuit filed on behalf of Patrick Oseni, a young Black graduate of Howard University, to proceed.

The lawsuit stems from a January 2020 incident at Capitol View, a luxury apartment building, where Oseni was shot one Saturday morning after opening the door to his unit. The lawsuit says assailants entered the building unimpeded, went up to the fourth floor, knocked on Oseni's door and shot him in the head and torso when he opened it. He survived after undergoing emergency surgery.

The claim alleges that when he returned from the hospital in bandages, UDR had changed the lock on Oseni's apartment door and pressed him to vacate because UDR claimed other tenants were "uncomfortable" with him continuing to live in the building.

One month later, a police raid on another Capitol View apartmenton the same floor where Oseni had residedturned up guns, cash and drugs including crystal meth and cocaine. That illegal operationand not Oseniwas the likely target of the initial incident, according to the lawsuit.

"I think Patrick may have been shot by assailants who had the wrong door and nearly killed the wrong guy," said lead attorney Mark A. Smith of Smith Mustille, LLC, who along with Judith A. Mustille represents Oseni.

UDR, which is headquartered in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and operates apartment buildings in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, Dallas, San Francisco, and other cities, moved to dismiss the case. But D.C. Superior Court Judge Maurice Ross allowed the most serious counts, including two counts of discrimination, one of fraudulent misrepresentation, and one of intentional infliction of emotional distress, to proceed toward trial.

"No one should have to experience the trauma that Patrick suffered at the hands of a landlord who locked him out of his apartment because he'd been the victim of a crime, especially in a luxury building where the owners advertise 24-hour concierge and controlled access," said Ms. Mustille.

Contact:

Mark Annick

800-559-4534

[email protected]

SOURCE Smith Mustille, LLC
HOUSTON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Calvetti Ferguson LLC announced today that Kelly Waibel-Rangel, CPA, has joined the firm's Houston office as a partner in the tax practice and will serve as the family office practice leader.

Kelly, who most recently was a senior manager in the private client and family office enterprise practice at RSM, will focus her practice on advising high-net-worth individuals, family groups, family offices, private trust companies, and closely-held business owners on tax, estate planning, and financial matters.

Jason Ferguson, the managing partner of Calvetti Ferguson, said, "Kelly is well known throughout Texas as a family office tax leader. We know she will be an excellent fit for our values-based culture and take great care of our clients."

"Kelly brings over 13 years of experience to the firm of advising clients on the tax aspects of formation and restructuring family offices, partnerships, wealth transfer planning, family governance, and succession planning," said tax partner in charge, Lori Lato. "Kelly's skillset and exceptional leadership allow her to provide clients with unique insights into how they can effectively navigate a complex tax landscape."

With 11 tax partners located in Texas metropolitan areas, Calvetti Ferguson's tax practice focuses on providing clients with a full range of tax services including comprehensive tax planning, international tax consulting, federal and state tax credits and incentives, multi-state tax issues, and tax controversy matters. The firm helps businesses and individuals achieve their goals by working with the firm's other service lines  audit, advisory, and accounting services  and connecting clients to service providers best suited to their unique situations and plans.

About Calvetti Ferguson

Calvetti Ferguson is an award-winning Texas CPA and advisory firm. As trusted business advisors to privately held and public companies, private equity funds, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals, we provide assurance, tax, advisory, accounting, and technology risk services. We advise beyond accounting to eliminate hurdles, identify opportunities, and ensure the best for our clients and their businesses.

Recognized by Forbes as one of America's Top Recommended Tax and Accounting Firms, Calvetti Ferguson is also an INSIDE Public Accounting Top 200 Firm. Calvetti Ferguson is an independent member firm of PrimeGlobal an award-winning association of independent accounting and business advisory firms comprised of more than 300 highly successful member firms in over 100 countries.

Media contact:

Emily Martin

Executive Director of Marketing

[email protected]

(713) 726-5723

SOURCE Calvetti Ferguson
HOUSTON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A Reagan judicial appointee and Solicitor General under George H.W. Bush, Ken Starr also served as Independent Counsel, President and Chancellor of Baylor University and Dean of the Pepperdine School of Law. Starr had a distinguished career in academia, the law and public service. After leaving Baylor, Starr was Of Counsel to The Lanier Law Firm, where he continued to practice appellate law. He also taught courses in constitutional law, negotiation and religious liberty plus authored several books and served as a commentator for Fox News. Starr died on September 13, 2022 at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center in Houston of complications from surgery.

Kenneth W. Starr

Starr argued 36 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including 25 during his service as U.S. Solicitor General from 1989 to 1993. He served as United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1983 to 1989, as Counselor and Chief of Staff to U.S. Attorney General William French Smith from 1981 to 1983, and as a law clerk to both Chief Justice Warren E. Burger (1975-1977) and to Fifth Circuit Judge David W. Dyer (1973-1974). He was appointed by a three-judge panel to serve as Independent Counsel for five investigations, including Whitewater, from 1994 to 1999.

For 25 years, Starr taught constitutional law as an adjunct or visiting professor at New York University, George Mason School of Law, Pepperdine School of Law, Chapman Law School and as the Louise L. Morrison Professor at The Baylor Law School. More recently, Starr taught courses at Regent Law School and Hillsdale College. Starr was a partner at two national law firms: Kirkland & Ellis and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, specializing in appellate law. He joined The Lanier Law Firm in 2017 as Of Counsel. Mark Lanier said of Ken, "Over four decades I have known Ken as "Judge Starr," "Dean Starr," "President Starr," "Uncle Ken," but most importantly "dear friend," to me, my family, our firm, our clients, American justice, and world justice. The world has lost a super Starr, and the world is rightly in mourning."

He served as the Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean of the Pepperdine School of Law from 2004 to 2010 and as President and Chancellor of Baylor University from 2010 to 1016. According to the current president of Pepperdine, Jim Gash, "Starr's vision for Pepperdine was globalI am profoundly grateful for Ken's friendship, mentorship, counseling, guidance and encouragement." Starr also held leadership roles on many non-profit boards, including Advocates International, Christian Legal Society and the Alliance Defending Freedom Advisory Board. Throughout his professional career, he championed the cause of religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all persons.

Other boards on which he served were: The Council for Court Excellence (past President); Institute of Judicial Administration (past President); Southern Presidents Conference (past President; the Philosophical Society of Texas (past President); American Judicature Society; American Law Institute; American Association of Law Schools; American Bar Association Journal of Editors; American Inns of Court; Institute for United States Studies; Supreme Court Historical Society; Senior Fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States, National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU); Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas (ICUT); the Baylor College of Medicine, the Baylor Scott & White Healthcare System, American University, Shenandoah University, TPUSA Advisory Board, and the House DC, a faith-based after school program for inner city youth.

Kenneth Winston Starr was born July 21, 1946, to William D. Starr and Vannie Trimble Starr. He grew up in San Antonio where his father was a barber and minister. After graduating from San Antonio's Sam Houston High School, he earned his B.A. from George Washington University (while working part-time on Capitol Hill for Congressman Bob Price). He earned a Master of Arts in Political Science from Brown University and his Juris Doctor degree from Duke University Law School where he was Order of the Coif and served as Note and Comment Editor on the Duke Law Journal. He and Alice Jean Mendell of Mamaroneck, New York were married on August 23, 1970, one week before he began law school. He was admitted to practice law in Texas, California, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and the United States Supreme Court.

Starr was author of many articles and several highly acclaimed books: Religious Liberty in Crisis: Exercising Your Faith in an Age of Uncertainty was described by best-selling author Os Guinness as "seasoned, wise, magisterial, and gracefully written -- a comprehensive judge's tour of the religious freedom horizon;" First Among Equals: The Supreme Court in American Life , was praised by U.S. Circuit Judge David B. Sentelle as "eminently readable and informative...not just the best treatment to-date of the Court after Chief Justice Earl Warren, it is likely to have that distinction for a long, long time;" Bear Country: The Baylor Story and Contempt: A Memoir of the Clinton Investigation (a New York Times best seller in 2018).

He received numerous honors and awards, including the Edmund Randolph Award for Outstanding Service in the Department of Justice, the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service, the J. Reuben Clark Law Society 2005 Distinguished Service Award, the 2004 Capital Book Award, and the Jefferson Cup award from the FBI. He received honorary doctoral degrees from American University, Hampton Sydney College, Shenandoah University, and Pepperdine University.

Starr is survived by his beloved wife Alice Mendell Starr, to whom he was married for 52 years. They lived in Northern Virginia, California and most recently Waco, Texas. In addition, he is survived by his three children, Randall P. Starr married to Melina T. Starr, Carolyn S. Doolittle married to Cameron M. Doolittle, and Cynthia S. Roemer married to Justin M. Roemer, plus nine precious grandchildren: Grace, Christiana, Hewson and Sandhana Doolittle; William and Charlotte Starr; and Sienna, Madison and Colton Roemer. Starr is also survived by his sister, Billie Jeayne Reynolds and brother, Jerry Starr. Speaking for all of Ken's children, Randall said: "We are deeply saddened with the loss of our dear and loving Father and Grandfather, whom we admired for his prodigious work ethic, but who always put his family first. The love, energy, endearing sense of humor, and fun-loving interest Dad exhibited to each of us was truly special, and we cherish the many wonderful memories we were able to experience with him. He is now with his Lord and Savior."

Starr was beloved by many treasured colleagues and friends. Tommye Lou Davis, who served as Starr's Chief of Staff at Baylor University, said of her time serving with Ken, "It was a great honor to serve Baylor alongside Ken Starr. His warm, inclusive personality brought the campus uniquely together. He was deeply loved by students, highly respected by faculty and staff, and greatly admired by alumni and the broader Baylor family. Judge Starr's brilliant mind, affable personality, and tireless efforts on behalf of the University have left an indelible mark on all of us fortunate enough to have worked with him. I will always be grateful for his friendship, dynamic leadership and selfless service to Baylor University."

Robert Vagley, former President of the American Insurance Association and a friend of nearly four decades, said to an inquiring reporter that he deeply admired "Ken's absolute decency, his rock solid faith, his love for his wife and children, his loyalty to family and friends, his devotion to our country and Constitution, his belief in the rule of law and an ordered and civil society, his willingness to serve for the greater good without regard for his own plans and wishes, his always sunny disposition, his charity and good will to all, his humility and selflessness, his charming and jocular personality, and his Texas-bred and Texas sized strength of character."

Starr will be buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. Visitation will be held at Wilkirson Hatch Bailey in Waco on Friday, September 23 from 4:00  7:00 pm. A memorial service will be held at Antioch Community Church in Waco on Saturday, September 24 at 3:00 pm. Jimmy Seibert, senior pastor of Antioch, said of Ken's life, "The world will remember Ken Starr as a brilliant thinker, leader, and defender of truth and justice. I will remember Ken Starr as a devoted personal friend and a man of sincere and deep faith. Thank you, Ken, for your love of God, your love of family and your love for all of us. You will always be remembered in American history, but you will be specifically remembered in our hearts."

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Ken Starr can be made to:

Alliance Defending Freedom 15100 N. 90th Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85260

or

Religious Freedom Institute 316 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Suite 501

Washington, DC 20003

SOURCE The Family of Kenneth W. Starr
TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Khiron Life Sciences Corp. ("Khiron" or the "Company") (TSXV: KHRN) ( OTCQX: KHRNF) (Frankfurt: A2JMZC), a global leader in medical cannabis throughout Europe and Latin America, today announced that received the Best Latin American Cannabis Company award at Benzinga's 2022 Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago.

"This award recognizes our efforts and achievements as a Latin American Company that radiates throughout our international footprint. Khiron Life Sciences is a first mover in developing a global path for medical cannabis in the region, and we are pursuing this approach worldwide. By providing access to medical cannabis for doctors, pharmacists, insurers, and patients, we have created a true end-to-end solution for the medical cannabis industry", commented Alvaro Torres, CEO and Director of Khiron Life Sciences.

Khiron has developed a proven international access business model with highly profitable medical cannabis sales in Colombia, the United Kingdom, Peru, Brazil, Germany and soon Mexico. The Company has been focused on expanding its first-mover advantage where its health center's physical installed capacity it's around 400,000 consults per year in Colombia and more than 20,000 additional annual consults from the recent launch of Zerenia Clinic in Brazil. By Q2 2022, Khiron had exceeded the milestone of selling its first 100,000 bottles in the Latin American region since beginning sales in 2020, maintaining its high gross margins and pricing structure, with a strong portfolio of THC and CBD medical cannabis products.

Khiron's CEO and Director, Alvaro Torres, will be participating on a panel with industry experts, entitled "International Momentum for Medical Cannabis" taking place on Tuesday, September 13, at 2:55pm CT on the Industry Stage, after announcing the acquisition of Pharmadrug GmbH, an EU-GMP & GDP certified manufacturer and distributor in Germany. Mr. Torres will also be presenting Khiron's corporate presentation on Wednesday, September 14, at 11:50am CT on the Investor Stage.

About Khiron Life Sciences Corp.

Khiron is a leading global medical cannabis company with core operations in Latin America and Europe. Leveraging wholly-owned medical health clinics and proprietary telemedicine platforms, Khiron combines a patient-oriented approach, physician education programs, scientific expertise, product innovation, and focus on creating access to drive prescriptions and brand loyalty with patients worldwide. The Company has a sales presence in Colombia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Peru, and Brazil and is positioned to commence sales in Mexico. The Company is led by its co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Alvaro Torres, together with an experienced and diverse executive team and board of directors.

Visit Khiron online at https://investors.khiron.ca.

Linkedin

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not historical in nature constitutes forward-looking information. Forward-looking information contained in this news release may include statements pertaining to the expected synergies and benefits to the Company from the acquisition of the Target as well as statements as to business strategy. Forward-looking information and statements contained in this news release reflect management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available and on assumptions that management believes to be reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the expected benefits to be realized by Khiron's business as a result of the acquisition of the Target, and assumptions regarding market opportunities in the jurisdictions in which the Company operates and where it seeks to operate.

Although management believes that its expectations and assumptions to be reasonable, forward-looking information is always subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of management, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the following: general economic conditions, adverse conditions in capital markets, political uncertainties, counterparty risk, failing to obtain required regulatory requirements and approvals, failure to maintain required permits and licences, business integration risks, as well as those other risk factors discussed in Khiron's most recent annual information form which is available on Khiron's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

As a result of the foregoing and other risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information contained in this press release. Readers are further cautioned that the foregoing risks and uncertainties is not exhaustive, and there may be other risks and uncertainties, presently unknown to management of the Company, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements contained in this press release. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Khiron disclaims any intention to update or revise any forward-looking information disclosed herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE, NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VEMTIRE EXCHANGE), ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PRESS RELEASE.

SOURCE Khiron Life Sciences Corp.
First New Wide Release Whiskey Since 2015

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kings County Distillery, New York City's premier craft distillery, is releasing a new flagship whiskey in wide-release, a blended bourbon made from house-distilled straight whiskeys. The resulting whiskey is bright, complex and approachablea multi-occasion whiskey for neat sipping or mixing. With a suggested price of $54.99, Kings County's Blended Bourbon will be its most accessible aged spirit and arrives in a striking new blue label, one which clearly differentiates this spirit from Kings County's established bourbon, rye, and single malt whiskeys.

KCD

"As we have done with moonshine and bottled-in-bond, making a blended bourbon is a way of asking whiskey drinkers to reconsider an overlooked category of spirit," said Co-Founder and Distiller Colin Spoelman. "Blended whiskey is most often associated with crowd-pleasing scotch or Canadian whiskies. We used the all-but-forgotten category of blended bourbon to create the American analog to these reliable and endlessly versatile spirits. Composed entirely of in-house, pot-distilled straight bourbon, straight corn whiskey, straight rye whiskey, and malt whiskey, our Blended Bourbon makes for a sippable, lower proof bourbon, suitable for nearly any application calling for an approachable American whiskey. In the interest of providing the drinker with the highest level of transparency and elevating a category historically associated with intentionally vague labeling practices, we list the exact blend composition on every bottle."

By law, blended bourbon must use 51% straight bourbon, but the open-ended definition allows the Kings County's blending team to use the full breadth of our mature inventory to craft a complex and purposeful flavor profile within the lineup. With this added flexibility, Blended Bourbon can become a volume leader in Kings County's portfolio, joining an existing line of superlative aged whiskeys.

Kings County's spirits have been widely accepted and appreciated, but with supply of aged whiskey growing short across the spectrum of American whiskey, Kings County aims to lead the market with a superior all-purpose two-year-old spirit. With notes of honey, caramel, and rye pepper, this is a flexible whiskey, and one that shows what can be achieved through the use of quality organic ingredients, careful distilling, and creative blending. It also presents a spirit suitable for mixing, creating a new audience for the brand.

Kings County Blended Bourbon will be available throughout New York State starting on September 14th with national rollout to follow, visit www.kingscountydistillery.com for more information. With the new entry-level aged whiskey will come a reduction in pricing on Kings County's unaged spirits. "While many distillers are raising prices, we are making our whiskeys more affordable and accessible," said Spoelman. "We want to be the distiller that meets the moment for our customers and fans."

KINGS COUNTY DISTILLERY is New York City's oldest, largest, and premier whiskey distillery. Founded in 2010, Kings County makes handmade bourbon, rye, and other whiskeys out of the 123-year-old Paymaster Building in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. We use New York grain and traditional distilling equipment to make whiskeys that have been praised by the New York Times, Wine & Spirits Magazine, and Whisky Advocate and is recognized as one of the preeminent craft distilleries in the United States, having been named Distillery of the Year in 2016 from the American Distilling Institute.

For more information, contact Colin Spoelman at [email protected]/347-689-4211 or Taylor Foxman at [email protected]/609-432-2237.

SOURCE Kings County Distillery
NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of Kohl's Corporation ( NYSE: KSS) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.

Class Period: October 20, 2020 to May 19, 2022

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: November 1, 2022

No obligation or cost to you.

Learn more about your recoverable losses in KSS:

https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/kohls-class-action-loss-submission-form?id=31582&from=4

Kohl's Corporation NEWS - KSS NEWS

CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that Kohl's Corporation made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Kohl's new strategic framework to "drive top-line growth," "expand operating margin," and become "the most trusted retailer of choice for the active and casual lifestyle" (the "Strategic Plan") was not well tailored to achieving the Company's stated goals; (ii) the defendants had likewise overstated the Company's success in executing its Strategic Plan; (iii) Kohl's had deficient disclosure controls and procedures, internal control over financial reporting, and corporate governance mechanisms; (iv) as a result, the Company's board of directors was able to and did withhold material information from shareholders about the state of Kohl's in the lead-up to the Company's annual meeting; (v) all the foregoing, once revealed, was likely to have a material negative impact on Kohl's financial condition and reputation; and (vi) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in Kohl's you have until November 1, 2022 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased Kohl's securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the KSS lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/kohls-class-action-loss-submission-form?id=31582&from=4.

ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM

J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

J. Klein, Esq.

535 Fifth Avenue

4th Floor

New York City, NY 10017

[email protected]

Telephone: (212) 616-4899

www.kleinstocklaw.com

SOURCE The Klein Law Firm
Natural language processing leader acknowledged for helping organizations derive greater benefit from text-based data

SAN MATEO, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kyndi , the leading natural language processing (NLP) company, today announced that KMWorld, the premier knowledge management publication, has acknowledged the Kyndi Natural Language Search Solution as a Top Trend-Setting Product of 2022. Each year, KMWorld looks for technology solutions that are designed to help organizations derive greater benefit from their information, share knowledge efficiently, make better decisions, enable compliance and security, effectively support employees, and communicate seamlessly with customers. The full list is available here .

KMWorld, the premier knowledge management publication, has acknowledged the Kyndi Natural Language Search Solution as a Top Trend-Setting Product of 2022. The impetus of our Trend-Setting Products for 2022 is to recognize the most innovative offerings that better equip organizations to win in todays competitive and fast-changing work environment. Kyndi is one such solution and we applaud them for helping customers achieve highly relevant and context-driven information at unprecedented speed.

"Companies are looking for solutions to overcome knowledge and collaboration silos, balance faster, more widespread access to information while making sure that information is up-to-date, accurate, and secure," said Tom Hogan, Group Publisher, KMWorld. "The impetus of our Trend-Setting Products for 2022 is to recognize the most innovative offerings that better equip organizations to win in today's competitive and fast-changing work environment. Kyndi is one such solution and we applaud them for helping customers achieve highly relevant and context-driven information at unprecedented speed."

The Kyndi Natural Language Search Solution is the first end-to-end offering designed to maximize the relevancy and speed of finding answers in unstructured, text-based data. Due to limited NLP expertise and the cost of training, tuning and deploying state-of-the-art language models, organizations of all sizes often struggle to implement or overlook natural language search as a true business enabler. Unlike other natural language-powered solutions that are difficult and expensive to implement on company- and domain-specific data, Kyndi's solution allows customers to leverage a best-in-class "Natural Language Search as a Service", enabling organizations to realize tangible business value from their AI investment immediately. Kyndi has seen tremendous market traction across various use cases by focusing on empowering lines-of-business and delivering real business outcomes, such as improving customer support and services, accelerating policy and compliance search, and optimizing market intelligence research.

"Being named a Top Trend-Setting Product of 2022 by KMWorld is great accomplishment for Kyndi but more importantly, it's affirmation that our Natural Language Search solution is truly enabling organizations to implement NLP-powered search using everyday language and queries," said Ryan Welsh, CEO and Founder of Kyndi. "It also underscores our innovative approach and commitment to accelerate policy and procedure search to meet compliance requirements, minimize risks, and gain accurate and deeper market insights for competitive research."

In addition to this latest recognition, Kyndi was named the 2022 Frost & Sullivan North America Entrepreneurial Company of the Year for Excellence in Natural Language Processing by research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan,; named a KMWorld AI 50 for helping companies compete and innovate in all industry sectors by leveraging intelligent knowledge discovery and delivery solutions, and was a recipient of the Technology Pioneer Award 2021 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) for innovation in the field of Neuro-Symbolic Artificial Intelligence (AI), and for how its Natural Language Technology platform is transforming enterprise productivity.

About Kyndi

Kyndi is a global provider of the Kyndi Platform for the Natural-Language-Enabled Enterprise, an AI-powered platform that empowers people to do their most meaningful work. Trusted by the world's most innovative organizations, Kyndi's platform delivers highly relevant and context-driven information at unprecedented speed, keeping humans at the heart of critical problem solving. Backed by leading venture investors including Intel Capital and PivotNorth, Kyndi was recently awarded the North America Entrepreneurial Company of the Year by leading research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, and was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. Customers include government agencies and enterprises across financial services, life science, manufacturing, media, and hi-tech industries. Learn more at: https://kyndi.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter .

Media Contacts

Chris McCoin or Richard Smith

McCoin & Smith Communications Inc.

508-429-5988 (Chris) or 978-433-3304 (Rick)

[email protected] or [email protected]

SOURCE Kyndi
By Leveraging New Bundled Pricing for LeafLink's Logistics Solutions, Payment Tools, and Marketplace, Cannabis Companies Can Save on Costs, Drive Revenue, and Improve Business Margins in Challenging Economic Climate

Innovative Pricing Model is First Of Its Kind for Cannabis Industry

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LeafLink, the world's leading online wholesale cannabis platform, today announced a new pricing model to help cannabis wholesalers manage their daily operations more efficiently and seamlessly through LeafLink's full-service platform. By using a bundled package of offerings from LeafLink's full platform of logistics solutions, payment tools, and the company's world-leading marketplace, cannabis retailers and brands can save an estimated 20% per month or more on their operational costs. Leading cannabis businesses, including March and Ash and Cannalicious, have already signed onto the new pricing plan and are leveraging LeafLink's full-service platform to streamline their operations, save money, and drive value for their businesses  meeting a critical business need in the current challenging economic environment.

With LeafLink's new full platform pricing model  the first of its kind in the industry  cannabis businesses can streamline and centralize operations for one predictable monthly cost, and reinvest the money they will save on wholesale margins directly back into growing their business. By combining all that LeafLink has to offer into a single, holistic bundle, cannabis operators simplify their daily tasks and focus on growing their business. LeafLink's suite of offerings include: logistics and supply chain solutions, payment tools, an industry-leading marketplace that integrates with the other systems in the cannabis tech stack, advertising opportunities to maximize exposure to buyers, and real-time insights that give users wholesale reporting to make the strategic business decisions.

"At LeafLink, everything we do is driven by our desire to make it easier for cannabis brands and retailers to do business. By packaging our offerings together in this simplified way, our new full platform pricing plan is about exactly that. Whether you are a leading MSO working across the country, or just starting up shop in a single state, like Michigan or California, LeafLink is the trusted partner and one-stop shop for all of your operational needs," said Ryan G. Smith, Co-Founder and CEO of LeafLink.

LeafLink's platform currently serves enterprises across the country, and its new full platform pricing model is being rolled out in California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to start. Pricing will now be available in three tiers - Essential, Professional, and Enterprise - designed to serve cannabis wholesalers at every size. Essential is ideal for single store retailers and recently launched brands; Professional is targeted to support growing retail chains and houses of brands that require increased logistics, storage and services support; while Enterprise is crafted specifically for large brands, retail chains, and multi-state operators (MSOs) requiring the highest level of support. Pricing varies based on tier and level of service needs, and all three tiers include access to LeafLink's industry-leading marketplace.

"March and Ash has been proud to work with LeafLink since 2018, and they've been a real gamechanger for us across Southern California. Working with LeafLink has improved our margins by helping us streamline our operations, and minimize vendors needing to come to our stores  we have become significantly more efficient. Our inventory is in one place and it's easier to manage everything and where it needs to go. Our managers love it too because their teams don't have to spend all day stickering products. This new pricing model is the icing on the cake of adding value to an already incredible partnership that we have seen countless benefits from," said Jon Saco, Chief Operating Officer of March and Ash.

"Since launching in Michigan in 2018, Cannalicious Labs has been on a mission to deliver the highest quality products that are grown in nature and rooted in science. While we focus on producing the best possible products for our customers, we rely on partners like LeafLink to help us take care of the rest. Through the company's new full platform pricing plan, we will be able to seamlessly reach even more retailers and continue to grow our business," said Tim Schuler, President & COO of Detroit Edible Company and Cannalicious Labs.

"ReLeaf Farms is new to LeafLink, but we are already incredibly excited about the value that the platform will be able to deliver for our business and our customers. Beyond the anticipated cost savings compared to our previous set of solutions, we're also looking forward to the additional revenue we'll be able to generate by adopting the full LeafLink platform. We can reinvest that money into our business, and ensure that we're consistently delivering the best possible customer experience. This is perfectly aligned with our mission to improve and enhance people's enjoyment of life with top-quality products and great customer service," said Ryan Fritzsch, Corporate Controller at ReLeaf Farms.

First launched in 2016, LeafLink's marketplace has grown into the world's largest cannabis wholesale marketplace, processing more than $5B in orders annually. The company's offerings are built specifically for each market and include solutions that enable brands to increase reliability, efficiency, and transparency in shipping; retailer-focused solutions for warehousing, fulfillment, and restocking of inventory; and technology to help streamline inventory operations and increase margins. LeafLink is also committed to bringing critical liquidity to the cannabis market. The company previously raised a $250 million credit facility for this purpose, and its payment tools allow buyers and sellers to make and receive payments on their schedule.

LeafLink's platform also includes insights and analytics tools to help cannabis companies make more informed and data-driven decisions. Brands can use it to comprehend the demands of their customers, help guide product development, and keep track of the competition. This depth of data also helps brands expand into new markets  they can develop an in-depth understanding of market growth rates, forecasted demand, competitors, and potential barriers to entry.

Tens of thousands of companies utilize LeafLink's platform, including many industry-leading brands and multi-state operators (MSOs) that have recently adopted LeafLink's new logistics and fulfillment solutions, such as Ascend Wellness, Columbia Care, RevClinics, March and Ash, Cannacraft, BellRock Brands, and Summit Brands.

About LeafLink

LeafLink is the cannabis industry's wholesale platform and has revolutionized the way thousands of brands, distributors, and retailers manage their operations in 30 markets and growing. The company's industry-defining tools make it easier for cannabis businesses to create, manage, pay for, and ship their orders, so they can focus on growing their businesses. LeafLink's marketplace processed approximately $5 billion in annual orders in 2021, making up an estimated nearly half of U.S. wholesale cannabis commerce. Backed by leading venture capital firms and strategic investors including Founders Fund, Thrive Capital, Nosara Capital and Lerer Hippeau, LeafLink has raised more than $131 million of equity to date as well as a $250 million credit facility to provide liquidity to the cannabis supply chain. Learn more at https://LeafLink.com/ .

Media Contact

MATTIO Communications

Mark Sinclair

[email protected]

SOURCE Leaflink
A Consortium of Companies and Non Profit Organizations Collaborating to

Create an Open Source Software Stack to Advance a Plurality of

Interoperable Wallets

DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Linux Foundation, a global nonprofit organization enabling innovation through open source, today announced the intention to form the OpenWallet Foundation (OWF), a new collaborative effort to develop open source software to support interoperability for a wide range of wallet use cases. The initiative already benefits from strong support including leading companies across technology, public sector, and industry vertical segments, and standardization organizations.

The mission of the OWF is to develop a secure, multi-purpose open source engine anyone can use to build interoperable wallets. The OWF aims to set best practices for digital wallet technology through collaboration on open source code for use as a starting point for anyone who strives to build interoperable, secure, and privacy-protecting wallets.

With the OpenWallet Foundation we push for a plurality of wallets based on a common core. Tweet this

The OWF does not intend to publish a wallet itself, nor offer credentials or create any new standards. The community will focus on building an open source software engine that other organizations and companies can leverage to develop their own digital wallets. The wallets will support a wide variety of use cases from identity to payments to digital keys and aim to achieve feature parity with the best available wallets.

Daniel Goldscheider, who started the initiative, said, "With the OpenWallet Foundation we push for a plurality of wallets based on a common core. I couldn't be happier with the support this initiative has received already and the home it found at the Linux Foundation."

Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemllin said, "We are convinced that digital wallets will play a critical role for digital societies. Open software is the key to interoperability and security. We are delighted to host the OpenWallet Foundation and excited for its potential."

OpenWallet Foundation will be featured in a keynote presentation at Open Source Summit Europe on 14 September 2022 at 9:00 AM IST (GMT +1) and a panel at 12:10 PM IST (GMT +1). In order to participate virtually and/or watch the sessions on demand, you can register here .

Pramod Varma, Chief Architect Aadhaar & India Stack, said, "Verifiable credentials are becoming an essential digital empowerment tool for billions of people and small entities. India has been at the forefront of it and is going all out to convert all physical certificates into digitally verifiable credentials via the very successful Digilocker system. I am very excited about the OWF effort to create an interoperable and open source credential wallet engine to supercharge the credentialing infrastructure globally."

"Universal digital wallet infrastructure will create the ability to carry tokenized identity, money, and objects from place to place in the digital world. Massive business model change is coming, and the winning digital business will be the one that earns trust to directly access the real data in our wallets to create much better digital experiences," said David Treat, Global Metaverse Continuum Business Group & Blockchain lead, Accenture. "We are excited to be part of the launch and development of an open-source basis for digital wallet infrastructure to help ensure consistency, interoperability, and portability with privacy, security, and inclusiveness at the core by design."

Drummond Reed, Director of Trust Services at Avast, a brand of NortonLifeLock, said, "We're on a mission to protect digital freedom for everyone. Digital freedom starts with the services used by the individual and the ability to reclaim their personal information and reestablish trust in digital exchanges. Great end point services start with the core of digital identity wallet technology. We are proud to be a founding supporter of the OpenWallet Foundation because collaboration, interoperability, and open ecosystems are essential to the trusted digital future that we envision."

"The mobile wallet industry has seen significant advances in the last decade, changing the way people manage and spend their money, and the tasks that these wallets can perform have rapidly expanded. Mobile wallets are turning into digital IDs and a place to store documents whereby the security requirements are further enhanced," said Taka Kawasaki CoFounder of Authlete Inc. "We understand the importance of standards that ensure interoperability as a member of the OpenID Foundation and in the same way we are excited to work with the Linux Foundation to develop a robust implementation to ensure the highest levels in security."

"Daon provides the digital identity verification/proofing and authentication technology that enables digital trust at scale and on a global basis", said Conor White, President  Americas at Daon, "Our experience with VeriFLY demonstrated the future importance of digital wallets for consumers and we look forward to supporting the OpenWallet Foundation."

"We are building and issuing wallets for decentralized identity applications for several years now. Momentum and interest for this area has grown tremendously, far beyond our own community. It is now more important than ever that a unified wallet core embracing open standards is created, with the ambition to become the global standard. The best industry players are pulling together under the OpenWallet Foundation. esatus AG is proud to be among them as experience, expertise, and technology contributo," said Dr. Andre Kudra, CIO, esatus AG

Kaliya Young, Founder & Principal, Identity Woman in Business, said, "As our lives become more and more digital, it is critical to have strong and interoperable digital wallets that can properly safeguard our digital properties, whether it is our identities, data, or money. We are very excited to see the emergence of the OpenWallet Foundation, particularly its mission to bring key stakeholders together to create a core wallet engine (instead of another wallet) that can empower the actual wallet providers to build better products at lower cost. We look forward to supporting this initiative by leveraging our community resources and knowledge/expertise to develop a truly collaborative movement."

Masa Mashita, Senior Vice President, Strategic Innovations, JCB Co., Ltd. said, "Wallets for the identity management as well as the payment will be a key function for the future user interface. The concept of OpenWallet will be beneficial for the interoperability among multiple industries and jurisdictions."

"Secure and open wallets will allow individuals the world over to store, combine and use their credentials in new ways - allowing them to seamlessly assert their identity, manage payments, access services, etc., and empower them with control of their data. This brings together many of our efforts in India around identity, payments, credentials, data empowerment, health, etc. in an open manner, and will empower billions of people around the world," said Sanjay Jain, Chairman of the Technology Committee of MOSIP.

"The Open Identity Exchange (OIX) welcomes and supports the creation of the OpenWallet Foundation. The creation of open source components that will allow wallet providers to work to standards and trust framework policies in a consistent way is entirely complementary to our own work on open and interoperable Digital Identities. OIX's Global Interoperability working group is already defining a 'trust framework policy characteristics methodology,' as part of our contribution to GAIN. This will allow any trust framework to systematically describe itself to an open wallet, so that a 'smart wallet' can seamlessly adapt to the rules of a new framework within which the user wants to assert credentials," said Nick Mothershaw, Chief Identity Strategist, OIX.

"Okta's vision is to enable anyone to safely use any technology", says Randy Nasson, Director of Product Management at Okta. "Digital wallets are emerging as go-to applications for conducting financial transactions, providing identity and vital data, and storing medical information such as vaccination status. Wallets will expand to include other credentials, including professional and academic certifications, membership status, and more. Digital credentials, including their issuance, storage in wallets, and presentation, will impact the way humans authenticate and authorize themselves with digital systems in the coming decade. Okta is excited about the efforts of the OpenWallet Foundation and the Linux Foundation to provide standards-based, open wallet technology for developers and organizations around the world."

"The OpenID Foundation welcomes the formation of the OpenWallet Foundation and its efforts to create an open-source implementation of open and interoperable technical standards, certification and best practices." - Nat Sakimura, Chairman, OpenID Foundation.

"We believe the future of online trust and privacy starts with a system for individuals to take control over their digital identity, and interoperability will create broad accessibility," says Rakesh Thaker, Chief Development Officer at Ping Identity. "We intend to actively participate and contribute to creating common specifications for secure, robust credential wallets to empower people with control over when and with whom they share their personal data."

Wallet technologies that are open and interoperable are a key factor in enabling citizens to protect their privacy in the digital world. At polypoly  an initiative backed by the first pan-European cooperative for data  we absolutely believe that privacy is a human right! We are already working on open source wallets and are excited to collaborate with others and to contribute to the OpenWallet Foundation," said Lars Eilebrecht, CISO, polypoly.

"Digital credentials and the wallets that manage them form the trust foundation of a digital society. With the future set to be characterised by a plurality of wallets and underlying standards, broad interoperability is key to delivering seamless digital interactions for citizens. Procivis is proud to support the efforts of the OpenWallet Foundation to build a secure, interoperable, and open wallet engine which enables every individual to retain sovereignty over their digital identities," Daniel Gasteiger, Chief Executive Officer, Procivis AG.

"It is essential to cross the boundaries between humans, enterprises, and systems to create value in a fully connected world. There is an urgent need for a truly portable, interoperable identity & credentialing backbone for all digital-first processes in government, business, peer-to-peer, smart city systems, and the Metaverse. The OpenWallet Foundation will establish high-quality wallet components that can be assembled into SW solutions unlocking a new universe of next-level digitization, security, and compliance," said Dr. Carsten Stocker, CEO Spherity & Chairman of the Supervisory Board IDunion SCE.

"Transmute has long promoted open source standards as the foundation for building evolved solutions that challenge the status quo. Transmute believes any organization should be empowered to create a digital wallet that can securely manage identifiers, credentials, currencies, and payments while complying with regulatory requirements regarding trusted applications and devices. Transmute supports a future of technology that will reflect exactly what OpenWallet Foundation wants to achieve: one that breaks with convention to foster innovation in a secure, interoperable way, benefitting competitive companies, consumers, and developers alike," said Orie Steele, Co-Founder and CTO of Transmute.

"The Trust Over IP (ToIP) Foundation is proud to support the momentum of an industry-wide open-source engine for digital wallets. We believe this can be a key building block in our mission to establish an open standard trust layer for the Internet. We look forward to our Design Principles and Reference Architecture benefitting this endeavor and collaborating closely with this new Linux Foundation project," said Judith Fleenor, Director of Strategic Engagement, Trust Over IP Foundation.

For more information about the project and how to participate in this work, please visit: openwallet.foundation .

About the Linux Foundation

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation and its projects are supported by more than 3,000 members. The Linux Foundation is the world's leading home for collaboration on open source software, hardware, standards, and data. Linux Foundation projects are critical to the world's infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, ONAP, Hyperledger, RISC-V, PyTorch, and more. The Linux Foundation's methodology focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users, and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org .

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage . Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Media Contact: Dan Whiting

for the Linux Foundation

+1 202-531-9091

[email protected]

SOURCE The Linux Foundation
MADRID, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- South African authorities have granted one more patent to Lleida.net (BME: LLN; EPA: ALLLN; OTCQX: LLEIF).

It is the 215th it has received internationally and corresponds to its email registration methods. The invention, signed by company founder Sisco Sapena, is numbered ZA202102607 and is valid for 20 years.

The grant was recently announced by the South African Patent Office (CIPC Companies and Intellectual Property Commission) and is the sixth in the country.

"South Africa is one of the strategic markets in the company's internationalization process, and we are very pleased to have received not one, but six patents already in the country," explained Sapena.

Lleida.net started working in the country ten years ago.

It is one of the world's largest economies and its potential is immense. It has more than 57 million inhabitants, who own more than 101 million mobile lines.

As the company has explained in a communication to the market, Lleida.net's growth strategy in the signature, notification and electronic contracting market in the countries where it is present and those it plans to be in the future, is based on a solid growth policy in intellectual property and R&D.

With this one, the company has 215 patents granted, worldwide, on e-signature fields since the company started trading, seven years ago.

SOURCE Lleida.net
INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Michelle Asha Cooper, Ph.D., deputy under secretary at the U.S. Department of Education, will join Lumina Foundation on Oct. 3 as vice president for public policy and executive director of Lumina's Washington, D.C., office.

Michelle Asha Cooper Joins Lumina Foundation

Cooper will lead the development and implementation of state and federal policy initiatives that advance the foundation's efforts to support today's students at community colleges and four-year colleges and universities. Cooper brings a wealth of experience, a deep devotion to students, and an acute understanding of policymaking at all levels. She will use these attributes to advance Lumina's strategic plan and elevate its commitment to ending systemic racism in higher learning.

Cooper is among the nation's most influential voices in championing access and success for all students in education. She knows firsthand the transformative power of education and shares Lumina's conviction for advancing racial and economic equity and making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. Cooper brings more than 20 years of experience and boundless optimism to this role as a recognized advocate for equity and social justice, experienced practitioner, demonstrated leader, and a true collaborator.

"Michelle is a dynamic, proven leader committed to addressing the myriad of issues facing American higher education, including racial injustice and economic inequality," said Jamie Merisotis, Lumina's president and CEO. "I am eager for her to join us and to learn from her experiences."

Cooper has served in the Biden administration as deputy under secretary, acting assistant secretary for postsecondary education, and deputy assistant secretary for higher education programs. Cooper led higher education's pandemic recovery efforts in these roles by managing $76 billion in pandemic aid for students and institutions. She supported the Education Department's efforts to mitigate the financial harm of the pandemic by helping student loan borrowers at the highest risk of falling behind in their payments or loan default through targeted debt relief.

Cooper launched the Raise the B.A.R.: Bold + Action + Results campaign that celebrates reforms that drive social and economic mobility among U.S. students. She also was responsible for a $3 billion grant portfolio supporting college and university programs, expanding global awareness, and building their capacity. These institutions included community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and other Minority-Serving Institutions.

Before joining the administration, Cooper served as president and chief executive officer at the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) for more than 12 years. She also held leadership positions with the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), The Council of Independent Colleges, and King's College.

Cooper is a native of Charleston, S.C., and lives in Washington, D.C., with her family. She earned a bachelor's degree from the College of Charleston, a master's from Cornell University, and her doctorate from the University of Maryland, College Park.

About Lumina

Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. We envision a system that is easy to navigate, delivers fair results, and meets the nation's need for talent through a broad range of credentials. Our goal is to prepare people for informed citizenship and for success in a global economy.

Media Contact:

Tracy Chen

Director of Media Strategy, Lumina Foundation

[email protected]

317-670-0521

SOURCE Lumina Foundation
HOPKINTON, Mass. and EDINBURGH, UK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lykan Bioscience and RoslinCT, a leader in Contract Development and Manufacturing for cell therapies, announced the formation of its inaugural Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The newly created SAB is comprised of cell and gene therapy pioneers with extensive domain experience. The SAB will be working closely with members of the Lykan Bioscience and RoslinCT management and scientific teams, providing valuable insight into a range of topics across the development and manufacturing of advanced therapies.

Scientific Advisory Board Members:

Michael Chambers, Cofounder of Aldevron, a provider of nucleic acids and proteins to the genomic medicine community, served as its chief executive officer for more than 20 years before serving as Executive Chairman of the Board until 2021 when Aldevron was acquired by Danaher Corporation. Michael is a proven visionary in the cell and gene therapy space and brings his extensive experience and network to the SAB.

Heidi Hagen, MBA, Chief Technology Officer of Sonoma Biotherapeutics, a privately held company leading the development of adoptive Treg cell therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Heidi brings extensive experience in operations management and commercialization of innovative technologies from her 30 years in the biotechnology industry which includes 20 years in the cell and gene therapy industry.

Margit Jeschke, Ph.D., Margit was leading the global Analytical Stewardship & CMC Product Sciences section within Novartis Cell & Gene Technical Development & Manufacturing before she started working as independent consultant in January 2022. Margit brings extensive expertise on the analytical development strategy for cell & gene therapy and for biologics products.

Michael Kalos, Ph.D., Founder and Managing Director at Next Pillar Consulting, an LLC focused on providing consulting and advising services in the biopharmaceutical and venture space. Michael is an internationally recognized expert in cell therapy and brings over 25 years of cell therapy experience in both biopharma and academia. While at UPenn, Michael's laboratory developed the initial analytical assays and tests broadly employed in the cell therapy space today.

"The creation of a Scientific Advisory Board is a testament to our commitment to innovation on behalf of our partners," said Patrick Lucy, President & CEO of Lykan Bioscience. "We are honored that such esteemed industry experts have agreed to join the team as we continue to hone and execute the business strategy in such a promising and dynamic segment of the biotechnology industry."

Peter Coleman, CEO of RoslinCT commented: "Innovation is the driving force in our growth strategy and a key element in improving and reshaping healthcare. I am delighted that these key opinion leaders are able to support RoslinCT and Lykan. Their combined and considerable expertise will be invaluable as we continue to build on our momentum."

About Lykan Bioscience

Lykan Bioscience is an innovative contract development and manufacturing services organization (CDMO) focused on cell-based therapies. With decades of biopharmaceutical industry experience, Lykan offers a full range of development and manufacturing services. The state-of-the-art, purpose-built facility offering eight independent manufacturing suites is uniquely designed to fully integrate cGMP principles and advanced software solutions to enable real-time testing and release of product. Six additional cGMP processing suites will be commissioned by the end of 2022 to support US/EU clinical and commercial manufacturing. Located in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, 25 miles southwest of downtown Boston and in the proximity of four international airports, Lykan Bioscience is ideally situated to deliver life-saving cell therapy treatments to patients on behalf of their partners. Visit www.lykanbio.com

About RoslinCT

RoslinCT is a leading UK Cell Therapy Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) focused on providing services for companies developing cell-based therapeutic products. Originally founded in 2006 as a spin-out from the Roslin Institute, we built on the broad range of scientific expertise available in the field of cell biology. Based at the Edinburgh BioQuarter, we operate fully licensed GMP manufacturing facilities and have a proven track record in the delivery of cell-based products. For further information, please visit www.roslinct.com.

Media Contact:

Lykan Bioscience

Director of Marketing

Carrie Zhang

[email protected]

RoslinCT

Marketing Manager

Katerina Tsita

[email protected]

SOURCE Lykan Bioscience; RoslinCT
The acquisition will fuel future growth in the global prepared appetizers market to meet customer and consumer demand

TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- McCain Foods has acquired Scelta Products, adding the Netherlands-based producer of frozen foods to its growing family of delicious, prepared vegetable appetizer product offerings.

The deal closed on September 8, 2022 and represents a significant investment that will fuel McCain's growth and expansion in the frozen vegetable appetizer space.

Scelta products Scelta products

Despite the turmoil and uncertainty in the post-COVID world, McCain continues to look for opportunities to grow and invest with acquisitions that align with its business values and global leadership position. Scelta Products marks the latest in a series of investments and acquisitions McCain has made in recent years to expand its appetizer and snacking offerings; some of these include Ad van Geloven, Strong Roots and Forno De Minas. The Scelta Products acquisition is a further sign of McCain's commitment to maintain and strengthen its position in the global prepared appetizer market.

"With common customers and shared values as family-owned companies, there is a natural complement between McCain Foods and Scelta Products," says Max Koeune, CEO of McCain Foods. "We feel honoured and privileged to build on the legacy of Scelta Products, bringing their delicious product to our customers as we expand on the fantastic business that Scelta's founders have created."

Scelta Products has been driving innovation in the frozen vegetable industry for more than 22 years and has been a business partner of McCain's for the past 13 years. Scelta Products' onion rings, battered and breaded mushrooms and other vegetable appetizers fit well within McCain's existing appetizers portfolio and will allow us to serve growing consumer and customer demand for delicious snacking options.

Scelta Products' plant assets will be integrated into McCain's product network, creating increased production capacity to accelerate global prepared appetizer growth throughout European and international markets.

Scelta Mushrooms, cofounder of Scelta Products and the international route to market for more than 20 years, will solely focus on its mushroom business going forward.

McCain values the skills, experience and motivation of the management and employees of Scelta Products and looks forward to welcoming them to the McCain family.

"After more than a decade of building a successful business partnership, we are thrilled to officially become part of the McCain Foods family," say Jos Koster and Wilco Boone, co-founders of Scelta Products. "Our companies have grown together over the years, and I'm excited to see that continue. In joining forces with McCain, a global leader in prepared appetizer products with similar business values to ours, I am confident that the legacy of Scelta Products' will continue to be built upon."

The acquisition price is not being disclosed at this time.

For more information, please visit mccain.com.

About McCain Foods

McCain Foods Limited is a family-owned business founded in 1957 in Florenceville, New Brunswick, Canada. Today, the company is the world's largest manufacturer of frozen potato products and a global leader in prepared appetizers and snacks. Its products can be found in restaurants and retail stores in more than 160 countries around the world. The company has major production, retail and corporate operations around the world, employs approximately 22,000 people, operates 49 production facilities on six continents, partners with 3,500 farmers and generates annual sales in excess of $11 billion CAD.





SOURCE McCain Foods
MILWAUKEE, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) ceremoniously broke ground today on the new 150,000-square-foot cancer research building that will play a significant role in mitigating the cancer burden throughout eastern Wisconsin and beyond.

The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) ceremoniously broke ground on the new 150,000-square-foot cancer research building that will play a significant role in mitigating the cancer burden throughout eastern Wisconsin and beyond. Once complete, the MCW Cancer Research Building will be the only cancer-dedicated research facility in Milwaukee and eastern Wisconsin. Conceptual rendering, not final design.

MCW leadership along with supporters from the community and government representatives took part in the ground-breaking event at the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center. Once complete, the MCW Cancer Research Building will be the only cancer-dedicated research facility in Milwaukee and eastern Wisconsin. It will centralize the MCW cancer research programs, which now consist of nearly 700 researchers in 135 labs campus wide. It will also create space to enable more synergistic cancer research projects to take shape with community partners and research participants focused on improving health outcomes for patients.

Construction of the building is expected to be completed by late 2024. Construction costs will be approximately $100 million. In August, the State Building Commission approved $10 million for MCW in support of the new Cancer Research Building.

"The MCW Cancer Research Building will serve as a hub for cancer innovation and bring together the brightest minds to forge innovations that will address the cancer burden impacting patients and families in eastern Wisconsin and beyond," said John Raymond, Sr., MD, MCW president and CEO. "Perhaps most importantly, this facility will allow us to increase our attention to reduce cancer disparities among underrepresented groups in our communities."

Wisconsin has ranked above the national average for rates of cancer incidence and mortality, and has persisting disparities, both in geographic areas and among racial and ethnic minority populations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center is a research leader in the state, providing more than 200 clinical trials and community-driven interventions annually.

"We're making a long-term commitment to developing advanced research programs, additional faculty and broader infrastructure that will convene brilliant physician scientists and researchers across disciplines to lead promising cancer studies right here in the Milwaukee area," said Joseph Kerschner, MD, provost and executive vice president of MCW and the Julia A. Uihlein, MA, Dean of the MCW School of Medicine.

Gustavo Leone, PhD, director of the MCW Cancer Center and the Dr. Glenn R. and Nancy A. Linnerson Endowed Chair for Cancer Research, said the new research facility will aid in attracting top-tier research talent, donors and community members to join MCW's mission of improving cancer research and clinical care.

"We're all working together toward one goal  to eradicate cancer," said Leone. "The new cancer research building at MCW will be the place where diverse ideas and people intersect with state-of-the-art instrumentation and technology to solve the greatest challenges in cancer and bring palpable solutions to patients and our community."

Mortenson will serve as construction manager, alongside CannonDesign as architect on the MCW-led project team.

SOURCE Medical College of Wisconsin
With the new edition of Moab, the outdoor leader develops an engaging digital initiative to encourage exploration in cities across the U.S. with the chance to win a trip to Moab, Utah

ROCKFORD, Mich., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Merrell, the leading outdoor brand, announced the much-anticipated Moab 3 line for men and women. For more than 15 years, the iconic Merrell Moab hiking boots and shoes have been the leading choice for hikers everywhere, making it the bestselling hiker in the world.

Moab 3's MERRELL& LAUNCHES MOAB 3, THE NEXT GENERATION OF ICONIC HIKING SHOE

An essential part of hike heritage, Moabs have long served as inspiration for new and seasoned hikers to get outdoors, offering consistency when needed most. Today, by applying new technology to what consumers loved about Moab 2, Merrell is breathing new life into the celebrated design, offering a more environmentally friendly shoe with even more comfort, stability, and traction.

"Without jeopardizing what consumers have come to love about our bestselling Moab shoe, we were able to utilize sustainable materials in construction such as 100% recycled laces, webbing and lining, creating a more environmentally friendly Moab," said Nathan Buelow, senior brand marketing manager at Merrell. "On top of that, we analyzed every aspect to deliver a more supportive insole, a softer, more cushioned midsole, and the best in-class Vibram outsole that provides our highest level of stability yet along with trusted traction."

To celebrate the launch of the next generation of Moab, Merrell has released an interactive digital game, Hike and Seek, where users can earn rewards by completing hiking-related challenges in the world around them with special location-based challenges in New York City and Denver. Available until October 18, Hike and Seek offers a variety of fun challenges  from social, outdoor, and retail (all at zero cost)  with the chance to win Merrell merch. Those who complete 10 or more challenges will be entered to win an all-expense paid trip for themselves and a guest to Moab, Utah in 2023.

"In developing Hike and Seek, our ultimate goal was to provide another way to get consumers outside for fresh air to benefit both their physical and mental health," added Buelow. "A hike doesn't need to be on the Appalachian Trail or to the top of a mountain, sometimes it means tying your shoes and exploring the world around you  which could be as far away as a national park or the local trail around the corner from wherever you call home."

New innovative features of the Moab 3 include:

Increased ankle support

An all-new Air Cushion heel to absorb shock and add comfort and stability

Upgraded lugs and toe contour

Recycled laces and webbing paired with a breathable mesh upper

The advanced Vibram TC5+ outsole is designed with a technical compound with great overall performance for multisport, outdoor, mountain bike, snow sports, and water sports. Its non-marking formula delivers an all-around balance of grip, traction, durability, and flexibility. In addition, the Moab 3 boasts Merrell Air Cushion and Super Rebound Compound in the heel, providing durable shock absorption to help reduce torque, add stability, and allow for a smooth transition into the midfoot.

For more information on Merrell, please visit merrell.com/moab-3. For more information on Merrell's Hike and Seek, please visit MerrellMoabOn.com.

ABOUT MERRELL:

Merrell exists to share the simple power of being outside and is committed to building an inclusive and sustainable environment for future generations to enjoy. As the global leader in outdoor active footwear with the Moab hiking boot and Jungle Moc, Merrell is focused on merging performance, styling, and comfort to empower all people to confidently explore the outdoors. Visit Merrell.com or follow us on social @Merrell. Merrell is a division of Wolverine World Wide, Inc. ( NYSE: WWW), one of the world's leading marketers and licensors of branded casual, active lifestyle, work, outdoor sport, athletic, children's and uniform footwear and apparel.

SOURCE Merrell
Wide-Spread Clinical Evidence using the MolecuLight Wound Imaging Platform Demonstrates its Significant Global Adoption and Proven Utility in Wound Care

TORONTO and SYDNEY, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - MolecuLight Inc., the leader in point-of-care fluorescence imaging for real-time detection of wounds containing elevated bacterial loads, announces that its MolecuLight wound imaging platform is featured in 8 presentations and posters at Wounds Australia 2022. The national conference is being hosted from September 14 - 17, 2022 in Sydney, Australia.

The MolecuLightDX can be used on all wound types and in all care settings to image elevated bacterial burden at the point-of-care -- and perform highly accurate digital wound measurement (CNW Group/MolecuLight)

"Wounds Australia 2022 brings together leading clinicians, researchers and industry to share best practices in wound care to improve wound care practices and patient outcomes", says Terry Swanson, NP, Vice Chair of the International Wound Infection Institute, Co-Chair of Wounds Australia 2022 conference and international expert in wound management and wound infection. "This includes showcasing new imaging technologies for helping to improve the cleaning and debridement of wounds, such as the MolecuLight novel point-of-care imaging devices, which highlight the presence and location of elevated bacterial burden in wounds. These diagnostic technologies are becoming key tools in informing wound care decision-making at the point-of-care and we are we're thrilled to have their clinical results shared at multiple talks and posters this coming week".

The clinical posters and presentation featuring the MolecuLight i:X from Wounds Australia 2022 are as follows:

(a) Clinical Posters include:

Uncovering the high prevalence of bacterial burden in surgical site wounds with point-of-care fluorescence imaging

Kylie Sandy-Hodgetts , Charles A. Andersen , Omar Al-Jalodi , Laura Serena , Christina Teimouri , Thomas E. Serena

 Download poster





, , , , ,  Download poster An Image is Worth 10,000 Microbes: How Fluorescence Imaging Augments IWGDF Criteria for Detection of Bacterial Burden in Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Thomas E. Serena , David Armstrong

 Download poster





,  Download poster Underappreciated bacterial burden in pressure injuries throughout: clinical trial and real-world evidence

Charles A. Andersen , Katherine McLeod , Rowena Steffan , Thomas E. Serena

 Download poster





, , ,  Download poster Reliance on Clinical Signs and Symptom Assessment Leads to Misuse of Antimicrobials: Post hoc Analysis of 350 Chronic Wounds

Thomas E. Serena , Lisa Gould , Karen Ousey , and Robert S. Kirsner

 Download poster





(b) Clinical Presentations include:

Acute and Surgical Wounds - Setting the Scene: Dr. Thomas Serena

Dr. Wednesday 14 September 2022 , 11.10 - 12.40, Concurrent Session 1B - Acute and Surgical Wounds



, 11.10 - 12.40, Diagnostics, Theragnostics and Innovations for Chronic Wounds: Dr Thomas Serena

Dr Wednesday 14 September 2022 , 14.00 - 15.35, Plenary 2 - Time to Innovate



, 14.00 - 15.35, Plenary 2 - Setting the Scene: Diagnostic/ Theragnostic: Dr Thomas Serena

Dr Wednesday 14 September 2022 , 16.25 - 17.30, Concurrent Session 2C - Diagnosis/ Diagnostic/ Theragnostic



, 16.25 - 17.30, Uncovering Covert Pathogenic Bacterial Burden in Surgical Site Wounds with Point-of-Care Fluorescence Imaging: Prof. Kylie Sandy-Hodgetts

Prof. Wednesday 14 September 2022 , 16.25 - 17.30, Concurrent Session 2D - Technology

In additional to the clinical posters and presentations at Wounds Australia 2022, the MolecuLight i:X and DX imaging devices will be available for demonstration in the MolecuLight booth #2 in the Exhibit Hall at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Sydney, Australia.

The MolecuLight i:X and DX are the only imaging devices for the real-time detection of elevated bacterial burden in wounds that are FDA cleared and CE and Health Canada Approved. With unmatched clinical evidence including over 60 peer-reviewed publications and 1,500 patients, they are used by leading wound care facilities globally.

About MolecuLight Inc.

MolecuLight Inc. is a privately-owned medical imaging company that has developed and is commercializing its proprietary fluorescent imaging platform technology in multiple clinical markets. MolecuLight's suite of commercial devices, which include the MolecuLight i:X and DX fluorescence imaging systems and their accessories, are point-of-care handheld imaging devices for the real-time detection and localization of bacterial load in wounds and digital wound measurement. MolecuLight procedures performed in the United States benefit from an available reimbursement pathway which include two CPT codes for physician work to perform "fluorescence imaging for bacterial presence, location, and load" and facility payment for Hospital Outpatient Department (HOPD) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) settings through an Ambulatory Payment Classification (APC) assignment. The company is also commercializing its unique fluorescence imaging platform technology for other global markets with relevant unmet needs in food safety, consumer cosmetics and other key industrial markets.

SOURCE MolecuLight
SINGAPORE, Sept. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MoonXBT, the next generation copy trading platform focusing on crypto from spot trading to derivatives, was picked into a list of the "12 Best Crypto Copy Trading Platforms in 2022 for New Traders" by Bybit, a crypto pioneering exchange who ranked No. 8 in derivative trading on coin market cap.

MoonXBT Enlisted in Top 12 Crypto Copy Trading Platforms by Industry Peers

Early this year, The Insight Partners released a report on social trading platforms forecasting that the market size of social trading platforms will double from $2.2 billion to almost $4 billion in the next few years. Trading has been around for thousands of years, but one of the hottest trends right now is social trading. And at its core is the copy trading function which allows users to mimic professional traders' strategies and have their orders executed automatically.

There has been an offspring of copy trading exchanges growing up for the past years. Among them is MoonXBT which is "an excellent platform for replicating the trading results of profitable seasoned traders", according to Bybit . Just like what this peer who has been an OG in copy trading described, despite that MoonXBT is relatively new, it is already making a name in copy trading due to its excellent deals and infinite capabilities.

High liquidity and fast settlement

MoonXBT now has a full product line including future contract, warrant option, spot trading, perpetual swap and OTC trading, but it started out focusing on future contracts which makes it stand out quickly from all the other copy trading platforms.

MoonXBT's contract is called liquid contract which by its name indicates the strong liquidity behind it. Along with its upgraded contract structure, MoonXB's light contract processing time is one of the fastest in the industry. Liquidity as well as processing time are vital to contract trading which can directly affect the earnings of the investors.

Now, most of the copy trading platforms apply copy trading to contract trading and contract trading only. For the development of copy trading which most new traders see as a way to learn derivative trading, it is important to guarantee the contract product itself is liquid and fast. And MoonXBT does so which results in its instant growth of popularity as a copy trading platform.

Good social vibes in community

During the last two years, there has been a significant increase in the growth of individual investors. In America alone, millions of new users have downloaded some sort of trading applications for the first time. Meanwhile, it is found that more and more young investors are investing in cryptocurrencies over stocks.

For these new users, it was found that more or less of them would follow some sort of influencers to get trading tips. In the media landscape nowadays, social media play a vital role even in the crypto world. MoonXBT has garnered many excellent trading influencers on the platform whom users can follow and even copy trade.

Moreover, MoonXBT also has many social trading tools such as forums, trading battle and so forth to enhance the communication between traders and strengthen the integration of social interactions and transactions.

MoonXBT now has a community with a very wide reach. The platform can be accessed in over 60 countries with community members mainly coming from Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Russia and Latin America. Community with such a diverse cultural background has nurtured a vibrant communicating environment which helps MoonXBT to become a better copy trading platform.

For more information, please visit: https://www.moonxbt.com

Follow MoonXBT for more updates:

SOURCE MoonXBT
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, will leave the agency at the end of 2022, after six years of dedicated service.

"NASA explores to better understand our place in the universe, and to use what we learn to support life on Earth. Thomas has made an indelible mark at NASA  indeed, he has held this job continuously longer than any other person  and I am thankful for his dedication to our agency," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

As the head of science, Zurbuchen oversees nearly 100 science missions. He helped select 36 new missions during his tenure, including Dragonfly, SPHEREx, and the Mars Sample Return mission. He has worked tirelessly to ensure NASA's science missions build partnerships across disciplines and with industry and other nations to generate new questions and help advance the frontiers of knowledge and exploration.

Zurbuchen brought a wealth of scientific research, engineering experience, and hands-on knowledge to NASA's world-class team of scientists and engineers. He led the mission directorate during some of the agency's most inspirational moments, such as sending the first spacecraft to touch the Sun, launching and sharing the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, and landing the Perseverance rover on Mars along with the first powered, controlled flight on another planet with the Ingenuity helicopter, to name a few.

He authored or co-authored more than 200 articles in peer reviewed journals in solar and heliospheric phenomena. He earned his doctorate and Master of Science degrees in physics from the University of Bern in Switzerland.

Zurbuchen's many honors include multiple NASA achievement awards, induction as a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, 2020 Outstanding Leadership Medal, 2021 Presidential Rank Award, and 2022 Distinguished Service Medal.

NASA is conducting a nationwide search and open competition for a new associate administrator.

SOURCE NASA
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of NASA's efforts to address orbital debris, the agency is funding research proposals from three university-based teams over the next year to analyze the economic, social, and policy issues associated with space sustainability.

Orbital debris consists of human-made objects orbiting Earth that no longer serve a purpose, including mission-related and fragmentation debris, nonfunctional spacecraft, and abandoned rocket stages.

NASA takes the threat of orbital debris seriously as these objects can endanger spacecraft, jeopardize access to space, and impede the development of a low-Earth orbit economy, including commercial participation. These new awards will fund research that supports the agency's commitment to address the problem.

"Orbital debris is one of the great challenges of our era," said Bhavya Lal, associate administrator for the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Maintaining our ability to use space is critical to our economy, our national security, and our nation's science and technology enterprise. These awards will fund research to help us understand the dynamics of the orbital environment and show how we can develop policies to limit debris creation and mitigate the impact of existing debris."

A panel of experts evaluated and selected the following three proposals:

"Adaptive Space Governance and Decision-Support using Source-Sink Evolutionary Environmental Models," submitted by Richard Linares and Danielle Wood of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Moriba Jah of the University of Texas-Austin

and of the and Moriba Jah of the "An Integrated Assessment Model for Satellite Constellations and Orbital Debris," submitted by Akhil Rao of Middlebury College , Daniel Kaffine of the University of Colorado-Boulder , and Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation

of , of the , and of the Secure World Foundation "Communication and Space Debris: Connecting with Public Knowledges and Identities," submitted by Patrice Kohl , Sergio Alvarez , and Philip Metzger of the University of Central Florida

NASA's OTPS will make the teams' results publicly available on the agency's website. Selected teams also can work with the federal Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as part of an international call for research proposals focused on orbital debris and space sustainability.

Find more information about NASA's OTPS at:

https://www.nasa.gov/offices/otps/home/

SOURCE NASA
Mother Nature is a Powerful Healer, and Natralus Uses Innovative Formulations to Optimize the Power of Natural Ingredients.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- It isn't difficult to see the powerful healing properties of nature as a skin health agent. Many ingredients, like coconut oil and aloe vera, are renowned for their skin-healing properties. But there are limitations that each natural ingredient can achieve on its own. That's why natural skin health brand Natralus Australia doesn't just utilize random natural ingredients. They craft selected ingredients into unique formulations with specific skin-health goals in mind.

"We have natural, functional products," explains Natralus owner and CEO John Rowe, "Each of our formulas is created with two goals: to tap into Mother Nature's natural skin health benefits, and to craft those natural ingredients in a way that will maximize their benefits and direct them toward a targeted skin health need." Rowe goes on to explain that every Natralus product contains painstakingly selected, high-quality ingredients that are carefully researched and that they know will perform better. "All our ingredients are carefully researched and selected for their individual benefits. We only choose options that will positively contribute to the whole purpose and desired action and outcome of each product."

Natralus' Natural Paw Paw Balm is a good example of this philosophy in action. The formula is designed to soothe, protect, and restore the lips and skin. To do this, it combines a natural and organic selection of ingredients, including:

Paw Paw : An Australian name for papaya, Paw Paw and its seed oil are known for being rich in oleic acid, antioxidants, and vitamins A, E, and C. This makes it a powerful moisturizing and replenishing agent.

: An Australian name for papaya, Paw Paw and its seed oil are known for being rich in oleic acid, antioxidants, and vitamins A, E, and C. This makes it a powerful moisturizing and replenishing agent. Calendula : This plant helps with managing inflammation from things like insect bites and sun exposure. It calms irritated skin and also comes with its own dose of plant-based antioxidants.

: This plant helps with managing inflammation from things like insect bites and sun exposure. It calms irritated skin and also comes with its own dose of plant-based antioxidants. Styrax Benzoin Gum: The sap of the Styrax tree is a little-known yet powerful natural skin health agent. It helps as a disinfectant, antiseptic, astringent, antifungal, deodorizing, and anti-inflammatory agent. It also enhances skin elasticity and prevents moisture loss.

Each of Natralus' products boasts similarly strategic combinations of ingredients, with the goal always to deliver targeted natural skin care relief. The results speak for themselves, as Natralus has been recognized as Australia's leading Natural Paw Paw brand for over a decade. Its recent arrival in the United States also means the company's highly sought-after natural skin health solutions are finally available for Americans who are interested in preserving healthier skin for a healthier you.

About Natralus Australia: Natural skin health brand Natralus Australia was established in 2010 and operates out of Adelaide, Australia. The company focuses on empowering women and parents to use a more natural approach for both themselves and their families throughout their skincare and wellness activities. Learn more about Natralus at natralus.com .

Brittany Rowe

T: +61 8 8382 3000

F: 1300 838 293

E: [email protected]

A: PO Box 156 Lonsdale SA 5160

W: www.natralus.com.au

SOURCE Natralus
FALLS CHURCH, Va., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NetImpact Strategies, Inc. (NetImpact), in partnership with Dark Wolf Solutions LLC, was awarded the ITIPS contract from the Department of the Air Force's (DAF) Chief Information Officer (SAF/CN) to digitally transform the ITIPS program established in 2017. This includes full lifecycle support of transitioning off the legacy system to ServiceNow's modern capabilities.

As an Elite ServiceNow Partner, NetImpact will build, deliver, and manage the replacement on the ServiceNow platform in a secure cloud while ensuring continuity of operations for thousands of users relying on ITIPS. DAF manages over 2,500 active IT investments on the legacy software using Oracle Primavera Portfolio Management (OPPM) and Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE).

"We are excited to be entrusted with the modernization of a core system so critical to DAF and DoD's strategy development and mission capability planning processes." Stephanie Wilson, NetImpact COO remarks. "ITIPS is a vital business decision and process automation engine for all of DAF's IT investments and we look forward to revolutionizing how technology can simplify the demands of those complex oversight and management responsibilities."

NetImpact and Dark Wolf will leverage PlatformFirst to gain agility in delivering an extensible Initial Operational Capability (IOC) replacement, Mission-Centered Design in architecting a sustainable design adaptive to DAF ecosystem and mission evolutions, and ParadigmSHIFT for organizational change management with high adoption velocity and vigor.

About Dark Wolf

Dark Wolf is a small business who combines the most innovative emerging technologies with deep federal domain expertise through cutting-edge intelligence services, DevSecOps agile software development, information operations, penetration testing and incident response, applied research and rapid prototyping, machine learning, and engineering services.

About NetImpact

NetImpact Strategies, Inc. has been a Trusted Advisor driving impact through digital transformation for the Federal Government for over a decade. NetImpact partners with customers to deliver solutions that empower them to meet their missions and achieve impactful and lasting value through our DX360 solutions across Strategic Consulting, Mission Software Development, Data Insights, Cloud and Infrastructure, and Cyber as well as our bespoke COTS products built on ServiceNow and Microsoft. Follow NetImpact on LinkedIn for more.

Public Relations Team

[email protected]

SOURCE NetImpact Strategies
Next generation LinuxONE servers extend IBM's capabilities to help clients across industries, including Citibank, reach sustainability targets

ARMONK, N.Y., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM ( NYSE: IBM) today unveiled the next generation of its LinuxONE server, a highly scalable Linux and Kubernetes-based platform, designed to deliver scalability to support thousands of workloads in the footprint of a single system1. IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 features capabilities that can reduce clients' energy consumption. For example, consolidating Linux workloads on five IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 systems instead of running them on compared x86 servers under similar conditions can reduce energy consumption by 75%, space by 50%, and the CO2e footprint by over 850 metric tons annually2.

According to an IBM IBV study, 48% of CEOs across industries say increasing sustainability is one of the highest priorities for their organization in the next two to three years. However, 51% also cite sustainability as among their greatest challenges in that same timeframe, with lack of data insights, unclear ROI, and technology barriers, as hurdles. For these CEOs, scaling their business with modern infrastructure can often be one of the barriers to achieving sustainability goals.

"Data centers are energy intensive, and they can account for a large portion of an organization's energy use. But data and technology can help companies turn sustainability ambition into action," said Marcel Mitran, IBM Fellow, CTO of Cloud Platform, IBM LinuxONE. "Reducing data center energy consumption is a tangible way to decrease carbon footprint. In that context, migrating to IBM LinuxONE is designed to help clients meet their scale and security goals, in addition to meeting sustainability goals for today's digital business."

IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 is an engineered scale-out-on-scale-up system designed to enable clients to run workloads at sustained high density and increase capacity by turning on unused cores without increasing their energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions.2 In addition, clients can track energy consumption with IBM Instana Observability on LinuxONE.

IBM's portfolio of sustainability technologies includes solutions to design, deploy and manage energy efficient infrastructures and innovations with a hybrid cloud approach. IBM LinuxONE is one solution within the portfolio designed to optimize data centers by reducing energy consumption and improving energy efficiency. IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 will be generally available globally on September 14, 2022, with entry and mid-range systems to follow in 1H 2023.

Respond to unpredictable demand

Shifts in the global economy have driven volatility and require flexibility in operational and technical decision-making. Built with the same security, scalability and reliability that has been the hallmark of IBM infrastructure, the next-generation LinuxONE also offers cloud-like flexibility. With a system built for rebalancing of resources in combination with on demand capacity, workloads can scale-up and scale-out dynamically and non-disruptively.

"For CIOs, change is happening at an unprecedented rate and requires organizations to invest in infrastructure that is stable, high value and energy-efficient," said Bjorn Stengal, IDC Global Sustainability Research and Practice Lead. "IBM LinuxONE provides organizations with a secured, scalable architecture to meet their government regulations and customer expectations."

At Citi, the bank's sustainability strategy is driven by a commitment to advance solutions that address climate change and support the transition to a low-carbon economy. Operationally, Citi is focused on reducing the environmental footprint of its facilities, including through improving hosting densities with lower power consumption. Citi is hosting MongoDB on IBM LinuxONE, leveraging the platform's security and resiliency, as well as elastic capacity to address unexpected demand.

"As our business grows and becomes increasingly digital-first, traditional IT solutions add more physical servers and increase required floor space," said Martin Kennedy, Managing Director, Citi Technology Infrastructure. "IBM LinuxONE with MongoDB provides vertical scale and critical protection against data breaches and cyber-attacks, helping optimize data centers while lowering our overall carbon footprint."

Sustainable without compromising security

The new LinuxONE system also features pervasive encryption to protect data at-rest and in-flight, a priority for clients in regulated industries such as financial services. Building on IBM's cloud security leadership in confidential computing, IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 protects data in use while providing end-to-end encryption. This comprehensive data protection profile provides businesses with a data protection strategy that underpins current and anticipated future cyber security protocols.

Hybrid cloud platform for cloud and on-premises workloads

Today's hybrid and multicloud environments require clients to deploy workloads where it makes the most sense for their business needs. IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Virtual Servers provide a public cloud environment in which the cloud tenant maintains complete authority over Linux-based virtual servers for workloads that contain sensitive data. Built on IBM LinuxONE and running on IBM Cloud, this service provides customers complete authority over their encrypted data, workloads and encryption keys  not even IBM as the cloud provider has access.

IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 supports a large number of Linux and Red Hat OpenShift-certified workloads, including data serving, core banking and digital assets. IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 receives support from IBM Ecosystem partners, such as Clari5, Illumio, Metaco, MongoDB, NGINX, Nth Exception, Fiorano Software, Fujitsu Limited, Pennant, SQ Solutions, Sysdig. and Temenos.

With cloud native development on LinuxONE, teams of developers can deliver portable and agile solutions without having to learn a new operating system. IT managers need a system that is easy to operate that supports common tools and provides a foundation for the future. LinuxONE enables managers to focus on delivering new services, instead of managing complexity across a vast number of servers. Based on Linux and Kubernetes, everyone benefits from open standards and an ecosystem that includes modern DevSecOps and cloud native tools.

"Together, Temenos and IBM LinuxONE can help major banks move to a modern architecture in a safe, predictable and scalable way, while reducing total cost of ownership and meeting their ESG obligations," said Philip Barnett, President of Strategy Growth at Temenos. "Temenos core banking running on the new LinuxONE servers can operate at a fraction of the cost of general-purpose servers and offer great scalability, resilience and speed to market."

To learn more, please visit:

IBM LinuxONE TCO Calculator: by answering just a few questions such as hardware, workload type and software, the IBM LinuxONE cost estimator provides a high-level total cost of ownership based on industry-proven assumptions. 3

Register for the IBM zDay, a no-cost virtual conference, on Sept. 15, 2022 to learn more about LinuxONE through a dedicated track of sessions

to learn more about LinuxONE through a dedicated track of sessions IBM LinuxONE Expert Care offers a way of attaching services and support through tiers at the time of product purchase. This offering provides the client an optimum level of support over multiple years for mission-critical requirements of the IT infrastructure.

IBM Technology Services provide infrastructure services to help clients plan, deploy and optimize their IBM LinuxONE server and software stack to meet business needs.

Statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.

About IBM

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider, helping clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,800 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently, and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity, and service. For more information, visit www.ibm.com

Media Contact:

Ashley Peterson

[email protected]

1 Performance result is extrapolated from IBM internal tests running in an IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4 LPAR with 24 dedicated cores, 1536 GB memory and FS9200 storage NGINX pods on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (RHOCP) 4.10 running on a RHEL 8.5 KVM host. 64 RHOCP Compute nodes with 230 NGINX pods were running in parallel. The KVM guests with RHOCP Compute nodes were configured with 2 vCPUs and 16 GB memory each. The KVM guests with RHOCP Management nodes were configured with 16 vCPUs and 128 GB memory each. Results may vary.

2 Compared 5 IBM Machine Type 3931 Max 125 model consists of three CPC drawers containing 125 configurable cores (CPs, zIIPs, or IFLs) and two I/O drawers to support both network and external storage versus 192 x86 systems with a total of 10364 cores. IBM Machine Type 3931 power consumption was based on inputs to the IBM Machine Type 3931 IBM Power Estimation Tool for a memo configuration. x86 power consumption was based on March 2022 IDC QPI power values for 7 Cascade Lake and 5 Ice Lake server models, with 32 to 112 cores per server. All compared x86 servers were 2 or 4 socket servers. IBM Z and x86 are running 24x7x365 with production and non-production workloads. Savings assumes a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratio of 1.57 to calculate additional power for data center cooling. PUE is based on Uptime Institute 2021 Global Data Center Survey. CO2e and other equivalencies that are based on the EPA GHG calculator use U.S. National weighted averages. Results may vary based on client-specific usage and location.

3Disclaimer: This tool provides a high level view of estimated costs and potential savings using publicly available IBM and third party server and pricing information in the United States as well as certain other information in consolidating from an x86 server environment to a LinuxONE environment. For a "Total Cost of Ownership" estimate, this tool considers certain factors involved in a three or five-year total cost of ownership including hardware costs, workload type, IBM and ISV software costs, certain facility costs (space, energy), maintenance charges, server utilization, hypervisors and migration. x86 hardware pricing is based on IBM analysis of U.S. prices as of February 2021 from IDC with a 30% discount. Certain assumptions used in the tool are based on data from hundreds of client studies performed by IBM and your results will vary depending on your environment and other factors. The information and data used to generate the results in the tool is current as of February 2021. Results will also vary based on the selections you make in using the tool. The output from the tool, including, but not limited to any accompanying summary of potential savings are estimates only and are provided on an 'AS IS' BASIS. Any reliance by you on using the tool and any output is at your sole risk and will not create any liability or obligation for IBM. IN NO EVENT WILL IBM BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR OTHER CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES FOR ANY USE OF THIS TOOL, WEB SITE, OR ON ANY OTHER HYPER LINKED WEB SITE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF PROGRAMS OR OTHER DATA ON YOUR INFORMATION HANDLING SYSTEM OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF WE ARE EXPRESSLY ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. This tool is not for use in countries where such comparisons are limited or prohibited by law.

SOURCE IBM
Faster access to affordable capital for Small Businesses

CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NEWITY, a small business marketplace dedicated to creating equitable access to small business loans and trusted business service providers, today announced the expansion of its loan solutions to include SBA 7(a) loans up to $250,000. This new offering increases access to affordable capital for small business owners that have historically struggled to obtain funds to grow their businesses.

NEWITY streamlined the 7(a) application to enable small business owners to apply for a business loan in less than 30 minutes. Further, NEWITY offers phone and virtual assistance from seasoned SBA professionals through all stages of the loan process. Northeast Bank, a licensed SBA lender, is collaborating with NEWITY to support small businesses by funding the SBA loans made available through NEWITY's portal.

Established to better service Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, NEWITY found it could do more to support American businesses and underserved communities following the end of the Program. "Now that PPP has ended, there is an even greater need to support American entrepreneurs," said Luke LaHaie, NEWITY Co-Founder and Co-CEO. "After servicing more than $11.4B PPP loans and helping 115,000 small businesses, we are reinforcing our commitment to empower entrepreneurs by expanding the size of our small business loan offering and continuing to work with the SBA."

"We're thrilled to keep leveling the playing field for small business owners," said David Cody, NEWITY Co-Founder and Co-CEO. "This broader loan offering is a testament to our continued effort to be a champion for American entrepreneurs who are otherwise disadvantaged when pursuing traditional means of financing."

About NEWITY

NEWITY is America's Small Business Marketplace, focused on empowering entrepreneurs with access to trusted service providers and affordable loan solutions  all in one place. NEWITY uses leading technology to help small businesses access services to make their companies more efficient and profitable. Today, that includes simplified online bookkeeping with Xendoo to help entrepreneurs apply for 7(a) loans with ease; customized, competitive insurance with Mylo to aid businesses in meeting specific loan requirements; and access to a marketing agency marketplace with Breef to enable businesses to use their 7(a) funds more efficiently. To join NEWITY's growing small business community, visit NEWITYmarket.com.

SOURCE Newity
Make confident decisions using the insights and analysis provided by Technavio. Download Free PDF Sample Report

Vendor Landscape

The online photography education market in higher education is fragmented, and the vendors are deploying organic and organic growth strategies to compete in the market. The market is expected to grow at a steady rate during the forecast period. Many enterprises and startups are entering the market, which will make it more fragmented in the coming years. Both international and regional players are present in the global online photography education market in higher education, including those with diverse service portfolios as well as single-solution providers. All these vendors play a critical role in the development of global digital education systems. This highly competitive environment in the market is expected to intensify further during the forecast period.

This report provides a full list of key vendors, their strategies, and latest developments. Buy Now to gain access to exclusive vendor information

Major Companies in Online Photography Education Market in Higher Education

2U Inc.

Alison

Chris Bray Photography

Coursera Inc.

CreativeLive Inc.

Domestika Inc.

Ed Tech Services LLC

Learn With Jerad

Magnum Photos Inc.

Manfred Ltd.

McCann Learning Ltd.

Microsoft Corp.

Nikon Corp.

Scholiverse Educare Pvt. Ltd.

Seek Ltd.

SkillShare Inc.

The Photo Academy SA

The School of Photography

Udemy Inc.

Yanka Industries Inc.

Eduonix Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd

Get lifetime access to our Technavio Insights! Subscribe to our "Basic Plan" billed annually at USD 5000

Online Photography Education Market In Higher Education Courses Outlook (Revenue, USD mn, 2021-2026)

Degree - size and forecast 2021-2026

Non-degree - size and forecast 2021-2026

Online Photography Education Market In Higher Education Geography Outlook (Revenue, USD mn, 2021-2026)

North America - size and forecast 2021-2026

- size and forecast 2021-2026 APAC - size and forecast 2021-2026

Europe - size and forecast 2021-2026

- size and forecast 2021-2026 South America - size and forecast 2021-2026

- size and forecast 2021-2026 Middle East and Africa - size and forecast 2021-2026

Learn about the contribution of each segment summarized in concise infographics and thorough descriptions. View a FREE PDF Sample Report

Revenue-generating Courses Segments

The degree segment will be the largest contributor to market growth during the forecast period. A large number of universities across the world are offering online degree programs in photography, with the rising interest in photography among students.

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Online Photography Education Market In Higher Education Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 7.08% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 655.08 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 6.12 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 37% Key consumer countries US, Canada, China, Germany, and France Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled 2U Inc., Alison, Chris Bray Photography, Coursera Inc., CreativeLive Inc., Domestika Inc., Ed Tech Services LLC, Learn With Jerad, Magnum Photos Inc., Manfred Ltd., McCann Learning Ltd., Microsoft Corp., Nikon Corp., Scholiverse Educare Pvt. Ltd., Seek Ltd., SkillShare Inc., The Photo Academy SA, The School of Photography, Udemy Inc., Yanka Industries Inc., and Eduonix Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, and Market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Browse Consumer Discretionary Market Reports

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Courses



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global online photography education market In higher education 2021 - 2026

Exhibit 17: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global online photography education market In higher education 2021 - 2026

4.2 Global online photography education market In higher education by Segment  Historic Analysis 2021 - 2026

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global online photography education market In higher education by segment 2021 - 2026

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 19: Five forces analysis - Comparison between2021 and 2026

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 20: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 21: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 22: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 23: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 24: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 25: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

6 Market Segmentation by Courses

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 26: Chart on Courses - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Courses - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Courses

Exhibit 28: Chart on Comparison by Courses



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Comparison by Courses

6.3 Degree - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 30: Chart on Degree - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Degree - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 32: Chart on Degree - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Degree - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.4 Non-degree - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 34: Chart on Non-degree - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Non-degree - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Non-degree - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Non-degree - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.5 Market opportunity by Courses

Exhibit 38: Market opportunity by Courses ($ million)

7 Customer Landscape

7.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 39: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

8 Geographic Landscape

8.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 40: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

8.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 42: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Geographic comparison

8.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 44: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 45: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 46: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.4 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 48: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 50: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 52: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 53: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 54: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 56: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 58: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 60: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 62: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 64: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 65: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 66: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.9 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 68: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 70: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 72: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 74: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.11 Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 76: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 78: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.12 France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 80: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 82: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 84: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

9 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

9.1 Market drivers

9.2 Market challenges

9.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 85: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

9.4 Market trends

10 Vendor Landscape

10.1 Overview

10.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 86: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

10.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 87: Overview on factors of disruption

10.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 88: Impact of key risks on business

11 Vendor Analysis

11.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 89: Vendors covered

11.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 90: Matrix on vendor position and classification

11.3 2U Inc.

Exhibit 91: 2U Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 92: 2U Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 93: 2U Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 94: 2U Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 95: 2U Inc. - Segment focus

11.4 Coursera Inc.

Exhibit 96: Coursera Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 97: Coursera Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 98: Coursera Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 99: Coursera Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 100: Coursera Inc. - Segment focus

11.5 CreativeLive Inc.

Exhibit 101: CreativeLive Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 102: CreativeLive Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 103: CreativeLive Inc. - Key offerings

11.6 Ed Tech Services LLC

Exhibit 104: Ed Tech Services LLC - Overview



Exhibit 105: Ed Tech Services LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 106: Ed Tech Services LLC - Key offerings

11.7 Microsoft Corp.

Exhibit 107: Microsoft Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 108: Microsoft Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 109: Microsoft Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 110: Microsoft Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 111: Microsoft Corp. - Segment focus

11.8 Nikon Corp.

Exhibit 112: Nikon Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 113: Nikon Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 114: Nikon Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 115: Nikon Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 116: Nikon Corp. - Segment focus

11.9 Seek Ltd.

Exhibit 117: Seek Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 118: Seek Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 119: Seek Ltd. - Key offerings

11.10 SkillShare Inc.

Exhibit 120: SkillShare Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 121: SkillShare Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 122: SkillShare Inc. - Key offerings

11.11 Udemy Inc.

Exhibit 123: Udemy Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 124: Udemy Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 125: Udemy Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 126: Udemy Inc. - Key offerings

11.12 Yanka Industries Inc.

Exhibit 127: Yanka Industries Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 128: Yanka Industries Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 129: Yanka Industries Inc. - Key offerings

12 Appendix

12.1 Scope of the report

12.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 130: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 131: Exclusions checklist

12.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 132: Currency conversion rates for US$

12.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 133: Research methodology



Exhibit 134: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 135: Information sources

12.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 136: List of abbreviations

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contacts

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
New facility provides families with more space and greater accessibility.

MIDLAND, Pa., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 120 students, parents, and staff attended PA Cyber's grand opening of its Greensburg regional office on Thursday, September 8. Families stood near as PA Cyber CEO Brian Hayden performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"It was a lively atmosphere, with a nice mix of families who have been with PA Cyber for many years and families who are new to the school," said Dave Veon, PA Cyber's supervisor of regional offices.

Headquartered in Midland, the K-12 online school maintains a network of nine regional offices around the state that serve as hubs for enrollment, orientation, and year-round enrichment activities. The school relocated its Greensburg office within the same metropolitan area in 2021 to provide an enhanced facility for students and their families, but the celebration was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The office is located at 1040 Towne Square Drive.

PA Cyber relocated the office to increase square footage and improve visibility and accessibility for students and their families. The new 9,700-square-foot facility serves approximately 2,000 PA Cyber students in Westmoreland County and its surrounding counties. The location is under a ten-year lease.

"We want to provide the best facilities that we can for students and their families," said Brian Hayden, CEO of PA Cyber. "We are invested in the many families that we serve, and we are committed to being an active member of their communities."

At the grand opening, students met staff from many areas of the school and enjoyed interactive activities. They met the CEO, principals, a school nurse, and Archie the mascot. They enjoyed face painting, balloon art, and hands-on art and STEM activities. PA Cyber's Supervisor of STEM Education Tom Brambley led students through hands-on activities with robots and a piano composed of bananas.

About PA Cyber

Serving students in kindergarten through 12th grade, the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School is one of the largest, most experienced, and most successful online public schools in the nation. PA Cyber's online learning environments, personalized instructional methods, and curricula choices connect Pennsylvania students and families with state-certified and highly qualified teachers and rich academic content aligned to state standards. Founded in 2000, PA Cyber is headquartered in Midland (Beaver County) and maintains a network of support offices throughout the state. As a public school, PA Cyber is open for enrollment to any school-age child residing in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and does not charge tuition to students or families.

Pictures from event are available upon request.

Media Contact: Jennie Harris

[email protected]

724-313-5842

SOURCE The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School (PA Cyber)
Nation's largest Parkinson's community gathers to raise funds for research, care and resources

MIAMI and NEW YORK , Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Parkinson's Foundation announced the Fall 2022 event lineup for Moving Day, a Walk for Parkinson's. Moving Day is the Foundation's signature fundraising event and a movement for more awareness, funding and a better understanding of Parkinson's disease (PD). This season puts forth an exciting roster of in-person and virtual gatherings, which will take place in 19 cities across the country.

Parkinson's affects an estimated one million Americans and 10 million worldwide, making it the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's. Moving Day is an inspiring fundraising event that honors loved ones with PD, celebrates movement and raises funds to advance quality care and cutting-edge research. Leading up to each event, participants and teams fundraise to support the Foundation's mission to make life better for people living with PD.

"We are excited to welcome back participants and are grateful for the opportunity to provide a community for anyone who has been impacted by Parkinson's disease," said Kayln Henkel, senior vice president and chief development officer of the Parkinson's Foundation. "Whether taking part with a team or joining as an individual, everyone has the chance to move with thousands of supporters with the common goal of making strikes toward a cure and raising funds that give more individuals access to the resources and support they need now."

New to this season is the National Moving Day Team Program, providing a way for companies to show their commitment to their communities and raise awareness for PD. Organizations participating in the program benefit from enhancing company culture through engagement with employees and partners, increasing reach by connecting with thousands of other supporters, and making a direct impact in several markets across the country.

In addition to local events, the Foundation is hosting Moving Day @ Home  a virtual walk experience that allows supporters to participate in Moving Day from anywhere in the country. The event welcomes walkers of all ages, speeds, and abilities, especially those without a nearby event.

Since 2011, Moving Day has gathered more than 161,600 participants and raised more than $35 million to improve care and advance PD research toward a cure. Funds raised through Moving Day support the Foundation's national mission by delivering quality care to more than 196,700 people living with PD, funding cutting-edge research to advance toward a cure, and providing free resources and local services for people living with PD and their families.

For more information on how to participate in a Moving Day event near you, visit MovingDayWalk.org or call the Parkinson's Foundation free Helpline at 1-800-4PD-INFO (473-4636) for assistance in English or Spanish.

About the Parkinson's Foundation

The Parkinson's Foundation makes life better for people with Parkinson's disease by improving care and advancing research toward a cure. In everything we do, we build on the energy, experience and passion of our global Parkinson's community. Since 1957, the Parkinson's Foundation has invested more than $400 million in Parkinson's research and clinical care. Connect with us on Parkinson.org, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or call (800) 4PD-INFO (473-4636).

About Parkinson's Disease

Affecting an estimated one million Americans and 10 million worldwide, Parkinson's disease is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's and is the 14th-leading cause of death in the U.S. It is associated with a progressive loss of motor control (e.g., shaking or tremor at rest and lack of facial expression), as well as non-motor symptoms (e.g., depression and anxiety). There is no cure for Parkinson's and 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the U.S. alone.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Marissa Cruz

Parkinson's Foundation

[email protected]

305-537-9926

Parkinson.org

SOURCE Parkinson's Foundation
TOKYO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Polyplastics Co., Ltd., a leading global supplier of engineering thermoplastics, has developed three-dimensional (3D) printing technology for production of DURACON (R) polyoxymethylene (POM) products. The technology, known as Material Extrusion (MEX), delivers physical properties close to those of injection-molded articles despite being 3D-printed. Polyplastics will highlight the new 3D printing technology at the upcoming K 2022 exhibition (Hall 7A/B02) which runs October 19-26 in Duesseldorf, Germany.

Photo: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M100475/202209025914/_prw_PI1lg_k57WG1aI.png

The MEX process can also be applied in preliminary evaluations of physical properties, functions, durability, and other properties without needing a mold, thus helping to accelerate the product development cycle. The MEX process is a typical 3D printing technology that uses thermoplastic resin materials. With resin filaments as the material input, this method produces 3D structures by repeatedly tracing and layering while depositing a melted material extruded through a tiny nozzle. Typically, only amorphous resins or resins with low crystallinity (e.g., ABS, polyamide) had been suitable for use in the MEX 3D printing process. POM's high crystallinity and rapid rate of crystallization have made it unsuitable for use in the MEX 3D printing process.

To address POM's limitations, Polyplastics' MEX 3D printing technology combines a more appropriate selection of POM grades with printing conditions optimized for their crystallization behavior. In addition to accelerating the product development cycle, the MEX technology could also be targeted for low-volume manufacturing of custom products.

Polyplastics is seeking a patent for the DURACON (R) POM 3D printing technology and at the same time the company is developing additional DURACON (R) POM filament materials for use in 3D printing, including reinforced grades. The company is also accepting requests for actual product trial samples.

For more information, visit https://www.polyplastics-global.com/en/approach/13.html

About Polyplastics

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/attach/202209025914-O1-uzNDM1FK.pdf

*DURACON (R) is a registered trademark of Polyplastics Co., Ltd. in Japan and other countries.

SOURCE Polyplastics Co., Ltd.
Postalytics, the leading direct mail automation platform, now enables nonprofit marketers to send automated direct mail with special USPS nonprofit postage discounts

ROCKLAND, Mass., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nonprofit marketing teams and agencies can now automate the creation, integration and tracking of direct mail marketing campaigns with innovative new software that has just launched in the U.S., all while taking advantage of special USPS Nonprofit Marketing Mail postage rates.

Postalytics Launches First Nonprofit Direct Mail Automation Software

Postalytics , the leader in direct mail automation software, announced its launch in the nonprofit market today. The innovative software has been described as bringing "nonprofit direct mail marketing into the digital age," announced its launch in the nonprofit market today. The innovative software has been described as bringing "nonprofit direct mail marketing into the digital age."

Dennis Kelly, the CEO of Postalytics, believes it will be a game-changer for nonprofit marketers by enabling software to provide a far more efficient solution to nonprofit direct mail marketing.

"We are excited to introduce the first end-to-end direct mail automation tool to the nonprofit market. We have seen explosive growth in the use of automated direct mail marketing in the U.S. and Canadian commercial markets, and we expect nonprofit marketers to quickly adopt this no-brainer technology now that nonprofit USPS postage discounts are available."

The ground-breaking direct mail automation software tool Is fully integrated with USPS first class and marketing mail and includes integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, ActiveCampaign, Zoho CRM, Keap, and others.

Postalytics offers free direct mail personalization and response tracking tools such as variable data, dynamic content, patented personalized QR codes, PURLs and USPS IMB delivery tracking, another first in the nonprofit direct mail automation market.

Matt Pritchard, President and Executive Director of HomeStart , a Boston-based nonprofit serving the homeless population, sees the announcement as a breakthrough in their efforts to communicate with their donors and other constituents.

"HomeStart has been using Postalytics for years to generate, integrate and track our direct mail campaigns in a new and smarter way. Now, we can apply our USPS Nonprofit Marketing Mail discounts to save even more and enable us to apply our resources even more efficiently. Our adoption of Postalytics was seamless and one of the best moves our fundraising team has made."

Christina McPhillips, Vice President of Business Development for Carl Bloom Associates , a leading marketing agency in the nonprofit sector, welcomed the news.

"The nonprofit sector has always found direct mail effective for fundraising and donor communications. By combining nonprofit postal rates with the power of the Postalytics direct mail automation platform, trailblazing partners such as Carl Bloom Associates are positioned to offer clients new and better ways to create, integrate and track direct mail campaigns."

Nonprofit organizations, and marketing agencies that serve them, rely heavily on personalized direct mail to drive donations and engagement with their audiences. Kelly said the move was based on increasing demand from the nonprofit sector.

"Postalytics has seen a significant increase in requests from nonprofit organizations and their agencies that we enable USPS Nonprofit Marketing Mail postage rates in our direct mail automation platform. Nonprofit marketers have been investing heavily in CRM, Marketing Automation, and other marketing technologies, making them natural to utilize a fully automated direct mail marketing system like Postalytics."

Learn More About the Postalytics Nonprofit Launch

To learn more about the Postalytics Nonprofit launch, check out the full Postalytics nonprofit software release summary at: https://www.postalytics.com/blog/nonprofit-direct-mail-automation/

About Postalytics

Postalytics is the leading direct mail automation solution that turns direct mail into a digital marketing channel. Over 10,000 customers use Postalytics to instantly generate automated direct mail marketing campaigns that are fully integrated with their tech stack and tracked using patented mail tracking techniques. For more information about Postalytics, visit http://www.postalytics.com.

Press Contact

Dennis Kelly

781-206-8990

https://www.postalytics.com/

SOURCE Postalytics
Practifi Propel Puts Executives in the Driver's Seat With New Advanced Analytics to Organize and Surface Mission-Critical Data

CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Practifi, a performance optimization platform for the wealth management industry, today announced the launch of its latest data visualization tool for wealth institutions, broker-dealers and RIAs. Tailored to the needs of a fast-growing industry that relies on informed business decisions for long-term success, Practifi Propel features pre-built power dashboards that help transform data into insight, action and excellence at scale, using the power of Practifi's award-winning business management platform.

Glenn Elliott, CEO and Co-Founder of Practifi, said, "High-performing wealth management firms must ensure they are on track to meet their goals by constantly monitoring the quality and source of new business and organic growth. But the insights they seek are often inaccessible when data is siloed and located on multiple platforms. We believe investing in a firm's data and analytics infrastructure ultimately amplifies the firm's core strengths  transforming the way the firm makes decisions. For financial advisors and other executives at the heart of business development, Practifi Propel offers a game-changing data visualization experience that uses best-of-breed technology to leverage the power of data analytics."

Practifi Propel is a unified analytics solution that helps management executives make intelligent, well-informed decisions regarding clients, profitability and overall business health. It offers a bird's eye view of a firm's fundamentals, client demographics and advisor performance while reducing a firm's risk exposure.

Propel includes two components: a data processing platform that organizes and snapshots the Practifi data model, and a suite of expertly-designed, industry-specific dashboards that transform data into powerful insights. The Propel data platform acts as the engine that classifies and aggregates data to uncover meaningful patterns and trends. Propel's power dashboards provide users a turnkey and highly interactive analytics experience, surfacing key business insights about profitability, client growth and business pipeline.

Elliott concluded, "Today's leading wealth management firms depend on data to drive personalized client experiences and increase business efficiencies. Practifi Propel abolishes the challenges of siloed technology and seamlessly connects systems so executives can gain critical insights and achieve greater success. Designed for the wealth management industry, our new tool uses the right data infrastructure and analytics engine to reduce the risk of lost revenue opportunities and power a more data-driven future."

About Practifi

Practifi is the performance optimization platform purpose-built for the wealth management industry. Practifi empowers teams to automate workflows, create rich client records, and access advanced analytics in a unified experience. With comprehensive APIs, a range of specialist wealth industry integrations, and an ecosystem of hundreds of integrated apps, our platform centralizes data and gives greater visibility across organizations. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with offices in Sydney, Australia, Practifi enables organizations across the globe to deepen loyalty with their clients and pioneer the future of wealth management. To learn more, visit practifi.com

SOURCE Practifi
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Que Alicea is the CEO of Q&A Consulting LLC, a Bay Area-based environmental consulting firm founded in 2019. Que was the owner of a medical day spa before forming Q&A, and this paramedical aesthetician was introduced to industrial hygiene after being invited to work on a disaster site.

Que learned about hazardous materials and their negative effects on one's overall health by leveraging her scientific background. She now services commercial properties in both California and Nevada.

Que Alicea, CEO Q& A Consulting Photo Credit: Claudio Robles

Her goal when starting her company, Q&A Consulting, was to make it a full-service environmental consulting firm specializing in turnkey environmental solutions and environmental compliance. Q&A is one of Northern California's leading environmental engineering firms.

Q&A Consultants specializes in asbestos and other materials such as lead, mold, and personal air exposures, as well as hazardous materials surveys, disaster recovery, and hazardous affected area clearances. Unlike their competitors, Que has special certifications that allow them to perform clearances on-site, allowing them to provide results immediately without the time and expense of a lab.

Que is recognized as a trailblazing African American woman-owned business addressing complex challenges in energy management, efficiency, resiliency, and sustainability, making her one of the industry's only African American females with WBE, WOB, LBE, and DBE certifications.

She is also an active member of the WBENC, or Women's Business Enterprise National Council. Que has returned to her hometown of East Palo Alto to educate residents about the environmental industry, resulting in community members receiving the necessary licensing, certifications, and business opportunities.

Que works constantly with the environmental industry and academic professionals to raise awareness of critical issues in the energy industry and develop solutions to address them.

She has worked on teams to address issues such as raising awareness of energy efficiency programs in low-income communities and developing sustainable practices for use at universities.

To learn more about Q&A Consulting, visit www.qaconsulting-llc.com/.

SOURCE Q& A Consulting
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- QurAlis Corporation, a biotech company developing breakthrough precision medicines for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative diseases with genetically validated targets, today announced that Kasper Roet, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer, will present at the 22nd Annual Biotech in Europe Forum (BEF), taking place on September 21-22, 2022 in Basel, Switzerland. Dr. Roet will present as detailed below:

QurAlis Company Presentation

DATE: Thursday, September 22, 2022

TIME: 11:30AM CET

LOCATION: Track H, Emerald Room

CNS: Focus on Neurodegenerative Diseases Panel

DATE: Thursday, September 22, 2022

TIME: 12:05PM CET

LOCATION: Ballroom

The QurAlis corporate presentation can be accessed by visiting the presentations section of the Company's website at www.quralis.com.

About QurAlis Corporation

QurAlis is trailblazing the path to conquering amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative diseases with genetically validated targets with next-generation precision medicines. QurAlis' proprietary platforms and unique biomarkers enable the design and development of drugs that act directly on disease-causing genetic alterations. Founded by an internationally recognized team of neurodegenerative biologists from Harvard Medical School and Harvard University, QurAlis is advancing a deep pipeline of antisense oligonucleotides and small molecule programs including addressing sub-forms of ALS that account for the majority of ALS patients. For more information, please visit www.quralis.com or follow us on Twitter @QurAlisCo.

SOURCE QurAlis
NICB To Meet With U.S. Department Of State, U.S. Consulate in Tijuana To Evolve and Reinforce Partnership

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), the insurance industry's association dedicated to predicting, preventing, and prosecuting insurance crime, is strengthening its longstanding relationship with the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Consulate in Tijuana. NICB President and CEO David Glawe will meet with Meg Katsumi, Chief of American Citizens Services at the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, Mexico on Tuesday, Sept. 13 to discuss emerging fraud trends and develop proactive solutions to address crimes impacting everyday Americans.

During the meeting, Glawe, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Slater, and other NICB leadership will meet with Katsumi and other Consulate officials at NICB's Foreign Operations Field Office in Chula Vista. As crime continues to increase, including the highest vehicle theft numbers seen in the United States since 2008, staggering catalytic converter thefts, and fraud exceeding $300 billion nationwide each year, California is experiencing some of the highest crime rates, and therefore, is the perfect place to address these issues.

NICB and the U.S. Department of State discuss the importance of collaboration and information sharing to deter crime. Tweet this

"NICB's Foreign Operations works to repatriate stolen vehicles out of Mexico daily," said Glawe. "Meeting with our valued partners from the U.S. Department of State helps us solidify our on-going partnership. This relationship is critical to vehicle recovery, and we are grateful for our decade's long partnership with the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana."

NICB and the U.S. Department of State will specifically discuss the importance of collaboration and information sharing. These tools are the keys to success to deter crime. Both parties are looking forward to continuing their valued partnership as they battle the ever-growing crime trends, especially stolen vehicles.

If you believe you have been a victim of fraud, call the NICB at 1-800-TEL-NICB. For additional information, visit NICB's website, WWW.NICB.org.

REPORT FRAUD: Anyone with information concerning insurance fraud or vehicle theft can report it anonymously by calling toll-free 800.TEL.NICB (800.835.6422) or submitting a form on our website.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL INSURANCE CRIME BUREAU: Headquartered in Des Plaines, Ill., the NICB is the nation's leading not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to combatting and preventing insurance crime through Intelligence, Analytics, and Operations; Education and Crime Prevention; and Strategy, Policy, and Advocacy. The NICB is supported by more than 1,200 property and casualty insurance companies and self-insured organizations. NICB member companies wrote over $582 billion in insurance premiums in 2021, or more than 82% of the nation's property-casualty insurance. That includes more than 96% of the nation's personal auto insurance. To learn more, visit www.nicb.org.

SOURCE National Insurance Crime Bureau
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- National probate and inheritance dispute law firm, RMO LLP, announced today Los Angeles Managing Partner, Matthew Baker, has been selected as an Associate Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America (LCA).

RMO Founding Partner, Scott Rahn, said, "Matthew is an all-star person and litigator, and it's no surprise to us that the LCA recognized his abilities. We couldn't be prouder of him."

Baker's practice focuses on probate disputes, including representing heirs, beneficiaries and fiduciaries in contested trust, estate, probate, and conservatorship litigation matters.

In addition to his work at RMO, Baker is incoming President of the Santa Monica Bar Association and Treasurer of the Beverly Hills Estate Planning Council. He also has served as a volunteer prosecutor with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and as a volunteer with the Public Counsel Law Center, including the Children's Rights Project, Public Counsel's Debtor Assistance Project, and the Center for Veterans' Advancement.

The Litigation Counsel of America is a trial lawyer honorary society composed of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. Fellowship in the LCA is highly selective and by invitation only. Associate Fellows are selected based upon excellence and early career accomplishments in litigation, both at the trial and appellate levels, and superior ethical reputation. The LCA is aggressively diverse in its composition. Established as a trial and appellate lawyer honorary society reflecting the American bar in the twenty-first century, the LCA represents the best in law among its membership. The number of Fellowships has been kept at an exclusive limit by design, allowing qualifications, diversity and inclusion to align effectively, with recognition of excellence in litigation across all segments of the bar. Associate Fellows are generally at the partner or shareholder level, or on such track, or are independent practitioners with recognized experience and accomplishment. In addition, the LCA is dedicated to promoting superior advocacy, professionalism and ethical standards among its Fellows at all levels.

RMO LLP provides personal, cost-effective inheritance dispute services to individual and institutional clients. The firm's attorneys focus on probate litigation involving contested trust, estate, probate, and conservatorship matters. RMO has offices serving clients with probate disputes throughout California, Florida, Texas, Kansas and Missouri. For more information, please visit https://rmolawyers.com/

SOURCE RMO LLP
ROBOROCK drives growth through innovation

BEIJING, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to data recently released by Euromonitor, worldwide retail sales of robot vacuums exceeded 15 million units in 2021, representing a compound annual growth rate in excess of 20% over the past five years. In particular, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for some 44.2% of the total, making it the world's largest robot vacuum market. High-end robot vacuums, generally priced at over US$500, deliver far superior performance in terms of intelligence and cleaning efficiency when compared with standard models. Last year, high-end models made up over 30 per cent of the total sales of robot vacuums. Several high-end brands, including Roborock and iRobot, together occupied over 80% of the global market. Most notably, Roborock ranked first among robot vacuum manufacturers worldwide in terms of sales of high-end models for the 12 months from July 2021 to June 2022.

Globally, more than 10 million households have adopted the ROBOROCK cleaning robot Roborock ranks first among robot vacuum makers globally in terms of sales of high-end models

According to Chinese market data released by AVC for the second quarter of 2022, Roborock's G10S series had ranked first among robot vacuums in terms of both online sales and market share in the smart cleaning sector for three consecutive months. Roborock's interim report for 2022 showed that the company's sales of robot vacuums jumped 24.49% YoY during the first half of the year. The impressive performance was attributable to the firm's sustainable growth resulting from its ongoing innovation in technology.

In the first half of 2022, Roborock's R&D expenses grew 13.74% YoY to 226 million yuan (approx. US$31.6 million), accounting for 7.74% of the company's revenue. In addition, the firm has acquired 753 patents, with R&D staff making up 54.08% of the total headcount. With a continued increase in R&D investment, Roborock rapidly enhanced its competence in technology.

In March 2022, Roborock rolled out the G10S/S7 MAXV high-end robot vacuums series with the upgraded algorithm system RR mason 9.0, enabling millimeter-wave obstacle avoidance through high-precision navigation and route planning. The series also features the industry's first VibraRise sonic vibration technology that scrubs floors up to 3,000 times per minute as well as disruptive integration of Auto Mop Washing, Auto Antibacterial, Auto Tank Refilling, Auto Dust Collection and Auto-Empty Dock, in addition to optional water and drying components. With these technologies, the series has significantly enhanced cleaning efficiency, delivering an optimized hands-free floor cleaning experience.

In 2021, Roborock took the lead in increasing exposure and gaining acceptance of robot vacuums among the general public by providing customers with innovative premium products that use cutting-edge technologies to create a cleaner household environment while delivering a hands-free cleaning experience. By doing so, the leading robot vacuum company has contributed to the growth of the sector.

Given the ongoing pursuit of a high-quality household environment for thousands of years, especially in a fast-paced world, there is a growing trend whereby consumers prefer to use robots to do the housework so that they can spend more time on the things that matter or with the people they love. In September 2022, Roborock tied up with China's top online shopping platform Tmall.com, to launch the Super Brand Day campaign in a move to raise the awareness of its popular, high-tech products to a wider range of consumer groups, with the aim of enhancing the quality of day-to-day life and well-being of consumers worldwide.

SOURCE Roborock
Advancements to SAP SuccessFactors Human Experience Management Suite Transform Talent Development for the Future of Work

WALLDORF, Germany, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at the SuccessConnect event, SAP SE ( NYSE: SAP) announced new advancements to the foundation of the SAP SuccessFactors Human Experience Management (HXM) Suite to create a powerful way for organizations to execute an integrated talent development strategy and create a future-ready workforce.

Organizations thrive when their people are engaged in their careers, properly skilled, aligned to the right opportunities and have a sense of belonging. However, many organizations struggle to gain a holistic view of the skills that exist within their workforce or the ambitions of their people. The latest advancements to the SAP SuccessFactors HXM Suite bring together data, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide organizations with a better understanding of the capabilities within their workforce and actionable talent intelligence to align their people with the needs of the organization.

The following advancements will be available in 2H 2022:

Skills ontology uses machine learning and automation to continuously identify an employee's skills based on their role, responsibilities, experiences and accomplishments, providing a holistic view of an organization's skills on a global scale.

uses machine learning and automation to continuously identify an employee's skills based on their role, responsibilities, experiences and accomplishments, providing a holistic view of an organization's skills on a global scale. Growth portfolio is a dynamic library of employee attributes, including skills, strengths, workstyles, passions and aspirations  bringing the whole self model to life.

is a dynamic library of employee attributes, including skills, strengths, workstyles, passions and aspirations  bringing the whole self model to life. Dynamic teams is a new capability that enables organizations to create, track, measure and optimize the outcomes of teams that exist beyond traditional hierarchies. Organizations that use the SAP SuccessFactors Performance & Goals solution can add objective key results (OKRs) to dynamic teams to track progress and measure success. Additionally, employees and dynamic teams are matched based on what people know, not who they know, using machine learning and AI within the SAP SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace solution to make personal growth more equitable.

Together with SAP SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace, these innovations deliver the intelligence and adaptability needed to help build workforces that are more skilled, agile and equitable. Growth portfolio and skills ontology provide talent intelligence to individualize recommendations within SAP SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace that are reflective of each person's whole self, not just their skills. The introduction of dynamic teams cuts across traditional structures to support work based on skills rather than job descriptions  helping organizations build diverse teams that can drive better outcomes while accelerating career growth and personal development through hands-on experiences.

"Building on our heritage in talent management, we are reimagining how organizations manage and develop their people to meet the emerging demands of the future of work," said Meg Bear, president and chief product officer, SAP SuccessFactors. "When people have the opportunity to work on what they're passionate about, they are more engaged, perform at a higher level and push the organization to deliver outsized business results."

"SAP has created a system for managing the organization of the future, today," said Josh Bersin, global industry analyst. "The new architecture and capabilities in SAP SuccessFactors represent a quantum leap forward in delivering what organizations need to manage, grow and enable their people and teams."

Integrating the talent intelligence and growth acceleration delivered by these new innovations with the critical HR applications of the SAP SuccessFactors HXM Suite provides a complete talent development system  purpose-built for organizations to help create future-ready, sustainable workforces.

Improve Belonging With Chosen Names and Personal Pronouns

For talent development to be sustainable and impactful, organizations need to foster a sense of belonging. Empowering people to bring their whole selves to work starts with identity. SAP SuccessFactors users can now indicate their chosen name and personal pronouns on their public profile  enabling them to own how they show up and be recognized as their true selves at work.

Chosen names and personal pronouns will be generally available for all SAP SuccessFactors customers in Q4 2022. Skills ontology, growth portfolio and dynamic teams will be available as early adopter in Q4 2022.

Learn more at the SuccessConnect Virtual Event. Follow SAP on Twitter at @SAPNews.

About SAP

SAP's strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: SAP customers generate 87% of total global commerce. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers' businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want  without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people's lives. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of SAP's 2021 Annual Report on Form 20-F.

 2022 SAP SE. All rights reserved.

SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices.

For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:

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SOURCE SAP SE
The proprietary building method by Scala will be used across its campuses to significantly reduce construction time and enable the company's expansion to 15 new locations by 2023

SAO PAULO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Scala Data Centers, the leading Latin American platform of sustainable data centers in the Hyperscale market, announces the launch of FastDeploy. Through a proprietary design and construction methodology created by its Center of Excellence in Engineering, the solution allows implementing data centers up to 50% less time when compared to the traditional model. The scalable solution is highly replicable and is based on prefabricated and transportable modular components which are integrated into buildings at the data center location keeping the same quality and security experience compared to traditional data centers.

Sao Joao de Meriti Campus, in Rio de Janeiro state, Southest Brazil. FastDeploy is at the front and two 30MW buildings are in the back. (PRNewsfoto/Scala Data Centers) Sao Joao de Meriti Campus, in Rio de Janeiro state, Southest Brazil. FastDeploy is at the front and two 30MW buildings are in the back. Sao Joao de Meriti FastDeploy Campus, in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil.

Located in metropolitan regions, regional data centers have been gaining relevance, as they serve as a bridge between the large traditional data centers located in central regions and other locations with high population, industrial and intense economic activity concentrations. Close to high density workloads, regional data centers enable the computational processing of various services and applications that require low latency, such as the Metaverse, Internet of Things (IoT), telemedicine, self-driving cars, among others, whose implementation will be accelerated by 5G in Latin America. Currently, there are more than 87 cities in the region with a population of over 500 thousand inhabitants, 26 of which have more than 2 million inhabitants, in addition to relevant economic activity.

"With FastDeploy, our Hyperscale customers will be able to explore new regional and strategic markets in record time, with all the advantages that pioneering brings, scaling their operations as demand grows", explains Marcos Peigo, CEO at Scala. "As FastDeploy's capacity blocks are independent and can be added up on demand, this approach allows for long-term contracts with smooth ramps of growth to higher demands. It will also allow for the implementation of shared buildings, without losing the individualized customization feature that was already available in our single tenant developments, and present in high-capacity buildings", adds the executive.

The first markets to receive the FastDeploy solution will be Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre, in Brazil, where the company has already started the construction of two regional data centers with initial capacities of 10.8MW and 7.2MW, respectively. In the state of Rio de Janeiro, Southeast Brazil, the infrastructure is born within a 70,000 square-meter campus to meet the demand of a global cloud provider with expansion planned for a total of 70MW, including all phases, with the addition of two buildings. In Porto Alegre, South of Brazil, the Scala project will be officially launched in early October at an event attended by the city's mayor. The project comprises expansion in the region and is a single-tenant anchored by a large content provider. The new Scala FastDeploy data centers are expected to be operational in first quarter of 2023.

FastDeploy is made up of modular components that provide power and cooling resources ready to support varying densities, reaching more than 20KW per rack. All FastDeploy sites are born with a starting capacity of 2MW, which can be scaled by implementing additional MiniPODs delivering 60 racks per block.

Through a strategic and exclusive agreement with Scala, the smart modular structures are manufactured by Brazilian Modular Data Centers in a modern factory launched in 2022 and which has more than 20,000 square meters of area to support, especially, FastDeploy demands. The manufacturer delivers ready-made, load-tested, commissioned and TIA-942 Ready-certified modular components throughout Latin America.

FastDeploy operates on 100% renewable and certified energy, in line with Scala's portfolio. The solution is also endorsed by the ANSI/TIA-942 Rated 3 standard, which attests to electrical, mechanical, telecom, architecture and safety parameters for the construction and design of data centers. Scala is the only colocation operator in the region to work with this comprehensive standard.

About Scala Data Centers

Scala Data Centers is the leading Latin American platform of sustainable data centers in the Hyperscale market. Headquartered in Brazil and founded by DigitalBridge, it was developed to meet and exceed the growing demand for digital access in Latin America. Scala has a highly qualified team of over 500 professionals and applies a flexible and innovative approach to providing exceptional quality colocation services to Hyperscale clients, cloud-based software and service providers, and large enterprises. We customize state-of-the-art solutions for each client in the construction of the latest generation data centers, with high availability, the best energy efficiency rates, and superior density. All this allied to the best sustainability practices guided by our ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) program. For more information, visit www.scaladatacenters.com.

About Modular Data Centers

Modular is a platform for the development and production of modular data centers and modular components for data centers which was born as a leader in the Latin American market, combining a privileged view of the market with a proven entrepreneurial capacity. We design and manufacture intelligent, customizable, and high-quality structures, aligning our solutions to clients' needs and market evolution. Our modules leave the factory tested, commissioned and TIA-942 Ready certified to support varied demands, materializing the path to a future of infinite possibilities and enabled by quality digital infrastructure. For more details, visit www.modulardtc.com.

SOURCE Scala Data Centers
President and CEO, Brad Rourke: "One of our primary objectives of this drill season was to expand the depth of the Blueberry Contact Zone, and this initial deep test increases the depth of mineralization by 60% to a total of 360 metres, and we have multiple deeper holes still awaiting assays. Our 2022 program remains in full swing, with three diamond drill skid-rigs continuing to test the Blueberry Contact Zone. With such positive early season drill results and supporting visuals from recently drilled holes we have decided to increase the size of the program to 16,500 metres of drilling to test additional expansion targets along the contact. With over 75 holes already drilled this season, and just 6 reported so far, we look forward to delivering positive news flow throughout the fall."

Table 1: Selected results from new drill assay results (uncut) from the Blueberry Contact Zone. p Partial hole results from 340.45 to 437.5 (EOH).

Drill Hole

From (m) To (m) Width* (m) Gold (g/t) Silver (g/t) SR22-148

39.35 41.11 1.76 2.15 1.39

90.20 94.38 4.18 7.65 6.99 including 90.20 91.70 1.50 15.1 5.22 and 173.00 176.00 3.00 3.83 4.95 including 173.00 174.40 1.40 7.53 8.66 SR22-150

80.08 82.00 1.92 6.10 26.76

160.00 161.10 1.10 11.1 7.00

239.50 241.50 2.00 2.61 3.00 including 239.50 240.50 1.00 4.96 5.00 SR22-151p

343.00 419.00 76.00 2.45 7.78 including 370.60 395.15 24.55 7.07 4.33 and including 370.60 378.25 7.65 3.99 3.75 and 388.80 395.15 6.35 22.2 11.78 and including 391.80 395.15 3.35 30.1 17.51

*True thicknesses of mineralized intercepts are undetermined

Current Drill Results

Drill hole SR22-151 was a significant down dip test following up on the deepest intercept from the 2021 drill program, which intercepted 15.3 g/t gold over 13.49 metres at a depth of 225 metres (SR21-138; NR February 8, 2022). This new reported step out of 135 m extends mineralization down to a depth of 360 metres and provides confidence in the geological model that mineralization remains open at depth. Presented results from hole 151 are partial results representing the lower portion of hole from 340.45 to 437.5 metres (EOH) where positive visuals prompted the team to rush the analysis, so results could guide the ongoing drill program.

Drill holes SR22-148 and SR22-150 are deeper tests on the southern extent of the drilling from the 2021 drill program (Fig. 3a,b) along the Blueberry Contact Zone. The multiple shallower intercepts in both of these holes are related to the holes crossing SW striking mineralized cross-structures that moderately dip to the NW. The lower intercepts on the holes represent mineralization associated with the contact zone and are respectively 80 and 100 metre step outs along the contact from the nearest intercepts drilled in 2021.

About the Blueberry Contact Zone

The Blueberry Zone is located just 2 km northeast of the 100% owned, past-producing Scottie Gold Mine located in British Columbia, Canada's Golden Triangle region. Historic trenching and channel sampling of the Blueberry Vein include results of 103.94 g/t gold over 1.43 metres, and 203.75 g/t gold over 1.90 metres. Despite high-grade surficial samples and easy road access, the Blueberry Vein had only limited reported drilling prior to the Company's exploration work. The target was significantly advanced during Scottie's 2019 drill program when an interval grading 7.44 g/t gold over 34.78 metres was intersected in a new splay off zone of the main Blueberry Vein. The drill results received in 2020 and 2021, coupled with surficial mapping and sampling suggest that this splay is in fact a major N-S mineralized structure, of which the Blueberry Vein was only a secondary structure. This zone is much wider than pursued in previous exploration models and drilling in 2021 expanded its strike length to 720 meters and its depth to 225 meters. The zone is steeply dipping, and there is no current restraint on its potential depth; the mineralization at the adjacent Scottie Gold Mine has a vertical extent greater than 450 m. The Blueberry Zone is located on the Granduc Road, 20 km north of the Ascot Resources' Premier Project, which is in the process of refurbishing their mill in anticipation of production in 2022 (August 10, 2021). Newcrest's Brucejack Mine is located 25 km to the north.

Thomas Mumford, Ph.D., P.Geo and VP Exploration of Scottie, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed the technical information contained in this news release on behalf of the Company.

Quality Assurance and Control

Results from samples taken during the 2022 field season were analyzed at SGS Minerals in Burnaby, BC. The sampling program was undertaken under the direction of Dr. Thomas Mumford. A secure chain of custody is maintained in transporting and storing of all samples. Gold was assayed using a fire assay with atomic absorption spectrometry and gravimetric finish when required (+9 g/t Au). Analysis by four acid digestion with multi-element ICP-AES analysis was conducted on all samples with silver and base metal over-limits being re-analyzed by emission spectrometry.

ABOUT SCOTTIE RESOURCES CORP.

Scottie owns a 100% interest in the high-grade, past-producing Scottie Gold Mine and Bow properties and has the option to purchase a 100% interest in Summit Lake claims which are contiguous with the Scottie Gold Mine property. Scottie also owns 100% interest in the Georgia Project which contains the high-grade past-producing Georgia River Mine, as well as the Cambria Project properties and the Sulu property. Altogether Scottie Resources holds more than 52,000 ha of mineral claims in the Stewart Mining Camp in the Golden Triangle.

The Company's focus is on expanding the known mineralization around the past-producing mines while advancing near mine high-grade gold targets, with the purpose of delivering a potential resource. The Company's focus is on expanding the known mineralization around the past-producing mine while advancing near mine high-grade gold targets, with the purpose of delivering a potential resource.

All of the Company's properties are located in the area known as the Golden Triangle of British Columbia which is among the world's most prolific mineralized districts.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release may contain forwardlooking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forwardlooking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forwardlooking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date such statements were made. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forwardlooking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Scottie Resources Corp.
BOSTON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Whistleblower Law Collaborative LLC is pleased to announce that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) awarded more than $17 million to a whistleblower represented by Suzanne Durrell and Bob Thomas. Their whistleblower client submitted a tip under the SEC Whistleblower Program. The tip and subsequent information and assistance led to monetary sanctions in an SEC enforcement action and a related action. The SEC awarded our client 30% of the monetary sanctions collected in these actions, the highest percentage award allowed under the SEC Whistleblower Program.

"[This] award underscores the SEC's commitment to rewarding meritorious whistleblowers who provide valuable information and exemplary cooperation that advance the agency's enforcement efforts," said Creola Kelly, Chief of the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower in announcing the SEC award.

Attorneys Bob Thomas and Suzanne Durrell emphasized: "We and our client are very gratified that the SEC recognized and rewarded the extraordinary contributions and commitment of our client. We applaud the SEC's impressive skill and dedication in prosecuting this matter, and its highly successful track record in working with whistleblowers and their attorneys."

The Whistleblower Law Collaborative has secured awards for clients in several SEC whistleblower matters. It also represents whistleblowers in ongoing SEC investigations.

Whistleblower Law Collaborative LLC devotes its practice entirely to representing whistleblowers. For more information, contact the firm at 617.366.2800 or email Suzanne Durrell at [email protected].

SOURCE Whistleblower Law Collaborative LLC
SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Last September, the Chinese government unveiled the Plan for Comprehensively Deepening the Reform and Opening-up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone ("Qianhai Plan"). The total area of the Qianhai cooperation zone, according to the Plan, is set to expand from 14.92 square kilometers to 120.56 square kilometers to build a hub for higher levels of openness, including on the legal front.

Three of the 21 Hong Kong and Macao lawyers granted recently a lawyer's license in Shenzhen, came to Qianhai. It represents an institutional innovation in China's legal services, and Qianhai's new endeavor to remove barriers in this area.

Wu Jiansheng, publicity chief of the Qianhai Belt and Road Legal Services Federation said, "A connected legal service is essential for Hong Kong's integration into the development of the Greater Bay Area (GBA). Many Hong Kong lawyers are licensed to practice law worldwide, and they will be an important force in the GBA to promote the Belt and Road Initiative."

To allow Hong Kong lawyers an easier access to the mainland, the Federation has organized multiple dialogues between governmental bodies of Hong Kong and Qianhai for a continued service and policy support, from the life necessities to procedural assistance. "The Federation established a Shenzhen-Hong Kong in-depth cooperation zone for legal services and international centers for legal services cooperation and commercial mediation," said Wu. Some lawyers from Hong Kong said those platforms offer opportunities of a professional development in Qianhai and even in the GBA.

William Ng, a lawyer born and raised in Hong Kong and recently licensed to practice law in the GBA, said he opted for a professional career in Qianhai because of its proximity to Hong Kong, "but above all, Qianhai has enjoyed sound development for the past few years."

"Qianhai's legal services have now grown 'ultra-popular'," said Wei Lin, Managing Partner at PC Woo & Zhonglun WD LLP, a Qianhai-based law firm, in an interview. "An increasing number of individuals and institutions providing legal services, including those from Hong Kong, are being drawn to Qianhai. And I found that many more law firms have sprung up since we launched our business in the Qianhai Kerry Center in 2021," he added.

Put into operation this January, the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong International Legal-Services District is now home to 122 legal institutions, including China (Shenzhen) Intellectual Property Protection Center. Of 15 law firms jointly run by lawyers from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, seven are established in Qianhai. This May, the authority of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone released interim measures for bringing high-end legal services to the International Legal-Services District, in order to attract legal institutions and talented lawyers from Hong Kong and Macao.

"The past few years have seen an increase in foreign-related services and an influx of multilingual lawyers with backgrounds in legal affairs. Overall, we are optimistic about Qianhai's emergence as a world-class hub for legal services," said Lin.

SOURCE Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone
Fruitwood Smoked Bacon Name Change Effective This Fall

CLAREMONT, N.H., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- North Country Smokehouse's Fruitwood Smoked bacon has a big following. For some, it is the bold flavor, while others lean towards the antibiotic-free, no added growth hormones, and humanely raised attributes. Any way you slice it, one thing is certain. It's GREAT bacon. So why then is North Country Smokehouse making a change to a product that has so clearly won the hearts of many? That's a good question and one the company has asked itself numerous times over the years.

Any way you slice it, one thing is certain. It's GREAT bacon. Tweet this Same signature recipe with a new name. Introducing Applewood Smoked Uncured Bacon by North Country Smokehouse.

The product launched as better-for-you food trends began to emerge and shoppers started opting for all-natural, preservative free meats. The company named their new certified humane offering Fruitwood Smoked Bacon to differentiate it from the traditional recipe. "We wanted to make it easy for people in search of natural and humanely raised bacon to find what they were looking for. The name made it easier to identify when customers called looking for clean-label products." says Aaron Corbett, North Country Smokehouse CEO. "With growing trends towards sustainability and our commitment to humanely raised and organic farming practices, there's less of a disparity because humanely raised and organic products are the bulk of our business."

What does this mean to the company's Fruitwood Smoked bacon fans? Probably not much since nothing changes but the name. The sweet, smoky flavor and meatiness the product is known for will stay the same. "We are not changing the recipe  it's exceptional." says Mike Kelly, Vice President of National Sales and Business Development. "The packaging is identical so the shoppers who are faithfully adding the product to their cart each week, won't even notice. New to brand shoppers might be more willing to give it a try because they're familiar with the applewood smoke flavor profile." Kelly concludes. North Country smokes all of their bacon over authentic Applewood embers, which is essentially, a Fruitwood - so the change just makes sense.

Fruitwood bacon fans take note, the name change will take effect beginning this fall.

About North Country Smokehouse

As one of America's few remaining, family-owned smokehouses, North Country's mission is to hand craft premium, artisanal smoked meats through culinary excellence, exceptional animal care standards, and respect for the land. Located in the heart of New England, their authentic charcuterie features only the best hand-selected, natural ingredients, and small batch smoking process over embers of local hardwoods.

Available in traditional, all-natural certified humane , and organic varieties, the NCS product line features smoked bacon, ham, sausages, and deli meats, as well as unique offerings like smoked chicken, and Cajun Pork Tasso. Their recipes are prepared using old world, European techniques, resulting in the distinct flavor they are well-known for today.

Voted America's Best Bacon by Men's Journal, New England's Best Meat by Yankee Magazine, and The Best Bacon in America by Food & Wine, North Country has been noted for balancing taste with time honored tradition and modern food trends.

Available through upscale retailers, discerning distributors, and with custom crafted recipes in noted restaurants, hotels and resorts across the country, North Country has provided customers with better choices at the table for more than a century.

Visit ncsmokehouse.com for more information.

MEDIA CONTACT

Alicia Baker

North Country Smokehouse; Director of Marketing

603.542.8323 ext. 214

[email protected]

SOURCE North Country Smokehouse
-- Siguler Guff makes significant donation to the EPAM Ukraine Assistance Fund to provide critical resources and medical care to Ukrainians --

-- Separately, Siguler Guff donates humanitarian aid to local hospital in Odesa --

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Siguler Guff & Company, LP, a leading global multi-strategy private markets investment firm with approximately $17 billion of assets under management, today announced that it has teamed up with EPAM Systems, Inc., a leading digital transformation services and product engineering company, and has made a significant donation to Ukraine through the EPAM Ukraine Assistance Fund. The funds will provide critical resources and medical care to Ukrainians affected by the tragic war and ongoing crisis in that nation. In addition to the Firm's contribution, Siguler Guff has also committed to matching any donations to the EPAM Ukraine Assistance Fund made by the Firm's employees and limited partners.

Established by EPAM Systems, Inc., the EPAM Ukraine Assistance Fund supports organizations that provide critical medical supplies, safe shelter, hot meals, hygiene supplies, transport to safe areas, counseling and other humanitarian assistance to those affected by the war.

Separately, Siguler Guff announced that it has made a meaningful donation to Into-Sana Hospital, located in Odesa, an 80-bed facility that treats local citizens on a private basis. More recently, the hospital has been treating displaced persons from war-affected regions of Ukraine and has given up one-third of its ambulance capacity to the Ukraine Defense force. All donated funds will go directly towards necessary expenses and humanitarian purposes: medical supplies, emergency procedures for those who cannot afford them and salaries for doctors and staff who have been working there without pay since the beginning of the war.

Siguler Guff has been an investor in the Ukraine region for years, specifically through EPAM Systems, Inc., GlobalLogic Inc. and other IT sector investments, and has helped to create tens of thousands of Ukrainian jobs. The Firm said it will continue to provide meaningful support for Ukrainian humanitarian causes and organizations.

"We appreciate the support of the Siguler Guff team and their generous contribution to the EPAM Ukraine Assistance Fund," said Elaina Shekhter, SVP, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at EPAM. "Our hearts continue to be with Ukraine, our Ukrainian colleagues and their families, and the Ukrainian people."

Drew Guff, Managing Director and Founding Partner of Siguler Guff, said, "As a long-time partner of EPAM, we have a deep personal connection to the people of Ukraine and remain committed to supporting our colleagues and friends on the ground with critical resources. From the onset, EPAM has been taking every action possible to help employees and their families in Ukraine. Through the EPAM Ukrainian Assistance Fund, we're proud to further this commitment by helping those most vulnerable."

To learn more about the EPAM Ukraine Assistance Fund and how to donate, click here: www.epam.com/support-ukraine-donation.

About Siguler Guff:

Siguler Guff is a leading global multi-strategy private markets investment firm, which together with its affiliates, has approximately $17 billion of assets under management, as of June 30, 2022, and over 25 years of investment experience. Siguler Guff seeks to generate strong, risk adjusted returns by focusing opportunistically on market niches. Siguler Guff's core investment strategies include opportunistic and private credit, small business private equity, distressed real estate and emerging markets. Siguler Guff's investment products include direct investment funds, multi-manager funds and customized separate accounts. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in New York, Siguler Guff maintains offices in Boston, London, Moscow, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Houston, TX. To learn more about Siguler Guff, please visit www.sigulerguff.com.

Contacts for Siguler Guff:

Jeffrey Taufield / Daniel Yunger

[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE Siguler Guff
The Germany solar microinverter market is anticipated to hold a larger share of nearly 7.5% during the forecast timeframe. U.S. will generate roughly 34.8% of the global solar microinverter market share during the projected timeframe. Residential Sector to Boost Sales of Solar Systems with Micro Inverters.

NEWARK, Del., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --The global solar microinverter market is anticipated to create an absolute dollar opportunity over the projection period from 2022 to 2032 with a robust CAGR of 18.1%, reaching a valuation of US$ 5,716.0 Mn by 2032. Based on system type, the integrated system category is predicted to garner about 8% of the global solar microinverter market share in 2022.

According to the World Bank projections, the global economy is estimated to increase by 3.2% in 2023, creating an adjustable window of opportunities for the construction industry in order for it to thrive in various parts of the world.

As per FMI analysis, the historical data of the global microinverters market shows phenomenal growth at a CAGR of 14.2% between 2017 and 2021. The demand for solar microinverters is predicted to reach US$ 1,177.2 Mn in the global market by the end of 2022.

For Critical Insights, Request for PDF Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1766

Key Takeaways

Due to the rising investments in technologies for the production of renewable energy, the market of solar microinverters is predicted to expand at a lightning fast speed owing to its advanced technical advantages over conventional products is expected to fuel the demand for solar microinverters.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and several other capital-funded startups in the microinverter space are rapidly being acquired by well-established and dominant players in the solar inverter market. As per the FMI estimations, solar microinverter installation companies and module firms must diversify their product portfolios in order to get a competitive advantage in the market.

The solar micro inverter market is expected to be driven by rising demand from residential and commercial sectors owing to the high energy yield, module-level monitoring abilities, and enhanced safety of microinverters based on solar power.

The ever-increasing demand for residential spaces is providing sound flexibility and higher labor efficiency. The solar microinverter market accounts for around 12-16% of the global solar inverter market, reveals FMI.

The rising environmental consciousness among the majority and the emergence of strict laws governing the use of non-renewable power generation methods in order to address power shortage issues are driving the demand for solar microinverters globally.

Residential and commercial sectors have witnessed tremendous growth in emerging countries. Microinverters are known to be one of the crucial components of solar energy systems. The rising awareness about several environmental issues is also projected to surge the number of solar panel installations worldwide, thereby pushing sales of solar microinverters in the evaluation period.

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Competitive Landscape

The leading manufacturers of solar microinverters are undergone continuous pressure in order to improve their product's reliability and efficiency in case there is a rise in the demand for environmentally friendly solar products. Various manufacturing businesses are willing to increase the availability of their solar microinverters on the market through the introduction of new products and increased collaboration activities.

Key Segments Covered in Solar Microinverter Industry Analysis

By System Type:

Standalone

Integrated

By End Use:

Residential

Commercial

Utility

By Region:

North America

Latin America

Europe

East Asia

South Asia & Pacific

& Pacific Middle East & Africa

More Insights into the Solar Microinverter Market

The surging use of solar photovoltaics in residential spaces in the U.S. has been primarily elevated due to the electricity cost savings, surging demand for an alternative electricity source, and urgent need to reduce the risk of climate change.

The optimal reason for driving the demand for solar energy in abundance is the rising need for solar energy that the traditional power sources in the U.S., which is anticipated to boost sales of solar microinverters. It is estimated that the U.S. will generate roughly 34.8% of the global solar microinverter market share during the projected timeframe.

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The German solar microinverter market is predicted to acquire a larger share of the market with nearly 7.5% throughout the assessment period. The market for solar microinverters in the country is anticipated to be valued at about US$ 463.0 Mn in 2032.

Widespread awareness about sustainable energy options and surging electrification across end-use sectors all over the world are likely to propel growth in the market. In addition to that, increasing demand for solar microinverters from the residential and commercial sectors is anticipated to accelerate the solar microinverter market in the country.

Table of Content

1. Executive Summary

1.1. Global Market Outlook

1.2. Demand Side Trends

1.3. Supply Side Trends

1.4. Technology Roadmap

1.5. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

3. Key Market Trends

3.1. Key Trends Impacting the Market

3.2. Product Innovation / Development Trends

4. Key Success Factors

4.1. Product Adoption / Usage Analysis

4.2. Product USPs / Features

4.3. Strategic Promotional Strategies

5. Global Solar Microinverter Demand Analysis 2017-2021 and Forecast, 20222032

5.1. Historical Market Volume (MW) Analysis, 2017-2021

5.2. Current and Future Market Volume (MW) Projections, 20222032

5.3. Y-o-Y Growth Trend Analysis

To Continue TOC

Explore FMI's Extensive Ongoing Coverage on Industrial Automation Domain

Solar Shading Systems Market Trends: Global solar shading system market is projected to record a steady 3% CAGR through 2027. The solar shading system market was valued at US$ 3,672.6 Mn in 2017 and is expected to reach US$ 3,931.3 Mn by 2027-end.

Solar Panels Market Overview: Solar panel refers to a panel designed to absorb the sun's rays as a source of energy to generating electricity and heating. It reduces the amount of electricity coming from fossil fuels by supplying your operations with clean, renewable energy from the sun.

Solar Inverter Market Volume: The global solar inverter market is forecast to grow year-on-year by 5.0% in 2022, reaching a valuation of about US$ 11 Bn in 2022. Increasing adoption of renewable energy sources for residential and commercial spaces is expected to fuel solar inverter sales at a 6% CAGR over the forecast period.

Solar Panel Mounting Structures Market: Solar panel mounting structures are used to mount solar panels on the surfaces safely and protect the solar panel from the damage. Solar panel mounting structures are placed in such a way that, solar panel may get maximum inclination angle on the solar panel surface to absorb maximum amount of energy from the sun.

Microturbines Market Analysis: During the projected period, the global microturbines market is expected to rise at a healthy CAGR of 10.8%. Waste heat recovery can be accomplished with over 80% of the efficiency level, with microturbines. With increasing energy consumption across the globe.

ABOUT FUTURE MARKET INSIGHTS, INC.

Future Market Insights, Inc. is an ESOMAR-certified business consulting & market research firm, a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and is headquartered in Delaware, USA. A recipient of Clutch Leaders Award 2022 on account of high client score (4.9/5), we have been collaborating with global enterprises in their business transformation journey and helping them deliver on their business ambitions. 80% of the largest Forbes 1000 enterprises are our clients. We serve global clients across all leading & niche market segments across all major industries.

Contact Us

Future Market Insights Inc.

Christiana Corporate,

200 Continental Drive,

Suite 401, Newark,

Delaware - 19713, USA

T: +1-845-579-5705

For Sales Enquiries: [email protected]

Report: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/solar-micro-inverter-market

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1197648/FMI_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Future Markets Insights
On-page technology delivers 2X greater accuracy and scale

BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sovrn , a publisher technology platform that empowers content creators to remain independent and thrive on the Open Web, announced today new results from Sovrn Signal that demonstrated a doubling of deal revenue for participating publishers. In addition, advertising inventory enhanced by Signal was up to two times more likely to accurately predict how long a user would engage with a given ad.

In partnership with more than 175 independent publishers, Signal generated billions of targeted, actionable audience and inventory segments across viewability, attention, interest and intent. These segments were delivered to the ad auction via the Sovrn Ad Exchange's private marketplace in real time across a core of 1,500 domains, offering participating buyers' multiple options to better optimize their ad spend.

"The challenge for publishers today  and especially tomorrow  is how to better expand and communicate the value of our audience data at scale to advertisers," said Marc Boswell, Chief Revenue Officer of LoveToKnow Media. "Having the right tools and partners opens up a hugely powerful opportunity for publishers, especially smaller ones, to capture more revenue and have any form of impact in the future."

Today, publishers using Prebid can request free access to Signal to unlock, in a cookieless-environment, greater on-page attention and engagement to effectively segment and scale inventory and audience segments. They can then broadcast enhanced impression information and price recommendations to buyers through Sovrn's Ad Exchange private marketplace to increase CPM value. The paid version of Signal extends this functionality to other supply-side providers (SSP) and demand channels.

In addition, publishers using Signal can tap real-time insights to benchmark how their ad inventory CPM compares to the market, adjust their pricing strategy accordingly and drive greater revenue per user visit. Sovrn's recent " Advertising Performance Benchmark Report " showcases this technology, offering current, accurate and reliable benchmark data for the first half of 2022 and analysis into how much buyers will pay for ads and how rates are affected by industry trends and economic factors.

Further, Sovrn is rapidly adding capabilities so publishers can unlock greater insights into reader engagement and to curate, package and expand their addressable audiences. This will allow publishers to identify, target and price their most valuable inventory, increasing their eligibility for deals across all their supply-side partners and ability to assign audience segments to cohorts in their ad server.

Powering the Signal functionality is the Sovrn Data Collective, comprising more than 6,000 independent publishers reaching 500 million daily consumers who generate over 30 billion daily page views across more than 80,000 websites. The Data Collective delivers access to safe, privacy-compliant data, helping ensure that publishers can tap enhanced consumer understanding, enriched audience profiles and insights into revenue performance to better compete for advertiser spend.

"The uncertainty around the loss of third-party cookies and looming privacy pressures are forcing publishers to grapple with choosing the right path forward to mitigate potential revenue declines," said Walter Knapp, Sovrn CEO. "We aim to take that headache away with Signal, a plug-and-play solution that unlocks greater earnings for publishers by ensuring they can better understand and communicate the value of their audience engagement to buyers."

To learn how Signal can be used to measure, compare and monetize reader attention and capitalize on audience engagement, download, " Capturing the Signals: How Reader Attention Can Drive More Revenue ." For more information about Signal, visit www.sovrn.com/signal-inventory .

About Sovrn

Sovrn provides products and services to thousands of online publishers to help them understand, operate and grow their business. Sovrn is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, with offices in New York, London and San Diego.

With thousands of customers deploying advertising, affiliate marketing, and data products across more than 80,000 websites, Sovrn reaches nearly 500 million active consumers across more than 30 billion page views every day. Sovrn has been a leader in online publisher technology since its founding and has been recognized by IAB, JICWEBS, and TAG for its role in combating fraud and promoting pro-transparency initiatives. Sovrn is dedicated to helping content creators do more of what they love, and less of what they don't. www.sovrn.com

SOURCE Sovrn Holdings, Inc.
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On August 8, 2022, the California Supreme Court decided in People v. Christopher Strong that some special circumstance findings in murder cases do not automatically preclude defendants from resentencing relief under SB 1437.

Lead attorney Aaron Spolin talking with his team.

SB 1437 was passed in 2018 to allow individuals convicted of certain murder charges to get a reduced sentence if they were not the actual killer, were not a substantial actor in the murder, and did not "act with reckless indifference to human life." This law is retroactive and applies to felony murder cases and those where a defendant was convicted under the natural and probable consequences doctrine.

Originally, many courts refused to apply SB 1437 to special circumstance felony murder cases. However, with the recent Supreme Court ruling, those cases may be reconsidered. Defendants may be able to vacate a conviction and get resentenced to achieve a reduced sentence.

Special circumstance murder is often called "capital murder" because it can result in the death penalty. A person may also be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole (LWOP).

Defendants eligible for resentencing under SB 1437 may be released to return to their families, where that was not previously possible. Life sentences disproportionately affect people of color, who represent more than two-thirds (67.5%) of this group, according to The Sentencing Project.

SB 1437 and the recent Supreme Court decision in Strong are working to reduce unnecessary incarceration for people who did not actually commit murder but are serving a sentence as if they did.

About Spolin Law P.C.

Spolin Law P.C. is a criminal appeals law firm fighting for clients in state courts in California, Texas, Michigan, and New York, and in federal courts throughout the nation. We are dedicated to justice for those who have been wrongfully convicted or received overly harsh punishments. Our lead attorney Aaron Spolin, and his award-winning team of post-conviction lawyers is here to answer questions about SB 1437 resentencing and other relief in California.

SOURCE Spolin Law P.C.
CINCINNATI, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard Textile Co., Inc., a global textile manufacturing leader for the healthcare, hospitality, interiors, and consumer markets headquartered in Cincinnati, is proud to announce it has been recognized in the 2022 Healthiest Employers of Ohio. Healthiest Employers is an awards program created to honor people-first organizations that prioritize the well-being of their employee population.

Standard Textile has developed a holistic wellness program that focuses on four pillars: physical, mental, financial, and social wellness. Tweet this Standard Textile has been named one of the 2022 Healthiest Employers in Ohio.

These companies were recognized because of their commitment to workplace wellness and their exceptional health and benefits offerings. Even with many employers returning to the office or to hybrid schedules, they have had to adapt their workforces to reflect the ever-changing views of the modern American office. Increased flexibility, work-life balance, and mental health resources have proven to be common trends among Healthiest Employers honorees.

Standard Textile has developed a holistic wellness program that focuses on four pillars: physical, mental, financial, and social wellness.

"The goal is helping employees find their Well Place' just like their Happy Place.' For some it is a walking trail or fitness center, for others it may be an onsite massage, relaxation room, advice on financial management or receiving paid time off to volunteer," said Connie Retherford, Director of Total Rewards at Standard Textile. "We want to know what matters most to our employees when defining wellness. We want employees to know that their safety and wellbeing matters most to the company."

In support of both its physical and financial wellness pillars, Standard Textile offers several incentives to encourage healthy behavior and minimize employee contribution to the plan. Unique in 2022, Standard Textile made the decision to offer a cost-free medical plan option to single-coverage employees. This cost-free medical plan option proved popular; approximately 65% of employees who participate in Standard Textile's holistic wellness program qualified for and elected this plan option in 2022. Completion of a biometric screening and preventive exam as well as identification as a non-tobacco user qualified employees for this medical plan option.

The company achieves an impressive engagement rate overall with approximately 95% of employees and spouses in their Cincinnati headquarters who participate in the company's medical plan completing both the biometric screening and physical exam. This level of participation in preventive screening goes a long way to improve wellness and address health conditions early.

"The wellness program here at Standard Textile has helped me to be more aware of health. Without the incentives for my health care plan, I probably would not go to the doctor each year or have a biometric screening. The yearly screening has shown me how food and physical activity can improve these numbers," said Lisa McGill, Customer Service Representative, Healthcare. "I now try to find ways to make my numbers better each year."

Award applicants were evaluated across six key categories: Culture and Leadership, Foundational Components, Strategic Planning, Communication and Marketing, Programming and Interventions, and Reporting and Analytics. Completed assessments were ranked with the proprietary Healthiest Employers Index, a 1-100 rubric for wellness programming. The survey is scored and powered by Springbuk, a health intelligence platform that simplifies data-driven decision-making with an intuitive user experience, predictive modeling, and curated action steps.

About Springbuk and Healthiest Employers

Springbuk is a health intelligence software platform that empowers everyone in an employer's health ecosystem to glean actionable insights to improve their population's well-being and contain claims costs. Each year, Springbuk administers the Healthiest Employers Awards Program across the country to honor the nation's most dedicated employers in bettering their worksite health and wellness programs. To date, over 10,000 employers across 40+ U.S. cities have participated in the awards program. Learn more at www.Springbuk.com and www.HealthiestEmployers.com.

About Standard Textile

Founded in 1940, Standard Textile has developed a culture of innovation, quality, and service. With more than 80 patents, its products are engineered to deliver durability, longevity, and value. A vertically integrated company, Standard Textile is a leading global provider of total solutions in the institutional textiles and apparel markets headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Leveraging textile design, manufacturing, and laundry expertise, and its global infrastructure, this company serves customers in the healthcare, hospitality, interiors, and consumer markets worldwide. For more information visit standardtextile.com.

Contact

Judy Sroufe

Vice President, Brand Marketing and Communications

Standard Textile

[email protected]

(513) 761-9256, ext. 2243



SOURCE Standard Textile
National Center for Families Learning to lead Center alongside state and local partners

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Education has selected the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) to create and lead the Colorado Statewide Family Engagement Center (CO SFEC). In partnership with Colorado Education Initiative (CEI), the Colorado Department of Education (CDE), the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition (CSPC), and the Black Parent Network (BPN), the CO SFEC will build the capacity of families, schools, and communities to address learning recovery and related impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as implement practices and systems to improve student development and family well-being.

The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the need for robust, cohesive family engagement systems. Recent Colorado data confirms support for students' social, emotional, and mental health and for working with families and community remain top areas school leaders and teachers report needing additional support and professional development to lead schools effectively. Now, more than ever, coordinated and aligned family engagement efforts are needed to support learning recovery and academic achievement, particularly for children of color.

The Colorado SFEC will support COVID-19 learning recovery and academic achievement through family engagement. Tweet this

The CO SFEC priorities are aligned to the 2020 Colorado School District Community Needs Inventory and its work will support identified needs of K-3 reading loss, student mental health, disengagement of high school students, and adult education.

"We're thrilled for this opportunity to enhance family engagement efforts with key partners and stakeholders across the state of Colorado through the establishment of a Statewide Family Engagement Center," says NCFL's President and CEO, Dr. Felicia C. Smith. "Given the strength of Colorado's education landscape, the state is primed for innovative and equity-centered practices advancing family engagement as a lever for improving student learning outcomes. Our partners for the CO SFEC are trusted organizations who have long been doing great work in the state. This effort will build upon their work to strengthen the bridge between family, school, and community commitments to Colorado children."

According to the new Latinos for Education report, the way schools and districts communicate achievement and assessment information to parents is an important area for growth. CEI has already begun supporting response to this need through its newly released family assessment literacy tool.

"This SFEC award comes at a time when we are seeing increasing demand for deeper family partnership behaviors across Colorado, with CEI school and district partners recently identifying high-impact family and community engagement as their top area of interest for support. In addition to the more common focus for family partnership in early elementary, we are thrilled that the CO SFEC will also deepen family engagement practices related to career and college readiness," says CEI's President and CEO Rebecca Holmes. "CEI is honored by this opportunity to bring together the unique assets of NCFL with the Colorado partner organizations to build reciprocal bottom-up and top-down support for centering families as partners in education, with emphasis on families of color."

"We know that family engagement is critical in a child's and school's success. When families are deeply connected to their school and community, everyone does better. We are excited to receive this important grant to support districts in their meaningful family engagement. We look forward to partnering with the CO SFEC partners on this work."  Dr. Katy Anthes, Commissioner, CDE

The five-year grant, under the Statewide Family Engagement Centers Program (84.310A), will total $4,773,464.

To learn more about NCFL's partners in this work, read the full press release.

Contacts:

National Center for Families Learning  Sara Ulliman, 502.584.1133x206, [email protected]

Colorado Education Initiative  Samantha Olson, 585.739.3699, [email protected]

SOURCE National Center for Families Learning
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Global oil refining capacity dropped for the first time in 20 years in 2020 and again last year, exacerbating tight markets and volatile prices for fuels such as gasoline and diesel, according to a new report by the International Energy Forum and S&P Global.

The Oil Refining Industry Insights report finds that global fuel markets are expected to stay tight for years as new capacity takes time to ramp-up and investments are muted by demand outlooks that show global petroleum demand plateauing.

"I am concerned that investors are holding back from new refinery investments based on decarbonization forecasts that may not be borne out in reality," said IEF Secretary General Joseph McMonigle.

In both the short-term and medium-term, the balance for global fuel markets will be fragile, underscoring the need to maintain robust inventories and contingency plans to deal with supply disruptions, the report finds.

"The global refining industry is stretched, so unexpected disruptions have a disproportionate effect on prices. Governments urgently need to review their contingency plans to ensure they can cope with the inevitable and I believe more investment will be needed," Mr McMonigle said.

A record 3.8 million barrels per day (mb/d) of crude distillation capacity closed between 2020 and mid-2022 as the pandemic weakened margins, accelerated refinery closures, and encouraged the conversion of refineries to biofuels or distribution terminals, the report says.

Refining margins ballooned earlier this year to a record $35-50 per barrel versus a more normal $10 a barrel. The report finds that Russia and China both have available refining capacity, but sanctions limit Russia's exports and domestic policies limit China's.

Sanctions and embargos have displaced nearly 3 mb/d of Russian products that are not easily rerouted, and Chinese exports are down 30 percent from 2019 levels as the government has prioritized domestic markets.

More than 2 mb/d in new refining capacity is scheduled to come online by the end of next year, but history shows delays and operational challenges are to be expected.

Looking to the medium term outlook, the report finds significant uncertainty over future demand for conventional refining capacity. Despite high margins, investors are reluctant to commit to new projects because the transition to electric vehicles could make them stranded assets.

Passenger electric vehicle sales are forecasted in different scenarios to rise sharply as policy support continues, costs decline, and more models come to market. Plug-in vehicle sales are forecasted to grow from 6.6 million in 2021 to 35.7 in 2030. This would replace 4 mb/d of gasoline and diesel demand by the end of the decade, and cause hydrocarbon fuels' share of the transport market to plateau by 2028, the report says.

Energy transitions and decarbonization policies mean the downstream sector will need to reduce yields of gasoline and diesel and increase petrochemicals, the report finds. So, investors are looking beyond the current use cases for how refineries can be repurposed for the transition.

About the IEF

The International Energy Forum is the world's largest energy organization, with 71 member countries accounting for 90 percent of the world's energy market. The IEF is the global home of energy dialogue promoting energy security, market stability and transparency. For more information visit www.ief.org.

Media contact

Tom Ashby, Head of Global Communications

[email protected]





SOURCE IEF
ALPHARETTA, Ga., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit Hosting, one of the largest providers of virtual servers and cloud-based QuickBooks and Sage hosting in the U.S. and Canada, is pleased to announce today that it has acquired Tech Commandos, another step in a 5-year acquisition plan focused on becoming the leading financial cloud hosting provider with cloud computing and Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS). The expansion will immediately grow the Summit Hosting customer base and add a new practice area focusing on ACT Hosting, further solidifying Summit Hosting as a leader in small and medium-sized business (SMB) hosting providers.

Summit Hosting delivers an industry-leading secure cloud experience for QuickBooks, Sage and other applications.

"We are excited about the Tech Commandos acquisition as we continue to expand our hosting expertise and solidify our place atop the list of cloud hosting services in the SMB marketplace," says Warren Patterson, CEO at Summit Hosting. "We would like to welcome our newest customers and look forward to providing enterprise-level security and a world-class customer experience."

Customers transitioning from Tech Commandos can expect improved security and satisfaction with state-of-the-art data centers and Summit Secure Workspace, an enterprise-level security suite, installed on each server that includes 24/7 security monitoring. They will also have immediate protection from our dedicated 24/7 Security Operations team and access to our 24/7/365 U.S.-based support team.

About Summit Hosting: Summit Hosting is a leading cloud hosting provider for financial applications, including QuickBooks, Sage, and SAP Programs in North America. We offer top-tier hosting platforms for customers worldwide, with over 8,000 servers and 30,000 end-users running in our environments. We pride ourselves on giving our customers every tool they need to make their day-to-day more manageable and allow their business to grow.

About Silver Oak Services Partners: Founded in 2005 and based in Evanston, IL, Silver Oak is a leading lower middle market private equity firm focused exclusively on service businesses. Silver Oak invests in business, healthcare, and consumer services companies in the lower middle market, typically with EBITDA of $4 million to $25 million.

For more information about Summit Hosting, visit us here https://www.summithosting.com/.

Media Contact:

Vicki Thayer

Marketing Manager

888-244-6559

[email protected]

summithosting.com

SOURCE Summit Hosting
Community events take place September 14, with exclusive savings programs throughout the weekend

GREENSBORO, N.C., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of a continued commitment to support education and strengthen local communities, Tanger Outlets announces its 2022 TangerKids Grants winners. This fall, Tanger will enable $160,000 in classroom investments through the TangerKids Grants program. More than half of grant funding is allocated to teacher-led initiatives designed to support more inclusive classroom environments for underserved schools and student populations.

"Enabling opportunity for all is a top priority throughout Tanger," said Tanger Outlets Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer Leslie Swanson. "This year, we exceeded our goal of dedicating 55% of TangerKids Grants to programs focused on building more inclusive classrooms a mission we wholeheartedly celebrate."

For the past 26 years, Tanger has donated more than $3.1 million in grants and scholarships, funding projects directly requested by teachers that enhance learning environments and support students' success both in and out of the classroom. This initiative, along with the Tanger Hometown Heroes program, is one of many that Tanger implements annually to support educators and all local heroes  within its communities.

Tanger Outlets expanded the TangerKids Grants program to include new elements for 2022. For the first time, TangerClub members were invited to vote in a Member Choice poll, allowing them to join Tanger in making a positive impact by helping to select the winning projects, which were all submitted by local teachers. Through this new program layer, 10 grant recipients will be awarded additional project funding, with the top five receiving $1,000 and the remaining five each receiving $500.

In addition to awarding more than 140 grants nationwide, Tanger is also launching its inaugural TangerKids Day on September 14. Tanger team members across North America will visit grant recipients at their schools to present them with a check and celebration event, honoring the schools' educators and students. Tanger has also empowered its team members to recognize TangerKids Day by participating in volunteer events and actively giving back to schools in their own communities. These festivities will be extended to Tanger shoppers, as centers celebrate throughout the weekend with onsite activations and special offers from participating brands.

About Tanger Factory Outlet Centers:

Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. ( NYSE: SKT) is a leading operator of upscale open-air outlet centers that owns (or has an ownership interest in) and/or manages a portfolio of 37 centers with an additional center currently under development. Tanger's operating properties are located in 20 states and in Canada, totaling approximately 14.0 million square feet, leased to over 2,700 stores operated by more than 600 different brand name companies. The Company has more than 41 years of experience in the outlet industry and is a publicly traded REIT. For more information on Tanger Outlet Centers, call 1-800-4TANGER or visit the Company's website at www.tangeroutlets.com .

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Brianna Poplaskie

BRAVE Public Relations

404.233.3993

[email protected]

SOURCE Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc.
Animal and human heroes from across the nation to be honored for their outstanding contributions to animal welfare at luncheon in New York City

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Every year, the ASPCA (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) honors animal and human heroes who have gone above and beyond to make significant strides to improve animal welfare and make a difference in the lives of others. Exemplifying the ASPCA's humane mission in their communities and around the world, this year's 2022 ASPCA Humane Award recipients will be celebrated at the Humane Awards Luncheon, hosted by ASPCA supporter and NBC New York's Chuck Scarborough, on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, in New York City.

"Our 2022 ASPCA Humane Award winners demonstrate the impact of combining compassion and commitment to assist animals in need, as well as the power of the human-animal bond," said Matt Bershadker, president and CEO of the ASPCA. "We're proud to honor these outstanding and inspiring animals, people, and organizations who share our mission to support vulnerable animals and those who care for them."

The ASPCA announces 2022 Humane Awards honorees, including Dog of the Year and Kid of the Year. Tweet this

Following a nationwide public call for nominations, an expert ASPCA committee selected winners in six categories, including Kid of the Year, Dog of the Year, Cat Advocate of the Year, the Equine Welfare Award, the Public Service Award, and the Henry Bergh Award, which is given to an individual or institution exhibiting exceptional leadership, compassion, and commitment to animal welfare.

This year's honorees include:

KID OF THE YEAR: Delanie Dennis ( Tampa, FL )

In 2019, at the age of seven, Delanie Dennis founded Delanie's Lemonade Stand in her parents' restaurant, Cafe Delanie. Inspired by an animal welfare organization commercial that moved her and a book about a girl who ran a lemonade stand to benefit pediatric cancer patients, Delanie made a personal commitment to help animals in her community. Each month, Delanie chooses a new local animal rescue organization to receive 100% of the sales of designated items at the stand and restaurant. In three years, Delanie, now ten, has helped raise and donate more than $43,000 to these rescues. In 2021, Delanie went further by hosting her first adoption fair, which featured 29 local animal rescues and resulted in the adoption of more than 30 animals. She also frequently volunteers at rescue organizations caring for a range of animals, including dogs, cats, horses, and exotic animals. Delanie believesand provesthat there's no limit to what a kid can do to support animals in need.





In 2019, at the age of seven, founded Delanie's Lemonade Stand in her parents' restaurant, Cafe Delanie. Inspired by an animal welfare organization commercial that moved her and a book about a girl who ran a lemonade stand to benefit pediatric cancer patients, Delanie made a personal commitment to help animals in her community. Each month, Delanie chooses a new local animal rescue organization to receive 100% of the sales of designated items at the stand and restaurant. In three years, Delanie, now ten, has helped raise and donate more than to these rescues. In 2021, Delanie went further by hosting her first adoption fair, which featured 29 local animal rescues and resulted in the adoption of more than 30 animals. She also frequently volunteers at rescue organizations caring for a range of animals, including dogs, cats, horses, and exotic animals. Delanie believesand provesthat there's no limit to what a kid can do to support animals in need. CAT ADVOCATE OF THE YEAR: F.O.R.W.A.R.D. ( Indianapolis, IN )

The Feline and Offenders Rehabilitation with Affection, Reformation, and Dedication (F.O.R.W.A.R.D.) program was established in 2015 by former Pendleton Correctional Facility employee Michelle Rains in coordination with the Animal Protection League (APL) of Indiana. In this innovative program, cats of various ages, colors, and personalitiessome with behavioral and medical challengestravel from the APL to customized living spaces at the Pendleton Correctional Facility, a medium-maximum security prison. There, the cats are cared for by selected incarcerated individuals who provide daily care as well as medical care and companionship to the cats. The caretakers also learn important responsibility and pet care skills. In these cat-caretaker relationships, each gains a new companion to appreciate, assist, learn from, and enjoy. Since the F.O.R.W.A.R.D. program began, approximately 60 cats and kittens have spent time at the facility. Many were later adopted into safe and loving homes, thanks in part to the love and socialization experiences they received at the facility.





The Feline and Offenders Rehabilitation with Affection, Reformation, and Dedication (F.O.R.W.A.R.D.) program was established in 2015 by former Pendleton Correctional Facility employee in coordination with the Animal Protection League (APL) of Indiana. In this innovative program, cats of various ages, colors, and personalitiessome with behavioral and medical challengestravel from the APL to customized living spaces at the Pendleton Correctional Facility, a medium-maximum security prison. There, the cats are cared for by selected incarcerated individuals who provide daily care as well as medical care and companionship to the cats. The caretakers also learn important responsibility and pet care skills. In these cat-caretaker relationships, each gains a new companion to appreciate, assist, learn from, and enjoy. Since the F.O.R.W.A.R.D. program began, approximately 60 cats and kittens have spent time at the facility. Many were later adopted into safe and loving homes, thanks in part to the love and socialization experiences they received at the facility. DOG OF THE YEAR: Clementine ( Cedar Hill, TX )

Clementine, a three-year-old Catahoula /hound mix dropped off in May 2021 at an animal shelter in southeastern Louisiana , was one of many animals relocated by the ASPCA Animal Relocation team to Texas when Hurricane Ida headed for the Louisianan coast that August. During her time at the Tri-City Animal Shelter in Cedar Hill, Texas , Clementine was adopted twice but returned each time due to her challenges adapting to her adopted families' lifestyles and other pets.



Around the same time, Captain Robert Moree of the Cedar Hill Fire Department wrote a letter to his Fire Chief proposing they adopt a dog to help the firefighters cope with their stressful jobs. In October, Clementine was adopted by Cedar Hill Fire Department's Fire Station #212 and formed a strong bond with the station's five-man crew. Living full-time inside Fire Station #212which now includes a custom-built outdoor play yardClementine serves not only as a beloved pet but also as a valuable source of therapeutic support and comfort for firefighters coping with traumatic calls.





Clementine, a three-year-old /hound mix dropped off in at an animal shelter in southeastern , was one of many animals relocated by the ASPCA Animal Relocation team to when Hurricane Ida headed for the Louisianan coast that August. During her time at the Tri-City Animal Shelter in , Clementine was adopted twice but returned each time due to her challenges adapting to her adopted families' lifestyles and other pets. Around the same time, Captain of the Fire Department wrote a letter to his Fire Chief proposing they adopt a dog to help the firefighters cope with their stressful jobs. In October, Clementine was adopted by Fire Department's Fire Station #212 and formed a strong bond with the station's five-man crew. Living full-time inside Fire Station #212which now includes a custom-built outdoor play yardClementine serves not only as a beloved pet but also as a valuable source of therapeutic support and comfort for firefighters coping with traumatic calls. EQUINE WELFARE AWARD: Detroit Horse Power ( Detroit, MI )

Since 2015, Detroit Horse Powerfounded by local elementary school teacher and horse enthusiast David Silverhas connected hundreds of Detroit students with horse barns outside the city for free summer camp and after-school experiences. These impactful experiences, including riding and caring for the horses, teach the students valuable lessons about perseverance, empathy, responsible risk-taking, confidence, and self-control that set them up for academic, career, and life success. The organization also hosts a range of community events in Detroit and is advancing toward its 2024 goal of constructing a new urban equestrian center on 14 acres of vacant land inside Detroit that will elevate and improve the accessibility of its programs for young people and help revitalize the surrounding neighborhood.





Since 2015, Detroit Horse Powerfounded by local elementary school teacher and horse enthusiast David Silverhas connected hundreds of students with horse barns outside the city for free summer camp and after-school experiences. These impactful experiences, including riding and caring for the horses, teach the students valuable lessons about perseverance, empathy, responsible risk-taking, confidence, and self-control that set them up for academic, career, and life success. The organization also hosts a range of community events in and is advancing toward its 2024 goal of constructing a new urban equestrian center on 14 acres of vacant land inside that will elevate and improve the accessibility of its programs for young people and help revitalize the surrounding neighborhood. PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD: Islip, New York Firefighters ( Islip, NY )

On the morning of July 17, 2022 , firefighters from Islip Terrace Fire Department, Islip Fire Department, and East Islip Fire Department bravely rescued three trapped dogs (two Siberian Huskies and an Alaskan Malamute) and a 19-year-old woman from a house fire in Long Island . Discovering two of the dogs were unconscious and barely breathing, the firefighters immediately began chest compressions and cooled off the dogs with a fire hose. The dramatic rescue was captured on video, inspiring people nationwide.



The rescued woman and all three dogs survived their ordeal thanks to these heroic firefighters' skill and quick thinking. The collaborating departmentswho serve more than 14,000 residents combined acted not only on their duty but also on their deep compassion for people and animals in need.





On the morning of , firefighters from Fire Department, Fire Department, and Fire Department bravely rescued three trapped dogs (two Siberian Huskies and an Alaskan Malamute) and a 19-year-old woman from a house fire in . Discovering two of the dogs were unconscious and barely breathing, the firefighters immediately began chest compressions and cooled off the dogs with a fire hose. The dramatic rescue was captured on video, inspiring people nationwide. The rescued woman and all three dogs survived their ordeal thanks to these heroic firefighters' skill and quick thinking. The collaborating departmentswho serve more than 14,000 residents combined acted not only on their duty but also on their deep compassion for people and animals in need. HENRY BERGH AWARD: Dr. Jon Geller ( Fort Collins, CO )

In March 2022 , Dr. Jon Geller , an emergency veterinary clinician in Colorado for 20 years, was alarmed by the number of Ukrainians he saw fleeing the country with their pets due to the war with Russia . Inspired to volunteer his skills and resources, Dr. Geller traveled to Romania and spent weeks there setting up and operating a veterinary clinic at the Romanian- Ukraine border that provided veterinary care and pet passport services to the pets of Ukraine refugees. Dr. Geller's team of volunteer student veterinarians from across Europe also supports local animal welfare organizations operating at or near the border. Dr. Geller's Ukrainian clinic is an extension of The Street Dog Coalition, an organization he founded in 2015 to provide free veterinary care to pets of people with housing challenges in nearly 50 U.S. cities. Named Veterinarian of the Year by the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association in 2019, Geller says he will immediately return to the war-torn area if he is needed.

For more information on the 2022 Humane Awards Luncheon or to make a donation to the ASPCA, visit www.ASPCA.org/2022HAL. Your support will help the ASPCA continue to provide local and national leadership in three key areas: caring for pet parents and pets, providing positive outcomes for at-risk animals, and serving victims of animal cruelty.

About the ASPCA

Founded in 1866, the ASPCA (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) was the first animal welfare organization to be established in North America and today serves as the nation's leading voice for vulnerable and victimized animals. As a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation with more than two million supporters nationwide, the ASPCA is committed to preventing cruelty to dogs, cats, equines, and farm animals throughout the United States. The ASPCA assists animals in need through on-the-ground disaster and cruelty interventions, behavioral rehabilitation, animal placement, legal and legislative advocacy, and the advancement of the sheltering and veterinary community through research, training, and resources. For more information, visit www.ASPCA.org, and follow the ASPCA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

SOURCE ASPCA
Students and advocates gather to celebrate efforts to provide free period products to K-12 students and donate to schools and community organizations

SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Members from The Policy Project/Utah Period Project and Aunt Flow, which is on a mission to change the world one cycle at a time, will host Utah's first Period Party to pack nearly 3,000 period packs to distribute to students in lower-income areas and nonprofit organizations that support youth in need. The period packs are for youth who are experiencing period poverty as the lack of access to menstrual products for students remains a significant issue. The Period Party also celebrates the efforts of student ambassadors who were instrumental in Utah's state legislature passing a law that now requires K-12 public and charter schools across the state to provide free period products.

"Accessibility is an issue for students in grades K-12 across the country as one in four menstruating students say they cannot afford period products," said Emily Bell McCormick, president and founder of The Policy Project/Utah Period Project. "We want to ensure students have pads and tampons both in and out of school. We are proud to partner with Aunt Flow to celebrate the beginning of this school year marking the first time that school-age menstruators have access to quality period products, free of chargerestoring dignity and confidence in students who face period poverty."

Being held on Sept. 13 at Twenty & Creek in Sandy, UT, the event will gather more than 250 of the organization's student ambassadors to celebrate the success of free, quality period products in public schools and to mark the commitment to students learning to make a difference in their communities and states. Student ambassadors from around the state also will pack period kits with tampons and pads to donate to schools where period poverty may be an issue. Period kits will also be donated to nonprofits throughout the state to distribute to those in need.

For the 2022-2023 school year, 6,300 Aunt Flow free-vend dispensers were installed in the majority of public and private K-12 school bathrooms in Utah to provide students with Aunt Flow organic cotton period products, as part of an effort made possible by private donors and The Policy Project.

"We have received amazing feedback from students across the state about the period products in their school bathrooms," said Jane Clayton, chair of Utah Period Project's student ambassador program. "Comments range from, 'I'm so excited I don't have to worry about my period at school' to 'the products are actually comfortable, organic and cute!' Our girls are starting to feel that their world is reflecting an understanding of their needs just a bit more."

One in five menstruating students have missed school because of a lack of period supplies and resources, and according to the National Education Association, one school system that offered free menstrual products saw a 2.4% increase in school attendance.

"We are excited to celebrate the tireless efforts of the students and advocates from the Utah Period Project, as they are helping to lead the menstrual movement and setting the standard for other states to follow," said Aunt Flow Chief Estrogen Officer (CEO) Claire Coder. "It is so inspiring to see students come together to ensure no menstruator goes without period products. We are proud to be part of this monumental effort not only in Utah, but across the country."

About Aunt Flow

Aunt Flow is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to period products. Claire Coder founded Aunt Flow after getting her period in public without the supplies needed. At 18-years-old, she dedicated her life to developing a solution to ensure businesses and schools could sustainably provide high-quality menstrual products for free in bathrooms. Now, thousands of companies have joined the menstrual movement with Aunt Flow, providing free-vend dispensers stocked with organic tampons and pads. For every 10 tampons and pads sold, Aunt Flow donates one to a menstruator in need. We call this people helping people. PERIOD. For more information and to join the menstrual movement, visit www.goauntflow.com .

About The Policy Project

The Policy Project is a nonprofit (501c3), non-partisan organization that promotes solution-based policies to remove barriers to opportunity. We work toward healthy, equitable policy for the future of our children, our community and our world. We are currently working to end period poverty in our lifetime as part of our initiative, Utah Period Project.

SOURCE Aunt Flow
MADISON COUNTY, Ill., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TorHoerman Law Attorneys Jake Plattenberger, Steven Davis, and Eric Cracken, partnering with Alan Holcomb of Turnbull Holcomb, achieved a significant $4.4 million verdict for plant workers diagnosed with lung disease following exposure to Diacetyl at a Mane, Inc. plant in Ohio.

Diacetyl is a chemical compound, both man-made and naturally occurring in some food manufacturing processes, that mimics the taste, texture and smell of butter. Though Diacetyl is safe for ingestion in its natural state, it is dangerous when heated into a vapor and inhaled, potentially causing Bronchiolitis Obliterans, also known as "Popcorn Lung".

The THL team represented three plaintiffs with respiratory injuries from exposure to dangerous levels of diacetyl in the workplace. The employer intentional tort suit, filed in Warren County, Ohio, alleged that Mane, Inc. failed to warn of the dangers of chemical exposure, did not provide adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), and that chronic exposure to diacetyl vapor in flavoring components caused their lung injuries, specifically Bronchiolitis Obliterans.

The defense argued that plaintiffs were never exposed to levels of diacetyl sufficient to cause injury.

The jury found in favor of the plaintiffs, who cited peer-reviewed research, facility health audits, and expert testimony to show that the workers had, in fact, been exposed to dangerous levels of diacetyl vapor.

"This was an employer intentional tort case and the standard we had to meet was almost impossible. Employer intentional tort cases are among the most difficult civil cases to win," THL Attorney Jake Plattenberger said. "This was a complicated case with issues of toxic exposure, toxicology, epidemiology, and complicated medical issues. I am very proud of the team for an amazing result."

The jury awarded the plaintiffs $410,000 in compensatory damages and $4,000,000 in punitive damages. This is a significant and long-deserved win for our clients, and it was made possible through the hard work of our litigation team and collaborative partnership with Turnbull Holcomb.

TorHoerman Law's efforts in fighting Diacetyl exposure cases is not over. We are representing eight additional plaintiffs alleging injuries from Diacetyl in a trial set for October 2024.

About TorHoerman Law

At TorHoerman Law, our team of experienced legal experts specialize in personal injury lawsuits. If you have suffered any injury or loss from a vehicular accident, work accident, faulty drug or medical device, toxic exposure, or other negligent or tortious act, we're here to help you.

Our personal injury law firm has won more than $4 billion in verdicts and negotiated settlements for our clients. THL is a group of experienced people that believe in justice for individuals harmed through no fault of their own. To learn more, visit https://www.torhoermanlaw.com/.

SOURCE TorHoerman Law LLC
Now in its second school year, Tract is offering educators free access to project-based, standards-aligned guides in Math, English, Science, Social Studies and Art

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Tract, the online community where kids teach kids through multimedia, announced its $7 million seed funding round led by NEA with participation from Bill Tai (Sangha Capital/ACTAI), Anne Wojcicki (23&Me), Susan Wojcicki (YouTube), Marc Pincus (Zynga), and Dan Rosensweig (Chegg). The funding will help Tract to further its mission to unlock every child's potential to become an impactful creator. The startup was founded in 2020 by celebrity mom and California teacher of the year, Esther Wojcicki, and her former student and Uber exec, Ari Memar, after the pair realized the gravity of the 21st century skills gap, mental health epidemic, and teacher shortage.

"Teachers are overworked and understaffed. Parents are busy. Kids are not getting prepared for future jobs. My goal with Tract is to help make it easy for anyone, anywhere to prepare their kids for success," said Esther Wojcicki, Cofounder.

Tract allows kids to learn, create, share, and teach through video in its safe, moderated online community. In its first year, Tract welcomed 30,000 members who posted 5,000+ lessons that resulted in 100,000+ projects. Teachers can seamlessly bring Tract into their classroom to make any subject area more fun, real-world relevant, and kid-centric.

"The #1 thing kids want to be is a YouTube or TikTok creator. They aspire to be creators because they want to be creative, famous and teach. Combining the fun, creative process of making videos with research-backed educational paradigms, like project-based learning and peer instruction, can help every teacher improve the outcomes for their students, while saving time lesson planning," said Ari Memar, Cofounder & CEO.

"Today's kids are digitally native at a younger age than any previous generation. With over 30% kids owning a smartphone by age 8, kids are using adult platforms like YouTube and TikTok but still lack safe and engaging digital spaces that fit their needs," said Ann Bordetsky, partner at NEA. "Tract is pioneering a platform for school-age kids to be social learners, builders and creators, inside and outside the classroom. We're thrilled to partner with Ari and Esther on this mission."

To celebrate Tract's second school year and provide even greater relief to overworked educators, Tract is announcing that it will be free for educators and releasing its first collection of 5 project-based, standards-aligned guides across Math, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Art that have been collaborated on by kids, experts, and influencers.

To further elevate the student creations throughout the semester, Tract will be joined by Malala Yousafzai, Art by Joudy, Always Alyssa, The Galactic Gal, Will Levis, Jahkori Hall, and Carissa Cabrera on Friday, December 9, for the first ever Tract-a-thon: an interactive, virtual event that amplifies student work through an authentic global audience, including special awards, guests, and prizes. Teachers will be provided with free resources like in-class signage, certificates, and peer review templates, so they can host their own in-classroom symposiums.

Teachers can learn more and set up a free classroom account at teach.tract.app.

About Tract:

Tract is the online community where kids teach kids through multimedia. Cofounded in 2020 by renowned educator and award-winning author, Esther Wojcicki, and former student and ex-Uber exec, Ari Memar, Tract is a VC-backed startup experiencing rapid growth, with their latest round of funding including investors like NEA, Moving Capital, Dan Rosensweig (Chegg), and Susan Wojcicki (CEO of YouTube).

Tract currently has members spanning over 20 countries and nearly all 50 states. The platform integrates with Google and Clever for easy sign-in and account management, and teachers can set up their classroom in under 5 minutes to begin assigning ready-made project plans directly from their LMS

Additional Tract investors include Moving Capital, Oceans Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, K50 Ventures, G9 Ventures, Graph Ventures, Alumni Ventures Group, Minerva, and Correlation Ventures.

Teachers can learn more and set up a free classroom account at teach.tract.app.

Website: tract.app

Instagram: @tractlearning

Facebook: @tractlearning

LinkedIn: @tract-learning

Twitter: @tractlearning

SOURCE Tract
Major truck platooning market players include AB Volvo, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC, Continental AG, Daimler AG, Hino Motors, Ltd., IVECO S.p.A, NVIDIA Corporation, Omnitracs, Peloton Technology, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, and others.

SELBYVILLE, Del., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The truck platooning market is expected to record a valuation of USD 13 billion by 2030, according to the latest research study by Global Market Insights Inc.

A growing demand for advanced automotive solutions to reduce operating costs and fuel consumption will boost the industry trends. Platooning systems utilize autonomous driving support and networking technologies to operate two or more commercial vehicles together as convoys, which allows for maintaining a predefined distance between each other on highways.

Truck Platooning Market

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The technology has gained recognition across vehicle manufacturers and transportation service providers that are seeking new cost-effective solutions. With proximity as close as 12 meters apart, platooning services enable effective airflow around the fleet, thereby reducing overall fuel consumption.

Increasing dependence on next-generation technology is a key factor that could restrain truck platooning market growth. Truck platooning heavily relies on intelligent transportation, which consists of IoT-connected apps, smart mobility, and a fully equipped infrastructure of transportation networks. Current road systems in most countries fail to support the construction of potential routes that can accommodate long-haul truck platoons.

The fully autonomous segment in the truck platooning market is poised to witness a more than 35% growth rate through 2030. This advanced platooning technology involves the integration of a wide range of sensors and complex communication systems which together form a fully autonomous convoy of trucks that can effectively communicate and control vehicles. The technology enables smooth operation of larger fleets, whilst ensuring higher fuel and operational efficiency.

The vehicle-to-vehicle (V to V) communication technology segment is anticipated to reach USD 5 billion by 2030. With the growing use of adaptive cruise control systems which help enhance truck speed autonomously, V to V communication technology is likely to gain momentum in the coming years. This form of communication allows sharing of messages between vehicles to deliver information associated with speed and traffic conditions.

In 2021, the truck platooning market from the blind spot warning (BSW) segment surpassed USD 125 million. There is a high demand for BSW systems in customized luxury vehicles and heavy-duty trucks. These systems monitor the areas along the full length of the truck trailer and can detect vehicles in the blind spot and show a warning in the side-view mirror. Industry players are increasingly focusing on technological development and innovation of blind spot detection systems. The technology can be used to capture the rear view of large commercial vehicles to mitigate collisions while reversing.

Latin America truck platooning market is projected to register USD 490 million by 2030. The region has a solid footprint of automotive component manufacturers that are signing long-term partnerships with the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). There is an imposition of stringent regulations and frameworks with respect to the automotive and freight industries in recent years. The growing focus on enhancing the safety of domestic consumers will benefit truck platooning solution providers in the region.

Key companies operating in the truck platooning market are Daimler AG, Hino Motors, Ltd., IVECO S.p.A, NVIDIA Corporation, Omnitracs, AB Volvo, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC, Continental AG, Peloton Technology, Robert Bosch GmbH, Scania, TomTom International BV., TuSimple, and ZF Friedrichshafen AG. These leaders are seeking to add advanced features to enhance product portfolio and drive innovation.

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Partial Table of Contents (ToC) of the report:

Chapter 3 Truck platooning Market Insights

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

3.3 Industry ecosystem analysis

3.4 Impact of Ukraine-Russia war

3.5 Technology & innovation landscape

3.5.1 IoT

3.5.2 Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS)

3.6 Regulatory landscape

3.7 Key initiatives

3.8 Patent analysis

3.9 Industry impact forces

3.9.1 Growth drivers

3.9.1.1 Growing sales of commercial vehicles

3.9.1.2 Increase in demand to reduce operating cost and fuel consumption by fleet

3.9.1.3 Rising demand for connected vehicles

3.9.1.4 Stringent environment regulations and rising demand for road safety

3.9.1.5 Shortage of skilled drivers

3.9.2 Industry pitfalls and challenges

3.9.2.1 High cost of technology and hardware

3.9.2.2 Lack of infrastructure

3.10 Growth potential analysis

3.11 Porter's analysis

3.12 PESTEL analysis

About Global Market Insights Inc.

Global Market Insights Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider, offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy, and biotechnology.

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SOURCE Global Market Insights Inc.
EMS Services and UCM Digital Health connect patients to emergency medicine trained physicians and reduce unnecessary ER visits, streamline workflows, and improve patient care.

TROY, N.Y., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- UCM Digital Health (UCM), a leading digital health and telehealth provider that combines a digital front door platform, team of providers, and 24/7 telehealth triage, treatment and navigation service, is proud to announce a joint program with the Albany County Sheriff's Office, in conjunction with Albany County Sheriff's Office of EMS, to bring its digital health platform solution to emergency calls.

Albany County Sheriff

The program provides patients with access to virtual care by a UCM provider who serves as a real-time extension of EMS treatment. When diagnosing a patient, the paramedics and EMTs can determine the patient's severity level and if emergency care at a hospital is necessary. After the assessment, if it is determined that the patient does not require treatment in the hospital or ER setting, with the patient's consent, paramedics and EMTs can initiate a virtual consultation with a UCM-trained, experienced, and licensed physician who will then proceed to treat and triage the presenting medical issues, ensuring that the patient gets the care they need, right in their location. This solution gives patients immediate access to emergency medicine level care in the comfort of their own homes, avoiding unnecessary and often costly trips to the emergency room. Together, UCM and the Albany County Sheriff's Office of EMS are addressing emergency medical issues, providing quality care, and significantly reducing the number of unnecessary and avoidable ambulance transports and hospital emergency room visits.

In addition to treating a patient's immediate concerns, the UCM Digital Health team can provide medical advice and reassurance, prescribe medications, and issue referrals for supplemental treatment, including laboratory testing, radiological imaging, and specialist appointments, should they be needed. Additionally, a follow-up virtual consultation with a UCM provider can be scheduled for the patient.

This shared operation allows the Sheriff Department's Office of Emergency Medical Services to seamlessly integrate readily available emergency medicine physicians into their 911 responses, resulting in care that can be administered in the patient's home, rather than in the hospital. The program reduces excessive workload burdens shouldered by EMS providers and emergency rooms. With increased efficiencies, medical providers gain the capacity to focus on higher-level medical emergencies. This provides patients with the right care, in the right setting, and at the most cost-effective level.

"Ambulance service extends considerable time and resources transporting patients who might be better cared for outside of the emergency room," said Steve Anderson, Director of EMS & 911, UCM Digital Health. "When an EMS crew is managing low to moderate emergency calls, system readiness for high-level emergencies is diminished. We are proud to partner with the Albany County Sheriff's Department to help address health care capacity issues, improve quality care, and significantly reduce unnecessary emergency room visits."

UCM Digital Health also has this EMS integration in place with dozens of other agencies and plans to continue its expansion to additional counties, municipalities, and networks.

About UCM Digital Health

UCM Digital Health (UCM) is a leading innovator in the digital health space, offering a digitally integrated, whole person health care solution. UCM combines a data platform, digital front door, multi-disciplinary team of providers, and telehealth triage, treatment and care coordination service to provide patients with a range of services available 24/7, including emergent and urgent care, primary care, behavioral health, in-home labs & diagnostics, and more. Care begins digitally, remains digitally integrated, and solve patients' problems with the least amount of friction. UCM Digital Health partners with insurers, employers, patients, providers, and technology solutions companies  covering every corner of the healthcare ecosystem to lower costs, improve outcomes and provide a better patient experience. UCM Digital Health's unique combination of a digital front door platform plus emergency medicine triage and navigation expertise allows all care to begin digitally in one place. Located in Troy, New York, UCM Digital Health was founded in 2015 by emergency clinicians Keith Algozzine, PA-C and Michael Bibighaus, M.D., who continue to lead the company. UCM is accredited by URAC for Telehealth Services. www.ucmdigitalhealth.com

About Albany County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Medical Services

The Albany County Sheriff's Office was established in the 1660's and is one of the oldest Sheriff's agencies in the United States. Since its inception, the Agency has consistently grown to its current strength of over 700 employees. The Albany County Sheriff's Office is a "full-service" Law Enforcement Agency providing law enforcement services to residents and visitors of Albany County. These services include; Uniform Patrol, Criminal Investigations Unit, Fire Investigation Unit, Scuba Unit, Crime and Accident Investigation Unit, Snowmobile Unit, Marine Patrol, Emergency Response Team (S.W.A.T.) Unit, Hostage / Crisis Negotiation Team, Emergency Management Unit, Bicycle Patrol Unit, K-9 Unit, Traffic Safety Unit, STOP DWI Unit, Civil Unit, Court Security and Inmate Transportation Unit, Forensic Unit, Emergency Medical Services Unit (Paramedics), County Fire Coordinators Unit, Domestic Violence and Special Victims Unit and a Search and Rescue Unit. Additionally, this Agency provides 24-hour, seven day a week law enforcement services to the Albany International Airport, located in Colonie New York. https://www.albanycounty.com/government/departments/county-sheriff

SOURCE UCM Digital Health
Technavio offers an up-to-date analysis of the current global market scenario and the

overall market environment. Read a FREE PDF Sample Report

Azotobacter-based Biofertilizer Market 2022-2026: Vendor Analysis and Scope

To help businesses improve their market position, the azotobacter-based biofertilizer market provides a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the market. Some of these vendors include Agrinos AS, Apple agro, Ezzy Bioscience Pvt. Ltd., Green Vision Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd., Kiwa Bio Tech Products Group Corp., Lallemand Inc., MADRAS FERTILIZERS LTD., National Fertilizers Ltd., Novozymes AS, Phms Technocare Pvt Ltd., Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd., Rizobacter Argentina S.A., SOM Phytopharma India Ltd., T.Stanes and Co. Ltd., Unisun Agro Pvt. Ltd., and Universal Industries.

The report also covers the following areas:

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Azotobacter-based Biofertilizer Market 2022-2026: Segmentation

Application

Fruits And Vegetables: This segment will be the largest contributor to market growth during the forecast period. Azotobacter-based biofertilizers improve fruits and vegetables through nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, and others. Thus, the growing use of biofertilizers to improve and enhance crop productivity will augment the growth of the fruits and vegetable segment during the forecast period.



Cereals And Grains



Oilseeds And Pulses



Others

Geography

Europe : This region will account for 34% of the market's growth during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to factors such as the flourishing agricultural industry. However, market growth in this region will be slower than the growth of the market in other regions.

: This region will account for 34% of the market's growth during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to factors such as the flourishing agricultural industry. However, market growth in this region will be slower than the growth of the market in other regions.

APAC



North America



South America



Middle East And Africa

Learn about the contribution of each segment summarized in concise infographics

and thorough descriptions. View a FREE PDF Sample Report

Azotobacter-based Biofertilizer Market 2022-2026: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2022-2026

Detailed information on factors that will assist azotobacter-based biofertilizer market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the azotobacter-based biofertilizer market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the azotobacter-based biofertilizer market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of azotobacter-based biofertilizer market vendors

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Azotobacter-based Biofertilizer Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Decelerate at a CAGR of 8.4% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 146.31 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 9.93 Regional analysis Europe, APAC, North America, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution Europe at 34% Key consumer countries US, China, India, Germany, and France Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Agrinos AS, Apple agro, Ezzy Bioscience Pvt. Ltd., Green Vision Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd., Kiwa Bio Tech Products Group Corp., Lallemand Inc., MADRAS FERTILIZERS LTD., National Fertilizers Ltd., Novozymes AS, Phms Technocare Pvt Ltd., Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd., Rizobacter Argentina S.A., SOM Phytopharma India Ltd., T.Stanes and Co. Ltd., Unisun Agro Pvt. Ltd., and Universal Industries Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Browse Materials Market Reports

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Application



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Application

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Application - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Application - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Application

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Application



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Application

5.3 Fruits and vegetables - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Fruits and vegetables - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Fruits and vegetables - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Fruits and vegetables - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Fruits and vegetables - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Cereals and grains - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Cereals and grains - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Cereals and grains - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Cereals and grains - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Cereals and grains - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Oilseeds and pulses - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on Oilseeds and pulses - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Oilseeds and pulses - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Oilseeds and pulses - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Oilseeds and pulses - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 40: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 42: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.7 Market opportunity by Application

Exhibit 44: Market opportunity by Application ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 45: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 46: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 48: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 50: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 51: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 52: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 53: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 54: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 55: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 56: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 66: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 67: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 68: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 70: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 72: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 78: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 79: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 80: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 81: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 82: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 86: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 87: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 88: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 89: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 90: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 91: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 92: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 93: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 94: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 95: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 96: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Green Vision Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 97: Green Vision Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 98: Green Vision Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 99: Green Vision Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.4 Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd.

Exhibit 100: Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 101: Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 102: Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 103: Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. - Segment focus

10.5 Kiwa Bio Tech Products Group Corp.

Exhibit 104: Kiwa Bio Tech Products Group Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 105: Kiwa Bio Tech Products Group Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 106: Kiwa Bio Tech Products Group Corp. - Key offerings

10.6 MADRAS FERTILIZERS LTD.

Exhibit 107: MADRAS FERTILIZERS LTD. - Overview



Exhibit 108: MADRAS FERTILIZERS LTD. - Product / Service



Exhibit 109: MADRAS FERTILIZERS LTD. - Key offerings

10.7 National Fertilizers Ltd.

Exhibit 110: National Fertilizers Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 111: National Fertilizers Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 112: National Fertilizers Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 113: National Fertilizers Ltd. - Segment focus

10.8 Novozymes AS

Exhibit 114: Novozymes AS - Overview



Exhibit 115: Novozymes AS - Business segments



Exhibit 116: Novozymes AS - Key news



Exhibit 117: Novozymes AS - Key offerings



Exhibit 118: Novozymes AS - Segment focus

10.9 Phms Technocare Pvt Ltd.

Exhibit 119: Phms Technocare Pvt Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 120: Phms Technocare Pvt Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 121: Phms Technocare Pvt Ltd. - Key offerings

10.10 SOM Phytopharma India Ltd.

Exhibit 122: SOM Phytopharma India Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 123: SOM Phytopharma India Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 124: SOM Phytopharma India Ltd. - Key offerings

10.11 Unisun Agro Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 125: Unisun Agro Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 126: Unisun Agro Pvt. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 127: Unisun Agro Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.12 Universal Industries

Exhibit 128: Universal Industries - Overview



Exhibit 129: Universal Industries - Product / Service



Exhibit 130: Universal Industries - Key offerings

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 131: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 132: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 133: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 134: Research methodology



Exhibit 135: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 136: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 137: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Get a comprehensive report summary describing the market size and forecast along with research methodology. The FREE sample report is available in PDF format

Land-Based Smart Weapons Market 2022-2026: Driver and Challenge

The development and procurement of advanced technologies are driving the smart weapons market growth. Top defense spenders across the world, such as the US, Russia, and China, have made significant advances in the research and development of land-based smart weapons. For instance, in January 2022, the gun company LodeStar Works announced its plan to launch a smart gun with RFID technology. Such developments are expected to fuel the growth of the global land-based smart weapons system during the forecast period.

Stringent regulatory norms are challenging the smart weapons market growth. Most vendors work with government organizations in various countries. They should also adhere to rules concerning the storage, use, and release of harmful substances. These regulations negatively impact the growth of the market. For instance, in June 2022, the Biden government signed a bipartisan gun control bill into law. Such factors will restrict the growth of the global land-based smart weapons market during the forecast period.

Land-Based Smart Weapons Market 2022-2026: Scope

Get lifetime access to our Technavio Insights! Subscribe to our "Basic Plan" billed annually at USD 5000

Land-Based Smart Weapons Market 2022-2026: Segmentation

Product

Missiles



Ammunition



Others

Geography

North America



APAC



Europe



Middle East And Africa



South America

Land-Based Smart Weapons Market 2022-2026: Revenue-generating Product Segments

The missiles segment will have maximum growth momentum during the forecast period. The demand for smart land-based missiles, as well as their development and procurement, has increased due to the changing nature of modern warfare

Land-Based Smart Weapons Market 2022-2026: Vendor Analysis

ASELSAN AS, BAE Systems Plc, Diehl Stiftung and Co.KG, Hanwha Corp., Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd, Kongsberg Gruppen ASA, L3Harris Technologies Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., MBDA, Northrop Grumman Corp., Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd, Raytheon Technologies Corp., Rheinmetall AG, Safran SA, Thales Group, and The Boeing Co. are among some of the major market participants.

This report provides a full list of key vendors, their strategies, and latest developments. Request a FREE PDF Sample Now

Land-Based Smart Weapons Market 2022-2026: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2022-2026

Detailed information on factors that will assist land-based smart weapons market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the land-based smart weapons market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the land-based smart weapons market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of land-based smart weapons market vendors

Related Reports

Electrical Weapons Market by Type and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026

Explosive Detection Equipment Market by Type and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026

Land-Based Smart Weapons Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 7.69% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 2.40 billion Market structure Concentrated YoY growth (%) 7.54 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution APAC at 45% Key consumer countries US, China, UK, Germany, and France Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled ASELSAN AS, BAE Systems Plc, Diehl Stiftung and Co.KG, Hanwha Corp., Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd, Kongsberg Gruppen ASA, L3Harris Technologies Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., MBDA, Northrop Grumman Corp., Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd, Raytheon Technologies Corp., Rheinmetall AG, Safran SA, Thales Group, and The Boeing Co. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Browse Industrials Market Reports

Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Product

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Product - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Product - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Product

5.3 Missiles - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Missiles - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Missiles - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Missiles - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Missiles - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Ammunition - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Ammunition - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Ammunition - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Ammunition - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Ammunition - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 40: Market opportunity by Product ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 41: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 42: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 44: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 50: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 66: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 68: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 70: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 72: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 82: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 83: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 84: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 85: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 86: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 87: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 88: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 89: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 90: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 91: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 92: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 ASELSAN AS

Exhibit 93: ASELSAN AS - Overview



Exhibit 94: ASELSAN AS - Product / Service



Exhibit 95: ASELSAN AS - Key offerings

10.4 BAE Systems Plc

Exhibit 96: BAE Systems Plc - Overview



Exhibit 97: BAE Systems Plc - Business segments



Exhibit 98: BAE Systems Plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 99: BAE Systems Plc - Segment focus

10.5 Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd

Exhibit 100: Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd - Overview



Exhibit 101: Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd - Product / Service



Exhibit 102: Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd - Key news



Exhibit 103: Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd - Key offerings

10.6 Lockheed Martin Corp.

Exhibit 104: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 105: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 106: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 107: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 108: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Segment focus

10.7 MBDA

Exhibit 109: MBDA - Overview



Exhibit 110: MBDA - Product / Service



Exhibit 111: MBDA - Key offerings

10.8 Northrop Grumman Corp.

Exhibit 112: Northrop Grumman Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 113: Northrop Grumman Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 114: Northrop Grumman Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 115: Northrop Grumman Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 116: Northrop Grumman Corp. - Segment focus

10.9 Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd

Exhibit 117: Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd - Overview



Exhibit 118: Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd - Product / Service



Exhibit 119: Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd - Key news



Exhibit 120: Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd - Key offerings

10.10 Raytheon Technologies Corp.

Exhibit 121: Raytheon Technologies Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 122: Raytheon Technologies Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 123: Raytheon Technologies Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 124: Raytheon Technologies Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 125: Raytheon Technologies Corp. - Segment focus

10.11 Rheinmetall AG

Exhibit 126: Rheinmetall AG - Overview



Exhibit 127: Rheinmetall AG - Business segments



Exhibit 128: Rheinmetall AG - Key news



Exhibit 129: Rheinmetall AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 130: Rheinmetall AG - Segment focus

10.12 Safran SA

Exhibit 131: Safran SA - Overview



Exhibit 132: Safran SA - Business segments



Exhibit 133: Safran SA - Key news



Exhibit 134: Safran SA - Key offerings



Exhibit 135: Safran SA - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 136: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 137: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 138: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 139: Research methodology



Exhibit 140: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 141: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 142: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Research Report on Vietnam's Automotive Tire Industry 2022-2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Vietnam's tire production and exports to continue to rise in the years 2022-2031.

Vietnam has about 830 large and small tire companies, including bicycle tires, motorcycle tires, car tires and truck tires. Bridgestone, Michelin, Yokohama, Kumho, CHENG SHIN, KENDA, Sailun, Guizhou Tire, Jinyu, Goodyear and other global famous tire manufacturers have already established factories in Vietnam, some of them have set up multiple factories.

According to this research, some Chinese tire manufacturers, such as Sailun, have plans to expand their tire production capacity in Vietnam. Chinese tire companies have built a semi-steel tire production capacity of 11 million tons/year in Vietnam, and a full-steel tire production capacity of 7.2 million tons/year.



The demand for the use of automotive tires can be divided into OEM demand from the manufacture of the entire vehicle and replacement demand from the automotive aftermarket. In developed countries, due to the high saturation of the new car market, it is difficult to increase the sales volume, so the tire market growth driver mainly comes from the aftermarket demand.



According to the analysis, global vehicle production drops below 60 million units in 2021, equivalent to pre-2010 levels, due to a shortage of automotive chips caused by COVID -19. Global car ownership is about 1.5 billion units by the end of 2021. The automotive aftermarket has become a major part of the global tire market demand. Despite the global automotive market downturn, the global tire market continues to grow.



In recent years, Vietnam's auto industry has been developing rapidly. 2021 Vietnam's auto imports will be about 136,000 units, up 24% year on year. 2021 Vietnam's local production will be about 168,000 units, down about 10% year on year. 2021 Vietnam's auto sales will be about 304,100 units, up about 3% year on year. 2020 Vietnam's auto ownership will be 23 units per 1,000 people, far below the global average. With the development of Vietnam's economy, the automotive and auto parts market has great potential for development.



Vietnam exports tires to more than 100 countries, with the highest volume of automotive tires accounting for more than 60% of exports. For car tyres, 80-90% are exported. Vietnam's tire exports have been growing rapidly, with growth in exports to the US being the key driver. In 2021, Vietnam exported 14.06 million passenger car tires to the US, up 6.8% year on year. 2021 Vietnam has more than 200 tire exporters. Among the top ten tire exporters in Vietnam, there are only two Vietnamese companies, namely Southern Rubber JSC (Casumina) and Da Nang Rubber JSC (DRC), while the rest are foreign companies.



According to this analysis, Vietnam has an abundant labor force and low labor costs. Areas with the highest minimum wage levels in Vietnam include Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with a minimum wage of VND4.68 million (about $204) per month in 2021. In the less developed areas of Vietnam, the minimum monthly wage is only VND3.25 million (about $142). At the end of 2021, Vietnam's population reaches about 103 million people, with 45.7% of the working age population between 25-54 years old, Vietnam has an abundant labor force and consumer market.

In addition, Vietnam has certain advantages in the cost of raw materials such as natural rubber, electricity prices, land costs and so on. According to the analysis, Vietnam tire manufacturing industry has the natural advantage of raw materials. Vietnam ranks 3rd in the world in rubber production, with an annual output of 1.2-2 million tons of natural rubber. Vietnam's energy and land prices are also at a low level in East and Southeast Asia.



In terms of policy support, eligible foreign-funded enterprises in Vietnam enjoy tax incentives: the corporate income tax rate is 10% for 15 years, and they are exempt from corporate income tax for 4 years from the date of generating taxable income, and the corporate income tax rate is reduced by 5% for the next 9 years. This translates into a net profit margin of 2.5%-3.5%.



On the export side, Vietnam also has a number of concessions. Since the outbreak of the U.S.-China trade war, Chinese tires exported to the United States are currently subject to a 25% surcharge, as well as a dumping duty rate of up to 87.99%. Vietnam's exports to the United States to enjoy 4% tariff treatment.

Between 2019-2021, the United States imports the largest number of tires is a country and region, Vietnam ranked in the forefront. The EU has signed the Vietnam EU Free Trade Agreement with Vietnam, which will take effect from August 1, 2020. The EU gives Vietnam the highest level of committed free trade partner treatment, and Vietnam and 27 EU countries enjoy mutual tariff preferences.



The low cost of labor as well as other factors of production and favorable export policies are keeping Vietnam's tire industry under the continuous attention of global investors.



Key Topics Covered:

1 Auto tire industry related concepts

1.1 Definition and classification of automobile tires

1.1.1 Definition

1.1.2 Classification

1.2 Industry chain analysis of Vietnam automobile tire manufacturing industry

1.3 Automobile tire manufacturing process



2 Development Environment of Vietnam Automotive Tire Industry 2015-2021

2.1 Economic Environment

2.1.1 Global Economic Environment

2.1.2 Vietnam economic environment

2.1 Policy Environment

2.2.1 Policies related to Vietnam's automotive industry

2.2.2 Vietnam tire manufacturing industry related policies

2.2 Overview of Vietnam's automotive industry development

2.2.1 Auto production and sales situation

2.2.2 Car ownership

2.3 Global Automotive Industry Development Overview

2.3.1 Auto production and sales situation

2.3.2 Car ownership



3 Global Automotive Tire Industry Development 2015-2021

3.1 Industry Development Overview

3.2 Market Overview



4 Vietnam Automotive Tire Industry Development 2015-2021

4.1 History of Vietnam's automotive tire industry

4.2 Industry chain analysis of Vietnam's auto tire industry

4.2.1 Rubber

4.2.2 Carbon black

4.2.3 Steel cord

4.3 Vietnam auto tire supply situation

4.3.1 Vietnam auto tire production capacity analysis

4.3.2 Vietnam auto tire production

4.4 Vietnam Market Demand for Automotive Tires 2015-2021

4.4.1 Overall requirements

4.4.2 OEM (complete vehicle manufacturing) demand for tires

4.4.3 Aftermarket demand for tires

4.5 Vietnam auto tires import and export status

4.5.1 Vietnam's auto tire imports

4.5.2 Vietnam's auto tire exports

4.6 Vietnam's auto tire manufacturing enterprises in the overseas layout



5 Competitive Analysis of Vietnam Automotive Tire Industry 2015-2021

5.1 Barriers to entry in Vietnam's auto tire industry

5.1.1 Technical barriers

5.1.2 Capital Barrier

5.1.3 Brand barriers

5.1.4 Sales channel barriers

5.2 Competition structure of Vietnam's auto tire industry

5.2.1 Bargaining power of upstream suppliers

5.2.2 Bargaining power of downstream users

5.2.3 Industry Competition

5.2.4 Potential Entrants in the Automotive Tire Industry

5.2.5 Alternatives to car tires



6 Analysis of Major Automotive Tire Manufacturing Companies in Vietnam 2017-2021

6.1 Bridgestone

6.1.1 Company Profile

6.1.2 Tire Business Operation

6.2 Michelin

6.3 Yokohama

6.4 Kumho Asiana Group

6.5 Massive New

6.6 Kenda

6.7 Race Wheel

6.8 Solid Platinum

6.9 Guizhou Tire Co.

6.10 The Southern Rubber Industry Joint Stock Company

6.11 Da Nang Rubber JSC



7 Vietnam Automotive Tire Industry Outlook 2022-2031

7.1 Factors influencing the development of Vietnam's automotive tire industry

7.1.1 Drivers and Market Opportunities in Vietnam Automotive Tire Industry

7.1.2 Threats and challenges to Vietnam's tire industry

7.1.3 Industry Development Prospects and Market Opportunities

7.2 Vietnam Tire Industry Competitive Landscape Forecast

7.3 Vietnam Automotive Tire Supply Forecast 2022-2031

7.3.1 Vietnam Automotive Tire Capacity Forecast 2022-2031

7.3.2 Vietnam Vehicle Tire Production Forecast 2022-2031

7.4 Vietnam Automotive Tire Market Demand Forecast 2022-2031

7.4.1 Vietnam overall market demand forecast for automotive tires from 2022-2031

7.4.2 Vietnam Automotive Tire Market Segment Demand Forecast 2022-2031

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/echbrc

Media Contact:

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For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Research Report on Vietnam's Fisheries industry 2022-2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

According to the analyst's analysis, the fisheries sector is an important sector of Vietnam's economy.

Vietnam is located in the southeast of the Asian continent on the eastern coast of the Indochina Peninsula, from north to south than the Gulf of Tonkin, the South China Sea and the Gulf of Siam and other waters, is a tropical country, the geographical location and natural conditions are very conducive to fisheries production.

Currently, although the domestic demand for seafood products is increasing due to the increase in disposable income, most of the fishery products are used for export. According to the analyst's analysis, the total production of China, Thailand and Vietnam accounts for more than 70% of the world's total farmed shrimp production. Vietnam exports seafood products to 164 markets and the industry supports more than 4.5 million jobs.



Vietnam is a very low-cost place to operate, with low labor costs and energy costs. In 2021, the minimum wage in Vietnam's Region 1 is VND4.68 million per month, or USD200, which is much lower than the minimum salary level in China and some South-eastern Asian countries. As a result, Vietnam has more competitive operating costs compared to other countries in the region and has become the most attractive destination for multinational companies.



Vietnam's total seafood product production in 2020 reached 8.4 million tons, up 1.8% from 2019, including 3.85 million tons caught, up 2.1%. In 2021, Vietnam had 4.75 million tons seafood products, up 4.17% year-on-year. In 2021, Vietnam seafood product export turnover was 8.9 billion USD, up 6% year-on-year, reaching a new record value.

Therefore, although the growth of all indicators of Vietnamese seafood products in 2020 is not high, the Vietnamese fisheries industry in 2020-2021 is considered a success against the background of difficult production and operation due to COVID-19.



The main export markets for Vietnamese seafood include the United States, the European Union, Russia, Japan, China and South Korea. The major products that constitute Vietnam's seafood exports include shrimp, striped catfish, balsa fish, and hard clams.

According to the analyst's analysis, South American white shrimp accounts for about 90 percent of production, while black tiger shrimp accounts for the remaining 10 percent of the country's shrimp production. Even taking into account the many obstacles posed by Covid-19, Vietnam's shrimp exports will still be US$3.85 billion in 2020, up 15% year-over-year from 2019, and US$3.9 billion in shrimp exports in 2021.



The Ministry of Industry and Trade General Report recorded a sharp increase in the number of Vietnamese seafood exports to the EU market after the EVFTA came into effect. Among them, before August 1, 2020, the number of enterprises involved in exporting seafood to the EU was 370, of which, the number of enterprises involved in exporting seafood to the EU was less than 200 per month.

However, since then, the number of enterprises involved in exporting seafood to the EU has increased to more than 200 per month. According to preliminary calculations, there are 409 Vietnamese enterprises exporting seafood to the EU in 2020, and most of these enterprises have a good reputation and good supply capacity.



According to the analyst's analysis, Vietnam exports a wide range of seafood to the EU, with shrimp products worth more than US$500 million in 2021, which create the largest foreign exchange value; tuna species worth US$128 million; catfish and yellowtail catfish worth US$123 million. Export data show that shrimp, clams, tuna and squid were the items that benefited the most from EVFTA tariff preferences when the EVFTA came into effect.

In the ASEAN region, Vietnam is the largest supply market to the EU, and in Asia, it is second only to China. Therefore, the removal of tariffs on Vietnamese seafood products exported to the EU will create an important advantage for Vietnam to compete with other competitors in the EU market. EVFTA is expected to help Vietnam's seafood export market size grow by about 2% per year during 2020-2040.



On the other hand, in order to enjoy tariff and non-tariff preferences in Vietnam-EU trade, Vietnamese products must comply with the rules of origin, i.e., the raw materials for production must be grown and harvested in Vietnam. According to the analyst's analysis, since domestic raw materials only provide about 40-45% of the processing capacity; up to billions of dollars of seafood raw materials are imported annually, and most domestic suppliers of raw materials are small, scattered, and the source of seafood products harvested is unknown, which makes quality control inherently difficult and, therefore, more difficult to meet the above requirements.



The analyst Vietnam's fish exports to continue to rise in both volume and value during the 2022-2031 period. Meanwhile, with the rising population and rising income levels, the demand for fish products in Vietnam's domestic market will also continue to rise.



Topics covered:

Overview of Vietnam's Fisheries Industry

Fisheries Industry Economic and Policy Environment of Vietnam's Fisheries Industry

Fisheries Industry What is the impact of COVID-19 on the fisheries manufacturing industry in Vietnam ?

? Vietnam Fisheries Market Size, 2016-2021

Fisheries Market Size, 2016-2021 Forecast on Vietnam's Fisheries Market, 2022-2031

Fisheries Market, 2022-2031 Analysis of Major Fisheries Manufacturing Companies in Vietnam

Key Drivers and Market Opportunities in Vietnam Fisheries Industry

Fisheries Industry What are the key drivers, challenges and opportunities for the fisheries industry in Vietnam during 2022-2031?

during 2022-2031? What is the expected revenue of Vietnam's fisheries market during 2022-2031?

fisheries market during 2022-2031? What are the strategies adopted by the key players in the market to increase their market share in the industry?

Which segment of Vietnam's fisheries market is expected to dominate the market in 2031?

fisheries market is expected to dominate the market in 2031? What are the major adverse factors facing the fisheries industry in Vietnam ?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Overview of Vietnam

1.1 Geographical situation

1.2 Demographic structure of Vietnam

1.3 Vietnam's economy

1.4 Minimum Wage in Vietnam 2011- 2022

1.5 Impact of COVID-19 on Vietnam's Fisheries industry



2 Vietnam fisheries development environment

2.1 Brief history of Vietnam's Fisheries development

2.2 Types of Fisheries in Vietnam

2.3 Policy environment of Vietnam's Fisheries industry



3 Vietnam Fisheries industry supply and demand situation

3.1 Vietnam Fisheries industry supply situation

3.2 Vietnam fisheries demand situation



4 Vietnam Fisheries industry import and export status

4.1 Vietnam Fisheries industry import status

4.1.1 Vietnam's Fisheries import volume and import value

4.1.2 Main import sources of Fisheries in Vietnam

4.2 Export status of Vietnam's Fisheries industry

4.2.1 Vietnam's Fisheries export volume and export value

4.2.2 Vietnam's main export destinations for Fisheries



5 Vietnam Fisheries industry market competition

5.1 Barriers to entry in Vietnam's Fisheries industry

5.1.1 Brand Barrier

5.1.2 Quality Barriers

5.1.3 Capital Barriers

5.2 Competitive Structure of Vietnam's Fisheries Industry

5.2.1 Bargaining power of Fisheries suppliers

5.2.2 Consumer bargaining power

5.2.3 Competition in Vietnam's Fisheries industry

5.2.4 Potential entrants in the fisheries

5.2.5 Alternatives to Fisheries



6 Vietnam's major Fisheries brand enterprise analysis

6.1 vinh horan corporation

6.1.1 History of VINH HOAN CORPORATION

6.1.2 Main Products of VINH HOAN CORPORATION

6.1.3 Operating Model of VINH HOAN CORPORATION

6.2 C.P Vietnam Corporation

6.2.1 History of C.P Vietnam Corporation

6.2.2 Main Products of C.P Vietnam Corporation

6.2.3 C.P Vietnam Corporation's Operating Model

6.3 Minh Phu Seafood Joint Stock Company

6.3.1 History of Minh Phu Seafood Joint Stock Company

6.3.2 Minh Phu Seafood Joint Stock Company's Major Products

6.3.3 Minh Phu Seafood Joint Stock Company's Operating Model

6.4 Cargill Vietnam Co., Ltd.

6.4.1 History of Cargill Vietnam Co.

6.4.2 Major Products of Cargill Vietnam Co.

6.4.3 Operating Model of Cargill Vietnam Co.

6.5 De Heus Vietnam

6.5.1 History of De Heus Vietnam

6.5.2 De Heus Vietnam's main products

6.5.3 De Heus Vietnam's operating model

6.6 Sao Ta Foods Joint Stock Company

6.7 Soc Trang Seafood Joint Stock Company

6.8 GreenFeed Vietnam Corporation

6.9 Uni - President Vietnam Co.

6.10 Minh Phu Hau Giang Seafood Joint Stock Company



7 Vietnam Fisheries Industry Outlook 2022-2031

7.1 Analysis of development factors of Vietnam's Fisheries industry

7.1.1 Drivers and Development Opportunities for Vietnam's Fisheries Industry

7.1.2 Threats and challenges to Vietnam's Fisheries industry

7.2 Supply forecast for Vietnam's Fisheries industry

7.3 Vietnam Fisheries Market Demand Forecast

7.4 Vietnam Fisheries Import and Export Forecast

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/dupl

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

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SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Research Report on the Footwear Industry in Vietnam, 2022-2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

As one of the world's leading footwear manufacturers, Vietnam ranks second in the world in terms of leather and footwear exports after China.

Vietnam exports more than 1 billion pairs of footwear of all kinds of to hundreds of countries around the world every year. In particular, Vietnam's footwear exports to the EU account for the largest proportion of the total exports. By the end of 2021, there are about 2,200 enterprises producing footwear in Vietnam, mainly concentrated in the area around Ho Chi Minh City.



According to the analyst's analysis, two giant brands in the global footwear industry, Nike and Adidas, have chosen Vietnam as their main production base. Part of the global footwear chain is gradually shifting from China to Vietnam due to its lower costs. Nike has more than 100 suppliers in Vietnam, with 96 factories concentrated in the southern region.



Nike's arch rival, Adidas, has also chosen Vietnam as its main production area. In its annual report (2020), Adidas suggested that in 2019, 98% of Adidas' footwear products were produced in the Asian region. Vietnam has become the largest sourcing country for Adidas, accounting for about 40% of its total footwear production in 2021.



According to the analyst's analysis, due to the impact of COVID-19, Vietnam's footwear exports was USD16.75 billion in 2020, decreased 8.6% YOY. In 2021, Vietnam's footwear products were exported to more than 100 countries, with about 17.8 billion USD in footwear production. In 2021, Vietnam's footwear exports have seen a resurgence in growth.



There is a more important basis for the bullishness of Vietnam's footwear exports, that is, Vietnam has signed trade agreements helpful for exports with Europe and the United States. For example, in the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), Vietnam's footwear exports to the EU amount to about 40%. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has helped Vietnam's footwear exports to Canada and Mexico soar.



Vietnam has signed many agreements with developed countries that are conducive to promoting exports, but the strength of Vietnam's local footwear enterprises remains weak and the major market share of Vietnam's footwear industry is occupied by foreign companies.

According to the analysis, Vietnam's footwear production and exports are expected to continue to grow in 2022-2031. For companies related to the international footwear industry chain, there are many investment opportunities in Vietnam's market in the coming years.



Topics covered:

Overview of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

Footwear Industry Economic and Policy Environment of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

Footwear Industry What is the impact of COVID-19 on the footwear manufacturing industry in Vietnam ?

? Vietnam Footwear Market Size, 2016-2021

Footwear Market Size, 2016-2021 Forecast on Vietnam's Footwear Market, 2022-2031

Footwear Market, 2022-2031 Analysis of Major Footwear Manufacturing Companies in Vietnam

Key Drivers and Market Opportunities in Vietnam Footwear Industry

Footwear Industry What are the key drivers, challenges and opportunities for the footwear industry in Vietnam during 2022-2031?

during 2022-2031? What is the expected revenue of Vietnam's footwear market during 2022-2031?

footwear market during 2022-2031? What are the strategies adopted by the key players in the market to increase their market share in the industry?

Which segment of Vietnam's footwear market is expected to dominate the market in 2031?

footwear market is expected to dominate the market in 2031? What are the major adverse factors facing the footwear industry in Vietnam ?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Overview of Vietnam

1.1 Geographical Situation

1.2 Demographic Structure of Vietnam

1.3 Economy of Vietnam

1.4 Minimum Wage in Vietnam, 2011-2021

1.5 Impact of COVID-19 on the Footwear Industry in Vietnam



2 Development Environment of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

2.1 Brief History of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

2.2 Types of Vietnam's Footwear industry

2.3 Policy Environment of Vietnam's Footwear Industry



3 Supply and Demand Situation of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

3.1 Supply Situation

3.2 Demand Situation



4 Import and Export Situation of Vietnam's Footwear Industry 2017-2022

4.1 Import Situation

4.1.1 Import Volume and Import Value

4.1.2 Main Import Sources

4.2 Export Situation

4.2.1 Export Volume and Value

4.2.2 Main Export Destinations



5 Market Competition in Vietnam's Footwear Industry

5.1 Barriers to Entry in Vietnam's Footwear Industry

5.1.1 Brand barrier

5.1.2 Quality Barrier

5.1.3 Capital Barrier

5.2 Competitive Structure of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

5.2.1 Bargaining Power of Footwear Suppliers

5.2.2 Bargaining Power of Consumers

5.2.3 Competition in Vietnam's Footwear Industry

5.2.4 Potential Entrants in the Footwear Industry

5.2.5 Substitutes for the Footwear Industry



6 Analysis of Major Footwear Brand Companies in Vietnam

6.1 Nike

6.1.1 Development History of Nike

6.1.2 Nike's Main Products

6.1.3 Nike's Operation Model

6.2 Adidas

6.2.1 Development History of Adidas

6.2.2 Adidas' Main products

6.2.3 Adidas' Operation Model

6.3 BINH TIEN IMEX CORP., PTE., LTD.

6.3.1 Development History of BINH TIEN IMEX CORP., PTE., LTD.

6.3.2 BINH TIEN IMEX CORP., PTE., LTD.'s Main Products

6.3.3 BINH TIEN IMEX CORP., PTE., LTD.'s Operation Model

6.4 Vinagiay Corporation

6.4.1 Development History of VINAGIAY CORPORATION

6.4.2 Main Products of VINAGIAY CORPORATION

6.4.3 Operating model of VINAGIAY CORPORATION

6.5 AN BA LEATHER FOOTWEAR ONE MEMBER CO., LTD

6.5.1 Development History of AN BA LEATHER FOOTWEAR ONE MEMBER CO., LTD

6.5.2 Main products of AN BA LEATHER FOOTWEAR ONE MEMBER CO.

6.5.3 Operating Model of AN BA LEATHER FOOTWEAR ONE MEMBER CO.

6.6 Saigeon Footwear Joint Stock Company

6.7 Vinh Long Footwear Co.

6.8 Sahara International Corporation

6.9 Golden Star Company Limited

6.10 Mai Nguyen Fashions Joint Stock Company



7 Outlook on Vietnam's Footwear Industry, 2021-2031

7.1 Analysis of Vietnam's Footwear Industry Development Factors

7.1.1 Drivers and Development Opportunities for Vietnam's Footwear Industry

7.1.2 Threats and Challenges Facing Vietnam's Footwear Industry

7.2 Forecast on Vietnam's Footwear Industry Supply

7.3 Forecast on Vietnam's Footwear Industry Market Demand

7.4 Forecast on Import and Export of Vietnam's Footwear Industry

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/488l3p

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

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SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Research Report on Vietnam's Wooden Furniture Industry 2022-2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



At present, the major markets for Vietnam's wood and wood products are the U.S., Japan, China, South Korea, and the EU.

2021 exports of Vietnam's wood and wood products to these five major markets account for about 90% of Vietnam's total wood and wood products exports. According to this analysis, Vietnam's main exports of wood and wood products are: wooden furniture, seats, particle board, plywood, and veneer.

Currently, Vietnam's wood products are more competitive due to lower labor costs, lower taxes, and certain preferential tax rates when exporting, etc.

Despite COVID-19, Vietnam remains the world's second largest furniture exporter (after China) and surpassed China as the largest furniture exporter to the U.S. In 2021, Vietnam exported $9.3 billion of wooden furniture to the U.S., up 22% year-over-year.

Despite the weak performance of Vietnam's major export commodities in 2021, the volume of wood and wood products increased significantly year-on-year. During this period, the US, Japan, China, the EU and South Korea accounted for 90% of Vietnam's total forestry exports, while the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) comes into effect in August 2020, paving the way for Vietnam's wood exports and further penetration of products into the European market, according to Wonjer Consulting's analysis.

In 2021, Vietnam's exports of wood products and furniture will be approximately US$14.5 billion, up 17.2% from 2020. 2021, Vietnam will export wood products and furniture to a total of 40 countries and regions. The top 10 major destinations by export value are the United States (US$8.77 billion), China (US$1.5 billion), Japan (US$1.44 billion), South Korea (US$890 million), United Kingdom (US$270 million), etc.

The analyst Vietnam's furniture industry to continue to grow and export value to rise from 2022-2031 as COVID-19 is effectively controlled. For global investors, there are many investment opportunities in Vietnam's furniture industry.

Contents covered:



Overview of Vietnam's wooden furniture industry

wooden furniture industry Economic environment and policy environment for wooden furniture in Vietnam

What is the impact of COVID-19 on the wooden furniture industry in Vietnam ?

? Vietnam Wooden Furniture Market Size 2016-2021

Wooden Furniture Market Size 2016-2021 Vietnam Wooden Furniture Market Forecast 2022-2031

Import and Export Analysis of Wooden Furniture in Vietnam

Analysis of Major Vietnam Wooden Furniture Manufacturers

Key Drivers and Market Opportunities in Vietnam Wooden Furniture Industry

Wooden Furniture Industry What are the key drivers, challenges and opportunities for the wooden furniture industry in Vietnam during the forecast period 2022-2031?

during the forecast period 2022-2031? What is the expected revenue of Vietnam wooden furniture market during the forecast period 2022-2031?

wooden furniture market during the forecast period 2022-2031? Which segment of the Vietnam Wooden Furniture market is expected to dominate the market in 2031?

What are the major adverse factors facing the wooden furniture industry in Vietnam ?

Key Topics Covered:

1 Overview of Vietnam

1.1 Geographical Situation

1.2 Demographics of Vietnam

1.3 Economy of Vietnam

1.4 Minimum Wage in Vietnam 2011-2021

1.5 Impact of COVID-19 on Vietnam's Wooden Furniture Industry



2 Development Environment of Wooden Furniture Industry in Vietnam

2.1 Brief history of the development of wooden furniture in Vietnam

2.2 Types of wooden furniture in Vietnam

2.3 Policy Environment of Vietnam Wooden Furniture Industry



3 Supply and Demand Situation of Wooden Furniture Industry in Vietnam

3.1 Supply Situation of Wooden Furniture Industry in Vietnam

3.2 Demand Situation of Wooden Furniture Industry in Vietnam



4 Import and export of wooden furniture industry in Vietnam

4.1 Vietnam wooden furniture industry import status

4.1.1 Vietnam wooden furniture import volume and import value

4.1.2 Main import sources of wooden furniture in Vietnam

4.2 Export of wooden furniture in Vietnam

4.2.1 Vietnam's wooden furniture export volume and export value

4.2.2 Main Export Destinations of Wooden Furniture in Vietnam



5 Market Competition in Vietnam's Wooden Furniture Industry

5.1 Barriers to entry in Vietnam's wooden furniture industry

5.1.1 Branding Barrier

5.1.2 Quality Barrier

5.1.3 Capital Barrier

5.2 Competitive structure of the Vietnamese wooden furniture industry

5.2.1 Bargaining Power of Wooden Furniture Suppliers

5.2.2 Bargaining Power of Consumers

5.2.3 Competition in the Wooden Furniture Industry in Vietnam

5.2.4 Potential Entrants in the Wooden Furniture Industry

5.2.5 Substitutes for Wooden Furniture



6 Analysis of Major Wooden Furniture Brand Companies in Vietnam

6.1 Isseiki Furniture Company Limited

6.1.1 Development History of Isseiki Furniture Company Limited

6.1.2 Main Products of Isseiki Furniture Company Limited

6.1.3 Operation Model of Isseiki Furniture Company Limited

6.2 Forexco Quang Nam

6.2.1 History of Forexco Quang Nam

6.2.2 Main Products of Forexco Quang Nam

6.2.3 Forexco Quang Nam's Operation Model

6.3 Thien Phat Commercial Production Construction Company Limited

6.3.1 History of Thien Phat Commercial Production Construction Company Limited

6.3.2 Main Products of Thien Phat Commercial Production Construction Company Limited

6.3.3 Operational Model of Thien Phat Commercial Production Construction Company Limited

6.4 KOBE Viet Service Trading Company Limited

6.4.1 History of KOBE Viet Service Trading Company Limited

6.4.2 Main Products of KOBE Viet Service Trading Company Limited

6.4.3 Operational Model of KOBE Viet Service Trading Company Limited

6.5 Saigon Mechanics Industry Co., Ltd

6.5.1 History of Saigon Mechanics Industry Co., Ltd

6.5.2 Main Products of Saigon Mechanics Industry Co., Ltd

6.5.3 Operation Model of Saigon Mechanics Industry Co.

6.6 Dinh Huong Furniture Company Limited

6.7 PortLand Furniture Corporation

6.8 MYRA Production Company Limited

6.9 Hieu Duc Forestry Processing Trading Company Limited

6.10 Timber Life Co., Ltd



7 Vietnam Wooden Furniture Industry Outlook 2022-2031

7.1 Vietnam Wooden Furniture Industry Development Factors Analysis

7.1.1 Vietnam Wooden Furniture Industry Drivers and Development Opportunities

7.1.2 Threats and Challenges for Vietnam Wooden Furniture Industry

7.2 Vietnam Wooden Furniture Industry Supply Forecast

7.3 Vietnam Wooden Furniture Market Demand Forecast

7.4 Vietnam Wooden Furniture Import and Export Forecast

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/j1blgp

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



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SOURCE Research and Markets
SINGAPORE, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RRMine Global , a filecoin storage company that offers global cloud-computing asset management platforms, has officially announced closure of its business operations in Mainland China and shifted its headquarter to Singapore. Since its inception, RRMine has been addressing the lack of liquidity in Web3.0, which led it to become the world's leading Filecoin platform. Moving forward, RRMine Global is committed to provide a one-stop service to Filecoin storage providers and aims to become the most trusted Filecoin solution provider in Web3.0.

One of RRMine Global data center located in Portland, USA

The decision to wholly withdraw from Mainland China came about in light of the tightened restrictions on cryptocurrency usage in the Mainland and was solidified by the fact that China's Web3.0[1] strategy is going in a different direction.

"Very much like other entrepreneurs, we want the best for our company, employees and community. The decision has been made after a profound examination and multiple discussions, and it has not been easy to come back from a downfall, especially when RRMine Global has continuously provided services to all its users globally without fail despite all the events that happened. From today onwards, we would like to move forward and recreate the prosperous scene from China in Singapore." shared Steve Tsou, the Global CEO of RRMine Global.

As Singapore has been one of the world's most open economies for a long time and has been touted as a welcoming hub for crypto businesses and activities, it has directly opened the path for China's crypto businesses to consider it as a hub for them to relocate[2] to including RRMine Global. In line with Singapore's vision to become a global crypto economy hub[3], RRMine Global continuously develops and expands globally to ensure accessible standardised Hashrate.

In the first step towards a new start, RRMine Global announces 'R-Datacap Storage', a newly upgraded service that will significantly reduce operational costs, increase yield effectiveness, and drive the Filecoin incentive plan. "Unlike other blockchains where users can typically store tiny amounts of data at a high cost, Filecoin's storage is designed to store large files. We are taking the lead in Web3.0 technology research and development to create a more efficient system for tackling the issue. Data storage providers will receive ten times the output incentive under the FIP-0012 proposal, which Filecoin approved. We are excited to bring this innovation to RRMine Global and Filecoin users very soon. It will undoubtedly be a game changer for our storage industry," Steve added.

Back in Mainland China, RRMine Global has achieved spectacular success by winning a number of awards. In 2019, RRMine won The Excellent in Technology Innovation Award at Fintech Summit USA 2019 and The Golden Globe Award at FINWISE Summit 2019 (Hong Kong), while in 2020, they won InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) Most Influential Companies 2020, and FAT Storage Brand of The Year 2020. These were only some of the awards they have won in the past years, the full list of awards can be found here.

About RRMine Global

RRMine Global, the world's leading Filecoin service provider offering global cloud-computing asset management, is a storage service platform under Hong Kong SuperB Grace Limited (Youcai Co., Ltd.).

The RRMine Global brand was formerly known as RRMine, aims to continuously develop and expand globally to ensure people can access standardised Hashrate services in more countries and regions. RRMine Global is constructing a decentralised global Hashrate infrastructure to achieve the free movement of Hashrate assets and make everyone comfortable holding Hashrate assets. The current focus of RRMine Global is to provide users with secure and transparent decentralised storage services. RRMine Global is strategically located in more than ten countries and regions worldwide, and the number of network nodes exceeds 100. Moreover, it has formed a large-scale storage service network coverage and promotes globalisation too.

Visit RRMine Global Twitter and Telegram for more updates.

[1] China is embracing Web3 without crypto, July 2022 https://www.techinasia.com/china-embracing-web3-without-crypto [2] Covid restrictions drive some Chinese Web 3.0 firms to Singapore, July 2022 https://forkast.news/covid-restrictions-drive-chinese-web3-firms-singapore/ [3] Singapore Has Grand Ambitions to Become a Global Crypto Hub, November 2021, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-01/singapore-has-grand-ambitions-to-become-a-global-crypto-hub?leadSource=uverify%20wall

SOURCE RRMine Global
DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Frozen Ready Meal Products Market Outlook, 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report gives a complete insight into the market performance of ready meal products and its growth globally. People globally have developed the habit of consuming convenience meals, which have diverted their attention towards prepared or pre-prepared foods.

This has been due to a change in consumer lifestyles over the last few years. Continuous busy lifestyle and limited time available for cooking in a hectic work schedule have inclined consumers toward the consumption of ready-to-make frozen food. Companies are also coming up with meal kits, which also include mixed dinner to attract working women who not get sufficient time for cooking a full meal.

This report provides a detailed analysis of the performance of ready meals globally along with historical and forecasted analysis including the top profiled companies. This growing adaption in the market will surely let the frozen ready meal products to grow with an expected CAGR of above 5% during the forecast period.



In recent years, ready-to-eat food has emerged as one of the most versatile global ready meals market segments. A rise in convenience trends and a parallel rise in demand for specific meal solutions have resulted in strong demand for frozen ready meals.

The frozen food and beverage industry is viewed as a one-stop shop for customers on the go, offering everything from frozen sweets to appetizers and meals. The growing consumer preference for convenience foods indirectly benefits the growing demand for frozen ready meal because they take less time and effort to prepare than cooking from scratch. Due to the consumers' hectic lifestyles, the processed food market is driven by a greater need for convenience. As a result, the demand for frozen goods rises. Increasing disposable income is another factor that significantly impacts the growth of the frozen ready meals market because it increases consumer purchasing power.



Owing to this increasing demand, the manufacturers have been mainly focusing on the nutritional contents, microbiological safety, and other measures while preparing frozen food. The frozen ready meal market has been dominated by the top three regions namely North America, Europe, Asia- Pacific, apart from that the growth in the Middle-East region being at a developing. Different components influencing the market are the- changing food utilization designs, expanding urbanization, less time, and more disposable income.

The availability of ready meals has increased which is largely supported by the distribution through supermarket and hypermarket and the online platforms as they have made it easy to reach. The increase in the number of people working in emerging economies such as China and India, as well as the trend toward longer and more variable working hours, has resulted in a progressive shift away from the traditional paradigm of daily cooking.



This segment contains vegetable and non- vegetable meals, frozen pizza, frozen chapattis, etc. that is very much popular among the consumers as it provides a diverse menu with a convenient preparation. These products are packed in hygienic conditions to ensure zero contamination and improved shelf life. As the number of working people has increased, the necessity to save time in food preparation also increased; which is profitable for the marketers. Frozen convenience foods sold by food supply chain companies continue to contribute significantly to revenue. Additional revenue share is expected soon as convenience stores expand their frozen ready meal selection and internet sales tap into previously untapped market opportunities.



One of the most recent market trends is online grocery shopping and the introduction of new apps that make it easier for consumers to select their preferred products. Customers prefer online shopping because of its convenience and variety. According to the obtained data, nearly 25% of the population purchased food and groceries from online retail channels. Retail ready meal shopping is emerging as one of the platforms for companies to showcase and sell their food products as the Internet and smartphone penetration grows. A rise in convenience patterns, as well as a simultaneous increase in need for customized meal options, has resulted in strong desire for frozen packed meals.

Covid-19 Impacts:

During the covid-19 outbreak, a large number of the population became more concerned about their health. Therefore, people are more cautious about what they eat. The danger of increased blood pressure continues since frozen ready meals include a significant concentration of preservatives and salt. The use of additive preservatives to extend the life of grocery items may operate against the frozen ready meal market's usual sales cycle. Covid-19 pandemic outbreak benefited the frozen ready meal business due to its ease.

Since many bachelors were confined towards their houses and residences, bachelors had to rely on quick and prepared meals to sustain life. Diners and other outlets were closed due to covid lockdown and social distancing conventions, which increased the market demand for frozen ready meals. For the frozen ready meal market, the post-coronavirus scenario is anticipated to bring mixed feelings. Marketers must consider consumer views, which demand high quality and reasonable price along with low health risk factors in frozen ready meals. Overall, during the forecast period, the frozen ready meal economy is predicted to rise at a stable pace.



Major companies in the market

Aryzta AG, General Mills Inc., Kraft Heinz Company, Ajinomoto Co. Inc, Nestle S.A., Flowers Foods, Kerry Group



Considered for the report:

Geography: Global

Historic year: 2016

Base year: 2021

Estimated year: 2022

Forecasted year: 2027

Aspects covered in this report

Global frozen Ready Meal market with its value and forecast along with its segments

Region & Country-wise Ready Meal market analysis

Various divers and challenges

Ongoing trends and developments

Top profiled companies

Regions covered in the report

North America ( USA , Canada , Mexico )

( , , ) Europe (UK, Germany , Spain , France , Italy , Russia )

(UK, , , , , ) South America ( Brazil , Argentina , Chile , Columbia)

( , , , Columbia) Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , Australia , India )

( , , , ) Middle-East & Africa (UAE, Saudi Arabia , Israel )

& (UAE, , ) Africa ( South Africa )

Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Report Methodology



3. Market Structure

3.1. Market Considerate

3.2. Market Definition



4. Economic /Demographic Snapshot



5. Global Frozen Food Market Outlook

5.1. Market Size By Value

5.2. Global Frozen Potato Market Outlook

5.3. Global Frozen Fruits & Vegetables Market Outlook

5.4. Global Frozen Ready Meals Market Outlook

5.5. Global Frozen Meat & Poultry Market Outlook

5.6. Global Frozen Fish/Seafood Market Outlook

5.7. Market Share

5.7.1. By Region

5.7.2. By Company

5.7.3. By Product Type

5.7.4. By Ready Meal Type

5.7.5. By Freezing Technique

5.7.6. By End User

5.7.7. By Sales Channel



6. North America Frozen Ready Meal Market Outlook



7. Europe Frozen Ready Meal Market Outlook



8. Asia-Pacific Frozen Ready Meal Market Outlook



9. Latin America Frozen Ready Meal Market Outlook



10. Middle East Frozen Ready Meal Market Outlook



11. Africa Frozen Ready Meal Market Outlook



12. Policy and Regulatory



13. Market Dynamics

13.1. Market Drivers

13.2. Market Challenges



14. Market Trends and Developments



15. Competitive Landscape

15.1. Porters Five Force Model

15.2. Company Profiles

15.2.1. Aryzta AG.

15.2.2. General Mills Inc.

15.2.3. Kraft Heinz Company

15.2.4. Ajinomoto Co. Inc

15.2.5. Nestle S.A.

15.2.6. Flowers Foods

15.2.7. Kerry Group

15.2.8. Grupo Bimbo S.A.B. De C.V

15.2.9. Mccain Foods Limited

15.2.10. Tyson Foods, Inc.

15.2.11. Kellogg Company

15.2.12. Conagra Brands, Inc

15.2.13. Nomad Foods

15.2.14. Hormel Food

15.2.15. Iceland Food

15.2.16. Al Kabeer Group



16. Strategic Recommendations



17. Disclaimer

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/fumtob

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

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Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 13, 2022 Xebra Brands Ltd. ("Xebra") (CSE: XBRA) ( OTCQB: XBRAF) (FSE: 9YC), a cannabis company, is pleased to announce the launch of its Vicious Citrus cannabis infused lemonade in the province of Saskatchewan. The unique, high potency flat lemonade, Vicious Citrus OG, will hit Saskatchewan retail shelves this week.

"Launching Vicious Citrus in Saskatchewan is an important milestone," said Jay Garnett, CEO of Xebra. "Saskatchewan is an important market in the Canadian cannabis sector and is our first foray into western Canada. We're scaling up production to ensure that we're able to meet the demand from coast to coast."

We've received our initial purchase order from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA), who is responsible for the distribution, control and regulation of cannabis in the province. Saskatchewan is Canada's 5th largest province in annual cannabis sales, with 91 cannabis retailers across the province. Saskatchewan's cannabis retail sales continue to grow double digits, posting 11% growth in the last 12 months.

ABOUT XEBRA

Xebra is a cannabis cultivation and product company, with global brands and intellectual property. Our focus includes beverages, wellness and leisure. Xebra is an absolute first mover in the Mexican cannabis sector. In Canada, Xebra retails its unique Vicious Citrus OG THC/CBN Lemonade and plans to launch additional beverage products in the near future.

Jay Garnett

CEO

Certain information contained in this press release constitutes forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, these include, without limitation, statements regarding Xebra Brands Ltd.'s expectations in respect of its ability to successfully execute its business plan or business model; its ability to provide economic, environmental, social, or any benefits of any type, in the communities it operates in or may operate it in the future; its ability to be a first mover in a country, or to obtain or retain government licenses, permits or authorizations in general, or specifically in Mexico, Colombia, Canada, or elsewhere; its ability to successfully apply for and obtain trademarks and other intellectual property in any jurisdiction; its ability to be cost competitive; its ability to commercialize, cultivate, grow, or process hemp or cannabis in Mexico, Colombia, Canada, or elsewhere and related plans and timing; its ability to manufacture cannabis beverages, wellness products, or other products; its ability to commercialize or sell cannabis beverages, wellness products, or other products, in Mexico, Colombia, Canada, or elsewhere; its ability to launch, commercialize or to sell Vicious Citrus Lemonade or any additional cannabis infused beverage brands or products, at any time, in any jurisdiction, and its related plans and claims, including market interest and availability; its ability to commercialize or to sell Elements wellness products in any jurisdiction at any time; its ability to create wellness products that have a therapeutic effect or benefit; plans for future growth and the direction of the business; financial projections including expected revenues, gross profits, and EBITDA (which is a non-GAAP financial measure); plans to increase product volumes, the capacity of existing facilities, supplies from third party growers and contractors; expected growth of the cannabis industry generally; management's expectations, beliefs and assumptions in general, including manufacturing costs, production activity and market potential in Mexico or any jurisdiction; events or developments that XEBRA expects to take place in the future; general economic conditions; and other risk factors described in the prospectus of the Company dated September 30, 2021. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking information and statements. The words "aim", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "contemplate", "target", "intends", "continue", "plans", "budget", "estimate", "may", "will", and similar expressions identify forward-looking information and statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by XEBRA as of the dates of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the inability of XEBRA to generate sufficient revenues or to raise sufficient funds to carry out its business plan; changes in government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in various countries; risks associated with agriculture and cultivation activities generally, including inclement weather, access to supply of seeds, poor crop yields, and spoilage; compliance with import and export laws of various countries; significant fluctuations in cannabis prices and transportation costs; the risk of obtaining necessary licenses and permits; inability to identify, negotiate and complete a potential acquisition for any reason; the ability to retain key employees; dependence on third parties for services and supplies; non-performance by contractual counter-parties; general economic conditions; and the continued growth in global demand for cannabis products and the continued increase in jurisdictions legalizing cannabis; and the timely receipt of regulatory approval for license applications. In addition, there is no assurance Xebra will: be a low-cost producer or exporter; obtain a dominant market position in any jurisdiction; have products that will be unique; launch other Vicious Citrus SKUs; or monetize any asset sales from its Colombian and Dutch subsidiaries. The foregoing list is not exhaustive and XEBRA undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of the foregoing except as required by law. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies could affect XEBRA's actual performance and cause its actual performance to differ materially from what has been expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, XEBRA. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those set out in such statements.

SOURCE Xebra Brands Ltd.
The frozen greek yogurt brand is now the fastest growing brand in total ice cream and novelties

BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Yasso, the beloved frozen Greek yogurt brand, announces that it has surpassed $200M in retail sales and claimed the #6 novelty brand franchise rank, following the recent release of IRI Multi Outlet data (period ending 8/21/22). With this latest milestone, the innovative, better-for-you frozen snacking brand is now the #1 fastest growing scaled brand across ice cream and novelties, and growing 5x the category.

The company credits much of its recent success to its innovation platforms, including Chocolate Dipped Bars, Sandwiches, Poppables and Mochi, complementing the brands strong core bar business. Yasso delivers consumers differentiated, delicious, snacking experiences that they feel good about, and has proven it has extendibility beyond just after dinner dessert occasions and into late afternoon snacking comments CEO Craig Shiesley. Our innovation pipeline will continue to attract incremental, new households making Yasso an incredibly valuable brand for the category and our retail customers, paired with best-in-class repeat and loyalty rates that rival top conventional brands.

On the heels of Yassos latest milestones, the brand is on track to pass $300M in retail sales in 2023, having experienced +60% growth in the latest IRI period with contributions from its new snackable platform expansion. The company also now has the third largest national distribution footprint in the frozen novelties category, behind only Private Label and Outshine.

Yasso co-founder Drew Harrington shares, We launched Yasso 11 years ago with a mission to fill a gap in the frozen aisle with better-for-you, superior-tasting alternatives, and the growth and evolution of the brand has been astounding. Co-Founder Amanda Klane adds, Since day one, Yasso has been steadfast in its mission to deliver permissible indulgence and we credit much of our longevity to our consistent desire to deliver and improve consumer satisfaction. We look forward to continuing to be change agents in convenient, better-for-you snacking over the next few years.

Also unique to Yasso is its work to better its communities. The Yasso Game On! Foundation, Yassos non-profit with a mission to inspire health and wellness in people of all ages, is embarking on its most impactful program to date. Through a partnership with PUMA and Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston and Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver, Yasso is gifting 10,000 sneakers to the club members, which will put a brand new pair of sneakers on every single member these Clubs serve just as back to school season is underway.

Yasso is available at retailers nationwide and for online delivery on yasso.com. To find a store near you, or learn more information please visit Yasso.com and follow the brand @yasso.

About Yasso:

Kindergarten friends turned entrepreneurs, founders Drew Harrington and Amanda Klane set out on a mission to create snacks that deliver on everyday indulgence with great taste, quality ingredients and superb nutritionals. Since hitting store shelves in 2011 as the first to market frozen Greek yogurt, Yasso quickly became one of the fastest-growing novelty brands, disrupting the brand ranks of deeply entrenched competitors and attracting a loyal following of brand enthusiasts. Yasso currently offers 11 flavors of novelty stick bars, four flavors of dipped chocolate bars, three frozen Greek yogurt sandwiches, three flavors of bite-size Yasso Poppables and four Yasso Mochi, all of which can be found at grocery and club stores nationwide. Yasso Inc was named one of the Best Places to Work by Inc. and Denver Business Journal in addition to garnering a spot on Inc.'s 2022 list of the 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America. Yasso is also an active, positive contributor to the community via its Game On! Foundation which inspires health and wellness for people of all ages. To find your local retailers and to learn more about Yasso, please visit www.yasso.com and follow @yasso

Contact:

Nicole Albert

[email protected]

SOURCE Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt
In episode 6 of the industry-leading podcast, Yogi Aaron breaks down the common misconceptions of stretching and ushers in a new yogic approach to living pain-free

PUERTO JIMENEZ, Costa Rica, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The practice of Yoga has been around since the dawn of man  however, the mainstream western yoga that has become increasingly popular in the past decade or so is preaching practices that wreak havoc on the human body and increase pain rather than alleviate it. Yogi Aaron, one of the industry's most notable instructors has dedicated his career to dispelling myths in modern yoga and ushering in a new era of yoga designed to help individuals live a pain-free life and master their bodies.

Yogi Aaron Reveals The #1 Yoga Pose That Should Never Be Done in the Stop Stretching Podcast Come Sept 13

In his hit podcast Stop Stretching, Yogi Aaron is exposing the dangers of common yoga poses, and the common misconceptions in the industry, and dispelling the idea that stretching muscles is a healthy and productive practice. In his latest episode, releasing September 13th, Yogi Aaron is revealing the number one yoga pose that should never be done  despite it being a crowd favorite.

When one's muscle is tight or displays an almost comical range of flexibility, what is the response from onlookers? "You need to stretch," right? Contrary to popular belief, modern yoga poses and stretching cause harm and increase the probability of injury rather than alleviate pain. What it all boils down to is physiology. What happens when a muscle is overstretched? Muscles lose their ability to contract and contract on demand, which in turn can create irreparable damage.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Inflexibility is not a sign that muscle needed to be "stretched," but rather muscle tightness is actually a sign that is muscular instability and that a group of muscles were not contracting properlyWe are no longer focusing on stretching, but instead, activating and stabilizing."

Modern yoga is centered around a handful of popular poses that leave consumers convinced that they are helping their bodies, alleviating their pain, and increasing flexibility. Unfortunately, the most common poses hyped by mainstream media may be the most detrimental to the health and functionality of the body.

In episode six of the Stop Stretching podcast, Yogi Arron unveils the ugly truth about the common pose that should never be performed while offering an alternative functional approach strategically designed to improve stability, and flexibility, and alleviate pain.

"Pain does not have to be a part of your life. There was a time when I believed that I would no longer be able to do the things I love, like hiking and exercising because of my pain  but I was wrong. I am here to tell you that LIFE does NOT have to be this way."

Dedicated to cultivating an industry of empowered individuals, Yogi Aaron continues to dispel common myths and rewrite the narrative around functional yoga to provide comfort, peace, and relief through a new and improved yogic approach.

To learn more about Yogi Aaron and the Stop Stretching Podcast, please visit: https://yogiaaron.com/podcast/

Spotify: https://sptfy.com/Stop-Stretching

Apple: https://apple.co/3NXpNFF

About Yogi Aaron

One of the most sought-after teachers today, Yogi Aaron is trailblazing a new path in the world of yoga. Known for his unorthodox perspectives on stretching and flexibility and how both cause more harm than good, his teachings aim to help as many people as possible live pain-free life so they can realize yoga's true intentions. He is the creator of the revolutionary approach to yoga  Applied Yoga Anatomy + Muscle Activation (AYAMA) and the online platform: The Yogi Club, host of the yoga podcast 'Stop Stretching,' author of 'Autobiography of a Naked Yogi' and the forth- coming book 'Stop Stretching! New Tips On Activating Your Best Pain-Free Life,' and is the Co-Owner of Blue Osa Yoga Retreat & Spa in Costa Rica where he leads The Yogi Club Yoga Teacher Training Immersions year-round for students from all across the globe.

Press Contact

Aaron

WhatsApp +50687047006

https://yogiaaron.com/podcast/

SOURCE Yogi Aaron
Members of the Queens immediate family held a vigil at her side in Westminster Hall as she lay in state for a third day.

Memebers of the public continued to flock in thousands to pay their respects, though having been closed for a period on Friday due to the huge number the queuing time is now said to be down to 14 hours.

People can visit up until 6.30am on Monday 19 September, the day of her funeral.

Heads of countries all over the world meanwhile have started to arrive for Mondays ceremony.

Commonwealth leaders from Australia, the Bahamas, Canada, Jamaica and New Zealand reportedly have all held audiences with King Charles III in Buckingham Palace.

A one-minute silence will be held across the UK at 8pm on Sunday.

Monday 19

The Queens state funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey.

Plans involve the Queens coffin to be carried along by carriage pulled by sailors rather than horses, with senior members of the Royal Family following behind.

The military will line the streets and join the procession, as well as heads of governments, prime ministers and presidents, European royals and key public figures.

The service will be televised and a national two minutes silence is expected to be held.

The Queens coffin will be taken to St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle, and her final resting place will be the King George VI memorial chapel, an annexe to the main chapel.

Here, her mother and father are buried, as well as the ashes of her sister, Princess Margaret.

Her late husbands coffin, the Duke of Edinburgh, will be moved from the Royal Vault to the memorial chapel to join the Queen's.
Greatland Gold PLC (AIM:GGP, OTC:GRLGF)'s Shaun Day speaks with Proactive's Andrew Scott soon after revealing it's secured up to A$340mln (200mln) in new funding that it expects will fully fund its 30% share of developing the world-class Havieron gold-copper deposit in Western Australia into production.

He also discusses three 'transformational' board appointments.

GGP has signed a commitment letter, including a terms sheet, for a A$220mln, seven-year debt facility with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX:ANZ), HSBC Bank, and ING Bank (Australia).

It also announced a proposed strategic equity investment of up to A$120mln from Wyloo Metals, a privately owned metals company, that would see the Perth-based group becoming Greatlands biggest shareholder with a stake of about 8.6%.
The Twitter whistleblower, its former head of security, Peiter Zatko is also set to give testimony to the US Senate in Washington DC on Tuesday

Shareholders in Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) have voted to approve Elon Musks $44 billion bid to buy the social media company and take it private.

The vote came as Musk seeks to scrap the deal, casting doubt on Twitters self-reported percentage of fake accounts and alleging the company was not as forthcoming as it should have been with its explanation of the calculation.

The shareholder approval now sets the stage for the battle between Musk and Twitter in the Delaware Courts, though analysts at Wedbush think that there is "the high possibility ... that some form of negotiation likely takes place ahead" of the trial start date on October 17, 2022.

In a note to clients on Monday, the Wedbush analysts noted that: "Once both parties step into court its a high risk/high reward scenario for both parties with the major X variable now being the Zatko whistleblower claims."

They added: "Up until the Zatko development, the Street was factoring in Twitter to have a clear win in the Delaware Courts in October. There are a range of possibilities that can come from the Delaware court including settlement, breakup fee paid, deal enforced, and a myriad of other outcomes."

The analysts highlight Four Key Scenarios for Twitter/Musk:

Scenario #1. Deal ends, Musk pays breakup $1 billion breakup fee and walks (low likelihood).

Scenario #2. "Specific performance" uphold by the court; Musk needs to buy Twitter at $54.20 in the $44 billion agreed upon deal. (high likelihood)

Scenario #3. Musk needs to settle or pay significant damages to Twitter with Street ranges from $5 billion to $10 billion based on court ruling/trial trajectory. (high likelihood)

Scenario #4. Musk wins in Delaware and pays no breakup fee around fake account/bot information cited in 13D filing. (very low likelihood)

Last month, whistleblower allegations became public that provided Musk, the world's richest person, with fresh ammunition to bolster his attempt to walk away from the Twitter deal without paying a $1 billion termination fee.

Twitter's former head of security, Peiter Zatko, a well-known hacker known as 'Mudge', said in a complaint to regulators that the company falsely represented that it had a solid data security plan. Zatko is set to give testimony to the US Senate in Washington DC tomorrow.

The Wedbush analysts noted: "In a tangential but important related note, Zatko will be testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in DC tomorrow at 10 am. This will be a full Committee hearing to examine allegations of widespread security failures at Twitter."

They said: "With the Musk camp now being allowed to include the Zatko claims in its testimony for Delaware, tomorrow's hearing will be closely watched by the Street to better understand the details around security issues as well as the bot/fake account issue at the centerpiece of Musk's focus. We continue to view the Zatko situation as a Pandora's Box scenario for Twitter with for now the Senate hearing front and center."

The Wedbush analysts added: "For now Twitter's stock will continue to trade on deal odds as the long and ugly courtroom battle now begins to play out in Delaware courts."

They concluded: "We maintain our NEUTRAL rating and $50 price target which is based on our view of the deal likely being done at this lowered price point."

Twitter shares were 0.7% higher in pre-market reading on Tuesday at $41.68, still well below the Musk bid price of $54.20 per share.

-- Adds Reuters tally comment, updates share price --

Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com
Futura Medical PLC (AIM:FUM, OTC:FAMDF) looks financially well set for the commercial phase of the journey of its lead product, MED3000 for erectile dysfunction.

Interim results for the group showed it had 6.68mln in the bank as of June 30, 2022, the period's end, with a further 910,000 in research and development tax credits set for payment in the second half.

This, it said, provided it with resources beyond the initial product launches of MED3000 and its expected US regulatory approval.

Branded Eroxon, the fast-acting gel has European regulatory clearance and, in August, received highly positive results from its US phase III trial.

The company will file the data packages required by the US Food & Drug Administration later this month with the aim of approval in the first quarter of next year as the only ED treatment available over the counter in the States.

Eroxon will compete with existing blue pills on the speed of onset and will be targeted at men who have suffered side effects from using products such as Viagra and Cialis.

Plans are advanced for its launch in the first half of next year. Futura has a licensing agreement with Cooper Consumer Health for the rights to commercialise the gel throughout the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

The whole team at Futura looks forward with growing excitement to the launch of Eroxon in the coming months as we, in close alignment with our commercial partners, work hard to build Eroxon into a long-term, profitable and trusted brand, said the company's chief executive James Barder in a statement.

The results revealed the company posted a 2.5mln loss for the six months ended June 30, 2022.
Union Jack Oil PLC (AIM:UJO) has published findings from an expert assessment of the reservoirs at the Wressle field, onshore UK, that indicate the potential for a significant upgrade to resources.

The company noted that consultant Gaffney, Cline & Associates saw potential for an extra 10.12mln barrels of oil-initially-in-place and 2.43mln barrels of potentially recoverable resources, based on its analysis of speculative deeper oil-water contact for the Ashover Grit reservoir.

Wressle has been something of a revelation for Union Jack and its partners since it was brought back online in 2021, producing way above expectations in the past year. In August, Union Jack reported that the field had generated over US$9mln in net revenue since production recommenced amidst strong crude oil pricing.

Whilst it is proving lucrative for the clutch of small-cap oil and gas firms that developed Wressle, the field retains quite modest reserves - presently it has some 670,000 barrels of proved and probable (2P) reserves across its producing Ashover Grit and Wingfield Flags oil reservoirs.

If the potential resource upside indicated by GaffneyCline can be confirmed in the future, it would substantially extend the life of the field.

"The GaffneyCline Report reflects a serious technical effort over a prolonged period and its content is highly encouraging for the future of the Wressle development, said David Bramhill, Union Jack executive chair in a statement.

"GaffneyCline's findings, observations and technical work in respect of the potential upside in respect of the Ashover Grit reservoir have gone a long way in answering our questions regarding future potential upside and prolonged productivity," he added.

The GaffneyCline report provided an illustrative production scenario which showed Wressle operated under a constrained plateau production rate of 800 barrels of oil per day for approximately five years.

Additionally, the consultant indicated further hydrocarbon potential of the Santon Sandstone zone at Wressle adding to the Penistone Flags zone which has yet to be developed in the field  GaffneyCline attributed some 1.56mln barrels of gross contingent oil resources for Penistone and 60,000 barrels for Santon.

Union Jack noted that Wressles current field development plan anticipates continuing production from the Ashover Grit and Wingfield Flags, alongside the development of the Penistone Flags resource through the drilling of two or three additional wells.

It is noted that the illustrative production scenario, in which Wressle produces 800 bopd (barrels of oil per day) for five years, is based on the development plan and includes volumes from the Penistone.

Moreover, it comes with the caveat that there remains significant uncertainty on the initial flow rate that will be obtained from the Penistone Flags reservoir and that the illustrative production scenario does not necessarily reflect the operator's or the other partner's views.

David Bramhill, meanwhile, said: "The Illustrative Production Profile indicates robust and material productivity for at least five years and beyond. Should the Deeper Oil-Water Contact potential of the Ashover Grit reservoir become proven, the incremental value of Wressle as a development would be transformational for the Wressle partners."

"Union Jack thanks GaffneyCline for their diligence in compiling this excellent, informative, and value-adding report," the Union Jack executive chair concluded.
The authorised corporate director of Neil Woodford's collapsed equity income fund has been ordered to pay up to 306mln compensation to investors.

Link Fund Solutions was responsible for "misconduct" and "failings" in managing the fund's liquidity, the Financial Conduct Authority said in an initial assessment overnight.

Link may also face a fine as well, the regulator said.

The FCA, which confirmed it is investigating multiple parties in connection with the controversial closing of what was the 3bn Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF), made the statement in response to Links Australian parent, Link Group, potentially being taken over by Canadian software group, Dye & Durham.

It was, however, the first preliminary finding of wrongdoing by the FCA after the fund collapsed in 2019.

The regulator, which in January promised a statement on the Woodford affair, stressed that it was not a final decision and Link could challenge its findings.

The FCA said it was "likely to seek to require LFS to pay a financial penalty and/or consumer redress" and that its current view is that the redress payment could be required to pay "may be up to 306mln" but this "does not reflect any amount which may be owed to anyone else, including members of the fund, as a result of potential wrongdoing by other parties".

As authorised corporate director of WEIF, Link was responsible for approving the valuations put on the funds investments as well as overseeing its governance, while it eventually shuttered in the June 2019 due to an increased level of redemptions.

So far, just over 2.5bn has been returned to investors, with Link saying in June that roughly 118.5mln was still in the fund.

Link has also been taken to court by investors over fund's collapse, with law firms Leigh Day and Harcus Parker joining forces over their claims on behalf of the estimated 270,000 that were locked into the fund when it Link blocked withdrawals.

The lawyers claim that Link was in breach of FCA rules in the way it managed the fund and that this ultimately led to its collapse.

On Tuesday Link said in a statement that it would explore all options if the FCA hits it with a penalty, including challenging the regulatory decision.

Link does not agree with the FCAs view," it said.
Yu Group PLC (AIM:YU.), a supplier of gas, electricity and water to UK businesses, said its financial performance has significantly surpassed its expectations helped by commodity hedging.

Adjusted EBITDA, operational cashflow and net profitability has significantly exceeded management expectations, and the board expects the strong performance to continue for the remainder of the financial year, said the group, adding that it expects to report adjusted earnings (EBITDA) in excess of 4.7mln.

It plans to report its interim results on September 27.

Yus strong performance comes at a time when UK corporations are struggling to cope with soaring energy costs and many smaller businesses have warned that they may go under. The Federation of Small Businesses recently estimated that companies have seen a 424% surge in gas costs and a 349% jump in electricity since February 2021.

The board continue to closely monitor the ability for customers to meet increased prices; especially as we enter a period where customers traditionally renew contracts and could see a significant price increase due to the exceptionally high global commodity market prices, it said.

The group will continue to assist its customers and has begun engaging with BEIS [the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy] to implement the government's business support package."

Businesses have been offered only limited support by new prime minister Liz Truss as part of her 150bn package for energy consumers.
Fossil fuel companies, including Shell PLC (LSE:SHEL, NYSE:SHEL) and BP PLC (LSE:BP.), may have to hand over a cut of their profits to help households pay ever soaring energy bills, according to draft plans by the European Union.

The European Commission could impose a windfall tax on fossil fuel companies who have gained from soaring energy prices after Russias invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported

The plan, expected to be unveiled this week, would see the EU introduce a "solidarity contribution" for companies that have reaped bumper profits from fossil fuel sales this year.

According to the draft, which is still subject to revision, oil, gas, coal, and refining companies would make a contribution based on their "taxable surplus profits made in fiscal year 2022".

As a result of the scheme, governments could raise capital to mitigate Europe's energy crisis by supporting households and businesses with high energy bills; support energy-intensive industries; reduce EU energy consumption and increase the self-sufficiency of Europe's energy supplies.

"The solidarity contributions are justified by the fact that such companies make unpredictable surplus profits," the draft plans said, reports Reuters.

These profits do not correspond to the regular profits that these entities would or could have expected to achieve under "normal circumstances, the draft adds.

This year, profits for energy companies have been boosted by a rapid recovery in demand following the pandemic as well as a surge in oil and gas prices as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Energy companies in Europe reported record profits in the second quarter, with TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TOT, EPA:TTE) reporting profits of US$11.5bn, while Shell PLC (LSE:SHEL, NYSE:SHEL) reported a quarterly profit of US$9.8bn.

"We acknowledge the need for concerted policy and other action to alleviate the energy price crisis in Europe and elsewhere. Were aware of the EU proposal for a solidarity contribution and await further details from the Commission," a Shell spokesperson told Reuters.

It is proposed that the EU measures apply to a company's surplus profits from 2022 at a level above the average taxable profits in the three fiscal years since January 2019, with future investments assured of a sufficient profit margin.

Windfall profit taxes have already been introduced in some countries, including Italy.

There would be a minimum rate set by Brussels for all EU countries, but governments could choose a higher rate.

In order to pass the measure, a reinforced majority of member states would have to approve it, so unanimous approval from all 27 member states would not be required.

London-listed Shell has extensive operations on the continent, where Shell Energy Europe provides business customers via its portfolio of gas, power and environmental products, with offtake, trade and supply all taking place.

Although based in London, BP has operations in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Hungary the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland.
Thor Explorations Ltd (TSX-V:THX, AIM:THX, OTC:THXPF)'s (Thor Explorations Ltd (TSX-V:THX, AIM:THX, OTC:THXPF)) Segun Lawson updates Proactive on developments in Senegal with a new discovery at Sambara.

The first batch of samples from the Makosa (Douta) upgrade drilling program, meanwhile, produced positive results that suggest the resource might extend at depth.

In Nigeria at the Segilola gold project, the first profit followed another strong quarter at the flagship mine, with production at the upper end of guidance and recoveries and throughput both strong.

#Thor Explorations #gold #Nigeria
ANGLE PLC (AIM:AGL, OTCQX:ANPCY) said it has presented a new poster at the 100th American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) meeting in Chicago.

The poster, which describes the novel use of Papanicolaou (Pap) staining procedures with cells harvested from blood samples using ANGLE's Parsortix biopsy system, was selected as a finalist for a prestigious Blue Ribbon award for laboratory practice by ASCP judges.

Pap is a polychromatic cytopathological staining technique used to differentiate cells in a sample and is most commonly used as a screening method for cervical cancer.

In a statement, ANGLE chief executive, Andrew Newland, said: I am delighted that the clinical laboratory team has achieved this recognition and look forward to seeing a positive impact on the commercial roll-out of the Parsortix system".
Critical Resources Ltd (ASX:CRR) has received the highest-grade lithium results yet from the Mavis Lake Project in Ontario, Canada, with assays of up to 4.32% lithium oxide.

The latest results from diamond drilling have confirmed thick, high-grade intersections with sections of exceptionally high-grade lithium oxide.

One hole, MF22-116, returned 24.1 metres at 1.62% lithium oxide from 53 metres, 8.15 metres at 1.70% from 89 metres including 1-metre at 4.32% from 91 metres and 8.70 metres at 2.18% from 112.75 metres.

Another, MF22-117, produced 23.9 metres at 1.55% lithium oxide from 112.75 metres, including 11.15 metres at 2.28% from 112.75 metres, 7.05 metres at 2.77% from 129.35 metres and 3.80 metres at 3.09% from 131 metres.

Exceptional assay results

Critical Resources chairman Robert Martin said: To receive such exceptional assay results and for them to contain the companys highest grading results of lithium mineralisation ever to be intersected at Mavis Lake is absolutely outstanding.

"These results further build our confidence in the project and reinforce our decision to commence complementary project development efforts such as metallurgical test-work and resource modelling.

"Mavis Lake and the opportunity to position Critical Resources as an emerging, lithium-focused project developer is an absolutely incredible prospect for the company and our shareholders.

Extending east

The assay data confirms that lithium mineralisation is extending east and building on the strong intercepts seen in 2017 and 2018.

High-grade assays correlate with the companys visual assessments released immediately after drilling.

Phase 3 drilling continues at Mavis Lake with total of about 10,749 metres completed and CRR is planning to extend this work.

The phase 3 program excludes a recent HQ core program drilled to support initial metallurgical test-work which is about to begin along with resource modelling.

MD negotiations

In regard to CRRs search for a managing director, Martin said: "Furthermore, after a global search for a more suitably qualified senior executive to fill the role of managing director, the company is pleased to advise that it is in late stages of negotiations with a highly skilled lithium resource executive, with the ability and experience to take the company from explorer to producer.

We look forward to updating the market on this in the coming weeks.
The diamond drilling program will now be extended to 8,000 metres from 3,000 metres, comprising 8-10 diamond holes.

Magmatic Resources Ltd (ASX:MAG) has returned its highest-grade assay results to date from the Myall Project in New South Wales, prompting the approval of an additional 5,000 metres of diamond drilling.

High-impact diamond drilling commenced late in July at Corvette Prospect and has returned a very strong copper-gold mineralised interval from 499 metres down hole, bringing the total mineralised intersection for hole 22MYDD415 to 511.5 metres at 0.29% copper, 0.06 g/t gold and 17 parts per million (ppm) molybdenum from 134.5 metres.

The latest round of drilling at 22MYDD415 intersected 111 metres at 0.55% copper, 0.10 g/t gold, 1.8 g/t silver and 5 ppm molybdenum from 499 metres, which included 61 metres at 0.81% copper, 0.13 g/t gold and 2.9 g/t silver from 542 metres, including 10.5 metres at 1.39% copper, 0.11 g/t gold and 7.1 g/t silver from 544.5 metres, and 21 metres 1.00% copper, 0.21 g/t gold and 3.1 g/t silver from 582 metres.

A) strongly altered diorite with a very large bleb of chalcopyrite (yellow) and magnetite (black); B) brecciated, chlorite-altered diorite strongly infilled with chalcopyrite and lesser pyrrhotite (brass-coloured).

Hole 22MYDD415 was completed to a depth of 1,014.7 metres, where variable weak to moderate sulphide mineralisation was observed from 650 to 852 metres, with trace to weak visible sulphide mineralisation from 852 metres to end of hole. Assays from 650 metres to the end of hole depth are expected to be returned in early October.

Drilling of hole 22MYDD416 is at a depth of more than 750 metres, testing immediately along trend to the north of 22MYDD415. Logging and cutting of this hole recently commenced, with first assays expected early to mid-October.

The skys the limit

Magmatic Resources managing director Dr Adam McKinnon said: These assay results are, by some margin, the best seen in the Myall region and highlight the incredible copper-gold porphyry potential of the project.

To be able to announce such outstanding results in our first completed hole of the program is simply remarkable and it has already gone a long way in demonstrating the size and grade potential of the system.

The decision of Magmatic Resources board to expand the total drill metres at Myall to nearly triple the original program speaks to the extraordinary potential we believe these results have unlocked.

The overall length of the mineralised zones, along with the strong alteration and distinctive geology we are observing has everyone involved in the project very excited.

"Im very much looking forward to what we might discover in the coming months. Given the world-class copper and gold endowment of the region, the skys the limit.

Program extension

Plan of the Corvette Prospect over airborne magnetics showing previous and recent diamond drilling.

The Myall diamond drilling program will now be extended to 8,000 metres from 3,000 metres, comprising 8-10 diamond holes.

Targets are being prioritised for follow-up drilling at Corvette, with the next hole likely to be drilled immediately to the south of the mineralised zone in 22MYDD415.

Pending results from both 22MYDD416 and the planned hole to the south, further holes will aim to extend the system up and down plunge of the high-grade mineralisation identified as well as to the north and south along trend to assess the potential size of the Corvette system.

Keep it coming

Magmatic is also re-assessing the potential of the broader region, with the Kingswood area now considered even more prospective for further porphyry mineralisation given the similarities in geochemical and geophysical features to the Corvette Prospect.

To add to the good news, an analysis of airborne geophysical data highlights that Corvette sits on the eastern margin of a deep magnetic low, meaning there is a presence of an intrusive monzonite body that is coincident with strong basement copper geochemistry and is almost completely untested by diamond drilling over a distance exceeding three kilometres.

The site is a strong target for further exploration although the timing is uncertain given the significantly above-average rainfall. Ground conditions are expected to improve as the weather warms and evaporation rates increase.
Magnetite Mines plans to increase the production scale of its Razorback Iron Ore Project to at least 5 million tonnes per annum.

Magnetite Mines (ASX:MGT) Ltd is increasing the planned production scale of its Razorback Iron Ore Project in South Australia to at least 5 million tonnes per annum from the current 2.2 million tonnes to meet growing market demand for premium iron ore products.

Optimisation studies are underway to investigate a range of higher-grade iron ore products, potentially including high-value Direct Reduction (DR) grade concentrates, which will lead to a refocused definitive feasibility study (DFS).

To prepare for this strategic shift, Magnetite has appointed Jim McKerlie, Paul White and Simon Wandke as new directors, Tim Dobson as the new chief executive officer and Ian Kirkham as the new chief financial officer.

Strategic shift

Newly-appointed Magnetite Mines (ASX:MGT) CEO Tim Dobson said: In raising its sights, the company is responding to direct evidence of rapidly evolving market conditions associated with the decarbonisation requirements of the iron and steelmaking industry. The company has anticipated this shift and has strengthened its team accordingly.

The current Razorback ore reserve represents only 11% of the companys mineral resources, so this strategic shift to a larger initial production scale better aligns the project with the resource potential, while still taking advantage of the abundant existing infrastructure that will support a pragmatic, staged development agenda.

The company is committed to returning the highest possible value to shareholders, and this strategic shift is fully aligned with that objective."

Changed market conditions

MGT undertook a strategic review of a range of factors in June this year to respond to changed market conditions including increasing market premiums for high-grade, high-quality magnetite concentrates as well as recent metallurgical test-work results which supported the potential to produce DR grade concentrates.

Razorback hosts 3 billion tonnes of resource, inclusive of a 473 million tonnes probable ore reserve calculated to support a 30-year mine life at a 2.2 million tonnes per annum production rate.

The current DFS project configuration is based on the 2019 scoping study and 2021 pre-feasibility study, which sought to minimise upfront capital with a small-scale development targeting a blast furnace iron ore concentrate product.

This positioning was driven by market conditions at the time, including sentiment towards magnetite in domestic capital and investor markets.

The company expects the increase in initial development scale to significantly reduce unit production costs and support optimisation opportunities such as rail access to site.

Magnetite Mines confirmed it is in preliminary discussions with a range of industry players to assist with the projects development.
Altcoin and metaverse neologisms take their rightful place in the Merriam-Webster dictionary

Bitcoin continues to outperform Ethereum in the crypto markets after weeks of the opposite, as investors pull out of long-ETH positions in the lead up to the landmark Ethererum Merge scheduled for this Thursday.

BTC added a further 3% this morning and remains bullish at the time of writing with a US$22,400 price tag, while ETH saw a fractional decline to US$1,720.

The crypto markets as a whole are at US$1.07 after adding 1.2%, further encouraged by strong price action in the network token space.

Solana (SOL) in particular outperformed  and indeed has been outperforming for a good week now  by adding double digits in the past 24 hours, bringing its market capitalisation up to US$13.5bn.

Solanas strong performance is partially attributed to record NFT activity on the blockchain.

Polygon and Avalanche also performed well in the blockchain space, while Cardano pulled back slightly.

Both Terra LUNA tokens  community-supported LUNC and disgraced Terraform Labs founder Do Kwons relaunched LUNA token  suffered heavy losses today of nearly 20% each.

Also bearish this morning were Helium (HNT), Loopring (LRC) and decentralised exchanges Curve and PancakeSwap.

The decentralised finance (DeFi) space as a whole currency has US$59.3 in total value locked across all protocols.

In the news

Nikhil Wahi, brother of a former Coinbase employee Ishan Wahi, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges in the first US legal case pertaining to insider trading in the crypto sector.

The brothers were arrested in July on at least 14 occasions of wire fraud and conspiracy involving 25 digital assets following an official complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Ishan has pleaded not guilty and is expected to appear in court in March 2023.

A few crypto-related neologisms have made their way into Merriam-Websters latest round of additions to its lexicon, namely altcoin and metaverse.

The latter, apparently, is a persistent virtual environment that allows access to and interoperability of multiple individual virtual realities.

This could come in handy the next time a request for a definition of the metaverse is met with blank stares.
A 66 kilovolt (kV) transmission line and associated substations will connect the plant to the Botswana Power Corporation grid at Serowe

Tlou Energy Limited provided an update on the construction of a power transmission line for its coal bed methane (CBM) extraction and power generation plant at Lesedi, west of Serowe in Botswana.

Tlou said overall progress achieved is currently 11% which is up from 8% reported last month, although the planned target was 17% indicating a slippage of 6%.

A 66 kilovolt (kV) transmission line and associated substations will connect the plant to the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) grid at Serowe. The grid connection project is divided into two project parts; (i) the 66kV overhead transmission line, and (ii) the substation works at both ends of the line.

The 66kV transmission line construction contract between Tlou and Zismo Engineering was awarded on March 2, 2022, and commenced in April. The contract is expected to take approximately 15 months to complete, the company said.

The substation works tender has been awarded to OptiPower, a division of Murray & Roberts Ltd. The substation contract has not yet been signed and will be done once additional funding is in place, it added.

Progress to date:

Line survey is 96% complete. The remainder relates to the steel pole section.

Bush clearing is at 60%, delayed but without impact on program.

Line pegging and inspection at 50%. Delays incurred because of other services on the servitude (right of way) such as water pipelines and crossing low voltage powerlines. All being attended to.

Pole dropping at required locations along the route is at 42%.

Pole dressing (adding required equipment to poles) is only partially complete because of delays in delivery of U-bolts.

Discussions were required with BPC in relation to an 11kV line that has been built across the Tlou 66kV servitude. BPC have proposed to move their line out of the servitude. This work is not expected to cause a delay as it can be completed while other parts of the project are ongoing.

Tlou said a requirement to add pole savers (to provide added protection) to the wooden poles at the request of BPC was at the discretion of the engineer and had not been raised as an issue during the planning, design and procurement stages of the project. This will delay the planting of poles, it noted, and said procurement has also suffered delays with line hardware manufacturing resulting in delays to commence pole dressing and planting.

The slippage to date may be recovered in the coming months, the company noted. Procurement and other issues outside the company's control could delay the project further which will be advised in further updates if necessary, however, it said, at this time the transmission line section should remain close to the target completion date of mid-2023.

The Lesedi Power Project is located in Botswana's Central District, approximately 100 kilometres (km) from the existing electricity grid. The 66kV line being constructed will be capable of carrying up to 25MW of power. Initial electricity generated will be sold to Botswana Power Corporation, the national power utility under an agreed 10MW Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

Tlou has been producing gas at its Lesedi 3P and Lesedi 4P production wells. The company has taken the decision to temporarily shut in the Lesedi 3P well as sufficient data exists from this well and there is no need to incur further production costs at this time. The well can be brought back into production as required. Gas production at Lesedi 4P is planned to continue.

In early trade on Tuesday, Tlou shares were 3.5% higher at 1.50p.
Transition Metals CEO Scott Mclean joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share news the company has released channel sampling from its Maude Lake Project in Ontario.

Mclean telling Proactive the company completed a total of 13 channels with samples taken over a strike length of 45 metres and came back with numbers like Channel 4 with 17.01 metres averaging 0.46 % Ni, including 4.26 metres grading 1.27 % Ni. Channel 7 returned 8.17 metres averaging 0.50 % Ni including 1.70 metres grading 1.61 % Ni Mclean says the company will soon be testing these areas with a diamond drill program.
The new findings were at the Lovelock and Treasure Box projects in the Stillwater Range in Nevada

Global Energy Metals Corp (TSX-V:GEMC) (GEMC) has engaged Dahrouge Geological Consulting to explore in greater detail two of the groups projects after new cobalt, copper and nickel targets were identified.

The new findings were at the Lovelock and Treasure Box projects in the Stillwater Range in Nevada.

GEMC had appointed Earthlabs Inc to assist in identifying new high-priority target areas and a total of 30 exploration targets have been identified, 15 on the Lovelock project and 15 on the Treasure Box project.

Dahrouge Geological is now on site and conducting a field program to check the exploration target areas and this is planned to "ground truth" the results of Earthlabs studies prior to selecting drilling targets.

Mitchell Smith, GEMC's CEO, told investors that the exploration work completed to date had identified multiple high priority targets exhibiting cobalt, nickel and copper mineralization.

The Dahrouge Geological team have a tremendous track record of discovery and we welcome their involvement in leading this field work at our Nevada projects,: Smith said in a statement. The objective of this current program is to locate and map the geology of the area overlying targets generated by Earthlabs proprietary AI technology improving drilling efficiency and chance of success."

The mapping program is planned to cover the two target areas to better understand the geology, structural trends, and mineralization controls within the high priority areas, GEMC said.

Work will focus on mapping lithology, alterations, and mineral associations and assess the potential of a larger mineralized system, and also support and potentially modify the proposed drill program for the Treasure Box project, it added.

The Lovelock asset comprises 81 claims in the Cottonwood Canyon area of the Stillwater Range and spans around 642 hectares. It was discovered by George Lovelock and Charles Bell in about 1880. A mine operated from 1883 to 1890 to the 100 foot level, reporting 500 tons of cobalt and nickel mineralized material, which was shipped to England for processing.

Treasure Box hosts mine workings from limited copper production, which occurred until early into the 20th century. A historical diamond drill hole (circa 1910) by the Boyer-Nevada Copper Company reportedly hit 1.52% copper over 85 feet (25.9 metres) with mineralization beginning at surface, noted the company.

GEMC has a diversified global portfolio of exploration and growth-stage battery mineral assets in Canada, Australia, Norway and the United States.

Contact the author at jeremy@proactiveinvestors.com
Panther Metals PLC (LSE:PALM) said it has defined a new area, in the northeast of its Dotted Lake property in Canada, which is considered a very prospective zone for nickel mineralisation.

The new target was identified using a digitised historical geochemical soil survey report and Panthers recent airborne geophysics and soil geochemistry surveys.

Nickel is elevated across the prospect area defined by highs ranging 137-235 parts per million (ppm) nickel and peaking at 614ppm nickel in the eastern end.

Other soil anomalies across the target include up to 214 ppm cobalt and up to 861 ppm copper, the company said.

The target is located 9km west of a new zone of massive nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation drilled by Palladium One Mining Inc at their Tyko project, West Pickle Lake joint venture property with First Class Metals.

West Pickle Lake is the latest in a series of ultramafic hosted nickel discoveries which are building out a 20km wide nickel district at Tyko, said Panther's chief executive Darren Hazelwood.

The regional geophysics and geological mapping show strong similarities between the new Ni [nickel] Target in the northeast of Panther's Dotted Lake Property and the Tyko discoveries, importantly they also share a similar level of anomalous nickel and copper in soil surveys."

Panther identified numerous gold and base metal targets at Dotted Lake in a 2021 soil programme and hit gold mineralisation with its first drill hole earlier this year.

READ: Panther Metals hits gold mineralisation in its first hole at Dotted Lake
HYLA's unique guarana-based products contain no nicotine, providing an attractive alternative in a market that continues to express high demand for vape products

ENDEXX Corp. (OTC:EDXC) announced that its newly acquired subsidiary, HYLA US Holdco Limited, has initiated marketing approvals in eight new markets, namely Germany, Italy, Israel, Egypt, Slovenia, Romania, Iran, and Bahrain.

HYLA US Holdco produces and distributes organic, guarana-based, all-natural, zero-nicotine vape products, and is currently active in the United States, Canada, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan.

"We continue to see increased demand for our non-nicotine, guarana-based vape products, with sales and territories increasing quarter by quarter, all despite a current inability to sell the product online in the US, HYLA CEO Nick Mehdi said in a statement.

With more than 1,000 stores carrying the product in the US, and the potential to expand our market penetration to as many as 19 countries by the end of 2022, we are excited to add our product line to the already strong retail presence Endexx maintains," he added.

HYLA's unique guarana-based products contain no nicotine, providing an attractive alternative in a market that continues to express high demand for vape products. Introduced in October 2021, HYLA's initial inventory of 140,000 devices was sold out within the first month of availability.

The completion of the acquisition of a controlling interest in HYLA has also strengthened Endexx Corporations balance sheet. Endexx entered into settlement, lock-up and leak-out agreements with its historic investors, with each historic investor agreeing to exchange their pre-acquisition promissory note and warrants with a simple promissory note. The new replacement note removed the convertible debt and warrants and replaced them with a simple, non-convertible debt facility with an 18-month term.

"The HYLA acquisition continues to be an important milestone for Endexx as it not only has provided additional revenue - which we expect to experience immediately - and new international distribution for both our CBD Unlimited and Blesswell product lines, but it also significantly clears the overhang from our balance sheet. This consolidation and simplification of our debt structure will enable us to fund our operations more easily, and create future growth, unencumbered by complex and potentially toxic debt," the company said.

Endexx Corporation develops and distributes all-natural, plant-derived topical skincare products. Its products vary from balms, creams, lotions, butters, masks, scrubs, and oils, all with the shared purpose of healthy skin and grooming wellness.

Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactive.com
Coricancha is a past producing mine that includes an operational 600 tonne per day mill, an underground mine and supporting infrastructure

Great Panther Mining Limited (TSX:GPR, NYSE:GPL) announced that it has inked a letter of intent to sell its Coricancha mine in Peru to Newrange Gold Corp. (TSX-V:NRG, OTCQB:NRGOF)

The sale, which encompasses 100% of Great Panthers Peruvian subsidiaries, Great Panther Silver Peru SAC and Great Panther Coricancha SAC, will net the Canadian mining company US$750,000 payable in cash.

Located in the central Andes of Peru, Coricancha is a past-producing mine with an extensive land package in the prolific Central Polymetallic Belt in Peru. The asset includes an operational 600 tonne per day mill, an underground mine and supporting infrastructure.

Great Panther currently has the asset under care and maintenance.

Newrange told shareholders that it believes the proposed acquisition of Coricancha will give the company a renewed focus on mine site exploration, development and production.

In a separate statement from Newrange, CEO Robert Archer told investors he was "very excited about the opportunity" to acquire Coricancha.

"I believe the project presents an exceptional opportunity to build a significant resource, develop the known veins towards production and further explore the property," Archer said.

"Despite the long production history, there have only been 105 holes drilled on the property since 2010 and there is tremendous opportunity to extend the mine life and make new discoveries. In making this acquisition, Newrange is effectively following a well-established business model of bringing a past producing mine back into production, with the intent to supplement the future growth of the company out of cash flow rather than straight equity."

Completion of the transaction is subject to certain conditions including the completion of definitive documentation, completion of financing by Newrange, and Great Panthers receipt of all necessary third-party consents and approvals, including the approval of its proposal trustee, the court in the company's proposal proceedings and, in the case of Newrange, the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Vancouver-based Great Panther is a precious metals producer focused on the operation of the Tucano Gold Mine in Brazil, where it controls nearly 200,000 hectares in the prospective Vila Nova Greenstone belt.

Newrange, also based in Vancouver, is currently focused on district-scale exploration for precious metals in the prolific Red Lake district of northwestern Ontario. The past-producing high-grade Argosy gold mine is open to depth, while the adjacent North Birch project offers additional blue-sky potential.

--Updates with Newrange CEO statement--

Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow her on Twitter @AHarmantas
Greenbridge Foodservice is a national sales and marketing organization that supports privately owned and operated foodservice distributors across Canada

Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd announced that it has successfully negotiated a purchasing program for its Plantein plant-based entrees with Greenbridge Foodservice, a group of independent distributors across Canada.

The plant-based food manufacturing and technology company said Greenbridge Foodservice will market the complete Plantein line - including Burgers; Nuggets; Crumbed Tenders; Sweet Chili Tenders; Schnitzel; Garlic Kiev; and Phishy Fillet - throughout its extensive network and has already received its first purchase order.

This collective group of independent distributors compliments the distribution network we have initiated and increases the availability of our healthy plant-based foods across Canada, Naturally Splendid Enterprises CEO Craig Goodwin said in a statement.

Having Plantein available in Greenbridge's distribution centres will allow us to serve our current customers better and reach new ones, Goodwin added.

Greenbridge Foodservice, a national sales and marketing organization that supports privately owned and operated foodservice distributors across Canada, is comprised of seven distributor members from coast to coast, with 15 distribution centres and an estimated 250 sales professionals, according to the company.

Naturally Splendid is a plant-based food manufacturing and technology company that produces and distributes nutritious and delicious plant-based commodity products. Founded in 2010, the company operates a certified food manufacturing facility located just outside Vancouver, British Columbia, focusing on producing an extensive range of plant-based entrees.

In addition to producing the company's own products, Naturally Splendid provides contract manufacturing services and private labelling for a variety of nutritional plant-based food products destined for multiple distribution channels.

Contact Sean at sean@proactiveinvestors.com
HighGold Mining CEO Darwin Green joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share news the company has has signed an agreement to purchase the remaining 50% interest in its Yukon mineral properties, bringing the total ownership to 100%. Green also shared with Proactive the projects have seen little work but with the success of another company nearby, Green felts they need to own the outright and get some work on them likely in 2023
PlantX could see its Little West cold pressed juice carried in more than 30,000 retail spaces in the US and Canada

PlantX Life Inc. (CSE:VEGA) said it has entered into a wholesale distribution agreement with KeHE Distributors to carry its Little West cold pressed juices.

The new partnership with KeHE is a landmark achievement for Little West's expansion strategy, broadening the market reach and giving the company access to new accounts, said PlantX CEO Lorne Rapkin.

"KeHE is a well-established and highly trusted distributor in the food industry. By working with KeHE, we believe we can quickly bring Little West to every state in the United States and reach markets, hotels, cafes, and other businesses that were previously unavailable to us," Rapkin said in a statement.

With nearly 70 years of experience, KeHE is one of North America's largest wholesale distributors of natural and organic, specialty, and fresh food products. Based in Illinois, KeHE represents 8,500 brands and services in more than 30,000 natural food stores, chain and independent grocery stores, e-commerce retailers and other specialty product retailers throughout North America.

Christopher Ondrus, KeHE's senior director of digital commerce said KeHE is positioned to help Little West meet growing demand.

"Together, we will be able to expand Little West across the United States. Little West cold pressed juices are an increasingly popular choice for healthy and delicious beverages. We look forward to bringing this brand to businesses throughout North America," Ondrus said in a statement.

Vancouver-based PlantX also provided an update on its previously-announced management cease trade order (MCTO) issued by the British Columbia Securities Commission on August 2, 2022.

The MCTO was issued in connection with the delay by PlantX in filing its audited annual financial statements, management's discussion and analysis and related officer certifications for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022 before the deadline of July 29, 2022.

PlantX is working with its auditors and expects to have the audit of the annual filings completed and filed no later than September 27, 2022.

PlantX is the digital face of the plant-based community, operating a one-stop shop for plant-based products.

Contact the author at susie@proactiveinvestors.com
Consultant Joe Kizis said: "Oro is a large, well-zoned mineral system situated along a trend containing major copper deposits and mines; the trend extends from southwestern New Mexico into eastern Arizona"

Southern Silver Exploration Corp (TSX-V:SSV, OTCQX:SSVFF) has unveiled encouraging drill results from the first two diamond drill holes at its wholly-owned Oro property in southwestern New Mexico, USA, which have underlined the project's porphyry potential.

The first two deep holes, of a six-hole, 4,000 metre (m) program, tested the main porphyry target, which had been identified via earlier geological compilation, clay-alteration studies and airborne geophysics.

Thick zones of copper mineralization were hit in one hole, which was sunk to a total depth of 1,005.8m, and included an intersection of 644m of 0.030% copper from 359m to 1,003m depth, with the lower 180m averaging 0.048% of the red metal.

Increasing molybdenite concentrations with depth also suggested that the strongest copper mineralization lies deeper in the hydrothermal system, the firm said.

A second hole, sunk to 914.4m, encountered 143m of 0.012% copper from 569 to 712m depth.

"Oro is located in an important belt of copper porphyry deposits in the southwestern US, and our interpretation that the entire hydrothermal system is preserved beneath a tilted Lithocap explains why previous copper exploration companies have failed to make a significant copper discovery interior to the ring of numerous silver-zinc-lead-gold carbonate-replacement bodies," said Southern Silver's vice-president (VP) of exploration Rob Macdonald in a statement.

"Verification of classic copper porphyry metal zoning in these two core holes, even at this relatively shallow level of the porphyry system, is very encouraging."

Consultant Joe Kizis added: "Oro is a large, well-zoned mineral system situated along a trend containing major copper deposits and mines; the trend extends from southwestern New Mexico into eastern Arizona".

He continued: " The complex array of dikes, hydrothermal breccia and geochemically erratic concentrations of molybdenum suggest we are still too shallow in the porphyry system. Due to the post-mineral tilting, we will need to drill deeper into the system southwest of hole -011 to test beneath the thick zone of low-grade copper mineralization.

"Other planned holes, such as OR22-012 currently underway, will test regionally important Cretaceous-age carbonate host rocks guided by ZTEM and magnetics geophysics."

The company's Oro property consists of patented land, New Mexico State leases, and Federal/BLM mineral claims acquired by purchase, staking and lease over the past several years. Several historic mines produced copper, lead, zinc, silver, and gold from discrete portions of the amalgamated property.

Southern Silver is focused on its 100% owned Cerro Las Minitas silver-lead-zinc project located in the heart of Mexico's Faja de Plata, which hosts multiple world-class mineral deposits such as Penasquito, Los Gatos, San Martin, Naica and Pitarrilla.

Contact the writer at giles@proactiveinevstors.com
Golden Shield Resources (CSE:GSRI) Executive Chair Leo Hathaway joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share results from the companys Phase Two drill program and trenching program at the results at the Marudi Mountain gold project in Guyana. Hathaway telling Proactive the company saw two new areas of gold host rock QMC identified which are both larger than Mazoa Hill. The holes included a step out hole of 10 m grading 2.68 g/t Au, including 3 m at 5.12 g/t Au. Hathaway also said the trenching program was focused on two areas, the new prospects of Throne and July. The company says they will be doing more exploration in those areas. Golden Shield is planning to commence drilling in mid-September and continue until the Christmas break.
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Tehran, Sep 13 : The United States, in order to rejoin the Iranian nuclear deal, must prove it reliable and show that it abides by the international norms, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nassar Kanaani said.

"The country, which unilaterally withdrew from the agreement signed in 2015, has hindered the achievement of an agreement based on joint interests ... has imposed illegal, unilateral and irrational sanctions (on Iran), and has no right to be a claimant and take a creditor's pose," Nassar Kanaani told reporters during his weekly press conference on Monday.

"The US government needs to take a constructive approach to reaching an agreement," he noted.

In its recent response to the EU's proposal on restoring the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran has not raised any new issues or "any serious demands" that would hinder the achievement of a possible agreement, Kanaani said, calling the Western parties' pressures following Iran's response as "psychological warfare".

The recent statement of the European troika of France, Germany and Britain about Iran's response to an EU nuclear proposal was "wrong" and "untimely," Kanaani added.

On Saturday, France, Germany and Britain said in a joint statement that Iran "has chosen not to seize this critical diplomatic opportunity" given by a recent EU-submitted "final set of texts" to rescue the JCPOA, voicing their "serious doubts as to Iran's intentions and commitment to a successful outcome on the JCPOA".

"An agreement is a two-way road, and it was expected that the negotiating parties would act constructively in this direction," the Iranian spokesman said.

It is regretful that the European troika, instead of responding positively to the "constructive" actions of Iran in the course of reaching an agreement and its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has been influenced by a country, which is not a member of any safeguards systems of the IAEA, Kanaani added, alluding to Israel's allegations against Iran's nuclear programme.

Kanaani urged the IAEA to fulfill its duties professionally and avoid the impacts of pressures from third parties, particularly from Israel, Xinhua news agency reported.

Iran signed the JCPOA with world major powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear programme in return for removing sanctions on the country. However, former US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to drop some of its commitments under the pact.

The talks on the JCPOA's revival began in April 2021 in Vienna but were suspended in March 2022 because of political differences between Tehran and Washington. The latest round of the nuclear talks was held in the Austrian capital in early August after a five-month hiatus.

On August 8, the EU put forward its final text of the draft decision on reviving the JCPOA. Iran and the United States later indirectly exchanged views on the EU proposal.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that Iran's latest response has pushed the negotiations a step back.
United Nations, Sep 13 : Members of the UN Security Council made an unusual plea to help avoid a "catastrophic ecological, maritime, and humanitarian risk posed by the Safer tanker" off Yemen.

In a statement on Monday, the council members reiterated their deep concern about the threat posed by the derelict oil storage tanker anchored off the port of Hodeidah and commended pledges for a UN emergency operation for the tanker.

They called for disbursal of the pledges and on other UN members and private-sector donors to fund the plan "in order to prevent a humanitarian, environmental, maritime, and economic catastrophe".

The council members underlined their expectation that the UN be ready, on day one of reaching the funding target, to begin immediately the oil transfer operation, Xinhua news agency reported.

The UN has received pledges for $64 million of the $80 million sought for the first-phase emergency operation to defuse the "floating timebomb".

The derelict oil tanker, currently carrying more than 1 million barrel of oil, has not been inspected or maintained since 2015. In May 2020, seawater leaked into the engine room. A temporary fix by divers from the Safer corporation succeeded in containing the leak. But the fix was not supposed to hold for long.

In the press statement, the council members also lauded the benefits of the temporary truce in Yemen, saying it resulted in a 60 per cent reduction in casualties, a quadrupling of fuel through Hodeidah port and allowed commercial flights to resume from the capital Sanaa permitting Yemenis to seek advanced medical help abroad.

They called on the Yemeni government and the Houthi militia to urgently intensify and be flexible in negotiations under the auspices of the UN to agree on "an expanded truce that could be translated into a durable cease-fire".

They urged both parties to intensify engagement with UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg on all aspects of negotiations, eschew conditionality, and ensure their economic experts work closely with the UN to implement measures to tackle the economic and financial crises.

The council members condemned all attacks that threatened to derail the truce and reiterated that there is no military solution. They called for an end to all forms of visible military manifestations in violation of the Hodeidah Agreement.

The council members highlighted Yemen's humanitarian crisis and the continued risk of famine, and encouraged donors to fully fund the UN humanitarian response plan and support the Yemeni government's efforts to stabilise the economy.

The press statement came after Thursday's Security Council consultations on Yemen.
Lucknow, Sep 13 : A labourer was killed and four others injured after the shuttering of an under-construction forensics institute collapsed in state capital Lucknow's Sarojini Nagar, Police said.

The incident took place on Monday evening.

The victim has been identified as Akram a.k.a. Anwar Ali. He was rushed to the trauma centre at King George's Medical University where he died during treatment.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has constituted a three-member committee comprising the Principal Secretary, Additional Director General and Chief engineer of the Public Works department to investigate the incident.

He also directed the officials to release compensation to Akram's family. Police said the identity of those injured is yet to be ascertained.
Lucknow, Sep 13 : A strange trail of lights in the skies of Lucknow on Monday evening have left people stumped.

Local residents captured the blinking lights on their cameras and shared videos on social media platforms.

Some found it a celestial event while others termed it 'strange'.

The video was recorded by residents of Malihabad in the Lucknow district of Uttar Pradesh.

Sources, however, said that it was a Starlink-51 satellite train.

On September 4, Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had sent a space tug aloft along with another big batch of its Starlink internet satellites.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the east coast of Florida, carrying 51 Starlink internet satellites to orbit.

SpaceX has already sent more than 3,000 Starlink satellites into orbit, in an effort to create a huge constellation for broadband service targeted for remote areas.

The company founded by Musk has also launched more than 25 Starlink-centric missions in 2022 already. The September 4 launch was SpaceX's 40th of the year and continued to add to the Starlink mega constellation.

Some people on Twitter even said it could be an unidentified flying object (UFO).
Kiev, Sep 13 : Since the beginning of this month, Ukrainian forces have liberated over 6,000 sq.km of the war-torn nation's territory from Russian forces, says President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In his nightly video address, the President said on Monday: "Since the beginning of September, our warriors have liberated more than 6,000 sq.km of Ukrainian territory in the east and south. Our troops are continuing to advance." He went on to thank the 57th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade, which has recovered from heavy fighting in the east and is advancing with great courage and confidence on the southern front; the 59th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade, which has been advancing steadily despite the difficult, open terrain and the Russian artillery fire; the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade, which has liberated several settlements and has effectively neutralised units of Russian troops, reports Ukrayinska Pravda.

Zelensky also acknowledged Ukraine's anti-aircraft defence forces.

He did not however, reveal which Ukrainian cities and villages had been liberated.

The President's remarks come amid a counter-offensive launched by Ukraine to retake Russian occupied territories.

On September 8, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had retaken 1,000 sq.km, but by Sunday that stated figure had tripled to 3,000 sq.km.

Russia has admitted losing key cities of Balakliya, Izyum and Kupiansk in the north-eastern Kharkiv region.

Moscow describes its troop withdrawal from the region in recent days as a "regrouping" with the aim of focusing on the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in Ukraine's east.

Although Ukrainian troops were advancing, Russia still controls about a fifth of Ukraine.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Chandigarh, Sep 13 : Haryana Police have seized 1.5 kg of improvised explosive device (IED), kept in a metallic box, in Deoban village in Kaithal district on the highway, officials said on Tuesday.

A team of the bomb squad from Madhuban defused the high-intensity explosive.

"Acting on tip-off, a police team reached the spot and cordoned off the area and seized the explosive with the help of the STF (Special Task Force) on Monday evening," Superintendent of Police Maqsood Ahmed told the media.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi is set to become the Attorney General for India again. He is scheduled to begin his second stint as the top law officer of the country from October 1.

According to sources familiar with the development, the term of incumbent Attorney General K.K. Venugopal is ending on September 30, and he has refused to continue beyond his term, citing his advanced age.

Venugopal, 91, was appointed as the country's top law officer on June 30, 2017, and he was given several extensions.

Sources said Rohatgi, who is one of the top court lawyers in the country, gave his consent for assuming the top post.

He was first appointed as the Attorney General in 2014 for a three-year term.

Venugopal, while arguing in a matter recently, indicated that he may not continue as the top law officer, after the completion of his present term.

According to Article 76 of the Constitution, the President appoints a person, qualified to be appointed a judge of the Supreme Court to be Attorney General for India.

The Attorney General also enjoys a right of audience in all courts in the country.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids were underway at 33 locations across the country on Tuesday in connection with irregularities in the exams for Jammu and Kashmir Police Sub-Inspectors (JKPSI), a top official said.

According to the official, the raids are going on in Jammu, Srinagar, Karnal, Mahendergarh, Rewari, Delhi, Ghaziabad and Bengaluru.

Searches were also being conducted at the premises of Khalid Jehangir, former Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB); Ashok Kumar Mann, controller and an examiner; as well as some officials of the J&K Police and CRPF.

After conducting raids on August 5, the CBI had recovered incriminating documents, devices, answer sheets, applications forms and OMR files which were very crucial to the case.

The CBI officials said that the recovered evidences will nail the guilt of the accused.

The SI exam paper was allegedly leaked by the accused.

The exams were conducted in March.

The CBI after getting a complaint in this respect filed a case against 33 accused.

"Dr Karnail Singh of BSF who is a medical officer; Avinash Gupta owner of tutorial classes, Narayan Dutt, a member of the JKSSB; and private firm Meritrac Private Limited in Bengaluru which conducted the exams have been named as the accused in the FIR," the probe agency had said.

Recently, the Lieutenant Governor's administration had cancelled the SI recruitment examination conducted for 1,200 posts of Jammu and Kashmir Police.

After this, the investigation of rigging was handed over to the CBI.

Now fresh recruitment exams will be held.
United Nations, Sep 13 : Abdulla Shahid, the UN General Assembly's (UNGA) outgoing President, has praised Indian diplomat K. Nagaraj Naidu for being a "steady hand in a crisis" while he was his chief aide.

In his closing address to the Assembly on Monday, he called the Indian Foreign Service officer who served as his chef de cabinet "a truly outstanding diplomat, a steady hand in crisis, committed and hardworking".

In addition to deputing Naidu to be Shahid's chief aide and coordinate his diplomatic endeavours and run his office, the Indian government contributed $150,000 for general administrative, logistical and management support for the Assembly President.

With a limited budget, the Assembly presidents rely on assistance from member states to function effectively.

Naidu was the deputy permanent representative at India's UN mission when his services were lent last year to the Assembly President.

With Shahid, who is the Maldives Foreign Minister, completing his one-year term as Assembly President, Naidu will be returning to New Delhi pending his next assignment.

Before his assignment to India's UN mission, he was a joint secretary in the External Affairs Ministry.

A member of the 1998 IFS batch, he is a China expert having done three tours in that country and another in Hong Kong.

A diplomat said that for a President coming from a small country like the Maldives with limited resources and personnel, India sending an experienced diplomat to help him made a big difference to Shahid's functioning.

The UN faced a slew of crises during Shahid's term from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its fallout that created a global food and energy emergency and severe economic problems, just as the world was beginning to come to grips with the Covid pandemic.

Shahid had to innovatively deal with the outcome of a Security Council rendered powerless by Russian vetoes, which raised questions about the UN's credibility and utility.

To introduce a modicum of accountability for the Council, the Assembly passed a resolution requiring countries wielding a veto to come before it to explain their action -- and Russia was made to comply with it.

For the first time in about 40 years, the Assembly also invoked the format of the Uniting for Peace Resolution which empowers the 103-member body to deal with a matter deadlocked in the Council in order to deal with the Ukraine issue.

The Assembly passed a resolution condemning the invasion, although it was limited by the UN Charter from taking direct action.

Adding to the complexities, the Assembly president had to work partially in a hybrid environment because of the Covid pandemic, an ongoing crisis that the Assembly faced.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at aru.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
Islamabad, Sep 13 : Former Pakistan Prime Minister and PTI chief, Imran Khan has proposed to extend the tenure of Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa till the next elections.

In an interview with a private TV channel, Khan said that the appointment of an army chief should be deferred until the government is elected, which should then choose the new military head, Geo News reported.

Khan has been making headlines since his ouster in April because of his constant remarks regarding the army chief.

Earlier this month, while speaking during a public rally in Faisalabad, the PTI chairman had called out the government, saying that it was delaying the elections to appoint an army chief of its own and that if a "patriotic chief of army staff comes in, he will not spare the incumbent rulers", Geo News reported.

However, in a change of stance, the former premier said that he was ready to hold talks with the coalition government regarding snap polls.

Regarding the Islamabad High Court's (IHC) decision to indict him in a contempt of court case on September 22, Khan said that if the five-member bench hearing the case would have allowed him to say something, he would have apologised.

The court had last month taken notice of the former prime minister's speech at a public rally, where he allegedly threatened Islamabad additional sessions judge Zeba Chaudhry for extending PTI leader Shahbaz Gill's remand.

The PTI chief said that he regrets if something was misinterpreted and was ready to take back what he said during his public gathering.

"I could have said what they wanted if they had allowed me to speak," he said.

Khan, while taking a jibe at the coalition government's performance, said that the country will be stuck in a quagmire if the incumbent leaders' tenure is prolonged further.
Kathmandu, Sep 13 : Nepal and China have signed a six-point agreement under Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to increase the countries' engagements and exchanges on governance, legislative and supervisory practices.

Parliament Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota and Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's NPC, signed the agreement at an event held on Monday evening at the Federal Parliament Building in Kathmandu.

According to the agreement, the two sides will exchange information on each other's legislative, supervisory and governance practices.

Li is in Kathmandu on a four-day official visit at the invitation of Sapkota.

As soon as he landed in Kathmandu leading a 67-member delegation, Sapkota and Li held delegation-level talks followed by the signing of the agreement.

The MoU between the two Parliaments also mentions the BRI, an ambitious project promoted by China.

Nepal and China had signed the BRI in 2017 but no substantive progress has been made in the last five years.

According to the agreement, the two governments would accord priority and facilitate promotion of relationship, mutual benefits and commitments between the two countries, including through the BRI, the fifth point of the MoU read.

During the talks, the two dignitaries while expressing happiness over the excellent state of bilateral relations and cooperation subsisting between Nepal and China, held discussions on different matters of mutual interests, said the Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu.

In the meeting, Sapkota reiterated Nepal's commitment to 'One China' Policy and not to allow any activity against Beijing in Nepali territory.

Li expressed China's continued support for Nepal's sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, the Foreign Ministry added.

Sapkota appreciated the people and the Chinese government for their generous support and cooperation to the Himalayan nation's development endeavour and expressed hope for an enhanced level of support from Beijing for post-pandemic recovery and other development priorities.

He added that the people and government of Nepal are grateful to the Chinese government for with a substantial amount of medical supplies, equipment and vaccines during the pandemic.

"During the meeting, both sides agreed to further strengthen inter-parliamentary exchanges and cooperation. They also underscored the role of Parliamentary Friendship Group in each other's parliament in further promoting goodwill and understanding between the two legislatures," said the Ministry statement.

Li also promised to provide assistance to the Nepali Parliament as per its need and requirement at the institution level.

The two diplomats also exchanged views on the importance of implementing connectivity infrastructures, including under the BRI, the statement said.

On the request of the Nepali delegation, the Chinese side also assured that it will take necessary measures to address the widening trade gaps between the two countries and encourage its entrepreneurs to invest in Nepal, particularly in areas that support the livelihood of the Nepali people.

Similarly, both parties have agreed to strengthen cooperation under the framework of international and regional parliamentary organizations, including the Inter-Parliamentary Union, on matters of common interest.

On Tuesday, the second day of his visit, Li will call on the Chairman of the National Assembly Ganesh Timilsina at the parliament building following meetings with CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, chairman of the CPN (Maoist Centre).

Later, Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka will call on Li at Hotel Soaltee. He will then meet Prime Minister Deuba again and discuss the strengthening of bilateral ties between Nepal and China.

On Wednesday, the Chinese delegation will see President Bidya Devi Bhandari and visit Bhaktapur Durbar Square.

The delegation will leave for South Korea after rounding up the Nepal trip on Thursday.

Li is the third high-level visit from China after the formation of the incumbent government in July last year.
Kolkata, Sep 13 : After a scam involving the filing and movement of a fake petition rocked the Calcutta High Court recently, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has now been moved, praying that self-attested photocopies of identity cards of Advocates-on-Record as well as petitioners be attached with the petitions, so they may be traced.

On Monday, the bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj directed the Bar Council of West Bengal and the Bar Associations of Calcutta High Court to file their suggestions on the matter in the form of affidavits.

On July 26, a petition was filed in the name of one Sumona De.

The Advocate-on-Record mentioned was Avijit Pal. On coming to know of this, Sumona De moved an application before the court. This came up for hearing before Justice Md Nizamuddin on August 26.

During the hearing, Sumona's counsel informed the court that she had filed no writ petition and her signatures had been forged.

On coming to know of the matter, she called up the number of Advocate-on-Record Avijit Pal (as mentioned in the petition) but the person who picked up claimed to be a factory worker.

After hearing this, Justice Nizamuddin directed the West Bengal CID to initiate a probe and submit a report by September 26, when the matter comes up for hearing again. The Notary Public whose stamp and signature appear on the petition will also be interrogated by the CID team headed by an IPS officer, Justice Nizamuddin directed.

The fraud, which caused severe embarrassment to the judiciary (both the Bar and Bench) has left several advocates wondering whether this was an extortion attempt using the High Court.

Finally, a PIL was moved by one Vijay Kumar Singhal through advocate Phiroze Edulji, praying for directions that all petitions have self-attested photocopies of identity documents of both the petitioner and the Advocate-on-Record.

Such a document can be the identity card issued by the Bar Council, the Bar Association of Calcutta High Court, Bar Library Club or Incorporated Law Society.

It was pointed out in the petition that if such a scam can occur in the highest seat of justice in the state of West Bengal, the lower courts are vulnerable.

It was also submitted that genuine lawyers are suffering due to the scam with people assuming that just anybody can file a writ in the High Court.
Hyderabad, Sep 13 : Telangana Legislature on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution urging the Centre to name the new Parliament building after architect of the Indian Constitution Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.

Both the houses of the State Legislature passed the resolution tabled by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government.

Minister for industry, information technology, municipal administration and urban development K. T. Rama Rao moved the resolution in the House.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and Congress party fully supported the resolution. BJP legislator was not present in the House.

Speaker P. Srinivas Reddy announced the passing of the resolution unanimously by a voice vote.

Moving the resolution, K. T. Rama Rao said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao spoke about the greatness of Bharat Ratna Dr. Ambedkar on Monday. The minister said Ambedkar showed the direction to the country and there was no better person than him for the new Parliament building to be named after.

Rama Rao said Ambedkar symbolised social justice, greatness of democracy and national integration. He recalled that Ambedkar fought against all kinds of discrimination and was a firm believer in equality.

The TRS leader said their party and leader KCR followed the principles of Ambedkar to achieve Telangana state after a 14-year-long struggle. He said if there was no Article 3 in the Constitution of India, there would have been no new states.

He quoted Ambedkar that if he finds the Constitution is misused, he will be the first person to burn it and that tyranny of the majority shall not be allowed. Minister KTR recalled that Ambedkar had observed that the Constitution is as good as the people who implement it.

KTR said Amedkar defined democracy as former and method of government whereby revolutionary changes in economic and social life of the people are brought about without bloodshed.

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and AIMIM member Ahmed Balala backed the resolution.

While speaking in Assembly on Monday, Vikramarka had urged CM KCR to pass a resolution in Assembly requesting the Centre to name the new Parliament building after Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

KCR had agreed to the suggestion and said there was no better person for the new Parliament building to be named after.
Kalaburagi, : Sep 13 (IANS) The Karnataka police on Tuesday arrested the principal and computer operator of a residential hostel in connection with sexual harassment in this district of the state.

The facility located in the Kunchavaram police station limits in Chincholi taluk is run by the Social Welfare department for oppressed classes. More than 100 students of secondary classes reside and study here.

A complaint in this regard was lodged by the assistant director of the Social Welfare department Prabhulinga Wali.

The victim students have accused the Principal and staff members of sexually harassing them.

According to police, the victims had refused to eat food unless an action was initiated in the case.

On Monday, the parents of the students barged into the school premises and thrashed the staff members.

Kalaburagi SP Isha Pant rushed to the spot and assured the students with an assurance of initiation of action against the accused.

She herself served food to the girls and lodged a case against the accused.

Further investigation is on.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said many countries have shown interest in having rupee trade with India.

Speaking at the Mindmine Summit 2022 here, Sitharaman said that positive response has come from many nations across the world, which have said that it is possible to have rupee trade with India.

She informed that the Centre is enabling interoperability of platforms to make this possible.

During the course of her speech, Sitharaman asked domestic companies to be more participative in the manufacturing sector under the productivity linked investment schemes (PLIs).

"What is stopping you when FPIs are coming to India?," she queried.

Referring to the reforms lined up for the next 25 years, she said that while planning for the economy, the litmus test would be to ensure that how they can benefit the workforce of the country.

Participating in the conference, Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran underlined the need to remove the "middleman" culture.

He also sought removal of restrictions on MSMEs at the micro level, in order to bring them into the economic mainstream.

Nageswaran, while speaking on data security, said that there is a need to have data protection architecture in place in the country.

On whether the rupee is being defended by the government, he said that it can look after itself and does not need any defence.
Colombo, Sep 13 : Sri Lanka, a former British colony, has declared a special holiday and a day of mourning on September 19 in lieu of the funeral of late Queen Elizabeth II.

Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs announced the government holiday and directed that the national flag be hoisted at half-mast until the said date.

The UK's longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II who died at the age of 96 on September 8, after reigning for 70 years was Sri Lanka's head of state until 1972, the year the island nation became a republic, fully freed from the British sovereign.

The late queen visited Sri Lanka in 1954 and 1981 and later she was represented by the then Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, when he visited the island nation in 1998, 2004 and 2013.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe visited the British High Commission in Colombo to sign the book of condolence.

"She was a symbol of stability and endurance, and she will be greatly missed. My heartfelt condolences to the Royal Family and the people of the UK and the Commonwealth," President Wickremesinghe said in a tweet.

Britain, which conquered the island nation from the Dutch and took over the entire country in 1815 ruled until February 4, 1948.
Dharamsala, Sep 13 : Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) President Penpa Tsering on Tuesday extended his congratulations to King Charles III on his formal accession to the throne.

In a letter, he writes: "On behalf of the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan people, I congratulate you warmly Your Majesty on the formal accession of the throne of the United Kingdom." "As a dear and respected friend of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Your Majesty holds a special place in the heart of the Tibetan people. In that spirit, we wish you the very best on the occasion of your inauguration as King," Tsering added.

As the new monarch of Britain assumes royal duties, he wished the king success and prosperity in carrying forward the late Queen's legacy and also in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of the British people.

King Charles III became King at 73 after Queen Elizabeth's demise.
Ahmedabad, Sep 13 : Congress is hinting of forging an alliance with Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) for the Gujarat Assembly polls against wishes of the local cadre as the grand-old party feels that the BTP can sabotage party's poll arithmetic.

The Congress is of the view that if the BTP contests all 27 tribal reserved seats, it can sabotage party's prospects.

Tribal belt is spread from North to South Gujarat, in which the Congress had won 15 seats in 2017 elections. Four MLAs of Congress have switched sides in the last five years and joined the BJP.

Sources in the party said Congress workers and leaders from Dediapada and Jhagadia are against any alliance with the BTP.

Party workers are confident to do better this time on their own, the sources added.

Bharuch District Congress Committee president Parimalsinh Rana told IANS, in the BTP's stronghold, Congress has done better in taluka and district panchayat polls, why should the party ally with BTP.

He is of the view that if party state and national leadership decides against local workers and leaders' wishes, it can have a far reaching impact on the party cadre's morale.

"Come what may, Congress party workers in Tapi district will contest all alone if alliance is forged with the BTP," said Bhilabhai Gamit, president of Tapi District Congress Committee.

"Congress cadre is far stronger than BTP. We have worked round the clock for the party. The party cannot discourage us by stitching alliance with the BTP," he said.

Any alliance is decided by the state and national leadership, said Sukhram Rathwa, senior tribal leader and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, adding, "I have to abide by it."
Bengaluru, Sep 13 : Indian IT major, Infosys has come cracking down on moonlighting (dual employment) and warned employees if found out, it could lead to termination of services, sources said on Tuesday.

However, since the job market is still hot in Bengaluru despite fears of US recession and the IT giant's diktat is not going to affect moonlighting by its employees.

The techies including those who areA employed in the IT giant, explain that until the work from home option is there, the Infy's diktat won't work. The start-ups and unicorns are heads over heels for talent and skilled professionals, they say.

Not only Infosys, other major IT companies won't be able to detect the activity. Employees explain that they will switch over to other assignments by start-ups, who are flexible. They want to poach the talent in the first place, the skilled employees are in commanding position to take the attractive offer.

"We can manage both the work. When it is not affecting the work, the respective companies should not have problem," a software professional maintained.

Infosys insiders confirmed the stern mail by the company, warning them not to take up any other job while working for the company recently.

Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji has tweeted earlier that moonlighting is cheating plain and simple.

Infosys, which making good offers to employees is worried with the competition by start-ups in future and its standard policies won't allow the flexibility start-ups have got, which will face excel or perish situation.

The trend is gift of the Corona pandemic. Now, most of companies are asking employees to come to office twice in a week. The recent rains have compelled the workers to work from home in Bengaluru. Moonlighting is not a question of morality, it's about efficiency of a professional, explained a start-up founder.
Patna, Sep 13 : The Vaishal Police on Tuesday formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) team to probe into the gang-rape of a minor girl in the Bihar, police sources said.

The SIT team will be headed by a SDPO rank officer.

According to police, the crime took place in the Jandaha block of the district when four youths kidnapped the victim and violated her. They also filmed the brutal act and shared it on social media.

Manish Kumar, the SP of Vaishali said: "We have identified the accused on the basis of the video uploaded on social media and they will be put behind the bars soon." The SIT headed by Punam Keshri, the SDPO of Jandaha, is raiding different hideouts in the district.

"An FIR has been registered against four youths on the basis of the survivor and her father's statements. Her statement was recorded under section 164 before the duty magistrate as well. Her medical examination conducted in the Sadar hospital confirmed rape," Kumar said.

The survivor is a native of a village that falls under Jandaha police station.

Meanwhile, leader of opposition Vijay Kumar Sinha met the minor's family on Tuesday and assured them of all possible assistance. He also slammed the Nitish Kumar government for the dismal law and order situation in the state.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : The Gujarat government has partnered with Vedanta and Foxconn aiming an investment of Rs 1.54 lakh crore to achieve self-reliance in the field of semi-conductor manufacturing.

MoUs were signed in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Vedanta Displays Limited will setup a Display Fab Unit in the state at an investment of Rs 94,500 crore, while Vedanta Semi-conductors Limited will set up an integrated Semi-conductor Fab Unit and OSAT (Outsourced Semi-conductor Assembly and Test) with an investment of Rs 60,000 crore.

Thus, the two together, will bring in investment of more than Rs 1.54 lakh crore and generate around 1 lakh new employment opportunities in the state.

The proposed investment will further support the development of upstream and downstream electronics manufacturing clusters and establishing of healthy trade linkages.

Vedanta and Foxconn Group will work closely with the state government to establish high-tech clusters with requisite infrastructure, including land, semi-conductor grade water, high quality power, logistics, and a skill ecosystem.

In addition to making India a global partner in the supply chain, the semi-conductor fab unit will prove to be a game-changer for the economy.

It will create significant employment opportunities for the youth and generate revenue for the state.

The proposed semi-conductor manufacturing fab unit will operate on the 28nm technology nodes with wafer size 300mm; and the display manufacturing unit will produce Generation 8 displays catering to small, medium and large applications.

Chief Minister Patel welcomed the mega investment, saying it has comes on a day when his government completes a year in power.

He further said that it is a testimony to the policy stability and policy support coupled with good governance and excellent infrastructure facilities existing in Gujarat.

The Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted the importance of this investment viz-a-viz Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for achieving self-reliance in the field of semi-conductor manufacturing.

Vaishnaw said that it is a step in the right direction for Gujarat helping towards building a one trillion-dollar digital national economy.
Mumbai, Sep 13 : It seems that the search for replacement of Shailesh Lodha in the long-running TV series 'Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma' has come to an end. The makers have finalised Sachin Shroff of 'Bannoo Main Teri Dulhann' fame to take his place.

Shailesh, who was seen playing the role of Taarak Mehta in the sitcom, left the show because of differences with the makers and was unable to explore more opportunities.

Producer Asit Kumarr Modi had told IANS: "We are searching for a talented actor. Shailesh Lodha can also come back. I never feel good when any of my actors leave the show." He added: "I spoke to him at length before he left but I could do nothing as he got some new opportunity and was keen to exit. We want him to come back. But I cannot wait endlessly for anyone. The show is bigger than each one of us and for the audience I have to look for his replacement if he is not coming back." The talks did not work out and now the well-known actor Sachin is going to be the new face.

In a recent interview to IANS, the 'TMKOC' producer said: "Yes, we have cast Sachin Shroff in our show. We wanted a face that is known and connects well with the audience and Sachin had worked in a number of shows. Moreover, we wanted a committed actor and he is the perfect choice for us in that terms also." Shroff has been part of a number of shows, including 'C.I.D.', 'Naam Gum Jaayega', 'Balika Vadhu' and 'Naaginn'.

Now, how successful he will be in taking the place of Lodha can only be seen in the coming episodes of 'Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma'.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday arrested a man who was taken into custody by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) on May 30 for cheating more than 1,000 people on the pretext of making investment in a Russian oil company -- Rosneft.

"Ashish Malik, along with his accomplices Sunil Singh and Sandeep Kaushik, promised people of 20 per cent return per month on the pretext of making investment in Rosneft Hedge Fund and also launched two crypto coins named 'RHFCOIN' and 'RHFGOLD'. They, thus collected crores of funds from people all across India and laundered the same by investing the same in cryptocurrencies, largely Bitcoin. Subsequently, the accused and his accomplices siphoned off the funds thus collected. Proceeds of Crime (POC) in the subject matter is Rs 52 crore. However, further investigations are on to unearth the actual amount of POC," said an official.

PMLA Special Court Hyderabad granted the ED custody of Malik on September 8. In pursuant to the court order, Malik was then taken into ED custody on September 10 from the Tihar Jail, New Delhi, where he was currently lodged pursuant to his arrest by EOW, Delhi.

Further investigation in the matter is on.
Kolkata, Sep 13 : A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday gave conditional approval to the West Bengal government to offer donations worth Rs 60,000 crore to 43,000 community Durga Puja committees in the state.

Rejecting the pleas in a number of public interest litigation (PIL)s to bar the state government from offering such doles to the community Puja Committees, the division bench of Calcutta High Court's Chief Justice, Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj, imposed six conditions on the state government while offering such donations.

However, when the order was passed, the bench did not specify the six conditions imposed. Instead, the concerned parties were advised to check the full copy of the order once it is uploaded on the website of the Calcutta High Court.

On August 22, Chief minister, Mamata Banerjee made an announcement for granting Rs 60,000 crore to 43,000 community Durga Puja committees, which would put a pressure of |Rs 258 crore on the state exchequer.

In addition, she also announced a 60 per cent subsidy on the electricity bills for these community Puja committees.

A number of PILs were filed at the said division bench. The petitioner contended that at a time when the state government is unable to pay dearness allowance 9DA) arrears to the state government employees, such expenditure on account of doles to community Durga Puja committees, were wasteful expenditure.

State Advocate General S.N. Mukhopadhyay argued that the entire expenditure is made for public purposes since the state government's aim is to protect and publicize the rich heritage of the state and Durga Puja is a part of the rich heritage.

After hearing detailed arguments in the matter, the court finally on Tuesday morning, gave conditional consent to the state government to offer the grant to the Puja committees.
Mumbai, Sep 13 : Actress Pia Bajpiee is on cloud nine as her movie 'Lost' is selected as 'Opening Night Premiere Film' at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival 2022.

Directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, it features Yami Gautam, Pankaj Kapur, Rahul Khanna, Neil Bhoopalam and Tushar Pandey in pivotal roles.

The actress, who has appeared in Venkat Prabhu's comedy drama 'Goa', Tamil film 'Ko', Telugu movie 'Dalam', 'Masters' (Malayalam) and 'Mumbai Delhi Mumbai' (Hindi), expressed hope that the international audience would appreciate her role of a small-town girl with big dreams and ambitions.

Pia said: "The wait and all the delay in context to the movie was worth it. I have high hopes for this movie and am sure that my role would please the audience. Being from a small town, I have a very selective audience and through this movie I wanna prove myself and reach internationally." 'Lost' is about a young female crime reporter and her mission to find the truth and the reason behind the sudden disappearance of a theatre activist.

Chicago South Asian Film Festival was founded in 1964 by filmmaker and graphic artist Michael Kutza. It is the longest-running film festival in North America.
Gandhinagar, Sep 13 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday asserted that BJP will once again romp to power in Gujarat with 2/3 majority in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Expressing his confidence in the voters, he said the people will not get carried away by the false promises but will base their judgement on the development works carried out by the BJP till now.

Virtually addressing a gathering on the occasion of the first anniversary of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in office, Shah recalled that when Bhupendra Patel was sworn in as the chief minister, the people were little apprehensive but he has proved everyone wrong and successfully completed one year.

Quoting a recent NITI Aayog report, he said Gujarat is number one in good governance in many aspects, may it be education, health or other sectors. He said that he continued the development work started by Narendra Modi as chief minister of the state.

In the BJP rule, the state has seen progress because law and order is in place, during the Congress rule, riots and curfew were common, blasts were common and so Gujarat never saw the development and progress.

Earlier in the day, Vedanta group had signed an MOU with the state government to invest Rs 1,54 lakh crore in Foxconn Semiconductor plant in Gujarat.
Sydney, Sep 13 : Authorities in New South Wales on Tuesday issued a public health alert after a measles case was reported in the Australia for the first time since February 2020.

The patient acquired the infection while travelling in Asia last month smf developed symptoms after returning to Sydney and is now isolated in hospital, reports Xinhua news agency.

NSW Health unveiled a couple of locations the case had spent time in while being infectious and urged people who may be susceptible to measles and were present at those locations at the same time to be alert for symptoms until September 24.

Measles is highly infectious, the symptoms of which include fever, sore eyes and a cough followed three or four days later by a red, blotchy rash spreading from the head and neck to the rest of the body.

Measles could be spread in the air through coughing or sneezing by someone who is carrying the disease.

The NSW Health said people who have not had two lifetime doses of measles vaccine, a confirmed history of measles infection, or who have a weakened immune system are considered susceptible to measles.

"This incident highlights the importance of ensuring that all people able to be vaccinated have received two doses of measles vaccine, particularly prior to overseas travel, as measles outbreaks are occurring in several regions of the world at present," said Executive Director of Health Protection of NSW Jeremy McAnulty.

The health authorities also made the measles vaccine available free to anyone born during or after 1966 who doesn't have two documented doses of measles vaccine.
Kolkata, Sep 13 : BJP's 'march to the West Bengal secretariat' against various issues of corruption on Tuesday afternoon received a setback much before its beginning as one of the three-arms of the party heading towards the state secretariat of Nabanna led by the leader of the opposition in West Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, was deactivated by huge police force much ahead of the secretariat.

The arm led by Adhikari and the party Lok Sabha member, Locket Chatterjee was stopped by a huge police contingent at the entry point to Vidyasagar Bridge, popularly known as Second Hooghly Bridge, that connects Kolkata to Mandirtala in adjacent Howrah district, where the state secretariat of Nabanna is placed. After an initial altercation with the police officers present there, both Suvendu Adhikari and Locket Chatterjee were arrested and put in the prison van.

Adhikari alleged that the women police personnel were specially and deliberately deputed to handle him. Adhikari was also seen shouting at the women police personnel trying to put him in a prison van. "You are a lady. Do not touch my body," Adhikari was heard shouting.

Later both Adhikari and Chatterjee were taken to the Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar in central Kolkata. Adhikari has threatened to tap the legal doors over the development.

"This not the way to behave with the leader of the opposition. The lady constables were constantly pushing me and they were doing this following the instructions of three IPS officers namely Gyanwant Singh, Akash Magaria and Suryapratap Yadav," Adhikari said.

Incidentally, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday is out of Kolkata for a three-day official visit to East Midnapore and West Midnapore districts. Ridiculing her decision to stay out of Kolkata, Adhikari said that the chief minister has deputed the entire police forces to stop the BJP rally. "She has done this by fleeing out of Kolkata," Adhikari said.

Ridiculing Adhikari, state urban development & municipal affairs minister and Kolkata mayor, Firhad Hakim said that the leader of the opposition is resorting to such theatrics, understanding that his party has no mass base in West Bengal. "In BJP, there are only leaders and no workers. So, a party without any worker can never generate mass support. BJP is a worthless party which is surviving just by using some central agencies," Hakim said.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : Homegrown Twitter rival Koo on Tuesday announced that it has collaborated with India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), a division of India Post, under the Ministry of Communications to drive financial inclusion and literacy.

Under this collaboration, IPPB has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Koo that aims to bring together the synergies of both Koo and IPPB to drive financial inclusion and literacy amongst the users in tier 2, tier 3 and remote cities and hinterlands.

"At Koo, we are committed to ensure rapid advancement on our mission of digital inclusion. We are certain that this partnership with India Post Payments Bank will synergise the best of both traditional and contemporary modes of communication, and help users to stay connected with each other," Aprameya Radhakrishna, co-founder and CEO, Koo, said in a statement.

The MoU will help in reaching out to a large customer base and communicate via Koo's unique language communities across the country using Multi Lingual Koo (MLK) features.

IPPB's offline reach, coupled with Koo's ability to empower users though digital touchpoints, will ensure communication to users in the widest and remotest areas of India. The collaboration will also include management of customer relationships for IPPB users through Koo's grievance redressal system.

"Our collaboration with Koo is an initiative to connect with citizens of the country in the languages of their choice, through its features such as MLK and many more. We will also establish communication with users across states and spread awareness around IPPB's legacy, products and services, for which Koo will have a significant role to play," said J Venkatramu, MD and CEO, IPPB.
Hyderabad, Sep 13 : Jennifer Larson is the new Consul General of the US in Hyderabad.

She previously served as Deputy Principal Officer at the US Consulate General in Mumbai and as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for India.

"I couldn't be more excited to be here in Hyderabad. I've spent the last five years working on the US-India relationship from Mumbai and Washington. Now I'm honored to have the opportunity to expand our partnership in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha," she said.

"From joint military exercises and business ties to cultural exchanges and higher education, the US-India relationship is only growing broader and deeper in Hyderabad." According to a statement from the Consulate General, Larson brings 19 years of diplomatic experience with her to Hyderabad.

She most recently served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for India in Washington, where she supported the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in formulating and implementing US-India policy.

In that capacity, she spoke at "A Roadmap for Indo-Pacific Regional Cooperation in a Post-Covid 19 World Order," an international conference organised by the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad in March.

Larson was most recently overseas as Deputy Principal Officer at the US Consulate General in Mumbai from 2016-2020, the second-highest ranking official in the consulate.

In addition to serving as spokesperson in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in Washington, D.C., she has also served in Libya, Pakistan, France, Sudan, Jerusalem, and Lebanon.

Before joining the Foreign Service, Consul General Larson worked for National Public Radio's San Francisco affiliate as a talk show producer.

She completed her undergraduate and graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley in Comparative Literature (Arabic, Spanish and French) and Middle East Studies.
Agra, Sep 13 : A new tourist season is about to begin with the World Tourism Day on September 27, but the city of grand monuments that draws over eight million visitors annually is hardly ready to welcome the guests.

The hospitality industry, including hotels, travel agents, guides etc., is waiting anxiously for the tourists, after nearly three years of distressful wait due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

They are expecting a big boom as international travel is now near normal. With the number of international chartered flights and air connectivity with several cities in India going up, the number of tourists is expected to show a remarkable increase this year, feel hotel industry captains.

This year, a new beginning is being made. Mayor Navin Jain has announced that Sharad Purnima on October 9 will be celebrated as the birth anniversary of Agra. Big plans have been drawn up for a three-day carnival. The city will be dressed up for the big show that would include musical performances, processions, cultural events, while the historical monuments will be lit up.

District authorities are expecting UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to attend the annual Ram Lila Barat and celebrations at Janakpuri coming up in the Dayalbagh area.

The roads are being repaired and given a new coat, encroachments are being removed. The municipal corporation is spending several crores to facelift the area.

But even as a new tourist season is around the corner, the city administration is yet to wake up to repair and clean up the roads in the city which have not only become a safety hazard, but also assault aesthetics.

The tourism industry leaders are alarmed at the lack of concern and general apathy towards streamlining civic amenities vitally necessary for the visiting tourists.

When tourists, particularly those from the developed world, arrive in Agra, they are aghast at the dismal conditions. This results in short visits, same day return by most visitors via the Yamuna Expressway, say hoteliers.

The rains have exposed the claims of the city administration of having patched up or filled all the pot-holes and completed repair work on most roads.

The municipal corporation officials claim that work on filling of pot-holes is still continuing. Jain has assured the citizens that prompt remedial measures would be taken to ensure safe mobility.

The city administration had claimed in June that all the drains in the city have been cleaned and there would be no water-logging anywhere. But the claim proved wrong in the first two big showers that inundated the low-lying areas.

"Presently, water-logging is not an issue, as rains have been scanty this year. A shortfall of at least 33 per cent is expected," said social activist Nitish Shukla.

The biggest problems for the tourists are the monkey and the stray dog menace, in addition to cows, say the hoteliers. The city administration has failed to contain the simian, canine and bovine nuisance around monuments, and there have been numerous instances of tourists becoming victims of attacks, says tourist guide Ved Gautam.

Also, the city police have failed to demolish encroachments around the monuments.

The city appears in shambles, with heaps of garbage dumped along the railway tracks, the Yamuna river bed turning dry while polluted areas continue to irk the visitors. But there is no sense of urgency among the official agencies entrusted with the task of transforming Agra into a smart city.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, Sep 13 : Amid tough global market conditions, tech giant HCL Technologies has reportedly laid off 350 employees globally, including in India, Guatemala and the Philippines, who were working on a Microsoft news project, media reports said.

According to reports, the workers, who were employed by HCL's client Microsoft's news outlet MSN, reportedly learnt that they have been let go at a town hall meeting last week.

The last day of employment is reportedly September 30 for the laid-off employees, who will receive severance compensation.

Last month, a report said that at least half of the companies worldwide are planning to lay off people, with most reducing bonuses and rescinding job offers amid the economic downturn.

As per the latest PwC 'Pulse: Managing business risks in 2022' survey released last month, in the US, 50 per cent of respondents are reducing their overall headcount, even as business leaders remain concerned about hiring and retaining talent.

More than 32,000 tech workers have been laid off in the US till July, including at Big Tech companies like Microsoft and Meta (formerly Facebook), and the worst has not been over yet for the tech sector that has seen massive stock sell-off.

In India, more than 25,000 startup workers have lost jobs since the pandemic began -- and more than 12,000 have been fired this year.
Mumbai, Sep 13 : Making a dark prediction, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday said that 45 out of the 50 MLAs of the Shiv Sena rebel group led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde "will be vanquished in the next elections".

The NCP said that the Chief Minister is making futile attempts to explain how his revolt in early-June was justified and based on certain issues, but the people of the state are not convinced and do not support his views.

Claiming that the regime of Shinde and Bharatiya Janata Party Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is "unconstitutional", the NCP also said that "its benchmark is far below the earlier Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Sena-NCP-Congress" which fell on June 29.

In a stinging statement, NCP Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase slammed Shinde for continuing to justify his rebellion against the ex-CM and Sena President Uddhav Thackeray that toppled the MVA government.

However, Shinde has not said a single word for his vision of Maharashtra, 10 weeks after he took the oath, Tapase pointed out.

"The Shinde-Fadnavis government is yet to get Constitutional validation from the Supreme Court and we shall continue to call it an unconstitutional alliance regime till then," Tapase said sharply.

He said that the Shinde Group is also worried about the criticism levelled by NCP state President Jayant Patil, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar and MP Supriya Sule as his rule has fallen far short of expectations compared with the erstwhile MVA government.

"Moreover, the Shinde Group does not have a disciplined cadre and hence they are spending money to hire people for their meetings. The same crowds were seen looting boxes of 'laddoo' and 'pedhas' (sweetmeats)," Tapase said, hitting at Shinde's rally in Aurangabad's Paithan on Monday where the chaos was witnessed.

Accordingly, the electorate will reject at least 45 of the 50 MLAs - who have thrown their lot with Shinde - in the next Assembly elections, predicted Tapase.

In recent weeks, the Opposition MVA has stepped up attacks on the Shinde-Fadnavis government on a variety of issues including the delays in naming district Guardian Ministers, timely aid to the flood-ravaged farmers in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions and other aspects.
Chandigarh, Sep 13 : Amidst allegations of an 'extortion' conversation featuring its minister, AAP Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday accused the BJP government at the Centre of carrying out 'Operation Lotus' in Punjab by offering Rs 25 crore to at least 10 legislators to destabilise the government.

Cheema told the media here that the BJP "is trying to buy our MLAs by offering Rs 25 crore each to seven to 10 MLAs".

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is currently in Germany to woo investors.

These MLAs have also been offered big posts. They were told that "if you get more MLAs along, you would be given up to Rs 75 crore," said Cheema, who was accompanying legislators Sheetal Angural, Manjit Singh Bilaspur, Raman Arora, Labh Singh Ugoke and Rupinder Singh Happy.

The MLAs were told: "Bade bau-ji se milwayenge (Will introduce you to a senior leader)".

Cheema, however, refused to disclose the names of the MLAs approached by the BJP. "The party's legal cell is looking into the matter, and at this stage we would not like to disclose the names," he added.

He said the BJP has set aside Rs 1,375 crore to poach AAP MLAs under Operation Lotus.

AAP Punjab tweeted, "Serial killer BJP has now brought its Operation Lotus in Punjab. Offering 25 crore to AAP MLAs in Punjab. But the BJP is forgetting that not a single Aam Aadmi Party MLA is for sale. Like Delhi, BJP's operation will fail in Punjab too." An audio clip of a purported 'extortion' conversation allegedly between AAP Cabinet Minister Fauja Singh Sarari and his aide Tarsem Lal Kapoor caught the attention of the parties, including the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

The minister and his aide can be heard discussing ways to extort money from transporters and officials.

Sarari, who holds the Welfare, Food Processing and Horticulture departments, has denied the allegations and filed a police complaint.

Demanding a CBI inquiry into the alleged extortion tape, SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said the minister was caught discussing a plan to trap some officials and extort money from them.

"The OSD (aide) has stated on record that the audio tape is genuine and now it is up to the government to hand over the tape as well as the entire set of allegations against Sarari to the CBI so that they can be probed thoroughly," Majithia said.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : The IT Ministry's MeitY Startup Hub (MSH) and Meta (formerly Facebook) on Tuesday launched a startup Programme to help 40 early-stage startups in India -- with a grant of Rs 20 lakh each -- create products and solutions based on Extended Reality (XR) technologies.

XR encompasses augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR).

The 'XR Startup Programme' will include an accelerator and a grand challenge to boost the emerging tech ecosystem in the country and encourage innovation in a variety of sectors such as education, learning and healthcare, among others.

"Immersive technologies like XR have the power to transform the digital landscape and can have significant economic benefits for the country," said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics & IT.

"I look forward to the collaboration with Meta and I hope it provides the necessary impetus towards fuelling the growth of investments in future technologies in line with the government vision for making India a trillion dollar economy by 2025," the minister added.

The grand challenge will shortlist 80 innovators and select 16 for further support contributing to the advancement of the XR technology ecosystem in the country.

Joel Kaplan, Vice President, Global Policy, Meta said that India will play a pivotal role in defining future technologies.

"Decisions and investments made here in India now shape global discussions on how technology can deliver more economic opportunity and better outcomes for people," he noted.

This initiative will help shape the ecosystem for Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) in the country.

According to a recent study by the Analysis Group, the metaverse is estimated to add $240 billion or 4.6 per cent to India's GDP by 2031.

"Young Indian startups, especially from tier 2 and 3 cities, will play a significant role in emerging tech areas like Web 3.0, blockchain, AI, metaverse etc. and will shape the future of Technology and the internet for India and the world," said Chandrasekhar.

At first, 80 innovators will be shortlisted to attend a bootcamp, out of which, a total of 16 innovators will be provided grants of Rs 20 lakh each and further support to help them develop Minimum Viable Product (MVP)/ prototypes.

Ajit Mohan, Vice President and Managing Director, Facebook India (Meta), said that for the future to be equitable, it will require active participation from all stakeholders, including developers, businesses, creators, policymakers and entrepreneurs.

The MeitY programme is supported by Meta's XR Programs and Research Fund, a two-year $50 million investment.
Kolkata, Sep 13 : The streets of Kolkata turned into a virtual battlefield on Tuesday afternoon as BJP activists, marching to the West Bengal Secretariat to protest corruption issues, clashed with police.

A police vehicle was torched, while a BJP councillor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, an Assistant Commissioner of Police and several others, including both BJP supporters and police personnel, were injured.

At around 3 p.m., an group of BJP supporters led by party's national Vice President, Dilip Ghosh and the party's state General Secretary, Jagannath Chattopadhyay, started moving towards the state secretariat, Nabanna from BJP's state headquarters at Muralidhar Sen Lane.

As they reached central Kolkata, they came to know that Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari had been arrested and taken to the Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar. At this, a section of BJP supporters from the arms, led by Chattopadhyay started marching towards the police headquarters and were able to reach its gates after breaking through the barricades.

Although the police were initially pushed back, soon a huge contingent of security personnel, led by senior officials of Kolkata Police, stopped the BJP supporters, following which clashes broke out there.

Violence also spread to the adjacent Mahatma Gandhi Road, where a police PCR van was allegedly set on fire by BJP supporters.

An ACP and BJP councillor Meena Devi Purohit, along with several others, were injured.

Mahatma Gandhi Road, being a trading hub, has a number of shops with many storing inflammable items. The burning PCR van created panic in the locality and the traders quickly pulled down the shutters of their shops. However, the fire tenders quickly rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire before it could spread further.

A police kiosk there was also vandalised by the BJP supporters.

However, BJP state President Sukanta Majumdar alleged that the PCR van was set on fire by the police only and blame put on his party supporters. Senior city officials rubbished his claims.
Kochi, Sep 13 : Researchers from School of Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham here have won a patent in the US and Australia for a novel nanomedicine that holds great promise for early detection and treatment of liver cirrhosis and liver tumour.

The invention is the outcome of a research project funded by the Nanobiotechnology Task Force of Deptartment of Biotechnology of Government of India.

Shantikumar V. Nair and Manzoor Koyakutty from Amrita School of Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine in Kochi led a team to create a special type of nanomedicine that responds to radio wave signals sent from outside the body.

Once the nanoparticles are injected into a tumour, they can be heated up using external, medically approved radio waves. Doctors can visualise the tumour using an MRI machine and burn it off in a controlled manner.

Amrita researchers have demonstrated that the novel technology can be used for early detection of liver cirrhosis and liver tumour, early-stage image-guided treatment of liver tumour using radio-frequency ablation therapy as well as labelling and tracking the movement of stem cells inside the body after stem-cell transplantation to assess how effective the therapy has been.

Koyakutty said that they have made a unique nanomedicine that can be used for medical imaging, combined with drug delivery.

"Its particles are made of synthetically prepared calcium phosphate, a biomineral present in our bones. Generally, chemically prepared inorganic nanoparticles cause safety issues when used as nanomedicines. However, as a biomineral, calcium phosphate is biocompatible and biodegradable, hence totally safe for human use," said Koyakutty.

Shantikumar V. Nair said that they are currently investigating cancer-immunotherapy application potential of these nanoparticles with support of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and an Indo-Swiss collaboration with Ludwig Cancer Research Institute, University of Lausanne, and University of Geneva, Switzerland.

"We are now testing regulatory safety studies in large animal models. We expect to conduct human trials of the nanomedicine within the next one year," Nair said.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : The Special Cell of Delhi Police arrested two notorious criminals of Neeraj Bawana-Arsh Dala Syndicate, who made an extortion call, demanding Rs 5 crore from a Vasant Kunj-based businessman.

The accused were identified as Sunny Dagar alias Vikram and Pushpender Lochav alias Dimpy.

The police said that the victim businessman runs a business in village Bamnoli, Dwarka.

"Victim received life threats in the name of Neeraj Bawana Gang through international virtual numbers. The caller introduced himself as "Sunny Issapur from Neeraj Bawana Gang" and demanded Rs 5 crore from him. After few days, the complainant again received another threat call from another virtual number. After which, he approached the police," said the police official.

After receiving a complaint in this regard, a case under section 386 IPC was lodged with the Vasant Kunj North Police Station and investigation of the case was transferred to Special Cell, South Western Range.

"It came to light that one Sunny Dagar alias Sunny Issapur alias Vikram who belongs to Neeraj Bawana Gang and was recently arrested by Punjab Police is involved in this crime. Dagar was interrogated in Patiala jail regarding the extortion call, who confessed his involvement in the crime. Dagar also disclosed that Pushpender Lochav alias Dimpy gave him the tip regarding the victim and shared his whole details," said the police official.

Dimpy also told him that there was family dispute with the complainant and he can get easy money by extending life threat to the complainant.

Dagar further disclosed that he was in direct contact with Canada-based fugitive criminal Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dala through social media and as per the instructions of jailed gangsters Neeraj Bawana-Naveen Bali, he was planning to eliminate their rival gang Lawrence Bishnoi-Kala Jathedi, and in order to procure sophisticated weapons, he made the extortion call to the complainant.

He also disclosed that Dala transferred some money in the account of Dimpy. Police said that Dimpy was held from Dwarka area on September 7.

He disclosed that he was in contact with Dala and they made extortion calls.

The police said that it was learnt that Dala had become radicalised and was associated with terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar of Khalistan Tiger Force to carry out targeted killings. Consequently, he got murdered two Dera Saccha Sauda followers through his associates in two separate incidents in 2020 and 2021.
Panaji, Sep 13 : Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday said that if teachers and management fail to conduct remedial classes for students, action will be initiated against them and the government may even think of stopping their grants.

Sawant was speaking while presenting the State Teachers' Awards here.

"Remedial classes are compulsory. Those who fail to conduct classes, action will be taken against those teachers and management. The government may even think of stopping the grants," Sawant warned.

Sawant wished the recipients of the awards and said these awards were given on merit and not as a favour. "Teachers should not go to politicians (to seek favours) for teachers' awards. It is a different thing that they go to seek transfer," he said.

He urged the teachers not to work part time elsewhere as it distracts them from their core profession which is teaching. "If the teachers do business, then they won't be able to give time to students and concentrate on students. Teachers should do innovative thinking and research. They should learn techniques to teach students in a better way. You need to attract students, for this stress on innovative teaching methods," he said.

"The newly implemented National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) lays emphasis on skilled education and the education department is working hard to implement the NEP," he said.

According to the CM, a lot of development is taking place on the education front like the introduction of coding and robotics in schools. "We will start providing equipment (for coding and robotics) from October and in the next five years you will see big changes in this area," he said.

He appreciated the teachers for their contribution during the pandemic by conducting online classes.
New York, Sep 13 : The Los Angeles County authorities in the US were looking into a second probable monkeypox-related death, media reports said.

According to NBC News, Chief Medical Director Rita Singhal of the county's Public Health Department said details were unavailable at this early stage of the investigation.

"This is one of two deaths in the US that are under investigation to determine whether monkeypox was a contributing cause," she was quoted as saying last week. On Monday, the department released a statement that provided some context regarding the death.

"The resident was severely immunocompromised and had been hospitalised," it said.

Recently, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported that a person diagnosed with monkeypox in the Houston area had died. He was described in a statement as "severely immunocompromised".

The unnamed adult, who was being treated in Harris County, had "various severe illnesses" beside the virus, officials said earlier.

Texas officials, at the time, said that a cause of death was yet to be determined.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a total of 52,997 people have been infected with the monkeypox virus.

Of the cases registered in the last four weeks, 70.7 per cent came from the US and 28.3 per cent from Europe.

Latest updates on Monkeypox Virus Outbreak
Mumbai, Sep 13 : Barely six weeks after Maharashtra claimed to have beaten at least 5 states to win the Vedanta Group-Foxconn's stupendous Rs 2.06 lakh crore investment proposal, the project has gone to Gujarat.

The development on Tuesday left Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's team rendered speechless, even as Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis left for Russia, and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) went livid at the state's loss.

The Vedanta Group-Foxconn partnership in the sunrise semiconductors chips and display fabrications sector in Pune would have created over 200,000 direct and indirect jobs for the state.

The MoU for the deal, the single biggest investment of its kind in Maharashtra -- coveted by Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh -- was signed in the presence of Shinde and Fadnavis in mid-July.

MVA leaders like Nationalist Congress Party state President Jayant Patil, Shiv Sena's ex-Minister Aditya Thackeray and Congress' chief spokesperson Atul Londhe slammed the Shinde-Fadnavis duo for the loss of the prestigious project.

Patil said that once again, Gujarat has taken away a major project from Maharashtra right from the mouths of Shinde-Fadnavis government who are busy holding political rallies.

"With Gujarat elections coming up, the Maharashtra BJP seems to be safeguarding the interests of the neighbouring state.. Will the CM and DCM apologise to the educated, unemployed youth of this state for losing this huge and rightful employment slots," Patil asked acidly.

Thackeray and Londhe said that this is part of the series of steps taken by the BJP to take away all industries or employment generation project from Maharashtra to Gujarat.

Londhe said that first the BJP took away the International Finance Centre, then the diamond hub, while several other Central government organisations also shifted, at the cost of Maharashtra, where they were nurtured for long.

"Now, only Mumbai is left... This will also happen soon, and that's why the Shinde-Fadnavis government has come to power here. He Ram," lamented Londhe.

With Shinde keeping mum and Fadnavis departing to Moscow, it was left to the Industry Minister Uday Samant to respond and he merely said that "we shall find out how this has happened".

Thackeray said he was stunned that barely two months ago (July), Vedanta Group's Anil Agarwal had committed to set up the project in Maharashtra, they had even selected the site at Talegaon in Pune.

"After all, this, it is shocking to learn that the project has gone to Gujarat now. Why did this company move out of Maharashtra when 95 per cent of the work was done by the MVA government? This fact was also acknowledged by Anil Agarwal yesterday," he said.

Patil added that its puzzling how the project - for which Shinde-Fadnavis held meeting with the Vedanta Group-Foxconn top brass recently - has gone to Gujarat at the last minute, depriving the people of Maharashtra a big employment opportunity.

Slamming the Shinde-Fadnavis duo for its failure, Thackeray asked that "considering the overall scenario, whether there is a government in Maharashtra or nor?" "This is a government of 'khokhas' (literally boxes, implying crores of rupees) which is a 'dhokha' (danger) for the state. There is a question of law-and-order also, how many investors will come to Maharashtra under such circumstances," Thackeray asked sharply.

Picking up a dialogue from the Bollywood superhit "Baazigar" (1993) - "Haar ke Jeetne walon ko Baazigar kehte hain" - Thackeray took a jibe at the Shinde-Fadnavis regime saying: "Now, it is 'Jeet ke haarne walon ko Khokhe Sarkar kehte hain'." Mumbai-based mining giant Vedanta Group had partnered with the Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) to invest $15 billion in phases over the next 5-10 years for manufacturing semiconductor chips and displays in India.

Accordingly, Vedanta-Foxconn planned to invest Rs 166,800 crore and Rs 40,000 crore from other sources for its 1,000-acre proposed manufacturing facility at Talegaon near Pune.

This came after a series of meetings held by the erstwhile MVA government to bag the prestigious deal, including the last one in June with former Industry Minister Subhash Desai, preceded by a Vedanta team survey of Pune in February 2022 for establishing its facility there.

As per an official statement in July, the government had said that the mega-project would create around 200,000 direct and indirect jobs, total revenues of GST worth Rs 125,230 crore comprising Rs 37,500 crore State GST and the rest Rs 88,079 as Inter-State GST.

On its part, Maharashtra would provide a slew of incentives including 25 per cent capital subsidy, subsidised water and power supply, and land at concessional rates, and Shinde-Fadnavis assured all other help for the project to come up without hiccups in three years.

The Indian semiconductor industry is estimated to grow more than four times to over $60 billion in the next four years, and Fadnavis had said the state was keen that this industry - available in only four nations - should come here.

Incidentally, when he was the Chief Minister, Fadnavis had visited the Foxconn plant in China in 2015 where the initial discussions were held to bring the electronics giant to India, but its progress got bogged down due to strained relations between India and China and later the Covid-19 pandemic.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)
Chandigarh, Sep 13 : Amid allegations of an 'extortion' conversation featuring its minister, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) party in Punjab on Tuesday launched an attack on the BJP, accusing it of trying to topple its government in Punjab through its 'tried and tested Operation Lotus'.

Ridiculing the allegations, Opposition parties said "the government appears to be trying to divert public attention from its own scams and failures." The Congress even "smells revolt brewing within AAP." Addressing the media here, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said under 'Operation Lotus' many leaders and agents of the BJP from Delhi and Punjab have approached at least 10 AAP MLAs on phone in the past seven days and offered Rs 25 crore to each to quit AAP and join the BJP.

He said they were offering to arrange meetings of AAP MLAs with Babu-ji (a top BJP leader) and also promised them Cabinet ministerial ranks after the BJP form the government in the state.

Lambasting the Modi government, Cheema said the BJP "is working as a serial killer in Punjab, and anti-national powers have joined forces to overthrow the AAP government in Punjab as they are unable to digest the dynamic functioning of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led government in the state." "After using central investigation agencies against AAP leaders in Delhi and offering money to MLAs in Delhi, now the BJP is attempting to buy MLAs in Punjab," Cheema said.

He said the BJP "is a serial killer which is bringing down the governments in every state one by one by coercing opposition party leaders with agencies and money. The next target in this murder of democracy under 'Operation Lotus' is Punjab." "Wherever the BJP loses, these people form their government by breaking MLAs with help of the CBI, the ED and money. They did it in Goa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh. Now, they are doing it in Punjab," Cheema said.

Replying to a media query, the minister said the Punjab government will launch an investigation and legal action will be initiated into the matter.

Recently, the BJP attempted to topple the AAP government in Delhi, which was elected by the people of Delhi with a huge majority.

He said the BJP is only afraid of Arvind Kejriwal, so they aim to stop Kejriwal by any means. "BJP is unnerved by the growing popularity of Kejriwal across the country. This is why they raided Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's residence in Delhi and also raided the AAP office in Gujarat to intimidate AAP leaders." "Despite all efforts in Delhi, they could not break even one of our MLAs, now these people have brought their shoplifting to Punjab, but I am confident their Operations Lotus will fall flat here too," the Punjab Cabinet Minister said.

Cheema said the BJP leaders and their agents are offering to MLAs that if one MLA comes alone, he will get Rs 25 crore and if they bring other MLAs along with them, they will get Rs 50 to 70 crore.

Launching a fierce attack for denying financial aid to Punjab, the Finance Minister said the Modi government doesn't even give a single rupee to assist Punjab financially but they have Rs 1,375 crore "black money to buy the MLAs of Punjab".

Raising serious questions, Cheema said, "From where this Rs 1,375 crore came and where is the money hidden? "Will the CBI and the ED show courage to investigate this big scam? BJP has kept over Rs 2,200 crore, including Rs 1,375 crore to buy Punjab MLAs and Rs 800 crore for Delhi MLAs," Cheema added.

AAP legislators Manjit Bilaspur, Sheetal Angural, Raman Arora, Labh Singh Ugoke and Rupinder Happy, among others, were present with Cheema at the media interaction.

Responding to the AAP's allegations, BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, "The shoot-and-scoot tactics of Punjab leaders are planned by Arvind Kejriwal." "Aam Aadmi Party leaders keep naming Operation Lotus in every media interaction to hide their scams and failure. But neither Kejriwal nor Harpal Cheema can name the BJP leader who offered them money!" Sirsa added.

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring ridiculed the allegations levelled by AAP.

He said no doubt "the BJP is quite capable of doing that and has a history of poaching Opposition MLAs and destabilizing the governments, buying MLAs and stealing popular mandate, but in this case the AAP appears to be trying to divert public attention from its own failures." "Or maybe there is some revolt brewing within the AAP that MLAs are feeling restless and the party leadership is trying to pre-empt any such move," Warring added.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept victory in the Assembly elections in Punjab in February by trouncing the traditional players that ruled the state for over seven decades, and won 92 out of the 117 Assembly seats.

AAP in Punjab is currently facing midst allegations of an 'extortion' conversation featuring its minister.

An audio clip of a purported 'extortion' conversation allegedly between Cabinet Minister Fauja Singh Sarari and his aide Tarsem Lal Kapoor caught the attention of Opposition parties, including the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

The minister and his aide can be heard discussing ways to extort money from transporters and officials.

Sarari, who holds the Welfare, Food Processing and Horticulture departments, has denied the allegations and filed a police complaint.

Demanding a CBI inquiry into the alleged extortion tape, SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said the minister was caught discussing a plan to trap some officials and extort money from them.

"The OSD (aide) has stated on record that the audio tape is genuine and now it is up to the government to hand over the tape as well as the entire set of allegations against Sarari to the CBI so that they can be probed thoroughly," Majithia said.
Kohima, Sep 13 : Opposition Congress in Nagaland is keen to forge a "secular alliance" with like-minded parties before the Assembly elections early next year, its state President K. Therie said on Tuesday.

The Congress, which ruled the northeastern state for almost 15 years during its worst phase of militancy and other difficult situations, had contested in 18 of the total 60 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections with other parties but drew a blank.

Therie said that considering the national political scenario, the formation of a "secular alliance" with the like-minded parties to defeat the BJP is the urgent need of the hour. He, however, did not disclose the name of the parties with whom his party would form the proposed "secular alliance".

The state Congress chief urged all "erstwhile" Congress leaders, workers and well-wishers to rejoin the party to fight against "anti-Christ, anti-Christian, anti-Muslim and anti-women" forces.

He said that to remove the roadblocks and to resolve the Naga political issue, a secular and democratic government is necessary in Nagaland.

"The NDPP-BJP seat sharing arrangement six months ahead of the Assembly election is an attempt to divert the people's attention from the political solution of the Naga issue that had been put in cold storage," he claimed.

He said that the Congress would field around 40 candidates in the Assembly elections, which are expected to be held in February next year.

Saying that almost all state political parties except the BJP are secular, he said the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) can also join its front if they are keen to maintain their secular image and want welfare of the state.

With 42 legislators, the NDPP leads the opposition-less Nagaland government where the BJP with 12 members has been a junior partner since 2018.

Solution of the Naga political issue is the topmost topic in Nagaland and the state government and all parties have been demanding to resolve the decades-old issue before the Assembly elections.
Washington, Sep 13 : Former US President Donald Trump is back with another Hindi slogan: "Bharat and US Sabse Achhe Dost (India and US are best friends)".

Trump recorded this new catchphrase at his Mar-a-Lago residence recently for Shalabh Kumar, a Chicago-based businessman, Republican donor and strategist, who was also behind Trump's first Hindi slogan in 2016: "Ab ki bar, Trump Sarkar", which was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's poll slogan "Ab ki bar, Modi sarkar".

Kumar said Trump, who doesn't speak any Hindi at all, had an easier time recording the slogan than many people in Kumar's own team, who had trouble pronouncing the word 'Bharat' correctly. Most of them couldn't get it right, Kumar recalled with a laugh, despite "hundreds of takes".

The former President got it in "just three takes", Kumar said.

Trump had a far more difficult time with the first slogan though. In Kumar's telling, Trump had done 12 takes to finally get it right, recording it at his campaign headquarters at Trump Tower, which also served as the head office of the Trump Organization and, then, his residence. The former President now lives in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago club resort.

"We will use the slogan in the upcoming midterm elections in November," Kumar said, discussing the creation of the new slogan exclusively with this reporter.

The slogan is intended to mobilise Indian/Hindu American voters in support of Republicans, especially the key candidates endorsed by the former President - J.D. Vance in Ohio, Herschel Walker in Georgia, Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Ron Johnson in Wisconsin - and party candidates in Arizona, a one-time Republican stronghold that President Joe Biden, a Democrat, won in 2020, blocking Trump's path to re-election.

Indian Americans have emerged as a crucial vote bank in swing states where election outcomes can turn on thin margins, as slim as a thousand or few thousands.

A 2020 report by US think-tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace noted that "in select swing states, the Indian American population is larger than the margin of victory that separated (Democratic Presidential nominee) Hillary Clinton and Trump in the closely-contested 2016 Presidential race".

The Indian American community has grown to more than four million -- said to be slightly more than 1 pert cent of the total population -- but registered voters among them are less than the total registered voters, which stood at 160 million in 2020. They are located all over the country -- the largest concentrations are in California, Texas, New Jersey, New York and Illinois.

But they matter more in swing states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia and, now, Georgia and Arizona, where their numbers, though smaller, are more than the margins of victory or defeat -- Biden had won Wisconsin by 20,000 votes (Trump had won the state by 22,000 in 2016), Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes (Trump won it by 50,000 in 2016), and Georgia by 12,000 votes (Trump had won it by 2,11,141 votes in 2016).

Both the Democratic and Republican parties now woo Indian Americans aggressively. Kumar said Trump's slogan will feature in an ad that will play on TV channels viewed mostly by Indian Americans, starting October when candidates will be in the last month of campaigning for US House of Representatives, Senate (a third of the 100 seats) and state-wide officials such as governors and state legislatures.

Kumar has been working with Trump since 2016 but things cooled between them towards the end of the former President's terms. Kumar stayed away from Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, but is back in the good graces of the former President. They recently appeared together in an NDTV interview.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : The government has set up an expert committee, headed by former SEBI Chairman Meleveetil Damodaran, to suggest appropriate measures to address regulatory and other issues, so that investments by venture capital and private equity investors can be scaled up.

The six-member committee has been set up in accordance with the announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her 2022-23 budget speech, to shore up investments by private equity and venture capital firms.

According to the terms of reference of the committee, it would study measures through which investments in India can be accelerated.

It will also review compliances to accelerate growth of alternative capital for participation in the venture capital and private equity industry.

The panel will also suggest measures to further accelerate investments in start-ups and sunrise sectors.

In addition to this, it will also suggest forward looking measures and future ready regulatory practices, in addition to studying and emulating global best practices.

Other members of the committee include G. Mahalingam, former whole-time member of SEBI, Nagendra Kumar, former member (GST) in the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, former Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax Ashish Verma, Director General of National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) Poonam Gupta, and AJNIFM Director Prabhat Ranjan Acharya.
Patna, Sep 13 : Bihar agriculture minister Sudhakar Singh said on Tuesday that he stands by his statement of "Chief of thieves". With his statement, Singh opened a front against his own government and made the situation uncomfortable for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.

Sudhakar Singh is the son of Rashtriya Janata Dal state president Jagadanand Singh. He said at a public meeting that there are many thieves in his department and as he is the minister of the department, he becomes the chief of thieves.

While interacting with media persons in Patna, Singh said that he stands by his statement and will not amend it or complain that the statement was twisted by the media.

"I spoke the truth and I will not withdraw or clarify it. A large amount of corruption is taking place inside the agriculture department. Everyone is looting the ministry. I asked the government to stop the allocation of budget funds to my department," Singh said.

"The farmers want to do paddy farming but the Bihar Rajya Beej Nigam does not provide them adequate seeds. The funds allocated for the purpose, Rs 150 crore, are not reaching the farmers. The officials are involved in this scam. When farmers reached the district magistrates, they refused to interact with them and refused to address their grievances. This is the actual status of Bihar," Singh said.

Singh, while addressing a gathering of farmers in his home constituency Ramgarh in Kaimur district on Sunday claimed: "There are many thieves in my department and they are stealing money. As I am the in-charge minister of the department, I become their chief. There are many other chiefs above me. This government is old and its style of work is also old. It's up to the common people to alert the government," Singh said.
Guwahati, Sep 13 : Lured by militant outfits campaigns on various social media platforms, the youth in Assam continue to join extremist groups despite a slew of peace agreements signed by the government with such outfits since 2014.

While replying to a series of questions on the floor of the Assembly on Tuesday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that 1,561 young men and women have joined at least five extremist outfits since 2016.

According to the Chief Minister, who also holds the home portfolio, the extremists groups include the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the People's Democratic Council of Karbi Longri (PDCK), the United People's Revolutionary Front besides the United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent).

Replying to opposition leader Debabrata Saikia, Sarma said that the extremist outfits, especially the ULFA (I) headed by Paresh Baruah, have been "brainwashing young men and women with misinformation via Facebook, Messenger and Twitter".

The Assam police under the Cyberdrome Project monitored social media platforms and found 990 "objectionable posts" by such brainwashed youth during 2021-2022.

Sarma said that on the basis of such posts, the police have registered around 100 cases across the state and 85 people were arrested while 581 others were counselled in the presence of their parents and guardians.

Around 400 social media posts were removed from different platforms, he told the House.

Replying to another question, Sarma said that since 2016, the police have arrested 84 suspects for their alleged involvement in 'jihadi' activities, and 10 of them were engaged as teachers at various private madrasas.

He said that out of the 84 people, 40 were members of Ansarullah Bangla Team, 35 belonged to the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh and nine to Hizbul Mujahideen.

Replying to another question, Sarma said that 19 militants of different outfits were killed in 12 encounters with security forces between January last year and September 4 this year.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : While all eyes are on BYJU's much-awaited FY21 financial results that were set to be revealed on Wednesday, the edtech major has registered nearly Rs 9,991 crore in revenues in FY22 and its core K12 education business is growing fast, top sources have revealed.

In six months from February 2022 till July 2022, the company logged Rs 6,175 crore revenue, breaking all previous sales records, three people close to the matter told IANS.

This is a substantial gain from its FY20 financial report, when the company registered revenue of Rs 2,434 crore with a net profit of Rs 51 crore.

BYJU's investors were ecstatic at the company's growth in the core business in the recently-concluded meeting, sources told IANS, as the company logged 50 per cent growth (year-on-year) in its core K12 India business at Rs 1,205 crore, leaving no competition anywhere near it.

After getting acquired by BYJU's for $1 billion last year, Aakash Educational Services (AESL) has transformed into a hybrid edtech firm, expanding rapidly across the country, which is one of the key reasons behind BYJU's FY22 success.

Meanwhile, after nearly 18 months delay of "ironing out the complexities", edtech major BYJU's was all set to reveal its financial report for FY21.

The company had received an 'unqualified' report from auditor Deloitte late last month.

According to sources, there may be a substantial difference between the projected sales and the audited revenue in BYJU's FY21 financial results.

Last valued at $22 billion, BYJU's has so far raised over $6 billion in funding, and aims to file an IPO in the US through the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) route.

The company is likely to raise over $500 million (nearly Rs 3,900 crore) at a valuation of around $23 billion soon.
Bengaluru:BBMP started demolition of the residence and buildings constructed encroaching drains at Shanti Niketan layout, which was recently flooded due to heavy rainfall , in Bengaluru on Tuesday 13th September 2022.(PHOTO:IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Bengaluru:BBMP started demolition of the residence and buildings constructed encroaching drains at Shanti Niketan layout, which was recently flooded due to heavy rainfall , in Bengaluru on Tuesday 13th September 2022.(PHOTO:IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Bengaluru:BBMP started demolition of the residence and buildings constructed encroaching drains at Shanti Niketan layout, which was recently flooded due to heavy rainfall , in Bengaluru on Tuesday 13th September 2022.(PHOTO:IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Bengaluru, Sep 13 : Continuing its drive against encroachment, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the civic agency, carried out a ruthless demolition drive at 18 locations in Bengaluru on Tuesday, the second day.

The official note from BBMP stated that the demolition drive has been carried out in the Mahadevapura zone and Yelahanka zones. In Mahadevapura zone, demolition drives were carried out at Shantiniketan Layout, Papaiah Reddy Layout and Challaghatta localities.

These areas were inundated and saw major water-logging problems during heavy rains. The team of engineers, revenue officers, marshals and police personnel were present during the drive in which two Hitachi and eight JCB machines were used.

Nalapad Academy in Challaghatta has encroached upon 2.5 meters of width, and 150.5 meters of storm water drain has been encroached. Fifty meters of encroachment has been cleared and the drive will continue.

In Shantiniketan Layout, seven buildings and four compound walls have been cleared. Meanwhile, owners of flats and buildings complained that they have purchased from builders and banks have also given loans for them. Now, BBMP is demolishing without any notice and they don't know where to go.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has informed the session that Rs 600 crore has already been released to build infrastructure across the state. He also announced that he would give Rs 1,800 crore for development of storm water drains in Bengaluru. The work would be finished within a set time-frame.

Krishna Bhairegowda, Congress MLA, stated in the session that brand Bengaluru is affected globally and the government must ensure that all storm water drains in Bengaluru must be developed.
Bhubaneswar, Sep 13 : The Odisha Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has arrested chartered accountant Neeraj Singla, based in Haryana's Faridabad, for his alleged involvement in a Rs 2.70 crore income tax refund scam, a police official said here on Tuesday.

After producing the accused before a Faridabad magistrate's court, the EOW brought him to Bhubaneswar on remand.

Singla, a 28-year chartered accountant (intermediate), is one of the main conspirators and beneficiaries of this pan India TDS refund fraud, said the EOW official.

The official informed that he, along with his other associates, runs this scam by submitting forged or fake documents of other companies and thereby, causes a loss of crores of rupees to government exchequer.

During investigation, the EOW found that Singla, in criminal conspiracy with others, forged the TDS challan/return filed by IAMO Solution Pvt Ltd during the financial year 2020-21 for Rs 2.70 crore, and the amount has been credited in the PAN of 32 taxpayers.

A substantial amount of the refund was diverted to the personal account of the accused and also to the accounts of his firms, All India Transport Services, CKS Acoustics and GDS Associates. Besides, some amounts have been diverted to the accounts of some other firms which are ultimately managed by this accused, the official said.

Usually, the returns of IAMO Solution Pvt. Ltd. are generally filed at Bhubaneswar. However, this particular return has been filed at New Delhi, from which the IT department officials detected the fraud.

The accused is the part of an organised racket defrauding the government exchequer by making false claim for TDS refund by using the forged TDS challan. This is the first arrest in this case and effort is on to arrest other accused persons, the EOW official added.
Hyderabad, Sep 13 : Telangana Finance Minister T. Harish Rao on Tuesday claimed that the Union government owes over Rs 1 lakh crore to the state in the form of pending funds, grants, and compensation.

He told the Assembly that the Centre owes it Rs 1,05,812 and if the pending funds are released, the state can clear one-third of its Rs 3.29 lakh crore debt.

If the Centre releases these funds, the state would not even be required to raise new debt, he said in his reply to the short discussion on "Central government dual policy in implementation of FRBM Act - Impact on state progress" Harish Rao alleged that the Centre's unilateral decisions and imposition of restrictions against the state to obtain loans under Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) limits was having an adverse impact on the state.

He dismissed the criticism by BJP on the state's debts and claimed that unlike the Union government which obtained loans to repay its loans, the state government spent the borrowings on capital expenditure and created assets. He pointed out that the state took up irrigation projects like the Kaleshwaram project Mission Bhagiratha, Mission Kakatiya and other programmes which created assets for the state.

He said that as per the Reserve Bank of India report, Telangana's debt rank is 23rd in the country.

Harish Rao also rubbished the allegations by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and other BJP leaders over the per capita debt on each citizen of the state.

He stated that while the Central debt resulted in the per capita debt of Rs 1,25,679 on every individual, Telangana's debt amounted to Rs 94,272 per capita.

During her recent visit to Telangana, Sitharaman has claimed that every child born in Telangana carries a debt of Rs 1.25 lakh.

Harish Rao stated that Telangana's debt to GSDP ratio at 23.5 per cent is much lower than the country's ratio at 55 per cent.

He claimed that in the last eight years, Telangana assumed top position in terms of increase in state-owned-tax-revenue with 11.5 per cent growth. Odisha came second with 9.7 per cent, followed by Haryana with 9.2 per cent growth.

Telangana's contribution to GDP also increased from 4 per cent to 4.9 per cent in the last eight years, despite having just 2.9 per cent of the nation's population.

"Unlike the BJP government which waived off the corporate loans to benefit its friends, we distributed the State's wealth among the poor," he said.

Harish Rao reminded that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found fault with the Union government for obtaining off-budget loans which amounted to about Rs 6 lakh crore in the last five-six years.

He said if the BJP MLAs and MPs from the state succeed in getting the dues from the Centre, he would felicitate them.

The Finance Minister also slammed the Centre for adopting double standards in implementation of the FRBM Act by imposing restrictions on the states, but not practicing them itself.

He said the Centre took a unilateral decision to impose restrictions on the state's borrowings without constituting the committee as per the recommendation of the 15th Finance Commission. The high-powered inter-governmental committee should comprise the Central and the State governments to review the borrowings.

He claimed that though Telangana was eligible to avail loans up to 4 per cent of its GSDP, it had let go 0.5 per cent of loans for the sake of farmers, after the Centre insisted on fixing smart meters to agricultural pump sets. The Union government also ignored the 15th Finance Commission's recommendations to release Rs 6,268 crore to Telangana under various heads based on its performance.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to increase the tax share of states from 32 per cent to 42 per cent by GST implementation but by imposing more cess, the Centre has reduced the tax component to the state.

While the Central government was mobilising around 22.26 per cent of its revenue through cess and surcharges, the states are losing their revenue and ending up with only 29.6 per cent of total revenue earned by the Centre. Telangana has suffered revenue loss of Rs.33,712 crore, he said.

He remarked that the state would have received more revenues if Value Added Tax (VAT) would have continued.

He alleged that the Centre has also not released Rs 1,350 crore towards development of backward districts, and accused the BJP for destroying the federal spirit to achieve its motto of "weaker states, stronger centre".
New Delhi, Sep 13 : The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Tuesday announced the commitment of adopting one lakh TB patients under the 'Tuberculosis (TB) Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan'.A The FICCI has committed to adopt one lakh TB patients through the collective capability of FICCI members and support the government by becoming Ni-kshay Mitras. This was announced after a meeting between Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and the FICCI Health Services Leadership.

"FICCI commits to adopt one lakh TB patients through the collective capability of its members and support the Govt in The Tuberculosis Mukt Bharat Abhigyan. This has been announced after a meeting with Dr @mansukhmandviya, Minister @MoHFW_INDIA with FICCI Health Services Leadership," the federation said in a tweet.

The Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan was launched by President Droupadi Murmu on September 9 to reinvigorate the mission of TB elimination from the country by 2025.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the clarion call to end TB in the country five years ahead of the SDG target of 2030 at the End TB Summit in March 2018.

The TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan has been envisioned to bring together all community stakeholders to support those on TB treatment and accelerate the country's progress towards TB elimination.

The President also launched the Ni-kshay Mitra initiative which forms a vital component of the Abhiyaan. The Ni-kshay Mitra portal provides a platform for donors to provide various forms of support to those undergoing TB treatment. The three-pronged support includes nutritional, additional diagnostic, and vocational support. The donors, called Ni-kshay Mitras, could be a wide range of stakeholders, including corporate houses and industry representatives.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif are likely to have a meeting during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, which is scheduled to be held on September 15-16 at Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

If it materialises, then this would be the first meeting between the two leaders.

Modi had met then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on December 25, 2015, when he had landed in Lahore in a surprise stop-over to the country while on his way back to Delhi after completing a day-long visit to Afghanistan. It was the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian Prime Minister in more than 10 years.

Meanwhile, Modi will be visiting Samarkand to attend the 22nd meeting of the SCO council of heads of state, official sources said.

The SCO is the largest regional bloc in the world comprising eight full members -- India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

The Prime Minister is also expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jingping and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the SCO summit.

Modi is visiting Uzbekistan on the invitation of the country's President, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The SCO summit will be attended by leaders of SCO member states, observer states, Secretary General of the SCO, Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), President of Turkmenistan and other invited guests, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said.

At the summit, the leaders would be reviewing SCO's activities of the past 20 years and discuss various aspects related to multilateral cooperation as well as issues of regional and global importance, official sources said.
Kolkata, Sep 13 : The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday sought a report from the West Bengal government on the alleged police atrocities on the leaders and workers of BJP during the latter's march to state Secretariat against corruption issues.

A division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajasrshi Bharadwaj directed Chief Secretary, H.K. Dwivedi to submit the report by September 19 On Tuesday afternoon, soon after the Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari and state BJP president, Sukanta Majumdar, were arrested while they were on their way to the state Secretariat, Nabanna, the legal cell of the BJP's state unit filed a petition before the division bench.

Besides alleging police atrocities, the petitioners also alleged that the police had also violated a Supreme Court order that the state administration cannot hinder the movement of Adhikari as the Leader of Opposition.

The state government counsel argued that the police was forced to take action since the situation on Tuesday afternoon was going out of control, with a police vehicle being torched, a police kiosk vandalised and over 50 police personnel injured.

After hearing both sides, the bench ordered the state Chief Secretary to submit a report. Observing that no one can be arrested with any reason, it also said that it is necessary for the state administration to ensure that the public property is protected.

Soon after the division bench order, all the arrested leaders of BJP were released on personal bonds. After the release, Adhikari claimed that the police were forced to release them on following the high court's intervention.

He alleged that the condition of West Bengal is currently like that of North Korea, as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her administration is determined to crush any democratic movement.

Meanwhile, Banerjee, who is currently on a district tour, said at Kharagpur in West Midnapore district, that the balloon of BJP in West Bengal has been punctured following their failed attempts to disrupt the peace in the state on Tuesday.

--IANS src/vd

A
New Delhi, Sep 13 : Amid the ongoing tussle between Delhi Lt Governor V.K. Saxena and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over several issues, including irregularities in procuring low-floor buses, the AAP on Sunday hit back at Saxena and clarified that the buses were never purchased, and the tenders were cancelled.

However, as per the available documents with IANS, a report by the then Deputy Commissioner was made highlighting the irregularities in the procurement process which recommended that DTC should scrap the tender and should call fresh bids.

Highlighting the irregularities, the report underlined, "For the abovementioned reasons, it is recommended that the DTC should scrap the tender and should call fresh bids without any delay".

"The Addl. Chief Secretary (Transport) and the Pr. Secretary (Finance) made certain queries about the manner in which the tender has been dealt by the DTC and it was specifically pointed out by the Addl. Chief Secretary (Transport) that this was one tender but the DTC is processing the same as if there are two separate tenders for the BS-IV and BS-VI buses (400 and 600) respectively and therefore the DTC needs to re-examine the tender strictly in accordance with the RFQP only and as per CVC guidelines of the same. It was also informed that complete documents of the tender have also not been supplied to the Board Members for proper examination of the agenda. In this context, the DTC later forwarded the relevant documents i.e. copy of RFQP, minutes of meeting of Procurement Committee, photocopies of the bids of Tata Motors & JBM and recommendations of consultant (DIMTS) vide its reference dated 26.11.2019, received in Transport Department vide diary No. 87639 on 26.11.2019", the report available with IANS says.

Even the file noting was also endorsed by the then Additional Chief Secretary, (Transport) but the Minister did not himself sign the file noting. Instead, the Secretary to the Minister signed the report with a noting that "the Chairman DTC/Hon'ble Minister (Transport) has seen it".

"Interestingly, the deviations from the specifications of the RFP in violation of the rules, as recommended by the Tender Committee headed by Kailash Gehlot, were already approved by the MD, DTC and the Transport Minister himself on 06.11.2019, a day before it was placed before the DTC Board for approval, i.e. on 07.11.2019", a LG office source told IANS.

"The AAP government backtracked and scrapped the tender process only after a comprehensive report by the Deputy Commissioner (DTC) exposed all the wrongdoings being carried out under the direct supervision of Transport Minister Kailash Gehlot", the official said.

"M/s TATA Motors Ltd. made a bid for 600 buses only and, therefore, its bid should have been summarily rejected. It is clear that the consultant (DIMTS) and the Tender Committee of DTC did not correctly evaluate the financial bids", the report said.

The report stated that, "This RFP/Tender process has been vitiated and the DTC must inquire into the matter and fix responsibility for the lapses".

For these reasons, it is recommended that the DTC should scrap the tender and should call fresh bids without any delay, the report said.
Ranchi, Sep 13 : The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday sought a response from the state government while hearing a petition filed by a 19-year-old rape victim, seeking abortion. The girl is 28 weeks pregnant and visually challenged.

The court had on September 9 asked the management of Ranchi's Medical College RIMS to constitute a medical board for this and submit a report. On Tuesday, the medical board of RIMS said in the report submitted to the court that safe abortion is not possible.

In such a situation, the court has asked the state government to consult RIMS and the advocates of the victim and tell them what can be done in this matter. The next hearing will be held on Wednesday.

On behalf of the state government, the court was told that arrangements would be made for the girl to stay at the women's shelter in Ramgarh.

The victim, who comes from the tribal community, is a resident of Nagdi in Ranchi. Her father is a rickshaw driver. Her mother has passed away. When her father had gone to work, a person raped her after finding her alone in the house. Because of this she is 28 months pregnant. The girl was raped in 2018 as well and the case related to this is going on in the lower court.

The second incident of rape happened this year. Recently, her medical examination was done at the Community Health Centre after which she was informed that she was 28 weeks pregnant.

She comes from a below the poverty line family. There is neither electricity nor gas in her house. She doesn't even have money for her treatment. In such a situation, she has filed a petition in the court demanding safe abortion and proper living arrangements.
Los Angeles, Sep 13 : Immediately after news of French New Wave icon Jean-Luc Godard's death broke on Tuesday (September 13), tributes started pouring in from world leaders, fellow filmmakers, artistes and cinephiles around the world, reports 'Variety'.

The first off the block was French President Emmanuel Macron, who described Godard as "the most iconoclastic of New Wave filmmakers, who had invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art. We are losing a national treasure, a look of genius." Godard was also celebrated by Edgar Wright, the writer-director of 'Last Night in Soho', who wrote on social media that Godard was "one of the most influential, iconoclastic filmmakers of them all." Wright added that "perhaps no other director inspired as many people to just pick up a camera and start shooting".

Actor, comedian, director and writer Stephen Fry said he had watched Godard's debut film 'Breathless' for the "umpteenth time again" two weeks ago and found it as compelling as ever.

"It still leaps off the screen like few movies," Fry tweeted. "That scene between them in the hotel: how many other directors could have managed that in so small a space and made it so captivating?" Oscar-winning Mexican director and author Guillermo Del Toro also paid homage to Godard on social media and kept retweeting tributes from others, one of them being from the French cinephile Philippe Rouyer, who wrote: "A last salute to #JeanLucGodard immense filmmaker who has not stopped rethinking his art since 'Breathless' (1960). 'Le Contempt' and 'Pierrot le fou' are masterpieces. But until his last strokes of brilliance, all his films question the making and the impact of images." The British Film Institute (BFI) called Godard a "giant of cinema who ripped up the rule book." A statement issued by it read: "From 'Breathless' onwards, he tested the limits of the medium." BFI Chief Executive Ben Roberts said in a statement issued to 'Variety': "Jean-Luc Godard's death is a huge loss to cinema. The godfather of the French New Wave and one of the most influential and innovative filmmakers of the last century, his work has resonated with generations of film lovers around the world." The Cannes Film Festival released a retrospective of his career highlights on Twitter. "Since his first appearance at the Festival in 'Cleo de 5 a 7' in 1962, 21 films by Jean-Luc Godard have been screened at Cannes," the festival shared.

Cameron Bailey, chief of the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival, tweeted: "Jean-Luc Godard might have despised posthumous praise but here we are. His staggering body of work over seven decades showed him to be a rare, true genius in cinema. It was playful and punishing. It challenged every viewer, and rewarded the persistent." He added: "Most of all, Godard was merciless in his pursuit of what (and how) images mean. For his every confrontation that expanded our art form, we will be forever in his debt." The news of Godard's passing was first reported in the French newspaper 'Liberation' on Tuesday morning and later confirmed by the auteur's family in a statement which read: "There will not be any official ceremony. Jean-Luc Godard died peacefully in his home surrounded by his close ones. He will be incinerated."
New Delhi, Sep 13 : Aiming to promote benefits of fortified rice while clarifying concerns about impact of its consumption among some sections of people vulnerable to certain diseases, the Centre has asked states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana Rajasthan, and Kerala to hold workshops in this regard.

The Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) has asked the states to organise workshops and seminars in the sensitive areas of tribal belts and districts that have populations that are vulnerable to thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia.

Officials said that this initiative has been carried out in Gujarat where workshops where organised in Vapi on September 9 and many ministers and higher officers, technical experts, and others attended the programme.

Neha Arora, State Programme Officer, Nutritional International, Gujarat made a presentation on fortified staples provided through social safety net programmes, and Dr. Yazdi Italia, former Honorary Director, Sickle Cell Anemia Control Programme, a Go-NGO Partnership Programme of the state goverment, on understanding Hemoglobinopathis-Sickle Cell Anemia, and Thalassemia.

At the end of the workshop, there was general consensus regarding the positive impact of rice fortification in government schemes and its significant contribution to the country's nutritional security strategy, said a government official.
Chandigarh, Sep 13 : Close on the heels of busting an ISI-backed terror module jointly handled by Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh alias Landa, and Pakistan-based gangster Harvinder Singh Rinda, Punjab Police's State Special Operation Cell has arrested another operative of the gang from Kharar.

The arrested person has been identified as Anmoldeep Soni, a resident of Harike Pattan in Tarn Taran. The police have also recovered 103 gm heroin from his possession.

Last week the police had arrested three accomplices of Landa and Rinda, including Nachhatar Singh, alias Moti, who is the prime accused in the case of planting an improvised explosive device (IED) in Kurukshetra in Haryana.
Panaji, Sep 13 : Goa Airport has received a request for slots for the arrival of international charter flights from eight destinations including Russia, which will be approved by the end of September, airport officials said.

Speaking to IANS, Goa Airport Director S.V.T. Dhanamjaya Rao said that eight countries have requested slots. "Some of them have been granted approval, while some are in process," he said.

"They are giving proposals. Things are in process. Certain things are approved, certain things are in process," Rao said.

He said that Kuala Lumpur, Tel Aviv, Gatwick, Bahrain, Russia, Almaty, Manchester and Muscat have sought approvals.

"Some are approved, those coming now are being entertained and our officials are approving. All the things will be finalised by September because it (arrival) starts only in the month of October," Rao said.

Goa Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte had recently said that the coastal state's tourism is predominantly dependent on the United Kingdom and Russia, and some parts of Europe. "Government is taking all steps to get a good footfall with good spending," he had said.

"Today predominately we are dependent on two markets, UK and Russia, and some parts of Europe. Are we on the right track? Are we looking at the same tourist coming in? For this, we need to see how we go ahead," Khaunte had said.

Khaunte had said that in 2019, about 71,27,000 were domestic tourists who arrived in Goa, while 9,31,000 were foreign tourists. But this number dropped in 2020 and 2021 as Covid pandemic had struck the coastal state. "The number came down to mere 3 lakh domestic tourists and 32,000 foreign tourists," Khaunte had said.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : Endowed with abundant natural produce, various parts of India often face the challenge of too much stubble. Making proper use of stubble, the country started making biofuels out of it.

Biofuels promote greenery and protect nature. These are not only nature friendly but also promotes the contribution of farmers in protecting the environment. This also boosts the use of alternative fuels.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a second generation (2G) ethanol plant at Haryana's Panipat.

On one side, India produces abundant paddy and wheat but its stubble is not fully utilised. The bio-fuel plant at Panipat will not only dispose off the stubble without burning it but will have multiple benefits.

Dedicating the 2G ethanol plant at Panipat to the country, the Prime Minister said: "The bio-fuel plant of Panipat will also be able to dispose off the stubble without burning it. Stubble which was a burden for the farmers, and was a cause of concern, would become a means of additional income for them. Pollution will be reduced, and the contribution of farmers to protecting the environment will increase further." The priorities of the Central government include increasing the income of farmers as well as promoting an alternative to petrol, diesel, and gas. This plant reflects the same commitment.

This plant will reduce pollution in Delhi, Haryana, and the National Capital Region.

India needs abundant energy for growth and prosperity. Strong efforts were initiated in the last few years to become self reliant in the field of energy. The dedication of the plant is part of a long series of steps taken by the government over the years to boost the production and usage of biofuels in the country. This is in line with the Prime Minister's constant endeavour to transform the energy sector into being more affordable, accessible, efficient, and sustainable.

The 2G ethanol plant has been built at an estimated cost of over Rs 900 crore by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

Based on state-of-the-art indigenous technology, the project will turn a new chapter in India's waste-to-wealth endeavours by utilising about 2 lakh tonnes of rice straw annually to generate around 3 crore litres of ethanol annually.

Creating an end-use for the agri-crop residue would empower farmers and provide an additional income generation opportunity.

Due to the mixing of ethanol in petrol, in the last seven-eight years, about Rs 50,000 crore of the country have been saved from going abroad. And about the same amount has gone to the farmers of our country because of ethanol blending.

Till eight years ago only 40 crore litres of ethanol was produced in the country; now this production is about 400 crore litres.

The project will provide direct employment to people involved in the plant operation and indirect employment will be generated in the supply chain for rice straw cutting, handling, storage among others.

By reducing the burning of rice straw, the project will reduce Greenhouse Gases equivalent to about 3 lakh tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent emissions per annum, which can be understood as equivalent to replacing nearly 63,000 cars annually on the country's roads.

Gas is reaching through pipes to more than a crore households. The country is also working on the goal that in the next few years, more than 75 per cent of the households in the country will get piped gas.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : Senior advocate Kapil Sibal on Tuesday submitted before the Supreme Court that the confidence in the institution is slowly being eroded and the ground reality disturbs him.

Appearing before a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and B.V. Nagarathna, he said: "We have great regard for the chair that you sit on, this is a marriage that cannot be broken between the bar and the bench." He also added that the ground reality disturbs a man like him. At this, the bench remarked that the bar and bench are two wheels of the chariot.

Sibal made these remarks while representing Abdulla Azam Khan, the son of SP leader Azam Khan. He was arguing his appeal against the setting aside of his election from Suar constituency in 2017 on the ground that he was underage. Abdullah Khan was allegedly accused of forging his age on his educational certificates.

Sibal said: "Whether they win or lose the case does not matter but confidence in institutions is slowly being eroded." The bench replied that the losing side must also go back satisfied.

Azam Khan's son had moved the apex court against the Allahabad High Court, which set aside his election from Suar Assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

The high court had observed that he was less than 25 years of age, therefore not qualified to fill the seat in the legislature of the state.
Guwahati, Sep 13 : Tripartite agreements are expected to be signed with five tribal militant outfits of Assam on September 15 in New Delhi in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, officials said on Tuesday.

A senior Assam Home Department officials said that the tripartite agreement would be signed with five tribal militant groups, which are now under a ceasefire deal with the government.

The five rebel outfits are the All Adivasi National Liberation Army, the Adivasi Cobra Militants of Assam, the Birsa Commando Force, the Santhal Tiger Force and the Adivasi People's Army.

Over a hundred cadres of these groups are now temporarily living in designated camps.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted : "Held a meeting with rebel Adivasi groups, currently under ceasefire, regarding final settlement to be signed on 15 September 2022 in New Delhi in presence of Hon'ble Union HM Shri Amit Shah ji. I'm sure signing of the agreement will usher in a new era of peace & harmony in Assam." A total of 1,615 cadres of four NDFB factions had laid down their arms on January 30 last year after the signing of the Bodo peace accord with the central government on January 27, 2020 in New Delhi in the presence of Amit Shah.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : Senior Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh and Jairam Ramesh will visit the states through which the party's ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' will not pass to mobilise the state units to participate in the yatra.

Party General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "Me and Digvijaya Singh will visit Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha from September 16 onwards. Our effort would be to mobilise the state units to join the Bharat Jodo Yatra." The Congress wants all the state units to participate in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, starting the exercise from the block level.

Ramesh had earlier said that the yatra will strengthen the party and spread its ideology, adding that "the elephant has woken up which has surprised BJP".
New Delhi, Sep 13 : In view of the year-long celebrations of 'Hyderabad State Liberation' planned by the Centre from September 17 this year to September 17 next year, UGC Chairman M. Jagdish Kumar asked various universities in Telangana, Karnataka and Marathwada to take part in the programme.

The UGC Chairman said, "I request the vice-chancellors of universities and principals of colleges in the state of Telangana, and districts of Marathwada and Karnataka to hoist the national flag at your respective institution. You may also take out 'Prabhat Pheris' on the morning of September 17." UGC Secretary Rajhish Jain on Tuesday sent an official letter to the concerned institutions, stating that suitable activities on the theme of Hyderabad State Liberation may be undertaken during the year between September 17, 2022 and September 17, 2023.

The indicative list of activities comprises talks by eminent people on the liberation of Hyderabad state, street plays, exhibitions, social media awareness campaigns, quiz contests, essay competitions, film screening, painting competitions etc.

The UGC secretary wrote in his letter that the concerned universities and colleges are requested to encourage their faculty members, students and stakeholders to actively participate in these activities and also share the details regarding participation on their website and through emails.

He also informed that the inaugural programme will be organised at Parade Grounds in Hyderabad on September 17.

September 17 is remembered as 'Hyderabad Liberation Day'. On September 17, 1948, the then Hyderabad state was merged with the Indian Union following India's military action 'Operation Polo', also known as 'police action'.
Washington, Sep 13 : Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko on Tuesday claimed that the Parag Agrawal-led platform hired a Chinese agent working for the country's Ministry of State Security (MSS), and reiterated that the Indian government also "forced" Twitter to hire government agents.

During a hearing with the US Senate Judiciary Committee, Twitter's former security chief said that Twitter's poor security practices harmed US national security, reports Engadget.

During the questioning, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said that "the FBI notified Twitter of at least one Chinese agent in the company".

In his testimony, Zatko confirmed Twitter had been warned about the presence of Chinese agents.

Zatko also raised concerns about the presence of foreign agents from India which "forced" Twitter to hire government agents.

Grassley said that Twitter CEO should step down if Zatko's allegations are proven.

"I don't see how Mr. Agrawal can maintain his position at Twitter" if Zatko's claims turn out to be accurate, he said.

According to Grassley, Twitter declined to make Agrawal available amid its concerns that his testimony could jeopardise the company's ongoing legal battle with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, reports CNN.

In a hearing that lasted more than two hours, Zatko told lawmakers that Twitter is extremely vulnerable to being penetrated and exploited by agents of foreign governments.

"Zatko said that Twitter was not afraid of the US Federal Trade Commission as much as it feared actions by foreign regulators, such as France's data protection authority, CNIL," the report mentioned.

Zatko also alleged that Twitter does not fully understand all of the user data it collects, why it is collected, and where it is stored.
Bhopal, Sep 13 : At least two persons died while over 20 others were got injured after a private bus fell into a river in Madhya Pradesh's Khandwa district on Tuesday.

The bus (MP-09/FA6658) carrying around 40 passengers was heading toward Indore from Khandwa when it fell into Satsoi river.

Officials said the injured persons have been rushed to nearby hospitals and the bus has been pulled out of the water. Preliminary inquiry by the local police revealed that the incident occurred due to overtaking at high-speed due to which the driver lost control of the bus.

The deceased have been identified as Kailash Chetram (45) and RadhaVerma (50).

"At least 20 passengers got injured, out which the condition of two is critical. All the injured passengers are being treated in Khandwa," the police said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan extended his condolence to the deceased and prayed for the speedy recovery of those injured in the incident.

"Received the sad news of the accident that took place when a bus full of passengers going from Indore to Khandwa fell into the river. I pray to God to give the departed soul a place at his feet and give strength to the family members to bear this deep loss and speedy recovery of the injured," Chouhan said.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday conducted searches at two locations in Mizoram's Aizawl district in a case pertaining to recovery of 2,400 kg of explosives including 1,000 detonators and 4,500 metres of detonating fuse wire, an official said.

Cash amounting to Rs 73,500 and and 9,35,500 Myanmar kyats was also seized.

"During the searches conducted on Tuesday, incriminating material, including mobile phone, and bank documents have been seized from the premises of suspects," the official said.

Investigations have revealed that the consignment of explosives was meant for the Myanmar-based outfit, Chin National Front (CNF) which has been accumulating arms, ammunition and explosives for armed struggle against the country's government.

The case was initially registered at Tipa Police Station in Mizoram's Saiha district on January 1 this year and re-registered by NIA in March.

Three accused, including one Myanmar national, were arrested in this case and charge sheeted by the NIA on April 19.
New Delhi, Sep 13 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday recovered incriminating documents and digital evidence following raids at 36 locations across the country in connection with irregularities in the exams for Jammu and Kashmir Police Sub-Inspectors (JKPSI).

Raids were conducted at 36 locations in Jammu, Srinagar, Karnal, Mahendergarh and Rewari in Haryana, Gandhidham in Gujarat, Delhi, Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh and Bengaluru.

Searches were conducted at the premises of Khalid Jehangir, former Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB); Ashok Kumar Mann, then controller and an examiner; as well as some officials of the J&K Police and CRPF, including a DSP.

The CBI had registered the case on August 3 on the request of J&K government against 33 accused persons over allegations of irregularities in the written examination for the post of sub-inspector in J&K Police conducted by the JKSSB in March.

The results were declared on June 4. There were allegations regarding malpractices in the examination. The J&K government had constituted an inquiry committee to look into the matter. It was alleged that a conspiracy was hatched between officials of JKSSB, a Bengaluru-based private company, beneficiary candidates and others, leading to gross irregularities in the conduct of the written examin for sub-inspectors' post.

There was abnormally high percentage of selected candidates from Jammu, Rajouri and Samba districts. Violation of rules by JKSSB was found in assigning the task of setting the question paper to the Bengaluru-based private company.

Searches were earlier conducted on August 5 at 30 locations, including in Jammu, Srinagar and Bengaluru at the premises of the accused persons.

Investigation has revealed alleged payment of Rs 20-30 lakh by the willing candidates to the accused for accessing the question paper before the commencement of the examination.
San Francisco, Sep 13 : Twitter shareholders on Tuesday voted to approve Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover bid.

The vote came as Musk's lead team is in a court battle to get out of the deal.

Twitter confirmed that a preliminary count shows it has enough votes to approve the deal, reports The Verge.

Twitter has sued Musk for allegedly breaching the deal agreement.

The vote lets Twitter continue with a lawsuit intended to make Musk close the acquisition.

The legal battle is expected to start in mid-October.

The approval means that Musk and Twitter will proceed to an October trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

"Twitter will push to close the deal regardless, alleging that Musk's complaints are merely a pretext for backing out," the report mentioned.

The vote case as Twitter whistleblower Peter Zatko testified at a US Senate committee.

The Tesla CEO is also trying to buy more time from the court to kick off the Twitter trial, set for October 17, citing the testimony by Zatko.

Musk's legal team has proposed a new timeline that would push the week-long trial to late November.

The former Twitter security head has alleged that Twitter misled regulators about its security practices and actual number of bot accounts.

Musk has said that the testimony of Twitter whistleblower justifies his termination of the $44 billion deal to buy the micro-blogging platform.
Bhopal, Sep 14 : The legislatures of Madhya Pradesh on the first day of the state Assembly session on Tuesday paid tribute to 'Shankaracharya' -- Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, who passed away earlier on Sunday at his Ashram in Narsinghpur district in Madhya Pradesh.

Leaders from the ruling BJP and Congress recalled the oldest Hindu seer narrating his childhood in native place, his friend's contribution as a fredom fighter, days spent in jail during the British era, besides his greatness as a prominent Hindu seer.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the demise of Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati is a loss of the country.

The seer, who breathed last at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday and was ritualistically placed into 'Samadhi' in Narsinghpur on Monday evening in the presence of hundreds of his disciples.

Narsinghpur Congress MLA and former Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker, N.P. Prajapati told the House that during his young age -- "Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati had fought against British rule, for which he had spent several months of his life in jail, including nine months in Narsinghpur district jail." "For the service of the poor, downtrodden, tribes, he (Shankaracharya) set up many projects, including Eye Hospital, Sanskrit Pathshala Hospitals. Madhya Pradesh is as deserted today. He was the sun of Sanatan Dharma. I bow at his feet on behalf of the 8.5 crore people of Madhya Pradesh," Chief Minister Chouhan said in the Assembly.

Swami Avimukteshwaranand has been made the Head of Jyotishpeeth Badrinath and Swami Sadanand Saraswati has been made the Head of Sharda Peeth Dwarka.

The names of both were announced in front of the body of the Shankaracharya. Subodhanand Maharaj, the Personal Secretary of the Shankaracharya, announced the names of the successors.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : Pakistan has formally written a letter to the Afghan authorities regarding the presence of Maulana Masood Azhar, the founding head of the banned terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), in Afghanistan.

The letter clarified that Masood Azhar is likely to be in Nangarhar and Kunhar areas of Afghan province.

It demanded that the defunct JeM chief be found and reported to the Pakistani authorities and arrested.

The letter for the arrest of Masood Azhar has been written by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, no further details have been brought forward by the latter on this matter.

On May 1, 2019, the UN added the name of Masood Azhar to the list of global designated terrorists.

After the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2008, the US added JeM to the list of Foreign Terrorist Organisation.

India has been trying to ask the UN Security Council to declare JeM and Masood Azhar as global terrorist organisations, but China has been vetoing this effort.
Fulleborn Airport, Fulleborn, Papua New Guinea [ FUB / ]

If you are planning to travel to Fulleborn or any other city in Papua New Guinea, this airport locator will be a very useful tool. This page gives complete information about the Fulleborn Airport along with the airport location map, Time Zone, lattitude and longitude, Current time and date, hotels near the airport etc... Fulleborn Airport Map showing the location of this airport in Papua New Guinea. Fulleborn Airport IATA Code, ICAO Code, exchange rate etc... is also provided.

Fulleborn Airport Info:

Fulleborn Airport IATA Code: FUB Fulleborn Airport ICAO Code: Latitude : -6.14241 Longitude : 150.641 City : Fulleborn Country : Papua New Guinea World Area Code : 804 Airport Type : Small Fulleborn Airport Address / Contact Details :

Fulleborn (FUB), Papua New Guinea Timezone : Pacific/Port_Moresby Fulleborn Airport Timezone : GMT +10:00 hours Current time and date at Fulleborn Airport is 07:41:38 AM (+10) on Sunday, Sep 18, 2022

Looking for information on Fulleborn Airport, Fulleborn, Papua New Guinea? Know about Fulleborn Airport in detail. Find out the location of Fulleborn Airport on Papua New Guinea map and also find out airports near to Fulleborn. This airport locator is a very useful tool for travelers to know where is Fulleborn Airport located and also provide information like hotels near Fulleborn Airport, airlines operating to Fulleborn Airport etc... IATA Code and ICAO Code of all airports in Papua New Guinea. Scroll down to know more about Fulleborn Airport or Fulleborn Airport, Papua New Guinea.

Fulleborn Airport Map - Location of Fulleborn Airport Load Map Papua New Guinea - General Information Country Formal Name Independent State of Papua New Guinea Country Code PG Capital Port Moresby Currency Kina (PGK)

 1 PGK = 0.284 USD

 1 USD = 3.52 PGK

 1 PGK = 0.284 EUR

 1 EUR = 3.526 PGK

 More PGK convertion rates Tel Code +675 Top Level Domain .pg

This page provides all the information you need to know about Fulleborn Airport, Papua New Guinea. This page is created with the aim of helping travelers and tourists visiting Papua New Guinea or traveling to Fulleborn Airport. Details about Fulleborn Airport given here include Fulleborn Airport Code - IATA Code (3 letter airport codes) and ICAO Code (4 letter airport codes)

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FUB - Fulleborn Airport IATA Code
Fifteen attorneys from global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP are listed in the latest edition of Lawdragons 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers and the firm is among the top 10 firms with the most lawyers listed and top five with the most women listed. The publication honors top advisors to universities, nonprofits, businesses, and other organizations regarding the complexities of the modern workforce.

This year, Lawdragon honors over 200 employment litigators who defend discrimination, ERISA, wage and hour, and other claims. The guide also includes 75 immigration attorneys and a similar number of employee benefits and executive compensation attorneys.

The Greenberg Traurig attorneys recognized include Jonathan L. Sulds, shareholder in the firms New York office, as a member of the Lawdragon Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyer Hall of Fame for Labor & Employment, especially Traditional Labor. Kristine J. Feher and Natasha L. Wilson appeared on the list for the first time to join the following shareholders:



Johnine P. Barnes, Washington, D.C., Labor & Employment - Litigation

Naomi G. Beer, Denver, Labor & Employment

Charles S. Birenbaum, San Francisco, Labor & Employment  Labor-Management Relations

James N. Boudreau, Philadelphia, Labor & Employment

Kristine J. Feher, New Jersey, Labor & Employment  Litigation

Kate Kalmykov, New Jersey, Immigration  Corporate

Mark D. Kemple, Los Angeles, Labor & Employment  Litigation

Wendy Johnson Lario, New Jersey, Labor & Employment  Litigation

Terence P. McCourt, Boston, Labor & Employment  Labor-Management Relations

Richard C. McCrea Jr, Tampa, Labor & Employment  Litigation

Laura Foote Reiff, Northern Virginia, Immigration  Corporate

Nataliya Rymer, Philadelphia, Immigration  Corporate

Martha J. Schoonover, Northern Virginia, Immigration  Corporate

Jonathan L. Sulds, New York, Labor & Employment  Traditional Labor

Natasha L. Wilson, Atlanta, Labor & Employment  Litigation

About Greenberg Traurigs Labor & Employment Practice: Greenberg Traurigs Global Labor & Employment Practice serves clients from offices throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Members of the practice have had numerous trial wins and are frequently called upon to handle complex, bet-the-company, and large high-stake cases, including nationwide class and collective actions. On the labor side, a leading group of lawyers regularly represents management with labor-relations matters. Labor & Employment team members assist clients with complex employment issues, and design practical, proactive strategies that can be readily implemented by todays human resources professionals. In addition, the practice is recognized by The Legal 500 United States in the areas of Labor and Employment Litigation, Labor-Management Relations, ERISA Litigation, Workplace & Employment Counseling, and Trade Secrets Litigation. Visit Greenberg Traurigs Labor & Employment Blog for insights and analysis of the latest labor and employment developments, including legislation, regulations, cases, policies, and trends.

About Greenberg Traurigs Immigration & Compliance Group: Greenberg Traurigs Immigration & Compliance Group is a multidisciplinary business immigration practice representing businesses, organizations, and individuals from around the world on a wide range of immigration-related matters. The group has achieved international recognition for legal advocacy, results-oriented service, and responsiveness to its clients. The team is composed of active thought leaders who write regularly for Greenberg Traurigs Immigration blogs: Inside Business Immigration and EB-5 Insights.

About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP has more than 2500 attorneys in 43 locations in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm reported gross revenue of over $2 Billion for FY 2021 and is consistently among the top firms on the Am Law 100, Am Law Global 100, and NLJ 250. On the debut 2022 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard, it is a Top 15 firm. Greenberg Traurig is Mansfield Rule 4.0 Certified Plus by The Diversity Lab and the Center for Resource Solutions Green-e Energy program certifies that the firms U.S. offices are 100% powered by renewable energy. The firm is often recognized for its focus on philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com.
Binary Defense Executive Leadership Team As threats evolve, so must our company and I am extremely proud to assemble a new Executive Leadership Team whose strong industry knowledge and experience will help Binary Defense build on the companys success and reach new heights.

Binary Defense, a leading Managed Detection and Response (MDR) software developer and managed security services provider, recently announced that well-known cybersecurity expert, Bob Meindl, joined the company as the new Chief Executive Officer. Meindl has successfully guided the strategic growth of midsize and enterprise cybersecurity companies and brings a wealth of industry experience, a proven playbook of business practices, and in-depth technical knowledge to Binary Defense. At every stage of his career, Meindl has established himself as a passionate cybersecurity visionary adept at building businesses and driving explosive growth. Now, Meindl has brought on an Executive Leadership Team with over 100 years of combined cybersecurity experience to continue driving Binary Defense forward.

At Binary Defense, our mission is to make the world a safer place and protect and defend organizations from threats of all kinds, said Meindl. As threats evolve, so must our company and I am extremely proud to assemble a new Executive Leadership Team whose strong industry knowledge and experience will help Binary Defense build on the companys success and reach new heights.

The newly formed Executive Leadership Team will provide strategic and tactical direction to the company, its employees, and valued clients. These senior leaders have extensive cybersecurity backgrounds and will ensure Binary Defense remains a trusted security partner that keeps clients free of harm from cyberattacks. The new Executive Leadership Team members come with years of finely tuned operating rhythms with most working together in prior roles providing cybersecurity services to global and large enterprise clients.

Joining Binary Defense are the following executive leaders:

Dan Adcock - Chief Operating Officer. Dan offers a client focused mindset that pairs with his extensive corporate strategy and business development background. In his role, he leads all client service delivery functions, ensuring the company evolves and maintains industry-leading cybersecurity capabilities to protect and defend clients.

Tracy Caudill - Chief Commercial Officer. Tracy brings expert experience leading complex cybersecurity engagements and building collaborative teams that create customer value and enable long-lasting partnerships across the customer journey. She is responsible for leading Binary Defenses marketing, sales, and customer success strategy to drive business growth and customer centricity.

Jason Vest - Chief Product Officer. Jason has broad technical security knowledge and strong leadership and service delivery experience gained through his military and business career. He leads the product team, sets the strategic product vision, and guides the direction of the product portfolio.

Joe McMann - Head of Cyber Services. Joe has built security programs for some of the largest companies across the globe, supporting the mission of helping organizations protect their enterprise and defend their business. Joe will lead the new Cyber Services division to expand Binary Defenses capabilities that will greatly benefit its clients.

In addition to these four new executive leaders, Dave Kennedy and Mike Hofherr will continue serving Binary Defense as part of the Executive Leadership Team. Dave Kennedy, founder of Binary Defense, will serve as Chief Hacking Officer, providing technical expertise, strategic market guidance, and visionary product development impact. Mike Hofherr, in his role as Chief Financial Officer, oversees the finance and accounting teams and helps Binary Defense invest in the right areas to continue growing and serving clients.

Meindls excitement was further emphasized by sharing, With this team in place, we will continue building upon the world-class cybersecurity solutions we offer today. We are looking forward to taking our existing solutions to the next level and adding additional services that our clients are seeking from their strategic security partners. Great experiences for our customers are ahead.

To learn more about the new Binary Defense Executive Leadership Team, please visit the following link: https://www.binarydefense.com/our-team/

About Binary Defense

Binary Defense is a managed security services provider and software developer with leading cybersecurity solutions that include SOC-as-a-Service, Managed Detection & Response, Security Information & Event Management, Threat Hunting and Counterintelligence. The company demonstrates conclusive proof of superior capabilities in detecting intruder activity and this rapid detection paired with expert analysis and response decreases cyber risk for businesses.

Binary Defense believes its unique approach resolves infosecs biggest challenges such as limited in-house security expertise, lack of technology resources and the significant budgetary and time investment required to ensure protection from todays threats. With its human-driven, technology-assisted approach, Binary Defense provides its clients with immediate protection and visibility, combating and stopping the next generation of cyberattacks that their business faces. The company acts as a security force multiplier and becomes a trusted extension of the clients team. This collaboration and partnership stand out as key elements behind its service delivery to ensure that security practitioners have what they need to quickly detect, investigate, and respond to security incidents.

Follow Binary Defense: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

The company is headquartered in Stow, Ohio at 600 Alpha Parkway. For more information, please contact, David White, VP of Marketing, at David.White@binarydefense.com.
The survey results underscore the importance of employers stepping up to support an ever-growing portion of their populations: employees doubling as unpaid caregivers. The time to act is now.

Nearly 70% of unpaid family caregivers fear theyll have to leave their jobs without support from hired in-home help, while nearly half said they would benefit from help with coordinating care for a loved one, according to a survey released this week.

Homethrive, Home Instead, and Certification in Long-Term Care (CLTC) co-sponsored the Following The Journey of Family Caregivers study. It examined the struggles of working caregivers in the United States.

Renowned researcher Eileen J. Tell, CEO of ET Consulting, LLC presented the study this week at the CLTC Leadership Summit in Minneapolis.

Among the surveys other key findings:



62% of working unpaid family caregivers are women.

33% said it was very important to hire paid home care because theyre burned out.

26% said they needed help because they had trouble juggling working while caregiving.

Only 6% said they found paid help via an employer-provided caregiving benefit.

I think it's crucial that employers understand how important it is for family caregivers to feel like they don't have to choose between their jobs and the roles of family caregiver, said Tell. I'd like to see more services and support offered through employers so that working caregivers can get the help they need for the role they have.

The study comes at a time when caregiving workers are stretched thin. A recent report by the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers found one in three employees will leave a career because theyre unable to handle the snowball effect that comes with family caregiving responsibilities, and that employers must do more to support their caregiving employees.

The survey results underscore the importance of employers stepping up to support an ever-growing portion of their populations: employees doubling as unpaid caregivers, said Homethrive Co-founder and Co-CEO, Dave Jacobs. Yet, despite these statistics, nearly 80% of employers still arent offering a caregiving benefit. The time to act is now.

Recently, 84% of employee caregivers said theyd be interested in their employer offering a benefit that provided them with resources, guidance, or caregiving support.

About the Following The Journey of Family Caregivers Study: Homethrive, in partnership with Home Instead and CLTC, commissioned the study to gain insights into the decision-making process associated with hiring professional home carewhy family caregivers chose that path, why they did not, and what drives those decisions.

The on-line survey questioned 200 family caregivers, 18 and older, who relied on paid in-home care and 200 who did not.

About Homethrive

Homethrive is the next generation caregiving benefit innovator thats revolutionizing support for unpaid family caregivers and their loved ones. Through its high-impact family caregiving platform, Dari, Homethrive breaks the caregiving support mold by skillfully blending self-service digital caregiving and health support with expert human interaction to effectively and efficiently right-size care to large populations. Members have 24/7 access to one-of-a-kind resources tackling subjects such as Medicare, Alzheimers, long-term care, family care and dynamics, self-care, special needs support, and more. Members needing more one-on-one support are paired with a credentialed caregiving and aging expert, called a Care Guide, who stands side-by-side with them (virtually) to provide concierge-level guidance, advice, and care coordination tailored to their needs.

Homethrive is proven to: support talent strategies with 80% reduction in voluntary turnover and 100% of employees feeling more supported by their employer; increase productivity and presenteeism by saving members an average of 16.4 work hours per month; improve employee well-being with 96% of employees reporting significant reduction in stress; reduce the need for high-cost senior living facility care from 75% to 10%; and lower claims cost by 24% versus control group.
A theatrical memoir that invites us to take a step back into history and explore the Jewish community that once populated Denvers Westside "This is not the definitive story; this is but one of the many that need to be told."

Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center collaborates with entrepreneur and philanthropist Max Appel to share the riveting story of Denvers Westside Jewish Community through a limited engagement play, Promise on the Hill: My West Colfax Memories, showing September 22, 23 & 24 at 721 Santa Fe Drive.

Su Teatros Executive Artistic Director, Anthony J. Garcia, and renowned entrepreneur, Max Appel, partnered up to write Promise on the Hill. The theatrical memoir invites the audience to take a step back in time and experience the Jewish community that once populated Denvers West Colfax neighborhood from 1930 through the 70s.

West Colfax gifts a distinctive view that looks east out over the city, a vision that at the time represented the promise of a new world with unprecedented religious and economic freedom, ergo The Promise on the Hill: My West Colfax Memories.

The compelling and ambitious new play recounts the experiences of a generation whose parents had immigrated from Eastern Europe to escape the horror of the pogroms. A community bound together by cultural and spiritual tradition transformed the city of Denver as the Westside which produced a significant number of successful educators, entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, civic leaders, and philanthropists.

Inspired by the production of poet Bobby LeFebres Northside, Su Teatro patron, Appel approached Garcia about creating a piece that would explore the Jewish Westside along West Colfax Avenue, stretching from the Bottoms under the Colfax Viaduct, the top of the hill west to Sheridan Boulevard and beyond, as cribbed bed by Garcia. The project evolved slowly during the pandemic. I was very reluctant as I was not from the Jewish community and feel that stories such as these have the most authenticity and power coming from those within them. However, as we began to talk about it, I was blown away by the influence and contributions of the Jewish West Colfax community and I began to see the parallel with my parents generation.

Appel is a philanthropist, entrepreneur, and mind behind worldwide brand OxiClean. Born into the Westside in 1932, he followed the path of many, straddling the cultural tightrope between his immigrant parents with the protection of the shtetl (a town name that came to mean community) and the draw of a dominant mainstream culture offering opportunity and unspoken restrictions. Appels contemporaries were the Perlmutters, the Gart brothers and so many others. Inspired by greatness, he is determined to make his mark by honoring his history, striving for social change, and ensuring legacies live on not only through a theatrical play, but also by instigating a revival of one of Denvers oldest Jewish establishments, Zaidys Deli & Bakery.

Promise on the Hill chronicles a rich part of Colorado history, beginning as an immigrant story, but truly is a story about how the American dream came to be. It showcases a vibrant community that contributed much to Denver and its surrounding areas. A generation whose memory is often lost will no longer be forgotten. Promise on the Hill is a nonfiction tale sharing the lives of parents who traveled to escape oppression and poverty, and their kin, who navigated a new world of possibilities and turned their learned resilience into generational success.

The play includes traditional music from Jewish ceremonies and original music written by Garcia and Appel. This is not the definitive story; this is but one of the many that need to be told, states the duo.

WHAT

The Promise on the Hill: My West Colfax Memories

WHO

By Anthony J. Garcia and Max Appel

WHEN

September 22, 23 & 24 at 7:30 PM

WHERE

Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center

721 Santa Fe Drive

Denver, CO 80204

TICKETS

Students & Seniors (65+) - $17

Adults - $20

Available for purchase at http://www.suteatro.org or via phone at 303-296-0219

SU TEATRO SAFETY REGULATIONS

Su Teatro means Your Theater, Your Art, Your Community. We believe we must do whatever we can to keep the community safe. As such, all audience members ages 12+ must show proof of full vaccination against Covid-19 2 and a valid picture ID. Audience members under age 12 who are not vaccinated against Covid-19 must provide proof of a negative Covid-19 Test taken within 48 hours of attending.
U.S. News & World Report names The Citadel #1 Public College in the South for 12th straight year

For the 12th consecutive year, The Citadel is the top-ranked public college in the South.

The new, 2023 rankings  which cover institutions offering up to a masters degree  were released by U.S. News & World Report on Monday, Sept. 12.

It is a great honor to have Our Mighty Citadel recognized 12 years in a row as the #1 Public College in the South, said The Citadel President Gen. Glenn Walters, USMC (Ret.), Class of 1979. This ranking is a powerful acknowledgement of the dedicated work from all members of The Citadel Family  cadets, students, alumni, faculty, staff, parents and supporters. I could not be more proud to be a part of such a passionate institution.

Other notable rankings include:



#1 Best Colleges for Veterans  Regional Universities (South)

#4 Undergraduate Teaching  Regional Universities (South)

#16 Best Value  Regional Universities (South)

#21 Best Undergraduate Engineering, nationwide (non-doctoral)

#164 Best Undergraduate Business, nationwide

#194 Best Undergraduate Computer Science, nationwide

We are thrilled for U.S. News & World Report to highlight, year after year, the great outcomes our cadets and students experience at The Citadel, said Provost Sally Selden, Ph.D., SPHR. These rankings, both college-wide and degree-specific, are testament to the strength of our educational system at The Citadel which offers cadets and students distinctive opportunities in their academic pursuits, character development and leadership growth.

This is also the fifth consecutive year The Citadel has been ranked as #1 Best College for Veterans in the South. The Military College of South Carolina offers veterans the opportunity to earn their degrees through the day program, evening program and The Citadel Graduate College.

In addition, The Citadel ranked #21 nationally in Undergraduate Engineering  the highest of any college in South Carolina offering up to a Masters degree. The School of Engineering offers degrees in Civil Engineering, Construction Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Project Management. For more information on the Tommy and Victoria Baker School of Business, click here. To learn more about the Computer Science programs offered at The Citadel, click here.

U.S. News & World Report was one of the first American publishers to produce a college rankings list based on a complex formula of publicly reported data that is submitted to the U.S. Department of Education annually by all institutions of higher education.

To learn more about the methodology used for these rankings, click here.

About The Citadel

The Citadel, with its iconic campus located in Charleston, South Carolina, offers a classic military college education for young men and women focused on leadership excellence and academic distinction. The approximately 2,300 members of the South Carolina Corps of Cadets are not required to serve in the military, but about one-third of each class earn commissions to become officers in every branch of U.S. military service. Citadel alumni have served the nation, their states and their communities as principled leaders since 1842. The Citadel Graduate College, founded more than 50 years ago, offers dozens of graduate degree, graduate certificate and evening undergraduate programs in the evening or online. U.S. News & World report has consecutively named The Citadel as Best Public College in the South for 12 years and Best Public College for Veterans in the South for five years. Learn more about The Citadel here.
Peter Crawford joins Tropos Technologies Board of Directors "Peter's extensive business and finance experience, combined with a strong understanding of regulatory oversight will be invaluable to Tropos as we grow our business and pursue our mission to serve the marketplace," said John R. Bautista III, chairman and chief executive officer of Tropos.

Tropos Technologies, Inc. (Tropos), one of the leading electric commercial Low Speed Vehicle (LSV) manufacturers in North America and owner of the Tropos Motors brand today announced the appointment of Peter Crawford to the Tropos Board of Directors, effective September 1, 2022.

Since May of 2017, Peter has served as Charles Schwabs Chief Financial Officer. He leads Schwabs treasury and controller functions, financial planning and analysis, investor relations, corporate development and strategy, vendor management, and corporate real estate. Peter has been with Charles Schwab since 2001, and his previous roles include Executive Vice President of Finance and Senior Vice President and leader of Schwabs asset management client solutions organization.

Before joining Charles Schwab, Peter was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company in the Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Sao Paulo, and Hong Kong offices. Peter earned a bachelors degree from Yale University, where he graduated magna cum laude, and a masters degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

"We are pleased to welcome Peter Crawford to the Tropos Board," said John R. Bautista III, chairman and chief executive officer of Tropos. "Peter's extensive business and finance experience, combined with a strong understanding of regulatory oversight, will be invaluable to Tropos as we grow our business and pursue our mission to serve the marketplace."

Tropos current board members include:

Susan Xu, Chairman of the Brookes Education Groups, and former partner of Valley Inception LLC and China Century Investment. Susan was a co-founder of Webex and a founding investor in Zoom.

Nate Shelton, board member of Driven Performance Brands, and prior CEO of K&N Filters, B&M Performance Group. Nate served as the CEO of SEMA two times;

John Del Foster, an estate, trust, probate and business attorney and President/Principal of the Law Firm of Rusconi, Foster and Thomas APC;

John Bautista, founder and CEO of Tropos, past Director of Technical Operations for EV drivetrain manufacturer KLD Energy Technologies and past Director of Mechanical Engineering for Zero Motorcycles.

About Tropos Technologies, Inc. and Tropos Motors Tropos Technologies, Inc. is a Silicon Valley-based startup that manufacturers and distributes all-electric, street-legal vehicles, specializing in utility e-LSVs  electric low-speed vehicles  and trucks under the Tropos Motors brand. These vehicles are designed for corporate, fleet, firstresponder, agriculture, last-mile delivery, and construction applications. Tropos employs the latest EV technology, experienced engineering, and modern design aesthetics. The Tropos Motors ABLE is a full line of durable, versatile, and available eCUVs (electric Compact Utility Vehicles). The Tropos Motors product line is capable of handling large payloads and towing capacities and can operate in extremely tight quarters with a short wheelbase and turning radius. Tropos Motors eCUVs can be operated indoors, outdoors, and off-road. Available in countless configurations, their trucks are ready to work as hard as you do, no matter the job.

For more information visit TroposMotors.com
rezStream, a top-ranked booking engine and PMS in the hospitality industry, announced that they will sponsor the Community of Minnesota Resorts (CMR) Fall Conference. This years conference will be held at Craguns Resort in Brainerd, MN from Thursday, October 27th through Saturday, October 29th.

Jeff Hebrink, Sales Director of rezStream says:

I am thrilled for rezStream to sponsor this special event. I am excited to get back up north and meet with our existing customers. Its always a delight to show other resorts how much time rezStream can save them so they can spend more time with their guests, which is the number 1 priority. Its a great way to show our support for the resort community.

The conference exists to help family-owned and operated resorts in Minnesota continue as a viable segment of the Minnesota tourism industry. With many industry experts and vendors attending, participants can explore the issues, challenges, and opportunities to enhance the guest experience, grow their business, and be successful resort owner/operator!

The conference, held at Craguns Resort in Brainerd, will feature manufacturers, services, and sourcing providers for the family resort industry.

To learn more visit https://minnesota-resorts.com/fall-conference for any questions.

About Community of Minnesota Resorts

The Community of Minnesota Resorts is an industry association dedicated to the mission of helping family-owned and operated resorts and campgrounds in Minnesota to continue as a viable segment of the Minnesota tourism industry.

About rezStream

rezStream, located in Denver, Colorado, is an industry leader in property management software, online reservation booking engine technology, hotel website design, and Internet marketing for the travel industry and independent hoteliers. Thousands of unique users in the US use property management products and services created by the team at rezStream. As always, rezStream remains committed to providing the very best products and services to the independent lodging industry. For more information, please contact rezStream at 866.360.8210 or visit our website at http://www.rezstream.com.
The enhanced COBRA HyperSpec SWIR 2.0 offers significant benefits to customers, allowing them the flexibility to work over the entire spectral range and providing consistently low, market-leading, signal-to-noise ratio across the entire spectrum.

ProPhotonix Limited a designer and manufacturer of LED illumination systems and laser diode modules with operations in Ireland and the United Kingdom, today announces the release of its COBRA HyperSpec SWIR 2.0 line light. The new short-wave infrared hyperspectral line light offers a fuller and flatter spectrum with 11 wavelengths filling the band from 950nm to 1750nm and a peak-to-valley ratio of <1.5. The COBRA platform utilizes adjustable optics which guarantees best-in-class spectral uniformity, and coupled with a variety of diffuser options, the line light has the flexibility to be used across a wide variety of applications.

The enhanced COBRA HyperSpec SWIR 2.0 offers significant benefits to customers, allowing them the flexibility to work over the entire spectral range and providing consistently low, market-leading, signal-to-noise ratio across the entire spectrum. commented Simon Stanley, Director of Technology at ProPhotonix. The new SWIR hyperspectral line light is ideal for applications such as moisture analysis, foreign object, and contaminant detection in food. Textile recycling, pharmaceutical inspection, or any analysis requiring SWIR hyperspectral lighting for image acquisition will benefit from the new product enhancements.

As a configurable platform, COBRA HyperSpec can be customized to specific application needs. The COBRA HyperSpec platform utilizes Chip-on-Board LED technology and with ProPhotonixs in-house Chip-on-Board LED capability, hyperspectral solutions can be configured from the chip up. With more than two decades of experience working with OEMs to develop machine vision lighting solutions, ProPhotonix is well positioned to support system designers in developing the optimum lighting solution for their application.

The COBRA HyperSpec SWIR 2.0 allows users to optimize the spectrum to maximize contrast, compensate for camera sensitivity, and deliver clearer, higher resolution images for increased accuracy and speed. The LED Line Light incorporates a user-friendly GUI allowing users to easily fine-tune the performance of their system.

The COBRA HyperSpec SWIR 2.0 is the latest addition to the ProPhotonix COBRA HyperSpec product range. The COBRA HyperSpec products are powered by a dense array of LED chips and are available with up to 12 wavelengths in a compact platform configurable to your application needs to ensure optimal image acquisition.

To find out more, visit: https://www.prophotonix.com/led-and-laser-products/led-products/led-line-lights/cobra-multispec-hyperspectral-line-light/

Contact:

ProPhotonix Limited

Simon Stanley

Director of Technology

Tel: +353(0)21 500 1300

sales@prophotonix.com

About ProPhotonix

ProPhotonix Limited, headquartered in Salem, New Hampshire, is a high technology designer and manufacturer of diode-based laser modules and LED systems for industry-leading OEMs and medical equipment companies. In addition, the Company distributes premium diodes for Ushio, Osram, QSI, Panasonic, and Sony. The Company serves a wide range of markets including the machine vision, industrial inspection, security, and medical markets. ProPhotonix has offices and subsidiaries in the U.S., Ireland, U.K., and Europe. For more information about ProPhotonix and its innovative products, visit the Company's website at http://www.prophotonix.com.
STEAM Beachwear, a vertically integrated 100% sustainable mens swimwear brand under the umbrella of globally renowned, vertically integrated manufacturer, SUTEX, has invested in a multi-year partnership with Suuchi Inc. to transform how they approach supply chain management. STEAM will use the PLM and ERP modules of the Suuchi GRID platform to create and manage product and purchasing lifecycles. The strong project management layer extending across the GRID will enable STEAM to collaborate with their internal team members, in-house manufacturers, and external supply chain partners to execute a digital strategy across the entire length of their supply chain operations. Connecting previously siloed data across each stage of the product and purchasing lifecycle will enable the brand to speed up lead times, improve margins, and reduce operational overhead at scale while continuing to focus on its sustainability mission statement.

The Suuchi GRID is the modern standard for supply chain management built for apparel, cosmetics, footwear, manufacturing, and over twenty other consumer product industries. The GRID is the modern supply chain operations standard combining the best of PLM and ERP, with robust collaboration, project management, and procurement layers across the length of the platform. The GRID is a single-source-of-truth for brands and manufacturers to create, track, collaborate, and report across both upstream and downstream supply chain operations. Whether the GRID acts as a standalone tool or seamlessly integrates with current tech stacks, the platform provides an end-to-end view of the supply chain across product development, sourcing, production, quality, and logistics.

Founded in 2015, STEAM is a beachwear brand inspired by the Colombian Caribbean that seeks to raise awareness of the importance of sustainable practices and use of Colombia's natural resources. The apple does not fall far from the tree. STEAMs parent company, Sutex, for over 4 decades has parlayed its passion of art and fashion to continue this sustainable mission. The GRID partnership aims to move STEAM Beachwear towards a more tech forward, digitized method of managing supply chain operations to drive process efficiencies and optimal outcomes.

When exploring potential tools to fulfill their needs, return on investment (RoI) was an important consideration during evaluation. Through RoI simulations and working sessions with the GRID team the STEAM Beachwear team could quantify that a digitized supply chain bringing together otherwise siloed systems leads to reduction in COGS and operational overhead, and improved speed to market and increase in sales.

With Steam Beachs explosive growth, we needed an intuitive end-to-end supply chain system that could help us digitize and scale. We found the perfect match with the GRIDs PLM and ERP products. The easy-to-use interface helps more easily onboard the variety of skill sets we have on the team and on the factory floor. The Suuchi team was great at quantifying the return on investment, and the cost of inaction. We are incredibly excited to have a scalable and modern technology stack that can support our fast growth said Steven Amitai, Founder, and CEO of Steam Beach.

Colombia and Latin America have been strategically critical regions of investment and growth for Suuchi Inc since inception. STEAM beach represents all that is incredible about Colombia  unmatched design talent, vertically integrated infrastructure to realize sustainable goals, and a booming economy and ecosystem for D2C brands. We are proud and ecstatic to be partnering with the visionary Steven Amitai and his team, expressed Suuchi Ramesh, Founder, and CEO of Suuchi Inc.

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About the GRID

The GRID is the modern standard for consumer brands, retailers, and manufacturers for managing supply chain operations. The platform provides a seamless end-to-end view of the supply chain, including updates and analytics on sourcing, design, production, and logistics. Suuchi Inc partners with customers to deploy its platform as a software solution to digitize their upstream and downstream operations through its PLM and ERP offerings. Customers interested in a long-term investment of nearshore sourcing may choose to also have access to the GRIDs Global Sourcing Network (GSN). Suuchis GSN is a managed marketplace of factories and mills, mostly located in Central and South America, driving more effective sourcing outcomes in the Western Hemisphere. With the GRIDs robust collaboration layer extending across the PLM, ERP, and GSN products, companies can create, track, collaborate, and report across the entire length of their supply chain. Suuchi Inc is digitally transforming what high growth brands and manufacturers think is possible in supply chain management. For more information, visit https://www.suuchi.com/.

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About STEAM Beachwear

Founded in 2015, STEAM is a beachwear brand inspired by the Colombian Caribbean that seeks to raise awareness of the importance of the responsible use of Colombia's natural resources. STEAM possesses a great love for design, comfort, sustainability, and of course the different places of the world that inspire them to keep on exploring. STEAM is committed to the conservation and sustainability of our planet. STEAM believes this concept is not only visible in the ethical process of their manufacturing, but in the business model as a whole. Not only are all of the brands swim trunks made with recycled plastic recovered from the ocean, but STEAMs in house processes, from production to shipping are focused on leaving zero waste.

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About Sutex

For more than 40 years, Sutex has been driven by a genuine passion for fashion, art, and, caring for the environment. The company was founded in 1978 with the aim of developing and marketing textiles for clothing and fashion. Sutex has become the most important company in Colombia within its sector, expanding its business in America, Europe, and Asia.
We believe no other financial technology company is as perfect a fit for the hospitality community.

Flyp Financial, a financial technology company providing accessible mobile banking solutions nationwide has partnered with Schedulefly, a leading employee scheduling software provider that has supported the Hospitality and Service industry for more than 15 years. Schedulefly serves nearly 6,000 restaurants across the U.S. and Canada, reaching over 250,000 active users. Through its direct integration with Schedulefly, Flyp will be able to quickly expand its reach and serve much of the demographic it is designed to serve.

Flyp launched earlier this year with a mission to offer a mobile digital wallet banking solution with no hidden fees, Flyp offers a Visa branded debit card, signup bonus, early access to wages, no credit check, automatic direct deposit of paychecks and a unique gamified rewards program that provides rewards for every swipe of the card (up to 110% cash back on each purchase), which is rare for a debit card offering.

We are very excited about our partnership with Schedulefly, said BJ McAndrews, Flyps CEO and Co-founder. We believe Hospitality and Service employees will benefit immensely from our accessible, easy-to-use banking solution, and enjoy the unique, interactive features Flyp offers. Schedulefly is the perfect partner for us as they share the same passion for their customers and the people they serve.

Employers will also benefit from the direct integration, as it will allow Schedulefly users to easily onboard employees onto the Flyp platform. Many in the Hospitality and Service industry still receive paper checks, requiring employers to process manual paychecks. Flyps direct deposit feature will automatically set up direct deposit for the employee, eliminating the need for paper checks. Simplified payment, paired with the financial literacy education that Flyp provides, will help employees gain a more stable footing in their financial journey.

Scott Maitland, owner of Top of the Hill restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC and Schedulefly customer, added, Many of my employees come to me for advice and guidance as they navigate their financial lives. Flyp is a great tool and it fits perfectly with the needs of hospitality employees, with its no fees offering, ease of use and unique rewards program. The company also takes pride in offering the same authentic customer service and care our industry is known for providing to our own customers. Having Flyp directly accessible from the Schedulefly platform is a big win for our team."

Wil Brawley, co-owner of Schedulefly, said, We are thrilled to have the opportunity to offer Flyps mobile banking solutions to our Schedulefly community. We share the same values as Flyps founders and deeply connect with their passion for supporting the community brought together by Flyp. We believe no other financial technology company is as perfect a fit for the hospitality community, and we are proud to be their partner in helping our customers achieve personal financial success.

Flyp is currently available to all Schedulefly users through the Schedulefly platform.

About Flyp

Flyp Financial (Flyp) is a financial technology company headquartered in Charlotte, NC that offers a modern, mobile, social way for users to manage their finances. Flyp currently offers a digital wallet and debit card with no credit check, gamified rewards with every swipe of the card, financial literacy education, sweepstakes, and plans to offer additional financial products, NFTs, crypto and more. For more information and partnership information, visit https://flypmoney.com

About Schedulefly

Schedulefly, a N.C.-based business, was created in 2007 to offer restaurants a simple and organized way to schedule and communicate with their staff. The Schedulefly team serves thousands of restaurants, bars, breweries, boutique hotels and others in the hospitality industry across the U.S. and Canada with simple software and legendary customer support. For more information and partnership information, visit https://schedulefly.com
Frank Eppink, President, BH Elite We are delighted to welcome a respected industry professional to Blue Heron and leverage his extensive experience on behalf of our team and our clients, said Tyler Jones, CEO and Founder of Blue Heron.

Blue Heron, a Las Vegas-based design-led development firm, announced today that esteemed construction industry leader Frank Eppink has joined the company as President of BH Elite, Blue Herons custom-home division. In this role, he will be responsible for leading the businesss continued growth and evolution while ensuring the delivery of unrivaled client satisfaction. Eppink will also serve as a member of Blue Heron's executive leadership team.

We are delighted to welcome a respected industry professional to Blue Heron and leverage his extensive experience on behalf of our team and our clients, said Tyler Jones, CEO and Founder of Blue Heron. Frank will provide focused and inspirational leadership for Blue Heron's Elite division and align the team with our business plan, values, and vision.

Eppink joins Blue Heron from the Beck Group, Dallas, where he built a distinguished career over 36 years, most recently serving as Regional Director in the Denver office, which he established and led. Under his leadership, the Denver region provided integrated design-build commercial real estate solutions for a variety of market sectors, including residential, retail, office, industrial, faith-based, and healthcare. While in the Denver office, Eppink and his leadership team developed a unique integrated design-build platform, much of which is now being implemented as a companywide standard for all regional offices.

Eppink spent his earlier years with the Beck Group serving in leadership roles across the organization, managing a wide range of construction projects and eventually rising to the position of Operations Manager for the Central Region, the companys largest division.

During a five-year tenure at Lauth Group, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., he helped grow the commercial developers operations from three states to a 29-state region. In addition, he built a $600 million per year design-build construction division within the development company.

Eppink is a graduate of Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., where he received a B.S. in Building, Construction, and Contracting.

For more information about Blue Heron, visit blueheron.com.

# # #

About Blue Heron

Established in 2004 by CEO and Founder Tyler Jones, Blue Heron is a design-led development firm crafted by custom creation and intentional innovation. Through its Vegas Modern design philosophy, the firm decodes the language by which human beings connect with their environment. In developing the blueprint for amplified living, Blue Heron creates new and novel experiences of exceptional quality, designed with both physical and human nature in mind. Specializing in custom Homes and boutique communities across Southern Nevada, Blue Heron is organized through a unique structure and workflow, integrating various professional disciplines, notable designers, builders, and architects. Blue Herons portfolio to date encompasses over 18 communities and 560 Homes. The team has won numerous design awards and has achieved Platinum LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council and Emerald certification by the National Green Building Standard.
6th Annual Student Mental Wellness Conference Wellness Together, Inc., a California-based national 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, in partnership with the California Department of Education, is hosting its 6th Annual Student Mental Wellness Conference (SMWC) at the San Diego Convention Center on September 14-15, 2022.

Wellness Together, in partnership with the California Department of Education, Hosts the 6th Annual Student Mental Wellness Conference.

Leading Experts in Youth Mental Health to Speak at International Student and Educator Mental Health Event.

Wellness Together, Inc., a California-based national 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, in partnership with the California Department of Education, is hosting its 6th Annual Student Mental Wellness Conference (SMWC) at the San Diego Convention Center on September 14-15, 2022.

This event, which has been recognized by Healthline.com as one of the '8 Must-Attend Mental Health Conferences' worldwide will bring together mental health leaders from around the world for this two-day in-person and virtual event. Attendees include school staff (K-12 & Higher-Ed), mental health clinicians, school board members, policymakers, state department education staff, and stakeholders in educator and student mental health gather from across North America, the UK, Africa, and beyond.

2022 SMWC main stage presenters include:



Johann Hari, NYT Best-Selling Author

Jane Elliot, Internationally-Known Diversity Equity & Inclusion Educator

Tony Thurmond, CA State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the CA Dept. of Education

Katherine Neas, US Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)

Dr. Atul Nakhasi, Senior Advisor for the Office of the US Surgeon General

Chris Gethard, Comedian, Actor, and Author

Marlon Morgan, Founder & CEO of Wellness Together, Inc.

Equipping and empowering educators and mental health professionals to support the growing mental health needs of our students and families is more vital than ever. This international conference is the ideal place to prioritize our supportive relationships and professional growth, encourages Founder & CEO Marlon Morgan.

The mission of the SMWC is to equip and inspire attendees with tools to promote student and educator mental wellness and create a positive school climate. Learn more at wellnesstogether.org/conference.

About Wellness Together

Wellness Together, Inc., is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation launched in 2016 to deliver mental health services for students, families, and educators on campus and online, regardless of Medicaid or insurance requirements. Mental health clinicians deliver on-site therapy for all students & educators by partnering with school districts, universities, state and national policy-makers, and corporations across the nation. To learn more about Wellness Together, please visit wellnesstogether.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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61% of parents fear a school shooting Sixty one percent of parents said they are worried that there will be a shooting at their childs school

As school starts, children may be excited but apprehensive about returning after two years that have been far from normal. Parents too have a wealth of back-to-school concerns and opinions on everything from gun violence in school to whats being taught in the classrooms, as revealed in a new survey of 1,000 parents by Benenson Strategy Group (BSG).

Parents Fear School Shootings, Cyberbullying

Safety is a prevailing concern among parents, particularly with mass school shootings and other student threats becoming more commonplace. Sixty one percent of parents said they are worried that there will be a shooting at their childs school. More than half also fear the threats that their kids may have to navigate online, with 55% worried that their child will be cyberbullied, trolled or harassed, and 51% concerned that their child will be approached by a groomer.

Broad Concern about Hateful Content

The fomenting of bias or hate, especially against racial minorities and women, is also weighing heavily on parents. The survey found they are most concerned about their child being exposed to content that is racist or discriminatory (58%) and sexist or misogynistic (53%), although a sizable minority (43%) also worries about content that is homophobic or anti-LGBTQ+. Parents of Color, Democrats, dads, parents living in urban areas and parents with higher household incomes are the most concerned about their childrens exposure to discriminatory, hateful content.

Parties Agree Democratic Responsibility Is Vital for Children

Parents overwhelmingly feel that participation in our democracy is a vital responsibility for their children. Nearly nine in 10 (88%) agree that their child has a responsibility to be a well-informed, engaged citizen in our democracy. This belief is shared equally among parents who identify as Democrats and Republicans (92% of both parties agrees), and to a slightly less degree by Independents (78%). Additionally, the majority of parents believe schools should foster early political involvement, with more than seven in 10 saying there should be opportunities for their child to be politically active and engaged in school.

More Worried About Extremist Content from the Left than the Right

Collectively, parents are worried about extremism and radicalization. A majority of all parents worry that their child will be exposed to content that is politically extreme (53%), and nearly half worry about content that will radicalize their childs political beliefs or outlook (48%). More parents worry about their child being exposed to content that promotes extreme political correctness or wokeness (48%) than content that promotes a far-right ideology or Christian nationalism (39%).

Though parents are concerned about exposure to extremist views, they are not necessarily talking with their children about these issues. Only 29% have talked with their child about conspiracy theories or fake news, and just 22% have talked with their child about radicalization and extremist groups online.

Book Ban Backlash

Recent efforts to ban books from schools curricula have divided parents and educators, but BSGs survey reveals the movement may be having the opposite of its intended effect. If their childs school banned a book, more than twice as many parents (42%) said they would encourage their child to read it anyway as would ensure their child did not read it (16%); 43% said such a ban would make no difference.

Parents for Free Speech Around Race, Against Governments Involvement in Curriculum

The majority of parents do not want to limit free speech when it comes to race and racism. In fact, 63% of those surveyed said they are much more worried about laws limiting the discussions of race and racism in the classroom than they are about having them.

When it comes to who makes decisions about whats taught in the classroom, parents feel as if they and teachers know best and few want government involved. Sixty percent said they, as parents and caregivers, should decide what their children learn in school today, while 59% said teachers should. Less than half say those decisions should fall to school administrators or the school board, while only 20% want their state government and 14% want the federal government to decide.

Debt Viewed as Barrier to Higher Ed

Student debt is a ubiquitous concern among parents, and rightfully so. Nine out of 10 said its important that their child does not accumulate student debt, including 58% who say its very important. Current economic conditions may contribute to this viewpoint, with 60% of parents saying that rising prices mean they cant put away as much for their childs education as they might like.

BSGs full study reportwhich also reveals what parents views on mental health, addiction, Covid and other pressing issuescan be downloaded here on the BSG website.

Methodology

Benenson Strategy Group conducted 1,001 online interviews with parents who have kids in kindergarten through 12th grade. The survey was fielded from August 1624, 2022. The data was weighted to reflect U.S. Census data to ensure an accurate demographic representation.

About Benenson Strategy Group

Benenson Strategy Group (BSG) is a strategic research consultancy that marries language expertise with innovative research to frame choices that help clients win in the most challenging, competitive situations. Advising global corporations, political leaders and institutions in dynamic, competitive scenarios, Benenson Strategy Group has earned a reputation for expertise in the rhythm and nuances of language and words, and the underlying dynamics of consumer and political choices. Founded in 2000, BSG's headquarters are in New York. For more information, please visit http://www.bsgco.com
Aferos success and growth has always been tied directly to its incredibly smart, experienced, and talented team. It is extremely exciting for all of us at Afero to expand our leadership team and welcome Bret and Tracy

Afero, the leading IoT Platform as a Service provider, is pleased to announce that Bret Jordan and Tracy Schmidt have joined the companys executive team. As the world marches towards the inevitable interconnectedness of everything, Aferos objective is to secure and accelerate the development of every smart thing. The additions of Bret and Tracy to the leadership team is a big step forward in achieving Aferos vision.

Bret joins Afero as Chief Security Strategist and brings a wide range of business insights, product strategy, cybersecurity expertise, and over 25 years of leadership experience to Afero. Prior to joining Afero, Bret held leadership positions at Broadcom, Symantec, Blue Coat Systems and several other startups, enterprises, and nonprofits. Bret has extensive experience collaborating with government agencies, critical infrastructure, industry thought leaders, and academic researchers from around the world to drive creative new ideas, technologies, and solutions that can have material impact on protecting systems and data crucial to our way of life.

Tracy Schmidt brings almost 20 years of experience in HR to her role as Chief People & Culture Officer for Afero. 10 of those were at Google, where she led the HR Business Partner function for Android and the Mobile business unit. She has worked extensively with international teams, including time spent in Googles Zurich tech hub. She specializes in scaling quick-growing organizations and evolving an exciting culture for teams distributed across the world.

"Aferos success and growth has always been tied directly to its incredibly smart, experienced, and talented team. It is extremely exciting for all of us at Afero to expand our leadership team and welcome Bret and Tracy," said Joe Britt, Afero CEO and Co-founder. "Bret brings a long and distinguished track record in cybersecurity, product development and strategy. Tracy is a master at building great teams and company culture. Each brings key leadership experience and qualities critical for the next stage of Aferos mission."

About Afero

Afero is the leading secure IoT Platform as a Service. Afero technology incorporates simplicity, ease of use, security, and data privacy into the entire solution, from manufacturing to product to cloud to end user. The Afero platform uniquely secures your entire supply chain while providing your customers with end-to-end encryption, fast onboarding, and direct to device failover. With Afero, products get to market 3x faster, have 10x higher attach rates, and have 99% fewer customer escalations. This user-friendly, fast, and secure IoT platform unlocks smart and connected capabilities for any product, vertical, sector, or industry, whether large or tiny, fixed or mobile. Aferos world-class team is composed of mobile, hardware, security, and cloud veterans from Google, Apple, Nest, Symantec, Danger, Microsoft, Amazon, Twitter, Netflix and other leading platform companies.
HITEC announced Monica Hernandez, Founder and CEO of MAS Global Consulting has been named to the 2023 HITEC 100 list of the most influential and notable Hispanic professionals in the technology industry.

The HITEC 100 list is a compilation of the top Hispanic professionals in the technology industry from across the United States and celebrates their leadership and achievements in all sectors of the industry. Awardees are evaluated on their accomplishments in the ever-changing global landscape of technology and for their mentoring and professional development activities. Individuals included on the list were selected by the 2022 Awards Committee. Nominations are solicited from HITEC members and the general public.

We are honored to highlight and recognize the top 100 Hispanics in technology, said Lucia Soares, HITEC Awards Committee Chair, Board of Directors. This year, we opened our aperture to include executives in non-technology roles, but who are driving technology transformation in their organizations because all businesses are being fueled by the energy of technology disruption. The caliber of 2023 HITEC 100 awardees is stellar and representative of the diversity in backgrounds, industries and impact in business results. Congratulations to all  we are proud of our best and know you will inspire many more to come.

It has been a source of pride and privilege for me to witness the caliber of leadership from our community, our Familia. said Guillermo Diaz, Jr., HITEC Chairman. For almost 15 years, seeing the evolution and the transformation of HITEC as an organization starting with the founders and the leaders who paved the way for even more Hispanics in Technology. And now, this amazing group of awardees has shown us and more importantly the next generation that they can be what they can see. Congratulations to the HITEC 100 and keep inspiring for yourselves and those looking up to you!

These 100 leaders represent the best of our community, and they embody our larger vision of how Hispanics technology leaders can make a lasting impact in our communities, said Omar Duque, HITEC President.

About MAS Global Consulting

MAS Global is a Florida-based software development and data services firm with diverse talent across the US and LATAM, collaborating in the same time zone with our US-based clients for maximum speed and agility. Our MAS teams help our clients use the latest web, cloud, AI, and data technologies, to build innovative products and deliver enterprise-scale digital capabilities. MAS Global is one of the top 3% Latino and women-owned firms in the US with proven enterprise scale execution working with multiple Fortune500 corporations. Our Founder Monica Hernandez, originally from Colombia, now based in Tampa, FL, has been named to the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women and Women of Color Achievement Award by WPO (Women Presidents Organization). MAS Global also started a foundation called MAS Future to provide educational opportunities for girls and women in tech.

MAS Global has multiple awards and recognitions such as: Deloitte Technology Fast500: Top 500 Fastest Growing Technology Companies in North America, 5 times Inc5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies by Inc Magazine, Tampa Bay Fast50, Global IT Sector Winner by WeConnect International, sponsored by Cisco, and Minority Business Enterprise Supplier of the year by Florida State Minority Diversity Council.

About HITEC

HITEC is a premier global executive leadership organization of senior business and IT technology executives who have built outstanding careers in information technology. HITEC's premier network spans the Americas and is focused on building stronger technology and executive leaders, leadership teams, corporations, and role models in a rapidly changing, flatter, and information technology-centric world. These global leaders include executives leading Global 1000 corporations while others lead some of the largest Hispanic-owned technology firms across the Americas.

To view the complete list of the HITEC 100, please visit https://hitecglobal.org/page/HITEC-100-2023. To learn more about MAS Global Consulting employee value proposition, please visit https://masglobalconsulting.com

LinkedIn Links:

Monica Hernandez, Founder & CEO of MAS Global consulting.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamhernandez/

MAS Global Consulting

https://www.linkedin.com/company/mas-global-consulting/
Access Garage Doors, an industry leader with more than 17 years of experience in residential and commercial garage door repair and installation, is growing its presence in the West with its first location in Colorado. The company is proud to welcome Darryl and Dana Meadows as the owners of Access Garage Doors of NoCo (Northern Colorado).

The husband-and-wife duo owned several home improvement businesses before landing in Colorado. Dana, the first female co-owner in the Access Garage Door family, has worn many professional hats  from cosmetologist to secretary and other roles within their various ventures. She is excited to use her skillset in a primarily male field.

We both felt like, with garage doors, what a great way to be able to go in and make somebody happy and make their home look beautiful, said Dana. It makes sense for us to start a family business with both of us working in the business.

Darryl was uniquely inspired by his 6th thru 12th-grade shop teacher, who taught him many skills, including a good work ethic. His teacher became a role model to Darryl.

He instilled in me really good work ethics and the ability to do all things home, said Darryl. He was the person who I respected the most.

After researching other franchise opportunities, a family member suggested Access Garage Doors, and it was the perfect fit. The pair will split responsibilities, with Dana being the office manager and Darryl managing sales and service. They will serve communities from Boulder to Fort Collins to Greeley, Colorado.

We looked at a lot of different business opportunities but found, after talking with friends and family, investigating, and doing our research, that Access Garage Doors was a hidden gem! Their business model fits with our morals, ethics, and goals.

Access Garage Doors President and CEO Jesse Cox is confident the Meadows will be a tremendous asset to the Access franchise team.

"I am personally proud that Darryl and Dana were recommended to our program via their family members and friends that already work within our great industry. It seems that the garage door industry is now taking notice that we are serving customers and franchise owners exceptionally while utilizing ethics and morality to guide our brand."

To learn more about Access Garage Doors of NoCo, please visit: https://accessdoorcompany.com/locations/northern-colorado/.

To learn more about franchise opportunities with Access Garage Doors, please visit: https://bestgaragedoorfranchise.com/.

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ABOUT ACCESS GARAGE DOORS

Founded in 2005, Access Garage Doors provides service, installation, and sales of state-of-the-art residential and electric openers. Based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Access is a top-tier Master Authorized Dealer for one of the largest garage door manufacturers, Clopay, and is a top-tier LiftMaster ProVantage Dealer. Access also carries brands such as Amarr Doors, Genie, Craftsman, Chamberlain, Marantec, and Sommer, and also services Hormann, Wayne Dalton, CHI, Raynor, Sears, Linear, Lynx, Overhead Door, Ideal Door, Windsor Door, Stanley, Door Link, and Ryobi brands. Access is a long-term member of the International Door Association, as well as the Homebuilders Association of Greater Chattanooga.


We are excited to enter the next phase of our company's growth by partnering with our investors with a strong track record scaling companies globally that deliver next generation technology, said Tina DAgostin, CEO of Alcatraz AI.

Alcatraz AI, the leader in autonomous access control using industry-leading 3D facial authentication and AI to create safe spaces, has raised a $25M Series A round. The round was led by Almaz Capital and included EBRD (The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), Endeavor Catalyst, Silverline Capital, and Golden Seeds, along with participation from existing investors JCI Ventures (the corporate venture arm of Johnson Controls), Ray Stata, and LDV Partners.

At Alcatraz AI, we believe that safety and security is the first principle, and we are committed to leading a new era of frictionless access control by leveraging the unique power of the human face to make accessing spaces as secure, quick and easy as unlocking your phone, said Tina DAgostin, CEO of Alcatraz AI. We are excited to enter the next phase of our company's growth by partnering with our investors with a strong track record scaling companies globally that deliver next generation technology.

The $70B physical access control market is in need of next generation solutions that enable more modern and secure ways of unlocking where people work, live, study and play. Today, the most commonly used credential to enter secured spaces is an access card that can be lost, replicated, or stolen. Alternative technologies, such as mobile and legacy biometric systems have not gained mainstream momentum due to implementation and user challenges.

Since its founding in 2016, Alcatraz AI set out to transform the experience of entering spaces in the most highly secure manner, while enabling a completely passive and frictionless use case at doors for occupants and the security teams that manage them. Alcatraz AIs flagship product, the Rock, is deployed at some of the most successful enterprises in the world, including 25 of the Fortune 500. Since 2020, the company has seen massive growth in the US and globally, with over ten countries deploying Alcatraz solutions, securing over 1 million employees.

Almaz Capital, a venture capital fund headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Berlin, focuses on disruptive deep-tech companies in the B2B software space.

We are thrilled to add Alcatraz AI to our portfolio of 25 companies, said Daniil Stolyarov, Partner, Almaz Capital. Almaz is always on the lookout for technology applications that disrupt and transform established industries. Alcatraz applies artificial intelligence to ensure that security, privacy, and convenience is possible for autonomous access control.

Alcatraz AI will focus on global expansion and product innovation to meet a variety of use cases as organizations continue to modernize their access control systems.

We are excited to support the team as it scales its biometric authentication technology to make entrance to buildings and spaces secure and frictionless, notes Aziza Zakhidova, Principal, EBRDS Venture Capital team, an early and growth stage equity investor for technology companies out of emerging Europe.

For more information on Alcatraz AI autonomous access control solutions, visit http://www.alcatraz.ai.

About Alcatraz AI:

Alcatraz AI transforms access control by leveraging artificial intelligence and analytics to make powerful decisions at the edge, where your face becomes your credential. Alcatrazs facial authentication technology and intelligent tailgating detection enable enterprises to innovate and future-proof their security strategy. Our state-of-the-art product, the Rock, is designed to be easy to deploy on any access control system, providing an enterprise-grade security solution to protect businesses, people, and assets. Visit http://www.alcatraz.ai for more information and follow the companys updates on LinkedIn.

About Almaz Capital:

Founded in 2008, Almaz Capital is a global VC fund investing in early stage, capital efficient technology companies in high-growth sectors. Almaz Capital has a unique model with the physical presence and network within the Silicon Valley ecosystem and Europe, helping bridge companies from emerging tech regions to the global marketplace and building strong capital efficient engineering teams across different geographies. Almaz Capital focuses on disruptive deep tech companies in the b2b software space, including AI/ML and Blockchain applications, IoT and Edge Computing Enablers, Cybersecurity, etc.

For more information, please visit: http://www.almazcapital.com

About EBRD:

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is a multilateral bank that promotes the development of the private sector and entrepreneurial initiative in 38 economies across three continents. The Bank is owned by 69 countries as well as the EU and the EIB. EBRD investments are aimed at making the economies in its regions competitive, inclusive, well-governed, green, resilient and integrated. Through its Venture Capital Investment Program, the Bank invests in early and growth stage innovative companies operating in technology sectors.

For more information, please visit: http://www.ebrd.com
Console page from Asymmetrex online calculator portal for determining the dosage of umbilical cord blood stem cells ...introduction of online rapid stem cell-counting calculators is the start of a reformation in stem cell science and medicine.

In 2020, when Asymmetrex published the seminal report of its innovation for counting therapeutic tissue stem cells for the first time, the companys President & CEO, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D., says, the method was already very good, but anything but routine.

Before Asymmetrex developed the rapid stem cell-counting calculators formally introduced today, executing its stem cell-counting technology required 3 to 4 weeks of intensive, expensive cell culture procedures. However, the company used its earlier advance to define proprietary mathematical equations, which now power the companys online rapid-counting calculators. With an online calculator, a user can routinely get the stem cell dosage of cell preparations from any human tissue after culturing a small sample of the cells for only 72 hours.

Asymmetrex recently completed the validation of its technology head-to-head with the gold standard SCID mouse assay for estimating the dosage of human blood stem cells, which are widely used for approved stem cell transplantation therapies. The SCID mouse assay was never adopted for routine use because it is expensive, requires 30-40 mice for a single count, takes more than 16 weeks to complete, and is unreliable. It also only works for blood stem cells. In contrast, Asymmetrex's online rapid-counting calculators give an instant stem cell count from a users input of conventional cell data from only 72 hours of inexpensive cell culture. And calculators are available for stem cells from all types of human tissues, not just blood stem cells.

There are custom calculators for different stem cell tissue sources and culture conditions. CEO Sherley relates that, There are hundreds, if not thousands, of rapid stem cell-counting equations waiting to be mined by our software. The company is already offering generic calculators for five different types of stem cells commonly used in research, approved therapies, and many ongoing stem cell clinical trials. Asymmetrex can also develop proprietary counting equations for proprietary stem cell sources and production conditions.

Previously, many companies who produced and used tissue stem cell products and treatments were resigned to not knowing their stem cell dosage, because no convenient method was available to determine it. But dosage information was always needed to better ensure sufficient stem cells for effective treatment and to prevent the waste of scarce stem cells due to unaware excessive dosing.

Asymmetrex has produced educational online forums and podcasts to reform ideas in stem cell science and stem cell medicine on the importance of attention to stem cell dosage for accelerating progress in stem cell research and therapy. Says Sherley, Our companys introduction of online rapid stem cell-counting calculators is the start of a reformation in stem cell science and medicine.

About Asymmetrex

Asymmetrex, LLC is a Massachusetts life sciences company with a focus on developing technologies to advance stem cell medicine. The companys U.S. and U.K. patent portfolio contains biotechnologies that solve the two main technical problems  stem cell-specific quantification and stem cell expansion  that have stood in the way of more-effective use of human adult tissue stem cells for regenerative medicine and drug development. Asymmetrex markets kinetic stem cell (KSC) counting, the first technology for determination of the dose and quality of tissue stem cell preparations for use in stem cell transplantation medicine and pre-clinical drug evaluations. Asymmetrex is a member company of the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute|BioFabUSA (ARMI) and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio). The companys development of online calculators for rapid stem cell counting has been funded by R&D grants from ARMI|BioFabUSA and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.


BCENs annual National Certification Champion Award recognizes healthcare organizations committed to emergency, trauma and critical care transport excellence through RN specialty certification. "More powerfully than ever before, this year's record number of nominees show how supporting emergency, trauma and transport RN specialty certification benefits patients, nurses, healthcare teams and communities with advanced care, improved clinical outcomes and greater success and satisfaction.

The Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN), the benchmark for specialty certification across the emergency spectrum, today announced the 2022 winners of its annual BCEN National Certification Champion Award. One winner in each category was selected based on their commitment to emergency, pediatric emergency, trauma, flight and/or critical care ground transport nursing excellence and professionalism through nursing specialty certification.

More powerfully than ever before, this years record number of nominees show how supporting emergency, trauma and transport RN specialty certification benefits patients, nurses, healthcare teams and communities with advanced care, improved clinical outcomes and greater success and satisfaction across the board, said BCEN CEO Janie Schumaker, MBA, BSN, RN, CEN, CENP, CPHQ, FABC. The 2022 BCEN National Certification Champions truly set the bar for nursing excellence for emergency departments, trauma centers, transport programs and health systems everywhere, and we applaud their leadership.

The 2022 BCEN National Certification Champion Award winners are:



Small Healthcare Organization: Baylor Scott & White Medical Center  Centennial Emergency Department in Frisco, Texas

Large Healthcare Organization: Harris Health Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital Emergency Center in Houston, Texas

Healthcare System: Centura Health in Centennial, Colorado

Meet the winners in BCEN's Meet the Winner series and winner video at https://youtu.be/x1WOXi-yOl8.

New this year, honorees will receive a certification support package that includes complimentary passes to the BCEN Learn Live conference and free practice exams, and BCEN will host a trophy presentation celebration at each winners location.

Congratulations to the team for their commitment to nursing and to our patients," said Susan Moats, chief nursing officer, Baylor Scott & White East Region. "This award from the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing is a testament to the dedicated, quality, safe care our clinical teams provide to our community.

We have an amazing team at Harris Health LBJ Hospital Emergency Center, said Derek L. Curtis Sr., DNP, MA, RN, NEA-BC, chief nursing officer, Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, Harris Health System. Our emergency center leaders make it a priority to elevate and encourage nurses to practice at the highest levels of professional practice, which helps us efficiently treat the complex needs of our patients. Im extremely proud of the number of certified nurses within our emergency center.

At Centura Health we are passionate about creating an environment that fully supports our incredible nurses, said Brenda Simpson, DNP, RN, CENP, senior vice president and chief nursing officer, Centura Health. By offering professional growth opportunities and providing the tools and support needed to deliver outstanding patient care, we strive to enable our nurses to live their personal missions at work and in the communities we serve.

Nursing specialty certification independently validates a nurses advanced knowledge, clinical judgment and professionalism across a specialty body of knowledge and is associated with better patient care, safety and outcomes, and greater nurse career success and satisfaction.

Over 50,000 RNs and advanced practice registered nurses worldwide hold one or more BCEN nursing specialty credential. Over 41,000 hold the Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN), over 5,500 hold the Certified Pediatric Emergency Nurse (CPEN), over 7,000 hold the Trauma Certified Registered Nurse (TCRN), over 5,300 hold the Certified Flight Registered Nurse (CFRN), and over 400 hold the Certified Transport Registered Nurse (CTRN).

Nominations for the 2023 BCEN National Certification Champion Award will open June 1, 2023.

About BCEN

Founded in 1980, the independent, not-for-profit Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN) offers robust certification programs fostering empowered nurses across the emergency spectrum who contribute noticeably to patient care, safety and outcomes. Over 59,000 BCEN credentials are held by registered nurses (RNs) who specialize in emergency, flight, critical care ground transport, pediatric emergency and trauma nursing. BCEN offers the Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN), Certified Flight Registered Nurse (CFRN), Certified Pediatric Emergency Nurse (CPEN), Certified Transport Registered Nurse (CTRN) and Trauma Certified Registered Nurse (TCRN) certification programs. Through the award-winning BCEN Learn continuing education platform and the new-in-2022 BCEN Learn Live conferences, BCEN supports advanced emergency nursing lifelong learning.

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Love Letters From God: An Anthology of the Faithfulness of Our God: a potent reminder of Gods love for creation. Love Letters From God: An Anthology of the Faithfulness of Our God is the creation of published author Bob Wilmot, MCE, DRE, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a loving father of four, and a dedicated grandfather to five who graduated from Upper St. Clair High School in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, and later joined the United States Marine Corps from 1961 to 1965. Following his tour in military service, Wilmot enrolled at St. Josephs University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. He then entered Jacksonville Baptist Theological Seminary from 1993 to 1995 and received a masters degree in Christian education and a doctorate in religious education.

Wilmot shares, This book has been created with the intention of strengthening the body of Christ with the emphasis on complete dependence on God, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Even in the midst of confusion and chaos, God desires to have a permanent relationship with Christian disciples all over the world through prayer and supplication to the glory of His name. God desires to speak with us to enable that goal in understanding Who He is and how He works in our lives.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Bob Wilmot, MCE, DREs new book will resonate with many as they accept the welcome challenge within to renew and recharge in ones faith.

Wilmot brings readers a motivating and engaging discussion in hopes of empowering others in their faith.

Consumers can purchase Love Letters From God: An Anthology of the Faithfulness of Our God at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Love Letters From God: An Anthology of the Faithfulness of Our God, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Sagebrush Justice: a gripping action adventure that will pull at the heartstrings. Sagebrush Justice is the creation of published author Christian Smythe, who was born in Lodi, California, and grew up around Lodi and Galt. Smythe graduated from Galt High in 1970 and joined the army when it was still called Womens Army Corps, WAC for short. She received basic and advanced individual training at Fort McClellan, Alabama, and was later transferred to Fort Bragg, North California, where she met and married her husband, and her daughter was born.

Smythe shares, For five years, Rebecca Sage and her family tried to make a good living after the war, but their neighbors wouldnt let them. So she and her extended family of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and their families packed up and headed west. When they got to their new home site, tragedy hit, and this is the result of it.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Christian Smythes new book is an exciting installment to the classic western genre that will delight and entertain the imagination.

Smythes carefully constructed narrative will have readers rooting for a young woman bent on avenging her beloved family.

Consumers can purchase Sagebrush Justice at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Sagebrush Justice, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
How students learn to read and how reading is best taught are often the focus of media, public, and political criticism. In a new NEPC policy brief, The Science of Reading Movement: The Never-Ending Debate and the Need for a Different Approach to Reading Instruction, Paul Thomas of Furman University explores the controversial history of the reading reform movement.

Throughout the decades, a striking amount of attention has sporadically been focused on how teachers teach readingtypically with a specific concern for phonics instruction. This attention has then spread to standardized test scores (including international comparisons) and a changing list of hypothetical causes for disappointing test scores (including progressivism, whole language, and balanced literacy).

Disappointing reading achievement has been sometimes attributed to how reading is taught, sometimes to social influences on students (such as technology and media), and sometimes to both. Widespread and ongoing criticism over the last 80 years has targeted a wide array of culprits:



State and federal reading policy;

The quality of teacher education and teacher professional development;

Theories of learning to read and reading instruction;

The role of phonics and other reading skills in teaching reading; and

The persistent gaps among classroom practices, reading policy, and the nature or application of science and research.

These discussions have not been evidence-free. In fact, scholars and literacy educators have over this time conducted extensive research into these and other issues. But the research has only limited impact on policy and practice.

Specifically, in contrast to much of the public debate and policymaking, these researchers have found reading instruction and learning to be complex, complicating the design of effective policy and classroom practice. Overall, this robust research base supports policies and approaches that acknowledge a range of individual student needs and that argue against one-size-fits-all prescriptions. Among literacy educators and scholars, then, important reading debates continue but do so without any identified silver-bullet solutions.

The current public debate is different. Since 2018, the phrase science of reading has been popularized as loosely defined shorthand for the broad and complex research base characterizing how children learn to read and how best to teach reading. Simplifying the issue for the public and for political readers, and failing to acknowledge the full complement of research findings, prominent members of the education media have used the term when framing the contemporary debateoften as pro-phonics versus no phonics. Various types of vendors have also found the shorthand term science of reading highly useful in branding and marketing specific phonics-oriented reading and literacy programs.

As the science of reading movement has grown, scholars have cautioned that advocates and commercial vendors often exaggerate and oversimplify both the problems and solutions around reading achievement and instruction. Yet these advocates have been extremely effective in lobbying for revised and new phonics-heavy reading legislation across most states in the U.S., producing rigid and ultimately harmful policy and practices. Still, in pursuing reform to address identified challenges, the movement does provide an opportunity for policymakers to investigate different approaches to reading instruction and to develop more nuanced policy.

Accordingly, Professor Thomas provides recommendations for state and local policymakers to provide teachers the flexibility and support necessary to adapt their teaching strategies to specific students needs.

Find The Science of Reading Movement: The Never-Ending Debate and the Need for a Different Approach to Reading Instruction, by Paul Thomas, at: https://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/science-of-reading

This policy brief was made possible in part by the support of the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice (greatlakescenter.org).

The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), a university research center housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: https://nepc.colorado.edu
Full digitalization of production processes is at the heart of DataHows vision  Our collaboration with Genedata will streamline the whole biopharma lifecycle from process development to late-stage manufacturing. Alessandro Butte, CEO, DataHow AG

Genedata and DataHow, both leading innovators for the digital transformation of biopharma R&D, entered a strategic partnership to integrate their platforms to further streamline bioprocess development and manufacturing workflows. The combined solution will directly integrate DataHows Digital Twin products, including DataHowLab and SpectraHow, with the Genedata Biopharma Platform so that process development and manufacturing data can be seamlessly exchanged and interpreted. Having experimental data and modelling data available together will streamline digitalization across biopharma process development and manufacturing. This will enable digital tracking of data for every molecule, sample, and process for more efficient process development and integrate state-of-the-art modelling capabilities to better understand and optimize critical attributes of the biopharmaceutical manufacturing process.

DataHows platform provides high-performance bioprocess data analysis and predictive modelling tools based on a user-friendly workflow with customized data visualization techniques, hybrid modelling for process understanding and design, and machine-learning to enable self-learning capabilities and knowledge transfer across molecules and scales. Genedata Bioprocess is a fully integrated biopharma R&D workflow platform, which integrates processes and connects people, data, and laboratory instruments to automate corporate-wide development and manufacturing operations. It supports the entire end-to-end (E2E) process, covering cell line development (CLD), upstream process development (USP), downstream process development (DSP), formulation development (FD), process analytical support, and analytical development (AD). The integration of the platforms results in synergies that further drive harmonization and automation along the full process. Additionally, as part of the collaboration, DataHow and Genedata will expand the integrated platform to other innovation areas in process development and manufacturing, including hybrid model-supported process monitoring and control with Raman Spectroscopy and E2E applications of Digital Twins.

The development of innovative biotherapeutics, including cell and gene therapies and next-generation vaccines, is based on extremely complex and data-rich R&D processes, noted Othmar Pfannes, Ph.D., CEO of Genedata. The Genedata Biopharma Platform enables full automation of experimental workflows due to its flexible data model and open programming interfaces. It also allows emerging technology leaders such as DataHow to integrate their technology platform, minimizing setup and integration work for joint customers and directly creating value out of the generated data. This integration provides the best of both worlds  fully automated high-throughput processes complemented by a comprehensive modelling platform supporting faster and better decision making for process development and manufacturing.

Full digitalization of production processes is at the heart of DataHows vision. Digitalization will allow users to perform a large majority of tasks related to manufacturing processes in silico and automated. This includes process predictive monitoring, optimization, scenario and deviation analysis, and quality management, said Alessandro Butte, CEO of DataHow AG. Both companies share a common vision  providing the biopharma industry with one holistic platform that seamlessly communicates between all involved stakeholders, allowing to manage bioprocess data and knowledge in a comprehensible digital format. Our collaboration with Genedata will streamline the whole biopharma lifecycle from process development to late-stage manufacturing.

About DataHow

DataHow is a software provider focused on accelerating process development, optimizing manufacturing processes, and increasing robustness by using hybrid modeling solutions. Our software and services are tailored to upstream (cell culture, fermentation, seed train, etc.) and downstream (chromatography, ultrafiltration, diafiltration, etc.) biopharma operations providing the user with essential insights for process development, characterization, and scale-up. Our unique Digital Twin technology allows to handle all process units and their interactions, and to transfer knowledge between scales, projects, and product targets. With our approach we want to support the decision process of process experts, scientists, and operators by leveraging in our technology all available process data and knowledge. DataHow was incorporated in 2017 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich and operates with 45 team members across 3 continents.

http://www.datahow.ch

LinkedIn

About Genedata

Genedata transforms data into intelligence with innovative software solutions that incorporate extensive biopharma R&D domain knowledge. Multinational biopharmaceutical organizations and cutting-edge biotechs around the globe rely on Genedata to digitalize and automate data-rich and complex R&D processes. From early discovery all the way to the clinic, Genedata solutions help maximize the ROI in R&D expenditure. Founded in 1997, Genedata is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland with additional offices in Boston, London, Munich, San Francisco, Singapore, and Tokyo.

http://www.genedata.com

LinkedIn| Twitter| YouTube

________________________________________

Contact

Allison Kurz

Genedata

Public Relations

pr@genedata.com

Disclaimer

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties related to contract cancellations, developing risks, competitive factors, uncertainties pertaining to customer orders, demand for products and services, development of markets for the Company's products and services. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

All product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.
Drivers Can Custom Order a Ford Model at a Ford Dealership in Winder, Georgia

Individuals planning to get behind the wheel of a new Ford vehicle can make a purchase at Akins Ford, an automotive dealership in Winder, Georgia. The dealership lets drivers customize a new 2022-2023 Ford vehicle online without any hassle. Prospective buyers can visit the dealerships website to personalize their favorite Ford model and order it from the comfort of their homes. Whether its a pickup, SUV, crossover, van, wagon, convertible or coupe, customers can choose from a plethora of options from the dealerships online inventory.

In addition to selling Ford models, the dealership has a range of used cars in top-notch condition for all budgets. Moreover, individuals can choose from an array of certified pre-owned models for enhanced peace of mind. Interested parties can explore the online inventory of pre-owned vehicles on the dealerships website. The dealership also has a team of skilled financial experts to tailor the best financing packages for everyone, irrespective of their credit situation.

Besides buying vehicles, drivers can bring their cars to Akins Fords state-of-the-art service department for maintenance services and repairs. The dealership has a team of trained technicians to take the best care of various makes and models, including Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Jeep, and RAM. Some of the services available at the dealerships service department include:

-Oil and filter change

-Front-end alignment

-Brake services

-Coolant flush

-Vehicle inspection

-Tire services

-And much more!

Interested parties can contact the Akins Ford team by dialing 770-867-9136 or 770-867-9137 to learn more about the services they offer. Customers can also visit the dealership at 220 West May St. in Winder, Georgia, for further assistance.
Express is proud to receive this recognition as a result of the hard work our franchise owners and their staff dedicate to connecting quality job seekers with reputable local businesses." - Express Employment International CEO Bill Stoller

As a global advisor on staffing and workforce solutions, Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) recently recognized international staffing agency Express Employment Professionals as a top provider of talent in several industries.

The accolades include:



Largest U.S. Staffing Firms: No. 4

Largest U.S. Industrial Staffing Firms: No. 2

Largest U.S. Office/Clerical Staffing Firms: No. 3

Largest U.S. Direct Hire Firms: No. 15

Top 50 Providers of Direct Hire Services Globally: No. 26

Express is proud to receive this recognition as a result of the hard work our franchise owners and their staff dedicate to connecting quality job seekers with reputable local businesses, Express Employment International CEO Bill Stoller said.

With the global labor shortage affecting so many companies, turning to a staffing provider for comprehensive HR solutions allows business owners to trust recruiting to experts with nearly 40 years of experience so they can focus on other aspects of success. We continue to set our sights on expanding services into new territories and welcoming new entrepreneurs into our fold as 2022 begins to wind down.

Express long-term goal of putting a million people to work annually is at the heart of its companys vision: to help as many people as possible find good jobs by helping as many clients as possible find good people.

To learn more about franchise opportunities with Express Employment Professionals, contact Vinny Provenzano at Vinny.Provenzano@ExpressPros.com or ExpressFranchsing.com.

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If you would like to arrange for an interview with Bill Stoller to discuss this topic, please contact Sheena Hollander, Director of Corporate Communications and PR, at (405) 717-5966.

About Bill Stoller

William H. "Bill" Stoller is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment International. Founded in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the international staffing franchisor supports the Express Employment Professionals franchise and related brands. The Express franchise brand is an industry-leading, international staffing company with franchise locations in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

About Express Employment Professionals

At Express Employment Professionals, were in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 586,000 people globally in 2021 and more than 10 million since its inception. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com.
"Joining the team that is transforming how genomic information is made actionable for patients and drug development is very excitingI look forward to helping accelerate the future of precision medicine that Genomenon is playing a role in." Dr. Sam Globus, VP of Operations, Genomenon

Genomenon, Inc., an AI-driven genomics company, announced today that Dr. Sam Globus has been appointed vice president of operations. To support Genomenons goal to curate the entire human genome, Globus will manage the rapid growth of the companys data science and variant curation work.

Before joining Genomenon, Globus was the VP of strategy and operations at Eagle Genomics working to launch their lead product, a microbiome data analysis platform. Prior to Eagle Genomics, he was the VP of business strategy and operations at Celmatix Inc., where he helped develop and launch the world's first genetic test for markers of infertility. While at Celmatix, he was one of the first users of Genomenons Mastermind Genomic Search Engine to help his team streamline their genomic variant curation work.

We are extremely excited to welcome Sam to the Genomenon executive leadership team, said Mike Klein, chief executive officer, Genomenon. As one of our first Mastermind customers, Sam understands the unique value we create for genomic researchers and clinicians. His extensive background in operations strategy will be invaluable to scaling our genomic curation work.

Globus completed a Ph.D. in molecular biology and biochemistry from Weill Cornell University Medical College in New York City. His doctoral research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center focused on the basic molecular processes used to create genetic diversity in eukaryotes. In addition to his doctorate, Sam also holds an M.Sc. from University of Oxford in History of Science & Technology, an M.A. from Columbia University in Biotechnology, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University.

I am thrilled to be joining the leadership team at Genomenon, said Globus. Ive worked with Genomenon since their early days of creating the worlds first genomic search engine. Joining the team that is transforming how genomic information is made actionable for patients and drug development is very excitingI look forward to helping accelerate the future of precision medicine that Genomenon is playing a role in.

About Genomenon

Genomenon is an AI-driven genomics company focused on the advancement of positive health outcomes for patients with rare genetic diseases and cancer. Keeping pace with the ever-evolving body of knowledge within genomics, Genomenon connects current research with patient DNA to accelerate clinical decision-making and pharmaceutical drug discovery.

For more information, visit Genomenon.com
I am excited to expand my work with the association and its mission to support Latino attorneys and ultimately increase diversity in the legal profession, Parra said.

Omar Parra, an associate in the San Francisco office of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, was elected to the board of directors of the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association.

I am excited to expand my work with the association and its mission to support Latino attorneys and ultimately increase diversity in the legal profession, Parra said. Additionally, Greenberg Traurig is proud to sponsor the association and its charitable arm, the Bay Area Latino Lawyers Fund that provides scholarships and educational programs focused on to the Latino legal community.

Parra represents private equity funds, privately held businesses, and strategic investors in a wide range of corporate matters, with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, growth equity investments, and general corporate governance. Parra has advised clients in domestic and cross-border transactions in a number of industries, including agribusiness, medical, technology, retail, and consumer products.

Parra also has an active pro bono practice where he represents unaccompanied immigrant children in removal proceedings as well as individuals seeking entry into the United States through humanitarian parole.

About Greenberg Traurigs Diversity Initiative: From its inception, Greenberg Traurig has been committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Greenberg Traurig is a uniquely empowering and diverse firm built on a foundation of fairness, equality, and authenticity. Through its Social, Racial, and Economic Justice Action Plan, the firm has committed $5 million over five years to help combat systemic racism and support impoverished communities. In addition, the firms efforts have been recognized through its Mansfield Rule 4.0 Certification Plus, administered by The Diversity Lab, and by local, national, and global publications and organizations including Chambers and Partners. Web: https://www.gtlaw.com/en/general/our-firm/diversity Twitter: @GT_Drives.

About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP has more than 2500 attorneys in 43 locations in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm reported gross revenue of over $2 Billion for FY 2021 and is consistently among the top firms on the Am Law 100, Am Law Global 100, and NLJ 250. On the debut 2022 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard, it is a Top 15 firm. Greenberg Traurig is Mansfield Rule 4.0 Certified Plus by The Diversity Lab and the Center for Resource Solutions Green-e Energy program certifies that the firms U.S. offices are 100% powered by renewable energy. The firm is often recognized for its focus on philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com.
Festo Booth at IMTS 2022

Festo Didactic, Siemens and SICK Safety are teaming up at this years International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago. The trio is building awareness around the exciting advancements taking place in industry and technical education. They are hosting a special learning competition at the Smartforce Student Summit to inform and excite young people about the future of manufacturing.

Festo Didactic, an education company with deep roots in manufacturing automation, leverages its industry expertise to offer a wide range of learning solutions that support skills development in all aspects of mechatronics and factory automation.

Festo and its industry partners invite you to attend the IMTS Student Summit to gain new insights into Industry 4.0 education and training. Several training tools and automation systems will be on display as detailed below. See how the industry-simulated learning equipment helps students and incumbent workers gain the hands-on experience they need to qualify (and upskill) for competitive advanced manufacturing careers.

The Industry 4.0 Skills Competition

Festo, SICK Safety and Siemens have partnered to bring this competition to life, aligning with the Florida Space Coast Consortium Apprenticeship Program (SCCAP). To reflect the industrial evolution from Industry 3.0 to Industry 4.0, the competition will begin with students utilizing basic skill sets in mechatronics, including but not limited to: mechanical, fluid power, electronic and software-controlled components.

Phase 1 of the competition will be carried out on the Festo MecLab which introduces industrial automation to students. Students will work in pairs and are required to assemble, integrate and program components to create an automated system thats capable of completing a specific task. Programming will be done via FluidSIM software which will then assist students in the software interrogation of PLC coding via Siemens TIA portal within the 2nd phase of the competition.

Phase 2 will focus on troubleshooting an Industry 4.0 Cyber-Physical Lab training system that includes robotics. By reviewing theoretical content from the FESTO I4.Core Career pathway curriculum, The students will be motivated and prepared to troubleshoot real industrial advanced technology components that are tightly integrated such as PLC, HMI, MES. Augmented reality features as well as instructions via mobile devices will assist them in taking their commissioning skills into the 4th industrial revolution.

Phase 3 is where students will be tested on their ability to complete a risk assessment on the robotic system integrated into the cyber-physical training module. Festo and SICK created a Safety Awareness Bundle that combines curriculum and hardware. The content of the curriculum focuses on robot risk assessments, in-depth data collection and dissemination, as well as the implementation of the whole system approach versus automation a la carte (Industry 3.0).

The student competition and daily training sessions will be led by Stefany Gurgel, the teacher of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics at Monmouth County Vocational School District in New Jersey. If students only learn theory in the classroom, they wont have what it takes to succeed in this industry, Gurgel said. Thats why apprenticeship programs and skills competitions like this one are so important. They allow students and workers to learn by doing, which equips them with the competencies needed to hit the ground running once they get into a real manufacturing environment, or upskill to advance their career.

Come support students as they compete in the Mechatronics and Industry 4.0 competition and learn the jobs that await them in the next few years!

Smartforce Student Summit

Location: Booth #215000  North Building, Level 1

September 12-17, 2022, 9:30 am  3:00 pm

View Floor Plan

Award Ceremony

Thursday, September 15 at 2:30 pm in the Smartforce Theater

Guest Lecturer

Students and attendees will also have the opportunity to hear from guest speaker Thorsten Wuest, Associate Professor for Smart Manufacturing at West Virginia University in the Smartforce Theater.

Digital transformation and Industry 4.0 are here to stay and not optional any longer, Wuest explains. Training and upskilling our manufacturing workforce are THE key differentiators for companies and industry to compete.

Overview of Schedule and Themes

Monday, September 12 - Islands of Automation (Industry 3.0) by Mike Nager of Festo



Festo MecLab Training System overview and FluidSIM overview

Tuesday, September 13 - System Approach to Automation by Dr. Thorsten Wuest of West Virginia University from 9:00 - 9:30 at Booth #215000



Students will combine all stations and troubleshoot

Wednesday, September 14 - Introduction to Industry 4.Core by Amanda Beaton of Siemens



Students will learn about cyber-physical stations from mechanical components - all the way to MES

Thursday, September 15 - Risk Assessment by Brian Sellars of SICK



Students will learn about the risk assessment system approach; and field sets calibration

Students: 8



Two high school students from Monmouth County Vocational School District, New Jersey

Three apprentices from Airbus Americas Training Center, Florida

One apprentice from Vaya Space, Cocoa, Florida

Two vocational students from Baden-Wurttemberg Germany

Judges: 5



Step Into the Classroom of the Future!

Its not just hardware but advanced competencies that are needed to prepare students and incumbent workers to thrive in automation and manufacturing, said Ted Rozier, Director of Engineering for Festo Didactic North America. Visitors who come to our booth for the full Industry 4.Core experience will be intrigued by the robotic pick and place operations, as well as the advanced 3D vision applications in the cyber-physical training modules because thats were you can really see the power of product connectivity, traceability and visualization in action.

Festo Didactic Exhibit Features

Factory Automation

With our learning systems in Factory Automation, we boast qualification topics such as: sustainability through energy measuring, energy efficiency, individualization with mobile or collaborative robots, (intra)logistics, digitalization focusing on data acquisition, evaluation and storage, big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning and digital twin.

Visit our exhibit booth to interact with various learning systems and visualization tools that promote an overall systems approach in manufacturing education including:

Festo Cyber-Physical Lab (CP Lab) and corresponding software teachware

Festo Manufacturing Execution System (MES)

Leading Robotic Technology from Universal, Fanuc, and Yaskawa

CIROS Virtual Learning Environment with Simulations and FluidSim Software

Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) (Siemens)

Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) IEC61131 and OPC-UA Enabled (Siemens)

Profinet and IOLink, the worlds most popular industrial buses

Risk Assessment - Festo + SICK Safety Awareness Bundle

Augmented Reality for Equipment Health and Operation

Bioincs4Education - Inspired by Nature

Bionics4Education combines analog and digital learning with a practice-oriented educational kit. With a bionic elephant, chameleon, fish and flower to choose from, our goal is to engage young people in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) and provide a foundation that sets them up for success.

Festo LX

The Festo Learning Experience (Festo LX) is a new digital learning portal that offers comprehensive learning content for technical and industrial education. Festo LX takes a flexible, microlearning approach supported by multimedia learning nuggets. These bite-sized learning exercises can be customized and combined to map out complete individual learning pathways such as I4.core.

I4.core: A curriculum and learning pathway that compliments the foundational core competencies that employers consider essential for candidates to excel in advanced Smart Manufacturing work environments. I4.core encompasses a blended skillset including: Mechanical, Electrical, Inputs and Outputs, HMI, PLC, MES, and Risk Assessment. I4.core connects teachers and subject matter experts from across grade levels and job roles to look at a standardized plan of progression that will lead to innovative problem-solving techniques which will enhance our efficiency and growth across all disciplines

###

About Festo Didactic

Festo leverages its automation expertise to provide comprehensive industrial and technical education solutions. Festo Didactic is committed to providing educators and employers with the hands-on training, digital coursework and blended learning solutions needed to close the STEM skills gap. Our lab equipment, curriculum and certification programs are thoughtfully designed to support various learning pathways and on-the-job training. With 4,000+ FICP certifications and 36,000 Festo-equipped educational institutions, Festo Didactic and its partners are preparing students and employees for the future of work.

Learn more at Festo.com

Contact

Natasha Gosine

Senior Marketing Manager, Festo North America

905-614-4611

natasha.gosine@festo.com
Independence Pet Group looks forward to joining forces with HABRI to champion the human-animal bond across all aspects of society. At IPG, we know just how important the human-animal bond is and we want to help elevate the worlds understanding of pets and how to care for them.

The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) announced today that Independence Pet Group (IPG) has become an official supporter of HABRI and its scientific research on the mutually beneficial relationship between people and companion animals.

Independence Pet Groups mission is to strengthen the unique bond between pets and their people through our innovative products and services, said David Kettig, CEO of IPG. We are excited to work with HABRI to further our common goals.

Scientific research demonstrates that having pets in our lives can lead to better physical and mental health for people of all ages. Importantly, the more pet owners learn about scientific research on the benefits of the human-animal bond, the more likely they are to take positive action including better pet care and more regular veterinary visits.

HABRI is grateful for the support of Independence Pet Group, which is dedicated to helping pets and their owners with its lineup of products and services, including pet insurance, enabling pet owners to get access to quality veterinary care. IPGs brands also work to support a more pet-friendly society through its Dogs At Work program and by working with companies of all sizes to provide pet insurance to their employees, said Steven Feldman, President of HABRI.

According to HABRI research, pet-friendly companies are better able to attract, retain, and engage employees, as well as showing care and concern for both employee and pet health. More than ninety percent of employees who work for pet-friendly companies feel their employer supports their physical health and mental wellbeing, significantly more than companies that do not have policies that accommodate pets.

Independence Pet Group looks forward to joining forces with HABRI to champion the human-animal bond across all aspects of society, added Kettig. At IPG, we know just how important the human-animal bond is and we want to help elevate the worlds understanding of pets and how to care for them.

Independence Pet Group, Inc. (IPG) is an integrated, full-stack pet insurance platform. It offers a comprehensive range of underwriting options, turnkey partner solutions, and consumer-facing insurance products through its wholly owned subsidiary, Independence American Insurance Company (IAIC), a leading provider of underwriting services to the pet insurance sector licensed in all 50 states. Its subsidiary, Pet Partners, Inc., distributes and administers IAIC policies through world-class pet insurance brands AKC Pet Insurance and its group pet brand, PetPartners. Also part of the IPG family are Figo Pet Insurance LLC, a leading direct-to-consumer brand which utilizes a highly engaging and mobile friendly Pet Cloud that allows consumers to manage their pet's healthcare, socially engage with fellow pet parents, and easily discover and locate services within the pet ecosystem; and Third Party Pet (a marketing name owned by Pawsitive Solutions, LLC), providing business services to breeders, pet retailers and their customers ranging from live pet inventory management software, scheduling and facilitating adoptions, micro-chip and registration services and customized pet products. https://www.independencepetgroup.com/

The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) is a not-for-profit organization that maintains the worlds largest online library of human-animal bond research and information; funds innovative research projects to scientifically document the health benefits of companion animals; and informs the public about human-animal bond research and the beneficial role of companion animals in society. For more information about the HABRI Foundation, please visit http://www.habri.org.
The Medicare group benefits landscape is complex, and Labor First is dedicated to simplifying the retiree benefits industry for both retirees and plan sponsors alike.

Labor First, a leading provider of group retiree Medicare benefit management and member advocacy solutions, today announced that the company has achieved an annual net promoter score (NPS) above 90, a significantly higher ranking than the industry average for the healthcare category of 58, leading to an impressive client retention rate of 100%. The company has also had a five-year compounded annual growth rate of 34% YoY, with the overarching company growth and momentum further underscoring Labor Firsts commitment to meeting the new and changing needs of retirees, plan sponsors and advisors.

As Medicare experts, Labor First works directly with its clients to contain costs for group retiree healthcare benefits without reducing quality and service. This approach is more important now than ever as a substantial part of the United States population moves into retirement. Medicare enrollment grew by 1 million beneficiaries this year, many of whom are in a group retiree plan. As this population grows further and the cost to cover post-retirement healthcare becomes an increasing concern, there is a need for innovative services and solutions that aid in cutting costs while providing retirees with higher levels of member care and quality health and prescription coverage.

The Medicare group benefits landscape is complex, and Labor First is dedicated to simplifying the retiree benefits industry for both retirees and plan sponsors alike, said John P. Dulczak, CEO of Labor First. We understand the nuances of managing group retiree benefits, and with our strong carrier and client partnerships, we are well equipped to meet the needs of this market. We are advocates for retirees and remain fully committed to helping them live their healthiest lives possible, while simultaneously alleviating the administrative burden for plan sponsors.

Labor First has also recently achieved the following milestones:



Won over 10 executive and company awards, including NJ Biz Healthcare Heroes Award and CRM Magazines Service Elite Award

Awarded Best Places to Work by the Philadelphia Business Journal twice

Expanded the leadership team with the appointments of Rick Kaplan as Chief Growth Officer and Sheela Andrews as Chief Product Officer, which will serve to advance the Companys ongoing commitment to delivering unparalleled service for retirees and plan sponsors

Expanding operations with a new west region-based office, which will open in Arizona in 2023 to further meet rapid customer growth

The growth Labor First has experienced since we first partnered with the company a year ago is a testament to the urgent need in the marketplace for Labor Firsts unique solutions and model, said Rafael Cofino, Managing Director at Great Hill Partners. Effectively serving the group retiree benefits space requires specific expertise and Labor Firsts relationship-oriented approach has filled a gap in the market by helping plan sponsors lower costs, reducing administrative burden and  most importantly  providing members with valuable white glove advocacy services. We look forward to continuing to work with the team on expanding access to their services across the nation to meet the new and changing needs of retirees, plan sponsors and advisors.

For more information on Labor First, its offerings and to stay abreast of upcoming news and updates, visit http://www.laborfirst.com.

About Labor First

Labor First is a Mount Laurel, NJ-based group retiree Medicare benefit manager that serves labor unions, public sector entities and private corporations. Labor First offers tailored benefit plans, full-service account management and concierge retiree advocacy for plan sponsors and their retirees, that enhances benefit quality while driving material cost savings. For more information, visit laborfirst.com.

About Great Hill Partners

Great Hill Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm targeting investments of $25 million to $500 million in high-growth companies across the software, digital commerce, financial technology, healthcare, and digital infrastructure sectors. Over the past two decades, Great Hill has raised over $12 billion of commitments and invested in more than 90 companies, establishing an extensive track record of building long-term partnerships with entrepreneurs and providing flexible resources to help middle-market companies scale. Great Hill has recently been recognized for its industry leadership, being ranked #5 in the 2021 HEC - DowJones Private Equity Performance Ranking, which evaluated fund performance of 517 leading private equity firms between 2008  2017. For more information, including a list of all Great Hill investments, visit http://www.greathillpartners.com.
We place a major focus on creating easy experiences at every step of the label design process. These latest updates to the artwork library are an extension of that philosophy.

When designing and creating custom labels, the artwork is a key element of the finished product. A company's logo and brand imagery should be displayed clearly to make sure customers know exactly what they're getting.

Lightning Labels uses all-digital printing methods to make sure customers' artwork appears in high quality on their custom labels. And now, after a round of enhancements, the Lightning Labels customer web portal makes it easier than ever to manage a library of artwork files and produce batches of great-looking labels.

Impactful, Functional Upgrades to the Artwork Library Page

Lightning Labels has remained a leader in the custom label field for over 20 years by offering superior customer service and convenience. The online features available when customers log into their accounts reflect this philosophy of creating a smooth and easy experience.

The latest round of updates to the artwork management page has been made with repeat customers in mind, allowing users to make changes and updates as necessary and keep producing high-quality custom labels over time.

Now, customers who have logged into their accounts on the Lightning Labels website can:



Reorder a new batch of labels with a single click, based on the design specifications for a previous order.

Manage artwork files easily, ensuring new label designs have consistent, high-quality imagery and branding.

Delete old and obsolete artwork files, to simplify the account view and make sure these older images don't end up used on new designs.

Search for artwork files by a variety of traits, including:



Shape

Size

Material

Laminate

File name

With such a frictionless artwork management experience, Lightning Labels customers can spend less time working on their label designs and more time running their businesses, all while receiving top-quality custom labels.

"We place a major focus on creating easy experiences at every step of the label design process," said Lightning Labels President Matt Zeyher. "These latest updates to the artwork library are an extension of that philosophy."

A Customer-Focused Approach to Custom Label Creation

The new artwork library features demonstrate that after more than 20 years as a custom label provider, Lightning Labels is still finding new ways to help its customers thrive. Packaging is an essential part of a company's overall branding efforts, so the relationship between a company and its label printing partner should be based on convenience and trust.

Businesses across industries face different challenges regarding their artwork selection and overall label design. Some emerging fields, such as cannabis, restrict the types of imagery that can appear on labels. Others, such as craft beer labeling, thrive on highly involved and distinctive designs. Whatever a customer's specifications may be, Lightning Labels can help, including through design and artwork consulting.

When a custom label provider and a company establish a strong working relationship, the results can lift the brand to new levels of success. Lightning Labels strives to achieve this type of connection with all its customers, and the latest upgrades to the artwork library are designed to make this process easier than ever.

About Lightning Labels:

Lightning Labels uses state-of-the-art printing technology to provide affordable, full-color custom labels and custom stickers of all shapes and sizes. From small orders for individuals to the bulk needs of big businesses, Lightning Labels is equipped to handle and fulfill custom label and sticker projects of all types. Best of all, like the name implies, Lightning Labels provides a quick turnaround for every customer's labeling needs. Uses for Lightning Labels' custom product labels and custom stickers include food packaging and organic food labels, wine and beverage labels, bath and body labels, and nutraceutical products, such as vitamins, essentials oils, and herbal remedies, as well as event stickers, adhesive window stickers and more. Lightning Labels strongly supports the development of environmentally friendly printing materials and carries Biostone, a green label material made from stone paper that is water-resistant and inherently strong and durable. While operating as a high-tech printer, Lightning Labels prides itself on its personalized customer service. Lightning Labels provides one-stop shopping for all of your custom label needs. For more information and to place orders online, visit LightningLabels.com. For the latest in packaging news and labeling promotional offers, find Lightning Labels on Twitter (@LightningLabels), Facebook, Instagram (@LightningLabels), Pinterest, TikTok and LinkedIn.
Agile, data-driven processes are now critical to success, which is why were thrilled to work with Valizant.

Valizant, an innovator in real-time supply chain planning solutions tailored to a companys business practices, today announced that Plastic Ingenuity, one of the largest custom thermoformers in North America, will deploy a suite of Valizant elastic connected planning solutions, running on the Anaplan platform. Plastic Ingenuity will drive enhancements to its circularity initiatives by optimizing use of materials in production, as well as support its rapid growth and the dynamic needs of its customers with Valizants demand, inventory and capacity planning solutions.

Valizant is the key to becoming better global citizens, with solutions that help us optimize resource use through more accurate insights into the byproducts we can reuse, then account for that when making purchasing decisions, said Michael Phy, chief information officer for Plastic Ingenuity. These planning solutions also are paramount to future-proofing businesses like ours that face long lead times, as well as space and capacity constraints related to the materials we use in production and our finished products. With Valizant, we will be able to provide our customers with impeccable service, delivering exactly what they want, when they need it.

Valizant solutions harness the power of Anaplan  recently named a Leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Supply Chain Planning  to support end-to-end elastic planning, as well as Xentrl, Valizants proprietary real-time collaboration and process navigation tool that helps businesses make faster and better decisions on-the-fly. Built on Anaplans market-leading connected planning platform, Valizants demand planning solution eliminates disconnected data and siloed planning, improving demand planning and collaboration across the entire business based on seamless statistical forecasts, customer forecasts and more. Inventory planning provides seamless network inventory planning through real-time visibility across the entire network to optimize inventory flow. Finally, capacity planning offers real-time monitoring, as well as live recommendations and what-if scenarios, to ensure optimal utilization.

Anticipating demand and optimizing inventory in todays dynamic market is no easy feat, especially with continued supply chain disruption and shifting buying behaviors, said Karen Clarke, senior vice president and managing director of the Americas for Anaplan. Agile, data-driven processes are now critical to success, which is why were thrilled to work with Valizant to help forward-thinking businesses, like Plastic Ingenuity, re-imagine their approach to planning in order to capture demand, drive growth and deliver value to customers.

We are honored to be the foundational element for Plastic Ingenuity's next stage of business growth," said Ed Lewis, president and CEO of Valizant. "With its unique vertically integrated design and manufacturing environment, along with its commitment to sustainability, Plastic Ingenuity has carved out a powerful and differentiated approach. We are confident that our next-generation solutions on the Anaplan platform will ensure Plastic Ingenuity can meet its circularity goals and achieve success with their customers long into the future.

About Plastic Ingenuity

Plastic Ingenuity is one of the largest custom thermoformers in North America. The company provides innovative packaging solutions that encompass every stage of packaging design and manufacturing, from initial proposals to the finished product. Plastic Ingenuity controls almost every aspect of its manufacturing process with in-house design, extrusion, mold-making, tooling, and thermoforming. The company focuses on high volume, high quality, custom projects for the food, healthcare, and consumer goods industries. Plastic Ingenuity understands the unique challenges of each industry and are constantly researching and developing new approaches to ongoing problems. For more information, visit http://www.plasticingenuity.com.

About Anaplan

Anaplan is a transformative way to see, plan, and run your business. Using our proprietary Hyperblock technology, Anaplan lets you contextualize real-time performance, and forecast future outcomes for faster, confident decisions. Anaplan enables connected strategy and planning across your enterprise to move your business forward. Based in San Francisco, Anaplan has over 200 partners and more than 2,000 customers worldwide. To learn more, visit http://www.anaplan.com.

About Valizant

Valizant transforms supply chain planning for manufacturers and enables better alignment to customer demand and business objectives. By leveraging advanced technologies that provide actionable insights and automate routine activities, Valizant empowers companies of all sizes to embrace change, drive market-leading performance and deliver the highest level of customer satisfaction. Rooted in the power of the Anaplan platform and its own Xentrl real-time collaboration and process navigation tool, Valizant connects live information from diverse sources for seamless supply and demand planning. The result is an always-on planning environment with real-time insights that optimize actions to meet customer demand, execute planning policy and explore scenarios for upside alternatives. With time-to-value measured in weeks instead of months, Valizant delivers double-digit improvement in supply chain performance and greater customer satisfaction. With Valizant, supply chain planners can free up 15 hours per week and achieve 30% improvement in supply chain performance. Valizant is headquartered in Long Beach, Calif. For more information or to schedule a demo, visit valizant.com.

Media Contact:

Maria Bradley

Kickstart for Valizant

415-509-0498


Since the start of the program in the spring of 2021, 41 startups have graduated from the Plug and Play Topeka accelerator program. Photo courtesy of GO Topeka. Kansas is well known for its animal health and ag-tech successes, and Topeka is proud to further support the industry's growth through mentorship and business development provided by the accelerator, said Stephanie Moran, senior vice president of innovation at GO Topeka.

GO Topeka, the economic development group for Kansas capital city, recently announced that Plug and Play Topeka, a global innovation platform that creates industry-specific accelerator programs, has selected 12 startups to participate in the fourth cohort of its animal health and ag-tech program. These early-to-mid-stage startups hail from countries all over the world, including Singapore, Canada, Spain, the UK and Israel. The companies were selected following a pitch competition held virtually this month.

Chosen by partners of the program, including Cargill, Evergy and Hills Pet Nutrition, the startups represent a broad range of innovations in areas like AI technology, sustainable packaging, food safety, and pet and livestock health. Entrepreneurs representing these startups will participate in a three-month-long accelerator program to connect them with resources and help their businesses get off the ground.

The 12 startups selected for the program are:



BioTip  Produces sticker technology that gives an exact freshness indicator.

Evanesce  Designs, develops, and manufactures sustainable packaging and service ware solutions using the latest advancements in material science that are certified compostable, commercially scalable and cost-competitive.

Kibus Petcare  The first device that cooks healthy dog food automatically.

Matrixspec  A global leader in hyperspectral imaging for the food processing industry.

Metalchemy  Produces durable, organic packaging using nanotechnology that helps food stay fresh for longer.

Mighty Petz  Offers premium quality and healthy pet supplements and treats for dogs and cats.

PetHub  A pet database and pet parent membership service.

Protenga  Develops data-driven Insect technology that enables a circular, regenerative economy along the food supply chain and produces best-in-class, sustainable insect products for pet food, animal feed and plants.

Precision Livestock Technologies  Uses artificial intelligence and machine vision to deliver data to boost production, increase quality and improve animal well-being.

SGMA  Specializes in coatings and advanced materials using sol-gel process and develops sustainable solutions for todays global problems.

Sphinx The first of its kind automatic wet feeder helping pets, people and the planet.

Vizit  The global leader in predictive visual analytics, helping the worlds largest brands measure, manage and optimize image effectiveness through AI-powered visual brand performance software.

The Plug and Play Topeka accelerator aims to bring global innovation to the Midwest by facilitating opportunities for business development, mentorship pilots and POCs between the selected startups and founding partners of the program: Cargill, Evergy and Hills Pet Nutrition. Topeka is centrally located within the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, the worlds largest concentration of animal health and related industries.

We have a great group of startups that represent the breath of the animal health industry, said Lindsay Lebahn, program manager for Plug and Play Topeka. Because these startups were hand selected by our partners, we have already helped facilitate some meaningful conversations we hope will form into partnerships and pilots that will help shape the future of our industry.

More than 300 animal health companies located between Manhattan, Kansas, and Columbia, Missouri, including four of the top 10 animal health companies in the world, generate 56% of the total animal health, diagnostics and pet food sold globally, totaling $21.5 billion in annual sales.

Kansas is well known for its animal health and ag-tech successes, and Topeka is proud to further support the industry's growth through mentorship and business development provided by the accelerator, said Stephanie Moran, senior vice president of innovation at GO Topeka. By finding new ways to support animal health and agriculture, we can support the economy of Kansas, the Midwest and the U.S. as a whole. It is imperative that we continue to push forth this type of innovation through programs like Plug and Play.

Since the start of the program in the spring of 2021, 41 startups have graduated from the Plug and Play Topeka accelerator program. Each year, the program will develop two accelerator groups, both of which are made up of 10-12 animal health and ag-tech startups.

About GO Topeka

GO Topeka creates county-wide economic success for all companies and citizens through implementation of an aggressive economic-development strategy that capitalizes on the unique strengths of the community. GO Topeka operates under the Greater Topeka Partnership and is the leading economic development agency in the region. For more, visit GoTopeka.com.

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform connecting startups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we're present in 40+ locations across five continents. We offer corporate innovation programs and help our corporate partners in every stage of their innovation journey, from education to execution. We also organize startup acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC to drive innovation across multiple industries where we've invested in hundreds of successful companies including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal and Rappi. For more information, visit https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/.
2023 Hyundai TUCSON

Drivers in Marion, Ohio, who want to purchase the latest 2023 Hyundai TUCSON Limited can now do so at Mathews Hyundai. The dealership recently added the brand-new 2023 Hyundai TUCSON Limited. Interested buyers can also take a test drive of the vehicle prior to buying.

Interested buyers can visit the dealership to look closely at the 2023 Hyundai TUCSON Limited and visit the website to discover more about its features and specifications. The 2023 Hyundai Tucson is a strong bet in the compact crossover SUV segment thanks to its modern exterior design, extensive range of interior features, and effective hybrid and plug-in-hybrid (PHEV) variants.

Three different powertrain options are available for the 2023 Hyundai Tucson: a 2.5-liter four-cylinder, a hybrid, and a plug-in hybrid. For maximum performance, buyers can get the plug-in hybrid model that produces 261 horsepower. Estimates state that it has an all-electric range of 33 miles.

Customers interested in learning more about the 2023 Hyundai TUCSON Limited are encouraged to visit the dealership in person at 1793 Marion Mt. Gilead Road/Route 95, Marion, Ohio, 43302. Customers seeking assistance with their queries can contact the dealership by phone at 833-331-0082 or online at Mathews Hyundai Marion. The auto dealership takes pride in providing consumers with a hassle-free environment where they can purchase a vehicle.
RAMs offerings and deployment options provide a simplified path that plans need to consider in support of CalAIM and beyond.

RAM Technologies, Inc. (RAM), the perennial leader in enterprise software solutions and services for Medicare Advantage and Managed Medicaid health plans, is proud to sponsor the annual conference presented by the California Association of Health Plans (CAHP). RAM will be presenting their solutions for healthcare administration with a focus on support for California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM). This years event will be held October 17th  19th in Palm Desert, California.

We are pleased to support the California Association of Health Plans and the integral work they do throughout the state, stated Christopher P. Minton, Executive Vice President of RAM Technologies. CAHP works diligently ensuring the availability of quality healthcare for every Californian. We appreciate their efforts and share in their vision.

Mr. Minton added, At this years conference, RAM will be presenting our market leading solutions in support of California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM). Whether an organization is new to the Medicare Advantage market and considering an outsourced solution, or contemplating a system replacement to upgrade their application portfolio, RAMs offerings and deployment options provide a simplified path that plans need to consider in support of CalAIM and beyond.

This year, the state of California rolled out significant portions of CalAIM, a program redesign of the states Medicaid program. This initiative is being delivered in partnership with managed care plans across the state and is a long-term commitment to transforming the Medi-Cal system; strengthening the program, providing a more balanced and equitable approach to delivering healthcare services, and improving the quality of life for program participants.

RAM Technologies, Inc. provides both the technology platform (SaaS) and Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) options for health plans serving the Medicare Advantage and Managed Medicaid markets. RAMs core administrative solution, HEALTHsuite Advantage, represents the next evolution in Medicare Advantage and Managed Medicaid administration. HEALTHsuite Advantage deploys rapidly in a pre-configured state. This innovative approach slashes implementation durations, eliminates risk and reduces total cost of ownership. HEALTHsuite Advantages robust features and functions include all of the essential core system capabilities, including benefit administration, enrollment, billing, reconciliation, provider data management, provider contracting and reimbursement, utilization management, encounter and claims administration, fulfillment, customer service and more including fully integrated workflow and bi-directional integration with CMS  a must for Medicare Advantage and Managed Medicaid organizations.

RAM Health Services, RAMs internal BPaaS offering, provides health plans with the option to outsource all or select portions of their operations. This increased level of engagement affords plans, both small and large, with a wealth of expertise in government sponsored healthcare. For new market entrants, this offering is particularly attractive as it dramatically reduces time to market, alleviates hiring and HR issues and enhances health plan revenue.

About California Association of Health Plans (CAHP)

The California Association of Health Plans is a statewide trade association. CAHP works to sustain a strong environment in which their member plans can provide access to products that offer choice and flexibility to the Californians they serve. Most of their member plans provide coverage to Californians through the individual and group markets. Many member plans partner with the state by participating in government programs that provide health care coverage to children and adults in need. For more information, please visit http://www.calhealthplans.org or call (916) 552-2910.

About RAM Technologies:

RAM Technologies is the leading provider of enterprise claims processing software and CMS Integration tools for health care organizations administering Medicare Advantage, Special Needs and Managed Medicaid plans. For over 40 years RAM Technologies has led the way in the creation of benefit administration software for these programs and continues to enhance their managed care software to meet the needs of a rapidly changing market. RAM Technologies has been recognized on Inc. Magazines List of Fastest Growing Private Companies and the Philadelphia Business Journals List of Top Software Developers for their advancements in the creation of comprehensive auto adjudication software for Medicare and SNP administration. To learn more about RAM Technologies healthcare claims processing solutions call (877) 654-8810 or visit http://www.ramtechinc.com.
RFS is entering the federal marketplace during a massive digital transition, and we are uniquely positioned and motivated to help evolve and grow federal systems to meet these modern challenges.

RoviSys, a leading independent provider of comprehensive process automation, building automation, and discrete automation solutions announced today continued expansion of operations with the establishment of RoviSys Federal Solutions (RFS). RoviSys Federal Solutions is focused on providing automation and information solutions for challenges at the heart of the nations priorities, including national security, cybersecurity, smart infrastructure, and healthcare and citizen services. RFS connects federal agencies with automation and security solutions that enable smart infrastructure, address evolving threats, and facilitate improved efficiency and resiliency, all while managing costs.

Graham Staples will lead RFS as Managing Partner, bringing 15 years of proven experience and expertise across Power & Energy, Water & Wastewater, and Building Automation industries. A thorough understanding of controls and information systems and how they are utilized in utility and building management applications enables RFS to play a fundamental role partnering with the government as it begins its digitization and modernization journey. A team of dedicated project managers, software engineers, and automation experts ensures that the unique requirements of delivering solutions to the federal government are met.

RoviSys Federal Solutions delivers cutting edge automation and information solutions, underpinned by our 33-year history in the industrial and building automation domains, to the federal government while being mindful of requirements for compliance, resiliency, and cybersecurity, said Graham Staples. RFS is entering the federal marketplace during a massive digital transition, and we are uniquely positioned and motivated to help evolve and grow federal systems to meet these modern challenges.

Demonstrated Competencies:

Evaluation of government systems and establishment of modernization roadmaps for transitioning legacy systems to new and open technologies.



Specify, design, configure, install, and provide commissioning of mission critical systems in support of government agencies and the DoD.

Increase systems resiliency to ensure measurable improvement in operations and efficiencies.

Provide systems for collection and analysis of datasets that enable government users to demonstrate reaching efficiency and resiliency goals and mandates.

Evaluate and recommend best practices for cybersecurity in the OT domain. Provide hardware and configuration of these systems to enable delivery of secure solutions.

Leverage long established industry relationships to provide the highest level of access and support for industry leading vendor technologies.

Information about RoviSys Federal Solutions is available at http://www.rovifed.com

About RoviSys

RoviSys is an independent systems integrator that provides process automation, building automation, and discrete manufacturing automation solutions. We support digital transformation, industrial network solutions, and artificial intelligence, bringing information from plant floor to top floor. Industries include: Chemical, Petrochemical, Life Science, Mission Critical Data Center, Distribution & Fulfillment, Transportation, Consumer Packaged Goods, Glass, Metals, Power & Energy, Water & Wastewater, Paper & Wood, Oil & Gas, and Semiconductor.
Scholars for Conservation Leadership fellow Nina Jeffries. The scholars program invests in the next generation of conservation leaders in a way that benefits the participating students as well as communities that historically have been underrepresented within the conservation community, said Andrew Bowman, president and CEO of Land Trust Alliance.

The Land Trust Alliance, a national land conservation organization working to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America, and Western Reserve Land Conservancy, the largest land trust in Ohio and one of the largest in the nation, today announced the placement of our latest Scholars for Conservation Leadership Program Fellow.

The Scholars for Conservation Leadership Program (SCLP) is a career and leadership development program launched by the Land Trust Alliance and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Cooperative Forestry. The program aims to expand opportunities for students to pursue careers in natural resource management and conservation, with an emphasis on reaching students of underrepresented and minority backgrounds in these sectors.

The 2022 program brings together eight undergraduate college students from across the country for a professional development experience in conjunction with Rally 2022: The National Land Conservation Conference, being held September 15-17 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The students will attend the conference where they will have the opportunity to participate in numerous educational trainings and workshops, participate in a one-day seminar and connect with professionals from across the nation. Additionally, each scholar will be partnered with a mentor during the conference. One scholar will then be selected to participate in a paid, year-long fellowship with a land trust to gain on-the-job experience in 2023, following graduation.

This years Fellow, Nina Jeffries, graduated with a degree in environmental science and policy from the University of Maryland with a concentration in environmental economics. She also minored in Arabic studies. Ninas passion for conservation extends well beyond the classroom, however. She has completed internships with the Maryland Department of Agriculture, Environmental Law Institute, Our Childrens Trust, and an intern for the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice. She has also volunteered her time as the sustainability director for the University of Maryland Student Government Association, and as chapter secretary for Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences.

Nina began her paid, yearlong fellowship at Western Reserve Land Conservancy on July 6.

Northern Ohio is home to beautiful natural landscapes, working family farms, and vital urban greenspaces, Nina Jeffries said. I am excited to bring my experience and passion to an organization that is committed to protecting and strengthening these lands. Working with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy and their Thriving Communities team, I know I will learn a lot about justice-centered approaches to conservation that will serve me in my career for years to come. This is a great opportunity, and I am so honored to have been selected for this position.

The Alliances Scholars for Conservation Leadership Program provides career leadership development opportunities for college students of underrepresented or marginalized backgrounds who are interested in a career in conservation and natural resource management. Nine students were chosen for the 2021 program, with Nina Jefferies selected to receive a year-long paid fellowship with a land trust in 2022 following Rally 2021: The National Land Conservation Conference.

The scholars program invests in the next generation of conservation leaders in a way that benefits the participating students as well as communities that historically have been underrepresented within the conservation community, said Andrew Bowman, president and CEO of Land Trust Alliance. Were proud of our entire class of 2021 scholars and are particularly eager to watch as Nina Jeffries continues her conservation journey at Western Reserve Land Conservancy. Shell gain valuable experience with an outstanding land trust and begin to build a network of colleagues that will provide support as she pursues a career in conservation.

The Scholars program is an important opportunity for the Forest Service to support young leaders and invest in underserved communities, said Jaelith Hall-Rivera, Deputy Chief for State and Private Forestry of the USDA Forest Service. By recruiting diverse talent and welcoming new voices and perspectives, we can better serve all Americans and meet the challenges and opportunities facing the Nations forests. 

We are honored to partner with LTA and USDA on this incredibly important program that will transform the environmental conservation community in the coming years, said Rich Cochran, president and CEO of Western Reserve Land Conservancy. For far too long our community has been predominantly white and affluent, and we have unwittingly excluded entire segments of the population from our work. By deeply engaging with young adults from underrepresented backgrounds and communities, we provide professional opportunities to a new segment of the population and become far more relevant and effective as organizations and as a community of organizations devoted to improving and preserving environmental conditions for all people. I am very grateful that we have been blessed with a young woman as talented and passionate as Nina for the next year; it is such a privilege to be part of developing future leaders!

About the Land Trust Alliance

Founded in 1982, the Land Trust Alliance is a national land conservation organization that works to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America. The Alliance represents approximately 950 member land trusts supported by more than 250,000 volunteers and 6.3 million members nationwide. The Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and operates several regional offices. More information about the Alliance is available at http://www.landtrustalliance.org.

About Western Reserve Land Conservancy

The nationally accredited Western Reserve Land Conservancy  the largest local land trust in Ohioprovides the people of northern and eastern Ohio with essential natural assets through land conservation and restoration. The Land Conservancy has preserved natural areas and working farms in 28 counties across Ohio. Its urban program, Thriving Communities, works statewide to clean and green urban centers devastated by the foreclosure crisis. To date, the Land Conservancy has permanently preserved over 800 properties totaling approximately 70,000 acres; helped create more than 190 public parks and preserves; led the efforts to create 50 county land banks across Ohio; as well as planted and distributed more than 14,000 robust trees in Cleveland. For more information, please visit http://www.wrlandconservancy.org.

About the USDA Forest Service

The mission of the USDA Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the nations forests, grasslands and watersheds to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, and maintains world-renowned forestry research and wildland fire management organizations. The Cooperative Forestry unit of the USDA Forest Service works closely with partners to enhance and maintain forests across watersheds and ecosystems, both on private and public land, and delivers its work through states, local governments, other federal agencies, non-profit organizations, and other partners leveraging additional resources and fueling innovation.

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I am grateful for the trust our leadership has in me, and I look forward to seeing Smith and our team continue to thrive in the coming years.

Smith, a leading independent distributor of electronic components and semiconductors, today announces the appointment of Art Figueroa to the position of Senior Vice President of Global Operations. In this role, Art will support the companys operational initiatives and strategies globally and lead and manage its distribution hubs in North America and EMEA.

Art always puts Smith first and consistently goes above and beyond his stated responsibilities to help us provide top-tier service and products to our global customers, said Kirk Wehby, Chief Operating Officer at Smith. He is loyal, dedicated, and a true people person. I know I can always count on him and look forward to his continued success in this new role.

Art joined Smith in 2004 as Manager of Corporate Security. He was named Security and Facilities Director in 2012 and to his most recent role of Vice President of Operations and Quality in 2013. His people-focused leadership and commitment to continuous improvement will help drive Smiths efforts to innovate and elevate its operational activities.

We have several leading-edge initiatives on the horizon  including implementing additional automation into our processes, improved employee development, and enhancing our technology, software, and testing capabilities  and I am excited for the opportunity to support these projects at our global facilities, said Art. The future at Smith is bright because of the remarkable team members I have had the pleasure of working with throughout my tenure. I am grateful for the trust our leadership has in me, and I look forward to seeing Smith and our team continue to thrive in the coming years.

About Smith

Founded in 1984, Smith sources, manages, and distributes the electronic components that go into everything from mobile phones and computers to appliances and directional drilling systems. In 17 cities around the world, Smiths legion of employees communicates in 50 languages and dialects and buys and sells components 24 hours per day, generating global annual sales in excess of $3.4 billion in 2021. Smith is always moving: helping manufacturers navigate market shifts; customizing supply chain solutions; testing components using cutting-edge technology. The support of Smiths flexible Intelligent DistributionTM model optimizes customers supply chains from beginning to end, including offering customized options for IT asset disposition that deliver maximum ROI, sustainability, and security. Smiths testing and logistics hubs in Houston, Hong Kong, and Amsterdam cover critical areas like quality management, counterfeit prevention, and environmental safety. Smiths operations, purchasing, and sales worldwide are seamlessly integrated with the companys global IT infrastructure, offering real-time, global inventory and logistics visibility. Smith is the leading independent distributor of electronic components and ranks number seven among all global distributors. For more information, please visit http://www.smithweb.com or reach out to a Smith representative any time of day at +1 713.430.3000.

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Softtek President & CEO Blanca Trevino visits company's global delivery center in Bangalore, India Our Nearshore model, complemented with India capabilities, has proven to be very valuable for our customers. We plan to significantly increase our capabilities in Bangalore in the next three years

Softtek, a global company dedicated to helping organizations evolve through digital technology, has announced plans to add 5,000 people to its Bangalore office by 2025, increasing its total headcount to more than 20,000 worldwide.

This week Blanca Trevino, president & CEO of Softtek, will travel from Monterrey, Mexicowhere the companys global headquarters resideto visit local management, employees and partners in Bangalore.

Talent is our biggest asset, and to stay ahead of the increasing demand for digital transformation services, we know we need to make smart investments for our people and clients, says Trevino. We are growing in several markets, including Colombia, Mexico and Europe. India is an ideal destination to complement Softteks global strategy, continued Trevino.

In July, Softtek was recognized by Great Place to Work in India, and furthermore, in Q2 the company announced an expansion of its digital and QA capabilities from Bangalore. This preceded its recent placement as Leaders in the The Forrester Wave: Modern Application Development Services, Q3 2022 report.

The company has gained prominence through its trademarked Global Nearshore delivery model, which leverages globally distributed teams to create digital solutions, allocating a significant number of team members in adjacent or nearby locations to its clients.

Our Nearshore model, complemented with India capabilities, has proven to be very valuable for our customers. We plan to significantly increase our capabilities in Bangalore in the next three years, added Trevino.

This year 2022 marks Softteks 40th anniversary and coincides with a new global brand strategy: "Future Together," which aims to highlight the importance of joining forces with its people, clients and partners to address the challenges of a future centered around digitalization.

With 15,000 professionals globally, today Softtek is a global leader in next-generation digital solutions, with 18 delivery centers in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

About Softtek:

Founded in 1982 by a small group of entrepreneurs, Softtek started out in Mexico providing local IT services, and today is a global leader in next-generation digital solutions. The first company to introduce the Nearshore model, Softtek helps Global 2000 organizations build their digital capabilities constantly and seamlessly, from ideation and development to execution and evolution. Its entrepreneurial drive spans 20+ countries and more than15,000 talented professionals. Learn how Softtek creates value through technology at http://www.softtek.com and connect with @Softtek in social media.
We are truly delighted to partner with Spark+ as we aggressively push the clean energy agenda in Kenya. - John Njihia, Chief Executive Officer of Sumac

Spark+ Africa Fund (Spark+ or the Fund) has provided a 3-year, USD 2 million loan to Kenya-based Sumac Microfinance Bank (Sumac). Sumac is the second investment since the Fund launched in March 2022.

As one of a variety of credit products, Sumac offers its energy-focused Kawi Loan product which can be used to finance the purchase of improved cookstoves, biogas digesters, and solar systems. For clean cooking solutions, Sumac has partnered with Kenyan cookstove company BURN Manufacturing, and Sistema.bio, a biogas company with operations in Kenya and across multiple continents.

Sumac will use the investment from Spark+ to grow its Kawi Loan portfolio: over the next three years, Sumac aims to finance the purchase of clean cooking solutions for an estimated 15,500 households. Those that acquire a BURN stove can save time and up to USD 80 per year on fuel costs while those that purchase a Sistema.bio biogas digester can displace 100% of their cooking fuel costs and avoid more than USD 30 per month in fertilizer costs, while also powering agri-processing appliances. Both companies products can improve health, reduce harmful pollution, and limit the use of wood and charcoal.

Xavier Pierluca, Investment Director of Spark+ and Managing Partner of EQ: Microfinance institutions like Sumac are demonstrating how effective financial intermediaries can be to further access to essential goods and services. It is a pleasure to deepen EQs relationship with Sumac, which in addition to providing working capital support to farmers is also contributing the lives of their families with access to clean energy products.

Peter George, Investment Director of Spark+ and Chairman of Stichting Modern Cooking: This investment demonstrates our commitment to product-agnostic financial intermediaries that play an important role in addressing affordability constraints by focusing on their core competency of consumer lending. Sumac is an excellent example of a well-managed, growing MFI that has created strategic partnerships with market-leading clean cooking companies, and we look forward to supporting Sumac as they scale-up their Kawi Loan portfolio in Kenya.

Mary Mukuria, Investment Officer at EQ: Whilst clean cooking energy and solutions have unquestionable benefits to households, the upfront or transition costs are not affordable to many. In this respect, financial intermediaries fill a significant gap in the ecosystem by providing consumer financing in the last mile. We are pleased to partner with Sumac due to the banks strategic alignment to offer financial inclusion products for clean cooking adoption.

John Njihia, Chief Executive Officer of Sumac: We are truly delighted to partner with Spark+ as we aggressively push the clean energy agenda in Kenya. This facility supports our Kawi Loan product which enables us to ensure that our clients, in particular those engaged in agribusiness and dairy farming, can lower their energy costs and secure affordable and reliable clean cooking energy. We look forward to a long term partnership with Spark+.

About clean cooking solutions: 900 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lack clean and modern energy for cooking. Without the electric stoves and piped natural gas prevalent in developed countries, they are forced to spend an estimated $35 billion annually on unhealthy and polluting open fires, charcoal, and kerosene. According to a 2020 World Bank report, this generates annual social, environmental, and economic costs of more than $330 billion in Africa, while the investment required by the private sector to deliver access to modern alternatives would be only $2.6 billion. Solutions that rely on LPG, ethanol, electricity, biogas, and processed biomass fuels, as well as more efficient biomass stoves, are being commercialized with technology-integrated business models and are enabling underserved consumers to adopt modern energy.

About Spark+ Africa Fund: Spark+ is the first impact investment fund launched by Spark+ General Partner (GP), a joint venture between its Switzerland-based investment advisor EQ, and Netherlands-based foundation SMC. Switzerland-based Woodman Asset Management acts as the Funds Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM). The Funds investors include leading development finance institutions, pension funds, family offices, and foundations. The Fund has a target size of $70 million. The US-based Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA), an initiative hosted by the United Nations Foundation, supported the development of Spark+. http://www.sparkafricafund.com

About Enabling Qapital: EQ is an investment advisory company with strong ties in the impact investment sector and deep expertise in finance, with its founding partners unique skillsets and 100+ year proven track record. EQ is the exclusive advisor to the Enabling Microfinance Fund and has a global footprint of investment professionals across Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America who originate, execute, and monitor investments. EQ is the exclusive investment advisor to Spark+ and a shareholder in the GP. http://www.enabling.ch

About Stichting Modern Cooking: SMC is a Netherlands-based foundation governed by a management board which consists of clean cooking sector experts and impact investment professionals. SMC is a shareholder in the GP and the Funds TA partner. http://www.moderncooking.org

About Sumac Microfinance Bank: Sumac is a fully licensed bank regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya. Sumac serves approximately 14,000 customers, and manages a portfolio of approximately 3,000 loans totaling USD 13 million. Since its founding in 2004, Sumac has grown to employ 56 staff, 12 of which are loan officers responsible for generating leads for the Kawi Loan product across its 5 retail branches. In May, Sumac received four awards at the Think Business Banking Awards 2022 including Best Agriculture & Livestock Financing, Best Microfinance Bank in Kenya (2nd runner up), and Most Efficient Microfinance Bank category (runner up) and the Fastest Growing Microfinance Bank in Kenya (runner up). http://www.sumacmicrofinancebank.co.ke

For more information, please contact:

Xavier Pierluca: xavier.pierluca@enabling.ch

Peter George: peter.george@enabling.ch
Medical Call Center ...MedAnswer Assist has already demonstrated a 30 percent increase in the accuracy of urgent message referrals, equal to six (6) million calls.

TriageLogic is proud to announce its new patent-pending, Artificial Intelligence-based (AI) tool for medical message takers. Known as MedAnswer Assist, this freestanding module prompts Answering Service Operators (ASOs) with the appropriate questions to ask patient callers to verify whether theyre experiencing symptoms that warrant urgent medical evaluation. The following breaks down why this technology is so revolutionary, how it benefits medical answering services, nurses and doctors, and how healthcare organizations can leverage this service for their own patient care.

Why MedAnswer Assist Is So Important

Its the responsibility of every healthcare provider (physicians or telehealth triage nurses) to get patient callers to the appropriate levels of care in the appropriate windows of time. Delays in care are dangerous to both patient health and practice liability. However, doctors and nurses are usually not the first points of contact that a patient has with a provider. Instead, its often a message intake service such as a front desk, a message portal, or an operator working at an answering service. These operators relay patient phone messages to providers.

Some patient symptoms may be relatively easy to identify as urgent, like a newborn experiencing a fever, or an adult with chest pain. But patients who call about refill requests, for example, may fail to mention a serious symptom that is more serious or even life-threatening. This can happen when patients are simply unaware of the urgency of their symptoms, or if the intake person does not know when to ask further questions.

This is where MedAnswer Assist comes in: it analyzes the text being entered and automatically prompts the user with appropriate questions so that they can document concerning symptoms that a provider needs to know. This helps providers decrease morbidity and mortality due to lack of information.

Medical Call Center Results

Implementing MedAnswer Assist can have a substantial influence on patient health outcomes. Approximately 100 million messages are relayed to doctors and nurses in the United States in a given month. Of those, an estimated 20 million are urgent cases. In one of TriageLogics studies, MedAnswer Assist has already demonstrated a 30 percent increase in the accuracy of urgent message referrals, equal to six (6) million calls.

Implementing MedAnswer Assist

MedAnswer Assist is designed for easy implementation for any medical call center. As TriageLogic explains, it requires minimal training to get started and adds very little time to the call intake process.

As previously noted, this tool is self-standing: ASOs can use it right out of the box, or it can be seamlessly integrated with a providers current answering service software through MedAnswer Assists prebuilt APIs and integration modules.

Medical Call Center Support

Turnover has been affecting much of the healthcare industry in recent years, even before the spread of COVID-19. Thats why TriageLogic offers support services in addition to its MedAnswer Assist tool.

For those providers who need medical answering services, TriageLogic also offers Nurse Triage On Call. This program operates out of its own medical call center, which includes clinical and nonclinical staff. Their ASOs and registered nurses can become an extension of a providers practice, offering customized instructions on care dispositions that are specific to that provider. ASOs use MedAnswer Assist to address incoming patient calls, while RNs serve as triage nurses to address these callbacks in the appropriate windows of time. Both clinical and nonclinical support are available 24/7. Additionally, TriageLogics nurses leverage the gold standard of nurse triage protocols from Drs. Schmitt and Thompson in order to evaluate patient symptom severity.

Nurse Triage Evaluations and Training

TriageLogic ensures that all RNs undergo a strict evaluation process. This includes verifying their medical knowledge and experience, their listening skills for addressing patients over the phone, as well as their abilities to manage difficult calls and still obtain the information they need in order to generate accurate dispositions for care.

TriageLogic also offers its own internal training and certification courses for nurses interested in expanding their skills in the areas of telephone triage and support. Information regarding this training can be found in their Learning Center, or discussed in a direct needs assessment with a providers team.

Patient Data Sharing and Security (SOC 2 Type 2)

For health systems that choose to partner with TriageLogic for outsourced medical call center support, all patient interactions are documented in their nurse triage software, myTriageChecklist. This patient data is then shared directly with the appropriate providers for continuity of care. Data can either be integrated directly with a providers existing EHR, or through files that are compatible with it.

All information is HIPAA compliant and encrypted, following cybersecuritys best practices for health care. TriageLogic is also getting SOC 2 certification.

Contact TriageLogic for More Information

Providers and medical call centers that are interested in using MedAnswer Assist to improve the health outcomes of their patients are encouraged to contact TriageLogic to schedule an introductory call. Information about TriageLogics services  including Nurse Triage On Call, myTriageChecklist, nurse triage protocols, and remote patient monitoring (RPM)  can also be found on their website.

About TriageLogic

TriageLogic is a URAC-accredited, physician-led provider of top-quality nurse telehealth technology, remote patient monitoring, and medical call center solutions. Founded in 2007, the TriageLogic Group now serves more than 9,000 physicians and covers over 25 million lives nationwide. Learn more about the company and its services by visiting triagelogic.com.
2022 Walk & Roll to Cure FSHD The livestream celebration is an important aspect of the event. As FSHD is a rare disease, many that are impacted often feel isolated and alone. With the live event on Facebook, those miles between us fade away and people feel less alone.

The FSHD Society announces its annual Walk & Roll to Cure FSHD Livestream Celebration. The Walk & Roll is the largest - and only - international campaign focused solely on raising funds and awareness for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a debilitating and rare form of muscular dystrophy that affects nearly one million men, women, and children around the world.

Individuals from across North America are taking part in the Societys fifth annual Walk & Roll to Cure FSHD, the organizations signature event. In-person events have been organized by volunteers in cities across the US and Canada throughout September and October. In one online event, all the events will come together for a 3-hour livestream celebration on Facebook@FSHDSociety on Saturday, September 17, 8:30-11:30am Central.

The livestream celebration is an important aspect of the event. As FSHD is a rare disease, many that are impacted often feel isolated and alone. When we come together for this live event on Facebook, those miles between us fade away and people feel connected to something so much larger than the event happening right in front of them and they feel less alone, says Leigh Reynolds, chief program strategist with the FSHD Society.

Back as the National Ambassador for the Walk & Roll is actor, producer, and writer, Max Adler. Adler may be best known for his role in Glee but has been seen recently in such films as The Trial of the Chicago Seven, as well as a long list of appearances on noted television series. For Adler, his participation is deeply personal. I watched my mom and Grandma struggle with this disease, and I dont want that to happen to anyone, anywhere, ever again, said Adler.

FSHD is relentless. Its a progressive disease that robs you of your smile, your ability to walk or perform simple, every-day tasks that most people take for granted, said Beth Johnston, the Societys chief community development officer. This disease stops for no one, and neither will we.

This years Walk & Roll aims to raise $1 million dollars to support research into treatments and a cure, as well as a wide variety of patient support and education services. Expenses for the event were offset by national sponsors, Optum, AMRA, Dyne Therapeutics, and Avidity Biosciences, as well as a host of local community sponsors.

Supporters across North America can still register for and donate to the FSHD Societys Walk & Roll event by visiting FSHDSociety.org/Walk-Roll. Everyone is invited to tune in to the FSHD Society Walk & Roll Facebook Live Celebration on September 17. Event participants from coast to coast will call in and there will be a special appearance by Max Adler.

The FSHD Society is the worlds largest research-focused patient advocacy organization for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), one of the most prevalent forms of MD. Over the past 31 years, the organization has catalyzed major advancements and worked to accelerate the development of treatments and a cure to end the pain, disability, and suffering endured by one million people worldwide who live with FSHD. The FSHD Society has transformed the landscape for FSHD research and is committed to making sure that no one faces this disease alone.

The Society offers a community of support, news, and information through its website at https://www.fshsociety.org.

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We are thrilled to welcome Mark Bartlett as Young Livings Executive Vice President of Science and Development. Mark has extensive experience in understanding the science behind plant-based products.

Young Living Essential Oils, LLC, the world leader in essential oils and essential oil-infused products, is proud to announce the appointment of Mark R. Bartlett Ph.D. as the companys Executive Vice President of Science and Development.

With nearly 30 years of experience in the nutrition supplement industry, Bartlett has dedicated himself to spearheading innovation while keeping safety at the forefront of the process. His background and experience will serve as valuable assets to Young Livings mission of providing consumers with safe and effective naturally derived plant-based products that complement and enhance their wellness journeys.

Prior to joining Young Living, Bartlett served as vice president of global research and development for Pharmanex, where he oversaw a team of scientists, technicians, and educators focused on the innovation, research, and development of new products. He is also a member of the Council for Responsible Nutrition Senior Scientific Advisory Council, The American Association of Immunologists, and The New York Academy of Sciences.

Mark Bartlett brings to Young Living a longstanding commitment to health consciousness that is informed by science. As an Australia native, Bartlett is deeply familiar with the benefits of natural plant-based products. He studied at the Australian National University in Canberra, where he obtained degrees in organic chemistry and biochemistry.

While working on his graduate research, Bartlett examined the path of carbon during plant photosynthesis. His study confirmed a new biosynthetic pathway and discovered a new enzyme involved in the photosynthetic (Calvin) cycle. Bartletts research on cardiovascular disease focused on the role of reactive oxygen species and free radicals. He also studied the role of blood platelets in heart disease and helped publish the first scientific report of a biochemical link between cigarette smoking and the buildup of plaque on artery walls. Later, Bartlett became interested in autoimmune inflammatory diseases and examined several different plant-derived natural products for their ability to inhibit graft rejection, cancer metastasis, and autoimmune disease.

After working for a few years as a research assistant in a hospital cancer research laboratory, Bartlett pursued a Ph.D. in immunology and cell biology at The John Curtin School of Medical Research. He was also a visiting scientist at the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, where Bartlett investigated the interaction of T-cells with the blood vessel wall and the role of various adhesion molecules that are used by these cells to communicate with one another.

We are thrilled to welcome Mark Bartlett as Young Livings Executive Vice President of Science and Development. Mark has extensive experience in understanding the science behind plant-based products, said Mary Young, Founder and CEO of Young Living Essential Oils. Young Living is dedicated to building a team of experts that reflect our mission for creating sustainable and health-conscious products.

Bartlett added, I am honored to be stepping into this role for Young Living. The passion for using natural ingredients is what sets this company apart in the essential oils community, and Im excited to be a part of it. I look forward to working with the other Research Science and Development team members in the coming months as we continue to push for innovation and ensure optimal quality control for Young Livings unparalleled products.

About Young Living Essential Oils

Young Living Essential Oils, LC, based in Lehi, Utah, is the world leader in essential oils, offering the highest-quality oil-infused products available. Young Living takes its industry leadership seriously, setting the standard with its proprietary Seed to Seal quality commitment, which involves three critical pillars: Sourcing, Science, and Standards. These guiding principles help Young Living protect the planet and provide pure, authentic products that its members can feel confident about using and sharing with friends and family. Young Livings productswhich all come from corporate-owned farms, partner farms, and Seed to Seal-certified suppliersnot only support a healthy lifestyle but also provide opportunities for over 6 million global members to find a sense of purpose and whole-life wellness by aligning their work with their values and passions. For more information, visit YoungLiving.com, follow @youngliving on Instagram, or like us on Facebook.

Media Contact

For media inquiries, please contact prinquiries@youngliving.com.
Clinical psychologists are committed to alleviating human suffering. So, why is talking about their own psychopathologies stigmatized? A panel of clinical psychologists share their findings on lived experiences of psychopathology and disability among their profession.

Clinical psychological scientists assess and treat the mental, emotional, and behavioral challenges of countless people every day. But one topic is still largely tabootheir own personal experiences with psychopathology.

Despite the nature of clinical psychologists work, there is a stigma around disclosing personal mental health difficulties or diagnoses, even if those difficulties or diagnoses are the reason they chose to enter the field. Clinical psychologists face a double-standardtreat and destigmatize mental illness, but hide personal mental health difficulties. In a crowded session at APS 2022, a panel of four clinical psychological scientists discussed how theyre working to combat that stigma.

Jennifer Muehlenkamp (University of Wisconsin) presented findings from a study she co-authored that was recently published in Perspectives on Psychological Science. It found that more than 80% of respondentsincluding faculty, graduate students, and others affiliated with accredited doctoral and internship programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology in the United States and Canadareported lifetime mental health difficulties. Nearly half of the respondents reported a diagnosed mental health disorder. These data provide the first large-scale empirical evidence of what many in the field have only discussed behind closed doors: namely, that psychologists have at least their fair share of diagnosed and undiagnosed mental health difficulties, the researchers wrote.

The most commonly reported issues among those with mental health difficulties or diagnoses were depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and suicidal thoughts or behaviors. These rates were similar to or greater than those observed in the general population. Respondents reported, however, that their experience with mental health difficulties did not hinder their professional work.

We can, and should, do better [in accepting those professionals with lived experience of mental health difficulties], not only to improve our professional climate and training environments, but to strengthen our ability to achieve the core mission of applied psychological science, which is to understand and alleviate human suffering, the researchers concluded.

Jennifer Muelenkamp (University of Wisconsin) and Andrew Devendorf (University of South Florida) spoke on the lived experiences of clinical psychologists with psychopathologies.

Leveraging strengths

Jessica Schleider (Stony Brook University) presented findings from another recent Perspectives study about leveraging the strengths of psychologists with lived experience of psychopathology. She outlined a few common challenges facing these psychologists, such as low stipends making it difficult to access treatment, a dearth of clear policies regarding accommodations, and fears of professional consequences including fewer opportunities, being judged negatively, or losing colleagues respect. The authors wrote that psychopathology is not an insurmountable barrier to success in academic psychology, nor should disclosure be expected or coerced.

Notably, the authors also disclosed their experiences with psychopathologyboth negative and positiveto improve professional inclusivity in the field. Schleider shared these quotes from the study:

After requesting a stop-the-clock for mental health reasons, the disability office told me I just needed a mentor and told me to talk to a senior faculty member in another department. I did not need a mentor; I needed an accommodation.

Being told by my students that a part of their choice to work with me was my openness and transparency about my own lived experience, as this modeled it was okay to not be okay sometimes.

The paper concluded with a set of preliminary recommendations and next steps to create personal and systemic changes (see sidebar).

We invite readers, especially individuals in relative positions of power, to identify feasible, concrete steps you can take to move these conversations forward in your lab, program, department, research area, and discipline, wrote the researchers.

Recommendations and Next Steps (Victor et al., Leveraging the Strengths of Psychologists With Lived Experience of Psychopathology) Develop an infrastructure to gather data towards field-wide standards for promoting accessibility and inclusion related to diverse and intersectional lived psychopathology experiences. Improve transparency in contexts where people with lived experience of psychopathology may feel pressured to disclose (or not to disclose) their experiences. Reduce barriers to help-seeking among trainees and faculty living with psychopathology. Establish clear differentiation between assessment of professional impairment and unfounded judgments regarding lived experience of psychopathology as it relates to suitability for education or employment. Reduce barriers to disclosure of psychopathology, for those who may wish to disclose. Increase incentives for consideration of psychopathology in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.

To disclose or not to disclose mental health difficulties?

Laurie Leventhal-Belfer (Stanford University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health and a board member at the Stanford Medicine Alliance for Disability Inclusion and Equity) discussed the conundrum facing many people with mental health difficulties: to disclose or not to disclose. Despite the high prevalence, undergraduates, graduate students, psychologists, and psychiatrists across all levels of training tend to choose not to disclose their diagnoses to anyone, according to Victor et al. in Only Human. Although there is fear that disclosing will have a negative professional impact, there are benefits to disclosing. For example, it can yield insight into the organizations commitment to providing accommodations and into the availability of faculty and programs that can help people navigate available resources. Doing so may also reduce stress about how others will react.

Leventhal-Belfer framed psychopathology as a hidden disability that should be treated the same as physical disabilities. For those who do disclose, reasonable accommodations should be readily accessible and clearly defined to reduce subjective judgment, she said.

Leventhal-Belfer recommended advocating for colleagues and students with disabilities, fighting for disability accommodations at academic institutions, creating university positions in charge of disabilities, developing disability curricula, and advocating for change in states boards of physicians and psychologists to stop asking for mental health records.

As it stands now, she added, most health science programs and government protections require some type of documentation to receive accommodations. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 protects individuals with disabilitiesincluding mental health disordersin many aspects of life, such as prohibiting discrimination by state and local governments, including public schools. Section 504 protects all individuals with disabilities, but only in institutions receiving federal funding.

Lastly, Andrew Devendorf (University of South Florida) shared findings from what he said is the first study about self-relevant research (SRR), in which scholars have a lived experience with, or close connection to, their research topic. This study is currently a draft and has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Over 50% of participantsincluding faculty, graduate students, and others affiliated with doctoral programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychologyhad conducted SRR, the study found. Those from minoritized backgrounds were more likely to conduct SRR. Participants who had never done SRR appeared to hold stigmatizing attitudes toward those who did, describing them as biased, irresponsible, or selfish. Conversely, participants who conducted SRR viewed others doing SRR as admirable, motivated, and insightful. Both groups stigmatized the disclosure of SRR, however.

Devendorf and colleagues concluded with a few recommendations. They warned that disclosure of SRR has risks and rewards. Researchers with personal connections to mental health topics (e.g., depression) are more likely to be viewed pejoratively by colleagues than those with personal connections to physical health topics (e.g., cancer). However, disclosing ones personal connection to ones research area may also enhance self-empowerment through feelings of authenticity, while promoting dialogue that normalizes acceptance of SRR.

They also proposed that accepting self-relevant researchers connects to diversity and inclusion efforts in psychological science.

When considering that psychology has continued to struggle to gain adequate representation of these marginalized backgrounds in research, it becomes crucial that psychologists not also discriminate against someone for their personal motivations to pursue research, they wrote.

Related content: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/mental-health-disorders-among-psychologists.html

Feedback on this article? Email apsobserver@psychologicalscience.org or login to comment.

References and related reading

Devendorf, A., Victor, S. E., Rottenberg, J., Miller, R., Lewis, S. P., Muehlenkamp, J. J., & Stage, D. L. (2021). Stigmatizing our own: Self-relevant research (me-search) is common but frowned upon in clinical psychological science. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/szg5d

Lawrence, R. (2020, December). Disclosing mental illness: a doctors dilemma. BJPsych Bulletin, 44(6), 227-230. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2020.25

Leventhal-Belfer, L. (2020). College on the Autism Spectrum. A Parents Guide to Students Mental Health and Wellbeing. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Meeks, L.M., Cleary, J., & Horwitz, A. (2022). Analysis of depressive symptoms and perceived impairment among physicians across intern year. JAMA Network Open, 5(1) Article e2144919. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.44919

Seema, J. (2020, March 30). Why so many doctors treat their mental health in secret. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/opinion/doctors-mental-health-stigma.html

Victor, S.E., Devendorf, A. R., Lewis, S. P., Rottenberg, J., Muehlenkamp, J. J., Stage, D. L., & Miller, R. H. (2022). Only human: Mental health difficulties among clinical, counseling, and school psychology faculty and trainees. Perspectives on Psychological Science. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916211071079

Victor, S. E., Schleider, J. L., Ammerman, B. A., Bradford, D. E., Devendorf, A. R., Gruber, J., Gunaydin, L. A., Hallion, L. S., Kaufman, E. A., Lewis, S. P., & Stage, D. L. (2022). Leveraging the strengths of psychologists with lived experience of psychopathology. Perspectives on Psychological Science. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916211072826
For those of us who cherish the freedom to read, the current wave of attacks on books in schools and libraries is disheartening. For the teachers and librarians on the front lines, it is far worse. They are being attacked for choosing books that reflect the needs of their students and patrons. They are accused of grooming children for sexual abuse, or indoctrinating them with allegedly anti-American ideas about race. In the face of these threats, many are considering leaving the profession they love.

The vitriol is also being directed at the parents, students, and community members courageously standing up and speaking out at public meetings against banning books.

But it would be a mistake to give in to despair. Americans have been successfully fighting for the freedom to read for over a century. In the 1920s, for example, the newly organized American Civil Liberties Union denounced efforts by super-patriots to turn schools into a vehicle for their propaganda. It also challenged a ban on the teaching of evolution in Tennessee with the help of a science teacher named John Scopes.

Publishers, booksellers, and librarians joined the fight against book-banning efforts in 1953, after Sen. Joseph McCarthy led a campaign to purge books by 75 communist authors from libraries operated by the U.S. State Department. The American Library Association and the American Book Publishers Council responded by issuing a statement, The Freedom to Read, in which they declared such a freedom as essential to our democracy. Even President Dwight Eisenhower joined the fight. Dont join the book burners, he said.

The next two decades saw significant advances in protecting free speech, as the Supreme Court struck down laws that Southern states were using to suppress the civil rights movement, while also expanding artistic freedom and broadening protections for protesters. But book banning surged again in the 1980s, when conservative groups sought to silence authors like Judy Blume, who wrote about sex and the other complex issues facing young people. The number of book challenges in schools and libraries shot up to more than 1,300 a year.

Once again, publishers, librarians, and booksellers successfully fought back. The ALA launched Banned Books Week in 1982 to counter claims that libraries were harming children. Libraries and bookstores mounted displays of challenged books to give people a chance to see what the book banners were attacking. The most significant achievement of this period was the adoption by many schools and libraries of a formal process for evaluating challenged books.

 During this years Banned Books Week September 1824librarians, booksellers, publishers, and authors will again urge the American people to reject censorship. 

Previously, there had been nothing to stop a school official from simply pulling challenged books off shelves. Today, most school districts require a written complaint. When a complaint is filed, the school responds by forming a review committee that usually includes a professional (a librarian or teacher), a parent, and sometimes a student.

These efforts made a difference. Banned Books Week became an institution, with thousands of libraries and hundreds of bookstores participating every September. The review committees blocked most of the attempts to ban books, and the number of challenges fell steadily. In 2019, the ALA counted only 377 challenges targeting 566 books.

Over the last year, however, attacks on the freedom to read have surged. The advent of social media has allowed fear and misinformation to circulate widely, and Republican politicians are cashing in on the fear of books to get elected, specifically targeting books and authors that explore the impact of slavery and the persistence of racism in America, or describe the lives of LGBTQ people.

In 2021, there were 729 challenges targeting nearly 1,600 books. School officials began violating their policies by ordering that books be removed from shelvessometimes dozens at a timefor review. Others are putting books on restricted shelves where students cant see them or require parental permission to check them out.

However, once again, the defenders of free expression and the freedom to read are fighting back. During this years Banned Books WeekSeptember 1824librarians, booksellers, publishers, and authors will again urge the American people to reject censorship. The ALA has just launched a national campaign, Unite Against Book Bans (uniteagainstbookbans.org), to mobilize the solid majority of people who oppose efforts to remove books from schools and public libraries.

The long history of book banning in America gives us reason to hope that the freedom to read will prevailbut only if we fight for it.

Christopher M. Finan is executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship and the author of How Free Speech Saved Democracy.
Clarence C. Strowbridge, the retired past president of Dover Publications, died on August 5. He was 89.

Hired by Dover in 1959, Strowbridge began his career as an editor, editing such titles as Classic American Short Stories, Short Story Masterpieces by American Women Writers, and 100 Favorite English and Irish Poems. He was later promoted to v-p and and executive v-p and editor-in-chief of the publisher.

In September 2000, he became president of Dover Publications, and retired in October 2005. After retiring, he remained on as president emeritus, continuing to assist the Dover editorial team, before retiring in 2012.
Press Release

September 13, 2022 Senate adopts resolution supporting Medium-Term Fiscal Framework The Senate has adopted a concurrent resolution backing the national government's 2022-2028 Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF), which calls for the alignment of all economic recovery programs and measures with legislative priorities. With one negative vote and one abstention, the Senate on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 3 introduced by Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" F. Zubiri, Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, and Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III voted against CRN 3, saying the measure lacked "intelligible details" while Sen. Risa Hontiveros abstained from voting. Sen. Sonny Angara, sponsor of the measure, pointed out it is the first time since he helmed the Committee on Finance and throughout his nearly two decades of serving the public as a legislator that a sitting administration laid out a fiscal framework to guide the decisions of lawmakers and civil servants. "We believe there's no argument on the need for the government to be fiscally responsible as it works to jumpstart our economic recovery. Hence, under the MTFF, while the government pursues its socioeconomic agenda, it shall also exercise fiscal discipline," Angara said. In a nutshell, the MTFF shall serve as the country's blueprint specifically for fiscal deficit reduction, promotion of fiscal sustainability, and enabling robust economic growth while the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the near-term, the MTFF underscores the 8-point priority agenda that is aimed to protect the purchasing power of Filipinos and mitigating the socio-economic scarring of the pandemic on families and consumers. These near-term 8 priorities are ensuring food security; reduce transport and logistics costs; reduce energy costs to families; tackle health concerns; strengthen social protection, which includes efforts to improve the 4Ps and expedite the implementation of the National ID System; reopen of face- to-face classes in a safe and timely manner; make the bureaucracy more efficient through digitalization; and pursue sound fiscal management through taxation reforms and better revenue allocation. The medium-term socioeconomic agenda, on the other hand, will focus on generating greener, sustainable, and high paying jobs for Filipinos. This is possible through the promotion of the Philippines as an investment destination; improved infrastructure, enhanced by public-private partnerships; ensure energy security; enhance employability through better-quality education and training opportunities; expand and improve digital infrastructure; encourage research and development and innovation; adopting a "green" and "blue" mindset to managing the economy; and establishing liveable and sustainable communities. The resolution provides for the review and updating of the MTFF in three years or in 2025 before the start of the 20th Congress to reflect the current economic conditions and developments. "Whereas, there is a need to adopt a whole-of-nation approach to align all economic recovery programs and measures of the National Government (NG) with the legislative priorities...Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring, that the legislative agenda shall be guided by targets set in the 2022-2028 Medium-Term Fiscal Framework," the concurrent resolution read.
Ever moving forward to provide opportunities for students, university continues to show well in annual lists

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Striking business-research partnerships that boost the states economy and address real-world needs while producing job-ready graduates, Purdue University continues to rank among the most innovative schools in the nation.

Purdue, whose graduates earn an average starting wage of $62,452  straight out of college  is the nations No. 7 Most Innovative school (No. 3 among public universities) in the newest U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings.

The new U.S. News & World Report undergraduate ranking extends Purdues streak to five consecutive years as a top-10 Most Innovative school in the nation. Only Arizona State University, Georgia State University, Carnegie Mellon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and Elon University rank ahead. Purdue tops Georgia Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University in the top 10.

We couldnt be prouder that, once again, Purdue has been recognized as one of the countrys most innovative universities, said Jay Akridge, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity. Boilermakers are innovators, and you can be sure that we are focused on delivering an even more impactful residential learning experience to our students going forward as we continue to seek pioneering solutions to the worlds most difficult challenges.

This newest ranking adds to an impressive list of recent Purdue rankings. Just last week, Purdue was ranked for the second straight year No. 6 internationally in utility patents in a report from the Intellectual Property Owners Association and the National Academy of Inventors. In August, the university was voted No. 4 in Morning Consults Most Trusted Universities study. Smart Asset named Purdue No. 1 in-state and 12th nationally for Best Value Colleges. Purdue is ranked the third-best college campus for freedom of speech in the just-released free speech rankings by The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)/College Pulse.

Within the last year, Purdue has extended partnerships with Rolls-Royce, enhanced hypersonics research and put its stamp on the semiconductor industry, which is essential to the nations competitiveness. The university has opened new pathways of study to help address global semiconductor/microchip shortages that are affecting everyday life. It also struck a partnership with MediaTek, a leading global fabless chipmaker, to open the companys first semiconductor chip design center in the Midwest, to be housed on Purdues campus. SkyWater Technology chose Discovery Park District at Purdue adjacent to Purdues campus.

The $1 billion, 400-acre Discovery Park District at Purdue is bustling, with new housing, well-paying jobs and learning and research opportunities.

The U.S. News & World Report rankings were released Monday (Sept. 12). At No. 51 overall among all colleges and No. 18 among public universities, Purdue is again well represented.

In internships, Purdue is No. 7.

Purdues College of Engineering is No. 9 among schools with doctoral programs and has numerous specialty areas among the best. Industrial/manufacturing remains second, with aeronautical and astronautical fifth, mechanical sixth, civil seventh, electrical ninth and computer 10th. Environmental engineering is 11th, materials 13th, chemical 15th and biomedical 29th.

We are proud of the whole list of exciting rankings for the university. In particular, it is a reflection of the dedication by our faculty and staff and the quality of our students that Engineering retains the top-10 undergraduate ranking while growing significantly to become the largest in that distinguished group, said Mung Chiang, Purdues president-elect and executive vice president for strategic initiatives, who served as dean of the College of Engineering until July 1 of this year.

Agricultural and biological engineering, administered by the College of Agriculture and shared with the College of Engineering, is ranked second.

The agricultural and biological engineering faculty, staff and students continue to build an incredible department that is nationally and world renowned for the difference it makes in critical areas of discovery and innovation, said Karen Plaut, the Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture.

Purdues computer science programs in the College of Science moved up two spots, to 16th in the rankings. Its cybersecurity program is seventh; software engineering 10th; and programming, data analytics and computing systems all 13th. The artificial intelligence programs are 19th.

Computer science at Purdue continues its rapid rise, moving up two spots from last year to No. 16 overall, bolstered by the recent addition of new majors in artificial intelligence and in data science. Cybersecurity remains a leading area of strength at Purdue, rising two places to seventh, along with software engineering, ranked 10th. Artificial intelligence moves up five places to 19th, and data analytics is ranked for the first time, at 13th, along with programming and computing systems.

Patrick Wolfe, Purdues Frederick L. Hovde Dean of Science and Miller Family Professor of Statistics and Computer Science, said, We are enormously proud of having generated so much sustained momentum across the data and computational sciences at Purdue  and even more so to have done this while expanding our enrollments substantially, providing opportunities for many more of the best and brightest students to join us here for their studies. Our continued progress is a reflection not only of major strategic investments weve made and continue to make but also, even more strongly, the exceptional efforts of our faculty, staff and proud alums.

The School of Management is 30th among business schools, with its production/operations management program at No. 9 and supply chain management/logistics at 12. Analytics is 17th, management 30th and finance 36th.

In nursing, Purdue gained eight spots to No. 112. In other rankings, Purdue is No. 26 in best schools for veterans and 46th in undergrad research. Purdue Global is listed as among the best for economic diversity.

Writer/Media contact: Jim Bush, jsbush@purdue.edu

Sources: Jay Akridge, Mung Chiang, Patrick Wolfe, Karen Plaut
Gov. Holcomb, Sen. Young join Blinken and Raimondo in visiting Purdues nanotechnology center as national chips initiative kicks off

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo visited Purdue University on Tuesday (Sept. 13) to tour university research facilities and meet students as they embark on their mission to bolster the U.S. semiconductor industry.

Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Indiana Gov. Eric J. Holcomb joined Blinken and Raimondo on a tour of Purdues Birck Nanotechnology Center, highlighting the leading-edge research and workforce development efforts at Purdue that can help the United States restore domestic semiconductor manufacturing and competitiveness abroad. A fireside chat followed. Watch and listen to the chat in its entirety.

To confront the challenges our nation faces today, we need people who understand the intersection of economics, diplomacy, emerging technology and the sciences. We find these people at places like Purdue, which bring together academia and the private sector to ensure that we can remain the worlds innovation leaders and standard setters, Blinken said of the visit. The groundbreaking work here and at institutions around the country is rooted in the recognition that foreign, economic and domestic policy are inextricably linked and that domestic competitiveness, national security and a strong middle class are mutually reinforcing.

The tour included the Scifres Nanofabrication Laboratory, which has one of the worlds largest university cleanrooms. While at Purdue, the guests also were briefed on the universitys new suite of semiconductor degree programs, ranging from undergraduate through graduate study, and Purdues Scalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement (SCALE), a preeminent U.S. program for semiconductor workforce development in the defense sector. Purdue President Mitch Daniels hosted the group.

We understand the imperative for the United States to be a leader in semiconductors and microelectronics production and innovation, Daniels said. Its through Purdues interdisciplinary credentials, degrees and training opportunities, and critical partnerships with industry and that we strive to make a difference and a sound contribution to this effort. Were honored to show secretaries Blinken and Raimondo what we have done and what we have on the horizon.

Speaking to the crowd at Birck, Raimondo announced that the Commerce Departments National Institute of Standards and Technology signed a cooperative research and development agreement to develop and produce chips for nanotech and semiconductor devices. SkyWater Technology will manufacture the chips at an existing semiconductor foundry in Minnesota. This summer, Purdue announced partnerships with SkyWater to build a $1.8 billion fabrication facility in West Lafayette.

Purdues cutting-edge research and workforce development programs are at the forefront of helping us shape the future of innovation in Americas semiconductor manufacturing industry. Im excited to learn about the workforce pipelines Purdue is creating, including opportunities at all levels of the industry, Raimondo said. Im excited to have met the students who are future leaders of Americas semiconductor industry. The graduates from these programs  from Ph.D.s to associate degree holders  will be at the forefront of innovation as we revitalize American manufacturing.

At Birck, the group was briefed on architecture/brain-inspired computing, heterogenous packaging, modeling and workforce development efforts that comprise the local, high-tech ecosystem at Purdue. Blinken and Raimondo spoke with Purdue students, who explained their innovation, research and progress in these areas.

Daniels then hosted the guests at the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering for the fireside chat that focused on building a semiconductor ecosystem to restore domestic manufacturing and competitiveness abroad.

Blinken later met with Purdue students at the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship to take their questions and discuss STEM careers and paid student programs at the Department of State. His visit coincided with the Industrial Roundtable job fair, among the largest student-run career events in the country, with more than 400 companies and 12,000 students attending annually.

Indiana is home to world-renowned research and development universities like Purdue, Holcomb said. We have access to the necessary robust pool of highly skilled manufacturing workforce and a top-ranked business climate that makes Indiana a prime location for future-focused industries. Indiana seeks to be a leader in the United States and globally for microelectronics and semiconductor manufacturing. We firmly believe that the CHIPS for America program will best position our nation to get there.

These pursuits are in line with Purdues deep commitment to developing semiconductors and microelectronics (https://engineering.purdue.edu/semiconductors) and using the technologies to boost economic development, both nationally and in the Midwests Silicon Heartland.

This summer, Purdue announced a partnership with MediaTek Inc. to build the companys first Midwest semiconductor chip design center near campus.

In May, Purdue launched the nations first large-scale, interdisciplinary Semiconductor Degrees Program, across undergraduate and graduate degrees, residential and online options and partnership with Ivy Tech Community College.

Purdue leads multiple Semiconductor Research Corporation funded multi-university research programs through almost 50 leading faculty members in research areas of semiconductors technology.

Purdue works with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation on state and federally funded programs in semiconductor and microelectronics manufacturing, aiming to bring more of these businesses to the state.

The university, in collaboration with the Semiconductor Research Corporation, leads a national road-mapping exercise to accelerate U.S. leadership in semiconductors. The exercise focuses on advanced packaging technologies and workforce development to support emerging microelectronics applications.

The CHIPS and Science Act is the type of bipartisan economic and national security win that only comes along once in a generation, Young said. Were grateful that secretaries Blinken and Raimondo came to see the work that is already being done in Indiana to ensure that Hoosier students and workers are prepared to answer the call to out-innovate and outcompete China. As the bill is implemented in coming months, its clear that all eyes are on Indiana.



About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked in each of the last five years as one of the 10 Most Innovative universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://stories.purdue.edu

Media contact: Tim Doty, doty2@purdue.edu
Luna Lu is founder and chief science officer of WaveLogix. Lu also is the ACPA Professor at the Lyles School of Civil Engineering with a courtesy appointment in materials engineering, and founding director of the Center for Intelligent Infrastructure at Purdue University. (Purdue University photo/John Underwood)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  WaveLogix, a startup technology company that is commercializing an Internet of Things sensing system for infrastructure monitoring, has received a six-month SBIR Phase I grant worth $255,996 from the National Science Foundation to develop its technology.

The companys Rebel brand of concrete strength sensors improves upon the industry standard to measure concrete strength: breaking multiple field-cured concrete samples. Destructive concrete strength testing has several drawbacks including inaccuracy, quality control issues, interuser variability, material waste and expense.

The Rebel sensor system directly measures real-time, in-place concrete strength without requiring destructive concrete testing or the development of a maturity curve. The sensors also are not impacted by concrete mix design, meaning the mix can be changed during a project.

Luna Lu is the founder and chief science officer at WaveLogix. She said the NSF grant will help accelerate WaveLogixs timeline to market.

The funding will help the company accelerate the product development phase, particularly the IoT platform for data processing and sharing, Lu said.

WaveLogix plans to conduct beta testing of the Rebel sensor system in 2023.

After the beta testing, we start the manufacturing of sensors, with the focused initial market on roads, bridges and other major infrastructure projects, Lu said.

Lu also is the ACPA Professor at the Lyles School of Civil Engineering with a courtesy appointment in materials engineering. She is the founding director of the Center for Intelligent Infrastructure at Purdue University. Lu invented the technology that WaveLogix is commercializing, having disclosed it to the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization.

The Rebel brand of concrete strength sensors was named a 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers GameChanger. The scientific paper also received the 2022 Alfred Noble Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked in each of the last five years as one of the 10 Most Innovative universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://stories.purdue.edu.

About Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization

The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the universitys academic activities through commercializing, licensing and protecting Purdue intellectual property. The office is housed in the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration in Discovery Park District at Purdue, adjacent to the Purdue campus. In fiscal year 2021, the office reported 159 deals finalized with 236 technologies signed, 394 disclosures received and 187 issued U.S. patents. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. In 2020, IPWatchdog Institute ranked Purdue third nationally in startup creation and in the top 20 for patents. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Contact otcip@prf.org for more information.

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Shades of Emanuel Macron! California Governor Gavin Newsom has horrified his core constituency by announcing his state will NOT be shutting down the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. The state legislature, perhaps remembering that power outages two decades ago led to Gov. Gray Davis being recalled, voted to extend the life of the plant until 2030, only because of an urgent need to boost uncertain grid reliability:

The last-minute decision not to close Diablo Canyon for now reverses the anti-nuclear trend begun by Boy Governor Jerry Brown in the 1970s that stopped all new construction and eventually led to the closure of power plants at San Onofre and Rancho Seco.

Across the United States, according to the fifth annual ecoAmerica survey, support for nuclear energy has risen to 60% (up from Gallup-reported 51% in 2015. Business Wire says support for nuclear has never been higher, though the survey also reported a majority still harbor fears about nuclear solid waste disposal, health and safety, security and weaponization, and cost.

According to the survey, despite these concerns support for spending more on next-generation nuclear energy research and development has grown to over 60%, not far behind the 77% who support wind and solar energy and far above the 47% who still support natural gas R&D. Despite the nations continued heavy reliance on oil and coal, these fuels command support at low levels of just 36% and 27%, respectively.

The failure of the U.S. to match the pace of Frances 1980s adoption of nuclear power plants is a major reason for todays climate change disasters, according to Anthropocene Institute nuclear engineer Dinara Emakova. This failure is largely due to massive protests following the relatively minor incident at Pennsylvanias Three Mile Island power plant in 1979.

Speaking of France, back in February (just before the Russia-Ukraine war broke out), President Emanuel Macron announced his country would build six new nuclear reactors in the coming decades. What a reversal from Macrons 2018 promise to shutter 14 of the nations existing 58 nuclear reactors by 2035!

By contrast, the German government, reacting to the Fukushima nuclear incident in Japan, closed three of its remaining six nuclear reactors in January, a major step in fulfilling the 2011 commitment to end nuclear power generation by the end of 2022. The German retreat from nuclear began in 2002 under Gerhard Schroeder. Angela Merkel originally opted for extending the life of German nuclear plants but conceded to the anti-nuke movement after Fukushima.

Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Austria have also pledged to close existing nuclear power plants, while the British  who are even calling for fracking and renewed oil and gas exploration and development in the North Sea  are bullish on nuclear energy today despite plans to close five of its eight old reactors. Finland and Hungary are also building new nuclear plants, and Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic want to go nuclear.

The German retreat now seems ridiculous given that Japan, the only nation that suffered significantly from nuclear incidents since Chernobyl, has recommitted to nuclear power. Just days ago, Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japans minister of economy, trade, and industry, announced that nuclear power is once again the key to his nations energy security.

Nishimura stated that Japan has already secured 10 plants for reactivation and is working to reactivate another seven plants by the end of 2023. With the nation currently 94% dependent on imports for its energy supply, the 1 million tons worth of energy produced by each reactivated nuclear plant will go a long way toward securing energy for the nations future, he added.

According to the Energy Information Administration, as of July 1, the U.S. had 92 reactors operating at 54 nuclear power plants in 28 states. These power plants have supplied about 20% of Americas electricity since 1990. Surprisingly, the EIA says that the U.S. has the worlds largest nuclear electricity generation capacity of any nation and has generated more nuclear electricity than any other country.

On the other hand, the most recent nuclear power plant in the U.S. is Watts Bar Unit 2 in Tennessee, which went online in October 2016. Two other units in Georgia  Vogtle Units 3 and 4 -- remain in the construction stage. Despite Congressional directives dating to 2006, the nuclear renaissance projected by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has yet to generate any other new reactor licensing applications. One reason may be the oppressive regulatory jungle that nuclear operators have to negotiate.

Beyond Nuclear, which opposes nuclear energy, reported in January that no utilities are seeking new construction or operating licenses for earlier nuclear designs (Gen I and II), and the demonstrated failure of prior applicants has caused many companies to suspend or cancel initiation of new Gen III light water reactors in the U.S.

Beyond Nuclear also claims the nuclear renaissance has proven to be an empty propaganda slogan, and says the NRC and the nuclear industry are now hoping that an American nuclear future is achievable through construction of thousands of small modular reactors (SMRs). But opponents argue that these SMRs can be weaponized if exported to other nations, and that the cost per energy generated is higher than that for larger reactors.

The group further notes that back in January the NRC staff rejected a license application for an advanced reactor filed by Okio Incorporated, which wanted to design, construct, and operate its pilot Aurora PowerHouse microreactor at the Idaho National Laboratory. Once again, Beyond Nuclear and 27 other anti-nuke consumer and environmental groups fought the application.

So, while panic-stricken California lawmakers have perhaps extended their political lives by NOT shutting down Diablo Canyon, and despite a more favorable climate in the U.S. for nuclear energy than at any time since Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, any hopes for nuclear supplying this nation with new electricity are about as likely as the Washington Generals beating the Harlem Globetrotters.

Other nations, despite their own anti-nuclear activists and funding concerns, are much more likely to move ahead with nuclear power than the United States. China and India are building new nuclear power plants at a rate that will soon push both nations ahead of the U.S. in nuclear energy generation. Even energy-deprived African nations are actively seeking a nuclear future.

With three-quarters of America still Jonesing for wind and solar (though often not in their own backyards), and anti-nuke groups with huge war chests, I might even bet on the Generals.

Duggan Flanakin is a policy analyst and journalist based in Austin, Texas.
The most decisive mark of the prosperity of any country is the increase of the number of its inhabitants.  Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, p. 80

For politicians to succeed in France, they must win the British vote. The previous assertion surely has some readers wondering, but theres very real truth to it. National politicians in France campaign in London simply because the French inhabitants of London would render the British capital one of Frances largest cities.

Readers can probably deduce the why behind this political oddity. England is where the opportunity is. Economic freedom is quite a bit greater in England, which means many of Frances best and brightest have taken their abundant talents there over the years.

We hope Liz Truss internalizes this truth as she takes over leadership in Great Britain. As she gets to work, its no reach to suggest that shell be inundated with all manner of detailed policy ideas that will allegedly lift Englands listing economy. In a broad sense, it would be easy to nod along to proposals purported to reduce Britains tax and regulatory burdens, along with efforts to liberalize trade. Economies are just people, and people benefit the more that the barriers to their production and exchange are shrunk.

At the same time, legislation is hard. That its difficult is probably for the best in that free-market types like Truss arent always in power.

Which is why we think a more effective approach for Truss will be freedom. Put another away, Truss will do best the fewer things she does.

The simple truth is that per Adam Smith, the most decisive mark of prosperity for any country is the increase of the number of its inhabitants. Modern politicians more and more promise to keep foreigners out of the country they aim to improve, but economic logic says the better approach is openness to outsiders. Really, is England poorer because so many from France have brought their skills across the English Channel? Are the French taking British jobs?

The answer to both questions is a resounding no. The reality is that jobs and economic growth are only limited by investment, and investment follows talent. If Truss leans toward more freedom and more openness to the worlds ambitious, greater prosperity will follow. Freedom is a lure for the enterprising, and where the enterprising go is where the future is created.

Some will say that Truss must focus on energy policy at a time when prices of the commodities that power the modern world are expensive. Along these lines, Truss has already announced a policy of freezing household energy bills. She can do no such thing. Politicians cant decree prices. At best they can decree shortages by stepping on market signals.

Conservatives in the U.S. would say that Truss could more ably achieve cheaper energy through policies that encourage production and exploration in England. Once again, policy. In truth, the only closed economy is the world economy. It doesnt matter where energy is created or extracted so long as England is free and open. When a country is free, its as though every producer of market goods is headquartered in the country open to same. As long as Britain is free, its people will be free to access energy at the best price.

To the above, some will respond that an open stance to foreign plenty will come at the expense of British jobs. Thats not true. Just as the migration of the French to England hasnt been an opportunity suppressor, just as the lack of British automakers hasnt shrunk car manufacturing jobs in England, the arrival of foreign goods doesnt harm the recipients of those goods. Trusss England taught us this essential truth in the 19th century with the repeal of the Corn Laws, while Adam Smith taught us this in 18th century with his essential reporting on a pin factory in The Wealth of Nations. The more that the British people are free to divide up work with others, the more that their productivity will soar. Productivity is a magnet for the investment without which there is no growth.

Which brings us to money. So often the genius of money is rooted in doing nothing. Smith somewhat nonchalantly observed in the greatest economics book ever written that the sole use of money is to circulate consumable goods. Precisely. Money isnt wealth as much as its an agreed upon measure of value among producers that enables the exchange of wealth. Again, its the division of work that powers staggering leaps in productivity.

We hope Truss will view simplicity through a brilliant lens. No nation needs a monetary policy as much as it requires a currency that is trusted by producers. Applied to Trusss Chancellor of the Exchequer, less is more is apt. If England renders the pound quiet through pursuit of currency that is unchanging as a medium of exchange, the wealth creation that stable pounds will facilitate the circulation of will be awe inspiring. Freedom from money mischief has a powerful impact on actual wealth creation.

Some things to think about with Trusss arrival at 10 Downing Street. The endless focus on policy and results has blinded policymakers to the aforementioned truth that economies are once again people. Free people prosper, and their prosperity is a magnet for others eager to improve their circumstances. Liz Truss has the chance to show the rest of the world how to grow by reducing her emphasis on the policies allegedly necessary to stimulate progress. Freedom truly works, we say.
Actors Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson and Jason Mewes said Clerks III, in theaters Tuesday, required them to study the original 1994 film in between takes.

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The plot of the sequel has Dante (O'Halloran) and Randal (Anderson) make a movie about their life as clerks, with help from Jay (Mewes) and Silent Bob (writer-director Kevin Smith ).

"We would pull up the old scenes on an iPad and mirror it with what we were doing," Anderson told UPI in a Zoom interview.

Clerks launched Smith's movie career. He made the comedy in the New Jersey Quick Stop Groceries, in which he had worked as a clerk.

The cast, as well as Smith, have aged 28 years since Clerks. It wasn't as easy to recreate scenes from Clerks in 2022, O'Halloran said.

O'Halloran said he wore a replica of the sweater he wore in Clerks for some Clerks III scenes. The actual sweater was no longer available.

"We couldn't find it on the Internet to replicate it at all," O'Halloran said. "They had an actual woman who knits by hand knit the actual sweater again."

Jay and Silent Bob are the local drug dealers who hang out outside Quick Stop. In Clerks III they have taken over the old video store next door and turned it into a marijuana dispensary.

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Mewes recreated Jay's dancing in Clerks III. However, the dance moves he freestyled in 1994 became strict choreography he had to follow.

"I felt like my hips weren't moving as well," Mewes said. "So I was watching myself on playback, and I'm like, 'I feel like I'm not as limber.'"

The trio reprised their roles in Clerks II in 2006. Mewes and Smith also reprised their roles as Jay and Silent Bob in other Smith movies.

Several iterations of Clerks sequels didn't happen. Smith's first incarnation of Clerks II evolved into 2001's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Smith wrote one version of Clerks III that was never made. After Smith survived a heart attack in 2018, he rewrote his script.

Now, Clerks III is motivated by Randal having a heart attack. When he survives, he is inspired to make a movie about his life behind the counter.

Given the theme of mortality, Clerks III takes a more dramatic approach to the clerk characters as they contemplate their lives. Anderson and O'Halloran said Smith's previous version was even darker.

"It didn't feel like it belonged in a Clerks world," Anderson said. "I think even Kevin got that to a degree because his demeanor in delivering the new script was so much more excited."

Anderson and O'Halloran performed two readings of the original Clerks III script for charity. However, phones were not allowed in those events and attendees have honored Smith's request to keep further details of that script secret.

Before Clerks III, Smith made a sequel to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. That 2019 movie, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, centered on Jay and Bob as Jay found out he had a long-lost daughter (Harley Quinn Smith).

Clerks III returns Jay and Bob to the supporting roles with which they began. For Mewes, it was a relief to let O'Halloran and Anderson handle the lengthier dialogue.

"[In Reboot] I'm in every scene and memorizing all the dialogue," Mewes said. "It's not just memorizing dialogue. It's like tongue twisters."

Even before Clerks III, Smith was passing the torch to another generation.Harley Quinn starred in his film. Yoga Hosers.

In Yoga Hosers, two Canadian convenience store clerks (Harley Quinn Smith and Lily-Rose Depp) battle Nazi bratwurst monsters. O'Halloran said he appreciated hearing Smith's daughter say his trademark line, "I'm not even supposed to be here today."

"It's awesome to see Harley carry on that type of feeling," O'Halloran said. "It was nice to get the people who are now that generation to get ahold of something really iconic."

Clerks III is in theaters this week through Fathom Events. Smith will tour with the film in select cities and host Q&As following screenings.
Glenn Close will miss the 2022 San Sebastian Film Festival due to a "family emergency."

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The 75-year-old actress said in a statement Tuesday that she is unable to attend the 70th annual film festival, which will run Sept. 16-24 in Spain.

Close was to preside over the official jury at the festival this year.

"I deeply regret that I will not be able to take part in the festival as there has been a family emergency for which I must stay home," the actress said. "I apologize to the festival, the jury, the filmmakers, the Donostia honorees and the festival audience, that I will not be there to celebrate with you all."

Festival organizers confirmed the news and said Argentinian producer Matias Mosteira will serve as president in Close's stead.

The San Sebastian Film Festival celebrates excellence in international cinema, with an emphasis on Spanish films.

Juliette Binoche and David Cronenberg will be honored with this year's Donostia Awards, with Penelope Cruz, Ricardo Dara, Kazuo Ishiguro, Vicky Krieps, Diane Kruger, Liam Neeson, Olivia Wilde and other stars to present their films.

Close most recently starred in the sci-fi romantic drama Swan Song, which premiered on Apple TV+ in December.
Michael Keaton and Murray Bartlett were early winners at the 2022 Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony Monday at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

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Keaton won for Best Lead Actor in a Limited, Anthology or TV Movie for Dopesick and Bartlett was named Best Supporting Actor in a Limited, Anthology or TV Movie for White Lotus.

Matthew Macfadyen also earned the honor for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for Succession.

Kenan Thompson is hosting the show, which honors the best in American evening television programming. It is airing on NBC and streaming on Peacock.

The gala opened with Thompson and dancers performing to a medley of some of the most recognizable TV theme songs in history, including Friends, The Brady Bunch, Law & Order, Stranger Things and Game of Thrones.

The HBO series Succession leads the field of nominees with 25 nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 09/12/2022



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

star Gabby Windey 's final bachelor Erich Schwer has apologized for an offensive blackface photo that resurfaced from his past.A yearbook photo of Erich in blackface recently resurfaced on social media, and the 29-year-old real estate analyst from Bedminster, NJ, appears to be holding himself accountable."I wholeheartedly apologize for the insensitive photo of me in Blackface from my high school yearbook that has been circulating," Erich wrote Thursday on Instagram."What I thought at the time was a representation of my love for Jimi Hendrix , was nothing but ignorance. I was naive to the hurtful implications of my actions to the Black community and those closest to me, and will forever regret my offensive and damaging behavior."Erich continued, "I am deeply ashamed by my actions and understand that my apology is only the first step in taking accountability."Erich is the only man left on 's nineteenth season who is competing for Gabby's heart.After hometown dates, Gabby endured mutual breakups with both Jason Alabaster and Johnny DePhillipo because the men had admitted they weren't ready to get engaged at the end of the process. Nate Mitchell , who fell short of a hometown date because Gabby wasn't prepared to be a stepmom, addressed Erich's apology on Thursday."Appreciate you taking ownership bro, I can't absolve you of this but I can attest to the man I've met and you have been nothing less than someone who I'd consider a friend," Nate wrote."You aren't the first person I've befriended with a similar past and the difference is not having an attitude of willful ignorance. Your school accepting this behavior and posting this to a yearbook tells me that no peers or faculty around you spoke out to guide you away from this issue."Nate added, "Kids do fall victim to their environments time and time again. Continue to grow and learn from your past and I'll continue to support you and provide advice should you need/ask for it."And Logan Palmer gave Erich credit for talking about "his mistakes" and being "a man.""Guys who have met you know what kind of person you've been," Logan concluded.Gabby, however, has yet to publicly react to the Erich controversy.On , Gabby determined that Erich was the love of her life whom she had been looking for, and Erich shared how he loved Gabby and couldn't imagine leaving the show without her.But host Jesse Palmer teased to E! News that while Erich and Gabby "had an outstanding time in Mexico," they're "not at the finish line yet." And based on a preview of what's to come on finale, Erich meets Gabby's family but then hurts her by saying he's not ready to pop the question."I just want to date you. Getting engaged before that happens is not how things usually go," Erich says."I'm so sick of it," Gabby cries. "What am I supposed to do -- walk away because he's not ready to propose? It makes me feel that I'm unlovable."Jesse has called finale -- airing Tuesday, September 13 and Tuesday, September 20 on ABC -- the "most emotional and unpredictable finale of all time."For Rachel Recchia 's part, she still has Zach Shallcross Tino Franco and Aven Jones in the running for her heart. The latest episode left off with Rachel about to hand out two roses.Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group
Athens, GA (30605)

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Family and board members of the Clarke County Board of Education gather around the plaque that was dedicated to Rev. David Nunnally Sr. and Ileane Nunnally for photos on Sept. 8, 2022, at the Clarke County School District Atrium. (Photo/Keshondra Shipp)
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

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From Brattleboro, The Rev. Dr. Scott Couper participated in a press conference in Montpelier to discuss the lack of affordable housing in Vermont and the winding down of the Vermont Emergency Rental Assistance Program.
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The "Best of Connecticut" results are in for 2022. For more of the tastiest treats Connecticut has to offer, see our Editors' Picks and Readers' Choice winners in Best of Connecticut: Food + Drink. (And be sure to check out the winners in Activities + Entertainment and Shopping + Services while you're there!)

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LONDON  The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II has arrived at Buckingham Palace in London after the 96-year-old monarchs death in her beloved Scotland last week.

The military C-17 Globemaster carrying the monarchs casket touched down at RAF Northolt, an air force base west of the city, about an hour after it left Edinburgh on Tuesday.

U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and a military honor guard were among those greeting the coffin before it was loaded into a hearse. Motorists pulled over and stopped in a show of respect as the illuminated hearse traveled under police escort on a London highway.

Crowds gathered on London's streets to cheer and weep as the motorcade proceeded to Buckingham Palace, where the countrys new King Charles III, the late queens oldest son, and other members of Elizabeths immediate family met the hearse at the ceremonial gates.

The coffin will spend a final night at the queens London home. A horse-drawn gun carriage is expected to take it Wednesday to the Houses of Parliament to lie in state for four days before a Monday funeral at Westminster Abbey.

The queen died Sept. 8 at Balmoral Castle in northern Scotland after 70 years on the throne.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

 A piece of the queen: New souvenirs mark monarchs death

 Anger over past, indifference meets queens death in India

 After the death of a renowned queen, life in London goes on

 Queen hailed in Scotland as a constant in our lives

 Loss of unifying queen could fray the bonds of fractious UK

 People wanting to pay final respects to queen face long wait, strict rules

 For Queen Elizabeth II, Balmoral estate was place to be normal

 Former British colonies are conflicted over Queen Elizabeth II's legacy

 Whats next for the UK as Queen Elizabeth II laid to rest

 Find more AP coverage here: https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

LONDON  Motorists pulled over and stopped in a show of respect as the hearse carrying Queen Elizabeth IIs coffin traveled under police escort on a London highway on the way to Buckingham Palace.

The 96-year-old monarch died last week in her beloved Scotland last week. A military C-17 Globemaster carrying her casket touched down at RAF Northolt, an air force base west of the city, about an hour after it left Edinburgh on Tuesday.

U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and a military honor guard were among those greeting the coffin before it was loaded into the hearse. As night fell, a line of headlights on the opposite side of the highway illuminated the route to the palace.

Crowds have gathered along the route the motorcade took to Buckingham Palace, where the late queens oldest son and heir, who is now known as King Charles III, and other members of Elizabeths immediate family plan to meet the hearse on Tuesday night.

The queen died Sept. 8 at Balmoral Castle in northern Scotland after 70 years on the throne.

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LONDON  King Charles III has returned to London from Northern Ireland, where his visit in the wake of his mothers death drew a rare moment of unity.

The king is to meet Queen Elizabeth IIs casket at Buckingham Palace, where it will spend the night at the queens London home.

Plans call for the casket to be taken Wednesday on a horse-drawn gun carriage to the Houses of Parliament, where the queens body will lie in state for four days before Mondays funeral at Westminster Abbey.

Earlier Tuesday, the speaker of Northern Irelands Assembly delivered a message of condolence to Charles and paid tribute to the late queen. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom but the region with a contested British and Irish identity is deeply divided over the monarchy.

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EDINBURGH, Scotland  The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is on its way to London.

A bagpiper played as the coffin, draped with the royal standard, was carried out of St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

The queens daughter, Princess Anne, was in the hearse and was also to board a Royal Air Force plane taking the coffin from the Scottish capitals airport.

Applause broke out among the crowds lining the Royal Mile as the hearse passed through the historic heart of Edinburgh.

Thousands of people filed silently past the coffin as it spent 24 hours in the cathedral after being brought to Edinburgh from the queens beloved Balmoral Estate. She died there Thursday at age 96, ending her 70-year reign.

King Charles III is returning from Belfast to London to receive his mothers coffin, which will stay overnight at Buckingham Palace.

The coffin will be taken Wednesday to the Houses of Parliament, where it will lie in state for four days before Mondays funeral.

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BELFAST, Northern Ireland  A crowd cheered King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort, as they arrived at St. Annes Cathedral in Belfast as part of the new monarchs first visit to Northern Ireland.

The sovereign received a similarly warm welcome earlier in the day at Hillsborough Castle, the royal residence in Northern Ireland.

A service of reflection at St. Annes Cathedral for the kings late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, began with a trumpet fanfare by the band of the Royal Irish Regiment.

The leaders of Britain and Ireland joined politicians from Northern Ireland in the congregation. They included British Prime Minister Liz Truss, her Irish counterpart Micheal Martin and Irish President Michael D. Higgins.

Clergy praised the queens role in helping bring peace to Northern Ireland. Archbishop of Armagh John McDowell said the queen walked the hard road of reconciliation.

Services are being held in the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales ahead of the queens funeral at Westminster Abbey in London on Monday.

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BELFAST, Northern Ireland  The speaker of Northern Irelands Assembly has delivered a message of condolence to King Charles III, paying tribute to his late mother Queen Elizabeth IIs efforts to build peace in Ireland.

Alex Maskey said Tuesday the queen had not been a distant observer in Northern Irelands peace process. He said she showed how individual acts of positive leadership can help break down barriers and encourage reconciliation.

She showed that a small and insignificant gesture  a visit, a handshake, crossing the street or speaking a few words of Irish  can make a huge difference in changing attitudes and building relationships, he said.

Charles and his wife, Camilla, listened to Maskeys speech before meeting with Northern Irelands party leaders, including Michelle ONeill, vice president of the Irish republican party Sinn Fein.

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BELFAST, Northern Ireland  King Charles III has pledged to follow in the footsteps of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and work for peace in Northern Ireland.

Speaking Tuesday to Northern Irelands political leaders, including those from nationalist parties who want Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and become part of the Republic of Ireland, the new monarch said he would draw on his mothers shining example and seek the welfare of everyone in Northern Ireland.

The British monarchy draws mixed emotions in Northern Ireland, where Protestant unionists consider themselves British and Roman Catholic nationalists see themselves as Irish.

The political and religious divisions fueled three decades of violence known as the Troubles, involving paramilitary groups on both sides and U.K. security forces, in which 3,600 people died.

Irish nationalist Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly praised Queen Elizabeth IIs role in the peace process, in a message of condolence to King Charles III.

Alex Maskey, a member of Sinn Fein, said at the Belfast ceremony that the example of the queen had helped break down barriers and encourage reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

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NEW YORK  U.S. First Lady Jill Biden has shared her memories of Queen Elizabeth II, recalling when she and President Joe Biden met the British monarch at Windsor Castle in June 2021.

The visit came shortly after the queens husband, Prince Philip, had died after 73 years of marriage. Even though the Bidens had been instructed not to raise the subject of family, the queen began talking about just that.

I think she just wanted to talk about her husband, Jill Biden said in a taped interview broadcast Tuesday on NBCs Today.

The queen poured tea for her visitors, showed her independence and also her curiosity, Jill Biden said.

You know, she wanted to know all about American politics, what was happening, so she put us at ease, she said.

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BELFAST, Northern Ireland  King Charles III has received a rapturous welcome at Hillsborough Castle, the royal residence in Northern Ireland, on his first visit as monarch.

The sovereign and Camilla, the Queen Consort, flew to Belfast from Edinburgh on Tuesday, the same day the queens coffin will be flown to London from Scotland.

Cheers and applause greeted the royal couple as they arrived at Hillsborough, with some in the crowd shouting God save the king! The royal couple stopped to chat with some of the well-wishers.

The royal standard was raised on the castles flagpole as the monarch came in, and a 21-gun salute rang out on the castle grounds.

King Charles is to visit an exhibition about his late mothers long association with Northern Ireland.

He is also due to meet political leaders from Northern Ireland and hold a meeting with the British governments secretary of state for Northern Ireland.

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LONDON  British officials say some 500 foreign dignitaries will attend Queen Elizabeth IIs state funeral, but invitations have not been sent to the leaders of Russia, Belarus or Myanmar.

Officials said the funeral next Monday, to be held at Londons Westminster Abbey, will be the biggest international event Britain has hosted in decades.

U.S. President Joe Biden was among the first to announce that he would be flying in with his wife, Jill Biden. The leaders of most Commonwealth countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Canada, are also expected to attend.

Frances Emmanuel Macron, Germanys Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italys Sergio Mattarella, Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazils Jair Bolsonaro are among the presidents attending.

Japans Emperor Naruhito and Spains King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, as well as former Spanish monarch Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia, are also due to travel to London for the occasion.

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EDINBURGH, Scotland  King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, have left Edinburgh on their way to Belfast.

In Northern Ireland on Tuesday, they will visit 18th-century Hillsborough Castle, which is the official royal residence.

The royal couple are to meet with Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris and leaders of local political parties.

They will then meet with leaders of Northern Irelands major faiths.

Afterward, a commemorative service will be held at St Annes cathedral in Belfast, where an 18th-century parish church once stood.

The royal couple fly to London later in the day.

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LONDON  Britains Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, has penned a poem in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II.

The poem published Tuesday, Floral Tribute, is in the form of a double acrostic, which means that the first letter of each line spells out Elizabeth when taken together. It describes the coming of a September evening and references one of the queens favorite flowers, the lily of the valley.

The country loaded its whole self into your slender hands / Hands that can rest, now, relieved of a centurys weight, he wrote.

Armitage told the BBC Tuesday that he featured the queens first name because he wanted to take a personal approach.

He said the queens name was something she probably rarely got to hear very much because everybody had to preface that with ceremonial nominals.

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BELFAST, Northern Ireland  King Charles visit to Northern Ireland is a politically delicate trip for the new sovereign.

There are mixed feelings about the British monarchy in Northern Ireland, where there are two main communities: mostly Protestant unionists who consider themselves British and largely Roman Catholic nationalists who see themselves as Irish.

That divide fueled three decades of violence known as the Troubles involving paramilitary groups on both sides and U.K. security forces, in which 3,600 people died.

The royal family was touched personally by the violence: Lord Louis Mountbatten, a cousin of the queen and a much-loved mentor to Charles, was killed by an Irish Republican Army bomb in 1979.

A deep sectarian divide remains, a quarter century after Northern Irelands 1998 peace agreement.

But in a sign of how far Northern Ireland has come on the road to peace, representatives of Sinn Fein  the main Irish nationalist party, linked during the Troubles to the IRA  are attending commemorative events for the queen and meeting the king on Tuesday.

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EDINBURGH, Scotland  While King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, travel to Northern Ireland on Tuesday, the queens coffin will be flown to London.

St. Giless Cathedral in Edinburgh, where members of the public are paying their respects as the coffin lies at rest, is to close at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT).

Two hours later, a hearse will take the coffin by road to Edinburgh airport. Princess Anne will accompany the coffin on its flight to London.

From RAF Northolt, west of London, the coffin will be driven to Buckingham Palace where it will be met by members of the royal family.

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EDINBURGH, Scotland  King Charles is due to fly to Northern Ireland on Tuesday on the latest leg of his tour of the nations that make up the United Kingdom.

Thousands of people lined up through the night in Edinburgh to pay their last respects to his mothers coffin at St. Giles Cathedral in the Scottish capital. Some people even walked past the coffin and then rejoined the end of the line to get a second view.

On Monday night, Charles and his siblings, Anne, Andrew and Edward, their heads bowed, briefly stood vigil around their mothers flag-draped coffin as members of the public filed past.

Early Tuesday, a man wearing a suit adorned with medals stood silently, bowed his head and moved on. A woman dabbed away tears with a handkerchief. Another woman with two young children in their school uniforms walked slowly past the coffin.

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EDINBURGH, Scotland  King Charles III and his siblings have stood in silent vigil around their mother Queen Elizabeth IIs coffin in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward lowered their heads as they stood at four sides of the oak coffin on Monday evening. They stood for about 10 minutes alongside four members of the Royal Company of Archers, who stood guard armed with arrows and quivers.

As they performed the traditional vigil, a procession of members of the public lined up to view the queens coffin and filed past. Some bowed as they passed the king, while others walked solemnly by with their heads lowered.

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LONDON  Officials in charge of the park outside Buckingham Palace have told people to stop leaving marmalade sandwiches as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II because of the negative impact on the parks wildlife.

Some mourners have left the snacks alongside floral tributes at Buckingham Palace and neighboring Green Park. The sandwiches are a reference to a comedy sketch featuring the queen and an animated Paddington Bear filmed for the late monarchs Platinum Jubilee earlier this year.

In the video, the queen said that like Paddington Bear she also favors marmalade sandwiches and hides them in her purse for later.

The Royal Parks organization said Monday people should not leave the snacks but could leave teddy bears and other items if they wished.
Adam Young is like the Willy Wonka of pastry. Best of all, no golden ticket required for entry.

As the owner and driving force behind Sift Bake Shop, he has pulled off making a bakery a premiere destination. The line out the front door of his Mystic location on a Saturday morning is nothing short of astonishing  all for a croissant or a macaron.

"It's a beautiful community to be a part of," Young said humbly one such morning recently, just before a customer actually interrupted to ask for what she referred to as her "annual picture with him".

John Shyloski / Contributed

His career began as a dishwasher, when his eyes were as wide in the kitchens he worked in as they were open. Always watching, studying, learning. By the time he was 30, he was working at a luxury hotel, overseeing its multiple restaurants. He opened the Sift in Mystic in 2016.

"We're going into our seventh year now," he resumed after the requisite selfie pose. "So it's still a baby. Mystic is our flagship (there is also a Sift in Watch Hill, R.I., and soon to be one in Mystic's neighboring Niantic), and we've grown really, really rapidly. We have a rooftop restaurant and bar above the bakery (known as Mix). There's a tapas-inspired menu, where we're doing large shareable appetizers and it's meant to be kind of community-style. Very casual. It's a lot of fun."

But the inside of the actual bakeshop is what you'd call his "pastry factory" (sans Oompa Loompas, of course). The displays are full of croissants, cookies, scones, muffins and more.

Nicole Funaro / Hearst Connecticut Media Group

Nicole Funaro / Hearst Connecticut Media Group

Mystic, in general, has undergone quite a transformation the past few years, emerging from the pandemic with many new businesses and eateries. The town was recently lauded by both the New York Times and Conde Nast Traveler.

"What's good for one is good for all," Young said. "It's nice to be surrounded by like minded...owners who really put their best foot forward and are trying to make the best food they can." There is now a new chocolate shop, brewery, and pizza place just steps from Sift. What's more, Young likes to import from every local farm in the general area, of which there are many. Be it cheese, beef or fish, it's coming from one of Connecticut's many farms.

Watch Hill is a different beast: "Watch Hill is basically a pop-up version of the main one in Mystic. We do a lot of croissants, a lot of individual desserts, tons of cookies and French macarons. Very, very French-inspired." When asked if sometime-local Taylor Swift has popped in to date, Young laughed and said, "not yet."

John Shyloski / Contributed

With a burgeoning presence on the foodie scene (including a self-published cookbook aptly titled "Sift"), it would make sense that the Food Network itself would come calling. "I do quite a bit with the Food Network," shared Young. "I was competing a few years ago on a show called 'Best Baker in America' and I was competing against bakers nationwide, from all over the place  some very, very wonderful talent. And I ended up winning."

That was 2018. Since then, Young said it's been a steady stream of judging gigs for the network, but none of it has slowed him from turning his two locations into three, with the Niantic Sift opening shortly.

"Everything from charcuterie to pate, we make here. In addition to the pastry and the chocolate bon-bons. We make it all in house, and it takes a massive team to do that," he explained. "But I wanted to create a destination for a culinary employment. I want people to come here who want to take something more away than just a paycheck. They want to learn, they want to see new techniques, they want to experience things. we worked very, very hard to create that here. There are a couple hundred people here."

Lisa Nichols/ Special to Hearst Connecticut Media

Winter Caplanson

Keeping them all employed during the pandemic was as challenging for Young as it was any other restaurateur, but he was innovative in that respect as well, turning curbside into tiny little works of art, while plotting and staffing his soon-to-be next location in Niantic simultaneously.

"Charcuteries are all the rage these days. But we have very elaborate ones. We have three different cheeses, three different cured meats or pates. We do a long charcuterie board - sometimes a country pate, sometimes a little chicken liver mousse. Something that you can't experience everywhere. That's the key."

Or, perhaps, the Golden Ticket.

Vinnie Penn is a freelance writer.


Bristol Police Department/contiributed

BRISTOL  Several cars were involved as occupants chased and shot at each other around the city Monday, prompting a multi-town police pursuit, police said.

No one was injured, Bristol Police Lt. Craig OConnor said in a news release.
Citizens in the United Kingdom and the former British colony of Hong Kong, known for its yellow umbrella symbol of democratic resistance, paid their respects to Britains Queen Elizabeth II after her death last week. Shortly after her passing, a rainbow was seen over Buckingham Palace in London.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, shown in this June 2022 file photo, has said that as president of the Cambodian Peoples Party, he would have final say on major decisions in the country.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has stated that he will continue to lead the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP), and thus remain in power, even after he one day retires from the government.

Having ruled the Southeast Asian country since 1985, Hun Sen has teased the idea of stepping down several times in recent years amid speculation that he is grooming his son Hun Manet to take over.

The CPP recently passed amendments to the Cambodian constitution that analysts have said make it easier for a transition of power from father to son to occur.

But even if that happens, Hun Sen would still be CPP president and would have final say on major decisions, he said.

I would have the right to review prime ministerial and minister activities, so if you dont perform well, the party president will fire you, Hun Sen said during a public gathering Tuesday in the northwestern province of Siem Reap.

Some people might criticize me for being a remote control giving orders from behind [the scenes]. In Cambodia, voters vote for the party and then the party appoints the prime minister, he said.

Hun Sens comments indicate that he would still babysit Hun Manet should the son step into his fathers shoes, and suggest that the son does not carry enough political clout himself to compete with opposition, even within his own party, exiled political analyst Kim Sok told RFAs Khmer Service

It is clear that Hun Manet can only have power by doing what his father wants, because Hun Manet cannot be prime minister without CPP support, Kim Sok said.

He gets the power that his father robs for him, he said, explaining that Hun Sen has been trying to put pressure on his own party.

In late August, Hun Sen also told Hun Manet that even he could be fired as prime minister if he refuses to meet his fathers expectations.

But for now, Hun Sen will remain prime minister for the foreseeable future, as the CPP elected him in late December to serve another 10 years.

Members of the dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) react inside a police vehicle on their way to the appeals court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 10, 2018. Credit: Reuters

Appeal denied

The latest remarks from the strongman ruler came as a court in Phnom Penh upheld convictions against 13 activists who were sentenced to five years for their involvement in the failed 2019 plot by self-exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy to return to Cambodia.

Ouk Chanthy, the wife Yim Sareth, one of the 13 activists, told RFA that she was saddened with the verdict delivered Tuesday and that her husband and the others are innocent.

She said the verdict is unjust and proves that the court is not independent.

The courts listen to politicians. If they dont allow the court to release the activists then they wont release them, she said.

Our family members would have been released two years ago if the court were independent because they are innocent, she said. I will continue to fight for justice for the activists.

Based on the evidence, the courts ruling is inappropriate, the activists lawyer Sam Sokong told RFA.

He said he would take the case to Cambodias Supreme Court, and urged the Ministry of Interiors Prison Department ot transfer the activists to Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh, because it is closer to their family members than where they are currently held, far away in Tboung Khmum Province in the southeast.

As a lawyer, I am disappointed because the ruling doesnt give justice to my clients, he said.

This is a political case. My clients continue to maintain their innocence, said Sam Sokong.

The decision of the court was not surprising to Soeung Sengkaruna, spokesperson for The Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (Adhoc), a local rights group, who told RFA that it was a politically motivated case.

If Cambodia wants to avoid being criticized and condemned by the international community, [the government] should not persecute opposition activists by using the judicial system, Soeung Sengkaruna said.

We need to end it and restore the democratic process and respect of human rights, he said.

Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Photos of the Doudian Mosque, the largest in northern China, show it covered in scaffolding.

The Doudian Mosque is seen in Fangshan district on the outskirts of Beijing on June 21, 2017.

Authorities in Beijing are 'renovating' a major mosque to remove traces of the Arabic language and Middle Eastern designs, so as to comply with the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s 'sinicization of religion' policies, RFA has learned.

Doudian Mosque, with its arabesque cupolae and minarets, was the newest and largest mosque in Beijing, and was built with funds donated by Beijing Muslims, according to a forum post on the online Muslim community website Ummah.

"The architecture and decoration of this mosque represents a hybrid of the classical Islamic form, with a healthy dose of indigenous architectural and decorative elements to satisfy the demand for a sinicized form of Islam," academic Lloyd Ridgeon wrote in a 2020 edition of the Journal of Minority Muslim Affairs, referring to Doudian Mosque in the Beijing suburb of Fangshan.

"The recent fear of Islam has indeed resulted in mosque design increasingly reflecting a Chinese flavour than a typically Middle-Eastern one," the article said.

"In Henan province ... domes have been removed from mosques, along with crescent and star shaped symbols. Such actions reflect the push for sinicization of religions."

China's five-year plan for the sinicization of Islam, will focus on requiring mosques to to uphold "core values of socialism, traditional culture, laws and regulations," according to a January 2019 conference organized by the CCP's United Front Work Department.

Mosques have been told to "guide, mobilize and inspire" Chinese Muslims with lectures and training sessions on such topics, and which uphold the spirit of a sinicized Islam by using examples of notable figures.

Beijing-based religious scholar Xi Wuyi recently posted photos and descriptions of the renovations at the Doudian Mosque, adding that they show "the orderly progress of ... sinicization of religion in China."

'Rectification' work

It is understood that the ""rectification" work to remove visible links to Arab and Middle Eastern culture started last month and is expected to be completed on May 1, 2023.

Shih Chien-yu, a national security expert and researcher at Taiwan's Society of Central Asian Studies, said there has been a tendency among Chinese Muslims since the economic reforms of late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping to lean towards more Arab-influenced designs in mosque architecture.

"It has all been done according to the way it's done in the Arab world," Shih told RFA. "Also a lot of the funds for construction have been donated by foreign countries."

Completed in 2013, Doudian Mosque covers an area of nearly 15,000 square meters and can accommodate 1,500 worshippers at the same time, making it the biggest mosque in northern China.

According to Shih, the design was approved by Wang Zhengwei, then director of China's National Ethnic Affairs Commission.

"Wang Zhengwei was seen as a traditional supporter of autonomy for the ethnic minority regions, which is completely at odds with [current CCP leader] Xi Jinping's attitude towards the issue, and towards religion," he said.

"They are demolishing the foreign architectural styles of the mosques built during that time and restoring the more [Chinese] green tile, flying cornices mosque architecture," Shih said.

In July 2021, authorities in the western province of Qinghai announced the "rectification" of the 700-year-old Dongguan Mosque in Xining.

Control is the goal

Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference advisory body, visited Qinghai two months ago, with footage of him visiting the mosque aired by state broadcaster CCTV at the time.

According to Shih, the Doudian Mosque is part of the same "sinicization" program.

"The authorities believe that this way, all the different religious beliefs in China can be placed under the control of the Chinese government," Shih said. "Under the guidance [of the CCP], any ideas or interpretations from outside are illegal."

"They are using this as a symbolic way to establish the idea that you have to follow the party," he said.

World Uyghur Congress spokesman Dilxat Raxit said the move is part of a bid to eliminate religious beliefs, rather than making them more Chinese, however.

"China is ... using administrative means to eliminate people's religious beliefs in a planned and purposeful manner," Raxit told RFA.

"As China's political center, Beijing is sending a strong message to the world with its 'rectification' of mosques, which is that China will continue with the sinicization of Islam policy, and won't be backing down due to external pressure," he said.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Soldiers repelled a boat from an area also claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Chinese soldiers patrolling on Mischief Reef in the South China Sea in a screen grab from Sept. 12, 2022.

A newly emerged Chinese military video shows how Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) troops on China-occupied islands in the South China Sea have been driving away fishing vessels from neighboring countries despite a tribunal ruling against Chinese claims.

State-run national military channel CCTV-7 reported on Monday that during last weekends Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, soldiers stationed on Mischief Reef, an artificial island that China has occupied since 1994, successfully warned away an unidentified foreign fishing boat from surrounding waters.

In 2016, an international tribunal in the Hague ruled that Mischief Reef, located 250 kilometers east of Palawan Island of the Philippines, is a low-tide elevation and therefore cannot have a 12-mile territorial sea, invalidating Chinas sovereignty claim over it.

It also lies within the Philippines exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and has been a traditional fishing ground for Filipino fishermen for decades.

An EEZ is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources.

Filipino fishermen unload fish after arriving from the disputed Scarborough Shoal, in Infanta, Pangasinan province, Philippines, July 6, 2021. CREDIT: Reuters

The CCTV clip showed armed soldiers, assisted by radars and warships, reacting to a sighting of a fishing boat of unknown nationality and using loudspeakers to chase it away.

Troops also conducted regular training with sea and air targets in order to bolster combat readiness, the report said.

Mischief Reef, also claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, is one of Chinas first reclaimed and fortified islands and also the biggest. It boasts a large harbor, a military base with missile systems and a 3,000-meter (1.9 mile) runway.

In March, U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Adm. John C. Aquilino said that the construction of missile arsenals, aircraft hangars, radar systems and other military facilities at Mischief Reef, Subi Reef and Fiery Cross "appeared to have been completed."

"They threaten all nations who operate in the vicinity and all the international sea and airspace, he added.

Caption: Chinese troops in a planning meeting on Mischief Reef in the South China Sea. CREDIT: CCTV-7





Harassing Indonesian fishermen

The CCTV report also mentioned other China-occupied islands within the Spratly archipelago including the Johnson South, Fiery Cross, Subi, Cuarteron, Gaven and Hughes reefs, where it said soldiers and officers stay on guard night and day to protect Chinas sovereignty.

All the features were deemed rocks and Chinas sweeping maritime claims illegal by the 2016 Hague tribunal but Beijing has always refused to accept the ruling.

Six parties claim parts of the South China Sea but Chinas claims are the most expansive.

Not only restricting access of fishermen from other countries to their old fishing grounds, Chinese Coast Guard and law enforcement ships have also been accused of harassing their fishing vessels.

Indonesian media reported that on Saturday, a Chinese Coast Guard ship was caught roaming inside Indonesias EEZ and harassing much smaller Indonesian fishing boats in the North Natuna Sea.

Locals also said Chinese fishing vessels had been operating illegally in the sea over the past two years. Some of them even came as close as 30 nautical miles (55.6 kilometers) from Pulau Laut which is the outermost island in the Natuna archipelago.

Filipino activists stage a protest on the sixth anniversary of The Hague tribunal ruling outside the Chinese consular office in Makati City, Philippines, July 12, 2022. CREDIT: Reuters

Manilas diplomatic protests

For their part, Filipino fishermen have been complaining about Chinese activities near Scarborough Shoal, another fishing ground in the Philippines EEZ.

Given the increase of both demand and scarcity, it would be prudent to assume that long-term access to what remains of fishing stocks in the South China Sea would be among the key priorities for Beijing, said Thomas Daniel, a senior fellow at Malaysia's Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS).

It has been long-standing practice for state affiliated vessels from China, mainly the Coast Guard and its constituent agencies, and its maritime militia, to harass and deter what it sees as illegal fishing in its EEZs, Daniel said.

While Vietnam and the Philippines bore much of the early brunt, incidents are now increasingly observed in the southern reaches of the South China Sea, affecting Malaysian and Indonesian fishermen, the analyst said.

Since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in June, the Philippine government has lodged 48 diplomatic protests against Beijing over the aggressive behavior of Chinese ships in the South China Sea, which it calls the West Philippine Sea.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Maria Angela Ponce told a hearing at the Philippine Senates Foreign Relations Committee last Thursday that the protests covered the illegal presence of foreign fishing and maritime militia vessels, illegal fishing, harassment of fishermen and enforcement agencies, and unauthorized marine scientific research, according to Philippine media.

Senator Imee Marcos, head of the committee, was quoted as saying that diplomatic protests have not been effective so far and the government needed to come up with a more effective strategy to counter Chinas increasing presence in the South China Sea.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping will head to Central Asia this week on his first trip out of the country since the COVID-19 pandemic, attending the regional Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Uzbekistan, holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and visiting neighboring Kazakhstan.



Xi's trip is expected to focus on broad strategic concerns in response to the United States' formation of the Quad alongside Japan, Australia and India in a bid to counter Beijing's increasingly assertive foreign policy.



Xi and Putin will meet at the eight-member SCO Summit, which also includes Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan, with the president taking the trip at a time when Chinese citizens have been barred from non-essential foreign travel.



It also comes as his ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gears up for its 20th National Congress on Oct. 16, during which Xi is widely expected to secure an unprecedented third term in office following constitutional amendments in 2018.

The last time Xi met Putin at the February 2022 Winter Olympics -- shortly before Russian launched its invasion of Ukraine -- the two leaders declared a "no limits" friendship that has seen China claim neutrality but decline to criticize the war, amid a large spike in its exports of electronics components and other raw materials to Russia since the war began.



Until now, Xi has taken part in other international engagement via video link, only making the trip to Hong Kong to mark the 25th anniversary of the city's handover to China.



Formed under Xi's predecessor Hu Jintao, the SCO is seen as a counterweight to U.S. alliances across East Asia to the Indian Ocean amid increasingly tense relations with Washington, Europe, Japan and India over trade, technology, security, Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights and territorial conflicts at sea and in the Himalayas.



Rolling out his "Global Security Initiative" in April, Xi said he aimed to uphold the principle of indivisibility of security and oppose the building of national security on the basis of insecurity in other countries.



Xi will visit Kazakhstan on Sept. 14, Kazakh foreign ministry spokesman Aibek Smadiyarov said on Monday, adding that the Chinese leader will meet Kazakh President Kassym Jomart Tokayev and sign a number of bilateral documents.



In this May 30, 2017, file photo, the SGR cargo train travels from a port container depot on a Chinese-backed railway costing nearly $3.3 billion - one of the country's largest infrastructure projects since independence - in Mombasa, Kenya. In the past couple of years, Beijing has become more conservative in its approach to its African investments, says Joseph Asunka, CEO of pollsters Afrobarometer. Credit: AP Westward expansion of Chinese influence

Taiwanese national security expert Shih Chien-yu said he expects to see ever-closer cooperation between China and its northern neighbor in the next few years.



"Let's see if Kazakhstan and China cooperate or even go hand-in-hand [as allies] over the next few years," Shih told RFA. "Kazakhstan will play a key role in the westward expansion of Chinese influence in the future."



Shih said that while Kazakh-China ties are currently friendly, Kazakhstan also has very close ties with Moscow, amid a resurgence of U.S. interest in locating military bases and other major infrastructure projects in Central Asia.



Meanwhile, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are deeply in debt to China, and are effectively its vassal states, Shih said.



Turkmenistan remains very closed to outside cooperation, while Uzbekistan is largely focused on agriculture, leaving Kazakhstan the key strategic battleground over which major powers will tussle, he said.



Taiwan think-tank analyst Chang Kuo-cheng said Xi's trip also carries great symbolic meaning.

"China just recently conducted military exercises in the Taiwan Strait that were criticized by the U.S. and other Western countries, and were related to comments from the new British prime minister Liz Truss [who said China was a threat to national security]," Chang said.



"This visit have put to rest any concerns about [Xi's] health, and show that ... he is confident enough in the domestic political situation to travel overseas," he said. "Thirdly, he'll definitely be going to Kazakhstan with gifts and checks, showing that China is playing a more international role as a major power, at a time of war between Russia and Ukraine."

Uyghur groups are watching Xi's trip and the SCO summit for signs Beijing will use the meetings to add to pressure on the Uyghurs by gaining its neighbors' support for tough Chinese policies, said Erkin Ekrem, strategic analyst and vice-chair of the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress.

"The Uyghur issue is one of the most important issues discussed at each SCO summit. That is the main platform for China to demonize Uyghurs as 'terrorists' over the years in Central Asia and the Middle East in order to get the support of these countries against Uyghurs," he told RFA.

"However, in recent years, the narrative on the Uyghur issue has dramatically changed as the Western nations are accusing China of committing genocide, crimes against humanity and use of forced labor against Uyghurs. The West wants to hold China accountable, whether in the U.S., EU or at the current UN General Assembly session. That is why the SCO meeting is highly relevant to China," added Ekrem.



GDI & BRI

Xi could also be promoting his newly conceived Global Development Initiative (GDI), which experts described as a parallel development and lending initiative running alongside a more streamlined Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).



Samantha Custer, director of policy research at the Aid Data Lab at the College of William and Mary, told an online seminar run by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) that the BRI is risky for borrowers, because BRI construction projects often lack transparency, and lenders are concerned about defaults.



Diplomatically, Beijing also faces international criticism that it is setting up debt traps for developing countries, she said.



Joseph Asunka, CEO of pollsters Afrobarometer, told the seminar that Beijing has gotten far more conservative in its approach to its African investments since the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.



"Chinese lending to Africa tends to exacerbate debt levels on the continent," Asunka said. "I do see some kind of shift, especially following this year's ... focus event in Senegal for China-Africa cooperation, where China seemed to be moving towards what they call small and beautiful."



Anthea Mulakala, senior director of the Asia Foundation, said the GDI is now running parallel to the BRI, rather than replacing it.



"Definitely the BRI has been the dominant track, the dominant approach that people are aware of [while] the GDI has been introduced as more of a parallel track," Mulakala said. "Since COVID ... there has been a decline in BRI investments globally."



"China's approach now is to learn from experience to date, whether it's good or whether it's bad, and adapt and refine what they do going forward," she said.



"They're not taking on the gambling investments in Cambodia, or the heavy real-estate investments -- it's much more streamlined and focused now."



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
During the much-publicized COVID-19 outbreak in North Korea earlier this year, workers wearing protective face masks carry vegetables to a shop for distribution to households in Pyongyang, North Korea, May 16, 2022.

Authorities in North Korea have ordered citizens to again wear masks in public just one month after declaring victory over COVID-19, sources in the country told RFA.

North Korea had claimed it was entirely virus-free for most of the pandemic. In May 2022, Pyongyang finally admitted that the virus had spread throughout the country after a military parade in April, and authorities declared a maximum emergency that included movement restrictions and lockdowns.

The government kept a tally of fever cases which reached around 4.8 million people, and state media reported only 75 related deaths. Over the next few months the number of active cases rapidly declined.

On Aug. 10, the countrys leader Kim Jong Un publicly declared victory over the virus and eliminated the maximum emergency restrictions.

Residents are frustrated that they must now wear masks again, even though theyve been told they won the battle against COVID.

Starting this month, we must all wear masks in public places again, a source in the eastern province of South Hamgyong told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Provincial quarantine authorities sent this order, from the Central Committee [of the ruling Korean Workers Party] to the residents through neighborhood watch unit meetings, said the source.

Authorities sent a mask inspection team to the marketplace near the sources home, he said.

Residents who did not wear a mask during the intensive crackdown period, or who sold or purchased goods with a mask on their chin without covering their nose and mouth, were caught and fined, the source said. The fines are 3,000 won (U.S. $0.37) for no mask and 1,000 won ($0.12) for wearing one improperly.

They said that the coronavirus crisis was over, but in less than one month they are telling us to wear masks again and they are cracking down more harshly, he said. The people are complaining that they are trying to take their money with excessive fines.

The source added that there are still large numbers of people with suspected coronavirus symptoms, so the authorities have also returned to emergency quarantine measures.

In South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang, the inspection teams have been out in force since the beginning of the month at factories, auditoriums, train stations and other crowded places, a source there told RFA.

Its like the emergency epidemic prevention system is being restarted, just 21 days after the Highest Dignity [declared victory], the second source said, using an honorific term to refer to Kim Jong Un. This is because there are still patients with suspected COVID-19 symptoms such as high fever and acute bronchitis.

Nevertheless, the authorities are propagating that even though the rest of the world is in chaos due to the relentless spread of the virus, North Korea has succeeded in preventing it, he said.

They say South Korea continues to transmit the virus into our territory by applying the malignant virus on their goods, so we have no choice but to adhere to strict quarantine regulations again, the second source said.

Direct trade between South and North Korea is currently nonexistent and all South Korean goods that end up in the North typically go in through China, with which North Korea has suspended trade due to the coronavirus.

RFA was unable to confirm transmission of the coronavirus to North Korea via imported South Korean goods.

Residents are criticizing the authorities for strengthening means of control over residents, lying that the COVID-19 crisis has ended, and repeating false propaganda that they are beefing up COVID-19 prevention measures again because of South Korea, the second source said.

Translated by Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Myanmars military council troops killed five members of a Peoples Defense Force (PDF) in Myanmars northern Sagaing region on Tuesday morning.

Around 80 members of the military councils 33rd Division then stormed Pe Pyit Taw East village in Budalin township, arresting 20 locals, mostly women, and burning five houses.

One member of the local PDF told RFA the junta troops took them partly by surprise.

We were waiting for the military column as we had received the information [they were coming]. However, the troops came from the north when we expected them to come from the south The battle lasted about 10 minutes, the PDF member said.

Locals said the junta troops had left and were heading towards Chaung Mee To village.

They said more than 1,000 people from five villages in Budalin township had fled their homes due to the military council offensive.

Residents also said internet access and phone lines had been cut in the township.

RFA has not been able to independently verify the incident and the State Administration Council (SAC) has not released any statement on it.

Sagaing region has seen some of the fiercest fighting between junta forces and PDFs since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup.

Last month troops adopted scorched-earth tactics for nearly two weeks in the townships of Kawlin, Kanbalu and Kyunhla, killing at least 12 civilians and burning more than 500 houses. The attacks forced more than 20,000 residents in the to flee their homes for safety.

A report by the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar) said 641 battles had been fought in Sagaing region between February 2021 and last month, accounting for more than 10% of the clashes recorded across the country since the coup.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) said on Monday 2,273 people had been killed by the junta across Myanmar in the past 19 months.
The junta offered no condolences due to poor relations with London, analysts say.

Britains Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William greet Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi ahead of a private lunch at Buckingham Palace in London, May 5, 2017.

UPDATED at 8:39 a.m. EDT on 9-14-2022.

Citizens of Myanmar reacted to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, who died last week at age 96 after 70 years on the British throne, with sadness on Monday, remembering the monarch as a champion of democracy and a source of comfort in the face of national adversity.

Elizabeths reign began in 1952, just four years after the end of more than a century of British rule in Myanmar, at a time of strong anti-British sentiment in the fledgling Southeast Asian nation. Myanmar did not join the Commonwealth after independence, like most other former colonies.

However, many Burmese remember her as overseeing improved bilateral relations that culminated in substantial support from London for democratic reforms in Myanmar under the National League for Democracy (NLD) government of Aung San Suu Kyi, prior to its ousting by the military last year.

The queen was part of the ruling class of the country that has continuously supported the cause of Myanmars democracy, Thet Oo, a resident of Salingyi township in northern Myanmars Sagaing region, told RFA Burmese. I wish for her to rise into heaven.

Khin Maung Nyo, a Yangon-based writer who previously studied in the U.K., told RFA that while the queens role was largely ceremonial, she was seen as a steadying and unifying presence.

People saw her as their guardian angel watching from above as a loving mother would or as a good ruler should. Thats why her subjects from all the 15 Commonwealth realms loved and respected her, he said.

During the time I was in England, the country was having economic problems but the people struggled hard in unity. Though there are a lot of problems at the Palace, Im sure Prince Charles will be able to steer the country, as King Charles III, out of danger."

The Burmese people can empathize with the grief currently felt by Britons, a Mandalay resident who requested anonymity for security reasons, told RFA.

"I can see the entire British population is in grief because she had done many good deeds during her 70 years of rule. It's sad to see them like this. Stories about their grief made me remember the time when our people were similarly in grief when General Aung San was assassinated [in 1947], the Mandalay resident said, referring to Aung San Suu Kyis father, who was a revolutionary hero that many consider to be the founder of modern Myanmar.

Nobody would be grieving for those leaders who didnt do any good for the country. Just look at [previous military rulers] Gen. Ne Win and Senior Gen. Saw Maung. Nobody was moved or sorry for them. People only grieve for good rulers," he said.

Junta silence

Though the junta has remained silent on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) made a point of publicly showing condolences both at home and abroad, a NUG spokesman told RFA.

The NUGs Acting President Duwa Lashi La sent his official message shortly after learning of the queens death on behalf of the shadow government, formed by former lawmakers who were ousted by the junta in the Feb. 1, 2021 coup.

The prime minister has also sent a similar message on behalf of the NUG government, and our representative in Britain has, in person, signed the Book of Condolences, said NUG spokesman Kyaw Zaw.

The British government and the royal family have continuously supported the democracy movement in Myanmar and the queen had been, according to Kyaw Zaw, a good friend of Aung San Suu Kyi, the most well-known figure in the movement who served as State Counselor prior to the coup.

The junta's official newspaper reported on the queens death in its Sept. 9 issue.

RFA attempted to reach junta Deputy Minister of Information Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment on why the junta, which claims to be Myanmars legitimate government, had not sent a message of condolence to London, but received no reply.

Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing sent such a message to the government of Japan after the assassination of its former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July.

Post-coup relations

Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the Thayningha Strategic Studies Institute, made up of former military officers, told RFA that the junta likely chose to stay silent because Britain and the international community have been putting pressure on Myanmar since the coup.

Diplomatic relations with countries like Britain  have not been very good since February 1 [2021], said Thein Tun Oo.

As you know, former British ambassador Vicky Bowman was also recently arrested [by the junta] and punished for meddling in Myanmar politics. So, politically, especially diplomatically, relations are not very good.

Last week, former U.K. Ambassador to Myanmar Vicky Bowman and her Burmese husband, Htein Lin, were sentenced to one year in prison each on immigration violation charges, which activists said were concocted by the junta.

Authorities arrested Bowman, who served as ambassador from 2002-2006, and her husband, an artist and former political prisoner, on Aug. 24 for allegedly violating immigration laws and jailed them in Yangon's notorious Insein Prison. The arrests happened shortly before the U.K. announced a new round of sanctions against the junta to coincide with the fifth anniversary of a military crackdown on minority Rohingya Muslims.

Than Soe Naing, a political observer, said the snub was a result of political and economic sanctions on the junta.

"The British royal family stands with the democratic forces of the world who are fighting against the military dictatorship today and so, they have no reason to send a message of condolences to the death of a state leader of England which is putting all kinds of political and economic sanctions on the junta, Tan Soe Naing said.

Thats why their papers only announce the news of the death. They have not acknowledged and expressed sorrow in any way, he said.

The British government has consistently supported Myanmar's democracy since the 1988 military coup. When Aung San Suu Kyi, whose late husband was a British national, was released from house arrest in June 2012, she traveled to Britain on her first trip away from Myanmar. The queen and the British government received her.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

This story has been updated to remove a comment that was published in error and to correct the timing of the Aug. 24 arrest of the former UK ambassador.
The government is concerned about the religions growing popularity with ethnic Hmong.

UPDATED AT 2:19 EST ON 9-13-22

Vietnamese police and government authorities are trying to crack down on a religious group that is growing in popularity in the countrys northern provinces.

On Monday state-controlled media quoted the Hai Phong City Police as saying the Jesus Church is operating in many localities without permission. The Government Committee for Religious Affairs has not yet recognized the Jesus Church as a religious organization, the news organizations said.

All religious groups in Vietnam are required to obtain government approval, otherwise they are banned.

The Jesus Church is concentrated in provinces including Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Son La, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, and Thanh Hoa.

It was founded around five years ago, according to the Ministry of Public Security, which called it an evil religion, saying it was concerned about the rapid growth of the church among the Hmong community.

The ethnic group originally followed animist beliefs but many Hmong converted to Christianity in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Hai Phong City Police Department said there are about 100 Hmong people living there and, although they were not Jesus Church followers they had issued a warning to try to stop them joining the religion.

Police said the Jesus Church was founded by a man calling himself David Her whose real name is Ho Cha Sung. The department said he is a Hmong from Xiangkhoang province in Laos, currently living in California.

David Her identifies himself as a messenger of Jesus, who he says will return to protect the Hmong people, according to the Baogiaothong news site. He said God gave the Hmong land but they were not united so their land was taken by other groups, the site said, adding that Her claims God urged the Hmong to go back to Laos to set up a state.



In April, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued a proposal to put Vietnam back on the list of countries of special concern for not respecting religious freedom, saying the government continues to persecute independent religious communities.

This story has been updated to include background on David Her.
The NATO military alliance said it would support Ukraine in its fight against Russia for as long as it takes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stepped up calls for Western sanctions against Moscow following the discovery of a mass burial site in a city once occupied by Russian forces.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

NATO military committee Chairman Admiral Rob Bauer on September 17 said Western military aid was making a crucial difference as Ukraine conducts a powerful counteroffensive to retake occupied lands in the east and south of the country.

"The ammunition, equipment, and training that allies and other nations are delivering are all making a real difference on the battlefield," he said at a meeting in Tallinn.

"With its successes on the ground and online, Ukraine has fundamentally changed modern warfare," he added, citing both military and civilian actions.

Bauer said NATO would support Ukraine for "as long as it takes. Winter is coming but our support shall remain unwavering."

The reaffirmation of support came as Zelenskiy called on the global community to condemn the Russian "terrorist state following the discovery of a mass burial site and evidence of torture in Izyum days after the city was retaken from Russia.



Speaking in his nightly video address on September 16, Zelenskiy said Russia should be punished with tougher sanctions.

"There is already clear evidence of torture, humiliating treatment of people. Moreover, there is evidence that Russian soldiers, whose positions were not far from this place, shot at the buried just for fun," he said.

Zelenskiy compared the discoveries made in Izyum this week with the Bucha massacre in the spring and reiterated his call for an international tribunal to be set up to hold Russia accountable for any crimes it committed in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has said that at least 440 bodies had been found at the site in Izyum.

The UN Human Rights Office said it planned to send investigators to Izyum.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby described the reports as "repugnant" but said they were "in keeping with the kind of depravity and the brutality with which Russian forces have been prosecuting this war."

The Czech Republic, which currently holds the rotating EU Presidency, called for the creation of an international war crimes tribunal after the new mass burial sites were found.

"Russia left behind mass graves of hundreds of shot and tortured people in the Izyum area. In the 21st century, such attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and abhorrent," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Twitter.

"We must not overlook it. We stand for the punishment of all war criminals," he added.

Moscow has not commented on the mass burial site in Izyum, which was a Russian frontline stronghold before Ukraine's counteroffensive forced its forces to flee.

Reacting to the reports, U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said war crimes in Ukraine cannot be hidden.

"In terms of the totality of the scale [of potential war crimes], I don't know. But I would tell you that the world will discover that. War crimes cannot be hidden, especially things like mass graves," Milley told reporters traveling with him after arriving in Estonia for a NATO gathering.

Milley lauded Ukraine's military for seizing the "strategic initiative" from Russia -- suggesting that Ukraine had momentum in the war.

Asked whether Ukraine would be able to retake all its territory, Milley said: "The offensives are in the early stages. We're only looking at probably about two weeks so far. And it remains to be seen how far the Ukrainians can press this fight. So I think we'll have to wait and see how the fighting develops."

Elsewhere, the UN atomic watchdog said the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant has been reconnected to the Ukrainian national grid after one of its four power lines was repaired.

The plant had been completely shut down a week ago amid heavy fighting in the area, raising fears of a potential radiation disaster. Russia has taken control of the plant, but it is still operated by Ukrainian personnel.

Near the city of Zaporizhzhya, which is still under Ukrainian control, the Vatican reported that papal envoy Cardinal Konrad Krajewski came under light arms fire as he delivered humanitarian aid in the name of Pope Francis. No one was hurt and it was not clear where the shots came from.

The cardinal is scheduled to visit Kharkiv after previously traveling to Odesa.

WATCH: The speed and efficiency of Ukraine's counteroffensive in the northeastern region of Kharkiv came as a stunning surprise to the Russian military. Ukraine went to great lengths to keep its counteroffensive secret, including deliberately deceiving Russian forces about its military maneuvers. RFE/RL spoke to some of the soldiers involved, who described their tactics.

Meanwhile, Russias TASS news agency quoted local authorities in Russia's Belgorod region as saying Ukrainian shelling from across the border had killed one person in the area. The report could not be independently verified.

Ukrainian authorities say that Russian forces have used the border region to fire missiles into nearby Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city.

In a Twitter update on September 17, British military intelligence said Ukraine continued its offensive operations in the northeast of the country while Russian forces have established a defensive line between the Oskil River and the town of Svatove.

"Russia likely sees maintaining control of this zone as important because it is transited by one of the few main resupply routes Russia still controls from the Belgorod region of Russia," the Defense Ministry said on Twitter.

"Russia will likely attempt to conduct a stubborn defense of this area, but it is unclear whether Russia's frontline forces have sufficient reserves or adequate morale to withstand another concerted Ukrainian assault," it added.

With reporting by RFE/RLs Ukrainian Service, Reuters, dpa, AP, and AFP
TBILISI -- Georgia's position on the war in Ukraine has again come under domestic scrutiny after three Iran Air Cargo planes allegedly carrying drones to Russia passed through Georgian airspace.

Over the last few days, Georgian opposition figures have called for answers from the government, accusing them of offering a back door to the Iranian airline, which is under Western sanctions.

Georgia's Economy Ministry has only confirmed that a plane from Iran Air Cargo, a subsidiary of Iran Air, flew from Yerevan, Armenia, to the Russian capital, Moscow, on September 4 and "spent a total of 10 minutes in Georgian airspace," according to a statement. However, the ministry denied reports that the plane was under sanctions. The other two alleged flights -- on August 21 and August 29 -- have not been commented on by the ministry.

Iran Air Cargo is under sanctions, according to the website of the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which oversees sanctions. Its parent company, Iran Air, is also under sanctions.

And according to the U.S. Treasury website, on September 8, the United States placed the Tehran-based Safiran Airport Services, also a subsidiary of Iran Air, under sanctions, accusing it of coordinating military flights between Iran and Russia. The U.S. Treasury accuses Safiran of "transporting Iranian UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), personnel, and related equipment from Iran to Russia."

Alongside Safiran, the U.S. Treasury also put sanctions on Paravar Pars Company, Design and Manufacturing of Aircraft Engines, and Baharestan Kish Company, which they say have been involved in the research and development of Iranian drones. The Treasury also warned non-Iranian and non-Russian organizations against facilitating the transfer of Iranian drones and other military equipment to Russia.

Both Georgia and Armenia are member countries of the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation, widely known as Eurocontrol and headquartered in Brussels. Georgia's air-traffic-control company, Sakaeronavigatsia, made a statement citing the Convention of International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, which stipulates that the overflight of a civil aircraft that is registered in another state means no permission from the aviation authority needs to be sought.

"According to the flight plan received by Sakaeronavigatsia from Eurocontrol, the starting point of the flight of the aircraft is Zvartnots International Airport, in Armenia's capital city of Yerevan, which is a civil airport," the statement said.

Although the use of Georgian airspace did not apparently breach any international laws, the specter of Georgia's skies being used to facilitate Russia's war in Ukraine is seen as a blow to many in the country who are staunchly pro-Ukraine.

Elene Khoshtaria, leader of the pro-Western opposition Droa party, called the incident a "catastrophic blow" to Georgia's interests.

Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Hudson Institute, expressed his alarm over Georgia's role in facilitating Russian war interests on September 9. "It appears that the Iranian plane transporting unknown items to Russia, that transited Armenian and Georgian airspace, is under US sanctions. I understand why Armenia would allow this. But why Georgia??" he tweeted.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the incumbent Georgian Dream government has been widely criticized for its stance on the war which critics slam as being sympathetic to Russia. The nightly anti-war protests across Tbilisi following the start of the invasion were in part fueled by frustrations over the government's decision not to join international sanctions against Russia.

The Georgian government again came under fire when it grounded a plane intended to transport Georgian volunteer fighters to Ukraine, which caused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to recall Ukraine's ambassador to Georgia. And a growing number of instances in which Russian opposition politicians and independent journalists have been denied entry into Georgia under dubious circumstances has only bolstered many people's perception that the government is acting in line with Moscow's agenda.

Last week, the U.S. ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan, commented to reporters on the need for increased attention over sanctioned cargo. "I can say that sanctions are a very important tool and they can be very effective as we're seeing in Russia and as we will continue to see in Russia over the coming months," Degnan said.
Amnesty International has called on members of the United Nations Human Rights Council to demand that Iran stop concealing the mass graves of victims of the 1988 prison massacres and open an international investigation into the "extrajudicial execution and enforced disappearance of thousands of dissidents amounting to ongoing crimes against humanity."

The rights group said in a statement on September 13 that Iranian authorities have erected 2-meter-high concrete walls around the Khavaran mass graves outside Tehran where the remains of several hundred political dissidents executed in secret in 1988 are believed to be buried.

The construction has sparked concerns that the authorities can more easily destroy or tamper with the mass-grave site away from public view as the site is no longer visible from the outside and its entrance is guarded by security agents who only permit relatives to enter on certain days, Amnesty said.



"The Iranian authorities cannot simply build a wall around a crime scene and think that all their crimes will be erased and forgotten," said Diana Eltahawy, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.



"For 34 years, the authorities have systematically and deliberately concealed and destroyed key evidence that could be used to establish the truth about the scale of the extrajudicial executions carried out in 1988 and obtain justice and reparations for the victims and their families," he added.



Through his fatwa in 1988, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini paved the way for the immediate execution of Iranian prisoners deemed loyal to the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), a political-militant organization that advocated the overthrow of Iran's clerical regime.



Many of the prisoners had been rounded up for even the slightest perceived affiliation to the MKO. The fatwa eventually encompassed all left-wing opponents of the regime, including communists, Trotskyists, Marxist-Leninists, and others.



The cemetery in the east of the capital was traditionally a final resting place for members of religious minorities, who were interred there to keep them separate from the graves of Muslims. But following the mass executions, Khavaran became best known as a secret burial ground for some of the thousands killed.



Last month, the families of victims of the mass executions expressed outrage over construction and other changes made at the Khavaran cemetery, which they believe holds the remains of their loved ones.



Amnesty accused Iranian authorities of putting up five security cameras both inside the site and in the street outside "to intimidate mourning families and deter members of the public from visiting the site to pay their respects."



"States engaging at the UN Human Rights Council have a moral obligation to stand with families, victims, and survivors of atrocities in Iran including the 1988 prison massacres and heed the calls of UN experts for the establishment of an international investigative mechanism," Eltahawy added.



The UN Human Rights Council is currently holding a regular session in Geneva.
Law enforcement and security officers have prevented families of prisoners who have been handed death sentences from demonstrating in front of Iran's judiciary headquarters in Tehran.

The September 12 gathering was to be the sixth consecutive day of such protests, which have been held under the slogan "No to execution."



There was no official report on people being detained and whether they have been released, but most of the attendees were women and children, eyewitnesses said.



In videos of the protests posted on social media, police officers can be seen dispersing the demonstrators, who identified themselves as relatives of those on death row, arresting some of them.



According to one foreign-based Iranian rights group, at least 18 prisoners sentenced to death have been transferred to solitary confinement from the Karaj, Minab, and Gohardasht central prisons to different parts of Iran.



Judicial officials have yet to respond to the demands of the protesters.



Many protest rallies have been held in Iran in recent years, but a rally to oppose the death sentence is a rare act of defiance.



As of September 12, at least 410 executions had been recorded in Iran this year, according to the Iran Human Rights Organization.



Some human rights sources, including the Human Rights Activists News Agency, say that more than 85 percent of executions in Iran are carried out "in secret and without official and public information."



The rise in the number of executions began in September 2021 after Ebrahim Raisi, a former head of the judiciary, became president and former Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei took over the judiciary.



Activists say that Iran is in the throes of a major crackdown as protests continue over living conditions in a severe economic crisis.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
Iranian oil officials said a fire at the southwestern Shadegan oil field has been extinguished amid claims that the blaze was an act of sabotage.

The fire broke out early on September 13 after "tampering by unknown elements," but it was quickly brought under control, Qobad Nasseri, head of the Maroon Oil and Gas Production Company which exploits Shadegan, told state television.



The state news agency IRNA said the blaze had been extinguished.



"The damage is being evaluated but the field will return to production shortly," Nasseri said.



The fire apparently occurred at one of around 20 active wells in Shadegan, whose estimated production capacity is about 70,000 barrels per day.



Shadegan is located in Khuzestan Province, home to Iran's Arab minority, which has long been the scene of anti-government unrest.



Attacks are rare in Iran, but a number of sensitive military and nuclear sites have been targeted in recent years.



Iran has accused Israel of several attacks on facilities and scientists linked to its nuclear program. Israel has neither denied nor confirmed the allegations.



On September 13, a judiciary spokesman said authorities have arrested several people over the assassination of a colonel from Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in May, which Tehran has blamed on Israel and its Western allies.



The IRGC said the shooting of Hassan Sayad Khodai in the capital, Tehran, by two people on a motorcycle was the work of "terrorist groups affiliated with global oppression (the West) and Zionism (Israel)."

With reporting by Reuters and AFP
The government of hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi has been accused of secretly implementing controversial draft legislation that would intensify online censorship and limit Internet access.

Now, it has emerged that a family member of one of Raisi's vice presidents emigrated to Canada and created a company that sells virtual private networks (VPNs), which many Iranians use to bypass state censorship of the Internet.

The revelation has triggered criticism and calls for the vice president to resign.

The parliament, dominated by hard-liners, has been trying to pass a draft bill that would hand control of Iran's Internet gateways to the armed forces and criminalize the use of VPNs.

In a series of tweets on September 7, Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Ensieh Khazali denied that her son, Hamid Rezazadeh, had moved to Canada. She said her son's "temporary" trip was aimed at furthering "knowledge-based" research. That was a reference to the words of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who in March dedicated the new Persian year to "knowledge-based productivity" and job creation.

But Iranian social media users were quick to challenge her claim by posting a screen grab of Rezazadeh's profile on Rocketreach.co, a website that contains the contact information of millions of professionals worldwide.

Rezazadeh's profile says he is the chief executive officer and founder of Betternet.co, a Vancouver-based company that sells VPNs.

RFE/RL was not able to access Rezazadeh's profile on Rocketreach.co. It appeared to have been deleted but a cached version remained available online.

Digital security firm Aura, the parent company of Betternet.co, said in emailed comments to RFE/RL that "there is not currently, nor has there ever been, an employee by the name of Hamid Rezazadeh at Betternet." It said the profile on Rocketreach.co was "fake."

Mehdi Khazali, the vice presidents brother and a blogger, told RFE/RL that his nephew is the founder of a Canada-based company that sells VPNs. But he did not reveal the name of the company.

Rezazadeh was involved in the field of information technology in Iran and praised by state TV as an exemplary entrepreneur.

"It is not right for someone's parents to favor [online] filtering in Iran while he works abroad in the field of VPNs," Mehdi Khazali was quoted as saying by Iranian media on September 11.

Mehdi Khazali told RFE/RL that a son and daughter of his other sister, Kobra Khazali, who chairs the women's commission of the conservative-dominated Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, have been living in the United States for several years.

The controversy over Rezazadeh has led some Iranians to call for Ensieh Khazali's resignation.

In an op-ed issued in the reformist Etemad daily on September 11, lawyer Ali Mojtahedzadeh accused Ensieh Khazali of "misleading" the public.

"It became clear that [Khazali's] son has been living in Canada for the past three years and that he's been active in the field of VPNs," he wrote. "Does the vice president consider the production of anti-filtering tools as a 'knowledge-based' activity, particularly if this government has been taking very strict measures regarding the Internet?" Mojtahedzadeh asked.

Privileged Children Of The Elite

The revelations about Rezazadeh have led to renewed criticism of the so-called "aghazadehs," a term used by Iranians to describe the privileged children of the elite who are thought to benefit greatly from connections and family ties, including for access to top jobs and state contracts.

Iranian officials who have sent their children to study and work in Europe and North America even as they blast the West have attracted controversy.

"Society sees the hypocrisy and contradictions in state officials constantly attacking the West and talking continuously about the crisis in the West...but at the same time, some of their children prefer life in Western countries," Tehran-based sociologist Mohammad Jalaeipur said in a September 11 post on Telegram.

Last week, the head of the government's information council, Mahdi Arafati, quoted Raisi as saying that if the children of Iranian officials move abroad then their parents should leave the country too. Arafati said Raisi's comments came following reports that the child of a deputy minister received a foreign visa and was planning to leave the country.

Earlier this year, an official with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed that up to 4,000 relatives of senior government officials lived in North America and Europe. General Morteza Miri said the individuals should be "monitored" so they do not have access to senior posts in the Islamic republic in the future.

The son of a former vice president, Masumeh Ebtekar, who served as a spokeswoman for the Islamic students who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, is among the children of Iranian officials who live and study in the United States.

"Many have studied in the U.S., which does not necessarily mean support for U.S. policies," Ebtekar claimed in an interview in 2018. "Young people's views may not be fully in line with their parents."
Pope Francis has arrived in Kazakhstan to take part in a gathering of leaders of world religious leaders -- though without Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill -- amid tensions over Russia's war in Ukraine.

The Kazakh presidential press service said the plane carrying the 85-year-old pope landed in Nur-Sultan shortly after 5:15 p.m. local time on September 13. The pope will be in Kazakhstan for three days.

Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev greeted Pope Francis at the airport and the two leaders held talks, after which they met with civil society representatives and diplomats. Francis said he came to the Central Asian nation "to echo the plea of all those who cry out for peace."



"Now is the time to stop intensifying rivalries and reinforcing opposing blocs," the pope said, calling for a new "spirit of Helsinki," referring to 1975 accords that helped bring an end to the Cold War.



Francis addressed Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, calling it "tragic and senseless" and emphasizing that Russia was responsible for the war in Ukraine. Francis was previously criticized for not doing so when the Russian invasion began in late February.



Toqaev said it was a "great honor" to welcome Pope Francis to his country.



"You arrived in Kazakhstan at a milestone time in the history of humankind. I believe that the time has come for representatives of different cultures and religions to show wisdom and energy to unite people for the sake of peace, social harmony, and mutual support," Toqaev said.



Francis said earlier that he hoped to meet Patriarch Kirill at the inter-religious summit, but last week, Kirill's spokesman said the patriarch would not attend the event.



Since the beginning of Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24, Kirill has made a number of statements in solidarity with the policy of Russian authorities on the war, prompting Pope Francis to warn him against becoming President Vladimir Putin's altar boy."



More than 150 Russian Orthodox clerics called for a stop to the war in an open letter on March 1. Kirill was not among those who signed it.

With reporting by dpa, AP, and AFP
A local councilor from St. Petersburg who called on Vladimir Putin to resign says he's been overwhelmed by the level of support from members of the public. Dmitry Palyuga, of St. Petersburg's Smolny municipal council, co-authored a petition calling on the Russian president to step down that was sent to Russia's State Duma.
Norilsk Nickel plans to launch Sulfur Program in Q3 2023 Norilsk Nickel plans to launch a Sulfur Program in the third quarter of 2023, according to the company's president Vladimir Potanin, who told this to journalists on Friday.

FURA Gems unveils Estrela De Fura  worlds largest gem-quality ruby ever discovered FURA Gems Inc., the leading coloured-gemstone mining company headquartered in Dubai, UAE, has announced the discovery of the world's largest gem-quality ruby ever mined at an event hosted by DMCC at their Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE).

Zim platinum miner in a tax row with authorities Anglo American's platinum operation in Zimbabwe, Unki Mines has filed an urgent high court application against the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, which sought to garnish funds from the companys local account over a royalties dispute.

ICMM, PRI & UNEP issue joint statement post the Jagersfontein tailings failure Mourning the lives lost in the incident, the co-conveners of the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management, the ICMM, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) issued a statement saying...
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Two months ago today, Ike Iloputaife and his dogs went out for their morning constitutional and inadvertently walked into what the Vista resident calls one the darkest periods of his life.

The 55-year-old Nigerian-born innkeeper has long been accustomed to attracting attention in his Alta Vista neighborhood during twice-daily walks with his large white Borzoi wolfhounds, Lars and Lovkiy.

But the unwanted attention they received from a neighbor with a camera on May 16 landed their photo on a sheriffs news release, which labeled him a person of interest in a neighborhood burglary that afternoon. Why? He and the three much-younger, much-taller and much-heavier burglary suspects are all black.

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Iloputaife said the experience has profoundly changed his feelings about race and prejudice in America, where he emigrated in 1981. It has also made him want to become more politically engaged.

Before I had a reticence to be out there, but this has caused me to want to participate, he said.

It has also made him thankful for the 40 or so neighbors who gathered for an afternoon potluck Sunday at the home he shares with his husband, Jim Watson.

Among the attendees was next-door neighbor Don Bartletti, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who retired from the Los Angeles Times in 2015. When he and his wife, Diana, heard that Iloputaife was so devastated by the incident that he considered leaving the U.S., Bartletti and Watson decided to organize the gathering as a show of support.

Ike is a charismatic and intelligent guy and hes right to be interested in politics, Bartletti said. Politics started this new American downfall of accepted racism. We need to confront Americas reality. We were the greatest experiment in the history of man and weve come so far since the civil rights era to here, and now suddenly everyones getting their legs cut off again.

Iloputaife was drawn into the burglary case when an unidentified woman took a long-distance photo of him walking his dogs down her street. After the neighborhood burglary, she posted the image on the social media app Nextdoor and it was later picked up by the Sheriffs Department and shared on the CrimeStoppers.com website and with the media.

His photo with the dogs was compared in the release to that of Suspect No. 2, who was captured on home video and described as age 20 to 35, 6 feet to 6-foot-5 and weighing 260 pounds. Iloputaife is 5-foot-9, in his mid-50s and weighs 190 pounds.

After speaking with sheriffs deputies in Vista, he was removed as a person of interest but it took him days of calls and emails to get the release removed from Crime Stoppers and other outlets.

Sheriffs officials in Vista later apologized to Iloputaife for the case of mistaken identity and San Diego County Sheriff Sgt. Al Gavings attended Sundays gathering, which doubled as a Neighborhood Watch meeting.

He told the receptive crowd that officials now believe the burglary suspects were from Los Angeles. Asked about the issue of racism, Gavings, who is also black, agreed that racism is a problem in Vista and that it is getting worse.

On June 1, Iloputaife wrote an open letter to his neighbors on the Nextdoor app, describing how demoralizing it was to be labeled suspicious for simply walking his dogs on a public street. The letter drew both words of support as well as criticism.

Tracy Johnston, whose home shares a driveway with that of Iloptuaife and Watson, said she was discouraged by the response from some on Nextdoor who felt that Iloputaifes skin color was justification enough to share the photo and connect him with the robbery suspects.

My response was you dont have to call the cops unless you have more confirmation than skin color, Johnston said. I think this whole thing has made people more aware.

Iloputaife gave several interviews in the aftermath of his letter but felt that some of the TV reports sensationalized his story. In early June he left for a monthlong business trip in France and during that time the situation cooled off. When he returned, he said he had a better perspective on the experience.

On the one hand, I would say its made me more understanding of different opinions and how people see the same thing in different ways. Im open to new ideas, he said. But on the other hand, Im less patient in trying to convince people to change their minds. People are so set in the way they think these days, its impossible to reach them.

Iloputaife and Watson moved to Vista last June after spending 22 years running a bed-and-breakfast inn in Provence, France. They met in Los Angeles in 1994.

During the civil rights era in 1960s, Watson was a pastor in his native Texas, where he was involved in sit-ins to integrate several restaurants. After moving to L.A., he was also involved in some of the states first gay rights events. From that long perspective, he sees the community awakening as a hopeful sign.

Ive been part of the struggle and there has been change so its hard for me to not be hopeful, he said. Its been very painful for Ike and it has made us all more aware of how prejudice and racism hurts people. Weve got to get it out of our community.

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
The suitors for Sex.com have been put off for now.

An auction for the much-sought-after domain name was canceled Wednesday after three creditors filed a petition forcing the owner into bankruptcy.

Mike Mann, an investor with all three creditors, said the petition was filed to stop the auction. According to the petition, the creditors have a combined $10.1 million claim.

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Selling the domain name at an auction was not going to enhance its value, Mann said.

Its gone way up in value, he said. Its the most valuable domain in the world. They were throwing away the worlds most valuable domain asset.

Escom LLC paid a reported $12 million to $14 million for the domain name in 2006, but the company was unable to repay the debt. The lender ordered the foreclosure sale.

The opening bid: $1 million.

Richard Maltz, vice president of David R. Maltz & Co. Inc., which was handling the auction, said there was considerable interest in the domain name sale.

Maltz declined to give specifics on the interested parties. One of them was People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which sent a letter to the lenders lawyer asking him to urge his client to donate the domain name to them.

Males who consume meat, eggs and dairy products often suffer sexual side effects, according to PETA.

Donating the domain to us is a win-win situation for everybody: Your client will enjoy an enormous tax write-off, and people will learn how to help spice up their love lives while helping animals, wrote Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman.

Like Mann, domain name experts believed Sex.com was going to be undervalued at the auction.

Jerry Nolte, owner of Domainers Magazine, said that the site is worth between $14 million and $18 million, but that the domain market has gone down significantly from what it was two years ago, though he said it is starting to rebound.

Kathy Nielsen, director of sales for domain marketplace Sedo, estimated it would go for $6 million. She said there wasnt enough notice for interested parties to do due diligence.

Its a great name to build a business on, she said, adding that sex is one of the top search terms on the Internet.

Mann said Escom was never given a chance to make its money back. The Sex.com site front page features links to things like love horoscopes, story of the day, youtube video of the day and classifieds.

He wants Escom to be able to build the asset, though he acknowledged the domain name will probably be sold.

A bankruptcy court judge will decide the fate and timing of the domain name sale, said New York bankruptcy attorney Ira Herman, whos not involved in the case. It could take up to a year to be resolved, he said.
Archaeologists excavating Liang Tebo Cave on the Indonesian island of Borneo have discovered the skeletal remains of a young individual who had the distal third of their left lower leg surgically amputated, probably as a child, at least 31,000 years ago; the individual survived the procedure and lived for another 6-9 years, before their remains were intentionally buried in the cave. The discovery pre-dates the previous oldest known evidence for amputation surgery by 24,000 years.

The Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat Peninsula in East Kalimantan province on Borneo hosts an extensive limestone karst landscape that, during the Late Pleistocene, was located close to the extreme easternmost edge of the Eurasian continental landmass, Sunda.

This rugged karst terrain harbors numerous caves and rock shelters that abound with archaeological evidence of prehistoric human occupation, including figurative rock art dating to at least 40,000 years ago.

Liang Tebo  a large three-chambered limestone cave with preserved rock art  is situated approximately 2.5 km from, and 165 m above, the Marang River.

In 2020, archaeologists found the skeleton of the young adult without the left foot in the central floor area of the largest chamber of the cave.

The cut was clean, well healed and had no evidence of any infection, said Dr. Melandri Vlok, a researcher in the Sydney South East Asian Centre at the University of Sydney.

The chances the amputation was an accident was so infinitely small. The only conclusion was this was Stone Age surgery.

The find is incredibly exciting and unexpected. The discovery implies that at least some modern human foraging groups in tropical Asia had developed sophisticated medical knowledge and skills long before the Neolithic farming transition.

While it is not entirely clear what led to the amputation, the individual also had a very well healed neck fracture and trauma to their collar bone that may have occurred during the same event.

An accident, such as a rock fall may have caused the injuries, and it was clearly recognized by the community that the foot had to be taken off for the child to survive, Dr. Vlok said.

It is an extremely rugged environment with steep mountains dotted with caves containing some of the oldest paintings created by our species, said Professor Maxime Aubert, a researcher in the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research and the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution at Griffith University, and the Geoarchaeology and Archaeometry Research Group at Southern Cross University.

The archaeologists had to kayak into the valley and scale the enormous cliff to get into the cave, proving just how remarkable it was for someone with only one leg to have survived in such challenging terrain.

This unique find challenges assumptions of humanitys capabilities in the past and is set to significantly advance our understanding of human lifeways in tropical rainforests, said Dr. India Ella Dilkes-Hall, a researcher in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Western Australia.

The teams paper was published in the journal Nature.

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T.R. Maloney et al. Surgical amputation of a limb 31,000 years ago in Borneo. Nature, published online September 7, 2022; doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05160-8
Astronomers using ESOs VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at Paranal Observatory have captured a detailed image of a spectacular part of a star cloud called Messier 24.

Messier 24 lies approximately 10,000 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius and is part of the Sagittarius or Sagittarius-Carina arms of our Milky Way Galaxy.

Also known as the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, M24 or IC 4715, this star cloud has a diameter of 600 light-years.

It should not be confused with the nearby Large Sagittarius Star Cloud which lies about 10 degrees to the south.

Messier 24 was first spotted on June 20, 1764 by the French astronomers Charles Messier, who described it as a large nebulosity containing many stars.

It hosts several dark nebulae which are vast clouds of dense, obscuring interstellar dust.

The two dark nebulae in the new VST image almost resemble something supernatural, like the wispy trails of ghosts in the sky, ESO astronomers said.

But there is no need to call the ghostbusters!

These dark clouds are known as Barnard 92 (right) and Barnard 93 (left).

Barnard 92, which is the darker of the two nebulae, was discovered in 1913 by the American astronomer Edward Emerson.

Barnard 92 and Barnard 93 look pitch black because the dense gas and dust they contain block out the background light, creating these hazy ghostlike features, the researchers said.

These nebulae are stellar nurseries, where new stars are born out of the collapsing dense gas and dust.

This image is part of the VST Photometric H Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+), which has mapped diffuse nebulae as well as both young and evolved stars in the Milky Way.

It was obtained by the OmegaCAM instrument, an enormous 268-megapixel camera installed on the VST telescope.

OmegaCAM is designed for capturing wide fields like this image, where you could impressively fit four full moons, the scientists said.
(Photo : Facebook | Anton Donaldson) Another giant squid was found on a beach in New Zealand by a tour group.

A group of tourists was shocked as they came across the remains of a giant squid on a beach in a unique sighting.

The giant squid was spotted on a Farewell Spit Tours trip along Farewell Spit in Golden Bay, New Zealand. The tour guide, Anton Donaldson, received a text message from his colleague that the tour group would encounter something exciting as he drove the tour bus to the beach.

The group spotted a massive creature lying on the sand. Donaldson told the New Zealand Herald that they all got excited as he told the tourists about the squid.

He described the opportunity as "once-in-a-lifetime," which is not common to find on any beaches. Donaldson added that it was a good thing that they were able to be there at the right time before the cadaver washed up on the beach.

The Rare Squid Sighting

According to him, the giant squid they found on the shore was 13-foot long. The giant squid is known to be the second-largest mollusk, next to the colossal squid that can grow up to 46 feet long and weigh up to 1100 pounds, according to Oceana.

The mollusk can be found worldwide and can rarely be seen alive on the coast. They usually swim in the depth of an ocean, about 1,000 to 3,300 feet below the surface.

The giant squid hadn't been photographed alive not until 2005, and it was only captured on film in 2006 on the Ogasawara Island in Japan. According to the Two Oceans Aquarium in South Africa, 677 species of giant squid have been sighted up to the present time.

Donaldson said "the tentacles on it were chewed back," as they inspected the giant squid's remains. They also noticed that a portion of its back part had been eaten by other marine creatures, such as small sharks or fish. He then claimed that the giant squid might have been floating in the ocean's vastness and was washed up on the shore for some time.

ALSO READ: Rare 14-Foot Giant Squid With Gigantic Eye, Fist-Sized Beak Found Dead in Cape Town Beach

Giant Squid's Nature

National Geographic said that the giant squid has the largest eyes of any animal. It is comparable to an average dinner plate, 10 inches in diameter.

It is thought that those giant eyes have evolved to help the squid catch its prey under low lighting. The giant squid's eyes scrape off bioluminescent light in the dark waters below 1,000 feet.

Sperm whales are the most common predator of the giant squids. They are also often found within the digestive system of pilot whales, southern sleeper sharks, and sometimes in killer whales. The giant squid is also often eaten by other giant squids.

Anton Donaldson said in his statement that something unique is a special thing to experience and added that he felt some sadness about the creature.

"A magnificent example of a large sea creature that lives at the bottom of the ocean unfortunately on the beach, not alive anymore," Donaldson said.

RELATED ARTICLE: Giant Squid Bigger Than a Toddler Washed Ashore in Cape Town After Similar Massive Creature Was Spotted in Japan

Check out more news and information on the Giant Squid in Science Times.
Piracy and Armed Robbery in the Gulf of Guinea: Vote on a Draft Resolution*

Tomorrow (31 May), the Security Council is expected to vote on a draft resolution on piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea. The penholders, Ghana and Norway, first began informal consultations on the text with Council members and regional states late last year. But after two expert-level meetings in January on the draft resolution, negotiations stalled. China broke two silence procedures, and despite the penholders placing the draft resolution in blue on 27 January, the Council did not vote on the text amid persisting differences with China on language relating to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). On 24 May, the penholders re-circulated their draft resolution to Council members, without any substantive changes, and placed it in blue. After further negotiations with China, an amendment was made today (30 May) to the draft in blue, which appears to have produced an agreement on the text.

The draft resolution is open for co-sponsorship by the wider UN membership. Member states that have already co-sponsored the draft text that was placed in blue on 24 May need to re-confirm their co-sponsorship before the scheduled 11 am adoption because of the late amendment to the text in blue.

Draft Resolution

In initiating the resolution, Ghana and Norway seek to renew attention to the issue of Gulf of Guinea piracy and mobilise greater support for regional and national efforts to tackle the problem. It has been ten years since the Councils last resolution on Gulf of Guinea piracy, resolution 2039 of 29 February 2012. The 2013 Yaounde Code of Conduct signed by 25 West and Central African countries remains the regions main maritime security architecture to address the problem, but its operationalisation has faltered. The Gulf of Guinea accounts for the majority of kidnappings of seafarers worldwide, and generates approximately $5 million annually in ransom payments to pirate gangs. Its negative economic impact and effects on trade are especially significant, with direct and indirect costs estimated at $1.925 billion annually for 12 Gulf of Guinea countries, according to a study that the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the non-profit Stable Seas released last December.

The draft resolution in blue expresses the Councils deep concern about the grave and persistent threat posed by piracy, armed robbery and transnational organised crime in the Gulf of Guinea to international navigation, security and sustainable development of regional states. It calls on states in the region to criminalise and prosecute acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea under their domestic laws, and emphasises the need to enhance and support national, regional, and international efforts to counter piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea.

The penholders also proposed the resolution as an early warning initiative over concerns that piracy may have or could develop links with terrorist groups in West and Central Africa. The draft resolution urges member states and international organisations to assist regional states and regional and sub-regional organisations in taking necessary measures to prevent piracy revenues from financing terrorism in West and Central Africa and the Sahel. It requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Council a report on piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea and its root causes within five months. The report should include analysis on any possible and potential linkages with terrorism in West and Central Africa and the Sahel, information on UN support and contributions, and recommendations for further supporting and enhancing national efforts and regional and international cooperation towards combatting piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea.

Negotiations

The main sticking point during the negotiations was over how to refer to the UNCLOS. This dispute appears to be more broadly linked to the potential implications for Chinas claims in the South China Sea, an issue which surfaced at the Councils 9 August 2021 virtual open debate on maritime security.

The draft resolution in blue reaffirms that international law, as reflected in the UNCLOS, sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out, including countering piracy and armed robbery at sea. This is agreed language from the Councils last three resolutions renewing counter-piracy measures off the coast of Somalia, the most recent of which is resolution 2608 of 3 December 2021. During the January negotiations, it seems that China proposed replacing this wording with language based on the Councils 9 August 2021 presidential statement on maritime security, which says that the UNCLOS sets out the legal framework applicable to activities in the oceans, including countering illicit activities at sea.

In explaining its position, China has apparently observed that the preamble of the UNCLOS affirms that matters not regulated by this Convention continue to be governed by the rules and principles of general international law, which according to China shows that the UNCLOS does not regulate all activities in the oceans and seas. It has also highlighted the role of customary international law, in addition to the UNCLOS, as a source of international law regulating activities in the oceans and seas. However, Chinas position did not appear to gain traction with other Council members, many of whom oppose language that would appear to limit the scope of the UNCLOS jurisdiction and its universality.

Ahead of the planned January vote, China requested a separate vote on three paragraphs in the resolution. If these votes had taken place, China could have used its veto to remove the paragraphs from the draft text. According to rule 32 of the Councils provisional rules of procedure, [p]arts of a motion or of a draft resolution shall be voted on separately at the request of any representative, unless the original mover objects.

In addition to the contentious paragraph described above, the other two paragraphs on which China sought a vote included one describing other navigational rights and freedoms by ships of any state, consistent with international law, as reflected in UNCLOSlanguage which is also contained in the Somalia counter-piracy resolutions. The third paragraph names different international initiatives undertaken by regional countries and organisations to counter piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. China had apparently argued against listing them since not all Council members are part of these initiatives.

Following Chinas request, Ghana and Norway decided to postpone the vote and to continue consultations to find agreement on the text. Although these did not bridge the differences with China, the penholders informed members in May that they intended to move forward with a vote on the draft resolution that they had placed in blue in January. Only one technical change was made to the text: while the January draft requested the Secretary-General to submit his report on piracy in the Gulf of Guinea within nine months, the draft resolution in blue requests the report within five months. This was done to make sure that Council members receive the report ahead of Ghanas November Council presidency. The issue of countering piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has been one of the priorities of Ghanas President Nana Akufo-Addo during his chairmanship of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

China continued to express strong objections to language asserting that the UNCLOS sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out. Last week, it proposed adding language specifying that the UNCLOS sets out the legal framework governing all activities in the oceans and seas in the Gulf of Guinea. Alternatively, China suggested proposals, which it had previously presented to the penholders, to replace the paragraph with formulations from other Council products. Such proposals include reverting to language from resolution 2039, which states that the UNCLOS sets out the legal framework applicable to countering piracy and armed robbery at sea, as well as other ocean activities. China apparently indicated that if none of its proposals for reformulation are accepted, it will request a separate vote on the UNCLOS paragraph. It seems, however, that many members opposed Chinas proposals, which they viewed as representing a regression from the most recent relevant Council language on UNCLOS applicability.

Further talks between the penholders and China over the weekend have apparently produced an agreement on the text. The penholders amended the draft in blue today (30 May), by moving language stating that the provisions of this resolution apply only with respect to the situation in the Gulf of Guinea, which was contained in a separate paragraph, to the end of the controversial paragraph on the UNCLOS.

The latest round of negotiations took place after the General Assemblys adoption of resolution A/RES/76/262 of 26 April, which would require China to explain its decision before the General Assembly should it exercise its veto on the Gulf of Guinea draft resolution. The General Assembly resolution stipulates that the President of the General Assembly shall convene a formal meeting of the General Assembly within ten working days of a veto being cast by a permanent member of the Council. On 8 June, the General Assembly is scheduled to hold a debate on the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) after last weeks double veto by China and Russia of a draft resolution to update and strengthen the 1718 DPRK sanctions regime. (For background, see our 27 May Whats in Blue story.) The 8 June meeting will be the first time that the General Assembly has acted in accordance with resolution A/RES/76/262.

__________________________________________________________________

*Post-script: On 31 May, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2634 on piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea, with several members providing explanations of vote (S/PV.9050). Thirty-seven member states co-sponsored the resolution, including Council members Albania, Brazil, France, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Norway, and the US.
PBNJ Productions / Getty Images/Tetra images RF

Six people were injured Monday night after a fire ignited on the third floor of a Berkeley apartment complex, according to authorities.

Berkeley firefighters responded to the incident shortly before 5 p.m. at the 1300 block of Berkeley Way near Acton Street, according to Interim Deputy Fire Chief Keith May of the Berkeley Fire Department.
Courtesy of the U.S. District Court

The Senate on Monday confirmed President Bidens nomination of Salvador Mendoza Jr., a federal judge and former criminal defense lawyer, to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where he will be the first Latino judge from Washington state.

The vote was 46-40, with three Republicans  Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska  joining Democrats in support of Mendoza. He succeeds Judge M. Margaret McKeown, who is transferring to senior status with a reduced caseload.
Two doctors have been appointed to evaluate whether the 33-year-old man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend with a sword on a San Carlos street is mentally competent to stand trial, the San Mateo County DAs Office said.

On Tuesday, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hill appointed Dr. Yan Chan and Dr. Jeffrey Gould to examine Jose Rafael Solano Landaeta, the Hayward resident who prosecutors say nearly decapitated 27-year-old Karina Marie Castro, a mother of two, outside of her apartment last week.

The court suspended criminal proceedings on Monday after the court raised questions around Solano Landaetas history of mental health problems, the DAs Office said.

He is being held in custody without bail and is subject to a criminal restraining order pertaining to Castros two daughters, who are 18 months old and 7 years old. Prosecutors say Solano Landaeta is the father of the younger daughter.

Solano Landaetas next appearance in court will take place next month, according to the DAs Office. The court will also receive the doctors report that day, prosecutors said.

The defendant previously lived with Castro in the apartment she was killed outside of.

During a violent argument between the two, Solano Landaeta allegedly used a samurai sword to slash ... numerous times, causing the victims head to be almost severed, prosecutors said.

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.

Prosecutors say Solano Landaeta attacked Castro in front of multiple witnesses and then walked away to his car a few blocks away, where he put the bloody sword.

When he returned to the scene, he was arrested by authorities.

Annie Vainshtein (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avainshtein@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @annievain
A man who prosectors say killed a woman with a sword on a San Carlos street  nearly decapitating her  will be evaluated to see if he is competent to stand trial.

Jose Rafael Solano Landaeta, 33, appeared in San Mateo County Superior Court Monday afternoon with his lawyer, Robert Cummings, who raised concerns about whether the defendant was competent to stand trial in the slaying of Karina Marie Castro, 27, a mother of two, San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said.

The court suspended criminal proceedings and continued the case to Tuesday before Judge Elizabeth Hill. On Tuesday, two doctors will be appointed to examine Solano Landaeta to determine whether he is competent to stand trial. The evalution results are expected in about eight weeks, Wagstaffe said.

Solano Landaeta is being held in custody on a no bail status, and the court issued a criminal restraining order directing him to not have any contact with the victims two daughters, who Castros friends said are ages 1 and 7. Solano Landaeta is charged with one felony court of murder, with two enhancements: use of a deadly weapon, and great bodily injury, according to charging documents from the San Mateo County District Attorneys Office.

The attack occured on Sept. 8 outside Castros apartment. Prosecutors said Solano Landaeta used a sword to strike the victim several times, nearly beheading her. Police said they do not believe the children saw the attack. Solano Landaeta is the father of the 1-year-old girl, friends of Castro said.

Family and friends of Castros say she appeared to know she was in danger shortly before the attack, and that word had gotten around over the course of their on-and-off relationship that Solano Landaeta, who went by Rafa, was mentally unstable.

She might have been starting to see somebody else, said Gillian Strachan of Redwood City, a longtime family friend of the Castros whose daughters grew up with Castro. She didnt want anything to do with him. She was trying to move on with her life.

Castro was raised in Redwood City and attended Menlo-Atherton High School, said Strachan, who described her as a loyal and caring young woman who stood up for anything she found to be an injustice and who from a young age had always been the first to help her family and friends.

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.

She was always such a mommas helper, said Strachan, who added that Castro had been estranged from her own mother and was raised by her father and grandmother. She was always the first to help  to change the diapers, grab a sippy cup, do the laundry, wash the dishes.

Castro worked as a delivery driver for DoorDash and was raising her oldest daughter as a single parent before she met the defendant, who for a time lived with her in the apartment complex where she was slain, friends, family, and neighbors said.

When her daughter got a little older, I think she just wanted to have another baby, said Strachan. She just hooked up with this guy and got pregnant, and didnt know too much about him. People never show their true colors at first.

Annie Vainshtein (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avainshtein@sfchronicle.com
Oakland voters will decide in November whether to ditch gendered language like fireman and workmen from the city charter and replace them with gender-neutral terms, the latest effort by a Bay Area city to make its communication more inclusive.

If the measure gets a majority vote, firemen, for example, will switch to firefighter and Oakland would become the latest city to take the leap. Berkeley garnered national attention in 2019 for adopting a similar measure.

Oaklands measure hasnt yet garnered opposition.

The city charter, adopted in 1968, refers to city employees using masculine pronouns, he, him, and his, according to the city auditors office, but those would become they if the measure is approved.

Female police officers, now referred to as matrons would become members of the police department and widows would be surviving spouses. Workmen would become workers.

The measure is part of a growing effort statewide to be more inclusive. In 2017, the legislature adopted the Gender Recognition Act, which amended various state codes to allow residents to select nonbinary on drivers licenses, IDs, birth certificates and other documents. A year later, the state legislature adopted a resolution calling for the use of gender-neutral pronouns and gender-inclusive language in state legislation.

Scholars say the change to gender-inclusive language in city documents is important.

Ben Papadopoulos, a doctoral student in linguistics at UC Berkeley, said changing official language so it gives a little bit more space for a wider range of people is key so people dont feel excluded by the particular words that we use.

Oaklands effort would have minimal fiscal impacts on the city, the auditor said in a review.

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.

City Attorney Barbara Parker, Mayor Libby Schaaf, Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan and Council Member Sheng Thao announced in 2020 a resolution to use gender-inclusive and gender-neutral language in city communications and policies. The resolution also included a plan for a ballot measure in the 2022 election to change language in the city charter.

The city first committed to placing a ballot measure to change the language in its city charter in 2020.

The sponsors of the ballot measure said its meant to recognize LGBTQ rights.

Nonbinary, transgender, pangender, intersex, genderqueer, agender, two-spirit, and other people who may fall somewhere outside of the traditional conceptions of strictly male or female have every right to see themselves reflected in the laws and policies that govern them, Parker said in 2020.

Sarah Ravani (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
If theres a theme to this column, it could be summed up as: Chosen family works. You just have to be stubborn.

But long before our sons, Zane and Aidan, chose us, long before our dog Queenie chose us, my husband and I chose each other.

I didnt always think I had options. It may have been either Brother X or Brother XX, but one of them left a copy of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* in the living room of our row house in South Ozone Park. The book, which came out in 1969, was intended as an open discussion of sexuality, and was the No. 1 best-seller in 51 countries.

So I curled up on our black sofa and went straight, if youll pardon the term, to Chapter 8: Homosexuality. The author, psychiatrist David Reuben, wrote that its impossible for gay men to be monogamous because whole means a man and a woman; homosexuals are on an impossible quest.

Imagine reading that as an 11-year-old boy in a decidedly heterosexual Irish Catholic family.

Segue to 1985: My cousin Rita tried to fix me up with her roommate, a very sweet man named Tony, with whom there never was any chemistry. She invited me to her Jersey City apartment for dinner, along with one of her Broadway friends, a chorus boy named Brian, whod been dancing the cancan in the original production of La Cage aux Folles.

Rita had made lasagna, which in her case consisted of alternating levels of Ronzoni pasta, ketchup and cottage cheese. Both Brian and I stirred our meals around enough that they looked eaten and made small talk until I could take leave of her and Tony. We headed out the door at the same time, and as I walked left to take the train, Brian asked, Hey, you want to grab a pizza?

The rest, as they say, is history. On our first date, we watched modern dance at the Joyce Theater (his choice). On the second date, we went to Waverly on Waverly, a bar in Greenwich Village, so that Brian could meet some of my friends. Danny Perlman, whom I had known since graduate school at the University of Michigan, waited for Brian to leave the table and whispered, So immature. This wont last six months.

That was 37 years ago.

On Sept. 19, 1987, Brian and I threw our own wedding, on a rainy day, in a bar in Chelsea. No one who came had ever been to a gay wedding before, so there werent any rules. I dont think I realized at the time that this was revolutionary. I just knew that we made sense together, and that this relationship was likely to last a while.

We lit candles. We read from The Little Prince. When Father Mariano asked for my vow, I did not promise to love, honor and obey. Instead, I said, This ring stands for faith, hope and love: faith, that like the circle of the ring, we will return to each other in every season; hope, that like this gold which does not tarnish, we will in our way be true; and love, that like the light that glistens on the band, will reflect in our years together.

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.

We couldnt get legally married until 2008, so Hallmark would call this year either our coral or ivory anniversary. Nothing is ever permanent, but in our 35 wedded years we have built a home, a bungalow in the Outer, Outer, Outer, Outer Excelsior. We have raised two sons almost to adulthood. He has danced. I have written. We try to do our part to make the world a better place. And we try to do that together.

Still, I have this lingering doubt that my marriage will last. On June 24, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas opined that the court should reconsider all due process cases, including the Obergefell decision legalizing gay marriage. We have a duty to correct that error, he wrote. That error hes talking about was my wedding.

Clarence Thomas is on his second marriage. I am still on my first. But, like Danny Perlman and David Reuben, he got it wrong. Chosen family might not last forever, but it lasts as long as you keep choosing. As I said on that long ago September day, it boils down to faith, hope and stubbornness.

Please join me and Jill Hedgecock on Sept. 24 at 3:30 p.m. at Reasonable Books, 3645 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette. I will be reading from her book, and she will be reading from mine.

Kevin Fisher-Paulsons column appears Wednesdays in Datebook. Email: datebook@sfchronicle.com
A team with serious pastry and coffee credibility is breathing life back into the Hayes Valley space left empty last year by the departure of San Franciscos beloved 20th Century Cafe.

Two business partners from San Franciscos Four Barrel Coffee and the Mill have teamed up with a former pastry chef from Tartine Bakery to open Loquat at 198 Gough St., at Oak Street, in October.

The cafe will serve baked goods inspired by the Jewish diaspora and Levantine flavors, from labne cheesecakes topped with roasted figs to Turkish coffee cream pie. Cups of Four Barrel espresso will arrive with a complimentary treat like house-made halvah or candied citrus.

Tal Mor and Jodi Geren joined Four Barrel, a popular San Francisco coffee roaster and cafe, in 2009 and then became minority owners in 2012. They later took over sole ownership of the company after CEO Jeremy Tooker stepped down in 2018 amid allegations of sexual harassment and assault. They also co-own San Franciscos the Mill with bread whiz Josey Baker.

At Loquat, Mor and Geren have been working with former Tartine pastry chef Kristina Costa to create a menu that draws inspiration from Mors roots: He moved from Israel to the United States when he was 5 years old, and has family from Iraq, Palestine and Eastern Europe. (Loquat is named for the fruit that grows on trees both in Israel and the South Bay, where Mor grew up.)

Jewish diaspora has always fascinated me, especially in food, he said. Jewish food is incredibly diverse and complex because Jews have been spread across the world.

Justin Katigbak/Speical to The Chronicle

When Loquat opens, the pastry case will be filled with baked goods like babka, cakes, cookies and tarts. Costas babka is laminated to create flaky layers and is served as large loaves or mini individual rolls with flavors like lemon-poppy seed, salted chocolate and cardamom-ricotta.

Costa will also bake bourekas, a flaky Sephardic pastry and childhood favorite of Mors, with house-made phyllo dough layered with savory combinations like fried sage and ricotta, or spiced potato and caramelized onions. Customers will be able to order these warm with an egg and zhough, the herby, spicy Yemeni condiment. (Mor delights in recounting the history of the dish, which evolved after Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, and adapted Turkish borek pastries to meet kosher requirements.)

Beyond espresso, Loquat will serve fresh mint tea and black tea with mint. All pastries and drinks will be made with jersey milk from Petalumas Double 8 Dairy.

Justin Katigbak/Speical to The Chronicle

The business will also sell retail items like bottles of Palestinian olive oil, as well as vinegars, locally milled flour, wine, chocolate, coffee and spices.

Loquat will operate as a daytime cafe to start, but the owners plan to eventually host events and serve natural wine in the evenings. Look out for sabich nights, devoted to the Israeli sandwich stuffed with fried eggplant, hard boiled eggs and tahini  made on fresh laffa, an Iraqi flatbread baked in a tandoor oven. They enlisted Baker, known for his whole grain sourdough loaves, to help develop the flatbread recipe.

The team has mostly preserved the space as it was during 20th Centurys time: The open kitchen remains, as does a banquette of deep red mohair seats along the right side of the cafe. The owners repainted the walls in a warm maroon color and added plants and custom ceramics from Mexico. Loquat will have 25 seats inside, with a plan to add benches outside.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Justin Katigbak/Speical to The Chronicle

Before owner Michelle Polzine closed 20th Century Cafe, she reached out to Mor and Geren and asked if they would want to take over the space. The timing was perfect.

Its a space we always admired and loved spending time in, Mor said. We couldnt bear seeing it turned into anything but a bakery.

While waiting to open the doors on Gough Street, the team has been quietly testing Loquat sweets by selling them at Four Barrel on Valencia Street, the Mill and Blackbird Bookstore in the Outer Sunset, like chocolate-tahini cookies and an Earl Grey spelt olive oil cake. The businesses will continue to serve Loquat baked goods after the cafe opens.

Loquat. Opening October. 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Monday; 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Closed Tuesday-Wednesday. 198 Gough St., San Francisco. instagram.com/loquat_sf/
Fred Franzia, the California wine magnate best known for creating Two Buck Chuck, died on Tuesday, Sept. 13, at age 79 at home in Denair (Stanislaus County). Family members confirmed the death but did not name a cause.

Franzia was a lifelong champion of inexpensive wine and critic of Californias elite wine culture, frequently proclaiming that no bottle should cost more than $10. He was outspoken and unabashedly ambitious, building a vast empire of vineyards, production facilities and bottling plants throughout California. Ultimately, he grew Bronco Wine Co., the business he co-founded in 1973, into one of the 10 largest wine companies in the U.S., incorporating dozens of brands.

Who says were lower priced? Were the best price. The others, I think, are overpriced, Franzia told The Chronicle in 2009, in a characteristic remark.

Many familiar cheap wines fall under the Bronco umbrella, like Crane Lake and Red Truck, though the company became largely synonymous with its most famous brand, Charles Shaw, colloquially known as Two Buck Chuck. He did not own the boxed-wine brand that bears his name, Franzia; his parents, also winemakers, sold that company to Coca-Cola in 1973. (Today, the beverage company named the Wine Group owns the Franzia wine brand.)

Franzia was no stranger to controversy. He pleaded guilty to fraud charges in 1994 after falsifying the grape varieties on his wine labels, and had to abandon his role as the companys president for five years. At a time when the California wine industry was pushing for tighter labeling laws around appellations, Franzia pushed for looser regulations, which made him plenty of enemies. He campaigned  in the end, unsuccessfully  for the right to use the word Napa on the labels of wines that were grown and produced in the Central Valley.

Those bumps never seemed to shake Franzias confidence in his lifelong mission. It didnt matter, he told New Yorker magazine in 2009 of the guilty plea.

His son, Joey Franzia, Broncos national sales and marketing director, said in an email that his father would have wanted his legacy to be great wine at a great price on every American table, and that Charles Shaw, of which Bronco has sold more than 1 billion bottles, was the best embodiment of that ideal.

Stephen Osman/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Fred Franzia was born in 1943 and grew up in the Central Valley, a scion of the California wine industrys first family: His uncle by marriage was Ernest Gallo, one of the founders of E. & J. Gallo Winery, today the countrys largest wine company.

He attended Santa Clara University and worked in sales for his familys Franzia Brothers Winery, which was already one of the most successful wine producers in the Central Valley. The same year that his parents sold the family business, in 1973, he co-founded Bronco Wine Co. with his brother Joseph and cousin John.

Bronco amassed large swaths of vineyard land  Franzia himself said he owned over 40,000 acres at one time  and became a major player in the bulk wine market. Eventually, the company began expanding from its home base in Stanislaus County into the more well-heeled regions of Napa and Sonoma. In 1992, Franzia bought four wineries in Sonoma: Hacienda, Laurier, Grand Cru and Lyeth.

Soon afterward, Bronco became embroiled in legal troubles. The company admitted to misrepresenting the grape varieties in some of its wines, passing off a less expensive melange of grapes for the higher-priced Zinfandel. Franzia famously referred to the scheme as the blessing of the loads: He had instructed workers to scatter a few clusters of Zinfandel grapes on top of a bin to give the impression that the entire bin contained Zinfandel. The grape variety had been rapidly rising in popularity, and fruit prices jumped from $180 a ton in 1985 to over $1,000 a ton in 1988, according to Chronicle reporting at the time.

According to the indictment, about 1 million gallons of wine that Bronco produced between 1987 and 1992 were involved in the scheme. Bronco agreed to pay a $2.5 million fine, and Franzia personally paid a fine of $500,000. Although he had to relinquish his title as president and voting rights on the companys board for five years, he remained the companys chief financial officer during that time.

Stephen Osman/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Then came Franzias wine labeling crusade. For decades, Bronco had benefited from a legal loophole: Although federal law requires a wine carrying an appellation name, like Napa Valley, to be composed of at least 75% grapes from that region, any brands created before 1986 had been exempt. That had allowed Franzia to sell Central Valley wines with names like Napa Ridge, Napa Creek and Rutherford Vintners. (All three of those brands had been created prior to 1986, though Franzia purchased them later.)

But in 2000, the Napa Valley Vintners, a trade group, successfully pushed the California Legislature to close that loophole. Franzia fought back, filing a series of appeals that argued his brands should be protected by the 1986 provision. The California Supreme Court sided with the Napa Valley Vintners; the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in 2006, letting the law stand.

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Few California vintners sympathized with Franzia, who came to be seen as someone working against the principle of truth-in-labeling, seen as crucial for an industry that was trying to develop a global reputation for quality.

In 2008, he faced further scrutiny after Maria Vasquez Jimenez, a 17-year-old pregnant employee of a farm labor contractor, died while working in a vineyard owned by a Bronco subsidiary. Three officials from the contractor were later charged with involuntary manslaughter. No one from Bronco was implicated legally.

Nothing, it seemed, could deter Franzia. Into his final decade, he talked about his ambitions to grow Bronco to a 100-million-case production (its unclear whether he achieved that goal). He continued to advocate for the widespread availability of sub-$10 wines, even as the cost of doing business for California wineries soared. The price of Charles Shaw, however, has risen from its longtime $1.99; its now $2.99 at many Trader Joes locations.

In many ways, Franzia remained an old-school Central Valley farmer in the tradition of his parents and grandparents. In a 2016 keynote address at an industry conference, he claimed that 85% of the grape growers from whom Bronco purchased fruit do not have a written contract  it was all about informal handshake deals.

That keynote address was a sold-out event. To the end, his peers wanted to hear what Franzia had to say.

Fred Franzia is survived by his children Renata, Roma, Joseph, Carlo and Giovanna; his siblings Joseph, Joellen and Catherine; and 14 grandchildren.
UPDATE: Here are the latest updates on COVID in the Bay Area and California.

Americans gave their health care system low marks more than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent poll. Long COVID may potentially be linked with an increased risk of mental illness, according to emerging research analyzed by Reuters. San Francisco reported the lowest average of new coronavirus infections since early March, but hospitalizations ticked back up.

Latest updates:

Los Angeles supes vote to end pandemic tenant protections by end of year

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to definitively end pandemic-era tenant protections on Dec. 31, according to a report from LAist. The decision will strip renters in the nations largest county of protections put in place to prevent evictions for those who cant pay rent due to COVID-19. Given the resources we put into play  the financial resources to help both tenants and landlords to collect back rent  its time for us to begin moving forward, said Supervisor Kathryn Barger. Californias rent relief program, which compensated landlords who lost rental income during the pandemic, ended in April and the states pandemic eviction protections lapsed in July.

Santa Clara County rescinds vaccine mandate for workers in high-risk settings

On Monday, the Santa Clara County health officer rescinded a COVID vaccine mandate for workers in high-risk settings. Citing high vaccination rates, Dr. Sara Cody said the requirement, put in place last summer, was no longer necessary. COVID-19 remains a serious threat to our community, and I urge everyone to continue to protect each other and the most vulnerable among us by masking and staying up to date on their vaccinations with the latest bivalent booster, she said in a statement. In advance of the state rollback, she also said large health care providers are no longer required to regularly test their employees for the coronavirus, be vaccinated against the flu, or wear a mask. To date, over 87% of eligible county residents have completed their initial COVID vaccination series, and 69% of residents ages 5 and up have received at least one booster dose.

California drops COVID testing requirement for unvaccinated workers in high-risk settings

California will no longer require screening testing for unvaccinated workers in congregate settings, such as schools, health care facilities, shelters, prisons, and adult care centers, effective Saturday. Mandated testing of the small number of unvaccinated workers in high-risk settings is not effectively preventing disease transmission as with prior variants earlier in the pandemic, the states health department said in an update Tuesday. Officials said that due to the high rate of vaccine coverage among workers in those settings, the proportion of unvaccinated workers is small enough to no longer be a concern  even though those who have not received their shots remain at higher risk of infection. Californias health care workers are still required to receive primary series and at least one booster, but those with medical or other exemptions are no longer required to do screening testing.

Vaccination uptake stalls for youngest children in the U.S.

Vaccine uptake for the youngest eligible children in the U.S. continues to lag, with just 7% of those between the ages of 6 months to 4 years old having received at least one dose of the life-saving shots against COVID-19 as of Sep. 7, according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows figures are slightly higher for the next age group. About 38% of 5 to 11 year-olds have received their first vaccine dose, and 31% have completed their primary series. By comparison, 70% of 12 to 17 year-olds have received their first shot, and 60% have completed their two-dose series. The rate of uptake for young children has steadily declined since mid-August, even though pediatric coronavirus cases are on the rise while the rate of infections in adults continues to fall. There were 83,272 child COVID-19 cases reported for the week ending Sep. 9, with children representing 19.3% of all the weekly reported cases.

Contra Costa County to close or scale back vaccination and testing by years end

In another sign the pandemic is transitioning to endemic status, Contra Costa County plans to close or scale back several public vaccination and testing sites by the end of the year, health officials said Tuesday during a COVID-19 update to county supervisors. The shift comes amid falling demand for vaccination and lab testing, and expectations that the public health emergency declaration will end early next year. Federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act that the county has allocated to COVID spending is projected to decline significantly each quarter between now and mid-2023. On Oct. 1, the county will close its San Ramon testing site and scale back COVID services at Richmond Auditorium, which currently provides vaccination and testing, to vaccination only. On Jan. 1, it will close vaccination clinics at the Nick Rodriguez Community Center in Antioch, on Oak Grove Road in Concord, and Richmond Auditorium. Now that residents with insurance can access COVID testing, vaccination and treatment through their own providers, the county will tailor its focus to the uninsured population, said county health director Anna Roth.

Americans have moved on from pandemic, poll finds

Concern about COVID-19 has hit a low point in the U.S. since the start of the pandemic, even though hundreds of Americans are still dying every day from the virus, according to the latest and final Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index released Tuesday. While White House officials anticipate another fall and winter surge, the latest results find a country that has largely  though not completely  moved on from the pandemic, states the report which has been running regularly since mid-March 2020. Only 37% of the respondents in the latest poll said they still sometimes wear a mask in public spaces, compared to 71% in September 2021. Few are worried about the most severe or long-term outcomes of the disease. Only about 18% said they are concerned about the symptoms of long COVID; 12% are worried about hospitalization; and 11% about death. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents said there is a small risk or no risk in returning to their normal, pre-COVID life  and nearly half said they already have.

WHO: 17 million in EU may have suffered long COVID-19

New research suggests at least 17 million people in the European Union may have experienced long COVID-19 symptoms during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic, with women more likely than men to suffer from the condition, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. Millions of people in our region, straddling Europe and Central Asia, are suffering debilitating symptoms many months after their initial COVID-19 infection, said Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, reports the Associated Press. The modeling also suggests that women are twice as likely as men to experience long COVID-19, and the risk increases dramatically among severe infections needing hospitalization, the report said. One in three women and one in five men are likely to develop long COVID-19, with symptoms such as fatigue, breathlessness and cognitive dysfunction lasting at least three months.

U.S. weekly average of COVID cases fall 19%

The seven-day average for new daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. decreased to 70,488 last week, marking an 18.8% decrease compared to the 86,853 daily average reported in the previous week, according to the latest update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The omicron BA.5 lineage remained dominant, making up 87.5% of the new sequenced cases, followed by BA.4.6 at 9.2%.

New COVID-19 hospital admissions nationally also dipped 10.5% compared to the previous week, with an average of 4,620 a day. Daily deaths are trended down about 28.1%, with an average of 315 per day. That remains higher than the pandemic low of 215 per day recorded last July. The average nationwide coronavirus test positive rate also remains high at 13.2%. About 17.2% of U.S. counties have a high COVID-19 community level, with most of the country reporting moderate to high SARS-CoV-2 levels in wastewater.

Low marks for American health care system in new AP poll

A majority of adults in the U.S. say that health care is not handled well in the country, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll reveals that public satisfaction with the U.S. health care system is remarkably low, with fewer than half of Americans saying it is generally handled well. Only 12% say it is handled extremely or very well.

More than two years after the COVID-19 pandemics start, health care worker burnout and staffing shortages are plaguing hospitals around the country. And Americans are still having trouble getting in-person medical care after health centers introduced restrictions as COVID-19 killed and sickened millions of people around the country.

A majority of Americans, roughly two-thirds, were happy to see the government step in to provide free COVID-19 testing, vaccines and treatment. Roughly 2 in 10 were neutral about the governments response. But the governments funding for free COVID-19 tests dried up at the beginning of the month. While the White House says the latest batch of recommended COVID-19 boosters will be free to anyone who wants one, it doesnt have money on hand to buy any future rounds of booster shots for every American.

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.

Long COVID associated with increase in suicidal thoughts, study shows

Long COVID may potentially be linked with an increased risk of mental illness and suicidal thoughts, according to emerging research analyzed by Reuters. In an analysis of 20 major U.S. hospital systems, including more than 1.3 million adults with a COVID diagnosis and 19,000 with a long COVID diagnosis between May 2020 and July 2022, patients with long COVID were nearly twice as likely to receive a first-time antidepressant prescription within 90 days of their initial COVID diagnosis compared with people diagnosed with COVID alone, the Seattle-based health data firm Truveta showed.

Up to 23 million Americans suffer from long COVID  a complex and poorly understood medical condition with more than 200 symptoms  based on estimates published in March by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Many recover but as many as 15% experience symptoms after 12 months, according to the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the report says. Survivor Corps, an advocacy group for long COVID patients, found that 44% of nearly 200 survey respondents in May said they had considered suicide.

S.F. COVID cases fall to March low, but hospitalizations edge up

San Francisco reported a seven-day average of 83 new coronavirus cases per day, the lowest figure since the lull in early March preceding the omicron BA.2 surge in the spring.

Despite the improving trends, August was the fourth-deadliest month this year for COVID-19 patients, with 41 city residents losing their lives due to the virus. The city recorded 74 deaths in February, 73 in January, and 46 in July. As of Friday, the Bay Area region reported about 13 daily cases per 100,000 residents, down by 60% from a month ago. California reported 15 cases per 100,000, compared to 36 per 100,000 in the same period.

Despite the improvements in case numbers, hospitalizations are ticking back up. There were 82 patients with COVID-19 in San Francisco as of Friday, up from 69 a week earlier. In the Bay Area, that number increased to 539 from 515.

COVID emergency orders remain in just 10 states

With Gov. Kathy Hochuls announcement Monday that she will let the states COVID-19 state of emergency expire at midnight, New York becomes the latest state to drop measures enacted in March 2020 to help various government agencies battle the coronavirus pandemic. Were in a different place now, Hochul said.

There are now 10 states with emergency powers in place, according to a tally by The Hill. That includes California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom extended the COVID-19 state of emergency in June  but with just 5% of the provisions in place.

Declarations also remain in place in Washington until Oct. 31; Kansas through Jan. 2023; and Connecticut through at least Dec. 28. Governors in the following states renewed the orders for one month in August and will reevaluate them later this month: New Mexico, Texas, Delaware, Illinois and Rhode Island.

COVID illnesses keeping 500,000 Americans out of work, study finds

Estimates show that COVID-19 illnesses have reduced the U.S. labor force by approximately 500,000 people, according to a new report by economists Gopi Shah Goda of Stanford University and Evan J. Soltas at MIT.

Approximately 10 workers per 1,000 missed a week of work for health reasons during the coronavirus pandemic, on average  up from 6 health-related absences per 1,000 before the pandemic. Each absence results in forgone earnings of at least $9,000 over the 14 months following the initial week of infection. Using an event study, we find that workers who miss a full week of work due to probable COVID-19 illnesses become about 7 percentage points less likely to be in the labor force one year later compared to similar workers who do not miss work for health reasons, the authors conclude.
Looking at the photo on Page A3 (Bay Area & Business, Sept. 9) of the men and women of Cal Fire fighting the Mosquito Fire, it looks more like they are hiking into the depths of hell. God bless all the hardworking firefighters for putting their lives on the line in an extremely dangerous job.

I grew up in California and currently live in Washington state, so I am all too familiar with the dangers of wildfires in the West. I wish I could thank you all in person for the job you do, and I hope others feel the same. That incredible photo by Stephen Lam says it all.

All firefighters, please stay safe, and thank you for working in these very dangerous and cruel conditions





Scott MacQuarrie, Seattle

Do the right thing

On the 21st anniversary of 9/11, I watched a 60 Minutes segment about the sacrifice of New York firefighters and found myself wondering: What kind of country are we that can produce so many everyday heroes  and some dozen years or so later, were ready to wash our hands of the debt we owed them.

Who are we, who chose legislators who thought paying those heroes medical bills an unjustifiable expense? A nation that required a comedian and TV host, Jon Stewart, to raise such an outcry that it shamed our representatives into doing the right thing. And then re-elected those legislators.

We should, instead, expect ourselves and our representatives to consider more than immediate advantage. Few of us are asked to head into burning buildings to save others. But we can all recruit the internal hero we each have and ask ourselves and those who claim they speak for us to do the right thing  at least more often.

Miriam Mueller, San Francisco

Change police objectives

Regarding How about adequately staffing Oakland police? (Letters to the Editor, Sept. 12): How could more police officers have stopped a young man from taking a gun to school and shooting a student? This is an excerpt of Planet Moneys newsletter from last year:

Bottom line, the picture the economists data sketches out is complicated. ... Black communities generally appear to benefit from larger police departments when it comes to lowering the homicide rate and the rate of other serious crimes. ... these findings dont seem true for cities with the largest Black populations. And throughout the country, they find significant racial disparities in low-level arrests, with lots of Black people getting prosecuted for low-level crimes, resulting in many lives damaged without necessarily improving public safety.

Hire more police officers but with a different objective. Call them safety officers who patrol neighborhoods on foot and get to know the community. Intervene before a crime is committed.

Corinne Lashley, Pleasant Hill

Will of the people

Regarding Shifting election could aid Breed (Front Page, Sept. 12): Moving election day would help progressives! says the mayor. No, moving election day would help the mayor! say progressives. Does any city politician stop for a moment and ask whether moving election day would help the citizens of San Francisco? No. And people wonder why nothing gets done in my home town.

Rik Mylewski, San Francisco

Historic or history?

Regarding Empty theater could dim housing plans (Front Page, Sept.12): Corey Smith, the executive director of the Housing Action Coalition Advocacy group is spot on when he says, Sometimes we conflate things that are old with things that are historic.

The city of San Francisco is crying loud and long for more housing and one could only hope that wiser counsel prevails to not put spokes on the wheel for converting this unused theater into 170 units.

Vaithianathan Subramanian, Lafayette
Americans adore Queen Elizabeth II. They see her as an emblem of everything we love about the British  their stiff upper lips, orderly queues and quaint anachronistic charm. But as a Pakistani American whose grandparents were born into the British Raj  the period of rule by the British monarchy over the Indian subcontinent  I am keenly aware of how this image softened the material impacts of the British crown and Empire.

When the queen died Thursday, she took an entire lived history with her. At her inauguration in 1952, Britain still retained over 70 overseas colonies, from Sudan to Hong Kong, and during her reign, the number dropped to 14. The process of decolonization was a brutal affair, marked by countless atrocities committed by British soldiers in the name of preserving their empire. As recently as the 1960s, for example, British officers were responsible for the rape, castration and torture of tens of thousands of Mau Mau freedom fighters in Kenya.

Despite this, in the West, Queen Elizabeth was thought of as a reassuring presence during decades of transformative change. As head of the Commonwealth, a political association of Britain and her former colonies, Queen Elizabeth put forth an idealized vision of international cooperation, encouraging newly independent states to put aside their histories in the service of prosperity and shared values.

Pundits and politicians have dubbed the queens death the end of an era. But it also coincides with the renewal of another. Victims of the British Empire the world over are again demanding restitution for the atrocities that they suffered, whether it be the return of priceless diamonds to India, originally stolen by Elizabeths great-great-grandmother Victoria, or a more formal call for reparations for slavery in the Caribbean.

Whether past atrocities are ever meaningfully addressed remains to be seen. But in truth, the most devastating impacts of British imperialism are only materializing now.

The flooding crisis in Pakistan, right on the heels of a historic heat wave, is only a preview of whats to come. Since June, melting glaciers and unprecedented monsoon rains have resulted in the worst flooding in the countrys history, killing over 1,300 people and leaving over one-third of the countrys landmass underwater. While Pakistan constitutes only 0.5% of global emissions, it is arguably one of the hardest hit by sweeping climate change and its catastrophes.

How is British colonialism part of this? British industrialization and colonization fed into one another, as raw materials like cotton and wheat were extracted from the colonies using subjugated labor and then exported to the United Kingdom to be manufactured and sold. For two centuries, Pakistan, along with the wider Indian subcontinent, was exploited by the British Empire. Its labor and resources were funneled into a coal-driven economy, which was then emulated by empires and nations in continental Europe and the Americas, corresponding with the first major rise in carbon dioxide levels since the end of the last ice age.

Despite having only 1.5% of the worlds population in 1900, the UK emitted 37% of global emissions and would continue to remain the worlds most preeminent polluter until being surpassed by the United States in 1911. While Queen Elizabeth did publicly express irritation at the lack of action on climate change, her stature and wealth were directly tied to it.

Pakistan is not the only former colony of the British Empire experiencing climate catastrophe. Somalia, which achieved independence during Queen Elizabeths reign, has been suffering through an unprecedented drought since early 2021, with over 1 million people displaced. The UK itself isnt immune to our rapidly destabilizing climate either, with a record temperature of 104 set this summer.

As the climate crisis worsens, the world will face unprecedented water shortages, heat waves, and climate refugees. Most of the impact will disproportionately affect the global south  the queens former dominion.

Even as decolonized nations are demanding compensation for the hardships theyve endured, demands that Britain grows even more incapable of meeting due to its own post-Brexit economic decline, in a few decades time we might all be too preoccupied fighting water wars to determine what rightfully belongs to who. Now, when were at the precipice of making known what we lost, the world is crumbling; will there be anything left to reclaim?

With Queen Elizabeths passing, one of the last remaining continuities of the British Empire dies with her. Whether we mourn her passing, or outwardly celebrate it, none of us are prepared to deal with the material legacy of her reign, her crown and her empire.
Local and state governments have been trying to figure out how to undo historical harms for some communities of color.

Oakland has handed land back to Indigenous control and Hayward is exploring reparations for Russell City, a mostly Black and Latino city that was erased nearly 60 years ago.

On this episode of the Fifth & Mission podcast, Chronicle reporter Sarah Ravani and columnist Justin Phillips join host Cecilia Lei to discuss the latest local efforts and the challenges ahead.

Photo above: Sisters Aiyana (left) and Aisha Knowles look at a photo collage of Russell City, the former town that was annexed into Hayward in 1964 and razed to make way for an industrial park.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins unveiled a new policy Tuesday reintroducing the option for prosecutors to charge 16- and 17-year-olds as adults in certain egregious cases, a departure from former District Attorney Chesa Boudins policy that banned the office from seeking adult charges for juveniles in any circumstance.

Jenkins said prosecutors will not seek a juveniles transfer to adult court unless they are accused of a heinous crime(s) that shock the conscience of the community. The transfer requests, which must be approved by a judge, will be filed only after an analysis from the newly created Juvenile Review Team inside of the District Attorneys Office, Jenkins said.

In an interview with The Chronicle, Jenkins said the decision to potentially reintroduce adult charges for minors came down to the question of rehabilitation. In most cases, she said, a teen who is convicted through juvenile court will be released into a re-entry program by the age of 23.

(The question is) by the age of 23, can we have done what we need to rehabilitate somebody who has committed a very heinous crime? she said. I dont believe that we should eliminate our discretion, that there may be some instances, that involve egregious circumstances, where we dont believe that we can rehabilitate somebody by the age of 23.

The types of crimes that could result in a juvenile getting tried as an adult include attempted murder, forcible sexual assault, kidnapping, torture and aggravated mayhem, according to the District Attorneys Office. Officials said the offense must be deemed heinous in nature.

The policy took effect on Tuesday.

While it reflects Jenkins broader calls for greater accountability for criminals, the move was rebuked by some criminal-justice reform advocates concerned about the effects of the adult criminal justice system can have on 16- and 17-year-olds.

Anne Irwin, executive director of the criminal-justice reform policy organization Smart Justice California, said that a prosecutor who is at all committed to both science and fairness must keep kids out of the adult system.

Putting them into adult prisons all but guarantees they will lose the opportunity to get the care that kids need, Irwin said in an emailed statement to The Chronicle.  Jenkins has announced a policy that purports to meet this minimum standard for a moral prosecutor, but in reality, it also leaves room for her office to charge many kids as adults.

The newly created Juvenile Review Team will be made up of three division heads within the District Attorneys Office  the Chief of Collaborative Justice Tiffany Sutton, who oversees the juvenile division, Chief of Victim Services Monifa Willis and the chief overseeing the criminal division in which the case is being prosecuted.

After its review, the team will forward its opinion and any dissenting opinions about a juvenile criminal defendant to Jenkins, who will make the final charging decision. State law requires that the ultimate decision of whether to send a teen to adult court is made by a judge.

California law also bars juveniles under 16 for being charged in adult court for any crime.

Jenkins said she generally does not support charging youth as adults and believes that, in the past, teens of color were disproportionately punished by the criminal justice system.

Yoel Haile, director of the Criminal Justice Program at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, said Black and Latino youth are significantly more likely to be prosecuted as adults than their white peers.

Of the 11 young people whose cases were transferred to adult court in San Francisco from 2006 to 2016, six were Black, three were Latino and none were white, Haile said, citing a 2017 report evaluating youth prosecuted as adults in California.

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In addition to a number of procedural and administrative differences between criminal court and juvenile court, officials generally regard the goal of juvenile proceedings as rehabilitative, rather than purely punitive.

Those who are found guilty through juvenile courts may be sent to lockup, but they will serve their time in juvenile hall, which centers around behavioral and mental health services. Those who are convicted in adult court could be transferred from juvenile hall to prison after they turn 18 to finish the remainder of their sentence.

San Francisco officials sought to close juvenile hall last year and replace it with a therapeutic facility, but that move has been repeatedly delayed.

While many progressives cheer the concept of a total ban from charging juveniles as adults, its rarely put into policy. George Gascon, the progressive Los Angeles County district attorney, initially enacted a ban but later reversed it, allowing the possibility for juveniles accused of crimes involving severe violence.

Jenkins said she could not name a case under Boudins administration that she believed should have been charged in adult rather than juvenile court. But in other cases around the country involving mass school shootings or violent sexual assaults, she said, would have qualified.

As a D.A.s office, we must retain prosecutorial discretion to ensure that we protect the public and deliver justice in our most serious and egregious cases that is fair and proportional, she said.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy
San Franciscos push to curb illegal vending in some areas of the city appears to be quieting a few chaotic hotspots  at least on day one of enforcing new rules.

On Tuesday, three months after a new law to crack down on illegal street vending went into effect, San Francisco started enforcing the regulations: Vendors need a permit in every area except in U.N. Plaza where street selling is banned. If vendors dont pack up when warned, they could have their goods seized.

The legislation came in the wake of residents and businesses complaining since last year about illegal vending taking over sidewalks and fueling shoplifting and other crimes.

The first day of enforcement saw no confiscations and few vendors out at hotspots. Still, officials and locals are waiting to see if the regulations will work long-term.

The enforcement of the law comes as the city tries to address some of its street problems without leaning too heavily on police. The programs advocates say they want to create a legal path for legitimate vendors, many of whom are poor people of color, but opponents fear it will penalize people selling goods to survive in an outrageously expensive city.

For months, city workers and community advocates have done outreach to vendors about how to get a permit, and now inspectors are threatening to seize goods from those without them. That work seemed to be have paid off in some hotspots  including in the Mission and Chinatown  that were unusually quiet on Tuesday morning.

Just before enforcement kicked off with around nine police officers and five employees from Public Works, traffic enforcement and BART at the 24th Street plaza Tuesday morning, a couple of vendors cleared out.

By 10 a.m., the plaza was quiet and clear. Thats in contrast to the usual crowds, although locals said activity picks up in the evenings and on weekends. BART, at Supervisor Hillary Ronens request, put up fences recently to try to stop illegal activity at the plaza, but protesters took them down.

Whether the vendors will return isnt yet clear.

One vendor who scampered off from the 24th Street Plaza ended up in U.N. Plaza two hours later, a sign that enforcement might wind up pushing vendors to other areas, rather than deterring them from selling altogether.

The vendor joined a small crowd at U.N. Plaza, where vending activity has continued despite the citys total ban of vending there. While the city has enforced the ban with limited staff since June, it now has more inspectors on the street and continues to staff up.

Sellers at U.N. Plaza on Tuesday said even though their goods have been seized before, theyve returned.

Ronen, who co-authored the vending legislation passed by the Board of Supervisors, said Tuesday that it would take more enforcement to stick, but that so far, its looking pretty good.

What I wasnt expecting was for them to comply so quickly, she said. The proof is in the pudding. We just have to keep at it because we cant let up. We have to change the culture back to the vibrant place that it used to be and thats going to take more sustained work than a couple of days.

Ronen has characterized illegal vending in the Mission as out of control  leading to chaos, violence and threats. San Francisco police said they have heard reports about threats related to vending and have encouraged victims to come forward to file reports so they can start investigations.

Ronen said she heard from trusted community members, who she would not name, that a fatal stabbing at the plaza on Aug. 28 was related to a vending dispute.

BART police, who are handling the homicide investigation, did not confirm the motive, but arrested a suspect on Sept. 9.

Though the legislation went into effect in June, it took three months to create regulations and staff up to get inspectors on the ground at least six days a week. It costs $430 a year for a permit, although the fee will be waived for low-income people or those receiving public benefits.

As of Friday, Public Works had approved 41 permits with two still under review. All applicants qualified for a fee waiver.

Some vendors in the Mission said they were still scared off by the fee. Vendor Estela and her two young adult daughters, who declined to give their last name, packed up the toothpaste and T-shirts they were selling on Mission Street on Tuesday after two inspectors, shadowed by four cops, came by. Inspectors told them in Spanish they needed to get a permit and handed them a flier explaining how to register a business and find alternate employment. They said that if vendors returned, they would seize their goods.

Jessenia, Estelas daughter, said vending is the familys main source of income and they cant afford a permit, although she wasnt sure if they would qualify for a waiver.

Some neighborhood residents were grateful for the enforcement.

The program is so good because you get a permit and you know everything they sell is legit, said Orlando Guevara as he stood near the plaza. If they keep it up like this, its nice and safe.

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Public Works employees are leading enforcement, although police are on scene if there are threats of violence. If someone refuses to pack up, Public Works can request the assistance of police to allow us to move in to confiscate the items, department spokesperson Rachel Gordon said. If someone resists confiscation, Gordon said the inspectors will not engage, and that police are on hand in case the situation escalates and our inspectors are attacked or threatened. They will also have two inspectors a day at least six days a week

Mission District Captain Michael McEachern said police do not intend to become involved unless the safety of the (Department of Public Works) workers come into question. He said there was a stark difference Tuesday at the 24th Street plaza. Officers watched for vendors moving elsewhere and only noticed a couple pop up at the 16th Street BART plaza.

The threat of confiscated goods was enough to make another vendor, Karmeisha, not show up Tuesday. She stood at 24th and Mission on Monday with her 3-year-old daughter beside a small row of items, including her handmade hair-growth oil. She said she would try and get a permit, but criticized the program.

There are people who had stuff sitting at home for decades that they just want to come out and sell, she said. I feel theyre just trying to do the permit to lower the risk of people who do steal stuff.

Karmeisha criticized the presence of cops, because she knows people who have been victims of police brutality. She said the community needs more funding for food and other necessities, so people wouldnt steal them.

People do what they need to do to survive, she said.

That was the case for Katunga Nunn, who sat Tuesday at the plaza beside six Lysol wipe containers and a bag of jeans he was using colored markers to draw designs on. He just got out of jail Monday on drug charges and had never heard of the permit program. He said he had a receipt for the wipes, but also admitted he shoplifts to make money to eat. The former sponsored skateboarder has two kids and said he started using drugs after his dad died of cancer.

He packed up, but the Chronicle found him later selling behind the U.N. Plaza fountain.

Another vendor, Alexa, said she steals to survive after she lost her city hotel room and became homeless. She struggles to navigate systems to get the drug rehab, housing or job she desires, and until she does, shell be back.

I have no where else to go, she said.

Mallory Moench (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench
Less than a quarter of San Franciscans believe Mayor London Breed has done an excellent or good job at improving the city, a new poll shows, an evaluation that reflects residents anger with government dysfunction during most of Breeds four years in the citys most powerful office.

The poll of 1,653 city residents, conducted as part of The San Francisco Chronicles SFNext project, was taken in late June and early July. The results suggest that Breeds popularity has plummeted over the past two years. Praise for her early success at steering the city relatively safely through the pandemic has given way to discontent and outright rage over issues like homelessness, property crime and the deadly fentanyl epidemic.

Breed asserted herself in the past year, casting herself as a no-nonsense centrist in a divided city by taking actions such as declaring an emergency in the long-neglected Tenderloin neighborhood. She consolidated power by appointing like-minded candidates to the school board, the Board of Supervisors and the District Attorneys Office.

But the Chronicle survey suggests that dissatisfaction with the state of the city reflected on the mayor as well as other leaders  notably, the Board of Supervisors with whom Breed often tussles polled even lower  as San Francisco faces critical challenges, including recovering economically from the extended absence of tourists and downtown workers.

About the poll As part of the SFNext project to help San Francisco residents solve some of the citys problems, we polled more than 1,650 people to measure attitudes on whats working, what isnt, performance of city government, the future of the city and more. Send feedback, ideas and suggestions to sfnext@SFChronicle.com

I dont necessarily dump all of the problems in London Breeds lap, said one survey respondent, Frank Metasavage, a retired hospitality finance executive who has lived in San Francisco for more than 40 years.

He voted for the mayor when she came into office, but said she hadnt done enough since to tackle the citys completely out of control homeless crisis. As with any organizations head, Metasavage said, The buck stops here.

Some poll respondents seemed to agree with him. When asked about the mayor, 35% judged that shed done a poor or very poor job at making San Francisco a better place to live and work in the past three years, while 42% said shed done a fair job and 23% an excellent or good job.

A spokesperson said the mayor was not available for an interview, but in a written statement, Breed said, Its no secret San Francisco faces a number of challenges including the cost of housing, homelessness, addiction and mental illness, and public safety.

I know the community is frustrated  I share their frustrations, too, she said. Its why I am intensely focused on our economic recovery, building more housing, bringing MUNI back online, and keeping streets safe and healthy for everyone. I care about doing the work every day to meet the challenges of the city while also celebrating our successes.

The mayors office pointed out that San Francisco reduced homelessness over the past three years and that Breed is working to staff up the police force and to pass a ballot measure to streamline affordable housing.

Survey respondents were asked more than 90 questions about the state of the city from June 27 to July 11, 2022, shortly after voters recalled progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Respondents reflect the citys demographics.

Breed was still more popular than not only the Board of Supervisors but also the police force and the school board, where three new members appointed by Breed in the wake of a recall are now facing re-election fights.

Political consultants said they viewed the mayors poll numbers as a reflection of the broader state of the city  and the negative recall campaigns that have highlighted difficult if not intractable issues.

Somebody is going to have to pay a price for it, said David Ho, a political consultant who worked for an independent campaign supporting Breeds 2018 run for mayor. Ho said that dynamic is clear in light of the poor performance evaluations seen across the board for the entire city family.

Breed is up for reelection in November 2023, or a year later if voters decide to switch to even-year elections. If the share of people dissatisfied with Breeds performance gets worse  closer to 40% negative  then shes got to worry about re-election, said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University, but he does not see signs of danger yet.

When Breed declared the Tenderloin emergency in December, she promised to crack down on the bulls that has destroyed our city. Yet in interviews, some survey respondents said the mayor had failed to improve quality of life, citing crime and homelessness, a lack of affordable housing and dirty streets.

Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle 2020

Breed was most popular among people with higher incomes and older people, with 30% of respondents over age 65 saying she had done an excellent or a good job, compared with 17% of 18-to-34-year-olds.

The mayor polled positively among 33% of the Black community, but was particularly unpopular among respondents who identified themselves as mixed-race and Hispanic, with more than 40% of both groups giving her a poor or very poor rating.

Poll respondent Ryan Drake-Lee also voted for Breed, but said that next time he goes to the polls he is looking for fresh blood.

The San Francisco native and father of three, who consults in strategy, economics and technology, said that while some parts of the city, such as the parks department, continually excited and impressed him, other areas were falling apart.

He criticized what he feels is a lack of police presence and traffic enforcement that leads to lawlessness at Third Street and Palou Avenue in the Bayview neighborhood where he lives. He said people dump trash on every corner, park cars illegally, speed and turn doughnuts in the street. He held the mayor responsible.

Drake-Lee, who has a Black father and a white mother, said he believed Breeds higher support in the Black community was the result of humans being tribal.

Now Londons there, great, he said. London doesnt pay my bills. She doesnt pick up s off the street in front of my house. She doesnt stop speeding drivers from blowing stop signs and wrecking cars in front of my house.

We just have a Black person heading the same bulls, he added.

Stephen Lam/The Chronicle

Despite Breeds efforts to win over Asian Americans, who make up a third of the citys population, only 20% of survey respondents who identified themselves as Asian viewed her positively  a result that Ho called alarming.

If she starts to lose the white woman vote and the Asian vote, then shes in trouble, he said.

Jacky Pang, a Visitacion Valley resident who responded to the poll, had not voted for the mayor and said shes probably been the worst (mayor) in a couple decades. He said San Francisco has gone downhill during her tenure with rampant homelessness and crime.

She talks a big game when it comes to doing more for the anti-Asian-hate movement, but there hasnt been much action behind it, he said.

He wants the city to hire more police officers and wants people repeatedly accused of crimes to face harsher consequences.

Another person who was surveyed, Alexandra Gonzalez, an 18-year-old San Francisco native, said she felt the city was getting worse and worse and that Breed wasnt helping. Gonzalez said her biggest concern was affordable housing after her family lost its home in the 2008 economic crash.

Now, she said, she and her mom might not even be able to afford their current place in the Sunset District.

Mallory Moench (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@mallorymoench
The SFNext survey is one of the largest and most comprehensive public opinion surveys of city residents conducted in recent decades. A random sample of 1,653 San Francisco residents age 18 and older was asked more than 90 questions about the state of the city. The survey was conducted from June 27 to July 11, 2022, after District Attorney Chesa Boudin was recalled from office on June 7. Most questionnaires were completed before the new district attorney, Brooke Jenkins, was sworn in on July 8.

Some respondents completed online questionnaires, and others were interviewed by telephone. Jon Krosnick, a Stanford University professor of communication, political science, psychology and sustainability and a nationally recognized authority on survey research, led the design of the questionnaire in collaboration with San Francisco Chronicle editors. The data was collected by the research firm SSRS of Glen Mills, Pa., and analyzed by SSRS and Chronicle data editor Dan Kopf.
San Francisco has long seen skirmishes among factions of its overwhelmingly Democratic electorate, but fissures are widening, positions are hardening and the public sees little hope of fixing the chronic problems that have plagued the city for decades, according to one of the most comprehensive surveys of city residents ever done.

Even as San Francisco gradually recovers from the crushing blow of the COVID-19 pandemic, a majority of respondents expressed deep worry, frustration and continued pessimism about civic life in the city, The Chronicles SFNext poll of 1,653 residents found.

Im getting kind of fed up with the city, said poll respondent Dae Echols, 53, who expects that the high cost of living will force him to move elsewhere when he retires. I just remember the hippie generation, and it was all about, take care of your friends, brotherly love. And that is totally gone.

The result is a city that has already ejected from office its district attorney and three school board members. Unhappiness with law enforcement has led to rallies by Asian Americans protesting violence against their elders and a lack of police protection and prosecutions. Frustration over homelessness and its impact on street life in the Castro district led to a threat by the neighborhoods merchants association to withhold business taxes.

About the poll As part of the SFNext project to help San Francisco residents solve some of the citys problems, we polled more than 1,650 people to measure attitudes on whats working, what isnt, performance of city government, the future of the city and more. Send feedback, ideas and suggestions to sfnext@SFChronicle.com

John Whitehurst, a political consultant, said he has never seen voters more upset and angry in San Francisco than they have been over the last two years and continue to be, and that anger gets expressed in many ways. Two ways, recently, include the district attorney recall and the Board of Education recall.

Roughly one-third of the respondents said they were likely to leave within the next three years. A large majority, 65%, said that life in the city is worse than when they first moved here. Less than one-quarter of respondents said they expected life in San Francisco to improve in two years. More than one-third said it would worsen.

San Franciscans were largely in agreement about the citys biggest problems: Homelessness took first place, followed by public safety and housing affordability. When asked if, three years from now, those problems would be significantly less severe, nearly 70% of people said either slightly likely or not likely at all.

Unfortunately the pessimist in me is, more people who have lived here for a long time, or just people who dont make a lot of money, dont make $150,000 a year, will be pushed out of the city, said a respondent who requested anonymity. People of color will be pushed out of the city, if things keep going the way theyre going, if we just let the market run the way that it is. And thats really sad and not the way it should be. Its not good.

Racial divisions also persist, and in some cases have grown more strained. When asked how much racism makes it difficult for San Francisco to solve its biggest problems, only 12% of respondents said not at all. More than 60% said either a moderate amount, a great deal, or a lot. That figure was highest among Black and Asian residents, at 73% and 70%, respectively  and lowest among white residents, at 56%.

Participants in the poll, conducted after the June recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin, answered more than 90 questions. The makeup of those polled reflects the citys demographics. More details of the surveys methodology are here.

Uncertainty about the future only adds to respondents widespread unease. The city has already lost many of its younger residents amid the greatest pandemic-driven population drop in the nation  of people age 25 to 29, 20% left between April 2020 and July 2021. The rise of remote work enabled some professionals to keep their San Francisco-based jobs while moving to more affordable locales, hollowing out offices and giving companies a reason to ditch their expensive leases. Meanwhile, many firms are struggling to manage local workers preferences for working from home rather than commuting to offices. What tomorrows business corridors will look like as a result  and whether they will continue to sustain city coffers and fund public services  is anyones guess.

Based on the Chronicles survey, that outmigration will continue. People who expect to move away in the near future tend to be younger adults  the people who will determine the citys cultural identity, drive the local economy, and start businesses and families.

San Franciscos risking a brain drain, said Rebecca Eissler, assistant professor of political science at San Francisco State University. Its worth considering for a politician. What do we do to keep young innovators?

Those who want to leave arent just young and itinerant  they also express more negativity toward the citys prospects and elected politicians than those who say theyll continue living in San Francisco, the survey shows. They fall across all income brackets, including people in the lowest economic tiers who typically struggle to afford to live in the city.

Fixing the big problems that could change peoples minds might require new, and perhaps bigger, policy solutions than officials have employed up to now, some political observers say.

Looking at this data, theres an opportunity to do that, said political consultant Jim Stearns, reading the survey results as an indicator that voters are hungry for change. If politicians who actually held a lot of power, like London Breed, would embrace big, bold solutions, I think they would be overwhelmingly popular.

But that would probably require deeply progressive officials and their more moderate peers to work together more than they do, said Jason McDaniel, associate professor of political science at San Francisco State.

While a few politicians have begun to emphasize the need for more collaboration and compromise, they remain in the minority. McDaniel pointed to the latest example: an ongoing inability to agree on how to ease the citys lack of affordable housing, which has led to competing visions on the November ballot.

Complicating matters is the makeup of the Board of Supervisors, which is based on individual districts, McDaniel said.

Theres only really one politician, maybe two or three, that are incentivized to think citywide: the mayor, maybe the D.A., maybe the city attorney, he added. While the mayor runs for office at the city level, supervisors run at the smaller district level, which makes those specific neighborhoods interests paramount to them.

And so getting them to work together, row together and agree on a common thing, a common direction for policy, has not been something that the city leadership has been great at since Ive been here, McDaniel said.

Meanwhile, the pandemic-fueled switch to working from home could exacerbate the problem, as city residents center more of their lives in their own neighborhoods.

Up to now, politicians havent needed to come together to offer big solutions to the citys most pressing problems in order for it to thrive, McDaniel said, because San Francisco always had wealth and resources that other cities would kill for.

The economic impact of the pandemic threatens to change that, which could lead to even more heated battles over public resources for city dwellers.

Over the last six years, weve seen people wake up to the realization that participating in politics could be a force for change, and I dont see that stopping, said Eissler.

Chronicle SFNext social media editor Audrey Brown contributed to this report.

Noah Arroyo is The San Francisco Chronicles SFNext lead reporter. Email: noah.arroyo@sfchronicle.com
Few San Franciscans are happy with the citys Board of Supervisors. Just 12% of respondents to a new Chronicle poll said the powerful and politically contentious governing board had done an excellent or good job making the city a better place.

The low marks for the supervisors  which cut across nearly all racial, ethnic, gender and age groups  are another sign that the local electorate has lost faith in the direction of the city and the effectiveness of its leaders. This year alone, voters recalled three school board members and District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

Whatever youre doing  its not working, said poll respondent Joy Kruth, a 36-year-old Mission District resident who said in the survey that the supervisors had done a fair job over the past three years.

She had heard a lot of the right talk from supervisors, but said that the talk didnt seem to translate into results, with the city struggling to address its most urgent problems, including open-air drug markets and homelessness.

I feel the way a lot of other people do, Kruth said, which is, I dont know where the holdup is  but Im gonna blame it on all of you, because its not working.

About the poll As part of the SFNext project to help San Francisco residents solve some of the citys problems, we polled more than 1,650 people to measure attitudes on whats working, what isnt, performance of city government, the future of the city and more. Send feedback, ideas and suggestions to sfnext@SFChronicle.com

The poll of more than 1,600 local residents, conducted as part of the Chronicles SFNext project, was taken from June 27 to July 11. It asked respondents, who reflect the citys demographics, more than 90 questions about life in San Francisco.

In the survey, 40% of respondents said the supervisors were doing a poor or very poor job  more than triple the number providing positive feedback  and 48% said the supervisors were doing a fair job of making the city a better place to live and work.

In a separate question, 27% of respondents said the supervisors did a great deal or a lot to prevent problem-solving.

Support for the citys legislative body was highest among residents ages 65 or older, with 17% giving the supervisors a good or excellent rating. The youngest demographic, those 18 to 34 years old, had the least favorable view of the supervisors, with just 8% giving them a good or excellent rating and 41% viewing them poorly or very poorly.

Respondents who identified themselves as Asian or Hispanic had the most unfavorable view of the supervisors, while Black residents registered relatively strong but still tepid support, with 18% giving a rating of excellent or good.

The results indicate that San Franciscans want big changes from the 11 legislators responsible for shaping city policies around housing, homelessness and public safety, among other issues. The supervisors  a majority of whom lean progressive  have repeatedly sparred with Mayor London Breed over how to tackle the citys challenges. (While Breed was more popular than the supervisors in the poll, she still garnered little support.)

Breed decried the boards vote this year against a proposed housing development on the site of a South of Market parking lot, and she vetoed legislation the board passed to promote fourplexes because she said it would actually hinder new development.

Breed has also been at odds with some supervisors over the role of the police in addressing the drug epidemic in the Tenderloin and elsewhere. Though she did not take an official position on the Boudin recall, she criticized the former district attorney and appointed a leading voice of the recall campaign as his successor.

People are not happy, said Jason McDaniel, a political scientist at San Francisco State University. If I was on the ballot right now, I would be worried.

Five supervisors are on the ballot in November: Catherine Stefani, Gordon Mar, Matt Dorsey, Rafael Mandelman and Shamann Walton. Stefani is running unopposed; Mar and Dorsey, who was appointed to his seat by Breed in May, are in the most competitive races.

Walton, the board president, said in a statement that supervisors were working tirelessly to address the most pressing issues here in San Francisco. He noted that the pandemic had forced supervisors to focus on ensuring all San Franciscans were safe, economically supported, and able to survive through that major crisis.

He listed some accomplishments he attributed to the boards work, such as a decline in the citys unsheltered homeless population, some newly approved affordable housing projects and a low unemployment rate.

While he acknowledged that there is much more to do, Walton said that with help from some past and future ballot measures backed by supervisors, we will continue to see improvement in housing, addressing homelessness and education outcomes for our young people.

Several supervisors said they werent surprised by the poll results, in light of how San Franciscos economy was hit by the pandemic, the persistence of the citys high housing costs, the fentanyl crisis raging in public view and the City Hall corruption scandal, among other issues.

This year, people are angry, Supervisor Myrna Melgar said in an interview. People are feeling the changes, and they look at the leadership and are asking, What are you doing about all of this?

She said it would be important for city leaders to work together to improve the citys problems without getting mired in power plays that dont really lead to real solutions.

Both Melgar and Dorsey thought the citys housing crisis might help explain why younger residents are the least enthusiastic about the supervisors.

Younger San Franciscans feel the affordable housing crisis far more acutely than older San Franciscans, Dorsey said in an email. Because of that, theyre better informed and more angry about the Board of Supervisors inability to make needed progress on housing approvals.

While the Chronicles poll asked residents about the Board of Supervisors as an institution, it didnt ask about their views on any individual supervisor. As a result, respondents could be more supportive of their neighborhood legislator while questioning how the group functions as a whole.

Raymond Zablotny, a longtime Lower Haight resident, said he was pleased overall with the performance of city leaders  largely due to what he saw as a very positive government response in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zablotny, a 75-year-old retired psychiatrist, also said he believes the city is doing well at managing and expanding its public park system.

However, when it comes to housing, supervisors have fallen short, he said. He cited two competing affordable housing measures headed to the November ballot  one backed by the mayor and a rival measure backed by a group of supervisors.

There should have been one measure that had the best points  not diluting the vote with competing measures, Zablotny said. Thats political grandstanding, not effective government.

Another respondent, 29-year-old Eliza Panike of the Outer Sunset, said she was happy with her representative, Mar, who in her estimation had done a good job listening to community feedback and striking a compromise in managing car and pedestrian access to the Great Highway along Ocean Beach. Panike likes to walk and skate there.

But Panike was less pleased with the rest of the board, prompting her overall fair rating.

In general, all of the supervisors have done a pretty terrible job as far as housing goes, Panike said. Our city is not building new housing or developing pathways for housing. ... I see it from all sides, trying to pass the blame for why new housing isnt happening.

McDaniel, of SFSU, said that while the poll cant gauge voters feelings about any particular supervisor, it reinforced that their political leadership is being blamed.

No one is getting a free pass for it being the pandemic and a tough time, he said. People are being held accountable, and if youre on the ballot now, youre facing an electorate that is upset.

J.D. Morris (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris
In the wake of an unprecedented recall, nearly half of San Francisco residents said the citys controversy-plagued school board is doing an abysmal job, according to a new San Francisco Chronicle poll.

Across all demographics, 48% of respondents said the seven-member board had done a poor or very poor job of making the city a better place to live and work over the past three years. Just 11% of residents surveyed said the school board had done an excellent or good job.

School board President Jenny Lam acknowledged the work ahead for the districts elected officials.

About the poll As part of the SFNext project to help San Francisco residents solve some of the citys problems, we polled more than 1,650 people to measure attitudes on whats working, what isnt, performance of city government, the future of the city and more. Send feedback, ideas and suggestions to sfnext@SFChronicle.com

We must regain the trust of our community, she said. The city deserves a Board of Education that operates effectively and consistently prioritizes improving student outcomes.

Lam said the board had already started that work, unanimously approving revamped operating procedures, and planning to conduct a series of 19 community engagement events to establish priorities.

We know the San Francisco community wants actions, not promises, Lam said. We still have a lot of work to do as a board, but we hope people see our recent actions as evidence of our commitment to our North Star: improving student outcomes.

The poll was taken from June 27 to July 11, a few months after the recall of three school board members and Mayor London Breeds appointment of three replacements.

The poll, conducted as part of The Chronicles SFNext project, asked a random sample of 1,653 city residents more than 90 questions about numerous aspects of life in San Francisco. A majority of respondents expressed frustration and pessimism about life in San Francisco more broadly, with homelessness, crime and affordability among the top worries. A large majority of people said life in the city is worse than when they first moved here.

While respondents also gave low marks to Breed, the Board of Supervisors and the police, the school board had the highest share of respondents who were deeply dissatisfied with their performance. (More details on the surveys methodology are here.)

The last three years have been a tumultuous time for the San Francisco Unified School District, with the school board embroiled in lawsuits, controversies and debates over proposed policies, including the renaming of schools, the covering of a historic mural and vacillation over Lowell High Schools merit admission process.

Parents widely criticized the districts slow school reopening during the pandemic and the academic and emotional devastation from closures. Many surrounding districts reopened much earlier.

Respondents who are white, wealthy, highly educated or homeowners in San Francisco had the lowest opinion of the school board, while Black and Hispanic residents had slightly more positive opinions.

While residents hope the recall and the new appointees  who are running for re-election in November  will offer a reprieve from controversy and division, that has yet to happen.

The new board restored merit-based admissions to Lowell High, angering some families, and then faced tumult after one of Breeds appointees, Ann Hsu, had to apologize after making racist comments about Black and brown parents and what she called a lack of support for their childrens education.

Maryam Bhimji, a district parent and poll respondent, said the incidents have exacerbated racial tension in the city, especially between Asian American and Black residents, and have created ongoing turmoil in the district.

While she wants the school board to focus on students, she feels that without addressing the division, it will be difficult to move forward.

Its really polarized now, she said. I wish there was more leadership to bring the communities together. I havent seen leadership around that.

The poll found that district parents had a higher opinion of their own childrens schools than they did of their elected officials, with only 16% rating the quality of their childrens public schools as poor or very poor.

Bhimji, whose daughter attends Clarendon Elementary, is among those parents who love their childs school but worry about the future of the district.

Theres not a silver bullet that is going to get us to those student outcomes in our district, she said. Without communities coming together, we cant get there.

The survey reflected some of that division, with opinions of the school board varying depending on the education level and income of those participating.

Those with an annual household income over $200,000 had the lowest opinion of the board, with just 4% saying it was doing a good or excellent job, compared with 19% of those earning $50,000 or less.

The gap between those with a post-bachelors education and those with a high school diploma or less was similar, at 6% and 22%, respectively.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker
UPDATE: Here's today's S.F. Bay Area weather forecast.

Its been a week since the Mosquito Fire started and thanks to winds from the remnants of a tropical cyclone, of all things, it quickly grew to over 46,000 acres. Thankfully, these leftovers also shaved off the record-breaking heat wave and even brought a few sprinkles to the fire perimeter Monday afternoon, greatly helping with fire fighting operations around Tahoe.

The fires colossal smoke plume brought bad air quality to most of the Bay Area this past weekend and hazardous-level smoke pollution to Tahoe and neighboring regions in Sacramento. The hazy skies came two years after the infamous September 2020 orange sky event.

Thankfully, this week isnt looking anything like Orange Sky Day.

Gerry Diaz / Weatherbell

The sea breeze is set to quickly dive into the Bay Area Tuesday, injecting the region with cool, clean winds from the Pacific Ocean. These prevailing westerly winds will quickly curl up the San Francisco and San Pablo bays before eventually moving into the Sacramento Valley.

These winds will play two roles in the Bay Area.

Aside from continuing the cooling trend taking hold in the Bay Area, this Pacific breeze will also steer the smoke plume from the Mosquito Fireand all the other active wildfires in the stateout of Central California.

In fact, these winds will be so pronounced that theyll shift the plume toward Nevada. That means for the first time since this fire broke out, the Bay Area may finally catch a brief break from the air quality impacts that we have been dealing with.

Gerry Diaz / Weatherbell

The only downside to this weather setup is that these prevailing winds from the Pacific will only be at their strongest in the first 1,000 feet of the atmosphere, or roughly the height of Sutro Tower. That may sound like a lot, but its important to remember that the smoke plume from the Mosquito Fire is so large that it managed to hit the stratosphere last weekendover 35,000 feet - and could be seen from airspace.

What that means is those in the East Bay, North Bay highlands, Santa Cruz Mountains and Diablo Range will still likely see hazy skies and experience moderate air quality on Tuesday. At least for coastal and bay-adjacent residents, air quality impacts are looking closer to normal.

Tuesday Breakdown

 San Francisco: The sea breeze will raise wind gusts up to 20 mph Tuesday all across the city, meaning that both the west side and neighborhoods east of Sutro can look for pleasant afternoon highs in the upper 60s. Residents in the Sunset and Richmond districts can also expect some patchy fog just before sunrise and then again around sunset thanks to the breeze. All in all, a great day to be out and about.

 The Pacific Coast: Residents along Highway 1 between Half Moon Bay and Pescadero can look forward to comfortable temperatures in the 60s along with gusty 20 mph winds off the coast.

These winds will eventually reach the Peninsula by Tuesday afternoon,and bring widespread upper 60s and low 70s to the bay-facing cities from Brisbane down to Belmont.

 North Bay: What a difference a week can make. North Bay residents in Napa, Santa Rosa and Petaluma are in for a lovely Tuesday afternoon with temperatures in the low 70sa far cry from the unbearable triple-digit heat this past Tuesday. The only downside to the forecast is that skies will remain hazy thanks to smoke from fires still burning around the state. Thankfully, this smoke will be high up in the atmosphere, and ground-level 15-20 mph winds from San Pablo Bay will keep the air cleaner than previous days.

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.

South of Novato, Tiburon and San Rafael can look for similar temperatures and air quality but expect winds at the coast to gust to 25 mph at times Tuesday afternoon.

 East Bay: Despite some patchy fog along the bay and hazy skies in the Berkeley hills, Tuesday will make for a comfortable day with temperatures hanging in the 70s in Oakland and every town along the I-880 corridor.

Hazy skies will be more widespread for residents east of I-680, where cities like Walnut Creek and Fairfield can expect moderate air quality and only brief bursts of 5-10 mph winds. On the plus side, temperatures are looking to only get up to the upper 70s Tuesday afternoon, which is much more bearable than last weeks scorcher.

 South Bay and Santa Cruz: Santa Clara Valley cities like Palo Alto and San Jose are in for a pleasant Tuesday afternoon with afternoon temperatures in the mid-70s and breezy 10-15 mph winds in most of the valley.

Over the hill, mid-70s will prevail on Highway 17 along with the chance of smelling smoke from distant wildfires.

Similar temperatures will encroach the Santa Cruz coast Tuesday afternoon, and skies will generally be a little clearer thanks to the persistent sea breeze. Look for 15-20 mph gusts from Capitola to Bonny Doon.

Gerry Diaz (he/they) is a San Francisco Chronicle newsroom meteorologist. Email:gerry.diaz@sfchronicle.com Twitter @geravitywave
The San Francisco tech company Patreon announced mass layoffs to the tune of nearly a fifth of its staff.

In a message sent to staffers and posted publicly Tuesday morning, CEO Jack Conte announced that 17% of Patreon staff  around 80 of its 470 staffers  will be laid off across departments, including sales, finance and operations staffers. A spokesperson confirmed the layoffs to SFGATE but declined to provide further comment.

Over the last 9 months, weve seen the tech industry  and the whole economy  change considerably, Conte said in the message. Many of you have asked me about layoffs at All Hands meetings as weve set out to tighten our focus, and Ive said that layoffs would be a last resort. Today we are taking that step, and I am deeply sorry to the kind, talented, creator-first people who will be leaving Patreon.

In addition to the 80 people laid off Tuesday, the company confirmed a TechCrunch report from last week that five employees in the companys security department will also be laid off. As a result of these layoffs, the company will be shuttering its offices in Dublin and Berlin.

Patreon was founded in 2013 as a way to help support content creators through monthly subscriptions. In September 2020, it snagged the coveted unicorn status, earning a $1.2 billion valuation in a funding round.

Affected employees will receive three months of severance, plus an additional two weeks for every six months of employment after the first year. Employees will also receive extended health care, equity vesting opportunities and job placement support.

Conte assured remaining employees that there is a second Renaissance at the company, perhaps a sentiment better left unshared with laid-off employees.
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KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP)  Among the boarded-up windows and blast-scarred buildings of Ukraines second-largest city, where Russian missiles and rockets strike during the day and the night, fear forms the backdrop of life.

As Ukrainian forces advance in their counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region, pushing Russian forces out of territory they have held for months, strikes have continued unabated on the city, already hammered by artillery during months of war.

A missile strike on a power station Sunday night sparked a major fire and plunged Kharkiv into darkness for hours. In the blackness, another missile slammed into a residential building at around midnight, collapsing part of it and killing one person, local officials said.

Its dangerous to live in Kharkiv, every day is dangerous. Its dangerous during the day and night, said Kateryna Protsenko, a 29-year-old veterinarian living across the street from the apartment building.

The nights are sleepless, but anyway you continue to live because you have a family and you need to survive and work somehow, she said, visibly shaken at the sight of the building, a gaping hole where part of the third story used to be.

The buildings facade had peeled off and piles of rubble lay strewn on the ground, mixed with the twisted metal shrapnel of the missile. On the buildings second story, a closet stood suddenly exposed, a single coat hanger dangling precariously from its rail.

Protsenko said she couldnt leave Kharkiv  she needed to work, and there were still sick animals to treat.

So you live where you can live, and you understand that today you are alive but you can be gone in a minute," she said.

More explosions sounded out in the middle of the day Monday, with a police administrative building set on fire by a strike that killed one person in a neighboring building.

Russia carried out a rocket attack against a peaceful city, where peaceful people live, just the same as the people living in the United States of America, or anywhere else in the world, who go to school, have their ordinary lives, raise their children, Kharkiv regional police chief Volodymyr Timoshko said.

Behind him, firefighting crews clambered up ladders with hoses, dousing the flames leaping out of the top story of the building as choking smoke billowed out over the city.

Timoshko said authorities believed the building was hit by a rocket from a Smerch multiple rocket launcher.

Its quite a powerful weapon which is used for mass destruction, I repeat, mass destruction of the population, he said. They are using it during the daytime in the city center, the city which is living a normal life.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP)  UPS is delivering for Boeing, helping boost the aircraft maker's August sales numbers with an order for cargo planes.

Boeing said Tuesday that it took orders for 26 planes net last month, with the biggest being a United Parcel Service Inc. order for eight freighters. Arlington-based Boeing also took orders for 13 more 737 Max planes, including two for American Airlines.
Updates: Get info on the Mosquito Fire from Cal Fire.

Information line: Call 211 for information from Cal Fire.

Evacuation maps: Find from Placer County and El Dorado County. A list of evacuation shelters can be found from Cal Fire.

Live cameras: Wildfire cameras tracking the fire are available from AlertWildfire.

Sept. 13, 7:40 p.m.

California's Mosquito Fire erupted amid windy conditions on Tuesday afternoon, and a spot fire crossed the Middle Fork of the American River and made a run toward the Placer County communities of Foresthill and Todd Valley.

"As of right now, the fire is still contained to the south of Foresthill Road and ridge below Todd Valley," Landon Haack, Cal Fire operations section chief, said at a Tuesday night town hall. "There's a pretty significant firefight going on out there. They're trying really hard to hold that fire in that box right there. As of right now, we don't have any reports of fire on the north side of Foresthill Road."

Haack said the area around Volcanoville is "still holding very well."

Watch the town hall on the Placer County Sheriff's Facebook page.

Cal Fire said that as of 7:30 p.m. the Mosquito Fire is 50,330 acres with 25% containment.

More Mosquito Fire evacuations in Placer County

Sept. 13, 4:15 p.m.

Placer County has issued more evacuation orders. All residents "North of Yankee Jims Road to include Shirttail Canyon, south of Big Dipper through Kings Hill and through Black Bear and Grills Hill" should leave immediately. A map can be found here.

Mosquito Fire raging again as winds pick up

Sept. 13, 3:35 p.m.

After a few days of relatively calmer conditions, the Mosquito Fire is beginning to rage again. A large plume of smoke towered above the Mosquito Fire on Tuesday afternoon as southwesterly winds kicked up and fanned flames over the blaze that's pushing toward the east and northeast into dense forestland that has been left tinder-dry after a record-breaking heat wave.

Although Cal Fire has 18% containment on the blaze, most of that containment is on the southern edge of the fire.

More evacuation orders came down around 2 p.m. from El Dorado County. All residents of the Stumpy Meadows area must evacuate immediately. Evacuees are asked to use southbound Ice House Road to get to Highway 50. An evacuation map can be found here for El Dorado County.

Fire behavior analysts had warned the fire would come back to life Tuesday and Wednesday after several days of slow spread when a temperature inversion acted as a cap, pushing the smoke to the ground and leading to a stagnant air mass over the region. Cooler temperatures also allowed firefighters to catch a break and begin to gain control of the blaze.

"Unfortunately, we've had a turn of events and the southwest winds is starting to move the smoke out of area, which allows fresh oxygen to the area," Jonathan Pangburn, a fire behavior analyst with Cal Fire, said in an operations update Tuesday afternoon. "That unfortunately is going to lead to a slight uptick in the fire behavior."

The winds were favorable and firefighting efforts have reduced the fire behavior in the most populated areas including the towns of Foresthill, Georgetown, Volcanoville, and Quintette, Pangbrun said. The eastern front of the fire is much more active where flames are pushing toward the Middle Fork of the American River and the Rubicon River.

Dutch Fire triggers evacuations 12 miles away

Sept. 13, 2 p.m.

Another wildfire is now burning about 12 miles north of the Mosquito Fire. The Dutch Fire ignited in the Sierra Foothills this afternoon and has closed I-80.

For more on the Dutch Fire, click here.

Cal Fire releases Mosquito Fire damage report

Sept. 13, 9:55 a.m.

Pushing northeast into tinder-dry forestland, California's Mosquito Fire moved slowly over the weekend and on Monday amid favorable weather conditions, but its rate of spread is expected to increase in coming days with a shift in the weather.

Cal Fire released preliminary damage numbers on Tuesday, revealing that 46 structures were destroyed and five damaged. This number is likely to shift in coming days as damage assessment teams on the ground complete their work.

Noah Berger/AP

The Mosquito Fire ignited Sept. 6, 3 miles east of Foresthill, a Gold Rush town in Placer County 60 miles northeast of Sacramento. Flames jumped the American River and pushed into El Dorado County, threatening the town of Volcanoville amid triple-digit heat. As the fire tore through parched brush, it produced 40,000-foot-tall pyrocumulonimbus clouds that could be seen from miles away. In recent days, the fire has moved northeast into dense forest. It grew about 1,000 acres overnight and, on Tuesday morning, Cal Fire said the total area burned is 49,761 acres.

Nearly 6,000 structures are threatened and some 11,000 people have been evacuated, including the towns of Foresthill, Michigan Bluff, Georgetown and Volcanoville. These towns remained under mandatory evacuation on Tuesday morning.
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LONDON (AP)  In a country famed for irreverence, some worry a new code of silence has taken hold.

Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a handful of people in Britain have been detained by police for expressing  often bluntly  anti-monarchy views.

A woman in Edinburgh holding a sign reading F imperialism, abolish the monarchy was charged with a breach of the peace. A man faced the same charge after he heckled Prince Andrew as the queens hearse traveled through the Scottish capital.

In Oxford, peace activist Symon Hill was put in handcuffs after he shouted his opposition during a ceremonial proclamation of the new king.

Hill said he spontaneously called out Who elected him? because he objects to a head of state being imposed on the country.

I doubt most of the people in the crowd even heard me, he wrote on his blog. Two or three people near me told me to shut up.

Hill said he was put into a police van by officers who told him he was being detained for alleged behavior that could cause harassment, alarm or distress. He was later released but could still face questioning.

The police abused their powers to arrest someone who voiced some mild opposition to a head of state being appointed undemocratically, he said.

In London, a woman was moved from the gates of Parliament while carrying a Not my king sign. Police said she was removed from the spot, where a police officer was stabbed to death by an Islamist attacker in 2017, to allow vehicles in and was not asked to leave the wider area.

Lawyer Paul Powlesland said he was questioned by police outside Parliament on Monday while carrying a blank piece of paper on which he, too, planned to write Not my king.

In footage shot by Powlesland, an officer is heard saying it may offend someone if he wrote the words.

Powlesland called the police behavior outrageous.

The civil rights group Liberty said it was very worrying to see the police enforcing their broad powers in such a heavy-handed and punitive way to clamp down on free speech and expression.

Republic, a group that campaigns for the abolition of the monarchy, said it would be complaining to police in the strongest possible terms, and would organize protests at the kings coronation in the coming months.

Free speech is fundamental to any democracy, said spokesman Graham Smith. At a time when the media is saturated with fawning over a king appointed without discussion or consent, it is even more important.

The arrests come after the government passed a contentious law-and-order bill that toughens police powers to limit disruptive protests. Its not clear whether any of the arrests involved the new law.

Prime Minister Liz Trusss spokesman, Max Blain, said that while this is a period of national mourning, and indeed grief, for the vast majority of the United Kingdom  the right to protest does remain a fundamental principle.

But he said it is for the police to decide what is appropriate in individual circumstances.

The queen's death has triggered one of the biggest security operations in British history. Some 500 royals, heads of state and heads of government from around the world are expected at the late monarch's state funeral on Monday. Before that, hundreds of thousands are expected to line up in a queue snaking through central London to see the queen lying in state at Parliament's Westminster Hall.

Huge crowds have already gathered near Buckingham Palace and other royal residences to leave notes and flowers or simply be part of a moment in history.

Londons Metropolitan Police force said the overwhelming majority of interactions between officers and public at this time have been positive.

The public absolutely have a right of protest and we have been making this clear to all officers involved in the extraordinary policing operation currently in place, said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy.
TORONTO (AP)  It's seven years almost to day since the last episode of Key & Peele aired, but Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key are once again riffing together.

They're sitting in a Toronto hotel the day before the premiere of Henry Selick's stop-motion-animation marvel Wendell & Wild at the Toronto International Film Festival. Peele co-wrote and produced the film with the Coraline filmmaker, and in it, he and Key voice the titular demon brothers who manipulate a goth teenager (voiced by Lyric Ross) into summoning her dead parents to the land of the living.

In the film's opening scene, Wendell and Wild operate a strange machine in a spooky netherworld, and yet, even in this dark, fantastical realm, the tempo of Peele and Keys unique comic rhythm is unmistakable. In the recording booth voicing the scene, they drew from an old Second City improv game they used to do called Make-a-Machine where a string of people mime a different part of an assembly line.

Let's play it right now, says Peele.

And in a moment, the cogs of one of the century's greatest comic duos again whirls into motion. Key and Peele work in syncopated harmony, with a symphony of bleeps and blurps, while Selick and Ross look on uncertain of their role in this still finely-tuned comedy machine. Eventually the gears slow.

Its not the funniest improv game, deadpans Peele.

Wendell & Wild," which Netflix will release in theaters Oct. 21 and begin streaming Oct. 28, is an event for a couple reasons. It's first film by Selick, the celebrated animator of The Nightmare Before Christmas," since 2009's Coraline," a 13-year spell during which he spent years on a Pixar film that was abruptly canceled. In the stop-motion animation world, Wendell and Wild also stands out for its bold, punkish Black protagonist.

But for many, the appeal of seeing, even in demon-form, Key and Peele reunited is something special. Since Key & Peele concluded in 2015, Peele has, of course, embarked on an ambitious and acclaimed filmmaking career with a trilogy of mind-bending thrillers in Get Out, Us and this year's Nope." Key has greatly extended his acting career in film, television and on Broadway.

I think people sort of get that when Key and Peele does something, its going to be very special. Its going to be very intentional, Peele says. Certainly this is the first but I do not think it will be the last by any means.

With that Peele and Key launch again into an impromptu bit, muttering a secret plan over frenetic phone calls into their hands and making mock Facetimes.

It was like a blur, Key says of the five seasons of Key & Peele. Theres a general feeling that there was passion, that there was focus, that there was love. There was an alchemy to it. In some ways, its completely unexplainable. Its ineffable. It just worked.

Says Peele: Its like a brother thing. There is a familial connection thats very strong. Nothing can replicate going through a period like that. Looking back on Key and Peele, one of my favorite things is the idea that you get sent sketches and people say Theres a Key and Peele for that.

For Wendell & Wild, the two insisted on being together while recording much of the voice tracks, eager to return to the energy they had together on Key & Peele. (They also lent their voices to a pair of plush toys in Toy Story 4.)

Theres at least three whole comedy albums worth of outtakes of these guys just riffing, says Selick. We werent going to stop because it was a miracle just to see them reconnect. It was like a masterclass. The best lines are things they just thought of spontaneously.

Peele actually began working with Selick before the end of Key & Peele." (Stop-motion animation takes a long time.) But, if anything, Wendell and Wild, with dazzlingly dark designs and a PG-13 story centered around family trauma, marries the duo's earlier comedy with Peele's more nightmarish films since.

There's almost a sense of evolution to me, in a way, says Key. There were only hints to Jordan's sensibilities in Key and Peele that leaked through some cracks here and there in regard to something that might be strange or macabre.

___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
Waiter, theres cheese in my dumplings! And it might be the best item listed on the United Dumplings menu. I was nervously excited when owners Julia Zhu and Sandy Zheng invited me to make dumplings with them.

I chose their bustling restaurant for this months column because of its interesting mix of old and new recipes. The ethos of United Dumplings reflects the evolving cuisine of Asian America. Its menu offers both traditional Northern Chinese dumplings like boiled pork and cabbage, and modern, creative flavors that pull from the Bay Areas massive culinary landscape.

Theres bulgogi, for example, tasted in the Korean barbecue beef dumplings, and the Mexican-inspired corn and cheese variety is packed into its Mission Chicken Pot Stickers. Whos the team behind this popular restaurant who took a chance on opening in 2020  arguably one of the food and beverage industrys most nightmarish years during the pandemic?

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

Julia Zhu was a regular customer at Sandy Zhengs Beijing Restaurant on Alemany Boulevard, taking comfort in the hard-to-find Northern Chinese cuisine of her home region amongst the southern Chinese-heavy foodscape of the city. The two became fast friends, eventually conceiving the idea of opening a Northern Chinese dumpling restaurant together.

Today, its difficult to believe that their restaurant, United Dumplings in Bernal Heights, is only 2 years old. Its been so successful, in fact, that Zhu and Zheng recently opened their new Marina restaurant at 2015 Chestnut St. on Sept. 4, with a location-exclusive empanada called Little Havana, filled with ground beef, onions, olives and some UD secrets. The two also look forward to opening their third store, at 6247 College Ave. in Oaklands Rockridge neighborhood, in October.

Outside of UDs Bay Area-inspired menu items, Zheng and Zhu emphasize the communal nature of making dumplings, reminiscing about rolling out and filling them with family during the new year. They fold the idea of togetherness into their food and share the common presence of dumplings across cultures with their customers.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

Thats why were called United Dumplings, Zhu said. The communal nature of dumpling-making, the commonality of dumplings internationally, plus the strength of Zheng and Zhus friendship, inspired the idea of cooking together with them.

I spoke to Zhu one afternoon and divulged my curiosities about dumpling-making, including the difficult process that goes into making xiao long bao (XLB, or soup dumplings), the ground pork dumplings that magically burst forth with hot soup upon first bite. So she kindly invited me to visit UD's original location and roll up my sleeves to learn the art of filling and folding with her and Zheng. I made dumplings a few years ago at a friends dumpling-making party where mine were by far the ugliest due to my tendency to overstuff. I hoped to do better during my UD visit.

Pleating rich, juicy bites

While most of my service industry years were spent bartending, the last time I was in a pro kitchen was March 2020 as a catering manager for Crepe-Madame, which included countless prep shifts. The kitchen of UD felt familiar with its large stainless steel appliances, except I was in a different world, filled with woks and steamers, instead of rimless round pans for crepes. Needless to say, I was nervously sweating in their kitchen. I didnt want to disappoint or fail.

Thats part of the joy of making family dumplings, Zhu said reassuringly when I mentioned my anxiety over imperfect results.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

Once we got settled in the kitchen, all the tools and delicious ingredients that go into making XLB, such as dough, ground pork and tiny pie tins, were laid out on a hefty wooden cutting board in front of me. My dream manifested. Zheng, having trained with an XLB chef in China, first demonstrated the steps for me. Then, I tried to copy her. I brushed mini pie tins with swipes of vegetable oil to prevent sticking  lest the dough break and the soup leak out, which would be sacrilege.

UD uses different dough recipes for different dishes, and the XLB variety is made fresh every morning. I gasped at how soft, supple and silky it felt. Zhu and Zheng explained that northern dumpling dough is wheat-based, versus the southern Cantonese dumpling wrappers made from rice flour. There were nuggets of dough already pre-cut from the mound sitting off the side of the board. I held the top of one piece with my left thumb and forefinger against the cutting board while rolling it out with the center of a small rolling pin controlled by my right hand. My left fingers rotated the disc slightly counterclockwise with each downward roll. I repeated this step until a circle formed about 4 inches in diameter.

The filling was also already made for me, both in the interest of saving time and to safeguard their recipe secrets. Aside from shaping the dough rounds precisely, the soup that forms inside the XLB as it is steamed  the amount, flavor, viscosity  is key. Zhu and Zheng said their trick is to mix in frozen soup with the pork. I took soup to mean the generous bits of gelatinous aspic dotting the pile of ground meat sitting on the cutting board, which already had incorporated minced aromatics like ginger. The proteinaceous jelly melts as the dumpling steams, allowing all the ingredients to meld with the pork juices to create a rich soup inside.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE) (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)

I held the dough disc on the fingertips of my left palm, with my thumb in the center of the meat, my bottom four fingers rotating the XLB in a clockwise direction as my right fingers pleated numerous small folds in an upward direction. This continuous motion created a dough petal at the top of the XLB with a tiny hole to let steam escape. After finishing my clumsy pleats, I held the XLB by the petals with my thumb and forefingers, using both hands to stretch out the dough and petal. How many folds, ideally? 23, Zheng answered. She no longer counts, but said her XLBs range from 22 to 25.

Next, I got to make the classic pork and cabbage dumplings that UD calls Grandmas Pork Dumplings. Cabbage is a sturdy vegetable that can withstand tough winters, which is why its a staple in dumplings and other dishes. While the dough looked similarly silky to the XLB, it was more firm and less delicate.

A mass of pink ground pork lay before me, again, already prepped. Next to it was a pile of Napa cabbage leaves I minced with a weighty, rectangular Chinese cleaver, first slicing the stack into matchsticks, then turning the pile 90 degrees to slice crosswise. I ran the cleaver through the minced leaves several times more with rhythmic whacks, then mixed them with the ground meat, and ran the cleaver through the cabbage and pork mixture again to achieve uniformity.

I rolled out the dough nugget in a similar fashion to the XLB, except this time, into an oval shape instead of a circle. Or rather, Zheng corrected my messy circle into an oval. I then cautiously put a small amount of filling in the middle of my oblong disc.

You can put more, Zheng encouraged. I added two more scoops before she told me to stop.

Sealing this dumpling was different from what I imagined. Instead of making pretty pleats, I used the length of each pointer finger and thumb to seal it from both ends simultaneously, meeting in the middle in two deft motions.

This resulted in a smooth seal. Zheng assured me this method was the faster, professional way. I somehow also managed to squeeze out some filling like it was toothpaste during the process. Oops. Grandmas Pork Dumplings shape reminds me of gold Chinese ingots. Families make them during Lunar New Year to symbolize hope for prosperity in the coming year.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

Dumplings are important for Chinese people, especially for ones who grew up with nothing, Zhu said. It was a reminder not to take the abundance of dumplings at my fingertips for granted.

After making the XLBs and Grandmas Pork Dumplings, they all steamed for 8 minutes. By this time, Zheng and Zhu had actually steamed some dumplings that were already impeccably made by their staff. I found this amusing. I wouldve happily eaten my lumpy dumps, but I appreciated their perfectionist tendencies. While waiting to eat, I checked out the beautiful restroom that Zhu said she proudly designed, including the relaxing blue-and-white wallpaper that begs for a bathroom selfie.

Still has soup

As our dumplings steamed, Zhu and Zheng prepared a feast  a spread of what we made, plus other customer favorites, such as oolong tea and fresh sauteed green string beans wok-tossed to a blistered tender-crispness.

The pair presented pork XLB made by their chefs, and not my messy ones (LOL). Like other restaurant owners, Zheng and Zhu worried about presenting cold XLBs after chatting and taking photos. They tested first, casually using their hands to pick up and bite into the mini delights. Still has soup, they both said, nodding approvingly. (Thats an iron-clad recipe if a cold XLB still has soup after sitting out for half an hour.) The dough had a soft yet toothsome chew, and the interior was intensely juicy. The dipping sauce was a house mixture that included soy sauce, vinegar and chopped ginger.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

We then chowed down on Grandmas Pork Potstickers, the Korean barbecue beef dumplings, spicy Sichuan wonton in red oil, and the Mission chicken pot stickers. The latter were my favorite, sporting a lacy, crispy brown cheese frico that connected the dumplings a la modern Japanese gyoza.

I noticed a uniformity of textures across these dishes  the same technique used to mince and mix the cabbage and ground pork for the Grandma dumplings was also employed across the onion and beef, and the chicken and corn fillings. The idea initially appeared monotonous  I expected the Korean beef dumplings to have thin slices of bulgogi, and the Mission chicken ones to have more whole corn kernels and coarsely ground meat for textural variety.

Still, Zhengs ingredient ratio and mixing-by-mincing technique is a solid blueprint that works for all of UDs dumplings, yielding even flavors, consistent bites and moisture retention. This was especially impressive for the scallop and chicken bao, and jumbo shrimp turkey dumplings, since the leaner fat content of poultry would be prone to dryness. I was expecting Zheng to say she added animal fat. Instead, she listed a surprising ingredient in its place.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

There is some sort of vegetable juice inside, she said. Every UD recipe has secret ingredients that the two will reference vaguely but dont quite reveal.

Creative dishes, skillful techniques

United Dumplings robust menu is one where you can close your eyes, randomly point to an item and youll end up with something delicious. The amount of R&D behind each dumpling is evident by every dish being a standout, with every item carefully tested and tweaked.

Zhu and Zheng strive for perfection, but also dont forget to imbue the business with the fun of their friendship  a recipe for their creative and varied menu that boasts kids dishes like mac n cheese pork potstickers, and a whole section dedicated to Mimosamania. Because why shouldnt you have mimosas with dumplings?

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE Jumbo Shrimp Turkey dumplings, upper left, and Scallop & Chicken Bao, lower right, at United Dumplings on Cortland Ave, in San Francisco, on Aug. 29, 2022.(Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE) Jumbo Shrimp Turkey dumplings, upper left, and Scallop & Chicken Bao, lower right, at United Dumplings on Cortland Ave, in San Francisco, on Aug. 29, 2022.(Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)

Ive continued to think about the savory-sweet Mission chicken dumplings with both a cheesy crisp and cheesy pull, and must return for the cheesy kids menu (obviously, I like cheese). And now that I have a bit of a better understanding of the skill and time it takes to make an amazing XLB, no soup shall ever go to waste again. Especially not any from United Dumplings.

United Dumplings, 525 Cortland Ave., San Francisco. Open Wednesday through Monday, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-9 p.m. Closed Tuesdays. Second location: 2015 Chestnut St., San Francisco. Open Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday and Monday, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-9 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 1 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Closed Tuesdays. Coming soon: United Dumplings, 6247 College Ave., Oakland. Slated for October.
LONDON (AP)  There are fridge magnets, tea sets and flags. And of course mugs, T-shirts and sweatshirts with the face of Queen Elizabeth II that are inscribed with the dates of her 70-year reign: 1952-2022.

Just days after the death of Britain's longest-serving monarch, unofficial souvenirs have rolled out at royal-themed gift shops in London and online marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy.

Cool Britannia, a shop selling U.K.-themed memorabilia across the street from Buckingham Palace, pushed its suppliers to work overnight to get mementos ready by Saturday, just two days after the queen's death, store manager Ismayil Ibrahim said. Items depicting the new monarch, King Charles III, were also on their way to Ibrahim's shop, where tourists were buying other royal gifts like queen bobbleheads and rubber ducks wearing crowns.

Official merchandise, however, will take longer to arrive to approved vendors, who have suspended sales of royal souvenirs out of respect for the mourning period.

Based on strong customer demand for gifts for the queens recent Platinum Jubilee celebrating her seven decades on the throne, Ibrahim anticipates even greater interest in souvenirs commemorating her life and death.

People kept asking us, Have you got anything yet? Ibrahim said.

So he quickly stocked T-shirts and mugs saying, Forever in our Hearts and Gone but not forgotten, bearing a portrait of the queen as a young woman. Another version carried portraits of the queen both young and old with the words: Queen Elizabeth II  The Greatest Reign 1952-2022.

There was a constant stream of tourists browsing at the shop Monday, and two others nearby, though not many were buying the items commemorating her reign.

Lorenzo Corbani, an Italian living in Bath, England, bought a solar-powered bobblehead figure of the queen for his mother, who was a big fan.

She felt she was a great woman, said Corbani, 35.

Unofficial gifts have spread quickly online, too. Sellers on eBay are already hawking King Charles III souvenir mugs, badges, fridge magnets, and key rings that say God Save The King. Amazon vendors are flogging similarly tacky and hastily churned out royal merchandise like Union Jack flags adorned with Charles portrait and decals and posters commemorating Queen Elizabeth IIs life. There's even a pet bandana with the dates of her reign.

At Majestic Gifts near Buckingham Palace, Paul Callaghan splurged on a tin of Platinum Jubilee English breakfast tea bearing the queen's picture for 15 pounds ($17.50), which he said was a one-off purchase.

Its not cheap, but its limited. Its never going to happen again, said Callaghan, 35, who works in financial services and was visiting London from Dublin.

Now that the queen has died, he decided to buy a memento before all the stocks run out.

Because, again, its quite a historic thing. Youre never going to see a queen live until this long or reign this long," Callaghan said. And not only that, but were probably not going to have another queen for another century."

There's likely to be big demand for King Charles III souvenirs, and vendors of unofficial royal merchandise like Ibrahim are poised to capitalize on it, raising questions over copyright. But it's unlikely that the royal family will take legal action, according to a lawyer specializing in trademark law.

Given the fascination with the monarchy it would be a full-time job to stop unlicensed merchandise, said Charlotte Wilding, a partner at the firm Wedlake Bell.

I suspect the Royal Family takes the view that it would rather not punish the general public for its support,' even if that support may not be in the correct form," Wilding said by email. Bad press is just not something the Royal Family want to be a part of or risk being a part of, even if they are legally in the right.

In the meantime, official vendors of royal gifts are observing a 10-day mourning period. One of them, the Royal Collection Trust, which manages public access to the queens residences, said on its website that its shops have closed in London, Windsor and Edinburgh and online sales of items like Buckingham Palace magnets have been suspended.

With no official items to snag, Judy Kline, a 74-year-old tourist from suburban Detroit, spent 32 pounds on souvenirs at a tourist shop at London's famed Piccadilly Circus, including several ornate blue and white fridge magnets with the queens portrait.

I have some friends who are very envious that theyre not on this trip with us. I wanted to give them a little token," Kline said.

Kline said she felt a certain affinity with the royals and wanted to buy King Charles III memorabilia but would be departing before any arrived at souvenir shops and stalls.

The prince  I mean the king  is a year younger than I am. So I saw him as a little kid, and he was like my peer, you know? Kline said. And then their grandkids are just a little bit younger than our grandkids.

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Associated Press writer Danica Kirka contributed from London.

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Follow all AP stories on Britains royal family at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii.
Democratic lawmakers intent on making sure that unprecedented efforts by the Trump administration to politicize the 2020 census never happen again are moving forward with plans for safeguards they say will help the U.S. head count stay free of future interference.

Democratic House members are preparing this week to send legislation to the House floor that would put in place roadblocks against political meddling in the U.S. census, which determines political power and federal funding.

The House legislation getting a hearing this week in front of the Committee on Rules would require new questions on a census form to be vetted by Congress and mandate that a U.S. Census Bureau director couldnt be fired without cause. The proposed legislation vests the Census Bureau director with all technical, operational and statistical decisions and says a deputy director has to be a career staffer with experience in demographics, statistics or related fields. If approved by the committee, it will be sent to the House floor for a vote later this week.

The Biden administration on Tuesday said it supported the legislation but indicated it may want changed provisions in the bill requiring that the Census Bureau's annual budget include estimated costs over five years. Those provisions were added after preparations for the 2020 census faced budget cuts and funding delays. The Biden administration wants to make sure the bill doesn't circumvent the Office of Management and Budget's role in formulating budget requests and avoids impinging on the Presidents authority over Executive Branch agencies," the office said in a statement.

The legislation's goals overlap with recommendations made Tuesday by the Brennan Center for Justice that would limit interference from the executive branch and increase congressional oversight of the census. The think tank, which opposed the Trump administration's efforts to end the U.S. head count early, recommends making the U.S. Census Bureau more independent.

The once-a-decade census determines how many congressional seats each state gets and the distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal spending each year. Its results are used for redrawing political districts. The 2020 census was one of the most challenging in recent memory not only because of the attempts at political interference but also because of the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters.

In the years leading up to the 2020 census, the Trump administration unsuccessfully tried to add a citizenship question to the census questionnaire, a move that advocates feared would scare off Hispanics and immigrants from participating, whether they were in the country legally or not. The Supreme Court blocked the question.

The Trump administration also unsuccessfully tried to get the Census Bureau to exclude people in the country illegally from population figures used for divvying up congressional seats among the states, also called the apportionment numbers.

Critics claimed the citizenship question was inspired by a Republican redistricting expert who believed using citizen voting-age population instead of the total population for the purpose of redrawing of congressional and legislative districts could be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.

Existing law leaves too much room for political actors to override the best statistical science and manipulate the census, the Brennan Center report said.

The Brennan Center was among several groups and local governments that sued in 2020 to prevent the Trump administration from ending door-knocking operations a month earlier than planned under a revised schedule put out by the Census Bureau in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Critics feared the Trump administration wanted to end data collection and processing early to make sure President Donald Trump was still in office during the release of apportionment figures. The apportionment numbers were released in April 2021, four months after President Joe Biden took office and Trump left.

The Brennan Center report recommends making the Census Bureau entirely independent of the Commerce Department and giving the Census Bureau director, rather than political appointees at Commerce, final decision-making power over the census. The current director, Robert Santos, was appointed by Biden.

Pulling the Census Bureau out from under the Commerce Department would be a major first step toward insulating the bureau against executive interference," the report said.

The Brennan Center also recommends a change that's not in the House legislation  creating permanent House and Senate committees or subcommittees dedicated to keeping track of the census. The current congressional committees that provide oversight have broad portfolios and can't dedicate the time needed on the census, according to the report.

Even though many of the Trump administrations political efforts ultimately failed, some advocates believe they did have an impact, with significantly larger undercounts of most racial and ethnic minorities in the 2020 census compared to the 2010 census.

The Black population in the 2020 census had a net undercount of 3.3%, while it was almost 5% for Hispanics and 5.6% for American Indians and Native Alaskans living on reservations. Those identifying as some other race had a net undercount of 4.3%.

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Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP
The Kaleva Dickson Board of Education heard some positive news on the progress of students after the Michigan Educational Assessment Program scores were released. Superintendent of school, Greg Webster told board members that in most areas the results were very positive for the elementary students. The only exception was in the area of writing where KND students fell below the state average.

40 YEARS AGO

New lounge in Onekama

The loss of the Harbor Bar to sire inspired husband and wife, Kay and Marilyn Clouse to open Onekamas newest bar, Mr. Cs Lounge. The lounge is located on M-22 just before the heart of the village and also features a menu including hamburgers and broasted chicken.

Bandits

Two separate incidents involving the theft of soft drinks are under investigation by area law enforcement agencies. State police say that during the weekend they received a report of three suspicious characters hanging around a business in Onekama. A check of the place revealed a break-in of a pop vending machine but the stolen drinks were found behind the building. In the city of Manistee some Pepsi-Cola was stolen from a delivery truck while it was parked at Olesons on Memorial Drive.

60 YEARS AGO

Low bid

Low bidders on widening U.S. 31 South of Bear Lake and repairing the deck of Memorial Bridge were announced today by the state highway department. Ivan Schworm and Sons, of Traverse City was the low bidder at $603,204 of the U.S. 31 reconstruction that includes grading, culverts, paving and widening. Low bidder for the repair of the deck of the bridge was Conn Welding and Machine Co. of New Castle, Pa. Their bid was $47,331.

Thunderstorms

Severe thunderstorms brought midnight at noon to Manistee today and made it necessary to turn on city street lights for approximately a 10-minute period. The storm, the second rain of the day, struck at 11:55 a.m. bringing heavy wind, rain and hail.
There are about 101 cities and towns in the San Francisco Bay Areas nine counties. From the biggest (San Jose), to the smallest (Belvedere), to the oldest (Benicia and San Jose), to the newest (Oakley, incorporated in 1999), nearly all of them have their own flags. Some are relatively well known to residents, billowing proudly in the wind on city hall; others are barely familiar, hidden away on long-forgotten municipal websites. Its fair to say the design quality on some of them is lacking.

Here is our absolutely subjective take on the Bay Areas most interesting-looking flags, some that are wildly creative, and some appear to have been designed in the dark on MS Paint.

Palo Alto

Palo Alto should have a cool flag. The city is named after a very old tree thats been standing on the banks of San Francisquito Creek, near Highway 82, through thick and thin for more than 1,000 years. Unfortunately the flag designers decided to stamp a bunch of text over the tree, making it a big muddled mess and detracting from the famous redwood.

City of Palo Alto

The tree itself, El Palo Alto, which translates from Spanish as tall stick, is a spindly specimen that was supposedly used as shelter and a campsite for the Spanish Portola Expedition Party of 1769.

A plaque at the base of the tree notes that after camping there the settlers discovered San Francisco Bay, which probably came as news to the Indigenous people who had lived there for more than 10,000 years.

Pittsburg

The Pittsburg flag is a doozie, so bad its good. Ostensibly an anchor in front of some wavy water, its audacious abstract design makes it also look a little like a crosshair or maybe a telescope, or a shotgun barrel? The refusal to adhere to any notion of symmetry or use any text is an added joy.

City of Pittsburg

Albany

The city of Albany has a very interesting origin story. As attested to on a plaque on the corner of Buchanan Street and San Pablo Avenue, in 1908 a group of women were sick and tired of Berkeley garbage wagon drivers ditching their trash in their neighborhood. Armed with shotguns, the women kept the trash-tossing invaders away until the sheriff showed up and sent them back to Berkeley. Shortly after this, the city decided to incorporate and it was eventually named after the birthplace of the first city Mayor Frank Roberts  Albany, New York.

Albanys flag, however, is sadly not quite as exciting.

City of Albany

It borrows the bear from the California flag (a real, tragic bear named Monarch  read SFGATE's sad history) below the most ubiquitous of Bay Area symbols, the Golden Gate Bridge.

Beyond the lack of originality, the Albany flags biggest design crime is the tiny, barely readable text. City flags should have three words on them, max, and two should be City of.

If you squint you can see the motto reads: The Northern Gateway to Alameda County, a strange gateway to reference when youve literally pictured the most famous geographical gateway on the planet above the text.

Cupertino

Cupertino is home to one of the most celebrated design teams in the world. Its flag, however, isnt winning any awards and has several problems. Firstly, it features the helmet of a conquistador, commemorating the Spanish explorers who took thousands of Indigenous peoples lives in the 18th and 19th century and played a large part in the California genocide.

Secondly, according to CRW Flags, the previous version of the helmet looked too much like a snail (see that version here), so a redesign was made in 2007, leading to the equally confusing modern version with beaming rays of light behind, giving a cartoonish frivolity to a symbol of colonialism.

City of Cupertino

As an interesting aside, the city is named after a slow and absent-minded monk who could levitate.

Foster City

The Foster City flag depicts a sailboat, highlighting the San Mateo County citys world-class sailing and windsurfing conditions on the bay  and a tree, because why not.

City of Foster City

The flag reminds me of a Microsoft Word clip art file that probably took 7 minutes to conceive and execute; it does have a certain simplistic charm, though.

Brentwood

Brentwoods flag does have some good things going for it. The very 1990s Times New Roman font with that sweeping R is rather elegant, and the depiction of Mount Diablo and the oak tree is fine and appropriate.

But its the strange use of text thats this flags downfall  Brentwoods motto offers three single words that would be more fitting on a retirement home or multi-level marketing scheme.

City of Brentwood

Heritage. Vision. Opportunity. Hmmm.

San Francisco

Heres another example of a flag that should be really awesome  but is not. The historic city of San Francisco, ravaged by earthquake and fire, is the phoenix, rising from the ashes to live another 1,000 years. Below, a powerful motto that evokes both the citys military prowess and Gold Rush history: Gold in Peace and Iron in War.

Yet were somehow left with this judgmental looking dingus bird flapping over a red crown.

Wikimedia Commons

The phoenix was not chosen, as one might assume, to commemorate the 1906 disaster. The bird was actually adopted on the city seal in 1895, making it somewhat prophetic to the devastation and subsequent rejuvenation that would come a few years later.

Were not the first to note the inadequacy of San Franciscos flag. Artist Jeremy Fish designed a decidedly more exciting version for the city during the pandemic.

San Rafael

Before we get to the best city flag in the Bay Area, a special shout-out to San Rafael, which may have the only flag with a pun in it. Of the 21 towns in the state with Spanish missions, it appears San Rafael is the only one that saw the opportunity for some theological wordplay.

City of San Rafael

Saving the best for last, heres the Bay Area city with a flag to be proud of. Simple, historic and with perfect color coordination 

Oakland

City of Oakland

Oaklands iconic flag wins.

The oak tree silhouetted in green over the yellow background can be seen today all across the city and even on street signs. Depicting the historic Jack London Oak in Frank H. Ogawa Plaza downtown, the image inspired Oaklandishs creation of one of the coolest and most recognizable brands in California: one that can still be seen on Steph Curry's jersey and on a thousand fenders and strollers across the Bay Area.

If you think your city has a worse (or better) flag that we've overlooked, please let us know - andrew.chamings@sfgate.com
Federal and state representatives were invited to a panel by Rep. Henry Cuellar regarding multiple programs and goals to expand broadband connectivity and accessibility throughout the nation, emphasizing the new established guidelines for what high-speed internet is.

Cuellar said that the goal of a Tuesday webinar was to discuss funding opportunities for counties, non-profits and public and private sectors for the expansion of broadband. He said that high speed internet is critical for everyone to ensure they can do their job and access school and health care while staying connected.

In 2021, the Texas Broadband Development Office was created to create a state broadband plan, secure federal and state funding, develop a competitive financial incentive program, and make recommendations to state legislature.

The reliable access has become more critical, especially when we went through the COVID-19 pandemic. It showed us we had a weakness and we needed to do more to get our communities connected, said Cuellar, adding that the programs have been bolstered through the passing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.

Meagan Froh of the Broadband Development Office said that high speed internet has moved past the 2015 Federal Communications Commission designation of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds as high-speed. Moving forward, broadband speed targets are 100Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload or 100/100 Mbps, with the symmetrical speeds taking priority.

Froh added that in Texas, 7.7 million residents do not have broadband, a factor that plays into the digital divide. She said that this could be due to a number of different factors such as infrastructure availability, affordability of high-speed internet subscriptions, access to devices and digital literacy.

Amid the ongoing pandemic, which caused widespread shutdowns of in-school learning and face-to-face medical appointments, high speed internet was a boon to continue services throughout the world. However, those without high-speed internet were at a disadvantage. Frohs presentation indicates that broadband would impact multiple facets of the nation. These include:

Enhanced economic development.

Enhanced health care.

Increased adoption and utilization.

Disaster resilience and Emergency Management.

Education.

Improved Infrastructure and Technology.

Programs such as the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment and the Middle Mile Grant programs are under the direction of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. NTIA representative, Jennifer Harris, said that the NTIA is currently working to hire federal officers for each state in order to move forward with the programs and have them provide tailored support for their respective state. These officers are expecting to understand their states and have contacts within them to be a liaison between the NTIA, the broadband office and local officials.

According to Harris, the BEAD program received an astounding $42.45 billion in funding in order to get all U.S. residents online. Eligible uses for the funds include the planning for deployment of internet, deploying or upgrading internet, installing internet in multi-tenant buildings, implementing adoption and digital equity programs, and workforce and job training.

This includes all 50 states, the districts of Columbia and Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The undertaking is slated to move past 2026.

The BEAD presentation states that a minimum of $100 million will be allocated to each state and $25 million for U.S. territories. However, additional allocations will be considered throughout each state. Harris said that $100 million would not be enough for Texas as an example. With billions on the line, states are tasked with providing a plan to start building the infrastructure where it is needed.

A 270-day deadline will be given to create a five-year plan that involves communities in need throughout each state.

During the process, it will also be integral to perform different types of outreach in multiple mechanisms as internet surveys are not accessible to those without internet. Harris said that the plan will be to involve as many residents as possible in rural, urban and tribal communities to find the broadband needs of each community.

Additionally, a priority will be placed for communities that are not connected or underserved in the broadband capacity, such as colonias in Webb County. These communities are the first and second priorities and include multi-tenant buildings. These communities are followed by community anchor institutions such as schools, libraries and hospitals.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  Two Haitian reporters were fatally shot and their bodies set on fire while reporting in a slum controlled by gangs in the capital, the second such killing this year, according to a journalists' association.

The two men were among seven journalists who came under attack Sunday in the Cite Soleil district of Port-au-Prince while investigating worsening violence in the area, including the recent killing of a 17-year-old girl, according to a statement from Haitis Association of Independent Journalists.

The victims were identified as Tayson Latigue and Frantzsen Charles.

Dieudonne St-Cyr, a reporter with the association, told radio station Metropole Haiti that the journalists were ambushed by two warring gangs that he did not identify. He said the five other reporters fled unharmed, adding that the bodies of the two victims have not been recovered.

The organization condemned what it called a villainous and odious act and demanded that the government improve the countrys worsening insecurity amid a spike in killings and kidnappings. Gangs have grown more powerful since the July 7, 2021, assassination President Jovenel Moise.

The journalists were just doing their job, the group said. They didnt commit any crime.

The organization said the killings are further proof of the inability of the state to protect lives and property, which is nothing other than a violation of human rights.

The Miami-based Inter American Press Association, which urged authorities to find those responsible, said this has been one of the most violent years against the press since the organization began keeping records in 1987.

The group noted that Haitian journalists carry out their work in conditions of extreme risk and at a disadvantage in terms of resources and protection.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry also condemned the killings, saying he was profoundly shocked at the deaths.

We strongly condemn this barbaric act, while sending our heartfelt thoughts to the families of the victims and their colleagues, he tweeted.

In January, two other journalists were killed by gang members while reporting in Laboule, a troubled area south of Port-au-Prince.

In addition, journalists are still demanding answers in the March 2018 disappearance of freelance photographer Vladjimir Legagneur, who was last seen in the Grand Ravine area, one of the poorest and most dangerous districts in Port-au-Prince.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  Democrat Mary Peltola was sworn in Tuesday night to finish out the remaining months of the term of the late Rep. Don Young, making her the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress and the first woman to hold the seat.

To have a seat at the table is different, Peltola told The Associated Press in an interview Monday. But I am just always reminding people that Im not here to represent just the 16% of Alaskans who are Alaska Natives. Im here to represent all Alaskans.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a ceremonial swearing-in with Peltola and the two other new members of the House, Democrat Pat Ryan and Republican Joe Sempolinski of New York, on the chamber floor.

Peltola, who is Yup'ik, was donning Alaskan Mukluks, traditional boots, as the other two members of her delegation, GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, sat behind her applauding at her historic victory. Peltola previously served as a state lawmaker for 10 years representing the rural hub community of Bethel, Alaska.

The 49-year-old made history last month when she won the special election to finish out Young's term, besting a field of candidates that included Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was governor.

The day before her swearing-in ceremony, Peltola stood outside what was once Young's office, swarmed by the local and national press, and marveled at the moment.

I really hope that Don is getting a kick out of this," Peltola told the AP. I cant help but think that some things broke my way on account of his great sense of humor.

The kicker is that 50 years ago, right before Peltola was born, her parents worked on Youngs first campaign for the only congressional seat in Alaska. Young won and went on to hold it for 49 years before his death in March.

Peltolas campaign has emphasized her dedication to fish, family and freedom. Fish are a staple in Alaskan life, and salmon holds particular cultural significance to Alaska Natives. A subsistence lifestyle  relying on fish, wildlife and berries  is essential in rural Alaska, including in many Native communities, where goods must be flown or barged in and costs for basic necessities can be exorbitant.

Peltola said she sees her few weeks in office as an homage to Young's service as a more moderate force in an increasingly polarized Congress. Like the often gruff Young, Peltola said she is bringing a sense of humor to the job, along with a history of being a consensus-builder with even the most conservative of colleagues.

After Palin came in second to Peltola in the special election last month, the two women shared a cordial back-and-forth. In a text message, Palin congratulated her and wrote that she was a real Alaskan chick! Beautiful & smart and tough.

Peltola replied, Your text means the world to me ... We really are in this together.

The newly elected congresswomans time in the Alaska Legislature overlapped with Palins time as governor, and the women have remained cordial. Peltola has said that one of the most unsavory parts of American politics is negative campaigning.

But staying above the fray could prove difficult. Peltola is on the ballot in November to serve a full two-year term, again facing off against Palin, Republican Nick Begich and Libertarian Chris Bye, all of whom advanced from last months open primary.

Thats partly why Peltola said she doesnt plan to get too comfortable in her new office, which Young, a Republican, adorned with the heads of bucks and bears and large rifles in a nod to his love of hunting. Now those walls are bare.

It didnt make sense to really become too entrenched, or decorate, or set up shop, Peltola said. I really just feel like Im camping here until the term is over. And then being open and seeing what happens next.

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Associated Press reporter Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed to this report.

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Follow AP's coverage of Congress at https://apnews.com/hub/congress.
ATHENS, Ala. (AP)  An Alabama youth accused of killing his father, stepmother and three young siblings when he was 14 went on trial Tuesday on capital murder charges.

Prosecutors accuse Mason Sisk of shooting his family to death in their north Alabama home in 2019, saying he told investigators he killed them because he was fed up with them. In their opening statements, prosecutors said Sisk told a teacher he wouldnt be in school the following week and then took a handgun from the home of a family friend to shoot his family, news outlets reported.

The defense, which lost a challenge to prevent jurors from hearing about Sisk's statements to police, argued that the boy didn't have a plan to kill or any firearms experience.

Sisk, now 17, was charged as an adult with multiple counts of capital murder, but he can't be sentenced to death if convicted because of his age at the time of the slayings.

John Wayne Sisk, 38, and Mary Sisk, 35, were found dead in their home in Elkmont on Sept. 2, 2019, along with their three children  6-year-old Kane, 4-year-old Aurora and 6-month-old Colson. All had been killed with gunshots to the head, authorities said.

Authorities said Mason Sisk initially told police he was in the basement playing video games when he heard gunshots and ran outside to see a vehicle pulling away, but he later told investigators he'd killed the five.

A recording played during a pretrial hearing showed the youth told investigators about a possible motive for the killings.

Yeah, they argue a lot, and I got fed up with it, Sisk said in the recording. And the kids were going through a lot.

The defense has claimed Sisk only repeated to detectives what they had told him.

Prosecutors argued that Sisk had anger control issues and had threatened the entire family. In court documents filed earlier this year, prosecutors alleged Sisk previously put peanut butter in his stepmother's coffee in an attempt to poison the woman, who had severe peanut allergies.
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Alert: Armenia's prime minister says 49 soldiers were killed in nighttime attacks by Azerbaijan.
MARINETTE, Wis. (AP)  An appeal of the conviction in the 1976 slayings of a young couple in Wisconsin continues to wind its way through the courts, even though the man found guilty in the murders has died in prison.

Attorneys for Raymand Vannieuwenhoven are trying to have his conviction overturned by challenging the way investigators obtained DNA from him that was used to break the cold case.
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)  A third person has been arrested as part of the investigation into the assassination attempt on Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez  a move that suggests the incident could have involved a network of people.

Agustina Diaz, who appears to have at least been a close friend of the girlfriend of the man accused of trying to shoot Fernandez on Sept. 1, was detained Monday in the province of Buenos Aires, an official with the knowledge of the case confirmed to The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the investigation.

Fernando Sabag Montiel, a 35-year-old Brazilian citizen, was detained shortly after he pointed a handgun at Argentinas vice president outside her home. He pulled the trigger twice, but the Bersa handgun failed to go off, though it was loaded with five bullets.

His girlfriend, Brenda Uliarte, a 23-year-old Argentine who reportedly was at the scene of the attempted shooting, was arrested three days later.

Uliarte and Sabag Montiel are both accused of trying to assassinate Fernandez, the most important political figure in Argentina of the last 15 years. She was president for two terms from 2007 to 2015 and now has both ardent followers and detractors.

Uliarte had Diaz's contact saved in her phone as love of my life and the two were in touch before and after the assassination attempt. Diaz reportedly helped Uliarte escape the scene after the assassination attempt, according to the official.

With what were learning until now, the role Brenda played becomes more relevant, the official said.

Sabag Montiel has been living in Argentina since the 1990s. Photos posted to his now-inactive social networks appear to show he has tattoos with Nazi symbols on his arms and hands.

Judicial investigators are using security footage and cellphone communications to try to reconstruct what happened in the days before the attempted shooting and whether there were any suspicious people present around the vice presidents home on the days before the attack.

The streets surrounding the vice presidents home had been filled with supporters for days after a prosecutor requested a 12-year prison sentence, as well as a lifetime prohibition on holding public office, against Fernandez due to alleged corruption involving public works during her administration.

Fernandez has denied all charges and says she is the victim of a political persecution meant to get her out of public office.

Meanwhile, officials said Fernandez also received a death threat through a call placed to the 911 emergency line.

The call was made from the city of La Plata, around 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of Buenos Aires, and is being investigated, Security Minister Anibal Fernandez said.
ALTON  The Lewis and Clark Community College Veterans Club will host an American Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 14, at The Old Bakery Beer Company, 400 Landmarks Blvd., in Alton.

We are proud to be joining forces once again with the American Red Cross and The Old Bakery Beer Company on this community blood drive during this stressful time, said L&C Director of Career and Veteran Services Terry Lane. By taking part in this opportunity to help others, you just might save a life. Please make an effort to attend, and please share this information with your family and friends.
Gift of Voice is partnering with local authors to bring meaningful conversations around mental health to the community with its Prevention, Wellness & Recovery Book Fair set this weekend.

The event is Friday, Sept. 16 from 1-9 p.m. at Eden Church, 903 N. Second St., Edwardsville. Those interested are asked to register for the event online at Eventbrite, or do so at the event.

AJ French, CEO of Gift of Voice, has invited a group of published authors to the event who are in mental health and substance use recovery. These authors will be available at the event to talk to attendees about what helped and hindered their own recovery journey.

"I hope for two things with this event - quality and quantity," French said. "Of course we want there to be a large number of people to attend

but we want people's lives to be impacted. We welcome people who have yet to disclose their challenges and perhaps are not ready to seek out formal treatment or services."

Local authors include Nanette Larson, Samantha Cabrera, Heather Harris, Ty Bechel and Dar Bryant. In addition to conversations, the authors will sign their books that will be available for purchase.

"In 2015, I participated in a statewide training for recovery health specialists where I met Nanette Larson," French said. "I remember she said, 'I believe it is possible that anyone can recover from any life circumstance.' I believe those powerful words changed the trajectory of my life. I started fighting for my life and the life of other people.

Featured Authors  Nanette Larson From Shattered to Restored: Recovering Hope. Discovering Purpose This memoir shares Nanette's journey from a life of constant hopelessness and despair, deep depression, crippling anxiety and suicidality to one full of victorious hope and purpose. Nanette serves as Deputy-Director for the Illinois Department of Human Services/Division of Mental Health.  Samantha Cabrera The Doctor's Wife: Battling Mental Illness Through Marriage & Motherhood is, as the title suggests, an memoir about Samantha's suffering from Major Depressive Disorder and traits of Borderline Personality Disorder during her marriage and motherhood journey. Samantha and her family are traveling from Texas to join us.  Heather Harris The Love That Will Not Let Me Go is the personal testimony from a school teacher from Randolph County, Illinois about the love Father God had for her as she was institutionalized and later diagnosed with mental illness.  Ty Bechel Heroin Rising: A Tale of True Terror is an autobiographical confession of his past struggle with drug and alcohol addiction. Heroin Rising II: Out of The Ashes is the sequel about redemption, transformation and recovery.  Dar Bryant 360 is a memoir which includes and an intense look into the the criminal lifestyle of a drug dealer and racketeer that spans three decades. Once on Arizona's 10 Most Wanted List, Dar now has brought his life full circle See More Collapse

"Because of the power of words, she made an impact in my life. Now, years later, she's coming back. So it's more than a fair but its an opportunity to change lives and save lives."

National recovery leaders who have donated and shipped books to support the effort include Jim Gottstein, Dr. Sandra Smith, Dr. Daniel Fisher and Shirley Davis.

Many of the books that will be available will focus on mental health, recovery, and prevention and awareness, though there will be a variety of offerings such as public justice and faith-based topics. Multiple, brand new copies of roughly 30 titles will be available for purchase. Costs range from $15-$25.

The book sales will benefit Gift of Voice scholarships, such as the 2022 Mental Health Disclosure Scholarship. The purpose of the Disclosure Scholarship is to encourage and reward students who have publicly disclosed their personal mental health experiences in healthy ways which positively impact their local community. The scholarship will award three college students $500, and the recipients will be announced at the event Friday.

"I want this to ignite hope, and for people to find tangible resources," French said.

Gift of Voice, which recently shifted from nonprofit to LLC status, is a mental health training and technical assistance center operated by people in recovery. Earning revenue from training contracts, coupled with donations that are not tax deductible, affords Gift of Voice the privilege of supporting individuals in the community, according to French.

Additionally, Gift of Voice partners with other supportive recovery centers in the area where people can seek help. Some include Wood River's Amare, for substance use programs, and The Dream Center of Alton, for reentry services.

The book fair occurs during National Suicide Prevention Month, National Wellness Week and National Recovery Month.

To register, search the event title "Prevention, Wellness & Recovery Book Fair" on eventbrite.com.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP)  North Dakota would spend up to $80 million in state savings over the next two years to address child care in the state, under a proposal pitched Tuesday by Gov. Doug Burgum.

The GOP-led Legislature meets again in January and will consider the plan that also includes a child care tax credit for low- to middle-income families, expansion of child care assistance and matching money for businesses that offer their employees child care.

The second-term Republican governor said the lack of available and affordable child care for families contributes to workforce shortages that have hamstrung the states economy. Adequate and affordable child care helps attract and retain companies in the state, he said.

North Dakota has tens of thousands of unfilled jobs, and many families have to make a choice to work and pay for child care or not work at all, Burgum said.

North Dakota has more than 64,000 children under the age of 5 in some 45,000 households across the state, Burgum said.

The states more than 800 licensed child care providers employ more than 6,000 people, he said.

In spite of that ... working families are experiencing a child care crisis, Burgum said. There are more children than there are slots.

Burgum pitched the proposal, which is still in draft form, at a press conference in Fargo, where he was flanked by several supportive  and mostly GOP  lawmakers, business leaders and others from across the state.

Democratic lawmakers expressed support for the proposal in a statement but said more may be needed. They also blamed the current crisis on the GOP, which wields supermajority control in the Legislature.

As long-time champions for making child care more accessible and affordable in North Dakota, we support these proposals, and we believe they dont go far enough because of the scale of the crisis, Fargo Democratic Sen. Kathy Hogan said. Democrats have proposed several bills to improve child care over the years, but unfortunately Republicans in power did not act to prevent todays crisis.

The oi-rich states financial reserves are flush with cash and far ahead of forecasts due to strong oil prices, steady production and an influx of federal coronavirus relief funds.

That bodes well for addressing the child care issue, the governor said.

Across the board, weve never been in better financial shape, Burgum said.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California launched a publicly funded website Tuesday to promote the state's abortion services, listing clinics, linking to financial help for travel and lodging and letting teenagers in other states know they don't need their parents' permission to get an abortion in the state.

The website is part of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's pledge to make California a sanctuary for women seeking abortions now that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade  the landmark 1973 decision that said states could not ban abortion.

The state budget includes $200 million to strengthen access to abortion in California, including $1 million to build a website promoting the state's abortion services. That website went live Tuesday, following an announcement from Newsom.

Abortion is legal, safe and accessible here in California  whether or not you live here, know that we have your back, Newsom said in a news release.

The website  abortion.ca.gov  includes information on different types of abortion and how to get one. The site has sections devoted to people who live outside of California and immigrants who are living in the country without legal permission, saying federal policies keep immigration officials away from health care facilities.

There is a map showing the location of 166 abortion clinics statewide. People can click to see an entire map, or they can enter a city and get a list of clinics nearby. It says people who live in California might be able to get abortion medication by mail, foregoing the need to visit a clinic.

Anti-abortion advocates have lamented the use of public funds to boost such services, arguing California has a myriad of other problems more deserving of public funding. But they haven't been able to stop it in a state that is dominated by Democratic lawmakers and where public polls show a majority of voters support abortion rights.

Newsom announced the website the same day Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina introduced a bill that would ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Graham portrayed his bill as a responsible alternative to what he says are the permissive laws favored by Democrats.

In a post to his Twitter account, Newsom juxtaposed Graham's bill with California's new website, saying Democrats are helping women while Republicans want to control them.

That's their agenda, Newsom tweeted. CA's fighting back.
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AURORA, Colo. (AP)  Fed up with sky-high housing prices, Coloradans are taking the issue into their own hands with a November ballot initiative that would direct a portion of the state's income taxes to affordable housing projects.

As housing crises bubble up nationwide, Colorado's Proposition 123 is the first statewide housing initiative in the country to make the ballot for the 2022 election, according to a database of ballot measures maintained by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Weve reached a tipping point and we cannot continue to wait on the sidelines and hope that something happens, Jackie Millet, mayor of the Denver suburb of Lone Tree, told a campaign kickoff event Tuesday in Aurora.

If the measure passes, it would direct 0.1% of Colorado's taxable income to a number of programs that include helping essential workers, such as teachers and nurses, become homeowners, while financially supporting local governments in increasing the number of affordable homes by 3% every year.

The campaign says the measure could raise around $300 million annually and build 170,000 homes and rental units over two decades, with a focus on giving local governments the ability to decide how best to spend money raised by the measure.

Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau found that Colorado faces a shortage of about 225,000 homes.

Proponents said Proposition 123 could help make up that deficit while avoiding a tax hike.

But the money is also expected to eat into tax refunds guaranteed to residents under a constitutional amendment called the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. Colorado's TABOR caps the amount of money the government can spend annually and mandates refunds of any revenue surpassing that cap.

Any changes to TABOR must be approved by voters.

There's nothing affordable about taking $300 million of our TABOR tax refunds for a flawed housing measure, said Michael Fields, senior adviser for Advance Colorado Action, a conservative advocacy group. Fields added that nobody really knows how many new units would be created by this measure.

Advocates are optimistic about the proposition's chances of passing, believing that the hike in rents and home values brought on by the pandemic will encourage Coloradans of any political party to vote for the initiative.

A poll from The Colorado Health Foundation suggests that 86% of Coloradans said housing costs are a serious concern.

State by state by state, we can be doing more, said Julie Gonzales, a Democratic state senator and backer of the initiative. She added that the federal government needs to step up as well.

Jordan McDonald, a certified nursing assistant, said that she and her husband, who is a teacher, have been unable to find an affordable home as they expect their first daughter.

Fewer than one-fifth of homes in the state in 2021 were affordable on an average teacher's salary in their respective district, according to an August report from the Keystone Policy Center.

We need more of our elected officials to step up to the plate on this issue, said McDonald.

___

Jesse Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Bedayn on Twitter.



This story has been updated to correct to $300 million the amount expected to be raised annually by the initiative and that the money would come from Colorado's taxable income.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP

GRAHAM, N.C. (AP)  A North Carolina judge has dismissed a lawsuit by civil rights leaders that sought the removal of a Confederate statue in front of a historic courthouse.

Superior Court Judge Don Bridges ruled Tuesday against the state NAACP, which had argued that the statue in front of the Alamance County Courthouse was a danger to public safety and violated constitutional rights to equal protection, according to The Times-News.
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  President Joe Biden has the same authority to impose a COVID-19 vaccine requirement on federal workers that private employers have for their employees, an administration lawyer told a federal appeals court Tuesday.

A lawyer for opponents of the vaccine requirement, which has been blocked nationwide by a federal judge in Texas, said the requirement imposes an unconstitutionally intolerable choice for executive branch workers  taking a vaccine they don't want or losing their jobs.

Judges on the appeals court meanwhile questioned how far the chief executive's authority goes, asking, theoretically, whether the president could require employees to meet certain healthy body weights or forbid them from smoking at home.

It was the second time arguments on the issue were heard before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel of the same court had upheld the Biden requirement for executive branch workers, overturning the Texas judge.

But the full appeals court, currently with 16 active members, vacated the panel ruling and agreed to rehear the case. There was no indication when the court would rule.

Administration lawyers argue that the employees opposing the mandate should have taken their objections not to federal court but to a federal review board, in accordance with the Civil Service Reform Act. The administration also argues that the president has the same authority, under the Constitution, as the CEO of a private corporation to require that employees be vaccinated.

Arguing for the government, Charles Scarborough of the Department of Justice, said the statute provides employees with robust remedies if they successfully challenge the requirement through the review board, including back pay if they are dismissed for not complying.

Addressing whether the president could impose body weight requirements on federal employees, Scarborough said the vaccine requirement is part of a mainstream effort to reduce the incidence of serious COVID-19 cases in the workplace, while a body weight requirement would be among hypotheticals at the extremes.

Opponents say the policy is an encroachment on federal workers' lives that neither the Constitution nor federal statutes authorize. And they argued that a case involving a policy that could cost some workers their jobs if they don't agree to a medical procedure is not the type of work policy that belongs before a civil service review board.

Biden issued an executive order Sept. 9 ordering vaccinations for all executive branch agency employees, with exceptions for medical and religious reasons. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of Texas by then-President Donald Trump, issued a nationwide injunction against the requirement in January.

There came a series of varying rulings at the 5th Circuit.

One three-judge panel refused to immediately block the law.

But, a 2-1 ruling on the merits of the case by a different panel upheld Biden's position. Judges Carl Stewart and James Dennis, both nominated to the court by President Bill Clinton, were in the majority. Judge Rhesa Barksdale, a senior judge nominated by President George H.W. Bush, dissented, saying the relief the challengers sought does not fall under the Civil Service Reform Act cited by the administration.

A majority of the full court voted to vacate that ruling and reconsider the case, resulting in Tuesday's hearing.

Twelve of 16 active judges at the 5th Circuit were nominated to the court by Republicans, including six Trump appointees. Senior judges do not routinely take part in full-court hearings but Barksdale participated in the hearing Tuesday because he had been on the earlier panel.
As Connecticut establishes its legal weed market, the state is giving preference in licensing to so-called social equity applicants who live in areas that were targeted by past drug enforcement.

Its a move that a growing number of states where adult-use cannabis is now legal have taken as theyve sought to address disparities from the war on drugs and enable those communities that were targeted to participate in the legal market. States have differed in their approaches to creating racial equity in an industry that is dominated by white business owners.

In Connecticut, half of all licenses are reserved for social equity applicants, who must meet established thresholds for income, residency, and business ownership. Most applicants for cannabis licenses in Connecticut must go through a lottery system compared to merit-based system that exists in other states.

To help navigate a new industry in the state, the Social Equity Council that oversees this process has turned to a major auditing and accounting firm, CohnReznick. The firm is charged with developing a system for reviewing equity applicants to ensure they comply with the rules and to recommend applicants for approval or denial. The contract is worth up to $600,000 and is effective until Dec. 31.

While the council has the final say as to whether an applicant advances to the provisional licensing phase, it rarely, if ever, has strayed from CohnReznicks recommendations. So far, the council has approved 16 cultivator applicants, six retailer applicants, and more than a dozen other equity applicants for licenses ranging from food and beverage to delivery service.

CohnReznick was chosen for their ability to provide valuable expertise in reviewing the applications, which includes complex analysis of income and residency documents and business structures, said Kristina Diamond, a spokesperson for the Office of the Social Equity Council.

The council hired the firm earlier this year from a state list of qualified bidders. Diamond said the council, which didnt have enough staff in place at the time to take on the task of reviewing applications, asked the five accounting firms on the states list of qualified bidders to respond to a request proposal. CohnReznick was the only firm to respond. The firms contract is paid for through the councils budget.

Other states such as Washington and Illinois have also hired cannabis consultants as theyve set up their legal marketplaces. In Washington, officials hired advisers on an array of topics from how much weed to grow to how to test, label and package the product. Illinois also hired an accounting giant, K.P.M.G., to grade cannabis applications  a process that came under fire through a series of lawsuits that delayed the licensing rollout there.

Connecticuts licensing process is also being challenged in the courts with denied applicants arguing that the states social equity council denied applications based on incorrect information regarding business ownership and arbitrary interpretations of the law. Connecticut does not pre-review applications ahead of the lottery - a process that sets it apart from other states. Only certain applicants are able to revise their applications

Connecticut is doing this in a very unique way, said DeVaughn Ward, senior legislative counsel for Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that advocates for legalization. Its (too) early to tell whether its going to be a smashing success or whether its going to be an utter failure.

The approach could lead social equity applicants in Connecticut to get licensed very quickly, get to market quickly, Ward said. Well see how it all pans out.

So far, the legal challenges have not disrupted Connecticuts rollout of its adult-use market. As of Wednesday, the state Department of Consumer Protection had issued provisional licenses to five cultivator applicants and two retailer applicants. They now have 14 months to comply with requirements to receive a final license.

The cultivators who received a preliminary license include Connecticut Cultivation Solutions, LLC, Connecticut Social Equity, LLC, FFD 149 LLC, Insa CT, LLC, and Quinnipiac Valley Growth Partners, LLC. The retailers to receive provisional licenses are Slap Ash LLC and Jack.

julia.bergman@hearstmediact.com
According to the information of the State Secretary of the Kingdom of Belgium for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, the number of asylum seekers in Belgium from Georgian citizens up to July of this year was 613.As she mentioned at the press conference held together with the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, Georgia is in the top ten in the number of asylum seekers in Belgium, and it is important to inform the population that asylum is not granted due to economic background."We see an increased number of asylum seekers from all countries, at the moment Georgia is in the top ten in the number of asylum seekers in Belgium. This does not fit your country's profile compared to other countries, as Georgia is considered a safe country and the recognition rate is quite low.Until July of this year, the number of asylum seekers from Georgia in Belgium was 613. It is important to inform the population that asylum is not granted due to economic background," said Nicole de Moore.Mamuka Mdinaradze, the chairman of the "Georgian Dream" faction, told journalists that based on the facts, the money with which non-governmental organizations are financed is directed against the state, against the government, to plan a campaign to demand a technical government. According to him, several non-governmental organizations in Georgia have more funding than some of the political parties.According to Mdinaradze, the public should know where non-governmental organizations are financed and for what purpose they spend the money."There are some of the richest non-governmental organizations in Georgia, which have much more funding than most of the parties, and we have seen where all this is directed. When the "National Movement" and their lobbyists did not come up with the "fake" of 2020 about the forgery, when the journalists of their media outlets shot it, they took it out on the street, and this project also failed. Finally, the richest, and also the richest, part of these wealthy NGOs came out into the streets. This project also failed and finally, based on the facts, we can conclude that the money, several millions and several tens of millions, with which these non-governmental organizations are financed, goes against the state. Against the government, to plan a campaign to demand a technical government, etc. Therefore, of course, the society should know what these funds are spent on, for what purpose they are spent, where they are financed from, etc.," said Mamuka Mdinaradze.
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DOVER, Del. (AP)  Political newcomer Lydia York won Delawares Democratic primary for state auditor on Tuesday against embattled incumbent Kathy McGuiness, who is awaiting sentencing on criminal corruption charges.

York, an attorney who was endorsed by the state Democratic party, had both outraised and outspent McGuiness during the campaign. York previously served as one of three of Delaware's Democratic presidential electors in 2016. She will now face Republican Janice Lorrah, also a political newcomer, in the November general election.

York said voters opted for competence and clarity and leadership," but acknowledged that McGuiness legal troubles played a significant role in the campaign.

It had to, because this was historic for the state of Delaware, she said. I think the voters felt a certain way about that.

McGuiness is the first statewide elected official in Delaware's history to be found guilty of criminal charges while in office. She is awaiting sentencing on misdemeanor counts of conflict of interest and official misconduct  charges that stemmed from the hiring of her daughter as a part-time employee in the auditor's office.

McGuiness said she planned to call York to congratulate her on the win

I have been a public servant long before I was a state auditor, and really not going anywhere anytime soon, said McGuiness, adding, Its not something where I am sad or my heart is sore, because I know how hard I worked and the effort that was put into it.

A jury convicted McGuiness of the misdemeanors in July, but acquitted her on felony charges of theft and witness intimidation. The judge later tossed the procurement conviction.

McGuiness had rejected repeated calls from several elected Democrats and party officials to step aside, both after she was indicted last October and again her conviction. A state Senate resolution to have her booted from office fizzled when House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, a longtime ally of McGuiness, refused to go along.

McGuiness has got legal issues ... It seems pretty serious, said Melanie Eleuterio, 69, a retired school psychologist from Magnolia who voted for York.

Campaign finance reports show York raised and spent more money than McGuiness in their primary contest. As of Sept. 5, York reported raising $62,415 and spending $62,095.26 since establishing a campaign committee in late May, while McGuiness reported raising $33,770 since January and spending $43,574.19.

In a surprise visit, President Joe Biden traveled to Delaware to vote in his home state Tuesday, even though he could have voted by mail or absentee ballot, like thousands of other Delawareans. Almost 12,000 absentee and vote-by-mail ballots had been returned by Tuesday afternoon, and more than 4,800 people took advantage of early in-person voting under a law that came into effect this year.

Overall, roughly 71,000 votes were cast in Tuesdays primary, representing about 12% of the electorate. All 362,000 registered Democrats in Delaware were eligible to vote, but not all of 209,350 registered Republicans could cast ballots because there was no statewide GOP contest.

In legislative races, Republican Sen. Colin Bonini finished last in a three-way primary in Senate District 16 and will give up the Dover-area seat he has held for 28 years. Kent County Levy Court commissioner Eric Buckson led the GOP primary with more votes than the combined total for Bonini and runner-up Kim Petters.

Kyra Hoffner of Leipsic was leading a five-way Democratic primary in state Senate District 14, where Bruce Ennis of Smyrna is retiring after 40 years in the legislature. Ennis has been a lone conservative Democratic voice in the state Senate for years.

In state House races, six Democratic incumbents faced primary challengers, with Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha of Wilmington holding a slight lead over his opponent hours after the polls closed, and Majority Whip John Mitchell of Elsmere narrowly trailing in his race.

Kerri Evelyn Harris, who made an unsuccessful bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Tom Carper in 2018, easily won a four-way Democratic primary for the Dover seat left open by state Rep. Andria Bennetts retirement.

Rep. Bryan Shupe of Milford was the only House Republican facing a primary challenge and easily defeated newcomer Patrick Smith.

Regardless of Tuesdays results, there is little danger that Democrats will lose control of the House or Senate in November.
After decades of fish stocking decreases to balance the alewife and Chinook salmon populations, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is seeing good indicators that a modest stocking increase may be warranted in Lake Michigan.

To discuss this proposal and receive public feedback, the DNR will host a virtual meeting from 7-8:30 p.m. on Monday. Michigan Sea Grant will assist with the meeting.

We have seen several years of good Chinook salmon growth and have a slight increase in the alewife biomass, or abundance of those fish, said Jay Wesley, the DNR's Lake Michigan basin coordinator, in a news release. Although the alewife biomass is a fraction of what it was historically, we have a good 2021-year class and have seen up to six-year classes of alewives in our fisheries surveys  that means there are up to six different age groups in the current population of alewife."

A "year class" refers to all of the fish of any species hatched, either through natural reproduction or through fish-rearing efforts, during that year's spawning period.

Wesley said a recently run predator-prey model also suggests that Lake Michigan has a good ratio of Chinook to alewife biomass, which is one of many indicators used to inform stocking decisions.

The proposed 54% increase from 650,000 to 1 million spring fingerlings is a modest increase compared to the estimated 4.5 million wild Chinook salmon in Lake Michigan, he said in the release. It will allow us to increase numbers at sites like Charlevoix that contribute to the entire lake fishery and reinstate stocking sites like Ludington State Park and Fairport.

Visit bit.ly/3L98yRe to join the meeting. The webinar ID is 994 1124 7153 and the passcode is 2022. The meeting can also be joined via telephone by dialing 646-876-9923 or 301-715-8592.

Meeting organizers will provide an update on the conditions of Lake Michigan, along with proposed stocking locations and number of fish stocked.

The Michigan DNR works with the Lake Michigan Committee, which is represented by the states that border the lake (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin) and the Chippewa-Ottawa Resource Authority, to co-manage the fishery in Lake Michigan.

To learn more about how the DNR manages fisheries, visit Michigan.gov/Fishing.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  Employees who work for timber company Weyerhaeuser in Oregon and Washington are on strike, citing low wage increases and high health care premiums.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents more than 1,100 Weyerhaeuser employees, said employees walked off the job Tuesday, KOIN 6 News reported.

Negotiations for a new bargaining agreement with the Seattle-based company have been ongoing since this spring.

An overwhelming number of employees reportedly voted to reject the timber companys latest offer on Aug. 19, with the union saying the proposal came nowhere close to what our members wanted or deserved. Union members voted to strike soon after.

All our members want is their fair share of the profits they earned for the company, keep up with the cost of living, and make the gains that a good employer should offer, in light of the success they have reaped off the labor of their employees, the union said in a statement.

Wage increases fell short considering the company gained record profits in 2021, according to the union. Additionally, employees are expected to pay premiums for their high deductible health care plans for the first time in decades, the union said.

Denise Merle, senior vice president and chief administration officer for Weyerhaeuser, said in a statement that after the company presented its final officer, union workers at multiple sites in the two states went on strike.

While we are very disappointed in their decision to walk out, we are committed to supporting our employees and negotiating in good faith with union representatives, Merle said.

A union representative told the news outlet that negotiations are expected to continue on Friday.

The company is one of the largest manufacturers of wood products in the U.S. and owns millions of acres of timberlands.
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JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  An independent watchdog in the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it's being brought in to investigate the troubled water system in Mississippi's capital city.

Emergency repairs are underway after problems at Jackson's main water treatment plant caused most customers to lose service for several days in late August and early September. Water is flowing again, but the city of 150,000 is in the seventh week of a boil-water advisory because the state health department found cloudiness in the water that could cause illness.

The Office of Inspector General is independent from the EPA, with a mission of detecting fraud, waste and abuse. The office issued a memo Tuesday saying it will look into the response to the crisis by EPA's regional office, as well as city and state officials.

Given the magnitude of the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, it is critical that the EPA OIG act with a sense of urgency to understand what has happened in that community," the inspector general, Sean ODonnell, said in a news release.

Like many cities, Jackson faces water system problems it cant afford to fix. Its tax base has eroded the past few decades as the population decreased  the result of mostly white flight to suburbs that began after public schools integrated in 1970. The citys population is now more than 80% Black, with about 25% of its residents living in poverty.

In addition to conducting interviews and gathering data, the inspector general will look into compliance with regulations, policies and procedures for the oversight of Jacksons water system, as well as how federal grants under the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act are being administered.

During a news conference Monday, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba was asked about the possibility of an EPA investigation.

I've had city employees that have called and said that someone asked them some questions," Lumumba said. "I just shared with them to cooperate.

In 2018, the EPA's inspector general called on the agency to strengthen its oversight of state drinking water systems nationally and respond more quickly to public health emergencies such as the lead-in-the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. In a 74-page report, the inspector general pointed to oversight lapses at the federal, state and local levels in the response to Flints contaminated drinking water.

In Jackson, the National Guard and volunteer groups have distributed millions of bottles of drinking water since late August, when torrential rainfall in central Mississippi changed the quality of the raw water entering Jacksons treatment plants. That slowed the treatment process, depleted supplies in water tanks and caused a precipitous drop in pressure.

Even before the rain, officials said some water pumps had failed and a treatment plant was using backup pumps. A cold snap in 2021 froze pipes and left tens of thousands of people without running water. Similar problems happened again early this year, on a smaller scale. Broken water and sewer pipes are also common.

The EPA issued a notice in January that Jacksons system violates the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The agency noted that an April 2021 electrical panel fire at the main water treatment plant knocked all five pumps out of service, causing low water pressure. An inspection six months later found the pumps still weren't working.

The EPA will continue to provide technical assistance in support of the response actions at Jacksons water treatment plants and coordinate with all levels of government to ensure the people of Jackson have the clean, safe water they deserve," an agency spokesperson said Tuesday.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan traveled to Jackson last week to meet with residents and elected officials about the water problems. He said the city needs to receive its fair share of federal money to repair the system.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, who represents most of Jackson, said he hopes the inspector general's office will work diligently to evaluate the issues that caused the water crisis, and I support the EPA OIG in their efforts.

____

Daly reported from Washington.
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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  Once home to one of Africas fastest-growing economies, Ethiopia is struggling as the war in its Tigray region has reignited and weary citizens far from the front are pleading for peace.

Ethiopians are experiencing the highest inflation in a decade, foreign exchange restrictions and mounting debt amid reports of massive government spending on the war effort. Parliament early this year reportedly approved an additional $1.7 billion budget for defense.

On Tuesday morning, a drone strike hit a university campus in Tigrays capital, Mekele, causing an unknown number of injuries, according to a media worker there who spoke on condition of anonymity because he didnt have authorization to speak to other outlets. He said another drone strike also destroyed the station of regional broadcaster Dimtsi Woyane.

Ethiopian officials continue to paint a rosy picture for the country of well over 110 million people. Our economy has continued to grow amid natural and man-made problems, the planning and development minister, Fitsum Assefa, said earlier this month.

But the Ethiopian Economic Associations meeting this month made clear the country is hurting, while international mediators urgently seek progress on talks to end the fighting.

Because of internal conflicts, the destruction of infrastructure and uncontrolled spending are hurting the economy while ordinary Ethiopians face weakening incomes and rising poverty, economist Alemayehu Seyoum told the meeting.

Ethiopia once seared into the global consciousness with a devastating famine in the 1980s. The country has since transformed its economy with mega-projects like the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the largest in Africa, and large-scale construction projects in Addis Ababa, Africas diplomatic capital.

The economy grew at an average of 11% over the past decade.

But the war in the northern Tigray region, which began in late 2020, has caused immense disruption. In June, the International Monetary Fund said growth likely fell to 3.8% for 2021-2022 because of the war and a sharp fall in donor financing, among other factors.

The finance ministry has declined to approve the financing of three industrial parks, symbols of Ethiopias China-like development, citing budgetary pressure.

Instead, the economy has shifted to a war focus.

The finance ministry now pleads with the public and Ethiopias large diaspora to contribute to a national cause for war reconstruction and aid. Ethiopias National Bank introduced changes to give the government all possible access to foreign currency, including requiring foreign residents to convert all in their possession upon entry.

Certain development works continue, including Prime Minister Abiy Ahmeds flagship projects like the beautification of the capital.

But some critics such as the spokesman for the outlawed Oromo Liberation Army, Odaa Tarbii, say vanity projects are not necessary now.

Anything seen as criticism of the war can be stifled. Last week, authorities blocked 31 local civil society groups from organizing a media briefing calling for peace.

Following criticism that its financial support was enabling the government's war efforts, the World Bank last week said it will continue its partnership but expressed concern.

Some state-run sectors of Ethiopias economy continue to open to investors, as Abiy promised after taking office. The cabinet this month approved the entry of foreign banks, a significant step.

Ethiopias ambassador to the United States, Seleshi Bekele, said the international community should support this initiative by helping to disarm the hostile (Tigray forces).

U.S. special envoy Mike Hammer was again in Ethiopia last week to discuss the urgency of immediate cessation of hostilities, according to the State Department, which said the Ethiopian people have suffered tremendously from this conflict.

Ethiopias government was unsettled when the U.S. last year removed it from a preferential trade program over its failure to end the war in Tigray that the U.S. said led to gross violations of human rights. Addis Ababa is lobbying for a reversal.

Since then, global companies like PVH Corp have left Ethiopia, citing security reasons, and others are laying off thousands of employees.

Ethiopian Airlines, the largest aviation group in Africa, remains one of the country's few profitable companies but has been accused by Tigray forces of transporting troops and weapons to the war front. The airline has denied it.

Inside Tigray, millions of residents are still largely cut off from the world. Communications and banking services are severed, and their restoration has been a key demand in mediation efforts.

An agricultural survey conducted in several accessible parts of Tigray last month by Mekele University personnel, shared with The Associated Press, found many crops were failing because of the lack of fertilizer. Even traveling had become tiresome because of the lack of fuel, the survey said.

Other shortages are deadly. In an email to the AP, the head of the Tigray health bureau said vaccines for children ran out more than a year ago, and women dont have family planning supplies. Humanitarian deliveries have stopped because of the renewed fighting.

The list is very long. I just dont want to bore you with the details, Amanuel Haile wrote. The above are just enough.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP)  One of the nations leading fetal alcohol researchers testified Tuesday that Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruzs birth mother drank more during her pregnancy than any woman hes ever seen documented.

Dr. Kenneth Jones said medical and other records show Brenda Woodard well exceeded the standards that grossly endanger a fetus: six drinks per week for two weeks or three drinks in a sitting twice. A friend also testified earlier that Woodard, a Fort Lauderdale prostitute, heavily drank fortified wine and malt liquor during her pregnancy with Cruz before putting him up for adoption. She died last year.

I know I have never seen so much alcohol consumed by a pregnant woman, said Jones, a former University of California, San Diego, medical school professor who did some of the pioneering research on fetal alcohol abuse 50 years ago.

Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty last October to murdering 14 students and three staff members on Feb. 14, 2018, at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. His trial, now ending its second month, is only to determine whether he is sentenced to death or life without parole.

His attorneys are trying to show that Woodard's alcohol abuse during pregnancy put Cruz onto a lifelong path of erratic, bizarre and often violent behavior that culminated in the shootings.

Jones told the jury that while there is disagreement over whether Woodard abused cocaine during her pregnancy  witnesses said she did, tests indicate she didn't  that wouldn't have made a significant difference given her alcohol abuse.

You can take all of the illicit drugs you can think of  heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine  and wrap them up in a single bag and they don't hold a candle to alcohol for its effect on a developing baby, Jones said.

He said his examination shows Cruz falls into fetal alcohol spectrum disorder  a broad category  but does not have the more narrowly defined fetal alcohol syndrome. He said the latter has certain physical traits that pediatricians can recognize such as thin lips, narrow eyelid openings and a smooth philtrum  the ridge between the nose and mouth.

He said that lack of physical characteristics can actually be detrimental as the child won't get the proper early treatment for the damage the alcohol has done to the brain. He said adoptive mothers like Lynda Cruz might also be afraid to report to doctors what they know about a birth mother's alcohol abuse because of the stigma it can attach to their child.

Jones said signs of fetal alcohol damage to a child include irritability, serious temper tantrums and significant behavioral problems. He said like Cruz, they are often diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, lack control at school and are aggressive toward their mothers and teachers. Earlier testimony has shown Cruz demonstrating all those issues. He also said such patients often have difficulty organizing and planning their activities.

Under cross-examination, however, prosecutors showed that Cruz spent months mapping out the massacre.

Jones conceded during questioning by lead prosecutor Mike Satz that he was not aware that Cruz spent months researching other mass shootings, how long it takes police to respond to a school shooting, what kind of gun to use and how he could hide it while entering the school.

Jones' testimony followed neuropsychologist Paul Connor, who said Cruz through his life has shown indications on tests that he has alcohol-related mental issues.

Cruz's public defenders are trying to convince at least one of the 12 jurors to vote for life  a death verdict must be unanimous.

They are trying to overcome the prosecution's case, which focused on Cruz's massacre as he stalked a three-story classroom building for seven minutes with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle. Lead prosecutor Mike Satz played security videos of the shooting and showed the rifle Cruz used. Teachers and students testified about watching others die.

Satz showed graphic autopsy and crime scene photos and took jurors to the fenced-off building, which remains blood-stained and bullet-pocked. Parents and spouses gave tearful and angry statements about their loss.

After the defense concludes its case in the coming weeks, the prosecution will present a rebuttal case before the jurys deliberations begin.
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  A former member of Afghanistans parliament urged the world on Monday to label the Taliban a gender apartheid regime because of its crackdown on human rights, saying the apartheid label was a catalyst for change in South Africa and can be a catalyst for change in Afghanistan.

Naheed Farid, a womens rights activist who was the youngest-ever politician elected to parliament in 2010, told a U.N. news conference that as a result of severe restrictions on womens movements, an end to secondary-school education for girls, and ban on jobs for women, Im hearing more and more stories from Afghan women choosing to take their life out of hopelessness and despair.

This is the ultimate indicator on how bad the situation is for Afghan women and girls -- that they are choosing death, and that this is preferred for them than living under the Taliban regime, she said.

Farid, now at Princeton Universitys School of Public and International Affairs, said she isnt the first person to call the Taliban a gender apartheid regime but she said the inaction of the international community and decision-makers at large makes it important for all of us to repeat this so that the voices of women in Afghanistan who cant speak out arent forgotten.

She expressed hope that world leaders meeting next week for their annual gathering at the U.N. General Assembly would make time to meet and listen to Afghan women living in exile, and start grasping that gender apartheid is happening in Afghanistan because women are being used and misused, relegated to subordinate levels of society, and stripped of their human rights by the Taliban.

When the Taliban first ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, women and girls were subject to overwhelming restrictions -- no education, no participation in public life, and women were required to wear the all-encompassing burqa.

Following the Taliban ouster by U.S. forces in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks in the United States, and for the next 20 years, Afghan girls were not only enrolled in school but universities, and many women became doctors, lawyers, judges, members of parliament and owners of businesses, traveling without face coverings.

After the Taliban overran the capital on Aug. 15, 2021 as U.S. and NATO forces were in the final stages of their chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years, they promised a more moderate form of Islamic rule including allowing women to continue their education and work outside the home. They initially announced no dress code though they also vowed to impose Sharia, or Islamic law.

But Taliban hard-liners have since turned back the clock to their previous harsh rule, confirming the worst fears of rights activists and further complicating Taliban dealings with an already distrustful international community.

Farid accused the Taliban of using women as a bargaining chip to demand legitimacy, funds, and aid from the international community. She called this very dangerous because the full rights of Afghan women and girls must be a non-negotiable starting point for all negotiations with the Taliban.

Farid called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, comprising 57 Muslim nations, and other countries to create a platform for Afghan women to directly negotiate with the Taliban on womens rights and human rights issues. She also urged countries to maintain sanctions on the Taliban, for all 183 Taliban leaders to be kept on the U.N. sanctions blacklist, for a ban on Taliban representatives at the United Nations, and for all delegations meeting with the Taliban to include women.

Norways U.N. Ambassador Mona Juul, whose country oversees Afghanistan issues in the U.N. Security Council and organized the press conference, said that a year after the Taliban takeover the situation or women and girls has deteriorated at a shocking scale and speed. As one example, she said Afghanistan is now the only nation in the world that forbids girls from education beyond the sixth grade.

Najiba Sanjar, a human right activist and feminist said she was speaking to convey the voices of 17 million Afghan girls and women who have no voice now.

We are all watching the sufferings of women, girls and minorities from the screens of our TVs as if an action movie is going on, she told reporters. A true form of injustice is taking place right in front of our eyes. And we are all watching silently and partaking in this sin by staying complacent and accepting it as a new normal.

She pointed to a recent survey of women inside Afghanistan that found that only 4% of women reported always having enough food to eat, a quarter of women saying their income had dropped to zero, family violence and femicide increasing, and 57% of Afghan women married before the age of 19. She also cited families selling their daughters and their possessions to buy food.

Sanjar urged the international community to put all possible pressure on the Taliban to protect the rights of women and minorities to education and work while withholding diplomatic recognition.

Because womens rights are human rights, what is happening is already alarming for all women in the world, she said.
BERLIN (AP)  A German court has rejected a lawsuit from an environmental group which sought to have automaker Mercedes-Benz barred from selling cars with combustion engines that emit greenhouse gases after 2030.

The state court in Stuttgart, where Mercedes-Benz Group is based, said Tuesday that it is up to lawmakers to decide what measures should be taken against climate change, German news agency dpa reported. It said that such decisions can't be preempted by an individual suit in a civil court.
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  A federal appeals court was told Tuesday that there is no basis in federal law for a Trump administration ban on bump stocks  devices that enable a shooter to fire multiple rounds from semi-automatic weapons with a single trigger pull.

The ban was instituted after a sniper using bump stock-equipped weapons massacred dozens in Las Vegas in 2017. Gun rights advocates are challenging it in multiple federal courts.

At issue is not the Second Amendment but whether bump stocks qualify as illegal machine guns under federal law. The rule banning the devices issued by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said that they do  a reversal, attorneys said, of a position held prior to the Las Vegas killings.

Opponents of the ban say the ATF's rule doesn't comply with federal law, and that it would take an act of Congress to ban bump stocks nationally.

So far, the ban, now being defended by the Biden administration, has survived challenges at the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Denver-based 10th Circuit. Decisions on whether the Supreme Court will hear appeals in those cases are pending. It has also survived a challenge at the federal circuit court in Washington.

A panel of three judges at the 5th Circuit in New Orleans also issued a ruling in favor of the ban, but the full New Orleans-based court, currently with 16 active members, opted to hear new arguments. It's unclear how quickly the full court will issue a ruling. Some judges raised the possibility in questions that they could await Supreme Court action in the other cases.

According to the ATF, bump stocks harness the recoil energy of a semiautomatic firearm so that a trigger resets and continues firing without additional physical manipulation of the trigger by the shooter. The shooter must maintain constant forward pressure on the weapon with the non-shooting hand, and constant pressure on the trigger with the trigger finger, according to Tuesday's arguments.

But, opponents of the ATF rule argue that the trigger itself functions multiple times when a bump stock is used, so therefore bump stock weapons do not qualify as machine guns under federal law. They site language in the law that defines a machine gun as one that fires multiple times with a single function of the trigger.

The trigger is going to function multiple times, Richard Samp, arguing for a Texas gun owner, told the judges.

U.S. Department of Justice lawyer Mark Stern said the key is the action of the shooter.

You only have to do one thing, Stern told the judges. Your trigger finger isn't doing anything other than sitting still.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP)  The city of Evansville has agreed to pay $1.75 million to settle a woman's lawsuit stemming from a 2017 police chase crash that killed her two children and her husband and left her seriously injured.

The Evansville City Council approved the appropriation Monday from the citys insurance carrier  a step that allows the southwestern Indiana city to make the payout to the children's mother, Janae Carter, the Evansville Courier & Press reported.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Lawyers for Iowas largest abortion provider argued in court documents Tuesday that there's no precedent or legal support for bringing back a law banning most abortions, which a judge had permanently blocked in 2019.

Planned Parenthood's lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa were responding in state court filings to arguments made by lawyers for Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds last month.

Reynolds contends that recent decisions by both the Iowa and U.S. Supreme Court have changed the legal landscape, and states must individually decide whether abortion is legal. The governor says these changes justify reversing a state court judge's decision that the abortion ban law was unconstitutional  and therefore unenforceable. Reynolds did not appeal the decision at the time.

The judge based his opinion on U.S. Supreme Court precedent, as well as an Iowa Supreme Court decision in 2018 that declared abortion a fundamental right under the Iowa Constitution.

The 2018 law would block abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know theyre pregnant. The law contains exceptions for medical emergencies including threats to the mothers life, rape, incest, and fetal abnormality.

Current Iowa law bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Abortions up to that point remain legal in the state.

ACLU lawyers argue there is no precedent to reverse a case finalized years ago. They said that in Iowa, even though the state Supreme Court removed the fundamental abortion protections in its June decision, abortion remains legal under earlier court decisions that have not been reversed.

ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen said the governors recourse should be to go back to the legislature and pass a new law instead of trying to resurrect one declared void years ago.

She said in court documents that if the state wants to ban abortion at six weeks and believes it has the authority to do so consistent with the Constitution, it may instead petition the current Iowa Legislature to pass such a law now, rather than attempting to revive a law that was clearly unconstitutional and void at the time it was passed by an earlier legislature.

The judge in the case has given Reynolds lawyers until Sept. 26 to file a response and has set a court hearing for Oct. 28.

Reynolds, who has made clear her intentions to end most abortion in Iowa, decided to turn to the courts to impose stricter abortion limits instead of calling a special session of the legislature to pass a new law.

The strategy was likely to avoid a noisy political debate weeks before the November election where she and GOP legislative leaders are seeking reelection. And abortion may not be a winning political issue for Republicans, since 60% of Iowans support keeping abortion legal in most or all cases, according to a Des Moines Register Iowa poll from July. The poll results indicated 34% favored making abortion illegal in most or all cases.

A statewide vote in traditionally conservative Kansas last month came down decisively in favor of abortion rights.

Laws such as Iowas ban abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, though that does not easily translate to medical science. Thats because at the point where advanced technology can detect that first visual flutter, the embryo isnt yet a fetus, and it doesnt have a heart. An embryo is termed a fetus eight weeks after fertilization.

___

This story was first published Sept. 13, 2022. It was updated Sept. 14, 2022, to correct the date of an upcoming court hearing scheduled for Oct. 28, not Dec. 28.
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NEW ORLEANS (AP)  A New Orleans judge has brought in a mediator to try to work out a settlement with hundreds of people who claim damage from collapse of part of a hotel under construction nearly three years ago.

Plaintiffs say they were injured, a loved one killed, or their business damaged when upper stories of a planned Hard Rock Hotel collapsed on Oct. 12, 2019. The crash killed three workers, injured many others, damaged nearby property, and shut down part of six-lane Canal Street for more than a year. It was 10 months before all bodies were removed and 18 months before two-way traffic ran on Canal Street.

Theres been little movement in the cases for about two years, and Civil District Judge Kern Reese has appointed John Perry Jr., of Baton Rouge, as special master to work out a settlement, WWL-TV reported.

For our clients, its a light at the end of the tunnel, said Mike Brandner Jr., who represents more than 40 injured construction workers.

Perry will negotiate with a committee of 13 plaintiffs attorneys and with the hotels developers and construction contractors.

It may be easy to settle with some of the defendants and very difficult to settle with other of the defendants, Perry told the station Friday. And were just going to have to get into it in a traditional negotiation to make that determination.

Perry has already worked out settlements in some cases, the station reported.

Paul Thibodeaux, who represents 1031 Canal Development, said it has worked with Perry to resolve multiple claims and looks forward to continuing that effort.

The Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office is investigating possible negligence charges but has not brought any. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued safety violations against the designer, prime contractor, and some subcontractors, but lead engineer James Heaslip is still appealing his case.

Perry sent a letter Thursday saying that if a settlement is approved, he will run a compensation program to distribute any money put up by the defendants insurance companies. He also asks plaintiffs attorneys to recommend that their clients participate in a compensation program, with a Sept. 28 deadline for attorneys' consent to do so.

Hopefully well be able to put a program in place thats acceptable to all participants in the very near future, Perry said. And at that point, well be in a position to try to negotiate the claims with the defendants.

Agreement to participate in the process would avoid long litigation but would require accepting Perry's decision. His determinations will be final, said a consent form shared by Perry. There will be no appeal to any court or any other authority.

Claimants can opt out of any settlement and continue in court.

But if they have to take 100 depositions and hire 25 experts and start getting trial dates and working their way through the traditional process, this will take years, Perry said. And were trying to get this plane landed and give everyone an opportunity to resolve these claims efficiently and quickly.

Reese has ordered 4% of all claims payments to cover litigation costs, mostly storage of evidence recovered from the collapse site.
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CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Lawmakers in an Australian state pledged their allegiance to King Charles III on Tuesday with some using the occasion to call for an Australian republic.

Australias center-left Labor Party government wants an Australian president to replace the British monarch as the nations head of state. The death of Queen Elizabeth II last week after a 70-year reign is seen by many as an ideal opportunity for change.

Lawmakers from the minor Greens party used their swearing in ceremony in the Victoria Parliament to advocate for an Australian head of state.

Were here as Victorian MPs to swear allegiance to King Charles III, a new head of state decided for us, but not by us, Greens leader Samantha Ratnam told reporters before the ceremony, referring to members of Parliament.

This is a really important time to reflect on the role of the British monarchy going forward in Australia, the impact of colonization and the need to move forward in this country with a treaty and with a republic, Ratnam added.

Despite the protest, all four Greens lawmakers fell in with the rest in swearing or affirming their allegiance to the king, whose is head of state of Britain, Australia and another 13 countries that were once part of the British Empire.

Three Greens lawmakers wore clothes with slogans that highlighted that the British colonized Australia without signing a treaty with its Indigenous people.

The ceremony in Australias second-most populous state, which is named after the 19th century monarch Queen Victoria, was the result of a legal quirk that underscores how complicated the process of Australia severing its constitutional ties with Britains monarch could become.

Lawmakers pledge of allegiance in the other five states and in the Australian Parliament roll over from the late queen to her eldest son.

Victoria demands a new oath to a dead monarchs successor before lawmakers can vote on motions or legislation  a procedure one expert called a silly quirk.

Theyve got a clause in their constitution that shouldnt be there, George Williams, a University of New South Wales constitutional lawyer, said.

Really, you dont need it. You should have the oath ... to the monarchs heirs and successors as occurs in the Australian Parliament, Williams said.

Australians voted at a 1999 referendum against Australia becoming a republic and breaking its constitutional ties to its former colonial master.

If that referendum had succeeded in establishing an Australian president, the states were expected to eventually take the same step, Williams said.

Williams did not consider an Australian republic with state monarchies would be sustainable in the long term.

It would be symbolically fraught and pretty inconvenient and wouldnt make much sense either to be a republican nation and have state monarchies, Williams said.

I dont think anyone would think it would last very long, but its at least a theoretical possibility, Williams added.

Adelaide University Law Professor Greg Taylor said the potential for states to resist ending their links to monarch was no reason for Australia not to hold a second referendum on becoming a republic.

There are very good reasons for not doing it, but its too hard is not one of them, Taylor said.

He said the German Empire from 1871 until 1918 was an example of a coalition of monarchies and republics.

So such a thing is possible. I think personally it would be rather odd, Taylor, said referring to the possibility of state monarchies remaining in an Australian republic.

The British monarch is represented across the Australian nation by a governor-general who is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister.

The monarch is represented in each state by a state governor appointed on the advice of the state premier.

The Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory dont have the same rights as states and their links to the monarch are less direct.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP)  An attorney for a man accused of using a samurai sword to fatally stab the mother of his child in front of bystanders on a Northern California street requested a psychiatric evaluation for his client during a court appearance Monday.

Jose Rafael Solano Landaeta, 33, was charged with murder in last week's killing of Karina Castro, the 27-year-old mother of his 1-year-old daughter in the city of San Carlos.

Solano's attorney, Robert Cummings, requested a psychiatric evaluation of his client during the appearance, saying Solano may not be mentally competent to stand trial, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. Cummings could not immediately be reached for comment.

Wagstaffe said a judge on Tuesday is expected to assign two doctors to examine Solano and determine his mental competency.

Local media reported that Castro was beheaded by a sword in the attack outside the apartment where she lived with her 7-year-old and 1-year-old daughters. Wagstaffe said Castro had cuts all over her body and numerous cuts on her neck.

San Mateo County Sheriffs Lt. Eamonn Allen said deputies who responded Thursday to the scene were upset based on the nature of the crime, and were receiving support. Witnesses were also offered counseling, he said.

There were some civilians that did see it and those people were traumatized in their own right by seeing this horrific crime, Wagstaffe said.

Allen said the suspect was walking within a couple of blocks from the crime scene when deputies detained him. He offered few details about the circumstances of the crime, saying only that the suspect used a stabbing instrument.

Detectives recovered a samurai sword used in the attack, Wagstaffe said.

He said Castro obtained a restraining order against Solano in April but that both she and Solano had broken it multiple times.

In no way, Im being critical of the victim in this. Its something that we see constantly in the domestic violence arena," Wagstaffe said. It is part of the cycle of domestic violence
A 59-year-old Michigan man was sentenced Sept. 9 to nearly 22 years in prison after being convicted of coercion and enticement of an 11-year-old Texas child.

U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hansen ordered Raymond Dale Carr Jr. to serve 262 months in prison. Hansen also ordered that, upon Carr's release, he will have 10 years of supervision and face numerous restrictions "designed to restrict his access to children and the internet."

"In imposing the sentence, the court considered victim impact statements and heard how the victims family has been forever changed," a U.S. Department of Justice press release read. "The victim herself has made several suicide attempts. She and her family are devastated, according to arguments presented."

Carr pleaded guilty to the crimes he committed Jan. 27, 2022.

According to the press release, Carr met an 11-year-old female online and proceeded to cultivate a relationship with her. Carr and the child communicated via text message, social media, and FaceTime. In September 2020, Carr traveled from Michigan to Texas, picked up the child, and took her to a local motel where he had intercourse with her.

"Carr gave the minor a ring and suggested they were going to be married when she came of age," the release read. "The investigation revealed images of their hands wearing matching rings. Carr even bragged to the victim that he told his children about her but not her age. He believed it might upset his daughter that the victim was younger than her."

Despite knowing the child's age, Carr said he loved her and imagined a future together with her.

Carr is in custody pending a transfer to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

The investigation into this case was conducted by FBI Houston, which was assisted by FBI Detroit.

"Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri L. Zack is prosecuting the case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative the Department of Justice launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse," the release reads. "U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section leads PSC, which marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and identifies and rescues victims."
UPDATE: The 71-year-old female who was sent to the hospital has died due to life-threatening injuries from the crash, according to a news release from the Mecosta County Sheriff's Office. Police have identified her as Sherry Lee Middleton, of Newaygo,

MECOSTA COUNTY  A crash Monday evening shut down U.S. 131 and sent a 71-year-old to the hospital with life threatening injuries, according to police.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina's electricity regulators began listening Tuesday to potentially weeks of testimony over proposals by Duke Energy Corp. subsidiaries on how to carry out a state law demanding greenhouse gas reductions in the next decade.

In keeping with the landmark 2021 law, the Charlotte-based utility pitched to the state Utilities Commission earlier this year how it could cut carbon dioxide emissions in the state 70% by 2030 as compared to 2005 levels. Net-zero emissions by 2050 are also required.

The expert testimony comes before the seven-member commission must rule on a formal path forward by Dec. 31. It follows a wave of document filings by environmental and clean energy groups, major corporate electricity users, rank-and-file customers and the Attorney Generals Office. About 40 different entities are listed as third-party intervenors in the matter before the commission, giving their lawyers the ability to cross-examine Duke executives and offer their own witnesses.

Dukes carbon plan unveiled in May envisioned four different energy production and efficiency portfolios, three of which didnt reach the 70% mandate until 2032 or 2034. The law gives the commission leeway to push back the 70% reduction deadline to 2032 or even further in some circumstances.

Duke Energy has said it wants the commission to approve multiple options to give it flexibility and time to evaluate emerging electricity sources. A slower reduction roll-out also would result in lower rate increases on customers and more assurance of reliable energy supplies, the utility said. The law says the panel can examine the latest technological breakthroughs to achieve the least cost path, among other considerations.

Were not asking the commission to go ahead and utilize the discretion to delay. What were asking for is a suite of near-term procurement and development actions that need to take place, said Tuesday's first witness, Kendal Bowman, vice president of regulatory affairs for Dukes North and South Carolina subsidiaries. Those near-term actions would include retiring more coal-fired plants, boosting solar and battery supplies and creating natural gas-powered plants, which can provide energy on cloudy or high-demand days.

Duke's critics say the proposals rely too much on natural gas or make customer bills too costly. Some have offered their own carbon-reduction plan that reaches the 70% reduction mandate by 2030 while relying more on solar and wind power and battery storage use.

Do you think it would be appropriate for the commission given that Duke has only got one 2030 compliance portfolio to consider 2030 compliance portfolios put forth by other parties? Benjamin Snowden, an attorney representing independent solar generating facilities, asked Bowman. She replied the commission can consider anything brought before it.

Duke Energy and the commission's Public Staff  representing customers  developed two additional portfolios this summer. But they would also reach the 70% reduction threshold in 2032 and 2034.

Catherine Cralle Jones, an attorney for Appalachian Voices, questioned how much was being done to address affordability. Nearly 1 million customers of Duke Energy Progress or Duke Energy Carolinas  almost a third of their North Carolina customer base  qualify as low-income through federal poverty guidelines.

If we cannot address affordability in the carbon plan itself for the customers, then we are missing an opportunity here for these investments, for these priorities, Jones said.

Bowman said the company believes transitioning to clean energy will help keep affordable rates that are historically below the national average, and that efficiency efforts to reduce electricity use will help as well.

The commission held six public hearings in July and August on the plan. All commission members are appointees of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who signed the 2021 bill into law and is a strong clean-energy advocate. The panel sits as a quasi-judicial body; Chair Charlotte Mitchell refereed objections by Duke's attorney about specific questions for Bowman.
NEW YORK (AP)  A prosecutor accused the founder of a company that claimed it built zero-emission trucks of lying to investors to make himself a billionaire, but his lawyer insisted Tuesday in opening statements of a fraud trial that his client was an enthusiastic visionary being unjustly prosecuted.

The differing portrayals of Nikola Corp. founder Trevor Milton were offered to Manhattan federal court jurors at the start of the presentation of evidence at a trial projected to last over a month.

In 2020, Nikola's stock price plunged and investors suffered heavy losses as reports questioned Milton's claims that the company had already produced zero-emission 18-wheel trucks fueled by hydrogen gas.

Milton, 40, has pleaded not guilty to securities and wire fraud and faces trial two years after resigning from the company that Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos said was started in his Utah basement six years ago.

This is Trevor Milton and he committed fraud, Roos said. He repeatedly lied to investors about his company and he made a billion dollars by doing so.

Defense attorney Marc Mukasey reminded jurors that his client was presumed innocent.

There is no crime here, Mukasey said. Trevor Milton did not intend to defraud or deceive anyone.

The defense lawyer said Milton's intentions were distorted by prosecutors to create their case.

Trevor Milton is not guilty, he said flatly.

The company paid $125 million last year to settle a civil case against it by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Nikola, which continues to operate from an Arizona headquarters, didnt admit any wrongdoing.

It has begun delivering some vehicles to customers and says it has been ramping up toward a capacity of making thousands of trucks per year.

In his opening, Roos promised that witnesses would show that Milton was committing fraud when he staged an unveiling of what he described as a fully functioning truck that was actually missing major parts like gears and motors and that had to be plugged into a wall's electrical socket to turn on its lights.

Milton later said the key parts were kept out of the truck at the event for safety reasons so that nobody would drive it off the stage and so prospective customers could view parts at the stage's side.

Roos said Milton doubled down with the fraud a year later when a video was released that showed the truck supposedly operating when it was really just rolling down a hill.

Milton worsened the fraud by promoting the truck on social media and booking himself on mainstream television and podcasts, flooding the airwaves with false and misleading things, he said.

Roos said Milton also was lying when he claimed billions of dollars in orders had been booked.

In reality, the prosecutor said, 95% of the reservations were just expressions of interest, but were reservations that could be canceled at any time.

The trial's first witness, engineer Paul Lackey, said he was a bright-eyed idealist when he worked on the truck, but he became disheartened during a car ride once when Milton said he didn't really care about the environment.

I just want to make money, he recalled Milton saying.
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NEW HAVEN  After hearing from Russian political journalist Dmitry Muratov at Southern Connecticut State University, students reflected on how Americans take press freedom for granted and how important media literacy is for people their age.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist visited the university as a part of his U.S. college tour. He talked about the current state of Russian media, the death of former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev, propaganda in Russia and how the conviction of a WNBA star was a trap.

Muratovs independent newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, had its publishing license revoked last Monday and faced criminal charges. He said he expects his digital license will also be revoked during the next trial Thursday.

Half of our editorial staff is in exile now, Muratov said in Russian through a translator at Fridays event. Most journalists who are independent journalists who are not part of the states propaganda effort, they left Russia.

According to him, 300 media platforms were shut and 13,800 sites were blocked since Russias invasion of Ukraine. In Russia, Muratov said propaganda has a monopoly, and that the media genocide in Russia has been accomplished.

Unfortunately, young people are interested in journalism, he said, noting that they are fighting in Russia every day and they have a difficult faith ahead of them.

SCSU student Destene Savariau, an aspiring journalist, said Muratovs talk was eye-opening as she saw things outside the American media landscape, especially when it comes to the freedom of the press.

Its kind of more appreciative that we have that; I have the privilege to not really have to worry that my government will just shoot me down for saying something as opposed to someone somewhere else who might be worried about that, the junior journalism major said.

In the United States, there have been 74 incidents against journalists so far this year, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. There were 251 and 825 in 2021 and 2020, respectively. These incidents include arrest/criminal charges, assault and subpoena, among others.

Gabrielle Tunucci, another SCSU student, said the news that she got from American news outlets was different from the insights Muratov had to offer.

One of the insights concerned the nine-year prison sentence for WNBA player Brittney Griner due to drug possession. Griner, however, said she had no criminal intent. She was detained Feb. 17, upon her arrival at Moscows Sheremetyevo Airport, just before Russia sent troops into Ukraine.

Muratov said his reporters have been covering the case, and said he noticed the significant presence of customs officers at the airport the day Griner arrived and that Griner was given Russian pre-filled documents to sign, with two translators who knew only a few words in English who just told her where to sign.

And she signed, Muratov said. She was trapped, but thats not the end of it.

Muratov said Griner wasnt able to talk to a lawyer until 7.5 hours later. He drew attention to footage from airport customs that appeared on a private YouTube channel that often follows special operation of special forces, asking how the recordings of a restricted zone found its way to the channel.

The answer is this special operation was prepared, he said.

When were speaking about Brittney Griners case, were not just thinking about one case, were speaking about the whole criminal justice system in Russia, he added.

SCSU Journalism Department Chair Cindy Simoneau said her favorite part of the talk was how passionate Muratov was when it comes to telling the truth to his people.

This man is threatened with imprisonment, death obviously, and was recently attacked on a train in the spring for doing his job, she said. These are all things we dont even think about when we talk and do our jobs here in the United States.

With Muratovs talk also focusing on propaganda and media literacy, Simoneau said its important for college students to learn to discern between what goes on in countries other that their own  where what they hear from their governments is considered facts without an opportunity for them to freely choose which facts they want to support.

Our country, were used to expressing ourselves constantly, she said. The students take for granted that this is how the world works.

chatwan.mongkol@hearstmediact.com
HAMPSTEAD, Md. (AP)  An 11-year-old boy was charged with arson in a fire that destroyed a Maryland dollar store earlier this month, state fire investigators announced Monday.

The fire broke out at a Dollar General in Hampstead on Sept. 3 and the boy was identified last week during an investigation that involved Hampstead police, the state fire marshals office said.
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ISLAMABAD (AP)  Pakistan scrambled to deliver aid to those most in need on Tuesday as the death toll from record-breaking floods in this impoverished Islamic nation rose further, with no respite in sight from the unprecedented monsoon rains.

The rains started early this year  in mid-June  and swept away entire villages, bridges and roads, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. At one point, a third of the country's territory was inundated with water.

Authorities said the overall death toll reached 1,481 on Tuesday, with 54 more people dying in rain-related floods in the past 24 hours, with the majority of those deaths in the hard-hit province of Sindh. Experts have said that climate change has been blamed in large part for the deluge, the worst in recent memory.

Sherry Rehman, Pakistan's minister for climate change, warned that the rains, which had abated late last month only to restart this week, are predicted to continue lashing much of the country in the coming weeks.

Rehman also expressed fears the downpours would hamper ongoing rescue and relief operations in flood-hit areas, where swirling deluges from overflowing rivers, fast melting glaciers and floods have already affected 33 million people.

So far, rescuers have evacuated 179,281 people from flood-hit areas.

It will take up to six months to drain water in flood-hit areas, officials say. Waterborne diseases have already sickened thousands of people in flood-stricken areas  and now there are fears of mosquito-borne dengue fever. Mosquitos have spread, due to stagnant waters following the flooding.

With 584,246 people in camps throughout the country, (the) health crisis could wreak havoc," Rehman said in a statement.

She added that so far, the southern port city of Karachi has registered an outbreak of dengue fever. Karachi is also the capital of Sindh province, one of the regions worst affected by the floods.

The floods have also destroyed crops, including 70% of the onion harvest, along with rice and corn, Rehman said. Much of the countrys agriculture belt is underwater and Pakistan is in talks with several nations to import wheat. Iran has already dispatched fresh vegetables to Pakistan.

In Sindh, officials said more downpours could delay the return of about 600,000 people from camps to their villages, towns and other urban areas. Strong winds the previous day blew away several relief camps in remote areas in Sindh.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif's government has started distributing money to those who lost homes in the flooding to help them restart their lives.

State media also quoted Sharif as telling his Cabinet on Tuesday that despite the fact that Pakistan emits less than 1% of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, it faces widespread damages from climate-induced floods, disproportionately more than other nations.

The floods have damaged 1.7 million homes, according to the National Disaster Management Agency. Thousands of pregnant women are living in tents and makeshift homes.

Initially, Pakistan estimated that the floods caused $10 billion in damages, but authorities now say the damages are far greater. The devastation has forced the United Nations to urge the international community to send more help.

So far, U.N. agencies and various countries, including the United States, have sent about 90 planeloads of aid. Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres traveled to flood-hit areas in southern and southwestern Pakistan to see first-hand the extent of the disaster.

I appeal for massive support from the international community as Pakistan responds to this climate catastrophe, Guterres tweeted from Pakistan. Earlier, he had called on the world to stop sleepwalking through the dangerous environmental crisis.

As Pakistani authorities contend with the unprecedented flooding, security forces are also struggling with militant attacks. According to Pakistans military, three soldiers were killed in the countrys northwest by militant fire from across the Afghan border. The attack hit a border security post in Kurram, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The military in a statement said the shooting came from the Afghan side of the frontier.

On Tuesday, a roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying local village leaders and police in the flood-hit Swat Valley in the northwest, killing five people, including two policemen. No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, and Saeed Khan, a police officer in Swat, said they are still investigating.

___

Associated Press writer Riaz Khan contributed to this story from Peshawar, Pakistan.
MOSCOW (AP)  Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has agreed to restore the former name of the country's capital just three years after he renamed it in honor of his predecessor, his spokesperson said Tuesday.

One of Tokayev's first moves upon taking office in 2019 after President Nursultan Nazarbayev stepped down was to call for Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, to be dubbed Nur-Sultan instead.
ISTANBUL (AP)  Amid an escalating war of words between Turkey and Greece over disputes in the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean, both countries came together Tuesday to participate in an annual NATO naval exercise.

The neighbors and historic regional rivals are among 12 alliance members taking part in Dynamic Mariner-Mavi Balina 22 off Turkeys western coast.

Relations between Turkey and Greece have worsened recently. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a thinly veiled invasion threat a week ago when he said Turkey could come all of a sudden one night in response to perceived Greek threats.

The neighbors have decades-old disputes over an array of issues, including territorial claims in the Aegean and Mediterranean and disagreements over airspace limits. They've come to the brink of war three times in the last half-century.

Ankara claims that Greece is violating international agreements by militarizing islands close to its coastline, arguing that Greek sovereignty could be disputed if the alleged infringements continue.. It has also accused Greek air defenses of locking on to Turkish fighter jets during NATO exercises.

Greece has complained of Turkeys rhetoric to NATO, the European Union and the United Nations. Athens says it needs to defend its eastern islands against its larger and militarily stronger neighbor.

It has also accused Turkeys military of repeatedly violating Greek airspace and waters.

NATO announced the start of the joint exercise from Aksaz naval base near the Mediterranean resort of Marmaris. The war games run to Sept. 22.

Dynamic Mariner is an incredibly important large-scale maritime exercise, said French Vice Admiral Didier Piaton, deputy commander of NATOs Allied Maritime Command.

This years event includes more assets than ever before, facilitating increased interoperability between our nations and enhancing operational readiness. We continue to work closely with Turkey and other allies and partners to deter aggression and defend the alliance.

The exercise incudes 50 ships, five submarines, five aircraft and 1,500 marines and other personnel.
MOSCOW (AP)  A Russian politician who made waves by questioning Russia's strategy in Ukraine on national television said Tuesday he spoke the truth and does not fear punishment under new laws against discrediting soldiers and spreading fake news about the conflict.

The remarks by Boris Nadezhdin, a former liberal member of Russia's parliament, came as Russian forces retreated from much of Ukraine's Kharkiv region in the face of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

During a talk show on state-controlled NTV on Sunday, Nadezhdin said Russian President Vladimir Putin was misled by intelligence services that apparently told him the resistance in neighboring Ukraine would be brief and ineffective.

Nadezhdin also called for fighting to end and negotiations to begin.

Russian officials in recent weeks have repeatedly accused Ukraine of being unwilling to negotiate, but they have also put forth draconian terms. Former President Dmitry Medvedev said Monday that Russia would demand total capitulation.

In a Tuesday interview with The Associated Press, Nadezhdin said negotiations on a cease-fire are possible always and everywhere. But he said resolving issues such as the status of the separatist regions in Ukraine and of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, would be far more difficult.

Negotiations on these issues? They are now absolutely unrealistic, because there is a position like this: We will defeat you. No, we will defeat you, he said.

Nadezhdin's televised comments over the weekend were notable because of Russia's moves to stifle criticism of its sending troops into Ukraine. Days after the operation started, parliament approved legislation that outlawed alleged disparaging of the Russian military or the spread of false information about the operation in Ukraine.

OVD-Info, a legal aid group that tracks political arrests in Russia, has counted 90 criminal cases on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military since Feb. 24.

I have definitely not violated any Russian laws," Nadezhdin told the AP. There was not a single fake at all, not a single fake in what I said. There was a statement of absolutely obvious facts."

Nadezhdin has occasionally appeared on state-controlled TV and radio in the past as one of a few liberals who serve effectively as whipping boys, said Abbas Gallyamov, an independent political analyst and former speechwriter for Putin.

Gallyamov said he has noticed, however, that the Kremlins control over the content shown on Russian TV has been weakening. But any system will weaken if it does not have a ready plan of action in crisis situations. Discipline is clearly being eroded.

The pullback of troops from the Kharkiv region and Ukraine's counteroffensive in Russian-held parts of the southern Kherson region have raised concerns that Russia is faltering.

The leader of the Communist Party, the country's second-biggest political grouping, called Tuesday for a general mobilization to boost the military's manpower and for the conflict to be openly called a war. Russian officials have insisted the actions in Ukraine must be called a special military operation.

War and a special operation are fundamentally different. You can stop the special operation; you cannot stop the war, even if you want to," Russian news media quoted party leader Gennady Zyuganov as saying.

Maximum mobilization of forces and resources is required. he said.

Mild criticism of Putin is also emerging.

Seven members of a local council in St. Petersburg last week called on the national Parliament to bring treason charges against Putin because of the Ukraine conflict. Five of them have been charged with discrediting the army.

A local council in Moscow last week passed a resolution calling on Putin to resign.

The rhetoric that you and your subordinates are using has been riddled with intolerance and aggression for a long time, which in the end effectively threw our country back into the Cold War era, the Moscow council said. "Russia has again begun to be feared and hated.
Looking for something to do? The Stay Local events calendar publishes a list of nonprofit and community events Tuesdays and Fridays. Please check with your club or organization to be certain of meetings, outings and classes, as they may be canceled due to bad weather or COVID-19. If any listing is inaccurate or to submit an event, contact Julie Norwood at 231-592-8358 or julie.norwood@pioneergroup.com.

Carlleen Rose Book Signing: 4-6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, at Artworks, 106 N. Michigan Ave., Big Rapids. Carlleen Rose, owner of the The Old Pioneer Store and Emporium, will be on hand to sign copies of her book "A Promise Kept: See You on the Flip Side," about her mentor, former Big Rapids Pioneer owner Jack Batdorff.

Tuba Bach Festival: 7 p.m. Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays, Sept. 10-11 through Oct. 15-16, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, at 726 Fuller Avenue in Big Rapids. Cost: Free. For more information or list of performers, visit tubabach.org or facebook.com/tubabach.

Choose to Stay Remembrance Walk: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, at Northend Riverside Park, Trestle Drive, Big Rapids. Registration is at 10 a.m., a speaker will talk at 10:30 a.m., and the walk will start at 11 a.m. Funds raised will be used to help Mecosta County residents. Preregister online at choosetostay18.com.

The Fantasticks: 7 p.m. Sept. 22-24 and 2 p.m. Sept. 24-25, at Artworks Intimate Theater, 106 N Michigan Ave., Big Rapids. The Fantasticks is a musical that tells the story of two neighboring fathers who trick their children into falling in love by pretending to feud. Cost: $15. Tickets are available at artworksinbigrapids.org/tickets, The Painted Turtle Gift Shop located in Artworks and at the door before the show.

ONGOING PROGRAMS, ACTIVITIES

Big Rapids Farmers' Market: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesdays and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Fridays from May 6 through Oct. 28, at downtown Big Rapids city lot, 226 N. Michigan Ave., Big Rapids. Contact: Josh Pyles, 231-592-4038.

Mecosta County Historical Museum: 2-4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2-4 p.m. the first Sunday of the month, at 129 S. Stewart, Big Rapids. We have a new furniture exhibit, our Madame Alexander First Lady doll collection, as well as many other artifacts from around the area. Private tours can be requested by calling 231-592-5091 or visiting the museum's Facebook page.

Mecosta County Genealogical Society: 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. second Saturday each month, at 424 N. Fourth Ave., Big Rapids, next to Recycle, or by appointment. Volunteers needed to help with sorting and indexing. Public is welcome to stop in and view any of our holdings. Call Maureen Nelson at 231-250-5555 for more information.

Reed City Heritage Museum: Open from 1-4 p.m. Friday through Tuesday at 138 W. Slosson Ave., Reed City. Free Admission. Groups are welcome.

Mecosta County Sheriff Posse: 7 p.m. the second Thursday of each month at the Mecosta County Jail basement training room, 225 S. Stewart Ave., Big Rapids. This volunteer group is always looking for more members. For more info call 231-250-9241

Morley Community Center: The center, at 151 7th St., Morley, hosts weekly pickleball, open gym, indoor garage sales and outdoor market, in addition to monthly ancestry class, craft night and blood drive. For a list of activities, visit morleycenter.org/events or call 231-856-4496.

Community Meal: 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday nights at Big Rapids First United Methodist Church, 304 Elm St, Big Rapids. (NOTE: Meal will be carry out only May 26)

Community Lunch: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesdays at Third Avenue United Methodist Church, 226 N. Third Ave., Big Rapids. The community lunch program has re-opened.This is a free meal service, although donations are appreciated. For more information call 231-796-4157 or 231-796-6779.

Lord's Table Food Pantry: Open 3-5 p.m. Wednesdays at Faith Community Church, 610 Green St., Big Rapids. Everyone is welcome. Contact: 231-796-8389. (Hours will change to 1-5 p.m. Wednesdays beginning in April.)

Reed City Food Pantry: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays at St. Philip Neri Catholic Church, 831 S. Chestnut St., Reed City. For questions or emergency food needs, call 231-215-6996.

Barryton Area Mobile Food Pantry: 2 p.m. the second Saturday of each month, rain or shine, at the Fork Township Community Center parking lot, 3265 20 Mile Road, Barryton. Registration to receive food begins at noon. For more information, please see our facebook page or visit our website, bamfp.org.

ARTWORKS CLASSES, EXHIBITS

106 N. Michigan Ave. in Big Rapids / 231-796-2420 / artworksinbigrapids.org

Wine and Canvas: 6-9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16. A social painting experience that will guide you step by step through an acrylic painting. Bring your own beverages and snack. No experience necessary; all materials provided. Cost: $40. Register at artworksinbigrapids.org/painting-drawing.

Japanese Book Binding: 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 17. Learn to stitch a beautiful journal using a traditional Japanese stab binding technique. Cost: $20. Register at artworksinbigrapids.org/specialty-workshops.

Japanese Floral Design: 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21. Create your own floral arrangement using the Japanese principles of asymmetry, space and depth, taught by Bob Patterson. Cost: $50. Register at artworksinbigrapids.org/specialty-workshops.

Introduction to Watercolor: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24.An introduction to watercolor painting that emphasizes hands on class projects under instructor guidance. Learn to use the basic tools of watercolor to complete a painting. No experience necessary, all materials provided. Cost: $60. https://www.artworksinbigrapids.org/painting-drawing.

After School Art: 3:45-5:15 p.m. every Wednesday, for ages 7-13. Drop-ins are welcome on a first come, first serve basis, but we highly recommend calling our gift shop to pre-register: 231-796-2420. Registration will only be accepted for the current weeks class beginning Monday of that week. For more information, visit artworksinbigrapids.org/after-school-art.

Hand Built Pottery: 6-8 p.m. Mondays, Sept. 12, 19, 26; Oct. 3, 17, 24. Students will learn to make jewelry, functional pottery, and sculpture with traditional hand-building methods. Cost: $160. Register at artworksinbigrapids.org/pottery.

Fundamentals of Photography for Beginners: 5:30-7:30pm Tuesdays, Sept. 13-Oct. 18 In this beginner series, participants will learn to utilize the various settings of their DLSR or mirrorless digital camera. Topics will include: types of cameras, parts of the camera, shooting modes, focus, and more. Cost: $75. Register at artworksinbigrapids.org/photography.

Beginning Wheel Pottery: 6-8 p.m. Wednesdays, Sept. 14, 21, 28; Oct. 5, 12, 19; and Nov. 2. Technique is emphasized as students are guided step by step through the process of creating pottery on the wheel. Cost: $175. Register at artworksinbigrapids.org/pottery.

Argentine Tango: 6:30 p.m. Fridays, Sept. 16-Oct. 7.This one and a half hour workshop covers the fundamentals of Argentine Tango. No previous dance experience necessary. Bring shoes with a leather or suede sole (if you have them) and comfortable clothes. It is not required to come with a partner, and you may dance whichever role you like (leading or following). Masks may be required depending on COVID transmission rates at the time of the event Cost: Drop in: $15 (Sept. 16 only pay at door); four week session: $50 artworksinbigrapids.org/dance.

Open Pottery: 5-8 p.m. Tuesdays. Cost: $10 per session, $60 for an eight-session punch card. (Additional firing fees apply. Clay may be purchased in bulk for $20 per 25 lbs.) Call 231-796-2420 to schedule your session.

Exhibit  Artist in Residence: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday, through Oct. 8, in the Alley Gallery. An eight-week summer program featuring a visual artist enrolled in an accredited Michigan degree-granting undergraduate or graduate program. This year's recipient is Big Rapids native Gemma Kailing.

Exhibit  Made in Japan? Japanese Inspiration: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday, Aug. 22-Sept. 29, in the Batdorff Gallery.
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BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)  Serbias police on Tuesday banned a Pride march planned amid pan-European LGBTQ events being held this week in Belgrade, citing a risk of clashes with far-right anti-gay activists. Organizers vowed to appeal the ban.

Pro-Serbian Orthodox Church conservative groups, who have been marching unhindered for weeks on the Serbian capital's streets to protest the LGBTQ events, had scheduled a new demonstration for Sept. 17  the day of the Pride parade. Police also banned that anti-gay protest.

After the security assessment, it was determined that there is a high risk the safety of participants in both (marches) on the announced routes will be endangered, as well as the safety of other citizens, police said in a statement.

Serbias populist president had earlier warned the gay Pride march would be banned.

Organizers of EuroPride, the largest annual Pride event in Europe  which includes a week of festivities  said they hoped their legal appeal against the ban will be accepted and that they would hold the festivities as planned.

Belgrade Pride will use all available means to overturn this decision, their statement said.

After the ban was announced, gay activists booed and jeered Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, who is openly lesbian but has been accused by the Serbian gay community of doing nothing to improve their status. She attended a human rights conference that was a part of the weeklong LGBTQ events.

The Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, Dunja Mijatovic, said Serbian authorities should withdraw the ban on the march and protect participants. The CoE is Europe's top human rights body.

It is highly regrettable that the Serbian authorities have decided to ban the EuroPride march scheduled for 17 September, Mijatovic said in a statement. "Weeks of uncertainty concerning the holding of this march have sent a wrong message to the public and made space for hateful rhetoric and more threats against LGBTI people, including from religious leaders

Members of the European Pride Organizers Association chose Serbias capital three years ago to host the annual event, hoping it would represent a major breakthrough for a Slavic country that is traditionally conservative and strongly influenced by the Orthodox Church.

Serbias rights groups have urged supporters to join the Pride march as part of a struggle for democracy that they say is under threat from President Aleksandar Vucics autocratic regime. Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership  and has pledged to boost LGBTQ rights  but has for years been moving closer to Russias political orbit.

Several EU officials have said they will join the LGBTQ events, while those calling on the Serbian government to reverse the previously heralded ban included U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Vucic, who has for weeks warned the Pride march would be banned, said police can't cope with possible riots by right-wing groups against the Pride march amid a crisis over relations with Serbias breakaway province of Kosovo as well as the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.

In the current geopolitical situation and tensions in the region, senseless clashes on the streets of Belgrade would make the position of our country more difficult, (and) endanger the safety of participants in the marches, as well as other citizens, Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin said.
MADRID (AP)  Spain's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a 30-year prison sentence a lower court had imposed on a former priest for sexually abusing seven boys he taught at a seminary boarding school.

The court found that the abuse took place between 2013 and 2016 at the school in the south-central city of Ciudad Real. The victims were aged around 13 at the time.

During swimming lessons, the defendant played games with some of the boys, pulling them into the water by grabbing their genitals, the court said, and forced some of his victims to stand naked in front of him as a test of trust.

In 2016 a church court defrocked the priest after receiving complaints about his behavior, and referred him to civil courts. In 2020 he was convicted of sexual abuse and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The former priest appealed to the Supreme Court, which on Tuesday upheld the earlier ruling, fined him 52,920 euros ($53,000) and ordered him to pay 2,000 euros in compensation to each victim.

An association representing victims of abuse by priests when they were minors, ANIR, welcomed the ruling.

We don't often see these long sentences. Previously, the Supreme Court had even reduced some sentences. Priests rarely go to jail in Spain. I hope (the decision) opens a path for this to become usual, ANIR founder Ana Cuevas told the Associated Press.

Sexual abuse of minors by members of church institutions is a deep-rooted problem in traditionally Catholic Spain. The country's ombudsman on Tuesday presented a preliminary report by a working group of experts appointed by Parliament to investigate such cases.

The group said that in its first two months of operation it examined complaints by 201 people, most of them men.
State police will step up enforcement and education efforts across Sangamon County in October.

Capt. Jody Huffman, commander of Illinois State Police District 9, said troopers will take part in occupant restraint enforcement patrols, alcohol countermeasure enforcement and roadside safety checks.

There also will be nighttime enforcement and special traffic enforcement patrols  in which state police focus on what are known as the "fatal four violations" that contribute the greatest to traffic crashes and fatalities: driving under the influence; safety belt and child restraint misuse; speeding; and distracted driving.

Roadside safety checks involve setting up checkpoints at different location to look for motorists driving in an unsafe manner, driving without a valid license, driving under the influence or committing other traffic or criminal offenses.

Occupant restraint enforcement patrols concentrate on violations of seat belt or child safety seat laws, according to Huffman. Illinois law requires the driver and any passengers to use their seat belts, which are estimated to save almost 14,000 lives annually.

Half of vehicle occupants killed in a traffic crash were not properly buckled up. The objective of the program is to increase occupant restraint compliance through education, child seat inspections and enforcement, according to state police.

Nighttime enforcement patrols are designed to prevent, detect and enforce laws against impaired driving, speeding and distracted driving, especially between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. More than half of fatal crashes in Illinois take place during that time, police said.

Alcohol countermeasure enforcement patrols will be most concerned with violations involving impaired driving or illegal transportation or use of alcohol or drugs.

Alcohol and drug impairment is a factor in more than 30% of fatal motor vehicle crashes in Illinois, police said.
LONDON (AP)  A police officer who fatally shot an unarmed Black man in London has been suspended from duty, the British capital's Metropolitan Police force said.

Chris Kaba, 24, was killed in south London on Sept. 5 after police pursued his car and tried to stop it. His vehicle was hemmed in by two police cars in a narrow residential street in the Streatham Hill neighborhood, and one round was fired from a police weapon.
GENEVA (AP)  With weather disasters costing $200 million a day and irreversible climate catastrophe looming, the world is heading in the wrong direction, the United Nations says in a new report that pulls together the latest science on climate change.

The World Meteorological Organization, in the latest stark warning about global warming, said weather-related disasters have increased fivefold over the last 50 years and are killing 115 per day on average  and the fallout is poised to worsen.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cited the floods in Pakistan, heat waves in Europe, droughts in places such as China, the Horn of Africa, and the United States  and pointed the finger at fossil fuels.

There is nothing natural about the new scale of these disasters. They are the price of humanitys fossil fuel addiction, he said. This years United in Science report shows climate impacts heading into uncharted territories of destruction.

Yet each year we double-down on this fossil fuel addiction, even as the symptoms get rapidly worse, he added.

The report, drawn from data compiled by several U.N. agencies and partners, cited a 48% chance that global temperature rise compared to pre-industrial times will reach 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) in the next five years. Theres a 93% percent chance that one year in the next five will see record heat.

It comes amid fresh warnings from scientists last week that four climate tipping points will likely be triggered if that temperature threshold  set in the 2015 Paris climate accord  is passed.

Many governments are already trying to address the threat of more severe weather due to climate change, and data show that deaths from natural disasters are down in recent years. Yet the economic cost of climate-induced catastrophes is projected to rise sharply.

The U.N. report says such losses and damages can be limited by timely action to prevent further warming and adapt to the temperature increases that are now inevitable. Questions around compensation for the damage that poor nations suffer as a result of emissions produced by rich countries will play a major role at the upcoming U.N. climate talks in Egypt this fall.

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Follow APs climate and environment coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
BEIRUT (AP)  The outbreak of cholera in Syria presents a serious threat to people in the war-torn country and the region, a U.N. official said Tuesday, adding that urgent action is needed to prevent further cases and deaths.

The statement by the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, Imran Riza, came after health officials in the country reported at least five deaths and more than two dozen cases in different provinces.

Syrias infrastructure has suffered severe damage since the countrys conflict began in March 2011 where residents of some areas have no access to clean water. The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced half the countrys pre-war population of 23 million, many of them living in tent settlements around the country.

Riza said that based on a rapid assessment conducted by health authorities and partners, the source of infection is believed to be linked to people drinking unsafe water from the Euphrates River and using contaminated water to irrigate crops, resulting in food contamination.

Cholera remains a global threat to public health and an indicator of inequity, Riza said, adding that the outbreak is an indicator of severe water shortages in Syria.

The statement said chlorination activities to disinfect water are being scaled up and dosing rates are being increased in fragile and highly vulnerable communities to curb the spread of the disease.

On Monday, health officials said hospitals in the Syrian capital have been put on alert after more than two dozen cases of cholera and at least five deaths were reported.

The cases were reported in several provinces including Aleppo in the north, Latakia on the Mediterranean coast and Deir el-Zour along the border with Iraq.

The outbreak was the first since the country's conflict began 11 years ago.

Riza said the U.N. in Syria calls on donor countries for urgent additional funding to contain the outbreak and prevent it from spreading.
BOSTON (AP)  Homeland Security is diverting nearly $650,000 to a victims compensation fund from the sale of a suburban Boston home that belonged to a couple authorities say illegally did business with a Syrian electronics company, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. The Syrian company was involved in the acquisition of parts that could be used to build improvised explosive devices and used against United States and coalition troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. authorities said.

The $642,702 was recovered through a civil forfeiture action against the former residence of Anni Beurklian, and her husband, Antoine Ajaka, who operated Top Tech U.S. Inc. from the Waltham home, according to a statement from the office of U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins.
BERLIN (AP)  Volkswagen truck subsidiary Traton said Tuesday that two of its divisions are selling their business activities in Russia to local partners, transactions expected to lead to a loss of up to 550 million euros (dollars).

Traton said both MAN Truck & Bus and Scania are disposing their sales companies in the Russian Federation to local sales partners, which were not identified. It said Scania also is disposing of its Russian financing business.
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TRUMBULL  Some Trumbull residents are looking to make their corner of the world a little bit cleaner.

Sustainable Trumbull  the citizen-led group that aims to make the town more fiscally, socially, and environmentally sustainable  will team with Save the Sound to participate in a Connecticut Cleanup from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sunday. Volunteers can check in at Old Mine Park in Trumbull, and will be assigned to tidy an area somewhere in town.

This is the second year that Trumbull has participated in the Connecticut Cleanup. Sustainable Trumbull team member Mari Jackson said 39 people showed up to last years clean-up, and the volunteers removed about 250 pounds of trash through the event.

Were aiming for 300 pounds this year, Jackson said.

The Connecticut Cleanup is an offshoot of the International Coastal Cleanup, which takes place each fall. The ICC is an effort to remove trash from beaches and waterways worldwide. Since the cleanup began more than 35 years ago, roughly 17 million volunteers have collected in excess of 348 million pounds of trash, according to organizers.

Jackson said Trumbulls clean-up will focus on a variety of areas in town, including the park-and-ride on Park Lane, the school grounds behind Hillcrest Middle School and Trumbull High School and others.

We like to give people options, Jackson said.

Trumbulls cleanup is one of many Connecticut Cleanup events happening in the region over the next few weeks. Others include two in Fairfield, one from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday at Jennings Beach and one from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Sept. 24 in the Pine Creek area.

Milford, Danbury, New Haven, Westport, Norwalk and Stratford are among the communities that either plan to host events or have done so already.

Those interested in registering for Trumbulls cleanup or any other communitys cleanup can visit https://www.savethesound.org/2022cleanup/.
Big Weed is the $33 billion-dollar marijuana industry that prefers to go by its euphemistic term cannabis. It is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to pass ballot initiatives in 5 states, defeat Republican candidates for office this November, and bring a pot store close to you.

For the first time in history more Americans smoke pot than tobacco. The Gallup poll reports that 15% of Americans use marijuana, while only 11% smoke tobacco.

Big Weed is far worse now than the pot of a generation ago. Each year it becomes more potent and harmful, with its average delta9tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) level rising by 28.5 percent in the last half-century.

The medical journal Lancet Psychiatry has just reported on a new study that the higher the potency of the marijuana, the higher the risk of developing a psychotic illness known as cannabis use disorder. Despite this, recreational marijuana is lawful in 19 states and Washington, D.C.

The increased use of marijuana is linked to upticks in homicides and suicides, a rise in medical problems, and an increase in pot-related fatal traffic accidents. Legalizing pot does not end the black market for it, as proven on Friday by the bust of an illegal pot operation in the California Bay Area where $4 million-worth of plants were seized.

The Cannabis Research Center at the University of California in Berkeley reported last year that there are still more illegal cannabis farms than lawful ones, a half-decade after California legalized pot under the pretext of ending the illegality. Bills headed to its governor now for signature include legalizing marijuana use for animals, and prohibiting employers from firing workers for off-job pot-smoking.

Voters in Missouri, Arkansas, Maryland, North Dakota, and South Dakota should not want to become more like California where advertisements to buy and smoke pot are everywhere. The pungent stench of marijuana crops extends for more than a mile, and the odor from smoking the weed reeks far worse than tobacco.

The marijuana ballot initiative in Missouri is a confusing 38 pages of single-spaced fine print, which should not have been allowed on the ballot. This bill would never pass the Missouri legislature, and should not be approved by voters.

Marijuana became legal in New Mexico in April, and almost immediately 478 licensed retailers of pot littered that state. That is more than two-thirds the number of pot retailers in Colorado, which has a larger population.

Big Weed is causing a big water problem in areas of the country suffering from the summer drought. Marijuana plants soak up huge amounts of water, and often the pot growers steal that water from neighbors who need it.

Deer Creek in Oregon has run dry because of the theft of its water by marijuana growers. Cannabis needs the most water during dry summer months when water shortages have worsened for everyone else.

In Humboldt County, California, cannabis plants have been diverting so much water that the wells of neighbors are running dry. A settlement in 2019 to address this has not been successful, and people are being asked to create their own ponds to try to maintain enough water for themselves. Estimates are that cannabis requires 100 to 200 gallons of water to grow merely one pound of it. That translates to 10 or more gallons of water wasted for every tiny ounce of pot.

Legalizing pot a decade ago in Colorado caused an explosion in pot-growing there, legal and illegal, which has drained water away from the Colorado River on which Arizona and Nevada depend. Water-wasteful marijuana farming is surging at a 16% annual increase, and will triple in size in the next eight years.

On top of that, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit just ruled that states may be prohibited by the Constitution from limiting importation of marijuana into their states. Already vans are illegally selling marijuana on the streets of New York City, which has become so troublesome there that the mayor instituted a task force to crack down against it.

Cannabis has a devastating effect on the soil, as pot-growers often deplete the nutrients of land and leave it barren while they move on to harm more soil elsewhere. Traditional agriculture rotates crops so the soil remains viable indefinitely.

On July 21, senators from the East and West Coasts introduced the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act in the U.S. Senate to try to expand marijuana nationwide. The cannabis industry is complaining that it is not making enough money, but opportunity for that industry means harm for others.

Senators in the Midwest and flyover country should reject special legislation for the cannabis industry. Water in the Midwest is plentiful and lets keep it that way for our legitimate crops and comfortable living.
Those of us who have long tuned to CNN cant say we werent warned.

Incoming CEO Chris Licht decreed on Aug. 19 that this is a time for significant change at the news network, and you might not understand it or like it.

Thus began his reign as a Trump Lichtspittle.

I dont pretend to know exactly whats going on at CNN, nor do its freaked out employees, one of whom told The Washington Post that the new brooms seem to be sending a message, Watch what you say, watch what you do'. But some facts are indisputable. Licht has been signaling that he wants CNN to be more objective and more respectful of differing viewpoints. His overlords at the parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery  especially bigwig Trump donor John Malone  say that they want CNN to be more neutral, or, in Malones words, more centrist.

It doesnt take a genius to decode that corporate gobbledygook.

So Ive got to ask: With the future of American democracy in serious peril, how is the free press supposed to be neutral? Is there really some magic centrist midpoint between defending democracy and destroying it? At an historic moment when free elections are literally under assault, should the free press twist itself in knots to be respectful of those who are plotting the assault?

Licht dropped his first bomb in mid-August when he fired Brian Stelter, the host of Sunday mornings Reliable Sources. Stelter, who still had time left on his contract, was well known for refusing to indulge both sides nonsense. In his final on-air appearance he said: Its not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy. ... Its not partisan to stand up to demagogues. Its required. Its patriotic. We must make sure we dont give platforms to those who are lying to our faces.

And one of his guests, Carl Bernstein, weighed in thusly: The truth is not neutral ... Donald Trump is a serial liar. The bottom line has to be the best attainable version of the truth, and the truth is not neutral. As yourself a question, is a lynching neutral? Its not neutral.

But the piece de resistance was articulated by veteran White House correspondent John Harwood. It was Harwoods last day at CNN, because he was abruptly fired with time still left on his contract. He had apparently unnerved the new CNN higher-ups with his straightforward reports that the sky is blue and the earth is round and that there arent two sides to those truths. And for his final stand up outside the White House, assessing President Bidens speech about the dangers of MAGA Republicans, the veteran journalist (previously at The Wall Street Journal and CNBC) unloaded both barrels:

The core point (Biden) made in that political speech about a threat to democracy is true. Now, thats something thats not easy for us, as journalists to say. Were brought up to believe theres two different political parties with two different points of view and we dont take sides in honest agreements between them. But thats not what were talking about. These are not honest disagreements. The Republican Party right now is led by a dishonest demagogue. Many, many Republicans are rallying behind his lies about the 2020 election and other things as well. And a significant portion  or a sufficient portion  of the constituency that theyre leading attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6. Violently. By offering pardons or suggesting pardons for those people who violently attacked the Capitol. Donald Trump made Joe Bidens point for him.

The new bosses at CNN apparently believe theres more money to be made, via higher ratings, if they rebrand themselves as something akin to Fox News lite. To put it charitably, that is a foolish decision  especially now, when most Americans now agree that MAGA is a threat to democracy. Its stupid to buck mainstream public opinion.

I hold this truth to be self-evident: When one political party openly declares that it no longer believes in democracy, when indeed it is working non-stop to destroy it, honest journalists cannot take refuge in neutrality. Because in a national civic emergency, journalists need to be pro-democracy and pro-truth.

That is not bias. That is patriotism.
Should it take more than eight years to fire state employees involved in the beating of a disabled patient in a Illinois state facility?



Its a question that begs to be asked in the wake of an investigation conducted by several news organizations: Lee Enterprises; Capitol News Illinois; and ProPublica.



Here is the set up for the investigation:

As Blaine Reichard rose from a breakfast table at the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in southern Illinois, a worker ordered him to pull up his sagging pants.

A 24-year-old man with developmental disabilities, Reichard was accustomed to workers at the state-run residential facility telling him what to do. But this time he didnt obey.

"Im a gangsta! This is how we do it where I am from!" responded Reichard, who despite his street-tough defiance still slept with a teddy bear.

Multiple witnesses told the Illinois State Police that shortly after this exchange, Reichard was taken to the floor, held down by four mental health techs and repeatedly punched in the face.

One of the employees has pleaded guilty to a felony and the three others have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors. But almost eight years after the beating none has been fired or disciplined in the workplace.

None.

According to the investigation, After pleading guilty, the three (misdemeanants) returned to work at Choate, mowing lawns, cooking or doing laundry. About three years ago, their status returned to administrative leave. They no longer do any work at Choate, but they still receive a state paycheck today. Since the incident, taxpayers have paid the trio more than $1 million combined. Their annual salaries range between $50,000 and $54,000, IDHS records show.

Will they be fired? Well, the state is still considering the matter  eight years after the beating.

Eight years.

Molly Parker, one of the investigative reporters involved in the case, said the union representing the employees got them bumped to paid administrative leave, rather than keeping them working at the center in positions where they were not in contact with patients while awaiting a decision on whether they should be disciplined.

Oh, and by the way, these men are still receiving health insurance benefits and credit toward their pensions.

Is anyone advocating for the taxpayers who are paying these men to do nothing? It would appear not.

As for the lone felon in the group, he was suspended without pay when he was charged in 2016 and he remained on the state payroll during the 15-month period between the time of the incident and the time he was charged, collecting nearly $56,000 while on administrative leave.

Public employees are often called to do challenging work. Whether its teaching a classroom of third graders, writing speeding tickets, incarcerating criminals or caring for developmentally delayed people in state institutions, most do what is asked of them.

But how do we address those who violate the rules and bring harm to those in their care?

Accountability is lacking. Some point their fingers at a bureaucracy that moves at a slugs pace. Others blame union contracts that they say make punishing bad employees difficult.

Im not going to weigh in on why accountability is lacking  only that it is.

And few in public office are doing anything to better hold bad employees to account.
A former colleague of mine was stabbed to death in his yard this month, apparently for writing something someone didnt like.

His name was Jeff German and he was a crackerjack reporter who spent a career covering crime and corruption in Las Vegas. We worked together at the Las Vegas Sun some 23 years ago.

I wont lie to you and tell you we were close. Jeff was one of an assortment of newsroom characters Ive worked with over the years.

He believed he deserved a private office in the shabby building where we worked. So, he erected makeshift walls around his desk, which was topped with piles of books, documents, notebooks and other journalistic debris.

I never heard him say a bad word about anyone  except for the reporter with the same beat at the other newspaper in town. To hear Jeff tell it, that fellow was Satan incarnate, the purveyor of numerous journalistic transgressions  and not to be trusted.

That just shows you how much things have changed in the news business. Newsrooms are leaner now. And the struggle isnt so much to beat the competition but to write the best story that one can with the resources at hand.

Were competing against ourselves.

Germans reporting was phenomenal. When I worked with him, his adept reporting essentially solved the murder of casino boss Ted Binion. Looking back, Im amazed at what he was able to accomplish. Law enforcement essentially followed his lead on one of the highest profile murders in the states history.

Recently, a county official blamed German for an election loss. He had written an expose about the official and malfeasance in his office. An informed and angry electorate went to the polls and tossed him out of office.

The official, Robert Telles, has been charged with murder.

Authorities said his DNA matched specimens found at the scene of the crime. A GMC Denali registered to Telless wife and parked at his home was picked up on surveillance video near Germans home before and after his killing. A straw hat allegedly used by Telles to disguise himself was found during a search of his home and car.

German was 69 when he died. He was part of that vanishing breed of characters who used to populate newsrooms.

Just about every newsroom Ive worked in has had such folks. To them journalism wasnt a vocation  it was a calling. No one ever entered the profession for the prestige or the money. There is little of either.

But newsrooms were a happy habitat for those who marched to a different drummer.

I think of a Texas county government reporter I worked with who drilled a hole in the floor of his van and attached a hose and funnel so he wouldnt have to stop for bathroom breaks between assignments.

Or there was the Texas photographer who, while on assignment at the mall, stood on a park bench and spoke in tongues. (He remains the most gifted shooter Ive ever known.)

Or in Nevada there was the reporter who married a woman who was always threatening suicide  when he was on deadline. She would have a gun to her head threatening to shoot, while he would be trying to talk her down on the phone while simultaneously pounding out a city council story on deadline.

Ive never met a journalist who handled deadline pressures better.

All of these people are long gone from newspapers. And some have left this life. But each was a gifted newspaper person who Im proud to have called a friend.

Newspaper work is hard. The hours are long and irregular. Your mistakes are public. And the criticism is constant. But the reward is making a difference.

Las Vegas is a better community for the decades Jeff German kept an eye on corrupt politicians and underworld figures.

Was he quirky? Yes. Tenacious? Certainly. Courageous? Absolutely.

Communities across this nation are the better because of people like German.

When one thinks of German or the five Annapolis, Maaryland, journalists killed in their newsroom in 2018 the loss is obvious and profound. Their lives were sacrificed because someone didnt like what they wrote.

We mourn not just the loss of their lives but the silencing of their voices.

Other newsroom voices are silenced not with a bullet or a knife but with an accountants pen.

Regardless, the question remains the same: When a watchdogs voice dies, who will hold those in power accountable?
As questions about President Joe Biden's future in the Democratic party linger, a pair of recent polls show that Vice President Kamala Harris' favorability rating among voters is trending upward.

A newly released YouGovAmerica poll shows that 40% of voters have a favorable view of Harris, and while that figure isn't exactly impressive, it marks an increase of nearly 3 percentage points since July. A Harvard Caps Harris poll released last week shows a similar trend: 37% of voters in that poll said they have a favorable view of Harris, which represents a slight bump in her favorability rating from older Harvard Caps Harris polls released earlier this summer.

It's important to note that Harris' approval among voters is similar to those of other national leaders in her party. The Harvard Caps Harris poll shows that Hillary Clinton, Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have favorability ratings of 38%, 39% and 40%, respectively.

Another takeaway from the Harvard Caps Harris poll is that the vice president remains the clear choice among Democratic voters to replace Biden should he choose not to run again. If that were to happen, 26% of voters said they prefer Harris to be the Democratic presidential candidate in 2024. The theoretical candidate who earned the second-most support was Clinton, with 14% of voters saying they'd prefer her.

Questions about Biden's ability to run in 2024 have lingered since the presidential primaries in 2019, but they exploded into the national conversation in June when a New York Times/Siena College poll found that 64% of Democrats want a new standard-bearer for the party in the next election. Since then, several polls have questioned voters about their candidate preferences if the 79-year-old Biden doesn't run again, and Harris has frequently been the top choice among Democrats.

The Harvard Caps Harris poll surveyed voters about Biden's mental fitness, and 56% said they have doubts about his acuity while another 63% said he is too old to be president. When broken down by party preference, those figures were smaller among Democratic voters, but 33% still said Biden is too old to be president. For his part, Biden has repeatedly said he will run again if his health allows, and Harris has said she will be on his ticket again if he does.
AP

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is cutting ads in opposition to November's Proposition 30, a tax increase on high-income earners that would pay for more electric vehicles.

Prop. 30 raises income taxes 1.75% on individuals who make $2 million or more. In a 30-second television ad released Monday, Newsom calls Prop. 30 a "Trojan horse" and "one company's cynical scheme to grab a huge taxpayer-funded subsidy." The company in question is San Francisco-based Lyft, which faces a state requirement to have most of its fleet comprised of electric vehicles by 2030. Lyft, seeking government assistance in achieving this requirement, has spent $15 million in support of the measure.
An ornate 15-room mansion  currently on the market for a hair under $12 million  may be the only home to spend half its life in San Francisco before floating across the water to a new address in another Bay Area city.

The 5,728-square-foot Moffitt Mansion, now sitting on the edge of the tiny, wealthy city of Belvedere in Marin County, has a very unique history.

Built in 1904, for more than half a century the house sat happily at 1818 Broadway atop Pacific Heights. Designed for renowned UCSF doctor Herbert C. Moffitt, the home was later expanded by one of San Francisco's most celebrated architects, Willis Polk.

Open Homes Photography

But after Dr. Moffitt and his wife Margaret passed away in the 1950s, the home fell into disrepair.

As the city's need for housing increased in the early 1960s, the building was put on the chopping block to make way for a condominium building at the site  a new and exciting type of housing at the time.

"A renaissance of gracious living is on the horizon," an ad for the planned apartment building in the San Francisco Examiner proclaimed. "1818 Broadway is the carefully selected site for a wondrous new-mode of in-town luxury residence living."

But one man was making an extravagant plan to save the "luxurious trophy home" on Pacific Heights from demolition. Marin architect Norman Gilroy bought the property in 1962 and set about slicing it in half, trucking it onto a 285-foot barge and moving it to a plot across the water at 8 West Shore Road, Belvedere.

Open Homes Photography

The Chronicle covered the house's journey down from Pacific Heights and across the water. "A stately old Pacific Height mansion joined the flight to the suburbs yesterday," a story on the front page on June 25, 1962, read.

Outside of some thieves stealing some of the home's fixtures, the slow move went surprisingly smoothly, though some proto-NIMBYs of the time protested the move. "Because I'm a native San Franciscan, I hate to see progress," a neighbor told the paper. "I hate to see it go."

"So many of our old landmarks are going," said another, "and these horrible modern apartments are going up."

San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst N/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Imag

Hundreds of residents watched the trucks take the two halves of the home, which had been split down the middle with a chainsaw, down Franklin Street. After spending a night at Marina Green, the home was hoisted onto a barge the following day to complete its journey north. In 2020, the Chronicle published more photos from the archives showing the Moffitt Mansion moving across the water.

While it must have been an extraordinary sight, San Francisco does have a history of moving Victorians around the city, a task sometimes performed with horses. Only last year a Victorian was relocated seven blocks from Franklin Street to Filbert Street.

The home that now looks across Richardson Bay to Sausalito is being listed for $11,950,000 by Compass and Janet and Sally Williamson.

It is an exciting opportunity for us to represent this example of historic San Francisco architecture that has traveled across the bay on a barge to find a new home," Sally Williamson told SFGATE over email. "This Belvedere residence truly is a showplace and one of the most admired in Marin. We are honored to work with our seller to find the next generation to enjoy it.

Open Homes Photography

The home features hardwood floors, custom moldings, four fireplaces, a secluded spa and a private covered balcony.

Records show the property last sold for a significantly smaller sum, $3.7 million, in 2019. (Find the full listing at Janet and Sally Williamson's website.)

As for 1818 Broadway: The condo building that replaced the mansion is still standing. It has 21 units, each valued at about $1 million or more today.

The listing blurb for one unit on the top floor boasts that the view stretches all the way across the bay to Belvedere.
Theres a lot of trash in the Tahoe region, much of it in the lake itself and smaller lakes in the area. Theres the usual detritus, like aluminum cans, plastic chip bags or dirty towels. Then theres the more unusual things that can be found, such as cement blocks, cables and old underwear.

Local nonprofit Clean Up the Lake has removed more than 46,000 pounds of trash from freshwater lakes in the Lake Tahoe region. It recently took on Fallen Leaf Lake, a 3-mile-long lake just southwest of Lake Tahoe  and also discovered a historical car within its depths.

The nonprofit and its volunteer divers and swimmers have circumnavigated Lake Tahoe in their efforts to remove trash. They swam and collected trash at Donner Lake. But Fallen Leaf Lake may very well be the dirtiest waters the team has experienced to date. In the span of one mile along the shoreline at Fallen Leaf Lake, teams removed 3,000 pounds of trash and 100 tires.

The group also came upon a historical artifact: a Ford Model T automobile. Colin West, founder and executive director of Clean Up the Lake, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he believed the vehicle may be 100 years old. (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of one another.) The lake bed was a time capsule for the vehicles tires, chassis and engine block.

Historical artifacts cannot be removed during these dives, West told me two years ago and repeated to the Chronicle last week. Historical items are left behind and reported to state officials.

Courtesy of Clean Up the Lake

Two years ago, SFGATE reported about one of the group's earlier missions: A group of scuba divers plunged into Lake Tahoe. This was not a sightseeing dive. Their mission was clear-cut, plain and dirty: pick up as much trash from the bottom of the lake as they could. Clean Up the Lakes system for what they call large-scale scuba cleanups has been proven to cut back on pollution and combat litter, a mounting problem and issue in Lake Tahoe that many, many people are trying to solve.

With new data being gathered in Fallen Leaf Lake, the organization has had a chance to shine new light on how widespread this pollution issue is, said Zac Smith, outreach coordinator for the group, in a press release, and how remediation projects like this should hold a level of priority among environmental efforts in the regions surrounding polluted lakes in the Sierra, and across the country.
The 2022 Emmys is clearly taking the criticism about award show length seriously.

Between a scattershot monologue and limiting themselves to just two Netflix roasts, the organizers of the show seem to have prioritized brevity above all else.

After a charming introduction by the cast of "Only Murders in the Building," John Oliver stepped onstage to accept the award for best variety talk series.

Oliver's weekly news show digs deep into the news topics, often with a Bay Area focus. He's recently done segments on a local AI imaging company, PG&E and homelessness.

In his acceptance speech, he spoke of the thrill of meeting Steve Martin and Martin Short for the first time, and expressed appreciation towards his staff, as well as his wife. After the boilerplate thank yous, Oliver started speaking about the creative freedom that HBO allowed him on his show.

"Thank you to HBO as well. We know how lucky we are to get to make the exact show that we want, exactly how we want to make it. Whether that's making a Korean subway drama, or blackmailing congress over data brokers, or staging an elaborate cabbage wedding. We know how luck we are..."

"It's saying 'stop now' in big letters. I don't know if that's this speech, or in general, but either way it's a fair point. Thank you so much."

It was only roughly 45 seconds into his speech that Oliver was cut off.
WFO LAS VEGAS Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, September 12, 2022

_____

FLASH FLOOD WARNING

The National Weather Service in Las Vegas has issued a

* Flash Flood Warning for...

Southeastern Inyo County in south central California...

* Until 830 PM PDT.

* At 525 PM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing

heavy rain across the area south of Death Valley Junction. Between

0.75 and 1.5 inches of rain have fallen. Flash flooding is ongoing

or expected to begin shortly on SR127 between Death Valley

Junction and Shoshone.

HAZARD...Life-threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms

producing flash flooding.

SOURCE...Radar.

IMPACT...Life-threatening flash flooding of low-water

crossings, normally dry washes and roads.

* Some locations that will experience flash flooding include...

SR127 and Shoshone

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 Monday, September 12, 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 745 PM PDT.

* At 443 PM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing

heavy rain across the warned area. Between 0.5 and 0.75 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...

Riverside, San Bernardino, Moreno Valley, Rialto, Redlands,

Yucaipa, Perris, Highland, Colton and western Beaumont.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO NEW YORK CITY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 13, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Upton NY has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Central Fairfield County in southern Connecticut...

Northwestern New Haven County in southern Connecticut...

* Until 630 PM EDT.

* At 537 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Trumbull, or

8 miles south of Newtown, moving northeast at 30 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Minor hail damage to vehicles is possible. Expect wind

damage to trees and power lines.

* This severe thunderstorm will be near...

Shelton and Monroe around 555 PM EDT.

Derby around 600 PM EDT.

Seymour and Orange around 605 PM EDT.

Naugatuck and Beacon Falls around 615 PM EDT.

Hamden and Prospect around 620 PM EDT.

Cheshire and North Haven around 625 PM EDT.

Wallingford and North Branford around 630 PM EDT.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

This thunderstorm is capable of producing all types of severe weather

including extremely large hail, destructive straight line winds and

tornadoes. Move quickly to a safe shelter such as an interior room, a

bathroom, closet or basement.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO ALBANY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 13, 2022

_____

AREAL FLOOD ADVISORY

Flood Advisory

National Weather Service Albany NY

254 PM EDT Tue Sep 13 2022

...FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EDT THIS EVENING...

* WHAT...Urban and small stream flooding caused by excessive

rainfall is expected.

* WHERE...A portion of east central New York, including the

following counties, Albany, Rensselaer and Washington.

* WHEN...Until 600 PM EDT.

* IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas.

Ponding of water in urban or other areas is occurring or is

imminent.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...

- At 254 PM EDT, Doppler radar indicated heavy rain due to

thunderstorms. This will cause urban and small stream

flooding. Overflowing poor drainage areas will cause minor

flooding in the advisory area. Between 1 and 2 inches of rain

have fallen.

- Additional rainfall amounts up to 1.5 inches are expected

over the area. This additional rain will result in minor

flooding.

- Some locations that will experience flooding include...

Albany, Troy, East Greenbush, Cohoes, Watervliet, Rensselaer,

Salem, Latham, Delmar, Menands, Voorheesville, Green Island,

Waterford, Cambridge, Greenwich, Castleton-On-Hudson, Center

Brunswick, Wyantskill, Wynantskill and West Sand Lake.

- http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood

deaths occur in vehicles.

Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads.

The National Weather Service in Albany has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southern Washington County in east central New York...

* Until 400 PM EDT.

* At 255 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Greenwich, or

12 miles southwest of Salem, moving northeast at 20 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage

to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Salem, Cambridge, Greenwich, Porter, White Creek, Cossayuna,

Braymer School, Battenville, Center Falls, East Hebron, Rexleigh,

Tiplady, Middle Falls, Eagleville, Anaquassacook, Fitch Point, Bald

Mountain, Ash Grove, Shushan and Clarks Mills.

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

Please report hail size...damaging winds and reports of trees down to

the National Weather Service by email at Alb.Stormreport@noaa.gov...

On Facebook at www.facebook.com/nwsalbany or twitter @nwsalbany

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO ALBANY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 13, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

Severe Weather Statement

National Weather Service Albany NY

326 PM EDT Tue Sep 13 2022

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHEASTERN ALBANY AND

SOUTHEASTERN SARATOGA COUNTIES IS CANCELLED...

The severe thunderstorm which prompted the warning has moved out of

the warned area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 345 PM EDT

FOR SOUTHWESTERN WASHINGTON AND NORTHEASTERN RENSSELAER COUNTIES...

At 325 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Hoosick Falls,

moving northeast at 30 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to

roofs, siding, and trees.

Locations impacted include...

Hoosick Falls, Hoosick, Lee, Schuylerville, Center White Creek,

Hoosick Junction, West Cambridge, Post Corners, East Hoosick,

Johnsonville, East Buskirk, Eagle Bridge, North Cambridge, Fly

Summit, East Pittstown, Clarks Mills, Millertown, Southwest Hoosick,

Archdale and Potter Hill.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southeastern

Wyoming, Livingston, northeastern Allegany and western Ontario

Counties through 430 PM EDT...

At 329 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near

Portageville and moving northeast at 30 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects.

Dansville, Letchworth State Park, Mount Morris, Conesus, Lima,

Naples, Portageville, Honeoye, Hemlock, Groveland, West Bloomfield,

Springwater, Canadice, Livonia, Nunda, Ossian, Canaseraga, Ossian

Center, Swain and Hunt.

This includes Interstate 390 between exits 4 and 7.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

Torrential rainfall is also occurring with this storm and may lead to

localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded

roadways.

Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.

Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe

shelter inside a building or vehicle.

This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio

stations and available television stations for additional information

and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.

LAT...LON 4256 7809 4295 7754 4294 7748 4299 7748

4258 7737 4258 7766 4253 7766 4253 7772

4244 7773 4240 7795

TIME...MOT...LOC 1929Z 229DEG 28KT 4252 7795

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO ALBANY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 13, 2022

_____

AREAL FLOOD ADVISORY

Flood Advisory

National Weather Service Albany NY

408 PM EDT Tue Sep 13 2022

...FLOOD ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EDT THIS EVENING...

* WHAT...Urban and small stream flooding caused by excessive

rainfall continues.

* WHERE...A portion of east central New York, including the

following counties, Albany, Rensselaer and Washington.

* WHEN...Until 600 PM EDT.

* IMPACTS...Minor flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas.

Ponding of water in urban or other areas is occurring or is

imminent.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...

- At 408 PM EDT, Doppler radar and automated rain gauges

indicated heavy rain due to thunderstorms. This will cause

urban and small stream flooding. Overflowing poor drainage

areas will cause minor flooding in the advisory area. Between

1 and 2 inches of rain have fallen.

- Additional rainfall amounts up to 1.5 inches are expected

over the area. This additional rain will result in minor

flooding.

- Some locations that will experience flooding include...

Albany, Troy, East Greenbush, Cohoes, Watervliet, Rensselaer,

Salem, Latham, Delmar, Menands, Voorheesville, Green Island,

Waterford, Cambridge, Greenwich, Castleton-On-Hudson, Center

Brunswick, Wyantskill, Wynantskill and West Sand Lake.

- http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

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.

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of eastern Ulster,

northern Dutchess, southwestern Columbia and southeastern Greene

Counties through 500 PM EDT...

At 408 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over

Lake Katrine, or near Kingston, moving northeast at 45 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and pea size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Locations impacted include...

Kingston, New Paltz, Hudson, Catskill, Saugerties, Rhinebeck, Hyde

Park, Hurley, Claverack, Woodstock, Livingston, Copake, Highland,

Pine Plains, Clermont, Red Hook, Athens, Ancram, Philmont and High

Falls.

This includes Interstate 87 between exits 18 and 20.

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

Torrential rainfall is also occurring with this storm and may lead to

localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded

roadways.

Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.

Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe

shelter inside a building or vehicle.

This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio

stations and available television stations for additional information

and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.

LAT...LON 4165 7421 4201 7426 4210 7410 4210 7408

4212 7407 4236 7362 4212 7349 4208 7351

4205 7349 4200 7349 4178 7383

TIME...MOT...LOC 2008Z 228DEG 41KT 4198 7404

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.25 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO ALBANY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 13, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Albany has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southern Berkshire County in western Massachusetts...

Southeastern Columbia County in east central New York...

* Until 600 PM EDT.

* At 504 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Copake, or 8

miles southwest of Great Barrington, moving east at 35 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and nickel size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Great Barrington, Lee, Copake, Sheffield, Becket, Otis,

Sandisfield, Housatonic, Ashley Falls, Hillsdale, New Marlborough,

Monterey, Alford, Tyringham, Ancramdale, Hartsville, Konkapot,

Gomorrah, Montville and Alander.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Large hail and damaging winds and continuous cloud to ground

lightning is occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately.

Lightning is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can

hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

Please report hail size...damaging winds and reports of trees down to

the National Weather Service by email at Alb.Stormreport@noaa.gov...

On Facebook at www.facebook.com/nwsalbany or twitter @nwsalbany

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BINGHAMTON Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 13, 2022

_____

FLASH FLOOD WARNING

The National Weather Service in Binghamton has issued a

* Flash Flood Warning for...

Central Steuben County in central New York...

* Until 1230 AM EDT.

* At 928 PM EDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing

heavy rain across the warned area. Between 1.5 and 2 inches of

rain has already 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...

Avoca, Kanona, West Cameron and Wheeler.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Move to higher ground now. Act quickly to protect your life.

Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the

dangers of flooding.

Please report observed flooding to local emergency services or law

enforcement and request they pass this information to the National

Weather Service when you can do so safely.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO BINGHAMTON Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 13, 2022

_____

AREAL FLOOD ADVISORY

Flood Advisory

National Weather Service Binghamton NY

427 AM EDT Tue Sep 13 2022

...FLOOD ADVISORY WILL EXPIRE AT 430 AM EDT EARLY THIS MORNING...

The Flood Advisory will expire at 430 AM EDT early this morning for

a portion of central New York, including the following county,

Steuben.

The heavy rain has ended. Flooding is no longer expected to pose a

threat. Please continue to heed remaining road closures.

The National Weather Service in Upton has issued a

* Flash Flood Warning for...

Hudson County in northeastern New Jersey...

Bronx County in southeastern New York...

Kings (Brooklyn) County in southeastern New York...

New York (Manhattan) County in southeastern New York...

Queens County in southeastern New York...

Richmond (Staten Island) County in southeastern New York...

* Until 730 AM EDT.

* At 429 AM EDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing

heavy rain across the warned area. Between 1 and 2.5 inches of

rain have already fallen, and another 1 to 2 inches of rain are

possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected

to begin shortly.

HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms.

SOURCE...Radar.

IMPACT...Flash flooding urban areas, highways, streets and

underpasses as well as other poor drainage and low

lying areas.

* Some locations that will experience flash flooding include...

Jersey City, Flatbush, Flushing, Bayonne, Mott Haven, Hoboken,

East Tremont, Coney Island, Todt Hill, Crown Heights, Midtown

Manhattan, RFK Bridge, Laguardia Airport, The Verrazano Narrows

Bridge, Throgs Neck Bridge, Harlem, Jackson Heights, Forest Hills,

Canarsie and Bay Ridge.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Excessive runoff from heavy rainfall will cause flooding of urban

areas, highways, streets and underpasses as well as other drainage

areas and low lying spots.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO NEW YORK CITY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 13, 2022

_____

FLASH FLOOD WARNING

The National Weather Service in Upton has issued a

* Flash Flood Warning for...

Northern Nassau County in southeastern New York...

Queens County in southeastern New York...

* Until 830 AM EDT.

* At 521 AM EDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing

heavy rain across the warned area. Between 1.5 and 2.5 inches of

rain have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches are

possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected

to begin shortly.

HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms.

SOURCE...Radar.

IMPACT...Flash flooding of small creeks and streams, urban

areas, highways, streets and underpasses as well as

other poor drainage and low-lying areas.

* Some locations that will experience flash flooding include...

Glen Cove, Mineola, Great Neck, Oyster Bay, Bayside, Port

Washington, Manhasset, Bayville, Brookville, Sands Point, Little

Neck, New Hyde Park, East Hills, Roslyn Heights, Manorhaven, Kings

Point, Sea Cliff, Searingtown, Glen Head and Old Westbury.

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.

Please report observed flooding to local emergency services or law

enforcement and request they pass this information to the National

Weather Service when you can do so safely.

...FLOOD ADVISORY IS CANCELLED...

The heavy rain has ended. Flooding is no longer expected to pose a

threat.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO NEW YORK CITY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 13, 2022

_____

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

Special Weather Statement

National Weather Service New York NY

456 PM EDT Tue Sep 13 2022

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southern Fairfield

and northern Westchester Counties through 530 PM EDT...

At 456 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near

Bedford, or near Mount Kisco, moving northeast at 25 mph.

HAZARD...Winds in excess of 40 mph and half inch hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around

unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is

possible.

Locations impacted include...

Stamford, Norwalk, New Canaan, Mount Kisco, Greenwich, Westport,

Ridgefield, Darien, Wilton, Weston, Redding, Bedford, Georgetown and

Armonk.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

LAT...LON 4117 7332 4103 7363 4117 7378 4137 7355

4136 7354

TIME...MOT...LOC 2056Z 232DEG 21KT 4115 7363

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN

MAX WIND GUST...40 MPH

...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southern Berkshire

and southeastern Columbia Counties through 545 PM EDT...

At 457 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near

Copake, or 12 miles west of Great Barrington, moving northeast at 35

mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 50 mph and pea size hail.

Pittsfield, Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Copake, Sheffield, Becket,

Ancram, Housatonic, Dalton, Hinsdale, Stockbridge, Hillsdale,

Taghkanic, West Stockbridge, Monterey, Washington, Alford, Tyringham

and Ancramdale.

Torrential rainfall is also occurring with this storm and may lead to

localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded

roadways.

Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.

Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe

shelter inside a building or vehicle.

This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio

stations and available television stations for additional information

and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.

LAT...LON 4224 7301 4205 7349 4205 7352 4204 7352

4199 7364 4216 7375 4250 7312 4238 7302

4239 7306 4237 7307 4233 7306 4231 7303

4231 7300 4225 7300

TIME...MOT...LOC 2057Z 238DEG 31KT 4213 7359

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.25 IN

MAX WIND GUST...50 MPH

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO EL PASO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, September 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 900 PM MDT.

* At 732 PM MDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing

heavy rain across the warned area. Between 1 and 1.5 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...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...

Central El Paso, East El Paso and Mission Valley.

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.

Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
WFO MIDLAND/ODESSA Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 13, 2022

_____

FLASH FLOOD WARNING

The National Weather Service in Midland/Odessa has issued a

* Flash Flood Warning for...

Central Jeff Davis County in southwestern Texas...

* Until 515 PM CDT.

* At 309 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing

heavy rain across the warned area. Between 1 and 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...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...

Bloys Camp and Buffalo Trail Scout Camp.

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.

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
As per the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS 2019-21), India has 1,020 females per 1,000 males. For the first time in history, the data has surprised the nation. Let's delve into the data to understand the more significant implications of such a skew towards women in the sex ratio.

Surprising survey result

Caution is applicable while analyzing the latest sex ratio number. Well, the projected population of the nation was 1.29 billion in 2016. If the sex ratio were to be 991, as predicted by NFHS 2015-16, the population would then have constituted 643 million women and 649 million men.

For an anticipated population of 1.36 billion in 2021, with a sex ratio of 1,020, there would be 688 million women and 675 million men. Such a break-up leads to the possibility of a near-double rise in the population of women against that of men in the last five years (45 million women vis-a-vis 26 million men). Indeed the difference appears enormous, even after considering differing death rates of the sexes.

Comparison between NFHS and census data

NFHS, a large-scale survey, has covered roughly 650,000 households in the latest round across states. It has consistently overestimated the sex ratio compared with population census.

In 2005-06, NFHS considered the sex ratio at 1:1, whereas census 2011 exhibited it as 943 females per 1,000 males. After demonstrating progress between 1998-99 and 2005-06, NFHS estimate dropped again in 2015-16. The good news is that census data has revealed a steady rise in the sex ratio for the last three decades. Population experts suggest that covid-related migrant flows may have influenced NFHS findings.

Jashodhara Dasgupta, a sex ratio expert said that census figures were more reliable than NFHS. That is because the entire population of the country was counted during a census and the sex ratio was then calculated on the total number. NFHS counts only certain women, who belong to specific demographic categories. There is a bias in it. Just look at the state figures where the sample size is too small. We will have to wait for the next census figures to get a clearer picture, she said.

A novel scenario of the regional divide

As many as 30 out of 36 states and Union territories witnessed improved sex ratios from 2015-16; 23 states reported sex ratios greater than 1,000 in the latest NFHS study. Regardless of this remarkable progress, there is a significant regional disparity as affirmed historically, with southern states being the leaders and north-western states being the laggards.

Impact of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao policy

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) was initiated in 2015 to enhance the declining child sex ratio (CSR)girls per 1,000 boys in 0-6 years. Sex ratio at birth (SRB) demonstrated by NFHS can be an imperfect proxy for CSR. Amongst the states with low SRB, Delhi (812 to 923), Haryana (836 to 893), and Punjab (860 to 904) appeared noticeable improvements, whereas Rajasthan (887 to 891) stood still in the last five years. These states also had a more significant representation in the districts envisioned under the first and second phases of BBBP (2015-17).

The expectation of more women in the workforce

Unfortunately, India has fallen on the labor force participation rate (LFPR) of females above 15 years despite an improving sex ratio over the last two decades. As per World Bank data, from 38% in 2001, LFPR of females has fallen to 26% in 2020, and it fares poorly against 78% LFPR of males in India. A significant reason behind the gap is a higher participation rate for Indian women than for men in unpaid domestic duties. For India to get rid of its "Missing Women" tag, it must invest in policies to assure women are not missing in the workforce.

Poonam Muttreja, the executive director of the Population Foundation of India, stated, It is heartening to see the improvements in the overall sex ratio. It reflects the strides that the country has made towards gender equality and womens empowerment.

With greater access to literacy and education, the aspirations of women are fast changing, added Muttreja. Girls are asserting themselves and taking charge of their lives, and will play a critical role in the growth and development of the country in the future. (Source: The Guardian).

The data results from a combination of increased life expectancy of women and improvement in the sex ratio at birth or the number of female births for every 1,000 male births. However, there is a doubt that India will experience a fall in its population. Currently, the second largest in the world, for another 30 or 40 years, in part because more than 30% are between the ages of 10 and 30 and are anticipated to have children over the next two decades.

Considering the picture, the nation might be leading towards the significant accomplishment of womens empowerment. It means the nation needs to revise multiple policies as per the sex ratio, such as reservation seats in educational or many other sectors.

Pertaining to history, any new idea takes some time to be accepted or followed from the very ground level. Dont you think it might be the same in this case too? Even though the so-called era of women is at the forefront, several women are still facing the same insecurities and in-equalities, just because of the strongly embedded thoughts of patriarchy in the society.

Hence, the nation is looking for answers of not-generally asked questions. Such as, what would be the upcoming policies of the government to overcome the insecurities from the core of society? How would it be executed and implemented? And how long will it take to accept the requirement of equal opportunities among the population?
Cloud computing has and will continue to provide businesses with the flexibility and efficiencies they require to grow and meet the needs of all users. It provides the infrastructure, software, and platforms required to meet the needs of all types of organisations. In a recent conversation with the Editor of Siliconindia, Srikanth Doranadula, Vice President - Hybrid Cloud Systems, Oracle India, shared his thoughts on how hybrid cloud can improve an organization's flexibility and efficiency.

What are the hybrid cloud trends currently?

Digital transformation has now become an imperative across organisations and sectors to a point that businesses have had to shift their focus entirely from traditional IT setup to ensure business resilience. During this transformation, businesses with a well thought-over cloud strategy have been able to fully leverage its benefits at the earliest. For some, this strategy may include a multicloud environment to run different workloads on different cloud and avoid vendor lock-in, for others it maybe to leverage a single public cloud vendor to enjoy the benefits across board and for the rest of them it maybe a hybrid cloud environment where they are able to ensure data sovereignty and security along with resolving data latency requirements.

At the pace with which organisations are accepting a hybrid cloud environment currently goes to indicate how well this will eventually grow. To support this, market researches suggest that hybrid cloud market will reach nearly USD 97.6 billion by 2023.We too have witnessed a similar trend where our customers are gradually aligning their cloud strategies to leverage the hybrid cloud environment via our innovative offerings. Many organisations are also planning of taking on the hybrid cloud route to initially understand the nuances of cloud and then fully invest into it. Any cloud reluctant organisation can start their cloud journey by having some of their data on premise and rest of it on cloud.

Another significant trend isopen hybrid cloud solutions helping to do away with vendor lock-ins. We are witnessing more acceptance towards open hybrid cloud which means to combine open source and open governance with the hybrid cloud model. Organisations aim to build once and deploy it anywhere that they want to between any clouds.

The approach adopted by each organisation continues to be varied, depending on factors like, segment/markets that they operate on, criticality the applications, data sovereignty etc. The trend of Hybrid cloud will continue to stay for some more time.

Cloud computing has created a new day for IT firms, commerce and corporate house, etc. How do hybrid cloud systems enhance the flexibility and efficiency within an enterprise?

As businesses move on from their on-premises traditional way of approaching IT, they are able to gradually move into the cloud world with a hybrid cloud approach. Amongst its many benefits, the top one remains that organisations are able to create a specific hybrid cloud strategy customised to their needs. Additionally, organisations are also able to maintain unmatched flexibility by carefully and systematically segmenting data and configuring it between on premise and cloud. This also ensures that maximum control remains with the organisation and they are able to ensure data residency.

Hybrid cloud also ensures utmost security of data considering data can be deeply scanned to understand its risk tolerance and basis that only the most sensitive data can be kept on-prem. While an evolved and responsible public cloud vendor usually offers unmatched security however given various compliance and regulatory issues, hybrid cloud can be an option to manage innovation.Organisations can also ensure efficiency by leveraging hybrid cloud considering it give IT leaders a sense of what a complete cloud environment maybe like without diving into it entirely. Additionally, hybrid cloud is a significant way to control IT budgets and save on IT CAPEX to leverage a pay-per-use low cost OPEX.

Commenting specifically on flexibility, a lot of applications require different compute power/capacity at different times.For example the load on payment gateways during a popular sporting contest, or a festive season as against a regular normal working day is substantially high.The customer experiences is the key during these time and with Hybrid Cloud the companies can ensure the same seamless experience for the customer, without additional Capex thus reducing longterm investments and increasing efficiency. Same applies to Devops environment, or even for a start up who wants to run it all on the cloud without initial investments. A phase wise approach in the cloud is possible giving organisations the flexibility to make their digital transformation over a period of time at the same time increase efficiency, innovation and provide an excellent customer experience at the same time.

What are the industries that can benefit from hybrid cloud offerings?

While hybrid cloud as an offering is open to all however it can become an ideal option for government, defense, and intelligence with data sovereignty and high security needs. Additionally, even beyond these, we truly believe that any business in the regulated space including BFSI or telecom can easily leverage hybrid cloud to enjoy the benefits of a cloud solution and adhere to their regulations. We also motivate manylate adopter of cloud in any sector to understand the cloud world in a phase wise manner with hybrid cloud and truly map out what cloud related aspects bring them the maximum benefits.

At Oracle too, we have a very diverse portfolio of clients leveraging our hybrid cloud offering - the OCI Dedicated Region, including Nomura Research Institute (NRI), Australian Data Centers, Vodafone, and NEOM. These businesses run critical workloads while retaining data and service control.

What are the anticipated challenges of adopting hybrid cloud systems? How can the organisations navigate these challenges?

Every IT setup will have some challenges for different organisations. For examples, with on-premise, some customers may find it difficult to maintain hardware and with cloud networking, some customers may witness high resource process related latency issues. Hybrid cloud too has certain set of challenges which could be migration complexity for some organisations which are new to cloud and are not leveraging the right cloud provider. The it could also be ensuring proper utilization of a hybrid cloud environment and ensuring return on investment. Another challenge for some of the organisation is in avoiding errors in managing compliances. However all of these challenges can be easily managed if a responsible cloud provider like Oracle takes the duty of ensuring a smooth cloud journey for its customer.

Additionally, another key aspect in managing hybrid cloud systems is finding the right cloud managing resource. It is important for cloud reliant organisation to have expert IT teams. Cloud providers can extend support here as well and offer training and certification in understanding their cloud offerings. At Oracle too, we offer, OCI training and free certification via Oracle academy to empower our customers.

How is Hybrid cloud market anticipated to be in the coming years?

As businesses and technology become one, organisations will experiment with various cloud environments to find the right fit for their goals. Considering hybrid cloud is already gaining momentum across sectors, we foresee a significant rise in its acceptance as businesses learn the value it brings. Beyond superior cloud economics, businesses also get abundance of choice and agility to ensure business resilience which is the need of the hour. Cloud strategies around hybrid cloud will especially rise as organisations entering cloud will take this as the first phase of their digitization journey. We also foresee more and more regulated organsiation to accept cloud and take this route for their innovation and business led advancements.
The discussions encompassing technology will only increase, thanks to the real-world applications that it brings about. In a recent interaction with the editor of siliconindia, Dr. Rama Jayanti, Center Head and VP R&D, SAS India, shared her insights about the importance of R&D in software product development. Dr. Jayanti also emphasized the future of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in business management.

Research and development are undoubtedly significant for growing today's business. Please tell us how are R&D efforts aligned with corporate goals in developing software products?

Research and development (R&D) is essential for the short-term and the long-term growth of an organization. The two limbsR that represents research and D that represents developmentare essential to ensure the success of any company. Research focuses on elevating the leadership position in the market, whereas development focuses on delivering outcomes. These outcomes are majorly driven by research, customers, partners and market.

R&D is the main engine that propels businesses to gain and maintain a competitive edge. In an increasingly competitive global marketplace, the impact of competition cannot be ignored or undervalued.

Developing new products and services innovatively not only underscores the success of R&D but is essential for ensuring leadership and relevancy in the market.In addition, R&D through on-going process improvements drive long-term productivity and profitability.

R&D promotes employee engagement and boosts employee morale by investing in cutting-edge technologies and innovation. Instead of working on the same procedures, processes, and methods, R&D challenges employees to constantly learn and grow.

R&D is also essential for analyzing market trends and identifying customer requirements. Applied research is invaluable for developing new products and improving existing products in accordance with customer requirements.

Tell us how R&D assists in unlocking the potential to improve software reliability.

Software or technology is an enabler for most enterprises. It drives their strategic imperatives. Hence, it is essential that in addition to being capable of solving customer-specific business problems, software products are maintainable, reliable, performant, and scalable.

Designing and building systems that can operate at scale is an essential part of the R&D delivery process. Ensuring that software systems and sub-systems support customers non-functional requirements is an integral part of the software development life cycle. In addition to functional testing, the R&D teams perform other types of testing. For example, they also test the product for performance, scalability, security, resilience, deployment, and chaos. These aspects are incorporated all the way starting from the design phase to the testing phase, and then finally during the product release.

How is AI and ML positioned to deliver radical improvements to businesses worldwide?

AI has been around since the 1950s, but it is really finding its place in mainstream applications because of the explosion in data volume of the Internet of Things (IoT), high-speed connectivity, and high-performance computing. Today, AI uses a variety of statistical and computational techniques. Machine learning (ML), a subset of AI, identifies patterns and anomalies in data from smart sensors and devices, without being explicitly programmed where to look. Over time, machine-learning algorithms learn how to deliver more accurate results. As such, ML outperforms traditional business intelligence tools and makes operational predictions many times faster and more accurate than the systems that are based on rules, thresholds, or schedules. Technologies such as natural language processing, computer vision, deep learning, and ML in time-tested forecasting or optimization make AI an essential complement to not just IoT but business domains such has retail, health care, and logistics. AI separates signal from noise and induces the usage of advanced IoT devices that can learn from their interactions with users, service providers, and other devices in the ecosystem. The real value of IoT is achieved when devices learn from their specific use or from each other and then automate actions.

AI and ML introduced unprecedented possibilities, especially for business. Tell us how leveraging them can give companies a competitive edge?

I think COVID is a great example. Given the gravity of the pandemic, speed was essential to ensure timely and focused intervention. Governments across the world relied on data and analytics to predict how the pandemic will evolve and made attempts to contain, gear up and provide support to people. Another related example is that of public safety and emergency where several state governments in India have used technolgy such as SASAnalytics to help them make the right decisions to contain the pandemic. The government of Odisha is one such example.

Business in the space of supply chain, logistics, and retail use AI and ML very effectively. The power of forecasting by using AI and ML technologies enables larger retailers to manage their inventory efficiently, thereby reducing waste and cost without compromising on customers demands.

How are AI and ML helping businesses expand their horizons?

As AI continues to move into the mainstream, companies are combining AI and big data to design products that enable enterprises to be nimble and respond promptly to the changing market needs. One of the biggest benefits of AI technology is to take over mundane, administrative, and low-involvement tasks, and enable organizations to focus on strategic initiatives. For example, insurance and banking organizations use the power of AIto detect and prevent fraud. Similarly, retail companies use the power of AI to forecast demand and optimize inventory. In the manufacturing space, with the notion of smart manufacturing, smart and connected technologies are being embedded in organizations and assets, and moreover in people in the case of wearable devices. These technologies are taking advantage of the emerging capabilities from robotics and AI to quantum computing, additive manufacturing, and IoT.
Technological developments in the energy sector have been and will continue to redefine the way we create and consume energy. In a recent conversation with the Editor of Silicon India, Syed Sajjadh Ali, Managing Director - India, Electrical Sector, Eaton shared their insights on the impact driven by technology & emerging trends that would improve the efficiency of the energy sector.

1. How do emerging trends improve the efficiency of the energy sector?

There are a number of technology trends in the industry in general, particularly in the power industry. We work across the electrical value chain, delivering by-products and services to ensure secure and safe distribution and delivery of quality electricity to the point of use in an optimised fashion. The addition of renewable energy and local storage capacity and its impact on energy delivery are some of the key concerns facing the industry. The energy industry is transitioning to a different kind of world with the addition of electric vehicles as well.

The second trend is digitalisation, that is, a combination of internet of things and the capability to leverage information and assets. To optimise energy and achieve efficiency, it is important to leverage information, digitalisation. This is where I think the industry is going next to solve some real challenging problems focused on sustainability. A key challenge associated with digitalisation is cybersecurity, which requires making products and services safe and secure.

The third trend we are seeing is the change in the business model itself. Consumers are producing more power locally in communities, and they have essentially become prosumers. They produce and consume and that is a whole new dynamic for the industry to cope with around the world. This will change how we perceive and optimise power. So, the whole concept of prosumers is very relevant and real, particularly in India, which will have 40 per cent renewables over time.

2. What is the role of technology in shaping the future of the energy industry?

Technological developments in the energy sector have been and will continue to redefine the way we create and consume energy. Off-late the emergence of Lithium-ion batteries and affordable sensors and software have shaped many industries like E-mobility and Data centers.We are in the midst of a significant transformation - the digital transformation of manufacturing. The 4th industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0, is the automation of traditional manufacturing practices using digital technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, additive manufacturing, factory simulation and augmented and virtual reality. Manufacturing models are becoming autonomous and using algorithms and machine learning to become smart.

By leveraging Industry 4.0 technology, we are significantly improving our manufacturing operations and adding value for our customers creating and developing systems and processes that are connected, flexible and optimized. Innovative, scalable, and data-driven manufacturing models are resulting in higher product quality, decreased time-to-market, reduced environmental footprint and a safer and more productive workforce.

3. What is the impact of technology in power sector?

The pandemic has accelerated digitalisation timelines for many businesses. At the same time, growing awareness of the environmental impact has placed energy transition at the forefront of many governments and businesses agendas. It is imperative they leverage relevant technologies that can help them navigate the challenges and harness growth opportunities. While the state of digital maturity, renewable energy and grid stability varies across Asia, organisations can and should start assessing their current operations to identify gaps and opportunities to deploy smart digital solutions. Microgrids could be the solution to overcoming common power challenges for many Southeast Asian countries where a large number of communities either dont have access to the grid or grid availability is poor. Thereare self-sufficient and reliable power solutions which can integrate multiple distributed power generation sources such as wind and solar on a common grid structure. There are also other back-up strategies such as lithium-ion batteries and Uninterruptible Power Supply solutions. These often utilise IoT and cloud tools to provide intelligent 24/7 monitoring. Such critical power solutions can provision constant power even under the most adverse environmental conditions when paired with predictive analytics tools. As more adopt connected digital solutions, they should ensure their infrastructure is regularly assessed by experts, patched and updated to mitigate cyber security risksthat come with digitalisation. A thorough assessment of existing infrastructure before deploying new systems or tools is necessary to better identify potential cyber security loopholes. An often-overlooked area is the operational technology (OT) environment. This includes devices and systems which form part of the physical infrastructure such as building and power management. Organisations need to account for both IT and OT environments when performing cyber security audits to understand the overall health of their security capabilities. Organisations should work with technology partners when it comes to deploying new solutions. Connected devices and IoT should also always be manufactured with a secure by design approach to aid infrastructure owners in managing cyber security risks.

4. How is the energy sector affected by climate changes? / What are the challenges facing the energy sector due to climate changes?

We live in an energized world that depends on safe, reliable, always-on electricity. This ever-increasing demand for energy has a growing impact on climate change. As communities around the world look to maintain and modernize their aging utility infrastructure, and homeowners look to better manage and control energy costs, it is critical to find ways that we can help the grid to be more responsive, intelligent, and efficientwhile making the most of renewable resources.Extreme climate events lead to grid in-stability and loss of grid infrastructure. Climate change has increased the frequency of extreme climate events across the globe.

The world is calling for nations and businesses to work together to address global climate change. Human-induced climate change has wrought observable impacts to people, infrastructure, and ecosystems, including increases in global temperatures, more frequent heatwaves, extreme precipitation in some regions and droughts in others. We all should be committed to doing our part in the global response to the threat of climate change and to advance sustainable development.

5. What is the innovation of technology in the energy sector?

Energy transition is an increasingly used industry term that covers three related macro trends, the one we talked least about is the increasing electrification of buildings and transport that means moving from other sources of primary energy to electricity. For example, cars that move from using petroleum to being plugged in and using electricity, and the same thing is happening in building systems as well. Functions like heating and cooking are moving from natural gas to electricity.

The second part of the energy transition definition is that within electricity, we see a major shift in the fuel source that create that electricity from coal and natural gas to renewables such as solar and wind.

And then finally, the structure of electricity generation is changing with a dramatic rise in distributed energy resources.

6. What is the vital role of emerging trends in the energy sector? How does these trends help in energy sector development?

Few trends that will impact Indian power sector are:

Technology: While the sector has been undergoing an overhaul over the last few years, the coronavirus pandemic underscored the need of accelerated technological upgradation. Going forward, the focus on implementation of smart technologies like an evolved grid system, smart metering, digital asset management will help transform the seemingly traditional, manpower-heavy sector into a smarter, more efficient power system with each element in the value chain re-imagining their processes and streamlining infrastructure.

Green Energy: Renewable energy is expected to form 70% of fresh capacity expansion expected over the next 5 years. This would help achieve Indias commitment to increase renewable share in total generation to 40% by fiscal 2030 from current 25% as part of the Paris climate deal.

Transmission: Going forward, significant development in the transmission sector would be triggered by the aggressive renewable expansion plans. Large scale grid connected solar and wind plants are usually located in the far-flung areas, where there is limited existing transmission infrastructure. Renewable power generating companies have urged for adequate grid availability in the past. This will urgently need an expansion of grid connectivity in the next two years to be able to accomplish the renewable energy target.
Remember when the internet was limited and we used to see banners, posters, and big hoardings from our favourite brands that used to amaze us and make us want to buy their products? Have you ever wondered why they spent so much money on branding and marketing back then? No, right? Thats because the internet was not as popular back then as it is now. As the internet evolved, we witnessed numerous changes, such as remember the days when you were a child and created your first orkut or Facebook account, you uploaded your picture & wanted to be strongly recognized by your group of friends. Thats the power social media has.

Things have changed dramatically since then! Two ridiculous reasons would be the invention of smart phones and the cheapening of the internet. People began to experiment with and purchase products from certain companies while sitting at home. The impact of the internet and the invention of gadgets has not only aided people but has also aided organisations in their operations. As a result, some organisations have begun their advertising and marketing processes online. Some businesses use their social media marketing strategy to increase the value of their brand online.

Enough with the banners and posters; if 5.03 billion people today use social media, which is completely free, these big brands began showing appealing ads on such sites in order to grab their customers. Have you ever wondered why we get ads from companies whose products you have searched for while watching a YouTube video? Have you ever wondered why they make such a short 0:15 second video or poster ad that you want to stop the video and click on it for a second? That is what is meant by fully utilising social media for name, fame, and marketing purposes. But this is only half of what we know so far. However, the question of why businesses are increasing their investments in social media remains unanswered.

Why Business are investing more on Social Media as Consumer Usage rises?

Ever wondered about this question? What power does social media have that has enticed some major brands that previously relied on traditional methods of creative marketing and brand advertisement? Have these companies found social media useful? Isn't that correct?& have you ever wondered how start-ups like Bjyus and Licious managed to deliver their expertise and attract customers in such a way that they became unicorns in such a short period of time?This is because, in addition to doing business, they devised strategies to capture consumer ideologies and implemented them in creative marketing rather than just doing business, as you may have noticed.

How many times have you seen these brands' ads on social media? Social media algorithms work in such a way that every time you search for something you need, the company selling that particular product appears on your screen.

So, how's it going? Are businesses utilising your social media data?

Basically, most businesses create social media accounts in order to increase brand awareness. People visit these sites and use their social media platforms to express their feelings about the brand or its products and services.

Social Media & Firm Performance

Using cyberspace and web-technology has become a common practise in all businesses in recent decades. Organizations can contact their clients via the Internet at any time and from any location. The term "social media" refers to "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content."

Today, social media encompasses a wide range of online applications, including social networking sites (SNSs), blogs, forums, microblogs, photo and video sharing, product/service reviews, evaluation communities, and social gambling.

Social media and its capabilities in expanding the interconnectivity between businesses

Individuals can use social media to share information and create content more easily. People use various online networks to share their experiences and interact with other users, such as Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, Twitter, Instagram, TripAdvisor, online forums, ratings, and review forums. Indeed, social media attracts information seekers to obtain information about the product/service that they intend to purchase, which leads to an increase in consumer purchasing intentions.

On the other hand, social media as a communication channel help firms to accomplish different organizational objectives including marketing, PR, advertising, branding, customer service, human resources and problem solving. Accordingly, social media have been considered as an effective platform for enterprises to connect with large number of potential customers in order to spread their business information about their businesses.

The development of online communities has expanded the interconnectivity between businesses and consumers and enables them to make rapid international communications. Moreover, social media impact on firms brand position, brand awareness, customer's loyalty and customers purchasing decisions.

How Facebook & Twitter is helping businesses to achieve organization Goals

Facebook has allowed marketers to customize advertisements for a particular group of people. Marketers target these individuals on the basis of demographic information and shared interests. Facebook has made it possible to reach people who are aimed at cost-effective and attractive ways than traditional marketing channels. Today business organizations are looking for channels, where they can promote their brands at the lowest and highest possible cost. Facebook seems to be a partner that fits this need. However, Facebook doesnt have a sustainable model for business because it has a large user base. There are three different ways of promotion used by brands through Facebook: i) brand pages, ii) branded applications, and iii) advertisements.

Twitter is yet another social media behemoth. Furthermore, the Twitter feature allows the organisation to validate the brands on an individual level. The use of something can be clarified into a short message that readers can read called a tweet. These messages appear on the followers' timelines. A website link may be included in the message. This website link allows followers to spend more time interacting with online content. This interaction fosters a bond and loyal communication between users and the brand.

Final Notes

Without a doubt, social media improves business performance by increasing sales.Furthermore; social media could be used to grow business partnerships, such as finding a reseller to expand a business organization's market range, which resulted in an improvement in the business organization's performance. The increased use of social media for business would provide insights into the market for business organisations so that they could gain clients, resulting in the improvement of the business organization's performance.
CySecK, the Government of Karnatakas Centre of Excellence for Cybersecurity, the nodal agency to promote a cyber-safe and conducive environment for industry collaboration, has partnered with Dell Technologies India to strengthen cyber-security in Karnataka. This partnership is driven towards building a safe and secure digital environment for students, start-ups, government, and other stakeholders in the state.

As part of this collaboration, Dell Technologies through its Tech for Social Good initiative will roll out interactive courses on cyber hygiene best practices for school students which will also be made available in Kannada. These programs will also be curated for small and medium scale enterprises as well as for government functionaries.

Through its ASCEND program, Dell Technologies will offer tech mentorship and bundled solutions whereby CySecKs cohort of start-ups would acquire relevant exposure and assistance on various aspects, including go-to-market strategies, appropriate value additions to the products/ services to be offered thereby promoting their scalability. The program will also include Tech Teardown sessions where Dell Technologies experts are going to have 1:1 session with select start-ups, to aid them with a technology and cyber security roadmap for business optimization.

Under the partnership, Dell Technologies will also be working with CySecK to improve the Cyber Recovery maturity for both private and public sectors in the state. With the changing cybersecurity landscape, it is crucial that governments and decision-makers in the public sector heed to the impending vulnerabilities and upgrade their remedial strategies. CySecKs initiative to collaborate with Dell Technologies to strengthen cybersecurity is exemplary for other public sector entities who should be encouraged to collaborate with IT leaders to prepare for the future. As cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated, securing data, applications, and devices now calls for a more mature approach that leverages innovative technologies for scale and intelligence, aligns around the business rather than the threats, is proactive in recovery planning, and defends the organization as a whole. Through this partnership, Dell Technologies has the opportunity to strengthen cyber-resilience across sectors, while educating students, MSMEs, businesses and other government-led entities. This is an encouraging step towards seamless governance in the tech-era, said Mr. Manish Gupta, Vice President and General Manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell Technologies, India.

Dell Technologies is additionally aiming to explore thought leadership through CySecK, focused on creating a safe and trusted environment that reduces systemic risk while increasing security of the supply chain ecosystem. Dell Technologies plans to conduct webinars and knowledge sharing series by domain experts on innovation, technology trends and efficient digital infrastructure with the objective of providing cutting edge technology guidance solutions and improving cybersecurity preparedness in the state.

On the occasion of signing of the MoU between Dell Technologies and Centre of Excellence for Cybersecurity, I would like to congratulate both teams for coming together to address the emerging challenges in cybersecurity and taking the needful action. With respect to cyber hygiene, creating awareness about cybersecurity among the new entrants such as the students will probably go a long way to make us understand the challenges and security risks that come with computerization or the digitalization. Along with that, digital literacy and ensuring digital security is equally important. I personally appreciate devising a framework to ensure and build the right policy, environment and ecosystem of resilience which lays out a path of recovery in case of an attack. With our forward-looking approach, we are focusing a lot of talent building and quality of learning. We believe that in the coming years, our society will be completely equitable and inclusive where there is no lack of opportunities, said, Dr. Chikkakalya Narayanappa Ashwath Narayan, Minister of Information Technology  Biotechnology, Science and Technology; Skill Development, Entrepreneurship & Livelihood; Higher Education, Government of Karnataka.

It is great to see how Dell Technologies is aligned to make Karnataka, a leading cybersecurity hub in the country. We aim to build a strong and holistic cybersecurity environment for the people of Karnataka. Through this partnership, we will be able to create awareness among students, start-ups, and government bodies while also reaching out to IT teams across the state to build a cyber resilient ecosystem. The government has a vision for Karnataka to have a 300 billion digital economy by 2025 and this kind of digitalization needs a strong foundation of cybersecurity. We are grateful to Dell Technologies for their support. I am sure we, at CySecK, will be able to leverage their expertise to build a strong cybersecurity ecosystem in the state, said, Mr. Karthik Bappanad, Centre Head, Centre of Excellence in Cybersecurity.

Cyber security best practices are continually changing as the landscape of cyber threats continues to evolve. Dell Technologies is happy to partner with CySecK to enable a more cyber secure and resilient ecosystem for the State of Karnataka. Through this partnership, we wish to leverage our expertise in cyber security to protect stakeholders from the most extreme forms of cyber-attacks and provide the state with technology solutions that will empower them to keep their business agile, secure, and growing, in todays rapidly changing environment. We continue with our mission of enabling start-ups and businesses from tier I and tier II cities to grow in a sustainable future. Transforming for modern security provides Dell yet another opportunity to meet our customers needs and drive innovation for human progress. We are hopeful that we are going to positively impact the supply chain infrastructure for the state of Karnataka through this partnership, highlighted Mr. Ripu Bajwa, Director and General Manager, Data Protection Solutions, Dell Technologies, India.
The magnificent Okavango Delta is Botswana's heartbeat and the world's largest delta. The delta, which is a World Heritage Site, is home to a varied environment formed as the Okavango River flows into the Kalahari Desert. Thousands of tourists visit Botswana each year to observe the immense wildlife of the Okavango Delta.

One can also witness some of the world's most endangered bird and mammal species here. The Okavango Delta covers an area of 15000 square kilometers with pulsing wetland unlike any other on the earth. The Okavango Delta is most known for its incredible wildlife encounters. It is protected by the Moremi Game Reserve as well as several wildlife concessions inside Ngamiland. It's been regarded as an oasis where wildlife thrives, especially during the breeding season. Tourists just cannot predict what they will see on your Botswana safari, especially if you visit the Okavango Delta.

The Okavango Delta is made up of multiple small islands that emerge as flora takes root on termite mounds. However, larger islands can be found in the delta. Chief's Island, for example, is the largest island in the delta and is notable because it formed on a tectonic fault line.

Some of Africa's most opulent camps can also be found here. In terms of campgrounds, the African Bush Camps Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to conservation, education, and development in the communities surrounding the company's camps. Beks Ndlovu, the organization's founder, began his career as a professional safari guide for safari firms in Zimbabwe. However, he believed that the safaris on offer were sometimes excessively organized and inflexible, not allowing you to venture out and appreciate the marvels of the African environment in a variety of ways.

He left to establish his own camp, a place where guides could be creative and artistic. Somalisa Camp was formed from this idea; the now award-winning camp began as a modest dream to gather together guides to teach tourists about Africa. African Bush Camps also maintains camps near the Okavango Delta in Botswana.

Khwai Bush Camp

African Bush Camps Botswana safari resort is open all year and mixes the romance of a bygone era with a sustainable, community-centered approach to safari. The Khwai region contains a variety of environments that beckon exploration, ranging from magical woods to undulating grasslands to lush floodplains.

Khwai Leadwood

The camp's beautiful design accommodates six regular tents and one family unit, in keeping with the personal and exclusive wilderness experience. The new camp deftly bridges the gap between luxury accommodations and the sensation of being in the great African outdoors.

Linyanti Ebony

Linyanti Ebony is a tiny tented camp with panoramic views of the Linyanti Marsh, built on high decking overlooking the Linyanti Marsh. The thoughtful construction of the camp provides a realistic, eco-conscious base from which to explore this significant area.
If there was a heaven on earth, it will definitely look like a big happy family. People often do unimaginable things to keep it that way. In 1966, when the news of his fathers death shook the young Azim Hashim Premji (Chairman, Wipro), something that gave him the strength was his thoughts about his family. Far away from home, the 21-year-old boy took a bold decision  to give up his academic career at Stanford University, where he was studying engineering, and return home. He started from where his father (Muhammed Hashim Premji) left off, taking over the family business. Hashim, a true patriot who even turned down a direct invitation from Muhammad Ali Jinnah to go to Pakistan, was also an established businessman, who incorporated Western Indian Vegetable Products Ltd., based out of Amalner  a small town in the outskirts of Maharashtra.

Despite the eternal void created by his fathers demise, towards the end of 1966, the young entrepreneur started his entrepreneurial journey. A born leader, Azim soon diversified the company into manufacturing bakery fats, toiletries, hair care soaps, lighting products, and hydraulic cylinders. But at his heart, he always kept a boutique space for his engineering days in the Stanford University. In the early 80s, when the opportunities from the emerging IT industry came knocking on the doors and when the business world hardly recognized the dawn of a new era, Azim was quick to pounce. He in truth took an excellent advantage of the market gap left behind by the withdrawal of IBM from India.

New Roads & Different Destinations

In 1982, the name of the company was changed to Wipro Limited, as the emerging entrepreneur commenced the companys journey in the high-technology sector by manufacturing minicomputers, owing thanks to its technological collaboration with Sentinel Computer Corporation  an American software company. The years followed witnessed the massive transformation of Wipro, shifting its focus from soaps to software. Azim was strongly motivated and driven by his ambition to perform better than what his family (business) was doing and adapt to a faster track of growth than they were in the past.

Through the decades that followed, Azim wrote his own anecdote as Wipro grew to become one of the global leaders in the IT sector while also expanding rapidly in the consumer market. The company formed dozens of business associations with organizations across the world, growing at an amazing pace. Welcoming the 21st century with its entry into the internet services segment was yet another milestone in Azims journey. Wipro joined hands with KPN (Royal Dutch Telecom) to form a joint venture  Wipro Net Limited  to bring internet services to India. In 2000, Wipro was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and after merely a couple of years, the company became the first software technology and services company in India to be ISO 14001 certified.

The Sweetest of All Recognition

Over the years, awards & recognition were poured on Azim in abundance by the entire country and often the international business world. While the Manipal Academy of Higher Education recognized him with an honorary doctorate in 2000, five years after, the Government of India honored him with Padma Bhushan for his outstanding contributions to the trade and commerce sector. In 2011, he was honored by the Government of India yet again; this time with the award of Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award in the country. The sweetest of all the recognition that were poured on him over the past five decades would be a unique degree that he once missed out on  a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University. However, its an irony that the cost of the great entrepreneurs success was not just hard work, but also less time spent with his beloved family, which decades ago started driving him to this beautiful destination.

Today, Azim has completed a giant cycle of success and is rightly focused on giving back his success to the people of this country. He was never thrilled by being rich. In fact, way back in 2001, he founded the Azim Premji Foundation, a non-profit organization that strives hard to establish a better educational system in government schools across rural India. In 2013, Azim became the first Indian to be a part of the international campaign  The Giving Pledge  led by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to encourage the wealthiest people to give back to the society around them. He is the third non-American entrepreneur to sign up for this philanthropic initiative after Richard Branson and David Sainsbury.

Bidding Adieu

After more than five decades and concocting memorable revolutions in the sector, Azim recently stepped down from the chairmanship of Wipro, passing the reins to his son Rishad. He will continue to serve on the board as non-executive director and founder-chairman. In his last letter to Wipro shareholders, Azim wrote: If we look back at the Wipro journey in the last seven decades, from a small vegetable oil company to a leading information technology company that we are today, we have evolved by constantly re-inventing ourselves and creating new opportunities. This has been possible because of the deep commitment and hard work of Wiproites and the core values that have remained our guiding light.

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People grow up with an aim and certain ideals to aspire, pursue and achieve the goal. Though, a few people would be able to carry the zeal till their young adult age. Indeed, from dreaming to achieving the dream, the journey would be full of multiple challenges. And strong determination is the only key to succeeding in the hardships. Hence, lets talk about one such resolute businessman, Dilip Shanghvi, founder of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, who followed the mantra of never giving up and was rewarded with the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2016.

The son of a wholesale drug distributor

Dilip Shanghvi comes from a Gujarati family settled in Kolkata and he is son of a pharmaceutical distributor. He pursued a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calcutta. Sanghavi got the spark of his dream from his fathers business. It began by assisting his father, Shantilal Shanghvi, in his business of a wholesale dealership of medicines, mainly generic drugs, in Kolkata.

While distributing drugs, which were neither from big groups nor patented, Sanghavi thought to make their drug instead of selling others products, and it would be appreciated for their quality. Inadequate financial support or other resources could not be huddled in his way. He was passionate about charting his path and creating his own identity. Driven by this dream, he founded his own company, and it was called Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

With some calculations, Sanghavi had his figures right on the pulse. In 1983, the 27-year-old Sanghavi borrowed around INR 10 000 from his father and opened his first manufacturing unit, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries. The unit, located in Vapi in his native state of Gujarat, a short drive away from Mumbai, produced exactly one psychiatry drug. However, the business soon picked up cherish to Sanghavi's insight and energy, and by 1997, Sun Pharma acquired Caraco Pharma, an American company.

Rise of the largest pharmaceutical firm in India

Afterward, Sanghavi has never dug into the past. Slowly but steadily, Sun Pharma has been forging ahead. Sanghavi said that in those days, Dawa Bazar was under the control of Multinationals, and only a handful of indigenous manufacturers were into pharmaceuticals. Besides, local manufacturers had yet to earn the trust of doctors and make their credibility. The Patent Act was in force only till 1970 and was abolished later. Though the processing of drugs had a patent cover, there was no patent on finished products. Hence, the opportunity came the local manufacturers way, though indirectly.

Consequently, the multinational firms lost interest in Indian markets. And this directly helped domestic companies. They began building capacity for making these drugs. Though the processing of drugs had a patent cover, there was no patent on finished products. Consequently, the multinational firms lost interest in Indian markets. And this directly helped domestic companies. They began building capacity for making these drugs.

Under Shanghvi's leadership, Sun Pharma persisted in expanding rapidly, acquiring more than a dozen firms and brands between 1999 and 2012. The company's 2010 acquisition of a controlling stake in Israel's Taro Pharmaceutical Industriesfollowing a three-year takeover battlealmost instantly doubled its U.S. revenues to more than $1 billion. In 2015 Shanghvi supervised the completion of the company's $3.2 billion assets of generic-drug rival Ranbaxy Laboratories from Japan-based pharmaceutical giant Daiichi Sankyo Co. The contract made Sun Pharma the fifth-largest generic-drug producer globally and the largest pharmaceutical firm in India.

The Decisive Nineties

The name evokes enormous respect and admiration. With a market capitalization of nearly Rs 491.25 billion at present, it is the biggest pharma company in the country. While most Indian firms those days concentrated on making drugs that had a larger share in the market, Sun Pharma did not shift its priority from Psychiatry and neurology drugs. For Sun Pharma, the nineties demonstrated very decisively. By that time, the company had already made its name, but something more tangible was required to establish itself. In 1993, the company re-invested its entire profit of Rs 4 crore in setting up its own Research Center, and in the following year, the company joined the capital market with its own Public Issue.

At the time, the companys turnover was looming between Rs 50-60 crores; after that, the company gained an average growth rate of 35% every year and catapulted to having a turnover of Rs 4000 crores. The firm extended from psychiatry drugs to include medicines for heart trouble, respiratory complications, diabetes, stomach, intestines, etc. Most of these diseases strike people at an old age, and their treatment continues for a long. Hence, the firm focuses on those drugs people have to continue taking for longer. This is what you call business astuteness to keep its customers. Sanghavi believed in the people who are experts in the pharma industry, as he doesnt possess any official knowledge or degree in the pharma industry.

In the list published in Forbes Magazine in November 2009, Shanghvi is ranked 14th on India's list of rich people. And his $16.7 billion fortune ranks him at number 44 among the world's richest billionaires overall Forbes list, 2022. Aside from his work at Sun Pharma, Shanghvi was active as a personal investor, with interests that increasingly extended beyond pharmaceuticals, notably in the field of renewable energy. In 2018 he became a member of the Reserve Bank of India's central board.
Every failure is the stepping stone of success. A man who is a living example for this age old proverb, Jack Ma (Ma Yun), co-founder & executive chairman of Alibaba, has bid a whimpering adieu to his dream company Alibaba Group. On his 55th birthday, Jack sported a rock star wig and clenching a guitar announced his retirement misty eyed. Addressing the farewell gathering, Jack said, After tonight, I will start a new life. I do believe the world is good, there are so many opportunities, and I love excitement so much, which is why I will retire early. The former English teacher aspires to engage himself with the philanthropic works focusing predominantly on rural education. The companys CEO Daniel Zhang would step into his shoe.

Inspiring Failures

Failures are quite de-motivating and would even trigger any individual to give up, but Jack has a different story to tell. One would not believe the number of failures and rejections the billionaire had faced on his journey from rags to riches. It is very startling to know Jack failed thrice in his schooling; and it took him four years to clear his entrance exam to join Hangzhou Normal University for his graduation. His application to Harvard Business School was also rejected not just once, but 10 times. Besides academics, the notable business tycoon of China has also faced rejection during his job hunt phase, again this has occurred over 30 different job profiles varying from police force to KFC. After graduating with a Bachelors degree in English, Jack took up a lecturer role at Hangzhou Dianzi University with a pay of just $12 per month.

Stepping into Entrepreneurship

Jack was time and again tested on his perseverance; post his decision to venture into entrepreneurship, his two initial ventures failed yet again. But nothing could stop a determined Jack, who doesnt consider failure as an end, but an opportunity to learn and bounce back. In 1995, on this official trip to US, Jack was introduced to internet and computer, which was just taking its baby steps. While trying his hands on the internet browser, he was struck with the reality that there was no trace of China in any of his search results. This provoked Jack to influence his 18 friends to join him and invest in the e-Commerce market site Alibaba, which was set up in his apartment in 1999.

Alibaba initially had no other outside investments, but in 2000 it won $25 million foreign venture capital investment twice. Later in 2014, the company went on to rise over $25 billion in an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Gaining public confidence on online payment and safe package deliveries are the major challenges every e-Commerce sites face, but it seems like Jack has achieved it with ease. In addition to this, intending to develop the global e-Commerce system, Jack went on to establish Taobao Marketplace, Alipay, Ali Mama and Lynx. Starting from the scratch, the company has reached a greater height globally holding a net worth of $35.6 billion, which has also elevated Jack status as one among the richest men in China.

Awards & Appreciations

Over the period of time, Jack has been bombarded with several awards. Few prominent awards amongst them are Entrepreneur of the Year 2015 awarded by Asian Awards, he was ranked second by Fortune on its Worlds 50 Greatest Leaders list in 2017. The same year Jack was ranked third in a KPMG survey  a global tech innovation visionary survey. Further, he was presented honorary degree of Doctor of Science in Technopreneurship from De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines. In 2018, Jack received an honorable doctoral degree from professors Yaakov Frenkel and Yaron Oz at the Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel. Lately in May 2019, The Un Secretary  General Guterres appointed Jack as new advocate for sustainable development goals along with 16 other influential global personalities.

After accomplishing his dream by working on it for about two decade, the humble Jack with the hope to achieve much through his philanthropic departed with the statement, It is not easy to be a strong company, but it is more difficult to be a good company. He further adds, A strong company is determined by its commercial ability, while a good company is responsible and kind.

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Popularly renowned as Steel Magnate  Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, Chairman & CEO of ArcelorMittal, is the largest global steel producer. Being born into a business family, Lakshmi after graduating from St. Xaviers College in Commerce stream ventured into his dads steel business Nippon Denro Ispat. The restraint laid on steel by the India government back in 1976 led the 26-year old Lakshmi to travel all the way to Indonesia to setup his own steel factory named PT Ispat Indo.

With the passing years, Lakshmi transmogrified himself into a popular business tycoon, who could take over the organization running under loss and transform it into a lucrative one. For instance, in 1989 he acquired a government owned firm in Caribbean Island, which was running on a depletion of $1 million per day, but under Lakshmis administration, the company witnessed fruitful gains. In respect to all his success, the Forbes Business Magazine ranked him as the third richest man in the world in the year 2005.

Grandeur Life Post Success

Even though hailing from a business background family, it is been noted that Lakshmi has had a very simple lifestyle in his childhood, he slept on the floor as he lived in a cramped house which accommodated 25 of his clan. But the King of Steel is now eminent for his splendid lifestyle. His stunning residence in Kensington, a posh and sophisticated area of central London, has 12 bedrooms, a huge custom swimming pool, Turkish bathroom and a parking to accommodate 20 cars. Its interiors are designed with the marble which was brought from that same quarry as that of Taj Mahal, hence the residence obtained its nickname Taj Mittal. It was owned for $128 million back in 2004.

Not to forget the most extravagant wedding of his daughter Vanisha Mittal with Amit Bhatia, a businessman. The wedding was a five-day celebration costing about $60 million in 2004. It had reported more than 1000 guests, and the ceremony cost also includes the flight expense, 5-star hotel accommodation, lavish dinners and of course, numerous parties.

Charity & Humanitarian

Lakshmi is a bountiful philanthropist, his recent donation of $25 million to establish an endowment at Harvard University marks his generosity. He has also contributed to several such education institutions through his Mittal Foundation, the establishment of Universities such as LNM Institute of Information Technology in Jaipur, Usha Lakshmi Mittal Institute of Management in New Delhi. In addition to this, after receiving a huge sum of donation, SNDT Womens University renamed the Institute of technology for Women as Usha Mittal Institute of Technology. Lakshmis 15 million donation to the Great Ormond Street hospital in London also adds grace to his philanthropic work, and the hospital utilized this fund to develop their new facility Mittal children Medical Healthcare.

His interest in sports, and the disappointment of India winning just one bronze medal in the Summer Olympics 2000, and again only one silver medal at Summer Olympics 2004, urged Lakshmi to set up Mittal Champions trust by spending $9 million. This trust was initiated intending to help ten Indian athletes with the world record potential. He also presented 1.5 crore to Abhinav Bindra, professional shooter for bringing Indias first individual Olympic gold medal in shooting in 2008. Apart from monetary support, Lakshmi also supplied steel for the construction of ArcelorMittal Orbit for the Summer Olympics 2012.

Awards Lakshmi Mittal was honored with

Lakshmi for his excellence in the area of trade and industry was honored with countrys second top civilian awards  Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India. It was presented by the then President Pratibha Patil in the year 2008. The same year, he even received Lifetime Achievement Award from Forbes. Prior to that, in 2004, Forbes has also named Lakshmi as European Businessman of the Year. Apart from that, he was even named as the Entrepreneur of the Year 2004 by The Wall Street Journal.

The Indian bornBritain steel tycoon has went on to accomplish several business deal through acquisitions and take over. He is the master in turning the gloomiest business into as bankable one. Commenting on the success Lakshmi states, Hard work certainly goes a long way. These days a lot of people work hard, so you have to make sure you work even harder and really dedicate yourself to what you are doing and setting out to achieve.

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The surname 'Tata' needs no prologue. In fact, Indians use this name to refer riches. The Tata scion has made a huge impact on the corporate world by setting an example for budding entrepreneurs and evolving as their role model. Ratan Tata is celebrated for his exceptional business tactics and managerial ethics. Born in Surat, as the son of Naval Tata and Sonoo on December 28, 1937, Ratan owns his surname as his birthright. Yet, he isn't a direct decedent of the Tatas but was adopted by Navajbai Ratanji Tata.

Agitated Early Days

The riches and luxury, which Ratan was born with, would give us the illusion of his blissful life since his childhood. But, the reality is just its contrary. At a very tender age of 10, Ratan had to witness a harsh reality of his parents parting their ways, and endure the society's negative and ruthless viciousness for his parent's act. Putting up with these issues, Ratan completed his schooling from Cathedral & John Connon School and Bishop Cotton School in Shimla. With the constant support from his grandmother Navajbai, Ratan was able to accomplish his passion of living in the United States by joining Riverdale Country School in New York City and pursued Architecture from Cornell University in 1959.

From a Humble Beginning to the Apex of Victory

Despite being the legal heir of Tata Group, after his graduation, Ratan began his career as a regular employee in his family business, in 1962. Initially, he worked with furnaces along with other workers which in turn has developed humbleness in him and further enhanced the respect he had for his family business. Later in 1971, Ratan was promoted as Director of National Radio & Electronics Company Limited (NELCO). The company was undergoing a bad financial state, thus, to rescue it from a disastrous downfall, Ratan was forced to take charge of it. Despite all the measures taken by Ratan, NELCO could not revive due to dual trouble of economic slowdown and recession. The labor and union strikes fueled the burning fire and disrupted Ratan's efforts.

In 1977, Ratan took charge of Empress Mills (a Tata group company) to restore the mill's deteriorating condition and he also came up with some exceptional business ideas, which were turned down by the other employees of Tata group making the scenario worse. After all the rejection and various rollercoaster rides in Ratan's career came the most awaited moment of stepping in as the leader of the prestigious conglomerate. Thus, in 1991, Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata took a bold decision to name Ratan as the Chairman of the Tata Group of Companies. It was indeed a gallant move by JRD Tata to handover such a huge responsibility to Ratan who didn't possess any great experience or exposure to handling this role at that point of time. Eventually, Ratan faced opposition from other heads of Tata Group. But, he proved them wrong and rose to fame by implementing his innovative business strategies.

Under his stewardship, Ratan brought in tremendous changes in the company's management, he fixed the retirement age which ended the period of the most influential leaders of the company. Also, this paved the way for young and energetic talents to enter the Tata Group bringing in innovation. Alongside, he segregated the overlapping operations and streamlined them to enable globalization. Thus, in his 21 years of leadership term, the Tata Group's revenue increased 40 times while profit reached more than 50 times. In addition, Tata Tea acquired Tetley, Tata Motors acquired Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Steel took over Corus. Through these acquisitions, Ratan elevated the Tata Group from being an Indian business to making it a global one, and increased the company's revenue by 65 percent by expanding its operations and sales to more than 100 countries. The business tycoon has observed the struggles of middle-class consumers and came up with his brainchild 'Tata Nano Cars' which are economical hence meets the average Indian consumer's requirements.

Completing his service, Ratan resigned on 28 December 2012 on turning 75 and named Cyrus Pallonji Mistry as his successor. But, citing various issues and disagreement with the board of directors lead to Cyrus removal and Ratan replaced him as the interim Chairman immediately.

Philanthropy

Usually, many businessmen indulge in philanthropy by contribution 10 to 20 percent of their profit as charity. But, Ratan considers himself more as an industrialist than just a businessman. Hence, he prefers the country to grow alongside his business and invests about 60 to 70 percent of his profit in charity and is readily available to take part in social activities, which benefit the nation and its people.

Awards & Honors

The 83-year-old business tycoon is a recipient of two of the country most prestigious and highest civilian awards, the Padma Vibhushan in 2008 and Padma Bhushan in 2000. In addition to these awards, Ratna was bestowed with various other awards for his commendable work and extraordinary contribution to the society.

Ratan is not just famous for his noble works but for his philosophical quotes as well, which would ignite any common man to achieve big. Here is one such quote that hints us to forget things and focus on what we wants to accomplish in our life, "None can destroy iron, but its own rust can! Likewise none can destroy a person, but its own mindset can!"
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The collapse in takeover talks between Ramsay Health Care and private equity giant KKR has highlighted the cost pressures on healthcare operators post-pandemic, with the parties unable to decide on a fair value of the company.

KKR and a consortium of investors made their first offer for Australias biggest private hospital operator in April, offering an $88 a share. However, the offer was revised downwards by the suitors after it failed to gain access to the books of Ramsays French business, Ramsay Sante.

Under the terms of the revised offer, smaller Ramsay investors were offered $88 a share, while larger shareholders would receive $78.20 plus 0.22 shares in Sante.

The $20 billion-plus deal was on course to be the biggestprivate equity takeover of an Australian company, and the biggest acquisition deal this year.
In the 1970s when Helen Garner was starting to write, ambition was a dirty word. Now, looking back, she sees she was ambitious and still is: Im ambitious to get it right, to do it well.

But different writers have different kinds of ambition. At the Melbourne Writers Festival last weekend, Garner said she was once summoned by the editor of The Australian and asked if shed write regularly for the paper. Just think, the editor said, you might get to interview the prime minister! She was kind of insulted I thought, is there anything in my work that shows Im interested in that? Then I thought, he hasnt read my work. She didnt take the job.

Helen Garner says shes ambitious to get her work right and to do it well. Credit:Darren James

After two pandemic-cancelled years, the festival was back live, plus some Zoom appearances, with the theme of Ambition. One goal that all writers shared was to survive financially. They didnt always chase it hard, though. Garner said that as a freelancer, she was paid at the same rate as decades earlier, and had never asked for more. She had been bewildered by the big sales of The First Stone.

Garners conversation partner Chloe Hooper had interviewed a prime minister (Julia Gillard). I have ambitions for the story, not for myself, she said. But it must have been alarming when a bookseller friend said: If you write about death, what are you going to say to all those people who say youre just copying Helen Garner?
The controversial boss of an Indigenous education venture that receives millions in taxpayer dollars has been suspended on paid leave for more than six months while an internal inquiry into her behaviour remains unresolved and senior staff members abandon the organisation.

Employees continue to desert Good to Great Schools Australia, an organisation that receives federal government funding to run literacy programs in remote Australian schools, since revelations in February that chief executive Bernardine Denigan bullied and humiliated staff, leading to alarming turnover and compromising its operations.

Former and current staff at Good to Great Schools accused chief executive Bernardine Denigan of bullying employees. Credit:GGSA

Up to half the employees in the 40-person organisation, founded and co-chaired by prominent Indigenous leader Noel Pearson, have left since Denigan was stood down during an internal inquiry launched following an investigation earlier this year by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

It was plunged into further crisis this week when the chief operating officer, who has been the acting CEO since February, quit amid prolonged uncertainty about whether Denigan would be kept on at the organisation.
Lifting student performance, reversing declining attendance and closing the education gap must be the priorities of the next National School Reform Agreement, after years of funding increases failed to secure a significant boost to academic achievement.

A Productivity Commission interim report released on Wednesday found new initiatives were needed to raise academic outcomes, boost student wellbeing, address vast education equity gaps and improve quality teaching.

New initiatives are needed to raise stagnating academic performance, a Productivity Commission report says. Credit:Robert Pearce

Commissioner Natalie Siegel-Brown said reforms signed in 2018 had made little or no impact on student outcomes.

Performance has flatlined. Despite an increase in funding, there has been no steep change in outcomes, she said.
Despite a heavily regulated finance sector, there are plenty of ways that fund managers can manipulate information to potentially mislead investors.

It can include stating their risky investments are just like having the money in the bank, selecting start and end dates to show performance in the best light, or reporting returns with only some fees and costs considered.

Investors need to dig into a managed funds product disclosure statement as it will tell investors much more than what is in the funds marketing materials. Credit:Simon Letch

Managed funds are collective investments for the masses, with investors money pooled with others and managed professionally.

Most funds are unitised and can invest in any type of market, whether particular sharemarkets or other investment classes. Their units are mostly priced daily to reflect the performance of the fund.
Residents in Sydneys inner west are fighting to prevent apartment blocks from encroaching into established suburbs and high streets, as the local council attempts to accommodate more than 4500 new homes in the next decade.

Kylie Cochrane, of Dulwich Hill, was shocked and surprised to learn the Inner West Council was considering plans to allow buildings of four to eight storeys in her area, where single-storey heritage homes predominate.

Inner West Councils deputy mayor Jessica DArienzo speaks to residents in Dulwich Hill last week. She says the proposed rezoning has a long way to run. Credit:James Alcock

What the council is proposing is coming into our little suburban oasis and turning it into a high-rise nightmare, Cochrane said.

The council has released a series of draft rezoning proposals to help determine the amount and extent of higher density development that can be built close to train stations at Marrickville, Dulwich Hill and North Ashfield.
Divine intervention

In Macquarie Place, Sydney, there is an old anchor on a pedestal that once belonged to H.M.S. Sirius of the First Fleet. It was eventually wrecked off the coast of Norfolk Island. A reward of 40 was then offered to any Islander crew who could raise the ships anchor. After initial attempts failed, a desperately impecunious local religious group set out in a whaleboat, after night-long praying, and retrieved the anchor, receiving a 20 bonus for their efforts.

Murder in Kieff monastery

Yevlade Tzekhun, of Lavra Monastery, was charged with the grisly murder of a young woman in the monastery grounds. A Mother Superior was also charged with abetting Tzekhun  both were sentenced to ten years imprisonment. The trial, regarded by newspapers as another Soviet campaign to bring religion into contempt, was conducted in the city circus building, over which placards read: Grand Circus Performance, Murder Trial of Monk and Abbess.

The sun-tan fashion

Sun-tan, a fashion which began on the Lido in Venice and at exclusive Deauville, has now taken the whole world by storm. Women who cant acquire a sunburnt skin by natural means are having costly ray treatments or purchasing equally costly creams and powders which will make them look as if they had been indulging in sun baths. Australian women can for once now indulge in the latest fashion without any cost to themselves.
Emergency doctors and nurses are alarmed by a huge increase in people walking out of NSWs hospitals without finishing treatment, as ambulance delays and beds filled with people unable to be discharged leave sick patients facing record waiting times.

More than 76,000 people  or one in 10 attendees  left the department without completing their treatment between April and June this year, the highest quarterly figure on record and a 67.6 per cent increase on the number who did so in 2019.

Data from the Bureau of Health Informations quarterly report also showed patients seeking treatments at the states hospitals faced record waits when arriving at hospital by ambulance, with more than a quarter of patients spending at least 30 minutes parked outside or waiting in corridors before they were able to enter emergency.

Once within the hospital, patients were again faced with the longest wait times on record: while emergency department attendances fell short of the record high seen in 2021, more than a third were not seen on time.
Republican debate takes a back seat to other issues Now is not the time to press for a republic (Cancelling monarchy debate was a right royal mistake, September 13). Much more important are issues of truth telling, reconciliation and a Voice to parliament. My early Australian education as a 15-year-old migrant in 1950 involved discoveries of land and rivers and successes in overcoming various obstacles. The Indigenous people did not rate a mention. Curiosity in the intervening years has taught me that British settlements, particularly in Tasmania, have been much more brutal in Australias progress. These issues need to be front and centre as we evolve into a more caring multicultural and multiracial nation. Ferdo Mathews, Robina (Qld) We accept that now is not the time to talk about a republic. But we cant help thinking about it when all the trappings of royalty are on display. We are capable of separating our respect and sadness for a queen while at the same time reflecting on what that realm actually looks like. The pomp and pageantry is fascinating and frequently moving, but it also feels foreign. We are present as visitors, tourists, in London and Edinburgh, while the proclamation to a throng gathered in Macquarie Street Sydney is bizarre. Paradoxically, the accession of a new king serves to reinforce that nostalgia for monarchy (and empire) is not us. This new chapter is very relevant to where Australia goes from here and how quickly we move forward. Margaret Johnston, Paddington Attending the Antidote festival at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday, I was surprised that the panellists didnt contextualise the session Where do we go from here? with the knowledge that as they spoke, up the road in Macquarie Street, on the steps of the NSW Parliament, where I walked through the crowds after getting off the train at Martin Place station, the NSW proclamation of King Charles III as King of Australia was taking place. Jenny Stephenson, Wollongong I am disappointed that some republicans show so little respect for the feelings of so many Australians who honour the life of their Queen, which was so well lived in the service of her subjects. Their response merely hardens my opposition to an Australian republic and adds to my admiration for the way the prime minister has handled this occasion. Many of his leftist supporters seem to be disappointed that he has shown that there is a way to behave as prime minister for all Australians, for which I applaud him. Vivienne Parsons, Thornleigh

Now is not the time to debate the republic, but even the staunchest monarchist will agree democracy trumps monarchy. George Fishman, Vaucluse Pros and cons of early uni offers Anything that reduces the importance of the Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) is welcomed (Race for students eases HSC stress, September 13). Early offers acknowledge the relevance of a students performance in year 11.

Certainly, let the ATAR continue but all universities should also be encouraged to make early offers. For too long, we have relied upon an artificial ranking that is moderated by a students choice of subject, the schools standard plus statistical moderation to achieve comparability between courses. We have a system where the vast majority of students are saddened by a single ATAR result that determines their pathway through life.

As it is, the ATAR discriminates against students of high average to superior ability. They could cope easily with courses from which they are now excluded on the basis of a manipulated grade. How can a single mark encapsulate talent, aptitude and potential across such a wide variety of courses in a university? James Athanasou, Maroubra Universities are in a race to lock in enrolments for next year. Thousands of offers have been made amid a trend to bypass ATAR results. The scheme is usually based on year 11 results plus personal statements and portfolios.

Is this an advantage for students at well-resourced, wealthy private schools, while under-resourced public schools are disadvantaged yet again? Another example of the entrenched inequities of our education system favouring the private sector. Helen Simpson, Curl Curl The early offer scheme is flawed. Universities do not reveal in which disciplines such offers are made, what if any conditions are attached and whether only year 11 results were considered. This lack of transparency only reinforces the view that offers are made to prop up their business model and government funding. Time for universities to face the (HSC) music. Michael Blissenden, Dural

Anglican oppression The Sydney Anglicans see western Sydney as terra nullius, a land empty of its evangelical Christianity, so it must be colonised (Anglicans reveal desire to grow west, September 13). Be warned, biblical headship brings harm to women. Anne Eagar, Epping I am an ex-Anglican employee of 30 years. I left over the appalling treatment of gay people and other injustices.

If you look at the statistics of Anglican Church membership and attendance nationwide, it is only a few thousand in a country of 25 million.

The Anglican Churchs significance lies only in its ownership of property, schools and welfare agencies that have thousands of non-Christian employees and students. It is a spent force, a now irrelevant part of Australias history and an oppressor of gay people. Chris Beal, Forster Ukraine is key Peter Hartcher is right in saying China and Russia have joined in a global project to curb human liberty (The best of times are behind us, September 13). At the same time, we see the brave people of Ukraine turning the tide against the Russian invaders. Russian Army morale is faltering. Many Russian people are bravely resisting their ruthless dictator.

This is a key moment in human history. If Ukrainians, supported by Western democracies, can drive Russia out of their country, Putin will be humiliated and eventually replaced. China will think twice about invading Taiwan. Australia should lead by example in doing all we can to supply more arms and equipment to Ukraine. Yes, it will cost, but the cost of doing nothing will be much greater. Kevin Fell, Cooks Hill An old folly Im old enough to remember the much vaunted Orange-Bathurst decentralisation plan (Push to raise population in regional communities, September 13). It was cancelled due to a heady mix of me-tooism from competing regions, city v country competition about spending money in a less populated area, time to implement, disruption caused, ultimate costs of upgraded services and what political benefit to whichever cabal of political parties was in charge. I dont see any changes in the proposed project by Regional Australia Institute. Intellectually, it makes perfect sense, but I question the resolve of the corporates and the political classes to actually do it. Properly. After all, any big project in NSW runs over budget, is subject to political interference, pork-barrelling, corporate handouts and a complete lack of complex management ability due to corporatising out so much of what government is meant to do. This back-to-the-future proposal demonstrates that folly perfectly. Bernard Stever, Richmond Safety awareness Graham Shorts comment regarding pedestrians in peril accounting for 13 per cent of road deaths seems to imply that all the responsibility lies with reckless drivers (Letters, September 13). How many pedestrians disobey the walking signs at traffic lights, rushing to start crossing when the red is already flashing? How many pedestrians cross roads outside designated crossings even when they are close by? How many pedestrians are looking at phones and wearing headphones so they are not aware of the surrounding traffic? All road users, both on foot and on wheels, share the responsibility for the safety of themselves and others. Sue Morton, West Ryde

Vale Uncle Jack Here has passed a man who was stolen, dispossessed, neglected and abused (Tributes pour in after Indigenous actor Jack Charles dies aged 79, smh.com.au, September 13). Who suffered the anger, the mental trauma and the disadvantage that resulted. Who fell into crime and addiction. Yet, somehow this giant of a man rose to be a mentor, a role model and an entertainer. He will be missed. Penny Hammond, Orange Farewell, Jack Charles. You were an uncle to all of us through your music, acting and humanity. You have shown us a signpost to a future where everyone can live together in harmony. You will be very much missed. Tony Re, Georges Hall Snore or less Your correspondent is most unfair in comparing Charles proclamation with the Antiques Roadshow (Letters, September 13). The Roadshow is always both entertaining and interesting  even when its a repeat. A more apt comparison would with have been with slow TV. And, theres more to come. Eric Hunter, Cook (ACT)

Messy business In 1952, when King George VI died, the officers mess at Sydneys Victoria Barracks was barred to female guests for one year as a respectful sign of mourning the kings death. How do I know this? My father was an army officer at the time and I have a record of his censure for transgressing this order.

Patricia Farrar, Concord The fine prints Cant wait for the first issue of Maxim with King Charles on the cover (Glossy mag ushered Queen into nations homes, September 13). Peter Miniutti, Ashbury

Hound for glory If its a choice between the throne and the dogs, Id take the dogs every time (Letters, September 13). They are far more loyal. Alan Shaw, West Pymble Tone deaf With all this talk of the Queen, this no-one has mentioned the bleeding obvious: theyve been rubbish since Freddie Mercury died. Jeff Apter, Keiraville
Queensland police are calling on the public to help solve the mystery behind the sudden death of a 12-year-old girl on the Gold Coast in April.

Police were called to the Bellagio Crescent residence at Coomera about 8pm on Monday, April 18, after Tiffani Scholten was found unresponsive.

The 12-year-old girl died five months ago at a Coomera home.

Emergency services attended, and the girl was found dead. A crime scene was declared.

Tiffani suffered from a number of health conditions. However, investigations have continued into the circumstances and cause of her death.
This is no time to rain on a funeral parade. The obsequies for Elizabeth II are fitting and well deserved, certainly in the nation that remembers her driving an ambulance in the war, forgives her initial indifference to the death of the peoples princess and noted her stiff upper lip when she was venerated by Donald Trump.

For the British, she was the still centre of a down-turning world, an icon of selfless public service provided from a number of palaces, with hundreds of servants, horses (including racehorses) and carriages and the best of British speechwriters.

Then-Prince Charles in 1974 with then-governor-general John Kerr, who, in 1975, infamously sacked the elected prime minister Gough Whitlam. Charles backed Kerrs decision. Credit:Lende

For Australians, she was an institutional link to a dwindling British empire, and her passing has provided an opportunity for our politicians and journalists to regale the nation with their memories of meetings with her that made them think themselves of importance.

But once the tumult and shouting dies, advance Australia where? Does Australia in fact need a head of state at all?
Singapore: Australian economist Sean Turnell is expected to be told the outcome of his secret trial in Myanmar within the next month, with friends admitting the best result now is for him to be taken to the airport afterwards and deported.

The Sydney academic, an adviser to overthrown civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and expert on Myanmars economy, has been locked up in Yangon and the capital Naypyidaw since being detained five days after Myanmars military seized power in a coup in February 2021.

Sean Turnell with Aung San Suu Kyi before the military coup.

He was eventually put on trial last month over alleged violations of the countrys colonial-era official secrets act, pleading not guilty with co-defendants Suu Kyi and three ministers from her ousted government.

The quintets lawyers have been barred from speaking to the media, which has been unable to access the closed-door trial, but reports out of Myanmar indicate final arguments will be made next week and verdicts will be reached in early October.
Edinburgh: Unprecedented numbers of mourners are expected to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth as British authorities forecast queues could extend for up to eight kilometres in central London.

At least three-quarters of a million people will try to visit Westminster for the lying-in-state from Wednesday evening, with those attending waiting more than 12 hours and potentially up to a day.

Authorities believe the event will dwarf the 320,000 people who passed by Winston Churchills coffin over the course of his lying-in-state in 1965 and the 200,000 who saw the Queen Mother in 2002.

In a bid to accommodate Britons and thousands of tourists who have flown to London, the public will be able to file past the coffin in Westminster Hall 24 hours a day until the morning of the funeral next Monday.
The Russian Defence Ministry acknowledged the setback in a map that showed its troops pressed back along a narrow patch of land on the border with Russia  a tacit admission of big Ukrainian gains. Video taken by the Ukrainian military showed soldiers raising the Ukrainian flag over battle-damaged buildings. In one scene, a fighter wiped his boots on a Russian flag on the ground. Other videos showed Ukrainians inspecting the wreckage of Russian military vehicles, including tanks. In his evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces had liberated more than 6000 square kilometres in the east and the south since the beginning of September.

Now Ukrainian teams are disarming land mines and other unexploded weapons in the recaptured areas and searching for any remaining Russian troops, officials said. It was not yet clear if the Ukrainian blitz could signal a turning point in the war. Momentum has switched back and forth before, but rarely with such a big and sudden swing. The mood was jubilant across the country. In Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city and the capital of the region where the gains have been made, authorities hailed the fact that power and water had been restored to about 80 per cent of the regions population following Russian attacks on infrastructure that knocked out electricity in many places across Ukraine.

You are heroes!!! Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram, referring to crews who restored utilities in Kharkiv. Thanks to everyone who did everything possible on this most difficult night for Kharkiv to normalise the life of the city as soon as possible. Meanwhile, in Russia, signs of disarray emerged as Russian military bloggers and other commentators chastised the Kremlin for failing to mobilise more forces and take stronger action against Ukraine. Russia has continuously stopped short of calling its invasion a war, instead describing it as a special military operation and relying on a limited contingent of volunteers instead of a mass mobilisation that could spur civil discontent and protest. Ramzan Kadyrov, the Moscow-backed leader of the Russian region of Chechnya, publicly criticised the Russian Defence Ministry for what he called mistakes that made the Ukrainian blitz possible.

Loading Even more notable, such criticism seeped onto state-controlled Russian TV. People who convinced President Putin that the operation will be fast and effective ... these people really set up all of us, Boris Nadezhdin, a former parliament member, said on a talk show on NTV television. Were now at the point where we have to understand that its absolutely impossible to defeat Ukraine using these resources and colonial war methods. Some in Russia blamed Western weapons and fighters for the losses. Its not Ukraine that attacked Izium, but NATO, read a headline in the state-supported Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, referring to one of the areas from where Russia said it has withdrawn troops.

Elsewhere, residents of a Russian village just across the border from Ukraine were evacuated after shelling by Ukrainian troops killed one person, according to Russias Tass news agency. The report cited the head of the local administration in Logachevka, who said Ukrainian troops opened fire at a border checkpoint. Pro-Kremlin separatists reported that Ukrainian troops were approaching the town of Lyman, a rail hub captured by Russia in late May that offers access to bridges over the nearby Siversky Donets river. Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic, acknowledged that the situation was difficult. Even amid Ukraines ebullience, the casualties kept mounting. Ukraines presidential office said on Monday that at least four civilians were killed and 11 others wounded in a series of Russian attacks in nine regions of the country. The UN Human Rights Office said last week that 5767 civilians have been killed so far.

Loading Among Mondays attacks were strikes on residential areas in Kharkiv that killed at least one civilian and set multiple fires, local officials said. In a reminder of the wars toll, a Ukrainian council member in Izium accused enemy forces of killing civilians and committing other atrocities. Maksym Strelnikov told reporters in an online briefing on Monday that hundreds of people had died during the fighting and after Russia seized the town in March. Many died from shelling and could not get a proper burial, he said. His claims could not be immediately verified, but similar scenes have played out in other places captured by Russian forces. The Ukrainian military also claimed to have found more evidence of human rights violations by Russian occupiers. It did not elaborate.

Izium was a major base for Russian forces in the Kharkiv region. The first Ukrainian flag was raised over the city on Saturday, Strelnikov said. Residents, some wrapped in the countrys flag, greeted Ukrainian forces and offered them food. Loading Ukraine said the Russians continued shelling Nikopol across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia power plant, damaging several buildings there and leaving Europes largest nuclear facility in a precarious position. The last operational reactor in that plant has been shut down in a bid to prevent a radiation disaster as fighting raged nearby. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said on Monday that Kyiv will likely increasingly dictate the location and nature of the major fighting. The British Defence Ministry said the retreat would most likely further deteriorate the trust Russian forces have in their commanders and put Moscows troops on the back foot.
Swedens coalition of right-wing parties looks set to secure a narrow victory in a general election that promises to rewrite the political map in the Nordic regions biggest country.

The likely victory hinged on the rise of the anti-immigrant party, the Sweden Democrats, which saw the biggest gains of any of the parties on Sunday and now makes them the countrys second-largest political force.

The leader of the Sweden Democrats Jimmie Akesson . Credit:AP

I am so proud, I am so happy about what we have done together, said Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Akesson, 43, after it became clear the party was heading for its best result ever.

With 95 per cent of the 6578 voting districts now counted, the opposition bloc led by Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson gained 175 mandates in the 349-seat parliament giving them a slender advantage over the ruling Social Democrats and its allies.
PHILIPSBURG:--- On Monday evening, the Haitian Association of St. Maarten (HASMA) hosted a naturalization seminar for individuals of the Haitian community.

The purpose of the seminar was primarily to highlight the various pathways to citizenship. Designed to help lawful permanent residents and others interested in naturalization learn about the naturalization process, eligibility requirements, testing, citizenship rights, and responsibilities.

The seminar also served as a feeler to gauge interest in a pilot program that will tutor the Dutch language in Haitian creole. This program is currently in development and will soon be available for input and review by the relevant stakeholders.

Although initially scheduled to be held on the second floor of the WIFOL building the seminar had to be ceremoniously reconvened in the parking lot as the crowd grew beyond capacity. Based on a quick survey the primary areas of interest of the attendees were how their spouse or children could obtain their citizenship. In attendance were also a few religious leaders, to gather information to further relay to their congregation.

"I am pleased and proud of the individuals that showed interest in tonight's seminar. We did not anticipate this many people.

These seminars are part of our overall initiative to help better integrate Haitians within our community. We have individuals living and actively contributing to St. Maarten for many decades Many are affable and decorous and have made St. Maarten their permanent home, it's only right that they too, become naturalized citizens. " Vice president of HASMA Fabio Doralice

In addition to the seminar, HASMA has put together an outreach help desk and assistance committee to aid and support interested persons on their path to citizenship. The "support center" is not exclusive nor limited to individuals within the Haitian community but in fact, is open to everyone.

"This is exactly what is needed, initiatives that cater to the social needs of our community. I want to thank president Fabio and the entire HASMA for putting this together. - Joseph H. Laroche"

"The community can look forward to us engaging more with these kinds of activities, we believe it is vitally important for individuals to have access to proper and accurate information to facilitate their needs. - "Leyna" Merlande - Secretary of HASMA.



HASMA also invites the community to their Immigration seminar taking place at the Wifold Building on Monday, September 19th at 7:00 pm.
Vizsla Silver expands Copala with more bonanza-grade silver  2,093 g/t Ageq over 10.20 metres 

Vizsla Silver Corp. (TSX-V: VZLA) (NYSE: VZLA) (Frankfurt: 0G3) (aVizslaa or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/vizsla-silver-corp/ ) is pleased to report results from nine new drill holes targeting the Tajitos  Copala resource area at its 100%-owned, flagshipA PanucoA silver-gold project (\Panuco\ or the \Project\) located in Mexico. The results are exclusively from the Copala structure located in the western portion of the district and expand the high-grade mineralized footprint to the north of the March 2022 mineral resource estimate by approximately 100 metres.

Highlights

CS-22-193 returned 2,093 grams per tonne (g/t) silver equivalent (AgEq) over 20 metres true width (mTW) (1,404 g/t silver and 10.94 g/t gold) Including 36,195 g/t AgEq over 0.38 mTW (23,058 g/t silver and 205.00 g/t gold) And, 2,233 g/t AgEq over 0.91 mTW (1,550 g/t silver and 11.00 g/t gold) And, 2,742 g/t AgEq over 0.53 mTW (2,090 g/t silver and 11.10 g/t gold)

over (1,404 g/t silver and 10.94 g/t gold)

CS-22-192 returned 877 g/t AgEq over 7.31 mTW (743 g/t silver and 2.59 g/t gold) Including 971 g/t AgEq over 0.93 mTW (739 g/t silver and 3.94 g/t gold) And, 3,930 g/t AgEq over 1.01 mTW (3,560 g/t silver and 8.60 g/t gold)



CS-22-200 returned 879 g/t AgEq over 14.24 mTW (632 g/t silver and 4.30 g/t gold) Including 2,256 g/t AgEq over 0.71 mTW (1,575 g/t silver and 11.00 g/t gold) And, 4,905 g/t AgEq over 1.07 mTW (3,510 g/t silver and 22.80 g/t gold)



aExpansion drilling at Copala continues to increase the known size of this robust near surface vein system with exceptional silver and gold grades,a commented Michael Konnert, President and CEO. aWe have now expanded the mineralized footprint well beyond the March 2022 resource boundary and it remains open in all directions. Given its proximity to Tajitos and the recently announced Cristiano discovery, it is becoming increasingly clear that we are building critical mass in this area of the district.a

The Copala Vein is located at the northern extent and on the hangingwall side of the Tajitos structure. Copala is marked by high precious metals grades (up to 11,053 g/t silver and 33.50 g/t gold over 1.26 mTW) hosted within a broader envelope, of vein-breccia interlayered with host rock, up to 82 metres thick. Local mineralized high grade intervals of up to 20.45 mTW returning grades of up to 1,030 g/t AgEq (780 g/t silver and 4.23 g/t gold) have been intercepted in the drilling. Ongoing interpretations by Vizslaa?s geologists is defining the variability in Copalaa?s dip, ranging from shallow (~35A to the east) in its northern sector and steepening (~52A to the east) in the southern sector.

The drilling in the northwestern portion of Copala has traced mineralization along approximately 1,000 metres of strike length and approximately 400 metres down dip. Furthermore, todaya?s reported intercepts add over 100m strike length to the NNW beyond the March 2022 resource boundary. The high-grade mineralized shoot remains open to the north with potential to continue on the footwall side of the Tajitos vein structure. Ongoing detailed structural and geologic interpretations indicate potential for the mineralization to also continue down dip to the east and along strike to the south. A Drill testing those extensions is the near-term focus for expansion as Vizsla continues to explore the Copala area.

Drilling focused on expanding the Copala resource area continues to highlight the well-developed, high-grade mineral continuity. The intercepts reported here, previously reported Copala intercepts, the Copala 2 vein-splay intercepts, situated between Tajitos and Copala, and the recently reported NW trending Cristiano vein (press releases dated June 21, 2022, May 19, 2022 and September 7, 2022), support the potential to discover additional blind to surface veins in the vicinity.

Vizsla Silver will be hosting a webcast to discuss exploration drilling at Copala at 11:00am PT on Tuesday, September 27th.A To register, please click here.

About the Panuco project

The newly consolidated Panuco silver-gold project is an emerging high-grade discovery located in southern Sinaloa, Mexico, near the city of MazatlAn. The 6,761-hectare, past producing district benefits from over 86 kilometres of total vein extent, 35 kilometres of underground mines, roads, power, and permits.

The district contains intermediate to low sulfidation epithermal silver and gold deposits related to siliceous volcanism and crustal extension in the Oligocene and Miocene. Host rocks are mainly continental volcanic rocks correlated to the Tarahumara Formation.

The Panuco Project hosts an estimated in-situ indicated mineral resource of 61.1 Moz AgEq and an in-situ inferred resource of 45.6 Moz AgEq The Technical Report, titled aNational Instrument 43-101 Technical Report for the Panuco Project Mineral Resource Estimate Concordia, Sinaloa, Mexicoa was filed on SEDAR on April 7, 2022, has an effective date of March 1, 2022 and was prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 a Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (aNI 43-101a) by Tim Maunula, P.Geo., Principal Geologist, T. Maunula & Associates Consulting Inc and Kevin Murray, P.Eng, Manager Process Engineering, Ausenco.

About Vizsla Silver

Vizsla Silver is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company headquartered in Vancouver, BC, focused on advancing its flagship, 100%-owned Panuco silver-gold project located in Sinaloa, Mexico. To date, Vizsla has completed over 210,000 metres of drilling at Panuco leading to the discovery of several new high-grade veins. For 2022, Vizsla has budgeted +120,000 metres of resource/discovery-based drilling designed to upgrade and expand the maiden resource, as well as test other high priority targets across the district.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

Drill core and rock samples were shipped to ALS Limited in Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico and in North Vancouver, Canada for sample preparation and for analysis at the ALS laboratory in North Vancouver.A The ALS Zacatecas and North Vancouver facilities are ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 17025 certified. Silver and base metals were analyzed using a four-acid digestion with an ICP finish and gold was assayed by 30-gram fire assay with atomic absorption (aAAa) spectroscopy finish. Over limit analyses for silver, lead and zinc were re-assayed using an ore-grade four-acid digestion with AA finish.

Control samples comprising certified reference samples, duplicates and blank samples were systematically inserted into the sample stream and analyzed as part of the Companya?s quality assurance / quality control protocol.

Qualified Person

In accordance with NI 43-101, Martin Dupuis, P.Geo., COO, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has reviewed and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release.

Information Concerning Estimates of Mineral Resources

The scientific and technical information in this news release was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 which differs significantly from the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the aSECa). The terms \measured mineral resource\, \indicated mineral resource\ and \inferred mineral resource\ used herein are in reference to the mining terms defined in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Standards (the aCIM Definition Standardsa), which definitions have been adopted by NI 43-101. Accordingly, information contained herein providing descriptions of our mineral deposits in accordance with NI 43-101 may not be comparable to similar information made public by other U.S. companies subject to the United States federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

You are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of mineral resources will ever be converted into reserves. Pursuant to CIM Definition Standards, ainferred mineral resourcesa are that part of a mineral resource for which quantity and grade or quality are estimated on the basis of limited geological evidence and sampling. Such geological evidence is sufficient to imply but not verify geological and grade or quality continuity. An inferred mineral resource has a lower level of confidence than that applying to an indicated mineral resource and must not be converted to a mineral reserve. However, it is reasonably expected that the majority of inferred mineral resources could be upgraded to indicated mineral resources with continued exploration. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, except in rare cases. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource is economically or legally mineable. Disclosure of acontained ouncesa in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian regulations; however, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute areservesa by SEC standards as in place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measures.

Canadian standards, including the CIM Definition Standards and NI 43-101, differ significantly from standards in the SEC Industry Guide 7. Effective February 25, 2019, the SEC adopted new mining disclosure rules under subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the aSEC Modernization Rulesa), with compliance required for the first fiscal year beginning on or after January 1, 2021. The SEC Modernization Rules replace the historical property disclosure requirements included in SEC Industry Guide 7. As a result of the adoption of the SEC Modernization Rules, the SEC now recognizes estimates of ameasured mineral resourcesa, aindicated mineral resourcesa and ainferred mineral resourcesa. Information regarding mineral resources contained or referenced herein may not be comparable to similar information made public by companies that report according to U.S. standards. While the SEC Modernization Rules are purported to be asubstantially similara to the CIM Definition Standards, readers are cautioned that there are differences between the SEC Modernization Rules and the CIM Definitions Standards. Accordingly, there is no assurance any mineral resources that the Company may report as ameasured mineral resourcesa, aindicated mineral resourcesa and ainferred mineral resourcesa under NI 43-101 would be the same had the Company prepared the resource estimates under the standards adopted under the SEC Modernization Rules.

Contact Information: For more information and to sign-up to the mailing list, please contact:

Michael Konnert, President and Chief Executive Officer

Tel: (604) 364-2215

Email: info@vizslasilver.caA

Website: www.vizslasilvercorp.caA A

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

Jochen Staiger

info@resource-capital.ch

www.resource-capital.ch

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes certain aForward?Looking Statementsa within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and aforward?looking informationa under applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words aanticipatea, abelievea, aestimatea, aexpecta, atargeta, aplana, aforecasta, amaya, awoulda, acoulda, aschedulea and similar words or expressions, identify forward?looking statements or information. These forward?looking statements or information relate to, among other things: the exploration, development, and production at Panuco, including plans for resource/discovery-based drilling, designed to upgrade, and expand the maiden resource as well as test other high priority targets across the district.

Forward?looking statements and forward?looking information relating to any future mineral production, liquidity, enhanced value and capital markets profile of Vizsla Silver, future growth potential for Vizsla Silver and its business, and future exploration plans are based on managementa?s reasonable assumptions, estimates, expectations, analyses and opinions, which are based on managementa?s experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, and other factors that management believes are relevant and reasonable in the circumstances, but which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the price of silver, gold, and other metals; no escalation in the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic; costs of exploration and development; the estimated costs of development of exploration projects; Vizsla Silvera?s ability to operate in a safe and effective manner and its ability to obtain financing on reasonable terms.

These statements reflect Vizsla Silvera?s respective current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of other assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward?looking statements or forward-looking information and Vizsla Silver has made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation: the Company\-s dependence on one mineral project; precious metals price volatility; risks associated with the conduct of the Company\-s mining activities in Mexico; regulatory, consent or permitting delays; risks relating to reliance on the Company\-s management team and outside contractors; risks regarding mineral resources and reserves; the Company\-s inability to obtain insurance to cover all risks, on a commercially reasonable basis or at all; currency fluctuations; risks regarding the failure to generate sufficient cash flow from operations; risks relating to project financing and equity issuances; risks and unknowns inherent in all mining projects, including the inaccuracy of reserves and resources, metallurgical recoveries and capital and operating costs of such projects; contests over title to properties, particularly title to undeveloped properties; laws and regulations governing the environment, health and safety; the ability of the communities in which the Company operates to manage and cope with the implications of COVID-19; the economic and financial implications of COVID-19 to the Company; operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining or development activities; employee relations, labour unrest or unavailability; the Company\-s interactions with surrounding communities and artisanal miners; the Company\-s ability to successfully integrate acquired assets; the speculative nature of exploration and development, including the risks of diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; stock market volatility; conflicts of interest among certain directors and officers; lack of liquidity for shareholders of the Company; litigation risk; and the factors identified under the caption aRisk Factorsa in Vizsla Silvera?s management discussion and analysis. Readers are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward?looking statements or forward-looking information. Although Vizsla Silver has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. Vizsla Silver does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward?looking statements or forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.
Tier One Silver Commences CSAMT at Curibaya to Refine Copper Porphyry Targets

Tier One Silver Inc. (TSXV: TSLV, OTCQB: TSLVF) (aTier Onea or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/tier-one-silver-inc/ ) is pleased to announce that it has initiated a 35-line kilometre (km) Controlled-Source-Audio-Frequency Magnetotelluric (CSAMT) geophysical survey in the central portion of the Curibaya project in southern Peru. The purpose of this survey is to define the resistivity properties at depth, where zones of lower resistivity and higher conductivity can indicate zones of intense hydrothermal alteration that may be associated with a copper porphyry system at depth (Figure 1). Upon completion of the survey and final targeting the Company plans to drill test for a potential porphyry system underlying the epithermal system defined on surface. Currently, results are pending from a channel sampling program to refine precious metals targets within the newly permitted Cambaya target area.

A Message from Peter Dembicki, President, CEO and Director:

aThe CSAMT geophysical survey is a key component to learning more about potential copper porphyry mineralization, which we saw indications for in our first phase of exploration at Curibaya. This is an exciting development for the Company toward unlocking the large opportunity of a potential copper porphyry deposit alongside the epithermal silver system that wea?ve already identified, and we look forward to defining these targets for our next drill program.a

Copper Porphyry Potential:

The first phase of drilling and surface work has provided several lines of evidence that a porphyry target exists in the central region of the mineralized system, as it is currently defined. An analysis of vein geochemistry across the property has demonstrated concentric zonation with copper-lead-zinc zoning outward into lead +/- copper and then zinc +/- lead in the peripheral zone (Figure 1). This geochemical zonation is consistent with porphyry systems and the central copper-lead-zinc zone would be the primary target area at depth. Within the copper a lead a zinc geochemical core, skarn mineralization is observed on surface, indicating a proximity to intrusives. Small scale 1 a 2 metre (m) wide porphyry dykes and associated magnetite veinlets were intersected in the phase I drill program within the Madre and Tipal structural corridors, also indicating the potential for a proximal porphyry. In addition, drill holes 6 and 8 had intercepts of molybdenum (Mo) grading 5 m of 85 ppm Mo and 44 m of 52 ppm Mo, respectively, providing a potential vector to a porphyry system at depth (Figure 2). Collectively, these lines of evidence support further targeting work and vectoring toward a porphyry system at depth.A

Additionally, the Company is announcing that it has engaged Native Ads Inc. (aNative Adsa) of Vancouver, BC, a firm of digital media experts, to execute a comprehensive digital media marketing campaign supporting Tier Onea?s ongoing efforts to increase awareness. This comprehensive advertising program is designed to build brand familiarity, general recognition and raise awareness within online investor content platforms. Native Ads will employ state-of-the-art digital advertising, paid distribution, media buying and content creation to execute this important initiative. Native Ads was founded in 2014.

This programmatic digital advertising campaign will run for up to 6 months, or until budget exhaustion, at the cost of approximately C$215,000. No compensation securities are involved. The Company and Native Ads act at arma?s length, and Native Ads has no present interest, directly or indirectly, in the Company or its securities. The appointment of Native Ads is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.

Christian Rios (SVP of Exploration), P.Geo, is the Qualified Person who has reviewed and assumes responsibility for the technical contents of this press release.

About Tier One

Tier One Silver is an exploration company focused on creating value for shareholders and stakeholders through the discovery of world-class silver, gold and base metal deposits in Peru. The Companya?s management and technical teams have a strong track record in raising capital, discovery and monetization of exploration success. The Companya?s exploration assets in Peru include: Hurricane Silver, Coastal Batholith, Corisur and the flagship project, Curibaya. For more information, visit www.tieronesilver.com.

Curibaya Drilling

Analytical samples were taken by sawing HQ or NQ diameter core into equal halves on site and sent one of the halves to ALS Lab in Arequipa, Peru for preparation and then to Lima, Peru for analysis. All samples are assayed using 30 g nominal weight fire assay with atomic absorption finish (Au-AA25) and multi-element four acid digest ICP-AES/ICP-MS method (ME-MS61). Where MS61 results were greater or near 10,000 ppm Cu, 10,000 ppm Pb or 100 ppm Ag the assay were repeated with ore grade four acid digest method (Cu, Pb, Ag-OG62). Where OG62 results were greater or near 1,500 ppm Ag the assay were repeated with 30 g nominal weight fire assay with gravimetric finish (Ag-GRA21).

QA/QC programs for 2021 core samples using company and lab duplicates, standards and blanks indicate good accuracy and precision in a large majority of standards assayed.

True widths of mineralization are unknown based on current geometric understanding of the mineralized intervals.

Channel Sampling a Curibaya

Analytical samples were taken from each 1-metre interval of channel floor resulting in approximately 2-3 kg of rock chips material per sample. Collected samples were sent to ALS Lab in Arequipa, Peru for preparation and then to Lima, Peru for analysis. All samples are assayed using 30 g nominal weight fire assay with atomic absorption finish (Au-AA25) and multi-element four acid digest ICP-AES/ICP-MS method (ME-MS61). Where MS61 results were greater or near 10000 ppm Cu, 10000 ppm Pb or 100 ppm Ag the assay were repeated with ore grade four acid digest method (Cu, Pb, Ag-OG62). Where OG62 results were greater or near 1500 ppm Ag the assay were repeated with 30 g nominal weight fire assay with gravimetric finish (Ag-GRA21). QA/QC programs for 2021 channel samples using internal standard and blank samples; field and lab duplicates indicate good overall accuracy and precision.

Forward Looking Information and General Cautionary Language

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation (collectively, aforward-looking statementsa) that relate to the Companya?s current expectations and views of future events are not historical facts and may be forward-looking statements and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be heavily relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release. In particular, and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to exploration plans, specifically in relation to drilling and there is no certainty that the locations will ultimately be drilled, or if drilled, discover any mineralization.

Readers should refer to the risks discussed in the Company\-s Annual Information Form and Managementa?s Discussion & Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2021, and subsequent continuous disclosure filings with the Canadian Securities Administrators available at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Figure 1: Illustrates the geochemical zonation observed within the precious metal veins within the Curibaya project area.A An analysis of vein geochemistry across the property has demonstrated concentric zonation with copper-lead-zinc zoning outward into lead +/- copper and then zinc +/- lead in the peripheral zone. This geochemical zonation is consistent with porphyry systems and the central copper-lead-zinc zone would be the primary target area at depth. In addition, the magnetic and chargeability anomalies shown on the figure could represent an intrusion or potassic alteration and sulphidation, respectively, at a depth of approximately 400 m.A

Figure 2: Illustrates the conceptual geological model for mineralization at the Curibaya project. Importantly, higher elevations are interpreted to represent an increase in the vertical extent of the precious metal mineralization with a porphyry target at depth, between the Sama and Sambalay corridors, as evidenced by: geochemical zonation within the vein geochemistry, skarn mineralization observed at low elevations in the vicinity of the Madre corridor, molybdenum increasing with depth in drill holes 6 and 8, as well as the presence of magnetic anomalies at a depth of approximately 400 m.A
Skeena Announces Multiple 21A West Zone Expansions at Eskay Creek Including 48.48 g/t AuEq over 12.12 metres

Skeena Resources Limited (TSX: SKE, NYSE: SKE) (aSkeenaa or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/skeena-resources-ltd/ ) is pleased to announce the first drilling results from the 2022 regional and near mine exploration programs at the Eskay Creek gold-silver Project (aEskay Creeka or the aProjecta) located in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia. Analytical results from the recently completed drill holes are detailed in this release. Additional results will be reported once available. Reference images are presented at the end of this release as well as on the Companya?s website

New 2022 Exploration Program Highlights:

66 g/t Au, 1.7 g/t Ag (1.68 g/t AuEq) over 31.30 m (SK-22-988, East Flank)

97 g/t Au, 3.0 g/t Ag (3.01 g/t AuEq) over 17.66 m (SK-22-990, East Flank)

27 g/t Au, 2.3 g/t Ag (2.30 g/t AuEq) over 21.00 m (SK-22-1006, 23 Zone)

31 g/t Au, 1.3 g/t Ag (1.33 g/t AuEq) over 47.50 m (SK-22-1008, 23 Zone)

85 g/t Au, 1.8 g/t Ag (1.87 g/t AuEq) over 27.68 m (SK-22-1018, East Flank)

52 g/t Au, 1.5 g/t Ag (1.54 g/t AuEq) over 31.60 m (SK-22-1023, East Flank)

74 g/t Au, 1.7 g/t Ag (1.76 g/t AuEq) over 46.77 m (SK-22-1028, 21AW)

45 g/t Au, 1.5 g/t Ag (1.47 g/t AuEq) over 29.50 m (SK-22-1032, 21AW)

50 g/t Au, 73.4 g/t Ag (48.48 g/t AuEq) over 12.12 m (SK-22-1093, 21AW)

Gold Equivalent (AuEq) calculated via the formula: Au (g/t) + [Ag (g/t) / 75]. True widths and zone geometries cannot be definitively determined at this time. Grade-capping of individual assays has not been applied to the Au and Ag assays informing the length-weighted AuEq composites. Metallurgical processing recoveries have not been applied to the AuEq calculation and are taken at 100%. Samples below detection limit were nulled to a value of zero.

New In-Pit Discovery Enhances 21A West Zone

Expanding upon the in-pit mineralization discovered in 2021 by drill hole SK-21-997 which intersected high-tenor gold mineralization averaging 8.78 g/t Au, 13 g/t Ag (8.95 g/t AuEq) over 34.00 m, the Company is pleased to report that 2022 drill hole SK-22-1093 has predictably lengthened the Rhyolite-hosted 21A West Zone (a21AWa) with a new high-grade interval averaging 47.50 g/t Au, 73.4 g/t Ag (48.48 g/t AuEq) over 12.12 m. Occurring entirely within the intended open-pit, 75 metres north of SK-21-997 at a vertical depth of only 50 metres below surface, this area of the Resource was never populated by previous drilling and as such was modelled as barren waste rock. Analytical results for three other 2022 drillholes within this 75-metre gap are pending. The Rhyolite-hosted mineralization within 21AW is not characterized by elevated concentrations of the epithermal suite of elements (Hg-As-Sb) as is the case with the Contact Mudstone hosted mineralization. The limited drilling to date in 21AW indicates that precious metal grades typically increase vertically up stratigraphy with closer proximity to the Contact Mudstone.

Additional 21AW in-pit expansions have been delineated 50 metres below SK-21-997 with exploratory drill hole SK-22-1032 which intersected two zones averaging 1.73 g/t Au, 1.7 g/t Ag (1.75 g/t AuEq) over 11.02 m and 1.45 g/t Au, 1.5 g/t Ag (1.47 g/t AuEq) over 29.50 m.

aThe new results from the Rhyolite-hosted synvolcanic feeders clearly validate the predictability and robustness of our geological thesisa, notes Paul Geddes, the Companya?s Senior Vice President of Exploration and Resource Development. aDue to the high precious metal grade required by previous operators, the Rhyolite-hosted mineralization was never a focus for our predecessors and hence lacked systematic exploration. We are very encouraged by the results to date and look forward to further enhancing the already robust Mineral Resource and economics of the projecta.

aThese exploration drill results demonstrate the potential for adding new, open-pit mineralization in the near-term to Eskay Creeka, commented Skeenaa?s President, Randy Reichert. aThese new and evolving zones are contained within or near the proposed Eskay Creek open-pit. A Mineral Resource update will be completed following the 2022 drill program with the aim of upgrading at least a portion of the mineralization discovered in the 23 and 21A West Zones to the Indicated category for use in an updated mine plan.a

Southern Expansion Drilling Extends 21A West Zone Beyond Resource Limits

Situated 250 metres along strike to the south of the new in-pit discoveries, 2022 drill hole SK-22-1028 intersected 1.74 g/t Au, 1.7 g/t Ag (1.76 g/t AuEq) over 46.77 m in the same Rhyolite-hosted synvolcanic structure that hosts 21AW mineralization. This discovery occurs 100 metres vertically below surface and beyond the limits of the currently defined Eskay Creek resource. Additional drilling is planned for this area to potentially expand the mineralization up-dip to surface. Analytical results are pending for three other drillholes that were drilled in this 250-metre untested gap of the 21AW.

Company Conference Call for Release of 2022 Eskay Creek Feasibility Study

The Company will be hosting a conference call at 8:00 AM PT/11:00 AM ET on Thursday, September 8th, 2022 after the release of the Eskay Creek Feasibility Study. A presentation by management will be followed by Q&A.

Webcast URL with Audio  https://services.choruscall.ca/links/skeenaresources202209feas.html

Participant Telephone Numbers  Canada/US 1-800-319-4610, International Toll +1-604-638-5340

If youa?d like to ask a question, please dial in. All callers should dial in 5-10 minutes prior to the schedule start time and simply ask to join the call.

About Skeena

Skeena Resources Limited is a Canadian mining exploration and development company focused on revitalizing the past-producing Eskay Creek gold-silver mine located in Tahltan Territory in the Golden Triangle of northwest British Columbia, Canada. The Company released a Prefeasibility Study for Eskay Creek in July 2021 which highlights an open-pit average grade of 4.57 g/t AuEq, an after-tax NPV5% of C$1.4B, 56% IRR, and a 1.4-year payback at US$1,550/oz Au. Skeena is currently completing both infill and exploration drilling to advance Eskay Creek to a full Feasibility Study, which will be released on Thursday, September 8th, 2022.

Qualified Persons

Exploration activities at the Eskay Creek Project are administered on site by the Companya?s Exploration Managers, Raegan Markel, P.Geo. and Director of Exploration, Adrian Newton P.Geo. In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Paul Geddes, P.Geo. Senior Vice President Exploration and Resource Development, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting the exploration activities on its projects.

Quality Assurance a Quality Control

Once received from the drill and processed, all drill core samples are sawn in half, labelled and bagged. The remaining drill core is subsequently securely stored on site. Numbered security tags are applied to lab shipments for chain of custody requirements. The Company inserts quality control (QC) samples at regular intervals in the sample stream, including blanks and reference materials with all sample shipments to monitor laboratory performance. The QAQC program was designed and approved by Lynda Bloom, P.Geo. of Analytical Solutions Ltd., and is overseen by the Companya?s Qualified Person, Paul Geddes, P.Geo, Vice President Exploration and Resource Development.

Drill core samples are submitted to ALS Geochemistrya?s analytical facility in North Vancouver, British Columbia for preparation and analysis. The ALS facility is accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard for gold assays and all analytical methods include quality control materials at set frequencies with established data acceptance criteria. The entire sample is crushed and 1 kg is pulverized. Analysis for gold is by 50 g fire assay fusion with atomic absorption (AAS) finish with a lower limit of 0.01 ppm and upper limit of 100 ppm. Samples with gold assays greater than 100 ppm are re-analyzed using a 50 g fire assay fusion with gravimetric finish. Analysis for silver is by 50 g fire assay fusion with gravimetric finish with a lower limit of 5ppm and upper limit of 10,000 ppm. Samples with silver assays greater than 10,000 ppm are re-analyzed using a gravimetric silver concentrate method. A selected number of samples are also analyzed using a 48 multi-element geochemical package by a 4-acid digestion, followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and also for mercury using an aqua regia digest with Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) finish. Samples with sulfur reporting greater than 10% from the multi-element analysis are re-analyzed for total sulfur by Leco furnace and infrared spectroscopy.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements

Certain statements and information contained or incorporated by reference in this news release constitute aforward-looking informationa and aforward-looking statementsa within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation (collectively, aforward-looking statementsa). These statements relate to future events or our future performance. The use of words such as aanticipatesa, abelievesa, aproposesa, acontemplatesa, ageneratesa, atargetsa, ais projecteda, ais planneda, aconsidersa, aestimatesa, aexpectsa, ais expecteda, apotentiala and similar expressions, or statements that certain actions, events or results amaya, amighta, awilla, acoulda, or awoulda be taken, achieved, or occur, may identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Specific forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the results of the Feasibility Study, processing capacity of the mine, anticipated mine life, probable reserves, estimated project capital and operating costs, sustaining costs, results of test work and studies, planned environmental assessments, the future price of metals, metal concentrate, and future exploration and development. Such forward-looking statements are based on material factors and/or assumptions which include, but are not limited to, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, metal prices, taxation, the estimation, timing and amount of future exploration and development, capital and operating costs, the availability of financing, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental risks, title disputes and the assumptions set forth herein and in the Companya?s MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2021, its most recently filed interim MD&A, and the Companya?s Annual Information Form (aAIFa) dated March 31, 2022. Such forward-looking statements represent the Companya?s management expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events or circumstances on the date the statements are made, and are necessarily based on several estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date hereof, are not guarantees of future performance. Actual events and results may differ materially from those described herein, and are subject to significant operational, business, economic, and regulatory risks and uncertainties. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others: the inherent risks involved in exploration and development of mineral properties, including permitting and other government approvals; changes in economic conditions, including changes in the price of gold and other key variables; changes in mine plans and other factors, including accidents, equipment breakdown, bad weather and other project execution delays, many of which are beyond the control of the Company; environmental risks and unanticipated reclamation expenses; and other risk factors identified in the Companya?s MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2021, its most recently filed interim MD&A, the AIF dated March 31, 2022, and in the Companya?s other periodic filings with securities and regulatory authorities in Canada and the United States that are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.

Readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and Company does not undertake any obligations to update and/or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws.

Cautionary note to U.S. Investors concerning estimates of mineral reserves and mineral resources

Skeenaa?s mineral reserves and mineral resources included or incorporated by reference herein have been estimated in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 a Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (aNI 43-101a) as required by Canadian securities regulatory authorities, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. The terms amineral reservea, aproven mineral reservea, aprobable mineral reservea, amineral resourcea, ameasured mineral resourcea, aindicated mineral resourcea and ainferred mineral resourcea are Canadian mining terms as defined in accordance with NI 43-101 and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (aCIMa) aCIM Definition Standards a For Mineral Resources and Mineral Reservesa adopted by the CIM Council (as amended, the aCIM Definition Standardsa). These standards differ significantly from the mineral property disclosure requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Regulation S-K Subpart 1300 (the aSEC Modernization Rulesa). Skeena is not currently subject to the SEC Modernization Rules. Accordingly, Skeenaa?s disclosure of mineralization and other technical information may differ significantly from the information that would be disclosed had Skeena prepared the information under the standards adopted under the SEC Modernization Rules. A

In addition, investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of Skeenaa?s mineral resources constitute or will be converted into reserves. These terms have a great amount of uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to assume that any ameasureda, aindicateda, or ainferreda mineral resources that Skeena reports are or will be economically or legally mineable. Further, ainferred mineral resourcesa have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an ainferred mineral resourcea will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian securities laws, estimates of ainferred mineral resourcesa may not form the basis of feasibility or prefeasibility studies, except in rare cases where permitted under NI 43-101.

For these reasons, the mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates and related information presented herein may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements under the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
The Queen and the Gold

The world\-s most minted monarch has adorned millions of coins in gold, silver, platinum and palladium since 1952.

Now the appearance of banknotes, stamps, coins and more will change. Until that time comes and they are finished, coins with the image of the Queen are still being produced. By the way, it is customary for a new monarch to face the opposite way. So, King Charles will probably turn his head to the left  a custom that has existed since the 17th century. It is always a good idea to buy a few gold coins. Gold has excellent properties; its value cannot depreciate, and it helps to preserve wealth. It\-s different with paper money, because the money supply has increased about fortyfold in the last 30 years.

However, banks and coin dealers charge a premium on the metal value. The purchase and sale of gold investment coins is VAT-free in this country as long as the coins function as legal tender. And after the holding period of one year, the coins can be resold tax-free. If investors want leverage on the gold price, then investing in the stocks of gold companies is recommended. The leverage in gold stocks ensures that share prices rise and fall disproportionately to the price of gold. Since the high for the year, gold has suffered some losses. But experts expect a turbulent stock market in the fall, and in addition, people in Europe are afraid of a dark winter. The sell-off in gold could then be over. In any case, the current phase of weakness is perhaps the best time to enter. Osisko Development or Tudor Gold would be suitable.

Osisko Development  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ILnR9Y6Vfc  has projects in Mexico, Canada and the USA in its portfolio. The main project is the Cariboo project in British Columbia.

Tudor Gold  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hconKNJAX4w  has one of the largest gold discoveries found anywhere in the world in the last 30 years at its flagship Treaty Creek project in British Columbia.

Current corporate information and press releases from Osisko Development (- https://www.resource-capital.ch/en/companies/osisko-development-corp/ -).

In accordance with A34 WpHG I would like to point out that partners, authors and employees may hold shares in the respective companies addressed and thus a possible conflict of interest exists. No guarantee for the translation into English. Only the German version of this news is valid.

Disclaimer: The information provided does not represent any form of recommendation or advice. Express reference is made to the risks in securities trading. No liability can be accepted for any damage arising from the use of this blog. I would like to point out that shares and especially warrant investments are always 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 errors, especially with regard to figures and prices. The information contained herein is taken from sources believed to be reliable, but in no way claims to be accurate or complete. Due to court decisions, the contents of linked external sites are also co-responsible (e.g. Landgericht Hamburg, in the decision of 12.05.1998  312 O 85/98), as long as there is no explicit dissociation from them. Despite careful control of the content, I do not assume liability for the content of linked external pages. The respective operators are exclusively responsible for their content. The disclaimer of Swiss Resource Capital AG also applies: https://www.resource-capital.ch/en/disclaimer/
President Jo Bonner Inauguration Set for Sept. 23

Posted on September 12, 2022

President Jo Bonner will be inaugurated as the University of South Alabamas fourth president on Friday, Sept. 23, at the USA Mitchell Center. The public is invited to the 3 p.m. ceremony, which will be followed by an opportunity to meet with the president and his family on the arena floor.

This is an exciting time for our institution, as we celebrate our achievements and look forward to what we can accomplish. There is truly no better time to be part of the South Alabama family, said Dr. Andi Kent, provost and executive vice president, and co-chair of the Presidential Inauguration Committee. We invite the University community and friends to join us for this historic occasion.

Scheduled speakers include Arlene Mitchell, chair pro tem of the University of South Alabama Board of Trustees; U.S. Representative Terri Sewell of Alabamas Seventh District; Dr. Jack Hawkins Jr., chancellor of Troy University; and Alabama Governor Kay Ivey. The installation will be led by Trustee Jimmy Shumock, and the University of South Alabama Wind Ensemble and University Chorale will perform.

Parking will be available in the Mitchell Center parking lot and other nearby lots. Reserved handicapped parking will be located at the Mitchell Center.

During the inauguration week, there will be events including food drives, beautification efforts, a student showcase and social, an employee and retiree picnic, and Java with Jo with employees at designated USA Health locations.

On Thursday, Sept. 22, the University will host the Silver Endowed Presidential Lectureship at the Mitchell Center featuring Captain D. Michael Abrashoff, author of the New York Times best seller Its Your Ship. The event is free and open to the public; tickets can be reserved online.

The installation website contains details regarding the dates and times of the events listed above, and will continue to be updated.

Jo Bonner, the fourth president of the University of South Alabama, will be inaugurated Sept. 23 at the USA Mitchell Center. Jo Bonner, the fourth president of the University of South Alabama, will be inaugurated Sept. 23 at the USA Mitchell Center.

About Jo Bonner

Jo Bonner is the fourth president of the University of South Alabama.

Previously, he served as chief of staff to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey. He joined the Ivey Administration in December 2018, as the governors senior advisor. Before joining the governor's office, he served as vice chancellor for economic development at the University of Alabama System from 2013 to 2018. During his final year at the UA System, he was an executive on loan, serving as interim executive director of the Tuscaloosa County Industrial Development Authority.

For more than a decade, he represented Alabamas First District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was first elected to the 108th Congress in November 2002 and was reelected to five additional terms. As a student at the University of Alabama, he worked on Capitol Hill as an intern for Congressman Jack Edwards. After graduation, he returned to Washington as press secretary and later chief of staff to Congressman Sonny Callahan.

In Congress, he earned a reputation as a respected and influential voice of reason in both Alabama and Washington. He was a member of the House Appropriations Committee, where he served on three key subcommittees, as well as the House Ethics Committee. Widely respected on both sides of the aisle, he was selected by House Speaker John Boehner to serve as chairman of Ethics during the 112th Congress. His crowning Congressional accomplishment came in 2012 when Airbus announced plans to build their first U.S. Final Assembly Line in Mobile. Over the years, Congressman Bonner developed friendships and strategic partnerships with the top corporate leaders at Airbus, one of the worlds largest aerospace and defense companies. The Airbus project has resulted in more than $1 billion being invested in Alabama, creating thousands of new jobs in the aerospace industry and putting Mobile on track to become the fourth largest commercial aviation city in the world.

President Bonner has received numerous awards and honors, including a 2020 induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor; the Academy is the states premiere recognition of 100 living Alabamians for their outstanding accomplishments and service. In 2016, the Business Council of Alabama created the inaugural Congressman Jo Bonner Spirit of Leadership Award and honored Bonner as its first recipient. In 2013, he received the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest honor the U.S. Navy bestows on a civilian. He also received the 2012 Governor Bob Riley Building a Better Alabama Award by the BCA.

Bonner earned a B.A. degree in Journalism from The University of Alabama in 1982. He is married to the former Janee Lambert, of Mobile; they are the parents of a daughter, Lee, and a son, Robins.
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The Sandman The Dolls House was written by Heather Bellson (The Walking Dead, American Gods, Black Sails) and was directed by Andres Baiz (Narcos, Narcos: Mexico). This episode was adapted from issue #10 The Dolls House and #11 Moving In. Once again the acting is just fabulous in this episode, and I love the way they are interweaving the storylines.

I think its particularly interesting for them to ratchet up the tension by teasing the storylines of The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook), Desire (Mason Alexander Park), and Despair (Donna Preston). We know they are up to no good, but what are they up to? It seems The Corinthian is after Rose Walker (Vanesu Samunyai) and Desire and Despair have a history of going after Dream (Tom Sturridge). Did you notice that Despair wears crocs? Because nothing says despair like wearing crocs! Hilarious! Well done costume department!

As the episode opens, Lucienne (Vivienne Acheampong) is conducting a census. She reports to Dream that three of the Arcana have gone missing  Gault, The Corinthian, and Fiddlers Green. I loved using the stain glass window to reveal each in turn. So like the panels of a comic! Dream decides to use Rose  who is a Dream vortex  to find them. I loved how Lucienne didnt want to admit there was a vortex  that could destroy both the Dreaming and the waking world, but Dream is absolutely gleeful about her. I was really struck in this episode about how perfect Sturridges voice is  the delivery, the pace, and his facial expressions.

Matthew (Patton Oswalt) gets his first big assignment  to watch Rose. And did anyone NOT love Mark Hamill as Merv Pumpkinhead??

Rose comes from a broken home. She and her mother had to leave her little brother Jed (Eddie Karanja) behind when they left her abusive ex-husband. In the present, Roses mother has just died. Rose is still trying to find her little brother but has no money to pay for help. She has been given a mysterious job to fly to London and give a family history. Her friend Carl (Ben Wiggins) will be staying at her apartment while shes gone. Rose is accompanied by her friend, Lyta Hall (Razane Jammal) who dreams of her dead husband, Hector (Lloyd Everitt) on the plane.

Once Rose gets to London, she finds that the woman who hired her  Unity Kincaid (Sandra James-Young)  is actually her great grandmother through the baby she had while trapped in sleep for the time of Dreams imprisonment. Rather than asking Rose about her family tree, Unity explains it to her. I love how the show (and the novel!) has circled back to this. Unity wants to help Rose and promises her any money she needs to find Jed. Rose is also visited by the Fates (Nina Wadia, Souad Faress, Dinita Gohil) who try to warn her. Unity also gives Rose a ring  which is clearly going to be significant.

While Rose is in London, The Corinthian comes by the apartment, telling Carl that hes a head hunter (LOL!  really, just the eyes!) and he has a job for Rose. Carl invites him in and the two have sex. Surprisingly, The Corinthian doesnt kill him

Rose moves into an eccentric B&B in Florida to try to trace Jeds placement in the foster system. The cast of characters in the B&B are epic. The house is run by Hal Carter (played by John Cameron Mitchell, who may have looked familiar from his terrific performance as Joe Exotic in). His performance at the drag club was simply inspired! And of course he sings "Everything's Coming Up Rosie!" The house is also home to Barbie (Lily Travers) and Ken (Richard Fleeshman)  who totally look the part and provide a stark contrast to Goth twins? Sister? Mother/daughter? Lovers?  Chantal (Daisy Badger) and Zelda (Cara Horgan).

The best is saved for last After watching Hals performance, Rose steps out into the alley behind the club to take a call from Unity and is almost immediately accosted by a couple of thugs. And then Gilbert (the always wonderful Stephen Fry!!!) shows up late and helps her fight them off  though it quickly becomes clear that she doesnt really need his help! He was only just arriving because he forgot the time as he was reading  something that will be important later

Meanwhile, there is a Cereal Convention that has lost its keynote speaker. Of course, this is a serial killer convention as we quickly learn. Once again the casting here is terrific. Nimrod (Kerry Shale), Fun Land (Danny Kirrane), and The Good Doctor (Jill Winternitz) discuss who they can get as a replacement, and they all want to get The Corinthian. They dont have any way to contact him, so they decide to plagiarize his work all three carve out the eyes of victims And of course, The Corinthian shows up and tells them he wants to bring a plus one: Rose Walker!

The episode ends with Jed trying to get away from a clearly abusive foster dad who forces him into to the trunk of his car

This was another great episode for me, nailing so many of the novels elements pretty much perfectly. I also think they are doing a really great job in integrating the various storylines. What did you think of this episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!




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LOS ANGELES (AP)  The Latest on the Emmy Awards (all times local):

9:20 p.m.

Newly minted Emmy winners made their first party stop at the Governors Gala.

For the first time, the official Emmy Awards after party was held outdoors, outside the Los Angeles Convention Center next door to the Microsoft Theater where the ceremony was held earlier Monday night.

Geena Davis, who was honored during the ceremony with the Governors Award for her work with her institute on gender in media, wandered barefoot through the party carrying a plate of salmon.

Partygoers danced under the stars to a live band that kicked into Emmy winner Lizzos About Damn Time," and jammed the plaza's bars awaiting champagne and cocktails.

Longtime Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels, whose show won best sketch series for the sixth year in a row, held court with an Emmy statuette on the table.

Salmon, rare beef and mini tacos were on the al fresco menu.

Succession," Ted Lasso and Squid Game were among the winners of the top awards at the ceremony hosted by Kenan Thompson.

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8:10 p.m.

The Roy family comes out ahead again.

Succession has won best drama series at the Emmys.

Season three of the HBO drama starring Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong about a media monarch and the children who seek to succeed him took the top prize on Monday night, just as season two did in 2020.

Matthew Macfadyen was the only Succession star to take home an acting Emmy Monday.

Netflixs The Crown won best drama last year, when Succession was between seasons.

Succession beat out competitors Better Call Saul, Euphoria, Ozark, Severance, Squid Game, Stranger Things and Yellowjackets.

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HIGHLIGHTS AT THE EMMYS

 Goddess gowns, Old Hollywood glam and red rule Emmy carpet

 List of Emmy Award winners include Michael Keaton and SNL

 Sheryl Lee Ralph, 1st-time nominee, wins Emmy award and sings

 Emmys host Kenan Thompson predicts conflict-free ceremony

 Find more AP coverage here: https://apnews.com/hub/emmy-awards

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MORE EMMY BREAKTHROUGHS:

7:55 p.m.

Ted Lasso took a dark turn and ended up with another bright shining Emmy.

The show won its second straight Emmy Award for best comedy series on Monday night.

The Apple TV+ series starring Jason Sudeikis as the fish-out-of-water coach of an American football team managing a soccer club in England focused on mental health and its characters pain in its second season, and was rewarded for it by Emmy voters.

The series won four Emmys on Monday night, including best actor in a comedy series for Jason Sudeikis and best supporting actor for Brett Goldstein.

Ted Lasso beat out competitors including Barry, Hacks, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Abbot Elementary, Only Murders in The Building, and What We Do in the Shadows.

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7:50 p.m.

The White Lotus bloomed on Emmy night.

The black comedy from creator Mike White about a disparate group of people at a Hawaiian resort won the Emmy Award for best limited series on Monday.

It was one of 10 Emmys claimed by the show, including best supporting actor and actress in a limited series.

The White Lotus stars Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Steve Zahn, and Murray Bartlett as a concierge who takes out an especially scatological form of revenge on a pestering resort guest.

The victory gives HBO its seventh win in 11 years in the category.

The White Lotus beat out fellow nominees The Dropout, Inventing Anna, Pam & Tommy, and Dopesick.

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7:45 p.m.

Lee Jung-jae has scored a historic Emmy Award for best lead actor in a drama series for his role in Squid Game.

Lee becomes the first Asian man to win the award, and the first to win it for a non-English-speaking role.

Id like to thank god above, Lee said in an acceptance speech delivered in both English and Korean. His clean-cut look on stage was a far cry from his shaggy appearance on Squid Game.

In the South Korean Netflix series, people in poverty are forced to compete for money and their lives by playing schoolyard games.

Lee beat out fellow nominees Brian Cox, Jason Bateman, Bob Odenkirk, Adam Scott and Jeremy Strong.

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7:40 p.m.

Jean Smart has shown shes no hack.

For the second straight year, Smart has won the Emmy Award for best lead actress in a comedy series for her role in Hacks on HBO Max.

Im more nervous than I was, thank you for a second time honoring this show, Smart said.

Smart was amid her own major career renaissance when she landed the role of Deborah Vance, a standup comic who revives her career with the help of a young writer played by Hannah Einbinder.

Its the fourth Emmy overall for Smart, who won two for guest spots on Frasier in 2000 and 2001, and her third for a supporting role on the sitcom Samantha Who in 2008.

Smart beat out fellow nominees Quinta Brunson, Kaley Cuoco, Elle Fanning, Issa Rae and Rachel Brosnahan.

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7:20 p.m.

It was another euphoric Emmy night for Zendaya.

The actor who was a surprise winner of the best lead actress in a drama series for the first season of Euphoria two years ago has done it again, taking a second trophy for her second season as recovering teenage addict Rue Bennett on the HBO show.

Anyone who has loved a Rue, or is a Rue, I want you to know that I am so grateful for your stories, I carry them with me and I carry them with her, Zendaya said.

She beat out fellow nominees Laura Linney, Melanie Lynskey, Sandra Oh, Reese Witherspoon and Jodie Comer.

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7:10 p.m.

Ted Lasso has roped another Emmy.

Jason Sudeikis won the Emmy Award for best lead actor in a comedy series on Monday night for his role as the title coach on Ted Lasso.

After a first season of hyper-positivity that earned him his first Emmy for the role, Sudeikis Lasso, an American football coach tapped to manage an English soccer club, spent the second season dealing with the effects of divorce and depression.

Im truly, truly surprised and flattered, Sudeikis said.

Sudeikis also won a best comedy series Emmy as a producer of the show in the first season.

Sudeikis beat out fellow nominees Bill Hader, Nicholas Hoult, Steve Martin, Martin Short and Jason Donald Glover.

Earlier, Sudeikis castmate Brett Goldstein won best supporting actor in a comedy.

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6:30 p.m.

Lizzo has an Emmy to go with her three Grammys.

Lizzos Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, the Amazon Prime Video series hosted by the singer, rapper and songwriter, won the Emmy Award for outstanding competition program on Monday night.

It ended a four-year winning streak in the category for RuPauls Drag Race.

The trophy is nice, but my emotion is for these people who are on the stage with me, a hyped and crying Lizzo said from the stage. The stories that they shared, theyre not that unique, they just dont get the platform.

When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see was me in the media, someone fat like me, black like me, beautiful like me, she said.

Where my big girls, are they here? she shouted to cast members in the crowd, calling them superstars.

They shouted and waved back from distant seats as they filmed with their phones.

Lizzos three Grammy Awards include a win in 2020 for best pop solo vocal performance for her hit Truth Hurts.

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6:15 p.m.

The Emmy for best actress in a limited series goes to Amanda Seyfried for The Dropout.

Its the first Emmy for Seyfried.

This is a really nice feeling, she said, near tears.

In the Hulu docudrama, she plays Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the ill-fated biotech company Theranos.

Jennifer Coolidge also won her first Emmy, taking best supporting actress in a limited series for The White Lotus, HBOs dark comedy about guests at a Hawaiian resort.

It was the first time in a long acting career the 61-year-old Coolidge had been nominated for an Emmy.

I took a lavender bath tonight just before the show, and it made me swell up inside my dress, Im having a hard time speaking, Coolidge said.

As the music played to get her to leave the stage, she shouted, Hold on, this is a once in a lifetime thing, then started boogieing as a livelier tune played, getting laughs and whoops from the audience. She finally took the hint and headed off.

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6:05 p.m.

For the seventh straight year, the Emmy for best variety talk series goes to Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.

The HBO show has won the award for all but one year that the category has existed.

We know how lucky we are to get to make the exact show that we want, exactly the way that we want to make it, Oliver said from the stage Monday night.

Moments earlier, Saturday Night Live won the Emmy for best sketch series.

The NBC institution wins the award for the sixth straight year, and has won it for six of the eight years since the establishment of the category, which this year had just one other nominee, HBOs A Black Lady Sketch Show.

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5:50 p.m.

Sheryl Lee Ralph was so moved by her Emmy win, she had to respond in song.

Ralph took the Emmy Award for best supporting actress in a comedy series Monday night for her role as a devoutly religious kindergarten teacher on ABCs Abbott Elementary.

Its the first Emmy and first nomination for Ralph, who was in tears and had to gather herself after accepting the trophy.

She opened her speech with a powerfully delivered acapella version of the song Endangered Species by Dianne Reeves.

I am an endangered species, but I sing a victims song, I am a woman, I am an artist, and I know where my voice belongs, Ralph belted.

Her win, and reaction, were hugely popular inside the Microsoft Theater.

We love you! a man shouted from the rear seats as she arrived on stage. She was interrupted by cheers and multiple standing ovations.

Moments later, Brett Goldstein won his second straight Emmy Award for his role on Ted Lasso.

In the second season of the Apple TV+ show, Goldsteins character Roy Kent went from cranky veteran player to angry television analyst to grouchy assistant coach of the English soccer team at the center of the show, on which hes also a writer.

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5:40 p.m.

Julia Garner has won her third Emmy, taking best supporting actress once again for her role in Ozark.

In the Netflix series she plays Ruth Langmore, a young woman who is part of a criminal family in a Missouri town where the family of a financial adviser has come to launder money for a drug cartel.

Thank you for writing Ruth, shes changed my life, Garner said from the stage in gratitude to the shows writers.

Garner won Emmys for the same role in 2019 and 2020.

She could have four before the nights over. Shes also up for best actress in a limited series Monday night for playing the title role in Inventing Anna.

Moments earlier, Matthew Macfadyen won his first Emmy, taking best supporting actor in a drama series for his role as the calculating son-in-law of a media magnate in HBOs Succession.

I must say really its such a pleasure and a privilege to play this bonkers gift of a role in this wonderful show, Macfadyen said in a British accent much of the American audience has never heard.

The 47-year-old English actor was previously best known for playing Mr. Darcy in the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice.

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5:20 p.m.

The Emmy for best supporting actor in a limited series goes to Murray Bartlett for The White Lotus.

Its the first Emmy and first nomination for the 51-year-old Australian actor.

In The White Lotus he plays an initially mild-mannered concierge at a Hawaiian Resort who is driven to drugs and madness by the guests he must cater to.

Thank you for giving me one of the best experiences of my life, Bartlett said from the stage to series creator Mike White, who was caught by the camera mid-gulp from a glass of wine.

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5:15 p.m.

The Emmy for best actor in a limited series goes to Michael Keaton for Dopesick.

The first award handed out Monday night was the first ever Emmy for Keaton, the 71-year-old former Batman actor who was nominated for an Oscar in 2015 for his role in Birdman.

Ive got to tell you, my face hurts so much from all the fake smiling Ive been doing, Keaton said after accepting the trophy from the first presenter, Oprah Winfrey.

Youve got about 90 of these, dont you? he asked her.

In Hulus Dopesick, Keaton plays Samuel Finnix, a doctor on the frontlines of Americas battle with opioid addiction.

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5:10 p.m.

Host Kenan Thompson has kicked off the 74th Emmy Awards in a top hat and tails.

It is I, the mayor of television, Thompson said as he walked among the nominees and other audience members seated at tables in a garden setting at the Microsoft Theater on Monday night in downtown Los Angeles.

Tonight, we come together to honor the greatest invention in the history of mankind, television, the longtime Saturday Night Live cast member said. If it werent for television, what would we do with our time? Read books? No one in this room has read a book in the last 50 years.

He then led a crew through a series of synchronized dance moves to TV theme songs including Friends, Game of Thrones, The Brady Bunch and Law & Order.

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5 p.m.

Nominees and the rest of the Emmy Awards audience are making their way into the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles with the show just minutes away.

The room is set up like a garden, with most of the theaters orchestra seats removed and replaced by dozens of tables for nominees and their guests. Window panels provided a view of the LA skyline, and six large trees framed the perimeter of the room. From the ceiling hung tiny white lights, intermixed with ferns.

There is none of the social distancing that marked last years pandemic-limited show.

This bar right here is not real. This is a set. Do night touch this, producer-writer Chris Spencer told the audience as he announced the rules for the show before the telecast began. A full, and fake, bar ceiling high is set up behind one of the stages.

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4:30 p.m.

Ben Stiller isnt worried about being banned from Russia.

Ill take it, the actor-director told The Associated Press on the Emmys carpet ahead of Mondays ceremony. Its all right.

Im a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR, Stiller said referencing the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Theres over 100 million displaced people all over the world. So all of those people deserve a right to a home and be able to go back home and to be welcomed.

Stiller was responding to a question about a move by Russia last week to sanction 25 Americans, including him and actor Sean Penn.

Penn and Stiller have been outspoken critics of Russias invasion of Ukraine. Penn is an activist involved in relief work, among other causes.

 Jill Dobson at the Emmy Awards.

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4:15 pm.

Nominee Sheryl Lee Ralph of Abbott Elementary had a fashion faux pas before ever arriving at the Emmys.

A designer gave my co-star and me the same sketch for the same gown, she said, having discovered it on set when Lisa Ann Walter showed Ralph what she was wearing to the awards.

Up until five days ago I had no gown so Brandon Blackwood stepped up. He was in Japan and started rendering the gown on his Pacific flight, Ralph said.

Ralph was resplendent in a black velvet strapless gown with orange underside and a slit to her upper thigh. She carried a tiny orange purse.

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3:50 p.m.

How hot is it on the Emmys gold carpet? So hot that suit-clad men are pushing a wheeled cooler full of bottled water along the carpet, moving deftly between the logjam of sweating stars and stopping frequently to grab and pass out the cool beverages. Stars are sipping the water through straws.

Kerry Washington wore a small dress but a long train, with her hair pulled up and away from her face. Emmys host Kenan Thompson moved quickly along the carpet, making his way inside the Microsoft Theater to prepare for the show. Sorry, we cant stop, a handler called out as a somber Thompson strode by.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power actor Cynthia Addai-Robinson is at her first Emmys. Masks arent required but COVID-19 testing was.

I think people are hungry for celebration. I know I am. Were still getting used to gathering and getting together, she said.

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3:30 p.m.

A blast from TVs past hit the Emmy Awards gold carpet.

Eve Plumb and Christopher Knight, who played siblings Jan and Peter on The Brady Bunch, walked the carpet together.

Were very surprised and very happy, Plumb said of being asked to appear on the telecast.

And honored, Knight added.

Their show, which lives in reruns, was on TV in the early 1970s when there were only three channels, quite a contrast from todays streaming services.

I dont think it just serves one audience. It speaks to many, Knight said. You have that much more opportunity to catch up 10 years later on something and become a huge fan. Because of streaming therell be huge successes of old content.

 Beth Harris (@BethHarrisAP) at the Emmys

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3 p.m.

Severance star Britt Lower is among the early arrivals at the Emmy Awards, wearing a glittery venetian beaded gown with matching elbow length gloves.

It felt like I wanted to wear outer space. I have an appreciation for fabrics, my mom was a home economics teacher. I feel great in it, she said.

Stars are beginning to arrive in downtown Los Angeles on a sweltering afternoon. Temperatures are in the lower 80s but its unseasonably humid due to remnants of tropical storm that blew through over the weekend.

Early arrivals included actor and writer Natasha Rothwell, actor Tony Shalhoub and actor Laura Linney.

Comedian Emily Heller had fun posing for the cameras, turning her back to reveal she was wearing a Kick Me sign on her back and had paper stuck to her shoe.

 Beth Harris (@bethharrisAP) at the Emmy Awards

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1 p.m.

Emmy Awards host Kenan Thompson and the ceremonys producers are promising a feel-good event  a phrase not applicable to several of the top nominated shows.

The best drama contenders include the violently dystopian Squid Game, bleak workplace satire Severance and Succession, about a powerful and cutthroat family. Even comedy nominee Ted Lasso, the defending champ, took a storytelling dark turn.

But after several pandemic-constrained awards seasons, Mondays 74th Primetime Emmy Awards (airing 8 p.m. EDT on NBC, streaming on Peacock) will be big and festive, executive producers Reginald Hudlin and Ian Stewart said.

Theyre actually taking a page from last years scaled-down ceremony and its club-style table seating for nominees.

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Koreans shared congratulations on social media Tuesday for the multiple wins by Squid Game at the Emmy Awards, but the overall reaction was subdued as the country grows accustomed to its increasingly prominent role in global entertainment.

From K-pop sensations BTS and BLACKPINK to the movie Parasite that won four Oscars, South Korean pop culture is now a global phenomenon. While it was big news that Squid Game became the first South Korean drama to win an Emmy, many South Koreans weren't as surprised by such triumphs as in the past.

South Korean social media were flooded with messages after the star of the Netflix drama, Lee Jung-jae, won the award for best male actor in a drama series, and its creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, the award for best drama director on Monday. Both were the first Asians to win in those categories.

President Yoon Suk Yeol congratulated Lee and Hwang, saying the entire nation was celebrating their accomplishments in a show that resonated with viewers around the world.

(We) hope that (you) will continue to be active with your work and appear in good works that move hearts around the world, Yoon said in a message to Lee he shared on Facebook.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon wrote on Facebook that he was proud that South Korean artists are producing work that is enthusiastically celebrated and emphasized by the whole world.

Ordinary citizens also wrote congratulatory messages on social media. But some messages were critical of the drama, and the level of elation was much lower than when Bong Joon Hos Parasite became the first non-English-language film to win best picture at the Academy Awards in 2020 and won three other Oscars.

The president at the time, Moon Jae-in, and his advisers began a regular meeting by clapping to celebrate the Oscars, and South Korean media extensively played up the news.

Several hours after the Emmy wins by Squid Game," the news was still on the front pages of the internet editions of major South Korean media outlets, but not at the top, which was dominated by domestic politics.

People are getting used to (major awards), film critic Kim See-moo said. Bong Joon-ho took home four Oscars for Parasite, another one of our actors won an Oscar for Minari and then Park Chan-wook won best director at Cannes (for Decision to Leave). South Koreans no longer think there are any entry barriers for these awards, and they think anyone has a shot at winning if they put in the hard work.

Kim noted that South Koreans are less familiar with the Emmys than the Oscars, partly because Korean dramas previously didnt have a large presence in the United States.

South Korean TV dramas have been huge in Asia for years, especially in markets where people share similar emotional sentiments with South Koreans, Kim said. Squid Game became a broader global hit because it tackled the intense global issue that is inequality, but also took a refreshing approach by telling that story through a brutal and deadly competition of childrens games.

As a Korean, Im very proud of (the drama), Choi Hyun Sik, a 32-year-old office worker, told The Associated Press. I once again came to realize how popular Squid Game was.

(Lee) made an award speech in English but at the end he spoke in Korean and highlighted his fans and people in South Korea, so I was really touched by that, said Jeong Ye-won, a 22-year-old university student.

Squid Game is a brutal survival drama about desperate adults competing in deadly childrens games for a chance to escape debt. In the drama, Lee stars as the shows protagonist, Seong Gi-hun, a laid-off autoworker coping with a messy divorce and struggling with constant business failures and gambling problems.

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Associated Press journalists Yong Jun Chang and Juwon Park contributed to this story.
HAMDEN  Sameed Iqbal is afraid he and his family will be homeless next month.

The Hamden resident recalled how that possibility took shape one day this summer, when he came home to find a notice on his apartment door.

If Iqbal was going to keep living in the unit, he and his family would have to pay more rent effective Oct. 1. Up 75 percent from what their current rate, the new rate would be $3,500 a month, a $1,500 increase, according to the notice, which Iqbal shared with the New Haven Register.

Suddenly, Iqbal, who said works as an auditor for an accounting firm and lives with his parents, brother, sister-in-law and young niece, was uncertain about where the family would sleep come October.

A comparison between the address listed in the notice and Hamdens online property map show Iqbal resides in a unit owned by Seramonte CT LLC.

He is one of at least a dozen residents of the companys properties near Dixwell and Mix avenues who have filed complaints accusing their landlord of unfairly raising rent, according to records supplied by the town and the Seramonte Tenants Union, which has helped organize the complainants.

Their recourse for relief is through the towns Fair Rent Commission, which met Wednesday for the first time since 2019 and will hold four hearings Sept. 15.

Some of the complaints specifically name Seramonte CT LLC, while others list variations of Seramonte in the landlord section.

For reasons that are unclear, the notice Iqbal received is labeled as coming from Seramonte Estates LLC, which online town property records show previously owned the mammoth housing complex.

Iqbal faces the starkest increase, but at least four other residents have complained about rent hikes of more than $400, according to the records. Some increases appear to already have taken effect, while others will kick in this fall.

Greta Blau, cofounder of the Seramonte Tenants Union, said the increases cause extreme levels of stress and force worry over whether they will have to leave the community.

For some, it causes uncertainty over where their kids will go to school, Blau said, adding that Seramonte residents include elderly persons and children, single mothers, large families and people on fixed incomes.

Weve felt very alone and afraid and worried about where were going to live, (because) theres nowhere to go, she said.

The New Haven Register reached out to Seramonte multiple times for comment via the number the town has on file, the email address listed in the Secretary of the States website and emails to the property manager, but did not receive a response.

Human impact

Boxes filled the living room of Yamil Creve-Coeurs Mix Avenue townhouse Wednesday evening.

Seramonte is trying to raise her rent by $800 effective Oct. 1, according to Creve-Coeurs fair rent complaint, and the tenant said she was preparing for the possibility of having to move.

She has been paying $1,900 per month for the three-bedroom unit, the complaint shows, and the increase would bring the monthly cost to $2,700.

Creve-Coeurs daughter, Margaret Creve-Coeur, described how she felt when she got the news: (I) realized we couldnt keep living here under those circumstances.

For it to just jump out of the blue like that  it felt like they were basically trying to kick us out, Margaret Creve-Coeur said.

Margaret Creve-Coeur shares the apartment with her mother and brother, she said. While she is a student at Quinnipiac University, she said, her brother is a high school senior expected to start college next year.

Yamil Creve-Coeur is a single mother, according to her daughter, and they are not sure where they will live were they to have to leave the apartment.

Its difficult to find a house right now, or even another apartment, in the housing market we have, Margaret Creve-Coeur said. Wed honestly just have to figure it out.  Were hoping it doesnt get to that.

Iqbal is facing the same challenge.

There are not a lot of places to be ... found, he said, adding that he is relying on the Fair Rent Commission to help his family.

Though Iqbals rent notice is dated July 20, he said he did not receive it until Aug. 18.

Iqbal also is confused about the size of the increase. His five-bedroom unit consists of two apartments with the adjoining walls knocked down, he said.

Aside from repainting an area outside the apartment and cleaning up some greenery, he said, the property managers have not done anything to increase the value.

I just dont think that its fair for (Seramonte) to think that we can afford this in a month, Iqbal said. I dont know what they expect us to do.

In arguing against the increases, some tenants in their complaints raised issues about the conditions of their rentals. One tenant claimed leaking water had caused mold problems in the unit, according to the corresponding complaint, which also accuses Seramonte of failing to provide adequately functioning appliances.

Another complaint mentions a hole in the units ceiling, while a third alleged the apartment lacked a kitchen sink faucet and had a toilet with a rotting base that caused sewage problems.

Town involvement

Blau, of the Seramonte Tenants Union, has accused the town of not acting quickly enough in responding to the rent complaints. She also has raised issues with how officials acted when they did become involved.

Blau filed a complaint of her own in February, according to correspondence she shared with the Register. The complaint reported an impending rent increase of $150, which Blau said already has taken effect.

Though she received confirmation of her submission from a town employee, Blau said she did not hear anything further for months  until Wednesday, when an email from a different town official said the Fair Rent Commission had received the complaint.

Her complaint remains unresolved, Blau said, calling the delay egregious.

Blau said the union waited to file more complaints because it was told the town employee in charge of processing them was not doing so properly.

Most of the pending complaints are dated from July and August, and some appear to have been filed after the increase in question took place.

Legislative Council member Sarah Gallagher, D-4, said the commission has an attorney to advise it on its powers for acting on complaints filed retroactively.

Last month, Gallagher met with a group of tenants to discuss their concerns. According to Blau, they asked Gallagher that the town deal with the complaints through the union in order to shield individual tenants.

But town employees then began calling individual residents as well as property managers, according to Blau. She felt the approach disrespected the union, she said, adding that town leaders need to take it seriously for it to be effective.

Mayor Lauren Garrett said the town was following a procedure laid out in its Fair Rent Commission ordinance, which she interpreted as requiring officials to notify landlords about complaints.

A hearing on the complaint shall be scheduled if the Commission determines, after review of the complaint, that the parties are unlikely to resolve the complaint informally, the ordinance states.

It calls on the commission to see if parties can reach a mutually satisfactory resolution prior to scheduling a hearing, a provision Garrett contended cannot be followed without contacting the landlord.

And because the town does not have a union membership list, she said in an interview, officials called tenants to ask whether their complaints should be handled individually or through the union.

Im really thrilled that they have a union because I understand theres power in numbers, she said. We just have to ask them how they want their applications considered.

As for any delays in the towns response, they pertained to a personnel issue, according to Garrett, who said Hamden now has a different person handling the fair rent.

The fair rent ordinance enables the administration to negotiate with landlords instead of sending complaints to hearings, a strategy Garrett said has been practiced in the past. But her administration is asking the fair rent commission to recommend the best way forward.

Due to the unions wishes, Gallagher said, she has refrained from contacting Seramonte. After she met with the tenants, she spoke with Garrett and they realized getting the Fair Rent Commission up and running could not wait.

I really understand the tenants and the unions frustration with this historical lack of momentum, Gallagher said.

Gallagher asked that the Legislative Council put the appointment of two commissioners on Tuesdays agenda so the commission could meet Wednesday, she said.

It did, with three commissioners present - just enough for a quorum.

To have a 75 percent (rent) increase is unreasonable for anybody, Gallagher said. That has to be addressed.

meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Thousands of nurses in Minnesota launched a three-day strike Monday, pressing for salary increases they say will help improve patient care by resolving understaffing stresses that have worsened in the coronavirus pandemic.

Some 15,000 nurses at seven health care systems in the Minneapolis and Duluth areas walked out, a number the union says makes it the largest strike ever by private-sector nurses. The affected hospitals said they have recruited temporary nurses and expected to maintain most services.

Scores of nurses began walking the picket line at 7 a.m. outside Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, one of 15 hospitals affected. Clad in the red T-shirts of the Minnesota Nurses Association and carrying signs with such slogans as, Something has got to give, several said their chief concern was patient safety.

Tracey Dittrich, 50, a registered nurse at the hospital for nearly 24 years, said nurses are tired of hospital administrators and managers that are telling us to do more. The hospitals need more nurses and more support staff, and higher pay will help, she said.

There are shifts where you have three critically ill patients, and you have to decide which patient gets the care, when," Dittrich said. I work with people all the time that go home every day and feel horrible because one child had to wait longer for medication, or another child needed to wait longer for an IV. Another child maybe had to wait for a breathing treatment because we just couldnt get to them all fast enough.

Union spokesman Sam Fettig said the nurses chose a three-day strike, rather than an open-ended walkout, out of concern for patients.

The hospitals have offered a 10-12% wage increase over three years, but nurses are seeking more than 30%. Hospital leaders called their wage demands unaffordable, noting that Allina and Fairview hospitals have posted operating losses and that the cost of such sharp wage increases would be passed along to patients.

The union rejected all requests for mediation and held fast to wage demands that were unrealistic, unreasonable and unaffordable, several of the Twin Cities hospitals under strike said in a joint statement.

The statement said people with emergency issues should continue to call 911 or go to emergency rooms. It said despite staffing hospitals with experienced nurse managers, trained replacement nurses and some existing traveler nurses that people may see some delay in being treated.

Jean Ross, co-president of National Nurses United, billed as the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the U.S., said more nurses across the country are pushing back and that most job actions revolve around the same core issues  staffing and pay.

The pandemic did so many things in pointing out, clarifying and shining a light on what life is like in the hospitals and what nurses are expected to do, which is a lot with very little, Ross said. We have to have a bottom line where you just cant shove any more patients on to that nurse.

Kathy Misk, another registered nurse at Childrens, works in case management and helps families transition from hospital care to caring for their child at home. Misk said a shortage of nurses has sometimes required keeping high-tech children  those who need special equipment to breathe, for example  from going home as soon as they otherwise could. Raising pay could help the hospital keep nurses on staff, she said.

You dont retain nurses with low wages, Misk said. When you incentivize nurses with pay, what youre saying to them is they have worth, and they are able to stay in one job.

When asked about Misks statement that some children have not gone home as soon as they might have, Nick Petersen, a spokesman for Childrens, said children are admitted or discharged based on the expert judgment of the medical professionals who care for them.

The hospitals affected by the strike are operated by Allina Health, M Health Fairview, Childrens Hospital, North Memorial and HealthPartners. In Duluth, it is Essentia and St Lukes.

Separately, in Wisconsin, a potential three-day strike by nurses at UW Health, one of the state's largest health systems, that was set to start Tuesday was averted when the nurses and the UW Hospital board reached an agreement. Details weren't immediately released.

The Minnesota nurses strike comes amid an upsurge in union activity nationwide.

A national railroad strike could begin as early as Friday unless Congress steps in to block it. The two largest railroad unions have been demanding that the major freight carriers go beyond a proposed deal recommended by arbitrators appointed by President Joe Biden.

Some high-profile companies, including Starbucks, are among those trying to stifle ongoing unionization efforts. Since late last year, more than 230 U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize, which Starbucks opposes.



Ehlke reported from suburban Milwaukee. Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed to this report. Ahmed is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
STAMFORD  After a series of resignations, the Zoning Board is headed toward a game of musical chairs.

You may notice were a little light on members tonight, Board chair David Stein said at the top of a Monday night meeting held over Zoom. Aside from him, only two other members graced the screen.

Stein announced at the bodys first meeting in more than a month that two members of the five-member had resigned during its summer recess, leaving those now-empty seats open until appointments from Mayor Caroline Simmons were made.

Board member Roger Quick  a Republican  and board alternate Richard Rosenfeld  a Democrat  both stepped down during the seven-week break. The board normally has three alternates.

Just before the summer recess, longtime member Joanna Gwozdziowski left office. Simmons appointed Alejandro Knopoff, an architect, to replace her. The Board of Representatives, which must confirm most political appointments, approved Knopoffs nomination at its full board meeting last week.

Board alternate Sara Summons, who joined the board in early 2021, vacated her seat in May, citing time conflicts with her work as an attorney.

Quick, Rosenfeld and Gwozdziowski all served on the Zoning Board past their terms expiration. Both Quick and Rosenfeld hit their expiration dates on Dec. 1, 2021, according to a document presented to the Board of Representatives in June. Gwozdziowskis term expired on Dec. 1, 2018.

Rosenfeld told The Stamford Advocate in a brief interview that he opted to step down because his term had expired. Quick explained in a similar interview that he had moved to Florida during the pandemic, though he still owns property in Stamford. Because his Stamford home is no longer his primary residence, Quick told The Stamford Advocate that the Law Department advised him to step down.

The diminished membership puts the board in a precarious position if any member is absent. Three people remain on the Zoning Board, the same number necessary for a quorum. Rosenfelds departure leaves the board without any alternates. Any changes, permanent or temporary, to the composition of the board would prevent it from holding votes.

Mayoral spokesperson Lauren Meyer told The Advocate that Mayor Caroline Simmonss administration could submit new names to the Board of Representatives for approval as early as October but would not submit any last-minute appointments during September.

City Representatives have in recent months scrutinized the number of expired board members across all appointed bodies. The charter lays out that appointed board members can serve three-year terms. City statute allows that person to stay in office for six months post-expiration or until the Board of Representatives approves a successor.

Barring Knopoff, all the remaining Zoning Board members are serving expired terms.

veronica.delvalle@hearstmediact.com
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In January - July 2022, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 14,931 million, compared with EUR 9,122 million in the same year-ago period, the National Bank of Romania (BNR) informs in a release.

The breakdown shows that the deficit on trade in goods widened by EUR 5,292 million, the surplus on services increased by EUR 1,659 million, the primary income deficit grew by EUR 2,492 million, while the secondary income surplus increased by EUR 316 million.

In January - July 2022, total external debt increased by EUR 5,816 million, of which: long-term external debt at end-July 2022 ran at EUR 96,343 million (68.6 percent of total external debt), down 0.8 percent against end-2021; short-term external debt at end-July 2022 amounted to EUR 44,090 million (31.4 percent of total external debt), up 17.7 percent from end-2021, told Agerpres.

Long-term external debt service ratio ran at 13.3 percent in January - July 2022 against 16.4 percent in 2021. At end-July 2022, goods and services import cover stood at 4.3 months, as compared to 4.9 months at end-2021.

At end-July 2022, the ratio of the National Bank of Romania's foreign exchange reserves to short-term external debt by remaining maturity came in at 76.6 percent, against 81.9 percent at end-2021.
The president of the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR), Marian Enache, met on Monday with the ambassador of the Italian Republic in Romania, Alfredo Durante Mangoni, with whom he discussed the exchange of jurisprudence and experience between the constitutional courts of the two states.

According to a press release from the CCR sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday, the discussion agenda included issues regarding the state of bilateral cooperation between the two states, judicial cooperation in the spirit of European values, democracy and the rule of law.

The two officials affirmed their availability regarding the exchange of jurisprudence and experience between the Constitutional Court of Romania and the Constitutional Court of Italy.

During the talks, the collaboration relations with the Constitutional Court of Italy since the establishment of the CCR, which, this year, celebrates its 30th anniversary, were mentioned in the press release.

Both parties expressed their commitment to further strengthen and develop the bilateral cooperation between the Constitutional Courts of Romania and Italy.

The President of the CCR sent an invitation for a visit to Bucharest by a delegation of the Constitutional Court of Italy.
Romania's National Centre for Supervision and Control of Communicable Diseases with the National Public Health Institute reported on Tuesday that in the September 5 - 11 week, 2,180 doses of the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines were administered, 542 first doses, 552 second doses, 710 third doses, and 376 fourth doses.

Of the total number of doses administered, 31 were Pfizer Pediatric, for children aged 5 to 11 years.

Since the beginning of the mass vaccination campaign on December 27, 2020, 16,890,290 doses have been administered to 8,137,240 people, of whom 8,125,133 have been fully vaccinated, and 2,625,564 have been vaccinated with a third, booster shot, told Agerpres.

Since the beginning of the immunisation campaign, there have been a combined 20,063 side effects to the COVID-19 vaccines, of which 2,242 local and 17,821 general.
Romania's Defence Minister Vasile Dincu will be paying an official visit to Israel, September 13 - 16.

According to the Romanian Defence Ministry (MApN), Dincu's schedule includes a bilateral meeting with his Israeli counterpart, taking part in official wreath-laying ceremonies at the Yad Vashem Memorial, the Holocaust Museum and the Children's Memorial, as well as visits to the headquarters of some defence companies, told Agerpres.

The two ministers will hold discussions on Middle East and Black Sea security as well as the latest developments in and prospects for bilateral defence co-operation.

MApN says the visit is further proof of the excellent co-operation ties between the two countries and their commitment to bilateral and regional development.
Firefighters' Day was marked, on Tuesday, by a ceremony organized at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace, with President Klaus Iohannis highlighting firefighters' activity in support of communities, as well as the importance of strengthening the integrated intervention system in Romania.

"Throughout time, firefighters have selflessly fulfilled their missions and demonstrated that they are a stable and strong support for civil society and communities. Professionalism and seriousness were the prerequisites for the trust that firefighters enjoy today from the citizens. Your role has grown year by year, acquiring new valences. From an institution focused on firefighting, you have managed to transform yourself into a universal intervention and rescue institution, which now far exceeds the responsibilities you had three decades ago. The population relies a lot on you, regardless of the nature of the challenge or the disaster that threatens the communities," said the head of state, at the ceremony organized in the courtyard of the Cotroceni Presidential Palace.

According to the president, strengthening the cooperation of the firefighters with the other structures within the Ministry of National Defense, especially with the Romanian Air Force, is a necessity and a mandatory course of action for the development of the integrated system in the medium and long term.

Klaus Iohannis appreciated the participation of the Romanian firefighters in the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), which was established in the summer of 2022 through the aid granted to France and Greece, but he also noted the contribution of the firefighters in managing the flow of Ukrainian refugees entering the territory of Romania.

Moreover, the president congratulated the first aid team of the Inspectorate of Emergency Situations Bucharest - Ilfov for the 1st place obtained at the "World Rescue Challenge" competition.

At the end of the ceremony, he visited the Mobile Emergency Response Training Center of the population which has the first simulator for training the population in case of fires or disasters.

The event was attended by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, the head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, the presidential adviser Ion Oprisor, Secretary of the Supreme Council of National Defense [CSAT] Mihai Somordolea.

During the event, the President decorated Colonel Buhaianu Mihai Cristian-Mihai with the Order of "Manhood and Faith" in the rank of Knight, with military insignia, as a sign of "appreciation for the outstanding results obtained in the international assistance mission in the French Republic" and Lieutenant-Colonel David Ion-Dorel Valeriu-Dan with the Order of "Manhood and Faith" in the rank of Knight, with military insignia, as a sign of "appreciation for the remarkable results obtained within the national module specialized in extinguishing forest fires in the Hellenic Republic".AGERPRES
The first edition of the Chinese Film Festival in Romania will take place between October 1 and 8, at the Union Cinema in Bucharest, where films by the country's greatest directors will be screened.

According to a press release from the organizers sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday, the ambassador of the People's Republic of China in Romania, Han Chunlin, will attend the opening.

The president of the festival, Zhang Xiaobei, expressed his hope that the event will create "a solid synergy" between Chinese and Romanian cinema.

On the screen of the Union Cinema, numerous feature films bringing together some of the most popular Chinese directors, actors and producers of the moment will be screened.

Among the films that can be seen are "Mu Guiying assuming command" - directed by Xia Gang, "Leaving With Love" - Peng Tao, "My Heart Leaps Up" - Liu Ziwei, "The Ugly Duckling" - Sun Lingli.

"Paths of the soul" by the multi-award winning Zhang Yang, which tells the story of a farmer who, after the death of his father, decides to fulfill his last wish, embarking on a long pilgrimage with his uncle, will also be screened.

Admission to all screenings is free.

The festival enjoys the patronage of the Cultural Office of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese-language publishing house "Guang Hua Cultura et Media".
The radar located on the Ignis peak (1,307 meters altitude) in the Gutai Mountains is the only one in the national network that completely covers both the upper area of the reception basin of the Tisza River, on the Romanian, Ukrainian and Hungarian territories, as well as the upper part, on the Ukrainian territory, of the Prut hydrographic basin, the spokesperson for the Somes-Tisza Water Basin Administration, Cristina Vadan informed on Tuesday.

"Its range of action is 230 kilometers. This system of real-time observation and measurement of hydrometeorological parameters allows increasing the anticipation time for the development of meteorological and hydrological forecasts. Thus, it increases the warning capacity and, implicitly, the degree of protection of citizens and the socio-economic objectives for floods," said Cristina Vadan, told Agerpres.

According to it, the estimates made in 2020 provided almost complete information about a flood that occurred on the Tisza River.

During the flood formed on the Tisza River, at the Valea Viseului hydrometric station, the danger level, related to the code red, was exceeded by 50 centimeters.

In 2015, the radar was modernized, by switching to a dual polarization system. Also, in the summer of this year, the radome of the Ignis radar was replaced.
The Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Daniel, received, on Tuesday, Mahmoud Alhabbash, counselor for religious matters to the President of Palestine, on which occasion the high Orthodox hierarch expressed his conviction that the authorities of this state will continue to support the Romanian Orthodox Settlements in the Holy Land.

"Blessed Father Patriarch Daniel expressed his conviction that the Palestinian Authority will continue to support the Christian religious settlements, making special reference to the Romanian Orthodox Settlements in the Holy Land, including regarding the functioning of the Center for Studies and Pilgrimages of Saint John Jacob in Jericho and the effort of the Romanian Patriarchate to restore the Romanian Settlement in Jordan," a press release of the Sector of church, interreligious relations and external church communities of the Patriarchate, sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday, reads.

The Patriarch expressed his hope that, after the last two years marked by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, the pilgrimages of Romanian Orthodox believers to the Holy Land will intensify. Patriarch Daniel emphasized the role of pilgrimages in maintaining and promoting a climate of peace and good understanding between Christians and other religious communities at the Holy Places.

Mahmoud Alhabbash is in Romania on the occasion of the inauguration of a mosque in Ciocarlia, southeastern Constanta County.
Romania's Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca welcomed his Moldovan counterpart Natalia Gavrilita at the Government House on Tuesday, saying that Romania is "making every effort" to find supply, transit and storage solutions for the natural gas needed by Moldova.

In a conversation, the two officials looked into the latest developments in the implementation of concrete projects intended to support Moldova in areas such as energy and natural gas supply, the provision of funding from a 100-million-euro package, as well as of 10 million euros in direct support, told Agerpres.

"Regarding electricity, it will be provided within the existing transmission infrastructure, and new interconnection lines will be provided in the medium and long term," according to the Romanian Government.

During the meeting, Gavrilita discussed increased transit of lorries on the borders and the need for additional measures to streamline traffic.

In this sense, the new border point that will open at Bumbata-Leova, on a military bridge of pontoons, and the taking over of goods traffic on the Radauti Prut-Lipcani bridge will contribute to the freeing up congested areas at the existing points."

Special attention was given by Ciuca to the support that the government of Romania can offer in the preparation process for the start of Moldova's accession negotiations with the European Union.

Gavrilita reviewed the current developments in Moldova's preparations for negotiations, especially in the area of justice.
The Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, Natalia Gavrilita, present in Bucharest on Tuesday, urged companies to invest in her country, noting that the authorities aim to simplify the taxation system, reduce bureaucracy and accelerate the digital transformation.

Natalia Gavrilita participated in the "Moldova-Romania: Capital Bridges" forum, aimed at promoting the capital markets, an event attended by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca.

We need a more active capital market and international investment. But we understand that an adequate capital market needs professional participants, such as pension funds and insurance funds. Therefore, I would like to invite the Romanian pension funds to consider the launch of private pension products for Moldovan citizens and to provide access to investment on international financial markets, Gavrilita said, addressing the audience in English.

She mentioned that the Republic of Moldova, although with a small internal market, represents an access point including to the Romanian market.

I know that for some companies the market in the Republic of Moldova may seem too small to justify an investment. However, considering the cultural and linguistic proximity, many Moldovan companies approach the Romanian market as an extension of their domestic market. From this reason, Romania is by far the largest export market for our businesses. When you think of the Republic of Moldova, you don't think of it as a small market of less than three million, but rather as a point of access to a combined market of over 20 million potential consumers," the Moldovan prime minister said.

Natalia Gavrilita recalled that, almost three months ago, the Republic of Moldova received the status of a candidate country for the EU. She stressed that one of her priorities as Prime Minister is to talk to representatives of the business community and ensure that their views are not only heard, but taken into account for an "improved regulatory framework" in which the role of the state is to facilitate economic activity.

To this end, we are in a process of simplifying the taxation system, reducing bureaucracy and accelerating the digital transformation that will simplify the interaction between citizens and companies, on the one hand, and state institutions, on the other hand, the Moldovan Prime Minister said.

Given that logistics and transport networks have had to adapt to the changing regional environment, we must work with our friends in Romania to ensure that the border infrastructure is strengthened, but also expanded. For example, by building a floating bridge at Leova - Bumbata, but also by preparing the construction of the bridge that will connect Ungheni with the Romanian side of the Prut. Also, we recently reopened a former railway line that would connect the south of Moldova with Ukraine. (...) Our efforts are aimed at ensuring that the Republic of Moldova can provide safe and efficient corridors that allow the flow of goods between the region and the rest of the world, the head of the Government in Chisinau stressed.

She declared that the Republic of Moldova has a solid macroeconomic base, citing in this regard the fact that, in 2021, the GDP increased by 13.9%, a higher increase than that of any other European country. Natalia Gavrilita mentioned that her country has a low level of public debt in GDP, just over 30%, "one of the lowest in the region". In 2022, the labour force employment rate increased by 30,000. At the same time, in the last two decades, the Moldovan currency leu was generally stable, demonstrating an annual devaluation against the euro of less than 2% per year, Gavrilita added.

We understand that, with a smaller domestic market, we must build an open, innovative economy that can also serve as an export platform for investors. We have attractive opportunities in areas such as IT, business process outsourcing, green energy, electronic commerce, research and development, Natalia Gavrilita said.

According to her, the banking sector is competitive and well capitalized, "has seen dramatic improvements", but there is still room for improvement.

One of the priorities of the current Government is to develop the internal capital market, launch new financial instruments and improve access to international financial markets. We are convinced that the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the Financial Supervisory Authority are able to offer their expertise and support to the Stock exchange from Moldova and the National Commission of the Financial Market, Gavrilita concluded.AGERPRES
President Klaus Iohannis signed, on Tuesday, the Condolence Book opened in memory of Queen Elizabeth II at the residence of the ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Romania, the Presidential Administration announced.

"In these moments of great sadness, Romania stands with the British people and the Royal Family, sharing your pain and paying respectful tribute to Her Majesty's memory. Stretching over seven decades, Her Majesty's reign shaped modern history and will be remembered as an exceptional symbol of loyalty and commitment to public service. Her Majesty's legacy will remain in our hearts and minds," the president wrote in the Book of Condolence.

The British Embassy in Bucharest announced on Monday that a Condolence Book was opened online, as well as a physical one, at the residence in Armindenului Street in the Capital, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The online Condolence Book can be accessed at www.royal.uk. Also, people who wish to pay their last respects directly to the British Embassy in Bucharest can do so electronically at the email address: BritishEmbassy.Bucharest@fco.gov.uk. The physical Book of Condolence is open until Wednesday between 10:00 - 13:00 and 14:00 - 16:00.AGERPRES
President Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday will sign the condolence book opened in memory of Queen Elizabeth II at the residence of the ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Romania, the Presidential Administration announced.

According to the agenda, the head of state will go at 14:00 to sign the condolence book opened at the residence in Armindenului Street in Bucharest, told Agerpres.

The British Embassy in Bucharest opened a condolence book online, but also in physical format at the residence in Armindenului Street in Bucharest following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
President Klaus Iohannis will attend, on Monday, September 19, the State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II that will take place at Westminster Abbey in London, the Presidential Administration announced.

President Klaus Iohannis signed, on Tuesday, the Condolence Book opened in memory of Queen Elizabeth II at the residence of the ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Romania, told Agerpres.

The British Embassy in Bucharest announced on Monday that a Condolence Book was opened online, as well as a physical one, at the residence in Strada Armindenului in the Capital, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The online Condolence Book can be accessed at www.royal.uk. Also, people who wish to pay their last respects directly to the British Embassy in Bucharest can do so electronically at the email address: BritishEmbassy.Bucharest@fco.gov.uk. The physical Book of Condolence is open until Wednesday between 10.00 - 13.00 and 14.00 - 16.00.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, welcomed, on Tuesday, the president of the Union of Honorary Consuls from Romania (UCOR), Andreas Huber, on the occasion of which he reiterated the opening of the ministry for the consolidation of dialogue and collaboration with this organization, with the objective of supporting and facilitating the activity carried out by honorary consuls in our country.

Andreas Huber was accompanied by the representatives of the Board of Directors of UCOR, a press release from MAE transmitted to AGERPRES reads.

The chief of Romanian diplomacy evoked, in this context, the very good coordination between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the honorary consuls accredited in our country in the efforts to evacuate foreign citizens from Ukraine, as a result of the outbreak of the illegal, unjustified and unprovoked aggression of the Russian Federation, the source says.

Aurescu encouraged the active participation of the honorary consuls in the public diplomacy events that the MAE organizes, in order to multiply the interaction opportunities of the diplomatic and consular corps of Romania with the accredited honorary consular representatives in Romania.

For his part, Andreas Huber assured that UCOR makes every effort to deepen and expand the relations between Romania and the represented countries.

The Union of Honorary Consuls from Romania was established in June 2015 as a non-governmental organization, with the aim of promoting and encouraging specialized partnerships and social projects of common interest for honorary consuls from Romania. The president of UCOR Andreas Huber is the honorary consul of Austria in Sibiu.AGERPRES
Romania will further develop bilateral and sectoral collaboration with the Arab states, the Romanian Foreign Affairs minister Bogdan Aurescu said on Tuesday, at welcoming the representatives of the Group of Arab Ambassadors accredited in Bucharest, informs a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sent to AGERPRES.

"The meeting was a very good opportunity to reiterate our country's firm commitment and interest in further developing bilateral and sectoral cooperation with the Arab states, with which Romania shares a traditional and solid friendship," the MAE release says.

The discussions focused on the latest developments in the Black Sea region and the Middle East, with emphasis on Romania's efforts to promote peace and stability at the regional and global level. In this context, the head of Romanian diplomacy made a comprehensive presentation of the challenges created by Russia's illegal, unjustified and unprovoked military aggression against Ukraine, as well as the multidimensional efforts undertaken by Romania in order to mitigate the negative effects, at the global level, caused by the "irresponsible" behavior of Russia, including in terms of food security, the press release states.

Minister Bogdan Aurescu informed about the measures adopted by the Bucharest Government to facilitate the export of agricultural products from Ukraine, which led to the consolidation of Romania's position as an important transit route for Ukrainian grain exports, a large part of which are destined for the countries from the Middle East and Africa.

He also referred to the exceptional humanitarian efforts and exemplary mobilization of the Romanian authorities and society for the reception of Ukrainian refugees. The safe transit of nearly 2.3 million Ukrainian refugees and nearly 30,000 citizens of over 100 third countries, including Arab states, who fled the war, was ensured, Aurescu said.

Remembering that this military conflict has repercussions not only on Europe, but also on the multiple crises affecting security in the Middle East, Minister Bogdan Aurescu emphasized the need for the entire international community to condemn such flagrant violations of international law, to promote compliance with the UN Charter and of the basic principles of the international order, as well as the importance of solidarity at the global level, the MAE added.

At the same time, Aurescu reaffirmed Romania's firm commitment to achieving peace in the Middle East, the peaceful resolution of crises and the economic-social recovery of our country's partners in the region. The minister pointed out that Romania expects solidarity for the security situation in the Black Sea area, but, reciprocally, it also shows solidarity in relation to the crises in the Middle East, which also affect European and Euro-Atlantic security.

The members of the group, in their turn, made a presentation of the security situation in the Middle East, as well as the prospects for resuming the Peace Process. In this context, the Minister of Foreign Affairs reiterated Romania's position regarding the sustainable solution, based on the two states, Israel and Palestine, to coexist in peace and security, as the only natural option to meet the interests of the two parties and emphasized the need for concerted efforts, at the international level, in order to obtain credible results in this file and discouraged any unilateral measures.

The delegation of Arab ambassadors, led by the dean of the group, Rana Mokaddem, the ambassador of the Lebanese Republic, was formed by Talal M. Alhajeri, the Ambassador of the State of Kuwait, Raja Jhinaoui Ben Ali, the ambassador of the Tunisian Republic, Sufyan Qudah, the ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Mohammed Abdulghani M. Khayat, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Moayad Fatallah Eldalie, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Osama Yousef A. A. Alqaradawi, Ambassador of the State of Qatar, Abdulmuli Monem, Ambassador of the State of Libya, Sultan Mohamed Majed Alali, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, Bakir Ahmed Aziz, Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq, Aida Sid Mohammed Ali Omer, Charge d'Affairs a.i. of the Republic of Sudan, Yacine Khene, Charge d'Affairs a.i. of the Democratic and People's Republic of Algeria, Wissam Fattouh, Charge d'Affairs a.i. of Palestine, and Abderrahim Ait Slimane, first collaborator in the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco.
Vehicle registrations decreased by 22.5pct in Romania, at the level of August this year, compared to the similar period in 2021, a margin in which, however, new cars registered a jump of 5.2pct, shows from the market analysis published on Tuesday by the Association of Automobile Makers and Importers (APIA).

"After the important evolution of the first months, August 2022 comes with a 22.5pct decrease in vehicle registrations compared to the previous year, a decrease recorded after 5 months of growth since the beginning of this year. If we refer to previous years, the month of August 2022 is up by 10.9pct compared to the similar period in 2020 and down by 47.4pct compared to August 2019, the cited source mentions.

According to APIA, in the national market, the Top 10 brands, passenger cars + commercial vehicles, after eight months of 2022, is led by Dacia - with 24,412 units, followed by Ford (8,198), Toyota (7,243), Renault (6,634), Hyundai (6,607), Volkswagen (5,884), Skoda (5,508), Mercedes Benz (4,699), Peugeot (2,832) and Kia (1,982), told Agerpres.

Cars, which represent approximately 84pct of the total, recorded, in August 2022, a volume of 12,448 units, 22pct less than in the same month of 2021. At the level of the first eight months of the current year, the increase is 5.2pct compared to the same period in 2021.

In terms of market share, the SUV segment is in first position, with 44.5pct, up 0.7pct compared to 2021, followed by C-Class (26pct, -1.9pct) and B-Class (17.5pct, -3.3pct).

Depending on the type of fuel of registered cars, in the first eight months of this year, petrol engines registered a 3.3pct increase compared to the same period of the previous year, up to a share of 65.7pct. At the same time, cars with diesel engines registered a decrease of 33.6pct, compared to the reference period, with a share of 13.6pct of the total.

On the other hand, "electrified" cars, respectively electric ones (100pct and plug-in hybrids), as well as full hybrid ones (which also have electric propulsion without charging from an external source), came to hold, after eight months from 2022 , a market share of 20.6pct, which exceeds by 7pct and 5,773 units the share held by diesel engines. Full electric cars have a share of 7.8pct of the market, in the analyzed period, compared to the year 2021 when they represented only 2pct.
As many as 3,100 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Romania, up 1,640 from the previous day, with over 24,000 RT-PCR and rapid antigenic tests performed, the Health Ministry informed on Tuesday.

Of the new cases, 710 were in re-infected patients, who tested positive more than 90 days after the first time they recovered from the disease.

Most of the newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in Romania since the previous reporting were recorded in Bucharest City - 408, and in the counties of Timis - 212, and Cluj - 211, told Agerpres.

The highest 14-day notification rate is in Cluj County - 2.54, followed by Timis County - 2.36, and Maramures County - 1.9.

As of Tuesday, 3,244,886 cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Romania.

- Hospitalisations -

As many as 1,163 people with COVID-19, down 178 from the previous reporting, including 239 minors, are hospitalised in Romania at specialist care facilities.

Out of the total number of hospitalised patients, 151, down five, including one minor, are in intensive care.

Of the 151 patients admitted to ICU, 129 are unvaccinated against COVID-19.

- Deaths -

According to the ministry, 18 Romanians, 11 men and seven women, are reported dead in the last 24 hours.

Of the 18 deaths, one was recorded in the age group 40-49, two in the age group 50-59, one in the age group 60-69 years, eight in the age group 70-79 years and six in the age group over 80 years.

All deaths were in patients with comorbidities.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 66,874 people diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection have died in Romania.
The Arad Border Police have found 26 foreign citizens trying to cross illegally into Hungary from Romania hidden in two lorries loaded with aluminium profiles.

According to the Oradea Border Police Inspectorate, the two vehicles were halted for a check at the Varsand and Nadlac II checkpoints.

The border police established that the 22 are citizens of India, Turkey and Syria who intended to arrive illegally in Schengen Area countries, told Agerpres.

At Varsand , the border police discovered, in the cargo compartment, four foreign citizens from Afghanistan, asylum seekers in Romania.

Both cases are being prosecuted.
ST. LOUIS  A looming, potential strike of railroad workers stands to further snarl supply chains, experts say, and could affect railway-reliant Midwestern industries like agriculture and manufacturing.

As of Monday afternoon, two large railroad unions representing some 60,000 workers had yet to reach collective bargaining agreements with major railway carriers, including Union Pacific, Berkshire Hathaways BNSF, CSX and Norfolk Southern. The contract deadline is Friday.

Railroad transportation was already struggling from pandemic-related job losses, said Panos Kouvelis, director of the Boeing Center for Supply Chain Innovation at Washington Universitys Olin Business School.

Everybodys complaining how their lead times are too long, containers are sitting at the port too long because trains are not picking them up, Kouvelis said. So its already a problematic industry that is going to get more problematic.

In the St. Louis region, a wide range of industries rely on rail transportation, from automotive to oil and petroleum, grain and manufacturing, said Asim Raza, chief legal officer and director of corporate affairs for the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.

All would be impacted, Raza added.

Companies in industries like agriculture often rely on railroads over trucks or barges because it is much cheaper way to move bulky, heavy commodities. In the short term, if they can afford to, companies first reaction will be to shift some of their shipments to trucks, Kouvelis said. But the trucking industry is also constrained, so businesses may have a difficult time finding capacity.

The threat of the strike also arrives as retail businesses are stocking up for the upcoming holiday season  a process that in the past has typically ramped up in September, Kouvelis said. But because of the myriad supply chain issues over the past few years, pandemic-related and otherwise, some retailers have begun stocking in June.

They got burned in 2020, Kouvelis said. So they say, Before, I was counting three months ahead of time; now, Ill count six months ahead of time.

A one or two-day strike, Kouvelis said, companies could manage through. But if it were to stretch on to a week, or longer, he added, that is going to get really challenging.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Sukanya Mani studied chemistry in India. After she got married and immigrated to St. Louis, she had to wait four years before the government issued her a work permit allowing her to gain employment.

During that time, she decided to explore her true passions.

I always wanted to be an artist, but I never had the opportunity to be one, she says.

Growing up, she received no arts education, so she began educating herself. She checked out books from the library, studied artistic techniques and explored different mediums.

For the first few years, I struggled to find a way to express myself, Mani says. It took me almost eight to 10 years to figure out that paper was the answer.

Her installations use cuts in paper to create negative and positive space  light and shadows  to make images and convey meaning. Mani may twist, fold or wrap the cut paper in various ways before hanging it from the ceiling.

It takes a two-dimensional material and makes it into a three-dimensional sculpture, she says.

Mani has lived in the St. Louis area for nearly 25 years and works as the fine arts department head at Day Spring Academy in Maryland Heights.

High school participants in the Teen Museum Studies program offered by the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis selected Manis Weight of Shadows to be featured at the museum. The exhibition tells the stories of domestic abuse survivors.

Mani talked with the Post-Dispatch about how her own experience as a South Asian woman and immigrant influenced the project. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Q  How did you come up with the idea for this work?

A  When the pandemic hit, I was still processing the idea of the pandemic. I remember thinking during the shutdown that at least we still have our family, at least we are safe. Then I read an article about victims of domestic violence who are not in a safe space. They were imprisoned during the pandemic. It was like a lightbulb went off.

I thought about the time when I first came to the country  how I was utterly dependent on my partner. I had no drivers license and no means to work. That dependence can also create isolation. I started to research the resources available for immigrant and refugee communities. Thats where the germ of the idea started.

Q  How does your exhibition at CAM express these ideas?

A  There are three separate elements in the exhibit. The paper-cut hanging installations are primarily silhouettes of women. I used red thread and knots to denote memory and marital expectations. In India, red thread denotes matrimony. Women also tie threads in temples as a wish fulfillment practice.

Out of the 11 pieces, one piece talks about the burden on older sisters who feel they cannot leave an abusive situation because they are worried about the impact on younger sisters.

Each of the cuts in the paper has a meaning. The light and shadow within the work have a meaning. The three elements of light, space and gravity create the work. I use monofilament thread to install it so it looks like the work is hanging in mid air. It is gravity that gives it shape. Light and shadows play with the work.

Q  What else is part of this work?

A  The second piece is the bangle installation, called The Bangle Project. Another article I read while researching was about a South Asian woman who said she lived in an abusive situation for more than 10 years. Her neighbors were from India, she had friends who were Indian and even her doctor was Indian. But she never felt safe sharing her situation because she was afraid of becoming the object of gossip in her community.

I spoke to friends and sent out requests on WhatsApp and through email, asking if they would donate bangles for the project. About 42 women donated more than 650 bangles. I had a conversation with everyone who donated about the need to create a space where people can share their stories. Every person who donated the bangles made a bond of sisterhood. This artwork is a physical representation of that safe space. This is a growing thing. I want to make more and more of these.

The third piece is painted, paper-cut pieces framed between pieces of plexiglass. This work has text as part of it. The text is data collected from the immigration paperwork that women use to apply for a work permit after they have proven they are victims of domestic violence. There is a huge legal barrier they have to cross to become financially independent. I also used brochures that are handed to individuals to help them recognize if they are in a situation with domestic violence and how to leave it. I used the actual questions an officer is required to ask when they respond to a domestic violence call. I hope the viewer understands that if the person doesnt speak English how hard it is to understand and reply to these questions.

Q  What is the hope for this project?

A  This is a call for action. I want to build awareness about this challenge we have in our society. On my website, I include links for where to go for help, where to donate and where to volunteer. My hope is when visitors see the work, they understand how serious the problem is, educate themselves and have a space to go if they want to give back to the community.

Q  How did it feel to have your work selected by teens?

A  One of my goals is to reach middle school and high school students and educate them about domestic violence. I felt very honored, and it had a special meaning to have the work chosen by younger people.

What Sukanya Mani: Weight of Shadows  When Through Feb. 12; hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday and Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday (closed Monday-Wednesday)  Where Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Boulevard  How much Free  More info 314-535-4660; camstl.org
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(THE CONVERSATION) Each year, the largest contemporary Muslim pilgrimage takes place in Iraq to remember Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammads grandson. Before the pandemic, this event reportedly drew more than 30 million people, but in recent years participation declined to more than 14 million. This procession from Najaf to Karbala, where Hussein is buried, commemorates the 40th day after his martyrdom, a typical length of mourning in Muslim traditions. In 2022, this falls on Sept. 17.

Following the death of the prophet in A.D. 632, a dispute developed over who would be his rightful successor. This became the source of the Sunni-Shiite divide. For Shiites, Hussein was their third Imam, a beloved spiritual and political leader.

After many years of war, the Umayyad dynasty, which lasted from 661 to 750, established its rule over the Middle East and North Africa. The inhabitants of Kufa, a garrison town in Iraq, were among those who defied the Umayyads and invited Hussein to lead them in revolt. But Hussein and his army were outnumbered and suffered a brutal defeat during the Battle of Karbala. Hussein was killed in 680 on the 10th day of the Islamic month of Muharram, a day known as Ashoura.

Scholars have long been fascinated by the variety of cultural performances evoking intense emotions that occur during Muharram. Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, Shiites have adapted the commemoration to connect Islamic history with the present and to highlight the need for social justice for Muslim populations today.

Public commemorations take place in other parts of the world as well. As a scholar of Shiite communities in Africa, I have studied the processions in northern Tanzania. These are usually scheduled according to the Islamic lunar calendar to fall on the ninth and 10th days of Muharram.

The history of Shiite Islam in East Africa

In Tanzania, Shiite Islam first arrived with the Khoja trading community, a caste from India that converted from Hinduism to Islam. Khojas began to settle in East Africa in the 19th century due to drought, famines and religious persecution in their homeland.

Initially, Shiite Islam was associated with Asian Muslims, whereas African Muslims were predominantly Sunni. Shiite Islam was slow to develop in East Africa.

In 1979, the Iranian government of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, was overthrown and replaced by an Islamic state headed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini that rejected Western influence. This cataclysmic event, known as the Iranian revolution, led to a political resurgence for Muslims globally, including in Africa. Muslims of all denominations were inspired by this first successful Islamic revolution since the time of the prophet.

Yet some Sunni Muslims around the world began to inquire about Shiite Islam, the faiths minority branch, in part because of how they saw Khomeini and his Islamic state depicted in Western media. Some African Sunnis even became Shiites after extensive personal study that compared the primary texts of the various schools of Islamic thought. A 2012 Pew Research Center report put the percentage of Sunnis in Tanzania at 40% of Muslims and Shiites at 20%. Reasons for changing ones religious affiliation were many. Ultimately, those attracted by Shiite Islam were convinced by its genealogical authority, since it follows the guidance of the family of the prophet. Many perceived Shiite jurisprudence to provide clearer answers to the religious questions they had long been asking.

One Shiite organization in Tanzania, Ahl al-Bayt Centre, or ABC, was established in 1986. With the support of Gulf Shiites, the nongovernmental organization expanded its influence. Now headquartered in a large complex in the environs of Arusha, a city in northern Tanzania, ABC developed into a prominent African-led Shiite network.

Commemorating Muharram in Tanzania

Khojas have been marching in Ashoura processions for the past century in what is today the United Republic of Tanzania. Haji Ali Nathoo was the longtime president of the Khoja Shiite community in Zanzibar, an Indian Ocean archipelago off the coast of Tanzania. He requested from the British colonial government that the 10th day of Muharram, called Ashoura, be a public holiday. This was granted in 1920.

Processions became an annual tradition in Zanzibar and Tanga, a port city in northeast Tanzania. They later gained popularity in urban areas with large mosques, such as Dar es Salaam, Tanzanias coastal capital and a major commercial center; Arusha; and Moshi, a town near the Kenyan border in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Processions require a permit from the government, as roads are closed and police protection is provided.

The Khoja Shiite community in Dar es Salaam, the largest in East Africa, constructs a large outdoor display during Muharram. This attracts community members and educates the general public about the Battle of Karbala. In Arusha, a smaller diorama of the battle scene is displayed outside the gates of the Khoja mosque.

Black signs with red, yellow or white lettering decorate mosques and main roads through town. One sign refers to Imam Hussein as The inspiration for mankind to strive for Justice and Equality.

Many Shiites attend various majalis, or gatherings, and organizations stagger the timing of their events as not to overlap. Food is always provided, ranging from small bags of sugar or rice to biscuits or a cooked meal served in the mosque. This food is thought to bring religious blessings to those who consume it.

Some Tanzanians donate blood, an accepted practice today among Shiites worldwide in remembrance and solidarity with Imam Hussein on the day he died. Blood donations have begun to replace self-flagellation, a blood-letting ritual performed by many Shiite men in order to re-enact and partake in the suffering of the Imams family during the Battle of Karbala.

Indian and African Shiite communities usually commemorate religious holidays separately in their respective mosques.

During COVID-19, Khoja mosques conducted religious events online for two years. They are back in person in 2022, while maintaining a hybrid option. The Ahl al-Bayt Centre community continued to gather throughout the pandemic.

Reclaiming the procession for African Tanzanians

I have twice attended the processions in Arusha  during September and October 2017 and more recently again in August 2022. Shiites march through the center of town from the Indian charitable hospital to the Khoja mosque.

Khojas carry staffs called alam that signify the battle standards used at Karbala. Decorated with various motifs representing Imam Husseins family, these symbolic flags are draped with red-splotched shrouds evoking bloody battle losses. Khoja mosques feature replicas of Middle Eastern mosques where Shiite Imams are buried; these are also paraded in the procession.

Since 2017, Arushas African Shiites have been organizing separate processions, which as an anthropologist I also joined. They aimed to reach communities in the outskirts of town and centered their march around African Shiite mosques  not Khoja community landmarks in the city center.

All dressed in black, the color of mourning, marchers carried signs predominantly written in Swahili announcing to the local population the virtues of Imam Hussein. Many men wore T-shirts printed for the procession. Some women and children wore headbands proclaiming Labaik Ya Hussein (I am here, O Hussein) or Proud to be a Husseini. Led by religious leaders, participants lectured through microphones, rhythmically beat their chests and recited mournfully beautiful Swahili-language nudba poetry written by the community about the Battle of Karbala.

As minority Muslims, not all African Shiite communities have the freedom or security to publicly proclaim their beliefs. In West Africa, in Sunni Muslim-majority Senegal, where I have long studied Shiite communities, Muharram is commemorated behind closed doors. In Nigeria, where public processions do take place, state security forces, long at odds with Nigerian Shiites, have attacked and killed participants.

In Tanzania, the government protects freedom of religion. And that is evident in the unique processions of the Indian and African religious communities sharing the peaceful message of Imam Hussein.

The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. The Conversation is wholly responsible for the content.
WASHINGTON (AP)  With only three months left in the year, the House Jan. 6 committee is eyeing a close to its work and a final report laying out its findings about the U.S. Capitol insurrection. But the investigation is not over.

The committee has already revealed much of its work at eight hearings over the summer, showing in detail how former President Donald Trump ignored many of his closest advisers and amplified his false claims of election fraud after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Witnesses interviewed by the panel  some of them Trump's closest allies  recounted in videotaped testimony how the former president declined to act when hundreds of his supporters violently attacked the Capitol as Congress certified Bidens victory on Jan. 6, 2021.

Lawmakers say there is more to come. The nine-member panel  seven Democrats and two Republicans  interviewed witnesses through all of August, and they are planning at least one hearing this month. Members are expected to meet and discuss some of their next steps on Tuesday.

Because the Jan. 6 panel is a temporary, or select, committee, it expires at the end of the current Congress. If Republicans take the majority in Novembers elections, as they are favored to do, they are expected to dissolve the committee in January. So the panel is planning to issue a final report by the end of December.

Whats left for the committee in 2022:

HEARINGS

The committee is expected to hold at least one hearing, maybe more, before the end of the month. Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chairwoman, said the committee has far more evidence to share with the American people and more to gather.

Doors have opened, new subpoenas have been issued and the dam has begun to break, Cheney said at a July 21 hearing that was held in prime time and watched by 17.7 million people. We have considerably more to do.

Its unclear if the next hearings will provide a general overview of what the panel has learned or if they will be focused on new information and evidence. The committee conducted several interviews at the end of July and into August with Trumps Cabinet secretaries, some of whom had discussed invoking the constitutional process in the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office after the insurrection.

WITNESSES

The panel has already interviewed more than 1,000 people, but lawmakers and staff are still pursuing new threads. The committee just recently spoke to several of the Cabinet secretaries, including former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in July and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao in August.

The committee also wants to get to the bottom of missing Secret Service texts from Jan. 5-6, 2021, which could shed further light on Trumps actions during the insurrection, particularly after earlier testimony about his confrontation with security as he tried to join supporters at the Capitol.

We anticipate talking to additional members of the presidents Cabinet, Cheney said at the beginning of August. We anticipate talking to additional members of his campaign. Certainly, were very focused as well on the Secret Service.

The committee has also pursued an interview with conservative activist Virginia Ginni Thomas, whos married to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Lawmakers want to know more about her role in trying to help Trump overturn the election. She contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin as part of that effort.

FINAL REPORT

The committee must shut down within a month after issuing a final report, per its rules. But lawmakers could issue some smaller reports before then, perhaps even before the November elections. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the panel's chairman, has said there may be an interim report in the fall.

The release of the final report will likely come close to the end of the year so the panel can maximize its time. While much of the findings will already be known, the report is expected to thread the story together in a definitive way that lays out the committees conclusions for history.

TRUMP AND PENCE

Members of the committee are still debating how aggressively to pursue testimony from Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.

Some have have questioned whether calling Pence  he resisted Trumps pressure to try and block Bidens certification on Jan. 6  is needed since many of his closest aides have already testified. His top lawyer at the White House, Greg Jacob, testified at one of the committees hearings in June and characterized much of Pences thought process during the time when Trump was pressuring him.

The panel has been in discussions with Pences lawyers for months, without any discernible progress. Still, the committee could invite Pence for closed-door testimony or ask him to answer written questions.

The calculation is different for the former president. Members have debated whether they need to call Trump, who is the focus of their probe but also a witness who has railed against the investigation, denied much of the evidence and who has floated the idea of presidential pardons for Jan. 6 rioters. He is also facing scrutiny in several other investigations, including at the Justice Department and over the classified documents he took to his private club.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS

Another bit of unfinished business is the committee's subpoenas to five House Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

In May the panel subpoenaed McCarthy, R-Calif., and Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Mo Brooks of Alabama. The panel has investigated McCarthys conversations with Trump the day of the attack and meetings the four other lawmakers had with the White House beforehand as Trump and his aides worked to overturn his election defeat.

The five Republicans, all of whom have repeatedly downplayed the investigations legitimacy, have simply ignored the request to testify. But the Jan. 6 committee seems unlikely to meet their defiance with contempt charges, as they have with other witnesses, in the weeks before the November elections. Not only would it be a politically risky move, but it is unclear what eventual recourse the panel would have against its own colleagues.

LEGISLATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS

The committee is expected to weigh in on possible legislative changes to the Electoral Count Act, which governs how a presidential election is certified by Congress.

A bipartisan group of senators released proposed changes over the summer that would clarify the way states submit electors and the vice president tallies the votes. Trump and his allies tried to find loopholes in that law ahead of Jan. 6 as the former president worked to overturn his defeat to Biden and unsuccessfully pressured Pence to go along.

The Jan. 6 panel's final report is expected to include a larger swath of legislative recommendations.

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.
Tony Messenger Tony Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Tony Messenger Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Some of the seeds of Americas judicial dysfunction were sown in Missouri in the summer of 2007.

That was when then-Gov. Matt Blunt appointed Judge Patricia Breckenridge to the Missouri Supreme Court. Breckenridge, like the governor, was a Republican. She was an accomplished judge, and that was the problem. She cared  and still does  more about the law than partisan politics.

Blunts pugnacious chief of staff, Ed Martin, tried to rally Republicans against her, chief among them Leonard Leo, the co-chairman of the conservative Federalist Society. Fifteen years ago, that organization was mostly known in law school circles as the nerdy group that conservative students joined. Few people outside of Beltway politics knew who Leo was.

Thats no longer the case. Leo is a judicial king-maker, and hes sitting on a pile of campaign loot, thanks to a secretive $1.6 billion donation from a Chicago billionaire. Nearly every judge appointed by President Donald Trump during his time in office owes some allegiance to Leo, including federal Judge Aileen Cannon of Florida.

Last week, Cannon threw a wrench into the investigation of Trumps alleged mishandling of top-secret records by agreeing to appoint a special master to review the records FBI agents recovered from Trumps home at Mar-a-Lago. The ruling has been panned by legal experts as bizarre and not rooted in federal law.

When judges, Republicans or Democrats, make rulings that appear to be based more on politics than the law, Americans question the independence of the judiciary  the branch of government we expect to balance out the partisanship of the executive and legislative arms.

Thats why, back in 2007, Blunts appointment of Breckenridge was so important. Since 1940, Missouri has appointed its judges to higher courts through a nonpartisan plan. Commissions made up of attorneys, judges and citizens nominate a slate of three candidates to the governor. Those nominees compete before the commission based on merit. And because of the staggered appointments to the commission, the political balance of its membership evens out over time.

The plan limits the ability of one politician to assert too much influence on the judiciary, which doesnt sit well with those who want judges chosen based on political loyalty tests. Heres how Leo responded to Blunts selection of Breckenridge, in an email that wasnt made public until the Post-Dispatch, Associated Press and Kansas City Star sued to obtain the records.

Your boss is a coward, Leo wrote, and conservatives have neither time nor patience for the like of him.

The email from 15 years ago revealed that the political goals of Leo and his organization had little to do with judicial philosophy and everything to do with raw political power.

Fast forward to today. Confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court has sunk to an all-time low, according to the most recent Gallup poll. Taken this summer, before the courts overturning of Roe v. Wade, the poll found that only 25% of Americans have confidence in the courts independence. The number is likely lower now.

Thats bad for democracy. Its nearly impossible to look at Cannons ruling in the Trump case, for instance, and not believe that she was doing the bidding of the man who appointed her to the court. The ruling was an epic mess that defies defense, wrote the editors of the Lawfare website, which is published by the nonprofit Brookings Institution. Even William Barr, the former U.S. attorney general under Trump, called the ruling deeply flawed.

After Blunt appointed Breckenridge, Martin secretly tried to rally conservative forces to undo Missouris nonpartisan court plan. He asked Leo to send an unsolicited email that he could forward to the governor. He also helped write the talking points for a news conference conducted by a former Republican lawmaker attacking the plan.

Some Missouri Republicans even put forth a ballot issue to repeal the plan and select state Supreme Court judges similarly to how federal judges are chosen  opening the door to Leo or other deep pockets to hand-pick judges.

Missouri voters saw through the ruse. The Missouri Plan lives. Breckenridge is still on the court. Martin lost his job and his reputation, and then he became a rabid Trump supporter. But what Leo failed to do in Missouri, he has done on a national scale, to devastating consequences. He threatened a fury from the conservative base the likes of which you and the governor have never seen if he didnt get his way when Blunt was choosing a judge.

That fury has taken root in the federal courts, poisoning the once-fertile soil of American judicial independence.
FENTON  St. Louis County GOP leaders nominated a retired Ladue businessman  and former Democrat  to fill a vacancy left by a dropout candidate, leaving only eight weeks to launch a campaign to defeat Sam Page in the race for county executive.

The county Republican Central Committee considered five candidates at its offices Monday night before ultimately deciding on retired marketing CEO Mark Mantovani, a former Democratic candidate for county executive.

The work starts now, Mantovani said. We all know the Republican Party is not the majority party in St. Louis County. Its going to take voters who perhaps dont always vote with the Republican Party, with us. Its necessary for us to reach out to others in order to win this office.

Mantovani, 68, replaces Katherine Pinner, who won a surprising victory in the August primary. She unexpectedly dropped out of the race in early September, just over two months before the Nov. 8 election.

Mantovani ran unsuccessfully for county executive twice before as a Democrat. But he says his conservative views align with Republicans, and he has sharply criticized the Page administration for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The business-friendly moderate appeal could be good enough for some Republican voters in St. Louis County, where a Republican hasnt held the county executive seat for 31 years.

Moreover, Mantovani can afford to finance his own campaign. Those elements make him the most formidable candidate, said Councilman Tim Fitch, who represents the district that includes Manchester, Sunset Hills, Fenton and other south-central St. Louis County municipalities.

Page has proven a difficult candidate to beat since he was appointed county executive chairman in 2019 following the resignation of former County Executive Steve Stenger, who served time in prison time for a bribery scheme. Page ran the following year to keep his seat, besting three Democratic challengers  including Mantovani  with 38% of the vote in the August 2020 primary. Mantovani came in second with just under 30% of the vote; Page went on to trounce Republican Paul Berry III with 58% in November general election.

Mantovani performed better when he ran for county executive against Stenger in the 2018 primary election. After accusing Stenger of corruption in a heated campaign, Mantovani lost by just 1,100 votes.

Pages campaign will focus on reproductive health and supporting organized labor, said campaign spokesman Richard Callow.

Over the next two months, the campaigns will make clear the real differences in temperament between the candidates, Callow said.

Other candidates who submitted their names for consideration included:

Ben Murphy, from Chesterfield, the director of American First Missouri, a political fundraising committee.

Ricky Joiner, from Hazelwood, a former U.S. Postal Service worker and the owner of three hair salons.

Scott Rose, a voice actor from unincorporated St. Louis County near Sappington.

Tony Grasso III, of unincorporated St. Louis County near Mehlville.

Joiner, Murphy and Mantovani each spoke for a few minutes before the committee went into closed session to vote on a candidate. Grasso and Rose did not appear at the meeting.

Mantovani was born and raised in Affton. He graduated from St. Louis University High school and then went on to earn his bachelors degree from Quincy University in Illinois, according to his LinkedIn resume. He earned his law degree from the University of Missouri law school in Columbia in 1979. He then completed an MBA at the University of Pittsburgh before co-founding the St. Louis law firm Behr, Mantovani, McCarter and Potter in 1992.

Mantovani then worked as CEO of global marketing firm Ansira from 2000 to 2016. After leaving Ansira, he spent a year at Harvard University researching the effectiveness of city government.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the number of years since St. Louis County had a Republican county executive.
FENTON  St. Louis County Republicans need the stars to align for their newly minted candidate, a former Democrat, to beat incumbent County Executive Sam Page.

First, Republicans must turn out in droves to vote for Mark Mantovani, said Rene Artman, chair of the county Republican Party. Because theyll also be voting for a new senator to represent Missouri in Congress, voter turnout could be higher.

The GOP then has to convince voters that Page has driven the county into the ground. Their argument has to be effective enough to get independents and Democrats, in a county that largely leans left, to vote for a Republican.

Mantovani, a retired businessman from Ladue, also has to win with far-right voters who would have preferred dropout candidate Katherine Pinner. Pinner embodied outrage over mask and vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions. While Pinners name wont be on the ballot, voters could write her in.

And county Republicans have just two months to mount a campaign.

We ask ourselves, How do we position ourselves to win in such a short period of time? Which candidate can secure independent, Republican and conservative Democrat voters, which is what it will take to oust Sam Page? said Artman at a meeting Monday night where the Republican Central Committee nominated Mantovani.

Artman said she wants the party to move beyond culture war issues and focus on controlling crime and eliminating corruption. Democratic candidate Jane Dueker tried a similar approach in her unsuccessful primary bid to defeat Page.

But Richard Callow, campaign spokesman for Page, said Republicans wont have much luck convincing voters abortion rights, health care and what schools should be teaching and how arent on the ballot, even at the county level.

At this point in our politics, the positions of the two parties are pretty clear, and theyre not fungible, Callow said.

Mantovani, 68, set out to distinguish himself from Page at Monday nights meeting. He criticized Pages relationships with the County Council as petty politics, and denounced his dealings with county businesses during the dark days of the pandemic.

Sleepy Sams sluggish ways are anesthetizing our community, Mantovani said, alluding to Pages work as anesthesiologist. He has the energy of a South American sloth.

Mantovani also insisted hes a Republican despite his background, but not so much that he refuses alliances with Democrats.

I hope my friends in the Democratic Party know that Im not abandoning them, Mantovani said. Im the same guy. I have the same views. I have the same opinions that I always have, and I look forward to building this coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats.

Mantovanis financial support for Democrats is proven. He hasnt contributed to a Republican candidate in a national race since 2011, when he donated $1,000 to an unsuccessful GOP presidential candidate, according to federal campaign finance records.

He donated to Hillary Clintons presidential run against Donald Trump in 2016, to two Democratic congressional campaigns in Missouri, and to former Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, according to federal election records.

Local election records show Mantovani has donated to Democratic candidates including county Councilwoman Lisa Clancy of Maplewood, a progressive ally to Page. And in St. Louis, he supported the progressive Alderman Megan Green and former president of the Board of Alderman Lewis Reed, who resigned in May after he was federally indicted on bribery charges.

But Mantovani has also supported at least one Republican in a big way: He donated nearly $16,000 to Republican Eric Greitens winning 2016 gubernatorial campaign.

Shamed Dogan, a Republican state representative from Ballwin, said he believes Mantovani can appeal to both. Dogan lost in the primary to Pinner and opted out of seeking the nomination in part because he believes Mantovani is the candidate who can give the GOP a realistic shot in a county that hasnt had a Republican executive in 31 years, Dogan said.

He has won Democratic votes before, which none of us can say, Dogan said.

Musician Randy Holmes will also appear on the ballot in November as a Green Party candidate.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the number of years since St. Louis County had a Republican county executive.
JEFFERSON CITY  A term-limited state lawmaker from Ballwin may be among at least six people vying to become the next head of the Missouri Lottery.

On a day when members of the lotterys oversight board were interviewing applicants for the vacant executive director post behind closed doors, Republican state Rep. Shamed Dogan attended the open portion of the board meeting.

Asked if he is seeking to replace the recently retired May Scheve Reardon as the lotterys top administrator, Dogan declined to comment.

He said he was at the Missouri Lottery Commissions monthly meeting because he wanted to learn about the operation.

Im just here to learn. Its one of those state agencies I dont know much about, Dogan said.

Dogans tenure in the House ends in January after eight years. In August, he was a surprise loser in the Republican primary election for St. Louis County executive, falling to political unknown Katherine Pinner, who later dropped out.

Lottery Commission Chairman Lance Mayfield also declined to comment on whether Dogan was an applicant for the top job.

Weve done one round of interviews and were doing a second round of interviews today, Mayfield said.

He said there is no timeline to replace Scheve Reardon, who left the $127,000-per-year job in July after 13 years.

We absolutely want to make sure we uncover the best person for the job, Mayfield said.

During their meeting, commissioners and lottery employees complained about a decision by state lawmakers to reduce the agencys advertising and promotions budget to $400,000, down from $1.5 million.

Commissioner Bob Gattermeir said term limits mean rapid turnover among lawmakers, resulting in new members of the House and Senate needing to learn how the lottery operates as a revenue generator for education.

They are not stupid, but they are ignorant, Gattermeir said.

Legislative director Rachel Bauer said the lottery is creating a new newsletter aimed at educating lawmakers about the agency.

Were going to tell and retell our story to them, Bauer said.

Mayfield said he was skeptical that lawmakers will alter their stance on the lottery advertising budget no matter how much lobbying and education they are subjected to.

The carnival is set to play the music they want to hear, Mayfield said.

Commissioners also approved a proposed budget for the next fiscal year, asking for $7.6 million for the advertising budget. Interim executive director Judy Martin said the budget will be reviewed by Gov. Mike Parson before a final figure is presented to the Legislature in January.

We still feel like were being conservative, Martin said.

With few dollars in the current budget, the lottery has stopped participating in events. Lottery vending machines are being removed from Busch Stadium in St. Louis and in other venues.

There are big impacts that maybe the Legislature doesnt even think about, chief marketing officer Nancy Rollins said.

The lottery also did not have a booth at the Missouri State Fair in August. Officials estimate the lottery lost about $215,000 in revenue from the absence.

We were clearly missed, Bauer said.
JEFFERSON CITY  Missouri lawmakers return to the Capitol Wednesday facing a call by Republican Gov. Mike Parson to approve a $700 million tax cut.

The governors proposal, however, hasnt gained enough traction in the GOP-controlled House and Senate for the special session to be a slam-dunk for him, meaning the issue and resulting negotiations could delay any significant action for weeks.

Already, legislative leaders have slow-walked the start of the session hoping to find common ground on a plan that would reduce the states current 5.3% income tax rate to 4.8%.

At least two proposals are expected to be formally introduced on Wednesday, including one from Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, and another from Rep. Cody Smith, R-Carthage.

Hough is expected to be chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee next year, while Smith heads up the House Budget Committee.

Smith said Tuesday he supports the governors call for a tax reduction, but is reviewing additional options, including a phased-in reduction that goes further than 4.8% in the coming years.

Wed like to be more competitive with states on business taxes, Smith said Tuesday.

Parson unveiled his tax cut plan last month after he vetoed election-year legislation that would have given Missouri taxpayers rebate checks worth up to $500.

The governors budget office said the plan would reduce the tax liability of married couples making $125,000 annually by about 11%. Senior citizens earning $20,000 annually would receive a 100% decrease in tax liability. Single adults making $25,000 annually would see a 32% decrease in tax liability.

Smith said the disagreements over the cuts are not a sign of dissatisfaction with Parsons proposal.

Its more about exploring other options to see what we can bring to the table, Smith said.

Lawmakers will already be in the Capitol for the annual veto session. With little on their plates, they could spend more time at various fundraisers for candidates running in the November election than they do in their respective chambers.

At least 80 members of the House and Senate have scheduled fundraising events in the capital city this week.

The delay comes after Parson spent weeks traversing the state to outline his plan.

The governor and his fellow Republicans say the timing is right for a tax cut after the state general revenue fund through July 31 had a surplus of more than $4.2 billion. Tax revenues have increased nearly 24% this fiscal year.

Along with a significant uptick in income tax revenue, Missouris budget has been fueled by more than $9.8 billion in federal pandemic aid since April 2020, according to figures released by Auditor Nicole Galloway.

Yet, even with the federal dollars, Missouri has struggled to provide necessary services because of a shortfall in workers. Lengthy waiting times for Medicaid applicants, for example, have drawn the scrutiny of federal health officials.

The Missouri Budget Project, a think-tank that tracks state spending and revenue, has raised concerns that the tax break will be hard to reverse if revenues fall off and affect state services.

Under the Missouri Constitution, the Legislature is limited in its ability to raise taxes. Significant tax rate increases must be voted on by citizens.
ST. LOUIS  City residents are set to vote Tuesday in the race to be St. Louis most powerful lawmaker. Whether the results will stick is anyones guess.

Tuesdays special primary election for aldermanic president is mostly an elaborate poll: New election rules will pick the top two candidates in the primary, meaning that, no matter what, both on the ballot this week  aldermen Megan Green and Jack Coatar  are guaranteed a rematch in Novembers general election.

Its absurd, said Lana Stein, a longtime political scientist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. This is an unnecessary election.

Still, whoever ultimately wins this fall will hold significant power over what bills get heard at the Board of Aldermen and what the city spends its money on, at least until new elections in the spring. Theyll also do so at a time when leadership is being tested: The city is struggling to pick up the trash and answer 911 calls. Theres growing alarm over public safety. And there are still decisions to make about a massive haul of federal aid and a big settlement from the NFL.

And of course, theyll also be the presumptive favorite in the spring.

That leaves Coatar, of Soulard, and Green, of Tower Grove South, unwilling to give up any ground, even a meaningless primary.

You want your supporters to come out and have a strong show of support, Coatar said.

Green agreed.

It matters, she said, for momentum.

And for weeks, both candidates have been raising money, hiring staff and knocking on thousands of doors across the city to get their messages out. Green tells people about her plan to build a city that works for everyone. Coatar talks up plans to fix basic services.

Theyve also rolled out their major endorsements. Coatar has former mayors Francis Slay and Lyda Krewson in his corner. Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and U.S. Rep. Cori Bush are vouching for Green.

Still, there are good reasons to doubt that voters reaction Tuesday will predict November, observers say:

Special election dates usually attract fewer voters as a rule. Advocates are worried confusion over Missouris new voter ID law, which requires a government-issued photo ID, could keep more people away. And candidates say the election boards controversial decision to reduce the number of polling places on Tuesday, from the usual 70 to just 15, could do the same.

Ben Borgmeyer, the Democratic director at the city elections board, said hed be surprised if more than 20% of the electorate showed up. Gary Stoff, the Republican director, guessed no more than 10%.

The November contest, on the other hand, will coincide with the regular midterm election day, when all the usual polling places will be available and a U.S. Senate race could push turnout above 50%.

Its two entirely different elections, Coatar said.

The time between them could also change the race. Coatar likely started his campaign at a disadvantage to Green in a crucial category: name recognition. People like to vote for who they know, and Green got her name out in a previous run for aldermanic president in 2019 and then ran for a state Senate seat covering roughly half of the city in 2020. Coatar has never run outside his ward, so more time could boost his standing.

Unforeseen events could also benefit one candidate or the other. A spike in crime could focus attention on Coatars promise to hire more police, for instance.

Ken Warren, a political scientist at St. Louis University, said Tuesdays election will predict the favorite in the race.

But thats about all you can get out of it, he said. Its not going to say whos going to win.

That proved true multiple times in aldermanic primaries last spring, the first to be held under the new election rules. Three of the losers on the first ballot ended up winning the second.

Green said last week those candidates learned from the initial results.

It gave them some good information on where they were weak, and where they were strong, Green said. And it helped them adjust.
JEFFERSON CITY  A campaign to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Missouri cemented its place on the Nov. 8 ballot on Tuesday when the state Supreme Court decided not to consider a challenge to the initiative petition.

On Friday, the Cole County Circuit Court dismissed a lawsuit that sought to remove Amendment 3 from the ballot after Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft certified the question.

Ashcroft placed the initiative petition on the ballot after initial counts from local officials showed canvassers had failed to collect enough signatures to qualify.

Attorneys for Joy Sweeney, a Jefferson City resident who sued the state to remove Amendment 3 from the ballot, argued Ashcrofts unusual review of signatures following contact with the Legal Missouri 2022 campaign fell outside the bounds of state law.

But Cole County Circuit Judge Cotton Walker dismissed the lawsuit after attorneys for the state and Legal Missouri challenged Sweeneys residency and standing to sue.

Walker also agreed that Ashcroft was within his authority when he certified the petition after reviewing the petitions for valid signatures of registered voters.

On Monday, the Missouri Court of Appeals at Kansas City disagreed with Walkers decision on Sweeneys standing. But the court affirmed the lower courts determination that Ashcroft acted legally when he moved to certify the petition for the ballot.

On Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court said it wouldnt take up the case, ensuring the question will appear before voters on Nov. 8.

We are now one step away from passing Amendment 3, which will bring millions in new revenue to Missouri, while allowing law enforcement to concentrate on fighting violent and serious crime, John Payne, the Legal Missouri 2022 campaign manager, said in a statement.

Luke Niforatos, CEO of the Colorado-based Protect Our Kids PAC, an anti-drug organization that supported the lawsuit, said the group was disappointed in the decision Tuesday.

But he added that members of his organization would soon partner with Missouri allies to launch a campaign in opposition to Amendment 3.

Updated at 6:18 p.m.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  Retired Army Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc won New Hampshires Senate Republican primary on Wednesday and will face potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbent Maggie Hassan in November  setting up another test of whether a fierce conservative can appeal to more moderate general election voters.

Bolduc wasnt formally endorsed by former President Donald Trump but has said he believes Trump won the 2020 election and has espoused conspiracy theories about vaccines. The former president called him a strong guy, tough guy.

Two other pro-Trump candidates won their U.S. House primaries in New Hampshire  Karoline Leavitt in the 1st Congressional District and Bob Burns in the 2nd Congressional District  leaving some in the party questioning whether they will be able to broaden their appeal beyond the GOP base in November.

Nice! The Trumpiest people ALL won in New Hampshire last night. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!! Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.

Primaries in New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Delaware on Tuesday capped the nations primary season just eight weeks before Election Day, when majorities in both chambers of Congress, key governorships and scores of important state offices will be up for grabs.

Dozens of candidates around the country who were openly championed by Trump  or at least hewed closely to his brand  helped extend his hold on the national GOP. They notched primary wins up and down the ballot from Maryland to Arizona, Florida to Michigan. Some defeated Republican incumbents who had been open Trump antagonists.

The former president and the larger movement of Trumpism, which President Joe Biden and other top Democrats have decried as presenting a major threat to American democracy, didnt win every major race of the primary cycle. But those candidates who used the former presidents support to win GOP nominations now will likely have to prove they can appeal to a broader swath of the electorate in general elections, where larger numbers of voters tend to be more moderate than those who turn out for primaries.

The results of Tuesday's primaries mean the general election for Senate in New Hampshire should provide another such test. Biden carried the state by more than 7 percentage points. Republican primary voters also picked conservative candidates this year in moderate or Democratic-leaning states including Massachusetts, potentially putting competitive races out of the partys reach.

Bolduc's victory likely reignites disappointment among some in the national party that Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, a relatively popular moderate who might have posed more of a threat to Hassan, chose instead to run for reelection. In his primary, Bolduc defeated New Hampshire state Senate President Chuck Morse, a mainstream Republican endorsed by Sununu, who called Morse the candidate to beat Sen. Hassan this November and the candidate Sen. Hassan is most afraid to face.

By contrast, Sununu called Bolduc a conspiracy theorist and suggested he would have a tougher time in the general election. Bolduc wasnt bothered by Sununus criticism, calling the governor a Chinese communist sympathizer.

Some Democratic groups, meanwhile, sponsored primary ads promoting Bolduc, predicting hed make an easier opponent for Hassan. Thats consistent with Democratic-aligned organizations backing pro-Trump candidates in key races around the country  a strategy some have criticized, arguing that it could backfire if those candidates go on to win their general elections.

Our campaign overcame the odds and millions of dollars in spending from outside special interest groups because we built a true bottom-up grassroots campaign, Bolduc tweeted in the wee hours of Wednesday. Throughout the primary, I have felt the concerns of the voters, and heard time and again we need to send an outsider to Washington.

New Hampshire, known for kicking off the primary season during presidential campaigns, instead concluded the nominating process for this year's midterms. The races were less high profile in Rhode Island and Delaware, where Biden traveled late Tuesday to cast his ballot.

The Supreme Court's decision overturning a constitutional right to an abortion may provide Democrats with the energy they need to turn back the defeats that historically accompany a new president's first midterms.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged the challenge last month, saying his party may be more likely to end Democrats' narrow control of the House than the Senate. He bemoaned candidate quality as a factor that could sway some outcomes in his chamber.

Many of the same dynamics swirling around the former president were also at work Tuesday in New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District, where Leavitt, who worked in the Trump White Houses press office, topped some more experienced Republicans with ties to the former president. She'll square off against Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in another November contest that could be close.

Leavitt, who just turned 25 and could be among the first members of Gen Z in Congress, said she was sending a strong and clear message to the Washington, D.C., establishment, and our Democratic opponent that our votes cannot be bought, our conservative voices can not be silenced. She also laced into Pappas, saying he "has campaigned his entire political career as a moderate, bipartisan voice for our district. But he has voted as a far left socialist Democrat.

Pappas also wasted little time going on the offensive against Leavitt, saying, I will fight with everything Ive got to stop extreme politicians like Karoline from hijacking our democracy."

In New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District, the pro-Trump Burns won the Republican nomination to face five-term incumbent Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster in a general election race the GOP sees as potentially very competitive.

Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H., contributed to this report.
The St. Louis County Republican leadership made a smart choice by luring former conservative Democrat Mark Mantovani onto their team to pose a last-minute challenge to County Executive Sam Pages reelection bid. Mantovani is a downright sane choice, in sharp contrast to the embarrassing lunacy of Aug. 2, when county Republican primary voters nominated the unvetted and unknown Katherine Pinner as their candidate.

Mantovani, 68, represents precisely the kind of pragmatic, moderate conservatism that needs to be the new face of a Republican Party that has gone off the deep end at the local, state and national levels. The party has allowed something of a vicious cycle to prevail in county politics, making one bad candidate choice after another to allow Democrats to hold the county executives office for the past 36 unbroken years.

Democratic candidates have veered more to the progressive left than we believe the bulk of voters sentiments are. But instead of offering a more palatable option, Republicans keep presenting even more objectionable right-wing extremists, making it impossible for political moderates to break the cycle and move county governance toward the middle.

Exhibit A is Pinner, who won the primary largely by hiding her wild views about coronavirus vaccines being part of a government plot to monitor citizens by injecting them with nanobots, and assertions that President Joe Biden is performing the work of Satan. Before that, when the corruption-tainted administration of then-County Executive Steve Stenger was self-destructing, the Republicans offered up extremist rabble-rouser Paul Berry III as their challenger. He proved himself so objectionable that he made even Stenger look like the least-bad option. Republicans then offered up Berry again in 2020, only to watch him be trounced by Page.

This newspaper recommended Mantovani when he was a Democrat running against Stenger in the 2018 primary. Although its too early to declare a preference for the November general election, Republicans deserve to be lauded for coming to their senses and offering Mantovani as a viable alternative to Pages progressivism.

Mantovani, a retired Ladue businessman, still has some difficult questions to answer, such as where he stands on the divisive politics of ex-President Donald Trump, who certainly enjoys his share of supporters in the county. More locally, voters need to know where he stands on giving over the microphone at County Council meetings to white nationalists and Pinner-style pandemic conspiracists.

Even in these Trumpian times, it remains possible to adopt the Republican label without embracing the kinds of silly antics that have made Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and state Attorney General Eric Schmitt the butt of national jokes.

Its too bad that Mantovani has only two months to pull a campaign together, but thats the fault of a GOP primary electorate that wasted its votes on Pinner instead of choosing a serious candidate from the beginning who had at least a fighting chance.
The latest military aid package for Ukraine contains a novel new AUD (Anti UAV Defense) system called Vampire. This system is palletized - all components are secured on a shipping pallet that can be mounted in a light truck, and consists of a telescoping mast mounting a electro-optical/infrared modular sensor ball and laser designator, a generator for power and Fletcher launcher that carries four APKWS 70mm laser guided rockets. These weigh only 15 kg (32 pounds) each and have a range of about a thousand meters when fired from the ground. Vampire can be used to detect and fire APKWS laser guided rockets at air and even ground targets. Any UAV, cruise missile or helicopter within range is vulnerable. Vampire is designed to be reconfigured, which is the kind of system Ukrainians prefer. The Fletcher launcher is designed to use the new, longer range APKWS rockets that gain additional range by having a larger rocket motor which makes the APKWS longer. Ukrainians are expected to modify Vampire to better suit their needs or simply to obtain longer range while carrying more rockets ready to fire.

Until now Israel was the leader in combat proven AUD systems. One example is Skylock, which proved itself against Iranian UAVs used during the early 2021 Hamas/Israel ten-day war with Israel. This brief conflict provided ample opportunities to test new Israeli AUD systems. Israel is a leader in the development of AUDs, mainly because it faces attacks from the widest variety of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) types, and the most attacks using UAVs.

In preparation for a large-scale use of different type UAVs against Israel from Iran backed Hamas in the south or Hezbollah (Lebanon) and Iran (Syria), Israel had developed numerous ways to detect and destroy or disable hostile UAVs. During the recent ten-day war Israel detected and defeated six Hamas UAV attacks. There may have been other Hamas UAVs launched that never got near the border because of UAV malfunctions or operator error. The six UAVs that were a threat were all detected and taken down via missiles, usually from Iron Dome but one was by an air-to-air missile, and at least one UAV was disabled using a technology that Israel would not discuss. This was probably one of the electronic AUD systems, which Israeli tech companies have developed over the last few years. One of the new (to large-scale combat) systems Israel would discuss was one that received data from all sensors (radars or electronic detection systems) and, in real time, created a single database/map display of all enemy systems detected. One feature of this new systems software was an accurate estimate of where UAVs were launched from. This provides an opportunity to attack the UAV operator or launch site. This system was already causing more losses to Hamas rocket launching teams, who thought the Israelis were just getting lucky. Now Hamas knows that luck had nothing to do with it. Israel has often sought to come up with defenses against new enemy weapons or tactics with a multi-system solution. Nowhere has this been more evident than when it comes to the growing threat from armed UAVs.

For over a decade, many if not most new AUD systems have come from Israel. Many specialize in the use of multiple sensors and systems to detect and disable UAVs. The best and most recent example of this is Skylock, an AUD system using multiple sensors and EW (Electronic Warfare) equipment, plus a short-range laser, to detect, identify and jam or take over unidentified UAVs trying to enter military bases, airports, or industrial facilities. Skylock uses a combination of radar, electro-optical (visual) and electronic signal monitoring sensors capable of detecting the smallest UAVs, especially quad-copters, approaching a restricted area. Another Israeli approach is to use an interceptor UAV that can drop a net on a UAV but the preferred method is to jam the UAV control signals or, if possible, seize control and land it.

A growing number of AUDs are built to deal with any small UAV. One of the more effective, and expensive of these AUDs is the Israeli Drone Dome system. These cost $3.4 million each and consist of a 360-degree radar system, an electro-optical day/night surveillance unit and a wideband (most frequencies drones use) detector. With all this Drone Dome can reliably detect any small quadcopter or fixed-wing UAV within 3,500 meters. Most quadcopters and UAVs encountered are larger and can be detected out to ten kilometers. Once spotted, Drone Dome can use a focused jamming signal that will disrupt any radio control signals and force the drone to crash or operate erratically. Drone Dome has an optional laser gun that can be aimed by Drone Dome to destroy the drone at ranges up to 2,000 meters. In a combat zone, you can also employ machine-guns to bring down the drone. Many buyers do not purchase the laser option and depend on Drone Dome being able to reliably detect all manner of small quadcopters from several manufacturers.

What makes Skylock and Drone Dome different is their heavy use of electronic sensors to detect and jam the control signals used by UAVs, leaving the laser as a last resort. Several such AUD systems are already in service and effective because they are good at detecting UAVs electronically, and either jamming those control signals or taking over the control signals and capturing (by making it land) the UAV. American troops in Iraq and Syria were asking for AUD systems that use lasers, plus better UAV detection systems as well those with jammers to disable UAVs. There is also a need for AUDs that can detect and destroy UAVs that do not use control signals and basically go on pre-programmed missions. This can be to take photos or deliver a small explosive. Usually, it is to take photos and return. Drone Dome is one of several AUD systems equipped to detect and locate UAVs operating in pre-programmed mode and destroy or disable them quietly with a vehicle-mounted laser.

AUDs like Drone Dome also use one or more radar systems and one or more sensor systems for detecting UAV control signals or visual images that pattern recognition software can quickly identify. While commercial UAVs are more common, the basic design principles have not changed. AUDs are constantly evolving to better detect and disable or destroy unwanted UAVs. The best ones are recent models that tend to be very expensive and used only for extreme situations, like UAV defense in combat zones. Airports, especially the large ones are going to have to join the military in buying the latest AUDs, which at least lowers the AUD price and inspires even faster innovation and development.

Ukraine could have used Skylock or Drone Dome, but Israel does not provide weapons for Ukraine because of an arrangement with Russia to assist Israel in keeping Iranian forces in Syria from getting close to the Israeli border or launching any attacks on Israel. In Ukraine, NATO nations providing weapons are not directly threatened with Russian attacks. Such is not the case with Iranian forces in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza.
In the northeast (Kurdish controlled Hasaka province), Kurdish security forces have spent several weeks searching the al Hol prison camp for Islamic terrorists and gangsters hiding out there. Several dozen suspects have been arrested. Since 2018 the SDF has been maintaining prison camps for captured ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) fighters and their families. This includes persistent problems with criminal activity taking place among the prisoners. The SDF has to keep pointing to their allies that without some help in dealing with the huge number of ISIL captives they ended up with the situation would get out of control. By 2019 the SDF had over 50,000 prisoners held in a large refugee/prison camp and various governments were asked to verify who was a citizen of where. The UN has been asked to take custody of those found to be stateless. Iraq agreed to take about 30 percent of the refugees and prosecute those who are suspected of ISIL crimes. That process was slower than expected. There are still about 56,000 of these prisoners at the al Hol camp, most of them women and children that no one wanted to take back. Many of the ISIL wives are obviously still active ISIL members and many were caught smuggling weapons into the camp when they were searched before entering. These ISIL women are terrorizing other camp residents and seeking to intimidate the camp guards. The Kurds needed help paying for the camp and wanted the nations these people came from, including Syria, to claim and take custody of them. Nearly all camp residents claim to be non-Syrian but for many of them it is unclear exactly where they come from. Some active ISIL terrorists are in the camps and are the source of much violence. Nearly a hundred prisoners were killed in al Hol this year and ISIL leadership keeps calling for members inside and outside the camps to cooperate to create a major uprising in the camps.

Any peace deal ending the ten-year-old Syrian civil war will probably involve the Assads inheriting the remaining prisoners in the Hol camp. If that happens the Assads will eventually announce that nearly all the prisoners have been taken care of. For the Assads that means some deniable mass-murder via executions plus lack of food and medical care. The prospect of this happening gives nations where the women and children are from one last chance to take them back or be held accountable for what happens next.

The Assads are having a difficult time reestablishing a legitimate government, as opposed to its current status as a barely tolerated and much sanctioned government run by war criminals. The Assads have allies who are trying to work out a deal that legitimizes the Assads and leads to lots of economic aid and investment. There is some but not a lot of progress in that department. Israel is quietly working on a peace deal with the Assads by first consulting Russia, Turkey and the Arab nations Israel has diplomatic relations with. If Israel can achieve a consensus on how to offer and deliver the Assads a workable peace deal, Iran could be driven out of Syria. Israel and the Assads have been, since the 1970s, willing to leave each other alone and make mutually acceptable deals. The Assads would often threaten another war with Israel but did not pose as determined a threat as Iran. Because the Assads became allies of and dependent on Iran in the 1980s for protection from chaos in Iraq and Lebanon, they had to at least pretend to support the Iranian obsession with destroying Israel. The Assads knew better but until the Assad police state failed in 2011 and a rebellion got going, the Assads were able to resist Iranian presence and any efforts to directly control Syria.

The Assads are still responsible for most of the violent deaths in Syria. Since 2011 about half a million people have died, a third of them civilians. Annual deaths peaked in 2014 with 111,000. Since then, theres been a steady decline with deaths falling under 10,000 a year in 2020 and continuing to decline. It appears there will be about a thousand war related deaths in 2022.

Tormenting the Turks

Syria continues to be a major problem for Turkey while increased trade with Russia has provided a needed economic boost. Turkish relationships with Russia begin in Syria and elsewhere are increasingly merging in Syria. At the same time the war in Syria continues to slow down. In the northwest (Idlib province) there are over 10,000 Islamic terrorists holding about half the province against weak but persistent attacks by Syrian troops. Most of the casualties in Idlib are caused by Russian airstrikes. The Kurdish-controlled northeast, including Hasaka and parts of Deir Ezzor and Aleppo provinces, continues to be attacked by Turkish forces, but not in a major way. That is changing as Turkey persuades Russia to shift its air support to assist Turkish operations.

Turkey is also continuing its decapitation (assassination) program against Kurdish civil and military leaders, especially those supporting the Kurdish led SDF (Syrian Defense Forces) militia and Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi Kurdish separatists operating in northern Syria. Turkey uses electronic eavesdropping on Kurds suspected of supporting the Kurdish rebels and separatists. Air strikes, usually with UAVs armed with laser guided missiles, do most of the killing and a lot of the surveillance.

Turkey is striving to achieve control of a 30-kilometer-deep (into Syria) border strip along the length of its Syrian border. The Assads and Kurds agree that this border strip is a bad idea.

Iran Is Making Deals

The Iranians continue to seek cooperation from the Turks, Syrians and Russians in getting Iranian forces close enough to the Israeli border to make attacks possible, but until recently no one is interested. Iranian efforts in Syria and Lebanon are very low-budget and Iranian officers in charge of this have to make do with very little. This has changed recently as Iran has been supplying Russia with weapons to be used in the Ukraine fighting. In return Iran is getting some modern (Su-35) jets and spare parts for some of their older Russian made warplanes. In addition, Iran expects Russia to be more helpful in Syria, where Russia already has an understanding with Israel that involves Russia not interfering with Israeli airstrikes on Iranian targets. In return Israel does not supply Ukraine with weapons. Most Israelis support the Ukrainians but they also recognize the threat from Iranians in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza. Russia and Iran are still negotiating terms for this issue.

In August Russia and Iran signed a new agreement that expanded economic and political cooperation between the two nations. This agreement ignores sanctions currently imposed on Russia and Iran and formalizes the cooperation between the two oil producers to evade Western efforts to prevent Iran and Russia from exporting its oil. The new agreement also confirms joint efforts to support each other militarily. Iran has supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine while Russia backs Iranian threats to other Middle Eastern oil producers. This does not include unofficial Russian agreements in Syria that keep Israel and Russia from going to war because of continued Israeli attacks on Iranian forces in Syria. Russia continues to support Iranian efforts to expand its influence over the Iraqi government.

This new arrangement means problems with Israel-Russia understandings in Syria. Israel sometimes fires on Iranian forces operating near the Israeli border. Israel also shares intel with Russia and Syria about Syrian officers who are secretly working for Iran. The Iranians pay well, and in dollars. Israel occasionally releases evidence of this to the media so Iranians back home have another reason to oppose Iranian foreign wars. Negotiations have been underway between Iran and Russia/Syria since 2020 but have not made much progress. Continuing Iranian sponsored violence is just another incentive for Syria to get the Iranian agents away from the Israeli border area.

Israel has not been providing any weapons to Ukraine because of Iranian activity near the Israeli border in Syria. Israel needs to maintain good relations with Russia to deal with the Iranian threat. Russia told Israel that sending weapons to Ukraine could reduce Russian cooperation in Syria against Iran. Most Israelis support Ukraine, but the Iranian threat is very real and next door, so Israeli politicians cannot ignore it unless they want to lose their next election. Russia does not want to lose its relationships with Israel but now Iran is in a position to force the matter. Russia appears to be seeking a compromise with Israel that will not offend Iran.

Other parties in Syria have been renegotiating relationships in Syria. In May Syrian leader Bashar Assad made an unannounced visit to Iran, apparently to negotiate how Syria and Iran will take over Russian bases and any Russian equipment left behind. Most Russian ground forces in Syria are returning to Russia because of the war in Ukraine. These Russian troops consist of special operations forces, military advisers and tech support personnel who help maintain Russian weapons used by Syria. The departing Russian troops are first moved to a Russian controlled airbase near the Mediterranean coast and then flown back to Russia. Some of the abandoned bases were transferred to Iranian control and used by Iran-backed militias, including Lebanese Hezbollah. Iran is one of the few countries to support Russias invasion of Ukraine and has even sent the Russians some weapons via the Caspian Sea which borders Russia and Iran. The Assad visit was announced after he left Iran to return to Syria.

Israel recently revealed that the Assad government had turned over control of the underground chemical weapons research center at Masyaf (northwest Syria Homs province). Israel has been monitoring and occasionally attacking Masyaf for years. Since 2017 Iran has been actively assisting Syria in expanding the Masyaf operation, but apparently not to resume manufacture of chemical weapons. Instead, Iran staffed the facility with Iranian weapons specialists. This was for the conversion of unguided missiles to guided missiles. Moving most of that activity to underground bunkers provided a work area that was more resistant to airstrikes. Earlier this year a series of airstrikes destroyed all the entrances to the underground facilities and apparently collapsed some of the underground spaces. Israel makes it clear that such attacks will continue as long as Syria and its patron Iran try to attack Israel and openly call for the destruction of Israel.

ISIL In The East

ISIL also continues to be a problem as they contest control of remote areas in eastern Syria. Most of this occurs in the Badia Desert south of the Euphrates River Valley. ISIL and associated groups have long used the largely empty desert as a sanctuary. This desert area extends into nearby Jordan. Baida covers 500,000 square kilometers (200,000 square miles) and represents about half of Syria, 85 percent of Jordan, and smaller portions of Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The Baida desert was long been the scene of ISIL activity and fighting against and between Islamic terrorists. All these desert areas are thinly populated by Sunni Arabs who are inclined to tolerate or support ISIL as long as ISIL attacks were directed at military targets and not local civilians. An exception to this rule has ISIL waging an assassination campaign against Islamic clergy and staffs of religious schools who teach that Islamic terrorism is wrong.

September 12, 2022: In the east (Raqqa and Deir Ezzor provinces) a failure to provide chlorine for water pumping stations led to contaminated water and an outbreak of Cholera. At least three people have died so far. Typically, about three to four percent of Cholera cases turn fatal. Iraq also had a Cholera outbreak this year, for the first time since 2015.

September 10, 2022: In the east (Deir Ezzor province) the Iran backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia has been turning over dozens of its local (Syrian) members to the Syrian army because these men had joined Hezbollah to avoid getting conscripted into the Syrian army. This resolves one of many disputes between the Assad government and Iran.

September 9, 2022: Turkey revealed its police and arrested Bashar Khattab Ghazal al-Sumaidai, a senior ISIL official, in Turkey. Sumaidai was a senior judge for ISIL and divided his time between Turkey and Syria. Sumaidai was also considered one of six potential replacements for the top leadership position in ISIL. The last two ISIL leaders, including founder Baghdadi, had been killed in northwest Syria (Idlib province) near the Turkish border. The successor to Baghdadi was himself killed in February 2022 and his successor named a month later. With Sumaidai under arrest, the potential candidates for leadership of ISIL get smaller. These disruptions to the senior ISIL leadership have hurt the organization via fewer recruits and financial donors.

September 8, 2022: In the northeast (Hasaka province) Kurdish SDF forces clashed with ISIL, leaving one ISIL gunman and two Kurds dead. In the northwest (Idlib province) Russia warplanes carried out fourteen airstrikes on several Islamic terror groups in the province, killing over a hundred people. This is part of the Russian air support provided to the Assad government to justify the Russian deal with the Assads to obtain long-term leases for a Russian air field and naval base in adjacent Latakia province. The Hmeimim airbase there was built by Russia in 2015 near the port city of Latakia, which is 85 kilometers north of Tartus and 50 kilometers from the Turkish border. Part of the Tartus port has become a long-term foreign base for Russia, along with Hmeimim. As long as the rebels are active in Idlib they will be a threat to the Russian bases.

September 6, 2022: In the north (Aleppo) an Israeli airstrike hit the main airport outside the city. This is the second such Israeli attack in the last week. Israel has been intensifying its airstrikes on airports that Iran uses to fly in weapons. Israel has already disrupted road and sea movement of these weapons. Israel is deliberately damaging the runways of major airports and preventing repairs from being made. The airstrikes also target airport navigation equipment. Israel told Syria that these attacks are not directed at Syrian forces but just Iranian efforts to move modern weapons into Syria for use against Israel.

September 3, 2022: In Libya Turkey has continued, for the sixth month, withholding pay for the thousands of Syrian mercenaries it has here. Turkey wont let the Syrian soldier return to Syria either. Turkey is having political and financial problems back home that wont be resolved until the June 2023 national elections.

August 31, 2022: In the east (Deir Ezzor province and the Euphrates River Valley) Iran ordered all its militias, including Hezbollah, to take down any rocket launching facilities aimed at American bases near the Iraqi border. Iran wants to concentrate its efforts on Kurdish forces in the area.

August 27, 2022: In the northwestern (Hama province) an Israeli air-strike destroyed a group of warehouses where over a thousand Iranian rockets were stored. Some of these rockets had been assembled there while others were flown in. It had taken Iran over a year to amass this stockpile. The Israeli airstrike set off a series of explosions that lasted for over six hours.

August 20, 2022: In the north (Aleppo province) two days of fighting between Turkish and Kurd SDF forces have left two Turkish soldiers and three wounded while Turkism artillery fire killed 17 civilians and wounded 35. Turkey blames the fighting, which consisted of artillery fire and bombs, is the fault of the United States for their support of the SDF.

August 15, 2022: In the east (Deir Ezzor province), near the Tanf /Walweed border crossing, American troops shot down two UAVs seeking to attack their base.

August 14, 2022: In the south (Damascus) and west (port of Tartus) Israeli air strikes left three Syrians dead and three wounded. The targets were apparently related to Iranian weapons shipments.

August 12, 2022: The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry thanked Latvia for designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and called on other nations to do likewise. Since July such a resolution has been making its way through the U.S. Congress. If that resolution is signed into law, it will make Russia the fifth nation the U.S. has designated and imposed sanctions and other restrictions related to terrorism support. The other four state sponsors are Syria, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 12, 2022 / Atomic Minerals Corporation ("ATOMIC MINERALS" or the "Company") (TSX Venture:ATOM) commends the recently announced supplemental Continuing Resolution ("CR") Appropriations Issues request by the White House aimed at reducing reliance on Russian nuclear fuels.

On September 2, President Biden made the supplemental CR appropriations request to the US Congress for the Department of Energy on a continuing resolution that included a $1.5 billion for the Department of Energy for the acquisition and distribution of low -enriched uranium ("LEU") and high-assay low enriched uranium ("HALEU") and other activities pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.

This request will provide the funds to the Department of Energy, Nuclear Energy account, to assist in establishing a reliable fuel supply to rapidly meet the low-enriched uranium demand of the existing commercial nuclear fleet and the high-assay low-enriched uranium needs for advanced nuclear reactors. Funding would be used to address present and future shortfalls in domestic uranium supply.

Clive Massey, Atomic Minerals CEO and President commented, "I'm very pleased that President Biden has recognized that in 2021, Russia provided US nuclear utilities with 14 percent of their uranium purchases and 28 percent of their enrichment services, when the US has enough untapped uranium in the ground to supply Department of Energy and nuclear utilities."

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, at the end of 2021, there were 93 operating commercial nuclear reactors at 55 nuclear power plants in 28 states with a combined generating capacity of approximately 95,492 MW. From 2013 through 2019, annual nuclear generating capacity and the generating of electricity increased each year (except in 2017) even as the number of operating reactors declined.

Today there are about 440 nuclear power reactors operating in 32 countries plus Taiwan, with a combined capacity of about 390 GWe. In 2021 these provided 2653 TWh, about 10% of the world's electricity. About 55 power reactors are currently being constructed in 15 countries, notably China, India, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. About 90 power reactors with a total gross capacity of about 90,000 MWe are on order or planned, and over 300 more are proposed. Most reactors currently planned are in Asia, with fast-growing economies and rapidly-rising electricity demand.

About the Company

Atomic Minerals is a Vancouver based publicly listed uranium exploration company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company is led by a highly skilled management and technical team with numerous previous successes in the junior mining sector.

For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.atomicminerals.ca

Qualified Persons

Mr. R. Tim Henneberry, P.Geo. (BC), is the "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and is responsible for the technical contents of this news release and has approved the disclosure of the technical information contained herein.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Clive Massey"

Clive H. Massey

President & CEO

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations

(604) 644-6794; Office (604) 341-6870

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor their Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking" statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although Atomic Minerals Corporation believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Atomic Minerals Corporation management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Atomic Minerals Corporation undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

###

SOURCE: Atomic Minerals Corporation

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John Foley, co-founder and CEO of Peloton Interactive, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., July 7, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) -Peloton Interactive Inc co-founders John Foley and Hisao Kushi are stepping down from their executive roles, at a time the troubled exercise bike maker is undergoing massive changes to trim losses and win back investor confidence.

"It is time for me to start a new professional chapter," said Foley, who was replaced earlier this year as chief executive under pressure from an activist investor as the company struggled to maintain the breakneck growth that propelled its valuation to $52 billion in early 2021.

Karen Boone, elected to the company's board in 2019, will replace Foley as the executive chair. Chief Legal Officer Kushi, who crafted the novel music license deals, will be succeeded by former Uber Technologies Inc executive Tammy Albarran.

Peloton shares were up 0.5% in after hours trading. They had fallen about 69.1% this year through Friday's close.

Foley, who founded Peloton in 2012 with four others, was replaced as CEO by Barry McCarthy, a former Spotify Technology SA and Netflix Inc executive, after activist investor Blackwells Capital had called for his removal.

"Say what you want about John Foley. He's the reason that I'm here today. And he's the reason Peloton is here," McCarthy said at a Goldman Sachs conference on Monday.

Peloton in its most recent quarter recorded a net loss of $1.24 billion as demand for its bicycles and treadmills tumbled and the number of subscriptions stagnated. Both had soared early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The fitness equipment maker, which has incurred operating losses each year since its inception, is taking an array of steps including job cuts, price hikes and listing its products on Amazon.com to help boost profits.

(Reporting by Nathan Gomes and Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
Kim Garrison will operate out of a new branch office opened for her and other high-caliber advisors in Springfield, MO

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Financial advisor Kim Garrison, CFP, CIMA, CTFA recently joined the branch channel of Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP) from Morgan Stanley in Springfield, Missouri with $185 million in client assets. Garrison was attracted to Ameriprises commitment to supporting women advisors, deep expertise in financial planning, and reputation for being client centric. She will operate out of a branch office recently opened in her area that is led by Ameriprise branch manager Michael Brun and supported by regional vice president Brian Mora.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913006231/en/

Financial Advisor Kim Garrison and registered client service associate Paula Schnoebelen joined Ameriprise Financial in Springfield, Missouri for the firm's inclusive culture, deep expertise in financial planning, and reputation for being client centric. Photo courtesy of Kim Garrison.

Garrisons team also includes Paula Schnoebelen, registered client service associate, who joined Ameriprise from MissionSquare Retirement. Schnoebelen has more than 25 years of experience supporting clients retirement goals, with a particular focus on public sector employees.

Garrison conducted extensive due diligence before moving firms, seeking an inclusive culture, a commitment to serving clients through financial planning, resources to do business with clients more efficiently, and surround-sound marketing support to develop deeper relationships with clients and prospects. She discovered that Ameriprise met her criteria after she was invited to attend the firms annual Womens Advisor Summit in Dallas, where she met many members of senior leadership and other women advisors.

I am impressed by the great culture Ameriprise has for women advisors. The energy at the womens event in Dallas was electric, with the strong community of peers coming together to share ideas for how we can better serve our clients, said Garrison. Ameriprise has shown time and time again that they value me and my clients. Two examples stand out: that the firm provided me with a dedicated staff member who is fantastic at serving my clients and helping me run my practice more efficiently, and that they chose me to pioneer a new office and expand the Ameriprise brand into my area.

We couldnt be more excited to welcome Kim and her clients to Ameriprise, said Timari Robison, Ameriprise National Womens Recruiting Director. Ameriprise is committed to helping advisors thrive, and one of the ways we do that is by bringing them together in forums like our advisor networks and mentorship programs. We understand how important it is for talented advisors like Kim to compare notes and encourage one another toward their biggest growth goals.

Ameriprise has continued to attract experienced, productive financial advisors, with approximately 1,600 joining the firm in the last 5 years.1 Nine out of ten advisors who joined Ameriprise say the firms technology, financial planning capabilities and ability to acquire clients is better than their previous firm.2 To find out why experienced financial advisors are joining Ameriprise, visit ameriprise.com/why.

About Ameriprise Financial

At Ameriprise Financial, we have been helping people feel confident about their financial future for more than 125 years. With extensive investment advice, asset management and insurance capabilities and a nationwide network of approximately 10,000 financial advisors3, we have the strength and expertise to serve the full range of individual and institutional investors' financial needs.

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM and federally registered CFP (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Boards initial and ongoing certification requirements.

Ameriprise Financial cannot guarantee future financial results.

Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Investment advisory products and services are made available through Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC, a registered investment adviser.

Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. Member FINRA and SIPC.

 2022 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved.

___________________________

1 Ameriprise Financial 2021 10-K.

2 Ameriprise asked experienced advisors who moved their book of business to the firm in the last one-to-five years to compare its support, resources, and capabilities to their previous firm and state their satisfaction with their experience. The survey results identified the top ways Ameriprise stands out compared to competitors. 294 advisors responded to the Ultimate Advisor Partnership survey, which was conducted in November 2021.

3 Ameriprise Financial Q2 2022 Earnings Release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913006231/en/

Stephanie Siegle, Media Relations

612.671.2593

[email protected]

Source: Ameriprise Financial
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Aqara, a leading provider of smart home products, introduced its Radiator Thermostat E1 to automate hydronic radiators including wall-mounted radiators, towel warmers and even warm floors, making the heating systems smarter for improved energy efficiency and comfort. This radiator thermostat supports most radiator valves with its M30*1.5mm thread connection and the provided adapters for RA, RAV and RAVL valves1. The Aqara Radiator Thermostat E1 is now available on European Amazon stores (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK), as well as via selective Aqara retailers in Europe2.

Based on the Zigbee 3.0 protocol, the Thermostat is expected to support the future-proofing Matter standard via an OTA update of the compatible, Zigbee 3.0-based Aqara hub3. The device is also compatible with major ecosystems and voice assistants such as HomeKit/Siri, Alexa, Google Home/Google Assistant, IFTTT, Home Assistant4 and more. Users can be reassured that the Thermostat works with their smart home setups of today and tomorrow.

Unlike many thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) that rely solely on an internal sensor to measure the room temperature, which can be inaccurate due to the sensors proximity to the radiator, the Radiator Thermostat E1 can receive the temperature readings directly from a connected Aqara temperature sensor5 (including in HomeKit), and regulate the radiator based on the actual room temperature to increase comfort. Moreover, when connected to an Aqara Door and Window Sensor, the Thermostat can be configured to stop heating the room when any door or window is left open, in order to reduce energy waste. With the wide range of Aqara devices, users are able to create customized home automation that heats their homes only when its needed.

The Aqara Home app also offers various options for radiator automation. A smart schedule can be configured, allowing users to set the desired temperatures for different periods of time throughout the day, for example to set it to 5 during the daytime of weekdays when no one is at home, 25 for a relaxing evening after work, and 20 for a night of comfortable sleep. Geofencing is also possible, so the radiators will heat up the home before the family arrives. Another option is to automate the radiators based on local weather, and the heating will turn on automatically when the local temperature drops below a certain threshold.

Other features of the Radiator Thermostat include:

Device grouping: multiple radiators in one room can be synchronized so that they work in a more efficient way, and make it possible to set different temperatures for each room;

Multi-home management: in the case of having more than one home, users are able to manage the radiators in each home separately and set up individual automation such as geofencing-based automation;

Anti-freeze mode: users can preset a temperature between 5 - 15 for this mode, and activate the mode easily when they are out of town to conserve energy while reducing the risk of pipe freezing;

12-month battery life: thanks to the Zigbee protocol and the energy-efficient hardware, 2 AA batteries will power the Thermostat for up to one year of use6.

To celebrate the launch, Aqara now offers a 10% discount for the Radiator Thermostat on its European Amazon stores in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK with the promo code TRVE1UKEU. The code will be valid through September 15, 2022.

For more details of the Radiator Thermostat E1, please visit our website.

This thermostat is only compatible with thermostatic valves, while manual, return temperature limiter (RTL) as well as monotube radiator systems are not supported. However in the majority of cases, it is possible to convert the existing radiator valve to a supporting one using an aftermarket adapter. Please consult professional installers or authorized Aqara retailers for more details. Product availability may vary among different retail channels, and could be updated all the time. Its recommended to check with the local retailer(s) for real time availability. Matter support may be unavailable by the time of the launch. Home Assistant support can be achieved using HomeKit Controller integration, which is developed by the Home Assistant community. Aqaras Temperature and Humidity Sensor or TVOC Air Quality Monitor is required. Battery life may vary depending on the usage. The 1-year battery life is calculated based on the assumption of 8 operations per day for a heating season of 165 days and 1 operation every 2 weeks for the rest 200 days.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005022/en/

For Media Inquiry:

[email protected]

Source: Aqara
KINGSPORT, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE: EMN) provided an update on its third-quarter 2022 financial results.

Third-quarter 2022 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) are expected to be approximately $2.00. Previous expectations were for solid growth compared to third-quarter 2021 adjusted EPS of $2.46.

There are three main factors negatively impacting our volume and product mix in the third quarter, said Mark Costa, Board Chair and CEO. While demand across some end markets, including agriculture and personal care, is demonstrating resilience, demand has slowed more than expected in August and September, in particular in the consumer durables and building and construction end markets and the European and Asian regions. At the same time, logistics have been challenged by an acceleration of marine logistics issues on the U.S. East Coast, particularly impacting high-value specialty products in Advanced Materials bound for other regions. Operational issues have also impacted volume and product mix, as recovery of our polymer lines from an electricity outage in July at our Kingsport facility took longer than expected, Costa added.

Commenting on higher costs in the quarter, Costa said, Certain costs have trended higher than expected and are impacting third-quarter performance, particularly for natural gas in the U.S., which reached a 14-year high during the quarter. A stronger U.S. dollar against a number of currencies, including the euro and the yen, is also negatively impacting results.

In response to these accelerating challenges and continued uncertainty, we are raising prices where appropriate to offset higher costs and implementing measures to control costs across the company, Costa said.

As we close a challenging third quarter, our commitment to our growth programs is unwavering. Our investments have us well positioned as a leading specialty materials company, underpinned by our leadership position in the circular economy, Costa concluded.

This update to our outlook does not include any impact from the recent rail embargo or the potential for a rail worker strike in the U.S. later this month.

Eastman will announce third-quarter 2022 financial results after the close of U.S. equities markets on Thursday, October 27, and conduct a public teleconference to discuss results at 8:00 a.m. ET on Friday, October 28. Eastman expects to provide a fourth-quarter financial outlook at that time.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes forward-looking statements concerning current expectations and assumptions for future global economic conditions; logistics challenges, supply chain issues for customers and suppliers, and raw material and energy costs; competitive position and acceptance of specialty products in key markets; mix of products sold; cost reductions; and revenue, earnings, adjusted diluted EPS, cash flow, and cash and cash equivalents for full-year 2022. Such expectations and assumptions are based upon certain preliminary information, internal estimates, and management assumptions, expectations, and plans, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties inherent in projecting future conditions, events, and results. Actual results could differ materially from expectations and assumptions expressed in the forward-looking statements if one or more of the underlying assumptions or expectations prove to be inaccurate or are unrealized. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such expectations are and will be detailed in the companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Form 10-K filed for 2021, and the Form 10-Q filed for second-quarter 2022, both of which are available, on the Eastman web site at www.eastman.com in the Investors, SEC filings section. These statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations and speak only as of the date of this release. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements.

Founded in 1920, Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The companys innovation-driven growth model takes advantage of world-class technology platforms, deep customer engagement, and differentiated application development to grow its leading positions in attractive end markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally inclusive and diverse company, Eastman employs approximately 14,000 people around the world and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company had 2021 revenue of approximately $10.5 billion and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA. For more information, visit www.eastman.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005789/en/

Media: Tracy Kilgore Addington

423-224-0498 / [email protected]

Investors: Greg Riddle

212-835-1620 / [email protected]

Source: Eastman Chemical Company
Presentation on Thursday, September 15th, 2022 at 5:00 PM ET

OTTAWA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Edgewater Wireless Systems Inc. (Edgewater or the Company) (TSXV: YFI) (OTC: KPIFF), the industry leader in Wi-Fi Spectrum Slicing technology for residential and enterprise markets, announced today that it will be presenting virtually at the upcoming Sequire Semiconductor Conference on Thursday, September 15th, at 5:00 PM ET.

Andrew Skafel, President and CEO of Edgewater, will present the Companys patented multi-channel silicon solution and its proven real-world superiority to the current single-link architecture used in all of todays Wi-Fi systems. In addition to discussing the Companys disruptive potential and position within the emerging Wi-Fi 7 standard, Skafel will highlight the Companys expanding patent portfolio and existing partnerships with global industry leaders like CableLabs.

Event: Edgewater Wireless Presentation at the Sequire Semiconductor Conference

Date: Thursday, September 15th, 2022

Time: 5:00 PM ET

Register to watch the presentation HERE. Investors can also request 1x1 meetings with Edgewater HERE.

Summary of Sequire Semiconductor Conference

The semiconductor industry is expected to reach $600 billion USD by the end of 2022. SRAX and Sequire are bringing together experts in manufacturing, engineering, and equipment and materials supply to learn more about this booming industry. This 1-day virtual investor event will be held via SRAXs Sequire Virtual Events platform. Nearly nine million active small-cap investors have been invited to the event, which will feature several semiconductor focused companies hosting 25-minute presentations, alongside keynotes highlighting prominent names in this space. The presenting companies will also be able to take virtual 1x1 meetings with investors of their choice.

About Edgewater Wireless

We make Wi-Fi. Better.

Edgewater Wireless is the industry leader in innovative Spectrum Slicing technology for residential and commercial markets. We develop advanced Wi-Fi silicon solutions, Access Points, and IP licensing designed to meet the high-density and high quality-of-service needs of service providers and their customers. With 26 granted patents, Edgewaters Multi-Channel, Single Radio (MCSR) technology revolutionizes Wi-Fi, delivering next-generation Wi-Fi today.

Edgewaters physical layer Spectrum Slicing allows a frequency band to be divided, or sliced, to enable more radios to operate in a given area. Think of Spectrum Slicing like moving from a single-lane road to a multi-lane highway  regardless of Wi-Fi technology. The recently completed Proof of Concept (PoC) with a major Tier 1 Service Provider showed 7 to 18 times performance gains in 75% of homes surveyed. Interestingly, homes with the most devices saw the greatest improvements.

For more information, visit www.edgewaterwireless.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. Although Edgewater Wireless believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements and information because Edgewater Wireless can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. By its nature, such forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties, which could cause Edgewater Wireless actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed. These risks and uncertainties, include, but are not limited to access to capital markets, market forces, competition from new and existing companies and regulatory conditions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date it is expressed in this news release or otherwise, and to not use future-oriented information or financial outlooks for anything other than their intended purpose. Edgewater Wireless undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

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Edgewater Wireless:

Andrew Skafel, President and CEO

E: [email protected]



Bill Mitoulas, Investor Relations

E: [email protected]

T: +1.416.479.9547

Source: Edgewater Wireless Systems Inc.
MILWAUKEE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Physicians Realty Trust (NYSE: DOC) (the Company), through a joint venture with Dallas, Texas based MedProperties Realty Advisors, LLC (MedProperties) is proud to announce the closing of the acquisition of Calko Medical Center. This Class-A, free-standing facility, built in 2013, contains 85,567 rentable square feet, anchored by Maimonides Medical Center and physicians associated with Maimonides, and is 100% leased and occupied. The Company owns 90% of the joint venture, with MedProperties owning the remaining 10%. The stabilized cash yield on the investment is 5.5%.

This building is anchored by the Brooklyn Surgery Center which is a joint venture with physicians and Maimonides Medical Center, recently ranked by Newsweek as the 4th best ASC in New York state and the top surgery center in Brooklyn.

In addition to the surgery center, the purpose-built medical facility is home to a state-of-the-art urgent care center, a comprehensive orthopedic department, a pain management center, a pathology lab, a fertility clinic, and 30,000 square feet of private physician office space. The facility also includes one of the largest endoscopy programs in the country, with the latest imaging equipment and a state-of-the-art radiology department.

The property is currently 100% leased through 14 NNN leases with a weighted average remaining term of approximately 7 years. Major tenants include Maimonides Medical Center (31% GLA), Brooklyn Surgery Center (25% GLA), and RadNet Imaging (11% GLA).

John T. Thomas, President and CEO of Physicians Realty Trust, stated We are excited to partner once again with MedProperties, who sourced this acquisition opportunity and worked with us to complete the transaction. This is a fantastic outpatient medical facility with a health care ecosystem that provides access to exceptional care for the larger Brooklyn population. We look forward to working with Maimonides Medical Center, the physicians, and other providers in this facility for years to come.

About Brooklyn Surgery Center

Brooklyn Surgery Center is a modern, state-of-the-art, multispecialty surgery center providing expert medical care in the heart of Brooklyn. The main surgical specialties are Gastroenterology and Orthopedics, but other specialties include General Surgery, Colorectal Surgery, Podiatry, Pain Management, Plastic Surgery, Urology, In vitro Fertilization / Gynecology Procedures, and Pediatric Urology.

About Maimonides Medical Center

Maimonides Medical Center is a health system operating three nonprofit hospitals in Brooklyn, New York generating $1.3 billion in annual revenue. In addition, Maimonides' FHA bonds carry an S&P rating of 'AA+'. It has been rated a Top 10 Hospital in the Nation for Clinical Excellence according to data published by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Services offered at the subject property include Orthopedics, Gastroenterology, OBGYN & Fertility, Pediatrics, Pathology & Lab, and PT & Rehab.

About Physicians Realty Trust

Physicians Realty Trust is a self-managed healthcare real estate company organized to acquire, selectively develop, own and manage healthcare properties that are leased to physicians, hospitals and healthcare delivery systems. The Company invests in real estate that is integral to providing high quality healthcare. The Company is a Maryland real estate investment trust and has elected to be taxed as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The Company conducts its business through an UPREIT structure in which its properties are owned by the Operating Partnership, directly or through limited partnerships, limited liability companies or other subsidiaries.

About MedProperties Realty Advisors, LLC

MedProperties Realty Advisors, LLC is a Dallas-based healthcare real estate private equity firm that invests on a direct and an indirect basis (through joint venture relationships) in the development of new, value-add, and stabilized healthcare real estate, including multitenant medical office buildings and single-tenant, specialty healthcare facilities throughout the U.S. MedProperties invests through its discretionary funds, and through stand-alone investment vehicles. MedProperties is dedicated solely to investments in healthcare real estate. For further information on MedProperties, please visit www.medpropertieslp.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that are 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, pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as anticipate, believe, expect, estimate, plan, outlook, continue, intend, and project and other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward looking statements may include statements regarding the Companys strategic and operational plans, the Companys ability to generate internal and external growth, the future outlook, anticipated cash returns, cap rates or yields on properties, anticipated closing of property acquisitions, ability to execute its business plan, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Companys business. While forward-looking statements reflect our good faith beliefs, they are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and/or managements good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, not all of which are known to the Company and many of which are beyond the Companys control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in greater detail in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission), including, without limitation, the Companys annual and periodic reports and other documents filed with the Commission. Unless legally required, the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date of this release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For a discussion of factors that could impact the Companys results, performance, or transactions, see Part I, Item 1A (Risk Factors) of the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913006272/en/

Physicians Realty Trust

John T. Thomas

President and CEO

(214) 549-6611

[email protected]



Jeffrey N. Theiler

Executive Vice President and CFO

(414) 367-5610

[email protected]

Source: Physicians Realty Trust
SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) announced today that it will host a conference call on October 25, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. ET to discuss third quarter 2022 earnings results, which will be released earlier that day, and provide an update on company operations.

Persons interested in listening to the conference call may join the webcast on Valeros Investor Relations website at www.investorvalero.com.

About Valero

Valero Energy Corporation, through its subsidiaries (collectively, Valero), is an international manufacturer and marketer of petroleum-based and low-carbon liquid transportation fuels and petrochemical products, and sells its products primarily in the United States (U.S.), Canada, the United Kingdom (U.K.), Ireland and Latin America. Valero owns 15 petroleum refineries located in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3.2 million barrels per day. Valero is a joint venture member in Diamond Green Diesel Holdings LLC, which owns a renewable diesel plant in Norco, Louisiana with a production capacity of 700 million gallons per year, and Valero owns 12 ethanol plants located in the Mid-Continent region of the U.S. with a combined production capacity of approximately 1.6 billion gallons per year. Valero manages its operations through its Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol segments. Please visit www.investorvalero.com for more information.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005903/en/

Investors:

Homer Bhullar, Vice President  Investor Relations and Finance, 210-345-1982

Eric Herbort, Director  Investor Relations, 210-345-3331

Gautam Srivastava, Senior Manager  Investor Relations, 210-345-3992



Media:

Lillian Riojas, Executive Director  Media Relations and Communications, 210-345-5002

Source: Valero Energy Corporation
Bloomberg said Tuesday that the US Government is considering refilling its emergency oil reserves when crude prices decline to around the $80 per barrel mark.

Citing sources, it was reported that the Biden administration is looking into how to time such a move, while they also aim to protect US oil production expansion and stop crude prices from falling.

The price of West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, dropped to nearly $81 a barrel last week, its lowest point since January this year.

In March, US President Joe Biden called for the release of 180 million barrels from the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve as it attempted to steady soaring oil and gas prices. However, Bloomberg stated that officials are looking to reduce the pace of the releases to keep the market balanced, with officials aiming to reassure producers that the government won't let prices plummet.

By Sam Boughedda
BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today introduced a next-generation glass prefillable syringe (PFS) that sets a new standard in performance for vaccine PFS with new and tightened specifications for processability, cosmetics, contamination and integrity.1

The new BD EffivaxTM Glass Prefillable Syringe has been designed in collaboration with leading pharmaceutical companies to meet the complex and evolving needs of vaccine manufacturing.

"As biopharmaceutical companies continue to rapidly grow their vaccine pipelines, demand for PFS is accelerating across the globe  given their proven ability to facilitate faster administration, support dose sparing and reduce vaccine waste." said Eric Borin, Worldwide President of BD Pharmaceutical Systems. "The launch of BD EffivaxTM Glass Prefillable Syringe strategically supports this growth and will create needed efficiencies in end-to-end production."

Approximately 70 percent of the top 100 biopharmaceutical companies rely on BD for supply of PFS.2 BD EffivaxTM Glass Prefillable Syringe will further help customers meet the stringent demands of today's vaccine manufacturing through design enhancements focused on fill/finish and container reliability. Through improved quality specifications, BD EffivaxTM is designed to reduce the risk of line stoppage3 and improve the total cost of ownership,4 manufacturing capacity and supply availability.

The BD Effivax Glass Prefillable Syringe will benefit from the $1.2 billion, four-year investment that BD announced in late 2020 to expand and upgrade manufacturing capacity and technology for PFS. As BD plans for the future of vaccinations, including mRNA and those used for COVID-19, the company remains committed to maintaining robust capacity for PFS to help reduce the time and labor required for vaccine preparation with traditional vial formats.
Granite (NYSE: GVA) announced today that it has been awarded an approximately $20 million dollar construction contract by the Tucson Airport Authority (TAA) to reconstruct an outboard taxiway (Taxiway C) at the Tucson International Airport (TUS), in Tucson, Arizona, as part of the TAAs estimated $400 million, multi-year Airfield Safety Enhancement Program. This will be the second work package awarded as part of the previously announced $130 million multi-year Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) project to demolish an existing runway and re-construct a new relocated commercial runway, center taxiway, and outboard taxiway that will parallel the existing main runway at TUS. The project is primarily funded through an FAA Airport Improvement Grant (AIP) with additional funding expected from the recently passed Infrastructure Bill prior to the start of construction. The award is anticipated to be included in Granites 4th quarter CAP.

Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP 2) - Taxiway C will provide the incremental airfield upgrades necessary to allow the current general aviation runway to be removed, relocated, and re-constructed as a commercial runway in future GMP work packages. The primary GMP 2 scopes of work include pavement removals, earthwork, base, asphalt paving, drainage, electrical, pavement markings, and landscaping.

The construction team will continue to build upon its strong relationships established over the past decade with TAA and its stakeholders as it transitions from completing its current DBB1 (Design Bid Build 1) Project under TAA's Airfield Safety Enhancement (ASE) Program, back to work under the existing CMAR contract, said Zach Thompson, Granite Senior Project Manager. The preconstruction team continues to look for innovative, cost-saving options to right-size work packages in pursuit of ultimate program build out over the next 4-5 years given the headwinds of market volatility and funding availability.

Granites Swan Plant, located within five miles of the project, will provide approximately 43,000 tons of hot mix asphalt, 42,000 tons of aggregate base course, and 10,000 tons of various other aggregates and sand.

Every time we award a construction contract in support of the Airfield Safety Enhancement Program, we are one step closer to achieving our goal of a modernized airfield, said TAA President and CEO Danette Bewley. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Granite Construction on this next phase of the program.

The project is anticipated to begin October 2022 and expected to be completed September 2023.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) disclosed:

On September 7, 2022, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM or the Company) and State Street Global Advisors Trust Company, as independent fiduciary of the IBM Personal Pension Plan (the Plan), entered into two separate commitment agreements, one with The Prudential Insurance Company of America (Prudential) and one with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (collectively, the Insurers) under which the Plan agreed to purchase nonparticipating single premium group annuity contracts that will transfer to the Insurers approximately $16 billion of the Plans defined benefit pension obligations related to certain pension benefits that began to be paid prior to 2016.

The purchase of the group annuity contracts closed on September 13, 2022. The contracts cover approximately 100,000 IBM participants and beneficiaries (the Transferred Participants). Under the group annuity contracts, each Insurer has made an irrevocable commitment, and will be solely responsible, to pay 50% of the pension benefits of each Transferred Participant that are due on and after January 1, 2023. Prudential will be the lead administrator. The transaction will result in no changes to the amount of benefits payable to the Transferred Participants.

The purchase of the group annuity contracts was funded directly by assets of the Plan and required no cash or asset contributions of the Company. As a result of the transaction, the Company expects to recognize a one-time non-cash pre-tax pension settlement charge of approximately $5.9 billion ($4.4 billion net of tax) in the third quarter of 2022. The actual charge will depend on finalization of the actuarial and other assumptions. The pre-tax charge was not included in the GAAP forward-looking information released on July 18, 2022. This charge will not impact the Companys third quarter or full year 2022 operating (non-GAAP) profit or free cash flow.
New York Governor, Kathy Hochul's office announced Monday that the state has awarded a $1 million grant to an Israeli EV Charging design company called ZOOZ. A step forward in the states plans to expand its electric vehicle infrastructure and technological capabilities, this partnership will allow New York to integrate fast-charging battery capabilities and help with plans to phase out gas-powered vehicles within the next decade.

The state will have to integrate fast-charging battery technology with local power grids. ZOOZ uses a flywheel-based, kinetic energy storage technology for its power booster to help charge batteries faster.

"Through key strategic partnerships, New York is driving the advancement of cutting-edge clean energy technologies that will have a global impact in the fight against climate change," Hochul said. "New York's collaboration with the state of Israel, a hub for innovative, clean energy technologies, will deliver forward-thinking solutions that will strengthen New York's EV infrastructure."

The money awarded to ZOOZ comes from the New York Power Authority, which is funded through bonds and the sale of electricity.

"NYPA has multiple successful partnerships with Israeli firms developing innovative, smart technologies that are helping New York achieve its ambitious climate goals," said the authority's CEO, Justin Driscoll. "This latest technology developed through our collaboration with ZOOZ will enable New York to install more EV fast chargers at more locations while reducing grid impacts, making it possible for more New Yorkers to adopt cleaner methods of transportation."

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]
Wells Fargo Bank branch is seen in New York City, U.S., March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co said on Tuesday it would commission a third-party racial equity audit that will include inputs from both internal and external stakeholders, as the bank pushes to boost its diversity credentials.

The assessment will be conducted by law firm Covington & Burling LLP, with the results expected to be published by the end of 2023.

The move comes after Wells in June froze its hiring policy that requires recruiters to interview a diverse pool of candidates, after the New York Times reported that such interviews were often fake and conducted even though the job had already been promised to someone else.

At the time, Chief Executive Officer Charles Scharf told staff in a memo that the lender also plans to conduct a review of its diverse slate guidelines.

In August, Wells reinstated the policy, saying it had completed a review of diverse candidate hiring approaches and interviewed recruiters and managers to improve implementation of guidelines.

(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
FILE PHOTO: Flags of Taiwan and U.S. are placed for a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Biden administration is talking with lawmakers on Capitol Hill about Taiwan security legislation, the White House said on Tuesday.

"We look forward to working with Congress on this proposed legislation as it works its way through the process," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters when asked about concerns the administration has had with the bill.

He said Washington was "adamant" about its commitment to Taiwan's self-defense.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Rami Ayyub; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Chris Reese)
A self-driving GM Bolt EV is seen during a media event where Cruise, GM's autonomous car unit, showed off its self-driving cars in San Francisco, California, U.S. November 28, 2017. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

By Hyunjoo Jin

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -General Motors' self-driving technology unit Cruise plans to expand its driverless ride service to include Phoenix, Arizona, and Austin, Texas, in 90 days, Cruise Chief Executive Kyle Vogt said on Monday.

Speaking at a Goldman Sachs conference, Vogt also said the loss-making Cruise unit aims to hit $1 billion in revenue by 2025 - or half its current level of annual investment from GM.

In June, Cruise started charging for self-driving car rides in San Francisco at night, using Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles. Cruise operated as many as 70 driverless AVs concurrently in San Francisco, and plans to double or triple the number by the end of the year, Vogt said.

Vogt said its operations in Austin and Phoenix will initially involve a small number and will be "revenue-generating," with a plan to scale up operations next year.

Cruise has obtained all the permits necessary for using the driverless cars for ride-hailing and delivery services in Phoenix, where it has already tested its self-driving delivery service with Walmart, one of its investors.

Alphabet's Waymo is already operating a driverless taxi service in suburban Phoenix. In San Francisco, Waymo gives autonomous rides free of charge to a limited number of people with safety drivers on board.

Some investors are backing away from riskier bets on technology and reassessing how soon robot vehicles of any kind will be deployed in large scale on public roads.

Vogt said the self-driving car industry has swung back from "extreme optimism" to "extreme pessimism," but this will change.

"I think people are going to be caught off guard by how quickly AVs (autonomous vehicles) go from the first ride that you've taken to available pretty much everywhere," he said.

Cruise recalled and updated software in 80 self-driving vehicles after a June crash in San Francisco that injured two people.

Vogt acknowledged "some rough spots we've got to keep working on" but said AV technology was "no longer the main bottleneck."

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Additional reporting by Joe White; editing Deepa Babington and Stephen Coates)
Danville, Virginia, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AeroFarms, a Certified B Corporation and world leader in indoor vertical farming, debuts AeroFarms Danville, its newest cutting-edge indoor vertical farm, growing award-winning leafy greens that are prized for their elevated flavor by top chefs and home makers alike.

Joined by Matthew Lohr, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, Congressman Good and elected officials from Virginia and the city of Danville and Pittsylvania County, the AeroFarms Team celebrated the official Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening of AeroFarms Danville to meet increased customer demand.

Rising transportation costs and droughts in the western United States will mean East Coast states like Virginia must reorient our supply chain for fresh produce to more local suppliers. While painful, this situation also creates an important opportunity for the Commonwealth to become a national leader in the fast-growing indoor farming industry, said Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matthew Lohr. Continued success in recruiting and supporting the growth of these companies can bring economic opportunity to all corners of the Commonwealth, while also supplying fresh, safe, and sustainable food to our citizens and neighbors. Todays announcement is an important step on the pathway to a bright future of food security and prosperity for all Virginians.

This Grand Opening is an incredible milestone for AeroFarms as we scale our company to meet increased customer demand both here in the United States and globally, said David Rosenberg, Co-Founder and CEO of AeroFarms. We have amazing people aligned with our mission and focused on growing a distinctive, flavorful product that our customers love. AeroFarms Danville will help us bring safe, pesticide-free, great-tasting products to even more people.

AeroFarms is a purpose-driven company, with a mission to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity. AeroFarms has been leading the way to elevate agriculture for people and the planet, helping address climate change by enabling local production with no pesticides ever to grow safe, nutritious, and delicious food all year round. AeroFarms is both a change-the-world technology company and an award-winning brand that is reimagining the way food is grown and celebrating its full FlavorSpectrum of flavorful possibilities.

Winning on flavor, AeroFarms is the number one retail brand for both unit and dollar sales in the United States for microgreens according to Nielsen syndicated data*, and AeroFarms leafy greens can be found at major retailers like Ahold Delhaize, Amazon Fresh, Harris Teeter, The Fresh Market, Walmart, Whole Foods Market, and more.

AeroFarms Leafy Greens Key Benefits:

Bursting with Flavor

No Pesticides Ever

Sustainably Grown Indoors

AeroFarms leafy greens are safely grown indoors in state-of-the art commercial indoor vertical farms that are certified for USDA Good Agricultural Practices, SQF Level 2 Good Manufacturing Practices, Non-GMO Project Verification, OU Kosher, and the industry-leading CEA Food Safety Seal that was developed to differentiate indoor clean growing practices from the traditional challenges in the field. AeroFarms leafy greens are completely pesticide free and are ready-to-eat without any need to wash, providing a major benefit to customers looking for safety and convenience.

This Ribbon Cutting marks the opening of the worlds largest aeroponic smart farm that utilizes AeroFarms proprietary indoor vertical farming technology to grow more plants at the highest productivity per square feet with the least amount of natural resources, continuing AeroFarms legacy of continuous improvement and innovation. The AeroFarms aeroponic advantage provides the perfect, nutrient-rich mist targeted right at the roots of the plants for optimized efficiency and better water management, using up to 95% less water than field farming. AeroFarms Danville introduces a state-of-the-art water recapture process for even more water savings. In addition to the benefits to the environment, AeroFarms Danville will also add 158 jobs to the local economy while bringing fresh, safe, delicious greens to more communities year-round.

AeroFarms Danville Key Benefits:

Capable of serving over 50 million people within a days drive

Capable of growing over 3 million pounds of leafy greens annually

Hands-free farming with end-to-end automation from seeding to growing to harvesting to packaging

Over 50% water savings and over 50% improvement in LED efficiency through proprietary design versus previous farm

The Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening concluded with an inaugural First Bite, led by Secretary Lohr. The First Bite included a handful of delicious AeroFarms Micro Broccoli, an earthy microgreen with a balanced finish and a boost of nutrients, that the Whole Foods Market recognized as one of their Top Trends for 2022.

The new facility is located in Cane Creek Centre, which is a joint industrial park owned by the City of Danville and Pittsylvania County. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and The Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission worked with Pittsylvania County, the City of Danville, and the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance to fund a part of the AeroFarms project. The company has obtained assistance from Virginia Tech and Danvilles Institute for Advanced Learning and Research for workforce development assistance and plant testing. AeroFarms also qualifies for state benefits from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Developments Virginia Enterprise Zone Program. Funding and services to support the companys job creation are provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

About AeroFarms: Since 2004, AeroFarms has been leading the way for indoor vertical farming and championing transformational innovation for agriculture. On a mission to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity, AeroFarms is a Certified B Corporation with global headquarters in Newark, New Jersey. Named one of the Worlds Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company two years in a row and one of TIMEs Best Inventions in Food, AeroFarms patented, award-winning indoor vertical farming technology provides the perfect conditions for healthy plants to thrive, taking agriculture to a new level of precision, food safety, and productivity while using up to 95% less water and no pesticides ever versus traditional field farming. AeroFarms enables local production to safely grow all year round, using vertical farming for elevated flavor. Its products can be found at major selling partners like Ahold Delhaize, Amazon Fresh, Baldor Specialty Food, Compass Group, Harris Teeter, Marcus BP, Momofuku Noodle Bars, ShopRite, The Fresh Market, Walmart, and Whole Foods Market. In addition, through its proprietary growing technology platform, AeroFarms has grown over 550 varieties of plants and has developed multi-year strategic partnerships ranging from government to major Fortune 500 companies to help uniquely solve agriculture supply chain needs. For additional information, visit: https://aerofarms.com/.

*Source: Nielsen [Microgreen SKUs] Total US xAOC 52-weeks ending 13-Aug-2022

Attachments

Marc Oshima AeroFarms 9176734602 [email protected]

Source: AeroFarms
RAPID CITY, S.D., Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Black Hills Corp. (NYSE: BKH) today announced the release of its 2021 Sustainability Report highlighting the companys environmental, social and governance achievements and plans to further decarbonize its electric and natural gas utility systems.

We are committed to creating a cleaner energy future that builds on our responsibility to provide the safe, reliable and cost-effective energy that improves our customers lives, said Linn Evans, president and CEO of Black Hills Corp. We are enabling the energy transition through the addition of low or zero carbon generation sources, power plant fuel conversions, new technologies and a new commitment to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2035 for our natural gas distribution system.

Our Net Zero target by 2035 builds on our natural gas system safety and integrity initiatives and expands upon strategies underway to strengthen our system such as advanced leak detection and expanded damage prevention efforts, continued Evans.

The new target doubles and replaces the companys previous commitment of a 50% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions intensity for mains and services by 2035 and expands the scope of the goal to include all sources of methane emissions in the companys distribution system. This includes pipeline mains and services, damages, blowdowns, transfer stations, meters and pressure relief valves. The goal boundary of the target is defined as Scope 1 by the Environmental Protection Agency.

For our electric utilities, we have already achieved over a one-third reduction in greenhouse gas emissions intensity since 2005, reaching a nearly 10% reduction since announcing our goal in 2020, said Evans. We have plans in place today, without reliance on future technologies, to achieve our corporate climate goals calling for a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions intensity from our electric utility operations by 2030 and 70% by 2040.

Report highlights include:

Advancements in renewable natural gas (RNG): In 2021, the company developed a voluntary RNG and carbon offset program to help residential and small business natural gas customers offset 100% or more of the emissions associated with their own natural gas usage. The company filed for approval to launch these programs in three states and seeks to offer the program to all customers by 2023.

In 2021, the company developed a voluntary RNG and carbon offset program to help residential and small business natural gas customers offset 100% or more of the emissions associated with their own natural gas usage. The company filed for approval to launch these programs in three states and seeks to offer the program to all customers by 2023. Caring for the community: In 2021, the companys community support totaled $5.3 million, including over $644,000 in employee giving to United Way and more than $768,000 from the companys expanded energy assistance fund, which matches customers and employees contributions dollar-for-dollar.

In 2021, the companys community support totaled $5.3 million, including over $644,000 in employee giving to United Way and more than $768,000 from the companys expanded energy assistance fund, which matches customers and employees contributions dollar-for-dollar. Creating value: The companys investment in the safety, reliability and sustainability of its extensive utility systems delivers meaningful growth and sustains jobs, families and communities. In 2021, Black Hills Corp.s direct economic impact totaled $1.3 billion.

The companys investment in the safety, reliability and sustainability of its extensive utility systems delivers meaningful growth and sustains jobs, families and communities. In 2021, Black Hills Corp.s direct economic impact totaled $1.3 billion. Energy efficiency  Black Hills Corp. provided over $10 million in energy efficiency rebates in 2021 to residential and business customers, leading to annual energy savings of about 16 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and 380,000 dekatherms of natural gas  enough energy to power over 2,050 homes with electricity and about 4,500 homes with natural gas for one year.

Learn more at www.blackhillsenergy.com/sustainability.

About Black Hills Corp.Black Hills Corp. (NYSE: BKH) is a customer focused, growth-oriented utility company with a tradition of improving life with energy and a vision to be the energy partner of choice. Based in Rapid City, South Dakota, the company serves 1.3 million natural gas and electric utility customers in eight states: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. More information is available at www.blackhillscorp.com.

Investor RelationsJerome E. Nichols605-721-1171[email protected]

24-Hour Media Relations Line888-242-3969

Caution Regarding Forward Looking StatementThis news release includes forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. We make these forward-looking statements in reliance on the safe harbor protections provided under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this news release that address activities, events or developments that we expect, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future are forward looking statements. This includes our ability to meet our carbon reduction goals through new generation resources and retirements of existing power plants. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions which we believe are reasonable based on current expectations and projections about future events and industry conditions and trends affecting our business. However, whether actual results and developments will conform to our expectations and predictions is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that, among other things, could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, the risk factors described in Item 1A of Part I of our 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC, and other reports that we file with the SEC from time to time.

New factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward looking statements emerge from time-to-time, and it is not possible for us to predict all such factors, or the extent to which any such factor or combination of factors may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking statement. We assume no obligation to update publicly any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Source: Black Hills Service Company, LLC
TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blue Door Agency (The Agency), one of Canadas fastest-growing marketing agencies, celebrated its five-year anniversary with record growth and ambitious agency initiatives. The Agency welcomed several major brands to its client list including Gruppo Terroni, Ripleys Aquarium, and Tangerine Bank in the last six months.

Blue Door is a Toronto-based agency offering a full suite of integrated services spanning Public Relations, Digital Marketing, and Graphic Design. The Agency is well-known for its work in hospitality where it represents more than 50 restaurants and grocery retailers. More recently, strategic acquisitions have allowed it to expand into new sectors including finance, healthcare, technology, and fitness.

Blue Door is experiencing record growth in 2022 and we have no intention of slowing down, said Laura Silver, Founder and CEO, Blue Door Agency. Our robust service offering, professionalism, and fully-integrated model sets Blue Door apart, and that is reflected in the calibre of clients who have selected us as their Agency of Record in recent months.

While new clients have certainly contributed to its growth, Silver attests that the growth is primarily due to Blue Doors impressive 85% client retention rates with key clients, including Longos, which has been with the agency since 2017. Other long-standing clients include Yoga Tree, KINKA FAMILY, Pusateris, The Pint Toronto, Spectrum Health Care, Mademoiselle, and Fresh Restaurants.

Along with building its client roster, Blue Door is working to ensure it is a good corporate citizen and has embarked on the process to become Climate Smart Certified. Climate Smart helps businesses measure their carbon footprint and map emissions with the goal of reducing their environmental impact. Blue Door will use the data to inform, develop, and implement environmental guidelines and policies for its employees and partners as it works towards becoming a Certified B Corporation in the next five years.

We started this agency to deliver sophisticated, professional, and measurable marketing services to Canadian brands, said Silver. Today, we employ a world-class team and have earned the trust of Canadas leading organizations, which means that we have an obligation to be environmental stewards as well. We are proud of our progress and we know the future at Blue Door is bright.

About Blue Door Agency

Launched in 2017, Blue Door Agency has become one of Canada's fastest-growing integrated marketing agencies by establishing itself as a one-stop marketing shop. The agency offers unmatched capabilities under one roof, spanning media relations, influencer marketing, crisis communications, content creation, digital marketing and graphic design. Current clients include Ripley's Aquarium of Canada, Terroni, Tangerine Bank, Longos, Canada Dry Motts, The Pint, Pusateris, and Fresh Restaurants.

Media Contact

Anastasia Zafiriadis

Blue Door Agency

[email protected]

Source: Blue Door Communications
MONROE TOWNSHIP, N.J., Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a release issued on Monday, September 12 by Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (NYSE American: OPTT), please note that the headline should have read "Fiscal 2023" and not "Fiscal 2022". The complete and corrected release follows:

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. Announces First Quarter Fiscal 2023 Results

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. ("OPT" or "the Company") (NYSE American: OPTT), a leader in innovative and cost-effective low-carbon marine data, power, and consulting service solutions, today announced financial results for its first quarter ended July 31, 2022.

1Q23 HIGHLIGHTS:

Revenues increased to $714,000 in 1Q23, as compared to $272,000 in 1Q22.

Selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the Phase II development of a next-generation wave energy converter. In the DOEs recently published awards for clean energy Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects, OPT will receive up to $1.1 million over the next 18-24 months to develop and test a modular and scalable Mass-on-Spring Wave Energy Converter (MOSWEC) PowerBuoy.

Continued second round of field testing of a proprietary next-generation Maritime Domain Awareness ("MDA") solution, which is scheduled to be completed in 3Q23.

Advanced the plans to start manufacturing WAM-Vs at our New Jersey facility.

Management Commentary  Philipp Stratmann, OPT's President and Chief Executive Officer"I was pleased with our results this quarter, particularly with the progress within business development, and I remain encouraged with our ability to achieve our $9.0 million bookings target for fiscal 2023. An example of our success was winning the DOE award for Phase II development of next generation technologies, which further advances our leading ocean energy generation capabilities and supports US Government led Energy Transition efforts. Additionally, we are experiencing increased demand for our WAM-V based solutions, from new and recurring customers, as well as continued traction within Strategic Consulting Services. We look forward to sharing our continued progress in the coming quarters.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS  1Q23

Income Statement:

Revenues increased to $714,000 in 1Q23, driven by WAM-V sales and leases and growth of Strategic Consulting Services.

increased to $714,000 in 1Q23, driven by WAM-V sales and leases and growth of Strategic Consulting Services. Engineering and product development costs were $2.2 million for the 1Q23, which were in line with recent levels, as the trailing four-quarter average in FY22 was $2.3 million.

were $2.2 million for the 1Q23, which were in line with recent levels, as the trailing four-quarter average in FY22 was $2.3 million. Selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) costs increased $166,000 sequentially from the 4Q22 to $4.1 million for the 1Q23. This increase is mainly related to increased payroll related expenses in the quarter.

increased $166,000 sequentially from the 4Q22 to $4.1 million for the 1Q23. This increase is mainly related to increased payroll related expenses in the quarter. Net loss was $5.9 million for 1Q23, as compared to a net loss of $3.1 million for the 1Q22.

Balance Sheet and Cash Flow:

Combined cash, unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments at July 31, 2022 and 2021 was $52.4 million and $77.7 million, respectively.

Bank debt was $0 at both July 31, 2022 and July 31, 2021.

Net cash used in operating activities for 1Q23 was $5.1 million, which was comparable to the 1Q22.

Conference Call & WebcastAs announced on August 12, 2022, OPT will host a conference call and webcast to review its financial and operating results tomorrow morning, Tuesday, September 13, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time. Philipp Stratmann, CEO, Bob Powers, CFO, and Joseph DiPietro, Treasurer and Controller, will host the call.

The dial-in numbers for the conference call are 877-407-8291 or 201-689-8345.

Live webcast: Link to 1Q23 Webcast for OPTT

A replay will be available by telephone approximately two hours after the call's completion until December 13, 2022. You may access the replay by dialing 877-660-6853 from the U.S. or 201-612-7415 for international callers and using the Conference ID 1373 2125. The archived webcast will also be available on the OPT investor relations section of its website.

About Ocean Power TechnologiesOPT provides intelligent maritime solutions and services that enable safer, cleaner, and more productive ocean operations for the defense and security, oil and gas, science and research, and offshore wind markets. Our PowerBuoy platforms provide clean and reliable electric power and real-time data communications for remote maritime and subsea applications. We also provide WAM-V autonomous surface vessels (ASV) and marine robotics services through our wholly owned subsidiary Marine Advanced Robotics and strategic consulting services including simulation engineering, software engineering, concept design and motion analysis through our wholly owned subsidiary 3Dent. We are headquartered in Monroe Township, New Jersey, and have offices in Houston, Texas, and Richmond, California. To learn more, visit www.OceanPowerTechnologies.com.

Forward-Looking StatementsThis release may contain forward-looking statements that are within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are identified by certain words or phrases such as "may", "will", "aim", "will likely result", "believe", "expect", "will continue", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend", "plan", "contemplate", "seek to", "future", "objective", "goal", "project", "should", "will pursue" and similar expressions or variations of such expressions. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current expectations about its future plans and performance. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions and estimates that could be inaccurate and subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could vary materially from those anticipated or expressed in any forward-looking statement made by the Company. Please refer to the Company's most recent Forms 10-Q and 10-K and subsequent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for further discussion of these risks and uncertainties. The Company disclaims any obligation or intent to update the forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release.

Financial Tables FollowAdditional information may be found in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Form 10-Q is accessible at www.sec.gov or the Investor Relations section of the Company's website (www.OceanPowerTechnologies.com/investor-relations).

Contact InformationInvestors: 609-730-0400 x401 or [email protected] Media: 609-730-0400 x402 or [email protected]

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. and SubsidiariesConsolidated Balance Sheets(in thousands, except share data)

July 31, 2022 April 30, 2022 (Unaudited) ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 9,176 $ 7,885 Marketable securities 42,724 49,384 Restricted cash, short-term 258 258 Accounts receivable 119 482 Contract assets 666 386 Inventory 588 442 Other current assets 480 467 Total current assets 54,011 59,304 Property and equipment, net 458 445 Intangibles, net 4,096 4,136 Right-of-use asset, net 677 752 Restricted cash, long-term 219 219 Goodwill $ 8,537 $ 8,537 Total assets $ 67,998 $ 73,393 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS EQUITY Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 1,058 $ 905 Accrued expenses 1,090 877 Contract liabilities 101 129 Right-of-use liability, current portion 328 319 Contingent liabilities, current portion 640 748 Total current liabilities 3,217 2,978 Deferred tax liability 203 203 Contingent liabilities, less current portion 820 843 Right-of-use liability, less current portion 446 538 Total liabilities 4,686 4,562 Commitments and contingencies (Note 13) Shareholders Equity: Preferred stock, $0.001 par value; authorized 5,000,000 shares, none issued or outstanding   Common stock, $0.001 par value; authorized 100,000,000 shares, issued 55,921,880 shares and 55,905,213 shares, respectively; outstanding 55,898,528 shares and 55,881,861 shares, respectively 56 56 Treasury stock, at cost; 23,352 shares (341 ) (341 ) Additional paid-in capital 323,265 322,932 Accumulated deficit (259,622 ) (253,770 ) Accumulated other comprehensive loss (46 ) (46 ) Total shareholders equity 63,312 68,831 Total liabilities and shareholders equity $ 67,998 $ 73,393

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc., and SubsidiariesConsolidated Statements of Operations(in thousands, except per share data)

Three months ended July 31, 2022 2021 Revenues $ 714 $ 272 Cost of revenues 520 423 Gross margin (loss) 194 (151 ) Change in fair value of contingent consideration (131 )  Operating expenses 6,318 4,880 Operating loss (5,993 ) (5,031 ) Interest income, net 141 20 Gain on extinguishment of PPP loan  891 Loss before income taxes (5,852 ) (4,120 ) Income tax benefit  1,041 Net loss $ (5,852 ) $ (3,079 ) Basic and diluted net loss per share $ (0.10 ) $ (0.06 ) Weighted average shares used to compute basic and diluted net loss per share 55,889,651 52,458,011

OCEAN POWER TECHNOLOGIES, INC., AND SUBSIDIARIESConsolidated Statements of Cash Flows(in thousands)

Three months ended July 31, 2022 2021 Cash flows from operating activities: Net loss $ (5,852 ) $ (3,079 ) Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities: Depreciation of fixed assets 43 40 Amortization of intangible assets 40 6 Amortization of right of use asset 75 69 Amortization of premium on marketable securities 220  Gain on extinguishment of PPP Loan  (891 ) Compensation expense related to equity compensation 333 390 Change in contingent liability consideration (131 )  Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Accounts receivable 363 (96 ) Contract assets (280 ) (114 ) Inventory (146 )  Other assets (13 ) (20 ) Accounts payable 154 (233 ) Accrued expenses 212 (60 ) Change in right of use lease liability (82 ) (75 ) Contract liabilities (28 )  Litigation payable  (1,224 ) Net cash used in operating activities (5,092 ) (5,287 ) Cash flows from investing activities: Redemptions of marketable securities 17,252  Purchase of marketable securities (10,813 )  Purchase of property, plant and equipment (56 ) (7 ) Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities 6,383 (7 ) Cash flows from financing activities: Proceeds from issuance of common stock   Net cash provided by financing activities   Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash  (14 ) Net increase / (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 1,291 (5,308 ) Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period 8,362 83,634 Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period $ 9,653 $ 78,326

Source: Ocean Power Technologies, Inc.
Startups From Around the World Are Encouraged to Apply if Their Technology Leverages Optics, Photonics, or Imaging

OPI Accelerator Competition is Supported Through Finger Lakes Forward  The Regions Comprehensive Strategy to Revitalize Communities and Grow the Economy

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Empire State Development (ESD) today announced that Luminate NYthe worlds largest business accelerator for startup companies that have optics, photonics, and imaging (OPI) enabled applicationsis now accepting applications for its sixth cohort. Each year, the accelerator brings ten visionary companies to the Finger Lakes Region to leverage a rich ecosystem of resources to speed the commercialization of emerging technologies within a range of industries, such as autonomous vehicles, quantum computing, medical devices, advanced manufacturing, robotics, and augmented reality. The companies selected to take part in round six of Luminate NY will compete for one of 10 available slots. At the completion of the program, the teams will compete for a total of $2 million in follow-on funding, including a $1 million investment to the winning team and other investments totaling an additional $1 million. Teams winning follow-on funding must commit to doing some aspect of their business operations or manufacturing in the region for at least 18 months

In the last five years, Luminate NY has brought 54 of the most promising companies from around the world to New York to connect them with our regions top universities, talent, and manufacturing facilities to help them solve pressing industry challenges, said Empire State Development President and CEO and Commissioner, Hope Knight. Today, these rapidly growing companies have a collective estimated value of over $400 million, have created top-quality jobs, and have brought new capabilities to the markets they serve, demonstrating how this strategic investment and the competitive advantages that New York has to offer can change the trajectory for diverse business founders.

Applicants for Luminate NY must be incorporated, have at least two full-time employees, and should have proven their core technology, preferably having developed a working prototype. Once admitted, companies will receive assistance, including capital, access to comprehensive lab facilities for technology development, education, and business mentoring. Applications will be accepted now through January 9, 2023.

Luminate NY is funded by the transformative Finger Lakes Forward Upstate Revitalization Initiative, a comprehensive strategy to foster economic development and revitalize communities, and is administered by NextCorps. Located in the imaging capital of the worldRochester, NYthe Luminate accelerator provides immediate funding of $100,000 paired with a six-month hybrid mentoring program to help new companies scale both their businesses and technologies. Program participation includes both virtual and in-person events.

Dr. Sujatha Ramanujan, Managing Director, Luminate NY said, Luminates reputation continues to grow for how its OPI-focused funding, curriculum, and mentoring advances the progress of emerging companies and the development of their technologies. We encourage founders to apply to gain the benefits of this unique support, as well as the collaboration and connections we provide that can open new opportunities for scaling their businesses.

The opening of the recruitment period comes just weeks before Luminate NYs fifth cohort of companies competes for $2 million in follow-on funding during Luminate Finals 2022. This year, Optica is sponsoring the finals event and it will take place as part of the Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science show on October 19, 2022 beginning at 12:30 p.m. EDT. Attendees can register to attend the free event in person or virtually via Zoom. In addition to seeing the teams compete for funding, the public will vote for their favorite startup, which will be awarded $10,000 as part of the annual New York State competition. Renowned physicist Michal Lipson will be the keynote at the event.

The Finger Lakes Region is home to an incredibly rich ecosystem for forward-thinking entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their business. Rochester offers the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics Test, Assembly, and Packaging facility at Eastman Business Park, the University of Rochesters Institute of Optics, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and more than 150 local OPI companies which employ more than 17,000 employees who are building on the regions legacy as a global imaging leader.

State Senator Jeremy Cooney said, Im excited to see the opportunities for continued technological innovation and economic development that the cohort chosen from this sixth round of Luminate NYs business competition will bring to our region. As a world leader in OPI, this partnership is a win-win for Greater Rochester as well as the companies that will be housed here. Im grateful to Empire State Development and Finger Lakes Forward for advancing this work in our community.

Assemblymember Harry Bronson said, As Chair of the Assembly's Committee on Economic Development, I join the Governor in encouraging our great talented pool of young entrepreneurs to enter round six of Luminate NY. There are so many opportunities for growth here in the Finger Lakes Region, and I know the entrepreneurial spirit and creative minds of our community will provide future jobs and economic growth for our state and nation. This competition has continually helped to build a brighter future for our families here in the Finger Lakes Region and we are thankful for round six.

Monroe County Executive Adam Bello said, The Luminate NY accelerator program has already brought real results to Monroe County with investments in promising companies that will help provide jobs and economic growth for our region and continue to position our community as a global leader in the light-based products and services sector. I thank Empire State Development and Gov. Hochul for continuing to recognize our regions potential and spurring growth in our high-tech optics, photonics, and imaging industries.

Rochester Mayor Malik Evans said, The City of Rochester is excited to welcome the sixth Luminate New York cohort. Luminates proven success in connecting the worlds best and brightest in optics, photonics, and imaging with the depth of resources and experience in Rochester has driven entrepreneurs success as well as sustainable economic empowerment for the region. This is a true win-win for innovation and for Rochester.

For additional information about Luminate NY, visit: https://luminate.org/.

For additional information about NextCorps, visit: https://nextcorps.org/.

Accelerating Finger Lakes Forward Todays announcement complements Finger Lakes Forward, the regions comprehensive blueprint to generate robust economic growth and community development. The regionally designed plan focuses on investing in key industries including photonics, agriculture and food production, and advanced manufacturing. Now, the region is accelerating Finger Lakes Forward with a $500 million State investment through the Upstate Revitalization Initiative. The States $500 million investment will incentivize private business to invest well over $2.5 billion  and the regions plan, as submitted, projects up to 8,200 new jobs. More information is available here. 

About Empire State DevelopmentEmpire State Development (ESD) is New Yorks chief economic development agency (www.esd.ny.gov). The mission of ESD is to promote a vigorous and growing economy, encourage the creation of new job and economic opportunities, increase revenues to the State and its municipalities, and achieve stable and diversified local economies. Through the use of loans, grants, tax credits and other forms of financial assistance, ESD strives to enhance private business investment and growth to spur job creation and support prosperous communities across New York State. ESD is also the primary administrative agency overseeing the Regional Economic Development Councils and the marketing of I LOVE NEW YORK, the States iconic tourism brand. For more information on Regional Councils and Empire State Development, visit www.regionalcouncils.ny.gov and www.esd.ny.gov.

Contact:Shari Voorhees-Vincent | [email protected] | (585) 399-7055Press Office | [email protected] | (800) 260-7313Shannon Wojcik | Luminate | [email protected] | (585) 831-6267

Source: Luminate
DUBLIN, Ireland, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Griffin Global Asset Management (Griffin) is pleased to announce the purchase and leaseback of two Airbus A321neo aircraft with Viva Aerobus, a low-cost airline based in Mexico. The aircraft are scheduled to deliver to Viva in September of 2022.

We are pleased to support the growth of Viva Aerobus by financing these two new A321neos. Viva continues to deliver a leading product in the Mexican market and these aircraft will help expand their route network going forward, said Michael Lombardi, Vice President of Marketing at Griffin.

We are very excited to receive two more Airbus A321neo. Thanks to partners such as Griffin, our growth strategy continues firmly to open new nonstop services operated with state-of-the-art aircraft, low fares and unmatched service, mentioned Juan Carlos Zuazua, CEO of Viva Aerobus. Viva has the most modern fleet in Mexico and the 3rd youngest fleet in North America.

About Griffin Global Asset Management

Griffin is a commercial aircraft leasing and alternative asset management business with offices in Dublin, Ireland, Puerto Rico, and Los Angeles, CA. Griffins team of aviation professionals works closely with airlines, OEMs, and financiers to deliver customized fleet solutions and innovative financing products to airlines globally.

For more information visit www.griffingam.ie or www.griffingam.com

About Viva AerobusViva Aerobus is Mexico's ultra-low-cost airline. It started operations in 2006 and today it operates one of the youngest Latin American fleets with 64 Airbus: 40 Airbus A320 and 24 Airbus A321. With a clear vision to give all people the opportunity to fly, Viva Aerobus democratized the airline industry with the lowest fares in Mexico and the lowest costs in Latin America. For more information please visit: www.vivaaerobus.com/en

Press Inquiries

Lauren Groom [email protected]

Source: Griffin Global Asset Management
Global businesses and local enterprises in Japan across industries can now enhance their mobile applications with customized maps, truck routing, in-car navigation, real-time and historical traffic data and more.

The HERE SDK Navigate is the latest HERE location service extended to Japan.

Yokohama -- HERE Technologies, the leading location data and technology platform, today announced that HERE SDK Navigate (Software Development Kit), is now available in Japan. Global and local businesses will benefit from the products rich map data and customizable features to improve their mobile application user experience.Japan has laid the foundation for an advanced mobile internet ecosystem. Today, more than 92% of Japanese internet users own a smartphone[1]. Growing demand for 5G capable smartphones in the country[2] is creating a new cycle of even richer mobile app experiences. Location data and services are at the foundation of today and tomorrows mobile applications, critical for businesses to deliver user capabilities, experiences, and benefits.

HERE SDK Navigate is available in 200+ countries, and the latest of HERE location services available in Japan. It provides businesses access to a smooth map experience and rich portfolio of location features  such as multiple map view instances, controlling draw order of map layers, 3D camera control and integrated tool chain for map customization. Additional premium features including car and truck turn-by-turn (TBT) navigation, advanced routing, geocoding and search, network positioning and downloadable offline map data are also available.

Takeo Kasai, General Manager for Global Marketing Team Industry Value Chain DX Department, Industry DX Group at Mitsubishi Corporation added, Over the past two years, Mitsubishi Corporation has been partnering with HERE Technologies to identify opportunities in the Japanese market to support the digital transformation of businesses using location intelligence. Im confident that the HERE SDK suite in Japan will enable businesses to further advance mobility locally and transform their businesses to become smarter and more efficient.

Businesses in the transport and logistics industries are benefiting from the HERE SDK suite capabilities. Naoyuki Hashimoto, Managing Director at Funai Soken Logistics said, Truck drivers do more than just driving the trucks. They have to perform various tasks such as maintaining logs and providing customer service. With the HERE SDK, our drivers can now drive comfortably and efficiently without having to worry about being lost. Im excited that HERE SDK Navigate is now available in Japan and I look forward to further optimizing our business operations with HERE.

The global auto industry uses the HERE SDK suite to enhance their brand experience. Tainan-based motorcycle manufacturer, Aeonmotor is leveraging HERE SDK to power its smart dashboard known as CROXERA and its companion mobile application to provide riders with timely TBT navigation guidance and speed limit warnings that adapt to real-time changes. Riders are presented with accurate estimated times of arrival and distance to destination within their dashboard, without needing to reference a separate app or device.

Charlie Chung, Aeonmotor Executive Assistant shared, Aeonmotor has been benefiting from HERE SDK since 2018. It remains a highly sought after feature from our customers and its now a staple feature for us to remain competitive in the market.

Expanding the HERE SDK Navigate coverage to our customers and partners in Japan is an important milestone for HERE. Working alongside our partners and customers locally, were excited to support them in building customized experiences for their customers and deliver a seamless navigation experience, said Akihiro Takahashi, Director and Head of Business for HERE Technologies in Japan. At the same time, global businesses across various industries stand to benefit from this newly available product and leverage local data in Japan to better reach users in the country.

HERE SDK Navigate is available for native iOS and Android, and cross-platform development with Flutter.

Media contactsHERE TechnologiesCamy Cheng+65 9088 4127[email protected]

About HERE Technologies HERE, the leading location data and technology platform, moves people, businesses and cities forward by harnessing the power of location. By leveraging our open platform, we empower our customers to achieve better outcomes  from helping a city manage its infrastructure or a business optimize its assets to guiding drivers to their destination safely. To learn more about HERE, please visit www.here.com and https://360.here.com/.

[1] Digital 2022 Japan, We Are Social

[2] H1 2021 Sees 5G Smartphone Shipment Share Zooming to 43.2% in Japan Market, Counterpoint Research, September 2021

Attachments

HERE SDK Navigate now available in Japan HERE SDK Navigate now available in Japan

Source: HERE Technologies
In Bernin, on September 13, 2022

INFORMATION RELATING TO THE TOTAL NUMBER

OF VOTING RIGHTS AND SHARES

FORMING THE SHARE CAPITAL

(Article L. 233-8 II of the French Commercial Code and article 223-16 of the General Regulation of the French financial markets authority (A.M.F))

Corporate name and address of the company: SOITEC

Parc Technologique des Fontaines - Chemin des Franques

38190 Bernin (FRANCE)

Statement date Total number of shares forming the share capital Total number of voting rights 08/31/2022



35,540,607 (1)



Number of theoretical (gross) voting rights (2): 46,090,824 Number of exercisable (net) voting rights (3): 44 937 885

(1) Including (i) 35,517,593 ordinary shares of 2.00 par value each, listed on the Euronext Paris regulated market under ISIN code FR0013227113 and the mnemonic SOI and (iii) 23,014 preferred shares 2 of 2.00 par value each, not listed.

(2) The total number of theoretical voting rights (or gross voting rights) is used as the basis for calculating the crossing of shareholding thresholds. In accordance with article 223-11 of the AMF General Regulation, this number is calculated on the basis of all shares to which voting rights are attached, including shares without voting rights (for example, treasury shares) and after taking into account the number of shares entitled to double voting rights.

(3) The total number of exercisable voting rights (or net voting rights) is calculated after taking into account the number of shares entitled to double voting rights, and after deduction of the shares without voting rights (for example, treasury shares).

Soitec, a French joint-stock corporation with a share capital of Euros 71,081,214 - 384 711 909 R.C.S. Grenoble - APE code 2611 Z Headquarters address: Parc Technologique des Fontaines  Chemin des Franques  38190 Bernin (France)

Attachment
Middlefield Canadian Income PCC (the "Company" or MCT)

(Including Middlefield Canadian Income  GBP PC (the Fund), a cell of the Company

Registered No: 93546)

Legal Entity Identifier: 2138007ENW3JEJXC8658

APPOINTMENT OF NEW DIRECTOR

Middlefield Canadian Income PCC (LON: MCT), a London listed investment company that invests in a broadly diversified portfolio comprised primarily of Canadian and US equity income securities, is pleased to announce changes in its Board composition.

Mrs Janine Fraser, a Jersey resident, was appointed as a Board apprentice on 25 March 2021. The Board is pleased to announce that Mrs Fraser was today appointed as a non-executive director of the Company and Fund with immediate effect.

Mrs Fraser became a member of the Institute of Directors in 2020, is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants having qualified in 1999, and also holds a Masters Degree in E-Commerce from the University of Westminster.

Mrs Fraser is domiciled in Jersey, working for an international investment firm, Triton Partners, since 2013 as a financial controller. She has previously worked in several locations worldwide, including Jersey, London and Edinburgh, and commuted worldwide. Mrs Fraser had extensive industry experience prior to moving into private equity that extended to include ten years in retail and merchant banking with RBS, LloydsTSB and Hill Samuel and, prior to that, within the travel, manufacturing and oil industries. Those roles included being the cash manager in treasury for British Airways, managing the finance team at Ultra Electronics Ltd (a manufacturer for the MOD) and working in finance for Anadarko LLP (oil exploration).

There is no further information to be disclosed in respect of paragraphs 9.6.13 (1) to (6) of the FCA Listing Rules.

The Board is also pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Kate Anderson, a Jersey resident, as senior independent director with immediate effect.

The Board intends to further refresh its composition in a phased manner. Following Mrs Frasers appointment, Mr Philip Bisson, a Jersey resident, non-executive director of the Company and the Fund, will remain on the Board until his planned retirement at the commencement of the annual general meetings in 2023 in order to facilitate an orderly transition. Following his retirement, the Board will comprise five non-executive directors, of whom four will be independent and 40% will be female, including the senior independent director.

Enquiries:

Secretary

JTC Fund Solutions (Jersey) Limited

Tel.: 01534 700000

Dean Orrico

President

Middlefield International Limited

Tel.: 01203 7094016

END OF ANNOUNCEMENT
China Daily: The Foreign Ministry put out an announcement yesterday that President Xi Jinping will attend the upcoming SCO summit in Uzbekistan and pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Could you share more with us on the background of, considerations behind and expectations for these visits?



Mao Ning: This will be Chinas most important event of head-of-state diplomacy on the eve of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which shows the high importance China attaches to the SCO and our relations with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The profound changes in the international landscape and the protracted COVID-19 pandemic have further underscored the role the SCO plays in upholding regional security and stability and promoting countries development and prosperity. At the upcoming SCO summit,President Xi Jinping will have in-depth exchanges of views with other participating leaders with a focus on all-dimensional SCO cooperation and major international and regional issues to build new common understandings and open a new chapter for cooperation. We are convinced that the SCO will continue to carry forward the Shanghai Spirit, stay true to its founding mission and work hard to achieve even more on the new journey ahead and make greater contributions to the cause of global and regional peace and development as the organization enters its third decade.

Both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are Chinas friendly neighbors and comprehensive strategic partners, and important countries along the Belt and Road. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the two countries three decades ago, we have always followed the principles of mutual respect, good-neighborliness, friendship, mutual assistance, and win-win cooperation and advanced bilateral ties toward new heights. President Xi Jinpings upcoming state visits will mark a new stage in Chinas relations with the two countries.

During the visit, President Xi Jinping will hold talks with Kazakh President Tokayev and Uzbek President Mirziyoyev. They will have in-depth exchanges on bilateral ties, cooperation in various fields and international and regional issues of mutual interest. Were confident the visits will provide a new blueprint, new goals and new impetus for Chinas ties with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

AFP: A question on President Xi Jinpings state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Will President Xi meet with President Putin or Prime Minister Modi?



Mao Ning: Heads-of-state diplomacy is the most important political guarantee for China-Russia relations to make steady and sustained progress. For a long time, Chinese and Russian presidents have maintained close exchanges and conducted strategic communication through various means, keeping the bilateral relationship always in the right direction. As for your specific question, I have no information to offer at the moment. We will release information in a timely manner if there is any.

The Paper: We have noted that China and Japan jointly held a seminar on the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations yesterday. Could you give us more details?



Mao Ning: On September 12, a seminar commemorating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations was held in an online-plus-offline format. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi delivered video addresses respectively at the event, which was attended by representatives from all sectors from both countries.

State Councilor Wang Yi said in his remarks that as bilateral relations enter the next 50 years, China and Japan need to cherish the commitment made when establishing diplomatic relations, draw lessons from history, move China-Japan relations along the right track of sound and steady development and create new dimensions and impetus for bilateral relations.

State Councilor Wang Yi put forward a five-point perspective on building a China-Japan relationship in line with the demands of the new era. First, honor commitments and uphold the political foundation of China-Japan relations. Second, bear in mind the bigger picture and keep the development of the bilateral relations on the right track. Third, deepen cooperation to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results at a higher level. Fourth, strengthen guidance to shape up positive and friendly mutual understanding; Fifth, embrace the trend of the times and practice true multilateralism.

State Councilor Wang Yis five-point perspective reflects the importance China attaches to and expectations for China-Japan relations. It shed light on the future course for the development of bilateral relations and has drawn warm responses from many sectors in both countries. Looking ahead toward the next 50 years of China-Japan relations, China is ready to work with Japan to achieve positive results in bilateral relations, bring more benefits to the two peoples and make greater contribution to peace and development of the region and the world at large.

Hubei Media Group: A Formal Consultative Meeting of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) concluded in Geneva on September 9. Is there anything you could share about the meeting and how would you comment on the meeting?



Mao Ning: At Russias request, a Formal Consultative Meeting of the BWC was held in Geneva from September 5 to 9. The meeting was held to review the US compliance with the BWC. The meeting was widely attended by states parties to the BWC, who viewed it as an important event.

We have noted that Russia demonstrated a group of evidence and materials to support allegations that the USs biological military activities constitute violations of the BWC, to which the US responded in defense. Other states parties including China raised multiple questions at the meeting that required clarification from the US. They also called for an early resumption of negotiations for a verification protocol to the BWC to fundamentally ensure the effective implementation of the Convention. Regrettably, the US side did not make a full and effective response to these allegations and questions and failed to address the concerns of the states parties. Going forward, the states parties will further look into and work on the issues related to US compliance.

The US conducts more biological military activities than any other country in the world. It is also the only one that rejects negotiations for a verification protocol to the BWC. The international community has long had concerns about this. China supports continued objective and impartial reviews on issues related to US compliance in accordance with BWC provisions. We once again urge the US to give full clarifications on its biological military activities, stop being the only country that stands in the way of resuming negotiations for a verification protocol, and offer a responsible explanation to the international community.

24kz: I have a question on President Xi Jinpings visit to Kazakhstan. What is the visit mainly about? What does the visit mean for the China-Kazakhstan relationship and its future development?



Mao Ning: We will release information on President Xi Jinpings upcoming state visit to Kazakhstan in due course. Please follow our updates.

Beijing Youth Daily: IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi presented to the Board of Governors a report on IAEA safeguards in relation to AUKUS on September 9, saying that the IAEA has conducted technical consultations with the US, the UK and Australia and he welcomes their engagement with the Agency to date and expect this to continue. Do you have any comment?



Mao Ning: We noted this latest report issued by the IAEA Director General on the AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation. We believe this is a right step forward procedure-wise. In the meantime, we are gravely concerned about the substance of this report.

This report lopsidedly cited the account given by the US, the UK and Australia to explain away what they have done, but made no mention of the international communitys major concerns over the risk of nuclear proliferation that may arise from the AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation. The report turns a blind eye to many countries solemn position that the AUKUS cooperation violates the purpose and object of the NPT, and drew ultra vires, misleading conclusions on matters that should have been decided by member states through discussion.

I need to stress that the AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation can impact the integrity, efficacy and authority of the NPT. The safeguards and monitoring issues related to AUKUS will affect the interests of all member states of the IAEA and should be decided by all member states through discussion. China has therefore suggested that the IAEA launch a special committee open to all member states to have in-depth discussions on the political, legal and technical issues concerned and submit recommendations report to the IAEA Board of Governors and General Conference. Before consensus is reached by all parties, the US, the UK and Australia should not proceed with relevant cooperation, and the IAEA Secretariat should not have consultation with the three countries on the so-called safeguards and monitoring arrangement for their nuclear submarine cooperation.

We urge the IAEA Secretariat to adopt an objective, neutral and professional position on the issue, fulfill its duty in strict accordance with its mandate, and provide a platform for discussing and addressing member states concerns over nuclear proliferation regarding the AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation. We also call on all IAEA member states to continue to have substantive discussions on AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation through the inter-governmental process, take concrete actions to uphold the international non-proliferation system with the NPT as its cornerstone, and safeguard international peace and security.

China News Service: The UN Office of Counter-Terrorism hosted the UN Global Congress of Victims of Terrorism at the UN headquarters in New York from September 8 to 9. Cheng Guoping, External Security Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led a delegation to the meeting. Can you give us more information on that?



Mao Ning: China attaches great importance to protecting the rights of victims of terrorism. China sent a high-level delegation to that congress. In the remarks delivered at the event, the Chinese side put forward a four-point proposal, namely firmly combating all forms of terrorism, eradicating the breeding ground for terrorism, effectively addressing the root causes of terrorism and making every effort to help victims of terrorism. China called for active support to the Global Security Initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping, commitment to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and effort to build a world of lasting peace and common security. This was widely recognized.

It is especially worth mentioning that Maimaitijiang, a victim of terrorism from Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, shared the story of her fathers heroic act as a police officer in the fight against terrorists, who gave his life for the cause. She also shared how the government looked after her family, which received a warm response at the meeting. Participants of the meeting expressed their understanding and support for the counter-terrorism campaign in Xinjiang. One representative came up to Maimaitijiang to say how moving her story was and how it helped grow the understanding of the counter-terrorism situation in Xinjiang and Chinas efforts.

Terrorism is a common enemy of humanity. China will continue to take an active part in international counter-terrorism cooperation, support the UNs central, coordinating role, resolutely combat all forms of terrorism, earnestly protect the rights of victims of terrorism and make new contributions to the international counter-terrorism cause.

Yonhap News Agency: The chronology of ancient Korea misses Goguryeo at the exhibition of Ancient Bronzes of China, Korea, and Japan at the National Museum of China. The ROK side said that Goguryeo is part of the history of the ROK and asked the Chinese side to make corrections accordingly and apologize. What is Chinas comment?



Mao Ning: The Goguryeo issue is an academic issue. Views regarding academic issues can be shared and discussed in a professional way in the academic sphere. There is no need to hype it up politically.

Shenzhen TV: After Chinas National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) and cybersecurity company 360 released investigation reports on the cyberattacks on Northwestern Polytechnical University from the US National Security Agency (NSA), relevant Chinese authorities today released a technical analysis report on the NSAs cyberweapon suctionchar, drawing much media attention. What is Chinas comment?



Mao Ning: Relevant Chinese authorities today released analysis on the US NSAs attack on Northwestern Polytechnical University using the cyberweapon, which disclosed more details and evidence.

China has asked the US via various channels to explain its malicious cyberattacks and immediately stop its unlawful behavior, but have yet to receive anything substantive from the US. I want to stress that the US behavior has seriously infringed on tech secrets of relevant Chinese institutions, and gravely undermined the security of Chinas critical infrastructure, institutions and personal information. The US must immediately stop this and offer a responsible explanation.

Reuters: According to a story published by Reuters, authorities at the Port of Hamburg are frustrated with the stance of the German governments economic and foreign ministries who want to veto Chinese company COSCOs acquisition of a 35% stake of the Tollerort container terminal. The Port of Hamburg authorities told Reuters they are concerned that if the deal is blocked, it could affect future Chinese investment in Germany. Does the foreign ministry have any comment?



Mao Ning: Im not aware of what you mentioned. I would like to point out that the Chinese government always encourages Chinese businesses to conduct mutually-beneficial investment cooperation overseas in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. As a major trading country, Germany is deeply involved in economic globalization and international division of labor. It has the responsibility and obligation to keep the global industrial and supply chains stable. If what you said is true, we hope the German side will choose to remain committed to the principles of open market and fair competition, view Chinese investment in an objective and rational light, and provide a fair, open and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies, rather than politicize normal economic and trade cooperation, still less engage in protectionism in the name of national security.

Macau Monthly: President Biden signed an executive order on September 12 to launch a national biotechnology and biomanufacturing initiative to reduce US dependence on foreign countries and ensure whats invented in America is made in America in response to Chinas challenge in biotechnology. What is your comment on this?



Mao Ning: I would refer you to competent authorities for those specific questions. To give you our principled position, let me stress that economic globalization is the reality and a historic trend and we hope the US can respect the law of market economy and the principle of fair competition, instead of hampering global technological exchange and trade.

Reuters: According to a Reuters report, the Biden administration plans next month to broaden curbs on US shipments to China of semiconductors used for artificial intelligence as well as chip-making tools. Does the foreign ministry have any comment on these latest potential measures?



Mao Ning: What the US is doing is purely sci-tech hegemony. It seeks to use its technological prowess as an advantage to hobble and suppress the development of emerging markets and developing countries. While trumpeting a level playing field and a so-called rules-based order, the US cares only about America first and believes might makes right. The US probably hopes that China and the rest of the developing world will forever stay at the lower end of the industrial chain. This is not constructive.

Reuters: Recently, the Ukrainian armys counteroffensive has led to the withdrawal of Russian troops from a large swath of Ukrainian territory in what some analysts and government officials refer to as a turning point in this war. Does the foreign ministry have any comment on these recent developments? And can it say whether the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will be a topic of discussion in the upcoming SCO summit?



Mao Ning: Our position on the Ukraine crisis is consistent. We call on parties concerned to realize a ceasefire through dialogue and negotiation and find a way to accommodate the legitimate security concerns of all parties concerned as soon as possible. Also, we hope the international community will create the conditions and space for that.
Toronto, Ontario, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MiniLuxe Holding Corp (TSXV: MNLX) announced today that its core shareholders representing approximately 75% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company have recommitted to a voluntary lock-up agreement for the next twelve months.

Executive Chairman Anthony Tjan commented, Core shareholders are committed to the long-term growth and value creation in MiniLuxe as it moves towards a vision of being the leading lifestyle brand and talent empowerment platform for the nail and waxing industry. The lock-up is reflective of shareholders who are aligned with our mission and excited by the companys intrinsic value and growth trajectory.

About MiniLuxe

MiniLuxe, a Delaware corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts is a digital-first, socially-responsible lifestyle brand and talent empowerment platform for the nail and waxing industry. For over a decade, MiniLuxe has been setting industry standards for health, hygiene, high quality services, and fair labor practices in its efforts to transform the nail care and waxing industry. Underlying MiniLuxes mission and purpose is to become one of the largest inclusionary educators and employers of diverse self-care professionals across our omni-channel ecosystem and talent empowerment platform. Today, MiniLuxe derives its revenue streams from talent (provision of nail care and waxing services) and product (sales of proprietary clean nail care products). MiniLuxe is driven by a fully-integrated digital platform that manages all client bookings, preferences, and payments and provides designers with the ability to manage scheduling and client preferences, track their performance and compensation, and access training content. Since its inception, MiniLuxe has performed nearly 3 million services. www.miniluxe.com

For further information Anthony Tjan Executive Chairman, MiniLuxe Holding Corp. [email protected]

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Source: MiniLuxe Holding Corp.
TUCSON, Ariz., Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Medical specialty boards are destroying their own credibility by threatening to decertify some of their most experienced and widely published diplomates, according to an open letter published in the fall issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. Coauthors Eleftherios Gkioulekas, Ph.D., Marc Rendell, M.D., Harvey Risch, M.D., Ph.D., and Raphael Stricker, M.D., summarize a letter with 1,200 signatories.

These physicians, whom the boards accuse of spreading "misinformation," are pioneers in the development of life-saving treatment protocols for COVID-19, and more recently for COVID-19 vaccine injuries, the letter states.

"It is an unacceptable fallacy, based on circular reasoning, to use the opinions of public health agencies to define what is or is not 'medical misinformation,' and then to use that fallacy to investigate the board certifications of the very researchers who are conducting the research that these public health agencies depend on to justify their recommendations."

The letter notes that "there are not yet 'well-established medical facts.' Officially proclaimed viewpoints are constantly changing." Mask guidance changes recurrently. The CDC has admitted that current COVID-19 vaccines do not prevent transmission, and that their benefit is transient.

According to article 37 of the 2013 Helsinki Declaration, physicians may use unproven therapies when proven therapies do not exist or have been ineffective. Physicians have been able to discover and use safe and effective treatment protocols against COVID-19, based on repurposed drugs, and have saved countless lives by doing so, the letter states. It also cites the substantial scientific evidence that now supports these protocols.

Targeted physicians have also been reporting the growing evidence of serious vaccine adverse effects, the letter states, while medical societies have failed to speak up for the long-held standard for informed consent, which requires full disclosure of the most current and accurate data regarding all potential risks, benefits, and alternatives to the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

The letter concludes that "it is not for the FSMB [Federation of State Medical Boards] or specialty boards to enforce consensus orthodoxies. Open debate and discussion is the proper approach."

The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons is published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a national organization representing physicians in all specialties since 1943.

Contact: Jane M. Orient, M.D., (520) 323-3110, [email protected]

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Source: Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Meritage Homes (NYSE: MTH) and Operation Homefront today announced that three deserving military families have been selected for the Permanent Homes for Veterans program. Each will receive a brand new, energy-efficient, mortgage-free home. The homes are located in Houston, Nashville, and Tucson, and the families will be presented the keys to their new homes by early November  just in time for Veterans Day and Military Family Appreciation Month.

We are very proud to support the men and women who are serving and have served in our Armed Forces. At Meritage, its our honor to be able to continue our work with Operation Homefront and offer these families a home where they can build a strong foundation. All three recipients and their families have made sacrifices for our country and were proud to help them achieve their dreams of homeownership, said Phillippe Lord, CEO of Meritage Homes. These homes would not be possible without our numerous vendors who have donated time and materials. We are very thankful for their support.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Lt. Nicole Henderson retired in 2022 following a 13-year career in the U.S. Navy. She and her daughter will receive a 1,800+ square-foot, three-bedroom house in the Sierra Vista community, 25 miles south of metro Houston. The home will bring them closer to their relatives and the Texas Childrens Hospital where her daughter receives treatment.

This is a dream come true for me and my daughter. Putting down roots here will allow us to become true members of this community, shares Henderson. Im excited to proudly display memories from my service in my forever home.

Army Spc. Carlos Rodriguez-Velazquez left his home in Puerto Rico to join the Army. He was stationed at Fort Campbell and served a nine-month deployment in Afghanistan during his more than three years of service. He and his family will receive a 1,800+ square-foot, four-bedroom home in the Waltons Grove community, 20 minutes outside of downtown Nashville. He and his wife are excited to offer their three children the stability needed to thrive.

Im so grateful to Operation Homefront and Meritage Homes for this opportunity, shares Rodriguez-Velazquez. They have given me hope to fulfill my dreams for myself and my family. Were thrilled to continue building our life together in this new home.

Army Sgt. Charles Haney medically retired from the military in 2009 after five years of service, including a deployment to Iraq. The family will receive a nearly 2,400 square-foot, four-bedroom home located in the Entrada Del Rio community, outside of Tucson, AZ.

Im proud to have served in the military. Its wonderful to see organizations like Operation Homefront and builders like Meritage recognizing veterans and their families, says Haney. This home means so much to me and my family. It will help ensure my children have the opportunity at a better life and brighter future.

I want to thank Phillippe Lord and the entire Meritage Homes team for their continued commitment to helping our military families have the opportunity to realize the dream of home ownership through our Permanent Homes for Veterans program, said Brig Gen John I. Pray, Jr, (USAF) Retired, President and CEO for Operation Homefront. Meritages life-changing donations to our highly valued program will provide the Henderson, Rodriguez-Velazquez and Haney families with a place each can call home and allow them to put down roots to build a stronger community and in turn, a better America.

Each family will enter Operation Homefronts Permanent Homes for Veterans program, which provides veterans and their families the opportunity to move into a home and work directly with a financial counselor and a caseworker to help them prepare for homeownership and learn strategies for achieving financial success.

For more information about the Operation Homefront and Meritage Homes partnership, please visit https://www.meritagehomes.com/operation-homefront

About Meritage Homes Corporation:

Meritage Homes is the seventh-largest public homebuilder in the United States, based on homes closed in 2021. The Company offers a variety of homes that are designed with a focus on entry-level and first move-up buyers. Operations span across Arizona, California, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah.

Meritage Homes has delivered over 155,000 homes in its 36-year history, and has a reputation for its distinctive style, quality construction, and award-winning customer experience. The Company is the industry leader in energy-efficient homebuilding and a nine-time recipient of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys ("EPA") ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence Award since 2013 for innovation and industry leadership in energy-efficient homebuilding, and the recipient of the EPA Indoor airPLUS Leader Award.

For more information, visit www.meritagehomes.com.

About Operation Homefront:

Celebrating 20 years of serving Americas military families, Operation Homefront is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to build strong, stable, and secure military families so that they can thrive  not simply struggle to get by  in the communities they have worked so hard to protect. Recognized for superior performance by leading independent charity oversight groups, 88 percent of Operation Homefront expenditures go directly to programs that support tens of thousands of military families each year. Operation Homefront provides critical financial assistance, transitional and permanent housing, and family support services to prevent short-term needs from turning into chronic, long-term struggles. Thanks to the generosity of our donors and the support from thousands of volunteers, Operation Homefront proudly serves Americas military families.

For more information, visit OperationHomefront.org.

Contacts: Emily Tadano, VP of Investor Relations and ESG(480) 515-8979 (office) [email protected]

Source: Meritage Homes Corporation
CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Physician Growth Partners (PGP) is pleased to have advised Urology Associates, LLC (Urology Associates), in its recent partnership with Solaris Health Partners (Solaris), a private equity-backed urology platform and portfolio company of Lee Equity. As a part of this transaction, Urology Associates will become a division of The Urology Group (TUG) and further accelerate Solaris continued expansion into the Midwestern market.

Urology Associates is led by four Physician Shareholders 

Dr. David Hall

Dr. Onisuru Okotie

Dr. Jeffery Ulrich

Dr. Robert Williams

They are joined by Chief Operating Officer, Dee Roudebush. With four main clinical locations across Central Indiana, Urology Associates has established itself as the premier private urology practice in the region. While leveraging the existing operational foundation, Urology Associates is well-poised for their next chapter of growth with this transaction.

Solaris will build upon the strong foundation built by the Urology Associates team with continued geographic expansion, the recruitment of additional urologists, seeking acquisition opportunities and other growth initiatives across Indiana.

PGP served as the exclusive advisor to Urology Associates throughout the transaction processthis included developing a concise overview of the practices finances and operations, creating a marketing package to highlight its core strengths and growth opportunities to potential buyers, and negotiating the final transactional terms.

Dr. Okotie of Urology Associates said, Robert Aprill and PGP were vitally important in helping our practice close on our private equity transaction. They have mastered and streamlined the process to such an extent it feels effortless. They did the heavy lifting behind the scenes so our practice could focus on finding the best fit for our group. Their established relationships in the private equity space were invaluable. It would be a mistake to use anyone other than PGP.

COO Dee Roudebush added, PGP's team was awesome to work with and kept the plan on task. We could not have done it without them. Their hard work, diligence, experience, and expertise in private equity transactions ensured the highest return on the project. Thank you to Robert, Jay, and Chris, for making this happen.

PGP Managing Director Robert Aprill said, Urology Associates is the dominant urology practice in their core market. Partnering with The Urology Group and Solaris Health will provide additional scale and support, empowering the practice to continue providing best in class care to current patients while expanding their reach throughout the underserved markets of Central Indiana. I am excited to see how Urology Associates can grow through recruiting additional providers, developing new services, and taking advantage of operational support from The Urology Group.

About Physician Growth PartnersPhysician Growth Partners is one of the most active national healthcare advisory firms dedicated to representing physician platforms in transactions with private equity. PGP creates value by providing operational support, strategic positioning, and transaction advisory, delivering an optimal outcome for its clients. For more information about Physician Growth Partners, please visit www.physiciangrowthpartners.com.

432 N. Clark Street, Ste. 200, Chicago, IL 60654

or contact us at [email protected]

Source: Physician Growth Partners
MIAMI, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Psycheceutical Bioscience, Inc. ("Psycheceutical" or the "Company") (OTC: BWVI), a bioscience company dedicated to developing cutting-edge technologies for the next generation of mental health treatment, announced that Chad Harman, Chief Executive Officer of Psycheceutical, will present a corporate overview at the Virtual Life Sciences Investor Forum, on Thursday, September 15.

Life Sciences Investor Forum

Date: Thursday, September 15, 2022

Time: 1:30 PM ET

Webcast Link: https://bit.ly/3StcgIH

"I am excited to share the model and mission of our business with an active investment community," said Chad Harman, CEO of Psycheceutical. "With the growing interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicines, we believe that Psyceceutical is positioned to lead the development of pharmaceutical psychedelics with our patented next-generation delivery technologies."

Life Sciences Investor Forum, hosted by Virtual Investor Conferences, allows public and private companies, together with industry experts, to meet and present directly to tens of thousands of active investors without leaving their offices.

Mr. Harman will present an overview of Psycheceutical's business model and discuss the long-term goals in advancing pharmaceutical psychedelics. He will also directly answer questions from the audience about the Company.

Psycheceuticals groundbreaking Janus particle solution and NeuroDirect delivery system allow psychedelic compounds to be administered without unwanted or hallucinogenic side effects and toxicity.

Please visit www.virtualinvestorconferences.com to register and learn more about the event.

About Psycheceutical Bioscience, Inc.

Psycheceutical Bioscience, Inc. (OTC: BWVI), through its wholly-owned subsidiary Psycheceutical, Inc., is seeking to develop cutting-edge delivery technologies to support the safe and effective delivery of psychedelic pharmaceutical medicines. Powered by a management and advisory team with more than 100 years combined experience in development, regulatory approval processes, and commercialization across the pharmaceutical industry, Psycheceutical is on a mission to improve mental health treatments by increasing the medical communitys knowledge of, and safe access to, leading psychedelic pharmaceuticals. Learn more at Psycheceutical.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain statements in this news release related to the Company constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws and are prospective in nature. Forward-looking information is not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections about future events and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These uncertainties include, but are not limited to, (i) general market growth for and acceptance of psychedelic-inspired medicines, (ii) capital and credit availability and market volatility, (iii) general economic conditions, (iv) governmental approvals and compliance with regulations, (v) product research and development and clinical trial risks, (vi) incorrect underlying assumptions, and (vii) our future business development, results of operations, and financial condition. These statements generally can be identified using forward-looking words such as "will," may, should, could, "intend, estimate, plan, "anticipate, "expect, believe, potential or continue, or the negative thereof or similar variations. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and we undertake no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

Contact:

Kaia Roman, VP, Strategy & Communications [email protected]

Source: Psycheceutical Bioscience, Inc.
Thomas brings more than 30 years of healthcare experience to the role, including 10 as CEO of Ochsner Health; Recognized as an innovative leader focused on building healthier communities

Sacramento, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sutter Health, a not-for-profit integrated healthcare system serving more than 3 million patients across Northern California, announced today it has appointed Warner L. Thomas as its next president and CEO, effective Dec. 1, 2022.

For the past 10 years, Thomas has served as the president and CEO of Ochsner Health. Ochsner is nationally recognized for its clinical leadership and includes 40 owned, managed and affiliated hospitals and specialty hospitals, and more than 300 health centers and urgent care centers. Ochsner is the largest private employer in Louisiana, with 36,000 employees and more than 4,600 employed and affiliated physicians in over 90 medical specialties and subspecialties. Ochsner also conducts more than 700 clinical research studies each year. During his tenure, Thomas helped grow the organizations digital health capabilities and value-based payer partnerships  and expanded its integrated care network to serve more than 1.4 million patients each year.

After a comprehensive national search, we are thrilled to have found the right leader for the next chapter of Sutter Health. Warner is a CEO grounded in Sutters community roots and values, said Gubby Barlow, chair of Sutter Healths Board of Directors. As the first external CEO of this organization in more than 40 years, Warner brings a fresh perspective, strategic vision and an exceptional ability to navigate the dynamic healthcare landscape. We look forward to welcoming him to the Sutter Health family.

Thomas is passionate about community impact and has made critical investments and commitments to advance diversity, equity and inclusion, both within Ochsner and its surrounding communities. This includes the development of a population health focus leading the organization to unprecedented performance in nationally ranked quality results. As part of these efforts, Thomas initiated multiple programs  including a major 10-year Healthy State initiative, with $100 million committed in the first five years  to successfully improve access to quality, equitable healthcare for underserved communities.

Im honored to be joining Sutter Health, where Im committed to furthering its patient-focused mission as a leading not-for-profit integrated healthcare system. As the landscape continues to evolve, I believe there are opportunities for Sutter Health to continue to advance the future of healthcare, Thomas said. Leaning on my years of experience growing complex, integrated healthcare systems through developing medical programs, expanding physician networks and creating new payer partnerships, Im excited to help build on Sutter Healths past successes. I look forward to helping shape an era of equitable, accessible and affordable healthcare with long-lasting benefits to Sutter Healths patients and communities in Northern California.

Known as a grounded-yet-visionary leader, and the first non-physician CEO at Ochsner, Thomas has demonstrated the ability to connect with the physician community by engaging them in the strategic decision-making process, as well as building physician and administrative leadership programs to support the improved delivery of care. Ochsner has been ranked as the No. 1 hospital in Louisiana by U.S. News & World Report for over a decade. The organization is also consistently ranked as the top childrens hospital in Louisiana by U.S. News & World Report and is nationally ranked for its pediatric specialty care. Ochsner was also named one of the 100 Greatest Hospitals in America by Beckers Hospital Review.

Thomas values innovation and has driven transformative change to benefit patients and communities in the Gulf South. In his current role, Thomas expanded digital capabilities at Ochsner, from building a robust platform allowing patients to keep track of their information to a comprehensive telemedicine platform. He also created the team that launched innovationOchsner, a think tank and health tech incubator focused on digital health, advanced analytics and personalized medicine.

In service to Sutter Healths legacy of caring for patients and deep roots in the community, the Sutter Health Board of Directors chose Warner through a comprehensive, rigorous and transparent search process that included strong involvement and perspective from physicians and senior leaders across the organization, said Cheryl Scott, a member of the Sutter Health Board of Directors and chair of the Boards CEO Search Committee. Were pleased to have found such a highly-qualified candidate with Warners exceptional track record to lead Sutter Health. The Board would also like to thank our interim CEO James Conforti for his significant role this year as a steady hand and steward of the organization.

Thomas will succeed Conforti, Sutter Healths chief operating officer who has been serving as interim CEO since January 2022.

About Warner L. Thomas

Warner L. Thomas has served as president and CEO of Ochsner Health, Louisianas largest healthcare provider, employer and educator of medical professionals, since 2012 and first joined the organization in 1998 as president and chief operating officer. Today, Ochsner employs 36,000 employees and more than 4,600 employed and affiliated physicians in over 90 medical specialties and subspecialties, and conducts more than 700 clinical research studies each year. The system coordinates and provides clinical and hospital patient care across the Gulf South region through its 40 owned, managed and affiliated hospitals and specialty hospitals, and more than 300 health centers and urgent care centers.

With more than 30 years of experience working in complex, integrated healthcare systems, Thomas has an impressive track record and is recognized for his unique combination of strategic vision, operational acumen and focus on innovation. Under Thomas leadership, Ochsner has expanded across Louisiana and the Gulf South to become a national and global destination for high-quality healthcare through partnerships with technology companies and other healthcare organizations to scale patient-centered technology and other solutions to bring care closer to home. In five years, Ochsner increased the number of individual patients cared for by 96%, while maintaining a strong financial foundation and an unwavering focus on clinical excellence and performance.

Thomas has spearheaded a population health focus at Ochsner, delivering programs and resources that empower patients to effectively manage chronic conditions while also maintaining focus on preventive measures, screenings and education to help people stay well and avoid preventable disease. Thomas has championed workforce development programs and created academic partnerships with universities and technical colleges across the Gulf South region to build a pipeline of healthcare professionals for generations to come.

Prior to joining Ochsner, Thomas served as the president of Foundation Medical Partners and vice president of Managed Care and Network Development for Southern New Hampshire Health Systems, where he worked for six years managing a multi-specialty physician group and executing network development strategies for a large regional medical center.

Thomas is a current member of the American Hospital Association Board of Trustees. He was appointed to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission in 2014, where he advised Congress on issues affecting Medicare. He has served as chairman of the American Hospital Association Section for Health Systems Governing Council and is a past member of both the Board of the American Medical Group Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges Advisory Panel for Health Care and Council of Teaching Hospitals.

Thomas received an undergraduate degree in accounting and computer information systems from New Hampshire College in Manchester, N.H., and his Master of Business Administration degree from Boston University Graduate School of Management.

About Sutter Health

Sutter Healths not-for-profit integrated network of aligned clinicians, employees and volunteers support more than 3 million Northern Californians in communities across 22 counties. Headquartered in Sacramento, Calif., the Sutter Health system provides access to high quality, affordable care through its network of hospitals, medical foundations, ambulatory surgery centers, urgent and walk-in care centers, telehealth, home health and hospice services.

For more information about the Sutter Health network visit: sutterhealth.org | facebook.com/sutterhealth | youtube.com/sutterhealth | twitter.com/sutterhealth

###
PHOENIX, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TILT Holdings Inc. (TILT or the Company) (NEO: TILT) (OTCQX: TLLTF), a global provider of cannabis business solutions that include inhalation technologies, cultivation, manufacturing, processing, brand development and retail, today announced that TILT won Best Cannabis Partnership at the annual Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference held in Chicago this week. The industry accolade spotlights TILTs partnership with the Shinnecock Nation to develop cannabis operations on sovereign land.

TILT is a partner-centric company at its core. In early 2019, we pivoted our strategy to essentially build our business around true partnerships starting with cannabis brand deals to bring popular brands to our markets. As the industry turned its focus to brand partnerships, we were already finding immediate successes and went even deeper when thinking about how to enter new markets which brought us to the Shinnecock Nation. We approach partnerships  whether partnering with the Shinnecock Nation and Little Beach Harvest in New York or with our brand partners across Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Ohio  with a lens of intentionality and impact, and we actively seek out opportunities that create growth and expansion in our evolving industry, said Gary Santo, TILT chief executive officer. We are proud that the industry recognizes our collaboration with the Shinnecock Nation as a prime example of that partnership value. From the beginning, our work with the Shinnecock redefined business models, as well as working relationships, to build sustainable growth through cannabis. Thank you to Benzinga for recognizing our efforts.

The Benzinga Cannabis Awards celebrate new, creative, innovative, and outstanding people, solutions, and companies in the cannabis industry.

TILT and Shinnecock broke ground on the dispensary, Little Beach Harvest, in July 2022, and are planning a Q1 2023 opening. Plans for Little Beach Harvest include a 5,000 square-feet of dispensary space and a drive-through service along the main Southampton roadway, connecting the tribe with the Hamptons community. For more information on TILT, visit www.tiltholdings.com.

About TILT

TILT helps cannabis businesses build brands. Through a portfolio of companies providing technology, hardware, cultivation and production, TILT services brands and cannabis retailers across 37 states in the U.S., as well as Canada, Israel, South America and the European Union. TILTs core businesses include Jupiter Research LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary and leader in the vaporization segment focused on hardware design, research, development and manufacturing; and cannabis operations, Commonwealth Alternative Care, Inc. in Massachusetts, Standard Farms LLC in Pennsylvania, Standard Farms Ohio, LLC in Ohio, and its partnership with the Shinnecock Indian Nation in New York. TILT is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information, visit www.tiltholdings.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws which are based on current expectations. Forward-looking information is provided for the purpose of presenting information about managements current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking information may include, without limitation, anticipated timing for the opening of the Little Beach Harvest dispensary, expected plans for the build-out of the Little Beach Harvest dispensary, the opinions or beliefs of management, prospects, opportunities, priorities, targets, goals, ongoing objectives, milestones, strategies, and outlook of TILT, and includes statements about, among other things, future developments, the future operations, strengths and strategy of TILT. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. These statements are based upon certain material factors, assumptions and analyses that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection, including TILTs experience and perceptions of historical trends, the ability of TILT to maximize shareholder value, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that are believed to be reasonable in the circumstances.

Although such statements are based on managements reasonable assumptions at the date such statements are made, there can be no assurance that it will be completed on the terms described above and that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information. TILT assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by applicable law.

By its nature, forward-looking information is subject to risks and uncertainties, and there are a variety of risk factors, many of which are beyond the control of TILT, that may cause actual outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Such risk factors include, but are not limited to, those described under the heading Risk Factors in Amendment No. 2 to the Form 10 Registration Statement filed by TILT with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

TILT Company Contact:Lynn Ricci, VP of Investor Relations & Corporate CommunicationsTILT Holdings Inc.[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact:Sean Mansouri, CFAElevate IR[email protected]

Media Contact:Leland RadovanovicTrailblaze[email protected]

Source: TILT Holdings Inc.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Western Magnesium Corporation (WMC) (TSXV: WMG.V; Frankfurt-3WM; OTCQB: MLYF) (Western Magnesium or the Company) announces the appointment of long-time Board member Steve Thorlakson as Interim CFO, effective immediately.

Mr. Thorlakson brings extensive financial and business management expertise, having worked more than three decades within the financial services and construction industry, and has proven success in the construction project management and logistics sectors. He has been a trusted member of the Companys Board of Directors for nearly a decade.

Mr. Thorlakson skillfully executed financial responsibilities for Western Magnesium as interim CFO between 2016-2017. Mr. Thorlakson replaces Mr. Ramsey Hamady.

The Company will launch a formal search process to identify a permanent replacement in the coming months.

About Western Magnesium

Western Magnesium's goal is to be a low-cost producer of green, primary magnesium metal, a strategic commodity prized for its strength and light weight. Unlike outdated and costly production processes, Western Magnesium looks to use a continuous silicothermic process to produce magnesium, which significantly reduces labor and energy costs relative to current methods and processes, while being environmentally friendly.

Media Relations & Corporate Communications

Ashleigh Barry | [email protected] | (202) 258-4453

Investor Relations

John Ulmer | [email protected] | (604) 423-2709Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated due to several factors, including the Company's dolomite reserves may not be mined because of technical, regulatory, financing, or other obstacles, the market price for magnesium may make our resources uneconomic and we may not be able to hire and retain skilled employees. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described in this news release. Such securities have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or any state securities laws, and, accordingly, may not be offered or sold within the United States, or to or for the account or benefit of persons in the United States or U.S. Persons, as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirements.

View our profile on SEDAR

Source: Western Magnesium Corporation
FILE PHOTO: A sign outside JP Morgan Chase & Co. offices is seen in New York City, U.S., March 29, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

By Saeed Azhar and Lananh Nguyen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co will maintain caution on its staffing levels despite the recent downturn in investment banking, its president said on Tuesday.

"You need to very careful when you have a bit of a downturn to start cutting bankers here and there because you will hurt the possibility for growth going forward," Daniel Pinto, president and chief operating officer of JPMorgan, told investors at a conference Tuesday. "If anything, in some environments like this, there may be some very, very top bankers that you could not access or hire in the past that now they're available to be hired."

His comments follow plans by Goldman Sachs Group Inc, according to a source familiar with the matter, to cut jobs as early as this month after pausing the annual practice for two years during the pandemic.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Lananh Nguyen; additional reporting by Niket Nishant; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AUVSI Hampton Roads, working with the Commonwealth of Virginia, will host an Advanced Air Mobility and Space Exposition on September 27-29, 2022 in Hampton Roads Virginia. This hallmark occasion begins on the 27th at Fort Monroe, 100 Stillwell Road with robotic demonstrations (Unmanned Air and Ground) for Virginia's first responders. The 28th and 29th will be a symposium held at the Newport News Marriott, City Center focused on Advanced Air Mobility & Space speakers and panel discussions. Speakers include leadership from the State of Virginia, NASA, DOD, Virginia Space, and more. The 3-day event culminates with a NASA Langley reception celebrating its anniversary and an evening Gala hosted by Virginia AeroSpace Business Association.

Event details can be viewed at http://bit.ly/expoUxS.

About AUVSI Hampton Roads:

AUVSI Hampton Roads was founded during the mid-1990's to serve the needs of emerging defense and industry technologists who were supporting uncrewed systems development. Our region includes the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, and NASA and 18 local municipalities that comprise Hampton Roads. Our growing base includes members from academia, industry, and local governments. We reach from Northeast North Carolina, to the Eastern Shore of Virginia, to Richmond.

About VASBA:

VASBA is the voice of all aspects of the aerospace industry in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Representing more than 25 companies, nonprofits, and individuals representing many facets of the market segment, VASBA is the state's advocate for the aerospace industry before federal, state and local policy-makers.

Media Contact: Connor Zimmermann, [email protected]

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SOURCE AUVSI Hampton Roads
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cal State LA's College of Ethnic Studies is presenting a multicultural children's book fair this month. "I Read to See Me: A Celebration of Multicultural Children's Books" will be held Saturday, Sept. 24, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Cal State LA in the courtyard of King Hall.

The event is free and open to the public.

"When we foster a child's love of reading, we're fostering that child's ability to thrive in their studies, to discover who they are and to later realize their potential as an adult," said Julianne Malveaux, dean of the College of Ethnic Studies and a nationally renowned educator and economist. "This is why this event is so important and needed."

The college is co-hosting the event with the African American Children's Book Project, a national literacy organization that promotes and preserves books by and about Black Americans. The organization promotes reading as a part of a healthy lifestyle and emphasizes how books empower, enrich and enlighten children's lives.

The book fair will include panels that feature award-winning authors and illustrators who will discuss their literary journey and the importance of having diverse books in schools and home libraries. A series of panels featuring educators and publishing professionals will focus on the importance of diverse books, what they are, and how to find them. A highlight of the afternoon will be the Cal State LA Reading Circle, with dynamic presenters who will deliver presentations about and read from their books.

Book fair attendees will be able to take part in book signings, visit with exhibitors and participate in promotional giveaways. The first 200 youth attendees will receive a free copy of a book by one of the featured authors or illustrators. The event will also offer a wide selection of affordable diverse books for purchase.

The fun-filled afternoon is a chance to connect with dynamic literary creators and an opportunity to gain knowledge about the world of children's publishing.

Featured Authors

Award-winning author Andrea J. Loney will debut her new book, Curve & Flow: The Elegant Vision of L.A. Architect Paul R. Williams, illustrated by Keith Mallett. The book celebrates trailblazing Black architect Paul R. Williams, who defied the odds and broke down racial barriers in his field to become a world-renowned architect.

"My work is driven by the belief that all children deserve to see themselves honestly and lovingly depicted in the pages of a book," Loney said. "I also believe that all kids should get the opportunity to explore the world in all its richness and diversity through books."

Monica Mancillas, author, musician and self-described unapologetic dreamer, will also debut her new book at the event. A first-generation immigrant, her own story closely mirrors that of her new picture book, Mariana and Her Familia, a heartwarming tale of a young girl on her first trip to Mexico, who learns there is no language barrier when it comes to love.

"In a climate in which books featuring marginalized voices are being banned, we must fight harder than ever for children to see themselves represented in stories," Mancillas said.

Celebrated illustrator and author Benson Shum, who wrote the picture book, Anzu the Great Kaiju, will also be featured at the book fair.

"Diverse books are so important because to be seen and heard is what everyone needs," Shum said. "To read stories of all cultures makes for a better world for everyone." Shum is also a Disney animator and has worked on films such as Encanto, Moana, Raya and the Last Dragon, Frozen, and Frozen 2.

Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati, founder of the African American Children's Book Project and a consultant for the event, noted the importance of multicultural book events.

"Studies show that children who engage in reading activities outside of their normal school coursework do better in school," Lloyd-Sgambati said. "It is also essential that you give children of all ages access and choice. That reluctant reader may not have been given a book of their interest. Finding out what a child likes to read and giving them books that reflect their image plays an important role in building lifelong readers."

The College of Ethnic Studies is the newest college at Cal State LA and one of only two colleges of Ethnic Studies in the state. The college centers the histories, traditions, cultures, experiences, struggles and accomplishments of diasporic communities of color, making connections between the local and transnational.

"Storytelling is one of our oldest forms of artistic expression, and books hold our stories," said Malveaux, who is a syndicated columnist and author. "Books can help build cultural respect and understandingat a time when our nation needs both."

Media contacts: Margie Low, Cal State LA Public Affairs, [email protected]; Jocelyn Stewart, Cal State LA Communications & Public Affairs, [email protected]

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SOURCE Cal State LA
NEW YORK and HOUSTON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- DarkPulse, Inc. (OTC Markets: DPLS) ("DarkPulse" and the "Company"), today announced it will hold a press conference at the National Press Club located in Washington, D.C. to discuss the Company's recent Joint Venture with Dr. Philip R. Kennedy MD, PhD, and Neural Signals Inc. The press conference will begin at 10AM Eastern Standard Time and will also be available via LIVE STREAM on the Company's YouTube channel which may be viewed by accessing the following link:

https://youtu.be/k5ZXGnd_UK0

DarkPulse enters Joint Venture to Develop Brain - Machine Interface Technologies

"The Company cordially invites the Public, Shareholders and Press Representatives to attend this most important announcement at the National Press Club, Washington D.C," said Dennis O'Leary, DarkPulse Chairman and CEO. "We look forward to announcing plans between the Company and Neural Solutions Inc for the development and implementation of Brain- Machine Interface technologies including the development of a Speech Prosthesis for paralyzed and mute patients."

About DarkPulse, Inc.DarkPulse, Inc. uses advanced laser-based monitoring systems to provide rapid and accurate monitoring of temperatures, strains and stresses. The Company's technology excels when applied to live, dynamic critical infrastructure and structural monitoring, including pipeline monitoring, perimeter and structural surveillance, aircraft structural components and mining safety. The Company's fiber-based monitoring systems can assist markets that are not currently served, and its unique technology covers extended areas and any event that is translated into the detection of a change in strain or temperature. In addition to the Company's ongoing efforts with respect to the marketing and sales of its technology products and services to its customers, the Company also continues to explore potential strategic alliances through joint venture and licensing opportunities to further expand its global market position.

For more information, visit www.DarkPulse.com

Safe Harbor StatementThis news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seek," "intend," "plan," "goal," "estimate," "anticipate" or other comparable terms. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this news release regarding our strategies, prospects, financial condition, operations, costs, plans and objectives are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: our ability to successfully market our products and services; the acceptance of our products and services by customers; our continued ability to pay operating costs and ability to meet demand for our products and services; the amount and nature of competition from other security and telecom products and services; the effects of changes in the cybersecurity and telecom markets; our ability to successfully develop new products and services; our success establishing and maintaining collaborative, strategic alliance agreements, licensing and supplier arrangements; our ability to comply with applicable regulations; and the other risks and uncertainties described in our prior filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

Media contact:DarkPulse, Inc.[email protected]1.800.436.1436

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SOURCE DarkPulse, Inc.
The Ethical, Culturally-Relevant and Quality-Focused Foodservice Company Lands at No. 592 on the Coveted List

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Genuine Foods, the quality-focused foodservice company, has debuted at No. 592 on the annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy's most dynamic segmentits independent small businesses. Intuit, Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

Genuine Foods Debuts on the Inc. 5000 List of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies

"We are honored to receive this recognition for the first time," said Jeff Mills, CEO of Genuine Foods. "Our growth is a testament to our core company value of providing health-forward, scratch-made meals to communities who need them most. Getting into the Inc. 5000 and making the top 1000 businesses speaks to the dedication and hard work of our entire team  from our corporate leaders to cooks and providers on the ground in our cafeterias and kitchens. As we grow our partnerships with K-12 schools, higher education, senior living facilities, community centers and non-profit organizations, we will continue to make a significant impact on foodservice across the country."

Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.

"The accomplishment of building one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., in light of recent economic roadblocks, cannot be overstated," says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. "Inc. is thrilled to honor the companies that have established themselves through innovation, hard work, and rising to the challenges of today." The companies on the 2022 Inc. 5000 have not only been successful, but have also demonstrated resilience amid supply chain woes, labor shortages, and the ongoing impact of Covid-19. Among the top 500, the average median three-year revenue growth rate soared to 2,144 percent. Together, those companies added more than 68,394 jobs over the past three years.

MethodologyCompanies on the 2022 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2018 to 2021. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2018. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent, as of December 31, 2021. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2018 is $100,000; the minimum for 2021 is $2 million. The top 500 companies are featured in the September issue of Inc. magazine, which will be available on August 23. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to four decimal places. The entire Inc. 5000 can be found at http://www.inc.com/inc5000.

About Inc.The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

About Genuine FoodsGenuine Foods is a quality-focused foodservice company that shuns packaged, processed and frozen 'food' in favor of scratch-made, wholesome, culturally relevant meals created with fresh, vibrant seasonal ingredients. Genuine Foods services K-12 schools, higher education, senior and hospital facilities and communities. Founded in 2015 by Jeff Mills, the longtime Director of Food & Nutrition Services for Washington D.C. Public Schools, the Genuine Foods team seeks to bring a radical, nationwide change to how foodservice looks  all at a refreshingly competitive price  especially in communities where poverty, obesity and health issues are prevalent. For more information: https://www.genuinefoods.com/.

Media Contact: [email protected]

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SOURCE Genuine Foods
NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Premium Guard Inc. (PGI) www.premiumguard.com, the first-to-market leader and pioneer in aftermarket automotive filtration solutions, is pleased to announce a return to AAPEX for 2022 after a 2-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Premium Guard's AAPEX 2022 appearance will be the first since the company's strategic acquisition of IPC Global Solutions. The company is thrilled to be debuting their expanded family of brands in the filtration and power steering markets. Familiar brands such as Premium Guard, ECOGARD, PureFlow, and PWR Steer will be represented alongside newcomer, HighFlow, on the show floor.

Premium Guard and the company's family of brands will be presenting from a familiar location  AAPEX booth A1038

"AAPEX is a critically important event for our company and our industry" said Ty Nilsson, Vice President of Sales at Premium Guard. "We're looking forward to connecting in person with customers and partners throughout the industry  getting back to face-to-face discussions and getting back to business. And for the first time, we'll be showcasing our new family of brands. We are excited to be back in Las Vegas the first week in November."

"Our commitment to AAPEX and the automotive aftermarket community remains strong" said Anan Bishara, CEO of Premium Guard. "We're happy to be back and we cannot wait to connect in person with customers, partners, and industry friends."

The Premium Guard team and the company's family of brands will be presenting from a familiar location  AAPEX booth A1038. The 2022 AAPEX trade show from the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas, NV runs November 1-3, 2022.

About Premium Guard Inc.

Premium Guard Inc. (PGI) specializes in designing, manufacturing, and distributing products for automotive, diesel, powersport, and specialty filter markets. Headquartered in New York City with a main distribution center in Memphis TN, Premium Guard Inc. is keenly focused on providing customers with industry leading service, complete filtration solutions, best-in-class-quality products, and leading application coverage.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/premium-guard-to-attend-aapex-2022-marking-companys-first-attendance-in-three-years-301623653.html

SOURCE Premium Guard Inc.
The Reejig Impact Fund will donate Reejig's workforce intelligence technology to veteran, skilled refugee and other underrepresented communities, with a goal to reskill, build new capabilities, and remove barriers to career opportunities for all.

Reejig is calling on as many people as possible to join the pledge to unlock a world of Zero Wasted Potential where all individuals have access to meaningful career opportunities, no matter their background or circumstance.

For each pledge, Reejig will gift its workforce intelligence technology to someone from an underrepresented community, giving them access to career opportunities that align to their skills, interests, and potential.

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Enterprise-grade workforce intelligence platform Reejig is proud to announce the launch of the Reejig Impact Fund at the HR Technology Conference and Expo in Las Vegas.

The Impact Fund is designed to help underrepresented communities unlock career opportunities, growth, and potential. It will donate Reejig's workforce intelligence technology to veterans, skilled refugees and other underrepresented communities, with a goal to reskill, build new capabilities, and remove barriers to career opportunities for all.

Announcing the launch, CEO & Co-Founder of Reejig, Siobhan Savage said, "Reejig's mission is to create a world with Zero Wasted Potential in business, people, and society. We're not just building technology; we're also creating recurring impact and change for the better. The Reejig Impact Fund is our way of giving back to society by removing barriers to career opportunities for all. When people have fair and equitable access to personally meaningful work  no matter their background  all of society can reap the benefits"

Reejig is calling on as many people as possible to join the pledge to unlock a world with Zero Wasted Potential. For each pledge, Reejig will gift its workforce intelligence technology to someone from an underrepresented community, giving them access to career opportunities that align to their skills, interests, and potential.

The launch of The Impact Fund comes after a huge year of growth for Reejig. The team has grown by over 1000% and opened offices in APAC, NAMER, and the UK. It is rapidly adding to its global enterprise client portfolio with clients such as AWS, KPMG, Woolworths Group, John Holland, and Allianz. Reejig announced last week that it had secured an investment from Salesforce Ventures, adding to its world-class investor portfolio including Skip Capital, headed by Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar, Airtree Ventures, and Culture Amp's Didier Elzinga.

Siobhan Savage will be speaking at the HR Technology Conference and Expo in Las Vegas, which runs from 13th  16th September. Siobhan's session, Have you got your Zero Wasted Potential People Strategy? will focus on how HR leaders can create a winning people strategy in this volatile environment.

Siobhan Savage, said of being at the conference, "We are excited to connect with the world's top people leaders in Vegas this week at HR Tech. We're challenging leaders to approach their people strategy with the same rigor that they would do their supply chain or finances. This starts with knowing who your people are, what skills they have and how you are utilizing them. We created Reejig to give organizations true visibility of their people and their potential, at scale, so they can optimize their workforces and create meaningful careers for everyone involved."

For on the ground updates at the event follow #HRTechConf or Siobhan Savage's LinkedIn or Reejig's LinkedIn.

About Reejig:

Reejig is a leading workforce intelligence platform that enables global organizations to find, retain, and upskill talent at scale. Powered by the world's first independently-audited, ethical AI, Reejig acts as your central nervous system for all talent decisions, enabling zero wasted potential. Learn more by visiting reejig.com, or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Reejig is a platinum sponsor of the HR Technology Conference and Expo 2022.

Media Contact

Anya Khalamayzer[email protected]

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SOURCE Reejig
BOONE, N.C., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The well-known western North Carolina town of Boone, in Watauga County, is launching a new tourism development initiative named "Imagine Watauga''. The website, imaginewatauga.com, was developed for promotion locally and to encourage community input. To help accomplish the project, the local Tourism Development Authorities have contracted with Destination by Design, a Boone-based planning and economic development firm.

Mayor of Boone, Tim Futrelle, emphasized the need for widespread community involvement in this effort, "This is an amazing opportunity to showcase the possibilities for Boone and Watauga County. All residents have a stake in this. Everyone's opinion is valued."

According to Eric Woolridge, Destination by Design President, "this project is unique in that Boone's tourism economy is well established. The plan will focus on balancing existing tourism assets with the growing needs of local residents. We must not just grow tourism, but we need to do so responsibly in order to meet a variety of community goals."

Like many destinations, the appeal of the Boone area has generated many challenges for the local community, such as a lack of affordable housing, congestion, and overuse of natural resources. However, tourism is the lifeblood of the local economy, generating more than $6.5 million dollars annually in occupancy taxes. Responsible stewardship of these dollars can help to mitigate some of these challenges.

Billy Kennedy, Vice Chair of the Watauga County Board of Commissioners says, "Imagine Watauga is a great opportunity to bring resources from people who come to our county and put it into infrastructure that benefits both the tourists and the residents."

According to Wright Tilley, Director of the Boone and Watauga County Tourism Development Authorities, the plan is a community-led vision and 15-year roadmap towards enhancing tourism assets. "As the area continues to grow and thrive, there's never been a better opportunity to look to the future than now," says Tilley.

Previously, Destination by Design was instrumental in the development of several beloved local assets such as Rocky Knob Park, Watauga River and New River paddle access points, and area greenway expansions. Destination by Design works with communities across the country to plan, design and promote vibrant mainstreets, parks, trails, and destination-quality recreation areas. For more information, visit www.dbdplanning.com.

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SOURCE Destination by Design
EMS Services and UCM Digital Health connect patients to emergency medicine trained physicians and reduce unnecessary ER visits, streamline workflows, and improve patient care.

TROY, N.Y., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- UCM Digital Health (UCM), a leading digital health and telehealth provider that combines a digital front door platform, team of providers, and 24/7 telehealth triage, treatment and navigation service, is proud to announce a joint program with the Albany County Sheriff's Office, in conjunction with Albany County Sheriff's Office of EMS, to bring its digital health platform solution to emergency calls.

The program provides patients with access to virtual care by a UCM provider who serves as a real-time extension of EMS treatment. When diagnosing a patient, the paramedics and EMTs can determine the patient's severity level and if emergency care at a hospital is necessary. After the assessment, if it is determined that the patient does not require treatment in the hospital or ER setting, with the patient's consent, paramedics and EMTs can initiate a virtual consultation with a UCM-trained, experienced, and licensed physician who will then proceed to treat and triage the presenting medical issues, ensuring that the patient gets the care they need, right in their location. This solution gives patients immediate access to emergency medicine level care in the comfort of their own homes, avoiding unnecessary and often costly trips to the emergency room. Together, UCM and the Albany County Sheriff's Office of EMS are addressing emergency medical issues, providing quality care, and significantly reducing the number of unnecessary and avoidable ambulance transports and hospital emergency room visits.

In addition to treating a patient's immediate concerns, the UCM Digital Health team can provide medical advice and reassurance, prescribe medications, and issue referrals for supplemental treatment, including laboratory testing, radiological imaging, and specialist appointments, should they be needed. Additionally, a follow-up virtual consultation with a UCM provider can be scheduled for the patient.

This shared operation allows the Sheriff Department's Office of Emergency Medical Services to seamlessly integrate readily available emergency medicine physicians into their 911 responses, resulting in care that can be administered in the patient's home, rather than in the hospital. The program reduces excessive workload burdens shouldered by EMS providers and emergency rooms. With increased efficiencies, medical providers gain the capacity to focus on higher-level medical emergencies. This provides patients with the right care, in the right setting, and at the most cost-effective level.

"Ambulance service extends considerable time and resources transporting patients who might be better cared for outside of the emergency room," said Steve Anderson, Director of EMS & 911, UCM Digital Health. "When an EMS crew is managing low to moderate emergency calls, system readiness for high-level emergencies is diminished. We are proud to partner with the Albany County Sheriff's Department to help address health care capacity issues, improve quality care, and significantly reduce unnecessary emergency room visits."

UCM Digital Health also has this EMS integration in place with dozens of other agencies and plans to continue its expansion to additional counties, municipalities, and networks.

About UCM Digital Health

UCM Digital Health (UCM) is a leading innovator in the digital health space, offering a digitally integrated, whole person health care solution. UCM combines a data platform, digital front door, multi-disciplinary team of providers, and telehealth triage, treatment and care coordination service to provide patients with a range of services available 24/7, including emergent and urgent care, primary care, behavioral health, in-home labs & diagnostics, and more. Care begins digitally, remains digitally integrated, and solve patients' problems with the least amount of friction. UCM Digital Health partners with insurers, employers, patients, providers, and technology solutions companies  covering every corner of the healthcare ecosystem to lower costs, improve outcomes and provide a better patient experience. UCM Digital Health's unique combination of a digital front door platform plus emergency medicine triage and navigation expertise allows all care to begin digitally in one place. Located in Troy, New York, UCM Digital Health was founded in 2015 by emergency clinicians Keith Algozzine, PA-C and Michael Bibighaus, M.D., who continue to lead the company. UCM is accredited by URAC for Telehealth Services. www.ucmdigitalhealth.com

About Albany County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Medical Services

The Albany County Sheriff's Office was established in the 1660's and is one of the oldest Sheriff's agencies in the United States. Since its inception, the Agency has consistently grown to its current strength of over 700 employees. The Albany County Sheriff's Office is a "full-service" Law Enforcement Agency providing law enforcement services to residents and visitors of Albany County. These services include; Uniform Patrol, Criminal Investigations Unit, Fire Investigation Unit, Scuba Unit, Crime and Accident Investigation Unit, Snowmobile Unit, Marine Patrol, Emergency Response Team (S.W.A.T.) Unit, Hostage / Crisis Negotiation Team, Emergency Management Unit, Bicycle Patrol Unit, K-9 Unit, Traffic Safety Unit, STOP DWI Unit, Civil Unit, Court Security and Inmate Transportation Unit, Forensic Unit, Emergency Medical Services Unit (Paramedics), County Fire Coordinators Unit, Domestic Violence and Special Victims Unit and a Search and Rescue Unit. Additionally, this Agency provides 24-hour, seven day a week law enforcement services to the Albany International Airport, located in Colonie New York. https://www.albanycounty.com/government/departments/county-sheriff

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SOURCE UCM Digital Health
CRANFORD, N.J., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Union College of Union County, NJ is announcing it has received a grant from Bank of America to elevate and accelerate the path for Hispanic students in targeted healthcare programs.

The two-year, $220,000 grant will support Hispanic-Latino students pursuing careers in healthcare through its Progresando Initiative. The program was created to help Hispanic-Latinos achieve upward economic mobility through careers in healthcare, while also helping to increase representation and address the shortage of culturally sensitive, Spanish-speaking health providers.

As part of the initiative, education firm EAB will provide research, technology, marketing, and advisory services to the participating institutions. Over the next two years, the initiative is projected to help more than 6,200 Hispanic-Latino students nationwide commit to healthcare related programs, doubling the current student rate.

The Progresando Initiative at Union aims to increase retention, course completion rates, and licensure pass rates for the Hispanic adult students in targeted healthcare programs such as Nursing, Physical Therapist Assistant, and Social Services. Progresando supports Union County's growing Hispanic population and the College's continued commitment to advancing non-traditional students toward high-demand careers. While nearly 40% of all Union College students are Hispanic, only 27% of students enrolled in the targeted healthcare programs are Hispanic. Moreover, despite high proportions of Hispanic residents within Union County and enrolled at the College, Hispanics represent approximately 20 percent of the county's healthcare workforce. The initiative will provide these students space to collaborate, receive resources, and access to various support networks to promote academic and career success. The initiative will focus on providing students with the following:

Intensive cohort-based tutoring and test preparation;

Emergency financial assistance in the form of stipends;

A bilingual student services specialist who will serve as an advisor and mentor;

Cultural events and activities at the Union campuses.

"At Union, we are proud to be a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution based on our enrollment of Hispanic students. Almost half of our students are Hispanic," states College President Dr. Margaret M. McMenamin. "This is a valuable opportunity to help a large, underserved group in our community, specifically in the healthcare field, a field more necessary than ever. This will be a successful partnership and of great value to our community."

"By focusing on high-demand programs in the healthcare sector, Progresando helps create a pathway for Union County's Hispanic student population toward fulfilling careers," said Alberto Garofalo, President of Bank of America New Jersey. "Demand for healthcare services will only increase in the years ahead, and through this program, we are able to help Hispanic students be part of the solution and create brighter futures for themselves and future generations."

Beginning in the fall 2022 semester, Progresando will provide students with career pathways and opportunities in the healthcare industry. Thanks to the support of Bank of America, Union's Hispanic students in these programs will receive the help they need to continue their education and get the resources and support for their continued success.

The Progresando initiative is available for current and potential students. For more information about Progresando eligibility, please contact Dr. Elizabeth Ramos, Dean of the Elizabeth Campus and Institute for Intensive English at [email protected].

Union College

Union College is a public comprehensive community college providing high-quality, affordable, accessible educational programs to the greater Union County region. It is the first of New Jersey's 18 Associate Degree colleges, serving both career-minded and transfer- oriented students since 1933. Union was named as one of 25 semifinalists for the 2023 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The College enrolls almost 20,000 credit, non-credit, and continuing education students and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Many programs lead to an Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, or an Associate in Applied Science degree. For more information, visit www.ucc.edu or check out the College's social media platforms, @UnionCollege_NJ on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.

Bank of America

At Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), we're guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better, through the power of every connection. We're delivering on this through responsible growth with a focus on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) leadership. ESG is embedded across our eight lines of business and reflects how we help fuel the global economy, build trust and credibility, and represent a company that people want to work for, invest in and do business with. It's demonstrated in the inclusive and supportive workplace we create for our employees, the responsible products and services we offer our clients, and the impact we make around the world in helping local economies thrive. An important part of this work is forming strong partnerships with nonprofits and advocacy groups, such as community, consumer and environmental organizations, to bring together our collective networks and expertise to achieve greater impact. Connect with us on Twitter (@BofA_News).

For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for news email alerts.

Reporters may contact:

Jaime Segal, Union County CollegePhone: 908.709.7501

Margaret Ortuso, Union County CollegePhone: 908.709.7054

AnnMarie McDonald, Bank of AmericaPhone: 332.234.8635[email protected]

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SOURCE Bank of America Corporation
RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Williams Mullen is pleased to announce that James M. Burns and Cari Lyn B. Pierce have joined the firm. Burns joins the Litigation Section, and Pierce joins the Corporate Section. Both Burns and Pierce will be located in our Tysons office.

Burns returns to Williams Mullen to serve as chair of our Antitrust & Trade Regulation Practice Group. He has practiced antitrust law for over 30 years and has litigated antitrust and related claims in trial and appellate courts all across the country. He also advises clients on antitrust compliance issues and has represented clients before the DOJ Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission on a wide variety of antitrust matters, including mergers. While he has represented clients in antitrust matters in a wide variety of industries, he has extensive experience assisting clients in the health care and insurance industries with the unique antitrust challenges they often face.

Burns earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Colgate University.

Pierce focuses her practice on the various elements of business transactions and the creation of new businesses. She has experience handling asset transactions with commercial real estate components and assists clients with the organizational documents involved in these transactions. She also has experience advising landowners through the potential risks and negotiation process of proposed solar farm leases, along with additional experience in the area of tax controversy, specifically regarding small businesses.

Pierce received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Georgia School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Harvard University.

Williams Mullen is a regional full-service law firm with approximately 240 attorneys in offices across North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Since our firm began in 1909, our goal has been to provide business and legal solutions to help our clients' businesses thrive. Visit us at www.williamsmullen.com.

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SOURCE Williams Mullen
UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

FORM 6-K

REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER

PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR 15d-16 UNDER

THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For September 2022

Commission File No. 001-33176

Fuwei Films (Holdings) Co., Ltd.

No. 387 Dongming Road

Weifang Shandong

Peoples Republic of China, Postal Code: 261061

(ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICES.)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.

Form 20-F x Form 40-F 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information contained in this form is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Yes  No x

If Yes marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82- 

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Further to the current report on Form 6-K (the 8/22 6-K) furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) on August 22, 2022 in connection with the proposed merger (the Merger) of a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fuwei Films (Holdings) Co., Ltd. (the Company) and BaiJiaYun Limited (BJY), which Form 6-K included the audited consolidated financial statements of BJY as of and for the years ended June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020, the Company is furnishing: (i) in Exhibit 99.1 to this Form 6-K the unaudited consolidated financial statements of BJY for the six months ended December 31, 2021 (the BJY H2 2021 Financials); and (ii) in Exhibit 99.2 to this Form 6-K certain unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021 of the combined company resulting from the Merger. Based on such unaudited pro forma financial information, the shareholders equity of the combined company as of December 31, 2021 was approximately US$113 million and the net revenues and net income of the combined company for the year ended December 31, 2021 were approximately US$121 million and US$8.2 million, respectively. For details, please refer to Exhibit 99.2 attached hereto.

The Company is also filing this Form 6-K to correct certain statements regarding BJYs expected profit before tax and net profit f or the six months ended December 31, 2021 and its expected total operating costs for the seven months ended July 31, 2022, each contained in the section entitled FINANCIAL INFORMATION  Selected Financial Data of BJY of the proxy statement (the Proxy Statement) filed as Exhibit 99.2 to the 8/22 6-K.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION  Correction

September 13, 2022

The section entitled FINANCIAL INFORMATION  Selected Financial Data of BJY of the Proxy Statement contained the following statements:

 For the six months ended December 31, 2021, BJYs profit before tax is expected to increase compared with the six months ended December 31, 2020.

 For the six months ended December 31, 2021, BJYs net profit is expected to increase compared with the six months ended December 31, 2020.

As reflected in the BJY H2 2021 Financials, the above statements are incorrect, and both BJYs profit before tax and its net profit for the six months ended December 31, 2021 (H2 2021) decreased (instead of increased) compared with the six months ended December 31, 2020. The reason is, when BJY made the above statements, BJY did not take into account the impact of certain share-based compensation granted during H2 2021. Excluding the impact of such share-based compensation, BJYs profit before tax and net profit for H2 2021 both increased compared with the six months ended December 31, 2020.

The section entitled FINANCIAL INFORMATION  Selected Financial Data of BJY of the Proxy Statement also contained the following statement:

 For the seven months ended July 31, 2022, BJYs total operating costs is expected to decrease compared with the seven months ended July 31, 2021.

After further review of its expected financial results for the seven months ended July 31, 2022, BJY believes the above statement also needs to be revised, and BJYs total operating costs for the seven months ended July 31, 2022 are expected to increase (instead of decrease) compared with the seven months ended July 31, 2021. The reasons were (i) BJYs revenues increased during this period and BJY needed to accordingly increase its operating costs to support the increased revenue, and (ii) when BJY made this statement, BJY did not take into account the impact of certain share-based compensation granted during this period.

The corrected and restated FINANCIAL INFORMATION  Selected Financial Data of BJY section of the Proxy Statement is set out below in its entirety.

Selected Financial Data of BJY

BJY has, through Beijing WFOE, entered into a series of agreements with BaiJiaYun Group Co., Ltd. (the VIE), and its shareholders. As a result of these contractual arrangements, BJY exerts effective control over, and is considered the primary beneficiary of the VIE and consolidates its operating results in the financial statements of BJY under U.S. GAAP. The following sets forth selected audited consolidated financial data of BJY for the year ended June 30, 2021. Substantially all of BJYs business and operations are conducted in China through the VIE and, for the year ended June 30, 2021, substantially all of the revenues, profits and operating expenses of BJY were contributed by VIE and its subsidiaries. The VIE also holds BJYs key operating licenses, provides services to its customers, and enters into contracts with its suppliers.

The results described below are provided for the purpose of supplying investors with information available at the time of this proxy statement and under the time constraints. Please refer to "Risk Factors" included elsewhere in this proxy statement for information regarding trends and other factors that may affect BJYs results of operations.

With respect to BJYs financial performance for the six months ended December 31, 2021 and for the seven months ended July 31, 2022, BJY prepared information regarding financial trends based on its management accounts in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB), and such financial data (a) is preliminary in nature, (b) is not a comprehensive statement of BJYs financial results for the relevant periods, and (c) has not been audited, reviewed or compiled and no procedure has been performed with respect thereto, and may be subject to further adjustments. Please also refer to the Risk Factors section for various risks that may impact BJYs financial performance and results of operations for such periods and subsequent periods, including without limitation Risk Factors Risks Related to the Business and Industry of BJYBJY may not successfully manage its growth as expected. BJYs gross profit and net profit may not grow at same rate as its gross revenue, continued investment and expansion into low-margin business, significant investments in sales and marketing efforts and in research and development may negatively impact BJYs gross profit margin, net profit margin and growth rate in the future. beginning on page 22.

 Gross revenue. BJYs gross revenue for the year ended June 30, 2021 was approximately US$41.4 million, increased substantially from gross revenue of approximately US$23.4 million for the year ended June 30, 2020. The increase was mainly due to the substantial growth in number of customers and expansion of BJYs product matrix. For the six months ended December 31, 2021, BJYs gross revenue is expected to increase compared with the six months ended December 31, 2020. For the seven months ended July 31, 2022, BJYs gross revenue is expected to increase compared with the seven months ended July 31, 2021.

 Gross profit. BJY had gross profit of approximately US$18.5 million for the year ended June 30, 2021, increased substantially from gross profit of approximately US$13.3 million for the year ended June 30, 2020. The increase was mainly due to the increase in BJYs total revenue. For the six months ended December 31, 2021, BJYs gross profit is expected to increase compared with the six months ended December 31, 2020. For the seven months ended July 31, 2022, BJYs gross profit is expected to decrease compared with the seven months ended July 31, 2021.

 Profit before tax. BJY recorded a profit before tax of approximately US$4.0 million for the year ended June 30, 2021, increased from profit before tax of approximately US$3.8 million for the year ended June 30, 2020. The increase was mainly due to the increase in revenue which was partially offset by an increase in operating expenses. For the six months ended December 31, 2021, BJYs profit before tax is expected to decrease compared with the six months ended December 31, 2020. For the seven months ended July 31, 2022, BJYs profit before tax is expected to decrease compared with the seven months ended July 31, 2021.

 Net profit for the year. BJY recorded net profit of US$3.6 million for the year ended June 30, 2021, decreased slightly from net profit of approximately US$3.7 million for the year ended June 30, 2020. The decrease was mainly due to the increase in research and development expenses. For the six months ended December 31, 2021, BJYs net profit is expected to decrease compared with the six months ended December 31, 2020. For the seven months ended July 31, 2022, BJYs net profit is expected to decrease compared with the seven months ended July 31, 2021.

 Total operating costs. BJYs total operating costs for the year ended June 30, 2021 was approximately US$16.1 million, increased from total operating costs of approximately US$10.7 million for the year ended June 30, 2020. The increase was mainly due to the increase in sales and marketing expenses and research and development expenses. For the seven months ended July 31, 2022, BJYs total operating costs is expected to increase compared with the seven months ended July 31, 2021.

 Cash and cash equivalents. As of June 30, 2021, BJY had US$48.3 million in cash and cash equivalents.

 Recent Financings

BJY has completed several rounds of equity financing and has issued several series of BJY Preferred Shares (including warrants to subscribe for BJY Preferred Shares) in 2019, 2020 and 2022.

As of the date of this proxy statement, the following BJY Preferred Shares (including warrants to subscribe for BJY Preferred Shares) were issued and outstanding: (i) 15,393,509 BJY Series A and Series A+ Preferred Shares and warrants to subscribe for 7,019,647 BJY Series A and Series A+ Preferred Shares; (ii) 5,083,431 BJY Series B Preferred Shares and warrants to subscribe for 5,963,838 BJY Series B Preferred Shares; (iii) warrants to subscribe for 5,424,746 BJY Series B+ Preferred Shares; and (iv) 2,419,909 BJY Series C Preferred Shares.

 Variable Interest Entity Financial Information. BJY conducts substantially all of its business and operations through the VIE in China and, for the year ended June 30, 2021, substantially all of the gross revenue, gross profit and total operating expenses of BJY were contributed by the VIE and its subsidiaries.

BJY is in the process of discussing with certain potential investors regarding a potential private investment in public equity (PIPE) investment in ListCo upon or following the Closing, the terms of which are still subject to ongoing negotiation. The total number of shares to be issued by ListCo in such PIPE financing is expected to not exceed 15% of the ListCos total outstanding shares and shares subject to outstanding warrants immediately following the Closing (on a fully diluted and as converted basis and taking into account such PIPE financing). In addition, Mr. Gangjiang Li intends to subscribe, through entities directly or indirectly beneficially owned by him, for 20% of the shares to be issued in such PIPE financing. If the relevant parties reach an agreement regarding such PIPE financing, the Company will make any public disclosures in accordance with applicable law. See also "Risk FactorsRisks Related to the Business and Industry of BJYBJY, or upon the consummation of the Merger, ListCo may require additional capital to support its business, and this capital might not be available on acceptable terms, if at all." for potential dilution relating to the PIPE financing.





Safe Harbor

This Form 6-K contains certain forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the pending transactions described herein, and the parties perspectives and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the proposed transaction, including the equity values, the benefits of the proposed transaction, expected revenue opportunities, anticipated future financial and operating performance and results, including estimates for growth, the expected management and governance of the combined company, and the expected timing of the transactions. The words will, expect, believe, estimate, intend, plan and similar expressions indicate forward-looking statements.

Such forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and shareholders and other potential investors must recognize that actual results may differ materially from the expectations as a result of a variety of factors. Such forward-looking statements are based upon managements current expectations and include known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are hard to predict or control, that may cause the actual results, performance, or plans to differ materially from any future results, performance or plans expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information provided herein represents the Companys estimates as of the date of this Form 6-K, and subsequent events and developments may cause the Companys estimates to change. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking information in the future. Therefore, this forward-looking information should not be relied upon as representing the Companys estimates of its future financial performance as of any date subsequent to the date of this Form 6-K.

A further list and description of risks and uncertainties can be found in the Proxy Statement, and other documents that the parties may file or furnish with the SEC, which you are encouraged to read. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those indicated or anticipated by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements relate only to the date they were made, and BJY, the Company and their subsidiaries and affiliates undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made except as required by law or applicable regulation.

Exhibits

SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

Fuwei Films (Holdings) Co., Ltd. By: /s/ Lei Yan Name: Lei Yan Title: Chairman, Chief Executive Officer

Dated: September 13, 2022

ATTACHMENTS / EXHIBITS

EXHIBIT 99.1

EXHIBIT 99.2
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See more stories here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription.

(Tribune News Service)  A federal appeals court has denied the Air Forces attempt to overturn class certification and a class-wide preliminary injunction that protects airmen from discipline as a lawsuit continues against the Department of Defense mandate requiring members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Department of Air Forces emergency motion to stay the class certification and the injunction granted by Cincinnati federal district Judge Matthew McFarland in July.

McFarland ordered the Air Force to refrain from disciplinary or separation measures against a class of what plaintiffs advocates say is a class of 10,000 unvaccinated service members.

Attorneys have estimated that some 80 to 100 airmen at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base are involved in the case.

The legal class in this case is a group of Air Force members seeking a religious exemption from the militarys COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The plaintiffs have contended throughout this litigation that even the handful of exemptions that the department (of the Air Force) has approved were granted only to service members who were nearing the end of their service term and thus eligible for an administrative exemption anyway, the circuit court said.

As of Sept. 6, the Air Force had granted 23 administrative exemptions from the vaccine mandate to active-duty service members and 674 total force administrative exemptions  exemptions to members of the National Guard and the Air Force Reserve. The service counts religious accommodations as a subset of administrative exemptions.

From the very first paragraph of their complaint, to their briefing in opposition to the departments motion now, the plaintiffs have alleged the existence of a systematic effort by the department to deny service members requests for religious exemptions categorically, while granting thousands of medical and administrative exemptions, the court wrote.

The court held that the lower district court was correct when it maintained that the plaintiffs contention supports litigation based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 and the First Amendment.

We differ with the district court, however, as to what that relief might look like, the circuit court did add. The court appeared to assume that such relief would broadly enjoin the department to provide a class-wide religious accommodation relating to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. But an appropriate remedy might more narrowly enjoin the department to abolish the discriminatory policy, root and branch, and to enjoin any adverse action against the class members on the basis of denials of religious exemptions pursuant to that policy.

Air Force leaders have said vaccinations are an important part of fitness and military readiness.

A December 2021 memo from the Air Force directs commanders to take appropriate administrative and disciplinary actions consistent with federal law and Department of the Air Force ... policy in addressing service members who refuse to obey a lawful order to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and do not have a pending separation or retirement, or medical, religious or administrative exemption.

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YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan  The flock of electric scooters that helmeted riders used to zipped around this sprawling airlift hub in western Tokyo is taking wing, for good.

The Bird Scooter Program at Yokota, the headquarters for U.S. Forces Japan, 5th Air Force and the 374th Airlift Wing, ends Sept. 30 and will not be renewed, Joshua Toellner, CEO at YokoWERX, the innovation hub on base, told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday.

The contractor, Bird Rides Japan, elected not to renew the contract and will remove the 30 electric scooters at 26 parking stations around the base between Wednesday and Monday, Toellner said.

Bird Rides Japan, based in Shibuya, did not respond Tuesday to messages from Stars and Stripes seeking comment.

The Air Force paid more per ride than it earned from scooter user fees, Toellner said. Birds earnings were also disappointing, he said.

Bird runs throughout Tokyo and other locations, he said. They are seeing they are not making the money that it takes for them to come out and do maintenance, recharge and relocate the scooters.

Since October 2021 the electric scooters provided an average of 257 rides a month for users traveling an average of 1.39 miles, according to YokoWERX. A ride cost $1 to activate a scooter and 25 cents per minute.

Multiple members of Yokota used them to transport from one side of base to another for either fun, recreation, or to alleviate the need for a vehicle, Toellner said.

A ride in the open aboard a Bird did not suit all riders, he said.

They are pretty reliant on weather being really nice, he said. No one wants to ride around in the super hot, super cold or when its super rainy.

Authorities on base picked the commuter scooters for a trial run after a pitch at the Showdown Spark Tank in February 2021. The competition resembles the TV program Shark Tank, which features a panel of investors, or "sharks," who kill or greenlight a business idea based on the entrepreneurs pitch.

YokoWERX sponsors initial trials for innovations and ideas from entrepreneurs and brings them to a reality to improve the base and see how they benefit the community. After 1  years, the group found little interest in the base community in picking up the program, Toellner said.

Someone would need to adopt it to make it a more permanent fixture, he said. Maybe [Force Support Squadron], maybe contracting, but there are other options for the base to pick up a program like this and take off. After a year of initial trial, it is no longer innovative, it is sustainment and that is not our realm.
A 101st Airborne Division officer died of natural causes while deployed to southeastern Europe, the U.S. Army said Monday in a statement.

Lt. Col. Nicholas Goshen, who was stationed at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in Romania, died Sept. 6. The Army did not specify his exact cause of death.

Nick was a valued member of the team whose passion and commitment to the division and our soldiers was extraordinary, said Maj. Gen. JP McGee, 101st Airborne Division commander. I can personally attest to his exceptional talent. He will be missed.

In June, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) was dispatched to Eastern Europe on a mission to reassure allies and deter potential aggression in the wake of Russias war on Ukraine.

Romania is the main operational hub for the division, which also has dispatched soldiers to other parts of the Continent to train with allies.

A graduate of The Citadel in South Carolina, Goshen was commissioned into the infantry in 2004. Past assignments included stints in a number of the Armys leading infantry units, including the Vicenza, Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade and the 75th Ranger Regiment.

He served multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Army said. During his career, Goshen deployed seven times, spending 42 months overseas on various combat missions. Among his awards were the Bronze Star with V device for valor and the Purple Heart.

Goshen is survived by his wife of 14 years, Megan Epner, the Army said.
A 20-year-old soldier assigned to Fort Campbell, Ky., died Saturday after falling into a Tennessee river during a hike with fellow soldiers, base officials said Tuesday.

Spc. Jabori McGraw was a soldier with the Headquarters Battalion of 101st Division Artillery, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). The Clarksville Police Department said it received a call at about 3:45 p.m. Saturday from someone at Billy Dunlop Park who said a friend was in the Red River and was no longer visible.

Local police, the Clarksville Fire Rescue and the Montgomery County EMS dive team responded to the scene and closed the park, police said. They suspended the search overnight and returned at 9 a.m. Sunday.

McGraws body was found about 40 minutes later, according to police. Foul play is not suspected.

"The entire division artillery team is saddened by the loss of an outstanding soldier. He was a valued team member who had the ability to light up any room he was in," Col. Patrick Moffett, commander of 101st Division Artillery, said in a statement. "His commitment to getting better every day was respected by his subordinates, peers and leaders. Our deepest condolences go out to his family. They are in our thoughts and prayers during this tragic time."

McGraw was born in Illinois and enlisted in the Army in 2020 from St. Louis, Mo., as a signal support systems specialist, according to Fort Campbell. In July 2020, he attended boot camp at Fort Jackson, S.C., and then moved to Fort Gordon, Ga., for the Signal Advanced Individual Training.

Fort Campbell was his first duty-station. His awards and decorations include National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon.

Roughly 30,000 soldiers are assigned to Fort Campbell, which stretches across 106,700 acres at the Kentucky-Tennessee state line. Its home to the 101st Airborne Division and 5th Special Forces Group.
Japans cyber defense is said to be vulnerable, so the government is exploring the introduction of an active cyber defense framework, according to sources.

ACD constantly patrols and monitors cyberspace to identify and respond quickly to suspicious communications and behaviors that could pose security threats. The United States and the United Kingdom are among the nations that have adopted the framework as part of their approach to cyber defense.

The framework is a bid to strengthen the nations defense against cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure such as telecommunications and the power grid, the government sources said.

The government is making arrangements to include the capability in the National Security Strategy to be revised by the end of the year.

The main pillar of the framework is to give the government the authority to regularly access systems and networks and analyze suspicious communications. Also under discussion as an option is a capability to take countermeasures to neutralize attackers data.

Cyber-attacks can cause extensive damage to infrastructure in a short period of time and lead to disruptions in society. Currently, the government can only gather information and take action after damage has been done. There have been widespread calls within the government and the Liberal Democratic Party for the introduction of ACD.

Under the current Law on Prohibition of Unauthorized Computer Access, except for criminal investigations, accessing a third partys system or network is illegal, even for the purpose of detecting cyber-attacks or identifying their sources. Creating malware to neutralize an attacker is also prohibited by the Penal Code.

The Constitutions guarantee against violating the secrecy of any means of communication has been interpreted to apply to the internet as well. To introduce ACD, the government intends from next year to carefully develop the necessary legal system while taking into consideration the rights of the people.

The government envisions ACD to be handled jointly by the National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity and the Self-Defense Forces Cyber Defense Command. The government also intends to augment the NISC and the SDF command, which currently has about 500 personnel.

Ahead of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in February, cyber-attacks were launched against Ukrainian government agencies and telecommunications companies. Thus, nations are working on developing cyber defense countermeasures.
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan  An Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker made a precautionary landing at the home of U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo on Saturday, according to officials.

The tanker, from the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, landed at Yokota after an in flight emergency, 374th Airlift Wing spokesman 1st Lt. Danny Rangel said in an email Monday.

Rangel provided no details of the emergency.

First responders from the 374th Airlift Wing safely secured the scene with no further incident, he said. Yokota AB has returned to normal operations.

An incoming charter aircraft traveling to Yokota was diverted to Narita Airport in nearby Chiba prefecture as a result, he said.

Pacific Air Forces is working on a response to a Stars and Stripes inquiry about the incident, PACAF spokesman Capt. Brandon Romano said by email Tuesday.
MOSCOW  The Kremlin on Tuesday hailed the significance of Russian President Vladimir Putin's planned meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week, noting that it's particularly important amid tensions with the West.

Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said the two leaders are scheduled to meet Thursday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of a summit of a security pact dominated by Moscow and Beijing.

"The meeting has a special significance in view of the current international situation," Ushakov told reporters, saying Putin and Xi will discuss the international situation, along with regional issues and bilateral cooperation.

China has pointedly refused to criticize Russia's action in Ukraine and denounced Western sanctions against Moscow. Russia, in turn, has strongly backed China amid tensions with the U.S. that followed a recent visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"China has taken a well-balanced approach to the Ukrainian crisis, clearly expressing its understanding of the reasons that prompted Russia to launch the special military operation," Ushakov said. "The issue will be thoroughly discussed during the meeting."

The talks between Putin and Xi follow their meeting in February, when the Russian leader attended the opening of the Beijing Olympics shortly before sending troops into Ukraine.

Ushakov noted that "the discussion of issues related to trade and economic cooperation is particularly important," adding that "in the difficult conditions amid unlawful Western sanctions this cooperation has remained stable and continued gaining tempo."

Alexander Gabuev, an expert on Russia-China ties, said the main characteristic of current Russian-Chinese relations is "their asymmetry in favor of China." Beijing, he said, has "more options and more bargaining power than Russia."

Gabuev argued that the conflict in Ukraine greatly weakens Russia's negotiating position, making it "impossible to do anything without partnership with China."

As the West is moving to establish a price cap on Russian energy resources and potentially cut their imports altogether, Russia will grow increasingly reliant on China for selling its oil and gas and will be forced to cooperate on Beijing's conditions.

"Of course, China would want to take advantage of this opportunity," Gabuev said.

He added that China will serve as the main source of key technologies for Moscow, after Western allies have cut such exports to Russia.

On Friday, Putin and Xi will attend the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security grouping dominated by Russia and China that also includes India, Pakistan and ex-Soviet Central Asian nations. Iran and some other countries are on track to membership.

Putin and Xi have developed strong personal ties to bolster a "strategic partnership" between the former Communist rivals as they both are now locked in rivalry with the U.S. Even though Moscow and Beijing in the past ruled out a military alliance, Putin has said that such a prospect can't be excluded.

In a show of military muscle amid the tensions with the West, Russia and China have held joint military drills in Russia and the Sea of Japan that also involved several other nations.
South Koreas military was not surprised by the Norths latest threats and will take appropriate countermeasures if the communist regime conducts its first nuclear test since 2017, a Ministry of National Defense spokesman said Tuesday.

The ministry expected Pyongyang to announce new legislation that codified the development and use of nuclear weapons, acting spokesman Moon Hong Sik said during a press briefing in Seoul.

[North Koreas] announcement  shows off that [it] is a nuclear power at home and abroad, expressed it will not give up nuclear weapons and shifts the responsibility on the situation in the Korean Peninsula to South Korea and the [United States], he said.

But the U.S. and South Korea, which remain firm on their goal of denuclearizing the North, had already anticipated Pyongyangs desire to pursue its nuclear program, Moon added.

Pyongyang will not negotiate or discontinue its nuclear weapons program, state-run media announced Friday.

The regime will automatically attack hostile forces using nuclear weapons if its leaders are also attacked, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The updated nuclear plans were codified into law Thursday during a Supreme Peoples Assembly session presided over by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to KCNA.

The North has conducted six nuclear tests and is preparing for its seventh, according to U.S. and South Korean officials.

Commercial satellite images have picked up activity around the sites where North Korea previously carried out its tests, according to recent reports by 38 North, a website devoted to analysis about North Korea, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

The growing evidence has prompted the International Atomic Energy Agency and other nuclear watchdog groups to warn against the threat throughout the year, including in June, when Director General Rafael Grossi said the conduct of a nuclear test would contravene U.N. Security Council resolutions and would be a cause for serious concern.

The regime has conducted 18 rounds of weapons tests  more than 30 missiles launched  so far this year, a record.

North Koreas stance will only further strengthen deterrence and reaction capabilities from the U.S. and South Korea, and cause more suffering for the regimes people, Moon said.

If North Korea tries to use nuclear weapons, the North will face overwhelming responses of the [South Korea]-U.S. alliance, and we warn that the North Korean regime would walk into a path to self-destruction, he said.

Moon did not elaborate on what South Korea would do in response to a North Korean nuclear attack but said Seoul will work closely with Washington.

Minister of Defense Lee Jong-sup on Aug. 11 said a new North Korean nuclear test would evoke an entirely different response from South Korea.

The results of North Koreas parliamentary meeting basically rejects South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeols self-proclaimed audacious offer last month. He offered North Korea significant economic assistance in exchange for denuclearization.

Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leaders sister and a senior party official, described Yoons offer as the height of absurdity and accused the leader of the democratic state of trying to score political points to boost his record-low approval ratings.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (Tribune News Service)  The example from Ukraine of how a smaller but highly motivated country can resist an invasion by a much larger and better-armed military  if equipped with the right weapons, training and battlefield strategy  has U.S. lawmakers eagerly searching for ways to apply lessons learned from the war in Eastern Europe to Taiwans defense preparations.

Washington and Taipei are taking steps to deepen their security and economic ties in the hopes that doing so might indefinitely forestall a feared Chinese attack on Taiwan, which some experts predict could come in as little as five years.

But even amid signs the Taiwan and U.S. governments are moving closer together, there remain significant differences of views in Taipei and Washington over what types of diplomatic, trade and military actions will do more harm than good when it comes to maintaining stability across the Taiwan Strait.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled Wednesday to debate bipartisan legislation that proposes numerous enhancements to U.S. diplomatic and defense activities with Taiwan. And Taiwanese and U.S. officials are slated to begin formal trade talks this fall, which Taipei hopes could eventually form the basis of a free trade deal that could help reverse Beijings recent successes in isolating the island democracy from the international system.

In interviews last month here with more than a dozen senior government officials, retired top military officers and defense analysts, the numerous security dilemmas Taiwanese and U.S. policymakers face became clear.

They include questions over:

 Is a Chinese assault on Taiwan inevitable? Or is there still hope of salvaging an updated version of the longtime status quo whereby the United States does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Taipei refrains from declaring formal independence from China and Beijing refrains from trying to militarily annex the self-governing island?

 Should the Taiwan-U.S. priority be deterring for as long as possible a Chinese attack, or should the goal be rushing to prepare Taiwan for an invasion?

 How do officials judge the cost and benefits of certain actions aimed at boosting Taiwans defense abilities and international support without being so provocative that Beijing decides to speed up any timetable for a military attack?

 How much time is left before China might attack?

 Has the time come to change the longstanding U.S. policy of maintaining strategic ambiguity about how Washington would respond to a Chinese invasion?

The answers could not be more consequential for the future of continued peace in East Asia  home to some of the worlds largest economies and militaries  but also to averting a feared war between China and the United States.

Is conflict inevitable?

A central question guiding so much strategic U.S. and Taiwan planning concerns the degree of probability that China will try in the coming years to use military force to take control of Taiwan. Critical to how that question is answered is how one understands the risk calculus and decision-making process of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Unfortunately, Xi  who has consolidated Chinese Communist Party power under himself to a degree not seen since Mao Zedong and nixed presidential term limits  is one of the most secretive and opaque leaders on the world stage.

This has made deciphering Xis thinking particularly difficult. As the son of a former high-ranking CCP official, Xi is a so-called princeling, which has made him more confident than his immediate predecessors who rose through the party ranks, said Lai I-chung, president of the Taiwanese Prospect Foundation think tank.

Unlike former Chinese President Hu Jintao, who operated as more of a leader-manager in seeking multiple studies and risk assessments from different parts of the party apparatus before making big policy decisions, Xi is more comfortable as a leader-commander, issuing orders without first soliciting extensive internal input.

That lack of internal party communication has deprived the outside world of a critical window into understanding where CCP decision-making is headed, Lai said.

At the same time, its clear that unification with Taiwan without going to war remains the preferred policy of the Chinese Communist Party even as military force is also an option, said Amanda Hsiao, a senior China analyst based in Taipei with the International Crisis Group.

But as Taiwanese public opinion in recent years and months has tilted decisively away from eventual unification with China and toward maintaining in perpetuity a version of the status quo  or even full declaratory independence  the prospects of the Taiwan people choosing to voluntarily submit to Beijing rule have grown dimmer and dimmer.

Even as Beijing probably understands this, it is still holding out hope that its growing military might and the prospect of a future U.S. administration unwilling to take risks on behalf of Taiwan will leave Taipei feeling sufficiently isolated.

I think that there is some degree of confidence still over a future where Chinese military capabilities become so overwhelmingly large compared to Taiwans that theres probably still some belief that that scenario will force Taiwan to the table, some future scenario where, you know, perhaps American commitments have waned as well, Hsiao said. American politics is incredibly fickle, so while there is an incredible focus right now on support for Taiwan, that could change in 12 years, in 16 years.

Beijing has accused the United States and Taiwan of trying to change the status quo of cross-strait relations, including with the high-profile visit to Taipei last month of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which China retaliated against with unprecedented military drills that effectively encircled Taiwan. The exercises were viewed in Taipei as a clear threat by Beijing of its abilities to blockade Taiwan and cut off the islands access to vital food and energy imports.

But the reality is that China for years has been gradually changing the status quo.

Beijing has used its economic, diplomatic and military position to induce foreign governments to break off diplomatic relations with Taiwan; take away Taiwans observer status at key United Nations agencies such as the World Health Organization; and to conduct, with increasing frequency, military incursions by air and by sea across the median line of the strait. The Taiwan government said it had counted 446 Chinese aircraft crossings into its air defense identification zone during August, a number greater than all such combined incursions for 2020.

These Chinese actions are designed, Taiwan experts say, to be not so provocative as to risk a large-scale U.S. response while also leaving Taiwan feeling psychologically isolated and weak and thus more susceptible to Chinese pressure.

China has taken an incremental approach, a salami approach, in changing the status quo, but the response from the U.S., from Japan and from other countries to this kind of incremental change of the status quo has been too little, too late, said Lo Chi-cheng, a lawmaker with the governing Democratic Progressive Party.

Lo, who last month met with a visiting congressional delegation led by Senate Foreign Relations East Asia subcommittee Chairman Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., said that as a result of its gray zone incursions into Taiwan air and maritime domains, the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army has concluded the United States, which has long pressured Taiwan not to respond to such encroachments, is afraid of getting into an escalatory cycle. That means China is winning the chicken game it has forced Taiwan and the United States to play, he said.

Deterrence vs. war prep

One of the main points of tension between U.S. and Taiwan policymakers is over what Taiwans weapons acquisition strategy should be.

Should Taipei continue to focus on procuring expensive long-range weapons platforms such as F-16 fighter jets that are viewed as good for deterring Chinese gray zone incursions?

Or should the Taiwan government shift  as the Biden administration wants  to a strategy that prioritizes acquiring and deploying less expensive, shorter-range asymmetrical weapons that are more likely to survive the initial wave of a Chinese invasion but still able to inflict high casualty numbers on an invading force.

How one answers that question largely has to do with whether one thinks a Chinese military invasion has become a matter of when, not if, but also whether an attack is likelier to come in five years or 10 years.

Washington thinks that PLA will attack in 2027, so Taiwan needs to prepare for war, but most Taiwanese experts dont think the PLA will be ready to attack in 2027. They think it will happen after 2030, said Chieh Chung, a defense analyst with the National Policy Foundation, a think tank aligned with the opposition Kuomintang party.

Some U.S. policymakers and senior military leaders think China is more likely to attack in 2027 because that will be when the U.S. Navy will have temporarily shrunk in size and capabilities due to the planned retirement of many aging vessels and their replacements will not yet have come online. And 2027 also is expected to mark the end of Xis third five-year term, so he may have it in mind to undertake a legacy-defining action like achieving the annexation of Taiwan, said Chieh, who previously spent years as a defense committee staffer for Taiwans parliament.

But most Taiwan analysts believe they have more time to get ready to meet a Chinese onslaught than the United States does because key phases of the PLAs modernization schedule wont be completed by 2027.

Some of their new weapon systems like the new aircraft carrier and new amphibious landing ship, theyre actually still not yet in service, maybe they still need five, maybe seven years, said Chieh, adding that the work disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have likely further set back Beijings military deployment goals.

Taiwan and the U.S. have consensus on enhancing Taiwans defense capabilities and increasing Taiwans deterrence capability, but we do have some different views about how to do it, and we also have different views about what kind of weapon systems will help to enhance defense and deterrence capabilities, said Lo. Unfortunately, because of these kind of political concerns about the possible reaction from China, the U.S. is somewhat reserved in approving some of the weapon systems that Taiwan asks for.

Annabelle Chih, a local journalist, contributed to this report.

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WASHINGTON  Russia has covertly spent more than $300 million since 2014 to try to influence politicians and other officials in more than two dozen countries, the State Department alleges in a newly released cable.

The cable released Tuesday cites a new intelligence assessment of Russia's global covert efforts to support policies and parties sympathetic to Moscow. The cable does not name specific Russian targets but says the U.S. is providing classified information to select individual countries.

It's the latest effort by the Biden administration to declassify intelligence about Moscow's military and political aims, dating back to ultimately correct assessments that Russia would launch a new war against Ukraine. Many of President Joe Biden's top national security officials have extensive experience countering Moscow and served in government when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched wide-ranging campaigns to influence the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections.

A senior administration official declined to say how much money Russia is believed to have spent in Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his top deputies have long accused Putin of meddling in domestic politics. The official noted allegations of Russian influence in recent elections in Albania, Bosnia and Montenegro, all Eastern European countries that have faced historical pressure from Moscow.

Unlike declared efforts by foreign governments to lobby for preferred initiatives, Russia's covert influence involved using front organizations to funnel money to preferred causes or politicians, the cable alleges. That includes think tanks in Europe and state-owned enterprises in Central America, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

The U.S. has in its history also covertly funded political groups and been responsible for efforts to topple or undermine foreign governments. The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under rules set by the administration, rejected comparisons between Russia's activities and current U.S. financing of media and political initiatives.

Putin was spending huge sums "in an attempt to manipulate democracies from the inside," the official said.

State Department spokesman Ned Price called Russia's covert funding an "assault on sovereignty."

"It is an effort to chip away at the ability of people around the world to choose the governments that they see best fit to represent them, to represent their interests, and to represent their values," he said.

Russia's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The State Department took the unusual step of releasing a diplomatic cable that was sent on Monday to many U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, many of them in Europe, Africa and South Asia, laying out the concerns.

The cable, which was marked "sensitive" and not intended for foreign audiences but was not classified, contained a series of talking points that U.S. diplomats were instructed to raise with their host governments regarding alleged Russian interference. Among steps diplomats were told to recommend include sanctions, travel bans, and exposure of covert financing.

According to the cable, intelligence officials believe Russia planned to transfer "at least hundreds of millions more" dollars in funding to sympathetic parties and officials around the world.

The cable does not say how intelligence officials came up with the total figure of $300 million. It also does not address concerns that Russia or other adversaries may again try to interfere in U.S. politics.

The official briefing reporters noted that Biden had recently extended a national emergency declaration addressing the continued threat of foreign election interference.

"We're promoting coordination with our democratic peers," the official said. "And we'll be exchanging lessons learned, all to advance our collective election security, but also our election security here at home."

Josh Rudolph, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund's Alliance for Securing Democracy who researches Russian and Chinese financial influence, compared the White House decision to release its new findings with its declassification of Russian plans and intentions in the Ukraine war.

"That made a lot of sense because it got the Ukrainians ready for their own defense and it helped rally the Europeans to build an international coalition," Rudolph said. "This can have all of those same benefits but also defang the operation itself. If the target is voters, then what you mainly have to do is reach those voters and let them know what's happening to them."

AP Diplomatic Writer Matt Lee contributed to this report.
LONDON  The British army veterans known as the Chelsea Pensioners traded their famous scarlet tunics for somber navy blue Tuesday as they bid farewell to their commander in chief, Queen Elizabeth II.

The old soldiers, some leaning on canes and others using mobility scooters, gathered under a steel gray sky at the Royal Hospital Chelsea for a service of remembrance honoring the woman who led Britain's armed forces for 70 years.

The Chelsea Pensioners, known for the knee-length scarlet tunics and black caps they wear to public events, are army veterans who have chosen to live at the hospital, which King Charles II founded in 1692 to care for retired soldiers.

With King Charles III now occupying the throne held for so long by his mother, the Chelsea company includes veterans who served from the battlefields of World War II to the Falkland Islands.

Teetering but determined, 150 or so men and women stood as straight as they were able in the hospital's quadrangle as a bugler played the "Last Post," a tradition of British military funerals.

Alan Rutter, 74, an infantryman with more than 20 years of service, met the queen as a young soldier when she attended a demonstration on the use of advanced weapons. Wearing full camouflage from the day's exercises, Rutter was given a pair of white gloves so he could shake the queen's hand.

He recalls the day with pride.

"She's been a rock, really, for 70 years, for this country,'' he said. "And we've gone through so much  and yet she's always been there for us. So it's going to be strange not to have her, you know."

The late queen, who served as a truck driver and mechanic in the last months of World War II, became head of the armed forces when she ascended to the throne in 1952.

She was also the patron of the Royal British Legion, the nation's main veteran's support charity, and led the national ceremony of remembrance held every year on the anniversary of the end of World War I.

The men and women who make up the Chelsea Pensioners made their own sacrifices for queen and country, and on Tuesday they gathered around a platform made of drums for a traditional drumhead service to show their respect for a woman who dedicated her life to the nation at age 21.

A few hankies appeared when the assembly sang the hymn "Abide With Me.'' But the tears flowed with "God Save the King.''

It was a line the pensioners hadn't sung for 70 years.
KHARKIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian troops piled pressure on retreating Russian forces Tuesday, pressing deeper into occupied territory and sending more Kremlin troops fleeing ahead of the counteroffensive that has inflicted a stunning blow on Moscow's military prestige.

As the advance continued, Ukraine's border guard services said the army took control of Vovchansk  a town just 2 miles from Russia seized on the first day of the war. Russia has acknowledged that it recently withdrew troops from areas in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.

Russian troops were also pulling out from Melitopol, the second largest city in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, the city's pre-occupation mayor said. His claim could not immediately be verified.

Melitopol has been occupied since early March. Capturing it would give Kyiv an opportunity to disrupt Russian supply lines between the south and the eastern Donbas region, the two major areas where Moscow-backed forces hold territory.

Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram that the Russian troops were heading toward Moscow-annexed Crimea. He said columns of military equipment were reported at a checkpoint in Chonhar, a village marking the boundary between the Crimean peninsula and the Ukrainian mainland.

In the newly freed village of Chkalovske in the Kharkiv region, Svitlana Honchar said the Russians' departure was sudden and swift.

"They left like the wind," Honchar said Tuesday after loading cans of food aid into her car. "They were fleeing by any means they could."

Some Russians appeared to have been left behind in the hasty retreat. "They were trying to catch up," she said.

It was not yet clear if the Ukrainian blitz, which unfolded after months of little discernible movement, could signal a turning point in the nearly seven-month war.

But the country's officials were buoyant, releasing footage showing their forces burning Russian flags and inspecting abandoned, charred tanks. In one video, border guards tore down a poster that read, "We are one people with Russia."

Momentum has switched back and forth before, and Ukraine's American allies were careful not to declare a premature victory since Russian President Vladimir Putin still has troops and resources to tap.

In the face of Russia's largest defeat since its botched attempt to capture Kyiv early in the war, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops were hitting back with "massive strikes" in all sectors. But there were no immediate reports of a sudden uptick in Russian attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces were carrying out "stabilization measures" across recaptured territory in the south and east, and rounding up Russian troops, "saboteurs" and alleged collaborators.

In his nightly address, Zelenskyy also pledged to restore normalcy in the liberated areas.

"It is very important that together with our troops, with our flag, ordinary, normal life enters the de-occupied territory," he said, citing an example of how people in one village had already begun receiving pension payments after months of occupation.

Reports of chaos abounded as Russian troops pulled out  as well as claims that they were surrendering en masse. The claims could not be confirmed.

Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said Kyiv is trying to persuade even more Russian soldiers to give up, launching shells filled with flyers ahead of their advance.

"Russians use you as cannon fodder. Your life doesn't mean anything for them. You don't need this war. Surrender to Armed Forces of Ukraine," the flyers read.

In the wake of the retreat, Ukrainian authorities moved into several areas to investigate alleged atrocities committed by Russian troops against civilians.

Since Saturday, the Kharkiv regional police have repeatedly reported that local law enforcement officers have found civilian bodies bearing signs of torture across territories formerly held by Russia. It was not possible to verify their statements.

On Tuesday, regional police alleged that Russian troops set up "a torture chamber" at the local police station in Balakliya, a town of 25,000, that was occupied from March until last week.

In a Facebook post, the head of the police force's investigative department, Serhii Bolvinov, cited testimony from Balakliya residents and claimed that Russian troops "always kept at least 40 people captive" on the premises.

Meanwhile, military analysts sought to understand the blow sustained by Moscow.

British intelligence said that one premier force, the 1st Guards Tank Army, had been "severely degraded" during the invasion, along with the conventional Russian forces designed to counter NATO.

"It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability," the British officials said.

The setback might renew Russia's interest in peace talks, said Abbas Gallyamov, an independent Russian political analyst and former speechwriter for Putin.

But even if Putin were to sit down at the negotiating table, Zelenskyy has made it clear that Russia must return all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, Gallyamov said.

"This is unacceptable to Moscow, so talks are, strictly speaking, impossible," he said.

Putin's previous actions "have restricted his room to maneuver," so he "wouldn't be able to put anything meaningful on the table."

For talks to be possible, Putin "would need to leave and be replaced by someone who's relatively untarnished by the current situation," such as his deputy chief of staff, the Moscow mayor or the Russian prime minister, Gallyamov said.

The retreat did not stop Russia from pounding Ukrainian positions. It shelled the city of Lozova in the Kharkiv region, killing three people and injuring nine, said regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.

And Ukrainian officials said Russia kept up shelling around Europe's largest nuclear facility, where fighting has raised fears of a nuclear disaster. The Nikopol area, which is across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, was shelled six times during the night, but no injuries were immediately reported, said regional Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko.

Strikes have also continued unabated on the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest and one that has been hammered by artillery for months.

Among Kharkiv's battle-scarred apartment buildings, one man who returned to feed the birds struck a defiant tone, saying that the success of the Ukrainian counteroffensive would likely prompt harsh Russian retaliation against civilian targets. But he said the Kremlin would not succeed in intimidating ordinary Ukrainians.

Putin "will strike so we don't have water, electricity, to create more chaos and intimidate us," said Serhii who only gave his first name. "But he will not succeed because we will survive, and Putin will soon croak!"

The counteroffensive has provoked rare public criticism of Putin's war in Russia. Some of the war's defenders played down the idea that the success belonged to Ukraine, blaming instead Western weapons and fighters for the losses.

Arhirova reported from Kyiv.
WASHINGTON  U.S. leaders from President Joe Biden on down are being careful not to declare a premature victory after a Ukrainian offensive forced Russian troops into a messy retreat in the north. Instead, military officials are looking toward the fights yet to come and laying out plans to provide Ukraine more weapons and expand training, while warily awaiting Russia's response to the sudden, stunning battlefield losses.

Although there was widespread celebration of Ukraine's gains over the weekend, U.S. officials know Russian President Vladimir Putin still has troops and resources to tap, and his forces still control large swaths of the east and south.

"I agree there should be no spiking of the ball because Russia still has cards it can play," said Philip Breedlove, a retired U.S. Air Force general who was NATO's top commander from 2013 to 2016. "Ukraine is now clearly making durable changes in its east and north and I believe that if the West properly equips Ukraine, they'll be able to hold on to their gains."

Lawmakers particularly pointed to the precision weapons and rocket systems that the U.S. and Western nations have provided to Ukraine as key to the dramatic shift in momentum, including the precision-guided High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, and the High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile, or HARM, which is designed to target and destroy radar-equipped air defense systems.

"They're there, they're in theater, and they're making the difference," Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In the hands of highly motivated Ukrainian fighters who are making the most of weapons ranging from off-the-shelf drones and abandoned Russian arms to advanced weapons from the West, the HIMARS are enabling Ukrainians "to turn the tide, dramatically," Coons said.

Meanwhile, a senior defense official said the U.S. is looking at future needs, including discussions about providing more intensive combat training for larger Ukraine units, a change from current training focused on smaller teams learning to handle specific weapons. It is also considering sending additional air defense systems, as well as lethal strike drones and more surveillance drones. The official was one of two who briefed reporters Monday on condition of anonymity to discuss planning details.

Ukraine's launch in recent days of a much-anticipated counteroffensive  in a different part of the country from where Russian troops occupying Ukraine had massed strength to meet it  has brought on the biggest territorial changes in months in the 200-day war, launched when Putin rolled Russian forces into the neighboring country, targeting its Western-oriented government.

The U.S. officials acknowledged that the U.S. provided information to help the Ukrainian counteroffensive, but declined to say how much or if Western officials helped strategize the idea to throw Russian forces off guard by calling attention to attack plans in the south, while actually plotting a more formidable campaign in the east.

The U.S provided information "on conditions" in the country, said one of the officials, but "in the end, this was the Ukrainian choice. The Ukrainian military and the Ukrainian political leadership made the decisions on how to conduct this counteroffensive."

Ukrainian forces claimed Monday to have retaken a wide band of territory and more than 20 Ukrainian settlements from Russia, pushing all the way back to the two countries' northeastern border. Russian soldiers were surrendering in such numbers that Ukraine was having difficulty making room for them, Ukrainian military officials said.

Ukrainians have pounded 400 targets in all with the HIMARS since the U.S. began supplying them, using them "with devastating effect," Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters late last week as Ukraine's counteroffensive was getting underway.

The truck-mounted, GPS-guided systems fire faster, farther and more precisely than the Soviet-designed rocket launchers otherwise used by both Russia and Ukraine. They can hit targets up to 50 miles away. Ukrainian forces have used the 16 HIMARS and several similar systems to strike supply lines, ammunition depots and other key Russian targets.

The Ukrainians "believe that this has happened because of the new technology equipment and weapons that we've sent them. They ... said well, if you would have sent them six months ago," said Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat. "We didn't have them six months ago, but you know, we had to build the weaponry, and train their people on it, takes time."

Still, Ukrainian leaders are still pressing for more  including fighter jets and the longer-range Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, a surface-to-surface missile that the U.S. has so far declined to send.

A key question going forward will be how much more Congress and the American public are willing to spend on the war in Ukraine, which the U.S. and the West say also represents a significant threat to Europe.

It's unclear if, or how, Ukraine fighters' successes in recent day will affect the ongoing debate. The White House has asked Congress to greenlight an additional $11.7 billion in aid as part of an overall government funding measure that lawmakers must approve before the end of the month.

"I haven't seen any lack of appetite so far" for continuing funding for Ukraine, said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. "I think to see the ability to take the help that they've been given and then be clearly successful in some of their efforts is an encouragement to want to do more of that."

The U.S.  the lead contributor to Ukraine's war effort among NATO members  has poured more than $15 billion in weapons and other military support into Ukraine since January.

Biden acknowledged the battlefield gains for Ukraine over the weekend but refused to say more. "I'm not going to speak to that now because things are in process," he told reporters.

Breedlove noted that despite the recent battle losses, Putin still has "a lot of tanks and a lot of trucks and a lot of people that he can still throw at this problem. They're just not his best tanks, his best trucks or his best people."

But he warned that winter may bring the most daunting challenge. Putin's moves to shut down fuel supplies to Europe, which is expected to increase prices, are likely aimed at turning public opinion across the region.

"Even though Mr. Putin's military has taken a beating on the military front, his big card, yet probably to play is how well does Europe hold together through a winter that Mr. Putin is going to make completely miserable for the European people," Breedlove said. "I think Mr. Putin is desperately trying to hang on to winter because his big hope now is to separate the European people from their European political leadership."

Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Lisa Mascaro and Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
YEREVAN, Armenia  Fighting on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan killed about 100 troops Tuesday as attacks on both sides fed fears of broader hostilities breaking out between the longtime adversaries.

Armenia said at least 49 of its soldiers were killed; Azerbaijan said it lost 50.

The fighting erupted minutes after midnight with Azerbaijani forces unleashing an artillery barrage and drone attacks in many sections of Armenian territory, according to Armenias Defense Ministry. It said shelling grew less intense during the day but Azerbaijani troops were trying to advance into Armenian territory.

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry said it was responding to a large-scale provocation by Armenia late Monday and early Tuesday. It said Armenian troops planted mines and fired on Azerbaijani military positions.

The two countries have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh in a six-week war in 2020 that killed more than 6,600 people and ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal. Moscow, which deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers under the deal, has sought to maintain friendly ties with both ex-Soviet nations.

The international community urged calm on both sides.

Moscow has engaged in a delicate balancing act, maintaining strong economic and security ties with Armenia, which hosts a Russian military base, while also developing close cooperation with oil-rich Azerbaijan. The Russian Foreign Ministry urged both parties Tuesday to refrain from further escalation and show restraint.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called Russian President Vladimir Putin and later also had calls with French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Charles Michel and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by phone with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with both Pashinyan and Azerbaijans president, Ilham Aliyev. The U.S. has a special envoy in the region, Blinken said, and my hope is that we can move this from conflict back to the negotiating table and back to trying to build a peace.

Speaking in parliament early Tuesday, Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of having had an uncompromising stance at recent European Union-brokered talks in Brussels.

Armenia said the Azerbaijani shelling Tuesday damaged civilian infrastructure and wounded an unspecified number of people.

On Facebook, Aliyev expressed condolences to the families and relatives of our servicemen who died on September 13 while preventing large-scale provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces in the direction of the Kalbajar, Lachin, Dashkasan and Zangilan regions of Azerbaijan.

Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, also placed the blame for the violence on Armenia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for Aliyev and said in a statement that Turkey and Azerbaijan are "brotherly ... in all matters.

The governor of Gegharkunik province, one of the regions that came under Azerbaijani shelling, said there was a 40-minute lull in the fighting, apparently reflecting Moscows attempt to negotiate a truce, before it later resumed. The governor, Karen Sarkisyan, said four Armenian troops in his region were killed and another 43 were wounded by the shelling.

The Armenian government said it would officially ask Russia for assistance under a friendship treaty between the countries, and also appeal to the United Nations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Moscow-dominated security alliance of ex-Soviet nations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from comment on Armenias request but added during a conference call with reporters that Putin was taking every effort to help de-escalate tensions.

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
Pay hikes, shorter shifts and shuttering facilities are some of the strategies Florida has employed to try to rehabilitate a prison system that leaders have said is in crisis.

But despite the efforts, Gov. Ron DeSantis administration is calling on Florida National Guard members to work at correctional facilities, a dramatic step meant to alleviate a staffing shortage that has plagued the prison system for years.

Lawmakers on Friday approved a request from the Department of Corrections to free up $31.25 million that, at least in part, will be used to cover the costs of deploying guard members to prisons.

Mark Tallent, the departments chief financial officer, told the Joint Legislative Budget Commission that the money would be used to pay up to 300 guard members to be deployed to prisons until July.

The guard will assist with perimeter security, entry and exit security and issuing supplies to inmates from secure stations, among other things. Members will be deployed to the Northwest Florida Reception Center, the Reception and Medical Center and the Calhoun, Franklin, Hamilton, Jackson, Mayo, Santa Rosa and Union correctional institutions, according to the department.

What all this will allow the department to do is take the staff that currently do this that are certified correctional officers and move them into the compound into direct inmate-contact positions, therefore reducing stress on the compound, stress on our current officers and helping reduce overtime, Tallent said.

DeSantis issued an executive order Friday evening activating the guard to address the present staffing shortage on a temporary short-term basis. Currently employed guard members will not be asked to help the corrections department, the order said.

In addition to the use of the National Guard, the budget item approved Friday will allow the Department of Corrections to contract with Florida county facilities for additional staffing that may become available, if necessary.

The prison staffing shortage is resulting in extensive correctional officer overtime, and guard members will be used for nine months or until the corrections department determines it no longer needs National Guard assistance, the proposal said.

The plan drew harsh criticism from Democratic lawmakers and criminal-justice reform advocates.

Speaking to reporters before Fridays meeting, incoming House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell said the corrections agency sought the emergency relief as the governor travels throughout Florida boasting about the states record budget reserves.

Why would we be trying to spread our National Guard so thin? So, its a Band-Aid. We know the infrastructure in our prisons is crumbling, and its just appalling that the governor would want to take this sort of tactic, Driskell, D- Tampa, said. Florida has ignored this agency, ignored this problem and underfunded this agency for years.

But hours before the legislative meeting began, the Department of Corrections pushed back with a news release highlighting praise from sheriffs, a warden and the leader of the union representing prison officers.

We received historic pay increases for our correctional officers and have hired more correctional officers monthly than we have seen in years, Department of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon said in the release. With the temporary support of the Florida National Guard, we will be able to recover and train the next generation of public safety professionals to perform our important mission.

Rep. Bryan Avila, a Miami Springs Republican who serves on the legislative panel and is a member of the National Guard, said guard members are prepared to do whatever is necessary when called upon.

When they sign up, just like I did, they do it because they want to serve our great state and they want to serve our great nation, said Avila, who will join the Senate in November after winning a seat without opposition.

Lt. Col. Peter Jennison, National Guard deputy director of policy and plans, assured lawmakers that the guard will have full capacity to support the citizens of Florida if we support the Department of Corrections.

Jennison said the guard conducted an informal survey and believes it will have enough volunteers to fulfill the correction departments request. The volunteers will be paid for the work.

It gives a great opportunity for a lot of our unemployed guardsmen to have full-time work, he said.

But Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, remained unconvinced. The Joint Legislative Budget Commission, made up of House and Senate members, has authority to make mid-year budget decisions.

The issue of our (prison) guard shortage in our prison facilities is not new. And this Band-Aid, I dont even know, she said. Its a policy issue and its something that  should have been vetted before we ever left Tallahassee (during the legislative session).  I understand that our guard gets trained for what they do in the community. Within a prison is a totally different environment.

Legislators over the past year have approved pay raises and hiring bonuses for corrections workers, hiking starting pay from $16.40 per hour to $20 per hour for corrections and probation officers and earmarking retention-pay increases between $1,000 and $2,500 for employees who remain on the job.

Tallent told lawmakers Friday that the agency for the first time in years is hiring more workers than it is losing.

Were definitely trending in the right direction, he said.

Even so, the department has a 24.1% employee-vacancy rate statewide  rates at some facilities are higher  and more than 4,000 positions remain unfilled, Tallent said.

The agency added 761 new corrections workers over the past four months, Tallent said.

Its been years and years and years since weve seen four positive months in a row, Tallent said. So we think as we continue to hire and reduce the stress on the compounds, the existing officers are going to want to stay because theyre not going to be working the amount of overtime theyre currently working.

The prison system housed about 82,000 inmates as of the end of June, according to a recent report by state analysts. It has roughly 24,000 authorized positions, including more than 18,000 security positions.

The plan to use guard members is aimed, in part, at helping alleviate stress on fatigued prison workers who continue to log overtime as new employees undergo training, which takes about three months.

The Department of Corrections spent more than $103 million on overtime during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2021, compared to about $35 million five years earlier. Data for the most recent fiscal year was not immediately available.

James Baiardi, who leads the state corrections chapter of the Florida Police Benevolent Association, said in an interview that the use of the National Guard is a short-term fix that will provide relief to prison officers.

Theres only so long officers can continue to work a bunch of overtime on their days off, excessive hours on holidays, where it begins to affect your health, he said.

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An American couple pleaded guilty to federal felony charges stemming from their attempts to travel overseas to fight for terrorist groups in the Middle East, the Justice Department said.

Arwa Muthana, 30, of Hoover, Ala., pleaded guilty Monday to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group. Her husband, James Bradley, 21, of the Bronx, N.Y., entered a guilty plea Friday to the same charge, law enforcement officials said in a statement Monday.

Each of them faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

The two were arrested after paying undercover law enforcement $1,000 to board a cargo ship in Newark, N.J., the Justice Department said in a statement.

Bradley told undercover agents over the past three years that he supported ISIS and wanted to travel to the Middle East to fight for the group, the statement said.

He told an undercover agent in 2020 that he wanted to conduct a terrorist attack in the United States and discussed the possibility of targeting the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.

In 2021, Bradley told the same undercover officer he frequently saw Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets training at a university near him. Bradley said he and his wife could use a truck to take out all of the ROTC cadets, law enforcement officials said.

Bradley asked the undercover agent for help getting on a cargo ship to travel to Asia or Africa to join ISIS, the Justice Department said.

The agent connected Bradley to another undercover law enforcement officer, who asked for $1,000 from Bradley in exchange for travel on a cargo ship to Yemen.

Bradley and Muthana were arrested in March 2021 as they walked on a gangplank to board the cargo ship, the Justice Department said.

Muthana told an undercover officer that she was traveling to the Middle East to fight for ISIS. After she was arrested, she said during an interview that she was willing to kill Americans, law enforcement officials said.

Searches of the couples bedroom and phones found images related to ISIS propaganda, flags for the group and maps, the statement said.

Their sentencing is scheduled for February 2023.
ORLANDO, Fla.  NASA is pushing back a test of fixes on the launch pad for Artemis I to later in September, which has taken one potential launch date off the board.

NASA announced late Monday it would delay the cryogenic tanking test to make sure the feed lines that run from the mobile launcher into the massive Space Launch System rocket no longer leak. That test will now be no earlier than Sept. 21, pushed four days from the original plans.

The delay means that a launch on Sept. 23 is off the table, but plans are still in play to shoot for Sept. 27 while also looking at an opportunity for Oct. 2.

Both dates would still require the U.S. Space Forces Space Launch Delta 45 to grant a waiver to NASA regarding the flight termination system on the rocket. SLD 45 runs the Eastern Range, the area over which the rocket would launch, and the self-destruct mechanism is essential if something goes awry with the rocket, similar to how Jeff Bezos Blue Origin lost a New Shepard booster on launch Monday.

The current agreement between NASA and the Eastern Range is for the batteries on the flight termination system to be checked every 25 days, which would require NASA to have to roll the SLS to the Vehicle Assembly Building since they have not been checked since before Aug. 16. Thats when the crawler-transporter 2 took the 4-mile journey to bring the 5.75 million-pound, 322-foot-tall combination of the SLS, mobile launcher and Orion spacecraft to Launch Pad 39-B.

Rolls to and from the launch pad, though, can stress the vehicle, managers said in a press conference last week, so if they can avoid it in favor of a launch opportunity, that is their preference but will defer to the Space Forces safety decision if required.

NASA is continuing to respect the Eastern Ranges process for review of the agencys request for an extension of the current testing requirement for the flight termination system and is providing additional information and data as needed, NASA stated in an update on its website. In parallel, the agency is continuing preparations for the cryogenic demonstration test and potential launch opportunities, should the request be approved.

Artemis I is the first in a series of flights that aims to return humans to the lunar surface and pave the way for humans to land on Mars. The uncrewed mission looks to send the Orion spacecraft to orbit the moon several times on a multi-week journey before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

The flight is meant to make sure the capsule can withstand the nearly 5,000 degrees generated from what would be the fastest-ever return of a human-rated spacecraft to Earth coming in at 24,500 mph. That would pave the way for a crewed Artemis II flight to orbit the moon in 2024 and then Artemis III as early as 2025 during which two astronauts including the first woman would return to the moons surface for the first time since the Apollo missions ended in 1972.

If they do get the opportunity to launch, the Tuesday, Sept. 27 chance would be a 70-minute window that opens at 11:37 a.m. that would fly on a 40-day mission that would land back on Earth on Nov. 5. The Sunday, Oct. 2 chance would have a 109-minute window that opens at 2:52 p.m. and fly for a 41-day mission and land on Nov. 11.

The Oct. 2 launch date, though, is close to SpaceXs planned launch of a Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Crew Dragon to fly four passengers up to the International Space Station for the Crew-5 rotational mission. That liftoff from KSCs nearby Launch Pad 39-A is slated for no earlier than 12:45 p.m. Oct. 3.

Teams are working the upcoming commercial crew launch in parallel to the Artemis I planning and both launch schedules will continue to be assessed over the coming weeks, NASA stated. NASA and SpaceX will review the Artemis I and Crew-5 prelaunch processing milestones to understand any potential impacts.

The Artemis attempt will mark NASAs third try to get this mission off the ground after scrubs on Aug. 29 and Sept. 3. The most recent scrub came after a leak did not allow NASA to fill the core stage of SLS with the 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen needed along with the 196,000 gallons of liquid oxygen that will along with two solid rocket boosters give SLS 8.8 million pounds of thrust on liftoff.

When it launches, it will be the most powerful rocket to have ever lifted off from Earth.

Smaller liquid hydrogen leaks were present during the first launch attempt as well as during two wet dress rehearsals earlier this year. After the most recent gremlin, NASA chose to perform fixes at the launch pad so they could use cryogenic fuel to make sure it will work come launch day. A rollback to the VAB would not have allowed such a test.

The teams will also complete whats called a kick-start bleed test during which the liquid hydrogen is used to cool down the four RS-25 engines to minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit so that theyre not stressed when the cryogenic fuel begins flowing through them at launch. A malfunctioning sensor said one of the four engines was about 40 degrees shy of the target temperature, and that led managers to scrub the first try to fly Artemis I, although review of the data led them to believe that the engines were all adequately chilled.

Still, they have yet to perform a verification bleed test, so that will be part of the cryo testing on the pad later the month.

The updated dates represent careful consideration of multiple logistical topics, including the additional value of having more time to prepare for the cryogenic demonstration test, and subsequently more time to prepare for the launch, NASA said. The dates also allow managers to ensure teams have enough rest and to replenish supplies of cryogenic propellants.

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(Tribune News Service)  A former National Security Agency analyst who spent nearly 30 years in prison for selling U.S. intelligence information to the Soviet Union is dead at 80, according to his daughter, who recalled her fathers complex legacy in a heartfelt statement.

Ronald Pelton was arrested in 1985 for sharing information with the Soviets including details of an espionage operation where the U.S. Navy eavesdropped on its chief Cold War adversarys subterranean communications.

A jury, including one woman who shed tears for the defendant, deliberated for 13 hours before convicting him on four counts, carrying a maximum sentence of more than three life terms.

The former agents attorney claimed his client had come across hard times financially when he committed what a federal judge reportedly called one of the most serious offenses in the U.S. criminal code.

Pelton declared bankruptcy in 1979 before volunteering his services to the Soviet embassy in Washington, D.C., in January 1980, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Conspiracy and espionage were among the charges on which he was convicted. Pelton was accused of selling U.S. secrets for $35,000 between 1980 and 1985 after working for the NSA for 14 years at an annual salary of $24,500.

News of Peltons death was posted to the website of a Maryland funeral home where his daughter Pamela Wright shared her memories of a father whose situation she called complicated and with many regrets.

Wright recalls her father being apprehended when she was 19 years old, then returning to her life when she was 50, with very little communication in between.

Whenever someone asks me about my father, I always preface the discussion with, Its complicated, she said.

Before dying on Sept. 6, Pelton served in the U.S. Air Force and enjoyed flying. He also became a luxury boat salesman before his legal troubles began, according to his obit. Wright said most of her memories of her father are negative.

Some of it because I was in abject terror of him. Mostly because I never understood him, she wrote. He seemed emotionless unless he was angry. His dry humor was difficult for me to grasp. He was secretive. Quiet. Absent.

According to Wright, her fathers mind always seemed to be wandering. She later claimed to believe that penchant for analysis was a gift he passed on to his her and her children. Wright said she lived her life without her jailed father, who moved in with her for three years after being freed in November 2015.

When he came back, he was quieter, she recalled. More mellow. With many regrets.

In her tribute, Wright said her dad converted to Catholicism late in life.

Contributing: Wire reports

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She had been having personal issues and on the night in question she used alcohol to deal with them, he said.

A civil servant was arrested for public order offences when she threw her purse at gardai and drunkenly called them scum.

Jean Bergin (60) had been drinking to deal with personal issues when she hurled abuse at the officers.

Judge Bryan Smyth said he would leave her without a criminal record if she made a 200 charity donation, and adjourned the case.

Bergin, of Griffith Court, Marino, pleaded guilty to public intoxication and threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour.

Dublin District Court heard gardai arrested the accused on Clontarf Road at 8.20pm on October 8 last year.

She was highly abusive to the garda who dealt with her.

Bergin was slurring her words, was unsteady on her feet and threw her purse at the garda.

She then stumbled and fell into hedging.

The court heard Bergin told the garda: Youre only a pr**k, go f**k yourself, youre all scum.

The accused had no previous convictions. Bergin had worked for all her career in the civil service, her lawyer said.

She had been having personal issues and on the night in question she used alcohol to deal with them, he said.

The lawyer asked the judge to consider leaving the accused without a criminal record.

Judge Smyth adjourned the case to a date in October and said he would apply the Probation Act if Bergin paid 250 to St Francis Hospice, Raheny.

In default, he said, he would fine and convict the accused.
Mr Toal was recently seriously assaulted by a dangerous known criminal, a former client of his who is the subject of a Garda manhunt

The action has been brought by Alan Toal Bl, who has been a patient at the Beacon for over a decade where he has been treated and undergone several significant surgeries for spinal and nerve complaints which have seriously impacted on his health.

He has brought legal proceedings against The Beacon Medical Group, Sandyford Limited, Beacon Hospital Sandyford Limited and Mr Michael Cullen, the CEO of the Beacon Hospital aimed at overturning their alleged decision last June not to allow him to undergo any further treatment at their facility, which deny the claims.

Mr Toal was recently seriously assaulted by a dangerous known criminal, a former client of his who is the subject of a Garda manhunt and investigation, which he says resulted in him sustaining injuries and exacerbated his existing pain.

In his proceedings against the defendants Mr Toal seeks various orders including one restraining the defendants from taking any steps from barring Mr Toal from receiving treatment at the hospital and to cease interfering with his medical-patient relationship with Prof O'Donnell.

The High Court had previously granted Mr Toal permission to serve short notice of the injunction proceedings on the defendants.

The matter returned, before Ms Justice Eileen Roberts, during Tuesday's vacation sitting of the High Court.

Solicitor John Geary for Mr Toal asked for the case to be adjourned for a short period to allow his client respond to certain matters contained in the defendants' formal reply to the barrister's claims.

Mr Geary said he was seeking an adjourn so his client can reply to some matters that have been included in an affidavit sworn by the defendants in response to Mr Toal's action.

Mr Geary, who said the action was urgent from his client's

perspective, said that this could be done in a few days if required.

Mark Connaughton SC for the defendants, which deny the claims, said his clients were formally opposing an adjournment and argued that the matter should be heard by the court.

Counsel said his clients do not accept Mr Toal has any claims against them, or that the matter was urgent.

Mr Justice Roberts said she was adjourning the case to early next month when the next legal term has commenced.

The judge also made directions for the further exchange of sworn statement in the case, which she said are to be done before the matter return before the court.

In his action Mr Toal claims that last June, when he was due to attend his treating physician at the Beacon, he was informed that the hospital had decided not to make an appointment with him.

He claims that the decision was taken by Mr Cullen and was made without any prior warning to either Mr Toal or his treating medical consultant doctor.

He says that no proper explanation, nor right of appeal has been given to him by the defendants.

Following correspondence between Mr Toal's solicitor and the defendants' solicitor Mr Toal said he was informed that his treatment was not proceeding due to "various behaviours whilst a patient at the hospital"

Mr Toal said that he was also informed that the defendants were "under no obligation whatsoever" to provide him with "an explanation as to the basis of the decision made."

Mr Toal categorically denies that he engaged in any sort of behaviour that would warrant his barring from the hospital by the CEO adding that he does not know what the defendants mean by the term "various behaviours".

His treating consultant Professor Turlough O Donnell has no problem providing on going treatment to Mr Toal. Mr Toal said he wants to continue to be provided with the excellent care given to him at the Beacon by Prof O'Donnell and his team.

Mr Toal claims that the decision may be linked to the fact that Mr Toal represented a consultant doctor who had worked at the Beacon, who had taken legal proceedings against the hospital.
The suspect, who is aged in his 20s, was not previously known to gardai for involvement in crime.

The pensioner was treated in St Vincent's Hospital. Library photo

Gardai have arrested a suspect this morning for the shocking violent mugging of an 86-year-old woman who was pushed into a wheelie bin after being robbed.

The vulnerable OAP was attacked as she walked on a street in Ranelagh in the early hours of Thursday, September 1, last.

After a major investigation by detectives based at Donnybrook Garda Station, which involved analysing CCTV and canvassing help from the public, a suspect was arrested in the Clonskeagh area of the capitals southside this morning.

It is understood that the suspect who is aged in his 20s was not previously known to gardai for involvement in crime.

Gardai arrested him at his home at 7am in a planned operation and he is currently being detained in Irishtown Garda Station.

Sources say a small amount of cash was taken from the 86-year-old victim in the violent robbery during which she was pushed into a wheelie bin.

The elderly woman required hospital treatment after the incident and was brought to St Vincents Hospital by ambulance once emergency services were notified.

It is understood that the woman who lives in the locality had told officers that she was going to the shops.

One theory is that the woman may have been disorientated as she walked on the streets alone.

It is believed a member of the public discovered the woman and contact gardai who rushed to the scene.

Gardai have arrested a man in his 20s in relation to this incident. He is currently detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at Irishtown Garda station, a garda spokesman said when contacted by Independent.ie

Gardai are continuing to appeal to any motorists, taxi drivers or delivery drivers who were in the area who witnessed the incident or who may have dash cam footage to contact them.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Donnybrook Garda Station on 01 6669200, he added.

In a previous statement to sundayworld.com, gardai said: Gardai are investigating a robbery and assault that occurred between 2am and 3.45am at Ranelagh Road, Dublin 6 on the 1st of September 2022.

A female aged in her 80s was injured during the incident. Her injuries are non-life threatening.
Dubbed 'GPO girl', Samantha Azzopardi sparked a major Garda investigation in 2013 when she posed as a vulnerable young teen whod lost the power of speech.

It was a story that read like the start of a true crime bestseller  a teenage girl is found wandering on Dublins OConnell Street, a team of experts are brought together to discover who she is and pencil drawings depict a cruel sex trafficking ring.

Dubbed 'GPO girl', Samantha Azzopardi sparked a major Garda investigation in 2013 when she posed as a vulnerable young teen whod lost the power of speech.

Instead she was a troubled 25 year old Australian con artist who had a history of posing as a victim of crime.

But what happened Azzopardi after her unwelcome brush with fame in Dublin and why is she back before a court in Australia on her 100th charge related to fraud.

Today Im talking with Sunday Independent journalist Ali Bracken about the extraordinary story of GPO girl and how her days posing as a teenager could be numbered thanks to the power of television.

Crime Word Podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Soundcloud.

MORE EPISODES 
Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo whose gang was responsible for the 1985 death of DEA agent Kiki Camarena has been behind bars since 1989

Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo and how he is portrayed by Diego Luna in the Netflix show

An infamous aging former drug lord who is portrayed in the hit Netflix series Narcos: Mexico is to spend the rest of his days under house arrest.

Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo whose gang was responsible for the 1985 death of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Kiki Camarena has been behind bars since 1989.

Known as The Boss of the Bosses and The Godfather, the 76-year-old was already serving a 40-year jail term handed down in 1989 by a judge for offenses including racketeering, possessing a handgun, and bribery.

But it wasnt until 2017 that a judge sentenced him to 37 years in prison after finding him guilty of killing the special agent.

However, a judge of the Seventh District of Federal Criminal Proceedings court authorised last week that the remainder of his sentence be carried out inside of his house due to Gallardos ill health.

This means he will still have to serve out the remainder of his term for the murder of Camarena even if his sentences for racketeering, possessing a handgun, and bribery finish in 2029.

A prior request to complete the remainder of his sentence at home was denied by a Mexico City court February 20, 2019.

In an August 2021 jail house interview with Telemundo, Gallardo complained about his failing health, claiming half of my body (is) paralyzed.

He lost vision in his right eye and is deaf in his left ear. In addition, he has undergone eight hernia removal surgeries. He also injured his arm during a fall inside prison.

Gallardo was a judicial police officer at the age of 17 and was assigned as an escort to the then governor of Sinaloa, Leopoldo Sanchez Celi.

He later become involved in drug trafficking and in the late 1970's together with Rafael Caro Quintero , the 'Narco de Narcos', and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo , 'Don Neto', formed the Guadalajara Cartel, the first criminal organisation that controlled the drug transfer routes in Mexico.

He also groomed some of Mexicos most powerful drug lords like Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, Amado Carrillo Fuentes who is also known as The Lord of the Skies, Hector Luis El Guero Palma Salazar and his nephews, the Arellano-Felix brothers.

By the 1980s, the Guadalajara Cartel was identified by the DEA as the largest distributor of marijuana in Mexico and North America while Gallardo had managed to establish contacts with Colombian drug traffickers.

His fall came in 1985, when DEA agent Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena, who infiltrated the Guadalajara Cartel was kidnapped.

The cartel sought revenge on Camarena after the Mexican military raided a 2,500-acre marijuana plantation in 1984.

Mexican pilot Alfredo Zavala, who was employed by the Mexican government and the DEA, was kidnapped the same day in a separate incident.

The tortured bodies of Camarena and Zavala were located on March 5, 1985, wrapped in plastic and dumped at an abandoned property in La Angostura, a city in the state of Michoacan.

Their deaths prompted the US agency to launch Operation Legend to dismantle the Guadalajara Cartel.

In April 1989, Gallardo was arrested in a luxurious house on Cosmos Street in Guadalajara in what was considered a major strike in the fight against drug trafficking.

After years of outwitting the police, 'The boss of bosses' who was 43 years old, turned himself in unopposed.

The capo was sentenced to 37 years in prison for the murder of the former DEA agent, in addition to the 40 year-sentence for crimes such as stockpiling weapons, bribery, crimes against health, homicide, drug trafficking and money laundering.

Felix Gallardo has always distanced himself from Camarenas killing.

He once told Telemundo. Im not aware why theyve linked me to that crime. I never met that man. Let me reiterate: Im not into weapons. Im really sorry because I know he was a good man.
One of the men distracted staff while the other two stole nearly 650 worth of Lego from the shelves

Some of the haul of Lego the men made off with

Three men who are believed to have links with Ireland have been warned they face jail if they reoffend after admitting to stealing 4,650 (5,357) worth of Lego kits in Nottinghamshire over two days.

Conlon McDonagh, of Gregory Road, Southall, Ealing; Tom McDonagh, of Greenwood Avenue, Enfield and Patrick Ward, of London Road, Edgware, were arrested after a police officer came across a vehicle filled with the kits near Newark.

Nottinghamshire Police said the toys were taken from B&M stores in Worksop, Mansfield and Netherfield on 29 and 30 August.

The first theft took place at the B&M store in Bridge Place, Worksop, at around 5pm on Monday, August 29.

One of the men distracted staff while the other two stole nearly 650 (748) worth of Lego from the shelves.

About three hours later the men, all aged 22 and from London, went to the shop in Mansfield where they filled up four large bags with about 1,000 (1,152) worth of Lego and left without paying.

Some of the haul of Lego the men made off with

The next day, they took almost 3,000 (3,456) worth of Lego products and toys from the B&M store at Victoria Retail Park in Netherfield.

On this occasion, a shop assistant challenged them as they were leaving. One of thieves swore at her before they all fled in a car.

The culprits were caught when a police officer spotted a vehicle full of toys in the Newark area on Wednesday, August 31.

Checks found the vehicle was wanted in connection with the Lego thefts and so a team of officers stopped the vehicle as it travelled along the A17.

All three male occupants were arrested and later charged with three counts of theft.

The trio pleaded guilty to three counts of theft at Nottingham Magistrates' Court on 2 September.

They were each sentenced to 18 weeks, suspended for 12 months.

They have also banned from entering any B&M store in England and Wales for a year.

"They travelled to Nottinghamshire to commit these high-value thefts, thinking they could get away with it. They were wrong," said Sergeant Antony Coleman of Nottinghamshire Police.
Separately, the 7.15 train from Westport to Dublin was stopped due to what as described as a serious incident which was attended by emergency services.

Irish Rail tweeted: Delays of approximately 25 minutes are expected on services between Connolly and Tara St. due to a signalling issue in Connolly Station.

In an update, the rail company said: Due to a signalling issue in Connolly Station, significant delays are expected on services between Connolly and Tara St. Dublin Bus is honouring rail tickets.

The fault has since been fixed but there are still delays of up to 40 minutes on some Dart, Intercity and commuter rail services.

"Delays of approximately 40 minutes are expected on some DART/Commuter/Intercity services operating between Connolly and Tara St., with knock-on delays of approximately 20 minutes expected on some services following an earlier signalling issue, a spokesperson said.

Separately, the 7.15 train from Westport to Dublin was stopped due to what as described as a serious incident.

Replacement service will operate approximately 25 minutes delayed from Manulla Junction to Athlone, Iarnrod Eireann said.

A spokesperson added: Services remain suspended between Westport and Castlebar due to a serious incident being attended by the emergency services. Update to follow.

More to follow
Its really quite simple, Wilbur saved both me and my sons life

Wilbur the Rhodesian Ridgeback, who was adopted from Dogs Trust Ireland in January, notified his family of the blaze by barking frantically.

When his adopters heard the usually quiet pup making so much noise, they immediately knew something was wrong.

They quickly realised that their house was being engulfed in a blaze and were able to leave the property safely.

Speaking about the terrifying ordeal, Wilburs adopter said: Its really quite simple, Wilbur saved both me and my sons life.

If it wasnt for the fact he barked until I woke to alert us something was wrong, I would never have known the house was on fire until it was too late. He is undoubtedly a hero in our eyes and forever our most loyal friend.

Sandra Ruddell, Assistant Manager at Dogs Trust Ireland, added: Wilburs family gave him a second chance in life by adopting him, and in turn he saved their lives and their home. We are so grateful that everyone is okay, and that the family and Wilbur could get to safety.

Rhodesian Ridgebacks were originally bred for their bravery and to protect the family home, so its no surprise that Wilbur lived up to his heroic heritage.

All our dogs are special, but Wilburs story really goes to show you how loyal our canine companions are. If you are looking to add a dog to your life, choose rescue and you never know, that dog might just come to your rescue one day too.

Dogs Trust Ireland currently have more than 200 pups in their care who are looking to be rehomed.

If you are interested in adopting, please visit www.dogstrust.ie/rehoming to see some more heroic hounds.
Healy-Rae said it is hard for him to have any confidence in a Minster for Agriculture that would consider a ban on ploughing

This week Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue has confirmed that proposals are being considered, in the face of climate change, that could see introduction of a ploughing ban and the required use of minimum or no-till cultivation techniques on carbon-rich soils. It is not known yet what lands this could affect.

TD Michael Healy-Rae said it is hard for him to have any confidence in a Minster for Agriculture that would consider a ban on ploughing.

"This suggestion is crazy beyond belief and it totally undermines any confidence I can have in the Minister or any people making the decisions, he said.

Anyone that knows anything about farming knows that it is necessary [to plough] at certain times to keep the ground fertile.

"I contend that it is good for the environment to plough and means that we can have good grazing ground. You have to renew the ground by ploughing, to get the most out of it for grazing or silage.

He said that farmers have been ploughing for years first with horses and later with tractors and machinery.

He said he was urging the Minister not to even consider the proposal.

"It is absolutely disgraceful that an Irish Minister would consider such a proposal.
The Government is set to increase the minimum wage by 80c to 11.30 per hour

The Government is set to increase the minimum wage by 80c to 11.30 per hour.

The Cabinet will sign off on the increase at a meeting tomorrow, and the change will come into effect on January 1.

The Low Pay Commission made the recommendation of the minimum wage being set at 11.30 per hour in a reported submitted to Government earlier this year.

The new rate will be welcomed by thousands of workers in receipt of the current minimum wage of 10.50 per hour.

However, businesses struggling with energy costs will be concerned about the impact of the 80c per hour pay rise for all their staff.

About 10pc of the workforce in Ireland receive the minimum wage.

The minimum wage has increased steadily every year over the past decade - and the announcement is generally made in advance of the Budget.

The Government is also moving towards the introduction of a living wage replacing the minimum with aim of it being 13.70 per hour by 2026.

A report on the living wage aimed to increase have the minimum wage paid at 11.30 in 2023.

The cost of living crisis has put further pressure on the Government to increase the minimum wage as those on lower income are suffering the most due to the cost of living crisis.

The Budget is expected to outline a series of financials supports which workers on the minimum wage will be able to avail of.
The broadcaster paid tribute to Lisa Cash (18) and her eight-year-old twin brother and sister, Christy and Chelsea Cawley

The broadcaster paid tribute to Lisa Cash (18) and her eight-year-old twin brother and sister, Christy and Chelsea Cawley, outside their home in Rossfield Avenue in Brookfield.

Tubridy said that he was deeply moved by the tragedy and felt compelled to visit the scene to pay his respects to the deceased.

This is a story that got under the skin of the nation and it was really very upsetting personally. I spoke about this on radio last week and I got very upset, he told the Irish Mirror.

He was joined by secondary school principal Kevin Shortall of St Aidans Community College, where Lisa was a pupil, in front of a large decorative tribute to the siblings at their house.

The 49-year-old had visited the school earlier that day before Mr Shortall accompanied him to Rossfield Avenue.

Today out of the blue I just said I need to go and visit the beautiful children of this school St Aidans. Ive just been there for the last couple of hours. I felt very moved by it, Tubridy explained.

They were amazing and I met a couple of kids who were still deeply affected by what happened.

I had a quiet chat with them. Ive often said it, you know, stories they cant just end for me in the studio, theyre too important. If Im talking about this on the radio or TV again, Ill know, Ive seen. Ive been to the community, Ive met the beautiful children.

Tubridys visit comes after he broke down on his RTE Radio One Show while speaking about the tragic murders.

Today I looked at the photographs  I tried to avoid them, being honest with you  Im not strong enough to look at these things because theyre kids.

He then cut to an ad break abruptly before returning to explain that speaking about the incident greatly upset him.

He said: You would think I would be a bit more able for it all but sometimes it just gets you. And thats the truth of the matter. So sorry about all that and here we go.

24-year-old Andy Cash charged with the murder of his two sisters and brother was further remanded in custody last week.

He appeared for his second hearing before Judge Cephas Power at Cloverhill District Court via video link from Midlands Prison on the day of his siblings funeral.

Judge Power held him in continuing custody to appear again on October 6 for directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The twin brothers, whose real names are John and Edward Grimes, have published a series of tweets criticising the British monarchy

The twin brothers, whose real names are John and Edward Grimes, have published a series of tweets criticising the British monarchy following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday.

Now, they have tweeted that Psychos are sending us death threats!

Your threatening behaviour and criminality will not intimidate us, they declared, creating a flood of support from well-wishers.

Hope youre both safe! Death threats are a criminal offence.. you should forward them onto the police! one fan wrote.

Another added: Keep your heads up lads. The truth can't be silenced.

One other said: That's insane :((( why can't people just agree to disagree on things and let it be, it is what it is. No matter the subject. There's no right or wrong on some stuff, just opinions.

Psychos are sending us death threats! Your threatening behaviour and criminality will not intimidate us.  JEDWARD (@planetjedward) September 12, 2022

One supporter added: Some people really go OTT in their responses when they dislike something. I've reported a few. I'm not always keen on what you're saying or how you say it, but it's nothing that people should be getting so violently angry about.

It follows a serious backlash the twins have received for a series of tweets issued in the wake of the death of the Queen.

One critic, former Coronation Street star Charlie Lawson hit back at Jedward after they demanded King Charles hand back the six counties of Northern Ireland in a series of tweets.

On Saturday, they wrote: Abolish the monarchy and give the people real democracy!

They then added: King Charles should hand back the six Irish counties on his visit to Northern Ireland - No war! Just words! Its time.

And Enniskillen native Charlie had some choice words for the X Factor stars, responding with: Shut up ypair of tw*ts!!

The soap favourite, who is best known for playing Jim McDonald on Coronation Street, hit out at the Dubliners again on Sunday after they posted a tweet criticising the backlash they received about their anti-monarchist posts.

Jedward wrote: People in denial about Britains Imperialist past need to get a grip. Change is hard when your education is a censored version of history.

And Charlie replied on Monday: Oh, shut up!

The 62-year-old's replies sparked a flood of messages of support for both parties, with one person telling the Corrie star: I dont like much of what you say Charlie but this was on point.

Others sided with Jedward and were unimpressed with Charlies juvenile remarks, dubbing him a snowflake.

What age are you Charlie? Name calling on social media? Oh, your words really hurt... wise up and act your age! one commenter wrote.

Jedward got over 21k likes so theyre not alone in their opinion lol, another added.
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Cutting corners: Washington is preparing new rules to ban exports of advanced chipmaking devices to China, a move that could, however, be too little too late as Asian manufacturing companies are already engaged in making sub-14nm semiconductors on their own.

The Biden administration is preparing new, harsher restrictions against the chipmaking industry in China. After a series of so-called "is informed" letters sent earlier this year to a few US companies, the Commerce Department now plans to turn these individual letters into a broader message to China: we won't let you exploit our superior computer technology and know-how for your own gain.

The letters were sent to KLA Corp, Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Inc., and they were later confirmed to be authentic. The US Department of Commerce ordered the three companies to stop the export of chipmaking machines and equipment needed to make semiconductor components with sub-14 nanometer processes to China. Only sellers that obtained a proper export license from Washington should keep doing business with Beijing.

The new ban could join those already imposed to Nvidia and AMD over sales of high-performance AI accelerators and GPUs; even worse, at least from China's point of view, the letters will likely be codified in new rules from the Commerce Department destined to affect the entire US semiconductor industry.

Washington makes use of "is informed" letters to avoid the lengthy rulemaking process and to impose new controls faster, but the restrictions only apply to companies that receive the letter.

The prospect of new export limits is being discussed and actively monitored by Intel and Cerebras Systems, both involved in the production of the similar AI accelerators as sold by Nvidia and AMD. OEM companies like Dell, HPE and Supermicro, are also interested in the new rules as they sell servers equipped with Nvidia's A100 Ampere GPU.

While the government's official position hasn't been revealed yet, a senior official stated that, "as a general rule," the Commerce Department looks to "codify any restrictions that are in is-informed letters with a regulatory change." The Biden Administration plans to "choke off" China in their ability to make advanced computing technology without external aid, but the effort could be pointless as the Asian semiconductor giant SMIC has seemingly already been able to produce chips with a 7nm manufacturing process.
A smart jacket with no batteries or chips was brought to life by engineers from Harvard University and Rice University.

It might appear to be taken from a sci-fi film, but it's really operating thanks to its pneumatic circuits. This hoodie can help disabled wearers to move comfortably on their daily tasks.

This Jacket Operates With No Electronics

Per the researcher author Daniel Preston, many researchers have been exploring the capability of fluidic logic in elastomers. However, he said that no one has thought of incorporating it into clothes.

According to Hackster, the team succeeded in bringing "assistive garments" to the users. The technology relies on a push button which enables the hood to lower and raise instantly, thanks to the pneumatic actuators.

To give you an idea about the composition of the hoodie, you won't see any chips or an Arduino board installed here. Additionally, the batteries are absent in this smart jacket, as well.

It's kind of confusing to figure out how it works when in the first place, we don't know how it functions. Preston and his team used a nylon fabric and bound them until an image of an inflatable pouch was formed.

These pouches are connected to the product. Some buttons are used to inflate or deflate the airbag of a hoodie. The wearer can use it freely if he/she wants to lift or lower the hood.

At first, you might visualize that the hoodie resembles a car tire, but with the additional involvement of air-filled pouches.

In short, pressure plays an important role in allowing the air to circulate instead of the voltage produced by electronic transistors.

"The team's use of fabric and air-based logic, also known as pneumatic logic, is particularly novel. Wearables, like the Fitbit and Apple Watch, are usually "modest adaptations of traditional devices," Michael Wehner, a mechanical engineer from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said.

Related Article: Tech Experts Create Wearable Material That Can Generate Electricity by Capturing Energy From Body Movements

Assistive Garment Jacket Can Help PWDs

In another report by Wired, the research teams behind the logic-enabled textiles have visualized its help to persons with disabilities. According to them, this invention can aid PWDs in lifting a shirt and the hood with no issues at all.

Preston acknowledged that in the United States, 25% of the individuals reportedly have been experiencing difficulties lifting an object weighing 10 lbs.

Furthermore, he hopes that the prototype of the jacket will pass the clinical trials so it will be usable to the customers in the future.

Speaking of the tests, the researchers also need to know if it's safe enough for everyone, especially for people with medical conditions.

That's not all about it. The team envisions that the smart hoodie can add a temperature sensor and other health-related features in the next years to come.

Eight years ago, there was an interesting wearable that could save lives through gesture-making. The smart hoodie can reportedly send text messages, so if there's an emergency, you can ask for help from the authorities and other persons.

Read Also: Smart Shirt Can Now Monitor Heart Rate, Conduct ECG Thanks to Carbon Nanotube Fibers







This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joseph Henry

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
TradeDepot is led by co-founder and CEO Onyekachi Izukanne. With 17 years of expertise in technology and consulting, he is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

Building TradeDepot

He has been a management consultant for more than 11 years, focusing on consumer goods, energy, and financial services. Onyekachi co-founded C2G Consulting before joining TradeDepot, a business he leveraged to become the top SAP Partner in West Africa by 2013, according to Nairametrics.

TradeDepot is a distributor and retail aggregator established in 2016 to unify Nigeria's disjointed informal retail supply chain by partnering with merchants throughout Africa.

The technology of TradeDepot was developed to meet the various needs of its users. Approximately 60,000 micro retailers are currently part of its network.

The company purchases goods from vendors and manages shipping, pricing, inventory, returns, customer services, and many more.

The startup also claims that tens of thousands of retail establishments are on TradeDepot's distribution network and get products from it on a daily basis.

"Our focus is distribution, which is a very feasible problem because to purchase whatever item we need, distribution is necessary for getting it from the maker to us. Whether it is a shirt, food, or digital item, there needs to be distribution," Izukanne said in an interview with Nairametrics.

More than 200 people work for the company, with about 40,000 micro-retailers using its platform to buy everyday household items from companies like Unilever, Nestle, Danone, and Kellogg's. These retailers include kiosks, spaza stores, and mini-markets, according to How we made it in Africa.

For the past five years, TradeDepot's core business has been building supply chains with technology and connecting merchants one after the other. The company now offers a full range of products to launch digital wallets and financial services, especially credit products or BNPL.

BNPL's offer is part of the company's ShopTopUp platform, which gives retailers access to credit lines for all consumer goods on the app.

Read also: #TechCEO: Meet Nigeria's Fintech Pioneer Tayo Oviosu, CEO of Mobile Payments Platform 'Paga'

Acquiring Green Lion

Ghanaian Green Lion, the fastest-growing B2B e-commerce platform in Ghana, was acquired by TradeDepot recently to accelerate the delivery of its services.

With the acquisition of Green Lion, the company will expand further into Ghana after raising a US$110 million Series B funding round in December.

This acquisition will help TradeDepot elevate its technology, data, and robust logistics services to connect more retailers in Ghanain cities to suppliers and create an outlet for cost-effective and accessible financing.

According to Disrupt Africa, Ghana's retail sector is worth US$24.4 billion and is anticipated to reach US$33.16 billion by 2024. The SME retailers are expected to account for almost 90% of the market by that year.

The acquisition will accelerate the delivery of TradeDepot services to more cities, providing higher sales, higher margins, and other value-added services to all parts of the retail value chain.

Related Article: #TechCEO: How Idriss Marcial's CinetPay is Ensuring Financial Inclusion in Africa Via Online and Offline Transactions

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Who would have thought that your ex-boyfriend's photos would become profitable later?

That happened in the case of Jennifer Gwynne, Elon Musk's former girlfriend, who is selling the billionaire's mementos and old photos in an auction.

Who is Jennifer Gwynne?

Before Musk and Grimes became official, there was a time when the tech boss dated a woman whom he met in college. When the Tesla owner was studying at the University of Pennsylvania, he met Gwynne, who later became his college sweetheart.

According to a report by CNN, the couple served as resident advisers in the university's dorm. It was in 1994 when the two began dating.

Although Musk and Gwynne broke up, the two shared a lot of lovely pictures together. Elon even gave his girlfriend a memorable set of gifts at that time, in the form of a gold necklace and a birthday card.

Elon Musk's Ex-Girlfriend Auctions His Photos

Before SpaceX and Tesla arrived, Musk thought of pursuing a doctoral program at Stanford. However, he decided to shift ways and start creating Zip2, his very first startup.

Per a report from The Strait Times, Gwynne came up with the idea of putting Elon's memorabilia on RR Auction, an auction platform based in Boston.

Gwynne put 18 candid photos of Elon Musk and other digital souvenirs of their sweet college life.

As of writing, the item with the highest bid is the signed birthday card.

Many bidders are putting their money onto the necklace that Musk gave on Gwynne's birthday. "Happy Birthday, Jennifer (aka, Boo-Boo), Love, Elon" was written on it.

The necklace was not an ordinary necklace that you could see anywhere. It has an embedded emerald that Musk's father got from an emerald mine in Zambia.

According to RR, the value of the memorabilia card could go over $10,000 this week.

"His mom had a number of these necklaces in a case in her bedroom, and Elon told me they were from his father's emerald mine in South Africa - he pulled one from the case. And because I had not gotten him anything as a Christmas gift (and I felt very guilty about that), he said we would consider the necklace an early birthday present for me," Gwynne told RR.

Related Article: Elon Musk Calls Instagram an 'Envy Amplifier' After Previously Calling It a 'Thirst Trap'

It's Always Elon

Gwynne admitted that she had always thought of Elon while wearing the necklace in the past years. Additionally, the accessory includes a picture of Musk. The other photo featured his mother with his girlfriend in 1995.

For those who don't want to miss this Musk-filled auction, you can visit the official site of RR Auction for more information. It's a must-collectible for Elon fans who want to treasure a past part of him.

Read Also: Tesla Gigafactory Canada: Government Confirms Talks with Elon Musk's EV Maker

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joseph Henry

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(Photo : GuerrillaBuzz Crypto PR on Unsplash)

Dozens of cryptocurrencies are storming financial markets, prompting central banks globally to develop their own digital tokens. According to a new PwC report, The Bahamas' Sand Dollar is leading the way in this booming new industry. Issued by the Central Bank of The Bahamas in October 2020, the Sand Dollar is a digital iteration of the Bahamian Dollar - and one of just two fully operational retail CBDCs worldwide. The Sand Dollar holds identical legal status as the standard currency, is issued by authorized financial institutions, and can be used for a variety of transactions.

The Central Bank has remained ahead of the global curve since piloting the Sand Dollar in late 2019. Their intent was to renovate and smooth out the financial framework, diminish service conveyance costs, and boost the efficiency of transactions in the country. The goals of the digital currency are very clear: to increase payment speed, efficiency, and security; to lower the cost of financial services and increase inclusion for all people, regardless of age or status; and to tighten up control over money laundering, forgery, and other cash-enabled fraud. "It also gives an excellent record of income and spending, which may be utilized as supporting documentation for micro-loan applications," the official currency website states.

Many ask why a small country like the Bahamas was able to beat economic giants in this race. It is important to highlight the island jurisdiction's commitment to innovation. The new Bahamas Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges (DARE) Act is considered a "monumental" piece of legislation as it strikes a fine balance between innovation and a robust regulatory framework. As Elsworth Johnson, Minister of Financial Services, Trade & Industry and Immigration, explains Bahamas is pursuing an aggressive public sector digitization initiative.

In sum, like anywhere, all that is necessary for a technology to flourish is adequate government policy and smart regulation. This is the difference between digital policy in the Caribbean country versus most western governments at the moment - they are at the avant-garde of the industry because of laws that promote innovation, safe application & governance of blockchain-based assets, the industry will only flourish. An approach which should be mirrored by all governments.

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Cruise's Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Kyle Vogt announced that in the next 90 days and before the year ends, the robotaxi services of Cruise will be launched in Austin, Phoenix, which offers a driverless mode for the users, as reported by TechCrunch.

(Photo : Alexander Koerner/Getty Images)

HANOVER, GERMANY - JUNE 20: A driver presents a Cruising Chauffeur, a hands free self-driving system designed for motorways during a media event by Continental to showcase new automotive technologies on June 20, 2017 in Hannover, Germany. The company presented new clean diesel technology, cable-less and other advances in electric car charging, smartphone technology for rental cars, driverless car advances and robotic taxi services.

During the Goldman Sach's Communacopia and Technology Conference, Vogt said during his speech that through this new service that Cruise will be offering, no human safety operator will be needed behind the wheel during its use. He also clarified that the initial rides when it's released will be free to the public but users will be charged shortly after.

Expanding to Other Cities

For it to become a "self-driving" vehicle, Cruise's system needs to memorize the whole location including streets. With that, the company already mapped and drove the whole streets of Phoenix. Vogt also announced the expansion of the company to Austin without any experience on the map, so expect the planning to take longer.

Cruise is not closing its doors in San Francisco and Austin as places that offer robotaxi service. Expanding to other cities is also in the works within the company.

Comparing the two, it took Cruise 33 months to complete all of the permits needed for them to operate in California while in Phoenix, it only took them three works to finish all of the paper works. Because of this, it advanced the company's geographic scaling by six months.

Also Read: Waymo, Cruise Gets Permit for Robotaxi and Self-Driving Ventures in SF, Receiving Payments for Rides

Manufacturing the Origin, the purpose-built AV of Cruise will start operating soon for supplying new target markets. Vogt stated that "Looking at 2023, next year, things get really interesting on the growth side. There's gonna be thousands of AVs rolling out of the General Motors plant, including the first Origins. We'll be using those to light up many more markets and to start to generate meaningful revenue in those markets."

Crash Incident

Last June, a crash happened when a Cruise vehicle made an unprotected left turn that resulted in major injuries to occupants of both vehicles involved.

Following the incident, Cruise emailed CNBC a statement and said that the company provided "routine information" about the crash to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Cruise also updated the 80 self-driving robotaxis just this month.

Walmart Partnership

The partnership with Walmart was also talked about during his speech and he said that it is currently in the works. The deal states the expansion of Cruise as an autonomous delivery pilot in Arizona, in collaboration with Walmart. The deal brings Cruise's latest funding to $2.75 billion as reported by Bloomberg.

Related Article: Cruise Begins Mapping Dubai Streets for 2023 Robotaxi Launch, Will Be Deployed in Jumeirah First

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Apple iPhone, iPad, and Mac security update fixes actively exploited zero-day vulnerability, which allows hackers to carry out cyberattacks.

The Cupertino-based tech giant admitted that the security flaw on millions of iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks is potentially being exploited by hackers.

(Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 07: Attendees examine a brand new iPhone 14 Pro during an Apple special event on September 07, 2022 in Cupertino, California. Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled the new iPhone 14 as well as new versions of the Apple Watch, including the Apple Watch SE, a low-cost version of the popular timepiece that will start at $249.

Apple iPhone, Mac Security Update Fixes Zero-Day Flaw

As per the latest news story by Bleeping Computer, the iPhone maker has released a new security update that patches a new zero-security bug that appears to have made it to its various devices, affecting millions of users worldwide.

No less than Apple has already issued security advisories on Monday, which is the same day that the tech giant rolled out its new iOS 16 updates for iPhone users.

The renowned tech firm warned its users that the zero-day flaw in its devices "may have been actively exploited," Bleeping Computer says in its report.

How to Get the Latest Security Update

Besides the all-new iOS 16, which brings tons of fancy new features and some bugs, Apple also released security software updates for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

(Photo : PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)

A man uses his mobile phone as he walks past advertising for the new iPhones outside the Apple store in Hong Kong on October 10, 2019.

On top of that, the tech giant also rolled out a macOS Monterey 12.6 update and a macOS Big Sur 11.7 update, which fixes the security flaw in MacBooks and other Mac machines.

Which Apple Devices Are Affected?

The Cupertino giant says that the new iOS 15.7 fixes the flaw starting from the iPhone 6s and its newer models. The seventh-generation iPod touch also receives the new iOS security patch.

On top of that, all models of iPad Pro, the fifth-generation iPad and beyond, the iPad Air 2 and newer releases, and the iPad mini to its later models, are also getting the new security update.

(Photo : Brian Kersey/Getty Images)

A member of the media checks out the new 11-inch MacBook Air at a preview for the new Apple Store on October 21, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. The new store opens on October 23 in Lincoln Park, a part of the city's Near North Side that has been trendy for several years.

Plus, all MacBooks and Mac devices like iMacs and Mac Minis, which currently run on macOS Big Sur 11.7 and macOS Monterey 12.6, are also eligible for the new security patch.

Read Also: Apple Rewards Student $100,500 After Discovering How Mac Webcams Get Hacked

iOS 16 and Security

Elsewhere, Apple has already upgraded the security features on its newest iOS 16.

According to a recent report by Tech Crunch, the new iPhone update introduces the new Lockdown Mode. It enables users to disable core features, which hackers could likely exploit.

It also brings a new Rapid Security Response feature, allowing users to get the latest security patch without updating their phones.

Related Article: Apple Security Update Patches Two Zero-Day Vulnerabilities Used to Hack iPhones, iPads, Macs

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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is planning to create a new office that will focus on new cryptocurrency filings that will help the public in future dealings in the digital world. It is planning to add to the Division of Corporation Finance's Disclosure Review Program (DRP), which currently has seven existing offices that are already pressed on the matter.

SEC to Add New Offices for Crypto Filings

(Photo : SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

The headquarters of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seen in Washington, DC, January 28, 2021. - An epic battle is unfolding on Wall Street, with a cast of characters clashing over the fate of GameStop, a struggling chain of video game retail stores. Late January 27, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it was monitoring the activity.

The SEC published a release on its website focusing on two new offices that will come for its DRP, under the Division of Corporation Finance, which will focus on new cryptocurrency filings from applicants. The proposed idea would focus on the addition of an Office of Crypto Assets and an Office of Industrial Applications and Services to the said division.

According to the SEC, " to further the Division's work to promote capital formation and protect investors. The DRP anticipates the new offices will be established later this fall."

The Commission is met with significant changes in the cryptocurrency world, focusing on the evolving case of crypto in the country regarding the new assets coming to all.

Read Also: Bitcoin Bearish? Top Crypto Rallies Ahead of Ethereum Breaking $22K Now

SEC Aims to Protect Investors

According to the SEC, it aims to protect investors and future participants in the cryptocurrency world regarding the many changes in the industry. CryptoNews reported that the new offices will better its allocation of resources and focus on its ways to protect consumers more with new cryptocurrencies applying to file its assets for the world.

SEC and Cryptocurrency

The SEC has been following and putting a significant focus on the many cryptocurrency dealings happening within the country or for corporations in the United States. It aims to promote fair dealings within the cryptocurrency world, and according to previous reports, illicit or misleading transactions in the blockchain are also under watchful eye and investigation.

Certain filings regarding cryptocurrency are also a focus of the SEC, with the agency looking closely at disclosed information from different tech companies on their dealings with the public. One previous encounter was with Nvidia, particularly as it obscured the number of sold GPUs to crypto miners on their filings to the agency.

It is intent on protecting the public and investors' interest in the process, especially as the blockchain saw significant growth over the past years.

Now, it is strengthening its core to focus on more cryptocurrency filings with the proposal of two new offices, which will give more to the public and look at the future of crypto in the country. Moreover, it aims to protect more of the general public for their future transactions within the industry, and avoid future incidents or problems.

Related Article: NFT Creators, Marketplaces Under SEC Investigation Over Securities Violations

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A recent military exercise was conducted near New Caledonia. It is part of the five-week Mission Pegase 2022 exercise by the Space Force and French Air, as reported by Nikkei Asia.

(Photo : ADEK BERRY/AFP via Getty Images)

A Dassault Rafale multirole combat aircraft is seen past the starboard wing of an Airbus A330 MRTT Phenix tanker-transport aircraft during a demonstration flight by the French Air Force over Indonesia's Sunda Strait on September 12, 2022.

The concept is an island called "Badland" showed signs that its invading its neighbor island "Goodland." Therefore, France saw the risk and deployed air assets, and the mission was to reach the theater in 72 hours.

There were three Dassault Rafale fighters, two Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transports (MRTTs), and two A400M Atlas transport aircraft in the South Pacific from France within the given time. The aircraft righters also made fuel stops in India, Sulur, and Darwin in Australia.

Once in the region, Paris observed the situation through a live feed sent from the MRTT aircraft while also giving direct orders to the Rafale pilots to destroy the logistics base of the enemy.

The UK, French, and Germany have been sending maritime assets to the Indo-Pacific. The goal here is to demonstrate that they can project air power to protect the territory or the enemy's territory. It's a way to show France's resolve to ensure the sovereignty of the countries in the protected region.

Also Read: Starlink Militarization? SpaceX Awarded by US Air Force With a Million-Dollar Contract

Mission Pegase

The mission started early in August, and it entered its final stage last Sunday. It will see the French convoy and a detachment of 170 personnel move from Darwin to Indonesia and Singapore before they head back home.

Maj. Gen. Stephane Groen, the chief of staff of the French Air and Space Force's Air Operations Command and the commander of the drills, will be in Singapore this week to highlight the importance of France as a key partner for the Southeast Asian country in the region.

The two countries signed an agreement on mutual logistics support in June. The French planes will arrive at Singapore Air Force's Paya Lebar Air Base in the eastern part of the country. These air assets can be deployed faster compared to maritime assets.

Looking Forward

The US and Australia are boosting their presence in the region with more military assets and more training with allies and partners. France, Germany, and the UK are following suit.

This approach is better than China's one-way investment in the region. The latter is focused on boosting its influence. The former is focused on improving its relationship with the region, and it's willing to invest in the safety of the region.

The Sino-centric approach is slowly giving way to a US-and Australia-centric approach to the Indo-Pacific. It shows that the US and its allies are willing to spend more on the safety of the region. It's a show of excellent commitment and resolves to prevent China from dominating the region.

Related Article: Ukraine Air Force Fits US Anti-Radar Missiles to Soviet-era Fighter Planes-Old Meets New Tech

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A report from Gizmodo states that Instagram's attempt to redesign a platform like TikTok, which focuses on short-form videos, did not translate into what the company is expecting as most users of the 'Reels' feature have no engagements.

(Photo : CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images)

This illustration picture shows Instagram's new video feature "Reels" on a smartphone in front of a screen showing an Instagram logo, on August 6, 2020 in Los Angeles.

Copies of internal research documents from Meta have been reported by The Wall Street Journal, where it unveils data of Instagram users not spending much time engaging and watching videos from this feature, some of it does not have an engagement at all.

The "Creators x Reels State of the Union 2022" was released in August. It stated that less than 17.6 million hours a day are spent by its users utilizing the "Reels" feature, compared to TikTok users' 197.8 million hours total spent time which is ten times higher than Instagram. Because of this, engagement fell 13.6% over the last four weeks.

The company's take on these numbers, they blame the lack of content creators and influencers who use Reels. Only 2.3 million Reels are posted each month out of its 11 million users on Instagram in the United States alone.

Along with this is the reposting of other content made from different platforms, like TikTok videos, where the company made a solution to prevent these circumstances. Downranking these contents in the recommendations was what Instagram did to boost the original content from different creators.

For people to be motivated to post reels on the platform and even post content for Facebook, Meta plans to pay out $1 billion to creators for the whole year, as reported first by The Verge. So far, $120 million has been funded to Instagram Reels creators, according to the reports.

Also Read: Instagram to Focus on Photos As Much as Videos, Reels; Mosseri Responds to Backlash from Kylie Jenner, and MORE

Meta's Response

As per Meta's Spokesperson Devi Narasimhan these leaked reports are outdated and not globally accumulated, so they will not be reflective of the growth trends.

She added, "We still have work to do, but creators and businesses are seeing promising results and our monetization growth is faster than we expected as more people are watching, creating and connecting through Reels than ever before,"

As Narasimhan denied these figures and described them as inaccurate, she declined to share the actual figures and updated data.

Meanwhile, Instagram Chief Operating Officer Justin Osofsky stated that more improvements were needed to be done for the feature to offer a smoother experience for the viewers, but he sees "good promise in the rollout of reels" in the upcoming days.

New Features Soon

Just this month, Instagram announced that a new feature will be rolling out to selected users for testing as the company explores the ability to reshare posts in their feed based on a report from TechCrunch. As of the moment, resharing content can only be done on the platform via Instagram Stories or Direct Messages.

No confirmations have yet been given regarding the official launch of this feature.

Related Article: Instagram Gears Up on Testing "Repost" Feature to Selected Users

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Written by Inno Flores

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According to specialists working on the project, China is creating a supersonic anti-ship missile that can run quicker and further than any conventional torpedo.

As reported first by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), The 5 m (16.4 ft) missile will be able to travel 124 miles (200 km) at a rate of 2.5 times the speed of sound while cruising at an altitude of 10,000 m (32,800 ft). Then, it will dive and skim across the water for up to 20 kilometers.

The missile will switch to torpedo mode once it is about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from its target and will then travel underwater at up to 100 meters per second (200 knots) using supercavitation, which is the formation of a large air bubble around it that reduces drag, according to the researchers.

Additionally, it will be able to alter its path at any time and may crash dive to a depth of up to 100 meters (328 feet) to avoid underwater defenses without losing speed.

Read also: US Air Force Receives First 'Fighter-Mounted Laser Weapon' That Can Combat Hypersonic Missiles!

"Cross-Media" Attack

No ship defense system is made to withstand such a quick "cross-media" attack, according to lead scientist Li Pengfei and his colleagues. They claimed that doing so would significantly increase the missile's capacity to penetrate.

According to SMCP, the power system is one of the major difficulties for the designers because it must generate a significant amount of force while breathing either air or water.

However, the team claimed that the issue might be resolved by employing boron, a light element that reacts strongly and generates great heat when exposed.

The team hails from the college of aerospace science and engineering at the National University of Defence Technology in Changsha. They disclosed details of the plan in the peer-reviewed Journal of Solid Rocket Technology, which the Chinese Society of Astronautics publishes.

To boost the power of supersonic bombers, the US Air Force briefly added boron to jet fuel in the 1950s. However, the project was shelved because the boron particles that ignited were difficult to manage and generated a layer of debris that gradually decreased engine performance, as per SCMP.

The US Navy funded a NASA study last year that suggested boron nitride nanotubes, which are formed of the elements boron and nitrogen, may be used to power hypersonic missiles that travel at speeds greater than 6,400 km/h (4,000 mph).

However, the majority of boron-powered engines are exclusively intended for use in the air. Since they react with water more readily than magnesium or aluminum, these metals are typically used as fuel to power supercavitation torpedoes.

But the team claimed to have created a ramjet engine driven by boron that could operate both above and below the water.

Their paper said that the major alteration is found in the fuel rods. It will have unique parts, including adjustable inlets and exhaust nozzles, to preserve the boron's burn efficiency in various settings.

Li's team has doubled the amount of boron in the fuel, and they predict that this will result in a greater thrust than that of aluminum in water.

Related Article: PLA Chinese Drones Crosses Taiwan's Strait Median Line, Taiwanese Military Confirms

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

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As China and the United States tech war intensifies, Beijing has listed 8,997 industrial businesses as "little giants" that are qualified for special treatment to help the country in becoming a greater technological powerhouse than the US.

The information was made public at the Little Giants National Summit, which took place on Thursday, Sept. 8, in Nanjing, the provincial capital of eastern Jiangsu, according to a report by the South China Morning Post.

Advancing Social and Economic Growth

In a letter, President Xi Jinping expressed his hope that these businesses would play a bigger part in stabilizing supply chains and advancing social and economic growth in the country.

In addition, the summit showed that these businesses had an average profit of 40 million yuan ($5 million) in 2021, which is more than three times the average profit of small and medium-sized businesses with annual revenues of at least 20 million yuan.

Little giants are smaller, frequently unheard-of companies with unique goods and expertise in key industries, including semiconductors, innovative manufacturing, energy, and vital minerals.

Over 10,000 research institutes at the state and provincial levels have already been formed, according to SCMP.

According to the state-owned Economic Daily, these businesses employ an average of 28.7% of their workforces in research and development, which is comparable to the 30% rate for businesses listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, also known as the STAR market.

Read also: Canada Share Plans of Investing in the Tech Sector After Tensions Between China and Taiwan Affected Production of Microchips

What are the Qualifications of a Little Giant?

China has completed 90% of its task of naming 10,000 tiny giants by 2025 in just three years. Beijing has produced four lists of businesses deemed to be "little giants," or simply "LGs," since 2019.

A business must be involved in a strategically significant industry, such as semiconductors, manufacturing, energy, or minerals, to qualify as a little giant.

Additionally, these businesses must dedicate an average of 28.7% of their workforce to research and development activities.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIITapplication ), businesses engaged in strategically significant industries like software and artificial intelligence may also be listed alongside those that can "fix weaknesses" in the domestic supply chain.

This new list comes at the heels of the US banning the export of AI chips to China, citing concerns that it could be used for military objectives. This marks a new low for the tech rivalry between the two countries.

According to figures from the General Administration of Customs, China's integrated circuit (IC) import volume decreased by more than 12% to 369.5 billion units from January through August.

SCMP said there is no conventional incentive package for little giants, but they can benefit from tax cuts, favorable personnel acquisition policies, and generous loans from the federal and provincial governments.

Related Article: Acer: Global Chip Shortage to Happen Until 2022-Laptop, Semiconductor Production Faces Crisis

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

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The Orion Nebula, known as the "picture book of star creation," is located in the constellation Orion, 1,350 light-years from Earth, and has been the subject of the most meticulously clear and detailed images ever taken by the NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

All Elements in the Orion Nebula

Ionized gas, hydrocarbons, molecular gas, dust, and scattered starlight are all shown in this composite image created by combining the results of several different filters.

The Orion Bar, which spans from top left to bottom right in this view and contains the bright star 2 Orionis A, is the object that stands out the most. It is also described as a wall of thick gas and dust.

The Trapezium Cluster, situated just off the top right of the photograph, is a collection of hot, young, massive stars that dazzle the entire scene. In the top right, a heated, ionized atmosphere is created by the powerful UV radiation of the Trapezium cluster, which is also progressively eroding the Orion Bar.

In the protected environment provided by the dense Bar, molecules and dust can survive longer, but the surge of stellar activity molds a region that exhibits an astonishing diversity of filaments, globules, young stars with discs, and voids, according to PDRs4All.

The most recent photographs show numerous magnificent structures at scales as small as 40 astronomical units or around the size of our solar system.

According to a press release from the University of Michigan, these structures contain several dense matter filaments that could trigger the emergence of a new generation of stars.

Scientists from more than 100 different institutions across 18 different nations collaborated under the name PDRs4All to acquire the photos as part of the Early Release Science initiative.

Read also: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Snaps A Perfect Shot of an 'Einstein Ring'

Hubble's Dreamy Image of Orion Nebula

A huge, dense cloud of interstellar dust and gas is floating between the stars Alnitak, Saif, and Rigel. The Orion Nebula, one of the Milky Way's most explored and photographed objects, essentially serves as a nursery for baby stars.

The Hubble Space Telescope of NASA/ESA also captured this beautiful region in the Orion Nebula surrounding the Herbig-Haro object HH 505 in this dreamy and enchanting cloudscape.

When stellar winds or jets of gas shoot from these young stars, they create shockwaves that impact neighboring gas and dust at high speeds, forming brilliant regions known as Herbig-Haro objects.

NASA explained that the star IX Ori is the source of these outflows in the instance of HH 505, which can be seen as gracefully curved structures in the image. They are bent into sinuous arcs as a result of their interaction with the massive flow of gas and dust emanating from the nebula's core.

Related Article: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Sets Historic Milestone With First-Ever Image of an Exoplanet

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

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Nintendo is set to premiere another full 40-minute Nintendo Direct today, Tuesday, Sept. 13. According to the video game company, the Nintendo Direct livestream will be discussing Nintendo's game lineup to be released later this year.

The said Nintendo Direct would air on Sept. 13 at 7 a.m. Pacific and 10 a.m. Eastern. Like previous Directs, the stream will last roughly 40 minutes which is 10 minutes lengthier than the "Splatoon 3" Nintendo Direct hosted last Aug. 10.

How to Watch the Nintendo Direct

Nintendo fans can watch the latest Nintendo Direct on Nintendo's official YouTube and Twitch channels. Do not worry; the Direct will be archived so fans can access new information at any given time. There is no need to trouble yourself waiting very early because the Nintendo Direct can be viewed at any time after the set premiere.

Gematsu tells us that the Nintendo Direct presentation in the United Kingdom will not be live streamed like what fans previously expected. The Nintendo Direct will be available as an on-demand video at 8:00 a.m. PT / 11:00 a.m. ET on YouTube as a sign of respect during the nation's mourning period following Queen Elizabeth II's death.

Read Also: Nintendo eShop Global Closure To Happen; Here's Until When You Can Download Your Games and Other Details

Back on Sept. 9, rumors of a Nintendo Direct delay first spread on the Internet. This is after sources from Nintendo's Tokyo headquarters relayed unofficial information about postponing the much-awaited stream. According to Gamerant, the upcoming Nintendo Direct stream will be highlighting official news about "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" sequel, among other titles coming next winter.

What to Expect from the Nintendo Direct

Nintendo Life reported that physical Nintendo stores in New York would be holding fun and exciting activities to celebrate the Direct. According to the report, this will be the first time since the pandemic that such a face-to-face event will be hosted at the Nintendo NY Store.

In a tweet by Nintendo NY, they announced that the event will only have limited entry as well as a first-come, first-served basis. Back in August, the same Nintendo store held a similar controlled event to celebrate the announcement of Splatoon 3.

Many Nintendo fans are rooting for the video game company to release some more details about the nearing release of "Pokemon Scarlet & Violet." The newest Pokemon game series is set to be released on Nov. 18. We have already been informed that "Scarlet & Violet" will be featuring new Pokemons and variants, moves and game mechanics, and even a new region called Paldea.

Moreover, many are also anticipating that the Nintendo Direct will be revealing major details about "Breath of the Wild 2." Games to be announced at today's Nintendo Direct are believed to arrive at the console later this year to early 2023.

As of the moment, Nintendo has been pretty keen on keeping most of the new information away from leaks. Hang tight as the Nintendo Direct will be premiering in less than 3 hours. Do you have other expectations for today's Direct? Let us know!

Related Article: Nintendo Wii Shop Returns Online for Downloads-But There's a Catch

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The Global Drought Observatory reported early this year that Europe is recently experiencing one of the worst droughts in history. The report informs the public that the lack of rain and worsening heatwaves continue to dry up Europe starting last May. The weather condition was more aggravating in some European countries last August.

Drought Is Expected to Impact Europe's Crop Supply

According to BBC, two-thirds of Europe is currently under drought alert, and this condition is deemed to be the 'worst such event in 500 years.' The drought is currently affecting vegetation and could soon largely impact much of Europe's crop supply.

Currently, the drought has considerably lowered summer crop yield. Experts are contemplating a number of approaches to deal with an impending crop supply shortage. To avert a food crisis, lawmakers are considering relaxing restrictions on genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Also Read: Scientists Develop 'Artificial Leaves' Made for Clean Fuel Production in UK

A Wired report informs us that sunflower yields are down by 12%, while soybean yields are 15% below their five-year average. The war in Ukraine has already strained agricultural supply chains, making Europe's food system's slow collapse very apparent.

EU Lawmakers Eyes Relaxing Restrictions on GMO

To keep up with the rising demand for food, crop yields must be improved. In order to increase yield and build a tolerance to drought, new techniques are needed. One of these techniques is the introduction of drought-resistant crops that are developed through extensive research in biotechnology and gene-splicing,

A study published in the National Center for Biotechnology Information informs us that genetically-modified Glycine max (soybean) and Zea mays (corn) developed to be drought-resistant are already available to the market despite continuous research.

European countries like France have not been especially open to adopting GMOs for their crops. Genetically-modified crops have long been viewed negatively by many countries in Europe because of the associations that focus on their risks.

The perceived risk of radioactivity, divided opinions among scientists, and strong-worded publications about moral acceptability are what spin the opinion barometer towards hostility to GMOs. Furthermore, the public perceives this product of biotechnology as an outgrowth of globalization and that its development could directly impact traditional green agriculture. These speculations from the European community have triggered lawmakers to bar the introduction of GMOs in Europe.

According to a publication by Sylvie Bonny of the National Institute of Agricultural Research in France, GMOs were perceived by the public as yet another sign of deterioration in the agricultural sector in terms of health and environmental risks.

In the same report mentioned in this article by Wired, Italian members of the European Parliament have called on backtracking of the rules that restrict the use of crops created using gene-editing, mentioning that "New agricultural biotechnology can provide experimentation for more drought- and pest-resistant plants."

This statement by Italian legislator Antonio Tajani roused the support of other lawmakers in a meeting at the EU parliament.

A change in policy could be what Europe needs to survive the deadliest dry season in 500 years.

Related Article: Magnetic Nanoparticles To Prevent Lung Cancer! Triggering Anti-Cancer MicroRNA! Efficiency, Safety, and Other Details

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5 movies (that have succeeded in theaters) and you can see in Movistar Plus +
VCCI comments on draft resolution on firms' recovery

As the Ministry of Planning and Investment is gathering comments on a draft resolution on favourable policy to boost firms' recovery, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) asks for clarification on several notions.













An electronic component factory at the Bac Ninh Industrial Park. The draft solution set a target that said the economy would have 1.5 million firms by 2025. Photo vneconomy.vn

VCCI opines that the target of 1.5 million firms by 2025 set in the draft is unclear since firms could be either registered or active and their status would make a big difference to its implication. VCCI suggests changing the target to 1.5 million active firms to be more indicative of the economy and business environment.



The draft has set another target that said firms would make up 65-70 per cent of GDP, 30-35 per cent of jobs and 98-99 per cent of exports. VCCI holds that the target fails to specify the economic contributions of different types of firms - private firms and FDI firms. The specification is essential as it defines which role each type will play in the economy.



VCCI suggests a more specific target be added to the draft, which says private firms would account for 15 per cent of GDP by 2025 and 20 per cent by 2030. Additionally, at least 10 domestic groups operating in the industrial sector and 10 in the service sector would reach a significant scale in the same years.



The same goes for the next target, which said around 35-40 per cent of firms would embrace technological innovations and 100 per cent would be well-informed about digital transformation. VCCI says the target's achievability is difficult to assess.



"About 30,000 business facilities receive support in digital transformation" is another target that needs revision. VCCI says the figure is disproportionate to the target of 1.5 million active firms by 2025.



VCCI calls for a higher number of business facilities to be supported and further clarification on the extent to which the facilities embrace digital transformation.



VCCI suggests 10 per cent of business facilities upgrade into firms and 20 per cent of manufacturing firms operate circularly by 2025.



VCCI also suggests the portion of domestic components used in production increase by 10 per cent and qualified workers reach 35 per cent of the labour force.



VCCI also suggests firms' sales increase by at least 10 per cent each year and the number of firms granted technological certifications grow at the same pace.



Lastly, VCCI suggests exports subject to favourable tariffs under free trade agreements rise to 40-45 per cent by 2025, from the current figure of 32.7 per cent.
Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 2:00PM

By Abe Friedtanzer

There have been many films recently about young women crossing the border from Mexico to the United States and coming across someone whose attitude towards illegal immigrants softens considerably after the chance meeting. But Carmen is something different entirely, an update of much older material, based on a Seville-set novella and opera from the 1800s by Prosper Merimee. This time the setting is present day in surroundings that will be more familiar to audiences but just as enchanting

Carmen (Melissa Barrera) is forced to flee her home on the run from a violent cartel, and she happens to cross into the United States on the same night that Aidan (Paul Mescal), a Marine, is riding around with trigger-happy Border Patrol civilian support. When Aidan, without thinking, shoots the man who tries to chase and attack Carmen, the two become linked, going on the run together and forming an almost entirely unspoken bond as they continue moving, barely stopping to contemplate what their futures might be.

Its clear from the opening scene of this film that it doesnt take a typical approach to anything. Carmens mother is seen dancing passionately and furiously as two men approach her with brutal intent, and Carmen pays tribute to her before leaving home for good. Aidans interactions with his sister and other veterans are more standard, but he isnt really present, haunted by his experiences at war. So little is said between Carmen and Aidan as they move from place to place, yet the way they relate to each other is conveyed magnificently through performance art and dance.

Barrera had a great showcase in last years movie version of In the Heights, and shes a natural fit for her role here, too. The bigger surprise might be Mescal, star of the terrific Normal People, who dons an American accent and demonstrates an incredible ability to thrive in this very specific genre, poignantly signing while playing guitar and, at times, seamlessly joining in with the choreography.

Debut filmmaker Benjamin Millepied, who worked previously as a dancer and choreographer on Black Swan, astounds with a captivating and dreamlike ode to heritage, one that maintains a loose narrative as it stops frequently to spend time with the people whose stories it is telling. Audiences looking for a straightforward love story wont find it here since these two are doomed almost from the start, but this film isnt about that as much as it is about two people forced to abandon what they know best and working to find it again in some way. Carmen is haunting and difficult to shake, an immersive and captivating visual and emotional experience. B+

Carmen is screening in the Discovery category at TIFF and will be released by Sony Pictures Classics in 2023.
A travers le monde, elle aurait distribue des perfusions ciblees mais considerables. La Russie a discretement envoye au moins 300 millions de dollars au total a des partis politiques et des candidats dans plus d'une vingtaine de pays depuis 2014 afin d'exercer son influence, selon une estimation des renseignements americains rendue publique mardi. Les Etats-Unis "considerent qu'il s'agit la d'estimations minimales, et que la Russie a probablement et secretement transfere davantage de fonds qui n'ont pas ete reperes", a fait savoir un haut responsable americain, sans preciser les pays concernes.

D'apres ce dernier, un ambassadeur russe en poste dans un pays asiatique non specifie a par exemple donne des millions de dollars a un candidat a la presidence de ce pays. La Russie aurait meme "prevu de transferer secretement au moins des centaines de millions supplementaires a des partis politiques, des fonctionnaires et des politiciens etrangers", en vue de "favoriser certains partis politiques et de saper la democratie dans tous ces pays", a ajoute le haut responsable americain, selon CNN. Les cercles du pouvoir russe auraient egalement utilise des societes ecrans, des groupes de reflexion et d'autres moyens encore pour influencer des evenements politiques, parfois au profit de groupes d'extreme droite, liste The Washigton Post.
Advocate staff photo by Rebekah Allen -- A downtown charter school is set to move into the former Raising Canes building at the corner of Third and Florida streets. Raising Canes opened the downtown restaurant in 2014, in the same building underneath the landmark Coca-Cola sign.
Along the way hes been lauded for performances in such films as The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith (1978), BeDevil (1993), Blackfellas (1993), The Last Supper (2009) and Mystery Road (2013). Earlier this year, he became the first indigenous person to win a lifetime achievement gong at Victorias Green Room Awards for theatre. Id been intending to write my Big Black Book of Little Jack Charles, Born Again Blackfella. Credit:Simon Schluter Hes recently had a string of roles in theatre and film, including Warwick Thorntons The Darkside (2013) and his own play, Jack Charles v The Crown (2013, but still touring internationally), in which he raises some topics dear to his heart. One is that he should have his criminal record sealed and expunged, partly so that he can fulfil his strong desire to go into prisons and work with young indigenous people. His record prevents him doing that. This is the man who, in the documentary Bastardy (2008), told us about himself as director Amiel Courtin-Wilson followed and filmed him periodically for seven years. That brought him to contemporary audiences and left him with a description used as the documentarys headline: Addict. Homosexual. Cat-burglar. Actor. Aboriginal. Almost all written about him since has invoked that handle to get a grip on this idiosyncratic man. But it doesnt get a grip on him at all; he resists and defies categorisation. He is, simply, Jack Charles, a talented, endearing man with a chequered life who is now an elder with much to teach, who once described Bastardy as being done in the national interest to show a stolen persons journey.

Loading Bastardy was a poetic but disturbing portrait, giving beautiful insights beneath the labels. In the documentary, there is a memorable sequence when Charles is shown being embraced and kissed at various places and times by a succession of diverse people who clearly adore him. He is a bit under five foot so when people hug Charles, he slips tenderly under their arm. Much love comes his way - his open-heartedness, his candour, seem to attract it. He was taken from his family when he was 10 months old. He grew up in the Box Hill Boys Home among white people. He was badly abused. He does not recall being held or loved as a child; indeed, others who grew up there once encouraged him to join a class action as a result of what they experienced. It seems miraculous that he managed, while at the home, by chance to come across his own brother, Archie, who died recently. An obituary in last weeks Age said Jack - who also found two of his three sisters by happenstance - had been a devoted older brother who continued to advocate for and offer unconditional love to his brother throughout his life. It wasnt until he was 67 years old that Charles discovered that while he had always thought he was a Yorta Yorta man, his mother was Bunurong and his father Wiradjuri. Charles knew none of that in 1971 when he co-founded the first indigenous theatre group in the country, Nindethana, in which he wanted Aboriginal actors to play ordinary people. He ran it for seven years, and one of the first big shows was at the legendary Pram Factory in Carlton. It was Jack Charles is Up and Fighting.

There was nothing written about Aborigines in those days, he says, describing himself now as the grandfather of Aboriginal theatre. It never occurred to us to write about indigenousness-ness-ness. I enjoyed it, but I found my roots in performing on the stage. I loved putting on make-up and doing the show. It became my NIDA, that theatre group. He is a bit under five foot so when people hug Charles, he slips tenderly under their arm. Much love comes his way - his open-heartedness, his candour, seem to attract it. Credit:Simon Schluter Coranderrk, which opens in Melbourne on August 15, was revised by Sydneys Belvoir Street Theatre and performed there to great acclaim earlier this year. Charles has also discovered his own family connections with Coranderrk, an estate set up in 1863 by the government to protect dispossessed indigenous people. Charles describes how his great-greats lived there with the famous William Barak, last traditional ngurungaeta (leader) of the Wurundjeri. The estate, near Healesville, had become a successful enterprise for the Aborigines living there, producing crops and crafts that were sold in the area and in Melbournes markets. It also became the seat of the local indigenous rights movement. It came under threat several times in the 1870s and 1880s, and one of Jack Charles forebears, Johnny Charles, did one of the long walks with Barak all the way from the reserve, then along the Yarra, to state parliament to protest to the premier and Aboriginal Protection Board. But in order for covetous European settlers to appropriate the reserve, authorities in the 1890s relocated Coranderrk people aged under 35. This made the farming unviable, and when the remaining inhabitants were moved to Gippslands Lake Tyers in 1924, some elders refused to move and stayed in the homestead until they died.

All the other buildings were demolished and the rump estate - 81 of the original 2000 hectares - was returned to the Wurundjeri community in 1998. The play tells some of that story, and it is a beautiful revisiting of history that Jack Charles, so misused and wronged by protection policies, should now play Barak, often described as King of the Yarra. Loading Coranderrk was the most important story to come to light, he says. Its even been placed in the Australian school curriculum. Those early activists [with Barak] were seeking to address the problems there, but the squatters program was still to eradicate us, the wild blackfella, and then terra nullius would be a fact, wouldnt it? One of my ancestors there was shot while out in the bush looking for a lost child. It wasnt an accident. They were still killing the odd activist. The Charles family seems to have been a thorn in the side of the establishment from both black and white sides for generations.

This gets him going on nepotism and slush funds in indigenous organisations, and how, when he got out of prison (after two years on 18 counts of burglary) and came off methadone in a rehab program, he tried to get indigenous health services to do more about drug addiction among young people. Their response, he says, was to ask how dare this upstart tell them what to do?. Thereve been no real moves to address drugs and jail and homelessness. Theyve done so haphazardly. Theyve failed to measure up. In prison, Charles found solace in teaching ceramics to other inmates. It wasnt only ceramica [as he calls it]. I taught a way of life. I called it my psycho-ceramica class. I ran it with an iron fist. Since getting out, his life has turned around, and at the end of Bastardy, Charles is shown excitedly moving into a secure home, a public housing two-roomer at the fringe of his long-time stomping ground around the Fitzroy/Collingwood/Northcote area. He is there still. As he puffs away on a rollie, he glides over those old stories from Bastardy - the heroin addiction, his burglaries in Melbournes wealthy suburbs to pay for his habit, his times as a jailbird - but what is more interesting is his evident sense of calm and clear-sightedness, perhaps embedded in now having a stronger sense of where he came from and whom he belonged to as an indigenous man. Its there in his eyes.

Loading Drugs are the real problem [in the indigenous community] now. The kids go straight from school to amphetamines and other white powders. I want to educate and inform. Bastardy prompted a response - it got people thinking about their lives. [After prison] I made the decision never to regress [onto heroin]. But then I had my elder status as a backup. It worked well. And I had people, strangers, writing to me saying: Saw Bastardy. On the methadone. I can point them in the right direction. He looks out of his window across the nearby suburbs. When he moved here, it was his first winter undercover that he could remember. The heroin started in 1973, and the burglaries were peppered over many years, but he half-seriously justifies them as him being a hunter gatherer on prime Aboriginal land who was collecting dues from those living there rent-free. He spent a lot of time living on the streets in those days, though there was a mens hostel he would visit. It was too reminiscent of institutional life, he says. It always enabled a feed and a place to stay if I really wanted to ... [but] it reminded me of the boys home and of time in prison. After rehab, he eventually went to the Koorie Heritage Trust to investigate his family history. Id been intending to write my Big Black Book of Little Jack Charles, Born Again Blackfella. It took months to do the research. Now I tell young people, If you are just bothered enough to get in there, youll find out who you are. You need counselling, because some of it is devastating.
The water that flows through the Royal National Park is usually sparkling, but along Camp Gully Creek it is black and murky and the river bed is coated in sludge after a pollution incident involving a local mine.

Local trail runner James McCormack was jogging past the Hacking River last week when he noticed a black substance floating atop the water.

Concerned locals spotted black sludge in Camp Gully Creek last week, which is linked to a pollution incident from the nearby Metropolitan Colliery mine. Credit:James McCormack, Wild Magazine

Theres this inky black water flowing quietly through otherwise pristine rainforest and mossy boulders, said McCormack, who is also the editor of Wild Magazine, an adventure and conservation publication.

Theres large amounts of sludge floating on top of the water there. Its like thick custard thats just floating on the water that you can scoop off the water and hold in your hands. Its absolutely disgusting, he said.
Or we could praise the men who dared to wear white suits: Successions Nicholas Braun in Dior, John Legend (who complained on social media about the paucity of snacks supplied to guests) and Andrew Garfield. Though, in truth the best-dressed man was The Greats Nicholas Hoult, in Dior, pulling off flared trousers and a cropped crossover jacket like hed done it a thousand times (incidentally, Hoult wore white to the Venice Film Festival just a week beforehand).

We could talk about the starlets in their column gowns: Lily James in Atelier Versace, Alexandra Daddario in Dior, Britt Lower in a Cucculleli Shaheen dress  with matching gloves  reminiscent of the Empire State Building.

And we could talk about Zendaya, oh Zendaya, in new-season Valentino couture that was the very essence of Old Hollywood (other takes on vintage glamour, such as Elle Fanning, skated too close to costume and didnt go down as flawlessly).

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But the night really belonged to women who, in another time, would have been othered for their age, colour or for daring to take up so much... space. Women such as Lizzo, whose frothy red gown set social media ablaze when it was teased earlier in the day on Twitter and Instagram. Or Jennifer Coolidge, whose emerald gown wont necessarily make many best-dressed lists but who scored full marks for plucking her notes from her cleavage to accept her award for The White Lotus. Oh, and Coolidge is 61.

Taking up space, in the best way ... Sara Paulson (left) in Louis Vuitton, and Sheryl Lee Ralph. Credit:AP

And how can we not talk about Sheryl Lee Ralph, 65, who had the audience in tears with her melodic acceptance speech. Ralph, who nearly quit the industry 15 years ago, is now an Emmy winner, and is also bound to set a new make-up trend for her bedazzled hairdo. Who says women over 60 cant be the red carpet winners?
This years Japanese encephalitis outbreak was at least six times larger than health authorities originally thought, prompting warnings NSW must be prepared for more tropical infections with another wet summer ahead.

A serology survey conducted by NSW Health using blood samples from 917 people in the Griffith, Temora, Corowa, Balranald and Dubbo regions found one in 11  or 80 people  showed evidence of previous infection.

Japanese encephalitis cases were detected in NSWs south and west earlier this year. Credit:Dave Hunt

The survey excluded people who had been vaccinated against the disease, or had been born in or spent more than one month in a country where the virus is commonly found.

Just 13 cases of the mosquito-borne illness were confirmed in the state during an outbreak across January and February this year, linked to piggeries in the states south and west.

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Two men died from the disease: a man in his 60s from the Corowa area and a man in his 70s from Griffith. Deaths from the virus were also recorded in regional areas of Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, in what was the countrys first detection of the virus in humans since an outbreak in the Torres Strait in 1995.

While Japanese encephalitis infection can be a serious disease, only 1 per cent of people infected will experience symptoms.

The results of this serosurvey provide us with valuable insight into the prevalence of past Japanese encephalitis infections in these communities after it was first detected earlier this year, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said.

Read more here.
A senior university lecturer has admitted murdering his wife at their home in Melbournes eastern suburbs.

Adam Brown, a media and communications academic at Deakin University, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court via a video link from the Melbourne Assessment Prison on Tuesday, following his arrest over the death of Chen Cheng, 35, earlier this year.

When asked how he wished to plead, the emotional 40-year-old said: Guilty, your honour.

Magistrate Rohan Lawrence told Brown his case would be sent to the Supreme Court.
King Charles III is not guaranteed to replace Queen Elizabeth II on the $5 note as the government is yet to decide what will be done, the Assistant Minister for Treasury Andrew Leigh says.

Following the Queens death, coins bearing the image of King Charles will start entering circulation next year, but Leigh said swapping the Queen for the King on the $5 note was not a given.

Andrew Leigh said the Queen was on the $5 because of who she was as a person. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

As I understand it, the decision to include the Queens face on the $5 note was about her personally rather than about the status of the monarch, so that transition isnt automatic, Leigh said.

Well have a sensible conversation within government to make an appropriate announcement in due course.
The Queensland opposition has warned against a new housing summit becoming a talk fest, as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk suggested a federal government decision to lift annual migration intakes would strain the sector further.

Palaszczuk on Tuesday announced a roundtable  with stakeholders including councils and social service groups  to be held on Friday, before an October state-based summit to canvass the issues facing people trying to get, or keep, a roof over their heads.

Palaszczuk said she would like to see a representative from the federal government at the states newly announced housing summit. Credit:Matt Dennien

While welcomed by groups including the Property Council of Australia and housing and homelessness peak body Q Shelter, the state opposition warned against the summit becoming a talk fest.

There needs to be targets, there needs to be action, and it needs to happen ASAP, LNP leader David Crisafulli said.
Washington: Russia has covertly spent more than $US300 million ($445 million) since 2014 to try to influence politicians and other officials in more than two dozen countries, the State Department alleges in a newly released cable.

The cable, signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and released on Tuesday, cites a new intelligence assessment of Russias global covert efforts to support policies and parties sympathetic to Moscow. The cable does not name specific Russian targets but says the US is providing classified information to select individual countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Credit:AP

Its the latest effort by the Biden administration to declassify intelligence about Moscows military and political aims, dating back to ultimately correct assessments that Russia would launch a new war against Ukraine. Many of President Joe Bidens top national security officials have extensive experience countering Moscow and served in government when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched wide-ranging campaigns to influence the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections.

A senior administration official declined to say how much money Russia is believed to have spent in Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelensky and his top deputies have long accused Putin of meddling in domestic politics. The official noted allegations of Russian influence in recent elections in Albania, Bosnia and Montenegro, all once part of the former Soviet Union.
The King and Queen Consort meet crowds in Belfast

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The journey of Martyna Majok's Cost of Living is one of the more beautiful Pulitzer Prize-winning plays of recent memory. This delicate four-character play is about two different and seemingly mismatched couplings: John, an arrogant Ph.D. with cerebral palsy and his recently hired aide Jess, who has fallen on hard times; and Eddie, an unemployed trucker who returns to his estranged ex-wife Ani after an accident leaves her paralyzed.

But the Pulitzer committee puts it best. It's "an honest, original work that invites audiences to examine diverse perceptions of privilege and human connection." Actor Gregg Mozgala was involved back in 2015 when Majok presented him with the first three scenes as a short play for Ensemble Studio Theatre titled John, Who's Here From Cambridge. He, alongside actor Katy Sullivan, were eventually cast in the full-length version, titled Cost of Living for runs at Williamstown Theatre Festival and off-Broadway via Manhattan Theatre Club. Sullivan, who's also a record-setting athlete (she was among the first bilateral above-knee amputees to complete in the Paralympics in ambulatory track), even starred in Cost of Living to London's Hampstead Theatre.

Now, years after their journeys with this play began, Mozgala and Sullivan are leading Cost of Living to Broadway, a well-deserved home for this terrific piece of theater. Here, they tell us about the importance of this event.

Gregg Mozgala and Katy Sullivan

( Tricia Baron)

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Gregg, you've been working on this the longest. Can you talk a little bit about when you first received the original short play version, and what it has been like to build the character through the years?



Gregg Mozgala: That one happened at the Ensemble Studio Theatre around 2015, and the title was John, Who's Here From Cambridge. Martyna and I actually met three years prior through a mutual friend in Chicago, and she was then part of Youngblood, the writer's group at EST, which I had been a part of. So when Martyna was like, "I've got this play, and there's a character with cerebral palsy," the co-artistic directors were like "Oh, we know this actor with CP, Gregg," and she's like "I know Gregg!"

It just worked out. It was this crazy cosmic thing, which is similar to what the play does. And I have neverEven though there are characters with disabilities all throughout the canon, I have rarely ever seen a character with cerebral palsy that was written with such care and complexity. It really was a thrill to experience that on the first read. That play is the first three scenes [of Cost of Living]. Very little has changed since then, textually. And it was, and it continues to be, a real gift.

Katy, what was it like for you when you came in for the first run, at Williamstown?

Katy Sullivan: I was immediately scared of it. Her vulnerability. With not only her relationship, but physically what she's been through. All of that terrified me. So I was like "Well, I guess this is something I should try to do." As an artist, if something scares the crap out of you, maybe it's worth trying to do. But I find the play to be incredibly beautiful, and I appreciate that other people feel the same way. Because it does dive into the human experience, and the fact that we all need something from someone else doesn't matter what your circumstances are. But yeah, my first experience with this play was just terror, so the evolution has been really nice.

Gregg: There's something similar for me, obviously because of the reality of John's physical life, but also the vulnerability and the exposure. The literal exposure: John gets showered and is naked on stage, which is something I had never done before. But you're seeing a human body at its most vulnerable, and it needs care, and it needs support, and I felt a connection to that. As Katy said, one of the major themes in the play is the need for care for human beings in general. Needing companionship, needing to be near somebody else.

Katy: I think it's so interesting to approach this play after what we've all globally been through. I think the themes are gonna be so poignant for people.

Gregg: That speaks to the power of the play. It was so powerful when we first did it. These themes are very human: the struggle for daily existence.

Gregg Mozgala and Katy Sullivan in Cost of Living

( Joan Marcus)

You've had two different actors opposite you during each run of the play. Can you talk about working with Kara Young and David Zayas, and how they help deepen your performances?

Katy: David brings this marvelous heart and vulnerability to the character. He himself is kind of like Eddie: he means well in every moment. Eddie constantly makes mistakes, but when it comes from this sweet core, it's almost more heartbreaking with David, because you're just like "Oh, come on, man!"

Gregg: I've known Kara for a number of years, through the New York theater scene. We've done small-scale things here and there, and she's just alwaysHow do I say it? Even in those instances, she's challenged me to up my game. What a joy it is to have someone who is so open, and I'm bringing all that I have to match her. What feels different to me about this time is having a little distance around it, and having had more opportunities to work and act in the interim. I feel a little more confident in the character, and in my own abilities, too, and that comes with maturity.

What does it mean to do this play on Broadway? Because Williamstown is one thing, and City Center is one thing, but Broadway is the whole shebang.

Katy: I wish I could go back in time and tell 17-year-old Katy Sullivan that this was going to happen. There weren't disabled actors on Broadway when I was 17 years old, so the thought that I could ever end up here was the longest of long shots. It's so exciting to be part of what feels like a movement of artists and work and stories being told from an authentic perspective. That people are no longer going "We'll just take a known actor and put 'em in a wheelchair and call it a day." I think that's what makes this show have such a profound impact, that you're seeing bodies that you don't normally see on stage, played by people that have those bodies.

Gregg: I agree a thousand percent with what Katy said. Fourteen-year-old meAnd even, I think this may be the first original play on Broadway  there have been revivals in recent history that have cast disabled people, mainly by one Broadway director, Sam Gold, who has disability within his own life.

Katy: But I don't think there has been an original play with a character written to be physically disabled, although there are shows like Children of a Lesser God. It's that whole idea of if you can see it, you can be it. We were lunatics, because we were like "I don't see it, but I'm gonna be it anyway."

Do you look at yourselves as Broadway trailblazers in that respect?

Katy: That's a lot to carry.

Gregg: I just want to show up at every day and be ready to go. But by the very nature of this having never been done before.And you know what's great too? The script is published and our names are in the book, and there's gonna be some 14-year-old kid somewhere in America that reads this and goes "What? I can play this part? And if I could play this part, what else is there?" To be at the tip of the spear is a lot, you know? So right now I'm focusing on being an actor and whatever comes, comes.

Katy: Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, you try and do it to the best of your ability. One play is not going to change the world. But this play on Broadway is gonna change some things.
Cheyenne, WY (82001)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Mainly clear skies after midnight. Low 47F. Winds ESE at 15 to 25 mph, becoming W and decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Mainly clear skies after midnight. Low 47F. Winds ESE at 15 to 25 mph, becoming W and decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
A person walks past a Peloton store in the Manhattan borough of New York on Jan. 25, 2022. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

2 Peloton Co-founders Leave Amid Massive Restructuring

Peloton Interactive Inc. co-founders John Foley and Hisao Kushi are stepping down from their executive roles, at a time the troubled exercise bike maker is undergoing massive changes to trim losses and win back investor confidence.

It is time for me to start a new professional chapter, said Foley, who was replaced earlier this year as chief executive under pressure from an activist investor as the company struggled to maintain the breakneck growth that propelled its valuation to $52 billion in early 2021.

Karen Boone, elected to the companys board in 2019, will replace Foley as the executive chair. Chief Legal Officer Kushi, who crafted the novel music license deals, will be succeeded by former Uber Technologies Inc executive Tammy Albarran.

Peloton shares were up 0.5 percent in after hours trading. They had fallen about 69.1 percent this year through Fridays close.

Foley, who founded Peloton in 2012 with four others, was replaced as CEO by Barry McCarthy, a former Spotify Technology SA and Netflix Inc executive, after activist investor Blackwells Capital had called for his removal.

John Foley, co-founder and CEO of Peloton Interactive, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 7, 2022. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

Say what you want about John Foley. Hes the reason that Im here today. And hes the reason Peloton is here, McCarthy said at a Goldman Sachs conference on Monday.

Peloton in its most recent quarter recorded a net loss of $1.24 billion as demand for its bicycles and treadmills tumbled and the number of subscriptions stagnated. Both had soared early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The fitness equipment maker, which has incurred operating losses each year since its inception, is taking an array of steps including job cuts, price hikes, and listing its products on Amazon.com to help boost profits.
A KC-135 Stratotanker from the 168th Air Refueling Wing refuels F-22 Raptors from the 3rd Wing over the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex flying along side with an F-15 Eagles from the 144th Fighter Wing, on April 18, 2022. (Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Charles Vaughn)

2 Russian Aircraft Enter North American Air Defense Zone Day Before NORAD Drills

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected two Russian maritime patrol aircraft flying within the Alaskan and Canadian Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ) on Sunday, the day before a three-day military drill operation.

The two Russian aircraft stayed in international airspace and didnt enter American nor Canadian sovereign airspace, according to officials.

This recent Russian activity in the North American ADIZ is not seen as a threat nor is the activity seen as provocative, NORAD said in a statement on Monday.

On Sept 11, NORAD detected, tracked and positively identified 2 Russian maritime patrol aircraft entering & operating in the Alaskan & Cdn Air Defense Identification Zones. The aircraft remained in international airspace, not entering   sovereign airspace. #WeHaveTheWatch  North American Aerospace Defense Command (@NORADCommand) September 12, 2022

NORAD tracks and positively identifies foreign military aircraft that enter the ADIZ, and routinely monitors foreign aircraft movements and as required, escorts them from the ADIZ.

NORAD uses a sophisticated overlapping network of satellites, ground-based radars, airborne radar, and fighter aircraft to track and identify aircraft, according to the agency.

We remain ready to employ a number of response options in the defense of North America and Arctic sovereignty, NORAD said.

Operation Noble Defender

The Russian aircraft flew within the ADIZ before NORAD is conducting the air defense operation Noble Defender in the region between Sept. 12 and 14.

The military operation involves aircraft and personnel from the United States and Canada flying at high altitudes over sparsely populated Arctic and Pacific areas where the public is not likely to see or hear them, according to NORAD.

Operation Noble Defender is a routine series of long-planned NORAD operations that validate NORAD Commands capability to defend Canada and the United States from every avenue of approach, and demonstrate the ability to integrate with other defense and security partners for a holistic, 360-degree defense of North America, NORAD said in a statement on Sept. 6.

Military personnel are practicing their ability to rapidly deploy assets and conduct operations in that region aimed at quickly deterring, defending, or defeating threats to North America.

All three NORAD regions are involved in the drills, including Alaska NORAD Region (ANR), Canadian NORAD Region (CANR), and Continental U.S. NORAD Region (CONR).

NORAD is a bi-national command charged with the defense of the United States and Canada operating since 1958. Its three primary missions are aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning of threats against North America.
A Pro-China Think Tank Operating in WashingtonShould We Be Concerned?

Commentary

Think tanks are like bacteria; theyre everywhere. The United States, home to the largest number of think tanks in the world, has 1,984 of them. Of course, not all think tanks are created equally; some are better than others. But every single think tank is designed to promote a very specific set of values or ideas. This begs the question: Why is there a pro-China think tank operating in Washington?

Of the nearly 2,000 think tanks in the United States, 400 are based in Washington. One of them happens to be the Institute for China-America Studies (ICAS). The supposedly independent institute receives most of its funding from the Hainan Freeport Research Foundation in China. The purpose of this specific foundation, were told, is to commit to the scientific development of the South China Sea resources, build national and local governments in the South China Sea, and inform media, NGO, conflict prevention, and resolution mechanisms.

In other words, the foundation is designed to legitimatize Beijings unlawful maritime claims. The Hainan Freeport Research Foundation is backed by the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, a CCP-affiliated research center that echoes Beijings claims to the disputed territory. Not surprisingly, ICAS also supports the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) contentious position in the arm of the western Pacific Ocean.

The importance of the South China Sea, a critical maritime crossroads for trade, cannot be emphasized enough. Right now, its arguably the most important economic region in the world, accounting for one-third of the worlds maritime trade.

As I write this, the Chinese are holding combat drills in the South China Sea. As the geopolitical guru Robert D. Kaplan previously warned, the battle for the South China Sea could prove to be the defining battle of the 21st century.

Chinese J-15 fighter jets on the deck of the Liaoning aircraft carrier during military drills in the South China Sea on Jan. 2, 2017. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

For the best part of a decade, the CCP has continued to lay claim to much of the South China Sea. Not surprisingly, such claims have irritated other neighboring claimants, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan.

Why is Beijing so interested in the South China Sea?

Besides being an important conduit for maritime trade, the South China Sea contains billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. China is bullying other countries in the region, and theres a think tank in Washington championing its cause.

As tensions between the United States and China escalate, can the former really afford to have a CCP-backed think tank operating in the countrys capital?

After all, there are plenty of reasons to believe that the CCP uses think tanks to conduct espionage. Earlier this year, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the espionage threat from China was more brazen than ever before. Moreover, Beijing is desperately attempting to create think tanks with Chinese characteristics, institutes that wield major global influence. China is actively attempting to infiltrate influential Western institutions, all in the hope of controlling the overarching narrative.

In a recent piece for The Federalist, I outlined the many ways in which China has infiltrated the United States, supposedly the most powerful country in the world. But a true superpower would never allow itself to be subverted in such a blatant manner.

This brings us back to ICAS. Think tanks dont just influence public policy; they influence the minds of the masses. The policies and ideas that emanate from think tanks are, more often than not, biased. Lets be clear here: there happens to be a Chinese think tank operating behind enemy lines, promoting ideas and values that oppose those held by the United States. As the author Nadeem Yaqub noted last year, think tanks develop their perspectives and policies through the prism of political bias, so knowing whos paying for those ideas is important. Indeed. With ICAS, we have a good idea of whos payingthe CCP.

The idea of a Washington-backed think tank operating in Beijing sounds preposterous. Thats because it is. The CCP would never allow it. Why, then, is the United States so accommodating to China? Why has the United States allowed a think tank affiliated with the CCP to set up shop in Washington? There is a fine line between cordiality and recklessness. U.S. policymakers would do well to remember this.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addresses the Jobs and Skills Summit at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Sept. 1, 2022. (Martin Ollman/Getty Images)

Australian Governments Short Notice on Public Holiday to Commemorate the Queen Raises Issues

Australian business and healthcare sectors are worried about their ability to manage the upcoming Sept. 22 public holiday to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II after the governments announcement came on short notice.

Following the holiday confirmation, medical staff and patients have raised concerns that elective surgery and GP appointments could be cancelled or postponed.

The Australian Medical Associations Queensland branch (AMAQ) has called on the states health department to inform patients of all new updates.

These people deserve clarity as to whats going to happen, AMAQ president Maria Bolton told ABC Radio.

We know that people whove been waiting on elective surgery lists have been waiting for some time, and we know that people who are waiting for elective surgeries, its not optional.

Meanwhile, Queenslands health department said it was seeking advice before giving directions to hospitals and clinics.

In South Australia, Premier Peter Malinauskas said the state government was working with public hospitals to carry out as many elective surgeries as possible.

This is complicated by the closure of schools and childcare centres impacting health workers ability to attend work, Malinauskas said.

However, the concerns of the medical sector have been dismissed by the federal government, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying medical procedures would not be affected by the public holiday.

The idea that operations dont occur during public holidays is, of course, not correct, he told reporters.

Medical procedures are always a priority.

Businesses Concerns

Local businesses, including those in the retailing and hospitality industries, also have their share of concerns about the short-notice public holiday.

Tim Piper, the head of the Australian Industry Groups Victorian branch, said that while the one-off holiday was appropriate to commemorate the Queen, it would be very busy and very expensive for businesses.

In Victoria, the Queens mourning public holiday is followed by the AFL grand final holiday on Sept. 23, causing businesses in the hospitality industry and other sectors that trade on holidays and weekends to pay their employees four consecutive days of penalty rates.

Western Australian businesses are in a similar situation as the states Queens Birthday public holiday takes place on Sept. 26.

Diners are seen in a cafe in Mosman in Sydney, Australia, on Jan. 3, 2021. (Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, the Australian Securities Exchange is among the organisations to shut down for the public holiday and has welcomed the opportunity to commemorate the Queens life of service.

A spokesman said the securities market operator appreciated the support of its stakeholders to honour the occasion despite the operational, technical and business challenges brought by the governments short notice.

In response to questions about the snap holidays impact on businesses, the prime minister said it was appropriate to commemorate the historic occasion.

He also said essential services would remain open on the day, with penalty rates applying.

Economists Views on The Public Holidays Impact

Angela Jackson, a lead economist at Impact Economics and Policy, said the cost of public holidays on the economy was not straightforward as some sectors would benefit while others incur extra expenses.

International research indicates there can be small positives due to increased spending as people are not at work and production loss is generally made up, Jackson said in comments obtained by AAP.

KPMG economist Sarah Hunter said public holidays tended to give a boost to the leisure, hospitality and retail sectors and that the four-day weekend in Victoria would likely result in extra demand for tourism and travel services.

However, she noted that the gain would be offset by the production losses in the manufacturing, construction and office-based sectors, with a temporary impact on GDP for the third quarter.

But as its just one day, there wont be a permanent drag on productivity, she said.

It will be a blip, and then the activity will bounce back in the December quarter.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law at the new Boston Logan Terminal in Boston on Sept. 12, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden Administration Decides Not to Enforce COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Federal Contractors

President Joe Bidens administration has opted not to enforce a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors, following a recent court decision that enabled the government to enforce the rule in some parts of the country.

The White House Safer Federal Workforce Task Force quietly updated its website on Aug. 31 to say that the government will take no action to implement or enforce Bidens executive order mandating COVID-19 vaccination for contractors. Clauses in existing agreements that implement requirements of the order will also not be enforced absent further written notice, the task force added.

The task force also made other updates, including clarifying that screening for COVID-19 symptoms for contractors can be self-conducted and does not need to be verified by government workers.

The moves came after a federal appeals court partially lifted a nationwide ban on enforcement of the order. The decision, taken together with rulings from other courts, means the government could have begun enforcing the order in 39 states. Workers with the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), which has sued the government, were designated as exempt no matter where theyre based.

The task force didnt respond to a request for comment on why it decided not to enforce the order. It said on its site that it wanted to ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation.

Possible Motivation

The administration is already facing multiple suits regarding the mandate, and the decision could stem from wanting to avoid additional litigation, Ben Brubeck, ABCs vice president of regulatory, labor, and state affairs, told The Epoch Times.

I think its possible that they are worried that if they put the policy back in place theyll end up getting additional lawsuits filed in some of those other states, Brubeck said.

After the recent decision, the ban only remains in states that have sued or joined lawsuits over Bidens order. Those 11 are Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia.

One way to resolve the matter would be to rescind the order entirely. Bidens administration has refused to do so as of yet, despite increasing calls to do so over waning vaccine effectiveness and a growing number of people who have protection from prior infection.

That would provide more certainty for the entire federal contracting community. Obviously, if they did rescind the policy, I think people would be able to focus on bigger issues, such as labor shortages and surges in material costs, Brubeck said.
Pedestrians move along George Street in the CBD in Sydney, Australia, on Nov. 8, 2021. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Big Migration Not Quite the Silver Bullet for Australias Labour Shortage: Economist

The Australian governments pledge to substantially up migration may not yield the economic benefits it expects, says economist Judith Sloan.

Following the Jobs and Skills Summit in early September, the Labor government announced the country would receive 195,000 new migrants per year, an increase from the previous amount of 160,000.

The call for more migrants has been echoed by all corners of the business and union sector as a means of dealing with a lack of manpower across several industries including cooking, nursing, and regional jobs.

The situation was exacerbated by two years of lockdown and tight international border controls, which have kept students, working holiday visa applicants, and new migrants from entering the country.

However, Sloan, a regular columnist and former commissioner of the Productivity Commission, said while there was sensible re-thinking around the countrys migration programincluding potentially scrapping the golden ticket visathe economic benefit may not be as substantial as slated.

Most people who secure permanent visas are actually already in the country on temporary visas. So when you think about the economic impactif those people are already here and working, and they have one visa and then they have another, it actually wont have a huge economic impact, she told The Epoch Times.

It may encourage more people to come on a temporary basis because they think the probability of securing permanent residency is higher. But I wouldnt be overestimating the economic impacts of that, she said.

Mass Migration Programs a Mixed Blessing

Sloan also said migration was a mixed blessing for communities. On the one hand, there is a positive impact on a countrys gross economic output, but on the other, whether it improved the per capitaor individualwealth of Australians was questionable.

There are very strong influences for a big migration programIm not talking about the migrants themselvesI think there are lobby groups like the property industry, retail sector, universities and those [industries] that actually gain, she said.

But the kicker is the costs, she added. We dont take into account the external costs that are imposed on locals so thats congestion, crowded schools and hospitals, and inadequate infrastructure in general.

State governments are generally in charge of those things, and theyre very slow dealing with them. So I think it can build up a sort of resentment.

Meanwhile, in response to the Jobs and Skills Summit, fellow economist John Humphreys said there was a lack of a true, long-term productivity solution.

The first, second, and third priority of the Summit was productivity, productivity, and productivityand there wasnt a lot of that being discussed, said the chief economist of the Australian Taxpayers Alliance.

Humphreys called on the federal opposition to back the Labor government to continue the rollout of the Stage Three tax cuts that will simplify two tax brackets into one and will result in many families paying less income tax.

The Stage Three tax cuts are one of the only examples weve had in the last 20 years of actual productivity reform, he previously told The Epoch Times.

Sloan said Australia suffered from the resource curse and had been the lucky beneficiary of world events.

We are a big exporter of gas, coal, iron ore and other minerals the world needs. So the terms of tradethe ratio of export prices to import pricesis actually at a historic high now, she said.

Were lucky in the sense that world events have pushed demand for those products, and were reaping the rewards, she added. There is a saying in economics called the resources curse, and basically it says countries lucky enough to have resources often have very bad policies. Were probably an example of that.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks in Washington on June 16, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

CDC Director Admits Agency Gave False Information on COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Monitoring

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has acknowledged publicly for the first time that the agency gave false information about its COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the agencys director, said in a letter made public on Sept. 12 that the CDC did not analyze certain types of adverse event reports at all in 2021, despite the agency previously saying it started in February 2021.

CDC performed PRR analysis between March 25, 2022, through July 31, 2022, Walensky said. CDC also recently addressed a previous statement made to the Epoch Times to clarify PRR were not run between February 26, 2021, to September 30, 2021.

Walenskys agency had promised in several documents, starting in early 2021, to perform a type of analysis called Proportional Reporting Ratio (PRR) on reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which it helps manage.

But the agency said in June that it did not perform PRRs. It also said that performing them was outside th[e] agencys purview.

Confronted with the contradiction, Dr. John Su, a CDC official, told The Epoch Times in July that the agency started performing PRRs in February 2021 and continues to do so to date.

But just weeks later, the CDC said Su was wrong.

CDC performed PRRs from March 25, 2022 through July 31, 2022, a spokeswoman told The Epoch Times in August.

Walenskys new letter, dated Sept. 2 and sent on Sept. 6 to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), shows that Walensky is aware that her agency gave false information.

Lacked Any Justification

Walenskys letter included no explanation of why that happened.

The letter lacked any justification for why CDC performed PRRS during certain periods and not others, Johnson, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations, told Walensky in a response.

You also provided no explanation as to why Dr. Sus assertion  completely contradicts the CDCs [initial] response  as well as your September 6, 2022, response to me, he added.

He demanded answers from the CDC on the situation, including why the CDC did not perform PRRs until March and why the agency misinformed the public when it said no PRRs were conducted.

The CDC and Walensky did not respond to requests for comment.

At no time have any CDC employees intentionally provided false information, a CDC spokesperson, when correcting the agencys previous responses, told The Epoch Times via email in August.

The spokesperson claimed that the false information was given because the CDC thought The Epoch Times and Childrens Health Defense, which received the first response, were asking about a different type of analysis called Empirical Bayesian data mining. But both The Epoch Times and Childrens Health Defense specifically listed PRRs in their queries.

Stonewalling

The CDC has still not provided the results of the PRRs that were performed to The Epoch Times. It also did not provide them to Johnson. The Food and Drug Administration, which has conducted Empirical Bayesian data mining on Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System reports, recently refused to provide any of the results to the Epoch Times.

Walensky alleged in the new letter that Empirical Bayesian data mining is more reliable, and that the PRR results were generally consistent with EB data mining, revealing no additional unexpected safety signals.

However, because of your failure to provide these analyses to Congress and to the American people, the public cannot verify your assertion, Johnson said.

He added that the CDCs overall lack of transparency is unacceptable particularly in light of CDCs inconsistent statements on this matter.
China Accelerates Massive Issuance of Local Government Bonds

Revenue deficits and heavy debts are plaguing all levels of Chinese government

Chinas local authorities sped up issuing Local Government Bonds (LGBs) on a large scale, with the total amount climbing to trillions of yuan (billions of U.S. dollars) as of September.

The issuance of LGBs soared to 6.08 trillion yuan (about $1.1 trillion) from January to August, surging by 24 percent year-on-year. Among them, a newly added local bond grew by 62.4 percent, totaling 4.021 billion yuan (about $581 million), as reported by official media Securities Daily on Sept.2.

The trend is accelerating, as 43.1 billion yuan ($6.1 billion) in LGBs were issued from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2, and 56.9 billion yuan (about $8.1 billion) in the following week, according to Wind, a provider of financial data services, and cited by state-backed 21 Jingji.

In China, LGBs can be described as: by purpose, newly added, and refinanced. Refinanced bonds refer to funds raised to repay the principal of maturing LGBs.

The first eight months of this year saw newly added bonds issued for 4.2 trillion yuan (about $604 billion)that was beyond expectations, an investment consultant said in the Securities Daily report.

In addition, subsequent refinancing bond issuance is expected to significantly surpass last year, said Fen Lin, a senior analyst of Beijing-based Golden Credit Rating, citing that the maturity of local bonds between September and December would be approximately 1.04 trillion yuan (about $197 billion), a 174 percent hike from 602.8 billion yuan (about $87 billion) in the same period in 2021.

Local Financial Governments Unable to Settle Budget

In recent years, China has generally demonstrated a downward trend in the local financial self-sufficiency indicators, according to the Chinese financial portal Yicai on June 16.

The financial self-sufficiency ratio for the local budget, or the proportion of general public budget revenue to total expenditures for local governments, is one of the indicators of local financial sustainability.

In terms of the local public budget, it is estimated that in 2022 general expenditure will surge to 11.526 trillion yuan (about $1.7 trillion) and revenue to 23.1 trillion yuan (about $3.31 trillion). Putting the ratio of local financial self-sufficiency to just under 50 percent, the report said.

In economically advanced regions such as Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, and provinces like Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, and Shandong, financial self-sufficiency rates are 60 percent or higher. At least 22 provinces see rates lower than 50 percent, and 11 provinces below 40 percent.

This gap exists in prefectural and municipal areas in western and north-eastern China and other areas with less-developed economies.

Those financial authorities, when unable to cover the local fiscal budget, will rely on the support of central and higher governments, or the issuance of LGBs.

Liang Ji, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences public revenue research center, told Yicai that the overall local financial self-sufficiency rate has been declining since 1994, and fell to its lowest level in 2020.

The local self-sufficiency rate in 2022 will continue to contract as the growth rate of fiscal expenditure surpasses that of revenue, coupled with decreasing local tax revenues because the business tax was replaced with a value-added tax (VAT) in 2014, Liang said.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaks as he arrives for the Inaugural Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on January 16, 2016 in Beijing, China. (Mark Schiefelbein  Pool/Getty Images)

The move first began with a decision of the State Council that was announced by Premier Li Keqiang in a meeting at the end of 2013. Li declared that in 2014 railroad transportation and postal services would be incorporated into the pilot program of collecting VAT in lieu of business tax. In March 2016, it morphed into a nationwide implementation, covering all taxes in the telecommunications, construction, real estate, financial, and service industries.

However, the new tax strategy caused a rise in costs in the banking sector and deterred the development of technical- and labor-intensive service industries. It also led to a deterioration in the operation of transportation enterprises, according to research by Taihe Institute, a Beijing-based think tank, on May 17, 2016.

Cost of Massive and Frequent Nucleic Acid Testing Depletes Local Finances

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the Chinese authorities have been adhering to so-called dynamic zero-immunization restrictions.

In May, Chinas Healthcare Security Administration issued a circular stating that the cost of regular nucleic acid testing should be borne by local governments.

This posed tremendous pressure on some debt-ridden districts to repay the costs incurred by frequent full-staff nucleic acid testing, although health lawmakers requested in another notice that all provinces and municipalities reduce the cost of single-person testing to no more than 16 yuan (about $2.30) and the cost of mixed multi-person testing to less than 5 yuan (about $0.72) per person starting June 10.

Based on the above official data, if testing each person every three daysand China had 900 million urban residents at the end of 2021the total annual cost of testing would be 540 billion-1.7 trillion yuan (about $77.5 billion to $246 billion).

Chinese Cities Hidden Debts

In October 2021, Tencent and Securities Daily, two of Chinas influential media, co-published City Debt Ratio Ranking List ranking the debt ratio of Chinese cities. ZJnews.china.com published an article on the data.

Among surveyed first-tier and second-tier Chinese cities, 85 doubled their debt ratios in 2021 compared to 2020, and 75 doubled debt ratios from that of 2019, the report said.

Notably, the statistics dont include hidden liabilities of local governments, among which urban investment bonds are the largest.

Chinas urban investment bonds, with local governments being implicit guarantors, are issued on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE), and the interbank market, by urban investment companies, and funds raised are used for local infrastructure construction or public welfare projects.

Urban investment bonds are a unique type of bond for the Chinese Communist government. From underwriters to investors and those involved in the bond issuance process, all are considered part of the local governments bond issuances. That is, a municipal investment company works as a financing platform backed by the local government.

In an April 2021 article published on Yicai, Zhao Wei, a chief economist of state-run Kaiyuan Securities, said that as of mid-2020 the scale of local hidden debt represented by interest-bearing debts of urban investment platforms hit 43.8 trillion yuan (about $6.29 trillion), much higher than explicit debts that total 23.9 trillion yuan (about $3.43 trillion); combined debt ratio is close to 250 percent, far overreaching the prevailing alarm point.

Moreover, since 2020, urban investment bonds raised for repaying old debts ran over by 85 percent, and debt interest payments are already more than 5 percent of the fiscal expenditure, which indicates local debts are intensifying in China, Zhao warned.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Chinese leader Xi Jinping pose for a photo during the 11th BRICS Summit in Brasilia, Brazil, on Nov. 14, 2019. (Sergio Lima/AFP via Getty Images)

China and Russia Vow More Just International Order Ahead of Putin-Xi Meeting: Top CCP Diplomat

China and Russia aim to lead the world towards a new international order, according to one of the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) highest-ranking diplomats.

The Chinese side is willing to work with the Russian side to continuously implement high-level strategic cooperation between the two countries, safeguard common interests, and promote the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction, said CCP Politburo member Yang Jiechi, according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry.

The relationship between the two countries has always been on the right track, and both sides firmly support each other on issues relating to their core interests.

Yang delivered the comments during a Sep. 12 meeting with Russian Ambassador Andrey Denisov in Beijing. In official statements, the Chinese regime regularly uses propaganda describing an attempt to achieve a fairer and more just international order, which Western officials and analysts note is an oblique critique of the U.S.-led rules-based global order that the CCP seeks to undermine and ultimately replace with one that is hospitable to the regimes authoritarianism.

The comment came closely behind similar remarks made by the CCPs third-in-command, Li Zhanshu, in which he explicitly approved of the war in Ukraine and assured Russia it would receive Chinese support.

China understands and supports Russia on issues that represent its vital interests, in particular on the situation in Ukraine, Li said, according to Russias State Duma. The quote was not corroborated by Chinas statement of the event.

The CCP has thus far presented a veneer of neutrality on the issue of Ukraine, repeatedly defending Russias invasion and blaming NATO for the war while stopping short of providing direct military aid that could draw international sanctions upon itself.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping will meet later this week on the sidelines of a regional security summit in Uzbekistan. It will be the first time the two leaders have met in person since February, when they declared a no limits partnership in Beijing, a mere weeks before the Ukraine invasion.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov announced the meeting at a Sep. 13 briefing in Moscow, saying that the two leaders would discuss issues of geostrategic significance, including Taiwan and Ukraine.

China has taken a well-balanced approach to the Ukrainian crisis, clearly expressing its understanding of the reasons that prompted Russia to launch the special military operation, Ushakov said. The issue will be thoroughly discussed during the meeting.

Ushakov added that the meeting would hold special significance for the two leaders.

Russian forces have suffered a string of setbacks in Ukraine in recent weeks, losing ground to a surprise Ukrainian offensive. The nation is still responsible for more than 40 percent of Europes natural gas supply, however, so it may leverage that fact to encourage Western nations to let up on sanctions that are hampering its war effort.

The Putin-Xi meeting is thus crucial to the ambitions of both leaders. For Russia, it presents the opportunity to demonstrate to the world that it is not isolated. For China, it means the chance to champion an alternative international system to the rules-based international order.

Combined, the two regimes aim to counter the liberal international order, analysts note, and to achieve a state of global affairs in which both can expand their interests without fear of repercussion from the United States and its allies.
Tens of thousands showed up on the street to protest against pro-China media in Taiwan on June 23, 2019. (Chen Bozhou/The Epoch Times)

Chinese Ambassador Says Taiwanese Who Pushed For Independence Will Be Punished

The Chinese Ambassador to Australia has explained that Taiwanese who seek independence would be punished if China took control of the area.

Ambassador Xiao Qian said that the secessionists who sought to move Taiwan toward independence would be punished by the Chinese regime when the country was reunified with the mainland.

They are going to be punished according to the law, he said. Theyre involved in splitting Taiwan from China. So its not a question of education or re-education. They will be punished according to law.

The comments follow remarks made by the ambassador during an address to the Australian National Press Club on Aug. 10, when Australian journalists pressed the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) representative about the current tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

The CCP ambassador said it was his personal understanding that if an invasion was successful, its citizens would undergo re-education.

He said that Taiwan had been run by a regional regime for many decades and that their perspective about Mainland China might have different views, requiring a process for the people in Taiwan to have a correct understanding of China.

The comments from the ambassador mirror those made on Aug. 7 by the Chinese ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, who told French media outlet LCI that if Beijing were to take over Taiwan, its 23 million residents would undergo re-educationechoing the situation faced by Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Re-education Currently Used By CCP to Maintain Political Power

The use of the term re-education has sparked global concerns after reports from the United Nations found that the scale and brutality of the detentions, framed by CCP authorities as compulsory reeducation camps or vocational skills education centers, likely qualified as a crime against humanity.

The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups  may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity, the report said.

The report based its findings on statistical analysis, satellite imagery, CCP documents, and 40 interviews with Uyghurs and other affected individuals.

Read More Damning: US Lawmakers Respond to UN Report on CCP Atrocities in Xinjiang

Re-education camps have been utilised by the Communist regime as a means of repression of those groups it deems a threat. Over the course of the communist rule, those targeted for re-education have included Uyghurs, Muslim ethnic minorities like Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Kazakh, Tibetans, religious adherents including house Christians and Falun Gong, and political dissidents.

In an interview with The Epoch Times, American Thought Leaders program, the commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Nury Turkel said that the CCP used thought transformation as a way of assuring it maintained control over the population of China.

The Chinese government, particularly the current government under Xi Jinping leadership, see anything that creates resentment against the Chinese government or anything different than what theyve been promoting specifically in an ideological front, the term that they use a lot can be seen as a source for potential unrest. Calls for future instability to the Communist Party, Turkel said.

To the Chinese State, stability is a paramount concern. They will do anything.
A police officer secures an area and gestures before a convoy of buses transporting delegates passes by ahead of the opening ceremony of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing on May 21, 2020. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese Police Set Up Overseas Service Stations Including in UK and Ireland

A Chinese police bureau has set up dozens of service stations overseas, including three in the UK and one in Ireland, according to a new report.

The report, published on Monday by human rights NGO Safeguard Defenders (pdf), says that the stations, dubbed 110 Overseas after the national police emergency phone number, are part of a programme piloted by the Fuzhou Public Security Bureau (PSB).

By June 21, there were 38 stations across five continents, the report said, citing a Chinese language news article, which also said the programme had received more than 2,100 calls from 88 countries or regions by June 14.

Chinese Restaurants and Supermarkets Among Station Addresses

The so-called stations appear to be local phone numbers that overseas Chinese people can call to access services such as document renewal or to report cases such as fraud to PSB officers in China.

Safeguard Defenders cited a Chinese language news report published in January, which enclosed a list of numbers and addresses of the 30 first batch stations.

Among the addresses, one in Dublin belongs to a Chinese supermarket, while a Glasgow address belongs to a Chinese restaurant.

The Epoch Times wasnt able to get through to the Dublin supermarket on Monday, but a staff member at the Glasgow restaurant confirmed to The Epoch Times in a phone call that the Chinese police phone line is registered at the address, but said it was in name only. Its unclear whether the restaurant has any more involvement in the programme.

There are also two stations in London. One of the addresses appears to belong to an estate agent, but its unclear what is at the other address.

The list also includes stations in countries including France, Spain, Canada, Brazil, the United States, Japan, Nigeria, and Mongolia.

While not the object of this investigation, at first glance at least some of the associations abroad are tied to the United Front system, Safeguard Defenders said, referring to Beijings United Front Work Department, which oversees the Chinese Communist Partys (CCPs) foreign influence operations.

The report went on to name the French Fujian Federation of Industry and Commerce and the Shiyi Hometown Association in Fuzhou, also in France, as examples.

Not All Targets of Anti-Fraud Campaign Are Guilty

The report also said the 110 Overseas programme was set up after the launch of a massive nationwide campaign to combat the growing issue of fraud and telecommunication fraud by Chinese nationals living abroad in 2018.

Authorities of the communist regime claimed that 230,000 Chinese nationals had been persuaded to return to face criminal proceedings in China between April 2021 and July 2022.

CCP mouthpiece Xinhua News Agency said some local authorities combed every household to document the whereabouts of people, before doing everything possible to persuade fraud suspects living overseas to return.

According to other Chinese media reports, authorities made announcements threatening to freeze targets assets, remove their civil registrations, or tank their credit rating unless they returned. Some local authorities also used guilt by association tactics, barring targets family members from education and careers in the military or the public sector.

Local officials went door to door in their investigation of fraud suspects. Not only by posting wanted notices but also by all sorts of threatening tactics, including spraying their home with the words home of a fraud suspect with red paint, one report boasted.

According to Safeguard Defenders, innocent people have also been targeted with these tactics because they live in one of nine forbidden countries that are designated by the authorities as hotbeds of fraud.

Apart from fraud suspects, dissidents in China and overseas have long reported being targeted with similar tactics.

Safeguard Defenders argued these long-arm policing operations by the Chinese authorities eschew official bilateral police and judicial cooperation and violate the international rule of law, and may violate the territorial integrity of third countries involved in setting up a parallel policing mechanism using illegal methods.

The Epoch Times has contacted the UK and Irish governments for comment.
Former Independent Counsel Ken Starr answers questions during a discussion held at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, on Sept. 18, 2018. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Clinton Investigator Ken Starr Dies at 76, Family Confirms

Kenneth Starr, a former independent counsel who investigated then-President Bill Clinton, died on Tuesday. He was 76.

His family said Starr died due to complications from a recent surgery.

We are deeply saddened with the loss of our dear and loving Father and Grandfather, whom we admired for his prodigious work ethic, but who always put his family first. The love, energy, endearing sense of humor, and fun-loving interest Dad exhibited to each of us was truly special, and we cherish the many wonderful memories we were able to experience with him, Starrs son, Randall, said in a statement Tuesday.

Other details about his death were not provided.

Starr, a longtime Republican, was also a member of former President Donald Trumps impeachment defense team during the first impeachment trial.

Starr was nominated by former President Ronald Reagan to serve on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals in 1983 before becoming the U.S. solicitor general years later. In that role, Starr argued more than two-dozen cases in front of the Supreme Court.

In the 1990s, Starr was named by a court to investigate a Clinton real estate investment deal known as Whitewater. That eventually expanded to encompass the former presidents affair with aide Monica Lewinsky, which became the subject of Clintons impeachment inquiry and trial.

Clinton denied the relationship with Lewinsky and was impeached by the House on obstruction of justice and perjury charges. He was later acquitted in 1999 by the Senate.

Much of the drama was tragically unnecessary, in my view, a self-inflicted wound by a talented but deeply flawed president who showed contempt for the law, the American people and the women he had used, Starr wrote for the Wall Street Journal in 2018 about his role in the impeachment and investigation. Yet ultimately, much of the nation readily forgave Bill Clinton and instead blamed the prosecutor: me.

Starrs investigation also touched on the unusual death of Vince Foster, a deputy White House counsel under Clinton, which sparked a number of theories. Fosters death was ruled a suicide.

In the Whitewater scandal, several people were convicted in connection to the case. But neither Bill nor Hillary Clinton was charged.

Between 2010 and 2016, Starr was the president of Baylor University. The colleges president, Linda A. Livingstone, issued a statement following his death.

Judge Starr was a dedicated public servant and ardent supporter of religious freedom that allows faith-based institutions such as Baylor to flourish, Livingstone said.

Starr is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Alice Mendell Starr, and his three children, according to the family statement.
Kansas Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Derek Schmidt tells the audience that incumbent Democrat Laura Kelly (left) has "done more damage than any governor in the history of the state" during their Sept. 10 debate at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchison. (Courtesy of Schmidt for Kansas)

Despite August Vote, Abortion an Issue in Kansas Governor Race

The Kansas State Fair kicked off its annual 10-day run with a noteworthy bang on Sept. 9 as Stillwell farmer Matt Jacobs 1,280-pounder broke the states all-time pumpkin record and ribbons were awarded for best scarecrows, biscuits, and butter sculptures.

Staged in Hutchison, the state fair is a late-summer celebration of tradition, innovation, and novelty with all three apparently baked into its signature OMG Chicken Sandwich, a cereal-coated fried chicken breast wrapped in syrup-slathered bacon wedged inside a doughnut.

Among other Kansas State Fair traditions, it is where, every four years, candidates for governor meet to debate for the first time, signaling the start of the final sprint to November elections.

So it was that first-term incumbent Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly and Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, her Republican challenger, engaged in the first face-to-face exchange of their gubernatorial race on the fairs Peoples Bank & Trust Arena stage on Sept. 10.

Although the 90-minute debate unfolded on a Saturday before noon, both candidates were accompanied by full-throated supporters who demonstrated full-throttled intolerance of opponents views in back-and-forth broadsides and shout-downs. A sober exchange and examination of competing ideas, it was not.

Schmidt, the states three-term attorney general, doubled-down on his opposition to abortion, claiming the fact that Kansans on Aug. 2 shot down a proposed amendment eliminating access to abortion as a right by 165,000 votes, or by a 59-to-41 percent margin, doesnt mean the states conservative voters support unrestricted access.

He said if elected governor, he would support the states Republican-controlled Legislature if it imposed restrictions on abortion because it is the role of state lawmakers to make such decisions in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Courts June repeal of Roe v Wade.

Im pro-life, Schmidt said. I supported the constitutional amendment. Kansas voters have decided, which does not mean the discussion has ended.

Voters cast their ballots in the Kansas Primary Election at Merriam Christian Church in Merriam, Kansas on Aug. 2, 2022. Voters in Kansas were deciding on whether or not to remove protection for abortion from the states constitution. (Kyle Rivas/Getty Images)

Kelly agreed that Kansas voters have decided which, to her, means the discussion has ended. She reiterated that she would stand with an overwhelming majority of Kansans in defending medical privacy and reproductive rights against government overreach.

While Schmidt said he would contemplate removing several of the six Kansas Supreme Court justices who interpreted the states Bill of Rights includes a right to abortion, Kelly said she would reappoint all six when their terms expire.

Millions to Spend

Both Kelly and Schmidt blew past nominal opposition in slam-dunk Aug. 2 primary victories and have millions to spend in what is projected to be among the nations most compelling governor elections this fall.

The Kelly-Schmidt race is one of 36 gubernatorial elections nationwide this fall. Kelly is among 22 Democratic governors seeking re-election, but the only one trying to do so in a state that former President Donald Trump won in 2020, garnering 56 percent of the vote.

The race is rated a toss-up election by the Cook Political Report, Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales, and Larry Sabatos Crystal Ball.

Kelly served four terms, 14 years, in the state Senate representing Topeka, including as assistant minority leader and as minority whip, after a 16-year stint as Kansas Recreation & Park Association executive director. In the 2018 gubernatorial race, she defeated former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach by 5 percentage points.

Kellys campaign reported to the Kansas Secretary of State Offices Elections Division (KED) on July 25the last report on file as of Sept. 12that it had raised more than $3.46 million, spent about $2.12 million and had $1.3 million in cash on hand.

Kelly touts bipartisan achievements in campaign literature, claiming she has brought together both parties to get things done for Kansas.

Since assuming office in 2018, Kellys campaign states Kansas has seen a record of over $8.6 billion dollars of investment in new business initiatives and the creation and retention of over 48,000 jobs.

She addressed those same themes in the Sept. 10 debate, discussing bipartisan achievements such as working with GOP-led Legislature to balance the state budget, building a $1 billion rainy-day fund, fully funding public education, eliminating the states 6.5 percent grocery sales tax, securing a $4 billion Panasonic battery plantthe states largest-ever economic development projectand breaking ground on more than 1,000 infrastructure projects since 2019.

Kelly bashed Schmidt for his alleged association with disastrous budget and tax policies adopted under former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, claiming he supported the agenda that rode us into the ditch.

Derek Schmidt stood by Brownback tax cuts to our schools, she said. He even went to court to keep those cuts in place.

At yesterdays #StateFairDebate I asked my opponent if he thought we were better off now than under Sam Brownback. He wouldnt answer. pic.twitter.com/lHbnOjPjhn  Laura Kelly (@LauraKellyKS) September 11, 2022

Pandemic Policies

Schmidt, who served in the Senate with Kelly before being elected attorney general three times, said he is the appropriate conservative to ensure individual freedoms and the Constitution are protected.

He ripped into Kelly for her administrative orders during the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in business and school closures, stating he would never impose overreaching authority on Kansans.

Fully funding schools can only work if you dont lock the kids out of them, he said, suggesting the state allocate more funding to hire armed school security, the best guarantee to prevent shootings.

What we should not do is turn this into an excuse to take guns away from law-abiding American citizens, he said, claiming Kelly is opposed to the Second Amendment.

Untrue, Kelly responded. What Im talking about is background checks, she said. Ensuring that guns are locked up and kept away from children in the home. I think every commonsense gun owner would agree with me.

Schmidt said spending under Kelly has surged and that she will continue to increase Kansans tax burden by endorsing Democratic President Joe Bidens policies.

We must not adopt government policies that try to turn Kansas into California, Schmidt said during the debate. Gov. Kelly is wrong in her philosophy. So many Kansans tell me they are anxious about our freedoms, our future, and our commonsense values we thought we all shared. Many worry creeping big-government socialism is replacing the opportunity and self-sufficiency that motivated and empowered so many Kansas stories in years past.

Everywhere I go, Kansas parents express immense sadness, frustration, worry, and anger with the still-lingering harm to our kids from Governor Kellys school lockdowns. Never again! pic.twitter.com/tZC47hg2E4  Derek Schmidt (@DerekSchmidtKS) September 12, 2022

Schmidts campaign reported to KED on July 25 that it had raised more than $2.3 million, but less than $700,000 between Jan. 1-July 1. His campaign garnered $1.638 million in 2021, a record for any gubernatorial challenger.

Two Debates

The state fair debate is the first of at least two that both parties have agreed to participate in. The second, hosted by the Johnson County Bar Association, will be Oct. 5 and be broadcast by Kansas City PBS television. The Kansas Chamber of Commerce staged a question-and-answer forum with both separately on Sept. 7 in Olathe.

The debates have not included Libertarian Party nominee Seth Cordell nor Independent candidate Dennis Pyle, a state senator from Hiawatha who left the Republican Party in July to run under a third-party line.

While Kellys camp is all for their inclusion, figuring both are more likely to draw GOP votes, Schmidts campaign has resisted efforts to expand the debate stage beyond the two main party candidates.

Schmidt will be speaking at a Sept. 18 Turning Point Action Unite & Win rally in Olathe featuring Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Archeologists from Australia and Indonesia have unearthed evidence of the earliest known case of amputationthought to have occurred at least 31,000 years agoin a cave on the island of Borneo.

The skeletal remains revealed a young adult whose lower left limb had been surgically removed, after which evidence shows the person lived at least six to nine years before being buried inside Liang Tebo cave in East Kalimantan.

These findings predate the previously oldest known surgical amputation by 24,000 years, which was that of a farmer whose arm was amputated in France approximately 7,000 years ago.

Dr India Ella Dilkes-Hall from the University of Western Australias (UWA) School of Social Sciences, who co-led the Liang Tebo excavations in 2020, said in a UWA release on Thursday the discovery proves early humans had medical knowledge and skills that were far more advanced than what scientists previously thought.

The prevailing view around the evolution of surgical practice has been that it is intimately linked to the emergence of agricultural societies around 10,000 years ago during what is known as the Neolithic Revolution, which gave rise to a host of health problems previously unknown in non-sedentary foraging populations, she said.

Our find, illustrating a deliberate amputation, demonstrates that an advanced level of medical expertise and skills was possessed by early modern human foraging societies.

Dilkes-Hall said the archeologists, aided by experienced local guides, were looking for evidence of early human groups in the area when they found three limestone burial markers deliberately positioned above the head and each arm of the individual, who was found to be lying on their back.

It was incredibly exciting noticing that as careful excavation proceeded the foot and lower left leg were missing entirely, we couldnt quite believe what we were seeing, she said.

Dr India Ella Dilkes-Hall, from UWAs School of Social Sciences during the excavation (Photo courtesy of Dr India Ella Dilkes-Hall. Supplied to The Epoch Times by UWA)

Amputation, Not Trauma Injury

After excavation and with the agreement of the Indonesian government, the remains were flown to Griffith University in Queensland, where a more detailed analysis confirmed an amputation had been carried out.

The evidence indicates that the person, whose sex we arent able to determine, had their lower left leg removed through deliberate surgical amputation of the distal tibia and fibula, Dilkes-Hall said.

There was no evidence for infection of the limb, the most common complication of an open wound without antiseptic treatment, which indicates traditional ecological knowledge of plant-based medicinal remedies.

Meanwhile, Tim Maloney of Griffith University in Queensland said that if the separation of the lower leg had been caused by blunt force trauma from an animal attack or accident, crushing features in the bones would be visible.

Instead, remodelled (healed) bone covers the amputation surfaces, he said. The cutting margins indicate the use of a sharp instrument, with lithic and shell, edges found in association providing a possible source, although the exact nature of the surgical implements remains unknown.

Dilkes-Hall said the archaeologists now think that these early non-sedentary foraging societies possessed a comprehensive knowledge of human anatomy, physiology, and surgical procedures, as well as a mastery of medicinal plant use, all developed over a more extended period than previously thought and passed down through oral tradition.
EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Gohmert Demands Welfare Check of Jan. 6 Prisoners Following Assault and Lockdown at DC Jail

'It wasn't well at all then and it's not at all well now'

In the wake of the assault of several Jan. 6 prisoners and subsequent lockdown at the District of Columbia jail, United States Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) is demanding a welfare check on the inmates.

As reported by The Epoch Times, It began without warning. A Jan. 6 prisoner had emerged from his cell without a mask. When it was all over, the jail was in lockdown and several inmates had been pepper sprayed, handcuffed, and thrown into solitary confinement. Inmate tablets were quickly confiscated, but not before several prisoners had time to send text messages, exposing the brutal truth of what happened. Many of those messages were obtained by The Epoch Times. According to one text message, [Expletive] just went down at the Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF) in Washington, D.C., around 9:46 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 5.

Screenshot of text messages sent out by three January 6 prisoners as events unfolded at the jail in Washington D.C. during an alleged assault, initiated by Lieutenant Crystal Lancaster. (Courtesy of Sarah McAbee)

The perpetrator of the alleged assaults was Lieutenant Crystal Lancaster, the guard in charge of the solitary confinement area known as The Hole at the CTF. One of the assaulted prisoners was Ryan Nichols.

According to a habeas petition (pdf) filed with the United States District Court, District of Columbia by Nicholss attorney, Joseph McBride, Lancaster verbally and mentally abuses inmates. Lancaster also oversees officers and guards who do the same, and is suspected of bringing drugs into the prison. Lancaster, notorious among Jan. 6 prisoners and their family members for being particularly vulgar and brutal, had been banned from the Jan. 6 pod for verbal abuse and for stealing the inmates mail, according to the wife of one of the inmates. It is unclear why she was in the J6 pod at the time of the alleged assaults.

The D.C. facility itself has a long history of sub-human conditions.

In exclusive interviews with The Epoch Times, the wife and father of Ryan Nichols said this wasnt the first time Nichols was abused by the guards at the DC jail. The last time Nichols was thrown into solitary confinement was in retaliation for the Habeas petition, in which Lancaster was called out for being abusive to the prisoners and for her suspected role in bringing drugs into the jail.

In the early morning hours of Sept. 7, two days after the assault on her husband and the other prisoners, Bonnie received a heartbreaking series of text messages from her husband describing both his physical and mental state as he sat in solitary confinement.

A series of text messages sent from Ryan Nichols to his wife Bonnie on Sept. 7, 2022 after he was assaulted by Lieutenant Crystal Lancaster and thrown into solitary confinement. (Courtesy of Bonnie Nichols)

[Rep.] Loui Gohmert has already done everything he can do, Nicholss father Don told The Epoch Times. Nicholss wife, Bonnie said Gohmert has been doing more than anyone else has.

A Clear Conflict

The Epoch Times reached out to Rep. Gohmerts office on Sept. 8, providing him with the screenshots of the text messages being sent to Jan. 6 prisoners to their family members during the assault. In a letter dated Sept. 12, (pdf) obtained exclusively by The Epoch Times, Gohmert lambasted Ronald Davis, director of the United States Marshals Service in Washington, D.C., for the ongoing and unchecked abuse of Jan. 6 prisoners at the DC Central Detention Facility and the apparent efforts to cover it up.

Although you have now sent two letters expressing your confidence in the District of Columbia Department of Corrections detention and safety standards, the ongoing conditions and circumstances continually reported by the prisoners at the DC Central Detention Facility  present a clear conflict between your assessment and that of those being detained, Gohmert wrote. For this reason, another welfare check needs to be conducted to ensure that my constituent, Ryan Nichols, an honorably discharged Marine Corps veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and all other prisoners are safe and not presently at severe risk of bodily harm and even death.

Gohmert also advised Davis that the same day his office received his most current response, expressing confidence in the DC facility, was the same day Gohmert was provided details regarding the apparent assault on the Jan. 6 prisoners, which ended in a lockdown with at least three prisoners being pepper sprayed and thrown into solitary confinement.

To further demonstrate the lack of accountability for abusive and violent staff, Gohmert also noted how the prisoners tablets and electronic grievance system were turned off.

This is patently wrong, Gohmert wrote, and I sincerely hope that you will not dismiss these very serious reports coming directly from the jail and substantiated with photo evidence.

Gohmert also admonished Davis for the violation of policy in relation to Use of Force and the Use of Chemical Munitions.

Even passive resistance, which was not displayed in this incident, does not and should not authorize a staff member to so viciously use chemical munitions, Gohmert wrote, adding that he has been warning them of the hostility and outrageous punishment that is still being unconstitutionally dished out by very hateful jailers in authority.

All Is Not Well

In an interview with Gohmert regarding the DC jail incident and his subsequent letter to Davis, the Texas congressman expressed frustration with the repeated assurances by Davis that all is well.

It wasnt well at all then and its not at all well now, Gohmert asserted. He was saying, you can have confidence, and thats what fired me up. These people are being mistreated. His confidence is completely misplaced.

Whether you want to call it torture or abuse, Gohmert said the things these guards can get away with in a United States prison is outrageous. Its just wrong, he said, adding that when you have a U.S. marshall saying all is well, the people being abused have no recourse for the wrongdoing. He also expressed disdain over the evidence that shows both Lancaster and Kathleen Landerkinthe deputy warden at the D.C. Jail, who hates conservatives with a passion, especially if they like Donald Trumpare allowed to abuse the Jan. 6 prisoners with no accountability.

According to a Dec. 16, 2021 letter (pdf) sent by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to Muriel Bowser, mayor of the District of Columbia, Landerkin has demonstrated a consistent pattern of disrespect for Members of Congress and fellow corrections staff, in addition to displaying a public animus toward anyone who supports President Donald J. Trump.

The fact that Davis appears to be satisfied with the conditions and treatment of prisoners at the DC facility has Gohmert deeply concerned. The endeavor by Davis to confidently report that all is well when so many things are so obviously wrong reminds Gohmert of the blindness of superiors at Abu Ghraib just before the truth came pouring out.

A screenshot of Rep. Louie Gohmerts (R-Texas) closing remarks in his Sept. 12, 2022 letter to Ronald Davis, director of the U.S. Marshals Service, regarding the alleged assault of several Jan. 6 prisoners and the subsequent lockdown of the Central Treatment Facility of the jail in Washington D.C. (Obtained by The Epoch Times)

Reports of Abuse and Even Torture

To Gohmert, there has never been a time in United States history when Americans were treated so horrifically simply because they disagreed with those in political power. He described the hubris of those who say they are against the abuse of human rights around the world but see the treatment of Jan. 6 prisoners as acceptable.

That was an act of abuse, Gohmert insisted about what happened at the D.C. jail. It is a blot on the American record. Its a blot on our reputation around the world.

He is also convinced that recent remarks delivered by President Joe Biden have signaled approval of this sort of abuse and encouraged more hostility against anyone who dares to support Donald Trump or to embrace the movement to Make America Great Again, otherwise known as MAGA. He recalled how Hitler used similar language to turn the nation against Jews in order to make it acceptable for the atrocities inflicted upon them.

Its like with Democrats right now, whatever you do to conservatives is not enough, Gohmert lamented. Its exactly how Orwell paints it in 1984.

As an elected official and a member of the human race, I cannot sit idly by and hear these reports of abuse and even torture and accept that these are realities that we as citizens must accept in the United States of America in 2022, Gohmert concluded in his letter to Davis. Therefore, I once again urge you to act as if there are lives depending on the accuracy and personal prudence of your analysis, because they are.

The Epoch Times reached out to Davis for comment.

I can confirm Ronald L. Davis, the U.S. Marshals Service Director did receive a letter from Rep. Louie Gohmerts on Monday, Sept. 12, Shauneteh Kelly from the Office of Public Affairs replied to The Epoch Times. However, it would be premature for the U.S. Marshals Service to discuss the content and the USMS response to the letter.
In this file image from video, Christopher Hassell, a Department of Health and Human Services official who chairs the Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight (P3CO) Review Committee, speaks during a government meeting. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

EXCLUSIVE: US Pandemic Committee Hasnt Worked During COVID-19 Pandemic

A committee formed to evaluate research projects involving pathogens that could cause pandemics has not worked during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Epoch Times has learned.

The Potential Pandemic Pathogen Care and Oversight (P3CO) Review Committee was formed in 2017 under a new framework aimed at strengthening oversight of potentially risky projects that were up for funding from the U.S. government, following a multi-year pause ordered after issues involving anthrax and avian influenza.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes the National Institutes of Health (NIH), created the panel.

According to the HHS website for the panel, it has only reviewed three projects, all of which were for influenza viruses. The most recent review took place in 2019.

The Epoch Times asked the HHS records office for any projects the panel has reviewed since Jan. 1, 2020, determinations for each project reviewed since then, and details, such as transcripts, of all meetings held.

The HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) searched and found no records responsive to the request, according to the records office.

Specifically, the ASPR has informed our office that the Committee has not reconstituted within the search dates given for the search, Arianne Perkins, a Freedom of Information Act officer, told The Epoch Times in a letter.

Asked what that meant, Ruhma Sufian, another records officer, said in an email that because the HHS P3CO Review Committee has not met within the search frame you gave  ASPR responded with no records.

That means no work has been done by the committee despite it coming to light that the NIH funded risky experiments at the laboratory in Wuhan, China located near where the first COVID-19 cases appeared in 2019.

Sen. Roger Marshall, (R-Kan.) asks a question during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington in a file photograph. (Leigh Vogel/Pool/Getty Images)

It is unconscionable that the Committee has not reviewed any of the thousands of HHS-funded coronavirus research projects when people are still dealing with the COVID-19 outbreakthe American people deserve better, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), who has tried halting grants for risky research, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

We are troubled that the P3CO Review Committee may have been sidelined and isolated from reviewing any research proposals, Jack Heretik, a spokesman for Republicans on the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, who have been investigating the HHS review process, told The Epoch Times via email.

The HHS, ASPR, and the NIH did not respond to requests for comment.

How It Works

The panel cannot review projects on its own accord. The funding agency must refer proposals to the panel.

To refer a project, an agency must determine it is reasonably anticipated to create, transfer, or use enhanced PPPs, or potential pandemic pathogens, according to the framework.

HHS defines a PPP as a pathogen that is likely highly transmissible and likely capable of wide and uncontrollable spread in human populations and is likely highly virulent and likely to cause significant morbidity and/or mortality in humans.

The definition of enhanced PPPs is even narrower. Its said to be a potential pandemic pathogen that results from the enhancement of the transmissibility and/or virulence of a pathogen. Experts often refer to such research as gain of function. Some say the United States has funded a number of gain of function experiments in the past, including experiments performed at the Wuhan lab with U.S. funding.

HHS excludes naturally occurring pathogens in circulation in nature, or recovered from nature, from the enhanced PPP definition. It also excludes activities associated with vaccines and surveillance activities such as sequencing.

If a funding agency does refer a project, then the review group is convened to evaluate the proposal, including performing a risk-benefit assessment and suggesting a risk mitigation plan. The panel makes recommendations to the HHS, which may or may not be accepted. Ultimately, the project can still be funded with no changes, funded with changes, or not funded.

Call for New System

Christopher Hassell, an HHS official who has said he chairs the committee, said the group is robust and tough.

This isnt some rubber stamp group, he said during a National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity meeting in 2020, adding: Its a very critical group. Its a tough group to get through.

But the fact that only three projects have been reviewed shows the system is failing and needs changing, according to some experts.

Peter Daszak, right, the president of the EcoHealth Alliance, is seen in Wuhan, China, on Feb. 3, 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Most covered projects, including the project by EcoHealth Alliance and its Wuhan partners, were not reviewed due to a failure by the NIH to identify and flag covered projects, Richard Ebright, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University, said during a congressional hearing in August.

Ebright and Dr. Steven Quay, CEO of Atossa Therapeutics, urged lawmakers to quickly put in place a different system.

They cited the dearth of reviews in recent years.

The NIH and its parent agency never responded to requests for comment on the recommendations.

Dr. Mark Lipsitch of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Dr. Tom Inglesby of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, previously urged the government to be more transparent with the system.

Currently, none of the HHS departmental review process for approving enhanced PPP experiments is public. This is inconsistent with the [White House] guidance which said: To the maximum extent possible, agencies enhanced PPP review mechanisms should provide transparency to the public regarding funded projects involving the creation, transfer or use of enhanced PPPs,' they said in a 2020 paper.

To that end, the HHS review should make public who participates in the review, as well as the basis of the decision that the research is acceptable to fund, including the U.S. governments (USGs) calculation of the potential benefits and risks of the proposed enhanced PPP research.

An exterior view of building one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) inside Bethesda campus, in Bethesda, Md., on Nov. 21, 2020. NIH funds the majority of biomedical research in United States. (grandbrothers/Shutterstock)

Secrecy

None of the members of the P3CO committee are known to the public, a system critics say sets up issues such as conflicts of interest.

American taxpayers deserve to know the committees composition, like how many reviewers are employed by HHS, how many are biothreat and national security experts, and how opinions are weighted, Marshall said.

Hassell said possible harassment was a reason for not naming the committee members.

Names get out, you become subject to a number of vulnerabilities, Hassell said during the 2020 meeting.

As much as it would be good to publicize the individual names, which has been suggested, if that chills anyone being willing to serve on that committee, that will be detrimental because we do manage to get good people on that committee that give of their time to work on this thing, Hassell said during the 2020 meeting.

All members are government workers, Hassell said at the time. He said some are from outside HHS, including from the U.S. military. Hassell told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the members include NIH employees. One works for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci. The NIAID worker co-authored articles with an investigator who was engaged in research proposals that could have been reviewed by the P3CO Committee, according to Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), and Morgan Griffith (R-Va.).

Dr. Francis Collins said in a statement in 2019 that the pre-funding reviews done by the committee arent public to allow for candid critique and discussion of individual proposals. He noted that information about projects funded by the NIH is publicly available, once the awards are given.

NIH takes the need to ensure the safety of the public very seriously. We believe the HHS Framework process strikes the right balance of rigorous oversight with the advancement of the important science necessary to prevent and treat infectious diseases, added Collins, who stepped down as NIH director in 2021 but still works for the agency and advises President Joe Biden.
A hormone secreted into the blood during endurance, or aerobic, exercise reduces levels of a protein linked to Parkinsons disease and halts movement problems in mice, researchers report.

Parkinsons disease, a neurologic condition that causes people to lose control over their muscles and movements, affects about 1 million people in the US.

If confirmed in additional laboratory research and clinical trials, the researchers study in mice engineered to have Parkinsons disease symptoms could pave the way for a Parkinsons disease therapy based on the hormone irisin.

Johns Hopkins Medicines Ted Dawson, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institutes Bruce Spiegelman worked together to look into the link between the exercise molecule irisin and Parkinsons disease.

For unknown reasons, endurance exercise has long been found to alleviate symptoms of Parkinsons disease. Dawson, whose research focuses on neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinsons disease, says one of the first clues to the link between exercise, Parkinsons disease, and irisin came from Spiegelman, whose first paper about irisin was published in 2012 in Nature and subsequently in other scientific journals, showing that a protein called an irisin peptide is released into the blood and increases with endurance exercise.

If irisins utility pans out, we could envision it being developed into a gene or recombinant protein therapy.

In the past decade, other laboratories have found that exercise elevates levels of irisin, and there is interest in looking into the connection between irisin and Alzheimers disease as well as Parkinsons disease.

To test the effects of irisin on Parkinsons disease, Dawson and Spiegelmans teams began with a research model used by Dawson in which mouse brain cells are engineered to spread small, spindly fibers of alpha synuclein, a protein that regulates moods and movements related to the brain neurotransmitter dopamine.

When alpha synuclein proteins clump, those clusters kill dopamine-producing brain cells, a key trigger of Parkinsons disease. Fibrous clumps of alpha synuclein are very similar, says Dawson, to what is found in the brains of people with Parkinsons disease.

In the laboratory model, the researchers found that irisin prevented the accumulation of alpha synuclein clumps and its associated brain cell death.

Next, the research teams tested irisins effects on mice engineered to have Parkinsons-like symptoms. They injected alpha synuclein into an area of the mouse brain, called the striatum, where dopamine-producing neurons extend. Two weeks later, the researchers injected a viral vector, which increased blood levels of irisin, which can cross the blood-brain barrier, into the mice.

Six months later, mice that received irisin had no muscle movement deficits, while those injected with a placebo showed deficits in grip strength and their ability to descend a pole.

The researchers demonstrated that irisin also speeds up the transport and degradation of alpha synuclein via fluid-filled sacs called lysosomes in brain cells.

If irisins utility pans out, we could envision it being developed into a gene or recombinant protein therapy, says Dawson, referring to the widening field of drug development aimed at using cellular genetics to treat disease. Dawson is a professor in neurodegenerative diseases, a professor of neurology, and director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering.

Given that irisin is a naturally produced peptide hormone and seems to have evolved to cross the blood brain-barrier, we think it is worth continuing to evaluate irisin as a potential therapy for Parkinsons and other forms of neurodegeneration adds Spiegelman.

Dawson and Spiegelman have filed for patents on the use of irisin in Parkinsons disease. Spiegelman has created a biotechnology company, Aevum Therapeutics Inc., based in Boston, to develop irisin into treatments for neurodegenerative disease.

Results of the researchers tests appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Additional scientists who contributed to the research are from Johns Hopkins and Harvard Medical School.

Funding for the research came from the JPB Foundation, the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

This article was originally published by Johns Hopkins University. Republished via Futurity.org under Creative Commons License 4.0.
Kenneth C. Fan, founder of Indo-Pacific Risk Forecast Centre, in Taipei, Taiwan, talking about the approach of a post-CCP China, on August 24, 2022. (The Epoch Times)

Expert Gives Insight on a Possible Post-CCP Future

Will occur when the Public Security forces can't be paid

The fiscal deficit of local governments has become a norm in China. During widespread pay cuts of public servants, the regime continues to box itself in with its strict zero-COVID policy. A China affairs observer believes China is heading toward a post-regime epoch.

Kenneth C. Fan, the founder of Indo-Pacific Risk Forecast Centre, says that people should be prepared for a post-regime era.

In an interview with the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times, Fan defined what the era of post-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) means and provided what he believes will be a clear signal of the new period beginning.

He anticipates the CCPs power departments, such as, the public security, military, and armed police, will soon experience pay cuts, which he believes to be a clear sign of a impending post-CCP China.

China Turned Into a Giant Hollywood Set

Fan described modern China as an oversized Hollywood stage where the CCP set up a team of crew and billboards, such as finance, national defense, and banks, to attract foreign investment that would maintain the Chinese economy with blackbox operations.

With this giant Hollywood setup, the CCP achieved its goal of joining the WTO, and the world became the CCPs ECMO (extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation), that is, life support, to maintain Chinas economy from the outside.

The theme, known as deception, growth, kill, was planned to seize technology and interest from foreign businesses, especially Taiwanese businesses.

He said the giant Hollywood movie set is designed to deceive.

He referred to the regime as the founder of the metaverse.

What is the metaverse that Facebook is talking about now? Let me tell you,  Under the CCPs rule and united front, it has built itself into a multi-layered, multi-dimensional, metaverse.

Of the many characters and worlds in the metaverse, there is always one suitable for you, and there is always a way to pull you into its trap. Like the boiling frogyou will be very comfortable; but later, you will find that this is the end, Fan said.

A special unit of the Hong Kong police provides security in the citys Wanchai district, as Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrives in Hong Kong to attend celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the citys handover from Britain to China, on June 30, 2022. (Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images)

Xi Managing China Like a War State

Fan says this giant theater is falling apart.

Recent news of public departments cutting the salaries of civil servants, teachers, and even medical staff in various parts of China, suggests a severe deterioration in Chinas finances.

Xis trying to reverse Chinas situation, with internal control, zero-COVID, closure of cities and households, or even through wars, Fan said.

He criticized Xi Jinping for managing China like a war state, The lockdown of Shanghai is his pre-war exercise, he said.

But the wide use of city lockdowns has financially devastated the entire country.

On July 14, the Chinese Ministry of Finance reported a budget deficit in all 31 provincial administrative regions for the first six months of 2022. On July 21, the State Council warned all levels of government to adhere to tight spending.

Real estate investor Graham Stephan also shared on his Twitter account on Aug. 17, that the Chinese economy is experiencing a near-complete collapse.

Post-CCP China

Fan explained that he proposed the concept of a post-CCP China in 2019.

His prediction is that this will happen when every Chinese administrative unit runs a deficit, and the central governments finances arent enough to resolve the local deficits; with the situation lasting for 24 months.

He pointed out that without money, the ruling framework of the CCP collapses.

The public service will halt, and the operations to sustain basic livelihoods will cease when the nations finances fall short, he said.

When The Force Sector Is Short on Cash, the CCPs Finances are Terminally Ill

Fan believes the most indicative phenomenon of financial terminal illness would be when the CCPs power departments, such as the army, police, intelligence, and public security, also experience delayed paychecks.

He said that these departmentswhat the CCP relies on to secure its powerwould typically enjoy a large share of the budget. Local police departments also keep their cash flow using various means, such as, arbitrary fines. Therefore, when their salaries are also delayed, the CCPs finances are terminally ill.

He stressed, that lack of cash is the clearest signal of the beginning of a post-CCP China.

Shih-hsun Li contributed to this report.
FBI Pressured People to Give Up Their Gun Rights, Documents Show

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has pressured Americans to voluntarily give up their Second Amendment rights, which is potentially illegal, according to newly disclosed documents.

FBI officials were found to have had a number of Americans fill out a form that said they want the FBI to make it illegal for them to purchase or own guns forever because of a mental health condition.

A national gun rights group, Gun Owners of America (GOA), is demanding the FBI remove these records from the background check database by Oct. 8 and that Congress enforce the removals.

Weve learned the FBI had no business disarming these individuals. They did not pose a threat to society. The FBI actions were wholly unlawful, Aidan Johnston, GOAs director of federal affairs, told The Epoch Times.

FBI Tactics

Fifteen people filled out the forms, according to documents GOA acquired through a Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NISC) is how licensed gun dealers can check if a purchaser can legally own a gun.

The completed self-submission forms show people gave their mental health records to the FBI and signed to accept that completion and submission of this form will result in denial of my right to purchase, to possess and to use any firearm.

There is no time frame or process given for getting back their rights, which is what the GOA is trying to do for them.

We have the records of 15 cases so far but, for all we know, it could be 1,500 or 15,000, said Robert J. Olson, an attorney for GOA, told The Epoch Times in an interview. The FBI tells us these persons were put in the NICS system as mentally prohibited, and theres no way to track who was entered on the basis of this form. But the burden is on the FBI to fix this because they had no power to put these people into the system in the first place.

The names and personal details are redacted and the forms are dated from 2017 to 2019. An FBI spokesperson told The Daily Caller, which first reported about these forms, that the form was discontinued in December 2019.

Give Up Your Second Amendment Rights

None of the 15 people who signed the form were legally prohibited from buying guns for mental health reasons because if they were legally prohibited, there would have been no need for the form, according to GOA. Johnston told The Epoch Times that the group also received other documents from its FOIA request, including notes and interviews from FBI field agents present during the signing of the forms. Some of the people threatened violence online, but they were determined not to be a danger after further investigation.

The FBI disarmed a high school studentwho wasnt even of legal age to own a firearmfor looking online for hacking advice on a school computer, said Johnston. The student told the agents that he didnt even want to buy a gun, but he then signed away his right to ever buy one.

One of the 15 people was investigated by an assistant U.S. attorney who then declined to prosecute, according to GOA. The U.S. prosecutor wrote that the FBI believed the person does not appear to pose a threat to himself, others, or the President at this time.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wrote on Twitter about the FBI documents, You cannot sign away your constitutional rightsdespite what the FBI wishes.

Mental Health and Guns

Under federal law (pdf), a person is prohibited from buying or owning firearms only if he or she has been adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution. The self submission form doesnt require either of those things to be true.

A person can have mental health problems and not be a mental defectivewhich was intended to be a narrow term by Congress. This law is not to prevent someone who has PTSD, or depression from the loss of a loved one, from owning a gun, Olson explained. The FBI is preying on people at weak times in their lives who, for example, post something on the internet without considering the consequences

The form has the person check off one or two boxes that say they felt they were a danger to myself or others or lack mental capacity adequately to contract or manage the details of my life. It has a section that is filled out by a physician or licensed mental health professional that says the person has been examined and has adequate mental health capacity voluntarily to execute this document.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on Fox News, There is a certain irony to saying to someone you have to be mentally competent to sign this statement that says youre not mentally competent to have a gun. Paul pointed out that it might be a quandary if you get into a court of lawhow someone thats mentally incompetent to own a gun could be competent to sign away their gun rights.

FBI Held Accountable

GOA wrote a letter on Sept. 8 to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray explaining that the law on background checks says if a person is wrongly in NICS, the agency has 30 days to remove the record.

The FBI is now on a 30-day countdown clock to remove these names from the database, said Johnston. The FBI also has to confirm to us that they are no longer using this form. Gun owners deserve to know what steps the FBI is taking to ensure it is not arbitrarily disarming anyone else in the future.

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment on whether it will abide by the 30-day deadline.

The letter says the FBI has no statutory authority to create or to use such a form and that the Gun Control Act of 1968 does not contain a prohibitor for a person who merely self-reports as mentally incapacitated. The gun control act established the nine categories of people who are prohibited from owning or buying guns, which includes felons, drug addicts, illegal aliens, and domestic abusers.

Past, present, or future use of this form conflicts with the statute that Congress enacted and represents a clear infringement of Second Amendment rights that shall not be infringed, GOA wrote.

Capitol Hills Role

It is clear that it is illegal for the FBI to put people into NICS indices who arent prohibited because there is a bill in the U.S. House that would change current law to allow for it. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), would have the attorney general establish and maintain a Voluntary Purchase Delay Database. The bill would amend federal law to allow for people with mental health issues to put themselves into an online database that would be included in federal background checks before a gun was sold. It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee in July.

Meanwhile, the GAO said its looking to Capitol Hill for support.

We are working the halls of Congress so it holds the FBI accountable, said Johnston. He said they want Congress members and senators to enforce the 30-day rule on the FBI taking out the NICS records and a more complete investigation into the self submission forms.

Paul told Fox that what happened is part of a pattern of FBI actions that appear to be biased against conservatives.

There is a burden on the FBI  to prove to us that they are not acting in a political way, he said.
By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijani delegation has attended the 37th meeting of the Council for Cultural Cooperation of the CIS member states in Kazakhstan, Azernews reports citing the Culture Ministry.

During the visit, the chief of staff of the Azerbaijan Culture Ministry, Vugar Mammadov, met with Deputy Minister of Culture of Tajikistan Manuchehr Sharifzoda and director of the Ayni Opera and Ballet Theater Kamoliddin Sayfiddinov to discuss prospects for cultural cooperation.

The sides agreed on the exchange of cultural and artistic figures during events held in both countries.

The meeting also discussed the agreement on the partnership between the opera and ballet theaters as well as the opportunities for cooperation between cultural institutions between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

Vugar Mammadov also met with the director of the International Delphic Committee, Vladimir Ponyavin.

The sides exchanged views on the participation of the Azerbaijani delegation in the International Delphic Games to be held in Tajikistan this year and other issues of mutual interest.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump raises his fist while walking to a vehicle outside of Trump Tower in New York City on Aug. 10, 2022. (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)

Federal Judge Unseals More Portions of Trump Search Warrant Affidavit

A federal judge unsealed more portions of the Department of Justice (DOJ) affidavit that was used to obtain an FBI search warrant of former President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago last week, revealing that the former commander-in-chief turned over Human Intelligence Control Systems and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) materials.

What the documents entailed was not disclosed by the government, according to the newly released version of the affidavit (pdf), which was uploaded Tuesday. More portions of the court document were unsealed, although much of it remained redacted.

In the copy of the document released on Friday, an FBI agent whose name was withheld said they observed markings reflecting the following compliments/dissemination controls: HCS (Human Intelligence Control Systems), FISA, ORCON (originator controlled), NOFORN (not for release to foreign nationals), and SI (special intelligence) earlier this year.

The DOJ investigation was triggered by a referral from the National Archives and Records Administration, which asserted it found classified records when Trump transferred records to the agency in January.

Several of the documents also contained what appears to be [Trumps] handwritten notes, the newly unredacted portion of the affidavit also said.

That information was allegedly gleaned when FBI agents carried out a preliminary review of 15 boxes that were provided by Trump to the National Archives and Records Administration, identifying some documents with classification markings from May 16 to May 18 of this year. There were 184 documents bearing classification markings, including 92 documents marked as secret and 25 marked as top secret.

Trump and members of his team have said that he had a standing declassification order while he was in office, and days after the raid, he wrote that all of the documents obtained by the FBI were declassified by him.

Days later, he pointed to a memorandum issued during his final day in office saying he will declassify materials relating to the FBI Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Under that investigation, the FBI obtained warrants via a FISA court to electronically surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page as part of their investigation into whether Trump colluded with Russia.

It was later revealed that the FBI relied on now-discredited information contained within a series of memos and notes written by former UK spy Christopher Steele, who was conducting opposition research on Trump during the 2016 campaign. Several of the warrants used to spy on Page were later deemed invalid by the DOJ.

Former White House adviser Kash Patel, meanwhile, told the Wall Street Journal in mid-August he believes some of the materials taken by the FBI related to the Russia investigation and described the raid as politically motivated.

It had to do with Russiagate. It had to do with the Hillary email scandal. It had to do with a whole lot of other stuff. And [Trump] said, This is all declassified, Patel said.
Forbes Removes Article About Detransitioned Teenage Girl for Violation of Editorial Guidelines

Forbes has removed an article that was critical of a teenage girl who is speaking out about the dangers of child sex change surgeries and other procedures.

The story you reference was removed yesterday morning because it did not adhere to Forbes editorial guidelines, Bill Hankes, a spokesman for Forbes, told The Epoch Times via email.

The article was about Chloe Cole, who underwent breast removal surgery at age 15 but now regrets her choice and urges others to learn from her mistakes.

The story contained multiple factual errors, an Epoch Times review found.

It described biological male, biological female, and biological sex as nonsense words that were coined during the North Carolina bathroom bill days specifically to oppress trans people.

The bill in question, which barred people from using bathrooms that didnt correspond to their biological sex, was approved in 2016.

Authors and writers were using the terms for years before then.

The article also claimed that LibsofTikTok creator Chaya Raichiks campaign against minor sex change procedures is based on lies. Raichik has highlighted how some institutions promote performing the procedures on minors, as has Cole. The story acknowledges that some procedures have been performed on minors.

Reporter Comments

The story was initially published by the Los Angeles Blade, which describes itself as a newspaper covering the latest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender news in Southern California and around the world.

Dawn Ennis, the reporter, said that fact led to Forbes taking the article down.

I was informed Monday morning that the article was temporarily withdrawn from public view because my contract with Forbes clearly states I cannot repost original work published elsewhere, I am working with my editor on a new and expanded report with fresh content that my story in the Blade has inspired, Ennis told The Epoch Times via email. That article will include a note referencing this decision, which is again Forbes policy. That work is ongoing and I look forward to sharing it with my readers ASAP.

The Forbes spokesman later replied: As to the question at hand, we dont comment on the specific guideline or guidelines violated that caused the removal of a contributors work, however in this case, Dawn told you so I can confirm that we removed it because of our policy on not republishing work. We only accept original content.

Ennis is a biological male who identifies as female.

I will also say I stand by my reporting, and my support for detransitioners. As you no doubt already know, I once detransitioned, briefly, nine years ago, and despite our disagreements, I am very invested in the cause of supporting LGBTQ+ youth, including those who detransition, Ennis said.

The link to the article on the Forbes website now states, We cant find the page youre looking for.

The story still remains on the Blade website. The factual errors have not been corrected. The Blade did not respond to a request for comment.

Good on Forbes for eventually doing the right thing. The weak attempt at discrediting me, a person who suffered extreme harm from the medical practice that this piece defended, is unsurprising but its still disappointing, Cole told The Epoch Times.

These same activists constantly ask me, If there are so many detransitioners out there, why dont more detransitioners speak out? This is why, she added. Detransitioners need help, they have tons of comorbid mental health conditions that make it hard/impossible to speak out. Hit pieces like this are never going to silence me but they will keep others silenced forever.

Update: This article has been updated with a statement from Forbes confirming the reason for the articles removal.
Stuart Ayres, former NSW Minister for Investment and Trade, speaks during the Welcome to Country ahead of Australian Fashion Week 2022 at Carriageworks in Sydney, Australia on May 9, 2022. (Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Former NSW Minister Cleared of Allegations He Breached Ministerial Code of Conduct

Stuart Ayres, formerly the trade minister of New South Wales (NSW), was cleared of concerns that he breached the ministerial code of conduct.

An independent review by barrister Bruce McClintock was conducted after concerns were raised that Ayres had overstepped his role in the appointment of former NSW Deputy Premier to a high-paying U.S. trade role.

I do not consider that Mr Ayres breached the ministerial code of conduct, McClintock said in his report (pdf).

According to the findings, McClintock said it appeared that Ayres did not attempt to influence the outcome of the recruitment process, the process was not conducted at arms length, and there was no basis for a conflict of interest.

It is true that Mr Ayres and Mr Barilaro, while from different parties, had been cabinet and parliamentary colleagues for some years, but there does not appear to have been any other relationship or connection between two men, he said. They were certainly not friends, nor had any form of personal relationship, so far as I can determine.

McClintock accepted and used the findings of former NSW public services commissioner Graeme Head, who conducted an inquiry into Barilaros appointment and found it had not been completed at arms length from the government.

However, he disagreed with Heads reliance on the concept of arms length, saying that it did not establish any breach of the ministerial code of conduct.

He added that the person responsible for Barilaros appointment, Amy Brown, was the CEO of Investment NSW at the time, a department under Ayres, meaning daily close contact was expected.

Heads investigations and McClintocks findings established that Ayres did not give any direction relevantly to Brown, and the code of conduct had not been broken.

Report an Emphatic Exoneration

Ayres welcomed the release of the report and said in a statement that he had always acted honestly and with integrity in my service to the public of NSW.

The report is unequivocally clear that I acted in accordance with the ministerial code of conduct, he said.

It makes it clear that I acted lawfully, honestly, and had no conflict of interest.

Premier Dominic Perrottet described the report as an emphatic exoneration of Ayres and has not ruled out the possibility of Ayress return to cabinet.

However, Penny Sharpe, Labors leader in the legislative council, disagreed on a return to cabinet as the review only scrutinised whether a breach of the ministerial code took place.

He may not have technically breached the ministerial code of conduct, but hes shown very poor judgment, and the premier has allowed him to do that all the way along, she said.

Ayres repeatedly denied allegations of unlawful conduct, but had agreed to step down from all his ministerial positions in August to allow a thorough investigation into the matter.

To maintain the integrity of the cabinet, I have decided to resign as a minister to allow the investigation to be completed. Accordingly, I will also be resigning as the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, Ayres said in a statement on Aug. 3.

Prior to stepping down, Ayres acknowledged that he should have told Barilaro not to apply for the job.

I should have told him that even though hes a private citizen, and he can apply for the role  it was probably not in his best interest or the states best interests, Ayres said.
Jordanian rescue workers search for missing persons under the rubble of a four-story residential building which collapsed in central Amman on Sept.13, 2022. (Khalil Mazraawi/AFP via Getty Images)

Residential Building Collapses in Jordan, 1 Dead

A four-story residential building collapsed in the Jordanian capital on Tuesday, killing at least one person and wounding 11 others, officials said.

It was not immediately clear what brought down the building in Amman, which state media said was an older structure.

The Health Ministry confirmed the toll, and authorities said rescuers were still searching for survivors.

Prime Minister Bishr al-Khasawneh directed authorities to investigate the cause of the collapse.

The building was located in Jabal al-Weibdeh, an older, bohemian district of the capital that is popular among wealthier residents and expatriates but also includes some poorer areas.
Media and a police car stand in front of a gas station in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, on Sept. 21, 2021. (Thomas Frey/dpa via AP)

German Man Convicted of Murder After Killing Over Mask Mandate

BERLINA man in Germany was convicted of murder and given a life sentence Tuesday for fatally shooting a gas station clerk following a dispute over face masks.

The September 2021 killing in the western town of Idar-Oberstein shocked the country. The defendant also was convicted of illegal weapons possession because he didnt have a license for the gun used in the killing, German news agency dpa reported.

Authorities have said the 50-year-old man told officers he acted out of anger while trying to buy beer at the gas station after the 20-year-old clerk refused to serve him without a mask.

At the time, Germany required mask use in stores.

Police said the suspect, a German citizen identified in local media as Mario N., left the gas station after the dispute but returned a half-hour later and shot the clerk in the head.

He initially fled the scene but turned himself in after police launched a large-scale manhunt.

Defense lawyers in the trial, which lasted six months, had sought a conviction for manslaughter. They argued that there were limits to how far the suspect, who according to an expert was intoxicated when the fatal gunshot was inflicted, could be held criminally responsible for his actions.

Prosecutors had called for the court to find the defendant seriously culpable, which would have effectively barred him from the early release after 15 years that is typical for people in Germany given life sentences. Judges didnt do so.
GOP Senator: Top FBI Official Accused of Closing Down Hunter Biden Probe Must Testify

The top FBI official who left the bureau last month should be asked to testify before the Senate, said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Tuesday.

FBI Assistant Special Agent Timothy Thibault confirmed via his lawyers that he left the law enforcement agency last month. Thibault is accused by Republicansciting whistleblower testimonyof shutting down an investigation into Hunter Biden even though some of the details about the case were known to be true.

FBI officials wanted to take action with respect to this separate investigative information the FBI had in its possession related to Hunter Biden. However, Thibault blocked the FBI from doing what would normally be done, Grassley told lawmakers from the Senate floor.

Accordingly, the investigative activity and information could not be advanced as it shouldve been, which means the FBI could have gathered more evidence with respect to Hunter Biden but cut bait instead. And the FBI and Thibault cut bait right before the 2020 presidential election, he said.

Previously, the senator accused Thibault of allegedly opening an investigation against former President Donald Trump and shut down an investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden.

Thibault was named several times by Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) in letters to the FBI, alleging he displayed an animus towards Trump. That included Thibault having shared a Twitter post that called then-President Trump a psychologically broken, embittered, and deeply unhappy man, Grassley wrote.

Thibault might have violated the Hatch Act over that Twitter post and others that criticized former Attorney General Bill Barr and other Republicans, said Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz in a report last month.

In July, FBI whistleblowers told Grassley and other GOP lawmakers (pdf) that when the bureau obtained information in 2020 about Hunter Bidens criminal financial and related activity, it was suppressed by Thibault.

Response

In a statement to The Epoch Times on Aug. 30, a spokesperson for Thibault said that there have been a number of inaccurate media stories and allegations on social media about the former agent, adding, Thibault was eligible for retirement and informed his supervisors about a month ago that he intended to retire, following more than 30 years of devoting himself to the protection of the American people.

This image from video shows Timothy Thibault. (FBI via The Epoch Times)

Thibault, meanwhile, was not involved in the FBI raid targeting Mar-a-Lago, the spokesperson said. Neither Grassley nor Johnson ever accused Thibault of being involved in the search last month.

The spokesperson also said that he was not involved in the investigation into Hunter Biden and was not involved in any decisions related to any laptop that may be at issue in that investigation, and he did not seek to close the investigation.

During Tuesdays speech on the Senate floor, Grassley said that statements made on Thibaults behalf did not address key elements of the recent FBI whistleblower disclosures.

Thibault, he said, didnt address the shutting down of investigative activity and avenues of information relating to Hunter Biden, and he didnt address his actions to try and improperly mark investigative closings so that they couldnt be opened in the future.

Grassley also asserted that Thibault didnt address the alleged criminality within the information provided to the FBI about Hunter Biden.

Thibault said that he welcomes any investigation into the allegations against him, the GOP senator continued. Well, Mr. Thibault, come on in. Sit for a transcribed interview with me and my colleagues.

The Epoch Times has contacted a spokesperson for Thibault for comment.
3 alternatives to opioid painkillers

The United States has been in the midst of an opioid crisis for over two decades with the pandemic only aggravating an already looming problem.

With words such as fentanyl, morphine, heroin, and opioids constantly being thrown around in the media, we can become fearful of these drugs that were once made and used to help us.

Fentanyl: A Controversial and Dangerous Opioid

Out of all the opioids available as a prescription, the most powerful, and controversial, drug is fentanyl.

Since the 1990s the United States has seen increasing waves of opioid abuse. The first wave hit in the 90s, driven by prescription opioids, the second wave was driven by illicit heroin in 2010, and the third wave, starting from 2013, is from illicit synthetic opioids, including fentanyl and tramadol.

Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Given that a mere 2 mg of fentanyl is enough to kill, it has routinely been mentioned in the media as the most dangerous opioid.

Recent studies showed that fentanyl directly acts on receptors in the brain and can cause respiratory depression even before a patient shows any signs of sedation.

Since 2016, the National Institute of Drug Abuse found that overdose deaths involving heroin have trended down, while overdoses primarily from fentanyl increased by six-fold from 2015 to 2020.

Fentanyl is now involved in the majority of overdose deaths in the United States.

In 2020, 83,558 preventable overdose deaths were listed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The majority (64 percent) or 53,480 of deaths involved fentanyl, and 77 percent (more than 64,000) involved other opioids.

However, clinicians have highlighted that there are major differences between pharmaceutical fentanyl and illicit fentanyl, and it is important to differentiate between these labels and their uses.

Health activists have bemoaned that the labelling of all fentanyl as dangerous may lead to tighter control for pharmaceutical fentanyl, while missing the central point that illicit fentanyl is driving the growing overdose deaths.

Pharmaceutical fentanyl and its analogues are prescribed for severe pain after surgery and for cancer pain and are very effective at what they do.

Fentanyl prescription is tightly regulated and monitored by patients doctors. Though abuse and dependency are present among patients, as most patients have built a tolerance to opioids, risks of overdose from prescribed fentanyl are quite low.

In contrast, illicit fentanyl and its analogues are manufactured in clandestine factories. They have a higher risk of abuse and overdose. Reports show that the vast majority of illicit fentanyl is made overseas, with most exported from China (pdf).

Illegal fentanyl and its analogues can be sold solely as illicit fentanyl on the black market.

However, more often than not, illicit fentanyl is mixed into heroin, cocaine, and other recreational drugs to increase the drug effects and reduce production costs, or mixed into non-opioid or opioid prescription drugs and sold as counterfeit pharmaceuticals.

The CDC stated that most fentanyl-related overdose deaths are linked to illicit fentanyl, particularly that which has been mixed into other recreational drugs or counterfeit prescriptions.

Illicit fentanyl has varying purities and potencies, therefore varying risks. The Drug Enforcement Agency has found counterfeit pills ranging from 0.02 to 5.1 milligrams (more than twice the lethal dose) of fentanyl per tablet.

Since consumers of contaminated heroin or prescription drugs are often unaware that their products have been cut with illicit fentanyl and its analogues, they are at a higher risk of overdose and death.

Some of fentanyls analogues can be even more potent and long-lasting than actual fentanyl. Since the 90s, fentanyl has been illegally manipulated to synthesize fentanyl variations that are more potent and dangerous than its predecessor.

Fentanyl analogues are compounds derived from fentanyl. They share similar chemical structures, but varying potencies and half-lives.

Some examples of fentanyl analogues are remifentanil, 3-methylfentanyl, alfentanil, butyrfentanyl, carfentanil, and sufentanil.

Butyrfentanyl and alfentanil are less potent than fentanyl and are 1/30, and 1/4 to 1/10 of fentanyl respectively.

Carfentanil is 100 times more potent. According to the CDC, carfentanil was involved in an overdose outbreak in Florida during 2016 to 2017.

Another analogue, 3-methylfentanyl, is 6 to 684 times more potent than fentanyl. Studies on fentanyl also stated that the potent 3-methylfentanyl is widely sold on the black market.

Potencies of different fentanyl analogues, according to data from Drug Bank Online. (The Epoch Times)

Despite the alarming statistics, pharmacists have highlighted that the current statistics may still underrepresent fentanyl-involved and fentanyl-caused deaths.

They argued that overdose deaths are often misidentified as heroin overdoses or pinned to other prescription opioids present in the body at the time rather than an overdose from illicit fentanyl. Sometimes the fentanyl analogues such as sufentanil and alfentanil are metabolized into the same product in the body, making it is impossible for forensics to determine the exact drug behind the overdose.

In the cases where fentanyl and its analogues are detected, pharmacists allege that there is a bias from coroners to conclude that the overdose is from prescription fentanyl and prescription analogues rather than illicit ones. These biases and assumptions can shift the center of focus from illicit fentanyl to prescription fentanyl.

A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chemist checks confiscated powder containing fentanyl at the DEA Northeast Regional Laboratory in New York on Oct. 8, 2019. (AFP via Getty Images/Don Emmert)

What Are Opioids and How Do They Work?

There are two major groups: opiates and opioids.

In scientific literature, opiates are defined as drugs made from opium, an extraction from the poppy plant Papaver somniferum. This includes morphine and codeine.

Opioids, however, are synthetic or semisynthetic compounds made in the laboratory. Most do not contain opium.

Opioids include heroin, an illicit semi-synthetic compound made from morphine, and fentanyl, which is fully synthetic.

Most opioids and opiates are classified as highly addictive and potent drugs that have analgesic and euphoric effects. However, their chemical structures, mechanisms of action, and routes of elimination from the body can be vastly different. In fact, fentanyl and morphine are completely unrelated compounds.

Nonetheless, they have all been classified into the same family of drugs called opioids, regardless of formulation, as all bind to the mu opioid receptor in the body as their primary target.

Opioids also bind to other opioid receptors in the body, though the mu opioid receptor is the most studied and understood. Many studies speculate that the mu opioid receptor enables opioids to function as an analgesic, and also contribute to opioid addictions.

What are opioid receptors?

Opioid receptors are proteins located on the surface of nerve cells. When they are activated, they prevent neurons from releasing neurotransmitters and therefore inhibit pain.

Mu opioid receptors are located on the neurons in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), and in the peripheral nervous system. They primarily act in the central nervous system.

Neurons detect pain. When an area is injured, neurons will carry a pain signal from the injured area to the spinal cord and then to the brain where the stimulus will get processed.

Mu opioid receptors and other receptors stop this message from being relayed to the brain.

Opioid receptors are activated in the body by endorphins, when we experience sudden pain or trauma, our body releases endorphins to dull the pain.

Opioids mimic the actions of endorphins; they too bind to opioid receptors, particularly focusing on mu opioid receptors. The activated opioid receptors stop neurons from sending out pain messages.

However, since opioids also trigger the release of dopamine, a chemical that is directly related to addictions and pleasure, opioids have a high risk of abuse.

Opioids are highly controlled. All prescription opioids are controlled drugs in the United States.

The first discovered opioid was morphine, a natural opiate derived from opium, and a commonly prescribed pain medicine.

Other common opioids include codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone. Apart from codeine which has 1/10 the potency of morphine, all the other listed opioids share similar potency (pdf).

Fentanyl, popularly known as the most dangerous opioid, is both a highly controlled pharmaceutical and a popular illicit drug.

Communities across the country are grappling with the heartbreaking impact of an opioid crisis that could have been avoided. (Victor Moussa/Shutterstock)

Opioid Addiction and the Dangers

Opioids are powerful painkillers that are highly effective at treating moderate and severe acute and chronic pain but are also highly addictive and dangerous.

Studies show that in the long-term, continuous use changes our neurons and brain, making our bodies unable to function without them.

The CDC also stated that over 70 percent of overdose deaths in 2019 involved opioids.

How does prolonged opioid use cause addiction?

In the body we have our natural opioids called endorphins. Endorphins bind to mu opioid receptors to block pain and also trigger dopamine release to create a sense of relaxation and pleasure. However, endorphins can only act temporarily and therefore cannot prevent chronic pain. Therefore, people may turn to opioids to manage chronic pain symptoms instead.

Similar to endorphins, opioids also bind to mu opioid receptors to block pain and trigger the release of dopamine to create a sense of pleasure, albeit, a greater pleasure response. For people who have recovered from pain, the rush of dopamine can create a wave of euphoria, leading to addiction to opioid use.

Since prescription opioids fill the role of endorphins and trigger an even greater response than our own endorphins, the body will slowly reduce endorphin release to compensate.

This means that with prolonged opioid use, the body gradually loses the ability to regulate pain and pleasure.

The prolonged usage of opioids also introduces another problem.

Both opioids and endorphins control pain by blocking pain signals from a group of neurons. Though this suppression is effective in the short-term, under prolonged inhibition (opioid control), these neurons become increasingly resistant and will increase their sensitivity to pain.

What this means is that the person will become more sensitive to pain: a small prick that was once an itch would be enough to set forth a pain reaction. Recent studies have also validated that opioid addictions are linked with increased risks of chronic pain.

Usually, people who are dependent on opioids will seek out increasingly potent opioids as they build dependence. While this stifles the pain, it also puts the person at risk of overdose and death.

Opioids are drugs with a narrow therapeutic margin, meaning that there is a small difference between therapeutic and toxic doses. This is particularly true in the case of fentanyl and its derivatives where the differences are in micrograms to milligrams.

Since opioids relax and slow down breathing, a major cause of death in overdosed patients is suffocation from slowed or stopped breathing.

Opioids are widely acknowledged as one of the drugs that are the most difficult to quit as withdrawal symptoms are quite severe.

The more potent the opioid, the greater the risk of dependence and withdrawal.

People quitting heroin have often reported experiencing symptoms similar to a bad case of flu. Common withdrawal symptoms for opioids include muscle aches, restlessness, insomnia, abdominal cramps, anxiety, diarrhea, vomiting, and many others.

In rare occasions, vomiting and diarrhea from withdrawal can lead to dehydration, putting individuals at greater risk of death from fatal overdoses. Vomiting can also lead to suffocation.

Tylenol tablets, which contain acetaminophen, are shown on April 14, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Replacement for Opioids

Given that opioids carry significant health risks when used continuously, and in the light of over 20 years of an opioid crisis, experts have been looking into alternatives to opioids for treating pain.

However, there has yet to be any drug developed that can match the effectiveness of opioids.

For moderate pain, health experts have suggested prescription analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

1. Acetaminophen

Acetaminophen, also known as Tylenol, reduces pain and fever. They are not anti-inflammatory, though.

Studies show that acetaminophen does not come with side effects commonly seen in NSAIDs, including stomach ulcers and bleeding. It does, however, deplete the body of the critical antioxidant glutathione and excessive acetaminophen use can damage the liver.

Additionally, acetaminophen is often less effective at controlling pain than NSAIDs.

2. NSAIDs

NSAIDs, including naproxen and ibuprofen, are staple analgesics.

They are a lot more effective at reducing acute pain and are often prescribed for pain associated with inflammation, including arthritis, fever, chronic pain, and so on.

However, emerging studies suggest that it may not be a good idea to use NSAIDs to control pain from inflammation. Inflammation is the bodys natural response to injury and sickness, by suppressing the natural immune response, NSAIDs can prevent the natural healing process and may lead to chronic pain.

Studies have shown that NSAIDs prescribed in arthritis have actually prevented bone regrowth, further debilitating the patient rather than curing the disease.

A 2021 Canadian study instead encouraged boosting inflammation to resolve the injury, and thereby prevent the pain from becoming permanent.

3. Nerve Blocks

For severe pain, nerve blocks are also an option to suppress pain temporarily or permanently.

Physicians can inject nerves with drugs to temporarily stifle pain or for permanent fixes as patients can go through surgery to destroy the damaged nerve or nerve roots at the area of pain.

Nerve blocks are used for pain from arthritis, cancer, childbirth, facial pain, headaches, lower back, and surgery.

However, nerve blocks can lead to bleeding or infections at the area injection. These are not recommended for people who are experiencing an infection at the site of pain, as a nerve block may allow infections to go undetected.

The nerve block can sometimes also spread to other areas.

Opioid dependency often suggests an unresolved health problem. Though opioids can dissipate the symptoms temporarily, the illness causing the symptoms are often left festering in silence, leading to more severe consequences.

Though pain can be a disease in and of itself, it generally indicates an underlying injury or illness, and physicians are recommended to differentiate between pain that is a sign of injury from that which is pathological in order to provide the most appropriate treatment.
Satellite image of North Koreas Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center captured on June 21, showing a new cooling water pump house built for its nuclear reactor. (Airbus Defense and Space/38 North)

IAEA Concerned Over North Koreas Apparent Reopening of Plutonium-Producing Reactor

North Korea appears to have resumed operation of its five-megawatt electric reactor that was used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Monday.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said there are indications of the reactor operating at the Yongbyon site and intermittent activity at the radiochemical laboratory.

Grossis speech to the Board of Governors follows the IAEA report [pdf] on Sept. 7, which stated that North Korea may have been expanding key facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.

We have observed indications that the reported centrifuge enrichment facility at Yongbyon continues to operate and is now externally complete, expanding the buildings available floor space by approximately one-third, he said.

This satellite photo from Planet Labs Inc., a uranium enrichment plant is seen at North Koreas main Yongbyon nuclear complex, Sept. 18, 2021. (Planet Labs Inc. via AP)

The completion of several new buildings near the light water reactor has also been observed, with ongoing indications of activities at the Kangson complex and the Pyongsan mine and concentration plant, Grossi said.

At the 50Mwe reactor, construction of which stopped in 1994, we have observed the dismantling of buildings and the removal of some material, likely for re-use in other construction projects, he added.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to shut down the Yongbyon nuclear facility in exchange for sanctions relief following his denuclearization talks with former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2019. But the talks eventually stalled in 2019.

Punggye-ri Site

The IAEA said in its report that excavation work commenced in March near Adit 3 at a nuclear site near the settlement of Punggye-ri to reopen the test tunnel after its partial demolition in May 2018.

Excavation work at Adit 3 was possibly completed by May 2022. Several timber support buildings were constructed concurrently near the entrance to Adit 3, and also in the support area located to the north, it added.

Grossi described the reopening of the nuclear site as deeply troubling and called on North Korea to end its nuclear program, citing the regimes violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The North Korean regime demolished the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site in May 2018 as a sign of its commitment to end nuclear testing. But South Korean and American intelligence reported spotting construction work at the site.

IAEAs inspectors have not been able to enter North Korea since 2009, and it now uses satellite imagery to monitor the countrys nuclear activities.

North Korea has conducted a series of missile launches this year, including one involving its largest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-17, all of which are banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The Kim regime recently adopted a new law allowing it to conduct a nuclear strike automatically against any hostile forces posing an imminent threat to the nation, state mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency reported.

Kim vowed that his country will never give up nuclear weapons, regardless of the military situation on the Korean Peninsula and even if North Korea is subjected to 100 years of sanctions.
Igor Danchenko at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va., on Nov. 10, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Igor Danchenko Was Paid FBI Informant, Said He Was Working Against Trump: Filing

The primary subsource for the infamous anti-Donald Trump Steele dossier was paid by the FBI for years and said in an email that he was working on a project against Trump, according to a new filing from special counsel John Durhams team.

Igor Danchenko was made a paid FBI confidential informant in March 2017, prosecutors with Durhams team said in a court document unsealed on Sept. 13.

Danchenko remained an informant until October 2020.

The FBI declined to comment, referring The Epoch Times to the Department of Justice. The department did not respond to a query.

Danchenko, a Russian national who lives in the United States, is scheduled to be tried in October on five counts of lying to the FBI.

Prosecutors say Danchenko lied in multiple interviews with agents about information he conveyed to British ex-spy Christopher Steele, who compiled the dossier while being paid by Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Steele has expressed animus against Trump.

Danchenko disclosed in an email ahead of the 2016 election that he was part of an effort that was against Trump, according to the new filing.

Could you please ask someone to comment on Manaforts resignation and anything on Trump campaign? Off the record of course! Any thought, rumor, allegation, Danchenko wrote to Charles Dolan, a longtime Clinton associate, on Aug. 19, 2016.

Paul Manafort, Trumps campaign manager, had just resigned.

I am working on a related project against Trump. I asked [an acquaintance of Dolan] three months ago but he didnt say much although shared a couple of valuable insights, Danchenko added.

Given that Dolan was aware of the fact that the defendant was employed by Steele, the only inference to be drawn is that the project against Trump was being done on behalf of Steele and Orbis, prosecutors said in the new filing.

Orbis Business Intelligence is the consultancy that employs Steele.

Danchenko also sent another message to his former employer, Cenk Sidar, regarding reports Sidar was providing on subjects including energy.

Emphasize sources. Make them bold or CAPITALISED [sic]. The more sources the better. If you lack them, use oneself as a source (Istanbul-Washington-based businessman or whatever) to save the situation and make it look a bit better, Danchenko wrote on Feb. 24, 2016, soon before he began working with Steele, according to the new filing.

Danchenkos advice is consistent with the way he denied or fabricated the roles of certain individuals, including businessman Sergei Millian, according to the government.

Prosecutors have said Danchenko lied about key details, including falsely saying he did not get information from Dolan for the dossier.

Danchenko has pleaded not guilty.
Inhaled COVID-19 Vaccine Approved in China as Profits of Vaccine Giant Plummet

Chinas State Drug Administration granted approval of an inhaled COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use as a booster vaccine last week.

Vaccine manufacturer CanSino Biologics made the announcement on Sept. 4, saying it had developed and obtained approval for an inhalable COVID-19 vaccine after a proposal by Chinas National Health Commission. The vaccine, called Convidecia, uses a recombinant adenovirus that is unable to replicate.

A week prior to the announcement about the inhaled vaccine, the company reported a 98.69 percent drop in net profits for the first half of the year.

CanSino Biologics was founded in 2009 for vaccine development and production and is currently the leading manufacturer of COVID-19 vaccines in China, with a market value of nearly $5.74 billion. On Aug. 28, CanSino Biologics, announced that its revenues for the first half of 2022 was $90 million, down 69.45 percent from the same period last year, and its net profit was $1.75 million, down 98.69 percent from the same period last year.

The declining profits were mainly caused by the reduced demand for COVID-19 vaccines and lower vaccine prices worldwide.

According to the latest epidemiological data, more than 90 percent of COVID cases are now caused by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants, and the continued use of vaccines against the original COVID-19 strains has reduced effectiveness.

Chinese Citizenry Growing Weary

Chinese citizens have become increasingly weary and upset with the ongoing mandatory COVID testing and the lockdown of entire cities.

An elderly man from Shanghai, who spoke to the Epoch Times on the condition of anonymity, expressed his frustration with the governments COVID policy and the hardships it is causing people.

Nearly everyone was vaccinated last year, and without the vaccinations, people were not allowed to visit banks, take buses, enter shopping malls, and so on. Everyone thought that they would be safe after receiving the jab, but after the first and second jabs, a third booster jab was required. The virus mutated so fast that the vaccines simply couldnt keep up. Now people understand that we have become test subjects for the vaccine manufacturers, and the officials now tell us that the vaccine does not prevent us from infections but only reduces the risk of severe symptoms. Lately, people have grown weary of the daily COVID-19 nucleic [acid] tests.

The man also expressed the opinion that the new vaccine was likely approved to boost the manufacturers profits, And right after reports were saying that the vaccine manufacturers lost over 90 percent of their revenue, the government decided to grant approval for a new vaccine.

He also said he believes the pandemic rules are a way for the authorities to further control people. As the 20th National Congress of the CCP approaches, the government is trying to monitor all citizens and to achieve social stability via strict pandemic rules, he said.
CN rail trains at the CN MacMillan Yard in Vaughan, Ont., on June 20, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)

Insane That CN Imposed Mandate Knowing of Severe Reactions to Vaccine, Says Lawsuit Organizer

People who are affected by Canadian National Railways vaccine mandate and are suing the company have started speaking out and releasing internal documents, one of which is a recording showing CN knew some of its employees were experiencing debilitating reactions to COVID-19 vaccination before it implemented the mandate.

Christian Jones, a key lawsuit organizer against CN, commented on the recording and said it was insane to think imposing the mandate was proper given what management knew.

Jones was a real estate manager for CN before being put on unpaid leave and then dismissed for refusing to disclose his vaccination status.

He says the company should have pushed back against the mandate imposed by Transport Canada in fall 2021.

The recently obtained recording relates to a virtual meeting that took place three days before Nov. 15, 2021, when CNs vaccine mandate kicked in.

Various executives, managers, and human resources personnel discussed the policy and how to manage potential issues like unvaccinated employees attending their workplaces against the directive and making a scene, or vaccinated employees still catching COVID.

One meeting participant asked if an employee who falls ill after the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine would get paid leave.

That will continue to be managed like any other day-off under their agreement, replied Yaritza Kon, director of human resources.

Rahim Karmali, chief engineer for supply chain and technology, was moderating the meeting and commented on Kons response based on his experience.

Ive had employees get severe reactions after the shot, said Karmali, who reports to a vice president, explaining that these issues can be managed through the safety representative.

But its not Hey, I feel a little bit feverish. Its Hey, Ive got something to the point where my body is unable to function. Ive got muscle contractions and things like that. Theres documented symptoms that we will support for those types of issues when they do arise.

Jones said hes concerned by these comments based on the number of employees Karmali manages.

Thats a huge percentage when compared to the 99.9 percent survivability rate associated with COVID-19 or even its severe cases, he said.

Jones then noted the language used by Karmali where he said when they do arise instead of if.

This is a guarantee from management that a large percentage of people who take these shots will have a severe event.

Simply, its insane to think this is a reasonable policy, Jones said.

The Epoch Times attempted to reach Karmali but didnt hear back. His identity was confirmed through a former CN employee and online profiles.

CN was also contacted to comment on the recording and to indicate if it kept statistics on adverse events caused by vaccination. The company was also asked how many employees were fired or quit because of the mandate. CN spokesperson Jonathan Abecassis declined to comment.

Staffing Issues

There is evidence the vaccine mandate had a negative impact on staffing at major railway companies.

A June secret briefing given to the Liberal cabinet before it made the decision to suspend the mandates said it was the most important factor impacting human resources.

Class 1 railways are running with lower employment levels than a year ago: citing vaccination mandate as key impediment to staffing for critical operating positions like engineers and conductors, and maintenanceboth in terms of keeping former employees on sidelines and making it difficult to recruit, says the briefing.

According to Blacklocks Reporter citing labour board records, Canadian Pacific (CP) didnt impose too strict of a mandate to keep its trains running. CP said full compliance would place critical operations of the railroad at risk.

Some managers on the CN videoconference call expressed concerns about what the impact of the mandate would be on staffing.

One unidentified speaker said it was impossible to predict how many employees would not show up on Nov. 15.

None of us really understand what the full impact of this will be, he said. Well make sure your track is protected properly, I can tell you that.

The CN mandate fell after Ottawa suspended the mandates for domestic travel and federally regulated workplaces on June 20.

CNs report on second-quarter results released in late July addresses the mandate, noting it led to the vaccination of substantially all active CN employees.

Lawsuit

What the report doesnt say is that hundreds of CN employees were put on unpaid leave, were fired, or quit due to the mandate.

About 200 of them have launched a lawsuit against the company and more employees have started a second lawsuit. CP is also being sued.

The CN plaintiffs are each seeking $500,000 in damages for charter rights violations and another $500,000 for punitive and exemplary damages.

They claim loss of income, loss of sleep, emotional trauma, and loss of opportunity for future income, among other things.

Their statement of claim says the plaintiffs oppose attesting to their vaccination status and accepting vaccination absent informed consent.

Internal emails obtained by The Epoch Times show Jones challenged CNs mandate policy and asked that it be revoked.

The alternative starts with a very expensive formal letter from my growing team and I, wrote Jones on Oct. 13, 2021.

Im going to bring an army after you, Jones says he told his management. Obviously they didnt believe me.

The parties held a case management conference on Sept. 7 and the judge set April 2023 as the date of hearings to consider CNs and CPs motions to strike the lawsuits.

Transport Canada and the attorney general have pulled their own motion to strike.

The issue of whether the Federal Court has jurisdiction over Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway will be determined before Canada brings any motion to strike, Transport Canada spokesperson Hicham Ayoun said in an email statement.
By Kim Clark

From Kiplingers Personal Finance

U.S. companies prospered for decades as new markets opened for their goods and labor costs plummeted thanks to overseas production. But now, the pandemic and spreading political and military conflicts have stretched supply chains past the breaking point, prompting companies to bring many operations closer to home, says market strategist Ed Yardeni.

Deglobalization was almost inevitable, he says.

U.S. companies are starting to reshore production back to the United States, near-shore it to neighbors such as Mexico, or friend-shore it to allies such as Vietnam. Investment firm Piper Sandler counted more than 900 announcements of companies either building or expanding manufacturing facilities in the United States in the 12 months ending in May of 2022. In 2012, there were only about 100 such announcements.

Over the long term, companies should benefit from more-reliable processes. Yardeni predicts that among the biggest winners will be companies with economic bases in the United States that leverage cost-saving automation to offset higher wages and energy expenses.

Here are four companies that should benefit.

1. Ametek

Osterweis Capital Management is bullish on deglobalizationand on Ametek, a Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of precision instruments and electromechanical devices that should benefit from investments in productivity, says portfolio manager Larry Cordisco. Ametek has been buying up robotics and automation companies.

Ameteks products range from remotely controlled motors for factories to data systems that help hospitals manage patient needs to robots used in applications as varied as embroidery, woodworking, spray painting and disinfecting. Joshua Aguilar, a senior analyst at investment research firm Morningstar, says the companys move into the health industry is especially promising because so many hospitals have struggled with staffing shortages.

2. Applied Materials

Americans invented the computer chip. But many of the pioneering manufacturing plants in the United States couldnt compete with lower-cost Asian fabrication facilities. By the start of the pandemic, the United States produced only about 12 percent of the worlds chips.

Now chip manufacturers are scrambling to produce more chips in the states. And Congress recently passed a bill to provide financial incentives to chip manufacturers. A good way to take advantage of this coming boom in chip production is to look at suppliers to chip manufacturers, says Todd Ahlsten, chief investment officer for Parnassus Investments. He has bought up shares of Applied Materials, which, among other things, makes the equipment needed to etch circuits onto the silicon wafers used as the base for chips.

3. Lincoln Electric

Another pick from Osterweis Capital is Cleveland-based Lincoln Electric, a leader in robotic welding that is benefitting from the reshoring trend. Lincoln gets about 60 percent of its revenue from U.S. customers and another 20 percent from Europe.

Lincoln has been beefing up its welding automation business, notes Baird senior research analyst Mircea Dobre, who recommends the stock. Automation accounted for about 15 percent of the companys sales in 2021 but was rising at twice the rate of its more-traditional manual welding equipment and was on track to nearly double sales to $1 billion by 2025, he says.

Companies may be pulling back from China and Russia, but that doesnt mean they will return only to the United States. Instead, Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, expects a corrosion of globalization to boost commerce among allied or friendly countries, with many manufacturers moving production to low-wage countries either geographically or politically closer to large consumer markets. Mexico could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of such near-shoring and friend-shoring, Posen says.

Parnassuss Ahlsten says thats why he likes Union Pacific stock. We see deglobalization as a big trend, which has led us to invest in railroads that connect the United States with Canada and Mexico, such as Union Pacific, he says. The storied railroad company has a 26 percent ownership stake in Ferromex, Mexicos largest railroad. Union Pacific also controls the major railroad ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border and moves 70 percent of all freight rail traffic to and from Mexico.

(Kim Clark is a senior associate editor at Kiplingers Personal Finance magazine. For more on this and similar money topics, visit Kiplinger.com.)

2022 The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The Epoch Times Copyright  2022 The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors. They are meant for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation. The Epoch Times does not provide investment, tax, legal, financial planning, estate planning, or any other personal finance advice. The Epoch Times holds no liability for the accuracy or timeliness of the information provided.
A view of a drone during a military exercise in an undisclosed location in Iran, obtained on Aug. 24, 2022. (Iranian Army/West Asia News Agency/Handout via Reuters)

Iran Says New Suicide Drones Can Hit Israels Tel Aviv

US says Russia has recently used Iranian drones in Ukraine War

An Iranian general on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks made a veiled threat at Israel, claiming that the Islamist regime has developed new  drones specifically for attacking major Israeli cities.

Brig. Gen. Kioumars Heydari, commander of the Iranian militarys ground forces, said on Mondayas the United States was still commemorating Sept. 11that Tehran has specifically developed a new long-range suicide drone with unique capabilities to strike Israeli cities like Tel Aviv and Haifa along the Mediterranean coast.

Irans Mehr news agency carried the remarks.

We have specially designed this drone for Haifa and Tel Aviv, Heydari said. This is a unique drone that was developed for this task.

The suicide drone is called the Arash-2 UAV.

He described the Arash-2 as a spotter, claiming it can hit targets like the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corpss (IRGC) Fath ballistic missiles that deploy short-range attacks for suppressing the enemys anti-missile systems, according to Iran Press.

The IRGC is the Iranian special operations and intelligence force.

Heydari said the new drone would appear at future military drills.

According to analysts, Tehran officials often make exaggerated claims that exceed their proven capabilities. Iran is already in possession of drones that can reach Israel, although they have not been successful against Israels defense systems.

Tehrans drone program has been subject to years of U.S. sanctions aimed to limit its development, following Iran and its proxies being blamed for attempted and successful attacks on U.S. targets and those of its Gulf state allies, Israel, and Saudi Arabia in the region.

Iranian Drones in Ukraine

The most recent allegations are that Tehrans drones are supporting Russias war in Ukraine.

Last week, the United States said Tehran had shipped drones to Russia and announced sanctions against IranianRussia military cooperation.

The Russian military is suffering from major supply shortages in Ukraine, in part because of sanctions and export controls, forcing Russia to turn to unreliable countries like Iran for supplies and equipment, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sept. 8.

According to media reports, the Iranian regime had showcased two models of dronesthe Shahed-129 and Shahed-191to Russia in June.

Tehran denied the allegations, while U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters in Julythat the United States has information showing that Iran is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred drones.

The administration released satellite imagery indicating that Russian officials visited Irans Kashan Airfield on June 8 and July 5 to view the Iranian drones.

The U.S. Department of Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said its sanctions were specifically targeting the IRGC Aerospace Forces (ASF) Shahed-171 UAV program as well as drone projects by the IRGC Navy (IRGCN).

OFAC named Tehran-based air transport company Safiran Airport Services and three drone development and production companiesParavar Pars Company, Design and Manufacturing of Aircraft Engines (DAMA), and Baharestan Kish Companyin the sanctions.

In the past, the IRGC ASF distributed U.S. and Israeli-made UAVs to Paravar Pars Company, which were ultimately used to reverse engineer and reproduce indigenously made UAV models, the statement from the Treasury said.

A view of drones during a military exercise in an undisclosed location in Iran, in this handout image obtained on Aug. 24, 2022. (Iranian Army/WANA/Handout via Reuters)

Baharestan Kish Companys managing director Rehmatollah Heidari was also named in the sanctions. The entities listed have had their U.S.based assets frozen and are banned from conducting U.S.-related business.

Brian Nelson, Treasury undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said the department is committed to strictly enforcing our sanctions against both Russia and Iran and holding accountable Iran and those supporting Russias war of aggression against Ukraine.

The United States will not hesitate to target producers and procurers who contribute to Tehran and the IRGCs drone program, he added.

Marriage of Convenience

Iran and Russia have been increasing their military and economic cooperation in recent months, as both regimes are facing limited options for partners in the international community amid heavy sanctions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Tehran in July and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited Moscow in January.

In July, Iran became Russias largest importer of wheat, reported The Wall Street Journal. In August, Russia helped Iran launch a satellite into orbit. The United States said the satellite could be used by Tehran to help monitor Ukrainian troop movements.

Read More Removing Irans IRGC From US Terror List Becomes Sticking Point in Nuclear Talks

The threats come amid talks to revive the failed Iran nuclear deal as well as Tehrans admission that it now has the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb if it chooses.

Top Iranian officialsincluding Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneimade numerous threats against Tel Aviv and Haifa, most recently in June, saying that if Iran is attacked, presumably over its nuclear activities, Tehran will respond and raze both cities to the ground.

Israels Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, thanked France, the UK, and Germany on Sunday for their firm position on Tehran after they blamed the regime for jeopardising the nuclear deal with their demands to remove the IRGC from terrorist listing, among other issues.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Parent Rights, Medical Freedom At Center of Irvine School Board Candidate Forum

Parental rights, medical freedom, and sex education took center stage during a virtual forum for candidates running for the Irvine Unified School District Board of Education.

Debra Kamm and Marlene Bronson, both Irvine Unified parents running for Trustee Area 2which covers the south side of Woodbridge, Westpark and University Parkattended the forum, which was hosted by Irvine Parents Unified, a grassroots parents group, on Sept. 8.

Area 2s third candidate, Irvine Unified parent and teacher Katie McEwen, was unable to attend due to scheduling conflictsas was Dr. Jeff Kim, an educator and the single candidate running unopposed for Area 4, which covers Portola, a portion of Orchard Hills and Orange Countys Great Park.

Bronson described herself as a business owner, former homeschooling educator, and an advocate for children with disabilities. She is the mother of two adult children.

Bronson said she decided to run for the Irvine Unified school board because she believes in being a voice for the children and the parents.

Parents need  to be able to select the curriculum [and] to be able to address any concerns with what is being taught in the classroom, she said.

Kamm is an education and health advocate with an MBA in marketing from San Diego State University. She is a mother of two, with one adult child and one 17-year-old who is a student in the Irvine Unified School District.

In 2001, Kamm co-founded California Heart Connection, a nonprofit organization that provided support for parents whose children had heart conditions. Kamms son was born with a rare heart condition.

Through her nonprofit, Kamm said she became a strong proponent of informed consent for parents, helping conduct nationwide research on miscommunications between physicians and parents. She has authored or co-authored articles for medical research journals and chapters in cardiology textbooks.

I am for children first, parental rights, and Im for transparency for all community members, including where we are spending our tax dollars, Kamm said.

The first question posed by the moderator, Tiffany Craft of Irvine Parents United, questioned how the candidates would handle directives by the government or administration in the context of medical mandates, ethnic studies graduation requirements, and sex education graduation requirements.

Both Bronson and Kamm said that on the questions of medical mandates and graduation requirements, the choice should be left up to parents and students.

In response to a question about voting against the board majority, Kamm and Bronson were once again on the same page.

Kamm said she believes most board members are backed by teachers unions and vote with the unions interests in mind.

Being not affiliated with the teachers union, I am very comfortable being the lone voice and being the independent voice for parents and taxpayers, Kamm said. I would have no qualms at all about  voting what I think.

Like Kamm, Bronson said she does not have any affiliation with teachers unions and would not have a problem voting with her conscience.

However, when questions were asked about the quality of education in Irvine Unified, as well as outdated policies, providing opportunities for students with disabilities, and engaging constituents, the candidates disagreed on some points.

Bronson said she would keep parents informed by being in frequent contact with parent groups like Irvine Parents United. She also said she would help advocate for parents of students with disabilities, saying that the district would be accommodating if parents were persistent and cordial.

Kamm disagreed, however, saying, We have a lot of problems that arise with students with disabilities.

We have a lot of families who have requested services and the services are denied, and they have to fight, they have to file for due process, they have to go to hearings, they have to get remediation, Kamm said. Irvine also will not be transparent and will not show the litigation against the families when they sue families with children with disabilities. I think thats a problem because I think that the public needs to know where their taxpayer dollars are going. And Irvine needs to be transparent about the fact that they are not providing services that are needed.

Kamm said she herself had been a victim of outdated board policies when she was kicked out of a board meeting due to a decades-old policy that prohibited criticism.

Continuing the discussion on board policies, Craft asked the candidates to share their thoughts on the superintendents relationship with the board.

Bronson declined to answer the question, saying she didnt know enough about the relationship to answer the question, but Kamm said she thought the board delegated too much responsibility to the superintendent.

Board members are the ones who are elected by their constituents. They have the responsibility of actually running the district and  they are not supposed to delegate any responsibilities, Kamm said. I think the board needs to take more control. And thats why we see things like the district policies being outdated. Theres just a lot of things that have been let go because they have taken a hands-off approach. And I would change that if I were on the board.

Regarding a question about social justice curriculum, Bronson said she thought schools should focus on core subjects such as reading, writing, mathematics, and history.

Kamm said the question of social justice in schools should be broken down based on its impacts.

How does it improve educational outcomes or critical thinking? Kamm asked. What we are supposed to be teaching the kids is how to analyze things and how to separate opinion from fact. One of the issues with social justice  is incorporating peoples opinions rather than stating facts, and thats getting in the way of religious freedoms and personal beliefs. Parents need to have more control over these opinions that are being provided to our students. [Students are] supposed to learn about things, not supposed to be indoctrinated and taught a certain way to think.

Irvine Unified Council Parent Teacher Association and League of Women Voters of Orange Coast will host a second candidate forum on Oct. 12 at 7 p.m.
A fighter of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stands atop a Humvee during a joint military exercise with forces of the U.S.-led "Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve" coalition against the ISIS group in the countryside of the town of al-Malikiya (Derik in Kurdish) in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on Sept. 7, 2022. (Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images)

ISIS Terrorists Kill 6 US-Backed Fighters in Eastern Syria

BEIRUTThe ISIS terrorist group killed six U.S.-backed Syrian fighters in eastern Syria saying on Monday that the killing was in retaliation for an ongoing operation inside a sprawling camp housing tens of thousands of family members of the extremist group.

The ISIS-linked Aamaq news agency released a video showing the shooting of the six members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces near the eastern village of Ruwaished where they were captured alive and later shot dead late Sunday.

Despite their defeat in Syria in 2019, when ISIS lost the last sliver of land its fighters once controlled, the extremists sleepers cells have continued to carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq where they once held large parts of the two countries.

The latest attack occurred in Syrias eastern province of Deir el-Zour bordering Iraq, and where U.S. troops are based at an oil facility known as the Omar Field.

Last week, the U.S. military said SDF fighters arrested dozens of ISIS terrorists and rescued four women who were being held chained inside tents at the massive al-Hol camp that houses ISIS families.

The operation that has been ongoing for three weeks is part of an effort to dissolve a major ISIS network at the camp, which is widely seen as a breeding ground for the next generation of ISIS extremists.

The al-Hol camp in Syrias northeastern Hassakeh Province, has long been viewed as a growing problem and there have been a number of military operations and raids there to root out ISIS threats.

Some 50,000 Syrians and Iraqis are crowded into tents in the fenced-in camp. Nearly 20,000 of them are children; most of the rest are women, the wives and widows of ISIS fighters. In a separate, heavily guarded section of the camp known as the annex are an additional 2,000 women from 57 other countriesthey are considered the most die-hard ISIS supportersalong with their children, numbering about 8,000.
A supplied image obtained on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, of an endangered Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby born after a paused pregnancy. (AAP Image/Supplied by Aussie Ark)

Joey Survives Rare Paused Wallaby Pregnancy

Rangers at a Australian conservation sanctuary in the state of New South Wales have been shocked by what appears to be a natural miracle with the appearance of a brush-tailed rock wallaby after its mother decided to hit the pause button on her pregnancy.

The joey, the rangers believe, was conceived in October at the Aussie Arks wildlife sanctuary in the Barrington Tops, but the sanctuarys curator Kelly Davis says its mother apparently halted her pregnancy for five months.

And then a few months later picked up right where she left off. That was so incredible, Davis told AAP on Tuesday.

The process is called embryonic diapause and essentially is when the development of the embryo is suspended to ensure the survival of the baby.

The Aussie Arks rangers believe the mother underwent the evolutionary strategy to finish rearing a joey she already had in her pouch.

Its really quite spectacular what nature can do, Davis said.

Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Mica and her new joey at Taronga Zoo. Surprised keepers at Taronga Zoo are celebrating the unexpected birth of the endangered Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby, April 15, 2016, in Sydney, Australia (AAP Image/Taronga Zoo)

The tiny wallaby is thought to now be around the four-month development mark.

Curators were shocked when they noticed the distinguishable bulge of a joey in the female, knowing the only opportunity she had to mate was last year.

It is the first time I have witnessed first-hand this incredible process, Davis said.

It really shows the incredible tenacity and survival instincts of wild animals.

Aussie Ark established the first breeding program for the species in 2018 and doubled its capacity after the 2019-20 bushfire season, which annihilated much of the wallabies habitat.

The population of wild brush-tailed rock wallabies is in decline due to habitat loss and recent environmental catastrophes like the 2020 Australian Bushfireswith fewer than 20,000 left in the wild.
John Durham: Witness to Debunk Infamous Trump Allegation Featured in Steele Dossier

The most widely circulated claim in former British spy Christopher Steeles anti-Donald Trump dossier will be contested during an upcoming trial, special counsel John Durhams team revealed in a court document that was unsealed on Sept. 13.

The claim that Trump engaged in lurid sexual activity at a Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow, which was featured in Steeles dossier, will be contested by a German citizen who used to be the general manager of the hotel, prosecutors with the team said.

Bernd Kuhlen, the former manager, doesnt speak Russian and doesnt recall ever meeting with or speaking with Igor Danchenko, who has identified himself as the intermediary for the unsubstantiated claim, according to the court document.

Mr. Kuhlen also has denied (1) having knowledge of the Ritz-Carlton Allegations at any time prior to their being reported in the media, (2) discussing such allegations with, or hearing them from, the defendant, prosecutors said. Mr. Kuhlen also has confirmed to the Government and will testify at trial that he was the only western member of management at the hotel in June 2016. In short, the Government intends to prove at trial that the defendant falsely sought to attribute the Ritz Carlton Allegations to Mr. Kuhlen and businessman Sergei Millian.

Danchenko is set to go on trial in October on five counts of lying to the FBI about where he received information that he conveyed to Steele for the dossier, which was paid for by Trumps election opponent Hillary Clinton and other Democrats.

Many claims in the dossier have been rejected by U.S. authorities, and others remain unsubstantiated to this day.

Durhams team hadnt previously identified any people it plans to call in Danchenkos trial.

The motion containing the information was filed under seal on Sept. 4. Prosecutors asked a judge on Sept. 13 to make it public, and he quickly agreed.

Source E

Steele claimed in the dossier that Trump engaged in sexual activity at the hotel. Danchenko reported the claims to Steele in July 2016. The dossier portion containing the claims was dated June 20, 2016.

The report states that a person described as Source D, a close associate of Trump, organized Trumps trips to Moscow and confirmed Trumps alleged activity. Steele also claimed that Source E, a senior Western staffer at the hotel confirmed the claims.

Questioned by the FBI about the claims, Danchenko said in January 2017 in Washington that he sourced the information while staying at the hotel in June 2016. He said he was invited to Moscow by Charles Dolan, a longtime Clinton family associate. Danchenko later told FBI agents that he only visited the hotel, rather than sleeping there.

In the first interview, Danchenko also said he spoke with staff members about the claims and that they didnt deny their veracity. He said he gave their names to Steele. In the second interview, Danchenko affirmed that he spoke with Ritz-Carolton management about the allegations.

Danchenko has told authorities that he spoke with Millian, a businessman, but the government found that he had never done so, according to charging papers. Millian has been identified for years as possibly being Source D. Danchenko said the source could be  Sergei Millian, according to the new filing.

While Danchenko wasnt charged over his claims regarding the hotel, his efforts to false attribute the allegations to Source D and Source E were part and parcel of the very same efforts to fabricate information that underlie false statements charged in the Indictment, according to prosecutors.

To state the obvious, it would be impossible for Millian to confirm the Ritz Carlton Allegations (and other information) to the defendant in June 2016 because the defendant repeatedly informed the FBI that the first and only time he allegedly communicated with Millian was late July 2016, they said. Put bluntly, these facts demonstrate that the defendant could not keep his lies straight and that the defendant engaged in a concerted effort to deceive the FBI about the sourcing (or lack thereof) of the Steele Reports. Accordingly, this evidence is intrinsic to the charged offenses as they relate to Millian and is properly admitted as direct evidence.

Prosecutors are asking to address the information during the trial even though the exact alleged lies werent charged.

Dolan

Dolan, who hasnt been charged, wasnt a source for any of the information relayed to Steele, Danchenko allegedly told the FBI.

But evidence presented at trial will show that hotel staffers gave Dolan and Steven Kupka, a Dolan acquaintance, a tour of the presidential suite that was the purported location of Trumps activity, according to prosecutors.

Had the FBI known that Dolan was a fact witness in this respect, it is more likely that they would have interviewed Dolan about the Ritz-Carlton Allegations, given his proximity to the defendant and the hotel staff at the time the information was allegedly collected, they said.

Indeed, the Government anticipates that Mr. Dolan will testify that (1) it was he and Mr. Kupka who attended a lunch with the Ritz-Carlton general manager and other hotel staff during the June 2016 Moscow trip and that the defendant was not present, and (2) neither Donald Trump nor his purported sexual practices were ever discussed at that lunch. Further, the Government also anticipates that Mr. Dolan will testify that Ritz-Carlton hotel staff did, in fact, provide the aforementioned tour of the presidential suite as part of the June 2016 trip and that, again, Donald Trump and his purported sexual practices were not discussed during that tour.
John Robson: Critics of Constitutional Monarchies Should Be Careful What They Wish For

Commentary

Before the tributes to Queen Elizabeth II were even done, there were those who swooped in with calls for Canada and other realms finally to become republics, and worse. To which I say be careful what you wish for.

In two ways. First, there were some mind-bogglingly offensive statements on Her Majestys passing, including from people whose ancestors, or they themselves, escaped awful places for the Anglosphere, the foundations of whose freedom, prosperity, and toleration they seem neither to understand nor appreciate. For instance, one who on NBC said Elizabeth was heir to, and in turn passes on, a chain of rule defined by the brutality of the British Empire as it conquered and exploited people around the world. Can any sane person wish Britain had been governed like Iraq, or by it? Does even that author wish hed lived under Saddam Hussein or Muqtada al-Sadr?

Then some privileged academic snarled in The New York Times that the queen helped obscure a bloody history of decolonization whose proportions and legacies have yet to be adequately acknowledged and included in the crimes committed in her name fighting communists in Malaysia. She also praised Lord Mountbattens assassination as karmic (as for his grandson, the teenage deckhand and that old lady also killed, well, you cant make an omelette without breaking eggs). She even denounced the Queen for being a white face on all the coins, notes and stamps circulated in a rapidly diversifying nation. Elizabeths Britain welcomed people from around the world. What more did you want her to do? Have a face transplant?

Still, last place goes to Uju Anya, professor of critical race and discourse studies at private Carnegie Mellon University where undergraduate tuition exceeds US$58,000 a year, who tweeted: I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating. (Which prompted MSNBCs Uju Anyas tweet shouldnt have been condemned by Carnegie Mellon and Newsweeks Carnegie Mellon Students Back Uju Anya for Wishing Queen Painful Death.) Ghastly.

Was British colonial rule sometimes arrogant, bigoted, and harsh? Of course. No institutions have ever been found that abolish the less attractive human qualities. And the British Empire didnt just engage in the slave trade, it spread that dreadful institution in the Caribbean and then North America. But the system that evolved in Britain has been far more successful at constraining human failings than any other. Including the Empire repenting, abolishing slavery internally, and even sending the Royal Navy to stamp out the trade elsewhere, all before Victoria took the throne, never mind Elizabeth.

Does anyone really suppose indigenous Nigerian authorities were going to abolish slavery spontaneously? Or Iraqi, Russian, or Chinese? The indictment of the Empire is that it did not always live up to its ideals. But the indictment of most regimes is that they almost always did.

Hence the second way critics of our monarchy should be careful what they wish for, namely taking care to grasp what republic means.

Here I quote the Percies defiance to Henry IV in 1403. Their cause was wrong, but their language incorporated shared understanding across partisan lines: we send mortal diffidatio to you and your accomplices and allies, as traitors and destroyers to the respublica of the realm.

Respublica? In the Middle Ages? Yes, because as John Adams put it a quarter millennium later while defending it, republic means a government of laws, and not of men. Thus 500 years earlier, half a century before Magna Carta, John of Salisbury in Policraticus wrote: The difference between the prince and the tyrant is that the prince obeys the law and governs his people in accordance with right.

Exactly. What Canadians have had, since long before Canada, is a republic anchored in constitutional monarchy. Imperfect, to be sure. But attentive to its imperfections, a vital way it vastly outperforms alternatives, historical and theoretical.

Suppose we heed the projectors and haters, anyway. Wed end up choosing between Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre as head of state and emblem of Canada instead of just head of Executive Branch operations, with no institution above partisanship able to call out gross breaches of decency.

Or electing a ceremonial president nobody can remember with no moral authority. Or having prime ministers appoint governors general who appoint prime ministers in a self-serving clique who resemble one another in unattractive ways. And for what?

What harm did constitutional monarchy ever do us? What has the Canadian political class wanted to do, with popular support, but could not because our Queen, or some King, said no?

If you entrust power to people who dont even realize we already have a republic whose effective and dignified parts worked well together for centuries, it will fall apart. And if you entrust it to people who publicly desire agonizing deaths to adversaries, you may be confident they will occur.

So be very careful what you wish for.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The Johnson & Johnson logo on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on May 29, 2019. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

Johnson & Johnson Reaches $205 Million Settlement in Australian Pelvic Mesh Class Action

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has reached a A$300 million ($204.90 million) settlement in two Australian class action suits filed by Shine Lawyers for selling defective pelvic mesh implants to Australian women, the law firm said on Monday.

The settlement, which Shine Lawyers said was the largest settlement in a product-liability class action in Australian history, follows multiple court proceedings involving more than 11,000 claimants, the pharmaceutical giant, and its subsidiary Ethicon.

Pelvic mesh manufacturers have faced thousands of lawsuits from women who said they suffered pain, urinary problems, bleeding, and other serious injuries from the implants. The total settlements for the companies have been more than $8 billion so far.

J&J has also faced similar lawsuits in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Earlier this year, a California court had ordered J&J to pay $302 million for concealing the risks of Ethicons pelvic mesh products.

Mondays settlement comes after an Australian federal court judge previously found that Ethicon had sold the implantsto treat urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapsewithout warning women and surgeons about the risks, and had rushed the products to market before proper testing.

The company was ordered to pay $1.7 million to three Australian women in March 2020.

A second class action suit was then filed by Shine Lawyers in April 2021 on behalf of women who received their implants on or after July 4, 2017, and were not eligible to join the first class action, with allegations similar to the first one.

The A$300 million settlement remains subject to the Federal courts approval.

Pending the Federal Court approval, we are pleased to reach a settlement that provides certainty and a path forward for eligible Australian patients, a Johnson & Johnson spokesperson said.

In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered all pelvic mesh makers to halt sales of the devices.

($1 = 1.4641 Australian dollars)

By Jaskiran Singh
Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams wants to change the state's course if elected. Here she speaks in Washington on April 6, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Kemp, Abrams Pose Very Different Visions for Georgias Future

Incumbent Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and former state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, who wants Kemps job, head into the final stretch of their campaign with very different programs in mind for the state should they win.

The race gets national attention. After her narrow loss to Kemp in 2018, Abrams became a national figure, was considered for the vice presidency in 2020, and has been said to be a Democratic leader of the future. In early 2019, she delivered the Democrats televised rebuttal to former President Donald Trumps State of the Union address.

Kemp also put himself in the spotlight by separating himself from Trumps election fraud claims. Hes been subpoenaed to testify before a Fulton County grand jury investigating Trumps attempts to investigate the 2020 elections in Georgia. But a judge has allowed him to delay his appearance until after the November election.

Meanwhile, though, hes conspicuously thumped an opponent that Trump backed in a move to counter Kemps perceived lack of support. Of all the Georgia Republican officials on Trumps wrong side, none was as much a target of the presidents fury as Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, wrote Greg Bluestein in Politico in March 2022. Kemp still won his May primary over Trumps candidate, former Sen. David Perdue, by a nearly three-to-one margin.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp won the Republican primary in convincing fashion despite defying Donald Trump, in part by delivering what Republican voters wanted in his first term. Here he speaks in Atlanta, Ga., on May 24, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Abrams has not been able to turn her national stature into a lead in the polls, despite a steady influx of new voters, many from blue statesones Republicans fear tend to bring their politics with them. About 50,000 more people a year were moving into Georgia than moved out in the years leading up to the 2020 census.

Republican Vision

Analysts say Kemp hung on to Republican voters because he has governed as a conservative. His tough abortion bill, which he signed into law in 2019, bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectedusually around six weeks of pregnancy. It went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in July dismissed lawsuits filed to stop it.

This spring, Kemp signed a constitutional carry law allowing Georgians to carry a gun in public without a permit or a background check. Law still requires a background check for retail gun purchases.

Kemp was aggressive in reopening Georgia businesses in 2020 after shutting them down for the COVID-19 outbreak in March. Non-essential businesses, such as barbershops, hair and nail salons, and gyms, were permitted to reopen in late April, and bars and nightclubs in June. Kemp voided mask laws that some cities passed, instead encouraging voluntary mask usage. In March 2021, he ended most social distancing requirements. Schools reopened in August 2020, although some localities didnt follow suit. Georgia ranks 9th among the states in population but ranks 12th so far in confirmed COVID cases.

And while Kemp didnt back Trumps election fraud claims, his voting reform bill, signed into law in March 2021, addresses what many perceived as loopholes in the system, many revolving around permissive absentee ballot measures rushed into practice in 2020 during the pandemic. The reform measures tightened up again on absentee ballots and the use of drop boxes to deliver them. They gave the legislature greater control over elections, including the power to remove county election officials. The state, meanwhile, has continued its aggressive purging, begun by Kemp earlier as Secretary of State, of voters who are dead or who have movedand sometimes of those who have merely been inactive. Abrams and the Democrats have amplified their charges of voter suppression.

Democrat Vision

Abrams, meanwhile, sees a very different vision for Georgias future. She would repeal Kemps abortion law and reverse some of the provisions of his gun laws, which she says make it easier for criminals and the mentally ill to carry guns and allows guns on campus. She would work against the systematic barriers she implies his administration has created to voting, and she advocates Election Day voter registration.

Her campaign features a long list of policy proposals promising economic, social, and educational mobility, housing affordability, rural revitalization, and environmental resilience.

Their differing approaches can be seen in education. Kemp, in 2018 promised a $5,000 pay raise for teachers, and this year finished delivering it. Abrams has proposed more aggressive teacher pay hikes, base salaries to go from $39,092 to $50,000, and average wages from $62,500 to $73,500, which she says would put Georgiacurrently ranked 21st in teacher payin the top 10 states nationally for teacher pay. Abrams estimated the pay hike would cost $1.65 billion. She wants to create 20,000 new apprenticeships and make technical college free.

Fulton County Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis in her office on Jan. 4, 2022. (Ben Gray/AP Photo)

Kemp recently announced a $25 million learning loss grant program focused on helping elementary school children who fell behind during COVIDparticularly in school districts that stayed closed longerto catch up again. He called for more guidance counselors and accelerated training of teacher aides to become teachers. He said if hes reelected, hell address teacher shortages with new funding but didnt call for further pay hikes. An Abrams spokesman derided Brian Kemps last-minute election year half-measures as too little, too late.

Abrams has hammered the impending closure of Atlantas big Atlanta Medical Center and sought to tie the money-losing hospitals failure to Kemps refusal so far to expand Medicaid under the provisions of Obamacare. Analysts, though, have said the hospital might have failed even with more currently uninsured people covered by Medicaid.

Kemp has been cautious in allocating windfall funds from the federal government for COVID relief, announcing relatively small initiatives at specific problems. He recently announced a continuation of the state moratorium on collecting its 29 cents a gallon gasoline tax through Oct. 12. The suspension costs the state $150 million a month in revenue, and Kemp has used state surpluses to pay for road building in the meantime.

Abrams has her work cut out for her this fall. Real Clear Politics shows Kemp averaging 5.5 percentage points ahead of her in multiple polls. One problem for her is her basethe black voteof which Georgia Democrats typically expect to garner 90 percent or better. In an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll in July, she gained only 80 percent of the black vote5 points fewer than Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is running for reelection to the Senate, was getting. Some analysts say shes particularly weak with black men.

Critics say that, as a darling of the national press, shes grown complacent, and with most of her money coming from out-of-state donors, she hasnt campaigned hard enough with Georgia voters. Abrams appeared to be targeting the black male vote when she conversed with radio host and TV personality Charlamagne Tha God, rapper 21 Savage, and attorney Francys Johnson. They discussed how her programs would benefit black men.

Former South Carolina governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley came to Georgia last week to campaign with Kemp.
By Steve Rosen

My position on President Joe Bidens plan to wipe the slate clean for borrowers on billions of dollars in federal student loan debt: I dont like it.

I understand why there are many arguments in support of the White House plan. But, like many readers, I feel its a slap in the face to those who graduated college with debt but made the payments like clockworkeven when it hurtto forge a successful outcome. They stuck to their commitment to repay the money.

Now theyre being told to cover the debt of more than 20 million who cant. At least the presidents plan includes a new repayment program that would lower student debt repayments in the future, with monthly payments capped at no more than 5 percent of a borrowers discretionary income, down from 10 percent in existing income-driven programs.

Borrowers who stand to benefit from the presidents planassuming it survives challengeswill be able to kick the can down the road with Uncle Sam there to clean up the mess. Its the American way, given the huge federal bailouts in years past to automakers, big banks, and other corporations that were deemed too critical to fail. This time, ordinary Americans get the direct break.

But I also understand there are millions of borrowers whose lives have been shattered because of the loansand all the interest accompanying them. Is there a better way other than a bailout to help them?

Of all the statistics and data trotted out by both proponents and critics, I zeroed in on this one: The nations federal student loan debt levelcurrently at $1.6 trillionwill return to todays levels within five years of the cancelation without dealing with the rising cost of college, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit that advocates for lower deficits.

But I digress. Politics and policies aside, what can be done now by parents and students to avoid winding up in the same debt trap?

Here are some ideas to make college more affordable that not only dont require a presidential order but take little effortjust a dose of common sense.

Scholarships

If theres a high school senior in your house, start looking now for scholarships, grants and other forms of free money, which unlike debt, dont require a payback. Many nonprofits, businesses and other private organizations have application deadlines by Dec. 31. There are any number of websites that list a full complement of scholarship programs.

College Credits

Sign up for as many advanced placement courses as you can handle. Earning college credits while in high school shaves thousands of dollars off the total tab.

Community Colleges

Tuition at community colleges generally is a fraction of state school tuition. In some states, students can even transfer credits to a four-year state school after two years. Make sure your home state offers credit transfers. Likewise, trade schools may be the way to go for those looking to develop a craft.

No-loan Schools

More than 50 colleges provide no-loan financial aid packages that feature scholarships, grants and work-study opportunities. Most colleges offering this option tend to be smaller liberal arts institutions, such as Grinnell, Bates and Amherst. Other no-loan schools included Princeton, Yale, Brown, the University of North Carolina and Virginia.

Just Say No

Ideally look for colleges that fit your childs academic needs without requiring the family to load up on debt. If your teen is looking at colleges that will break the bank, just say no. Look for schools that will pay you to attendthere are plenty of them.

529 Plans

The most effective way to save for college is to start contributing to a 529 college savings plan, ideally when your child is still in sleep sacks and diapers.

Money Smarts

Take a personal finance class in high school. Learn the basics, especially on how to avoid racking up debt of any kind.

(Questions, comments, column ideas? Send an email to sbrosen1030@gmail.com.)

2022 Steve Rosen. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The Epoch Times Copyright  2022 The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors. They are meant for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation. The Epoch Times does not provide investment, tax, legal, financial planning, estate planning, or any other personal finance advice. The Epoch Times holds no liability for the accuracy or timeliness of the information provided.
Professor Maurizio Casiraghi of the Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences of Milano Bicocca records a lesson on the evolution of genomes in an empty classroom in Milan, Italy, on March 5, 2020. (Piero Cruciatti/AFP via Getty Images)

Legacy of COVID: Empty Classrooms and Walls of Silence

Commentary

The image of an empty classroom, posted by Jan Slapeta, a professor of veterinary and molecular parasitology at the University of Sydney, is almost surreal. The professor posted the image after finding himself lecturing to an empty classroom as all his students were studying from home.

Reporter Sam McPhee, reporting on the image of the deserted lecture theatre notes that, The work-from-home habits adopted during COVID lockdowns have lingered long after most isolation measures for the virus had been abandoned.

Some people might argue that there is nothing disconcerting about the image. Remote teaching has been going on for a long time, even prior to the pandemic. This practice usually involves the professor teaching in their allocated lecture theatre, and students have the option to either attend in-person or access the lecture from their home computerknown as hybrid teaching.

But prior to the pandemic, this approach had been mainly used for conferencing and sparingly for regular lectures.

However, during the pandemic, the in-person approach was abandoned, and all teaching occurred via Zoom lectures. Of course, this was due to governments strict rules and regulations that aimed at eliminating or slowing the spread of COVID-19. But subsequently, hybrid teaching became a byword for remote teaching.

Professors now routinely teach classes with cameras turned off, and consequently, they cannot even see the students who are attending their Zoomed lectures.

It feels as if the professor is addressing a blank wall of silence, even when the professor invites students to answer his or her questions.

And I am not even talking about the valuable time often wasted by the lecturers, who unintentionally and frustratingly, try to connect with remote students and seek to master the digital equipment, which routinely breaks down or is unreliable.

Benefits of Remote Teaching Fails to Include Providing Education

Although most pandemic restrictions have been removed, the popularity of remote teaching remains undiminished. There are still university administrators and academics who praise hybrid teaching, even if it evolves into remote teaching only, with all students accessing their lectures via their home computer.

Specifically, these proponents of hybrid teaching argue that, in making remote (online) access available, students are able to save money since it obviates the need to travel to the university and to organise accommodation. They also argue that remote teaching provides flexibility and options to students, who are able to continue working while studying.

There are benefits for the university too: lower operational costs, reduced need to construct new buildings, and the possibility to attracts students from wide and afar.

Students begin classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic on the first day of the fall 2020 semester at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Aug. 17, 2020. (Sam Wasson/Getty Images)

Yet, these arguments, regardless of their validity, fail to consider the true nature of a university education.

In his book The Idea of the University, Prof. Karl Jaspers, a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher, argues that active stimulation of original inquiry through communication with others is an important function of a university.

If so, a proper university education involves communication between teachers and students, which Cardinal John Henry Newman called the education of the intellect.

In-person teaching also enables students to socialise with their peers and to hone their speaking skills.

In some courseslaw is a good examplestudents learn best if they have an opportunity to contribute toand profit fromdebates on legal and social issues discussed by their colleagues and the professor. For them, opportunities to take part in scholarly discussions bolster their confidence, which is needed in their dealings with clients and the courts.

The in-person education mode also fosters an approach that makes it possible to work together collaboratively with other students to reflect on and propose solutions for the problems of todays society. Obviously, these skills cannot be effectively obtained by sitting in front of a dull-looking screen, even if it allows limited interaction with the professor.

It is the interaction with the professor and their colleagues that sharpens the minds of students, moulding their character and professional abilities.

This interaction usually involves what is known as Socratic teaching, named after Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher who questioned his pupils to increase their knowledge and understanding of the world around them.

When Will We Begin Seriously Questioning Hybrid Teaching?

Hence, it is necessary to question the continuing reliance by universities on hybrid teaching as the preferred teaching approach. What is needed is a thorough assessment of the impacts of hybrid teaching on university education.

This assessment should exceed the mere consideration of the utilitarian advantages offered by this mode of teaching. Yet, whilst there is an abundance of papers on the practical benefits of hybrid teaching, there are few good papers in the relevant literature on the relationship between this mode of teaching and its impact on the quality of university education.

Professor Jan Govaerts at The School of Physics at UCLouvain gestures as he teaches alone in a small lecture theatre of the university at Louvain-la-Neuve, on the outskirts of Brussels on Nov. 3, 2020. (John Thys/AFP via Getty Images)

This assessment, however, should not overlook the fact that there are problems with in-person teaching. For example, undergraduate classes are generally large, and lecture theatres easily overflow, with students occupying and blocking the aisles.

It is often difficult, if not impossible, to sensibly contribute to discussions in a large class. Indeed, it may even be seen as an annoying and disruptive intervention by bright students who want to prevent the lecturer from speaking ex-cathedra.

In addition, an assessment should also extend to making recommendations about the design of lecture theatres, which often are not conducive to nurturing a stimulating discussion among the participants. Lecture theatres should ensure that speakers can, at all times, be seen and heard by other students and the professor. In this context, it is not surprising that universities stress the importance of small group teaching in their advertising.

The image posted by Slapeta succeeds in beautifully capturing the most important characteristic of the COVID-19 pandemic and its barbaric restrictions: emptiness. It shows how hybrid teaching contributes to total isolation.

But the pandemics legacy is that students have decided to stay at home rather than visit the campus, to access their lectures.

In doing so, they might get a degree, but they do not necessarily get an education.

Regardless, they are attuned to the appealing explanation that it is better to stay at home than to become sick in a large lecture theatre and make other people sick.

The question thus needs to be asked: why does the university system continue to support, unreservedly, a mode of education which erodes the very concept of education?

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant in London, England, on June 5, 2022. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Lets Hear It for the British Empire

Commentary

Like many, Im suffering from a surfeit of royalty at the moment.

I was a great fan of Queen Elizabeth II, whose passing last week I noted in The Spectator.

Im also, though a proud American patriot, a fan of the British monarchy.

It has been a source of stability, succor, and political enlightenment for centuries.

Some say that monarchy is the opposite of democracy, and therefore inimical to freedom.

That opens a large subject. For now, I merely point out that the United States is supposed to be a constitutional republic, which is a form of representative democracy.

In fact, its an increasingly oligarchic bureaucracy ruled by a tiny, entrenched elite who eagerly barter freedom for the warm glow of political correctness.

Thats a subject for another day. For now, I merely want to register my affection for the British monarchy.

Yes, I worry about its prospects at the hands of Charles III, who for my taste is too committed to the religion of climate change, and perhaps insufficiently committed to the religion of the Church of England (remember, he once said that, should he ascend the throne, he would be defender of the faiths, plural).

But all of thats as may be.

The airwaves have been laden with remembrances, encomia, and valentines to the late Queen, the royal family, and even royal impersonators like Megan Markle, the American wife of Prince Harry.

It can all be a bit cloying.

But how much more welcome it is than the vicious attacks on the Queen, on the British monarchy, on the British generally.

The airwaves have been full of that poisonous vituperation, too.

I dont propose to open that fetid midden.

I do, however, want to respond briefly to the calumny directed at the British empire by Ali Velshi, the Kenyan-born Canadian television journalist who has made a grand tour through a half dozen left-wing outlets, including Al Jazeera, CNN, and (now) MSNBC.

It was from his perch at MSNBC that Velshi spoke with the distinguished English historian Andrew Roberts about the Queen and her legacy.

I almost said that Velshi interviewed Roberts, but that would not have been accurate. Lectured him dismissively would be more like it.

Velshi began by saying that the Queen represented an institution that had a long, ugly history of brutal colonialism, violence, theft, and slavery.

For many centuries, Velshi continued, the British robbed other nations of their wealth and power and exploited their people.

He wasnt done yet.

Even as Queen Elizabeths reign largely marks the beginning of the post-colonial era, Velshi said, the horrors that her long line of ancestors inflicted upon many generations of people across the globe continues to be the source of pain.

Roberts replied with his customary aplomb, treating Velshi to some of the contempt he deserved.

It was no surprise that, just as Roberts was warming up, Velshi cut him off.

Let me step in to add to what Roberts was saying.

Far from constituting a long, ugly history, the story of the British empire is a litany of civilizing patronage.

Certainly, the inhabitants of what is now the United States benefitted immeasurably from British colonization.

The same is true of Canada.

In fact, everywhere that Britain went in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries benefitted immensely from its wise and beneficent intervention.

Were there mistakes? Yes. Were there unnecessary cruelties, stupidities, and miscalculations? You bet.

This isnt a fairy tale but actual history were talking about.

On balance, the British colonial adventure was an incalculable gain for the colonized.

The British brought better hygiene, the rule of law, better schools, roads, industry, and manners.

Consider, to take just one example, the work of Sir Charles Napier, the British commander in India in the early 19th century.

Told that immolating widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands was a cherished local custom, Napier said: Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.

The philosopher George Santayana was right about the colonial rule of the Englishman.

Never since the heroic days of Greece, he wrote in Soliloquies in England, has the world had such a sweet, just, boyish master. It will be a black day for the human race when scientific blackguards, conspirators, churls, and fanatics manage to supplant him.

Whats happened in Africa, India, and elsewhere in the period of de-colonizationbetter call it rebarbarization, a much more accurate nameis stark evidence that Santayana was right.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A Union Pacific freight train in the south of Tucson, Ariz. on Jan. 24, 2020. (David Boe/AP Photo)

Looming Nationwide Railroad Strike Threatens Food Supply Chain as Union and Carriers Negotiations Stall

Bakers warn of 'devastating ripple effect' from even a temporary interruption

The American Bakers Association (ABA) is warning of potentially severe consequences for the nations supply chain should thousands of union rail workers go on strike next week following stalled labor negotiations.

Even a temporary interruption would create a devastating ripple effect, Lee Sanders, the ABAs senior vice president of government relations and public affairs, said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

Rail-dependent facilities would be unable to receive materials and ingredients, and millions of Americans a day would be unable to receive the baked goods they rely on to feed themselves, their families, and communities, he added.

Sanders said the ABA is very concerned about a potential rail system stoppage and the pressure it would bring to the nations fragile supply chain. Between 15 and 20 percent of all bakery ingredients in the United States are products transported by rail.

A Union Pacific rail car is parked at a Burlington National Santa Fe (BNSF) train yard in Seattle, Washington, U.S., Feb. 10, 2017. (Chris Helgren/Reuters)

Reliable rail freight transportation is critical now, more than ever, as we continue to grapple with some of the most severely impactful events in our nations history, Sanders said.

As of Sept. 13, two of the nations largest rail unionsthe Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and SMART Transportation Divisionremained at an impasse with six major rail carriers over ratifying a new contract.

Some 90,000 union rail workers would be allowed to strike as early as Sept. 16, when a federally mandated cooling off period expires.

Embargoes Announced

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) announced that the six Class I freight railroads engaged in national bargaining would begin to take steps to secure materials considered hazardous and security-sensitive ahead of the Sept. 16 deadline.

Railroads are taking all measures necessary to handle sensitive cargo [under] federal regulations to ensure that no such cargo is left on an unattended or unsecured train in the event of a work stoppage due to an impasse in labor negotiations, the AAR said in a statement.

Additionally, other freight customers may experience delayed or suspended service over the next week as the railroads prepare for the possibility that current labor negotiations do not result in a resolution and reduce operations for safety and security.

As a precaution, Union Pacific Railroad said it began securing hazardous and security-sensitive materials on Sept. 12.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at an event marking Amtraks 50th anniversary at the William H. Gray III 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, Pa., on April 30, 2021. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

While these actions are necessary, they do not mean a work stoppage is certain. What we want, and continue to push for, is a prompt resolution that provides historic wage increases to employees and allows the railroads to restore service as soon as possible, preventing further disruption to the struggling supply chain, UP said in a statement.

The Railway Labor Act requires a 30-day waiting period if both sides fail to reach a negotiated contract settlement.

That period expired on July 18, three days after President Joe Biden signed an executive order creating an emergency board to investigate stalled national labor negotiations. The ruling allowed labor unions and freight carriers more time to work out their differences over wages, hours, and working conditions.

In a joint statement this last week, BLET president Dennis Pierce and SMART transportation division president Jeremy Ferguson criticized the announced embargo of specific products by the nations largest railroads as an act of corporate extortion.

No Acceptable Agreement

This completely unnecessary attack on rail shippers by these highly profitable Class I railroads is no more than corporate extortion. Our unions remain at the bargaining table and have given the rail carriers a proposal we would be willing to submit to our members for ratification.

Still, the rail carriers refuse to reach an acceptable agreement, the statement said.

It was abundantly clear from our negotiations over the past few days that the railroads show no intentions of reaching an agreement with our unions, but they cannot legally lock out our members until the end of the cooling-off period.

Instead, they are locking out their customers beginning Monday [Sept. 19] and further harming the supply chain to provoke congressional action.

The BLET represents nearly 57,000 rail workers, while the SMART transportation division comprises 125,000 active and retired members of the former United Transportation Union.

In a September 2022 report, the AARs Policy and Economics Team found that lost output due to a nationwide rail shutdown could exceed $2 billion daily.

Freight railroads are indispensable to our economy, the report said. Thats why a freight rail shutdown idling more than 7,000 long-distance Class I trains per dayin addition to short-line, passenger, and commuter trainswould be devastating.

The report added that switching from rail freight carriers to truck trailers would be costly and disruptive, requiring 467,000 additional long-haul trucks daily to handle the freight volume.

The possible rail strike comes during a nationwide shortage of more than 85,000 truck drivers, a number expected to double by 2026.

Currently, neither the trucks nor the truck drivers necessary to meet this demand are available. In addition to freight impacts, a freight rail shutdown would halt most passenger and commuter rail services, the AAR report added.
A poster at an RSU 22 school suggests that it's more interesting to make your own gender than to be born a man or woman. Photo was taken in Maine's RSU school district in 2021. (Courtesy of Kevin, Hannah, and Lucy)

Maines Transgender Curriculum As Seen Through the Eyes of a Child and Her Family

Even from middle school, Lucy found that society didnt accept her gender.

Lucy is a heterosexual girl. Her peers and teachers at Maines Regional School Unit (RSU) 22 pressured her to be transgender or lesbian, she said.

Straight people like me, I think they get a lot of anxiety, and they cant find a voice inside of them to speak up, she said. And they just are stuck not doing anything.

In Lucys Maine school district, hallways exploded with posters celebrating new gender identities, she said. Some exalt new gender identities over heterosexuality.

Why use the symbols givin to you  when you can make your own! one poorly-spelled poster read.

This school atmosphere encourages middle school children into strange sexualities, Lucy and her parents say. All chose to use pseudonyms to protect Lucys identity.

Pick Your Own Gender

Kevin and Hannah, Lucys parents, first learned her teachers educated her in radical gender ideology when she was between 10 and 11.

What does non-binary mean? she asked her mother one day when she got home.

Before the incident happened, Lucys parents asked the principal to not educate her on radical gender ideology. But the school didnt listen, they said.

Without parental knowledge or consent, they were presenting information about transgenderism, Hannah said.

One book, This is Our Rainbow, described a 5-year-old girl falling in love with an adult woman.

An excerpt from RSU 22s book, This is Our Rainbow describes a 5-year-old girl falling in love with an adult woman. (Screenshot courtesy of Hannah)

I just think your moms really pretty, the girl in the book says.

The schools promotion of transgenderism was its most concerning trespass against parental rights, Hannah said. But it wasnt the only one.

One teacher announced after Christmas to her class of elementary schoolers that there was no Santa Claus, Hannah said.

It seems like theyre constantly overstepping the family line between family and school, she said.

Once, a guest speaker at the school handed out pieces of paper, Lucy said. She told the class to draw men and women on them. Then she cut the pictures in half and scrambled the tops and bottoms.

Theyd have a different top and a different bottom to what everybody would have when they first drew their picture, she said.

The exercise was meant to show how gender is mixed, Lucy said.

At school, Lucys teachers gave her books laced with profanity, her mom said.

Pushed Into Gender Identities

The schools promotion of pro-LGBT material led to children embracing LGBT identities, Kevin said.

In Lucys class, a very high number of children announced LGBT identities. In her immediate friend group, two students identified as transgender.

Theyre trying to motivate everyone to become something like that, he said. All of a sudden, everyones transgender, everyones nonbinary, he said.

Much of the schools radicalism started when former President Donald Trump won the 2016 election, said Hannah. Teachers festooned the hallways and classrooms with signs stating that the school was a safe, affirming space for LGBT people and their allies.

The straight kids were saying, Where am I represented in that? I just become an ally to someone? I dont count anymore? Hannah said.

Gender ideology was everywhere, said Lucy.

In one extracurricular club with nothing to do with gender ideology, a teacher kept on bringing up the subject to Lucy unprompted, her mother said.

Do you think we have enough LGBT books? the teacher asked Lucy.

Im really happy to see that were getting more girls in our clubor at least students who identify as girls, the teacher said to Lucy on another occasion.

It has to be these pointed comments about identifying as a girl or identifying as a boy or not being something that you are, Hannah said.

Female Erasure

Lucy said she faced a strange school environment where she was singled out and pressured to celebrate gender ideology.

The stress led to her having panic attacks in school.

I was just feeling pressured to be supportive every single day, and it was making me sick, said Lucy. And I had a lot of anxiety. And I felt really sad.

The web of preferred gender pronouns that students had to navigate made it difficult for Lucy to talk about even fictional characters without controversy, Hannah said.

She was constantly trying, having to feel like she had to defend herself, she said.

Friends told her she was a lesbian, Lucy said. She argued with them about it.

She sent me like videos [saying] Yeah, this is gonna be you one day, and they were LGBT related, she said of one friend.

When Lucy made an offhand comment that her hair wasnt entirely straight, the same friend told her that you arent either, she said.

Stop putting a label on me, Lucy responded.

Children also suddenly brought up sexual matters, Lucy said.

Im bisexual, but Im most  I mostly like men, another child told Lucy unprompted, she recalls.

In response to these developments, Lucys parents encouraged her to use her cellphone so she could call them if she felt uncomfortable.

RSU 22 rules forbid phone use during the day, Hannah said. But she added that Lucy needed to call her if things went wrong.

Thats horrible to feel like you have to do that when you drop your kid off at school, Hannah said.

Today, Lucy no longer attends RSU 22. She feels like her experience with radical gender ideology wasnt right, she said.

This shouldnt have been talked about in front of a 10-year-olds and 11-year-olds, Lucy said.
Police and investigators are seen at the side of the road outside Rosthern, Saskatchewan on Sept. 7, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Kelly Geraldine Malone)

Mass Saskatchewan Stabbing Shows Gap in How Suspect With Arrest Warrant Was at Large

In late May, a parole officer issued an arrest warrant for an offender with a violent criminal past who had recently been released from prison in Saskatchewan and who had since disappeared.

More than 100 days later, Myles Sanderson remained unlawfully at large when he was named as a suspect in a stabbing rampage that left 11 people dead  including his brother, Damien Sanderson, who was also named as a suspect  and 18 others injured in James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon, Sask.

After a four-day manhunt, Sanderson was arrested on a rural stretch of highway and died in custody after RCMP said he went into medical distress.

The tragedy has prompted scrutiny over how Sanderson managed to remain free in the months leading up to the attacks, and how authorities should handle violent offenders who violate the rules of their release.

Sandersons case seems to reveal a gap in the system.

While the Correctional Service of Canada says its up to police to capture offenders who break their parole, police say that the warrants for those suspects are among countless others that land on their desks to manage.

Thats the problem, Scott Blandford, a former police sergeant in London, Ont. Its a finger-pointing exercise.

Sanderson had been released into the community in August 2021 on whats called statutory release, which kicks in when federal offenders have served two-thirds of their prison sentences.

While Sandersons case has put a spotlight on the measure, one expert says it allows offenders time to transition back into society after living in a tightly controlled prison environment.

The vast majority are greatly helped when provided with a period of reintegration supports, Toronto Metropolitan University criminology professor Jane Sprott said in an email.

She said the alternative is to release them cold without any supervision or reintegration following their prison sentences, which increases their chances of reoffending.

Four months into his freedom, Sanderson was found to have been lying about his living arrangements and had his release suspended.

It wasnt the first time he had been found in breach of such rules.

Parole documents shows he had been convicted of 59 offences, 28 of them for failure to comply with release conditions or failure to appear in court. His criminal record included violent assaults, including against people who were victims in his recent attacks.

Sanderson requested that the parole board cancel the suspension, the documents show, saying that he had stayed sober and found work.

Despite his parole supervisor recommending his release be revoked based on his deceit, the board decided in February to cancel Sandersons suspension and opted to release him with a reprimand.

But by May, the Correctional Service of Canada deemed him to be unlawfully at large and a parole officer issued a warrant for his apprehension.

A copy of that warrant, obtained by The Canadian Press, shows Sanderson was listed as having no fixed address.

The Correctional Service says in cases such as his, prison officials reach out to an offenders contacts to try and locate them, but its ultimately up to police to bring them in.

(We) will work closely with the police to ensure that they have all the information necessary to execute the warrant and return the offender, a spokesperson said in a statement.

Brian Sauve, president of the National Police Federation, which represents RCMP members, said unless its a high-profile case, parole authorities dont proactively communicate with police when an offender goes on the lam, however.

So what often happens is the offenders name just appears in a database. Theyre not picking up the phone.

Blandford, the former police sergeant, said apprehending parole violators usually falls to the bottom of the work pile for police services because officers are too busy responding to other calls.

There are thousands of warrants issued every day across Canada, he said, and only so many resources that can deal with it.

Last fall, the Saskatchewan government announced funding to create a special unit dedicated to catching fugitives.

It would include eight RCMP officers and a crime analyst focused on arresting high profile offenders who were at large.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore referred to this initiative when asked how Sanderson managed to remain a wanted fugitive up until the attacks, saying that given the number of people on warrant status in the province, they have to risk-manage files as they are received.

Whether the unit was actively investigating Sandersons case remains unclear. RCMP in Saskatchewan have not yet responded to a request for comment.

Its also unclear whether a joint investigation by the Correctional Service and the parole board into Sandersons release  announced by Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino after the tragedy  will probe the reasons that Sanderson remained at large up until the attacks.

Both Sauve and Blandford said a policy change should be made that results in the peace officers who work for parole and correctional authorities taking a more active role in tracking down offenders rather than relying only on police efforts.

By David Fraser and Stephanie Taylor
An ambulance is parked outside the Bellville Medical Center after dropping off a patient, in Bellville, Texas, on Sept. 1, 2021. (Francois Picard/AFP via Getty Images)

Medical Board Suspends Texas Anesthesiologist Suspected of Tampering With IV Bags

The Texas Medical Board temporarily suspended Dr. Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr., an anesthesiologist, on Sept. 9 after it determined that the physicians continued medical practice poses a threat to the welfare of the public.

On September 8, 2022, Board staff received information from federal law enforcement engaged in an ongoing investigation involving Dr. Ortiz, relating to serious cardiac complications and one patients death connected with Dr. Ortizs presence at the Baylor Scott & White Surgicare North Dallas facility, states a Sept. 9 press release from the Texas Medical Board.

According to the suspension order (pdf), the criminal investigation into Ortiz stems from his actions at the Surgicare facility between May and September 2022. Surveillance cameras at the facility recorded Ortiz depositing single IV bags into the warmer in the hall outside operating rooms.

On June 21, a physician from the facility who was ill took one of these IV bags home to rehydrate herself. After inserting the IV into her vein, the physician immediately contracted a serious cardiac event and died, according to the suspension order.

The autopsy report concluded that the physicians death was caused by accidental bupivacaine toxicity. Bupivacaine is used to numb an area of a persons body following surgery or other medical procedures like dental work or childbirth.

Lab tests on the IV bags taken from the warmer showed that they had tiny holes in the plastic wrap around them. These allegedly tampered bags contained bupivacaine. However, they were not labeled as such.

A healthy patient at the facility was also given an IV bag. The individual subsequently had a serious cardiac event during a routine surgery. Tests suggested that the fluid in the bag contained similar drugs.

Violations, Suspension Order

Around Sept. 2, staff at the Texas Medical Board became aware of the death of the physician under questionable circumstances through news and social media. On Sept. 9, a temporary suspension hearing was scheduled, with the disciplinary panel eventually suspending Ortiz without notice.

A temporary suspension hearing with notice will be held as soon as practicable once Ortiz is informed, the board stated in the release. The suspension will remain in effect until the board takes any further action.

Ortiz was found to have violated various sections of the Medical Practice Act and the Board Rules, including those related to failure to practice medicine in an acceptable professional manner; unprofessional or dishonorable conduct; and tampering with a consumer product causing serious bodily injury or death.

Ortiz received his physician license to practice medicine in Texas in 1991. Though the doctor lists his specialty as anesthesiology, he is not certified by the board. Ortiz is not licensed in any other U.S. state.
A police sergeant in Exeter, England, pilots a DJI drone on May 25, 2021, as part of security preparations for the G-7 Summit that was attended by U.S. President Joe Biden and leaders of the other G-7 countries. (Geoff Caddick/AFP via Getty Images)

National Security Threat: Chinas Eyes in America

Originally published by Gatestone Institute

Commentary

Chinese intelligence gathering in the United States takes many forms and has different purposes. Most Americans are familiar with some of their means and tactics, but not with how widespread and persistent they are.

Americans may know about the malware contained in that infernal TikTok app that their children use. They may know the Chinese militarys cyber-intelligence service was likely behind many of the largest hacks of Americans personal data that have ever occurred. They may know from the news how U.S. defense and intelligence policies have sanctioned Chinese telecom giant Huawei, and counseled U.S. allies to reject Chinese-architected implementations of 5G networking, due to evidence that China has planted a backdoor in commercial networking equipment designed to allow the Communist regime in Beijing to conduct surveillance and cyber-espionage anywhere in the world.

Do they know it extends to consumer-level drones?

Cybersecurity expert Klon Kitchen, writing for The Dispatch, recently detailed the problem with DJI, the Chinese company whose consumer- and commercial-grade drones control nearly 90 percent of the market. These popular products are cost-effective, easy to fly and operate, and send every byte of data they gather to servers in China. For this reason, theyre banned by the U.S. military and Department of Homeland Security, though still used by the FBI and increasingly by local police as eyes in the sky during crime events. The FBIs use of DJI drones is especially ironic considering bureau Director Christopher Wray has warned often of the dangers to Western commerce posed by the Chinese, most recently in London.

The excellent reporting on DJI by Kitchen tracks efforts by the company to lobby against passage of a bill called the American Security Drone Act (ASDA), now before Congress, to outlaw federal government use of DJI products entirely. Whats the risk? Not only the data gathered by the drones themselves, but everything collected by the mobile app with which users control their drones and manage their DJI accounts. Like many other mobile applications, this includes a users contacts, photos, GPS location, and online activities.

To repeat: Every DJI drone in the skies above America is as good as a hovering Chinese spy.

Like other Chinese government-controlled companies such as Huawei and Hikvision, makers of the artificial intelligence systems used in facial recognition and in the repression of Chinas Uyghur minority, DJI is adept at playing the Washington game. The company is engaged in a fierce lobbying effort to prevent passage of the ASDA bill. So fierce that they have enlisted police officers from local jurisdictions to come to Washington and lobby congressional staffers about how great DJI drones are for their cash-strapped local forces.

As Kitchen points out, the ASDA bill is directed only toward a federal ban on these drones, but DJI lobbyists from firms such as Squire Patton Boggs, Cassidy & Associates, and CLS Strategies are taking no chances. The company spent $2.2 million in 2020 and $1.4 million last year in lobbying efforts, according to OpenSecrets.org.

These lobbyists are using the classic argument that it would be wrong to ban the federal governments use of their product because so many other people are using it. This is doubtless the dilemma currently facing the app stores of Apple and Google regarding the TikTok app, another Chinese product. TikTok has been identified by cybersecurity professionals as containing a keystroke logger, and both Apple and Google have been pressured by the Federal Communications Commission to remove it from their app stores.

Can we really ban something that so many people are happily using? they must be asking themselves.

Therein lies the heart of the Chinese approach. TikTok was a mobile device application that no one was asking for, yet it became an overnight sensation in most Western countries. We really must acknowledge, and grudgingly admire, the brilliant insight shown by the apps creator company, Chinese government-controlled ByteDance, into the psyche of large numbers of young, Western people. TikTok, pitched initially as a way to share and watch silly dance video clips, has been adopted by younger woke schoolteachers to out themselves as scheming, haranguing social justice warriors intent on smuggling sexual ideology into their classrooms and bragging about it.

This adds some context to Sen. Rob Portmans (R-Ohio) exasperation at a Senate hearing about the ASDA legislation, where he said:

Again, given what the FBI has told us, what the Commerce Department has told us, what we know from reports, I cant believe we have to write legislation to force U.S. agencies to ban the use of Chinese-made drones, particularly where the servers are in China, where the Chinese government is a part owner and a supporter of this particular company.

The Chinese approach is to capture elite institutions and individuals in the United States: politicians, leading universities, large pension funds, social media, and Hollywood among them. My latest book, Red-Handed, documents this capture in the areas of politics, diplomatic and business consulting, Big Tech, academia, and Wall Street. Theres insight in the Soviet-era statement, attributed to Lenin, about capitalists selling us the rope with which to hang them. Yet, it is the Chinese who understood how to sell the rope at a good price.

Much as theyre doing with products such as solar panels, the Chinese realize that cornering the market in an area where reach equals access is critical to their long-term plans to dominate. Their pattern includes stealing technology they cant create themselves and using any means available to aid in that theft. Therefore, every bit of access to information they can scour is of more value to them than the product used to get it.

Understanding these patterns is crucial to recognizing that the Chinese do this to their own people as well. As Gordon Changs recent piece for the Gatestone Institute discusses, the Chinese Communist Party maintains tight control of Chinese people overseas through many different forms of what we may baldly call blackmail. The many stories of intimidation of Chinese students and academics in the United States who speak up about human rights abuses by China, or in support of democracy in Hong Kong and Taiwanese independence, all demonstrate this.

Universities have put up with this in exchange for foreign funds for decades. Theyre only recently being confronted by the costs of this indulgence. For example, the former chairman of Harvard Universitys Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department was convicted by a federal jury for lying to federal authorities about his affiliation with the Peoples Republic of Chinas Thousand Talents Program and the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) in Wuhan, China, as well as failing to report income he received from WUT, according to a Department of Justice statement.

The Wilson Center, a bipartisan think tank in Washington, reported in 2017 that a small community of PRC students and diplomats have engaged in intimidation tactics ranging from intelligence gathering to financial retaliation, VOA News reported. A Preliminary Study of PRC Political Influence and Interference Activities in American Higher Education examines PRC influence in American universities.

It was just those sorts of concerns that led the Trump administration to create the China Initiative within the Justice Department in 2018. This effort generated plenty of convictions of Chinese nationals in the United States for technology theft and other forms of industrial espionage. The Biden administration ended the program this year, citing concerns that a broader approach was needed, and in response to lobbying by Asian American groups that it unfairly targeted scientists with connections to China. Further, Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen also said he heard concerns from the academic community that prosecutions of researchers for grant fraud and other charges were having a chilling effect.

Be that as it may, Chinas strategy has, for years, hinged on infiltration by some Chinese scientists and researchers working abroad in the United States and other Western nations, with threats against their Chinese relatives as leverage for them to do so. This will remain a counter-intelligence problem regardless of what the effort to expose it is called.

Its all part of the pattern. Call it sabotage by remote control.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration has warned against taking ivermectin for COVID-19, because it is "horse medication." However, ivermectin packaged for human use (as shown here has been widely prescribed for decades for a range of maladies, including for treatment of lice, other parasites and viruses. (Natasha Holt/The Epoch Times)

New Hampshire Dad Targeted Over Ivermectin Use Is Running for Office

The New Hampshire father targeted by child protection services for giving his teenage son Ivermectin to treat COVID-19 is hoping to become a lawmaker again.

J.R. Hoell is one of three Republicans running for two open seats in the states newly created District 27 in Merrimack County. Hoell served for 8 years in the New Hampshire House of Representatives under his old district until deciding not to run again in 2018.

The reason for his wanted return to the legislature is simple, he told The Epoch Times, to keep government accountable to the people.

Long labeled a conservative firebrand, the 52-year-old is competing with fellow hard-right Republicans Carol McGuire and Ernie Bencivenga for a Republican nomination to one of the two open seats. Ironically, all three of them are mechanical engineers.

Maguire is currently a state rep and has served in the House since 2008.

If Hoell wins a seat on Sept. 13, the staunchly conservative father of four will face Democrats Dennis Davis and Mary Frambach in the general election.

Frambach, also a former state representative, is ironically a former member of the New Hampshire Children and Family Law committee, which oversees The New Hampshire Division of Children Youth and Family (NHDCYF), the very agency that targeted Hoell.

The agency drew bipartisan criticism when Hoell went public with his account of how a state social worker showed up at his house with the police and an ambulance to transport his teenage son to the hospital several weeks after the 13-year-oldalong with his 17-year-old sister and parentshad finished a round of human-grade Ivermectin to treat a bout of COVID-19 the family came down with.

The social worker was armed with an emergency court order to take custody of Hoells son, a homeschooler who had already returned to his full routine of activities including martial arts.

Hoell told The Epoch Times back in January that he disclosed the use of Ivermectin in answering a routine intake form at an outpatient clinic affiliated with a hospital where Hoell had taken his son for an illness unrelated to the Ivermectin.

Medical records provided by Hoell show that hours after he left the clinic, a nurse who saw Hoells son reported to the DCYF that the child was in medical danger from the Ivermectin.

By coincidence, a patient at the hospital with no connection to Hoell happened to overhear a conversation about taking a fathers children away from him.

The woman recorded and then live streamed the conversation.

On the post, hospital staff could be heard talking about Hoells conservative views and his social media posts and one point called him a nut job.

Hoell, the founder of the right-wing organization ReBuildNH is also a founder of Packing NH, the only pro-firearm PAC in New Hampshire.

He is also currently a board member of the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition and was hugely against mask and vaccine mandates during COVID.

Hoell said a family doctor was also later questioned about him and his wife Charlenes homeschooling of their children.

One of the last sponsored pieces of legislation by Hoell as a state representative was a bill calling for removal of education neglect as a listed cause for the DCYF to initiate a child neglect petition.

Hoell said it was aimed at homeschoolers.

Hoell said the agency acts like a terrorist organization and reforming it is one of his primary objectives should he be elected.

He fought the custody order and eventually won, but not until it cost him thousands of dollars in legal fees. He was also placed under a gag order.

Hoell is a major proponent of the use of human-grade Ivermectin for treating COVID and testing in support of a bill to make the drug available in NH without a prescription.

After many hearings on the proposal, both the House and Senate passed the bill only for Republican Gov. Chris Sununu to veto it.

Since Sununus veto and Hoells run-in with the DCYF, the National Institute of Health has listed Ivermectin in its COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines as a drug that is being evaluated as a treatment for the virus.
Doctor ventures into controversial issue of COVID 'vaccine shedding'

Since the rollout of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, many researchers have speculated on the possibility of transmission of vaccine particles from the vaccinated to the unvaccinated, more commonly known as vaccine shedding.

Though these speculations are routinely fact-checked, anecdotal stories of unvaccinated people who become infected with COVID-19 or have experienced strange symptoms after contact with friends or family who were vaccinated have persisted.

Several doctors have also speculated about possible transmission as new findings in support of these ideas emerge.

A recent pre-print study has attracted media attention as the results of the study may be interpreted as suggestive of vaccine transmission via shedding.

Illustration of antibodies (y-shaped) responding to an infection with the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. (Getty Images)

New Pre-Print Study Implies Airborne Antibodies From Vaccine

A new pre-print study published by the University of Colorado concluded that antibodies can be transmitted through aerosols.

In the study, unvaccinated children living in either vaccinated or unvaccinated households were nasal swabbed for COVID-19 antibodies.

The authors, led by Dr. Ross Kedl, found that children living with vaccinated parents have higher concentration of COVID-19 antibodies in their swabs than children living in unvaccinated households.

Antibodies are immune markers, and each persons collection of antibodies is a reflection of immunization and infection history. The presence of each antibody indicates that the person may have been exposed to a particular infection or vaccine the antibody fights against.

Therefore, a person is only supposed to display antibodies to COVID-19 if they have been infected or vaccinated. Yet, these children have not been vaccinated against nor infected with COVID-19. Why do they have antibodies?

The authors of the study reasoned that the vaccinated parents likely passed their antibodies to the children. They produced antibodies from the vaccine, these antibodies accumulated in the nasal cavities and became airborne. Their children then breathed the antibodies in, accumulating COVID-19 antibodies in their nasal cavities.

This is a plausible speculation as it is well documented that bodily fluids including breastmilk, saliva, tears, and sweat contain antibodies. Mothers are also recommended to breastfeed their babies, as it provides their babies with antibodies, protecting them from infection.

Still, though we know that antibodies can be present in bodily fluids, we do not know if antibodies can become airborne.

To support their speculation that antibodies may be airborne, the authors tested face masks from vaccinated individuals and found COVID-19 antibodies on the masks.

The authors argued that since everyone breathes into their masks, the COVID-19 antibodies found on the masks could be evidence that antibodies can be aerosolized, and therefore transmitted to others.

Though, the authors acknowledged that antibodies could have come off from saliva and sweat.

However, internal medicine practitioner and integrative and chelating specialist Dr. Ana Maria Mihalcea questioned the conclusion.

She told The Epoch Times that the study leaves a lot open to interpretation, and the same findings can also be used to support speculations of vaccine shedding.

[The study] says that the antibodies are being transferred, she said. But could it be that the spike protein has been transferred [through contact through skin] and the child has mounted its own antibody response? I dont think that thats really clear.

Photograph of Dr. Ana Maria Mihalcea. (Courtesy of Dr. Mihalcea)

What Do We Know About Transmission?

Vaccine shedding, dubbed as transmission by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, has remained a controversial topic in the discourse on COVID-19 vaccines as there has yet to be any study that proves or shows conclusive proof of shedding.

One topic of debate is that vaccine shedding may not be the most accurate definition for what clinicians suspect are happening.

Vaccine shedding specifically refers to the spreading of virus and viral particles after vaccination. Viral shedding has been observed with vaccines for oral forms of polio vaccines, rotaviruses, adenoviruses, influenza, and many more.

Shedding only happens for vaccines containing live and attenuated viruses.

After vaccination, viruses can be detected in fecal samples of the vaccinated, and those who come into contact with them may be infected if the shed viral particles are infectious.

However, the mRNA Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 injections do not use live coronaviruses, rather only the spike protein mRNA is shipped into the cells inside a lipid nanoparticle.

Therefore, they cannot shed viruses, as there is no virus.

J&J and AstraZeneca both use weakened live adenoviruses (not coronavirus) to transport spike protein DNA. However, these viruses have been edited so that they cannot replicate in our cells, therefore, we also should not be able to shed COVID-19 vaccine adenoviruses either.

What about spike proteins then? As mentioned above, there are no studies that provide conclusive proof of spike protein transmission, though health experts are unwilling to rule out the possibility.

Many doctors have spoken up about the possibility of transmission of the particles contained in the COVID-19 injections from vaccinated individuals into the unvaccinated, causing possible symptoms.

File photo of human blood samples on an automated testing line. (David Silverman/Getty Images)

Curious Clinical Findings

Though there has been no study that gives proof of transmission, many doctors have observed strange occurrences in unvaccinated individuals after spending time with people who are vaccinated.

What Ive seen with unvaccinated individuals who would come into the office with symptoms of things like headaches, feeling unwell, myalgia (meaning muscle aches), and a lot of times women who got in contact with vaccinated people develop hemorrhaging and menstrual irregularities, but very unusual in terms of large clotting and bleeding, Dr. Mihalcea told The Epoch Times.

She shared a recent case of two unvaccinated menopausal women who started hemorrhaging after sitting together with a recently vaccinated individual for two hours in a car ride.

The vaccinated person had just gotten their shot a week earlier, and the two unvaccinated women when they got out of the car after a two hour car ride, they both started bleeding.

Mihalcea cited Pfizer clinical trials as another indication of possible vaccine transmission or shedding.

The Pfizer clinical trials (pdf) listed vaccine exposure during pregnancy (EDP) as an event that needed to be reported and monitored.

Though exposure could occur by participating in the study and getting vaccinated, or getting exposed through a vaccinated male partner through sexual contact, Mihalcea expressed concern at Pfizers listing of EDP through environmental exposure.

The Pfizer document said that examples of environmental exposure during pregnancy includes, a female family member or healthcare provider reports that she is pregnant after having been exposed to the study intervention by inhalation or skin contact.

This means that pregnant women may be exposed to the injection if breathing near or touching someone who was vaccinated.

EDP through environmental exposure would also be counted if, a male family member or healthcare provider who has been exposed to the study intervention by inhalation or skin contact then exposes his female partner prior to or around the time of conception.

This statement suggests that someone can be exposed to the vaccine through breathing or skin contact with someone who was vaccinated, and then pass it to someone else.

Findings from peer-reviewed research published in the Gazette of Medical Sciences also seem to be in support of vaccine transmission.

The study, which is based on a survey conducted by My Cycle Story, documented a spike in occurrences of decidual cast shedding and miscarriages in women after COVID-19 vaccines started rolling out.

One poignant testimony (pdf) in the study told of a woman of unknown vaccination status who experienced decidual cast shedding after her husband spent 20 minutes with people who were vaccinated.

Decidual cast shedding is a rare event. Around 40 cases have been documented in the medical literature, and it occurs when the thick mucus lining of the uterus sheds in nearly the exact shape of the inside of the uterus, creating a triangular cast.

This event is so rare that very few studies have been published about it, yet My Cycle Story reported 292 out of 6,092 women surveyed have experienced it following the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. The study was also supplemented with testimonies from women who previously had successful pregnancies but began to suffer miscarriages after visiting friends and family who were vaccinated.

Though these cases may be a coincidence, Mihalceas own observations of unvaccinated patients developing various COVID-associated and strange conditions following contact with someone who was vaccinated made her suspicious that transmission was happening.

At the same time, other findings were also emerging that solidified Mihalceas suspicions.

A Canadian doctor, Dr. Charles Hoffe, announced in July 2021, that he found over 60 percent of his vaccinated patients had elevated D-dimer levels, and made his findings into a video.

D-dimer testing is often done to check for blood clots. Though elevated D-dimer levels are not conclusive of blood clots, they definitely indicate that possibility.

Mihalcea started doing her own D-dimer tests on unvaccinated patients who were concerned about vaccine transmission or showing conditions suggestive of possible transmission.

I started seeing a huge amounts of [unvaccinated] people of all ages who had abnormal D-dimer testing, indicating the possibility for micro clotting, Mihalcea said.

Mihalcea also published a video explaining elevated D-dimer levels in her patients, suggesting possible transmission from vaccinated to unvaccinated individuals.

She told The Epoch Times that, since the vaccine rollout, she has treated many long COVID patients and cases of suspected transmission. She said that she has treated around 90 to 100 cases of suspected transmission, and brought their levels of D-dimers back down through her treatment regimen.

She has also since bought a microscope with which to analyze her patients blood through a prick test, by taking a prick of their blood and examining it under the microscope.

Blood analysis is normally done by pathologists, and many primary care physicians may choose to not analyze their patients blood, but Mihalcea, and many other doctors, have decided to investigate themselves.

Her treatment regime involved a series of supplements and pharmaceuticals, namely, ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, both of which are effective antivirals for the COVID-19 virus. She also prescribes quercetin which reduces inflammation, glutathione has detox effects, blood thinners such as aspirin to prevent blood clotting, and vitamins to boost the immune system including vitamins D and C.

She said she later found vitamin C infusions, and chelating therapies, which remove heavy metals, also improved her patients symptoms and brought their D-dimer levels back to normal.

The coronavirus spike protein (red) mediates the virus entry into host cells. It binds to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (blue) and fuses viral and host membranes. By Juan Gaertner/Shutterstock

Doctors Speculations on What Is Happening

Clinicians do not know how and why unvaccinated people are developing these symptoms; however, many suspect it could be transmission of vaccine particles from the vaccinated to the unvaccinated.

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny said on the JD Rucker podcast that she and many doctors have come to the conclusion that the spike protein, made in human cells from the mRNA and adenovirus COVID-19 vaccines, are what is being transmitted from vaccinated to unvaccinated.

A study on cells in the laboratory has found that after exposure to spike protein DNA, cells derived from human embryonic kidney cells would make the spike proteins and then pack them into cellular sacs called exosomes.

Exosomes have been found in sweat and tears and have been previously studied as an option to impart immunity through skin contact.

Mihalcea said that exosomes could be transmitting spike proteins from infected cells since other studies have found that exosomes can be shed in sweat and tears, and this makes the possibility of transmission through skin contact and aerosols plausible.

Nonetheless, Mihalcea highlighted that since clinicians have no idea what is in the injection vials, if transmission is occurring, there also may be other things being transmitted apart from spike proteins.

Studies have long shown that the quality of vaccine vials can vary between batches.

The same applies to COVID-19 vaccines.

How Bad is My Batch, a website that compiles vaccine adverse event reports from Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), has shown that the number of adverse effects can drastically vary between different batches of COVID-19 injections.

The website states that 5 percent of the Pfizer batches appear to have produced 90 percent of the Pfizer-associated adverse reactions, and that some batches are associated with 30 times the number of deaths and disabilities compared to other batches.

Mihalcea said that this variability reflects possible differences in injection content, and therefore every patient who reports vaccine transmission may respond differently.

We cannot respond to this problem of shedding if every vial or every batch is not the same. There are certain batches that have very substantial side effects. That means that different batches dont shed at all and other batches shed a lot.

Recent peer-reviewed studies from Germany and Italy found that in mRNA-vaccinated people reporting post-vaccination symptoms, over 90 percent of the vaccinated had metal nanoparticles that resembled graphene oxide in their blood.

Vaccine manufacturers have assured that graphene is not in the COVID-19 vaccinations, and therefore the source of these nanoparticles is unknown.

Blood analyses by Dr. Phillipe Van Waldenberg have also found graphene oxide in the blood of both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

Waldenberg first spotted tube-like graphene oxide particles in his vaccinated patients who were reporting symptoms of fatigue, dizziness, memory problems, and even paralysis, and late-onset heavy menstruation in menopausal women.

However, he later found these particles in unvaccinated individuals reporting paralysis symptoms as well.

Graphene oxide nanoparticles are used in biotechnology for cancer treatment and drug delivery. However, the material can be toxic to humans if inhaled, with varying levels of toxicity depending on its dosage, entry method, and pharmacokinetics.

Waldenberg reported his findings on Loving Life TV, speculating that transmission of graphene oxide is occurring between vaccinated and unvaccinated people. He said that one of his patients is an unvaccinated boy who reported paralysis in his limbs after his mother was vaccinated.

By Kudriavtsev Aleksei/Shutterstock

Should Unvaccinated Individuals Be Concerned?

If the things Mihalcea and many other doctors are saying are true, then the possibility of transmission poses significant health concerns for the unvaccinated.

Mihalcea recommended the unvaccinated to boost their immune systems through supplements. More importantly, however, she said that everyone should maintain a healthy mindset, including having no fear.

When people are afraid, their immune system is adversely affected  If youre depressed or youre anxious, you actually shorten your telomeres (DNA which prevent aging) which means youre aging much, much faster, including your immune system. So part of being healthy is also not being afraid.

Social stress and anxiety have been associated with the shortening of telomeres, which increases aging, including aging of the immune system. Therefore, maintaining health mentally and emotionally is imperative for physical well-being.

To prevent transmission and its symptoms, Mihalcea advised unvaccinated people to boost their immune system by taking supplements such as vitamins C and D.

Nevertheless, Mihalcea said that the extent of transmission and the health symptoms have greatly varied. After treatment, some peoples D-dimers remained low even in contact with vaccinated people, and some peoples D-dimers went back up.

For the people who may be concerned about possible transmission or are experiencing suspected symptoms, find physicians who are more open-minded, said Mihalcea.

Some peoples primary care doctors who believe COVID vaccines cannot be the cause of their patients concerns may not be able to give suitable advice and support. Therefore Mihalecea advised people to find doctors who are more open-minded and have a lot of information.

By Iurii Motov/Shutterstock

Rebuttal and Controversy

Injection particle transmission, colloquially known as vaccine shedding, remains a controversial topic for COVID-19 injections.

Since there has been no study of nor precedent for transmission of mRNA and adenovirus DNA vaccinations, many doctors are waiting for more science to be published, discussing their clinical observation and piecing together findings from limited science.

Since many of these observations are anecdotal, and have not been through rigorous scientific reviewing, many of their statements and observations on vaccine transmission have been routinely fact-checked.

The public and doctors are still waiting for more research and discussion so that they can better understand these symptoms, and until more studies emerge, transmission between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals will remain a theory that cannot be proven nor disproven.
The logo of Nissan on a car in Moscow on July 6, 2016. (Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)

Nissan Extends Suspension of Russia Factory for Three Months

TOKYOJapanese automaker Nissan will extend its suspension of an assembly plant in Saint Petersberg, Russia, for three months until late December, it said on Monday.

Production is suspended at St Petersburg until the end of December and employees have been informed. We continue to monitor the situation closely and will take actions as needed, a Nissan spokesperson said.

The plant, which was idled in March after Russias invasion of Ukraine, was originally set to resume in late September.

Russia describes its action in Ukraine a special military operation.

The Nissan plant suspension was extended because of continuing difficulties obtaining parts from Europe and Japan, the Nikkei daily paper reported.

By Sakura Murakami
People watch a TV screen showing a news program reporting with file footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 9, 2022. (Lee Jin-man/AP Photo)

North Koreans Urged to Wear Masks Despite Victory Claim Over COVID-19

The North Korean regime reportedly reinstated its mask mandate less than a month after lifting it and declaring victory over the COVID-19 outbreak, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported Monday.

North Korea lifted its mask mandate and social distancing measures on Aug. 10. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended the emergency order, saying that the public health crisis was over.

However, some residents alleged that authorities have issued an order requiring residents to wear masks in public again, and those who do not comply face fines of up to 3,000 won ($3.33) and 1,000 won ($1.12) for improper mask use.

A resident of the eastern province of South Hamgyong, who requested anonymity, said that authorities dispatched a mask inspection team to arrest anyone who failed to comply with the order, RFA reported.

They said that the coronavirus crisis was over, but in less than one month they are telling us to wear masks again and they are cracking down more harshly, the source said, adding that people are upset over the excessive fines imposed by authorities.

Another resident said the authorities reinforced the prevention measures system and deployed mask inspection teams to public places as there were still individuals with suspected COVID-19 symptoms.

They say South Korea continues to transmit the virus into our territory by applying the malignant virus on their goods, so we have no choice but to adhere to strict quarantine regulations again, the resident told RFA.

State-run media Korea Central News Agency claimed there were four new fever cases in Ryanggang province on Aug. 23 caused by the coronavirus.

The hermit nation imported 1.23 million masks and 15,000 pairs of rubber gloves from China in July, according to data released by Chinese customs.

North Korea to Begin COVID Vaccinations

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has recommended the country begin COVID-19 vaccinations in November, citing World Health Organization warnings that the outbreak could re-emerge during the winter.

Therefore, along with responsible vaccination, we should recommend that all residents wear masks to protect their health from November, Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA.

It remains unclear how many of North Koreas 26 million people have been immunized for COVID-19, given that the nation has repeatedly rejected offers of vaccine supplies from the United Nations COVAX initiative.

In 2021, North Korea turned down a COVAX offer of 3 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine and rejected planned shipments of AstraZenecas vaccine. In February, COVAX reduced its initial allocation of 8.11 million doses of vaccines to North Korea to 1.54 million doses.

The Kim regime has not disclosed the actual number of COVID-19 cases detected in North Korea.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A group of illegal immigrants are brought in to Dover, England, by the RNLI, on Aug. 25, 2022. (Gareth Fuller/PA Media)

Number of Illegal Immigrants Crossing English Channel to UK This Year Has Exceeded Whole of 2021

More illegal immigrants have crossed the English Channel to reach the UK so far this year than in the whole of 2021, UK government figures suggest.

Some 601 people were detected on Sept. 12 in 19 boats, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said, taking the provisional total for the year to 28,561.

Last years total was 28,526, according to official figures.

The 2022 figure to date is nearly double the number that had been detected by this point last year, which was just under 14,500.

There have been 3,518 crossings recorded in September so far, analysis shows.

A record 1,295 illegal immigrants crossed the Channel on Aug. 22, the highest figure for a single day since the current system of record-keeping began in 2018.

According to figures from the Home Office, the number of illegal crossings has soared in recent years, with 28,526 people detected in 2021, compared to 8,466 in 2020, 1,843 in 2019, and 299 in 2018.

Tour Guide

The way UK authorities have been handling the small boats crossing the Channel has been widely criticised.

Almost all of the dinghies and rigid inflatable boats were intercepted by the navy, the Royal National Lifeboat Institute, or other UK law enforcement vessels, which then took the illegal immigrants ashore and handed them over to the immigration authorities.

At a meeting of the Defence Select Committee in the House of Commons on July 12, Labour MP John Spellar said the Royal Navy wasnt stopping illegal immigrants from entering the UK but was simply escorting them into Kent ports.

He suggested that the Royal Navy appeared to be acting as a tour guide for illegal immigrants.

Armed forces minister James Heappey denied the charge and insisted that he believed the Royal Navy had gained control of the English Channel.

Rwanda Plan

In April, then-Home Secretary Priti Patel signed a deal with Rwanda that involved sending illegal immigrants who had crossed the channel to the African country.

The agreement was designed to be a deterrent to those making the journey by sea, but 23,293 people have arrived by boat since it was signed.

The first deportation flight to Rwanda was grounded amid legal challenges in June, and the matter isnt expected to be decided by the UK courts until October.

Last month, two reports criticised the Home Office over its ineffective response to the challenge of illegal immigration in the channel. One said the Border Forces approach to preventing the journeys was ineffective and possibly counter-productive, while the other said the initial processing of those who arrived has been ineffective and inefficient.

Chris Summers, Lily Zhou, and PA Media contributed to this report.
Two Oath Keepers inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The first Oath Keepers criminal trial is scheduled for Sept. 27, 2022. (U.S. DOJ/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Oath Keepers Founder Asks Court to Appoint Special Master in Jan. 6 Seditious-Conspiracy Case

Nearly a week after getting slapped down by the federal judge overseeing his criminal case, Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III filed a flurry of new motions asking that a special master be appointed to oversee discovery evidence, separating his case from other co-defendants, and again requesting a trial delay.

Within hours, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta denied the motions, writing that he would explain his decision at a Sept. 14 pretrial conference.

Rhodes also moved to suppress a November 2020 Oath Keepers GoTo Meeting session that he suggested could have been illegally wiretapped. That motion is still alive.

On Sept. 7, Mehta angrily denied Rhodes attorney Edward Tarpley Jr.s motion for a trial delay, chiding him for the way he allegedly mischaracterized how the case has been handled since Rhodes was indicted on Jan. 12, 2022. Mehta would not allow Rhodes to fire his two Texas-based attorneys, saying the ensuing delays would cause chaos. He said Tarpley would be welcome to join them at the defense table.

Tarpleys new motions repeated his earlier arguments that Rhodes cannot be ready for trial on Sept. 27. The recent indictment of former Oath Keepers general counsel Kellye SoRelle and Oath Keepers associate Michael Greene on Jan. 6 charges forced a total change in defense strategy, he said.

The largest and most complex case in history is being allotted the shortest time to prepare, Tarpley wrote in one motion. And Rhodes and codefendants are being deprived of the tools necessary to defend themselves.

The governments advantage in this case could not be greater, he wrote. This trial scheduled to start on September [27] will be like a little league team facing the New York Yankees.

Given the logistical nightmare presented by 10 terabytes of digital prosecution evidence and exculpatory materials, Tarpley asked that a special master (pdf) be appointed by the court.

Special masters can promote efficiency in discovery, the phase of litigation that is most likely to break down and cause delays to case resolution, Tarpley wrote in one 10-page motion. Discovery in this case is more massive than the discovery in many cases where courts have appointed special masters to help manage discovery.

Recent cases that made use of a special master included the 2020-2022 Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping case, and the 2018 Nevada prosecution of rancher Cliven Bundy and two of his sons, Tarpley wrote. Former President Donald J. Trump asked a federal court in Florida to appoint a special master to examine materials seized in the FBIs recent raid of his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

Tarpley said SoRelles testimony before the House Jan. 6 Select Committee will be crucial exculpatory evidence for Rhodes and the Oath Keepers, but the committee has not released transcripts. On Sept. 7, Mehta said he has no legal authority to compel the committee to turn over transcripts from SoRelles appearance.

Rhodes has been placed in several detention facilities since his January arrest, Tarpley wrote, and his access to discovery materials has been sparse compared with other Jan. 6 defendants.

Of the seven months of Rhodes incarceration, Rhodes has had access to meaningful discovery for just two months, Tarpley wrote. Now he is being forced to face trial of the most complicated facts and issues of any case in American history, while facing potential life imprisonment, with access to discovery that is dated June 2022. It is now September 12, 2022 and Rhodes is being raced to trial in just two weeks.

November Meeting Evidence

In another motion, Tarpley asked Mehta to throw out prosecution evidence (pdf) based on an audio recording of a Nov. 9, 2020, online meeting using the GoTo Meeting conferencing system.

Information from the online meeting helps form the core of the governments case that the Oath Keepers engaged in a seditious conspiracy to obstruct counting of Electoral College votes on Jan. 6 and prevent the peaceful transition of power between Trump and Joseph Biden Jr., Tarpley said.

The digital file of the meeting is from a video device that is not pointed at the computer screen but captures the audio signal, Tarpley wrote.

This may suggest that the recording person was not an invited member of the conversation who did not want to record video, just the audio, Tarpley wrote. Or at least it presents a question that deserves being answered as to the identity of the recording person. An uninvited person might not qualify as a party in either a one-party or two-party consent state.

Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III moved for the appointment of a special master in his seditious conspiracy trial. (Real Story of Jan. 6/Epoch TV)

In two-party consent states, all parties on a call must consent to it being recorded, he said. In one-party consent states, recording is legal as long as one of the participants is doing the recording.

The recording includes dozens of examples of the defendants trading over-the-top, embellished statements mainly with each other, predicting that others (not them) might engage in violence Tarpley wrote.

Rhodes attorney also filed a motion to sever his case (pdf) from all other Oath Keepers-related defendants due to the stark differences in fundamental facts as well as trial preparation between himself and his codefendants Tarpley said. Mehta has denied similar motions from other Oath Keepers defendants.

Tarpley said as an alternative, he asks that Rhodes be placed in the Nov. 10 Oath Keepers trial group, an idea opposed by prosecutors.

The government is actually alleging that Rhodes participated in a plot to overthrow existing government or to unlawfully thwart the transfer of presidential power, he said. Rhodes has simply not been provided with sufficient time, evidence, and communication with counsel in order to defend himself.

Other defendants in the Sept. 27 trial have filed motions to compel prosecutors to provide exculpatory evidence that defense attorneys insist has been withheld. Rhodes also joined in those motions. Mehta earlier rejected similar motions.

Defendant Thomas Caldwell filed a motion seeking to allow into evidence allegedly inconsistent statements made by prosecutors about his role in the charged Oath Keepers conspiracy.

Caldwell intends to introduce substantial evidence and arguments that the government wrongly accused him (and his co-defendants) of multiple criminal acts in the aftermath of January 6, attorney David Fischer wrote. Additionally, Caldwell believes that the evidence outlined below demonstrates that the government has changed its story in relation to the events of J6 as they pertain to Caldwell and others.

Federal prosecutors have opposed all of the major defense motions. Tarpley said he spoke to prosecutors about his new motions on behalf of Rhodes and they indicated they would file opposition to them.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Wont Hear Challenge to Constitutional Amendment Declaring No Right to Abortion in the State

Pennsylvanias highest court rejected a request by Gov. Tom Wolf to immediately take up his challenge to legislation that would advance a proposed state constitutional amendment declaring there is no right to abortion in the state, along with four other unrelated proposed amendments to the Pennsylvania Constitution.

The abortion-related amendment could go before voters as early as May 2023.

Abortion laws have been in flux across the country since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 precedent Roe v. Wade almost three months ago, finding that there was no right to abortion in the U.S. Constitution and returning the regulation of abortion to the states. In the first statewide abortion vote since the decision, Kansas voters last month turned down a proposed amendment to their state constitution that would have removed abortion protections.

In the Sept. 12 order (pdf) in Wolf v. General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, court file 73-MM-2022, the Middle District of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania did not provide reasons for its decision. Wolf had asked the court to invoke its rarely used Kings Bench power to hear the case without it first being adjudicated by a trial court.

The state Supreme Court refused, but it did indicate in its two-page decision that Wolf was free to seek similar relief from the states Commonwealth Court, which is usually the first court to entertain challenges to state legislation.

Erica Clayton Wright, an aide to Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, a Republican, was pleased with the ruling.

The state Supreme Court was right to turn down Wolfs application, Wright told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The extraordinary Kings Bench power should not be used to permit or encourage parties to bypass the lower courts in favor of the high court when it suits their end goals.

Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, a Democrat, was disappointed by the ruling.

The GOPs abuse of the constitutional amendment process will cause unnecessary pain and hardship for thousands of PAs women and families, Costa told the newspaper.

Wolf, a Democrat, filed suit in late July, asking the state Supreme Court to declare Senate Bill 106 of 2021 invalid and enjoin further action on the proposed constitutional amendments. One of his arguments was that multiple proposed constitutional amendments cannot be included in a single legislative bill and must be voted on separately by lawmakers.

The governors application for extraordinary relief described Senate Bill 106 as an omnibus vehicle designed by the General Assembly to bring radical change to womens reproductive rights, Commonwealth elections and the constitutional separation of powers.

The abortion amendment was bundled in the legislation with four other amendments. One amendment would require candidates for governor to select their own running mate for lieutenant governor; another would have the state auditor general audit elections; another would require voters to produce government ID at polling places; and another would require legislative approval for regulatory changes proposed by the governor.

Having been approved once by the Republican-controlled Legislature, the proposed amendments still need to be approved by lawmakers a second time in a subsequent legislative session before being placed on the ballot.

Wolf denounced the package of amendments when he filed his lawsuit.

The Republican-led General Assembly continues to take extraordinary steps to dismantle access to abortion and implement a radical agenda, the governor said.

Frustrated that their legislation may face my veto pen again, they instead loaded multiple unrelated constitutional amendments into a joint resolution and rammed the bill through during the budget process, Wolf said. As long as I remain governor, I will take every step to ensure that abortion remains legal, safe and accessible in Pennsylvania.

After Wolf sued, State Sen. Doug Mastriano, who is now the Republican nominee for governor in the Nov. 8 elections, called the legal action a publicity stunt.

No matter how much the governor and his allies try to spin it, this lawsuit threatens to take away the voice of the people he supposedly represents. I can think of no legitimate reason why Pennsylvanians shouldnt have the final word on what their state constitution says, Mastriano said.

The Wolf administration fears most residents dont share its views on taxpayer-funded abortions, voter ID, election audits and regulatory reforms, so instead the governor ran to the courts in an attempt to skew the balance of power back into his favor and exert unilateral control over Pennsylvania.

Correction: a previous version of the article incorrectly described whether the ammendment needed the governors signature to move forward. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
Philippine Government Scraps Outdoor Mask Mandate Amid Declining COVID-19 Cases

The Philippine government is no longer mandating the use of masks outdoors due to a decline in COVID-19 cases, but social distancing and other public health measures will remain in place, government officials said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday approved an executive order to allow the voluntary wearing of masks outdoors, particularly in open spaces and non-crowded areas with good ventilation, press secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said.

Cruz-Angeles said that masks will still be required indoors and in public establishments, including in public transportation, and in outdoor settings where physical distancing cannot be maintained.

She said the policy will be reviewed to determine its impact on the countrys COVID-19 situation. The Philippines recorded 15,379 new cases from Sept. 5 to Sept. 11, down 10 percent from the previous week, The Manila Times reported.

[We will continue adhering to] other minimum public health standards intended to effectively prevent and minimize the spread of COVID-19 in the country, Cruz-Angeles was quoted as saying by state media.

The government is still pushing for the elderly, the immunocompromised, and anyone who is not vaccinated to wear masks.

The Philippines join other Asian nations such as Japan and South Korea in lifting their outdoor mask mandates. Malaysia and Singapore have allowed voluntary mask wearing indoors, except on public transportation.

Schools Reopened After 2 Years

Schools in the Philippines resumed in-person classes in August after more than two years of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. But temperature checks and limits on the number of students per classroom remain in place.

Students will be required to attend a combination of in-person classes and remote learning until November, when theyll switch to fully in-person classes, according to the Education Ministry.

Local media reported that some schools had to split classes into morning and afternoon sessions at the start of the year to accommodate students while maintaining physical distancing due to classroom shortages.

Vice President Sara Duterte described the resumption of in-person classes as a victory for the nations education sector, as students across the Philippines were finally able to attend school like their peers around the world.

We cannot make the lack of educational infrastructure or the inadequate number of classrooms in certain provinces another excuse to keep our children from schools, she said.
Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, now the new leader of the party, speaks at a press conference at Brandt Tractor Ltd. in Regina, Sask., on March 4, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Michael Bell)

What Helped Poilievre Score His Decisive Win

Political pundits say Pierre Poilievres popularity with Conservative members comes from his focus on key issues that are of concern to Canadians.

Malcolm Bird, a political science professor at the University of Winnipeg, says Poilievre gained popularity by focusing on vital economic issues, personal freedoms, and the empowerment of families.

Look at how many people he attracted to the party, look at how many people bothered to go and vote and pay money. Thats a good sign that it certainly shows that it mattered to some people a lot, and a lot more than last time, Bird said.

The 43-year-old MP of the Ottawa-area Carleton riding won handily on the first ballot of the leadership election, with 68.15 percent of the allocated points and 70.7 percent of the votes.

Poilievre launched his campaign on Feb. 5 and drew large crowds at his rallies. By June he had signed up a record 311,958 members, a number that exceeded the membership totals the Conservatives had in either the 2017 or 2020 races. By comparison, Justin Trudeau signed up 150,000 new Liberal Party members before becoming leader in 2013.

Not Your Grandfathers Tories

Scott Bennett, an associate professor of political science at Carleton University, says Poilievre found success by emphasizing economic issues and not alienating social conservatives.

Mr. Poilievre appeals to fiscal conservatives who want a smaller government. He also appeals to some populist elements who recognize that Canada is drifting far from ordinary principles of democracy. He is not primarily a social conservative concerned with cultural and moral issues. However, the social conservatives dont dislike him. They just like some candidates more, and he respects them, Bennett said.

The groups that do dislike him are the hard-core followers of Patrick Brown and, more importantly, the people who think that the party has its best shot at winning if it is a watered-down version of the Liberals.

Brown was disqualified from the race in July under allegations he had skirted party rules by how he acquired memberships. He endorsed Jean Charest, who finished second in the race with 16.07 percent of allocated points and 11.6 percent of votes cast.

Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper endorsed Poilievre in July. Brooke Jeffrey, a professor of political science at Concordia University, says Poilievres alignment with the Harper tradition rings true to the party faithful.

Poilievre is primarily popular with new Stephen Harper Conservatives of the Reform/Alliance/new Conservative Party stream. They control the party apparatus and leadership rule process as well, so his margin of victory is hardly a surprise. These are NOT your grandfathers Tories, Jeffrey said in an email.

And so, of course, he is not popular with Progressive Conservatives of the old school, epitomized by Brian Mulroney, Joe Clark, Senator Majorie Lebreton, Hugh Segal, and Jean Charest. They dont recognize themselves in this party, as they themselves have said.

Don Desserud, a political science professor and researcher at the University of Prince Edward Island, believes some Conservatives like Poilievre because they dislike leaders seen as too accommodating and generous to special interest groups.

Among these people, this is interpreted as a weakness. Therefore, they rally behind someone who they think rightly or wrongly isnt afraid to speak their mind and isnt going to be swayed by pressures to follow a more politically correct path, he said.

Geoffrey Hale, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Lethbridge, says Poilievre is the most unapologetic conservative to lead the Tories since Harper.

Many Conservatives appreciate his combative approach to Mr. Trudeau, whether inside or outside the House. Of course, this makes him appear polarizing to those who largely embrace the left-liberal worldview that shapes federal Liberal policies, Hale said in an email.

Mr. Poilievre is most likely to be effective if he appeals to Canadians interests on bread-and-butter issues and speaks to their economic concerns with practical approaches. He did this, to some extent, during the leadership campaign, and will have to continue doing it, while responding effectively to the inevitable attacks of the other parties.

Will Poilievre Unite the Party?

Opinions were divided on whether Poilievre will take pains to foster more unity within the Conservative Party.

I dont think hell try, Desserud said.

Poilievre is a my way or the highway kind of person. His supporters, of course, like that about him. Whether other members of the party come on board is another matter. Poilievre may have underestimated them.

Jeffrey says it remains to be seen. He will not bend  so inclusion will come on his terms. She suspects Quebec caucus members may put up quite a fuss or leave with maximum publicity while others may fade away and not participate.

Pierre Paul-Hus, the only Quebec Conservative MP who endorsed Poilievre, said the 25,453 memberships he sold to Quebecers is significant. Andrew Scheer sold less than 10,000 memberships across Canada before becoming leader in 2017.

Charest was the first choice of just eight constituenciessix in Quebec and two in Ontario, while Poilievre took the other 330. Bennett believes the party has his back.

He can unite about 80 to 90 percent of the party. I doubt that the Liberal-lite people will be onside. However, I am impressed with the emphasis most candidates are putting on unity after the leader is selected, he said.

Tom Flanagan, former political science professor at the University of Calgary, says Poilievres pretty overwhelming popularity is only half the reason he will face an easier time than Harper did after gaining leadership of the fractured Canadian Alliance Party, then the post-merger Conservative Party.

There were some deep animosities there, but [Harper] managed to get his former opponents working together, Flanagan said.

Sometimes it doesnt work, but if it happens in a way that shows that you didnt drive them out then it isnt that damaging. At a certain point, youre better off if irreconcilable people leave.

Poilievre has been an MP since 2004, having first been elected as a 25-year-old. Flanagan says he benefited from learning first-hand how Harper kept the party united.

You have to make your opponents feel that they have important positions in the party. Treat them with respect. Do what you can to make them happy. Restrain your more ardent followers so that they dont try and continue the campaign once its over, he advised.

Give some marginal victories to your opponents, whatever theyre interested in. With the pro-life element in the party, [Harper] didnt give them a lot, but in the realm of foreign policy he did some things that they liked, like cutting off family planning systems in Africa.

Such advice may be helpful for Poilievre, given pro-life candidate Leslyn Lewiss third-place finish with 9.69 percent and 11.1 percent of first ballot votes.

Former Ontario MPP Roman Baber finished fourth with half as much support. However, Poilievre may have already placated freedom advocates who backed Baber, having supported the truckers convoy and walked with James Topp in the final leg of his march to Ottawa in protest of vaccine mandates.

Bird notes that, given the Conservative Party is a bigger tent, [it] allows for discussion, dissent, and social conservatives.

Where else are the social conservatives going to go?
Queensland to Host Summit to Deal With Lockdown-Driven Migration, Homelessness

The government of Queensland has announced a Housing Summit to deal with several issues plaguing the states housing market following an interstate migration boom driven by lockdowns in Australias big southern cities.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said an initial roundtable on Sept. 16 will be held followed by the larger Summit in October.

Nothing is more important than having a roof over your headits a basic needand the stories of people without secure housing are heartbreaking, the premier said in a statement.

Affordable housing is critical to maintaining our great Queensland lifestyle.

The Property Council of Australia estimated in an August report (pdf) that the states population increased by 750,000 between 2011 to 2021, with around 90 percent of those choosing to reside in the south-east corner of the statearound population centres like Brisbane, Gold Coast, and the Sunshine Coast.

It also estimated that the rate of homelessness was increasing finding women over 55 were the fastest-growing group of homeless people in the country.

A compounding set of circumstances including massive population growth, supply chain and workforce restraints, and multiple weather events have created a housing challenge, said Steven Miles, the deputy premier.

Australia has experienced widespread material and worker shortagescontributing to slow construction timesspurred largely by international border restrictions during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch said the growth of the population had outpaced delivery of new land supply, and all parties were neededincluding private and public groupsto deal with the shortage of housing.

This cant be done by any one entity alonewe must have greater commitment to working together, she said.

A Web of Issues to Untangle

One key issue to confront will be the recently expanded land tax regime.

Normally land tax is calculated based on the value of a property owned within Queensland. However, new changes will expand that calculation to include the value of properties an investor owns across the country.

The move has been criticised by the real estate industry as illogical and could be a disincentive for investors to buy into the state. The majority of rental supply in the state is supplied by regular investors.

Meanwhile, the Property Council said the states planning system was ill-equipped to deal with changing market conditions.

It is too slow and delivers too little land, and the cost base of new land and housing is too high, the Property Councils report said, noting the situation was exacerbated by high population growth due to strong net interstate migration.

During the COVID-19 years (2020-2021) it is estimated Queensland received around 80,056 new migrants, with the vast majority coming from New South Wales and Victoria, where the capital cities of Sydney and Melbourne experienced some of the toughest lockdowns.

Melbourne, in particular, held the record for the city enduring the longest lockdown in the world.

Brisbanes more affordable real estate, easier lifestyle, and the advent of work-from-home spurred many big-city Australians to pack up and relocate.

In response, property owners capitalised on the interest from cashed-up interstate buyers likely selling up their multi-million-dollar Sydney or Melbourne properties.

In fact, CoreLogic reported that from mid-2020 to 2021, average listings in Greater Brisbane increased to nearly 2,000 per month compared to earlier periods where there were only 1,000-1,500 listings.

Together these factors drove up the price of property, put pressure on supply, and added more families to the rental market.

The Summit will include government ministers, local mayors, and non-government stakeholders.
Rains, Mudslides Prompt Southern California Evacuations

LOS ANGELESThousands of residents were under evacuation and shelter-in-place orders early Tuesday after heavy rains unleashed mudslides in a mountain area east of Los Angeles that burned two years ago, sending boulders and other debris across roads.

Firefighters went street by street in the community of Forest Falls Monday night to make sure no residents were trapped. Eric Sherwin, spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Fire Department, said crews hadnt found anyone who needed to be rescued and no one was reported missing. Crews would canvas the neighborhoods again and begin cleanup efforts after sunrise, he said.

Were not gonna know the extent of things until we get to first light, Sherwin said before dawn Tuesday.

Many structures in the area had varying levels of damage, Sherwin said, including a commercial building where the mud was so high it collapsed the roof.

Mud flows near homes in Oak Glen, in San Bernardino County, Calif., on Sept. 12, 2022. (San Bernardino County Fire Department via AP)

The rains were the remnants of a tropical storm that brought high winds and some badly needed rainfall to drought-stricken Southern California last week, helping firefighters largely corral a wildfire that had been burning out of control about 20 miles south of the mudslides.

The mud flows and flash flooding occurred in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains where there are burn scarsareas where theres little vegetation to hold the soilfrom the 2020 wildfires.

All of that dirt turns to mud and starts slipping down the mountain, Sherwin said.

Mudslides that closed part of Highway SR-38 in the San Bernardino Mountains, Calif., on Sept. 12, 2022. (Caltrans District 8 via AP)

One of the wildfires, the El Dorado Fire, was sparked by a smoke device used by a couple to reveal their babys gender. A firefighter died and the couple was charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Concerns about additional mud and debris flows Monday night prompted authorities to put 2,000 homes in the San Bernardino Mountain communities of Oak Glen and Forest Falls under evacuation orders after nearly 2 inches of rain fell on Yucaipa Ridge.

For some homes in Forest Falls, it was too late to evacuate and residents were told to shelter in place through the night because it was safer than venturing out.

The roads are compromised or theyre covered in debris, Sherwin said, adding that crews planned to work all night using heavy equipment to clear routes.

The mudslides came after a week that saw California endure a record-long heat wave. Temperatures in many parts of the state rocketed past 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and pushed the states electrical grid to the breaking point as air conditioners sucked up power. The Fairview Fire in Southern California and the Mosquito Fire burning east of Sacramento broke out and raged out of control.

Firefighters walk past backfire, flames lit by firefighters to burn off vegetation, while battling the Mosquito Fire in the Volcanoville community of El Dorado County, Calif., on Sept. 9, 2022. (Noah Berger/AP Photo)

The tropical storm aided crews battling the Fairview Fire about 75 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The 44-square-mile blaze was 56 percent contained by late Monday. Two people died fleeing the fire, which destroyed at least 30 homes and other structures in Riverside County.

The Mosquito Fire has grown to 76 square miles, with 16 percent containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. While crews were able to take advantage of cooler temperatures and higher humidity Monday to strengthen control lines, more than 5,800 structures in Placer and El Dorado counties remained under threat, and some 11,000 residents were under evacuation orders.

Smoky skies from wildfires in many areas of the West caused air quality to deteriorate Monday, with dangerous levels of particulate pollution detected by government and private monitors in portions of eastern Oregon and Washington, Northern California, central Idaho, and western Montana. In some areas, people were told to avoid all outdoor activity until the pollution cleared.

In Washington, fire officials scrambled to secure resources for a blaze sparked Saturday in the remote Stevens Pass area that sent hikers fleeing and forced evacuations of mountain communities. As of Monday, the Bolt Creek Fire was 2 percent contained and had scorched nearly 12 square miles of forestland about 65 miles northeast of Seattle. A larger incident management team and additional fire crews were slated to arrive Tuesday, officials said.

In Oregon, utility companies said Monday they restored power to tens of thousands of customers after shutting down service over the weekend to try to prevent wildfires during high winds, low humidity and hot temperatures.

Both Portland General Electric and Pacific Power enacted planned power shutoffs Friday amid the extreme fire danger. The utilities were concerned that the winds would cause live power lines to break or sag, making sparks that could ignite tinder-dry vegetation.

South of Portland, evacuation levels were reduced near the 135-square-mile Cedar Creek Fire, which has burned for over a month across Lane and Deschutes counties. Firefighters were protecting remote homes in Oakridge, Westfir and surrounding mountain communities. Sheriffs officials warned people to remain ready to leave at a moments notice should conditions change.
People take part in a march in Mission, B.C., Saturday, June 4, 2022 in a handout photo. (The Canadian Press/HO-Robert Jago

RCMP Say Dozens Provided Statements in BC Claims of Hit-and-Run Case

RCMP in Mission, B.C., say about 30 witnesses have provided statements in an investigation involving the driver of a pickup truck who allegedly hit four people participating in a march related to residential schools.

The department says in a tweet that its serious crime team has been working on the case since the incident occurred in early June and the statements are part of a report to Crown counsel to determine if any charges will be laid.

However, it says putting together such a report doesnt happen overnight and that 90 days is pretty quick.

A 77-year-old man turned himself in to police two days after some members of the Cheam First Nation group were allegedly struck while marching along a highway to draw attention to survivors of residential schools.

The nation is among those that have criticized police for whats been called a slow investigation and the RCMPs original description of the suspect as an impatient driver who couldnt pass the marchers on the highway.

The RCMP have since deleted the tweet issued Monday. The tweet drew some critical responses, and a media spokesman for the detachment could not immediately be reached for comment.

Dan McLaughlin, spokesman for the BC Prosecution Service, said Crown counsel has recently received a report from police about the alleged hit-and-run incident.

We do not have a time estimate for the completion of this process, he said in a written statement, adding no further details will be provided while the matter is being reviewed.

Mounties have said two of the four people who were struck suffered minor injuries as they walked on the only eastbound lane of Lougheed Highway, near the former St. Marys residential institution for Indigenous children.

In June, the captain of the B.C. chapter of the Crazy Indians Brotherhood said the group met in Chilliwack to discuss how police planned to proceed with the case because they had concerns that the driver would not be treated the same as any of them in a similar situation.

Garett Dan said the four-hour meeting at the Cheam First Nation band office got out of hand at one point as everyone, including eight members of the group and four RCMP officers, sat in a circle.

Dan, who organized the march, said the event itself was emotional because participants were calling for ground-penetrating radar to search for possible unmarked graves of children who did not survive their forced attendance at St. Marys.

He has said the driver was goading people even before the walk began and told them to get off the road.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol to discuss immigration at the southern border in Washington, D.C., on June 22, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Republican Senators Introduce Bill to End Highly-Politicized Vaccine Mandate for DC Schools

U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) on Monday introduced a bill they said is designed to protect 12- to 15-year-old students in Washington, D.C. public schools from mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations.

If enacted, their legislation would would block a 2021 bill by the D.C. Council that amended a 1979 immunization law to add COVID-19 vaccines to the required list of childhood shots.

The Republican senators said enforcement of the 2021 law would be particularly harmful to black students, who are at a lower vaccination rate than other students.

D.C. public schools are blatantly discriminating against black students in our nations capital. The rate of vaccination for black students between the ages of 12 and 15 in Washington, D.C. is 60 percentfar lower than the city average, Cruz said in a statement.

D.C. schools has already postponed enforcement of this racist policy until 2023 and they should simply scrap it. Until they do, I will fight for the students of D.C. and work to end this mandate.

A childs dose of Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine is seen in Washington on Nov. 3, 2021. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)

Under the 2021 law, families are given 20 days from when theyre notified about non-compliance with the mandate to get their child vaccinated, or that student will not be allowed to attend class.

Enforcement of the law was slated to begin for the 20222023 school year. Parents or carers were expected to send vaccine certificates to public health authorities to be passed onto the schools as proof of compliance. Vaccination certificates, or approved exemptions, would be due every March.

No student shall be admitted by a school unless the school has certification of COVID-19 immunization for that student or the student is exempted  provided, that this paragraph shall not be enforced until the start of School Year 2022-2023, the 2021 law states (pdf).

But because the 2021 law would alienate thousands of students who have not received a COVID-19 jab, officials delayed enforcement of the mandate until next year.

Learning Already Impacted by Lockdowns

After learning was disrupted by official measures for two years amid the pandemic, the group of Republican senators said the districts vaccine mandate risks putting students who may have been struggling before the pandemic even further behind.

Right now, any news organization worth its subscription fee is running story after story with evidence that the lefts forever pandemic is destroying the mental and emotional well-being of children, Blackburn said.

Yet somehow, right here in our nations capital, leaders are depriving students of a basic education if they dont comply with the Districts highly-politicized vaccine mandate. Getting vaccinated should be a decision between a patient, parent, and doctornot politicians pressured by big teachers unions and radical activists.

Cruz and Blackburns bill is supported by Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.).

According to the bill (pdf), it would prohibit the use of Federal and local funds to impose or enforce a COVID19 vaccine mandate in District of Columbia schools, and to repeal the Coronavirus Immunization of School Students and Early Childhood Workers Regulation Amendment Act of 2021 enacted by the District of Columbia Council.
MP Margaret Ferrier speaks in the House of Commons in London on Oct. 28, 2020, while awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test which turned out positive. (Parliament TV)

Scottish MP who Wilfully Ignored COVID-19 Rules Avoids Jail Sentence

An MP who travelled by train from London to Scotland after testing positive for COVID-19 has avoided a jail sentence and been ordered to do 270 hours of community service.

On Tuesday a judge at Glasgow Sheriff Court told Margaret Ferrier, 62, she had wilfully ignored the rules but he felt it was inappropriate to send her to jail.

Last month Ferrier admitted culpably and recklessly exposing the public to the risk of infection, illness and death by travelling in September 2020, at the height of the pandemic, after testing positive for the virus.

Ferrier was elected as an SNP MP in December 2019 but has had the whip withdrawn and has been urged by Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to do the right thing and resign.

MP Wilfully Disregarded Guidance and Travelled by Train

Imposing a community payback order on her, Sheriff Principal Craig Turnbull told her: The public rightly expect the people elected to represent them to set an example. You wilfully ignored the rules and did not isolate. Having tested positive you wilfully disregarded guidance and travelled by train.

It cannot be overlooked that your behaviour took place at a time of significant restrictions and before the vaccination programme had begun, Turnbull added.

He told her the community payback order was the only alternative to custody and that she would go to jail if she did not complete the 270 hours of unpaid work within nine months.

Ferrier was first elected as MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West in 2015 but lost the seat to Labours Ged Killen in 2017, only to win it back two years later. She has a majority of 5,230 and is currently sitting as an independent.

Sturgeon is on record as calling Ferriers actions dangerous and indefensible.

Her advocate, Brian McConnachie, KC, told the court: The brevity of her symptoms she had experienced led her to the situation that she was convinced that the result of her test would be negative and then, demonstrating for her a remarkable lack of thought and a remarkable lack of consideration for others, she then went about her normal business.

McConnachie said she suffered uncontrolled panic when she tested positive and sought to get home as soon as possible so she could self-isolate.

Ferrier travelled from Scotland to London and spoke in the House of Commons after taking the test and then, after being told she had tested positive, she travelled back to Glasgow on the train.

McConnachie said she had shown remorse for her actions.

The Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, has described her actions as reckless, and The Scotsman newspaper called her a hypocrite because she had earlier criticised Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings after he was accused of breaching the restrictions by travelling to Barnard Castle in County Durham.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Guillermo Carvajal (L), a member of the support staff at Northgate Elementary School in Seattle, and Erin Carroll, an occupational therapist there, picket outside the building on the third day of a strike by the Seattle Education Association on Sept. 9, 2022. (Gene Johnson/AP Photo)

Seattle Teacher Strike Continues for 5th Day, Tentative Agreement Reached

Students in Seattle are set to miss a fifth day of classes on Tuesday amid an ongoing teacher strike over increased pay and more classroom support, although a tentative agreement has now been reached.

The strike initially began on Wednesday, Sept. 7 on what was supposed to be the first day of school for the roughly 50,000 students in the Seattle school district. The teachers union, the Seattle Education Association, said 95 percent of its voting members approved the strike.

However, negotiations have been ongoing between the school and the teachers union, and classes were again canceled on Tuesday.

There is no school on Tuesday, Sept. 13, for all students, Seattle Public Schools (SPS) said in a statement on Monday. We continue to negotiate with Seattle Education Association. Bargaining teams are still working so that we can start school as soon as possible.

In a later update posted to its official website, SPS said it had reached a tentative agreement on the educators contract but that a date had not yet been determined regarding when the school would start classes again.

Seattle Public Schools (SPS) and the Seattle Education Association (SEA) have come to a tentative agreement on the educators contract, SPS, the largest public school district in the state of Washington, said in a statement. For now, the details of the tentative agreement are confidential. SEA members will review the proposed contract and vote tomorrow on whether to lift the strike.

SPS added that it would share an update regarding the start of school date later on Tuesday.

This was an incredible effort by the SPS and SEA bargaining teams. We want to thank everyone on both teams who worked hard to come to a resolution, the school district said. A special thank you to our educators who are the backbone of our school district. They work hard every day supporting our students and families. We are proud to move in a direction that will better meet the needs of our students and staff.

The district added that it looked forward to beginning school and welcoming students and staff for the 2022-23 school year.

Better Pay, Capped Workloads

Teachers that have gone on strike are calling for more educational and emotional help for students, particularly those with special needs or learning difficulties. They have also called for increased pay and capped workloads. Their contract with the district expired in August.

The school district had initially offered teachers pay raises of an additional 1 percent above the 5.5 percent cost-of-living increase set by state lawmakers, but that offer was ultimately rejected by the union.

In a statement following Mondays tentative agreement, the SEA said: We stuck together, made our strength and unity known, and it worked. We are excited to have a Tentative Agreement (TA) with Seattle Public Schools. Our solidarity on the picket lines and the enormous community support we received made all the difference.

The union said the tentative agreement is for a three-year contract with special education ratios maintained and improved in areas, adding baseline mental health staffing in all schools, and raises above IPD every year.

We should all be proud of what we accomplished and what we stood up for: student supports and respect for educators, it added.

The latest strike comes amid a shortage of teachers across the United States which has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, along with a mandatory vaccine rollout that left teachers who were unwilling to get the vaccine out of a job.

A February survey conducted by GBAO Strategies, a Democrat polling firm, on behalf of the National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the United States, found that 55 percent of school educators planned on leaving their jobs earlier than expected over chronic burnout.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sen. David Richards: The Aggrieved

Commentary

Money which my wife and I now have but never had for years seems to provoke the belief in others that we should have a kind of commitment toward open-mindedness, a feeling that we must pay obligatory lip service to the liberal issues that have forced their way into the court of todays public opinion. Some have the unfortunately naive belief that none have ever before wrestled with the tragedy of the human condition or may know more about it than they themselves.

Its as if Tolstoy didnt worry over goodness, kindness, and truth, or ever write War and Peace, or Socrates himself didnt have such concerns about what I still believe is the ultimate obligation of the soul. Or that Dostoevskyonce put to a firing squad before his sentence was commuted to seven years hard labour for a crime of almost nothingdidnt proclaim that ones individual journey must be toward spiritual kindness, without which man cannot and will not exist.

That true independence and the only independence there is, comes, as Solzhenitsyn knew, from nobility of self and fidelity toward others.

Perhaps we should be reminded today that the great Roman playwright Terence was born a slave, and that Greek philosopher Epictetus was also born into slavery and was beaten until deformed, but spoke of truth and goodness as well as we ever did.

I will not forget my friend Alden Nowlan, born into poverty and beaten from the age of two, who went to work in the woods at age 12 with a Grade 5 education. One might be pressed to name a greater Canadian poet.

Or my friend Eric Trethewey, who at 14 had to fend off his stepfather who had just stabbed his mother. He went on to become a pro boxer, with a doctorate in Victorian poet Mathew Arnold. He understood Arnolds poems and essays, and his own hardship, as well as anyone I could mention, and never went begging to anyone.

I myself was born prematurely at seven months with a damaged left side and had to fight bullies with one good arm. But so what? That is not a harsh penance.

For you see, as quaint as it is, what Nowlan said to me once is true: These are things rarely discussed by gentlemen.

I agree wholeheartedly.

One day some years back, I was invited to a party where I had a conversation with well-to-do-people. They had vacation homes here in my province, and I had known many of them for many years. The conversations covered all kinds of topics, from gender equality to spearfishing, but there was a certain one that I remember.

It happened that two young people from the local reserve had broken into the cottage of an elderly couple, stolen a purse and wallet, assaulted both the man and woman about the face, damaged their property, and hijacked their car.

Look what we have donehow horrible it is that they have to resort to this, a woman at the party commented almost as if the statement itself was a prerequisite.

I looked at the diamond on her finger, her painted fingernails, the gold watch she wore, and the glass of white wine which seemed an essential part of her declaration. Others chimed in as well, and it soon became a heady topic. What must be accepted was this: We were the guilty party, not the two who had committed the crime, and the two perpetrators were the real victims, not the elderly couple who was assaulted.

What does our guest think? the first woman asked.

I looked about, realizing I was the guest. (I had been the inviteethe writer who was well known.) She did not like me and in truth I did not like her. I never cared for using glibness as a part of ones cultivated accoutrements. I thought for an instant of Allan Legere, the serial killer who trampled over a couple in Black River, New Brunswick, in the same odious way.

I blame them no more than anyone elsebut I refuse forever, for their own sake, to blame them less, I said.

You mean you think that we have treated the First Nations fairly?

That is not the question you initially asked.

But have we?

Nothey were treated deplorably, horribly. But nor have we treated many I grew up with fairly. Many kids suffered things you would not know.

What are you saying? she asked.

Many had little or nothing, and never took a cent that wasnt theirs or bullied a soul. I could name 10 white and First Nations men and women who grew up every bit as harshly and would never, ever do what these two did. And to believe someone is blameless because of their past condemns them to the very acts they commit and lessens not only their moral obligations, but the moral obligation of others.

Ha, she said. You dont believe in forgiveness?

Of course I do, and empathy even more so. And because I believe in empathy and forgiveness, I say what I do. If one forgives and has true empathy, he or she doesnt just condone. It simply qualifies and lessens the humanity of those we condone by doing so.

Of course, that made it seem that it was I who didnt care. So the lady smiled vaguely and turned her gaze away.

But what is more startling is how many people said nothing because they were afraid. Yes, they were hesitant to speak. I was the writer of books, why wasnt I progressive like them? Well, I am progressive but thank God, not like them.

Canadians have become deeply divided, and have censured their own feelings, their own moral integrity, and even their sense of right and wrong, goodness and evil, for fear of being found out. Not that they are racists, but they fear that they may be considered such. And so, for those at the party, their affidavits had to be in place before them on the well-polished table of conventional wisdom. They all seemed to expunge critical thinking which allowed for them a kind of euphoric and self-gratifying atonement, which would last only as long as the party did.

The day became muted, and those who had invited me to the gathering to show me off, to tell people they knew me when I was a little boy, hobbling behind them on the beach, were suddenly embarrassed that they had invited me, and seagulls cried off in the bay announcing a storm.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Sen. Grassley Wants to Know Why Treasury, IRS, DOJ, Are Silent on Confidential Tax Return Leak

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wants to know why, more than a year later, the Department of Treasury, Department of Justice (DOJ), and IRS have yet to explain to America who leaked highly confidential tax return data on hundreds of Americans to a news outlet.

More than a year ago, the news website ProPublica began publishing stories that it claims are based on a vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data on the tax returns of thousands of the nations wealthiest people, covering more than 15 years, Grassley told colleagues during a Sept. 12 floor speech.

Since then, ProPublica has continued to publish articles that appear to use data leaked or hacked from the IRS. Despite questions from Congress and immediate expressions of concern from the Treasury Department and the IRS, we dont know any more today than we did a year ago, Grassley said.

Even though these apparent leaks of confidential taxpayer information appear to target the wealthy, all taxpayers and anyone who cares about effective tax administration should be very concerned, he said.

Spokespersons for Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and the DOJ did not respond to The Epoch Times request for comment on Grassleys remarks. A spokesman for the IRS referred The Epoch Times to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The TIGTA spokesman said he could provide no information on the status of an investigation, if one exists.

ProPublica first revealed in a June 8, 2021, post that it had received what it described as tax information and data we obtained  from an anonymous source who provided us with large amounts of information on the ultra-wealthy, everything from the taxes they paid, to the income they reported, to the profits from their stock trades.

Since that first disclosure, ProPublica has published multiple articles allegedly based on the leaked information and data, with the latest appearing Sept. 6 under the headline How a Billionaires Attack Philanthropy Secretly Funded Climate Denialism and Right-Wing Causes.

ProPublica describes itself as an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force. While it is illegal to disclose any individuals federal tax return, it is not illegal for media organizations to accept such materials.

Grassley said that until the leaker within, or hacker outside, the federal tax agency is identified, there are serious practical and national security concerns associated with the leak to ProPublica.

At the end of the 2022 filing season, more than 145 million individual income tax returns were filed with the IRS. Right now, we dont know if there is a current vulnerability to IRS systems that makes this personal information accessible within the IRS or to bad actors outside the IRS, Grassley explained.

We dont know if a foreign nation with hostile intentions is responsible for a leak or hack of taxpayer information, or the full scope of IRS information that may be involved. Just because ProPublica hasnt found it politically useful to publicly disclose your private taxpayer information doesnt mean your tax information hasnt also been compromised, he said.

Grassley said Yellens silence on the issue is especially revealing because, shortly after the first ProPublica story was published, she was testifying before the House Committee on Ways and Means. When she was asked about the leak, Yellen responded, I am as anxious as you are to find out what happened.

On the same day as the first story was published, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig told the Senate Finance Committee, on which Grassley is the ranking member, that he believed the trust and confidence in the Internal Revenue Service is sort of the bedrock of asking people and requiring people to provide financial information. And, we have, as I said, turned it over to the appropriate investigators, external and internal.

Grassley also pointed out in his Senate speech that Attorney General Merrick Garland described the leak as an extremely serious matter. People are entitled, obviously, to great privacy with respect to their tax returns.

A clearly frustrated Grassley concluded his remarks by noting that if the Department of Justice and FBI want to show they take the confidentiality of taxpayer information seriously, they can start by fully and completely responding to my letter of June 24, which hasnt yet been responded to. More than a full year, with a complete filing season, is too much time to have gone by without any information being provided at all.

Grassley further observed that Democrats constantly spoke of the need for fairness in the tax system as they pushed through their partisan tax and spending bill. Yet, weve heard barely a peep out of them on what may be the largest unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information in history.
Sen. Rubio Says Bidens Criticism of MAGA Is Reminiscent of Third-World Dictatorships

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Sept. 13 criticized President Joe Biden for calling those supporting former President Donald Trump semi-fascists, saying that such a remark has reminded him of third-world dictatorships.

When you have the president of the United States telling half the country theyre a fascist because of who they voted for, thats very reminiscent of some of the things you see in third-world dictatorships, Rubio told Fox News Digital at Aventura, Florida, where the National Conservatism Conference was being held.

Biden lashed out at the MAGA movement during a fundraiser for Democrats at a private residence in Bethesda, Maryland, on Aug. 26. MAGA stands for Make America Great Again, the slogan of Trumps successful 2016 presidential campaign.

What were seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy, Biden said. Its not just Trump. Its the entire philosophy that underpins  Im going to say somethingits almost like semi-fascism.

Within days, Bidens remarks drew criticism from some Republicans, including New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

Sununu wanted Biden to apologize for his horribly inappropriate and insulting remarks. Jordan said Bidens words had contradicted his promise to unify the country in his inauguration address.

What youre seeing now is basically, Yes, we believe in free speech, but if you hold certain views that we dont like or dont agree with, those are dangerous views, those views lead to violence, those views lead to a danger to democracy, those views are fascist,' Rubio said.

Rubio added, Very few authoritarians go out and say, You have no right to have an opinion. What they say is you only have the right to have a certain opinion.

Biden has continued his criticism of MAGA this month. During a prime-time speech in Philadelphia on Sept. 1, the president accused Trump and MAGA Republicans of being extremists who posed a threat to the United States. A day after his speech, Biden walked back his claims, saying he didnt consider Trump supporters to be a threat to the country.

At a Democratic National Committee meeting in Maryland on Sept. 8, Biden called out extreme MAGA Republicans as those who have chosen to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate, and division.

Extreme MAGA Republicans just dont threaten our personal and economic rights, they embrace political violence, Biden continued, referring to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. They refuse to accept the will of the people. They threaten our very democracy.

The Florida senator said he was disappointed by Bidens rhetoric, but it had not surprised him.

Its been happening for a while, Rubio continued. A year ago, [Biden] said anyone who didnt vote for the voting rights bill that they wanted  you were segregationist.
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Pipes at the landfall facilities of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline are pictured in Lubmin, Germany, on Mar. 8, 2022. (Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke/File Photo)

Skyrocketing Energy Prices Hit as EU Debates Gas Price Cap

Soaring energy costs continue to hit Europe hard this week, as governments in the region are struggling to contend with the rising cost of energy, after Russian gas was drastically cut earlier this month.

Russia cut natural gas and oil exports to Europe after the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States placed sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

European governments are attempting to reduce the financial pain caused by Russias withholding of vital energy supplies.

Russia once supplied 40 percent of the EUs gas needs before the invasion of Ukraine, which has now fallen to 9 percent, after Moscow cut supplies in retaliation to sanctions.

Gazprom, the majority state-owned energy company, announced on Sept. 2 that natural gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would remain shut off indefinitely.

The Russian energy firm justified its actions by saying that EU sanctions against Russia have resulted in technical problems preventing it being able to provide full service through the pipeline.

The remaining flows of natural gas from Russia to Europe along other routes are steady for now.

Desperate Energy Measures

The European Commission will announce a set of emergency measures for the 27-nation bloc at a meeting on Sept. 14, which will include a windfall profit tax on energy firms and a rescue plan for power companies facing financial difficulties.

However, EU policymakers are still disagreeing over certain details among member states, primarily over the issue whether or not to impose a price cap on gas prices.

The price caps, which only targeted Russian gas imports, were removed from the initial plan on Sept. 12, after warnings from Hungary and Austria that Russia could cut off their supplies, too, in retaliation.

European energy ministers initially added a cap on gas prices at the emergency meeting on Sept. 9 in order to reduce the skyrocketing energy bills of citizens and businesses.

The 27 member states will have to universally approve the proposed energy measures, which is expected to take place at an another meeting later this month.

Meanwhile, Norway, a close associate of the EU and a member of NATO, and the largest gas supplier to the bloc after Russia, said it also was against price caps.

The Norwegians have been making record profits since Russia cut supplies to its European customers.

The government in Norway said it would continue to be a reliable supplier of energy for its friends in Europe, but it declared that the terms of trade should be decided by the companies that purchase or pump the gas, not the governments.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said, Were going to the talks with an open mindset, but are skeptical toward a maximum gas price, after meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Stoere said that imposing a maximum price cap would not solve the EUs gas shortages.

Member States Take Action

Meanwhile, the French government, on Sept. 12, said that it was unable to cover all of the energy costs for its citizens.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that the total burden of price increases could not be entirely placed upon the state budget and that there will still probably be a contained increase in gas prices and power prices.

Le Maire also said that the government would still try to protect its citizens from new energy price caps this winter and that households would have to absorb only a small portion of the higher costs.

Germany said it would increase state loans available for struggling energy companies by utilizing a credit program that was created for a pandemic relief fund, according to its finance ministry on Sept. 14.

The business newspaper Handelsblatt reported that the German government would release some 67 billion from the fund to state development bank KfW in order to provide guarantees and liquidity assistance to energy companies hit by cuts in gas imports from Russia.

The German Federal Cabinet is expected to approve draft legislation for the credit plan on Sept. 14, which will then be sent to the Bundestag for a vote.

The European Union also granted members access to 225 billion in untapped loans from the blocs emergency recovery fund on Sept. 12, according to a senior EU official statement to Reuters.

The 800 billion fund was set up last year to help its 27 members recover from the pandemic and to encourage them to invest in green energy.

Member states may request loans to finance additional investments and reforms, including those which already had their plans adopted, said European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis to the EU Parliaments economic committee.

Reuters contributed to this article
Flames grow next to a fire engine as the Fairview Fire burns near Hemet, Calif., on Sept. 7, 2022. (David Swanson/Reuters)

Southern California Fire Burns Down 36 Structures, at 53 Percent Containment

After eight days of the Fairview Fire sweeping through Southern Californias desert communities, firefighters said the fire is now at 53 percent containment as of the afternoon of Sept. 12, with more than 28,300 acres burned. More than 1,100 structures were threatened, 36 were destroyed, and 6 were damaged.

The firewhich broke out on Labor Daybegan at Fairview Avenue and Bautista Canyon Road near Hemet, California. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

Southern California Edisonthe main electricity supplier for the regionclaimed in a filing Sept. 6 that circuit activity [occurred] close in time to the reported time of the fireindicating a possibility that the fire started from the utilitys equipment.

Two first responder injuries, two civilian fatalities, and one minor injury have been reported, according to the fire department.

Officials expect full containment by Saturday, Sept. 17, as rain from Tropical Storm Kay helped mitigate the flames.

Fire activity has been greatly reduced due to the moisture from [the storm]. Deep-seated heat is still present in the dense old-growth brush fields, and stump holes [and] fine flashy fuels will not sustain fire or ignition, fire officials from the Riverside County Fire Department said on Sept. 10 at a press briefing.

Multiple fire agencies battle the Fairview Fire burning in Hemet, Calif., on Sept. 7, 2022. (Courtesy of Riverside County Fire Department)

Some residents preparing for evacuation orders considered the rain to be a godsend.

My sister and I had both cars packed and dogs waiting for the evacuation. [We are] thanking God for the rain that saved all of us, one resident, Maureen Carroll, wrote on Facebook Sept. 12.

Rainfall over the weekend provided excellent humidity recoveries on the fire, permitting some of the mandatory evacuation orders to be downgraded to voluntary, but residents were highly encouraged to remain alert during this dynamic incident, officials said.

On Sept. 11 by 4 p.m., evacuation orders covered several areas including east and west of Fairview, north and south of Highway 74, south of San Jacinto Riverbed, west of Wilson Way, north of Stetson, and east of Soboba Street. The road closure on Highway 74 was also lifted.

Officials are urging residents to evacuate as the Fairview Fire in Hemet, California, is still fiercely expanding, with 9,846 acres burned and only 5 percent containment as of 4:30 p.m., Sept. 7, 2022. (Courtesy of Riverside County Fire Department)

Evacuation centers are set up at Tahquitz High School and the Temecula Community Center.

Hemet Unified School District students also returned to classes Sept. 12 after a week of cancellations due to the weather conditions. The San Bernardino National Forest was also closed due to the fire.

The Riverside County Animal Shelter waived fees under the county emergency order for taking care of pets left behind because of the fire. The shelter also cared for large farm animals like horses and cattle at the Perris Fairgrounds. Small animals were admitted to a shelter in San Jacinto, north of Hemet.

Multiple fire agencies battle the Fairview Fire burning in Hemet, Calif., on Sept. 6, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Road closures are still in effect north of Bautista Road at Tripp Flats Road, south of Bautista Road at Fairview Avenue, north of Red Mountain Road at Stanley Road, east of Cactus Valley Road at Kelstar Road, east into Road at Sage Road, and north of Reed Valley at Red Mountain Road.

As of Monday, Sept. 12, more than 2,200 firefighters remained on the frontlines of the fire, with the county fire department, Hemet Fire Department, San Bernardino National Forest, and the Riverside County Sheriffs Department all working in tandem.
Tiny folded diamonds that fell to Earth from an ancient dwarf star may sound like something from an intergalactic feature film, but researchers from Australia and the United Kingdom have proven the existence of the rare gems after examining a stony meteorite.

Scientists from Australia and the UK have established the existence of lonsdaleite, a rare hexagonal diamond, no bigger than a human hair, that researchers note is layered into a distinctive folded pattern, unlike the earth-formed diamonds that have a cubic structure.

The existence of Lonsdaleitenamed after the pioneering British crystallographer Dame Kathleen Lonsdalehas previously been the subject of debate because its very existence could not be proven.

The lead scientist on the research team Prof. Andy Tomkins, from Monash Universitys School of Earth, Atmosphere, and Environment, said the mysteries of the rare diamond were what drove him continue researching ureilite meteorites in his lab.

Tomkins said it was a case of curiosity-driven science.

This is exactly the sort of curiosity-piquing observation that sends scientists diving down rabbit holes for months on end, he said.

Scientists from Australia and the UK have established the existence of lonsdaleite, a rare hexagonal diamond no bigger than human hair. Image shows the The Rock, a 228.31-karat pear-shaped white diamond, in Geneva on May 6, 2022. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

Naturally formed ureilite meteorites contains a higher abundance of diamond than any known rock on Earth. They are also one of the few opportunities to study the mantle layer of dwarf planets.

The samples are created when asteroids collide with a planet while still hot, creating the ideal conditions for lonsdaleite and diamond growth due to moderate pressure and rapid temperature drops in the fluid and gas-rich environment.

These findings help address a long-standing mystery regarding the formation of the carbon phases in ureilites that has been the subject of much speculation, Tomkins said.

Tomkins also collaborated with researchers from the CSIRO, RMIT University, the Australian Synchrotron, and Plymouth University to discover samples of lonsdaleite in nature, offering an insight into potential replication of the process for industrial purposes.

These diamonds are quite special, said Alan Salek, physicist and RMIT PhD researcher.

Normal diamonds that you would find here on Earth, like on an engagement ring, have a specific atomic structure thats cubic. These special diamonds are hexagonal in structure.

Its pretty exciting because its a new form of material.

The unique shape is believed to be why lonsdaleite is stronger than any other diamond.

Significant Implications For Mining and Manufacturing

CSIRO scientist Colin MacRae in a media release, said the discovery has enormous potential for industries like mining.

If something thats harder than diamond can be manufactured readily, thats something industry would want to know about, MacRae said.

Manufacturing at a Brisbane factory in Australia, on Jan 25, 2017. (AAP Image/Glenn Hunt)

Macrae noted that the discovery meant they could find a way to reproduce the mineral.

Lonsdaleite could be used to make tiny, ultra-hard machine parts if we can develop an industrial process that promotes the replacement of pre-shaped graphite parts by lonsdaleite, he said.

At present, the current method for producing industrial diamonds involves chemical vapour deposition, in which diamonds are formed onto a substrate from a gas mix at low pressures.
Miners at a cobalt cleaning site in Lualaba Province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Northwestern Now)

States to Ban Gas-Powered Cars Despite EVs Human, Environmental Costs

In Chiles Salar de Atacama, locals watch helplessly as their ancestral lands wither and die, their precious water resources evaporating in briny salars.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, hope for a better life dissolves as well-funded Ugandan-led extremist groups force children as young as 6 to work in cobalt mines.

Closer to home, Nevadas Fort McDermitt Tribe and local ranchers fight to protect a sacred burial site and agricultural lands set to be sacrificed by Lithium Nevada, a mining company, in the coming days.

Meanwhile, in California and other states, politicians such as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) pat themselves on the back for their aggressive environmental stance and boast that their gas-powered vehicle bans are leading the revolution towards our zero-emission transportation future.

The Hidden Costs

According to politicians like Newsom and President Joe Biden, electric vehicles (EV) are zero-emission because they use lithium-ion batteriesconsisting of lithium, cobalt, graphite, and other materialsinstead of gas.

Thus, starting in 2035, California will ban gas-powered vehicle sales, while several other states plan to follow suit, citing that as a goal and critical milestone in our climate fight, on Twitter.

Additionally, according to a statement from Biden, banning gas-powered vehicles will save consumers money, cut pollution, boost public health, advance environmental justice, and tackle the climate crisis.

John Hadder, director of the Great Basin Resource Watch, disagrees, pointing out to The Epoch Times that industrial nations might benefit from the transition to EVs, but its at the expense of others.

Vice President Kamala Harris charges an electric vehicle in Prince Georges County, Md., on Dec. 13, 2021. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo)

This expansion of [lithium] mining will have immediate consequences for front-line communities that are taking the hit.

For example, Copiapo, the capital of Chiles Atacama region, is the location of one of the worlds largest known lithium reserves.

We used to have a river before, that now doesnt exist. There isnt a drop of water, Elena Rivera Cardoso, president of the Indigenous Colla community of the Copiapo commune, told the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

She added that all of Chiles water is disappearing because of the local lithium mine.

In all of Chile, there are rivers and lakes that have disappearedall because a company has a lot more right to water than we do as human beings or citizens of Chile.

Brine pools from a lithium mine that belongs to U.S.-based Albemarle Corp., are seen on the Atacama salt flat in the Atacama desert, Chile, on Aug. 16, 2018. (Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

In collaboration with Cardosas statement, the Institute for Energy Research reports that 65 percent of the areas limited water resources are consumed by mining activities.

Thats displacing indigenous communities who have called Atacama home for more than 6,000 years, because farmers and ranchers have cracked, dry soil, and no choice but to abandon their ancestral settlements, according to the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Mine Proposed in Northern Nevada

Saying goodbye to an ancestral homeland as a local lithium mine destroys it is something the communities in northern Nevada are fighting to avoid.

The agricultural communities on either side of the pass are likely to be changed forever, Hadder told The Epoch Times. The [Thacker Pass mine] could affect their ability to farm and ranch in the area. The air quality will decrease  and increased water scarcity is likely.

Thacker Pass. (Lithium Americas)

Hadder pointed out that the Quinn-Production well in Orovada Subarea Hydrographic Basin, which supplies water to Thacker Pass, is already heavily overallocated.

But, lacking water isnt the only concern locals have with Thacker Pass, he says.

[The National Congress of American Indians] are deeply concerned that the mine will threaten the community with man-camps and large labor forces, Hadder said. The introduction of man-camps near reservations has been shown to correlate strongly with an increase in sexual assaults, domestic violence, and sex trafficking.

That concern has merit. In 2014, the United Nations found that extractive industries, aka mines, led to increased instances of sexual harassment, violence, rape, and assault, due to man-camps or workers at the mine.

Tesla Motors Inc. plans to build a 6,500-worker gigafactory to mass produce cheaper lithium batteries for its next line of more-affordable electric cars near the center. (AP Photo/Scott Sonner)

In 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics published a study validating the above information. It found a 70 percent increase in violent crime corresponding to the growth of extractive industry in the areas, with no such increase observed in adjacent counties without extractive industries.

Experience of Congolese Miners

Thats something the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) know from first-hand experience.

In its 2022 report, the U.S. Geological Survey reported that in 2021, more than 70 percent of the global cobalt production came from the DRC and that southern Congo sits atop an estimated 3.5 million metric tonsalmost halfof the worlds known supply.

Its also one of the worlds poorest countries, according to the nonpartisan Wilson Center, and plagued by humanitarian crises, some of which are directly caused by mining.

A child walks past a truck carrying rocks extracted from a cobalt mine at a copper quarry and cobalt pit in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 23, 2016. (Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images)

In December 2021, researchers at Northwestern University conducted an environmental life cycle assessment on extracting raw materials needed for EVs and published their paper in One Earths Journal.

They found cobalt mining was associated with increased violence, physical and mental health challenges, substance abuse, and food and water insecurity, among other issues. They further noted that community members lost communal land, farmland, and homes, which miners dug up to extract cobalt.

You might think of mining as just digging something up, said Sera L. Young, an associate professor of anthropology at Northwestern University. But they are not digging on vacant land. Homelands are dug up. People are literally digging holes in their living room floors. The repercussions of mining can touch almost every aspect of life.

That every aspect of life includes children. In the DRC, an estimated 40,000 children are working in the mines under slave labor conditionssome as young as 6. Initially, there was hope that DRC President Felix Tschisekedi would curb the abuses, but now those hopes are dwindling.

People work at the Kalimbi cassiterite artisanal mining site north of Bukavu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, on March 30, 2017. (Griff Tapper/AFP via Getty Images)

In her address before the U.S. Congress on July 14, Crisis and Conflict Director for Human Rights Watch Ida Sawyer stated that child labor and other serious human rights abuses in the mining sector remain widespread, and these challenges only become harder to address amidst rampant corruption.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan-led armed Islamist group with ties to the Islamic State (ISIS)  as well as their backers among the Congolese political and military elite, control lucrative mineral resources, land, and taxation rackets.

The Wilson Center reports that there are an estimated 255,000 Congolese miners laboring for cobalt, primarily using their hands.

As global demand for Congolese mineral resources increases, so do the associated dangers that raise red flags for Congolese miners human rights, it said.

And human rights violations arent the only concern with cobalt mining. Wilson Center states: The extraction of DRC mineral resources includes cutting down trees and building roads, negatively impacting the environment and biodiversity  Cobalt mining operations generate incredibly high carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions and substantial electricity consumption. These emissions contribute to the fact that Africa produces five percent of carbon dioxide emissions globally.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks in Los Angeles, on Sept. 29, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Meanwhile, in California, Newsom extolled his states move away from fossil fuels.

This plans yearly targets35 percent ZEV sales by 2026, 68 percent by 2030, and 100 percent by 2035provide our roadmap to reducing dangerous carbon emissions and moving away from fossil fuels. Thats 915 million oil barrels worth of emissions that wont pollute our communities.
Stranded Mayflower Christians Need Our Help

Commentary

A Christian group has fled South Korea due to threats of deportation and is now in Thailand. The group of Chinese house Christians is called the Mayflower Church, after the pilgrims famous ship that landed in Plymouth.

Like the Pilgrims, the Mayflower Christians are on the runthis time from China, where regime harassment of the group, originally known as the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church (SHRC), reached unbearable levels.

Christianity and other religions in China are repressed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), sometimes by knocking crosses off churches or insisting on a compliant leadership that preaches according to CCP doctrines and arbitrary rules.

In some Chinese churches, the CCP replaced the cross with a photo of CCP leader Xi Jinping.

Worshiping God, under those circumstances, is beyond difficult.

Thirty-two of the sixty Mayflower members who fled are children, according to Christianity Today. The Mayflower was established in 2012 in the city of Shenzhen, where the SHRC had a large church building and school for Christian education.

Educating children in religion is directly contrary to the strictures of communism.

While the churchs pastor, Pan Yongguang, did not immediately respond to my request for comment, he recently spoke to The Wall Street Journal, Christianity Today, and UCANEWS, a Catholic news outlet.

I have been charged with subversion of state power, colluding with anti-China foreign forces and human trafficking, Pan told UCANEWS. Thats because I took these believers out of China, so now Im suspected of trafficking or smuggling them.

According to Christianity Today, Pans friend, a pastor at a nearby church, was sentenced in 2019 to nine years in prison, acting as an impetus to the groups flight.

Pan co-signed, along with 400 other house church leaders, a letter of protest against the CCPs suppression of religion.

Chinese police raided his church and school and ordered them to shut down multiple times. Concerned that their children would be taught material that violated their faith, SHRC parents believed they must move, according to Christianity Today.

The pillar of a demolished Catholic church is seen in Puyang, in Chinas central Henan Province, on Aug. 13, 2018. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)

According to the Journal, Mayflower members say they have faced government harassment for years, but growing pressure eventually convinced them to leave China.

The group fled to South Korea over two-and-a-half years ago, but their applications for religious asylum were repeatedly refused. Meanwhile, to make ends meet, the group had to rely on charity and odd jobs like picking tangerines, according to UCANEWS.

Those Mayflower members who stayed in China faced interrogation, heightened surveillance, and in some cases, house arrest.

Pastor Pan told Christianity Today, Even the children were familiar with the history of the Mayflower. He noted that his church had studied Pilgrim leader William Bradfords Of Plymouth Plantation before they left the country. Our faith is the same as the Mayflowers; our experience is also similar to theirs.

The president of China Aid, Bob Fu, alleged in UCANEWS that South Korea had denied 99.6 percent of asylum applications from China because Seoul is wary and seeks to avoid conflict with Beijing.

South Korea is effectively being held hostage by the CCP, he said.

Members have appealed for help from the United States, but U.S. officials have apparently done little.

To apply for asylum directly to the United Nations, applicants may not reside in a signatory country to U.N. refugee treaties. The group chose Thailand because it is not a signatory.

But time is getting short, as the groups Thai visas are only valid for 15 days, with some already expired.

Church members are scared that Thai authorities will deport them back to China. This is dangerous, but it is an opportunity, the pastor told the Journal.

Criticism From Chinese Christians Back Home

While some house Christians in China have criticized Pan for fleeing China, he did exactly the right thing. The alternative is to put oneself at the mercy of the regime and continue under repression that could one dayjudging by the treatment of Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Falun Gong adherentsdevolve into genocide.

Demonstrators supporting Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Hongkongers take part in a protest against the Chinese Communist Party as they march along Regent Street towards the Chinese Embassy in London on Oct. 1, 2021. (Matt Dunham/AP Photo)

If at least some Chinese Christians flee, they can more effectively lend their efforts to the kind of public advocacy and political reforms that will eventually make the country safe for religion, and the world safe for democracy.

These Christians who have fled need and deserve urgent assistance to provide them with sanctuary, wrote Benedict Rogers in an email. Rogers is deputy chair of the British Conservative Partys Human Rights Commission and author of China Nexus: Thirty Years In and Around the Chinese Communist Partys Tyranny.

They cannot safely return to China and they should not be put in a situation where they are at risk of being deported back to China, Rogers continued. The United States and other liberal democracies should coordinate to find the best possible immediate solution, to offer them sanctuary as a matter of urgency.

The Mayflower Needs Our Help

Given the importance of supporting freedom of religion in China and considering the broader positive impact on potential political reform in China, why didnt South Korea and the United States do more to help the Mayflower Christians?

Why are U.N. rules so difficult for religious asylum applicants that they must put their heads into the dragons jaws before they can apply for religious asylum directly to the United Nations?

In the case of South Korea, why must these asylum seekers mediate their U.N. request through a nation-state that could deport them back to China and is overly influenced by Beijing, with all the power it wields over trade relations?

The worlds democracies must do more to help those fleeing China for reasons of conscience and religion.

Even the pope could help by providing these Christian faithful with Vatican travel documents. Tania Bruguera, a dissident from Cuba, proposed as much in 2014.

Like Bruguera, we need to think outside the box if we are to help those fleeing the CCP.

America was built upon immigrants who fled Europes religious wars and persecutions. We owe the same to new asylum seekers if we are to carry forward the legacy of our Founding Fathersif we want to remain a moral leader of the world and a beacon of freedom.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Supreme Court Leak Investigation Update Expected at End of Month: Kagan

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said on Sept. 12 that justices will be updated by months end on the progress of an internal investigation into the wintertime leak of a draft abortion opinion that previewed the reversal of 49-year-old abortion precedent Roe v. Wade.

Kagans comments came as the Supreme Court prepared to embark on a new term on Oct. 3. High-profile cases scheduled or expected to be heard include a case about the authority of state legislatures to set the rules for redistricting and congressional and presidential elections, a challenge to affirmative action in college admissions, a challenge to the Clean Water Act, a case about a Colorado law forcing a graphic designer to create websites to celebrate same-sex marriage despite her religion-based opposition to them, and a case about Californias efforts to export its agriculture policies to the rest of the country.

I dont know anything, Kagan said at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center in New York during an event with Judge Alison J. Nathan, a Biden appointee on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

I suspect my colleagues dont know anything, except for the chief justice maybe, about what the investigation has turned up, if anything, Kagan said, adding that the leak was both shocking and an obvious, blatant violation of the courts rules, according to media reports.

If those investigating have not figured out who the perpetrator was, it remains to be seen how the court would prevent another leak from happening, she said. The justices need to be able to privately deliberate and you cant do that if you know that you might wake up tomorrow morning and there is a decision and it is on the front page of newspapers.

The Supreme Court ruled on June 24 in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization that there is no constitutional right to abortion, overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 precedent that legalized abortion nationwide. The Dobbs ruling returned the regulation of abortion to the states.

But an early version of the draft majority opinion in Dobbs made its way to the media, an unprecedented leak of a full high court opinion. Politico published the draft document dated Feb. 10 on May 2 without disclosing its source.

Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley, who is responsible for court security, the courts police force, and the personal safety of the justices, was tasked with investigating the leak. Curley and court officials have been tight-lipped so it is not at all clear what, if any, progress has been made in the investigation. CNN reported in June that court clerks who work for individual justices were asked to hand over private cellphone data and swear affidavits.

Conservative justices began receiving death threats after the draft opinion was made public. Activists have protested at the Maryland and Virginia homes of justices. One man was arrested in June while he was planning to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh. As part of a leftist-promoted summer of rage against the Supreme Court, protesters chased Kavanaugh out of a Washington steak house in July and offered bounties to people to report justices whereabouts so they could be harassed by flash mobs, as The Epoch Times reported.

Nobody elected me, Kagan added in an aside.

And the only reason people should accept what judges do is because theyre doing law, theyre doing something that they were put there to do. And so I think judges  undermine their legitimacy when they dont act so much like courts and when they dont do things that are recognizably law, and when they instead stray into places where it looks like theyre an extension of the political process, or where theyre imposing their own personal preferences.

Chief Justice John Roberts said on Sept. 9 at a conference in Colorado that a dip in public approval ratings for the court doesnt mean the court is illegitimate.

Simply because people disagree with an opinion is not a basis for questioning the legitimacy of the court, Roberts said.

The day before at the same conference, Justice Neil Gorsuch confirmed that Roberts had appointed an internal committee to oversee the investigation.

That committee has been busy and were looking forward to their report, I hope soon.
A Sept. 8 social media post by Liu Long shows photos of his late son, Xuyang, and the death certificate issued by Yining People's Hospital. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Toddler Dies Amid Strict COVID Lockdown in Chinas Xinjiang; Netizens Criticize Authorities

The tragic death of a 17-month-old boy in Yining city last month has caused outrage on Chinese social media. The boys father accused the local hospitals of negligence, and netizens criticized authorities for their strict COVID-19 lockdowns.

Yininga city in Chinas western Xinjiang regionhad been under complete lockdown since July 30, when authorities reported 10 asymptomatic cases. According to online posts from various residents, the city sealed up all residential homes to contain the spread of COVID, and local hospitals stopped treating children.

As of Sept. 12, Yinings health authorities reported 10 asymptomatic cases, according to Chinas news portal Sina.

Yining resident Liu Long told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on Sept. 10 that he wants to seek justice for his late son, Xuyang.

The deputy party secretary came to our home on Aug. 18, after I wrote about my sons death online. He said that they would carry out an investigation if I removed my post. But over 20 days have passed, and there has been no progress. Are they afraid of shouldering the responsibility? Or are they afraid of losing their jobs?

Liu said the authorities took his post down within three minutes.

Netizens blasted the local authorities and hospitals for disregarding peoples lives, and they reposted the fathers remaining comments on more prominent social media platforms to support him.

The Tragedy

Liu blamed the local hospitals for their negligence and failure to save his son.

Home quarantine began on Aug. 1. We have been locked in since then. I live in a house with its own courtyard, which was locked from the outside [by the local authorities], he told the publication.

A Sept. 9 post by Liu Long shows his son, Xuyang, when he was 6 months old. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

He said Xuyang had some symptoms of indigestion for two to three days, but he ate as usual and didnt have a fever.

But at 3:10 a.m. on Aug. 16, the boy began to feel unwell. He was weak and in very low spirits, Liu said.

I immediately called the emergency center, but they said none of the hospitals would treat patients. They asked me to try my luck by calling individual hospitals, he said.

The emergency center in each city is under the administration of the local health committee. The center is responsible for taking medical emergency calls and coordinating the dispatch of ambulances to take patients to the nearest hospitals.

Liu told the publication that he had called almost all the major hospitals in the city. The calls were either unanswered, or the number was inactive, or the hospitals didnt treat children.

He had no choice but to call the police, who eventually arrived with the local community committees Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary.

However, they didnt offer him any help. Then Liu called the emergency center again in front of the police and CCP secretary, but the center still insisted that he should contact the hospitals on his own.

In a desperate attempt, Liu took his son to the nearest medical centera five-minute drive from his home.

I saw the baby was getting worse, and I just dashed into the community committees car with the baby and forced the driver to take us to the nearest hospital, he said.

Upon arrival, the hospital asked them for negative PCR tests before admitting Xuyang.

I just ran into their room and put my baby on the first aid cart, but the medical staff by my side just kept telling me: Go pay the fees, pay, pay, pay!'

Then at 5:05 a.m. on the same day, the hospital announced that the boy had died of septic shock, according to Liu.

The hospital said that if I had come 10 minutes earlier, it would have been totally different for the baby, he said as he teared up.

The local funeral home was closed due to the lockdown, and the hospital rejected Lius request to use its mortuary. So he sat in front of the hospital gate, with his sons body in his arms, waiting for three hours for the crematoriums vehicle to pick them up.

The crematorium told me that the child was too small to have ashes, he said. From 3 a.m. to 9 a.m., from resuscitation to cremation, only six short hours, and my baby is gone forever.

Another parent whose child died from an illness during the lockdown posted online, urging parents to call the police directly, as none of Yinings hospitals accept children for emergency treatment, according to China Digital Times.

The Epoch Times contacted Yining Peoples Hospital and the Yining municipal health committee for comment on Sept. 10 and Sept. 12.

Lockdown Separated Mother and Child

The boys mother currently lives and works in Shenzhen, Chinas southern city bordering Hong Kong. She could not return home to be with her son due to Yinings strict lockdown measures. The news devasted her.

An undated photo of Xuyang. (Courtesy of Liu Long)

I am 30 now. If my wife comes back, she will divorce me. She cannot come back now because of Xinjiangs lockdown measures, the father said. She called me, saying that she left the baby in good health with me less than two months ago; she couldnt accept it [sons death].

Liu said his 76-year-old father had been crying over the boys death. They havent shared the tragic news with Xuyangs grandmother due to her poor health.

Censorship

China Digital Times, an independent media organization based in Berkeley, California, had retained some posts by Yining residents asking for help before the authorities removed them.

Liu uploaded posts on Chinese social media in August and September, and two posts were archived by China Digital Times.

Liu first posted on the evening of Aug. 16, after his son was cremated, airing his grievances. His post was removed within minutes.

He posted again on Aug. 17, Sept. 8, and Sept. 9, with photos of Xuyang and the death certificate issued by the hospital.

His latest post, though not removed, was not accessible for reposting.

Online Public Outcry

Chinese netizens wanted to help Liu by commenting, posting, and reposting his posts. Some blasted the authorities for their draconian lockdown measures.

The following are some netizens comments:

He [Xuyang] was so adorable and so innocent! How can such a young life become a victim of the so-called pandemic? How can we protect children born in such a dark environment till they grow up safely? I now begin to regret that I have given birth to my baby! I fear that I cant protect him!!!

This is a complete disregard for human lives!

This is against humanity. History will judge them.

Help with reposting! We, ordinary people, demand an explanation! Is it true that everything will be fine if you dont die from COVID-19? Someone needs to be held responsible, and someone needs to pay the price!

From Shanghai in May to Xinjiang now, when is it [the lockdown] going to end? Which place will be the next [to be locked down]? The pandemic isnt scary; what humans do is most frightening.

Yinings municipal pandemic control and prevention command announced on Sept. 12 that 88 communities have lifted some lockdown measures in an orderly manner. Each household will be given a temporary passport, which allows one family member to run errands within their community, and all entrances and exits will be closed and guarded 24 hours a day, according to a statement from the authorities.

Gu Xiaohua and Xia Song contributed to this report.
Twitter Shareholders Vote in Favor of $44 Billion Elon Musk Purchase

A majority of Twitter shareholders on Tuesday voted in favor of accepting Musks April offer of $54.20 per share amid whistleblower testimony alleging the platform isnt secure and is a privacy risk.

The shareholder meeting lasted about 7 minutes, and the vote lasted only 3 minutes. A vote count read during a live stream of the event confirmed that a majority of shareholders want the deal to go through, reported Bloomberg News and other outlets.

After the meeting ended, a Twitter official announced that more details would be provided about the vote in the near future, and a form will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Their vote came just a few days after Musk sent a third letter to the social media company, which was published on SECs website.

In the time that has elapsed since that letter was sent, additional facts have come to light that reveal that Twitter has further breached its obligations under the Merger Agreement, the Sept. 9 letter from Musks team said, adding that the Musk Parties believe this termination notice is not legally necessary to terminate the Merger Agreement because they have already validly terminated it pursuant to the July 8 termination notice.

The letter also referenced a reported $7.75 million severance payment given to Twitters former security chief, Peiter Mudge Zatko, who later offered testimony about the social media giants alleged security problems.

Musks team said that payment to Zatko, who testified in front of the Senate on Tuesday, violated a provision of the two parties acquisition contract.

During Tuesdays Senate hearing, Zatko stated that Twitter is highly vulnerable to being exploited and infiltrated by foreign agents. At one point, Zatko claimed he raised concerns with a Twitter executive that he believed a foreign intelligence operative was working for the firm.

That executive, who was not named, told Zatko that well, since we already have one, what is the problem if we have more? Lets keep growing the office, he said.

Zatko also stated that it would be entirely possible for a Twitter employee to take over and issue tweets from senators accounts. Its not far-fetched to say a Twitter employee could take over the accounts of all of the senators in this room, he remarked, adding that he never saw it happen.

In late August, Twitter denied some of Zatkos claims and described him as a disgruntled former employee who was terminated for poor job performance.

Mr. Zatko was fired from his senior executive role at Twitter in January 2022 for ineffective leadership and poor performance, a spokesperson for Twitter told outlets late last month. What weve seen so far is a false narrative about Twitter and our privacy and data security practices that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context.

Lawsuit

In July, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive scrapped plans to purchase Twitter for $54.20 per share and take it private, going back on an announcement that he had made with the social media firm. Twitter then filed a lawsuit against Musk in a Delaware court to force him to adhere to the contours of their April 25 agreement and complete the $44 billion purchase.

Musk, meanwhile, has countersued Twitter and previously asked the court to dismiss Twitters lawsuit against him. Twitter, he contends, was not honest with his team about the number of bots and spam accounts on the platform. But Twitter said in court filings that they have, in fact, provided the multi-billionaire with the data he requested.

A five-day trial is slated to start at the Delaware Delaware Court of Chancery in October.
Peiter Mudge Zatko, former head of security at Twitter, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on data security at Twitter, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 13, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Twitter Was Notified at Least 1 Chinese Spy Was on Companys Payroll, Whistleblower Testifies

The former head of security at Twitter was told earlier this year by the U.S. government that there was at least one agent of Chinas top intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), working as an employee at the company.

This was one of the revelations made by Peiter Mudge Zatko, a whistleblower who served as Twitters head of security for about 14 months before being fired earlier this year, during testimony before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Sept. 13.

Ranking Member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Zatko: In your disclosure, you mentioned that the FBI notified Twitter that one of their employees was suspected of being a Chinese foreign asset. Were you and others at Twitter at all surprised by that?

Zatko replied that he was notified of this information about a week before he was dismissed.

The corporate security physical security team had been contacted and told that there was at least one agent of the MSS, which is one of Chinas intelligence services, on the payroll inside Twitter, he said.

Zatkos testimony expanded upon a raft of allegations of widespread security failings that could harm users of the platform, shareholders, and U.S. national security set out in a complaint to federal regulators in July. Twitter has labeled Zatkos claims as a false narrative.

The whistleblower testified that when he raised his concerns about foreign agents at Twitter to an executive, they were dismissed.

When I said, I am confident that we have a foreign agent, [the executives] response was, Well since we already have one, what does it matter if we have more; lets keep growing the office,' he recalled during the hearing.

Zatko said that Twitter would be a goldmine for any foreign intelligence agency that was able to place an operative inside.

If you place somebody on Twitter  as we know has happened, it would be very difficult for Twitter to find them. They will probably be able to stay there for a long period of time, and gain significant information to provide back on either targeting people or on information as to Twitters decisions and discussions and  the direction of the company.

Zatko is a respected former white hat hacker whos previously worked for Google, payments firm Stripe, and the U.S. Department of Defense. He was hired in 2020 by then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in the aftermath of a major hack that hijacked dozens of high-profile accounts to promote a bitcoin scam.

People holding mobile phones are silhouetted against a backdrop projected with the Twitter logo in this illustration picture taken on Sept. 27, 2013. (Kacper Pempel/Illustration/Reuters)

Chinese Sales

Zatkos complaint also alleges that Twitter was becoming dependent on sales to Chinese entities, even though the platform is blocked in China, raising the risk that such entities could then access the data of Chinese users who had circumvented the communist regimes censorship firewall.

Twitter executives knew that accepting Chinese money risked endangering users in China, the 84-page complaint said.

Over the years, the Chinese regime has arrested, harassed, and jailed citizens for circumventing its firewall to use and post messages on Twitter.

They didnt know what people they were putting at risk. Or what information they were even giving to the government, which made me concerned that they hadnt thought through the problem in the first placethat they were putting their users at risk, Zatko said at the hearing.

He summarized the executives response to his concerns as: Were already in bed. It would be problematic if we lost that revenue stream. So figure out a way to make people comfortable with it.

Leadership Failings

Senior leaderships dismissals of Zatkos warnings and concerns became a common theme, according to the whistleblower.

Twitters leadership chose to ignore repeated warnings from Zatko of fundamental cybersecurity problems, and misled its board, shareholders, and the public about them because it was incentivized to prioritize profits over security, Zatko said.

What I discovered when I joined Twitter [in November 2020] was that this enormously influential company was over a decade behind industry security standards.

The data security problems at Twitter, according to Zatko, stem from two basic issues: They dont know what data they have, where it lives, or where it came from. And so unsurprisingly, they cant protect it. And this leads to the second problem, which is the employees then have to have too much access to too much data and too many systems.

To illustrate the second point, Zatko said that about half of Twitter employees have access to the Twitter account of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the committees ranking member.

The companys cybersecurity failures make it vulnerable to exploitation, causing real harm to real people, Zatko said.

When an influential media platform can be compromised by teenagers, thieves, and spies, and the company repeatedly creates security problems on their own, this is a big deal for all of us.

Among his claims, Zatko said Twitter misled regulators about compliance with a 2011 Federal Trade Commission order over the improper handling of user data.

Since then, Twitter has made little meaningful progress on basic security, integrity and privacy systems, Zatkos complaint said.

The testimony came as the San Francisco-based company is locked in a legal battle with tech billionaire Elon Musk after the Tesla CEO pulled out of a $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform over its lack of transparency regarding the number of bot and spam accounts on the platform.

Twitter sued Musk for terminating the deal, while Musk countersued, accusing Twitter of fraud. The trial is set for next month in a Delaware court.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Twitter for comment.
Crowds watch as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland, passes Mercat Cross in Edinburgh on Sept. 11, 2022. (Ian Forsyth/PA Media)

UK Police Confirm People Have Right to Protest Against Monarchy After Arrests

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed people absolutely have a right to protest against the monarchy, despite a number of incidents in which individuals were detained or even charged over anti-royalist placards.

The death of Queen Elizabeth II has largely been greeted with sadness and respect but there have been incidents where people with a republican agenda have sought to make their views known.

On Monday a 22-year-old woman was charged with a breach of the peace after holding up a placard which said: [Expletive] Imperialism: Abolish the Monarchy outside St. Giless Cathedral in Edinburgh on Sunday when King Charles III was being proclaimed as monarch.

In Oxford, where the proclamation of Charles as king was being read out in the street, Symon Hill, 45, was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence after heckling by shouting, Who elected him?

Hill was later dearrested.

In London a woman protester who held up a sign saying not my king was ushered away from the Palace of Westminster by police, although it was not clear under what powers they were acting.

Then on Monday afternoon Paul Powlesland, 36, a barrister, was confronted by police officers when he held up a blank piece of paper in Parliament Square.

Powlesland said one officer asked him for his name and address and told him he would be arrested if he wrote not my king on the paper.

The Metropolitan Police issued a statement after a video of the incident went viral.

The Public Absolutely Have a Right of Protest

Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said: Were aware of a video online showing an officer speaking with a member of the public outside the Palace of Westminster earlier today. The public absolutely have a right of protest and we have been making this clear to all officers involved in the extraordinary policing operation currently in place and we will continue do so.

Cundy said most interactions between the police and the public had been positive.

Ruth Smeeth, chief executive of Index on Censorship, said the incidents in London, Oxford, and Edinburgh were deeply concerning and said, The fundamental right to freedom of expression, including the right to protest, is something to be protected regardless of circumstance.

Jodie Beck, policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, said: Protest is not a gift from the state, it is a fundamental right. Being able to choose what, how, and when we protest is a vital part of a healthy and functioning democracy.

In England and Wales, someone can be charged under the Public Order Act with disorderly behaviour if they use threatening or abusive language which is likely to cause others present harassment, alarm or distress.

But voicing opposition to the monarchy would not normally be an offence under the Public Order Act.

Scotland passed the controversial Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act last year, which has been criticised for curbing free speech.

PA Media contributed to this report.
A tank of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is seen in the industrial area of the city of Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine, on June 20, 2022. (Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters)

Ukraine Pushes to Retake All Territory From Russia, Calls for Even More Western Arms

Ukraines government on Tuesday said it aims to take back all of its territories after pushing back Russian forces in the northeastern portion of the country in a rapid offensive.

In a video address late on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the West and United States to again provide weapons systems. The United States, in particular, has already given over $13.5 billion in military aid to the country since Feb. 24.

From the beginning of September until today, our warriors have already liberated more than 6,000 square kilometers of the territory of Ukrainein the east and south, he said. The movement of our troops continues. The country on Sunday marked the 200th day of the conflict.

Weapons systems need to be given to Ukraine from the West, he said, to strengthen cooperation to defeat Russian forces in the country.

Since Russias Feb. 24 invasion, Washington and its allies have provided Ukraine with billions of dollars in weapons that Kyiv says have helped limit Moscows gains. Russian forces control around a fifth of the country in the south and east but Ukraine is now on the offensive in both areas.

Also in the video, Zelenskyy claimed Ukrainian forces took 6,000 square kilometers (2,316 square miles) in the recent offensive. The Epoch Times cannot independently verify the claims.

The Institute for the Study of War think tank said that Ukrainian forces are continuing to make impactful gains and that they are steadily degrading the morale and combat capabilities of Russian forces, according to a Monday update.

Fighting was still raging in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar told Reuters on Tuesday, saying Ukraines forces were making good progress because they are highly motivated and their operation is well planned.

The aim is to liberate the Kharkiv region and beyond  all the territories occupied by the Russian Federation, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar told Reuters.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Monday that Ukrainian forces had made significant progress in recent days but said its too early to make predictions.

The Russians maintain very significant forces in Ukraine as well as equipment and arms and munitions. They continue to use it indiscriminately against not just the Ukrainian armed forces but civilians and civilian infrastructure as weve seen, Blinken said.

Russias Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, said Tuesday that its forces killed or injured more than 800 Ukrainian forces and foreign fighters in the past 24 hours, according to state-run media.

As a result of the strikes, the daily losses of Ukrainian servicemen and foreign fighters exceeded 800 people killed and injured, the ministry stated.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Workers work inside the clean room of U.S. semiconductor manufacturer SkyWater Technology where computer chips are made, in Bloomington, Minnesota, in April 2022. (SkyWater Technology/Handout via Reuters)

US, Mexico to Cooperate on Semiconductors, Electric Vehicles

The United States and Mexico are planning to cooperate on semiconductor and electric vehicle production, according to a White House fact sheet.

Both nations seek to establish a Supply Chain Working Group with the initial focus being on semiconductors and information and communications technology supply chain ecosystems, the Sept. 12 fact sheet states. A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Mexican Ministry of Economy with leading tech firms and manufacturers to facilitate emerging technologies and workforce development in Mexico.

Senior officials from the United States and Mexico met in Mexico City on Monday as part of the U.S.Mexico High-Level Economic Dialogue where the trade discussions took place.

In a joint statement, the officials said that they will be working together on a pilot project to determine the feasibility of near-shoring semiconductor manufacturing inputs.

In January, a report by the U.S. Department of Commerce warned that the country was facing a chronic shortage of semiconductor chips and that a long-term solution was needed to avoid economic and security risks arising from this issue.

In August, President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS legislation to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors. Washington recently announced that tech companies receiving funding from the $280 billion CHIPS act will be prohibited from establishing advanced facilities in China for a period of 10 years.

At a Sept. 12 press conference, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo pointed out that the testing, packaging, and assembly industry for semiconductors in China and Taiwan is a $60 billion industry. In North America, the industry is only valued at $3 billion.

So there is a huge opportunity for growth in North America and job creation just in the semiconductor supply chain, she said.

Mexicos Ministry of Foreign Relations has set up a Transport Electrification Working Group in collaboration with academics, industry representatives, and the University of California.

The group will support the transition of American and Mexican automotive industries toward production of electric vehicles, the fact sheet states. Both Mexico and the United States have a shared commitment to making 50 percent of new vehicle sales electric by 2030.

The Biden administrations push to transition America to use more electric vehicles is a controversial policy that has attracted criticism.

In an interview with NTD, Jerry Simmons, president of the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance, said that he was shocked at how much taxpayer money Washington is pumping into unreliable renewable sources.

Simmons pointed to California, which is promoting the use of electric cars while asking people not to charge their electric vehicles because of an energy shortage, something he said is absurd.

The California Independent System Operator recently asked citizens to avoid charging electric vehicles as there was a large demand for electricity owing to the heightened use of air conditioners amid a brutal heat wave.
Military veteran James Topp walks with supporters toward his last stop on his march to protests vaccine mandates, the War Memorial, in Ottawa, on June 30, 2022. (Noe Chartier/The Epoch Times)

Veteran on Cross-Country Walk Against Vaccine Mandates Asks Defence Minister for Inquiry Into Policy

Military veteran James Topp, who is currently walking the eastern leg of his cross-country march to protest vaccine mandates, is asking Defence Minister Anita Anand to set up a board of inquiry into the militarys mandate.

I have firsthand knowledge of the damage being perpetrated to the institution of the CAF [Canadian Armed Forces], wrote Topp in the Sept. 12 letter.

I would like to bring information to your attention intended to assist you and the Chief of Defence Staff in making the decision to apply the 3R formula  In doing so, all of our soldiers, sailors, and aircrew can witness and begin the healing process to restore trust in our chain of command.

The 3R refers to repealing the mandates, reinstating employees, and restitution for wages lost to foster societal Repair, says Topp.

The federal government suspended the mandate for the public sector on June 20, warning it could be brought back in the fall if deemed necessary.

The mandate for the CAF remains in place, though a modification to the policy could come in the near future after the leak of a draft directive in late July suggested the organization would align with the public sector.

A full suspension isnt certain though, with Chief of Defence Staff Wayne Eyre saying in August there would be a tweak in the policy.

An unidentified Department of Defence spokesperson told The Epoch Times on Sept. 13 that no decision has yet been made on the vaccine mandate.

Topp says the aim of setting up a board of inquiry would be to assess the impacts of the mandate on the fighting strength of the armed forces.

Hundreds of soldiers have voluntarily released or were dismissed under code 5f (unsuitable for further service) for not conforming to the mandate.

Topp was affected by the military mandate and the public sector one through his civilian employment in the RCMP.

The warrant officer is facing a court martial after being charged with two counts of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline for publicly speaking against the vaccine mandates in February. He was in military dress uniform when he did so.

Legal Action

Topp completed his initial trek from Vancouver to Ottawa on June 30.

His advocacy didnt garner much media attention throughout that leg, but around the time he arrived in Ottawa, some media outlets started reporting on him and have attempted to paint Topp as an extremist.

Topp says hes now retained legal representation to sue a media outlet for defamation.

People should be aware of the issue of this corporate media and its indirect censorship of dissenting voicesthats what I see happening here. Theres a lack of coverage and any coverage is largely derogatory, Topp told The Epoch Times.

Topp says hes had enough of this kind of bully pulpit reporting.

Eastern Leg

After completing his initial journey to the War Memorial in late June, Topp headed to Newfoundland in July to complete a full cross-country trek and connect with more people along the way.

There, he faced some resistance, with detractors calling venues he had secured to meet people and telling the owners or managers that Topp holds extremist views.

Its apparent to me that we have a press thats acting as an information arm of federal government and that anybody who speak out on issues is vilified or discredited or misrepresented, which is why weve had these kind of accusations, misinformation, Topp says.

He says the situation improved in Nova Scotia, with supporters successfully pushing back against the interference.

Because Ive already met with a lot of the owners of the venues and explained to them who I am and what Im doing and why, most of them are willing to stand up against these bullying tactics and to no detriment whatsoever to their business, he says.

Topp was reached while in New Brunswick, closing in on 6,000 kilometers of marching.

He says he plans on arriving in Ottawa at the beginning of November, where he says he would like to be invited again. Canada celebrates Remembrance Day on Nov. 11.

Topp was joined by thousands of supporters on the last day of the first half of his journey in Ottawa on June 30.

He says hes working toward helping the Support our Troops campaign and he hopes to meet again with parliamentarians. A group of Conservative MPs met with him on June 22.
Violent Crime on the Rise in Major US Cities but Homicides Down: Survey

The number of violent crimes has soared across the United States this year and is set to return to pre-pandemic levels, despite a drop in homicides, a new survey shows.

According to the midyear comparison survey (pdf) from the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA), there were 236,962 incidents of major crimes such as robberies and aggravated assaults reported in the first six months of 2022 compared to 226,967 in the same period last year.

Overall, violent crime increased by just over 4 percent in 2022 when compared to the same time period in 2021, according to MCCA figures.

MCCA is an organization of police executives and represents the biggest cities in the United States and Canada. The report surveyed over 70 major U.S. law enforcement agencies.

The report also found that robberies rose to 60,174 in the first six months of this year, compared to 53,212 in 2021, marking an almost 12 percent increase, while aggravated assaults rose to 156,735 from 152,760 in 2021, marking a 2.5 percent increase.

Despite a surge in violent crimes, the number of homicides and rapes saw a slight decline, according to the survey. A total of 4,511 homicides were reported in the first half of 2022 compared to 4,624 in the first six months of 2021; a 2 percent decrease.

Rape also declined, dropping to 15,541 in the first six months of this year compared to 16,371, marking a 5 percent decrease.

However, the decline in homicides was not seen everywhere across the country, with Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, New Orleans, and Phoenix all among those cities that have seen a spike in homicides so far this year.

The number of rapes was also up in Chicago, Columbus, Fort Worth, Miami, and New York, among others.

A separate survey of nine law-enforcement agencies in Canada found that homicide, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault were all on the rise this year too, with sexual assaults up 4,825 from 4,089 in 2021 and homicides up to 136 versus 118 in 2021.

Robberies were also up to 4,970 this year compared to 3,657 in 2021, and aggravated assaults stood at 561 compared to 522 in 2022.

Shocking Numbers

Compared to 2019 midyear figures, MCCA member cities have experienced a 50 percent increase in homicides and a roughly 36 percent increase in aggravated assaults. These shocking numbers demonstrate how the sustained increase in violent crime has disproportionately impacted major urban areas, MCCA said in a press release (pdf).

While MCCA member agencies continue to develop new and innovative strategies to address rising violent crime, there is a distinct need to have a robust conversation regarding the driving factors and systematic failures that have contributed to the current state of affairs, the association added.

The survey comes following a string of mass shootings in the United States this year, including at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two adults dead.

The shootings prompted the Biden administration to tighten gun control laws in an effort to prevent dangerous people from accessing firearms. However, Republicans have argued that such measures are impinging on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

Some experts have blamed the strict COVID-19 restrictions for a surge in violence along with growing anti-police sentiment, but many law enforcement agencies across the United States have also experienced a wave of staff shortages which they say has further exacerbated the situation.

We still dont have enough officers, and we have shortages everywhere, National Association of Chiefs of Police Senior Vice President Brian C. Smith told Axios.

According to data provided to Axios Local from a partnership with The Marshall Project, almost 40 percent of law enforcement agencies across the country failed to report their 2021 crime data to the FBI, including the New York City Police Department and Los Angeles Police Department.
The Board of Directors of Fisons Ltd., manufacturers of fertilizers, attend a meeting in the company's boardroom, on June 7, 1960. (Central Press/Getty Images)

Wall Street Should Be Honest About the G in ESG Investing

Good corporate governance needs to be distinguished from an embrace of a myriad of social issues.

Commentary

Note: This is the third of a three part series on ESGenvironmental, social, and governanceinvesting. Two previous columns addressed the environmental and social elements of ESG investing. Here, we discusses the last element, corporate governance.

In this third discussion of ESG investing, we see how governanceas with socialarises not from what it was intended to be but from what it has been debased to become by progressive activists who manage investments for municipal pension funds, some Wall Street fund managers, and in the firms that market this otherwise benignand common sense investment strategy.

Readers will remember in our discussion of social investing that we discussed how the S investment standard promulgated by S&P Global and the Boston Consulting Group operated with a closer nexus to bottom-line financial results, to advise  clients about social investing risks, to address issues such as labor relations, supply chain vulnerabilities, and political as well as geopolitical matters in key markets and in jurisdictions where suppliers are located.

It was thus intended with G, governance, at least originally.

Protecting Shareholders Interests

Sound governance of an enterprise was meant to consider how boardsand particularly boards with executive directorsstewarded the interests of shareholders over their own, as well as how well the enterprise was governed generally.

In 2003 paper titled, Corporate Governance and Equity Prices, by Paul A. Gompers, Joy L. Ishii, and Andrew Metrick (note the last names of the authors), for example, the authors analyzed stock returns in the context of 24 governance rules that had been outlined by the Investor Relations Research Center (the IRRC provisions ). These were compiled into what has since been called the GIM Index (named after the authors). They found that companies, in what the authors called a democracy portfolio which had strong shareholder rights, had significantly better returns than those in a dictatorship portfolio, wherein shareholder rights were weak. But the paper could not prove a direct cause and effect relationship between the governance rules and the valuations (as measured by Tobins Q); that came later.

In a 2004 paper titled, What Matters in Corporate Governance, by Lucian Bebchuk, Alma Cohen, and Allen Ferrell, it was determined that the democratic or dictatorial corporate governance came about from share values, not vice versa. The authors concluded that companies that are less well-managed, or in low-growth industries, tend to be more prone to takeover attempts and, therefore, tend to adopt more defensive (i.e., dictatorship) governance rules.

But sound board governance goes so much further than leaving board control open to challenge by shareholders.

The Dogma of ESG Investing

Its assumed that board members possess the minimum competencies in finance, law, and management as well as the personal character necessary for responsible stewardship. Investors should, of course, ensure that such people are in place or run grave risks if they are not. For example, the financial pages are replete with CEO wrongdoing that crashed or damaged share values of companies through executive incompetence, indiscretions, inattention, or outright corruption that put some of them behind bars. Board members are also occasionally named.

But neither being incompetent nor indiscreet is generally a crime; hence, the need for competent and unassailable directors, good legal and regulatory counsel, and board rules that, to the greatest extent possible, have objective standards, such as debt ratios; compensation standards; rules for mergers, acquisitions, and split-ups; personal behavior; and the like.

There is nothing about these governance elements in ESG investing that most investors would find objectionable.

But with the rise of what now purports to be ESG, good corporate governance has come to include subjective dogma. Widespread, unquestioning, dogmatic embrace of social and political causes fashionable among Americas chattering classes, such as encouraging children to dress in drag, Black Lives Matter, and other causes are now the norm in corporate board rooms. Banal mantras such as Diversity is our strength, which are demonstrably falseand yet accepted as truthare de rigueur among proper corporate board members. And they affect corporate decision making.

But, as Stuart Kirk wrote in the Financial Times on Sept. 2, these elements of Gas well as their E and S counterpartsare outputs, in contrast to what he calls inputsthe factors traditional analysts have used for years to evaluate a prospective investment.

Every analyst evaluates whether a prospective investment has ESG risks and whether or not management has those risks in hand. Inputs like critical infrastructure, such as road, bridges, and a reliable power supply; compliance with local laws; supply chain resilience; and a board of the type Ive described above, are all weighed by every buy-side analyst before they put their funds money down.

But those with little understanding of how ESG should workpeople like elected managers of public employee pension funds and some politically oriented fund managersbring to their investment analysis a political or social agenda. They have made investment analysis an adjunct to their own subjective and usually progressive agenda by conflating ESG investing with ethical investing, sustainable investing, or socially responsible investing. The criteria for those types of investments are things like the companys carbon footprint; a myriad of social issues, from gun control to trans-fats; and board diversitythat is, outputs.

Kirks suggestion is to split ESG into an input and output analysis, so that the outputs of ethical, sustainable, and social responsible investing will be clearly delineated as investment objectives to avoid their encroachment on a more traditional, objective, apolitical, wealth-building investment analysis.

Thats certainly one alternative.

The other is for funds that wish to pursue ethical investing, sustainable investing, or socially responsible investing to simply label themselves and their agenda and not muddy the waters by imposing their ideology or their dogma on fund managers or the investments they make. There is a market for such investments, and there are plenty of investors who wish to vote their environment, political, and social objectives with their dollars.

The market should be permitted to reward or punish such investors by allowing them to know full well the objectives that fund managers are pursuingand the rest of us who wish no part of them, too.
NORWALK  City police say an officer who was assaulted at the oyster festival over the weekend is recuperating at home and is expected to make a full recovery.

The officer, whose identity has not been released, suffered a head injury and fractured arm on Saturday when police say he was attacked by two men after he broke up a separate fight.

Police have charged Ezekiel Syphrette, 31, of Norwalk, and they said the second suspect remains wanted after escaping into the crowd.

"The officer is recovering at home, from the arm fracture, and is expected to make a full recovery and join us back at work," said Lt. Joseph Dinho, a spokesperson for the Norwalk Police Department. He said the officer is awaiting a doctor's follow-up.

On Monday, the festival organizers issued a statement, "condemning this heinous incident and expressing our heartfelt concern for the injured officer, wishing him a speedy recovery."

"The safety of our guests is of the utmost importance to us, and we are cooperating fully with authorities," said Mike Reilly, president of the Norwalk Seaport Association, which hosted the festival.

"We have a long-standing relationship with the Norwalk Police Department as well as our nationally known private security firm," he said. "Were thankful that the officers on duty were able to diffuse this incident within moments."

Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling called the incident a "senseless act of violence."

"It's unconscionable that this happened in our community at the oyster festival, which is a long-standing community event in Norwalk that brings people together, said Rilling, who served as the city's police chief prior to becoming mayor. This act of violence is counter to the principles of community, safety and love that we espouse as Norwalkers and as your mayor, I will not stand for it.

Norwalk police said officers working at the festival were made aware of a fight between minors near the Kids Cove area of the festival around 9:50 p.m. Saturday.

Police said officers broke up two fights. While officers were escorting one of the minors out to Seaview Avenue, the injured officer was attacked by the two men, police said.

Police said one man "jumped on the officer," and the second man repeatedly punched him in the head. As other officers ran to help, the one suspect fled into the crowd and Syphrette continued his attack, police said.

Police said Syphrette tore the officer's shirt before other officers were able to take him to the ground. The officer also struck his head during the assault.

Dinho said the case is still under investigation to identify the second assailant.

Court records do not show any prior criminal history for Syphrette, and police said he had no warrants for his arrest out of any other jurisdiction. Police did not provide a potential motive for the assault.

Syphrette was charged with assault on a police officer, interfering with a police officer and breach of peace. He is due to appear Monday in state Superior Court in Stamford.
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WESTPORT  The Hamlet at Saugatuck, a plan to overhaul a section of town by the river, was met with mixed reviews this week when the application was formally introduced.

The proposal has been in the works about two and a half years, developer ROAN Ventures said at Mondays Planning and Zoning Commission meeting where officials, developers and the community discussed the proposal.

The Hamlet at Saugatuck would have a variety of spaces, including residential properties, stores, a hotel and restaurants. It first needs to be approved as a text amendment and a map amendment. The commission did not vote on the amendments, and it will be continued into another meeting.

The lens we looked through and the lens we always look through and will continue to look through is through the community, Dan Suozzi, a partner with ROAN Ventures, said. This was really looking at what doesnt exist in Fairfield County or the state of Connecticut in terms of amenities.

Suozzi said multiple ROAN Ventures members are Westport residents.

The proposed new zone would start at a parking lot next to Luciano Park and continue through Railroad Place and Charles Street to the river, said Eric Bernheim of FLB Law, the attorneys for ROAN.

People are very disappointed as this being the gateway to Westport, and ROAN heard that loud and clear and is really trying to change that, Bernheim said.

Martin Purcell, a partner at ROAN, said they wanted to match the design of the Hamlet with the rest of Westport. He called the area a village-like atmosphere.

Bernheim said the current regulations in the area do not allow for changes, so a text amendment is necessary.

He said the amendment would invite developers into the town and allow for economic growth, development and create something really special for the community.

Bernheim noted that this area would allow for railroad, water and vehicle access.

There are some environmental challenges there. There are leeching contaminants into the surrounding areas that need to be remediated, which the proximity to the river makes more pressing, said Rodrigo Real, a partner at ROAN.

Real said they would fully remediate the land as opposed to capping it, which is more expensive, but more effective.

Brian Cutler, CEO of Loureiro Engineering Associates who will lead the remediation, said they would prepare remediation plans and submit them to the state.

The applicant team said that there are also traffic challenges within this area, with most of Saugatucks traffic occurring between 4:30 and 6 p.m., predominantly caused by Interstate-95.

The team has identified seven strategies to mitigate and improve traffic, including building below grade parking, adding lanes to direct traffic flows and incentivizing public transportation.

There were mixed responses among commission members and the public about the proposal.

Danielle Dobin, chair of the commission, brought up multiple points, including the height of the buildings, which she said could create a canyoning effect.

One of the proposed buildings is shown to be 76 feet tall in a rendering from ROAN Ventures.

I cant imagine being comfortable with addressing the issue of a building that essentially was built outside of our regulations because its not conforming by just allowing everything else to then match that height, she said.

Nancy Kail, a Representative Town Meeting District 9 member, also spoke about the possible traffic.

This development invites congestion... in non-rush hour times, but that means summers, holidays, weekends, and thats going to affect a lot of people in the area, she said.

Sam Levinson, a resident, also worried the plans could change after the text amendment was approved.

Id like to have an understanding of whether or not the applicant can get the text amendment passed and then sell the rights to some other developer who can come in with a completely different plan, Levinson said.

kayla.mutchler@hearstmediact.com
FARGO, N.D. (AP)  An accused prolific hitman for a Mexican drug cartel has been transferred to face federal charges in North Dakota, nearly 11 years after he was apprehended in Tijuana.

Juan Francisco Sillas-Rocha appeared Friday in Fargo on three charges, including conspiracy to commit murder for a continuing criminal enterprise. Authorities said Sillas-Rocha was a top lieutenant for the Arellano Felix cartel, which for decades smuggled cocaine, marijuana and other drugs into the United States.
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About 3 weeks or so ago, on my Facebook page, I and I warned the bredrin Peter Obi that he has sufficiently made his point, and it is time to withdraw from regular public appearances for both tactical and security reasons.

With his recent outburst that he is slated for assassination, in a sense, it is a good thing that this message has sunk home to our bredrin.

The truth of the matter is that under the Buhari Maladministration, security has collapsed completely in Nigeria.

In effect the Maladministration is no longer in charge.

It has lost control of the steering wheel.

It's only agenda right now is to restructure Nigeria in favor of his Fulani ethnicity.

This it intends to achieve via the nationalization of the ancestral lands and ancestral waterways of Indigenous Nigerians, as well as demographic restructuring of Nigerian through the indiscriminate granting of Nigerian citizenship to foreign Fulani elements i.e., bandit-terrorists and herdsmen-terrorists.

Jah Jesus Christus willing, I and I will in the fullness of time spell out exactly how and why security collapsed under the Buhari Maladministration.

Suffice it to say that security in Nigeria under the Buhari Maladministration collapsed because of four key reasons.

Reason number One is the Buhari Maladministrations expansionist agenda which covers both territorial, fluvial, and demographic restructuring of Nigeria by any means.

Reason number Two, proceeding from number One above, is that the Maladministration sees Fulani terrorism as a catalyst for stampeding Indigenous Nigerians into acquiescing to their expansionist demands.

So, they regarded, and still regard Fulani bandit- and herdsmen-terrorists as potential assets deployable in pursuit of their ethic expansionist objectives.

Proceeding therefrom, the Maladministration shielded Fulani herdsmen- and bandit-terrorists from the full weight of the law, turning them into sacred cows, operating above the laws of the land.

In pursuit of their expansionist goals, they may have serially abused the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Airforce and the DSS,by allegedly using all of them to commit acts of state terrorism against Nigerian citizens, justifiably resisting their expansionist agenda.

Reason number Three, proceeding from number Two above, is that other Nigerian criminals, realizing that Fulani terrorists and criminals are treated as being above above the law, started impersonating the Fulani in their crimes, and emulating them in their viciousness, purely for monetary rewards, some it is alleged sponsored and proceeding from State coffers.

Reason number Four is that the Police, the Armed Forces and the DSS who may have been serially deployed to commit acts of state terrorism, against Nigerian citizens peacefully agitating for a looserFederation, are too conflicted to make a U-turn, and submit the sameFulani criminals they hitherto protected, to Justice.

Used to shielding them from the reach of the Law in the past under instructions from above, they are not sure if severely cracking down on Fulani criminals now will earn them the sack, regardless of what the Maladministration says today in Public.

In short, the Maladministration cannot be trusted by its own security and military forces unless and until it publicly renounces and abandons its expansionist agenda.

1. With that being said, I and I enjoin the bredrin Peter Obi, and indeed all other Presidential candidates to jig up their personal security.

2. Do not rely on the Nigerian Police or DSS. Criminals of different ethnic hues have infiltrated these institutions.

3. Be adaptable. The days of going on campaign rallies are mostly gone. Try other means of reaching your followers and supporters, such as via projected Zoom appearances.

4. Be unpredictable and do not pre-announce your appearances. Attend some events live, and Zoom others live, but unpredictably.Your supporters want you alive, not dead.

5. Spend greater time in coordinating your campaigns as well as developing and articulating your respective agendas.

6. Secure your residences and do not sleep there always.

7. Purchase bullet proof campaign vehicles for yourself and key campaign staff, with your donated campaign funds.

8. Place your trust in Jah Jesus Christus.

May Jah Jesus Christus protect the lives of all candidates.

Neither the Nigerian Presidency nor any State Governorship nor any other elective positions are worth the lives of any Nigerianpoliticians, even though some of them plunged Nigeria into its present mess, in pursuit of the Presidency.

We are watching!

May Jah Jesus Christus protect all Nigerians from harm.

Amen! Selah!!

Anthony Chuka Konwea, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, MNSE, FNIStructE, MNICE.
Doctors urge COVID jabs for young kids, defend use of favipiravir

BANGKOK: The Royal College of Paediatricians of Thailand is to issue guidelines recommending an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer be given to children aged six months to five years, with the first lot of three million doses expected to arrive next month.

CoronavirusCOVID-19healthVaccine

By Bangkok Post

Tuesday 13 September 2022, 08:59AM

A young child is vaccinated against COVID-19 in Nonthaburi province in August. Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasill

Dr Somsak Lolekha, president of the Royal College of Paediatricians of Thailand, stressed that the COVID-19 vaccine is very important for this age group, who are at greater risk of suffering from serious symptoms than older children, reports the Bangkok Post.

He said the college has agreed to issue guidance on how to vaccinate, the specific dose and the published evidence of its efficacy when given to young children.

We found that this age group have a greater risk of death from COVID-19 infections due to their very low levels of immunity. Hence, they should be one of the groups to get the vaccine, which has also been shown to protect against multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. MIS-C is frequently also diagnosed when a child gets infected with the disease, he said.

He further insisted that there have been no reports of hazardous side effects during international trials, and recommended a dose of three microgrammes, given in three separate shots.

The Ministry of Public Health is now ready to begin administering the three million doses, when they arrive next month, to the first million to children aged six months to five years.

Meanwhile, Dr Yong Poovorawan, head of the centre of excellence in clinical virology at Chulalongkorn Universitys faculty of medicine, posted on his Facebook page that COVID-19 is following the same trajectory as H1N1 did in 2009 and will soon be considered little more life-threatening than seasonal flu.

The peak period will be July and August, followed by a decline until Christmas. There will then be sporadic outbreaks when schools reopen in January before a sharp decline until the next COVID season, predicted the doctor.

The Ministry of Public Health on Monday reported 15 more COVID-19 fatalities and 698 new patients admitted to hospitals on Sunday (Sept 11).

This compared with 19 fatalities and 1,093 new patients on Saturday.

The 698 new patients were all local cases.

DMS defends use of favipiravir pills

Meanwhile, the Department of Medical Services (DMS) has defended defended the effectiveness of favipiravir in treating COVID-19 patients against an international study claiming the antiviral drug lacked efficacy in treatments, reports the Bangkok Post.

Dr Somsak Akksilp, DMS director-general, said the study he is referring to is one carried out in the United States, Mexico and Brazil.

In the study, favipiravir was used to compare with a control group, he said, adding there were 1,187 patients who volunteered to take part in the research, 70% of whom were obese and 15% were elderly.

However, it appears the researchers didnt adjust the appropriate doses of the pills based on patient weight, he said.

Almost every patient who received pills during the third day of the study started developing coronavirus symptoms, he said, noting one-third of them had at least been infected once or vaccinated.

The evaluation to gauge the severity of infections among patients is also different from Thailands, Dr Somsak said.

He said Thai researchers have carried out a study on the drug using 93 patients in three hospitals. All of them were below 60 years old and didnt suffer chronic diseases, he said. Only 25% were obese.

Half of the patients were treated with the pill from the first day symptoms started showing. The group only developed mild-to-moderate symptoms, he added.

He confirmed the patients were treated and monitored in the hospital.

Dr Somsak further explained the effectiveness of favipiravir was measured by medical personnel via the News system - comprising of checks on patients respiratory rate, blood oxygen saturation and heart rate, among others.
Final eviction notices served at Layan

PHUKET: The last remaining squatters illegally occupying beachfront land at Layan Beach have been served yet another final notice, ordering them to vacate the plots by Sept 30 or else officials will remove their buildings and chattels for them.

landcrimecorruptiontourism

By The Phuket News

Tuesday 13 September 2022, 11:01AM

This time officials are serious, said Paween Kumar, Director of the Phuket Legal Execution Office, which served the eviction notices yesterday (Sept 12).

Present to support the action were Phuket Vice Governor Anupap Rodkwan Yodrabam, Phuket Land Office Chief Wisit Chokchai and Manoch Punchalad, President of the Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor).

The legal channels of appeal had been exhausted. The courts have ruled that the land is state property, Mr Paeen said.

The eviction notices were posted at four locations.

The demolition is scheduled to be completed by Sept 30 or on the next business day, Mr Paween said.

The buildings must go. If no action is taken, the executing officer will proceed with decisive action in accordance with the law, he added.

Previous eviction notices had been served, giving people the right to appeal within 15 days, Mr Paween said.

This has been going on since 2018, and has been fought through the courts until the very end, he said.

In addition, there have been complaints about such encroachment, including the lack of expediting action by relevant agencies. So far there has been no action against people who have buildings on state land, Mr Paween noted.

Therefore, a meeting of relevant agencies in the area was called, and it was concluded that the intruders would be given the opportunity to demolish the buildings within 15 days. There are no more chances to fight the case. If the deadline arrives and the buildings have not yet been demolished, the relevant departments will come to demolish them all, he assured.

Vice Governor Anupap said that the action to serve the final eviction notices followed Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew requesting the relevant agencies to comply with the law, which today has been executed, he said.

The land in question in total covers 178 rai along three kilometres of unspoilt beachfront, altogether estimated to be worth more than B10 billion.

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) originally served eviction notices in 2017 after the Supreme Court ruled that the occupiers were illegally encroaching on state land.

The final remaining squatters who refused to move, including the well-known Tonys Restaurant at Layan Beach, were last issued a final seven-days eviction notice in June last year, served by former Cherng Talay OrBorTor MaAnn Samran.

However, by the end of July still no action against the squatters had been taken.

No action was taken against the squatters for the duration of Mr MaAnns time in office.

He was voted out in local elections in December last year.
Supreme Court upholds rulings against Rakesh Saxena

BANGKOK: The Supreme Court has upheld lower court rulings against financier Rakesh Saxena, sentencing him to 335 years in prison in three lawsuits in connection with the Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC) embezzlement scandal.

crimecorruptionpolice

By Bangkok Post

Tuesday 13 September 2022, 01:12PM

Rakesh Saxena arrives at the Bangkok South Criminal Court on June 9, 2021. The court sentenced him to 10 years in prison for embezzlement at that time. Photo: Somchai Poomlard

Saxena had been fighting his cases since he was indicted by prosecutors 26 years ago, reports the Bangkok Post.

The ruling, read out yesterday (Sept 12) by the Bangkok South Criminal Court, brought an end to three cases of fraud and embezzlement that were believed to have contributed to the collapse of the bank and the start of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Saxena, 70, was accused of embezzlement during his time as a BBC treasury adviser and is widely reputed to have been involved in dozens of high-risk ventures and deals over the course of three decades.

Saxena played a key role in running the BBC business from 1993 to 1995, especially in the lending of funds to investors. The bank was shut down after incurring huge losses.

In the ruling, Saxena was found guilty of violating the Securities and Exchange Commission Act in three cases.

According to the prosecutions lawsuits, the offences were committed during 1994-1996 when the defendant served as an adviser to the president of the now-defunct BBC, Krirkkiat Jalichandra, who is now dead.

Saxena was accused of aiding Krirkkiat and others in authorising loans worth more than B30 million to Somprasong Intercommunication Co and nine other firms without proper examination of the firms ability to repay.

The loan authorisation was not approved by the banks executive committee and thus was in violation of Bank of Thailand rules governing requests for loans of more than B30mn. Moreover, the defendant and his alleged accomplices also colluded to embezzle the money.

The prosecution asked the court to punish the defendant under the Securities and Exchange Commission Act and order him to return the funds - worth B2.5 billion - to the bank.

The Criminal Court found Saxena guilty of violating Sections 307, 308, 311 and 315 of the Stock Exchange of Thailand Act and Section 83 of the Criminal Code and handed down a 335-year prison term.

However, under the law, the defendant would serve a maximum of 20 years.

The Criminal Court also imposed a fine of B33mn and ordered him to return B2.5bn to the bank.

Saxena appealed the ruling, but the Appeal Court stood by the lower courts decision. He challenged the ruling in the Supreme Court.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court said it examined the evidence submitted by the prosecution and found without a doubt that the defendant committed the offences as charged.

The Supreme Court stood by the lower courts decision.

Saxena served as an adviser to the BBC from 1992 and was charged with embezzlement worth US$75 million in 1996 following the collapse of the bank in 1995. A warrant for his arrest was issued in June 1996.

He fled to Canada where he was living as a fugitive after the scandal emerged, and was arrested there in July 1996. After a lengthy extradition battle, a Canadian court rejected his objection to the extradition in November 2008 and he was eventually extradited to stand trial in Thailand.

In June 2012, the Bangkok South Criminal Court sentenced him to ten years in prison, ordered him to pay a fine of B1mn and return B1.13bn to the bank in connection with illicit loans granted to City Trading Corp totalling B1.6bn.

As for Krirkkiat, he was declared bankrupt in 2009 and indicted for fraud and embezzlement worth B50bn. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He died of cancer in October 2012.
Western arms production ramping up as Ukraine burns through stockpiles

WASHINGTON: Western governments are mobilising their arms manufacturers to ramp up production and replenish stockpiles heavily diminished by supplying Ukraines six-month-old battle against Russias invasion.

RussianUkraineviolencedeathpoliticsmilitary

By AFP

Tuesday 13 September 2022, 09:38AM

Heavy use of artillery in the Ukraine war is depleting Western stockpiles of ammunition. Photo: AFP

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced this week a meeting of senior national armaments directors from allied countries to make long-term plans for supplying Ukraine and rebuilding their own arms reserves.

They will discuss how our defense industrial bases can best equip Ukraines future forces with the capabilities that they need, he said at a meeting at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany of the Ukraine Contact Group, 50 countries currently supporting the war effort.

On Friday (Sept 9), the Pentagons arms acquisition chief Bill LaPlante said the meeting would take place in Brussels on Sept 28.

The goal is to determine how we can continue to work together to ramp up production of key capabilities and resolve supply chain issues and increase interoperability and interchangeability of our systems, LaPlante told reporters at the Pentagon.

Billions more for arms

NATO countries do not all have the same weapons, but their arms are compatible. So ammunition manufactured in one country in the Atlantic alliance can be used by another.

At the start of the war, Ukraines military mostly used weapons and munitions that matched Russian standards. But within a few months those were exhausted - especially in crucial artillery and missile systems - and it has grown to depend on Western allies with NATO-standard arms.

But that in turn has drawn down large amounts of munitions the allies had kept for their own defense.

Rebuilding those supplies is now crucial.

In July, the European Union announced 500 million euros for joint purchases over the next two years to replenish arms provided to Kyiv.

The priority is more anti-armor and anti-aircraft missile systems, and 155mm artillery pieces and ammunition.

EU countries have drawn on their stocks of ammunition, light and heavy artillery, anti-aircraft and anti-tank defense systems, and even armored vehicles and tanks, European Commissioner Thierry Breton said at the time.

This has created a de facto vulnerability that now needs to be addressed urgently, he warned.

The United States, the primary defense supplier of Ukraine since the war began, has pledged US$15.2 billion worth of weaponry, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, artillery and ammunition compatible with NATO weaponry.

Boosting production

The Pentagon has furnished some 800,000 155mm artillery rounds to Ukraine, while United States has just one factory making them, the General Dynamics plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania that produces only 14,000 rounds a month.

We have plans... to get that in increments ultimately up to 36,000 a month in about three years, said LaPlante.

But that would take annual production to just over half of what Washington has given the Ukrainians in less than six months.

The Pentagon wants allies to ramp up their own production lines to help replenish stockpiles.

The US military has recently announced a slew of new contracts with arms manufacturers inside and outside the United States to do this.

It includes $364mn for 250,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition from multiple makers, $624mn for Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, $324mn for Javelin anti-tank missiles, and millions more for other weapons systems, ammunition and defense supplies.

Dave Butler, spokesman for the Pentagons joint chiefs of staff, said the decision is guided by but not determined specifically by US manufacturing capacities.

Ukraines needs for a given weapon are the ultimate driving factor, he said.

Ukraine recaptures more ground as Russia strikes back

The announcement came as Ukraine forces said yesterday (Sept 12) their lightning counter-offensive took back more ground in the past 24 hours, as Russia replied with strikes on some of the recaptured ground.

The territorial shifts were one of Russias biggest reversals since its forces were turned back from Kyiv in the earliest days of the nearly seven months of fighting, yet Moscow signalled it was no closer to agreeing a negotiated peace.

Ukraine has turned the tide in its favour, but the current counter-offensive will not end the war, US think tank Institute for the Study of War tweeted.

Moscow announced air, rocket and artillery attacks on reclaimed areas in the Kharkiv region yesterday, a day after Kyiv said Russian strikes on electricity infrastructure caused power failures.

The retaliatory fire came as Ukraine said forces had recaptured more than 20 additional settlements, claiming Russian troops are hastily abandoning their positions and fleeing.

Kyiv had already announced the recapture of the strategic city of Izyum in the countrys east, one of a series of victories claimed against Russias army.

Ukraine said yesterday its forces recaptured 500 square kilometres (193 square miles) in the southern Kherson region which were in addition to the huge gains in the east over the weekend.

Moscow conceded having lost territory, which experts saw as a serious blow to its war ambitions, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saw no prospects for negotiations.

The special military operation continues and will continue until the objectives that were originally set are achieved, he added, using Russias terminology for the internationally condemned war.

Eastern parts of Ukraine were hit with widespread electricity blackouts on Sunday evening, which President Volodymyr Zelensky said deliberately hit civilian infrastructure. He blamed Russian terrorists.

A total blackout in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, a partial one in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions, Zelensky said in a statement on social media.

No military facilities, he added. The goal is to deprive people of light and heat.
The writer, a longtime Norton resident, is a retired adjunct professor of French who worked at the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut, as well as Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
FILE - A page from the affidavit by the FBI in support of obtaining a search warrant for former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is photographed Aug. 26, 2022. Trump's fundraising vehicle, Save America PAC, is under new legal scrutiny after the Department of Justice issued a round of grand jury subpoenas that have included questions about the political action committee's fundraising practices.
By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have signed various cooperation documents, Azernews reports.

A document was signed between the EBRD and the Azerbaijani Caspian Shipping Company. According to the document, the bank will allocate large-scale loans without the state guarantee to the financing of the projects aimed at modernizing the fleet of the Caspian Shipping Company.

Moreover, grant, loan, and project agreements were signed on the street lighting project implemented within the Ganja-Green City Program. The agreements provide for the improvement of infrastructure and the introduction of green technologies in Ganja city.

During the meeting with President of the @EBRD Odile Renaud-Basso (@OdileRenaud), we discussed the cooperation prospects and implementation of the joint projects with the Bank. In accordance with the documents signed today, the #EBRD will allocate large-scale loans without the state guarantee to the financing of the projects aimed at the modernization of the fleet of the Caspian Shipping Company under Azerbaijan Investment Holding (@AzInvestHolding). Additionally, within the framework of the "Ganja-Green City Program", the "Street lighting" project is intended to be carried out and improve the infrastructure in Ganja city," Mikayil Jabbarov wrote on his official Twitter page.

During the meeting, it was stressed that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to the development of relations with the EBRD. The parties noted that so far the bank has invested about 3.7 billion euros into 181 projects in Azerbaijan, stressing that the joint projects with the EBRD expand the use of best practices, advanced technologies, and innovations in various spheres of the countrys economy.

Stressing the priorities of socio-economic development of Azerbaijan until 2030, the minister said the goals reflected in the EBRD document "Strategic and Capital Framework for 2021-2025" are in line with those set for the economy of Azerbaijan.

This creates a solid foundation for new areas of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EBRD, Mikayil Jabbarov said.

In her turn, EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso highlighted the banks long-term and effective partnership with Azerbaijan and noted the banks intention to continue supporting Azerbaijans economy. In this regard, she added that the economic potential of Azerbaijan creates additional opportunities for expanding relations.

During our business discussions with @EBRD President Odil Reno-Basso (@OdileRenaud), we discussed energy, especially #renewableenergy, the development of #SME-s, cooperation with state enterprises, improvement of the business environment and information technology ecosystem, as well as the bank's potential participation in projects implemented in the liberated territories freed from occupation. There are attractive opportunities for deepening of the cooperation," Mikayil Jabbarov wrote on another Twitter post.

Additionally, it was also announced that the IT hub project will be launched as part of a cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EBRD. The work to be done within the project will contribute to strengthening human resources potential with modern knowledge and skills and inclusive development of regions.

Within the framework of her visit to Azerbaijan, Odile Renaud-Basso also met with the countrys State Oil Funds top management. During the meeting, the EBRD delegation was provided with an overview of the funds role in ensuring macroeconomic stability in the country and introduced to its investment policy and the main directions of its investment portfolio.

SOFAZ CEO Israfil Mammadov mentioned the main goals of Azerbaijan's 2022-2026 Socio-Economic Development Strategy and emphasized the importance of continued cooperation in this field with the international financial organizations operating in the country. He acknowledged the impact of medium and long-term projects financed by the EBRD to diversify the country's economy.
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Starbucks __ ringing up record sales but struggling with low employee morale __ plans to spend $450 million next year to make its North American stores more efficient and less complex.

The company also said it plans to open 2,000 net new stores in the U.S. by 2025, with an emphasis on meeting the growing demand for new types of service, including drive-thru, mobile ordering and delivery. Drive-thru now makes up 50% of U.S. sales, for example, while delivery demand has grown by 24% so far this year.

Its clear that our physical stores have to change. Our physical stores were built for a different era, said John Culver, Starbucks chief operating officer, at a day-long event for investors in Seattle Tuesday.

Culver said customizable cold drinks __ which now make up as many as 75% of Starbucks' U.S. beverage orders __ are taxing employees in kitchens designed for simpler hot drinks. Starbucks debuted a new work station that requires less movement and can cut 50 seconds off the process of making a blended iced mocha. It also announced a new patented technology that will cut the time needed to make cold brew coffee from 20 hours to a few seconds.

The introduction of an increasing number of hot food items is also slowing Starbucks' kitchens. Culver said Starbucks expects to serve 300 million breakfast sandwiches in the U.S. this year, each of which takes up to 85 seconds to warm in its ovens. Starbucks plans to start cooking them in batches and storing them in warmers next to the drive-thru windows.

The company touted other upcoming benefits for workers, including more flexible scheduling, more generous sick time accrual and expanded ability for mobile customers to tip.

More for you Starbucks names former PepsiCo executive as new CEO

Starbucks executives made little mention of a growing unionization effort at its U.S. stores during morning presentations Tuesday. But it has clearly been an impetus for the company to think more deeply about ways to improve employees work life. Since late last year, 236 of Starbucks 9,000 company-owned U.S. stores have voted to unionize, an effort the company opposes.

The reality is, we have a trust deficit with our partners, said Frank Britt, Starbucks executive vice president and chief strategy officer. The work we do in our stores today is too physically hard.

It wasn't immediately clear if the new investments and technology would be offered to non-union stores; Starbucks said the company hasn't yet decided how the investment will be doled out. But in May, Starbucks announced $200 million in additional pay and training but said that benefit would only go to non-union stores.

Starbucks says it is required to negotiate new benefits with union stores. But in August, the Seattle office of the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against the company, saying it was violating U.S. labor law by withholding wage increases and other benefits from workers in unionized stores. A hearing in that case before an NLRB administrative judge is scheduled for October.

Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing workers, said around 300 protesters picketed outside the Starbucks meeting on Tuesday.

Culver said the company will respect the unionization process and negotiate with the stores that vote to unionize. But he also reiterated the company's position.

There are two paths. We can work together as partners, side by side, or we can have a third party between us," he said.

Leading the company's revamp will be Laxman Narasimhan, a former PepsiCo executive who was named Starbucks CEO last week. Narasimhan will spend the next six months shadowing interim CEO Howard Schultz, who helped shape the company after buying it in 1987 and has been leading it on a temporary basis since April. Schultz will remain on Starbucks board when Narasimhan assumes the CEO position in April.

Its an incredible opportunity for me to be learning at the feet of one of the best entrepreneurs in the world, said Narasimhan, who described himself as a right-brained" operational expert who also loves art, music and writing poetry.

Narasimhan, 55, who most recently was CEO of the U.K.-based consumer health and hygiene company Reckitt, also said he agrees that Starbucks has to renew its focus on exceeding its' employees expectations if it wants to serve its customers well.

Schultz said Starbucks notched the best sales week in its 51-year history in August when it introduced its fall drink lineup. But Schultz said Starbucks lost its way during the pandemic, when employee retention tumbled even as customers demanded new service like curbside pickup.

Starbucks shares fell 1.4% Tuesday during a broader market downturn as investors fretted about stubbornly high inflation.
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WOOD RIVER  Get a first look at the recent renovations at the Wood River Historic Chapel during an open house 2-4 pm. Sunday, Sept. 25.

The primitive white clapboard church at 446 E. Lorena Ave. in Wood River is nondenominational and still used for events such as marriage ceremonies, renewals of vows, religious services and recitals.

"We have done some renovations this year at the chapel," said Wood River Heritage Council member Alice Buzzard.

The chapel still features its original hardwood flooring, hand-crafted wood pews and a beautiful stained glass window. Seating is available for 40 to 50 guests.

According to the city of Wood Rivers website, www.woodriver.org, the chapel has been restored to its original beauty dating back to 1916 when it was built by local immigrants to house the first Lutheran Church of Wood River.

St. Paul Lutheran Church occupied the chapel until it was sold in 1951 to the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The chapel was again sold in 1974 to the Gospel Temple Church.

In December 1998, the Wood River Heritage Council purchased the building, then unoccupied, to save it from demolition. The structure was in a state of disrepair and a great community renovation effort ensued.

With the help of volunteers, donations from local businesses and residents, and an Illinois Heritage grant from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, the chapel was restored. As a result, it has been designated a historic landmark by the city of Wood River.

For more information or to reserve the church for a special occasion, call 618-258-7237.

The Wood River Heritage Council is dedicated to preserving the history of the Wood River community for the enlightenment and enjoyment of present and future generations. The nonprofit's monthly meeting is held the first Tuesday of each month; new members are welcome.

For more information, call 618-254-1993 or send a message through the council's Facebook page.
For the Telegraph

EAST ALTON  Environmental Educator Erica Doerr has joined the education team at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center and will be responsible for developing earth science curriculum for teachers throughout Illinois, as well as leading community outreach events.

I love working with the public and school groups and want to get them excited about science and the river, Doerr said. I got into this field to show others that anyone is a scientist and create opportunities for communities to be immersed in their unique local ecosystems.
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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  A visiting U.S. diplomat on Sunday urged Sri Lankan authorities to tackle corruption and introduce governance reforms alongside efforts to uplift the country's economy as a way out of its worst crisis in recent memory.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power told reporters that such moves will increase international and local trust in the government's intentions.

Assistance alone would not put an end to this country's woes, Power said. I stressed to the Sri Lankan president in my meeting earlier today that political reforms and political accountability must go hand in hand with economic reforms and economic accountability.

She said that international investor confidence will increase as the government tackles corruption and proceeds with long sought governance reforms. "As citizens see the government visibly following through on the commitment to bring about meaningful change, that in turn increases societal support for the tough economic reforms ahead, she said.

During her two-day visit, Power announced a total of $60 million in aid to Sri Lanka. After meetings with farmers' representatives at a rice field in Ja-Ela, outside of the capital Colombo on Saturday, she announced $40 million to buy agrochemicals in time for the next cultivation season.

Agricultural yields dropped by more than half for the past two cultivation seasons because authorities had banned the imports of chemical fertilizers ostensibly to promote organic farming. She said that according to the World Food Program, more than 6 million people  nearly 30% of Sri Lankas population  are currently facing food insecurity and require humanitarian assistance.

On Sunday, she said an additional $20 million will be given to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to vulnerable families.

Sri Lanka has faced its worst crisis after it defaulted on foreign loans, causing shortages of essentials like fuel, medicines and some food items.

It has reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a $2.9 billion package to be disbursed over four years. However, the program hinges on Sri Lanka's international creditors giving assurances on loan restructuring. Sri Lanka's total foreign debt is more than $51 billion of which $28 billion must be repaid by 2027.

Power said that the U.S. stands ready to assist with debt restructuring and reiterated that it is imperative that China, one of the island nation's bigger creditors, cooperate in this endeavor.

Infrastructure like a seaport, airport and a network of highways built with Chinese funding did not earn revenue and are partly blamed for the country's woes.
KATIE PIERCE, Wheeler, Girls Soccer, Junior; Pierce scored two goals and had an assist as Wheeler opened the season with victories over Griswold and Windham. The last time Wheeler started the season with two wins was 2011.

ILIANA RASHLEIGH, Stonington, Girls Soccer, Sophomore; Rashleigh scored a pair of goals as Stonington opened the season with a 7-0 win against Woodstock.

TOM SERLUCA, Westerly, Boys Soccer, Junior; Serluca scored two goals in a victory over defending Division II champion Chariho. Serluca also had a goal in a win against Fitch in the Piver Cup tournament.

REID DOSSANTOS, Chariho, Girls soccer, Junior; DosSantos had seven saves as Chariho defeated Stonington in the Piver Cup tournament. DosSantos has not allowed a goal in four games this season.

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Rewards: Rupert Soames earned more than 30m during his eight years as Serco chief exec

Rupert Soames is stepping down as chief executive of Serco  after earning more than 30million during his eight years at the helm.

The 63-year-old, who is Sir Winston Churchills grandson, is credited with turning around the fortunes of the outsourcing giant, which was mired in scandal when he took over in 2014.

But Serco has also attracted criticism more recently over the profits it has earned from running Test and Trace centres during the pandemic.

Soames said it was a privilege to lead Serco and quipped: It is now time for me to outsource myself. Shares fell 6.8 per cent, or 12.2p, to 168p after the announcement.

Soames will step down at the end of this year but will stay on as an adviser before retiring from the company in September 2023.

Serco employs 25,000 in the UK and 55,000 globally, operating in the US and Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the Middle East as well as in mainland Europe.

In Britain its work includes transporting prisoners and running six prisons, as well as operating immigration detention centres and Londons cycle-hire scheme.

HOW THIS IS MONEY CAN HELP How to choose the best (and cheapest) stocks and shares Isa and the right DIY investing platform

A scandal over a prisoner tagging contract in 2013  before Soames joined  saw Serco repay 68.5million to taxpayers. It billed the Government for tagging those who were either dead, in jail or had left the country.

Serco later also paid a further 23million in fines and costs following a Serious Fraud Office probe into the episode.

More recently its profits have been boosted by being paid more than 600million for its work on the much-criticised Test and Trace programmes.

That earned a rebuke from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer who said last year that it was outrageous that Serco was resuming pay-outs to shareholders on the back of those earnings.

Antarctic mission: Australias RSV Nuyina icebreaking research and supply vessel, which operated by Serco

Soames has been paid a total of 28.1million since taking over as chief executive and could earn as much as 4.2million for this year if he hits performance targets.

He will also continue to receive a proportion of his base salary of 850,000 and annual bonus going into 2023, until he has served 12 months notice.

Serco chairman John Rishton said Soames should be really proud of what he has achieved. He added: Serco is unrecognisable from the business that he joined in 2014.

Under his leadership, the business was stabilised, a clear strategy developed and executed, which has resulted in the strong and successful business it is today.

Soames has said he will not be taking up any other executive roles, a spokesman for the company said.

Australian Mark Irwin, the head of Sercos UK and Europe division, will take over as chief executive.

Analysts at Liberum said some investors would be inevitably disappointed by the departure but that Irwin, 57, was a safe pair of hands.
Savers who lost more than 1billion when Neil Woodfords flagship investment fund collapsed are a step closer to getting 300million of redress.

Thousands of customers were left out of pocket when Link Group  the firm responsible for supervising fund manager Woodfords management of his funds  decided to suspend the 3.7billion Equity Income Fund in 2019 and eventually close it down.

Now the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed that Link could be on the hook for up to 306million in redress for customers.

Losses: The Woodford Equity Income Fund was frozen after a flood of investors tried to pull their money out after a run of poor performance from manager Neil Woodford (pictured)

The watchdog said last night it has investigated the circumstances leading to the collapse of the fund and is likely to seek to require Link to pay a financial penalty and/or consumer redress.

Meanwhile, Dye & Durham (D&D), a Canadian software company, is planning to buy Link for 2.1billion.

D&D said it had received a warning from the FCA, stating that the City regulator would not approve the takeover unless D&D promised to cover any restitution and/or redress payments which Link was ordered to pay.

The FCA said Links bill had been set at 306million as this reflects the FCAs current view of Links failings in managing the liquidity of the Woodford Equity Income Fund.

This is the first time that the City watchdog has confirmed it will penalise Link over its handling of the affair.

The regulator said it was still open to ordering other parties as well as Link to pay redress to customers.

Sixty-two-year-old Woodford himself was also understood to be a target of the FCAs investigation.

The FCA began a probe into the scandal shortly after the Equity Income Fund was shut in June 2019  but Woodford savers are yet to hear the outcome.

D&D said it was assessing the FCAs conditions  and that if it decided it could not accept them, the deal would be called off.

The Woodford Equity Income Fund was frozen by Link after a flood of investors tried to pull their money out after a run of poor performance from Woodford. He invested a chunk of their cash into risky early-stage and unlisted stocks, and was unable to sell them fast enough to return the money.

When Link realised the extent of the problem, it decided to close the fund down entirely, selling off the stocks and returning the money to investors.

But several of the sales were completed at a knock-down price, and savers have lost around 1billion since the fund was shuttered in June 2019.

Law firms Leigh Day and Harcus Parker are also bringing a separate claim against Link on behalf of more than 2,500 investors, who claim Link failed to properly keep an eye on how Woodford was using their money.

Link is denying any breach of City rules, and plans to defend itself in the claim.
FeverTree has posted a 30 per cent fall in first-half profits despite rising sales, as higher input and shipping costs eat into margins.

The London-based, upmarket tonic maker made a pre-tax profit of 17.6million in the six months to the end of June, down from 25.3million a year ago, it confirmed on Tuesday.

FeverTree had warned in July that logistics problems and labour shortages would hit the bottom line.

Losing the fizz: FeverTree said demand remains strong but it is being hit by higher costs

Demand for its posh tonic waters and ginger ales remained 'strong' in the period, especially in the US and Southern Europe, helping revenues soar 14 per cent to 160million.

Sales in Europe jumped 27 per cent and US sales rose 11 per cent, while in the UK, which contributes to a third of all revenues, sales growth was lower at 6 per cent.

FeverTree shares rose 12 per cent to 10.65 in morning trade on Tuesday.

However the stock, which tumbled 28 per cent in July after its second profit warning, remains down 50 per cent compared to a year ago.

FeverTree saw stellar growth between its stock market listing in 2014 and 2018, but has been struggling to maintain its fizz in recent years.

Rising energy and glass costs, labour shortages, a jump in sea freight rates, and demand pressures from the cost-of-living crisis have all eat into profit in the last year.

The company said availability of glass will continue to be restricted in the second half and is expected to hurt revenues, but it is working with suppliers to secure glass stock for next year.

Meanwhile, labour shortages at its East Cost bottling facility in the US resulted in having to produce more of its drinks in the UK.

But this has meant exporting more to the US, leaving FeverTree exposed to higher shipping costs.

Fevertree said that 'underlying charges on key routes' across the Atlantic are up by around 50 per cent since the beginning of the year.

Nevertheless, the group stuck to its full-year profit expectations of between 37.5million to 45million.

Chief executive Tim Warrillow said: 'Fever-Tree has delivered a robust revenue performance in the first half of 2022, with a particularly strong performance in Europe as the On-Trade recovered.

'Demand has been strong in the US and we have continued to increase our availability on shelf enabling us to deliver a record month in August, a fantastic achievement by the team.

'Alongside driving topline growth, the business remains extremely focused on mitigating the industry-wide cost impacts and whilst we are still highly mindful of the extreme volatility impacting energy-related and logistics costs, we do expect to see a gradual decrease in our exposure over the medium term.'
Ethiopias Tigray rebels said on Sunday they were ready for a ceasefire and would accept a peace process led by the African Union, removing an obstacle to negotiations with the Addis Ababa government to end almost two years of fighting.

The announcement was made following a flurry of international diplomacy after fighting flared in August for the first time in several months in northern Ethiopia, ending a humanitarian truce.

The government of Tigray is prepared to participate in a robust peace process under the auspices of the African Union, said a statement by the Tigrayan authorities.

Furthermore, we are ready to abide by an immediate and mutually agreed cessation of hostilities in order to create a conducive atmosphere.

The Ethiopian government has previously said it was ready for unconditional talks anytime, anywhere, brokered by the Addis Ababa-headquartered AU.

The Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) has vehemently opposed the role of the AUs Horn of Africa envoy Olusegun Obasanjo, protesting at his proximity to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Taye Dendea, Ethiopias state minister for peace, described the TPLF announcement as a nice development on Twitter but insisted the so-called TDF (Tigray Defence Forces) must be disarmed before peace talks start.

Guterres asked to get Eritrean troops out

The TPLF statement, which coincided with Ethiopias new year, made no mention of preconditions, although it said the Tigrayans expected a credible peace process with mutually acceptable mediators as well as international observers.

TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael earlier this month proposed a conditional truce calling for unfettered humanitarian access and the restoration of essential services in Tigray, which is suffering food shortages and a lack of electricity, communications and banking.

In a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, he also called for the withdrawal of Eritrean forces from across Ethiopia, and for troops to pull out of western Tigray, a disputed region claimed by both Tigrayans and Amharas, the countrys second-largest ethnic group.

Civilian population of Tigray in dire straits

Fighting has raged on several fronts in northern Ethiopia since hostilities resumed on 24 August, with each side accusing the other of firing first and breaking a March truce.

The latest clashes broke out around Tigrays southeastern border but have since spread to areas west and north of the initial conflict zone. The TPLF accuses Ethiopian and Eritrean forces of having launched a massive joint offensive on Tigray on September 1.

The United Nations said on Thursday that the renewed fighting had forced a halt to desperately needed aid deliveries to Tigray, both by road and air.

The March truce had allowed aid convoys to travel to Tigrays capital Mekele for the first time since mid-December.

Untold numbers of civilians have been killed since the war erupted in Africas second most populous country, and millions of people across northern Ethiopia are in need of emergency aid.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel Peace laureate, sent troops into Tigray in November 2020 to topple the TPLF in response to what he said were attacks by the group on federal army camps.

The TPLF recaptured most of Tigray in a surprise fightback in June 2021 and expanded into Afar and Amhara, before the conflict reached a stalemate.

SOURCE: REUTERS
King Charles and his siblings held a silent vigil at the side of their mother Queen Elizabeths coffin as it lay at rest in Edinburghs historic cathedral, with thousands queuing for hours to pay their respects to Britains longest-serving monarch.

With their heads bowed, Charles, wearing a kilt, alongside sister Princess Anne and brothers Princes Andrew and Edward, stood solemnly for 10 minutes next to the oak coffin, draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland with a wreath of white flowers and the Crown of Scotland.

They left the citys St. Giles Cathedral to applause from onlookers.

The coffin had earlier been brought from the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the monarchs official residence in Scotland, in a procession watched mostly in silence by a large, grieving crowd, with Charles and other royal family members walking slowly behind the hearse.

Mourners, some weeping, and others with heads bowed or curtsying, walked slowly past the coffin after having waited patiently for hours to be allowed into the cathedral.

We were very upset. It was so emotional. It brought it all home, said Michael Hainsworth, 70, a retired music teacher, who was comforting his crying wife and had been one of the first to enter the cathedral to see the coffin.

It is hard to put into words. You dont think it will hit you but then it does, said Hainsworth, who had queued for seven hours.

Queen Elizabeth died on Thursday in her holiday home at Balmoral, in the Scottish Highlands, at the age of 96 after a 70-year reign, plunging Britain into mourning even as it faces an economic crisis and a change of government.

Her coffin had arrived from Balmoral on Sunday and stood overnight at Holyroodhouse.

A bagpipe lament was the only sound as kilted soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Scotland bore the casket from the palace and placed it in the hearse for the short journey to the cathedral.

A gun salute boomed out from a battery on Edinburgh Castle when the hearse moved off and a single round was fired each minute of the procession. Other than that there was just silence  except a brief shout from a heckler aimed at Prince Andrew.

Under a sunny sky, Charles, 73, who automatically became king on his mothers death, and his siblings walked slowly behind the hearse, while the Royal Company of Archers provided the guard of honour.

Tina Richardson, 63, a retiree from Dunbar, was among those standing on the centuries-old Royal Mile beside the cathedral. She said her middle name was Elizabeth after the late queen.

Therell never be anyone like her, she told Reuters. She was such a beautiful lady who gave us all so much. She dedicated her whole life to the country. In good times and bad she was there, especially during COVID. She united everybody.

Ellie Merton, 52, an arts producer, who travelled up from the border region of Scotland, said: We had pipers, horses and archers. There was the sense of the Scottish community being around here as she made her final journey.

OUR DEMOCRACY

In a packed timetable for the new monarch, Charles went to the devolved Scottish assembly after the service to hear a motion of condolence. He had begun the day in London, when he addressed members of the British parliament at Westminster Hall.

He called parliament the living and breathing instrument of our democracy and pledged to follow his late mothers example in maintaining its independence.

As with all the ceremonies to mark the queens death and Charles accession to the throne, there was much pageantry.

He arrived at Westminster Hall to a fanfare of trumpets with his wife Camilla, Queen Consort. The royal couple sat on ceremonial chairs, with cavalry troopers in red tunics and plumed helmets standing to attention behind.

She set an example of selfless duty which, with Gods help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow, he told members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

The assembly then sang God Save the King.

Charles, who is now king of the United Kingdom and 14 other realms including Australia, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, is known for expressing his views on matters ranging from the environment to youth issues.

He has suggested that as king, he would moderate his style, in keeping with the tradition that the monarch keeps out of political matters.

On Tuesday, the coffin will be flown to London, where on Wednesday it will begin a period of lying in state until Sept. 19  the day of Elizabeths state funeral  on a catafalque at Westminster Hall.

In London, members of the public will be allowed to process past the coffin, which will be covered by the Royal Standard with the sovereigns Orb and Sceptre placed on top, for 24 hours a day until 6.30 a.m. (0530 GMT) on Sept. 19.

The government said those wishing to do so should expect to queue for many hours and possibly overnight due to the huge number of people expected.

Britain last saw such a display of public mourning in 1997 after the death of Charless first wife, Princess Diana, in a Paris car crash.

In his first public comment since the queens death, Prince Harry  Dianas son  paid an emotional tribute to his granny on Monday, saying she would be sorely missed not just by the family, but the world over.

We, too, smile knowing that you and grandpa are reunited now, and both together in peace, Harry said, a reference to Elizabeths husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, who died last year.

SOURCE:REUTERS
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COLONIE  Norlites neighbors in Cohoes have long complained of the dust from the combination aggregate plant and incinerator in their city.

But some residents of the neighboring town of Colonie say theyve also been buffeted by the plant, specifically by the heavy truck traffic that runs through the hamlet of Maplewood to access the plants incinerator.

Theres dust and theres traffic here, said Mark Belokopitsky, who lives on the section of Elm Street that leads to Norlites dirt entrance road in Maplewood.

His family has lived in the house for years and he said the traffic has increased over the last decade.

Jim Volk, who lives across from the Maplewood fire house near the turnoff for Norlite, agreed that truck traffic seems to have increased over the years.

All the houses here are covered in dust, added Joseph Berkery, chief of the Maplewood Fire Department, which is near the turnoff.

He recently drove a reporter and photographer up Elm Street and along the pot-holed entrance road to the Norlite grounds, where there are 30-foot-tall piles of rock and slag that is processed into construction aggregate.

Much of the attention in recent years regarding dust and potentially toxic fumes has focused on residents of Cohoes Saratoga Sites housing complex near Norlites large kiln.

But Berkery explained that most of the trucks coming and going to the plant travel through Maplewood and have done so for years.

Youre putting 18-wheelers on a side street, he said, as a semi truck with Connecticut license plates slowly pulled into the dirt road.

Norlite powers its kiln in part by burning hazardous waste that company tankers, for a fee, pick up from industrial sites across the Northeast. The waste, including solvents and used paint, then helps fuel the kiln that they use to turn shale rock into aggregate.

Albany County last spring repaved its part of the road, which also leads to an asphalt plant operated by Callahan Industries.

But Berkery said the dust from Norlites road is what ends up on houses.

He believes the company should pave the road to help keep the dust down.

Colonie Supervisor Peter Crummey, who took office in January, said he hasnt heard complaints about the trucks. But said that part of the Norlite facility is in fact in the town of Colonie.

Norlite officials in a prepared statement noted that they water their entrance road and are willing to meet with Berkery.

We thank the fire chief for bringing his concern to our attention. After more than 65 years in the community, it is our top priority to make sure our neighbors concerns are addressed, and thats why we use water trucks on our roads, including the facilitys Elm Street entrance, constantly to make sure dust is at a minimum, they said.

We can and will certainly increase the frequency of the water trucks when necessary. We look forward to further discussions with the fire chief.

Additionally, Norlite is updating a 2014 "Fugitive Dust Plan" they filed with the state as part of their operating permit.

Norlite Dust Plan by rkarlin on Scribd

The dust complaints come as the Saratoga Sites subsidized housing complex at the other end of Norlites facility in Cohoes is being vacated.

Following dust complaints from residents and worries about fumes from the incinerator, the federal federal Department of Housing and Urban Development approved a plan to empty the buildings, which will then be torn down. The Cohoes Housing Authority is working to help the tenants at Saratoga Sites find new accommodations.

rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU
During the visit, he addressed students to express his commitment to improve feeding conditions and fulfil other demands.

"The Government has to understand that youth are not the future, they are the present. We are not thinking of headlines for tomorrow, we are not making a show, the people chose us to make sure they can eat, get dressed, and work. That is why we are here, and I welcome your frankness," the dignitary expressed.

Likewise, he remarked that the Government is concerned about how Peruvian youth are fed and educated because there is an intention to improve things.

"For me, a cup of Quaker (a brand of oatmeal) and two loaves of bread before waiting until the afternoon for lunch is not enough, we have to improve that and make an effort," Mr. Castillo stated.

"Peru is a rich country in resources, and those resources cannot end up in the hands of the President, Congress, or the minister, but in the hands of the youth and our future police officers," he said.

Said plant supplies drinking water to nearly 100,000 inhabitants in Lima's districts of Punta Hermosa, Punta Negra, San Bartolo, and Santa Maria del Mar.

El presidente de la Republica @PedroCastilloTe inspecciono hoy el funcionamiento y condiciones en la que se encuentran las estudiantes de la escuela de Educacion Superior Tecnico Profesional PNP San Bartolo. Se logro identificar deficiencias en la alimentacion de las alumnas. pic.twitter.com/5BtCz1tyQ6
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ALBANY  Mayor Kathy Sheehan has appointed former City Court Judge Gary Stiglmeier as the citys new public safety commissioner.

During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Sheehan said Stiglmeier will be charged with overseeing police disciplinary appeals as well as implementing more of the reforms that came out of the citys Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative.

Sheehan has complained in the past about how hearing officers handle hearings, often siding with police officers.

The city has seen cases go before arbiters who provide differing interpretations of the police department regulations, which makes it difficult to apply the same standard, she said Tuesday. The arbitration process is also lengthy and expensive for the city.

Designating a public safety commissioner as this new hearing officer will allow us to provide thoughtful expedited and consistent reviews of disciplinary appeals, Sheehan said.

Stiglmeier will not be involved in the day-to-day operations of the department and will report to Sheehan.

I look forward to working with her and the chief to ensure that the city's public safety efforts remain of the highest caliber and also to ensure that any disciplinary matter that is brought before me is resolved in a completely fair, impartial and timely manner, he said.

Sheehan originally proposed a public safety commissioner position in her 2022 budget proposal, which was approved by the Common Council. Since then, the council has had multiple discussions on whether the city needs a different mode of oversight - a public safety commission - and what role such a commission would have.

When Albany submitted its policing reform plan last year, one of the recommendations was to create a civilian public safety commission, which would have been filled with community appointees and tasked with changing existing police procedures and appointing a commissioner for a newly-created Department of Public Safety.

Common Council President Corey Ellis, who has pushed for a commission, said the council had questions on what a commssioner's job would look like.

"Those questions were answered by the mayor," he said. "We were fully informed about what that job title was and the gaps in why it was needed."

At the news conference, standing in front of several Common Council members and Ellis, Sheehan reiterated her opposition to a public safety commission.

Stiglmeier will only hear police disciplinary cases moving forward and current disciplinary cases will remain in arbitration. He also will not hear any disciplinary appeals filed by other unions that represent city workers. His role will be a part-time one with a salary of $50,000, according to the city's 2022 budget. His appointment must be approved by the Common Council.

Stiglmeier previously served as the city's corporation counsel under former Mayor Jerry Jennings before becoming a city court judge.



Appointment of a public safety commissioner will allow the city to transform how it handles the outcomes of internal affairs investigations. Currently, the city and the Police Benevolent Association uses an arbitration system where an outside hearing officer from the state Public Employee Relations Board hears disputes between the department and the police union.

Under New York state's so-called Second-Class Cities law, the public safety commissioner presides over disciplinary hearings if the police administration and the union that represents officers cannot agree on a punishment when an officer is in violation of rules.

Michael Delano, president of the citys PBA, said the union acknowledged Sheehans right to hire a public safety commissioner but doesnt believe it supersedes the right to an independent arbitrator.

We strongly believe arbitration is the best method to resolve police discipline, he said. Its a process that has served Albany for over a generation.

Schenectady implemented the system years ago after a lengthy court battle. No disciplinary cases have gone to hearings in the years since. Instead, discipline is signed off on by the administration and police officers with the commissioner approving or rejecting the resolution.

Unlike in the arbitration system, hearings in front of a commissioner are open to the public.

Stiglmeier is a graduate of Boston College and Albany Law School. He served as city court judge for 15 years before retiring in 2019.

He was hired as an assistant corporation counsel in 1976 and worked in the law department for 28 years under Mayors Corning, Whalen, and Jennings. He was appointed as the citys corporation counsel in 1998.
ALBANY  Eighteen months ago, New York's second-highest court in Albany ruled in favor of the state court system and its pandemic-related budget cuts that denied dozens of state Supreme Court justices the opportunity to stay on the bench until the age of 76.

On Monday, lawyers on opposing sides of the argument debated the issue again, prompting an attorney representing the court system to depict the legal rematch as a "frivolous" and "radical" step that blatantly ignored precedent.

"They are asking you to do something that no appellate court in New York state has ever done," Henry Greenberg, an Albany-based attorney and former New York State Bar Association president, told four justices on the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court's Third Department at the outset of his argument. "They are asking you to reverse a decision handed down just a year ago. That has never happened."

Greenberg, arguing on behalf of the court system's administrative board, chief judge and chief administrative judge, said the legal doctrine of "stare decisis" -- that the courts will adhere to precedent in rendering decisions -- applied in the matter. He said a reply brief filed on behalf of the justices espoused a view that was "the most radical, diminution, dissolution, decimation of that doctrine."

At issue were budget cuts imposed in 2020 under now-former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore that rejected 46 state Supreme Court justices from certification, a process which had enabled justices to work beyond the mandatory retirement age of 70 in two-year increments. First, the judges needed to apply to the administrative board and be approved. The cuts were intended to save $55 million over two years for a pandemic-ravaged court system seeking to cut $300 million from its budget.

In the Capital Region, the judges included former Appellate Justice Eugene "Gus" Devine and Justice Raymond Elliott III in Rensselaer County.

Dina Kolker, representing the justices, asked the Third Department to reconsider the matter under a slightly new argument -- that it also impacted the justices' pension benefits.

Kolker said the court system claimed that in a pandemic and "once in a lifetime situation," it had total discretion to deny the justices certifications due solely to the financial cost, then took extreme measures to end the certifications.

"There's a difference between exercising discretion within the process to grant or deny individual judges certification and to determine based on cost that the court system would like to spend money elsewhere and simply not certificate any judges the next time that judges apply," Kolker said, adding that budgetary pressures happen every year.

On Dec. 30, 2020, after listening to arguments made by the Association of Supreme Court Justices of the State of New York and a similar group for justices in New York City, Suffolk County-based state Supreme Court Justice Paul Baisley Jr. annulled the administrative board's decision to deny the certifications.

In March 2021, the Third Department reversed that decision in a 3-2 ruling backed by Justices Michael Lynch, Christine Clark, Molly Reynolds Fitzgerald and two justices from the Rochester-based Fourth Department, Nancy E. Smith and John M. Curran, who dissented in part. The Court of Appeals, in turn, agreed with the Third Department ruling.

On Monday, Greenberg asked the Third Department not only to uphold its position but to reverse Baisley's ruling to avoid confusion in the future.

"This case should have been over the minute the Court of Appeals dismissed ... yet we're still here," Greenberg said. He said a "compelling justification" would be needed to overturn the court's former opinion.

"Their compelling justification? The judges saying they don't like the decision," Greenberg said. "That is frivolous."

Listening to the arguments were Fitzgerald and Justices John Egan, Stan L. Pritzker and Andrew Ceresia. Justice Lisa M. Fisher recused herself.
ALBANY  The Board of Regents approved new regulations Tuesday that require private schools to prove they are teaching the same core subjects, in English, that public schools cover.

The board voted unanimously and without debate.

Every school must provide a substantially equivalent education in math, reading, writing, science and history. Schools can cover the topics in different ways  including integrating the curriculum into religious classes  but they must ensure students develop basic skills.

Teachers must also be competent, though they do not have to be licensed by the state.

Some private schools have welcomed the rules. A spokesman for Catholic schools said the schools are ready to prove their education through state testing. Some schools are already accredited, another way of proving that they are providing a substantially equivalent education. Amish school operators have already been working with local school administrators to prove their students receive an acceptable education, according to the state Education Department. Approval through a local school district review is another way of meeting the states new regulation.

A group of ultra-Orthodox Jewish rabbis have announced they do not teach students the core classes required and that they will not do so. They threatened to take the issue to court, hoping to base their arguments on the precedent of the 1972 Supreme Court ruling.

In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Amish, when they said their freedom of religious expression would be jeopardized by educating children beyond an eighth grade level. Rabbis said they hope to make similar arguments about the damage a secular education could have on the continued existence of their religious community. But the Amish defendants were able to prove they provided basic classes  mainly in reading, writing and arithmetic  and vocational training such that any child who chose to eventually leave their community would be able to support themselves with their skills. Supreme Court justices agreed and said that adding a couple more years of mandatory education  through age 16  would not make a significant difference. To be decided is whether any secular education can be required by the state.

Rabbis said their religious schools prepare boys  the schools are gender segregated  for a religious life, learning how to live in their community. While they acknowledge that students do not develop core subject skills or English fluency to the same level as public school students, they said their students dont need those skills to do well in their community.

Some graduates of the ultra-Orthodox schools in the New York City, Orange County and Rockland County area have pushing for change for years, saying they were wrongly not provided with any secular education.

One man, who attended Mondays discussion of the new regulations at the Board of Regents, said he was not even taught about topics that might be considered commonplace at a Jewish school, such as the Holocaust. His time, from age 2 to age 20, was entirely spent on reading sacred texts and detailed analyses of them in multiple languages, including Hebrew and Aramaic. The school was taught in Yiddish
HARTFORD CITY, Ind. (AP)  A woman has pleaded guilty to causing a June crash in which her car plowed into a northeastern Indiana home, killing a 74-year-old man and his great-grandson who were sitting on its front porch.

Brandi S. Bare, 46, pleaded guilty to two counts each of causing death when driving while intoxicated, reckless homicide and causing serious bodily injury when driving while intoxicated.
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday announced a second settlement with Albany Medical Center over an illegal provision in employment contracts with nurses who were hired from overseas.

The contractual language required nurses to pay thousands of dollars and threatened them with deportation if they resigned or were fired within the first three years of employment at the hospital system.

In 2021, the attorney general's office recovered more than $90,000 for seven former Albany Med employees who were forced to pay the fee, which state investigators determined was in violation of human trafficking laws. Since then, eight more ex-Albany Med nurses have come forward to report similar treatment.

The most recent settlement returns more than $24,000 to eight nurses who paid repayment fees to Albany Med between 2007 and 2010, bringing the total amount Albany Med will pay in restitution to $114,000.

I will not allow hardworking nurses  frontline workers  to be taken advantage of in New York state, Attorney General Letitia James said. Our health care system is dependent on nurses, and they deserve to be treated with the highest respect and dignity. My office will always fight for health care workers, and I am proud that we can continue to protect the nurses who were impacted by these illegal contracts, return the funds stolen from them, and hold employers accountable.

The New York State Nurses Association, which initially referred the issue to the attorney general, lauded the recent agreement.

This second settlement for Albany Medical Center nurses is a victory for immigrant nurses and workers everywhere who have been subjected to coercive employment contracts, NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said in a statement. We applaud Attorney General Letitia James office for taking action to protect New Yorks workers  wherever they hail from  and winning a settlement that returns some of the nurses hard-earned money.

Last year, an investigation by James' office revealed Albany Med recruited foreign nurses, mostly from the Philippines, under visa arrangements. The employment contracts provided to these nurses included an unlawful mandatory repayment provision, which would require a nurse to pay up to $20,000 if they resigned or were fired within the first three years of employment at Albany Med.

If nurses failed to pay the fee they could face legal action and be reported to immigration authorities, according to the contract. As a result of the provision, nurses were discouraged from leaving Albany Med, even if the conditions of employment were unsustainable or they found better job opportunities elsewhere.

At the time, Albany Med argued the provision was necessary to recoup the cost of bringing nurses to the U.S. The union claimed the size of the financial penalty and threat of deportation caused nurses to reasonably fear serious financial, psychological and reputational harm if they stopped working for the hospital.

As part of the settlement, Albany Med was required to remove the repayment provision from all employment contracts, notify current and former nurses of the clauses removal, and submit written reports on their compliance to the attorney general's office. Albany Med has since complied with all stipulations of the agreement.
SCHENECTADY  A former city sewer worker who was a focus in a sprawling marijuana distribution investigation was sentenced Tuesday to up to five years probation, officials said.

In July, Thomas Moore pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree criminal possession of cannabis, a felony, in exchange for a promised sentence of five years of probation.

Schenectady County Judge Matthew Sypniewski on Tuesday imposed a sentence proposed by the District Attorney's office that requires Moore to serve probation for up to five years.

He also forfeited $15,000 in money seized by investigators and he was fined $5,000 and agreed as part of the plea deal to also give up a 2008 Subaru Tribeca authorities alleged he used in the operation. Moore's attorney handed over the title to that vehicle in court Tuesday.

Sypniewski also had the defendant clarify for the record that he was in possession of more than 10 pounds of marijuana, a condition of the agreement, to clear up any confusion to what Moore described as a "misunderstanding" - something he gave as a response in probation's pre-sentence report.

The judge told Moore, who apparently has a valid medical marijuana card that allows him to use the drug for medicinal purposes, that he would have to work something out with his probation officer to make sure he was complying with the conditions of his sentence.

Moore, a felon who once worked for Schenectady's Office of General Service, drove a car with a secret compartment and regularly made out-of-state drug runs  including at least two trips to California  while under police surveillance in a marijuana-trafficking investigation, according to court papers and prosecutors.

Court records filed earlier this year detail the lengthy State Police investigation, explained why investigators said they targeted Moore, and hinted at the involvement of other city workers, though there is no indication anyone else will face charges.

The application by a State Police investigator for a search warrant for Moores two-story home on Campbell Avenue in the citys Bellevue neighborhood offered insight into what began with information received by the Schenectady Police Department about city employees, specifically Thomas Moore, who were involved with marijuana trafficking while at work. The information ended up in the hands of the State Police special investigations unit.

It was requested that SIU Albany assist with the investigation as it involved city employees, along with other allegations of public corruption, according to court papers.

Moore, a 50-year-old with prior convictions for drug sales and felonies, was being watched by Schenectady police and then later by State Police for more than 18 months before authorities raided his home and arrested him in October.

He was subsequently indicted on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of cannabis.

Court documents indicate that police discovered two switchblade knives and seized more than 10 pounds of cannabis during a search a judge signed off on.

Since May 2020, police had seized over a dozen pounds of vacuum-sealed marijuana coming from Moores home on Campbell Avenue in the citys Bellevue neighborhood, Shannon Sullivan, a veteran investigator with the special investigations unit, wrote in the search warrant application.
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TROY  The prosecution's effort to add more years to the plea deal sentence of a former Johnsonville man, whose wife died with poison in her system in 2018, is a "backdoor effort" to punish him for the still unsolved homicide case, his defense attorney said in court Tuesday.

Duncan Maclean, 38, pleaded guility in February to attempted first-degree assault for trying to injure a man with a hammer the year before his wife, Megan Dyer-Maclean, died. The sentencing by Rensselaer County Judge Debra Young has been delayed as motions have been filed in the case against Maclean.

Defense attorney Lucas Mihuta, who took the case over after Maclean's guilty plea, said he viewed the Rensselaer County District Attorney's Office effort to increase the prison term to 10 years from six years, as a "backdoor effort" to go after his client for the homicide case. Mihuta appeared in Rensselaer County Court Tuesday after filing a motion to dismiss the case.

"The think they're reaching for extra punishment. They've seen him as being an individual involved in his wife's murder," Mihuta said.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Matthew Hauf said the additional prison time is being requested due to what Maclean said to the county Probation Department during the pre-sentencing report. The revelations in the report, which are not known because they are confidential, led the District Attorney's office to seek the additional incarceration time.

"Mr. Mihuta's comment is a personal attack to my ethical character as a prosecutor and a person. The defendant violated his plea agreement and the law allows the prosecution in such circumstances to seek an enhancement. That violation, and only that violation is the asis for the People's request for a sentencing enhancement," Hauf said.

Mihuta is attempting to get Maclean set free by filing a motion to vacate the plea deal and indictment citing a speedy trial violation by the prosecution. Mihuta argues that the prosecution was not prepared for trial when it said it was and that it had not turned over evidence that potentially could have cleared his client.

This evidence involves search warrants and the applications, as well as Facebook Messenger exchanges between Maclean and the man he allegedly attacked with the hammer. In the exchange of messages the man admits being involved with Maclean's wife.

Hauf said Mihuta is revisting the evidence that he previously raised in motions saying the prosecution failed to turn over all the evidence. Hauf pointed out that the judge had ruled against the motion. Hauf will file a written response to Mihuta's motion with the court.

Mihuta is also building a record in the case that could possibly lead to an appeal being filed with the state Appellate Division

No one has ever been charged in connection with the death of Dyer-Maclean, whose body was found June 4, 2018 on an old railroad bed behind the Johnsonville home she shared with Maclean. Johnsonville is a hamlet in Pittstown in rural northern Rensselaer County. The Rensselaer County Sheriff's Office said that while detectives investigated Dyer-Maclean's death they learned that Duncan Mclean attacked another man with a hammer in the year before her death.

Maclean has been scrutinized in his wife's death, but investigators have never charged him or identified him as a suspect. Dyer-Maclean, who was 31, died with rat poison in her system, investigators have said.

The four-year-old homicide investigation currently is at a standstill, Hauf said.

Dyer-Maclean's death caused tension in Johnsonville.

Shortly after Dyer-Maclean was found dead, a message was spray painted along the road outside the Route 67 home she shared with her husband. "Justice For Megan," was scrawled across a car in orange and red paint.

Smaller, printed signs that read "#JUSTICEFORMEGAN" also dotted the lawn and were posted around the hamlet.
Here's a piece of news that strikes us as a smart, data-driven, local approach to addressing two issues that plague our society: The John Finn Institute for Public Safety has been awarded state grant money to analyze police use of force and police tactics for investigating other crimes.

The institute is named for a public servant who was beloved in Albany, where he was a police lieutenant with 38 years on the force, at an agency he had been working to reshape through innovative, data-driven strategies.

He was gunned down by a robbery suspect in 2003.

That state Assemblymember Phil Steck spearheaded the effort to get the money for the study in the most recent state budget speaks to his own stature in seeking analytical solutions to issues.

Mr. Steck, who called his friend Lt. Finn an "unusual police leader," said the institute's work is intended to help decrease violence instead of increasing prosecutions.

The Finn Institute plans to use the $75,000 grant to:

analyze police use-of-force data in the wake of a 2021 executive order that mandates local police departments modernize policing strategies and strengthen relationships with their communities;

analyze patterns to identify the circumstances under which victims and potential witnesses cooperate or decline to assist in investigations of violent crime  especially robberies and serious assaults involving nonfatal shootings;

evaluate trust-building initiatives that are happening in local police departments, including brokering "frank conversations" between community members and law enforcement officials on the state of police-community relations.

Much of the data that will be used in the analysis will come from Schenectady, which has been addressing criminal and unethical behavior in its city Police Department since the middle 2000s, when five officers, an investigator, a lieutenant and a police chief all served prison time, three officers were fired and at least one other resigned amid scandal. City leadership has been scrubbing the department ever since.

And all that occurred before the protests seeking police reform that swept the world in 2020 after George Floyd was killed by then-Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyds neck for more than nine minutes even after Floyd pleaded, "I can't breathe."

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That death and other abuses led to increasing calls for accountability and reform, which prompted then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to call on law enforcement agencies in the state to develop plans to improve transparency and address racial bias in their departments. Schenectady turned to the Finn Institute as it looked for ways to meet Gov. Cuomo's mandate.

Schenectady police have provided the institute with five years of use-of-force incident data, which researchers will use to make their recommendations for systemic changes, said Executive Director Robert E. Worden.

The city also will participate in the institute's analysis of investigations of violent crime. Mr. Worden, an associate professor of criminal justice and public policy at the state University at Albany, said the studies will incorporate a review of police records as well as conversations with people who have had contact with police in cities like Schenectady, Syracuse and Albany.

Mr. Steck is right when he says it's "particularly appropriate" that the Finn Institute is in this role, given Lt. Finn's background using modern techniques not only to solve crimes but to prevent them from occurring.

We look forward to seeing the results of the Finn Institute's work, and a time when innovative strategies help ensure all citizens receive equitable treatment by police.
Many human beings have a hard enough time finding a place across town without the help of Google Maps. So how do birds manage to find an obscure location, potentially thousands of miles away with their little bird brains? Scientists are still working to definitively answer this question, but they have some theories.

First, many, but not all, birds migrate to the same general location year after year. Some even use the same places for pit stops along the way! They are able to do this because they have an internal map and compass of sorts that helps them figure it out. These come in the form of many different cues, Weckstein says, which helps them navigate. "It's like an airplane that has more than one GPS unit on it," he explains. "If one goes bad you have the backup to save you."

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For example, he says that many birds migrate at night, so they use the stars and actual constellations to find their way. When the sun is visible, they also use its position in the sky to orient themselves.

Both of these methods are of course common ways that humans have navigated land and sea for most of time. However some birds can also detect the magnetic field generated by Earth's molten core, he says. Somehow, using this information, they are then able to figure out where they are and where they need to go. Some scientists theorize that birds may have pigments in their eyes, which "let them visualize the magnetic field," Weckstein says.

There's also some belief that birds' bills might also have structures that help them in the migration process. Then, there's the fact that birds who migrate during the day actually learn landmarks, which help guide them on their path again and again. All in all, it's pretty obvious that the whole "fly south for the winter" concept is much more complicated than most of us ever realized.

Now That's Cool Certain bird species don't have to migrate because their food sources are not affected by the cold winter months. For example, some root out insects deep in tree bark, or otherwise find grub. It might not be as easy as picking up a nice, juicy grasshopper, but in many ways it's likely easier than making the notoriously dangerous migration journey.
One of the last remaining stalwarts who fought for the retention of Tipperary Mid West Radio as a community service, passed away on Sunday, August 14, 2022.

Throughout the 80s and into the 90s Marie Ryan of Garnacanty, Tipperary, worked side by side with the late Sean Kelly, to ensure that the station would be retained by the shareholders for the community, and together with the assistance of a number of volunteers they engaged in a protracted period of fundraising to steer it through its financial difficulties and ensure its retention.

Along with this, Marie also took on a voluntary role as Head of Programming and while this was a voluntary position, she treated it as her job and gave 100% to the role.

Marie was not new to radio as she had been a regular presenter on the former TCR (Tipperary Community Radio) where she presented the Hospital Requests show, so she transitioned easily into a presenting role with the newly licensed Tipperary Mid West Radio.

She became a member of the Board of Management and acted as Secretary to the Board and was the right-hand woman to the late Sean Kelly, who was Chair of the Board.

Marie was strongly supported by her late husband, Noel, who was also a presenter with the station and was known far and wide for promoting shop local.

Marie and Noel were married in England in 1958 by the late Fr Jim Allis, and on returning to Ireland they lived in Dublin before moving to Galbally when they purchased The Starlight Lounge.

In 1981 they moved to Garnacanty and Marie immediately threw herself into community life in the town. She got involved in the Tipperary Workshop Ltd which later became the Moorehaven Centre and also the Tipp Musical Society.

DEVOTED TO RADIO

However it was the radio where Marie devoted enormous amounts of her time as she never tired of being involved in the day-to-day aspects of broadcasting. In fact it was only some health difficulties that eventually forced her to retire from the station.

After her time in radio she liked nothing better than to meet up with some of her radio friends usually on a Tuesday afternoon to chat about old times.

In around 2007, Marie was diagnosed with Alzheimers and was very open about telling people that she had the condition.

Indeed Marie coped remarkably well with Alzheimers and often people would look at her in puzzlement, as if to say how can someone so coherent be unwell.

In 2010 Marie was part of a consortium which successfully bid for south Tipperary to be chosen as one of four pilot projects in Ireland aimed at developing and testing new service models to assist in diverting people with dementia from institutional care.

The project, which was supported by the charity Genio, was led by Dr Caitriona Crowe.

In an interview in 2012 about her diagnosis of Alzheimers, Marie said: I feel there is a lot more to be done for Alzheimers. I get satisfaction out of telling people. They need to know. I think people let it go too far before going to the doctor. Only the person who is suffering knows what it is like. It is very important to be able to help people in their homes and in the community.

CARED FOR BY SON NOEL

Luckily Marie was extremely well cared for at home in Garnacanty by her son Noel, as he had also done for his father.

A special tribute was paid to Noel by his younger brother Kieran in the eulogy at the funeral Mass on Tuesday, August 16.

Indeed Kieran also reminded everyone that Maries birth name was Isabella Mary McCarthy and that she was born on December 10, 1941, the only child of Paddy and Kathleen McCarthy of Dillon Street, Tipperary.

Going through her life he spoke of the importance of family and of the love that she had for all her sons, Liam, Noel, Kieran, Pat and Donal, for their spouses and for her much-loved grandchildren.

He also spoke of the special bond that existed with her first cousin Mary ODwyer (nee Lowry), which was like that of a sister, and of how their travels to different parts of the world continued for over 20 years.

Maries final illness was not prolonged and that was accepted by the family as a blessing.

Kierans final words in the eulogy at the Mass summed up Marie when he said: My mother didnt do stress, she lived life to the full, and so she did.

After the funeral Mass Marie was laid to rest in St Michaels cemetery alongside her much-loved husband Noel.
A former Dogs Trust Ireland surrender dog has been hailed a hero after saving his sleeping family from a terrifying house fire.

Wilbur was surrendered to the dog charity as a young puppy in December 2021 after his original owners realised that he wasnt the Spaniel cross that they were promised, but a much larger breed. Luckily this case of mistaken identity led to Wilburs adoption in January of this year and his new forever family never looked back.

When his adopters heard the usually quiet dog barking frantically, they immediately knew something was wrong. Thanks to Wilbur raising the alarm, the family quickly realised that their house was being engulfed in flames, and they were able to quickly and safely leave the burning property.

Speaking about the frightening event, Wilburs adopter explains: Its really quite simple, Wilbur saved both me and my sons life. If it wasnt for the fact he barked until I woke to alert us something was wrong, I would never have known the house was on fire until it was too late. He is undoubtedly a hero in our eyes and forever our most loyal friend.

Sandra Ruddell, Assistant Manager at Dogs Trust Ireland continues: "Wilburs family gave him a second chance in life by adopting him, and in turn he saved their lives and their home. We are so grateful that everyone is okay, and that the family and Wilbur could get to safety.

"Rhodesian Ridgebacks were originally bred for their bravery and to protect the family home, so its no surprise that Wilbur lived up to his heroic heritage.

"All our dogs are special, but Wilburs story really goes to show you how loyal our canine companions are. If you are looking to add a dog to your life, choose rescue and you never know, that dog might just come to your rescue one day too," Ms Ruddell said.

Dogs Trust Ireland currently have over two-hundred dogs just like Wilbur, who are searching for new homes. If you are interested in adopting, please visit www.DogsTrust.ie/Rehoming to see some more heroic hounds.
With a view to expanding company business within the USA, tire maker GRI has opened a new corporate office facility in the Frontier RTP Building 600 at the Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina.

The facility will be used by the manufacturer for the development of products aimed specifically at the North American market, and also to improve logistics and sales operations within the country.

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As we rapidly expand our specialty tire business across the US, we realized that a corporate office with experienced staff to cater to the growing needs of our customer base had now become vital, commented Prabhash Subasinghe, managing director, GRI. Careful thought went in to selecting the ideal location, since it needed to hold commercial significance, complement our growth agenda, attract best in class talent, and most importantly, provide excellent accessibility for our customers to reach us.

The US East Coast and RTP were therefore the natural choice, since it is located at the center of three prominent cities in North Carolina, namely Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, with the additional benefit of it hosting the RDU international airport nearby.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan chaired a session of the Security Council with the participation of President of the Republic Vahagn Khachaturyan and the President of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan in addition to the Security Council members, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

Further steps aimed at counteracting the aggressive actions by Azerbaijan against the sovereign territory of Armenia that started at midnight were discussed at the meeting.

A decision was made to officially apply to the Russian Federation for the implementation of the provisions of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, to the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the UN Security Council regarding the aggression against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.
"Youre not alone." Thats the message to the family of Const. Andrew Hong from Brenda Orr, the widow of OPP Const. David Mounsey, who was killed in the line of duty in November 2006 near Wingham, Ont.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. US Congresswoman Jackie Speier commented on the shelling of Armenian peaceful settlements by Azerbaijani armed forces, emphasizing that Azerbaijan shells internationally recognized Armenian settlements.

I am outraged by reports of heavy and coordinated Azeri artillery strikes on peaceful Armenian towns. To be clear: these are internationally recognized Armenian towns, NOT disputed territory. It's unconscionable that the US continues to provide Aliyev with military aid, she wrote.

After midnight on September 13, the armed forces of Azerbaijan opened intense fire at the Armenian positions located in several parts of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border with the use of artillery and UAVs. In particular, the positions located in the directions of Sotk, Vardenis, Goris, Kapan, Artanish and Ishkhanasar were shelled. The Defense Ministry informed that as of 04:00, the situation remains extremely tense.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border has not changed as of 05:00. Positional fights are taking place in some sections of the border, ARMENPRESS reports the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense Aram Torosyan said.

"The adversary continues to use artillery, mortars, UAVs and large-caliber firearms in the directions of Vardenis, Sotk, Artanish, Ishkhanasar, Goris and Kapan, targeting both military and civil infrastructures," he said.

The speaker added that the Armenian Armed Forces are adequately retaliating and fully fulfilling the combat task set before them. Casualties of the Armenian side are being verified.

"The military-political leadership of Azerbaijan bears the entire responsibility for the created situation and its further developments," said Torosyan.

After midnight on September 13, the armed forces of Azerbaijan opened intense fire at the Armenian positions located in several parts of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border with the use of artillery and UAVs. In particular, the positions located in the directions of Sotk, Vardenis, Goris, Kapan, Artanish and Ishkhanasar were shelled.
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In order to overcome Russian terror, it is necessary to strengthen Ukraine's cooperation with international partners, increase aid to Ukraine and, first and foremost, to speed up the provision of air defense systems.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a nightly video address, Ukrinform reports.

Ukrainians!

All Europeans!

And everyone in the world who believes that terror should have no place on earth.

Why is the biggest source of terror in the world - Russia - still able to wage this war? And why can it wage the war so cruelly and cynically? There is only one reason - insufficient pressure on Russia. The response to the terror of this state is insufficient.

Just look at what Russia can afford. No other terrorist has ever done this in history - so many things at once.

Radiation terror at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Six power units! The presence of Russian troops at the plant, constant Russian provocations and shelling of the plants territory alone put Ukraine and all of Europe on the brink of a radiation disaster.

Energy terror. Residents of many countries around the world are suffering due to the painful increase in prices for energy resources - for electricity, for heat. Russia does it deliberately. It deliberately destabilizes the gas market in Europe. With its strikes it deliberately limits our Ukrainian ability to export electricity to Europe. The export of electricity from Ukraine could alleviate the severity of the energy crisis in Europe in the same way that the export of our food relieves the severity of the food crisis in the world.

Hunger terror is a very cynical and completely deliberate tactic of Russia. And it is directed not just against poor countries, but specifically against those regions of the world from which a new inflow of refugees may come to Europe. Severe migrant crisis in Europe - this is the calculation of the terrorist state.

Fortunately, together with our partners, together with the UN, Turkey, we managed to achieve an export grain initiative. Russia was forced to unblock our ports. But now it is threatening a blockade again.

And how does the world react? There is still no official recognition of Russia as a state - sponsor of terrorism. Citizens of the terrorist state can still travel to Europe for vacation or shopping, they can still get European visas, and no one knows whether there are torturers or murderers among them who have just returned from the occupied territory of Ukraine. Until now, Russian propagandists can still work precisely in those countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, which are threatened with the greatest chaos due to price and energy crises created by Russia. We are still forced to ask for help in protecting our skies from Russian missiles - after 200 days of full-scale war!

Yesterday and today, the Russian army struck the Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians found themselves in the dark - without electricity. Houses, hospitals, schools, communal infrastructure... Russian missiles hit precisely those objects that have absolutely nothing to do with the infrastructure of the Armed Forces of our country.

On the one hand, this is a sign of the desperation of those who invented this war. This is how they react to the defeat of Russian troops in the Kharkiv region. They can't do anything to our heroes on the battlefield, and that's why Russia is directing its vile strikes against civilian infrastructure.

On the other hand, Russia is trying to prevent us from directing Ukraine's capabilities in such a way as to stabilize the situation in Europe. Our electricity export is something that Russia is very afraid of right now. Because we can disrupt Russian plans to empty the pockets of Europeans this winter due to crazy energy prices.

We still need to strengthen our cooperation in order to overcome Russian terror. Russia must be designated a terrorist state. Strengthen sanctions - the eighth EU sanctions package is needed. Increase aid to Ukraine, and above all speed up the provision of air defense systems.

I am grateful to all the rescuers who fought the consequences of Russian missile strikes at energy facilities. Hundreds of settlements in several regions of Ukraine were cut off due to these strikes.

At the request of the Minister of Internal Affairs, today I would like to especially note the contribution to the stabilization of the situation of Major General of the Civil Protection Service Oleksandr Volobuyev, Colonel of the Civil Protection Service Oleksandr Mislavskyi, Senior Lieutenant of the Civil Protection Service Vitaliy Dzyabko, Ensign of the Civil Protection Service Denys Kostenko and fireman, Ensign Oleksandr Gulyi. Thank you. I am grateful to you and your colleagues!

The energy supply of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Poltava region, Sumy region, Kharkiv region and the city of Kharkiv was restored. But today there are new strikes at energy facilities. New blackouts in Kharkiv. And we must be aware that the meanness of Russian terrorists knows no bounds - they will try to make such a form of terror systematic.

On my behalf, the Prime Minister of Ukraine held a meeting today with the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Territories and Communities Development of Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance and Naftogaz. A coordinating headquarters will be formed to quickly respond to all such manifestations of Russian terror. Funds will also be allocated for the restoration of damaged objects and for assistance to the de-occupied territories.

From the beginning of September until today, our warriors have already liberated more than 6,000 square kilometers of the territory of Ukraine - in the east and south. The movement of our troops continues.

I am thankful to the 57th separate motorized infantry brigade, which has recovered from heavy fighting in the east and is advancing very bravely, very confidently in the south direction.

I am thankful to the 59th separate motorized infantry brigade for steadily moving forward despite everything - despite the features of the open terrain, despite the artillery of the occupiers.

I am thankful to the fighters of the 128th separate mountain assault brigade for the liberation of several settlements and very effective actions to neutralize the enemy's activity. Guys, you are true heroes!

Separately, I want to thank our anti-aircraft fighters today. Yesterday, we all saw the consequences of the Russian strikes. But at the same time, most of the terrorists' missiles were shot down. Nine of the twelve missiles were shot down. Seven missiles were shot down by warriors of the 138th Dnipro anti-aircraft missile brigade of the "East" air command, and two missiles were shot down by the sky defenders of the 96th Kyiv anti-aircraft missile brigade of the "Center" air command. Thank you, our defenders!

Thank you to everyone who fights for Ukraine!

Thank you to everyone who is really ready to fight against Russian terror!

We bring victory closer every day.

Glory to Ukraine!
Ukrainian law enforcement officers have already registered 48,534 crimes related to Russias full-scale invasion.

As the Prosecutor General's Office posted on Telegram, 33,135 crimes of aggression and war crimes have been registered. Of these, 31,900 crimes relate to violations of the laws and customs of war, 73  planning, preparing or initiating and waging the war of aggression, 30  propaganda of war, 1,132  other crimes.

Moreover, Ukrainian law enforcement officers registered 15,399 crimes against national security. Among them, 10,703 crimes relate to encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine, 1,675  high treason, 2,257  collaborative activities, 170  aiding and abetting the aggressor state, 64  sabotage, 530  other crimes.

As reported, law enforcement officers are documenting Russian crimes against the civilian population, including torture and murder, in the territories of Kharkiv region liberated from the Russian army.

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The Armed Forces of Ukraine are likely to have destroyed an Iranian-manufactured unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) near Kupiansk.

The relevant statement was made by the Center for Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

With a high degree of probability, we can say the Armed Forces of Ukraine have destroyed an Iranian UCAV near Kupiansk for the first time. Having studied the appearance of the drones wing elements, one can confidently state it is the first time the Ukrainian Army destroyed an Iranian UCAV. We are talking about the Shahed-136 long-range suicide drone, the report states.

A reminder that, in late August 2022, the White House confirmed Russia had received UCAVs from the Iranian side to use them in the war against Ukraine. The United States introduced sanctions against the Iranian companies involved in the manufacture and supply of UCAVs for the Russian Federation.

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YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister presented details about the aggression launched by Azerbaijan against the sovereign territory of Armenia. Nikol Pashinyan informed that in connection with the ongoing actions, a decision has been made to officially apply to the Russian Federation Council for the implementation of the provisions of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, to the Collective Security Treaty Organization and to the UN Security Council. In this context, Prime Minister Pashinyan expressed hope for an adequate reaction of the international community.

Antony Blinken expressed the deep concern of the American side regarding the created situation and considered the further escalation of the situation inadmissible. He expressed the readiness of the USA to make efforts to stabilize the situation.
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur, at a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov, presented to Ukraines Armed Forces a modern field hospital.

Reznikov reported the news via Twitter, reports Ukrinform.

"Happy to host a great friend of Ukraine, Estonian DefMin Hanno Pevkur, in Kyiv. Estonia has always put people above everything. This is what they are doing now-by supplying #UAarmy with the most modern mobile hospital which will save the lives of our military & civilians. Thank you, friends!!" wrote the minister.

As reported, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur arrived in Kyiv for the Copenhagen Conference of Northern European defense allies of Ukraine.
Ukrainian guardsmen, border guards and security forces are holding exercises and strengthening security at the border with Belarus.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry's press service reported this on the messaging app Telegram, according to Ukrinform.

"The National Guard of Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service and other units of the Interior Ministry, together with the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, are conducting the active phase of Exercise Northern Storm 2022 in the areas bordering the Republic of Belarus," the report said.

According to the report, law enforcement officers and the military are practicing the task of engineering defensive positions and mining the territory.

The units jointly train to liberate and clear areas from enemy forces and practice identifying, blocking and eliminating armed formations and subversive groups.

The ministry said Ukraine's defenders continuously improve their combat skills and increase their combat readiness in order to give a decent rebuff to the aggressor if necessary.

Photo: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Ukraine is already cooperating with the United Nations and Turkey and the recipient countries of Ukrainian agricultural products to prevent Russia from disrupting the "grain agreement".

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

"Not now, but closer to its expiration in November, we will see Russia's attempts to question this (grain - ed.) agreement and disrupt its continuation. To this end, we are already working with all key players, both with the UN and with Turkey as facilitators of this agreement, and with the recipient countries of our agricultural products in order to prevent this disruption," the minister said.

As reported, an adviser to the head of the Office of the Ukrainian President, Mykhailo Podolyak, stated on September 7 that there are no grounds for revising the agreement on grain exports from Ukraine.

Earlier, during the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he intends to discuss with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the issue of restricting grain exports from Ukraine, since "almost all the grain exported from Ukraine is sent not to the poorest developing countries, but to EU countries". According to him, allegedly only two out of 87 vessels had fallen under the U.N. World Food Programme, representing just 60,000 tonnes exported so far.

On July 22, Ukraine, Turkey, Russia and the United Nations signed an agreement unblocking grain exports from three Ukrainian ports.

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Since the agreement between Ukraine, Turkey, Russia, and the UN on the transportation of grain from Ukraine entered into force, 129 ships loaded with 2.9 million tonnes of grain have left the Ukrainian ports.

The mark of 3 million tonnes will be reached in the near future, Amir Abdulla, United Nations Coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, told journalists on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports from New York.

Abdulla emphasized that the transportation of grain had been carried out "without serious incidents."

The grain agreement was designed for 120 days and its term ends soon, but Turkey, supported by the UN, is determined to extend it, he noted.

The UN coordinator pointed out that only Ukrainian grain was transported through the Black Sea corridor from three ports of Ukraine. It was never declared as Russian, so grain stolen by Russia could not be among these shipments.

As reported, Ukraine, Turkey, Russia, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres signed the initiative on safe transportation of grain and foodstuffs from the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdenny at the suggestion of the United Nations in Istanbul on July 22.

On September 13, seven ships with grain departed from these ports.

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First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Korniyenko and Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur discussed the current security situation and cooperation between the two countries at the level of parliaments and governments.

Ukrinform reports this with reference to the Ukrainian parliaments press service.

Met with him (Estonia's defense minister - ed.) this morning to discuss the current security situation and cooperation between our countries at the level of parliaments and governments, as well as the challenges facing all of Europe this difficult winter," Korniyenko said.

According to him, the world is focused on continuing and increasing military support for Ukraine, as well as consolidating efforts to end the war launched by Russia on the European continent.

"Estonia pays great attention to the issue of mine clearance in Ukraine. That's why I made a thematic gift to the minister - projectile fragments from Russian shelling in Mykolaiv," the first deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada said.

Korniyenko expressed gratitude to Estonia for the continued support for Ukraine and for a mobile hospital that will soon appear at the front." "We are not getting tired and keep working to win," he added.

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Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has expressed regret over the stance pursued by the German government, which is refusing to send offensive weapons to Ukraine, including Leopard tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles.

Thats according to Kulebas tweet, seen by Ukrinform.

Disappointing signals from Germany while Ukraine needs Leopards and Marders now  to liberate people and save them from genocide. Not a single rational argument on why these weapons can not be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses. What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not? the top diplomat tweeted.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, at a joint press conference with the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Kyiv on September 10, Kuleba said he saw no obstacles to German supplies of Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine.

Later, Germanys Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht explained limited arms supplies to Ukraine by their insufficient stocks amid the trend, observed over the past years, toward cutting Bundeswehrs expenses, which she referred to as consequences of irresponsible money-saving.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has met in Kyiv with Defense Ministers Morten Bodskov of Denmark and Hanno Pevkur of Estonia.

The head of state published a video of the meeting on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

Zelensky noted that Denmark and Estonia strongly support Ukraine at all stages of the country's struggle against Russian aggression, including by supplying the much-needed weapons for the de-occupation of Ukrainian territories. "Not only the resilience and endurance of our country, but also the security of the whole of Europe depend on the strengthening of the Ukrainian army," he wrote.

"I am thankful to Minister of Defense of Denmark Morten Bdskov and Minister of Defense of Estonia Hanno Pevkur for the meeting and consistent aid to Ukraine!" Zelensky added.

The presidential press service reported that during the meeting, Zelensky thanked Estonia for allocating aid to Ukraine in the amount of 0.8% of the country's GDP. "You provided very powerful support to us. This is an example of a small country by area that is a big state. The Ukrainian people and I are extremely grateful for this," Zelensky said.

He also noted Denmark's significant contribution to strengthening Ukraine's defense capabilities by providing the necessary assistance and creating a new effective format - the Conference for Northern European Defense Allies in support of Ukraine in Copenhagen.

Zelensky emphasized the importance of further assistance to the Ukrainian army from Estonia and Denmark. "Strengthening our army directly with weapons has become the highest priority for us. The stability and endurance of our state, security in Europe depends on this. It is extremely important that you strengthen Ukraine in the security and military dimensions, supplying us with the weapons we need so much right now to de-occupy our territories," he said.

In this context, it was emphasized at the meeting that Ukraine is currently fighting not only for its freedom, but also for the future of the whole of Europe.

The head of state thanked the leadership of Denmark and Estonia for the hospitable reception and assistance to Ukrainians who have been forced to leave Ukraine due to the war.

Photo credit: President's Office
Six-year-old Gambolipai Martha leads the other children in a song during a pre-school class at Makpandu refugee settlement in South Sudan.  UNHCR/Elizabeth Marie Stuart

NEW YORK  Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton is backing calls for all refugee children and youth to be given access to a full quality education, as a new report from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, reveals the urgent need for more international support for refugee students.

In the report, All Inclusive: The Campaign for Refugee Education, data from more than 40 countries shows how refugees lag behind their non-refugee peers when it comes to enrolment in all levels of education.

Average enrolment rates for refugee children in primary schools in the 2020-2021 academic year were broadly stable at 68 per cent. But enrolment drops sharply to 37 percent at secondary level, which refugee learners have historically struggled to access.

There was, however, better news at tertiary level. Although refugee enrolment stands at only 6 percent, this continues an upward trend from a mere 1 percent only a few years ago  giving the UN Refugee Agency grounds for optimism that its tertiary enrolment target of 15 percent by 2030 could be met.

UNHCRs annual education report is published just as world leaders prepare to debate the future of learning at the Transforming Education Summit at the UN General Assembly on 16-19 September.

Lewis, who campaigns for greater equality, fairness and diversity in education as well as in motorsport, said he was proud to lend my voice to the campaign for refugee children and youth to be included in national education systems, and not to be left on the margins.

Education doesnt just widen peoples horizons and present them with opportunities they would otherwise never dream of getting. It counteracts the damaging effects of systemic injustice, he said in the reports Final Word.

Its not just about creating better life chances for young people, helping them to find their purpose and forge their own futures. Its about the knock-on effects of that: greater diversity in positions of leadership and influence, in the world of work, in sport, culture, politics.

All Inclusive showcases young refugees from Sudan, Ukraine, Kenya and Myanmar as they grasp the various educational opportunities available to them, despite the disruption of forced displacement and the challenges of adapting to new  and not-so-new  circumstances.

Also writing in the report, Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, noted that many countries had recently made great progress towards including refugee learners in formal national education systems.

Now we need to follow these policies with substantial and sustained financing, and to press home the gains of inclusion, Grandi said.

The saying talent is universal but opportunity is not describes the reality for millions of refugee children. We need to close the yawning gap between talent and opportunity.

UNHCR is calling for the inclusion of refugees in national education systems from the start of humanitarian emergencies, through protracted displacement situations and in longer-term development planning. Among other things, this requires more support for teacher training and salaries, new infrastructure, adequate and relevant learning materials, safe transport to and from schools, access to examinations and certification, and closing the digital divide affecting refugees.

Education is an investment in development, human rights and peace, Grandi said. Now is the time to invest in human futures  in budding builders, creators and peacemakers.

He added: In the case of refugees, it is an investment in the people who will rebuild their countries when they can safely return home.

Notes for editors:

The 2022 UNHCR Refugee Education Report is titled All Inclusive: The Campaign for Refugee Education. It tells the stories of some of the more than 10 million refugee children of school age under UNHCRs mandate. It also highlights the aspirations of refugee youth eager to continue learning after secondary level, as well as the hopes and ambitions of teachers in refugee and host communities.

Data on refugee enrolments and population numbers is drawn from UNHCR country operations and refers to the 2020-2021 academic year. The report also references the latest available data on enrolment and out-of-school children and youth from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).

UNHCRs report coincides with the Transforming Education Summit, convened by the UN Secretary-General and taking place during the 77th session of the General Assembly. The Summit aims to mobilize action, ambition, solidarity and solutions with a view to transforming education between now and 2030.

UNHCR has also calculated that focusing investment on countries with the biggest refugee populations would pay huge dividends. The annual cost for all refugee students in low, lower-middle and upper-middle income host countries is estimated at US$4.85 billion, or a total of USD$63 billion over 13 years, from the first year of primary to the final year of secondary. However, lower and lower-middle income countries, which host half of school-age refugees, would need only 20 per cent of that total. In other words, a fifth of the overall cost would cover more than 50 per cent of school-age refugee children.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The General Prosecution of Armenia says Azerbaijan pre-planned the September 13 explicit aggression against Armenias territorial integrity and peaceful population.

The prosecution says its criminal investigation into Azerbaijans attack  a violation of the November 9, 2020 trilateral statement and several international treaties prohibiting the use of force or the threat to use force and invading the territory of another country gathered information on war crimes and criminal violations of Customary international humanitarian law.

Azerbaijan bombarded military positions of Armenia deployed in Syunik, Vayots Dzor and Gegharkunik provinces and also delivered strikes on peaceful settlements, targeting civilians, residential homes and infrastructure. Several civilians were wounded.

The prosecution said that the information shows that Azerbaijan pre-planned this attack and was creating artificial grounds for its aggression over the course of a long period of time.

The Prosecutor General has notified his counterparts of partner countries on the facts of the Azeri aggression.

At least 49 Armenian troops were killed and three civilians were wounded when Azerbaijan launched a major bombardment attack in several directions against Armenia 00:05 September 13. In some directions the Azeri troops continue attempts to advance.
By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have discussed future directions of cooperation, Azernews reports.

The discussion took place during a meeting between Azerbaijans Finance Minister Samir Sharifov and a delegation led by ADBs Vice President Shixin Chen.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the cooperation strategy, which will be prepared in 2023 and will cover the period of 2024-2028.

Moreover, they discussed the progress of jointly implemented projects, in particular, the banks support for the macroeconomic stability of Azerbaijan, improving the efficiency of the public sector, financing of the Southern Gas Corridor, and the reconstruction of part of the North-South Transport Corridor.

Samir Sharifov informed about the macroeconomic situation in Azerbaijan, the economic reforms carried out, as well as the reconstruction of liberated territories. In this regard, he underlined the significant role of the ADB lending and technical assistance programs in diversifying the economy and implementing important projects.

Furthermore, Shixin Chen stressed that ADB is a reliable partner of Azerbaijan in the direction of improving the efficiency of the public sector in the country, strengthening the private sector development, diversifying the non-oil sector by investing in transport and irrigation infrastructure, as well as strengthening human capital to meet the needs of a diversified economy.

The vice president also expressed confidence that joint projects between ADB and Azerbaijan will be successfully continued.

Azerbaijan has been a member of the Asian Development Bank since 1999. Since then, the bank has committed $4.4 billion in loans, and $32.28 million in technical assistance projects, including ADB-administered co-financing for Azerbaijan.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) called on the EU leadership to clearly and unequivocally condemn the attack of authoritarian Azerbaijan against Armenia.

We are expecting you to do everything in your power to stop the Azerbaijani aggression which is a manifestation of the state level policy of xenophobia against Armenia and expansionist policy of Azerbaijan. Human life is invaluable, be it in Ukraine or Armenia. As EU citizens we do believe that a regular dictator such as Aliyev cannot buy silence or dignity in exchange for potentially supplying a very small portion of EUs gas", the EAFJD said in a statement.

The EAFJD called on President of the European Council Charles Michel, EUs High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar and President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola to stand up for human life, dignity and against this blatant aggression by an authoritarian regime in the EU neighborhood, such as Azerbaijan which risks destabilizing the whole region.

On September 13, starting at 00:05, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched a major military attack in several directions against Armenia, primarily using artillery and UAVs. 49 Armenian servicemen were killed in the Azerbaijani attack. As of 14:00, September 13, the situation along several sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border remains extremely tense.
September 13 2022

Glasgow City Council has shared further details of its plans to establish a fourth Gaelic school in the city, within the heart of the east end.

Joining the Glasgow Gaelic School to the northwest, Govan Galic Primary in the west and Glendale Primary to the south the school would ensure all compass points around the city centre are served by Gaelic language education.

The former St James' School on Green Street has been earmarked for a significant programme of renovation and extension to accommodate the venture, including partial demolition and construction of a multipurpose hall and kitchen in a new extension.

Classed as being under 'moderate' threat on the Buildings at Risk Register the B-listed building has been brought under the wing of the authority's property arm, with John Gilbert Architects as an energy consultant, to secure its future.

Works will include the demolition of two late addition single-storey toilet blocks the works include the removal of a canted bay element on the rear elevation to rationalise classrooms and improve energy performance.

In a statement, the council wrote: "Further justification for the demolition of the canted bay relates to its internal spaces and their suitability as classrooms as well as its impact on the form factor of the existing building when considering the EnerPHit requirements of the brief. The form factor is the ratio of the external envelope to treated floor area therefore the more external surface area the building has, the more heat losses will occur making it more difficult to achieve EnerPHit accreditation."

Built by Thomson & Sandilands in 1895 the Green Street school was in continuous use until 2009 when the building fabric began to deteriorate.
Ouagadougou, Sept 13 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2022 ) :Burkina Faso junta chief Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who took power in a January coup, has sacked his defence minister and assumed the role himself, according to decrees published Monday in the jihadist-embattled country.

The first decree, read on national television, removed General Barthelemy Simpore as defence minister, while the second said the "president has taken over the duties of the minister of national defence and veterans".

Alongside him, Colonel-Major Silas Keita was named minister delegate in charge of national defence and promoted to brigadier general.

Keita was the only new minister introduced in the mini-shuffle, which follows a series of deadly jihadist attacks this month in the West African country.

Two soldiers died and a dozen "terrorists" were killed Monday during an attack against a military detachment in Burkina Faso's jihadist-hit north, the army said.

The landlocked country is in the grip of a seven-year-old insurgency that has claimed more than 2,000 lives and forced about 1.4 million people to leave their homes.
NurSultan, Kazakhstan, Sept 13 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2022 ) :Pope Francis, warned by doctors not to travel to Ukraine, arrived in Kazakhstan in Central Asia on Tuesday for a three-day visit to promote dialogue and peace in the ex-Soviet region.

The Argentine pope, who is forced by knee pain to use a wheelchair and has admitted he must slow down or consider retirement, will take part in an inter-religious summit in the capital, Nur-Sultan.

His plane landed shortly after 5:15 pm (1115 GMT), an AFP journalist onboard said, and the 85-year-old pontiff was already meeting shortly after with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev before giving a first speech to the authorities and the diplomatic corps.

Francis said Sunday that the 38th trip abroad since his election in 2013 would be "an opportunity... to (have a) dialogue as brothers, animated by the common desire for peace, peace that our world is thirsty for".

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, was initially expected but has pulled out of the September 14-15 event, dashing hopes of a meeting with Francis over the Ukraine conflict.

While the pope has called for peace and denounced a "cruel and senseless war", Kirill has defended Putin's "military operation" and the fight against Russia's "external and internal enemies".

About 100 delegations from 50 countries are expected to take part in the event in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic that gained independence in 1991.

"Dialogue, a coming together, the search for peace between different religious and cultural worlds are at the heart of this trip," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Monday.

- Tensions - Tokayev, 69, is an ally of Russia, though there have been tensions between the two countries since Moscow launched the invasion in February.

He has refused to support the war and the presence of a large Russian community in the north of Kazakhstan has sparked fears of a revival of Moscow's imperial ambitions in the area.

Kazakhstan borders other former Soviet republics, as well as China and the Caspian Sea.

Lyudmila, a 74-year-old pensioner who declined to give her last name, said she hoped the Papal visit would encourage people around the world to learn more about Kazakhstan.

"Maybe it will raise the profile of our country, that such a great spiritual figure is visiting us," she told AFP.

On Wednesday, Francis will address the opening of the plenary session of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, before celebrating a mass in the afternoon and winding up his trip Thursday by meeting Catholic leaders.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will be in the country at the same time as Francis at a time when the Vatican is hoping to renew a historic accord appointing bishops in China.

Asked by journalists during the flight about a possible meeting with Xi, Francis said he had "no information" about any possible talks.

He added, however, that he was "always ready to go to China".

Energy-rich Kazakhstan has 19 million inhabitants, 70 percent of whom are Sunni Muslims, while 26 percent are Christians -- mainly Russian Orthodox. Less than one percent are Catholic.

Tokayev began a series of reforms after his election in 2019, but the country was rocked by protests over fuel prices earlier this year that left more than 200 people dead and shattered its image of stability.

Francis is the second pope to visit Kazakhstan after John Paul II's trip in September 2001.

He said last week that doctors had forbidden him from travelling to Ukraine or Moscow for now, as he recovers from a knee problem that has forced him to cancel numerous events at the Vatican.
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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will fly to Uzbekistan on Thursday to take part in the SCO-CHS on the invitation of Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who will chair the meeting.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Sept 13th, 2022) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is paying a two-day visit to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from Thursday to attend the annual meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The Prime Minister will be participating in the SCO-CHS on the invitation of Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who would chair the meeting.

Leaders of SCO members and observer states as well as heads of SCO organizations and other special guests would attend the meeting.

The Council of Heads of State is the highest forum of the SCO, which considers and defines strategy, prospects and priorities of the Organization.

At the forthcoming event, the SCO leaders will deliberate on important global and regional issues, including climate change, food security energy security, and sustainable supply chains. They would also approve agreements and documents that would chart the future direction of cooperation among SCO member states.

Besides attending the summit, the Prime Minister would hold bilateral meetings with other participating leaders on the sidelines of the Council of Heads of State meeting.

It is pertinent to mention that SCO is a major trans-regional organization spanning South and Central Asia. Founded in 2001,the SCO upholds the values and principles enshrined in the Shanghai Spirit that include mutual trust, mutual benefit and pursuit of common development. Collectively, the SCO member states represent nearly half of the worlds population and a quarter of global economic output. SCOs agenda of promoting peace and stability, and seeking enhanced linkages in infrastructure, economic, trade and cultural spheres, is aligned with Pakistans own vision for enhancing economic connectivity as well as peace and stability in the region.

Since becoming full member of SCO in 2017, Pakistan has been actively contributing towards advancing Organizations core objectives through its participation in various SCO mechanisms.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. French delegates in the EPP group of the European Parliament are calling for condemning the criminal aggression of Azerbaijan against Armenia.

We must condemn the criminal aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Armenia last night. France and Europe must urgently take action to prevent another war, it said.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2022 ) :Institute of Space Technology (IST), Islamabad in collaboration with National Center of GIS and Space Applications (NCGSA) has planned to celebrate World Space Week 2022, from October 4-10 at its Islamabad campus.

The annual week long space festivity encapsulates over 100 events, related to space science, technology and its applications.

The celebrations are in pursuance of United Nations declaration of October 4-10 as international week of space aimed at celebrating, and acknowledging the contributions of Space Technology towards betterment of humankind.

It is the largest annual space event of the world aimed to build up the workforce of tomorrow by inspiring students and educating the public about multifaceted domains of space.

Pakistan is one of the major contributors in the WSW space festivities, the national activities are held under the patronage of SUPARCO.

Institute of Space Technology has been celebrating World Space Week since 2005 in line with its vision "Be a National torchbearer in the realm of academics, through quality teaching, robust research and outreach, to produce leaders in the field of Space Science and Technology, in line with National aspirations".

IST organizes a wide range of events to motivate and inspire young minds towards the realms of Space Technology around the year through its Space Education Research Lab, under the National Center of GIS and Space Applications (NCGSA).

Channelizing these efforts of space education and outreach through innovative and engaging initiatives at the national level, World Space Week 2022 will be celebrated at IST from October 4-10.

In accordance with the WSW 2022 theme of "Space and Sustainability" covering the aspects of achieving sustainability in space, and achieving sustainability from space, IST has planned more than 100 events including competitions, lectures, webinars and trainings in 15 major categories, including; Space Recitations, Creative Writing, Fine Arts, Performing Arts, Space Architectures, Space for SDGs, Space Innovation, Technology Demonstrations and Space Applications.

The events are dedicated to inspire, and familiarize the school and college level students about the importance and applications of Space Science and Technology for the sustainable development of the world and beyond.

The events of WSW 2022 at IST are designed for school and college level students of Grade 6-12.

The competitions will be conducted in two rounds to ensure the participation of maximum interested students, where the preliminary round will be conducted online from September 19-23, and the final round will be conducted on campus from October 6-8, 2022.

The competitions will be complemented by various talks, seminars, and webinars from national and international subject matter experts throughout the Space Week.

These especially crafted events are designed in the purview of the current socio economic situation of the country, and to find solutions to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Space Science, Technology and its Applications.
BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) Albanians attacked a young Serb and his father with a knife early Tuesday near the town of Obilic in Kosovo, the victim was hospitalized with shoulder and neck wounds, Serbia's office for Kosovo and Metohija said.

"Nemanja Mitrovic, aged 19, from the village of Babino Most near the town of Obilic, was stabbed in the shoulder and the neck area by a local Albanian family who had previously harassed him," the office said in a statement, adding that along with Nemanja, his father Sasa, who tried to defend his son, also received arm and stomach injuries.

The father and son were taken to a Pristina hospital and then transported to the Kosovska Mitrovica clinical center, where Nemanja was placed in the surgery department, the statement read.

"According to eyewitnesses, the attackers met him on the street, and it was the Sabani family, which had already attacked the youngest underage son of the Mitrovics," the statement said, adding that he was threatened with a knife on Easter but, luckily, was not injured.

The authorities claimed that Avdulah Sabani was notorious for his mistreatment of local Serbs and banditry, but went unpunished for years. The office demanded that international missions in the province and the authorities in Pristina punish the perpetrators and stop attacks on Serbs.

The Serbian parliament is holding a special meeting on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Kosovo and hold the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic confirmed his participation amid increased Western pressure and demands that Belgrade make concessions and recognize the self-proclaimed republic.
VIENNA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) Almost 80% of Austrians said they had been affected by sanctions imposed by the West against Russia, according to a poll by the Austrian sociological institute Institut fur Demoskopie und Datenanalyse (IFDD) released on Tuesday.

According to the survey, 78% of respondents responded positively to the question of whether Austrian citizens suffered from the sanctions imposed by the West against Moscow. In addition, when asked who these sanctions were ultimately directed against, 31% responded that they targeted the population of Austria, and 23% said that the sanctions were directed against Russian citizens.

At the same time, 54% of Austrians responded negatively to the question of whether the country should advocate the lift of sanctions against Russia in the EU.

The study was conducted from September 5-9 with the participation of 1,000 people. The statistical margin of error is not specified.

Meanwhile, in a poll by the Market sociological institute conducted from August 8-11 with the participation of 817 Austrian citizens, only 25% said that they fully supported the position that Austria should participate in the EU sanctions policy against Russia. At the same time, 40% of respondents opposed sanctions against Moscow.

On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. In response, Western countries and their allies have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow.
YEREVAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) The Armenian Defense Ministry said the Azerbaijani Armed Forces shelled Armenia's territory near the border using artillery and drones.

"At 00:05 on September 13, units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces began intensive shelling from artillery, large-caliber small arms in the direction of Armenian positions near Goris, Sotk and Jermuk," the ministry said in a statement.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) The casualties of Ukrainian forces and foreign mercenaries have exceeded 800 people over the past 24 hours as a result of Russia's high-precision airborne strikes, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"As a result of the strikes, the daily losses of Ukrainian servicemen and foreign fighters exceeded 800 people killed and injured," the ministry said.

The department added that high-precision airborne strikes had hit the points of temporary deployment of Ukraine's air assault brigade near the cities of Slovyansk and Kostyantynivka and mechanized brigades near the settlement of Kurdyumivka, as well as the cities of Bakhmut and Kharkiv.

Moreover, the Russian forces hit Ukraine's naval brigade near the settlement of Bereznehuvate, a motorized infantry brigade near the settlement of Murakhivka in the Mykolaiv region and a mountain assault brigade near the settlement of Balabyne in the Zaporizhzhia region.

On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Western countries responded by imposing comprehensive sanctions against Moscow while also ramping up their military support for Kiev. In particular, over 7,000 mercenaries from more than 60 countries have arrived in Ukraine since February 24, the Russian defense ministry said in mid-July.
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Hundreds of agricultural vehicles and equipment items will jam up the roads in the Czech Republic, including the streets of Prague, on September 15 in protest against the agrarian policy of the EU and the Czech Cabinet, president of the Czech Agrarian Chamber Jan Dolezal said on Monday

PRAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th September, 2022) Hundreds of agricultural vehicles and equipment items will jam up the roads in the Czech Republic, including the streets of Prague, on September 15 in protest against the agrarian policy of the EU and the Czech Cabinet, president of the Czech Agrarian Chamber Jan Dolezal said on Monday.

"It is no coincidence that our protest will take place on September 15, on this day the EU agricultural ministers will gather in Prague for holding an informal meeting," Dolezal said at a press conference after a joint meeting of the leadership of the Agrarian Chamber and the Farmers' Union.

The protesters intend to send officials a memorandum prepared by the agrarian chambers of the Visegrad group - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, Dolezhal said, adding that their colleagues from Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Lithuania also expressed support for the protest.

According to Dolezal, the upcoming protest is designed to draw attention to the impact of the EU Green Deal's environmental measures on agriculture, such as the requirement for a significant reduction in the use of pesticides.

The protest organizers intend to distribute Czech potatoes and apples to the participants of the EU agricultural ministers' meeting, thereby indicating that farmers will be forced to reduce the production due to rising costs and the EU environmental policy.

"If we adopt a new policy of support distribution for agriculture, planned by the EU leadership and our cabinet, and try at any cost to realize the ambitious goals of the European Green Deal in the planned and very short time, until 2030, food made from European products will become an expensive luxury that many will not be able to afford," Chairman of the Agricultural Association Martin Pycha said.

In 2019, the Commission adopted the so-called European Green Deal, intended to cut carbon emissions and build a resource-efficient and eco-friendly economy, with a net carbon neutral target set for 2050. The European Green Deal is supposed to ensure food security in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss and reduce the environmental footprint of the EU food system, while leading a global transition towards competitive sustainability from farm to fork.
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Eight individuals in the United States have been charged in connection to a human smuggling ring along the US southern border, the Justice Department said on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2022) Eight individuals in the United States have been charged in connection to a human smuggling ring along the US southern border, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.

"The US Department of Justice, along with its partners, today announced a significant enforcement operation that disrupted and dismantled a prolific human smuggling operation in Texas and across the Southern United States," the Justice Department said in a press release. "The operation, a part of Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), included the arrest of eight alleged human smugglers whose indictment were unsealed today in the Southern District of Texas (SDTX)."

The human smuggling operation was led by 31-year-old Erminia Serrano Piedra.

Other defendants include Kevin Daniel Nuber, 41; Laura Nubere, 40; Lloyd Bexley, 51; Jeremy Dickens, 45; Katie Ann Garcia, 39; Oliveria Piedra-Campuzana, 53; and Pedro Hairo Abrigo, 33, the release said.

The individuals were arrested in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, the release added.

Migrants allegedly from Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia paid members of the human smuggling organization to help them travel illegally to and within the United States, the release said.

The indictment also notices the criminal forfeiture of three properties as well as money judgments amounting to $2.3 million, the release said.
The European Union will allocate 467 million euros ($467.7 million) to develop environmental cooperation in northwestern Europe, Atlantic and Arctic areas to boost resilience against climate change, the European Commission said on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) The European Union will allocate 467 million Euros ($467.7 million) to develop environmental cooperation in northwestern Europe, Atlantic and Arctic areas to boost resilience against climate change, the European Commission said on Tuesday.

"Thanks to the adoption of three Interreg transnational programmes, the Commission will invest 467 million from European Regional Development Fund in the 2021-2027 programming period for cooperation actions in the North West Europe, Atlantic and Arctic area - especially, in the field of environment and resilience against climate change," the statement read.

The Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic program, worth 43 million euros, is set to promote projects related to energy efficiency in climate change adaptation and to the transition to a circular and resource efficient economy, it also said.

The Interreg North-West Europe Programme, worth 310 million euros, will finance projects on "smart climate and environmental resilience and energy transition," while the Interreg Atlantic Area program, worth 113 million euros will "support stakeholders to cooperate on both green and blue economy - by investing in projects on innovation, social matters for youth employability and governance," it added.
HELSINKI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) Finland will not completely ban Russians with tourist visas from entering the country, Director General of Consular Services at Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs Jussi Tanner said on Monday.

"In Finland, there will be no complete ban like in the Baltic states or Poland. But surely a unified approach of the EU, which Finland seeks, would be the best and most effective," Tanner was quoted by YLE broadcasting company as saying, adding that a complete visa ban is a measure for which no legal basis could be found.

On September 6, the EU adopted a proposal to fully suspend the visa facilitation agreement with Moscow. The suspension has entered into effect on September 12.

According to Tanner, the suspension would lead to the increase of a visa fee from 35 Euros ($35) to 80 euros ($80), as well as to a longer issuance procedure, which would now take at least 15 days instead of 10 days.

On September 1, Helsinki cut the number of tourist visas issued to Russian citizens in response to the special military operation in Ukraine. Starting September 1, Finland issues up to 100 visas per week. However, the country's officials have repeatedly said they would follow common EU measures, as regards to sanctions against Russia.

Last week, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania made a decision to deny entry to Russians even with valid Schengen visas. The decision will come into force on September 19. Due to this measure, Finland expects more Russians to come to the EU through Finland.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia would respond to EU visa restrictions for Russians, not harming Russia's interests.
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ALMATY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) The amendments to the Kazakh constitution, which provide for a single seven-year presidential mandate and are set to replace two five-year terms, will put a safeguard in place against possible future alteration of the norm, Yerzhan Zhienbayev, Kazakh Deputy Chief of the presidential staff, said on Tuesday.

"The draft law presupposes a provision that the new norms concerning the presidential seven-year term and a possibility of being elected only once cannot be altered in the future," Zhienbayev said in a statement published on the official presidential website.

The official also said that the new legislation will be applicable only to those elected for the presidential post after the amendment is in effect.

Kazakhstan's president is currently elected for a term of five years. The same person cannot be elected president of the republic more than two times in a row. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed on September 1 to limit the term of a presidential mandate in the country to seven years without the right to re-election. This proposal is being reviewed by governmental bodies.

Tokayev signed a decree in May that scheduled the referendum on constitutional amendments for early June. Over 77% of voters supported the political reforms of transforming Kazakhstan from a super-presidential republic to presidential and strengthening the role of the country's parliament.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenia will send a document to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) today on taking interim measures against Azerbaijan, Armenian Representative to ECHR Yeghishe Kirakosyans spokesperson Hasmik Samvelyan told ARMENPRESS.

She said that the application will include everything about Azerbaijans attack on civilian settlements in Armenia. We will issue a notification on our website after sending the document, she added.

At least 49 Armenian troops were killed and three civilians were wounded when Azerbaijan launched a major attack in several directions against Armenia 00:05 September 13. Both military and civilian infrastructure were hit. In some directions the Azeri troops continue attempts to advance.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) Two new power units of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Hungary are to be launched in 2030, Alexander Merten, vice president of ASE JSC (part of Russia's Rosatom state nuclear corporation), director of the NPP construction project, told Sputnik.

"We expect that in the fall of 2023 we can start pouring the first concrete, and the plant will start operating in 2030," Merten said.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) Russian teachers did not work in the territories of the Kharkiv region previously controlled by Russian troops, while the fate of local teachers who collaborated with Russia remains unknown, the regional administration told Sputnik on Tuesday.

Starting September 1, schools in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), as well as in the territories under Russian control have switched to Russian educational standards, with teachers undergoing professional training. On Monday, Ukrainian media reported that Russian teachers who taught in local schools under the new program were arrested and faced up to 15 years in jail for what Ukraine claimed was treason after Ukrainian troops reclaimed some territories during a counteroffensive.

"There were no Russian teachers in the region. However, what happened to local teachers who collaborated with Russia and were ready to teach according to the new method is still unknown," the administration's press service said.

Russian education Minister Sergey Kravtsov later confirmed that all Russian teachers in the Russia-controlled territories are safe and only local teachers have been working in the Kharkiv region since September 1.

According to the Russian Investigative Committee, committee chief Alexander Bastrykin instructed the relevant authorities to initiate a criminal case over the arrest by the Ukrainian military of teachers who were teaching in accordance with the Russian program in the Kharkiv region.

The head of Russia-controlled territories of the Kharkiv region, Vitaly Ganchev, said earlier that the authorities had begun evacuating the population from the cities of Kupyansk, Izyum, Shevchenkove and Balakliya. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that troops from Balakliya and Izyum were regrouped in the Donetsk direction in order to achieve the stated goals of the special military operation to liberate Donbas.
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The third back-up power line to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been restored, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) The third back-up power line to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been restored, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Tuesday.

"Ukrainian engineers have made further headway in repairing vital power infrastructure in vicinity of #Zaporizhzhya NPP, providing plant w/ renewed access to a third back-up power line. This means all three back-up power lines to #ZNPP have been restored," the IAEA tweeted.
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YEREVAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) Three civilians in Armenia were injured as a result of shelling on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the Armenian health ministry said on Tuesday.

"As a result of artillery shelling of Armenian positions and settlements by the Azerbaijani armed forces, three civilians were injured," the ministry said in a statement.

The condition of one of those injured is serious, the statement added.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2022) The United States and its allies are discussing the feasibility of providing Ukraine with air defense and fighter jets in the medium- and long-term period, the Financial Times reported, citing a source from a senior US defense official.

According to the source, the US and its allies were discussing the long-term needs of Ukraine, such as air defense systems, as well as the feasibility of providing Kiev with fighter jets in the medium and long term.

However, according to the source, at the moment they rejected this idea.
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WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2022) The Raytheon-Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture has received an almost one third of a billion Dollar US Army modification contract to produce more of the anti-tank missiles for Jordan and Lithuania, the US Defense Department said.

"Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin JV, Tucson Arizona was awarded a $311,171,700 modification ...

contract for full production of Javelins," the Defense Department said in a press release on Tuesday.

Work on the extended contract will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, over the next three-and-a-quarter years with an estimated completion date of November 30, 2026, the release added.

The Fiscal Year 2022 Foreign Military Sales and Army procurement appropriations to pay for the increased production were obligated at the time of the award, according to the release.
Interim Board Chosen for New Gulf Shellfish Farmers Association

Tue, 09/13/2022 - 15:48pm | By: Van Arnold

The University of Southern Mississippis Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center (TCMAC) has spearheaded efforts to unite diverse segments of the oyster industry in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in the formation of the Gulf Shellfish Farmers Association (GSFA).

On June 30, representatives from across the Gulf of Mexico convened in Ocean Springs to take the necessary steps in electing an interim board for the new organization.

The interim board includes:

President  Terry Boyd, of Ocean Springs, Miss.

Treasurer - Lindsay Allday, of New Orleans, La.

Secretary  Gretchen Kelly, of Cedar Key, Fla.

Earlier this year, the TCMAC received a $100,000 grant from The Nature Conservancy as part of its Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration (SOAR) Shellfish Growers Resiliency Fund. The grant called for USM to lead the charge in creating an industry-driven association designed to develop the relationships among regulatory agencies, industry stakeholders, and academia required to facilitate a common vision for sustainable industry growth.

Boyd is the owner of Magnolia Key Oyster Company in Ocean Springs. As interim president he plans to help facilitate the official formation of the trade association by overseeing the legal process of founding a new, non-profit 501c (5) organization. He points out that as aquaculture grows in the region, taking the right steps to ensure its success is critical.

Associations like the GSFA are important to help push the industry forward, whether that be to tackle regulatory issues in one state or to help streamline the permitting process in another, said Boyd. We can accomplish these goals better in numbers rather than individually. We need the farming community in the Gulf to have a unified voice to help influence the growth of the industry and create change where needed.

Reports show that traditional oyster harvests have experienced decreases in recent years. The Nature Conservancys SOAR Fund has provided more than $1 million to support struggling oyster farmers and build resiliency into the industry.

Dr. Reginald Blaylock, Research Professor and Interim TCMAC Director, explains that the off-bottom oyster farming industry in the Gulf of Mexico is relatively new.

Current regulations were designed to deal with traditional on-bottom practices, said Blaylock. The new Gulf Shellfish Farmers Association represents industry interests across the Gulf of Mexico and is positioned to advocate for the development of regulations that will facilitate the growth of the off-bottom industry.

He stresses that USMs leadership in helping establish an organization that will facilitate development of the aquaculture industry positions the University as a key player in integrating the aquaculture industry into opportunities provided by the blue economy.

The Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center is located in Ocean Springs, Miss., at the Universitys Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. The Centers research focuses on alleviating the bottlenecks that constrain the production of marine species. TCMAC researchers work with industry, government, and non-profit organizations to advance sustainable aquaculture on land and in coastal and marine environments.

To learn more about the TCMAC, call 833.467.2782 or visit: https://www.usm.edu/marine-aquaculture-center/index.php
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The targeting of ambulances and healthcare facilities by the Azerbaijani armed forces is a crime, a gross violation of the international humanitarian law and international conventions, Armenias Ministry of Healthcare said in a statement.

The Ministry said that these facts have been presented to the World Health Organization (WHO) and with all possible international channels, with an expectation that this aggression will be condemned and will receive an adequate assessment.

On September 13, starting at 00:05, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched a major military attack in several directions against Armenia, primarily using artillery and UAVs. 49 Armenian troops were killed and 3 civilians were wounded in the Azerbaijani attack. As of 14:00, September 14, the situation along several sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border remains extremely tense.
While in Kazakhstan for Pope Francis' visit, Mongolia's Cardinal Giorgio Marengo discusses with Vatican News the importance of the Pope's visit to the Central Asian nation, saying it will draw attention to the world's conflicts, while working toward concrete change and long-awaited peace.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov - Nur-Sultan

Mongolia's Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, the Prefect of Ulaanbaatar, is convinced that Pope Francis' visit to Kazakhstan marks a significant step forward in the task of dialogue and reconciliation, as the world battles crises and war.

In an interview with Vatican News in Kazakhstan, the first-ever Cardinal of the Central Asian nation, now the youngest member of the College of Cardinals, shares his insight about the Pope's 38th Apostolic Journey abroad.

He notes that it comes amid continuing war in Ukraine, saying the papal visit has the power to not only draw widespread attention, but to bring about concrete change.

Q: Your Eminence, would you say that it is fair to consider the Holy Father's visit, a missionary trip, in a sense?

Definitely, yes. We like to see this Apostolic Journey as a missionary journey, which confirms the attitude of Pope Francis to be a true missionary of the good news.

His Apostolic Journey to Kazakhstan means a lot to all of us because we belong to the same Episcopal conference, and we are sure that it will also foster the ties of peace and reconciliation in the whole region.

Listen to our interview with Cardinal Giorgio Marengo of Mongolia:

Q: The Holy Father's participation in the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions is one of the main reasons why he is here. From your experience in Central Asia, how would you say that this trip and the Pope's presence has the power to promote peace and dialogue, also as war continues nearby?

I strongly believe that the presence of the Holy Father represents a step forward in this process of dialogue and reconciliation. Considering the great reputation that the Holy Father has, his participation in the seventh Congress marks a special moment in this process.

And even from Mongolia, his participation is seen as a great honor. In Mongolia, the Holy Father enjoys a lot of admiration because of his commitment to dialogue and promoting culture of peace and fraternity.

Q: From your experience in Central Asia and with interreligious dialogue, is there some barrier you personally think needs to be overcome? Is there something you feel is needed?

I would say that this region of the world has a history, a tradition of coexistence and peaceful collaboration. Perhaps the presence of the Holy Father will represent a kind of increase in the importance of this process, even in the society, the larger society of these countries.

When a world leader like the Holy Father participates in such a meeting, it means that the attention of the public is also drawn there. And so, I would say the presence of the Holy Father will help this process to become more concrete and more widely known.


Pope Francis departs from Romes Fiumicino airport aboard the papal plane bound for Nur-Sultan, as he begins his Apostolic Journey to Kazakhstan.

By Devin Watkins

The papal plane took off from Romes Fiumicino airport on Tuesday at 7:36 AM with Pope Francis aboard, along with a compliment of around 80 journalists in the papal entourage.

The Popes 38th Apostolic Journey abroad takes him to the Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan, where he is expected to arrive at around 5:45 PM local time (GMT+6) after a roughly 6.5-hour flight.

His first official visit comes soon afterwards on Tuesday as he makes a courtesy visit to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, before meeting with the countrys authorities, civil servants, and diplomatic corps.

Pope Francis greets ground crew at Fiumicino

Interreligious dialogue at forefront of visit

Pope Francis visits the Central Asian nation mainly to attend the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

He takes part in the opening session of the Congress on Tuesday morning, and will greet its participants who hail from around 100 nations.

The Popes presence will lift the profile of this 7th interreligious congress, according to Prof. Azza Karam, Secretary General of Religions for Peace.

He is seen as a religious leader who articulates the moral responsibilities and even clarifies what needs to be done in order to heal communities and to prevent conflict, says Prof. Karam. So, his role will continue to be to map out the how and why of resolving and avoiding conflicts, including of living more peacefully with ourselves as people of faith.

The Pope closes the two-day Congress on Wednesday afternoon with a speech following the reading of the final declaration.

Encouraging Catholic community

Yet, the Holy Father will not fail to offer his closeness and encouragement to the Catholics of Kazakhstan.

He celebrates Holy Mass on Wednesday at the Expo Grounds in Nur-Sultan for the small Catholic community.

Catholics make up around 1 percent of Kazakhstans population of 19 million, 70 percent of which is Muslim, and 25 percent Christian, mostly Russian Orthodox.

Pope Francis also meets with the Bishops, clergy, seminarians, and men and women religious of the country on Thursday morning at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Fr. Ruslan Rakhimberlinov, the rector of the Catholic seminary in Karaganda, says the local community feels blessed to host the Pope in their homeland.

For us, the visit of Pope Francis to Kazakhstan is an opportunity for our small Catholic community here, our 'small flock' in Kazakhstan, to gain some momentum, he says.

Pope Francis will return to Rome on Thursday evening at around 8:00 PM Rome time.
As he flew to Kazakhstan on Tuesday, Pope Francis greeted journalists aboard the papal plane, and was given a symbolic stole to recall Sr. Maria De Coppi, an Italian Comboni missionary who was murdered recently in Mozambique.

By Salvatore Cernuzio

As he shared photos, handshakes and jokes about knee-related health problems, Pope Francis received a special gift on Tuesday as he greeted journalists at the beginning of his flight from Rome to Nur-Sultan.

Eva Fernandez, a reporter for Spanish Radio station Cope, gave the Pope a pagneor stolewhich is a traditional garment of Mozambique, where it called a capulana, and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa and can symbolize life.

Symbol of life

The gift was meant to recall Sister Maria De Coppi, an Italian-born Comboni missionary, who was murdered in Mozambique on 7 September. The 84-year-old nun was shot to death during an attack on a Catholic church in the town of Chipene, in the northern part of the country.

The journalist also gave the Pope a note to explain the meaning of the stole, which is often used to wrap newborn babies or tie them to their mothers back. Women wear it on their heads as they get married, and give one to their mothers as a sign of gratitude for raising them.

The capulana are also present at liturgies, which express peoples faith and the mystery of Jesus life. When someone falls ill, he or she is covered with this stole, and when a person dies they are lowered into the earth with it.

Listen to our report

Request for prayers

This cloth belongs to women, even the poorest woman, because with it she carries life, from beginning to end, read the note accompanying the gift for Pope Francis.

The black and white capulana and note was given to the Pope by the Comboni religious sisters, who asked for prayers for Mozambique as people suffer from insecurity.

In response, Pope Francis thanked the nuns he called sisters of the peripheries for their thoughtful gift.

In their note, the Comboni sisters said they hoped to present the Pope with the life of the Mozambican people who currently need care and to be protected with the capulan of prayer, justice, nearness, and solidarity.

Insecurity in Mozambique

Parts of Mozambique have been plagued by violence in recent years, especially in the northern Cabo Delgado region where jihadist groups have been operating since 2017.

Nearly 800,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.

After Sr. De Coppis death, Pope Francis prayed that her witness might give strength and courage to Christians and all the people of Mozambique, as he recited the Angelus prayer on 11 September.

The Comboni sisters also released a statement in the wake of her death.

"The death of our sister will regenerate missionary life in Mozambique and around the world," the Combonians wrote. "With immense sorrow for the murder of our sister, Maria De Coppi, and for the attack on the mission in Chipene (Mozambique) last Sept. 6, we Comboni Missionary Sisters wish to reaffirm our commitment to remain united in prayer, solidarity and Mission, just when the work gets harder. The steps of missionaries in this land do not stop because of violence. The death of our sister will become a seed that will regenerate missionary life in Mozambique and throughout the world."
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS.The Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia, Ms. Kristinne Grigoryan held an online briefing with the heads of diplomatic missions, and representatives of international organizations accredited in Armenia regarding the situation of border communities of the Republic of Armenia as a result of the ongoing Azerbaijani attack.

In particular, the Defender presented the factual data collected by the her office regarding the aggression of the Azerbaijani armed forces against Armenia, including the facts and evidence of targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.

The Defender had separate briefings with the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Dunya Mijatovic and the co-rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of obligations and commitments by Armenia and the secretariat, presenting the situation.

During the briefings, the Defender Ms. Kristinne Grigoryan emphasized that the Azerbaijani actions are essentially a direct aggressive attack on the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia, as well as has endangered the life and security of Armenian peaceful population and jeopardized the enjoyment of other fundamental rights. The Defender assured the international partners that she will regularly provide information about the ongoing situation and asked the interlocutors to adequately assess the current events.

On September 13, starting at 00:05, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched a major military attack in several directions against Armenia, primarily using artillery and UAVs. 49 Armenian troops were killed and 3 civilians were wounded in the Azerbaijani attack. As of 14:00, September 14, the situation along several sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border remains extremely tense.
A U.N. expert warns Afghans are trapped in a human rights crisis the world seems powerless to fix.

Richard Bennett, special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, has submitted his first report to the U.N. Human Rights Council since assuming his post after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last year.

Bennett said conditions in Afghanistan have deteriorated over the past year. He said the Taliban have become increasingly authoritarian, clamping down on freedom of expression and denying people their civic and political rights.

While all Afghans are going through turbulent times, he said, the rollback of the rights previously enjoyed by women and girls is particularly deplorable.

I am gravely concerned about the staggering regression in women's and girls enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights since the Taliban seized control of the country," he said. "There is no country in the world where women and girls have so rapidly been deprived of their fundamental human rights purely because of gender.

Bennett called it a matter of international concern. He said urgent action is needed to get the de facto Taliban rulers to change their discriminatory policies. The U.N. expert described a country on the brink of economic collapse. He said nearly 19 million people, half the population, face acute hunger.

He said even security, which had improved after the Taliban took power in August 2021, is deteriorating again. He said he has received many reports of civilians being subjected to house-to-house searches and what appear to be collective punishment.

I am particularly concerned that former Afghan National Defense and Security Forces and other officials of the former government remain subject to ongoing arbitrary detention, torture, extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances, despite the amnesty declared by the Taliban, Bennett said.

Bennett said those committing these crimes appear to be acting with impunity and are creating an atmosphere of terror.

The U.N. does not recognize the legitimacy of the Taliban government. Nasir Ahmad Andisha continues to represent the former government as Afghanistans ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva.

Following the rapporteurs intervention, he called on the council to establish a mechanism to identify those committing crimes with impunity. He said this documented information potentially could be used by the International Criminal Court and other U.N. bodies to bring perpetrators to account and provide justice for the victims.
As Africa reflects on the legacy of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, Kenyans remember how a princess visiting the country in 1952 left a queen. Analysts note how Elizabeth helped steer the end of Britain's empire and exploitative colonial rule. But while relations were repaired and improved under the monarch, colonialism left lasting wounds.

The queens accession to the throne came as African colonies clamored for independence and she had to supervise the elimination of the British colonial empire.

Macharia Munene, professor of history at the United States International University Africa in Nairobi, said the queens reign saw a transition from empire to commonwealth.

She was able to adjust to the reality of the imperial decline, Munene said, and then transform that imperial decline to a good thing, something common that people can be part of, that is the Commonwealth.

To some Africans, British colonial rule is synonymous with exploitation. They blame the queen, the representative of British interests, for atrocities during that period.

That includes Gitu wa Kahengeri, the secretary general of the Mau Mau War Veterans Association, who was detained during the fight for independence in Kenya.

I personally will not forget that I was incarcerated for seven years, he said. I cannot forget I was put together with my father. I cannot forget I left my children for seven years without food, without education. That, I will never forget.

But with territorial colonialism now decades gone, memories of British rule in Africa are fading, and peoples views of the queen have changed.

She was many things to many people, Munene said. To the colonial subjects at the time of colonialism, she was the symbol of the evil that was colonialism. With independence, she was able to transform herself to a likeable person. And as a person, she was likeable.

Queen Elizabeth was widely admired and seen as a role model by many on the continent. Among them is Benedict Yartey from Ghana.

The legacy she has left will keep her name deeply rooted in the hearts of generations to come, Yartey said.

Sophia Emmanuelle from South Africa was sympathetic about the queens death.

For me, its just sad, she said. I cant really say I take it personally, but I mean its sad for people around the world and especially for England.

Tunde Kamali of Nigeria took a philosophical view of the queens death.

"I have never known any other ruler that lasted that long, Kamali said. So, for this now to have happened, it only means that every man has an end."

Analysts say Queen Elizabeths biggest legacy is the creation of the Commonwealth. And with the death of the queen, the future of that legacy now lies with King Charles III.
Fresh clashes broke out Tuesday between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with each side reporting casualties and blaming the other for the violence.

Armenia said Azerbaijani forces attacked several points near the border, killing 49 Armenian soldiers.

Azerbaijan said Armenian forces fired on its positions, leaving an unspecified number of casualties.

The two countries have had a decades-long conflict involving the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is inside Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.

A six-week war in 2020 killed more than 6,600 people and saw Azerbaijan reclaim territory in and around the region.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the two sides to end any military hostilities immediately, saying in a statement that there is no military solution to the conflict.

Russias Foreign Ministry also urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the conflict through political and diplomatic means.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
As China builds more naval and merchant ships, U.S. maritime experts are calling on the Biden administration to increase investment in domestic shipbuilding to catch up with Beijing.

The disparity has prompted U.S. maritime experts to call for a "Ships Act" comparable to the recently enacted "Chips Act" that supports the return of chip manufacturing to the United States.

A Ships Act would recall the U.S. effort undertaken in World War II when domestic shipyards launched more than 5,000 vessels in a war-changing torrent.

Bryan McGrath, managing director at The FerryBridge Group, told VOA Mandarin that the shipbuilding bases of the U.S. and China are simply not comparable.

"The Chinese industrial base is a behemoth, and the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base is freakishly undersized as a function of the size of America's economy and its influence in the world," McGrath said.

As of 2020, the U.S. Navy had 297 battle force ships, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service. China surpassed the U.S. as the world's largest navy with an inventory of about 355 vessels, according to a U.S. Defense Department report released in 2021. The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) projects that China will have 400 battle force ships by 2025 and 425 by 2030.

The U.S. merchant marine fleet is falling even further behind China. The U.S. has fewer than 80 commercial ships in international service while China has more than 5,500 merchant ships, a senior U.S. Navy officer told gCaptain, a maritime news website, in May.

The U.S. Transportation Department's Maritime Administration estimates only 1.5% of U.S. waterborne imports and exports are carried on U.S.-registered vessels. Few of those have the capacity to participate in a sealift operation, which refers to the use of commercial vessels to assist the Department of Defense with the transport of supplies, military personnel and other military assets.

The U.S. shortfall of ships is a "screaming national security vulnerability" according to an unnamed senior official quoted in a November 2021 Brookings report. China already has prepared its merchant fleet to perform as the "logistical backbone" for an invasion of Taiwan, according to a May 2022 report from the China Maritime Studies Institute.

Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain and senior fellow at the Sagamore Institute, wrote in an op-ep in the National Review that the U.S. needs a "Ships Act" similar to the Chips Act that President Joe Biden recently signed.

"Chips made in America will most likely cost more than chips made overseas  but they will be available if a war were to break out, so this made strategic sense. The Chips Act passed with strong bipartisan support. For these same reasons, Congress should pass, and the president should sign," a "Ships Act" that would increase domestic U.S. shipbuilding and ship repair capabilities, Hendrix wrote in the August 29 issue.

Strained industrial capacity

During World War II, the U.S. had more than 50 public and private shipyards that could either build or repair ships in excess of 500 feet in length. Today, it has fewer than 20, Hendrix wrote.

China, South Korea and Japan have become the world's top three shipbuilding nations in terms of gross tonnage, according to data from Statista.

"China has 19 modern shipbuilding yards pumping out commercial and naval ships," Hendrix wrote. "One of China's shipyards is so large that its capacity surpasses that of all U.S. shipbuilders combined."

According to U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday, the service faces challenges in adding more ships due to constrained industrial capacity.

"We have an industrial capacity that's limited. In other words, we can only get so many ships off the production line a year," Gilday said at a Heritage Foundation event on August 25.

Gilday's 2022 Navigation Plan, released in July, calls for more than 350 manned ships and about 150 unmanned surface and underwater vehicles by 2045.

China's subsidized shipbuilding

The rise of China's shipping industry has benefited from government support. According to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, combined state support to Chinese firms in the shipping and shipbuilding industry totaled roughly $132 billion between 2010 and 2018.

Michael Roberts, adjunct fellow at Hudson Institute's Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, said U.S. commercial shipbuilders lack the orders needed to compete effectively with shipyards in other countries and receive almost no support from the government.

"The U.S. order book for large commercial ships is for less than 10 ships. In comparison, China's order book for large commercial ships stood at 1,529 ships, number one in the world, with almost half of the global total," Roberts told VOA Mandarin.

During World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program, the U.S. rapidly built nearly 6,000 ships to transport troops and supplies to allied and foreign war zones.

Hendrix suggested the U.S. should increase the number of both shipbuilding dry docks and large shipyards, as well as redirect the contracts to small- and medium-sized yards.

"We need to do that now. In World War II, a lot of the industrialization that became very useful to us in 1942 actually began in 1939 with the long lead procurement of certain vessels that entered the fleet three years later," Hendrix told VOA Mandarin in an interview.

However, Alex Wooley, a journalist writing on naval issues and a director at William and Mary's Global Research Institute, believes that the U.S. will not be able to rebuild this capacity easily as the shipbuilding factories that have closed lost the essential skilled workers needed to reopen.

"Shipbuilding benefits from a sense of continuity. There is not a lot of untapped surge capacity," Wooley said.

The U.S. shipbuilding decline began in 1981, when the Reagan administration adopted laissez-faire economic principles and eliminated shipbuilding subsidies, according to Hendrix. Countries such as China chose to increase government subsidies to help capture shipbuilding market share and fill the vacuum created by the U.S. withdrawal.

As a result, Chinese companies have become dominant across the global maritime supply chain. According to the CSIS report, China constructed over a third of the world's vessels in 2019. They also produced 96% of the world's shipping containers and more than 80% of the world's ship-to-shore cranes.

Although there are hurdles to expanding shipping capacities, some U.S. shipyards have started to make infrastructure investments that could set them up to build more ships.

McGrath said Congress needs to commit significant financial resources to the shipbuilding industry to subsidize necessary investments and acquisitions as well as to incentivize the shipbuilding workforce.

Hendrix, in his opinion piece, also called for subsidies and government-led industrial policy to become part of the U.S. shipbuilding future, saying, "We can no longer follow the path of intellectual economic idealism that has led us to the present position of industrial isolation."
The arrest in Azerbaijan of a journalist and his lawyer is being viewed by human rights defenders and members of the country's media as politically motivated.

Officers from the prosecutor general's office in the capital Baku on Saturday detained Avaz Zeynalli, owner and chief editor of the independent news outlet Xural TV, and Elchin Sadigov, a prominent human rights lawyer.

In the early hours of the next day, a district court ordered both to be held in pretrial detention for four months on charges related to bribery.

Zeynalli, whose media outlet broadcasts on YouTube, covers human rights abuses and corruption investigations and is often critical of the government. Sadigov is a Baku-based lawyer who regularly defends journalists and human rights defenders.

An investigation into the pair was started after a pro-government news outlet on September 7 published claims that they had extorted money from a jailed businessman in return for favorable coverage, according to a statement by the prosecutor general's office.

In court, Zeynalli and Sadigov rejected the accusations.

Local and international media associations and journalists expressed concern over the arrests.

Mehman Aliyev, editor of the independent Turan news agency, told VOA he believes the arrests contradict the government's stated commitment to freedom of speech.

"The reason behind Avaz Zeynalli's detention is to prevent his journalistic activities," Aliyev said. "His activities go against the policy of the Azerbaijani authorities, its policy in the field of media and freedom of speech."

The Azerbaijan Press Council, a self-regulatory body that oversees media compliance, expressed concern over the arrest of Zeynalli.

The council "is always worried about journalists' arrests, regardless of the charges brought against them. We would like Avaz to be freed," council chair Aflatun Amashov, told VOA.

The New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also called for the pair's immediate release.

The arrest "illustrates once again the hostile environment which civil society activists and independent media professionals face in Azerbaijan," CPJ said in a statement.

Rufat Safarov, a former prosecutor who heads the Azerbaijan-based human rights group Defense Line, said the arrests added to a deteriorating human rights situation in the country.

"Unfortunately, the already unpleasant legal image of the country will become even more unpleasant, to put it mildly," he said.

The legal expert does not believe Zeynalli and Sadigov can be tried for corruption, which under Azeri law relates only to "an official performing actions in exchange for certain material favors, money."

"It is impossible to be the subject of corruption and bribery without being a government official or a government representative. Therefore, I believe that the current criminal prosecution took place under the directive of political authorities," Safarov told VOA.

The General Prosecutor's Office rejected claims that the arrests are politically motivated.

During the investigation, the statement said, "reasonable suspicions were established that the official received a large amount of bribe, and thus a criminal case was initiated, and an investigation is being conducted."

Bahruz Maharramov, a member of the Azerbaijan parliament, also rejected claims that the detention is political.

Information from the inquiry and published in the media "established reasonable suspicions that the officials received a large amount of bribe," he told VOA.

"Everyone should understand, once and for all, that the Azerbaijani authorities do not have any problems with Avaz Zeynalli or Elchin Sadigov. And in general, lawyers and journalists, like everyone else in Azerbaijan today, are equal before the law, regardless of their beliefs, affiliation to political parties and other public associations," he said.

On the day that Zeynalli and Sadigov were detained, officers from the prosecutor's office searched their homes and offices.

Sadigov's wife, Zibeyda, who is also a lawyer, said that officers took case materials relating to clients represented by her and her husband.

Azerbaijani lawyer Alasgar Mammadli said the removal of such material contradicts the law on the provision of legal services.

"Lawyers documents related to their professional activity cannot be requested or taken by the authorities under any circumstances. However, we saw that piles of documents were collected in a bag from his office and taken away."

"This is directly related to the lawyer's activities. It is a violation of the article guaranteeing activities of a lawyer," Mammadli said.

The chair of the Bar Association of Azerbaijan, Anar Baghirov, told VOA the group is closely following the case.

Editor's note: The story has been updated to clarify which authorities detained the journalist and his lawyer.

This story originated in VOA's Azerbaijani Service.
Farmers associations from 11 Central African countries say disruptions in food supplies caused by Russia's war in Ukraine have deepened the struggles of millions of Africans to survive. The farmers, meeting Tuesday in Cameroons capital, called on the region's governments to help people cope with food shortages.

Farmers say scarcity, high prices and a worsening economic situation are reducing access to food for most households across central Africa.

Representatives of more than 60 farmers associations met Tuesday in Cameroon's capital Yaounde and asked the governments of 11 central African countries to invest in agriculture and ease dependency on food imports.

Nadine Mballa, coordinator of Gabon's Farmers Union, said hunger will decrease if the right steps are taken.

We need governments in central Africa to give means, resources so that we can produce a good amount of seeds because we don't have sufficient seeds to have food sovereignty, she said. We need, through this conference, to sensitize our governments. If they give means, strengthen capacities of farmers, giving resources to farmers and farmers organizations because there is a need, the farmers organizations are very willing to solve food insecurity and food crisis."

Russias invasion of Ukraine disrupted food exports from both countries. In April, economic ministers meeting via video conferencing said the war has deprived central African states of more than 55% of wheat normally imported from both Ukraine and Russia.

Central African states say Western sanctions on Russia imposed in response to the invasion have further hurt Africas economy.

Drem Taing Toutkoul, coordinator of the Regional Platform of Central African Peasant Organizations, PROPAC, said if governments immediately invest in peasant farming, which he said is capable of providing 80% of food consumed by civilians in central Africa, food disruptions and price spikes will no longer be a major problem.

Toutkoul said it is unfortunate that central Africa has abundant water resources and millions of hectares of arable land, yet finds it difficult to produce cassava, maize, beans, millet, sorghum, rice and peanuts for its people. He said if the importation of planting seeds and food is not reduced, food self-sufficiency in Central Africa will remain a dream.

Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Sao Tome and Principe are taking part in Tuesdays conference.

The U.N. notes that conflict, climate shocks, floods and droughts are also contributing to central Africa's dramatic food crisis.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The Ukrainian foreign ministry reacted to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border tension after Azerbaijan launched a large-scale attack on Armenia.

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleg Nikolenko said that Ukraine is closely following the recent developments in the situation at the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

We urge the parties to a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict in compliance with the international law norms, particularly the respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states within their internationally recognized borders, Nikolenko said in part.
Hoping to witness the launch of NASA's Artemis 1 rocket to the moon is  so far  an exercise in frustration for Mark Franko.

"I was hoping to feel the noise and the power and the sound  it would have been pretty interesting to see, I think," Franko told VOA as he and his friends tried to watch a launch behind a local restaurant not far from Cape Canaveral. But fuel leaks and other issues have twice postponed the most powerful rocket system ever created from taking off.

Despite the delays, Franko's friend, Mary Jane Patterson, thinks NASA shouldn't be in a hurry to make the next launch attempt.



"I think that they should bring it back to the building and really check it out completely and then go again. I feel like it was too soon to go off after the first problem, and I think that, whether it was PR [public relations] or whatever, they were trying to push the envelope but at the same time they can't. I don't think you can be too cautious," she said.

"It's the first time we've flown this rocket and this capsule," noted astronaut Stan Love, who spoke with VOA ahead of the first unsuccessful launch attempt. "There are many, many things that can go wrong. This is a test flight. Don't get your expectations too high."

But with hundreds of thousands of tourists gathering in Florida for each launch attempt, joining media from around the world assembled at Cape Canaveral, Love knows those expectations are high, at least partly because of the large price tag of the endeavor.

The original cost for the S-L-S, or "Space Launch System," which includes the rocket and boosters that propel the Orion capsule into space, has grown from $10 billion to $20 billion. Each successful launch will cost about $4.1 billion. NASA's inspector general expects the overall Artemis program to reach $93 billion by the time the first astronauts return to the surface of the moon, targeted for 2025.

That's if NASA can get the first uncrewed mission off the ground this year.

"We've got to make sure the vehicle is ready to go, we've got to make sure it's safe for crew, and those things just take time," said Doug Hurley, a retired NASA astronaut who flew on the first crewed mission of Space X's Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. He now works for Northrop Grumman, one of the contractors working on Artemis, and he is quick to respond to critics who say the current effort to return to the moon is behind schedule and over budget.



"I've heard that my whole career. Every aircraft I've been involved with, every spacecraft I've been involved with. We heard that with Crew Dragon flying  it was six years from the time the contract was awarded to the time we flew. It takes time to build these complicated machines. But it's worth it."

As NASA troubleshoots difficulties while carefully weighing the risks in launching Artemis, cost isn't the only factor.

"Mission success comes as we assess the flight after the fact," said David Reynolds, a deputy program manager for NASA, who added that the future of spaceflight depends on the performance of this first uncrewed attempt to return to the moon.



"As you tick off the different boxes, you buy down a certain amount of risk for the crewed flight. And so, once you have made that determination and we decide that it is safe enough to fly with crew, we will have considered it a mission success."

But Mark Franko, who had to return to Tempe, Arizona, before the next potential launch, wonders if the effort to see Artemis 1 in person was worth it.

"If you watch it on TV it would probably be closer," he told VOA.

NASA is now looking at launch windows in late September and early October.


Uganda has made its first war reparations payment to the Democratic Republic of Congo for losses its troops caused during wars and occupations in the 1990s. Uganda paid Kinshasa $65 million; the first of five annual payments ordered in February by the International Court of Justice. Uganda's payment came as a surprise after years of proceedings and talks with the DRC.

Ugandas payment to the Democratic Republic of Congo follows a ruling by the International Court of Justice early this year. The court ordered Uganda to pay $325 million to the DRC as reparations for an invasion that lasted from 1998 to 2003.

Under the order, Uganda is to pay $65 million in September of each year from 2022 through 2026.

Uganda Ministry of Finance spokesperson Apollo Mughinda tells VOA that the first payment is a gesture by Uganda that it is willing to pay the amount set by the court.

Uganda has paid the first installment as per the requirement. We paid 65 million dollars. And you can see the goodwill," Mughinda said. "If something happens along the way, because we are brothers, we are all members of the East African community, well, it can be negotiated further.

The ruling by ICJ Judge Joan Donoghue came seven years after Uganda failed to pay or negotiate a request from the DRC to pay $11 billion in compensation for the war.

Great Lakes expert Dismas Nkunda says Ugandas willingness to make the payment was shocking.

I am shocked that we can pay. Im shocked that we can pay on time. Im shocked that Uganda can listen to a decision by an international court," Nkunda said. "First of all, the matter before the International Court of Justice, they didnt take it seriously in the beginning. And they thought that its matter they could do a diplomatic maneuver over it and discuss with DR Congo and it would end.

The $325 million payment includes $225 million for damage to persons, $40 million for damage to property, and $60 million for damage related to natural resources.

The Reuters news agency reports DRC government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya confirmed that the first of five installments was received.
The European Union wants to enact tougher rules for media groups seeking to acquire smaller rivals on whether their deals ensure media pluralism and safeguard editorial independence, according to draft EU rules seen by Reuters.

The Media Freedom Act (MFA), which the European Commission will present later this week, comes during concerns about media freedom in Poland, Hungary and Slovenia.

The EU is also worried about the allocation of some countries' state advertising to pro-government outlets to influence the media.

The rules will apply to TV and radio broadcasters, on-demand audiovisual media services, press publications and very large online platforms and providers of video-sharing platforms.

They will need to be thrashed out with EU countries and lawmakers before they can become law in a process likely to take a year or more.

The concerns around media freedoms have grown ahead of European Parliament elections in 2024.

"It should be considered whether other media outlets, providing different and alternative content, would still coexist in the given market(s) after the media market concentration in question," the document said.

Editorial independence safeguards should consider undue interference by owners, management or governance structures, it added.

The proposed rules also require regulators to examine whether the merging companies would remain economically sustainable if there was no deal.

The EU executive and a new European Board for Media Services can offer their opinions on whether the two criteria have been met.

State advertising to media service providers should be transparent and non-discriminatory, the document said.

The proposed rules set out the right of journalists and media service providers not to be detained, sanctioned, subjected to surveillance or search and seizure by EU

governments and regulatory bodies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his forces have liberated over 6,000 square kilometers from Russian control. Plus, whats it going to take to rebuild Ukraine after the war? And, how a tragedy over 20 years ago turned into a mission to help those in need around the world.
An airstrike wounded at least one person on Tuesday in Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopias northern Tigray region, a hospital official said, two days after Tigrayan forces said they were ready for a cease-fire with the federal government.

The strike hit the business campus of Mekelle University and Dimitsi Woyane TV station, which is run by the regional government, said Kibrom Gebreselassie, the chief executive officer at Ayder Referral Hospital. He cited a witness who arrived with a man wounded in the strike.

Getachew Reda, spokesperson for the regional government, said on Twitter that the business campus had been hit by drones.

Ethiopian military spokesperson Colonel Getnet Adane and government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not respond to requests for comment.

The airstrike is the third to hit Mekelle since the nearly two-year-old conflict resumed late last month after a five-month cease-fire. Each side blames the other for the renewed fighting.

The Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), which governs Tigray, said on Sunday it was ready for a cease-fire without preconditions and would accept an African Union-led peace process.

Diplomats described the offer as a potential breakthrough. The Ethiopian government has not yet officially responded.

Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, appointed as the AU's chief mediator, met with the American envoy to the Horn of Africa region, Mike Hammer, on Monday, Djiboutis former ambassador to Ethiopia, Mohamed Idriss Farah, who was also present, said in a tweet.

The TPLF dominated national politics for nearly three decades until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018.

The TPLF accuses Abiy of centralizing power at the expense of Ethiopias regions. Abiy denies this and accuses the TPLF of trying to reclaim power, which it denies.

Journalists arrested

The conflict has also repeatedly spilled into the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.

Two Amhara journalists who publicly criticized the federal government were arrested last week, according to a police document seen by Reuters. The Amhara region, Ethiopia's second most populous, has been a key part of Abiy's powerbase.

Gobeze Sisay, the founder of Voice of Amhara, was accused of supporting the TPLF on social media. Meaza Mohamed, a journalist with Roha Media, was accused of encouraging Amhara people to allow the TPLF to pass through their areas, the police document showed.

Amhara people, especially those close to the Tigrayan border  we are tired of war, Gobeze said in a Facebook post a week ago.

Amhara journalists, politicians and militia members were among thousands arrested during a regional crackdown in May; some still remain in prison.

An Ethiopian government spokesperson, the head of the Ethiopian Media Authority and a police spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said last month it had documented the arrest of at least 63 journalists and media workers since the conflict erupted.
Two Haitian reporters were fatally shot and their bodies set on fire while reporting in a slum controlled by gangs in the capital, the second such killing this year, according to a journalists' association.

The two men were among seven journalists who came under attack Sunday in the Cite Soleil district of Port-au-Prince while investigating worsening violence in the area, including the recent killing of a 17-year-old girl, according to a statement from Haiti's Association of Independent Journalists.

The victims were identified as Tayson Latigue and Frantzsen Charles.

Dieudonne St-Cyr, a reporter with the association, told radio station Metropole Haiti that the journalists were ambushed by two warring gangs that he did not identify. He said the five other reporters fled unharmed, adding that the bodies of the two victims have not been recovered.

The organization condemned what it called a "villainous and odious act" and demanded that the government improve the country's worsening insecurity amid a spike in killings and kidnappings. Gangs have grown more powerful since the July 7, 2021, assassination President Jovenel Moise.

"The journalists were just doing their job," the group said. "They didn't commit any crime."

The organization said the killings are "further proof of the inability of the state to protect lives and property, which is nothing other than a violation of human rights."

Prime Minister Ariel Henry also condemned the killings, saying he was "profoundly shocked" at the deaths.

"We strongly condemn this barbaric act, while sending our heartfelt thoughts to the families of the victims and their colleagues," he tweeted.

In January, two other journalists were killed by gang members while reporting in Laboule, a troubled area south of Port-au-Prince.

In addition, journalists are still demanding answers in the March 2018 disappearance of freelance photographer Vladjimir Legagneur, who was last seen in the Grand Ravine area, one of the poorest and most dangerous districts in Port-au-Prince.


For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in Russias war on Ukraine. All times EDT.

9:12 p.m.: Ukraine has set its sights on freeing all of the territory occupied by invading Russian forces, a goal U.S. President Joe Biden said would be "a long haul" to achieve.

In a Tuesday evening address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said around 8,000 square kilometers have been liberated by Ukrainian forces so far this month, apparently all in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.

"Stabilization measures" had been completed in about half of that territory, Zelenskyy said, "and across a liberated area of about the same size, stabilization measures are still ongoing."

Reuters was not able to immediately verify the full scope of battlefield successes claimed by Ukraine.

Asked whether Ukraine has reached a turning point in the six-month war, Biden said it was hard to tell.

"It's clear the Ukrainians have made significant progress. But I think its going to be a long haul," he said.

8 p.m.: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine, as a counter-offensive by Kyiv's forces made quick advances.

Scholz urged Putin in a 90-minute telephone call to "come to a diplomatic solution as quickly as possible, based on a cease-fire, a complete withdrawal of Russian forces and respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Ukraine," according to the chancellor's spokesman Steffen Hebestreit, Agence France-Presse reported.

In a phone call, Scholz also urged Putin "not to discredit and continue to fully implement" the grain deal in light of the stretched global food supply, Hebestreit said.

7:04 p.m.:

5:51 p.m.: In Balakliya, a crucial military supply hub taken by Ukrainian forces late last week, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said 150,000 people had been liberated from Russian rule in the area, Reuters reported.

Maria Tymofeeva, 43, said fighting had raged for three days last week before going quiet.

"A lot of people have disappeared," she said. Asked if there were many collaborators in the town, she said, "I think so, yes," before adding, with a laugh, "I think they have fled!"

Fighting was continuing elsewhere in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Maliar earlier told Reuters, saying Ukraine's forces were making good progress because they were highly motivated and their operation well planned.

4:29 p.m.: The Biden administration is likely to announce a fresh military aid package for Ukraine in "coming days," the White House said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.



"I do think you'll see another one here in coming days," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

3:25 p.m.: The United Nations is trying to broker a resumption of Russian ammonia exports through Ukraine, a Western diplomat said on Tuesday, a move that could stabilize a landmark deal allowing Ukrainian food and fertilizer shipments from Black Sea ports, Reuters reported.



Ammonia is a key ingredient in nitrate fertilizer. A pipeline transporting ammonia from Russia's Volga region to Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa was shut down when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.



Facilitating Russia's food and fertilizer exports is a central aspect of a package deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey on July 22 that also restarted Ukraine's Black Sea grain and fertilizer shipments. Russia has recently criticized the deal, complaining that its exports were still hindered.



The United Nations has proposed that ammonia gas owned by Russian fertilizer producer Uralchem be brought via pipeline to the Russia-Ukraine border. There it would be purchased by U.S.-headquartered commodities trader Trammo, according to the proposal.

2:30 p.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday posted a promotional video on Twitter encouraging people to buy Ukrainian-made goods, saying a percentage of the profits will go toward efforts to rebuild the country.

2:10 p.m.: A group of St. Petersburg local politicians who called for President Vladimir Putin to be sacked over the war in Ukraine faces the likely dissolution of their district council following a judge's ruling on Tuesday, one of the deputies said, according to Reuters.

Nikita Yuferev said the judge decided that a series of past council meetings had been invalid, paving the way for it to be broken up by the regional governor. Another council member, Dmitry Palyuga, said the same court then fined him 47,000 rubles ($780) for "discrediting" the authorities by calling for Putin's removal. Court officials could not be reached by telephone for comment.

Four more members of the Smolninskoye local council are due to appear in court in the next two days.

Last week, a group of deputies from the council appealed to the State Duma to bring charges of state treason against Putin and strip him of power, citing a series of reasons including Russia's military losses in Ukraine and the damage to its economy from Western sanctions.

Another local deputy said 65 municipal representatives from St. Petersburg, Moscow and several other regions had signed a petition she published on Monday calling for Putin's resignation.

While posing no current threat to Putin's grip on power, the moves mark rare expressions of dissent by elected representatives at a time when Russians risk heavy prison sentences for "discrediting" the armed forces or spreading "deliberately false information" about them.

1:55 p.m.: A local councilor from St. Petersburg who called on Vladimir Putin to resign says he's been overwhelmed by the level of support from members of the public. Dmitry Palyuga, of St. Petersburg's Smolny municipal council, co-authored a petition calling on the Russian president to step down that was sent to Russia's State Duma. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has this report:

1:20 p.m.: International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said she spoke with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday and they agreed to explore ways to ramp up the IMF's support for Ukraine using all available tools, Reuters reported.



"Excellent call with President @ZelenskyyUa," Georgieva wrote on Twitter. She said they discussed how the global lender could "continue to back Ukraine and agreed to explore ways to ramp up our financial and policy engagement to (Ukraine) using all tools available to us."



The call came a day after the IMF's executive board held an informal session to discuss proposed changes that would give all member countries, including Ukraine, access to additional emergency funding to deal with budget woes caused by food shocks.



In a separate posting on Twitter, Zelenskyy said he spoke with Georgieva and thanked her for "the allocation of $1.4 billion of additional support. Discussed future cooperation to increase Ukraine's financial stability."



12:50 pm.: The Kremlin on Tuesday hailed the significance of Russian President Vladimir Putins planned meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week, noting that its particularly important amid tensions with the West, The Associated Press reported.



Putins foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said the two leaders are scheduled to meet Thursday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of a summit of a security pact dominated by Moscow and Beijing.



The meeting has a special significance in view of the current international situation, Ushakov told reporters, saying Putin and Xi will discuss the international situation, along with regional issues and bilateral cooperation.



China has pointedly refused to criticize Russias action in Ukraine and denounced Western sanctions against Moscow. Russia, in turn, has strongly backed China amid tensions with the U.S. that followed a recent visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.



China has taken a well-balanced approach to the Ukrainian crisis, clearly expressing its understanding of the reasons that prompted Russia to launch the special military operation, Ushakov said. The issue will be thoroughly discussed during the meeting.



The talks between Putin and Xi follow their meeting in February, when the Russian leader attended the opening of the Beijing Olympics shortly before sending troops into Ukraine.



12:15 p.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to publicly comment on a lightning rout of his forces in north-eastern Ukraine, but is under pressure from nationalists at home to regain the initiative.



He has few quick fix options, if Western intelligence and open source analysis is accurate, and most of the potential steps he could take come with domestic and geopolitical risks.



Reuters has enumerated some of Putins main options in Ukraine in this report.



11:40 a.m.:

11:15 a.m.: Ukraines military claimed Tuesday for the first time that it encountered an Iranian-supplied suicide drone used by Russia on the battlefield, The Associated Press reported, showing the deepening ties between Moscow and Tehran as the Islamic Republics tattered nuclear deal with world powers hangs in the balance.



U.S. intelligence publicly warned back in July that Tehran planned to send hundreds of the bomb-carrying drones to Russia to aid its war on Ukraine. While Iran initially denied it, the head of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has boasted in recent days about arming the worlds top powers.



The Ukrainian militarys Strategic Communications Directorate published images of the wreckage of the drone. It resembled a triangle, or delta-shaped, drone flown by Iran known as the Shahed, or Witness in Farsi.



The military official and the website both said Ukrainian troops encountered the drone near Kupiansk amid Kyivs offensive that has punched through Russian lines around Kharkiv on the eastern front.



The image suggested the Shahed drone had been shot down by Ukrainian forces and hadnt detonated on impact as designed, though little other information was immediately released by Kyiv. An inscription on the drone identified it as an M214 Gran-2, which didnt immediately correspond to known Russian weaponry.



11:05 a.m.: Chancellor Olaf Scholz invoked the spirit of the Berlin Airlift on Tuesday to implore Germans that "the seemingly impossible can succeed," urging them to brace for a tough winter and to rise to the challenge of a shift in energy supply away from Russian gas, Reuters reported.



He spoke to business leaders at Tempelhof Airport, which was the focal point of the Airlift between 1948 and 1949, when Western forces flew hundreds of thousands of tonnes of supplies into divided Berlin after the Soviets blocked rail and street access to the city's Western-occupied sectors.



Germany and other European countries are scrambling to secure energy supplies after Russia halted flows through a key gas pipeline. Moscow blames sanctions, imposed by the West after Russia invaded Ukraine, for impeding the pipeline's maintenance.



"Of course we knew and we know that our solidarity with Ukraine will have consequences," Scholz said in a speech at the German Employers' Day.



10:45 a.m.: Pope Francis begged for an end to Russias senseless and tragic war in Ukraine as he arrived Tuesday in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan to join faith leaders from around the world in praying for peace, The Associated Press reported.



Francis flew to the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan to meet with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for an official state visit portion of his three-day trip. On Wednesday and Thursday, he participates in a government-sponsored triennial interfaith meeting, which is gathering more than 100 delegations of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Shinto and other faith groups from 50 countries.



I have come to echo the plea of all those who cry out for peace, which is the essential path to development for our globalized world, he said.



Directing himself at global superpowers, he said expanding efforts at diplomacy and dialogue were ever more important. And those who hold greater power in the world have greater responsibility with regard to others, especially those countries most prone to unrest and conflict.



Now is the time to stop intensifying rivalries and reinforcing opposing blocs, he said.



10:30 a.m.:

10:15 a.m.: Ukraine on Tuesday vowed to liberate all its territory after driving back Russian forces in the northeast of country and raising flags over battle-scarred towns, calling on the West to speed up deliveries of weapons to back the dramatic advance, Reuters reported.



Since Moscow abandoned its main bastion in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday, marking its worst defeat since the early days of the war, Ukrainian troops have recaptured dozens of towns in a stunning shift in battleground momentum.



Speaking in Balakliia, a crucial military supply hub taken by Ukrainian forces, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said 150,000 people had been liberated from Russian rule in the area. She spoke in the central square, where Ukrainian flags had been raised.



"The aim is to liberate the Kharkiv region and beyond - all the territories occupied by the Russian Federation," she said on the road to Balakliia, which lies 74 km (46 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city.



10:00 a.m.: Russian occupiers have begun leaving the southern Ukrainian region of Crimea with their families, the Kyiv Independent reported on Twitter Tuesday, citing a report by Ukrainian intelligence.



An urgent evacuation of Russian proxies, intelligence officers, and military commanders is taking place, the Main Intelligence Directorate said, according to the media outlet.



The developments are a direct result of successful Ukrainian counteroffensives, it quoted the intelligence report as saying.



The report could not immediately be independently verified.



9:45 a.m.:



9:20 a.m.: Any damage inflicted on Ukraine's power and heating systems will seriously exacerbate living conditions this winter, especially for an estimated 6.9 million internally displaced people, the United Nations' migration agency said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.



In response to a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the east and south of the country in recent days, Russia has stepped up shelling of power stations and other infrastructure, causing blackouts in the city of Kharkiv and elsewhere.



"Any attempt to damage those facilities will have a terrible impact on the capacity to heat those cities," Antonio Vitorino, director general of the International Organization of Migration (IOM) told a group of reporters in Kyiv.



"We are making all efforts to assist the population in preparing for the winter but we need electricity, and that depends on state services to (restore) a working electricity system," said Vitorino, who met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday.



9:00 a.m.: Lights on monuments in the French capital will be switched off earlier than normal, to save power. In August, President Emmanuel Macron warned that high energy prices caused by the war in Ukraine could signal "the end of abundance," widely interpreted as preparing public opinion for a difficult winter ahead, Agence France-Presse reported.



8:40 a.m.: Ukrainian authorities have detained an unspecified number of Russian teachers who moved to Ukrainian towns and cities after Russia took control of them after launching its invasion in late February, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Tuesday.



Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on September 12 that the teachers, who moved to Ukraine to teach a Russian curriculum at local Ukrainian schools "committed a crime."



"Of course, a court will decide on their punishment, but on the territory of our country there is still a big number of Russian citizens who came to temporarily occupied territories and they will surely face justice unless they leave our territory immediately," Vereshchuk said.



Vereshchuk added that the detained Russian teachers will not be included in prisoner-exchange lists as they are not combatants.

8:25 a.m.: Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Germany on Tuesday of ignoring Kyiv's pleas for Leopard tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles, saying Berlin offered only "abstract fears and excuses" for not providing such military hardware, Reuters reported.



"Disappointing signals from Germany while Ukraine needs Leopards and Marders now  to liberate people and save them from genocide," Kuleba tweeted, as Ukraine presses a counter-offensive to retake land in the east and south from Russian forces.



"Not a single rational argument on why these weapons cannot be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses. What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not?" he wrote, in unusually blunt language.



8:15 a.m.:

7:50 a.m.: The Kremlin said on Tuesday there was no discussion of a nationwide mobilization to bolster the countrys military campaign in Ukraine, days after a surprise Ukrainian offensive drove Russia out of almost all of Kharkiv region, Reuters reported.



Asked about a call for mobilization by a member of the Russian parliament, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: At the moment no, there is no discussion of this.



Asked about criticism of the countrys leadership online by nationalist commentators who have demanded mobilization, Peskov said it was an example of pluralism and that Russians as a whole continue to support President Vladimir Putin.



Russians support the president, and this is confirmed by the mood of the people ... The people are consolidated around the decisions of the head of state, he said.



As for other points of view, critical points of view, as long as they remain within the law, this is pluralism, but the line is very, very thin, one must be very careful here, he added.



Military commentators ordinarily supportive of the campaign reacted with fury after Russias Defense Ministry on Saturday said it was abandoning Ukraines northeastern Kharkiv region in a regrouping after the lightning counteroffensive last week. Many suggested that only a full-scale nationwide mobilization could rectify the situation.



7:35 a.m.: Swedens government said on Tuesday it would donate 500,000 COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech to Ukraine, Reuters reported.



7:10 a.m.: U.S. leaders from President Joe Biden on down are being careful not to declare a premature victory after a Ukrainian offensive forced Russian troops into a messy retreat in the north, The Associated Press reported.



Instead, military officials are looking toward the fights yet to come and laying out plans to provide Ukraine more weapons and expand training, while warily awaiting Russias response to the sudden, stunning battlefield losses.



Although there was widespread celebration of Ukraines gains over the weekend, U.S. officials know Russian President Vladimir Putin still has troops and resources to tap, and his forces still control large swaths of the east and south.



I agree there should be no spiking of the ball because Russia still has cards it can play, said Philip Breedlove, a retired U.S. Air Force general who was NATOs top commander from 2013 to 2016. Ukraine is now clearly making durable changes in its east and north and I believe that if the West properly equips Ukraine, theyll be able to hold on to their gains.



U.S. officials acknowledged that the U.S. provided information to help the Ukrainian counteroffensive but declined to say how much or if Western officials helped strategize the idea to throw Russian forces off guard by calling attention to attack plans in the south, while actually plotting a more formidable campaign in the east.



The U.S provided information on conditions in the country, said one of the officials, but in the end, this was the Ukrainian choice. The Ukrainian military and the Ukrainian political leadership made the decisions on how to conduct this counteroffensive.

6:55 a.m.:





6:40 a.m.: The Russia-installed rector at Kherson State University in southeastern Ukraine, Tatyana Tomilina, has reportedly survived an assassination attempt and is currently in the hospital, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Tuesday.



Russian news agencies reported late on September 12 that a handmade explosive device detonated, killing a man thought to be her security guard and injuring Tomilina as they were entering her apartment block.



Initial reports said that Tomilina was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds and contusions. Russia-appointed authorities in Kherson said on September 13 that Tomilina's life is not under threat and that her wounds are not serious.



It was not immediately possible to verify the reports. Since Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, there have been several assassination attempts conducted against Russian-appointed officials in territories occupied by Russian troops.



Tomilina started collaborating with Russian-imposed authorities in Kherson after Russian armed forces took control of the city in March, weeks after the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine. She later was appointed to the post of rector at the university. She was previously the director of the Mishukov Academic Lyceum at Kherson State University, a position she was fired from some time ago for her pro-Russian positions.



6:25 a.m.: Fighting is still raging in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region but Ukraine's forces are making good progress because its forces are highly motivated and its operation is well planned, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar told Reuters on Tuesday.



"The aim is to liberate the Kharkiv region and beyond - all the territories occupied by the Russian Federation. Fighting is continuing (in Kharkiv region). It is still early to say full (Ukrainian) control has been established over Kharkiv region," Malyar said in an interview.



"Our strength stems from the fact that we are very motivated and that we plan operations thoroughly," she said, adding that Ukraine had taken the decision to press on with its operation in the Kharkiv region due to the successes notched up so far.



Malyar was speaking on the road to Balakliia, a crucial military supply hub recaptured by Ukrainian forces late last week during a counter-offensive that forced Russian troops to flee further east. Balakliia is 74 km (46 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, the regional capital and Ukraine's second largest city.



6:10 a.m.:

5:55 a.m.: Ukrainian intelligence reports that Russia is preparing new shelling of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, according a Telegram report on The Kyiv Independent.

4:45 a.m.: The Associated Press reports that, early Tuesday, Russia shelled the Ukrainian city of Lozova in the Kharkiv region, killing three people and injuring nine, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.

4 a.m.: The Kyiv Independent reports that the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine posted Tuesday morning a video showing Ukrainian troops removing Russian flags and signs from buildings in the city of Vovchansk, which was occupied on the first day of the full-scale invasion. The report says the city is "understood to have been vacated by Russian troops on Sept. 11."

3:24 a.m. Ukrainian troops continue to pressure retreating Russian forces, according to The Associated Press.

Yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flags flutter from buildings in the partly destroyed towns around the city of Kharkiv, while Ukrainian soldiers inspect charred Russian tanks left along the way, according to the news service.

3 a.m.: Russia has opened a treason case against an aviation factory manager on suspicion of passing secret military information to Ukraine, according to Reuters, which referenced Russian news agencies that cited Russia's principal security agency known as FSB.

According to Reuters, reports say the FSB said the manager is suspected of taking photos of equipment from Russia's fighter planes and sending them to a Ukrainian who worked at a Ukrainian aviation plant.

2:30 a.m.

1 a.m.: Sony Group Corps music business has exited Russia, transferring the business and musicians to local management, due to the Ukraine conflict, Reuters reported.

As the war continues to have a devastating humanitarian impact in Ukraine, and sanctions on Russia continue to increase, we can no longer maintain a presence in Russia, Sony Music said in a statement.

It did not disclose further details of the transaction.

The music business suspended operations in Russia earlier this year following that country's invasion of Ukraine.

12:30 a.m.: Ukraines grain maize (corn) harvest is expected to fall 24% below last year and 5% below the five-year average to 32.0 million tons, Reuters reported citing the European Unions crop monitoring unit.

12:05 a.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there has been significant progress by the Ukrainians, particularly in the Northeast, citing both support from the United States and other allies and the extraordinary courage and resilience of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Ukrainian people.

This is early days still, Blinken said. So, I think it would be wrong to predict exactly where this will go, when it will get there and how it will get there."

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
Mohegan Chief Marilynn "Lynn" Malerba was sworn in Monday as the Treasurer of the United States, the first Native American to hold that office.

Her signature will now appear alongside Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on U.S. currency.

Yellen hailed the appointment at the Treasury Department ceremony as a sign of the Biden administration's "respect for, and commitment toward, our nation-to-nation relationship, trust and treaty responsibilities, and tribal sovereignty and self-determination."

"For all our progress  there is more work to do to strengthen our nation-to-nation relationship with tribal governments," Yellen said in prepared remarks.

They were joined by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to lead that department, and members of Treasury's Tribal Advisory Committee.

Malerba, who will remain lifetime chief of the Mohegan Indian Tribe, which is made up of roughly 2,400 people, previously worked as a registered nurse and has served in various tribal government roles.

Biden appointed her U.S. treasurer in June and as overseer of a new Office of Tribal and Native Affairs at the Treasury Department.

She is tasked with finding new ways to help tribes develop their economies to overcome challenges that are unique to tribal lands, among other responsibilities.

As part of the ceremony, Malerba signed a book presented by Bureau of Engraving and Printing Director Len Olijar, who will engrave her signature. Her official signature will appear as "Lynn Roberge Malerba" in honor of her maiden name.

A Treasury official said her name will appear on currency in the coming months.

"We all know that, historically, many promises have not been kept to the indigenous peoples of this nation. But we can and will do better," said Malerba, who wore a red and black tribal ensemble and matching headdress. "My appointment is a promise kept."

"When barriers to economic development are eliminated, tribal communities will thrive and prosper," she said. "We know, when there is robust tribal economic development, our local and state communities prosper as well."

She added that the moment made her think deeply of her parents. "My name will be on currency, when it was so difficult for them to get money in their lifetime," she said during the ceremony.

For Malerba, she said she hopes her presence at Treasury will help other Americans feel pride in honoring their culture.

"Katantuoot, wuyunomsh United States qa wuyunomsh kiyawin," she said. "Great spirit bless these United States and bless us all."
Armenia and Azerbaijan reported nearly 100 troop deaths Tuesday in their worst fighting since a 2020 war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The last wave of fighting over Azerbaijan's tense Armenian-populated enclave ended in a fragile truce brokered by Russia.

But on Tuesday, the defense ministry in Baku said, "50 Azerbaijani servicemen died as a result of Armenia's large-scale provocation," while Armenia earlier reported the deaths of at least 49 of its soldiers.

Azerbaijan accused Armenia of violating the cease-fire after a night of clashes that renewed fears of another all-out conflict between the historic foes.

Russia said it had reached a cease-fire between the warring parties that brought several hours of relative calm, but Azerbaijan later accused Armenian forces of "intensely" violating the agreement.

"Despite the declaration of a cease-fire since 9 (Moscow time, 0600 GMT), Armenia is intensively violating the cease-fire along the border by using artillery and other heavy weapons," Baku's military said.

Armenia appealed to world leaders for help after the fighting broke out, accusing Azerbaijan of trying to advance on its territory.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the leaders of both countries Tuesday, with his spokesman saying Washington would "push for an immediate halt to fighting and a peace settlement" between the neighbors.

French President Emmanuel Macron called his Azerbaijan counterpart Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday to express "great concern" and urge a "return to respecting the cease-fire."

He also called for intensified negotiations and offered to contribute along with the European Union, the Elysee said.

The Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had earlier spoken with Macron, as well as calling Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Blinken to demand a response to "Azerbaijan's aggressive acts."

Tuesday's escalation came as Yerevan's closest ally Moscow, which deployed thousands of peacekeepers in the region after the 2020 war, is distracted by its six-month-old invasion of Ukraine.

Armenia's defense ministry said clashes had subsided after the cease-fire but that the situation on the border was still "extremely tense."

The defense ministry in Yerevan said the clashes started early Tuesday, with Armenian territory coming under fire from artillery, mortars and drones in the direction of the cities of Goris, Sotk and Jermuk.

"The enemy is trying to advance" into Armenian territory, it said in a statement.

Azerbaijan, however, accused Armenia of "large-scale subversive acts" near the districts of Dashkesan, Kelbajar and Lachin, and said its armed forces were taking "limited and targeted steps, neutralizing Armenian firing positions."

Baku's long-standing political and military sponsor Turkey blamed Armenia and urged it instead to "focus on peace negotiations."

Iran, which shares a border with both countries, urged "restraint" and a "peaceful resolution" to the fighting.

The EU and the United Nations expressed concerns over the escalation and called for an end to the fighting.

Before the cease-fire was announced, Armenia's security council asked for military help from Moscow, which is obligated under a treaty to defend Armenia in the event of foreign invasion.

Armenian political analyst Tatul Hakobyan said the escalation in fighting was a consequence of the "deadlock" in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks.

"Azerbaijan wants to force Armenia to recognize Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan," he told AFP. The war in Ukraine has changed the balance of forces in the region and Russia, which is a guarantor of peace in the region, is in a very bad shape.

"In this situation, Azerbaijan wants to get concessions from Armenia as soon as possible," he added.

Last week, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of killing one of its soldiers in a border shootout.

In August, Azerbaijan said it had lost a soldier and the Karabakh army said two of its troops had been killed and more than a dozen wounded.

The neighbors fought two wars  in the 1990s and in 2020  over the region.

The six weeks of brutal fighting in autumn 2020 ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire.

Under the deal, Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades, and Moscow deployed about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce.

During EU-mediated talks in Brussels in May and April, Aliyev and Pashinyan agreed to "advance discussions" on a future peace treaty.

Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The ensuing conflict claimed around 30,000 lives.


Nigeria has lost its position as Africa's top oil producer to Angola, industry insiders say, and could soon become third after Libya.

Oil analysts say Nigeria's production struggle is coming at the worst time, as oil prices have jumped, partly because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

According to the Nigerian oil regulation commission, the countrys oil production during August dropped to 972,000 barrels per day, down from about 1.1 million barrels per day in July.

That allowed Angola to pass Nigeria in monthly oil production for the third time this year. The other months were May and June.

Nigeria's oil production has been declining steadily for months. Authorities blame rising crude oil theft and sabotage at production sites.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said recently that thieves from all levels of society, including religious groups, were stealing 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Oil and gas expert Emmanuel Afimia said Nigeria's its position as Africa's biggest oil producer has consequences.

"[It] actually sends a wrong signal to the global oil market," Afimia said. "The country may slowly be losing its influence in the global market, and it may be difficult for Nigeria to contribute to decisions in the global market as time goes on. And most importantly, buyers may start to panic, because if you look at the reasons behind the decline, the buyers will think Nigeria is slowly losing its grasp."

The lost production also translates into billions of dollars in lost revenue. Global oil prices skyrocketed in March soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and oil is still trading at around $96 per barrel.

At that level, crude oil is trading 36 percent above Nigerias benchmark for its 2022 budget.

But in July, the NNPC reported zero revenue from crude oil exports, compared with $5.96 million earnings in June.

Last Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari instituted a Committee on National Economy and immediately discussed issues of oil theft with the new team.

He said the theft is putting the country in a precarious economic position.

"The fall in production is essentially due to economic sabotage," the president said. "Producing at about half our OPEC quota has deprived us of much-needed revenue and foreign exchange. The government is working tirelessly to reverse this situation.

Afimia said authorities must address theft and invest more in oil production before companies can raise monthly output.

"Once the country is able to increase its surveillance and improve security as well, it will really encourage existing firms to maximize their production. That confidence will be restored, he said.

Last week, Nigerias oil workers union said massive crude oil theft was putting worker safety and jobs at risk and threatened to go on strike if the issue is not addressed.

Nigerian authorities say they have improved surveillance of oil assets, especially in areas prone to bunkering and vandalism.

This month, security authorities arrested 122 oil thieves and said operatives recovered nearly 36 million liters of stolen oil and 22 million liters of diesel.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. European Unions High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell issued a statement over the Azerbaijani military aggression against Armenia.

The statement says:

Serious fighting has taken place along the Armenian and Azerbaijani border during the last hours with reported loss of lives. It is imperative that the hostilities stop and that there is a return to the negotiating table. All forces should return to positions held prior to this escalation and the ceasefire should be fully respected.

President of the European Council Charles Michel is in contact with the leaders of both countries and I am speaking with the respective Foreign Ministers today. The EU is committed to continuing to act as an honest broker between Armenia and Azerbaijan to help achieve the common goal of a South Caucasus that is secure, prosperous and at peace, for the benefit of all its people.

The EU Special Representative Toivo Klaar will now travel to the two countries immediately to support the necessary de-escalation and to discuss next steps in the Brussels dialogue process between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders.
Pakistan scrambled to deliver aid to those most in need on Tuesday as the death toll from record-breaking floods in this impoverished Islamic nation rose further, with no respite in sight from the unprecedented monsoon rains.

The rains started early this year  in mid-June  and swept away entire villages, bridges and roads, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. At one point, a third of the country's territory was inundated with water.

Authorities said the overall death toll reached 1,481 on Tuesday, with 54 more people dying in rain-related floods in the past 24 hours, with the majority of those deaths in the hard-hit province of Sindh. Experts have said that climate change has been blamed in large part for the deluge, the worst in recent memory.

Sherry Rehman, Pakistan's minister for climate change, warned that the rains, which had abated late last month only to restart this week, are predicted to continue lashing much of the country in the coming weeks.

Rehman also expressed fears the downpours would hamper ongoing rescue and relief operations in flood-hit areas, where swirling deluges from overflowing rivers, fast melting glaciers and floods have already affected 33 million people.

So far, rescuers have evacuated 179,281 people from flood-hit areas.

It will take up to six months to drain water in flood-hit areas, officials say. Waterborne diseases have already sickened thousands of people in flood-stricken areas  and now there are fears of mosquito-borne dengue fever. Mosquitos have spread, due to stagnant waters following the flooding.

"With 584,246 people in camps throughout the country, (the) health crisis could wreak havoc," Rehman said in a statement.

She added that so far, the southern port city of Karachi has registered an outbreak of dengue fever. Karachi is also the capital of Sindh province, one of the regions worst affected by the floods.

The floods have also destroyed crops, including 70% of the onion harvest, along with rice and corn, Rehman said. Much of the country's agriculture belt is underwater and Pakistan is in talks with several nations to import wheat. Iran has already dispatched fresh vegetables to Pakistan.

In Sindh, officials said more downpours could delay the return of about 600,000 people from camps to their villages, towns and other urban areas. Strong winds the previous day blew away several relief camps in remote areas in Sindh.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif's government has started distributing money to those who lost homes in the flooding to help them restart their lives.

State media also quoted Sharif as telling his Cabinet on Tuesday that despite the fact that Pakistan emits less than 1% of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, it faces widespread damages from climate-induced floods, disproportionately more than other nations.

The floods have damaged 1.7 million homes, according to the National Disaster Management Agency. Thousands of pregnant women are living in tents and makeshift homes.

Initially, Pakistan estimated that the floods caused $10 billion in damages, but authorities now say the damages are far greater. The devastation has forced the United Nations to urge the international community to send more help.

So far, U.N. agencies and various countries, including the United States, have sent about 90 planeloads of aid. Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres traveled to flood-hit areas in southern and southwestern Pakistan to see first-hand the extent of the disaster.

"I appeal for massive support from the international community as Pakistan responds to this climate catastrophe," Guterres tweeted from Pakistan. Earlier, he had called on the world to stop "sleepwalking" through the dangerous environmental crisis.

As Pakistani authorities contend with the unprecedented flooding, security forces are also struggling with militant attacks. According to Pakistan's military, three soldiers were killed in the country's northwest by militant fire from across the Afghan border. The attack hit a border security post in Kurram, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The military in a statement said the shooting came from the Afghan side of the frontier.

On Tuesday, a roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying local village leaders and police in the flood-hit Swat Valley in the northwest, killing five people, including two policemen. No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, and Saeed Khan, a police officer in Swat, said they are still investigating.
The Food and Agriculture Organization warns some 6.7 million people in Somalia are likely to suffer from acute hunger this year, including more than 300,000 projected to face famine.

The FAO reports those at risk of famine are rural residents in the Baidoa and Burhakaba districts, as well as displaced people in the Baidoa town of Bay region in southern Somalia. FAO representative in Somalia Etienne Peterschmitt said malnutrition and mortality levels in that region already are at alarming levels.

"The repeated warnings have been clear," Peterschmitt said. "Act now or a famine will occur within the next few weeks. The drought situation is spreading at an alarming rate. More districts and regions are facing emergency levels of food insecurity as the accumulative effects of multiple failed rainy seasons take their toll."

Peterschmitt is from the Kabala district in Puntland State in northeast Somalia. He said he and colleagues are there to assess the impact of the drought on pastoral communities. He said the historic drought, high food prices and conflict have pushed food insecurity to catastrophic levels.

The situation is fluid but is also fast-changing. However, trends dramatically resemble those seen in the famine that occurred in 2011, said Peterschmitt. The scale and magnitude of the drought emergency continues to worsen.

The emergency is having a particularly devastating effect on children. UNICEF spokesman James Elder noted that at the time of the 2011 famine 340,000 children under age five required treatment for severe acute malnutrition. Today, he said, that number has gone up to 513,000 children who are at risk of death.

Children are already dying. Our partners report that some stabilization centers are, in effect, full and critically ill children are having to receive treatment on the floor. We know, of course, that this is not just about nutrition, that severely malnourished children are, in fact, up to 11 times more likely to die from things like diarrhea and measles than well-nourished boys and girls.

He noted both diseases are spiking in the region. Elder described the possibility that more than half-a-million children are facing preventable death as a pending nightmare not seen in this century.
From the worlds second-smallest state, Monaco, to the most populous country, India, representatives from more than 20 governments and international organizations on Monday condemned the Talibans policies of shutting down secondary schools and denying other fundamental rights to Afghan girls and women.

Even Pakistan, the purported benefactor of the Taliban, voiced concern at a United Nations dialogue on human rights in Afghanistan about the denial of education for Afghan girls. The dialogue was part of the U.N. Human Rights Councils 51st session, which opened Monday in Geneva.

Russia and China notably did not join in the criticism. A Russian diplomat pointed to progress made for womens rights under the Taliban.

We note efforts by the new Afghan government to ensure the rights of women and girls in the areas of marriage and property inheritance, a Russian representative told the U.N. event, adding that more than 130,000 women are employed in the health and education sectors.

No Taliban representative was present at the event because the U.N. does not recognize the Talibans so-called Islamic Emirate as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Instead, diplomats of the former Afghan government are still accredited as Afghan representatives at U.N. headquarters in New York and Geneva.

The Russian diplomat further said that some schools were closed because the Taliban could not afford to set up segregated classrooms for girls. He blamed the United States and other Western donors for freezing aid to Afghanistan and imposing sanctions on the Taliban which, according to the Russian diplomat, have adversely affected the Afghan education sector.

We call on the U.S. and the U.K. and their satellites  instead of issuing new demands to the Taliban, to begin fulfilling their own obligations for the past conflict, he said, adding that the current crisis in Afghanistan was a result of the past two decades of U.S. intervention there.

While calling for the return of girls to secondary schools in Afghanistan, a Chinese representative also avoided criticizing the Talibans policy.

We call on the countries concerned to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and to lift unilateral sanctions, the Chinese representative said.

Mondays statement was the strongest that any Russian official has made in support of the Taliban.

The Russian representatives statements in Geneva aren't consistent with what Russia has said before in other settings about Afghanistan, John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, told VOA.

As recently as this June, Russia agreed to a strongly worded statement by the U.N. Security Council about Afghanistan in which the Security Council as a bloc, including Russia, called on the Taliban to let girls go to school.

Even the Taliban have not said that Western sanctions and the resulting economic problems have forced them to shut secondary schools for girls. Taliban officials have offered religious and cultural justifications for their decision against secondary education for girls.

We recognize that the economic crisis is impacting the humanitarian situation. We agree about that. But the idea that it's responsible for the fact that [the] Taliban do not let girls go to secondary schools is absurd. It is preposterous. It is a lie, said Sifton.

Women 'erased'

The U.N. and human rights groups accuse the Taliban of implementing policies that are aimed at erasing women from the public spheres.

There is no country in the world where women and girls have so rapidly been deprived of their fundamental human rights purely because of gender, Richard Bennett, U.N. special rapporteur on Afghanistan, told the U.N. Human Rights Council's 51st session.

Do you know what that feeling is, to be erased? Mahbouba Seraj, an Afghan womens rights activist, asked the same session. I'm erased, and I don't know what else to do.  How many times am I supposed to yell and scream and say, World, pay attention to us. We are dying?

The Taliban have defended their policies toward Afghan women while accusing the U.N. and rights activists of spreading malicious propaganda against their de facto government.

Today, nothing threatens the lives of women in Afghanistan, and no woman or her loved ones die in the war or raids, said a Taliban statement issued in response to Bennetts report. There are 181 public and private universities open for men and women in the country, and thousands of women work in education, higher education, public health, passport and national identification bureaus, airports, police, media, banks and other sectors.

Such statements, however, are viewed with deep skepticism outside Taliban circles.

The Taliban have become increasingly authoritarian, clamping down on freedom of expression and denying people their civic and political rights, the U.N. has reported.

At the U.N. event, representatives from many countries called for stronger international pressure on the Taliban to respect womens rights.

Anyone seeking to participate in the international system must respect [womens rights]. If we dont all insist on that, then shame on us, said Michele Taylor, U.S. representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

In April, the U.N. General Assembly suspended Russia from the Human Rights Council because of the countrys reported atrocities in Ukraine.
Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham proposed new national restrictions on abortion on Tuesday, two months before the Nov. 8 midterm elections in which the abortion issue has emerged as potential albatross for Republican candidates.

With control of the Senate up for grabs, and some jittery Republican candidates softening their positions on abortion, Graham announced legislation that would ban the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy nationwide.

The move carries political risks. Polls have shown the issue of abortion has increased in importance for Democratic voters in the midterms after the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had recognized women's constitutional right to abortion for nearly half a century.

In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Sept. 7-12, 63% of respondents said they were less likely to back candidates who support laws that ban or severely restrict abortion.

Graham's bill, which will go nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Congress, is stricter than similar legislation he introduced in previous years that aimed to ban abortions after 20 weeks. The current bill allows exceptions in cases involving rape, incest or risks to the mother's life and health.

The bill quickly came under fire from Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who played on Graham's allegiance to former President Donald Trump by branding the bill as a "MAGA" measure, using the acronym for Trump's slogan, "Make America Great Again."

"Proposals like the one today send a clear message from MAGA Republicans to women across the country: your body, our choice," Schumer said on the Senate floor.

Abortion rights advocates have scored political victories in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision, which paved the way for a raft of state-level abortion bans to be enforced.

Democrat Pat Ryan defeated a Republican rival in a House special election last month after making abortion his top campaign issue. In conservative Kansas, voters overwhelmingly rejected an effort to remove abortion protections from the state's constitution.

Democrats are now hoping to use the abortion issue to capitalize on Republican weaknesses in some House and Senate races.

Republicans are favored to take control of the House in November but could have a harder time regaining the Senate majority, as Trump-endorsed candidates struggle in key swing states including Arizona, Georgia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Some Republican candidates, including Senate hopeful Blake Masters in Arizona, have gone so far as to change their campaign websites to eliminate hardline rhetoric on abortion, according to U.S. media reports.
Two American Indian tribes in South Dakota have joined forces to purchase 40 acres around the Wounded Knee National Historic Landmark, the site of one of the deadliest massacres in U.S. history.



The Oglala Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux said the purchase of the land on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation was an act of cooperation to ensure the area was preserved as a sacred site. More than 200 Native Americans  including children and elderly people  were killed at Wounded Knee in 1890. The bloodshed marked a seminal moment in the frontier battles the U.S. Army waged against tribes.



"It's a small step towards healing and really making sure that we as a tribe are protecting our critical areas and assets," Oglala Sioux Tribe President Kevin Killer told The Associated Press.



The tribes agreed this week to petition the U.S. Department of the Interior to take the land into trust on behalf of both tribes. The Oglala Sioux tribe will pay $255,000 and the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe will pay $245,000 for the site, Indian Country Today reported. The title to the land will be held in the name of the Oglala Sioux tribe.



Marlis Afraid of Hawk, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe whose grandfather, Albert Afraid of Hawk, survived the 1890 massacre as a 13-year-old boy, said she was overjoyed to see the tribes take ownership. She said she carries on the oral tradition of telling her grandchildren how her grandfather survived by fleeing through a ravine after a rifle held by a U.S. calvary soldier failed to fire at him.



As a member of a group that represents the descendants of the massacre's survivors, she had initially raised objections to the Oglala Sioux Tribe's purchase of the land, but said the joint purchase made her feel "honored and grateful."



Members of the Oglala Sioux, Standing Rock Sioux, Rosebud Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes were all at Wounded Knee in 1890, Afraid of Hawk said.



She hoped the site could be used for "education for the people who come and see the massacre site."



"They need to know the history. It needs to come through the true, true Lakota people," she said.



The tribes' agreement ends a decades-long dispute over ownership of a site that has figured largely in Indigenous people's struggles with the U.S. government. Jeanette Czywczynski became sole owner of the property after her husband, James, died in 2019. He had purchased the property in 1968.



The Czywczynski family operated a trading post and museum there until 1973, when American Indian Movement protesters occupied the site, destroying both the post and Czywczynski's home.



The 71-day standoff that left two tribal members dead and a federal agent seriously wounded led to heightened awareness about Native American struggles and propelled a wider protest movement.



The family moved away from the area and put the land up for sale, asking $3.9 million for the 40-acre parcel nearest the massacre site even though the land, including an additional adjacent 40-acre plot, had been assessed at $14,000.



In 2013, film star Johnny Depp announced a plan to buy the property and donate it to the Oglala Sioux tribe. Depp, who played the role of Tonto in a remake of the film, "The Lone Ranger," was criticized for trying to capitalize on the film by making unsubstantiated claims of having Native American ancestry. Depp did not follow through on the purchase.



Killer, the Oglala Sioux Tribe's president, said the tribe's resolution for the land purchase calls for it to be preserved as a sacred site.



He said, "There's still a lot of unresolved artifacts and items that should be left undisturbed."



Manny Iron Hawk, another member of the Wounded Knee Survivor's Association, said he saw the land acquisition as another step in the century-old Indian revival movement known as the Ghost Dance. The U.S. military was trying to suppress the Ghost Dance in 1890 after it had swept across Indigenous communities with a prophecy that colonial expansion would end and Native American communities would unite for prosperity.



"The Ghost Dance was a beautiful dream for our people. It wasn't a dream of death, it was a dream of life," Iron Hawk said. "Today we are the new Ghost Dancers and we carry on a duty that came to us to do what we can for our relatives there at Wounded Knee."
"Succession" and "Ted Lasso" topped the Emmy Awards on Monday, in a ceremony that touted the influence of TV and extended honors to global sensation "Squid Game" and winners who delivered messages of empowerment.

The evening's uplifting tone, as voiced especially by Zendaya, Lizzo and Sheryl Lee Ralph, was in contrast to the darkness that pervaded the storytelling of best drama series winner "Succession" and even comedy series victor "Ted Lasso."

"Thanks for making such a safe space to make this very difficult show," said Zendaya, claiming her second best drama actress award for "Euphoria," about a group of teens' tough coming-of-age.

"My greatest wish for "Euphoria' was that it could help heal people. Thank you for everyone who has shared your story with me. I carry them with me, and I carry them with" Rue, her character, Zendaya said.

"Succession," about a media empire run by a grasping and cutthroat family, split drama series honors with "Squid Game," the bold South Korean-set drama about the idle rich turning the poor into entertainment fodder.

Lee Jung-jae of "Squid Game," who played the show's moral center, became the first Asian to win the Emmy for best drama series actor.

"Thank you for making realistic problems we all face come to life so creatively on the screen," Lee said to "Squid Game" creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, who earned the Emmy for best drama series directing. In Korean, Lee thanked the audience in his native country for watching.

Backstage, Hwang said this was "a major moment for us," and Lee said he expected the awards to open doors for other Asian actors.

Jason Sudeikis and Jean Smart collected back-to-back acting trophies, but several new Emmy winners were minted, with Lizzo and Quinta Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph of "Abbott Elementary" collecting trophies.

Brunson, who created and stars in the freshman series, won the Emmy for comedy series writing. ABC's "Abbott Elementary," also nominated for best comedy, is a rare bright spot for network broadcasting in the age of streaming and cable dominance.

Sudeikis won his second consecutive trophy for playing the unlikely U.S. coach of a British soccer team in the comedy "Ted Lasso," with Smart matching that haul for her role as a veteran comedian in "Hacks."

Sudeikis gave a rare awards show shoutout to TV consumers: "Thanks to the people who watch this show and dig it as much as we dig making it."

There was a ripple of reaction in the theater when "Succession" creator Jesse Armstrong mentioned Britain's new king, Charles III, in accepting the show's trophy, the cast standing alongside him.

"Big week for successions, new king in the U.K., this for us. Evidently a little bit more voting involved in our winning than Prince Charles," Armstrong said. "I'm not saying we're more legitimate in our position than he is. We'll leave that up to other people."

Ralph stopped the Emmy Awards show by accepting the best supporting actress comedy award for "Abbott Elementary" with a brief but rousing song of affirmation.

"I am an endangered species, but I sing no victim song. I am a woman, I am an artist and I know where my voice belongs," she belted out. She then encouraged anyone doubting their dream "I am here to tell you this is what believing looks like."

The audience, including Lizzo and many of television's biggest stars, leapt to their feet to cheer on Ralph.

When Lizzo herself accepted the award for best-competition series trophy for "Lizzo's Watch Out for the Big Grrrls," she offered another emotional pep talk.

"When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see was me in the media. Someone fat like me, Black like me, beautiful like me," the music artist said.

There were also cheers for presenter Selma Blair, who has discussed her multiple sclerosis diagnosis publicly and who used a cane on stage.

"Ted Lasso" co-star Brett Goldstein, won comedy supporting actors, while Matthew Macfadyen of "Succession" and Julia Garner of "Ozark" earned drama series supporting actor honors.

"It's such a a pleasure and privilege for me to play this bonkers gift of a role in this wonderful show," Macfadyen said in accepting the trophy for his role as a scheming member of a media empire family.

Garner was among the winners who took advantage of covering all bases by thanking her husband and others in an on-screen message.

"The White Lotus" collected several honors, including best limited or anthology series.

The achievements of "Squid Game," "Abbott Elementary" and a few other shows didn't change the relative lack of diversity in this year's nominations, which included significantly fewer people of color than in 2021.

Host Kenan Thompson kicked off the Emmys with a tribute to TV, dismissing Tik-Tok as "tiny vertical television," and a musical number saluting series' theme songs from "Friends" to "The Brady Bunch" to "Game of Thrones."

Once the music stopped, Thompson provided a mic drop moment  announcing Oprah Winfrey as the first presenter. Winfrey strutted onto the stage holding an Emmy statuette, declaring the night "a party!" The night's first award went to Michael Keaton for his role in "Dopesick." Winfrey and Keaton hugged before she handed him his trophy.

"It means something," Keaton said of the award for playing a caring doctor ensnared with his patients by addiction. He went on to recall the "magic" of being introduced to TV when his dad won a set at a raffle and thanked his parents for not mocking his youthful attempts at acting.

Amanda Seyfried earned the limited-series lead actress trophy for "The Dropout," in which she played ill-fated Silicon Valley whiz kid Elizabeth Holmes. She thanked a list of family and colleagues and even her dog, Finn.

Murray Bartlett won the best supporting actor award for "The White Lotus," a tragicomedy set in a Hawaii resort. Jennifer Coolidge, who won best supporting actress honors for the show, delighted the audience by shimmying to the music intended to cut off her acceptance speech.

The award for best variety talk show went to "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver," with stand-up special "Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel" winning for best writing for a comedy special.

"Good night, everybody. I'ma go home. I'm not like a sore winner, but I'm going to go home because I can't top this right now," an overcome Carmichael told the audience.

Glamour was back with some metallic sparkle and lots of bright color as an otherworldly Britt Lower, Old Hollywood Elle Fanning and their fellow stars posed for photographers.
Near final results in Sweden's election Sunday show that a bloc of right-wing parties was expected to defeat a left-wing bloc headed by Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. The conservative group includes a populist anti-immigration party that made its best showing.

However, the result was so close that the election authority said it would not be known before Wednesday when some uncounted votes, including those cast abroad, have been tallied.

According to the early count, Andersson's ruling left-wing Social Democrats won 30.5% of the vote, more than any other party. However, a bloc of four left-wing parties appeared to fall short as a whole of winning a majority of votes in the 349-seat parliament, or Riksdag.

Exit polls had initially predicted a narrow victory for Andersson's camp but as the evening wore on, and the vote count supplanted the exit poll, the results tipped in favor of the conservatives.

Early Monday, the conservatives appeared to have 176 seats to 173 for the center-left.

In a speech to her supporters, Andersson said that while the results were unclear, it was obvious that the social democratic movement, which is based on ideals of creating an equal society and a strong welfare state, remains strong in Sweden.

The biggest winner of the evening was the populist anti-immigration party, the Sweden Democrats, which had a strong showing of nearly 21%, its best result ever. The party gained on promises to crack down on shootings and other gang violence that have shaken a sense of security for many in Sweden.

The party has its roots in the white nationalist movement but years ago began expelling extremists. Despite its rebranding, voters long viewed it as unacceptable and other parties shunned it. But that has been changing, and its result in this election show just how far it has come in gaining acceptance.

We are now the second-biggest party in Sweden, and it looks [like] its going to stay that way," party leader Jimmie Akesson told his supporters.

We know now that if theres going to be a shift in power, we will be having a central role in that," he said. "Our ambition is to be in the government.

The conservative bloc was led during the campaign by the center-right Moderates, who won 19%. It was previously the country's second largest party.

Moderates leader Ulf Kristersson told his supporters that he stands ready to try to create a stable and effective government.

Regardless of the election outcome, Sweden is likely to face a lengthy process to form a government, as it did after the 2018 election.

Andersson, a 55-year-old economist, became Swedens first female prime minister less than a year ago and led Swedens historic bid to join NATO following Russias invasion of Ukraine in February.
Thousands of nurses in Minnesota launched a three-day strike Monday, pressing for salary increases they say will help improve patient care by resolving understaffing stresses that have worsened in the coronavirus pandemic.

Some 15,000 nurses at seven health care systems in the Minneapolis and Duluth areas walked out, a number the union says makes it the largest strike ever by private-sector nurses. The affected hospitals said they have recruited temporary nurses and expected to maintain most services.

Scores of nurses began walking the picket line at 7 a.m. outside Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, one of 15 hospitals affected. Clad in the red T-shirts of the Minnesota Nurses Association and carrying signs with such slogans as, "Something has got to give," several said their chief concern was patient safety.

Tracey Dittrich, 50, a registered nurse at the hospital for nearly 24 years, said nurses are tired of "hospital administrators and managers that are telling us to do more." The hospitals need more nurses and more support staff, and higher pay will help, she said.

"There are shifts where you have three critically ill patients, and you have to decide which patient gets the care, when," Dittrich said. "I work with people all the time that go home every day and feel horrible because one child had to wait longer for medication, or another child needed to wait longer for an IV. Another child maybe had to wait for a breathing treatment because we just couldn't get to them all fast enough."

Union spokesman Sam Fettig said the nurses chose a three-day strike, rather than an open-ended walkout, out of concern for patients.

The hospitals have offered a 10-12% wage increase over three years, but nurses are seeking more than 30%. Hospital leaders called their wage demands unaffordable, noting that Allina and Fairview hospitals have posted operating losses and that the cost of such sharp wage increases would be passed along to patients.

"The union rejected all requests for mediation and held fast to wage demands that were unrealistic, unreasonable and unaffordable," several of the Twin Cities hospitals under strike said in a joint statement.

The statement said people with emergency issues should continue to call 911 or go to emergency rooms. It said despite staffing hospitals with "experienced nurse managers, trained replacement nurses and some existing traveler nurses" that people may see some delay in being treated.

Jean Ross, co-president of National Nurses United, billed as the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the U.S., said more nurses across the country are pushing back and that most job actions revolve around the same core issues  staffing and pay.

"The pandemic did so many things in pointing out, clarifying and shining a light on what life is like in the hospitals and what nurses are expected to do, which is a lot with very little," Ross said. "We have to have a bottom line where you just can't shove any more patients on to that nurse."

Kathy Misk, another registered nurse at Children's, works in case management and helps families transition from hospital care to caring for their child at home. Misk said a shortage of nurses has sometimes required keeping "high-tech" children  those who need special equipment to breathe, for example  from going home as soon as they otherwise could. Raising pay could help the hospital keep nurses on staff, she said.

"You don't retain nurses with low wages," Misk said. "When you incentivize nurses with pay, what you're saying to them is they have worth, and they are able to stay in one job."

When asked about Misk's statement that some children have not gone home as soon as they might have, Nick Petersen, a spokesman for Children's, said children are admitted or discharged "based on the expert judgment of the medical professionals who care for them."

The hospitals affected by the strike are operated by Allina Health, M Health Fairview, Children's Hospital, North Memorial and HealthPartners. In Duluth, it is Essentia and St. Luke's.

Separately, in Wisconsin, a potential three-day strike by nurses at UW Health, one of the state's largest health systems, that was set to start Tuesday was averted when the nurses and the UW Hospital board reached an agreement. Details weren't immediately released.

The Minnesota nurses' strike comes amid an upsurge in union activity nationwide.

A national railroad strike could begin as early as Friday unless Congress steps in to block it. The two largest railroad unions have been demanding that the major freight carriers go beyond a proposed deal recommended by arbitrators appointed by President Joe Biden.

Some high-profile companies, including Starbucks, are among those trying to stifle ongoing unionization efforts. Since late last year, more than 230 U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize, which Starbucks opposes.
Ukraine has called for more artillery and ammunition from Australia after a counter-offensive in the nations east saw Kyiv retake a key town from Russian control.

Military experts have said Ukraine needs better supplies of artillery and ammunition to hold on to key positions.

Ukrainian authorities have said their forces have made important gains in recent days in pushing back Russian troops, retaking more than 3,000 square kilometers of territory.

Weapons supplied by other countries have been instrumental, observers say. Officials in Kyiv have thanked Australia for its so-called Bushmaster armored personnel vehicles. They have an innovative V shaped floor that is designed to spread the impact of explosive devices more effectively than a traditional flat floor.

Ukraine wants Australia to supply up to 12 howitzers after Canberra provided six lightweight, towed howitzers in April.

Australias deputy prime minister Richard Marles, who is also the defense minister, has described Ukraines fight against Russias invasion as nothing less than inspiring.

He told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that his government will continue to support Ukraine.

Even though Ukraine is a long way from Australia, we have been standing with Ukraine as the largest non-NATO contributor to Ukraine and will continue to provide that support in an on-going way and I was in Europe the week before last and the sense that I had there, you know, in Germany, in the U.K. and France is that there is a similar sense of resolve about needing to stand with Ukraine throughout this time, he said.

The biggest foreign contributor by far to Ukraines war effort is the United States. It approved a further $675 million for weapons to Ukraine on September 9, bringing its total contribution to about $12.5 billion. Poland has committed around $1.80 billion and the United Kingdom $1.3 billion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed for more international funding. He said the monthly cost of fighting the Russian invasion was about $5 billion.

Australia has already sent missiles, humanitarian supplies and imposed sanctions of hundreds of Russian politicians, military commanders and businesspeople.

Canberra has so far spent an estimated $240 million on armaments and military support to Ukraine. Opposition lawmakers have called on Canberra to follow the United States and increase its assistance to Ukraine.

Since February 2022, Australia has granted visas to almost 9,000 Ukrainian refugees.
Excitement is building in Uzbekistan ahead of this weeks Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, where Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will be the most prominent among more than a dozen world leaders visiting the Central Asian nation.

The world is coming to Samarkand has been the theme of the preparations for the annual meeting, to be hosted by the groups current chairman, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

All SCO member states are our closest neighbors, friends and strategic partners, he said in a prepared statement ahead of the summit.

Mirziyoyev, who believes that Samarkand, the medieval capital of the empire of Uzbekistans national hero Amir Temur, will be a dramatic backdrop for the gathering of leaders from eight SCO member and three observer states alongside several dialogue partner countries.

Putin and Xi, who are expected to meet one-on-one on the sidelines of the two-day event, will be joined by leaders from India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

Leaders from the SCO observer nations  Belarus, Iran and Mongolia  are also expected at the September 15-16 summit, with the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Turkmenistan invited as special guests. Afghanistans future in the group is not certain because of the Taliban takeover.

The SCO was originally a Chinese vehicle, founded as the Shanghai Five to help settle lingering border disputes. Today, its member states include more than 3.5 billion people. Mirziyoyev aims to boost its unity and impact. After a three-year pandemic that has caused serious disruption in trade, economic and industrial ties, the countries and peoples of the SCO need to communicate directly, he said Monday in Tashkent.

But Evan Feigenbaum, vice president at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington and a former deputy assistant secretary of state, says that unity has been elusive.

The group struggles to tackle core security issues because it includes longtime antagonists like India and Pakistan. And it has struggled to drive regional economic integration because it is neither a trade pact nor an investment vehicle and its members often disagree about specific infrastructure and development schemes, he told VOA.

The biggest challenge to Uzbekistans big summit lies to the westin Russias invasion of Ukraine. Some SCO members like Kazakhstan have publicly signaled their discomfort with Russias war.

Feigenbaum noted that while China has fostered a strategic entente with Moscow to counter Washington, it has tried to straddle on the war by leavening its diplomatic support for Russia with a policy of complying with most Western sanctions.

In attending the SCO summit, Xi is making his first trip outside China in nearly three years. If he abandons this Beijing straddle and leans ever harder into Chinese support for Russia, he risks driving a wedge with Central Asian neighbors while injecting rancor into the group instead of the unity Mirziyoyev wants.

Uzbekistans one-year SCO chairmanship has fallen in a dynamic and fraught period when one global era comes to an end and another begins, Feigenbaum said.

VOAs conversations with Uzbek intellectuals and professionals reflect this excitement but also cynicism about the summit.

Javohir Kudratov, a doctor, believes that Uzbekistan seeks prestige, credibility and investment by staging such a grandiose event in its Silk Road jewel city, highlighting that SCO members generate a quarter of the worlds GDP.

Millions within the bloc rightly want concrete results and benefits from this event. But we also realize that the summit looks more like a chaykhana for the leaders of countries who dont get along and who have not been out for a while, says Kudratov.

Chaykhana is a Central Asian teahouse where men dally over a cup of tea, share traditional dishes like plov, and discuss current affairs. Its not a place for solutions but can enable candid exchanges.

Feruza Azimova, a young researcher in Tashkent, agreed with Kudratov, adding that each guest will come with his list of grievances and proposals. Im not sure what we gain from this summit other than private discussions. I doubt those will translate into anything real that we can see and feel.

Uzbekistan has built dozens of new structures in Samarkand for this summit, spending millions. Its useful investment, say officials, since the city needs world class hotels, business centers and conference halls.

Uzbeks are also excited about the expected talks between the leaders of Russia and China, Azerbaijan and Armenia, Iran and Turkey.

Lets see whether we just get dry official statements, said a Samarkand-based entrepreneur who has business interests in Turkey, Russia and China. Requesting anonymity, he pointed to deep corruption within the SCO, arguing that the bloc is still run by Moscow and Beijing, no matter how hard Uzbekistan has pushed for relevance by focusing on security, economy and climate.

The SCO is strong if each of us is strong, Mirziyoyev said in his Monday statement. The ongoing armed conflicts in different parts of the world destabilize trade and investment flows, exacerbate the problems of ensuring food and energy security.

Global climate shocks, growing scarcity of natural and water resources, decline in biodiversity, spread of dangerous infectious diseases have exposed the vulnerability of our societies as never before.

The SCO has no history of tackling these issues, although it has developed cooperative structures on, for example, counternarcotics.

Sharofiddin Tulaganov, a political commentator in Tashkent, told VOA that the world should be pragmatic about the summit.

Its an annual event hosted by a chair. While it is remarkable that Xi will attend because he has not been out in the international arena since the pandemic, and the Russian leader has not been traveling much abroad because of the war in Ukraine, we still dont know what these presidents will discuss, he said.

I expect Beijing to act as calm as ever, without emotion, urging the SCO to be more effective but not necessarily pushing for it to compete with NATO and act against the West.

Tulaganov sees India and Pakistan taking the same geostrategic line. These countries dont want the SCO to position itself as an anti-Western bloc. Tashkent shares that view, promoting a Samarkand spirit of peace, mutual trust, and respect.

China and Turkey are the only states at the summit who can ask Putin to stop the war in Ukraine, but we dont know how they do that. Its a polarized world and Uzbekistan clearly does not want to be pushed around and pressured to choose a side.

Since Russia, China, Belarus, and Iran are all under Western sanctions, they may express their resentments toward Washington and Brussels. But no expert VOA talked with expects Washington or Brussels to be angered at Uzbekistan.

We know that Americans and Europeans understand the geopolitical predicament Uzbekistan and rest of Central Asia are in, said Tulaganov.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. French President Emmanuel Macron called for strict adherence to the ceasefire and respect for Armenias territorial integrity.

France will convey the situation to the UN Security Council, where it is currently presiding, the French presidency said in a statement.

President Macron is ready to support the sides in order for all issues relating to or stemming from the conflict to be resolved exclusively through negotiations.

He will continue actively supporting this together with all partners and interested parties, the presidency said.
U.S. senators expressed empathy with Twitters former security chief during a hearing on Tuesday as he outlined serious concerns about the influential social media platform.

It doesn't matter who has keys if you don't have any locks on the doors. And this kind of vulnerability is not in the abstract. It's not far-fetched to say an employee in the company could take over the accounts of all of the senators in this room, said Peiter Mudge Zatko in testimony before the Senates Judiciary Committee.

Given the real harm to users and national security, I determined it was necessary to take on the personal and professional risk to myself and to my family of becoming a whistleblower.

Zatko, appearing under subpoena, added he was not making the disclosures out of spite or to harm Twitter.

Zatko, who made a number of revelations previously in an 84-page complaint to the Securities and Exchange Commission and other U.S. government regulatory agencies, said that executive incentives compel Twitter executives to prioritize profits over security.

There was a culture of not reporting bad results up, only reporting good results up, Zatko told the senators.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat, noted that according to Zatko, the door to that vault is wide open and that vault contains a lot more information about you than you can imagine.

Several senators, from both the Democratic and Republican parties, expressed concern that Twitters vulnerabilities could constitute a national security threat.

This data is a gold mine of information that could be used against America's interest. Twitter has a responsibility to ensure that the data is protected and doesn't fall into the hands of foreign powers, said Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican senator on the committee.

Your testimony today has legitimized what most of us feel is a process out of control, that the regulatory environment is insufficient to the task, said Senator Lindsey Graham a Republican. Its time to up our game in this country."

Graham said he is working with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, to create a regulatory system that would have teeth, similar to what has been enacted in Europe.

Im not reaching any conclusions, but clearly what were doing right now is not working, said Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat on the committee, who raised the possibility of creating a new government agency to regulate tech companies and protect consumers.

One senator, Mazie Hirono, a Democrat, appeared exasperated that Twitter has not been held to account even though it has paid a $150 million fine for violating a consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission on protecting users data.

Do people need to go to prison? she asked Zatko.

I think holding people accountable is a good start, he replied.

Zatko, a former high-profile computer hacker who became head of cybersecurity research at a Defense Department research and development agency known as DARPA and subsequently worked at Google before joining Twitter in 2020, also testified there were suspected foreign agents working inside Twitter  from China, India and Nigeria  and that there was no way to track their access to company databases, including those containing users personal information.

Zatko said when he raised his concern with another Twitter executive about a particular suspected foreign agent inside the company that person replied: "Well, since we already have one, what does it matter if we have more?"

Twitters hiring process is independent of any foreign influence and access to data is managed through measures including background checks, access controls, and monitoring and detection systems and processes, according to a Twitter company spokesman.

Todays hearing only confirms that Mr. Zatkos allegations are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies, a Twitter company spokesperson, who declined to be publicly identified, responded to VOA and did not elaborate.

Twitter Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal declined to voluntarily appear before the committee on Tuesday. Durbin and Grassley told reporters they will discuss issuing a subpoena to compel the executive to appear.

Zatko continues to believe that through this public disclosure process, real world harm for Twitter users may be avoided and our countrys national security better protected, said his attorney, Alexis Ronickher, in a statement following the hearing.

Following Zatkos testimony, Twitter announced that its shareholders have approved a $44 billion takeover offer from Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk. But since making the bid, the billionaire has terminated the agreement, accusing Twitter of misrepresenting the number of authentic users. Twitter has countersued, and the matter is scheduled to be heard in Delawares chancery court next month.

A judge in the state of Delaware ruled last week that Zatkos claims can be included in Musks case against Twitter.
China and African nations are increasingly collaborating in space to develop their own ambitions in the next frontier analysts say.

Chinese astronauts known as taikonauts have been playing a role in space diplomacy while on a six-month mission on the Tiangong space station currently under construction.

Just last week, three taikonauts spoke to students from eight African countries via video link during an event hosted by the China Mission to the African Union.

This event is a reflection of the ongoing collaboration between China and African countries. The space industry in Africa is growing at an incredible rate, hence countries and regions like China, Europe, Russia and the U.S. are beginning to compete for a stake in the industry, Temidayo Oniosun, a Nigerian space scientist and managing director of the website Space in Africa, told VOA.

A young Ethiopian wanted to know what astronauts eat in space and how they shower. A Somali student wanted to know about the future of space tourism and a female student from Egypt wanted to know whether its difficult for women to become astronauts.

The three taikonauts answered the questions in detail, showing them the food they eat in orbit, including delicious purple rice porridge, tasty sauteed sweet corn with pine nuts, and sauteed diced beef in black pepper sauce, and explained that because of zero-gravity its impossible to take a shower in space.

The event was not only a show of soft power on Beijings part, but also indicates the importance China is placing on the role Africa can help it play in the global space race, experts said.

Chinas interests in Africa

These engagements are not necessarily because China and the rest are engaging to help Africa, theyre doing so because they get economic, social and cultural capital in return, said Oniosun.

China is second only to the U.S. in terms of the number of satellites in the world it controls.

A 2020 Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies working paper mentioned how constructing remote sensing satellite networks in Africa allowed China to support logistical integration of Belt and Road (BRI) partner states as one of the applications for cooperation in space.

In his remarks at the event in Addis Ababa last week, the head of Chinas mission to the AU, Hu Changchun, said space was an important part of President Xi Jinpings Belt and Road Initiative, which is rapidly building infrastructure in developing countries.

African people are determined to explore space. In recent years under the guidance of the Belt and Road Initiativespace cooperation has become a highlight of China-Africa cooperation, he said. We have seen fruitful results of satellite launches, space infrastructure, as well as sharing of satellite resources  we have also provided high quality training for African researchers.

Africas interests in space

Oniosun said the African space economy in 2021 was valued at $19.49 billion and is forecast to grow by some 16% in the next four years. However, as of 2022 only 13 African countries have 48 satellites, six of them built by China and one by the U.S., with experts saying satellite communication is essential to bridging the connectivity gap on the continent.

China launched Nigerias first communications satellite in 2007, and in 2011 launched Nigerias second one. Beijing also launched Algerias first communication satellite in 2017. In 2018, Tunisia became the site of the first ground receiving station outside of China for its Beidou Satellite Navigation System analysts said.

China helped Ethiopia and Sudan launch their first satellites in 2019.

More than 20 African countries now have space programs, and the AU-China astronaut event was meant to generate enthusiasm among African youth and challenge the idea in Africa that space is somehow a luxury or an excess pursuit, Julie Klinger, assistant professor at the University of Delaware, told VOA.

In fact, African nations are not interested in competing in a controversial space race, she said, and dont prioritize military applications or even human spaceflight.

They are more interested in developing space capabilities in order to address matters of socio-economic development, with climate change, environmental monitoring and disaster management all important parts of China-Africa space collaboration, Klinger added.

While China has intensified its international collaboration on space since the advent of its Belt and Road Initiative, Klinger emphasized that China has to enter competitive bidding processes when it comes to getting space technology contracts with African governments.

Honestly they dont always win, the majority of satellite activity in particular in Africa is funded by African governments, she said, with the most contracts going to France, China second and the U.S. a distant fourth.

Regardless of which countries African nations partner with, the students who participated in the question-and-answer session with the taikonauts became some of the youngest space diplomats to represent their country and may one day become astronauts who make it to space themselves.
Ukraine claimed Monday it had recaptured several more villages in the northeastern part of the country, pushing some Russian forces back to the border between the two nations.

After months of only incremental territorial gains and losses by Kyivs and Moscows forces, Ukrainian leaders exulted in the sudden advance since the beginning of September in the Kharkiv region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address to the nation Monday that Ukrainian forces had retaken more than 6,000 square kilometers of territory since the offensive began this month.

The movement of our troops continues, he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there has been significant progress by the Ukrainians, particularly in the Northeast, citing both support from the United States and other allies and the extraordinary courage and resilience of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Ukrainian people.

This is early days still, Blinken said. So, I think it would be wrong to predict exactly where this will go, when it will get there and how it will get there.

The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged over the weekend it was pulling back forces, saying they were regrouping them in the eastern Donetsk region.

Oleh Syniehubov, the Ukrainian governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region, said, In some areas of the front, our defenders reached the state border with the Russian Federation, with Russian troops chaotically retreating.

The Russians were here in the morning. Then at noon, they suddenly started shouting wildly and began to run away, charging off in tanks and armored vehicles, Dmytro Hrushchenko, a resident of recently liberated Zaliznychne, a small town near the eastern front line, told Sky News.

"Making progress"

The general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said Monday its troops had recaptured more than 20 settlements within the past day. The British Defense Ministry said that, in recent days, Kyivs forces had reclaimed territory at least the size of the London metropolitan area.

A senior U.S. military official said Monday Ukrainians are making progress in their efforts to reclaim territory in the south and the east and said Russian forces around Kharkiv have ceded ground to Ukraine.

The official said the Russian pullback was indicative of morale issues, among other factors, and said Ukraine has presented Russian forces with multiple dilemmas. Many of the Russian forces who have ceded ground have moved across the border to Russia, according to the official.

Analysts say the war is likely to continue into 2023, but the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said Monday that Ukraine has turned the tide of this war in its favor through its effective use of Western-supplied weapons like the long-range HIMARS missile system and strategic battlefield maneuvers. Kyiv will likely increasingly dictate the location and nature of the major fighting.

In Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said power and water that had been cut off by Russia were restored to about 80% of the regions population.

In Russia, some complaints were voiced, even on state-controlled television, about the setbacks its forces were sustaining.

People who convinced President [Vladimir] Putin that the operation will be fast and effective ... these people really set up all of us, Boris Nadezhdin, a former parliament member, said on an NTV television talk show. Were now at the point where we have to understand that its absolutely impossible to defeat Ukraine using these resources and colonial war methods.

Death, destruction continues

But the wars death toll continued to mount, with Ukraines presidential office reporting that at least four civilians were killed, and 11 others wounded in a series of Russian attacks in nine regions of the country. Even in liberated Kharkiv, a police station in the citys center was hit by a missile, setting part of it on fire and killing one person, a regional police chief said.

Russia also shelled Nikopol across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, damaging several buildings there. The last operational reactor in that plant has been shut down to prevent a radiation leak.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
Ukrainian troops advanced further into the northeastern region of the country on Tuesday, reclaiming the town of Vovchansk, 3 kilometers from the Russian border, that Moscow's forces had seized on the first day of their invasion nearly seven months ago.

The Kyiv government exulted in its sudden success, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying late Monday that in the last few weeks its forces had retaken more than 6,000 square kilometers.

"The movement of our troops continues," he said.

Ukrainian troops hoisted the country's blue-and-yellow flags and officials released video of soldiers burning Russian flags and inspecting the charred tanks Russian troops left behind as they retreated. Border guards tore down a poster that read, "We are one people with Russia."

Ukrainian Deputy Minister Hanna Maliar said Kyiv is trying to persuade Russian soldiers to surrender, firing shells filled with flyers ahead of their advance.

"Russians use you as cannon fodder. Your life doesn't mean anything for them. You don't need this war. Surrender to Armed Forces of Ukraine," the flyers read.

In its latest assessment, British intelligence said that one of Russia's premier forces, the 1st Guards Tank Army, had been "severely degraded" during the war with Ukraine and that "Russia's conventional force designed to counter NATO is severely weakened. It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability."

With the Ukrainian advances, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone call to "come to a diplomatic solution as quickly as possible, based on a cease-fire, a complete withdrawal of Russian forces and respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Ukraine," according to the chancellor's spokesman.

U.S. officials were cautious in their assessment of the Kyiv advances.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there has been "significant progress by the Ukrainians, particularly in the northeast," citing both support from the United States and other allies and "the extraordinary courage and resilience of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Ukrainian people."

"This is early days still," Blinken said. "So, I think it would be wrong to predict exactly where this will go, when it will get there and how it will get there."

Analysts say the war is likely to continue into 2023, but the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said Monday that "Ukraine has turned the tide of this war in its favor" through its effective use of Western-supplied weapons like the long-range HIMARS missile system and strategic battlefield maneuvers.

"Kyiv will likely increasingly dictate the location and nature of the major fighting."

Russia continued to shell Ukrainian positions, including the city of Lozova in the Kharkiv region, where three people were killed and nine injured, according to Ukrainian regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.

Fighting also raged near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where officials remain worried about the safety of the facility and fears of radiation leaks.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
Zanu PF says President Emmerson Mnangagwa has not captured the judiciary, contrary to claims contained in a hard-hitting petition signed by 161 individuals and submitted to the president a few days ago.

In an interview, the ruling Zanu PFs information and communications director Tafadzwa Mugwadi, said the judiciary is an independent arm of the government as it is not being manipulated by the president for political benefits.

Mugwadi said the petition submitted by Dr. Ibbo Mandaza, executive chairman of the Southern African Political Economy Series Trust, contained baseless accusations designed to undermine the authority of the president.

In the petition signed by Mandaza, telecommunications mogul Strive Masiyiwa, former Zimbabwean prime minister Arthurr Mutambara, South Africas political icon Elinor Sisulu and others, Mnangagwa is accused of influencing the judiciary in denying bail to Citizens Coalition for Change lawmakers Job Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole and 14 others accused of inciting violence and obstructing the course of justice.

Mugwadi said, If Im not mistaken Dr. Ibbo Mandaza was a doctor some few years back and then Im sure by now he is an associate professor. Now thats exactly means what kind of professor do we have in southern Africa who thinks that the president is a member of the judiciary or the bench such that when there is an arrest on reasonable suspicion of commission of a crime it is incumbent on the president to release of a person whose case is before the judiciary. Which rules is he using, I dont know. But all that I want to point out is that there are no political prisoners in Zimbabwe.

Job Sikhala and his friends or accomplices were arrested at the crime scene in Chitungwiza, Nyatsime area. There is no doubt about that peoples houses were burnt, peoples cars were burnt, peoples houses were burnt, that peoples shops were arsorned, and that peoples houses were burnt by CCC hooligans at the instigation of Job Sikhala. And the video is there that testifies that and is duly before the courts, before the law. Now if anyone thinks that because of their ranks or high profiles in society, the law must spare them  Here is a very essential qualification of Zimbabwes democracy. No one is above the law. We are all equal before the law.

Mugwadi said he would be in jail if he committed similar crimes. And that process does not require the president of the Republic of Zimbabwe to intervene because we dont interfere with the processes of the courts.

But Den Moyo, an independent political analyst, says the courts have been captured by the ruling party ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The judiciary should be independent. All what we see right now is Mnangagwa interfering with court processes. We know that he is in charge of appointing judges but have realized that in the last four years he has sacked four justices. Thats frightening. He is simply decimating the judiciary for political purposes.

Four justices - Francis Bere, Erica Ndewere, Thompson James Mabhikwa and Faith Mushore  have been sacked for gross misconduct and incompetence.

According to ZimLive, Mushore was among some judges who last year handed a bold judgement declaring as unconstitutional, Mnangagwas unpopular extension of Chief Justice Luke Malabas term of office beyond his retirement age of 70.

In its petition, the 116 pro-democracy individuals said Mnangagwa's government is violating the rights of 16 Citizens Coalition for Change members currently in remand prison. They accused the Zanu PF government of behaving in a manner that is worse than the Ian Smith regime that jailed some of the present top leaders during the war of liberation of the 1960s.

The petition reads in part, "We, the undersigned, are citizens and persons who care about Zimbabwe. We petition Your Excellency to bring to your consideration, a most unusual situation obtaining in the arrest and detention of MPs Honourable Job Sikhala and Honourable Godfrey Sithole, and 14 residents of Nyatsime, Chitungwiza following the violence of 14 June 2022 in Nyatsime. Our duty to Zimbabwe constrains us from maintaining silence.

"The multiple denials of bail these two have endured, multiple times in the Magistrates Court and multiple times in the High Court, makes for an unusual and unprecedented situation. We cannot think of any prosecution in recent times where one has been denied bail for such numerous times, for offences of inciting public violence and obstruction of justice, which Honourable Sikhala is charged with, and inciting public violence, which Honourable Godfrey Sithole is charged with. MPs Job Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole have now spent 85 days in pre-trial incarceration at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison."

The petitioners are questioning the handling of the court cases by the judiciary.

"When this is juxtaposed to the timely and little-resisted granting of bail to high profile politically exposed persons accused of serious corruption, and they being flight risks, questions about the equal treatment of persons before the courts arise. There appear to be targeted differential treatment of those arrested and detained for charges emanating from political circumstances.

During their incarceration, Honourable Sikhala and Honourable Sithole have been subjected to leg irons; their lawyers have in some instances been denied access  in once instance prompting a court application; and other concerned individuals have been prevented from visiting them. Honourable Sikhalas health has deteriorated."

The petitioners also say while they noted the political violence that occurred in Nyastime, it is curious that arrest and detention was targeted at members and perceived supporters of the political opposition.

"No one associated with any other formation was arrested. Among the 14 residents currently in detention are victims of arson who were arrested upon presenting themselves to a police station to report the arson. In the case of Honourable Sikhala, he has been arrested over 60 times, and has never been convicted. He has no record of escaping justice. To then deny him bail on the basis that he has the propensity to offend the law, is curious. This is in spite of the Constitution providing for bail as a right only to be denied in exceptional circumstances.

"When the actors in the justice system appear to act in ways wholly contrary to their sworn duty and oath to uphold and implement the law without fear or favour, inferences of external hands in work of the judiciary are bound to arise. The offences that Honourable Sikhala, Honourable Sithole and the 14 residents of Nyastime are facing, have not had this kind of treatment visited upon anyone charged of them in recent times."

According to the petitioners, this treatment was commonplace during the times of the liberation struggle.

"In those days, such kind of arrests and detentions were known to be political, and many including those currently in public office, suffered those and are well aware of their evils. An observer witnessing these developments cannot help but draw parallels. Our belief is that law must maintain its supremacy and moral high ground above politics. The injustice is too visible to ignore, and we would be unfaithful in our devotion to the country if we remain silent.

"The law must have moral content, and its enforcement must have humanity. The Constitution of Zimbabwe is moral in both substance and process. The enforcement thereof is robbing the law and legal process that gives it authority, respect, recognition and supremacy. Judicial authority itself derives from the people, per section 162 of the Constitution."

They said Mnangagwa's office is charged with the sacrosanct duty as per section 90 of the Constitution to ensure that the Constitution and all other laws are faithfully observed, in particular, to ensure protection of the fundamental human rights and freedoms and the rule of law.

"Of the many rights, liberty and human freedom is a cornerstone right, a right that many Zimbabweans so reverently and fervently fought for. The unusual trajectory that these cases have taken cannot be ignored. These cases, in our view, warrant an inquiry into how the justice system has come to this. The consequences of ignoring this will be too dire for Zimbabwes young democracy to bear."

The petitioners say the criminal justice system was never created as a platform to silence or punish political dissent or holding of divergent views.

"When that happens, as is happening to Honourable Sikhala, Honourable Sithole and the 14 residents of Nyatsime, it erodes the value and essence of the criminal justice system and diminishes public confidence and trust in the justice system. That should not be allowed to happen. Where the criminal justice system is weaponized against dissent, there are no victors. The justice system, the accused and the generality of Zimbabweans derive no benefit from this. Should there be cause, by all means the law must take its course. But doing so without cause erodes confidence in the justice system. We expect a resolution to this abuse of law and process."
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PnB Rock has died aged 30 after being shot during a robbery.

The rapper - real name Rakim Hasheem Allen - was eating at Roscoe's House of Chicken 'N Waffles in Los Angeles, California on Monday (12.09.22) when the robbery occurred, and he has declared dead after the incident.

Los Angeles Police Department's Captain Kelly Muniz - who didn't name the rapper - revealed in a news briefly that a "victim was sitting at a table eating with a female witness when he was approached by the suspect".

She said the suspect pulled out a gun demanding "hist property" and shot several times before appearing "to remove some property".

Muniz added that PnB Rock was declared dead at 1:59pm local time, with the South Bureau Homicide investigating the case, plus "many other detectives".

Although the captain didn't name PnB Rock, witnesses and video footage have revealed him as the victim.

As reported by KTLA, no one else was injured in the incident, while a video of the aftermath showed the rapper - who has 2.6 million followers on Instagram - alive but badly injured before his death.

Shortly before the shooting, his girlfriend - designer and influencer Stephanie Sibounheuang - posted a since-deleted video on her Instagram Story of her meal at the restaurant.

The couple have two-year-old daughter Xuri together.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times newspaper, the authorities are now assessing surveillance footage from both inside the restaurant and from nearby businesses in an attempt to identify the suspect.

PnB Rock dropped his first breakthrough hit 'Selfish' in 2016, and his collaboration with YFN Lucci - 'Everyday We Lit' - came out the same year and peaked at 33 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, which was the highest charting track for both musicians.
Beginning in 1949, the German Jewish philosopher Leo Strauss taught at the University of Chicago. He soon formed a small group of Jewish disciples from among his students. He taught them orally, which was quite different from his writings. According to him, the democracies had shown their inability to protect the Jews from the Nazi final solution. To prevent this tragedy from happening again and the hammer from falling on them, his disciples had to be on the other side of the handle.

He advised them to build their own dictatorship.

Organizing his followers, Leo Strauss called them his "hoplites" (soldiers of Sparta). He trained them to disrupt the classes of some of his fellow teachers.

Several of the members of this sect have held very high positions in the United States and Israel. The operation and ideology of this grouping were the subject of controversy after the attacks of September 11, 2001. An abundant literature has opposed the supporters and opponents of the philosopher. However, the facts are indisputable [1].

Anti-Semitic authors have wrongly lumped together Straussians, Jewish communities in the Diaspora and the State of Israel. However, the ideology of Leo Strauss was never discussed in the Jewish world before 9/11. From a sociological point of view, it is a sectarian phenomenon, not at all representative of Jewish culture. However, in 2003, Benjamin Netanyahus "revisionist Zionists" made a pact with the US Straussians, in the presence of other Israeli leaders [2]. This alliance was never made public.

One of the characteristics of this group is that they are ready for anything. For example, they wanted to return Iraq to the stone age. This is indeed what they did. For them, all sacrifices are possible, including for themselves, as long as they remain the first; not the best, the first [3]!

In 1992, an advisor to the Secretary of Defense, the Straussian Paul Wolfowitz, wrote the Defense Planning Guidance. It was the first official US document reflecting the thinking of Leo Strauss [4]. Wolfowitz was introduced to Strauss thought by the American philosopher Allan Bloom (a friend of the Frenchman Raymond Aron), but he himself only briefly knew the master at the end of his teaching in Chicago. However, the US ambassador to the UN, Jeane Kirkpatrick, recognized him as "one of the great Straussian figures" [5].

In the context of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Wolfowitz developed a strategy to maintain US hegemony over the entire rest of the world.

The Defense Planning Guidance should have remained confidential, but the New York Times revealed its main lines and published extracts [6]. Three days later, the Washington Post revealed further details [7]. In the end, the original text was never made public, but a version edited by the Secretary of Defense (and future Vice President), Dick Cheney, was circulated.

It is known that the original document was based on a series of meetings in which two other people, all three Straussian, participated: Andrew Marshall, the Pentagons "thinker" (who was replaced three years after his death by Arthur Cebrowski), Albert Wohlstetter, the thinker of the atomic deterrence strategy, and his son-in-law Richard Perle, the future director of the Defense Policy Board. The Defense Planning Guidance was written by a student of Wohlstetter, Zalmay Khalilzad (future ambassador to the UN).

The document speaks of a new "world order [...] ultimately supported by the United States", in which the sole superpower would only have temporary alliances, depending on the conflict. The UN and even NATO would be increasingly sidelined. More broadly, the Wolfowitz Doctrine theorizes the need for the United States to block the emergence of any potential competitor to U.S. hegemony, especially "advanced industrial nations" such as Germany and Japan. Particularly targeted is the European Union: "While the United States supports the European integration project, we must be careful to prevent the emergence of a purely European security system that would undermine NATO, and particularly its integrated military command structure. The Europeans will thus be asked to include in the Maastricht Treaty a clause subordinating their defense policy to that of NATO, while the Pentagon report recommends the integration of the new Central and Eastern European states into the European Union, while giving them the benefit of a military agreement with the United States that would protect them against a possible Russian attack [8].

For thirty years, this document has been patiently implemented.

 The Maastricht Treaty includes a paragraph 4 in Title V, Article J4, which stipulates: "The policy of the Union within the meaning of this Article shall not prejudice the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States and shall respect the obligations of certain Member States under the North Atlantic Treaty and be compatible with the common security and defence policy established within that framework. These provisions have been included in the various texts up to Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union.

 The former Warsaw Pact member states have almost all joined the European Union. This decision was a choice imposed by Washington and announced by Secretary of State James Baker just before the European Council meeting that endorsed it.

In 2000, Paul Wolfowitz was, together with Zbignew Brzezinki, the main speaker at a large Ukrainian-US symposium in Washington, organized by Ukrainian "integral nationalists" who had taken refuge in the USA. There he pledged to support independent Ukraine, to provoke Russia to go to war with it, and ultimately to finance the destruction of the resurgent rival of the USA [9].

These commitments were implemented with the passage of the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 on April 28, 2022 [10]. Ukraine is now exempt from all arms control procedures, including end-use certificates. Very expensive weapons are leased by the USA to the EU to defend Ukraine. When the war is over, the Europeans will have to pay for what they have consumed. And the bill will be heavy.

Although the European elites have benefited from their alliance with the United States so far, they should not be surprised that the United States is now trying to destroy them under the Defense Planning Guidance. They have already seen what Washington was capable of after the 9/11 attacks: Paul Wolfowitz forbade countries that had expressed reservations about the war, such as Germany and France, to conclude contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq [11].

At present, the rise in the price of energy sources and their increasing scarcity threaten not only the heating and transportation of individuals, but above all the survival of all their industries. If this phenomenon continues, it is the economy of the European Union as a whole that will suddenly collapse, taking its population back at least a century.

This phenomenon is difficult to analyze because the prices and availability of energy sources vary according to many factors.

First, prices depend on supply and demand. As a result, they have risen with the overall economic recovery from the end of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Second, energy sources are the main targets of speculators. Even more so than currencies. The world price of oil can be multiplied by 2.5 just by the effect of speculation.

So far, everything is usual and known. But the Western sanctions against Russia, following its application of the Minsk II Agreement, for which it was the guarantor before the Security Council, have broken the world market. From now on, there is no longer a global price, but different prices according to the countries of the sellers and the customers. There are still prices quoted on the stock exchange in Wall Street and the City, but they bear no relation to those in Beijing and New Delhi.

Above all, oil and gas, which were abundant in the European Union, are starting to run out, while globally they are still in overabundance.

All our reference points have been turned upside down. Our statistical tools, designed for the global market, are not at all adapted to the current period. We can therefore only make assumptions, without any means of verifying them. This situation allows many people to talk nonsense with an air of authority; in fact, we are all evolving at a guessing pace.

One of the current factors is the reflux of dollars which were used for trade and speculation and which are no longer usable for these transactions in certain countries. This mostly virtual currency is leaving Russia and its allies to go to or return to the countries where it is still used. This is a gigantic phenomenon that the Federal Reserve and the US military have always wanted to avoid, but which the Straussians in the Biden administration (Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his deputy Victoria Nuland) have deliberately provoked.

Wrongly convinced that Russia has invaded Ukraine and is trying to annex it, the Europeans forbid themselves to trade with Moscow. In practice, they still consume Russian gas, but they are convinced that Gazprom will cut off their gas supply. For example, their press announced that the Russian company was closing the Nord Stream pipeline, although it had announced a three-day technical interruption. Normally, gas pipeline deliveries are interrupted for maintenance for two days every two months. Here, Gazprom was hampered in its maintenance by the Western blockade, which prevented the return of the turbines it had sent for repair to Canada. However, the population understood that the evil Russians had cut off their gas on the eve of winter.

The European propaganda aims to prepare public opinion for a definitive closure of the gas pipeline and to put the responsibility on Russia.

In this case, the leaders of the Union are simply implementing the directives of the Straussians. In doing so, they are scuttling European industry to the detriment of their citizens. Already some energy-intensive factories have reduced their production or even closed.

The process of decrepitude of the European Union will continue as long as no one dares to oppose it. To everyones surprise, a first pro-Russian demonstration was held on September 3 in Prague. The police admitted to 70,000 people (for a country of 10 million), but there were probably many more. Political commentators despise them and consider them "Putins useful idiots". But these insults do not mask the unease of European elites.

Energy experts consider power cuts throughout the Union inevitable. Only Hungary, which has previously obtained exemptions, could escape the rules of the single energy market. Those who can produce electricity will have to share it with those who cannot. It doesnt matter whether this inability is the result of bad luck or short-sightedness.

Brussels should start with voltage reductions, then cut off at night, and finally during the day. Individuals will have difficulties to maintain elevators, to heat their homes in winter, to cook if they use electric plates and, those who use trains, buses or electric cars, should have difficulties to move. Energy-intensive businesses, such as blast furnaces, are expected to close. Infrastructures are expected to become impassable, such as long tunnels that can no longer be ventilated. Above all, electronic installations designed for continuous operation will not be able to withstand repeated interruptions. This will be the case, for example, for antennas that are essential for cell phone networks, which will be thrown away after three months of this treatment.

In third world countries where electricity is scarce, battery powered leds are used for lighting and UPS to power low consumption machines, such as computers or televisions. But these materials are currently not available in the EU.

The EUs GDP has already fallen by almost 1%. Will this recession continue as the Straussians plan, or will the citizens of the Union interrupt it, as part of the Czech people are trying to do?

The Straussians will go all the way. They have taken advantage of the decadence of the United States to take over the real power. Since a junkie, never elected, can use official planes galore to do business all over the world [12], they have quietly moved into the shadow of President Biden and are governing in his place. European leaders, on the other hand, are either blind or too committed to stop, acknowledge their thirty years of mistakes and turn back.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Members of the Permanent Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) expressed deep concern over the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and discussed the proposals on the possible launch of CSTO mechanisms for resolving the situation, the CSTO Secretariat said in a statement.

The CSTO Secretariat leadership and the Chief of the Joint Staff Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov participated in the emergency session of the permanent council initiated by Armenia.

Armenias Permanent Representative at the CSTO Viktor Biyagov briefed the council on the developments at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and notified about the Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyans application.

Members of the Permanent Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) expressed deep concern over the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and discussed the proposals on the possible launch of CSTO mechanisms for resolving the situation, the secretariat added.

At least 49 Armenian troops were killed and three civilians were wounded when Azerbaijan launched a major attack in several directions against Armenia 00:05 September 13. Both military and civilian infrastructure were hit. In some directions the Azeri troops continue attempts to advance.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. US Congressman David N. Cicilline condemned the latest Azerbaijani attack against Armenia.

"This is an unprovoked and unwarranted attack on the Armenian people and is a clear violation by Azerbaijan of the latest peace treaty and we must hold them accountable, the Congressman said on Twitter. The US must be bold and unwavering in our support for the Armenian people and against Azerbaijans violence, he added.

On September 13, starting at 00:05, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched a major military attack in several directions against Armenia, primarily using artillery and UAVs. 49 Armenian troops were killed and 3 civilians were wounded in the Azerbaijani attack. As of 14:00, September 14, the situation along several sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border remains extremely tense.
Lazio region stops over 10 tons of trash from reaching the sea.

Italy's central Lazio region around Rome has fished out more than 10 tons of rubbish from its rivers thanks to a series of garbage-catching barriers, the region's governor Nicola Zingaretti announced.

The trash traps - designed to collect plastic and other rubbish dumped in rivers before it reaches the sea - were installed in recent years on the Aniene, Tevere and Gargliano.

"More than 30,000 bottles have been recovered" - Zingaretti said on Instagram on Monday - "as well as about 1.5 tons comprising fuel canisters, tyres, refrigerators, gas cylinders, water heaters, helmets, mattresses, ping pong tables, washing machines."

The rubbish-catching devices intercept floating trash, accumulating it before it is collected by boat and then recycled into street furniture.

The barrier system operates based on the varying buoyancy of materials, catching man-made waste but allowing natural debris, such as wood or reeds, to continue on its journey towards the sea.

Earlier this month firefighters in Rome found a dead cow floating in the river Tiber inside a jute sack after passersby reported a nauseating smell near the Duca d'Aosta bridge.

Photo Cristiana Avenali - Facebook
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President Joe Biden is going to spend several hundred billion dollars to cancel the debts of millions of college students. This big outlay will probably bolster his standing among graduates in the up-to-$125,000-a-year salary range who populate the deep-blue voting grounds of urban America. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Perhaps the next administration will try to fix the problem with Americas higher education.

A generation or so ago, America decided that expanding access to a college education was critical to underpinning economic progress and extending economic opportunity across American society.

The decision, unfortunately, didnt come with the necessary resources. The network of state and city public colleges and universities  the nations main, if not only source of affordable, quality higher education  could not cope.

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Fall undergraduate enrollment in college swelled by more than half from 1990 to its peak of 21 million in 2010, vastly outstripping the roughly 13% increase in state and local appropriations for higher education during the same period.

Not only has the share of kids enrolling in public colleges and universities dropped to 73%, from 78% in 1990, those who enroll have to fork out more for the privilege to make up for the decline in state and local funding. Tuition now covers 42% of revenue at public colleges and universities, according to the State Higher Education Officers Association, up from 29% at the turn of the century.

Those kids, by the way, are the lucky ones. The unlucky ones who didnt make the cut got trapped in the maw of for-profit schools selling the mirage of success. Two million students enrolled in for-profit colleges in the fall of 2010, the peak year for the industry, almost 10 times as many as did 20 years before. On average, they paid some $14,000 more per year than students at public institutions. Many ended up with a worthless degree or no degree at all. (Following years of scandals, annual enrollment in for-profit colleges has fallen back to about one million.)

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To be fair, the federal government has tried to cover some of the shortfalls in state and local funding. The problem is that it chose to provide the money in a fairly boneheaded way: handing out grants and loans so students could pay for more schooling without doing anything to ensure that the supply of quality of education would grow to meet rising demand.

This federal strategy didnt just spawn a predatory for-profit educational industry that set tuition at the very limit of what student loans could bear. Pretty much the entire educational ecosystem set out to capture as much of the federal money as it could by pumping up tuition and fees.

One study by economists at Brigham Young University, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Harvard found that for every dollar increase in the ceiling that students were eligible to borrow from the subsidized federal loan program, sticker-price increases captured 60 cents. The students didnt get any more education. They were just left holding a heavier bag.

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Maybe one shouldnt fault Bidens good intentions, as he tries to lift some of this burden. But his offer to cancel the debt of several million students doesnt correct the policy mistakes. Its no more than a Band-Aid over a wound inflicted on society by bad public policy.

Indeed, calling it that may be too generous. If college administrators come to believe that periodic loan forgiveness has become a regular policy tool, they will inevitably work it into their tuition schedules: Students can bear more debt, and afford higher tuition, if the government is going to step in down the road to pick up the tab.

So what can be done? Instead of juicing demand for whatever education the industry will provide, Washington should work on the supply side. A good place to start might be to bolster the financial wherewithal of the state colleges and university systems that have done the best job so far of providing affordable higher education to Americans of limited means.

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Appropriations to pay for public higher education have declined to $9,327 per fulltime equivalent student, according to the higher education officers association. Thats about 10% less than at the turn of the century.

It might not be politically palatable for the Biden administration to just grab the $500 billion-plus in planned debt relief and hand it over to the states to invest in their colleges. But the feds could nudge state governments to stop the decline in educational funding.

Consider Medicaid, which absorbs about 20% of state budgets. The growth of Medicaid has been crowding out state educational budgets for years. It enjoys what state college administrators might consider an unfair advantage: For every dollar the state devotes to the program, the federal government adds up to $5.

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David Deming of Harvard suggests that public education would benefit from similar support. A $1-for-$1 matching grant would not only provide substantial financial backing to state colleges and universities. It would also reduce the financial incentive for states to take money out of schools and plow it into hospitals. And the aid could come with strings to ensure quality and accountability, maybe even to the point of standardizing some features of higher education.

This approach might be politically challenging at a moment in which a big chunk of the political class is heatedly accusing the higher education system of brainwashing children into questioning their privilege and adopting liberal causes. And yet the political downside cant be any worse than what comes from handing tens of thousands of dollars to young graduates making $125,000 a year in blue urban America.

More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion:

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Free College in America Is a Bad Idea. Just Look at Europe: Allison Schrager



Get a Prenup Before Paying Spouses Student Loan: Erin Lowry



College Tuition Is Too High But Isnt Rising: Matthew Yglesias

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Eduardo Porter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Latin America, US economic policy and immigration. He is the author of American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise and The Price of Everything: Finding Method in the Madness of What Things Cost.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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In one sense, defining ESG is easy  its an approach to investing and finance centered around understanding risks from environmental factors, social issues and questions of corporate governance. Sorting out the differences between ESG and similar, sometimes overlapping approaches is harder, in part because ESG has come to mean different things to different people. That vagueness has helped fuel rapid growth in recent years -- growth thats also come increased scrutiny from regulators cracking down on banks and investment firms making exaggerated claims. Meanwhile, in the US, ESG is facing a backlash both from prominent Republicans who deride it as woke capitalism and is being criticized by some early leaders of the field who say it isnt creating the kinds of real-world impacts it seemed to promise. Heres a guide to the basics.

1. Whats the big idea?

The broadest umbrella term for the strategy of which ESG is a part is sustainable investing. Proponents say the goals of sustainable investing are to achieve societal impact, align with personal values or manage risks. And make money along the way, of course.

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2. Where did ESG come from?

The concept was developed early this century by United Nations officials working with the finance industry. They argued that the use of ESG factors in financial analysis was compatible with investors fiduciary responsibilities  that using ESG data would help protect investments by avoiding material financial risks from things such as climate change, worker disputes, human rights issues in supply chains and poor corporate governance and resulting litigation.

3. Has that changed?

As time has passed, the label has come to be slapped on investments that run the gamut from predictable things such as owning renewable-energy stocks to things you wouldnt expect, like funds that track benchmark indexes containing oil companies or assets in autocratic nations such as Russia, or coal, steel and liquor firms in China, where ESG funds are growing rapidly.

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4. How big is ESG?

Estimates vary depending on what people count as ESG. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, global assets are set to climb to $50 trillion by 2025 from about $35 trillion now. Thats up from $30.7 trillion in 2018 and $22.8 trillion in 2016, according to the Global Sustainable Investment Association.

5. What is ESG backlash?

In the US, Republican state officials have become sharp critics of Wall Streets ESG policies. They deride it as woke, turning a term progressives coined to convey awareness of racisms role in society into an insult akin to politically correct. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 presidential hopeful, banned state pension funds from screening for ESG risks, saying that Wall Street firms were trying to implement policies through the board room that Floridians reject at the ballot box. Texas is seeking to isolate financial firms it says are hostile toward the fossil-fuel industry. A group of attorneys general from mainly GOP-run states sent a letter to BlackRock Inc., saying the worlds largest asset manager is pursuing ESG investment policies to the detriment of their state pension funds. Missouri recently launched an investigation into Morningstar Inc. and its subsidiary Sustainalytics Inc. over the firms evaluation of ESG issues. And conservative activists have stepped up efforts to file proxy ballots with proposals to rein in ESG policies  taking a page from the playbook of their liberal counterparts.

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6. What criticism is coming from ESG supporters?

Some think the term has become so broad as to lose much of its meaning. Many point to the prevalence of greenwashing, which happens when companies exaggerate the environmental benefits of their actions. Even the man who coined the acronym has said the finance industry has sprinkled ESG fairy dust on products that dont merit the label. Other criticisms focus on the way fund managers rely on ESG ratings that rank companies by how they are performing on ESG factors. There is a lot of inconsistency in those scores  in some cases, companies are ranked by the risks that ESG factors pose to them rather than, say, the risks they pose to the environment and society. (Looking at both sides of the equation, an approach known as double-materiality, has been adopted by the European Union but not elsewhere.) Some proponents of sustainable investing say its time to jettison the ESG label altogether because its lost its meaning. One academic has said the industry should just refer to a more mundane term, material risk factors.

7. What are regulators doing?

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With the ESG label now widely used by money managers and bankers selling everything from mutual funds to complex derivatives, European and US regulators are clamping down on firms they say are exaggerating their ESG bona fides.

 In May, German authorities raided the offices of Deutsche Bank AGs fund unit amid allegations that it overstated the role ESG analysis played in investment decisions.

 The following month, it emerged that US regulators were looking into whether ESG funds sold by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.s asset management group are in breach of claims set out in marketing materials.

 The US Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a slate of new restrictions in May aimed at ensuring that ESG funds accurately describe their investments, and which may require some money managers to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions of companies theyre invested in.

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 These proposed rules come off the back of new laws in Europe, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulations, where investments have to be labeled under categories commonly referred to as light green and dark green, according to the priority placed on sustainability.

 In August, new European Union rules went into effect that require investment managers to understand and act on the sustainability preferences of retail clients.

8. Where does ESG fit in the sustainability spectrum?

The popularity of ESG has depended in part on a belief that it will play a positive role in making the world a better place. But critics say that such a warm-and-fuzzy feeling helps asset managers blur a key distinction  that ESG is mainly about using data to identify risks that might undermine investment performance, or to find opportunities to make money. Thats a contrast to some other branches of sustainable investment that sometimes go further:

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 Ethical and Values-Based Investing: These are broad strategies that enable investors to shun or invest in companies depending on whether they reflect their political, religious or philosophical beliefs and values. Its earliest practitioners were religious groups such as Quakers who shunned investments in things like alcohol, weapons and gambling. Church-affiliated groups in Sweden began the first ethics-based mutual fund in 1965. The Pax World Fund was founded in the US in 1971 by two ministers who didnt want their churches investments to support the arms industry.

 Socially Responsible Investing: Galvanized by anti-Vietnam War protests, including consumer boycotts of companies that made napalm, and by efforts to end apartheid in South Africa, a group of investors in the 1980s and 90s sought to do good by not only avoiding companies that harm society but investing in those that are improving their business practices. They may also focus on companies that are engaged in clean-technology efforts.

 Impact Investing: While socially responsible investing tends to focus on publicly traded companies, impact investing centers on private projects. Its a niche strategy where investors target specific outcomes that can be measured, such as the promotion of sustainable agriculture or companies that provide affordable housing.

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 Systems-Level Investing: A nascent strategy that has yet to take off in a big way but whose supporters hope to go beyond what they see as ESGs limited impact. Systems-level investing involves making decisions that take into account the entirety of ones portfolio and how its elements intersect across all assets in the long term. An example would be climate change: A systems-level approach would examine how it affects entire portfolios, from shares in energy and insurance companies to sovereign bonds and foreign exchange. Systems-level investors are then meant to work with other investors to collectively push companies to improve their business practices by creating industry standards, sharing data with other investors and pressing for public policy changes.

9. Does ESG actually make a difference?

Some investors and academics complain that ESGs impact has amounted to far less than its supporters suggested. Of course, sustainable investors have made some strides, such as pressing companies to reduce their plastics use, addressing workers rights and performing so-called civil rights audits. They have also succeeded in replacing directors on Exxon Mobil Corp.s board to help the oil giant position itself toward cleaner fuels. Other proponents have said that had investors in UKs Deliveroo Plc taken ESG issues into account, they could have avoided losses after the company faced a backlash over gig-economy exploitation and worker pay last year. Still, detractors say the idea that ESG investment alone is enough to address complex problems is being shown to be wrong and that more government intervention is needed to address societal issues such as living wage minimums and greenhouse gas emissions.

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10. What are returns like?

Across three categories  Europe-focused, US-focused and global  ESG large-cap equity funds have done better this year, on average, than their non-ESG counterparts. While they have lost money  in line with the broad market selloff  those losses are smaller. Globally, ESG funds are down 11.7% this year through June 10, compared with the 14.8% slump of the MSCI World Index. But there have been some early signs that investors are souring on ESG. For example, they pulled a record $2 billion net from US equity exchange-traded funds in May, ending three years of inflows, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

 Bloomberg QuickTakes on sustainable investing, ethical debt, ESG ratings, the S in ESG, biodiversity and ESG stewardship.

 A Bloomberg story about how ESG is everywhere in capital markets.

 A Businessweek story about ESG ETF investing.

 The Freshfields report that started the ESG strategy

 A Bloomberg investigation into the ESG ratings industry.

 A history of ESG investing by Morningstar.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin told a gathering in Vladivostok last week that his country had not lost anything and will not lose anything. He may be less certain of decisive victory today. An offensive by Ukraines armed forces has made spectacular progress, retaking more than 6,000 square kilometers (2,300 square miles) of lost territory, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and reversing gains that took Russia months to achieve. Whatever happens next, theres no question that the charge has been a major strategic and operational defeat for the Kremlin. Allied nations must help Ukraine make the most of it.

Much is still changing on the ground. But Ukraines victories in the northeast have stretched the Russian army thin and forced it back from key command points and supply depots, including the crucial logistics hub of Izyum. More troops will need to be pulled from other regions to replace exhausted local forces, leaving vulnerable spots that Ukraine is likely to exploit. The scale of the losses has prompted unusual dissent even among prominent pro-Kremlin voices. And then theres the scramble to replace the huge amounts of weapons and equipment the retreating forces have left behind.

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Such battlefield success should provide significant momentum and a much-needed morale boost for Ukrainian forces. Crucially, it has also demonstrated impressive military leadership, planning and the ability to use Western weapons and supplies to good effect, not only for defensive purposes but for offense  whether thats US long-range rocket systems taking out ammunition dumps or the use of radar-targeting missiles to deter Russian air defenses.

This is the moment for the West to step up.

As a start, weapons deliveries need to accelerate. Washington last week announced an additional $675 million package of hardware, including ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems (or HIMARS), anti-armor mines, howitzers and more. Such supplies have proved highly effective. But munitions are being consumed at a staggering rate  Ukraine estimates daily expenditure of artillery rounds per gun at triple that recorded by the British Armys artillery during World War I. Steady rearmament could well prove decisive in this conflict.

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Next, the allies must continue to hold the line on trade and financial sanctions and close what enforcement loopholes remain. Europe has made admirable progress to prepare for a long winter without Russian energy, and much suffering may yet lie ahead. But Ukraines striking successes in recent days should help disgruntled publics see that their sacrifices arent in vain.

Its certainly fair for Western countries to worry about these expenses and hardships. Yet helping Ukraine capitalize on its gains is manifestly in their best interests. Not only could it hasten negotiations to end the war, but it sends a powerful message to adversaries worldwide  not least China  about the Wests willingness to present a united front and endure significant costs to protect its way of life.

Of course, Putin isnt defeated yet. The land that Ukraine has regained this month is only a fraction of what Russia occupies, and the Kremlin has other options, including assaulting power and water supplies, launching cyberattacks, or even accepting the risk of an air campaign. Russian forces will continue to threaten a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. And mass mobilization may still be in the cards  though it would effectively concede that Putins special military operation has so far failed.

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However the conflict unfolds from here, its key to remember that any war ends at the negotiating table. The West should ensure that Ukraine is in a position of strength when it gets there.

More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion:

 Putin and the Possibility of Defeat: Leonid Bershidsky

 Ukraines Wins Make Russian War More Dangerous: James Stavridis

 Europes Next Ukraine Mission Is on the Home Front: Editorial

The Editors are members of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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In theory, British politics is on pause. The accession of King Charles III to the throne, and the 10-day period of mourning for his late mother, has overshadowed much other news in Britain, bar the hopeful unfolding of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight In reality, these days are as freighted with political consequence as they are historical significance. Behind the scenes, both government and opposition are regrouping and preparing for one of the most ideologically charged political battles in the UK in recent memory amid a grim economic backdrop.

That might seem like a time of maximum advantage for Labour leader Keir Starmer. Polls before Liz Truss took office showed Labour with as much as a recent 15-point lead; many voters felt Starmer would make a better leader than Truss. But public opinion can change rapidly. The Labour leader benefited from Boris Johnsons self-destruction, Tory Party divisions and fears of a looming cost-of-living crisis. But Johnson is gone, and its not clear the other tailwinds will blow as strong under his successor.

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Nor can Starmer assume voters will turn against Truss. The past few days have brought her extraordinary public exposure even if her role has largely been to stand by and soothe. It was Truss who had to address the nation when the news of the Queens death broke; Truss who will travel with the new king around the country; and Truss who will host leaders and luminaries from around the world at a state funeral for the ages.

Truss, the ultimate political animal, appears to be floating above the fray of politics, somewhere in the ether with the royal family at the moment. Even her critics have fallen silent for the simple reason that Britain cant afford for her to fail at this delicate moment when the world is watching. Shell soon be off to the United Nations General Assembly, another big stage opportunity to burnish her leadership credentials. These halo effects may be short-lived but first impressions of a leader can also go a long way.

It may be the second time that history has been unkind to Starmer. It didnt help that the pandemic broke out soon after he took the reins of the Labour Party  it was hard for him to reach out to members and the broader public over Zoom. He seemed remote in part because he was. With a global and national health crisis, he had little choice but to row in behind the government. And when he did criticize the Conservatives over various pandemic policy failings, Johnson simply branded him Captain Hindsight. Starmer wisely used the opportunity to do some internal party housecleaning, but he couldnt expect the public to take much notice.

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His well-earned reputation for lawyerly competence worked in his favor when he could attack Johnsons character, catch him out over policy details or call attention to various ethics scandals under his administration; but none of those lines of attack are available now. Truss is hard-working and in command of the details. Her government is far more diverse than Labours shadow benches.

The biggest problem for Starmer is that Truss has pitched her governments tent on more traditional conservative ground, emphasizing tax-cutting and aspiration, while also providing the scale of relief for households and businesses that Labour itself has called for. If Labour is to win, it has to mount a Ukraine-sized counteroffensive in the former Red Wall seats that the Conservatives won in 2019. And that will require appealing to their aspirations and hopes, not just their fears and resentments.

But how to do that when the government is spending some 150 billion ($75 billion) to shield households and businesses from rising energy prices and promising to cut taxes?

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Starmer may have cleared out most of the Corbynite elements from the upper echelons of the party, but thats still a long way from presenting a cohesive governing vision. Labour is still seen as the party of unions at a time of widespread public-sector strikes, even as Starmer has kept his distance from the picket lines and awkwardly ordered his shadow bench to keep theirs. He wants to win over Brexit voters by showing he has moved on, but still opposes the governments populist policy of confrontation with the European Union over Northern Ireland. He wants to show his party is business-friendly and driven to pursue growth, but its hard to see his big economic idea of a windfall tax on energy companies being an election-defining issue, even if its popular among voters now.

Starmer is convinced otherwise, of course. This is the basic political divide, he told Parliament. They want to protect the excess profits of the oil and gas companies and we want to protect working people.

In a weeks time, the politics button gets unpaused. The great and the good who convened to honor the Queen will return home. The King will recede somewhat from the public glare, and the new government will set out plans to fund the cost-of-living relief and deliver the promised economic growth.

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Its difficult to say whether those as yet undetailed policies will prove sufficient. Governments normally lose elections rather than oppositions winning them. But it would be wrong for the Labour Party to assume another Tory leader will be driven out. Voters will expect the opposition to offer some big ideas of its own. So far they arent in evidence.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 King Charless Belated Reign Can Still Be a Fruitful One: Martin Ivens

 Queen Elizabeth II and What It Means to Be British: Therese Raphael

 Putin Will Love Europes Hot Autumn of Populist Protests: Andreas Kluth

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion covering health care and British politics. Previously, she was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and Switzerland have discussed opportunities for expanding relations between business structures of both countries, Azernews reports.

The discussion took place during a meeting between Azerbaijani Small and Medium Business Development Agency Board Chairman Orkhan Mammadov and Swiss Ambassador Muriel Peneveyre.

During the visit, they also discussed the expected visit of a delegation to Geneva with the support of the agency.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on January 21, 1992.

Azerbaijan and Switzerland cooperate in various economic sectors. There is mutually beneficial cooperation between Baku and Bern in the non-oil sector. In addition, Baku will host a meeting of the Commission on Trade and Economic relations between Switzerland and Azerbaijan in 2022.

The trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $457.2 million in 2021, with exports accounting for $272.5 million and imports for $184.7 million.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The situation in some sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border remains tense as of 18:00, Defense Ministrys spokesperson Aram Torosyan said.

Although its still to early to talk about the stabilization of the situation, the intensity of bombardment registered since midnight has significantly weakened. The adversary is attempting to advance positions during the whole day with the use of special purpose units, primarily in the direction of Nerkin Hand, Verin Shorzha, Artanish and Sotk. The Armenian Armed Forces continue fully implementing their combat tasks, Torosyan said.

The reports about the casualties of the Armenian side are being checked.

Starting from midnight till now the Azerbaijani units continue targeting the border settlements and civilian infrastructure. The Defense Ministry will continue regularly making official statements about the developments. The Ministry calls on to follow exclusively the official news, refrain from traveling to the combat zone, moreover, publishing videos from that territories, he stated.

On September 13, starting at 00:05, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched a major military attack in several directions against Armenia, primarily using artillery and UAVs. 49 Armenian troops were killed and 3 civilians were wounded in the Azerbaijani attack.
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ISLAMABAD  At least three Afghan crew members were killed Saturday when a U.S.-manufactured Black Hawk helicopter they were flying crashed, the Talibans defense ministry said. The statement said that five others were wounded in the accident during a training session overseen by Afghanistans defense ministry at the capital of Kabul.

It is not known how many U.S. choppers remain in the hands of the Taliban government. As the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed in mid-August last year, dozens of Afghan pilots fled to Central Asian countries, including Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Afghan air force pilots played a key role, alongside their U.S. counterparts, in the 20-year war against Taliban insurgents that ended with the departure of foreign troops last year. The airstrikes inflicted heavy casualties among the Taliban and repeatedly drove them from positions they had seized in different parts of the country.

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Last year about 140 Afghan pilots and others were flown out of Tajikistan then to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and their final destination in the U.S.

Separately, three civilians were wounded when a bicycle bomb exploded in Kabul, said Khalid Zadran, spokesman for the the capitals police chief.

The attack occurred in the Shai neighborhood and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

Recently, the Islamic State group has claimed similar attacks in the country. IS has waged a bloody campaign of attacks on Taliban targets and minority groups, particularly Shiites whom the extremist IS considers heretics.

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The last important contested primary election takes place Tuesday in New Hampshire, and Election Day is now only eight weeks away. People will start casting mail-in and early ballots very soon. Two months ago, anything from a major Republican landslide to a break-even election seemed plausible. Both of those outcomes remain possible, but now Democrats could even wind up gaining ground.

With an unpopular Democrat in the White House, this could have been a very good year for Republicans. But almost none of the things that would have locked in gains for the Republicans came to pass. A few more House Democrats retired than House Republicans, but a bunch of those departures were elderly incumbents in safe seats. In the Senate, it was Republicans who had more retirements, giving Democrats a few big opportunities.

Normally, the party expecting a good year also will have a big advantage in recruiting strong candidates. This time, that doesnt appear to have happened for the Republicans, especially in top-of-the-ballot statewide races. Probably the most prominent case is in Pennsylvania, where Doug Mastriano appears to be a particularly weak candidate in the governors race. Meanwhile, several candidates that Republicans tried to convince to run, such as Arizona Governor Doug Ducey for the Senate race, chose to pass.

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In an era of abundant campaign financing, very few viable candidates will be starved for cash, and Democrats arent having the kind of campaign money problems that have sometimes plagued parties having bad years.

This doesnt mean Republicans wont wind up doing well; it just suggests that their success is more dependent on voter opinion right now than it would be if they had a big edge in resources.

A combination of subpar candidates and luck of the draw in opportunities is making things difficult for Republicans in Senate and gubernatorial contests. Republicans had a challenging Senate map this year to begin with, given that they were protecting seats in two states, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, that Joe Biden won in 2020, while Democrats arent defending any Senate seats in states that Donald Trump won that year.

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All told, there are up to seven potentially competitive open or Democratic-held Senate seats in which Republicans have wound up with disappointing candidates, while Democrats largely have the candidates they want in each of those seats.

Some of those suboptimal Republican candidates will surely win. With such a polarized electorate, the quality of the candidates might not matter as much as their party identity. But the most likely outcome is that Republicans will lose at least a few elections because of the candidates they ran.

So what does this add up to? Current polling is looking quite good for Democrats  the just the polls version of FiveThirtyEights forecast has the House close to a toss-up and Democrats actually gaining a couple of Senate seats. But given the closeness of many contests, any late-breaking developments will matter. Its also possible that Democrats who appear to be polling better than Biden will wind up falling short as attitudes toward Biden and other Democrats come into alignment closer to the election.

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Then again, both Bidens approval ratings and perceptions of the economy have been on the rise, and its at least possible for that to continue all the way through Election Day. What tends to matter for elections is the direction of the economy, rather than the current circumstances; its usually better for things to be bad but improving than good though not as good.

One reason voters turn against the presidents party during midterms is that public policy sometimes moves too far toward that partys preferences. But this time, there is a major exception in the form of the Supreme Courts decision on abortion. There is plenty of evidence that the ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade has mobilized supporters of abortion rights, though its hard to know just how meaningful that will be.

Add to the uncertainty the fairly wide margin of error that all polls always have, along with the possibility that we could get a larger polling error.(1)

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A final wild card is the Covid-19 pandemic, which even in diminished form still weighs on many aspects of voters lives. All election forecasts are based on previous similar situations, which means that this year we have little information to go on.

Republicans get one more chance to help themselves in Tuesdays primary in New Hampshire, where mainstream conservatives are fighting to defeat less-electable candidates to challenge Democratic incumbents in a Senate and two House elections. Especially in the Senate race, where retired Brigadier General Don Bolduc is the more Trump-aligned option running against State Senate President Chuck Morse, what happens in the primary could determine the outcome in November.

(1) Even when the polls have been off, as many were in 2016 and 2020, and less so in 2018, they still gave us a lot of insight into what would happen.

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. A former professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University, he wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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Shortly after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban notched up a fourth landslide election win in April, the European Union triggered a probe that may ultimately deprive his government of billions of euros in funding. Long concerned about what it calls the erosion of the rule of law under Orban, the EU sees getting him to change course as vital to bolster democracy and EU unity. Failure may dilute the EU, strengthen polarization or even rekindle talk of Hungarys potential exit from the bloc.

1. Whats the backdrop?

Since 2010, Orban has made it harder for outsiders to hold the government to account. Hes appointed loyalists to the courts, the chief prosecutors office and the media authority. A big parliamentary majority allowed him to write a new constitution that opposition critics condemned as an attack on democracy and human rights. And hes targeted minorities, including the Roma and LGBTQ communities, seeking to limit their rights. In 2019, Hungary became the first EU country to lose its rating as a full-fledged democracy at Freedom House, a Washington-based advocacy group that assesses political systems. Meantime, Transparency International, a not-for-profit graft watchdog, rates Hungary as among the most-corrupt countries in the 27-nation bloc.

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2. How did this happen?

While governments must adopt stringent democratic criteria to join the worlds largest trading bloc, there have been few tools available to deal with wayward members once theyve joined. The EU did try legal action, but Orban always found a way out -- dragging his feet on demands for change, cutting deals that stopped short of meaningfully rolling back his power and exploiting shortcomings in the blocs own legal charters. In addition, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel shielded Orban, arguing that pressing him too hard may prompt Hungary to follow the UK in its decision to leave the EU. He also found allies in Poland, where the nationalist Law & Justice party took power in 2015 and proceeded to emulate Orbans policies. Orban has also forged ties with populist politicians elsewhere such as Marine Le Pen in France and Giorgia Meloni in Italy.

3. What changed?

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The European Parliament voted in 2018 to trigger a rule-of-law probe against Hungary into what it called a clear risk of a serious breach of the EUs democratic principles. A new legal process adopted in 2020 allows the EU to potentially cut off funding when its financial interests may be undermined. The European Commission, the EUs executive, triggered that so-called conditionality mechanism in late April. It has until late September to make its recommendation to the European Council, where leaders of EU member states make the most important decisions.

4. Is the investigation related to democracy or corruption?

The two are intertwined but the commission must limit its probe to areas that could affect the EU budget and undermine the financial interests of the bloc. So while Orbans comments on racial purity, his clampdown on independent media or his restrictions on LGBTQ rights have triggered condemnation from others within the EU, they arent the focus of the investigation. The independence of the judiciary, however, is in the spotlight as its seen as central to a countrys ability to tackle graft and issue unbiased judgments.

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5. How much money is at stake?

The European Commission hasnt stated how much is at risk. The countrys share of the 2021-2027 EU budget is about 36 billion euros ($36.5 billion). Theres also Hungarys 5.8 billion euro share of pandemic recovery funds. The EU has delayed releasing that, citing corruption concerns. The forint has been one of the worlds worst-performing currencies this year, with investors citing uncertain outlook for EU funds as contributing to the selloff.

6. How has Hungarys government reacted?

At first, Orbans ministers attacked the EU decision to start the investigation, calling it a political move to help the just-defeated opposition. But conscious of the need to unlock EU funds, the government has offered what its calling a comprehensive package of steps to address corruption concerns, including the setting up of a new anti-corruption agency.

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7. Is that enough?

Thats unclear. Orban has been adroit at outmaneuvering EU institutions over the past decade and critics see his promises of reform ringing hollow. For example, hes pledged to make the anti-corruption agency independent. But other nominally autonomous institutions in Hungary are nonetheless heavily influenced by Orban and his ruling party, including the courts. This time, the EU could make the disbursement of money conditional on the actual implementation of any pledges. The commission also could recommend funding be cut or that the probe against Hungary be closed. The final decision by the leaders would come one to three months later.

8. Could Hungary one day leave the EU?

Orban has said he intends to keep Hungary in the EU. Its export-oriented economy relies heavily on the free movement of goods and services. The UKs tortuous exit from the EU also showed how difficult the process of leaving can be for both sides. In addition, the conflict raging in neighboring Ukraine has given Hungarians a sense of the security provided inside the EU (as well as the NATO military alliance). But its hard to see Orban willingly unwinding the legal changes of the past decade and launching a spirited campaign against corruption. The ruling elite and its business allies have benefited greatly during his tenure. Hungarys Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said last year that, if the EU keeps up its criticism, Hungary may re-evaluate its membership at the end of this decade, when its expected to become a net contributor to the blocs budget.

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Baltimores spending board approved a $575,000 settlement last week stemming from an arrest made by members of the citys Gun Trace Task Force, bringing the total paid out as a result of the rogue forces actions to more than $15 million. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The five-member Board of Estimates voted unanimously in favor of the settlement reached with Darnell Earl, who sued the Baltimore Police Department and three members of the task force over a 2015 arrest that resulted in a year and a half of jail time.

Earl was a passenger in a car in October 2015 in the 1900 block of Monument Street that was stopped by police officers Marcus Taylor, Evodio Hendrix and Wayne Jenkins, according to Baltimore Deputy Solicitor Ebony Thompson. Following the stop, the officers said they found a firearm under Earls seat. Earl had prior convictions for illegal possession of a gun and was charged with multiple firearms-related offenses as a result of the stop. He pleaded guilty to one charge, law officials said.

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After revelations that the task force routinely violated peoples rights and stole drugs and money using the authority of their badge, Taylor, Hendrix and Jenkins pleaded guilty to federal charges. Earls conviction, along with many others related to the force, was vacated because of credibility issues with the officers.

Earl sued the department in 2020, alleging numerous violations of state and federal law, arguing there was no probable cause for the traffic stop and that the gun was planted in the vehicle by the officers. Several counts and defendants were dismissed, Thompson told the board last week, but allegations of malicious prosecution, fabrication of evidence and negligent supervision remained, she said.

Given the considerations I stated, the time and expenses of getting this matter though trial, the potential exposure from a plaintiffs verdict and the continual accrual of plaintiffs fees, were requesting $575,000 for settlement in this matter, Thompson said.

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These lawsuits exemplify the need for us to continue this administrations efforts in rebuilding the trust of our police department, Thompson added.

Thompson, who faced questions about pension payouts to Gun Trace Task Force members during a previous settlement vote in August, said Taylor, Hendrix and Jenkins do not receive pensions from the city and are not eligible. Taylor, who was sentenced to 18 years behind bars, remains in federal prison in Arkansas. Jenkins, sentenced to 25 years, is being held in Kentucky. Hendrix, sentenced to seven years, was released in February.

Comptroller Bill Henry, a member of the board, questioned whether former Sgt. Thomas Allers, who ran the corrupt task force and pleaded guilty to participating in nine robberies, was receiving a pension. Thompson said he is. Allers, sentenced to 15 years, is being held at a federal prison in Florida.

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The settlement approved Wednesday brings the total paid out by the city for settlements related to the task force to $15.48 million. The largest of those settlements, $7.9 million, was paid to Umar Burley and Brent Matthews, who both went to federal prison for drugs that were planted in their vehicle in 2010. That amount eclipsed the settlement paid to the family of Freddie Gray in 2015.

The remaining $7.48 million was paid out across 34 additional settlements, averaging about $220,000 per case, Thompson told the board.

Four additional lawsuits related to the task force remain active, two of which pose serious financial risk, Thompson said.

City officials are aware of four additional unfiled claims that are within the statute of limitations, she said.

 Baltimore Sun

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina  A third person has been arrested as part of the investigation into the assassination attempt on Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez  a move that suggests the incident could have involved a network of people. We're following changes at the palace after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Get the Post Elizabeth newsletter for updates. ArrowRight Agustina Diaz, who appears to have at least been a close friend of the girlfriend of the man accused of trying to shoot Fernandez on Sept. 1, was detained Monday in the province of Buenos Aires, an official with the knowledge of the case confirmed to The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the investigation.

Fernando Sabag Montiel, a 35-year-old Brazilian citizen, was detained shortly after he pointed a handgun at Argentinas vice president outside her home. He pulled the trigger twice, but the Bersa handgun failed to go off, though it was loaded with five bullets.

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His girlfriend, Brenda Uliarte, a 23-year-old Argentine who reportedly was at the scene of the attempted shooting, was arrested three days later.

Uliarte and Sabag Montiel are both accused of trying to assassinate Fernandez, the most important political figure in Argentina of the last 15 years. She was president for two terms from 2007 to 2015 and now has both ardent followers and detractors.

Uliarte had Diazs contact saved in her phone as love of my life and the two were in touch before and after the assassination attempt. Diaz reportedly helped Uliarte escape the scene after the assassination attempt, according to the official.

With what were learning until now, the role Brenda played becomes more relevant, the official said.

Sabag Montiel has been living in Argentina since the 1990s. Photos posted to his now-inactive social networks appear to show he has tattoos with Nazi symbols on his arms and hands.

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Judicial investigators are using security footage and cellphone communications to try to reconstruct what happened in the days before the attempted shooting and whether there were any suspicious people present around the vice presidents home on the days before the attack.

The streets surrounding the vice presidents home had been filled with supporters for days after a prosecutor requested a 12-year prison sentence, as well as a lifetime prohibition on holding public office, against Fernandez due to alleged corruption involving public works during her administration.

Fernandez has denied all charges and says she is the victim of a political persecution meant to get her out of public office.

Meanwhile, officials said Fernandez also received a death threat through a call placed to the 911 emergency line.

The call was made from the city of La Plata, around 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of Buenos Aires, and is being investigated, Security Minister Anibal Fernandez said.

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TORONTO  A man shot and killed a Toronto traffic police officer while he was on lunch break and killed another person and injured three others Monday before police tracked the suspect down and killed him in a cemetery, officials said. We're following changes at the palace after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Get the Post Elizabeth newsletter for updates. ArrowRight Authorities issued an emergency alert to phones saying they were investigating an active shooter following two shootings in Mississauga and Milton in the province of Ontario.

He was getting food and coffee at Tim Hortons, Toronto Mayor John Tory said of the doughnut and coffee chain.

Tory told The Associated Press he met Constable Andrew Hong previously.

He was a gentle giant, he said.

Toronto Police Chief James Ramer said Hong of traffic services was shot at close range. Hong, 48, was a 22-year veteran of the force. The married father of two was in Mississauga participating in a joint training exercise with Peel and York regional police.

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While on lunch break he was shot in an unprovoked, and may I say in an ambush attack, Peel Region Police Chief Nishan Duraiappa said. In the same incident a second victim suffered life altering injuries and is currently being treated.

Duraiappa said the armed suspect then fled the scene in a black Jeep Cherokee. Shortly afterward in Milton, police received information of a shooting that resulted in one death and two others being wounded. He said the suspect then fled the scene and died after a police interaction at a cemetery in Hamilton, Ontario.

Hamilton Police confirmed via Twitter that one person was taken into custody and pronounced deceased in connection with shooting investigations in Mississauga and Milton. Hamiltons police chief said the suspect died in the Hamilton Cemetery.

Ontarios Special Investigations Unit has invoked its mandate at the scene of the death of the suspect. The unit gets involved when there is a death or serious injury involving police.

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Police did not identify the deceased suspect.

Police had said in the emergency alert to the public that they were looking for a stolen Black Jeep Cherokee and the suspect dressed in black with a construction vest.

Like all Ontarians, Im horrified by todays senseless violence, including the killing of a Toronto police officer, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a tweet. Im so grateful to law enforcement for bringing this situation to an end. May justice for those killed and injured be swift.

Peel Regional Police Constable Heather Cannon later said the public safety alert is no longer in effect.

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LONDON  The British army veterans known as the Chelsea Pensioners traded their famous scarlet tunics for somber navy blue Tuesday as they bid farewell to their commander in chief, Queen Elizabeth II. The old soldiers, some leaning on canes and others using mobility scooters, gathered under a steel gray sky at the Royal Hospital Chelsea for a service of remembrance honoring the woman who led Britains armed forces for 70 years.

The Chelsea Pensioners, known for the knee-length scarlet tunics and black caps they wear to public events, are army veterans who have chosen to live at the hospital, which King Charles II founded in 1692 to care for retired soldiers.

With King Charles III now occupying the throne held for so long by his mother, the Chelsea company includes veterans who served from the battlefields of World War II to the Falkland Islands.

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Teetering but determined, 150 or so men and women stood as straight as they were able in the hospitals quadrangle as a bugler played the Last Post, a tradition of British military funerals.

Alan Rutter, 74, an infantryman with more than 20 years of service, met the queen as a young soldier when she attended a demonstration on the use of advanced weapons. Wearing full camouflage from the days exercises, Rutter was given a pair of white gloves so he could shake the queens hand.

He recalls the day with pride.

Shes been a rock, really, for 70 years, for this country, he said. And weve gone through so much  and yet shes always been there for us. So its going to be strange not to have her, you know.

The late queen, who served as a truck driver and mechanic in the last months of World War II, became head of the armed forces when she ascended to the throne in 1952.

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She was also the patron of the Royal British Legion, the nations main veterans support charity, and led the national ceremony of remembrance held every year on the anniversary of the end of World War I.

The men and women who make up the Chelsea Pensioners made their own sacrifices for queen and country, and on Tuesday they gathered around a platform made of drums for a traditional drumhead service to show their respect for a woman who dedicated her life to the nation at age 21.

A few hankies appeared when the assembly sang the hymn Abide With Me. But the tears flowed with God Save the King.

It was a line the pensioners hadnt sung for 70 years.

___

Follow AP stories on the death of Queen Elizabeth II and Britains royal family at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii

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DOHA, Qatar  Egypts president met on Tuesday with Qatars ruling emir during his first visit to the energy-rich nation after ties soured following the Egyptian militarys overthrow of an Islamist president backed by Doha. We're following changes at the palace after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Get the Post Elizabeth newsletter for updates. ArrowRight The scene of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi warmly shaking hands with Qatars Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani would have been unthinkable just years ago, when three Gulf Arab states and Egypt imposed a boycott on Doha over its sympathy to Islamists and other contentious issues.

But amid a rush of diplomacy over the last year, the countries have changed course. The dispute ended in 2021, when Qatar signed a declaration with the four to normalize relations. Qatar never ceded to the boycotts demands, which included that it shutter its Al Jazeera news network, expel a small contingency of Turkish troops from its territory and cut ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.

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Since then, ties between Doha and the four Arab states have improved, and top officials have exchanged visits. In June, Sheikh Tamim visited Cairo, where he was welcomed at the airport by el-Sissi, a trip heralded as a thaw and possible end to long-running regional disputes over political Islam. The fault line has fueled conflict in Libya, Yemen and elsewhere.

Relations between Cairo and Doha frayed in 2013, when el-Sissi, as defense minister, led the militarys overthrow of Egypts Islamist President Mohamed Morsi following a short-lived and divisive rule, and outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi, who hailed from the Brotherhood, was backed by Qatar.

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BRUSSELS  European Union lawmakers have backed a proposal for a law that would ban the sale in the 27-nation bloc of agriculture products linked to the destruction of forests. MEPs gathered on Tuesday in Strasbourg, France, supported and strengthened a plan from the EUs executive arm with 453 votes to 57, and 123 abstentions.

The EU Parliament will now start negotiations on the final text with EU member states.

Once approved, the law would force companies and producers to give assurances that products are deforestation-free. Businesses would be forced to verify that agricultural goods sold in the EU have not bee made on deforested or degraded land anywhere in the world, the Parliament said.

Acknowledging that the EU is responsible for around 10% of global deforestation, we have no choice but to ramp up our efforts to halt global deforestation, said Christophe Hansen, the lawmaker in charge of the Parliaments report.

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In addition, MEPs proposed that banks and financial institutions should be covered by the law to prevent them from investing in projects linked to deforestation.

This could be the beginning of the end of the money pipeline that is destroying forests around the world  but only if national governments across the EU step up and support this plan to make European banks deforestation-free in negotiations on the final law, said Giulia Bondi, from Global Witness campaigning group.

Deforestation in South America, Africa and Asia is driven mainly by agricultural expansion.

Quoting data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the EU Parliament said that some 420 million hectares of forest were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020. This is an area larger than the EU.

The European Commission, which proposes EU laws and supervises the way they are enacted, suggested last year that the legislation covered soy, cattle, palm oil, wood, cocoa and coffee.

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Under the position adopted Tuesday, lawmakers also want to include pig meat, sheep and goats, poultry, maize and rubber, as well as charcoal and printed paper products.

MEPs also want companies to verify that goods are produced in accordance with human rights provisions in international law and respect the rights of indigenous people, the Parliament said.

Environmental group Greenpeace praised the result of the vote.

Nobody wants to worry that their weekly shop might be linked to death and destruction  the vote today is a big step towards breaking that link, said Greenpeace EU forest campaigner Sini Erajaa.

At the U.N.s climate conference, COP26, last year, over 100 nations representing more than 85% of the worlds forests pledged to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. Among them were several countries with massive forests, including Brazil, China, Colombia, Congo, Indonesia, Russia and the United States.

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Follow APs climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

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

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NAIROBI, Kenya  William Ruto was sworn in as Kenyas president on Tuesday after narrowly winning the Aug. 9 election in East Africas most stable democracy, and quickly signaled that his leadership will be a strongly Christian one. We're following changes at the palace after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Get the Post Elizabeth newsletter for updates. ArrowRight The Supreme Court last week rejected a challenge by losing candidate and longtime opposition figure Raila Odinga of the official results, completing a markedly peaceful election in a country with a history of troubled ones.

The 55-year-old Ruto had been the deputy to outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta but had a bitter split that left the two not speaking for months at a time. On Tuesday, the audience cheered as the two shook hands, and again as Kenyatta handed over the instruments of power.

Ruto, who had dropped to his knees in tears and prayer when the court upheld his win, knelt on the stage minutes after his swearing-in during an extended sermon.

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A chicken seller to a president, intoned the pastor, highlighting Rutos humble youth. A village boy has become the president of Kenya, Ruto said in his speech.

In his first tweet as president, the evangelical Christian quoted Psalms: This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. His speech praised both the church and Islamic leadership, and he vowed that we will enhance our partnership, build on our collaboration and enhance our support to them.

The event began with some chaos. Scores of people were crushed and injured as they forced their way into the packed stadium. Medic Peter Muiruri said a fence fell as people pushed it and about 60 were injured, though the number may rise.

People tried to dodge baton-wielding security forces. Some failed. I was beaten by the police after trying to get inside, said a witness, Benson Kimutai.

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Ruto takes power in a country heavily burdened by debt that will challenge his efforts to fulfill sweeping campaign promises made to Kenyas poor, whom he has described as getting by on stubborn hope. In his speech, he acknowledged that clearly, we are living beyond our means.

He promised cheaper fertilizer as food prices rise and more affordable credit. He also vowed more money for the judiciary, financial independence for the national police from the presidency and efforts to fight a drought in Kenyas north that brings the threat of famine.

Ruto also asked Kenyatta to continue chairing discussions on the regional crises in neighboring Ethiopia, where the government is fighting Tigray forces, and in eastern Congo, where tensions exist with Rwanda. Kenyatta has accepted, the new president said.

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Will come as a big relief to diplomats who worried Nairobi would back out of the two initiatives, tweeted Murithi Mutiga, Africa director with the International Crisis Group.

But Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed didnt shake hands with other African leaders afterward, even rejecting his Kenyan Foreign Ministry escort, and went straight to his car.

With the transition, Kenyas presidency moves from one leader indicted by the International Criminal Court to another. Both Kenyatta and Ruto were indicted over their roles in deadly 2007 post-election violence, but the cases were later closed amid allegations of witness intimidation.

The August election was calm in a country with a history of political violence. Chaos erupted only in the final minutes when the electoral commission publicly split and prominent Odinga supporters tried to physically stop the declaration of Ruto as the winner.

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Rutos campaign portrayed him as a hustler with a humble background of going barefoot and selling chickens by the roadside, a counterpoint to the political dynasties represented by Kenyatta and Odinga. His presidential flag features a wheelbarrow, the symbol of his campaign.

But Ruto received powerful political mentoring as a young man from former President Daniel arap Moi, who oversaw a one-party state for years before Kenyans successfully pushed for multiparty elections.

Ruto now speaks of democracy and has vowed there will be no retaliation against dissenting voices. I will work with all Kenyans irrespective of who they voted for, he said in his speech.

But in a warning sign for media, local broadcasters that were accused by Ruto of bias in the past were restricted in their coverage of the inauguration, forced to use a feed from a South African broadcaster in which Kenyas national broadcaster has a share.

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The losing candidate, 77-year-old Odinga, is setting himself up to be a prominent opposition voice once again after former rival Kenyatta backed him in the election. In a statement on Monday, Odinga said he would skip the inauguration and later announce next steps as we seek to deepen and strengthen our democracy.

Though Odinga also asserted that the outcome of the election remains indeterminate, a spokesperson told The Associated Press it was highly unlikely he would seek to declare himself the peoples president as he did after losing the 2017 election.

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Moses Ndungu contributed to this report.

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YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The leaders of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will discuss the increase of tension on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in the evening of September 13, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said, Moscow-based daily newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets reported.

At the request of the Armenian side, the CSTO Collective Security Council will hold a session today, at 18:30, in a video conference mode, he said.

He informed that the discussion will be held in a closed format, but added that Armenia, who chairs the CSTO, will inform the media about the decisions adopted. The Russian side may also issue a separate statement.

Yury Ushakov said that Moscow calls on Baku and Yerevan to exercise restraint. He said the sides should observe the ceasefire regime and the provisions of the trilateral statement signed in 2020.

On September 13, starting at 00:05, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched a major military attack in several directions against Armenia, primarily using artillery and UAVs. 49 Armenian troops were killed and 3 civilians were wounded in the Azerbaijani attack.
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JERUSALEM  New research suggests at least 17 million people in the European Union may have experienced long COVID-19 symptoms during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic, with women more likely than men to suffer from the condition, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. We're following changes at the palace after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Get the Post Elizabeth newsletter for updates. ArrowRight The research, conducted for the WHO/Europe, was unclear on whether the symptoms that linger, recur or first appear at least one month after a coronavirus infection were more common in vaccinated or unvaccinated people. At least 17 million people met the WHOs criteria of long COVID-19  with symptoms lasting at least three months in 2020 and 2021, the report said.

Millions of people in our region, straddling Europe and Central Asia, are suffering debilitating symptoms many months after their initial COVID-19 infection, said Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, during a conference in Tel Aviv.

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The modeling also suggests that women are twice as likely as men to experience long COVID-19, and the risk increases dramatically among severe infections needing hospitalization, the report said. One-in-three women and one-in-five men are likely to develop long COVID-19, according to the report.

Knowing how many people are affected and for how long is important for health systems and government agencies to develop rehabilitative and support services, said Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which conducted the research for the WHO.

The research, which represents estimates and not actual numbers of affected people, tracks with some other recent studies on the constellation of longer-term symptoms after coronavirus infections.

A U.S. study of veterans published in Nature Medicine in May provided fresh evidence that long COVID-19 can happen even after breakthrough infections in vaccinated people, and that older adults face higher risks for the long-term effects. The study showed that about one-third who had breakthrough infections exhibited signs of long COVID.

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A separate report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that up to a year after an initial coronavirus infection, 1 in 4 adults aged 65 and older had at least one potential long COVID-19 health problem, compared with 1 in 5 younger adults.

Most people who have COVID-19 fully recover. But the WHO in Europe report on Tuesday estimated that 10% to 20% develop mid- and long-term symptoms such as fatigue, breathlessness and cognitive dysfunction.

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The role of the artist in creative endeavour has been a much-discussed topic due to recent artwork produced by AI programs such as Midjourney and DALL-E, including a controversial prize winner in Colorado this week.

These programs are using artificial intelligence or diffusion machine learning to produce beautiful images. But is it art, and will it put human artists out of a job?

Jason Allens work, Theatre Dopera Spatial, created using AI, won a fine art prize in Colorado. Credit:Jason Allen

The question what is art? has been seminal in the art world for decades. When Australia acquired Blue Poles, critics accused Jackson Pollock of throwing paint at the canvas while drunk. Today his work is considered a masterful example of abstract expressionism, but it is hard to claim Pollock was painting in a traditional sense.

What is the measure of art? Is it manual dexterity, or is it artistic intent? Is the decision to include something or exclude something as valid as how well one can apply a paint stroke? Is an Andy Warhol painting a real Andy Warhol painting if he did not actually paint it, but he conceptualised it and supervised it being made in the factory loft he ran in New York?
Melbourne Writers Festival has been criticised for cancelling a session about the future of the monarchy that was scheduled to take place on Sunday, two days after Queen Elizabeth IIs death.

The panel featured four guests  Dennis Altman, author of God Save The Queen: The Strange Persistence of Monarchies; Julia Baird, biographer of Queen Victoria; Peter FitzSimons, chair of the Australian Republican Movement, and Indigenous lawyer Teela Reid - under the title The End of the Monarchy?. Despite differing views among participants, the festival decided to pull the plug.

Teela Reid says Australians can engage in robust conversations without being offensive. Credit:Steven Siewert

In a statement to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, the festival said it recognised the importance of the conversation but we also understand that the Queens recent death has changed the context of the planned discussion.

Melbourne Writers Festival decided to postpone this conversation until a later date, the organisation said. It remains an important discussion with real implications for this country.
Bingwa is the first openly gay person and woman of colour to win the prestigious Heath Ledger Scholarship and she is committed to telling more of the progressive queer stories she explored in her series Little Sista , which won the 2017 LGBT Toronto Film Festival.

Its really hard to say goodbye so soon to a character Ive loved so much, says Bingwa from South Africa, where she is filming another soon-to-be-announced series. The Kings [creators Robert and Michelle King] have written a very satisfying ending for Carmen, and we get to find out so much more about her, which is great.

The Perth-raised recipient of the 2018 Heath Ledger Scholarship, awarded in LA to emerging Australian actors, was just starting to peel back the layers of her on-screen alter ego, the enigmatic, obsessively driven first-year law associate Carmen Moyo.

If the end of groundbreaking US legal drama The Good Fight has come too soon for fans of its subversive ripped-from-the-headlines plots, spare a thought for Zimbabwean-Australian actor Charmaine Bingwa.

Its important for me to tell any minority stories, says Bingwa. So whether it be as a person of colour, or as a person of colour from a different country, but also to tell queer stories. Given a platform as a queer person, I think its incumbent on you to do that. Were finally starting to expand what queer stories are. When I was coming up, I was one of the reviewing members of the Sydney Mardi Gras film festival, Queer Screen, and I loved seeing the evolution from the tragic coming-out story to just living and thriving.

As an Australian in Hollywood, Bingwa feels she is riding on the shoulders of legends, like your Naomis, your Nicoles, your Russells, and obviously Heath. When she first moved to LA, Bingwa spoke exclusively in standard American for seven months, even during phone calls home to her mum. Since then, she has learnt to speak Spanish for The Good Fight and has mastered a Rwandan accent for 2021 genocide film Trees of Peace.

For upcoming Will Smith movie Emancipation, Bingwa immersed herself in the role of a slave during the American Civil War. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (The Terminal List), the film tells the true story of Whipped Peter, a man who fled slavery, a photograph of his scarred back pivotal evidence of the brutality of the South.

Its such a profound story and we filmed in an actual plantation, Bingwa says. I dont think Ive ever researched something so thoroughly in my life. I really wanted to hear the stories from our peoples mouths. So I listened to well over 120 hours of enslaved narratives, which is quite a lot on the soul, to listen to how people suffered. But I went as deep as I possibly could for this project. Its so important to me, and, I think, to everyone.
State premiers will push for pandemic leave payments to remain as long as COVID-19 isolation is compulsory when they meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will argue that the federal government must extend the pandemic leave scheme beyond the September 30 deadline if the rule remains in place.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (centre) with NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Victorias Daniel Andrews pictured at their first national cabinet meeting in June. Credit:Rhett Wyman

The payments of up to $750 per isolation period for people without sick leave, which had cost the federal government almost $1.9 billion by July, are weighing on the nations balance sheet as Treasurer Jim Chalmers prepares to hand down his first budget in October. Chalmers warned last month the payments cant continue forever.

States and territories agreed in July to share the cost 50:50 with the federal government when national cabinet reinstated the scheme two weeks after it expired.
Property investors affected by a change to Queenslands land tax are considering selling out of the market or passing on the extra cost to renters, industry groups say.

Anyone who owns investment property in Queensland will soon have the total value of their Australian investment land assessed for land tax purposes. The move to include interstate holdings will start from June 30 next year, a move the state opposition branded unworkable.

Investors with property in Queensland and elsewhere could face higher land tax bills from next year. Credit:Penny Stephens

Other experts say the change would rebalance an overheated property market that favours investors over owner-occupiers and renters, while the state government has called the reform prudent.

It comes as the states capital is in the midst of an escalating rental crisis where rents jumped 13.3 per cent in the year to August on CoreLogic data and the vacancy rate is 1 per cent. The median household would spend 29.3 per cent of their income to service a new lease, the research house said.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, and OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid called for an immediate ceasefire following reports of armed clashes along the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Armenpress reports citing the OSCE website.

The escalation of hostilities at the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan must cease immediately. The progress achieved so far by following the diplomatic path must not be squandered, said Rau. There has been progress over the past eighteen months, including agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan to continue work towards a peace treaty. These clashes jeopardize this progress and put countless lives at risk.

I can only stress that hostilities must stop, not least to avoid further casualties, said Schmid. Drawing on decades of experience and expertise, the OSCE stands ready to help. We all share the joint objective of achieving sustainable peace and prosperity in the region.

On September 13, starting at 00:05, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched a major military attack in several directions against Armenia, primarily using artillery and UAVs. 49 Armenian troops were killed and 3 civilians were wounded in the Azerbaijani attack.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Edinburgh: To near-silence the Queens coffin journeyed up the Royal Mile. Four siblings, united in grief, walked slowly behind, their faces drawn and grim. Tens of thousands mourners solemnly watched as King Charles III, dressed in ceremonial military uniform, carried a baton presented to him by the late Queen when he became field marshal a decade ago. Beside him strolled sister Anne, the Princess Royal, along with Andrew, the Duke of York and Edward, the Earl of Wessex. The Queens four children followed the procession from Holyroodhouse to St Giles Catherdal. Credit:Getty The largest crowds seen since the 96-year-old monarch died last Thursday gathered along the Edinburgh high street and at St Giles Cathedral, where thousands more mourners will file past the late Queens coffin for nearly 24 hours. The monarch and his siblings later returned to the cathedral to stage a vigil to their late mother. They stood, heads bowed with their backs facing the coffin, as mourners walked past. It has only been performed once  at the funeral of the Queen Mother in 2002  since it was first carried out in 1936, when King Edward VIII and his brothers Albert, Henry and George stood by the coffin of their late father, King George V. Some, including Allison Evans from Derbyshire, who was in a wheelchair, joined the line at 7am  almost 12 hours before they were allowed in. The queue for entry stretched more than a kilometre, from the historic cathedral to the citys Meadows park.

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As the procession neared the cathedral earlier in the day a sea of hands holding phones in the air tried to capture the moment, while a barking dog momentarily put the police horses on edge. A man yelled God Save the King as the coffin passed the Canons Gait pub. Such was the crowds focus, former British prime minister Gordon Brown walked past without anyone raising an eyebrow. At St Giles the coffin, draped with the Royal Standard in Scotland and dressed with a wreath of flowers, was placed on a wooden catafalque  a raised platform  for a service celebrating Elizabeth IIs life and her connection to the country. Allison Evans was the first to join the line to inspect the Queens coffin. Credit:AP The Reverend Calum MacLeod welcomed the royal family, representatives of our nations life, and people whose lives were touched by the Queen in so many unforgettable ways. And so we gather to bid Scotlands farewell to our late monarch, whose life of service to the nation and the world we celebrate. And whose love for Scotland was legendary.

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Only the Duke of York did not wear a military uniform after his fall from grace. Andrew was obliged to end his public duties in 2019 in the aftermath of a disastrous BBC interview about his friendship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. One man in the crowd was taken away by police when he yelled youre a sick old man during the procession. The music at the service incorporated European, Anglican and Scottish material and was drawn from composers such as Bach, Purcell and Tallis. The psalms chosen were among the favourites of the Queen, which her family had often sung at Crathie Kirk in Balmoral. Tens of thousands turned up to watch the procession of the Queens coffin. Credit:Getty Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister and a fierce advocate for independence, read Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 from the lectern. There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens, she said. The choir followed with William Byrds The Souls of the Righteous Are in the Hand of God. Psalm 23  often sung at wedding and funeral services in Scotland  was performed to the tune of Crimond. It was sung at then Princess Elizabeths marriage to Prince Philip in 1947.

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Camilla, the Queen Consort, wore a diamond thistle brooch  a nod to Scotlands national flower  in a poignant tribute to her late mother-in-law. Giving the homily, the Right Reverend Dr Iain Greenshields told the congregation the Queen was determined to see her work as a form of service to others, and she maintained that until the end of her life. People who were in her company always felt that they were being listened to carefully and attentively and with compassion, he said. She possessed a sharp, intelligent mind with amazing recall, a kindly heart and a gentle sense of humour. She understood the breadth of world affairs and also cared about what happened to all of her people. And although sometimes buffeted by events around her, she continued resolutely and cheerfully to fulfil her responsibilities. And so today we give thanks not only for the length of her reign but for the qualities she displayed so steadfastly.

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Washington: Women in every US state would be prohibited from having an abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy under a proposed national ban designed to galvanise Republicans ahead of the midterm elections.

Three months after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in America, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, an ally of Donald Trump, has introduced legislation for a federal ban, claiming that such a move would get the nation into a position that was fairly consistent with the rest of the world.

Crowds outside the US Supreme Court after its decision to overturn Roe v Wade on June 24. Credit:AP

The legislation would include exceptions for cases involving rape, incest or risks to the life and health of the mother.

And while it has no chance of receiving a vote in Congress while the Democrats currently have a slim majority, its aim is largely to activate Republicans and pro-life forces to vote in the midterms on November 8, in order to shift the balance of power.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The session of the UN Security Council over the current situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is scheduled on September 14, TASS reports citing its source in the UN Security Council.

Yes, the discussion is scheduled tomorrow, the source said.

Earlier Reuters reported citing a statement from the office of French President Emmanuel Macron that France will bring up the topic of clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan at the UN Security Council.

On September 13, starting at 00:05, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched a major military attack in several directions against Armenia, primarily using artillery and UAVs. 49 Armenian troops were killed and 3 civilians were wounded in the Azerbaijani attack.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Member of the German Bundestag Till Mansmann commented on the Azerbaijani attack unleashed against Armenia on September 13.

The lawmaker said he has not stopped believing in the power of diplomacy, but added that unfortunately the attack of Azerbaijan on Armenias territory comes to prove that the military force is now being more frequently used in Europe and its surroundings.

Now Europe should be clearly positioned by the unfairly attacked country, Armenia, the Bundestag MP said.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on September 13, urging to take interim measures against Azerbaijan, Armenias Representative on international legal matters Yeghishe Kirakosyan said.

The appeals submitted relate to the targeting of Armenias civilian settlements, the protection of fundamental rights of the civilian population and the prisoners of war.

It is reported that additional information will be provided soon.

On September 13, starting at 00:05, the Azerbaijani armed forces launched a major military attack in several directions against Armenia, primarily using artillery and UAVs. 49 Armenian troops were killed and 3 civilians were wounded in the Azerbaijani attack.
EXETER TWP., Pa.  Monday night's meeting of the Exeter Township supervisors, like many meetings this year, was contentious almost from its start.

The supervisors voted 4-1, with David Hughes opposed, to reject having the township pay for Cornerstone Law Firm, Blandon, to represent Hughes.

"I have a lot of accusations against me," Hughes said. "None of them are true, but they (supervisors) censured me, and passed a resolution without basis."

In June, the board voted to censure Hughes and remove him as its vice chairman. At the time, Supervisor Teddy Gardella said he drafted the censure against Hughes for improper and unprofessional conduct and behavior, including "engaging in behavior designed to intimidate and bully township residents, employees and members of the board."

On Monday night, Hughes went on to say that he looked at prior years during which supervisors requested counsel. In 2020, he said, the township received an opinion from Fox & Rothschild, the solicitor at the time, that Pennsylvania law requires the township to pay the legal fees if a township is not aware of any facts that would substantiate the complaint and no charges are filed against the person engaging the lawyer.

"This is because the law recognizes that because of the public nature of their roles," Hughes continued, "supervisors are often subject to resident complaints, even when the facts do not support the allegations."

"Those supervisors should not be forced to pay personal money responding to those allegations," Hughes said.

In response to a question from Supervisor David Vollmer Jr., Solicitor Chad Schnee said the incident cited by Hughes involved a supervisor who was no longer serving on the board.

Schnee went on to say that he did not see any conflict of interest or compelling reason why he could not represent Hughes.

"I do not see any professional reason why this is needed," Schnee concluded in response to the request for outside legal counsel.

Vacancy board chair creates vacancy

Jim Ruoff, chair of the vacancy board, confronted supervisors about learning that they were considering removing him by receiving a text message Saturday morning asking if he had resigned as vacancy chair.

"Of course, I didn't," he told the supervisors. "I accepted that position in January and planned to continue in that role. Don't get me wrong. I do not have a strong desire to be the vacancy board chairman of Exeter Township."

Ruoff went on to upbraid the supervisors about the process for his removal. He claimed that not a single supervisor showed him the courtesy of letting him know their plans.

"This was another backroom deal by a select number of board members," Ruoff charged.

After making a few more comments, Ruoff resigned.

Wrangling over minutes

The next battle was over the approval of the minutes from the supervisors' meeting on Aug. 22.

Hughes moved to make several changes to the minutes concerning Supervisor Michelle Kircher's comments regarding a township investigation into harassment by Hughes. He said that he didn't think the comments needed to be included in the minutes.

After 15 minutes of debate, the supervisors voted 4-1, with Hughes opposed, to accept the minutes with one very minor correction to Kircher's title.

Other business

In an ironic vote, after meeting for more than three hours, the supervisors voted 4-1 to advertise changing the board of supervisors' meetings from three to two per month.

By a 4-1 vote, with Hughes opposed, the supervisors also voted to hire Keystone Municipal Solutions for assistance with budget development for the 2023 and future budgets.

Betsy McBride, the interim township manager, explained the purpose for this is twofold: to begin preparing budgets in accordance with GFOA budget guidelines and to offer continuity from 2023 and 2024 in light of numerous personnel changes.

Also, by a 4-1 vote, the supervisors agreed to approve changing the accounting for the Reading Country Club from an enterprise fund to a government fund. Hughes stated in opposition that he believed the supervisors were overreaching and the matter should be discussed at a town hall before voting to change.

The supervisors adopted a resolution recognizing 2023 minimum municipal obligation funding requirements for the Exeter Township police pension plan in the amount of $217,160; the Exeter Township non-uniformed pension plan in the amount of $129,720; and Exeter Township Teamsters' pension plan in the amount of $114,545.

These funding requirements are based upon the detailed actuarial development of plan costs for the aforementioned pension plans pursuant to an actuarial valuation completed as of Jan. 1, 2021, and makes provisions for these costs as part of the 2023 township budget.

In addition, the supervisors voted to adopt the employee handbook. Hours worked are determined by collective bargaining agreement for those employees who are unionized. However, hours worked noted in the employee handbook apply to those employees who are not unionized.

The supervisors agreed to hire a code enforcement assistant/assistant zoning officer. This position will not include commercial and residential inspections. The salary is estimated not to exceed the $62,500.

The supervisors also approved extending the agreement with Keystone Municipal Solutions for the interim township manager. The cost remains the same; the action simply extends the contract term.

Alarm Tech Systems was approved for the installation of video surveillance at the Reading Country Club. Equipment and installation will cost $15,397, and video can be viewed remotely.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Russias efforts to achieve peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan through diplomatic means are not so easy as Turkey stands behind Baku, Russian State Duma lawmaker, first deputy chair of the Committee for CIS Affairs, Konstantin Zatulin told Govorit Moskva radio station.

Zatulin said that Azerbaijan takes advantage of Russias participation to the special military operation in Ukraine and is presenting a new ultimatum to Armenia.

Bombardment, unfortunately, is a sad reality. Azerbaijan takes advantage of the current situation in Russia and presents its demands, which are more like an ultimatum. I think this is the consequence of what had happened two years ago, which we learn now, and I think that here we still need to understand the role of Turkey, which, as a rule, stands behind all actions of Azerbaijan as an instigator, he said, adding that Russia will stay away from intervening in military operations when it calms down Azerbaijan.

Russia is trying to achieve progress in the direction of signing a peace agreement with diplomatic means. According to Zatulin, Russia must stop the conflict in any way and if necessary, bring the Russian military base located in Gyumri to a combat preparedness, which he called a natural reaction to the escalation of the situation.

Peace is beneficial to Russia. I think these issues will be discussed at the upcoming meeting of Putin and Erdogan, the State Duma member said.

Zatulin added that what is happening now is not directly affecting the territory of Nagorno Karabakh, but is a consequence of the Nagorno Karabakh war. He stated that Azerbaijan and its supporting Turkey do everything to achieve highest possible results in a short period of time.
READING, Pa.  The Reading City Council tabled a proposed ordinance that would have given the mayor a 36.3% salary increase.

The proposal would take the salary to $99,000 from the current $72,600 on the first Monday in January 2024.

The proposal also called for the salary to increase to $102,000 in 2025; $105,000 in 2026; and $108,000 in 2027.

The mayor's salary has not been adjusted since 2011 because of the city's participation in Act 47 for distressed cities. The city came out of Act 47 earlier this year.

Councilwoman Donna Reed called the proposed increase for the mayor's salary "obscene."

"The amount of increase for the mayor's salary  I think it is just fairly obscene when you think of the situation," Reed said. "We're in a city where, according to the 2020 census, the median household income is $35,745 annually. We are not a rich city."

"The final number for the mayoral salary in 2027 will exceed the top Berks County commissioner salary by $10,000," she continued. "My question to everyone is, 'Are we in this to make money, or are we in this to be public servants?'"

Reed said she would consider only a moderate increase in the mayor's salary.

Reed noted that her comments were not directed at the current mayor, Eddie Moran, as the proposed salary increase would be for whomever takes that office in 2024.

The tabled ordinance also included proposals to: increase the pay of councilmembers to $8,000 from $5,000 per year; increase the salary of the president of council to $8,750 from $5,500; and adjust the salary for the city auditor  all of which would be effective January 2024.

Most city councilmembers spoke against any pay increase for council positions.

Managing Director William Heim said the proposed salaries were based on those in similar Pennsylvania cities that have a "strong mayor" form of government.

Heim also said the salary recommendations were made by PFM Group, the consulting group that was tasked with overseeing Reading's transition out of Act 47.

Several councilmembers agreed that the mayor's salary needs to be increased but that the city should make conservative decisions in the first year coming out of Act 47.

Councilman Wesley Butler said Reading should be in line with other municipalities, and expressed support for the ordinance as written.

Councilmembers consented to hold a discussion on the proposed ordinance at a future committee-of-the-whole meeting and broaden the topic to address the scope of responsibilities for the mayor.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Lehigh County's top cop has some suggestions for upcoming elections in regards to ballot boxes. He penned a letter to the Lehigh County Election Board Monday with those recommendations.

It comes just days after a lawsuit was filed by America First Legal Foundation on behalf of four Allentown residents claiming the Lehigh County Election Board failed to put safeguards in place to prevent election law violations. America First Legal Foundation is an advocacy group founded by two former Trump administration officials.

The suit cites a review from the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office that says 288 people may have dropped off more than one mail-in ballot during the 2021 election. All of this is coming to a head less than two months before the November election in Pennsylvania.

Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin says he wasn't aware of the lawsuit's contents when he sent a letter to the Election Board himself about adjustments that he recommends for ballot boxes.

In regards to the 288 people who possibly placed more than one ballot in the boxes, Martin chose not to prosecute the people, saying there was "no smoking gun."

"It's very difficult to tell on video whether you're holding a ballot between your thumb and your index finger when you're putting it into a slot," Martin said.

Martin doesn't believe the people weren't acting out of malice; rather, they just made a mistake.

"I'm willing to assume that many of those instances were spouses dropping off each other's ballots," Martin said.

However, Martin says the election code states that you may only deposit your own ballot. If convicted and prosecuted, Martin says fines could cost you up to $2,500.

To clear up confusion and minimize mistakes, Martin sent a letter to the Election Board himself back in April suggesting more visible signage at the drop box locations.

"I discovered that the signage on the drop box itself, which is like a mailbox, was not conspicuous," Martin said. "It didn't give them adequate warning that if they deposited more than one, they'd be violating the election code."

He said that the board took his recommendation just in time for the May primaries and now he has some more suggestions, including having an employee of the Voters Registration Office monitor the boxes. He also suggests that the drop box location at the Government Center should not be open 24/7, citing public safety. He said when his office reviewed video from the November election, not many people took advantage of the overnight hours.

"Only 29 people took advantage of the drop box between the hours of nine and early morning hours when the Government Center isn't occupied," Martin said. "That hardly seems worth the risk to me."

Martin says his suggestions do not stem from the lawsuit; rather, the recommendations come after a lengthy review process by his own department.

The Lehigh County Election Board says employees can't comment on ongoing litigation, but there will be a meeting Tuesday to discuss the lawsuit.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A homeless man robbed the Americus Hotel, then ran from police and jumped off a bridge into a creek before being arrested, police say.

A man, later identified as Samuel Santiago-Delgado, went in the Americus on Hamilton Street around 10:30 p.m. Monday and pulled out a knife, Allentown police said in a news release Tuesday.

He robbed both the hotel and a guest who was in the lobby, police say.

The victims gave police a description, and officers spotted the suspect a short time later. A detective tried to stop him, but he ran and jumped off the bridge in the 300 block of Linden Street, landing in Jordan Creek below, police said.

Police arrested the 41-year-old, who is currently homeless, and he was treated at the hospital for minor injuries, officials said.

Santiago-Delgado is facing charges of robbery, simple assault and theft.
NORTHAMPTON, Pa.  The Northampton Area School District is preparing for the next steps to potentially construct a new elementary school and administration building in East Allen Township, off Route 329.

At Monday night's school board meeting, Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik discussed an upcoming Act 34 hearing regarding the district's proposal.

Act 34, established by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1973, requires a public hearing be held on all new construction and substantial additions for school districts.

"Maximum building construction costs, school building capacity, and aggregate building expenditures are all items examined via this process," according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education's description of the act.

Previously, NASD placed the cost of a new school and an administration building at $70.4 million. The plan calls for a 113,238-square-foot elementary school with a 36,172-square-foot administration building on Route 329 and Seemsville Road.

The rationale for the new construction stems from buildings that need extensive rehabilitation and could possibly be replaced. That includes Moore and Franklin elementary schools and the district's Washington building and administration building.

Directors decided to move forward with this plan Monday night.

Kovalchik said the vote "does not mean the district is going to build anything on Route 329," but it does provide a specific purpose for the upcoming Act 34 meeting.

A study presented to the district in June said the Route 329 site was being considered for a number of reasons, including that the district already owns the land and it would allow flexibility if enrollment were to continue to grow.

The Act 34 meeting is currently scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 10 in the middle school cafeteria.

Meeting recordings

In other news, the board advanced the delayed streaming of board meetings. The policy, 006, would result in the district recording the audio and visual of school board meetings and placing them on the NASD website the following day for a 30-day period or until the next meeting minutes were approved.

Director Kim Bretzik supported the policy but did not like a sentence about a redaction provision which could be enacted by the district. She called it a potentially "very narrow" opportunity for the district to edit statements of which they did not agree.

Solicitor C. Steven Miller said the sentence could be kept or could be withdrawn as it was not required legally.

"You could just stream it all," Miller said.
MINERSVILLE, Pa. - As cities across Pennsylvania work to get illegal ATVs and dirt bikes off the street, one place is about to welcome them in.

On Tuesday, Minersville Borough Council in Schuylkill County is voting on an ordinance that would make it legal to ride off-road vehicles on borough streets.

"As long as everybody abides by the rules, we'll support it," said Minersville Police Chief Michael Combs.

Chief Combs said the riders are coming to Minersville for the trails provided by Famous Reading Outdoors in old coal-mining sites just outside of town. If the new ordinance passes, they'll be able to ride from the trails right back into town without ever getting off.

"We know which way they can come into town on their ATVs, so we station police at those areas," said Chief Combs.

And no one is more excited about the new ordinance than local businesses.

"It gives them a chance to see the town and spend money in the town," said Stephen Delucia, the owner of The Little Brown Barrel restaurant and bar.

Delucia said he's planning to expand to accommodate the off-road traffic by building an outdoor patio.

"It will give everybody a chance to pull in, sit outside, relax, enjoy their night, and have the bar outside," said Delucia.

The ordinance would not allow people to ride on state roads, and it would only allow them at specific times posted online. Chief Combs said it's an experiment they hope works out.

"We've expressed this to everyone concerned. If the situation deteriorates, we'll stop it," said Chief Combs.
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP)  Fighting on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan killed about 100 troops Tuesday as attacks on both sides fed fears of broader hostilities breaking out between the longtime adversaries.

Armenia said at least 49 of its soldiers were killed; Azerbaijan said it lost 50.

The fighting erupted minutes after midnight with Azerbaijani forces unleashing an artillery barrage and drone attacks in many sections of Armenian territory, according to Armenias Defense Ministry. It said shelling grew less intense during the day but Azerbaijani troops were trying to advance into Armenian territory.

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry said it was responding to a large-scale provocation by Armenia late Monday and early Tuesday. It said Armenian troops planted mines and fired on Azerbaijani military positions.

The two countries have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh in a six-week war in 2020 that killed more than 6,600 people and ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal. Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers under the deal.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged both parties to refrain from further escalation and show restraint. Moscow has engaged in a delicate balancing act in seeking to maintain friendly ties with both ex-Soviet nations. It has strong economic and security ties with Armenia, which hosts a Russian military base, while also has been developing close cooperation with oil-rich Azerbaijan.

The international community also urged calm.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to take immediate steps to deescalate tensions, exercise maximum restraint and resolve any outstanding issues through dialogue" and implement previous agreements, his spokesman said.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled closed consultations Wednesday on the renewed fighting.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called Russian President Vladimir Putin and later also had calls with French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Charles Michel and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by phone with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with both Pashinyan and Azerbaijans president, Ilham Aliyev. The U.S. has a special envoy in the region, Blinken said, and my hope is that we can move this from conflict back to the negotiating table and back to trying to build a peace.

Speaking in parliament early Tuesday, Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of having had an uncompromising stance at recent European Union-brokered talks in Brussels.

Armenia said the Azerbaijani shelling Tuesday damaged civilian infrastructure and wounded an unspecified number of people.

On Facebook, Aliyev expressed condolences to the families and relatives of our servicemen who died on September 13 while preventing large-scale provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces in the direction of the Kalbajar, Lachin, Dashkasan and Zangilan regions of Azerbaijan.

Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, also placed the blame for the violence on Armenia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for Aliyev and said in a statement that Turkey and Azerbaijan are "brotherly ... in all matters.

The governor of Gegharkunik province, one of the regions that came under Azerbaijani shelling, said there was a 40-minute lull in the fighting, apparently reflecting Moscows attempt to negotiate a truce, before it later resumed. The governor, Karen Sarkisyan, said four Armenian troops in his region were killed and another 43 were wounded by the shelling.

The Armenian government said it would officially ask Russia for assistance under a friendship treaty between the countries, and also appeal to the United Nations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Moscow-dominated security alliance of ex-Soviet nations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from comment on Armenias request but added during a conference call with reporters that Putin was taking every effort to help de-escalate tensions.

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur died at a Las Vegas hospital six days after he was wounded in a drive-by shooting, and more events that happened on this day in history.

1959: Elvis Presley 1971: Attica 1993: Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat 1996: Tupac Shakur 2001: Airplanes 2010: Rafael Nadal 2011: Kabul 2016: Donald Trump 2016: Shimon Peres 2017: Cleveland Indians 2017: Pete Domenici 2020: Dominic Thiem 2020: Donald Trump
There are no significant changes in the situation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border as of 08:00. Positional fighting continues in some parts of the border. The Azerbaijani forces are not ceasing their attempts to advance, the Armenian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Aram Torosyan said during a briefing.

September 13, 2022, 08:47 Azerbaijani forces continue attempts to advance into Armenia

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 13, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: The adversary continues using artillery, mortar, UAVs and large caliber weapons in the direction of Vardenis, Sotk, Artanish, Ishkhanasar, Goris and Kapan, targeting both military and civilian infrastructure, Torosyan added, noting that the military attaches of the diplomatic corps have been briefed on the situation and that the Azerbaijani military-political leadership bears the entire responsibility for the developments.
NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (AP)  Pope Francis begged for an end to Russias senseless and tragic war in Ukraine as he arrived Tuesday in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan to join faith leaders from around the world in praying for peace.

Francis flew to the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan to meet with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for an official state visit portion of his three-day trip. On Wednesday and Thursday, he participates in a government-sponsored triennial interfaith meeting, which is gathering more than 100 delegations of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Shinto and other faith groups from 50 countries.

The 85-year-old Francis made the trip despite what appeared to be an aggravation of the strained knee ligaments that have greatly reduced his mobility all year. Francis struggled to walk through the aisle of the aircraft during the 6.5-hour flight from Rome, and he appeared tired and in pain as he limped heavily with his cane, ceding to a wheelchair for most events once in town. Doctors have told him that for the time being, any further travel  to Kyiv, for example  is out of the question.

Speaking upon his arrival to government authorities and diplomats gathered at the Qazaq concert hall, Francis praised Kazakhstans commitment to diversity and dialogue and its progress from decades of Stalinist repression, when Kazakhstan was the destination of hundreds of thousands of Soviet deportees.

Francis said the country, which borders Russia to the north and China to the east and is home to some 150 ethnic groups and 80 languages, now has a fundamental role to play in helping ease conflicts elsewhere.

Recalling that St. John Paul II visited Kazakhstan just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S., Francis said he was visiting in the course of the senseless and tragic war that broke out with the invasion of Ukraine.

I have come to echo the plea of all those who cry out for peace, which is the essential path to development for our globalized world, he said.

Directing himself at global superpowers, he said expanding efforts at diplomacy and dialogue were ever more important. And those who hold greater power in the world have greater responsibility with regard to others, especially those countries most prone to unrest and conflict.

Now is the time to stop intensifying rivalries and reinforcing opposing blocs, he said.

Tokayev didnt mention Ukraine specifically in his prepared remarks to Francis. But speaking in English, he referred in general terms about humanity being on an edge of an abyss as geopolitical tensions escalate, global economy suffers, and mushrooming religious and ethnic intolerance becomes the new normal.

Kazakhstan has had to walk a thin line with the war. Tokayev has vowed to respect Western sanctions against Russia while trying to maintain close ties with Moscow, an important economic partner and ally. At the same time, Tokayev refused to recognize the Russia-backed separatist peoples republics in Ukraine which Moscow recognized days before invading Ukraine.

The most noteworthy aspects of Francis visit to Kazakhstan might boil down to the missed opportunities with both Russia and China: Francis was supposed to have met with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church on the sidelines of the conference. But Patriarch Kirill, who has supported the war in Ukraine, canceled his trip last month.

Francis is also going to be in the Kazakh capital at the same time as Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is making his first foreign trip since early in the coronavirus pandemic.

The Vatican and China havent had diplomatic relations for a half century and the timing is somewhat tense, with the two sides finalizing the renewal of a controversial deal over the nominations of Catholic bishops in China.

The Vatican has said there were no current plans for any meeting between Xi and Francis while they were both in Kazakhstan and the Kazakh deputy foreign minister, Roman Vassilenko said he didnt believe there was time in Xis schedule to meet with Francis.

Asked about the possibility en route to Nur-Sultan, Francis said: I dont have any news about this. But I am always ready to go to China.

The interfaith congress, now in its seventh iteration, is a showpiece of Kazakhstans foreign policy and a reflection of its own multicultural and multiethnic population that has long been touted as a crossroads between East and West.

When St. John Paul II visited in 2001, 10 years after independence, he highlighted Kazakhstans diversity while recalling its dark past under Stalinist repression: Entire villages of ethnic Poles were deported en masse from western Ukraine to Kazakhstan beginning in 1936, and the Soviet government deported hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans, Chechens and other accused Nazi collaborators to Kazakhstan during World War II. Many of the deportees descendants remained and some of them make up the countrys Catholic community, which only numbers about 125,000 in a country of nearly 19 million.

Sophia Gatovskaya, a parishioner at Our Lady Of Perpetual Help Cathedral in the capital, said she attended that first papal visit and that it has borne fruits to this day.

It was actually amazing. And after this visit, we have peace and tolerance in our republic. We have a lot of nationalities in Kazakhstan, and we all live together. And we expect the same from this visit (of Pope Francis) that we will have peace in our republic. And we very much expect that the war in Ukraine will end.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukrainian troops piled pressure on retreating Russian forces Tuesday, pressing deeper into occupied territory and sending more Kremlin troops fleeing ahead of the counteroffensive that has inflicted a stunning blow on Moscows military prestige.

As the advance continued, Ukraines border guard services said the army took control of Vovchansk  a town just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Russia seized on the first day of the war. Russia has acknowledged that it recently withdrew troops from areas in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.

Russian troops were also pulling out from Melitopol, the second largest city in Ukraines southern Zaporizhzhia region, the citys pre-occupation mayor said. His claim could not immediately be verified.

Melitopol has been occupied since early March. Capturing it would give Kyiv an opportunity to disrupt Russian supply lines between the south and the eastern Donbas region, the two major areas where Moscow-backed forces hold territory.

Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram that the Russian troops were heading toward Moscow-annexed Crimea. He said columns of military equipment were reported at a checkpoint in Chonhar, a village marking the boundary between the Crimean peninsula and the Ukrainian mainland.

In the newly freed village of Chkalovske in the Kharkiv region, Svitlana Honchar said the Russians' departure was sudden and swift.

They left like the wind, Honchar said Tuesday after loading cans of food aid into her car. "They were fleeing by any means they could.

Some Russians appeared to have been left behind in the hasty retreat. They were trying to catch up," she said.

It was not yet clear if the Ukrainian blitz, which unfolded after months of little discernible movement, could signal a turning point in the nearly seven-month war.

But the country's officials were buoyant, releasing footage showing their forces burning Russian flags and inspecting abandoned, charred tanks. In one video, border guards tore down a poster that read, We are one people with Russia.

Momentum has switched back and forth before, and Ukraine's American allies were careful not to declare a premature victory since Russian President Vladimir Putin still has troops and resources to tap.

In the face of Russia's largest defeat since its botched attempt to capture Kyiv early in the war, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops were hitting back with massive strikes in all sectors. But there were no immediate reports of a sudden uptick in Russian attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces were carrying out stabilization measures across recaptured territory in the south and east, and rounding up Russian troops, saboteurs and alleged collaborators.

In his nightly address, Zelenskyy also pledged to restore normalcy in the liberated areas.

It is very important that together with our troops, with our flag, ordinary, normal life enters the de-occupied territory," he said, citing an example of how people in one village had already begun receiving pension payments after months of occupation.

Reports of chaos abounded as Russian troops pulled out  as well as claims that they were surrendering en masse. The claims could not be confirmed.

Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said Kyiv is trying to persuade even more Russian soldiers to give up, launching shells filled with flyers ahead of their advance.

Russians use you as cannon fodder. Your life doesnt mean anything for them. You dont need this war. Surrender to Armed Forces of Ukraine," the flyers read.

In the wake of the retreat, Ukrainian authorities moved into several areas to investigate alleged atrocities committed by Russian troops against civilians.

Since Saturday, the Kharkiv regional police have repeatedly reported that local law enforcement officers have found civilian bodies bearing signs of torture across territories formerly held by Russia. It was not possible to verify their statements.

On Tuesday, regional police alleged that Russian troops set up a torture chamber at the local police station in Balakliya, a town of 25,000, that was occupied from March until last week.

In a Facebook post, the head of the police forces investigative department, Serhii Bolvinov, cited testimony from Balakliya residents and claimed that Russian troops always kept at least 40 people captive on the premises.

Meanwhile, military analysts sought to understand the blow sustained by Moscow.

British intelligence said that one premier force, the 1st Guards Tank Army, had been severely degraded during the invasion, along with the conventional Russian forces designed to counter NATO.

"It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability, the British officials said.

The setback might renew Russia's interest in peace talks, said Abbas Gallyamov, an independent Russian political analyst and former speechwriter for Putin.

But even if Putin were to sit down at the negotiating table, Zelenskyy has made it clear that Russia must return all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, Gallyamov said.

This is unacceptable to Moscow, so talks are, strictly speaking, impossible, he said.

Putins previous actions have restricted his room to maneuver," so he wouldnt be able to put anything meaningful on the table.

For talks to be possible, Putin would need to leave and be replaced by someone whos relatively untarnished by the current situation," such as his deputy chief of staff, the Moscow mayor or the Russian prime minister, Gallyamov said.

The retreat did not stop Russia from pounding Ukrainian positions. It shelled the city of Lozova in the Kharkiv region, killing three people and injuring nine, said regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.

And Ukrainian officials said Russia kept up shelling around Europes largest nuclear facility, where fighting has raised fears of a nuclear disaster. The Nikopol area, which is across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, was shelled six times during the night, but no injuries were immediately reported, said regional Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko.

Strikes have also continued unabated on the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest and one that has been hammered by artillery for months.

Among Kharkiv's battle-scarred apartment buildings, one man who returned to feed the birds struck a defiant tone, saying that the success of the Ukrainian counteroffensive would likely prompt harsh Russian retaliation against civilian targets. But he said the Kremlin would not succeed in intimidating ordinary Ukrainians.

Putin will strike so we dont have water, electricity, to create more chaos and intimidate us," said Serhii who only gave his first name. "But he will not succeed because we will survive, and Putin will soon croak!

The counteroffensive has provoked rare public criticism of Putins war in Russia. Some of the war's defenders played down the idea that the success belonged to Ukraine, blaming instead Western weapons and fighters for the losses.

Arhirova reported from Kyiv.

Follow AP war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
GENEVA (AP)  The U.N. labor agency estimates that some 50 million people worldwide were living in modern slavery - either in forced labor or marriage  at the end of last year, marking a 25% jump from its previous report five years ago.

The International Labor Organization and partners point to worrying trends such as commercial sexual exploitation affecting nearly one in four people who are subject to forced labor and with the poor, women and children hardest hit.

ILO, along with the U.N.s International Organization for Migration and the Walk Free foundation - a rights group that focuses on modern slavery - reported that 28 million people were in forced labor and 22 in forced marriages at the end of 2021.

The report released Monday said such figures marked an increase of 10 million people living in modern slavery since the last such report was published in 2017, based on figures a year earlier. Two-thirds of the increase pertained to forced marriages alone, it said.

Grace Forrest, founding director of Walk Free, said in an Associated Press interview in New York that the increase is about equal to the population of Greece.

The 50 million figure, she said, is undoubtedly conservative as it has gaps from child marriage to the worst forms of child labor. So this is the baseline estimate of people living in modern slavery throughout the world."

Based on available data, ILO and partners found increases in child and forced marriages in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Congo, Egypt, India, Uganda and Yemen. But the report said wealthier countries were not immune to the problem, with nearly one-in-four forced marriages taking place in high or upper middle-income countries.

Crises including the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and armed conflict have underpinned rises in extreme poverty, unsafe migration, and gender-based violence in recent years, raising the risk of all forms of modern slavery, it said.

All told, more than 2/3 of all forced marriages were found in the Asia-Pacific region  the worlds most populous region  but the highest number per capita came in Arab countries where nearly 5 in 1,000 people were in forced marriages.

Forced marriage, the report said, is closely tied to long-established patriarchal attitudes and practices  while 85 percent of cases were driven by family pressure. Regarding forced labor, about one in eight of those affected were children and half of those in commercial sexual exploitation.

(Modern slavery) is a man-made problem, connected to both historical slavery and persisting structural inequality, Walk Free's Forrest said in a statement, as the ILO chief urged a broader effort to fight it.

Director-General Guy Rider of the U.N labor agency, which brings together workers, businesses and governments, called for an all-hands-on-deck approach and said, trade unions, employers groups, civil society and ordinary people all have critical roles to play.
I love the writing of Dipo Baruwa-Etti. It whips and zips across the stage, full of life and thought. In plays such as An unfinished man and Half-Empty Glasses, he's revealed a willingness to explore difficult themes about being Black in Britain today in challenging ways. A lot was riding on his first play at the Almeida, where he is the Channel 4 resident writer.

Its first act is a belter. Here we meet a British-Nigerian, middle-class family who seem to be perfect examples of Black achievement. Patriarch Segun (Maynard Eziashi) is a best-selling author and therapist, mum Tiwa (Donnar Berlin) volunteers at a women's shelter, son Bayo is a policeman, his wife (Mercy Ojelade) is a Labour MP, and daughter Ore is a junior doctor. They seem so well-qualified that when Ore offers Wunmi, the widow of a former patient a sanctuary, a bulwark against the despair that is driving her to suicide, they see themselves as a clinic, a place where problems can be solved.

Yet from the very first scene at Segun's 60th birthday, it's clear that their goodness and their perceived view of themselves are fragile. They squabble all the time, about little things like Ore's smoking, but also about larger ones  whether Labour have a right to expect the Black vote, what shape activism should take, whether a system can be reformed from inside or out.

The quarrels take place within the setting of a lively, family gathering, entirely believable, utterly transfixing. The arrival of the fiery Wunmi, with her young baby and her confrontational attitudes in tow, disrupts the uneasy balance still further. There's a real tension in the writing, brilliantly realised by a production directed by Monique Touko that is sometimes as nerve-wracking as a thriller.

Paul Wills provides a sleek kitchen set, overhung by a huge Nigerian mask, and Matt Haskins' lighting with occasional electric flashes, Christopher Shutt's ominous sound design and Shiloh Coke's score all hint at the sense that there is something beyond what we see, that Wunmi (wonderfully played by Toyin Ayedun-Alase) may be either exploiter or exploited, and that she may or may not represent an avenging force beyond what we see.

At the interval then, the play feels truly intriguing, poised on the brink of revelation. But its second act doesn't quite deliver. Unlike JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls (with which it bears some comparison), the stranger's arrival doesn't lead to a concentrated howl of outrage. Instead, the anger contained within the play, the burning questions about Black people's treatment and the ways in which they should fight back, seem to dissipate in too many directions.

Some of the plot twists seem overly conventional, while others feel underwritten and underdeveloped. Interestingly, an epilogue printed in the text, is not performed on stage; it would have tied up some of the play's thinking.

The power of Baruwa-Etti's writing never falters, however, and The Clinic is superbly performed. I particularly liked the bickering and shifting sibling relationship between Simon Manyonda, playing a policeman who celebrates when the Black killer of a Black boy is caught and his sister who believes that all systems are corrupt. Gloria Obianyo plays her with exceptional stillness and understanding and both honour the nuance of a relationship that is united by love even as it torn apart by beliefs.

The Clinic is an ambitious undertaking, that never loses the attention, but it doesn't make the impact Baruwa-Etti's talent deserves. It's big, bold and unruly, but not quite as focussed as it needs to be.
NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs & Security Policy and Special Representative for the Caucasus & Central Asia Javier Colomina expressed concern over the Azeri attacks on Armenia.

September 13, 2022, 15:33 NATO calls for immediate cessation of hostilities

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 13, ARTSAKHPRESS: Very concerned about attacks along the Armenia and Azerbaijan border, including reported strikes against settlements and civilian infrastructure inside Armenia. NATO calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and urgent de-escalation, Colomina tweeted.
The General Prosecution of Armenia says Azerbaijan pre-planned the September 13 explicit aggression against Armenias territorial integrity and peaceful population.

September 13, 2022, 16:48 Azerbaijan had pre-planned the attack, says Armenian prosecution

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 13, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: The prosecution says its criminal investigation into Azerbaijans attack  a violation of the November 9, 2020 trilateral statement and several international treaties prohibiting the use of force or the threat to use force and invading the territory of another country gathered information on war crimes and criminal violations of Customary international humanitarian law.

Azerbaijan bombarded military positions of Armenia deployed in Syunik, Vayots Dzor and Gegharkunik provinces and also delivered strikes on peaceful settlements, targeting civilians, residential homes and infrastructure. Several civilians were wounded.

The prosecution said that the information shows that Azerbaijan pre-planned this attack and was creating artificial grounds for its aggression over the course of a long period of time.

The Prosecutor General has notified his counterparts of partner countries on the facts of the Azeri aggression.

At least 49 Armenian troops were killed and three civilians were wounded when Azerbaijan launched a major bombardment attack in several directions against Armenia 00:05 September 13. In some directions the Azeri troops continue attempts to advance.
With the country recovering from the setbacks caused by the coronavirus, companies are hiring. Tovuti LMS used data from the Bureau of Labor S
Eleven years ago, Conner Ellinghuysen was Lewiston-Altura High Schools Above and Beyond nominee.

He shared with the Daily News at the time about his battle with anxiety, which he was diagnosed with in elementary school, as his father struggled to find work and his mother was on disability leave.

During the height of his battle, Ellinghuysen was too afraid to leave the house often and missed an average of about 30 days of school a year.

Even as a child, Conner felt guilty that he couldnt help support his family, and hesitated to go to school where he was taunted and bullied, his 2011 Above and Beyond story shared.

But Ellinghuysen didnt let his anxiety stop him, as he fought it head on starting in seventh grade. He became greatly involved in school and eventually graduated with a 3.54 grade point average.

After high school, Ellinghuysen went on to complete his undergraduate studies in 2015 and his masters degree in 2017 at Saint Marys University.

In 2013, he was an intern at SMU before becoming an admissions counselor for the university in 2015.

After working his way up through the ranks at SMU, Ellinghuysen took a job at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa.

Ellinghuysen has held the position of director of admissions there since November 2019.

I just had a desire to continue to work with students and help them realize their college dreams, he said of his career choice. I had a really great college experience and I had some really great mentors who saw something in me that just kind of pushed me towards this career path.

Ellinghuysen ended up at his current position at BVU because he saw the opening as a great next stage in his career.

Additionally, he said: Im really passionate about rural education, because I grew up in a rural community of Lewiston, Minnesota. So this is a college that, we really believe and really serve rural education, and thats kind of within our mission. And thats something thats really powerful to me and really exciting to be a part of.

Ellinghuysen still takes lessons with him that he learned while battling anxiety in his youth.

Well, I think the biggest thing was just learning how to essentially cope with it and and how to deal with those stressors and things like that. Theres a quote thats on my computer that (says), Nothing worth doing is ever easy, Ellinghuysen said. Im a Star Wars junkie, and its from one of my favorite characters, Ashoka Tano. Its something that Ive really started to live by.

Its a quote that he shares with his staff too, reminding them, Theres going to be really tough times and sometimes when youre working with students or things like that, theres really heavy topics, but its a reminder that the work that we do really is worth it and at the end of the day, we really are truly inspiring and changing lives, whether we know it or not.

While Ellinghuysen still deals with anxiety in his daily life, he shared that he has learned how to better understand and manage it.

When asked what he would tell youth who are facing anxiety themselves, just like he did at their age, Ellinghuysen said: I think the first thing is, and I actually tell this a lot to college students, is to know that youre not alone. Its really easy when youre in those moments where you think that youre the only person going through anxiety or are struggling but the reality is there are other students that are around you that are probably going through the same thing. And its important for you to find your support network and try and open up to be honest with yourself with what youre going through. Because those other people, once you find that group, theyre going to be there to help support you through that. You just cant go through this alone.

Ellinghuysen is now married to a fellow 2015 SMU graduate and has two children  a soon-to-be 2-year-old and a 1-month-old.

Donations to the Extra Effort and the Above & Beyond programs to help support scholarships for deserving high school seniors who have overcome challenges can be made through the La Crosse Community Foundation and the Winona Community Foundation.

For Extra Effort: To give online visit at www.laxcommfoundation.com. Checks can be written to Extra Effort Fund and mailed to the Foundation at 401 Main St., Ste. 205, La Crosse, WI 54601.
MINNEAPOLIS  Thousands of nurses in Minnesota launched a three-day strike Monday, complaining of low salaries and understaffing worsened by the strains of the coronavirus pandemic.

Some 15,000 nurses at seven health care systems in the Minneapolis and Duluth areas walked out. The affected hospitals said they recruited temporary nurses and expected to maintain most services.

Picket signs went up and strike chants began at 7 a.m. outside 15 Twin Cities and Duluth area hospitals.

The hospitals and the striking nurses said staff shortages are a shared concern.

Minnesota Nurses Association president Mary Turner said pay raises are necessary to address the crisis of retention that would otherwise leave the hospitals severely understaffed.

The hospitals have offered 10-12% wage increases but the nurses are seeking more than 30%. Hospital leaders called their wage demands unaffordable, noting that Allina and Fairview hospitals have posted operating losses and that the cost of such sharp wage increases would be passed along to patients.

The union rejected all requests for mediation and held fast to wage demands that were unrealistic, unreasonable and unaffordable, several of the Twin Cities hospitals under strike said in a joint statement.

Second-year nurse Madi Gay, who was picketing Monday morning after completing her overnight shift, told the Star Tribune that she had already reduced her hours at M Health Fairview Southdale Hospital because of the stress and frustration of caring for so many severely ill patients.

How long can you keep this up? Gay asked. My license is on the line.

Union spokesman Sam Fettig said the nurses settled on a three-day rather than open-ended strike because of concerns about the impact of drawn-out labor action on patient care.

As the nurses always say, this isnt something they want to be doing, they want to be at the bedside providing care, Fettig said.

Hospitals argued that the proposals by the union and its nurses are too costly.

It just isnt a realistic number, Paul Omodt, a spokesman for several of the Minneapolis-area hospitals, said last month.

The hospitals affected by the strike included those operated by Allina Health, M Health Fairview, Childrens Hospital, North Memorial and HealthPartners. In Duluth, it was Essentia and St Lukes.

As union members in Minnesota walked the picket line, UW Health nurses and the UW Hospital board in Wisconsin approved an agreement intended to avert a strike that had been scheduled to start Tuesday, a spokesperson for the nurses union said Monday.

Nurses and administrators didnt immediately release details of that agreement. The hospital board and 97% of nurses who voted approved the deal, according to SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin.

The Minnesota nurses strike comes amid an upsurge in union activity nationwide.

A national railroad strike could begin as early as Friday unless Congress steps in to block it. The two largest railroad unions have been demanding that the major freight carriers go beyond a proposed deal recommended by arbitrators appointed by President Joe Biden.

Some high-profile companies, including Starbucks, are among those trying to stifle ongoing unionization efforts. Since late last year, more than 230 U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize. Starbucks opposes unionization.
The longing to spend more time with a loved one is the premise of Beaver Dam Area Community Theatres latest dramatic offering.

The one-act play, One Day, opens to audiences Thursday evening at the BDACT Fine Arts Center.

Directed by Carla Woebbeking and produced by Jennifer Bohlig and Jill Kaufman, the original work was written by local theatre veteran Ricardo Ramirez.

Ramirez has been involved with community theatre for more than 35 years. He said he began writing the piece as a college student after being inspired by a story his mother shared with him about his grandparents.

He stuffed away his notes in a shoebox and returned to the writing process in 2018 after longtime Columbus Redbud Players board member Gary Taurick approached him about doing a one-act show for the American Association of Community Theatres statewide contest.

The Redbud Players debuted One Day at the Wisconsin AACTFest in January 2019 at the Verona Performing Arts Center. The production won the following awards and advanced to the Regional Festival in Kokomo, Indiana: Excellence in Acting, Megan Scullin; Excellence in Supporting Acting, James McMillan and Cynthia Klawitter; Excellence in Playwriting, Ricardo Ramirez.

The original version was performed four times in 2019  once in Columbus, once in Beaver Dam and twice in competition.

Theatre-goers will have the opportunity to view an updated version of the play Thursday through Sunday this week. Ramirez said he expanded the play by writing dialogue for the young girls character and introducing an additional character.

The new version is still a one-act play, and lasts about an hour, he said. But I felt I wanted to give it more depth. The script mixes great dramatic and comedic moments.

One Day explores confronting loss and how different couples cope with the idea of moving on and starting over. It is heartfelt and thought-provoking.

If you go What: One Day Where: BDACT Fine Arts Center, 117 W. Maple Ave., Beaver Dam When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15-17, and 2 p.m. Sept. 18 Tickets: $12, available at bdact.org

All but one of the original cast members are reprising their roles in the new version of the play. Actor Kevin Miner said the cast fell back into character quickly and are enjoying the plays added content. Ramirez is taking over the role previously played by McMillan.

I love performing and being on stage again. Its really special to me and hugely rewarding to see my work come to life, he said.
Black Sash withdraws litigation challenging SRD grant regulations

Following amended regulations announced in August, the Black Sash Trust has withdrawn litigation on social relief of distress grants

The Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant was initiated in March 2020 as a measure to support individuals affected by the economic and social impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The grant continues to be essential for many who still bear the impact of the Covid-19 lockdowns and economic downturn, and the attendant high levels of unemployment in South Africa. The SRD grant has benefited over 10 million recipients, who rely on the R350 as a means for survival.

In April 2022, government, in an attempt to reduce the budget for grants and without consultation, passed Regulations which decreased the qualifying threshold for the SRD grant from R595 to R350. What this meant was that a beneficiary could not have more than R350 a month in their bank account (regardless of where this came from), otherwise they were considered too rich for the SRD grant and would be disqualified as a beneficiary.

In June 2022, Black Sash, represented by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), launched an urgent application to the High Court in Pretoria, challenging the arbitrary and exclusionary nature of this new qualifying requirement, amongst other grounds of review.

Our litigation raised various issues, including the use of exclusively digitised systems (online platforms) for applications for the SRD grant; regulations privileging bank verification information above other information from applicants to verify their eligibility; the impossibly low income threshold of R350; and the fact that the Regulations prohibit any new information and evidence being provided when beneficiaries appeal rejections of an SRD grant application.

The devastating impact of these issues was such that previously (up to March 2022), an estimated 15.5 million people were applying monthly for the SRD grant, but after the April Regulations were

passed, fewer than 10 million people made applications for social assistance. This means that around 16 million fewer applications were made for the SRD grant over the three months to June 2022.

On 16 August 2022, and in direct response to the court challenge instituted by Black Sash, the Department of Social Development (DSD) announced amendments to the SRD grant Regulations that addressed two of the key issues raised in our litigation in June, namely:

Increasing the income threshold for qualification for the SRD from R350 to the lower bound food poverty line; and Removing the privileging of bank verification information when assessing an application for the SRD grant.

It is only through the persistent actions by Black Sash that DSD moved to swiftly review the Regulations and make amendments that benefit millions of South Africans.

In response to the amended Regulations, which are welcomed, we have since withdrawn the legal application. It nevertheless remains disheartening that it took a legal challenge for DSD to change its course and adopt a human rights-based approach to the grant system.

We continue to advocate for the urgent introduction of permanent basic income support.

For inquiries, please contact:
By Trend

The extraordinary meeting of the Supervisory Board of the 'Restoration, Construction, and Management Service No. 1' public legal entity in the East Zangazur economic region was held on September 12, Trend reports.

The meeting, chaired by the Special Representative of the Azerbaijani President to Zangilan district, which is part of the East Zangazur economic region Vahid Hajiyev, was attended by Deputy Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan Sahib Mammadov, Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Vugar Karimov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of Azerbaijan Namig Hummatov.

The session approved the composition of the relevant public legal entity, the wage fund, the number of employees and their wages. Moreover, the Service CEO is Novras Jafarov, appointed by the Supervisory Board.

Further, participants addressed the priority issues and development strategy related to designing and implementing the reconstruction and repair projects in the liberated Jabrayil, Gubadli, and Zangilan districts, which are part of the East Zangazur economic region.

Last but not least, the timely and complete fulfillment of the tasks was determined as the major requirement, and the date of the next meeting was set.
As a band, Genesis has reinvented itself in so many distinct ways over the years that clear lines can be drawn between each of them, and each 
Wells College has announced that Dr. Karey T. Pine is joining its staff as the new associate vice president for academic and student affairs and dean of students.

Pine brings 35 years of experience in higher education to the Aurora college, including Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the Rochester Institute of Technology, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at RIT, SUNY Brockport and, most recently, Cazenovia College. She served as vice president of student affairs for four years at Cazenovia.

At Wells, Pine will serve as the college's chief student affairs leader, overseeing all aspects of campus and student life, including Title IX prohibiting sex and gender discrimination.

It was clear from the minute I stepped onto the campus that Wells College is a unique place that is nurtured by a special community of students, faculty, staff members, administrators, and alumnae and alumni," Pine said in a news release. "I am excited to join this community, to listen and learn more, to honor traditions, and to create and support experiences that celebrate the capacity of all Wells students to forge meaningful paths in college and lives of consequence upon their graduation.

Pine's academic background includes a Doctorate of Education in executive leadership from St. John Fisher University and a Master of Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology. The college said that background, along with Pine's administrative experience, will help her support growth, diversity and first-generation students at Wells.

Im excited to have Karey join our team to help each of our students make Wells their own. I cant wait to work together," Wells Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Susan Henking said.

Wells President Jonathan Gilbralter added, I feel incredibly fortunate to have Karey Pine joining us at Wells. She is a consummate professional who will bring her many years of service to students to our community.

For more information, visit wells.edu.
Members of Burg Chinese Chorus perform during the cloud concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany in Essen, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2022. A cloud concert sung by youth from China and Germany was held here on Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. [Xinhua/Ren Pengfei]

ESSEN, Germany, Sept. 11 (Xinhua)  A cloud concert sung by youth from China and Germany was held here on Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In the offline part of the concert, students from the local Burg Chinese Chorus sang via video link with their peers from several high school choirs in Chengdu, China.

They presented famous songs from both countries in Chinese and German and garnered warm applause from the audience.

Music is a language that crosses borders, Wu Ken, Chinese Ambassador to Germany, said at the event.

Wu said he hoped the students would continue to use their songs as a link to be explorers of Chinese and German cultures, promoters of friendship between the two countries and practitioners of cross-cultural understanding.

Speaking at the event, Olaf Millmann, organizing director of the Burg Chinese Chorus, said that the chorus has continued to build bridges through music which helps deepen the exchanges between young people from Germany and China.

He said he hoped that the chorus would continue to contribute to deepening the friendship between the two countries in the future.

Chorus member Ben Hanenberg said that participating in chorus activities and learning to sing Chinese songs had always been an essential part of his Chinese learning. He said he plans to study in China and looks forward to discovering the country.

Members of Burg Chinese Chorus perform during the cloud concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany in Essen, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2022. [Xinhua/Ren Pengfei]

A member of Burg Chinese Chorus performs during the cloud concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany in Essen, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2022. [Xinhua/Ren Pengfei]

Members of Burg Chinese Chorus perform during the cloud concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany in Essen, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2022. [Xinhua/Ren Pengfei]

Members of Burg Chinese Chorus perform during the cloud concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany in Essen, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2022. [Xinhua/Ren Pengfei]

Members of Burg Chinese Chorus perform during the cloud concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany in Essen, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2022. [Xinhua/Ren Pengfei]

(Source: Xinhua)
Primary school students are instructed by a patissier as they learn to make mooncakes in Yingze District, Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province, Sept. 7, 2022. [Xinhua]

TAIYUAN, Sept. 11 (Xinhua)  Rong Hui, a music teacher living in Taiyuan, capital city of north China's Shanxi Province, was particularly excited about this year's Mid-Autumn Festival as it coincided with Teacher's Day in China.

Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on Aug. 15 of the lunar calendar. It was the first time that the two events have fallen on the same day since China in 1985 designated Sept. 10 as Teachers' Day.

As Chinese people have the same traditional respect for teachers as they do for family, many have decided to celebrate in a bigger fashion than normal.

Rong planned to prepare a Mid-Autumn family dinner on Saturday together with her mother-in-law, who was also a teacher before her retirement. "Normally on Teachers' Day, I stay with my students at school. But this year I believe it is also a joyful day of family reunion," Rong said.

Guo Jiguang, 60, is from east China's Fujian Province and he used to be a teacher. He is also a practitioner of the "Fumao Cake" craft, a form of intangible cultural heritage from Fujian.

To celebrate the dual festival, Guo designed a special mooncake with four Chinese characters, meaning "Remembering your teachers," sculpted on the surface.

He has made about 60,000 such mooncakes, and decided to give them away to local teachers as gifts. "Parents give us life, friends give us support, and teachers give us knowledge and guidance. They are the most important people in our lives. That is my belief," Guo said.

Peng Jun, a 34-year-old teacher in Wannian County, east China's Jiangxi Province, held an early Mid-Autumn celebration on Thursday with over 100 students whose parents are out of town as migrant workers. They sang, danced and shared their happiness with their parents through video calls.

"Our teachers are also our friends and families. They have been trying their best to take care of us," said Huang Caihong, a senior high school student whose parents are working in the neighboring Zhejiang Province on the east coast.

Peng has held such celebrations for over 10 years. "I hope the students can feel the warmth of family at school, and also understand their parents being away, working hard for their family and the future of their kids," he said.

Statistics released by China's Ministry of Education show that by 2021, the total number of full-time teachers in China exceeded 18.4 million.

Over the past decade, more than 4,500 teachers across the country have been awarded at the national level for their professionalism and dedication to education.

"The two festivals meeting is a rare and precious occasion, and it feels especially beautiful to see various traditional Chinese values celebrated harmoniously under the full moon," said Wan Jianzhong, a professor at the School of Chinese Language and Literature of Beijing Normal University.

(Source: Xinhua)
Pierre is a small city situated in Hughes County at the heart of the US State of South Dakota. Pierre serves as the state capital and is the chief city of the Pierre Micropolitan Statistical Area. It is the state's ninth-most populous city and the country's second-least populous state capital, having a population of just 14,091 inhabitants.

Geography And Climate Of Pierre

A view of Pierre - the State Capital of South Dakota on a stormy day.

Pierre sits at an elevation of 442 m on rough river bluffs above the Missouri River's eastern banks. Pierre covers a total area of 33.80 sq. km, of which 33.74 sq. km is occupied by land, and 0.05 sq. km is covered by water. Pierre is located approximately 364km from Sioux Falls, South Dakota; 328km from Bismarck, North Dakota; and adjacent to Lake Oahe.

Pierre experiences a humid continental climate, with extended cold winters and hot summers. The monthly daily average temperature ranges between -7.2C to 23.8C. The city receives an average precipitation of 20.20 inches and a snowfall of 37.2 inches.

History Of Pierre

Summer flower-bed leading to South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre, South Dakota. Editorial credit: Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com

The Sioux people were the area's inhabitants before the arrival of Europeans. Fort Pierre was established in the 1820s and began to be settled by Europeans and other immigrants in the ensuing decades. The city of Pierre was officially established in 1880 and became the capital of the new state of South Dakota in 1889. The city was primarily chosen because of its location in the state's center. Pierre's fort and later the city were named after 19th-century French-American fur trader Pierre Chouteau Jr.

The town suffered economic declines in the decades following South Dakota's statehood, partly due to the Great Depression that rattled the entire nation's economy in the 1930s. After the Second World War, Pierre was mostly left out of the Interstate Highway System. However, Pierre is served by the Rapid City, Pierre, and Eastern Railroad, which connects Pierre with the rest of South Dakota, and other northern states. Today, the town is known for its proximity to the Oahe Dam, a significant regional economic provider. The other biggest employers in Pierre are the local school system and the broadcast industry.

Population Of Pierre

Pierre has a population of 14,091 residents, as per the latest US Census. Approximately 83% of Pierre is white, and 11% are Native American. The mixed-race population is about 5%, and various other ethnicities make up the remainder of the city's population. About 77% of Pierre's residents consider themselves religious. 40% of the religious population identifies with the Lutheran tradition of Christianity. Catholicism is the second most popular at 16.8%. There is also a 7.2% Methodist and 4% Baptist population. The only non-Christian religious groups on record are those of various eastern faiths, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, at around 0.6% of the religious population.

Attractions In Pierre

A view of the Oahe Dam during summer.

One can visit the South Dakota Discovery Center, a science and nature exhibit. History buffs will enjoy visiting the South Dakota State Historical Society Museum, Cultural Heritage Center, South Dakota National Guard Museum, and the Trail of Governors. Beer enthusiasts can visit the Bill of Rights Brewery and the Dakota Spirits Distillery. Nature lovers can enjoy La Framboise Island, with beautiful beaches and incredible scenery. The Oahe Dam and its subsequent lake are also among the beautiful sights to be seen in the area.
A second rebuilt New York State Thruway rest stop has reopened after being closed for more than a year for construction.

The Chittenango Service Area, which is between exits 34 (Canastota) and 34A (Syracuse/Interstate 481) on Interstate 90 westbound, opened on Monday. The new rest stop features Chick-fil-A, the fast-food restaurant chain's third location in central New York, and Starbucks with a drive-thru. There is also an Applegreen Market Store and Taste NY food and beverages.

Chick-fil-A will be closed on Sundays. It's the company's policy to close on Sundays to give employees a day of rest. Starbucks will be open seven days a week and there will be hot foods available in the Applegreen store.

Other amenities available at the new rest stop include outdoor seating, space for food trucks, a dog walk area and a private nursing area. Two amenities  a digital tourism kiosk and electric vehicle chargers  will be available at a later date, according to the Thruway Authority.

Chittenango joins Indian Castle Service Area as the first rest stops to reopen after being closed in July 2021 for reconstruction  Indian Castle reopened in late August. Nearly all of the Thruway's 27 rest stops are being rebuilt as part of a $450 million project led by Empire State Thruway Partners, an entity operated by Ireland-based Applegreen. Applegreen has service areas in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland.

No state tax or toll dollars are being used for the project, which is privately funded.
King Charles III attended a special meeting of both houses of parliament held at Westminster Hall Monday. He was greeted with fawning speeches from Lords Speaker, Baron John McFall, and Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, both former Labour MPs.

King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort sit, in Westminster Hall, where both Houses of Parliament met to express their condolences, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, in London, Monday September 12, 2022. [AP Photo/Dan Kitwood/Pool Photo via AP]

They delivered a humble address agreed by each of the houses of parliament while Charles sat on a raised podium surrounded by assorted figures in outlandish costumes, including the Kings Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard and the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms.

The ceremony was meant to sanctify our constitutional monarchy, as a symbol of stability in an ever-changing world, in Hoyles words. He noted that the late queen had visited Westminster Hall many times to mark historic occasions, including the 300th anniversary of the Glorious Revolution. In an example of the rampant cynicism of the event, Hoyle commented, It is perhaps very British to celebrate revolutions by presenting an address to Her Majesty, but those revolutions led to our constitutional freedoms.

Like most of the historical references thrown around in the days following the queens death last week, it is best for the ruling class that they remain vague. The Glorious Revolution refers to the 1688 war of succession that began with an invasion of England by William of Orange and which deposed the Catholic James II, after which the protestant King William III and Queen Mary swore an oath to uphold the laws made in parliament.

What was therefore being celebrated at Westminster Hall is the ability of Britains imperialist bourgeoisie to utilise the monarchy as a means of sanctifying and reinforcing its own power.

This is the essential function of all the daily rituals surrounding the queens death that have been given saturation coverage by Britains media, presented always in solemn tones no matter how ludicrous the events being reported.

Two days before Charles spoke in parliament, the Accession Council was filmed for the first time, during which a gathering of 200 selected Privy Council members and other notables gathered at St Jamess Palace to sign the proclamation noting that Charles was king, under his own signature.

Commentators solemnly referenced the thousand-year-old English monarchy and the centuries-old origin of the proclamation, as if Charles III was the latest in a line of peaceful transitions since King Athelstanignoring the blood spilled over this question in 1066, the Wars of the Roses and the Glorious Revolution.

The proclamation was signed by Liz Truss and former prime ministers John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, as well as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn absented himself to avoid political embarrassment, but made sure to attend Mondays events in Westminster Hall.

The proclamation is largely drawn from that recognising James VI of Scotland as James I of England and therefore King of Great Britain in 1604. It beseeches god, by whom Kings and Queens do reign, in an assertion of the Divine Right of Kings that was decisively repudiated in practice with the beheading of Charles I, during the genuinely revolutionary events of the English Civil War of 1642-51, led by Oliver Cromwell. The proclamation was only reinstated along with the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660.

The Civil War is one event that no one will reference during the endless round of pageantry, even though Charles III addressed parliament in the very Westminster Hall where Charles I was tried and then condemned to death in January 1649.

What is being conveyed in the endless pomp and ceremony is the might of the state, the pre-eminence of the nation, and the supposed permanence of an existing social order characterised by vast inequalities where everyone must show the necessary deference and respect to tradition and the ruling elite that embodies these traditions.

Trotsky wrote most powerfully of the use of the monarchy and the symbols of the old feudal order by the British bourgeoisie. Noting Britains position as the first country to take the road of capitalist development, and its securing hegemony of the world market in the nineteenth century, he observed that this enabled it to create a privileged position for the upper strata of the British working class and thereby to blunt class antagonisms, thus holding back the development of the British proletariat.

Turning to the bourgeoisies relations with its feudal past, Trotsky observed:

The British bourgeoisie developed under the protection of ancient institutions, on the one hand adapting itself to them and on the other subjecting them to itself, gradually, organically, in an evolutionary way. The revolutionary upheavals of the 17th century were profoundly forgotten. In this consists what is called the British tradition. Its basic feature is conservatism. More than anything else the British bourgeoisie is proud that it has not destroyed old buildings and old beliefs, but has gradually adapted the old royal and noble castle to the requirements of the business firm. In this castle, in the corners of it, there were its icons, its symbols, its fetishes, and the bourgeoisie did not remove them. It made use of them to consecrate its own rule. And it laid down from above upon its proletariat the heavy lid of cultural conservatism. (Trotsky, Through What Stage Are We Passing? The Strength of the Communist Party and the Level of Culture in a Country, Fourth International magazine, New Park, London, summer 1964.)

This historic appraisal was unintentionally confirmed in a September 10 Telegraph column by right-wing Conservative Daniel Hannan in a single sentence, asserting that a constitutional monarchy is there to legitimise the government, to elevate and ennoble the states core functions and, in the last analysis, to forestall the possibility of civil war.

When dissent is expressed nevertheless, then deliberate intimidation gives way to censorship and repression. Every public expression of widely held anti-royal, socialist and republican sentiment has been silenced by the police.

In Edinburgh, a woman was arrested in connection with a breach of the peace for holding up a sign saying, Fuck imperialism, abolish monarchy outside St. Giles Cathedral where the Queens coffin was due to arrive. A 74-year-old was also charged for the same offence, and a younger man arrested for calling, [Prince] Andrew, youre a sick old man during the royal procession. In Oxford, a man, Symon Hill, was arrested and handcuffed for disorderly conduct after shouting Who elected him? during a reading of Charless proclamation. A woman was led away from parliament in London for holding up a sign reading Not my king while Charles addressed MPs.

Indicative of the underlying concerns is the medias denunciation of popular Scottish comedian Kevin Bridges for his accurate comment regarding the queen that shes not going to be the only old woman to die this winter.

The King's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard march ahead of the arrival of King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort, at Westminster Hall, where both Houses of Parliament met to express their condolences, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, in London. Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is circled in the bottom left of the photo. September 12, 2022 [AP Photo/Ben Stansall/Pool Photo via AP]

Bridges comment points to whydespite the best efforts of the Tory government, a Labour Party busy grovelling at Charless feet, trade unions including the RMT rail union and the CWU post and telecoms union calling off strikes as a show of respect, and saturation coverage by the mediathe tidal wave of pro-royal propaganda will not succeed in drowning popular opposition to the ruling class and its system.

In the same 1921 speech, Trotsky observed that human consciousness, taken on the scale of society, is fearfully conservative and slow-moving We speak frankly if we say that classes and peoples have hitherto not shown decisive initiative except when history has thrashed them with its heavy crop.

The working class is today being driven towards decisive initiative by the heavy crop of the raging cost-of-living crisis that is threatening millions with destitution and which has already provoked the biggest strike wave in the UK in almost four decades. The longer the celebration of deference towards the ultimate representatives of fabulous and unearned wealth continues, the more it will clash with the growing struggle of millions of working people against capitalism and for a socialist society in which no one is denied a decent job, education, health care and the necessities of life.
The rout of Russian forces in Ukraine continued Monday, with Russian forces now having lost a total of 3,000 square kilometers of territory in northeastern Ukraine.

At a briefing with reporters Monday, a senior US military official stated, On the ground in the vicinity of Kharkiv, we assess that Russian forces have largely ceded their gains to the Ukrainians and have withdrawn.

He continued, To the north and east many of these forces have moved over the border into Russia. We also assess that Ukrainian forces have very likely taken control of Kupiansk and Izium in addition to smaller villages.

Ukrainian military vehicles move on the road in the captured territory in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. [AP Photo/Kostiantyn Liberov]

The official continued, we're aware of anecdotal reports of abandoned equipment, Russian equipment, which could be indicative of Russia's disorganized command and control.

In the face of this military disaster for Russia, the US media ran a victory lap, praising the extent to which heavy US military equipment helped turn the tide of the war and demanding the deployment of further US-NATO weapons systems to Ukraine.

The Washington Post concluded: The exhilaration of recent days must be a reminder to the U.S. Congress and to Europe that a maximum effort to supply Ukraine now is an investment in a successful outcome later. Ukraine has a long wish list of needed weapons systems. At the very least, President Bidens recent request for $13.7 billion in aid to Ukraine is sensible and deserves quick action.

The wish list mentioned by the Post includes the Army Tactical Missile System, a long-range missile system for the HIMARS with a range of over 190 miles, as well as main battle tanks and armed drones.

The Wall Street Journal wrote in an editorial: The offensive vindicates Ukraines assurances that with enough advanced Western weapons it could retake territory. After Ukraines early victory in defense of Kyiv, the U.S. and Europe let Russia gain an artillery advantage in the Donbas. But once the U.S. supplied longer-range rockets and artillery, especially precise Himars, it has become a more even fight. Ukraines recent advances show the U.S. should supply even more Himars platforms.

The editorial added: Ukraines advances are encouraging, but Mr. Putins threat to the world is far from over.

In a deliberately vague statement, the Journal wrote: A nuclear escalation cant be accepted as normal warfare. Radiation fallout could reach NATO territory. NATO will have to increase its military aid and let Ukraine take the fight inside Russia.

Whether framed as a response to a hypothetical nuclear attack by Russia or not, a major US newspaper has responded to the success of Ukraines offensive by demanding that the United States order its Ukrainian proxy forces to carry out attacks inside Russia itself.

US officials have already greenlighted Ukrainian attacks on Crimea, and Ukrainian officials have admitted that a series of explosions on the peninsula were in fact Ukrainian missile strikes.

In a background press briefing whose transcript was released by the Defense Department, senior US officials gave a sober assessment of the Ukraine offensive. Weve seen the Ukrainians used to great effect, the capabilities that they have across the battlefield, to change the battlefield dynamics, a military official said.

He stressed that a major factor in Russias military debacle was an underestimation of the extent of US-NATO military involvement in the conflict, stating the Russian leadership was political and military leadership made a number of miscalculations, really enormous miscalculations, not only about the international communitys support for Ukraine.

The official continued: if you look at the totality of the battlespace that were talking about the operations in the Khierson region as well as Kharkiv, as well as in the central line there. The Ukrainians are conducting operations that are forcing the Russians to make decisions on the battlefield about where theyre going to apply their resources, and how, and so what weve seen is the Ukrainians applying the capabilities that they have to include those that have been provided by the U.S. and our allies and partners like HIMARS, GMLRs, HARM missiles in order to again change the dynamics on the battlefield.

He added that earlier in the war: Ukraine did not have precision strike capabilities. And so, the Russians had, you know, logistics nodes, command and control nodes, staging areas for their troops. And it was at that point that, again, with the approach where they said they needed the capability to address that. Thats when we started focusing on the possibility of providing the HIMARS and GMLR system.

The official raised the prospect of sending more armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and fighter aircraft, adding: Certainly, fighter aircraft is something to consider as part of what Ukraines requirements would be going forward

The meaning of these statements is clear. The United States and its NATO allies have spent tens, or even hundreds, of billions of dollars transforming the Ukrainian army into a large, well-equipped 21st century fighting force, capable of carrying out precision strikes not only on the enemy front but far behind enemy lines and even in Russian territory itself.

The conclusion drawn by the Biden administration from the military success in the northeast of Ukraine is to redouble its involvement, hoping to push all the way to the Russian border, and even past it, with the central strategic goal of retaking Crimea in the process.

Russia, however, possesses the worlds second largest nuclear arsenal, and Russias national security doctrine permits the use of nuclear weapons in defense of Russian territory. The military breakthrough by Ukraine, in other words, portends an even bloodier and more dangerous phase of the war.
Ryanair cabin crew in Spain have entered the second month of a five-month walkout over pay and conditions, the biggest strike in the companys history. Workers in the USO (Union Sindical Obrera) and SITCPLA (Sindicato Independiente de Tripulantes de Cabina de Pasajeros de Lineas Aereas) unions have been taking part in 24-hour stoppages every Monday to Thursday since August 8 and will continue their action until January next year.

Workers are demanding that the budget airline end its outsourcing of staff and guarantee basic working rights, including providing Spains minimum number of paid holiday days and minimum wage. They are calling for the reinstatement of 11 workers fired by Ryanair during strike action in June and July and the dropping of disciplinary action against around 100 other cabin crew who participated in those stoppages.

Knowing it could rely on the support of the Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government, Ryanair took aggressive measures against strikers earlier this summer, threatening to fire all those who took part in walkouts. The company claims that its disciplinary action and sackings are a result of workers breaching the draconian minimum service requirements of between 57 and 82 percent of flights imposed by the PSOE-Podemos government to hamstring strike action.

At the start of August, the Ministry of Transport announced a further strike ban targeting this fresh wave of walkouts. Workers will be forced to staff between 68 and 85 percent of all domestic Ryanair flights, depending on the airport and the month, and between 36 and 60 percent for journeys beyond mainland Spain. These measures make it illegal for the majority of workers to strike.

These essential service [requirements] aim to juggle the general interest of citizens and in particular their mobility needs, with the right to strike of this group of workers, the Ministry of Transport declared on August 5. Far from juggling the interest of Spains citizens with the rights of workers, these anti-strike laws are an assault on the entire working class, aimed at stemming the growing upsurge of the class struggle in Spain and internationally.

The PSOE-Podemos governments minimum service laws are reminiscent of the imposition of a state of alarm on 2,200 striking Spanish air-traffic controllers in 201011 by the then PSOE government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero. In a measure not used since the end of the fascist Franco regime in 1975, workers were subjected to military discipline, marched back onto the job by armed officers and closely monitored by soldiers while they worked.

Despite the long duration of this years Ryanair strike, the company has boasted it does not anticipate the action will have any effect on its operations over the next months. Ryanair expects that these latest threatened strikes, which involve only a handful of our Spanish cabin crew, will have zero impact on our Spanish flights or schedules in August or September, a spokesperson said on August 9.

In addition to the official strikebreaking of the government, Ryanair is relying on the complicity of the trade unions to divide Ryanair employees and isolate airline workers organised in different unions from each other. At the end of May, the Podemos-linked Workers Commissions (CCOO) came to an agreement with Ryanair on pay and conditions after backroom negotiations, promising minor salary increases and more days off.

The deal, which comes after years in which the USO and SITCPLA had been in discussion with the company, will only apply to those workers who are members of the CCOO. CCOO-affiliated cabin crew will not join striking members of the USO and SITCPLA in the five-month stoppage, significantly reducing the impact of the strike.

In a further attempt to intimidate staff, Ryanair has begun sending out aggressive letters to workers who have taken more than four periods of sick leave in a year, threatening them with disciplinary action and dismissal if there is not an immediate and significant improvement in attendance at work. Coming amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to spread in Spain, these letters are an attack on workers right to sick leave and will lead to further infections and deaths among Ryanair staff, their families and airline passengers.

In mid-August, the USO union also reported that Ryanair had been using scab workers from France to run their domestic flights in Spain. On August 16, two of the four flights scheduled to be cancelled because of industrial action were able to go ahead with French crews. None of the unions have issued an appeal for coordinated action by airline workers across Europe.

Despite the union-imposed divisions, the intimidatory actions of the company and the PSOE-Podemos government strikebreaking, the initial round of strikes from Monday August 8 to Thursday August 11 resulted in 18 cancelled flights and 784 delays in all ten bases Ryanair operates in Spain. Over the course of the first month of industrial action, dozens of flights were cancelled and around 4,000 delayed.

Ryanair cabin crew have appalling working conditions and pay. According to Lidia Arasanz, general secretary of USOs Ryanair section, around 400 members of Spains Ryanair cabin crew are outsourced to the recruitment agencies Workforce International and Crewlink. Britains i newspaper, which saw a copy of a Workforce International contract, reported that agency employees receive a base salary of only 8,715 a year, then earn an additional fee per flight hour worked.

Outsourced cabin crew are not guaranteed a minimum number of flight hours, meaning monthly take-home pay could be as low as 726.25. This is far below Spains minimum wage, which equates to 1,050 per monthitself a poverty-level salary that leaves many workers struggling to make ends meet.

Workers at other airlines in Spain are also taking strike action. EasyJet pilots took nine days of strike action last month, walking out over three 72-hour periods on August 1214, 1921 and 2729 to demand the return of pre-pandemic working conditions and pay.

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the SEPLA union (Sindicato Espanol de Pilotos de Lineas Aereas) had pushed through a significant pay cut for pilots, to protect not only our jobs but the survival of the company itself in Spain, according to the union. This supposedly temporary reduction in wages has not been reversed, despite air traffic returning to pre-pandemic levels.

The nine days of Easyjet strikes led to the cancellation of around 90 flights. Like Ryanair cabin crew, EasyJet workers faced minimum service laws, which demanded that 57 percent of flights from Palma de Mallorca, 60 percent of flights from Malaga and 61 percent of flights from Barcelona and Menorca run as usual.

Between August 28 and September 6, over 500 cabin crew at Spanish low-cost airline Iberia Express took strike action to demand a cost-of-living salary increase after seven years of pay freezes. Despite the minimum service requirements, 60 flights were cancelled over the ten-day period and another 100 delayed. According to the USO union, another 94 flights were staffed by scab crews from other airlines run by the Anglo-Spanish International Airlines Group (IAG), which includes Iberia Express, Vueling and British Airways.

The critical question for airline workers in Spain is to break through the obstacles put in place by the airline unions by building rank-and-file committees to coordinate their struggles across unions, companies and national borders. In this, Spanish workers can call on the support of airline workers across Europe, including Ryanair workers in Belgium, Italy and Portugal, as well as strikers at Air France, Transavia and Brussels Airlines, all of whom have taken part in industrial action over the last few months. The International Committee of the Fourth International and the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees offer cabin crew, pilots and other airline staff every support in this struggle.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday that she will not extend her COVID-19 emergency powers, ending an extraordinary ability to marshal state resources against the virus and facing a Republican opponent sharply critical of her pandemic performance.

The governor cited falling caseloads of COVID for her move ending a 2021 executive order that granted emergency powers for pandemic-related measures without legislative approval. She has wielded those powers to give hospitals more hiring leeway, relax licensing rules for health care personnel and allow more medical professionals to administer vaccines.

The Gothamist reported Monday that with executive orders granting the extraordinary powers ending, the administration now faces normal purchasing regulations requiring safeguards like competitive bidding review of contracts by the state comptroller.

Hochul: Masks now 'optional' on public transit, new boosters available Planes, trains, buses and transportation stations were among the last places in the state where masks were still required as part of the effort to limit the spread of Covid-19.

We're feeling comfortable that we can suspend them, Hochul said Monday of her emergency powers. We have been following the normal procurement rules for some time, but this allowed us some other extraordinary measures that we won't need right now.

One of her fiercest critics, State Senate Minority Leader Robert G. Ortt of North Tonawanda, cited no need for emergency powers almost two months ago, just as he did for former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

She knows this is not true," he said on July 14. "Its just another desperate attempt at clinging onto unilateral power, like her predecessor before her.

On Monday, State Sen. Edward A. Rath III, R-Amherst, called the news "extremely welcome" but long overdue.

The cycle of excluding the Legislature from their elected positions went on for far too long. The time to end this was long past," he said in a statement. "Now the Legislature has much work to do in restoring the balance of power and working to earn back the trust of the public.

Hochul calls remote learning a 'mistake' that took heavy toll on working women Gov. Kathy Hochul said that remote learning during the pandemic was a "mistake" that especially affected working women.

Hochul's continued use of emergency powers has entered the statewide political debate as Hochul's opponent, Rep. Lee Zeldin of Suffolk County, has consistently criticized her monthly extensions.

Deja vu," he said in a July statement. "Every 30 days, Hochul unilaterally bypasses the Legislature & extends her self-claimed COVID emergency powers, which she has used to advance her rampant pay to play corruption & other abuses of power.

The Albany Times Union reported in July that suspension of normal contract rules helped rapid testing company Digital Gadgets secure $637 million in no-bid business since December. The newspaper also reported that family members of the company's top official donated $300,000 to Hochuls re-election campaign.
On Thursday, Los Angeles County, California, health officials confirmed the death of a man recently diagnosed with monkeypox. This brings the number of fatalities with confirmed monkeypox infection to two in the United States. On August 30, Harris County, Texas, reported the first such death in the US in a severely immunocompromised individual. Dr. John Hellerstedt of the Texas Department of State Health Services said at the time that the case was under investigation to determine the role the infection played in his death.

Mayor London Breed speaks during a news conference after declaring a state of emergency over monkeypox at City Hall in San Francisco, Thursday, July 28, 2022. [AP Photo/Eric Risberg]

Like Hellerstedt, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Healths Chief medical officer, Dr. Rita Singhal, was careful not to attribute the cause of death to the monkeypox virus until an autopsy was conducted and its contribution to his demise could be determined.

Singhal said about the death, We are early in the investigation and do not have additional details available at this time. As soon as details become available, we will share them while maintaining confidentiality and privacy.

California, with 4,346 monkeypox cases to date, has the highest number of infections among any state in the country, including 14 cases among those 19 and younger. Overall, the US has seen more than 22,000 cases since May, of which 89 confirmed or suspected cases are among children or adolescents. Leading the way in this category is Florida with 27 pediatric cases.

The global case count for non-endemic regions during the 2022 monkeypox outbreak has reached over 64,000, affecting more than 100 countries and territories. While international cases have been trending downward since mid-August, the decline has been steepest across Europe, by 70 percent on a seven-day average over a month. However, cases appear to have steadied recently.

By comparison, the seven-day average in cases in the US declined by only 35 percent and has stabilized at around 500 cases per day. Meanwhile, Latin America, where cases have risen above 10,000 confirmed cases, is seeing a continued climb in the seven-day average. In particular, with close to 6,000 confirmed infections, Brazil remains the epicenter in South America. Besides the confirmed cases, more than 5,900 suspected cases suggest a significant undercounting of such infections.

Including the two deaths in the US, global deaths due to monkeypox in non-endemic countries remain low at 16. However, adding endemic countries to the tally, the global case count rises to over 68,000, and the death count jumps considerably. Most of these deaths have occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In their September 8, 2022, weekly updates on the monkeypox outbreak in the African Union, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention wrote that there had been 695 additional cases (37 confirmed and 658 suspected) from the DRC, Egypt and Nigeria last week. This represents a 50 percent increase from the previous update on August 31. The 17 new monkeypox deaths from last week in Africa occurred in the DRC.

However, the monkeypox epidemic in endemic regions has been ongoing. Since January 2022, the cumulative case count among African Union member states has reached 4,244 (520 confirmed and 3,724 suspected) and 124 deaths. Most of these cases (2,938) and deaths (110) occurred in the DRC, where the deadlier Clade I of the monkeypox virus is endemic. The case fatality ratio (CFR) there stands at 3.7 percent.

Meanwhile, cases in Nigeria have risen 71 percent from the previous week, standing at 136 new cases. Overall, since the New Year, 981 cases and six deaths have been reported from 34 states and the federal capital territory. Egypt said it saw its first case of monkeypox last week. The implication is that without ending the monkeypox pandemic everywhere, it will continue to threaten every other country. The deadlier clade from Central Africa may indeed surface in different regions.

As to the issues surrounding the death of the man infected with the virus in California, the Los Angeles Public Health press conference was notable for the continued emphasis on the LGBTQ+ community. Los Angeles County has documented over 1,700 infections, the most in any county in the state. Singhal explained that 95 percent of those were among men, and 95 percent identified as LGBTQ+.

With Jynneos smallpox vaccine shortages being somewhat mitigated, Los Angeles County health officials are expanding eligibility criteria, though immunocompromised individuals such as people with HIV continue to be prioritized.

Singhal said that the sooner the vaccines are given after exposure, the greater the potential benefit against developing more severe disease. However, they have administered the vaccine to individuals two weeks from exposure. Supportive care and monitoring are also recommended once someone develops monkeypox disease.

As of last week, Los Angeles County has received 57,000 vials of Jynneos, which equates to 113,000 doses. Close to 43,000 vials and close to 61,700 doses have been administered. Of these, 51,000 (84 percent) have been given a first dose and 10,000 (16 percent) a second dose. However, only one-third of those due for their second dose have received them. Singhal strongly urged those not having received the complete series to do so.

It was also noted that TPOXX (tecovirimat), an antiviral approved in 2018 for use against smallpox, was used predominately in the outpatient setting for patients with painful lesions in sensitive areas. A quarter of the 311 patients they had data from were immunocompromised, and half were HIV positive. These treatments were given to patients who manifested overt monkeypox disease. Additionally, they asked those with monkeypox disease to isolate themselves at home, cover their rashes, and avoid close contact and sharing with others and pets.

The guidance presented is consistent with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommendations based on their recent study on monkeypox infections in the US among almost 2,000 persons across eight US jurisdictions. They highlighted the fact that there was a high prevalence of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among those infected with monkeypox.

They wrote, Among 1,969 persons with monkeypox during May 17 to July 22, 2022, HIV prevalence was 38 percent, and 41 percent had received a diagnosis of one or more other reportable STIs in the preceding year. The CDC also noted that those with HIV had a higher rate of hospitalization (8 percent vs. 3 percent).

This is consistent with the current predominance of confirmed monkeypox infection among men who have sex with men (MSM) and sex workers, specifically among persons with recent access to HIV and sexual health services. The CDC wrote that their findings indicate that reported monkeypox cases are occurring among persons with recent access to HIV and sexual health services. Referral bias might partially explain these findings, as persons with monkeypox signs and symptoms who have established connections with HIV or sexual health providers might be more likely to seek care, and these providers might be more likely to recognize and test for the monkeypox virus. Monkeypox signs and symptoms might have led persons with HIV infection who have not been in HIV care to reengage in care.

With 1.6 million gay and bisexual men who are HIV positive in the US or who take medications to reduce their risk of HIV, they are undoubtedly the group most threatened by the monkeypox virus. Resources need to be directed to this community to stop the spread of infection. However, the failure to acknowledge the intersection of multiple social networks in these communities means the potential for the monkeypox virus to spread undetected more broadly.

Also, at least 7 million people in the US are immunocompromised, including those with cancer, stem cell transplant and organ transplant, affecting all ages. Children and pregnant women constitute an important group at higher risk of complications if they unknowingly contract monkeypox. Yet, there is no comprehensive and thought-through public health initiative to eradicate the virus, let alone offer appropriate guidance based on the evolving evidence during the pandemic to protect the entire population.

An original systematic review on the availability, scope and quality of recommendations for the clinical management of monkeypox published in July in the The BMJ ( formerly the British Medical Journal) found a dearth of high-quality guidelines to assist frontline caregivers.

Many cited sources were of poor quality, without documentation or explicit links to the evidence supporting their recommendations. Guidelines for therapeutics and post-exposure prophylaxis were frequently contradictory. The authors wrote, We observe[d] a tendency of guidelines being developed rapidly in response to outbreaks, never to be revisited again, but still being available in public domains. Failure to recall out-of-date guidelines as new evidence emerges, poses a risk to patient care.
One year after Pedro Castillo assumed the presidency of Peru, amid cheers from the pseudo-left, his government is mired in a sea of accusations involving criminal activity by himself, family members and officials of his government.

President Castillo reviews troops at army headquarters on August 26, Peru's National Defense Day. (Credit: ANDINA/ Prensa Presidencia)

The accusations are part of a campaign by a virulent right-wing oppositioncentered in Congresswhich aims to force his resignation, or impeachment. This campaign began immediately after the former rural teacher and union leader was unexpectedly elected last July.

While there is no doubt substance to the corruption charges, their scale pales in relation to the massive Odebrecht scandal in which virtually every bourgeois party and institution was implicated. Meanwhile, six of Perus ex-presidents have been sentenced, indicted, or investigated for corruption or money laundering.

The unending effort by the right-wing parties in Congressspearheaded by Keiko Fujimori's Fuerza Popular, who Castillo defeated in the electionsto bring the president down has created a crisis of governability, due to the sackings and removals of key figures as his administration moves ever rightward.

This has led to a record 67 ministers appointed by Castillo so far, prompting Bloomberg to observe last month that A New Minister Is Appointed Every Six Days in Castillos Peru.

The latest to fall this month is the foreign minister, Miguel Angel Rodriguez Mackay, after just over a month in office. Rodriquezs appointment led to the resignations of Perus ambassadors to both the United Nations and the Organization of American States after he voiced his support of the Congresss refusal to ratify the Escazu Accord, a continental wide agreement meant to protect the environment and, specifically, environmental, and human rights defenders in the Amazon region. The rejection of the accord was in line with the demands of big mining and other extractive industries.

Parallel to this crisis, and feeding it, has been the devastation caused by COVID-19, and now the war in Ukraine. This one-two punch, triggering an economic slowdown, high unemployment, and a drastic increase in prices of food, fertilizers, and urban transportation, is plunging the working class into poverty.

Castillos ascendance represented, in a distorted way, a rejection of the free-market policies by the bulk of the most economically marginalized population, which has not seen any improvement in living standards since the implementation of those policies three decades ago.

His rise to the presidency is part of a wider wave of populist politicians in the South American continent brought in to replace right-wing governments that fell amidst the biggest economic crisis engulfing the region since the Great Depression in the 1930s. They include Gabriel Boric in Chile, Gustavo Petro in Colombia, Luis Arce in Bolivia, Alberto Fernandez in Argentina, and in Brazil, the potential return of Luiz Ignacio 'Lula' da Silva of the Workers Party, who leads the polls for the presidential elections to be held on October 2.

Despite Castillos policies in many cases being indistinguishable from those of the extreme right, and his frequent assurances that he will respect private property, and even give foreign investors more incentives to exploit Perus natural resources, he has not succeeded in winning the confidence of big business.

The Spanish newspaper El Pais recently wrote that it fears that Peru's institutional crisis, in which the political class has been submerged for years, is heading towards a point of no return. Defending the substantial interests of Spanish companies in Peru, El Pais warns that the scandals of the Peruvian government are dangerously undermining national stability.

On August 13, the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Mexico issued a communique expressing their fear about the viability of democracy in Peru, which they said could collapse due to the social and political tension in that country, where its president, Pedro Castillo, is undergoing his sixth judicial investigation.

According to a survey of the Institute of Peruvian Studies (IEP), 85 percent of Peruvians disapprove of Castillo's administration, a substantial increase over the 60 percent rejection recorded in August of last year, one month after Castillo took office.

However, his right-wing opponents in Congress are not faring any better. Mired in their own corruption scandals, and detested by the population for their oppressive policies, their antics and their disruption of the government, IEP reports that Congress has a 90 percent rejection rate, something unheard of in the countrys recent history. Just 1 percent of those interviewed said that Congress is doing a good job.

Castillo survived his first year as president because his left-populist guise as a rural teacher and union leader, and the lining-up of all pseudo-left forces behind him, was of use to the ruling class in containing an emerging movement of the working class.

It would be wrong, however, to assess the crisis of Castillos government as that of just another regime collapsing under the weight of its own corruption. Castillos former supporters have turned against him for not fulfilling in the slightest his fanciful promise of 'no more poor in a rich country.' This expresses a breaking point in the attempt to contain the working class and the masses through the left and nationalist pretensions of a bourgeois regime.

With the political elite thoroughly discredited, and the absence of any force like the unions or other left figures that could control a social explosion, more astute sections of the Peruvian bourgeoisie know that forcing Castillos removal could be playing with fire.

With Castillo's own image in tatters, and his downfall a matter of time, the July 20 release from prison of Antauro Humalathe brother of former President Ollanta Humalahas been of considerable concern to the ruling class.

Antauro is the founder of ethnocacerismo, a political movement that exalts the indigenous race and promotes ultranationalism and xenophobia. He led an armed uprising in the Andean city of Andahuaylas in 2005.

The right-wing corporate media has seized on Antauros release to launch another virulent anti-communist tirade, with dubious claims that Castillo had pardoned Antauro in furtherance of an alliance aimed at keeping his government in power.

Today Castillo does not even dare to show his face. Not only does he maintain a police cordon that prevents citizens from approaching the government house, an unprecedented act, he held the traditional military parade for the national holidays in late July inside the Ministry of Defense, the Pentagonito.

While hundreds of angry citizens demonstrated outside the fortress-like premises, Castillos image, flanked by generals saluting the flag, was broadcast nationwide by all national TV stations.

Although during the election campaign last year, a small group of retired generals advocated a military coup to stop Castillos communism, the higher echelons of the Armed Forces are not as harshly opposed to Castillo as are the corporate elite and their political representatives. This, allegedly, is due in part to his covering up corruption in their ranks.

However, there is little doubt that the Joint Command of the Armed Forces is carefully following the intensifying governmental crisis and will take the decision that it thinks best protects its own interests, as well as those of the national bourgeoisie and foreign capital.
On Monday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the end of mask mandates and other public health measures. Even as thousands of people are becoming infected with COVID and dozens die from the virus every week, the Labour Party-led government is joining most other governments in behaving as though the pandemic is over.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaking to the media on September 12, 2022. [Photo by Jacinda Ardern]

To reduce the populations access to information about the pandemic, and encourage maximum complacency, the reporting of case numbers, deaths and hospitalisations will shift from a daily to a weekly schedulethe same policy that has been adopted by the Labor government in Australia.

The inevitable result will be a resurgence in infections, hospitalisations and deaths, as has occurred internationally. The homicidal policy of mass infection, which has led to about 22 million deaths worldwide, has now been imposed in every country except China.

People in New Zealand will no longer be required to wear masks except in healthcare and aged care settings. This is a major shift. Until now, masks were required in supermarkets, retail outlets, and on public transport and airlines. The government scrapped mandatory masking for schools earlier this year, despite schools being a major source of COVID infections.

The last remaining vaccination mandates, for healthcare workers, will be abolished. Incoming travellers no longer need to be vaccinated and do not need to be tested for COVID following arrival. The government has also ditched the requirement for household contacts of positive cases to isolate at home for any period.

Ardern could barely contain her excitement as she announced these changes, telling a press conference: This is the time when finally, rather than feeling that COVID dictates what happens to us, our lives and our future, we take control back, as we continue to drive economic activity and our recovery.

Instead of being guided by the principles of public health, the reckless and criminal policy of letting COVID rip is dictated by the demands of big business that nothing be allowed to interfere with economic activity, i.e., the accumulation of profits.

All businesses and schools must be kept open without restrictions, regardless of the cost to peoples health and lives. Masks, the most visible daily reminder of the coronavirus, must come off, in order to promote the lie that, in Arderns words, the worst of the pandemic is, in many ways, over.

In reality, since Ardern announced in October 2021 that New Zealand would end its zero-COVID policy, deaths from the virus have soared from fewer than 30 to almost 2,000. These deaths were the entirely preventable outcome of ending all lockdowns and reopening nonessential businesses and schools during the Delta and Omicron waves, allowing COVID to spread everywhere. The trade union bureaucracy played the key role in suppressing any opposition, among teachers, healthcare workers and others, to the reopening agenda.

Ardern contrasted New Zealands death toll with the tragic loss of 15,500 people in Scotland, which has a similar population. The difference is only because, under pressure from healthcare workers and others, the NZ government was forced to adopt an elimination strategy in March 2020, including one of the worlds strictest lockdowns. After being re-elected in 2020 largely on the basis of this policy, Labour succumbed to business pressure to scrap it, against the advice of public health experts.

This year, New Zealands daily deaths per capita overtook many countries in Europe and America. During July 2022, coronavirus became New Zealands leading cause of death and the country recorded among the highest COVID-related deaths per capita in the world. While infections and deaths have fallen in recent weeks, there are still 255 people in hospital with COVID, nearly 11,000 active cases, and New Zealand continues to record 50 to 60 deaths per week.

More deadly waves are inevitable as the virus is allowed to circulate unimpeded in every country, except China, infecting billions of people and mutating into more infectious and vaccine-evading variants.

The removal of almost all public health restrictions provoked angry and dismayed responses from public health experts.

Auckland University public health expert Rhys Jones tweeted: Disabled and immunocompromised people can now be 100% certain it is unsafe to go out in public. He asked: Who is the govt getting its public health advice from? Voices For Freedom?

Voices for Freedom is the anti-vax group that helped organise the occupation of parliaments lawn for three weeks earlier this year. The Ardern government has adopted all the demands of the far-right protesters for an end to public health mandates.

Disability advocate and lawyer Huhana Hickey told Newshub on September 3, in opposition to ditching mask mandates: This is eugenics, and I thought wed dealt with that years ago. Its the lets just let it rip, lets open it up, [approach] and disabled, immune-compromised [people] will just have to run the gauntlet. If they survive, they survive. If they die, they die.

Epidemiologist Dr Amanda Kvalsvig also warned that the governments decisions would place disabled and immunocompromised people at greater risk, and increase the risk of people getting Long COVID. She said: Damage from Covid-19 can be seen in every organ system including the heart and brain New Zealanders should be advised to avoid getting Covid-19 and to avoid getting reinfected, and should be given the information and tools to do so.

Emergency doctor Gary Payinda wrote in a Twitter thread: Politicians have sold the population a myth that everythings perfectly fine, its over and were past it. It would have been far more responsible to blatantly tell people the truth, that there is harm to COVID infection, and that the only logical policy is to take simple steps to avoid infection, and to avoid spreading it.

You want to get infected with COVID as infrequently as possible. Instead were promoting reinfection. Illogical. Especially for a disease that can cause inflammatory and clotting complications. Nonsensical really.

Hospitals, understaffed and overcrowded even before the pandemic, remain in a constant state of crisis, with emergency departments overwhelmed. According to Stuff, between August 15, 2021, and June 26, 2022, 13,410 surgeries were cancelled nationally, leaving thousands of people becoming sicker due to delayed treatment.

Arderns announcement was applauded by business organisations, including Business NZ, Hospitality NZ, the Auckland Chamber of Business and Retail NZ, and the corporate media. Right-wing National Party leader Christopher Luxon, and far-right ACT Party leader David Seymour likewise supported the move.

The Green Partys COVID spokesperson Teanau Tuiono sought to distance his party from the decision, saying: The near complete removal of longstanding protections will be of considerable concern for immunocompromised and disabled whanau [people] whose wellbeing should be at the centre of the governments response.

The party, which is part of the government, calls for minimal and inadequate mitigations, and does not advocate a return to a properly-funded elimination strategy. Tuiono stated: We will be living with new waves of the infection for many years to come, even though China, and New Zealand earlier in the pandemic, proved that cases and deaths can be reduced to virtually zero with scientific public health measures.

The working class cannot accept the ruling elites demand that they live with a coronavirus that has killed tens of millions of people and permanently disabled many millions more. In a statement on August 1, the Socialist Equality Group in New Zealand called on workers to take up a political fight for a fully-funded public health strategy to eliminate COVID-19. This fight must be conducted in opposition to the Labour Party-led government and all of the parliamentary parties, as well as the trade unions.

We call on workers to distribute this statement and to contact us to discuss the urgent issues that it raises, including the need for rank-and-file workplace safety committees to organise opposition to the policy of mass infection.
The United Auto Workers reached a tentative agreement Sunday night and rushed through a ratification vote Monday, ending a brief strike by 1,000 workers at the Stellantis Kokomo Casting Plant in Indiana. In a one-sentence note on its Facebook page Monday evening, UAW Local 1166 officials announced a tentative agreement had been ratified without releasing any details of the vote.

The UAW shut down the local strike, which began Saturday morning, before it had any significant impact on the automaker. A prolonged strike at the plant, known as the worlds largest die cast facility, would have halted production of key transmission/transaxle cases, engine blocks and aluminum transmission components, leading to the rapid shutdown of all of Stellantis operations and a major hit to its profits.

Strikers at Stellantis' Kokomo, Indiana foundry [Photo by UAW Local 1166]

But that was never the intention of the UAW, which has spent decades colluding with management in gutting the wages, benefits and working conditions of workers to boost corporate profits. Instead, discredited and hated UAW officials like President Ray Curry and Vice President Cindy Estrada used the three-day strike to posture as fighters for workers rights.

The strike was carefully stage-managed from the beginning. Like scores of other plants, workers at Kokomo Casting have not had a new local labor agreement for years, in this case since 2019. For years, the Local 1166 leaders have ignored workers grievances and safety complaints, looked the other way as management violated overtime protections, and brutally exploited lower-paid second tier workers and temporary Supplemental Employees.

On September 6, under the instructions of the UAW International, Local 1166 officials gave local management a three-day letter of intent to cancel the local contract and all extension agreements. The strike was then called, with officials saying they were demanding management fix broken heating and cooling systems, repair equipment to secure production in house, enforce overtime language and attain paid uniforms for workers performing particularly dirty jobs.

The strike was called on a weekend when there was no production scheduled. The UAW gave management ample notice to rush completed transmissions out the door before the strike deadline. On social media, workers noted that many of Stellantis other plants were already on partial production schedules due to shortages of microchips and other supply chain problems. At the same time, local UAW officials specifically instructed 5,000 UAW Local 685 members at the neighboring Kokomo Transmission plants not to show up on the casting plant picket lines, absurdly claiming they could not do so because they worked for the same company!

The one-page highlights sheet handed out to workers was nothing more than a list of worthless promises the UAW said management made to address overtime issues, broken equipment and conditions on the shop floor. Management committed to incrementally repairing or remodeling every restroom, locker room and shower, to provide adequate Unit 2 janitorial coverage to keep the entire plant and the basement in a clean and acceptable condition, to consider union input on plant layout and shops, etc. At the bottom there were also promises to improve air quality and provide tempered air for all areas of the plant. Such commitments, however, are not worth paper they are written onif they are written down anywhere at all.

A Kokomo Transmission worker who spoke to the WSWS said, I have a friend over at casting that went to the rollout meeting today and said they told her there were dates in the actual language. Id be wary of that myself. Sounds like the same commitments they made in the national contract that still havent been fixed.

Pointing to the agreement, she said, These highlights are pretty vague. I would assume they arent going to give all the info in these short meetings. Everyone really needs to ask questions. Last year, she said, UAW Local 685 officials pushed through a similar deal at her plant by deliberately withholding important details. Things were left out at our call out meeting that shouldve been brought up. We were just told the wrong things by [UAW Local 685 President Matt] Jarvis. They dont give you enough time to read the whole contract before throwing a vote out there. They wound up getting the votes to pass it. In my opinion, we couldve gotten better had we held out a little longer.

After the deal was announced, UAW President Ray Curry declared, This tentative agreement is a testament to UAW solidarity. Their working conditions will greatly improve, and they have given us all inspiration to fight for justice and respect in our workplaces. UAW Region 2B Director Wayne Blanchard added, The auto companies must know that our members will not be sacrificed with cost-cutting efforts as they transition the auto industry.

International UAW Representative Shawn Fain, who is leading the loyal opposition to Curry in the UAW presidential elections, added, I have 100% confidence our local leadership and membership standing United will get the result the membership desires!! Fain, who was a longtime official in Local 1166, admitted that local negotiators had gotten commitments from management for tempered air, roof repairs and other improvements as far back as 1999 but these had never been honored by the company.

Fain himself bears a good deal of responsibility for conditions at the casting plant, conditions that one former Kokomo Casting worker posting on Facebook described as absolute hell. In 2018, a Kokomo Casting worker was critically injured when a die fell on top of him. Rather than expose the unsafe conditions at the plant, the UAW covered up information about the tragedy.

The UAW bureaucracy is facing a rising tide of opposition from workers. As one temporary worker at Toledo Jeep said: All the plants should be out. Our local agreement expired in 2019 and the local is not even negotiating a new one. Were going into a contract next year and things are going to get worse, not better. They are going to be asking for more concessions and they are going to close plants. If we dont do something about this, it is not going to be just SEs who are going to lose their jobs, it will be full-time, seniority, everybody.

The UAW apparatus is keenly aware of the growing support for Will Lehman, a rank-and-file Mack Trucks worker and a socialist, who is running for president in the first-ever vote by the union membership. Curry & Co. called the Hollywood strike in Kokomo to gain some credibility but such maneuvers will only deepen the hatred of the rank and file for them.

What is needed is not phony strikes but real struggles that stop the flow of profits to the companies, Will Lehman told the WSWS. This will not be done by the UAW apparatus, which has spent years selling out the members. It has to be done by workers ourselves. I am running for UAW president to build a powerful rank-and-file movement that will transfer power from the corrupt UAW bureaucrats to the worker on the shop floor. In every factory we have to build rank-and-file committees, and these committees have to communicate with each other, build up real solidarity among workers and prepare common action to abolish tiers, roll over temporary workers, win good wages and COLA protection, and fight for the retirees.

Everywhere there is a will to fight, Lehman continued, What we need is to organize. And to fight global corporations like Stellantis, we have to organize across national borders by building the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees.

The WSWS has endorsed Lehmans campaign. For more information, visit WillforUAWpresident.org.
The uproar over the tweet posted by Carnegie Mellon University professor Uju Anya has revealed the hypocrisy of the democratic pretensions of the ruling establishment, and its readiness to resort to censorship to silence dissenting or unpopular voices.

The Nigerian-born Anya, an associate professor in the linguistics department at CMU in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, tweeted last week, upon hearing that Queen Elizabeth II was near death, I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.

Uju Anya [Photo by Carnegie-Mellon University]

Among those quickly responding to the tweet was Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, currently listed as the third-wealthiest billionaire in the world. This is someone supposedly working to make the world better, tweeted Bezos. I dont think so. Wow.

Anyas post was quickly deleted by Twitter, which claimed that it violated the social media companys guidelines.

Anyas employer also responded, with the following statement: We do not condone the offensive and objectionable messages posted by Uju Anya today on her personal social media account. Free expression is core to the mission of higher education, however, the views she shared absolutely do not represent the values of the institution, nor the standards of discourse we seek to foster.

In the typical two-faced style perfected in such circles, the university pledged its commitment to free expression and attacked it at the same time. Anya was using her personal account and was not speaking for the university. If free speech is core, why was the statement necessary, not simply dissociating the university from Anyas views, but also denouncing them?

Multi-billionaire Bezos, it turns out, donated $2 million to Carnegie Mellon in the last few years. The Chief Financial Officer of Amazon, Brian Olsavsky, is the recipient of an MBA degree from the same institution. The statement from CMU was issued quickly after Bezos tweet. It is hard to imagine a more direct expression of the way in which todays institutions of higher learning are tied to their wealthy donors. CMU was evidently concerned about its image, but this means above all its reputation within the ruling elite.

The professor refused to back down. If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star, she said in a further tweet. She later sent an email to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette declaring, I stand by my tweet and do not have any regrets ... I am the child and sibling of survivors of genocide. From 1967-1970, more than 3 million civilians were massacred when the Igbo people of Nigeria tried to form the independent nation of Biafra. Those slaughtered included members of my family. I was born in the immediate aftermath of this genocide.

British imperialism, under the Labour government headed by Harold Wilson, secretly supplied arms, and ammunition to the Nigerian government during the civil war of the late 1960s. Nigeria had been granted formal independence only at the beginning of that decade, after a period of British colonial rule spanning three-quarters of a century.

Anyas tweets and other statements reflect a pan-Africanist outlook, one that separates the history of colonialism and imperialist exploitation from the international class struggle as a whole. In any case, billions of people around the world, the descendants of those ruled by the British overlords on almost every continent, in Ireland, Kenya, India and elsewhere, have no reason to mourn the passing of the Queen. The current social media storm has brought to the fore the issue of the history and legacy of colonial rule, and the justifiable hatred it engendered.

Nor, for that matter, should the working class in any country, including Britain itself, shed tears over the passing of the aged titular head of the British state. Elizabeth II and now Charles III, and the kings and queens that preceded them, have provided long and faithful servicethe watchword of countless editorials and commentaries in the last few daysnot to the British people, but to the British ruling class, particularly in times of crisis and imperialist war.

Anya also pointed out that Bezos tweet had helped to set off a cascade of obscene attacks and physical threats against her on social media. Her Twitter account had been blocked, but these came into her email inbox. Jeff Bezos incited violence against me, she said. He rarely tweets in his own voice, but he took the time to single me out ... I cant ignore the racism and misogynythe emails Ive been getting all start with the N-word, bitch, genetically inferior, all kinds of things. I dont open them, but I see the subject lines.

The attacks on Anya, and especially the action of Twitter in deleting her tweets, highlight the hypocrisy of the endless official media and government propaganda, in the US and the European Union, against infringements on democratic rights in Russia and in other nations targeted by imperialism.

In the broadest sense, the attacks on the CMU professor reflect the fact that her statements come into conflict with the current imperialist war drive. This requires that the Queen, as the symbol of British imperialism, its role within NATO and its special relationship with Washington, be treated with unquestioned reverence, especially at a time when the end of her 70-year reign coincides with a period of intense crisis for British capitalism.

The World Socialist Web Site has already been the victim of Internet censorship. Twitters action in this case is only a foretaste of what is in store from all the social media giants as the class struggle intensifies around the world.
Within days of one another, the Australian and New Zealand governments have announced the abrupt ending of daily COVID reporting, sharply curtailing their populations access to information about rates of infection, hospitalisations, vaccinations and deaths. Both countries will move to a stripped-back weekly report.

The change has been made as the fatality and case rates in both countries for 2022 dwarf those of the first two years of the pandemic, after their governments abolished successful public health measures and turned to a profit-driven let it rip program.

Under these conditions, the shift in reporting, declared without a hint of democratic discussion, much less a popular mandate, has the character of an internationally-coordinated conspiracy against working people.

It is of global significance, marking the overturn of the very last vestiges of a coordinated, public health response to the pandemic in any advanced capitalist country.

In Australia, the change to weekly reporting was quietly made last Friday, and was the subject of only a handful of cursory and uncritical reports in the domestic media. In New Zealand, Labour Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the end of daily reporting yesterday, without any forewarning.

The decision has no scientific or medical basis. It has been sharply condemned by principled epidemiologists in both countries as an attack on the populations right to know about the still unfolding medical emergency and the ability of public health experts to track it.

The governments, however, are simply not interested. Instead, they are openly proclaiming that business interests are the supreme priority.

Ardern bluntly stated: This is the time when finally, rather than feeling that COVID dictates what happens to us, our lives and our future, we take control back, as we continue to drive economic activity and our recovery. In other words, all public health measures, however limited, must be dispensed with to ensure full workforce participation in a bid to drive up production and corporate profits.

In line with this program, Ardern announced the end of all previous mask mandates, except in health and aged care settings. People who live with a COVID-positive individual will no longer be required to isolate, in a blow to the most basic infection control, while the last vaccination mandates, including for health workers, have been abolished.

Australias Labor government has similarly slashed the isolation time for COVID-infected people from seven to five days. The move, which experts have warned will result in up to half of all COVID cases mingling in the community while infectious, is transparently aimed at keeping workers on the job, even if they are carrying a potentially deadly virus. Masks will also no longer be required on domestic flights.

The clear purpose of the suppression of information is to promote the fraud that the pandemic is over, or at least the worst is behind us, to justify these dangerous measures.

But nothing could be further from the truth. In Australia, September 9, the last day of daily reporting, was the sixth deadliest of the entire pandemic, with 133 fatalities confirmed across the country. August witnessed the most deaths of any month, with 2,056 people losing their lives to the virus.

In New Zealand, deaths have soared from fewer than 30 late last year to almost 2,000. That has repeatedly placed the nation of five million people near the top of the list of global per capita fatalities, while the coronavirus has become the countrys leading cause of death.

The Australian and New Zealand governments are following a blueprint laid out by the Biden administration in the US on behalf of the major US banks and corporations.

In February, the US Department of Health and Human Services ended its system for hospitals to report daily COVID-19 deaths to the federal government.

At the time, the World Socialist Web Site was the only publication to draw attention to the change and to highlight its far-reaching significance in the suppression of knowledge about the devastation wrought by the pandemic. Business Insider called the WSWSs coverage misleading but has never issued a correction, despite the end of daily COVID-19 reporting throughout almost the entire United States. All but four US states have ended their own daily reporting, making it impossible to chart fatalities on a day-by-day basis.

Britain announced the ending of its own daily reporting system the very same month as in the United States. Similar measures are underway in a host of countries and jurisdictions. In Canada, for instance, Ontario and several other provinces have already abolished their daily reporting.

The shift in Australia and New Zealand is particularly notable, because of the relative success of both countries in limiting deaths and infections earlier in the pandemic. They are thus a microcosm of the gulf between a scientifically-grounded response to the pandemic, even with limitations, and the naked herd immunity policy that both countries have since adopted.

The Australian state and federal governments always rejected a program to eliminate the virus, on the grounds that it would be too costly. They were nevertheless compelled under pressure from key sections of workers and health experts to institute safety measures, including lockdowns, which, notwithstanding a host of pro-business exemptions, repeatedly stamped out the virus. New Zealand was the only country in the world outside of China to consistently pursue elimination.

[Photo: WSWS]

In the first two years of the pandemic, there were fewer than 400,000 infections in Australia and deaths stood at 2,239. For extended periods, safety measures ended all transmission of the virus.

As a consequence of the full reopening of the economy last December, those figures have skyrocketed to 10.1 million infections and 14,357 deaths. Because of the crashing of the testing system, a substantial majority of the countrys 25 million people have likely been affected this year. Long COVID, a set of serious conditions associated with even mild cases, has debilitated up to 10 percent of the workforce.

In New Zealand, there had been fewer than 5,000 total infections and 30 deaths before the Ardern government overturned its elimination program in October last year. Now, official infections are at 1.76 million and deaths almost 2,000.

The transformation is a warning of what would occur if China dispensed with its elimination strategy, as has been demanded by the major imperialist governments, corporations and media. Hundreds of thousands or millions would die in the country of 1.4 billion, joining the estimated 20 million who have perished around the world since the pandemic began.

The protracted assault on Chinas elimination program is not only because of its impact on the activities of global finance and big business, but also because it demonstrates that there is an alternative to the homicidal policies of herd immunity implemented everywhere else.

The developments in Australia and New Zealand are also of note because in both countries the untrammeled spread of the virus is being presided over by a social-democratic government.

In New Zealand, Ardern, presented in the media as a saint-like figure, brushes away the mass infection and death her government has unleashed, instead proclaiming the all-importance of economic activity. In Australia, Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says nothing about the record daily fatalities, and pledges to business that there will never be a return to lockdowns.

This line goes hand in hand with the Labor governments presiding over Australia and New Zealands ever greater integration into the US confrontations with Russia and China, threatening world war, and the implementation of budget austerity and attacks on the wages, jobs and conditions of workers.

The let it rip program underscores not only that the social-democratic parties have completely abandoned any pretense of representing working people, and have become the most aggressive proponents of corporate interests, it also demonstrates that the fight to end the pandemic and eliminate the deadly virus will not be carried out by capitalist governments or in one country alone.

Instead, what is required is an international fight for the scientific measures required to progressively halt transmission and to finally end the pandemic. The international working class, whose interests are in health and life, not profit, is the only social force capable of carrying this out. The fight against the pandemic must be inscribed upon the banner of its resurgent strikes, protests and class battles.
The Socialism 2022 Conference took place September 2-5 in Chicago, after a hiatus of two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was organized by Haymarket Books following the dissolution in 2019 of the International Socialist Organization (ISO), with which Haymarket was formerly affiliated.

Like previous such conferences, the program was a conglomeration of various panels on specific topics, many focused on the identity politics concerns of different sections of the upper middle class. Many panels were sponsored by various groups and factions in and around the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

The main purpose of the conference, however, was to promote the politics of the Democratic Party and, in particular, the US-NATO war against Russia, spearheaded by the Biden administration. This was combined with an effort to bolster the trade union apparatus as an instrument to suppress the class struggle.

Notably, not a single panel addressed or sought to address in any comprehensive way the political situation or any of the critical experiences of the past several years. The pandemic was hardly mentioned outside of reminders to the audience about masking. There was certainly no effort to explain the massive political crisis in the United States, the rise of fascism, the character of the Biden administration or the experiences of the DSA itself.

Attendance was lower than previous years, at around 1,000, which was noted by several of those involved. DSA membership overall has fallen significantly over the past couple years as the bankruptcy of its political perspective has been exposed.

Several panels promoted the operations of American imperialism by portraying Russia and China, and even Iran, as imperialist and thus legitimate targets of political and military aggression.

One of the most significant of these was Ukraine, Self-Determination, and Imperialist War. Chairing the panel was Ashley Smith, a former leading ISO member and one of the main enforcers of the line of the State Department within the DSA.

The main speaker, Yuliya Yurchenko, a lecturer at the University of Greenwich and a self-described supporter of Sotsialnyi Rukh, attempted to browbeat the audience into accepting the US-NATO war against Russia as completely justified and even a legitimate employment of the principle of self-determination.

Denying that the war had anything to do with the US-backed coup in Ukraine in 2014 or NATOs continued expansion up to Russias borders, Yurchenko said:

So, of course Russia may have some concerns as they do say that theyre losing control or access to Ukraines economy and the Black Sea deep water port of Sevastopol. Well, they had until 2014 access to that port, so whats your problem people? But also, its not in your country, so chill out. But those near-imperialistic concerns, theyre not security concerns. Ukraine was not threatening Russia. They were not concerns, they were entitlements. This is what we need to understand. Oh, Russia feels offended! They feel sensitive! I honestly do not care. I am sorry, somebody is punching me in the face, and I need to think about their feelings? What? This is absolutely, sort of rape culture apologism.

In fact, Russias invasion of Ukraine was a reactionary and desperate response by a faction of the Russian oligarchy to the systematic and decades-long incitement by US and European imperialism. This has included the massive funneling of armaments into Ukraine, which functions as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US military.

After cataloging the horrors of the war, which she portrayed as an act of imperialist, genocidal aggression on the part of Russia, Yurchenko asked rhetorically, Where will you turn? In the absence of solidaristic missile defense systems, Yurchenko argued the Ukrainian government had no choice but to seek military supplies from NATO. Although she described NATO as horrendous, Yurchenko said, yet there is no alternative for militarily weak countries.

Yurchenko also thanked Boris Johnson, the former fascistic prime minister of the UK, saying, If it wasnt for Boris Johnson shitting his pants because he was going to be kicked out of office, and he wanted his Churchill moment that he was never going to have in his life, I do not know where Ukraine would have been by today.

She dismissed questions about the presence of fascist forces in the Ukrainian military and government by asking, What kind of purity test must the victims of Russian imperialism face?

In the panel discussion, Sherry Wolf, a former leading member of the ISO, claimed the United States and NATO did not want the war in Europe because it is supposedly a bad time for a war given all the crises facing the American government. Such stupidities ignore the fact that the domestic crisis within the US is a principal factor driving the ruling class to seek to impose national unity through war abroad.

Support for war abroad is connected to the defense of the trade union apparatus at home, as the latter functions as a critical instrument for disciplining the working class.

Joe Burns, right, speaks at the Socialism 2022 Conference [Photo]

Many of the panels dealing with labor acknowledged in a roundabout way the growing opposition of workers to the betrayals and concessions engineered by the unions while insisting that workers subordinate themselves to the apparatus, under the guise of reform. One of the main Sunday night sessions was devoted to the conception of class struggle unionism, as formulated in the recent book by Joe Burns with the same name.

However, as Burns made clear in his panel contributions, he is fundamentally pessimistic about class struggle unionism forming the basis for a revival of the labor movement in the short or even medium term. As Burns said, At the end of the day, even though weve got some bright spots, we dont have a path right now to revive labors fortune and fundamentally change the balance of power between labor and capital.

What is in fact meant by class struggle unionism is evident in the example Burns cited: the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). The World Socialist Web Site has extensively covered the record of betrayals by the CTU and its leading Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators (CORE). Former CTU President Jesse Sharkey, a former leading member of the ISO who is also married to Haymarket publisher Julie Fain, was present on several panels. Like Burns, he essentially placed the blame for defeats on the legal restrictions imposed on unions, as well as the lack of militancy among workers.

In a panel showing a film that covered the 2019 teachers strike in Los Angeles, Sharkey, who stepped down following bitter anger from teachers over the CTUs central role in reopening schools during the pandemic, absurdly had himself introduced as a rank-and-file union member, with the introduction making sure to note the rarity of union leaders stepping down in such a way.

Under the leadership of the CORE faction, of which Sharkey was a founding member and central leader, the CTU has been the archetype for unions promoting middle class identity politics as a cover for their betrayals for more than a decade. Beginning with the 2012 strike that paved the way for the largest wave of school closures in American history, through the betrayal of Chicago teachers in 2021, which led to the reopening of schools at the behest of the Biden administration, the CTU has systematically sabotaged every struggle by teachers, students and parents to defend public education and health.

In a Saturday panel entitled Rank-and-File Power, Sharkey elaborated on the CTUs reopening agreements and its effect on teachers, admitting, I think theres a lingering sense we got very beat up, and Teachers are licking their wounds. If teachers got very beat up, however, it was due to the treachery of the CTU, politically aligned with the Democratic Party.

A significant element of the conference was the promotion of illusions in the ability to fight against fascism through alliances with the Democratic Party. This was spelled out most explicitly in the panel 40 Years of DSA: Founding and Future. Panelist Max Elbaum spoke of the need to be in uncomfortable alliances, voting for people we dont like. Nonetheless, his prognosis remained somewhat bleak, saying that empires in decline dont tend to lead to revolutionary moments, but to reaction.

Fellow panelist Jose La Luz, former associate director for AFSCMEs Leadership Academy and current member of the DSA National Political Committee, admitted that the DSA has no real relationship with DSA congresspersons like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Jamaal Bowman. La Luz also acknowledged the significant presence of a Stalinist element within the DSA.

Panelist David Duhalde, a leading member of the DSA, explained in response to a question about why there is no national life in the DSA, that socialism is going against a very ingrained culture of localism. Duhalde also noted the organizations fortunes were largely tied to the electoral campaigns of Bernie Sanders.

Reflecting the more official status of the conference and the opportunities for publicity in the pseudo-left media ecosystem, an increasing number of speakers at the conference were drawn from the ranks of tenured university professors. Many of the attendees were also drawn from academia. A great proportion staff a variety of activist groups and non-profits with ties to the Democratic Party or hold positions in the trade unions. Many of those who are not functionaries in the unions or the Democratic Party aspire to be.

The social layer whose interests were expressed and embodied at the conference is hostile to the broad mass of the population, the working class. The wave of class struggle that is erupting in the United States and internationally will pass over them like a hurricane.
On Saturday, the Greek coast guard opened fire on the Comoros-flagged ship Anatolian, as it sailed in international waters 11 nautical miles off the Turkish island of Bozcaada at the Aegean Sea entrance of the Dardanelles, further escalating tensions between Turkey and Greece.

The ships 18 crew members were not injured, but many bullets hit the ships wheelhouse. The two Greek coast guard boats that fired on the ship left the area before the Turkish coast guard boats arrived at the scene. The Turkish coast guard released footage taken by the ships crew of the incident. It shows Greek coast guard units opening fire and bullets hitting the ship. Turkey protested the incident and demanded an immediate investigation.

The Greek daily Proto Thema reported that the Greek coast guard rejected Turkeys claims. It claimed that before the incident took place northwest of Lesbos Island, a suspicious Comoros-flagged ship moving towards the Turkish coast did not stop despite the calls and warnings of the Greek coast guard, and then they fired warning shots into the air.

The Greek daily Ta Nea cited diplomatic sources, who said that problems involving fishermen or migrants in the Aegean Sea could start with an accident that could escalate tensions between the two countries and even lead to a military clash.

Dimokratiki, published on the Island of Rhodes, reported that Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou will visit four islands neighboring Turkey this week, as well as islets that are not inhabitable according to the Lausanne Treaty but are armed by Greece.

Tensions between Greece and Turkey over the Aegean Sea islands, hydrocarbon resources in the Eastern Mediterranean and maritime borders have escalated throughout the US-NATO war with Russia. Greece has become an important military transshipment base in the war, while Turkey seeks to play a mediating role due to its important economic and military ties with Russia. Turkeys decision to increase trade ties and criticize NATOs efforts to prolong the war, rather than join sanctions against Russia, has angered Western capitals.

In early September, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Greece of occupying the islands, saying: Greeks! Look at history. If you cross the line any further, there will be a heavy price to pay. Dont forget Izmir, a reference to Turkish forces decisive defeat of Greek forces who occupied Izmir, in western Turkey, in 1922. He added, Your occupation of the islands does not bind us. We will do what is necessary when the time comes. As we say, we could come all of a sudden one night.

In June, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu threatened to invade the islands, saying the sovereignty of these islands will be discussed if Greece does not stop arming them.

On Friday, Erdogan accused Washington and other NATO powers of applying double standards to Turkey and Greece, saying: On the one hand, there are [Greeces] violations in the Aegean Sea, harassment of some of our planes on NATO missions, and aggressive actions up to radar locking with S-300 missiles [at the end of August]. Have you ever heard anything about Greeces S-300s from those who are talking about our S-400s? The S-300s belong to Russia, and the S-400s also belong to Russia. But there is no objection for it [Greece].

The United States imposed a series of sanctions against Turkey in April 2021 due to Turkeys purchase of S-400 air defense systems from Russia.

Turkeys state-owned Anadolu Agency reported: Turkish jets engaged in NATO missions over the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean seas on Aug. 23 were harassed by a Russian-made S-300 air defense system stationed on the Greek island of Crete. In response to a question from an Anadolu reporter, Greek S-300s locked on Turkish F-16s on a NATO mission, do you think this is acceptable behavior? Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said, I have nothing to say about this.

On September 1, the Turkish Foreign Ministry sent letters signed by Cavusoglu to 25 European Union (EU) capitals, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, Permanent Members of the UN Security Council, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres explaining Turkeys position and views on the resolution of the Aegean issues.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias asked NATO, EU states and the United Nations to formally condemn what he called outrageous and increasingly aggressive talk by Turkish officials. Peter Stano, Borells spokesperson, said: The continuous hostile remarks by the political leadership of Turkey against Greece and the Greek people raise serious concerns.

In response to President Erdogans belligerent remarks, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, I say to them in a language they will understand, dont bully Greece. Asked by the Associated Press whether the recent escalation could be the prelude to an armed conflict, he replied: I dont believe this will ever happen. And if, God forbid, it happened, Turkey would receive an absolutely devastating response.

As the US-led NATO powers escalate the war against Russia in Ukraine, they are concerned that growing tensions between Greece and Turkey could fracture the alliance. A US State Department spokesperson said, At a time when Russia has again invaded a sovereign European state, statements that could raise tensions between NATO allies are particularly unhelpful, before adding: Greeces sovereignty over these islands is not disputed. We call on all parties to refrain from rhetoric and actions that could further escalate tensions.

Jim Townsend, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense on European and NATO policy, said: Whatever little cracks can appear in European unity, Putin can make them even larger and in fact split the rock. So, it not only undercuts European unity but also can spill over into NATO councils if one or the other country uses NATO as a weapon to hurt the other.

At the end of May, Erdogan claimed that the nine military bases established by the US in Greece were targeting Turkey, stating: Look, Greece currently owes 400 billion to Europe. There are 9 American bases in Greece right now. So against whom are these bases being established, why are these bases there? This is what they say: Against Russia... This is a lie. ... They are not honest. Their attitude towards Turkey in the face of all this is obvious.

On the other hand, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who met with her Greek counterpart Dendias in Athens last week, reiterated French support for Greece. Asked how France would support Greece in a conflict with Turkey, she said, We signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement and Article 21 describes exactly this situation. It provides for mutual solidarity if both parties agree that there is an armed attack in the country of one of the parties.

The Turkish and Greek bourgeoisies, which are threatening a major war over their reactionary geopolitical interests in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, both face growing working class opposition amid a deepening economic and social crisis ahead of national elections in 2023. This is why they are uniting in an attempt to use militarism and nationalism to divide the working class, prevent strikes and suppress growing struggles on both sides of the Aegean.

The Greek, Turkish and international working class must be warned: The threat of war is extremely serious. Only the mobilization of the working class on a socialist program can prevent the outbreak of such a war, which would plunge millions of workers and youth across the region into a new catastrophe. The way forward lies in the revolutionary struggle for the United Socialist States of Europe and the Middle East. This requires building sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International in the Middle East, in Europe and beyond.
A decision last month by the North Carolina Supreme Court exposes nurses to legal liability for medical injuries, even when the nurses are working under the direction of a doctor. The justices overturned a state precedent that had stood for 90 years.

This ruling arrives amid an ongoing campaign to scapegoat health care workers for tragedies that result from the conscious negligence of the health care corporations and often the state. It follows the conviction of former nurse RaDonda Vaught for criminally negligent homicide over a medication error. Moreover, the current ruling was handed down in the same state where former detention center nurse Michelle Heughins is being prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter related to the death of an inmate.

The case before the North Carolina Supreme Court, Connette v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority, involved a girl named Amaya Gullate. In 2010, when she was three years old, Gullate had a heart condition for which doctors at Atrium Health recommended an ablation procedure. After the child underwent anesthesia, her heart stopped, thus depriving her brain of blood and oxygen for about 12 minutes. Gullate sustained permanent brain damage and developed cerebral palsy and profound developmental delay. She now requires constant care.

Attorney John Edwards (the former US senator and Democratic presidential candidate) represented Gullates family, which sued the certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), three doctors and the hospital over the incident. In 2018, a trial judge excluded testimony that would have questioned the decisions that CRNA Gus Vansoestbergen made in relation to Gullates care. The judge cited the precedent set in North Carolina by Byrd v. Marion General Hospital as justification for this move. That 1932 decision protected nurses who work under a doctors supervision.

Edwards and the family appealed this ruling. In 2020, a state appeals court panel unanimously affirmed the trial judges decision to exclude testimony about Vansoestbergens work.

The family continued its appeals, and the case ultimately reached the North Carolina Supreme Court. In late August, the court issued a 3-2 decision in favor of the family, thus overturning the Byrd precedent.

Due to the evolution of the medical professions recognition of the increased specialization and independence of nurses in the treatment of patients over the course of the ensuing 90 years since this Courts issuance of the Byrd opinion, we determine that it is timely and appropriate to overrule Byrd as it is applied to the facts of this case, wrote Justice Michael Morgan for the majority. But regardless of the specialization of the CRNA in this case, he was not acting with independence but under the supervision of a physician, who ultimately chose the treatment.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Tamara Barringer argued that the majority had no reason to change the standard and expose nurses to liability. The majority had held that developments in medicine had made Byrd obsolete. However, adhering to the principles of stare decisis [i.e., that precedent should guide decisions], this Court should not disturb settled precedent that clearly defines the liability of doctors and nurses when treating or diagnosing patients, Barringer wrote. Courts will now have to determine which nurses are advanced and specialized enough to warrant liability and which nurses remain not liable. But the courts do not have the medical background to make such decisions, nor does the law guide them here.

The legislature is free to enact new rules of liability in response to the development of the medical profession. Instead, it has adopted and codified the holdings in Byrd in its statutes and regulations rather than supplanting them, Barringer wrote. Thus, the current decision not only overturns judicial precedent, but also ignores current law.

Health care workers say that the majority on the Supreme Court has made a judgment that it was not qualified to make. None of the judges are in the health care arena. So thats very dangerous to me, Ashley Hughes, a critical care nurse and legal nurse consultant, told Queen City News. To make decisions, especially about the standards of care, without going through the due processes of going through the General Assembly.

Hughes predicted that the ruling would exacerbate the national nurse shortage. Theyre already short-staffed. On top of that, there is the issue of violence against nurses; nurses are being attacked. Theres the issues about the paynurses not being paid appropriately, she said. Along with that nurses now are being held more on a criminal level, rather than just civil.

The case of RaDonda Vaught brought national attention to the push by the giant health systems to hold nurses criminally liable for medical errors caused by management negligence. Vaught, who had worked as a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), was charged with reckless homicide in the death of elderly patient Charlene Murphey. While preparing Murphey for a PET scan, Vaught administered vecuronium bromide, a neuromuscular paralytic agent, to her instead of the sedative that had been prescribed. The error occurred when the automated medication dispenser did not provide the required drug. Vaught overrode the dispenser, which is a common practice for nursesand one that VUMC had authorized. She was convicted on the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide.

Although vecuronium bromide is an especially potent drug, VUMC had no system in place to double check that the correct drug was being administered or to limit the dose. VUMC lied about what had happened to the family and to the authorities. Instead of investigating the preventable tragedy, the administration fired Vaught to protect the hospitals reputation. No examination of the hospitals policies or criticism of the executive board was allowed during the trial. In protest of her sentencing, nurses across the country are still carrying out a de facto work refusal against Vanderbilt, though most agree the problem goes far beyond a single institution.

The scapegoating campaign continued when Michelle Heughins, a former county detention center nurse in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of inmate John Neville. Five officers responded to Nevilles cell after he fell from his top bunk and began vomiting, shaking and sweating. Heughins attempted to provide Neville with care, but the officers handcuffed him and moved him to another part of the prison.

After bringing Neville into a new cell, the officers placed him face down on the floor, knelt on his back and legs and hog-tied him. Heughins, who for a time was kept outside the room, is the only person who tried to save Nevilles life. She now is the only one facing charges in Nevilles death, even though the officers placed him in a prone position that is known to cause asphyxiation.

The decision of the North Carolina Supreme Court must be understood in this context. Throughout the pandemic hospitals have maintained dangerous understaffing and cut costs, enabling them to reap enormous profits.

Opposition is mounting among health care workers, who have endured overwork and psychological trauma. Like workers in other industries, health care workers across the country are voting nearly unanimously to strike, as they did recently at Michigan Medicine and at several facilities in Minnesota. The campaign to victimize health care workers is aimed at suppressing this growing opposition.

Nurses await the sentencing decision for RaDonda Vaught in Tennessee, May 13 [Photo: WSWS]

Diana, an ICU nurse in the southwestern US spoke to the World Socialist Web Site about the dangerous precedent set by the North Carolina ruling as well as the cases of Michelle Heughins and RaDonda Vaught. Its taking the integrity out of the profession and people are going to be scared to be nurses. Adding, What was she [Heughins] supposed to do, worry about getting restrained herself by a police officer? And then RaDonda was the perfect Swiss cheese model where everything was lined up to go wrong. The hospital didnt report it. They tried to cover it up. She never should have been charged. She reported it, she did everything right, and they still went after her. It could have been any of us. Anybody can get distracted in an instant you know, it happens, especially with short staffing. When youre rushing to do things it could happen. Absolutely.

It is significant that none of the nursing unions waged a struggle, protest or strike in defense of RaDonda Vaught, Michelle Heughins, or against the North Carolina Supreme Court ruling. That is because over the last decades the increasingly corporatist unions have degenerated into a labor police force, which uphold the interests of management, the state and the financial elite. In health care the unions have worked to impose concessionary contracts on their members and have blocked any opposition to the decades-long destruction of the health care industry.

The unions work systematically to isolate, limit and defeat strikes when they cannot suppress them outright. The Minnesota Nurses Association, for example, is set on limiting todays powerful strike of 15,000 nurses to three days, giving all the hospitals ample time to hire strikebreakers and ensure minimal disruption.

To oppose victimization and to fight for safe staffing and better wages health care workers need to build rank-and-file committees that are independent of the discredited trade unions. Rank-and-file committees are currently being built in numerous industries, from railroad workers, to nurses, educators and autoworkers. At the forefront of this fight is the campaign of Will Lehman for president of the United Auto Workers. Will is a socialist and a rank-and-file autoworker who is running on a campaign aimed at abolishing the criminal UAW bureaucracy, and to put power in the hands of workers through the building of their own democratically controlled rank-and-file committees.
Will Lehmana Mack Trucks worker in Pennsylvania who is running for United Auto Workers president in the unions elections this yearofficially launched a new campaign website on Monday, at WillForUAWPresident.org.

The WSWS has endorsed Lehman, a socialist and second-tier worker, who is calling for the formation of a mass movement of the rank and file to break the dictatorship of the UAW apparatus and bring power to the shop floor.

The new site outlines Lehmans campaign program and a series of demands based on what workers need, not what the corporations say is acceptable, including:

50 percent pay increases for all

No layoffs or plant closures

Abolish the tiered system

Convert all temps to full-time

Return of COLA

Full pension funding

8-hour day/40-hour workweek

3X overtime pay

Also collected on the new site are a wide range of statements that Lehman has issued since launching his campaign in June which elaborate his program in greater detail and address issues, such as: the history of the UAW; the need for a unified struggle of workers in the US, Mexico and Canada; the spread of monkeypox in the plants and the need for workers control over health and safety; and the conditions and struggles of workers in the auto industry, at heavy equipment makers such as CNH and Caterpillar, on the railroads, at the universities and elsewhere.

The site offers a wide range of ways to stay up to date on Lehmans campaign and the workers struggles he is highlighting, including email and text message newsletters.

I hope to use this site as a platform not just to explain my campaign but as a way to help workers learn about important issues and find out the information that the companies and the UAW bureaucracy dont want us knowing about, Lehman told the WSWS. They want to keep us isolated and in the dark about whats happening outside our plants, or even within our plants. I want to bring workers together, provide a means to stay informed, and help them organize and link up through rank-and-file committees all over the world.

I encourage autoworkers and workers everywhere to visit my site, see for themselves what my program is, and if they agree with it, contact my campaign and get involved, Lehman added.

And I appeal to all those who read this article: Make as a large a donation as you can to my campaign. Anyone can donate, you dont have to be an autoworker or a UAW member to do so. Hosting this web site, holding webinars, sending out text messages and mass emails, traveling to auto plants: all of these things cost substantial amounts of money. If everyone makes a contribution, it will make an enormous difference in being able to build the scale of rank-and-file movement that we as workers need.
Tesla claimed in June that it was building 1,000 vehicles every week at the Giga Berlin facility.

After reaching 1,000 units of weekly production for the Model Y electric crossover, Tesla is now aiming for 5,000 units of the car every week by the first quarter of 2023 at its Giga Berlin plant, claims a report by DPA. Tesla is targeting the milestone within around six months after the opening of the assembling plant in Europe.

(Also Read: Where is the next Tesla mega factory planned? Canada may look to lure Elon Musk)

Tesla claims that the ramp-up of production at the Giga Berlin plant in Brandenburg is advancing very well. However, it didn't reveal how many cars the plant is current manufacturing every week. Earlier, in June this year, Tesla claimed that it was building 1,000 vehicles every week at the Giga Berlin facility. Interestingly, Tesla claimed at the beginning of the plant's operation that the manufacturing facility has a total production capacity of 500,000 electric vehicles every year.

With the target of 5,000 Model Y every week by the first quarter of next year, Tesla would be able to see a substantial production hike, and it would allow the US auto major to boost deliveries even further in the European market, where the Model Y us currently he bestselling electric vehicle. This would also reduce pressure from the Tesla Giga Shanghai, which produces Model Y and Model 3 electric cars for the Chinese market and ships the EVs to different other markets as well.

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With Giga Berlin increasing its production capacity, Giga Shanghai would be able to focus more on China, which is one of the most crucial markets for the US electric car manufacturer.

The strategy of increased production capacity comes as part of the bigger Tesla plan, as revealed by Elon Musk. Tesla CEO Musk previously hinted that the primary strategy of the automaker would significantly increase the production of cars in an attempt to reduce the waiting delivery time for the customers. Interestingly, Tesla China has significantly reduced waiting delivery time for select models in the country.

First Published Date:
" " If you're concerned about fuel economy, when does it make sense to use your vehicle's air conditioner? Ground Picture/Shutterstock

During the warmer months, there's nothing like driving with the windows down, hanging your arm out the window and catching the breeze as it pulls your arm up to the sky ... or is there? What about driving with the windows up and enjoying the wonder of engineering that allows a cool air conditioning breeze to keep you chill as the pavement scorches just a few feet underneath you?

With the price of gas going higher, it's not unusual for drivers to be asking, "Which option will save me more money? Window up and the air conditioning on, or windows down and no air conditioner?"

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There are two main factors to consider when approaching this question. The first deals with how the air compressor in your car works and how much extra fuel the engine has to use to keep it running. The second is what is known as air resistance or drag. Drag is the resistance that cars, and all moving objects, encounter when moving through the air at any speed. Most modern cars are designed to be relatively aerodynamic, which allows them to pass through the air with minimal resistance.

However, when a vehicle has its windows down, air passes into the car where it was formerly allowed to flow over it, causing resistance that didn't exist when the windows were up. You can think of it a bit like a parachute. When a skydiver opens up the parachute, it cups the air and causes a massive amount of drag, enough to slow the speed of the skydiver and allow him or her to land safely on the ground. Unlike the parachute, you definitely don't want a lot of drag on your car because it makes your engine work harder to get your vehicle up to the same speed.

So, does drag really affect a car's fuel economy more than air conditioning? There are times when using the AC will save you gas.
For the Gasgoo Awards 2022, the super platform applicable to multi-segment passenger vehicles from IAT Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. ("IAT") has applied for the Top 100 Players of China's New Automotive Supply Chain.

Photo credit: IAT

Description:

Through the reasonable modular design, IAT's platform technology can offer various powertrain solutions for models in different segments. On a very same platform, our customers can implement development and production for multi-segment models. The platform architecture is applicable for both ICE and NEV models.

Photo credit: IAT

Unique advantages:

The platform can offer development approaches of multi-segment passenger vehicles with independent intellectual property rights. Through the modular design, our customers can quickly and flexibly realize the development of different models in different classes, thus greatly reducing the working cycle and financial costs of new model development task for OEMs. Such technology also brings advantages in diversified powertrain system, wide model availability and high commonality of parts:

1) Diversified powertrain: our platform can offer technical compatibility for ICE, BEV, PHEV, REV and FCV design.

2) Wide model availability: our platform can realize Sedan, SUV, Cross, MPV compatible development in A0, A, B, C and segments.

3) High commonality: the parts of models on this platform can reach high commonality level in design.

Application:

Applicable for both ICE and NEV of Sedan, SUV, Cross and MPV in A0, A, B, C and D segments.

Prospect:

The development and production of multi-segment vehicles on a platform is an important evolution trend for global automotive platform technology. This technology can help realize multi-matrix products to meet the needs of OEM customers under the current context of fierce competition and ever-changing consumer demands.
The first "Overseas Chinese Automotive Engineers Global Connection" event in November 2021 was a resounding success, generating a huge response from the automotive community in Mainland China and other countries. An impressive 300,000 online viewers (total accumulative 350,000) were reached over the two weekends for the 12-hour event, which was streamed live on GasGoo Auto. Dozens of media outlets, including China News Service, the largest external news media in China, Sina Finance, Global Times, China QiaoWang, China Automotive News and GasGoo Auto, reported on the event, praising it as a catalyst for international communication and a new indicator for technological advancement in the industry. It is foreseeable that with the increasing implementation of global decarbonisation policies and the rapid development of new energy and smart connected vehicle technologies, related topics will be attracting more and more attention, especially the exchange of information from the international automotive industrial community.

The event has greatly facilitated collaboration between overseas automotive engineers' associations worldwide, creating a new model for holding online interactive exchanges on a global scale and creating conditions for further cooperation between all Chinese Societies of automotive engineers in different countries in the future. The great success of this global networking event shows that the collaboration between overseas Chinese automotive engineers' associations fits in the current trend. At the same time, the event demonstrated the power of overseas associations joining together, with an effect and influence that no single association can achieve by organising events individually. The success of this event has established the status of "Overseas Chinese Automotive Engineers" itself and has allowed us to develop for the future.

On this basis, we have decided to establish the "Global Alliance of Overseas Chinese Societies of Automotive Engineers to build a platform for equal cooperation based on the entities of associations of local overseas Chinese automotive engineers and open the doors to other overseas Chinese automotive organisations. The alliance will further develop the brand of Global Connections and carry out more kinds of activities through complementary collaboration with related organisations in China, to facilitate the exchange among overseas Chinese automotive engineers and at the same time devoted to the development of each association itself.

Therefore, the objective of the Global Alliance of Overseas Chinese Societies of Automotive Engineers is to provide services for our Chinese automotive engineers worldwide, to jointly build a platform to promote communication and cooperation between our Chinese and international automotive counterparts, to share information on relevant technologies and developments in the automotive industry, to expand the links between members and associations, to promote cooperation between associations, and to enhance communication and friendship among members.

The Organising Committee of the alliance held its first formal working meeting on 28 August 2022 and established the rotating mechanism of the Alliance Chairmanship. The meeting has elected the UK-China Society of Automotive Engineers as the first president of the Alliance where Hongming Xu, president of the UK-China Society of Automotive Engineers, as the first rotating Chairman of the Alliance, while the main leaders in other co-proposing associations as Vice-Chairmen. The term is for two years. We hope to further develop/ the various activities of overseas Chinese automotive engineers (including the annual Global Connect) and explore more opportunities to achieve sustainable development of our common cause and contribute to the achievement of decarbonisation.
With Gasgoo Daily, we will offer daily important automotive news in China. For those we have reported, the title of the piece will include a hyperlink, which will provide detailed information.

XPeng G9s drag coefficient reaches 0.272

Chinas electric vehicle startup, XPeng, released a video of the aerodynamic test for the upcoming G9 model. The test finalized that the G9 SUV model features a drag coefficient as low as 0.272.

Photo credit: XPeng

XPengs flying car to go to Dubai for validation tests

XPENG AEROHT, the UAM (urban air mobility) company affiliated with XPeng Inc., announced that its Voyager X2 smart electric aero car will soon arrive in Dubai for validation tests. The two-seater flying vehicle adopts a carbon fiber architecture, with a net weight of 560kg including batteries. The Voyager X2 features a flying range of 35 minutes, with a maximum flying altitude of 1km and a maximum speed of 130km/h.

Teslas Shanghai Gigafactory achieves 95% localization ratio in industrial chain

Grace Tao, vice president of Tesla, said in an interview that the localization rate of industrial chain adoption of the US EV makers Shanghai Gigafactory has reached 95%. The automaker has established in Shanghai, Suzhou, Ningbo, Nantong, and other Yangtze River Delta regions a "4-hour circle of friends" for a comprehensive ecosystem chain of new energy vehicle parts.

SAIC Audis Q6 kicks off presale

The Q6 model under SAIC Audi has started presale. Coming with three standard trim levels and three special editions, the Q6 features a price range of 459,600-630,600 yuan ($66,320-90,990).

China cuts 23.04 billion yuan of car purchase tax in Jun.-Aug. period of 2022

There were around 3.553 million cars benefiting from China's car purchase tax breaks in the Jun.-Aug. period of this year, according to the data released by China's State Taxation Administration.

Li Autos Li L8 SUV included in catalogue of Chinas MIIT

The Li L8, the yet-to-be-launched full-sized SUV model of Li Auto, has been included in a catalogue recently released by Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ("MIIT").

VOYAHs first external equity financing disclosed to public

On September 13, Dongfeng Motors premium new energy vehicle brand, VOYAH, saw its capital increase project information disclosed to the public by the Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange (SUAEE).

Changan Automobiles wholly-owned NEV sales surge 74.81% YoY in Aug. 2022

In August, Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd. (Changan Automobile) saw the monthly sales volume of its wholly-owned new energy vehicles (NEVs) surge 74.81% year over year, which stood at 17,948 vehicles.

Dongfeng Motor Group sales up 13.6% YoY in August 2022

Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. (Dongfeng Motor Group) sold 209,578 vehicles in August 2022, representing a 13.6% increase from a year ago.

NIO so far deploys over 1,100 battery swap stations

NIO announced on Sept. 10 it had so far deployed 1,103 battery swap stations across China, of which the significant 1,100th one was launched on the same day.
A Chicago-area library said it has been forced to cancel an upcoming drag queen bingo for teenagers due to threats over the event.

The Downers Grove Public Library announced its decision Monday in a statement on Facebook but assured the public that hate did not win today and that it is working to find additional ways to provide inclusive programming to local teens as law enforcement authorities investigate the threats.

Providing an inclusive, welcoming, and safe space for everyone in the Downers Grove community is of the utmost importance to the library, it said. We are disappointed and saddened by some of the vitriolic feedback that we received for what was meant to be an evening of fun and celebration of self-identity and self-expression.

The library declined further comment on the matter due to the ongoing investigation.

The librarys staff received aggressive emails and threats from conservative-leaning residents after announcing the drag queen event last month, the Chicago Tribune reported. One Facebook post urged people to bring weapons to the library, the Daily Herald reported, citing police reports.

The Oct. 11 event, which had a wait list due to its popularity, was geared toward seventh-12th graders and was going to feature bingo games and a lip-sync performance of Katy Perrys song Firework, the librarys director told the Herald.

The event was quickly met with anger, however.

Drag performer Champagne Monroe reads a children's book titled

Drag performer Champagne Monroe reads a children's book titled "Rainbow Fish" to a group of kids and parents at the Mobile Public Library in Mobile, Alabama, in 2018. (Photo: Dan Anderson via AP)

The far-right organization Awake Illinois issued a call of action in response to the event. Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau, whos also the Republican congressional nominee in Illinois 6th District, helped spearhead criticism of the event, which he used as a campaign fundraiser on social media.

It is a drag show, and it has no place for seventh grade or 12th grade, he said in a radio interview last month.

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Pekau said hed never seen a drag show but knew enough to decide that it was inappropriate.

This is an adult theme. It does not belong in front of children and frankly shouldnt be paid for by the public library, he said.

It was later reported that an anonymous donor would be covering the $125 cost of the event.

Drag queen

Drag queen "Pickle" reads to kids at the West Valley Regional Branch Library in Los Angeles in 2019. (Photo: David McNew via Getty Images)

Rep. Sean Casten (D), who is running against Pekau to keep his seat in Novembers general election, blamed Pekau and Awake Illinois for the threats of violence against the library.

They should be ashamed of themselves. They have used their platform to promote hatred, homophobia, and bigotry, he said in a statement Monday. Hate has no home here. The fact that Keith Pekau disagrees shows he has no place in public office.

Pekau did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Awake Illinois celebrated the events cancellation on social media, calling it a victory for the protection of all children.

Your respectful voices were heard. Children should never be exploited. Thank you for advocating, the organization tweeted.

A parent walks their child past protesters and into the Mobile Public Library for drag queen storytime in 2018. (Photo: Dan Anderson via AP)

A parent walks their child past protesters and into the Mobile Public Library for drag queen storytime in 2018. (Photo: Dan Anderson via AP)

Drag and other pro-LGBTQ events tailored for children have been interrupted across the country in recent months, particularly during Pride Month in June.

A group of men was being investigated for a possible hate crime in the San Francisco area after the men allegedly shouted homophobic and anti-LGBTQ slurs during a drag queen story hour for preschool-aged children held in celebration of Pride Month.

Law enforcement officers were called to a Wilmington, North Carolina library, also in June, after protesters showed up to a Pride storytime event and allegedly started shouting at parents and children, telling them that they were going to hell, witnesses told local media.

Jamie Rogers Southern, whose drag queen story hour in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was also protested in June, said that most people who called her organization to complain were badly confused about drag shows.

A lot of it is unfortunately misguided and ill-informed statements about how drag queens were pornography or a strip show, she previously told HuffPost. Those opposed to the program also believed that kids could become transgender just from looking at a drag queen, she said.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
Hunter Brown spent Monday afternoon playing catch at Comerica Park, the ballpark where he grew up attending games and cheering for the Detroit Tigers. Watching his hometown team inspired him to become a big leaguer one day.

On Tuesday, Brown will pitch against the Tigers.

"I'm excited to be here and be back and represent my hometown," Brown said Monday in the visitor's clubhouse, "but at the same time, I'm representing the name on the front of my jersey. That's the Houston Astros."

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:Seven reasons to pay attention to Tigers in final month of season

The Astros selected Brown, who attended Lakeview High School in St. Clair Shores and Wayne State University in Detroit, in the fifth round of the 2019 draft. As a junior at Wayne State in 2019, Brown finished 9-0 with a 2.21 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 85 innings.

The 6-foot-2 right-hander pitched in the major leagues for the first time Sept. 5, throwing six scoreless innings on three hits, one walk and five strikeouts against the Texas Rangers. He is the sixth Wayne State player to reach baseball's highest level.

"I've seen him on video, and I've heard a lot about him," said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, the Astros' skipper from 2015-19. "It doesn't surprise me that he's going to have quite a following here tomorrow night. We just witnessed it with Joey Wentz in Kansas City. Local fans should really acknowledge their own, the kids that have grown up here."

His matchup with the Tigers  positioned after left-hander Framber Valdez and before right-hander Cristian Javier in the starting rotation  marks the second game of his MLB career. The 24-year-old isn't sure how many of his family, friends, coaches and teachers are going to be in the stands at Comerica Park, but he is thankful for the support.

And he is focused on winning.

"I'm going to do my homework," Brown said, "and I'm going to go out there and try my best to deliver a win for us."

NEWSLETTER:At the plate, what's another (blanking) loss or 20?

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The ascension of Brown to the Astros' active roster and rotation came as a byproduct of Justin Verlander's health and September call-ups. Verlander, who suffered a right calf injury, is eligible to return from the injured list Tuesday, and while he's in Detroit for the three-game series, he isn't going to pitch for the Astros until the weekend.

Brown grew up idolizing Verlander.

"It's pretty cool to have someone make their debut that idolized me, but at the same time, I don't want to sit here and talk about myself," Verlander told reporters last week in Houston. "I think what he's done and his trajectory, he's turned himself into a great pitcher and his story is fantastic. That's all a credit to him. Great kid."

Verlander, of course, pitched 13 years for the Tigers, from 2005-2017, as part of his Hall of Fame-caliber career. Throughout that time, Brown attended Tigers games with his family, travel baseball teams and college friends. He also enjoyed the Red Wings, Pistons and Lions, as well as exploring downtown.

One draft and one lopsided trade later, Brown and Verlander are playing for the best team in the American League and chasing a World Series championship together. Verlander, a frontrunner for AL Cy Young, has a 16-3 record, 1.84 ERA and 154 strikeouts over 152 innings in 24 starts in his return from Tommy John surgery.

"It would be difficult to say that you dream of sitting in a locker room having a conversation with him," Brown said. "It's more like, you're ready to compete with him. I'm looking forward to him getting back on the field."

Hunter Brown, Dirty 85mph Curveball.  pic.twitter.com/P7L3JOuoGt  Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 5, 2022

Before joining the Astros, Brown pitched 23 games (14 starts) for Triple-A Sugar Land. He had a 2.55 ERA with 45 walks and 134 strikeouts over 106 innings. In his MLB debut, Brown's fastball averaged 96.1 mph. He also mixed in his curveball, slider and splitter.

Brown said he felt nervous for his debut, though he doesn't anticipate having the same emotions for Tuesday's start in Detroit. Family and friends might feel nervous, but those people have been in his corner all along, so there isn't added pressure.

"I'm really excited," he said. "I feel at home."

Miguel Cabrera injury update

Designated hitter Miguel Cabrera, another Tigers icon who sparked Brown's big-league dream, isn't going to play against the Astros. He isn't expected to play over the weekend, either, as he remains sidelined with a left biceps strain.

The 39-year-old landed on the injured list Sept. 3.

"He's swinging today for the first time off the tee," Hinch said. "He's unlikely to be activated on this homestand, but if all goes well, he'll continue to increase his volume and intensity on the tee, then he'll move to flip, then he'll move to BPs."

Tyler Alexander gets 'extended rest'

In his past four starts, left-hander Tyler Alexander has a 10.16 ERA with three walks and 11 strikeouts in 17 innings. Although Alexander hasn't walked a ton of batters, his command inside the strike zone has faltered.

Opponents have a 1.155 OPS in those four games.

Tigers pitcher Tyler Alexander walks through the dugout during the fifth inning on Monday, Sept. 5, 2022, in Anaheim, California.

The Tigers have pushed back Alexander's next start. He won't pitch this weekend against the Chicago White Sox. Instead, he is penciled to start Sept. 19 against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.

"We're going to push him back to the first game in Baltimore and give him a little bit of extended rest," Hinch said. "We'll give him two bullpens before his next start. We have the off day on Thursday to do that."

Alexander will stay in the rotation for the rest of the season.

Jake Rogers won't play in '22

The Tigers initially wanted catcher Jake Rogers to serve as the designated hitter in Triple-A Toledo at some point this month. He underwent Tommy John surgery last September, and since his elbow isn't ready to make athletic throws from all angles, the Tigers ruled him out of their big-league plans this season.

But the 27-year-old, acquired in the Verlander trade, has been swinging the bat for a while now, so the Tigers were going to give him at-bats in Toledo in preparation for the 2023 season. Now, the Triple-A plan isn't happening.

Rogers won't play competitively until 2023 spring training.

Luis Garcia from Phillies

The Tigers recently claimed middle infielder Luis Garcia off waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies. The 21-year-old, who turns 22 on Oct. 1, was assigned to Double-A Erie for the remainder of the season.

The 40-man roster is full.

Garcia  a developmental project for the Tigers  signed with the Phillies out of the Dominican Republic for a $2.5 million signing bonus in July 2017, the fifth-highest bonus in that year's international signing period. He is hitting .161 with three home runs, 41 walks and 65 strikeouts in 58 games in the minor leagues this season.

He has played nine games at the Double-A level.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit native Hunter Brown starts against the Tigers on Tuesday
As Ticket Price Controversy Rages, Bruce Springsteen Joins Bleachers at Radio City

Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner is making the media rounds to promote his memoir Like a Rolling Stone, and in an interview with Billboard, appears to have let the cat out of the bag about Bruce Springsteens next album.

Asked for his thoughts on current pop and hip-hop music, Wenner said a lot of it was good and a lot of it was trash and trivial, before adding that hes kind of stuck with the music I liked when I was young. Give me the Stones. Theres a new Bruce [Springsteen] record coming out this fall, which is stunning. Im listening to that.

More from Spin:

That detail is certainly news to Springsteen fans, considering theres been no information confirmed or released about a new album by the artists representatives. If Wenner is correct, the project will be Springsteens first album since 2020s Letter to You.

Wenner and Springsteen will be in conversation with one another tonight (Sept. 13) at New Yorks 92nd Street Y, so perhaps the subject will come up again in greater detail. The Boss will also perform Nov. 7 at the annual Stand Up for Heroes benefit concert in New York, ahead of his 2023 world tour, which begins Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla. The North American on-sales for that trek courted controversy this summer when some tickets reached prices of $5,000.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

The post As Ticket Price Controversy Rages, Bruce Springsteen Joins Bleachers at Radio City appeared first on SPIN.
Everything We Know About the Viral Pink Air Jordan 1 So Far

As Spring 2023 releases begin to make the social media rounds, a pink Air Jordan 1 dubbed the "Washed Pink" has started to pick up traction. Very few details have been confirmed about the forthcoming drop, but here's a breakdown of everything we know so far.

It's Part of a Pack

The Air Jordan 1 "Washed Pink" is part of a pack that features "washed" textiles, or enzyme-treated textiles crafted to mimic worn-in, vintage fabrics. The pack will not release concurrently, fans can expect a "Washed Black" iteration to drop in early June.

Don't Get Too Attached

The image circulating is a mockup by @zsneakerheadz, meaning the final version may see slightly different color blocking and details. Yes, it will be pink  specifically "Atmosphere," but the rest is to be determined.

Release and Retail

As of now, the Air Jordan 1 "Washed Pink" is set to release on April 22 for $180 USD in a women's size run. Stay tuned for confirmed details and official imagery.

Elsewhere in sneakers, take a look at the next line up of Dunks dropping in the current weeks.
As it inches closer to the start of the 2022-23 season in many basketball leagues around the world, a number of alumni of the Boston Celtics are finding themselves new teams to play for. Among them reportedly is former Boston big man Jared Sullinger, according to HoopsHypes Alberto De Roa.

Per De Roa, Sullinger will play next season for the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA)s Shenzhen Leopards. It will be the Ohio State products second stint with the CBA franchise, though in his last tenure with that team in 2017-18, they were known as the Aviators. That team was the first overseas team Sullinger played for after his stint with the Toronto Raptors didnt pan out, with the Columbus native also having played for Anyang KGC of the Korean Basketball League in the interim.

Sullinger was the Celtics 21st overall pick of the 2012 NBA draft and played 258 games for the team over four seasons.

Ex-Boston Celtics guard Jordan Crawford to sign with Bahrains Manama Club https://t.co/GsavNgcI5x  The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) September 13, 2022

He averaged 11.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game with the team over that stretch.

Listen to the Celtics Lab podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

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How can the NBA make All-Star week's Dunk Contest better? Report: Vet forward Jake Layman to compete for roster spot at Boston Celtics' training camp Calling Jaylen Brown a pivotal piece, Warriors' Steph Curry hints dealing for Kevin Durant might have flopped for Boston 'I could see how there could be some advantage of having Carmelo ... on the roster,' says Brian Scalabrine What potential Danilo Gallinari replacements might the Boston Celtics consider? Celtics Lab 140: Does the NBA have enough talent to expand, and how might it affect the Boston Celtics if they did?

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List

Every player in Boston Celtics history who wore No. 8

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Where does the Boston Celtics' starting five stack up in the Eastern Conference?

List

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, several MA politicians draft resolution to honor Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell

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Celtics alumni Kevin McHale, Shaquille O'Neal make 'Filthiest signature moves of the modern NBA' list

Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire
Gangs of London producer Pulse Films has unveiled the first clip from Name Me Lawand, which will have its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.

Directed by Edward Lovelace (The Possibilities Are Endless), the film is in competition at the festivals The Grierson Award for documentaries.

More from Variety

The documentary, filmed over four years, follows Lawand Hamad Amin, who spent his early years in Iraq unable to hear or communicate. His profound deafness meant he could not learn language, and with no access to a deaf education, Lawand grew isolated and trapped inside himself.

His parents and brother decided to take Lawand on an epic and bewildering journey across Europe to seek refuge in England. At a specialist deaf school in Derby, Lawand starts learning British Sign Language. For the first time in his life he begins to understand the world around him. In order to overcome what hes been through, he will need to articulate who Lawand really is.

When the family faces the prospect of being deported from the U.K., it is Lawand who has to stand up in court and communicate why they need to stay. The languages in the film are English, Kurdish and British Sign Language.

I always tried to think  what film would Lawand want? What would make him most proud? For him, a film in the mould of a classic friendship narrative  films like Stand By Me and Good Will Hunting, films which deal with big themes but are routed in friendship, in the bond and connection that true friends bring Thats the type of story that Lawand would say most represents him and his journey, Lovelace said. Once I realised that  I could really see the end of the film, see where we needed to get too thematically  a true celebration of finding your people, and finding your place in the world.

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As a hearing filmmaker, I am learning British Sign Language and work closely with a team of deaf filmmakers, who help me to ensure that inclusion at all levels of production are a priority. I am still blown away by the emails that I received from the teachers after our filming blocks. During one visit they asked me to take a class with Lawand and his classmates, something that has stuck with me ever since, Lovelace added.

It was one of the biggest honors of my life to be let in by Lawand, his family and school, and to be trusted and empowered to tell their story. The pride and joy they felt when they first watched the film  thats the biggest sense of achievement for a filmmaker, to get across their truth in a cinematic way.

The film is produced by Fleur Nieddu, Sam Arnold, Beyan Taher, Neil Andrews, Marisa Clifford and Lovelace and executive produced by Thomas Benski, Tim OShea, Diene Petterle, Lisa Marie Russo, Kwesi Dickson and Isabel Freer.

The BFI London Film Festival runs Oct. 5-16.

Watch the clip here:

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On September 13, 1974 George Harrisons record label, Dark Horse Records released its first two singles. The first - serial number DH10001 - was Ravi Shankars "I Am Missing You." Produced and arranged by Harrison, it is a rare Shankar composition in a Western pop style with English lyrics; it has been described as a love song to the Hindu god Krishna. The other single to come out that day was Splinters "Costafine Town," which went top 10 in Australia and South Africa and made the UK top twenty.

Splinter was a duo made up of Bill Elliott and Bobby Purvis who both hailed from South Shields in the north of England. Their album, The Place I Love, came out a week later with Harrison as producer, and featured George playing electric and acoustic guitars, dobro, bass, and harmonium under various pseudonyms. Other musicians on the record included ex-Spooky Tooth keyboard player, Gary Wright, Alvin Lee, Billy Preston, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voorman, and Willie Weeks. At the time, it was even rumored that this might secretly be Georges new band.

Ravi Shankars album was also released on September 20, 1974. Entitled Shankar Family  Friends. Recorded in both Los Angeles and at Harrisons home studio FPSHOT in the UK throughout 1973 and early 1974, it was an audacious blend of traditional Indian music with folk, rock, jazz, and even pop.

In 1976, with his contractual obligations to other labels at an end, and with the winding down of Apple Records, George Harrison signed to his own label. In the intervening years, there had been releases by Stairsteps, Jiva, Henry McCullough (following his departure from Wings), and a band called Attitudes. First brought together on Harrisons 1975 album Extra Texture (Read All About It), Attitudes included drummer Jim Keltner, Danny (Kootch) Kortchmar on guitar, lead and background vocals, bass player Paul Stallworth and keyboard player David Foster. Between 1976 and 1977, they were to release two albums and five singles on Dark Horse.

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Incidentally, Dark Horse Records was named after the title of a George song found on the 1974 album of the same name. The inspiration for the logo came from a label on a tin that he had found during a trip to India, featuring the seven-headed horse Uchchaihshravas, a common figure in Indian art and mythology.

George Harrison's Dark Horse LP along with his other solo releases are available in the 16LP The George Harrison Vinyl Collection that can be bought here.

For the latest music news and exclusive features, check out uDiscover Music.

uDiscover Music is operated by Universal Music Group (UMG). Some recording artists included in uDiscover Music articles are affiliated with UMG.
WASHINGTON  The Justice Department issued dozens of subpoenas to Donald Trumps aides and associates for information about the 2020 election and the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, according to The New York Times and CNN.

The flurry of subpoenas suggested the investigation, which is separate from the seizure of Trump administration documents from Mar-a-Lago, is picking up pace.

At least two Trump aides, Boris Epshteyn and Mark Roman, had their phones seized as evidence, according to the Times. Epshteyn declined comment.

The subpoenas seek information about the Trump campaign's plan to organize alternate slates of electors in states President Joe Biden won. Epshteyn had copied on emails in late 2020 from Trump lawyer John Eastman, who developed the plan.

President Donald Trump addresses his supporters at a rally protesting the electoral college certification of Joe Biden as president in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.

Eastman has already been subpoenaed and had his phone seized. Eastman earlier refused to answer questions from the House panel investigating the Capitol attack or a grand jury in Georgia based on his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Another subpoena recipient was Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, who coordinated the investigation of claims of voter fraud with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Keriks lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, told USA TODAY that Kerik was willing to testify to federal investigators as he had already before the House committee. Kerik had already turned over examples of probable case of election fraud to the Justice Department for further investigation in late 2020, Parlatore said.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr has testified to the House panel that the department found no evidence to support the Trump campaign's claims of widespread fraud.

Parlatore said the department's latest subpoena read as if the current investigation had no focus and asked Kerik about names he didnt recognize.

The normal DOJ subpoena looks like rifle shots, Parlatore said. This looks like a whole bunch of scatter-shot shotgun blasts, almost like a spray-and-pray mindset.

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The latest subpoenas included one to Dan Scavino, Trumps former social-media director, according to the Times. Trump promoted his fundraising to fight the results of the 2020 election and his rally the morning of Jan. 6 through social media. Scavinos lawyer, Stanley Woodward Jr., declined comment.

Others who were subpoenaed include former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and Sean Dollman, the campaign's chief financial officer, according to CNN.

The Justice Department declined comment on the subpoenas.

White House official Dan Scavino, right, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, left, walk toward Marine One with President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020.

The investigation is separate from the seizure of Trump administration documents, which included dozens of classified records, from Mar-a-Lago. In that probe, federal investigators said they were looking for evidence of violations of the Espionage Act for mishandling national defense documents or of obstruction of justice.

More: Will Trump or his allies face charges over Jan. 6? Legal experts explain hurdles DOJ faces

The investigation is also separate, but overlaps with a local investigation in Fulton County, Georgia. District Attorney Fani Willis has convened a special grand jury to investigate fake electors and other potential election fraud by Trump and his campaign. The grand jury has subpoenaed Eastman and Giuliani, among others.

The Justice Department earlier declined without explanation to press charges against Scavino or former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows over defying subpoenas from the House committee investigating the attack. But the department charged Trump political strategist Steve Bannon, who was convicted of contempt, and former trade adviser Peter Navarro, who awaits trial.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dozens of Trump aides subpoenaed in DOJ probe of Jan. 6 Capitol attack
King Charles III and Queen Camilla received a warm welcome at Hillsborough Castle in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Tuesday, but their visit came with one small hiccup.

The monarch, 73, struggled with a leaking pen during the signing ceremony, as seen in a video shared by ABC News. In the clip, King Charles attempts to hand off a writing instrument to the Queen Consort, 75, before he realizes it leaked onto his hands.

King Charles and Queen Camilla both attempt to clean their hands of the ink as he tells an aide, "I can't bear this bloody thing! Every stinking time."

Another pen was then brought to the Queen Consort to complete the signing.

RELATED: Queen Camilla Tells Well-Wishers 'We're Doing Our Best' After Queen Elizabeth's Death

"I can't bear this bloody thing!



King Charles appeared to be frustrated by a leaky pen during a signing ceremony at Northern Ireland's Hillsborough Castle. https://t.co/4WzFuNYwDN pic.twitter.com/nvoPNDKHkU  ABC News (@ABC) September 13, 2022

The incident came just days after Charles had another writing snafu when the Accession Council made his official proclamation in the State Apartments of St. James's Palace in London on Saturday.

Charles approached to sign the Accession Proclamation and appeared frustrated to have both a pen box and the inkpot on the small desk, which also had to fit the large documents. He gestured to aides to clear the desk, leading to the items being rearranged.

King Charles Has a Mishap with a Pen: 'I can't bear this bloody thing!'

ABC News

Once the documents were placed, Charles again signaled to an aide to remove the pen box from the desk, giving him room to sign the historic document.

RELATED: King Charles's Inkpot, Gifted by His Sons, Causes a Viral Moment During His Proclamation Ceremony

Britain's King Charles III signs an oath to uphold the security of the Church in Scotland, during a meeting of the Accession Council inside St James's Palace in London on September 10, 2022, to proclaim him as the new King. - Britain's Charles III was officially proclaimed King in a ceremony on Saturday, a day after he vowed in his first speech to mourning subjects that he would emulate his "darling mama", Queen Elizabeth II who died on September 8. (Photo by Victoria Jones / POOL / AFP) (Photo by VICTORIA JONES/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

VICTORIA JONES/POOL/AFP via Getty King Charles III

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Prince William then had to ask for the tray back, as Charles took the pen with him as he walked away. He was followed by Queen Camilla, who then stepped forward to sign the Accession Proclamation, followed by current Prime Minister Liz Truss and other dignitaries including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

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Britain's King Charles III and Britain's Camilla, Queen Consort look at flowers and tributes left in honour of his late mother Queen Elizabeth II, as they arrive at Hillsborough Castle in Belfast on September 13, 2022, during his visit to Northern Ireland. - King Charles III on Tuesday travelled to Belfast where he is set to receive tributes from pro-UK parties and the respectful sympathies of nationalists who nevertheless can see reunification with Ireland drawing closer. (Photo by Niall Carson / POOL / AFP) (Photo by NIALL CARSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

NIALL CARSON/POOL/AFP via Getty King Charles and Queen Camilla

RELATED: King Charles' Staff Told They Could Lose Their Jobs as He Moves to Buckingham Palace

On Wednesday, King Charles will join other members of the royal family in a procession from Buckingham Palace through London to Westminster Hall, where Queen Elizabeth will lie in state leading up to her funeral on Monday, September 19.
By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan has been awarded at the 19th Book Art International Competition in Russia, Azernews reports via Trend Life.

The competition was held in the framework of the 35th Moscow International Book Fair.

Established in 1977, the book fair is attended by publishers and book distributors from Russia and other countries.

The event provides contacts with thousands of book industry professionals.

Moscow International Book Fair features a rich cultural program that includes meetings with writers, book presentations, conferences, and seminars.

Chief Adviser of the Culture Ministry's Book Industry Department Islam Huseynov attended the awarding ceremony of the Book Art International Competition.

Azerbaijani was awarded three diplomas of the first degree in the categories: Science and Education, Art of Illustration, and My Country.

The list of awards also included four diplomas of the second degree and three diplomas of the third degree in other nominations.
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.  In May, Flirt4Free released the secret location of this years Flirt Summit, the networks annual cam model dream retreat. They will follow up the success of Flirt Summit 2021 by whisking their stars and studios away to Phuket, Thailand this fall.

Flirt Summit is designed to pamper and appreciate elite models. The promised prize of 60 all-inclusive Thailand packages drew the webs most engaging, in-demand performers to compete in Flirt4Frees summer contests, the company said.

In the first leg of competition, the top 10 male and female performers of June claimed the first 20 Flirt Summit rooms. This included 2022 breakout star Ella Claire, who took first place among Flirts cam girls, and gay porn legend Adam Killain, who dominated a field of cam guys.

With 20 more Thailand packages on the line in July, traffic on the site reached its apex. Bubbly, beloved camgirl Maye Daye and long-time cam star Beckalynn Hue joined the winners circle among the girls, while BelAmis top dog Paul Morisette and gay cam heartthrob Ken Zaenz added their names to the guest book.

With the July winners finalized, Flirt4Free combined the rest of their roster and awarded another set of 10 exclusive Flirt Summit stays to the next top 10 models, regardless of gender. Finally, in an August 5th Twitter video, Carlos Diazthe networks Model Training Coordinatorand staff drew the names of 10 more winners, chosen at random.

Then, just when dozens of talented cam models were about to put their Summit dreams on hold for another year, Diaz was handed one final envelope. You guys  I am so excited right now. We have never done this before. Were going to give out two more rooms during a Twitter contest, he declared.

Remaining Summit hopefuls were instructed to state their case in a Twitter video. The submissions with the most combined likes and retweets would be reviewed by a panel of judges for creativity, quality, and fun-factor. Tweets poured in between August 5th and September 5th. On the afternoon of September 6th, Flirt4Free revealed the names of the first-ever #SendMeToSummit Winners: Belle Russeau and Dylan Greene. See their winning tweets on the official #SendMeToSummit page.

When it comes down to it, so many of our models deserve to go to Flirt Summit, regardless of whether or not they win the contests, said David Aguilar, F4F CEO. SendMeToSummit was a great way to get the fans involved in supporting their favorites via Social Media. Were so excited to add these two incredibly engaging performers to our list of attendees.

Follow @Flirt Summit on Twitter for the latest event info. Models interested in joining the Flirt4Free roster can apply here. Affiliates looking to promote their network can click here.
Mackenzie Scotts giving streak is still going strong. Last week, the billionaire and aggressive philanthropist casually donated two of her luxe Beverly Hills mansions to charitable causes over the summer.

The California Foundation has announced that the ex-wife of the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos donated two single family residences back in July with a combined estimated value of $55 million. The nonprofit has confirmed that 90 percent of the funds from the home sale will go towards creating affordable housing grants, with the remaining 10 percent allocated to establishing an immigrant integration program in Los Angeles.

More from Robb Report

We applaud and are grateful to MacKenzie Scotts extraordinary philanthropic investment in Los Angeles. Her singular commitmenthere and across the countryto transformative philanthropy has already secured the long-term future of dozens of nonprofits. With the California Community Foundation, her generosity will support organizations struggling to solve some of our communitys most intractable issues, said CCF President & CEO Antonia Hernandez in a press statement.

The Beverly Hills properties, located near Coldwater Canyon Park on North Alpine Drive, were purchased by the former couple before their well-publicizedthe first house was acquired for $24.45 million in 2007 while they bought the second for $12.9 million in an off-market deal in 2017. The first home is a 12,000-square-foot Spanish-style villa with seven bedrooms, bathrooms, and a host of amenities, including a swimming pool and a six-car garage. The second is a 4,500-square-foot ranch-style property.

The first home is a Spanish-style villa spanning 12,000 square-feet. - Credit: DreamHomesMagazine

DreamHomesMagazine

This is the second time Scott has donated to the organization, giving the nonprofit $20 million last year to create the LA Arts Endowment Fund. Back in 2020, the philanthropist donated millions to historically Black universities and colleges and several nonprofits aimed at providing resources to marginalized communities following the divorce. As a result, Scott became one of the worlds wealthiest women after receiving a 4 percent stake in Amazon as a part of her settlement.

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Earlier this year, Scott shared in a blog post that her combined donations have totaled almost $3.9 billion across 465 nonprofits over the last nine months bringing the total to more than $12 billion.

Now, we just wish that more philanthropists would follow her lead.

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.
TOPSHOT - A woman stands in front of a destroyed church in Izium, Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, on September 11, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. - Ukraine said on Sptember 11, 2022, that its forces were pushing back Russia's military from strategic holdouts in the east of the country after Moscow announced a retreat from Kyiv's sweeping counter-offensive. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP) (Photo by JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images)

JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty

Following the liberation of many areas in the northeast region of Ukraine, the country has begun a slow and steady recovery.

One of the cities to be liberated was Izium, located southeast of Kharkiv, which was regained by Ukrainian troops on Saturday. On Tuesday, CNN released an account of how the city now looks and what the residents have to say about the invasion.

According to the outlet, Izium is in the process of making the area safer for residents by eliminating hazardous threats like mines and traps. They are simultaneously suffering from a lack of phone service, a tactic commonly used by the Russians to stop the spread of information, per CNN.

As for what the Russians left behind, burned-out tanks, debris of shelling and "piles of ammunition" were found in the city. Distant sounds of shelling can still be heard from nearby battle zones.

RELATED: Ukraine Regains Power Over Key City, Suggesting a Turning Point in the War

A bike rider stands in front of a view of the city of Izium in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, on September 11, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. - Ukraine said on Sptember 11, 2022, that its forces were pushing back Russia's military from strategic holdouts in the east of the country after Moscow announced a retreat from Kyiv's sweeping counter-offensive. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP) (Photo by JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images)

JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty

"We prayed to God to be liberated without a fight and without blood," a local, named Valeriy, told the outlet. "And so it happened." Valeriy and his wife added that the victory felt like "balm for the soul."

The interviewees were not the only residents around the city. According to CNN, locals would occasionally leave their homes, wave to the camera crew and shake hands with soldiers they encountered.

For the residents, they got to see how the Russian troops had been living for almost six months since their March takeover. "They lived like pigs," Valeriy said. "We entered one house  and pigs live better."

RELATED: Ukrainian Flags Adorn the Kennedy Family Compound as Kerry Welcomes Nation's Former First Lady

Valeriy also shared what it was like living next to the Russian troops, and how he tried to change the minds of the Russian officers by refuting President Vladimir Putin's justification for the invasion.

"I told them they destroyed a man's house, and he was from the Kursk region (of Russia)," he told the outlet. "Everyone here has relatives in Belgorod (in Russia) and other cities."

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After a few conversations, CNN reported, Russian reconnaissance forces asked him, "Who have we come to liberate here?"

RELATED VIDEO: Life Goes On in Kyiv, Where Residents Are Resuming Normal Activities amid Ongoing Russian Threat

On Saturday, Ukrainian forces regained control over Izium, pointing to a possible major turning point in the Russian invasion of the country, The New York Times reported.

"Izium was liberated today," Valeriy Marchenko, the city's mayor, said in an interview, per the Times. Marchenko also noted that the police and emergency services were working to clear the region so that residents could return.

"Russians escaped and left weapons and ammo behind," a spokesperson for the Bohun Brigade of the Land Forces of Ukraine said in a statement, per CNN. "City center is free."

RELATED: Ukrainian Independence Day Arrives 6 Months into Russia's Attempt to Strip the Country of Sovereignty

The news was then confirmed by Russia's Ministry of Defense who stated that Russian forces had pulled its forces out of the city. In the statement, however, they claimed the withdrawal is part of a preplanned attempt to strengthen their control in the east.

Izium, an important railway hub in the country, was first seized by Russia five months ago in the beginning of the war, CNN reported.

"Yesterday evening, Russians put a white flag nearby the railway station," a Ukrainian officer who participated in the liberation of Izium told the Times.

A few days earlier, Ukranian troops regained control of the town of Kupiansk, 30 miles to the north of Izium, the outlet reported.

Sharing the good news on Telegram, Ukraine's Security Service posted photos showing members of the special forces in Kupiansk. "We will free our land to the last centimeter!" the caption read. "Let's go further! Glory to Ukraine!"

RELATED: Russia Has Suffered More than 75,000 Casualties in Ukraine War So Far, U.S. Reportedly Estimates

Zelensky and Putin

getty Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L); Vladimir Putin

According to an address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday night, Ukrainian forces have liberated more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region, The Guardian reported.

"Actions to check and secure the territory continue," he said in the address, per the Times. "We are gradually taking control of new settlements."

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 Tuesday, newly declassified intelligence from the American government revealed Russia is purchasing "millions" of artillery shells, rockets and ammunition from North Korea.

"We do have indications that Russia has approached North Korea to request ammunition," said Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder in a press conference at the White House.

Ryder continued, "I'm not able to provide any more detail than that at this point in time, but it does demonstrate and is indicative of the situation that Russia finds itself in terms of its logistics and sustainment capabilities as it relates to Ukraine."

The Russian attack on Ukraine is an evolving story, with information changing quickly. Follow PEOPLE's complete coverage of the war here, including stories from citizens on the ground and ways to help.
UPDATE: On Tuesday Caddo Parish Schools provided a statement on the substitute teacher that was arrested Sept. 12.

"The Caddo Parish School Board expects employees to conduct themselves professionally and in the interest of students at all times. Following an incident in August, an employee was believed to have acted inappropriately. The district immediately removed her from her duties and the principal of the school reported the incident to law enforcement. Throughout the investigation, the district and school have fully cooperated with law enforcement."

ORIGINAL: A northwest Louisiana substitute teacher has been arrested for allegedly encouraging students to commit bullying through battery.

Aadrina Smith, 24, was working at North Caddo Elementary School on Aug. 23 as the physical education substitute when she allegedly offered to pay five different students five dollars each to tackle their classmate.

Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office was able to locate video of the incident that showed Smith verbally communicating with the students and appeared to congratulate three who participated in the battery.

Smith sat on the bleachers while the victim lay on the gym floor, she never asked the victim if they needed help and did not report the incident.

On Sept. 12, Smith was booked into the Caddo Correctional Center on fives counts of contributing to the delinquency of juveniles and malfeasance in office.

This incident is under investigation and more arrests are pending.

Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Northwest Louisiana substitute teacher arrested for encouraging bullying
Fans of Pedro Almodovar will have to keep waiting for his first English-language feature. The Oscar winner was set to switch languages when he directed A Manual for Cleaning Women, an adaptation of Lucia Berlins short-story collection starring Cate Blanchett. But Almodovar, who is currently finishing a new Western short starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke, has exited the project.

Deadline broke the news. Blanchetts Dirty Films is still attached to produce the independent project with New Republic Pictures. IndieWire placed a call to Almodovars representative, which was not returned at press time.

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Almodovar has been talking about this project for years, first discussing it with IndieWire in 2019 as five short tales by one American writer that take place in Texas, Oakland, and Mexico, with a mixture of English and Spanish. (In his 2019 semi-autobiographical drama Pain and Glory, the films main character is seen reading the book.)

Its a wonderful book, Almodovar said to IndieWire in 2020. [Berlin is] not that different from Alice Munro. She was an alcoholic and married to a junkie. A very complicated woman. Of course I feel less confident with this story, but I dont feel very scared. This is a real whim for me.

Earlier this year, he told IndieWires Eric Kohn: Were going to make this movie. The way the main character behaves is very close to my heroines. So thats why I decided to do it. I dont know about American society, the small details of everyday life. Thats why I said no to the rest.

Now, Almodovar told Deadline: It has been a very painful decision for me. I have dreamt of working with Cate for such a long time. Dirty Films has been so generous with me this whole time and I was blinded by excitement, but unfortunately, I no longer feel able to fully realize this film.

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Blanchett was announced as the projects star and producer early this year, but it appears that she remains committed to the film. We have the utmost respect for Pedro and his extraordinary body of work, and while the stars may not have aligned this time, we hope to collaborate with Pedro and El Deseo on another project in the future, Blanchett and her producing partners Andrew Upton and Coco Francini said in a statement. Dirty Films passion for A Manual for Cleaning Women and Lucia Berlins unique and searing voice  full of danger, joyousness and loss  has not dimmed, and we are excited to continue this project with our partners at New Republic.

This is not the first time that Almodovar has backed away from an English-language film. At various times, he was attached to direct Sister Act and Brokeback Mountain. The filmmaker is now in production on Strange Way of Life starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal as a pair of middle-aged gunslingers at the center of a 30-minute Western.

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The post R.I.P. Jean-Luc Godard, Groundbreaking New Wave Director Dead of Assisted Suicide at 91 appeared first on Consequence.

Fin de cinema: Jean-Luc Godard, the influential New Wave director whose 60+ films expanded the vocabulary of cinema, has died at the age of 91. Liberation reports that he chose assisted suicide in Switzerland, where the practice is authorized.

He wasnt sick, he was just exhausted, his wife Anne-Marie Mieville confirmed in a statement. It was his decision and it was important for him that it be known.

Godard had been publicly reflecting on assisted suicide since at least 2014. Im not anxious to continue with any force. If Im too sick, I dont want to be dragged in a wheelbarrow, he said, adding that for now making the choice for assisted suicide is still very difficult.

He hinted that he saw his lifes work as nearly completed last year. Im finishing my movie life  yes, my moviemakers life  by doing two scripts, he told The Film Stage. After, I will say, Goodbye, cinema.

Born in Paris, France in 1930, Godard started out as a critic at the influential magazine Cahiers du Cinema, where he argued that French filmmaking had grown formulaic and stale. He put his ideas into motion in 1960 with Breathless (A bout de souffle), which drew on American film noir traditions while also pioneering the stylish, unconventional approach that came to be described as French New Wave.

He is often credited with popularizing the jump cut, in which a sequential shot is broken into two parts, and which before Breathless had a reputation as an amateurs mistake. But Godard unlocked the abrupt edits storytelling potential, using it to reveal a subjective experience and to force the audience to reflect on the passage of time.

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Godard continued to experiment in the New Wave style through the end of the 1960s, in the process creating now-classic film such as Bande a part (1964), which inspired the name of Quentin Tarantinos production company, A Band Apart; Pierrot le Fou (1965); and Week-end (1967), which included a revolutionary eight-minute shot of a couple stuck in traffic, and which ended with the words FIN DE CINEMA, a playful phrasing that simultaneously expressed the end of the movie while suggesting the obliteration of all of cinema.

He followed his New Wave period with more than a decade of revolutionary filmmaking, exploring the Vietnam War, colonialism, and his Marxist beliefs. In the 1970s he moved to Switzerland, and beginning in the 1980s, Godard turned to more autobiographical themes while maintaining a prolific work pace. His final feature film, the cinematic essay The Image Book, came out in 2018.

His passing was mourned on social media. RIP Jean-Luc Godard, one of the most influential, iconoclastic film-makers of them all, Edgar Wright wrote in a statement. It was ironic that he himself revered the Hollywood studio film-making system, as perhaps no other director inspired as many people to just pick up a camera and start shooting

Thank you monsieur Godard for expanding the boundaries of the cinema, Antonio Banderas wrote on Twitter. Check out more tributes below.

Thank you monsieur Godard for expanding the boundaries of the cinema. Gracias Jean-Luc Godard por ampliar los confines del lenguaje cinematografico. RIP #JeanLucGodard #NouvelleVague #filmmaker  pic.twitter.com/YuAJ6wiBqo  Antonio Banderas (@antoniobanderas) September 13, 2022

Adieu, Jean-Luc Godard. I watched Breathless for the umpteenth time again just two weeks ago. It still leaps off the screen like few movies. That scene between them in the hotel: how many other directors could have managed that in so small a space and made it so captivating?  Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) September 13, 2022

Goodbye Jean-Luc Godard. He changed the form of cinema like Bob Dylan changed the form of music. pic.twitter.com/PDXr4SNqjg  N O S   I       O  S (@scottderrickson) September 13, 2022

R.I.P. Jean-Luc Godard, Groundbreaking New Wave Director Dead of Assisted Suicide at 91

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On 8 November, 2016, law enforcement officers in San Francisco took a DNA sample from a rape survivor as part of their investigation into her sexual assault case.

Five years later, police arrested the same woman  identified as Jane Doe in a federal lawsuit  after her DNA sample allegedly matched a sample taken from an unrelated burglary.

The woman never gave consent for her DNA to be used to investigate any crimes other than the one she reported, but her sample was shared with a database that tested her sample against hundreds if not thousands of other crime scenes, according to the lawsuit she is now bringing.

On 12 September, following outrage from criminal justice advocates and other officials, the survivor sued the city and law enforcement agencies involved with her case and the charges against her, alleging their malicious, wanton, oppressive and reckless disregard for her safety in violation of her civil rights.

Her DNA was likely tested in thousands of criminal investigations, though the police had absolutely no reason to believe that she was involved in any of the incidents, according to the lawsuit.

Earlier this year, the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco approved an ordinance that prohibits local law enforcement from identifying suspects by using DNA obtained during a rape investigation.

State lawmakers in California also passed legislation that would ban all law enforcement agencies in the state from using those samples for any reason other than their respective rape investigations. Governor Gavin Newsom has not yet signed it into law.

Federal law already prohibits DNA from rape survivors from entering the nationwide Combined DNA Index System, or Codis, a national database maintained by the FBI that allows law enforcement agencies to compare DNA information.

But each state has their own rules for collecting, handling and maintaining such samples, leaving a patchwork of state and local laws governing the administration of local DNA databases.

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Earlier this year, the San Francisco Police Commission grilled officials to determine how, exactly, the rape survivors DNA sample ended up in its database used to identify potential criminal suspects.

This was a horrendous mistake, Police Chief William Scott said in March. Its been corrected. Policies have been put in place for this to not happen again.

On 15 February, San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin addresses the citys police departments use of logging DNA evidence from rape kits into a database used to report evidence in other crimes (Getty Images)

DNA samples from crime victims in San Francisco are reported to a quality assurance database, which includes thousands of samples  from evidence collected at crime scenes to DNA from Sexual Assault Evidence Kits, commonly known as rape kits, according to crime lab director Mark Powell, who is among the defendants in the survivors lawsuit.

Earlier this year, Mr Powell explained to commissioners that the citys police department works with the quality assurance database and Codis. The lab does not upload DNA samples from rape survivors to Codis, he said.

But when the lab ran a DNA sample collected from the scene of an alleged burglary through both databases, there was a hit for a match with a rape survivor.

There was a piece of the evidence that was gathered from the scene and it was run through the system, and she appeared in both the quality assurance database from her sexual assault kit, as well as the Codis database from her prior arrests, Investigations Bureau captain Sean Perdomo told commissioners.

Mr Perdomo told commissioners he had discovered that police used 17 DNA profiles from crime victims  including 11 from rape survivors  to identify suspects in unrelated crimes.

Attorneys Adante Pointer, left, and Patrick Buelna represent the rape survivor in a federal lawsuit against San Francisco (AP)

The lawsuit alleges that this policy and/or practice means that once a crime victims DNA was taken by [law enforcement], it would be tested for a match against DNA taken from every subsequent crime scene in which genetic material was recovered, regardless of whether it had any relation to the crime suffered by the victim.

In December 2021, a detective sent a forensic report to Sylvia Lange, a San Francisco sergeant who is also named in the lawsuit, and indicated that the DNA allegedly taken from the crime scene matched the DNA sample from the survivor that was taken in 2016, according to the lawsuit.

Ms Lange sought and received an arrest warrant relying on probable cause largely from the alleged DNA match, the lawsuit alleges.

While all charges stemming from this incident against [the plaintiff] were eventually dropped, the appalling, exploitative, and unconstitutional nature of [the] practice cannot be ignored, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that the ordeal constitutes federal civil rights violations under the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, and that the plaintiff suffered injuries, emotional distress, fear, terror, anxiety, and loss of sense of security, dignity, and pride as United States Citizen.

Each test of crime scene DNA against the survivors DNA in the quality assurance database amounts to an unlawful search that the plaintiff never consented to, the lawsuit claims.

A spokesperson for San Francisco city attorney David Chiu said in a statement that the city is committed to ensuring all victims of crime feel comfortable reporting issues to law enforcement and has taken steps to safeguard victim information.

The case has raised questions about how authorities use DNA taken from rape survivors (AP)

The case has magnified obstacles across the US for rape survivors seeking justice through a criminal justice system that has struggled to manage a growing backlogs of untested rape kits.

Those backlogs typically refer to evidence that arrived at a crime lab that was never tested  sample collections that have outpaced the resources to test and profile them  as well as evidence that was never sent to a lab at all, a so-called hidden backlog.

There are nearly 14,000 untested rape kits in California alone, according to the Joyful Heart Foundations End the Backlog project.

According to the World Health Organization, 35 per cent of women across the globe, or roughly one-third of the worlds population, are survivors of sexual violence.

RAINN, the nations largest anti-sexual violence organisation, estimates that less than one-third of sexual assaults in the US are reported to police, and fewer than 1 per cent of offenders are convicted.

An analysis from nonprofit health policy organisation KFF also found that 66 per cent of women with health insurance who received a rape kit after a sexual assault faced out-of-pocket charges for these services, spending an average of $347, adding additional barriers for survivors.

In February, the citys then-District Attorney Chesa Boudin  whose office refused to prosecute the alleged robbery case and has dropped the charges against the survivor  suggested that the misapplication of DNA samples in the latest case could prevent people from coming forward and cooperating with law enforcement and prosecutors in other cases.

Its already hard enough for sexual assault survivors to make the decision to come forward, report a crime, and undergo an invasive rape kit exam at the hospital, state Senator Scott Wiener said in a statement following passage of the California bill.

The last thing we need is to send a message to survivors that if they come forward, their DNA sample may be used against them in the future, he said.

The National Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24 hours a day by calling 1-800-656-HOPE or online at online.rainn.org

You can contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline by calling 0808 802 9999. The helpline is open from 12pm-2.30pm and 7pm-9.30pm daily.
In a recording career together of over 35 years, the Bee Gees didnt just epitomise a number of different eras and genres, they helped create some of them. When they arrived at their 20th studio album  including the two they made before their international breakthrough of 1967  they decided that the way forward was to embrace the modern sound, but also to remember a time before Saturday Night Fever. Hence the release, on September 13, 1993, of Size Isnt Everything.

A classic, free-ranging feel

While the Saturday Night Fever-inspired disco explosion of the 70s transmuted into other styles of dance music in subsequent years, Bee Gees retained a club-friendly sound on many of their later albums. That was especially so on much of 1991s High Civilization, but as they set about a fairly swift sequel for this return to Polydor Records, the Gibb brothers wanted their songs to regain more of a classic, free-ranging feel.

Synthesizers and programming were still the sound of the day, but now there were elements of rock, on an album employing two lead guitarists in Alan Kendall and Tim Cansfield. The Gibbs unrivalled pop instincts were to the fore throughout Size Isnt Everything; also on board, in sessions at Middle Ear in Miami Beach, were the much-travelled George Chocolate Perry on bass and Luis Jardim on percussion. In a 14-month recording span, 16 tracks were recorded, pared down to 11 for the finished album.

Bee Gees go jack-swing

While Barry and Robin carried most of the lead vocal duties as usual, Maurice had the opportunity to shine on one of Size Isnt Everythings most engaging tracks, Omega Man. He also shared the mic with Barry on the upbeat, poppy Above And Beyond. The classic three-part harmonies were especially notable on Blue Island, a delightfully pared-down piece on which the electronics were replaced by a strumming feel and the harmonica of Gustav Lezcano.

But it was Barry to the fore on the first single Paying The Price Of Love, which preceded the album in August and was produced, like the whole record, by the brothers with Femi Jiya. The song became a Top 30 hit in the UK and on the Billboard Adult Contemporary listing, and a chart item in many European countries. Here, the contemporary dance sound was such that Billboard proclaimed in its review: The day has finally come. The Bee Gees have gone jack-swing.

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The tolling of a nostalgic bell

In September, the brothers played at the Hurricane Relief concert at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami. Then in November, they topped the bill at the 65th Royal Variety Performance at Londons Dominion Theatre, which also featured enduring 60s stars Cilla Black and Lulu as well as the cast of a revival of the musical so intrinsically linked to the Gibbs, Grease. Bee Gees played career hits such as Massachusetts and You Should Be Dancing as well as a second release from Size Isnt Everything. It became, for many, its most enduring track.

For Whom The Bell Tolls saw vocals shared by Barry and Robin, whose yearningly distinctive tones gave the song a nostalgic feel that helped take it to an impressive No.4 in the UK, during a six-week run in the Top 10. Across on the album chart, it was the time of Meat Loafs Bat Out Of Hell II, Phil Collins Both Sides, and Elton Johns Duets, but Size Isnt Everything held its own in Bee Gees homeland, going to No.2 on the Australian charts.

For Whom The Bell Tolls gave the Bee Gees the distinction of scoring Top 5 hits in the UK in four consecutive decades, over a 26-year period since the first, Massachusetts, in October 1967. A third single from Size Isnt Everything, the gentle synth- and saxophone-filled How To Fall In Love, Part 1, was a further Top 30 UK entry.

Listen to the best of the Bee Gees on Apple Music and Spotify.

Barry Gibb was in pugnacious mood when, at the time of the albums slightly later November 2 release in the US, he told Billboard: We are not going to go down remembered as a group from the 70s. Added Robin: In the past decade we have had to deal with people saying, Why dont you do an album of one kind of music, aim at this market, or those demographics, and we are pretty sick and tired of demographics.

We come from an era that was diverse [musically], continued Gibb. Our heroes were The Beatles. Everything they did was different. We took a page from that book going back to our first album. And we wanted variety on this album. We didnt want to do one kind of music.

Buy or stream Size Isnt Everything.

For the latest music news and exclusive features, check out uDiscover Music.

uDiscover Music is operated by Universal Music Group (UMG). Some recording artists included in uDiscover Music articles are affiliated with UMG.
Vladimir Putin

Sergei Guneyev/TASS/Getty Russian President Vladimir Putin

A new statement from the State Department revealed Russia has spent more than $300 million since 2014 trying to influence politics around the world, The Washington Post reported.

According to a cable signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, the money was given to more than two dozen countries.

Though the specific names of the countries were not given, the statement detailed that the millions were put forward to "support policies and parties sympathetic to Moscow."

The State Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

RELATED: Russia in Talks to Buy Artillery and Ammunition from North Korea, Suggesting That Putin May Be Struggling

Speaking to The Washington Post, a senior administration official recognized Russian influence in recent elections in Albania, Bosnia and Montenegro. As for Russian's involvement in Ukraine  a country Russia invaded in February  the official declined to share details.

According to the State Department, Russia's influence involved using front organizations to funnel money to preferred causes or politicians, per the Post. Among the organizations are think tanks in Europe and state-owned businesses in Central America, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

RELATED: Ukraine Regains Power Over Key City, Suggesting a Turning Point in the War

Tuesday's information drop is the newest in the pattern from the Biden administration of bringing previously classified documents to light. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the administration has made multiple changes to a classified directive that dedicates what U.S. agencies are supposed to share with Ukraine, the Associated Press reported.

"We are intensely sharing timely intelligence with the Ukrainians to help them defend themselves throughout their country, including in areas held by Russia before the 2022 invasion," an official told AP.

Another official said the administration was "providing detailed, timely intelligence to the Ukrainians on a range of fronts."

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protests against the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

JORGE GUERRERO/AFP via Getty

Last Tuesday, newly declassified intelligence from the American government revealed Russia is purchasing "millions" of artillery shells, rockets and ammunition from North Korea.

"We do have indications that Russia has approached North Korea to request ammunition," said Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder in a press conference at the White House.

Ryder continued, "I'm not able to provide any more detail than that at this point in time, but it does demonstrate and is indicative of the situation that Russia finds itself in terms of its logistics and sustainment capabilities as it relates to Ukraine."

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.

Tuesday's news is the first outcome supporting the idea that sanctions are making a dent in the country since Russia launched its forces in a large-scale invasion on Feb. 24.

Broad economic sanctions, which were also imposed on Russia, have not affected the country as expected. Due to the invasion, energy prices have filled its treasury and strengthened its economy, the Times reported.

In addition, sanctions against individual Russian oligarchs have also been unsuccessful in taming Putin.

RELATED: Vladimir Putin's Rumored Girlfriend, Former Olympic Gymnast Alina Kabaeva, Sanctioned by U.S.

With NATO forces massing in the region around Ukraine, various countries have also pledged aid or military support to the resistance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for peace talks  so far unsuccessfully  while urging his country to fight back.

Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the best security interests of his country. Zelenskyy vowed not to bend.

"Nobody is going to break us, we're strong, we're Ukrainians," he told the European Union in a speech during the early days of the fighting, adding, "Life will win over death. And light will win over darkness."

The Russian attack on Ukraine is an evolving story, with information changing quickly. Follow PEOPLE's complete coverage of the war here, including stories from citizens on the ground and ways to help.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be invited to Queen Elizabeths funeral, according to multiple reports.

The Russian leader will be excluded from the ceremony due to the countrys ongoing invasion of Ukraine, CNN reported, citing a senior official in the British government.

Reuters reports that the U.K. hasnt invited any representatives from Russia, Myanmar or Belarus  a key ally of the Kremlin  to the funeral next Monday.

The U.K. has vehemently opposed the ongoing assault against Ukraine, imposing strict sanctions and targeting key figures in the Russian government with links to Putin and his allies. Myanmar has also been subject to harsh sanctions over its treatment of the Rohingya ethnic minority group.

The Kremlin had already said Putin wouldnt attend the ceremony, although a spokesperson said the people of Russia had respect for the queen and her wisdom.

For many decades Elizabeth II rightfully enjoyed her subjects love and respect as well as authority on the world stage, Putin said in a statement after the queens death last week.

Some 500 foreign dignitaries, including a number of world leaders, are expected to be in London for the funeral, although a guest list has not been made public. U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are expected to attend, as are the prime ministers of Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

The queen, the longest-reigning monarch in British history, died last Thursday at the age of 96. King Charles, her eldest son, now leads the monarchy.

The British government is in the midst of an intricate, 10-day period of mourning after her death, part of a scrupulously planned occasion known as Operation London Bridge.

Elizabeths funeral is scheduled to be held Monday at Londons Westminster Abbey at 11 a.m. local time.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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A new four-year contract between the WGA and Audacy, formerly CBS Radio, has been ratified unanimously by the 57 members employed under it. The guilds new agreement with the countrys second-largest radio company coverers WGA members employed at radio stations KNX Los Angeles, WCBS New York City and WBBM Chicago.

The agreement calls for annual wage increases, starting with a 3% raise for most employees that is retroactive to April 6. It also includes improved vacation benefits, higher fees for acting editors at WBBM, improved diversity and inclusion language and digital training.

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Audacy needs the talent and hard work of our members to craft audio content, said WGA East executive director Lowell Peterson. This agreement underscores that the foundation of our power as a union is our members  their engagement and solidarity.

We are proud of the agreement we were able to present to our fellow guild members at Audacy for ratification, and we are happy to see that they agreed, the unions bargaining committee said in a statement. This was by no means an easy negotiation. We faced a difficult challenge in ensuring Audacy would make sufficient contributions for our pension, and this was critical to our members. Thanks to member solidarity, we were able to secure the future of our pension, amongst many other gains that will benefit us. We thank our fellow members for their support, because we would not have won this agreement without everyone standing together.

According to the guild, highlights of the contract include:

 Newswriters, editors, promo writers and grandfathered WCBS desk assistants (in the WGA pension) will receive annual increases in each year of the contract between 2% and 3%.

 WBBM associate producers (not in the WGA pension) will receive an hourly salary increase of up to $16.90 for employees who have been working at the company for more than five years.

 Effective April 1, 2023, WBBM acting editor fee increases to $3.50 per hour.

 Vacation time increase to three weeks after three years and four weeks after 10 years.

 Improved Diversity Committee language addresses training and funding for diversity initiatives.

 The company will provide digital training, including web production and podcasting.

 The company agrees to meet to discuss editorial standards at WBBM.

 The company may provide commuting reimbursements for work during overnight shifts, or inclement weather, or breaking news assignments.

 The company will meet to discuss hazard pay in the event of a health or safety emergency.

 Employees may use a floating holiday for Juneteenth.

Story continues

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It used to be a real schlep to get your hands on Woodinville Whiskeys Moscatel Finished Straight Bourbon. But the Washington State distillery just made it a lot easier to procure.

Woodinville Whiskey became first to give a bourbon a secondary maturation in casks previously filled with the sweet, fortified wine from Portugal called Moscatel de Sebutal. However, the special edition was only available to people who ventured to the distillery in the Seattle suburb of Woodinville. Thats all changed, as the bourbon has been expanded to 23 additional markets and can be found alongside the flagship expressions from this excellent craft operation.

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You could argue that Woodinville Whiskey is not really craft anymore since it was acquired by wine and spirits giant Moet Hennessy in 2017, but the ethos, production and mission remain true to the founders original vision. Except, of course, now theres a lot more money behind distribution, as underscored by this particular expansion news. The Moscatel Finished Bourbon is the distillerys flagship straight bourbon that has been put into 10-year-old, 200-gallon Moscatel casks. As far as the claim about Woodinvilles bourbon being the first to undergo this type of finish maybe not. It appears there was a High West American Prairie Bourbon that was also finished in Moscatel casks as part of the distillerys Barrel Program, a limited-edition release for Blackwells Wines and Spirits. There was also a rye whiskey from Sagamore Spirit, but thats a different category. Regardless, this was one of the first, if not the first.

We were able to obtain just 18 of these barrels that had aged the Moscatel for over 10 years, which is a bit like finding a unicorn as most Moscatel is aged for just two years, Woodinville Whiskey managing director & co-founder Orlin Sorensen told Robb Report. Further, they come from the Setubal region, a small area of Portugal that is renowned for making this style of Moscatel. When we first tasted the product that came from these barrels we knew it was going to integrate beautifully with our flagship bourbon, which it did, but even then exceeded our expectations. We typically limit our special releases to the distillery only, and while we only have a very limited amount it is so special that we wanted to share with all of our markets throughout the country.

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The bourbon is very good, with amplified notes of dried fruit and spice from the cask finish that complement the bourbons intrinsic vanilla, caramel and dark espresso character. This is a cask finish that has not gone overboard and does not overpower the core identity of the bourbon. With releases like this, as well as the core lineup, Woodinville is a distillery that is ready for its closeup and should be counted among the best of newer American bourbons that are made outside of Kentucky.

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Police fatally shot a Michigan man after he allegedly killed his wife and dog, and wounded his daughter, according to law enforcement officials.

Police responded to a call around 4 a.m. Sunday from a woman who had allegedly been shot by her dad, whom police identified as 53-year-old Igor Lanis, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said.

After officers arrived at the home, they heard gunshots and began to approach the residence when the suspect emerged from the front door and began firing at them with a shotgun, police said.

3 children dead after being found on beach at Coney Island, mother questioned: Police

A Walled Lake police officer and an Oakland County Sheriff's deputy returned fire, striking and killing Lanis, according to authorities.

Officers said they saw the 25-year-old woman who called 911 at the front door "attempting to crawl from the home" before dragging her to safety, authorities said.

"She stated that her dad shot her and her mother," the sheriff's office wrote. "She was transported to an area hospital and rushed into emergency surgery."

"Currently, the daughter has been stabilized, but obviously she has super traumatic injuries from a shotgun blast to her back and legs," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said during a news conference Monday.

Law enforcement officials searched the home and discovered the body of a 56-year-old woman who had been "shot multiple times in the back, and it appears that she was also attempting to flee out of the front door," the sheriff's office said.

The family dog had also been "shot multiple times and killed," according to authorities.

The Oakland County Special Investigations Unit and the Walled Lake Police Department are conducting an investigation.

Michigan man fatally shot by police after allegedly killing wife and dog, wounding daughter originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Queen Elizabeth's death stirs debate about colonialism

National correspondent Rick Jervis reports. Plus, reporter Jeanine Santucci explains a USA TODAY analysis that found many U.S. prisons don't have adequate air conditioning, Ukraine's military makes progress with its counter-offensive, Congressional reporter Dylan Wells says some Democratic women are hoping the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision may help them in midterm elections and 'Entertain This' host Ralphie Aversa gives an Emmys recap.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here.

Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Tuesday, the 13th of September, 2022. Today, how the Queen's death has stirred a debate on British colonialism and its legacy, plus how many US prisons don't have adequate air conditioning, and more.

Here are some of the top headlines.

The Justice Department has issued dozens of subpoenas to former President Donald Trump's aides for information about the 2020 election and the January 6th Capitol attack. The subpoenas suggest the investigation is picking up pace. It's separate from the seizure of Trump administration documents from Mar-a-Lago. 49 Armenian soldiers have been killed in nighttime attacks by Azerbaijan, according to our Armenia's prime minister. Azerbaijan says it is retaliating against Armenian attacks. The two countries have been in conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region for decades. Azerbaijan reclaimed large parts of the region in 2020 during a war that killed more than 6,000 people. William Ruto will be inaugurated as Kenya's new president today. A number of people were crushed and injured as crowds moved into the stadium where the ceremony will take place. Ruto narrowly won the election last month.

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Queen Elizabeth II's death last week has stirred an already brewing debate surrounding colonialism, slavery, and British racism, and it's not likely to go away with the passing of the crown to a new monarch. National correspondent, Rick Jervis, reports.

Rick Jervis:

This was a really interesting week because there was a lot of outpouring of condolences and appreciation for the royal family this week with Queen Elizabeth's passing. But we also noticed quite a bit of criticizing of the royal family also and just people pointing out, both on social media and in op-eds, pointing out the royal family's long history attached to things like colonialism and its past ties to slavery. I spoke to a number of folks who wanted to point out some of these sort of connections with the royal family's ties to colonialism both in the Caribbean and in Africa. They wanted to talk about reparations, about possibly getting paid at some point for past slavery.

Back in March, Prince William and his wife, Kate, had this trip planned. It was a pretty important trip. It was part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, the basic celebration of her 70th year as a sovereign. It was the first trip that the couple took since the actual pandemic hit. So it was a pretty important trip people were really anticipating. But I think what really surprised a lot of folks is that as they took this trip through the Caribbean, and it was through Belize, Jamaica, Bahamas, and it was equivalent of a victory lap, they were just supposed to go and just meet with dignitaries and see the folks on those islands. But they were met almost at every turn with protests, with people bringing up select reparation payments, and with people writing open letters to them basically demanding an apology and an acknowledgement of past sins. It got so bad that, even at a couple of stops, they basically had to cancel those stops because there were significant protests there.

Prince William, at one of the dinners there, did actually acknowledge slavery and called it abhorrent and did actually acknowledge it and called it a past sin, but he never actually apologized for it. That was something that a lot of protests, a lot of organizers wanted. They basically wanted to hear him or someone from the actual royal family apologize for some of the past sins, and that hasn't happened. Prince William and even Prince Charles, now King Charles, have actually acknowledged that, basically acknowledged slavery. They both have stopped short of apologizing for it, and they haven't acknowledged any sort of reparations. But they have acknowledged slavery, and that's something which Queen Elizabeth never did, sticking to her long tradition of not offering personal opinions on specific matters. So she has never really given any kind of hint one way or another on this issue.

There have been allegations of racism within Buckingham Palace for decades obviously, for generations. One of the more higher profile instances came last year when Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, sat down for an interview with Oprah. In that interview, Meghan said that there was an unnamed person within the royal household which questioned whether her son would basically be, quote, "too dark to represent the UK." That obviously sent a lot of ripples throughout London. It basically prompted Prince William, Harry's brother, to basically respond later that the royal family was, "very much not a racist family." This allegation was one of the first times anything came from inside of Buckingham Palace hinting at any racism.

Also, last year in June of 2021, the Guardian newspaper found a trove of documents in the National Archives which they claim basically revealed how, in 1968, one of the Queen's advisors, it was a chief financial manager, basically informed civil servants that it wasn't their practice to appoint, "colored immigrants or foreigners to clerical roles." That also caused quite an uproar.

Taylor Wilson:

You can find a link to Rick's full story in today's episode description.



A USA TODAY analysis found that at least 44 states do not have fully air conditioned prisons, and climate change and an increase in heat waves are making conditions worse. National news reporter, Jeanine Santucci, has the details with producer, PJ Elliott.

Jeanine Santucci:

There is a very big growing problem that advocates are sounding the alarm on, which is that most US states don't universally air condition their prisons, meaning, that there are housing areas and other common areas within prisons that aren't air conditioned or climate controlled at all. As climate change is causing more and more high temperature records to be broken, which we saw this summer, which has been a trend which scientists expect is going to continue in summers to come, that's causing a real problem for the health and safety of both inmates and staff in prisons.

PJ Elliott:

How many states actually have air conditioned prisons? How big of a problem is this?

Jeanine Santucci:

It's a huge problem. People are surprised to hear that actually at least 44 US states don't universally air condition their prisons, at least, because a few states didn't get back to us. One state, Tennessee, was the only state that told us it has full air conditioning in all areas of its prisons. A handful of other states said that they either have nearly universal AC or they use a combination of air conditioning and other methods to cool all areas of their prisons. Then we're left with a very large portion of the country that either has very little air conditioning in its prisons, partial air conditioning, or two states that have none at all.

PJ Elliott:

How does this not fall under cruel and unusual punishment?

Jeanine Santucci:

Well, that's something that advocates argue it should fall under and it does. I spoke with David Fathi, who's the director of the ACLU's Prison Project, and he said that courts are more and more having to contend with that issue. Courts are finding that this is a violation of the Eighth Amendment which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. He says that states and state corrections departments have a responsibility to prisoners, to inmates to house them in humane conditions. Prisons don't have to be comfortable, but they do have to be livable.

PJ Elliott:

Jeanine, what can you tell us about how difficult it was doing this story?

Jeanine Santucci:

The review that we did for this project is the most comprehensive one out there. This information isn't tracked nationally because states control their own corrections departments. There's no national requirement for certain temperatures to be kept, and so this information just hasn't been tracked. So USA TODAY'S analysis is the most extensive review and data available out there about cooling systems in state-run prisons.



Taylor Wilson:

Ukraine's military offensive gained even more momentum yesterday. Ukraine regained more territory in the country's northeast, and forced overwhelmed Russian troops to retreat. A Russian-installed official in the Kharkiv region even said that Ukrainian forces outnumbered Russian troops eight to one and had broken through to the Russian border. Ukraine's military said it freed more than 20 settlements over a 24-hour period. The British Defense Ministry said Kyiv's forces have captured territory at least twice the size of greater London in recent days.

Officials from the Pentagon also commented on the counteroffensive yesterday, saying that success in the Kharkiv region comes down to Ukraine's tenacity, along with US weapons and Russian disarray. The US has signed off on more than $15 billion for Ukraine since President Joe Biden took office. US officials said yesterday that a major part of Western aid has been the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System supplied by the US. The Pentagon said they've been used to destroy Russian command posts, ammunition depots, and logistics hubs more than 40 miles behind the frontline. Pentagon officials also said that Ukrainian forces have made slight gains against Russian troops in the southern part of the country as well near Kherson.

Meanwhile, public dissent of the invasion is growing inside Russia. Ramzan Kadyrov, the Moscow-based leader of the region of Chechnya, and Boris Nadezhdin, a former parliament member, are publicly criticizing the war strategy. On Telegram, Kadyrov said that mistakes have been made, and Nadezhdin told Russian channel NTV that aides who convinced President Vladimir Putin that the military would be fast and effective got it wrong. He added, "We're now at the point where we have to understand that it's absolutely impossible to defeat Ukraine using these resources and colonial war methods."

Elsewhere, the UN nuclear watchdog agency said yesterday that Ukraine and Russia appear interested in creating a security protection zone around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and that talks are underway. Russia took over the facility during its invasion. But UN officials, on a trip there in recent weeks, said it was in serious danger as shelling continues in the area. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.

Rafael Grossi:

A commitment that no military action will include or will imply aiming, of course, at the plant or a radius that could be affecting its normal operation. This is what we expect.

Taylor Wilson:

For more from Ukraine, stay with our live updates page every day on USATODAY.com.



Some Democratic women are hoping that the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Roe v. Wade may fuel their path to the Senate in this fall's midterm elections even in traditionally Republican states. Congressional reporter, Dylan Wells, and producer, PJ Elliott, have more.

Dylan Wells:

In nearly half of the states that have Senate races on the ballot this November, Democrats have put forward women candidates. They were all in the race prior to the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. But since that big decision, a lot of them have leaned into abortion as a campaign issue, have been sharing their personal stories, and really holding events with a focus on abortion access. So I would say it's not so much they've chosen to run because of this abortion moment in our country, but because of it, they're really highlighting abortion as a way to reach more voters. They hope it will help them reach more Republicans and Independent voters who are pro-abortion in November and help them get over the finish line in some of these races.

PJ Elliott:

Dylan, in your story you wrote about there being this surge in new women voters. Can you talk more about that?

Dylan Wells:

One reason that Democrats feel like this is an important issue for them to be campaigning on and where they'll really have success of voters is because some of the states that have Senate races on the ballot this fall have seen a double digit surge in new women voters compared to new male voters since the Supreme Court released its decision in June. A big sign of success and optimism for those who are pro-abortion access was in Kansas where a ballot measure was struck down that would've further restricted abortion. Kansas has a Democratic governor but is more traditionally red. The Democratic firm, TargetSmart, has measured a 40% gender gap among new registrants of those turning out, registering to vote in Kansas since the Dobbs decision, which is obviously a pretty significant number and one of the reasons why candidates are employing this issue on the campaign trail.



Taylor Wilson:

2022 Emmys are in the books. Michael Keaton took the first award of the night for Hulu's Dopesick, giving one of the night's highlight reel speeches. Then later, one of the stars of ABC's breakout sitcom, Abbott Elementary, Sheryl Lee Ralph, won for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She was visibly shocked and sang Dianne Reeves's 1993 song, Endangered Species, as part of her speech. For more from TV's biggest night, here is USA TODAY Ralphie Aversa.

Ralphie Aversa:

Kenan Thompson hosted the show.

Kenan Thompson:

TV is all we have, from Netflix and chill to Paramount+ and eating dinner alone.

Ralphie Aversa:

Speaking of Netflix, Squid Game won three Emmys, and Lee Jung-jae became the first ever Asian to win Lead Actor in a Drama. And there were more firsts. Sheryl Lee Ralph won her first Emmy for ABC's Abbott Elementary. It was the 65-year-old actress's first nomination. She was moved to tears and song.

Sheryl Lee Ralph:

(singing) I am an endangered species!

Ralphie Aversa:

Tears of joy were cried by Lizzo as well, scoring her first Emmy for Amazon's Watch Out for the Big Grrrls. There were plenty of repeat winners too, like John Oliver. Seven consecutive wins for Last Week Tonight. Before the show, I asked Seth Meyers, also nominated for Best Variety Talk Series, if the other hosts had just stopped talking to John at this point.

Seth Meyers:

We would like to, but he's too charming. So it would be a personal cost to me.

Ralphie Aversa:

Jason Sudeikis and Jean Smart won acting Emmys for the second straight year, and Zendaya scored her second statuette for Euphoria. Ted Lasso also won Best Comedy for the second year in a row. Hannah Waddingham was just happy to be back at TV's biggest night.

Hannah Waddingham:

It's a massive privilege, and I can't believe I'm here again.

Ralphie Aversa:

So was Ben Stiller. He was nominated for his directing on the drama, Severance. They began filming in 2020 during the pandemic.

Ben Stiller:

It's necessary to stay safe, but we're getting the work done, and I think everybody's adapted.

Ralphie Aversa:

HBO's The White Lotus won five Emmys, including Best Limited Series. Jennifer Coolidge won Best Supporting Actress, and she might still be on stage if they didn't play her off. And Succession took home Best Drama ending the show with this awkward jab at another succession that took place across the pond.

Jesse Armstrong:

It's a big week for successions. New king in the UK, at least for us. Evidently a little bit more voting involved in our winning than Prince Charles.

Ralphie Aversa:

That was actually more awkward than us asking Nicholas Braun on the red carpet about his method acting. For more of our Emmy coverage, including a full list of winners, head to USATODAY.com/entertainment. Here at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles for USA TODAY'S Entertain This!, I'm Ralphie Aversa.

Taylor Wilson:

You can find full episodes of Entertain This! from the entertainment section on usatoday.com.

You can find 5 Things every morning, year-long right here wherever you're listening right now. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show, and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Queen's death stirs colonialism debate, Emmys moments: 5 Things podcast
Consider this Salsa 101.

Name a condiment better than salsa. We'll wait. Literally translating to "sauce" from Spanish, salsa is the source of top level flavor in so many Mexican dishes, and is essential to cooking across Central and South America. Typically made from tomatoes, alliums, and fresh herbs (like cilantro), salsa can vary widely in textures, tastes, and styles, which are interpreted and adapted regionally, oftentimes to pair well with the local cuisine. And though excellent jarred salsa isn't hard to come byit's a weeknight staple in so many recipesknowing how to make your own salsa is a delicious game changer.

"There are many ways of preparing salsas. Mexico is well known for its abundance of chillies and they don't always have to be spicy, Some of them will give a good amount of heat while others will give lots of flavor." says Billy Maldonado, Executive Chef at Fonico in Mexico City. "Playing and combining these two will give any recipe endless possibilities of flavor. I have found a profound love in researching and combining different types of chillies. Roasting, grilling, boiling, steaming, even fermenting chillies will provide a unique salsa."

Whether drizzled across tacos, piled high on a grilled fish, used as a dip for tortilla chips, or slathered on a tostada, these are some of the most common salsas you'll want a grasp on to start becoming a salsa aficionado.

What Is Salsa Macha?

Native to Veracruz and Oaxaca, this salsa is now popular in many regions of Mexico. Similar to Chinese chili crisps, salsa macha combines infused oil with crispy, crunchy elements for levels of spiciness ranging from a slight tongue tickle to a major kick. "Salsa macha is made mostly of dried chiles with nuts and seeds," says Asia Shabazz, Chef de Cuisine of New York's Bar Tulix, a contemporary Mexican restaurant." Salsa macha is typically enjoyed with meat, according to Shabazz, though it can be drizzled on any protein, starch, or veggies, like fried eggs, avocado, and cheese.

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:30 High-Protein Dinner Ideas

At Fonico, dried shrimps and tamarind paste give the house-made salsa macha seafood-like taste and "a touch of sweetness that comes from the tamarind," says Maldonado. "Any dried chilis will do for this preparation. I recommend mixing spicy chilis such as arbol, puya, chipotles, piquin chilis, and chiltepin with not-so-spicy ones but packed full of flavor, such as ancho chilies, pasilla, or guajillo. Any nuts will also do perfectly fine. Use the ones that you like the most. I personally love peanuts and sesame seeds. As for spices, a touch of star anise will elevate the preparation to a whole new level. Lemon juice or cider vinegar will give the acidity. A mixture of olive oil and canola oil is a good option."

Salsa macha recipes vary by region and chef, but the technique is what's most essential. Start with a neutral oil, like grapeseed, and heat it in a skillet. "For salsa macha, I recommend making sure your oil is at a good temperature," Shabazz notes. Then, you'll want to add dried chiles, like ancho and chiles de arbol, seeds removed. Add some chopped garlic, a crunchy element like peanuts or sunflower seeds, and top with sesame seeds. Once all is fragrant, let it cool and blend everything together. You'll get a tasty, infused paste that can be used to accentuate pretty much any dish. Store in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a month.

Though it's not quite salsa macha, take the essence of this recipe and make it herbaceous with Real Simple's fried herb salsa recipe.

What Is Salsa Verde?

"Salsa verde is a green salsa typically made from tomatillos, jalapenos, or serranos, onions, garlic, and lime juice," Shabazz explains. "This salsa can be made with raw or cooked ingredients, depending on the flavors you're looking for. It is incredibly versatile and adds so much fun to a dish." Commonly drizzled over fish, tacos, meats, or even eaten as a dip, there are endless ways you can make and enjoy salsa verde.

Whether you're going the raw, boiled, charred, or roasted route, Shabazz recommends "getting the freshest produce you can to get the most radiant salsa." You can also mix and match raw and cooked ingredientsuse roasted tomatillos for depth of flavor, but keep peppers and onions raw for their brightness. To make salsa verde, start with about a pound of fresh tomatillos, husked and washed (to remove any stickiness). Quarter the tomatillos and an onion. Dice several green chiles and garlic. Throw them all into a blender with a handful of cilantro. Or cook the ingredients first, either under a broiler on a roasting pan or on the stove top, adding fresh cilantro just before blending. Season with salt. You can also cook the salsa verde for a few minutes on the stove after blending the raw ingredients to add more depth and flavor.

:35 Taco Recipes So Good You'll Never Want to Make Anything Else

Avocado salsa verde, also called salsa de aguacate, is a variation on salsa verde using raw avocados for creaminess and sweetness. Add it to your favorite salsa verde recipe, plus a splash of water to loosen up the salsa. Spritz in the juice of half a lime to keep the bright green color and add a bit of acidic zest.

Try Real Simple's fresh tomatillo salsa recipe for a quick take on salsa verde or go for more smokiness with our blistered tomatillo salsa recipe.

What Is Salsa Roja?

"Salsa roja is a red salsa," Shabazz says. "Salsa roja typically contains tomato, chiles, onion, and garlic. It can be made with either cooked or raw ingredients." Perhaps the most common style of salsa in the United States (see: your supermarket's chips and dip section), salsa roja varies widely in spiciness, texture, and ingredients. Classically, salsa roja is paired with tacos, meat, fish, or on its own as a dip, Shabazz says. Salsa roja is a salsa to really riff on, but for the perfect blend, Shabazz suggests "finding the right balance between tomatoes and chiles."

For a quick salsa roja, combine a 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, one jalapeno pepper (de-seeded if you want a less spicy salsa), a handful of cilantro, plus some peeled garlic, diced onion, and a pinch of salt in a blender or food processor. Blend with fresh cilantro until smooth, about 30 seconds. Let rest in the fridge for at least half an hour so flavors can seep together, and serve as a dressing or dip. Again, the blended salsa can be cooked, or another style of tomatoes, such as fresh tomatoes or broiled and charred tomatoes, can be used to switch up the flavor.

What Is Pico de Gallo?

Literally translating to "rooster's beak" in English, pico de gallo is a style of salsa that originated in Aztec cuisine, believed to be eaten with pinched fingers that resembled its namesake. Now, it's a raw salsa seen across Mexico and commonly used in Americanized Mexican cuisine, such as stuffed in Cali-Mex burritos and strewn across plates of Tex-Mex nachos. Also referred to as "pico" and sometimes just "fresh salsa", pico de gallo is a staple across Latin America.

:Tips for Making the Best Homemade Tacos

"Pico de gallo is a fresh salsa typically containing tomato, onion, serrano, and cilantro," Shabazz says. "What sets pico de gallo apart from other styles of salsa is that all of the ingredients are chopped, instead of blended or mashed." Typically, pico de gallo is enjoyed as a topping. "It adds freshness and extra texture," Shabazz adds. Like most salsas, pico de gallo can also make for a nice dip.

"For this dish, you'll want to have a nice sharp knife and try to get the best tomatoes you can find," Shabazz recommends.

Try Real Simple's pico de gallo recipe, which mixes freshly chopped plum tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, lime juice, and jalapeno for the perfect salsa. For another riff, try our easy fresh mild salsa recipe, which takes just minutes to prepare and lasts for days.
In 1972, Richard Nixon declared Columbus Day a time to celebrate the memorable achievements of the great navigator and explorer whose vision and daring led to much of the permanent settlement of the Americas by the peoples of Europe.

However, many of the facts you may have learned about Columbus in schoolfor instance, that he proved the Earth is round and that he explored North Americaare myths.

Here are five things you may not have known about Christopher Columbus:

1. Christopher Columbus wasnt his given name

Christopher Columbus is an Anglicized version of the explorers Italian name, Cristoforo Colombo. Columbus, who was born in Genoa in either 1450 or 1451, went by Cristobal Colon in Spanish and Kristoffer Kolumbus in Swedish.

2. He didnt discover that the earth is round

Its a common misconception that when Columbus set sail for the Americas, some people were afraid he would fall off the edge of the ocean because they thought the earth was flat. However, even in the sixth century B.C., scholars referred to the earth as a sphere, and educated Europeans during Columbuss time did not believe the earth was flat. There never was a period of flat earth darkness among scholars, writes historian and paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. Greek knowledge of sphericity never faded, and all major medieval scholars accepted the earths roundness as an established fact of cosmology.

Related: Indigenous Peoples' Day: Everything to Know About the Holiday Largely Replacing Columbus Day

3. He never set foot in North America

Columbus made four trips between Spain and the Americas between 1492 and 1503, and he never once set foot in North America. Rather, he explored various Caribbean islands, including what is now Cuba and the Bahamas, as well as the island of Hispaniola, now home to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and parts of Central and South America.

Here are the routes Columbus took during his four voyages:

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4. He was convinced he had landed in Asia

Columbus never meant to discover a new continent on his voyages; he had intended to find a westward route to the East Indies with the hopes of giving Spain the upper hand in the lucrative Asian spice trade. Thinking he had landed in Asia, he called the Caribbean natives he encountered Indians, a misnomer that continues to this day. By the end of his life, many of his contemporaries were skeptical he had in fact reached Asia, but according to many accounts, Columbus never acknowledged the possibility that he had encountered another continent entirely.

Related: 25 Inspiring Indigenous American Activist Accounts to Follow to Learn About Indigenous People, Issues and Life

5. Columbus was sent back to Spain in chains and stripped of his governorship

During Columbuss third stint in the Americas, Spanish authorities caught wind of Columbuss brutal treatment of the natives. A report from Spanish governor Francisco de Bobadilla recounted Columbuss (and his mens) use of torture to subjugate the people they encountered in the Americas, describing their actions as tyrannical. Bobadilla was instructed to imprison Columbus and his two brothers, and they were sent back to Spain in shackles. They spent around six weeks in jail until King Ferdinand released them and eventually pardoned them. Christopher Columbus, however, was stripped of his title of governor of Hispaniola.

America was built on the backs of indigenous people. Learn which state names were inspired or lifted from Native Americans.
In the world of American whiskey blends have gotten a bad rap, although producers like Kentuckys Barrell Craft Spirits have elevated the art form specifically when it comes to bourbon. Now Brooklyn craft distillery Kings County has joined the cause with a different take by launching its own blended bourbon made from an array of in-house produced whiskeys.

By law, blended bourbon only needs to contain 51 percent bourbon, and the rest can kind of be whatever you want. While the aforementioned Barrell chooses to blend straight bourbons for most of its whiskeys, Kings County has gone a different route, combining pot-distilled straight bourbon aged for 2 years and 3 to 4 years, 2-year-old straight corn whiskey, 3 to 4-year-old straight rye whiskey and 2-year-old straight malt whiskey. The makeup of future batches will likely vary.

More from Robb Report

So whats the point of this new product? According to Kings County co-founder and distiller Colin Spoelman, its a chance for whiskey drinkers to reconsider the American blended whiskey category. A lot of new products in this space are not using neutral spirits or grain whiskey equivalent, which is the main differentiator from a blended scotch or Canadian whiskey, he told Robb Report. I think the opportunity for American blenders is to avoid neutral spirits and really put the focus on the blendingthe art of composition as opposed to stretching a whiskey with neutral spirit. I think our audience will appreciate that all the blend components are aged whiskeys, at least two years. And more than that, they are all house-distilled. I dont know anyone doing that really, most of the blended whiskey makers from what I can tell are NDPs.

According to the press release, this new blended bourbon is meant to be a superior, all-purpose two-year-old spirit that is a bit more versatile than the other whiskeys in the lineup, specifically in that it can be used for mixing in cocktails. Making old whiskey requires patience, but it doesnt ask much of the human element after distillation, said Spoelman. Assembling a great two-year whiskey is a huge challenge, and I think its one we took on with this whiskeyand why we ended up using so many different parts of our warehouse to make it right.

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Tasting notes include honey, caramel and rye pepper from the blend of liquids in the bottle. Kings County Blended Bourbon will initially be available in New York State starting September 14th, followed by a wider rollout in the weeks to come, and priced at $54.99. So no more excusesif you are still hesitant to give a blended bourbon a try, give this whiskey a go and be assured there are no neutral grain spirits (aka vodka) in the mix.

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AmaWaterways just announced its longest-ever cruise through Europe in 2024, with two 49-night sailings.

Courtesy of AmaWaterways

River cruise company AmaWaterways just announced that reservations are now open for its 2024 cruises, including its longest journey aboard one ship yet: a 49-night sailing on the AmaMora that will cruise the complete length of the Rhine and Danube rivers.

Since the debut of our Seven River Journeys in 2021, we have received tremendous demand from travelers who are looking to spend extra time immersing themselves in beautiful destinations throughout Europe, Kristin Karst, executive vice president and co-founder of AmaWaterways, said in a statement sent to Travel + Leisure. We are thrilled to announce that the 2024 Spring and Summer Editions showcase enriching itineraries on board a single, award-winning ship."

The cruise visits 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, France, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Switzerland. Guests can take the 49-night journey in one of two directions. The first sailing is the spring 2024 trip, which departs from Amsterdam on April 22, 2024 and ends on June 10, 2024, in Giurgiu, Romania. Throughout the trip, guests will explore each country in late spring or early summer, seeing Europe in full bloom.

Want to travel in reverse? Take the summer 2024 Seven River Journey, which begins on June 10, 2024, in Giurgiu and ends on July 29, 2024, in Amsterdam. This trip will also sail the impressive Main-Danube Canal and pass through the Danube Delta (a first for AmaWaterways' sailings) en route to the Black Sea.

The 2024 Seven River Journey itineraries include all dining, gratuities on board and ashore, laundry service, bicycles that guests can use to export the ports of call, and group excursions, including active hiking and walking trips and culinary explorations. Guest rooms onboard the ship all come with AmaWaterways signature twin balconies, but guests can also head to common areas for a bit of sun on the deck or in the pool, which comes with a swim-up bar.

Ready to set sail? See all the details and reserve your room here.
Photo credit: WPA Pool - Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth IIs death last week brought a wave of condolences from around the world. It also swiftly set into motion a carefully choreographed series of funeral procedures, steeped in royal protocol and centuries of British history. Over the next six days, the Queens flower-draped casket will embark on one final tour of the United Kingdoma journey that began at Balmoral , her private residence in Aberdeenshire, Scotlandpausing in London on Monday morning for the Queens State Funeral at Westminster Abbey, where some of the most famous names in British royal history have been interred. But Westminster will not be the Queens final resting place; she will be buried amid generations of royals at St. Georges Chapel, on the grounds of Windsor Castle. The Gothic chapel is a place defined by nearly 1,000 years of history and has been a venue for many occasions, both in times of celebration and times of mourning. Read on for more information about where Queen Elizabeth will be buried.

Photo credit: Tim Graham - Getty Images

Where Is St. Georges Chapel?

St. Georges Chapel is on the grounds of Windsor Castle, one of the Queens official royal residences , in the town of Windsor just 10 miles west of London on the River Thames. The Queen used Windsor castle as a weekend retreat and would often attend official services at St. Georges Chapel (though her primary place of worship was the Royal Chapel of All Saints, a smaller church on the grounds of Windsor Great Park, for privacy). According to a Palace press release , the Queens hearse will travel to the chapel along the Long Walk, a historic, tree-lined avenue leading to the castle, before a final burial service.

Photo credit: Anwar Hussein Collection - Getty Images

What Is the History of St. Georges Chapel?

Windsor Castle itself boasts nearly 1,000 years of royal heritage, but St. Georges Chapel wasnt established until later, in the 14th century , by Edward III as a college (a religious community responsible for the churchs activities) and the official church of the Order of the Garter , the U.K.s most senior chivalric order, of which kings and queens are members. The chapel was significantly overhauled in the 15th century during the reign of Edward IV and was completed by Henry VIII in 1528. With its soaring ceiling, elegant fan vaults, ornate carved stalls, and spectacular 15th-century stained-glass windows, St. Georges Chapel is considered one of the U.K.s finest examples of Perpendicular Gothic architecture. The chapels namesake, St. George, is the patron saint of England.

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Photo credit: ANDREW MATTHEWS - Getty Images

What Other Famous Events Have Been Held There?

Over the centuries, St. Georges Chapel has been the site of many royal services, including confirmations, weddings, and funerals.The chapel was the venue for Prince Williams 1997 confirmation into the Church of England as well as for the wedding for Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, and his wife, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, just to name two special events. In recent years, the church reentered the spotlight on the occasion of Meghan Markle and Prince Harrys wedding there in May 2018; the following year, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank were also married there. Most recently, Prince Philips funeral was held at the chapel last year, when the Queen famously sat alone in the carved stalls due to COVID-19 precautions.

Who Else Is Buried There?

Queen Elizabeth will be joining 10 kings and queens in the various vaults of St. Georges Chapel, including Henry VIII, Charles I, and her own father, King George VI. The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, and Prince Philip are also interred at the chapel.

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Photo: WoodysPhotos (Shutterstock)

Parents of students at East Forsyth High School in Gainsville, Georgia are agitated after the schools principal was secretly recorded using the N-word during a meeting with a white student. As NBC News notes, the meeting saw Principal Jeff Cheney and two other staff members trying to explain racially offensive words to a white student.

The goal of the meeting was for the student to understand that we must all be sensitive and respectful to others, officials said. Cheney was unaware that during the conversation, the student was recording it and then shared it.



Read more

From NBC News:

Cracker is slang for white and its the antonym to (full N word), which is a very offensive comment, Cheney said, according to the district statement. He immediately recognized his mistakes in comparing the two words and using the full N word. Mr. Cheney contacted the district office and met with the parents of the student to disclose this information, apologize, and commit to rectifying these mistakes in the future.

In a statement to WSB-2 Atlanta, school officials said, Forsyth County Schools believes that at no time and in no context should any variation of the N-word be used. Students and adults make mistakes; Forsyth County School believes that we all can learn from our mistakes. When talking to the news network, parents were also shocked to hear about the incident.

Two wrongs dont make a right, Chris King said. We teach our kids to be right and teach our kids to be respectful. Another parent spoke to the Forsyth County News after her daughter showed her the video from a group chat.

My daughter is half Black, so it really upset her, the parent said. [Im] angry that [Cheney] would feel comfortable enough to say that. Just outright say it without any hesitation right in front of a student. In front of anybody anyways, but at work and around children, and he outright just says the word. To me, that could have just as easily been my daughter that he did that to.

Currently, Cheney will not receive any punishment for the incident.
A rural landscape in Kunming, Yunnan province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]



Over the past decade, Yunnan has achieved great results with helping residents get rid of poverty across the province, officials said on Monday.

"The province won the battle against poverty, lifting all 9.33 million rural residents out of poverty as scheduled," Huang Yunbo, director of the provincial rural revitalization bureau, said at a news conference on Monday. "A total of 88 poverty-stricken counties and 8,502 poverty-stricken villages had escaped poverty, marking a historical moment, eliminating absolute poverty and solving the problem of poverty within the whole region."

The province has also created a series of practical models and typical experiences, with Yunnan characteristics during the process, bringing nationwide influence, he said.

Over the past decade, economic and social development in the province also saw great changes.

A rural landscape in Dali, Yunnan province. [Photo by Yang Guangyu/For chinadaily.com.cn]



The per capita disposable income of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas in Yunnan increased from 4,749 yuan ($682.9) in 2012 to 13,027 yuan in 2021, and the per capita net income of poverty-stricken people increased from 2,785 yuan in 2015 to 12,267 yuan in 2021, realizing a historic leap from getting adequate food and clothing, to achieving xiaokang society, a moderately prosperous society in all respects."

Major problems affecting people's daily life in poverty-stricken areas, such as transportation, drinking water, electricity, communication, education, medical care and housing have been solved, according to the provincial government.

"All 8,502 poverty-stricken villages in the province now have access to hardened roads, power and optical fiber networks," said Huang.

"In the future, we will focus on promoting economic development in counties and provide targeted assistance to increase the income of people who have been lifted out of poverty," he said. "We will continue to take all efforts in rural construction, governance and social development, so as to consolidate the achievements we made in poverty alleviation and deliver tangible results in rural revitalization."

A rural landscape in Honghe Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture, Yunnan province.[Photo by Li Kun/For chinadaily.com.cn]

A rural landscape in Honghe Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture, Yunnan province.[Photo by Hu Yanhui/For chinadaily.com.cn]






King Charles III ran into a corgi as he greeted well-wishers mourning the Queen

King Charles III was in Northern Ireland on Tuesday for a remembrance service for the Queen.

As he greeted well-wishers, he stopped to pet a corgi in the crowd.

Queen Elizabeth II owned over 30 corgis during her reign.

King Charles III had a surprise visitor during an appearance in Northern Ireland today: a corgi.

On Tuesday, the new monarch and Queen Consort Camilla traveled to Northern Ireland for a service of remembrance in Queen Elizabeth's honor at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast. The Queen died peacefully on Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

During their visit to Northern Ireland, the king and queen consort also greeted well-wishers at Hillsborough Castle, the royal family's residence.

As they accepted condolences for the loss of the Queen, King Charles III stumbled upon a corgi in the crowd.

The corgi is named Connie. Charles McQuillan / Stringer / Getty Images

The new king appeared delighted to see the furry friend, pointing at it and grinning.

The corgi is named Connie, according to Getty Images.

King Charles paused to speak to Connie's owner and even allowed the dog to sniff his hand as the public looked on.

The king let the dog sniff his hand. Charles McQuillan / Stringer / Getty Images

Corgis hold a special place in the royal family's history.

The Queen owned over 30 corgis during her 70 years on the throne. As Insider previously reported, most of her dogs were descendants of Susan, a corgi gifted to her when she was just 18 years old. Susan accompanied the Queen on her honeymoon with Prince Philip, and she was still alive when she ascended to the throne in 1952.

Queen Elizabeth's corgis also made public appearances with her in photos and were even in an introductory skit that she filmed with Daniel Craig for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

She stopped breeding corgis in 2015, as she did not want to trip over one of the dogs as she aged, according to The Express. And the final descendant of Susan, Willow, died in 2018.

The king and the corgi. WPA Pool / Pool / Getty Images

The Queen left behind four dogs when she died: two Pembroke Welsh corgis, a corgi-dachshund mix known as a dorgi, and a cocker spaniel.

Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York are inheriting the two corgis, according to the BBC.

The Queen's funeral will take place on Monday, September 19, at Westminster Abbey.

Read the original article on Insider
From relentless telemarketers to misdialed calls, we all see unknown numbers pop up on our phone screens more often than we'd like. Most Americans say they don't answer when they get these calls, but some of us pick up just in caseand by doing so, we could be putting ourselves at risk. In many instances, there's a scammer on the other end of the line. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) just released a new alert to people across the country, warning them about a rising scam aimed at anyone who picks up calls from numbers they don't recognize. Read on to find out what the FBI says you should be listening for.

READ THIS NEXT: Never Do This With Your Phone in Public, FBI Warns.

Americans have already received billions of spam calls this year.

If you're feeling overwhelmed with robocalls, you're hardly alone. Robokiller, an app dedicated to combating these calls, recently released its 2022 Mid-Year Phone Scam Report, detailing how prevalent this problem really is.

According to the report, Americans have already received an estimated 40 billion spam calls between Jan. and June 2022 alone. It's projected that by the end of this year, these robocalls will reach a height of over 86 billiona 19 percent increase from the year prior. "Spam calls are on pace to reach the highest levels on record," Robokiller warned in its report.

Spam calls can have serious consequences.

With unwanted calls and robocalls, it's often a scammer on the other end of the line, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Robokiller's report has found that Americans have already lost an estimated $30 billion to spam call scams from January to June of this yearwhich is the same amount that was lost from these schemes in all of 2021. By the end of 2022, Americans are projected to lose around $59 billion to robocall scams, per Robokiller.

"Catastrophic losses like these not only have a significant financial impact, but also an emotional impact on the victims," the company explained in its report. Scammers utilizing spam calls might also attempt to get you to share your personal information in order to commit identity theft, according to the FTC.

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The FBI is now warning about a specific tactic scammers are using.

There are "countless ways" con artists will try to scam you over a phone call, according to the FTC. Recently, the FBI Field Office in Sacramento, California, released a new alert warning Americans about a common scheme being utilized by scammers right now. According to the office, you should be wary of unsolicited calls in which "the caller claims to be from the FBI."

"Nothing sends a person into a panic like a call from law enforcement, especially when the call informs them that they have been a victim of a crime or may be wanted for a crime," Acting Special Agent in Charge Dennis Guertin said in a statement. "Sadly, that response is something scammers are leveraging with increased frequency, so it is important to educate the public about what to look out for."

You should hang up if you receive a call like this.

Any unsolicited call could be a scammer attempting to "gain your trust and separate you from your hard-earned money," the FBI Sacramento office warned. In order to protect yourself, the agency said your best bet is to always send unsolicited phone calls to voicemail. "Most call centers will not leave a message," the FBI explained.

But if you do end up answering and you hear the person on the other end of the line claiming to be from the FBI, don't be afraid to end the calleven if it turns out to actually be the FBI and not a scammer. "The public should not be afraid to hang up on an alleged agent. An authentic FBI agent will find other ways to contact you, if necessary," Guertin said.

According to the agency, an official FBI special agent will never provide a badge number or telephone number over an unsolicited call as the only means to verify their identity. Instead, a real agent will direct you to the FBI's official website so that you can locate your local field office's telephone number and make a call yourself.

"Some scammers impersonate FBI agents over the phone," the Sacramento office warned. But anyone actually connected with the agency will never call you to "make demands for money wire transfers, gift cards, or bitcoin; coordinate financial transactions of any kind; [or] threaten arrest."
The chief executive officer of an environmental consulting firm will spend three years in prison after being convicted of submitting false reports to state regulators in Tennessee and Mississippi.

The Department of Justice said DiAne Gordon, the co-owner of Environmental Compliance and Testing, sent at least 405 fake lab reports and chain of custody forms from her company to state regulators since 2017.

Prosecutors say some of the reports were completely made-up and others were forged from a reputable testing lab.

Gordon's company would be hired, often by concrete companies according to a press release from the DOJ, to test storm water, process water, and wastewater samples for companies to meet permit requirements.

"Correct and accurate test results of discharges into rivers and streams and the honest reporting of those results to regulatory authorities are important parts of the [Clean Water] Act's regulatory framework," said U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Joseph C. Murphy Jr.. "Without accurate test results and reporting of those results, the Clean Water Act will not work as Congress intended. Because honest reporting of this data is so important to the functioning of the Act, our office will vigorously prosecute individuals who falsely report test results."

The case was investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Investigation Division's southeast area branch, with assistance from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

Gordon signed a guilty plea in June 2021, and in addition to her three-year sentence, was ordered to pay over $200,000 in restitution to over 20 businesses she was alleged to have submitted fake documents for. One business will receive almost a quarter of the restitution, receiving over $45,000. Gordon will spend two years under supervised release after finishing her sentence.

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"Today's sentence appropriately reflects the harm caused by Gordon's betrayal of her position of trust and her fraud upon her customers, the regulatory authorities and the citizens of Tennessee and Mississippi," Todd Kim, an assistant attorney of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, said.

Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Alleged fake reports lands environmental consultant 3 years in prison
An Indiana sheriff is among hundreds of law enforcement officers cited in a bombshell report on elected officials with alleged connections to the Oath Keepers, a far-right antigovernmental group accused of playing a key role in the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington, D.C.

But Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel said he's not a member.

"Im not now and have never been associated in any way with the Oath Keepers," Noel said in a statement. "Anyone who says differently is lying."

The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism said it pored over more than 38,000 names on leaked Oath Keepers membership lists and identified more than 370 people it believes currently work in law enforcement agencies  including as police chiefs and sheriffs  along with more than 100 people who are currently members of the military.

For subscribers:What happened to 17 Kentuckians charged in the Jan. 6 US Capitol riot

The data was collected by the nonprofit journalist collective Distributed Denial of Secrets and was published in 2021. The ADL said it looked at the data, focusing on certain professions that were considered to have a form of power and influence in their communities.

The list includes 23 Indiana elected officials, first responders, military or law enforcement members, according to the ADL.

Appearing in the Oath Keepers database doesnt prove that a person was ever an active member of the group or shares its ideology. Some people on the list contacted by The Associated Press said they were briefly members years ago and are no longer affiliated with the group. Some said they were never dues-paying members.

Noel was named on the list along with 372 other people who are currently serving in law enforcement agencies across the country.

The Anti-Defamation League's response

"ADL stands by our research and reporting," Jake Hyman, a spokesman for the group, said following Noel's statement. "We take all concerns and our reporting seriously and strive only for accuracy and truthfulness."

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In the report, the ADL said "multiple people in an area may have the same name. To the best of its abilities, COE (Center of Extremism) worked to verify the individuals in question, and common names in high-density population areas were excluded from the final count."

"Our reporting was based on the information and evidence uncovered through thorough research we conducted at the time," Hyman said.

According to the report, every elected official or 2022 candidate on the list was "confirmed" based on reporting, public statements or by comparing information provided to the Oath Keepers with the official's public filings, public records or online posts containing email addresses, physical addresses or phone numbers.

Noel has served as Clark County's sheriff since 2015 and was reelected in 2018.

More:With 7 dead, Louisville suffers one of the deadliest weekends of 2022

Hyman referred to the report which states an individual's inclusion in the database "is not proof that they were or are still an Oath Keeper, that they hold or held all or some of Oath Keeper ideology or viewpoints, or that they ever actively participated in Oath Keeper activities."

"When reviewing this information, you should bear in mind the possibility that the individual misunderstood the nature of the Oath Keepers," the report stated.

Ryan Stubenrauch, a spokesperson for the Clark County Sheriff's Office, said that there may have been an issue with someone of the same name appearing on the list and that his team has reached out to the Anti-Defamation League to clear up any "miscommunication." But he said there has been no response.

In Indiana, the data showed that 696 Hoosiers were, at some point, members of the group. In Kentucky, more than 500 people have been linked to the group.

More heat for the Clark County Sheriff's Office

Noel and the Clark County Sheriff's Office have dealt with plenty of controversies lately. The two parties are facing lawsuits from 28 women who have alleged an officer who has since been fired and criminally charged sold male prisoners keys to the female portion of the jail last October, with two women alleging they were raped and others who have said they suffered additional physical and psychological injuries.

Noel and the Clark County Sheriff's Office have since published a website they say aims to "shoot down the lies" contained in the lawsuit, in a push to "deliver transparency to the community." Noel was not made available for an interview when the website was created, but Maj. Mark Grube, who spoke to The Courier Journal in a previous interview on Noel's behalf, said only one side of the story has been told.

Clark County Jail:Women prisoners raped at Indiana jail after guard sells male inmates the key, lawsuit says

In the suit, the accusers allege Noel failed to properly train his officers and put policies in place to prevent such incidents from happening. Deputy Scott Maples, a spokesman for the Clark County Sheriff, told The Courier Journal in a previous interview that former officer David Jason Lowe sold the male prisoners the key to access the female section for what he believed to be $1,000. His trial is set to take place later this year.

On Sept. 1, Noel wrote on his website that another man, Jordan Sykes, had been charged with felony theft after stealing the jail keys on the night of the incident.

Contact Caleb Stultz at cstultz@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Caleb_Stultz.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel denies ties to Oath Keepers
Former states' rights proponent Sen. Lindsey Graham, flaunting his talent for opportunistic flip-flopping, began explaining his legislation for a federal 15-week abortion ban like this: I picked 15 weeks 

Watching a man say I picked as it relates to legislation controlling women's reproductive rights was both tone-deaf and perfectly on-brand for a political party that has seen its fortunes in the upcoming midterm elections turn from fabulous to meh, thanks in large part to abortion rights returning as a central issue for voters after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Graham was flanked Tuesday by several women from groups that oppose abortions, but the I picked line  delivered by a uterus-free, childless, nondoctor politician  stood out, almost overshadowing the hypocrisy and disingenuous language of the proposed legislation.

Graham believes absolutely in states' rights ...

Back in June, Graham firmly told Fox News that states should decide abortion laws: All of us in the conservative world have believed that theres nothing in the Constitution giving the federal government the right to regulate abortion.

In May, Graham tweeted: If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, which I believe was one of the largest power grabs in the history of the Court, it means that every state will decide if abortion is legal and on what terms. That, in my view, is the most constitutionally sound way of dealing with this issue and the way the United States handled the issue until 1973.

After Roe: States need to help women facing unwanted pregnancies

Well, Graham and others in the Republican Party got their wish. Roe was overturned on June 24, allowing, as Graham noted in his tweet, every state to decide if abortion is legal and on what terms.

... except when he doesn't believe in states' rights

Now, only a few months later, Graham has had a change of heart about that whole states' rights thing. What the senators legislation proposes is a federal ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, one that allows more restrictive state abortion laws to stay in place. So if youre a state with an abortion ban under 15 weeks of pregnancy, states' rights prevail. If youre a state with no abortion ban, federal law prevails.

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That all makes perfect sense, as long as youre willing to twist your brain into a pretzel and hold your breath for five minutes.

Our View: It's time to align federal law with state actions on cannabis

Any doubt the GOP will seek a national abortion ban disappeared

The 15-week threshold Graham proposes wont mean much. The legislation  which has no chance of being brought up for a vote while Democrats control Congress  will be framed by Democratic lawmakers as evidence that Republicans, should they take over Congress, will pursue a national ban on abortion.

During his announcement, Graham said this: If we take back the House and the Senate, I can assure you well have a vote on our bill. If the Democrats are in charge, I dont know if well ever have a vote on our bill.

One has to wonder whether Graham has taken up a side gig working for Democratic ad makers.

Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.

Polling and voter registration show abortion is a central issue

The backlash following the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe has been more intense and politically damaging than Republicans expected. Recent polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation found a 14 percentage point increase "in the share who say abortion will be very important to their 2022 midterm vote (59% in February to 73% in July) and that 6 in 10 voters ages 18-49 say "they are 'more motivated to vote because of the Supreme Courts decision.

Women in a number of swing states are registering to vote in droves.

Abortion-rights supporters cheer as the proposed Kansas constitutional amendment fails on Aug. 2, 2022.

Republicans tried to downplay abortion, then along came Lindsey!

So Republican lawmakers and candidates have been working hard to downplay talk of a federal abortion ban, with some even scrubbing past abortion positions and comments from their websites.

Graham strolling up to a microphone Tuesday and man-troducing abortion legislation was clearly not what many in the GOP had in mind.

Sen. Graham gets introduced to the underside of the bus

Im not sure what hes thinking here, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told Politico. But I dont think there will be a rallying around that concept.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas told Politico: That wasnt a conference decision. It was an individual senators decision. He added that his preference would be for those decisions to be made on a state-by-state basis.

Whoops!

Quiet now, the men are busy legislating

Oh well, whats important for all Republicans and particularly for women across America is this: Lindsey Graham has picked the point at which women should stop having control over decisions relating to their own pregnancy, even if it meant sacrificing his long-held belief in states' rights.

HE picked it. And who better to make decisions like this than an unmarried South Carolina man with no children?

More humor and satire from Rex Huppke:

If the GOP is ready to rebrand, here are my ideas for a post-MAGA party.

Amid teacher shortage, folks who called them 'groomers' should say sorry. Here's how.

Quiet quitting is all the rage. But let's not stop there. How about 'quiet dieting'?

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Twitter @RexHuppke and Facebook: facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sen. Lindsey Graham calls for abortion ban. What about states' rights?
PANAMA CITY  A local man will spend the rest of his life in prison for sexually assaulting a child.

According to a press release from the State Attorney's Office of the 14th Judicial Circuit, 38-year-old Phillip Lyvonne Stephens of Panama City will serve nine consecutive life sentences for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl multiple times and videotaping the attacks.

He was convicted Tuesday of seven counts of sexual battery on a child younger than 12, two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation and one count of lewd and lascivious exhibition.

"He has refused to accept responsibility and has adamantly blamed everyone else, including the victim," prosecutor Jennifer Lieb said in the release. "He very carefully groomed this child to behave the way he wanted her to."

Phillip Lyvonne Stephens, a 38-year-old Panama City resident, will serve nine life sentences after being convicted of sexually assaulting a child multiple times and videotaping the attacks.

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In addition to his sentence, Stephens also was designated a sexual predator.

"This child is incredibly brave to face the person that abused her multiple times," Lieb said in the release. "She wanted to testify against him to make sure he couldn't do this to any other children. (Stephens) videotaped his abuse, creating a record of the abuse that would revictimize this child every time it was played.

"He will never harm another child in our area or anywhere else."

The State Attorney's Office noted "the abuse came to light in June, 2020" after Stephens was arrested for domestic violence. He called the child's mother from jail and asked her to destroy evidence. She then told a co-worker she found videotapes of the sexual abuse.

The co-worker is who notified the Bay County Sheriff's Office.

"Detectives obtained a search warrant for the home where the crimes occurred and found both a camera mounted to the wall behind the bed and an electronic tablet," the release reads. "The memory card on the camera and tablet both contained videos of the crimes with which (Stephens) was convicted."

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The child's mother also was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison on charges of neglect of a child causing great bodily harm, failure to report child abuse, felon in possession of a firearm, possession of methamphetamine and possession of cocaine.

"She was charged with neglect and failure to report because evidence showed she was aware of the abuse and did nothing to protect her child," the release reads.

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City man gets life in prison for sexually assaulting girl
George Wagner IV is escorted out of the courtroom after his arraignment in November 2018, at the Pike County Courthouse, in Waverly, Ohio (A Robert McGraw/Chillicothe Gazette - 2018)

A custody battle that led to the murders of eight people, including a teenage boy, in an Ohio trailer park has gone to trial six years on.

George Wagner IV is going on trial for the killings. He was arrested with three other members of his family  his brother, Jake, his mother Angela, and his father, George "Billy" Wagner  who face 22 charges, including eight counts of aggravated murder.

He faces a potential death penalty if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.

Custody battle

Prosecutors claim the trouble between the Wagner and the Rhoden families began over the custody of a child.

They claim the Wagners began conspiring to kill the Rhodens in December 2015 after Angela, George's mother, found a Facebook message between Hanna May Rhoden, 19, and Patricia Sexton. Hanna May shared a child with Jake Wagner. Patricia Sexton is the mother-in-law of George's ex-wife, Tabitha Claytor.

In the message, Hanna May and Ms Sexton reportedly were discussing the Wagners plans to pressure the 19-year-old into signing custody of her daughter over to Jake. She told Ms Sexton that "they'll have to kill me first," and, according to the prosecution's theory, the Wagners began planning to do just that.

Angela reportedly admitted to special prosecutor Angie Canepa that she had "hacked" into Hanna May's social media accounts, as well as the accounts of others, to monitor their communications with the intention of gathering damaging information.

Ms Sexton was reportedly concerned for Hanna May because her daughter, Tabitha Claytor, had allegedly experienced a similar pressure campaign by the Wagners to sign over custody of the child she shared with George. According to Ms Canepa, Ms Claytor ultimately signed the documents after she was forced to flee from her home after the Wagners threatened to shoot her.

Ms Claytor was allegedly told the arrangement would be temporary, but claimed she was denied visitation with her son.

The prosecution is using the messages to establish a timeline for the murders and to build a conspiracy case against members of the Wagner family. They claim the Wagners were "obsessed" with control, particularly of their children.

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Murders

On the night of 21 April, 2016, prosecutors claim the Wagner father, George "Billy" Wagner, arranged a meeting with his "best friend" Chris Rhoden Sr  the father of Hanna May  under the guise of a drug deal. The meeting, prosecutors claim, was a ruse to allow the Wagners access to the Rhoden patriarch.

Prosecutors claim that Jake and George hid in a "murder truck" and shot Chris Rhoden Sr nine times, killing him. Chris's cousin, Gary Rhoden, was staying at the trailer the night of the killings and was shot twice in the head and once in the face from close range.

Jake Wagner would later tell investigators that, after his father allegedly fired the first shot at Chris Rhoden Sr, he cried out "I just shot my best friend."

Top row from left, George Billy Wagner III and Angela Wagner, and bottom row from left, George Wagner IV and Edward Jake Wagner (Ohio Attorney General's Office)

The men allegedly moved to a trailer next door and shot Chris Sr's son, Frankie Rhoden, 20, in the head three times as he slept. His fiancee, Hanna "Hazel" Gilley, was asleep next to him and was shot five times in the head. Their six-month-old son was sleeping between them and was found alive but covered in his parents blood the next morning. The couple also had a four-year-old son in the trailer who was found unharmed.

The killings continued. Down the road, Dana Manley Rhoden, Chris Sr's ex-wife, was shot five times in the head. Hanna May was also sleeping in that trailer and was shot twice in the head while she slept with her newborn sleeping next to her. The child was found unharmed.

Chris Rhoden Jr, Hanna's 16-year-old younger brother, was also shot in the head in the trailer.

The final killing of the night was Kenneth Rhoden, Chris Sr's older brother. He was staying in a camper more than seven miles away from the trailer park where the rest of his family was murdered. He was shot once in the head.

Discovery and investigation

The next morning, Dana Rhoden's sister, Bobby Jo Manley, arrived at the property to feed Chris Sr's animals and water his marijuana planets. She did this every day. When she entered she found Chris Sr and Gary dead and called 911.

Ms Manley's brother, George "James" Manley, was also at the property and found Dana, Hanna May, and Chris Jr dead in their trailer. Bobby Jo continued to search the trailer park and eventually found Frankie and Hazel Gilley dead.

Kenneth Rhoden's cousin, Donald Stone, eventually found him and reported his death to 911 after the news broke that other members of the family had been killed.

The surviving children were removed from the property by Bobby Jo, according to a 2016 Cincinnati Enquirer report.

The investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation was the largest the state ever launched. As news reached the public, rumours began circulating throughout the county that the slayings were the work of a Mexican drug cartel, though that was quickly dispelled by federal agents.

Investigators eventually learned that the killers stole the Rhodens security system the night of the killings, but left behind shell casings that were matched to shell casings a little more than a year later found on a piece of property formerly belonging to George and Jake Wagner.

Vehicles at the site of the trailer park where Christopher Rhoden Sr and Gary Rhoden were killed in April 2016 (AP)

In the year between the killings and the shell casing discovery, Jake had petitioned for sole custody of the daughter he shared with Hanna May and was granted his request.

Ohio investigators continued to search properties belonging to the Wagner family and called on anyone with financial dealings with the family  particularly those who may have sold them guns  to come forward and share information with investigators.

A short time after the discovery of the shell casings and the ramping up of the investigation, the Wagners left Ohio and moved to Alaska. While there, Jake remarried and the family moved back to Ohio in 2018.

In November of that year, just a week after now Ohio Governor Mike DeWine was elected as the state's Attorney General, he announced the arrest of the Wagners. He called the case the most "bizarre" of his law enforcement career.

Charges and trial

All four of the Wagners charged in the killings  George, Jake, Angela and George "Billy" Wagner  pleaded not guilty. However, around the five-year anniversary of the murders in April 2021, Jake flipped and agreed to plead guilty to 23 charges he was facing, which included aggravated murder. He also agreed to testify against his family if prosecutors agreed not to pursue the death penalty for him or his family. While prosecutors agreed not to pursue the death penalty against Jake, presuming he adheres to the rules of the agreement, it is unclear if they extended that deal to the rest of the Wagners.

Jake will serve eight consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

He eventually led prosecutors to the murder weapons, which had been hidden in a pond on a piece of property owned by George "Billy" Wagner.

His mother, Angela, also flipped, agreeing to testify against George and her husband. In return, her aggravated murder charge was dropped and she will be released after serving 30 years in prison.

George Wagner's defense attorney, Richard Nash, is arguing that George had nothing to do with the murders and is being thrown under the bus by the rest of his family.

There are certain things in this life we cant control. One of those is your family name, Mr Nash said in court. George cannot help hes a Wagner. That does not make him a murderer.

According to Mr Nash, Jake will testify that his brother had nothing to do with the murders. Court documents suggest Jake will testify that the entire plan was his parents' doing, and that he initially was against the murder plot, but eventually relented.

The prosecution will argue that the Wagners spent three months planning the murders, including the purchase of masks, ammunition, and a cellphone jamming device to prevent anyone from calling for help.

The first witnesses in the trial were set to take the stand on Tuesday. The state may call up to 250 witnesses, and the trial is expected to last between six and eight weeks.
AeroFarms Newest Indoor Vertical Farm Capable of Growing Over 3 Million Pounds of Fresh Leafy Greens Annually To Meet Increased Customer Demand

AeroFarms Danville Ribbon Cutting

AeroFarms celebrates the Grand Opening of AeroFarms Danville alongside Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matthew Lohr, Congressman Bob Good, City of Danville Mayor Alonzo Jones, Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors Chairman Vic Ingram, the President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers Jay Timmons and more.

AeroFarms Danville Team

AeroFarms team members stand in front of AeroFarms Danville, the world's largest aeroponic smart farm.

Danville, Virginia, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AeroFarms, a Certified B Corporation and world leader in indoor vertical farming, debuts AeroFarms Danville, its newest cutting-edge indoor vertical farm, growing award-winning leafy greens that are prized for their elevated flavor by top chefs and home makers alike.

Joined by Matthew Lohr, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, Congressman Good and elected officials from Virginia and the city of Danville and Pittsylvania County, the AeroFarms Team celebrated the official Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening of AeroFarms Danville to meet increased customer demand.

Rising transportation costs and droughts in the western United States will mean East Coast states like Virginia must reorient our supply chain for fresh produce to more local suppliers. While painful, this situation also creates an important opportunity for the Commonwealth to become a national leader in the fast-growing indoor farming industry, said Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matthew Lohr. Continued success in recruiting and supporting the growth of these companies can bring economic opportunity to all corners of the Commonwealth, while also supplying fresh, safe, and sustainable food to our citizens and neighbors. Todays announcement is an important step on the pathway to a bright future of food security and prosperity for all Virginians.

This Grand Opening is an incredible milestone for AeroFarms as we scale our company to meet increased customer demand both here in the United States and globally, said David Rosenberg, Co-Founder and CEO of AeroFarms. We have amazing people aligned with our mission and focused on growing a distinctive, flavorful product that our customers love. AeroFarms Danville will help us bring safe, pesticide-free, great-tasting products to even more people.

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AeroFarms is a purpose-driven company, with a mission to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity. AeroFarms has been leading the way to elevate agriculture for people and the planet, helping address climate change by enabling local production with no pesticides ever to grow safe, nutritious, and delicious food all year round. AeroFarms is both a change-the-world technology company and an award-winning brand that is reimagining the way food is grown and celebrating its full FlavorSpectrum of flavorful possibilities.

Winning on flavor, AeroFarms is the number one retail brand for both unit and dollar sales in the United States for microgreens according to Nielsen syndicated data*, and AeroFarms leafy greens can be found at major retailers like Ahold Delhaize, Amazon Fresh, Harris Teeter, The Fresh Market, Walmart, Whole Foods Market, and more.

AeroFarms Leafy Greens Key Benefits:

Bursting with Flavor

No Pesticides Ever

Sustainably Grown Indoors

AeroFarms leafy greens are safely grown indoors in state-of-the art commercial indoor vertical farms that are certified for USDA Good Agricultural Practices, SQF Level 2 Good Manufacturing Practices, Non-GMO Project Verification, OU Kosher, and the industry-leading CEA Food Safety Seal that was developed to differentiate indoor clean growing practices from the traditional challenges in the field. AeroFarms leafy greens are completely pesticide free and are ready-to-eat without any need to wash, providing a major benefit to customers looking for safety and convenience.

This Ribbon Cutting marks the opening of the worlds largest aeroponic smart farm that utilizes AeroFarms proprietary indoor vertical farming technology to grow more plants at the highest productivity per square feet with the least amount of natural resources, continuing AeroFarms legacy of continuous improvement and innovation. The AeroFarms aeroponic advantage provides the perfect, nutrient-rich mist targeted right at the roots of the plants for optimized efficiency and better water management, using up to 95% less water than field farming. AeroFarms Danville introduces a state-of-the-art water recapture process for even more water savings. In addition to the benefits to the environment, AeroFarms Danville will also add 158 jobs to the local economy while bringing fresh, safe, delicious greens to more communities year-round.

AeroFarms Danville Key Benefits:

Capable of serving over 50 million people within a days drive

Capable of growing over 3 million pounds of leafy greens annually

Hands-free farming with end-to-end automation from seeding to growing to harvesting to packaging

Over 50% water savings and over 50% improvement in LED efficiency through proprietary design versus previous farm

The Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening concluded with an inaugural First Bite, led by Secretary Lohr. The First Bite included a handful of delicious AeroFarms Micro Broccoli, an earthy microgreen with a balanced finish and a boost of nutrients, that the Whole Foods Market recognized as one of their Top Trends for 2022.

The new facility is located in Cane Creek Centre, which is a joint industrial park owned by the City of Danville and Pittsylvania County. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and The Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission worked with Pittsylvania County, the City of Danville, and the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance to fund a part of the AeroFarms project. The company has obtained assistance from Virginia Tech and Danvilles Institute for Advanced Learning and Research for workforce development assistance and plant testing. AeroFarms also qualifies for state benefits from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Developments Virginia Enterprise Zone Program. Funding and services to support the companys job creation are provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

About AeroFarms:



Since 2004, AeroFarms has been leading the way for indoor vertical farming and championing transformational innovation for agriculture. On a mission to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity, AeroFarms is a Certified B Corporation with global headquarters in Newark, New Jersey. Named one of the Worlds Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company two years in a row and one of TIMEs Best Inventions in Food, AeroFarms patented, award-winning indoor vertical farming technology provides the perfect conditions for healthy plants to thrive, taking agriculture to a new level of precision, food safety, and productivity while using up to 95% less water and no pesticides ever versus traditional field farming. AeroFarms enables local production to safely grow all year round, using vertical farming for elevated flavor. Its products can be found at major selling partners like Ahold Delhaize, Amazon Fresh, Baldor Specialty Food, Compass Group, Harris Teeter, Marcus BP, Momofuku Noodle Bars, ShopRite, The Fresh Market, Walmart, and Whole Foods Market. In addition, through its proprietary growing technology platform, AeroFarms has grown over 550 varieties of plants and has developed multi-year strategic partnerships ranging from government to major Fortune 500 companies to help uniquely solve agriculture supply chain needs. For additional information, visit: https://aerofarms.com/.

*Source: Nielsen [Microgreen SKUs] Total US xAOC 52-weeks ending 13-Aug-2022





Attachments

CONTACT: Marc Oshima AeroFarms 9176734602 marcoshima@aerofarms.com




A window into Argentina now exists in Brookfield as El Gaucho Grill is bringing the countrys cuisine to the plates of Wisconsinites at 17800 W. Bluemound Road.

A family-run business, the restaurant opened in June and is run by Antonio Paez, his sister Claudia Paez and his wife, Arlenne Escamilla.

Antonio Paez said making patrons feel as if they had been transported to Argentina was his goal when he designed the restaurant's space, which includes Argentine artifacts, posters and a custom mural featuring a gaucho riding a horse. This is all paired with Latin music and, of course, authentic Argentinian food.

This custom mural features the famous Argentinian gaucho, which the restaurant is named after.

I want people to know that when they come here they will be eating food that they would get in the streets of Argentina, said Paez. These are the recipes I grew up with, and we didnt change them at all.

Some of the staples of Argentinian cuisine that the restaurant offers include a variety of empanadas, multiple styles of milanesa sandwiches and the choripan, which is a sausage sandwich and a common street food item in Argentina. The drink menu offers wines and cocktails common to Argentina.

The milanesa sandwich and empanadas, both offered at El Gaucho, are staples of Argentinian cuisine.

The restaurant's menu also has a Mexican and Uruguayan influence as Paez, born in Argentina, was raised in Uruguay, and his wife is from Mexico. Diners will know which country their dish is coming from because it will be topped with a mini flag from the corresponding country.

Already a community cornerstone

Before opening the restaurant in Brookfield, Paez said, he had to travel to enjoy his Argentinian cuisine.

I said why not open one here? There is no competition, and we can make the same things for others that we are having to drive so far for, he explained.

El Gaucho Grill opened in June at 17800 W. Bluemound Road, Brookfield.

The response to the restaurant has been unprecedented. Paez said he has seen Argentinians from all over Wisconsin flock to his restaurant.

Before opening, I thought I was the only Argentinian around, but every day I am meeting new Argentinians that are excited to be able to eat here, he said. "They come in with their families and for parties, and it is such a joy."

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The feeling seems to be mutual. Paez recalled one customer who said they felt they were back in Buenos Aires while eating the food and hearing the music in the restaurant.

Pictured is provoleta cheese from El Gaucho, as well as the pasubio and Coca-Cola cocktail. Both are Argentinian fixtures.

Hearing comments like that is priceless for Paez, who takes pride in being able to offer a slice of his culture to those who might miss it as he does, and to introduce others who might not have experienced it before.

Food is something more. It is culture, and words cannot describe how much pride I feel when I see people connecting with my culture, he said. For me, it is not about the money; for me it is about providing that experience to people who miss Argentina and to those who might want to try it.

Beck Andrew Salgado can be reached at 512-568-4070 or Bsalgado@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Beck_Salgado.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Argentinian immigrant brings culture and cuisine to Brookfield
Under multiple excuses, the U.S. recently imposed unilateral sanctions against relevant Chinese entities and individuals.

Such "long-arm jurisdiction," which is barely coercion and bullying, seriously violates international law and the basic norms governing international relations. It sabotages the order and rules of international trade, and threatens the stability of global industrial and supply chains.

The U.S., waving the stick of unilateral sanctions, is hurting the common interests of the world when global recovery remains sluggish and global development faces severe challenges.

China follows an independent foreign policy of peace. It always holds an aboveboard position on international hotspot issues, and independently assesses situations on the basis of historical context and the merits of the issues.

The normal economic and trade cooperation carried out by China and relevant countries based on mutual respect, equity and mutual benefits, and under the framework of international law, must be respected and protected, and free from intervention and restriction by any third party.

The arbitrary and unilateral sanctions imposed by the U.S. have no legal basis. Unilateral sanctions, designed for specific countries and their nationals, are clearly discriminative.

For a long time, the U.S. has placed its domestic laws above international law and abused the national security concept and state power to weaponize and politicize economic and trade issues based on ideology, arbitrarily running against market rules and international trade order. It is a spoiler of global peace and stability, and a saboteur of global development and prosperity.

The imposition of broad economic and cultural sanctions has evolved from its beginnings as a modest arrow in the broad policy toolbox of the U.S. in the 1970s to become todays foreign policy weapon of choice, said The National Interest on its website.

It's totally unreasonable for the U.S. to force its domestic laws upon other countries. The U.S. always threatens other countries and interferes in their domestic affairs with unilateral sanctions and "long-arm jurisdiction," forcing them to take sides on international hotspot issues and oppressing their enterprises in business competitions. The U.S. is trying to suppress and even deprive other countries of their legitimate development interests.

The abuse of unilateral sanctions by the U.S. is becoming a global public menace. The US imposed 3,800 sanctions on governments, individuals, organizations and market entities worldwide during the previous presidency. That's three new sanctions a day on average. No wonder an American media outlet called the U.S. a "sanctions superpower."

The world is in urgent need of solidarity and cooperation to cope with the slow global recovery. The U.S. abuse of unilateral sanctions hurts the legitimate interests of relevant parties, undermines international exchanges, and hinders the international communication over macroeconomic policies. It also weakens the international society's capability in coping with global energy, food and financial crises, dragging the world into bigger troubles while bringing inevitable consequences to the U.S. itself.

Besides, the unilateral sanctions are leading to rising commodity prices in the U.S., placing huge burdens on U.S. citizens.

Edward Fishman, senior fellow with the Eurasia Center of American think tank Atlantic Council, noted that theres scant evidence that U.S. policymakers growing ambitions for sanctions have been matched by any rise in Americas ability to achieve the policy outcomes that it seeks. "On the contrary, by almost any measure, U.S. sanctions policy is failing," he said.

In today's world, no country is able to deal with challenges alone or accomplish everything all by itself.

Abusing unilateral sanctions and forcing its own wills on others, the U.S. would only see its "leadership" further loosening. The country should correct its wrongdoings, stop its groundless oppression on Chinese entities and individuals, and play a constructive role in maintaining the stability of global industrial and supply chains and in promoting global recovery.
Tyler Stanaland and Brittany Snow attend the 71st Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, California

Kevin Mazur/Getty

Brittany Snow and Tyler Stanaland's two-year marriage has come to an end.

The actress announced their "difficult decision to separate" on Instagram on Sept. 14, 2022. "This decision was made with love and mutual respect for one another," wrote Snow.

News of their break-up came after Stanaland revealed that one of his Selling the OC costars tried to kiss him off-camera. "They had issues before, but this is the final straw," a source told PEOPLE in September 2022, adding that the storyline "broke them."

The X actress met the Selling the OC star in 2018 and the pair were engaged by February 2019. They wed in March 2020 during a "low-key and not stuffy" California ceremony that featured tacos and other comfort food.

Ahead, everything to know about Brittany Snow's husband Tyler Stanaland.

He's a California native

Tyler Stanaland and Brittany Snow attend the 25th Annual Palm Springs International ShortFest at Camelot Theatres on June 20, 2019 in Palm Springs, California

David Crotty/Getty

Stanaland is a fourth-generation resident of Laguna Beach, California, according to the Oppenheim Group. He described his childhood in Orange County as "incredibly unique" and Laguna Beach as a "tight-knit community" when talking about his upbringing on the surfing and lifestyle website The Tidalist.

"I grew up in Laguna Beach and was lucky to have the beach as my backyard which shaped who I am as a human in every way," he told The Tidalist. "We were surfing before we were swimming, fishing, constantly sandy."

He was a professional surfer

Growing up on the California coast  and as the son of two avid surfers  Stanaland pursued a career as a professional surfer following high school. The sport took him all around the world  and almost cost him his life at one point.

In 2012, while on a surf trip to Mexico, Stanaland was diagnosed with a case of ulcerative colitis, an auto-immune disease that caused painful ulcers in his large intestine. The diagnosis became life-threatening when a test perforated his intestine and caused him to turn septic. He underwent seven surgeries and spent nearly 100 days in the hospital but eventually recovered and returned to surfing.

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"I always tell people that was the best worst thing that ever happened to me. It put things into perspective in a way only an event like that can," he shared with Urban Armor Gear. "It made me realize what a blessing life is. I owe everything I am to that journey because it changed my entire life for the better."

He works in real estate

Brittany Snow and attends the Screenwriters Tribute at Sconset Casino during the 2019 Nantucket Film Festival - Day Four on June 22, 2019 in Nantucket, Massachusetts

Nicholas Hunt/Getty

For Stanaland, real estate is a family business: Stanaland's father, John Stanaland, runs a luxury residential real estate firm in Orange County, California, and six generations of the family have worked in the industry. Stanaland earned his own real estate license at just 18 years old before launching his professional surfing career.

The Selling the OC star eventually transitioned from surfing to real estate, joining his father's firm. He built a successful career there, even selling a $19 million Laguna Beach property to Dallas Mavericks owner and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban in 2019. But after 12 years, Stanaland made the decision to leave the family business and join the Oppenheim Group after a conversation with Jason Oppenheim.

"It instantly felt more like friends catching up than a boss/employee conversation," Stanaland told PEOPLE.

He's on reality television

Brittany Snow and Tyler Stanaland attend The Creative Coalition's Seventh Annual Television Humanitarian Awards on September 18, 2021 in Los Angeles, California

Vivien Killilea/Getty

Stanaland's move to the Oppenheim Group brought more than just real estate opportunities  it also launched his reality television career. The pro-surfer-turned-real-estate-agent appeared on the first season of Selling the OC, Netflix's Selling Sunset spin-off that follows Jason and Brett Oppenheim as they launch the Orange County branch of their luxury real estate firm. But Stanaland kept certain aspects of his life away from the cameras' eyes.

"I don't know about the future," Stanaland said on an August 2022 episode of the Reality Life with Kate Casey podcast. "But in this specific season, you won't see my house, you won't see my wife."

He continued, "As this journey started, I kind of wanted to keep certain parts of my life private. And as time goes on, maybe that'll be different. But for right now, that was kind of the one thing that made me feel safe embarking on such a strange journey."

He met Snow through mutual friends  and social media

Brittany Snow and Tyler Stanaland

Brittany Snow Instagram

While mutual friends knew Stanaland and Snow would hit it off  Snow's friends even called Stanaland her "dream boyfriend"  it took an Instagram direct message to actually bring the two together.

"He actually reached out to me on Instagram with a really lame pickup line," Snow told PEOPLE.

The pair had their first date in 2018 at a Mexican restaurant in California and were inseparable from that point forward.

"We got tacos after years of being infatuated with one another and forgot how to speak entirely," Stanaland recalled. "There was a certain amount of tequila consumed, and then we just started talking a lot. Then we fell in love and nothing's really changed, we're still eating tacos and margaritas together."

He made his Instagram debut with Snow in August 2018

Brittany Snow and Tyler Stanaland

Brittany Snow Instagram

Snow and Stanaland's relationship dates back to at least August 2018, when she shared their first photo together in a since-deleted Instagram post. The photo featured the couple's feet  and a cheeky caption.

"music that's good for the sole. Thanks @aquilo for the dreamiest of dates ," Snow wrote at the time.

In November 2018, Snow posted a series of photos to Instagram, including several cute shots of her and Stanaland.

"@tylerstanaland is a cute human," Snow included in the caption.

He proposed to Snow in 2019

Brittany Snow and Tyler Stanaland

Brittany Snow Instagram

The couple revealed their engagement in two since-removed Instagram posts in February 2019.

"A couple weeks ago, I said 'YES' about a million times to the man of my wildest & most beautiful dreams," Snow wrote at the time.

She added, "I'm still pinching myself and thanking my lucky stars for the truest feeling I've ever felt. Thank you @tylerstanaland for the happiest day of my life & for not proposing in this creepy empty restaurant."

Stanaland's Instagram announcement was equally romantic: "I don't know how I got so lucky and I don't know that I really understood what love is until you," he wrote in his caption. "Everything changed when we met."

He added, "You are the most beautiful, intelligent, thoughtful, caring, incredible human and I couldn't be more excited to do life with you. Here's to forever and making our wildest dreams come true. Love you to the moon and back. ."

Snow also opened up about their engagement with PEOPLE.

"I was completely shocked, I did not think that was coming but it was great," she shared. "I like how private it was. It was very us and it was really nice keeping it quiet At the end of it, we had a party with family and it was very special because it was just a great day."

He and Snow married in Malibu in March 2020

Brittany Snow and Tyler Stanaland

Brittany Snow Instagram

Stanaland and Snow tied the knot on March 14, 2020, in an intimate outdoor ceremony in Malibu, California. The actress called their wedding day "imperfectly perfect" and shared that despite the cold and rainy weather, everything came together in "one perfect tornado."

"At the end of the day, we came together and thanks to our beautiful friends, family and our good attitude, we made it all work," Snow told The Knot about their nuptials. "We had so much love in that tent. Love that supported us through the most insane circumstances. It made us even more grateful and somehow, even more in love. We can get through anything."

Their wedding also came just days before COVID-19 shut down the country. (California issued a stay-at-home order on March 19, 2020.) Snow later acknowledged the timing in an Instagram post about their wedding.

"In early March, before we knew how much we'd miss hugs and live in our sweatpants, I got to marry my favorite person," she wrote in her caption. "The whole world shut down a few days later & we were stunned at the timing. We knew we felt incredibly lucky to have found each other but we had no idea how lucky it would be to get married right before a monumental time in our history."

They share a dog named Charlie

Brittany Snow and dog Charlie

Brittany Snow Instagram

The couple have a small white puppy named Charlie, who made his debut on Stanaland's Instagram account in October 2021. "Saturdays with Charlie," the real estate agent captioned a shot of him with the pup in L.A.

The puppy, who turned 1 in April 2022, has since become Stanaland's tiny sidekick: The realtor has posted about taking the pup to the beach, floating in the ocean and even fishing. Charlie has also made appearances on Snow's Instagram. "Not a hair out of place ," she captioned a shot of her and Charlie in August 2022.

He made headlines when his Selling the OC costar tried to kiss him

In season 1 of Selling the OC, which premiered in August 2022, Stanaland's costar Kayla Cardona tried to kiss him twice.

"One night, Kayla did try and kiss me. And then it happened another night as well. And so on the show, out of respect for her, I am just kind of trying to minimize it and brush past it so that there isn't drama. We can all focus on what we should be doing," the realtor said on the Reality Life with Kate Casey podcast.

He continued by saying that he had to "set some hard lines and some boundaries and reconsider the social environment a bit," adding, "Nothing happened. It was just  something that, you know, you don't do to somebody who is married."

While the attempted kisses "didn't happen while we were filming," Stanaland also said, "We are a tight-knit office, and we really did, for the most part all become friends, which is a unique experience for any office."

He and Snow separated in September 2022

After over two years of marriage, the couple decided to split. Snow announced their separation on Instagram on Sept. 14, 2022, writing, "After time and consideration, Tyler and I have made the difficult decision to separate."

The actress continued, "This decision was made with love and mutual respect for one another. We have realized we need to take some time and make sure we are each living our most fulfilling and authentic lives. We started this journey as best friends and our relationship will continue to be a priority not only for us but for our dog Charlie. We sincerely appreciate your support and ask for privacy as we navigate this new chapter."
In the year since the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, tens of thousands of Afghans have been forced to suffer through another administrative disaster, this one unfolding mostly in drab D.C. office buildings via mountains of monotonous paperwork.

In the aftermath of the pullout and the lightning-quick Taliban takeover, Afghans who worried for their lives and freedom  including many who are at risk for supporting U.S. aims and werent able to immediately evacuate with the retreating Americans  were told that they could apply for humanitarian parole, which would allow them to enter the U.S. and remain here in safety while they sought a more permanent status.

A year on, this has started looking like a bait and switch. Reveal at the Center for Investigative Reporting revealed recently that, of about 66,000 applications filed last July and this May, only 8,000 had even been processed. Of those, there were a total of 123 approvals, about 1.5% of the applications resolved and 0.2% of the total applications filed. The government collected a $575 application fee for each.

With the announcement that the Biden administration is phasing out the Afghan parole program at the end of this month and focusing instead on the more permanent but more complicated Special Immigrant Visa and refugee pathways, the government stands at an inflection point that could go one of two ways. Ideally, it will commit the resources necessary to meet the need and adopt reasonable standards for admission, understanding that many thousands of Afghans are in direct danger of repression and harm from the Taliban, including many already denied parole. Or, it could wash its hands of the matter and leave them to their fate.

It must commit to the former, which starts by rebuilding the refugee infrastructure. This fiscal year, the administration is already set to way undershoot the annual refugee cap, largely because processing capacity was eviscerated under Trump. We failed in whatever objectives we had in Afghanistan; we must do what we can to help now.

___
VIENNA  The Iran nuclear talks are stalling out again.

Only a few short weeks ago, European diplomats were waltzing through the streets of the Austrian capital, optimistic that 16 months of negotiations to revive the Iran nuclear deal had finally achieved a breakthrough.

But an Iranian tough line  and reports of new uranium enrichment to near-weapon levels  have shattered hopes here that a deal will soon be reconstructed.

In suitably understated language, U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi revealed his disappointment to reporters on Monday in Vienna: Engagement with Iran is not at the point that I would really like it to see.

The indirect negotiations between the U.S, Iran and other world powers are aimed at restoring the 2015 landmark nuclear accord, which lifted many international sanctions on Iran in exchange for strict restrictions on its nuclear program. The deal has been on life support since 2018, when then-President Donald Trump unilaterally walked away from the agreement and reimposed a broad array of sanctions.

In mid-August, it appeared as though Iran was ready to drop a major demand holding up the talks  an explicit guarantee that the U.N. nuclear watchdog probe into its past nuclear activities would be summarily closed. European as well as U.S. diplomats considered the apparent resolution of the issue as a hopeful sign that Iran was ready to close the deal.

But negotiations have faltered again since the beginning of September, when Iran reopened the issue of the probe and asked for further guarantees that would secure Tehran economic benefits of a new deal. Talks now appear headed toward a stalemate until after the U.S. midterm elections on Nov. 8, according to European diplomats.

This is the most likely scenario, one senior European diplomat said.

The diplomat also said that, for now, further negotiations over a draft agreement are over. The U.S. response to Iran's latest demands, which is still expected, is thus unlikely to prompt more changes to the document.

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Under U.S. legislation, Congress must get a vote on any new agreement with Iran after a 30-day review period. In the midst of a heated election campaign in Washington, choosing to undertake such a controversial vote and debate is highly unlikely, according to European diplomats.

In its most recent feedback on the latest proposal, dated Sept. 1, Tehran doubled down on its request for a guarantee that the investigation into the origin of nuclear traces found at three locations in Iran be closed prior to the so-called reimplementation day  which would take place 120 days after a new deal is signed.

Washington and its European partners have categorically refused this demand, maintaining that the investigation will only be closed once the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms that it has received explanations from Iran that are technically credible.

Western countries have tried to keep the investigation separate from the nuclear deal and are reluctant to link the two issues. They believe that the nuclear traces could be proof that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program that ran until approximately 2003.

In past weeks, we've closed some gaps. Iran has moved away from some extraneous demands  demands unrelated to the JCPOA itself, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Brussels last week. However, the latest response takes us backwards. And we're not about to agree to a deal that doesn't meet our bottom-line requirements. ... If we conclude a deal, it's only because it will advance our national security.

In its latest confidential report on the matter, circulated to member states last week and seen by POLITICO, the IAEA says that Iran has not engaged with the Agency on the probe. Consequently, there have been no developments in this reporting period and no one of the outstanding issues have been resolved, the report reads.

Behruz Kamalvandi, a top official of Irans atomic energy organization, was quoted by Fars news agency as describing the IAEA report as a repetition of the previous baseless accusations with political purposes.

Asked about this at Mondays press conference, Grossi said that he regrets this but that the accusation is nothing new.

This issue is very straightforward. We found traces of uranium at places that were never declared and that were never supposed to have any nuclear activity, and we are asking questions, said the IAEA director general. Explain to me why this is a political use of my authority? This is what the IAEA is supposed to do.

Grossi confirmed to POLITICO that currently there are no planned high-level meetings between the IAEA and Iran to discuss the probe.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom  the three European powers that are party to the 2015 nuclear deal  issued a joint statement on Friday, equally expressing their frustration with the situation.

This latest demand raises serious doubts as to Iran's intentions and commitment to a successful outcome on the JCPOA, the three countries said, referring to the official name of the deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The senior Western diplomat said that the IAEA Board of Governors, which is meeting in Vienna this week, will likely not pass another resolution criticizing Iran for its lack of cooperation. But the issue will certainly be debated by the Board, the diplomat added.

Meanwhile, Irans nuclear program continues to grow.

In a second confidential report sent to member states last week, the U.N. nuclear watchdog estimated that Iran had 55.6 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 60 percent, an increase of 12.5 kilograms since May.

Enrichment to 60 percent fissile purity can be converted easily into weapons-grade 90 percent. Experts say that Irans current stockpile of 60 percent enriched uranium is sufficient for one nuclear bomb, if enriched further. Building an actual weapon, however, requires additional steps and time, as well as a decision by the Iranian regime to do so.

The IAEA report, seen by POLITICO, also says that Irans total stockpile of enriched uranium has grown to 3940.9 kilograms, an increase of 131.6 kilograms since May.

Under the original 2015 nuclear deal, Iran is allowed to enrich uranium to at 3.67 percent  sufficient for medical purposes  and its total stockpile cannot exceed 300 kilograms.

Iran has also dramatically enhanced its use of advanced centrifuges, which are all banned under the original 2015 nuclear deal.

In its report, the agency said that Irans removal of IAEA cameras in June poses considerable challenges to inspectors to confirm the consistency of Irans declared inventory of centrifuges.

In other words, the agency has issued a clear warning that it may not be able to determine exactly how many centrifuges Iran has spinning  even if the footage of the cameras is returned to the agency and Iran cooperates with the IAEA under a restored nuclear deal.

Irans decision to remove all of the Agencys equipment previously installed in Iran for surveillance and monitoring activities in relation to the JCPOA has also had detrimental implications for the Agencys ability to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of Irans nuclear programme, the report concludes.

Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.
Married at First Sight UK is back for a new series, with a new group of singletons betting on love as they tie the knot with complete strangers.

The dating show returned to E4 at the end of August, showing a new group of contestants as they met their future spouses for the first time on their wedding days.

The couples have now been through their wedding days and honeymoons and are settling into married life.

When the show reaches its conclusion, the married couples must choose whether they will stay together or go separate ways.

Here are the Married at First Sight UK couples...

Chanita and Jordan

Jordan and Chanita (Channel 4)

The first pair to couple up were Chanita, 29, and Jordan, who may be one of the best matched marriages of the series so far.

Jordan told Chanita she looked beautiful in her wedding dress and the pair bonded when Jordan opened up about the death of his grandma.

Fans called the pair the best couple ever as they enjoyed their honeymoon in Mauritius.

Social worker Chanita was in a 10-year relationship until two years ago and hopes to settle down and start a family with her new husband.

Jordan comes from Darlington and owns his own home, is close with his family and a good cook. However, Jordan isnt prepared to settle for the sake of it.

Whitney and Duka

Whitney and Duka (Channel 4)

Whitney, 31, and Duka, 31, met on their wedding day in the first episode and its safe to say it wasnt love at first sight for personal assistant Whitney.

She initially said that she was ready to do a runner, but the couple later connected when Whitney opened up about the recent death of her mother.

She later branded Duka fake and rolled her eyes whenever he spoke.

Whitney previously said that she wanted a man who was perfect and would tick all the right boxes for her.

Recruitment HR co-ordinator Duka, who moved to England from former Yugoslavia aged 10 without speaking any English, said he traditionally gets bored of the women who are attracted to him.

Thomas and Adrian

Thomas and Adrian (Channel 4)

From the moment Thomas, 31, and Adrian, 37, met and Thomas said he hadnt been expecting someone blonde who looked like Clare Balding, it was clear this couple might not be the perfect match.

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Adrians best friend Katie expressed her disapproval with the relationship, saying that she didnt want the digital designer to go on his honeymoon.

On the trip, the couple clashed, with Thomas storming off, saying: Im not f***ing talking to you.

Mental health care assistant Thomas loves being the centre of attention and says being described as nice is his worst nightmare.

Adrian wants a partner who can make him laugh and is adventurous and trustworthy.

April and George

George and April (Channel 4)

After April, 32, and George, 40, got married, they reached an early problem with their relationship as April told father-of-four George that she wasnt sure she wanted children.

Upon learning of his family, she said she would give George a chance. However, George later revealed that hed learnt April had kissed a girl in a hot tub as a dare while on their honeymoon.

Former Miss Great Britain April then broke down in tears after being accused of cheating.

The wedding dress designer said she wanted a partner who allowed her to be independent.

George, who has been divorced, said he was looking for someone to keep him on his toes.

Jess and Pjay

Pjay and Jess (Channel 4)

While Jess, 31, and Pjay initially appeared to have a good start to their relationship on their wedding day, Jess was left unimpressed by Pjays job as a stripper with the Dreamboys. However, Pjay vowed he would quit his job if it made her happy.

On their honeymoon, she admitted that she felt things were more friendly than romantic and rejected his offer of a massage.

However, the pair got closer when Jess broke down in tears as she opened up about an ex-partner cheating on her with a member of her family.

Youre a good person, everyday weve had here, everyday gets better, youre wonderful, Pjay told her.

Pjay had previously admitted that his partners had previously struggled to trust him due to his job.

Jess, who hails from Cambridgeshire, is a dental hygienist and has said that humour is the most important thing to her in a relationship.

Lara and Richie

Lara and Richie (Channel 4)

Lara, 49, and Richie, 52, got off to a not-great start on their wedding day after Richie admitted that hed never had a serious relationship and still lived with his parents.

When Lara told him that shed been married twice and had two sons, Richie said that this wasnt an easy thing to hear.

Canadian waitress Lara has said that she wants a love like her parents, who have been married for 51 years. She has been single for 12 years.

Richie previously worked in the music business as a songwriter before working as a sales advisor.

Kasia and Kwame

Kwame and Kasia (Channel 4)

Kasia, 36, and Kwame, 42, were coupled up by the shows experts and married at a stately home.

Things got off to a bad start after Kwame was accused of fatphobia as he commented that he usually goes for a more petite woman than Kasia.

Kwame then struggled to connect with his new in-laws and told Kasia that he wouldnt have sex with her on their wedding night.

Much to Kasias annoyance, he then joked that she should sleep on the sofa bed.

Kasia left school at 16 to have her first child (both her children are now adults) and she owns a body contouring clinic.

Business consultant and former Mr Ghana Kwame has been married and had kids before, but is now divorced and looking for love.

Zoe and Jenna

Jenna and Zoe (Channel 4)

The final couple to tie the knot were Zoe, 30, and Jenna, 32.

The pair, who make up the first same-sex partnership on the show, met when Jenna walked down the aisle and initially appeared to be attracted to each other.

However, they hit a stumbling block on their honeymoon in Iceland after arguing over Jenna, who runs a zero-waste shop, and her veganism.

Speaking before the series, Blackpool-based Jenna said that she hoped shed find her happily ever after on the show.

Self-proclaimed serial dater Zoe, meanwhile, said that she wanted to find someone to start a family and share her softer side with.
A Michigan man nearly met his maker while he was hunting for moose in Alaska, after he and a group of hunters unknowingly stumbled upon a grizzly bear and her cubs.

Nicholas Kuperus, 33, was hunting in northern Alaska, approximately 300 miles north of Anchorage, when he and his group accidentally came across the path of the mother bear and her three young cubs on 6 September.

In an interview Memphis Live, the mans uncle described how the interaction very quickly escalated, with the mother bear shifting into attack mode and lunging at the 33-year-old hunter.

She was coming at him and he put his arm out, said the mans uncle, Mark Kuperus.

The man then attempted to shield himself from the defensive mother bear, sticking his arms out as a barrier against its teeth, leaving what the Alaska Wildlife Troopers described as serious puncture wounds to both of his outstretched limbs.

What ultimately stopped the attack, and likely saved Mr Kuperuss life, was the bear spray he had tucked away, which he somehow managed to pull out despite the bear latching onto his body.

After deploying the non-lethal deterrent, two of his fellow hunters were able to further scare off the bear into the woods after firing off warning shots with their handguns.

After successfully removing the protective mother bear from the scene, the group then pivoted to getting their friend immediate medical attention. They were able to connect with the Alaska Wildlife Troopers after using a satellite communication device to request help.

The troopers arrived shortly after from Glennallen, arriving in PA-18 Super Cub that used a nearby ridgetop as a makeshift runway.

Mr Kuperus was transported by ambulance to Glennallen and then taken to a nearby hospital to treat the wounds covering his shoulders to hands.

By Wednesday, about two days after the attack, his uncle confirmed that his nephew was on the mend, according to Memphis Live.

They stitched him up and hes doing well, he said.

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Bear attacks in the US are exceedingly rare, but the National Park Service does note that they can occur, particularly in instances where the mammal is protecting their food or, as was the case in Alaska this week, their young cubs.

The service does have guidelines for how to be protected in the rare case you do find yourself confronted by a threatening bear but notes that your method of protection will vary depending on the kind of bear youre faced up against.

For brown bears, with which grizzly bears are included, the service suggests that you PLAY DEAD and lay flat on your stomach with your hands clasped behind your neck.

Spread your legs to make it harder for the bear to turn you over. Remain still until the bear leaves the area, the recommendation on the website reads, noting that fighting back typically only increases the intensity of these kind of attacks.

For black bears, the advice is quite different.

If you are attacked by a black bear, DO NOT PLAY DEAD, it warns, adding that people who suspect they are being attacked by this kind of bear should try and escape or find a secure place such as a car or a building with a lockable door.

If escape is not possible, try to ight back using any object available. Concentrate your kicks and blows on the bears face and muzzle, the National Park Service advises.

Again, these kinds of attacks are not common, the park service notes. For instance, since 1980, there have been only two grizzly bear-caused human injuries in areas that are considered developed. While over the same time span, officials have only reported 34 human injuries occurring in the backcountry, which equates to an average of one per year.
Visitors walk along the Navajo Loop Trail at Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah in a file photo from 2016. Navajo, Southern Paiute, Hopi, Zuni and Ute peoples are all tied to park lands.

The National Park Service is operationalizing its commitment to co-stewarding lands with Indigenous tribes and communities through a new policy that sets collaboration as the expectation across parks.

"All national parks are located on Indigenous ancestral lands and this policy will help ensure tribal governments have an equal voice in the planning and management of them," NPS Director Chuck Sams said in a statement Tuesday, before sitting down with USA TODAY and The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Among other things, the nine-page policy memorandum calls for working directly with Native tribes, Alaska Native entities and Native Hawaiian groups on plans and activities that impact their interests, practices or traditional use areas, and seeking "regular, meaningful and timely" Native input.

"I know this will empower our staff to be able to go out and have stronger, less transactional and more transformational relationships with tribes and tribal governments and tribal communities on how they can use traditional ecological knowledge, Indigenous knowledge, and to better manage these resources not just for ourselves, but for our children's children," Sams told USA TODAY.

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NPS defines co-stewardship as an umbrella encompassing co-management with decision-making legal authority, self-governance agreements and other types of collaborative and cooperative management.

There are already more than 80 existing co-stewardship agreements between NPS and various Indigenous Tribes and communities in places like Acadia National Park and Grand Portage National Monument. Sams said another 40 to 50 more are getting ready to hit the ground. Beyond building upon those, the policy urges park leaders everywhere to create new partnerships.

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"Go out and meet the tribes where they're at," Sams said. "Do not expect them to come to you go out and be proactive in this consultation. Talk to them ... so that we ensure that the tribes understand that they are not only welcomed into their homelands, into the parks, but they actually have a seat at the table in the management practices."

What's in a name: US changes names of nearly 650 places with racist connotations toward Native Americans

The policy specifically includes "nonfederally recognized tribes, relocated Indigenous people with a historic link to an area, and other traditionally associated peoples."

"We know that they have a longstanding history within the homelands that are now the United States," Sams said. "They've stewarded these places since time immemorial, and they have major contributions that they can provide so that we better steward these lands."

He said park superintendents and staff in the field are "very hungry" to have stronger relationships with tribal communities and to welcome them back to their homelands.

However Sams understands that some Native community members may have doubts, having heard similar promises before.

Sacred spaces: How legal and cultural barriers keep Indigenous people from protecting sacred spaces off tribal land

This time, he said, they have an Interior secretary and National Park Service director who've worked on their side.

Sams is Cayuse and Walla Walla and an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon. He began advocating for co-stewardship decades before he became the first Native American to head the National Park Service. Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary and first Native American woman to serve in Congress, is an enrolled citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna Native American tribe in New Mexico.

"We know, coming from that side, what this really does mean and how it can be applied in a way that better represents our trust responsibility and how we have to fulfill that trust responsibility as a federal agency," he said.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management also released co-stewardship policies.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why National Park Service wants more Native co-stewardship of lands
PROVIDENCE  State environmental authorities are extending an emergency shellfishing closure in upper Narragansett Bay after a sewer line rupture in Warwick.

The closure has been in place since heavy rains last week. The state Department of Environmental Management was set to lift it this Friday, but a 24-inch sewer line on Lake Shore Drive in Warwick broke open Monday afternoon, spewing an estimated 450,000 gallons of untreated wastewater into Warwick Pond. The pond connects to Buckeye Brook, which flows into Narraganset Bay.

Residents are also being advised to avoid swimming, kayaking or fishing in Warwick Pond, Buckeye Brook, Mill Creek and Mill Cove.

Three sewer pipe ruptures in four years

The rupture is the third in four years in the system, operated by the Warwick Sewer Authority, to impact the Buckeye Brook watershed. In August 2018, a sewer pipe in Oakland Beach collapsed and 300,000 gallons of wastewater spilled into Cedar Swamp and Buckeye Brook. The following November, a partial collapse of a sewer pipe on Sandy Lane dumped 26,000 gallons of wastewater into Little Pond. The sewer authority was fined $27,500 in the wake of those incidents.

Afterward, the city was required to evaluate its infrastructure and prioritize areas in need of repair. The line on Lake Shore Drive was not put on the priority list, according to Joe Habarek, administrator of surface water protection for the DEM.

As part of our investigation, well be looking at why this particular sewer line wasnt identified as an immediate need, he said.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, the line had yet to be repaired or bypassed and wastewater was still spewing from a corroded section into a storm drain that empties into Warwick Pond.

Theyre trying to get some temporary bypass pumps out there, said Habarek. They're still working on that and hoping to have it in place today.

He described it as a very significant spill. The 450,000-gallon estimate was based on total flow through the pipe and was calculated Tuesday morning. The number could be higher, as the discharge was ongoing, or lower because not all of the wastewater flowing through the pipe had escaped through the ruptured section.

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Environment: Advocates say last two years were best in Rhode Island history for environmental policy

Upper Narragansett Bay closed to shellfishing

The portion of the Bay subject to the shellfishing closure is known as Conditional Area A. Its northern edge runs between Conimicut Point in Warwick and Nayatt Point in Barrington and its southern border stretches from Rocky Point in Warwick to Colt State Park in Bristol.

The DEM will test for bacteria levels in the Bay and Warwick has been instructed to take similar samples in Warwick Pond and Buckeye Brook to get more detailed information on wastewater volumes and concentrations. Once that testing is complete, the closure area will likely be reduced, said Habarek.

As to the length of the closure, thats still unclear. Generally speaking, a closure is lifted 21 days after a discharge event has ended or seven days after bacteria levels in shellfish samples have come below public health safety limits.

Warwick is not the only city in Rhode Island to experience recent problems with its sewage system. The DEM issued Woonsocket a series of notices starting late last year for a slew of operations and maintenance problems at its wastewater treatment plant. Most recently, in June, the DEM issued an advisory after partially treated sewage was discovered flowing into the Blackstone River from the plant.

A DEM spokesman said that the Warwick incident is likely due to aging infrastructure.

Generally speaking, Rhode Island municipalities have old infrastructure, said Michael Healey. This is an example that we need to be constantly investing in this by and large ancient infrastructure. Otherwise, this is the kind of thing that can happen.

Climate warrior: Whatever happened to Claudine Schneider, the only woman to serve RI in Congress?

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Warwick sewer rupture closes upper Narragansett Bay to shellfishing
Anthony Zacateco, 17, of Wapato High School, controls his team's robot while competing in a match during a robotics competition hosted by FIRST Washington in the SunDome in Yakima, Wash. on Friday, March 18, 2022.
The Beatrice Middle School Hopesters met for the first time during the new school year on Friday, Sept. 9.

Hope Squad is a peer-to-peer suicide prevention program that began in Utah with the direction of Dr. Greg Hudnall. Beatrice Middle School adopted the Hope Squad curriculum in 2017. Hope Squad members are nominated by their classmates as trustworthy peers each school year. After receiving parent permission to be a part of the group, students are trained by advisors during monthly meetings.

The program aims to reduce youth suicide through education, training and peer intervention.

The Hopesters group is unique to Beatrice Middle School. Any student can be a part of the group and attend monthly activities during the school day. The purpose of the group is to spread hope and kindness throughout the student body.

During Fridays Hopester meeting students played a game of Would you rather and were given clothespins to write hopeful messages onto. They were instructed to share their clothespins in a sneaky way with other non-suspecting students to brighten their day.

Hope Squad and Hopesters are important to our students because we want them to know that there is help if they are having a hard time. Other students care and all the adults in our building are there for them. There are resources available, said Angie Vogel, school counselor.

We want to encourage all of our students that everybody can help someone who is struggling. Everybody can spread hope and kindness to make our school a better place, Vogel said.

Jill Rice, also a counselor at BMS, said she felt like the Hope Squad and Hopesters help create a positive culture in the school building.

Andrew Haake, Beatrice Middle School Principal, said he felt Hope Squad and Hopesters is an integral part of the school.

While we have teachers and staff members in every classroom, hallway and lunchroom, we still cant be the eyes and ears of every conversation that is happening in the school. Training our students how to advocate for someone who is struggling is important to keep everyone safe, Haake said.

Hope Squad and Hopesters will continue to meet monthly throughout the school year.
U.S. District Court Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr., a judge for the Eastern District of Washington since 2014, has been nominated by President Joe Biden to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He would be the first Latino from Washington to serve on the Ninth Circuit Court bench.
A section of the twin leaf arch is lifted into place on the Keechelus Wildlife Overpass east of Snoqualmie Pass on Wednesday. Two arches will be constructed with a bridge for wildlife to cross Interstate 90 near Keechelus Lake. The crossing should be completed by 2019. (Steve Ringman/The Seattle Times)
Angie Girard, board member of the Yakima Regional Public Facilities District, speaks during a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new addition of the Yakima Convention Center Friday, May 14, 2021, in Yakima, Wash.
A 20-year-old man who had been arrested in Arkansas in connection with the Aug. 12 slaying of a 22-year-old Omaha man escaped Sunday from a jail in Benton, Arkansas, but was later captured.

About 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Wuanya Smith climbed over a Saline County Jail fence topped with razor wire and barbed wire, according to a press release from the Saline County Sheriffs Office. He was arrested in the area Monday morning.

Smith had been sought on a warrant charging him with second-degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person in the shooting death of Anthony Collins III. Collins was fatally wounded around 12:10 a.m. Aug. 12 near 49th and Hamilton streets. Police were called to Methodist Hospital in Omaha after Collins arrived there in a private vehicle following the shooting. Collins died later in the day.

Smith had been taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service Eastern Arkansas-Little Rock Task Force. Sunday afternoon, officers from the Saline County Sheriffs Office, the Arkansas State Police, the Benton Police Department, the Bryant (Arkansas) Police Department and the Arkansas Department of Corrections were searching for Smith.
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According to two opinion polls, Hungarians have negative views about Putin as well as Zelensky, but they are also becoming less satisfied with the Hungarian governments response to the Ukraine war.

In Magyar Hirlap Gyorgy Kerekgyarto interprets Szazadvegs survey as proof that Hungarians want peace. According to the Szazadveg poll, 86 per cent of Hungarians think that the Great Powers should start negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.



The pro-government columnist thinks that Hungarians want the war to end as soon as possible, fearing that its prolongation will further deepen the economic and energy crises. Kerekgyarto adds that Hungarians perceptions of Ukraine and Russia seem to be shifting.



Since February, the ratio of those who have a negative opinion of Ukrainian President Zelensky increased from 52 percent to 68, while Russian President Putin was blamed by 69 per cent in September, down from 72 per cent in August.



Nepszava comments on a recent poll by the Publicus Institute, and contends that Hungarians are becoming less and less satisfied with the governments response to the war in Ukraine.



According to the survey, since April, the ratio of Hungarians satisfied with the governments response has sunk from 66 per cent to 42. The left-wing daily, however, notes that the vast majority (79 per cent) still agrees with the government that Hungary should not send weapons to support Ukraine and a similarly high percentage of the respondents (68 per cent) agree with the governments efforts to help Ukrainian refugees.



At the same time, only 29 per cent of the respondents said that Hungary can maintain good relations with Russia and the EU at the same time (in April, 45 per cent thought so), Nepszava notes.



The Publicus poll also shows that pro-government and opposition voters still have different perceptions of the war: 88 per cent of opposition voters see the war as a Russian aggression, but only 46 per cent of Fidesz supporters agree with this statement.



This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher.

Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online.

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The two inmates who escaped from Yellowstone County Detention Facility Sunday have been captured, Sheriff Mike Linder said Monday afternoon.

In an email Monday, the sheriff said, "The escapees have been apprehended. Short pursuit, near the fairgrounds."

A little after 5 p.m., Billings resident Jesse Ross was making his way from the interstate to the Heights when about six police cars came up behind him with their lights on. He pulled over and saw they were chasing a car, which stopped about 150 feet from his bumper. Over the next several minutes police officers swarmed the area, pulling their guns and yelling at the car.

"Right away, with that level of police response I knew it must have been big," Ross told the Gazette. Police took at least three people from the car, Ross said, but there could have been more, he added.

Ross also captured video and photos of the scene. As police surrounded the car with their weapons drawn and more officers were coming, Ross decided to document the event with his phone capturing about five minutes of video and some photos as the men were pulled from the car.

Ross was thankful no one was hurt or shot in the encounter, he said.

The two men, Cody Flesch, 31, and Quincy Pfister, 23, escaped through a broken window that had been "dislodged," the Sheriff said Sunday evening.

The men were on the lam for less than 24 hours before they were captured near the county fairgrounds.

State Department of Corrections records say Flesch has a record of numerous violent crimes including felony assault out of Powell County. Pfister has been charged with assault on a police officer and assault with a weapon out of Custer County.
YORK  Non-compliance with post-release supervision, a lengthy criminal history that includes repeated thefts and getting caught with a stolen vehicle in York County has led to a 54-year-old Lincoln man being incarcerated again.

According to court documents and earlier factual basis proceedings provided by the county attorneys office, the initial case in this situation against Virgil Johnson began when two troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol were on Interstate 80 and saw a reckless driver. They said the driver cut off several motorists and he was going 88 mph.

A traffic stop was initiated and Johnson, the driver, couldnt produce registration or licensing for the vehicle.

They then learned that this particular vehicle had been stolen in Lincoln.

It was noted during earlier court proceedings that Johnson has an extensive criminal record that goes back to 1982, which includes 20 thefts including a robbery.

Johnson was sentenced to two years in prison, to be followed by 12 months of post-release supervision.

But this past week, he was back in York County District Court for re-sentencing because he did not comply with the terms of his post-release supervision. He was sentenced to 120 days in the York County Jail and ordered to pay $976.71 in fines/costs.
YORK  For nearly 30 years, York County Aging Services has been dedicated to providing long-term care programs for senior citizens in York County.

Lori Byers, director of York County Aging Services, says it is the first-stop shop for anyone needing help with care management, applying for Medicare and Medicaid, Medicare Part B and Part D services or needing referrals to appropriate services. All of their services are free with suggested contributions.

One popular service senior citizens are taking advantage of lately is Medicare fraud prevention. Byers said shes seen a significant number of seniors fall victim to fraud and scams through mail, the phone, the computer, or all three.

Byers said, The convincing thing is the scammers will give you some information that is correct, and say, oh, but we need you to verify this number, which can be quite convincing to a lot of seniors. It could be as simple as trying to sell something they may or may not need, but a lot of it is they are trying to get information so they can hack bank accounts or order fraudulent items. There is Medicare and Medicaid fraud. There is so much fraud out there, and if we can pay attention to those things as consumers, we can avoid it.

Staff member Carla Green said, Weve had a number of clients call and say theyve received calls from people asking for home addresses. There are quite a few people out there who are even afraid of calling Social Security because they are so scared. They cant guarantee that they theyre even talking to a Social Security representative

It is common for senior citizens to receive threats from scammers if they refuse to follow through with a scam.

Byers said, Sometimes they are sending pretty convincing threats like were going to have to send someone out to arrest you if you dont pay this off, or this is the FBI or Social Security services. Theres only one instance I can think of where social security will ever call you and that is when you are first applying and they have questions specific to the application. Any other time, it is not Social Security calling. It is a scam.

Through Nebraska SHIP, a division of the Nebraska Department of Insurance, York County Aging Services provides multiple counselors for seniors to talk to if they detect a scam via mail, on the phone, or through the computer.

Byers said, Weve had people bring in piles and piles of mail, and we will help them sort through their mail. We can go through all of their letters and tell them if whether or not they have to worry. We help them through the process of blocking calls on their phone. If they gave too much information out, we can go through what steps they need to take to secure their information. We can refer them to the attorney generals office or refer them to the police department or sheriffs department if the scam happened locally.

The best way to avoid fraud from happening, Byers said, is for seniors to be cautious of spam calls and avoid giving personal, identifiable information over the phone. If someone receives a suspicious letter in the mail, call and ask York County Aging Services for assistance.

Byers and Green said to be take precautions when observing national TV ads that encourages people to take immediate action on donating to a cause or fundraiser and resist the urge to act quickly.

Another scam to be aware of are con artists offering free roofing inspections or repairs. Making sure a company is licensed and insured, and finding out if they are reputable is necessary to avoid being scammed.

Byers said, Theyre past the This is your grandson and Im sick, and theyre past the This is somebody from Africa, I need you to help me and Ill return the favor. These scams are sophisticated and people have to be careful.
New Delhi: Actor Anupam Kher on Tuesday dropped pictures featuring co-stars Amitabh Bachchan and Boman Irani from his upcoming movie `Uunchai.`

Taking to Instagram, the veteran actor treated fans with a series of pictures.

Sharing the picture, "It always feels impossible until it is done! #Uunchai is one such film. I feel special and lucky to be part of this magnum opus directed by God`s own child #SoorajBarjatya. Proud to be working with a great team of actors and technicians! See you in theatres on 11-11-22! Jai Ho!#JoyOyMovies #PureCinema #Friendship."

In the first picture, the `A Wednesday` actor was seen posing with Big B and the `3 Idiots` actor. He opted for a grey suit with a white shirt. Boman dressed in a light grey suit that he paired with a black shirt. While Amitabh was seen wearing a collared charcoal suit. All three donned a formal look.

In the other pictures, director Sooraj Barjatya joined the team and was seen having a fun time. Anupam also posted a picture of himself with the `Don` actor.

As soon as the pictures were posted, the actor`s fans and industry friends chimed into the comment section.

Actor Anil Kapoor dropped a comment. He wrote, "Kher saab," with heart and fire emojis.

Anupam`s `Emergency` co-star Mahima Chaudhry reacted, she wrote," Wow it willl be great to see u all together. waiting for 11/11."One of the users wrote, "All favourites in one picture."Boman Irani also posted one of the pictures along with a caption. He wrote, "Man what a privilege!#uunchaithemovie has brought joy to many already. As far as I`m concerned you can see the joy written all over my face."

On the occasion of Friendship Day, Amitabh Bachchan unveiled the first poster of his upcoming film. Directed by Sooraj Barjatya, this film is all about friendship.

The film which is set to hit the theatres in November this year will see Neena Gupta, and Sarika, with Parineeti Chopra in a special appearance. The film also stars Danny Denzongpa and Nafisa Ali Sodhi.The film marks Sooraj Barjatya`s return to direction after 7 years and has been extensively shot in Nepal.

Going by the looks of it, it seems like the film is going to be all about the three lead actors` expedition to Everest.

The movie is all set to clash with Sidharth Malhotra`s upcoming action thriller film `Yodha`, which also stars Disha Patani and Rashi Khanna in the lead roles. Makers began shooting for `Uunchai` in October 2021 in Nepal. In April 2022, Anupam Kher announced the wrap of the film on his Instagram account.
New Delhi: Fintech unicorn BharatPe has appointed former RBI deputy governor B P Kanungo and TARI founder Kaushik Dutta as independent directors as it looks to strengthen governance rigour and transparency in the preparation of a listing. "Business is about to turn profitable in a few months and we are strengthening governance at the company by appointing independent directors," BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer told PTI.

The firm, which currently has nine directors on its board, is looking to have at least one-third of directors as independent directors, he said. Besides Sameer, co-founder Shashvat Nakrani is on the board as executive director. Investors have four nominees. The board is chaired by former SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar. (Also Read: Public Provident Fund: Invest Rs 100 per day in PPF, get Rs 25 lakh at the time of retirement; Check details here)

BharatPe, he said, would look to go public in the next 2-3 years' time. "Post-2024 (general) elections should be a good period," he said. While Kanungo recently retired as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Dutta currently is the chairman and independent director at Zomato. (Also Read: IT companies not onboarding even after 6 months of giving offer letters, youth trolls companies on social media)

"The appointments are in line with the company's aim to build a world-class institution and be the torchbearer of corporate governance in the start-up world," he said. BharatPe, which allows shop owners to make digital payments through QR codes, is now in 400 cities and has crossed USD 20 billion in annualized TPV.

Kanungo was the deputy governor of RBI from 2017-2021 and will work closely with the Board and support BharatPe in its plan of building a high-quality profitable business. Dutta has extensive experience in corporate governance, including in his leadership roles at PwC, and his guidance will be key for the company as it prepares to go public in the next 2-3 years, he said.

"In line with BharatPe's commitment to having a Board with at least one-third independent directors, Kewal Handa stepped down from the Board but would continue to support the Board and the Management in an advisory capacity," a company statement said.

Speaking on these appointments, Rajnish Kumar said, "Earlier this year, we had put in place a robust governance framework and were in the process of identifying the right leaders who could join the Board in building BharatPe 2.0. The recent important appointments are driven by this very thought and we hope that the composition of Board, processes, and compliances in place will lead to best governance practices in the industry."

Sameer said the diverse experience and deep understanding of the industry and the regulatory landscape of the two independent directors will be a great asset for BharatPe as it continues to build products that disrupt the market.

Kanungo, a seasoned banker, joined RBI in 1982 and during his stint of close to four decades looked after various departments of the central bank including information technology, payment and settlement systems, foreign exchange, and internal debt management.

Dutta is the co-founder of Thought Arbitrage Research Institute (TARI), an independent not-for-profit research think-tank that works in areas of corporate governance, public policy, and sustainability. He is also on the Board of renowned Indian companies such as Zomato, Policy Bazaar, HCL Infosystems, Newgen Software, NDTV, and Snapdeal.
New Delhi: HCL Technologies, one of India's largest software companies, is said to have laid off hundreds of employees. According to Moneycontrol, the Indian software company has fired employees who were primarily working on news-related products for its client Microsoft. According to the report, sources close to the events revealed that the decision to reduce the workforce was announced during a town hall meeting last week.

According to the report, the employees who were fired were spread across the globe, including Guatemala, the Philippines, and even India, to name a few. The software company also stated that it will provide severance pay to any employee who is fired over the course of time. According to the company, these employees' last day will be September 30.

According to one of the laid-off employees, "Microsoft had a problem with the quality of work." We used to monitor, curate, and edit content from countries such as India, Europe, and the United States for its news platform MSN. They had recently automated the process for global news monitoring as well. Burda Media managed this site two years ago." Other products and departments that have been impacted include trending on Bing, geopolitical news curation, comment moderation, tabloid hit apps, and transformation by Teams.

According to sources close to the situation, HCL's contract has expired, and Microsoft is expected to award the contract to another vendor. The vendor's identity has not been revealed, but it could be Accenture, another massive IT firm.

However, the company has not officially confirmed the layoffs or vendor change. "Our Technology & Services vertical continues to see robust growth and is one of our fastest growing segments," an HCL spokesperson told Moneycontrol in an official statement.

HCL's decision to lay off hundreds of employees comes at a difficult time for the tech industry. Some of the world's largest technology companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, and many others, have recently laid off some or all of their employees, blaming the economic downturn. Meanwhile, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has warned employees to give their all and asked managers to keep a close eye on productivity.
A massive fire broke out in Telanganas Secunderabad area where eight people, including a woman, staying in a hotel died in a midnight fire that originated from an electric bike showroom on September 12. The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has now ordered a preliminary enquiry into the fire incident in the electric bike showroom. The police stated that two experts are visiting the electric bike showroom after submitting the preliminary finding report. This is not the first time that an electric vehicle showroom caught fire, a few months back, a fire broke out at electric scooter maker Ather Energy's experience center in Chennai.

"Two experts are visiting (an electric-bike showroom in Secunderabad) after the police submit a preliminary finding," the official said. Ten others were injured and rushed to various hospitals, police said. Most of the victims were asphyxiated. The fire and smoke from the showroom engulfed Hotel Ruby Pride situated above the showroom killing the victims.

Concerned over cases of fire incidents involving electric two-wheelers, the road transport ministry recently introduced additional safety provisions in the battery safety standards which will come into effect from October 1. The amendments include additional safety requirements related to battery cells, onboard chargers, design of battery pack, and thermal propagation due to internal cell short circuits leading to the fire.

Also read: Secundrabad hotel tragedy: Not the first instance of an Electric Scooter showroom catching fire

In April this year, cases of electric two-wheelers of manufacturers such as Ola Electric, Okinawa Autotech, and PureEV catching fire were reported. It prompted the government to form a panel to examine.

The MoRTH had constituted an expert committee, chaired by ARCl Hyderabad director Tata Narsingh Rao, Centre for Fire, Explosive & Environment Safety (CFEES) scientist M K Jain, Indian Institute of Science principal research scientist Subba Reddy and IIT Madras professor Devendra Jalihal as members to recommend additional safety requirements in the existing battery safety standards notified under CMV Rules.

Taking the EV fire accidents into consideration, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari in April warned companies of penalties if they were found to be negligent and said they would be ordered to recall the defective vehicles.

Subsequently, Ola Electric recalled 1,441 units of its electric two-wheelers. Okinawa also announced its recall of 3,215 units of its Praise Pro electric scooter to fix any issue related to batteries. Similarly, Pure EV recalled 2,000 units of its ETrance+ and EPluto 7G models.

(With inputs from PTI)
On Monday (September 12), a fire broke out at a hotel in Telangana's Secunderabad killing at least eight people and injuring several others. As per agency reports, the fire broke out at an electric scooter recharging unit on the ground floor of a building, which then spread to the first and second floors. The electric scooter showroom in which the fire reportedly started belongs to Ruby Motors. It's not yet clear what caused the fire in the showroom, but initial reports suggest it can be a short circuit or a battery module on charging catching fire.

This is not the first time an electric vehicle showroom caught fire in India. A few months back, a fire broke out at electric scooter maker Ather Energy's experience centre in Chennai. Reporting the incident itself through Twitter, the company informed said that there has been a minor fire incident on its premises in Chennai. "While some property and scooters got affected, thankfully all employees are safe and things are under control. The experience centre will be operational shortly," the EV company said.

This was the first time a whole showroom was gutted in fire incident after several top EV players are facing a government inquiry over battery explosions and fire incidents across the country. EV makers such as Ola Electric, Pure EV, Jitendra EV Tech and Okinawa have been involved in earlier EV fire incidents. Meanwhile, a government panel probing EV fire incidents is set to submit its report next week.

The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) that was tasked with investigating EV fire incidents by the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry, has found serious defects in the batteries, including designs of the battery packs and modules.

These defects occur because the electric two-wheeler manufacturers like Okinawa Autotech, Pure EV, Jitendra Electric Vehicles, Ola Electric and Boom Motors may have used "lower-grade materials to cut costs".

With agencies inputs
New Delhi: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday criticised the Congress' 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', saying spending 18 days in Left-ruled Kerala and just two in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh is a "strange way to fight BJP-RSS". The remark prompted a strong response from the Congress which derided the Left as the "A team" of the BJP in the southern state.

The CPI(M) tweeted a caricature of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with text wondering if it was a "Bharat Jodo" or "Seat Jodo" campaign. "18 days in Kerala...2 days in UP. Strange way to fight BJP-RSS," read the text.

The photo also carried maps of Kerala and Uttar Pradesh illustrating the difference in their size.

Responding to the tweet, Jairam Ramesh, Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications, said, "Do your homework better on how and why yatra was planned the way it is. And silly criticism from a party that is the A team of BJP in the land of MunduModi."

Do your homework better on how and why yatra was planned the way it is. And silly criticism from a party that is the A team of BJP in the land of MunduModi. https://t.co/xku8ROd9XZ  Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 12, 2022

The 150-day foot march was launched from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7 and will cover 12 states and two Union territories.
AP EAMCET 2022: Andhra Pradesh Engineering Agriculture Medical Common Entrance Test, AP EAMCET Counselling 2022 is currently underway and is being conducted by Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education, APSCHE. Counseling option entry for the AP EAMCET will start today, September 13, 2022. The option entry facility on the official website, cets.apsche.ap.gov.in, is available to those who have enrolled for EAPCET counselling.

Option Entry for the AP EAMCET 2022 will be offered on the official website until September 17, 2022. Candidates are advised that although they can select their preferences right away, a facility will be available to make adjustments on September 18, 2022, if necessary.

AP EAMCET Counselling 2022 - Heres how to exercise Option Entry

- Candidates must visit the official website of Andhra Pradesh Engineering Agriculture Medical Common Entrance Test - cets.apsche.ap.gov.in.

- On the homepage, click on the link that reads, 'Option Entry.'

- A new page would open where you have to enter your login credentials, as asked.

- Mark the options in your desired order.

- Save them and then submit after cross-checking.

Option Entry for the AP EAMCET 2022 will be offered on the official website until September 17, 2022. Candidates are advised that although they can select their preferences right away, a facility will be available to make adjustments on September 18, 2022, if necessary.
Montana State University Billings Student Health Services will offer qualifying MSUB students equine assisted services as an additional method for counseling at no additional cost starting this fall. This pilot program is shared through Riverstone Healths Department of Public Health and Human Services Suicide Prevention Grant. Sessions will take place at Horses Spirits Healing, Inc., an equestrian center located off Highway 3 in Billings.

MSUB Student Health Services Director, Darla Tyler-McSherry, shares that this is the first time that college students in Montana will have the opportunity to access equine assisted services.

Our students have unique situations, and many could benefit from this type of treatment, said Tyler-McSherry. We are fortunate to have great partnerships with Riverstone Health and Horses Spirits Healing who understand the need for additional mental health services in our community.

National data demonstrate that todays college students face significant mental health issues. According to the Spring 2021 American College Health Association National College Health Assessment, students reported the following negatively impacted their academic performance in the last 12 months: anxiety 31 percent; depression 22 percent; sleep difficulties 22 percent; stress 29 percent. Active Minds reports that 39% of college students experience a significant mental health issue, and that suicide is the second leading cause of death for young adults. Montana currently ranks third in the nation for suicide and has been in the top five for the past 40 years.

MSUBs ACHA-NCHA 2021 survey data shows that 18.6 percent of students report moderate psychological distress and 19.4 percent report experiencing serious psychological distress. MSUB students who are evaluated by mental health counselors at MSUB may recommend voluntary EAS for students if they meet certain criteria. Students must meet entry level safety requirements and receive a medical clearance from a physician before they can begin therapy. EAS uses the abilities of the horse, in conjunction with the skills of certified equine instructors (together with clinical therapists, counselors, and volunteers) to achieve functional therapeutic goals in a natural environment.

The EAS student program is eight weeks long. Students will be evaluated periodically by their counselor for therapy efficacy. Funding will be available during the pilot project for a limited number of students per semester.

Horses Spirits Healing will be hosting their annual open house on September 24 at Intermountain Equestrian Center. The mounted color guard will open the event. Demonstrations by veterans and veteran families include jumping, cart driving, back country packing, a guest presenter and more. This event is free and open to the public. RSVP to aott@horsesspiritshealing.org.

MSUB students interested in participating in EAS should contact Student Health Services at 406-657-2153.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is not willing to give importance to the BJP's Nabanna Abhiyaan. On this day, she claims, "Balloon Fuss....The balloon has leaked, nothing to worry about. There were no people in the BJP's Nabanna campaign." At the Medinipur district leadership meeting in Kharagpur today, Mamata Banerjee mocked BJP in her own signature style. On Tuesday there was a party meeting in East Midnapore and West Midnapore districts.

Local Trinamool panchayat chief Tarak Jana was beaten up by BJP workers near a toll plaza in Tamluk today. He was seriously injured. On this day, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee looked for him. She asked her party leaders to go to the injured leader's house and look for him.

Toll Plaza Incident

Haldia BJP MLA Tapasi Mondal was stopped near Tamluk Toll Plaza on her way to the Nabanna campaign. BJP workers blocked the road in protest. At that moment, BJP workers were shocked to see Trinamool panchayat chief Tarak Jana passing by during the protest. He was beaten and his clothes were torn. Later, the Trinamool chief was admitted to hospital. The Kona Expressway took the form of a battleground at the very beginning of the BJP's Nabanna campaign. First, BJP workers tried to overturn the police guard rail at Santragachi. After that, glass bottles, bricks, stones and bamboo were thrown at the police. The police kiosk was smashed. The police dispersed the protesters by throwing water cannons. Tear gas was also fired. The police chased the BJP workers with sticks.

Also Read: 'I am happy to see FEAR on Mamata Banerjee...', Dilip Ghosh ATTACKS after losing his spectacle during Nabanna campaign

BJP's procession to Nabanna started from different directions on Tuesday. Suvendu Adhikari was stopped by the police near Santragachi. From there he was taken to Lalbazar. BJP All India Vice President Dilip Ghosh's procession was also blocked near Lalbazar. On the other hand, BJP state president Sukanta Majumder started a procession from Howrah Maidan towards Nabanna. He was also detained in Howrah.
Ahmedabad: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who on Tuesday promised to provide the people of Gujarat a "corruption-free" government if the Aam Aadmi Party comes to power in the state, made a big attack on the ruling BJP, alleging that it wants to make Sonia Gandhi PM from the backdoor.

The AAP convenor said this in Ahmedabad while responding to questions regarding BJP`s claims that Narmada Bachao Andolan leader and activist Medha Patkar will be projected as AAP`s Chief Minister candidate in Gujarat Assembly polls.

Delhi CM said, "Saying that AAP is fielding Medha Patkar as a chief ministerial candidate in Gujarat is just like saying that BJP is going to project Sonia Gandhi as Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s successor."

Kejriwal promises corruption-free Gujarat

The AAP's national convener announced that if his party voted to power in Gujarat, where the Assembly elections are due later this year, it will ensure its chief minister, ministers as well as lawmakers from other parties and government officers do not indulge in corruption and are jailed if caught doing so.

"Whosoever I met in Gujarat said there is corruption everywhere. One has to pay a bribe to get government work done. There is corruption at the lower level and at the top also there are scams. If one speaks against it, he is threatened...There is corruption and hooliganism everywhere in Gujarat," Kejriwal claimed while talking to reporters at a gathering in Ahmedabad.

The AAP government will make sure every penny collected from the public as tax goes to the service of the people of Gujarat, he said. "Today, I give a guarantee that when the AAP forms government in Gujarat, it will provide a corruption-free and fear-free government," he said.

Kejriwal also promised to stop "illegal businesses" of present ministers and government officers in Gujarat, investigate "scams" of the present government and recover money collected through corrupt means so that it can be spent on the public.

"We will also open cases of paper leaks of the last 10 years and their masterminds will be arrested and jailed," the AAP leader said.

"Whenever I visit Gujarat, people talk of different scams. All the large scams during their tenure (of BJP government) will be investigated and the money recovered will be used to provide good schools, electricity -- for the service of the public," he said.

Kejriwal said if voted to power, his party government will ensure the public is not required to pay bribes in government offices. The AAP government will also make arrangements for doorstep delivery of various welfare services as it has done in Delhi, he said.

During his multiple visits to Gujarat in the recent past, Kejriwal had announced a slew of "guarantees", including free electricity up to 300 units per month, allowances for women and unemployed youth, free and quality healthcare and education and the creation of jobs.

When asked about Congress leader Ajoy Kumar`s remark that the Punjab government is wasting money on advertisements when it does not have funds to pay salaries of college professors, Kejriwal said, "Congress is finished, stop taking Congress party`s question."
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati has entrusted her nephew Akash Anand with the task of mobilising the party in the upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Akash Anand, who is the party`s national coordinator, has been directed to restructure the organisation in these states.

Assembly polls in Gujarat will be held at the end of this year while Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will go to polls in 2023. According to a party functionary, the assembly polls in these states will serve as a launch pad for Akash Anand who is being positioned as the number two in the BSP.

Mayawati has been grooming her nephew in politics after he returned from London in 2017 where he was pursuing his MBA. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, he managed the election campaign strategy of the BSP chief while in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election campaign, he handled social media activities of the party.

Akash was appointed the BSP`s national coordinator in 2019 when Mayawati rejigged the party organisation after breaking alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

He is not a very visible face in the party but has been managing the party affairs from behind the scenes.

He accompanied Mayawati during the election campaign and was also seen with her during election rallies.

Akash has campaigned in MP during the municipal polls there. He addressed public meetings in various districts. In the meeting with party state unit leaders, he instructed them to raise public issues and strengthen the organisation during a membership drive.

In the 2018 polls, the BSP had failed to open its account in Madhya Pradesh though in the 2013 assembly election, it bagged four seats.

At present, Akash is on a tour of Rajasthan and is holding meetings in various districts there. The BSP state unit organisation is being rejigged at the district level to galvanise the party cadre for the assembly election.

The BSP, which had won six seats in the 2018 Rajasthan assembly election, has set focus on Jodhpur, Jaipur, Bharatpur, Dholpur, Sawai Madhopur, Nagaur, Ganganagar, Barmer, Sikar and Jhunjhunu districts which have large number of Dalit voters.

Mayawati has directed Akash to hold meetings in various districts to collect feedback from the workers and to mobilise the party cadre for election.

"The BSP has also set its focus on Gujarat where the assembly election will be held later this year. Again, Akash is leading the party`s fight to make inroads into the Dalit and tribal dominated areas. He has held a series of meetings," the party functionary said.
Mumbai: A day after reports emerged that he had quit his Nationalist Congress Party`s convention in New Delhi midway in a huff, a miffed Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar on Monday said that he had merely "gone to the washroom". He dismissed the news reports - which went on to suggest internal strife within the party at its two-day national conclave - as absolutely misleading and speculative.

"I had been sitting on the stage since morning. It was natural for any human being to feel the urge to go to the washroom. But the media has blown it out of proportion. Can`t I even step into the washroom?" an annoyed Ajit Pawar said.

The Saturday-Sunday convention saw Sharad Pawar re-elected as NCP President for a record 8th consecutive term since the party was founded in 1999.

At the height of the deliberations on Sunday, Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Pawar, was seen suddenly getting up and walking off just as state NCP President Jayant Patil started his address, fuelling intense political rumours of a chasm in the top leadership.

Clearing the air on Monday, Ajit Pawar chided the media and asked them to stick to reporting only facts without resorting to political kite-flying.

"I was there to speak on state-level issues. It was a national convention and so the state President Jayant Patil also spoke," he pointed out, reiterating that he was not upset in any manner.

As per reports, NCP General Secretary Praful Patel had announced that Ajit Pawar will speak before Sharad Pawar`s address.

However, when Ajit Pawar`s turn came, he was absent from the dais and by the time he returned from the washroom, Pawar Sr. had already started speaking, leading to the rumour-mongering.
CG TET 2022: Chhattisgarh Teacher Eligibility Test, CG TET 2022 Admit Card was expected to be released, on September 12, 2022, however it will now release today by the exam conducting body. Once released, candidates will be able to download their CG TET hall tickets online from the official website - vyapam.cgstate.gov.in. CG TET 2022 Admit Card releasing today will be for the Teacher Eligibility Test scheduled to be held on September 18, 2022. Everyone is informed that only those candidates whose applications have been duly filled and accepted by the authorities, will be issued an admit card.

CG TET 2022: Steps to download the admit card

Visit the official website vyapam.cgstate.gov.in

On the homepage, click on Admit Card link

Click on CG TET 2022 admit card

Key in your login details and submit

Download the admit card and take a printout

The exam is scheduled to be conducted on September 18 in two shifts  Paper I from 9.30 AM to 12.15 PM and Paper II from 2.00 PM to 4.45 PM. The exam will be held in 28 district headquarters.
NEW DELHI: AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday made a scathing attack on Sonia Gandhi-led Congress party, saying the countrys main opposition party is now FINISHED. Kejriwal, who was talking to reporters in Ahmedabad, said, "Congress is finished, stop taking Congress party`s question."

The AAP chief said this when quizzed about Congress leader Ajoy Kumar`s remark that the Punjab government is wasting money on advertisements when it does not have funds to pay the salaries of college professors.

The Delhi CM, who promised to provide the people of Gujarat a "corruption-free" government if the Aam Aadmi Party comes to power in the state, also alleged that it looks like the ruling BJP wants to make Sonia Gandhi PM from the backdoor.

The AAP convenor said this while responding to questions regarding BJP`s claims that Narmada Bachao Andolan leader and activist Medha Patkar will be projected as AAP`s Chief Minister candidate in Gujarat Assembly polls.

Delhi CM said, "Saying that AAP is fielding Medha Patkar as a chief ministerial candidate in Gujarat is just like saying that BJP is going to project Sonia Gandhi as Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s successor."

The AAP's national convener announced that if his party voted to power in Gujarat, where the Assembly elections are due later this year, it will ensure its chief minister, ministers as well as lawmakers from other parties and government officers do not indulge in corruption and are jailed if caught doing so.

"Whosoever I met in Gujarat said there is corruption everywhere. One has to pay a bribe to get government work done. There is corruption at the lower level and at the top also there are scams. If one speaks against it, he is threatened...There is corruption and hooliganism everywhere in Gujarat," Kejriwal claimed while talking to reporters at a gathering in Ahmedabad.

         ,      https://t.co/1XsytkhNA0  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) September 13, 2022

The AAP government will make sure every penny collected from the public as tax goes to the service of the people of Gujarat, he said. "Today, I give a guarantee that when the AAP forms government in Gujarat, it will provide a corruption-free and fear-free government," he said.

Kejriwal also promised to stop "illegal businesses" of present ministers and government officers in Gujarat, investigate "scams" of the present government and recover money collected through corrupt means so that it can be spent on the public.

"We will also open cases of paper leaks of the last 10 years and their masterminds will be arrested and jailed," the AAP leader said.

"Whenever I visit Gujarat, people talk of different scams. All the large scams during their tenure (of BJP government) will be investigated and the money recovered will be used to provide good schools, electricity -- for the service of the public," he said.

Kejriwal said if voted to power, his party government will ensure the public is not required to pay bribes in government offices. The AAP government will also make arrangements for doorstep delivery of various welfare services as it has done in Delhi, he said.

During his multiple visits to Gujarat in the recent past, Kejriwal had announced a slew of "guarantees", including free electricity up to 300 units per month, allowances for women and unemployed youth, free and quality healthcare and education and the creation of jobs.
Sharad Pawar was re-elected party president at the NCP's working committee meeting in Delhi on Saturday. The NCP's political proposal calls for opposition unity. Party general secretary Prafulla Patel said that Pawar is the only person who can unite the entire opposition camp. Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana wrote, "When the UPA government was active against Modi-Shah, it was because of the good communication between Pawar and Modi that Shah got bail in a Godhra case."

Uddhav Thackeray, whose leadership led the Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP coalition government in Maharashtra, is now the editor of the party mouthpiece. It was there that the NCP leadership became uncomfortable due to the demand of Modi-Shah 'communication' with Pawar. The Sena mouthpiece wrote, "Amit Shah is repeatedly using bad language about Maharashtra. He should be grateful to Maharashtra and Marathi people. When the UPA government was active against Modi-Shah, it was because of good communication between Pawar and Modi that Shah got bail in a Godhra case." After Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was arrested by the ED, Uddhav became the editor of this mouthpiece.

NCP General Secretary Praful Patel claims that this allegation is 'baseless'. His statement, "What does all this have to do with Pawar? There is no question of helping Amit Shah, that too in the Godhra case." But Trinamool Congress sources recall that despite Pawar himself talking about opposition unity, when Mamata Banerjee requested him to be the candidate of the opposition alliance in the presidential election, he did not agree.

The NCP's political manifesto on Saturday called for opposition unity, saying Pawar has played an important role in uniting like-minded parties and individuals to counter the BJP. Pawar himself said at the NCP's national conference at Talkatora Stadium on Sunday, "Shivaji said, I will not bow down before the throne of Delhi. Today we are gathering in that same situation.''

Praful Patel argues that Pawar himself believes that he is not deserving of the post of Prime Minister. But he can outline the opposition coalition. That is why everyone from Mamata Banerjee to K Chandrasekhar Rao, MK Stalin to Nitish Kumar, all came to meet him. Trinamool sources say that Patel will direct the opposition alliance, but this may not happen. Political reality does not speak. Citing the example of the presidential election, Patel said, "Mamata had called a meeting of 21 parties. Everyone mentioned Pawar's name in that meeting. Because everyone believes, this one man can unite the opposing camp." Trinamool leaders say that even though everyone told them his name, Pawar did not agree.
Bhubaneswar: A socio-cultural organisation of Odisha has claimed that the Kohinoor diamond belonged to Lord Jagannath, and sought the intervention of President Droupadi Murmu for its return to the historic Puri temple from the United Kingdom. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, her son Prince Charles has become the King and, as per norms, the 105-carat diamond will go to his wife the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla, who is the Queen consort. Shree Jagannath Sena, a Puri-based outfit, submitted a memorandum to the President, seeking her intervention to facilitate the process of bringing back the Kohinoor diamond to the 12th-century shrine.

"The Kohinoor diamond belongs to Sri Jagannath Bhagban. It is now with the Queen of England. Kindly request our Prime Minister to take steps to bring it to India... As Maharaja Ranjit Singh donated it to God Jagannath in his will," Sena convener Priya Darsan Pattnaik said in the memorandum.

Pattnaik claimed that Maharaja of Punjab Ranjit Singh had donated the diamond to the Puri Lord after he won a battle against Nadir Shah of Afghanistan.

However, it was not handed over immediately. Ranjit Singh died in 1839 and, 10 years later, the British took the Kohinoor away from his son, Duleep Singh, though they were aware that it was bequeathed to Lord Jagannath at Puri, historian and researcher Anil Dhir told PTI.

Pattnaik asserted that after he sent a letter to the Queen in this regard, he received a communication from Buckingham Palace on October 19, 2016, asking him to appeal directly to the United Kingdom government as "Her Majesty acts on the advice of her ministers and remains strictly non-political at all times".

A copy of that letter has been attached to the memorandum to the President, he said.

Asked why he was silent on the issue for six years, Pattnaik said he was denied a Visa to visit England due to which he could not take up the matter further with the UK government.

Sena's claim is justified though there are several claimants like Maharaja Ranjit Singh's heirs, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Dhir said.

"Maharaja Ranjit Singh's will before his death stated that he donated the Kohinoor to Lord Jagannath. The document was certified by a British Army officer, the proof of which is available at the National Archives in Delhi," said the historian.

Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Bhupinder Singh had raised the issue of bringing the diamond back, in the Rajya Sabha in 2016.

The BJP MLA of Puri, Jayant Sarangi, also said he would take up the matter in the Odisha Assembly.

The Kohinoor diamond was "surrendered" by the Maharaja of Lahore to the then Queen of England and "not handed over" to the British nearly 170 years ago, the Archaeological Survey of India replied to an RTI query a few years ago.

Author and historian William Dalrymple noted in his book, "Kohinoor" that child Sikh heir Duleep Singh regretted having surrendered the jewel to Queen Victoria. However, he also wished to give it to the Queen as a man.

The Indian government's stand in the Supreme Court was that the diamond, estimated to cost over USD 200 million, was neither stolen nor "forcibly" taken by British rulers, but given to the East India Company by erstwhile rulers of Punjab.

Considered to be one of the world's most precious gems, the Kohinoor was reportedly found in India in the 14th century during coal mining in the Kollur mine in South India.
Chandigarh: Drone intrusions at the India-Pakistan border in Punjab have become a major cause of concern for the security agencies. Not only the Border Security Force (BSF) is installing the anti-drone technology all across the 553 kilometers of the Indo-Pak border in Punjab but the Governor of Punjab, Banwari Lal Purohit, has also expressed serious concern over drone intrusion. He has asked the security forces as well as local residents to remain extra vigil on the border.

On Monday, a Pak drone intruded into India from near border pillar number 35 near BSFs Border out Post Rochae. As the drone was spotted by the BSF they fire fired the illuminating rounds to lighten up the area and then fired nine rounds following which the drone fled to Pakistan. The investigations revealed that the drone had entered India from near Pakistan Ranger's new construction post.

A day earlier Pak drone was spotted twice near Rajatal village in the Amritsar sector. Both times BSF opened fire forcing the neighbouring countrys flying machine to return.

Also read: BSF troops open fire at Pakistani drone near International border in Punjab

In both the incidents, a joint search operation was carried out by BSF and Punjab police to find if the drones had airdropped any contraband but nothing suspicious was found.

Also read: Punjab Politics: Will small Sikh groups become a challenge for SAD(B)?

Expressing concern over cross-border drone intrusions, Punjabs Governor Banwari Lal Purohit on Monday said BSF and other security agencies are working diligently to stop the smuggling of drugs and arms across the border but, the common people should also be vigilant along with security agencies to foil the nefarious designs of the enemy. They should promptly report suspicious activity if any. They should especially be extra vigilant of the air dropping of contraband via drones from across the Zero Line.

Purohit suggested forming Citizens Defense Committees in the border villages like the initiative taken up in district Gurdaspur. He said that with the vigilance of the Defense Committees, anti-social and anti-national elements can be identified and apprehended.

He said that he would suggest the state government form citizen security committees in the six districts of the border region to assist in village security and to work on social issues in their respective areas. Eom
DU Admission 2022: The Delhi University (DU) launched the Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS) 2022 application portal on September 12. The candidates seeking admission to DU can now apply for admission to undergraduate (UG) programmes on the official website- admission.uod.ac.in.

Delhi University will conduct the admission process for undergraduate courses in three phases. Phase 1 will consist of the application process, followed by phase 2- choice filling exercise, and the last phase 3 will be the allocation cum admission. The application process for Delhi University is underway and candidates can apply following the simple steps given below-

DU ADmission 2022: Application fee

Candidates belonging to UR/OBC-NCL/EWS category will be required to pay Rs 250 as an application fee while candidates SC/ST/PwBD candidates will have to pay Rs 100 for the DU application process.

DU Admission 2022: Here's how to apply

Visit the official website of Delhi University- du.ac.in or admission.uod.ac.in

Click on the Admission 2022 link available on the homepage

Then click on the "CSAS Registration Link 2022" admission link

Click on the "New Registration" link

Register yourself by entering your CUET application number and date of birth

Now login yourself using system generated application number and password

Entre your personal details like Name, parents' name, mobile number etc

Add your academic details in the application form and upload relevant documents

Pay the application fee and submit the form

Download the application form and take a printout for future references

After the declaration of CUETUG 2022 results, the UoD will open a Preference-Filing Phase and candidates will be allowed to choose programmes and colleges they are willing to take. After the choice filling phase, the University will release the allocation cum admission list where candidates will be provided the institute with the most preferable choice.
The Suicide Prevention Coalition of Yellowstone Valley has organized Building Up & Encouraging a Compassionate Community.

The public is invited to attend the free conference on suicide prevention from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sept. 23.

The conference, supported in part by RiverStone Health, will provide information about suicide risks and increase attendees ability to help a person at risk. Unspoken Words, a Native American podcast team, will host the conference. Speakers will highlight the work of the Billings Urban Indian Health and Wellness Center, Pay Love Forward, Adult Resource Alliance, Adaptive Performance, which focuses on veterans, and Step In, an organization that builds up protective factors to save lives.

Participants may attend virtually or in person at the St. Vincent Healthcare Mansfield Education Center in Billings. In-person attendance is limited and registration is required. Register online at spcoalitionyv.org/2022conference.

Continuing education credits will be available for nurses, teachers, addiction counselors, mental health counselors and clinical social workers.
Mumbai: Making a dark prediction, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday said that 45 out of the 50 MLAs of the Shiv Sena rebel group led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde "will be vanquished in the next elections". The NCP said that the Chief Minister is making futile attempts to explain how his revolt in early June was justified and based on certain issues, but the people of the state are not convinced and do not support his views. Claiming that the regime of Shinde and Bharatiya Janata Party Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is "unconstitutional", the NCP also said that "its benchmark is far below the earlier Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Sena-NCP-Congress" which fell on June 29.

In a stinging statement, NCP Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase slammed Shinde for continuing to justify his rebellion against the ex-CM and Sena President Uddhav Thackeray that toppled the MVA government. However, Shinde has not said a single word about his vision of Maharashtra, 10 weeks after he took the oath, Tapase pointed out. "The Shinde-Fadnavis government is yet to get Constitutional validation from the Supreme Court and we shall continue to call it an unconstitutional alliance regime till then," Tapase said sharply.

He said that the Shinde Group is also worried about the criticism levelled by NCP state President Jayant Patil, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar and MP Supriya Sule as his rule has fallen far short of expectations compared with the erstwhile MVA government.

Also Read: Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde targets Uddhav Thackeray camp, says better to be AGENTS of PM Modi, Amit Shah than

"Moreover, the Shinde Group does not have a disciplined cadre and hence they are spending money to hire people for their meetings. The same crowds were seen looting boxes of `laddoo` and `pedas` (sweetmeats)," Tapase said, hitting at Shinde`s rally in Aurangabad`s Paithan on Monday where the chaos was witnessed. Accordingly, the electorate will reject at least 45 of the 50 MLAs - who have thrown their lot with Shinde - in the next Assembly elections, predicted Tapase.

In recent weeks, the Opposition MVA has stepped up attacks on the Shinde-Fadnavis government on a variety of issues including the delays in naming district Guardian Ministers, timely aid to the flood-ravaged farmers in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions and other aspects.
Indore: Amid a row over Congress tweeting an image of Khaki shorts on fire and the BJP accusing it of spreading hatred, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath on Tuesday said the saffron party is blowing the issue out of proportion as it is rattled by the success of "Bharat Jodo Yatra" led by Rahul Gandhi. Nath claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi changes his clothes three times in a day and has a suit allegedly worth Rs 10 lakh, days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suggested that Rahul Gandhi wore a T-shirt costing more than Rs 41,000 during the yatra.

"Why does the BJP associate itself with knickers? If a person wears shorts, does he belong to BJP? Does everyone in the BJP wear shorts?" he asked while speaking to reporters here. The Congress veteran alleged the BJP wanted to divert the attention of the public from the successful "Bharat Jodo Yatra" and thus blowing the "Khaki shorts" issue out of proportion.

A controversy erupted after Congress on Monday tweeted an image of Khaki shorts on fire on Twitter with a caption "to free the country from shackles of hate and undo the damage done by BJP-RSS". The BJP and the RSS have accused the Congress of spreading "hatred and contempt" and called it (the posting of the image) a "blatant instigation for violence".

Also Read: 'Their BAAP-DADA also tried to...': RSS hits out at Congress over 'Khaki on fire' tweet

"The BJP sometimes talks about the shoes or T-shirt Rahul Gandhi wears during the yatra, but the ruling party is not talking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's suit allegedly worth Rs 10 lakh," he said and claimed that PM Modi changes clothes thrice a day.

Queried on his absence in the Legislative Assembly on the first day of the monsoon session despite him being the senior leader of the opposition party, the Chhindwara MLA said he couldn't attend as he is visiting Indore and Agar Malwa.
KOLKATA: Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of Opposition in West Assembly, on Tuesday warned that his partys fight against the corrupt Mamata Banerjee government will continue in West Bengal after a violent face-off with the state police during the Nabanna Cholo protest march in capital Kolkata.

Hands and feet of many (BJP) workers were broken, and more than 200 workers were injured. We'll fight against this, LoP Suvendu Adhikari said after being released by police following a violent 'Nabanna Chalo' march. The Bengal BJP leader said that the BJP will call a press conference and reveal party's next course of action.

Kolkata, WB | Hands & feet of many (BJP) workers were broken, more than 200 workers were injured. We'll fight against this. BJP will call a press conference & reveal party's next program: LoP & BJP's Suvendu Adhikari after being released by police following 'Nabanna Chalo' march pic.twitter.com/rozXwImQwe  ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2022

Meanwhile, Calcutta High Court sought a report from West Bengal Home Secretary over todays BJP Nabanna Abhijan. The High Court said that the report must be submitted on or before September 19.

Calcutta High Court seeks report from West Bengal Home Secretary over todays BJP Nabanna Abhijan; report to be submitted on 19th September. The HC further directs the Police to not illegally detain any person and also ensure that there is no damage to public property. pic.twitter.com/bec03NJzpO  ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2022

The High Court also directed the West Bengal police to not illegally detain any person and also ensure that there is no damage to public property. The directions from the high court came after the streets of Kolkata turned into a virtual battlefield on Tuesday afternoon as BJP activists, marching to the West Bengal Secretariat to protest corruption issues, clashed with police.

1.2 Sharing glimpses from #CholoNobanno abhiyan from College Square to Nabanna. pic.twitter.com/VMp45eKWGd  Dilip Ghosh (@DilipGhoshBJP) September 13, 2022

A police vehicle was torched, while a BJP councillor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, an Assistant Commissioner of Police and several others, including both BJP supporters and police personnel, were injured.

Unable to stop the BJP cadre marching for #NabannaChalo West Bengal CM @MamataOfficial barricades herself behind her police force and lets loose state violence. pic.twitter.com/Incr8GwUb8  Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) September 13, 2022

At around 3 PM, a group of BJP supporters led by the party`s national Vice President, Dilip Ghosh and the party`s state General Secretary, Jagannath Chattopadhyay, started moving towards the state secretariat, Nabanna from BJP`s state headquarters at Muralidhar Sen Lane.

1.1 Our fight will continue till the fall of #MamataGovt.



Our #CholoNobanno Abhiyan was held fighting against natural calamities, government obstacles and police hyperactivity. Water cannons were brought to disperse us which is totally unconstitutional. pic.twitter.com/1IaSDsdPgb  Dilip Ghosh (@DilipGhoshBJP) September 13, 2022

As they reached central Kolkata, they came to know that the Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari had been arrested and taken to the Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar. At this, a section of BJP supporters from the arms, led by Chattopadhyay started marching towards the police headquarters and were able to reach its gates after breaking through the barricades.

Although the police were initially pushed back, soon a huge contingent of security personnel, led by senior officials of Kolkata Police, stopped the BJP supporters, following which clashes broke out there.

Violence also spread to the adjacent Mahatma Gandhi Road, where a police PCR van was allegedly set on fire by BJP supporters. An ACP and BJP councillor Meena Devi Purohit, along with several others, were injured.

Mahatma Gandhi Road, being a trading hub, has a number of shops with many storing inflammable items. The burning PCR van created panic in the locality and the traders quickly pulled down the shutters of their shops. However, the fire tenders quickly rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire before it could spread further.

A police kiosk there was also vandalised by the BJP supporters. However, BJP state President Sukanta Majumdar alleged that the PCR van was set on fire by the police only and blame was put on his party supporters. Senior city officials, however, rubbished his claims.

(With Agency Inputs)
New Delhi: Bihar Agriculture Minister Sudhakar Singh said that he stands by what he has said in his previous statement. I stand by what I have said. I am not amending my statement. I have nothing to say beyond that. People have chosen me and will continue to fight for them he said.

Patna | I stand by what I have said. I am not amending my statement. I have nothing to say beyond that. People have chosen me and will continue to fight for them: Bihar Agriculture Minister Sudhakar Singh https://t.co/nyUu6kgC7H pic.twitter.com/vy4JwQp7fm  ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2022

While addressing a public meeting in Kaimur, Singh attacked the Nitish Kumar-led coalition government in Bihar. The minister quoted, There is not a single wing of our (agriculture) dept that does not commit acts of theft. As I am the in-charge of the department, I become their Sardar (chief)...There are many more people above me

The government has changed, but the working style remained the same. Everything is the same as before. "He alleged that Bihar State Seed Corporation embezzled around Rs 200 crore in the name of giving relief to farmers." The farmers who had to cultivate good quality paddy, do not take paddy seeds from Bihar State Seed Corporation.

Even if they take it for some reason, they do not put it in their fields. Instead of giving relief to the farmers, the seed corporations steal Rs 100-150 crore."Without naming, Singh further attacked Janata Dal (United) MLA from Chainpur and the Minority Affairs Minister Mohammad Jama Khan saying that the latter had been a minister in the government even before but the condition of the people in the region hardly changed.

"Now there are two ministers from the district. Even after that, if the situation does not change, then what is the benefit of becoming a minister Kaimur district is full of corrupt officials."

Notably, Bihar Agriculture Minister Sudhakar Singh had earlier come into controversy over `rice embezzlement`

Sudhakar Singh is the son of Rashtriya Janat Dal (RJD) state president Jagdanand Singh, a prominent leader in Bihar. Sudhakar Singh is an MLA from the Ramgarh seat of Buxar. There are allegations of a rice scam while he was a minister in Nitish Kumar`s cabinet in 2013. After Singh took over as Minister in the new Mahagathbandhan government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked the coalition government over the matter.

"They should see the court's order in the matter. Allegations are always made but not always true. The scam, if it happened, happened under their rule. Why did not they take this up then?" Singh said on BJP taking him up for a rice scam case against him.
After the arrest of Partha Chatterjee in the SSC recruitment scam and then in the cow smuggling case, Anubrata Mondal was arrested, the opposition is increasing the intensity of attacks day by day. For the past several days, there has been a fear of arrest visible again from the stage of various meetings, in the face of Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee. TMC's all-India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is also attacking with strong words to counter the opposition. In the meantime, the BJP is not leaving any stone unturned to target Abhishek. The opposition reacted sharply to the Diamond Harbour MP's spectacle price.

Recently, BJP leader Rathindra Bose in his Facebook post shared a picture of Abhishek and the glasses he uses. In that post, he mentioned that the price of Abhishek's glasses is Rs 86,600. The BJP leader wrote in the post, "Shut up! If I wasn't in politics, I would have pulled your tongue out from your mouth. Just doing conspiracy, only conspiracy. If you put ink on me, I will through coal tar. The only question is - are your eyes so expensive that you have to wear glasses worth Rs 86,000? Whereas the lives of unemployed young people, the lives of their families who did not get those jobs are not precious?"

A few days ago, Abhishek appeared at the CGO complex in Kolkata on the notice of the ED in the coal smuggling case. Tmc MP's sister-in-law Maneka Gambhir was also summoned to Delhi. But Maneka had moved the high court challenging the ED's summons. After that, the High Court ordered that Abhishek's sister-in-law should be questioned in Kolkata and not in Delhi. On Saturday night, Maneka Gambhir was stopped at the Kolkata airport on her way to Bangkok. According to the Immigration Department, the Enforcement Directorate has issued a lookout notice against her. Abhishek's sister-in-law was kept sitting for about two and a half hours. Later, ED officials came and served her a notice to appear before them. In that notice, she was asked to appear at the CGO complex at 12:30 pm.
With Samarkand all set to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit later this week, Indian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Manish Prabhat said that "India accords a lot of importance to the SCO" and the fact Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is travelling to take part in the Summit "is the testimony to the fact that India is attaching importance to the SCO." Samarkand hosts the summit on the 15th & 16th of September. Speaking exclusively to Zee Media's diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal in Tashkent, Ambassador Prabhat talked about close India-Uzbekistan ties with connectivity, trade and people to people relationships being the key focus.

Manish Prabhat said, "Uzbekistan is very supportive of the Chabahar initiative and we know that it was Uzbekistans initiative when we discussed Chabahar Port with them that they brought together India, Iran, Uzbekistan to have a trilateral dialogue about Chabahar".

Q: What will be the key focus of PM Modi's visit to Uzbekistan in terms of his participation in the SCO Summit and how important is this Summit for India?

A: As you know India is among the newest members of the SCO but in this short time, India has contributed very constructively to the agenda of the SCO, we are talking of many issues - Economic Cooperation, Diplomacy related to Covid, how to meet common challenges, Terrorism etc but has given importance to this SCO summit which is happening in Samarkand what would be the agenda and what leaders would talk about themselves. Of course, it is their prerogative and will have to wait for the Summit outcome as to what going to happen. India accords a lot of importance to the SCO and as you know that India is also the incoming chair of SCO so obviously, the summit is very important for us and PM Modi coming himself for the summit on 15th and 16th September is the testimony to the fact that India is attaching importance to the SCO.

Q: Importance to the SCO but also important to Uzbekistan because this is not the first time that PM Modi is visiting Uzbekistan so how important is this bilateral relationship between the two countries?

A: India and Uzbekistan have their historical relations going back to many centuries even more than 2000 years ago, but of course in modern times, our relationship has really flourished, know Uzbekistan and India both are strategic partners and you know within this framework of strategic partnership we would like to expand and strengthen our relationship in various fields - political consultations, economy, trade and investment, defence, security similarly culture, education, all are very important. And if you remember that PM Narendra Modi visited all five Central Asian countries in the year 2015, that itself was a sign that India was giving a big push to this relationship and giving a high priority to its relationship with Central Asia. Since then, this relationship has really flourished you know. The fact that we had foreign ministerial dialogue instituted in Samarkand, the first one happened in January 2019, India-Central Asia Dialogue and then the India-Central Asia Summit, which happened this year in January, shows that how close India and Central Asian countries are taking steps together.

Q: Once to keep the focus area between the relationships has been connectivity, Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country and very keen to use connectivity projects including Chabahar so how there has been a focus on connectivity between the two countries?

A: For the landlocked Central Asia of course the connectivity is a big challenge and of course, since there is no direct connectivity, or surface connectivity, India and Central Asia which is very active these days, India has come up with a solution in the form of the Chabahar Port and as you know a part of the Chabahar Port is operated by an Indian Company and India has really pitched to all our Central Asian partners that Chabahar Port can be the key and the focus which would really establish the connectivity between India and Central Asia. And of course, this makes sense because the root is if all infrastructure is developed it really would cut down on time and other kinds of cost, it would be economical and Central Asia, the countries would also like connectivity to the outside world. So, all the countries have agreed that we should work together for connectivity and in fact, Uzbekistan is very supportive of the Chabahar initiative and we know that it was Uzbekistans initiative when we discussed Chabahar Port with them that they brought together India, Iran, Uzbekistan to sit together that have a trilateral dialogue about Chabahar. So, this initiative would go further, and this dialogue will expand. Similarly, India is a member of the International North-South Transport Corridor and we have also requested Uzbekistan to become a member of the INSTC, Uzbeks are very positive about it. So, we hope that in the coming future connectivity initiative would develop to the mutual benefit of India and the central Asian countries.

Q: So, my last question to you is the trade, trade relationship, how it can be taken forward and the benefits trade will lead to a people-to-people relationship between the two countries, India and Uzbekistan. If you can talk about that?

A: The people-to-people relationship has always been strong between India and Central Asia and India and Uzbekistan. That goodwill is there based on which more trade can happen. As you know that Indian Pharmaceutical exports to CIS send in this part of the world have traditionally been strong, of course, there is scope for much more. During the covid 19 pandemic, the growth of pharma exports from India also happened. But we need to identify new commodities of trade between India and Central Asia. Similarly, Uzbekistan is a big exporter of fruits and vegetables, and you know in the agriculture sector also India and Uzbekistan have identified agricultural products which can be exported and imported. Uzbekistan is also a great country rich in mineral resources. So, we identify those minerals which can come to India. Possibilities are endless. We need to develop trade connectivity, the surface connectivity, we can discuss how to put in place mechanisms which would promote trade. And we already have mechanisms like the inter-governmental commission meetings and other kinds of joint working groups. So, efforts are happening in this direction, and I think that we have set a target for our two countries to reach a trade turnover of 1 billion dollars of bilateral trade every year. We are not yet there but work is going in this direction. The trade connectivity and the strength of investments etc would draw people you know, we become more connected to each other.

Q: But if you can shed some light on the people-to-people relationship given India sees Central Asia and especially Uzbekistan as part of its extended neighbourhood and we know that many monuments have resemblance between the two countries.

A: Of course, there is a rich past about that, so much has taken place in history. In contemporary relationships look what is Indias image in Central Asia and Uzbekistan. India is a big economy, it has a large population, it has managed things with its youth very well, we have created a big IT ecosystem, and start-ups are doing very well. India is a role model to learn how to digitise various services in the country, and how to learn in IT and communication services. And so, Uzbekistan and the Central Asian countries would like to really learn from India more. You know today Uzbekistan has invited Indian Universities to come and open campuses in Uzbekistan. Already 3 Indian Universities are working in Uzbekistan and students are attending their classes. More university-to-university cooperation is going to happen.

The Indian cultural centre, which is in Uzbekistan and the Indian Embassy, has opened 13 Indian study centres in the universities of Uzbekistan, so there are 13 universities already connected through Indian study centres. Similarly in the field of cultural outreach, our Lal Bahadur Shastri Centre for Indian Culture is really doing good work. Yoga is really becoming very popular in Uzbekistan. 2 trained expert Indian teachers of Yoga have been sent from the Indian council for cultural relations to work in Uzbekistan. This year the international day of yoga was celebrated on a very large scale in many cities of Uzbekistan. So, these you know canvas of cultural cooperation is really expanding. As I said the people of Uzbekistan really look forward to, they really love Indian films. Tashkent International Film festival has been revived. Indian stars are coming, and Indian movies are being shot here. So, a lot of things are happening. Also, India is also a great destination for medical tourism, and we see a lot of Uzbek medical patients. They come to Indian doctors, and hospitals for the quality of care we can provide to them and for the affordability of that. So, you know a lot of potential exists in these directions, in services and both India and Uzbekistan are working to realize that potential.

Q: If I am correct India is also helping in IT capacity building of Uzbekistan, we have some projects, India has strongly supported. I remember the visits of ministers inaugurating various IT parks here.

Manish Prabhat: You would be happy to know that the first IT Park in Uzbekistan was first inaugurated in 2019 with the help of technical guidance of an Indian expert who was sent from the software technology parks in India. Since then that resident expert has gone on and you know he has developed more IT Parks in Uzbekistan. We have very close cooperation in the field of IT, we are training Uzbek candidates in the field of IT. Similarly, we also operate an entrepreneurship development centre in Uzbekistan which is opened by MEA, and we have a resident director and Entrepreneurship Development Institute of Ahmedabad is providing that technical consultancy to develop entrepreneurship. So, you can see that our outreach is not only IT per se but also entrepreneurship how do you mix the two and how do you engage with the youth of Uzbekistan, you know how India has done a lot in the field of start-ups in the framework of SCO and bilaterally also. So, we have come up with comprehensive planning that how to engage with the youth of Uzbekistan, train them in new kinds of skills and grow the relationship between India and Uzbekistan.
Bengal Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari was arrested by the police before the official start of BJP's Navanna campaign. Along with that, the police arrested BJP MP Locket Chatterjee and Rahul Sinha. Suvendu got into a scuffle with the police in front of the PTS. After a scuffle, the police took Suvendu, Locket to a prison van and left. Subendu Adhikari and Locket Chatterjee were detained in front of the PTS around 12:30 PM. The opposition party leader and the BJP MP got into an argument with the policemen on duty there.

Women Police vs Suvendu

Suvendu questioned why the women policemen were laying hands on him. He demanded to call the IPS officer on duty in the area. South Kolkata Deputy Commissioner Akash Magharia came. Suvendu starts a heated argument with him. Suvendu said, "All the lady police here are touching me. They cannot do this. I will go to court against you." DC South replied, "Sir, there is no division of men and women in our force."

Also Read: 'I would have PULLED your tongue out, IF...': BJP leader ruthlessly slams Abhishek Banerjee for his EXPENSIVE possession

'Lady Kim' of Bengal

Locket alleges that Mamata Banerjee is afraid, so she is blocking the BJP. Suvendu also questions, "Why am I being stopped? Let me go. There are limits to barbarism! Tell Lady Kim (Mamata Banerjee) now in Medinipur that this is India. But she has turned Bengal into North Korea." After that, Suvendu and Locket raised slogans against the state government. The police put them both in separate prison vans and left for Lal Bazar (Kolkata Police Headquarters)
Nagpur: A 52-year-old man who was a key witness in a rape case was allegedly shot dead by the accused's brother, an Army jawan, in Nagpur district. The incident took place at Belona village in Narkhed tehsil, around 50 km from here, on Monday evening, said a police official. Bharat Ramchandra Kalambe (30) was arrested for allegedly killing Keshav Baburao Maske (52), he said. Bharat, an Army personnel who was posted in Ladakh, was visiting his village on leave. In 2021, his brother Premlal was arrested for allegedly raping a minor girl in the village, the official said.

Keshav was a key witness in the rape case and had testified against Premlal. On Monday evening, Bharat beat up Keshav when the latter was walking home and allegedly shot him in the head with a pistol before fleeing. He was later arrested and a court on Tuesday sent him in police custody till September 16, the official said.
Barely six weeks after Maharashtra claimed to have beaten at least 5 states to win the Vedanta Group-Foxconn`s stupendous Rs 2.06 lakh crore investment proposal, the project has gone to Gujarat.

The development on Tuesday left Chief Minister Eknath Shinde`s team rendered speechless, even as Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis left for Russia, and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) went livid at the state`s loss. The Vedanta Group-Foxconn partnership in the sunrise semiconductors chips and display fabrications sector in Pune would have created over 200,000 direct and indirect jobs for the state.

The MoU for the deal, the single biggest investment of its kind in Maharashtra -- coveted by Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh -- was signed in the presence of Shinde and Fadnavis in mid-July.

MVA leaders like Nationalist Congress Party state President Jayant Patil, Shiv Sena`s ex-Minister Aditya Thackeray and Congress` chief spokesperson Atul Londhe slammed the Shinde-Fadnavis duo for the loss of the prestigious project.

Patil said that once again, Gujarat has taken away a major project from Maharashtra right from the mouths of Shinde-Fadnavis government who are busy holding political rallies.

"With Gujarat elections coming up, the Maharashtra BJP seems to be safeguarding the interests of the neighbouring state.. Will the CM and DCM apologise to the educated, unemployed youth of this state for losing this huge and rightful employment slots," Patil asked acidly.

Thackeray and Londhe said that this is part of the series of steps taken by the BJP to take away all industries or employment generation project from Maharashtra to Gujarat.

Londhe said that first the BJP took away the International Finance Centre, then the diamond hub, while several other Central government organisations also shifted, at the cost of Maharashtra, where they were nurtured for long.

"Now, only Mumbai is left... This will also happen soon, and that`s why the Shinde-Fadnavis government has come to power here. He Ram," lamented Londhe.

With Shinde keeping mum and Fadnavis departing to Moscow, it was left to the Industry Minister Uday Samant to respond and he merely said that "we shall find out how this has happened".

Thackeray said he was stunned that barely two months ago (July), Vedanta Group`s Anil Agarwal had committed to set up the project in Maharashtra, they had even selected the site at Talegaon in Pune.

"After all, this, it is shocking to learn that the project has gone to Gujarat now. Why did this company move out of Maharashtra when 95 per cent of the work was done by the MVA government? This fact was also acknowledged by Anil Agarwal yesterday," he said.

Patil added that its puzzling how the project - for which Shinde-Fadnavis held meeting with the Vedanta Group-Foxconn top brass recently - has gone to Gujarat at the last minute, depriving the people of Maharashtra a big employment opportunity.

Slamming the Shinde-Fadnavis duo for its failure, Thackeray asked that "considering the overall scenario, whether there is a government in Maharashtra or nor?"

"This is a government of `khokhas` (literally boxes, implying crores of rupees) which is a `dhokha` (danger) for the state. There is a question of law-and-order also, how many investors will come to Maharashtra under such circumstances," Thackeray asked sharply.

Picking up a dialogue from the Bollywood superhit "Baazigar" (1993) - "Haar ke Jeetne walon ko Baazigar kehte hain" - Thackeray took a jibe at the Shinde-Fadnavis regime saying: "Now, it is `Jeet ke haarne walon ko Khokhe Sarkar kehte hain`."

Mumbai-based mining giant Vedanta Group had partnered with the Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) to invest $15 billion in phases over the next 5-10 years for manufacturing semiconductor chips and displays in India.

Accordingly, Vedanta-Foxconn planned to invest Rs 166,800 crore and Rs 40,000 crore from other sources for its 1,000-acre proposed manufacturing facility at Talegaon near Pune.

This came after a series of meetings held by the erstwhile MVA government to bag the prestigious deal, including the last one in June with former Industry Minister Subhash Desai, preceded by a Vedanta team survey of Pune in February 2022 for establishing its facility there.

As per an official statement in July, the government had said that the mega-project would create around 200,000 direct and indirect jobs, total revenues of GST worth Rs 125,230 crore comprising Rs 37,500 crore State GST and the rest Rs 88,079 as Inter-State GST.

On its part, Maharashtra would provide a slew of incentives including 25 per cent capital subsidy, subsidised water and power supply, and land at concessional rates, and Shinde-Fadnavis assured all other help for the project to come up without hiccups in three years.

The Indian semiconductor industry is estimated to grow more than four times to over $60 billion in the next four years, and Fadnavis had said the state was keen that this industry - available in only four nations - should come here.

Incidentally, when he was the Chief Minister, Fadnavis had visited the Foxconn plant in China in 2015 where the initial discussions were held to bring the electronics giant to India, but its progress got bogged down due to strained relations between India and China and later the Covid-19 pandemic.
On the night of September 07, 2022, the National Eligibility & Entrance Test (NEET) UG result 2022 was announced. More than 16 lakh students gave the exam this year. Like every year this time also Biomentors Online, the EdTech platform which is 100% dedicated to NEET preparations has performed incredibly well with their students performing meritoriously. Biomentors commando (student) Kishan Prajapati scored 688 marks, Prashant Katiyar scored 686 marks and Nitin Kataria scored 675 marks.

In NEET 2022, a majority of students at Biomentors secured more than 650 marks and a good rank in their first attempt which makes it easier for them to get admission to any prestigious medical college.

Biomentors Online has been helping students crack the NEET exam with flying colors under the leadership of Dr Geetendra Singh whose passion is teaching and has experience of more than 25 years in the same. He is a qualified doctor who has done his MBBS from GMC Bhopal, Master of medicine from CMC Vellore, and Specialization in diabetes from John Hopkins Medical University in the USA. Sharing his views on NEET Exam, Dr Geetendra Singh says, Right approach and constant dedication are the values required for qualifying for the NEET exam. After all these years of experience, I feel that the competition will only increase and so will the level of the exam. This means that the students have to work in a focused manner to achieve a good score. NCERT books are essential but it is important to not just read them but understand them too. Consistency in problem-solving, learning and practicing is what will help any student ace the exam. Buckle up students because NEET 2023 will not be the same as it was, rather there will be more puzzle-like MCQs & assertion reason type questions.

There are a total of 91927 MBBS seats out of which 48212 are government college seats and 43915 are private college seats. The probability of getting into a government college through NEET is around 2 to 3% thats why the preparation requires strong devotion and the right guidance. However, Biomentors with their 100% dedication and outstanding teaching methodologies have been giving consistent results since 2017. To maintain their legacy now Biomentors will be starting the Repeaters Rapid Revision (RRR) Batch for those students who are on the borderline score and now want to compete for NEET 2023. This batch will start on 26 September and the admission for the same will start on 19 September 2022.

(Disclaimer: Above mentioned article is featured content. This article does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of IDPL, and IDPL claims no responsibility whatsoever)
DEER LODGE  Neighbors against neighbors.

Disputes about the status of an old road that hosts sections of the recently-opened Old Yellowstone Trail continue among neighbors Powell County, the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site and the Rock Creek Cattle Co.

All three are involved in a federal case initiated months ago by plaintiff Powell County against defendant Grant-Kohrs. Powell County asserts that County Road No. 9, also known as the West Side Road, is a public county road. Rock Creek Cattle Co. has intervened in that U.S. District Court case as a party arguing that County Road No. 9 is not a public road.

Separately, Rock Creek Cattle Co. has sued Powell County in District Court, alleging that the Old Yellowstone Trails passage through the ranch on the disputed road poses risks to the ranchs cattle operations.

Rock Creek Cattle Co. operates a ranch of about 35,000 acres, but the exclusive and secluded community near Deer Lodge also caters to the wealthy.

In early July, District Court Judge Ray Dayton denied Rock Creeks request for a preliminary injunction that would have halted trail construction on Old Yellowstone Trail. Construction has since been completed and the trail is officially open. Rock Creek has appealed Daytons ruling.

Theres no resolution in sight for establishing the legal status of the road that serves a portion of the Old Yellowstone Trail, which travels about 10.5 miles between Deer Lodge and Garrison. In part, the trail follows the former right-of-way of the Milwaukee Road. The county acquired that right-of-way with money from the states Natural Resource Damage Program.

For now, people can still use the trail but cannot ride or walk bicycles through the section that passes through the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site.

Bicycle usage within National Park Service boundaries continues to be restricted outside of visitor parking and administration parking areas and at this time is not authorized, said Naaman Horn, a spokesperson for the Park Service.

The park was in the process of conducting National Environmental Policy Act (assessments) to analyze the usage of non-motorized bikes solely on the ranch's section of the proposed Old Yellowstone Trail, he said. However, the planning effort was halted due to an ongoing litigation matter that has prevented completion of the process.

Horn acknowledged that the litigation cited was with Powell County.

NEPA requires federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of proposed actions prior to making decisions.

Meanwhile, Horn said Grant-Kohrs employees who ride their bicycles to work must park them in employee parking areas.
New Delhi: The government has proposed three specific themes for next year's Republic Day Parade tableaux -- India@75, International Year of Millets and Nari Shakti - sources said on Tuesday. They said that in a letter from the Ministry of Defence, various state governments, central ministries and departments have been invited to participate in the Republic Day Parade on January 26 by creating tableaux choosing any of these three themes or a combination of the three.

The government, which is celebrating 75 years of India's independence, has proposed that the India@75 tableaux include India's freedom struggle, its achievements, actions and resolves over the past seven decades.

The theme to mark a day of millets has its roots in 2021 when India proposed to the United Nations to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYOM). The proposal of India received support from 72 countries and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets.

In fact, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has already formed a core committee to mark the occasion and six task forces have been constituted to ensure on-ground implementation of policies to promote millet production and supply in the country, officers said.

The departments concerned have to submit their proposals to the Ministry of Defence with well-conceptualised proposals and brief write-ups by September 30.

The letter from the Defence Ministry has also said that it has constituted a committee of distinguished persons drawn from various fields of the arts to help in short-listing the best proposals.

The ministry also said that each tableau should include electronic display walls for a bright display of images or content, moving elements using mechatronics/robotics, 3D printing. It should use eco-friendly materials and avoid the use of plastic and plastic-based products as far as feasible and also advise the use of special effects to the maximum extent feasible to improve the optics/visual effects of the tableau.

Last year's Republic Day tableaux ran into controversy with many opposition states crying foul over not being selected for the parade. The tableau of Uttar Pradesh was picked as the best tableau among the 12 states/Union territories which participated in the Republic Day Parade on January 26 this year.
New Delhi: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday (September 12, 2022) said that some political parties have only been trying to "create a negative image" of West Bengal and are "ignoring" the achievements of her Trinamool Congress (TMC) government. She also attacked a "section of media" said alleged that they pander to these by giving out "selective information". Addressing a program for distribution of appointment letters to beneficiaries of the "Utkarsha Bangla" scheme, the TMC supremo said that the critics "disregard the strides made by her government in skill development and MSME sector which employs over one crore people". She claimed that the employment rate decreased by 45 per cent elsewhere in the country during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21, but West Bengal was able to create 40 per cent more jobs at that time.

"We don't allow disruptions which hurt the common man. A party that rules Delhi only wants disruption. Some of these parties never project the achievements of Bengal. A section of media also does the same. Such attitude forbids dissemination of necessary information on ways we can help investors and entrepreneurs," Mamata said, in an apparent dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

ALSO READ | 'Though Narendra Modi was a tea seller, he...': Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek fires fresh salvo at PM

Banerjee, without naming any party, also launched a tirade against the erstwhile Left Front regime and accused it of ruining the industrial environment in Bengal with its "disorderly politics during 34 years of its rule".

She also called for measures to make Bengal the number one domestic travel destination, suggesting that more homestays be created in places of tourist interest.

Hon'ble CM @MamataOfficial ensured that Bengals youth have access to the most viable employment opportunities.



Under her able leadership, we march ahead! pic.twitter.com/V1Z0hDWAWO September 12, 2022

"If a TV set is not working, those trained in TV repair in our training institutes can be hired in apart from the mechanics that are into the business. That way, options increase for common people. Our Utkarsha Bangla scheme is aimed at doing that," the West Bengal CM said.

Insisting that her government was "industry-friendly", she requested all industries to come and invest in Bengal.

ALSO READ | Mamata Banerjee was born in a slum but': BJP MP Dilip Ghosh mocks Bengal CM

"We believe in generating employment," she stated.

"Some people are trying to derail the projects as they don't want Bengal to prosper. We want development to protect the interest of landowners and farmers. We have always given priority to the interest of farmers but we also want industries to grow," Mamata added.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption has conducted raids at places which are linked to the former state minister C Vijayabaskar and SP Velumani. 13 places are searched in connection to C Vijayabaskar and 26 in connection to SP Velumani. Those 13 places include Chennai and Salem. The two ministers places are being searched in connection with the corruption case and abuse of his official position. The former state minister, C Vijayabaskar is linked to the corruption case of irregularities in the issuance of essentiality certificates in 2020. It has been alleged that SP Velumani has abused his position in awarding tenders injudiciously to his closely associated companies. 26 places have been raided in connection to this.

Tamil Nadu | DVAC is conducting searches at 26 places incl Chennai, Coimbatore linked to ex-state min SP Velumani,in connection with allegations that he had abused his official position in awarding tenders injudiciously to his close associated companies



(Visuals from Coimbatore) pic.twitter.com/K1FnO11hV5  ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2022

Tamil Nadu | Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) conducts searches at 13 places incl Chennai, Salem & other places linked to ex-state min C Vijayabaskar in connection with the corruption case of irregularities in issuance of essentiality certificates in 2020: DVAC pic.twitter.com/hHY1rSZwqN  ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2022

Earlier in July, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had sought the Tamil Nadu government`s approval to prosecute two former ministers, namely C. Vijayabaskar and B.V. Ramana as many retired Directors General of Police, and eight others in the multi-crore Gutkha scam that had rocked the state during the AIADMK regime.

According to sources in the Tamil Nadu home department, the CBI`s anti-corruption unit has written a letter to get sanction for proceeding against two former ministers -- C. Vijayabaskar the former state health minister, and B.V. Ramana, the former tax minister in the AIADMK government. It has also sought permission for action against two former DGPs -- T.K. Rajendran and S. Geroge -- who had worked as the Commissioner of Police, Chennai during the previous government.

Notably, the sanction is necessary to prosecute former ministers and former senior IPS officers.

The incident related to the current case occurred in 2017 when bribes to the tune of Rs 39.91 crore were given to several politicians including ministers, bureaucrats, and former police officers for supporting and facilitating the storage and transport of Gutkha, which is a banned product, in Chennai.

The Income Tax department had unearthed the scam while it conducted a raid on the premises of a major Gutkha manufacturer in the country. The gutkha manufacturer, according to the CBI had in the records seized by the Income Tax department marked the bribes they had paid to politicians including ministers and police officers. The IT department, according to sources had sent the report to the government of Tamil Nadu but no action was taken against the perpetrators of the crime.

The CBI had taken over the investigation in 2018 and had charge-sheeted six of the accused including three officials. The second charge sheet, according to sources will be filed after the sanction is obtained for prosecution against the other accused, including former ministers and top police officers.
New Delhi: A fire broke out at a hotel in Telangana's Secunderabad on Monday (September 12, 2022) and killed at least eight people and injured several others. According to news agency ANI, the fire broke out at an electric scooter recharging unit on the ground floor of a building, which then spread to the first and second floors. The fire and smoke from the electric bike shop engulfed Hotel Ruby Pride situated above the showroom killing the victims.

"It appears there are 23 rooms on all four floors in the hotel. The smoke traversed through the staircase from the bottom up to the top floor and completely engulfed all floors," Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand who visited the spot told reporters.

"Some people who were sleeping on the first and second floors came to the corridor through the thick smoke and died due to asphyxiation," he said.

About 24 people were said to be staying in the hotel at the time of the incident. Firefighters rushed to the spot and rescued seven guests, who were trapped in the multi-storeyed building. They were shifted to hospitals.

Telangana | Remaining people jumped from the building and were rescued by locals. They were rushed to the hospital, fire tenders on the spot: Hyderabad Commissioner CV Anand pic.twitter.com/uDrwDCSw8t  ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2022

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Telangana Minister KT Ramarao condoled the loss of lives and announced ex-gratia on behalf of the Centre and the state government, respectively.

"Saddened by the loss of lives due to a fire in Secunderabad, Telangana. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF would be paid to the next of kin of each deceased. Rs. 50,000 would be paid to the injured," Prime Minister Modi's Office said in a tweet.

Saddened by the loss of lives due to a fire in Secunderabad, Telangana. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF would be paid to the next of kin of each deceased. Rs. 50,000 would be paid to the injured: PM @narendramodi  PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 13, 2022

Telangana Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao, expressing grief over the incident, in a statement said the state government will offer Rs three lakh as ex-gratia to the families of the deceased.
Chennai: DMK leader and former Union Minister, A Raja has made controversial remarks against the Hindu religion while addressing a public gathering, triggering a strong response from the BJP. While addressing the gathering organised by the Dravidar Kazhagam, Raja said, "Who is a Hindu? We should have the right to assert... We don`t wish to be Hindus, why are you keeping me as a Hindu?

"I haven`t seen any religion like this. Lingayats in Karnataka are petitioning the Supreme Court saying that their way of worship and religious principles are different. They are asking themselves not to be declared Hindu. But what is the Supreme Court saying? The Supreme Court is saying that if you aren`t a Christian, Muslim, or Persian, you have to be a Hindu. Is there any other country having such cruelty? he added.

"You are a shudra till you remain a Hindu. You`re the son of a prostitute till you remain a shudra. You are a Panchaman (Dalit) till you remain a Hindu. You`re an untouchable till you remain a Hindu. How many of you wish to stay as children of prostitutes? How many of you wish to remain untouchables? Only if we are vocal about these questions, it will become elemental in breaking Sanathana (Sanatana Dharma)," the DMK leader said.

Speaking at the event, A Raja said, "All individual institutions like Election commission, CBI, Supreme Court, Enforcement Directorate and even Parliament are being captive to this government. To show the truth, Viduthalai Magazine is much needed. Secularism, socialistic, and sovereign republic are what it has been said about India in the Constitution.

A Rajas remarks evoked a sharp response from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Taking to Twitter, Tamil Nadu BJP state president K Annamalai said, "Sorry state of political discourse in Tamil Nadu. DMK MP has yet again spewed hatred against one community with the sole aim of appeasing others. Very very unfortunate mindset of these political leaders who think they own Tamil Nadu."

Sorry state of political discourse in Tamil Nadu. @arivalayam MP has yet again spewed hatred against one community with the sole aim of appeasing others.



Very very unfortunate mindset of these political leaders who think they own Tamil Nadu. pic.twitter.com/UntspDKdQ3  K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) September 12, 2022

BJP Mahila Morcha national president Vanathi Sreenivasan, who is also an MLA from Coimbatore, also tweeted, "DMK MP A Raja has insulted the women and Hindus on numerous occasions. This time too he has spewed venom stating that Shudras are children of prostitutes and they will remain so until they remain in Hinduism."
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister recently inspected the progress of the ambitious Jewar airport project which is likely to start operations by the end of 2024.

During his recent visit to Greater Noida, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath was informed about the progress of the Noida international airport project. Sources claimed that he was satisfied that the work is progressing as per schedule.

According to information, Adityanath along with his officials inspected the ongoing construction of the runway, air traffic control tower and the administrative buildings.

Officials said that the airport is likely to begin operations by the end of 2024. Being a digital airport, the NIA will provide a seamless and mostly contactless flow through the airport by means of integrated systems and services, including those provided by technology partners. This will be supported by technologies such as indoor geo-location, identity management, flow management, data mining and IoT.

The airport will open with a single runway and a terminal capacity to handle 12 million passengers per year. It is being developed on 1334 Ha of land. Up to the end of the concession in 2061, the airport will be developed with two parallel runways and additional terminal capacity to serve 70 million passengers. The masterplan also provides the option for growth beyond the first concession period of 40 years.

The NIA will provide air connectivity from Noida, the fastest growing business and commercial hub in India and other important NCR towns including Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad which offer a large market, agglomeration and migrating population.

The airport will also provide improved access from key cities in western Uttar Pradesh, which contributes about two-third of the state GDP. The airport has been a catalyst for industrial activity in the region, with the coming up of the AIT and manufacturing hub, with industrial corridors around Jewar.
Geneva: Jean-Luc Godard, the ingenious 'enfant terrible' of the French New Wave who revolutionised popular cinema in 1960 with his debut feature 'Breathless' and stood for years as one of the world's most vital and provocative directors has died. He was 91. Swiss news agency ATS quoted Godard's partner, Anne-Marie Mieville, and her producers as saying he died peacefully and surrounded by his loved ones at his home in the Swiss town of Rolle, on Lake Geneva, on Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Godard as the most iconoclastic of the New Wave directors who invented a resolutely modern, intensely free art form.

He added: We have lost a national treasure, the eye of a genius

Godard defied convention over a long career that began in the 1950s as a film critic. He rewrote rules for camera, sound and narrative.

His films propelled Jean-Paul Belmondo to stardom and his controversial modern nativity play 'Hail Mary' grabbed headlines when Pope John Paul II denounced it in 1985.

But Godard also made a string of films, often politically charged and experimental, which pleased few outside a small circle of fans and frustrated many critics through their purported overblown intellectualism.

Cannes Film Festival Director Thierry Fremaux told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he was "sad, sad. Immensely so" at the news of Godard's death.

Born into a wealthy French-Swiss family on December 3, 1930 in Paris, Godard grew up in Nyon, Switzerland, studied ethnology at the Sorbonne in France's capital, where he was increasingly drawn to the cultural scene that flourished in the Latin Quarter cine-club after World War II. He became friends with future big-name directors Francois Truffaut, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer and in 1950 founded the short-lived Gazette du Cinema. By 1952 he had begun writing for the prestigious movie magazine Cahiers du Cinema. After working on two films by Rivette and Rohmer in 1951, Godard tried to direct his first movie while travelling through North and South America with his father, but never finished it.

Back in Europe, he took a job in Switzerland as a construction worker on a dam project. He used the pay to finance his first complete film, the 1954 Operation Concrete,a 20-minute documentary about the building of the dam.

Returning to Paris, Godard worked as spokesman for an artists' agency and made his first feature in 1957 'All Boys Are Called Patrick', released in 1959 and continued to hone his writing.

He also began work on 'Breathless', based on a story by Truffaut. It was to be Godard's first big success when it was released in March 1960.

The movie stars Belmondo as a penniless young thief who models himself on Hollywood movie gangsters and who, after he shoots a police officer, goes on the run to Italy with his American girlfriend, played by Jean Seeberg.

Like Truffaut's "The 400 Blows", released in 1959, Godard's film set the new tone for French movie aesthetics. Godard rejected conventional narrative style and instead used frequent jump-cuts that mingled philosophical discussions with action scenes. He spiced it all up with references to Hollywood gangster movies, and nods to literature and visual art.

Godard also launched what was to be a career-long participation in collective film projects, contributing scenes to 'The Seven Deadly Sins' along with directors such as Claude Chabrol and Roger Vadim. He also worked with Ugo Gregoretti, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini on the Italian movie 'Let's Have a Brainwash', with Godard's scenes portraying a disturbing post-apocalypse world.

Godard, who was later to gain a reputation for his uncompromising left-wing political views, had a brush with French authorities in 1960 when he made 'The Little Soldier'. The movie, filled with references to France's colonial war in Algeria, was not released until 1963, a year after the conflict ended.

His work turned more starkly political by the late 1960s. In ?Week End,? his characters lampoon the hypocrisy of bourgeois society even as they demonstrate the comic futility of violent class war. It came out a year before popular anger at the establishment shook France, culminating in the iconic but short-lived student unrests of May 1968.

Godard harboured a life-long sympathy for various forms of socialism depicted in films ranging from the early 1970s to early 1990s. In December 2007 he was honored by the European Film Academy with a lifetime achievement award. Godard took potshots at Hollywood over the years.

He remained home in Switzerland rather than travel to Hollywood to receive an honorary Oscar at a private ceremony in November 2010 alongside film historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, director-producer Francis Ford Coppola and actor Eli Wallach. His lifelong advocacy of the Palestinian cause also brought him repeated accusations of anti-semitism, despite his insistence that he sympathized with the Jewish people and their plight in Nazi-occupied Europe.

In 2010, Godard released 'Film Socialisme', a film in three chapters first shown at the Cannes Film Festival. Godard married Danish-born model and actress Anna Karina in 1961. They divorced in 1965. Godard married his second wife, Anne Wiazemsky, in 1967. He later started a relationship with Swiss filmmaker Anne-Marie Miville. Godard divorced Wiazemsky in 1979, after he had moved in with Miville to the Swiss municipality of Rolle, where he lived with her for the rest of his life.
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by Rabia Khan, the mother of Bollywood actor Jiah Khan who allegedly committed suicide, seeking a fresh investigation into the nine-year-old case.

A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and M N Jadhav noted that it has faith in the agency that probed the case.

The case was probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which has charged actor Sooraj Pancholi, Jiah Khan's boyfriend, with abetting her suicide. The 25-year-old actress was found hanging at her Mumbai residence on June 3, 2013.

Rabia Khan, in her petition filed in the HC, had sought a fresh probe into the case by an independent and special agency with assistance from the United States's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

As per Rabia Khan, her daughter was murdered.

Her advocates Shekhar Jagtap and Sairuchita Chowdhary argued that the case was first probed by the Mumbai police and noticing "certain flaws and incorrect approach", Rabia Khan moved the HC and the probe was then transferred to the CBI in July 2014.

However, the central agency, too, committed the same "errors" and hence the case has to be re-investigated.

The court noted the petitioner was weakening her own case by filing such a plea. Advocate Sandesh Patil, appearing for the CBI, told the court that the premier agency has investigated the case fairly.

The bench dismissed Rabia Khan's plea and said it would pass a detailed order later.
Mumbai: Kamaal R Khan is finally out of jail, and after coming out, as expected, he informed that he lost 10 kilos during his 10-day long stay at the jail because he didn`t consume anything but water! In a tweet he wrote, "I was surviving with only water for 10 days in lockup. So I have lost 10 kg weight."

Read the tweets -

I was surviving with only water for 10 days in lockup. So I have lost 10 kg weight.  KRK (@kamaalrkhan) September 13, 2022

In earlier tweets, he thanked Bollywood veteran Shatrughan Sinha without specifying any reason. He wrote, "Thank you very much @ShatruganSinha Ji for your support. Love you."

Thank you very much @ShatruganSinha Ji for your support. Love you.  KRK (@kamaalrkhan) September 12, 2022

On September 11, he revealed that he is back home after being in judicial custody for ten days. He wrote, "I am back and safe at my home. I don't need any revenge from anyone. I have forgotten whatever bad thing happened with me. I believe, it was written in my destiny."

Media is creating new stories. I am back and safe at my home. I dont need any revenge from anyone. I have forgotten whatever bad thing happened with me. I believe, it was written in my destiny.  KRK (@kamaalrkhan) September 11, 2022

Last week, his son took to his Twitter account and posted a request directed to actors Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He claimed that Kamaal R Khan`s life is in danger and that he needs to be out of prison because of the harsh treatment being meted out to him. He wrote, "I am KRK` son Faisal Kamaal. Some people are torturing to kill my father in Mumbai. I am just 23 years old living in London. I don't know how to help my father. I request @juniorbachchan @Riteishd and @Dev_Fadnavis ji to save my father`s life. Me n my sister will die without him."

KRK was arrested as soon as he landed in Mumbai from Dubai on August 30. According to the police, KRK was arrested over FIR against his controversial social media posts back in 2020. The FIR was lodged on the basis of a complaint by Yuva Sena leader Rahul Kanal on April 30, 2020, where he alleged that KRK`s tweets on the late Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor allegedly spread "hatred". Rahul had said in the FIR that a person named Kamal R Khan regularly spreads hatred on social media. "He came into Bollywood with a movie named `Deshdrohi` and is really acting like one. Even when the world is going through a pandemic, I can`t understand his inhumane behaviour and spreading hatred in all spheres of life."

The complainant said KRK was making hateful comments against late actors Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor. "After Irrfan Khan, who is India`s pride, passed away, he was making poor claims and statements on him. He was also talking crap about senior actor late Rishi Kapoor also," he said in the complaint. He also said that KRK is not in the country and requested PM Modi to file a case against him. The same day he was sent into 14-day judicial custody. On September 5, KRK was arrested by Versova Police for allegedly demanding sexual favours from an actress and holding the complainant`s hand in the first week of January 2019. He later got bail in this case. He got bail in both cases.
Mumbai: Actor Shahid Kapoor dropped a hilarious video with his wife Mira Rajput from their ad shoot on Tuesday, on social media.

Taking to his Instagram handle, the `Kabir Singh` actor treated fans with a new fun video.Shahid shared a BTS video from an ad shot with Mira with the caption, "Partners-in-crime!". In the video, Shahid and Mira were seen having fun during their new ad shoot. The actor was seen dressed in a white textured kurta pyjama and his lady love was seen wearing a golden printed shrug that she paired with flared pants.

In the beginning, he was seen setting Mira`s hair. Shahid was heard saying, "Madam ka fan. Madam ko sweating nahi hota hai lekin fir bhi thoda cooling chahiye hai." Mira also said if her hair looks fan, to which Shahid hilariously replies, "Madam ka baal wrong side udd raha hai, abhi madam mera paisa kaat degi."

Here is the video shared by the actor:

Also while delivering their dialogues, Shahid was seen cracking jokes. As soon as the video was posted, the fans and industry friends chimed into the comment section. Mira reacted with a hilarious comment. She wrote, "You`re my fan." Actor Kriti Sanon dropped smiling emojis. One of the users wrote, "Yaaaar so cuuuuuttteeee."Another comment reads, "Adorable couple!".

Mira and Shahid tied the knot in 2015. They are also parents to daughter Misha, who was born in 2016. On July 7, the couple completed 7 years of togetherness. On the work front, Shahid was last seen in Gowtam Tinnanuri`s `Jersey` with Mrunal Thakur. He has some interesting projects lined up. Shahid will be next seen in director Ali Abbas Zafar`s upcoming action film `Bloody Daddy`. Along with this, he will be soon making his grand OTT debut with Raj and DK`s upcoming web series `Farzi` along with south actor Vijay Sethupathi.
By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

National Carpet Museum invites you to join a lecture on the Shusha carpets with plots on September 17, Azernews reports, citing the museum.

The event participants will be informed about the ideas and artistic structure of the XIX-XX century Shusha carpets kept in the museum, as well as the lifestyle of the people, who lived at that time.

The lecture will be delivered by the deputy director of the Carpet Museum, chief curator of the fund, Doctor of Philosophy in Arts Studies Mira Mammadkhanova. For participation, register through this link.

Founded in 1967, the National Carpet Museum never ceases to amaze everyone with its beautiful architecture.

Initiated by eminent carpet artist Latif Karimov, it is beautiful inside and outside.

The museum's new building is designed in the form of a rolled carpet.

The Carpet Museum stores over 14,000 exhibits of the finest Azerbaijani carpets.

The museum hosts multiple events, including international symposiums, conferences, and various exhibitions.

In 2019, the museum received the national status for its significant contribution to the popularization and promotion of Azerbaijani Carpet Weaving Art.

In 2020, the Carpet Museum enriched its collection with beautiful pile carpets purchased by the Culture Ministry at the Sartirana Textile Show in Italy.

The XIX century Guba carpet Ugakh was donated to the Carpet Museum, while Karabakh's Chalabi carpet enriched the collection of the museum's Shusha branch.

Moreover, the Carpet Museum won the Travelers' Choice Awards for the fourth time in a row last year.
An assistant prosecutor who is a candidate for Morton County states attorney in the November election was fired Monday by her boss and election rival after an investigation into allegations that she created a hostile work environment.

Assistant Morton County States Attorney Gabrielle Goter said she was notified of her termination late Monday. The action will not stop her campaign for the states attorney job against incumbent Allen Koppy.

Koppy late Monday sent an email to Goter's attorney, Tom Dickson, who forwarded it to her.

I was told in the termination letter that Im an excellent prosecutor but they dont believe I can do my job, Goter said in an interview with the Tribune.

A report of the investigation shows interviews were conducted with 24 people. Among them were Bruce Romanick, presiding judge of the South Central Judicial District; Assistant States Attorney Chase Lingle; and several legal assistants and court clerks.

The report, completed by Kristi Hastings, investigator with Pemberton Law in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, concluded that Goter has not treated people well within the work environment and was consistently described as a workplace bully by witnesses.

Goter engaged in disrespectful behaviors" such as raising her voice, swearing at colleagues, nonverbal displays of anger or frustration, slamming doors, belittling/demeaning others, speaking negatively about one colleague to other colleagues, speaking negatively about other county employees and other stakeholders in the law enforcement and judicial community, the report states. It outlines immature behaviors that left colleagues feeling like they were walking on eggshells.

A toxic environment has been created where the function of the office revolves around Goter's mood, Hastings said.

Goter, according to the report, had 183 parking tickets during her employment at the courthouse. Current and former legal assistants confirmed that they brought payment for these fines to the sheriffs office during business hours while on work time.

The choice to rack up this many parking tickets, coupled with involving colleagues during work hours, sets a poor tone, the report states.

Some allegations against Goter -- preferential treatment, retaliation, disproportionate work assignments -- were labeled as unsubstantiated in the report, and no allegations against anyone other than Goter were substantiated. The report also was critical of Koppy, however.

It is difficult to hold others accountable within the office when leadership has been acting the way that Goter has been allowed to act without intervention by the elected state's attorney, Hastings said. "Colleagues have not had a proper mentor or model of professionalism from their direct supervisor, and they have had a disengaged state's attorney, and this learned behavior will need to be undone.

Koppy did not immediately respond to email requests for comment.

Hastings did not substantiate allegations about the training environment but stated, "The turnover in the office alone should raise concern about the onboarding and training program.

Goter said she was scheduled to be in court Tuesday. She got the termination letter by email about 4:15 p.m. Monday, leaving no time to make arrangements for her court appearance to be covered.

Thats typical of how things are with Allen, she said, adding That to me is unacceptable. Our responsibility is to the public.

An employee filed a complaint against Goter on June 7. Koppy placed Goter on administrative leave June 27 at the direction of the Morton County Human Resources Department.

County Human Resources Director Wendy Bent in August said the complaint was a general hostile work environment complaint.

Goter said she has never seen a complaint that named specific employees or incidents, and that during interviews she was asked only what she called have you ever questions.

Goter continued to handle cases after being placed on leave, including the July sentencing hearing of a man who pleaded guilty to murder in the March death of a Mandan man. A judge sentenced Wade Bison, 39, to life in prison with no chance of parole.

Goter led the prosecution team in the August 2021 murder trial of Chad Isaak, who was convicted of the April 2019 shooting and stabbing deaths of four people in Mandan. He received four life sentences with no chance of parole. He died of suicide in late July.

Dickson in a statement to the Tribune noted Goter's victories in high-profile court cases and said she was "fired by her political opponent Allen Koppy in a pathetic attempt to protect his unimpressive and over-extended political career. This is an outrage."

Goter in continuing to seek the states attorney seat said she spent her 13 years as an assistant prosecutor trying to build back some integrity. The office has gained professionalism and accountability which she said are the result of my efforts, not Allens.

Hes disinterested in what goes on in the office. Thats my biggest concern, Goter said, adding that law enforcement and social services workers who bring cases for prosecution deserve better than that.

In the June 14 primary election, Goter garnered 1,517 votes or just more than 53%. Koppy had 1,333 or about 47%, according to the North Dakota Secretary of State's website. The top two candidates in the primary move on to the general election. There was not a third candidate. Koppy in 2018 overcame a primary deficit to beat Goter in the general election.

Koppy has been the state's attorney since 1987. In 1990 and 1994, he defeated Goters father, Wayne Goter.

Bent in her statement said Goter was afforded fairness throughout the investigation. She also defended the State's Attorney's Office, saying it "has a team of highly competent attorneys" and that the county has "a strong relationship with our current attorneys, surrounding state's attorneys, and the (state) Attorney Generals Office."
New Delhi: The trailer of the film 'Chup-The Revenge of An Artist' has piqued the interest of the audience with its unique storyline. Shreya Dhanwanthary, who plays an important part in the film, recently took to her social media handle to revisit moments from the shoot. The actress shared BTS pictures and videos of her look test and first day of the shoot, also giving glimpses into the scenes and first meetings with her co-stars Sunny Deol and Pooja Bhatt.

The actress has established herself as a talented actor thanks to the overnight success of Scam 1992, which brought her recognition and acclaim. Shreya is now preparing for the theatrical release of her upcoming movie, which has generated positive buzz among moviegoers with its intriguing plot. She will be bringing yet another remarkable story to the audience. Shreya and Dulquer Salmaan's chemistry was also well praised in the first song from the movie "Gaya Gaya."

Expressing her gratitude towards the overwhelming response and the "critical appreciation", Shreya Dhanwanthary thanked everyone through her social media as well as treated with treasured moments from the shoot of the film. Here is the post shared by the actress:

From her look test to having a gala time with the cast, the actress has given a sneak peak into everything that unfolded on the sets.

Starting from the look test, Shreya shared how different looks were tried and tested before locking the one for the film. Post confirming a look, Shreya went through a hair change to fit the characters requirement. Giving a glimpse into an actors life, Shreya shared that she spent three months in a vanity van while she shot for the film. Giving all of us an insight into how the sets of Chup looked like, Shreya shared moments of R Balki watching her take with his master eye at work, to him directing her along with Sunny Deol and Pooja Bhatt.

Here some of the pictures shared by the actress:

The movie's trailer has fans buzzing with anticipation . The film, which revolves around the idea of movie critics, debuts on September 23, 2022, and stars Shreya Dhanwanthary, Dulquer Salmaan, Sunny Deol, and Pooja Bhatt in the key roles. In addition, Shreya has Adbhut with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and season two of Mumbai Diaries I also lined up among other unknown projects.
New Delhi: People want to invest in their golden time to safeguard from bad days. Each and every person looks for a scheme where they have to invest less and the maturity amount should be maximum. As there are dozens of investment options available in the market and the investment platforms are still introducing new schemes, making investment become the go-to method for everyone.

Here is about a scheme in which it is safe to invest and its investment will cost only Rs 50 per day. Indian Post often brings various types of small investment schemes in between. You can get returns of lakhs by investing in this government scheme. The name of this government scheme is Gram Suraksha Yojana. Under this, you can get huge returns of up to 35 lakhs by just investing Rs 50. (Also Read: LIC Saral Pension Yojana: Pay single premium, get every month Rs 50,000 for a lifetime)

Continue reading to find out each and every legitimate point of this government scheme due to which one should invest.

What is Gram Suraksha Yojana?

It is absolutely safe to invest in this scheme of India Post. It will give you a big profit in a small investment. The government has brought this wonderful scheme under the Rural Postal Life Insurance Schemes program of the Post Office. If the investor dies during the running of this scheme, his money will be given to his nominee member. (Also Read: Public Provident Fund: Invest Rs 100 per day in PPF, get Rs 25 lakh at the time of retirement; Check details here)

Rules and Regulations

Any citizen of India from 19 years to 55 years can invest in this scheme. From 10 thousand rupees to 10 lakh rupees can be invested in Gram Suraksha Yojana. You can deposit its installment monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or annually as per your convenience.

If someone invests in this scheme from the age of 19, for 55 years you will have to pay a monthly premium of Rs 1515, on the maturity of which you get Rs 31.60 lakh. On the other hand, after depositing Rs 1411 in monthly premiums for 60 years, you get Rs 34.60 lakh.
The much-awaited third Vande Bharat express train has successfully completed trials and is all set to begin its commercial train services soon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to flag off the third Vande Bharat express train which will run on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route on September 30. The new high-speed Vande Bharat train comes with better facilities and enhanced services like better speed, Wi-Fi-enabled 32-inch LCD TVs, along with Catalytic UltraViolet Air Purification System. The third Vande Bharat train has a newly designed Roof Mounted Package Unit (RMPU) for air purification. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav stated that the train has completed its trials and has got the CRS clearance.

The train has got CRS clearance, that is, now the train is completely ready to run. The possibility is being expressed that the train can be flagged off from Ahmedabad on September 30, Vaishnav said in an interview.

New facilities Vande Bharat train

The new Vande Bharat express train comes with enhanced speed, lesser weight, and Wi-Fi access on 32-inch LCD TVs. The train is further equipped with the Catalytic UltraViolet Air Purification System. For air purification, a newly designed Roof Mounted Package Unit (RMPU). As per the recommendation of the Central Scientific Instruments Organization (CSIO), Chandigarh, this system has been installed at both ends of the RMPU, which allows fresh air and back air containing germs, bacteria, and viruses to be filtered and cleaned.

Also read: Indian Railways: Transportation of passenger cars through trains on a rise, 68 percent growth reported

In current Vande Bharat trains, only the rear part of the seat can be moved, however, in the upcoming new train, the entire seat can be moved for the convenience of passengers.

To make PM Modis dream of having 75 Vande Bharat express trains before August 15, 2023, come true, Indian Railways is trying its best to increase the production of Vande Bharat express trains.
New Delhi: Garena Free Fire releases redeem codes on everyday basis. The 12-digit redeem code consists of alphabets and numbers. Players can get rewards such as skins for in-game weapons and characters to improve their gaming experience.

Garena Free fire is banned in India. However, if you are located outside India, you can access the reward codes and redeem them. For that you will be required to visit official Garena Free Fire reward site and log in to your Facebook, Google, Twitter IDs to access the Free Fire redemption page. (Also read: iPhone 12 gets massive price cut on Flipkart Big Saving Days Sale, offer details here)

Check out the Garena Free Fire Redeem Codes for September 13, 2022

BH56NJIU87YG

T6FGVHBJ3NK4

3RKOFI87865A

4QERD2F3GURU

HEFRPPCC08IG

FTDVBE4U27Y8

6TGEVBHQ1I2H

UEQYTW6FR56W

631YTUIJUH7Y

GVHBISJU8D7Y

6GT75EFRG3HB

4JKLOIU89Y7F

TW3GVHR4JBEJ

IO8U97YUTGY4

BHVNJOJIAU9Y

HJFRTGY6Y54T

(Also read: Shocking! Ex-Amazon Web Services engineer hacked data of 10 crore customers)

How to Redeem Garena Free Fire codes for today, September 13, 2022

Step 1: Go to the official Garena Free Fire redemption portal



Step 2: Log in on the portal with either your Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Google, VK, or Huawei ID.



Step 3: Enter a redeem code in the designated text box.



Step 4: Click on the Ok button to get free rewards in your game account.

(Disclaimer: Garena Free fire is banned in India. Hence we advise people to adhere to government rules)
Planning a trip with your entire family? Then you can stop wondering and start booking because the city of ghats, Varanasi is the best family destination easily accessible by rail, road or flight.

One of the holy cities on Earth is Varanasi. You get a magnificent religious experience thanks to the abundance of temples and the natural beauty of the Ganga ghat. There are many routes you can use to get to this city if you're coming from Delhi. Let's explore various travel options in this article for travelling to Varanasi from Delhi.

If you travel by flight

From Delhi to Varanasi, there are multiple flights available every day and Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport is the closest airport (VNS). The flight from Delhi to Varanasi lasts 1.5 to 2 hours. You can easily browse the website of any airline or find the best offers from online travel agencies to book your trip from Delhi to Varanasi.

Total distance: 803 km approximately

Estimated time: One hour and twenty minutes

Average cost: Rs. 2330/- per person(one-way)

If you travel by train

Train service is available from Delhi to Varanasi. Six daily trains and 26 weekly trains run from New Delhi to Varanasi. As per the IRCTC website, The SWATANTRTA S EXP is the fastest train (12562) between Delhi and Varanasi. The train journey from Delhi to Varanasi could take anywhere between 11 to 17 hours. Visit the IRCTC website to check the most recent timetables for the latest train schedules.

Total distance: 752 km approximately

Estimated time: 11h 24m to 17 hours

Average cost: Rs. 415 per person (one-way)

If you travel by bus

Varanasi and New Delhi are connected by bus directly. The entire travel duration for this journey is approximately 18 hours. Bus travel, however, in general opinion is not only stressful but also expensive.

Total distance: 793 km approximately

Estimated time: 18 hours

Average cost: Rs. 950 per person (one-way)

If you travel by car

Multiple road routes can be taken from Delhi to Varanasi with the distance between the two cities being approximately 821-877 KM, which varies as per the route you end up taking. The national highways 19 and 30 are the preferred route by most travellers as both these highways pass through beautiful cities like Agra, Vrindavan, Bareilly, and Lucknow among others.

Total distance: 799 km

Estimated time: 13 hr 4 minutes

Average cost: Rs. 7500- 1100/- approximately

Things to do when in Varanasi

The Kashi Vishwanath Temple, a significant landmark, Dashashwamed Ghat, Manikarnika Ghat, the Buddhist stupas and monasteries at Sarnath, and Dhamek Stupa are some of the must-see locations in Varanasi. Another fascinating site to visit is the old Ramnagar Fort, which has a museum and an armoury.

Do's and Don'ts

- Tourists must dress appropriately when visiting temples and other religious places.

- Avoid fully immersing yourself in the Ganges, primarily for hygienic reasons and occasionally because the currents can be too strong.

- Avoid exploring while the sun is at its fiercest if you're travelling during summer.

- Be prepared to walk so wear comfortable shoes because the majority of the old town's streets are congested and difficult for cars to navigate.

- Keep loose cash on hand because many traditional stores still only accept cash and may not accept cards or e-wallets.

The vibe of the city seems to be defined by deep, divine energy, which is mesmerizing to witness.

(Disclaimer: This information is based on general information and does not substitute a travel agent's advice. Zee News does not confirm this)
LONDON: King Charles told parliament on Monday he was "resolved faithfully to follow" the example set by his mother Queen Elizabeth, addressing lawmakers and peers in what he described as "the living and breathing instrument of our democracy". At a ceremony in Westminster Hall, the oldest building on the parliamentary estate, Charles used his address to the upper and lower houses of parliament to pay tribute to his mother and to pledge to uphold the principle of constitutional government.

"While very young, Her late Majesty pledged herself to serve her country and her people and to maintain the precious principles of constitutional government which lie at the heart of our nation. This vow she kept with unsurpassed devotion," he told the assembled lawmakers and peers.

"She set an example of selfless duty which, with God's help and your counsels, I am resolved faithfully to follow."

"I am deeply grateful for the Addresses of Condolence by the House of Lords and the House of Commons, which so touchingly encompass what our late Sovereign, my beloved mother The Queen, meant to us all."



The Kings reply to the addresses of condolence at Westminster Hall:  The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 12, 2022

The queen, aged 96, died at her home in Scotland on Thursday, setting in train a period of national mourning during which tens of thousands of Britons are expected to pay tribute to her. Charles, quoting William Shakespeare's description of Elizabeth I, said "she was 'a pattern to all Princes living'."

The ceremony, where the speakers of the House of Lords and the House of Commons address the monarch either on their accession or at a jubilee, has taken place in the Palace of Westminster since Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

Queen Elizabeth came to Westminster Hall on her own Diamond Jubilee, and Monday's ceremony took place in the light of a stained glass window installed on its north wall to mark that celebration in 2012.

John McFall, Lord Speaker, told Charles the queen had been "both a leader to, and servant of, her people."

Britain's system of constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy has operated since 1688, when parliament invited William of Orange to replace King James, establishing its primacy over the crown which monarchs since have had to respect.

Charles paid tribute to parliament as "the living and breathing instrument of our democracy".

"As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history that surrounds us, and which reminds us of the vital parliamentary traditions to which members of both Houses dedicate yourselves with a such personal commitment for the betterment of us all."
LONDON: Britain's Prince Harry paid a highly personal tribute on Monday to his "granny", the late Queen Elizabeth, saying how he cherished the time he had spent with her and how he would honour his father as the new king. In a statement, Harry, who stepped down from royal duties with his wife Meghan in 2020, praised the queen's service as head of state and monarch, and also spoke emotionally of her role as a grandmother.

"Granny, while this final parting brings us great sadness, I am forever grateful for all of our first meetings - from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my Commander-in-Chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved great-grandchildren," he said.

"I cherish these times shared with you, and the many other special moments in between. You are already sorely missed, not just by us, but by the world over."

He praised her "unwavering grace and dignity" and her commitment to duty, saying she was globally admired and respected.

"We, too, smile knowing that you and grandpa are reunited now, and both together in peace," he said, a reference to her husband of 73 years Prince Philip who died last year.

After he and Meghan left their official royal roles, they became alienated from the family, including his father, now King Charles, and delivered withering criticism of Buckingham Palace and how they had been treated.

Since becoming king following the queen's death at the age of 96 last Thursday, Charles has expressed his love for the couple.

"As it comes to first meetings, we now honour my father in his new role as King Charles III," Harry said.

Harry and Meghan were only in Britain when the queen died because they were coincidentally visiting to attend a number of charity events, a rare trip since they moved to California where they live with their two young children.

They had not been even been expected to speak to their close relatives on the visit prior to the queen's death.

On Saturday, Harry and Meghan unexpectedly appeared with his elder brother William for a walkabout near Windsor Castle, in a show of unity that suggested the death of their grandmother could lead to a rapprochement.

A royal source described it as an important show of unity at an incredibly difficult time for the family.
Kharkiv (Ukraine): Ukrainian troops continued to pile unrelenting pressure on retreating Russian forces on Tuesday, seeking to hold on to their sudden momentum that has produced major territorial gains. Fresh yellow-and-blue flags fluttered from the tallest buildings left in partly destroyed towns around Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, while Ukrainian soldiers inspected charred Russian tanks left along the way.

"From the beginning of September until today, our soldiers have already liberated more than 6,000 square kilometres of the territory of Ukraine ? in the east and south. The movement of our troops continues," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his nightly address late on Monday. Many of the claims of military success could not be independently verified.

Rubbing salt into Russia's wounds, British intelligence said that one of Moscow's premier forces, the 1st Guards Tank Army, had been "severely degraded" during the invasion and that "Russia's conventional force designed to counter NATO is severely weakened. It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability." The retreat didn't stop Russia from pounding Ukrainian positions, however. Early Tuesday, it shelled the city of Lozova in the Kharkiv region, killing three people and injuring nine, said regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.

Also read: Ukrainian forces reclaim about 6,000 sq km of Russian-held territory in south and east Ukraine

The Nikopol area, which is across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, was shelled six times during the night but no injuries were immediately reported, said regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko. Continued shelling has left Europe's largest nuclear facility in a precarious position.

Zelensky specifically criticised Russia for targeting energy infrastructure in its attacks over the past days. "Hundreds and thousands of Ukrainians found themselves in the dark ? without electricity. Houses, hospitals, schools, communal infrastructure sites that have absolutely nothing to do with the infrastructure of the armed forces of our country."

He said it could only point to one thing. "This is a sign of the desperation of those who contrived this war. This is how they react to the defeat of Russian forces in the Kharkiv region. They can't do anything to our heroes on the battlefield." Ukrainian military intelligence said Russian troops were surrendering en masse. A Ukrainian presidential adviser said there were so many prisoners of war that the country was running out of space to accommodate them.

The counteroffensive left the Kremlin struggling for a response to its largest military defeat in Ukraine since Russian forces pulled back from areas near Kyiv after a botched attempt to capture the capital early in the invasion. The Russian Defence Ministry acknowledged the setback in a map that showed its troops pressed back along a narrow patch of land on the border with Russia- a tacit admission of big Ukrainian gains.

It was not yet clear if the Ukrainian blitz could signal a turning point in the war. Momentum has switched back and forth before, but rarely with such a big and sudden swing. Some in Russia blamed Western weapons and fighters for the losses.

"It's not Ukraine that attacked Izium, but NATO," read a headline in the state-supported Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, referring to one of the areas where Russia said it has withdrawn troops. Elsewhere, residents of a Russian village just across the border from Ukraine were evacuated after shelling by Ukrainian troops killed one person, according to Russia's Tass news agency. The report cited the head of the local administration in Logachevka, who said Ukrainian troops opened fire at a border checkpoint.
Samarkand: Uzbekistan's cultural capital Samarkand is all set to host the Shanghai cooperation organization or SCO summit from 15th to 16th and the city has been spruced up to host 15 world leaders including PM Modi, Russian President Putin and Chinese President Xi. Uzbekistan is hosting the SCO Summit ( 2004, 2010 and 2016) for the 4th time, but this is for the first time the city of Samarkand is hosting the summit.

Also Read: India accords a lot of importance to the SCO, says Indian Envoy to Uzbekistan Manish Prabhat

The city has got a new airport which is been seen as a synthesis of the past and present and is shaped like an open book symbolizing the main work of Mirzo Ulugbek Zizhijadidi Kuragoniy or the New Astronomical Table of Kuragoni. The width of the building is 175 meters, and its height is 25 meters with the constellations depicted on its roof. The Airport can handle 800 people per hour and up to 120 flights per week. Equipped with modern technologies, luggage check-in firmly puts the ancient city of Samarkand on the world tourist map.

Ulugbek was the grandson of Timur and the oldest son of Shah Rukh. The Timurid Sultan was well known as an astronomer and mathematician and was notable for trigonometry. His observatory in Samarkand, built in 1449, can accurately measure the sun from the horizon, the altitude of a star and other planets with phenomenal accuracy.

To make the city more tourist-friendly, Silk Road Samarkand Tourist Center has been built to welcome SCO guests as it plans to host many events during the summit. The main construction occupies 135 hectares. A Congress Hall has been created where meetings of the SCO leaders will be held and is located on the two banks of the famous Samarkand Rowing Canal. Its area is 2800 square meters, and the area of the main hall, where the meetings of the SCO leaders will be held, is 65x65 m, and its height is 14 meters.

For incoming guests, 8 international-level hotels, with a total of about 1,200 rooms have opened their doors. Two of them correspond to the 5-star category, and one of them  Samarkand Regency Amir Temur - is the first and so far the only hotel in Central Asia, which is included in the Leading Hotels of the World association.

Also Read: PM Modi, Russian Prez Putin, China's Xi to attend SCO Samarkand summit: Uzbekistan

Another local attraction, Samarkand Rowing Canal has been built. The canal is 2,180 meters long and over 150 meters wide. Remember Uzbekistan will host the Asian Youth Olympic Games in 2025, and the rowing tournaments will be held in Samarkand.
New Delhi: In Qatar, Al Wakrah, a four-year-old girl from a Malayali family who lives in Doha passed away on Sunday after being left confined inside a school bus for several hours. Kindergartener Minsa Mariyam Jacob attended Springfield Kindergarten Al Wakrah. She reportedly boarded the school bus on Sunday morning but passed out on the route to the kindergarten, according to family sources in Kerala.

Also Read: FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar: Air India starts direct flights between Doha-India

The bus' crew is accused of locking it as Minsa slept inside, moving it to a parking area, and then disengaging themselves. When the bus crew arrived at midday to transport the kids home, she was discovered to be unconscious. Despite being rushed to a hospital, Minsa was not able to be saved. According to family sources in Kerala, the girl seemed to have died of heat suffocation at first glance.

Abhilash Chacko and Soumya, Minsa's parents, are employed in Qatar and are from Changanassery in the Kottayam region of Kerala. Associations of expatriates have made arrangements to fly the body back to Kerala.

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Doha, expressed condolences for the student's passing and stressed it would not accept any lapses in student safety while announcing an investigation into the incident.

The ministry also affirms its keenness to adhere to the highest quality of security and safety standards for its students, and will not tolerate any shortcomings in this regard. It extends its sincerest condolences to the family of the deceased student, the ministry tweeted.

According to the findings of the ongoing inquiry, the ministry stressed, that the authorities would take all necessary steps and guarantee the harshest penalties possible against those guilty.
North Dakota's Health and Human Services Department is warning the public about potential rabies exposure from a "captive raccoon" brought into a bar in Maddock.

The bartender working that day told the Tribune the raccoon was never loose and didn't bite anyone. She said she "got it out of here as fast as I could."

HHS says anyone who may have been bitten or had contact with the raccoon's saliva should speak with a health care provider as soon as possible about the risk of potential rabies exposure.

Because rabies is such a serious disease with a nearly 100% fatality rate, we are making this information available to the public as a precautionary measure, state Epidemiologist Amanda Bakken said in a statement.

The raccoon was brought into the Maddock Bar on Sept. 6. Bartender Cindy Smith said about 10 people were in the bar at the time, about 4:30 p.m. A woman who lives locally was carrying the raccoon with her.

"I saw she was carrying something, and I asked her what it was, and she showed me, and I said, 'You've got to get it out of here,'" Smith said.

The woman then went to the other side of the bar and showed the raccoon to another customer. Smith and another customer told the woman to leave, and "We finally got her out with it, and that's all that happened," the bartender said. "It never left her arms one time, and there was absolutely no biting."

The raccoon was in the bar less than five minutes, according to Smith. It's unclear where the woman got the raccoon.

"I had no idea what she was thinking," Smith said. The woman was apparently showing off the raccoon, according to the bartender.

HHS and the Benson County Sheriff's Office did not immediately provide information as to the status of the raccoon or its handler.

Six rabid animals have been reported in North Dakota this year, including two bats, two cats, one bovine and one skunk.

For more information, go to ndhealth.gov/disease/rabies.
New Delhi: Ukrainian forces have retaken more than 6,000 sq km of Russian-held terrain in southern and eastern Ukraine since the beginning of September. They claimed to have seized numerous Russian soldiers as part of a lightning advance that prompted Moscow to flee in haste on Monday as they retook a large portion of territory from Russia, pushing back to the northeastern border in certain spots. Ukrainian military intelligence and Russian troops spokesperson said Russian troops were surrendering en masse as they understand the hopelessness of their situation.

Ukrainian forces had retaken more than 6,000 sq km of Russian-held territory in southern & eastern Ukraine since the beginning of the month, Reuters reported Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as saying



(File Pic) pic.twitter.com/61NoUHuEeo  ANI (@ANI) September 12, 2022

Also, a Ukrainian presidential adviser quoted, there were so many POWs that the country was running out of space to accommodate them.

The Ukrainian military has freed more than 20 settlements in 24 hours. As the blue and yellow Ukrainian flags hover over the newly rescued towns.

As per the British Defence Ministry, Kyiv forces have captured Russian-held land at least twice the size of greater London.

The momentum has boosted Ukrainian morale and sparked rare public criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin's war after months of little apparent movement on the battlefield.

In some areas of the front, our defenders reached the state border with the Russian Federation, said Oleh Syniehubov, governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region.

Troops will be pulled from two areas in that region to regroup in the eastern region of Donestk, over the weekend said Russian Defence Ministry.

Soldiers could be seen hoisting the Ukrainian flag above buildings that had been destroyed in a battle military video.

A combatant in one moment wiped his boots on a Russian flag that was lying on the ground. In other footage, Ukrainians could be seen examining the rusted-out remains of Russian military vehicles, including tanks.

Efforts to disarm land mines were underway in the recaptured areas, along with a search for any remaining Russian troops, Ukrainian military officials said.

Military intelligence spokesman Andrey Yusov said the captured troops included significant numbers of Russian officers.

In Kharkiv, authorities hailed that power and water had been restored to about 80% of the region's population following Russian attacks on infrastructure that knocked out electricity in many places across Ukraine.

You are heroes!!! Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram, referring to crews who restored utilities in Ukraine's second-biggest city.

Thanks to everyone who did everything possible on this most difficult night for Kharkiv to normalize the life of the city as soon as possible. The buoyant mood was also captured by a defiant President Volodymyr Zelenskyy late Sunday on social media.

Do you still think you can intimidate, break us, force us to make concessions?" Zelenskyy asked. Cold, hunger, darkness and thirst for us are not as scary and deadly as your friends' and brotherhood." In the end, he exclaimed: "We will be with gas, lights, water and food and WITHOUT you!
A pipeline spill detected over the weekend in northwestern North Dakota released more than 400,000 gallons of oilfield wastewater, with contamination entering a tributary of the Missouri River and causing some fish to die, state investigators said Monday.

Zavanna LLC estimates about 9,800 barrels, or 411,600 gallons, of produced water spilled about 7 miles northeast of Williston. The produced water, a byproduct of oil production, reached Stony Creek, which empties into the Missouri River, said Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager with the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality.

The spill occurred about 7 to 8 miles from the river, Suess said, adding that there are a number of stock dams in place to mitigate contamination. Several chub minnows and small carp have been reported as wildlife impacts, he said.

Environmental Quality personnel are inspecting the site and will continue to monitor the investigation and cleanup. Most of the land near the spill site is agricultural land, and there are no reports of affected drinking water at this time, Suess told the Tribune.

Cleanup crews from Strike Consulting, a third-party consulting group hired to help with remediation, were on site within a couple of hours after the spill was detected, Zavanna CEO David Hodges told the Tribune. Crews placed booms along the creek to contain the spill and all private landowners in that area have been made aware of the spill, Hodges said.

As of this morning, we had booms in places, sheen contained and they were fortifying kind of like a pseudo little dam type area to stop flow," Hodges said Monday afternoon. "That area of the river is not like a quick-flowing stream. Its kind of stagnant in places. So were able to dam up the sheen as best as we could."

A spill report shows that an anomaly was detected through the pipeline monitoring system on Sunday. A Zavanna employee went to inspect the neighboring well pads and located the spill.

Hodges said the pipeline is believed to have been leaking for no more than five days before it was detected. The pipeline was shut down as of Sunday.

The pipeline, which is made of Fiberspar, has been in operation for approximately eight to 10 years, with Zavanna owning the pipeline since its construction.

We follow a more stringent program than regulations currently require. We test every quarter instead of once a year, Hodges said. The problem is the pipeline system isnt running at like super high pressure. So were monitoring via meters and we had some meter discrepancy.

The company has a spill prevention containment control plan set up for events like this.

We were below industry averages as far as spills are concerned and this is one of those events that were going to use to continue to make ourselves better as a group," Hodges said. "Were also going to absolutely clean this up to the best of our ability. We take these kinds of things very seriously, and were going to take care of this.

It's the second big oilfield wastewater spill in northwestern North Dakota this summer. A Hess Corp. pipeline leaked more than 1.4 million gallons, impacting crop land north of Ray. That spill happened over several weeks and was discovered last month.
North Dakotans got a preview last week of some of the issues that will be before the 2023 Legislature, and its disappointing. Some lawmakers appear more interested in fighting culture wars than tackling the serious issues facing the state.

The Department of Public Instruction held an administrative hearing Thursday to review draft rules on the ban of teaching critical race theory imposed by the Legislature last year. There was little discussion of the rules, with speakers attacking gender identity issues and how history is taught.

Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo, who sponsored the bill to ban CRT, vowed to introduce new legislation to increase restrictions and impose penalties for teaching the theory. He cited a letter from a former Grand Forks teacher he wouldnt name who claimed CRT was still being taught in schools.

The Tribune editorial board has more faith in Bismarck and Mandan administrators who say CRT isnt being taught than in an anonymous letter writer. School districts across the state have said CRT isnt being taught, and the Tribune isnt aware of any district acknowledging it teaches the theory.

That doesnt mean it couldnt come up during classroom discussions of current events or history. Part of the learning process involves the exchange of ideas by students and teachers. It exposes students to different viewpoints.

That, unfortunately, appears scary to some people including many legislators. Kasper said he believes school districts need to get back to the basics. He didnt explain what that entails.

His desire to add penalties and apparently punish administrators or teachers is another slap to education. Theres a teacher shortage in North Dakota and across the nation, and continued attacks on teachers will drive more out of the profession. It also will discourage students from pursuing teaching as a career.

Stick to the basics appears to be code to not discuss anything the least bit controversial.

There were comments at the hearing about "fake racism" and how many positive things occurred during slavery in this country. Racism still exists and sadly we have too many daily examples of it. That doesnt mean everyone is a racist. We shouldnt ignore slavery, it was an ugly chapter in our nations history.

If the sentiments that surfaced during the hearing are an indicator of legislation coming during the 2023 legislative session, we are facing a difficult four months. Many of the cultural war issues raised arent a problem in North Dakota or are best handled on the local level.

There are some legislators more interested in imposing their moral code on the state. The Tribune believes most North Dakotans want the Legislature to focus on taxes, infrastructure, health care and public safety.

And funding for public education without the witch hunt for teachers.
When Bill Rivers put a copy of his debut novel, Last Summer Boys, in my hand earlier this summer, he didnt tell me it came with blurbs from former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, for whom he had been a speechwriter, and Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia. We met in order to do something of an interview: I wanted to get to know a young writer who seemed unusually bashful in an era of self-promotion; indeed, Bill was more inclined to hide his resume than brag. (For example, he neglected to boast that he already has more than 20,000 pleased readers.) I went away from our meeting convinced that his concern with the honor of dutiful service and the need for faith was genuine, so those blurbs are remarkably appositehonest advertising, of which we have very little.

The novel works its way to these themes. Last Summer Boys starts in a troubled America in the summer of 68, a country that has lost its civil peace and also its innocence, which is quite a burden to place on a boys adventure tale set in rural Pennsylvania. Further, the four protagonists are all-American and thus woefully unfit to face up to this drama: The Elliott boys are 13-year-old Jack; 16-year-old Will, an admirer of Robert F. Kennedy and Bob Dylan; and Pete, whos turning 18 on the Fourth of July and is as confident, good-natured, and beautiful as you can imagine. The fourth is their city cousin Frankie, whos the same age as Jack, the narrator, but smarter and already a writer, no doubt advantages conferred by the city.

The Elliott parents, Gene and Addie, are similarly idealized. Theres a warm but strong and sometimes harsh father, a Korean War veteran and always helpful to his fellow man, and a beautiful, very religious mother, whose no-nonsense way of speaking gives her a handle on her somewhat wild boys. Theyre a churchgoing family, but they live away from the town. Theyre proud but poor; Gene works as caretaker of the estate of a local, eccentric man of wealth. They are masters of an old house, said to be two centuries old, which would make it pre-Revolutionary, a symbol of the continuity of pioneer life in America, whose virtues they embody. Theyre also a military family, with the quiet pride of the honorable and the belief that they must answer the nations call.

This should place us at a comfortable distance from the race riots, the assassinations of MLK and RFK, and the Vietnam War protests, but these are the events that decide the nations dramatic turns, and the small community, the rural way of life, will not be spared. Somehow they must suffer with the rest of America. The novel follows the adventures of these spirited boys, from the charming to the fearful, as they find employment for their freedom during the summer holiday. They involve themselves in everything from the delights of exploring the wilderness to ghost stories, the quest for a downed plane, and a confrontation with an evil boy in a cave. Throughout, Rivers shows us a natural world of creeks and hills, storms and floods, forests and fires that are unbelievably symbolic of the problem of evila vision of the world as a vale of tears, a suffering, even a terror redeemed by faith. Something of that haunting suffering, at a distance from us but inescapable, shows up in the novels opening lines:

Cousin Francis said come nighttime he could smell the fires in his city.

Not like the sweet woodsmoke scent me and my brothers love so much, but an awful, eye-watering sting in the air of burning brick and rubber and roofing tar. Wind blew that terrible smell all the way to his bedroom window from the West Lake housing projects where the fires burned and had been burning since sundown the day Reverend King was killed. Seven straight days the riots lasted, and on the morning of the seventh day the soldiers came, came and stayed. It went on like that for weeks, until the day Franciss father came up to his room to tell him hed be coming to stay with us for that summer of 1968.

As I said, the novel is narrated, in an unspecified situation we can only surmise is our current time of troubles, by youngest Jack, after he is all grown up. His story, as he tells it, shows him caught between the ordinary life of the small town he loves and the kinds of events that bring the Cold War to their homehes afraid his eldest brother Petes about to get drafted, because hes turning 18 and theres no chance of his going to college. So Jack desperately seeks a way to make Pete famous in the press, with his cousin Frankies help, since famous people dont get drafted. The boys innocence points out the national shameVietnam was the first war the elite sat out.

Gradually, we realize that this is all about the boys fear of death. The narrative shows how mortality emerges in the various parts of life the boy is aware of and what kinds of conflicts articulate for him what it means to grow up, possibly to become a man. It animates the novel and colors all the experiences of growing up that he narrates in telling his familys story: friendship, falling in love, the difficulties his parents must face and the toll that takes, as well as all the events of small-town lifefrom church life to the local drive-in theater with all the troubles of youth, to the Fourth of July parade that brings the whole town togetherand the adventuring in the wilderness that boys love. Only politics, which is the concern of adults, is remarkably free of what might be called this existential angst. There is a part of the novel in which the town and the country folk, brought together partly by the local pastor, have to face corrupt local politicians in the pocket of big business, industrial capitalists. Its a test of community, and there the boyish fear is largely absent, because concern for justice is practical.

This is Rivers debut novel and I hazard the guess that he has not yet mastered the difference between earnest writing and writing earnest characters, which gives trouble because his protagonist is also the narrator. In the last third of the novel, this boy becomes incredibly whinyscreaming, running, doing reckless things one after another, endangering his life and that of others, which at points becomes unpleasant to read. Perhaps men will tend to share my opinion while women will understand the sensitive boys suffering more, since he loves his family and feels helpless to spare them lifes sorrows. The novels success has to do with how the aw shucks boy charms the audience in the beginning, but eventually his cowardice becomes a problem. Endearing as he may have begun, sentimentality inevitably ends up with cruelty, and we see quite a bit of that at the end. One could call it punishing the audience for gullibility.

Now, the narrator is the least active character in the plot, since he has none of the virtues of his older siblings, but choosing him as narrator is perhaps Riverss canniest choice, because it brings to fore his concern with religion. Jack is learning that being a Christian might mean having a conscience, feeling guilt, fearing what suffering might further entail, dreaming hellish visions. Since he is not an adult, he has a natural desire for beauty and strength, which makes him want victory and revenge, even cruelty, rather than forgiveness.

Last Summer Boys dramatizes startlingly this conflict in the boys heart and thus gets at the American conflict over whether our belief in justice, our love of our families, our pursuit of freedom need or allow Christian faith to underpin them. The suggestion implicit in paralleling the boyish and the national drama of lost innocence is that Americas conscience was part of the trouble of the 60s, and it was why people could neither fix the political problems nor confess what was bothering them.

The idealized portraits of the parents also point out a problem. The Elliott boys face very serious difficulties because they are not properly prepared to face evil. Their savage state of nature is a state of peace; they go around swimming naked, since they live in Eden, testing their courage by diving from a height. (I cannot spoil the plot for youIm sure you would enjoy the adventureso I will only say that the shocking events in the plot surprise and even perplex them.) In one telling scene, father Gene tells young Jack, Lifes not fair, you should know that by now. Well, the reader must ask: Who educated him to believe lifes fair? Perhaps its his mothers idealism, which demands of him never to treat anyone as though that persons life didnt matter, which ultimately leads to the Christian command to love even your enemy. There is a great tension between the two parents that the reader must trace and think through to understand whats happening in the plot, why the metaphors are chosen as they are, and why the earnestness of the narration is so important.

I am not against idealization in literature, because it brings out the important problems I mentioned. But it requires exquisite taste, and here I have one criticism to make. Rivers would have been well advised not to choose as his cinematic cultural touchstone, which brings the town together and spellbinds the audience, Arthur Penns very popular 1967 movie,Bonnie and Clyde. Its such an ugly movie that it would have repelled the decent, religious Gene and Addie, who were taking their kids to the movies to take their minds off their trouble.

Still, this is an all-American story and bound to win over even more readers who will wish Rivers well, as I do. I hope Ive shown that there is a depth and a tension to the story, emerging from American history, on the one hand, and a specifically Christian outlook, on the other. But I should add, in conclusion, that Rivers example should inspire other conservatives to turn to writing. His success should teach them lessons about how to succeed as well, and about whats going on in America that needs dramatizing. Maybe a new concern with history will make people more serious and more hopeful, since they will see the nation endure much suffering without failing.
Fig China was a piece of meat on the chopping board of the world powers. The Three Northeast Provinces were the Russian sphere of interest.

For the Chinese people, there was only one Anti-Japanese-Invasion War. It lasted for 14 years, starting in 1931, and ending in 1945. For such a long war, western historians use many terms including the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Second World War(WWII), and/or the Pacific War to refer to a part of the war from different angles. All three terms added together cannot cover the whole 14 years of the Resistance against Japan. From a geopolitical perspective, the Anti-Japanese-Invasion War can be divided into three periods:

1) The war of Japan containing Soviet Russia from 1931 to 1937, in which the Western Powers were allies of Japan encircling Soviet Russia.

2) The war of Japan to colonize China, in which the westerns were neutral and did not take either side of the war, making the war termed the Second Sino-Japanese War. This term is neutral and does not tell which side is right or wrong. In comparison, the term Anti-Japanese-Invasion War puts the Japanese imperialist invasion and occupation on the wrong side and the Chinese people as the victims and on the justice side of the war.

3) The wars among imperialist powers for the sphere of influence and that is the Pacific War, which is part of World War II, with the battlefield in China.

Wars to confront Soviet Russia

Fig: Japanese troop in Siberia intervention Russian Civil War

In 1931 Japan invaded and occupied the Three Northeast Provinces of China. China fought back for 14 years from 1931 to 1945. However, World War II started in 1939 and ended in 1945. China was not in the picture then. The Second Sino-Japanese War is counted from 1937 to 1949. It was like the Japanese invasion and occupation in 1931 is irrelevant to China. In the modern history written by western academics, the suffering of the Chinese was simply ignored. For the powers of the Europeans, the Japanese invasion and occupation of Manchuria were more of a war between Russia and Japan rather than a war between China and Japan.

The Japanese occupation in 1931 was a colossal humanitarian catastrophe for China. Refugees from the Three Northeast Provinces spread all over China. The Japanese army continued to encroach on Chinese territory along the Mongolian border inside China, forcing the Chinese government to concede piece by piece of Chinese sovereignty. Mongolia was the Russian sphere of influence.

The Japanese invasion of China is a vital historical event. Many songs and literature about the Anti-Japanese-Invasion War were created from the War beginning in 1931. For example, the song March of the Volunteers was written in 1934 and it is the national anthem of the Peoples Republic of China today. Yet, as far as the Western Powers are concerned, the Japanese occupation in 1931 was not about China but rather Soviet Russia. After the October Revolution, the Western Powers intervened in the Russian Civil War by supporting the White, and Japan was among the supporters. The Western Powers encouraged Japanese expansion in the Far East to ease the European's confront Soviet Russia. The Three Northeast Provinces were part of the Russian sphere of influence.

When Germany breached the Treaty of Versailles and invaded Poland in 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany immediately. When Japan breached the Treaty of Versailles and occupied the Three Northeast Provinces of China in 1931, the Western Powers continued their businesses and traded with Japan. China was a member of the League of Nations and a country of the alliance in World War I. Yet China was treated as a defeated country, and the Treaty of Versailles granted the Twenty-One Demands to Japan, ignoring the sovereignty of China.

The Twenty-One Demands of the Treaty of Versailles is one of the many events of humiliation for China. China was just a piece of meat on the chopping board of the world powers. The event was racial discrimination against the Chinese and all Western Powers involved in this geopolitics and cooperated with Japan. The Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanjing was the consequence of the Japanese invasion and the Western Powers conspired with Japan. Thats why there is so much resistance in the West to recognize the anti-humanity crime Japan committed during its invasion of China.

The Rape of Nanjing was written in the JUDGMENT INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL FOR THE FAR EAST INDICTMENT. From April 29, 1946, to November 12, 1948, the trial investigated the crimes the Japanese committed in their wars in Asia and the Pacific, hearing testimony from 419 witnesses and admitting 4,336 exhibits of evidence, including depositions and affidavits from 779 other individuals. In APPENDIX E, the Statement of Individual Responsibility for Crimes Set Out in the Indictment, the trial concluded that The Defendant HASHIMOTO between 1928 and 1945 was among other positions held attached Army General Staff (1933); retired from Army (February 1936); author of Declaration of HASHIMOTO Ringoro (1936); re-entered the Army (1937); commanded an Artillery Regiment at the Rape of Nanjing (1937).

The Rape of Nanjing was a crime against humanity committed by the Japanese army and was indicted in the Far East Military Tribunal. Yet, the western countries commemorate only the Holocaust but ignore the Rape of Nanjing.

War to colonize China

In 1937, Japan invaded China on a full scale. The year 1937 is counted as the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War, although China had already started to resist the Japanese invasion in 1931. Russia sent some air forces to help China fight back against Japan, but soon stopped due to concern about the pressure from Europe. Other imperialist powers continued their businesses with Japan. Thats why Nanjing residents rushed into foreign concession areas, seeking asylum during the Nanjing Massacre.

Why did not other powers declare war on Japan when Japan invaded China?

At that time, the United States had colonized the Philippines, France had colonized Indochina, Britain had colonized India and Hong Kong, and the European Powers colonized Africa and Latin America. The Western Powers had no moral credibility to criticize Japan when they waged war to colonize China. Japan was once an ally in their occupation of Beijing in 1900, and after World War I, Japan was their ally in encircling Soviet Russia as well. Japan also shared the interest with its allies after occupying the Three Northeast Provinces of China. When the Japanese army was raping the Nanjings for 6 weeks, the US navy was just 5 kilometers away from Nanjing in the Yangtze River. Both American and Britain navies harbored in Shanghai and cruised along the Yangtze River up to Wuhan. They had no intention of stopping Japan from invading China in 1937 and were reluctant to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre. Today they still consider China as the meat on their chopping board, as they think they have the right to make legislative laws on Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang, and Tibet. They still do not respect Chinese sovereignty today, just as they didn't in 1931 and 1937.

Wars among imperialist powers

In the first half of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan colonized China. When World War II broke out in Europe in 1939, countries declared war on Germany, but they did not wage war against Japan, and Japan continued its war against China because they were acting the same way that Japan oppressed China. World War II is marked from 1939, but the Second Sino-Japanese War was not part of World War II yet.

In 1941, the Pacific War broke out. Japan attacked Hawaii and the Philippine which were American colonies, and then attacked Hong Kong, Burma, and Malaysia, which were British colonies, and Indonesia the Dutch colony. When Japan was fighting against alliance powers in their Asia-Pacific colonies, China suddenly became an ally to fight Axis Japan. Since then, the Second Sino-Japanese War was part of both the Pacific War and World War II.

How the post-WWI order failed and led to WWII

When Japan violated the Treaty of Versailles and occupied the Three Northeast Provinces of China, setting up a puppet Manchuria government, the Western Powers acquiesced to Japanese occupation, playing lip service of accusing Japan. When Germany breached the Treaty of Versailles to build up its military force beyond the restrictions of the treaty, the world powers acquiesced to Hitlers behavior. Why the acquiescence? Because the Western Powers were hoping Germany and Japan would attack Russia from the West and the East. The geopolitical strategy was the continuation of the intervention in the Russian Civil War: the powers supported the White in the civil war, and the hostility of Japan and Germany was a welcome military rising.

Japan was the competitor of Russia in the Far East. There was a Russian-Japanese War in 1905 and Japan intervened Russian Civil War by supporting the White.

Hitler said in his Reichstag speech on January 30, 1939, that if the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevization of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!For many years since 1932, Nazis in German had propaganda of Jewish Bolshevism, blaming Jews for the Bolshevik Revolution. The Holocaust was prepared by accusing Jews of being communists. Nazi and many other European and American politicians considered communism as a Jewish conspiracy.

Fig: 907 Jews onboard MS St. Louis were denied asylum by the US and Canada

In February 1939, the congress of the USA rejected a bill that would allow 20,000 German Jewish children to escape from the Nazi prosecution and escape to America. On May 13, 1939, 907 Jews on MS St. Louis reached Cuba, seeking refuge in America but were denied; On June 7, MS St. Louis reached Canada, and they were denied again. The boat eventually returned to Europe with the 907 Jews, many of who died in the Holocaust later. When the alliance of the Western Powers had an appeasement policy towards Nazis, they were accomplices of the Nazis in prosecuting Jews.

The Western Powers had an appeasement policy towards the breaches of the Treaty of Versailles by Germany and Japan and tolerated their imperialist military expansion due to their anti-Bolshevik position. The appeasement policy went so far as the French and Britain allowing Hitler to annex Czechoslovakia in the Munich Agreement in 1938.

After the occupation of the Three Northeast Provinces, the Japanese army committed many war crimes. On September 15, 1932, the Japanese army killed 3,000 civilians at Pingdingshan village near Fushun, from 1934 to 1936, and burned 140 thousand civilian houses at Tonghua etc.

The Treaty of Versailles was not followed for the sake of containing Soviet Russia, which encouraged military expansion in Germany and Japan, which led to World War II and crimes against humanity in Europe and China.

Why is there a Memorial Day for the Holocaust but not one for the Rape of Nanjing?

Nuremberg Trials indicted the Holocaust as a crime against humanity. Tokyo Trials indicted the Rape of Nanjing as a crime against humanity. The victims of both atrocities should be remembered if we want world peace and avoid future wars. Yet we have an International Holocaust Memorial Day, but not an International Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day.

Canada has a National Holocaust Memorial Day. Honorable MP Jenny Kwan motioned for the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day on November 2018 but failed to pass. Many Canadian provinces also have passed acts for Holocaust memorial day, yet the bill for the Nanjing Massacre memorial day is not passed if it is submitted. Many politicians made statements to commemorate the Holocaust, but only a few commemorate the Nanjing Massacre. What is the difference between the two atrocities?

When World War II broke out in Europe, Germany attacked Poland first. It was not the western appeasement policy intended for. The Holocaust occurred during the war among the imperialist powers. The Rape of Nanking in 1937 occurred during the Japanese colonialist war. If we commemorate these atrocities to prevent a repetition of history, then the Canadian political culture can prevent wars among imperialist powers, and also from colonizing other countries.

When our politicians make statements commemorating the Holocaust, they usually signify the commemoration as education denouncing racism, especially antisemitism. However, in Canadian history, systematic racism against the Chinese was more severe than antisemitism. Canada enacted the Head Tax against the Chinese and Chinese Exclusion Act for a long period of time. Even today, the Chinese are a marginalized ethnic group. Our politicians commemorate the Holocaust for eliminating antisemitism, and the Nanjing Massacre commemoration should be considered as a way of eliminating discrimination against the Chinese.

Our politicians would like to raise human rights issues first when they talk about trade with China. If it is a real concern, they should commemorate the Nanjing Massacre every year and make December 13 the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day.

Our politicians refused to legislate the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day Act, as they probably didnt think that Japan had done anything wrong to invade China. Japan was an ally of Canada in 1937 and remains an ally today. Canada, as a Commonwealth country, identified itself with Britain and the Empire colonized many parts of the world. The Nanjing Massacre is one of the many humanitarian disasters that imperialism and colonists have created over the past centuries. For the past 200 years, China has been a victim of imperialism and colonialism. Canada still cannot accept a relationship with China based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation. Canada and its allies still regard China as a lump of potential meat on the chopping board of imperialist powers.

For Canadian national interest

There are two criteria for why our government should make December 13th the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day: moral judgment and interest judgment. In terms of moral judgment, we want to prevent war and crimes against humanity, and for world peace, we should pay tribute to the victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

Our political culture still considers imperialism as our national interest. We inherit the legacy of the British Empire, which has been our national interest for the last 150 years. We have Remembrance Day to honor our veterans who fought in World War I and II for the British Empire. But we know the imperialist war did not bring us economic interest anymore since the beginning of this century. We did not join the War in Iraq, as it brought us no interest. However, we never denounce it, just as our political culture does not want to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre.

Over the past two decades, we have joined NATO and participated in the war in Afghanistan, and it too brought us no economic interest. For the 20 years of NATO occupation, the Afghan people are still living in a failed state. Our moral judgment miscalculates as well. We supported the Arab Spring that created a refugee crisis in Europe and split our society on the issue if we should grant asylum to the refugees. We support the US imperialist intervention in the world with our allies, but the accumulated government debt of all our allies shows that imperialist intervention has not brought us economic benefits today.

Some of our politicians still think that we can unite with our allies to force China to pay for the economic losses caused by the pandemic. This is simply a dream. We cannot repeat the history of 1900 when the Eight-Power Allied Forces occupied Beijing and forced China to pay Boxer Indemnity. We have experience in the Korean War, and our allies could not win in the Korean War then, so we cannot force China to yield today as well.

The American hegemony cannibals its allies too. They put tariffs on our softwoods, Bombardier jets, and aluminum. American mercantilism has trapped our economy, cut our economic ties with China, and we have to sell our oil to the US at deep discounts.

We have National Holocaust Memorial Day, and thats good. We dont want wars among our allies who identify themselves as imperialist powers in the world. The National Holocaust Memorial Day is justified both morally and economically. We need a national Nanjing Massacre memorial day too, as imperialist war or imperialist intervention in other countries are not justified morally and economically today.

Our politicians should support the Honorable MP Jenny Kwans motion for the National Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day immediately. We should enact the national Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day and send our parliamentary delegation to Nanjing to pay our tribute to the victims of the Nanjing Massacre. This way, we can improve our relationship with China rapidly. Building political trust with China is essential for us to emerge from the pandemic, soaring debt, and economic stagnation.
39-year-old school teacher Julie Hoover has now been accused of twerking upon a student at their prom. Previously Hoover had been reported to authorities after a mother found text messages on her son's phone from Hoover, detailing plans to sneak him into Hoover's bedroom.

Hoover is no longer employed by the school and faces a mess of charges.

WFLA:
Latinometrics recently posted some statistics on their Facebook page about how many people are watching YouTube videos made by various chefs, including Martha Stewart and Gordon Ramsey. Turns out Dona Angela, a 71-year-old grandmother living in rural Michoacan whose cooking demonstrations are filmed with a cell phone camera by her daughter, is far outperforming many much more famous chefs. Latinometrics provides a handy graphic. And Mexico News Daily provides more context:

Dona Angela, a 71-year-old grandmother living in rural Michoacan has surpassed the viewership of culinary icons Gordon Ramsay and Martha Stewart on YouTube.

Her channel "De Mi Rancho a Tu Cocina" ("From my ranch to your kitchen") has over 4 million subscribers, far less than Ramsay's more than 19 million and yet her videos get more views than both Ramsay and Stewart (who has a little over 800,000 subscribers). According to the website Latinometrics, Dona Angela's last 25 videos had close to 300,000 views, surpassing the almost 250,000 of Ramsey and less than 100,000 of Stewart. That makes "De Mi Rancho a Tu Cocina" the fourth most popular cooking channel currently on YouTube.

Without a big production team, a fancy demonstration kitchen, and bevy of assistants behind the scenes, Dona Angela's kids film her on their cellphones as she cooks in front of her a large flat comal stove in a rural, wood-paneled kitchen.

In her recipes Dona Angela highlights traditional processes in Mexican cooking like the nixtamalization of corn and shows off local ingredients that she herself raises and grows. She speaks with a distinctive regional accent and is watched by Mexicans around the world hankering for a nostalgic taste of home.
In addition to spinning one of the most acclaimed narratives in shonen manga history, One Piece is trying to complete as many side quests as possible. Eiichiro Oda's long-running pirate manga is already the best-selling manga of all time and well on its way to becoming the best-selling comic ever. Last year, One Piece dethroned Batman as the second best-selling comic in history and is currently within spitting distance of Superman. When you consider that both Batman and Superman not only had a sixty-year head start but a roster of genius creative talents compared to the singular mind behind One Piece, the achievement becomes even more impressive.

Now it seems like One Piece is aiming to break another ridiculous record. With One Piece currently on 1059 chapters, a European book company plans to release a complete collection of the series  in a single volume. Consequently, One Piece will officially become the longest book ever compiled.

One Piece is one of the longest-running series in manga, and during its time, the franchise has secured a number of records. Creator Eiichiro Oda bagged a big title when sales confirmed some years ago that One Piece was manga's top-selling title of all time. And now, the IP is about to cross another world record by publishing the longest book ever. The update comes from Europe as JBE Books announced plans to bring One Piece to readers in a new way. It turns out the publisher is creating a limited edition volume of One Piece that collects just about all of its pages to date. So in this one volume, there are a staggering 21,540 pages.
After the Queen died, John Chapple, the official Palace beekeeper, was charged with the task of "telling the bees." He literally went from hive to hive telling tens of thousands of the Queen's bees that Queen Elizabeth II had passed. Vanity Fair explains:

As reported in the Daily Mail, Chapple travelled to Buckingham Palace and Clarence House to perform his opposite-of-sweet duty. He spoke "in hushed tones," no doubt to try and take the sting out of it. Chapple placed black ribbons around the hives, and then told the busy workers inside the news. He also explained that King Charles III is now their new master, and that he will be good to them. "The person who has died is the master or mistress of the hives, someone important in the family who dies and you don't get any more important than the Queen, do you?" Chapple said to the British newspaper. Getting into the nitty-gritty of it, he explained, "You knock on each hive and say, 'The mistress is dead, but don't you go. Your master will be a good master to you.'"

The ritual of "telling the bees" about important events in the life of the beekeeper is centuries old. JSTOR explains its origins and how it developed over time:

This practice of "telling the bees" may have its origins in Celtic mythology where the presence of a bee after a death signified the soul leaving the body, but the tradition appears to have been most prominent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the U.S. and Western Europe. The ritual involves notifying honey bees of major events in the beekeeper's life, such as a death or marriage. While the traditions varied from country to country, "telling the bees" always involved notifying the insects of a death in the familyso that the bees could share in the mourning. This generally entailed draping each hive with black crepe or some other "shred of black." It was required that the sad news be delivered to each hive individually, by knocking once and then verbally relaying the tale of sorrow. Charles Fitzgerald Gambier Jenyns, a British Victorian apiarist and rector, in his A Book about Bees (1886) asserts that this message should be delivered to the hives at midnight. In other regions, like in Whittier's New England, they simply hung crepe on the hive and then sang to the bees that, "So-and-so is dead." Other variations include merely telling (rather than singing) or whispering the information. In some places they may say "Little brownies, little brownies, your master (or mistress) is dead."

I never knew about this ritual until the Queen died. When a friendwho was a beekeeperdied two years ago, a friend of theirs set up a group chat where we could all share photos and stories and memories of happier times. The person who set up the chat named it "Telling the Bees," and now I finally understand what that means. As much as I question most of the ritual and pomp and circumstance happening in the wake of the Queen's passing, this practice of telling the bees is touching, and seems like an intimate and meaningfully deliberate way to mourn someone's passing. As the JSTOR article points out, the ritual also highlights the incredibly important relationship between bees and humans that we must continue to foster:
By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

The Azerbaijani military personnel is attending the international Eternal Brotherhood-1 Special Forces drills in Ankara, Turkiye, Azernews reports, citing the Defense Ministry.

The drills, which are involving personnel from several nations, will last until September 22, the ministry said.

Azerbaijan and Turkiye periodically hold joint drills to improve interaction and communication between their army units. In 2022 number of joint drills took place with the participation of servicemen of the two countries.

Military pilots of the Azerbaijani and Turkish air forces successfully completed different tasks during joint flight-tactical drills held in Azerbaijani on September 5-10, the ministry reported earlier.

Furthermore, in 2021 Azerbaijani, Turkish, and Pakistani special forces conducted Three Brothers joint drills to improve communication and coordination among the military personnel during the combat operations.

Military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkiye first emerged in 1992, with an agreement signed between the Azerbaijani and Turkish governments on military education and weapon equipment and deals to help strengthen the bond between the two nations.

On June 15, the two countries signed a memorandum on the alliance that cemented the existing military, political and economic cooperation.
Some infants cry excessively and have trouble falling asleep for no apparent reason, and there are countless methods and recommendations for how to sooth them. Now, researchers from the Riken Center for Brain Science in Saitama have suggested an approach that appears to work better than others: "5-min carrying, 5- to 8- min sitting." The study was limited to 21 infants, and your mileage may vary for a multitude of reasons, but if you're the parent of the infant, you'll try anything. From The Guardian:

The insight emerged from research on altricial mammals  those that are helpless at birth  such as cats, dogs, mice, squirrels and, notably, humans. Studies show that when carried by their mothers, the young become more docile, an effect called the "transport response". Because animals often move their young to evade imminent danger, the response may have evolved through improved offspring survival rates.

And here are the highlights from their scientific paper published in the journal Current Biology:
Gerard Place President and CEO David Zapfel zips through a 120-year-old former convent on Bailey Avenue, wooden boards creaking beneath his feet as he details a project he knows the community needs as soon as possible.

He lays out the vision: The first floor of this Bailey Avenue building will become a dental clinic, with two chairs for adults and one for kids.

Plans for the second floor: an outpatient mental health clinic  services in demand more than ever amid the Covid-19 pandemic and in the aftermath of the racist mass shooting May 14 at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue, just a couple of miles away.

This project, a partnership between nonprofits Gerard Place and Lackawanna-based OLV Human Services, could boost access to mental health and dental services in Buffalo's Bailey-Delavan neighborhood.

It also fits into a trend of bolstering health care resources in communities that have historically been underserved.

"This is really one of the poorest and most underserved communities," Zapfel said of Buffalo's 14215 ZIP code where Gerard Place is located. "That's what we have to do more, is bring the service right to the people."

Access to affordable health services is a key social determinant of health, the term given to the nonmedical factors  other examples include housing, food access and economic stability  that affect a person's health and quality of life. It makes it clear that a person's health is often determined by the neighborhood in which they live.

The outcomes of these inequities are clear. With dental health, for instance, nearly twice as many Black or Mexican American adults have untreated cavities as white adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And while demand for treatment of anxiety and depression increased across the country during the pandemic, researchers cited by the CDC believe the need was even more pronounced among racial and ethnic minority groups who had greater exposure to pandemic-related stressors such as unemployment and food insecurity but didn't have the same access to mental health services.

It's Zapfel's hope the renovation project in his nonprofit organization's education building  the middle structure in Gerard Place's three-building Bailey Avenue campus  can provide convenience and access to nearby residents. Gerard Place will maintain ownership of the property, while OLV will operate and staff the dental and outpatient mental health clinics.

Zapfel has set an aggressive timeline to try to open it next summer. To hit that mark, Gerard Place is hoping to raise $2 million  the estimated project cost  by the end of this year and get work started by the spring. The organization has raised about $500,000 so far, he noted, and is meeting with various foundations and donors in Western New York.

"We don't really waste a lot of time," he said. "We would like it yesterday. But we keep moving forward."

'We're going to have health equity'

Hundreds gathered on a Saturday in mid-August at the University at Buffalo's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, the site of the fifth annual Igniting Hope conference geared toward addressing the social determinants of health and tackling the causes that have driven deep race-based health inequities in Buffalo.

"Here in Buffalo, we're going to have health equity, and we don't care if people don't think it's possible," said the Rev. George F. Nicholas, chairman of the Buffalo Center for Health Equity and senior pastor at Lincoln Memorial United Methodist Church..

'OK to not be OK': Navigating mental health for Black men after May 14 tragedy A study released in 2021 by the CDC found that 25.6% of women received mental health treatment in the past 12 months, compared with 14.6% of men.

Dr. Allison Brashear, dean of the Jacobs School, noted the Black population in Buffalo has four times more chronic disease than the white population. Further, she added, a Black person in Buffalo dies an average of 12 years sooner than a white person.

Those poor health outcomes are influenced by a variety of factors, including substandard housing, a lack of access to healthy food and limited health care resources in their communities.

And if health care resources are not accessible nearby, that forces residents to travel for services and absorb more expense  a big deal considering cost is one of the most commonly cited reasons for why people do not seek care.

The 14215 ZIP code, where Gerard Place is located, is home to 41,340 people, 72% of whom are Black, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Nearly 30% of residents there live below the poverty line, more than double the rate in the Buffalo metro area, and the median value of owner-occupied housing units is $71,100, the data show.

Kelly Wofford, director of the Erie County Office of Health Equity, said 14215 "is one of the ZIP codes that has the poorest health outcomes in the state."

"It's a recipe for poor health, between transportation issues, lack of access to healthy foods, education, employment level  not just unemployment but types of employment," she said.

The area around Gerard Place is among the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the country, ranking in the 96th percentile in a nationwide index that is critical to assessing health disparities.

Many neighborhoods in East Buffalo rank similarly, according to the Neighborhood Atlas tool from the Center for Health Disparities Research at the University of Wisconsin, and it will take a sustained effort to eliminate longstanding inequities.

"Systems are built, and they work the way in which they've been built," Wofford said.

"When we look at the lack of so many things, including mental health services and dental services, you have to again look at the larger picture," Wofford said. "It goes back to how the system was built."

What Gerard Place, OLV see

The partnership between Gerard Place and OLV Human Services has been about a year in the making.

OLV had been searching for ways to collaborate with other Western New York nonprofits to bring its services to a wider group of people.

It found a partner in the much-smaller Gerard Place. Zapfel and his staff see the community's needs every day, whether it's in the nonprofit organization's food line where it provides 250 meals a week; in its supportive housing program for families; or in the Head Start program that currently serves 98 kids, 40% of whom have never been to the dentist.

As the conversations began, Zapfel quickly agreed that mental health counseling and dental care were two services needed in the area that Gerard Place serves.

And while Gerard Place had space available, OLV had the programming, staff and expertise, stemming from its outpatient counseling clinic and the 10,000-square-foot Baker Victory Dental Center in Lackawanna.

"It's a perfect marriage of what we do well, and what they have available and the access to the population," said OLV CEO Cindy Lee, noting the nonprofit organization also is collaborating with Gerard Place to provide care coordination services there.

The partners are confident in the project's success.

Of the Baker Victory Dental Center's 15,000 annual patients, roughly 1,000 of them come from the 14215 ZIP code.

"We bring the expertise to us, so that that community benefits from having programs and services that are walkable, since a lot of people don't have cars," Zapfel said.

Gerard Place and OLV also plan to offer the new space as a training ground for Daemen University, which is developing a dental school. The idea, Zapfel said, is that Daemen dental students could learn from OLV dentists while also working with patients of all ages.

OLV thinks the partnership with Gerard Place will just be the start of its growth in the area, which could boost access for long underserved neighborhoods.

"Our goal is to expand that into the greater geographical area around Bailey," Lee said. "I just have a feeling it's going to grow quickly."

Next steps

Before any of that can happen, however, there's a lot of work to do.

Namely, Zapfel said the project's budget is being finalized, expected to be around $2 million  a big lift for the 20-employee Gerard Place, considering its annual budget also is $2 million.

That's why Zapfel is applying and meeting with various foundations and donors. Gerard Place also has an application in for $250,000 in state funding for neighborhood improvements. Gerard Place accepts donations through its website at gerardplace.org/get-involved/donate/.

A major expense will be adding an elevator in the former convent to boost accessibility from the third floor to the basement, which will be fully renovated to house several education programs now on the first floor.

There's a long way to go, but Zapfel believes the project will come to fruition, boosting access to mental health and dental services in the Bailey-Delavan neighborhood while also fitting into a larger community effort.

"Our goal is always to move people forward," he said, "in building a healthy community."
Startup spotlight: Bob the Pillow

A pair of longtime Western New York friends are hoping to shake up the orthopedic pillow industry with their new product Bob the Pillow.

Matt Burwick, a financial adviser, and Ryan Mills, an attorney and real estate agent, created Bob the Pillow  an orthopedic leg pillow used to help relieve pain while sleeping  after both spent years trying countless other orthopedic pillows that didn't help alleviate their pain.

Burwick struggles with hip and knee pain and Mills has back issues.

So, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns in April 2020, the friends decided to make their own pillow out of foam and hot glue from an arts and crafts store.

The product is much-improved from that early prototype, Burwick said, and Bob the Pillow became available for purchase online at the end of July. The pillow is on sale at bobthepillow.com for $99.

"What we're trying to do is be that final pillow that you need to buy," Burwick said. "I personally have bought probably about a dozen types of pillows over the past 10 years. So I've probably spent somewhere in the $600 to $700 range. And every one of them is literally just piled up in my closet."

What makes Bob the Pillow different?

According to Burwick, there are three major elements to Bob the Pillow that make it better than other orthopedic leg pillows on the market:

1. It has a divot for the thighs, knees or ankles that allow the pillow to rest securely in place.

2. There's a hole in the middle that allows for more airflow so people don't get sweaty at night.

3. The pillow is wider, which helps users stay in the proper side sleeping position throughout the night instead of flipping on to their back and stomach. The wider base also gives the legs full range of motion.

While Mills and Burwick were developing Bob the Pillow, they consulted with a chiropractor, two physical therapists and an orthopedic surgery center all in Western New York.

Future of Bob the Pillow

The most challenging part of creating Bob the Pillow was dealing with the logistics of manufacturing a product overseas and shipping it to the United States, Burwick said. The final version of the pillow was ready a year ago, but the company encountered production and shipping delays.

In the future, Burwick and Mills want to manufacture Bob the Pillow in Western New York. But financially, that's not yet feasible for a new company.

"We'd have to sell a pillow for $500 a piece to break even," Burwick said.

To spread the word about Bob the Pillow, Burwick and Mills are working with chiropractors who can recommend the pillow to their clients who could benefit from using it. Their next step is to do the same with orthopedic surgeons, Burwick said.

"Now we have this pillow and it meets a lot of the needs of people that have had knee replacements, hip replacements, have lower back issues, things like that," Burwick said. "We're not making any money, but we're helping people so that's a good thing."

 Natalie Brophy

Want to know more? Three stories to catch you up:

Welcome to Buffalo Next. This newsletter from The Buffalo News will bring you the latest coverage on the changing Buffalo Niagara economy  from real estate to health care to startups. Read more at BuffaloNext.com.

The push to bring Black Tech Weekend to Buffalo

What: The Western New York startup and technology community is pushing to make Buffalo one of three cities to host the first Black Tech Weekend.

Tell me more: Black Tech Weekend stems from Black Tech Week, a weeklong conference that brings together tech professionals, founders, investors, allies, and all members of the global Black tech community. Organizers want to bring Black Tech Weekend, a smaller version of the weeklong event, to two cities in the U.S. and one internationally. Buffalo is vying to be one of those cities.

Why it matters: Black founders are the fastest growing class of entrepreneurs in the United States. In 2021, the number of Black businesses increased 38%, according to the Black Tech Weekend organization. But Black founders and businesses are significantly underfunded, receiving less than 3% of all venture capital funding in the U.S.

As Buffalo works to establish itself as an emerging tech hub, hosting Black Tech Weekend would give the city a chance to "really showcase the opportunities that are here for diverse founders, for black founders that are looking for funding," 43North spokesperson Maura Devlin said.

"We love this as an opportunity to bring Black founders from all over the country and let them see what's happening on the ground here," Devlin said. "And maybe we might move them to want to be a part of what we're building in Buffalo or even better yet, want to bring their company here to build it."

To vote for Buffalo to host Black Tech Weekend, visit blacktechweek.com/btweekend.

THE LATEST

Recent news tied to Buffalo Niagara's economy

More than 200 jobs could be coming to the former Dresser-Rand plant in Olean.

Four more local nursing homes have reached deals with their unionized workers, leaving only two of the 12 facilities that were threatening to hold five-day strikes without agreements.

Unionized workers at Kaleida Health are taking a high-stakes vote this week on whether to authorize a strike as contract talks continue.

New Mercy Hospital president Marty Boryszak says the hospital's recovery and success will be about progress. "It's going to take time," he says.

Farmers in New York State face having to pay their workers overtime after they put in 40 hours of work a week under a plan recommended Tuesday that would be phased in over a decade.

ECC will spend $5.2 million to migrate to the Banner planning system, after the previous failed system, WorkDay, cost the school $12 million in the last five years.

Buffalo Niagara is getting $25 million for a technology hub as part of the federal Build Back Better program.

A Buffalo tool maker is eliminating 18 jobs after a merger means its operations are shifting to Wisconsin.

Valu Home Centers is closing three of its Western New York stores as it refocuses on more lucrative markets and building its online sales.

Workers at four Western New York nursing homes have approved a new contract, but unionized employees at other facilities are gearing up for five-day strikes as their contract talks continue.

ICYMI

Five reads on the Buffalo Niagara economy

1. Pickup in WNY housing inventory means more opportunity and time for buyers. Homebuyers in Western New York are starting to breathe easier and take more time before making their decisions, now that there are more homes for sale on the market and less need for them to act quickly. But they still can't dawdle. And it doesn't mean they're getting a deal on houses, which are now priced much higher than they would have been a year or two ago.

2. Why so many apartments? Buffalo area seeing an explosion of growth. From the Elmwood Village and Allentown to South Buffalo and the West Side, from Tonawanda and Amherst to Orchard Park and Hamburg, developers are putting up new apartment buildings or converting old industrial warehouses and offices. The apartments are highly desirable  with new units filling up almost as soon as they come online.

3. A remote possibility: living in Buffalo, working for out-of-town employers. The pandemic has opened up job possibilities that were relatively uncommon before spring 2020, like working from home for a company far from the Buffalo Niagara region. It's a welcome twist on the all-too-familiar story of local workers finding jobs elsewhere.

4. Spotlight on the economy: Slow growth in average pay in Buffalo Niagara region. After spiking during the Covid-19 pandemic, the earnings of Buffalo Niagara workers have settled back into slow-growth mode.

The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the regions economic revitalization. Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com or reach technology and startups reporter Natalie Brophy at nbrophy@buffnews.com.

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"The Paradigm Bomb," a new play by Matthew LaChiusa, is a multi-layered and poetic work about how a young couple become politically radicalized. Produced by American Repertory Theater of WNY, the play was originally scheduled to open last spring but was postponed because its issues are too closely aligned with elements of the real-life shooting at the Tops Market on Jefferson Avenue. This play asks how a person could come to believe that taking the lives of others is justifiable.

In The Paradigm Bomb, we meet Kevin Calmely, a troubled associate professor of applied mathematics, and his girlfriend, Meredith Simmons. Their conversation is meandering and filled with literary references. We soon realize that we are being told this story after Merediths death. Ashes to ashes she says to him, signaling that this conversation is taking place in a non-real space.

The two disagree about details of a narrative that stops, starts and restarts, going back and forth as the two try to reconstruct the journey they have traveled. The story always ends in the same place, with the explosion of a bomb in a public building.

We learn how Kevin and Meredith befriended and were mentored by an idealistic revolutionary named Raul Santiago, whose own path to radicalization began when his parents were murdered after Augusto Pinochet seized power in Chile in 1973.

Raul wanders onto the scene from time to time, through the permeable apartment walls designed by LaChiusa with scene painting by Bill Baldwin. These appearances provide ample expository information, but in deliberately inconsistent ways. In one version of the narrative, Raul is horrified by the plan Kevin and Meredith have conceived. In another, he is a key participant.

Suzanne Hibbard and Charles McGregor play Meredith and Kevin. These are highly educated people with a fondness for William Butler Yeats, particularly his poem, Easter 1916, which evokes the disturbing idea of a terrible beauty.

These people are also, despite their violent tendencies, very socially conscious. Indeed, their frustration that the paradigm of injustice has not shifted, despite years of activism, is what inspires them to violence. They reason that blowing things up is the only action that will work. Sacrifices, they reason, are necessary.

They are also whack jobs. Charles, in particular, wanders down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. Like Bonnie and Clyde, both are influenced by their love for each other.

Hibbard and McGregor skillfully embody two people who, in LaChiusas artful script, have mutually compatible insecurities, creating a recipe for lethal co-dependency. They are the Leopold and Loeb of the politically extreme. They are both appealing and maddeningly stubborn in their colossal lapses in logic and ethics.

Victor Morales gives a strong performance as Raul, a kind, grandfatherly sort of bad influence.

The set, by LaChiusa and Baldwin, fills the space at TheaterLoft comfortably and provides for the dreamlike fluidity the script requires. It also provides a literal illustration of the disarray of Kevin and Merediths seemingly logical thinking, with a chaotic mural of newspaper pages, marked with angry circling, underlining, and slogan writing. Real objects are represented with abstracted versions, painted onto the walls.

Monish Bhattacharyya has directed, guiding LaChiusas dense and multi-linear script with energy and clarity. His work is particularly impressive, given the plays poetic and non-realistic elements, as well as its non-linear storytelling. Bhattacharyya rises to the challenge and delivers an evening that is brisk, clear, and riveting.

The Paradigm Bomb is a disturbing and thought-provoking play. ART/WNY is giving it an excellent outing.

Theater review

"The Paradigm Bomb"

3 stars (out of 4)

Presented by American Repertory Theater of WNY, through Oct. 1 at TheaterLoft, 545 Elmwood Ave. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 5 p.m. Saturdays. Tickets are $20 general, $15 for students and $30 for a "Charcuterie Ticket" that includes a charcuterie plate from Braymiller Market. (artofwny.org, 716-697-0837).
A Buffalo man faces up to 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty Monday in a shooting on Pearl Street that left two people wounded, the Erie County District Attorney's Office said.

Kyle M. Mickens, 24, entered his plea before Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case to one count of first-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault and one count of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

The shooting took place just after 2 a.m. May 21 outside Senor Tequila Mexican Restaurant in downtown Buffalo.

Authorities said Mickens fired multiple shots from an illegally owned gun into a moving vehicle, hitting a 25-year-old woman who was in the front passenger seat of the car and also a 23-year-old man who was on the other side of the street. The woman was shot in the leg and the man was shot in the hip.

Mickens' attorney, Nick Texido, said he pleaded guilty because "ultimately, we decided to limit our risk and accept responsibility for my client's role. The outcome reflects a fair balancing of all the interests involved."

Mickens remains held without bail.

Just after the incident, the city temporarily shut down Senor Tequila, citing several prior "violent offenses" in addition to the double shooting, including an assault, a stabbing and an arrest of someone for criminal possession of a weapon. It has since reopened.

The case against a co-defendant, Dalton O. Edge Jr., remains pending. His next court appearance is Nov. 21.

A third man, Nicky Lofton, was arrested at the scene for allegedly carrying a ghost gun, a firearm bought in parts and assembled at home that doesn't have a serial number.
A 16-year-old girl is in custody and a 17-year-old girl is in serious condition in Oishei Children's Hospital following a stabbing Tuesday inside School 355 Buffalo School of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management, Buffalo police said.

Police said the 16-year-old girl is alleged to have stabbed the 17-year-old multiple times during an altercation about noon in the school at 75 W. Huron St.

Police were investigating where the knife came from, but said they expected dismissal from school would take place as scheduled.

Buffalo Public Schools spokesman Ka'Ron Barnes said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that the district was aware of the incident, which he termed "unfortunate and isolated," and that Buffalo Police Department school resource officers were contacted immediately as the school was put into "shelter-in-place" mode. He said Buffalo Public Schools staff implemented "all appropriate protocols."

"The Buffalo Public School District takes any violent offenses occurring on school grounds very seriously, and will follow the Code of Conduct with disciplinary measures," Barnes said.

New BPS Superintendent Tonja M. Williams emphasized school safety as one of the central points of her three-year Strategic Plan in her State of the Schools event Aug. 26. She said in the address that she knew the security guard who was shot in an incident in McKinley High School in February, which gave it an even more personal effect.

Lawsuit alleges negligence by Buffalo Public Schools, former superintendent in McKinley attack A lawsuit alleges Buffalo Public Schools and former Superintendent Kriner Cash either knew or should have known that there was potential for violence before a McKinley High student was stabbed and beaten and a security guard was shot Feb. 9.

Along with the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the shooting and stabbing at McKinley prompted a greater range of security measures for this school year, including wanding every BPS high school student upon entry, adding 15 people to the school security team and creating a new School Safety Department.

In the McKinley incident, Buffalo Public Schools and former BPS superintendent Kriner Cash have been sued by a victim's mother for failing to prevent the violence. Attorney John Elmore's suit argues that the violent act occurred even though the district and Cash knew or should have known it could happen due to threats made earlier in the day and reports from the Buffalo Teachers Federation about more than 40 violent incidents at McKinley leading up to February.

Buffalo's latest downtown tenant: new culinary school Buffalos long-time culinary high school has been so popular with students that the school district decided a few years ago to open a second one. That dream came to full realization Thursday when the new home for the Buffalo School of Culinary Arts & Hospitality Management was unveiled downtown. The new school  which first opened in temporary space inside

The Buffalo School of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management includes grades 9 to 12 and opened March 5, 2020, in the former C. W. Miller Livery Stable. It's located around the corner from Emerson School of Hospitality, its sister school on West Chippewa Street. About 900 students attend the two schools, The News reported previously.
Two Salamanca City Central School District teachers were presented Louis E. Yavner Teaching Awards from the New York State Education Department Tuesday during the Board of Regents' September meeting.

Brooke Canale, a high school social studies teacher, and Brandy Kinney, a high school English teacher, accepted the annual honor given for outstanding instruction about the Holocaust and other human rights atrocities.

State education commissioner Betty A. Rosa commended the pair's work in the Atrocity Museum project, a 3D-printed artifact exhibition last school year.

"Your pedagogy about the Holocaust and other human rights violations make students aware of what those in power did to spread the fear and anger that resulted in horrific, unthinkable acts against innocent people," Rosa told the assembled educators and administrators. Both Canale and Kinney accepted the award in person.

According to the Salamanca Press, Canale and Kinney joined with the high school's STEAM department  Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics  to split students into cohorts to focus on different atrocities in global history, especially those "typically brushed over via footnote in the mainstream textbooks," Canale told the Press last November. The article added that students visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., as part of their assignment.

Both of the teachers' work on human rights violations extended beyond last year's project. According to a state education department press release, Kinney has taught English literature studies on the history of anti-Semitism and led a special topics class on human rights violations. Canale in 2019 collaborated on a human rights violations elective class, which touched not only on the Holocaust but also genocide in Sudan, Rwanda and Cambodia, the release said.

It's unusual that two teachers would receive this award, a spokesperson for the state education department said Tuesday. William Eisen, Andrew Beiter and Stephen J. Paskuly were among other Western New Yorkers to win the Yavner Award since its inception in 1982 for teachers and 1986 for civilians.
GENEVA (AP)  Jean-Luc Godard, the iconic enfant terrible of the French New Wave who revolutionized popular cinema in 1960 with his first feature, Breathless, and stood for years among the film world's most influential directors, died Tuesday. He was 91.

Godard died peacefully and surrounded by loved ones at his home in the Swiss town of Rolle, on Lake Geneva, his family said in a statement. The statement gave assisted suicide, which is legal in Switzerland, as the cause of death.

A medical report recently revealed the director had multiple invalidating pathologies, according to the family statement, which did not specify the conditions.

Over a long career that began in the 1950s as a film critic, Godard was perhaps the most boundary-breaking director among New Wave filmmakers who rewrote the rules for camera, sound and narrative  rebelling against an earlier tradition of more formulaic storytelling.

For the low-budget Breathless, Godard relied on a mobile, lightweight camera to capture street scenes and reach moviegoers in a new way.

He dispensed with contrived backdrops and the artifice of Hollywood cinema of the time, said one film expert. The impact was immediate  Breathless arrived like a cinematic thunderclap when it was released in 1960  and lasting.

There's a bit of Godard in nearly all films today, said Frederic Maire, president of the Swiss Cinematheque. Nearly all directors who have gone to film school today, or learned movie-making at cinematheques, have seen Godard's films  and were amazed, jolted and shocked by his way of telling stories.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute, saying: We have lost a national treasure, the eye of a genius.

Godard worked with some of the best-known actors in French cinema, such as Jean-Paul Belmondo, who was propelled to stardom through the director's films, and Brigitte Bardot, who starred in his acclaimed 1963 work Contempt.

Beyond that, he profiled the early Rolling Stones, gave a voice to Marxist, leftist and 1960s-era Black Power politics, and his controversial modern nativity play Hail Mary grabbed headlines when Pope John Paul II denounced it in 1985.

While many of his works were lauded, Godard also made a string of films that were politically charged and experimental, and pleased few outside a small circle of fans, while frustrating many critics who saw them as filled with overblown intellectualism.

Cannes Film Festival Director Thierry Fremaux said by phone he was sad, sad  immensely so" at the news of Godard's death.

Born into a wealthy French-Swiss family on Dec. 3, 1930 in Paris, Godard grew up in Nyon, Switzerland, and studied ethnology at the Sorbonne, where he was increasingly drawn to the cultural scene that flourished in the Latin Quarter cine-club after World War II.

He became friends with future big-name directors Francois Truffaut, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer, and in 1950 founded the short-lived Gazette du Cinema. By 1952 he had begun writing for the prestigious movie magazine Cahiers du Cinema.

After working on two films by Rivette and Rohmer in 1951, Godard tried to direct his first movie while traveling through North and South America with his father, but never finished it.

Back in Europe, he took a job in Switzerland as a construction worker on a dam project. He used the pay to finance his first complete film, the 1954 Operation Concrete, a 20-minute documentary about the building of the dam.

Returning to Paris, Godard worked as spokesman for an artists agency and continued to hone his writing.

He also began work on Breathless, based on a story by Truffaut.

The movie stars Belmondo as a penniless young thief who models himself on Hollywood movie gangsters and who, after he shoots a police officer, goes on the run with his American girlfriend, played by Jean Seberg.

Godard's cinematic creations were suffused with the gritty, sassy tones of a resurgent postwar France  known domestically as the Glorious 30 years through to the late 1970s -- and they served up some of the most poignant images and lines from what was then a rich, avant-garde heyday of French filmmaking.

The images in Breathless of an ingenue Seberg traipsing along Paris Champs-Elysees loudly hawking New York Herald Tribune newspapers in a tight T-shirt, and close-ups of a cigarette-smoking, fedora-wearing Belmondo running a thumb methodically, pensively across his lips could be enshrined among the most memorable images of French cinema.

Along with Truffauts The 400 Blows, released in 1959, Godards film set a new tone for French movie aesthetics. Godard rejected conventional narrative style and instead used frequent jump-cuts that mingled philosophical discussions with action scenes. He spiced it all up with references to Hollywood gangster movies and nods to literature and visual art.

Godard also launched what was to be a career-long participation in collective film projects, contributing scenes to The Seven Deadly Sins along with directors such as Claude Chabrol and Roger Vadim. He also worked with Ugo Gregoretti, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Roberto Rossellini on the Italian movie Lets Have a Brainwash, with Godards scenes portraying a disturbing post-Apocalypse world.

Godard, who was later to gain a reputation for his uncompromising left-wing political views, had a first brush with French authorities in 1960 when he made The Little Soldier. The movie, filled with references to Frances colonial war in Algeria, was not released until 1963, a year after the conflict ended.

His work turned more starkly political by the late 1960s. In Weekend, his characters lampoon hypocrisy in bourgeois society even as they demonstrate the comic futility of violent class war. It came out a year before popular anger at the establishment shook France, culminating in the iconic but short-lived student unrest of May 1968.

Godard harbored a life-long sympathy for various forms of socialism depicted in films from the early 1970s to the 1990s.

Some of global cinemas greatest directors counted Godards boundary-breaking work as an influence, including Quentin Tarantino, Bernardo Bertolucci, Brian De Palma and Jonathan Demme.

Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky tweeted: learned a lot from my vhs copy of breathless thank you maestro.

Godard took potshots at Hollywood over the years.

He remained home in Switzerland rather than travel to Hollywood to receive an honorary Oscar at a private ceremony in November 2010 alongside film historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, director-producer Francis Ford Coppola and actor Eli Wallach.

His lifelong advocacy of the Palestinian cause also brought him repeated accusations of antisemitism, despite his insistence that he sympathized with the Jewish people and their plight in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Though the academy received some complaints about Godard being selected to receive the award, academy President Tom Sherak said the director was recognized solely for his contributions to film in the New Wave era.

Godard married Danish-born model and actress Anna Karina in 1961. She appeared in a string of movies he made during the remainder of the 1960s, all of them seen as New Wave landmarks. Notable among them were My Life to Live, Alphaville and Crazy Pete  which also starred Belmondo and was rumored to have been shot without a script. Godard and Karina divorced in 1965.

Godard married his second wife, Anne Wiazemsky, in 1967. He later started a relationship with Swiss filmmaker Anne-Marie Mieville. Godard divorced Wiazemsky in 1979, after he had moved with Mieville to Rolle, where he lived with her for the rest of his life.

Adamson reported from Paris. Former AP correspondent John Heilprin contributed biographical material to this report.
Its a countdown now.

Every day, the Great Northern grain elevator edges closer to its demise, as owner Archer Daniels Midland gathers its demolition equipment. Worse, because of a judges inaction, the building could be torn down before the structures defenders can mount an appeal to his ruling.

And yet, the mammoth industrial structure, built in 1897, is still standing. There is no apparent danger of collapse, in spite of an emergency demolition permit granted by the City of Buffalo after a Dec. 11, 2021 windstorm damaged the buildings brick facade.

That demolition order was upheld in State Supreme Court by State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo in January, but then, in April, an appellate justice agreed that Colaiacovo had erred in not permitting expert testimony from the plaintiffs, Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture.

In July, after hearing the Campaigns testimony, Colaiacovo again ruled against it, upholding the permit. At this point, the Campaign would be pursuing another appeal and injunction, but it cant. Because the judge has not dismissed the case, it remains in a type of limbo  even as ADM prepares to demolish the historic structure.

Having won one appeal, the Campaign feels it has a good chance of prevailing in appellate court a second time. It should get that chance, especially as only the technicality of the cases official dismissal stands in the way of a second appeal. Due process matters. Colaiacovo needs to ensure that it isnt withheld.

Great Northern is the last brick-enclosed steel structure elevator left in North America. Aficionados of the building, which was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, have compared it to an Egyptian pyramid or a French cathedral. Frank Kowsky, SUNY Buffalo State emeritus professor of art history, called the possible destruction of Great Northern the worst loss since the loss of the Larkin Administration Building, designed by famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Great Northern is a big deal and it shouldnt go down before it has every legal chance it deserves. Expert after expert has come forward  including three who contributed op-eds to The News  testifying that the structure is not in danger of imminent collapse and that whatever damage exists, due to both nature and neglect, can be safely addressed.

Historic interior construction photographs  as well as multiple architects and engineers who revere the structure  confirm that Great Northern was engineered and built without needing any support from its exterior brick walls. The building is supported inside by thick cylindrical storage bins meant to be independent of the exterior.

This fervent support and reverence for a grain elevator is founded in Buffalos historic narrative. Great Northern was both an engineering marvel and a workplace for generations of Buffalonians. It helped move grain from the Midwest to New York, and, later, it inspired architects and historians, who found in it the beginnings of modern industrial design.

Students of the history of Buffalo can get information from listening to lectures or reading books. They can also take a walk along the Buffalo River and through the Old First Ward to see history firsthand in the form of this steel and concrete monument.

Sadly, these students may also learn about how historic monuments can be destroyed within a few months, with the knowledge and complaisance of the city that should be celebrating them. Buffalos mayor, Byron Brown, should be one of Great Northerns most vocal supporters. Instead, hes silent. Brown could have rescinded the demolition permit, its emergency designation having been effectively refuted by both testimony and the fact of the structures resilience. He did not.

We thought the days of cities and courts not recognizing the value  both aesthetic and economic  of historic preservation were done. Over and over, structures considered hulks and eyesores have been saved, restored and reused.

If that future is stolen from Great Northern, decades from now, its demolition will be named one of Buffalos big mistakes.

  

Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.
Ceremonial troops march from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster during a rehearsal for tomorrow's ceremonial procession.

Tuesday marks D-Day +4, or D+4, in the plans marking the Queens death.

This is due to the announcement taking place late on Thursday, meaning the schedule was moved back by one day to allow for complex arrangements to be put in place.

Here is the timeline of events expected to take place over the next 24 hours.

 Tuesday September 13

The Queens coffin will be flown from Edinburgh to London.

Meanwhile, the King will travel from Scotland to Northern Ireland on his UK tour.

 Procession of the Queens coffin

Early evening: After remaining overnight on public view at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, the Queens coffin will leave the church on a hearse at 5pm, bound for Edinburgh Airport.

At 6pm, it departs Edinburgh on an RAF Globemaster C-17 flight, accompanied by the Princess Royal and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.

The Crown of Scotland sits atop the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II during a Service of Prayer and Reflection for her life at St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA)

Its arrival in RAF Northolt in west London is scheduled for 6.55pm.

It will then be transported on a state hearse, accompanied by Anne and Vice-Admiral Sir Tim, to Buckingham Palace.

Its route will be via the A40, Eastbourne Terrace, Lancaster Gate, Bayswater Road, Marble Arch, Park Lane, Hyde Park Corner and Constitution Hill.

Waiting to receive the coffin at the Palace will be the King and the Queen Consort. The Prince and Princess of Wales will also be present.

A guard of honour formed of three officers and 96 soldiers from The Kings Guard will be mounted in the Palace Quadrangle.

The Queens coffin will rest in the Bow Room overnight.

Details about the route for the lying in state queue will be provided late on Tuesday.

 The Kings duties

The King and Queen Consort will earlier leave the Palace of Holyroodhouse to fly to Belfast as part of Operation Spring Tide  Charles tour around the UKs home countries.

Charles and Camilla are greeted by First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon ahead of receiving a Motion of Condolence at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood on D-Day +3 (Jeff J Mitchell/PA)

At Hillsborough Castle, Charles and Camilla will view an exhibition of pictures, showing the Queen in Northern Ireland.

The King will then meet Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and party leaders, and receive a message of condolence led by the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly and make a reply.

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Charles and Camilla will attend St Annes Cathedral for a service of prayer and reflection.

They are expected to be greeted by thousands of members of the public, who have been encouraged to line the streets of the city in the afternoon.

Their royal cavalcade will travel through Wellington Place, Donegall Square North, Chichester Street and Victoria Street.

The King and Queen Consort will then undertake a walkabout at Writers Square, before leaving Northern Ireland.
The information disseminated by the Armenian side that the Azerbaijan Army allegedly targets the civilian population, facilities, and infrastructure does not reflect reality.

This is another disinformation spread by the Armenian side.

In response to Armenia's provocations, local countermeasures are aimed against legitimate military targets that are firing points. The retaliatory measures are small-scale and targeted, as well as aimed at ensuring the security of Azerbaijan's borders and suppressing Armenia's provocations.

Targeting civilian facilities and innocent people is a standard military methodology used by the Armenian armed forces. During the 30-year period of occupation and the 44-day Patriotic War, it was the Armenian side that deliberately and purposefully shelled cities and the civilian population of Azerbaijan using ballistic missiles and cluster bombs.
VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 13, 2022 Xebra Brands Ltd. ("Xebra") (CSE: XBRA) (OTCQB: XBRAF) (FSE: 9YC), a cannabis company, is pleased to announce the launch of its Vicious Citrus cannabis infused lemonade in the province of Saskatchewan. The unique, high potency flat lemonade, Vicious Citrus OG, will hit Saskatchewan retail shelves this week.

Xebra Brands Ltd. (CNW Group/Xebra Brands Ltd.)

"Launching Vicious Citrus in Saskatchewan is an important milestone," said Jay Garnett, CEO of Xebra. "Saskatchewan is an important market in the Canadian cannabis sector and is our first foray into western Canada. We're scaling up production to ensure that we're able to meet the demand from coast to coast."

We've received our initial purchase order from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA), who is responsible for the distribution, control and regulation of cannabis in the province. Saskatchewan is Canada's 5th largest province in annual cannabis sales, with 91 cannabis retailers across the province. Saskatchewan's cannabis retail sales continue to grow double digits, posting 11% growth in the last 12 months.

ABOUT XEBRA

Xebra is a cannabis cultivation and product company, with global brands and intellectual property. Our focus includes beverages, wellness and leisure. Xebra is an absolute first mover in the Mexican cannabis sector. In Canada, Xebra retails its unique Vicious Citrus OG THC/CBN Lemonade and plans to launch additional beverage products in the near future.

Jay Garnett

CEO

Certain information contained in this press release constitutes forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, these include, without limitation, statements regarding Xebra Brands Ltd.'s expectations in respect of its ability to successfully execute its business plan or business model; its ability to provide economic, environmental, social, or any benefits of any type, in the communities it operates in or may operate it in the future; its ability to be a first mover in a country, or to obtain or retain government licenses, permits or authorizations in general, or specifically in Mexico, Colombia, Canada, or elsewhere; its ability to successfully apply for and obtain trademarks and other intellectual property in any jurisdiction; its ability to be cost competitive; its ability to commercialize, cultivate, grow, or process hemp or cannabis in Mexico, Colombia, Canada, or elsewhere and related plans and timing; its ability to manufacture cannabis beverages, wellness products, or other products; its ability to commercialize or sell cannabis beverages, wellness products, or other products, in Mexico, Colombia, Canada, or elsewhere; its ability to launch, commercialize or to sell Vicious Citrus Lemonade or any additional cannabis infused beverage brands or products, at any time, in any jurisdiction, and its related plans and claims, including market interest and availability; its ability to commercialize or to sell Elements wellness products in any jurisdiction at any time; its ability to create wellness products that have a therapeutic effect or benefit; plans for future growth and the direction of the business; financial projections including expected revenues, gross profits, and EBITDA (which is a non-GAAP financial measure); plans to increase product volumes, the capacity of existing facilities, supplies from third party growers and contractors; expected growth of the cannabis industry generally; management's expectations, beliefs and assumptions in general, including manufacturing costs, production activity and market potential in Mexico or any jurisdiction; events or developments that XEBRA expects to take place in the future; general economic conditions; and other risk factors described in the prospectus of the Company dated September 30, 2021. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking information and statements. The words "aim", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "contemplate", "target", "intends", "continue", "plans", "budget", "estimate", "may", "will", and similar expressions identify forward-looking information and statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by XEBRA as of the dates of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the inability of XEBRA to generate sufficient revenues or to raise sufficient funds to carry out its business plan; changes in government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in various countries; risks associated with agriculture and cultivation activities generally, including inclement weather, access to supply of seeds, poor crop yields, and spoilage; compliance with import and export laws of various countries; significant fluctuations in cannabis prices and transportation costs; the risk of obtaining necessary licenses and permits; inability to identify, negotiate and complete a potential acquisition for any reason; the ability to retain key employees; dependence on third parties for services and supplies; non-performance by contractual counter-parties; general economic conditions; and the continued growth in global demand for cannabis products and the continued increase in jurisdictions legalizing cannabis; and the timely receipt of regulatory approval for license applications. In addition, there is no assurance Xebra will: be a low-cost producer or exporter; obtain a dominant market position in any jurisdiction; have products that will be unique; launch other Vicious Citrus SKUs; or monetize any asset sales from its Colombian and Dutch subsidiaries. The foregoing list is not exhaustive and XEBRA undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of the foregoing except as required by law. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies could affect XEBRA's actual performance and cause its actual performance to differ materially from what has been expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, XEBRA. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those set out in such statements.

Story continues

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xebra-expands-sale-of-vicious-citrus-thccbn-lemonade-to-western-canada-301622465.html

SOURCE Xebra Brands Ltd.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2022/13/c3924.html
Nasa's DART spacecraft imaged its target this week with its onboard camera. (Nasa)

Nasa will crash a spacecraft into an asteroid on purpose later this month  to see what happens next.

The mission, due to take place on 26 September, marks the first step towards a solution  the ability to knock potential doomsday asteroids onto less-threatening flight paths  if an asteroid is hurtling towards Earth.

Nasa's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft recently had a first look at its target.

The idea is that the fridge-sized DART spacecraft will hit Didymos, an asteroid with an orbiting moonlet, faster than a bullet  and change its orbit.

Read more: What are fast radio bursts, and why do they look like aliens?

The spacecraft will ram the moonlet Didymos B, which orbits around a larger asteroid Didymos A.

It will hit the smaller rock at 3.7 miles per second, and Nasa scientists will monitor to see what effect it has on the 530ft rock's flight path.

From this distance  about 20 million miles away from DART  the Didymos system is still very faint, and navigation camera experts had been uncertain whether the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO) would be able to spot the asteroid yet.

But once the 243 images DRACO took during this observation sequence were combined, the team was able to enhance it to reveal Didymos and pinpoint its location.

"This first set of images is being used as a test to prove our imaging techniques," said Elena Adams, the DART mission systems engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.

"The quality of the image is similar to what we could obtain from ground-based telescopes, but it is important to show that DRACO is working properly and can see its target to make any adjustments needed before we begin using the images to guide the spacecraft into the asteroid autonomously."

Although the team has already conducted a number of navigation simulations using non-DRACO images of Didymos, DART will ultimately depend on its ability to see and process images of Didymos and Dimorphos, once it too can be seen, to guide the spacecraft toward the asteroid, especially in the final four hours before impact.

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At that point, DART will need to self-navigate to impact successfully with Dimorphos without any human intervention.

Read more: Telescope detects 100 mysterious radio signals from billions of light years away

"Seeing the DRACO images of Didymos for the first time, we can iron out the best settings for DRACO and fine-tune the software," said Julie Bellerose, the DART navigation lead at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"In September, we'll refine where DART is aiming by getting a more precise determination of Didymos' location."

Using observations taken every five hours, the DART team will execute three trajectory correction manoeuvres over the next three weeks, each of which will further reduce the margin of error for the spacecraft's required trajectory to impact.

After the final manoeuvre on 25 September, approximately 24 hours before impact, the navigation team will know the position of the target Dimorphos within two kilometres.

From there, DART will be on its own to autonomously guide itself to its collision with the asteroid moonlet.

Watch: Nasa launches mission to test asteroid-deflecting technology
Thousands of mourners have queued through the night to pay their respects to the Queen in Edinburgh.

After waiting for many hours, members of the public moved solemnly past the Queen's oak coffin, which is lying in rest at St Giles' Cathedral.

Colin and Kirsty Hutchison got up at 3am to make their way down to the cathedral this morning.

Speaking to Sky News after visiting the Queen's coffin, Mr Hutchison said it had been "quite emotional".

He described the room as "very quiet" and said it was a "surreal moment".

Although mourners in Edinburgh have been told to expect a 12-hour wait, many reported a wait time of five or six hours.

Live updates: Tears as mourners view coffin in Scotland

At 6pm, the Queen will depart Scotland for the last time - and her coffin will be flown from Edinburgh to London and taken to Buckingham Palace for the royal household to pay their respects.

King Charles III and the Queen Consort Camilla will join other members of the Royal Family - including the Prince of Wales and his wife - at the palace after visiting Northern Ireland for a reception at Hillsborough Castle.

The King and Queen Consort will also attend a service of reflection at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast.

The Queen began her final journey back to England on Sunday with a six-hour drive from Balmoral to Edinburgh.

Yesterday, King Charles led his family in a royal procession through the city as her coffin was moved from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to the cathedral for a service of prayer and reflection.

After the service, members of the public began to enter the building to bid farewell to the Queen - her coffin draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, with the Crown of Scotland and a wreath of Balmoral flowers placed on top.

And in the evening, the King and his three siblings - Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward - held a vigil by her side as people continued their procession through the cathedral.

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At 5pm today, a hearse will transport the Queen's coffin to Edinburgh Airport, accompanied by the Princess Royal.

After a 55-minute flight, guards of honour will salute the arrival at RAF Northolt, west of London, before the state hearse takes the Queen's coffin to the palace, where it will be placed in the Bow Room for the family and household to take part in prayers.

Ahead of the gathering, the King and the Queen Consort will fly from Scotland to Northern Ireland and head straight to Hillsborough to view an exhibition on the Queen's historical ties to the area.

King Charles will then meet Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris - who was only appointed to the role last week - along with party leaders including the First Minister-designate, Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill.

He will also receive a message of condolence from the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly and meet faith leaders ahead of the cathedral service, before he and the Queen Consort fly back to London.

A rehearsal for tomorrow's procession of the monarch's coffin to Westminster Hall will also take place later, travelling along The Mall before moving down Horse Guards, Whitehall, Parliament Square and into New Palace Yard.

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The Queen will lie in state there for four full days until the morning of her funeral on Monday 19 September, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to visit.

While the hall will be open to the public around the clock, reports have warned of waits of up to 30 hours to get inside.

A line has already started forming near Westminster Hall - and commuters in the city are being advised to change their working patterns and avoid the capital in the coming days.

Later in the week, the King and his Queen Consort will make one further visit, heading to Wales.
A Thai court ruled the activist - pictured in the pink dress - had mocked and defamed the queen at this protest in 2020

An activist in Thailand has been jailed for two years after a court found she insulted the monarchy by dressing like the Thai queen.

Jatuporn 'New' Saeoueng, 25, wore a pink dress at a political demonstration in Bangkok in 2020.

She denied the royal insult charge, saying she had just worn a traditional dress.

But Thailand has notoriously strict laws which effectively ban criticism of the king and other royals.

Since King Maha Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne in 2019, rights groups say authorities have increasingly exercised lese-majeste laws to quash a protest movement that had demanded reform of the powerful monarchy.

Since November 2020, at least 210 protesters have been charged with lese-majeste offences, after a three-year period where the law wasn't enforced at all, Thai legal groups say.

Human rights groups strongly criticised the court's verdict on Monday. Jatupon was sentenced to three years but had her term immediately reduced to two years.

She had attended the protest in 2020 as a performer dressed in a formal pink silk dress, where she walked a red carpet accompanied by an attendant who held an umbrella over her head.

The king's wife, Queen Suthida, often wears formal silk fashions for public events. Thai royals also often have attendants hovering over them with parasols at ceremonies and other events.

Jatuporn said in an interview published before the court ruling: "I have no intention to mock anyone. I dressed for myself on that day, for a version of myself in a Thai tradition dress," the Associated Press reported.

The red carpet protest - one of several that year critical of the monarchy and its influence over the military government - had been staged the same week as a fashion show being held by one of King Vajiralongkorn's daughters.

"The mock fashion show was a satirical take on the political situation of the country - a peaceful public event akin to a street festival," said an Amnesty International spokesman.

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"Participants should not be punished for participating in a peaceful assembly."

Last year, a former civil servant who was deemed to have been critical of the royals on social media was sentenced to 43 years in jail.

The palace has not commented on either of these lese-majeste cases.

The protest movement had initially targeted the military-backed government, led by the ex-junta leader who seized power from a democratically-elected civilian government in a coup in 2014.

However its criticisms then expanded to include the new king and royal family.

The movement shattered a taboo on criticising the monarchy, though protest leaders were careful to call for changes to the institution, not its abolition.

Protesters wanted greater scrutiny after King Vajiralongkorn took direct control of the Crown's immense wealth and leadership of two army divisions.

His famously lavish lifestyle also rankled with ordinary Thais struggling amid the pandemic.
(Getty/Reuters/The Independent)

In the weeks that followed the 2020 presidential election, Josh Shapiro and Doug Mastriano were on opposing sides of former president Donald Trumps attempts to overturn the presidential election in Pennsylvania.

As a state senator, Mr Mastriano was one of the biggest promoters of the lie that the election was stolen. He requested and organised a public hearing into nonexistent voter fraud in the days that featured Mr Trumps attorney Rudy Giuliani. He also spent $3,354 busing people to Washington for Mr Trumps Jan 6 rally and went to the US Capitol, though he claimed to have left before the violent riot started. In the days leading up to the certification of election results, he was part of a group of Republican state senators who asked for Congress to delay the certification of election results.

Conversely, as Pennsylvanias attorney general, Mr Shapiro was responsible for fighting the multiple lawsuits that Mr Trumps team brought to challenge the election results. At an event in Scranton last Saturday, Mr Shapiro talked about how he pushed back against Mr Trump, noting how Mr Trump sued me 43 times.

I dont mind getting sued, but understand why he sued, Mr Shapiro told supporters at a Democratic office opening on Biden street. He sued me to make sure that your vote wouldnt count.

The two men  one of who sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and sent buses of people to Washington, and one who pushed back  are now the respective Republican and Democratic nominees to replace term-limited Governor Tom Wolf. But Mr Mastrianos extremism means that if he wins, he could use his power as governor to subvert the results of a future presidential election.

The predicament is not unique to Pennsylvania. In Arizona, Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake earned the support of the former president and has called for the decertification of the 2020 presidential election results. She is running against Katie Hobbs, the Democratic secretary of state who oversaw the election amid Republican disinformation efforts. Michigans Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson who also faced harassment as a result of her oversight of the 2020 election is running against Kristina Karamo, an election denier.

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Pennsylvania is unique from most other states because of the fact that it does not elect its secretary of state, usually the main officer who oversees elections in a state. Rather, the governor appoints them.

Mr Mastriano did not respond to requests for an interview. But in an interview with Steve Bannon in April, Mr Mastriano laid out his plans for his secretary of state.

I get to appoint the secretary of sate and I have a voting reform-minded individual whos been travelling the nation and it was going to perform extremely well, he said. That individual has agreed to be my secretary of state. Im going to have, of course, a team around that individual.

That concerns Richard Pildes, a professor of constitutional law at New York University.

There certainly are concerns, particularly in important states like Pennsylvania, that if people get into these critical positions who reject the lawfulness of the 2020 election, there is great concern about what they might do in 2024, he told The Independent.

Mr Pildes said that a secretary of state or governor refusing to certify the legally valid winner of an election would immediately be challenged in court, but that does not mean that governors could not create chaos in the meantime.

Both state courts and federal courts would be available for that challenge, he said. But it would certainly create tremendous chaos, destabilization of the election process, even if the courts did eventually make certain that the lawful winner of the election is actually certified as the winner of the election.

But Mr Mastrianos plans go far beyond that as the chief executive in Pennsylvania.

As governor, I get to decertify any or all machines in the state. Obviously, I have my eyes on several counties that have had machines that I believe are compromised, he told Mr Bannon.

Mr Shapiro has flagged Mr Mastrianos policies as potentially dangerous, adding that its part of his larger pattern of receiving support from white supremacists and antisemites like the founder of right-wing social media network Gab and his actions at the US Capitol.

He was storming the Capitol with a violent mob trying to stop your vote from being counted, he said at the event in Scranton. Then he marches to the Capitol to stop your vote from being counted. And now hes saying hes going to decertify voting machines in order to stop in order to pick the winner he wants. Thats not how democracy works.

Matthew Seligman, a fellow at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford University, said that it is important to take Mr Mastrianos words seriously.

I think that with that particular candidate, I think theres really no room to think, well, this might be just heated campaign rhetoric to appeal to a base for a primary campaign, he told The Independent. Hes already demonstrated that hes willing to take extreme action to subvert election results.

Mr Seligman said the concerns about a governor breaking with the will of the people emphasises the need to reform the Electoral Count Act, which governs how the electoral votes are counted. The 1887 law received increased attention after January when former vice president Mike Pence decided against overturning the election results despite Mr Trumps wishes for him to do so. That has triggered a bipartisan group of Senators has come up with a framework to reform the law to explicitly make the role of the vice president solely ministerial to ensure that cannot be an option. Senators Susan Collins, a Republican, and Joe Manchin, a Democrat, have led the negotiations .

The existing Electoral Accounts Act is catastrophically vulnerable to that type of manipulation, particularly by governors, Mr Seligman said. And the Electoral Account Reform Act would go an enormously far way in preventing that type of manipulation.

But Mr Mastrianos election denialism and cavalier attitude toward certifying elections have earned him not only Mr Trumps endorsement but the adoration of the MAGA faithful. At Mr Trumps rally this weekend in Wilkes-Barre, Mr Mastriano received a standing ovation when he spoke ahead of Mr Trump.

When he stood next to the former president during Mr Trumps speech, he said, Were gonna fight like hell for voting integrity, and were gonna start with voter ID, calling it something very near and dear to both of our hearts.

Mr Shapiro for his part has said this increases the stakes of the election, saying that Mr Mastrianos actions are contrary to Republican rhetoric about freedom, and pointed out at the event in Scranton that he won the legal fights against Mr Trump in 2020.

By the way, the former president went 0 and 43. I went 43 and 0, he said to applause.
The Queen has returned to Buckingham Palace and her family, who turned out to witness the arrival of her coffin at the royal residence affectionately known as the office.

Standing at the grand entrance, King Charles III and his Queen Consort were surrounded by the late monarchs children and grandchildren and their partners, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

For one night the coffin will lie at rest in the palaces bow room before the monarch is handed to the nation to allow the public to pay their respects when she lies in state at the ancient Westminster Hall for four days.

The bearer party from the Queens Colour Squadron carry the Queens coffin to the state hearse (Arthur Edwards/The Sun)

The Princess Royal, who has travelled with the Queen on her journey from Balmoral to London via Edinburgh alongside husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, issued a moving tribute to her mother after the military plane carrying her coffin arrived at Londons RAF Northolt.

Anne said she was fortunate to be able to share the last 24 hours of my dearest mothers life in a statement, adding: It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys.

Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting.

We will all share unique memories. I offer my thanks to each and every one who share our sense of loss.

Charles travelled to Northern Ireland on his tour of the home nations, and he pledged to seek the welfare of all Northern Irelands people, and described how his family have felt their sorrows as the Queens peacebuilding efforts were praised.

People get out of their cars to watch Queens hearse pass by (Victoria Jones/PA)

The King, who in 2015 made a pilgrimage to the site of his great-uncle Lord Mountbattens murder in an IRA bombing, said the Queen had never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and its people.

Speaking at Hillsborough Castle in Co Down, the royal residence in Northern Ireland, the new monarch said the late Queen was aware of her position in bringing together divided communities whom history had separated.

Story continues

Under leaden skies that rained on the waiting public, the Queens coffin was transported in a new state hearse designed by Jaguar Land Rover and the Royal Household, with the late monarch consulted on the plans, said Buckingham Palace.

With a glass roof and large side windows, it was designed to give members of the public a clear view, and featured interior lights that shone brightly in the gloomy London evening as they illuminated the coffin draped in a royal standard with a wreath of Balmoral blooms.

As it travelled, sections of busy roads like the A40 came to a stop with drivers stood by the central reservation watching while the public lined the pavements.

The Queens coffin arrives at Buckingham Palace (Gareth Fuller/PA)

At moments there was applause and cheers and a few blooms were thrown into the path of the state hearse, and when it neared Buckingham Palace three cheers went up, and some people lit up the area with the torches on their camera phones, holding them above their heads.

On the steps of the grand entrance Charles and Camilla were joined by William, Kate, Meghan and Harry along with the Earl and Countess of Wessex and their children Lady Louise and Viscount Severn, the Duke of York and his daughters Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank and Princess Beatrice and her spouse Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

Lady Sarah Chatto and Earl Snowdon, the children of Princess Margaret the Queens sister, were among the group to pay their respects to their aunt.

Standing in the palaces quadrangle was a guard of honour formed from the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards and they gave the royal salute as the hearse came to a stop.

The bearer party, from the Queens Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, carried the coffin into the bow room and in a poignant moment the sovereigns piper, Pipe Major Paul Burns of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, will played a lament.
Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
Jeffrey Leverich is a Stoughton resident.

Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
ePayments Loses Battle with UK Regulator, Japanese Police Will Be Able to Seize Crypto + More News

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news  investigating the stories flying under the radar of todays crypto news.

Business news

The British crypto and peer-to-peer digital pay firm ePayments has announced that it will close shop just eight months after it claimed it was ready to re-open for business. At the end of December last year, the company wrote that it could not wait to start serving its clients again after a huge investment from our shareholders. The company has been locked in a struggle with the British financial regulatory Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for the past three years. The FCA claimed that ePayments financial crime controls were lacking. In an official announcement, ePayments announced that it could no longer sustain the business to build back to what the FCA requires and a business as usual state. Some claimed on social media that they still had funds locked up in the firms platform.

Regulation news

The UAEs Abu Dhabi Global Market free economic zone (ADGM)s regulator  the Financial Services Regulatory Authority  has outlined its regulatory policy for crypto-related businesses who are planning to launch crypto-related services in the zone. The regulator published a set of Guiding Principles that underline the ADGMs commitment to comply with global anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism protocols. The body also remarked that it will ensure that firms in the zone abide by international sanctions.

CBDCs news

The Linux Foundation-founded Hyperledger Foundation  a collective of blockchain development initiatives  says that the central banks of France and Nigeria have become its newest members. In an official announcement, the foundation claimed that the Banque de France and the Central Bank of Nigeria had joined its fold. The French central bank has previously worked with both Hyperledger and IBM (a major Hyperledger backer) on its own trials for a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Law enforcement news

Japanese police are set to be given new powers to seize cryptoassets  after the policy-making Legislative Council green-lighted proposals from the Ministry of Justice. The justice minister, Yasuhiro Harashi, wants to revise the existing Act on Punishment of Organized Crime to allow officers and bailiffs to confiscate cryptoassets obtained as criminal proceeds, Nikkei reported. Officers will also have the power to seize funds they think have been used in money laundering, provided the countrys parliament rubber-stamps the proposals later this year.

Taiwanese police say they have busted a lucrative crypto fraud group, the Epoch Times reported. Officers claimed that the ringleader was a 27-year-old, who has now been placed under custody  and stated that they had made a total of 14 arrests. The gang, police claimed, made use of chat apps like Line, where they claimed to be investment teachers who would invest their clients funds in crypto for a small fee. However, they appear to have guided their clients to bogus exchanges that the latter then could not withdraw funds from. Bags of narcotics, bundles of cash, and six imported luxury cars were seized from the suspects.

Adoption news
Tuyen Quang proposes airport construction

The northern mountainous province of Tuyen Quang has proposed adding Na Hang Airport to the national airport development plan until 2050.



Under local authorities recommendation, the airport would be located in the sparsely populated and flat terrain of Nang Kha Commune. The location is also near roads 279, 2C and 280, which connect to the neighbouring provinces of Ha Giang, Cao Bang and Bac Kan.


President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to Charles III, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Your Majesty,

On my own behalf, and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I would like to cordially congratulate you on your accession to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The current level of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom is gratifying. I believe that the traditional ties of friendship that unite our countries and our mutually beneficial cooperation covering different areas will further develop and expand to the benefit of our peoples.

I would like to once again convey my congratulations to you and wish you good health and happiness, as well as success in your high state activities for the prosperity of the friendly people of the United Kingdom.

Sincerely,

Ilham Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, 12 September 2022
A Dallas County man who allegedly tried to take a police officer's gun during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol could face one of the longest sentences yet delivered to any Capitol riot defendant.

Prosecutors in a filing this week are recommending that Kyle Young, 38, of Redfield, be ordered to serve 86 months  more than seven years  when he is sentenced Sept. 27 in Washington, D.C. Young pleaded guilty in May to a single charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding a police officer.

If the judge accepts the recommendation, he would go to prison for longer than all but a handful of other rioters so far. A former Marine and New York police officer who attacked police with a flagpole was sentenced earlier this month to 10 years in prison, while a Virginia police officer was sentenced to 87 months  on month more than Young.

In this video screenshot included in court filings by federal prosecutors, Iowan Kyle Young can be seen in a throng of people grappling with a D.C. Metropolitan police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Kyle Young, 38, of Redfield was arrested in April 2021 after prosecutors identified him as a member of a mob that dragged D.C. Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone into the crowd on the Capitol terrace during the riot. Fanone was beaten and shocked with a stun gun and suffered a heart attack as a result of the assault.

Young pleaded guilty in May to a single charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding a police officer.

"Young's protracted and repeated assaults against numerous police officers inside and directly outside the (lower west terrace) tunnel mark him as one of the most violent rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6," the prosecutors said in their memorandum.

Violent assault or 'briefly made contact'?

Young's attorney characterizes his role in the attack differently, saying in court filings that Young "briefly made contact with the wrist of a member of law enforcement" in the "unruly" crowd. The defense is requesting a below-guideline sentence of no more than two years for Young.

Previously: First Iowan sentenced in January 6 riot at US Capitol gets 30 days in prison; son sentenced to four months

Story continues

"While his action alone did not injure the officer, Mr. Young is aware and troubled by the fact that his action was contemporaneous with others who did inflict greater harm on the officer," attorney Samuel Moore wrote. "Mr. Young lives with deep regret that he was there that day, let alone in contact with this officer."

Young accused of multiple attacks on police

Fanone, who has since testified before Congress and given media interviews about his experience, told investigators that a rioter later identified as Young tried to take his service weapon out of its holster, shouting "Kill him with his own gun!" The charge to which Young pled guilty specified only that he grabbed and held Fanone's wrist in the melee, and Monday's filing does not repeat the claim that it was Young personally who tried to grab Fanone's weapon.

For subscribers: US Capitol riot suspect Kyle Young assaulted multiple officers, threatening to kill one, prosecutors say

"Young's restraint of Officer Fanone prevented the officer from protecting his service weapon at a time when the officer's life was in danger" and enabled another rioter to steal Fanone's badge and radio, according to the new filing.

Prosecutors also describe a range of other misconduct by Young during the pitched, hand-to-hand fighting that took place on the terrace. It was Young, they said, who provided another rioter a Taser and instructions how to use it. The rioter later shocked Fanone repeatedly in the back of the neck, prosecutors said.

They also charge that Young used a strobe light to try to blind officers; threw a heavy speaker toward a police line, injuring another rioter; and jabbed a line of officers using riot shields with a pole. After assaulting Fanone, prosecutors say, Young joined in the assault on another officer who had been temporarily blinded with bear spray.

Young 'injected' with election lies, lawyer says

Prosecutors in their filing note Young's criminal history, including lengthy sentences for drug and firearm offenses. They also noted that, while Young voluntarily contacted law enforcement to turn himself in after seeing a police bulleting with his photo, he initially lied when he told investigators he did not have "anything to do with the riots."

The defense memorandum points out that Young's most recent conviction was in 2010, more than a decade ago. Moore wrote Young is a father of four and, until his arrest, worked for a heating, ventilation and air conditioning company. One son, then 16, accompanied him to the Capitol; his youngest, who was 15 months old when he was arrested, barely knows him, according to Moore.

Moore described Young as "not a life-long political follower" who was misled about the results of the 2020 election.

"Unfortunately, following the 2020 election, Mr. Young was injected with the claims and distortions touted by many in opposition to the election results," Moore wrote. "He made the decision to travel to the Capitol from his home in Iowa to engage in what he believed would be peaceful protest, in exercise of his first-amendment rights."

The defense memo describes Young's interaction with Fanone as brief and "perplexing."

"Even now Mr. Young does not have a good understanding or explanation for what he did or why he did it  he just knows he was wrong, and his actions contributed to that lawlessness," Moore wrote.

Young is one of eight Iowans so far to face charges in connected to the riot, and is one of three so far who have reached plea deals with prosecutors. His Sept. 27 sentencing will come a week after trial begins in Washington for Doug Jensen of Des Moines, one of the most prominent faces of the attack.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Capitol riot suspect Kyle Young faces 86-month proposed sentence
It happened about four months before Christmas, but Shared Blessings was recently gifted with a truck donated by a Terre Du Lac couple, something the transitional homeless shelter in Bonne Terre had needed for a long time, said its executive director, Lisa Brotherton-Barnes.

She said it almost seemed like divine providence.

It meets so many needs, she said. I mean, some of our volunteers have pickup trucks, but Murphys Law, we dont want anyone using their own personal truck on our behalf and risking accident or breakage just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Now, if there are large donations, we can just go pick them up, load up the truck and take care of it. We try to make sure, once our residents find secure, sustainable housing, they have some furniture, as well, and this truck will also help with those deliveries.

Divine intervention seems to be a regular theme when it comes to Shared Blessings. Former executive director Shelly Bess said Brotherton-Barnes has been a gift to the shelter from on high, with Brotherton-Barnes joining the shelter in June and bringing along her IT background and extensive experience in helping others.

She used to run The Hub in Farmington, which connected people who had things they didnt need with people who needed those things they didnt have, Bess said. We had worked with her on that adventure, and when it closed, she was running it through a Facebook group, Helping the Heartland. She came up to help us with some IT stuff and we just fell in love with her.

Brotherton-Barnes said she was equally amazed by the way she says God takes care of things.

God gave me so many confirmations that this was what I was supposed to do, I was able to do it without any concern, she recalled. I even had one person at my church come to me who said, Hey, I have no idea what's going on in your life, and you're gonna think I'm crazy. But God told me to tell you, you're supposed to make the jump, just do it.

And of course, you know, I had not told anybody I was thinking of making a move, so I just said, OK, well, thank you. I received that along with several other completely unrelated people coming to tell me something very similar. And I just thought it was interesting that confirmation was forthcoming from far and wide.

Brotherton-Barnes said, looking into the near future as the director for the shelter, she hopes to expand its volunteer base.

I would say probably 95% of the people here are volunteers performing some sort of task, she said. We have many holes in the calendar and on the task list that need to be filled, everything from walking the grounds to make sure everythings tidy, to taking in phone calls from prospective residents.

She added grant writing and fundraising are also facets of the job shes looking forward to expanding, and shes looking forward to seeing what other miracles occur to benefit the shelter.

Like the truck, which Bess said was indeed one of those quirky miracles that seem to frequently happen for the shelter. The blue, 2015 Ford F-150 with only about 80,000 miles might as well be manna from heaven, she said.

Turns out, the couple who gave us the truck had been asking around, trying to figure out a place to donate it, since they werent really driving it anymore, Bess said. People were telling him, just sell it and give the money to a charity, but he didnt want to do that for some reason.

Bess said Eddie Corlew had spoken with Karen Johnson  Oh, gosh, everybody knows Karen, she was a door greeter at Walmart and shes always helping people. She just has a heart to serve, Bess explained  and Johnson reportedly thought to call Bess, who has been long connected to the shelter.

Karen was gracious enough to think of Shared Blessings, and she called me and I said, Karen, last night, I was talking with the new directors, and we were stating how desperate we were for a truck. And today you call with a truck the owners dont need, Bess recalled.

As of January 2020, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homeless, Missouri had an estimated 6,527 people experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Of that total, 704 were family households, 453 were veterans, 664 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 1,090 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.
Her younger sisters fight with cancer made Tracy Selzer Burns of Bonne Terre realize there had to be a better way for families to get through the stress, the financial drain and the emotional costs that mount with every doctors appointment, every day of missed work, every day of suspense  is the cancer gone yet, will the surgery be successful, can I find a babysitter, how much gas will the car need

So now, the family of Carmen Selzer Higgins  a mother of three who is currently fighting ovarian cancer  is busy lining up fundraisers to help not only Carmen, 51, but other patients and families whose worlds are turned upside down by the disease that takes many forms.

The latest venture is a poker run, scheduled for Oct. 8, with the four-hour ride leaving from Bonneville Plaza at 10 a.m., breaking for lunch specials at noon at Pizza 101 South, RB's, Corner Pocket and Off Road Nutrition. Five cards will be dealt to each vehicle at the end of the ride, which winds up at Hubs Pub. Prizes will be given to the three best card hands.

All profits from the poker run will go to the non-profit Show Me Strong, a charity fund Carmens family created to help Missouri families fight cancer.

In March, my sister was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and at that time, we realized the impact it had on not only her, but our whole family, driving her back and forth to treatments and doctor visits and scans and we've made numerous ER visits, Tracy said. We missed work, we were stressed with worrying about her.

The family had sold some shirts to help out with co-pays and medicines, which Tracy said was a tremendous help. But we realized that you know, other families are going through this too, and we want to be able to help as many as possible.

Tracy said her daughter met with an accountant and decided the best option would be to open a charity fund that would include a board of directors to help account for every penny.

We will let them know who we want to help and why, and they'll issue the money to us to issue a grant to the patient.

And the grants can be issued for any kind of thing that might make a patients life  and their families lives  a little better, Tracy said.

Whether it's to help someone with their rent, help someone with gas cards to get back and forth to treatments, meal cards to stop and eat after treatments, if they're physically able  Or to be quite honest, even if they just need a weekend away to get to put this stress behind them for a couple of days, we would love to be able to do those kinds of things for them, she said.

Tracy said almost a dozen people reached out to her when they found out about the charity.

Of course, we haven't even had our first benefit yet, so I'm just taking names, taking stories, asking them what is their dire need.

And I tell them, it can be selfish, Tracy continued. I don't care if you need to get away but that's important to us. If you need your rent paid, or your electric bill paid, then that's important to us. You tell us what you need.

As enthusiastic as the family is about the Oct. 8 poker run, Tracy said, theyre trying to be realistic with their expectations.

We know with our first benefit, we can't help all 10 of those people on my list, but we can start with the three who need us the most, she said. And we've already decided that our first grant will of course go to my sister, because she is the reason why we started this.

More charitable events are planned for the coming months: a softball tournament, another poker run, and of course, the showmestrong.com website takes donations on a one-time basis or monthly, Tracy said.

My mom and I were out yesterday trying to get silent auction gifts, you know, and I hate asking people because I know every small business is suffering right now, she said. I really hate asking people but everyone's been so generous. They do what they can and it's just been a great help. I'm so appreciative, so appreciative.

Tracy said her goal, at the end of the day, is to help as many of people on her growing list as possible. She said the husband of a relative just died of cancer, leaving behind a wife and two young daughters and I still want to try to help his wife and children if we can.

There's just so many. It's just like, every time you turn around, someone has cancer and we're not just helping those with ovarian cancer, it doesn't matter the type of cancer you have, its a stress on your family, on your life and on your body.

Carmen got to ring the bell sounding her last chemo visit last Thursday, Tracy said, and I still tear up, because we also know that she's only in remission. And we know that this stuff's got a good chance of coming back.

And she'll fight it again, and we'll fight it with her.
Rep. Brad Pollitt, R-Sedalia, sponsored the agriculture tax incentive bill the governor vetoed (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications).

When lawmakers return this week for a special session, most of the attention will be on Gov. Mike Parsons proposal to cut income taxes by $700 million a year.

But Parson also wants the bill to include several tax credits intended to benefit rural Missouri by increasing the demand for crop-based fuels, encouraging small meat processors and boosting food production in urban areas. Some of the incentives are new, some are extensions of expired programs. And they were all included in a bill Parson vetoed because he didnt like the short time they would be in existence.

The vetoed bill only allowed for the incentives to be in place until 2024. Parson wants them to be in place for at least six years.

A two-year sunset undermines the taxpayer investment in a program given the time it takes to develop the program versus the time the program is operational before it expires, Parson wrote in the letter explaining his veto.

There is little controversy over the programs themselves  the final version of the bill passed 111-26 in the House, with all the no votes coming from Republicans, and 28-0 in the Senate. But whether Parson will get the longer sunset he wants is uncertain. The short window was Sen. Denny Hoskins idea when programs he wanted in the bill  particularly a $16 million tax credit for investments in capital funds for rural business development  didnt survive negotiations on the final version.

The two year sunset was intended to force another debate on the whole package of incentives before he leaves office, Hoskins said.

Hoskins handled the bill in the Senate. Term limits will force Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, out after the 2024 election.

Ive got two years left, and as we were looking at other possible incentives, we gave it two years, and in the next couple of years, we will work on the other (agriculture) issues, he said.

The 12-item package Parson wants includes 10 tax credits with an aggregate cap of $39.5 million per year. The other two items are a credit to railroads for new rolling stock applied to property taxes distributed to local governments and an expanded state loan program for livestock purchases by family farms.

Every single one of these tax credits brings back more than a dollar for every dollar that is invested, said Rep. Brad Pollitt, chairman of the Rural Community Development Committee.

Pollitt sponsored the bill Parson vetoed, which had the six-year extension when it was introduced.

He didnt like the two-year extension either, he said, but it was the price of getting the bill out of a conference committee.

That isnt long enough to get the programs started, or to restart the ones that have already sunsetted, said Pollitt, R-Sedalia.

The credits

Three of the credits are new programs designed to support production and sale of gasoline and diesel with higher blends of alcohol and seed oil.

They are:

A 5-cents-per-gallon credit to retailers selling E15 gas , which is 15% ethanol instead of the 10% blend sold by most stations. The program would be capped at $5 million annually.

A credit of 2 cents per gallon or 5 cents per gallon for retailers that sell diesel with a biodiesel blend . The amount of the credit, capped at $16 million annually, is based on whether the blend is more or less than 10% biodiesel. The credit is refundable, which means that if retailers credits exceed their taxes, they will receive the difference from the state.

A refundable credit of 2 cents per gallon to biodiesel producers, capped at $4 million annually. Biodiesel is generally made from soy or other seed oil, but it can also be made from waste oil from plants or animals.

Missouri has six ethanol plants capable of producing 287 million gallons of ethanol per year, about 2% of national capacity. There are six plants making biodiesel, with a capacity of 253 million gallons, almost 9% of national capacity and the third-largest biodiesel industry of any state.

But ethanol and biodiesel are just a small fraction of the fuel used for cars and trucks. Ethanol supplies about 13% of the demand for gasoline nationally and biodiesel is about 5.3% of the diesel used for transportation.

In April, in response to rising gas prices, President Joe Biden relaxed rules limiting the sale of E15 fuel in summer months because of smog concerns. But relatively few stations offer it, in part because their equipment isnt certified for it, said Ron Leone, executive director of the Missouri Petroleum and Convenience Association

And while most cars made in the past 10 years are rated by the manufacturer to use E15 fuel with no mechanical issues, many older cars are not. That also makes stores reluctant to offer the fuel, Leone said.

The association is opposed to any mandate requiring retailers to sell E15 fuel, he said.

My guys typically do not have a problem with government programs that are permissive, Leone said. We have always had and continue to have a problem with mandates but are neutral to supportive of incentives.

Providing incentives for retailers to buy new equipment or have existing pumps and tanks certified for E15 would increase consumption of Missouri-made energy, said Chris Wilson, general manager of Mid-Missouri Energy in Saline County, the states largest ethanol plant.

Right now, he said, ethanol makers export much of their production.

I do think there is ample room for increased demand, Wilson said.

The issue for older cars, as well as pumps and tanks, is not whether E15 fuel will actually cause problems but that the equipment is not certified for it, he said.

Their concern is going to be if I cant show documentation it was certified and approved, insurance may not cover it, Wilson said.

The other incentives from the vetoed bill Parson included in the list of items for the special session are:

A credit of $5 a ton, up to $6 million annually, for sawmills to convert wood waste  chips and sawdust  into energy. This credit expired June 30, 2020.

A credit of up to 25% of the cost for modernizing or expanding a meat processing facility, capped at $2 million annually. The credit expired Dec. 31. The renewal in the vetoed bill would have added a cap of 500 or fewer employees to target the incentive to smaller processors.

A new credit of up to $25,000 for each farm and $200,000 total to establish urban farms in communities of 50,000 people or more.

A property tax credit for railroads to replace rolling stock. This credit expired on Aug. 28, 2020 and was capped only by the total property taxes due from each railroad. The state reimburses local governments for the lost revenue.

Tax credits of up to $6 million annually for contributions to the Missouri Agriculture and Small Business Development Authority and investments in cooperatives developing agricultural businesses. The existing credit expired Dec. 31.

Parson also wants the bill to include a sales tax exemption for utility vehicles used on farms and loan programs to produce specialty crops and expand livestock herds.

These ag tax credits basically allow family farms to compete with corporate farms on a level playing field, Pollitt said.

Combining the agricultural credits with the governors general tax cut plan means they will likely live or die on the fate of that bill, Pollitt said. Passing them is an issue of fairness, he said.

We passed and the governor signed six other tax credit bills this session, he said. There is no reason why agriculture should get the short end of the stick.
The window coverings are tattered, mouse droppings speckle every corner and there's a dead bird sprawled in an upstairs bathroom.

Outside, the eaves are rotting. Gutters are filled with greenery. Plywood covers the front door. Except for a recent bush-hogging to make the driveway passable, this open house has not been, as a real estate agent might say, "staged."

In fact there is no agent. Located between Free Union and Earlysville, in one of the more scenic parts of Albemarle County, this handyman-special, rustic, fixer-upper is offered for sale on two acres by the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority.

"Rivanna is not in the business of leasing and managing property," explained Rivanna's water resources manager, Andrea Bowles at Monday's open house. "And the decision was made to sell it."

Indeed, a 2020 master plan for the 1,314-acre tract known as the "Buck Mountain Property" recommends making better use of this land. It was acquired for a stopped-in-its-tracks reservoir. While the house is the first property to be offered for sale, it could also be the last, since the master plan also suggests holding the expansive tract in case a new reservoir is ever needed and permitted.

The Rivanna authority calls this late 19th century structure the "Elliot House." It has three fireplaces, about 2,000 square feet of space. It's covered in stucco, grime, algae, and several strands of that crawling vine known as Virginia creeper.

A dying Linden guards a corner of the front porch along with a boxwood which has grown to the roofline. Overhead, a more recent bit of botany, an ailanthus, springs from the main chimney along with a 1970s-era television antenna.

Rivanna acquired this house on nine acres for $150,500 from Michael and Kathleen Kovac in 1983. While efforts to reach that couple were unsuccessful, another couple considering making a bid took advantage of the open house to bring in their contractor to see if the house is salvageable.

"I think it is," said the contractor, Rob Robertson of Robertson Renovations. "I mean it's gonna take some work."

Upstairs, Robertson opens a window and taps on the plaster walls. Downstairs, the distinctive sound of cracking wood erupts as footfalls land on a weak spot hidden under the vinyl floor in the kitchen.

"There's a soft spot near the dishwasher," says Rivanna's Bowles. "Did I forget to tell you?"

Back in the 1980s, the Rivanna authority bought this land likely unaware that Buck Mountain Creek played habitat to the James River spinymussel, a little mollusk whose presence as a species on earth might be compromised by building another reservoir.

The rejection of the Buck Mountain property as a reservoir came not with a bang but with a whimper. Local officials were told by state officials at various times that they could not win approval for a dam due to the presence of that spinymussel, which is listed as "critically endangered," one step above "extinct in the wild," according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

At some point, the Elliot House became a rental property. That ended in 2012, according to the master plan, when the Rivanna authority decided to board it up rather than make the extensive repairs that it allegedly needed.

Upstairs, the couple and their contractor get abundant indicators of the toll taken by a decade without human habitation as they tiptoe around dead flies and heavy accumulations of dust. Although nature has been reclaiming the property, the contractor declares it salvageable.

"I do not think this is a teardown," says Robertson.

If he's right, that means his clients can bid as low as $250,000. According to the rules of this bidding process, anyone who plans to demolish the house must bid at least $300,000.

In earlier times, the Rivanna authority endured repeated requests from former Buck Mountain property owners trying to buy back their properties, two of which were acquired via the adversarial process of eminent domain, according to a neighbor.

The outrage stemmed from Rivanna buying this land, about a fifth of the size of the city of Charlottesville, for one reservoir and then developing a reservoir elsewhere.

"This thing has been a contentious issue," says water system watchdog Dede Smith, "but it was a long time ago."

Neighbor Matthew Lucas said he lauds Rivanna's move to get a homeowner into that house because that will place more eyes and ears on the reservoir tract that has been plagued, he says, by illegal hunting and drug manufacture.

"That's a very smart decision," says Lucas.

On the other hand, Lucas takes a dimmer view of some proposals contemplated in Rivanna's master plan, such as building solar farms and windmills. He thinks Rivanna will just hold the land for a future reservoir.

"I don't think they'll ever develop it," says Lucas. "You don't know what the water needs will be 50 years down the road."

Another neighbor, Hamp Hall, related how his concerned friends sometimes ask how he will possibly cope if Rivanna eventually builds a reservoir near his backyard.

"It'll be great," says Hall. "I'll go fishing."

Sealed bids on the property are due at 2 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 14. Details are at rivanna.org.
A man who journeyed from Romania to Roanoke to take part in an ATM skimming case, swiping more than $250,000 from hundreds of debit and credit card holders, has pleaded guilty to federal crimes.

Catalin Puscasu will face up to 37 months in prison when he is sentenced later on charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

The 38-year-old is the third defendant to plead guilty in the case, which involved an elaborate scheme to install tiny, hidden cameras at ATM machines that captured the personal identification numbers of unknowing victims as they punched them into the machines.

A skimming device that had been placed inside the ATMs recorded the account information before the cards were returned to their owners. After encoding the information onto counterfeit cards, the high-tech thieves then used the secretly obtained PINs to make unauthorized cash withdrawals.

Hundreds of bank customers in the Roanoke Valley and surrounding jurisdictions discovered missing money from their accounts between December 2018 and March 2019.

Virtually all of them received refunds from their federally insured banks.

During the operation, which involved multiple ATMs, Puscasu rented an apartment in Roanoke with Marius Catalui, a fellow Romanian, according to evidence presented at his guilty plea last Thursday.

Catalui was sentenced earlier this year to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay, along with others convicted in the case, $351,642 to the banks and credit unions that lost money to the scam.

Exactly how much Puscasu owes will be determined later, likely at his sentencing hearing. Under a plea agreement struck last week, a judge will set his prison term at between 18 to 37 months.

Puscasu was involved in a similar ATM skimming case in Michigan three years ago, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office. He was sentenced to 36 months in prison. After completing that term, he was returned to Roanoke to face charges here.

In early 2019, police in multiple jurisdictions were flooded with calls from people who reported mysterious withdrawals from their accounts. The Roanoke branch of the U.S. Secret Service joined the investigation.

A break in the case came in May of 2019, when a customer at the Bank of Fincastle in Botetourt County  whose wife had been a victim of the skimming  called 911 to report seeing a woman attempting to hide her face as she stood at a drive-through ATM.

The woman then fled in a car that was later stopped for speeding. Inside the car, police found more than $8,000 in cash, most of it in $20 bills, and other evidence that eventually led to charges.

Authorities have said members of a criminal organization traveled from Romania to the United States solely to take part in the ATM skimming case.
The Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter at the University of Virginia on Monday protested racism and white supremacy at the statue of Homer on the Lawn, the spot where an unidentified man last week hung a noose in what police say was a hate crime.

While hundreds of students and faculty passed by the statue at midday, some gathered around it to protest racist threats to the lives of Black students on UVa Grounds.

On Sept. 8, the University Police Department said a noose was found around the neck of Homers statue at the end of the Lawn, near Old Cabell Hall. The noose was placed around 11:15 p.m. on Sept. 7. Surveillance video showed a man hanging the noose and walking away.

Police released a photo from the video that shows a white man in a dark jacket walking away from the area and are asking for information on his identity.

A crowd of about 60 students, faculty, community organizers and other attendees stood around the statue, some holding signs and others wearing signs of solidarity. They listened to speakers from different UVa and Charlottesville organizations and activists.

Democratic Socialists chair and UVa student Ella Tynch asked attendees to not take photos that included the faces of any speakers or attendees without prior permission. She said the organization is concerned about potential consequences for students who participated, called for action or shared their sentiments about white supremacy, racism or the incident.

You cant increase surveillance and policing of students to address the problem of white supremacy when these systems are the result of white supremacy in the first place, Tynch said. Its not like students arent out from 11 [p.m.] to 4 a.m. There are ambassadors whose job is to keep this place secure and yet a hateful form and symbol of violence hung here for five hours.

For Black men and Black women here on this campus and in this country, our life is always threatened. Theres always a noose around our neck. This is nothing new for us. I was hurting, especially when it first happened, said one Black UVa student organizer.

Use your white privilege and stand with us, because when it comes down to it and they want to start violence like [the noose], who is going to be right there, putting their body on the line just like mine? the student said.

One student, who asked not to be named, said not much has changed since the day he first visited UVa after being accepted, just one day before white supremacists stormed the Lawn on Aug. 11, 2017.

A representative from the Charlottesville Beyond Policing community organization spoke to the crowd about the anticipated response from the university police. The representative predicted that the department will call for an increased police presence on campus, which will harm Black [people] and those who have been historically under resourced in our community.

Charlottesville Beyond Policing is a local organization that is working toward building a police-free society, according to its Facebook page.

Among the speakers, one of the co-chairs of the UVa Black Student Alliances political action committee read the organizations response to the noose. The Sept. 8 statement condemns the existence of white supremacy in the university community and encourages the administration to take immediate action to resolve the incident.

It is critical that Black students feel both safe at the University of Virginia, the statement reads, but also feel empowered to claim this university as our university.

UVa professor and community activist Dr. Jalane Schmidt spoke to the group about the racist history and imagery of the noose, which was once a key tool in violence against Black Americans. The noose remains a threatening symbol of racially charged violence.

The interim dean of African American Affairs at UVa watched the demonstration from the shade of a tree about 10 yards away.

People are starting to think about how we begin to enact social justice, how we begin to enact diversity, equity and inclusion, said interim dean Michael Gerard Mason. I think we can all engage in that conversation where we might begin to better describe what our actions look like.

Before wrapping up the event, one UVa student recited a poem about the weight of being concern for the safely of Black individuals and their families under the threat of racist violence.

At the end of the protest, attendees wrote messages in solidarity with the cause, both in chalk on the concrete surrounding the Homer statue as well as on sticky notes that they stuck directly on the statue.
Denton

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Denton mayor counters criticism over drag brunch inquiry: I just asked a question

Courtesy art Cool Beans advertised Sundays Disney Drag Brunch using this flyer.

In the clouds surrounding Disneys Magic Kingdom castle, the princesses in drag dont resemble the princesses from Disney movies in the flyer for the Disney Drag Brunch in Denton that was circulating on social media recently and eliciting condemnation and threats of violence.

Nor did they assume the names of Disney princesses in the flyer.

Instead, drag performers Crystal Whitney, Ari, Jauna DMarko and Genesis Mugler all appeared in the clouds around the Magic Kingdom castle dressed for an afternoon of performing in elegant outfits that sparkled and shimmered, one in a leopard print and another accented by red feathers. Crystal and Ari were listed as co-hosts of the drag brunch, which was planned for this past Sunday afternoon at Cool Beans, a dive bar in the Fry Street area near the University of North Texas campus.

Drag shows in Denton arent rare  theyve been happening for decades. Glitterbomb Denton has hosted variety shows, including drag, since forming in 2015. Another drag show for patrons over 21 will be taking place this weekend, though the organizers asked that the Denton Record-Chronicle not share the name or location over fears of violence.

The threats of violence against such events also arent unusual, especially given the Republican Partys recent push to pass anti-LGBTQ legislation in the state. A couple of weeks ago, Anderson Distillery & Grill in Roanoke became ground zero for the hate during the Barrel Babes Drag Brunch, when Trump supporters and the Proud Boys showed up to protest and were met by armed counterprotesters protecting the drag queens and liberal-leaning patrons.

It was never my intention to host an event that would result in controversy, hate and divisiveness, Anderson Distillery & Grill owner Jay Anderson wrote in an Aug. 23 Facebook post. It is my intention to welcome people from ALL walks of life into Anderson Distillery & Grill.

But what is rare is for a citys mayor to contact city staff about a drag performance at a privately owned business and ask what  if anything  the city could do to shut it down. Such a request, from Denton Mayor Gerard Hudspeth, appeared in a staff report Friday from the city.

An excerpt from the Friday Staff Report to City Council for Sept. 9.

Hudspeths request sparked controversy online and led to several comments about bigotry and discrimination from Dentons first Black mayor.

The dishonorable Mayor Hudspeth continues to align himself with MAGA extremists as he creeps further to the far-right, one commenter wrote Friday on Twitter.

Lets have leadership in Denton that actually reflects the character here, not just the will of MAGA geriatrics with huge tax breaks, another tweeted.

Not unlike what happened in Roanoke, a conservative local politician has tried and failed to define drag brunches as sexually oriented as a way to try to shut down drag brunches, wrote another.

But Hudspeth denied this claim and said he wasnt trying to classify Cool Beans as a sexually oriented business.

Now Gerard cant be Black and Gerard has to be white, as if as the first Black mayor in Denton, I dont understand discrimination, Hudspeth said in a Sunday morning interview shortly before he attended church.

Hudspeth said he received several requests from residents to shut down Sundays drag brunch and said he knew the city couldnt regulate it but wanted to double-check with staff first to make sure there wasnt some arbitrary ordinance lying around. He said he saw his request as an educational opportunity.

This is a private event, and we have no jurisdiction, he said. Im not leaning to support it or not to support it. I wanted to educate and wanted to confirm. I dont want to be wrong  ever.

Gerard Hudspeth

The Disney Drag Brunch wasnt an official Disney event, despite the flyers use of the company logo and a Disney-style font. But what drew the ire of people who rose up against it, Hudspeth said, was the fact the event was showcased as an all-ages event at a bar, which normally requires a patron to be of age to enter after a certain time.

It also didnt help that a talk show personality on Glenn Becks BlazeTV shared the event flyer Thursday afternoon with her hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and wrote: Cool Beans Bar and Grill in Denton, TX is hosting an ALL AGES drag show THIS SUNDAY. Whos coming with me to shut it down?

Stuart Birdseye, a Denton city spokesperson, shared a couple of the comments the mayor and council members had received. One was a social media post that had been tagged to the mayor:

If you are not outraged this is happening in our backyard, you should be!! City of Denton, TX  City Hall, City of Denton Police Department, Denton County Sheriffs Office, Denton mayor Gerard Hudspeth! Wheres the moral fortitude? This is probably the fourth event like this Ive heard about in a week. Leave the children out of this! There is absolutely NO reason, NONE, that a drag show should be all ages. SHAME ON COOL BEANS BAR & GRILL! Every other event on the calendar is 21+, why are you welcoming children to a drag show??

Another resident used the contact form to respond to All City Council Members on the citys website and wrote:

There is an all ages drag show happening at Cool Beans Bar and Grill this Sunday. I have been to MANY drag shows and am not against them. But I am against kids being at these events. Drag shows have always been an adults only activity until very recently. What kind of permit does one need to put on a drag show for children?

Just a reminder that there is NO COVER and make sure to bring $1 bills for the queens. So kids will watch adults tip drag queens, or doing it themselves.

Birdseye included this statement:

Mayor Hudspeth requested information about the rights of a private business and if there were ordinances that outline those. As I understand his request, he was looking for a public education opportunity and am not aware of any other intention than that.

On Thursday morning, Hudspeth contacted Denton City Manager Sara Hensley via email and wrote:

Can you help me connect with the right person. I am getting contacted a lot about this event. I would like to create a post that highlights ordinance or ordinances that may apply. I see this as an educational opportunity. And an opportunity to explain private business[es] have rights. And clearly explain what the city does and does not regulate.

But the mayor never posted about it because later that evening, Cool Beans announced on social media that the event was canceled because of safety concerns for its staff, performers and customers.

To those of you out there who have forced us to make this decision, shame on you! Cool Beans announcement reads. Shame on you for putting fear into us with your threats, your horrible DMs, your aggressive phone calls, and hateful comments.

Attempts to contact event organizers did not receive a response by Tuesday evening.

In his phone conversation with the Record-Chronicle, Hudspeth mentioned the negative posts and comments hed been receiving from the community after they shared his request from the staff report and claimed people were cursing him on social media and that someone planned to create a paper doll of the mayor in drag and sell it to support LGBTQ issues  all because he simply had asked a question and received an answer.

How can that be bad? Hudspeth said. Im curious to know what Im missing.

Mat Pruneda, who is a moderator of the private Denton Matters Facebook group where some of the ire toward the mayor appeared, argued that part of the problem is that residents dont understand the context behind why the mayor was asking the question in the first place. The staff report doesnt include any video, attachments or information on the mayor being asked to shut down the event.

Pruneda said some of the things that jumped out to him were the specific terms used to describe the Disney Drag Brunch. For example, in the Friday staff report, city staff wrote, Based on the available information, the proposed event is not a sexually oriented business under the Citys zoning.

If the city were to identify drag brunches as an adult cabaret event, then Pruneda said the bar would need to be a sexually oriented business to host it and would need to be zoned for it, which would force the event to move from the Fry Street or downtown area to a heavily industrialized area.

He said what the mayor was doing  asking if a special permit was needed  is a slippery slope that could lead to other issues for local businesses.

The ultimate fear that I have is that they are poking around for ordinances or zoning requirements that could be applied without votes or public hearing that would affect local businesses, Pruneda said.

He said one of the reasons people were probably upset with the mayor is because Hudspeth also wasnt supportive of the citys nondiscrimination ordinance when it passed earlier this year and tends to push very kind of right-wing/alt-right ideology requests and with his votes.

Hudspeth said he simply wants to focus on such city issues as streets and roads.

Ignorance is also another problem affecting this issue. People dont understand what a drag show constitutes, Pruneda said. He compared attending drag shows to going to a punk rock concert and pointed out that drag performers arent strippers. Theyre performing artists who earn money from tips, similar to a musician who earns money from busking on the Square.

In other words, a person doesnt slip a dollar bill into a drag performers G-string.

Pruneda also noted that most Denton establishments allow all ages to enter before 9 p.m.

It comes down to personal responsibility for parents, he said. Its not like 4-year-olds will be riding their bikes and tricycles to see it.
By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

Azerbaijani Foreign Jeyhun Bayramov and US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried discussed the ongoing clashes and tension as a result of large-scale provocation by Armenia, Azernews reports.

The discussion took place during a phone conversation on September 13.

During the conversation, the Azerbaijani minister informed the opposite side of the large-scale provocations of the armed forces of Armenia on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border areas, as well as the measures taken to prevent military threats to the territory and sovereignty of the country, as well as to ensure the safety of the military personnel, including civilian workers involved in infrastructure works.

Bayramov emphasized that the increase in fires from Armenia at Azerbaijans positions and civilian targets over the past month, the increase in tension along the borders of Azerbaijan, as well as the ongoing mine planting, is an indication that Armenia has been preparing for a large-scale military provocation.

It was brought to the attention that the aggression of the Armenian side against Azerbaijan grossly violates the fundamental norms and principles of international law, as well as the provisions of the trilateral statements signed between the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia and the agreements reached between Azerbaijan and Armenia, thereby completely contradicting the ongoing normalization and the peace process.

Further, Bayramov stressed that Azerbaijan is not interested in whipping up military tension at a time when large-scale restoration and construction works were being carried out in the liberated territories of the country.

In turn, Donfried expressed her concern about the growing tension and military clashes in the region and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

To recap, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has reported that during the night of September 13, units of the Armenian armed forces committed large-scale provocations in the Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border. As a result, there were losses among the military personnel, the military infrastructure was damaged.

Units of the Azerbaijan Army deployed in these directions are taking decisive retaliatory measures in order to suppress provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces and military threats to the territory and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, to ensure the safety of the military personnel, including civilian workers involved in infrastructure work in the territory of Kalbajar and Lachin districts.
Boom Supersonic, the Colorado startup at Centennial Airport thats been developing a vision of a new supersonic airliner, is parting ways with Rolls-Royce, the jet engine manufacturer that it had listed as a partner on the project.

Rolls-Royce had built the Olympus engines that powered the Anglo-French Concorde, the supersonic jetliner that resembled Booms sleek, 4-engine design. The Concorde left service in 2003.

After careful consideration, Rolls-Royce has determined that the commercial aviation supersonic market is not currently a priority for us and, therefore, will not pursue further work on the program at this time, the company said in a statement last week, noting that its contract with Boom was complete.

The engine is the linchpin, said Jon Ostrower, editor-in-chief of the aviation journal The Air Current, mirroring some doubtful remarks from commentators on Booms prospects to stay on schedule following the separation.

Boom, which has announced it will fly the first Overture by 2026, had achieved wide acclaim for its design  a little smaller and slower than Concorde, but slated to cross from New York to London in three-and-a-half hours, carrying 65 to 80 passengers.

Last month, American Airlines announced it was making a nonrefundable deposit on up to 20 Overtures, and United Airlines had previously committed to 15 supersonics. Defense aviation contractor Northrup Grumman had joined in a partnership for special mission variants of Overture.

Boom continually stresses Overtures environmental features, saying it would fly 100% carbon neutral by burning sustainably produced aviation fuel rather than conventional, petroleum-based jet fuel.

Those and other claims have drawn doubts from some experts, but the question of obtaining a suitable engine is seen as a daunting hurdle for the aircraft.

In an interview last month with The Denver Gazette, Boom CEO Blake Scholl stressed that a selling point of Overture is that it relies on off-the-shelf technology thats been proven on current subsonic airliners. All the technology we need has been tested and used on other aircraft, he said.

But aviation experts say a power plant that can push even a smaller airliner past the speed of sound requires a leap beyond current engines.

Boom released a statement timed with Rolls message. We are appreciative of Rolls-Royces work over the last few years, but it became clear that Rolls proposed engine design and legacy business model is not the best option for Overtures future airline operators or passengers.

Later this year, it continued, we will announce our selected engine partner and our transformational approach for reliable, cost-effective and sustainable supersonic flight. Boom offered no additional clarification despite inquiries from The Denver Gazette.

There are three other major engine manufacturers, including GE Aerospace, and CFM, a consortium owned by GE and French aerospace giant Safran. GE had been designing an engine for Nevada-based Aerion Supersonic before Aerion recently shut down operations. Safran Landing Systems is listed as a partner on the Boom Overture project.

Boom, with 250 employees and contractors, says it will test a Baby Boom mini-supersonic in California before years end and is planning a 70,000-square-foot testbed for a full-scale Overture aircraft for a site near Centennial Airport.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reports almost 36,000 doses of the COVID-19 omicron variant vaccines were administered through Monday.

The state is using its robust network of COVID-19 vaccine providers to distribute and administer the new omicron COVID-19 vaccines across Colorado, including primary care offices, local public health clinics, pharmacies, and mobile vaccine buses, Kristen Stewart, COVID-19 Joint Information Center spokesperson, said in an email.

Department officials recommend anyone aged 12 years and older who has completed a COVID-19 primary vaccine series get an omicron dose, including people who have received any number of booster doses. But people should get their omicron dose at least two months after their most recent dose  either their completed primary series or most-recent booster dose.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the boosters from Moderna and Pfizer earlier this month, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending the shots a day later. Colorado is expected to get nearly 300,000 doses of the boosters, according to the state Department of Public Health and Environment.

Nine other community vaccine clinics will open throughout the state to help distribute the boosters over the next two weeks. The community vaccine clinics will be located in Colorado Springs, Commerce City, Durango, Grand Junction, Pueblo, Frisco, Fort Collins, Longmont and Federal Heights. The booster is also available in primary care offices, community health centers and pharmacies.

CVS customers in some Denver locations experienced glitches late last week, where they scheduled appointments and showed up  but the appointments were canceled.

Some CVS Pharmacy locations have administered all of the Moderna bivalent COVID-19 vaccine received from the federal government to date, requiring the cancellation of a limited number of appointments, CVS spokesman Matt Blanchette said in an email. Impacted patients are being notified and are encouraged to reschedule for either an available Pfizer dose at another CVS Pharmacy location or for a Moderna dose at a later date.

Although patients find vaccine providers through the states vaccine locator web page, and link to the federal website vaccines.gov, they share federal resources on our website, but we do not book or fulfill those appointments, Stewart said.

CDPHE ordered the full 145,200 doses allocated to Colorado during the first two phases of pre-ordering, said Stewart. CDC (Centers for Disease Control) determined this threshold on a pro rata basis. Colorado retail pharmacies have also ordered 143,800 doses through the federal retail pharmacy distribution channel. We anticipate recurring state allocations moving forward and ample supply to meet demand.

Colorado was the third state in the U.S. to detect the omicron variant of COVID-19, which made up an estimated 82% of COVID-19 cases as of July and is still considered the dominant strain of the virus.
The Denver City Council on Monday night approved two measures on homelessness, one of which allows a group to operate a homeless tent site in a city-owned parking lot.

That measure approves a license agreement with Colorado Village Collaborative to operate a "Safe Outdoor Space" in the Arie P. Taylor building's parking lot. The building is located at 4685 Peoria Street, north of Interstate 70.

Under that agreement, the site will support up to 60 tents and 70 residents and Colorado Village Collaborative will erect a fence surrounding it. The group will provide its own water and electricity, a minimum of two staffers on site, basic amenities, including food, toilets and communal facilities.

The proposal passed on an 11-1 vote, with District 5 councilwoman Amanda Sawyer being the sole "no" vote.

"We should be looking at long term solutions that supports (homeless people), not (giving them) fishing tents," Sawyer said during Monday's meeting. "Although I recognize the good work CVC has done to support our unhoused residents, I dont believe the city should be using ARPA dollars to fund this program."

Sawyer previously opposed similar legislation and called the ARPA funds a "pot of gold" that should be used to fund long-term solutions, such as substance abuse recovery and mental health support beds.

Under the agreement, the license will cost CVC a total of $10, as previous licenses have. The City of Denver also retains "the absolute right to revoke the license for any reason," and must give a 15 day written notice to the group before terminating the agreement.

The city council also approved a $2 million contract with the Denver Basic Income Project to provide monthly cash assistance to 140 women and families experiencing homelessness. The contract will provide up to $1,000 per month for one year to eligible individuals using the shelter system.

"Just as important as housing and shelter is a regular source of income for those experiencing homelessness," Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said.

Hancock said the direct cash payments will help families in shelters "move into stable housing" and keep them in that housing. It will also open space in Denver shelters so that more people can be helped, he said.

The University of Denver's Center for Housing and Homelessness Research will evaluate the program and focus on housing outcomes, psychological health improvements and substance use.

"We are confident in the resiliency of our residents," Department of Housing Stability Executive Director Britta Fisher said. "Residents can leverage a small amount of basic income to work best in their own unique circumstances and resolve their episode of homelessness."

According to a January 2022 report from the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, 6,888 people experienced homelessness in Denver in 2021. This marks a 12.8% increase over 2020 levels.
Coloradans offer flowers at a makeshift shrine that has been erected in front of the Arvada Police Department in memory of Officer Dillon Michael Vakoff, who was killed in the line of duty. (Luige Del Puerto, The Denver Gazette)
Ooredoo Group is reportedly considering the sale of its tower infrastructure, following a slew of other operators in raising capital through asset sales to fund growth plans.

Sources speaking to Reuters said the Qatar-based group is looking to sell domestic and international towers, and that negotiations are taking place and there is no certainty on a sale. The sources did not detail who the interested parties are or how much the company is looking to raise from a potential sale.

Ooredoo declined to comment to the news agency.

The company recently confirmed its exit from Myanmar, following rival Telenor out of the country which is seeing mounting political turmoil in the past 18 months

Operators in the Philippines have been active in the sale of their tower assets as they look to fund network expansions to fund their 5G deployments and new growth channels.

Converge ICT Solutions is reportedly in negotiations to sell shares of its infrastructure platform to raise around US$1 billion. Meanwhile, Globe Telecom and PLDT recently wrapped up separate billion-dollar tower deals.
Satcoms giant Hughes has again been involved in deals that will deliver remote connectivity, this time in both India and Costa Rica.

The companys Indian division, Hughes Communications India (HCI), has launched the countrys first commercial high-throughput satellite (HTS), using capacity from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)s GSAT satellite service. This follows a year-long trial in selected parts of northern India.

The Hughes HTS service combines Ku-band from ISROs GSAT-11 and GSAT-29 satellites with the Hughes Jupiter platform. The result, says HCI, will be the delivery of high-speed broadband in many parts of the country, including some of the most remote areas.

Indians Economic Times says the HTS is able to support 4G backhaul, 5G backhaul, Wi-Fi connectivity for community internet and mobility services both on land and in the air. It will also improve rural inclusion.

Hughes has initially contracted 1Gbps of capacity on the HTS but expects this to grow to 10Gbps-100Gbps. HCI Senior VP Shavaji Chatterjee was quoted in the Economic Times as saying that the initial HTS broadband service will have internet speeds in the range of 2-10 Mbps.

A number of industry clients have apparently already been signed up for the service. They include companies involved in banking and SMEs, as well as broadband and 4G telecom operators.

Remote connectivity is a theme of another Hughes deal, this time with Itellum Comunicaciones Costa Rica, a licensed internet service provider,which has selected Hughes managed satellite services to deliver high-speed internet throughout Costa Rica.

The managed solution combines capacity from the Hughes Jupiter 2 high-throughput satellite (HTS) with Jupiter ground network equipment, enabling Itellum to offer internet service to Costa Ricans who live and work where fibre and wireless services are not available.
The Government of Cuba: In Its Darkest Hour Castroism has ended up with nothing to offer and, with no ideology or 'achievements of the Revolution' to offer, the only way out now is to revitalize the country's economy.

For the classical Greeks, a crisis (krinein) was a situation of profound, uncertain, sudden and violent changes, with hardly reversible consequences that transcended a given scenario. In 1959 the Revolution began in Cuba, which has proven both a crisis and a tragedy.

Over the course of this chronically difficult period, there have been extreme downturns, such as the first years of the Revolution, the last five years of the 70s, and, especially, the 90s. Now, since 2017, this perpetual Cuba's crisis has been worsening again.

Yes, we are still far from the hell that Fidel Castro cynically called the "Special Period", because, comparatively speaking, today we are swimming in abundance compared to those years when there was no transportation, blackouts were the norm, and people actually went blind from hunger.

Even though the situation has not deteriorated to the depths it did 30 years ago, there have already been more and bigger protests than in the 1990s, so it can be categorically stated that Castroism is, indeed, in its darkest hour. Let's take a look at why.

The speed of the decline

Fidel Castro shored up his reign by turning Cuba into a Soviet aircraft carrier, so the geostrategic realignment after Gorbachev meant that the crisis of the 1990s hit the island very suddenly, unlike the present one, which is a slow decline.

The worst tortures are not those that provoke the greatest immediate pain, but rather those that produce sadistic, inexorable and increasing suffering. A quick event, no matter how excruciating it may be, allows for a psychological adjustment after it. A continuous process makes such psychological adjustment more difficult, as every time it seems that it could not get any worse, it does, preventing one from avoiding, apart from the crisis itself, constant frustration.

This prolonged recession, like the torment of Chinese water torture, irritates people more than that sudden depression.

Trauma

In the 1990s, even those who lived through the crises prior to the artificial heyday of the second half of the 1980s did not imagine how much worse the country could get. No one foresaw the levels of impoverishment that would be reached. The predominant emotion was surprise.

Today, a majority of Cubans, traumatized by the Special Period, know the depths to which the economy can sink... and that scares them. There is no longer surprise. Rather, the prevalent emotion is the fear of returning to that  a fear that, occasionally, exceeds that engendered by the regimes repressive forces.

A whirlwind of change

The political and economic reform during the Special Period, though major, was much slower, less far-reaching, and more reversible than the measures today.

Today's changes, although slow compared to what was done in the 90s, are a kind of whirlwind, one reminiscent of the series of the reform in the USSR, which, a priori, seemed controllable by the CPSU, but unleashed a cascade of social and economic transformations that spun out of the mafia-like, oppressive partys control.

The PCC knows it is walking a tightrope, and not even they can say how much they can transform the model without losing control. So, they are groping, and when you grope... you can fall.

Implausible propaganda

While back then the internal debacle could be explained away as an effect of the Soviet collapse, an event apparently separated from the Castro model, today's excuses, with the US "blockade" chief among them, are widely questioned. Even Raul Castro's own administrators can no longer conceal the congenital unsustainability of the Castroist model. The people do not believe.

No ideology

In the 1990s, the sacrifice was to "save socialism," which meant saving Fidel, but today the model, by all accounts, is evolving towards a crony-controlled capitalism far removed from the Marxist-Stalinist principles on which Castroism was based.

There has been a transition from a regime with a highly ideological image that only had to portray itself as a master of doctrine, to a pragmatic one that needs to prove its merit through palpable results, or impose itself by force, which is always a weakness.

The Fidel Factor

Most Cubans  even among those who opposed him  admired Fidel. A great many adored him, and absolved him of all his misdeeds. Fidel was a leader. The leadership of all the leaders since, including his heir Raul, pales in comparison to that of the founding dictator. Without Fidel, Cubans are willing to put up with far less.

Decapitalization

The Special Period hit Cuba at a time when the country still had a great deal of productive capital (machinery, infrastructure, industry), because the Soviet period left trucks, tractors, thermoelectric plants, trains, ships, agricultural machinery, irrigation systems, dams, factories and other capital goods, in a country that still had well-paved streets and houses without cracks.

Very little of that remains. The vast majority  starting with the sugar industry, the fishing fleet, and industry and agriculture  has been devastated by 30 years of use without adequate amortization or replacement.

Even if Castroism mutates into an efficient system (which is a big if!) in Cuba there is very little to work with and produce, and what remains is old and obsolete.

Foreign investment

Over the course of these 30 years Castroism has been repeatedly exposed as an unreliable business partner. Hundreds of investors have left the island with unpaid debts, and thousands of projects have never worked out because the Government always subordinates the economy to its private interests.

Fewer and fewer foreign financiers are paying attention when Castroism promises "legal security. Who wants to invest in a country with such a history of impunity and arbitrariness, and that continues to foment enmity with the United States?

The diaspora

Unlike in the 1990s, more and more emigrants are aware that, with their money, they are feeding the monster that drove them from Cuba and that is holding their relatives hostage. Although only a tiny minority will refrain from helping their loved ones, many are already limiting or placing conditions on their aid, and refusing to invest in the island.

The people

The totalitarianism that Fidel implanted with premeditation, malice, and the support of the oblivious masses, completely crushed a previously thriving civil society. The countless funerary pantheons of fraternal, professional, regional, religious, student, worker, trade union and political societies in the Columbus Cemetery evidence that civic spirit that was quashed and, until very recently, suppressed by paranoia. But Cubans reticence is fading and people today, as they never were in the 90s, are political actors; still reluctant, but emerging from their shells.

The ten points above, among others, point to the fact that, although as one commentator nicknamed Captain Nemo says, we "lived through a brutal Special Period, and we put up with it"... today it's different.

Castroism has nothing left to offer. The "social contract" on which its future depends is no longer based on ideology or the "achievements" of the Revolution, but rather on its ability to revive the economy, and if it fails to do so quickly, the people will become even more fed up with the hollow leadership of obese men whose lights never go out and whose children enjoy luxuries that are unthinkable for ordinary Cubans.

No matter how dark this hour is, however, Castroism is a weed, and weeds do not succumb on their own. To eradicate them, they must be uprooted, and their vestiges must be fumigated and burned. That weeding  a political process that is never violent  has not yet begun, but the worse this crisis gets, the more Cubans will want to remove those weeds in order to sow a new future.
By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Baku has condemned Yerevan for the provocations and deadly clashes that erupted on September 12 on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border, Azernews reports, citing the Foreign Ministry.

Responsibility for the provocation, clashes, and losses lies with the military-political leadership of Armenia. Any actions against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Azerbaijan will be resolutely prevented, the ministry said in a statement.

It added that on September 12, 2022, starting late at night, the units of the Armenian armed forces launched large-scale provocations in the directions of Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin on the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border.

In conformity with the information provided by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, sabotage groups of the Armenian armed forces planted landmines between the positions of Azerbaijan's army units and the supply roads in different directions, taking advantage of the mountainous terrain area and existing valley gaps.

Furthermore, Armenian military forces used a variety of weaponry, including mortars, to attack Azerbaijani army positions in Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions, causing casualties among the Azerbaijani military personnel, as well as inflicting damage on the military infrastructure, the ministry detailed.

In order to prevent further provocations by the armed forces of Armenia and military threats against the territory and sovereignty of our country, to ensure the safety of our military personnel, including civilian workers involved in infrastructure activities in the territory of Kalbajar and Lachin districts, the expansion of the scale of the military hostilities was averted, and in order to silence the firing points of the armed forces of Armenia, definitive retaliatory measures were taken by the units of the Azerbaijani Army deployed in this direction, it stressed.

The ministry denounced Armenia's statement about the Azerbaijani Army's alleged targeting of citizens, facilities, and infrastructure as "disinformation" and wide of the mark.

Moreover, the information disseminated by the Armenian side that the Azerbaijani Army allegedly is targeting the civilian population, facilities, and infrastructure does not reflect reality, and is another disinformation spread by the Armenian side, it stressed.

Provocations by the Armenian armed forces in the directions of Lachin, Gadabay, Dashkasan, and Kalbajar districts on the state border, as well as cases of shelling of Azerbaijani Army positions in those regions with various types of weapons, were severe and systematic throughout the preceding month. Concurrently, heightened militarization along Azerbaijani borders, as well as the deployment of heavy equipment and large-caliber weapons in the region, hinted that Armenia was preparing for a large-scale military provocation.

Furthermore, the ministry emphasized that Armenia's recent disruptive moves undercut the normalization process with Azerbaijan and indicate the country's lack of willingness in achieving regional peace.

At the same time, delaying the normalization process by Armenia with various pretexts, showing a destructive position in the negotiations conducted with international efforts, not withdrawing the Armenian armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan contrary to the obligations within the framework of trilateral statements and agreements, continuing planting landmines, including recently produced in Armenia in the territory of Lachin, putting forward new conditions and disrupting the process of opening of communications and transport routes, as well as not responding to the peace agenda demonstrated that Armenia is not interested in the peace process and aims to undermine them, the ministry underlined.

The Armenian attack against Azerbaijan is a flagrant breach of international law, as well as the requirements of the trilateral declarations made by the Azerbaijani, Armenian, and Russian leaders and the agreements established between Azerbaijan and Armenia, it added.

These steps of Armenia are completely contrary to the ongoing normalization and peace process. At the time, when Azerbaijan is carrying out large-scale restoration and construction works in these territories liberated from occupation, Armenia, by allowing aggression once again, demonstrates that it is hindering this process by all means, the statement concluded.
Under the threat of rainstorms, City of Enterprise civic and business leaders joined first responders, families, and friends gathered at the Veterans Wall of Freedom at Johnny Henderson Park in Enterprise early Sunday morning, Sept. 11, to reflect on the events of 9/11.

Twenty-one years ago today I was in the New York Army National Guard and worked at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Albany, New York, Bob Schmidbauer told the crowd assembled for the 9/11 Patriot Day Commemoration.

The Veteran Service Organizations, the Enterprise Chamber of Commerce and the City of Enterprise hosted the event to commemorate the 9/11 tragedy, remember the fallen and honor local first responders for their selfless service to the community.

Schmidbauer, who serves as the John Wiley Brock Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6683 Commander in Enterprise, was among the National Guardsmen activated to federal service within minutes of the terrorist attacks on the Eastern United States Sept. 11, 2001.

Never forget. Always remember, Schmidbauer said. Thats the motto my unit took on after the tragic events of 9/11 and we continue to use that motto today in upstate New York.

I woke up and went to work just like every other day, Schmidbauer recalled. At 7:46 a.m. the news on the television in my office waiting room started flashing that the initial plane crashed into the North Tower on the World Trade Center. I recall everyone in my office and the offices around me gathering in my office to watch the news as it unfolded on the television.

At 8:03 a.m. while watching the news, the second plane was shown flying into the South Tower of the World Trade Center and within minutes the phones of several of those in my office started ringing as we were activated to report to our National Guard units, he said.

Schmidbauer said he raced home, rapidly packed and sped to report for duty at his armory, listening to the news reports as the tragic events continued. We heard on the radio about the third plane hit the Pentagon, the South Tower collapsing, the plane crashing at Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and then the North Tower collapsing.

Schmidbauers unit headed to Camp Smith, the staging base just outside of West Point, New York. We received some briefings, received our initial gear and received our name badges and then we moved down to Battery Park which was our initial staging area. As our presence grew, we expanded to Governors Island, the 69th Avenue Armory, and the Park Avenue Armory.

Schmidbauer described his first walk from Battery Park to Ground Zero. The dust and debris and the smell of smoke permeated every inch, he said. That smell and then all the glimpse of all the carnage will stick in my mind forever. I have never smelled smoke and smog like that again.

Over the next several months, I worked recovery, mortuary affairs, security details, and family escort duty at the observation deck just beyond Ground Zero, but despite all the turmoil and despair of that day what I try to remember is how thousands of police and fire firefighters, guardsmen, active duty soldiers, volunteers, civilians, churchgoers, all rallied together, he said. Every house flew the American Flag. We rallied beside each other and supported each other. Politicians united us, they didnt divide us. What I remember is calling myself an American citizen and promising to never forget.

Schmidbauer asked the group assembled for a moment of silence which was followed by a fire bell clanged five times. Embedded in the memories of everyone who live through them, this was the day that jet planes were highjacked and crashed into the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon causing the deaths of 2,977. The passengers of the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 attempted to take back control of it and it crashed into a field near Shanksville Pennsylvania, said Enterprise Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Erin Grantham. We commemorate these attacks with a ring of a fire bell for each of them and a fifth bell rung for all of those whose lives have been impacted by the events of this day.

Veterans Service Organizations and Enterprise First Responders placed memorial wreaths at the base of the Wall of Heroes. Today we remember those whose lives were lost, and we honor the first responders who answered the call of duty. Their courage embodies the American spirit and resilience, said Enterprise Mayor William Cooper. The heroism they showed that day has continued to inspire new generations of Americans. We are proud of our Enterprise Police Department, the Enterprise Fire Department and the Enterprise Rescue Squad and each member who continues to serve us professionally and selflessly.
TALLAHASSEE  When Robert Hansens father died, it was his uncle, Albert Seaburg, who stepped in as a father figure for him and his and four siblings.

He took us to Disneyland and other trips to Colorado to take our minds off what happened, Hansen told the Democrat. He was our father figure.

Seaburg, a World War ll veteran who as a big-shot engineer had a key role in the design of Illinois first nuclear reactor, never had kids of his own and lived most of his life in West Chicago, where he cared for his sisters fatherless children.

Uncle Al, he would always be wisecracking, Hansen said. And even though he was a big shot, he was so down to Earth.

On Sept. 4, 1997, Seaburg drove from Chicago to Tallahassee to settle his aunts estate.

He booked a night at the Best Inn motel on North Monroe Street at around 9 p.m.

Within hours, the 71-year-old was found with two fatal gunshot wounds in what investigators called a botched robbery.

Two suspects, described by witnesses as blond twenty-somethings with shoulder-length hair, were seen casing the motel throughout the day, according to Tallahassee Democrat archives. They left in a mid-80s white Honda Accord with Mississippi tags.

Soon after the shooting, composite sketches of the suspects were drawn up from witness accounts.

However, in the 25 years since Seaburgs murder, the case has grown cold. No arrests have been made, and there are no new leads.

However, LCSO has hired a part-time detective dedicated to cases like this.

While we dont have any updates to report currently on Mr. Seaburgs case, this is a first step in seeking justice for his murder and for other families impacted by these unsolved crimes, said LCSO spokesperson Angela Green.

Were hopeful there is someone out there who has information about what happened that day. With the communitys support, we hope new information will come to light and assist us in the investigation.

She added that anonymous tipsters who call 850-606-3300 may be eligible for cash rewards of $500 to $5,000 dollars if their information leads to an arrest connected to the cold case.

Hansen created unsolvedmurder.com in 1999 to attract attention to the case in the hopes to jog something loose, but nothings come of it.

We go on with our daily lives and we dont really get emotional about it until we talk about it, like I am now, Hansen, 62, said through tears Thursday. My mom, Ruth Hansen  his only sibling  passed away in 2009, unfortunately, before the case was solved.

On the day of his uncles death, Hansen, who was 36, was at work at the post office when he got a call from an Elmhurst police officer, who relayed what he just heard from an LCSO deputy.

The postmaster came and got me, Hansen said. I was told and I basically collapsed on the floor and screamed because it was so hard to believe.

Hansen mailed out at least two thousand wanted posters to convenience stores and police stations in addition to contacting politicians who said they would try and bring attention to it.

He said he still emails LCSO once in a while, hoping for a chance confession or a discovery through DNA analysis.

Now its just waiting and hoping after so many years, he said. Im still hopeful.
A section of a Mekong's tributary flows through Dong Thap Province in Vietnam's Mekong Delta in April, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Tai

The Mekong River Commission has updated its monitoring and flood forecasting front page to provide better information on the Mekong conditions.

The commission's Flood and Drought Forecast and Monitoring page has recently been revitalized since the last improvement in 2018 with a new interface, the MRC, an inter-governmental organization that works with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam to manage water resources and development of the Mekong River, said in a Tuesday statement.

The upgraded version provides an immediate update as well as overview of the current status of the river condition, including flood forecasting, risk of flash floods, drought forecast, and rainfall distribution over the Lower Mekong River Basin.

People who live along the mainstream river like in Chiang Saen in Thailand, Vientiane in Laos, Phnom Penh in Cambodia or Tan Chau in Vietnam, can now check the river conditions on the front page of the MRC's website.

A screenshot of the Mekong river monitoring and forecasting front page by the MRC.

River flood forecast is updated every morning. Districts at risk of flash floods are highlighted.

Drought information is forecasted weekly and the rainfall distribution over the basin is visualized from 144 hydrometeorological stations classified in different rainfall depths.

The Mekong River Basin supports nearly 70 million people, providing energy, transport, tourism and other income-generating development opportunities.

As climate and weather patterns become more volatile, flood and drought events in the Mekong have become more frequent and intense with growing potential to cause devastating damage to the regions food security and economies, according to the MRC.
September 12, 2022 | 08:14 pm PT

Vietnam's plan to attract big spenders from the Middle East would be a tough mission, given cultural and visa reasons, according to readers.

"It would be very difficult as there are many other destinations that are more attractive to rich Middle Eastern tourists."

esmira.garayevah

"Welcome to Vietnam,where the national pastime is drinking alcohol and eating pork."

english52

"HAVE to change the skimpy visa system first. Arabs don't eat pork either. so have to supply HALAL food.. ooooooh. Difficult.!!"

onecutedog

"Better yet, just build a big mosque in Ha Long Bay. They will come in flock."

durtisolte

"Many tourists from the Middle East want to visit Vietnam, and most of them are from Saudi Arabia. As you mentioned, they spend generously on tourism, where they live in five-star hotels, eat in luxury restaurants, and shop for souvenirs and gifts.

But the problem and the obstacle is the visa system to enter Vietnam, where the Vietnamese authorities arranged for them to book a package for the entire trip, and the tourist offices began to take high and unreasonable price, which led to leaving travel to Vietnam and going to other countries that welcome them to obtain visas from airports such as Europe, America and Asian tourist countries.We hope that the Vietnamese visa system will be modified."

Smile Rawi
A floating market in Soc Trang Province in the Mekong Delta is seen from above. Photo by Tran Minh Luong

U.K.-based cruise line Emerald Cruises has announced their tour itineraries for 2023 and 2024, enabling tourists to discover Southeast Asia, including Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

For an 8-day tour, the cruise departs from Ho Chi Minh City before visiting small communities in the Mekong Delta where tourists will explore the ancient house of Huynh Thuy Le who inspired Marguerite Duras' famous novel "LAmant" ("The Lover"), and will visit a scarf weaving factory.

The journey also allows visitors to drop by the Killing Fields & Tuel Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh before traveling to the Oudong Temple.

The tour scheduled to depart on August 26 next year costs from $1,694 per person.

For a 19-day itinerary that is scheduled to depart from Hanoi on August 19 next year, visitors would cruise the emerald waters of Ha Long Bay in a traditional junk boat before heading to HCMC and embarking on a river cruise along the Mekong River to visit the Mekong Delta, Vietnam's rice bowl and aquaculture hub.

The journey that ends in Cambodias Siem Reap, costs from $4,503 per person.

For a 15-day journey scheduled to depart on August 23, 2024, visitors will embark on a luxury cruise from Siem Reap along the Mekong River to visit flower villages and small communities in the Mekong Delta before finishing the journey in HCMC, the cruise line said on its website.

The tour also allows visitors to navigate Phnom Penh by tuk-tuk, receive a blessing from a Buddhist monk and take their seat at Cambodia's world-famous Phare circus. Prices start from $3,568 per person.

Each river tour are able to accommodate a maximum of 84 guests.

Last year, Vietnam was named Asia's best river cruise destination by World Cruise Awards, the most prestigious prize in the global cruise tourism industry.

Vietnam has a dense river network containing 2,360 rivers with a total length of more than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).
A man approached Pham Thien An, who was standing on HCMCs Nguyen Hue street with a free hugs sign. The stranger hugged An.

"How was your day?" Thien An asked with a smile.

"My day was awful," said Doan Thanh Long, breaking into tears. An gave him another warm hug and patted his shoulder.

Long, a District 12 resident, revealed that it had been two years since he had received a hug with open arms from someone.

Even as a kid, he knew he was not straight, and wished he could dress like a girl. He didnt dare to reveal his gender orientation to relatives since he was born into a traditional, conservative family, with his father serving in the army.

After a series of "family events" in 2018, he became depressed and tended to confine himself within the four walls of his house. Over the past four years, he has visited several therapists and his depression has subsided somewhat.

It was one day in late July that he came across An with his "free hugs" sign.

"These warm hugs helped me feel comforted and also a sense of relief," the 29-year-old said.

An has been holding many "free hugs" events on Nguyen Hue Street in District 1.

The 23-year-old native of the southern province of Long An Province describes himself as an introvert who is shy, prefers to be alone, and rarely interacts with others.

In early 2021, he moved to Da Lat Town in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong to live by himself. During his time here, he took part in a psychology and mental health discussion program. At the end of the event, participants hugged and told each other: "I want to say thank you and I am sorry."

He recalled that he was shy on the first day and did not hug anyone. Someone then took the initiative to hug him and that action gave him "indescribable" feelings.

"In the days that followed, I began to open up more."

Later, he moved to Hanoi and lived there for a year. He was helped a lot by strangers in the midst of the pandemic. This inspired him to help others, not just physically, but also emotionally.

He launched the "free hugs" movement after relocating to HCMC.

While others have done the "free hugs" activity before, An feels the focus has been on the physical act of hugging strangers in public spaces and not so much on the feelings of the participants.

So he set out on the mission of reaching out and bringing people a bit closer to each other.

"I still call it 'free hugs' to make it easier to hear and understand. Actually, the real name of my movement is called The Stories Of The Hugs."

He arrives at his designated spot of the day at 7 p.m with a sign that reads: "Free hugs. Keep going. Youre doing great." After placing the sign on the street, he stands with his arms outstretched in invitation.

"Hello, how are you today?" he asks before giving a hug to the person prepared to receive it. He also prepares small gifts - 99 different positive messages, 99 flowers or candy.

An (R) poses for a photo with Long (L) and a female participant next to his "free hugs" sign on Nguyen Hue Street in HCMC. Photo by VnExpress/Minh Tam

Since his first outing on February 6, he has done it five times on the Nguyen Hue pedestrian street and once in Vung Tau Town.

He said he was quite shy during the first "free hugs" session because he lacked the confidence and courage. But after some strangers came to give him the first few hugs and shared their stories, it gave him motivation to stand there for three hours.

"People didn't hesitate to give me hugs and share their feelings and stories, making me feel like that what I do is meaningful and helpful to them."

He said one of his most memorable experiences was when a 12-year-old child beggar came to him one evening in July, saying "Thank you for making me feel like hugging my grandfather."

According to the boy, his grandfather had died almost a year ago. He was frequently hugged and comforted by his grandfather as a child, so every night that An appeared, the boy ran to hug him and receive a candy.

"Everyone needs a hug at some point in their lives. It is not only a message to help us understand that we are not alone, but it also has a lot of spiritual value," An said.

For many, An has become a familiar sight over the last three months.

Tran Quang Phung of District 1 said hed seen many videos on TikTok about the "free hugs" movement, but this was the first time the 18-year-old had the chance to experience it firsthand.

"After a bad day, a hug can be a medicine to dispel fatigue and give one more motivation," said the college freshman.

After two weeks of travelling in Vietnam, Elia, a Spanish tourist, was surprised to get a free hug in a public space.

"This is probably going to be an unforgettable trip for me," she said.

"A young man hugged me, smiled, and said good luck. It was fascinating. I assumed that this movement was only available in Europe."

A foreign tourist participates in Ans free hug movement on HCMCs Nguyen Hue Street. Photo by VnExpress/Minh Tam

According to a 2020 survey conducted by BBC of 40,000 people from 112 countries, the most common words used to describe physical touch were: "comforting," "warm" and "love".

Hugs, according to psychologists, produce oxytocin also known as the "love hormone." The more one is touched or hugged, the more it is produced. These are hormones that have been shown to reduce stress.

Vo Minh Thanh, a psychology lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City Pedagogical University, said it was a traditional practice for people in Western countries to greet each other with hugs and kisses on the cheeks. However, Vietnamese are not used to such displays of affection, especially in public spaces.

"But we should look at it as a more positive and optimistic way. People should change their mindset and recognize that hugging is more than just physical touch; that it is a form of bringing people closer together and spreading love," he said.

A simple hug can go along way, especially when some young people feel lonely and isolated within their own family, Thanh said.

An said he hoped to take his initiative to more localities in Vietnam.

"I believe this will help lonely people make more friends and spark many meaningful relationships."
In Somalia and elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, people have been waiting for rain for months, sometimes for years. Some parts of the region have now experienced an unheard-of four consecutive failed rainy seasons. Unfortunately, according to the World Meteorological Organization, there is a high probability that the Horn of Africa will experience a fifth failed rainy season in October. This means another season of failed crops and millions of dead cattle, leading to hunger, malnutrition and in the most extreme cases, death.



In early September, the UNs Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Famine Review Committee warned that without a strong upsurge of emergency humanitarian assistance, the Buur Hakaba and Baidoa districts of southern Somalia will suffer famine between October and December of this year. The threshold for a declaration of famine is high: if 20 percent of households face an extreme lack of food, if 30 percent of children suffer acute malnutrition, and if, for every 10,000 people in the region, 2 adults or 4 children will die every day due to starvation, or malnutrition and disease caused by lack of food.



The United States is gravely concerned by [the Famine Review Committees] stark forecast and by the outsized scale of humanitarian need throughout the country, said the U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power. More than 7 million people are facing grave hunger, and many of them are facing outright starvation.



This famine can still be avoided. Today, a significant increase in humanitarian assistance can still help prevent mass starvation and deaths, said Administrator Power. But The window to prevent this famine projection from becoming a reality is closing quickly and the next several weeks are critical.



For its part, the United States government, working through USAID, has delivered over half of all humanitarian funding for Somalia in 2022. USAID funding for drought in Somalia has been more than $668 million this fiscal year alone, and we are prepared to do more, said Administrator Power.



However, No one donor or government can solve this crisis alone, which is why we urgently call on all donors  both traditional and emerging donors  to step up now to help prevent mass starvation and deaths. Waiting for a famine is not an option.
The political deadlock between rival centers of power in Libya erupted in deadly violence in August, with competing militias firing on one another in Tripoli before a tense calm was restored.



The violence broke out on August 27, leaving at least 30 people dead and some 170 people injured, according to Libyan authorities. Tensions between rival political camps have been simmering in the country after the failure to hold long-awaited elections last December. Since then, political leaders in the country have been unable to agree on a clear roadmap to elections.

As Secretary of State Blinken stated on September 3, The outbreak of violence in Tripoli...underscored the unsustainability of the situation in Libya, making clear the need for all sides to work in good faith and with a sense of urgency to reach agreement on a constitutional framework and concrete timeline for elections. And to that end, the United States welcomes the appointment of Abdoulaye Bathily as the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Libya. The United States will provide full support to Special Representative Bathily, and we call upon the international community to work in lockstep with him as he mediates the Libya-led political process.



At a United Nations Security Council briefing, U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, Senior Advisor for Special Political Affairs, called the recent violence the outcome of Libyas political leaders abject failure to place the common good above their political interests and to work towards long-term peace and stability for the Libyan people.



He warned that the people are losing hope that Libyas leaderscan achieve agreement on a constitutional framework for elections to allow Libyans their rightful opportunity to select their leaders peacefully. He noted that the people are deprived of basic public services while the powerful cut deals dividing up the countrys oil revenues, thereby robbing the Libyan people of their national wealth.



Libya is on a precipice, declared Ambassador DeLaurentis. We call on all parties in Libya to refrain from violence. . . We call on those outside Libya who have encouraged violence through political, financial, and military support to cease their interference and respect the arms embargo. We call on all parties to turn away from the path to war and to work together towards peace and stability.
By Trend

The meeting of Executive Secretary of Nizami Ganjavi International Center Rovshan Muradov with High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Angel Moratinos was held with the aim to strengthen joint cooperation, Trend reports.

During the meeting discussions in connection with the high-level meeting on 'Peace, security and problems caused by the climate crisis, and the approach of partners to this', which will be organized by Nizami Ganjavi International Center in September in New York within the framework of the UN General Assembly.

An exchange of views on the upcoming events of the International Center, the X Global Baku Forum took place.
CARSON CITY  The Nevada Excellence in Mine Reclamation Award for 2022 was announced during a presentation ceremony Sept. 10 at the Nevada Mining Associations Safety Awards Luncheon in South Lake Tahoe.

Kinross Gold Corp.KG Mining received an award for Leadership in Concurrent Mine Reclamation for their work at the Bald Mountain Mine in White Pine County.

Reclamation by KG Mining involved a partial backfill of the RBM pit with 17 million tons of non-ore material covered with an alluvial layer and growth media, followed by approximately 49 acres of seeding. In addition, the RBM rock disposal area was recontoured to no greater than 2.5:1 slope, and 98 acres were seeded.

This concurrent mine reclamation reduced disturbance within the migration corridor for the Area 10 mule deer herd. This herd is considered one of the largest in Nevada. The corridor is a transitional habitat between winter and summer ranges.

In addition to the already completed reclamation activities, any new disturbance within designated mule deer migration corridors is reclaimed as soon as the activity in the area is complete.

The goal of the annual Nevada reclamation awards is to encourage operators and explorers to submit reclamation projects which raise industry standards, increase public awareness of the positive aspects of mining, and encourage innovation in reclamation techniques.

The concurrent reclamation represented by this years award winner demonstrates a large commitment to improvement of wildlife habitat at an active mine, said Mike Visher, administrator for the Nevada Division of Minerals. In showcasing this work we hope to draw attention to the continued efforts by Nevadas mining industry to lead the nation in successful reclamation, community partnerships, and environmental protection practices.

The evaluation committee also recognized Coeur Mining for the revegetation test plot program at the Sterling Mine near Beatty. This project was not eligible for an award at this time, but the committee recognized the project for its innovative revegetation strategy, citing Coeurs approach, investment, and effort in such a challenging environment.

Coeur sought to develop a robust reclamation program that could be used for future revegetation success by investing in a site-wide reclamation study. Reclamation specialists identified the Wood Canyon Formation, an overburden material, as having suitable agronomic properties that would enhance soil water holding capacity.

Coeur constructed two one-acre test plots with soils derived from the Wood Canyon Formation and seeded the plots with a site-specific mix of local, native seeds. The test plots were seeded in February 2021 and will undergo continued evaluation in the years to come. The results will be used by agencies to inform site-specific reclamation targets for this current reclamation program and other nearby reclamation projects.

This is the 31st year of the Nevada Excellence in Mine Reclamation Awards. The awards committee consists of representatives from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, the Nevada Department of Wildlife, the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Forest Service, and the Nevada Division of Minerals.

To grant an award, the committee must unanimously vote that a submission exhibits excellent mitigation of the environmental impacts of mineral industry activity, demonstrates work efforts which go above and beyond what is mandated, and represents an exemplary narrative to be shared with others in the industry, as well as with the public.

For more information about submitting or nominating an entity for the award, visit the Nevada Division of Minerals website at minerals.nv.gov.
Editor's note: In the last almost one decade, the Belt and Road Initiative has been an integral part of the global economy and has greatly bolstered developing economies. It is an initiative for peaceful development and economic cooperation which covers different regions. Three experts share their views with China Daily on how the initiative can bring more benefits to the world.

China, Central Asia begin new page

By Djoomart Otorbaev

From Sept 14 to 16, President Xi Jinping will attend the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, and pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The visits will be the first by the Chinese leader abroad since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

The beginning of this year has already been marked by important events in the relations between the countries of Central Asia and China.

The Chinese president and the leaders of all five Central Asian countries held a virtual summit on Jan 25, 2022, marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations. At the meeting, the presidents discussed the results of joint work and outlined the horizons for further cooperation. It should be noted that next year marks 10 years since the Belt and Road Initiative was first proposed, when Chinese President Xi Jinping called on countries in Central Asia to work together to build the Silk Road Economic Belt.

During the leaders' virtual meeting in January, the Chinese president presented five concrete proposals for future cooperation with Central Asia.

The first was related to the deepening of neighbourly relations based on the principles of friendship, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness. President Xi specially mentioned that China opposes interference in the internal affairs of countries on any pretext.

Second, the participants decided to strengthen their economic relations. The Chinese leader stressed that China is ready to open its markets for goods and services from Central Asia. By 2030, China plans to bring the annual volume of mutual trade to $70 billion. In comparison, according to the Ministry of Commerce of China, the volume of trade between China and the countries of Central Asia in the first 11 months of 2021 amounted to approximately $45 billion. To achieve better connectivity new logistics and trade corridors between the countries will be built. The development of a feasibility study and construction of a new China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway route will be accelerated, and it is expected that during the SCO Summit in Samarkand the leaders of the three countries will sign an agreement on the construction of this railway.

Third, special attention is to be paid to ensuring regional security and deepening cooperation to counter terrorism, radicalization, separatism and cyber threats. Particular attention should also be given to stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan. It should be noted that Afghanistan was mentioned as part of greater Central Asia, and the Chinese president reiterated that China supports the establishment of an inclusive government in Afghanistan and freeing the country of terrorism and terrorist organizations. The leaders of the countries of Central Asia have repeatedly noted that the establishment of peace and stability in Afghanistan should be a priority in the development of this country.

The fourth recommendation was to strengthen cultural and humanitarian ties between China and the Central Asian countries. President Xi suggested opening joint cultural centers in the countries and said that centers would like Central Asia to become a vibrant attraction for visits by Chinese tourists. He also announced that China will provide more university scholarships for students from Central Asia.

And finally, the Chinese leader announced that China will provide a grant to the countries of Central Asia in the amount of $500 million to help them realize the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

It is important to note that despite the growth of foreign direct investment in Central Asia, Central Asian countries' share in the global GDP remains low compared to other developing regions. The Boston Consulting Group estimates that between 2008 and 2016, the total FDI in Central Asia amounted to 18.2 percent of the world's annual GDP. In comparison, the FDI in North Africa reached 26.8 percent, in Central America 35.9 percent, and in the Balkans 47.2 percent.

The North African and Balkan territories are close to the European Union, and Central America is close to the United States. It is these two centers of global economic power that channel much of their FDI to the neighbouring regions. But the Chinese economy is on par with the economies of the EU and the US. The question is: Can China invest more in its adjacent territories, as other economically strong countries have done in their neighbouring regions, and become the FDI leader in Central Asia? Data show that ample opportunities exist.

According to the latest statistics, this year the Chinese economy is experiencing an investment boom. In August 2022, Bloomberg reported that Chinese mainland companies alone have raised a record $58 billion in initial public offerings this year, compared to $19 billion raised in the US and $9.9 billion in Europe. Considering China's economic power and its geographic, political and economic proximity to Central Asia, the untapped potential for cooperation is apparent. The implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative opens up unlimited possibilities for this. And multifaceted cooperation of our countries has good prospects.

The author is a professor at the Belt and Road School at Beijing Normal University, and former prime minister of Kyrgyz Republic.

A milestone for partnership with ASEAN

By Ong Tee Keat

The establishment of the China-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) in 2021 was a well-deserved outcome of China's partnership diplomacy with its Southeast Asian neighbors.

While the naysayers try to portray the enduring China-ASEAN dialogue relations as a tool for Beijing to establish an exclusionary and hierarchical regional order centered on the gravity of China's economic might, the regional bloc continues to benefit from the inclusive and symbiotic Belt and Road Initiative through connectivity-based collaboration. The largely economy-driven Belt and Road cooperation has presented to the region and the world a stable, resilient and egalitarian model of cooperation.

China, the first dialogue partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has been the biggest trading partner of the bloc for the past 13 years, while ASEAN surpassed the European Union as the largest trading partner of China amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

New drivers for economic cooperation are earmarked to be brought to the table to help boost the post-pandemic economic recovery in the region. Vaccine research and production, alongside the digital economy, green economy and blue economy, to name just a few, are all set to boost the collaboration between China and ASEAN.

The maritime-based blue economy is a case in point. At the ASEAN Summit last year, the ASEAN Leaders' Declaration on the Blue Economy was adopted, signifying the bloc's determination to promote the sustainable development of the blue economy, thus opening another window of opportunity for cooperation with China.

In retrospect, it was the inception of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 that triggered the anxiety among Western countries over the growing sphere of Chinese influence. By the same token, the Global Development Initiative that President Xi Jinping debuted in his speech at the Plenary session of the United Nations General Assembly last year might have made the Western countries even more unsettled as it is essentially more encompassing than the connectivity-driven BRI. The new initiative President Xi proposed is a vivid embodiment of the Chinese vision of building "a community with a shared future for mankind" to realize common development through international cooperation. The consistency of the Global Development Initiative with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has resonated well among the international community, notably among the developing countries.

In the context of ASEAN, the complementarity of the Global Development Initiative with the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 in the fields of regional political security, economic development and socio-culture looks set to serve as a coveted instrument in endearing the world's second-largest economy to the regional bloc. Indeed, the Global Development Initiative offers the latter a timely solution to help realize the long-hatched ideals of establishing an ASEAN Political-Security Community; ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. For China, it makes an ideal multi-dimensional platform for deepening and broadening collaboration with ASEAN beyond economic cooperation.

Amid the prevailing tide of de-globalization and geopolitical rivalry, this development model, consistent with the concept of "prosper-thy-neighbor" is a refreshing model. It can serve as a viable means for confidence building, managing disputes and addressing the trust deficit, all of which constitute the key building blocks for peace amid the current rising tensions and uncertainties.

From this perspective, China-ASEAN relations are no exception. Their essence lies not in the nomenclature of a comprehensive strategic partnership per se, but more in the ensuing efforts to strengthen mutual trust through multi-dimensional capacity development and confidence building between ASEAN and China.

The establishment of the China-ASEAN CSP signifies the high level of maturity in their relationship. This should be reflected in the breadth and depth of their cooperation and the institutional mechanisms for exchange on multiple levels and in multiple sectors. In this context, the Global Development Initiative is a practical solution that serves the contemporary needs of ASEAN.

By and large, Chinese diplomatic endeavors are not explicitly security-driven. Yet in reality, the robust expansion of functional economic cooperation helps build trust and confidence between trade partners. In this respect, the multi-dimensional model of the Global Development Initiative is no doubt a good enabler in helping China to build trust with ASEAN, thus paving the way for establishing a regional community with a shared future, where the security architecture is inseparable from the regional agenda.

Under the current circumstances, ASEAN is caught in the web of the Sino-US geopolitical tussle. It is engaged in a difficult balancing act of engaging with both sides against the backdrop of the US making no bones that its newly proposed "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity" is largely designed to contain China. ASEAN's ability to tread a delicate line between the two major powers looks set to be put to test again. Nonetheless, the regional bloc should not allow itself to be unduly distracted by the West's risk-portrayal narratives about it being drawn into the orbit of Chinese partnership diplomacy.

ASEAN should by now be mature and confident enough to know that its handling of relations with both the rival powers need not be a binary choice. After all, it is the long-term interests of its 650 million people that matter in the final analysis.

The author is chairman of the Centre for New Inclusive Asia in Kuala Lumpur, and the former deputy speaker of the Malaysian Parliament cum the former transport minister of Malaysia.

EU-bound Express indispensable for world economy

By Hussein Askary

It is ironic that the more hostile politicians and media in the European Union have become toward China over the past 10 years, the more reliant the economies of the EU have become on the China-EU Railway Express in the past 10 years of its existence. This paradox highlights how irrational and foolish adhering to a zero-sum-game mentality is. The real world of global economic interdependence shows that it is win-win cooperation that is the reality, not win-lose competition and geopolitical manipulations. Politicians, think tanks, and mainstream media in the West need to look at the companies involved in cooperation with their Chinese counterparts to better grasp this reality.

The CEER, which connects China with the EU by rail, has become part of the Belt and Road Initiative's China-Eurasia Corridor, which goes through Kazakhstan and Russia, and then branches through Belarus to Poland and to Finland, Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea. The busiest of the routes is the one from China through Russia (including that through Kazakhstan to Russia) and Belarus that goes to Poland and the rest of the EU. Germany is the most important destination for many of the CEER linkages, and German industries have increasingly relied on it to both receive important industrial goods such as parts and for exports' products such as auto vehicles.

The first direct freight train left Chongqing and arrived in the German city of Duisburg in 2011. That year 17 trains travelled between China and the EU. By July 2022, about 10,000 trains have made the trip. The number of trains kept doubling, sometimes tripling, from 2011 to 2021. Great efforts have been made by all nations along the routes to unify custom clearance procedures and build new facilities at the border crossings so as to make the freight corridor as efficient as possible. As a result, the duration of the trip between China and the EU has gradually shortened from 28 days to 14 days, sometimes 12.

New logistics hubs have emerged in western China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, making it a strategically important logistics crossroad along the new Silk Road. This has contributed to the economic development of Xinjiang, in tandem with China's efforts to stabilize this important region. New hubs have emerged in Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Finland and more are planned in Poland. The building of the Great Stone Industrial Park and logistics hub by China in Belarus was a milestone for China-Europe cooperation. The Finnish town of Kouvola, with just 80,000 inhabitants, became a major logistics center in Europe, when a logistics park was built there in 2017.

There are plans for the development of ports, railways, and logistics parks all along the routes. What this shows is that the Belt and Road Initiative is a bridge connecting people, improving their livelihoods, and breaking their isolation. The CEER now connects the Eurasia continent, 196 European cities and more than 90 cities in China. Besides Xinjiang, the major terminals of the CEER in China are in Xi'an, Chongqing, Chengdu, Wuhan and Yiwu.

The vitality of the CEER for China-Europe cooperation was most dramatically demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. While most transport modes between Asia and Europe were hit hard, the CEER not only continued but dramatically increased its activities. The rail corridor became literally a lifeline for Europe in its fight against the novel coronavirus, because most of the personal protection equipment, ventilators, and many medicines and medical products produced in China and urgently needed in Europe were transported by rail. This made a crucial difference to the fight against the virus in Europe.

The vitality of the CEER for the EU in general and Germany in particular was demonstrated when Deutsche Bahn Cargo, the largest German rail freight company, decided to invest in this route in 2021. In September 2021, a new freight route was opened between Hamburg and Shanghai. In December, two more routes were launched, one from Deyang (Sichuan province) to Lodz and the other from Xi'an to the port city of Gdynia. In January 2022, the Hefei-Neuss (south of Duisburg) route was launched. In November 2021"DB Cargo Transasia", a Shanghai-based subsidiary, 100 percent owned by DB Cargo, was launched. This was a clear declaration of the German company's desire to maintain and enhance the CEER.

Many opponents of the Belt and Road Initiative in the West were gleefully proclaiming their "China's dream to revive the Silk Road" was finished after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in February 2022. Reality has once again proved those politicians and think tanks wrong. Chinese companies have continued to use this route to transport goods to the EU as usual. There was even a 3.5 percent increase in the number of trains in the first half of 2022 and the number is set to further rise in the second half of 2022 as operations get back to normal.

The uninterrupted operation of the CEER amid the conflict shows how resilient and necessary the CEER is for most nations in Eurasia.

The author is a board member of the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden.
PM Pham Minh Chinh (R) and Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies Heng Swee Keat (Photo: VNA)

During his reception in Hanoi on September 12 for Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies Heng Swee Keat, Chinh suggested the two countries relevant agencies work closely together to restructure supply chain and ensure cyber security in the process of digital economic development.

He pledged to offer all possible support to Singaporean firms to do business in Vietnam and suggested developing the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park model towards a green, smart, hi-tech and innovative industrial zone.

The host proposed Singapore assist Vietnam in important fields such as digital economy, digital transformation, green energy, green financing, information technology, sustainable development, and hi-quality workforce training.

The guest said Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong expects to visit Vietnam next year when the two countries celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties and the 10th anniversary of bilateral strategic partnership.

He affirmed that the Singaporean Government wants to further boost strategic partnership with Vietnam, and pledged to step up fields of Vietnams interest to enhance political trust.

Both sides also agreed to continue working closely together to maintain ASEANs solidarity and central role.

On the East Sea issue, PM Chinh suggested Singapore work closely with Vietnam and ASEAN member states to maintain peace and stability in the region; ensure peace, safety, maritime and aviation freedom in the East Sea, strive to fully abide by the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) while promoting the finalisation of an effective, efficient and practical Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea./.
At the event (Photo: VNA)

After two months of construction, the house, which was funded by Metfone, the Cambodia-based affiliate of military-run telecom group Viettel, and MB Bank in Cambodia, has been put into use.

The work includes the house for preserving the remains of martyrs, and a flower and ornamental plant campus.

Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Nguyen Huy Tang expressed his thanks to Cambodian authorities and people for providing all possible conditions for the construction of the memorial house, a sacred place to pay tribute to Vietnamese volunteer soldiers killed in Cambodia.

He expressed his hope that the Cambodian side continues supporting Vietnam in searching for and repatriating the soldiers.

For his part, General Ek Som Oun, Commander of Military Region 5, the Royal Cambodian Army, showed his gratitude towards the Vietnamese Party, military and people for helping Cambodia topple the Pol Pot genocidal regime and revive the country. He promised to continue to give his best support for Team K73 to carry out this sacred mission in the military zone.

The construction of the House for preserving Vietnamese martyrs remains in Cambodia is one of the many meaningful activities to mark the 55th anniversary of Vietnam-Cambodia diplomatic relations./.
By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavushoglu called on Armenia to immediately stop its provocations.

The minister made the remarks on his Twitter page.

"Together with Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov we discussed Armenian provocations on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border. Armenia should immediately cease its provocations and focus on peace negotiations and cooperation with Azerbaijan within the framework of reached agreements," he said.

Similarly, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Toivo Klaar stated that the EU is in close contact with Azerbaijan and Armenia to contribute to de-escalation.

To recap, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has reported that during the night of September 13, units of the Armenian armed forces committed large-scale provocations in the Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border. As a result, there were losses among the military personnel and military infrastructure facilities were damaged.

The ministry noted that units of the Azerbaijani army deployed in these directions are taking decisive retaliatory measures in order to suppress provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces and military threats to the territory and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, to ensure the safety of the military personnel, including civilian workers involved in infrastructure work in the territory of Kalbajar and Lachin districts.
Ukraine has restored a second back-up transmission line to Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), while the main four are still out of service, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said late Monday.

"A second back-up power line to Ukraines Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been restored, enabling the operator to keep one line in reserve while the other provides the plant with the external electricity it needs for reactor cooling and other essential safety functions during shutdown, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) learnt at the site today," the IAEA said on its website.

"It was the ZNPPs last operating reactor, and it was shut down after the restoration on Saturday of a 330 kilovolt (kV) power line allowed the plant to access off-site electricity from the grid instead of relying on the reactor itself for power. A 750/330 kV line has now also been restored and it is being used to provide the plant with power required for its safety functions, with the restored 330 kV line held in reserve. The two restored lines can both receive power from the grid through the switchyard of a nearby thermal power station," it said.

"Despite these developments related to the plants access to external power, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi emphasized that the nuclear safety and security situation at the plant  located in the middle of a war zone  remained precarious. ZNPPs four main external power lines are all down and it is not currently providing electricity to households, factories and others," the report says.

"A nuclear safety and security protection zone is urgently needed and I have begun initial consultations with the relevant parties," the director general said in a statement to the IAEA board of governors.
Ukraine has not been buying Russian gas for a long time, and the country's gas transmission system can operate without its transit, Yuriy Vitrenko, CEO of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, told Interfax-Ukraine on the sidelines of the 17th YES Annual Meeting held by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation at the end of last week in Kyiv.

"The president directly says that the main risks are military risks. If there is deterioration in certain sectors of the front, then, according to our experience, we cannot help in any way. People should be prepared for everything, for the fact that while fighting lasts for a month or two, they could survive even without heating," Vitrenko said.

According to him, now the company has 1,600 subscribers in Donetsk region, while there were 300,000 of them.

He added that there are also risks of targeted attacks by Russian aggressors on energy infrastructure facilities (the conversation took place on the eve of the strike on such facilities in Kharkiv region).

"We have many situations: in Okhtyrka, in the first days of the war, the heating and utility services were deliberately bombed and the population was left without heating. Severodonetsk CHP had a similar situation, Mariupol ... there are many cases when they did this on purpose. People should prepare that the most important are military risks," Vitrenko said.

According to him, the financial issue is also important, because the prices for imported gas are very high.

Naftogaz will be able to import some volumes of gas if they are needed, but the price of (imported) gas is $2,000-2,500 (per 1,000 cubic meters), and we sell less than $200 and still do not receive funds in full," he said.

He recalled that the funds should go to the government's special fund, and from there to Naftogaz to cover this mechanism of indirect subsidies.

"Through the special fund, we should not talk about loans, loans must be repaid. When Naftogaz imports gas at $2,000 (per 1,000 cubic meters) and sells it at $200, this is not a question of a loan. The question is that the government compensates for the difference between $2,000 and $200," Vitrenko said.

As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said at YES meeting that 90 days of winter will determine the future of Ukraine and Europe.

"This will be a difficult stage  we must survive this winter. This is the most difficult winter that will be in the whole world. These are 90 days that will be a test for our faith in victory, a test for our endurance and unity, for our ability to defend ourselves, freedom and fundamental values for any person in the world. Russia is doing everything in these 90 days to break the resistance of Ukraine, Europe and the world," the head of state said.

He called on all authorities to prepare as much as possible for the heating season, in particular, for Russia to stop gas transit through Ukraine.

Minister of Energy Herman Haluschenko said at YES that Ukraine's existing energy resources and capacities are enough to pass the heating season without a blackout.

"Risk number one is military attacks: missile attacks on specific generation capacities," the minister said. According to him, this issue is being discussed with the Armed Forces, and every effort will be made to protect the generation capacity.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky discussed with Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva in a telephone conversation future cooperation to strengthen Ukraine's financial stability.

"Had a phone conversation with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. Thanked for the allocation of $1.4 billion of additional support. Discussed future cooperation to increase Ukraine's financial stability," he said on Twitter.
Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Haluschenko considers it necessary to involve the world scientific community in the process of demilitarization and de-occupation of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (NPP).

He expressed this conviction during an online meeting with researchers from Harvard and Princeton Universities, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and leading experts from Washington non-governmental organizations on Tuesday.

"Demilitarization, de-occupation and return of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant under the control of a legitimate operator is the only way to ensure nuclear security. It is necessary to use all possible international mechanisms and the authority of the scientific community to achieve this goal," Haluschenko wrote on his Facebook, announcing such a meeting.

According to him, only joint efforts can prevent a new nuclear disaster and stop the aggressor country, Russia.
Ukraine to receive funds from IMF under next RFI within month  IMF Alternate Executive Director Rashkovan

On September 12, an informal session of the Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) opened an opportunity for Ukraine to receive the next funds under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), Alternate Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund Vladyslav Rashkovan said.

"I am sure that Ukraine will receive [these funds] in less than a month," he said at a discussion organized by the Centre for Economic Strategy on Tuesday.

Rashkovan expressed confidence that there would be funds from the Fund for Ukraine and other programs.

According to him, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva discussed the prospects for financial cooperation on Tuesday.

Rashkovan recalled that on March 9, the IMF approved Ukraine's request for $1.4 billion in emergency financing under RFI and transferred the money to the country the next day.
After the liberation of more than 6,000 square kilometers since the beginning of September, the movement of Ukrainian troops continues, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in a traditional video message on Monday evening

From the beginning of September until today, our warriors have already liberated more than 6,000 square kilometers of the territory of Ukraine - in the east and south. The movement of our troops continues, he said.

I am thankful to the 57th separate motorized infantry brigade, which has recovered from heavy fighting in the east and is advancing very bravely, very confidently in the south direction. I am thankful to the 59th separate motorized infantry brigade for steadily moving forward despite everything - despite the features of the open terrain, despite the artillery of the occupiers. I am thankful to the fighters of the 128th separate mountain assault brigade for the liberation of several settlements and very effective actions to neutralize the enemy's activity.

Yesterday, we all saw the consequences of the Russian strikes. But at the same time, most of the terrorists' missiles were shot down. Nine of the twelve missiles were shot down. Seven missiles were shot down by warriors of the 138th Dnipro anti-aircraft missile brigade of the "East" air command, and two missiles were shot down by the sky defenders of the 96th Kyiv anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Center air command. Thank you, our defenders! the president stated.
The First Guards Tank Army (GTA) of the Russian Federation has greatly degraded and cannot be restored in the near future after the fighting in Kharkiv region, according to a British intelligence report published on Twitter by the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Tuesday.

Elements of the Russian forces withdrawn from Kharkiv region over the last week were from the 1st Guards Tank Army (1 GTA), which are subordinate to the Western Military District (WEMD). 1 GTA suffered heavy casualties in the initial phase of the invasion and had not been fully reconstituted prior to the Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kharkiv, the report says.

The British intelligence note that 1 GTA had been one of the most prestigious of Russias armies, allocated for the defence of Moscow, and intended to lead counter-attacks in the case of a war with NATO.

With 1 GTA and other WEMD formations severely degraded, Russias conventional force designed to counter NATO is severely weakened. It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability, the message says.
Combat losses of the Russian occupation army over the past day amounted to about 350 people of military personnel, and since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, as of Tuesday morning, September 13, amounted to about 53,300 people, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on its Facebook page.

In addition, over the past day, the Russian Federation has lost seven tanks and 22 armored combat vehicles in Ukraine, and since the beginning of the full-scale invasion  2,175 units and 4,662 units, respectively.

During the day, 10 artillery systems of the occupiers, three air defense systems and six units of automotive equipment (including tanks with fuel and lubricants) were destroyed in Ukraine. A plane, an unmanned aerial vehicle of the operational and tactical level of the enemy and 17 cruise missiles were shot down.

In total, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russian Federation has lost 1,279 artillery systems, 311 multiple rocket launchers, 165 air defense systems, 3,469 vehicles and tankers, 117 units of special equipment and 15 vessels in Ukraine. Some 244 planes and 213 helicopters were destroyed, 904 drones and 233 cruise missiles were shot down.

The General Staff stressed that the data is being clarified.

"The enemy suffered the greatest losses in Kharkiv and Donetsk directions," the summary says.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to conduct a counter-offensive operation in the southern regions of the country, which has a significant impact on the morale and military potential of Russian troops in southern Ukraine, according to the website of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Analysts note that some units of the occupation army have moved away from their forward positions in Kyselivka, which is important from an operational point of view, located 15 km northwest of Kherson.

It is the last major settlement along both the E58 highway and a railway line between current Ukrainian positions and Chornobaivka, the outermost part of Kherson City. The apparent withdrawal of Russian troops from this position may compromise the Russians ability to defend the northwestern outskirts of Kherson City and suggests that Russian troops in this area perceive an imminent threat to their positions, the message says.

The ISW says that Ukrainian operations in Kharkiv Oblast are unlikely to have had such a dramatic psychological effect on Russian troops this far south, and both the withdrawal of troops from forward positions in Kyselivka and reports of surrender negotiations are indicators that Ukrainian counteroffensives in the south are progressing in a significant way, even if visibility on this axis is limited by the shift in focus to Kharkiv.

The success of recent Ukrainian counteroffensive operations may be impacting the will or ability of the Russian military command to use newly formed volunteer units in Ukraine in a timely fashion, the ISW says.

In addition, it is noted that the Russian military is unable to strengthen the new front line after Ukraine's conquest of the eastern part of Kharkiv region and is actively leaving this area or relocating to other directions.

Ukraines sweeping counteroffensive is damaging Russian administrative capabilities and driving Russian departures from occupied parts of Ukraine far behind the line of contact, the ISW said.
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has reported on the liberation of the town of Volchansk of Kharkiv region from the Russian occupation.

"Volchansk is at home," reads a message posted on the State Border Guard Service's Facebook page on Tuesday morning.

A video, showing destroyed Russian equipment and Ukrainian servicemen removing Russian propaganda from billboards and facades of buildings in the town, is attached to the message.

Volchansk is located 3 km from the border with the Russian Federation and was occupied on the first day of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24. During the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian military, the occupiers moved their illegal "regional administration" to the town for several days.
By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Maj-Gen Huseyn Mahmudov, Chief of the International Military Cooperation Department under the Defense Ministry briefed the military attaches accredited in Azerbaijan on September 13, Azernews reports, citing the ministry.

Informing foreign military representatives about Armenia's large-scale provocations along the state border in Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin districts, Mahmudov emphasized that the main goal of the opposing side's frequent shelling of the Azerbaijani army positions is to postpone the signing of a peace accord, as well as large-scale restoration and construction work being carried out on the liberated territories.

Mahmudov stressed that Azerbaijan is fully complying with the obligations of the Trilateral Statement of November 10, 2020, and is interested in establishing peace in the region through the commencement of border demarcation and delimitation, as well as the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries.

Armenia, on the other hand, is resisting the execution of the declaration's provisions by placing mines on Azerbaijani land and along supply lines, demonstrating its military adventurism and revanchist stance, he added.

The officer reminded that some 1,390 PMN-E type anti-personnel mines manufactured in Armenia between 2019 and 2021 were discovered in Kalbajar and Lachin districts alone.

Despite the fact that to date, the engineer-sapper units of the Azerbaijani Army have detected and neutralized a total of 7,559 anti-personnel mines, 2,348 anti-tank mines, and 10,052 unexploded ordnance, buried by the Armenian armed forces in the liberated territories, sabotage groups of the opposing side mined supply roads and territories between the positions of the Azerbaijan Army units during the night of September 12. This act and the large-scale provocations of Armenia led to military confrontation in Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions, he said.

It was highlighted that retaliatory actions were conducted to ensure the safety of the Azerbaijani army units as well as civilians working on restoration and building projects in the liberated territories.

The official reaffirmed that Armenia's military-political leadership is solely responsible for the tensions, confrontation, and losses caused by large-scale provocations.

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has denied reports of a crashed military jet.

"The information spread by Armenia about the alleged shooting of a military jet belonging to Azerbaijan in the direction of the Basarkechar region is false and disinformation," the ministry said.

Azerbaijan, on the other hand, has destroyed two Armenian S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems. Moreover, following a failed provocation attempt against Azerbaijan, the Armenian armed forces lost 150-200 troops, and hundreds more were injured, Azernews reports via the local media.

The Azerbaijani army demolished an Armenian military facility that might possibly be utilized for provocations on the border areas in the direction of Azerbaijan's Lachin and Kalbajar districts. The Azerbaijani armed forces took control of a number of key strategic sites and heights along the Armenian border. A number of vital communications routes through the Armenian territory were also placed under visual and fire control.

Following the counter-measures taken by the Azerbaijani army in response to a large-scale provocation by Armenian armed forces on the state border, a truce was struck at 0900 hours. However, Armenian soldiers breached the truce once more, resorting to additional provocations. Since 0915 hours, another truce has been restored, Azernews reports, citing the local media.

Furthermore, Armenian troops attacked Azerbaijani border guards in Azerbaijan's Zangilan district. The attack was decisively rebuffed, the State Border Service reported.
After Russian strikes on critical infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for Russia to be recognized as a terrorist state, toughen sanctions and accelerate the provision of air defense systems.

Yesterday and today, the Russian army struck the Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians found themselves in the dark - without electricity. Houses, hospitals, schools, communal infrastructure... Russian missiles hit precisely those objects that have absolutely nothing to do with the infrastructure of the Armed Forces of our country, Zelensky said in his traditional video address on Monday.

This is a sign of the desperation of those who invented this war. This is how they react to the defeat of Russian troops in Kharkiv region. They can't do anything to our heroes on the battlefield, and that's why Russia is directing its vile strikes against civilian infrastructure, the president said.

According to him, we still need to strengthen our cooperation in order to overcome Russian terror.

Russia must be designated a terrorist state. Strengthen sanctions - the eighth EU sanctions package is needed. Increase aid to Ukraine, and above all speed up the provision of air defense systems, he said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky believes that the upcoming winter will be "the most difficult" for the whole world and will decide the future of Ukraine and Europe.

This will be the most difficult winter in the whole world. These will be 90 days that will be a test for our faith in victory. A test for our endurance and unity, for our ability to protect ourselves, the whole world, freedom and fundamental values for any person in the world. Russia is doing everything to break the resistance of Ukraine, the resistance of Europe and the world in 90 days of this winter, he said, speaking at the 17th annual meeting of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) in Kyiv on Friday.

The meeting was organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

Calling this period the "last argument" of Russia, Zelensky said that "there are 90 days ahead that will decide more than 30 years of Ukraine's Independence. 90 days, which will decide all the years of the EU's existence, will determine our future."

We have no doubt that we can get through the winter without Russian energy resources. Not only Ukraine, but all reputable European states. But for this to happen, you need to be ready to prevent any Russian sabotage - armed or political, and it is very important to prevent disinformation steps by Russia. And therefore, we need even more coordination, firmness, and pressure on Russia, he said.

To complete the dismantling of Russian influence, he said, "it is necessary now, before the decisive 90 days."

During the autumn, it is necessary to strengthen sanctions on Russia, officials, banks, and companies as much as possible. You know all this. It is necessary to agree on all mechanisms for real limitation of Russian export income. It is necessary to provide all the legal and political bases for the implementation of an international compensation mechanism and the confiscation of Russian assets abroad to compensate for the losses caused by this war to the people of Ukraine. Maximum visa restrictions for the citizens of the Russian Federation are needed to encourage them to launch a visible anti-war movement, Zelensky said.

Zelensky stressed that "we must protect our sky. This is important in winter, when enterprises and infrastructure that provide people with heat and electricity can and will become targets of Russian missiles. Now is the time for partners to fulfill their obligations - to help Ukraine with systemic air defense."

Also, according to him, now is the time to end the Russia-created crisis at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The threat of a radiation disaster is definitely not what the European Union, Turkey and other states - those in the directions of the wind that can spread radiation pollution - should enter the winter with. But something else is also important - the stable operation of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in the framework of the Ukrainian energy system can become one of the key, important elements of guaranteeing stable energy consumption by Europe during these 90 days.

We must, he noted, prepare our societies for real risks.

The winter will be difficult for everyone - from Latvia and Poland to Britain and the United States. But we can make this winter the most difficult for Russia, for the one who is responsible for all the created problems - military, social, price problems, energy problems and many others. We can make the path to our victory clearer after these 90 days, the president said.

He stressed that after these 90 days, real security begins for decades from all those threats that are so painfully experienced now. When we endure all this, our neighbor will never be able to do anything to all of us. Russia has already embarked on the path of its historic defeat - and the clarity of this path, the contours of its defeat will become obvious after these 90 days. If we are all honest and persevere. All who value peace more than war.

Zelensky thinks that economic unification in Europe has been achieved. I believe that political unification in Europe has been achieved. But now a real value-based unification of the entire continent is being achieved - and, by the way, thanks to Ukraine as well. The last barriers that existed between European countries are disappearing - and this is thanks to the fact that Europe really protects freedom.

He said that Russia creates the illusion that Europeans must make a choice. Such a difficult choice between prices and values, between freedom and security, between independence and peace. But there is no such choice. It is an impossible choice. When values are weak, prices are sky high. When freedom suffers, there is no security. When independence is lost, peace is impossible. Therefore, we must not deviate from our path, we have no right to get tired, God forbid, of Ukraine and stop. We must fight. Endure the winter. Help those who are weaker. Protect those who need protection more. Limit ourselves in what can be limited. And limit Russia in everything that should limit it, the president said.

This winter we must do absolutely everything to say in the spring: we are fully ready to start negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the European Union. It will be a historic moment, a historic time - when it will be an honor for Europe to welcome our state. The state that wins, he stated.
The war must end with the defeat of Russia and the restoration of Ukraine's sovereignty as of 1991, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Saturday, speaking at the 17th annual meeting of the Yalta European Strategy in Kyiv.

The meeting was organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

Answering the question of what can be considered a victory of Ukraine in the war, Reznikov said: "Full restoration of sovereignty as of 1991. And this means that Crimea and Donbas are Ukraine. Russians have to pay for the destroyed cities. There is no longer a return to the border on February 24 in this history of mankind."

In his opinion, it is also a prerequisite to hold a tribunal over war criminals, which, according to him, it is better to hold in Mariupol or Kharkiv, following the example of the Nuremberg Tribunal.

The end of the war, he said, would mean "acceptance of the surrender of Russia," and "we will figure out how to legally formalize the act of surrender of Russia."

At the same time, Reznikov noted that it is not Putin who can sign the surrender of Russia. "Maybe not Putin will sign, but his successor. They don't understand how dramatically the life of Russians will change."

Reznikov expressed confidence that Ukraine's partners will make decisions on the supply of combat tanks and combat aircraft.
The Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine signed a memorandum of cooperation with the international Foundation for mine clearance, The HALO Trust, the press service of the ministry reports.

"As part of the work of the coordination headquarters for the occupied territories, a memorandum was signed with the international charity foundation for mine clearance, The HALO Trust," the message reads.

The parties discussed plans to increase teams for manual and mechanized mine clearance in the territories liberated from the occupiers and agreed on joint educational campaigns for the population.

The HALO Trust is an international non-governmental organization that has been working in the field of mine action in 28 countries for more than 30 years with the support of the British Royal Family and the U.S. Department of State.

In Ukraine, the organization has been engaged in mine clearance since 2014 and has already cleared more than 4.2 million square meters of undetonated mines and ammunition of the territory.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told in an interview with the Financial Times that Ukrainian troops were tired after a six-day counteroffensive in Kharkiv region, but their morale was high because it was a sign "that Russia can be defeated."

According to him, the counteroffensive went "better than expected", and now the liberated territories should be protected from a possible repeated attack from the Russian Federation. The minister noted that the Russian Federation can attack stretched supply lines, and Ukrainian troops can be surrounded if they move too far.

The head of the Defense Ministry also said that the almost simultaneous counteroffensive of the Ukrainian military in the area of Kherson was developing more slowly, because it is an agricultural area with irrigation canals that the Russian occupiers used as defensive trenches.

Reznikov also said that Russian troops suffered heavy losses, and Chechen units deployed to strengthen Russian positions were used to prevent occupying troops from leaving their positions.
Ukrainian army probably shoots down Iranianmade attack UAV for first time  AFU Dept for Strategic Communications

The Ukrainian military probably shot down an Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicle for the first time since the beginning of a full-scale Russian invasion, the Department of Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on Tuesday.

"With a high degree of probability, it can be argued that the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the first time destroyed an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle near Kupyansk," the report says.

It notes that the analysis of the appearance of the elements of the wing of the drone suggests that the AFU destroyed the Iranian drone for the first time.

"Its about a long-range kamikaze UAV Shahed-136," the department said.
Germany does not give a single rational argument why it is impossible to provide Ukraine with Leopards and Marders - only abstract fears and excuses, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, noting that such signals from Germany are disappointing.

Disappointing signals from Germany while Ukraine needs Leopards and Marders now  to liberate people and save them from genocide. Not a single rational argument on why these weapons can not be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses. What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not? Kuleba said on Twitter Tuesday.

Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz avoided the issue of providing Western combat tanks to Ukraine, pointing out only that "Germany cannot act on its own" in this matter. Also, the expectations of the supply of German tanks to Ukraine were dispelled by Secretary General of the Social Democratic Party of Germany Kevin Kuhnert. He pointed out that Germany "supports circular exchanges, but with Eastern European partners.
Russian occupiers are carrying out an urgent evacuation of their families from the south of Ukraine, including from the Crimea occupied in 2014, according to the website of the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, also known as the Defence Intelligence Agency, on Tuesday.

"The successful actions of the defenders of Ukraine are forcing the so-called authorities of the temporarily occupied Crimea and the south of our state to urgently relocate their families to the territory of Russia. Despite the assurance of the population of the safety of staying on the peninsula, representatives of the Crimean occupation administration, FSB officers and commanders of some military units, secretly from their subordinates, are trying to sell their homes and urgently relocate relatives from the peninsula," the message says.

At the same time, it is reported that the occupiers have banned the conclusion of transactions for the purchase and sale of housing, have established restrictions on movement along the Crimean bridge and are trying to block access to information about the counter-offensive of Ukrainian troops.

"The military intelligence of Ukraine reminds that all war criminals will be exposed and brought to justice for crimes against the civilian population of Ukraine," the message emphasizes.
Adviser to the head of the President's Office Mykhailo Podoliak called on the German authorities to directly supply tanks to Ukraine, since the current system of circular deliveries does not work.

"We should call a spade a spade: the circular supply system does not work. For six months, the allies have been arguing over who will sell tanks to Ukraine. There are no tanks for six months, because there is no 'political solution,'" Podoliak said on Twitter on Tuesday.

According to him, while time is wasted, Russia continues the terror, as a result of which people die. "Germany, we are waiting for your word," he summed up.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met with the co-chairs of the International Working Group on Security Guarantees for Ukraine  Head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak and former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who presented to the head of state with the recommendations on future security guarantees for Ukraine developed by the group, which should become the basis of a document called the Kyiv Security Compact.

As reported on the website of the head of state, Zelensky said that he had read the document in detail. "I believe that it was prepared at a high level. This is the first, but very important step. These recommendations should become the basis of a future security treaty," he said.

The head of state expressed his wish that the expert group continue its work and bring this project to completion.

According to the president, it is very important that the leaders of the most powerful states sign the future treaty. We should focus on those countries that have demonstrated strong support for Ukraine after the start of a full-scale war with the Russian Federation.

Yermak noted that the proposed proposals are based on the idea of creating a coalition of guarantors of Ukraine's security, which should be based on a system of agreements united under a joint document on strategic partnership. "We expect the Kyiv Security Compact to unite the main group of allied countries and Ukraine. This group of guarantor states may consist of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Australia, Turkey, as well as the countries of Northern Europe and the Baltic States, Central and Eastern Europe," he said.

The head of the President's Office noted that in addition to the main, common for all agreement between Ukraine and individual guarantor states, bilateral agreements can be concluded that should regulate the detailed aspects of relations between countries in matters of security support.

For his part, Rasmussen congratulated the Ukrainian state, its people and the Armed Forces on the successes at the front. "We see that one of the best guarantees is to ensure that Ukraine has a significant military force capable of withstanding any attack," he said.

The former NATO Secretary General noted that the Kyiv Security Compact will differ significantly from the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. "This is not about an obligation to refrain from any action, but on the contrary  to provide everything that Ukraine needs to ensure its protection," he explained.

Rasmussen noted that he was ready to present the developed recommendations on future security guarantees for Ukraine in the leading capitals of the world.
By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and the U.S. have discussed the promotion of inter-cultural and inter-ethnic dialogue, Azernews reports.

The discussion took place during a meeting between Azerbaijan's Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov and U.S. Foundation for Ethnic Understanding President Mark Schnayer.

"During the meeting with President of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding of the U.S. (@FFEUnyc) Mark Schnayer (@RabbiMSchneier), we highlighted the promotion of inter-cultural and inter-ethnic dialogue, as well as the peaceful coexistence of all communities in our country. We also exchanged views on the rich cultural-moral heritage and tolerance values of Azerbaijan," Mikayil Jabbarov wrote on his official Twitter page.

Azerbaijan and the United States established diplomatic relations in 1992. The two countries work to promote European energy security, expand trade and investment, and combat terrorism and transnational threats.

2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and U.S. amounted to $517.5 million in 2021.
The total area of the territory in Kharkiv region liberated from occupation during the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reached 3,800 square kilometers, where 150,000 inhabitants remained, Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Maliar said.

"This operation to liberate Kharkiv region lasted several days, it was planned for several days, starting from September 6 until today. Some 3,800 square kilometers, more than 300 settlements and more than 150,000 of our people became free from occupation, where they were actually hostages," Maliar said on the air of the national telethon on Tuesday.

According to her, the operation continues, "it is planned until the complete liberation of Kharkiv region."

The deputy minister also said that the occupiers deprived the local residents of any communication and misinformed them. "Today we talked with local residents. The stamina and spirit of Ukrainians are striking, because the Russians deprived them of any connection here and none of these people actually had the opportunity to find out what was there, in the controlled part. They were told that Ukraine no longer existed, that there was another president in Ukraine, and that Ukraine would not come for them. But all our people, they all steadfastly waited, believed that the Armed Forces would come and free them," Maliar said.
On Tuesday, September 13, from 14:00 to 16:00, air defense units of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed three air targets  one operational-tactical UAV and two aircraft of the invaders.

According to the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in Kherson region, soldiers of the Odesa 160th air defense brigade of the Pivden air force command destroyed a Russian Su-24 bomber.

"And in Donetsk region, anti-aircraft gunners of the Shepetivka 11th air defense regiment of the Zakhid air command landed a Su-25 attack aircraft of the occupiers," the statement said on the Telgram channel.
KYIV. Sept 13 (Interfax-Ukraine)  The phase of war-induced psychological mobilization of Ukrainians continues, the subjective assessment of the psychological state is quite high, according to the results of a study organized by the Mindy Charitable Foundation.

This conclusion was made by the authors of the study "The psychological state of the population of Ukraine amid the full-scale war," conducted by Kantar Ukraine, Svitlana Chunikhina, the deputy director of the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine, said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency.

At the same time, it is specified that the research methodology was developed by the Institute of Social and Political Psychology, and UAF Coin provided financial support.

"Despite the circumstances of the war, the subjective assessment of the psychological well-being of Ukrainians is quite high - 6.7 points out of 9 possible. This is typical for all demographic groups and regions, but the subjective assessment of psychological well-being among internally displaced persons in evacuation is lower than among those who have not been displaced or have already returned home," the deputy director said.

At the same time, according to Chunikhina, "resources for further support of psychological mobilization in society may not be enough."

She noted that, according to the study, the lives of 40% of the respondents were under threat and/or they were direct witnesses of such threats in connection with their stay in the war zone and/or under shelling. More than 41% of citizens have relatives who were or are in the combat zone, including 16% who have lost someone close to them.

"6% of respondents were under occupation, were subjected to a direct threat of violence or witnessed such threats. Every twentieth respondent (5%) suffered hypercumulative traumatization - that is, he experienced or witnessed all of the indicated types of traumatic events: shelling, threats to the lives of relatives, occupation or captivity," said the expert.

In addition, the study showed that more than 90% of respondents had manifestations of at least one of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and 57% of citizens are at risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder.

Chunikhina noted that "despite the subjective optimistic assessment of her own condition, objective indicators cause concern."

Thus, during the last month, only 3% of respondents received psychological assistance, and another 23% would like to see a psychologist, but have not yet realized this desire.

At the same time, according to Chunikhina, barriers to obtaining psychological support for Ukrainians are, in particular, the habit of not seeking psychological help, as well as financial barriers.

"The financial barrier is not a surprise. A third of respondents believe that psychological assistance is expensive. About 30% of respondents are ready to receive it only for free," she said.

In turn, Oleksandra Mashkevych, the director general of the medical services directorate of the Health Ministry of Ukraine, said that, according to the calculations of the Ministry of Health, in the post-war period, more than 15.7 million Ukrainians will face psychological problems, and 3.5 million people will need therapy and support from medical specialists - psychiatrists, and about 800,000 Ukrainians will need medical support.

She also indicated that the ministry will use the data obtained during the study to design and develop a psychological support program.
Clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces reignited Wednesday in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where three soldiers were reported killed.

Nagorno-Karabakh military officials said drone attacks carried out by Azerbaijani forces killed two of their troops and wounded another 14.

Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said one of the country's servicemembers died in what it alleged was a ``terrorist act'' by ``illegal Armenian military formations.'' The Azerbaijani military carried out a ``retaliatory operation`` in response, killing and wounding an unspecified number of ``illegal Armenian militants.''

Nagorno-Karabakh's separatist leader, Arayik Harutyunyan, announced a partial military mobilization Wednesday, further fueling tensions in the region.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a decades-old dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies within Azerbaijan but was under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

A 2020 war in the region killed more than 6,600 people. After six weeks of intense fighting, a peace deal brokered by Russia allowed Azerbaijan to reclaim control over large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas that the Armenia-backed separatists controlled.

Moscow has sent some 2,000 troops it called peacekeepers to the region.

Officials in Armenia and Azerbaijan traded blame for the renewed clashes on Wednesday. The Russian Defense Ministry alleged it was Azerbaijan that violated the 2020 cease-fire.

Tensions have been building on the two nations' shared border since May of last year, when Armenia protested what it described as an incursion by Azerbaijani troops into its territory.

Azerbaijan has insisted that its soldiers were deployed in areas where the border has yet to be demarcated.

Sporadic clashes have taken place in the last year.

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Russia's energy giant Gazprom said Tuesday that China will start paying for Russian gas in rubles and yuan instead of US dollars, as Moscow seeks closer ties with Beijing in the wake of Western sanctions over Ukraine.

"A transition was made to making payments for Russian gas supplies to China in the national currencies of the countries -- the ruble and yuan," Gazprom said in a statement.

"The new payment mechanism is a mutually beneficial, timely, reliable and practical solution," Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said as quoted in the statement following a video conference meeting with the head of China's oil group CNPC, Dai Houliang.

Miller added that it will "simplify calculations" and "become an excellent example for other companies".

Miller informed his Chinese counterpart of the "status of work on the project for gas supplies via 'the eastern route' -- the 'Power of Siberia' gas pipeline" which connects the Russian and Chinese gas networks, Gazprom added.

The energy giant said gas from the under-developed Kovykta field will start flowing through Power of Siberia "before the end of the year", allowing for the "increase (in) the volume of gas deliveries to China in 2023".

Following the imposition of economic sanctions over the Kremlin's offensive in Ukraine, Russia has reduced or halted supplies to different European nations, causing energy prices to soar.

It has also sought to bolster ties with allies in Asia -- especially China -- and boost natural gas deliveries to markets outside Europe.

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Chinese state media say the countrys top legislator decried sanctions against Russia during a recent visit to the country, underscoring Chinas backing of Moscow in its war on Ukraine despite claims of neutrality.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Li Zhanshu urged greater cooperation on fighting against external interference, sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, among others, in a meeting with Russian lawmakers Thursday.

Li also held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of an expected meeting this month between Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a regional gathering in Uzbekistan. That would mark Xis first trip outside China since the pandemic began in early 2020.

Li is a member of the Communist Partys all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee and is considered one of Xis closest confidants, the two having worked together for decades.

Ranked third in the Communist Party hierarchy, Li is the highest-level official to travel abroad since the start of the pandemic.

The meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a political, economic and security forum that China and Russia dominate, comes as Putin faces setbacks in his attempt to conquer Ukraine and Xi prepares for a congress of the ruling Communist Party that is expected to grant him a third five-year term as leader.

Xinhua said Russia also backed Beijings condemnation of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit last month to Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that China threatens to annex by force.

Li thanked the Russian side for firmly supporting China on the Taiwan question, Xinhua reported.

Russia has also backed China against international criticism, including at the United Nations, over its mass incarceration of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

The worlds two leading authoritarian states, China and Russia have increasingly aligned their foreign policies against the US and other liberal democracies.

Weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, Xi hosted Putin in Beijing in early February, during which the sides issued a joint statement declaring, Friendship between the two States has no limits, there are no forbidden areas of cooperation.

In that statement, Russia also said it confirms that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and opposes any forms of independence of Taiwan.

China has steadfastly refused to criticize Russias invasion of Ukraine or even to refer to it as such, and has accused the US and NATO of provoking the conflict, despite Putins statements that he regards Ukraine as a historical part of Russia that must be eliminated as an independent political entity.

Although condemning the punishing economic sanctions against Russia, Beijing has not provided military or financial support to Moscow that could trigger legal action from Washington against its companies.

Russia held sweeping military drills that ended last week in the countrys east, involving forces from China in another show of increasingly close ties between the two.

Xinhua said Li met with Putin in the far-eastern port city of Vladivostok, and with Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko and Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the Russian State Duma, in Moscow on a visit that ran from Wednesday to Saturday.

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China's President Xi Jinping will make state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan this week, Beijing said Monday -- his first trip abroad since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

Xi will attend a leaders' summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Uzbek city of Samarkand and "pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan" at the invitation of Presidents Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Shavkat Mirziyoyev from Wednesday to Friday, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The SCO is made up of China, Russia, India, Pakistan, as well as four central Asian countries -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

It will be holding its next summit on September 15 and 16 in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, a stop on the ancient Silk Road.

Russia had already announced last week that Xi will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the summit, as Moscow seeks to bolster ties with Beijing after being slapped with unprecedented Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.

Beijing has not condemned Moscow's interventions in Ukraine and provided diplomatic cover by blasting Western sanctions and arms sales to Kyiv.

Putin and Xi last met in early February in Beijing ahead of the Winter Olympic Games, days before the Russian president sent troops into Ukraine.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also take part in the summit in Samarkand, the Indian government said on Sunday, without saying whether Modi would hold bilateral talks with Putin or Xi.

India's relations with China have been frosty since fighting in 2020 on their disputed Himalayan border left at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead. Modi and Xi have not held bilateral talks since 2019.

Pivotal period

The trip will be Xi's first outside China's borders since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

China's president last went overseas in January 2020 for a state visit to Myanmar. A few days after his return, the entire city of Wuhan was locked down over a spiralling Covid outbreak.

Since then, Xi has largely conducted his diplomacy virtually, but received several foreign leaders during the Beijing Winter Olympics in February -- his first in-person meetings with foreign leaders since the pandemic.

Xi is readying for a pivotal twice-a-decade Congress of the ruling Communist Party in October, where he is widely expected to secure an unprecedented third term as president.

The event, which opens on October 16 in Beijing, will also unveil a new top leadership lineup and likely consolidate Xi's hold on the party.

Previous Chinese leaders generally refrained from making overseas trips in the weeks before the Party Congress, when behind-the-scenes power struggles frequently intensified.

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Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray erupted in violence nearly two years ago when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent in troops to topple rebels he accused of attacking federal army bases.

Fighting flared anew last month as a five-month humanitarian truce collapsed.

But on Sunday, the rebels said they were ready for a ceasefire and would accept a peace process led by the African Union, bowing to a demand of the Ethiopian government that the AU act as mediator.

A timeline of the conflict:

2020: Troops enter Tigray

On November 4, 2020, Abiy orders a military response to what he calls a "traitorous" attack on federal army camps in Tigray.

He blames the region's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a former guerrilla group that dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before Abiy took office in 2018.

Neighbouring Eritrea, which signed a peace deal with Abiy in 2018 that helped him win the Nobel Peace Prize the following year, is reported to have sent troops into Tigray to help Ethiopian forces.

Two weeks later government forces take Tigray's capital Mekele.

2021: 'Ethnic cleansing'

In February 2021, Amnesty International says Eritrean soldiers killed "hundreds of civilians" in November in the ancient city of Axum. In March, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks of "ethnic cleansing" in Tigray.

For months, Ethiopia and Eritrea deny the involvement of Eritrean forces but in March 2021 Abiy finally admits their presence and promptly announces their departure.

Tigrayans advance

The rebels retake Mekele in late June 2021, before pushing into the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar.

Abiy is sworn in for a new five-year term on October 4.

Two weeks later, Ethiopian aircraft launch deadly strikes on Tigray.

In late October the TPLF claims control of two key cities in Amhara -- only a few hundred kilometres north of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

Abiy leads battle

On November 2, 2021, Ethiopia declares a nationwide state of emergency.

A joint UN-Ethiopian report says crimes against humanity may have been committed by "all sides".

Abiy arrives on the frontline on November 24 to personally direct his troops in battle.

In the first weeks of December, the government says it has recaptured a string of towns, including Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage site home to 13th century churches carved out of rock.

Rebels withdraw

In December 2021, the rebels say they are withdrawing from Amhara and Afar and the government says its forces will not advance further into Tigray.

The United Nations says dozens of civilians were killed in air strikes on Tigray in late December.

'Humanitarian truce'

In early January 2022, dozens are killed in a drone strike on a camp for displaced people in Dedebit in northwest Tigray, the rebels say.

On March 24, the government declares an "indefinite humanitarian truce" to help accelerate delivery of emergency aid into Tigray. The rebels agree to a cessation of hostilities.

Massacres in Oromia

On June 18, hundreds of people belonging to the Amhara ethnic group are killed by rebels from the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) in Ethiopia's Oromia region, according to survivors.

The OLA, which is in alliance with the TPLF, denies the attacks and blames government forces.

Peace talks hopes

In June, Abiy raises the prospect of peace talks with the TPLF and the rebels say they too are ready to take part in a peace process.

But the two sides fail to agree on who should mediate -- the rebels reject the African Union's envoy to the region -- and the government rejects the TPLF's demand that basic services be restored to Tigray as a precondition.

New offensive

On August 24, the truce falls apart as fighting resumes on Tigray's southern border. The two sides blame each other.

At least four people including children are killed in an air strike by Ethiopian forces on Mekele. The rebels meanwhile mount a new push south into Amhara and Afar.

On Sunday, Tigrayan authorities announce they are ready for a ceasefire and a "robust peace process" mediated by the AU.

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Egypt's Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed El-Tayyeb met on Tuesday with President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

El-Tayyeb arrived a day earlier in the Asian nation to take part in the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

A statement by Al-Azhar said that El-Tayyeb will deliver a keynote speech at the opening session of the conference, which will be held on Wednesday and Thursday under the title The Role of Religious Leaders in the Spiritual and Social Development of Humanity in the Post-Covid-19 pandemic Period.

The grand imam, who is leading a high-level Egyptian delegation of Al-Azhar scholars, had received an official invitation from President Tokayev to participate in the two-day event at the Kazakhstani capital Nur-Sultan.

El-Tayyeb's meeting with the Kazakhstani president is the first in a series of scheduled meetings with Muslim religious scholars and leaders of other religions participating in the conference.

During the meeting, the grand imam said the international religious summit is meant to consolidate the culture of coexistence and dialogue, noting that the forum has become a global platform representing the voice of religion in the face of world crises and contemporary challenges.

The religious congress was first held in 2003 with the aim of achieving mutual respect and tolerance between religions, nations and ethnic groups, as well as establishing peace, harmony and tolerance as the unshakable principles of human existence.

El-Tayyeb stressed the deep historical relations between Al-Azhar and Kazakhstan, which were established through mutual academic, cultural and advocacy exchanges.

He also asserted that Al-Azhar is ready to fully support Kazakhstan through scholarships and specialised training for imams, as well as through the efforts of the Muslim Council of Elders (MCE), which is headed by El-Tayyeb.

The MCE, the grand imam added, promotes peace and fraternity and enforces the role of the youth in building interfaith bridges of communication and respect, according to a statement released by Al-Azhar following the meeting.

El-Tayyeb welcomed Kazakhstani imams joining Al-Azhar International Academy for the Training of Imams and Preachers to hone their communication skills and learn ways to address contemporary problems and debunk the ideologies of extremist groups.

President Tokayev stressed that Kazakhstan appreciates the efforts of the grand imam in spreading the sound image of Islam, confronting extremism and promoting the principles of human fraternity regionally and globally.

He added that the Kazakh people are keenly following the grand imams efforts in the East and the West, and that such efforts have achieved considerable global resonance in confronting Islamophobia and promoting intercultural and inter-ethnic dialogue.

Tokayev also indicated that the whole world, not only Muslim countries, is aware of the value of Al-Azhar, noting that Egypt, through Al-Azhar, has provided great support for Kazakhstan in adopting moderate Islam, Al-Azhar's statement added.

This support has been provided to Kazakh students enrolled at Al-Azhar and who returned home to promote the values they had learned in their community, he said.

This moderate Islam is based on respect for the other, promoting the values of coexistence among all, and renouncing violence, hatred and intolerance, he added.

President Tokayev asserted that Kazakh societys need for Al-Azhar is constantly increasing. He also expressed appreciation for the efforts of the Council of Muslim Elders in promoting peace and tolerance.

Following the meeting, El-Tayyeb led the Dhuhr prayer at Hazrat al-Sultan Mosque, the largest mosque in Kazakhstan and one of the largest mosques in Asia, in the presence of Islamic delegations participating the conference.

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One of Britains most important historical chapters came to an end this week with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II who died at the age of 96, leaving an unprecedented legacy and amidst widespread sadness within the British population.

Queen Elizabeth II ruled for longer than any other monarch in the history of the United Kingdom. Her rule extended from February 1952 to September 2022, making a reign longer than most other rulers in any other country. Her son Prince Charles, now King Charles III, was proclaimed as the new king a day after her passing.

Contrary to popular belief, Elizabeth IIs life was never smooth sailing. Part of her youth was spent sheltering from Nazi Germanys targeted bombardments of Britain, which reached Buckingham Palace in London, the official residence of the British Royal Family. It was targeted by the German Luftwaffe on 8 September 1940, ironically the same day Elizabeth II passed away 82 years later.

As a teenage princess, she was seen visiting the wounded in hospitals and visiting bomb shelters when the German bombardment of British cities was at its height. These actions increased her popularity among the British public more than a decade before she was pronounced the countrys queen.

The Nazi bombardment literally levelled cities such as Coventry in the centre of the country as a result of the 196 tons of bombs dropped on it. The Nazi propaganda machine even coined a new word, Coventieren, which means to devastate or raze a city to the ground. For the young Princess Elizabeth, this was hardly the story of a fairytale princess. Instead, she was familiar with calamities from her earliest years.

On the day of her coronation, she was tasked with the uphill battle of keeping what was left of a once mighty empire stretching to all four corners of the world from entirely crumbling. She felt she had to make concessions to keep the UK intact as well as to placate those countries wishing to stay under British sovereignty. The inevitable independence of dozens of states across the world was eventually conceded.

The UK was reeling under huge economic strain following World War II, and this continued into the 1970s. Its meddling in international affairs, such as during the Suez Crisis or Tripartite Aggression against Egypt in 1956, proved to be extremely costly and a last straw for the ailing British Empire. It confirmed the US and former Soviet Union as the new superpowers of the post-War era.

Elizabeth II realised that the era of the British Empire was coming to an end, but this did not mean that Britain would become irrelevant or wither away like other bygone empires. The British monarchy attempted to contain the remaining states within the Empire, whether those that had declared full independence or those that had chosen to be symbolically ruled by the British, in the shape of the new Commonwealth of Nations in 1949.

British cultural life during Elizabeths rule was unmatched except by that of the US. Since the 1960s, British cultural products have been prevalent all across the globe, introducing pop groups like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Depeche Mode and countless others who have influenced the world of music and pop culture.

Film series such as James Bond became a global phenomenon. Book series such as Harry Potter became the worlds most successful in recent decades and presented a different outlook on British culture for newer generations who became fans of this fantasy world set in Britain.

Britain is now mourning its beloved queen, who was a symbol of the countrys unity in the face of many challenges. The first prime minister during Elizabeth IIs long reign was Winston Churchill, who served four years of his second term in office under her. Churchill was born in 1874, while the countrys current prime minister, Liz Truss, was born in 1975, 101 years later. Elizabeth II thus witnessed many generations of politicians. When she was proclaimed queen in 1952, historical figures such as king Farouk was still king of Egypt, while president Harry S Truman and premier Joseph Stalin were at the head of the US and former Soviet Union.

Maintaining an exemplary constitutional monarchy in the UK is one of Elizabeth IIs greatest legacies. At no point was she seen to be partisan nature or show favouritism to either of the two leading parties. No matter how a prime minister from the Conservative Party or the Labour Party acted, she kept the same distance from both and left parliament free to handle all political matters. The same thing was true of the politics of other countries in the Commonwealth, among them Australia or Canada.

The monarchy is one of the most important factors that shielded the UK from challenges from World War II to the final minutes of Elizabeths life. Its stability enabled London to become the biggest financial centre in the world, even surpassing New York.

That said, Queen Elizabeth may not be viewed with the same loving eye by some across the world for a variety of reasons. Many still view her as representing a once-loathed Empire or as a reminder of British international policies. However, for many across the world and for most of her British subjects, she was a great monarch who steered the country to safety during the hardest of times while remaining grounded and close to the people. She is credited with making the Royal Family accessible to the public, something which would eventually be replicated by other monarchies across the world. Her famous sense of humour was known to break the ice in other royal families.

Messages of condolences have poured into Britain to mourn the former queen who visited over 100 countries during her reign. Some of the most heartfelt condolences came from Germany, where millions mourned her passing. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his deep sadness at the death of a woman who played a major role in the German-British reconciliation after the horrors of World War II, as he described it.

This began with the queens visit to Germany in 1965, marking a new era between the once warring sides.

The Elizabethan era that stretched from the early 1950s all the way to the second decade of the 21st century will be remembered in history as one of the greatest in British history despite its challenges, thanks to the wisdom of Elizabeth II. That wisdom spared the UK the fate of other monarchies in Europe, such as the Italian or Greek ones.

Queen Elizabeth II will always be an iconic figure of both the 20th and the 21st centuries, and she passes the task of continuing the traditions she lived by to her son King Charles III.

* The writer is a political analyst and author of Egypts Arab Spring: The Long and Winding Road to Democracy.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijani Defense Minister Col-Gen Zakir Hasanov and his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar have discussed the clashes that erupted on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border on September 12-13, Azernews reports, citing the ministry.

In a telephone conversation on September 13, Hasanov informed his colleague about the clashes that occurred as a result of Armenias large-scale provocations along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in the Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions. He stressed that the opposing side was resolutely suppressed.

Akar, for his part, offered his condolences to the servicemen, who become Shahids (Martyrs) as a result of a provocation by the Armenian military forces, and wished the injured speedy recovery.

He emphasized that Turkiye, as it has always done, stands by Azerbaijan.

During the phone call, the ministers of the two nations exchanged lengthy opinions on the incident that had happened.

To recap, units of the Armenian armed forces carried out large-scale provocations along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions during the night of September 13. At night, Armenian sabotage groups mined land and supply roads linking the positions of the Azerbaijani army units in different directions, taking advantage of the area's steep topography and existing ravine gaps.

Clashes between the sides ensued as a result of the urgent efforts made by the Azerbaijani armed forces to quell these activities.

As a result, there were losses among the military personnel, and the military infrastructure was damaged, the ministry detailed.

The Azerbaijan military units stationed in these areas took decisive retaliatory measures to suppress the provocations of the Armenian armed forces and military threats to Azerbaijan's territory and sovereignty, as well as to ensure the safety of military personnel, including civilian workers involved in infrastructure construction in Kalbajar and Lachin districts, the ministry emphasized.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday urged Azerbaijan and Armenia to reach a peace settlement in calls to their leaders after the neighbors' worst fighting since their 2020 war.

Speaking to reporters as he visited Purdue University in Indiana, Blinken said he told Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in separate phone calls that the conflict was "in no one's interest."

Blinken said he "urged them to do everything possible to pull back from conflict and get back to talking about a lasting peace."

The American effort comes as Moscow, whose relationship with Washington has nosedived over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, said earlier Tuesday it had brokered a ceasefire between the former Soviet republics.

Blinken said there were "always concerns" about Moscow's role but added: "If Russia can actually use its own influence to calm the waters... that would be a positive thing."

Phil Reeker, a veteran US diplomat recently put in charge of jump-starting Caucasus negotiations, was in the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Tuesday on a previously scheduled visit.

Armenia said that nearly 50 of its soldiers were killed and accused Azerbaijan of trying to advance on its territory after gains in the 2020 war.

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Armenia and Azerbaijan reported nearly 100 troop deaths Tuesday in their worst fighting since a 2020 war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The defence ministry in Baku said "50 Azerbaijani servicemen died as a result of Armenia's large-scale provocation," while Armenia earlier reported the deaths of at least 49 of its soldiers.

Azerbaijan on Tuesday accused Armenia of violating a ceasefire brokered by Russia after a night of clashes that left dozens dead and renewed fears of another all-out conflict between the historic foes.

Russia said it had reached a ceasefire between the warring parties that brought several hours of relative calm, but Azerbaijan later accused Armenian forces of "intensely" violating the agreement.

"Despite the declaration of a ceasefire since 09:00 (Moscow time, 0600 GMT), Armenia is intensively violating the ceasefire along the border by using artillery and other heavy weapons," Baku's military said.

Armenia appealed to world leaders for help after the fighting broke out, accusing Azerbaijan of trying to advance on its territory.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called the leaders of both countries, with his spokesman saying Washington would "push for an immediate halt to fighting and a peace settlement" between the neighbours.

Tuesday's escalation came as Yerevan's closest ally Moscow -- which deployed thousands of peacekeepers in the region after the 2020 war, is distracted by its six-month-old invasion of Ukraine.

Armenia's defence ministry said clashes had subsided after the ceasefire but that the situation on the border was still "extremely tense".

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Blinken to demand a response to "Azerbaijan's aggressive acts".

'Subversive Acts'

The defence ministry in Yerevan said the clashes started early Tuesday, with Armenian territory coming under fire from artillery, mortars and drones in the direction of the cities of Goris, Sotk, and Jermuk.

"The enemy is trying to advance" into Armenian territory, it said in a statement.

Azerbaijan, however, accused Armenia of "large-scale subversive acts" near the districts of Dashkesan, Kelbajar and Lachin and said its armed forces were taking "limited and targeted steps, neutralising Armenian firing positions".

Baku's long-standing political and military sponsor Turkey blamed Armenia and urged it instead to "focus on peace negotiations".

Iran, which shares a border with both countries, urged "restraint" and a "peaceful resolution" to the fighting.

The European Union and the United Nations expressed concerns over the escalation and called for an end to the fighting.

Before the ceasefire was announced, Armenia's security council asked for military help from Moscow, which is obligated under a treaty to defend Armenia in the event of foreign invasion.

'Russia In Bad Shape'

Armenian political analyst Tatul Hakobyan said the escalation in fighting was a consequence of the "deadlock" in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks.

"Azerbaijan wants to force Armenia to recognise Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan," he told AFP.

"The war in Ukraine has changed the balance of forces in the region and Russia, which is a guarantor of peace in the region, is in a very bad shape.

"In this situation, Azerbaijan wants to get concessions from Armenia as soon as possible," he added.

Last week, Armenia accused Azerbaijan of killing one of its soldiers in a border shootout.

In August, Azerbaijan said it had lost a soldier and the Karabakh army said two of its troops had been killed and more than a dozen wounded.

The neighbours fought two wars, in the 1990s and in 2020, over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated enclave.

The six weeks of brutal fighting in the autumn of 2020 ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire.

Under the deal, Armenia ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades and Moscow deployed about 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to oversee the fragile truce.

During EU-mediated talks in Brussels in May and April, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Pashinyan agreed to "advance discussions" on a future peace treaty.

Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The ensuing conflict claimed around 30,000 lives.

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In a sign of growing concern in Washington about the Civil War in Ethiopia, the US special envoy to the Horn of Africa region arrived last week in Addis Ababa, reports Haitham Nouri

The US dispatched its special envoy for the Horn of Africa region, Mike Hammer, to Ethiopia in response to the renewed fighting between the central government and the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) and condemned Eritreas re-entry into the conflict.

This relatively rapid reaction is a sign of the grave concern that Washington, other Western countries, and countries in the region share with regard to the Civil War in Ethiopia, the second-most populous country in Africa after Nigeria.

Eritrea withdrew its forces from the Tigray region in April 2021 under international pressure after triggering an outcry over human rights abuses against Tigrayan civilians. It began to intervene on the side of the central government in Ethiopia and against its historic foe, the TPLF, as soon as the war erupted 22 months ago.

Both Addis Ababa and Asmara have repeatedly denied the involvement of Eritrean forces in the period before they withdrew.

Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a bitter war from 1998 to 2000 and have remained wary of each other ever since. However, after assuming power in 2018, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed concluded a peace settlement with Asmara for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.

But trade relations between the two countries have not improved, and Ethiopia has not yet returned the border territories it seized control of during the war, according to the Eritrean Ministry of Information website.

The resumption of the Civil War in Ethiopia on 24 August spoiled the cautious hopes for peace that had been inspired by the truce the two sides signed in March this year and subsequent preparations for negotiations between Addis Ababa and the TPLF.

Throughout the war, the Ethiopian central government has imposed a blockade on the Tigray region, cutting it off from the outside world and preventing the arrival of essential foodstuffs and commodities in a way that threatens to bring famine to most of that mountainous regions inhabitants.

UN humanitarian and relief agencies have warned that millions could die of hunger in Tigray, along with tens of millions elsewhere in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa region, where large areas are afflicted by drought, poverty, and famine.

The conflict between Addis Ababa and the Tigray is not the only cause of hostilities and tensions in this multi-ethnic country that is home to more than 80 ethnic groups, most of which have their own liberation front and are demanding more autonomy, if not independence.

According to the Ahmed government, a number of Amhara farmers have suffered repeated attacks by the Oromo Liberation Front, for example. The Oromo is the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, accounting for 34 per cent of the population. The Amhara are the second largest at 27 per cent, followed by the Tigray and the Somali people at six to seven per cent of Ethiopias population of 110 million.

Addis Ababa itself is located in the Oromo region, which has seen recurrent clashes between the Oromo and Amhara communities. Ahmed is the son of an Oromo father and an Amhara mother. Politically and culturally, he is inclined to the Amhara, triggering rancour and tensions among the Oromo.

Despite their relatively smaller number, the Tigray people have long played a central role in Ethiopian history. Two centuries of cultural, religious, and social unity between the Amhara and Tigray peoples since the end of the 18th century forged the modern state of Ethiopia.

Early manifestations of the alliance can be found in the modernisation process launched by Tewodros II in 1855 and crowned by emperor Menelik II with the establishment of the multi-national Ethiopian Empire in 1933.

The Tigray reached a peak of glory with their defeat of Italian forces in 1898 at the Battle of Adowa, which is situated in the Tigray region. They then played a key role in freeing the country from Italian colonial control in the 1930s when the dictator Mussolini and his fascist party ruled Italy.

Perhaps because of their central historical role, the Tigray have long felt unjustly treated in the modern state of Ethiopia, in which the Amhara have controlled the state, and Amharic is the official language.

Because of their greater numbers, the Amhara have controlled the Ethiopian Church, the army, the government bureaucracy, and the treasury. Tigrayan discontent has erupted in several large-scale uprisings, once against the countrys last emperor, Haile Selassie, then against the socialist military rule of Mengistu Hailemariam, and today against Addis Ababa in order to throw off the control of the Amhara.

The Ahmed government and the Amhara militias allied with it have been unable to defeat the TPLF in more than 18 months of fighting. In late 2021, the Tigrayan forces shifted to the offensive and began to march towards the capital, coming to within 100 miles of it and triggering panic among residents.

Since the war began, the Tigray have allied with other militant regional fronts, such as the Oromo Front (based in central Ethiopia), the Gambela Forces (from the Gambela region near the border with South Sudan), and the Benishangul forces (based near the border with Sudan in the Benishangul-Gamuz region).

Nevertheless, many doubt the Tigray can overthrow the Ahmed government. The situation in Addis Ababa today cannot be compared to the late Mengistu Hailemariam period as Ahmed is still popular among the Amhara as well as among some Oromo, while Mengistu had lost his legitimacy and become highly unpopular towards the end of his rule.

Moreover, while the Tigray have struck up alliances with other national groups, each has its own agenda. They are not fighting in the framework of a unified state, but rather to break away and establish their own independent states, making these fragile alliances.

The conflict is also a source of anxiety for the international community. Ethiopia is surrounded by six other countries, two of which are embroiled in civil wars. In Somalia, the central state collapsed three decades ago, and South Sudan, the youngest state in the world, has only experienced a brief interlude of relative stability and calm (in 2011 to 2013) since its independence.

According to UN agencies, these six countries could be headed for a major famine by the end of this year in which untold millions would suffer.

Eritrea has also largely cut itself off from the rest of the world, and it has been called the African North Korea in the Western press. It opened up a little when Ahmed initiated a rapprochement upon coming to power in 2018.

Sudan is gripped by a host of difficulties, among them the political power struggle since the coup of 25 October last year, ongoing civil wars in the Blue Nile region to the south and Darfur to the west, and massive floods that have affected thousands of people in central, eastern, and northern parts of the country.

In Kenya, Ethiopias southern neighbour, nerves are fraught against the backdrop of discord over the results of the recent presidential elections. Some fear the tensions could erupt into inter-communal violence and spiral out of control.

Ethiopias neighbours are worried that the unrest in the country could drive refugees to their borders, adding further troubles to these states. Sudan has already received tens of thousands of refugees from Tigray and Benishangul due to the Civil War, straining already overburdened Sudanese government agencies and their resources.

But the most alarming scenario is if Ethiopia itself implodes, since the repercussions of this would inevitably spill over the countrys borders, possibly threatening the unity of some of its neighbours.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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It appears that pressure by Israel as well as other factors have managed to halt or delay progress in Washington towards returning to the nuclear deal with Iran. This is clear in statements by senior Israeli officials and analyses by Israeli research centres and media.

In August, talks on Irans nuclear deal were close to fruition after the EU delivered a final draft of the agreement that was non-negotiable. However, Iran responded with a few more demands that the US rejected, while the UK, France and Germany saw this as a step back on the part of Tehran.

As negotiations approached a decisive milestone, Israel began intensive moves to counter that, including visits to Washington by Mossad Director David Barnea, Israels National Security Adviser Eyal Hulta, and Defence Minister Benny Gantz. Israel said this diplomatic onslaught aimed to prevent the revival of the nuclear agreement, which Tel Aviv sees as a threat to its security.

Israeli officials argue that lifting sanctions on Iran will inject Tehrans budget with billions, which means more funding to its armed groups in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Yemen.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said he would visit the US this month to meet with US President Joe Biden on the fringe of UN General Assembly meetings to discuss the Iran matter. Israel is running a successful campaign to stop the nuclear agreement with Iran, in order to block the lifting of economic sanctions there, said Lapid.

Lapid, who visited Germany to discuss his countrys concerns about the agreement, pointed out that its not over yet, but there are encouraging signs. He was referring to Israels success in dissuading the US administration from returning to the agreement.

The Times of Israel quoted an unnamed senior Israeli official as saying that a message was conveyed to Lapid in recent talks with Biden that the nuclear deal is not on the table, and will not be signed any time soon.

According to the website, lately Lapid is more and more convinced that Washingtons return to the nuclear deal is unlikely, and reordered the priority of national security threats to focus on escalating violence in the West Bank and tensions on the northern border with Lebanon due to exploration at the Karish gas field.

We cannot predict when the deal will be signed by major world powers and Iran, Aleef Sabbagh, a political analyst, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Right now, its not even close. Sabbagh said it appears that pressure by Israel managed to postpone the signing of the agreement, and Israels diplomatic war against the deal has achieved some of its goals so far.

Several Israeli analyses, however, indicate that the delay in completing the agreement is due to some of its details, not Israels opposition to it  especially the investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into traces of uranium at three sites that Tehran had not previously disclosed. Tehran is demanding an end to this investigation as a precondition for sealing the deal.

Sabbagh believes Israel will keep up pressure to the last minute to prevent the signing of the agreement, stating that Tel Aviv wants to galvanise a more hardline international position in support of the IAEA investigations. It will demand a mechanism to monitor the funds that Iran will access to ensure they do not reach Tehrans proxies in the region.

The Israeli opposition led by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserts the US administration has made up its mind about returning to the agreement but is holding out for better terms. Netanyahu also accuses Lapids incumbent government of failing to convince Washington of Tel Avivs security requisites that will be harmed by the agreement. However, Lapid counters that his cabinet is working quietly and diligently, and has so far succeeded in blocking the agreement.

Israel often reiterates that it would not be bound by the agreement if it is signed, and reserves the right to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state or a nuclear threshold. It also often threatens to resort to the military option to achieve this if Israels security needs require it.

In a veiled threat to Iran, the Israeli army recently revealed a secret document about its destruction of a nuclear reactor in Syria some 15 years ago. According to the document published by the Israeli army, the Atomic Energy Commission of Syria was involved in secret and suspicious projects in the nuclear realm. The army published a video which it claimed was the destruction of a possible nuclear site in Deir El-Zor in Syria.

It would be impossible for the US and major powers to sign a nuclear deal with Iran without first allaying Israels concerns about the possibility of Iran obtaining a nuclear bomb, stated Sabbagh. Israel will never accept any deal with Iran without an alternative military plan in place to prevent Iran from possessing nuclear weapons, and blocking its currently frozen assets from being used on military spending.

Sabbagh expects operations by Israels security agencies against Iran to continue, and perhaps even intensify depending on Israels security needs. For Lapid, it seems that his desire to block an agreement with Iran is greater than Israels security demands. He wants to portray Washingtons aversion to the nuclear deal as a victory for him ahead of Israels general elections in early November.

However, even if political circles in Israel view the delay in reaching a nuclear deal as a diplomatic victory, there are security concerns about possible Iranian retaliatory steps through its proxies surrounding Israel, such as Lebanons Hizbullah, which is quickly escalating tensions on Israels northern front and making threats because of Israels gas exploration in disputed offshore waters in the Mediterranean.

This is also true of Palestinian factions, especially the Islamic Jihad, which is closest to Iran and has a strong urge for revenge after recent military confrontations with Israel in the Gaza Strip when Israel assassinated two prominent Jihad figures.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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As winter approaches, tour operators are training their sights on Europe which faces the prospect of colder conditions than usual given the ongoing energy crisis sparked by the Russian-Ukrainian war

This winter, Egypts tour operators will be competing with Greece and Turkey in the battle to attract European holidaymakers, particularly retirees keen to escape the cold, according to the Egyptian Travel Agents Association (ETAA).

Sameh Saad, former director of Misr Travel Company and former advisor to the Ministry of Tourism, said German travel agents have already contacted hotel owners in Hurghada to arrange stays longer than two weeks.

Elhami Al-Zayat, a former chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Federation, is forecasting a 50 per cent increase in tourist numbers over the same period last year, largely on the back of longer stay tourists from the European market this winter. This is on top of the almost 200 per cent increase in tourism in 2021 over the previous 12-month period.

Egypt aims to increase its tourism revenues from 2021s $13 billion to $30 billion over the next three years, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli said on 11 September during a visit to Sharm El-Sheikh. Tourism is one of Egypts most crucial industries, providing around 20 per cent of GDP, and a major source of foreign currency.

Egypt needs to find ways to encourage more residential tourism, says Sameh Saad. We could take advantage of the residential compounds that are being developed and that come with facilities such as club houses and gyms.

He points out that longer-term tourists are put off by hotel rooms and having to rely on the hotel to provide all the services they need.

Many longer stay foreign tourists would feel more comfortable in a small flat equipped with a kitchen, living room, and all other features to make them feel at home, says Saad.

Ehab Abdel Aal, former treasurer of the Chamber of Tourism Establishments, says tour companies are already developing programmes that offer accommodation in serviced flats in resort towns such as Hurghada, Marsa Alam, and Sharm El-Sheikh. The rates cited are in the neighbourhood of $350 a week, or $1,500 a month, excluding air travel. The companies are targeting the German and UK markets, both of which have high numbers of retirees.

Saad believes long-stay tourism could prove very profitable and has the advantage of not requiring intensive promotion, while Abdel-Aal argues resorts such as Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada, and Marsa Alam possess the requisite attractions to satisfy those seeking a longer-term destination. Yet Egypt will face stiff competition as it attempts to establish itself in the market. Currently, it ranks 14th in terms of long-stay vacations, trailing Spain, Portugal, Greece, the US (Florida), Cyprus, and Dubai. It does, though, have the advantage that 40,000 Russians own flats in Hurghada, where their presence helps attracts relatives, friends, and compatriots. It is a cost-free form of publicity, points out Abdel Aal.

The energy crisis in Europe will last for years, says Saad. The government should therefore adopt policies that encourage more foreigners to become flat owners. The Ministry of Tourism needs to intervene to protect the rights of foreigners who purchase real estate in resorts.

In the past, says Saad, large numbers of foreigners who purchased property found themselves victims of scams, tarnishing the reputation of owning property in Egypt. These problems need to be remedied and the ministry should intervene to do so.

Among the advantages of foreigners owning property in Egypt, according to Al-Zayat, is that it encourages them to keep returning.

Foreign universities and schools that meet international standards, such as those established in New Alamein and other tourist towns, will attract large numbers of people from abroad, especially Arab students. They, like other foreigners, would prefer to own their accommodation, he says.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will travel to Doha for the first time on Tuesday for a two-day official visit to meet Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the official Qatari Amiri Diwan, the office of the Emir, said on Monday.

President El-Sisis visit to Doha on Tuesday reflects the level of excellence the relations between the two brotherly countries have reached, which culminated in Sheikh Tamims visit to Cairo in June, the official Qatari News Agency (QNA) quoted the Qatari Ambassador to Egypt Salem Mubarak Al Shafi as saying on Monday.

Tamims visit to Cairo was his first since the two countries resumed diplomatic ties following the Al-Ula Declaration, which ended a three-and-half-year diplomatic and economic boycott Egypt and three of the GCC members  Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE  had placed on Qatar.

President El-Sisi and Sheikh Tamim have met or talked on the phone on various occasions since signing Al-Ula agreement the latest of which was in July when they participated in the Jeddah Security and Development Summit along with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iraq, Jordan and the United States.

The Egyptian and Qatari leaders also met on the sidelines of the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing in February.

Moreover, they also held a meeting last winter on the sidelines of the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow few months after their meeting on the sidelines of the Baghdad Conference on Cooperation and Partnership in August.

Growing relations

Ambassador Al Shafi expressed his confidence that El-Sisis visit on Tuesday would establish "an unprecedented breakthrough" in the process of cooperation between them.

It comes within the framework of the positive momentum witnessed in the relations between Doha and Cairo, the Qatari ambassador added.

In the wake of Al-Ula declaration, Cairo and Doha have agreed to move beyond their disputes and work towards settling all their outstanding issues, forming an Egyptian-Qatari follow-up committee that has held seven rounds of negotiations over the past year, the last of which was in Doha last September.

The course of the follow-up committee has seen the signing of a number of bilateral deals to bolster ties between the two countries, which eventually formed the Egyptian-Qatari High Joint Committee  headed by the two foreign ministers  in March.

"The impurities that plagued the relations were removed through consensus on the statement of Al-Ula, the subsequent honest and sincere activation of the follow-up committee, and the positive results it reached," Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said during a presser with his Qatari counterpart in Cairo in March.

Qatar's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at the time that bilateral relations are in constant development, affirming his government's keenness for upgrading these relations.

We see that the horizon of the relations between Qatar and Egypt is wide in boosting economic partnership and communication between the two countries on all levels, the Qatari FM said, adding that the past period that was marred by tensions is over.

Following talks between Egypts Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Abdulrahman Al Thani at the time, a Qatari package of $5 billion in investments and partnerships in Egypt was announced within "the framework of boosting economic cooperation between the two brotherly countries."

A week before Sheikh Tamims visit to Cairo in June, Egypt and Qatar signed an MoU in Doha on financial policy coordination to foster cooperation and coordinate financial visions, positions and policies at the bilateral and international levels.

According to Egypts Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait, the MoU, which aims to exchange expertise in the fields of taxation, customs, and financial policies, paves the way for reaching an agreement on preventing double taxation between the two sides with a view to stimulating joint investments.

This came on the sidelines of the Qatar Economic Forum when Egyptian Minister of Industry and Trade Nevine Gamea and her Qatari counterpart, Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim Al-Thani, agreed on reactivating the Egyptian-Qatari Business Council.

Gamea cited industrial partnerships between 4,500 Egyptian and Qatari companies as models for further cooperation, declaring a month later that she held a meeting with the Qatari Businessmen Association to explore the potential for boosting Qatari investments in the Egyptian market.

In July, Madbouly instructed the government to explore opportunities to boost investments and partnerships with Qatar.

Egypt is seeking to attract Arab and international investors to increase the private sector's participation in public investments, to 65 percent up from 30 percent currently, in the economy to take advantage of the new State Ownership Policy that delineates the state presence in certain sectors of the economy.

According to the policy, the government will exit 15 economic activities across seven sectors over the coming three years, including agriculture, water, sanitation, desalination, telecoms and IT, retail, food and beverages, as well as construction.

The government will also exit a number of activities across the leather, timber, engineering, jewellery, chemical, textile, printing, and pharmaceutical industries.

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Egypts Minister of Interior Mahmoud Tawfik asserted on Monday the importance of developing security cooperation with Singapore and exchanging information on combating terrorism, organised crime, and cybercrime, the Ministry of Interior announced.

Tawfik was speaking during his meeting in Cairo on Monday with Singaporean Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean and his accompanying delegation currently visiting Egypt.



Meanwhile, the Singaporean minister hailed the stable security conditions in Egypt, thanks to the Egyptian Police's efforts.



He said that he looks forward to developing aspects of cooperation with the Egyptian interior ministry bodies and exchanging information about combatting terrorism to benefit from the ministry's distinguished, security expertise.

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The Ministry of Education will impose a EGP 10 fine on students who are absent from school for 10 consecutive days without a valid excuse as part of the ministry's plan to improve attendance in the new academic year.

The decision will be applied to public and private schools nationwide starting in the new academic year, as per a ministerial circular reported by local media on Monday.

International schools are exempt from this policy.

In addition, high school students could face dismissal if they miss classes for 15 days in a row, according to the circular.

Before the dismissal, three attendance notices will be sent to the truant high school student, with the first to be sent after five consecutive days of absence, the second one after ten days and the final after 12 days.

Truant primary and preparatory students, on the other hand, will not be dismissed, but will face additional EGP 10 fines for every 10 days of absence, with three attendance notices to be sent.

In February 2022, the Egyptian House of Representatives rejected a set of amendments to the country's education law denying public services to parents of truant students at mandatory school age.

The amendments included EGP 500-1,000 fines for parents or guardians who fail to prevent further truancy within a week of being officially notified of their children's absence.

The proposed adjustments would have also allowed suspending some or all public services provided by government offices for parents of chronically truant students until the children return to school.

Children in Egypt aged 6 to 18 undergo compulsory education through elementary, secondary and high school, according to the Egyptian constitution.

The new academic year starts on 1 October at public and private schools, and on 18 September at international schools, and ends on 6 June, 2023.

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Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud urged citizens to stay away from areas controlled by Al-Shabaab jihadists as he vowed to ratchet up offensives against the militants.

The Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents have been waging a war against the government of the troubled Horn of Africa nation for 15 years and control large swathes of territory in the country.

Mohamud, who had earlier pledged "all-out war" against the group after it staged a deadly 30-hour hotel siege in the capital Mogadishu last month, called on "the Somali people to stay away from locations where Al-Shabaab is present".

"Al-Shabaab will be confronted using every method that war allows, they will be bombed, raided and subjected to airborne attacks, so... stay away from them," he said in a speech on Monday after wrapping up a high-level political conference in Mogadishu.

"Every Shabaab member is a target, every Shabaab army is target, just the same way they are targeting and killing the Somali people."

The recently elected president urged people to stop taking their disputes to so-called shadow courts run by the jihadists, with Somalis complaining of weak enforcement by the country's legal system.

"Don't die in Al-Shabaab's war when you are not one of them," he said.

His comments came as the drought-hit nation teeters on the brink of famine for the second time in just over a decade, with the United Nations last week warning that time was running out to save lives.

The jihadist group has carried out several attacks in the mainly Muslim country since Mohamud took office in May, ending a protracted political crisis that had distracted from the fight against the jihadists.

On Sunday, Somalia's ministry of information, culture and tourism announced on Twitter that the "Somali National Army assisted by the local civilians have liberated up to twenty towns... killing over a hundred militias of the (Al-Shabaab) group."

"The terror group have been using these towns as strongholds for organising their terrorist attacks," the ministry said in a statement.

'Open War'

Military officials and residents told AFP on Monday that government forces supported by local clan militias had launched offensives in central Somalia's Hiraan region, prompting the militants to flee.

"This is a major offensive and the army is getting support from the local communities who are fed up with Al-Shabaab," Colonel Mohamed Adan, a member of the Somali military in the region, told AFP by phone.

Ali Tohow Hassan, an elder from Hiraan, said local clan members decided to take up arms against the militants, who have been accused of extorting money from residents.

"Many of them have decided to assist the army in the fight... There is open war now and all the territories are frontlines," he told AFP.

The fresh offensives came just over a week after the Islamists killed at least 19 civilians in a night-time attack in central Somalia.

Last month, at least 21 people died in a gun and bomb attack targeting the popular Hayat Hotel, a favoured meeting spot for government officials.

Mohamud said in July that ending the insurgency required more than a military approach, but that his government would negotiate with Al-Shabaab only when the time was right.

The militants, who espouse a strict version of sharia or Islamic law, were driven out of Mogadishu by an African Union force in 2011.

But they still retain the ability to launch deadly strikes, often hitting hotels and restaurants as well as military and political targets.

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By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has briefed his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu about the recent clashes on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border, Azernews reports, citing the ministry.

In a phone call on September 13, Bayramov provided detailed information about Armenia's large-scale provocations on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border starting at night on September 12.

The minister underlined that Armenia fired on Azerbaijani positions, carried out mining of Azerbaijani territories, and intensified the military activity in the region during the previous month.

He added that the Azerbaijani army took decisive retaliatory measures to prevent Armenias provocation and military threats against the countrys territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as to ensure the safety of the military personnel and civilian workers involved in infrastructure activities.

Cavusoglu, for his part, voiced concern over military tensions and provocations, highlighting the necessity of full implementation of obligations undertaken by Armenia within the terms of the agreements achieved.

Other regional concerns were discussed during the phone call.

To recap, units of the Armenian armed forces carried out large-scale provocations along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions during the night of September 13. At night, Armenian sabotage groups mined land and supply roads linking the positions of the Azerbaijani army units in different directions, taking advantage of the area's steep topography and existing ravine gaps.

Clashes between the sides ensued as a result of the urgent efforts made by the Azerbaijani armed forces to quell these activities.

As a result, there were losses among the military personnel, and the military infrastructure was damaged, the ministry detailed.

The Azerbaijan military units stationed in these areas took decisive retaliatory measures to suppress the provocations of the Armenian armed forces and military threats to Azerbaijan's territory and sovereignty, as well as to ensure the safety of military personnel, including civilian workers involved in infrastructure construction in Kalbajar and Lachin districts, the ministry emphasized.
Saudi authorities have arrested a man who claimed to have travelled to the Muslim holy city of Mecca to perform an umrah pilgrimage on behalf of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The man, a Yemeni national, on Monday published a video clip of himself on social media at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest site, where non-Muslims are forbidden.

In the clip, he held up a banner saying: "Umrah for the soul of Queen Elizabeth II, we ask God to accept her in heaven and among the righteous."

The footage was widely circulated on Saudi social media, with Twitter users calling for the man's arrest.

Saudi Arabia forbids pilgrims to Mecca from carrying banners or chanting slogans.

And while it is acceptable to perform umrah on behalf on deceased Muslims, this does not apply to non-Muslims like the queen, who was supreme governor of the Church of England, the mother church of the worldwide Anglican communion.

Security forces at the Grand Mosque "arrested a resident of Yemeni nationality who appeared in a video clip carrying a banner inside the Grand Mosque, violating the regulations and instructions for umrah," said a statement carried by state media late Monday.

"He was arrested, legal measures were taken against him and he was referred to the public prosecution."

State television broadcast segments about the incident that included the controversial video clip, but with the banner blurred.

The umrah is a pilgrimage that can be undertaken at any time -- distinct from the hajj, which takes place once annually and usually draws millions from around the globe.

The queen died on Thursday and her funeral is planned for September 19.

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More than 13,000 irregular Tunisian migrants have reached Italy by sea since the start of the year, almost a fifth of them minors, a Tunisian rights group said on Tuesday.

The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) said more than 500 irregular migrants have also perished or gone missing off the Tunisian coast over the same period.

It added that some 2,635 minors -- around half of them unaccompanied -- and 624 women were among the Tunisians who reached Italy.

"The migration crisis continues despite the silence of institutions and ministries, and the presidency of the republic is responsible," FTDES spokesperson Romdhane Ben Amor told journalists in Tunis.

People fleeing violence and poverty across Africa and beyond have long used Tunisia, just 125 kilometres (80 miles) from the Italian island of Lampedusa, as a launchpad for maritime bids to reach Europe.

But as a long-running economic crisis grinds more people into poverty, growing numbers of Tunisians themselves are making such attempts.

This year's figure of 13,742 Tunisians reaching Italian shores is up by 11 percent on the same period last year, the FTDES said.

Migration attempts tend to surge in the summer months, and this year June was the peak month with over 1,400 arrivals.

Also on Tuesday, the Tunisian coast guard said it had thwarted 34 migration attempts and "rescued" 554 migrants the previous night.

In recent months, the interior ministry has regularly announced the capsizing of boats and rescue operations involving irregular migrants off the Tunisian coast.

The EU's Frontex border agency says more than 42,500 migrants used the central Mediterranean route between January and July, up 44 percent compared with the first seven months of 2021.

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Armenia said Tuesday that at least 49 of its troops were killed in border clashes with Azerbaijan, the worst fighting between the arch foes since their 2020 war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"For the moment, we have 49 (troops) killed and unfortunately it's not the final figure," Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told parliament. This death toll makes this the deadliest escalation since the two side fought a six-week war over Nagorno-Karabakh that claimed more than 6,500 lives.

Clashes erupted overnight along the volatile Azerbaijan-Armenia border near the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, leaving troops dead on both sides, defence ministries in Baku and Yerevan said.

The latest flare-up risks marring ongoing talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign a peace agreement.

It also risks stalling new efforts between Turkey and Armenia to strike a reconciliation agreement that would put an end to decades of hostile relations dating back to the genocide or Armenians by the Ottomans during World War I.

Armenia said that Azerbaijani forces "launched intensive shelling, with artillery and large-calibre firearms, against Armenian military positions in the direction of the cities of Goris, Sotk, and Jermuk" shortly after midnight.

But Azerbaijan's defence ministry accused Armenia of "large-scale subversive acts" near the districts of Dashkesan, Kelbajar and Lachin on the border, adding that its army positions "came under fire, including from trench mortars".

Turkey sides with Azerbaijan

Turkey firmly sided with its regional ally Azerbaijan, telling Armenia to "cease its provocations" against Baku.

"Armenia should cease its provocations and focus on peace negotiations and cooperation with Azerbaijan," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted after a phone call with Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov.

Turkey backed Baku in the 2020 conflict, supplying it with combat drones that helped Azerbaijan claw back large parts of the territory it lost in Nagorno-Karabakh in a brutal war that followed the Soviet Union's breakup in 1991.

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Queen Elizabeth II left Scotland for the final time on Tuesday, as her coffin began its journey to London where crowds of mourners have begun queueing to pay their respects when she lies in state before a state funeral next week.

The casket was taken from St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, where it has lain "at rest" since Monday, after it was carried in a solemn procession through the Scottish capital to hushed crowds.

Outside the cathedral, the monarch's bodyguard in Scotland, the Royal Company of Archers, formed a guard of honour as the coffin, draped in the royal standard, emerged to the haunting sound of a lone piper.

At the airport, as the Royal Regiment of Scotland, in ceremonial kilts, looked on, a Royal Air Force bearer party carried the coffin slowly on board.

The national anthem was played as the plane taxied to the runway and the queen, who died at her beloved Balmoral home in the Highlands last week aged 96, left Scotland for the final time.

The late monarch will first be brought to Buckingham Palace before being transported to Westminster Hall on Wednesday, where some well-wishers have been queueing for 24 hours already to bid farewell to Britain's longest-serving sovereign.

"I just want to have a glimpse of the coffin and it's going to be chaos at Westminster," Joseph Afrane, 59, told AFP as he waited for the hearse to arrive at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening.

"You know, even if it's sad, the atmosphere is actually quite nice here."

Charles III meanwhile made his maiden visit to Northern Ireland as king on Tuesday as part of a tour to all four nations of the United Kingdom before the queen's funeral on Monday next week.

As heir-to-the-throne, Charles made 39 visits to Northern Ireland, whose recent history has been scarred by sectarian violence over British rule and where a fragile peace has held since 1998.

His 40th visit comes as unionists loyal to the Crown feel their place in the wider UK is under threat as never before, with nationalists set to lead the devolved government in Belfast for the first time.

Meanwhile the possibility of a united Ireland is seen as growing.

But at Hillsborough Castle, the monarch's official residence in Northern Ireland, he sent a message to political leaders that he would work for all communities in the divided province.

"I take up my new duties resolved to seek the welfare of all the inhabitants of Northern Ireland," he told them.

The queen's visit to Ireland in 2011 was the first by a British monarch since its independence from the Crown and was seen as a huge step towards cementing the hard-won peace in Northern Ireland.

'Behind Him'

Charles and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, greeted crowds who had turned out early to catch a glimpse of the couple at Hillsborough.

Ceremonial gun salutes in his honour then rang out as the royal standard was raised above the castle southwest of Belfast.

Flowers, cuddly toys and handwritten remembrance notes of the late queen had been left at the gates.

"This is very important for Charles to come here," Rhonda Irvine, 47, a wedding and events administrator, told AFP.

Describing Charles's late mother as an "inspiration for him", she predicted he would be a "very good" king.

Ann Sudlow, 61, a retired nurse from nearby Dromore, had also made the early morning drive "to show the king that we're behind him as a country and Northern Ireland is supporting him".

While large crowds welcomed Charles, visiting the deeply divided region could prove testing. Nationalist parties boycotted the proclamation of the new king but will meet him.

Belfast's feuding political leaders are split between fiercely loyal unionists, and nationalists who want to reunify with Ireland, and the power-sharing assembly in Belfast is suspended.

Unionists are boycotting the devolved parliament at Stormont because of their opposition to post-Brexit trading rules that they say cuts Northern Ireland adrift from mainland Great Britain, England, Scotland and Wales.

Charles then went to an Anglican religious service in the city, also attended by Ireland's President Michael D. Higgins, Prime Minister Micheal Martin and Foreign Minister Simon Coveney.

- Crowds -

Britain is in 10 days of national mourning for Elizabeth II, who was a fixture of the nation's life and consciousness for seven decades.

Charles has seen his popularity recover since the death of his former wife Diana in a 1997 car crash, and has surged in recent days, according to a new survey Tuesday.

But he has also been embroiled in several scandals in recent years.

With republican movements gaining ground from Australia to the Bahamas, the new king faces a challenge keeping the Commonwealth realms in the royal fold.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her country New Zealand, where Charles is also head of state, will likely become a republic in her lifetime.

But she added: "I don't see it as a short-term measure or anything that is on the agenda soon."

The queen's coffin will be on display to the public from Wednesday when the king will lead a procession at precisely 2:22 pm (1322 GMT) attended by his three siblings, Anne, Edward and scandal-hit Andrew.

In Edinburgh, thousands of people queued throughout the night.

"It's part of history... We'll never see this again," Lynn Templeton, visiting Edinburgh from northwest England, told AFP after filing past the coffin.

One woman, who gave her name only as Vicki, took an early train from Glasgow with her nine-year-old son "just to pay our respects".

"It's "just a moment in history, once in a lifetime," she said.

Security

An unprecedented security operation is being put in place for the state funeral, which is expected to be attended by hundreds of heads of state and government, as well as global royalty.

Neither Russia nor Belarus have been invited, however, following the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine in February.

"It's a massive challenge for the Metropolitan Police and for me personally, but we have been preparing for many, many years," the newly appointed head of the London police force, Mark Rowley, told Sky News.

Soldiers from the Household Division of regiments, which form the monarch's bodyguard, began practising for the funeral procession in London overnight Monday to Tuesday.

The vast crowds expected in London have resulted in few available hotel rooms, while transport bosses have warned of strong demand.

Hotel prices have rocketed, with a basic windowless basement room in Piccadilly Circus, central London, available for 300 ($350) per night.

"Our hotels in central London and Windsor are literally sold out," budget hotel chain Travelodge said in a statement.

But not everyone shares the public mood of sadness and remembrance sparked by the queen's death at her Balmoral estate in Scotland last Thursday.

British police faced criticism from civil liberties groups on Tuesday over their treatment of anti-monarchy protesters who have publicly challenged Charles' accession to the throne.

Video footage and witnesses have drawn attention to police arresting or intimidating people who shouted slogans against the monarchy or held up placards reading "Not My King".

"Police officers have a duty to protect people's right to protest as much as they have a duty to facilitate people's right to express support, sorrow, or pay their respects," campaign group Big Brother Watch said.

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Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has reiterated Egypt's readiness to issue immediate licenses for investment enterprises in order to support the national industry and various sectors and increase the rates of local manufacturing, a cabinet statement said on Tuesday.

Madbouly made his statements during a meeting on Monday evening with representatives of nine foreign and local companies to follow up on the implementation of recently signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with these entities to launch new projects in Egypt.

The MoUs cover various sectors including electrical household appliances, fertilisers and chemicals, construction chemicals, car components and braids, ready-made clothes, information technology and medicines and vaccines, according to the statement.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Chinese electrical home appliance company Haier Egypt, Emirati fertiliser company CFC Group, Turkish domestic appliance company Beko Misr, the Italian construction chemicals Group Mabe, and Japanese car braiding giant Sumitomo Egypt.

Additionally, Japanese auto components manufacturer Yazaki Europe Limited, Egyptian ready-made company Alex Apparels, Egyptian digital solutions and ICT infrastructure provider Benya and Egyptian pharma firm Gennecs.

Madbouly said the planned projects will attract direct investments worth $1 billion and create some 35,000 job opportunities, according to a cabinet statement released following the meeting.

During the meeting, the prime minister was briefed by each company representative on the timetables of their projects. He stressed that that the government will periodically follow up on the projects to immediately remove any obstacles that may face investors.

He expressed his aspiration to witness the openings of the first stages of these projects in the immediate future.

Madbouly asserted that the importance of diversifying manufacturing and production locations is among the lessons learned during the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

"The current global crises that resulted from the ramifications of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis  and before that the coronavirus pandemic  was a very important lesson that the manufacturing process should not be concentrated into a specific geographical area in the world, as it is necessary to diversify the manufacturing and production areas," he said.

Meanwhile, Egypt is seeking to attract foreign investors to increase the private sector's participation in public investments, to 65 percent up from 30 percent currently, in the economy to take advantage of the new State Ownership Policy that delineates the state presence in certain sectors of the economy.

According to the policy, the government will exit 15 economic activities across seven sectors over the coming three years, including agriculture, water, sanitation, desalination, telecommunication and IT, retail, food and beverages, as well as construction.

The government will also exit a number of activities across the leather, timber, engineering, jewellery, chemical, textile, printing and pharmaceutical industries.

Billion-dollar investments

Electrical home appliance company Haier Egypt is set to establish a 200,000 square metre industrial complex in the 10th of Ramadan district in the Nile Delta governorate of Sharqia with investments of $130 million.

The project will be implemented in two phases, with the first phase to start production by the beginning of 2024 at a cost of $85 million, General Manager of Haier Egypt Ahmed El-Gendy told the meeting.

The project, El-Gendy said, will be completely self-financed by the company in the form of foreign direct investment, and is set to create some 3,500 direct and indirect job opportunities.

Emirati fertiliser company CFC Group will establish in February an industrial complex for the production of chemicals and fertilisers in Upper Egypt governorate of Qena, as part of the Integrated Industrial Partnership initiative signed recently between Egypt, the UAE, Jordan and Bahrain.

The project will be built over an area of 370,000 square metres in Nagaa Hammadi Industrial District, with total foreign direct investments estimated at $400 million, and a total paid-up capital of $100 million, CEO of the CFC Group Ahmed Khalifa said.

The complex will be the first of its kind in the Middle East and Africa, with a total production capacity of 1.5 million tons, Khalifa noted, adding that it is set to create up to 2,600 direct and indirect jobs.

The project, which will be built in accordance with green economy standards, is meant to meet the needs of the local market, with a large part of the production to be exported, he noted.

Turkish domestic appliance company Beko Misr has recently established a complex in the 10th of Ramadan district over an area of 114,000 square metres to produce 1.1 million units of refrigerators and ovens, with a total investment of $100 million.

The company plans to export 60 percent of its production to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with production scheduled to start within one year, said Umit Gunel, general manager of Beko Egypt, during Monday's meeting.

Japanese car braiding giant Sumitomo Egypt is to start construction work in three months on its largest factory in Egypt in the 10th of Ramadan district, with investments estimated at $100 million.

The new factory, which is set to be completed within one year and seeks to export 100 percent of the production, will start the exporting process before the end of 2023, Ahmed Magdy, managing director of Sumitomo Egypt, said.

The Japanese company will establish a storage warehouse for raw materials to be used as a distribution hub for North and central African countries, Magdy pointed out.

Additionally, Japanese auto components manufacturer Yazaki Europe Limited is set to begin building a factory for the manufacture of electrical systems for cars in Fayoum governorate on an area of 60,000 square metres, with an initial investment estimated at 20 million euros.

The production process is scheduled to start in December 2024, according to Ahmed Badawi, the managing director of the Japanese company.

The project is expected to create 3,000 job opportunities in the upper Egypt governorate, he added.

Furthermore, local ready-made company Alex Apparels that acquired two ready-made factories is currently developing them in accordance with the European quality standards to reach a production capacity of more than 33 million pieces of clothing annually.

The new factories are expected to employ tens of thousands of workers, Ehab Mohy, the chairman of Alex Apparels, said during the meeting.

Alex Apparels will also establish a textile and dyeing factory with a production capacity of 70 tons of cloth per day and a workforce of 4,000 workers. They will also establish a green clothing factory, with an expected production capacity of 12 million pieces annually and a workforce of 2,500 workers.

Both planned factories are set to start production during 2023, Mohy added.

Also, Egyptian digital solutions and ICT infrastructure provider Benya has concluded 90 percent of the construction work of a fibre-optic cable factory, which is being established within the framework of the country's expansion of data centres.

Ahmed Makki, CEO of Benya, said 80 percent of the firm's equipment has already arrived, and it is expected to start production in November 2022.

The investments in the project's first phase will reach EGP 750 million and will cover 40 percent of local needs, he added.

Egyptian pharma firm Gennecs will establish a factory in Egypt for biopharmaceuticals and vaccines, with an expected cost of about $150 million in foreign direct investments, according to Nepal Dehba, the general manager of Gennecs.

The two-phase project is being implemented by a group of investors from Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia and it aims to localise the vaccine industry, she added.

Gennecs, Dehba said, aims to cover the Egyptian market and export to Africa and the Arab countries with the new factory.

The factory will produce all types of vaccines with a capacity of 115 million doses per year, she noted, asking Madbouly to support the project and facilitate the issuance of the necessary licenses and procedures.

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Egypts Ministry of Trade and Industry lifted this week its ban on the export of several staple food commodities, including wheat, flour and fava beans for six months since March.

According to the decision, which has been published in Egyptian media, Egyptian exporters can once again export fava beans, flour, wheat, lentils, oils and pasta without any restrictions.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting global supply crisis, Egypt issued a decision in March to ban the export of several food items, including wheat.

The ban was extended for another three months in June.

Egypt, which used to rely on Russia and Ukraine for 80 percent of its imported wheat, has been working on diversifying its wheat import sources and encouraging local farmers to sell their wheat to the state since the Ukraine crisis started in February.

Egypt has already increased its local supplies, buying from local farmers at EGP 880 per ardeb (150kg) on average, which will be upped to EGP 1,000 in the new season.

The government aims to purchase 6 million tonnes this year.

According to official statements, the country consumes around 18 million tonnes of wheat annually.

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President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisis visit to Doha this week signals a new phase in Cairos relations with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The two-day visit, which started on Tuesday afternoon with a red-carpet reception, follows the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thanis trip to Cairo in the last week of June.

The emirs visit marked an end to political hostilities between the two countries which began following the removal of Mohamed Morsi as Egypts president in 2013 and reached an apogee in June 2017 when Cairo joined the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain in imposing an embargo on Qatar. The blockade ended in January 2021.

Al-Sisi and Tamim met briefly on the sidelines of a limited Arab summit in Iraq in August last year and repeated the encounter in Glasgow in November on the sidelines of COP26. Egyptian officials say these encounters were followed by low-key diplomatic consultations intended to pave the way for a gradual resumption of relations.

While the officials argue it would be wrong to assume that Egypt and Qatar have resolved all their differences or suggest the exchange of visits marks a U-turn in bilateral relations by either country, they do underline that things have changed for both Egypt and Qatar.

Foreign diplomats in Egypt say Cairo and Doha both recognise that it is in the interests of neither to continue with their diplomatic warfare.

It has become clear that no matter what anyone may think, the changes Egypt saw in 2013 are no longer subject to debate, said one European diplomat. And Cairo, the same diplomat continued, is well aware of the significant role Qatar is playing in zones of direct national strategic interest to Egypt, including in Gaza and Libya.

Egyptian officials confirm that Egypt and Qatar have been coordinating on almost daily basis over developments in Gaza since Cairo managed to secure a ceasefire to Israels attack on the Strip in May last year. The reconstruction work that Egypt is coordinating in Gaza is partly supported by Qatari funds, and Cairo and Doha have been working closely with Israel to facilitate financial transactions with the Hamas-led government in Gaza. Egypt and Qatar are also working with Israel to suspend attacks on the West Bank, and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to manage coordination policies with Israel to avoid any escalation of the situation.

On Libya too, say officials, there are signs of a shared political realism. Cairo has abandoned its east-versus-west approach to its neighbour, a process lent at least some impetus by incremental thaws in Cairos relations with Ankara  Egypt had until recently thrown all its weight behind political leaders in the east of Libya, Turkey behind authorities in the west of the country  while Qatar, in recent weeks, has hosted players from both sides of Libyas geographic divide and seems open to coordinating a diplomatic intervention that includes international and regional players.

Developments in Libya, Gaza, Yemen, and Lebanon were all scheduled to be on the agenda of Al-Sisis talks in Doha, say officials. According to one, it is safe to assume Cairo and Doha are both interested in plausible political deals in all four countries that include some elements of political Islam to which Egypt was formerly firmly opposed. In the case of Yemen, one official stressed, Cairo has no quarrel with Islamists playing a role in ending the eight-year-long conflict that has compromised the security of Bab Al-Mandab and the Red Sea.

Economic issues are also high on the agenda of President Al-Sisis talks in Doha, just as they were during his talks with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia when he visited Egypt in July and with the leader of the UAE when he visited Egypt in August, ahead of a five-way meeting that was attended by the leaders of Bahrain and Jordan and the prime minister of Iraq. Possible Qatari investments in Egypt, including the acquisition of Egyptian government stakes in several leading companies, have already been discussed by officials on both sides, say Egyptian officials.

Cairos alliance with one camp within the GCC is a thing of the past, they add, and Egypt is as welcoming of Qatari investments as it is of Emirati, Saudi, or Kuwaiti investments. Not, they stress, that Egypt is turning its back on its allies of the past seven years. In press statements made over last week, President Al-Sisi paid tribute to the generous financial and economic support that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait provided following the political changes Egypt underwent in the summer of 2013.

Meanwhile, Cairo is planning to organise a conference towards the end of this month that will bring together the government, private sector, and economic experts to decide on how best to manage the economic crisis that has hit the country in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

The economy will also be central to the talks Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri is scheduled to have with counterparts and other officials on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings later this month.

Cairo has yet to finalise an agreement with the IMF for a loan to help support the domestic economy. Earlier expectations, propagated, in part at least, by Egyptian officials, that the loan would be around $10 billion, have proved wide of the mark. This week, three Western sources said Cairo could expect a figure of between $3-$5 billion. The rest of Egypts foreign currency needs, they insist, will have to come from bilateral agreements, or agreements with commercial banks. Egypt is already in negotiations with banks in Gulf countries to secure two loans, one of $3 billion, the second of $4 billion.

Shoukris UNGA agenda will also include promoting partnership with other countries focusing on green energy projects. According Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tarek Al-Molla, Egypt is hoping to become a hub for green energy, a subject that will be discussed in depth in November when Egypt hosts COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) will also be on Shoukris mind during his talks in New York. He is expected to tell interlocutors from across the world what he told Hanna Serwaa Thetteh, the UN secretary-generals special envoy to the Horn of Africa, when they met in Cairo this week: Egypt, like Sudan, wants an end to Ethiopias unilateral acts over the past three years, during which it has executed three fillings of the GERD reservoir in the absence of an agreement with downstream countries as required by the Declaration of Principles signed by Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan in 2015.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Everything is now in place for the national dialogue to begin.

The 19-member Board of Trustees overseeing the national dialogue proposed by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in April held a meeting on 10 September. The national dialogue will kick off very soon to usher Egypt into a new beginning, the General Coordinator and head of the Press Syndicate Diaa Rashwan said.

No date for the start of the dialogue has been set.

The 10 September meeting ended with the selection of Hossam Badrawi as consultant to the national dialogue. Badrawi, 69, is a politician, physician, educator, and businessman who graduated from Cairo Universitys Faculty of Medicine in 1974. He joined president Hosni Mubaraks ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) in 2000 and was named its secretary-general in February 2011, days before Mubarak was ousted from office and the NDP dissolved.

Badrawi said the national dialogue proposed by President Al-Sisi is mainly a political forum that aims to gather views from participants about Egypts future direction, and where the country should be in 2030.

Egypts 2030 vision is based on two pillars  justice and sustainable development  and the national dialogue is an opportunity to discuss these two issues which are vital to Egypts future. As a consultant, I will help present different views on the two issues to the National Dialogue and make sure they serve the future of this country, said Badrawi.

Badrawi said the rapporteurs and assistant rapporteurs selected by the Board of Trustees this week possess the requisite political, social, and economic credentials. We will be working together during sessions to translate constitutional principles and Egypts 2030 Vision into facts on the ground, he added.

Human rights activist Negad Al-Borai, a member of the Board of Trustees, said the selection of rapporteurs and assistant rapporteurs for the dialogues subcommittees reflects the diversity of opinion and political positions.

From a list of 550 nominees we chose 44 rapporteurs and assistant rapporteurs and ensured that they represented the spectrum of political tendencies. They will be responsible for running the dialogues political, economic, and social debates, said El-Borai.

The national dialogue is not a debate between the government on one hand and opposition forces on the other, argued Al-Borai. Rather, it is a dialogue among different political forces, loyalist and opposition, and will also include social and economic experts. The expectation is that together they will reach a consensus on national priorities for the next decade.

The list of rapporteurs includes 23 independents and 21 party affiliates. The independents include Mustafa Kamel Al-Sayed, a professor of political science at the American University in Cairo (AUC). Al-Sayed is a liberal-oriented academic who has called for the process of democratisation to be given more impetus.

The parliamentary majority party Mostaqbal Watan dominates the list with seven leading members selected as rapporteurs or assistant rapporteurs. The list also includes members of the Tagammu, Wafd, Reform and Development, Adl (Justice), Dostour (the Constitution), Egyptian Liberals, and the Free Socialists parties.

Rashwan insists the Board of Trustees has worked to the best of its abilities to create a favourable climate ahead of the dialogue launch. The board has been responsive to proposals submitted from opposition forces, he said, including the Democratic Civilian Movements suggestion that the number of political subcommittees be increased from three to five.

The Democratic Civilian Movement faced sharp attacks from pro-regime parties when it issued a statement on 7 September calling for the release of greater numbers of secular activists to create a favourable climate ahead of the launch of the dialogue.

Two days later, however, Prosecutor-General Hamada Al-Sawy ordered the release of 33 so-called political prisoners. Hamdeen Sabahi, a former presidential candidate and the founder of the Popular Current opposition grouping, said on his Facebook page on 9 September that the release of 33 political prisoners today is a step that renews hopes that Egypt is moving in the direction of greater political openness I thank the president, the prosecution-general, and security forces for this step. Sabahi went on to express his hope that the national dialogue will discuss legislative amendments limiting the period of pre-trial detention.

Sabahi also thanked President Al-Sisi for his decision to extend ration card subsidies to millions of Egyptians. During the dialogue we will stress the need for stable and long-term social justice policies that help the poor live honourable and decent lives, said Sabahi.

Sabahi also noted that while some regime loyalists have claimed the [Democratic Civilian] Movement is allied with the Muslim Brotherhood the truth is that we were clear from the beginning that the Brotherhood must be excluded from the dialogue.

Farid Zahran, chairman of the Socialist Democratic Party, described the boards 10 September meeting as a major step. We hope the dialogue itself will begin soon, said Zahran.

Alieddin Hilal, a prominent political analyst and former minister of youth and sports, was named rapporteur for the dialogues political track. Hilal said he agrees with opposition forces that the national dialogue is a must in a new era of political openness.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The detection of Egypts first case of monkeypox was announced by the Ministry of Health and Population on 7 September. It involved a 42-year-old male who resides in a European country and was visiting Egypt. The patient, who had not directly contacted any of his family members, is currently being isolated in Mansoura Hospital.

The countrys first case was discovered while the Health Ministrys medical teams were conducting epidemiological monitoring procedures, according to Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Population. Such steps started at all the countrys land and seaports in July. The ministry has provided medical teams with the required diagnostic equipment, Abdel-Ghaffar said.

Abdel-Ghaffar noted that although the ministry increased its surveillance a few months ago, it did not allocate any hospitals for quarantine. Monkeypox is unlike Covid-19 which is a fast-spreading disease, and the carrier of the disease, even if they do not show symptoms, can transmit the infection to many patients. Monkeypox is transmitted through close contact, and the patient is not contagious until after blisters and rashes appear on their skin, Abdel-Ghaffar explained.

The ministry has trained its doctors, nurses, and staff members on how to diagnose a possible patient, refer him or her to quarantine and provide the required medical care until recovery, which could last for a few weeks, Abdel-Ghaffar added.

He said the virus, which originated from animals, could be transmitted from animals to humans and from humans to humans. Infections result due to direct contact between an infected and a healthy person, by touching an infected skin, and sex, he added.

Dermatologist Hisham Zaher said patients recently infected with monkeypox usually suffer high fever, headache, muscle pain, back pain, swollen lymph nodes, shivers, and exhaustion. These symptoms are followed by a rash which begins on the face, then spreads to other parts of the body where the patients experience a painful rash and open sores, Zaher said.

According to Zaher, symptoms of monkeypox generally last from 14 to 21 days. They are usually mild, and most people recover within a few weeks after being treated in hospital. More than 90 per cent of patients suffer from rashes and blisters on their faces, while 75 per cent contract rashes in the palm of their hands and soles of the feet, while 30 per cent suffer rashes in their genitalia, and 20 per cent in their conjunctiva, he explained.

Monkeypox originally appeared in central and western Africa in 1958. The virus incubation period can last from five to 21 days.

Despite the similarity in the names and symptoms, monkeypox is completely different from chickenpox; they are from two different families. The monkeypox virus belongs to the poxviruses family, while the chickenpox virus belongs to the herpesviruses family.

There is no immune overlap between the two viruses and getting a vaccine or being infected with one does not protect against the other. Swollen lymph nodes are a distinctive symptom of monkeypox, which is not found in chickenpox, Zaher added.

Egypt is the seventh Middle East and North Africa (MENA) country to report a monkeypox infection, according to a statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO). There are 33 monkeypox infections in six MENA countries: six in Lebanon, six in Saudi Arabia, one in Iran, 16 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), three in Qatar and one in Morocco.

According to the latest WHO statement, since countries started reporting the number of infected cases in early May this year, more than 54,900 people in 75 countries have contracted the virus and 16 have died.

Zaher said monkeypox is not transmitted from human to human via breath but could be transmitted via a persons saliva.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev held an operational meeting with the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan in connection with the provocations committed by Armenia on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on September 13.

Relevant reports were presented at the meeting. It was stated that the provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces on the border of the two states were prevented, and all relevant duties and tasks were fulfilled.

It was noted that the responsibility of the current tension rests squarely with the political leadership of Armenia. The Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan controls the operational situation along the border.
Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli held two meetings this week to prepare for an economic conference at the end of this month, reports Gamal Essam El-Din

Cabinet Spokesperson Nader Saad said the meetings to plan for the economic conference followed directives of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi who last week called for the event to be organised.

Saad indicated that the prime minister will hold more meetings within days with business leaders, investors, and industrialists to settle the agenda on the proposed conference.

Speaking during the inauguration of the Suez Canal Authoritys new martitime units on 8 September President Al-Sisi said that there is a pressing need for an economic conference at which economic experts, business leaders, and investors can participate and exchange views.

The national dialogue has already formed a committee to discuss a host of economic issues, but as a state we are in need of a supplementary conference to discuss pressing economic issues.

I hope the government will use this conference to find solutions for the problems facing industries and businesses which are losing millions of US dollars a day due to import restrictions.

On Monday, Madbouli met with Minister of Industry Ahmed Samir, and representatives from the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI). He said that initial preparatory meetings had focused on supporting the manufacturing sector.

Madbouli argued that the economic crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine had underlined the importance of reducing Egypts dependency on imports and expanding local production to meet market needs. He said the government has already gone a long way to solving the problems facing manufacturers, including simplifying the procedures necessary to license new factories.

According to Saad, during the initial meeting industry representatives presented proposals to reduce imports and support local manufacturers. He also stressed that the proposed conference will not be confined to discussing industrial issues but will open to economic issues across the board. In this regard, Madbouli also met with Hassan Abdallah, governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). During the meeting the prime minister reviewed preparations for the event, including coordination among concerned bodies to set an agenda for the conference.

Madbouli highlighted the central role played by the CBE in streamlining procedures so that investors embark on more projects in the manufacturing, infrastructure, and energy sectors.

Saad stressed that the proposed economic conference will not conflict with the national dialogue which is expected to open this month. While the national dialogue will discuss political, economic, and social issues, the conference will focus on problems facing industrialists and businessmen and draw up a new roadmap in this regard, he said.

Minister of Industry Ahmed Samir said the meeting with Madbouli demonstrated the governments commitment to boosting exports and reducing the import bill.

Head of the Federation of Egyptian Industries Mohamed Al-Sewidi said in a TV interview that industrialists had used their meeting with Madbouli to highlight the negative impact of the war in Ukraine on Egyptian businesses and industries.

Policies adopted to absorb the shock of the war, such as restricting imports, have harmed industries which depend on imported raw materials, said Al-Sewidi. He warned that many factories and production lines face having to suspend operations if the authorities refuse to release shipments stuck at ports.

Al-Sewidi explained that even before the war in Ukraine, the CBE had issued new import requirements.

The CBE required the letter of credit system to be used instead of cash against documents, complicating import procedures. There is also a shortage of a number of key components, and the disruption in supply chains has led to a black market.

Ali Ouf, chairman of the General Chamber of Commerces Drugs Department, said Egypt imports 60 per cent of anaesthetics used during medical and dental procedures and since the government imposed import restrictions to reduce demand for US dollars local producers have been unable to fill the gap in supplies, leading to the creation of a black market.

Alaa Al-Sabaa, a member of the board of the General Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerces General Automobile Division, says restricting imports has led to a reduction of finished goods reaching the market, and consequent price increases. He expects the crisis to continue until the last quarter of this year, and is hoping to see a breakthrough by the beginning of the first quarter of 2023 when, hopefully, the Ukrainian-Russian crisis subsides and world supply chains return to pre-pandemic stability.

Political parties, MPs, and economic experts have expressed their hopes that the proposed conference will help Egypt weather the global crises caused by the war in Ukraine.

Most political parties, including the opposition Wafd Party, issued statements in support of the conference. The majority Mostaqbal Watan Party issued a statement saying the economic conference is being called in difficult global economic conditions and reflects the determination of Egypts political leadership to do everything possible to develop the economy and shore up public finances.

Zeinab Nawar, a member of Mostaqbal Watan and professor of political economy at the British University in Cairo, is optimistic that the conference will result in new incentives to encourage export-focused investment and increase the production of strategic crops, particularly wheat.

Mohamed Abdel-Hamid, deputy chairman of the House of Representatives Economic Committee, hopes the conference will provide an answer to those who are sceptical about the ability of the Egyptian economy to withstand the global economic crisis.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Britains new Monarch King Charles III inherits a kingdom that is less admired, less prosperous, and less united than it was during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, writes Manal Lotfy

Smoothly and amid magnificent constitutional and ceremonial traditions and rituals, Britain transitioned from the reign of Queen Elizabeth II to the reign of King Charles III this week.

Britain has not seen the inauguration of a new king for seven decades with all the splendour and ceremonial rites that this entails, many of them dating back nearly a thousand years. Yet, there is a general feeling of uneasiness in the air.

After the shock of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, questions have begun about the future of the monarchy and the country. The late queen leaves Britain in a different world from the 1950s when she took the throne.

Today, the UK faces the rise of nationalist tendencies in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which may lead to the disintegration of the union in the coming years. Britain also faces a shrinkage in the number of Commonwealth countries wishing to remain under the British crown. A challenging economic situation threatens the countrys international standing.

The UK will face all these challenges without Queen Elizabeth, and this raises the concerns of many.

A vital role of the monarchy is to offer a guardrail through the turmoil and upheaval of change. During her reign, Queen Elizabeth saw 15 British prime ministers, some of whom fought costly wars abroad. Some of them also applied economic policies that led to industrial decline. The number of Commonwealth countries that retained the British crown as head of state decreased from about 30 to 15.

But these transformations in Britain, and the changes in its political and geographical influence, passed without arousing too much popular concern because the queen was a constant and stable presence.

The soft, feminine face of Queen Elizabeth in her youth, and the warm smiling face of her later decades, gave reassurance and a perception that all was well in the UK. In a sense, she was not just a person, but an expression of an era and of a time that provided certainty in a changing world.

Now the mantle passes to King Charles III, and just as the late queen had to be a symbol of endurance and comfort to a nation adapting to the loss of empire, Charles will be expected to provide the same reassurance and keep a country that feels less united together.

He has a difficult task ahead.

In order to succeed, King Charles must first reach the younger generations in Britain. The 73-year-old king is not the most popular among Britons. Opinion polls have always indicated that the late queen was the most popular, followed by the new prince of Wales, Prince William, the heir apparent, and his wife, the new princess of Wales, and then King Charles himself.

The royal establishment itself is also less popular among younger people than in the older age groups.

Last year, a British YouGov poll found that only 31 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 agreed that the monarchy should carry on, contrasted with 81 per cent of people over 65.

Overall, the monarchy is an institution that is still broadly supported in Britain, with a slight majority of 62 per cent in favour, according to a recent poll. But the expression of support for the institution is very much tied to admiration for the late queen. Its popularity will be tested in the coming months and years because the majority of young people in Britain today do not have a strong bond with the Royal Family due to social and cultural changes.

The gap between the royal establishment and young people is deeper among ethnic minorities in Britain, some of whom believe that the Royal Family has not done enough to address racism in Britain. These criticisms have carried additional weight during the past few days after the shooting and killing of a young black British man in his car in south London.

The killing prompted thousands of people to demonstrate amid condemnations from London Mayor Sadiq Khan and civil rights organisations.

A study by the British Institute of Race Relations said this week that British Muslims have seen their citizenship reduced to second class status as a result of recently extended powers to strip people of their nationality.

Another study also published this week in the journal Sociology found that income was not enough to break British class barriers and that people from a prosperous background are more likely to move, and end up in richer areas, than those with working class parents.

With the current economic stagnation expected to affect minorities more harshly, the new king will need to help minorities in the UK to express their grievances against an unfair social order without interfering in the policymaking of the government.

Another step that King Charles III could take is to talk about the impact of the British Empire and racism on inequality within Britain and the Commonwealth.

This is a complex and sensitive subject that provokes conflicting feelings within Britain. English nationalists and the political right refuse to address this type of issue. But not speaking openly about the devastating impact of the Empire on the colonies would lead to more countries continuing to leave the British crown.

Only two days after the death of the queen, the prime minister of Antigua declared that he would go ahead with a referendum on becoming a republic.

Barbados was the last country to gain independence from the British crown, replacing the queen with a president.

Before that, Mauritius did the same in 1992. Trinidad and Tobago did so in 1976, and Guyana did so in 1970. It is expected that Jamaica will soon follow suit, having announced this several months ago, as will Belize.

In addition to addressing the legacy of empire, King Charles will have to implement his promise of shrinking the Royal Family, currently one of the largest in Europe in terms of size and expense.

In a country like Britain, where per capita income has fallen since the 1980s, the persistence of such large expenditure on the Royal Family appears in stark contrast to the troubles of ordinary Britons who face higher energy bills this winter.

Another challenge is whether King Charles can keep his thoughts to himself.

Contrary to the late queen who maintained a reputation for impartiality, the new king has taken up positions on issues as wide-ranging as climate change, architecture, organic farming, China, and immigration.

He will have to contend with a flurry of challenges, not least a country that is suffering from a steady decline in its economic power, a growing number of young people and minorities with no bond with the Royal Family, and the potential breakup of the UK, the unravelling of the Commonwealth, and a reckoning with the unsavoury parts of the Royal Familys past and colonial legacy.

Ultimately, the new kings job is to make sure that the institution remains fit for purpose at a time when the monarchy seems increasingly anachronistic.

But metamorphoses are nothing new to the British Royal Family. In April 1947, when Princess Elizabeth, as she was then, delivered a radio address from Cape Town in South Africa on her 21st birthday as heir to the throne, she was the daughter of the Emperor of India.

This title was relinquished by her father King George VI in August of the same year when India and Pakistan declared their independence from Britain.

As the UK newspaper the Guardian noted in an editorial published after the queens death, she was born when Britain ruled a global empire of some 600 million people She died when Britain was a medium-sized northern European country with an uncertain future.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The death of British Queen Elizabeth II was announced as the weekend in Egypt as in most Muslim countries was just beginning.

The conversation in one family gathering over Friday weekend lunch in a Cairene home turned to new British King Charles III. He was about to be officially proclaimed king, and in the background of the family chatter the TV was set to the news channel BBC World.

Hes not very persuasive as a king, a woman in her mid-forties said in English.

But we think we like him, two elderly men, her father-in-law and his brother protested. I appreciate his work and interest in Islam and Islamic civilisation, one said.

King Charless long veneration of Islam might not have served as tabloid material like other royal news, but his multiple endorsements of Islam and his related patronages over the decades are being reweighed with newfound appreciation in the Arab media now that he is the British Monarch.

King Charles III: A friend of the Arab world proclaimed the Saudi English daily Arab News in its 10 September issue.

The piece ran a photograph from 2014 of the new British Monarch wearing traditional Saudi robes and wielding a sword during a visit to the Saudi capital Riyadh, an image reminiscent of the British World War I intelligence officer T E Lawrence who supported the Arab revolt against the former Ottoman Empire.

He opposed the war on Iraq and learned Arabic: find out about Charless relationship with Islam and Arab affairs, ran a headline on the Qatari Aljazeera TV network on 9 September.

The influential Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat declared that King Charles III is a lover of Arab culture and an ambassador of inter-faith dialogue. The Qatari London-based Middle East Eye (MEE) observed that the new British Monarch was the most pro-Islam monarch in British history.

A thoughtful man, he has studied Islam deeply, even going to the lengths of learning Arabic to read the Quran, wrote the MEE. The new king is the most Islamophile monarch in British history. The contrast with his [new conservative] government is stark.

Less than a year ago, the then prince Charles and his wife went on their first overseas tour since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. His chosen destination in November 2021 was Jordan and Egypt.

The two-day visit to Egypt highlighted what could be a summary of his interests: Islam and interfaith dialogue, climate change, and traditional crafts.

After meeting with Ahmed Al-Tayyeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni authority in Islam, the imam published a Facebook post praising the British Royals balanced Western perspective on Islam and Muslims.

In a nod to this tribute, Nageh Ibrahim, a Muslim scholar, wrote a column explaining Charless nuanced position on Islam, a unique posture that stands out amid the mostly negative mainstream Western discourse on the Muslim faith.

The crux of the British Royals role in advocating interfaith dialogue, wrote Ibrahim, is his empathy for Islam and the Middle East, especially the empathy he voices in his discourse.

Ibrahim, who said he had been observing Charles for more than 30 years, argued that this man, now head of the Church of England, appears more knowledgeable than many Muslims about the essence of Islam and more objective than some Arab secularists who regard Islam as a flawed religion.

Charles was described as one of the greatest people to have demonstrated deep and empathetic understanding of Islam and the Quran, even raising false rumours, Ibrahim recalled, that he had converted.

Like most observers of Charless growing interest in Islam over the years, Ibrahim paused at the British Monarchs famous 2010 speech marking the 25th anniversary of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, which he has been a patron of since 1993.

Entitled Islam and the Environment, this 50-minute speech at Oxford Universitys Sheldonian Theatre managed to weave a philosophical link between two of Charless favourite topics.

He criticised the Western cultures dominant and mechanistic approach of science over everything else, including religion, which, he suggested, had de-souled its worldview. He juxtaposed this with Islam, which offers a completely integrated view of the Universe where religion and science, mind and matter, are all part of one living, conscious whole.

The Islamic world is the custodian of one of the greatest treasuries of accumulated wisdom and spiritual knowledge available to humanity, he said. It is both Islams noble heritage and a priceless gift to the rest of the world. And yet, so often, that wisdom is now obscured by the dominant drive towards Western materialism  the feeling that to be truly modern you have to ape the West.

But it was Charless first speech at the Oxford Centre when it was founded in 1993, which, he later admitted, struck a chord and not just in the UK. Entitled Islam and the West, Charles, then 44, refuted the clash of civilisations thesis that had spread from the West to the Arab countries and had caused much intellectual deliberation in Egypt.

In his speech, Charles contended that the West views Islam unfairly through extreme events that happen in the Middle East, such as civil wars and bombings by extremist groups. This has grossly distorted Western judgements of Islam by taking extremes to be the norm, he said.

He defended Sharia Law, interpretations of Islamic principles legally enshrined in some Muslim countries, against unthinking prejudices that the British press loves to peddle.

In his nuanced refuting of such biases, Charles presented a detailed and informative lecture on the history of Islam and Islamic civilisation that seemed on a par with the discourse of some of the Arab worlds prominent Islamic intellectuals who were engaging in the same debate at that time.

A biography, Charles at Seventy: Thoughts, Hopes and Dreams, published in 2018 by British commentator Robert Jobson, offers insights into some of the new monarchs political views.

According to Jobson, Charles privately disagreed with France and Belgiums ban on the niqab (the head-to-toe covering preferred by some Muslim women), seeing it as an infringement of human rights that criminalises women rather than challenging the custom.

Charles privately opposed the 2003 war on Iraq and Britains involvement in it. The book describes the weekly meetings between then British prime minister Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth ahead of the war as a real battlefield between prince Charles and Tony Blair, with Charles opposing the war and specifically the lack of intelligence to justify the invasion.

The author, who worked on the book with Charless office, says the prince thought Blair behaved like Bushs poodle and said so.

He told political figures and those in his trusted circle that he regarded the [US president George] Bush administration as terrifying and pilloried what he believed was Blairs lack of perspicacity, according to Jobson.

Charless first official visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel was in 2020. In a brief speech in Bethlehem, he referred to the historic Christian-Muslim co-existence in the city.

He told his Palestinian audience that it breaks my heart to see so much suffering and division. No one arriving in Bethlehem could miss the signs of hardship and the situation you face, he said, alluding to the Israeli occupation, without naming it.

The queens death has prompted the Israeli press to draw attention to the fact that during her long reign and global travels she never set foot in Israel, although she visited other countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Charles paid an unofficial visit in January 2020, where he addressed the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem and toured the old city of Jerusalem but did not meet with Israeli officials. However, he met with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in the Occupied West Bank.

An editorial in the Jerusalem Post on 12 September proclaimed that the UKs King Charles should visit Israel.

It is assumed, the editorial said, that the reason the Royal Family in the past avoided Israel was in large part due to concerns by the British foreign office about a possible Arab backlash and maybe also due to resentment over the violence that marked the end of the British Mandate here.

Charles has avoided voicing political views in public, and even his biography, which recalled the Iraq War, steers away from revealing his thoughts about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But even the smallest gestures and expressions of sympathy might illuminate hints of his political leanings.

In his 2021 November visit to Jordan, Charles gave his support to the Hashemite custodianship of the Muslim Holy Places in Jerusalem since 1924, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islams third holiest site. His backing of the Jordanian Monarch came at a time when Amman feared warming Israel-Saudi relations might threaten its hold on the Holy Places.

His majestys role as custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem is a vital element in the search for peace in the region, Charles said.

The School of Traditional Arts that was founded in 2004 by the then prince Charles in London helped to kick start the reconstruction of the historic minbar (pulpit) of Salaheddin (Saladin) in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

A Christian fanatic burned the pulpit, a magnificent example of Islamic art, in 1969. Its restoration triggered research into mediaeval Islamic art, and as the custodian of the Holy Places the Jordanian Royal Family sponsored a new College for Traditional Islamic Art and Architecture to recreate the historic pulpit in the absence of records documenting its original construction or the craft skills needed to restore it.

The college was based on the School of Traditional Arts in London, then the only school in the world that taught Islamic art based on Islamic principles.

The pulpit was finally restored in 2007, and the story of its restoration was recorded in a documentary, Stairway to Heaven, and a book, The Minbar of Saladin.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Turkey has now more troops than ever in northern Iraq, but a full-scale invasion of the enclave will take a very heavy toll, writes Al-Ahram Weekly.

In his memoirs published last month, Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani recalls that former Turkish president Turgut Ozal confided in him some 32 years ago that he might invade northern Iraq and annex it to Turkey.

Barzani revealed that Ozal suggested that he should find out if the administration of former US president George Bush, which a few months earlier had succeeded in driving the Iraqi army out of Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War, would endorse such a Turkish move.

When you go to the United States, ask the Americans about their opinion if Turkey annexes Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey within a federal or confederate system, Barzani wrote, remembering his encounter with Ozal during a stopover in Istanbul on his way to Washington.

In the fifth volume of his Barzani and the Kurdish Freedom Movement published in Kurdish, Barzani wrote that Ozal had made the same request to Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party, whom he had met earlier in Istanbul.

Turkey was subjected to great injustice when the Mosul velayet was taken from it, Barzani quoted Ozal as saying. The Turkish leader was apparently referring to the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which recognised the nation-state of modern Turkey and drew up its borders with Iraq and other countries.

Under the treaty, Mosul, which at that time covered all of northern Iraq and was the last Ottoman velayet (administrative area) to fall in World War I, was given to Iraq but had a particular claim on the hearts and minds of many Turks.

Barzanis disclosure of Ozals intentions comes at a time when Turkey has intensified its cross-border incursions into northern Iraq, claiming its army is pursuing members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who Ankara accuses of using Kurdistan as a base for attacks against Turkey.

Ankara has long moved its anti-PKK operations from southeast Turkey to Iraq. Shortly after the PKK started its guerrilla war against Ankara in 1984, Turkey sought to build a security zone inside Iraq to try to stop the groups cross-border attacks.

Following the 1991 Gulf War, Turkey sent large contingents of troops to northern Iraq and opened several bases and outposts along the border, exploiting a power vacuum created by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Husseins withdrawal from northern Iraq.

Turkey expanded its military presence in northern Iraq, and according to a 2020 map released by the Turkish presidency before it was deleted, there are some 40 military bases inside Iraq. In 2015, Turkey built one of its largest military bases in Bashiqa near Mosul and outside the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

Since 2016 Turkey has reestablished control of urban centres populated by Kurds along the border with Iraq where PKK militants are waging a guerrilla war against Ankara in a bid for autonomy.

Turkey has conducted multiple aerial and ground operations against the PKK inside the Iraqi Kurdish enclave over recent decades. In recent months, it has launched a massive ground and aerial offensive striking targets belonging to the PKK.

The ongoing Operation Claw-Lock is taking place in the Duhok Province, and the Turkish army says it is aimed at PKK militants operating there. Turkish warplanes are routinely striking targets deep inside the Kurdistan Region, killing villagers and destroying infrastructure.

In July, Turkish artillery bombed a recreation park in Zakho, a city on the border, killing or wounding several visitors including children. Iraq filed a complaint to the UN Security Council, but no action was taken against Turkey.

The Iraqi Ministry of Defence reported later that Turkey maintains over 4,000 soldiers inside the country and in some of their operations Turkish troops penetrated deep about 105 kilometres into Iraqi territories.

This week the powerful head of Turkeys intelligence agency (MIT), Hakan Fidan, flew to Baghdad to warn the Iraqi leaders that Turkish military operations will continue in Iraq as long as the PKK remains in Iraq.

While Turkeys aggressive role in northern Iraq is largely about the local power struggle, its ambitions in the larger region remain more territorial and even imperialistic.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been sending signals that the fate of northern Iraq will be of serious interest for Turkey as long as Iraq remains unstable and its future hangs in the balance.

Erdogan has in the past criticised the Treaty of Lausanne for leaving his country with too little territory. He has also invoked the Misak-i Milli (the National Pact), a 1920 Turkish document that claims the Mosul velayet as part of the former Ottoman Empire.

Erdogan has also spoken of Ankaras interest in the fate of the Turkoman minority in Iraq, members of which mostly live in the ethnically diverse Kirkuk Province and feel sentimentally attached to Turkey.

Many in Turkey believe that the Mosul velayet, which includes the Erbil, Suleimaniyeh, and Kirkuk Provinces of todays Iraq, was unjustly cut off from the territory of the Ottoman Empire, now making up todays Turkey, and they aspire to see it reconnected to the Turkish homeland.

Turkey continues to use water from the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, which descend from the Turkish mountains, directly impacting water flows into Iraq and hence increasing the pressure on the country.

However, in order for Turkey to annex northern Iraq, it needs legal and practical justifications. Many in Turkey have been caught up in the euphoria about Mosul, and they uphold the notion that the Lausanne Treaty is set to expire in 2023, claiming it was intended to last for 100 years only.

This claim is unfounded because the treaty in fact has no expiration date, but there are increasing fears that Turkey will try to seek its termination by claiming that it was meant to exist only on the condition that Iraq remains a sovereign state.

With increasing fears that the deadlock in Iraq over forming a new government since the elections last October could turn violent, the country is entering into a period of political turmoil that is likely to include renewed demands for independence by the Kurds.

Hostilities usually start with a spark, and Turkeys aggressive interventions and ambitions in Iraq have been piling up. Iraqs breakup could provide the trigger for an invasion.

In his memoirs, Barzani did not say whether he and Talabani had acknowledged or protested against Ozals bold proclamation, but he admitted that both he and Talabani had relayed the information to Bush administration officials.

The two leading political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Barzani, and the PUK, led by Talabani, have long fought for autonomy from Iraq.

In 2017, an independence referendum in the Kurdistan Region was held, with preliminary results showing approximately 92.73 per cent of votes cast in favour.

Baghdad rejected the referendum and initiated a military offensive in which the region lost 40 per cent of the territory it had earlier seized, including the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

It is unlikely that the Iraqi Kurds, who have been running a semi-autonomous region since 1991, will welcome Turkeys annexation of their enclave even if Iraq splinters.

The gravest challenge is the fragile political system in Kurdistan built around the two main ruling families, the Barzanis and the Talabanis, who are famously known for establishing monarchical-style clan rule in the region.

Iraqi Kurdistan is divided between the KDP of Barzani with Erbil as its capital and the PUK of Talabani with Suleimaniyeh as its stronghold. The parties have often fought over power and resources, and Turkey may seek to drive more wedges between them.

Turkey, the second-largest military force in NATO, could be tempted to invade by its formidable armies and advanced equipment, giving it leverage over the poorly organised and armed Iraqi security forces. But sending them into the rugged mountains of northern Iraq would make them sitting ducks.

Turkey has been a vital lifeline to the Barzani-ruled part of Kurdistan through close political cooperation and lucrative business ties, including oil and gas deals.

But an all-out Turkish invasion of Kurdistan and any endeavour to annex the region would likely reignite Kurdish national resistance in Iraq and spark a larger regional conflict.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi government in Baghdad has demonstrated poor leadership and diplomacy in responding to the Turkish challenge. Iraqs political elites, ethically divided and politically incompetent, have failed to stand up to Turkeys ambitions and continue to lose out to Turkey.

While it pursues peaceful means to deal with the disputes with Ankara, including a severe drought caused by water being cut off from Turkey, Baghdad risks being taken off guard, giving Turkey free rein to boost its military, political, and economic presence in Iraq.

Yet, Iraq may be unsettled politically, ethnically, and militarily, but that does not mean that the Iraqis will surrender to Turkeys military posturing or let it take the lead in remapping their country.

While war-torn Iraq remains at a disadvantage to Turkey, Ankara may well confront a resurgent Iraqi patriotism if it tries to provoke the countrys break-up and partitioning.

Turkey may thus not try to invade and annex part of Iraq anytime soon, even with many believing that Erdogan, who is heading for re-election next year, may need a major foreign-policy initiative.

However, the diehard Turkish nationalism and the views of Turkish politicians about neo-Ottomanism that started with Ozal and continue with Erdogan are stirring up fears in Iraq about Turkeys ambitions.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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One year after the withdrawal of foreign forces and the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, there are more and more human rights violations taking place in Afghanistan, writes Amr Wagdy

One year has passed since the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and the fall of the capital Kabul into the hands of the Taliban Movement. Despite the movements rhetoric regarding the changes it would bring, and its promises that it would be different from the way it was in the past, it is behaving in the same way that it did when it ruled the country from 1996 until 2001.

The movements commitment to respect human rights has quickly evaporated.

Within a year of taking power, the Taliban have succeeded in turning the clock back, depriving the Afghan people of the first breaths of freedom that they had begun to feel, especially women and children.

Old scenes have returned, as women are being deprived of education, of expressing their opinions, and of getting suitable jobs. Afghanistan has become the only country in the world where women are prevented from enrolling in high school. Over one million girls are suffering under the brunt of these restrictions.

Women are again being forced to cover their faces and not leave their houses unless accompanied by a man. These restrictions have become obstacles that prevent them from enjoying life or finding opportunities to enter the labour market. In addition, there are no women in the Taliban government, and the former Afghan Ministry of Womens Affairs has been abolished.

The escalation of violations of the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan is costing a heavy price, notably because of its impacts on the countrys social and economic development. According to the UN, the current restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan have caused immediate economic losses of five per cent to the countrys total economic production.

Afghanistan is witnessing the worst drought in nearly 30 years, affecting three-quarters of its provinces and leading to a decline in agricultural production to below average. A widespread lack of food has led to the suffering of about 90 per cent of the population, or nearly 40 million Afghans, from malnutrition. More than half of the countrys population is in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, leading to a significant increase in the number of people forced to beg for a living and making the overall situation in the country even more dire and difficult to control.

Afghanistan is teetering on the brink of universal poverty, as 97 per cent of the population is now at risk of sinking below the poverty line and is already living below the level set by the World Bank of $1.90 per day. The countrys real GDP could contract by as much as 13.2 per cent, leading to an increase in the poverty rate of up to 25 per cent.

Although relief organisations are providing assistance that is contributing to protecting Afghanistan from many disasters, especially as the winter season comes on, the situation in the country is still deteriorating. Crop yields are insufficient to meet the needs of the population, especially after the shortages coming in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, and these are affecting many foodstuffs and agricultural production.

Humanitarian aid stopped after the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country last year and the takeover by the Taliban, with this aid previously estimated at about $8 billion.

Today, UN calls for funds to help Afghanistan have mobilised only $2.44 billion from a target of $4.4 billion. Donors are refraining from financing development in Afghanistan because of a regime that has not fulfilled the promises it made in terms of fighting terrorism or in the field of human rights.

Afghanistan has also been suffering from a crisis of press freedom, as more than 200 Afghan media platforms have been closed over the last year and about 2,100 women working in the field of journalism have lost their jobs. More than 80 journalists have been arrested or tortured for reporting on peaceful protests.

The Talibans crackdown on the freedom of expression has targeted human rights defenders and civil society activists, many of whom have been harassed, threatened, detained, and even killed as a direct result of their human rights work.

There have been widespread reports of Taliban soldiers beating and torturing Afghans deemed to have broken Taliban edicts or accused of working with the former government. There have also been reports of hundreds of extra judicial killings, with bodies found with gunshot wounds or bearing signs of torture. Dozens of people have been disappeared, with their whereabouts still unknown, because of their work under the previous government or because they are suspected of being involved in the resistance against the Taliban.

The situation in Afghanistan has become more catastrophic than ever, and the international community must ensure that civilians have equitable access to humanitarian aid and adopt measures that will pave the way for the recovery of Afghanistans economy.

The Taliban must also abide by international human rights law and Afghanistans international humanitarian law commitments, including respecting the rights of girls and women to education, employment, and participation in public life, support for the rights of persons belonging to minorities, and constructive engagement with human rights mechanisms.

It must immediately reopen all schools for girls and restore their access to quality education and lift the restrictions imposed on womens mobility, attire, employment, and political participation and cease all acts of violence against them.

* The writer is human rights officer at Supreme Standing Committee for Human Rights.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Ethiopia is set on monopolising all the water sources emanating from its territory and of attempting to deceive the Nile Basin countries about its true intentions, writes Nader Noureddin

Ethiopia is forever trying to drive a wedge between the Nile Basin nations. Its first major attempt towards this end was its call to conclude the Entebbe Agreement on the redistribution of Nile waters in 2010. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Sudan, Egypt and Eritrea all refused to sign. The result was a major rift between the countries that shared the same river thanks to Ethiopias declared thirst for the Nile.

Some 71 billion m3 of Nile water originate in Ethiopia. The six White Nile Basin states share only 13 billion m3 of water from that branch. Ethiopia has been trying to delude the countries of the White Nile into believing that it wants to redistribute Nile water quotas more fairly. But there is no physical connection between the sources of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia and the source of the White Nile in the Equatorial Great Lakes.

This means that Ethiopia knows full well that there is no means to deliver water from the Ethiopian source to the upper White Nile states, especially given that the water from Ethiopia would have to flow uphill through the White Nile towards the Great Lakes and that the same applies in the reverse: water from the White Nile would have to flow uphill from Sudan to the Ethiopian plateau.

Moreover, how would an equitable redistribution policy work if Ethiopian waters do not reach Sudan and Egypt, or if water from the White Nile does not reach South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt? It could not be more obvious that Ethiopia has its sights set on monopolising all the Nile sources emanating from its territory and that it is bent on deceiving the upriver White Nile countries that this would be in their interests.

It is equally obvious that this is directed against Egypt, which has checked Ethiopian ambitions in Sudan and Eritrea since 1905. More recently, Cairo denounced Ethiopias attempts to monopolise the Omo, which flows southwards into Kenya. It built three large dams on that river, depriving northern Kenya of its rightful share of this transboundary water source.

Addis Ababa has apparently forgotten the natural flow of the Nile, which nature created, not Egypt or Ethiopia. Cairo has never asked the Upper Nile countries to forego deriving optimal benefit from the rivers waters, from which Egypt receives only the surplus after they have used it, as has been the case since the dawn of history. But Egypt does oppose altering the course of the Nile or blocking its flow because this runs counter to the natural flow of the river.

In keeping with its stratagem to fracture the unity of the Nile Basin, Ethiopia organised a meeting on 5 September to which it invited only four of the 11 Nile Basin countries: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Sudan. Rwanda, Burundi, the DRC, Sudan and, of course, Egypt were not on the guest list. The DRC was snubbed because it refused to sign the Entebbe Agreement against Egypt and Sudan after catching on to Ethiopias strategy to use the upper riparian states as a screen in its strategy to monopolise control over the Ethiopian sources of the Nile.

Recent exchanges on visits between Rwanda and Burundi and Egypt and other signs of improving relations between Egypt and these countries also displeases Addis Ababa, which is working to keep Egypt from drawing closer to the upper riparian nations because it fears Egypts growing influence. In addition to its awareness of Ethiopias monopolistic designs on the Nile, Egypt also knows that Ethiopia has stirred up problems, tensions, and conflicts with each of its neighbours, whether Somalia and Eritrea to the east or Kenya and Sudan to the south and west.

Ethiopia gave its deliberately divisive conference the title The Reasonable Use of Nile Waters. One is immediately struck by how the wording is severed from its original context in the UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. The correct formula, as stated in the law, is the reasonable and equitable uses of international river ways. But Ethiopia is not interested in equitable, which is why it left it out. In fact, in its obsession to divide and conquer the Nile Basin, it also cares little about reasonable.

Note that international law uses the term equitable, as opposed to equal, which Ethiopia ingenuously wants to advance above international law. The lawmakers went to great lengths to clarify how equitable should be understood in this context. This is why, for example, they linked the concept to the amount of water resources, such as rivers, artesian wells, and rainfall, available to the countries in question, or the lack thereof.

In this context, we should bear in mind that the 2012 report of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) states that of the 122 billion m3 of water that flows through Ethiopias river basin annually, only 71 billion m3 flows into the Nile through the Atbara, the Sobat, and Blue Nile, leaving Ethiopia with the remaining 51 billion m3. In addition, it has Lake Tana, whose 40 billion m3 reservoir is exclusively for Ethiopias use.

Ethiopia also receives an annual 936 billion m3 of rainfall that feeds its far-flung grazing land for 100 million head of livestock. As the above-mentioned report points out, Ethiopia possesses the largest amount of animal wealth on the continent, and it contributes 24 per cent of the revenues of the agricultural sector. Then there are the 10 billion m3 of subterranean water resources plus another 10 billion m3 in the Tekeze Dam reservoir near the border with Sudan, which Ethiopia uses without restraint to generate electricity for agricultural and industrial purposes. Another 75 billion m3 of water is being accumulated in the reservoir of the mammoth Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) that will also be for Ethiopias exclusive use.

When we add all these water resources together, we find that they exceed the amount of water available to all the other Nile Basin countries put together. But Addis Ababa still refuses to take all those other sources into account in any calculations for sharing the water of the Blue Nile, the Atbara, and the Sobat with Egypt, and for this reason it insists on the word equal rather than the equitable division stipulated in international law.

It took exactly the same line in the talks on the regulations for filling and operating the GERD. It wanted to keep a third of the 49 billion m3, or 17 billion m3, leaving the rest to be divided up between Egypt and Sudan, the only other countries the Blue Nile serves. It conveniently overlooked the fact that the Blue Nile is only one of four Ethiopian tributaries to the Nile, the others being the Atbara, the Sabat, and the White Nile.

Ethiopia has been described as Africas largest water fountain. But apparently it still cannot get enough water. Perhaps its ambition to monopolise its control over all those sources of water is driven by a desire to sell it to other countries, including its neighbours in the Nile Basin who have just as much right to that water. The UN would naturally disapprove of this, and it has warned of the potential water wars that could ensue between countries that share the same transboundary watercourse.

Ethiopia has used a similar ruse when addressing the international community. It is poor, and its poor people lack electricity that can be generated cheaply from Ethiopian rivers, it tells the community of nations. Then it turns to Sudan, South Sudan, and Egypt with offers to sell electricity before supplying electricity to its people first.

Ethiopia is a major agricultural country with 35 million hectares under cultivation, and it exports a variety of organic and inorganic foods, livestock, and coffee. This in itself is concrete proof of its abundance of water. Water-deficient Egypt, by contrast, has only 3.5 million hectares of land under cultivation and imports 65 per cent of its food needs due to a lack of water. It has only eight million head of livestock compared to Ethiopias livestock wealth of 100 million. Egypt receives practically no rainfall, and it does not have a freshwater lake like Ethiopia. It has no river but the Nile, not even tributaries, and 95 per cent of Egypts population lives along the banks of this river because most of the rest of the country, 94 per cent of its area, is arid desert.

Clearly, it is unfair for Ethiopia, with its copious water resources, to covet the relatively small amount of water that comes from the Nile to irrigate impoverished Egypt. Moreover, it is unacceptable for it to try to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community or the upper Nilotic states under the rubric of the equal as opposed to the equitable use of its rivers.

Ethiopia recently had an anthem composed to celebrate the third filling of the GERD. The lyrics refer to the Blue Nile as the traitor that once took Ethiopias waters to others, but that has now repented and returned to the homeland. This anthem is a frank admission of Ethiopias attitudes towards its neighbours and its own self-serving ambitions.

* The writer is a professor of land and water resources at Cairo University.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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I had the opportunity to speak with Prince Charles during his visit to Cairo in 1995, about a lecture he had given at Oxford University, UK, about Islam. In the lecture, he emphasised the importance of this faith to which a quarter of the worlds population adhere, and presented an outlook that was considerably more sophisticated and enlightened than the views prevailing in the West at the time. He said that to have a wrong understanding of Islam was to be ignorant of a fundament component of our contemporary life and that developing a correct understanding of it was not just a political necessity but a cultural and civilisational duty. On returning home from his trip, he kindly sent me a booklet containing the above-mentioned lecture. When I opened it, I found a dedication signed with a single name: Charles.

During Prince Charles visit, I attended a reception in his honour hosted by the British ambassador to Egypt. At one point, I noticed him involved in a long conversation with someone I did not recognise whom the ambassador had introduced to him. To my surprise, I found out it was the embassys Egyptian cook. Charles showed the great respect due to one of the longest serving members of the embassys staff, someone who had prepared meals for such famous British figures as Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden. I feel grateful to him, he told me later.

The reason for relating the above is because, with the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the prince inheriting of the crown, the monarchy in Britain has entered a new era, one in which the British crown will descend a little from its heights and be more in touch with the realities of the general public. The late queen had preserved the political neutrality of the crown. She refrained from expressing an opinion on any of the major issues of concern to public opinion, not least of which was the British exit from the EU, or Brexit. As crown prince, Charles had not been bound by this restriction and he made many of his positions known. This applied not only to such issues as environmental conservation, for which cause he was one of the most ardent champions in the UK, but also to more sensitive questions, such as Islamophobia. True, his assumption of the throne will limit what he can say. But the British public is familiar with his previous involvement in certain issues and his declared stances on them can not be overlooked.

Will we soon see the emergence of a new concept for the British monarchy, one that parts ways with political neutrality and no stated positions on major issues?

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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The death of Queen Elizabeth II last week will doubtless give rise to some difficult conversations about Britains colonial legacy in much of the global south.

I had finished covering the breaking news of the queens death live from the studio in London and yearned to be a part of the story. I took the scenic way home, the one that leads me past Buckingham Palace.

In the private capacity of a Londoner rather than as a journalist I took in the scene on that unseasonably warm September evening. Hundreds of cards, fragrant bouquets of flowers, and the odd Paddington bear  a childrens toy  lay at the palaces gates. In the cards that I read one thing was common  an outpouring of love.

The area was busy with mourners, many of them tearful, all of them quiet, even the older children. Sombre is the word that comes to mind. I feel emotional myself. The queen reminds me a lot of my mother in her last few years.

I also feel tired, and my legs demand a rest. I make my way to the Victoria Memorial in front of the palace and sit down on the cool marble steps. Soon enough, two ladies take a seat next to me, and as often happens between strangers brought together by grief, a conversation starts.

They tell me theyre from Jamaica, a septuagenarian and her niece. The older lady is visibly sad, abundantly describing her love of the queen and her feeling of personal loss. Its like a death in the family, she says.

The younger one is rather angry. Yet, her disapproval is obviously not strong enough to stop her helping her aunt come here today to pay her respects. She expresses the reason for her indignation in straightforward fashion: She never apologised for the Empire days. She should have apologised.

She is right. Technically, the queen never did apologise for her countrys atrocious colonial legacy. But it is more complicated than that. The conundrum arises from attempting to reconcile a seemingly benevolent monarch with the ugliness of the past. And particularly difficult is deciding this one rulers share of responsibility.

In her defence, soon after her reign began as a result of her fathers unexpected death in 1952, Queen Elizabeth II launched the idea of a Commonwealth that bore no resemblance to the empires of the past.

It is an entirely new conception, built on the higher qualities of the spirit of man: friendship, loyalty, and the desire for freedom and peace, she said at the time.

Anti-colonialists sometimes choose to ignore the historical fact that her reign actually coincided with decolonisation. Independence movements gathered momentum in the 1950s, and Egypts is a case in point. The question is, does Elizabeth II get credit for any of that? The answer has to be a resounding no. Queen Elizabeth hardly liberated anyone. The Empire was forced to pull back in the face of growing rebellions and an unprecedented economic drain.

Royalists will argue that throughout her long reign the queen was a symbol of decorum and stability. They will also make sure to tell you that as a constitutional, symbolic monarch, Queen Elizabeth was not a decision-maker. Agreed. She could not interfere politically. But could she perhaps have objected to wearing a crown adorned with jewels plundered from former colonies?

My young interlocutors anger is real and indeed common outside of the global north. I had stumbled on a tweet earlier that same day that had shocked me enough to save it. Juju Anya, a Nigerian professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the US, had tweeted in no uncertain terms. I heard the chief monarch of a thieving, raping genocidal empire is dying. May her pain be excruciating. Severe, bitter words about a 96-year-old granny, which nonetheless must be expected from someone whose family was subjected to the atrocities of the British.

Even before the queens death, demands for apology and retribution were being voiced in former colonies, the most recent instance being Sudans military ruler Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan calling on the UK to apologise for the 1898 massacre at Omdurman in which tens of thousands of Sudanese fighters were killed.

Expect more of that over the coming days and weeks. The death of Elizabeth II may indeed be a sad bereavement for millions, but it is at the same time a moment of reckoning and a chance to reignite the flame of anger and restart the conversation for millions of others.

The writer is an Egyptian TV presenter based in London

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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More and more European museums are returning heritage artefacts to countries in Africa and Asia, with the pressure mounting for the return of artefacts to Egypt, writes David Tresilian

The debate on the repatriation of cultural artefacts chiefly, but not entirely, from European and North American museum collections to countries in the developing world took a new turn in 2018 with the publication of a French report that has since become a touchstone for many in the field.

Commissioned by the French government, the report, by Senegalese writer Felwine Sarr and French academic Benedicte Savoy, looked particularly at objects originally from Sub-Saharan Africa in French public collections. Was there an argument for sending these back to their countries of origin? If so, which objects should be returned and under what conditions?

The Sarr and Savoy report broke new ground in recommending that all artefacts from the Sub-Saharan African countries in French public museums should in principle be returned to their countries of origin almost irrespective of how they were collected. It made no difference, Sarr and Savoy wrote, whether they were collected by force during the colonial period in the 19th century or as part of anthropological research missions in the 20th when the objects might have been consensually taken or purchased by the collectors concerned.

We recommend that requests for restitution concerning objects seized in military contexts be favourably received, they wrote.

It is our recommendation to respond favourably and grant restitutions concerning objects collected in Africa during [20th-century] scientific expeditions unless there is explicit evidence or information witnessing to the full consent on the part of the owners or initial guardians of the objects at the moment when the objects were separated from them.

We recommend receiving requests for restitution that could relate to objects donated to French museums by the colonial administration or their descendants favourably, unless the consent of the seller (such as the commission of copies or purchase at craft markets) can be ascertained.

All such objects should be returned, the authors wrote, admitting that they have set the bar for explicit evidence or information giving full consent for the original removal of objects very high. They even set out a schedule and sample legal agreements on how such restitution might be done. Since the report was published in late 2018, France has accordingly returned artefacts that it had previously refused to countenance returning, including major pieces from flagship public collections.

Twenty-six pieces from the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris were returned to the West African state of Benin in November last year, these having originally been collected in the late 19th century from the then kingdom of Abomey and subsequently housed in French public collections. They included objects previously on public display at the Museum, including large royal statues, thrones, and ornamented doors from the former royal palace of the kingdom of Abomey that was once part of what today is Benin.

At the same time, the sword and scabbard of Al-Hadj Omar Tall, a 19th-century West African political leader and Islamic scholar, also kept in the Musee du Quai Branly, were returned to Senegal. Both the Abomey pieces and the sword and scabbard originally came from former French colonies, what today are Benin and Senegal, but this has not always been the case. Some 300 historical manuscripts were returned to the Republic of Korea that had previously been kept in the French National Library in 2010, for example, and if current trends are any indication there will be more repatriations to come.

As Sarr and Savoy wrote in their report, such restitutions, explicitly recommended in the survey of French public collections appended to it, could be just the tip of the iceberg.

As far as the first category of objects is concerned, in China (1860), Korea (1866), Ethiopia (1868), the Asante kingdom [in present-day Ghana] (1874), Cameroon (1884), the Tanganyika lake region and the Belgian Congo [present day Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, along with the Democratic Republic of Congo] (1884), the current region of Mali [and Senegal] (1890), Dahomey [today part of Benin] (1892), Benin (1897), present-day Guinea (1898), Indonesia (1906), and Tanzania (1907), the military raids and so-called punitive expeditions conducted by England, Belgium, Germany, Holland, and France during the 19th century became occasions for unprecedented pillaging and the acquisition of objects of cultural heritage, with much of it eventually ending up in European public collections.

These military raids contributed to the 90,000 or so objects originating from Sub-Saharan Africa in French public collections today, 70,000 of these being in the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris alone, the main French public collection of anthropology and non-European art. The African Sahel country of Chad arrives at the top of the list (with 9,296 objects). The second position is held by Cameroon (7,838), followed by Madagascar (7,590), Mali (6,910), Ivory Coast (3,951), Benin (3,157), the Republic of Congo (2,593), Gabon (2,448), Senegal (2,281), and Guinea (1,997), Sarr and Savoy wrote, adding that while half of these objects were acquired during colonial conquest before 1914, the other half were acquired while the countries concerned were French colonies up until independence in 1960.

The second category of objects, those acquired during scientific missions or in other ways after 1914, cannot be treated differently as far as restitution is concerned, they wrote, since in many cases they were forced purchases made under conditions of implicit or explicit constraint. Within the colonial context, the authority of the white man, the pressure of taxes and the threat of reprisals incited or obliged those concerned to accept the offers made by the ethnographers, meaning that transactions would have resembled forced methods of purchase, not to say requisition.

Should the preliminary lists of objects recommended for immediate restitution in the report be followed, then in addition to the 26 items returned to Benin in November last year, we should expect objects taken during the British sacking of Benin City in what is now Nigeria in 1897 and now in the Musee du Quai Branly soon to be returned, along with items collected in what are now Mali, Cameroon, and Ethiopia during French ethnographic missions in the 1930s.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK: As Sarr and Savoy note in their report, it was only with the Hague Conventions at the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th that the cultural heritage of countries engaged in armed conflict began to be protected in international law, when the European powers in particular began to wake up to the need for international cooperation in codifying the rules of war.

Following the widespread looting and destruction of particularly the European cultural heritage that took place during World War II, the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Event of Armed Conflict made the protection of cultural heritage in times of war an explicit obligation of member states.

Later still, the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property sponsored by the UN cultural agency UNESCO sought to prevent the illegal trade in cultural artefacts while also requiring member states to assist one another in its apprehension and return. An Intergovernmental Committee was established with a view to ensuring the return of illegally acquired cultural property. In 1995, the UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects sought to strengthen the protection of cultural property further by obliging those acquiring it to perform full due diligence.

However, while these international conventions have added significantly to the legal framework protecting cultural artefacts today, they have little to say on the restitution of objects acquired as a result of armed conflict or in other ways before they came into force. For Sarr and Savoy, the earliest major intervention arguing for the restitution of cultural objects acquired before the establishment of the modern legal system can be traced to then UNESCO director-general Amadou-Mahtar MBow, who made a plea for the return of irreplaceable cultural heritage to those who created it in 1978.

Peoples who have been the victims of this plunder, sometimes for hundreds of years, have not only been despoiled of irreplaceable masterpieces, but also robbed of a memory which would doubtless have helped them to greater self-knowledge and would certainly have helped others to understand them better, MBow said.

They know, of course, that art is for the world and are aware of the fact that this art, which tells the story of their past and shows what they really are, does not speak for them alone. They are happy that men and women elsewhere can study and admire the work of their ancestors, not least in European museums. However, these men and women who have been deprived of their cultural heritage nevertheless ask for the return of at least the art treasures which best represent their culture, which they feel are the most vital, and whose absence causes them the greatest anguish.

While there has been some movement since MBow made his appeal in the late 1970s, notably in the special case of the restitution of human remains, the overall picture has been what Sarr and Savoy call a rather long wait. Very often, this has been because national laws put up legal barriers to the alienation of objects from public collections, sometimes making this impossible without an act of parliament  as was the case in France, for example, when a parliamentary vote was required before the return of the Abomey objects to Benin.

The Code of Ethics of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), a professional organisation, recognises this when it recommends that when a country or people of origin seeks the restitution of an object or specimen that can be demonstrated to have been exported or otherwise transferred in violation of the principles of international and national conventions, and shown to be part of that countrys or peoples cultural or natural heritage, the museum concerned should, if legally free to do so, take prompt and responsible steps to cooperate in its return.

Much will depend on whether it can be shown that the object in question was acquired in violation of such conventions  the bar can be set rather high  and it is not clear that this cooperation is required in cases where the objects were acquired before the conventions came into force.

Many, perhaps most, museums, are also not legally free to alienate objects from their collections. The ICOM Code of Ethics includes recommendations on how this should be done if and when this is the case.

OTHER EXAMPLES: While international organisations like ICOM and UNESCO provide forums in which the debate on the return of heritage items can take place, the legal instruments they provide, in the case of UNESCO, and the guidelines they recommend, in the case of ICOM, provide limited help to those wanting to see faster action to return cultural artefacts to their countries of origin. This has been true even in cases where it is clear that the artefacts in question were acquired as a result of military action or forced purchase, like in the case of the artefacts in French collections reviewed by Sarr and Savoy in their report.

Nevertheless, we may now be seeing the beginning of a change in attitudes to this question, since France has not been alone in returning artefacts collected by Europeans in the colonial period and later to their countries of origin. Some museums in the UK have also begun to return some such artefacts, this time without this being as a result of government policy.

The Horniman Museum in London, for example, recently announced that it would be returning 72 artefacts taken from Benin City, capital of the former Kingdom of Benin and now in present-day Nigeria, in an echo of the Sarr and Savoy recommendation for French museums. Last month, it was announced that the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford would be deciding soon on whether to return a further 97 objects from Benin City. The worlds largest collection of such objects, dubbed the Benin Bronzes, is currently in the British Museum in London.

Museums elsewhere have also been reviewing their collections with a view to repatriating artefacts. Germany returned two artefacts from Benin City to Nigeria in July and formally transferred a further 1,100 artefacts held at five public museums, among them flagship institutions such as the Humboldt Forum in Berlin and Hamburgs Museum of World Cultures, to Nigeria. The Nigerian government will now be able to negotiate the return of the other objects or leave them in the German museums under custodial arrangements.

Few museums in the world today do not have policies on restitution, usually variants on the ICOM Code of Ethics. The Africa Museum in Brussels, Belgium, formerly the Royal Museum for Central Africa and built to contain objects taken from the former Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, says on its website that the museum is an active participant in the dialogue with [the Congolese and other] authorities and museum policy representatives and with Belgians of African descent from the relevant countries on the return of artefacts in its collections.

It is not normal for such a large part of African cultural heritage to be found in the West, given that the countries of origin have moral ownership of such heritage, the museum says, and recognises that its collections were acquired in part during the colonial period in the context of a policy of legal inequality: people were forced or placed under pressure to abandon objects, and they were too weak to negotiate the price when they wished to sell.

The Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, part of the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen and one of the worlds most important anthropological museums, says on its website that it is committed to transparently address and evaluate claims for the return of cultural objects according to standards of respect, cooperation and timeliness.

The Humboldt Forum in Berlin, Germany, now housed in the magnificently reconstructed former royal palace of the Prussian Hohenzollern Dynasty, says that its curators are constantly aware of the need to present exhibits in manners that incorporate multiple perspectives and seek to fulfil our responsibility to address the past history of our collections and their roots in colonialism.

Openness and honesty also mean that we are ready to return objects.

There is also the question of countries not covered by such museums or in the Sarr and Savoy report, which only covers Sub-Saharan Africa, with these almost certainly also suffering from some of the collecting methods the authors set out and that have in some cases filed requests for restitution.

In the European context, the case of the Elgin Marbles  the sculptures that originally graced the ancient Greek Parthenon Temple in Athens  has probably been the most famous, with the Greek government having requested their return from the British Museum in London.

Another high-profile restitution claim concerns the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond, given to British Queen Victoria by the maharajah of Jammu and Kashmir after the annexation of the Punjab in 1849 by the British East India Company and now part of the British Crown Jewels. India has requested its restitution as the successor state, but so have Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, which also believe they have claims.

Egypts restitution claims

EGYPT has requested the return of heritage artefacts acquired by European collectors during the 19th-century and later and now in various European public museums. Main restitution requests were outlined by Egyptologist and former minister of culture Zahi Hawass in an interview in Al-Ahram Weekly on 1 September.

THE ROSETTA STONE: One of the most famous of all ancient Egyptian artefacts, the so-called Rosetta Stone, discovered by invading French forces at Rosetta (Rashid) in 1799, is a Ptolemaic stela bearing an inscription appearing in ancient Greek and ancient Egyptian versions, with the latter appearing twice, once in the ancient Egyptian demotic script and once in hieroglyphics.

It helped early French Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion to crack the hieroglyphic code, meaning that the script that appears on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs and temples could finally be read after knowledge of it was lost for some 1,500 years.

The Rosetta Stone is currently housed in the British Museum in London, where it is among the Museums most-visited exhibits and star of the ancient Egyptian collection. According to British Museum website, the stone has been on display in the museum since 1802, with only one break. Towards the end of World War I, when the museum was concerned about heavy bombing in London, they moved it to safety along with other objects, meaning that it spent several years hidden in the safety of an underground railway station.

BUST OF QUEEN NEFERTITI: As famous as the Rosetta Stone is the bust of the ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti, removed from Egypt following its excavation by the German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt in 1912. It is now on display in a specially designed room of the Neues Museum in Berlin, itself magnificently restored by the British architect David Chipperfield in 2009.

Queen Nefertiti was the wife of the New Kingdom Pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) who famously replaced the previous polytheistic Egyptian pantheon with the single god Aten. She appears in iconography from this Amarna Period of ancient Egyptian history along with her husband. Her famous bust, made of painted stucco-coated limestone, is believed to have been made around 1345 BCE and is one of the most-copied works from ancient Egypt.

According to Hawass, the then Egyptian antiquities authorities did not know about the discovery of the bust and its removal from Egypt until it was put on show in Berlin in 1923. Borchardt was accused of deliberately misleading the authorities in order to smuggle the work out of Egypt, and Egyptian demands for its repatriation began in 1924.

CEILING OF THE DENDERA TEMPLE: The ceiling of the Dendera Temple is a bas-relief ceiling taken from the Hathor Temple at Dendera in Upper Egypt. Built during the Ptolemaic period, the Ceiling shows the Zodiac and is believed to be the most important representation of ancient Egyptian astronomy. It is currently in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The Ceiling was removed from the temple by French collector Sebastien Saulnier, inspired by an engraving of it in French archaeologist Vivant Denons Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte published after his participation in French general Napoleon Bonapartes invasion of Egypt in 1798. It was acquired by French king Louis XVIII and moved to the Louvre in 1922.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 15 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Thousands of Sudanese protesters took to the streets Tuesday to press demands for a return to civilian rule following a military takeover last year, AFP correspondents said.

Sudan has been rocked by waves of demonstrations since the armed forces led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan grabbed power in October.

The takeover upended a transition to civilian rule that was launched after the 2019 ouster of Omar al-Bashir, following three decades of authoritarianism.

Demonstrators at Tuesday's rally in the capital Khartoum called for the military to "go back to the barracks", according to AFP correspondents.

They also carried posters of some of the 116 people that pro-democracy medics say have been killed in a crackdown on the anti-military takeover protests.

Some bore a portrait of Burhan with a cross sign and a caption telling him to "leave".

In July, Burhan pledged in a televised address to step aside and make way for Sudanese factions to agree on a civilian government.

Civilian leaders dismissed the move as a "ruse", and pro-democracy protesters have maintained their rallying cry of "no negotiation, no partnership" with the military.

Economic hardship deepened in already impoverished Sudan following the military takeover which triggered cuts to crucial international aid.

Government employees, traders, labourers and medics among others have been increasingly critical of the rising cost of living and low wages.

In June, the UN said a record 15 million people in Sudan, around one-third of the population, were facing "acute food insecurity" and warned the situation was likely to get worse.

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Local photographer wins five medals in Australian photo contest

Tran Viet Van, 51, a journalist at Lao Dong (Labour) Newspaper, has been honoured in two different categories at an annual photo contest run by Australias Better Photography Magazine.









Thuc hanh cong phu (Meticulous Practice) wins a silver medal in "Exotic Travel" category. (Photo courtesy of Lao Dong Newspaper)





He has won two silver medals in the Emotive Portrait category for his pieces entitled Phut xuc ong cua vi tuong 91 tuoi, Emotional minutes of the 91-year-old general in English, and Anh em song sinh, Twinned brothers in English.



Elsewhere, oi mat cua me toi 68 nam truoc va bay gio, My mothers eyes 68 years ago and now, secured a bronze medal in the same category.



In the "Exotic Travel" category, his two works Thuc hanh cong phu, Meticulous Practice, and "Khi anh sang ban mai tran vao, When the morning light arrives, claimed a silver and a bronze medal, respectively.



Each year the photo contest attracts hundreds of photographers from all over the world. The judging panel consists of three leading Australian photography experts, namely Tony Hewitt, David Oliver, and Peter Eastway.



This year saw Svetlin Yosifov of Bulgaria win the grand award Photographer of the Year.



Born in Hanoi, Van got into photography back in 1998 and has gone on to hold 10 solo exhibitions, including one named My Mum in Greece.



Van has won over 80 international photo prizes and worked as a member of the judging panel at many film festivals and photo contests in Vietnam.
By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern over recent tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Azernews reports, citing the ministry.

The remarks were made in a statement released by the ministry.

"We express extreme concern over the sharp aggravation of the situation in certain areas of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border [from late September 12] to early September 13," the ministry said.

Russia calls on the parties to refrain from further escalation of the situation, exercise restraint, and strictly observe the ceasefire in accordance with the tripartite statements of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, dated November 10, 2020, January 11, and November 26, 2021, the ministry noted.

"We are in close contact with Baku and Yerevan," said the ministry.

Separately, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has called on the sides to a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict in compliance with international law.

"Ukraine is closely following the development of the situation on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We call on the parties to a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict in compliance with international law, in particular, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states within their internationally recognized borders," the ministrys spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko told RBC-Ukraine.

Commenting on the escalations, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) noted that the sides should use exclusively political and diplomatic methods and agreements, enshrined in the statements dated November 9, 2020, January 11, and November 26, 2021, to resolve the contradictions.

"We highly appreciate the mediation efforts of the Russian Federation in a ceasefire on the line of contact from 0900 on September 13," the statement noted.

The statement stressed that the Secretariat of the Organization, together with the CSTO Joint Headquarters, organized work to activate the CSTO mechanisms to resolve the situation in connection with Armenia's appeal to the CSTO Collective Security Council for assistance.

Further, the organization expressed deep condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

Polish OSCE Chairmanship also stated that the escalation of military hostility at the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan needs to cease immediately.

The progress achieved on the diplomatic path must not be squandered. Polish OSCE Chairmanship remains ready to assist in achieving a lasting solution, the chairmanship wrote on Twitter.

Furthermore, Chairman of the Georgian Dream ruling party Irakli Kobakhidze noted that the country is ready to mediate between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"We are extremely interested in this, and if Georgia can play any mediating role, we'll do our best to contribute," Kobakhidze said.

Additionally, Council of Europe Secretary-General Marija Pej?inovi? Buri? noted that the disagreements must be resolved peacefully through negotiations.

"Reports of escalating armed hostilities around the Armenian-Azerbaijani border are very alarming. Disagreements between Council of Europe member states must be resolved peacefully through negotiations. Recent direct contacts between the highest authorities of both countries were promising and should be continued. When entering the Council of Europe, Armenia and Azerbaijan committed to resolving the conflict peacefully. That commitment must be respected," she stated.

Further, the official added that the Council of Europe is ready to assist in reconciliation efforts that contribute to achieving a peaceful settlement.

Meanwhile, France is convening a meeting of the UN Security Council in connection with current events.

To recap, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has reported that during the night of September 13, units of the Armenian armed forces committed large-scale provocations in the Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border. As a result, there were losses among the military personnel, the military infrastructure was damaged.
Denmark will train Ukrainian soldiers on its territory, the defence minister said on Tuesday, as it steps up its support to Kyiv's army against the Russian invasion.

The programme appears to be similar to that in Britain where the government in London has begun training up to 10,000 inexperienced Ukrainian military recruits since July.

"There will be training in Denmark. I cannot give more details but the Ukrainian army will be training in Denmark," Defence Minister Morten Bodskov told Danish news agency Ritzau during a visit to Kyiv.

Like other Western countries, Denmark promised in August to send instructors to Britain to support the British initiative, with 130 officers.

But the preparation to train soldiers on Danish territory is an increase of the European Union and NATO member country's support for Ukraine.

A Ukraine donors' conference in Copenhagen of 26 countries last month pledged 1.5 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in more aid for training and equipment for Kyiv's forces.

And Danes voted overwhelmingly in a referendum in June to join the EU's common defence policy 30 years after opting out.

In recent days, Ukraine has recaptured several territories including dozens of areas in the northeast in a lightning counter-offensive against Russian forces.

As Kyiv pushes forward, the Estonian prime minister and Lithuanian president on Tuesday called on Europe to step up military aid to Ukraine.

"Ukraine is showing how the power of morale and leadership can be as crucial as pure military force," Estonian premier Kaja Kallas tweeted after a three-way call with French President Emmanuel Macron and Lithuanian leader Gitanas Nauseda.

"Our focus must now be on increased and speedy military aid, this takes Ukraine closer to victory."

"Emphasized that Ukraine needs weapons to advance in its fight against Russian aggression. Western support must be scaled up," Nauseda tweeted.

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Putin's foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters last week that the Russian president was expected to meet Xi at the summit. The Kremlin declined to give details on their talks. The meeting will give Xi an opportunity to underscore his clout while Putin can demonstrate Russia's tilt towards Asia; both leaders can show their opposition to the United States just as the West seeks to punish Russia for the Ukraine war.

Against a backdrop of Russia's confrontation with the West over Ukraine, the crisis over Taiwan and a stuttering global economy, Xi is due on a state visit to Kazakhstan on Wednesday. China's president will then meet Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's summit in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Kremlin said. China confirmed the trip on Monday.

The trip, Xi's first abroad since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, shows he is confident about both his grip on power as he heads for a third term in office and about his role as a world leader at a time of renewed great power friction.

Xi Jinping will leave China for the first time in more than two years for a trip this week to Central Asia where he will meet Russia's Vladimir Putin, just a month before he is set to cement his place as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

"It is all about Xi in my view: he wants to show just how confident he is domestically and to be seen as the international leader of nations opposed to Western hegemony," said George Magnus, author of "Red Flags," a book about Xi's challenges.

"Privately I imagine Xi will be most anxious about how Putin's war is going and indeed if Putin or Russia are in play at some point in the near future because China still needs an anti-western leadership in Moscow." Russia suffered its worst defeat of the war last week, abandoning its main bastion in northeastern Ukraine.

The deepening "no limits" partnership between the rising superpower of China and the natural resources titan of Russia is a geopolitical development the West is watching with anxiety. Once the senior partner in the global Communist hierarchy, Russia after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union is now a junior partner to a resurgent Communist China which is forecast to overtake the United States as the world's biggest economy in the next decade.

Though historical contradictions abound in the partnership, there is no sign that Xi is ready to drop support for Putin in Russia's most serious confrontation with the West since the height of the Cold War. Instead, the two 69-year-old leaders are deepening ties. Trade soared by nearly a third between Russia and China in the first seven months of 2022.

The visit "shows that China is willing to not only continue 'business as usual' with Russia but even show explicit support and accelerate the formation of a stronger China-Russia alignment," said Alexander Korolev, senior lecturer in politics and international relations at UNSW Sydney. "Beijing is reluctant to distance itself from Moscow even when facing serious reputational costs and the risks of becoming a target of secondary economic sanctions."

 Xi Supreme

Xi is widely expected to break with precedent at a Communist Party congress that starts on Oct. 16 and secures his third five-year leadership term.

While Xi has met Putin in person 38 times since becoming China's president in 2013, he has yet to meet Joe Biden in person since the latter became U.S. President in 2021. Xi last met Putin in February just weeks before the Russian president ordered the invasion of Ukraine which has left tens of thousands of people dead and sown chaos through the global economy.

At that meeting at the opening of the Winter Olympics, Xi and Putin declared their no limits partnership, backing each other over standoffs on Ukraine and Taiwan with a promise to collaborate more against the West. China has refrained from condemning Russia's operation against Ukraine or calling it an "invasion" in line with the Kremlin which casts the war as "a special military operation."

"The bigger message really isn't that Xi is supporting Putin, because it's been pretty clear that Xi supports Putin," said Professor Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

"The bigger signal is that he, Xi Jinping, is going out of China for the first time since the pandemic in the run-up to the party congress. If there were going to be plottings against him this is when the plottings would happen. And he's clearly confident that the plottings are not going to take place because he is out of the country." Xi, the son of a communist revolutionary, last left China in January 2020, before the world went into COVID lockdown.

 Kremlin Chief

After the West imposed on Moscow the most severe sanctions in modern history due to the war in Ukraine, Putin says Russia is turning towards Asia after centuries of looking to the West as the crucible of economic growth, technology and war.

Casting the West as a declining, U.S.-dominated coalition which aims to shackle -- or even destroy -- Russia, Putin's worldview chimes with that of Xi, who presents China as an alternative to the U.S.-led, post-World War II order. Putin aide Ushakov said the Xi-Putin meeting would be "very important." He did not give further details.

As Europe seeks to turn away from Russian energy imports, Putin will seek to boost energy exports to China and Asia. Putin said last week that a major gas export route to China via Mongolia had been agreed. Gazprom has for years been studying the possibility for a major new gas pipeline -- the Power of Siberia 2 -- to travel through Mongolia taking Russian gas to China. It will carry 50 billion cubic meters of gas per year, around a third of what Russia usually sells Europe -- or equivalent to the Nord Stream 1 annual volumes.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes Russia, China, India, Pakistan and four Central Asian states, is due to admit Iran, one of Moscow's key allies in the Middle East.
Enthusiasts hope a greener ethereum will spur wider adoption, particularly as a way of enabling banks to automate transactions and other processes. But so far the technology has been used largely to create speculative financial products.

Ethereum -- the second most important blockchain after bitcoin -- burns through more power each year than New Zealand. Experts say the changeover, expected to take place between Tuesday and Thursday, would slash energy consumption by more than 99 percent.

Developers have spent years working on a more energy-efficient version of the ethereum blockchain, a digital ledger that underpins a multibillion-dollar ecosystem of cryptocurrencies, digital tokens (NFTs), games and apps.

An army of computer programmers scattered across the globe is set to attempt one of the biggest software upgrades the crypto sector has ever seen this week to reduce its environmentally unfriendly energy consumption.

The ING bank said in a recent note that the switchover might help ethereum gain acceptability among policymakers and regulators. "This in turn may provide a boost to traditional financial institutions' willingness to develop ethereum-based services," the bank said.

The switchover, dubbed "the merge," will change the way transactions are logged. At the moment, so-called crypto miners use energy-guzzling rigs of computers to solve puzzles that reward them with new coins -- a system known as "proof of work."

The new system will get rid of those miners and their computer stacks overnight. Instead, "validators" will have to put up 32 ether (worth about $55,000) -- ethereum's cryptocurrency -- to participate in the new "proof of stake" system where they earn rewards for their work.

But the merge process will be risky. Blockchain company Consensys called it a "monumental technological milestone" and the biggest update to ethereum since it was launched in 2015.

Critics have questioned whether such an upgrade will pass off without incident, given the sector's history of instability. Ethereum went offline in May for three hours when a new NFT project sparked a surge in buyers that overwhelmed the network.

Several exchanges and crypto companies said they would halt transactions during the merge process. The upgrade also faces a possible rebellion from crypto mining companies whose business will be severely damaged. They can try to hijack the process or create a "fork," basically a smaller blockchain that would continue with the old mechanism.

And even if the "merge" is successful, ethereum will still face major hurdles before it can be more widely adopted. For example, it is expensive to use and the update will not reduce fees. And the wider crypto sector is beset by wildly fluctuating prices, security flaws and an array of scams.

Crypto lawyer Charles Kerrigan from the firm CMS told AFP that ethereum was "decentralized and complicated" and had not yet been tested enough for governments and banks to get onboard.

"There have been questions about how easily it could deal with upgrades of the type that traditional software vendors provide to customers," he said. "A successful merge will answer those questions."
The number of elderly dementia sufferers in Korea rose from 720,000 in 2017 to 910,000 this year, and many go missing when the illness takes hold of their minds and they have nobody to care for them.

According to the National Police Agency, 12,479 dementia patients were reported missing in 2019, up from 7,650 in 2012. The rise slowed during the coronavirus pandemic, but already this year 8,444 people were reported missing, and 97 percent of them were over 60.

A 56-year-old resident of Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province has been caring for his 88-year-old mother since she was diagnosed with dementia 12 years ago. "Our family cannot care for her around the clock, but I'm worried she might walk out of our house and get lost," he said.

The only thing that can be done at present to find a missing dementia patient is to call the police, who then launch a search based on physical descriptions. Emergency text messages are sent out to people in the region.
Foreign direct investment in Korea declined alarmingly in the first half of this year even as overseas investment by Korean companies surged.

The Federation of Korean Industries last week said Korea's ranking among G20 countries in terms of FDI over the last five years fell from 15th to 17th place.

The Ministry of Trade Industry and Energy said in July that FDI in Korea in the first half of this year declined 15.6 percent from a year ago to US$11.09 billion. But investment by Korean businesses in overseas markets during the first quarter of this year surged 123.9 percent on-year to $25.4 billion.

The FKI said, "Due to the worsening business environment in Korea and growing interest in overseas markets, the reversal in investment flow has widened nearly five times since 2014. Korea is becoming less and less attractive as a global investment destination."

The FKI urged the government to benchmark the U.S. and France, which aggressively tout for investment.

The U.S. government has been hosting the SelectUSA Investment Summit since the Obama administration where more than 100 sessions were held this year resulting in $59 billion of investment pledges and the creation of 50,000 jobs.

Since 2018, France has been inviting business leaders to listen to the reasons to invest there. The campaign has apparently resulted in 1,600 investment deals and created around 45,000 jobs.
Korea will probably be spared the year's 12th and 13th typhoons this week.

Typhoon Muifa had been feared to travel north toward Korea after Chuseok but now seems headed to inland China, the Korea Meteorological Administration predicted on Monday.

Typhoon Merbok will likely dissipate in distant seas off Japan.

According to the KMA, Muifa will travel along the Chinese coast from Tuesday and pass waters off Shanghai on Thursday, Qingdao on Friday and the Bohai Sea on Saturday.
KYODO NEWS - Sep 13, 2022 - 14:47 | All, Japan

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi are planning to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York this month, the country's top diplomat said Tuesday.

Hayashi told a press conference that the two want to show up to the annual event of the United Nations "if various circumstances allow," although he stopped short of elaborating on the details, including when they would visit.

Kishida is set to make a trip to the United States for five days from next Monday and deliver an address at the general debate of the General Assembly session, according to a source close to the matter.

On the sidelines of the U.N. gathering, Kishida is expected to hold bilateral and multinational talks with leaders of other nations, including a summit meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, diplomatic sources said.

Hayashi said the planned trip would be a "meaningful opportunity" for Japan to "underscore the role of the United Nations and affirm cooperation with other nations," at a time when Russia's invasion of Ukraine has put a spotlight on the dysfunction of the U.N. Security Council in addressing international disputes.

Japan is also eager to send a message about "nuclear disarmament and other challenges that the international community is facing," Hayashi said, as Kishida is vocal about his ambition to realize a world free of nuclear weapons and will host a summit of the Group of Seven economies in the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima next year.

To increase momentum toward the entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Kishida, who represents a constituency in the Japanese western city, has promised to host a meeting of the CTBT Friends at the leaders' level during the U.N. assembly period.

A high-ranking South Korean government official, meanwhile, has said the country is considering talks between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Kishida on the fringes of the U.N. session, with bilateral relations worsening due largely to wartime history.

Related coverage:

South Korea mulls meeting between Yoon, Japan's Kishida in N.Y.

Japan, U.S. defense chiefs to meet Sept. 14 to discuss alliance, security

PM Kishida vows to relocate U.S. base in Okinawa despite local backlash
KYODO NEWS - Sep 13, 2022 - 12:51 | All, Japan

Japan's defense minister said Tuesday he will visit the United States this week and hold talks with his U.S. counterpart to reaffirm the bilateral alliance amid the mounting threat from China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Yasukazu Hamada is scheduled to travel to the United States to meet on Wednesday with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. It will be the first time they have met in person since Hamada replaced Nobuo Kishi as Japanese defense minister in early August.

"We will exchange views on the security environment surrounding the Japan-U.S. alliance" at the planned meeting, Hamada told a news conference.

The talks come as tensions have intensified in the region over Taiwan following a trip to the self-ruled democratic island in early August by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the third-highest-ranking U.S. official.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since they split in 1949 as a result of a civil war. Beijing regards the island as a breakaway province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Hamada also said he will engage Austin in candid discussions on specific steps that can be taken to strengthen shared defense capabilities given Japan's ongoing review of its national security strategy and two other key defense documents.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government aims to update the three defense papers by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has pledged to double Japan's defense spending to 2 percent or more of gross domestic product, a level on a par with North Atlantic Treaty Organization member states, over the next five years.

During the planned meeting between Hamada and Austin at the Pentagon near Washington, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and North Korea's missile and nuclear development are also expected to be on the agenda, according to a Japanese Defense Ministry official.

Related coverage:

Japan SDF faces harassment probe after sexual assault claim

U.S., Japan eye cooperation for "any situation" amid Taiwan tension

Japan's new defense chief airs "strong concern" over China's drills
KYODO NEWS - Sep 13, 2022 - 22:23 | All, Japan

Japan's Defense Ministry launched on Tuesday a comprehensive harassment investigation of the country's Self-Defense Forces, following a recent allegation by a former female SDF member of sexual assault by colleagues.

A defense watchdog began the rare probe into various forms of harassment, including sexual harassment and abuse of power, with a call for victims to report cases of abuse by the end of October.

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada last week approved the investigation after Rina Gonoi demanded a thorough independent probe into the case that occurred while she was a member of the Ground Self-Defense Force in August 2021.

Hamada had ordered the probe in light of Gonoi's case and the increasing number of harassment cases among members of the SDF, which is still heavily male-dominated.

The Inspector General's Office of legal compliance, a special unit under Hamada's control, is looking for cases of abusive behavior, such as those that had been reported but were not appropriately addressed.

If cases are deemed serious or potentially criminal, the watchdog will conduct individual interviews and quickly investigate the relevant unit.

The watchdog will also examine whether relevant rules and regulations about harassment consultation were followed and how they were handled.

While SDF members are given a late October deadline to report their cases, others, such as those dispatched overseas, can do so until the end of November.

The period of the comprehensive investigation depends on the number of serious cases the watchdog ultimately handles.

Related coverage:

Japan SDF faces harassment probe after sexual assault claim
KYODO NEWS - Sep 13, 2022 - 21:45 | All, World, Japan

Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force said Tuesday it has been conducting exercises with the Indian Navy in waters off the South Asian nation's east coast amid China's growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.

The MSDF helicopter carrier Izumo and destroyer Takanami have joined the weeklong drills that began on Sunday in the area stretching from the Andaman Sea to the strategically important Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean, with India's destroyer Ranvijay and frigate Sahyadri also participating.

The exercises come after Japan and India held "two-plus-two" security talks in Tokyo last Thursday, where their foreign and defense ministers agreed on enhancing bilateral defense cooperation, including joint exercises.

The two countries also agreed to conduct their first joint fighter jet drill at an early date.

Conducting drills would "contribute greatly to the realization of a free and open Indo-Pacific," Adm. Ryo Sakai, chief of staff of the MSDF, said at a press conference on Tuesday, vowing to "continue efforts to strengthen cooperation between Japan and India."

India has also sent aircraft to the drills, which will last until Saturday.

According to the MSDF, the ongoing training includes exercises against submarine and aerial attacks and shooting drills.

Also Tuesday, Japan's Air Self-Defense Force said it had conducted joint exercises with U.S. forces last Friday in the Sea of Japan off the western side of Aomori Prefecture with a total of 25 aircraft from both sides, mostly fighter jets.

The drills were conducted in a show of force to keep the military assertiveness of Moscow and Beijing in check following Russia-initiated multinational military exercises around the Sea of Japan earlier this month.

China also participated in the exercises that included shooting drills by Chinese and Russian warships.

According to the ASDF, the drills involved four F-15s from Chitose Air Base on the northernmost island of Hokkaido, while the Northern Aircraft Control and Warning Wing, which monitors radar, from Misawa Air Base in Aomori also joined the exercises.

From the U.S. forces, 15 F-16 jets from Misawa base and two KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft from Kadena Air Base in the southernmost Okinawa Prefecture participated, as well as four F-35 stealth fighter jets from the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture.
By Trend

Azerbaijani servicemen have provided first aid to a wounded Armenian soldier, Trend reports via social media.

During the night of September 12, Armenian armed forces units committed large-scale provocations in the Dashkasan, Kalbajar and Lachin directions of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border.




KYODO NEWS - Sep 13, 2022 - 13:56 | All, Japan

Police officers increased their patrols at Tokyo's Haneda airport on Tuesday as Japan strengthens security ahead of a state funeral later this month for slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Accompanied by two dogs, around 60 officers, some carrying metal detectors, inspected trash cans, lockers and unattended carts at the airport's Terminal 3, which is expected to be used by foreign delegations attending the Sept. 27 event in Tokyo.

Police also distributed pamphlets to airport users asking for their cooperation in preventing terrorist attacks such as by reporting suspicious objects.

The inspection, which was opened to the press, also involved the airport's terminal building operator and a security company.

The Japanese government expects more than 190 foreign delegations to visit Japan to attend the ceremony at the Nippon Budokan hall.

"It is the police's responsibility to secure the safety of dignitaries traveling to Japan for the state funeral," said Yusuke Takayama, an official of the Metropolitan Police Department, vowing an "all-out" effort by the department.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and European Council President Charles Michel are among the high-ranking foreign dignitaries expected to travel to Japan for the funeral.

Abe, the country's longest-serving premier, was fatally shot while delivering a stump speech in the western city of Nara in July. Itaru Nakamura, commissioner general of the National Police Agency, the top bureaucrat of the Japanese police, stepped down last month to take responsibility over the incident.

Related coverage:

Cost of Abe's state funeral to total over 1.6 bil. yen: Japan

No special treatment given to successful bidder of Abe funeral: gov't

Japan opposition asks PM Kishida to explain slain PM Abe's state funeral
Defused 100-kilogram World War II bomb is seen on the bomb squad boat in downtown Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 12, 2022. A bomb squad of the Hungarian military has defused a 100-kilogram World War II bomb found in the Danube in central Budapest, the Hungarian armed forces said on Monday. (Peter Lakatos/MTI via Xinhua)

BUDAPEST, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- A bomb squad of the Hungarian military has defused a 100-kilogram World War II bomb found in the Danube in central Budapest, the Hungarian armed forces said on Monday.

The bomb squad dismantled the ignition mechanism of the explosive device, which was then taken away by a military boat, the bomb squad leader said on Facebook.

Underwater firefighters found the Soviet-made bomb during a practice dive last week in the Danube river's section between the Elizabeth Bridge and the Chain Bridge of central Budapest.

The bomb was lifted out with the special crane of the demining warship.

Local police closed off and evacuated an area within a radius of about 400 meters till the explosive device was safely removed and neutralized. 

Ignition devices of the defused 100-kilogram World War II bomb are seen in downtown Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 12, 2022. A bomb squad of the Hungarian military has defused a 100-kilogram World War II bomb found in the Danube in central Budapest, the Hungarian armed forces said on Monday. (Peter Lakatos/MTI via Xinhua)

Bomb squad boats are seen in front of Chain Bridge before defusing a 100-kilogram World War II bomb in downtown Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 12, 2022. A bomb squad of the Hungarian military has defused a 100-kilogram World War II bomb found in the Danube in central Budapest, the Hungarian armed forces said on Monday. (Peter Lakatos/MTI via Xinhua)

Bomb squad boats are seen in front of Chain Bridge before defusing a 100-kilogram World War II bomb in downtown Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 12, 2022. A bomb squad of the Hungarian military has defused a 100-kilogram World War II bomb found in the Danube in central Budapest, the Hungarian armed forces said on Monday. (Peter Lakatos/MTI via Xinhua)

Bomb squad boats are seen in front of Chain Bridge before defusing a 100-kilogram World War II bomb in downtown Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 12, 2022. A bomb squad of the Hungarian military has defused a 100-kilogram World War II bomb found in the Danube in central Budapest, the Hungarian armed forces said on Monday. (Peter Lakatos/MTI via Xinhua)

Defused 100-kilogram World War II bomb is seen on the bomb squad boat in downtown Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 12, 2022. A bomb squad of the Hungarian military has defused a 100-kilogram World War II bomb found in the Danube in central Budapest, the Hungarian armed forces said on Monday. (Peter Lakatos/MTI via Xinhua)
Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with Andrey Denisov, the outgoing Russian Ambassador to China, in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met on Monday with Andrey Denisov, the outgoing Russian Ambassador to China.

Yang, also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, spoke highly of Denisov's positive contributions in promoting the sound and stable development of China-Russia relations.

Yang said that under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, relations between the two countries have always progressed along the right track. The two sides firmly support each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and cooperate closely on international and multilateral occasions, he added.

China is ready to work with Russia to make the high-level strategic coordination between the two countries more concrete, safeguard the common interests of the two sides and make the international order more just and equitable, Yang said. 
DAMASCUS, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- A total of 26 cholera cases have been confirmed in Syria, and a UN official expressed "serious concern about the outbreak of the disease."

The Syrian Health Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that two people died from cholera in the northern city of Aleppo, while 20 cases were confirmed in Aleppo, four in the coastal city of Latakia, and two in the capital Damascus.

It stressed that necessary measures are taken to quell the spread of the disease and hospitals have been provided with extra stock of medication in case of any increase of the confirmed cases.

The situation of the disease and the number of confirmed cases have been updated every 24 hours, added the ministry.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that cholera has also spread in the western part of Deir al-Zour, which is controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

It also said that six people died after contracting cholera in the Kurdish-controlled areas in northeastern Syria over the past week.

In northern Raqqa city, also controlled by the SDF, cholera cases are increasing gradually with 15 cases confirmed there, according to the Observatory.

The UK-based watchdog group cited sources speculating that the cause behind the outbreak is contaminated water.

For his side, Imran Riza, the United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator in Syria, expressed in a statement Monday serious concern over what he described as the "ongoing cholera outbreak in Syria."

The statement said that between Aug. 25 and Sept. 10, the surveillance data showed that a total of 936 severe acute watery diarrhea cases were reported in Syria, including at least eight deaths.

It noted that based on a rapid assessment, the source of infection is believed to be linked to people drinking unsafe water from the Euphrates River and using contaminated water to irrigate crops, resulting in food contamination.

It pointed out that the outbreak of cholera is an indicator of severe shortages of water throughout Syria.

Furthermore, it added that the UN agencies and non-governmental organizations are coordinating closely with health authorities to ensure a timely and effective response. 
Tourists ride on camels during Mid-Autumn Festival holiday at Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring scenic spot in Dunhuang City, northwest China's Gansu Province, Sept. 10, 2022. (Photo by Zhang Xiaoliang/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- China saw 73.41 million domestic tourist visits during the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday that ended Monday, according to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Domestic tourism revenue generated during the period totaled 28.68 billion yuan (around 4.14 billion U.S. dollars), figures from the ministry showed.

Night-time sightseeing is a highlight of the Mid-Autumn Festival, with lakes and rivers in cities including Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Nanjing ranking among the most popular destinations for sightseeing at night, according to the ministry.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, fell on Saturday this year. It is usually marked by family reunions, enjoying sights of the full moon, and eating mooncakes. 
KIEV, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- More than 73,000 people have been evacuated from the conflict-affected eastern and southern regions of Ukraine in the past month, Ukraine's Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories said on Monday.

In particular, about 16,000 civilians have been evacuated in a month from the eastern Donetsk region as a part of the mandatory evacuation, the ministry said.

Besides, 50,000 people were evacuated from the Russia-held areas in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in southern Ukraine to Kiev-controlled territory, it said.

Ukraine started the mandatory evacuation from the Donetsk region in early August.

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that the mandatory evacuation may be extended to other conflict-hit regions. 
China and Tanzania on Monday agreed to strengthen cooperation in the development of statistics for the benefit of people in both countries.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivers a video speech at the opening ceremony of a seminar commemorating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered a video speech on Monday at the opening ceremony of a seminar commemorating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations.

Wang said that good-neighborliness and friendship, and the development and revitalization of Asia are the destinies, aspirations and responsibilities of China and Japan. He put forward five-point views on building China-Japan relations that meet the demands of the new era:

-- To keep promises and maintain the political foundation of China-Japan relations. To ensure the steady and long-term development of bilateral relations, the four political documents reached between the two countries must be abided by and the commitments that have been made so far should be honored. On major issues of principle such as history and Taiwan that are fundamental ones concerning China-Japan relations, there should be no ambiguity or backsliding.

-- To bear in mind the overall situation and grasp the right direction of development. The political consensus that the two sides are cooperative partners and do not pose a threat to each other should be accommodated into their policies and implemented through action. The two sides should remove distractions and properly handle differences to ensure that the ship of China-Japan relations does not run aground or drift off course.

-- To deepen cooperation and achieve win-win results at a higher level. The two sides should foster a strong sense of partnership, uphold a global perspective and jointly resist the wrong practice of decoupling, to maintain stable and smooth global industrial and supply chains, as well as fair and open trade and investment environment.

-- To strengthen guidance and foster positive and friendly mutual understanding. People-to-people exchanges between China and Japan have a long history and should be carried forward with the times.

-- To conform to the general trend, and practice genuine multilateralism. It is necessary to uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core, jointly oppose zero-sum games and camp confrontation, and promote regional stability and integrated development.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said in his video speech that both sides should focus on the next 50 years and work together to build constructive and stable Japan-China relations. 

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi delivers a video speech at a seminar commemorating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda delivers a keynote speech at a seminar commemorating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

Chinese Ambassador to Japan Kong Xuanyou delivers a keynote speech at a seminar commemorating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda delivers a keynote speech at a seminar commemorating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

Zhao Qi, secretary general of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), speaks via video link at a seminar commemorating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

Masakazu Tokura, the head of the Japan Business Federation known as Keidanren, speaks at a seminar commemorating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

President of the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade Yohei Kono speaks at a seminar commemorating the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)
People visit a car company selling electric cars made by China's Geely Auto in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Nov. 10, 2021. Chinese automaker Geely Auto Group has started selling electric cars in Israel through the Israeli dealership Union Group. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)

by Xinhua writer Wang Zhuolun

JERUSALEM, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Geometry C electric car produced by China's automaker Geely Auto Group became the best-selling vehicle model in Israel in August, marking the first time that an electric car (EV) led the monthly list of all vehicle models sold in the country, according to figures recently released by the Israel Vehicle Importers Association (I-via).

This came as no surprise. With posh looks, reasonable pricing, and low energy consumption, Geometry C achieved almost 22 percent market share in Israel's EV market in the first half of 2022 and was also nominated by Auto, Israel's major car magazine, as the winner in the "Best Buy of the Year" category.

The Hongqi E-HS9 model, a pure-electric luxury SUV, is showcased at the first showroom for China's limousine brand Hongqi in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 28, 2022. Israeli car dealership Samelet Group on Tuesday opened the first showroom for China's limousine brand Hongqi in the central Israeli city of Tel Aviv. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)

"The car can travel as far as 460 km on one charge, equivalent to the length of Israel, the longest of any electric vehicle in the country," Jerusalem Post reported when the Chinese EV model was about to enter Israel in July 2021.

A total of 10,460 new EVs had been reportedly delivered to customers in Israel as of late July, 70 percent higher than the same period of the previous year, among which, the best-selling were still Geometry C.

The impressive performance of the model is the epitome of the strong momentum of at least 10 Chinese EV brands in the Israeli market, including Hongqi, BYD, Weilai, Skyworth, and the Great Wall.

People sit in China's Hongqi E-HS9 smart electric SUV in Tel Aviv, Israel, on April 14, 2022. Chinese automaker FAW Car has started selling Hongqi electric luxury cars in Israel, the Israeli car import dealership Samelet Group said Wednesday. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)

As a relatively small territory with a dense population, Israel is believed to have considerable potential for embracing EVs.

Israel has its own "sources of natural gas, relatively low electricity prices, and high fuel prices that can push the market to adopt EVs based on electricity produced from natural gas," said Israeli economic analyst Michal Reut-Gelbart, noting that the battery prices of EVs have dropped by 70 percent in the country during the last seven years.

Israel is also known as a country that tends to adopt technology and innovation, which could help with the transition to electric transportation, added Reut-Gelbart, who is also a former official at the budget division of the Israeli Ministry of Finance.

Interest in electric cars has spiked in Israel since Tesla's entering into its market in February 2021. Other EV models, especially those made by Chinese auto manufacturers, soon made great strides.

In 2019, there were only 12 models of EVs in Israel; while now the number of options for Israeli consumers has doubled with diverse brands and prices.

Like many others, the Israeli government has carried out policies to encourage the public to use EVs, hoping to lower costs and significantly decrease emissions.

In October 2021, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that Israel had set a goal of net zero emissions by 2050. A plan drawn up by the Israeli Ministry of Energy pledges that from 2030, Israel will completely ban the import of gasoline and diesel vehicles, and the import of cars will be limited to electric or natural gas vehicles.

An Israeli car company worker shows an electric car made by Chinese automaker Skyworth Auto in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Oct. 27, 2021. Chinese automaker Skyworth Auto, the electric car division of tech giant Skyworth Group, has begun selling electric cars in Israel through the Israeli dealership Caduri Group, both companies said on Monday. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)

Tome Hadar, the automotive editor for Calcalist, Israel's largest financial newspaper, told Xinhua that taxation also explains why EVs are with huge potential in Israel.

"Currently in the Israeli market, buyers of electric cars are enjoying a 10-percent purchase tax, which is much lower than the tax for regular gas cars that gets up to as high as 83 percent," he said.

Recently, Chinese Leapmotor's T03 EV made Israel its first export destination, adding itself to the Chinese EVs running in the Israeli streets.

"China remains the leading global player in the battery industry," said a report published by The Institute for National Security Studies of Israel, noting that China's "breakthrough technologies for rapid charging and improved energy density could contribute a great deal" to the industry.

"Today over 76 percent of global production originates in China, and thus far, the West is unable to close the gap," the report added. 
HEFEI, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China will hold a national mass entrepreneurship and innovation week from Sept. 15 to 21, according to the city government of Hefei in east China's Anhui Province, the main venue of this year's event.

Themed "Innovation drives vitality, entrepreneurship creates employment," the annual event will see nearly 1,000 activities kick off across the country, both online and offline, to display achievements in mass entrepreneurship and innovation.

Over 160 typical projects selected from around the nation will be showcased in Hefei, in a bid to provide a display platform for entrepreneurs and create a favorable business environment for entrepreneurship and innovation.

Summits related to high-quality entrepreneurship, innovation and investment will also be held in Hefei, alongside livestreaming events.

Hefei has been optimizing its business environment for entrepreneurship and innovation in recent years. The city is also home to 4,578 national-level high-tech enterprises. 
By Trend





Armenia's appeal to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) for military support is improper from a legal point of view, political expert and editor-in-chief of the National Defensemagazine Igor Korotchenko wrote on social media, Trend reports.

He noted that this is about the local border incident, while the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia is not delimited.

"The source of the armed incident is the Armenian side and its provocations, Azerbaijan's actions are retaliatory and forced i.e. they fall under the category of self-defense. Azerbaijan is engaged in large-scale work on the peaceful restoration and development of its liberated territories, Armenia is in the same state as two years ago (revanchism, threats, provocations)," Korotchenko stated.

During the night of September 12, Armenian armed forces units committed large-scale provocations in the Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border.
People visit a booth of agricultural machinery at the Sahara Expo, the International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East, in Cairo, Egypt, on Sept. 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)



Egypt's agricultural expo provides a big opportunity for over 150 companies from more than 20 countries to meet and do business together.



by Mahmoud Fouly

CAIRO, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Over 150 companies from more than 20 countries are displaying their agricultural products and machinery at an international agricultural expo held in Egypt's capital Cairo from Sept. 11-14.

The 34th edition of Sahara Expo, or the International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East, attracts more than 250 brands of various agriculture-related products such as tractors, weed cutting machines, irrigation systems, as well as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and other agrochemicals.

Agriculture has been a key field in Egypt since ancient times, said Hany Khafagy, general manager of Informa Markets, the organizing company of the expo, noting that the sector contributes 15 percent of Egypt's gross domestic product and employs 25 percent of the country's workforce.

Egypt exports more than 350 kinds of agricultural products to over 150 countries across the world and is among the world's top exporters of citrus, dates and other crops.

People visit the Sahara Expo, the International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East, in Cairo, Egypt, on Sept. 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)



"The expo provides a big opportunity for local and foreign companies to meet and do business together. It's a good chance to learn about new products, whether from Europe or China, without having to travel abroad," said Ahmed Fouad, a marketing official with Tractors and Engineering Co., a company at the expo that features tractors and cutting tools.

Among the overseas exhibitors are companies from China, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, France, India, and Jordan.

One of the Chinese exhibitors is agrochemical company Rainbow, whose products include herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, bio-pesticides, and plant growth regulators, with a presence in more than 80 countries worldwide.

Zhang Kailin, Rainbow's general manager for North Africa and the Middle East region, saw the expo as a good opportunity to promote the company and its products in the region.

He said that the distinguished relations between China and Egypt provide "big support" for the company that just opened its office in Egypt last year.

"The Egyptian people are very friendly. We visited agencies and farms and had friendly talks with all the people we met. Good relations between China and Egypt will give us big support to do business here," Zhang told Xinhua.

Jacek Grad, head of the foreign trade office of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency, said that the expo offers "the best platform to meet potential partners in Egypt and to grow our network in the agricultural sector," adding that there's a growing interest among Egyptians in Polish agricultural technologies.

Visitors coming to the expo include agricultural producers, businessmen, consultants, engineers, researchers, students, and farmers. Khafagy, the organizer, said they expected about 25,000 visitors this year. 
Kazakhstan is one of the first countries that joined the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past years, cooperation between China and Kazakhstan has yielded fruitful results and benefited the two peoples.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service


Police officers are seen at the scene investigating on the double shootings in Mississauga, the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, on Sept. 12, 2022.

A Canadian police officer was killed on Monday and a suspect is in custody following two daylight shootings in Toronto, the largest city in the country, local media reported. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

OTTAWA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- A Canadian police officer was killed on Monday and a suspect is in custody following two daylight shootings in Toronto, the largest city in the country, local media reported.

Police said on Twitter that a suspect has been located and is in police custody.

One person has been pronounced deceased at the scene and two others have been transported to hospital, the police said.

Multiple sources have confirmed that the victim of the fatal shooting is a Toronto police officer, according to the media reports.

The police issued a public alert about an active shooter Monday afternoon and said that they were searching for a suspect who was "armed and dangerous".

The police are investigating the shootings and there is no word yet as to what led to the shootings, said the media reports. 

A police officer on duty is seen at the scene of double shootings in Mississauga, the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, Sept. 12, 2022.

A Canadian police officer was killed on Monday and a suspect is in custody following two daylight shootings in Toronto, the largest city in the country, local media reported. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

A "ROAD CLOSED" sign is seen at the scene of double shootings in Mississauga, the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, Sept. 12, 2022.

A Canadian police officer was killed on Monday and a suspect is in custody following two daylight shootings in Toronto, the largest city in the country, local media reported. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)
Phuntsok Tobgye (R) and his son Sonam Wangden pose for photos at their home in Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Aug. 6, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

LHASA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- In a studio on the top floor of a three-story Tibetan-style house in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Phuntsok Tobgye and his apprentices are busy working on a thangka painting measuring more than 10 meters in length and nearly three meters in width.

The painting, featuring mainly warm green tones, depicts Tibet's breathtaking scenic beauty and many famous attractions like Potala Palace. "Do not grind the thangka pigments too hard, otherwise its color will lighten," Phuntsok Tobgye instructed his apprentices while holding a coloring bowl.

Phuntsok Tobgye, 49, hails from Tsedong Village in the city of Xigaze and is one of the inheritors of Tsedong Thangka. It is a branch of the Miantang painting, the most influential school of Tibetan thangka painting since the 15th century, which was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006.

With the unremitting efforts of thangka painters like Phuntsok Tobgye, the intangible heritage skills have been passed to younger generations, with their works reaching a wider range of art lovers.

Tsedong Village has a tradition of painting thangka. When he was a child, Phuntsok Tobgye developed an interest in thangka paintings hung in the homes of the villagers. He then started sketching the landscape of his hometown and portraying the stories told by his parents. After graduating from primary school, he began to learn thangka painting.

In the beginning, his master asked him to draw on a white powder-covered blackboard on his lap. His drawing hand was not allowed to touch the board to avoid messing up the white powder.

"Sometimes, I practiced with the same pose for more than 10 hours a day," he recalled, adding that rigorous training helped him acquire the essential basic skills.

When Phuntsok Tobgye was 18 years old, he came to Lhasa, learning from other thangka masters to help repair the murals in the Potala Palace. It was where he learned different thangka styles.

"I had always longed to see all kinds of murals in the Potala Palace. The restoration project made my dream come true," Phuntsok Tobgye said.

He continued to learn the artform in the following years in Lhasa. During this period, his works were displayed at various thangka exhibitions, including one in Beijing and one in Vancouver, Canada. His solo thangka exhibition held in Lhasa in June 2015 attracted nearly 1,000 visitors on its opening day and his works gained extensive popularity among art collectors.

Penpa, vice chairman of the regional artists association, called Phuntsok Tobgye's works "flavorful," adding that they exude a strong sense of ancient charm.

"His thangkas have an unadorned tone compared with other works from the Miantang school of painting. The proportions of portraits and landscapes in his paintings are also peculiar," Penpa said.

Early last year, Phuntsok Tobgye established a thangka art company with his younger brother. The company has sold thangka paintings to Beijing, Anhui and other places in China.

Sonam Wangden, Phuntsok Tobgye's son, is learning thangka painting from his father together with other apprentices. The 24-year-old said that he can only recall his father being constantly busy with the canvas.

"I respect my father. He is gentle and tenacious and regards thangka painting as his lifelong pursuit," Sonam Wangden said.

Not long ago, Sonam Wangden and his father went to the outskirts of Lhasa to undertake restoration work of temple murals. After winding up their work, they sat by the wall and savored Tibetan yogurt while chatting about their restoration work.

"Thangka brings me closer to my father and makes me understand his persistence better. I will also make thangka painting my lifelong pursuit and pass on the intangible heritage," Sonam Wangden said.

Now, not only Phuntsok Tobgye's son but many of his relatives paint thangkas. Phuntsok Tobgye is proud of them. "I am getting older, but more confident that many people will continue to pass on such traditional skills." 

Phuntsok Tobgye works on a thangka painting at his studio in Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Aug. 5, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Phuntsok Tobgye, together with his apprentices, works on a giant thangka painting at a studio in Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Aug. 5, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Phuntsok Tobgye works on a thangka painting at his studio in Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Aug. 5, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)
HEFEI, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The 2022 World Manufacturing Convention will kick off Sept. 20 in east China's Anhui Province, local authorities said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

The four-day event, scheduled until Sept. 23 in the provincial capital Hefei, is set to demonstrate new achievements in high-end manufacturing development through new products, technologies and applications.

The convention, covering an area of 59,000 square meters, features 38 key events, including seminars, thematic activities and project docking.

Exhibitions will also highlight the progress China has made in various manufacturing industries. Countries such as the United States, Germany and Japan will participate in the outdoor agricultural machinery exhibition for the first time.

Over 641 companies have so far confirmed participation, according to the organizer.

Reports on the development of China's new-energy vehicle, and the development and application of the industrial internet will be released at the conference. 
RIYADH, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia will cooperate with UnionPay International to facilitate Chinese travelers' experience in the kingdom.

The Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) announced on Tuesday a signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with UnionPay International, a leading global payment services provider, aiming to enhance Saudi's comparative advantage as a tourism destination for UnionPay cardholders from China and around the world.

STA CEO Fahd Hamidaddin said the MoU is another significant step in positioning Saudi as a leading global tourism destination for Chinese travelers.

James Yang, head of UnionPay International Middle East, said the MoU is an important part of UnionPay's internationalization strategy and creates greater convenience for Chinese and global UnionPay cardholders.

UnionPay has accelerated its regional business in recent years. Currently, 11 countries and regions in the Middle East accept UnionPay cards.

Saudi has identified China as the number one source market within the Asian Pacific region, Alhasan Aldabbagh, STA chief APAC markets officer, told Xinhua.

Saudi Arabia has ambitious plans for the tourism sector and aims to become a top-5 global tourism destination by 2030. China is one of the 49 countries eligible for tourist e-visa. 
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Members of the Security Council on Monday made an unusual plea to help avoid a "catastrophic ecological, maritime, and humanitarian risk posed by the Safer tanker" off Yemen.

In a press statement, the council members reiterated their deep concern about the threat posed by the derelict oil storage tanker anchored off the port of Hodeidah and commended pledges for a UN emergency operation for the tanker.

They called for disbursal of the pledges and on other UN members and private-sector donors to fund the plan "in order to prevent a humanitarian, environmental, maritime, and economic catastrophe."

The council members underlined their expectation that the United Nations be ready, on day one of reaching the funding target, to begin immediately the oil transfer operation.

The United Nations has received pledges for 64 million U.S. dollars of the 80 million dollars sought for the first-phase emergency operation to defuse the "floating timebomb."

The derelict oil tanker, currently carrying more than 1 million barrels of oil, has not been inspected or maintained since 2015. In May 2020, seawater leaked into the engine room. A temporary fix by divers from the Safer corporation succeeded in containing the leak. But the fix was not supposed to hold for long.

In the press statement, the council members also lauded the benefits of the temporary truce in Yemen, saying it resulted in a 60 percent reduction in casualties, a quadrupling of fuel through Hodeidah port and allowed commercial flights to resume from the capital Sanaa permitting Yemenis to seek advanced medical help abroad.

They called on the Yemeni government and the Houthi militia to urgently intensify and be flexible in negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations to agree on "an expanded truce that could be translated into a durable cease-fire."

They urged both parties to intensify engagement with UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg on all aspects of negotiations, eschew conditionality, and ensure their economic experts work closely with the United Nations to implement measures to tackle the economic and financial crises.

The council members condemned all attacks that threatened to derail the truce and reiterated that there is no military solution. They called for an end to all forms of visible military manifestations in violation of the Hodeidah Agreement.

The council members highlighted Yemen's humanitarian crisis and the continued risk of famine, and encouraged donors to fully fund the UN humanitarian response plan and support the Yemeni government's efforts to stabilize the economy.

The press statement came after Thursday's Security Council consultations on Yemen. 
A summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be held in Uzbekistan later this week.

After 21 years, the organization has become not only a strong pillar of global peace and development but also a major force for international equity and justice. #GLOBALink





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
A lorry drives out of the Hong Leng Huor Dry Port on the western suburb of Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Jan. 13, 2022. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)



The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership has promoted multilateralism and free trade, and all participating countries will benefit from it in the long term.



PHNOM PENH, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said here on Monday that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has been contributing to a sustainable and inclusive post-COVID-19 economic recovery.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) must "take full advantage of free trade agreements, especially the RCEP agreement, which is the largest free trade agreement in global history," he said in a speech at the opening ceremony of the 2022 ASEAN Leadership and Partnership Forum.

Hun Sen, the chair of ASEAN for 2022, said ASEAN must continue to promote economic integration and turn the bloc into an attractive and dynamic trade and investment hub by reducing tax and non-tax barriers.

He also officially announced the opening of the ASEAN Economic Club.

"The club will play a key role in promoting a more cohesive ASEAN economic integration through contribution in monitoring, evaluating and advising ... on the implementation of agreements reached by ASEAN leaders, particularly on free trade agreements, the RCEP agreement and other agreements related to the economic pillar," he said.

Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's undersecretary of state and spokesman Penn Sovicheat said the RCEP has further facilitated cross-border trade and investment flows, and created a huge market.

"RCEP is comprehensive, covering trade in goods, trade in services, investment, economic and technical cooperation, dispute settlement, e-commerce, competition, and intellectual property, among others," he told Xinhua. "This trade pact has promoted multilateralism and free trade and all participating countries will benefit from it in the long term."

A crane truck lifts a container at the Hong Leng Huor Dry Port on the western suburb of Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Jan. 13, 2022. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)

Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said the RCEP is multilateral trade cooperation and its structure is truly meant to benefit all participating countries.

Phea said the RCEP "is instrumental in subverting creeping unilateralism because it pulls all bilateral free trade agreements into one economic sphere, under one blanket trade ruling."

Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, said RCEP has been giving a big boost to regional and global economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era.

"This mega-trade deal holds huge potential for all participating countries to boost their trade and investment ties and to quicken their economic recovery from the pandemic," he told Xinhua.

"Under the RCEP, all member countries will reap long-term benefits by integrating further into regional and global supply chains and creating new jobs for their respective peoples," Matthews said.

Entered into force in January 2022, the mega-regional trade pact comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries including 10 ASEAN member states, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and their five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
People take part in a protest in Okinawa, Japan, May 14, 2022, asking to reduce the U.S. base-hosting burdens of the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

Japan's Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said the people of Okinawa reelected him to express their opposition to the plans to relocate the U.S. base within Okinawa.

TOKYO, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said Monday his reelection underscored local opposition to the Japanese government's contentious plans to relocate a U.S. military base within the island.

"It is an undeniable fact that I was elected by the people who oppose the relocation plan, meaning the Okinawans true feelings have not changed," Tamaki told local media a day after securing his second four-year term as governor of Okinawa.

Tamaki, 62, whose election campaign was largely based on his opposition to the government's plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, secured more than half the votes in Sunday's gubernatorial election.

Opposition-backed Tamaki beat former Ginowan Mayor Atsushi Sakima who was supported by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition and was a proponent of relocating the U.S. base within the island, as well as former lawmaker Mikio Shimoji.

Police officers hold back protesters who demand the reduction of the U.S. base-hosting burdens and even a total withdrawal of the U.S. forces in Okinawa, Japan, May 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu)

Tamaki said the people of Okinawa reelected him to express their own opposition to the plans to relocate the U.S. base within Okinawa, adding that Okinawans want to have their overall U.S. base-hosting burdens lifted.

Along with saying he would visit Tokyo in person to urge the central government to abandon its plan to relocate the base, he also suggested he may employ other means including dialogue with the international community.

The local Okinawa and central governments have long-been at odds over the relocation of the base, with local Okinawans feeling their occupation by U.S. forces has continued long beyond 1972 when Okinawa was officially reverted to Japanese control.

Okinawa hosts the majority of U.S. bases in Japan, yet the tiny subtropical island accounts for a tiny fraction of Japan's land mass.

The disproportionate number of U.S. bases hosted by Okinawa has been a protracted source of tension for its local citizens.

They have had to endure a near-constant string of U.S. military-linked accidents and mishaps involving aircraft, firing drills and pollution, as well as some heinous crimes involving U.S. military and military-linked personnel, as widely reported.

LDP election chief Hiroshi Moriyama, however, told reporters on Monday that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his government still plans to move ahead with the relocation plan.

The contentious plan is based on a pact made between the United States and Japan in 1996, with the coastal region of Henoko being selected as the replacement site in 1999.

Okinawans have effectively voted for the base to be relocated outside the island or Japan altogether in the latest gubernatorial election as well as in similar elections held in 2014, 2018 and a referendum in 2019.
By Trend





Amendments are being made to the Labor Code of Azerbaijan in connection with the increase in the level of professional training of personnel in the country, the parliament told Trend.

According to the parliament, raising the level of professional training is one of the topical issues reflected in the bill "On amendments to the Labor Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan", submitted to the parliament on the basis of the legislative initiative of President Ilham Aliyev.

One of the foundations of the successful development of the country is the training of highly professional personnel by improving the knowledge and skills of citizens using the capabilities of modern technologies. Amendments in the code also envisage legal regulation of the targeted use of available resources in the modern labor market.

As a result of the proposed amendments, an increase in the level of professional training of employees in the workplace, the development of new specialties, as well as an increase in the level of qualifications will be stimulated.
Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong (C) distributes food relief packages to people affected by severe flooding in the tribal area of Dera Bugti in Balochistan province, Pakistan, Sept. 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Jiang Chao)

The Chinese government attaches great importance to assisting the Pakistani brothers and sisters who are being hit by the floods, as the two countries have a long tradition of helping each other in times of crisis, said Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong.

DERA BUGTI, Pakistan, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Food relief packages from China were distributed on Sunday in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province amid the recent severe flooding in the South Asian country.

The ceremony was held in the tribal area of Dera Bugti in Balochistan province, attended by over 800 local victims hit by the flood.

Speaking at the ceremony, Pakistan's Minister For Narcotics Control Nawabzada Shazain Bugti thanked China for its timely help when Pakistan is suffering from heavy floods.

"China has always stood with Pakistan as a brother when we faced these hard times," Bugti said, adding that Pakistan looks forward to deepening cooperation with China to improve infrastructure construction in the fields of education, medical care and others.

On the occasion, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong said that the Chinese government attaches great importance to assisting the Pakistani brothers and sisters who are being hit by the floods, as the two countries have a long tradition of helping each other in times of crisis.

"The Chinese people will never forget that Pakistan donated all of its strategic reserve tents when a strong earthquake hit Wenchuan in China's Sichuan Province in 2008," said the ambassador.

He said that China looks forward to strengthening win-win cooperation with Pakistan and making joint efforts to build a better homeland.

According to the latest data by the country's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), a total of 1,396 people have been killed and 12,728 others injured in rain-related accidents in Pakistan since mid-June.
BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- From Wednesday to Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, and pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The SCO summit takes place at a time when the world is witnessing the combined impact of a pandemic unseen in a century, a de-globalization trend and other complex factors, and the global economic governance system is facing challenges.

The Chinese president has proposed a number of important initiatives and proposals for global development and security, contributing Chinese wisdom and public goods to solving the pressing problems now facing humanity, which has been greeted with applause from the international community, not least the SCO countries.

DEVELOPMENT, SECURITY FOR ALL

Development and security are the common concerns of all countries and top priorities of global governance.

In a statement delivered via video at the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September, 2021, Xi proposed a Global Development Initiative (GDI) to steer global development toward a new stage of balanced, coordinated, and inclusive growth in face of the severe shocks of COVID-19.

The initiative calls for staying committed to development as a priority, to a people-centered approach, to benefits for all, to innovation-driven development, to harmony between man and nature and to results-oriented actions.

While delivering a keynote speech via video at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022 in April, Xi proposed a Global Security Initiative (GSI) to promote security for all in the world.

For Sudheendra Kulkarni, former chairman of Indian think-tank Observer Research Foundation, development and security are "two sides of the same coin and both are indivisible."

"No country can achieve security if other countries are insecure, and no country can achieve development if other countries' development is in danger. We must consider security and development in a global context," Kulkarni said.

The GDI will help accelerate the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, said Rosalia Varfalovskaya, a leading researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"Openness and cooperation between countries are the key to economic recovery in the post-pandemic era," said the researcher.

PROMOTING COMMON DEVELOPMENT

The world is now living through drastic changes and the COVID-19 pandemic, both unseen in a century, while the global economy is still battling against significant headwinds on its path to recovery.

Despite such major setbacks to global development, China is always a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, a defender of the international order and a provider of public goods.

The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi nine years ago, has become the most popular public good in the world. Moreover, China has been sparing no effort to provide COVID-19 vaccines to as more as possible people in the world.

China-proposed development initiatives exemplify a correct understanding of global issues as well as a focus on collective progress, said Farhad Javanbakht Kheirabadi, a China scholar at Shahid Beheshti University in Iran.

As to greater SCO cooperation along with Belt and Road cooperation, Xi said when addressing the 21st meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO in September, 2021, that "Belt and Road cooperation offers a major platform of promoting common development for us all."

"We need to strengthen complementarity between the Belt and Road Initiative and the development strategies of SCO countries and regional cooperation initiatives such as the Eurasian Economic Union. We should keep industrial and supply chains functioning smoothly, promote economic integration and interconnected development of all countries and deliver shared benefits to all," Xi said.

Human development indices around the world have fallen in recent decades, and "only by combining technological and resource opportunities between countries can they be raised," said Russian expert Varfalovskaya.

Muhammadjon Obidov, chairman of the Fergana branch of the Union of Journalists of Uzbekistan, drew attention to the fact that in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, "China did not forget to take care of other countries."

"Uzbekistan received vaccines from China as well. Many Uzbeks received them, and as a result, they were protected against infection and serious illness," he said.

SHARED FUTURE FOR HUMANITY

Xi has long been calling for building a community with a shared future. Addressing the 21st meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO via video link last year, Xi put forward five proposals on building "a closer SCO community with a shared future."

The SCO countries, he said, need to follow the journey of enhancing solidarity and cooperation, upholding common security, promoting openness and integration, boosting interactions and mutual learning and upholding equity and justice.

Over the years, Xi has fleshed out his vision on SCO cooperation, inspiring the group to grow into a model in the building of a new type of international relations and a contributor to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

For example, while attending the 20th SCO summit in 2020 via video link, Xi expounded on the vision of building an SCO community with a shared future, putting forward "a community of health for us all," "a community of security for us all," "a community of development for us all" and "a community of cultural exchanges for us all."

In their interviews with Xinhua, many experts spoke highly of China's commitment to seeking common development with the rest of the world.

The Chinese proposals attest to the Chinese leadership's preference for peaceful coexistence with all states, regardless of their social systems, and demonstrate China's commitment to maintaining cooperation with others for common development, said Obidov.

Championing mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development, the Shanghai Spirit has over the past years underpinned the SCO's development and represents the trend in contemporary international relations.

"All the (member) states, small or big, it doesn't matter ... It (SCO) does not have any hierarchy system, and the decision-making is consensus-based," said Gulru Gezer, a Turkish foreign policy advisor and former diplomat.

The member states have successfully managed to cooperate and build mutual respect and security within the SCO framework, she added. 




BEIJING, Sept 11 (Xinhua) -- Food relief packages from China were distributed on Sunday in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province amid the recent severe flooding in the South Asian country.

The ceremony was held in the tribal area of Dera Bugti in Balochistan province, attended by over 800 local victims hit by the flood.

Speaking at the ceremony, Pakistan's Minister For Narcotics Control Nawabzada Shazain Bugti thanked China for its timely help when Pakistan is suffering from heavy floods.

"China has always stood with Pakistan as a brother when we faced these hard times," Bugti said, adding that Pakistan looks forward to deepening cooperation with China to improve infrastructure construction in the fields of education, medical care and others.

On the occasion, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong said that the Chinese government attaches great importance to assisting the Pakistani brothers and sisters who are being hit by the floods, as the two countries have a long tradition of helping each other in times of crisis.

He said that China looks forward to strengthening win-win cooperation with Pakistan and making joint efforts to build a better homeland.

According to the latest data by the country's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), a total of 1,396 people have been killed and 12,728 others injured in rain-related accidents in Pakistan since mid-June.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Israeli Prime Minister and Head of the Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid speaks during a faction meeting in Tel Aviv on Aug. 25, 2022. (Gideon Markowicz/JINI via Xinhua)

JERUSALEM, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Israel is engaged in a diplomatic campaign to prevent world powers from returning to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, officials said Tuesday.

Israel is working to persuade the international community not to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement signed in 2015 that seeks to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions on it, an official with the Israeli Foreign Ministry told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"Over the past weeks, Israeli officials have been holding intensive talks behind the scenes with U.S. senators and Congress members as well as European officials in order to convince them to accept the Israeli position," the official said, adding Israel also provided the United States and Europe with new intelligence information on Iranian nuclear sites' activity.

Photo taken on Dec. 17, 2021 shows a meeting of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria. (EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via Xinhua)

Israel believes the current setbacks in the negotiations might be resolved after the mid-term election in the United States in November, according to the official.

Israel, a longtime vocal opponent of the Iranian nuclear deal, says the agreement will enable Iran to obtain atomic weapons without the burden of the sanctions and to funnel funds to its allies, including Hezbollah, a Lebanese armed group and a major enemy of Israel.

Iran, however, maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin to discuss the emerging deal. Restoring the agreement would be "a critical mistake," Lapid said in joint statements after the meeting.

The deal cannot achieve the goal of stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear arms, Lapid said, adding it was "time to move past the failed negotiations" with Iran.

President Donald Trump displays the signed presidential memorandum regarding sanctions against Iran at the White House in Washington D.C., United States on May 8, 2018. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

Scholz expressed regret that Iran has not accepted European proposals to restore the deal.

In his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Lapid applauded France, Britain and Germany, known as the E3, for their joint statement on Saturday that Iran's demand to close a probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, into uranium particles found at three sites "raises serious doubts as to Iran's intentions and commitment to a successful outcome on the JCPOA."

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nassar Kanaani said it is regretful that the E3, instead of responding positively to the "constructive" actions of Iran in the course of reaching an agreement and its cooperation with the IAEA, has been influenced by a country, which is not a member of any safeguards systems of the IAEA, alluding to Israel's allegations against Iran's nuclear program.

The recent statement of the E3 about Iran's response to an EU nuclear proposal was "wrong" and "untimely," Kanaani added.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz also took part in the Israeli diplomatic blitz to stop the revival of the 2015 deal, calling for joint action against Iran during a briefing for UN Security Council ambassadors on Monday.

"The international community must ensure military deterrence, in addition to diplomatic and economic efforts," a statement issued on his behalf on Tuesday quoted Gantz as saying.

According to Gantz, "Iran is not only advancing in its capabilities, but also in its rate of production."

Prior to Lapid's visit to Berlin, David Barnea, the director of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, travelled to Washington on Sept. 5. In a series of security-diplomatic meetings with senior U.S. officials, Barnea and U.S. officials focused on "tightening security and intelligence coordination (between the two sides) regarding the Iranian nuclear issue," according to a statement issued by the Israeli prime minister's office.

The United States "remains committed to the security of Israel" and will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and will "continue to act in full cooperation" on regional issues concerning Israel's security, the statement quoted U.S. officials as saying.

Laborers work at the construction site of the second phase of Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Bushehr, southern Iran, on Nov. 10, 2019. (Photo by Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua)

In late August, some 5,000 senior reserve officers of the Israeli military sent a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden, warning that the emerging nuclear deal would be "catastrophic for the peace and security of the United States, Israel and the world."

At a press conference in Vienna on Monday, also the first day of an IAEA Board of Governors' quarterly meeting, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the agency found in its inspections traces of uranium in places that were never declared by Iran, adding the information gap with regard to Iran's nuclear program is getting "bigger and bigger."

A spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) on Tuesday rejected Grossi's claim, calling on the IAEA to refrain from judging and commenting about Iran's nuclear program on the basis of the "politically motivated" documents Israel has provided.

Israel considers Iran its arch-foe and a big threat to its security. Lapid, like his predecessors Naftali Bennett and Benjamin Netanyahu, warned that Israel will not allow Iran to gain nuclear weapons and might attack it if diplomacy fails. 
BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming attendance to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit and state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan show the high importance China attaches to the SCO and relations with the two countries, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

According to the foreign ministry, Xi will attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO in the city of Samarkand, and pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from Sept. 14 to 16, at the invitation of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

"This will be China's most important event of head-of-state diplomacy on the eve of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which shows the high importance China attaches to the SCO and our relations with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan," spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular news briefing.

Mao said the profound changes in the international landscape and the protracted COVID-19 pandemic have further underscored the role the SCO plays in upholding regional security and stability and promoting countries' development and prosperity.

Mao said that at the upcoming SCO summit, Xi will have in-depth exchanges of views with other participating leaders with a focus on all-dimensional SCO cooperation and major international and regional issues to build new common understandings and open a new chapter for cooperation.

"We are convinced that the SCO will continue to carry forward the Shanghai Spirit, stay true to its founding mission and work hard to achieve even more on the new journey ahead and make greater contributions to the cause of global and regional peace and development as the organization enters its third decade," said the spokesperson.

Noting both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are China's friendly neighbors and comprehensive strategic partners, and important countries along the Belt and Road, Mao said since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the two countries three decades ago, China and the two countries have always followed the principles of mutual respect, good-neighborliness, friendship, mutual assistance and win-win cooperation, and advanced bilateral ties toward new heights.

"President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visits will mark a new stage in China's relations with the two countries," said Mao.

According to the spokesperson, during the visits, Xi will hold talks with Kazakh President Tokayev and Uzbek President Mirziyoyev. They will have in-depth exchanges on bilateral ties, cooperation in various fields and international and regional issues of mutual interest.

"We're confident the visits will provide a new blueprint, new goals and new impetus for China's ties with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan," Mao added. 
People perform at the opening plenary of a UN environment meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, on June 2, 2022. (Photo by Wei Xuechao/Xinhua)

"Floods, droughts, heatwaves, extreme storms and wildfires are going from bad to worse, breaking records with alarming frequency ... There is nothing natural about the new scale of these disasters. They are the price of humanity's fossil fuel addiction," United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a video message attached to the report.

GENEVA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Climate science has shown clearly that the world is going "in the wrong direction" in fighting climate change, and that without much more ambitious action, the physical and socioeconomic impacts will be increasingly devastating, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned in a report published on Tuesday.

According to "United in Science," a multi-agency report coordinated by the WMO, urgent action is needed to mitigate emissions and adapt to the changing climate, because countries collectively are falling short of meeting their new or updated pledges with current policies.

The report assesses the most recent scientific findings related to climate change, its impacts and responses. It shows that greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise to record highs, as fossil fuel emission rates are now above pre-COVID levels after a temporary drop due to lockdowns. The ambition of emissions reduction pledges for 2030 needs to be seven times higher to be in line with the 1.5 degrees Celsius reduction goal of the Paris Agreement.

As the past seven years were the warmest on record and global warming increases, "tipping points" in the climate system cannot be ruled out, the report warns. That would cause increasing socio-economic impacts to cities, which are home to billions of people and are responsible for up to 70 percent of human-caused emissions.

Firefighters battle a wildfire in Cebreros, Castilla y Leon, Spain, on July 21, 2022. (Junta de Castilla y Leon/Handout via Xinhua)

"Floods, droughts, heatwaves, extreme storms and wildfires are going from bad to worse, breaking records with alarming frequency ... There is nothing natural about the new scale of these disasters. They are the price of humanity's fossil fuel addiction," United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a video message attached to the report.

"This year's 'United in Science' report shows climate impacts heading into the uncharted territory of destruction. Yet each year we double down on this fossil fuel addiction, even as the symptoms get rapidly worse," he said.

Photo taken on Aug. 14, 2022 shows the view of a dried riverbed near the source of the River Thames, southwest of the town of Cirencester, Britain. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)

According to the UN Environment Program (UNEP), one of the contributors to the report, new national mitigation pledges for 2030 show some progress toward lowering greenhouse gas emissions but are insufficient. The ambition of these new pledges would need to be four times higher to get on track to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius and seven times higher to get on track to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as has been stipulated in the Paris Agreement.

"Climate science is increasingly able to show that many of the extreme weather events that we are experiencing have become more likely and more intense due to human-induced climate change. We have seen this repeatedly this year, with tragic effect," WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas said.

"It is more important than ever that we scale up action on early warning systems to build resilience to current and future climate risks in vulnerable communities," he said.

Photo taken on Aug. 28, 2022 shows corn crops affected by drought in Teleorman County, southern Romania. (Xinhua/Chen Jin)




* Over the past decade, Inner Mongolia has planted 122 million mu of trees and 286 million mu of grass, with the area of desertified land continuously reduced, statistics with the regional government show.

* In 2021, the proportion of days with good air in Inner Mongolia was 3.7 percentage points higher than that in 2015. The proportion of surface water sections with good water quality under national assessment was 22.9 percentage points higher than that in 2016, local official data shows.

* "Ecological protection is our job now," said Zhou Yizhe, a worker of the Bei'an forest farm in the Dahinggan Mountains. In 2015, with a ban on commercial logging in natural forests, workers like Zhou have become rangers employed to cultivate trees.





by Xinhua writers Wang Jinye, Yin Yao, Li Laifang

HOHHOT, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- As the autumn harvest approaches, villager Zheng Jie toils beneath the scorching sun, irrigating his hillside vineyard with water pumped from a nearby well that runs over 100 meters deep. The area has been hit by a prolonged drought, causing the grapes to wither somewhat.

Zheng's amur grapes will soon be harvested and sent to local wine-making factories, providing him with about 6,000 yuan (about 870 U.S. dollars) this year. Aged 59, Zheng is also a forest ranger, responsible for patrolling 500 mu (33.33 hectares) of woodland in Ma'anshan Village in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

With its forest coverage rate reaching 90 percent, the village provides a fine example of the integrated ecological efforts being made to protect the beautiful scenery of this grassland-rich region in China's northern border area.

Aerial photo taken on July 15, 2019 shows the scenery of Ma'anshan Village in Chifeng City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Liu Lei)

BETTER GRASSLANDS, BETTER LIFE

At the hilly Tuhum Township, Horqin Right Wing Front Banner, the grassland is divided into small square grids that form a unique landscape.

"The grids are weed blocks and the grass inside has been grown by artificial seeding," said Burensain, a township law-enforcement official.

In May last year, Tuhum launched a grassland restoration project, with 9 million yuan of investment, combining natural restoration with manual intervention to treat 60,000 mu of degraded grassland.

Monitoring data shows that the grassland vegetation coverage of the county-equivalent banner increased by 28.67 percentage points from 2016 to 2021.

In the banner's Ulanmod Grassland, scattered flocks of cattle and sheep graze on river banks and hillsides. According to the local grassland-livestock balance policy, 16 mu of grassland is needed to breed one sheep, and 80 mu for one head of cattle. Herders receive a subsidy of nearly four yuan for each mu of their contracted grassland a year.

Aerial photo taken on June 23, 2022 shows a herd of cattle and horses foraging on the Ulanmod Grassland in Horqin Right Wing Front Banner of Hinggan League, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Liu Lei)

"We have been living here for generations. Only by protecting the grassland well can we have a better life," said Sarengowa.

She raises about 100 head of cattle and nearly 700 sheep on more than 20,000 mu of grassland. The number of livestock is now half what it was in the past.

Hiring two shepherds, she devotes her attention to a newly-opened dairy workshop, covering an area of 330 square meters, in cooperation with four other households.

"We produce traditional dairy products such as milk curd, yogurt and cheese to expand the herdsmen's sources of income," Sarengowa said.

Large swathes of grassland in the region suffered from desertification and salinization due to overgrazing, drought and other factors.

"When spring came, there would be a severe sandstorm lasting several days, leaving sand under the doors and on the windowsills," recalled Bai Jiranbayar, a herder in Hadabuqi Village, Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner.

The village is in the hinterland of the Horqin sandy area, China's second largest sandy area, covering a total of nearly 100 million mu, with over 86 percent in Inner Mongolia and the rest in neighboring provinces.

Aerial photo taken on Aug. 16, 2022 shows a truck running on a road surrounded by forests in Tongliao City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Photo by Hua Weiguang/Xinhua)

In 2017, the banner implemented a complete ban on grazing. Thanks to a poverty reduction policy, the Bai Jiranbayar family left their shabby clay house and moved into a newly built brick house funded by the government. He began to raise cattle in a shed.

As part of the efforts to restore desertified land, 1,500 mu of sea buckthorn, planted three years ago, has grown as tall as one meter. Bai Jiranbayar is now one of the rangers for the sea buckthorn trees.

Jin Jalgaa, Party chief of the village, said the ecological benefits of the sea buckthorn forest have already become apparent, and its remarkable economic benefits will be clear next year with the harvest of the sea buckthorn fruit.

Over the past decade, Inner Mongolia has planted 122 million mu of trees and 286 million mu of grass, with the area of desertified land continuously reduced, statistics with the regional government show.

CLEANER ENVIRONMENT

In an area near Ulan Suhai Lake, Liu Xiuzhen, a farmer in Sainhudag Village, Urad Front Banner, usually does her morning exercises to the rhythm of music or takes a walk with other women.

"The air is good," said 51-year-old Liu, whose house has been renovated with new furniture and pot plants. Yet a few years ago, the environment was not so livable.

"The environment at the lake has improved a lot, so we decided to renovate the house. Years ago, the environment was so bad that we wanted to move away," she said. Now the water is clear, and there are more fish and birds.

Photo taken on Oct. 28, 2020 shows a swan at the Ulan Suhai Lake in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Lian Zhen)

The change is largely the result of the treatment of pollution on farmland around the lake. The excessive use of fertilizers for years was a key factor for the lake pollution.

"We manage the farmland on our own, but the environment belongs to everyone. We must protect our farmland," Liu said.

In her 80-mu farm, Liu changed the crop from corn to wheat, using farmyard manure, artificial weeding and no plastic film, in response to the government measures to reduce agricultural pollution.

She enjoys government subsidies for the adjustments and her wheat has been recognized as a pollution-free product, which sells at a price higher than that of ordinary wheat. With all of these changes, Liu increased her income by 40,000 yuan last year.

Intensive overhaul measures have also delivered tangible outcomes in other once-polluted places.

"The ecological protection at the Helan Mountain is good. Compared with 20 years ago, the edge of the forest has moved five to 10 meters forward," said Li Dong, an official with the administration bureau of the Inner Mongolia Helan Mountain state-level nature reserve.

In 2021, the proportion of days with good air in Inner Mongolia was 3.7 percentage points higher than that in 2015. The proportion of surface water sections with good water quality under national assessment was 22.9 percentage points higher than that in 2016, local official data shows.

BARREN HILLS TO "GOLD MOUNTAINS"

Ma'anshan Village, where forest ranger Zheng Jie lives, is thriving, with locals engaged in grape planting, greening and tourism. A village tourist reception center is under construction.

"The hills were bare, and heavy rain led to floods, with stones washed down," said the village's former Party chief Zhang Guozhi, recalling the scene from over 10 years before.

The village encouraged residents to plant trees, guaranteeing them an economic return. So far, the village has completed the greening of some 3,000 mu of mountain land. Besides tourism, the locals get an income from mountain products such as hazelnuts, mushrooms and apricots.

The village, with over 1,000 residents, shook off poverty in 2017. Its per capita disposable income reached 15,900 yuan last year.

"We will continue our greening efforts and aim to be a 5A-level scenic area," said Liu Yeyang, the village's current Party chief.

Like Ma'anshan Village, the integration of agriculture and tourism has also been practiced in other rural areas.

In Gaogenyingzi Village, near the urban area of the city of Ulanhot, an old section of riverbed that was used as a garbage dump has been transformed into a water park -- the Shenjunwan ecological experience area. Dozens of villagers work in the scenic area as security guards, cleaners or boat pilots.

Aerial photo taken on July 7, 2022 shows the view of the Shenjunwan tourist resort in Ulanhot City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Photo by Wu Xiliang/Xinhua)

"Several years ago, the site was quite smelly. Who would have thought that an abandoned sand pit would become a 'treasure bowl'?" said Peng Dianqi, a villager who is head of the security staff in the scenic area. He earns 4,500 yuan a month from the job.

"I used to be too poor to eat properly and buy clothes. Now, I can't say that I'm rich, but I'm living a really comfortable life," said Peng, praising the Party for its good policy, which has brought about major changes in his life.

According to managers of the tourist area, new projects will be carried out in future to develop winter tourism and family inns, so that the value of the beautiful area will be further realized.

LIVING OFF THE FORESTS

In the Bei'an forest farm in the Dahinggan Mountains in the city of Genhe, Inner Mongolia, forest rangers are busy digging pits for tree planting next spring.

"Ecological protection is our job now," said Zhou Yizhe, a worker on the forest farm. In 2015, with a ban on commercial logging in natural forests implemented in the area, workers like Zhou have become rangers employed to cultivate trees.

In the city of Arxan, located in the southwest of the Dahinggan Mountains, two-thirds of the local population lives on tourism-related services.

Aerial photo taken on July 24, 2022 shows forests in Arxan of Hinggan League, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Peng Yuan)

Jiang Huixin, whose father is also a logger-turned ranger, cherishes his job at the Arxan national forest park, where he is in charge of tourist safety and vegetation protection. He teaches his five-year-old son to protect nature when they go outside.

"We still live off the forests, but in a different way. Tourism has developed due to the forests and natural beauty, and life is better," Jiang said. 
BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, politicians and scholars from the two countries said Tuesday that they expect the trip to promote regional cooperation and bring bilateral ties to a higher level.

The Chinese president will attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, and pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from Wednesday to Friday.

ENRICHING CHINA-KAZAKHSTAN TIES

This year marks the 30th anniversary of China-Kazakhstan relations.

On Tuesday, a signed article by Chinese President Xi Jinping titled "Build on the Past to Make Greater Strides in China-Kazakhstan Relations" was published on the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper.

In the article, Xi said that "China-Kazakhstan relations have long become rock-solid. We should cherish this hard-won achievement, and work harder to carry on the cause of friendship between our two countries."

"The article impressed me so much. It was so global, filled with deep thought," said Serik Korzhumbayev, editor-in-chief of the Delovoy Kazakhstan newspaper. "President Xi outlined directions for the further development and strengthening of bilateral relations."

Recalling the Silk Road Economic Belt initiated by Xi in a speech delivered at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan in 2013, Chairman of the People's Party of Kazakhstan Yermukhamet Ertysbayev said "this will give a powerful additional boost to the socio-economic development of a huge intercontinental region from the Pacific Ocean, to the Baltic, to the Mediterranean Sea."

"This (visit) is the first in five years. It is symbolic in the sense that this year marks the 30th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations (between the two countries). This is a very important milestone," said Timur Shaimergenov, deputy director of the Library of the First President of Republic of Kazakhstan.

Shaimergenov expressed the hope the visit will help facilitate the implementation of the consensus reached between the two countries and promote the Belt and Road cooperation.

Gulnar Shaimergenova, director of the China Studies Center in Kazakhstan, said that Xi's visit demonstrates that China attaches great importance to its relations with Kazakhstan, and will give a strong impetus to the further deepening of bilateral relations.

"President Xi's visit is of extraordinary significance for the development of the permanent comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries," said former SCO Secretary-General Bolat Nurgaliyev.

BRINGING BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR CHINA-UZBEKISTAN TIES

On Tuesday, a signed article by Xi titled "Working Together for a Brighter Future of China-Uzbekistan Relations" was published on leading Uzbek newspaper Narodnoe Slovo and Uzbekistan National News Agency (UzA).

In the article, Xi said "this year marks the 30th anniversary of China-Uzbekistan diplomatic ties. Over the past three decades, the giant tree of our relationship has taken deeper roots and grown more exuberant. The two countries have respected each other, fostered good-neighborliness, strengthened solidarity and pursued mutual benefit. Cooperation across the board has yielded concrete results."

"I am particularly proud that the signed article has been published on our newspaper," said Ruslan Kenzhaev, deputy editor-in-chief of the Narodnoe Slovo newspaper.

"The article made an excursion into the 2,000-year history of friendly exchanges, and summarized the achievements of 30 years of diplomatic relations in the modern era. The Chinese leader outlined his vision of the direction in which the strategic partnership will develop for the benefit of the people of the two countries," he added.

Abduvali Saibnazarov, an Uzbek expert on socio-political issues, said that Xi's article contains ways to solve some social issues that Uzbekistan will have to study in further cooperation with China, like in the field of poverty reduction.

"President Mirziyoyev has repeatedly stated that Uzbekistan will cooperate with China in the field of poverty reduction," he added.

Gulshada Urazalieva, an associate professor of the Uzbek National University, said that she is mostly concerned with enhancing cultural and people-to-people exchanges between Uzbekistan and China.

The professor expects the two countries to continue expanding cooperation in areas including exchanges between women, and "jointly build a wonderful future for the Chinese and Uzbek people." 
LUSAKA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Immigration authorities in Zambia have deported 44 illegal migrants to their native country of Ethiopia, a spokesperson said Tuesday.

Namati Nshinka, the Public Relations Officer of the Immigration Department, however, said one of the migrants died at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport Monday, as the group was preparing to board an Ethiopian plane.

The spokesperson said in a statement that the 20-year-old Ethiopian national collapsed and was pronounced dead by medical personnel based at the airport.

"The cause of death is yet to be determined. The other 43 were successfully removed from the country," he said.

According to him, the deportation brings the total number of Ethiopians removed from the country between Sept. 8 and 12 to 107.

He expressed concern that illegal immigrants from the Horn of Africa, assisted by traffickers and smugglers, have continued to undertake dangerous journeys in search of greener pastures. 
People visit a booth at the 34th edition of Sahara Expo, or the International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East, in Cairo, Egypt, Sept. 11, 2022. The expo attracted more than 250 brands of various agriculture-related products such as tractors, weed cutting machines, irrigation systems, as well as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and other agrochemicals. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

by Mahmoud Fouly

CAIRO, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Over 150 companies from more than 20 countries are displaying their agricultural products and machinery at an international agricultural expo held in Egypt's capital Cairo from Sept. 11-14.

The 34th edition of Sahara Expo, or the International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East, attracts more than 250 brands of various agriculture-related products such as tractors, weed cutting machines, irrigation systems, as well as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and other agrochemicals.

Agriculture has been a key field in Egypt since ancient times, said Hany Khafagy, general manager of Informa Markets, the organizing company of the expo, noting that the sector contributes 15 percent of Egypt's gross domestic product and employs 25 percent of the country's workforce.

Egypt exports more than 350 kinds of agricultural products to over 150 countries across the world, and is among the world's top exporters of citrus, dates and other crops.

"The expo provides a big opportunity for local and foreign companies to meet and do business together. It's a good chance to learn about new products, whether from Europe or China, without having to travel abroad," said Ahmed Fouad, a marketing official with Tractors and Engineering Co., a company at the expo that features tractors and cutting tools.

Among the overseas exhibitors are companies from China, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, France, India and Jordan.

One of the Chinese exhibitors is agrochemical company Rainbow, whose products include herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, bio-pesticides and plant growth regulators, with a presence in more than 80 countries worldwide.

Zhang Kailin, Rainbow's general manager for North Africa and the Middle East region, saw the expo as a good opportunity to promote the company and its products in the region.

He said that the distinguished relations between China and Egypt provide "big support" for the company that just opened its office in Egypt last year.

"The Egyptian people are very friendly. We visited agencies and farms and had friendly talks with all the people we met. Good relations between China and Egypt will give us big support to do business here," Zhang told Xinhua.

Jacek Grad, head of the foreign trade office of Polish Investment and Trade Agency, said that the expo offers "the best platform to meet potential partners in Egypt and to grow our network in the agricultural sector," adding that there's a growing interest among Egyptians in Polish agricultural technologies.

Visitors coming to the expo include agricultural producers, businessmen, consultants, engineers, researchers, students and farmers. Khafagy, the organizer, said they expected about 25,000 visitors this year. 

People visit a booth at the 34th edition of Sahara Expo, or the International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East, in Cairo, Egypt, Sept. 11, 2022. The expo attracted more than 250 brands of various agriculture-related products such as tractors, weed cutting machines, irrigation systems, as well as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and other agrochemicals. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

President of European Council Charles Michel has expressed concern about the recent Armenia-Azerbaijan border clashes, Azernews reports.

Reports about fighting on the Armenia - Azerbaijan border are extremely worrying. Need a complete and sustainable ceasefire. There is no alternative to peace and stability - and there is no alternative to diplomacy to ensure it, Michel tweeted.

I am in contact with both leaders Azerbaijani President Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has asked EU Special Representative Klaar to travel to Baku and Yerevan to work on preventing further escalation, he added.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has expressed support to Azerbaijan over the recent incident on the state border with Armenia.

"Azerbaijani lands were under occupation for 30 years. The diplomats, the OSCE Minsk Group, international system or international actors didn't do anything to stop the occupation of Azerbaijani territories. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan was secured as a result of second Karabakh war," he said during a governmental meeting.

"A new opportunity for peace appeared after the war. However, Armenia once again resorted to provocation yesterday. If we want stability and peace in the region, then the problems between the two countries must find their solution. We play an important role in this issue, but we are always close to fraternal Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan will never be alone," Cavusoglu emphasized.

Likewise, Turkish Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin also lent his support to Azerbaijan over the recent incident on the country's border with Armenia.

"Clashes on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border are worrisome. While the negotiations continue, Armenia should stay away from provocative attitudes. Peace and stability can only be achieved on the basis of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and legitimate rights. Turkey stands by Azerbaijan, Kalin tweeted.

In the same vein, Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Cahit Bagci offered condolences to the relatives and friends of the servicemen who died as a result of the Armenian provocation on the state border.

"I express my condolences to the families of those killed as a result of the Armenian provocation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border and wish the wounded a speedy recovery. Turkiye has always stood by Azerbaijan in its rightful cause and will continue to do so," Bagchi wrote on his Twitter account.

To recap, units of the Armenian armed forces carried out large-scale provocations along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions during the night of September 13. At night, Armenian sabotage groups mined land and supply roads linking the positions of the Azerbaijani army units in different directions, taking advantage of the area's steep topography and existing ravine gaps.

Clashes between the sides ensued as a result of the urgent efforts made by the Azerbaijani armed forces to quell these activities.

As a result, there were losses among the military personnel, and the military infrastructure was damaged, the ministry detailed.

The Azerbaijan military units stationed in these areas took decisive retaliatory measures to suppress the provocations of the Armenian armed forces and military threats to Azerbaijan's territory and sovereignty, as well as to ensure the safety of military personnel, including civilian workers involved in infrastructure construction in Kalbajar and Lachin districts, the ministry emphasized.
President William Ruto (R) takes the oath of office during the swearing-in ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya, Sept. 13, 2022. Kenya's newly elected President William Ruto was sworn in as the country's fifth president at a ceremony here on Tuesday. (Photo by Fred Mutune/Xinhua)

NAIROBI, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's newly elected President William Ruto was sworn in as the country's fifth president at a ceremony in the capital, Nairobi on Tuesday.

Ruto took the oath of office in a peaceful handover ceremony attended by 20 African leaders including global dignitaries after a tightly contested election.

Ruto, born in 1966, won the August 9 elections, beating veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga narrowly in a presidential election that was later confirmed by the country's Supreme Court.

Uhuru Kenyatta, the outgoing president, handed over instruments of power to Ruto amid tight security in and around the venue. 

Kenya's newly elected President William Ruto (R) shakes hands with outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta during the swearing-in ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya, Sept. 13, 2022. Kenya's newly elected President William Ruto was sworn in as the country's fifth president at a ceremony here on Tuesday. (Photo by Fred Mutune/Xinhua)

Kenya's newly elected President William Ruto (R) receives the instruments of power from outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta during the swearing-in ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya, Sept. 13, 2022. Kenya's newly elected President William Ruto was sworn in as the country's fifth president at a ceremony here on Tuesday. (Photo by Fred Mutune/Xinhua)
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Brunei saw a slight increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases last week, with a daily average of about 179 cases compared to 169 cases per day in the previous week. However, the infection trend shows transmission remains low, Haji Mohd Isham, the country's health minister said.

According to the local daily Borneo Bulletin on Tuesday, the health minister said at a weekly briefing that 51,405 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) test results were uploaded to the government platform within one week, with 2.4 percent of them being positive.

Currently, no hospitalized case is held in the intensive care unit and two cases still require assisted breathing.

As of Sept. 12, 78.2 percent of Brunei's population have received three doses of COVID-19 vaccines, while 10.1 percent have taken the fourth dose.

The COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and China's Sinopharm are administered in the Southeast Asian country.

The health minister also said that mask-wearing will become optional both outdoors and indoors starting Sept. 15, with a high vaccination rate and natural immunity in the Sultanate.

However, those who show symptoms are still required to wear masks in public. Face masks are still mandatory at government and private health facilities, including hospitals, clinics, ambulances, swab and injection centers, and if required, by event hosts.

Operators of restaurants, eateries, cafes and stalls are still required to wear face masks. 
A man wades through floodwater in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 13, 2022. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) on Tuesday issued a warning of moderate to heavy rain and potential floods from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m local time in the Thai capital's 12 districts. This came after several parts of the city had been inundated after heavy monsoon rains in the last several days. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

BANGKOK, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) on Tuesday issued a warning of moderate to heavy rain and potential floods from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m local time in the Thai capital's 12 districts.

This came after several parts of the city had been inundated after heavy monsoon rains in the last several days.

The main reason for the flooding is more rainfall than usual in and around Bangkok this year, which has swollen rivers and caused flooding in the city, Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said Monday at a briefing on the city's flood situation.

This year has been the wettest in recent years, but the overall situation in Bangkok is improving, Chadchart added.

According to the Royal Irrigation Department, the average daily rainfall in Bangkok during the first 10 days of September was 96.5 mm, compared to an average of 52.2 mm in the same period last year. On Sept. 10, the 24-hour rainfall was 112.7 mm, the highest record in six years.

Currently, the BMA is prepared to deal with the possible flash floods with dredging 32 waterways and upgrading drainage stations.

The authorities will take a series of emergency response measures in case of extensive flooding, including setting up temporary shelters and arranging relief supplies. 

Vehicles move in floodwater in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 13, 2022. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) on Tuesday issued a warning of moderate to heavy rain and potential floods from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m local time in the Thai capital's 12 districts. This came after several parts of the city had been inundated after heavy monsoon rains in the last several days. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

People wade through floodwater in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 13, 2022. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) on Tuesday issued a warning of moderate to heavy rain and potential floods from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m local time in the Thai capital's 12 districts. This came after several parts of the city had been inundated after heavy monsoon rains in the last several days. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

A person with a motorcycle wades through floodwater in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 13, 2022. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) on Tuesday issued a warning of moderate to heavy rain and potential floods from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m local time in the Thai capital's 12 districts. This came after several parts of the city had been inundated after heavy monsoon rains in the last several days. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

People wade through floodwater in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 13, 2022. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) on Tuesday issued a warning of moderate to heavy rain and potential floods from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m local time in the Thai capital's 12 districts. This came after several parts of the city had been inundated after heavy monsoon rains in the last several days. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

Vehicles move in floodwater in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 13, 2022. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) on Tuesday issued a warning of moderate to heavy rain and potential floods from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m local time in the Thai capital's 12 districts. This came after several parts of the city had been inundated after heavy monsoon rains in the last several days. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

Vehicles move in floodwater in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 13, 2022. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) on Tuesday issued a warning of moderate to heavy rain and potential floods from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m local time in the Thai capital's 12 districts. This came after several parts of the city had been inundated after heavy monsoon rains in the last several days. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

Vehicles move in floodwater in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 13, 2022. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) on Tuesday issued a warning of moderate to heavy rain and potential floods from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m local time in the Thai capital's 12 districts. This came after several parts of the city had been inundated after heavy monsoon rains in the last several days. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

People wade through floodwater in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 13, 2022. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) on Tuesday issued a warning of moderate to heavy rain and potential floods from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m local time in the Thai capital's 12 districts. This came after several parts of the city had been inundated after heavy monsoon rains in the last several days. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Brunei recorded 3,244.1 million Brunei dollars (2,311.3 million U.S. dollars) in total trade for June 2022, a 62.5 percent year-on-year increase.

The latest International Merchandise Trade Statistics released on Tuesday by the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics at the Ministry of Finance and Economy showed that Brunei's exports increased by 61.1 percent yearly to 1,775.1 million Brunei dollars, which was mainly due to the increase in mineral fuel exports.

Mineral fuels also recorded the highest contribution to total exports (76.2 percent) with a value of 1,352.0 million Brunei dollars, followed by chemicals at 21.3 percent.

Imports increased by 64.3 percent year on year to 1,469.0 million Brunei dollars for June 2022.

The highest share of exports in June 2022 went to Malaysia at 30.7 percent, followed by Australia at 14.4 percent and Singapore at 12.6 percent.

The highest share of imports came from Malaysia at 23.7 percent, followed by the United Arab Emirates at 22.9 percent and Iraq at 10.1 percent. (1 Brunei dollar equals about 0.71 U.S. dollar). 
NEW DELHI, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- At least eight persons were killed and around seven others injured after a fire broke out inside a hotel in Secunderabad city of India's southern state of Telangana, according to local sources on Tuesday.

Those injured in the fire on Monday night were admitted to a local hospital which said the conditions of a few were serious.

The fire broke out inside a multistorey building having an e-bike showroom in the first two floors, and a hotel in the rest of the floors. All e-bikes in the showroom were gutted in the fire.

The cause of the fire remained unknown.

"The fire-fighting work is over and now the cooling down process is on. We recovered eight dead bodies from inside the building, and around seven injured persons. The whole building has been searched," said a local fire department official over phone. 
SUVA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Fiji's government has encouraged young students to rediscover the simple pleasure of reading a good book in efforts to improve the Pacific island country's literacy rate.

Education Minister Premila Kumar on Tuesday said that living in the age of social media, getting children to read a book is in itself a challenge, the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation news website reported.

The minister said the introduction of the new literacy curriculum in schools will help address literacy issues as teachers have been empowered to work with students to encourage reading.

While teachers are responsible for helping students in school settings, parents must also play an active role and encourage their children to read more, Kumar noted.

A recent report of Pacific region's literacy assessment released by the Pacific Community (SPC) has found that there is a lack of reading with understanding and responding to questions that require critical thinking among students.

The findings and recommendations for Fiji have been submitted to the ministry. 
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Repair works on one of Sweden's six remaining nuclear reactors have been delayed by two months to Jan. 31, the plant's owner, energy company Vattenfall, said on Tuesday.

Two weeks ago, the company announced that a vital component of the Ringhals 4 reactor had been damaged in connection with annual maintenance and that it would be up and running by Nov. 30.

Now, it will not be restarted until well into the winter, in a further setback to power supply amid the Europe-wide energy crunch.

"It is clear that this is a major interruption, both for us and for the electricity supply in Sweden," Bjorn Linde, chief executive officer (CEO) of Ringhals nuclear power plant, told Swedish Television.

The reason for the delay is that the replacement of the damaged pressure vessel is more complicated than previously communicated, Ringhals said in a press release according to which more than 100 Ringhals employees are involved in developing work methods and producing special tools and spare parts.

A full-scale model of the nearly 13-meter high-pressure vessel is being built to test the tools and rehearse the operation.

"The pressure vessel is radioactive, all work is carefully prepared, and practicing in a test environment helps us work safely and efficiently when we are ready to carry out the actual repair work," Linde said in the press release.

"We have a big job ahead of us, but the motivation is strong because nuclear power is in demand in southern Sweden. All available resources are being used to get Ringhals 4 back into operation," he said.

The decommissioning of several reactors in 2017-2020 has left Sweden with three nuclear power plants with a total of six reactors that produce around 30 percent of the country's electricity output, according to the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM).

When the news of the damaged reactor first emerged in August, experts said that it would have a major impact on electricity prices in Sweden, especially in the more densely populated south.

Christian Holtz, an electricity market analyst at consulting company Merlin & Metis, then told TT news agency that the price of electricity was likely to soar even higher as most of Sweden's electricity was produced in the north, and the reactor outage would deteriorate already existing problems in the power transmission grid. 
COPENHAGEN, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- At least 17 million people in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region experienced the post-COVID-19 condition, or long COVID, in the first two years of the pandemic, said a statement from the United Nations health agency on Tuesday.

"Governments and health partners must collaborate to find solutions based on research and evidence," said Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, in the statement.

With millions of people likely to be affected by the aftereffects of contracting COVID during the pandemic "for years to come," WHO urged countries in the region to "take post COVID-19 condition seriously by urgently investing in research, recovery, and rehabilitation."

The findings, which cover the years 2020 and 2021, come from a recent international "new modeling" study done for WHO Europe by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington's School of Medicine in the United States.

It shows a "staggering 307-percent increase in new long COVID cases identified between 2020 and 2021, driven by the rapid increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases from late 2020 and throughout 2021."

According to the press release, the modeling also indicates that females are twice as likely as males to have long COVID.

Furthermore, among severe COVID-19 cases requiring hospitalization, one in three females and one in five males are likely to develop long COVID.

The WHO defines the long COVID as "a constellation of long-term symptoms that some people experience after having COVID-19, such as fatigue, breathlessness, and cognitive dysfunction (for example, confusion, forgetfulness, or a lack of mental focus and clarity)."

"For these goals to be achieved, we need all countries in the Region to recognize that long COVID is a serious problem, with serious consequences and requires a serious response to stop the lives of those affected from getting any worse," said Kluge. 
Sharp-shooting Ukrainian air defenses bag two enemy warplanes and a drone in quick succession 13 September, 11:01 PM Defenders of Ukraine shot down Russian Su-24 and Su-25 (photo from August 13) (Photo:Joint Forces Task Force via Facebook)

The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down two Russian military aircraft within the space on only two hours on Sept. 13, the press service of the Air Force Command reported on Facebook.

It said Ukrainian defenders shot down one enemy drone and two planes from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

In particular, fighters of Odesas 160th anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Air Command South destroyed a Russian Su-24 attack aircraft jet in Kherson Oblast.

At the same time, anti-aircraft gunners of Shepetivkas 11th anti-aircraft missile regiment of the Air Command West shot down a Russian Su-25 attack aircraft in Donetsk Oblast.

 

According to Ukraines General Staff, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has already lost 244 planes, 213 helicopters, 904 drones, and 233 cruise missiles.

Yuriy Ihnat, the spokesman of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said in late August that Russian military aircraft had not entered the zone of damage of Ukraines air defense systems for more than three months.

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By Trend

The detailed coverage of the large-scale provocations of the Armenian armed forces units in the Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions of the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border was published in the Austrian Dasfazit.at online newspaper, Trend reports.

Referring to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense, the article noted that the sabotage groups of the Armenian armed forces using the mountainous terrain of the area and the existing ravine gaps mined the territories and supply roads between the positions of the Azerbaijan Army Units in different directions at night.

According to the article, some positions, shelters, and strongholds of the Azerbaijani Army in the Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin districts were subjected to intensive fire from various caliber weapons and mortars of the Armenian armed forces.

The report stated that Azerbaijani had taken decisive retaliatory measures aimed at preventing Armenia's provocations and military threats to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan. Furthermore, such provocations of the Armenian armed forces have become systematic and intense over the past month.

The publication also highlighted that the entire responsibility for the provocations, confrontation, and losses lies with the military-political leadership of Armenia.

Moreover, the newspaper quoted Deputy Chief of the Press Service of the Ministry of Defense, Lieutenant Colonel Anar Eyvazov as saying that Armenia concentrated offensive weapons, heavy artillery, and military personnel along the borders of Azerbaijan, thereby preparing for a large-scale military provocation.
Russia knocks out power in Kharkiv, Ukrainian troops reach Russian border, and NV analyzes what the Russians will do now 13 September, 03:20 PM

Newsletter by Romeo Kokriatski, Managing Editor, New Voice of Ukraine Thursday, September 13th, 2022

Two power plant workers were killed as a result. Power was interrupted Kharkiv, Donetsk, Sumy, Poltava, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts, but swiftly restored to all affected areas, save Kharkiv itself. Later, a second strike killed one and wounded four, once more knocking out Kharkivs by-then restored power supplies. The Kharkiv Metro was also forced to suspend service, along with the rest of the citys mass transit systems.

 

According to a report by regional governor Oleg Synehubov, Ukrainian forces chasing routing Russian units made it to the international border in several places. The rout cost Russia at least 125 pieces of heavy equipment, including tanks and APCs, Conflict Intelligence Team analysts revealed.

Ukrainian military intelligence revealed that command of Russias Army Group West will now fall to Alexander Lapin, the former commander of Army Group Center. The fate of Army Group Wests overall commander, Roman Berdinkov, is unknown. Berdinkov himself commended Army Group West for only three weeks, replacing Andrei Sychevoy, who was killed by Ukrainian forces.

Its unclear to what extent Berdinkov was himself responsible for the catastrophic defeat in Kharkiv Oblast, but reports from local Ukrainian officials note that Russian positions were abandoned just five kilometers from the Russian border, while intercepted communications paint a picture of an utterly destroyed Russian defense.

In an interview with a Russian TV channel, he said that Russia was not against negotiations with the Ukrainian side, though he was unable to restrain himself from further threatening Ukraine in the same breath, saying "the more they (Ukraine) delay this process, the more difficult it will be to agree. He then proceeded to call the massacre of civilians at Bucha a hoax. Previous negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow resulted in nothing more than Moscow presenting the Kremlins ultimatums for a complete Ukrainian surrender.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitriy Peskov, speaking to Russias RIA Novosti propaganda sheet, denied all evidence of Russian shelling against the nuclear facility and blamed Kyiv for engaging in nuclear terrorism, likely in order to muddy the waters against Russias repeated use of the nuclear plant as a shield for its own forces and a threat to all of Europe. Ukraine, the EU, and the IAEA have all called on the ZNPP to be demilitarized in order to minimize the risks of a nuclear incident.

Ukraines Operational Command South reported this recent addition to the Russian naval presence in Ukrainian waters in the Azov and Black Seas, but a storm over the Black Sea has prevented any possible landing operations onto Ukrainian-held territory. The purpose of these landing vessels is unknown, though earlier rumors suggested that the Russians had wanted to or have been planning an amphibious assault against the port city of Odesa.

Meanwhile, OC South has also reported that several Russian units station in occupied Kherson Oblast, where a major liberation campaign is underway, are negotiating their surrender to the Ukrainian military. The degree of creaking resolve and demoralization is so high, even the commanders now realize they dont have anywhere to go, an OC South spokesperson noted.

All Moldovan national carriers have been banned from flying to that country, including Air Moldova, the countrys main national airline. Its airspace is also closed to Russia, and has been since Feb. 24.

The New Voice breaks down what the collapstrophy in Kharkiv means for Russias war effort going forward, and how the southern and eastern fronts may develop as a result.

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Foreign Affairs Minister Narayan Khadka sees off the Nepali team carrying humanitarian aid to Pakistan, in Kathmandu, on Tuesday, September 13, 2022.

Kathmandu, September 13

Nepal has sent relief materials worth Rs 20 million in humanitarian aid to Pakistan, which has been hit hard by floods and landslides.

A Nepal Airlines aircraft took off the Kathmandu airport this morning, carrying goods weighing 22 tons. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sewa Lamsal said the humanitarian aid included medicines, garments, and daily consumables.

Lamsal leads the team flying to Karachi to deliver the goods.

Issuing a press release on Monday, the Home Ministry spokesperson Phanindra Mani Pokharel said the government was providing relief materials in view of the huge loss of lives and properties in the floods and inundation in Pakistan of late.

The relief materials would be provided as per the decision of the Council of Ministers on September 6.

Nepal has also expressed tribute to those losing lives in the disaster, extended condolences to the bereaved family members, and wished speedy recovery to the injured ones.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for the state's U.S. Senate seat, speaks during a rally in Erie, Pa.

Gene J Puskar/AP/Shutterstock Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for the state's U.S. Senate seat, speaks during a rally in Erie, Pa.

Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman made his return to the campaign trail Friday, headlining an Erie campaign rally roughly three months after suffering a stroke in May.

Wearing a signature hooded sweatshirt and taking the stage to AC/DC's Back in Black, Fetterman greeted a crowd of 1,300 supporters, HuffPost reported.

In a 10-minute speech, Fetterman grew emotional, telling the crowd he was "grateful."

"Thank you so much for being here tonight. Thank you so much," Fetterman said, per HuffPost. "Because really tonight for me, it's about being grateful."

Fetterman, who turned 53 on Monday, took to Twitter after the rally to say he was "Feeling great, better than I have in years."

Just got off the stage in Erie, PA...



First BIG rally of the General Election. Feeling great, better than I have in years.



Im BACK + Im ready to WIN this seat in November! 



Will you make a donation of $10 before I hit the road back to Braddock? https://t.co/bU1Yb6pI90  John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) August 12, 2022

Fetterman's stroke came just days ahead of the state's Democratic U.S. Senate primary, which he won while in the hospital.

RELATED: Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman Says He's on His Way to a 'Full Recovery' After Stroke

The 53-year-old recounted in a statement and video posted to Twitter at the time that he wasn't feeling well when his wife, Gisele, recognized his symptoms as being stroke-related.

In a later video published later that same day, Gisele recounted what had happened to her husband.

"John had a stroke that was caused by a clot from his heart being in an irregular rhythm for too long," she said. "Fortunately, the amazing doctors here were able to completely clear the clot and entirely reverse the stroke. They also got his heart under control."

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In June, Fetterman revealed he has a heart condition, and published a letter from his doctor with further details on his health.

In the letter, Fetterman's cardiologist, Dr. Ramesh Chandra, wrote that Fetterman's stroke was caused by Afib and that he also has a condition called cardiomyopathy, which led doctors to implant a pacemaker.

From the letter: "The prognosis I can give for John's heart is this: If he takes his medications, eats healthy, and exercises, he'll be fine. If he does what I've told him, and I do believe that he is taking his recovery and his health very seriously this time, he should be able to campaign and serve in the U.S. Senate without a problem."

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In a statement accompanying the letter, Fetterman acknowledged he had "avoided going to the doctor, even though I knew I didn't feel well."

"As a result, I almost died," he said in the statement. "I want to encourage others to not make the same mistake."

Fetterman added that he is "not quite back to 100% yet, but I'm getting closer every day."

RELATED: At Home with Pennsylvania's Headline-Making Second Couple as They Prepare Their Next Big Campaign

Fetterman began his political career as the mayor of Braddock, Pa., spearheading a renaissance of the former steel town, a blue-collar area that experienced significant decline in the late 20th century.

The former small-town mayor, youth mentor and GED teacher became part of the national conversation as lieutenant governor of a headline-making swing state. A prominent Pennsylvania Democrat, he was a major voice during former President Donald Trump's baseless quest to overturn the November election.

In February 2021, he announced he would be seeking the Democratic nomination for Senate in a widely watched race in the state following the retirement of incumbent Pat Toomey, a Republican.
Collaborative community partnership delivers hope to neighbors struggling with food insecurity

SALISBURY, Md., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of Perdue Farms' "Delivering Hope to Our Neighbors" initiative focused on improving the quality of life in our communities through hunger relief, the company teamed with the Delmarva Shorebirds Class A minor league baseball team and three Delmarva Peninsula food banks to deliver 136,000 meals across the region's communities in the season-long 2022 Perdue Strike Out Hunger Challenge on Delmarva.

The 2022 Perdue Strike Out Hunger Challenge on Delmarva delivered more than 136,000 meals across the region. From left to right are Donald Annis, Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, and his daughter Carlee, Cathy Kanesfsky, president and CEO of the Food Bank of Delaware, Kassandra Smith of the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, Todd Reilly and Jennifer Reilly, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Perdue Foods and Maryland Food Bank Board member, Jimmy Sweet, assistant general manager, Delmarva Shorebirds, Drew Getty, vice president of sustainability and government relations for Perdue Farms, and his children, Jack and Mary.

"Economic challenges, combined with the lingering impact of the pandemic, has brought so much uncertainty and challenge to individuals and families struggling with food insecurity on the Delmarva Peninsula," said Kim Nechay, executive director of the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation. "We're proud that this year's campaign once again provided a collaborative platform to raise public awareness about the problem of hunger and food insecurity and deliver much-needed relief to our neighbors in the communities where we live and work."

According to research from the food banks, on average one in seven people on the Delmarva Peninsula are challenged by food insecurity. One third of that food-insecure population is children.

Since 2011, Perdue, the Shorebirds, food banks and the community at-large have embraced the Strike Out Hunger Challenge to generate more than 1.3 million meals for those in need on Delmarva.

"That is an outstanding number of meals produced through the Strike Out Hunger Campaign.," said Jimmy Sweet, assistant general manager of the Delmarva Shorebirds. "I would like to thank the Delmarva community for their continued support and look forward to continuing this partnership and providing even more meals in 2023."

To drive this year's Perdue Strike Out Hunger Challenge on Delmarva, Perdue Farms issued a $15,000 challenge grant funded by the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Foundation  the charitable giving arm of the company  to benefit the Eastern Shore Branch of the Maryland Food Bank, the Food Bank of Delaware and the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore.

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Each of the food banks were required to engage the Delmarva community to raise the equivalent of 10,000 meals to claim their equal share of the first $10,000 of the Foundation challenge grant. This included any combination of pounds of food collected, monies collected and donated, or volunteer hours throughout the duration of the Shorebirds' season. Perdue also donated $10 for each time the Shorebirds' pitchers struck out an opposing batter, up to $5,000.

"We are so grateful for Perdue's support through the Strike Out Hunger Challenge," said Food Bank of Delaware President and CEO Cathy Kanefsky. "We look forward to this collaborative community partnership each year so we can collectively serve our community's most vulnerable. When we work together, we can truly deliver hope to our neighbors. More than 100,000 of our neighbors here in Delaware are struggling to afford food. This effort will enable us to put meals on the tables of those who need it most."

"As financial effects of the pandemic continue to impact Maryland households, more people are turning to the charitable food system. Having the continued support of Perdue Farms and the Delmarva Shorebirds through "Perdue's Strike out Hunger Campaign Challenge," the Maryland Food Bank Eastern Shore is better positioned to meet increased needs," said Jennifer Small, vice president of partner logistics and programs for the Maryland Food Bank.

About the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation

The Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Perdue Farms, was established in 1957 by company founder Arthur W. Perdue and is funded through the estates of Arthur W. Perdue and Frank Perdue. As part of our belief in supporting the communities where and with whom we do business, the Foundation provides grants on behalf of Perdue Farms in communities where large numbers of our associates live and work. At Perdue Farms, we believe in responsible food and agriculture.

About Perdue Farms

We're a fourth-generation, family owned, U.S. food and agriculture company. Through our belief in responsible food and agriculture, we are empowering consumers, customers, and farmers through trusted choices in products and services.

The premium protein portfolio within our Perdue Foods business, including our flagship PERDUE brand, Niman Ranch, Panorama Organic Grass-Fed Meats, Coleman Natural, and Yummy, as well as our pet brands, Spot Farms and Full Moon, is available through various channels including retail, foodservice, club stores, and our direct-to-consumer website, PerdueFarms.com.

Perdue AgriBusiness is an international agricultural products and services company.

Now in our company's second century, our path forward is about getting better, not just bigger. We never use drugs for growth promotion in raising poultry and livestock, and we are actively advancing our animal welfare programs. Our brands are leaders in no-antibiotics-ever chicken, turkey, pork, beef and lamb, and in USDA-certified organic chicken and beef. Learn more at Corporate.PerdueFarms.com.

Caption: The 2022 Perdue Strike Out Hunger Challenge on Delmarva delivered more than 136,000 meals across the region. From left to right are Donald Annis, Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, and his daughter Carlee, Cathy Kanesfsky, president and CEO of the Food Bank of Delaware, Kassandra Smith of the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, Todd Reilly and Jennifer Reilly, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Perdue Foods and Maryland Food Bank Board member, Jimmy Sweet, assistant general manager, Delmarva Shorebirds, Drew Getty, vice president of sustainability and government relations for Perdue Farms, and his children, Jack and Mary.

Perdue Farms Delivering Hope To Our Neighbors (PRNewsfoto/Perdue Farms)

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2022-perdue-strike-out-hunger-challenge-on-delmarva-delivers-136-000-meals-for-hunger-relief-301623683.html

SOURCE Perdue Farms
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Bidens decision to cancel as much as $20,000 in student debt for eligible borrowers is popular with a majority of Americans, but Republican governors arent among them.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Twenty-two Republican governors sent a letter to Biden on Monday demanding he withdraw your student loan plan immediately. The authors say that the debt-forgiveness plan, which includes a $125,000 salary cap to determine eligibility, will disproportionately benefit wealthy Americans at the expense of lower-income people.The letter is unlikely to have any impact on the executive action, with a formal application for forgiveness already being written.

Shifting the burden of debt from the wealthy to working Americans has a regressive impact that harms lower income families, the governors argued, citing that people with graduate degrees like doctors, lawyers and academics would reap most of the benefits. Such a plan would create a lopsided reality where the wealthy benefit at the expense of the working. Simply put, your plan rewards the rich and punishes the poor.

Among those who signed are Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Alabama Governor Kay Ivey. Asa Hutchinson, the governor of Arkansas, that may tax forgiven debt, also signed.

The Biden administration estimates that the forgiveness plan will cost $24 billion annually. By contrast, the Republican governors cited a total cost of $600 billion, which is in the middle range for the potential cost estimated by the Penn Wharton Budget Model last month.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The debt-forgiveness plan, unveiled in August, includes two potential pathways toward the one-time relief. The $20,000 forgiveness model is available for low- and moderate-income students who display exceptional financial need, according to the Department of Education. Other debtors with federally-held loans can receive up to $10,000 in student debt forgiveness. The plan features both a hard income cap for those who made more than $125,000 in 2020 or 2021. Parents who took out Parent PLUS Loans to help their children will only be able to apply for a total of $10,000 in forgiveness, even if they took out different loans per child.

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Others thought the forgiveness effort didnt go far enough. Progressives such as Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, as well as advocacy groups like the NAACP and student-debt organizers advocated for $50,000 in debt forgiveness or even complete debt forgiveness per borrower, given that the $1.7 trillion student debt balance is disproportionately held among women, Black borrowers and other groups.

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2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Right now, your bathroom is just a bathroom. But you're ready to turn it into your sanctuary -- a place where you can relax while getting ready for the day and, later on, unwind from it. You're looking to add some seriously luxurious upgrades.

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The average cost of an upscale bathroom remodel is $82,882, according to Remodeling magazine's 2022 Cost vs. Value report. If your budget is in this vicinity, that's great, but you can still make plenty of lush enhancements for significantly less.

Whether you're focused on function -- e.g., a steam shower -- or aesthetics -- e.g., adding a new chandelier -- there's no shortage of improvements you can make to seriously elevate your existing space. This will allow you to feel like you're at a five-star hotel or a spa every time you step into your own bathroom.

Ready to get this project started? Here's a look at eight luxurious bathroom upgrades, with cost estimates from HomeAdvisor -- unless otherwise noted.

Bathroom_iStock-1328991515

Sound System

Average Cost: $692

"Installing a soothing sound system is one of the trendiest bathroom upgrades in recent years," said Dustin Fox, a Realtor and owner of the Fox Homes Team, a group serving Virginia; Washington, D.C.; Maryland and West Virginia. "It's a simple upgrade and comparatively [lower] in cost than other luxury upgrades."

As for where to put your sound system, he said you have a few options.

"It can be installed on a shelf beside the shower glass or the sink, and there is also the option of setting them up on the roof wall or the side wall," he said. "Additionally, consider improving your sound quality by positioning two speakers in the room's opposite corners."

He noted it's important to consider what future buyers might think about the location of your sound system, as it could affect resale value.

Bathroom_Sauna_iStock-1184833444

Steam Shower

Average Cost: $4,300 to install a prefab steam shower, including all materials.

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"More than 80% of luxury homeowners like the idea of having their own spa at home, rather than going outside," Fox said.

He offered tips to ensure you install this upgrade the right way.

"Make sure your shower has a door that seals tightly on all sides in order to make it steam-ready," he said. "To stop moisture from getting to the wall and ceiling frame, which leads to wood rot, install a vapor barrier there. A 220-volt steam generator would be enough for an average bathroom."

Bathroom_Chandelier_iStock-1385709424

Chandelier

Average Cost: Prices for a mini chandelier start around $100 and light fixtures cost an average of $533 to install.

In the past, Fox said having a chandelier in the bathroom was regarded as Victorian and dated, but it's now considered a symbol of flair and luxury.

"The option in this case relies on the design of the bathroom itself," he said, "be it the cascading chandelier at its most gorgeous, or just one that is simply more contemporary and streamlined."

Bathroom_Wallpaper_iStock-1303692632

Floral Pattern Wallpaper

Average Cost: $1,040 to $2,600 to purchase and install bathroom wallpaper.

Fox said, "Oversized or large floral pattern wallpaper makes your bathroom design more dynamic and with an opulent appearance."

He suggested pairing it with rustic herringbone wood floors and a dark gray vanity to give the space depth and warmth.

Of course, you'll want to take proper precautions when wallpapering a bathroom -- especially one with a tub or shower. Some safeguards include choosing a scrubbable and strippable material -- e.g., solid vinyl, fabric-backed vinyl or paper-backed vinyl -- applying a mold-proof wallpaper primer, using mold-proof wallpaper paste and applying a clear acrylic varnish over the installed wallpaper, according to BobVila.com.

Heated_Towel_Bar_iStock-689112506

Heated Towel Bars

Average Cost: $605, when professionally installed, according to Costimates.

"A new luxurious techy bathroom improvement is heated towel bars," said Mike Gregor, a Realtor with the Cohen Agency SiM, LLC, based in New Hartford, Connecticut. "When you're done with your shower or bath, hang your towels on heated bars so you can wrap yourself in warm terry cloth."

It's not the priciest upgrade on the list, but he said the idea is weighted enough to make your bathroom look expensive.

Floating_Vanity_iStock-1269786345

Floating Vanity

Average Cost: $1,310 to $1,390 for the vanity and installation, according to Fixr.

Any bathroom can have a vanity; but, for a truly luxurious feel, Gregor suggested adding a floating vanity.

"By creating distance between the vanity's base and the floor, a floating vanity adds a sense of luxury and space to any bathroom," he said. "A single piece of solid wood with a vessel sink is enough to make your floating vanity gorgeous or, it can include two sinks and storage drawers to look more profound."

To make sure it fits with your bathroom layout, he recommended deciding on this upgrade early in your remodeling process.

Tore Johannesen / iStock.com

Brass Faucets

Average Cost: $260 for installation, plus faucet costs -- i.e., $25 to $250 for a new bathroom sink faucet.

Previously under the radar, Gregor said bathroom faucets have gained popularity in the pandemic era, since so many have been enhanced with remote technology.

"Brass was the preferred material from the start and continued to dominate the trends chart in the months to come," he said. "Brass fixtures and faucets look opulent even with a matte finish in vintage and industrial environments and provide a golden sparkle to the otherwise sober bathroom."

Heated_Floor_iStock-1320938190

Radiant Floor Heating

Average Cost: $20 to $40 per square foot to install over bathroom tile.

If you dread stepping out of the shower onto a cold tile floor during the winter months, there's a solution that doesn't involve the dreaded bathroom carpet.

"Though a new floor system would cost you quite a good amount of money, the money you spend on it would totally be worth it," said Nicholas McMillan, a real estate broker and owner of Hire Realty, based in Pleasantville, New York. "This is indeed an upgrade that combines luxury with functionality."

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 8 Most Luxurious Upgrades You Can Make To Your Bathroom
Net worth is a financial metric that can help you keep your individual picture of your finances in perspective. The average net worth by age, in this case, refers to the net worth of the households in the U.S. divided by the number of households. Metrics typically use households rather than individuals because a household can be one person or a large number of people. Net worth usually goes up with age as your income is higher, you own more assets and may have less debt. Here, we will break down net worth by age group for the entire population of the U.S. If you have more questions about net worth, you may want to speak with a financial advisor. SmartAssets free advisor matching tool can connect you with advisors that serve your area.

What Is Net Worth and How to Calculate It

Net worth is an excellent measure of how Americans are doing financially since it takes into consideration everything you both own, your assets, and owe, what you owe. Your assets, or what you own, include cash, bank accounts, investment accounts, the equity you have in your home and more. Valuable pieces of jewelry are included. So are any collections you have that have financial worth like stamps, coins or classic car collections.

Your liabilities, or what you owe, include all your debt, including what you owe on your home, student loan debt, credit card debt and any loans you have outstanding. The difference between your assets and liabilities is your net worth.

If you want to calculate your net worth, you add up the value of all you own and subtract from that the value of all you owe your creditors. The difference is your net worth. If we want to extrapolate that to the entire population of the U.S., we can add up the value of assets of every household and subtract from that the total amount those households owe their creditors. The result is the net worth of the total American population.

Average Net Worth

average net worth by age

When you calculate the average net worth of the population of the U.S., the same procedure is used with one more step. You subtract total household debt from total household assets for the entire population. Then, since there is more than one household, divide by the total number of households and the result is the average household net worth for the U.S. population.

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Its important to take into account income disparity between the rich and the poor when calculating the average net worth of the U.S. population. The Federal Reserve conducted its last Survey of Consumer Finance in 2019, the results of which were released in September 2020. In that survey, it found that if we just take an average of total net worth in the U.S., it is skewed upward since the top 10% of households hold 70% of the wealth and the top 50% of households hold 98% of the wealth. If you dont adjust for this, the average net worth of an American household is about $748,800.

One way to get a better read on the average net worth of Americans is by using the median net worth of the nations population. The median is the middle number of a list of numbers when they are sorted either in ascending or descending order. If you list all households net worth in the U.S., the median net worth is $121,700. You can see the income disparity by the large difference in the average net worth and the median net worth in the U.S.

Average Net Worth by Age

Net worth tends to go up as you get older. Several factors are responsible for the increase, like finishing your education, inheritances, your income, family structure, ethnicity and housing status. This list is not exhaustive. The 2019 Survey of Consumer Confidence conducted by the Federal Reserve breaks out net worth by age and gives the average net worth and the median net worth by age group.

Early Adulthood

If you are between the ages of 18-24, the average net worth is approximately $28,707 and the median net worth is approximately $8,216. Even in this age group, the average net worth by age is skewed toward the high end. If you are between ages 25-29, the average is $49,388 and the median is even further behind at $7,512.

If you are between the ages of 30-34, the average net worth is $122,700 and the median net worth is $35,112. Between the ages of 35-39, the average is $274,112 and the median is $55,519.

Middle Age

Between the ages of 40-44, the average net worth is $623,694 and the median is $127,345. If you are 45-49, the average is $761,500 and the median is $164,197.

In your fifties, if you are between 50-54, the average net worth is $897,663 and the median net worth is $171,360. Between 55-59, it is $1,165,477 and $193,549 respectively.

Senior

Between the ages of 60 and 64, the average net worth is $1,187,730 and the median is $228,833. If you are between 65-69, the average is $1,250,679 and the median is $271,805.

In you are in your 70s, the average net worth starts to decline, but the median net worth does not necessarily follow. Between 70-74, the average is $1,173,653 and the median is $258,531. From ages 75-79, the average net worth is $945,480 and the median net worth is $272,976. From 80 years of age and forward, the average net worth is $973,141 and the median is $235,193.

The Bottom Line

average net worth by age

From the average net worth, as compared to the median net worth, for each age group, its apparent that the median net worth may be a more standardizing financial metric to use to analyze net worth by age in the U.S. Since 50% of the population only owns 2% of the countrys net worth, it makes sense that to get a true picture of net worth by age in the U.S., you have to use a measure other than an average.

Tips on Managing Your Finances

Having a financial advisor in your corner to help you manage your finances can be a great idea. Finding a qualified financial advisor doesnt have to be hard. SmartAssets free tool matches you with up to three financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If youre ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

If youre managing your money on your own, it pays to be prepared. SmartAsset has you covered with a number of free online resources that can help you figure things out and get a better hold on your finances. Check out our investment calculator and get started today.

Photo credit: iStock.com/Chinnapong, iStock.com/damircudic, iStock.com/aurielaki

The post Average Net Worth by Age appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.
VANCOUVER, BC and TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2022 / IR Labs Inc. ("irlabs"), Irwin and Odyssey Trust Company are excited to announce today that together, they will host a webinar on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 at 11:00AM PT / 2:00PM ET. Titled "Your Journey to and Through the Public Markets: Attract, Engage and Retain Investors", the webinar will focus on the life cycle of a company, walking through how to engage investors at each step, and where irlabs, Irwin and Odyssey Trust come into play.

"We're thrilled to announce this new webinar and opportunity for new and existing public companies to learn more and see where irlabs, Irwin and Odyssey Trust interact throughout the company life cycle," said Caroline Sawamoto, Principal and Co-founder of irlabs, who will be moderating the session. "Gaining investor invisibility and awareness can be challenging, especially in today's environment. Our panelists will share how to break through the noise and standout."

"This webinar will be an incredible opportunity for issuers to gain insight on investor engagement," said Jenna Kaye, CEO and Co-founder of Odyssey Trust Company, a renowned North American transfer agent. "Odyssey, irlabs and Irwin all offer unique tools to enhance the investor experience, and we're excited to share these with new and existing public companies."

"We're excited to partner with irlabs and Odyssey Trust to provide a full life cycle perspective for public companies on attracting, engaging, and retaining investors during this session," said David Whyte, CEO, and Co-founder of Irwin, a leading technology provider for capital markets professionals. "At Irwin, we work with investor relations professionals and leadership teams at public companies every day to provide better ways to target, monitor, and engage with investors, and that perspective is complementary to the expertise that irlabs and Odyssey Trust provide, covering the full spectrum of advice and best practices. There will be a lot of value for those attending the session as they navigate the public markets".

Attend the webinar by registered here: https://www.irlabs.ca/your-journey-to-and-through-the-public-markets

ABOUT IR LABS INC.

irlabs is a dynamic investor relations firm that applies innovative strategies to create visibility, drive investor engagement and make an impact. We are industry and sector agnostic and support both private and public companies with their investor relations programs, corporate communications and corporate governance. For more information visit www.irlabs.ca.

ABOUT ODYSSEY TRUST COMPANY

Odyssey is an independent trust and transfer agent with offices in Calgary and Vancouver, and co-agents based in Toronto, the United States, London, Hong Kong and Australia. For more information, visit www.odysseytrust.com.

ABOUT IRWIN

Irwin is a leading capital markets software company building a better way to manage investor relations. By combining modern, easy-to-use solutions with the most comprehensive and differentiated investor intelligence, Irwin delivers insight and support that helps inform strategic business decisions for investor relations and C-Suite teams daily. Over 1,500 global users companies trust Irwin's platform and it services companies from all industries and of all market capitalizations with excellence. Irwin was founded in Toronto, Canada in March 2017 and employs over 100 people globally, and growing every day. To learn more, please visit www.getirwin.com.

CONTACTS

Caroline Sawamoto

Principal and Co-Founder

IR Labs Inc.

happyinvestors@irlabs.ca

Stephanie Ball

Director, Communications

sball@odysseytrust.com

Morgan Craig

Director of Brand Marketing

morgan@getirwin.com

SOURCE: IR Labs Inc.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/715425/Canadas-Leading-Capital-Markets-Advisors-Host-Webcast-To-Help-Companies-Attract-Engage-and-Retain-Investors




FACT.MR

The Global Market For Biliary Stents Is Anticipated To Grow Rapidly As A Result of An Increase In Surgical Operations For Biliary Disorders

United States, Rockville MD, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to Fact.MR, a market research and competitive intelligence provider, the global demand for biliary stents is currently valued at US$ 315.4 million and is expected to rise at a CAGR of 5% from 2022 to 2027.



A stent is a plastic or metal tube that is put into a human bodys lumen or duct to maintain the passageway's openness. The term 'biliary' refers to the bile duct, a long, tube-like structure that carries bile fluid. In the process of breaking down food, bile is crucial. Biliary stents are used to treat biliary diseases.

In 1979, biliary stents were initially used to treat malignant biliary strictures, which marked a paradigm shift in the treatment of biliary disorders. Biliary stents are utilized for a variety of conditions, including biliary strictures, leaking bile ducts, and malignant biliary blockage.

Get Sample PDF of This Research Report with Detailed Table of Content:

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The growing number of people across the world being diagnosed with chronic liver disease and bile duct cancer is anticipated to fuel global demand for biliary stents.

The market is also expected to increase as a result of the rapidly increasing number of minimally-invasive surgeries and the use of robotics, which enable physicians to carry out a variety of difficult procedures with accuracy and adaptability. Furthermore, compared to conventional surgery, robotic-associated bile duct surgical procedure offers advantages such as shorter hospital stays, lower infection risks, and speedier recovery.

For instance,

The American Cancer Society (2021) estimates that 8,000 Americans would be diagnosed with bile duct cancer each year.



Since these tumours can frequently be difficult to identify and may be mistakenly categorized as another type of cancer, the real number of cases is anticipated to be greater. An existing tumour that is blocking the bile duct may become larger as a result of bile duct cancer. In such cases, biliary stent insertion can aid in optimal bile drainage.

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High Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Disorders Needing Treatment

The number of choices for treating pancreatic and biliary illnesses has risen as a result of improvements in gastrointestinal surgery during the past few decades. Compared to conventional open surgical procedures, gastrointestinal therapies have lesser risks.

Before the emergence of stents, surgery was the main treatment for biliary blockage. The mainstay of pancreas divisum therapy is done with the use of pancreatic and biliary stents, as well as emerging technologies such as biodegradable biliary stents and bioabsorbable stents, which have expanded the possibilities for the open surgical treatment of complicated lesions.

Key Takeaways from Market Study

Global sales of biliary stents are projected to reach US$ 402.5 million by 2027.

The hospitals segment is predicted to expand at a CAGR of 6% in the biliary stents market from 2022 to 2027.

The market for biliary stents in China is anticipated to reach a valuation of US$ 83 million by 2027.

Currently, biliary stent sales account for 2.3% share of the global stents market.

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Key Segments in Biliary Stents Industry Research

By Type : Metal Biliary Stents Plastic Biliary Stents

By Application : Bilio-pancreatic Leakages Pancreatic Cancer Benign Biliary Structures Gallstones Others

By End User : Hospitals Specialty Clinics Ambulatory Surgical Centres Others

By Region : North America Latin America Europe East Asia South Asia & Oceania MEA







Quick Buy: Biliary Stents Market Research Report

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Winning Strategy

The biliary stents market is fragmented and characterized by oligopolistic rivalry between select groups of well-known manufacturers. The market has a patent pool, and therefore, established manufacturers are looking towards newer ways to generate income.

Several businesses, including Cook Medical Inc., CONMED Corporation, Boston Scientific Corporation, and many others, are vying for a higher market share in emerging markets due to the lucrative growth opportunities in these markets.

To increase their market shares, manufacturers of biliary stents are investing heavily and putting strong emphasis on the introduction of cutting-edge technologies.

For instance, in January 2019, AMG International GmbH's 'ARCHIMEDES' biodegradable biliary and pancreatic stents got European CE mark clearance.





Recent Developments and Innovations in Biliary Stents Market

Boston Scientific Corporation declared in October 2021 that its Advanix biliary plastic stents now have both the CE Mark and 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The clearance will expand the company's product line, increasing the company's revenue.

Olympus Corporation introduced its self-expanding metal stent, the HANAROSTENT, in July 2020. FDA 510(k) clearance has been granted for the Hanarostent biliary stent.

More Valuable Insights on Offer

Fact.MR, in its new offering, presents an unbiased analysis of the biliary stents market, presenting historical demand data (2017-2021) and forecast statistics for the period of 2022-2027.

The study divulges essential insights on the market on the basis of type (metal biliary stents, plastic biliary stents), application (bilio-pancreatic leakages, pancreatic cancer, benign biliary structures, gallstones, others), and end user (hospitals, specialty clinics, ambulatory surgery centers, others), across five major regions of the world (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and MEA).

Check out more related studies published by Fact.MR Research:

Dual Therapy Stent Market: Cardiovascular diseases around the world have observed an alarming growth in recent years. According to WHO, 17.9 million people die due to coronary heart diseases (heart attacks) and cerebrovascular (strokes) every year. Demand for dual therapy stent in Europe is likely to remain concentrated in UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. The robust healthcare system in these countries is likely to provide an impetus to dual therapy stent market growth in these countries, and also in Europe overall.

Coronary Stent Grafts Market: The global market for coronary stent grafts is expected to witness moderate growth over the forecast period. Metal coronary stent grafts are expected to be a dominant segment in the global coronary stent grafts market over the forecast period. Among all different types of coronary stent grafts, bioresorbable vascular scaffold type to hold significant share in the global coronary stent grafts market.

Bio-Engineered Stent Market: Rapidly increasing incidence as well as prevalence of the cardiovascular diseases in developed as well as developing world expected to be the major driving factor in the bio-engineered stent market. Increasing early diagnosis rate of CVD through scheduled body checkup subsequently increases treatment seeking rate which in turn expected to drive the growth of the bio-engineered stent market.

Endovascular Stent market: The global endovascular stent market manifests a considerable growth during the forecast period owing to rise in prevalence of cardiovascular complications. Based on the product, the endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) stent segment hold the largest share owing to the technological advancement in the surgical devices anticipated the rising demand for the EVAR stents in the global endovascular stent market.

Iliac Artery Stents Market : An iliac artery stent is small wire mesh which is used to treat the patient suffering from cardiovascular disorder. Iliac artery stent has its crucial application in holding open the iliac artery for the patent suffering from arteriosclerosis. Generally, iliac arteries are of two types, internal and external iliac arteries. The major role of the iliac artery is to carry blood from the heart to pelvis and legs. Atherosclerosis is a severe disease which affects the blood vessels such as iliac artery.

Arterial Stents Market : According to the latest analysis and report published by Fact.MR, the demand for arterial stents market is likely to grow at a steady pace between 2021 and 2031. Sensing the opportunities, key players are relying on innovations, sustainability, and product development to gain a major share in the market. For instance, in April 2021, BIOTRONIK announced the launch of its newest suite of tools for the more specialized implanting procedures in the His-bundle cardiac conduction system. The company plans to present the tools to cardiologists of the European Heart Rhythm Associations (EHRA) online congress.



Coronary Stents Market : Global sales of coronary stents were valued at around US$ 10.1 Bn in 2020. The global coronary stents market is projected to register 12.9% CAGR and reach a valuation of US$ 25.7 Bn by the end of 2028. Increasing consumption of drug eluting stents, which contribute around 80% share to the overall market size, is significantly driving market expansion.

Bioabsorbable Stents Market : The bioabsorbable stents market is predicted to grow at a moderate CAGR of 9.6% through 2032. The bioabsorbable stents market share is estimated to reach a value of nearly US$ 1 Billion by 2032 from US$ 372 Million in 2021. The benefit of such stents is their disintegrating within the body within a definite time period that has effected it as the most preferred mode of treatment, propelling the bioabsorbable stents market opportunities in the healthcare sector.

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Sept 13 (Reuters) - Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed the escalation in tensions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border with the European Union's Charles Michel on Tuesday, the Armenian government said.

In the call, Armenia blamed Azerbaijan for escalating tensions over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory. Both Baku and Yerevan blame each other for a flare-up of hostilities overnight.

Michel, president of the European Council, said the EU was "ready to make efforts to prevent further escalation" and said there was "no alternative to peace and stability in the region," according to an Armenian readout of the call. (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Alison Williams)
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree on the reconstruction of highways in Baku's Yasamal district.

According to the decree, the State Agency of Azerbaijan Automobile Roads has been allocated 1.7 million manat ($999,154) for proceeding with the reconstruction of the capital's Yasamal district highways in accordance with subparagraph 1.26.18 "Allocating funds envisaged for state capital investments in the state budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2022".

Azerbaijan's Ministry of Finance was tasked with providing relevant funds, whereas the Cabinet of Ministers  with resolving issues stemming from the order.
Paul-Adrien Maizener will lead Generali Global Assistance's continuous efforts to be a truly customer-centric, digital, data-driven company

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Generali Global Assistance ("GGA" or the Company) today announced the appointment of Paul-Adrien Maizener as Chief Transformation Officer. Mr. Maizener will focus on further developing the Company's Lifetime Partner relationship model to increase customer value by expanding digital advisory capabilities and establishing a seamless omnichannel strategy. He will also lead projects for scaling up the Company's data capabilities and in the wider adoption of smart automation and artificial intelligence technologies, while further expanding execution capabilities.

Generali Global Assistance (PRNewsfoto/Generali Global Assistance)

Chris Carnicelli, CEO of Generali Global Assistance, commented on the news, "Paul-Adrien will play a key role in enabling the digital transformation of our company. We are all looking forward to working with him to deliver on these strategic objectives, adding value for all our people. As he joins us from a sister company, Europ Assistance France, he understands our We Care philosophy and our goal to be a Lifetime Partner with our clients."

Mr. Maizener previously worked as Chief Transformation Officer of Europ Assistance France. During his tenure there, he oversaw the implementation of the new partnership between Europ Assistance France and Credit Agricole Assurances. Successful implementation of this partnership between France's top bank insurer and one of the world leaders in assistance allowed Europ Assistance France to strengthen its position as the benchmark assistance services company in terms of customer experience, service quality, and innovation at the service of all its partners and customers.

Paul-Adrien Maizener commented: "As a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and Columbia University, I am looking forward to coming back to the U.S. for this important position. I am excited to join the team of talented professionals focused on innovation and enhanced customer experience in alignement with our vision to be the most reliable care company in the world."

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This appointment renews Generali Global Assistance's commitment for more streamlined business operations and high-satisfaction customer experience as innovations and new technologies continue to open up a world of possibilities for the company and its customers.

About Generali Global Assistance

Generali Global Assistance (GGA) is a leading brand comprised of Travel Insurance & Assistance, Medical Risk Management, Identity & Cyber Protection, as well as other care services. GGA is part of the Generali Group, which for over 190 years has provided peace of mind to its clients and their customers and is now supported by more than 72,000 employees worldwide. Our success has been built on establishing trust by putting the customer at the core of everything we do, offering assistance and protection during our customer's most difficult and stressful situations.

To learn more about GGA, please visit: https://us.generaliglobalassistance.com/

GGA Media Contact

Jay A. Morakis

M Group Strategic Communications (for Generali Global Assistance)

+1 646.859.5951

Generalipr@mgroupsc.com

Cision

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SOURCE Generali Global Assistance
Vantage Market Research, The North Star for the Working World

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vantage Market Researchs recent analysis of the Global Gas Sensors Market finds that the increased need for Gas Sensors Market in critical industries is accelerating market growth. In addition, the increase in adoption of HVAC systems is likely to expand the Global Gas Sensors Market growth during the forecast period.

The Global Gas Sensors Market revenue is expected to reach a value of USD 1316.7 Million in 2028.

The Global Gas Sensors Market revenue was valued at USD 892.3 Million in 2021 and is expected to grow to exhibit a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.7% during the forecast period; states Vantage Market Research, in a report, titled Gas Sensors Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Gas Type (Oxygen (O2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Ammonia (NH3), Chlorine (Cl), Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), Nitrogen Oxide (Nox), Volatile Organic Compounds, Methane (CH4), Hydrocarbons, Hydrogen), by Technology (Electrochemical, Photoionization Detection (PID), Solid-State/ Metal-Oxide Semiconductors, Catalytic, Infrared, Laser, Zirconia, Holographic, Other Technologies (Paramagnetic, Flame Ionization Detection (FID), Chemiluminescence, Carbon Nanotubes, Polymers, and Ultraviolet), by Output Type (Analog, Digital), by Connectivity (Wired, Wireless), by Product (Gas Analyzers & Monitors, Gas Detectors, Air Quality Monitors, Air Purifiers/ Air Cleaners, Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC), Medical Equipment, Consumer Devices), by Application (Automotive & Transportation, Smart Cities & Building Automation, Oil & Gas, Water & Wastewater Treatment, Food & Beverage, Power Stations, Medical, Metal & Chemical, Mining, Consumer Electronics Industry), by Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa) - Global Industry Assessment (2016 - 2021) & Forecast (2022 - 2028).

Get Access to a Free Copy of Our Latest Sample Report @ https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/gas-sensors-market-1843/request-sample

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Key Industry Findings & Insights from the report:

The global Gas Sensors Market was valued USD 892.3 Million in 2021 and is all set to surpass USD 1316.7 Million by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 6.7% during the forecast period 2022-2028.

In terms of revenue, the application segment held the largest revenue share of in 2021 and is estimated to maintain its dominance for the forecast period.

In terms of revenue, the product segment held the second largest market share of in 2021 and is estimated to grow rapidly during the forecast period.

The growth can be attributed to rapid urbanization, technological advancement, an increase in investment by developing countries.

Asia Pacific captured the lion share in 2021 and is projected to retain its position over the forecast period. This can be attributed to the existence of a significant number of Gas Sensors industry companies and the high adoption rate owing to government measures that stimulate this industry in this region. The growth is primarily due to the increasing collaborations.



List of Prominent Players in Gas Sensors Market:

Honeywell Analytics (UK)

MSA Safety Inc. (US)

Amphenol (US)

Figaro Engineering (Japan)

Alphasense Ltd. (UK)

Sensirion AG (Switzerland)

Dynament Ltd. (UK)

AMS AG (Austria)

Membrapor AG (Switzerland)

Senseair AB (Sweden)

Vantage Market Research Gas Sensors Market Report Detailed Market Dynamics :



Rise in Demand for Gas Sensors Market in Essential Industries to Drive the Market Growth

The Gas Sensors Market is increasing owing to the rising demand in critical industries. Such critical industries release nearly all gases like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, hydrocarbons, and hydrogen sulfide into the air. The excess emissions of these gases in the air badly affect the human condition. Therefore, many regulatory bodies are adopting different regulations to protect the ecosystem from dangerous gases. Moreover, the power industry releases flue gas into the atmosphere, produced from fossil fuel combustion. Also, it includes mercury, traces of other metals, and other fly ash if it is released from coal-fired plants, which results in the need for detecting and monitoring such gases and further taking corrective measures so that a small amount of such gases is discharged directly into the atmosphere. As a result, the increase in demand for smart Gas Sensors Market and regulatory initiatives in developed markets is likely to fuel the adoption of the Gas Sensors Market as they detect the presence of explosive and toxic gases specifically from a safe distance.

Purchase This Premium Report (Price 4500 USD for a single-user license) at @ https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/buy-now/gas-sensors-market-1843/0

Emergence for Gas Sensors Market in the HVAC system to Stimulate the Market Growth

The research and survey, conducted by Vantage Market Research, gauged that the Heating, Ventilation, & Air Conditioning (HVAC) system gives fresh and pure indoor air by removing pollutants from the environment through proper ventilation and pressurization. Such systems are finding their uses in the petroleum, oil and gas industry, and refineries. However, these industries involve a procedure that bears combustible or toxic materials. As a result, for detecting and analyzing the level of harmful substances present in the environment, Gas Sensors Market is being increasingly utilized in HVAC systems in all leading industries, including combustible gases and toxic elements.

COVID-19 Impact Analysis:

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected various industries worldwide, and the Global Gas Sensors Market is not an exception. Administrative bodies worldwide implemented curb measures, for instance, lockdown, to ensure strict social distancing norms to restrict the spread of the disease. In fact, according to a report by Vantage Market Research, the small and medium-scale industries, which are technology partners to the Gas Sensors Market companies, suffered impact due to the pandemic. In addition, the Gas Sensors Market was also impacted by the restricted movement of goods and people due to the lockdown measures in place during the beginning stages of the COVID-19 spread.

Since the beginning of 2022, the supplies and workforce are expected to resume normal which will further bolster the Gas Sensors Market industry coming back on track. While performing the research on the topic for the Global Gas Sensors Market has considered the end-to-end impact of COVID-19 on the Global Gas Sensors Market. In addition, the study also deep dives into the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the subsidiary units of the Gas Sensors Market industry. Furthermore, the study also does an exhaustive analysis while estimating the present and the future market size for the Global Gas Sensors Market industry primarily based on the aforementioned data points:

1. Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

a. North America

b. Europe

c. Asia Pacific

d. Latin America

e. Middle East & Africa

2. Quarterly Market Revenue Forecast by Asia Pacific 2020 & 2021

3. Key Strategies Undertaken by Companies to Tackle COVID-19

4. Long-Term Dynamics

5. Short-Term Dynamics

Schedule a FREE Consultation Call with Our Analysts to Find Solutions for Your Business at @ https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/gas-sensors-market-1843/contact-analyst

The report on Gas Sensors Market highlights:

Assessment of the market

Premium Insights

Competitive Landscape

COVID Impact Analysis

Historic Data, Estimates, and Forecast

Company Profiles

Global Gas Sensors Market Regional Analysis :

Asia Pacific Dominated the Global Gas Sensors Market

In fact, according to Vantage Market Research, Gas Sensors are becoming especially popular in Asia Pacific and will continue to dominate during the forecast period. This dominance is attributable to the rising awareness regarding the impact of air pollutants on human health across China and India. Also, the strict government regulations have recently shown great augmentation in this region. Moreover, the surge in the governments investments in smart city projects creates the major potential for smart sensor devices, likely to impel regional Gas Sensors Market growth. Moreover, in the coming years, the continued urbanization in this region will propel the demand for Gas Sensors Market in the Asia Pacific.

Browse market data Tables and Figures spread through 145 Pages and in-depth TOC on Gas Sensors Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Gas Type (Oxygen (O2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Ammonia (NH3), Chlorine (Cl), Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), Nitrogen Oxide (Nox), Volatile Organic Compounds, Methane (CH4), Hydrocarbons, Hydrogen), by Technology (Electrochemical, Photoionization Detection (PID), Solid-State/ Metal-Oxide Semiconductors, Catalytic, Infrared, Laser, Zirconia, Holographic, Other Technologies (Paramagnetic, Flame Ionization Detection (FID), Chemiluminescence, Carbon Nanotubes, Polymers, and Ultraviolet)), by Output Type (Analog, Digital), by Connectivity (Wired, Wireless), by Product (Gas Analyzers & Monitors, Gas Detectors, Air Quality Monitors, Air Purifiers/ Air Cleaners, Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC), Medical Equipment, Consumer Devices), by Application (Automotive & Transportation, Smart Cities & Building Automation, Oil & Gas, Water & Wastewater Treatment, Food & Beverage, Power Stations, Medical, Metal & Chemical, Mining, Consumer Electronics Industry), by Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa) - Global Industry Assessment (2016 - 2021) & Forecast (2022 - 2028)

Recent Developments:

April 2022: MSA Safety Incorporated, the global leader in the development of safety solutions that help to protect people and facility infrastructures, introduced its latest industry game-changer - the ALTAIR io 4 Gas Detection Wearable devices. The ALTAIR io 4 device represents the hardware portion of a cloud-ready technology suite that MSA calls the Connected Work Platform.

Key Questions Answered in The Exclusive Report by Vantage Market Research:

Which region will show the fastest and highest growth in the near future?

Which are the top five players and their weakness and strength of the Market?

What will be the future innovation in the upcoming six years?

Which application and product will lead the largest share of the Market?

What are the growth drivers, restraints and challenges of the industry?

What will be the CAGR and size of the Gas Sensors Market for the base year and forecast period?

This market titled Gas Sensors Market will cover exclusive information in terms of Regional Analysis, Forecast, and Quantitative Data  Units, Key Market Trends, and various others as mentioned below:

Parameter Details Market Size Provided for Years 2016-2028 Base Year 2021 Historic Years 2016-2020 Forecast Years 2022-2028 Segments Covered  Gas Type



 Oxygen (O2)



 Carbon Monoxide (CO)



 Carbon Dioxide (CO2)



 Ammonia (NH3)



 Chlorine (Cl)



 Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)



 Volatile Organic Compounds



 Methane (CH4)



 Hydrocarbons



 Hydrogen



 Technology



 Electrochemical



 Photoionization Detection (PID)



 Solid-State/ Metal-Oxide Semiconductors



 Catalytic



 Infrared



 Laser



 Zirconia



 Holographic



 Other Technologies



 Output Type



 Analog



 Digital



 Connectivity



 Wired



 Wireless



 Product



 Gas Analyzers& Monitors



 Gas Detectors



 Air Quality Monitors



 Air Purifiers/ Air Cleaners



 Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC)



 Medical Equipment



 Consumer Devices



 Application



 Automotive & Transportation



 Smart Cities & Building Automation



 Oil & Gas Industry



 Water & Wastewater Treatment



 Food & Beverage Industry



 Power Stations



 Medical Industry



 Metal & Chemical Industry



 Mining Industry



 Consumer Electronics Industry



 Region



 North America



 Europe



 Asia Pacific



 Latin America



 Middle East & Africa

Region & Counties Covered  North America



 U.S.



 Canada



 Mexico



 Europe



 U.K



 France



 Germany



 Italy



 Spain



 Rest Of Europe



 Asia Pacific



 China



 Japan



 India



 South Korea



 South East Asia



 Rest Of Asia Pacific



 Latin America



 Brazil



 Argentina



 Rest Of Latin America



 Middle East & Africa



 GCC countries



 South Africa



 Rest Of Middle East & Africa

Companies Covered  Honeywell Analytics (UK)



 MSA Safety Inc. (US)



 Amphenol (US)



 Figaro Engineering (Japan)



 Alphasense Ltd. (UK)



 Sensirion AG (Switzerland)



 Dynament Ltd. (UK)



 AMS AG (Austria)



 Membrapor AG (Switzerland)



 Senseair AB (Sweden) Report Coverage Market growth drivers, restraints, opportunities, Porters five forces analysis,

PEST analysis, value chain analysis, regulatory landscape, technology landscape,

patent analysis, market attractiveness analysis by segments and North America,

company market share analysis, and COVID-19 impact analysis

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The report can be customized as per client needs or requirements. For any queries, you can contact us on sales@vantagemarketresearch.com or +1 (202) 380-9727. Our sales executives will be happy to understand your needs and provide you with the most suitable reports.

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Granite Creek Capital Partners

CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Granite Creek Capital Partners, L.L.C. , a private investment firm based in Chicago, today announced it has made an investment in Odyssey Aviation U.S. Odyssey is a Fixed Based Operator (FBO) that provides fuel, hangar rental, aircraft de-icing, and other services to private aviation customers and air cargo operators at the Kissimmee Gateway Airport (ISM) in Kissimmee, FL and the Willow Run Airport (YIP) in Ypsilanti, MI. Granite Creeks investment supports a broader recapitalization of Odyssey with Equivu Capital, LLC, the investment arm of Odysseys CEO Salvatore Calvino, becoming majority shareholder of the company.



In conjunction with Granite Creeks investment in Odyssey, Granite Creek partners Mark Radzik and Jim Clark will join its board of directors.

Odyssey is led by Salvatore Calvino, CEO, and Ken Allison, President, highly-tenured executives with decades of combined experience in the FBO industry and aviation services. Granite Creeks investment, along with Calvino and Allisons leadership, will help strengthen Odysseys existing service offerings, support the growth of the operating team, and facilitate the companys continued expansion in existing and new geographies.

We are thrilled to partner with Odyssey's world-class management team and look forward to supporting the company as it executes its strategic plan, said Mark Radzik, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Granite Creek. Odyssey's dogged focus on providing an exemplary customer experience, its sterling reputation, and its broad-based established platform position the company well for continued growth and success.

I am pleased to welcome Granite Creek on joining us in investing in Odyssey, said Salvatore Calvino, CEO of Odyssey. Granite Creeks growth capital investment will help the company continue to meet the needs of its existing customers, capitalize on growing demand for private aviation, and broaden the footprint of Odyssey across the United States.

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About Odyssey Aviation U.S.

Odyssey is a fixed-base operator (FBO) that provides aviation fuel, hangar rental, aircraft de-icing, and other services to private aviation customers and air cargo operators at the Kissimmee Gateway Airport in Kissimmee, FL and the Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, MI. The company is led by Salvatore Calvino and Ken Allison, who have decades of combined experience in the FBO industry and aviation services, and is headquartered in Bonita Springs, FL.

About Granite Creek Capital Partners, L.L.C.

Founded in 2005, Granite Creek Capital Partners, L.L.C. is a Chicago-based private investment firm focused on providing capital and operational resources to lower middle market companies engaged in manufacturing, business services, healthcare, and agribusiness. With an experienced team of investment professionals bringing expertise in private equity, banking, operations, and business development, Granite Creek has a successful track record of investing in and supporting its portfolio companies. In addition to providing funding to lower middle market companies, in 2011 Granite Creek co-founded Renovo Financial, one of the largest private lenders serving real estate entrepreneurs. Granite Creek was named to Inc.s 2021 Private Equity 50 list. For more information on Granite Creek, visit www.granitecreek.com or call 312-895-4500.

For more media information, contact:

Lisa Hendrickson, LCH Communications for Granite Creek

516-643-1642

lisa@lchcommunications.com




Ground-breaking study sets out credible pathways for the industry to become an enabler of a sustainable global economy, double in size and create 29 million new jobs

The industry can reinvent itself as a climate solution  becoming carbon negative by early 2040s and acting as a carbon sink by 2050

Without dramatic and urgent change, the industry aligns with 4 degrees of global warming by 2050 with catastrophic consequences for the planet

Building a circular, net zero chemical system will require capital expenditure of over $3 trillion by 2050

LONDON, Sept. 13, 2022 /CNW/ -- The global chemical industry accounts for around 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It must end its fossil dependency and become a planet-positive force by embracing a more circular, low emissions operating model, according to a major new report from Systemiq, the system change company, and the Center for Global Commons at the University of Tokyo. Without urgent action, the industry faces reputational and regulatory risk and may lose its social license to operate, the report warns.

Systemiq's ground-breaking Planet Positive Chemicals report

The Planet Positive Chemicals report (Systemiq, UTokyo) provides an unprecedented blueprint for the future of the chemical industry, which is worth $4.7 trillion dollars in annual revenues(1) and provides the chemicals that are essential to all sectors of the economy from packaging and consumer goods to construction and fertilisers. It says the industry currently has multiple harmful impacts on our planet, including high carbon emissions and pollution, and its action on climate is currently lagging behind other sectors.

The report identifies the need for radical interventions on both supply and demand sides for the industry to operate within planetary boundaries. Its findings include:

Chemical products are used across all downstream industries - other sectors of the economy cannot reach net zero without mitigating the climate impacts of the chemicals value chain

Chemical production would need to double by 2050 to enable a sustainable global economy, with rapid growth in ammonia (around 440%) mainly for use as a sustainable shipping fuel and methanol (330%) to create plastic without using fossil sources

Expected growth means net zero will be dependent on the maximum scaling of a few key abatement technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS)  without which the chemicals industry becomes a major climate risk

Up to 640 million tonnes of CCS capacity will be needed every year by 2050 if the industry does not move away from fossil feedstocks

Circular approaches can reduce total demand for chemicals by up to 31% by 2050  with industry reusing and recycling chemicals, or switching certain chemicals for lower-emissions alternatives

Supply transition requires a shift away from fossil fuels and feedstocks and scaling of CCS to capture residual emission from production processes and end of life chemicals

Replacing fossil feedstocks will make the industry the largest global consumer of green hydrogen (up to half of all demand by 2050), driving scale-up of this critical enabler of the energy transition

This creates economic opportunities as the site of primary chemical production for developing countries that have abundant, affordable renewable energy sources to make low-cost green hydrogen

The industry could become carbon negative by the early 2040s and a carbon sink by 2050, using CO 2 from the air and biomass to make plastic and storing carbon underground at end-of-life

The transition can create 29 million jobs in upstream production, circular chemicals and waste management - but the chemical industry needs to reposition itself in order to attract highly-skilled workers who often seek environmental and social purpose

Retrofitting of legacy production and new greenfield chemical production infrastructure will require capex expenditure of over $3 trillion

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The Planet-Positive Chemicals report aims to help the industry and policy makers unite around a common view of the path ahead and accelerate the transition to a sustainable model of operation. It suggests ten key actions that could transform the system including establishing a global charter of transition principles and a first-movers coalition to seed markets for net zero chemicals. The report authors have made all their modelling and analysis publicly available. They will host a virtual discussion on 10 October 2022 to explore what's needed from the industry, its customers, policymakers and the investment community to make the transition happen.

Chad Holliday, former CEO of the global chemical company DuPont and former Chairman of Shell, said: "We need realistic and immediate action from industry on the climate goals agreed at an international level. We want to see ambitious companies grabbing the opportunities represented by the global net zero transition, and as the former CEO of a chemicals company, I firmly believe a planet positive chemicals industry IS possible and this is a pivotal moment for the industry to redefine its future."

Naoko Ishii, Executive Vice President, Director for the Center for Global Commons at the University of Tokyo, said: "To avoid the collapse of the complex and interdependent Earth systems on which humanity, including our economic prosperity depends, we need to transform our social and economic systems and our lifestyles. The chemical industry has an outsized role to play, with its products used across many sectors and ubiquitous in modern life. The opportunity is clear: to bring the system back within the planetary boundaries, including net zero GHG and become a contributor to the Global Commons. We hope this report will open the debate about how the chemical industry can transform itself to grasp that opportunity."

Business leader and campaigner Paul Polman, who served as CEO of Unilever and helped design the SDGs, said: "Transformational leadership is critical to the delivery of our global sustainability goals. We urgently need courageous business leaders who profit by fixing the world's problems rather than creating them  and this report is a clarion call to the chemical industry to do just that. It sets out tangible pathways for the sector to become the enabler of a sustainable economy, a climate solution and a planet-positive system  but in order to access the growth and value associated with this future path, the industry must decouple itself from the fossil fuel dependence of the past. This marks the beginning of an urgent and business-critical conversation for the industry and its value chain."

Guido Schmidt-Traub, Managing Partner of Systemiq, says: "The chemical industry underpins every modern economy, but it must change profoundly across its entire value chain to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Importantly, these changes are eminently feasible using proven technologies outlined in this report. The recommendations for policymakers, the industry, and the investment community are practical and actionable. Systemiq and our partners stand ready to support discussions about how the chemical industry can become a driver of a net-zero and nature-positive economy."

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. https://www.statista.com/statistics/302081/revenue-of-global-chemical-industry/

The full report is available at https://www.systemiq.earth/planet-positive-chemicals/ or at https://cgc.ifi.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/research-en/chemistry-industry-en/

You can sign up for the Planet Positive Chemicals discussion event at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/systemiq-center-for-global-commons-planet-positive-chemicals-discussion-tickets-412873484707

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1895566/Report_cover.jpg

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SOURCE Systemiq

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"Virtual Ride and Drive" to Showcase Companys Hypertruck ERX Powertrain Solution

AUSTIN, Texas, September 13, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hyliion Holdings Corp. (NYSE: HYLN) ("Hyliion"), a leader in electrified powertrain solutions for Class 8 semi-trucks, will host a Virtual Ride and Drive event today, September 13, at 11:00 a.m. ET / 10:00 a.m. CT.

The all-virtual event will feature a tour of Hyliions headquarters in Austin, Texas, and product demonstrations of the Companys Hypertruck ERX. Additionally, Hyliions Chief Executive Officer, Thomas Healy, will present an updated investor presentation, followed by a live question-and-answer session.

Hyliions Virtual Ride and Drive

Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Time: 11:00 a.m. ET / 10:00 a.m. CT

Register for and access the Virtual Ride and Drive here:

https://hyliionvirtualrideanddrive.open-exchange.net/welcome

Following the Virtual Ride and Drive, the Company will post a replay of the event and an updated investor presentation to Hyliions investor relations website.

About Hyliion

Hyliions mission is to reduce the carbon intensity and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of Class 8 commercial trucks by being a leading provider of electrified powertrain solutions. Leveraging advanced software algorithms and data analytics capabilities, Hyliion offers fleets an easy, efficient system to decrease fuel and operating expenses while seamlessly integrating with their existing fleet operations. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Hyliion designs, develops, and sells electrified powertrain solutions that are designed to be installed on most major Class 8 commercial trucks, with the goal of transforming the commercial transportation industrys environmental impact at scale. For more information, visit www.hyliion.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005262/en/

Contacts

Ryann Malone

press@hyliion.com

(833) 495-4466

Sharon Merrill Associates, Inc.

Nicholas Manganaro

hyln@investorrelations.com

(617) 542-5300
Increases the Strategic Vision of Midwest Food Bank with the Goal of Increasing Awareness of Food Insecurity in Southwest Florida.

CHICAGO and FORT MYERS, Fla., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Midwest Food Bank, an industry leading, faith-based non-profit food bank, announced the appointment of Jeanne Richmond to its Advisory Board to help further the mission of the organization in advancing the fight against food insecurity.

Midwest Food Bank (MFB) was founded in 2003 by David Keiser and his family on their farm in Bloomington, Illinois. Since then, dedicated staff and countless volunteers have embraced the founder's philosophy of "Humility Equals Success." Since the beginning, Midwest Food Bank has worked diligently to advance this philosophy, providing food relief to those in need while also feeding them spiritually. The organization has expanded to twelve locations in recent years, including Haiti and Kenya.

The Florida location in Fort Myers is positioned in an area where there is both significant wealth and increasing poverty. This gap is accentuated by the frequency of extreme weather events and natural disasters in Florida. Midwest Food Bank is uniquely positioned to bridge this gap by responding to these events and distributing resources where they are needed most.

Jeanne Richmond's appointment to the Advisory Board is very timely and will help broaden the impact of Midwest Food Bank in the region. The role of this board is to provide governance, accountability, and strategic vision for the organization. Jeanne is a proven business leader who grew up in Illinois, and her career has followed a similar growth trajectory as the Midwest Food Bank.

"Jeanne brings fantastic leadership skills and a unique perspective to help us strategically plan and address food insecurity in Southwest Florida," said Karl Steidinger, executive director of Midwest Food Bank Florida.

Richmond is also the chairperson and principal for e2Companies, a leading provider of energy solutions committed to economic stability and sustainability. In addition to Jeanne's Advisory Board appointment, e2 employees will partner with Midwest Food Bank on volunteer activities and fundraising events.

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"Looking ahead, the goal of this partnership is to help raise awareness of food insecurity in the region," explained Richmond. "We share many core values, and e2 Companies is grateful to be a part of the growing legacy of the Midwest Food Bank."

About Midwest Food Bank

Midwest Food Bank is an American 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that gathers food donations, primarily from large companies, and distributes them to other non-profit organizations and disaster sites. Midwest Food Bank currently distributes nearly $36 million worth of food to over 2,050 non-profits each month.

If you have a heart to serve, consider the numerous opportunities at Midwest Food Bank for donating and volunteering.

About e2Companies

e2Companies is the creator of the industry's first Virtual Utility and the leading provider of integrated solutions for power generation, distribution, and energy economics. Virtual Utility is the first utility-grade network designed for the end user that delivers full visibility and control with a 360 integrated solution. Including the patented R3Di system.

To learn more about e2Companies, visit www.e2companies.com, or follow via social media @e2companies.

Contacts:

Neil Cowan Scot Buss Marketing Director Marketing and Development Manager e2Companies Midwest Food Bank 844-397-2692 239-690-1722 neil.cowan@e2companies.com sbuss@midwestfoodbank.org

Midwest Food Bank Logo

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SOURCE E2
"Servant of the People" Poster

Star Volodymyr Zelensky, Playing President Vasily Petrovich

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 13, 2022, Los Angeles, CA:, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jewish Life Television, North Americas largest and most robust 24-7 English language, Jewish-themed television network, is proud to announce that it will be launching Servant of the People, starring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Monday, September 19th at 8:00PM ET/PT. Thereafter, Servant of the People will air on JLTV every Monday at 8:00PM ET/PT. JLTV will be the only television network broadcasting Servant of the People in North America.

Servant of the People is the hilarious comedy series about a young, modest, and very honest history teacher Vasily (Volodymyr Zelensky) that is involuntarily elected the President of Ukraine. Vasily is caught on camera raging over the miserable situation in his country. When a pupil posts the video on YouTube, it becomes a viral sensation. Everybody loves Vasily's outrage and people start gathering money for a presidential campaign, which he wins.

Servant of the People follows Vasily's new life as president. He has no interest in changing his life. He wants to stay the same - live in his flat with his parents, borrow money from his friends at the end of the month and take his bike to work. Its just that now, his work is as the most powerful man in the country.

Servant of the People was a huge rating success on Ukraine 1+1, scoring an average rating over 10% and an audience share in excess of 28%. And in a sublime case of life imitating art, following the massive success of Servant of the People, Volodymyr Zelensky, a descendant of both Holocaust victims and survivors, ran for President of Ukraine in 2019, and won in a landslide - with over 73% of the vote.

In the wake of this years Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Zelensky has received global praise (Reuters, August 10, 2022) as a modern Churchill (AP, March 7, 2022), going From Schlemiel to Super Hero (Spectre, March 18, 2022).

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JLTVs Senior Vice President of Programming Brad Pomerance said, JLTV is incredibly excited, and frankly honored, to have the opportunity to bring this very funny television series to our North American viewers, at a time when Actor-Turned-President Volodymyr Zelensky has become a worldwide symbol of freedom and democracy.

For more information, additional imagery, or interviews, please contact tina@jltv.tv or 310-266-2061.

About Jewish Life Television

Jewish Life Television is the nations premier 24-7 English language, Jewish-themed television network. More cultural than religious, JLTV welcomes viewers of all faiths and is available in over 50 million homes through Charter/Spectrum, Comcast/Xfinity, Cox, DirecTV nationwide, and other video operators. To find JLTVs channel position in any community, sign onto www.jltv.tv/channels.

Attachment

CONTACT: Brad Pomerance Jewish Life Television/JLTV 310-266-4437 brad@jltv.tv




* Colombia's Ecopetrol requests pause on fracking contracts

* Mexico lauds U.S. commerce secretary for stance on energy spat

* Lula continues lead over Bolsonaro ahead of Brazil election

Sept 13 (Reuters) - The latest in Latin American politics today:

Argentina arrests new suspect in attack on vice president: local media

BUENOS AIRES - Argentine authorities have arrested a woman suspected of participating in the organization of the failed assassination attempt on Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner almost two weeks ago, according to local media reports.

The arrest was made after information about the new suspect was found on the cell phone of the partner of alleged gunman Fernando Sabag Montiel, according to reports by leading newspapers Clarin and La Nacion. On the night of Sept. 1, police say Sabag pulled the trigger on a loaded gun inches from Fernandez de Kirchner's head, but it failed to fire.

Colombia's Ecopetrol asks to suspend fracking contracts for 90 days

BOGOTA - Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol has asked the oil regulator to suspend contracts for two fracking pilot projects for 90 days, the company and two sources told Reuters.

The two projects - being developed in Santander province by Ecopetrol and U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp - have faced stiff resistance from environmental groups and could be halted outright if a law backed by the administration of new leftist President Gustavo Petro passes congress.

Mexico lauds U.S. commerce secretary for stance on energy spat

MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has hailed U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo for her attitude in talks this week, saying she gave no indication of wanting to punish Mexico over an energy dispute between the two countries.

Raimondo was part of a senior U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken that came to Mexico on Monday for discussions with Lopez Obrador and other top Mexican officials principally focused on economic relations.

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Lula continues lead over Bolsonaro ahead of Brazil election

SAO PAULO - Brazil presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva continues to poll ahead of President Jair Bolsonaro, extending his lead to 15 percentage points, according to an IPEC poll.

The survey showed Lula with 46% of voter support against 31% for Bolsonaro in the first round of the election scheduled for Oct. 2, compared with 44% and 31% respectively in the previous poll.

In the expected second-round runoff, Lula's lead grew slightly to 17 points from 16, indicating he would get elected with 53% of the vote versus Bolsonaro's 36%, the poll showed.

(Compiled by Steven Grattan; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Loveland Innovations Logo

Loveland Innovations Logo

PLEASANT GROVE, Utah, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Loveland Innovations, maker of the IMGING property inspection platform, today announced industry-changing Mighty Dog Roofing's 50th location established with each leveraging IMGING. Mighty Dog packages their IMGING drone offering the Drone Super Scan and provides it as a distinct service to customers as a key part of their 25-point inspection process.

Mighty Dog Roofing's decades of experience was transformed into a system by parent company and home service franchise expert Horse Power Brands, empowering their growth to over 50 operational locations in under one year. The 50 Mighty Dog locations nationwide represents more than 165 IMGING pilots and over 4,500 IMGING drone inspections in under a year. Horse Power and Mighty Dog's ability to scale with a sales model centered on technology underscores the benefits of their forward-thinking mentality and strong operational expertise.

"IMGING's inspections are instrumental in helping Mighty Dog Roofing build trust with the homeowners by being able to show them specifically what is happening on their roof," says Lincoln Zehr, President of Mighty Dog Roofing. "Equally important for a franchise business like ours is the top-notch sales, training, and support provided by IMGING. They make it easy for new Mighty Dog franchisees to be outfitted and trained for successful use of IMGING to power our Drone Super Scan inspections which are core to the Mighty Dog Roofing sales process."

"Mighty Dog Roofing is a values-based company where integrity, professionalism, and innovation are central to all they do," says Kevin Wunder, Chief Revenue Officer at Loveland Innovations. "Their success is evidence of their operational prowess, and we look forward to a long partnership of continued growth."

About Loveland Innovations

Loveland Innovations is the maker of IMGING, the leading platform for property inspections and analytics. With IMGING, inspection professionals use smartphones and automated drones to digitize a property or structure and analyze it with the help of deep learning and computer vision, giving them the clarity to act quickly and confidently.

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About Mighty Dog Roofing

Mighty Dog Roofing is a rapidly expanding franchise with headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, that provides roof repair and replacement services to clients across the United States. Its business model focuses on customer convenience by providing services such as 24/7 availability, online tools, and help communicating with insurance companies.

Loveland Innovations Press Contact

Ethan Kirk

pr@lovelandinnovations.com

385-498-0800

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The Chief Information Officer of Canada, Catherine Luelo joins KPMG in Canada's DX Coffee Chat to discuss driving and embracing digital change

TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2022 /CNW/ - Accelerating your digital agenda can be complicated. In this upcoming LinkedIn Live event, Anna Leon, a partner in KPMG in Canada's Technology Strategy and Transformation practice, unravels the complexities of adopting digital-first citizen, customer, and employee experiences in conversation with the Chief Information Officer of Canada, Catherine Luelo.

KPMG Logo (CNW Group/KPMG LLP)

Ms. Luelo will discuss key aspects to enable organizational readiness to adopt innovation and transformation in government and other complex organizations. She'll dive into pressing topics in any digital transformation, from the role of your organizational culture in embracing change, to upskilling digital talent and delivering priority digital transformation projects efficiently to improve service access to a wide range of customers, from citizens and those immigrating to the country, to business and vacation travellers.

What: DX Coffee Chat: Pressing forward on digital in the midst of complexity

When: Thursday, September 15, 2022 at 1 pm EDT

Where: LinkedIn Live, please register here.

Who: Anna Leon, Partner, Technology Strategy and Transformation, KPMG in Canada

The Chief Information Officer of Canada, Catherine Luelo

This event is KPMG's fourth LinkedIn Live Digital Experience (DX) Coffee Chat. The next must-view event will be on cybersecurity for Cyber Security Awareness Month in October. For more information and to catch up on previous DX Coffee Chats, click here and follow KPMG on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About KPMG in Canada

KPMG LLP, a limited liability partnership, is a full-service Audit, Tax and Advisory firm owned and operated by Canadians. For over 150 years, our professionals have provided consulting, accounting, auditing, and tax services to Canadians, inspiring confidence, empowering change, and driving innovation. Guided by our core values of Integrity, Excellence, Courage, Together, For Better, KPMG employs more than 10,000 people in over 40 locations across Canada, serving private- and public-sector clients. KPMG is consistently ranked one of Canada's top employers and one of the best places to work in the country.

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The firm is established under the laws of Ontario and is a member of KPMG's global organization of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International, a private English company limited by guarantee. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such. For more information, see home.kpmg/ca

SOURCE KPMG LLP

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2022/13/c7727.html
President Ilham Aliyev has expressed deep condolences to the Azerbaijani people, families and relatives of the servicemen who died while preventing large-scale provocations of the Armenian armed forces in the direction of the Kalbajar, Lachin, Dashkesan and Zangilan regions of Azerbaijan.

The publication was posted on the official Facebook page of the head of state.

I express my deepest condolences to the families and relatives of our servicemen who died on September 13 while preventing large-scale provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces in the direction of the Kalbajar, Lachin, Dashkasan and Zangilan regions of Azerbaijan.

May Allah have mercy on our martyrs!

The blood of our martyrs did not remain unavenged! the publication says.




All Active SUNY FIT NYC Students Are Encouraged to Participate  Top Four Designers to Win Prize Totaling Up to $20,000

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the next four months, MetroPlusHealth , New York City's high-quality, affordable health plan, is partnering with the State University of New York Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT NYC) as part of its New York City rebrand. This partnership will make MetroPlusHealth the first health plan to ever collaborate with FIT NYC and the City and gives students the opportunity to design uniforms as diverse as the great City it serves.

MetroPlusHealth (PRNewsfoto/MetroPlusHealth)

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, MetroPlusHealth's front-line workers have worked in and with communities throughout New York City. Employees work in all-weather elements (sun, rain, snow, etc.), both indoors and outdoors. The uniforms must be durable, culturally sensitive, comfortable, trendy and represent the MetroPlusHealth brand.

To participate in this competition, FIT students must be enrolled in their 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th semester of the FIT Fashion Design program or their 7th semester of the Technical Design/Patternmaking program, in the Fall 2022 academic semester. Students must submit a mood board and digital sketches to Professor Kaye by Monday, October 10, 2022.

The top five designs will be featured on a website where MetroPlusHealth employees, FIT NYC students, and the public will vote on the best design. There will be four category winners: traveling transporters (drivers, porters, and community center support), street savers (community engagement and outreach), community connectors (community navigator and insurance enrollment), and the voice (call center support). Each winner will receive $5,000 per category, and the honorable mention winner will receive $1,000.

Competition Timeline



September 13, 2022 1 PM  2 PM Presentation/Information Session October 10, 2022 11:59 PM Due date for design/mood boards, sketches, swatches, and

Student Consent Forms Deadline October 17, 2022

Finalists Announced December 5, 2022

Final Projects Submission Deadline December 19, 2022

Judging Day and Winners Announced

"Over the past year, we have been working with New Yorkers to inform our rebrand. We asked community members what they wanted to see in a health plan, and the people have spoken. New Yorkers want care that is distinctively New York and puts people over profit. Just like MetroPlusHealth and the great City we serve, the unconventional minds of FIT NYC students will bring our bold vision to reality," said Ken Louie, Senior Director of Brand Marketing and Communications at MetroPlusHealth. "MetroPlusHealth teammates are everywhere in the five boroughs, and we want to ensure that our brand is as New Yorker as it gets because that's who we are."

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"There is no greater sense of accomplishment for a FIT student of fashion design than to be given the opportunity to express their design sensibilities/abilities through an open contest call for a great organization like MetroPlusHealth," said Michael Kaye, Professor in the Fashion Design Department at Fashion Institute of Technology. "What a fantastic showcase for the winning uniform designs - to be produced and worn proudly by the MetroPlusHealth workforce."

Learn more about the contest on FIT NYC's calendar of events and deadlines . To learn more about MetroPlusHealth, visit www.metroplus.org .

About MetroPlusHealth

Since 1985, MetroPlusHealth has helped the people of New York City get quality health care at little to no cost. MetroPlusHealth is the plan of choice for over 675,000 New Yorkers, and its commercial and government-sponsored plans meet the needs of individuals, families, and workforces. The MetroPlusHealth staff speaks more than 40 languages and is as diverse as the great City it serves. MetroPlusHealth is part of NYC Health + Hospitals, the nation's largest public health system. For more information, visit metroplus.org. Join the conversation on social media at @metroplushealth.

CONTACT:

Divendra Jaffar

212-908-3380/646-952-3243

jaffadi@metroplus.org

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/metroplushealth-partners-with-suny-fit-nyc-for-an-iconic-new-york-city-brand-design-contest-301623271.html

SOURCE MetroPlusHealth
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., September 13, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Molina Healthcare of New Mexico ("Molina") today announced a partnership with Pyx Health to expand access to behavioral health services for Molinas Medicare members.

"Feeling a connection and sense of community is a critical component of wellness that New Mexicos seniors continue to struggle with in the aftermath of COVID-19," said Carolyn Ingram, plan president for Molina Healthcare of New Mexico. "By connecting our members to the Pyx Health platform, we can address feelings of isolation that impact the health of seniors we serve, especially those living in more rural communities."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), social isolation is linked to increased health risks, including an increased risk of premature death, a 50% increased risk of dementia, a 29% increased risk of heart disease, a 32% increased risk of stroke, and a higher risk of mental health issues and suicide.

"We are excited to partner with Molina to expand the Pyx Health platform to members in New Mexico," said Cindy Jordan, CEO of Pyx Health. "Through a combination of technology and human connection, Pyx Health reduces loneliness, provides social support, lessens the resource gap for vulnerable populations, and will improve outcomes for the Medicare recipients Molina serves in New Mexico."

Through a screening process, working with members and data, the Pyx Health platform gauges the emotional state of users. This data is then monitored by support staff that provides actionable recommendations for how to respond, such as calling a user to address their behavioral health needs or offering support during a rough time. By providing access to this platform, Molina will improve behavioral health outcomes for its members.

About Molina Healthcare of New Mexico

Molina Healthcare of New Mexico has been providing government-funded, quality health care since 1998. The Company serves members through Medicare and Health Insurance Marketplace programs throughout New Mexico. Through its locally operated health plans, Molina Healthcare, Inc., a FORTUNE 500 company, served approximately 5.1 million members as of June 30, 2022. For more information about Molina Healthcare of New Mexico, visit MolinaHealthcare.com.

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About Pyx Health

Pyx Health offers the first loneliness and social isolation technology focused on helping the most vulnerable populations. Combining a digital platform with a Compassionate Support Center and timely human interventions, Pyx Health provides patients and healthcare providers an innovative, scalable solution that effectively addresses the nations critical loneliness epidemic. Pyx Health is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. More information is available at https://www.pyxhealth.com. Because no one gets better alone.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005500/en/

Contacts

Caroline Zubieta, Caroline.Zubieta@MolinaHealthcare.com, 562-951-1588
If you think the stock market selloff has come to an end, Morgan Stanley has some bad news.

The S&P 500 is already down 14% year to date, but the Wall Street juggernaut believes the market has yet to hit a bottom.

Our '22/'23/'24 base case estimates are now 3%/13%/14% below consensus, respectively, a team of Morgan Stanley analysts led by Mike Wilson write in a recent note to investors. In our base case, 2023 now marks a modest earnings contraction (-3% year-over-year growth), though we do not embed an economic recession in this scenario.

While acknowledging the poor performance in equities year-to-date, we do not think the bear market is over if our earnings forecasts are correct.

The analysts expect the S&P 500 to fall to 3,400 by year-end. And if a recession hits the economy, they say the benchmark index could drop to 3,000.

Considering that the S&P 500 sits at around 4,107 right now, Morgan Stanleys projection implies a further downside of 17% to 27%.

That doesnt mean selling everything. The Wall Street firm still sees upside in quite a few companies. Heres a look at three that it finds particularly attractive.

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Eli Lilly (LLY)

This American pharmaceutical giant commands around $300 billion in market cap, with products marketed in 120 countries around the world.

Despite the market downturn this year, Eli Lilly is not a beaten-down stock.

In the first six months of 2022, Eli Lillys revenue grew 6% year over year. Meanwhile, the companys adjusted earnings per share improved 12% from a year ago.

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Shares are actually up roughly 16% so far in 2022, and Morgan Stanley expects the trend to continue.

On Sept. 7, analyst Terence Flynn reiterated an overweight rating on Eli Lilly while raising his price target from $395 to $412.

Considering that Eli Lilly shares trade at around $317 apiece right now, the new price target implies a potential upside of 30%.

Welltower (WELL)

Welltower is in the real estate business.

The company doesnt own fancy shopping malls or posh office buildings. Instead, it focuses on health care infrastructure and provides real estate capital to senior housing operators, post-acute care providers and health systems.

In Q2, Welltowers revenue grew 29.1% year over year to $1.47 billion. Its same-store net operating income rose 8.7%.

Health care is a recession-resistant sector, so health care-anchored real estate is typically in high demand.

The company also benefits from a major demographic tailwind: population aging.

Morgan Stanley analyst Ronald Kamdem notes that the population aged 75 and older is expected to grow by 4% annually through 2030, which could serve as a catalyst for Welltowers business.

Kamdem has an overweight rating on the company and a price target of $90  implying a potential upside of 15%.

Exxon Mobil (XOM)

Thanks to strong oil prices, energy stocks have turned out to be some of the best performers of the S&P 500 so far this year.

Exxon Mobil, for instance, is up 53% year to date  and thats after a strong rally in 2021.

The oil-producing giant gushes profits and cash flow in this commodity price environment. In the first six months of 2022, Exxon earned $23.3 billion in profits, a huge increase from the $7.4 billion in the year-ago period. Free cash flow totaled $27.7 billion for the first half, compared to $13.8 billion in the same period last year.

Solid financials allow the company to return cash to investors. Exxon pays quarterly dividends of 88 cents per share, translating to an annual yield of 3.6%.

Morgan Stanley analyst Devin McDermott has an overweight rating on Exxon and recently raised his price target to $113  roughly 16% above the current levels.

What to read next

Sign up for our MoneyWise investing newsletter to receive a steady flow of actionable ideas from Wall Street's top firms.

Warren Buffett likes these 2 investment opportunities outside of the stock market

'Imagine you are laid off: Suze Orman's tough-love tips to prepare for the recession ahead

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
OPEC raised its August oil production by 618,000 bpd, according to the groups Monthly Oil Market Report published on September 13.

According to OPECs secondary sources, OPEC raised its production to 29.651 million bpd, with the largest increases coming from Libya and Saudi Arabia.

Libyas oil production has been severely depressed in recent months, but for now, production has climbed back above 1 million bpd, to 1.123 million bpd, compared to 697,000 in July. Libyas average crude oil production for 2021 was 1.143 million bpd.

Saudi Arabia lifted production as well, to 10.904 million bpd in August compared to 10.744 million bpd. This is 100,000 bpd lower than the 11.004 million bpd laid out in its August quota.

The largest laggards to the production cut deal for the month of August are Nigeria (1.1 million bpd produced versus a 1.826 million bpd target) and Angola, which produced 1.187 million bpd versus its 1.525 million bpd target. Iraq also underproduced in August by 126,000 bpd.

OPEC



Source: OPEC MOMR (September 13, 2022)

While still under the set production targets, OPEC has managed to lift its production in every month since May, although it has failed to meet its full production allocations in any of those months.

OPECs MOMR suggested that Russias July liquids production increased by 36,000 bpd, to 11.1 million bpd. But OPECs preliminary outlook for Russias August crude and condensate production was that it fell by 71,000 bpd to average 9.8 million bpd, with a decline of 119,000 bpd for NGLs.

Oil prices were trading down on Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. ET. WTI was trading at $87.54down $0.24 (-0.27%) on the day, with Brent crude trading at $93.59 per barrel, down $0.41 (-0.44%) on the day.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

Read this article on OilPrice.com
P2 Gold Inc.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- P2 Gold Inc. (P2 or the Company) (TSX-V:PGLD) (OTCQB:CTIMF), reports results from drill holes BAM-016 to 031 of the 2022 Drill Program and initial geophysics survey results at its gold-copper BAM Project located in the Golden Triangle in northwest British Columbia.



The 2022 Drill Program continues to advance at the BAM Project with over 11,000 meters drilled in 85 drill holes, commented Joe Ovsenek, President and CEO of P2. Drilling to date has confirmed that the Monarch Gold Zone covers an area of a minimum of one square kilometer, and now that geophysical survey results are becoming available, we will target the potential feeder zones and porphyry source of the near surface mineralization.

BAM Project Drill Results

Select drill results (see Table 1 below for drill results) from holes BAM-016 to BAM-031 drilled at the BAM Project include:

Hole BAM-028 intersected 1.11 g/t gold and 2.53 g/t silver over 23.65 meters , including 3.0 meters grading 3.98 g/t gold and 3.02 g/t silver ; and

Hole BAM-029 intersected 1.09 g/t gold and 1.41 g/t silver over 25.4 meters, including 3.0 meters grading 5.41 g/t gold and 3.86 g/t silver.

Drill holes BAM-027 to 031 were drilled on Section C and encountered mineralized conglomerate ranging in grade from 0.43 g/t gold to 5.41 g/t gold. Drill holes-BAM-016 to 026 were drilled on Section H/I, which is believed to be near the southern limit of the Monarch Gold Zone. A plan map and sections for drill holes BAM-016 to 031 of the 2022 BAM Drill Program are available here.

The focus of the 2022 BAM Drill Program has been to find the limits of the epithermal surface mineralization and provide geologic information to aid in the interpretation of the airborne and ground geophysical surveys. This interpretation will be essential in discovering the source of the surface epithermal zone and any associated high grade and/or porphyry mineralization.

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Section H/I appears to be near the southern limit of the Monarch Gold Zone. Visual inspection of the drilling on section AA to the far northeast indicates that the zone extends at least that far and is potentially open in that direction. This confirms that the Monarch Gold Zone is at least 1,000 meters long and 1,000 meters wide.

This latest drilling has continued to define several structures that were active either during and/or after the mineralization event. Gold grades intercepted by the drilling generally increase towards these structures suggesting they are potentially related to a feeder system. It is anticipated that the identification of assay gradients within the mineralization may confirm that these structures are part of the feeder system for the surface mineralization.

BAM Project Geophysics

Preliminary results from the natural source magneto-telluric geophysics survey (NSMT Survey) have been received and have identified a prominent feature which is believed to be the feeder zone of the nearsurface epithermal gold mineralization. This feature is the contact between the older granitic intrusive to the east with the sediments to the west and aligns with the structures that appear to be controlling the surface mineralization that has been intersected by drilling. This contact is potentially part of the feeder system for the near surface epithermal mineralization.

Starting at about 300 meters below surface, the NSMT Survey also defined a moderate resistivity low in the sediments underlying the Monarch Gold Zone. This resistivity low is possibly reflecting the alteration and/or mineralization related to the source porphyry. A two-dimensional section from the NSMT Survey looking north, that corresponds with Section D-D from the 2022 BAM Drill Program, is available here. Planning is underway to test the potential porphyry source prior to the end of the 2022 Drill Program later this month.

Table 1: Selected BAM Drill Results, September 2022 (BAM-016 to BAM-031)(1, 2)



Hole Collar

Coords Dip/

Azimuth From

(m) To

(m) Interval

(m) Gold

(g/t) Silver

(g/t) Drill

Pad BAM-016 N6341608

E387349 -45/270 NSV H-13 BAM-017(3) N6341608

E387349 -90/270 NSV H-13 BAM-018(3) N6341608

E387349 -67/270 NSV H-13 BAM-019(3) N6341608

E387349 -45/90 NSV H-13 BAM-020(4) N6341495

E387195 -45/270 NSV I-12 BAM-021(4) N6341495

E387195 -45/90 90.5 98.0 7.5 0.36 0.13 I-12 BAM-022(4) N6341495

E387195 -70/90 93.7 111.5 17.8 0.37 0.42 I-12 BAM-023 N6341494

E387000 -45/270 NSV I-10 BAM-024 N6341494

E387000 -68/270 NSV I-10 BAM-025 N6341494

E387000 -45/90 26.3 35.0 8.7 0.59 2.76 I-10 49.0 54.0 5.0 2.36 5.46 BAM-026 N6341494

E387000 -70/90 55 58.15 3.15 0.66 0.55 I-10 BAM-027 N6342080

E387277 -45/270 23 38.35 15.35 0.82 2.23 C-13 BAM-028 N6342080

E387277 -70/270 17.5 23.7 6.2 0.43 0.85 C-13 26.5 50.15 23.65 1.11 2.53 incl 29.0 32.0 3.0 3.98 3.02 BAM-029 N6342080

E387277 -70/90 51.1 76.5 25.4 1.09 1.41 C-13 incl 57.0 60.0 3.0 5.41 3.86 BAM-030 N6342080

E387277 -45/90 56.0 79.8 23.8 0.73 0.78 C-13 incl 73.2 78.25 5.05 1.50 2.35 BAM-031 N6342080

E387277 -90/90 26.5 45.0 18.5 0.63 1.22 C-13 65.0 102.55 37.55 0.60 5.26





(1) True thickness to be determined. (2) All samples were submitted for preparation and analysis by ALS Global at its facilities in Terrace, BC. All samples were analyzed using multi-digestion with ICP finish and fire assay with AA finish for gold. Samples with over 10 ppm gold were fire assayed with a gravimetric finish. One in 20 samples was blank, one in 20 was a standard sample, and one in 20 samples had a sample cut from assay rejects assayed as a field duplicate at ALS Global in North Vancouver, BC. (3) Collared in basalt. (4) Collared in footwall carbonates.

Quality Assurance



Ken McNaughton, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., Chief Exploration Officer, P2 Gold, is the Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, responsible for the BAM Project. Mr. McNaughton has reviewed, verified and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release.

About P2 Gold Inc.

P2 Gold is a mineral exploration and development company focused on advancing precious metals and copper discoveries and acquisitions in the western United States and British Columbia.

For further information, please contact:

Joseph Ovsenek

President & CEO

(778) 731-1055



P2 Gold Inc.

Suite 1100, 355 Burrard Street

Vancouver, BC

V6C 2G8

info@p2gold.com

(SEDAR filings: P2 Gold Inc.) Michelle Romero

Executive Vice President

(778) 731-1060





Neither the TSX Venture Exchange (the Exchange) nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws that is intended to be covered by the safe harbours created by those laws. Forward-looking information includes statements that use forward-looking terminology such as may, will, expect, anticipate, believe, continue, potential or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking information includes, without limitation, information with respect to the Companys expectations, strategies and plans for the BAM Project including the Companys planned expenditures and exploration activities.

Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made. Furthermore, such forward-looking information involves a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. See Risk Factors in the Companys annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2021, dated March 31, 2022 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for a discussion of these risks.

The Company cautions that there can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking information contained in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.




CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Physician Growth Partners (PGP) is pleased to have advised Urology Associates, LLC (Urology Associates), in its recent partnership with Solaris Health Partners (Solaris), a private equity-backed urology platform and portfolio company of Lee Equity. As a part of this transaction, Urology Associates will become a division of The Urology Group (TUG) and further accelerate Solaris continued expansion into the Midwestern market.



Urology Associates is led by four Physician Shareholders 

Dr. David Hall

Dr. Onisuru Okotie

Dr. Jeffery Ulrich

Dr. Robert Williams

They are joined by Chief Operating Officer, Dee Roudebush. With four main clinical locations across Central Indiana, Urology Associates has established itself as the premier private urology practice in the region. While leveraging the existing operational foundation, Urology Associates is well-poised for their next chapter of growth with this transaction.

Solaris will build upon the strong foundation built by the Urology Associates team with continued geographic expansion, the recruitment of additional urologists, seeking acquisition opportunities and other growth initiatives across Indiana.

PGP served as the exclusive advisor to Urology Associates throughout the transaction processthis included developing a concise overview of the practices finances and operations, creating a marketing package to highlight its core strengths and growth opportunities to potential buyers, and negotiating the final transactional terms.

Dr. Okotie of Urology Associates said, Robert Aprill and PGP were vitally important in helping our practice close on our private equity transaction. They have mastered and streamlined the process to such an extent it feels effortless. They did the heavy lifting behind the scenes so our practice could focus on finding the best fit for our group. Their established relationships in the private equity space were invaluable. It would be a mistake to use anyone other than PGP.

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COO Dee Roudebush added, PGP's team was awesome to work with and kept the plan on task. We could not have done it without them. Their hard work, diligence, experience, and expertise in private equity transactions ensured the highest return on the project. Thank you to Robert, Jay, and Chris, for making this happen.

PGP Managing Director Robert Aprill said, Urology Associates is the dominant urology practice in their core market. Partnering with The Urology Group and Solaris Health will provide additional scale and support, empowering the practice to continue providing best in class care to current patients while expanding their reach throughout the underserved markets of Central Indiana. I am excited to see how Urology Associates can grow through recruiting additional providers, developing new services, and taking advantage of operational support from The Urology Group.

About Physician Growth Partners

Physician Growth Partners is one of the most active national healthcare advisory firms dedicated to representing physician platforms in transactions with private equity. PGP creates value by providing operational support, strategic positioning, and transaction advisory, delivering an optimal outcome for its clients. For more information about Physician Growth Partners, please visit www.physiciangrowthpartners.com.

432 N. Clark Street, Ste. 200, Chicago, IL 60654

CONTACT: or contact us at press@physiciangrowthpartners.com




Radisson Mining Resources Inc.

Figure 1

OBrien Gold Project: Trend #3 and #4  Longitudinal section

Figure 2

O'Brien Gold Project: Trend #3 cross section

Figure 3

Visible Gold in holes OB-21-279, OB-22-297, OB-22-298 and OB-22-299

Figure 4

Au Grade Distribution Section 1 and Section 2

Figure 5

OBrien Gold Project: Resource Block Model @ 5.0 g/t Au cut-off; Labeled Longitudinal section

ROUYN-NORANDA, Quebec, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Radisson Mining Resources Inc. (TSX-V: RDS, OTC: RMRDF): (Radisson or the Company") is pleased to announce significant high-grade gold intercepts from the 127,600 m exploration drill program completed this summer at its 100% owned OBrien gold project located along the Larder-Lake-Cadillac Break (see location map 1 and location map 2), halfway between Rouyn-Noranda and Val-dOr in Quebec, Canada.

Key highlights

Significant intercepts from drilling along high-grade trend #3 17.11 g/t Au over 2.00 m and 5.16 g/t Au over 1.70 m (OB-21-279) 12.66 g/t Au over 1.80 m including 27.90 g/t Au over 0.80 m (OB-21-275) Current resources in this sector are largely within a vertical depth of 240 m from surface. Drilling undertaken during this campaign has traced high-grade gold mineralization down to 260 m below current resources including an intercept of 45.86 g/t Au over 2.10 m at 500 m vertical depth, representing one of the deepest intercepts previously obtained on the sector. Other results previously published highlighting strong resource growth potential include 10.02 g/t Au over 4.40 m, 24.80 g/t Au over 2.00 m, 11.12 g/t Au over 2.30 m and 21.28 g/t Au over 2.00 m.

Significant intercepts from drilling along high-grade trend #4 8.69 g/t Au over 2.20 m including 29.50 g/t Au over 0.60 m (OB-22-298) 7.73 g/t Au over 2.00 m including 15.00 g/t Au over 1.00 m (OB-21-296) This sector does not contribute meaningfully to current resources which are limited to the first 330 m vertical metres. New and previously released drill holes (including 31.56 g/t Au over 2.00 m and 13.83 g/t Au over 2.40 m) demonstrate continuity of high-grade mineralization down to a vertical depth of 550 m in this area that remains open for expansion for over 750 m laterally and at depth.

With the successful conclusion of this drill campaign, 127,600 metres (255 holes) have been drilled since the commencement of the program in August 2019. Use of directional drilling technology to test deeper targets resulted in savings of approximatively 13,800 metres, enabling the company to drill test with fewer metres, the same number of targets that would have otherwise required at least 141,400 metres of conventional drilling. Results are pending for 36 additional holes (approximately 18,500 m) with visible gold showings in 17 of those holes. The majority of pending holes were drilled to test high-priority deeper targets along trends #1 and #2.



We are pleased to report the successful conclusion of a 127,600 m drill campaign that commenced in August 2019. Results have continued to impress with 219 holes published thus far including 141 intercepts grading over 5 g/t and 59 intercepts grading over 10 g/t. The use of directional drilling technology in the last 12 months significantly increased drilling efficiency, as a result of which we were able to precisely hit deeper high-priority targets and to drill test 10% more targets than originally budgeted with fewer metres.

The majority of drilling targeted resource expansion along trends 0, 1 and 2, and results appear to have almost doubled the depth extent of resources in those sectors. Some drilling was also allocated towards defining additional OBrien-like mineralized trends further to the east. Results obtained along trend #3 and trend #4 have highlighted the significant high-grade potential approximately 900 m and 1,200 m east of the old OBrien mine. While these two trends did not contribute meaningfully to the resource estimate published by Radisson in 2019, approximately 24,670 metres in 59 exploration holes were drilled during the campaign with impressive results, including 28 intercepts returning grades of over 5 g/t Au. Both trends remain open below 500 m and the property remain largely unexplored for an additional 750 m east of trend #4. We believe that the high-grade results obtained in these sectors highlight only a portion of the resource growth potential that still resides near surface at OBrien.

Results are pending for 18,500 m of drilling in 36 additional holes drilled to test high-priority deeper targets along trends 1 and 2. In parallel, our efforts are now largely focused on interpreting and incorporating results from the drill program into an updated lithostructural model and mineral resource estimate targeted for completion by late 2022/early 2023. Commented Rahul Paul, President and Chief Executive Officer.

OBrien Gold Project: Trend #3 and #4  Longitudinal section





Figure 1. OBrien Gold Project: Trend #3 and #4  Longitudinal section

Notable drill results

Hole Zone From (m) To (m) Core Length

(m) g/t Au -

Uncut OB-21-271 Trend #3 296.00 298.50 2.50 4.06 Including 297.00 298.50 1.50 4.53 OB-21-272 Trend #3 207.50 211.90 4.40 3.89 Including 207.50 208.90 1.40 8.07 OB-21-275 Trend #3 274.00 275.80 1.80 12.66 Including 274.00 274.80 0.80 27.90 OB-21-278 Trend #3 409.30 411.70 2.40 3.22 Including 411.00 411.70 0.70 9.13 AND 432.00 435.80 3.80 4.41 Including 433.00 434.00 1.00 8.06 And 435.00 435.80 0.80 6.35 OB-21-279 Trend #3 248.00 250.00 2.00 17.11 Including 248.00 249.00 1.00 34.10 AND 479.30 481.00 1.70 5.16 Including 479.30 480.00 0.70 7.89 OB-21-293 Trend #3 490.90 493.00 2.10 3.20 OB-21-296 Trend #4 326.80 328.80 2.00 7.73 Including 326.80 327.80 1.00 15.00 OB-22-297 Trend #3 528.50 530.50 2.00 4.45 Including 528.50 529.50 1.00 8.35 OB-22-298 Trend #4 321.80 324.00 2.20 8.69 Including 323.40 324.00 0.60 29.50 OB-22-299 Trend #4 294.80 297.70 2.90 4.06 Including 296.80 297.70 0.90 9.67

VG denotes the presence of visible gold True widths estimated at 70% to 80% of core length. Assay grades shown uncapped. A capping factor of 60 g/t Au was used in the 2019 resource estimate For a full listing of drill results from current drilling program click here.

Drilling at OBrien continues to validate the litho-structural model while highlighting resource growth potential laterally and at depth

Drilling to date has continued to define and expand almost five high-grade mineralized trends, located within a 1,200 m strike respectively to the east of the old OBrien Mine. Mineralized trends identified bear similarities with structures previously mined at OBrien down to a depth of 1,100 m (historical production of 587 koz grading 15.25 g/t Au).

Drilling so far has demonstrated continuity of mineralization well below the boundary of defined resources in all defined trends, which remain open for expansion laterally and at depth. In trend #0, drilling has traced mineralization to a depth of 620 m, while current resources are mostly within the first 240 m. In trend #1, drilling has highlighted continuity of mineralization down to a vertical depth of 950 m, while current resources are mostly limited to a vertical depth of approximately 600 m. In trend #2, drilling has highlighted continuity of mineralization down to a vertical depth of over 800 m, while current resources are mostly within 400 m from surface. In trend #3, drilling has traced mineralization down to 500 m vertical depth from surface. Current resources are mostly confined to within a vertical depth of 240 m. In trend #4, drilling has traced mineralization down to a vertical depth of approximately 550 m.

In addition, the Company has completed an initial 5,700 m exploration program at OBrien West. In addition to validating geological information from historical drill holes, initial results showcase potential for additional high-grade discoveries in this area. OBrien West remains open in all direction, with results indicating strong depth continuity in lithological units identical to those observed along strike to the west, reaffirming the upside potential from approximately 2.5 km of largely untested prospective ground west of the OBrien Mine along the prolific Larder-Lake-Cadillac break.

Almost all drilling conducted as part of the ongoing campaign has been within a strike length representing only a small portion of more than 5.2 km of prospective strike that Radisson controls along the Cadillac Break. Given current geological understanding, the ongoing validation of the litho-structural model, the company estimates there is strong potential for additional high-grade gold trends to be discovered along the whole 5.2 km prospective land package on the prolific Larder-Lake Cadillac Break.

127,600 m of drilling completed to date with assays pending for approx. 18,500 m

This release represents approximately 8,140 m of drilling in 18 drill holes. Released results to date represent approximately 86% of the 127,600 m drilled during the campaign. As of August 31, 2022, the company remains well funded with approximately $3.0 m in cash.

Breakdown of drilling completed and pending results

Sector / Trend

Completed

drilling (m)

Drill results published Drill results pending metres # holes # holes

(with VG) metres # holes # holes

(with VG) O'Brien West 5,700 5,700 11 1 0 0 0 Trend #0 18,200 18,000 36 20 200 1 1 Trend #1 42,200 28,900 51 29 13,300 25 12 Trend #2 33,200 28,200 51 25 5,000 10 4 Trend #3 16,200 16,200 40 18 0 0 0 Trend #4 8,500 8,500 19 10 0 0 0 Kewagama East / Other 3,600 3,600 11 1 0 0 0 Total 127,600 109,100 219 104 18,500 36 17

Summary of results published to date from current program

Sector / Trend

Published

results (m)

# holes published Number of published intercepts grading, # holes

published # holes

with VG % holes

with VG >5 g/t

Au >10 g/t

Au >15 g/t

Au >20 g/t

Au >25 g/t

Au O'Brien West 5,700 11 1 9% 3 1 1 1 1 Trend #0 18,000 36 20 56% 17 8 4 4 4 Trend #1 28,900 51 29 57% 49 20 11 8 7 Trend #2 28,200 51 25 49% 40 15 9 5 4 Trend #3 16,200 40 18 45% 20 11 6 3 1 Trend #4 8,500 19 10 53% 8 2 1 1 1 Kewagama East & Other 3,600 11 1 9% 4 2 1 1 1 Total 109,100 219 104 47% 141 59 33 23 19





O'Brien Gold Project: Trend #3 cross section

Figure 2. O'Brien Gold Project: Trend #3 cross section





Visible Gold in holes OB-21-279, OB-22-297, OB-22-298 and OB-22-299

Figure 3. Visible Gold in holes OB-21-279, OB-22-297, OB-22-298 and OB-22-299





Au Grade Distribution Section 1 and Section 2

Figure 4. Au Grade Distribution Section 1 and Section 2







OBrien Gold Project: Resource Block Model @ 5.0 g/t Au cut-off; Labeled Longitudinal section

Figure 5. OBrien Gold Project: Resource Block Model @ 5.0 g/t Au cut-off; Labeled Longitudinal section

QA/QC

All drill cores in this campaign are NQ in size. Assays were completed on sawn half-cores, with the second half kept for future reference. The samples were analyzed using standard fire assay procedures with Atomic Absorption (AA) finish at ALS Laboratory Ltd, in Val-dOr, Quebec. Samples yielding a grade higher than 5 g/t Au Au were analyzed a second time by fire assay with gravimetric finish at the same laboratory. Mineralized zones containing visible gold were analyzed with metallic sieve procedure. Standard reference materials, blank samples and duplicates were inserted prior to shipment for quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program.

Qualified Person

Vivien Janvier, P.Geo., Ph.D., Director, Geology for Radisson mining resources Inc. is the qualified person pursuant to the requirements of NI 43-101. Vivien Janvier has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure in this press release.

Radisson mining resources Inc.

Radisson is a gold exploration company focused on its 100% owned OBrien project, located in the Bousquet-Cadillac mining camp along the world-renowned Larder-Lake-Cadillac Break in Abitibi, Quebec. The Bousquet-Cadillac mining camp has produced over 21,000,000 ounces of gold over the last 100 years. The project hosts the former OBrien Mine, considered to have been the Quebecs highest-grade gold producer during its production (1,197,147 metric tons at 15.25 g/t Au Au for 587,121 ounces of gold from 1926 to 1957; Kenneth Williamson 3DGeo-Solution, July 2019). For more information on Radisson, visit our website at www.radissonmining.com or contact:

On behalf of the board of directors

Rahul Paul

President and CEO

For more information on Radisson, visit our website at www.radissonmining.com or contact:



Hubert Parent-Bouchard

Chief Financial Officer

819-763-9969

hpbouchard@radissonmining.com

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release including, but not limited to, those relating to the intended use of proceeds of the Offering, the development of the OBrien project and generally, the above About Radisson Mining Resources Inc. paragraph which essentially describes the Corporations outlook, constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the time of this press release. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Corporation as of the time of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. These estimates and assumptions may prove to be incorrect. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can directly or indirectly affect, and could cause, actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements and future events, could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward looking information can be found in Radissons disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com .

By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that estimates, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved or that assumptions do not reflect future experience. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about managements endeavours to develop the OBrien project and, more generally, its expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as a number of important risk factors and future events could cause the actual outcomes to differ materially from the beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates, assumptions and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators of Canada. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law.




Increase in the prevalence of cancer and chronic diseases, surge in adoption of technologically advanced real-world evidence solutions, and rise in number of pipeline drugs drive the growth of the global real-world evidence solutions market.

PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Real World Evidence Solutions Market by Components (Data Sets, Consulting Services), by Application (Market Access and Reimbursement Coverage Decisions, Drug Development and Approvals, Post Market Surveillance, Medical Device Development and Approvals, Others), by End User (Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Companies, Healthcare Payers, Healthcare Providers, Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031." According to the report, the global real world evidence solutions industry was estimated at $1.4 billion in 2021, and is anticipated to hit $5.0 billion by 2031, registering a CAGR of 13.7% from 2022 to 2031. The report offers an explicit analysis of the changing market trends, top segments, key investment pockets, value chains, competitive scenarios, and regional landscape.

Allied Market Research



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Drivers, restraints, and opportunities-

Increase in the prevalence of cancer and chronic diseases, surge in adoption of technologically advanced real-world evidence solutions, and rise in number of pipeline drugs drive the growth of the global real world evidence solutions market. On the other hand, lack of awareness and reluctance to rely on real-world data restrain the growth to some extent. However, high growth potential in developing economies and rise in focus on end-to-end real-world evidence services are expected to create lucrative opportunities in the industry.

Covid-19 scenario-

The outbreak of the pandemic led to strategic use of real-world evidence to support evidence generation for regulatory approval of clinical trials. In this regard, RWE solutions were proven to be very helpful, as they allowed healthcare providers to safely analyze patient health-related data from remote locations with the help of advanced tools & software. The real world evidence solutions also aided in conducting online surveys with the help of mobile applications. These factors impacted the global market positively.

Furthermore, rapid spread of the disease resulted in advanced medical devices and tools. This, in turn, heightened the adoption of RWE solutions for data analysis and smooth conduct of drug development process in the coming years as well.

Story continues

Get detailed COVID-19 impact analysis on the Real World Evidence Solutions Market- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/8659?reqfor=covid

The data sets segment to dominate by 2031-

By components, the data sets segment contributed to more than three-fifths of the global real world evidence solutions market share in 2021, and is expected to lead the trail by 2031. The same segment is also expected to register the fastest CAGR of 14.3% from 2022 to 2031. This is attributed to rise in the prevalence of chronic and autoimmune disorders and increase in adoption of artificial intelligence-based RWE solutions by pharma companies.

The market access and reimbursement coverage decisions segment to maintain the lion's share-

Based on application, the market access and reimbursement coverage decisions segment generated nearly one-third of the global viral clearance market revenue in 2021, and is expected to lead the trail by 2031. The same segment would also grow at the fastest CAGE of 14.5% by 2031. The other segments analyzed in the report include drug development and approvals, post market surveillance, and medical device development and approvals.

The pharmaceutical and medical device companies segment to retain its dominance-

By end-user, the pharmaceutical and medical device companies segment held more than two-fifths of the global real world evidence solutions market revenue in 2021, and is expected to lead the trail by 2031. The same segment is also expected to cite the fastest CAGR of 14.7% during the forecast period. Increase in the incidence of chronic diseases and surge in R&D activities propel the growth of the segment growth.

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North America garnered the major share in 2021-

Based on region, North America held the major share in 2021, generating around two-fifths of the global real world evidence solutions market. Rise in demand for real-world evidence-based solutions, the shift toward value-based care services, and several strategies adopted by the market players for product development drive the market growth. The Asia-Pacific region, simultaneously, would garner the fastest CAGR of 14.8% by 2031. Surge in the geriatric population and increase in the prevalence of cancer & other chronic diseases across the region fuel the market growth.

Key players in the industry-

Clinigen Group PLC

Elevance Health Inc.

Flatiron Health

IBM Corporation

Clarivate PLC

Parexel International Corporation

ICON PLC

IQVIA

Medpace Holding Corporation

Syneos Health Inc.

Cognizant Technology Solution Corporation

Oracle Corporation

Perkin Elmer Inc.

SAS Institute Inc

Symphony Innovation LLC

The report analyzes these key players in the global real world evidence solutions market. These players have incorporated various strategies such as expansion, new product launches, partnerships, and others to increase their market penetration and strengthen their position in the industry. The report is helpful in assessing the operating segments, their business performance & product portfolio, and so on.

Official Press Release- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/press-release/real-world-evidence-solutions-market.html

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
ROBOROCK drives growth through innovation

BEIJING, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to data recently released by Euromonitor, worldwide retail sales of robot vacuums exceeded 15 million units in 2021, representing a compound annual growth rate in excess of 20% over the past five years. In particular, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for some 44.2% of the total, making it the world's largest robot vacuum market. High-end robot vacuums, generally priced at over US$500, deliver far superior performance in terms of intelligence and cleaning efficiency when compared with standard models. Last year, high-end models made up over 30 per cent of the total sales of robot vacuums. Several high-end brands, including Roborock and iRobot, together occupied over 80% of the global market. Most notably, Roborock ranked first among robot vacuum manufacturers worldwide in terms of sales of high-end models for the 12 months from July 2021 to June 2022.

According to Chinese market data released by AVC for the second quarter of 2022, Roborock's G10S series had ranked first among robot vacuums in terms of both online sales and market share in the smart cleaning sector for three consecutive months. Roborock's interim report for 2022 showed that the company's sales of robot vacuums jumped 24.49% YoY during the first half of the year. The impressive performance was attributable to the firm's sustainable growth resulting from its ongoing innovation in technology.

Roborock ranks first among robot vacuum makers globally in terms of sales of high-end models

In the first half of 2022, Roborock's R&D expenses grew 13.74% YoY to 226 million yuan (approx. US$31.6 million), accounting for 7.74% of the company's revenue. In addition, the firm has acquired 753 patents, with R&D staff making up 54.08% of the total headcount. With a continued increase in R&D investment, Roborock rapidly enhanced its competence in technology.

In March 2022, Roborock rolled out the G10S/S7 MAXV high-end robot vacuums series with the upgraded algorithm system RR mason 9.0, enabling millimeter-wave obstacle avoidance through high-precision navigation and route planning. The series also features the industry's first VibraRise sonic vibration technology that scrubs floors up to 3,000 times per minute as well as disruptive integration of Auto Mop Washing, Auto Antibacterial, Auto Tank Refilling, Auto Dust Collection and Auto-Empty Dock, in addition to optional water and drying components. With these technologies, the series has significantly enhanced cleaning efficiency, delivering an optimized hands-free floor cleaning experience.

Story continues

In 2021, Roborock took the lead in increasing exposure and gaining acceptance of robot vacuums among the general public by providing customers with innovative premium products that use cutting-edge technologies to create a cleaner household environment while delivering a hands-free cleaning experience. By doing so, the leading robot vacuum company has contributed to the growth of the sector.

Given the ongoing pursuit of a high-quality household environment for thousands of years, especially in a fast-paced world, there is a growing trend whereby consumers prefer to use robots to do the housework so that they can spend more time on the things that matter or with the people they love. In September 2022, Roborock tied up with China's top online shopping platform Tmall.com, to launch the Super Brand Day campaign in a move to raise the awareness of its popular, high-tech products to a wider range of consumer groups, with the aim of enhancing the quality of day-to-day life and well-being of consumers worldwide.

SOURCE Roborock
sweetgreen will bring its fresh, sustainably-focused menu to multiple locations across Indianapolis and Minneapolis-Saint Paul

LOS ANGELES, September 13, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--sweetgreen, the mission-driven restaurant brand serving healthy food at scale, will open its highly anticipated first restaurants in Indiana, at The Fashion Mall at Keystone in Indianapolis, and in Minnesota, at the Galleria Mall in Edina, on September 13.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005530/en/

sweetgreen opens first Minnesota restaurant in Edina (Photo: Business Wire)

"Today we open in two new states in the Midwest, helping us to further our goal of connecting more people around the country to healthy, fresh and convenient food options," said sweetgreen Co-founder and Chief Concept Officer, Nicolas Jammet. "Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Indianapolis are both communities with booming culinary scenes, and as both states have deep roots in agriculture, it made entering these markets feel like a natural progression in growing sweetgreens Midwest presence."

sweetgreen sources only the highest quality ingredients, with fresh produce delivered each morning for its seasonal menus which rotate five times throughout the year. In addition to sweetgreens menu of core salads, warm bowls and sides and its late summer offerings, both locations will open with the companys pilot kids menu, featuring items like the Little Harvest and Ranchy Chicken + Rice, developed to cater to the young families across both cities.

Additionally, sweetgreens Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Indianapolis restaurants will feature a pilot menu of dinner-forward plates, including the Chicken + Avocado + Ranch Plate and the Miso Steelhead Plate.

sweetgreens local impact efforts continue with both openings. For every meal sold on September 13 in Edina, sweetgreen will donate a meal to Second Harvest Heartland, an organization whose mission is to end hunger together, providing over 107 million meals to 388 food shelves and nearly 1,000 partner programs serving Minnesota and western Wisconsin last year. For every meal sold on opening day in Indianapolis, sweetgreen will donate a meal to Second Helpings, an organization that delivers more than one million meals to Central Indiana each year, helping nourish Hoosiers who are experiencing food insecurity.

Story continues

Both sweetgreen Fashion Mall and sweetgreen Galleria Edina will be open Monday to Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Edina location will accommodate up to 20 indoor diners, with additional seating for 30 on its seasonal outdoor patio, while the Fashion Mall location will accommodate up to 30 indoor diners with additional seating for 48 on its outdoor patio.

About sweetgreen:

sweetgreen (NYSE: SG) passionately believes that real food should be convenient and accessible to everyone. Every day their team members create plant-forward, seasonal, and earth-friendly meals from fresh ingredients and produce that prioritizes organic, regenerative, and local sourcing. sweetgreen strongly believes in harnessing the power of technology to enhance the customer experience to meet their customers where they are. sweetgreens strong food ethos and investment in local communities have enabled them to grow into a national brand with a mission to build healthier communities by connecting people to real food. To learn more about sweetgreen and its menu, visit www.sweetgreen.com. Follow sweetgreen on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @sweetgreen.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005530/en/

Contacts

sweetgreen Contact, Media:

Maude Michel, sweetgreen

maude.michel@sweetgreen.com

sweetgreen Contact, Investor Relations:

Rebecca Nounou

ir@sweetgreen.com
By Trend





Azerbaijan's retaliatory steps were limited and targeted at legitimate military objectives rather than the civilian population, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend.

This was stated at a briefing for representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Azerbaijan with the participation of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov and Assistant of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev.

The provocative actions committed by Armenia on the conditional state border are one of the links in the chain of Armenia's recent military and political provocations.
(Adds Arctic Princess; shows Gaslog Wellington is docked; removes Barcelona Knutsen it leaves port; updates arrival date for Golar Penguin, Flex Ranger) Sept 13 (Reuters) - The following liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers are expected to arrive in Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands in the coming weeks. Estimated arrival dates, often revised by port authorities and AIS Live ship-tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon, are updated below. Some tankers heading for Belgium and Britain may be loading at the terminal. Those expected to load are indicated with an (L). Those likely to perform ship-to-ship transfers are indicated with (STS). Tankers that have docked are indicated with (A). For the Reuters LNG guide, click here: LNG TANKER CAPACITY in EXPECTED ARRIVAL FROM PORT cubic metres BRITAIN Maran Gas Ithaca 170,000 Sept. 11 (A) United States South Hook Maran Gas Delphi 157,000 Sept. 13 United States Dragon Cool Runner 158,000 Sept. 17 United States South Hook Gaslog HongKong 174,000 Sept. 22 United States Isle of Grain Golar Penguin 155,000 Sept. 22 United States Dragon Al Mafyar 261,000 Sept. 23^ Qatar South Hook BW Pavilion Leeara 162,000 Sept. 25 United States Isle of Grain BW Pavilionaranthera 171,000 Sept. 30 United States Isle of Grain Golar Glacier 162,000 Oct. 10 United States South Hook BELGIUM Arctic Princess 145,000 Sept. 14 Norway Zeebrugge Al Mafyar 261,000 Sept. 20^ Qatar Zeebrugge Simaisma 143,000 Sept. 25 Qatar Zeebrugge Al Sheehaniya 206,000 Sept. 30 Qatar Zeebrugge NETHERLANDS Gaslog Wellington 174,000 Sept. 13 (A) United States Gate Flex Ranger 174,000 Sept. 13 Egypt Gate Elisa Larus 174,000 Sept. 16 United States Gate SK Resolute 180,000 Sept. 21 United States Gate British Listener 174,000 Sept. 23 United States Gate Maria Energy 174,000 Sept. 23 United States Gate Sources: Ports, AIS Live ship tracking, Refinitiv Eikon data. (^) Partial unload (*) Arrival date estimated based on flows data (Reporting by Nora Buli)
 Tawdheef, the leading platform for Emiratis to develop their careers, is taking place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre on November 14 to 16, 2022.

 This year's exhibition introduces new features and experiences that will focus on helping young UAE Nationals excel.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, September 13, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The annual Tawdheef exhibition is returning to Abu Dhabi this November 14 to 16, with a renewed focus on helping UAE Nationals develop their careers and connect with leading businesses and organisations in the country.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005741/en/

Tawdheef Returns to Abu Dhabi with a Renewed Vision to Promote Career Development of UAE Nationals (Photo: Business Wire)

This year, the exhibition's main goal is to support young Emiratis in their journey to advance their careers and discover new opportunities in the corporate world and entrepreneurship.

Fadi Harb, Event Manager of Informa Middle East, said: "Tawdheef has always been seen as a recruitment event and while these opportunities will still be available, we want to do much more than that. We want to create a space where Emiratis can come and learn about the latest industry trends, gain insights into upcoming job market opportunities, and network with leading businesses and organisations. This move is all part of our commitment to support career development in Abu Dhabi and across the UAE," Harb commented.

Tawdheef 2022 New Features

Aligned with the UAE Vision 2021, Tawdheef helps Emirati attendees have the chance to learn about various career paths, receive advice from industry experts, and network with potential employers. Just by signing up, visitors can take advantage of the innovative experiences thoughtfully designed to help them in their career journey through the Empowerment Stage, Pioneer platform, and Career Preparedness Workshops.

Story continues

Some notable exhibitors include the Central Bank of the UAE, Etisalat, National Marine Dredging Company, Al Fahim Group, and Al Masaood Group, to name a few.

Sharifa Alfahim, Head of Shared Services at Al Fahim Group, said that the new vision of Tawdheef perfectly aligns with their goal of supporting Emiratis in taking their careers to the next level.

"Empowering and developing the capabilities of UAE Nationals and providing them with the necessary skills is the main priority behind our participation in Tawdheef 2022. We believe that Tawdheef is an ideal platform for Al Fahim Group and its subsidiaries to connect with promising Emirati talents across various sectors. As a sustainable group of pioneering companies contributing to advancing generations across multiple sectors, we believe that participating in this event complements our objective to act as a catalyst for change to support young Emiratis in their future careers," Alfahim commented.

Supporting UAE's Emiratisation Goals 2026

For private sector companies taking part in the exhibition, Tawdheef is a gateway for them to achieve their Emiratisation goals in line with the UAE Cabinet's decision regarding raising the Emiratisation rates in private sector establishments to reach 10% by 2026.

Bothaina Al Ali, Group HR Manager, Human Resources Director, and Head of Emiratisation Department at Al Masaood Group, said that Tawdheef directly benefits their company's Emiratisation agenda to support the capital's transformation into a knowledge-based economy led by highly-skilled and distinguished Emirati professionals.

"Al Masaood Group constantly seeks to attract qualified Emirati professionals who can contribute to the groups success. We have always been proactive in identifying and recruiting promising talents to join our various establishments, as they are key to ensuring the groups continued success. Our participation in Tawdheef falls in line with this strategy and also reinforces our commitment to supporting the UAEs Emiratisation goals," Al Ali added.

Fadi Harb, Event Manager of Informa Middle East, concluded: "For 16 years, Informa Middle East has always been committed to promoting excellence in all our events, including Tawdheef. The strong turnout year after year affirms that we are moving in the right direction. This year's edition of Tawdheef is the biggest one yet and we are proud to see it grow in popularity and stature, becoming a must-attend event for all career-focused Emiratis."

Tawdheef  a free-to-attend exhibition - is organised by Informa Middle East, a leading international exhibition and conference organiser.

For more information or to register for the exhibition, email: info@tawdheef.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913005741/en/

Contacts

Fadi Harb

+971 50 889 3599

Fadi.harb@informa.com
U.S. coffee chains' sales rise 10% to near pre-pandemic levels -report FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks store is seen inside the Tom Bradley terminal at LAX airport in Los Angeles

By Marcelo Teixeira

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sales by branded coffee shops in the United States increased 10% in the 12 months to June 2022 to reach $45.8 billion, a value that is 96% of its pre-pandemic sales, while the number of stores surpassed those seen before 2020, a report said on Tuesday.

According to Project Cafe 2023, a publication by World Coffee Portal, there are now 38,411 branded coffee shops in the United States, the world's largest consumer of the beverage, or 2.8% more than before the coronavirus pandemic.

The country's largest coffee operators - Starbucks Corp, Dunkin' and Panera Bread - all increased their presence in the U.S. market to reach 15,650, 9,262 and 2,173 stores respectively, the report said.

Most coffee chains posted increases in sales in 2022 compared with the previous 12-month period, it said, with 46% of them reaching sales growth of 5% or more.

The report, however, said that "ongoing staff shortages and an emergent cost-of-living crisis represent significant short-to-medium term challenges for the industry" going forward.

In terms of habits, it said the industry continues to develop following changes seen during the pandemic.

"Pre-ordering, delivery and drive-thru, are set to remain as consumers maintain a heightened desire for convenience."

Oregon-based Dutch Bros, which operates 603 stores, was the fastest-growing major U.S. branded chain at 28%.

Blank Street Coffee, backed by private equity financing, was also a highlight in the report for its speed of growth. It launched in the middle of the pandemic in May 2020 and has opened 40 shops in New York City and Boston so far, aiming to have 100 locations by the end of the year.

(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
NOIDA, India, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report published by UnivDatos Markets Insights the Women's Health and Beauty Supplements Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 5% from 2021-2027. The analysis has been segmented into Product (Vitamins & Minerals, Botanicals, Proteins & Amino Acids, Enzymes, Others); Consumer Group (Pre & Postnatal, Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), Menopause, Others); Application (Beauty, Women's Health); Distribution Channels (Online, Offline); Region/Country.

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The report has been aggregated by collecting informative data from various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the Women's Health and Beauty Supplements Market in the Global context. This report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors that are influencing market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the Global Women's Health and Beauty Supplements Market at the regional & country levels.

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Market Overview

The demand for various health and beauty supplement among females has been increasing across the globe owing to increase in number of working women as they are much more concerned regarding their well-being. For instance, Overall, at the end of 2021, women had the highest rate of labor force participation since March 2020, the first month of the pandemic, at 57.8%. Of all the net jobs the economy added in the past year, 3.3 million went to women and 3.1 million went to men. Furthermore, the growing awareness among the females to maintains a healthy lifestyle and reduce stress have significantly impacted the demand for various health supplements among women to keep themselves fit to deal with a fast-paced life.

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The recent covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the world and has brought a state of shock to the global economy. The global pandemic has impacted the healthcare industry and has transformed the way healthcare is delivered. The women's health and beauty supplements market has been significantly impacted during these times owing to the huge surge in number of females adopting healthy lifestyle and incorporation of these supplements in their day-to-day life as immunity boosters.

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The global Women's Health and Beauty Supplements Market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

Amongst Product, the vitamins & minerals segment of the global women's health and beauty supplements market was valued at USD XX billion in 2020 and is likely to reach USD XX billion by 2027 growing at a CAGR of XX% from 2021-2027. However, the enzymes segment is anticipated to grow at the fastest CAGR in the upcoming years.

By Consumer Group, the premenstrual syndrome segment dominated the global women's health and beauty supplements market and will row at XX% CAGR to reach US$ XX billion by the year 2027.

By Application, the women's health segment garners a significant share of the global women's health and beauty supplements market and will row at XX% CAGR to reach US$ XX billion by the year 2027.

Amongst Distribution Channels, the offline segment of the global women's health and beauty supplements market was valued at USD XX billion in 2020 and is likely to reach USD XX billion by 2027 growing at a CAGR of XX% from 2021-2027. However, the online segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR over the projected timeframe.

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Women's Health and Beauty Supplements Market Geographical Segmentation Includes:

North America (United States, Canada, and Rest of North America)

Europe (Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain, and the Rest of Europe)

Asia-Pacific (China, India, Australia, Japan, and the Rest of Asia-Pacific)

Rest of the World

For a better understanding of the market adoption of the Women's Health and Beauty Supplements industry, the market is analyzed based on its worldwide presence in the countries such as North America (US, Canada, Rest of North America); Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Spain, and the Rest of Europe); Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, Australia, Rest of Asia-Pacific); and the Rest of World. Geographically, the North America region dominated the women's health and beauty supplements market with almost US$ XX billion revenue in 2020 owing to the growing female population in the region.

The major players targeting the market include

Amway

Herbalife International of America Inc.

GNC Holdings Inc.

Nu Skin Enterprises

Organic Harvest

Pfizer, Inc.

Pharmavite LLC

The Nature's Bounty Co.

Vita Life Sciences

Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating in the global context. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as global market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions by leading companies in the Women's Health and Beauty Supplements Market. The major players have been analyzed using different research methodologies for getting insight views on market competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

What are the latest trends, new patterns, and advancements in the Women's Health and Beauty Supplements Market?

Which factors are influencing the Women's Health and Beauty Supplements Market over the forecast period?

What are the challenges, threats, and risks in the Women's Health and Beauty Supplements Market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the Women's Health and Beauty Supplements Market?

What are the demanding regions of the Women's Health and Beauty Supplements Market globally?

What will be the market size in the upcoming years?

What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by the companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

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UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

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SOURCE Univdatos Market Insights Private Limited
DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Lung Injury Market (2022-2027) by Therapy, Injury, End User, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

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The Global Lung Injury Market is estimated to be USD 1.62 Bn in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 2 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 4.3%.

Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Lung Injury Market stakeholders. These forces create pricing signals which result from the changes in the supply and demand curves for a given product or service. Forces of Market Dynamics may be related to macro-economic and micro-economic factors.

There are dynamic market forces other than price, demand, and supply. Human emotions can also drive decisions, influence the market, and create price signals. As the market dynamics impact the supply and demand curves, decision-makers aim to determine the best way to use various financial tools to stem various strategies for speeding the growth and reducing the risks.

Company Profiles

The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitors in the market. It covers the financial performance analysis for the publicly listed companies in the market. The report also offers detailed information on the companies' recent development and competitive scenario. Some of the companies covered in this report are Apeptico Forschung Und Entwicklung, Bayer, General Electric Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Koninklijke Philips, Linde, Medtronic, Ony Biotech, Pfizer, Teva Pharmaceutical, etc.

Countries Studied

America (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, United States, Rest of Americas)

Europe (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Rest of Europe)

Middle-East and Africa (Egypt, Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Rest of MEA)

Asia-Pacific (Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, Rest of Asia-Pacific)

Story continues

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.

Ansoff Analysis

The report presents a detailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Lung Injury Market. Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Expansion Grid, is a strategic tool used to design strategies for the growth of the company. The matrix can be used to evaluate approaches in four strategies viz. Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. The matrix is also used for risk analysis to understand the risk involved with each approach. The analyst analyses the using the Ansoff Matrix to provide the best approaches a company can take to improve its market position. Based on the SWOT analysis conducted on the industry and industry players, the analyst has devised suitable strategies for market growth.

Why buy this report?

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Lung Injury Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's Proprietary competitive positioning tool.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Report Description



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Surge in Incidence of Pulmonary Infections

4.1.2 Increase in Awareness Associated with Lung Injury Treatment

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 High Cost of Therapies Coupled with Lack of Established Treatment

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 New Developments in Therapies

4.3.2 Pipelines Drugs for Treatment of Acute Lung Injury

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Low Adoption Rate Due to Complications Associated with Therapies



5 Market Analysis

5.1 Regulatory Scenario

5.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Ansoff Matrix Analysis



6 Global Lung Injury Market, By Therapy

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Medication

6.2.1 Pharmacotherapy

6.2.2 Fluid management

6.2.3 Inhaled nitric oxide

6.3 Devices

6.3.1 Mechanical ventilation

6.3.2 Adjunctive procedures devices



7 Global Lung Injury Market, By Injury

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Direct injury

7.3 Indirect injury



8 Global Lung Injury Market, By End User

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Hospitals

8.3 Clinics



9 Americas' Lung Injury Market

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Argentina

9.3 Brazil

9.4 Canada

9.5 Chile

9.6 Colombia

9.7 Mexico

9.8 Peru

9.9 United States

9.10 Rest of Americas



10 Europe's Lung Injury Market

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Austria

10.3 Belgium

10.4 Denmark

10.5 Finland

10.6 France

10.7 Germany

10.8 Italy

10.9 Netherlands

10.10 Norway

10.11 Poland

10.12 Russia

10.13 Spain

10.14 Sweden

10.15 Switzerland

10.16 United Kingdom

10.17 Rest of Europe



11 Middle East and Africa's Lung Injury Market

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Egypt

11.3 Israel

11.4 Qatar

11.5 Saudi Arabia

11.6 South Africa

11.7 United Arab Emirates

11.8 Rest of MEA



12 APAC's Lung Injury Market

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Australia

12.3 Bangladesh

12.4 China

12.5 India

12.6 Indonesia

12.7 Japan

12.8 Malaysia

12.9 Philippines

12.10 Singapore

12.11 South Korea

12.12 Sri Lanka

12.13 Thailand

12.14 Taiwan

12.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific



13 Competitive Landscape

13.1 Competitive Quadrant

13.2 Market Share Analysis

13.3 Strategic Initiatives

13.3.1 M&A and Investments

13.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

13.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



14 Company Profiles

14.1 Apeptico Forschung Und Entwicklung

14.2 Bayer

14.3 General Electric Company

14.4 GlaxoSmithKline

14.5 Koninklijke Philips

14.6 Linde

14.7 Medtronic

14.8 Ony Biotech

14.9 Pfizer

14.10 Teva Pharmaceutical



15 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/zck3qo

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Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



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SOURCE Research and Markets
(Bloomberg) -- Zara founder Amancio Ortega has spent over $700 million in recent weeks on a series of logistics acquisitions in whats shaping up to be one of the biggest bets yet by the Spanish textile tycoon.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Ortegas family investment company Pontegadea bought five logistics centers in the US states of Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas from Realty Income Corp. for about $722 million, in a deal reported by Spanish daily El Pais on Tuesday and confirmed by a Pontegadea official.

Those acquisitions come in the wake of previously announced logistics purchases, also from Realty Income, which totaled $183 million. Taken together, the moves mark a strategic step into a new area of real estate from Pontegadeas traditional focus on buildings such as apartments and office towers.

The US logistics market has boomed in recent years thanks to the e-commerce push spurred in large part by Amazon.com Inc., with investors including KKR & Co. and Blackstone Inc. snapping up warehouses and industrial properties.

Rents on industrial properties rose 21% in the second quarter from a year earlier, with leasing volume up 6%, according to a report by Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Pontegadeas recently purchased logistics plants have long-term lease agreements with global players including Nestle SA, Amazon, and FedEx Corp.

Ortega has made a number of big real estate deals this year, including paying about $500 million for a 64-floor luxury apartment building in New York and agreeing to buy Torontos Royal Bank Plaza skyscraper for about C$1.2 billion.

Ortegas fortune is valued at more than $46.8 billion, making him the 24th richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Story continues

Pontegadea ended 2021 with a portfolio of 15.3 billion euros ($15.5 billion) in property holdings, mainly premium commercial real estate in major cities across the world.

The foray into logistics comes as the Spanish textile giant diversifies more broadly, with a range of deals including an investment in a Telefonica SA-owned subsea telecoms operator and moves in the energy business, in renewable power, electricity transmission and natural gas transport.

The bulk of Pontegadeas income comes from Ortegas stake in Zara owner Inditex SA, the worlds largest apparel retailer, which owns a range of clothing brands.

(Updates with logistics background starting in fourth paragraph, net worth in seventh paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Mondays meeting of the Spotsylvania School Board ended after five hours over the objections of three members, and without the board taking up any new or unfinished business.

The meetings live feed ended about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, as board member Nicole Cole was still speaking.

Cole, along with board member Dawn Shelley, was pressing for board Chair Kirk Twigg to schedule a work session and special meeting to address needed capital improvement projects.

In response, Twigg told Shelley, You give me a superintendent, I give you a meeting.

Board member Lorita Daniels was attempting to address concerns raised to her by parents of special education students when Twigg called for a vote to adjourn the meeting.

Daniels and Cole had not voted when Twigg declared the meeting over.

The board listened to several hours of public comments. Earlier in the meeting, Twigg stated that he would be enacting a School Board policy that permits the chair to limit the number of speakers on any given topic to five.

Twigg asked that the microphone be cut off on several people who started to express concerns about the boards appointment of Mark Taylor as superintendent, stating that the limit on speakers who could address that topic had been reached.

He asked Spotsylvania Sheriffs Office deputies to remove two people from the meeting when they started to address Taylors appointment, and threatened others with removal.

The board later went into recess when the mood on the dais and in the audience grew hostile. After the break, board member Rabih Abuismail asked Twigg to waive the five-person limit per subject.

Among the concerns raised by the public during comments was acting superintendent Kelly Guempels contract. According to William Scheff, following the June 21 meeting at which the board approved Guempels appointment, Twigg asked Guempelwho had been principal of Spotsylvania High Schoolto stay behind to sign some documents.

This was captured on the broadcast before you adjourned, Scheff said. After the meeting, you approached the acting superintendent with copy of the contract. One of the items was a $4,500 monthly stipend, on top of his principals salary, for him to assume the role of interim.

Scheff said that Guempel asked for a higher monthly stipend and that Twigg crossed out the $4,500 amount and changed it to $8,500.

[Twigg] took it upon himself to nearly double the salary of the acting superintendent in secret, Scheff said. This is malfeasance, plain and simple.

Shelley corroborated Scheffs account and stated that Guempel told her about the incident himself.

Hes not going to lie to me about that, Shelley said. Mr. Twigg forged a contract and if people up here are defending him, then theyre just as guilty as he is.

Shelley said she gave information about the acting superintendents contract to Virginia State Police and that everything has now been turned over to the state Attorney Generals office.

Victoria LaCivita, a spokeswoman for the Attorney Generals Office, confirmed that the complaintas well as one alleging that Twigg misappropriated public funds by paying for board members April Gillespie and Lisa Phelps to attend a conference with ties to a conservative political action committee in Marchhas been received by the office.

I cannot comment further as it is an ongoing investigation, LaCivita said in an email Tuesday.

The board did approve three action items Monday: revisions to the divisions policy regarding restraint and seclusion that prohibit mechanical and prone restraint; a new policy that requires student-athletes and their parents be given information about symptoms that may lead to sudden cardiac arrest; and a budget amendment that would use $2.3 million in bonus funding from the state and $1.8 million from school division pandemic relief funds to provide a $1,000 bonus to all full-time, standards-of-quality funded instructional and support positions.

Part-time and hourly SOQ-funded positions will receive $500 bonuses. The bonuses will be paid in October to all eligible staff who receive a paycheck on Sept. 30.

The board will meet again Thursday and Friday in special meetings with closed sessions to discuss the superintendent search, according to the posted agendas.
For the second time in less than a week, James Monroe High School students were dismissed early Monday as the result of a bomb threat written on a bathroom wall, school officials said.

Officials cleared the Fredericksburg school Monday after someone wrote a threat to blow up the building on a wall in a girls bathroom. Police, other emergency workers and a dog responded to the school to search for any potentially harmful device. Nothing was found.

Superintendent Marci Catlett said the decision was made to send the students home because such searches normally take as long as three hours. By that time, Catlett said, the school day would have been just about over.

A similar writing was discovered on another wall about 2:30 p.m. Thursday in a boys bathroom in another part of the building, Catlett said. The school day was just about over, so the students were allowed to leave a few minutes early.

Catlett said school officials and police are investigating the incidents and are hopeful of determining who is responsible.

Marcus Petty, the principal at James Monroe, said the school is planning extra security measures at least for the near future. They include having personnel monitor areas without camera surveillance, such as the bathrooms and locker rooms. Students will also be required to sign in and out of classrooms and bathrooms.

Petty said officials will review surveillance footage in hopes of getting an idea about who might be leaving the writings.

The vast majority of our students do what they are supposed to do, but there are always a few who disrupt things for everyone, Petty said. We will do everything we can to make sure all of our students have a safe learning environment.

Catlett said an assembly is scheduled for Tuesday to talk with students about the problems caused by false bomb threats and the possible repercussions of making them.
THE QUESTION before the Virginia Board of Education on Thursday is a simple one. Should it grant Mark Taylor a superintendents license under Option IV of the Virginia Administrative Codeafter passing on doing so in Augustthereby paving the way for him to become head of Spotsylvania County Public Schools?

We feel that the answer is clear: No.

To obtain a license under Option IV, which is the legal pathway for those without an educational background to run a public school system, the applicant must meet educational and work criteria, and supply a letter of recommendation from the Virginia school board interested in employing the individual as superintendent.

Taylors first package that came before the VBOE on Aug. 7 contained a confidential letter supporting his application. On Monday, The Free LanceStar published the contents of that letter, which was sent by Twigg to Jon Russell, then with the VBOE and now a high-paid communications employee in the Spotsy school system.

As we reported: In the July 9 letter  Twigg wrote, The Spotsylvania School Board and Mr. Mark Taylor are all in agreement that he is the final candidate for the superintendent position. We were assured by [Russells] office, GR Recruiting, and Mr. Taylor that all requirements have been met for Mr. Taylor to be placed on the Virginia state approved superintendents list. 

Except the School Board had not agreed. Virginia Code requires a public vote before sending such a letter, and no vote was taken in advance of that July 9 letter.

Twigg had taken it upon himself to speak for the board. And Taylor, an attorney by training, knowingly went along by submitting the application.

This would appear to be in violation of the VAC that lists as a cause for denying an application: Attempting to obtain a license by fraudulent means or through misrepresentation of material facts.

Concerns about that letter and how it found its way into Taylors application were raised during the public comment period at the Aug. 17 meeting, when the VBOE took Taylors name off the approval list.

Per our reporting, Board of Education President Daniel Gecker said the board would revisit the question of whether to grant Taylor a superintendents license at the September meeting, after gathering more information from the school division.

The school board subsequently voted 43 on Aug. 25 to send a letter to VBOE.

Following the proper procedure the second time, however, does not negate Twiggs and Taylors and Russells improper actions in July.

For this reason alone, the VBOE should vote No on Taylor.

The problems with Taylor run deeper, however. The VAC allows the board to deny a license for [o]ther good and just cause in the best interest of the public schools of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

This paper has catalogued the many ways Taylor is unfit for this position. He has no experience with public education. He and his wife chose to homeschool their children. And the personal and business entanglements between Taylor and Twigg scream nepotism.

Those entanglements mean the VBOE must also consider the person pushing for Taylor: Twigg.

Over nine months as board chair, Twigg has overseen a mass exodus of high-level employees. They include the heads of human resources, communications, finance, special education, and an interim superintendent.

Further, Twigg is a stunningly opaque leader. He refuses to talk the media, doesnt respond to constituents, and ignores members of his own board. Worse, when confronted with direct evidence about his relationship with Taylor, as Nicole Cole did at the board meeting on Aug. 25, he refuses to respond.

And if that isnt enough, let VBOE watch Twigg gavel out speaker after speaker during public comments this past Monday, in direct violation of citizens First Amendment rights.

For all these reasons, the VBOE should vote No on Taylor.

Finally, if the VBOE believes in public education, supporting teachers, and Gov. Glenn Youngkins impassioned pleas for academic excellence, they must reject Taylor.

Should VBOE vote no, Spotsylvania votersboth those who voted, and those who didntshould thank the board, and then look in the mirror.

Spotsylvanians alone created this mess by putting four people on the board who were clearly not up to the job theyve been tasked to carry out.

And if VBOE fails the citizens of Spotsylvania and their children? Remember these days, and do better. Voting matters. As does finding candidates who put service over self.
Despite claims by the Taliban that women would not be discriminated against by its new government, the rights and freedoms of women and girls have been dramatically curtailed in Afghanistan, raising alarm among international human rights organizations. After a nearly 20-year insurgency, the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, amid the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from the country. The Taliban takeover prompted more than 120,000 people to flee their homeland. Although there are internal divisions within the militant Islamist group, some experts believe that the Taliban regime is likely to remain in power for the foreseeable future. The Taliban and Western nations have clashed over several issues, including terrorism and human rights, especially of women. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said women in Afghanistan are experiencing "the biggest violation of womens rights on Earth." The reversal of women's rights has concerned the international community. From banning girls access to education to enforcing rules on how women dress, the Taliban has upended two decades of progress in womens rights. The Afghan Constitution, which was established in 2004, gave women the right to work and receive an education.

A report by the group Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) showed that womens civil society organizations (CSOs) are suffering under the Taliban. Civil society is essential in holding the authorities accountable for enacting laws that meet the needs of vulnerable groups, especially women. After the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime in 2001, foreign funding played an important role in supporting female-led organizations and other CSOs focused on transparency and anti-corruption advocacy, election monitoring, and human rights. Around 77 percent of womens CSOs have had no projects in 2022 due to a lack of funding, while some heads of organizations and civil society members have left the country. Since the Taliban takeover, foreign donors have drastically cut aid to Afghanistan, where there is a major economic and humanitarian crisis. Western nations have also imposed sanctions against members of the Taliban government. The number of women and girls in need of humanitarian assistance jumped from 8.8 million in 2021 to 11.8 million in 2022.

Women Out Of Decision-Making Environments Human rights campaigners have accused the Taliban of trying to erase women from all public life. In June, several thousand Taliban clerics and tribal leaders gathered to discuss issues of national importance. But Taliban leaders did not allow women to participate. Women were already underrepresented in the workforce in Afghanistan, varying between around 14 and 15 percent from 1990 to 2012. It reached its peak in 2019 when 21.57 percent of the labor force was made up of women.

A 'Domino Effect' The Taliban has redefined the type of work considered appropriate for women under their interpretation of Islamic law. Most women have only been allowed to work in the health-care and education sectors, although some have been too scared to resume their work. Some female doctors and nurses also fled the country after the Taliban takeover, leading to a shortage in health-care professions. The Talibans policy of gender segregation has also created barriers to women and girls accessing health care. At many facilities, patients are only treated by a health professional of the same sex. This has been keenly felt in a country where there is a high birth rate. The devastating earthquake that struck southeastern Afghanistan and killed over 1,000 people in June also exposed the human cost of limiting jobs to women. According to local reporting, women affected by the earthquake could not receive medical care due to the lack of female doctors in the region. Recognizing the need for more women in the health sector, the Taliban is asking for external financial assistance to increase training and employment opportunities for women. Meanwhile, in the face of the Talibans mounting violations of womens rights, the international community has refused to commit to long-term funding without a guarantee that womens rights will be restored. The Talibans restrictions on female employment have had a clear domino effect, pushing the health-care system in Afghanistan to the brink of collapse.

Girls Banned From School One of the international communitys key demands for increasing aid to Afghanistan has been the return of girls to schools. In September 2021, the Taliban banned girls from secondary education In March, shortly after announcing the reopening of schools for girls, the Taliban closed them again. This was followed by a wave of protests in Kabul that led to the detention of several protest leaders. On September 10, just a few days after four secondary schools reopened for girls in eastern Afghanistan, the Taliban shut them again . There are currently about 3 million girls in Afghanistan who will not complete their secondary education. RFE/RL's Radio Azadi recently shared a compilation of drawings, photographs, and letters by Afghan girls showing the psychological toll of the ban on schoolgirls. Even if girls are allowed to return to secondary school, the exodus of qualified female professionals is likely to have a negative impact on their education. Weeda Mehran, co-director of the Center for Advanced International Studies (CAIS) at the University of Exeter, told RFE/RL that male teachers are not allowed to teach girls, so even if girls in secondary school go back to class, there will be a shortage of female teachers. Women And The Economy The Talibans restrictions on women working outside their homes have hit the Afghan economy hard. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimates that, depending on the severity of the restrictions on the female workforce, there may be a drop of a least 5 percent in the countrys GDP, equivalent to up to $1 billion.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a phone call to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on September 13.

During the telephone conversation, the U.S. Secretary of State expressed his concern over the tension on the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border.

President Ilham Aliyev stated that the tension arose as a result of large-scale provocations by Armenia, and therefore the responsibility completely falls on the political-military leadership of Armenia.

Antony Blinken noted that the United States will continue its efforts to ensure lasting peace and security in the region, and to normalize relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The head of state pointed out that Azerbaijan supports the peace agenda and underlined the importance of continuing efforts in this regard.
Second-grader Maria Diaz is taught by teacher Katie Toler at Coperni 3 public K-7 charter school in Colorado Springs on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020. (Chancey Bush/ The Gazette)
George Brauchler is the former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District. He also is president of the Advance Colorado Academy, which identifies, trains and connects conservative leaders in Colorado. He hosts The George Brauchler Show on 710KNUS Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Follow him on Twitter: @GeorgeBrauchler.
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Colorado's leaders are mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Britains longest-reigning monarch who died Thursday at age 96, calling her a "rock" for Great Britain and a "beacon of stability" through the decades.
People look at the floral tributes in Green Park, following the death of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, near Buckingham Palace in London, Britain September 13, 2022. REUTERS/Phil Noble
Xi's upcoming Central Asia trip to bolster SCO cooperation

Xinhua) 08:16, September 13, 2022

File photo shows a lights and fireworks show in Qingdao, the host city of the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)

With fruitful achievements, the SCO has grown into the world's largest and most populous regional institution, and it has endeavored to explore new ground, both theoretically and with actual steps, with a view to building a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind.

BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the city of Samarkand, and pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from Wednesday to Friday.

Xi's trip is expected to promote the development of the SCO and enhance China-Kazakhstan and China-Uzbekistan relations.

SHANGHAI SPIRIT

Since its founding in 2001, the SCO, the first inter-governmental organization named after a Chinese city, has had an extraordinary journey.

After 21 years, the organization, now with eight full members, four observer countries and multiple dialogue partners, has become not only a strong pillar of global peace and development, but also a major force for international equity and justice.

"The SCO enjoys strong vitality and momentum of cooperation. This, in the final analysis, is attributed to the Shanghai Spirit, a creative vision initiated and followed through by the SCO that champions mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development," Xi said at the 18th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the SCO in 2018.

Within the framework of the SCO, countries have supported each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and major concerns. Together, they have fought against terrorism, separatism and extremism, and taken tough actions to curb the spread of drug trafficking, cybercrime and transnational organized crime. People-to-people programs such as art festivals, the SCO University and the SCO Forum on Traditional Medicine have been launched.

With such fruitful achievements, the SCO has grown into the world's largest and most populous regional institution, and it has endeavored to explore new ground, both theoretically and with actual steps, with a view to building a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind.

Practices over the years have shown that the values embodied and advocated by the Shanghai Spirit have been fully recognized by the member states, said Zhang Ming, secretary-general of the SCO.

As this year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the SCO Charter and the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation of the SCO Member States, global attention has been placed on the upcoming Samarkand Summit of the SCO, where Xi and other leaders will discuss how to jointly address global challenges and promote security and development.

In fact, as a founding member of the SCO, China has been committed to promoting a sound development of the organization. Since 2013, President Xi has put forward a series of initiatives while participating in the SCO summits, which have enriched the Shanghai Spirit.

People visit the 2021 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) International Investment and Trade Expo in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, April 26, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)

From elaborating on China's visions on development, security, cooperation, civilization and global governance, to calling for the building of "a community of health," "a community of security," "a community of development" and "a community of cultural exchanges," the Chinese leader played an important role in the SCO's steady and long-term development.

The Chinese president's remarks have summarized the SCO's practices, and adequately met the needs of regional governance and the requirements of the organization's development, said Deng Hao, secretary-general of the China Center for SCO Studies.

As the world is witnessing profound changes, especially after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese leader has proposed the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, which have been widely recognized by the international community, including SCO countries.

CLOSER COOPERATION

At the Qingdao Summit of the SCO in 2018, Xi said that the Chinese government supports building a demonstration area in Qingdao for local economic and trade cooperation between China and the SCO.

Since then, the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area in Qingdao has grown into an important logistics hub with flourishing freight train services.

China's efforts to promote SCO development in economic and trade, as well as in other areas including health and poverty alleviation have benefited people in different countries.

Within the framework of the SCO, the member states are witnessing significant economic development, great improvement in people's lives and closer relations with each other, which has attracted countries outside the organization, Zhang, secretary-general of the SCO, said.

Last year, the SCO launched procedures to admit Iran as a full member state. Moreover, it has granted dialogue partner status to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar.

Committed to true multilateralism, the SCO has always opposed hegemonic, domineering and bullying acts, and will never attempt the forming of cliques.

To translate true multilateralism into practice, the organization has been making full use of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group and actively cooperating with such international and regional organizations as the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

It has also been promoting synergy between the Belt and Road cooperation and the development strategies of various countries and regional cooperation initiatives such as the Eurasian Economic Union.

File photo taken on Nov. 9, 2020 shows a train carrying tires, auto parts, electronic components and other goods from Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) preparing to leave the Qingdao multimodal transportation center in the China-SCO local economic and trade cooperation demonstration zone in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)

Meanwhile, the SCO calls for observing the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, providing a new platform and model for multilateral cooperation to improve global governance.

As B.R. Deepak, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, has said, the SCO "has proved to be an excellent example of multilateralism in the 21st century," and "has played an important role in enhancing the voice of developing countries in global institutions and forums."

BRIGHT FUTURE

This year marks the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Kazakhstan as well as between China and Uzbekistan.

Over the past 30 years, China's relations with the two countries have maintained a sound momentum of development.

In 2013, 2015 and 2017, Xi paid three visits to Kazakhstan where the Silk Road Economic Belt was initiated.

Since 2013, China-Kazakhstan relations have achieved leapfrog development with the Belt and Road cooperation, bringing tangible benefits to the people of the two countries.

In 2021, the Zhanatas wind power plant, the Turgusun hydropower station and other China-built projects were completed and put into operation. Kazakh companies have participated in the China International Import Expo for four consecutive years. The import and export of goods between China and Kazakhstan totaled 25.25 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, up 17.6 percent year-on-year. Their economic cooperation has withstood the tough test of the pandemic and shown strong resilience.

Wind turbines are seen at central Asia's largest wind farm built by a Chinese firm near the city of Zhanatas in the Zhambyl Region, Kazakhstan, May 24, 2021. (Photo by Kalizhan Ospanov/Xinhua)

Meanwhile, China-Uzbekistan relations are at a historic high. The two countries have strengthened political mutual trust, achieved fruitful practical cooperation and maintained close coordination in international and regional affairs.

Xi visited Uzbekistan in 2013 and 2016. In 2016, China-Uzbekistan relations were upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership. Since then, China has been Uzbekistan's largest trading partner and largest destination of exports.

Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, the two sides have carried out close cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, investment, energy, transportation, agriculture and people-to-people exchanges, and undertaken a number of projects like the Pengsheng industrial park and China's Ming Yuan Silu Corp-funded plate glass manufacturing and deep-processing facility.

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are both important participants and contributors to Belt and Road cooperation.

More than 2,000 years ago, along the ancient Silk Road linking Asia and Europe, civilizations in the East and West told a story of mutual assistance and mutual learning. Now the Belt and Road has carried forward that spirit across the Eurasian continent, bringing SCO members even closer.

Sun Zhuangzhi, director of the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that in line with the concepts of "a green Silk Road" and "a digital Silk Road," practical cooperation among SCO member states will be expanded to green development, digital economy and other areas in the future.

After more than 20 years of development, the organization has been forging ahead toward closer cooperation. As the Samarkand Summit is approaching, the SCO is expected to continuously uphold the Shanghai Spirit, commit itself to building a closer SCO community with a shared future, and make greater contributions to lasting peace and the common development of the world.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Odile Renaud-Basso.

The sides discussed issues related to the expansion of cooperation between Azerbaijan and EBRD in various areas. In particular, the sides emphasized the support for economic activity in the non-oil sector, the implementation of projects on the creation of jobs, EBRDs participation and support for increasing private sector financing along with state enterprises, as well as projects being implemented in the field of renewable and alternative energy in Azerbaijan.

During the conversation, the sides also touched upon prospects of the project signed between EBRD and the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company CJSC the day before and the provision of a loan in the amount of 100 million dollars. The parties exchanged views on the possible participation of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which is of particular importance for European energy security.

They touched upon the cooperation in the field of telecommunications, and stressed the importance of signing the Grant, Credit and Project agreements on the Street Lighting project to be implemented as part of the Ganja-Green City Program. The sides also discussed the prospects for the implementation of similar projects in other cities of Azerbaijan.
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-KY) unveils a nationwide abortion bill with new abortion restrictions, during a news conference alongside representatives from national anti-abortion organizations, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September, 13, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
A federal grant program awarded Colorado $100 million to fund infrastructure improvements to the Interstate 70 Mountain Corridor.

The Colorado Department of Transportation announced the award Friday from the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects grant program. The funds will go to the I-70 Floyd Hill Project, which plans to address traffic and safety issues along the road from Floyd Hill to Veterans Memorial Tunnel.

The Floyd Hill Project is the largest transportation project in Colorado since work began on the expansion of I-70 through Denver.

"Everyone who travels the I-70 Mountain Corridor knows Floyd Hill as the first place where you get stuck in traffic as you leave Denver," Gov. Jared Polis said. "I would like to thank our delegation for their tremendous advocacy for this $100 million grant to help Coloradans get out of traffic."

The Floyd Hill Project will add a third westbound express lane, a new connection between Route 6 and Idaho Springs and improve visibility and safety risks along the road. The project will also add wildlife bridges, air quality monitors, electric vehicle infrastructure, expand public transit routes and restore surrounding animal habits.

Colorado U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper wrote to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in support of the grant proposal in May. In February, Bennet, Hickenlooper, Polis and Colorado U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse hosted Buttigieg at Floyd Hill.

"After Secretary Buttigieg visited Floyd Hill, Sen. Hickenlooper and I urged him to deliver the funding for this critical project," Bennet said. "I look forward to seeing how it will improve safety and decrease congestion for all who travel from the Front Range to the West Slope."

Hickenlooper added: "The Floyd Hill project will upgrade an essential tract of I-70, boosting our mountain economies and easing congestion so Coloradans can access the great outdoors."

Free public transit month ends with ridership up throughout Colorado
In its ruling on Monday, the court decided there must be an "essential link" between the defendant and a past conviction, requiring both documentation and corroborating evidence that the person in the current case is the same person from the prior case.
By Trend





Despite the declared ceasefire, the Armenian armed forces units from positions in the direction of Vagudi settlement of Garakilsa district of the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border shelled the Azerbaijan Army positions from small arms in the direction of Ahmadli settlement of Lachin district at 16:55 (GMT+4) on September 13, Trend reports citing the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani Army Units took adequate retaliatory measures.

Despite the declaration of a ceasefire since 09:00, Armenia is intensively violating it along the border by using artillery and other heavy weapons.
By Trend





Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan arrived at the government building amid a large-scale provocation by the Armenian armed forces against Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan has convened an emergency meeting, Trend reports referring to the Armenian media.

Reportedly, police forces are concentrated near the government building.
An arraignment date has been set for a North Iowa man accused of shooting a woman with a hunting bow and arrow.

Casey John Larson, 31, is set to be arraigned at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27, on charges of felony attempted murder, which is punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

Around 10 p.m. Sept. 2, the Mason City Police Department responded to a call of people yelling near the intersection of First Street Northwest and North Washington Avenue, according to a press release. At approximately the same time, a call went out to report that a woman near that same area had been shot with an arrow and taken to the hospital.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found a bystander who had restrained Larson. According to court documents, Larson also chased the woman with a knife and admitted to officers that he had intended to kill her.
The Charles City Community School District announced on Monday improvements students have made on the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP).

Iowa public school students in grades 3-11 take the assessment each year. The scores from spring 2022 were recently released by the state of Iowa.

In English language arts proficiency, Charles City 5th grade students achieved 20 percent growth overall compared to the previous year, according to a press release. This also included 15.5% growth for 10th graders and 2.9% for eighth graders. This year's scores marked 15.2% improvement over the past two testing cycles in ELA.

Students also improved in math, with 5th grade students seeing a 15.9% growth over the previous year. This included a 6% growth for 10th graders. In science, the district's 5th grade scores improved by 15.5% and 9.7% growth at the 10th grade level.

We are very pleased with the outstanding progress our students are making on the ISASP and the growth we have been able to realize as an organization thanks to the amazing work of our educators, students, and families, said Dr. Director of Academic Services Jennifer Schilling in a statement. While we celebrate this progress, we also know we have more work to do. As we move forward, we will remain focused on fulfilling our vision of developing learners who are competent, compassionate, problem solvers.

Schilling joins Charles City School District senior leadership team The Charles City School District has a familiar face taking on a new role.

According to a press release, students are also making gains as they move up in grade level. The students who moved from sixth to seventh grade, for example, notched 8% growth in math, 5% in literacy, and 4.5% in science.

Like many school districts, Charles City's ISASP scores dipped in the 2020-21 year due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. This year's scores are more in line with pre-pandemic levels and "even outpacing those scores, in some instances."

Charles City schools' strategic plan features robust tactics to continue growth around the district's focus area of engagement. This includes focus on teacher collaboration, alignment to standards and career pathways that leverage learning outside of the classroom.

New superintendent has bright outlook for Charles City School District A new school leader is looking to the future with her district.
The Supreme Courts recent decision is unfair. It treats non-resident [ #permalink

The Supreme Courts recent decision is unfair. It treats non-resident aliens as a special group when it denies them some rights ordinary citizens have. This treatment is discriminatory, and we all know that discrimination is unfair.



The flow is

Treating non-residents as special group --> denies rights --> leads to discrimination --> discrimination is unfair --> hence decision is unfair

The argument generalizes that any decision that isolates a group would be unfair

Basically, if discrimination is necessary for being unfair, it is also sufficient to treat something as unfair (just as the court's decision).



(A) Doing good would be our highest duty under the moral law, and that duty would be irrational unless we had the ability to discharge it; but since a finite creature could never discharge that duty in his lifetime, we must conclude that if there is moral law, the soul is immortal.

--> This one's close. The argument states that since the creature is finite, there cannot be enough time for a mortal to discharge the duties. However, since the actual condition is hypothetical (if there is a moral law) we cannot conclude that his argument is similar in reasoning.



(B) Required core courses are a good idea because students just entering college do not have as good an idea about what constitutes a good education as do the professional educators; therefore, students should not be left complete freedom to select coursework.

--> Since some courses are left to the student's choices, the statement does not consider the required courses as sufficient although necessary.



(C) This country is the most free nation on earth largely as a result of the fact that the founding fathers had the foresight to include a Bill of Rights in the Constitution.

--> Bill of Rights may be necessary to conduct a free nation but it cannot be sufficient in itself.



(D) Whiskey and beer do not mix well; every evening that I have drunk both whiskey and beer together, the following morning I have had a hangover.

--> The reason for the hangover is assumed to be the fact that Whiskey and Beer don't mix together. Not enough evidence that it was also a sufficient condition to cause the hangover. It could be either of them or none of them too.



(E) I know that this is a beautiful painting because Picasso created only beautiful works of art, and this painting was done by Picasso.

--> This is correct. Only going by the definition of "beautiful works of art" and considering the artwork beautiful because it was done by Picasso and not because it is actually beautiful objectively. The author conclusively considers his reasoning as both necessary and sufficient.



Option E
The worlds largest aeroponic smart farm is officially open in Cane Creek Centre industrial park.

Local, state and company officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for AeroFarms new 138,670-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility Monday afternoon.

The company plans to have 48 plant-growing towers four-and-half stories high, with the operation entailing the equivalent of a 1,000-acre farm, company officials said during a tour of the facility at Cane Creek Centre Industrial Park off South Boston Road in March.

Leafy greens that will be grown aeroponically inside the building include micro arugula, micro wasabi mustard, micro kale and other vegetables.

Its not just about growing a plant, but creating a business, AeroFarms CEO and co-founder David Rosenberg said during the ceremony Monday.

The vertical-farming facility began production in August and has hired about 80 employees from Danville and the surrounding area. All of the promised 158 workers will be hired by the end of the year, Chief Marking Officer Marc Oshima told the Danville Register & Bee after the ceremony.

AeroFarms initially promised 92 jobs during an announcement in December 2019, but announced in July that it would be expanding and adding 66 more jobs at its Ringgold facility. The manufacturing plant is the worlds largest indoor vertical farm of its kind. Virginia successfully competed against other states for the project.

Were really excited by what weve done, Rosenberg said. Its nothing short of game-changing.

The community has accepted AeroFarms with open arms and we accept them, we embrace them, and were so thankful, the quality of people we have. Theyre hard-working, Rosenberg said.

Its going to be the start of a very long relationship with the city of Danville, the county, the state and the neighboring areas, he said.

Groundbreaking on the facility was held in April 2021.The expansion announced in July was being driven by the companys decision to grow production to meet increased customer demand.

U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-5th District, said he has visited a lot of farms in the state, including horse farms, cattle farms, hog farms and others, but not one like AeroFarms.

I have never been to a farm like this because a farm like this does not exist any place else in the world, Good bragged.

The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.

Plant manager Anthony Smith, who has more than 37 years experience in manufacturing, said, Im just so excited to be managing the worlds largest aeroponic smart farm.

Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matt Lohr said, Rural Virginia is the heart of what makes this commonwealth so great.

With 158 jobs and about 138,000 square feet of indoor growing capacity, AeroFarms is good for the region and for the commonwealth, Lohr said.

We certainly welcome you here, Lohr said.

The new AeroFarms indoor vertical farm in Virginia will distribute primarily to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast markets with the ability to reach about 50 million people located within a days drive and more than 1,000 retailers, according to the governors office. The distribution will build on AeroFarms existing relationships with retailers such as Ahold Delhaize, Amazon Fresh, Harris Teeter, The Fresh Market, Weee!, Walmart and Whole Foods Market.

AeroFarms plans to produce tens of billions of leafy green vegetable plants per year at its facility.

Within the four-and-a-half-story growing area, each section in the system will have its own micro-climate determining which plant will grow where.

Products grown at the facility will be sold at major retailers including Food Lion, Walmart and Whole Foods.

Vertical growing uses LED lighting and aeroponic mist on leafy greens in stacks that can reach as high as 40 feet. It mists the greens roots with nutrients, water and oxygen, using 95% less water and 99% less land than field farming and 40% less water than hydroponics, according to the companys website.

The lighting allows control of the size, shape, texture, color, flavor and nutrition.

The process involves growing the plants in stacks at a rate said to be 390 times more productive than field-grown plants.

Jay Timmons, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, said the aeroponic farm is an important and promising sign of the economic evolution of Southside Virginia.

There is so much to like in this match between AeroFarms and Danville, Timmons said. Danville and Southside Virginia are on their way to becoming a modern innovation hub. The region has an eager and growing workforce.

AeroFarms provides an exciting opportunity for those launching or changing careers to work for a company with a focus on sustainability, Timmons said.

Danville Mayor Alonzo Jones pointed out that invitations to Mondays groundbreaking had phrases like agriculture, elevated and new heights.

Those words so aptly describe this company and the production that will be taking place in this facility, Jones said. I am so proud and happy that AeroFarms puts its faith and trust in our community and built this cutting-edge facility right here in Danville-Pittsylvania County.

Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors Chairman Vic Ingram said the community celebrates your presence as we officially cut the ribbon of citizenship, technology, growth and harvest.

Incentives for the company to come to the Dan River Region included $190,000 in grant money from the Virginia Tobacco Commission, $200,000 from the Governors Commonwealth Opportunity Fund and $200,000 from the states Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin approved a $33,000 grant from the Governors Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund, which Pittsylvania County will match with local funds. The company is also eligible to receive state benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Job Creation Grant program, administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.
Accolades continue stacking up for Averett University.

On Monday, the Danville school landed in the top 25 of the 2022-23 Best Regional Colleges in the South in a list released by the U.S. News & World Report.

Averett was the highest-ranking Virginia school on the list, according to a university news release.

The university also ranked in the No. 10 spot for best colleges for veterans among regional colleges in the South, the only school in the state to make the list by U.S. News. Averett also earned the No. 17 for best value schools and No. 34 for social mobility among regional colleges in the South in the same report.

We could not be more thankful for these distinguished recognitions Averett has received, and we continue to find new ways to innovate and engage, Averett President Tiffany M. Franks said in a statement. Our faculty and staff are committed to helping students make the impossible achievable and attainable, and that commitment is being noticed.

The university also was recognized for economic diversity among the student body and campus ethnic diversity, the release stated.

According to U.S. News, the top performers on social mobility ranking measures the extent schools enrolled and graduated students who received federal Pell grants, and economic diversity was based on percentages of fall 2021 full time and part time degree-seeking undergraduates who received Pell grants, a news release stated.

For campus ethnic diversity, U.S. News calculated the total proportion of minority students  leaving out international students  and the overall mix of groups, the university reported.

This comes on top of other honors.

The school was recently named as one of the best southeastern colleges by The Princeton Reviews 2023 Best Colleges List, and has once again been designated a 2022-2023 College of Distinction.

For this particular list, 655 colleges in five zones  Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, West and international  are considered academically outstanding, according to its website.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  The Tigray forces battling Ethiopian troops say theyre willing to abide by an immediate cessation of hostilities and participate in a peace process led by the African Union, a significant shift to which Ethiopia's government has not yet responded.

The conflict in northern Ethiopias Tigray region has killed an estimated tens of thousands of people and left millions without basic services for well over a year after fighting erupted in late 2020.

The Tigray authorities statement Sunday night came after new pressure by the United States and others following the renewal of fighting last month that shattered months of relative calm. Witnesses have described heavy fighting along the region's borders.

The Tigray authorities had criticized AU mediation efforts under special envoy Olesegun Obasanjo. Their new statement makes clear they expect mutually acceptable mediators along with international observers and experts to guide the process.

The Ethiopian government has said it was ready for talks anywhere at any time and without preconditions. Tigray authorities had demanded the resumption of basic services and the removal of hostile forces from neighboring Eritrea, among other things.

The recent fighting has triggered new diplomatic activity behind the scenes. The U.S. has played a leading role in mediating between the two sides, according to two diplomatic sources in Addis Ababa, who also said talks were expected in Djibouti. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The U.S., AU, United Nations and European Union welcomed the Tigray authorities new statement, and the U.S. called on Eritrea and unnamed others to stop fueling the conflict.

The AU statement notably referred to the regional government of Tigray, while Ethiopia's government last year designated the Tigray authorities and their forces as a terrorist organization. The EU statement by foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also referred to the regional government and said this opportunity should be seized by all. Now.

Ethiopia's national security adviser, Redwan Hussein, did not comment on the Tigray statement. Instead, he told The Associated Press that the U.N.-established International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia was no longer welcome in the country. There's no point for Ethiopia to cooperate with a politically motivated" group seen as trying to demonize the government, he said.

The commission, which recently visited Ethiopia, last week issued a statement of concern about the renewed fighting, saying Eritrean forces are involved and that the conflict risks spreading to other states.

The fighting has again cut off deliveries to Tigray of humanitarian aid, which had revived in a limited way during the lull in fighting earlier this year. Aid deliveries also have been suspended to parts of the neighboring Amhara region affected by the fighting.

An aid worker told the AP on Friday there has been heavy fighting on seven or eight fronts along Tigrays borders. A second aid worker said Eritrean troops had shelled the Tigray towns of Adigrat and Sheraro and had launched attacks against Tigray forces' positions in several places.

The second aid worker said several thousand people displaced by the fighting around Sheraro arrived in the city of Shire last week. They also said a bridge linking Shire to the Amhara region has been destroyed. The bridge was blown up last year and later repaired.
By Trend

A new subway station is planned to be built in the White City area in Baku, Deputy Board Chairman of Baku Metro CJSC Hidayat Mammadov said during a briefing, Trend reports.

According to Mammadov, the issue of the construction of this station has been already included in the conceptual development plan.
RALEIGH  North Carolinas electricity regulators began listening Tuesday to potentially weeks of testimony over proposals by Duke Energy subsidiaries on how to carry out a state law demanding greenhouse gas reductions in the next decade.

In keeping with the landmark 2021 law, the Charlotte-based utility pitched to the state Utilities Commission earlier this year how it could cut carbon dioxide emissions in North Carolina 70% by 2030 as compared to 2005 levels.

The expert testimony comes before the seven-member commission must rule on a formal path forward by Dec. 31. It follows a wave of document filings by environmental and clean energy groups, major corporate electricity users, rank-and-file customers and the Attorney Generals Office. About 40 different entities are listed as third-party intervenors in the matter before the commission, giving their lawyers the ability to cross-examine Duke executives and offer their own witnesses.

Dukes carbon plan unveiled in May envisioned four different energy production and efficiency portfolios  three of which didnt reach the 70% mandate until 2032 or 2034. The law gives the commission leeway to push back the 70% reduction deadline to 2032 or even further in some circumstances.

Duke Energy has said it wants the commission to approve multiple options to give it flexibility and time to evaluate emerging electricity sources. A slower reduction roll-out also would result in lower rate increases on customers and more assurance of reliable energy supplies, the utility said.

Were not asking the commission to go ahead and utilize that discretion to delay. What were asking for is a suite of near-term procurement and development actions that need to take place, said Tuesdays first witness, Kendal Bowman, vice president of regulatory affairs for Dukes North and South Carolina subsidiaries. Those near-term actions would include retiring more coal-fired plants, boosting solar and battery supplies and creating natural gas-powered plants, which can provide energy on cloudy or high-demand days.

Dukes critics say the proposals rely too much on natural gas or make customer bills too costly. Some have offered their own carbon-reduction plan that reaches the 70% reduction mandate by 2030 while relying more on solar and wind power and battery storage use.

Do you think it would be appropriate for the commission given that Duke has only got one 2030 compliance portfolio to consider 2030 compliance portfolios put forth by other parties? Benjamin Snowden, an attorney representing independent solar generating facilities, asked Bowman. She replied the commission can consider anything brought before it.

Catherine Cralle Jones, an attorney for Appalachian Voices, questioned how much was being done to address affordability. Nearly 1 million customers of Duke Energy Progress or Duke Energy Carolinas  almost a third of their North Carolina customer base  qualify as low-income through federal poverty guidelines.

If we cannot address affordability in the carbon plan itself for the customers, then we are missing an opportunity here for these investments, for these priorities, Jones said.

Bowman said the company believes transitioning to clean energy will help keep affordable rates that are historically below the national average, and that efficiency efforts to reduce electricity use will help as well.
Freight trains across the United States could come to a halt this week if six of the seven largest railroads in North America  including BNSF Railway and Union Pacific, which both operate in Montana  cannot secure new labor contracts by 12:01 a.m. Friday, following more than two years of contentious negotiations.

At that hour, either the railroads can lock out employees, or unions representing tens of thousands of railroaders can go on strike. On Monday, a shutdown of the network appeared so likely that some railroads began to secure hazardous material shipments should a strike or lockout occur, though the unions dismissed that action as a ploy to get shippers to complain to Congress to force a solution. The Washington Post reported that White House officials are holding emergency meetings this week in hopes of preventing a strike.

A shutdown of a vast majority of the freight rail network could cost the American economy more than $2 billion a day, according to an economic analysis by the Association of American Railroads, as well as impact agricultural and manufacturing shippers in Montana and elsewhere. A shutdown of the rail network, which moves 1.7 billion tons of goods and products annually, would also have a major impact on a national supply chain still reeling from the impacts of the pandemic and labor shortages.

Railroad-labor relations are complex and are generally governed by a nearly century-old law called the Railway Labor Act of 1926. Under that law, railroads and unions have conducted collective bargaining negotiations on a multi-employer and multi-union basis for more than 90 years. Nearly all the major freight railroads in the United States partake in the national talks. Typically, the national bargaining method has been successful at avoiding strikes or lockouts that could cripple the American economy, and there have been only two days of service disruptions resulting from contract talks in the last 30 years. The last national railroad work stoppage was in 1992.

But the latest round of contract talks has been more contentious than most. In addition to standard issues like compensation and benefits, the talks have also focused on various work rules regarding employee attendance policies and crew sizes. Currently, most freight trains run with two employees on board, but some freight railroads have said it can be done with just one. The unions say that is unsafe, and the federal government is currently considering implementing a rule to make two-person crews the national standard. The unions also want new policies guaranteeing railroaders  who navigate hectic and unpredictable work schedules  a better work-life balance.

In June, after more than two years of talks and help from federal mediators, the National Mediation Board announced that talks between the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition (which represents the unions) and the National Carriers Conference Committee (which represents the railroads) had failed and that third-party arbitrators should step in. However, either side can reject binding arbitration, which the unions did. That set the stage for the Biden administration to establish a Presidential Emergency Board to review the conflict and make recommendations.

On Aug. 17, that board issued its report and recommended that the railroads give their employees a 22% pay increase  less than the 28% the unions wanted, but more than the 16% the railroads had offered. On the more contentious issues like attendance policies and crew size, the emergency board punted and said the railroads and unions should resolve those questions through local negotiations or arbitration. The railroads called the emergency boards recommendations a useful basis to continue talks. But union officials said those recommendations had fallen short and did not go far enough to provide our members with the quality of life that they have earned, and that both they and their families deserve.

Railroaders were also frustrated with comments made by negotiators stating that they did not believe the railroads record profits were the result of contributions by labor. Rather, the railroads said the profits were the result of capital investment and [financial] risk by the companies.

The release of the Presidential Emergency Board report set off another round of talks and a 30-day cooling off period during which the railroads couldnt lock employees out and the unions couldnt strike. During that time, the railroads have forged agreements with eight smaller unions representing maintenance workers, dispatchers and more. However, agreements with the two largest unions  the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen and SMART Transportation Division, which together represent tens of thousands of locomotive engineers and conductors  have remained elusive.

Late last week, a number of railroads announced that they would begin to secure hazardous material shipments ahead of the 12:01 a.m. Sept. 16 deadline in case of a strike. Some even warned customers that trains carrying non-hazardous materials might come to a halt up to 72 hours ahead of the deadline to ensure an orderly shutdown of the network.

In a message to customers, BNSF Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Steve Bobb urged rail shippers to contact their congressional representatives to intervene and prevent a strike by unilaterally imposing the Presidential Emergency Board recommendations.

It is critical that Congress hear from freight rail customers as soon as possible, Bobb wrote. If there is a labor strike on September 16, Congress can intervene to prevent or quickly resolve the service disruption.

But the unions have said any move to stop freight before the Sept. 16 deadline is the railroad industry trying to scare customers into action. In a joint statement on Sunday, Jeremy Ferguson, president of SMART Transportation Division, and Dennis Pierce, president of Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen, called the preemptive freight embargoes an unnecessary attack on rail shippers.

The railroads are using shippers, consumers, and the supply chain of our nation as pawns in an effort to get our unions to cave into their contract demands knowing that our members would never accept them, the union bosses wrote. Our unions will not cave into these scare tactics, and Congress must not cave into what can only be described as corporate terrorism.
Ten inmates at Montana State Prison last month began college courses with Helena College as part of the Second Chance Pell Grant program officials hope can help reduce recidivism.

The federal program is administered through the Montana Department of Corrections and the Montana University System.

Pell Grants are typically available to students in financial need, although they were previously unavailable to students in prison settings. The U.S. Department of Education in April announced an expansion of the Second Chance program, now in its third round of grant disbursements. Among the additional 73 colleges and universities that will provide college courses to students in prison settings were Great Falls College, Montana State University Billings, Dawson Community College and Helena College.

The 10 inmates who received the grants began their work Aug. 29 toward a certificate of applied science in automotive technology through Helena College, the state corrections department said in a press release Monday.

"I believe it will be an essential part of my success, said Ty Jensen, an inmate who recently completed a welding course at the prison and hopes to own a fabrication and auto body shop. Itll help give me the skills and the ability to have a career and to stay out and never come back.

Helena College Dean Sandra Bauman said in the press release the students will be plugged into the classroom experience via smart boards and other technology while getting the hands-on experience through Montana Correctional Enterprises, the prison's work and training program.

This provides the right training to get into the automotive industry, but it also provides an opportunity for anyone who wants to continue their education and earn an associate degree, Bauman said. "From there, the sky is the limit. This is a university system program, so there is (a) lot of transferable coursework. Students can continue to build upon that education as they like."

Corrections and education officials both lauded the program's opportunities in Monday's press release.

This is a great opportunity for people under our supervision to continue their education and improve their skills so they can have more employment opportunities when they leave our facilities, DOC Director Brian Gootkin said. Were excited to help these offenders fill the employment gaps in Montana with the skills they gain through training with Montana Correctional Enterprises and now with additional skills from our collegiate partners.

Higher education is a proven pathway for reducing recidivism, improving employment opportunities after release, and providing the necessary skills and training for successful re-entry, said Montana Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian. Providing high-quality educational opportunities to students from all walks of life is central to everything we do in the Montana University System. Im happy our colleges and universities are joining the Department of Corrections to improve outcomes for individuals and communities.
State lawmakers and industry trade groups on Tuesday threw their support behind a new proposal to extend Montana's moratorium on new recreational cannabis businesses into 2025.

The move could protect legacy marijuana providers in Montana from an oversaturated market and simultaneously meet conservative legislators' concerns of dispensaries overtaking main streets across the state. The changes are proposed by an interim legislative committee; they would need to pass through the 2023 Legislature and the Governor's Office to become law.

The current 18-month moratorium on new recreational cannabis providers, put in place by the 2021 Legislature, is set to expire in June 2023. That was an extension from the 2020 ballot measure Montana voters passed to usher in recreational marijuana legalization, which contained a one-year ban on new licenses. The intention is to allow Montana's existing marijuana providers time to stake out the market and new regulations before "Big Weed" starts flooding the state.

Sen. Jason Ellsworth, a Hamilton Republican who took a leading role in shaping the state's regulatory framework in 2021, was the one to suggest the extension as the Economic Affairs Interim Committee reviewed its draft bill suggesting changes to Montana's cannabis laws.

"We're a year and a half into this program," Ellsworth told the committee Tuesday. "This allows us more time to see how these changes take effect."

Ellsworth added he doesn't think Montana needs to issue any more cannabis licenses than it already has.

"That's just my opinion," he said.

The state's two most prominent industry groups, the Montana Cannabis Industry Association and the Montana Cannabis Guild, both voiced support for the measure.

Montana Cannabis Guild CEO JD "Pepper" Petersen, who was an architect of the 2020 ballot initiative, told the committee that cities and counties are still navigating the industry's place in their communities with local measures of their own. Additionally, the Department of Revenue's Cannabis Control Division, which oversees the industry, is still making administrative changes, a process that's essentially on hold until the 2023 Legislature concludes.

Sunsetting the moratorium too soon could allow "large, powerful interests with teams of lawyers" to steer the state's regulatory reforms, rather than local stakeholders, Petersen said.

Some lawmakers expressed a hesitant support for the extension, primarily uneasy with Ellsworth's proposal coming so late in the interim that it likely left many providers without a chance to weigh in. Tuesday was the committee's last hearing before the 2023 session.

"I wish we would have had this conversation a couple months ago so we could have got more input on this," said Rep. Derek Harvey, a Butte Democrat, who ultimately voted for the proposals.

Glendive provider's pleas answered

The committee also approved a provision moving the start date of the moratorium from Nov. 3, 2020  the legalization election date  to April 27, 2021, the date the Legislature passed its marijuana regulation bill. A handful of providers have been caught in a limbo since the Legislature changed the initial Dec. 31, 2020 start date to Nov. 3, a move meant to clamp down on the out-of-state weed interests who attempted to slip into Montana's industry before the moratorium began.

But the shift also caught several small-scale Montana providers, such as lifelong Glendive resident Kaari Fulton, off guard. Fulton and her husband invested "everything," including his retirement fund, to get Armadillo Buds off the ground on Nov. 30, 2020, a month before the moratorium began.

Fulton was a driving force for the industry in Dawson County last year, gathering enough signatures to force a special election and ultimately flipping the county "green" so providers could sell recreational cannabis. But the new moratorium date meant she was locked in as a "medical-only" provider until the moratorium ended in 2023. As a result, customers went where they could buy recreational, and Fulton's investment was returning so little in medical sales that she worried Armadillo Buds may not survive the length of the moratorium.

Fulton has lobbied legislators for months to create an exemption in the moratorium for providers like her, having spoken with other providers caught in the same window who couldn't keep the lights on in a medical-only arrangement.

On Tuesday, she grew emotional in thanking the committee for its support of the change.

"My heart is just exploding right now, so thank you," she said.

Additional changes

Beyond the moratorium changes, the committee's bill cleans up many disputes that arose over the last year when the Department of Revenue and legislators had different interpretations of the 2021 bill's language.

The committee's bill would clarify that tribes can obtain manufacturing and dispensary licenses that can be scaled up to larger and larger grow capacities, as is the case with any other license. The Department of Revenue ultimately won out in a dispute over the 2021 bill's language, which appeared to restrict tribal marijuana licenses to a tier 1 capacity, the smallest available under the Department of Revenue. The committee bill advanced Tuesday with language clarifying that tribal licenses will be able to increase capacity along with private license holders.

The committee bill, if passed by the 2023 Legislature, would also clarify that dispensaries could sell cannabidiol, widely known as CBD, products. The Legislature's regulatory bill prohibited marijuana producers from growing hemp, in an effort to protect the hemp industry. By the revenue department's reading, that ban extended to CBD, a derivative of hemp. The department has since permitted dispensaries to sell CBD products, and the committee bill would codify that permission.

The 2021 bill also included a provision that prohibited anyone from possessing cannabis products in a hotel room, despite a separate 2020 ballot measure that enshrined weed possession in the state Constitution. The committee's bill clarifies that smoking in a non-smoking hotel room remains prohibited.

Testing laboratories would also move under the purview of the revenue department if the committee bill passes in 2023. Although the medical marijuana industry moved from the Department of Public Health and Human Services to the revenue department with the new recreational industry, testing labs remained under the state health department's oversight. Lawmakers on Tuesday said the change would put all components of the cannabis industry under one department for a more seamless engagement with the state.

Rep. Josh Kassmeier, a Republican from Fort Benton, agreed to carry the bill in the upcoming legislative session.
Editorials abound from legislators calling for a special session to give back some of the unexpectedly high revenue collections to those that earned it. Just as common are editorials from legislators saying to forgo a hot house special session and spend the money in the general session.

Including the money in the fire fund, rainy day fund, etc., legislators are looking at $2.5 billion in hand. The official Republican plan gives $250 million back to beleaguered payers of residential property tax, $100 million to pay down bonding debt with the balance of the $1 billion spend down going back to income taxpayers.

Democrats oppose a special session to return the money. The democrats' published plan centers on spending your tax money on housing for low-income workers in high cost cities. Their strategists continue to amaze me.

The Conservative Solutions Caucus aka Solutions Caucus also oppose a special session. They want to spend the money on mental health clinics around the state and give back any savings generated to taxpayers; some day.

Gov. Gianforte opposes a special session. He wants to spend the money and give unspecified tax breaks to unspecified groups during the regular session. Gov. Gianforte is lock step with the Solutions Caucus. Only they carry his bills. Combined with Democrat votes the Solutions Caucus can pass or kill any bill. Solutions Caucus captain, Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick of Great Falls, said in a recent editorial that the Legislature has been functionally controlled by moderate Republicans for over a generation. Steve is correct. Govs. Schweitzer and Bullock appreciated their unwavering devotion.

The majority needed to call a special session will not be reached. Your money will not get rebated. It will be invested on your behalf. Keep an eye out for those dividend checks.

How does the Solutions Caucus control the outputs of the Legislature? Money begets power; power begets money. The Jobs for Montana PAC funds campaigns to defeat fiscally conservative Republicans or support Solutions Republicans in the primaries. The Jobs for Montana Super PAC is funded by seven other PACs operating under assumed names. Mainly they are the Montana Chamber of Commerce, Bankers Assn., Montana Petroleum Association, Montana Hospital Association, a splinter group of Highway Patrol Officers, Montana Contractors Association, the Montana and Michigan Farm Bureaus, and Realtors. All are members of the Montana Chamber of Commerce. They attack or support under the name Jobs for Montana PAC, individually, or with all of their names on the Paid For line of the ad or postcard. Often new names surface as former Solutions Caucus members unite to support their candidate. Names such as Montanas for Responsible Stewardship and Conservatives 4MT PAC appear on one or two post cards and disappear.

How it works: The hospitals tell Congress they want full compensation for services to Medicaid patients. Congress says not until welfare numbers go up in their states. Montana adopts Medicaid expansion and adds 96,000 to the welfare rolls. Congress gives higher reimbursements to Montana hospitals. Montana Legislature appropriates $100 million to cover Medicaid expansion costs. Montana Hospital Association puts in money, along with other PACs, to protect solutions members and defeat those that oppose the expansion. Grand Poobah of the Conservative Solutions Caucus, Rep. Llew Jones (R-Conrad) gets to functionally control the governor and the Legislature. Everyone is happy except taxpayers and the new generational welfare families. Oh, and the Montana Hospital Association whose members get to set up the mental health clinics and get enhanced reimbursements from the federal government without lobbying are also happy. Easy.

That, dear taxpayers, is why the Legislature will not rebate your excess tax collections.

When the secretary of state posts the names of those that voted yes to hold the special session, the names you will not see are 1) any Democrats 2) any of the following Conservative Solutions Caucus members: (House) Garner, Loge, Jones, Anderson, Buttrey, Kassmier, Custer, Dooling, Walsh, Welsh, Bertoglio, Frazer, Hopkins, (Senate) Gillespie, Fitzpatric, Tempel, Ankney, Small, Sales, Welborn, Gauthier, Salomon.

Google Montana Legislature, click on Legislators, click on Roster. There you will find contact information for your representative, your senator, and the above Solutions Caucus members. Give them a call and ask for their support for a special session to return your money. Many Solutions members are my friends. Its just a money thing. Be civil. After Sept. 15 check the secretary of state website, see how you fared, and how accurate I was.
Election officials preparing for the rapidly approaching midterm elections have one more headache: trying to combat misinformation that sows distrust about voting and results while fueling vitriol aimed at rank-and-file election workers.

Some states and counties are devoting more money or staff to a problem that has only grown more concerning since the 2020 presidential election and the false claims that it was marred by widespread fraud. A barrage of misinformation in some places has led election officials to complain that Facebook parent Meta, Twitter and other social media platforms aren't doing enough to help them tackle the problem.

Our voters are angry and confused. They simply dont know what to believe, Lisa Marra, elections director in Cochise County, Arizona, told a U.S. House committee last month. Weve got to repair this damage.

Many election offices are taking matters into their own hands, starting public outreach campaigns to provide accurate information about how elections are run and how ballots are cast and counted. That means traveling town halls in Arizona, Mythbuster Mondays in North Carolina and animated videos in Ohio emphasizing the accuracy of election results. Connecticut is hiring a dedicated election misinformation analyst.

Still, the task is daunting. Despite Oregon putting additional money into joining a national #TrustedInfo2022 campaign, misinformation continues to reach social media and force local election officials to respond, taking time from other duties.

Ben Morris, spokesperson for the Oregon secretary of state's office, cited three recent Facebook posts that Meta allowed to remain on Facebook despite his office providing evidence to them that they were false.

One alleged a candidate's name had been improperly censored from election fliers. Another falsely asserted that one party was purposefully denied access to a local elections office. Yet another claimed inaccurately that election workers in Multnomah County were being required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

Metas policies are too limited to address the misinformation we see at a state and local level, Morris said. Their policies cover big national issues, but false posts about a county clerk or a state law arent removed. When you realize this could be happening at Metas scale, its deeply concerning.

The disconnect may be that Facebook policies prioritize provably false claims that are timely, trending and consequential. All three posts Morris referenced were presumably too localized to have trended, though he contends they were still damaging.

They also were posted by candidates for office, a group that includes a growing number of election deniers and whose speech social media companies strive to protect.

Meta spokesperson Corey Chambliss said the policies exempt much of what politicians say online because of Facebooks fundamental belief in free expression, respect for the democratic process, and the belief that, especially in mature democracies with a free press, political speech is the most scrutinized speech there is.

But he said those protections are waived in cases of direct election interference or threats of violence or intimidation.

In Arizona's largest county, Maricopa, candidates shielded by those protections have liberally posted misinformation during this year's election cycle. That has prompted officials to aggressively condemn the false narratives themselves.

When a candidate for county supervisor encouraged supporters to steal ballot-marking pens given to them at polling places on Election Day during the states August primary, the county attorney, Rachel Mitchell, wrote warning her to stop. The candidate pushed false claims that the pens allow election workers to change peoples votes.

And when Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake made unsupported claims of potential fraud ahead of the primary, Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates told local reporters her claims were beyond irresponsible.

They never brought any specifics to us, said Gates, a fellow Republican.

He said he has been more vocal on social media and more available to traditional media than ever before this year, in an effort to tamp down false election claims before they get out of hand.

Gates and County Recorder Stephen Richer regularly respond directly to false Twitter posts with the facts. Richer said his department also emails Twitter when it sees a misleading narrative or threats against election workers gathering steam online, though it has disagreed with some of the platforms responses.

When debunked claims about the county deleting election data off a server in 2021 resurfaced at an activist-led election security forum three days before the states August primary, the presenters publicly identified two election workers they claimed were responsible and called their actions a crime. That prompted threats and harassment against the workers online, part of a disturbing trend affecting election offices across the country.

Richer said the county wrote to Twitter in hopes of muting the hate, but the platform didnt always agree that the content violated its policies.

Last month, Twitter activated enforcement of 2022 election integrity policies intended to enable healthy civic conversation on Twitter, while ensuring people have the context they need to make informed decisions about content they encounter. The company's efforts included unveiling state-specific pages with live election updates featuring tweets from election officials and local reporters. The platform didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
A worker was seriously injured in a landslide in Dondelange on Monday afternoon.

The victim, who was standing in a trench on Rue de Luxembourg at the time of the landslide, ended up being partially buried as a result. He received first aid at the scene before being rushed to hospital with serious injuries.

The public prosecutor's office has ordered a full investigation to determine the cause of the landslide. Forensic teams were on site on Monday afternoon to identify and analyse elements of the accident.
The Big Give returns to lend a hand to nonprofit organizations in New Braunfels area
The end of the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom truly marks the change of an era in world history.

The span of her reign alone guaranteed her a place in history. When she came to the throne in 1952, the UKs Prime Minister was Winston Churchill. He said on the occasion, I, whose youth was passed in the august, unchallenged and tranquil glories of the Victorian Era, may well feel a thrill in invoking, once more, the prayer and the Anthem, God Save the Queen!

Little could Churchill have imagined that God Save the Queen would be said and sung of the same woman for 70 years, or that the final prime minister of the queens reign, Liz Truss, would be born in 1975, over a century after his birth.

She was not just a witness to the momentous events of her life and reign but a participant in many of them. With every gathering of veterans in our towns we can see the passing of the World War II generation, and with the queen one more departs from us. This royal served the Allies cause as a mechanic in the womens branch of the British Army. Her role in the war captured the spirit of service and humility with which she later approached her tasks as a monarch.

As the head of state of our closest ally, she was a guest of our country several times and a frequent host to our presidents. Virginia was fortunate to host her on four occasions. As the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America, Jamestown, our commonwealth is a pivotal link in the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.

Jamestown was the object of two of the queens visits. The first was in 1957, also her first visit to the United States as queen, to celebrate the colonys 350th anniversary. The queen and Prince Philip toured Jamestown, greeted a crowd estimated at 25,000, commemorated the Battle of Yorktown, and viewed an original copy of the Magna Carta in Williamsburg.

The queens second visit to Jamestown was 50 years later in 2007 for its 400th anniversary. She began this trip to Virginia in Richmond, where I was honored as the majority leader of the House of Delegates to escort her to the chamber for a speech to a joint session of the General Assembly.

The queen and Prince Philip subsequently visited Williamsburg and Jamestown again. While not her escort on this occasion, I was there along with my wife Hilary. Further, I was allowed to invite as my guests my English history professor from Emory & Henry, Gene Rasor, and his wife, Claire.

The queen visited Charlottesville in 1976, touring the University of Virginia and Monticello. Thomas Jefferson famously denounced the queens ancestor King George III in the Declaration of Independence and in turn was shunned by the king when he served as the American minister in London. The queens visit to Jeffersons home and the school he founded certainly shows how far the relationship between our countries had come.

Her other visit to Virginia came in 1991 at Arlington National Cemetery.

Also, one of the queens great interests was horse racing, so she visited Kentucky for the Kentucky Derby.

The role of the queen is highly symbolic, but symbolism is important. It is how we show what we treasure. In each of these visits, the symbolism emphasized the extensive shared heritage of our countries, even though we were at odds sometimes. It was the great fortune of the British people that they had someone for so long who was so committed and able to carry out the demands of the role. It was the great fortune of the American people to have had Queen Elizabeth II as a friend.

I offer my best wishes to the people of the United Kingdom and their new monarch, King Charles III. I join them in mourning the loss of an iconic figure in Queen Elizabeth II, a great patriot in her own country and a great friend to ours.
When my family lived in Hendersonville, Tennessee, we attended a church where the pastors mantra was, Keep the main thing the main thing.

For Pastor Glenn Weekly, the main thing was furthering the kingdom of God. Being a young corporate leader at the time, I applied his lessons on keeping a congregation of 7,000 people focused on the mission of God to the business world. The key is to maintain focus on the mission at hand while minimizing office drama, politics and any distractions that syphon energy from our mission of creating compelling and useful content relevant to the daily lives of our readers.

Thats why I am especially pleased to be part of an organization that has made the decision to improve and maintain our local news organizations.

We announced Sunday that Lee Enterprises has hired a 12-member public service journalism team to aid its 77 daily newspapers in producing top quality investigative journalism. Here in Bristol, we plan to work with the East region team to look into the Bristol, Virginia, landfill and how it affects residents who live near the site.

Another excellent Lee news initiative is an internship program that provides job opportunities for young journalists in college, or who are recent college graduates. The expanded internship program, started this summer, is another way to strengthen local journalism and bring talented professionals into jobs.

To do these things, the company has to constantly look at resources to keep our local newsrooms strong. The changes to our comics and puzzles, which start today, are part of that strategy.

For years, the company has been producing separate comics and puzzles pages for its 77 daily newspapers. Now, as we have consolidated with an updated slate of comics and puzzles for the entire company, we save time and money. All those resources can go into maintaining and growing our local newsgathering resources.

We are excited for you to give these new comics, puzzles and other features a try. One of the new comics is Argyle Sweater, which I enjoy. Also, youll be able to find additional pages of comics on our e-edition at HeraldCourier.com and soon, youll have access to hundreds more comics, puzzles and advice columns on a special page on our website. More to come on that soon.

To continue to be successful, news organizations have to keep the main thing the main thing. That is what we doing with this change on the comics and features pages. I hope you will have the patience and understanding to help us strengthen our local newsrooms by enjoying the new comics and features that are now a part of our daily print product.
Changes to the migration system are coming. Image: Shutterstock

The government is looking at wholesale reform of the migration system after ongoing visa processing delays exacerbated the countrys skilled labour shortage.

An upcoming comprehensive review of the migration system was listed in the recent Jobs Summit outcomes, alongside an increase of the total migration cap to 195,000 people.

On the weekend, Home Affairs Minister Clare ONeil telegraphed the results of that review, telling the Nine metropolitan papers all the rules that we use to decide who comes in [to Australia] and who doesnt arent working.

The way we define skills shortages is totally broken, she said. I think it is universally recognised that this is not serving the countrys needs.

Home Affairs leans heavily on guidance from the National Skills Commission about skills shortages and occupations that should be a priority for migration.

It was through the National Skills Commission that four extra IT jobs were added to the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List last year  but the list hasnt been updated in over 12 months.

The new governments first order of business was to introduce legislation for the creation of Jobs and Skills Australia, an agency that will replace the National Skills Commission as the main source of jobs advice to government.

Since coming into office, the government has regularly pointed to the migration system as a major failure of its predecessor after it emerged that some visa streams were waiting up to 15 months for processing.

Part of the migration overhaul is expected to be technological upgrades to the visa processing system.

ONeils department tried to prioritise some 60,000 skilled visas to help the backlog but is now concerned that the ability to process applications will continue to have negative flow-on effects for businesses.

All the developed countries around the world are fighting for the same skills and capabilities and right now, ONeil told the Nine papers.

Australia is not going to be a destination of choice because it takes too long, its too expensive, and even if you make it here, you probably cant stay. We need to rethink that.

Other countries like New Zealand are trying to entice skilled professionals by making it easier to gain permanent residency and lowering the expectations of employers wanting to import staff.

Migration system changes wont just be about encouraging people to Australia, however.

On the weekend, ONeil suggested the significant investor visa  which gives a pathway to permanent residency for people who invest at least $5 million in the country  is likely to be binned from as early as next month.

Since 2012, over 2,300 visas have been granted through the significant investor program, with total investment from applicants exceeding $11 billion, according to Home Affairs data.

Unlike other migration schemes, there are no English language requirements for significant investors.

Around 85 per cent of significant investor visas have come from China.

I think most Australians would be pretty offended by the idea that we've got a visa category here where effectively you can buy your way into the country, O'Neil told Sky News on the weekend.

"I don't see a lot of great benefits to the country currently."
SALISBURY  Rowan-Cabarrus Community College has announced the appointment of Elizabeth Cook to the colleges board of trustees. Cook, longtime editor of the Salisbury Post, will serve a four-year term through June 30, 2026.

I am grateful for the opportunity to work with such a vital institution, Cook said. Rowan-Cabarrus Community College holds the key to our communitys economic well-being and quality of life  education for all.

Cook holds a bachelors degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She joined the Salisbury Post in 1978 and served as editor from 1993 through her retirement in 2018. Now a freelance writer and editor, she also volunteers as a reading tutor and community advocate.

She is active in the Salisbury Rotary Club, the Rowan Public Library Foundation Board and First Presbyterian Church. She and her husband, E.D., have three grown children.

Elizabeth Cook will provide valuable support as we carry out the colleges mission to build sustainable futures through the power of learning, said Carl M. Short, chair of the Rowan-Cabarrus board of trustees. Our trustees are an accomplished, dedicated and engaged group of people who have been involved extensively with the community.

As a member of the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College board of trustees, she serves as one of 14 board members who develop policy that governs the college. She will also participate in many college student activities and participate in the extensive board training that the state of North Carolina requires for board service.

Elizabeth Cook will be a dynamic addition to our board, bringing a wealth of knowledge about our community and a passion for its growth and prosperity, said Dr. Carol S. Spalding, president of Rowan-Cabarrus.
Does Alaska have a political message for North Carolina?

Not a chance, you say. Its too far away to have any connection to us.

But wait a minute. There are some connections.

Steve Cowper, who grew up in Kinston and graduated from UNC Chapel Hill, served two terms in the Alaska House of Representatives and was governor from 1986 to 1990.

Then there is my connection to Mary Peltola, who was elected to the U.S. Congress last week, beating former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

My connection to Rep.-elect Peltola is remote but important to me. She lives in Bethel, in the far west of Alaska on the Kuskokwim River. It is where I spent the better part of a month on an Army mission to train soldiers in the Alaska National Guard. These troops were, like Ms. Peltola, native Alaskans.

Most of the troops had Russian names. I remember Sgt. Nicolai Nicolai even now, more than 50 years after I first knew him.

Russians were the original European colonists in Alaska. Although they withdrew after selling Alaska to the U.S. in 1867 for $7.2 million, there were still reminders in addition to the Russian names. When we arrived in early January, the celebration of the Russian Orthodox Christmas season was just ending.

North Carolina and the Bethel area of Alaska also share a connection to the Moravian church. I remember a cold dogsled ride from Bethel to the nearby Moravian mission, which was serving Alaskan natives, but where I felt very much at home.

Enough of your personal memories, you are thinking, what does all this have to do with Alaskas message for todays North Carolina?

The answer comes from understanding how Peltola, a Native Alaskan member of the Yupik group, and a Democrat, beat former Alaska governor and Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin in the recent special congressional election.

It helps to understand Alaskas new voting system, a form of what is called ranked-choice-voting.

Here is how it worked in Alaska.

First, in a nonpartisan primary, each voter picked one candidate from a list of everyone who had signed up to run. In the recent congressional election, 48 candidates ran in that first round primary.

The top four vote-getters in this primary were each given a spot on the ballot for the general election. The top four were Palin, Peltola, Nick Begich, and another candidate who later dropped out.

Voters were able to rank up to three of the remaining candidates in order of preference: first, second, and third.

Republicans Palin and Begich gathered a total of nearly 60% of first-place votes. Democrat Peltola got only about 40% of the first-place votes.

But because Begich came in third, he was eliminated, and his second-choice votes were reallocated. Most of his second-choice votes went, not to fellow Republican Palin, but to Peltola, who thus got a majority and the victory.

Would this method of choosing office holders work in North Carolina?

On the positive side, it would eliminate candidates winning elections with as few as 30% of the vote.

It would open the door to worthy candidates who do not have connections to the major political parties or access to great wealth.

On the other hand, the complexity of the ranked-choice-voting could have citizens complaining that they prefer traditional voting systems that they can understand.

Democracy works best when citizens understand the system and have confidence in it.

I admire and respect Alaskans, especially the newly elected Peltola, but for now I would like to keep our election system just like it is. As time passes though, we should, like the Alaskans, be open to adopting new election procedures that preserve and enhance our treasured democratic traditions.

*******

CORRECTION: In a recent column about UNC Systems move to Raleigh, I wrote that the historic presidents home in Chapel Hill was no longer occupied by the president. The universitys office advised that President Peter Hans does indeed currently live there. I apologize for my error.
Apple Inc plans to start manufacturing iPhone 14 in India about two months after the product's initial release in China.The company has been working with suppliers to ramp up production in India and shorten the lag in manufacturing new iPhones from the typical six to nine months for previous launches, the report said citing people familiar with the matter.As per an earlier report, Apple could be evaluating shipping its upcoming iPhone 14 from India, as the US smartphone company looks to mitigate geopolitical risks on supply efficiency by setting up production sites outside China.While in the short term, India's iPhone capacities/shipments still have a considerable gap with China, it is an important milestone for Apple in building a non-Chinese iPhone production site.The US-based company has been gradually ramping up production of iPhones in India. Currently, its devices are manufactured in India by three contract manufacturers  Foxconn (Hon Hai), Wistron and Pegatron.The three Apple partners are part of the Indian government's production-linked incentive scheme for mobile manufacturing. They need to make products worth a minimum of Rs 8,000 crore each this year to get the incentives.
include_once "/home/jwreview/public_html/$theme/includes/sidebar.php"; ?> Buckingham Palace announced Friday the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II will be held at historic St. Paul's Cathedral in London Monday. Her long reign endeared herself to the English-speaking world. Elizabeth was one of the last living people to witness the Dallas Cowboys winning a Super Bowl.

 Netflix announced they will observe a filming hiatus on episodes of The Crown in respect for Queen Elizabeth's passing last week and will resume shooting after the mourning period. In addition Netflix will produce a movie about how Charles made it to the throne. It's called Two Weddings and a Funeral.

 King Charles addressed the Accession Council Saturday and signed orders witnessed by William the newly created Prince of Wales. In the wake of loss is the current of public excitement over a new royal era. In his first official command King Charles ordered Alexa to play the theme to The Jeffersons.

 President Biden and first lady Jill paid an official visit to the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Friday to sign the register of condolences to the people of Great Britain. Biden addressed reporters and he expressed his sadness about the death of the Queen. Joe said he really liked Bohemian Rhapsody.

 King Charles was affirmed as monarch by the Accession Council in St. James Palace on Saturday and the king ordered cannons in Hyde Park to fire ninety-six rounds to honor his mother's long life of world service. The U.S. joined the salute. Chicago gangs that night fired ninety-six shots into each other.

 President Biden told the press Friday he will attend the Queen's funeral in London. Biden's administration reacted characteristically to the Queen's death. Last night the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago to search for any evidence proving that Trump colluded with Russia to smother Queen Elizabeth with a My Pillow.

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 Democratic governors jumped on the California bandwagon calling for mandatory electric cars in their states by 2035. I see where this is going. Within two years, I won't be allowed to charge my EV for 28 days because the dashboard reads I posted a joke on Facebook that violated community standards.

 The Wall Street Journal reported that Democratic Party hopes for the fall election will hinge upon how they can sell likely Republican policies as harmful to single women and minorities. The clock is ticking. Scientists just warned that humanity could run out of things to call racist in as little as six weeks.

 The Palm Beach Post reports that the Kennedy winter family mansion on Ocean Avenue just sold for seventy million dollars. It's where Jack, Bobby. Teddy and old Joe played around to their heart's content. The mansion bears witness to the fact that adultery is a sport that's bigger than any one athlete.

(COMMENT, BELOW)
include_once "/home/jwreview/public_html/$theme/includes/sidebar.php"; ?> Far-leftist ideologues pulling President Joe Biden's strings and writing his speeches have finally gone around the bend. The Biden regime's crusade to label "MAGA Republicans" as "fascists" is a slap in the face to 75 million Americans. It's also an affront to the dignity of the U.S. presidency.

Biden campaigned for president on a promise to unite our country.

Yet, he and his minions now treat half of our citizens as enemies. This is a desperation strategy to rally the "Biden base" before the midterm elections. But political expedience is no excuse for our president's shameful diatribes.

By labeling Republicans "fascists," Mr. Biden demonstrates an inexcusable ignorance of history and a blatant disregard for the power of words, especially when spoken by our nation's head of state. His egregious, inflammatory "fascist" magniloquence is both irresponsible and destructive to our national identity.

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Biden's  and his staff's  use of the word "fascist" to describe conservatives and Republicans is intended to distract "We the People" from what his regime is doing through deception, distortion, division and, ultimately, the destruction of all opposition. These tactics brought to power nearly every despotic regime for more than a century: Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Tojo, Mao, Kim, Saddam, Khomeini and Putin, to name but a few. When Far Leftists call you a fascist, ignore their words and watch their behavior.

Biden may not know it, but "fascism," like "communism" and "jihadism," are all forms of totalitarian government headed by despots who control the executive, legislative and judicial functions of their governments. All dictatorial regimes have in common the practice of throwing out their nations' previous constitutions, enforcing one-party rule, controlling who counts any votes allowed and denying what we call individual liberty. In every case, these tyrannical governments use propaganda and censorship to control dissemination of information to their citizens or subjects.

Now consider the ignorance and folly of our current head of state describing conservatives and Republicans as "fascists." Republicans believe in government "of, by, and for the people"  in short, self-government. Fascists  and totalitarians of all sorts  believe in government by a dictatorial, all-powerful elite. The highest political priority of conservative Republicans is adherence to the U.S. Constitution and fair, transparent elections.

Weaponizing government agencies to control American citizens, hiring more than 85,000 armed IRS agents, turning a blind eye to explosive violent crime, ignoring anarchy, riots, arson and looting aren't Republican ideals; nor is jailing opposition leaders. These are the tactics of totalitarian governments. Is this what the "B-Team" at the White House wants?

Republicans believe in freedom of speech. Totalitarians suppress free speech through government coercion, censorship and collaboration with complicit media entities. The Biden White House apparently wants you to know only their version of "truth."

Republicans want freedom of religion while totalitarians want freedom from religion. Ironically, leftist ideologues who label Republicans "fascists" oppose religion in schools, the workplace and the public square.

Republicans believe in free enterprise and entrepreneurship. Biden "totalitarians" advocate government control of business and industry.

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Biden's leftist elites want their president to control our private sector with draconian "green" executive orders and regulations. Republicans believe in personal responsibility.

Totalitarians demand fealty to government for responsibility to our citizen's needs. Biden calls Republicans "fascists" for opposing "forgiveness" of student loans and promoting irresponsibility and government dependency.

Republicans believe in private property. Biden totalitarians claim property rights are decided by government and, where necessary, may be seized.

On Nov. 8, we will vote for the kind of government we want. Because we swore an oath to "defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic," we pray you will vote to do so as well. We aren't fascists.

(COMMENT, BELOW)
The new UAE law on public-private partnership (PPP) will put the country well on its way to achieving its agenda in implementing a sustainable, competitive-economy based on knowledge, expertise, and diversity, stated Massimo Falcioni, CEO of Etihad Credit Insurance, the UAE Federal export credit company.

"With the new law on public-private partnership (PPP) as announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, the UAE will be very well on its way to achieving its agenda in implementing a sustainable, competitive-economy based on knowledge, expertise, and diversity. PPPs boost efficiency, increase transparency in funds management, simplify processes that have cost implications, and integrate technologies of both government entities and private partners," said Falcioni in a statement, according to a Wam news agency report.

"Inspired by the wise leaderships vision to increase the role of the private sector in the development of the national economy, Etihad Credit Insurance, the UAE Federal export credit company is committed to and has been rolling out initiatives that encourage the private sector to engage in developmental and economic projects that improve the quality of lives of todays and futures generations," he said.

"Over the last few months, ECI has partnered with private companies and government institutions to enhance public infrastructures in and outside the UAE. We have recently supported a major project in the Republic of Senegal to strengthen its national emergency response infrastructure benefiting millions of Senegalese. We have partnered with Masdar to insure and fund a wind farm project in Uzbekistan, one of Central Asia's largest renewables projects, which will power 500,000 homes. And we have also played a pivotal role in providing infrastructure finance to GE and the Iraqi Ministry of Finance to power up 1 to 2.5 million homes per year," he added.

"We strongly believe that the new PPP law will further enhance the competitiveness of UAE-led and participated projects in the local, regional and global markets," he concluded.
"Why monarchy-rejecting America mourns Queen Elizabeth, too," a New York Post column was headlined. Or, as Jim Geraghty wrote for National Review, "Queen Elizabeth II made it easy to like her, even if you don't like the idea of monarchies."

Well, yes and no.

There is no denying that in proclaiming their independence in 1776, Americans rejected their former king. He had proved himself "a Tyrant  unfit to be the ruler of a free people," wrote Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, and the American colonies were accordingly entitled not just "to be Free and Independent States," but also to be "Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown." Fired with revolutionary zeal, Patriots in New York City pulled down the statue of King George III that stood in Manhattan's Bowling Green park. Then, so the story goes, they had it melted down and refashioned into 40,000 bullets for the Continental Army.

And yet, it hadn't been that long since Americans felt a strong attachment to the British king. Writing to a friend from Paris in 1767, Benjamin Franklin praised Louis XV, whom he had just met at Versailles. All the same, he insisted that "no Frenchman shall go beyond me in thinking my own king and queen the very best in the world and the most amiable." Thomas Paine said that as late as 1774, most Americans still retained an "obstinate" attachment to Britain and "their single object was reconciliation," not revolution.

But as anger over Britain's behavior intensified, so did Americans' aversion to royalty. Hereditary monarchy and blood-based nobility, once regarded as necessary and natural, turned into the ultimate symbol of despotism. It wasn't only for national independence that Americans rebelled, but for a republic, too  for a government of the people and by the people, a nation in which citizens governed themselves and rejected the very idea of kings on thrones as both pernicious and laughable.

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Royalty is a superstition, contradicted by the self-evident truth that all men are created equal. "All kings is mostly rapscallions, as fur as I can make out," Huckleberry Finn explains to Jim in Mark Twain's great novel. For a diehard, small-r republican like me, that sounds about right. And considering how few monarchies remain in the world, it apparently sounds about right to a lot of people.

Including a fair number of Britons.

A couple of old video clips began making the rounds last week, right around the time that Liz Truss went to Balmoral Castle in Scotland  in what turned out to be the queen's final public appearance  to be formally invited to become the new prime minister. The videos showed Truss as a 19-year-old student activist, the president of the Liberal Democratic club at Oxford University. "We do not believe that people should be born to rule," she declares heatedly in one appearance. "That people, because of the family they're born into, should be able to be the head of our country? I think that's disgraceful," she says in the other.

Truss obviously takes a different view of things now. But I'm still of the opinion that monarchy is, if not inherently disgraceful, then decidedly anachronistic and contrary to the deepest American ideals  above all the conviction that all human beings are created equal. As a libertarian-leaning conservative, I am deeply skeptical of government power and reject the idea that privilege or nobility should be a function of blood.

In one of the most politically prescient chapters in the Hebrew Bible , the people of Israel demand that the Prophet Samuel appoint a king to rule over them. Monarchy was the norm in the ancient world, but the Jews had never had a king and they yearned to be "like all the nations." G od tells a reluctant Samuel to do as the people ask, and the prophet anoints Saul. But first he reads the Israelites the riot act. He warns them that power corrupts and that the monarchy they crave would bring them despotism and misery.

"The day will come," Samuel foretells, "when you cry out because of the king whom you yourselves have chosen; but the Lord will not answer you on that day."

The people should have listened. Saul's monarchy begins well, but it ends disastrously. And while the Bible praises some of the kings who followed over the next four centuries for their righteousness and integrity, it condemns more of them for their wickedness, greed, or falsehood.

The annals of monarchy are the annals, to use Twain's far too mild word, of rapscallions. From King Herod of Judea to Henry VIII of England, from Belgium's Leopold II to the Roman emperor Caligula, from Ivan the Terrible to Genghis Khan, the embodiment of sovereignty in a single man or woman has again and again proved calamitous.

Even today, when most of the world's remaining monarchies are mostly or entirely ceremonial, the institution of hereditary kingship is irrational and offensive. "Here, sir, the people govern," said Alexander Hamilton. It is not by chance that the Constitution's opening words are "We, the People." In the United States, there is no requirement or expectation of loyalty to any person. Instead, elected officials, military personnel, and naturalized immigrants all swear to support and defend the Constitution.

For all that, there is no getting around the fact that even in America, countless people long to be ruled by individuals with the "right" genetic lineage. Until Joe Kennedy III unsuccessfully challenged Ed Markey in the 2020 US Senate race, a majority of Massachusetts voters had for 70 years automatically elected any member of the Kennedy family who appeared on the ballot. As his Senate campaign faltered, Kennedy released a commercial that all but laid claim to the office on the basis of his DNA. "Joe Kennedy knows how a legacy is earned," an announcer declared, as images of Robert, Edward, and John F. Kennedy appeared on the screen. "It's a fight in his blood." That was shameless.

Yet it's clear that many human beings have a need to idolize individuals or their families  to regard them as the distillation of a great cause or a proud history. Even in a republic like ours, with a Constitution that forbids titles of nobility, it can be a powerful advantage to be born with a famous name into a political dynasty, which is why so many candidates with "political royal blood" get elected to Congress and other powerful positions. To my mind, Americans should shun dynastic politics and anything else that smacks of royalism or family-worship.

But the craving for such leaders is a constant in history. What was true of the Israelites in Samuel's day was true among some Americans after the Revolution, when there were calls for George Washington to assume sweeping powers and govern as a king. When, years later, Washington became the first president under the new Constitution, some lawmakers wanted him to be addressed with the pomp and grandiosity due a monarch. Vice President John Adams, no less, suggested in the Senate that the nation's new leader be styled "His Elective Majesty," "His Mightiness," or even "His Highness, the President of the United States of America and the Protector of their Liberties." Washington, aware of the example he was setting, consented to be called nothing loftier than "Mr. President."

If there must be monarchs in the world, they should be like Queen Elizabeth. She was among the most famous celebrities of the last 100 years, yet she never acted like a celebrity. Her behavior was never scandalous. Her devotion to duty was unquestioned. She was the very personification of dignity, modesty, and reserve in a world that seemed to grow less dignified, modest, and reserved by the hour.
NEOGA  Crews with the Neoga Fire Protection District have responded to a an Illinois Route 121 injury crash and a Lake Mattoon house fire in recent days.

The Neoga district reported that its fire and ambulance crews were dispatched at 12:05 p.m. Monday to the scene of a crash between a semitruck trailer and a passenger car at Cumberland County Roads 700N and 500E between Neoga and Toledo. County Road 500E at this location, known locally as the "Seven-Mile Curve," is part of Illinois Route 121.

One motorist was entrapped and required extrication and was subsequently flown out by an Air Evac Lifeteam for medical treatment, the Neoga district reported. A second motorist was taken by ground ambulance for treatment and a third motorist declined treatment. Crews were on scene for approximately an hour before being released by the Illinois State Police. Traffic crash report information on this collision is not available yet from the State Police.

Regarding the fire, the Neoga district reported that a crew was dispatched at approximately 4:11 p.m. Saturday to a structure fire at 3523 E. Shelby County Road 925N west of Lake Mattoon. The caller advised that they had gotten the homeowner out of the house and there was heavy smoke coming from this structure's eves.

Upon arriving, the crew pulled a hose line and applied water into the eves where they could until more firefighters got there. Sigel Fire Department was automatically called to assist and the Wabash Fire Protection District also was dispatched to help.

The Neoga district reported that the house was a total loss, but the home owner's cat was rescued along with as many family photographs and albums as firefighters could grab. The district thanked Sigel and Wabash crews and neighbor Julie Haskins, who used her own money to purchase drinks and snacks for the crews.

An investigator with the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office has advised that all indicators are saying the blaze was an accidental electrical fire, the Neoga district reported.
GREENUP  A jury trial has been scheduled for a Greenup man charged with murder in connection with a fatal shooting in Cumberland County.

During a preliminary hearing on Monday, Circuit Court Judge Jonathan Braden set a Dec. 5 trial date for Lonnie L. Glidewell, 57, after finding there is a enough evidence for him to stand trial on the first-degree murder charge. Glidewell, who is being represented by Public Defender Shon Park, pleaded not guilty to this charge during Monday's hearing. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Oct. 17.

The Illinois State Police reported that Glidewell was arrested during an investigation into the Aug. 20 death of Colten L. Oakley, 36, of Westfield. Oakley was found deceased with gunshot wounds outside of a residence in the 2000 block of County Road 1300N.

Glidewell remains jailed in Cumberland County on $1 million bail, which requires the posting of $100,000 to be released. If Glidewell posts bond, the court ordered that he remain in home confinement.
MATTOON  Joyce Allen and Wally Taylor were among the first faculty at Lake Land College when it opened for classes in fall 1967 and they both subsequently worked there for many years before retiring.

Allen and Taylor returned to campus late Monday afternoon for the unveiling of the Retiree Wall of Fame display in the Luther Student Center, where they and other recent inductees were honored as part of this event.

"I think it's absolutely beautiful. It's something to be quite proud of," Taylor said after the unveiling as he gazed upon Laker red panels filled with portrait photographs of him and his fellow retirees.

Lake Land reported that the Retiree Wall of Fame was created in 2008 to recognize the outstanding achievements of past faculty and staff. That wall now has a new display area following the college's renovation and expansion of the Luther Student Center, completed in fall 2019.

As part of that renovation, the college had the opportunity to develop a contemporary and prestigious Retiree Wall of Fame display that truly reflected the forward-thinking mindset of the many retirees honored throughout the years, Lake Land President Josh Bullock said during the unveiling. The colleges goal was to create a statement piece that could be easily updated each year with new inductees.

COVID-19 pandemic public health precautions limited the colleges ability to host Retiree Wall of Fame inductions and other events for more than two years. For this reason, those celebrated at Monday's event included inductees from 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The 2020 inductees were Taylor, who served as the division chair of English for almost 20 years; Sandy Gourley, whose many roles included serving as the division chair for social science and education for 10 years; and Linda Ruholl, who served for 17 years as a nursing faculty member.

"(Lake Land) was an exciting place to work," Taylor said, adding that he enjoyed getting to know his students and attending Laker sporting events.

The 2021 inductees were Allen, who was the first Lake Land College psychology instructor and was one of the few original female faculty members, and later served as interim dean of instruction; Pam Crisman, who led the public relations and development office for nearly 30 years; and Ken Beno, who created the WLKL FM Radio Station and served as the station manager, radio TV broadcasting instructor and division chair of humanities.

After the unveiling, Allen recalled Lake Land Board of Trustees Chairman Mike Sullivan being among the many young Vietnam-era veterans in her first "Introduction to Psychology" class who were pursuing their studies through the G.I. Bill. She said these veterans were all excellent students as they attended this class in the Illinois National Guard armory in Mattoon, one of many temporary locations used by Lake Land while its campus was still under construction.

"When campus was built, I thought we had died and gone to heaven," Allen said.

The 2022 inductees were Linda Von Behren, who served as the dean of admission services and then associate vice president for workforce development; and Donna Sherman, who started as a secretary and retired as director of the campus bookstore. Sherman died at age 76 on Sept. 3, 2021.

"Sherman was awarded this honor posthumously. However the presentation recognized the positive impact Sherman had on Lake Land College during her 50 years of employment," Bullock said, noting that Sherman also typed the first Lake Land course catalog.
I was looking for something else recently on Scott Kennedys Illinois Election Data website and noticed he had voter turnout numbers from statewide races since 1990.

We all know that downstate has lost a significant amount of its political importance, but the numbers really help illustrate this decline.

In 1990, 42% of the total vote for governor came from downstate counties, while a mere 17% came from the suburban collar counties outside Cook.

By 2018, just 36% of the total vote for governor came from downstate and 25% was from the collars. When you expand the definition of the collar counties to include some in the Chicago metro region that had previously been considered more rural, the downstate figure drops to 31% and the share of the collar county vote rises to 29%.

I happened to be talking with former Gov. Jim Edgar about something else shortly after seeing those numbers, and when I brought it up he said that in those days Republicans would figure on being stomped in the city, but theyd win the Cook and collar county suburbs and then the margin downstate would wind up being pretty close to the statewide spread.

In Edgars first gubernatorial election in 1990, thats just what happened. He lost Chicago by 33 points, won suburban Cook by 18, won the collars by 27 and took downstate by 3, winning overall that year by just under 3%.

Edgar focused intently on the suburbs, campaigning on a promise to cap local property taxes and highlighted his strong support of abortion rights, among other things the voters in that region cared about.

By 2018, Chicago and suburban Cook County made up almost the same share of the total vote for governor as it did in 1990, declining only by about a point. The difference, though, is that the Cook County suburbs are now firmly in Democratic control. Edgar won them by 18 points back in the day, but J.B. Pritzker won them by 29 points in 2018. Thats a 47-point swing.

The collars have leaned Democratic during presidential years since Barack Obamas national bid in 2008, and gradually started trending more Democratic in off-year races, culminating in Pritzkers three-point collar county win over Bruce Rauner in 2018 and historic county-wide Democratic wins in the region both that year and in 2020.

Downstate has become much more reliable for Republicans. No statewide Democrat except Secretary of State Jesse White has won the region for the past 10 years. Obama won it in 2008 by four points, but lost downstate four years later by 7, an 11-point flip. Pritzker lost it by 10 points four years ago.

But the increase in Republican identification in the region has not been enough to make up for its falling vote share and the partys more recent disadvantages in the suburbs. Pat Quinn lost downstate by 24 points in 2010 and still managed to eke out a narrow victory, after all.

Partisan red meat works well in downstate, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Sen. Darren Bailey will likely run up his numbers there. But it definitely doesnt work in the suburbs. Bailey has spent much of his campaign ignoring this basic Illinois electoral math and crafting an under-funded message that, if anything, almost appears to be designed to turn away those collar county voters. Its impossible to win statewide by running up the score in a region which contains barely more than a third of the vote while turning off, and even firing up opposition in, the rest of the state.

Baileys recent kitchen table policy proposal is to require the University of Illinois flagship campus to guarantee that 90% of its enrollment is made up of Illinois residents.

Other states have similar requirements mainly because of pressure from parents, and many of those folks live in the suburbs.

When Bruce Rauner was governor and universities struggled without a state budget, UIUC and other campuses were left to their own devices. The fiscal situation was only marginally better under Pat Quinn. Rauner took a fiscal crisis and turned it into a calamity.

State finances are better now, so perhaps it is time to start discussing the use of large numbers of international students to subsidize tuition for everyone else.

But, on the politics side, Bailey is gonna need infinitely more than this to overcome his geographical and ideological deficits.
The N.C. Supreme Court wont review a lower courts ruling in favor of a former Wake Forest doctor accused of inserting a device into a woman during surgery without her permission, ruining her chances of getting pregnant, according to a written order issued last month.

Kimberly Bryant sued Dr. Mehmet Tamer Yalcinkaya, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Wake Forest University Health Sciences and N.C. Baptist Hospital, alleging medical malpractice, fraudulent concealment and negligence and other claims. She sought $10.1 million in damages. Yalcinkaya denied all the allegations against him, both in court papers and in a 2017 interview with the Journal.

In February, the N.C. Court of Appeals upheld a decision made by Judge Eric Morgan of Forsyth Superior Court to grant what is known as a motion for summary judgment. That means Morgan ruled in favor of the doctor and Wake Forest without having a jury trial. The decision meant that Bryants lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, prohibiting her from ever raising her claims again in a civil lawsuit.

Her attorneys, Harvey and Harold Kennedy, filed an appeal to the N.C. Supreme Court. The court denied a petition to hear the appeal on Aug. 17.

Harvey and Harold Kennedy could not immediately be reached for comment Monday. Tamura Coffey, attorney for Yalcinkaya, did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Attorneys for Baptist also could not be reached for comment Monday.

The lawsuit alleged that Bryant went to Yalcinkaya in 2007. At the time, Yalcinkaya was director of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Baptist. Bryant needed surgery to remove uterine fibroids. According to the lawsuit, Yalcinkaya inserted what is known as a Gore-Tex barrier into Bryants body that acted like an IUD birth-control device. Bryant alleged that Yalcinkaya never told her about the device and that over the next 10 years, she could not get pregnant.

In 2017, Bryant alleged she found out about the device when it split in two, requiring emergency surgery. A doctor involved in that surgery told her that she would have to have a hysterectomy.

The N.C. Court of Appeals ruled that Bryant had failed to prove her claims. According to the ruling, Yalcinkaya documented that during the surgery, he learned Bryant had Stage IV endometriosis. Endometriosis is a painful condition in which the cells inside the lining of the uterus start growing outside of it. He inserted the device to prevent scar-like tissue from coming back.

According to the ruling, Yalcinkaya told Bryant that he had inserted the device and told Bryant and her husband that she might have difficulty getting pregnant, even with the fibroids removed and using in-vitro fertilization.

Bryant claimed in her appeals that Yalcinkaya told her to rest for three months and then try again to get pregnant. Yalcinkaya denied saying that.

Yalcinkaya told Bryant, according to the appellate courts ruling, that she needed to do drug therapy and possibly have a second surgery to deal with the fibroids and the endometriosis. Bryant said she was never told any of this.

Bryant never went back to Yalcinkaya, the court said.

A main issue that came up was whether the Gore-Tex barrier was medically necessary and therapeutic. The court ruled that at the very least, the barrier had a therapeutic purpose when Yalcinkaya placed it in Bryants body. And because of that, some of Bryants claims were barred by a four-year statute of limitations, the court concluded.

The court ruled that Bryant also did not have enough proof for other claims, such as constructive fraud or actual fraud. For example, the court said, Bryant did not provide sufficient evidence that Yalcinkaya intentionally concealed that she needed another procedure after the first one.

Yalcinkaya also had notes giving information about the kind of barrier he inserted into Bryant and he testified consistently that the barrier would be in Bryants body permanently, according to the court.

Another woman tried to file a lawsuit against Yalcinkaya, alleging that his negligence led to a near-fatal infection from fibroid surgery, but she was ultimately unable to file a complaint because the statute of limitations had expired. The matter was dismissed with prejudice, meaning she could not file again, according to court documents.

Yalcinkaya left Baptist in September 2014. He is currently practice founder of Carolina Fertility Institute, which has offices in Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Charlotte.
Nebraska does not appear poised to join the small but growing number of states enacting policies penalizing investment firms focused on climate change and environmental issues.

That is despite the fact Nebraskas treasurer heads one of the leading organizations behind the movement.

Nebraska Treasurer John Murante chairs the State Financial Officers Foundation, which was the subject of a New York Times article in August. The story documented the connections between the nonprofit foundation and a campaign to weaponize state treasurers offices against efforts to reduce climate change. It includes the adoption of policies to restrict or otherwise punish companies that reduce their support for fossil fuel businesses.

Murante, who declined a request for a formal interview and provided comments via email, said such policies are not in the works in Nebraska at this time, but clarified his office has the authority to make sure Nebraskas best financial interests are met.

According to the New York Times reporting, after President Joe Bidens election, the foundation began its countereffort to slow his climate plan. Since then, at least five primarily conservative states have passed laws to restrict businesses that have cut ties with fossil fuel companies.

For example, West Virginia earlier this year adopted a law that allows that states treasurer to blacklist banks from receiving state contracts if the banks have limited their relationship with fossil fuel companies. West Virginias treasurer said in a press release that the law would help protect our coal, oil and natural gas workers and companies from unfair, un-American boycotts.

Similar policies have not been proposed in Nebraska, and outgoing State Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg, who chairs the Legislatures Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee, said he hasnt caught wind of any potential bills that may come up in future legislative sessions. Moreover, he said he doesnt think it would be wise to put fences around Nebraskas borders simply because a company supports climate action.

In addition to being largely run by Republicans, the states that have adopted those policies also tend to be rich in fossil fuel resources  coal in Kentucky and West Virginia, oil and gas in Texas and Oklahoma.

By comparison, Nebraska has a low stake in the fossil fuel industry. It doesnt produce any coal, and contributes only 0.03% of the nations total crude oil reserves, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

While Nebraskas fossil fuel presence is small and slowing, the states renewable energy industry is small but growing. The Energy Information Administration reported that Nebraska is the countrys second-largest producer of fuel ethanol, and has some of the best wind energy potential in the U.S.

The State Financial Officers Foundation and its members have been accused of pushing the restrictions out of political motivations, rather than doing so for the financial benefit of their states.

Dawn Rockey, a Democrat who served a term as Nebraska treasurer in the 1990s, said although the treasurer is an elected position, it hasnt traditionally been seen as a partisan role.

The treasurer serves as the chief financial officer for the state government. The office offers college savings plans, seeks to return unclaimed property to citizens and handles child support payments.

Rockey said she doesnt see how the climate change policies could be interpreted as anything other than a political move.

Its outside the scope of the job, Rockey said.

State Financial Officers Foundation members, including Murante, a Republican, have rebuked these accusations, arguing that they are not the ones playing politics  its the climate activists pushing a political agenda.

We simply want financial institutions to make the best decisions based on their fiduciary responsibility, not based on politics, Murante said in the email.

One company at the center of this issue is the multitrillion-dollar investment firm BlackRock, whose CEO Larry Fink has openly stated his desire to move away from fossil fuels in favor of more sustainable energy sources.

BlackRock has landed on lists of blacklisted firms in West Virginia and Texas.

Murante said his office does not have a banking relationship with BlackRock. However, several other state offices are focusing on the company.

The Nebraska State Investment Council, which Murante is a nonvoting member of, heard a presentation from BlackRock representatives in July about a policy known as Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG, which is criteria used by companies to make environmentally smart investments.

And in August, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson joined 18 other attorneys general in signing onto a letter questioning BlackRocks practices of putting investors interests and returns behind the asset managers ideological push.

Peterson told The World-Herald that he became concerned about BlackRock after hearing about the companys views in the news. His office has not received any complaints about the company.

Climate change policy should be debated by state legislatures, rather than dictated by businesses, Peterson said. He described the practices by BlackRock as corporate tyranny. Although there are other companies that concern Peterson for similar reasons, he said BlackRock is the biggest dog in the backyard.

Peterson said he hopes by shining a spotlight on BlackRock, smaller companies take it as a cue to reduce their support for climate action.

Meanwhile, Michael Walden-Newman with the Nebraska Investment Council said BlackRocks presentation was mainly to educate the council about ESG. He said he approached BlackRock requesting the presentation after Fink released a letter supporting ESG earlier this year. BlackRock oversees some of the councils investments.

Walden-Newman declined to say whether the council, which manages $40 billion in investments, was considering any actions for or against BlackRock.

Murante asserted that companies supporting ESG have a devastating impact on Nebraskans and the states economy. Similar to Peterson, Murante said climate change policies need to be considered in Washington, not Wall Street.

There are attacks by extremist global elites on American farmers, ranchers, and energy production going on right now, Murante said in the email.

However, many environmental experts argue that climate change mitigation is financially wise, mainly because efforts will only become more expensive as time goes on.

Climate change could be especially costly in states like Nebraska, where the agriculture sector is known as the backbone of the states economy. A recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City noted that Nebraskas gross domestic product grew at the fastest pace in 10 years during 2021, largely driven by expansion in many industries and notable strength in agriculture.

A 2014 report by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln noted that climate change-induced stresses will lead to declines in crop and livestock production in many agricultural regions.
One of Lancaster County's district court judges has announced he will retire at the end of November.

Judge Robert R. Otte, who has been a judge for 14 years, also currently serves as a judge of the Lancaster County Veterans Treatment Court, which this year was designated a national mentor court by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.

In a letter to Chief Justice Michael Heavican and Gov. Pete Ricketts, Otte said he is "honored and humbled to have worked side by side with the talented, hardworking judges in this district."

"I am grateful to have been part of the Nebraska Judicial Branch and those many dedicated and talented judges and employees, he said.

Throughout his career on the bench, Otte has participated on numerous judicial committees for both the Nebraska Supreme Court and Nebraska District Judges Association.

I remain deeply dedicated to our legal system and the people engaged within that system making Nebraska better for all citizens of this state, he said.

Otte will retire Nov. 27.

The Judicial Resources Commission next will meet to determine whether, based on judicial workload statistics, his retirement creates a judicial vacancy on the district court for the 3rd Judicial District.
The GCC market sealed a total of 105 merger & acquisition (M&A) transactions throughout in the first half (H1) of 2022, marking a growth of 25% relative to H1 2021, said Kuwaiti financial powerhouse Markaz in a new report.



With the exception of Qatari targets, the remaining markets recorded substantial growth year over year, it added.



Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CPDQ), a Canadian institutional investor, reigned the top GCC M&A transactions with the announcement of a $5 billion transaction whereby it intends to acquire a 22% stake in DP Worlds flagship assets including Jebel Ali Port, Jebel Ali Free Zone and National Industries Park.



Following this is Al Salam Bank, who recorded the second largest transaction with its proposed acquisition of Ithmaar Banks consumer banking businesses alongside a portfolio of sukuk issued by the Government of Bahrain and the groups indirect shareholdings in Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, Solidarity Group Holding, Mastercard Inc. and the Benefit Company. The two parties have penned a binding agreement whereby Al Salam Bank will acquire the aforementioned assets for a total consideration of $2.2 billion.



Moreover, Etihad Etisalat Company (Mobily) said it has received a letter from Emirates Telecommunications Group Company (e&) expressing the companys interest in acquiring an additional stake in the company for $12.5 per Mobily share. If successful, e& would raise its holdings from 28% to 50% plus one share by means of a pre-conditional partial tender offer for an implied value of $2.1 billion.



In addition, the Public Investment Fund sealed a $1.5 billion deal whereby it acquired a 17% stake, or 625 million shares, in Kingdom Holding Company, at $2.4 per share. Note, this stake was acquired from HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, who subsequently reduced his stake to 78%. Lastly, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) are to acquire stakes in Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) from Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala) for a total value of $1.3 billion.



The binding agreement outlines that Adnoc will acquire a 24% stake in Masdars renewable business with TAQA acquiring a 43% stake and Mubadala retaining the 33% stake in the business. In addition, Adnoc will acquire a 43% stake in Masdars new green hydrogen joint venture, while Mubadala and TAQA will retain 33% and 24% stakes, respectively.



Acquirers and targets

The majority of closed transactions during H1 2022 and H1 2021 were carried out by GCC acquirers. Of the total number of transactions that closed during H1 2022, GCC acquirers accounted for 69% while foreign acquirers accounted for 27%. The remaining 5% represents transactions for which the buyer information was not available.



GCC acquirers also dominated the market during H1 2021 as they accounted for 70% of the total number of closed transactions while foreign acquirers accounted for 15%. Once again, the remaining 14% represents transactions for which the buyer information was not available.



Furthermore, GCC acquirers primarily invested in companies within their local markets and in international markets, and targeted regional companies to a lesser extent. Throughout H1 2022, GCC acquirers closed a total of 60 transactions within their local markets, compared to 49 transactions in H1 2021 . In addition, GCC acquirers sealed 46 cross-border transactions, relative to 29 cross-border transactions in H1 2021. It is worth noting that UAE buyers accounted for approximately 60% of the total number of cross-border transactions that closed, followed by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, who accounted for 21% and 11%, respectively.



Foreign buyers

The GCC market received a relatively greater level of interest from foreign buyers in H1 2022 compared to H1 2021. Throughout H1 2022, foreign buyers closed 28 transactions compared to 13 throughout H1 2021, which implies a growth rate of 114% year over year and reinforces the idea that investor confidence has strengthened with time post-COVID. It is worth noting that foreign buyers demonstrated a particular interest in Kuwaiti, Saudi and UAE companies. The UAE continues to be one of the most attractive markets relative to its peers while Omani companies emerged as attractive contenders following a period with no foreign activity throughout H1 2021 (closed).



Sectorial view

Moreover, the transactions that closed throughout H1 2022 targeted companies that operate across various sectors, highlighting another trend that has remained strong throughout the past few quarters. The sectors that witnessed the greatest level of activity throughout H1 2022 were the Financials, Consumer Discretionary and Information Technology sectors. Collectively, these three sectors accounted for over 48% of the transactions that closed during the first six months of the year.



Deals in the pipeline

By the end H1 2022, there was a total of 68 announced transactions in the pipeline, compared to 62 transactions in H1 2021. The majority of these transactions involved Saudi and UAE targets, who accounted for 41% and 34% of the total number of announced deals, followed by Kuwait at 12%. The remaining transactions involved Bahraini, Omani and Qatari targets, who collectively accounted for 13%. With the exception of Oman, each of the GCC market ended H1 2022 with a greater number of announced transactions compared to H1 2022.  TradeArabia News Service
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  William Ruto was sworn in as Kenya's president on Tuesday after narrowly winning the Aug. 9 election in East Africas most stable democracy, and quickly signaled that his leadership will be a strongly Christian one.

The Supreme Court last week rejected a challenge by losing candidate and longtime opposition figure Raila Odinga of the official results, completing a markedly peaceful election in a country with a history of troubled ones.

The 55-year-old Ruto had been the deputy to outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta but had a bitter split with Kenyatta that left the two not speaking for months at a time. On Tuesday, the audience cheered as the two shook hands, and again as Kenyatta handed over the instruments of power.

Ruto, who had dropped to his knees in tears and prayer when the court upheld his win, knelt on the stage minutes after his swearing-in during an extended sermon. A chicken seller to a president, intoned the pastor, highlighting Ruto's humble youth.

Ruto's first tweet quoted Psalms: This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. In his speech, he praised both the church and Islamic leadership and vowed that we will enhance our partnership, build on our collaboration and enhance our support to them.

The event began with some chaos. Scores of people were crushed and injured as they forced their way into the packed stadium. A medic said a fence fell down after people pushed it and about 60 were injured, though the number may rise.

We had to treat some with minor injuries. Most of them were rushed to the main hospital in Nairobi," medic Peter Muiruri said.

People tried to dodge baton-wielding security forces. Some failed. I was beaten by the police after trying to get inside, said a witness, Benson Kimutai.

Ruto is taking power in a country heavily burdened by debt that will challenge his efforts to fulfill sweeping campaign promises made to Kenyas poor, whom he has described as getting by on stubborn hope. In his speech, he acknowledged that clearly, we are living beyond our means.

He promised cheaper fertilizer as food prices rise and more affordable credit. He also vowed more money for the judiciary, financial independence for the national police from the presidency and efforts to fight a drought in Kenya's north that brings the threat of famine.

Ruto also asked Kenyatta to continue chairing discussions on the regional crises in neighboring Ethiopia, where the government is fighting Tigray forces, and in eastern Congo, where tensions exist with Rwanda. Kenyatta has accepted, the new president said.

With the transition, Kenyas presidency moves from one leader indicted by the International Criminal Court to another. Both Kenyatta and Ruto were indicted over their roles in deadly 2007 post-election violence, but the cases were later closed amid allegations of witness intimidation.

The August election was calm in a country with a history of political violence. Chaos erupted only in the final minutes when the electoral commission publicly split and prominent Odinga supporters tried to physically stop the declaration of Ruto as the winner.

Rutos campaign portrayed him as a hustler with a humble background of going barefoot and selling chickens by the roadside, a counterpoint to the political dynasties represented by Kenyatta and Odinga. His presidential flag features a wheelbarrow, the symbol of his campaign.

A village boy has become the president of Kenya, he said Tuesday.

But Ruto received powerful political mentoring as a young man from former President Daniel arap Moi, who oversaw a one-party state for years before Kenyans successfully pushed for multiparty elections.

Ruto now speaks of democracy and has vowed there will be no retaliation against dissenting voices. I will work with all Kenyans irrespective of who they voted for, he said in his speech.

But in a warning sign for media, local broadcasters accused by Ruto of bias in the past were restricted in their coverage of the inauguration and forced to use a feed from a South African broadcaster in which Kenya's national broadcaster has a share.

The losing candidate, 77-year-old Odinga, is setting himself up to be a prominent opposition voice once again after being backed by former rival Kenyatta in the election. In a statement on Monday, he said he would skip the inauguration and later would announce next steps as we seek to deepen and strengthen our democracy.

Though Odinga also asserted that the outcome of the election remains indeterminate, a spokesperson told The Associated Press it was highly unlikely he would seek to declare himself the peoples president as he did after losing the 2017 election.

Moses Ndungu contributed to this report.
Rep. Mike Flood of Norfolk has expressed concern about the use of Huawei hardware in cell towers located in Nebraska near U.S. military installations, including Offutt Air Force Base.

"We find it deeply troubling if Huawei has hardware near Offutt or other military bases, missile silos or strategic military installations in the state of Nebraska," the 1st District congressman wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce calling for an investigation.

"For years, national security experts have raised concerns that Huawei's technology could be used to conduct espionage against the Chinese Communist Party's adversaries and competitors around the world," Flood said.

Huawei has "deep ties" with the Chinese Communist Party and "could pose a substantial national security threat due to the technology's proximity to military installations in Nebraska," he said.

Huawei is a multinational technology corporation headquartered in China.
RACINE  More than a half-foot of rain poured this weekend on the Racine area. That has never happened before; it was the highest recorded single-day rainfall in local history.

Area record rainfalls reported include:

6.75 inches of rain between Sunday and Monday at the Racine Wastewater Treatment Plant.

8.1 inches at John H. Batten Airport Sunday.

9.76 inches of precipitation on Racine's west side Sunday and Monday.

7.5 inches of rain in Caledonia before 10 p.m. Sunday, as the rain was still falling.

The prior single-day area record was 4.8 inches of rain. That was recorded on April 5, 1947, at the Racine Wastewater Treatment Plant, according to the National Weather Service.

The oldest records NWS has for Racine are from May 1, 1896.

Warnings

A flood warning was in place Sunday evening into Monday morning across southeastern Wisconsin, but no major flooding was reported.

"We were fortunate," Union Grove Village Administrator Kerry Bennett said.

Officials in Waterford and Burlington also reported no significant flooding, although water levels were elevated in some areas, power outages were reported, and tree damage occurred throughout the county.

Racine County Public Works Director Julie Anderson said the lack of massive flooding was largely because other recent flooding incidents brought several consistent days of heavy rain, as opposed to one single day of intense rain following little precipitation over the previous three months.

Sam Kuffel, a Kenosha-native meteorologist with WDJT-TV (CBS 58), reported that Racine received more rain Sunday than throughout most of the summer of 2022. During June, July and August, Racine recorded just 6.51 inches of precipitation, a relatively dry summer.

There were multiple reports of vehicles stuck in water on roadways during the night  including two near the intersection of highways 31 and MM  and numerous households experiencing basement flooding, but there were no serious incidents directly caused by the rain reported.

There was discharge of diluted wastewater from Racine's sanitary sewer system both on Sept. 11 and 12, but totals of the amount released are not expected to be released until the end of the week. According to the Racine Water Utility: "Significant rainfall accumulation and sustained duration resulted in the surcharging of sewer infrastructure and discharge into the river and lake. The system operated as designed in response to excess peak wet weather flows but was eventually overwhelmed by the rain event with initial reports of 6.75 inches over the duration."

"I ... checked with the Racine County parks and highways teams on a few occasions last night and this morning, and we have no incidents or damage to report," Anderson said in an email Monday morning. "Since the rainfall was a long-duration event  as opposed to flash flooding  there is some ponding in areas, which is expected, but so far nothing major to report."

Added Caledonia Deputy Police Chief Shawn Engleman: "The PD has not had any calls related to the rain. Some of the ditches are flooded and the Root River is higher than normal, but other than that, its been business as usual."

According to We Energies, at least 1,600 households in the Racine area were without power at some point overnight Sunday. The Mount Pleasant Police Department also reported a wire on fire on the 4000 block of Miller Lane, stoplights going out at the intersection of Meachem and Durand avenues, and a stop sign blown down near the intersection of South Memorial Drive and Durand Avenue.

The City of Racine's Department of Public Works issued a statement Monday afternoon, saying: "We have not experienced any serious problems from a DPW standpoint except for some minor standing water in low lying areas where flows exceeded the capacity of the catch basin receiving it, which have already been resolved. In terms of public works infrastructure, we havent experienced any significant damage. We expect that there will be significant private property issues in terms of flooded basements. While we do not know those numbers just yet, we are mobilizing forces to assist in the clean-up in the coming days."

Other parts of southeastern Wisconsin saw other weather-related incidents.

At Pilgrim Park Middle School in Elm Grove, a bus ended up off the road and stuck in standing water Monday morning. Hillary Mintz of WISN-TV (Channel 12) reported students riding on the bus had to climb out through a rear emergency door.

State plow trucks were deployed on Interstate 94 Monday morning to attempt to clear standing water. A stretch of the westbound interstate in Waukesha County was closed until 2:30 p.m. Monday as crews pumped water away from a low point that was slow to drain.

So, why so much rain?

"It's a situation where you've got all the right ingredients coming together, NWS Meteorologist Cameron Miller said. He said there are three primary factors coming together to create the conditions for the unprecedented downpour:

Lots of moisture in the air. "Most of the time, anytime we get these really good rains, it's usually moisture that comes up from the Gulf of Mexico."

What is known as a surface low-pressure system, which Miller called one of our big weather makers, coming north from central Illinois and settling over the southwestern edge of Lake Michigan. Low-pressure systems typically bring weather events, while high-pressure systems are associated with clear skies.

The biggest difference-maker has been how slow this stormfront has been moving. Its basically lingering in one spot, Miller said.

If it had been snow Generally, one inch of precipitation under conditions that create rain equals about 10 inches of precipitation if conditions would create snow instead. "Racine easily will end up with 10-11 inches (of precipitation) by morning. Incredible rain," WITI-TV (Fox 6) Meteorologist Tom Wachs wrote on social media at 11:14 p.m. Sunday night. "To give some perspective, if this rain were snow it would be 90-110 inches (7-8 feet)." That much snowfall would by far be a record for Racine too. Racine's one-day snowfall record, according to the National Weather Service, was 24 inches on Feb. 2, 2011.

Cleaning up

Fosters reStore, 2000 Lathrop Ave., Racine, was closed Monday due to "major flooding" in its building.

Co-owner Dave Fricke said rainfall on the building's flat roof got between the flashing  a piece of metal meant to prevent leaks  and the walls themselves. Water began pouring onto the first floor Sunday evening, becoming more than an inch deep in some areas.

When asked how much damage the business suffered, Fricke chuckled and said, "I have no idea."

The two-story thrift store is expected to be reopen Tuesday. Most of the water had been cleaned up by morning, although Fricke, his wife/reStore co-owner, Chris Fricke, and their daughter remained at work Monday morning disposing of damaged goods and cleaning the carpeting.

History National Weather Service Meteorologist Cameron Miller noted that record-keeping for most of the last 125 years in Racine has been spotty. But, with the records that do exist dating back to the late 1800s from multiple sources, the National Weather Service is aware of no dates in Racine County history when nearly this much rain fell. According to tracking from the Wisconsin State Climatology Office, other record-setting days locally included: Aug. 18, 1978: 5.37 inches in Union Grove.

June 13, 1940: 5.09 inches in Burlington.

Sept. 11, 1933: 4.1 inches in the City of Racine. The all-time record for most rain in a 24-hour period in Wisconsin history was 11.72 inches on June 24, 1946, in the City of Mellen in Ashland County. The worldwide record for most rain in 24 hours in one area came Jan. 7-8, 1966, when 71.8 inches (one-fifth inch short of six feet) of rain poured on a mountainous island, Reunion, in the Indian Ocean.

Scott Williams of The Journal Times contributed to this report.
WATERFORD  A business owner lost more than $160,000 to bank fraud before officials realized Icelandic fraudsters were pulling off an international ruse, police said.

Competitive Heating and Air-Conditioning LLC, located at 820 Forrest Lane, was victimized this summer when unidentified criminals posed as a supplier seeking payment.

Waterford Police Department records indicate that the company lost a total of $162,454.

Business owner Matthew Olson said he and his partners have been able to recover about $65,000 in lost funds, but that damage to the company has been severe.

It aint good, he said.

Olson owns Competitive Heating and Air-Conditioning in partnership with Paul Van Alstine.

Van Alstine declined to comment.

According to Waterford police records, officers were contacted about the suspected fraud July 16 by Van Alstine and his wife, Dawn Van Alstine, who handles the companys payroll and other operations.

The companys Facebook page indicates that Competitive Heating has been in business more than 20 years.

The Van Alstines told police that they purchase heating and air-conditioning systems from Monroe Equipment Inc., based in Menomonee Falls in Waukesha County.

Competitive Heating received an email June 28 from someone posing as a Monroe Equipment representative, stating that the supplier no longer would accept debit payments and instead would arrange a different system for electronic payments.

The identity matched the name of an actual Monroe Equipment executive, and officials at Competitive Heating did not notice that the executives email address was off by just a single letter.

Using a bank routing number that the fraudsters provided, Competitive Heating sent two payments totaling $162,454. A few days later, Monroe Equipment reached out to ask about overdue payments under the previous debit payment system.

Monroe Equipment officials could not be reached for comment.

An official at Community State Bank later told investigators that the bank discovered a fraudulent bank account had been created just 15 days earlier to accomplish the theft.

An internet address was traced to Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland, with a population of about 130,000 people. It is located about 3,000 miles from Wisconsin.

Community State Bank representative Molly Krause told police she tried to seize any remaining funds in the suspect bank account. But police reported, She has not received a response yet, and does not believe the request was made in time to capture any of the funds.

The Van Alstines told police that they had insurance against some types of fraud totaling $25,000.

Waterford police told the business owners they could contact federal U.S. authorities, but that the police department could not pursue an investigation in Iceland.

Due to the origin of this case being in a foreign country, police reported, this agency will not be able to further investigate, as we have no authority in that geographic location and/or arrangement for cooperation due to criminal activity.
RACINE  The Planning, Heritage and Design Committee took public comments about the citys proposed Tax Increment District No. 31 on Wednesday.

The public used the comment period to ask questions and at the top of the list was: will being in a TID increase my property taxes?

Mayor Cory Mason said he received an email shortly before the meeting in which the writer said, Please dont raise my taxes to create this TID.

Kathleen Fischer, the city finance director, and representatives from EHLERS Public Finance Advisors were on hand to answer the publics questions  including those on property taxes.

They learned living in a TID district does not directly mean a property tax increase. The property tax rate is uniform across the city, as required by state law.

If adopted, TID 31 would be the citys fifth neighborhood TID in two years.

Conservation

Generally, TIDs collect money in the following way: the city sets a base value when the TID is created, equal to the cumulative total assessed value of all of the properties in the district. As property values increase, the difference between the base value and increased value  referred to as the increment  is set aside, rather than going into the general fund.

TID 31 would be a neighborhood TID, and is being proposed to address the rehabilitation and conservation needs of the neighborhoods within the district.

The proposed TID is 376 acres and nearly 58% of properties within the TID meet the criteria of being in need of rehabilitation. Its boundaries would abut the citys western boundary on Perry Avenue immediately west of the Westgate Shopping Center.

Approximately 75% of the revenue from the TID will be used for housing improvements, with a priority on correcting code violations and projects that prevent deterioration and loss of assessed value for the house.

The TID is expected to collect $16.47 million over the life of the TID. Of that, $11.62 million will be used for repair grants for homeowners. This is an estimate because there are many factors that could impact future housing assessments.

Approximately $3.87 million will be used for infrastructure improvements, which could include anything from resurfacing roads to constructing new curbs and gutters.

The grants are up to $10,000 for repairs/improvements and require the homeowner to provide a 10% match.

There are no income caps and grants are available to anyone in the district.

The proposed TID would expire in 2044.

The money for home improvements are for owner-occupied properties only, and it is available for those in duplexes. The program is not available to landlords or those who purchased a house to flip it and sell it for a profit.

One of the major focuses of the Mason administration in the past three years has been increasing the homeownership rate in the city.

The funds would not be available immediately as it takes time for the TID to accrue sufficient funds to proceed with the intended projects.

Neighborhood TIDs

The city already has four other neighborhood TIDs: 22, 23, 27, and 28. If approved, TID 31 will be modeled similarly.

City representatives use the term forgivable loans but the programs work similar to a grant program.

On a question from the audience, Fischer explained the program is run through the City of Racine, so there are no banks involved and no banking fees.

There is an application process, which will be advertised in the district. Grants are paid to the contractor and not the homeowner; though, the homeowner contracts for the work.

Currently, there are 100 applications in TID 22 and 23 working through the process.

Fischer said, in its first year, District 22 earned $200,000 in increment, so there were 20 grants available for home repairs/improvements on a first-come, first-served basis.

Controversy

As noted by multiple speakers, when a TID is created the amount of property tax collected is set for 27 years, so the taxes collected from that TID for the city, county, Racine Unified School District and Gateway Technical College remain the same for that time period  even while the expenses in those taxing entities increase.

One of the first people to speak on the TID was Alderman Henry Perez, who said he is hearing from his constituents they do not support the creation of the TID for this very reason.

One speaker argued the money would better serve the schools and public safety.

Supporters of TIDs, however, say they are taking a long-term perspective. Without TID grants, those with code violations may not be able to afford to make necessary repairs to their homes, resulting in loss of assessed value.

Supporters note by investing in these neighborhoods, the overall assessed values will increase over time, supporting the city, county and schools in the long run.

A TID is designed with a mixture of stable neighborhoods and those in need of stabilization. If the TID was created with just at-risk neighborhoods, there would likely be insufficient increment to invest in these neighborhoods.
A pause in delivery of F-35 fighter jets to the U.S. government is not expected to delay deployment of the jets in Madison next year.

The Pentagon has temporarily halted deliveries after discovering that an alloy used in magnets for the $131 million jets came from China, according to a story first reported by Bloomberg.

A Pentagon spokesperson said the magnets do not transmit information or harm the integrity of the aircraft, but the F-35 program office stopped taking deliveries to ensure compliance with federal regulations.

Bill LaPlante, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, said Friday the defense department is analyzing the impact on security as well as safety for more than 840 aircraft already in service.

Right now, so far, it doesnt appear to be either of them but Im waiting for them to finish what theyre looking at and come to me, LaPlante said.

LaPlante said if there are no vulnerabilities identified the military should be able to begin replacing the part with alloy from another source and resume deliveries pretty soon.

While the timeline is uncertain, Capt. Leslie Westmont said the Wisconsin National Guard is still expecting the first of 20 jets that will replace aging F-16s to arrive at Truax Field in the spring.

In 2020, the Air Force selected the 115th Fighter Wing as one of the nations first National Guard units to fly the new jets despite community division and concerns about the impact of noise and pollution, especially on minority and low-income residents near the airport.

Opponents of the jets have filed two federal lawsuits over the basing decision. One was dismissed earlier this year, though the second is pending in a Washington D.C. court.

Truax Field is undergoing roughly $120 million worth of construction to accommodate the new planes, which have suffered multiple setbacks and cost overruns.

With a total price tag of more than $1.7 trillion, the F-35 is the Pentagons most expensive weapons program, according to the Government Accountability Office. This spring the GAO warned the Department of Defense is on track to receive a third of all planned F-35s before determining that the aircraft is ready for full production.

According to Bloomberg, F-35 subcontractor Honeywell International notified the planes manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, in late August that a fifth-tier subcontractor had provided alloy from the Peoples Republic of China for the magnet used in a component that provides electrical power for ground maintenance, starting the engines and emergency power.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican challenger Tim Michels announced Monday that they have agreed to debate just one time ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

The debate will be Oct. 14, hosted by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, held in Madison and broadcast statewide. Both campaigns put out a joint statement announcing the agreement.

The debate will include journalists from across the state, according to the statement.

There are plenty of differences between the two candidates, but we agree that voters deserve this opportunity to hear directly from each candidate, said Evers campaign manager Cassi Fenili and Michels campaign manager Patrick McNulty in the joint statement. This will be the only debate between the candidates before the November election.

In 2018, Evers debated then-Gov. Scott Walker twice in October. Michels, co-owner of construction company Michels Corp., participated in two televised debates with his Republican challengers this summer. One was in a traditional debate format and the other was a town hall where questions came from people in the audience. Michels also did a radio debate with former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and state Rep. Timothy Ramthun.
After days of state mediation followed by weekend discussions at the Governor's Mansion, UW Health nurses and administrators agreed to regularly discuss workplace concerns as a state agency and the courts likely will determine if the health system can recognize a union the nurses have tried to revive.

The agreement, announced Monday outside Gov. Tony Evers' office at the state Capitol, averts a three-day strike the nurses had planned for Tuesday through Thursday. It also calls for no additional strikes as the two sides regularly confer about staffing levels, work load and other concerns nurses said are threatening patient safety.

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, which conducted mediation between the parties Wednesday through Friday, is expected to rule soon on whether UW Health can recognize and bargain with SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin, as Attorney General Josh Kaul said was possible in June. Either side can challenge the WERC ruling, which would take the issue to the courts.

Starting this weekend, we have begun serious, meaningful and productive conversations with UW Health administration. Those discussions will continue," said Colin Gillis, a UW Health nurse and leader of the union effort, said at a news conference.

Were extremely pleased that we were able to work out an agreement to avert the workforce stoppage," said Dr. Alan Kaplan, UW Health CEO, This agreement finally sets forth a path to resolve the (legal) question once and for all.

Evers invited the parties to his residence Friday evening and on Saturday and Sunday for talks that led to the deal. It was just important to bring people together and to have them communicate directly with each other," he said.

The UW Hospital board approved the agreement, as did 97% of nurses who voted, officials said.

On Sept. 3, nurses gave administrators an official notice of their plan to strike this week, saying they seek quality patient care, safe staffing and recognition of their union.

The 10-day notice, required by labor law, came after nurses said the previous week they voted to strike unless UW Health administrators agreed to recognize and bargain with their union, a request they have been making since December 2019.

SEIU has said UW nurses have been struggling with a dangerous crisis of understaffing, turnover, cuts, exhaustion and burnout, which has been aggravated by the pandemic and puts patient care at risk. Some UW doctors and others have supported their cause.

Former Republican Gov. Scott Walkers signature legislation, Act 10, banned collective bargaining for most public workers except for cost-of-living pay increases. At the time, UW Hospital administrators said the law abolished unions at the hospital even though they didnt seek that action. In 2014, when a contract for about 2,000 nurses and therapists represented by SEIU expired, they lost the union.

In December 2019, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic began, nurses announced they were restarting the union and asked the UW Hospital Board to voluntarily recognize it. The board and hospital leaders have repeatedly said the law doesnt allow them to recognize and bargain with the union.

Unlike other public employees affected by Act 10, UW Hospital workers are not state or municipal employees. When the hospital became a public authority separate from the university in 1996, it acquired its own special status. How Act 10 and other laws apply to that status has been the subject of various legal memos.

After two memos last year from the nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Council appeared to reach different conclusions, Kaul in June said the hospital can contract with its employees and set their terms of employment through a voluntary collective bargaining process. Kauls opinion came at the request of Evers. Both are Democrats.

Kaplan on Monday said Kaul's opinion is not legally binding. "Hes not a court," Kaplan said. "We need a definitive answer. We feel it can only come from the courts.

In January, SEIU said it gave Kaplan more than 1,500 cards signed by nurses supporting a union. SEIU says 2,600 nurses at UW Hospital would be in the bargaining unit.
1. Yes. COVID isnt over. Killeen and Cove ISD had 851 cases combined in August alone.

2. Yes. Parents should always be able to track cases in the schools on a daily basis.

3. No. The state isnt requiring school districts to post the numbers; it isnt necessary.

4. No. COVID isnt surging, but if it does, the website dashboards could be reinstated.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say whether the information is needed with the low threat level.

Vote

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Oman Cables Industry (OCI) has welcomed on board 20 female Omani students for the SHE STEMS social development programme that aims to prepare more Omani women for the nations manufacturing and STEM sectors.

The start of the programme follows OCIs signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and the Ministry of Labour (MOL) in early August to develop and implement the SHE STEMS (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) initiative.

In line with Omans Vision 2040 strategic objectives, SHE STEMS will create more opportunities for Omani women to enter careers in the industrial sector, and contribute to building a productive and diversified economy, founded on innovation, integration of roles and equal opportunities.

Machine operations

The 20 female Omani students were selected from a list of over three hundred candidates. As of this week, they have begun a six-month-long Machine Operations course that will emphasise hands-on skills development and practical on-the-job training in machine operations, with a focus on the manufacturing sector. The training will be supervised by highly proficient and qualified instructors.

The Machine Operations course forms the first out of three SHE STEMS programmes scheduled for deployment, all of which will be officially certified by MOHERI. On completion of the training, each graduate will receive a SHE STEMS certificate recognised by the Ministry.

We are delighted to be a part of this first-of-its-kind initiative in Oman. The programme will prepare more Omani women for the nations critically important manufacturing sector and empower them to take great strides towards achieving their career goals.

Sustainability plan

Through this initiative we hope to be able to change these 20 women lives for the better said OCIs Chief Executive Officer, Cinzia Farise. The SHE STEMS Project is a long-term project and forms part of our Sustainability Plan, in line with our global social ambition. Similar initiatives will be developed in some other Countries of the world, but we are very proud to be the first and to start in Oman and for Oman. The local initiative received the endorsement of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MoHERI) and the Ministry of Labour (MoL), that we thank for their continuous support.

As part of the Prysmian Group, OCI launched SHE STEMS initiative as a joint amalgamation with Prysmians sustainability development strategy and goals, and within the framework of the Prysmian Social Ambition 2030 objectives of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, Digital Inclusion, Community Empowerment, and Employee Engagement and Upskilling.-- TradeArabia News Service
NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan  Pope Francis begged for an end to Russia's "senseless and tragic war" in Ukraine as he arrived Tuesday in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan to join faith leaders from around the world in praying for peace.

Francis flew to the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan to meet with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for an official state visit portion of his three-day trip. On Wednesday and Thursday, he participates in a government-sponsored triennial interfaith meeting, which is a gathering of more than 100 delegations of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Shinto and other faith groups from 50 countries.

The 85-year-old Francis made the trip despite what appeared to be an aggravation of the strained knee ligaments that have greatly reduced his mobility all year. Francis struggled to walk through the aisle of the aircraft during the 6-hour flight from Rome, and he appeared tired and in pain as he limped heavily with his cane, ceding to a wheelchair for most events once in town. Doctors told him that for the time being, any further travel is out of the question.

Speaking upon his arrival to government authorities and diplomats gathered at the Qazaq concert hall, Francis praised Kazakhstan's commitment to diversity and dialogue and its progress from decades of Stalinist repression, when Kazakhstan was the destination of hundreds of thousands of Soviet deportees.

Francis said the country, which borders Russia to the north and China to the east and is home to some 150 ethnic groups and 80 languages, now has a "fundamental role to play" in helping ease conflicts elsewhere.

Recalling that St. John Paul II visited Kazakhstan just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S., Francis said he was visiting "in the course of the senseless and tragic war that broke out with the invasion of Ukraine."

Directing himself at global superpowers, he said expanding efforts at diplomacy and dialogue are ever more important. "And those who hold greater power in the world have greater responsibility with regard to others, especially those countries most prone to unrest and conflict."

Tokayev didn't mention Ukraine in his prepared remarks to Francis. But speaking in English, he referred in general terms about humanity being on an "edge of an abyss as geopolitical tensions escalate, global economy suffers, and mushrooming religious and ethnic intolerance becomes the 'new normal.'"

Kazakhstan has had to walk a thin line with the war. Tokayev has vowed to respect Western sanctions against Russia while trying to maintain close ties with Moscow, an important economic partner and ally. At the same time, he refused to recognize the Russia-backed separatist "people's republics" in Ukraine which Moscow recognized days before invading Ukraine.

The most noteworthy aspects of Francis' visit to Kazakhstan might boil down to the missed opportunities with both Russia and China: Francis was supposed to have met with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church on the sidelines of the conference. But Patriarch Kirill, who has supported the war in Ukraine, canceled his trip last month.

Francis is also going to be in the Kazakh capital at the same time as Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is making his first foreign trip since early in the coronavirus pandemic.

The Vatican and China haven't had diplomatic relations for a half-century and the timing is somewhat tense, with the two sides finalizing the renewal of a controversial deal over the nominations of Catholic bishops in China.

The Vatican has said there were no current plans for any meeting between Xi and Francis while they were both in Kazakhstan and the Kazakh deputy foreign minister, Roman Vassilenko said he didn't believe there was time in Xi's schedule to meet with Francis.

Asked about the possibility, Francis said: "I don't have any news about this. But I am always ready to go to China."

The interfaith congress, now in its seventh iteration, is a showpiece of Kazakhstan's foreign policy and a reflection of its own multicultural and multiethnic population long touted as a crossroads between East and West.

When St. John Paul II visited in 2001, 10 years after independence, he highlighted Kazakhstan's diversity while recalling its dark past under Stalinist repression: Entire villages of ethnic Poles were deported en masse from western Ukraine to Kazakhstan beginning in 1936, and the Soviet government deported hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans, Chechens and other accused Nazi collaborators to Kazakhstan during World War II. Many of the deportees' descendants remained and some of them make up the country's Catholic community, which numbers about 125,000 in a country of nearly 19 million.

Sophia Gatovskaya, a parishioner at Our Lady Of Perpetual Help Cathedral in the capital, said she attended that first papal visit. "It was actually amazing. And after this visit, we have peace and tolerance in our republic. We have a lot of nationalities in Kazakhstan, and we all live together. And we expect the same from this visit (of Pope Francis) that we will have peace in our republic. And we very much expect that the war in Ukraine will end."
A growing number of hospitals are outsourcing often-unprofitable outpatient services for their poorest patients by setting up independent, nonprofit organizations to provide primary care.

Medicare and Medicaid pay these clinics, known as federally qualified health center look-alikes, significantly more than they would if the sites were owned by hospitals.

Like the nearly 1,400 federally qualified health centers  which get those additional dollars as well  a clinic designated by the government as a look-alike is also eligible for federal programs that could help reduce costs and recruit providers. They allow the clinics to obtain prescription drugs at deep discounts and attract doctors by making them eligible for a government program that helps them pay off their student debt if they work in an area with a shortage of medical providers.

But unlike the community health centers, the look-alikes do not get an annual federal grant to cover operational costs. Nor do the look-alikes get the financial benefit in which the federal government covers their malpractice risks.

Even though they are not part of a hospital system, many of the hospital-formed look-alikes have clinics on hospital campuses or within a short distance. As a result, the clinics can help divert patients without urgent needs from expensive emergency rooms.

That helps reduce losses, especially from uninsured patients who might have been using the ER for primary care. Converting clinics to look-alikes is also often a strategy for hospitals that have a high proportion of patients enrolled in Medicaid, which generally reimburses hospitals at lower rates than commercial health plans do, said Jeffrey Allen, a partner with the consulting firm Forvis. Its a trend thats gaining momentum, he said.

Hospitals are betting that they will come out ahead by spinning off a money-losing service and providing grant funding to the look-alike to keep it solvent, he said. At the same time, hospitals expect many patients from the look-alike clinics who need to be admitted for services or require specialized care to be routed to their hospitals, he said.

At least eight hospital systems have converted existing clinics or built new ones that received look-alike designation from 2019 through 2022, according to a KHN analysis of federal data. They include:

Parkview Health, a large hospital system in Indiana and Ohio, which opened a look-alike called Alliance Health Centers in Fort Wayne, Indiana, that was designated in 2021. Tami Brigle, a hospital spokesperson, said look-alike status offered the system a better way to provide care to underserved people.

Parrish Medical Center in Titusville, Florida, which helped open Space Coast Health Centers, designated as a look-alike in 2022. Parrish spent $1.2 million to set up the clinic, which provides primary care and mental health care, a few blocks from the hospital. Many of our patients have not had primary care for years and have multiple medical and behavioral needs, Space Coast CEO Arvin Lewis said in a statement to KHN. We are working to improve access to care.

Wabash General Hospital, which partnered with a local health department to form Wabash Community Health Center, a look-alike clinic near the hospital in Mount Carmel, Illinois. Danielle Stevens, the hospitals executive vice president of business development, said that the hospital was treating some clinic patients in its emergency room and that the new facility provided mental health services and physical health in one location. The intent is to expand services that are currently not offered to the community with the enhanced reimbursement, she said.

Indiana Hospital Association President Brian Tabor said hospitals are sometimes wary of forming a look-alike because it means giving control to a new organization. But, he said, the conversion can benefit both hospitals and patients: Hospitals are exploring different payment models to support access in rural and underserved areas, and look-alike status has emerged for some as a real critical tool.

Nationally, 108 look-alike health centers operate today, an increase from 87 in 2020, according to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. The majority were not started by hospitals.

Look-alike health centers are overseen by a board of directors, and at least 51% of the directors are required to be patients  just like full-fledged community health centers. Look-alike health centers treat patients on a sliding fee scale based on their income.

Organizations typically seek look-alike status from the federal government as a precursor to becoming a fully funded federally qualified health center.

Lee Health, a hospital system based in Fort Myers, Florida, converted more than two dozen of its outpatient clinics to look-alike status starting in 2014. Bob Johns, senior vice president for Lee Community Healthcare, is the lone full-time executive of the look-alike. The other personnel are still employed by the hospital system.

The higher Medicaid funding has helped pay for four new adult family practice clinics and a pediatric mental health clinic, Johns said. And a mobile health clinic that goes to underserved areas is also partly funded through the enhanced Medicaid reimbursements.

Shifting care to look-alikes has helped Lee Health find new funding to expand care to the medically underserved, Johns said.

Its a cool model," he said, "and a very efficient way to use limited resources."
LAS VEGAS  An elected official accused of killing a Las Vegas investigative journalist in what authorities allege was retaliation for articles critical of him and his office faced court sanctions two years ago for resisting arrest in a domestic violence case, records show.

Robert Telles, the Clark County public administrator who took office in January 2019, accepted a plea agreement in September 2020 to resolve misdemeanor battery and resisting a public officer charges after his wife, Mae Ismael, called 911, according to Las Vegas Municipal Court and police dispatch records.

In the 2020 incident, Telles was accused of "grabbing" and placing his wife in a "'bear-hug' position" and of resisting efforts by two police officers to handcuff him. The records, first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, show the case was dismissed and closed in March 2021 after Telles paid a $418 fine, attended counseling and stayed out of trouble.

Telles, now 45, remains jailed without bail on suspicion of murder in the Sept. 2 slaying of veteran Review-Journal staff writer Jeff German.

Telles' attorney, Travis Shetler, asked during a brief Tuesday court appearance for additional time to prepare for Telles' arraignment, and prosecutors did not oppose the delay. A judge reset the hearing for Sept. 20.

Telles stood in shackles Tuesday with bandages on his forearms and a wry smile as he faced the courtroom. Police and prosecutors say he had superficial self-inflicted wounds when he was arrested Sept. 7 after a brief standoff with police at his home.

A criminal complaint filed Monday accuses Telles of "lying in wait" for German, who was stabbed seven times. His body was found the next morning.

Telles was arrested days later, after police issued a plea for public help to identify a person seen on security video wearing an orange work shirt and a wide-brim straw hat toting a shoulder bag and walking toward German's home.

Police also released images of a distinctive SUV seen near German's home, driven by a person wearing an orange shirt. A Review-Journal photographer snapped photos Sept. 6 of Telles washing the same type of vehicle in his driveway.

A prosecutor told a judge last Thursday that Telles left his own cellphone at home and waited in a vehicle outside German's home until the attack.

German wrote about "turmoil and internal dissension" in the county office that handles the property of people who die without a will or family contacts. After articles appeared in May airing claims of administrative bullying, favoritism and Telles' relationship with a subordinate staffer, Telles lost his bid for reelection in the June primary. County lawmakers also appointed a consultant to address complaints.

Telles blamed "old-timers" for exaggerating his relationship with the female staffer and falsely claiming that he mistreated them.

German, a 40-year Las Vegas journalist who was working on follow-up reports about Telles and the public administrator's office when he died, his colleagues said.

"The published articles  ruined (Telles') political career, likely his marriage, and this was him lashing out at the cause," Chief Deputy Clark County District Attorney Richard Scow told a judge last week.

That judge, Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Elana Lee Graham, called the police report detailing the attack "chilling." She spoke of apparent defensive wounds on German's arms and said DNA believed to be from Telles was found under German's fingernails.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said a decision whether to seek the death penalty will be made in coming months.

Police said a search warrant turned up items at Telles' home including blood-stained shoes and a straw hat that had been cut up. Authorities said they did not immediately find the weapon used to kill German.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said investigators were attempting to enhance security video that he described as "distorted" but might show the attack.

Telles was a lawyer who practiced probate and estate law before he was elected public administrator in 2018, replacing a three-term predecessor. Telles' term in office expires Dec. 31, but Clark County officials said he is suspended.
KEARNEY  The newly authorized bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccines are now available in central Nebraska.

These boosters, administered after the primary series of COVID vaccines, are authorized to fight the latest COVID-19 variants.

The Two Rivers Public Health Department will offer these booster shots, along with all types of COVID vaccines and flu vaccines, 5-7 p.m. today at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds at 3607 Avenue N.

The new boosters are also available at:

Hy-Vee, 5212 Third Ave., 308-236-0020. Pfizer bivalent for ages 12 and up, by appointment only.

Medicap Pharmacy, 2706 Second Ave., 308-234-8056. Moderna booster bivalent for ages 18 and older. Appointments are strongly recommended.

U-Save Pharmacy, 3611 Second Ave., 308-455-1555. Pfizer bivalent booster for ages 12 and up. Appointments are recommended.

Valley Pharmacy, 211 W. 33rd St., 308-234-3300. Moderna booster bivalent for ages 18 and up. No appointment is necessary.

Walgreens Pharmacy, 2516 Second Ave., 308-236-8547. Moderna bivalent for ages 18 and up. Appointments are recommended.

Two Rivers will offer all COVID shots, including new boosters, 4-6 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Civic Auditorium, 421 Grant St., Holdrege, and 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 28 at the Cozad United Methodist Church at 1515 B Ave.

The public can call pharmacies or Two Rivers (888-669-7154) for information, vaccination age policies and more. The new boosters are also available at many medical facilities.

All sites also offer primary COVID vaccines to people who are age six months and older and are not yet fully vaccinated.

As the new boosters become available, COVID is plummeting here and across the country. According to the New York Times national data tracker, in the past week, the Two Rivers Public Health District averaged 32 new cases per day.

Per day, Buffalo County averaged eight new COVID cases per day. Dawson County averaged 1.4 cases, and Phelps County averaged just one new case per day. Kearney and Franklin counties are averaging three new cases each week, and Harlan and Gosper counties are averaging one new case a week.

Nationwide, new COVID cases now average 90,000 per day nationally, a drop of 25% from 120,000 cases in the past month, according to the data tracker. In the last two weeks, cases have fallen 13% across the country.

Despite the decline, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that the public stay up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccinations, including all primary series doses and boosters.

People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised have different recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines, including boosters. They should check with their medical providers.

For details on central Nebraska COVID-19 vaccine locations, visit www.vaccines.gov.
KEARNEY  The University of Nebraskas campuses will waive the undergraduate admissions application fee for Nebraska students from Sept. 16-30, part of an ongoing system-wide effort to expand access and encourage college-going among students and families.

Beginning Friday, resident students using NUs shared application for admission to the University of Nebraska at Kearney, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nebraska at Omaha and Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture can have the $45 application fee waived. All applicants for admission for the 2023-24 academic year are eligible for the waiver.

When applying, students should select fee waiver and enter the code NUforNE to have the fee waived.

Access to higher education is as important now as it has ever been, and the University of Nebraska is doing everything we can to minimize costs for students and families, said NU System President Ted Carter. The application fee is real money. Offering this waiver is a simple step we can take to ensure access and opportunity for every Nebraska student.

A system-wide fee waiver period was first launched in 2020, the result of a collaborative effort by admissions teams across the campuses to broaden access for students and increase the universitys visibility during a critical phase in the enrollment cycle.

The waiver period aligns with statewide college fairs hosted by the Nebraska Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, which give students and families an opportunity to explore their postsecondary educational options.

Additionally, the 2023-24 Free Application for Federal Student Aid becomes available on Oct. 1, allowing students to apply for aid soon after applying for admission. Students must complete the FAFSA to be eligible for the Nebraska Promise, the University of Nebraskas financial aid program that allows qualifying Nebraska students with family incomes of $65,000 or less to attend any NU campus tuition-free.

The University of Nebraska Systems shared application allows students to apply to UNL, UNO, UNK and NCTA using a single application. To apply for admission or for more information on the admissions process at UNK, visit the Undergraduate Admissions page.
For the second year in a row, the Vernon County Fair has two ambassadors. This year they are sisters Katelyn and Maya Dunnum. Katelyn is Fairest of the Fair and Maya is Junior Fairest of the Fair.

The sisters, who are the daughters of Jamie Dunnum of Westby, are looking forward to experiencing the fair  which runs from Wednesday, Sept. 14 to Sunday, Sept. 18  in a different way.

Im most looking forward to talking to all sorts of people and seeing the different aspects of the fair, Katelyn, 21, said. Im going to see different things I havent seen. They are bringing the draft horse show back and there will be a pie auction. Im excited for the new things.

Maya, 15, who is a freshman at Westby Area High School, is also looking forward to meeting different people. Ill also get to be more knowledgeable of different parts of the fair.

Katelyn said being the fair ambassadors will not only be a learning experience, but also a fun experience. It will be fun spending time with Katelyn, Maya said.

Maya said she was shocked when she heard her name announced as Junior Fairest of the Fair at the contest on June 11. I was overtaken by the crowds applause. She said pressure was released after the announcement.

Katelyn, who was the only Fairest of the Fair candidate, said she was excited to hear her sisters name announced. Im glad to be doing this with my sister. We are the first sister pair and this is the second year for Junior Fairest in the fairs history. Its been fun so far.

Since June, the sisters have been busy. They both helped at the Vernon County and Hillsboro dairy breakfasts, rode in the La Farge Fourth of July parade, went to the La Crosse Interstate Fair and had a booth about tractor safety on roadways at Vernon County National Night Out. Katelyn attended the Fairest of the Fairs Reunion Day held during the Wisconsin State Fair. Maya sold tickets and greeted people who attended the Richard Sidie Memorial Horse Pull held during Wild West Days in Viroqua last month and rode in the Wild West Days parade.

Katelyn and Maya have both taken exhibits to the Vernon County Fair.

Katelyn exhibited at the fair first as a member of the Mapledale Motivators 4-H Club and later on as a member of the Westby FFA Chapter. As an FFA member, she showed sheep and chickens, entered fiber arts projects and took crops.

For a few years Maya also entered projects as a member of the Mapledale Motivators 4-H Club and for the last two years as a member of the Westby FFA Chapter. Shes taken rabbits, baking, ceramics and sheep to the fair.

The Dunnum sisters, like many fair-goers, have favorite fair foods. Katelyns favorites are Westby cheese curds from the Curd Mobile, funnel cakes and cotton candy. Maya favors cotton candy and mini doughnuts.

They also have their favorite fair events.

Mainly I like the animal showing-type events, Katelyn said. It comes from a showmanship standpoint. When it comes to sheep and watching the competition you see (the exhibitors) growth. I also like the antique farm tractor pull. I love antiques. I love old things and have an appreciation for them.

Maya said her top favorite event is the Little Britches Dairy Show and she finds the sheep show fascinating.

Little Britches is so adorable, she said. I like the sheep show because you can see how (exhibitors) handle the animal; its a compare and contrast thing.

We hope to see everyone at the 165th fair, Katelyn said.

Special happenings

A pie auction in the Senior Citizen Building Sunday, Sept. 18, at 2 p.m. will benefit building projects on the Vernon County Fairgrounds. Milk and Cookies with the Fairests will be held at noon in the Senior Citizen Building.

For the second year in a row, there will be a painted rock hunt on the fairgrounds. The rock hunt is coordinated by the Fairest of the Fair program with the help of Westby Rocks, which painted the rocks with fair images.

This year, the painted rock hunt is for children only. Seven to eight rocks will be hidden on the west end of the fairgrounds. For kids safety, they will not be found in barns or buildings or the infield. Rocks that are found can be brought to the fair office where a prize can be claimed.

Children can start hunting for the rocks on Thursday, Sept. 15. Posters will be hung up around the fairgrounds letting children know what to look for.

The Fairests of the Fair will be walking around the fairgrounds with Olive the Chicken Purse. When children at the fair see Katelyn and Maya with the purse, they are encouraged to interact with the young ladies and ask questions. The Fairests will also ask the children questions. The children will then be able to pick a prize out of the purse. Its a way to get the kids excited about the fair, Katelyn said.
Student success advisor Shannon Sullivan knows that college can be a very daunting environment. Establishing a key person that you can go to for anything helps ease the transition into college.

At Minnesota State College Southeast, the Papenfuss Scholars Program is helping students build just such relationships.

Made possible by a gift from the Jerry & Patricia Papenfuss Family Fund of the Winona Community Foundation, the Papenfuss Scholars Program is meeting the college expenses of nine Winona Area Learning Center graduates at MSC Southeast this year.

The Papenfuss Scholars also have the advantage of working with a dedicated advisor. Shannon Sullivan previously worked at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science and was a retention advisor, a financial aid assistant and an admissions assistant at MSC Southeast for seven years.

After the first group of Papenfuss Scholars was selected in 2021, I came back to Southeast, she said. I started meeting with students on a regular basis in the summer before classes even started. By the time fall semester began, we were already well into a comfortable relationship.

Now age 22, Devin Foster is one of five successful Papenfuss Scholars who started college at MSC Southeast last year. Initially, he planned to major in information technology, but after a successful first semester, he changed to software development and support, a program he considers to be more challenging.

When he was younger, Devin said he was in and out of high school. He dropped out to work for a while. I just didnt care about school at the time, but at a certain point, I had a wakeup call to change my life around.

During COVID, he enrolled at the Winona Area Learning Center. By then, he was a highly motivated student. I finished a full year of high school in a semester. And I was doing it all online at that, Devin said. I liked working online because I could work at my own pace. I could accelerate my pace and graduate sooner.

As a WALC student, Devin first heard about the Papenfuss Scholars Program in a text message from his high school counselor.

My counselor said I would be perfect for it  I felt confident that I would get the scholarship. I try hard, they know Im intelligent, I was on good terms with the counselor and teachers.

But after completing the application process, he didnt hear back for quite a while. In fact, he thought he hadnt been selected until the end of June, when three of his high school teachers and an admissions representative from Minnesota State College Southeast showed up at his doorstep to surprise him with the good news.

Devin knew the Papenfuss Scholarship would meet his college expenses. He also received MSC Southeast Foundation and Workforce Development scholarships and got a work-study position at the colleges IT Helpdesk to stretch his dollars further.

What he didnt know was that the scholarship would also come with the opportunity to work with an advisor. Thats when Shannon Sullivan came into his life.

Shannon explained that relationship building is key to helping students achieve academic progress  it creates a safe environment where they become comfortable in asking for help.

Asking for help is something thats really hard to do, she confided. Sometimes I feel our biggest challenge is letting students know its OK to ask for help.

Shannon and I meet up once a week. Shes a happy person to talk to, said Devin. I have felt overwhelmed at times, but she makes sure I feel positive about school. Shell email my teachers if we have concerns. I like to walk or bike everywhere, but sometimes I need a ride and Shannon will give me Lyft cards.

Shannons approach to advising is based on a team approach with college faculty. I get progress checks from the instructors, which provides another level of feedback and opportunities for learning, said Shannon.

Knowing he will have the first two years of completed without any student loan debt, Devin said he is planning to continue his college career. I definitely plan to go on for a bachelors degree. I would like to go somewhere out of state, live on campus.

Its been such a joy to see how successful these students are, and their instructors share in that joy! Shannon said.
A 34-year-old La Crosse man has been sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for cocaine trafficking and illegal firearms possession.

Curtis W. Ross was sentenced Monday in Madison by U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson for possessing a firearm as a felon, possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. His prison term will be followed by 60 months of supervised release.

Ross pleaded guilty to the charges June 15.

According to federal prosecutors, Ross was pulled over Sept. 8, 2021, by La Crosse police after discovering that a passenger, Lee Strawder, 40, Milwaukee, was in violation of a bond condition.

Officers smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle and searched the vehicle. Under the front passenger seat, officers reportedly found a loaded Canik 9mm handgun, a loaded Beretta 9mm handgun and a bag containing over an ounce of marijuana. Rosss DNA was found on the Beretta, and Strawders DNA was found on the Canik. Both were prohibited from possessing firearms due to prior felony convictions.

A back seat passenger told officers he was in the car to purchase cocaine from Ross. After Ross was transported to jail, an officer reported finding three baggies of cocaine in the squad car that Ross left behind.

Prosecutors say officers searched Rosss cell phone and found multiple photos of him with firearms, including what were believed to be the same Canik and Beretta handguns found in the car. Officers also located conversations on Rosss phone in which he discussed buying and selling narcotics.

A few days after his arrest, Ross was released on a signature bond. On Oct. 5, 2021, La Crosse police reportedly purchased heroin and fentanyl from Ross using a confidential informant.

On Feb. 22, La Crosse police received a report that Ross had stolen his girlfriends truck. Officers responded and observed Ross running between houses. While an officer was following Ross in a squad car, he reportedly pointed a firearm and shot in the direction of the officer. Ross was located hiding under a vehicle. A loaded handgun and a spent casing were found in the area. Prosecutors say Ross had baggies of cocaine and heroin, a loaded magazine and a large quantity of cash on his person.

Ross has been charged in state court in La Crosse for the shooting incident surrounding his arrest. He has a status conference in that case set for Nov. 2.

Strawder pleaded guilty on June 22 to possessing a firearm as a felon. His sentencing hearing before Judge Peterson is Oct. 6. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

The charges against Ross were the result of an investigation conducted by the La Crosse Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Emirates Health Services (EHS) and Siemens Healthineers have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) of mutual cooperation with a focus on medical excellence, improving productivity and innovation in providing various health care services.

The signing of the MoU came in the presence of Dr Yousif Al Serkal, Director General of Emirates Health Services, and Ole Per Maloy, CEO, Siemens Healthineers Middle East and Southern & Eastern Africa, and a number of EHS directors.

Dr Al Serkal emphasised that this MoU is an extension of a series of agreements and memorandums of understanding signed by EHS with local authorities, institutions and companies in the health care sector. These partnerships help in achieving EHS strategy and consolidating its position as a leader in the field of healthcare and innovation.

Through offering high-quality healthcare services, EHS aims to provide patients with the best outcomes through accurate treatments, digitization, data, artificial intelligence, and innovation to meet the biggest challenges in the sector and achieve sustainability.

The exchange of expertise and experiences promoted by the memorandum of understanding comes as part of our objectives of working to develop the national healthcare workforce and empower local capabilities which will support in providing high quality healthcare services.

In addition to the need to invest in capacity building, this MOU would enhance the efficiency of medical devices and equipment for provision of state of the art clinical services, Dr Al Serkal said.

Ole Per Maloy, CEO, Siemens Healthineers Middle East and Southern & Eastern Africa, said: Emirates Health Services is now among the growing number of prestigious institutions worldwide participating in the Innovation Think Tank program. Building on their impressive expertise, this program will allow EHS to explore their intrinsic creativity and diversity to encourage out-of-the-box thinking, ultimately creating an innovation infrastructure and addressing local challenges in our region, which will improve patients lives.

Through the MoU, the two parties agreed to support innovation in the field of healthcare in cooperation with the Siemens Healthineers Innovation Think Tank (ITT) by launching specialised innovation trainings with the aim of developing and standardising institutional innovation. In addition, an innovation center will be integrated to provide the necessary infrastructure and support for development and testing of ideas.

The MoU stipulates to identify and pursue local innovation projects through research, commercial mentoring, and incubation, including links with startups, and to participate in Siemens Healthineers ITT events related to best practices in innovation.

Under the MoU, Emirates Health Services is involved in identifying innovation projects and workflows in areas of mutual interest, working with Siemens Healthineers to establish the infrastructure and specialized programs of the Innovation Center.

Based on this MoU, Siemens Healthineers will organise ITT training programs, provide guidance and follow-up of innovation projects, provide specially designed and prepared schemes for these projects, in addition to working with EHS on joint publications and funding requests and involving them in global innovation events. -TradeArabia News Service
Forbes and Statista, a market research firm, recently named Mayo Clinic Health System the No. 1 Best Employer in Wisconsin as part of a state-by-state ranking of large employers.

The firm conducted this research by interviewing 70,000 people in the U.S. who work for companies with greater than 500 employees.

I am so proud to work alongside our remarkable staff who are living the Mayo Clinic values every day, says Paul Mueller, M.D., regional vice president of Mayo Clinic Health System in southwest Wisconsin. This recognition can give prospective employees the assurance that they will be joining a great place to work.

Mayo Clinic in Arizona was also named the No. 1 Best Employer in Arizona. Mayo Clinic also was ranked the No. 3 Best Employer in Minnesota, where the organization is also the states largest employer.

Being named the top employer in the state of Wisconsin is a testament to our amazing, dedicated teams at Mayo Clinic Health System who are focused tirelessly on the needs of our patients, says Prathibha Varkey, M.B.B.S., president of Mayo Clinic Health System. We are delighted to be the employer of choice while also focused on transforming community care.

The recognition as top employers arrives as Mayo looks to hire for impending growth in Arizona, Wisconsin and other locations. A new patient tower will open in December at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona as part of a capital expansion project. Construction also began earlier this year for a new 70-bed hospital at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse.

The methodology to arrive at the Best Employers in each state included anonymous surveys allowing respondents to freely share their opinions about employers. They were asked about their work environment, safety, competitive compensation, openness to telecommuting, opportunities for advancement and likelihood to recommend their employer to others.

This is the fourth year that Forbes commissioned this research, and 1,382 employers were named to the Best Employer list across the country.

To learn more about a life-changing career at Mayo Clinic, visit the Mayo Clinic Careers website.
With just under two months until election day, the candidates vying for Wisconsins 3rd Congressional District continue to keep the campaign heated, this time over possible debates.

On Monday, Wisconsin state Sen. Brad Pfaff, D-Onalaska, formally challenged Republican opponent Derrick Van Orden of Prairie du Chien to three debates at different venues.

Voters in this district need and deserve accountability from their elected officials and candidates for Congress, Pfaff said. Anything short of a full acceptance of this challenge means that Derrick is either incapable of engaging in a candid and frank conversation about real solutions to voters real concerns, or he is too afraid of me and the voters of this district to risk a transparent and public event.

Van Orden responded with a statement of his own, though it was unclear if he was accepting to participate in all three debates.

I will gladly put my 26 year record of service defending this nation as a Navy SEAL against Pfaffs 26-year pursuit of personal political power. Pfaff will continue to pull these cheap political stunts because his campaign is floundering, Van Orden said.

The UW-La Crosse debate coalition, a group made up of the university, media companies and community partners, with the goal of holding civil, informative political debates in western Wisconsin, and has already held debates for the 3rd Congressional District, issued a statement on the issue.

The coalition invites Brad Pfaff and Derrick Van Orden to participate in a debate on the UW-La Crosse campus. The coalition is eager to work with the campaigns to organize this debate and ensure the tradition continues, said Anthony Chergosky, a UW-L professor and debate coalition organizer.

Van Orden and Pfaff will appear on the ballot on Nov. 8. For more information on voting, visit MyVote.wi.gov.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Rapper PnB Rock was fatally shot during a robbery at a South Los Angeles restaurant where police believe a social media post may have tipped the assailant to his location.

The Philadelphia artist, whose real name is Rakim Allen, was gunned down Monday at a Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles restaurant while eating with his girlfriend. A robber approached their table and demanded items from the victim, according to Los Angeles police. A verbal exchange ended when the assailant opened fire, striking the rapper multiple times.

Rock's girlfriend had posted the location and tagged the rapper in an Instagram post that has since been deleted. Detectives are investigating whether the post prompted the attack, police Chief Michel Moore told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday.

He was with his family  with his girlfriend or some kind of friend of his -- and as they're there, enjoying a simple meal, (he) was brutally attacked by an individual who apparently (came) to the location after a social media posting, Moore said.

The robber took some items from the victim and fled in a car that was waiting in the parking lot, said Officer Jeff Lee, a police spokesperson. No one else was injured in the shooting and the victim was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Police were still searching for the shooter.

PnB Rock stood out with his rap-crooner R&B style. The Philadelphia native is best known for his 2016 hit Selfish making guest appearances on other likeable songs such as YFN Lucci's Everyday We Lit, Ed Sheeran's Cross Me" with Chance the Rapper and XXXTentacion's Bad Vibes Forever, featuring Trippie Redd. He released his latest song, Luv Me Again, on Sept. 2.

The rapper released a series of mixtapes before his two albums Catch These Vibes in 2017 and Trapstar Turnt Popstar in 2019 through Atlantic Records. His stage name derives from a street corner called Pastorius and Baynton, an area where he grew up in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Germantown.

PnB Rock's label called the death a senseless loss in a post on Instagram. The statement was confirmed by a representative for the rapper.

Atlantic Records said PnB Rock a great friend and a wonderful father to two beautiful little girls.

Roscoes Chicken and Waffles offered the companys condolences to the Allen family.

The safety of our employees and guests are our utmost priority, the restaurant posted on Facebook. We have and will continue to keep our place of business as safe as possible.

TMZ first reported the shooting. A graphic video reportedly taken at the scene shows PnB Rock laying in a pool of blood on the restaurant's floor.

In a recent interview, PnB Rock spoke about the gang culture in Los Angeles and how robberies of rappers are becoming common in the city, calling criminals bold. He told a story about a group of people who followed him, his girlfriend and child.
On Thursday, Sept. 1, the Rotary Mobile Clinic was presented to the Arcadia area at a luncheon at the Arcadia Country Club.

Hosted by Dean Dickinson, past Rotary International district governor and a member of the Rotary Club of La Crosse, and Jason Larson, executive director of the St. Clare Health Mission in La Crosse, the luncheon provided those in attendance with a greater awareness of the mobile clinic and how it will serve residents of the Arcadia area who are in need of basic health care.

Nine Rotary clubs in the La Crosse area banded together and asked several nonprofit organizations to share their creative ideas in helping the local community. St. Clare Health Mission was one of those nonprofits that made a proposal. Their idea: A mobile medical clinic that can travel to the remote areas of the Coulee Region and provide free health services to the working poor, uninsured, immigrant and homeless populations.

Their proposal was chosen based on the impact that it will have in the delivery of basic health care to so many in need, homeless people, uninsured immigrants and those who simply do not have the financial resources to work into the traditional health care system.

The local Rotary clubs raised $80,000 and obtained matching grants from the Rotary District Foundation and from the Rotary International Foundation and that financial support made the Rotary Mobile Medical Clinic a reality.

The vehicle was unveiled the first week in August at a summertime evening of music in Riverside Park in La Crosse with over 3,000 people in attendance. The keys to the St. Clare Health Mission were officially presented to Larson.

According to Larson, St. Clare Health Mission was founded in 1992 by Sister LeClare Beres, FSPA. She devoted her life to the care of the poor. Representatives of health and social service organizations throughout the great La Crosse community began a collaborative effort to address health care access for the poor and uninsured.

For those who had gone without health care due to lack of financial resources, St. Clare Health Mission became a safe and dependable option, providing over 18,000 people with primary and preventative health care since its inception in 1992. They accomplish this through the generous volunteer assistance of local physicians, nurses, dentists and other health care support staff, including many from both Gundersen and Mayo Health systems.

For those first 30 years, the mission has provided clinics at its location in La Crosse, which meant that people had to travel for services. The clinic runs twice weekly on a walk-in basis. Obviously not everyone who needs care can make it to that clinic.

A mobile clinic was really something we wanted to do, Larson said. Traveling into La Crosse to access health care services has been difficult for many people. Many of our patients came from Trempealeau County. In Arcadia, weve developed an incredible and complimentary partnership with Bridges Health Winona and Arcadia Schools. On our first visit with the Rotary Mobile Medical Clinic to Arcadia, we provided 19 sport physicals to student athletes. On our second bi-monthly visit, two weeks later, we saw patients ranging from sport physicals, Head Start enrollment physicals and patients with serious medical conditions. We assist those with special medical needs to engage with appropriate providers at either Gundersen or Mayo Health Systems.

Larsen continued: We have limited volunteers in Trempealeau County, and our greatest volunteer need is to develop a network of interpreters, clinicians and support people who will help to ease the burden on our local volunteers and those from La Crosse who travel with the clinic.

All of our services are free of cost to those we serve. Over time, we hope to develop more funding to support our work in Trempealeau County. Our greatest monetary need is in purchasing medication for our free pharmacy. St. Clare Health Mission pharmacy costs are typically our largest expense at $150,000 per year, and were on track to spend over $200,000 this year on medications alone. The need is great, we are incredibly thankful to Arcadia Schools and Bridges Health Winona for this partnership.

The 26-foot mobile medical clinic features two private exam suites, diagnostic equipment, pharmaceutical storage and a wheelchair lift making the Rotary Mobile Medical Clinic handicapped accessible.
State officials announced Aug. 29 that Wisconsin high school juniors and seniors heading back to school this fall will have 14 new occupational pathways that local employers can support, thanks to ongoing modernization efforts by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD).

We have to make sure our kids have apprenticeship opportunities and different pathways to get the jobs and skills training they need to join our states workforce, Gov. Tony Evers said. These latest youth apprenticeship pathways will help strengthen the connections among employers, educators, students, and communities, provide new opportunities for our young people to build their futures, and foster our own home-grown talent in critical industries that support local economies across our state.

Working in collaboration with school consortiums, employers, the Wisconsin Technical College System, and other partners, DWD has modernized the framework for a total of 75 Youth Apprenticeship (YA) program pathways to help industries like construction, health sciences, marketing, science and engineering, and transportation find and develop home-grown talent.

Wisconsins registered apprenticeship system has been a model for the nation since 1911, and DWDs YA program has been connecting employers with high school student workers for over 30 years, creating a scalable and successful training program that reflects the needs of industry, DWD Secretary-designee Amy Pechacek said. For the past three years, we have been working closely with industry leaders to review and update the YA training framework to ensure students continue to learn the skills employers are looking for now and in the future.

DWDs YA Program Modernization Initiative resulted in 14 new occupational pathways in which local employers can offer apprenticeship opportunities to students. These include:Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources, new pathways: Arborist and Dairy Grazier.

Architecture and Construction, new pathways: Gas Distribution Technician, Heavy Equipment Operator/Operating Engineer, and Utilities Electrical Technician.

Arts, Audio Visual Technology and Communications, new pathway: Media Broadcast Technician.

Health Science, new pathways: Phlebotomist and Resident Aide.

Information Technology, new pathway: IT Broadband Technician.

Manufacturing, new pathway: Electro-mechanical/Mechatronics.

Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics, new pathways: Airport Operations and Management, Aviation Maintenance Fundamentals, Aviation Airframe and Powerplant Technician, Aviation Avionics Technician.

For years, our industry has been asking the question, How can we reach youth and get them interested in trees and the arboriculture industry? said August Hoppe, co-chair of the Wisconsin Registered Arborist Apprenticeship Advisory Committee and Wisconsin Arborist Association workforce development coordinator. It was a no-brainer to work with DWD to help create the nations first youth arborist apprenticeship. Its exciting to see the program now gaining traction. The YA is yet another pathway for new people to obtain the skills necessary for our industry. We are excited for the future.

To update existing program curricula, DWD staff reached out to YA participating employers, industry associations, and other relevant stakeholders to gather feedback and input regarding the training and education needs.Thank you for the opportunity to participate in updating the Youth Apprenticeship pathways for Transportation, said Dan Klecker, State Education Director of the Foundation of the Wisconsin Automobile and Truck Dealer Association. It was encouraging to see the input from our dealer members be taken seriously and implemented in the new task lists. Youth Apprenticeship is a valuable workforce development component to grow the next generation of technicians for the transportation industry. Youth Apprenticeship is also an effective on-the-job training process for Wisconsin secondary students to begin their journey to a rewarding career.The YA program is coordinated and provided around the state by consortia that often consist of school districts, technical colleges, and chambers of commerce. Of the 421 public school districts, 321 districts, or 76.2%, had students enrolled in YA for the 2021-2022 school year.Employers interested in becoming a youth apprenticeship sponsor can find more information at https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/apprenticeship/ya-employers.htm.

Students interested in becoming a youth apprentice can find more information at https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/apprenticeship/ya-applicants.htm.
Gulftainer, a privately owned, independent port management and logistics company, has announced substantial growth in its commercial and container operations in Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf Stevedoring Contracting Company (GSCCO), part of the Gulftainer group of companies, recorded a 12% drastic increase in terminal activity at Jubail Commercial Port since 2021, at 347,000 TEUs. An additional 21% year-on-year increase in tonnage for general cargo at the terminal was also reported, with 2.7 million metric tonnes for the first half of 2022, according to a statement by Gulftainer.

Robert Hambleton, the new Managing Director of Gulftainer in KSA, stated: I am very proud of the teams efforts commercially and we are focused on continual improvement for the remainder of the year.

Within the same calendar period, the Jubail commercial team successfully navigated a contract with Jesco for 600,000 metric tonnes per annum of steel. MSC has also added a new feeder service, MEF-L4 through Jubail, adding to our projection of volume for the remainder of the year, he added.

The award-winning company attributes its ongoing success to its workforce's skill, dedication, and capabilities.

Peter Richards, Chief Executive Officer at Gulftainer, said: "We, at Gulftainer and GSCCO, have remained committed to developing best-in-class port and logistics infrastructure at our facilities since the beginning of the global pandemic. It has certainly not been easy to navigate all the unexpected restrictions that arose because of multiple lockdowns across the world. However, I'm proud to say that each Gulftainer employee, from our terminal cargo handlers to our management team, played a vital role in the company to flourish during those trying times.

Now, more than two years since the start of the pandemic, the company has reportedly returned to business as usual and has managed to leverage its multiple ports across the Middle East for maximum benefit.

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, we have seen a steady increase in business. Our focus this year has been to remain efficient and provide our customers with a seamless experience. Commercially, we have noted outstanding gross productivity and profitability, which saw an EBITDA rise of 53% since 2021," added Richards.

Jubail's strategic geographic location has enabled it to continue to evolve into a pivotal gateway for international trade and industrial activity, enhancing Saudi Arabia's economic and trade potential. The city is home to Gulftainer's flagship facilities, including the Jubail Container Terminal (JCT), contributing significantly to the region's economic activity.

Gulftainer is an internationally recognized and established port management and operating company based out of the Emirate of Sharjah. Since its inception in 1976, the company has taken great strides in expanding its footprint into major global economies, delivering on its role as a worldwide trade enabler backed by unwavering client trust and support.--TradeArabia News Service
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

Dangerous Phase Shift in Ukraine: From Proxy War to World War III?

Sept. 12, 2022 (EIRNS)The phase shift now in progress under Global NATO in Ukraine makes nuclear war far more likely. That is how to understand the continued functioning of the kill-list operations being run out of Kiev (through the Center for Countering Disinformation, backed by NATO, the U.S.A. and U.K.), which are intended to suppress any discussion and initiatives that will avert the danger. The prescience of Lyndon LaRouche is outstanding in the way, decades ago, he forewarned of the vectors toward war, if an economic/financial system was not put in place dedicated to serve the common interest of sovereign nations, and not the London/Wall Street predators.

In reviewing the situation, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and co-thinker of Lyndon LaRouche, stressed that now is the moment to mobilize for a new economic and security architecturealready supported by much of the world outside the North Atlantic, and expose and shut down the war-promotion machine. This was the focus of the weekend Schiller Institute international conference, Inspiring Humanity To Survive the Greatest Crisis in World History. Many of its presentations and video reports are already getting attention, which will escalate, especially as the UN General Assembly opens in New York City tomorrow, and continues for the coming three weeks.

Certain events and intentions mark the Ukraine phase shift over the past 10 days. On Sept. 8, at the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany, the monthly Ukraine Contact Group Meeting was the scene of pledges of far more deadly precision and long range weaponry to be supplied to Ukraine. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley personally presided. The same day Secretary of State Tony Blinken made a surprise visit to Kiev, accompanied by Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, infamous for her role in backing the 2014 fascist Maidan coup against the elected Ukraine government.

Timed with this was the Ukraine eastern offensive, which, amidst great loss of life and carnage, took over certain territory, including Izyum, a logistics and transportation site. Global NATO networks then claimed, in effect, victory. For example, an article was posted in The Atlantic on Sept. 11, headlined, Its Time To Prepare for a Ukrainian Victory,  by Anne Applebaum, an infamous operative of the British-created Integrity Initiative propaganda network. She says that Russia has lost, and all that remains is to get rid of President Putin.

Plus, the see-through veil has been dropped, that Ukraine has been a lone, valiant fighting nation, and the U.S., U.K. and NATO merely provide support. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) on the Sept. 11 CNN Sunday talk show, proudly said that the Ukraine offensive is due to a lot of equipment from the U.S. and its NATO allies, and also due to the intelligence community, and to our friends, the Brits, in particular.

This kind of crazed provocation of Russia is going beyond any red line that doesnt even need to be stated. The Senator said it. NATO, the U.S. and the Brits are making war on Russia.

Brussels-based, American analyst Gilbert Doctorow has drawn out the implications of this, in an article he posted Sept. 9, U.S. Ups the Ante: Are We Indeed Headed Into WW III and What Can Save Us? He points out that the U.S. and NATO countries provided arms, tactical direction and targeting data for the heavy fighting Ukraine waged in recent days, and created circumstances where Russia may have to take the bait. He said, I mean the Russians may escalate to all-out war on Ukraine. He reports that this contingency featured prominently in the Sept. 9 Russian major news and political talk shows, where it was pointed out that Russia could start to knock out Ukrainian power, rail, bridges, and high government offices. Since that time, Russia has struck four thermal power plants, and also a railway center west of Donetsk city. Doctorows article today is headlined, Russia Takes Off the Gloves. 

We have the necessary policy-waging ammunition, that, with courage and mobilization, can turn aside the deadly Global NATO doomsday track. Even as the danger increases, there are elsewhere new commitments and achievements for a new world system of foreign relations based on common economic good. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Samarkand this week, Sept. 15-16 is such a venue. In addition to the personal meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping there, Xi will visit Kazakhstan. There are activities on other continents, such as the events this month between China and Argentina and a Sept. 1 meeting in Nanjing of Caribbean and South American nations with China.

This development momentum is an expression of the legacy of Lyndon LaRouche in action, as was dramatically seen in an 82-minute video of recordings of LaRouche in discussion with leaders around the world over decades, aired in Panel 3 of the Schiller Institute Conference.

His co-thinker and widow, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, received a video message of recognition and appreciation for Lyndons role, from leading Russian economist Dr. Sergei Glazyev, on the centenary of LaRouches birth day. Sept. 8.

Among the many points Glazyev makes are these two: 1) Lyndon LaRouche looked decades ahead. He warned the U.S.A. and its partners about the inevitable collapse of their financial expansion policy, under which the interests of speculators eclipse the national interest and the development of the economy. And 2) We remember him. In practically all the major countries in the world that today are developing successfullyabove all India, and Chinathere are partisans of LaRouche. They have used his thoughts and ideas, for creating their economic miracles.
A new public opinion study suggests that many Americans are dissatisfied with the nations healthcare system.

The Associated Press and the NORC research group at the University of Chicago released results of their joint investigation Monday.

Less than half of the people asked for their opinion on U.S. healthcare said they were pleased with the system. Twelve percent, said it operates extremely well.

AP-NORC researchers questioned 1,505 Americans.

The majority expressed worry mainly about mental health care, the cost of medicine and the quality of care at nursing homes. Only six percent of those who answered said the U.S. does a good job at providing such health services.

A. Mark Fendrick runs a research center at the University of Michigan that looks at the cost of healthcare. He said the American system is extremely frustrating and that the COVID-19 crisis had worsened the situation.

Over two years after the global health crisis started affecting hospitals in the U.S., it is hard to find healthcare workers and those who are still working are suffering from what is known as burnout. That means they are tired from working so much.

Many hospitals and clinics still have COVID-19 restrictions in place, and some Americans say they are having trouble getting good care in-person as a result.

Emmanuel Obeng-Dankwa of New York City was among those questioned in the study. He has high blood pressure, a condition that requires treatment with medicine. But, the cost is sometimes a problem for Obeng-Dankwa, especially when his housing payment is due.

If theres no money, I prefer to skip the medication to being homeless, he said.

The new study shows that about 80 percent of people are at least a little bit concerned about getting good care when they need it.

Fifty-three percent of women said they are extremely or very concerned about obtaining quality care, compared to 42 percent of men.

Nearly 60 percent of Black and Hispanic adults said they were concerned about getting good care.

White men expressed the most confidence in U.S. healthcare of all those studied.

Racial disparities have long troubled Americas health care system. They have been shown again during COVID-19, with Black and Hispanic people dying from the virus at a higher rate than whites.

While many Americans seem to agree that there are problems with healthcare, very few agree on solutions.

Compared to past years, however, about two-thirds of Americans believe government involvement could help. Some Americans want a fully public system for health insurance. Others want a mix of public and private health care.

Retired nurse Pennie Wright, of Camden, Tennessee was among those questioned by AP-NORC. She does not like the idea of a government-run health care system.

She moved to that system, known as Medicare, this year. She said she was surprised by how much she had to pay for her yearly doctors visit. The amount included $200 for usual testing. Most of those costs had been covered by her former private health care plan.

I feel like we have the best health care system in the world, we have a choice of where we want to go, Wright said.

Others would still like to see the government do more. For example, they would like to see the government help to pay the costs of helping people who need long-term care.

They would also like the government to make a plan that would reduce the cost of medicine for everyone.

That small change would help, says New Yorker Obeng-Dankwa. Maybe he would not have to choose between paying for his home and paying for his blood-pressure medicine.

Medication costs should be low,  so that everyone can afford it, he said. He added: those who are poor should be able to get all the necessary healthcare they need...

Im Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on a report by the Associated Press.

_____________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

skip v. to not do something that is expected

prefer v. to like something better than something else

nursing home n. a place where sick people or those who cannot take care of themselves go to live and be taken care of

disparity n. a noticeable difference between two things

frustrating adj. feeling angry or unsatisfied with something

afford v. to be able to pay for something

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Ukraine claimed Monday it had re-taken several more villages from Russian troops as part of an ongoing counteroffensive in eastern Ukraine.

The counteroffensive forced Russia to withdraw troops from several areas in recent days. News agencies reported that thousands of Russian forces had withdrawn from areas around the northeastern cities of Kharkiv and Izium.

Russian soldiers reportedly left behind ammunition and equipment as they fled Izium, which Russia had used as a major military storage base.

Oleh Syniehubov is the governor of the Kharkiv area. He said, In some areas of the front, our defenders reached the state border with the Russian Federation. Over the weekend, Russias Defense Ministry said it was moving troops from that area to reorganize in the eastern area of Donetsk.

Ukraine's chief commander, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said Ukrainian forces had regained control of more than 3,000 square kilometers since the start of September.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the latest offensive as a major success in the countrys six-month-old war with Russia. Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February.

Zelenskyy said late Sunday that Russian attacks had caused a total power outage in Kharkiv and Donetsk, and partial blackouts in surrounding areas.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Valentyn Reznichenko wrote on the social media service Telegram that the Russians were unable to reconcile themselves to defeats on the battlefield."

Ukraine's attacks in the Kharkiv area seemed to surprise Russia, which had moved many of its troops from that area to the south. Ukraine had publicly announced a counteroffensive there.

The Russian troop withdrawals led to critical comments online from some Russian military experts and patriotic broadcasters. They described the situation as a major defeat for Russias military campaign and urged Russian officials to strengthen the countrys war efforts. The experts also criticized officials for celebrating a Moscow city holiday on Saturday that included fireworks and other public activities.

In Kharkiv, officials praised a partial return to normal conditions. They noted that power and water operations were again working for about 80 percent of the area's population. Russian attacks on basic infrastructure have caused power outages in many areas across Ukraine.

You are heroes!!! Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram about the return of power in Ukraine's second-largest city. Thanks to everyone who did everything possible on this most difficult night for Kharkiv  to normalize the life of the city as soon as possible, Terekhov said.

Im Bryan Lynn.

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

_________________________________________________

Words in This Story

reconcile  v. to make two different ideas, beliefs or situations agree or exist together

infrastructure  n. the basic equipment and structures (such as roads and bridges) needed for a country or area to operate

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The Lebanon Police Department arrested a Lebanon man in connection to a Sunday, Sept. 11 shooting incident.

Officers arrested James Frank Newport, 33, on suspicion of assault, menacing, reckless endangering, unlawful use of a weapon and disorderly conduct charges.

The Linn County District Attorneys Office filed charges in two separate cases against Newport on Monday, Sept. 12.

Reports of gunfire

Local police and SWAT team members responded to the area of West Vine Street between South Main Street and South Second Street in Lebanon on Sunday at around 2:52 p.m.

A Lebanon PD news release said responding officers heard gunshots coming from inside a residence. Several bullets struck nearby buildings and a vehicle, according to the news release. Police later said it was not an active shooter situation, and there were no injuries.

After searching the residence, police found multiple firearms and ammunition, which they seized. Newport was the only person inside the house during the incident, according to Lebanon police, and multiple shots were fired inside the house with several exiting the residence.

Bullets were found at the scene Sunday, and a bullet hole was visible in the window of the Linn-Co Federal Credit Union.

Newport is accused of two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of recklessly endangering another person and a count of second-degree disorderly conduct.

He was arraigned in Linn County Circuit Court Monday, Sept. 12. During the hearing, prosecutor Conor McCahill alleged Newport almost hit two police officers with bullets from his pistol. It is unclear whether Newport was aiming at the officers or just shooting out of the house, McCahill said. Newport reportedly had at least 13 other firearms in the home.

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Court documents allege Newport created a substantial risk of injury to two victims as well as caused public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm by engaging in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening behavior.

In a notice filed with the court Monday, the state issued its intent to seek an enhanced sentence should Newport be convicted. The notice based the enhanced sentence on the assertion that "the degree of loss or harm was significantly greater than typical for such offense."

The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective James Glover at 541-258-4326 or Lt. Taylor Jackson at 541-258-4357.

Another alleged incident

The prosecution also filed charges against Newport in connection to an alleged Thursday, Sept. 8 incident.

According to court documents, Newport caused physical injury to a victim in the presence of a minor who was living in the same house. The alleged crimes were an act of domestic violence and involved using or threatening to use a firearm against the victim, court documents said.

Newport is accused of fourth-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and menacing in connection to the Sept. 8 incident.

Judge Michael Wynhausen appointed Edward Talmadge as Newport's defense attorney and set bail at $150,000. The next court hearing for both cases is scheduled for Oct. 3.
The foresters who oversee Oregons 15,000 acres of research woodlands are asking the public what changes it wants in the first update to the McDonald-Dunn management plan in 17 years.

Some people who hike in, live near or work on the forest said they fear the College of Forestry at Oregon State University will prioritize timber harvests so long as the school depends on revenue from felled trees to fund its operations.

They assert the school plans forest management behind closed doors and that the college doesnt follow the plan it published in 2005.

The research mission has been lost for a long, long time, said Doug Pollock, an activist and forest advocate.

Oregon State is years into drafting a guiding document for how, when and where the school permits research and commercial practices including clear-cutting trees in the more than 17-square-mile forest it owns and manages northwest of Corvallis.

Commenters got to speak to the process on Aug. 31 after reading about a community listening session in a university recreation publication.

At the start of the process, then-interim forestry dean Anthony Davis wrote in a 2019 memo that the school would fall back on information from the 2005 plan after foresters clear-cut a nearly 16-acre stand of old-growth Douglas firs.

The dean called the clear-cut, named the No Vacancy harvest, a mistake after critics of the harvest found trees were healthier and some nearly 200 years older than the school had claimed.

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This harvest identifies a serious shortcoming in the colleges current forest management practices, Davis wrote.

The school set aside 350 of the McDonald-Dunns 11,000 acres as reserves of mature trees, identifying any tree older than 160 years as significant in the 2005 plan.

That plan was informally suspended in 2009 with the Great Recession, according to Davis in the memo, but the 160-year age limit would be applied forest-wide while the school drafted a new management plan.

Davis and others at the school began naming members to a committee that will furnish the new plan.

The interim dean left in 2020 with the appointment of Tom DeLuca to his post, but the committee by June included 13 people affiliated with recreation, timber and conservation concerns.

Some at the Aug. 31 meeting said they want to see the school improve trails, signage, parking, transportation to and visibility of the forest in a bid to position McDonald-Dunn as a tourist destination.

Pollock was among commenters who pointed to No Vacancy while calling for the school to be more transparent about the planning process. He said he had been unable to comment directly to the forest plan committee.

There hasnt been a public input, Pollock said.

Others called on the school to manage timber harvests for a diversity of tree species and ages. Diverse forests are more immune to fire and disease, commenters said.

Suggestions at the listening session and two future listening sessions will be analyzed and included in a report to the plan committee, said Turner Odell, a project manager with Oregon Consensus.

The Portland State University-based program facilitates policy-making processes.

Stephanie Weber, an undergraduate student at the university, questioned how quickly a forest plan that calls for mixed-use management like recreation and timber can account for looming climate deadlines.

She tied the school process into a presidential executive order calling for land managers to preserve 30% of spaces within the U.S. by 2030.

There is urgency here. This plan goes to 3030, when were supposed to be meeting our 30-by-30 goal. Cutting old-growth goes against that goal, Weber said.

Odell acknowledged that warming climate was not considered in the 2005 plan.

But things have changed a lot since then, he said.
Former fishermen embrace new role as guardians of Yangtze

Xinhua) 08:18, September 13, 2022

* On Jan. 1, 2021, a 10-year fishing ban took effect in pivotal waters of the Yangtze. Chongqing has established a long-term management mechanism for implementing the fishing ban and achieved comprehensive law enforcement cooperation in interprovincial boundary waters.

* Owing to the persistent efforts, the rare fish population has recovered notably.

* The air quality and forest coverage rate in Chongqing have also seen improvements due to a series of pollution control and prevention, and afforestation measures.

CHONGQING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Amid the autumn rain, Liu Hong carefully steered his fishing boat on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to check for any illegal fishing activities.

Liu, 50, is head of a voluntary patrol team guarding a national nature reserve of rare fish. The patrol squad, established eight years ago with the support of local government, has 11 members, the majority of whom once relied on fishing for a living.

Liu Hong (R), head of a voluntary patrol team, pilots a boat to patrol in a national nature reserve of rare fish in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in southwest China's Chongqing, Sept. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)

The change of the role of these fishermen is a result of efforts made by southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to protect the ecological environment of China's "mother river."

AGAINST ILLEGAL FISHING

While patrolling the river, Liu often sees fish swimming in the water and wild birds leisurely strolling along the shore.

"The number of poachers is much smaller now, thanks to the stringent protection measures," Liu said.

The story was, however, much different around 2000.

Illegal fishing was rampant back then, resulting in a sharp decline of the rare and endemic fish in the river. Licensed fishermen could barely catch enough fish and had to rely on farming, Liu recalled.

Since the establishment of the voluntary patrol team, local fishermen have waged a campaign against illegal fishing, helping bust more than 1,000 cases of such unlawful activities along the river.

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 2, 2022 shows members of a voluntary patrol team patrolling in a national nature reserve of rare fish in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in southwest China's Chongqing. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)

On Jan. 1, 2021, a 10-year fishing ban took effect in pivotal waters of the Yangtze. Chongqing has established a long-term management mechanism for implementing the fishing ban and achieved comprehensive law enforcement cooperation in interprovincial boundary waters.

Owing to the persistent efforts, the rare fish population has recovered notably, according to monitoring data released by a research team from the College of Fisheries with Southwest University.

The frequency of occurrence of rare species such as Yangtze sturgeons, rock carp and mullet has been upgraded from "rare" to "occasional" or "common."

GREEN TRANSFORMATION

The national nature reserve of Jinyun Mountain is located in downtown Chongqing. This mountainous area, which was marred by severe pollution years ago, is now dubbed the "green lung" of the megacity.

Aerial photo taken on June 4, 2022 shows a view of the Jinyun Mountain in southwest China's Chongqing. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

"In the past, people living in Jinyun Mountain relied heavily on the natural resources and developed homestays without considering the adverse impacts on the ecology," said Qian Gang, Party chief of Bolin Village.

In 2018, a campaign aimed at improving the ecological environment of Jinyun Mountain was launched. More than 600,000 square meters of illegal construction were demolished, restoring over 400,000 square meters of these areas with vegetation.

The restoration of the ecological environment has boosted the incomes of the locals and created new opportunities, as the picturesque landscape and lush mountains have attracted visitors.

Aerial photo taken on June 4, 2022 shows a view of the Jinyun Mountain in southwest China's Chongqing. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

The air quality and forest coverage rate in Chongqing have also seen improvements due to a series of pollution control and prevention, and afforestation measures.

In 2021, the number of days with good air quality in the city was 326, 23 days more than the figure in 2017; city's forest coverage rate reached 54.5 percent, 8.2 percentage points higher than that in 2017, according to data released by municipal ecology and environment bureau.

"We are committed to the protection of the Yangtze River through joint efforts. We have strengthened our awareness and will work resolutely to build an important ecological barrier along the Yangtze," said Hu Henghua, mayor of Chongqing.

(Reporting by Wu Qiong, Zhao Yufei, Wu Yanxia and Xia Xiao)

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, today (September 13) announced that it has entered into an agreement to monetise a stake of 8.6% in Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) to Multiply Group, Abu Dhabi Pension Fund and other prominent investors.

A diversified utilities and energy group, Taqa is listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. It has significant investments in power and water generation, transmission and distribution assets, as well as upstream and midstream oil and gas operations.

Taqa operates in 11 countries globally and has recently taken a controlling stake in Masdars renewable business, along with Adnoc and Mubadala, which aims to become a global leading clean energy company, targeting more than 50GW capacity by 2030.

ADQ Managing Director & CEO Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi said: "The transaction underlines our efforts to attract long-term institutional partners and leverage monetization opportunities that ensure we generate sustainable capital growth and a balanced portfolio of diversified investments."

"We also believe this transaction will support our aspiration to facilitate increased free float in TAQA and Abu Dhabis capital markets," he added.

As a majority-owned portfolio company of ADQ serving as its key growth platform within the utilities sector, Taqa remains a key asset within ADQs energy and utilities portfolio supporting its activities in accelerating the UAEs clean energy transition while generating sustainable financial returns.
It's September. New beginnings. Let's figure it out. Dealing with a breakup? Unrequited love? Having trouble on apps? Moving in with someone for the first time? Send a question about it to [email protected] or fill out this form.

Dear Meredith,

I just went through a miscarriage and am grieving. My boyfriend has been a big help throughout this. However, his baggage has been adding stress.

That baggage isn't a new problem  it has been a consistent pattern throughout our relationship. Earlier in our relationship, the mother of his first child was set on stalking and harassing me. I know it was a red flag, but love tends to make us blind. Additionally I found out that a few of my boyfriend's family members were talking to his ex about me, saying awful things. I'm aware of this because his ex sent me the screenshots to hurt me.

The resolution was that my boyfriend didn't find these family members essential in his life and now we avoid them. Somehow, though, we're still circling the same issues. Most recently, his ex found out about my miscarriage and asked him if we'd still be together. I am infuriated. It makes me resent my boyfriend. I love him deeply, but he comes with such a toxic and messy family.

Throughout our relationship, I have never allowed a single family member of mine  or any ex  to disrespect him, despite the many close calls. I feel angry that I can protect him, but he somehow claims he can't control everyone's reaction. A part of me wants to leave him and find someone with less baggage. However, I love this man. Also, I don't think I could take another heartbreak right now.

What do I do? Is it fair to leave a man I love for having a toxic family and ex? Are my feelings valid or are my hormones raging?

- The angry, heartbroken girl
The youngest of three men charged while still in their teens with the fatal 2020 shooting of an 11-year-old girl will not see the outside of a prison until hes in his 50s, a Dane County judge ruled Monday.

Andre P. Brown, 18, pleaded guilty in May to first-degree reckless homicide and attempted homicide, both as a party to the crime, in the Aug. 11, 2020, shooting of Anisa Scott, who died from her injuries two days later. The girl had been riding in a Chevy Tahoe with tinted windows that morning on East Washington Avenue with her mothers boyfriend, Christopher Carthans, who was the intended target of the shooting.

Your 20s, 30s and 40s are really the best years of your life, Dane County Circuit Judge Julie Genovese told Brown. Anisas not going to have that chance. So I do believe that you need to give up the best part of your life for what you did.

In a brief statement before he was sentenced, Brown apologized for everything that happened that day.

And I apologize for what I put your family through and all the pain and grief you guys have been (through) because of me, he said. What happened that day was not supposed to happen and should have never happened.

Perion Carreon, 21, has also pleaded guilty in the case and is believed to have fired the shot that killed Scott, according to Browns attorney, Tim Kiefer. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 19. Brown also fired on the Tahoe from the stolen Kia Optima Carreon was driving, assistant district attorney Dan Hess said. The third defendant in the Kia, Jerry L. Ward Jr., 19, is scheduled to go on trial in November.

Hess said Brown and his co-defendants were hit men out to collect a bounty.

It was one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, he said, and it didnt matter who fired the fatal shot because all three intended to kill Carthans.

Through tears, Scotts mother, Ashley Rios, told the court Monday that the past two years have been the hardest, longest and most painful of her life.

My life has been forever changed, she said. A piece of me is missing forever and this is a pain I wish on no one.

She said she tries to stay positive and cherish the memories of her daughter, but its difficult.

Anisa would have started eighth grade last week, she said. We missed all the middle school drama (and) as she grew older, her first car, college, marriage, grandchildren  all of the life experiences that turn a girl into a woman.

Brown was originally charged with being a party to first-degree intentional homicide, but under a plea agreement the charge was reduced to reckless homicide. His sentence Monday consists of 25 years in prison for Scotts killing and 10 for the attempt on Carthans, followed by 25 years of supervision.

Juvenile record

At the time of the shooting, Brown, then 16, was on a GPS monitor and had juvenile cases pending against him in Dane and Milwaukee counties. A prosecutor said during Browns initial court appearance in 2020 that Brown had let the monitors battery run down before the shooting, then charged it afterward.

Under Browns plea agreement, Hess sought 40 years in prison and 10 years of supervision. Kiefer argued Monday for 15 years in prison, which would have seen Brown released at the age of 31, with credit for time served since his arrest.

He called Browns teacher from his time in jail as a character witness Monday. Christine Geier called Brown a wonderful young man to work with who was smart, pleasant and earned his high school diploma while his case made its way through the court.

According to the criminal complaint in the case, Carthans told police he was driving when he heard glass break and realized someone was shooting at him. He saw that Anisa was injured and continued driving while he called 911. He heard four more gunshots and then saw another car with the front-seat passenger firing through the passenger side window, the complaint states.

Carreon, Brown and Ward subsequently provided police with conflicting stories about who fired on the Tahoe.

Carreon told police Brown and Ward fired on the Tahoe two separate times in the space of a few minutes on East Washington Avenue, near Highway 30, the complaint says. But in an amended criminal complaint, filed when Ward was charged about a week after Carreon and Brown, Ward claimed that Carreon fired on the Tahoe both times. Ward has also maintained he was asleep in the back of the Optima when the gunfire started.

Carthans later told his federal probation agent he did not believe he was the target of the shooting but that it was a case of mistaken identity. Police, though, told the agent they doubted the story and said they believed Carthans knew he was a target and enlisted Anisa to travel with him to discourage anyone from shooting at him, according to court documents.

For violations of conditions of his federal supervision, a federal judge sentenced Carthans in September 2020 to 21 months in prison. He was released in February, federal prison records indicate.

Genovese has denied a motion by Wards attorney to dismiss the homicide charge against him. Hess said Ward had a gun on his lap and had helped another person in the car clear a gun that had jammed.
MARINETTE  An appeal of the conviction in the 1976 slayings of a young couple in Wisconsin continues to wind its way through the courts, even though the man found guilty in the murders has died in prison.

Attorneys for Raymand Vannieuwenhoven are trying to have his conviction overturned by challenging the way investigators obtained DNA from him that was used to break the cold case.

Detectives got a sample of Vannieuwenhovens DNA from an envelope he licked when responding to a phony police performance survey.

The 85-year-old Vannieuwenhoven died in June at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution. He was convicted last year of fatally shooting 25-year-old David Schuldes and 24-year-old Ellen Matheys in a Marinette County park on July 9, 1976, in Silver Cliff.

In a brief filed Friday in support of the appeal, attorney Ana Babcock wrote that Vannieuwenhoven had an expectation of privacy with his DNA, WLUK-TV reported.

While the law does tolerate some deceit on behalf of the police (e.g., police can sometimes make misrepresentations during an interrogation), trickery has no place when it comes to voluntary consent, Babcock wrote.

For decades, the widower and father of five children lived quietly among the 800 residents of Lakewood, a northeastern Wisconsin town surrounded by forests and small lakes.

The cold case was revived in 2019 when a DNA sample from evidence at the crime scene was determined to be from a particular family. A criminal complaint says that samples tested from Vannieuwenhovens brothers werent a match, but a sample from him obtained from the envelope was a match.
A Madison man was charged Monday with first-degree reckless homicide for his alleged involvement in the drug overdose death of a Fitchburg man in February.

A criminal complaint charged Gerrico D. Holt, 27, with supplying a controlled substance that caused the death of the man, who was only identified in the complaint by his initials, on Feb. 19 in the 5600 block of Brendan Avenue in Fitchburg.

Holt, who is on probation for second-degree sexual assault and armed burglary for a 2016 assault at a womans Far East Side home, was ordered jailed on $150,000 bail after appearing in Dane County Circuit Court on Monday.

But bail may be academic, because when Holt was sentenced earlier this year for the 2016 crimes, a five-year prison sentence was initially imposed but then was suspended in favor of probation. Under that structure, if Holts probation is revoked by the state Department of Corrections, he would immediately begin serving the five-year prison sentence.

If convicted of reckless homicide, Holt faces up to 40 years of combined prison and extended supervision.

According to the complaint:

A woman called police after she was unable to reach her son, who did not show up for dinner and was not responding to phone calls or text messages.

Police entered the mans apartment and found him dead on his bed. In the bathroom, police found a blue pill and a powdery substance next to a $20 bill that appeared to have been rolled up.

An autopsy found the man had died from mixed drug intoxication, a combination of fentanyl and mirtazapine, an antidepressant.

A review of the mans phone found that on Feb. 18, he had texted someone asking for percs, which police said was a common street name for small blue pills often made with fentanyl. The man was told to go to an address on Black Onyx Drive in Madison. Location data from the mans phone indicated he then drove there from Fitchburg.

Records indicated the owner of the phone number at the other end of the text exchange was Holt. In August, police interviewed Holt, who said initially that he was not aware of the phone messages but agreed the phone number was his.

Holt told police where he got percs and said he bought them from a source for $8 to $10 apiece and sold them for $20 to $30 each. He later acknowledged the exchange of messages with the man and that he agreed to sell the man three pills.

In a phone call from jail recorded hours after his contact with police, Holt told a woman that an overdose had been traced back to him.

Listen, there was nothing you could have prevented. Nothing, Holt told the woman. Only thing that could have prevented this was me not doing what I was doing trying to make a couple extra dollars. That was the only thing. It is what it is. Im in here. Im gonna face this (expletive) like a man and go do my time.
Preparations are complete for the 8th edition of the World Green Energy Summit (WGES), which will be held under the theme Climate Action Leadership through Collaboration: The Roadmap to Net-Zero.

To be held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the Summit will be held on September 28 and 29, 2022 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

WGES is organised by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), the World Green Economy Organisation (WGEO) and the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, in collaboration with several international organisations.

Four main themes

During a press conference in Madinat Jumeirah, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Vice Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, MD&CEO of Dewa, and Chairman of WGEO, said the Summit will focus on four main themes -- Energy, Finance, Food Security, and Youth.

Ahmed Buti Al Muhairbi, Secretary General of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy; Waleed Bin Salman, Vice Chairman of WGEO; and Abdulrahim Sultan, Director General of WGEO, were present.

Saif Humaid Al Falasi, CEO of Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) Group; Ahmed Bin Shafar, CEO of Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower); Ali Rashid Al Jarwan, CEO of Dragon Oil, officials from Dewa, the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), government and private sector organisations in the UAE, and the Summits sponsors and partners in addition to local, regional and international media.

This years Summit is being held even as the Middle Easts presence continues to grow the global sustainability agenda through effective strategies to adapt to climate change and combat its adverse effects. Egypt and the UAE are preparing to host the UN Climate Change Conference COP27 and COP28 in 2022 and 2023 respectively. The Arab world is central to global activities that aim to enhance climate action and achieve global targets. The World Green Economy Summit will contribute to strengthening cooperation among partners and stakeholders, as well as set the ideal environment for holding these two global events, said Al Tayer.

Discussions on energy will explore the decarbonisation of power grids, increasing the share of clean and renewable energy, and reducing fossil fuels. In relation to finance, the Summit will focus on attracting and encouraging green investments, while discussions on food security will explore various methods to enhance the flexibility and sustainability of the value chain to tackle the challenges related to food security.

Empowering youth

The Summit will highlight the need to support and empower the youth as they are the driving force for sustainable development and positive growth. The Summit continues to enhance the involvement of youth in climate action, Al Tayer explained.

This years Summit will also highlight the UAEs commitment to supporting global efforts to accelerate the transition towards a green economy in line with the directives of our wise leadership. The Summit will be a platform to share the UAEs leading experience in tackling climate change, as well as the various national strategies and initiatives to achieve net-zero and consolidate the foundations of a low-carbon economy. These strategies include the UAE Net Zero 2050, the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 to provide 100% of Dubais total power capacity from clean energy sources by 2050, he added.

Al Tayer also noted that in March 2022, the UAE Government, represented by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, WGEO and Dewa, hosted the first ever Mena Climate Week. The event achieved remarkable success and gained widespread praise from prominent institutions and figures concerned with climate action worldwide.

Climate Week success

The event attracted over 15,000 participants from 40 countries around the world who attended in person and virtually. It also attracted 500 global speakers and experts, including ministers and officials from the government and private sectors, and climate champions, in addition to officials from UN climate organisations.

At this edition of the World Green Economy Summit, we will build on the outcomes of the Mena Climate Week and the previous Summit, as well as follow up on the progress achieved since the 7th Dubai Declaration. The Summit will serve as a strategic platform to address the issues brought upon by international climate challenges and discuss the means and methods to prepare for a more sustainable future. The Summit will feature over 20 panel discussions and workshops, which will see the participation of global figures, prominent officials, decision-makers, intellectuals, and leaders of international institutions and organisations. They will share their insights and expertise on the best practices to advance the transition to a sustainable green economy, he said.

Al Tayer explained that during WGES 2022, winners in the 4th Emirates Energy Award will be recognised. The Award is organised by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum with the theme Inspiring Innovation for Sustainable Energy. This cycle of the Award received 187 distinguished applications from 16 countries around the world.

Prominent speakers
On Monday, the main entrees offered at Madisons middle and high schools were the Big Cheesey Pizza, seasoned Buffalo Chicken and the Deluxe Turkey Pepperoni Pizza.

On Tuesday, the choices were: Big Cheesey Pizza, seasoned Buffalo Chicken or Deluxe Turkey Pepperoni Pizza. Ditto for the menus for this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and all of last week. At the elementary schools, students have been fed a steady diet of pizza or a turkey and cheese snack lunch kit since Sept. 6.

While vegetarian options and fruit and vegetable sides are also available, parents, students and staff are objecting to the lack of more nutritious school meal options, which administrators blame on ongoing staffing shortages.

Parents have not received any communication that there is an issue, which means we cant be prepared to send a packed lunch from home, said Amy Irving, a parent of two Crestwood Elementary School students. Of course, so many kids dont have this option either and count on school meals to be nutritious and filling. I am absolutely appalled.

One day last week, Irving said, the fresh fruit or veggie side option for her students was Craisins, aka, dried cranberries.

Darren Martin, whose Toki Middle School student has been served pizza every day since Sept. 6, complained that the schools cafe app has had incorrect or no information about menu options for about a week.

Jenn Drake, a parent of two students at Henderson Elementary School, questioned whether the food offered to students was enough to meet the caloric needs of growing children.

The nutritional value and taste of these is questionable enough, she said. My kids have consistently come home complaining about them, indicating that the quality is very poor and that they are left hungry.

At a work group meeting Monday night, members of the Madison School Board asked administrators how they planned to address the problem, noting the districts food service policy states, when possible, school meals will include fresh, locally grown foods.

There have been a number of emails that have come in as of recently related to the type of food thats being offered, board member Nichelle Nichols said.

District officials blamed the scant menu options on an ongoing staffing crisis in the district and nationwide, and said it only has enough staff to offer pre-packaged foods or foods that can be prepared quickly, such as frozen pizza.

While we, too, want a very robust menu, we also recognize that we have some staffing shortages that has severely impacted us, Cedric Hodo, the districts chief of operations and executive director of building and auxiliary services, told board members. Were working with our food-service operators to ensure that were addressing this matter as quickly as possible.

Minimums met

Hodo said the district is currently meeting the minimum nutritional requirements set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for school lunches and hopes to bring in more robust menu items as quickly as possible. He said the board and students should see some changes within the next two weeks.

The federal standard requires most schools to increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals; reduce the levels of sodium, saturated fat and trans fat in meals; and meet the nutrition needs of school children within their calorie requirements.

On Monday evening, the Madison School District posted on its Facebook page that it needs help preparing and serving meals to students and asked the community to apply for open kitchen positions.

In comments under that post, parents complained that their students have come home crying out of hunger, that theyre being served Lunchable-style meals and that the district has not communicated the extent of the problem to parents to help parents plan lunches accordingly.

The districts menu webpage blamed the lack of variety on supply-chain issues.

Our team is committed to adapting our menu and operations to ensure our meals are delicious and maintain high standards of quality and nutrition, it said. We apologize for any inconvenience that these product shortages might cause and sincerely appreciate your patience.

Staff, supplies

District spokesperson Tim LeMonds also blamed the menus on pandemic-related supply-chain issues and staffing shortages.

Our district is putting every effort into addressing this challenge, as we know satisfying, healthy meals are a crucial component of the school day, he said. Therefore, we are working to provide our scholars with needed nutrition and enjoyable food.

Parents, including Drake, said resolving the issue needs to take precedence.

We need to come up with solutions now so that we can promote the high standards of learning the district strives to and effectively care for all the children in the city of Madison, she said.
Armed with new data on potential health impacts, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is again attempting to regulate toxic forever chemicals in the states largest source of drinking water.

The DNR is proposing to set groundwater standards for four fluorinated compounds collectively known as PFAS that the Environmental Protection Agency has said are harmful at levels too low to detect with current technology.

The synthetic chemicals, which do not break down naturally, have been linked to health problems including low birth weight, cancer, and liver disease.

Gov. Tony Evers signed a scope statement last week that proposes adding PFOS, PFOA, PFBS and GenX chemicals to the list of contaminants under the states groundwater law.

The state has not updated that list in more than a decade.

The scope statement sets parameters for the DNR to draft a rule, a process that typically takes 30 months and requires approval of the governor, the Natural Resources Board and the Legislature.

Based on recommendations of state toxicologists, the DNR launched a similar rulemaking effort in 2019 for two of those compounds, PFOA and PFOS, along with more than a dozen other contaminants. But earlier this year conservatives on the Natural Resources Board voted to kill the regulations before they could be sent to lawmakers for approval.

The Environmental Protection Agency has since cautioned that the two compounds  PFOA and PFOS  pose a threat at concentrations thousands of times lower than the standards the board rejected in February.

Thats why were doing this, said Jim Zellmer, deputy administrator of the DNRs environmental management division. Were following the groundwater law.

Once again, groundwater council calls for action on PFAS, nitrate The Wisconsin Groundwater Coordinating Councils annual report to the Legislature faults the natural resources policy board for failure to enact new groundwater standards recommended by state health experts.

That law requires the DNR to update the list of contaminants based on new information, although that has not occurred since 2011.

Zellmer said the DNR plans to go before the board in October to request approval of the scope statement or to hold a public hearing on the scope statement if requested by the heads of the legislatures rules committee.

While the scoping statement does not specify numeric limits for the compounds, the EPAs proposed health advisory guidelines released in June are significantly lower than the 20 parts per trillion combined threshold that the state Department of Health Services recommended in 2018.

After rejecting groundwater standards, the board voted 6-1 to reject the 20 ppt standard for public drinking water and instead adopted the EPAs 2016 health guideline of 70 ppt.

In June the EPA said there are lifetime health risks from drinking water with PFOS concentrations of 0.02 ppt and PFOA concentrations of just 0.004 ppt.

Midwest Environmental Advocates then petitioned the DNR to restart the rulemaking process on behalf of the League of Women Voters and a group of northern Wisconsin residents, arguing only the state can protect groundwater, which feeds cold-water streams and lakes, is used to irrigate crops and is the primary source of drinking water for nearly  of Wisconsin residents.

According to the scoping statement, Without numerical health-based standards, groundwater regulatory programs will not protect the public health of Wisconsin residents.

Dane County sues DNR over requirements to keep PFAS out of lakes, streams The county is asking the courts to strike testing requirements in the permit for stormwater that drains from the airport into Lake Monona through Starkweather Creek, where PFAS contamination has made fish unsafe to eat.

PFAS has contaminated groundwater in communities across Wisconsin, including Marinette, Wausau, La Crosse and Madison, where city leaders recently approved spending $450,000 on a treatment system for one East Side well.

Peshtigo town chair Cindy Boyle, who has pushed for groundwater regulations since PFAS contamination forced many of her towns residents to drink bottled water, said she was encouraged about the renewed rulemaking effort.

A spokesperson for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, which has opposed PFAS regulations, declined to comment on the scope statement.

Zellmer said he is optimistic this rule will be approved.

PFAS is here in the state, he said. It is being detected in our groundwater and our public water supplies and we need to set standards.
A Waukesha County judge on Tuesday rejected a bid to stay his previous ruling that election officials cant fix errors on absentee ballot certificates.

Turning down Democrats request to issue a stay on last weeks ruling, Circuit Court Judge Michael J. Aprahamian ordered the Wisconsin Elections Commission to tell clerks statewide by Wednesday that its guidance allowing address corrections on witness certificates violates state law.

The commission voted 4-1 Tuesday, with Democratic commissioner Ann Jacobs opposed, to withdraw the nearly six-year-old guidance and scrub it from the agencys website. Democratic commissioner Mark Thomsen was absent from the meeting.

Democrats are likely to appeal Aprahamians ruling, which they and the Elections Commission say is likely to cause confusion for clerks and voters.

The case, which is likely to eventually be decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, follows multiple efforts by the GOP-led Legislature this year to make various changes to elections administration, all of which Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed because he said they would make voting harder.

The Republican Party of Waukesha County and three Waukesha County residents filed the lawsuit against the Elections Commission in July to challenge the guidance. The Republican-controlled Legislature intervened on the plaintiffs behalf. The Waukesha County Democratic Party and League of Women Voters of Wisconsin intervened in support of the Elections Commission.

The bipartisan commission first issued the contested guidance in 2016. Voters must have a witness sign a certificate, typically printed on the back of an absentee ballot envelope, for the ballot to be valid. The witness has to include his or her address on the certificate, but under the guidance, election officials were able to fill in missing or incorrect pieces such as the state or ZIP code.

Republicans have scrutinized the guidance since the 2020 presidential election.

The Legislatures Republican-controlled Rules Committee in January told the Elections Commission to withdraw the guidance or resubmit it as an administrative rule.

The majority of the Elections Commission then voted in favor of using the existing guidance as the basis for an emergency rule stipulating what errors clerks can fix on the certificates.

It became a rule in July. That same month, the Rules Committee struck it down.

In August, the Elections Commission deadlocked on a motion supported by the agencys three Republican appointees that would have eliminated the 2016 guidance. The commissions three Democratic appointees opposed the motion, a decision Aprahamian criticized last week.

Attorneys for the Waukesha County Democratic Party said in a brief that Aprahamians ruling last week carried a high risk of irreparably harming party members. They said the ruling carried the risk of disenfranchising voters for mistakes that witnesses made on their absentee ballot envelopes. They also said changing guidelines so close to the Nov. 8 election would create confusion.

Voiding that kind of whiplash necessitates a stay here, Jeff Mandell, representing the Waukesha County Democratic Party, said Tuesday.

Aprahamian disagreed, saying the ruling affects clerks, not voters. He said voters will still see that an address is required on the form, adding that the contested guidance was provided to clerks and election officials, not voters.

Full, fair and free elections are paramount, but they need to be according to law, Aprahamian said Tuesday. And the law has always been that the addresses need to be on these certifications. And I find that the guidance that was provided is contrary to that law, and therefore the public interest weighs in favor of the injunction and against the stay.

Ballots going out

With Aprahamians affirmation of his past ruling, clerks are struggling to understand what ballots they should count, or not, with absentee voting slated to begin in just over a week. The deadline for absentee ballots to be mailed to voters is Sept. 22.

Steven Kilpatrick, an attorney representing the Elections Commission, said the ruling is preventing the agency from advising clerks on what to do with missing address information or telling them what constitutes an address. He said theres no stand-alone guidance that advises clerks on the contents of an address.

Now there is nothing for the clerks to be guided by, Kilpatrick said on Tuesday. That results in uncertainty as to what a complete address is and increases the risk that some ballots will not be counted, without the fault of the elector.

The number of affected ballots is likely to be small but could be an issue in close races. President Joe Biden won Wisconsin in 2020 by fewer than 21,000 votes.

The nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau last year reviewed 14,710 absentee ballot certificates in 29 municipalities and found that 1,022 certificates (6.9%) were missing parts of witness addresses, 15 (0.1%) did not have any witness address at all, eight (less than 0.1%) did not have a witness signature and three (less than 0.1%) did not have a voter signature. Clerks corrected 66 (about 0.4%) of those certificates.

Insulting to court

Prior to the Elections Commission vote to withdraw the agencys guidance on absentee ballot corrections, Jacobs proposed removing the guidance from the agencys website only, arguing Aprahamians order did not order its formal withdrawal. Her proposal failed on a 2-3 vote, with fellow Democratic commissioner Julie Glancey joining Jacobs in favor of the motion.

Republican commissioners Robert Spindell and Don Millis were adamant that the guidance must be withdrawn, with Millis noting that thumbing our nose at the court could further harm the agencys already rocky relationship with the GOP-controlled Legislature.

I think its insulting to the court. I think its going to hurt our cause down the road, Millis said.

Sen. Kathy Bernier, R-Chippewa Falls, proposed a bill last session that would have prohibited clerks from correcting absentee ballot certificates, but allow them to return the certificates to voters for corrections and require clerks to post a notification about any certificate defects to the voters information section on the states online elections portal, MyVote.wi. The proposal passed the GOP-led Legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers along with several other Republican-authored election bills.

I think the Legislature will pass the bill again and say that these things can be missing, but everything else must be in place, Bernier, who is not seeking reelection this fall, said at a WisPolitics.com luncheon Tuesday.
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson wouldnt indicate Tuesday whether hed support a proposed national ban on abortions after 15 weeks gestation, telling a reporter he felt the issue was best left to the states.

The Oshkosh Republican, who has supported multiple federal abortion bans in the past, said that abortion should be decided by we the people in the 50 states, according to a CNN report.

Asked whether his comments to CNN meant Johnson would oppose a national ban, Johnson spokesperson Alexa Henning said, As the senator has said many times, he believes this is a profound moral issue and agrees with the Dobbs decision to allow the democratic process to unfold in each state to determine at what point does society have the responsibility to protect life.

The proposed legislation, which almost certainly wont receive a vote in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate, includes exceptions for incest, rape and risks to the mothers life and health. The measure would leave intact state prohibitions that are stricter than the proposed ban, while requiring states with more permissive abortion laws to adhere to the 15-week requirement.

In Wisconsin, an ongoing lawsuit is likely to determine whether the states 1849 near-complete abortion ban became active after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In the meantime, abortion clinics have stopped providing services in the state.

Johnson has supported national abortion bans before, co-sponsoring six, 20-week abortion bans between 2013 and 2021. In late August, Johnson said states should decide the issue but added that Congress could eventually set the limit, according to the Washington County Daily News.

The measures Johnson supported all preceded the U.S. Supreme Court decision that returned the issue to the states, Henning said.

Still, Democratic U.S. Senate nominee and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes campaign was doubtful that Johnson would actually vote against a federal abortion ban.

Ron Johnsons record has made it clear: A vote for Ron Johnson is a vote for a federal abortion ban, Barnes spokesperson Maddy McDaniel said in a statement.

The legislation introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Tuesday appeared to have divided congressional Republicans, who have varying opinions on the proper limit for federal abortion bans or whether Congress should decide the issue at all, according to multiple reports.
Three months after a Madison doctor bought two buildings in Rockford, Illinois, to offer abortions, neither site is open and a city zoning decision on one of the locations might lead to a lawsuit.

We are bound and determined to see we have our day in court if necessary, Dr. Dennis Christensen said this week, after Rockford officials last month essentially said Christensen would have to live at the site, intended for pill abortions, in order to use it as a clinic. It will probably end up in court.

A different person heading up plans for the other site, intended for surgical and pill abortions, said city officials have supported the project and it should be open by January.

Theyre super supportive," said Jeanne Bissell, president of the Rockford Family Planning Foundation. "Theyre not going to put up with any nonsense with the protesters."

On June 14-15, Christensen purchased two properties: a former acupuncture office at 611 Auburn St. for $75,000 and the former Animal Emergency Clinic of Rockford at 4236 Maray Drive for $350,000.

The moves were in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which occurred on June 24. The ruling led abortion providers in Wisconsin to halt procedures as courts determine whether the states 1849 law banning nearly all abortions stands. Abortion remains legal in Illinois.

Christensen, an obstetrician-gynecologist who has provided abortions in Madison and Milwaukee and is now mostly retired, said he planned to offer medication abortions at the Auburn site as soon as possible. The procedures, involving the pills mifepristone and misoprostol, are approved up to 10 weeks gestation.

The Rockford Family Planning Foundation has been preparing the Maray site for surgical abortions and other care, including birth control and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Bissell, of Fitchburg, a former board member of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said in mid-July she expected the Maray site to open in three to six months. On Tuesday, she said it likely would be early January.

Plans to offer pill abortions at the Auburn site initially were delayed after the city of Rockford condemned the building after an inspection, leaving a note citing an open sewer.

After repairs were done, the building code problems were resolved in early August, city administrator Todd Cagnoni said then.

On Aug. 25, a letter from Scott Capovilla, planning and zoning administrator, said a 1982 special use permit for the residential neighborhood property, which was initially obtained by the acupuncturist, had particular requirements. Capovilla said a resident of this home must live permanently and work in this facility and only one person that is not a member of the household can be employed at this business.

Christensen said he believes the ruling is an attempt to block abortion services.

The objection is not a legitimate building issue, he said. It is a philosophical issue and a political issue.

Capovilla didn't respond to a request for comment Tuesday. But Nicholas Meyer, Rockford's legal director, said in a statement: "The owner of the property is simply being asked to follow the same rules that have been established for decades and that are applicable to everyone else."

Meyer said the city has issued a zoning confirmation letter saying the Maray site is approved for a medical clinic. "The city is absolutely in favor of medical clinics that increase access to womens health care," Meyer said.

Bissell said city staff, including police, have supported the Maray plan. People have protested outside of the site on a couple of days, she said. The Rockford Family Planning Foundation has raised about $350,000 toward a goal of $1.5 million to prepare, staff and equip the site, she said.

Meanwhile, patient volume and capacity has increased at Planned Parenthood of Illinois' abortion clinic in Waukegan, north of Chicago, since abortions stopped in Wisconsin, officials said. Staff from Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin have been traveling to that site.
JEROME  The Idaho State Police trooper critically injured on Interstate 84 on Thursday when a motorist struck him is making promising strides.

Sunday morning Sgt. Mike Wendler was alert and told his wife, I love you.

On Monday morning, he greeted his wife and family, recognized every person in the room and held short conversations with each one. He was aware of his surroundings and was giving hugs and fist bumps.

Wendler had responded to a vehicle fire Thursday morning and was out of his car and directing traffic when he was struck by a passing vehicle. He was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls.

A GoFundMe page has been set up by fellow ISP trooper Mike Hausauer, who gives regular updates on his progress.

His vital signs continue to improve, Hausauer wrote Monday. Today the medical team will focus on treating some of his physical injuries and begin transitioning him to the rehabilitation phase of his recovery.

There has been an outpouring of support on Wendlers behalf. The GoFundMe page had raised about $46,000 as of Monday afternoon, with donors leaving messages of love.

We are profoundly humbled by the outpouring of support we received from the people of our great state, ISPs Col. Kedrick Wills said Friday. It has reinforced our belief that Idaho is truly a great place to live and serve.

Wendler is a Marine Corps veteran and has been with ISP for more than 16 years.
Ocala, Fla.  If youre looking for family-oriented activity for this upcoming weekend that gets you out of the house and costs nothing, the BRAZEN team has an idea for you.

BRAZEN, the Florida Department of Health in Marion Countys risk-avoidance program, encourages families to join the team and its community partners for Friday Night Done Right in downtown Ocala.

Friday Night Done Right is a program offered by the Department and other nonprofits to provide families a fun, free and safe event that is designed to avoid poor outcomes associated with being involved with drugs, alcohol and other risky behavior.

DOH-Marion is collaborating with the Marion County Childrens Alliance and the Community Council Against Substance Abuse to host a showing of the film Napoleon Dynamite.

The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16, at the Marion Theatre, 50 S. Magnolia Ave., Ocala.

Admission is free .

Guests are encouraged to reserve seats online. To do so, visit MarionTheatre.org.

The film is about a nerdy, socially awkward Idaho high schooler, Napoleon, who tries to help his friend, Pedro, get elected class president, while also dealing with some school bullies and his quirky family at home. The cable TV network Bravo ranks Napoleon Dynamite No. 14 on its list of 100 all-time best comedies.

For more information about the event, contact the Marion County Childrens Alliance at 352-483-5990.

About the Florida Department of Health

The Department, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @HealthyFla. For more information about the Florida Department of Health please visit www.FloridaHealth.gov.
Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, in partnership with Moro Hub, subsidiary of Digital Dewa, the digital arm of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (PJSC) has hosted a threat hunt workshop.

Aimed at fortifying the nations digital infrastructure and raising awareness of cybersecurity, the workshop was held at the Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach, Dubai, UAE, with 25 participants. The event included a competition which consisted of two separate phases: Phase 1: Attack and Phase 2: Defend.

The IT experts were given the opportunity to face simulated cybersecurity challenges, determine the best course of action, and demonstrate their capabilities for both hunting cyber threats and protecting digital assets. Contestants collaborated to develop and execute strategies to effectively detect and block attacks while competing against each other during the event.

Cyber challenges

Dr Ahmed Alketbi, Chief Information Security Officer of Moro Hub inaugurated the event with a welcome note, setting the tone for an exciting day of cyber challenges, and industry-leading insights from an engaging session on cyber security.

Trend Micros Senior Sales Engineers conducted a session on Data Centre Security Strategy and Implementation, emphasising the need to streamline operations with hybrid cloud security that delivers the automation and flexibility required to secure todays modern data centres and journeys in the cloud.

A multi-layered solution such as Trend Micro Cloud One is a purpose-built platform for deployments, delivering the operational efficiency required to support and protect various endpoints.

Valuable opportunity

Occasions such as the threat hunt workshop provide us a valuable opportunity to not only raise awareness on robust cybersecurity practices but to also enhance the nations digital capabilities to navigate through modern-day cyber threats, said UAE Country Manager, Majd Sinan, Trend Micro.

Building on our collaboration with Moro Hub, we are dedicated to providing emerging professionals and future industry leaders with the knowledge, in-depth understanding of the threat landscape, and cutting-edge cybersecurity tools essential to protecting all digital environments. We look forward to more collaborative initiatives that advance the cybersecurity movement and help the nations organisations, communities, and individuals transform their digital experiences.

Moro Hub has always been committed to scale and introduce advance security solutions to the region. The threat hunt workshop was designed to enable professionals in this space with strong analytical and technical skills to evade security challenges. The comprehensive workshop not only served as a powerful platform to help cyber professionals learn new insights about tools, tactics and procedures, but also offered an in-depth view on the essential components of effective threat hunting, said Dr Alketbi.

Ransomware attacks

The Trend Micro Security Predictions for 2022: Toward a New Momentum, states that threat actors in 2022 continue to focus on ransomware attacks on data centre workloads regardless of their location, as well as exposed services, to take advantage of the large number of people continuing to work remotely. Therefore, platforms like the cyber defence challenge provide an ideal opportunity to further strengthen the protection of the countrys digital ecosystem against modern-day threats.-- TradeArabia News Service
The Ararat Ruritan Club recently made donations to two area organizations.

After the covered dish meal, at its September meeting, Ararat Ruritan Club President Kathleen Loveland presented checks to Rhonda Fulcher Pruitt of the Patrick County Food Bank and to Kristie Young Bentley, representing the Stuart Rotary Club backpack program. Each representative told the club about her organization. Both organizations serve the people of the Ararat community.

Also during this meeting, Bentley talked about the Patrick County High School Junior/Senior Beta Clubs member requirements for community service.

The club had lots of business to address during the monthly meeting, including the upcoming BBQ/Cruise-In. This traditional annual fundraiser is set for Saturday, Oct. 22, at the club building, located at 4711 Ararat Highway.

All money raised through fundraising efforts, such as the barbecue, virtual raffles and bingo, is funneled back into the community to help causes such as school supplies, Christmas gifts for less fortunate families and the elderly, and the local fire department and rescue squads.

Our membership is really growing, and I think that is partially because our club so active in the community, and folks want to be a part of it, said club Secretary Pamela Smith.

The Ararat Ruritan club meets on the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. for anyone to attend. If youd like to help serve in your community and there is not an already established Ruritan Club, contact any Ruritan in Ararat, Meadows of Dan, Patrick Springs or Red Bank for help in getting one started in your area.

The Ararat Ruritan Club building can be rented for your family gatherings, celebrations, etc. For more details, email AraratRuritanClub@gmail.com. More information is also available on the Ararat Ruritan Club Facebook page.
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The Martinsville-Henry County Historical Society will host the September segment of its monthly Lecture Series with Architecture & History of Uptown Martinsville by Virginia King at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Historic Henry County Courthouse.

Martinsville incorporated in 1873 and became a city in 1929. The Martinsville Historic District is located in the historic center of the city.

Extending east and west along Church, Main, and Fayette streets, this linear district is composed of relatively intact blocks of buildings, including some that range in date from the early-19th century through the mid-20th century.

The approximately 45-acre district counts among its resources 119 buildings. The majority of these buildings were constructed between 1920 and 1948. Aesthetically, the district contains the city's most compact array of architectural styles reflecting the tastes and technologies of nearly every period of its development, including well-preserved examples of Greek Revival, Romanesque Revival, Classical Revival, Colonial Revival, Commercial, International and Art Deco styles.

King is a life member, past president and current board member of the Martinsville-Henry County Historical Society. A native of Kansas, she has lived in Martinsville and Henry County for over 50 years. She and her husband, Dr. Mervyn King, are extensively involved in the restoration of uptown Martinsville and beyond.

John Phillips, Historical Society president, stated in a press release, Virginia is not only extremely knowledgeable on the topic but passionate about sharing the information. You dont want to miss this one!

The Sunday Afternoon Lecture series is free, made possible by corporate sponsors Carter Bank & Trust and the Lester Group. The Historic Henry County Courthouse is fully handicap accessible.
The Ugandan authorities announced on Monday that they had maintained the Nyege Nyege electronic music festival, one of the largest in East Africa, which was banned last week by parliament on charges of promoting immorality.

The festival, which in previous editions has welcomed some 10,000 people including foreign tourists, is due to be held for four days from 15 September in the south-eastern town of Jinja.

On 6 September, parliament banned the festival, accusing it of promoting immorality. We dont want this immorality in our country, Rose Lilly Akello, minister of ethics and integrity, told reporters.

But Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi said on Monday that the festival could go ahead after all because of the benefits it will bring, especially in terms of tourism.

However, minors will not be allowed to attend the festival and orgies and nudity are forbidden, as are drugs and contraband, the minister stressed.

If these rules are violated, the police will stop the festival and order everyone to leave, he warned.

The phrase Nyege Nyege means an irresistible urge to dance in the Luganda language, but can also have sexual connotations in other dialects of the region.

In 2018, a previous ban on the festival by former Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo was lifted after it sparked controversy on social media.
The President of the Republic, Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, has granted an audience this Monday to a high delegation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, headed by its new Secretary General, Haitham Al-Ghais.

The Republic of Equatorial Guinea will assume the rotating presidency of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in 2023; the Malabo authorities will work in coordination with the Central Office of the General Secretariat of this institution in Vienna.

These were some of the issues discussed at Mondays audience between His Excellency Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and Haitham Al-Ghais, the new Secretary General of OPEC.

OPEC is an organisation recognised since 6 November 1962 by the United Nations, thanks to resolution number 6,363, and is made up of 13 countries from Africa, Asia and America; the Republic of Equatorial Guinea has been a member since 2017.

Haitham Al-Ghais is a veteran of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, who assumed the post of Secretary General of OPEC on 1 August this year for a period of three years, after the death of the Nigerian Barkindo, former leader of this institution, and in which he has chaired technical meetings of producers, both from the organisation and non-affiliated, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia.

His meeting with the Equatoguinean leader on 13 September, at the Peoples Palace in Malabo, also served to discuss upcoming meetings and actions for the year 2023, when the organisation will be chaired by the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.
The common mucosal immune system, illustrating the origin of antigen-stimulated, IgA-committed B cells and cognate T cells in inductive sites, mainly the organized mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues of the respiratory and intestinal tracts, i.e., the palatine, tubal, and lingual tonsils and adenoids, and the gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GALT) i.e., small intestinal Peyers patches and large intestinal follicles, respectively. Note that bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) does not usually occur in healthy adults, but can be found in children, or be induced by infection. Antigen-stimulated B and T cells emigrate and traffic through mesenteric lymph nodes into the circulation, and ultimately home into the lamina propria of respiratory, intestinal, and genital tracts and stroma of salivary, lacrimal, and lactating mammary glands, etc. Homing of cells into mucosal effector sites is orchestrated by the expression of vascular endothelial addressins and production of chemokine ligands in mucosal effector sites, and corresponding integrins and chemokine receptors expressed on B and T cells induced in mucosal inductive sites. Terminal differentiation of B cells into pIgA-secreting plasma cells occurs in these effector sites with help from T cells and locally produced cytokines. SIgA is formed by the pIgR-mediated epithelial transport of this locally synthesized pIgA into the secretions, the extracellular part of pIgR becoming the secretory component of SIgA. Credit: Frontiers in Immunology (2022). DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.957107

As public health experts cautiously anticipate how COVID-19 will play out this fall, a University at Buffalo scientist is reiterating that substantial immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 virus will only happen with a vaccine that can be delivered through the nose.

"The best protection against initial infection with the coronavirus, as well as transmission of it, as opposed to the development of COVID-19 disease, will be most effectively achieved by intranasal vaccines," said Michael Russell, Ph.D., professor emeritus of microbiology and immunology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB and first author on a paper published last month in Frontiers in Immunology.

The reason, he said, is that the most robust immunity against COVID-19 comes about as a result of infection that takes place in the upper respiratory tract and the mouth, and gives rise to mucosal immunity through the secretion of Immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies.

"That kind of immunity is not induced to any great extent by the existing injectable vaccines," said Russell. But, he said mucosal immunity is exactly the kind of immunity that would protect against initial infection, instead of protecting against severe disease after infection, the goal of the current COVID-19 vaccines.

"It all results from a widespread lack of understanding of the operation of the mucosal immune system," said Russell, "despite the fact that this has been known about for at least 40 years, but is poorly covered in most medical curricula."

He said that evidence is accumulating that shows that mucosal IgA antibodies have a significant impact on acquisition of SARS-CoV-2, the subsequent course of disease, and further transmission of the virus.

Vaccines delivered through the nose would not only induce mucosal immunity and thus prevent individuals from becoming infected, but they could also suppress community spread, which results from the circulation of aerosol particles and droplets generated by these upper respiratory and oral secretions.

A better route to herd immunity

"Our main point, therefore, is that protection against initial infection (rather than protection against the development of COVID-19) and the onwards transmission of the virus will be more effectively achieved by intranasal vaccines," said Russell. "In other words, the much-discussed and elusive accomplishment of herd immunity, which is not effectively generated by the existing injected vaccines, will be more likely to be achieved with mucosal immunity induced by intranasal vaccines."

The paper also argues that despite the fact that antibody responses to COVID-19 have almost entirely focused on serum, it turns out the level of antibodies that are circulating in the blood doesn't reflect the antibody level in mucosal secretions. Meanwhile, mucosal IgA antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 antigens have been detected in the saliva, nasal fluids, tears, tracheo-bronchial secretions and even breast milk in infected individuals.

The authors conceded that while there have been numerous animal model trials launched to develop intranasal vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, many haven't continued past the preclinical stage. In part, they explained, this might be due to inadequate understanding of how the human and animal mucosal immune systems differ. "Mucosal IgA antibodies found in secretions are much more effective at viral neutralization than circulating IgG antibodies, which are found in serum," said Russell.

The authors noted that the success of the influenza vaccines delivered through the nose indicate that this is a feasible delivery method for a vaccine. A recent article in Nature reports that approximately 100 intranasal COVID-19 vaccines are in development worldwide, two of which were approved last week in China and India. However, details of the trials supporting these approvals have not yet been released.

Russell concluded that "if even a fraction of the time, effort and resources that were applied to the development of the first generation of COVID vaccines was applied to intranasal vaccines, the world might be benefiting from a widely available intranasal COVID-19 vaccine right now."

Explore further New method of nasal vaccine delivery could lead to better vaccines for HIV and COVID-19

More information: Michael W. Russell et al, Mucosal immunity: The missing link in comprehending SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission, Frontiers in Immunology (2022). Journal information: Frontiers in Immunology Michael W. Russell et al, Mucosal immunity: The missing link in comprehending SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission,(2022). DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.957107
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Craving a glass of wine or a cold beer at the end of the day may not seem unusual but people can also experience cravings for soft drinks and coffee, new research has revealed.

Led by Flinders University Ph.D. student Joshua McGreen, the study found the number of cravings a person experiences can indicate how many soft drinks they would eventually drink, with cravings triggered by a number of factors beyond thirst.

"Craving refers to the intense desire to consume a specific substance, such as a drug, alcohol or food and it's been well established in research that cravings for all three can predict future use," says Mr. McGreen from Flinders' College of Education, Psychology and Social Work.

"However, what's less known is the link between cravings and consumption for non-alcoholic beverages, including sugar-sweetened and caffeinated beverages.

"It is important to investigate this link because cravings could be a potential target for helping people reduce how much they drink, with both soft drinks and caffeine having the potential to cause health issues if over-consumed."

Published in the journal Eating Behaviors, the study analyzed data from 128 participants aged between 17 and 25 years old, who completed a craving diary and daily consumption measure over a one-week period.

Cravings were reported for a range of beverages, including tea, juice and flavored milk, but by far the most craved drinks were water, coffee and soft drinks.

When investigating the link between cravings and consumption, stronger cravings were shown to be associated with a greater likelihood of drinking moreespecially for soft drinks.

"Tiredness was the most common craving trigger for coffee. For soft drinks, visual clues such as advertising or seeing other people having a drink were the most common triggers, followed by food and then thirst," says Mr. McGreen.

Water was both the most craved beverage and the most consumed, with thirst being the most common trigger.

"Although water may not be considered a substance that is typically craved, the participants clearly experienced a strong desire to consume it, in line with the World Health Organization's formal definition of craving," says Mr. McGreen.

"However, the number of cravings for water during the week did not indicate how much would be drunk. Instead, that was predicted by how much participants liked water and whether they were male.

"This contrasts to coffee and soft drinks, where the number of cravings for each predicted how much would be drunk over the week."

With soft drink consumption increasing rapidly over the past 50 years to become a major public health problem, the study is significant as it indicates that cravings may be a target for reducing people's soft drink consumption.

"Our study clearly shows that for soft drinks and coffee, cravings can indicate how much a person will go on to consume, but it also indicates that thirst is not the driving factor," says Mr. McGreen.

"For soft drinks, the craving triggers were predominantly external, including advertising or seeing other people drink, so this is potentially where we could turn our focus to if we are to reduce global soft drink consumption and reap the public health benefits."

The paper, "Beyond thirst: Cravings for non-alcoholic beverages including soft drink," by Joshua McGreen, Eva Kemps and Marika Tiggemann, is published in the journal Eating Behaviors.

Explore further Why we can't say no to an icy cold soft drink

More information: Joshua McGreen et al, Beyond thirst: Cravings for non-alcoholic beverages including soft drink, Eating Behaviors (2022). Journal information: Eating Behaviors Joshua McGreen et al, Beyond thirst: Cravings for non-alcoholic beverages including soft drink,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2022.101662
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Organs donated and eligible organ donors in UK both fell by around 30% during the first and second waves of the COVID pandemic.

Research published in Anaesthesia reveals the impact of COVID on organ donation in the UK, with both eligible organ donors and actual organ donations falling by 30% during the first year of the pandemic.

The comprehensive study analyzing UK data is by Dr. Dan Harvey, Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK, and Clinical Lead for Innovation and Research Organ Donation at NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), and Dr. Nicholas Plummer, Specialist Registrar in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK, and colleagues.

The national audit data from NHSBTthe agency that oversees donation in the UKshow that in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 11, 2020 to March 10, 2021) the total number of donations fell by 30% from 1,620 to 1,140 when compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Adjusted numbers of donors and organs retrieved were inversely dependent on Intensive Care Unit burdens of COVID-19 patients, though weekly numbers of transplants were unrelated. There were overall around 30% fewer eligible donors (4,282) in the first year of the pandemic when compared with the previous year (6,038). This was partly because there were fewer in-hospital deaths from conditions more frequently associated with donation, such as cardiac arrest (down 17%) and intracranial catastrophes (down 12%) throughout the first year of the pandemic.

The pandemic also led, both directly and indirectly, to increased numbers of people who died in the community who might otherwise have died in hospital and been eligible donors. However, even though absolute numbers were down, the proportion of eligible donors who proceeded to donation (27%) was unchanged in the year of the study compared to the year before the pandemic.

The authors say that despite all these challenges, "The relative proportion of eligible donors proceeding to donation and the relationship between retrieved organs and transplantations remained constant, suggesting a resilient organ donation and transplantation system despite unprecedented pressures placed on ICU and the wider healthcare system."

The authors conclude, "Although the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on organ donation and transplantation in the UK, as it has in many other countries, the system showed a degree of resilience and ability to rapidly adapt to challenges to maintain services  It is a credit to the UK population, as well as to NHSBT, that public support for organ donation was maintained. As organ donation organizations seek to recover from the pandemic in 2022 and beyond, further work is needed to continually assess the impact of COVID-19 on transplant programs worldwide to consider where further adaption can help to reduce its impact on transplantation rates and prepare for future challenges to the system."

Explore further Liver transplants from drug overdose deaths rose sharply during COVID-19 pandemic

More information: The impact of COVID-19 on organ donation and transplantation in the UK: lessons learned from the first year of the pandemic, Anaesthesia (2022). Journal information: Anaesthesia The impact of COVID-19 on organ donation and transplantation in the UK: lessons learned from the first year of the pandemic,(2022).

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Researchers from universities in Italy and the U.S. studied the relationship between memory and creativity to assess whether those who remember the smallest details of their lives (highly superior autobiographical memory) may have a greater propensity for creative thinking. The results showed no relation.

There is still much to discover about the relationship between memory and creativity, but it is thought that creative ideas can result from the flexible recombination of concepts from memory. Several behavioral and neuroscientific studies support this assumption by proving a link between episodic memory and divergent thinking, which is the basis for the emergence of creative ideas.

Researchers Sarah Daviddi, William Orwig, Massimiliano Palmiero, Patrizia Campolongo, Daniel L. Schacter and Valerio Santangelo, from the Universities of Perugia, Aquila, Sapienza Rome (Italy) and Harvard (U.S.), came together to analyze the potential contributions of autobiographical memory for creative ideation, a relationship still little studied.

In the paper "Individuals with highly superior autobiographical memory do not show enhanced creative thinking," published in the scientific journal Memory in July 2022, the authors explain that they assessed measures of divergent and convergent creative thinking in a cohort of 14 rare individuals showing Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM), having been compared with a control group composed of a cohort of 28 other subjects who showed a normal-memory.

The HSAM group completed several memory tasks and a battery of creativity measures, such as Alternative Uses Task, Consequences Task and Remote Associates Task. Statistical analyses were then performed to assess the existence of relevant differences between the HSAM group and the control group regarding these measures.

The results revealed that, although participants in the HSAM group were superior in recalling autobiographical events compared to the control group, no overall differences were observed between the groups with regard to creativity measures.

The multidisciplinary team of researchers then concluded that constructive episodic processes relevant to creative thinking are not enhanced in individuals with highly superior autobiographical memory performance. A possible justification could be that they are compulsively and narrowly focused on the consolidation and recovery of autobiographical events.

More information: Sarah Daviddi et al, Individuals with highly superior autobiographical memory do not show enhanced creative thinking, Memory (2022). Sarah Daviddi et al, Individuals with highly superior autobiographical memory do not show enhanced creative thinking,(2022). DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2022.2094416

Provided by BIAL Foundation
The Saudi Company for Artificial Intelligence (SCAI), has announced its investment with a value of SAR 776 million ($206.54 million) with SenseTime Group through a joint venture to establish SenseTime MEA, and work to build a sophisticated AI lab, create highly skilled jobs for talented Saudis, and contribute to positioning Saudi Arabia as the regions leading AI-tech hub.

SCAI, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which aims to foster innovation in strategic sectors and accelerate key national technological priorities in Saudi Arabia ,

The AI lab will serve as a dedicated research and development center, allowing the next generation of data scientists to benefit from the transfer of technology and SenseTimes extensive expertise in the field.

The partnerships corporate vehicle, SenseTime MEA, is set to focus on empowering the local AI ecosystem by building capabilities in computer vision and driving innovation in the AI and emerging technologies sectors.

SCAI will work closely with SenseTime to develop solutions across diverse areas, including but not limited to the smart city, business intelligence, healthcare, and education domains, as well as localize the companys cutting-edge computer vision and deep learning platform to enable the creation of intellectual properties which will be of immense benefit to the Kingdom and the region.

Founded in Hong Kong in 2014, SenseTime is a leading AI-software company focused on the application of advanced technologies. The company is committed to advancing AI research and developing scalable and affordable AI software platforms that bring positive benefits to businesses and people.

Launched to support PIFs strategic objectives and achieve national priorities, SCAI will develop local capability, cutting edge technology, and strategic partnerships to support creating Saudi-owned solutions in the AI ecosystem.

Ayman AlRashed, CEO of SCAI, said: We are pleased to enter into this Joint Venture with a global pioneer of SenseTimes caliber. Todays agreement represents an important strategic step on SCAIs journey to develop national capabilities and build a robust, innovation-driven AI ecosystem. We look forward to working closely to provide world-class AI solutions that will contribute to the success of diverse smart city, business intelligence, healthcare, and education initiatives in the Kingdom and beyond.

Xu Li, Executive Chairman of the Board and CEO of SenseTime, added: Its exciting to see the rapid digital transformation that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is undertaking, especially in the development of an AI ecosystem. SenseTime and SCAI share the same vision of creating a better society and improving peoples lives through the use of AI. I believe that our partnership will contribute to the realization of the Vision 2030 objectives and be a driving engine of next-generation cities across the Kingdom.

As part of its commitment to customer-centricity and collaboration, SCAI is showcasing its range of customer-centric solutions this week through its participation at the Global AI Summit in Riyadh. Now in its second edition, the summit is organized by the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) and serves as an inspiring platform for dialogue that brings together key stakeholders from the public sector, academia, and private sector to shape the future of AI. -TradeArabia News Service
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

As life-preserving medical technology advanced in the second half of the 20th century, doctors and families were faced with a thorny decision, one with weighty legal and moral implications: How should we define when life ends? Cardiopulmonary bypass machines could keep the blood pumping and ventilators could maintain breathing long after a patient's natural ability to perform those vital functions had ceased.

After decades of deliberations involving physicians, bioethicists, attorneys and theologians, a U.S. presidential commission in 1981 settled on a scientifically derived dividing line between life and death that has endured, more or less, ever since: A person was considered dead when the entire brainincluding the brainstem, its most primitive portionwas no longer functioning, even if other vital functions could be maintained indefinitely through artificial life support.

In the decades since, the committee's criteria have served as a foundation for laws in most states adopting brain death as a standard for legal death.

Now, with the overturning of Roe v. Wade and dozens of states rushing to impose abortion restrictions, American society is engaged in a chaotic race to define the other pole of human existence: When exactly does human life begin? At conception, the hint of a heartbeat, a first breath, the ability to survive outside the womb with the help of the latest technology?

That we've been able to devise and apply uniform clinical standards for when life ends, but not when it begins, is due largely to the legal and political maelstrom around abortion. And in the two months since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, eliminating a long-standing federal right to abortion, state legislators are eagerly bounding into that void, looking to codify into law assorted definitions of life that carry profound repercussions for abortion rights, birth control, and assisted reproduction, as well as civil and criminal law.

"The court said that when life begins is up to whoever is running your statewhether they are wrong or not, or you agree with them or not," said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California-Davis who has written several books on the history of abortion.

Unlike the debate over death, which delved into exquisite medical and scientific detail, the legislative scramble to determine when life's building blocks reach a threshold that warrants government protection as human life has generally ignored the input of mainstream medical professionals.

Instead, red states across much of the South and portions of the Midwest are adopting language drafted by elected officials that is informed by conservative Christian doctrine, often with little scientific underpinning.

A handful of Republican-led states, including Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Oklahoma, have passed laws declaring that life begins at fertilization, a contention that opens the door to a host of pregnancy-related litigation. This includes wrongful death lawsuits brought on behalf of the estate of an embryo by disgruntled ex-partners against physicians and women who end a pregnancy or even miscarry. (One such lawsuit is underway in Arizona. Another reached the Alabama Supreme Court.)

In Kentucky, the law outlawing abortion uses morally explosive terms to define pregnancy as "the human female reproductive condition of having a living unborn human being within her body throughout the entire embryonic and fetal stages of the unborn child from fertilization to full gestation and childbirth."

Several other states, including Georgia, have adopted measures equating life with the point at which an embryo's nascent cardiac activity can be detected by an ultrasound, at around six weeks of gestation. Many such laws mischaracterize the flickering electrical impulses detectible at that stage as a heartbeat, including in Georgia, whose Department of Revenue recently announced that "any unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat" can be claimed as a dependent.

The Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that established a constitutional right to abortion did not define a moment when life begins. The opinion, written by Justice Harry Blackmun, observed that the Constitution does not provide a definition of "person," though it extends protections to those born or naturalized in the U.S. The court majority made note of the many disparate views among religions and scientists on when life begins, and concluded it was not up to the states to adopt one theory of life.

Instead, Roe created a framework intended to balance a pregnant woman's right to make decisions about her body with a public interest in protecting potential human life. That decision and a key ruling that followed generally recognized a woman's right to abortion up to the point medical professionals judge a fetus viable to survive outside the uterus, at about 24 weeks of gestation.

In decisively overturning Roe in June, the Supreme Court's conservative majority drew on legal arguments that have shaped another contentious end-of-life issue. The legal standard employed in Dobbsthat there is no right to abortion in the federal Constitution and that states can decide on their ownis the same rationale used in 1997 when the Supreme Court said terminally ill people did not have a constitutional right to medically assisted death. That decision, Washington v. Glucksberg, is mentioned 15 times in the majority opinion for Dobbs and a concurrence by Justice Clarence Thomas.

Often, the same groups that have led the fight to outlaw abortion have also challenged medical aid-in-dying laws. Even after Dobbs, so-called right-to-die laws remain far less common than those codifying state abortion rights. Ten states allow physicians to prescribe lethal doses of medicine for terminally ill patients. Doctors are still prohibited from administering the drugs.

James Bopp, general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee who has been central to the efforts to outlaw abortion, said that both abortion and medically assisted death, which he refers to as physician-assisted suicide, endanger society.

"Every individual human life has inherent value and is sacred," said Bopp. "The government has the duty to protect that life."

Both issues raise profound societal questions: Can the government keep a patient on life support against his wishes, or force a woman to give birth? Can states bar their own residents from going to other states to end a pregnancy, or prohibit out-of-state patients from coming in to seek medically assisted death? And who gets to decide, particularly if the answer imposes a singular religious viewpoint?

Just as there are legal implications that flow from determining a person's death, from organ donation to inheritance, the implied rights held by a legally recognized zygote are potentially vast. Will death certificates be issued for every lost pregnancy? Will miscarriages be investigated? When will Social Security numbers be issued? How will census counts be tallied and congressional districts drawn?

Medical professionals and bioethicists caution that both the beginning and end of life are complicated biological processes that are not defined by a single identifiable momentand are ill suited to the political arena.

"Unfortunately, biological occurrences are not events, they are processes," said David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics.

Moreover, asking doctors "What is life?" or "What is death?" may miss the point, said Magnus: "Medicine can answer the question 'When does a biological organism cease to exist?' But they can't answer the question 'When does a person begin or end?' because those are metaphysical issues."

Ben Sarbey, a doctoral candidate in Duke University's department of philosophy who studies medical ethics, echoed that perspective, recounting the Paradox of the Heap, a thought experiment that involves placing grains of sand one on top of the next. The philosophical quandary is this: At what point do those grains of sand become something morea heap?

"We're going to have a rough time placing a dividing line that this counts as a person and this does not count as a person," he said. "Many things count as lifea sperm counts as life, a person in a persistent vegetative state counts as lifebut does that constitute a person that we should be protecting?"

Even as debate over the court's abortion decision percolates, the 1981 federal statute that grew out of the presidential committee's findings, the Uniform Determination of Death Act, is also under review. This year, the Uniform Law Commission, a nonpartisan group of legal experts that drafts laws intended for adoption in multiple states, has taken up the work to revisit the definition of death.

The group will consider sharpening the medical standards for brain death in light of advances in the understanding of brain function. And they will look to address lingering questions raised in recent years as families and religious groups have waged heated legal battles over terminating artificial life support for patients with no brain wave activity.

Bopp, with the National Right to Life Committee, is among those serving on advisory panels for the effort, along with an array of doctors, philosophers, and medical ethicists. The concept of "personhood" that infuses the anti-abortion movement's broader push for fetal rights is expected to be an underlying topic, albeit in mirror image: When does a life form cease being a person?

Magnus, who is also serving on an advisory panel, has no doubt the commission will reach a consensus, a sober resolution rooted in science. What's less clear, he said, is whether in today's political environment that updated definition will hold the same sway, an enduring legal standard embraced across states.

Explore further Abortion pills to become next battleground in US reproductive fight

2022 Kaiser Health News.

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Credit: Jake Dwyer, Michigan Medicine

Flu and COVID-19 symptoms can look similar in kidsboth are known to cause fever, coughing and fatigue and prompt parents to keep children home from school.

And while rare, the chance of either virus leading to critical illness in children may also be similar, suggests research by a team of pediatric intensive care researchers.

One in three children in a multi-hospital cohort who was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit for either COVID-19 or influenza required mechanical ventilation, according to the study in Clinical Infectious Diseases conducted by the multi-hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Influenza (PICFLU) network's Overcoming COVID-19 Investigators team.

About 16% of flu patients and 9% of COVID patients also had a secondary bacterial infection.

"Critically ill children with either virus have comparable outcomes in terms of needing breathing support or blood pressure medicines to treat shock," said Heidi Flori, M.D., F.A.A.P., pediatric intensivist at University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and a member of PICFLU and Overcoming COVID-19 Investigators team.

Vaccines can protect children

Flori says the data reinforces the importance of taking steps to protect children from both infections through vaccines, especially as the new school season begins.

"Whether it's flu or COVID, there seems to be a general public perception that neither cause serious illness in kids," she said.

"But for those of us working in pediatric ICU care, we've seen infections lead to critical illness and sometimes death in young people. Vaccinations are the best tools we have."

Researchers compared 179 children with influenza infection to 381 with COVID-19 at 16 United States hospitals. Patients with critical COVID-19 stayed longer in the PICU than kids with critical influenza and mortality was low (2-3%) but similar in both groups.

The studyled by Natasha Halasa, M.D., pediatric infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Centeralso suggests slight differences in the viruses' impact on different age and demographic groups.

Children hospitalized with COVID-19 were generally older than those with influenza. Almost half of the children with flu were between eight months old to under age five while more than four fifths of those with COVID-19 were aged 517of which more than half comprised the oldest age group, 1317 years.

Two thirds of children in the study hospitalized with influenza or COVID-19 also had an underlying medical condition but a third were otherwise healthy. Respiratory conditions were the most common underlying condition in both groups.

Health disparities in both younger and older age groups

About half of the children with critical influenza and a fourth with COVID-19 were white. In comparison, about 40% of children with influenza and over two thirds of those with COVID-19 were Black or Hispanic.

"Our data suggests that the health disparities we saw in the older age groups with COVID may exist among younger patients as well," Flori said.

The study excluded 850 children who were diagnosed with a rare but serious COVID-linked condition called multi-system inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C.

MIS-C, which causes severe inflammation in vital organs and tissues, has been linked to more than 8,000 pediatric cases and 70 deaths across the country. Children with the condition were separated in this specific research because MIS-C is considered a post-acute infection, says Flori, who notes the network has focused other studies specifically on MIS-C.

While rare, even healthy kids can end up in the ICU from flu or COVID

Each year, millions of children get sick with seasonal flu. Annual flu-related hospitalizations among U.S. children younger than five have ranged from 7,000 to 26,000 between 2010 to 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While relatively rare, some children also die from flu each yearthe CDC reports a range of 37 to 199 deaths during regular flu seasons between 2004 and 2020.

During the omicron dominant period of COVID-19 (December 2021February 2022), COVID-19associated hospitalization rates in children aged 511 years were also nearly twice as high among unvaccinated as among vaccinated children, according to the CDC.

Flori says because the longtime PICFLU network was already in place to pool data across peer hospitals to analyze critical illness in kids from flu, the group was well positioned to do the same work for COVID-19 when the pandemic hit.

"While there are relatively low numbers of severe illness and death in kids from both flu and COVID, it's not zero," she said. "Kids do get very sick and there are deaths every year from infections that cause hospitalizations and other long term health risks.

"Many of the children in our study cohort did have other underlying health issues, but a third of them were perfectly healthy and still ended up in the ICU," she added. "No one is 100% immune. This should give us all pause. Increasing COVID-19 and flu vaccination coverage among children can help us prevent hospitalization and severe outcomes."

Explore further COVID is more dangerous than flu for kids, study finds

More information: Natasha B Halasa et al, Life-Threatening Complications of Influenza vs Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in US Children, Clinical Infectious Diseases (2022). Journal information: Clinical Infectious Diseases Natasha B Halasa et al, Life-Threatening Complications of Influenza vs Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in US Children,(2022). DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciac477
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Abnormally high blood sugar (glucose) levels can result in type 2 diabetes when things go awry with the body's skeletal muscle, which plays a key role in regulating glucose.

Scientists are using in vitro (in a dish) skeletal muscle engineering to gain a better understanding of the complex genetic and environmental factors underlying diabetes. This involves putting lab-grown, healthy skeletal muscle tissues in a state resembling diabeteshigh glucose and high insulinor growing skeletal muscle from diabetic patients' muscle stem cells.

In Biophysics Reviews, researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University School of Medicine describe how skeletal muscle engineering has advanced significantly during the past few decades. The recent development of using human muscle stem cells to grow 3D skeletal muscle makes it easier to explore diabetes in humans.

"We can use skeletal muscle grown within the lab to capture and study diabetes disease characteristics," said co-author Christina Sheng. "Moreover, these so-called in vitro models enable researchers to discover new medicines for diabetes. Many scientists are also trying to better understand how exercise is beneficial to patients with diabetes via these models."

In vitro skeletal muscle models are also leading to personalized medicine, in which an individual patient's muscle can be grown, studied, and tested to determine if new medicines will work for them.

Generally, muscle stem cells are harvested, expanded in number, and seeded together. Then they fuse together to form multinucleated muscle fibers, creating lab-grown skeletal muscle.

To mimic diabetes, the researchers treat lab-grown skeletal muscle with excess sugar, insulin, fats, or cells that promote inflammation and study how these factors affect skeletal muscle health.

"Our Biohybrid System Lab grows and exercises skeletal muscle to study healthy protein factors secreted by muscles during exercise," said co-author Sung Jin Park. "These protein factors have the potential to treat diabetes, which poses a growing social, economic, and medical burden worldwide."

"Most of the skeletal muscle in vitro models for exercise and diabetes studies are two-dimensional," said Park. "More efforts are needed to build 3D models to better mimic human 3D skeletal muscle structure, allowing for more translatable studies."

The article is titled "In vitro skeletal muscle models for type 2 diabetes."

Explore further Individuals with type 2 diabetes respond differently to exercise

More information: In vitro skeletal muscle models for Type 2 diabetes, Biophysics Reviews (2022). In vitro skeletal muscle models for Type 2 diabetes,(2022). DOI: 10.1063/5.0096420
A new CMJ article explores the possibility of using the transport protein Retinol-binding protein-4 as a therapeutic target to treat NAFLD. Credit: Albaraa Mehdar

It is a known fact that consuming a large amount of alcohol, even for a few days, triggers fat accumulation in the liver and ultimately leads to alcohol-related liver diseases. When fat accumulation occurs in the liver even in the absence of alcohol consumption, the condition is termed non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

NAFLD is a potentially serious chronic liver disease affecting approximately 25% of adults worldwide. Patients with NAFLD are 33% more likely to suffer from coronary heart disease when compared with healthy controls.

Although it is a serious and chronic liver ailment that is closely related to multiple other diseases, the underlying mechanisms associated with NAFLD remain more or less elusive. To this end, researchers from China recently conducted a meticulous literature survey and composed a review based on their findings. Their article has been published in the Chinese Medical Journal.

Dr. Chengfu Xu, corresponding author of the paper and a principal investigator at the Zhejiang University School of Medicine, China, observes that "in recent years, the prevalence of NAFLD-associated hepatocellular carcinoma has shown an increasing trend in many countries. The proportion of hepatocellular carcinoma attributed to NAFLD tripled from 3.8% in 20012005 to 12.2% in 20062010 in Korea. Similarly, this proportion increased from 2.6% in 19951999 to 19.5% in 20102014 in France. Therefore, NAFLD poses a substantial burden on global health resources and the economy."

Retinol, or vitamin A, is a fat-soluble vitamin that is primarily stored in the liver and transported to other organs by binding to retinol-binding protein-4 (RBP4). In the target organs (e.g., eyes), retinol can be taken up by the binding of RBP4 to cell membrane receptors. However, the role of RBP4 in the development of insulin resistance and obesity has received significant attention only in recent times.

Although multiple observational studies have also demonstrated the association of serum RBP4 with NAFLD risks, the results have shown several obvious contradictions. Emerging clinical studies are focusing attention on the role of RBP4 in NAFLD. In the review article, the researchers have presented a global overview of the RBP4 landscape and highlighted the most recent findings of clinical significance.

In the review, the authors cite multiple studies that are relevant to the problem under investigation. For example, they cite a 2005 publication in which researchers reported the association between elevated serum RBP4 levels and insulin resistance.

Dr. Xu and his colleague also cite contradictory research findings. For instance, although a Turkish study reported higher levels of serum RBP4 in children who were obese and suffering from NAFLD, an Italian study found a negative correlation between serum RBP4 levels and NAFLD activity score in pediatric patients with NAFLD.

Dr. Xu explains that "these contradictory findings may result from the heterogeneity of fatty liver detection methods and study participant's race, as well as the limited size of the study sample. The studies observing no significant association or inverse association between RBP4 level and NAFLD all diagnosed fatty liver by biopsy. Liver biopsy is the gold standard for the diagnosis of NAFLD. It is worth noting that none of these studies found a significant correlation between serum RBP4 level and body mass index, waist circumference, and fasting plasma glucose or insulin levels, although the correlation has been confirmed in a large body of studies."

The review also sheds light on some of the associated physiological mechanisms. For instance, it is known that free RBP4 can be easily filtered in the kidneys because of its small molecular weight. However, transthyretin (TTR), a thyroid hormone carrier, binds RBP4 and prevents it from getting filtered. A therapeutic called fenretinide, however, dissociates RBP4 from TTR, thus facilitating the renal excretion of RBP4, thereby lowering the circulating levels of RBP4 in the process.

"First, clinical observations found that circulating RBP4 levels were closely associated with NAFLD risk, but discrepancies still exist. Second, basic studies have verified that RBP4 is involved in the pathogenesis of NAFLD by inducing hepatic de novo lipogenesis, impairing fatty acid oxidation, exaggerating insulin resistance, and promoting inflammation. Third, agents aimed at lowering circulating RBP4 levels and downregulating hepatic RBP4 expressions exerted protective effects against NAFLD. These findings raise the possibility of targeting RBP4 as a novel marker and a potential therapeutic target for NAFLD," concludes Dr. Xu.

Explore further Best practice advice for diagnosing, managing NAFLD in lean individuals

More information: Hangkai Huang et al, Retinol-binding protein-4 and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, Chinese Medical Journal (2022). Hangkai Huang et al, Retinol-binding protein-4 and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease,(2022). DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000002135

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The highly selective RET inhibitor selpercatinib was well-tolerated and achieved durable objective responses across multiple tumor types in the Phase I/II LIBRETTO-001 trial, according to researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Results from the tumor-agnostic cohort of patients, published today in The Lancet Oncology, show an objective response rate (ORR) of 44% for the targeted therapy, which was approved in 2020 by the Food and Drug Administration for RET-altered lung and thyroid cancers based on previously published results from the same trial.

"The findings from this study demonstrate the potential for RET inhibitors to benefit patients across many tumor types," said corresponding author Vivek Subbiah, M.D., associate professor of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics. "They are a testament to the power of precision medicine to match the right patients to the right targeted therapy at the right time based on their underlying genetic alteration."

RET fusions occur when a portion of the chromosome containing the RET gene breaks and rejoins with another piece of chromosome, creating a fusion protein that drives cancer development. Relatively rare across cancer types, these mutations are found in just 5-10% of thyroid cancers and 1-2% of non-small-cell lung cancers. Across all other cancer types, they occur with a frequency of less than 1%. However, RET-altered cancers metastasize to the brain at a high frequency.

The open-label basket trial enrolled 45 patients in the tumor-agnostic cohort, with four excluded from the analysis because they did not meet the criteria for follow-up time. Participants were 69% white, 24% Asian, 4% Black and 1% other. The median age was 53, and women accounted for 51% of the participants.

Eligible patients for the trial had disease progression on or after previous systemic therapies or had no satisfactory therapeutic options, and all patients had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-2.

The primary tumor diagnoses included 12 patients (27%) with pancreatic, 10 (22%) with colon, four (9%) with salivary and three (7%) with either sarcoma or unknown primary cancer. No more than two patients had any other primary diagnosis, and 14 total tumor types were represented.

The most common grade 3 or higher adverse events were hypertension (22%), increased alanine aminotransferase (16%), and increased aspartate aminotransferase (13%). Adverse events occurred in 40% of patients.

Of the patients in this cohort, 5% had a complete response, 39% had a partial response, and 34% had stable disease. The median duration of response was 24.5 months and median progression-free survival was 13.2 months.

The ORR in patients with pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancers was 54.5% and 20% respectively, and responses were observed in all tumor types that had at least two patients enrolled and in four of the seven types with just one patient enrolled.

According to Subbiah, these results across tumor types underscore the need for detecting these rare cancers.

"We observed responses with selpercatinib regardless of cancer type, prior treatment history or gene fusion partner. This confirms RET fusions as a tissue-agnostic target," Subbiah said. "Implementation of comprehensive molecular screening strategies that include the ability to detect RET fusions will be critical for identifying patients across all cancers who may benefit from selpercatinib."

Explore further Pralsetinib achieves tissue-agnostic benefits for patients with RET gene fusions

More information: Vivek Subbiah et al, Tumour-agnostic efficacy and safety of selpercatinib in patients with RET fusion-positive solid tumours other than lung or thyroid tumours (LIBRETTO-001): a phase 1/2, open-label, basket trial, The Lancet Oncology (2022). Journal information: Lancet Oncology Vivek Subbiah et al, Tumour-agnostic efficacy and safety of selpercatinib in patients with RET fusion-positive solid tumours other than lung or thyroid tumours (LIBRETTO-001): a phase 1/2, open-label, basket trial,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/S1470-2045(22)00541-1
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a 113% increase in the "Years of Life Lost" among adolescents and young people in the United States due to unintentional drug overdose, according to researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine.

Study findings published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health also document the role of fentanyl in rising overdose rates.

Excess mortality was calculated in Years of Life Lost (YLL), which is the difference between the age at which a person dies and their expected remaining lifespan. In 2019, U.S. life expectancy at birth was 78.8 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"Mortality due to unintentional overdose in adolescents reached an all-time high in 2020," said addiction medicine specialist Dr. O. Trent Hall, study corresponding author and an assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Ohio State. "The majority of deaths involved fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. The trends depicted in this study signify the need for increased harm-reduction approaches and treatment of opioid use disorder in adolescents."

The number of adolescent YLL to unintentional drug overdose in the United States more than doubled from 39,579 in 2019 to 84,179 in 2020an increase of 113%after remaining relatively stable between 2016 and 2019. In 2020, the accumulated total of YLL to unintentional overdose surpassed that of cancer, said study first author Dr. Sarah Perou Hermans, clinical instructor in Ohio State's Department of Internal Medicine.

Synthetic opioidsincluding primarily illicitly manufactured fentanylcontributed to 81% of overdose deaths and 68,356 YLL, compared to 67% and 26,628 YLL in 2019. In addition, YLL to unintentional overdose during 2020 was higher for males (59,274) compared to females (24,905), Hermans said.

Researchers obtained data from the CDC's Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research mortality file for years 2016-2020 to investigate unintentional overdose in adolescents aged 1019.

"Our findings contribute to an emerging body of research documenting adolescent overdose and the impact of fentanyl across communities and this vulnerable population," Hermans said. "The death of a single adolescent to accidental drug overdose is unacceptable. We have sounded the alarm. Now it is time to start putting out the fire. We hope this study will spur public health officials into action. Our society has to prioritize these young lives."

This study replicates and extends Hall's earlier research, "Unintentional Drug Overdose Mortality in Years of Life Lost Among Adolescents and Young People in the US From 2015 to 2019," published in JAMA Pediatrics in January. That study was the first to use YLL to assessed unintentional drug overdose mortality among adolescents and young people.

"Our study extends on this research by examining trends by year, as well as by gender, age and substances involved. This study then compared unintentional overdoses with other leading causes of adolescent death to further quantify the impact of these mortalities," said Hermans.

For next steps, the research team intends to study overdose prevention, substance use treatment and harm reduction approaches to stop adolescents dying from overdose.

Explore further Study examines years of life lost for adolescents, young adults to drug overdose

More information: Sarah Perou Hermans et al, Years of Life Lost to Unintentional Drug Overdose Rapidly Rising in the Adolescent Population, 20162020, Journal of Adolescent Health (2022). Journal information: JAMA Pediatrics , Journal of Adolescent Health Sarah Perou Hermans et al, Years of Life Lost to Unintentional Drug Overdose Rapidly Rising in the Adolescent Population, 20162020,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.07.004
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has introduced a bill calling for a nationwide abortion ban. The bill would prohibit abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, except in cases of rape, incest or danger to the physical health of the mother. The legislation introduced Tuesday is sending shockwaves through both parties with just weeks before voters go to the polls. Grahams own Republican colleagues did not immediately embrace his abortion ban bill, which has almost no chance of becoming law in the Democratic-held Congress. Democrats reject it as extreme and an alarming signal of where Republicans are headed if they win control of the House and Senate in November.
The researchers identified 1,785 individuals diagnosed with a psychotic or bipolar disorder by age 28 years. Psychosis/bipolar disorder was diagnosed in 1.8 and 12.8 percent of individuals who had not attended CAMHS during childhood and adolescence and those with a history of outpatient CAMHS contact, respectively. Psychosis/bipolar disorder was diagnosed by age 28 years in 2.3 and 24.0 percent of individuals without a history of inpatient CAMHS admission and those with a history of inpatient CAMHS admission, respectively; the percentage was 36.5 percent for those with a history of inpatient CAMHS admission in adolescence (age 13 to 17 years). About half (50.2 percent) of all psychosis/bipolar diagnoses by age 28 years occurred in individuals who had attended CAMHS at some point in childhood or adolescence.
The Bureau of Land Management on Friday moved to prevent new mining activity for the next 20 years on more than 2,600 acres of land at the Zortman-Landusky Mine site in eastern Montana, effectively reinstating a previous 20-year withdrawal for the land that had been in effect from 2000 though October 2020.

The public land order, issued Friday by the federal agency, "withdraws 2,688.13 acres of public lands in Phillips County, Montana, from location or entry under the United States mining laws, but not from the mineral leasing or mineral materials disposal laws, for a 20-year period, subject to valid existing rights, to protect the Zortman-Landusky Mine reclamation site." The order took effect Friday. In June, an additional 912.33 acres were proposed for a 20-year withdrawal. The bureau took comment on that smaller proposal through Sept. 6, but it has yet to be implemented.

The implemented and proposed withdrawals are intended "to protect the Zortman-Landusky Mine area and to facilitate reclamation and stabilization for a 20-year term," according to the order and proposal. In a news release Friday, the BLM's Malta Field Office stated that "The 20-year mineral withdrawal of this reclamation area prevents new mining activities and disturbance of the public lands, and provides time to assess and monitor the effectiveness of ongoing reclamation activities."

The site is a cluster of abandoned open-pit and underground gold mines located in the Little Rocky Mountains near the small settlements of Zortman and Landusky, about 66 miles southeast of Havre. The site is just south  and, crucially, upstream of  the Fort Belknap Reservation.

The site is also a federally designated Superfund cleanup site where the BLM and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality have since 1999 spent more than $83.7 million to perform reclamation and implement water treatment, primarily to stem the flow of acid mine drainage into water on the reservation. The mines were permitted by the agencies in 1979 and '81. In 1993, Montana, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Fort Belknap Reservation sued mine operator Pegasus Gold for Clean Water Act violations related to acid mine drainage, which had contaminated surface and ground water on the reservation.

When the company declared bankruptcy in 1998, reclamation and remediation work fell to the state and federal agencies, which have spent the mines' posted reclamation bond and taxpayer funds to sequester and revegetate multiple cyanide heap leaching sites, waste rock dumps and mine pits. The agencies also established and operate multiple water treatment facilities at the site. Water treatment will need to operate forever.

Earlier this summer, the DEQ levied a penalty of $516,567 against two men, Luke Ployhar and Owen Voigt, and their mining company, Blue Arc LLC, for what the agency said was illegal exploration mining in the reclamation area. In correspondence with the agency, Ployhar denied exploration mining and said that activities on his mining claims were instead related to a tourism facility he planned to construct. The DEQ called the pair's activities a "violation of major gravity that has compromised reclamation work at the site and represents a risk of acid rock drainage."

Blue Arc's claims are on private land in the area, and as such are not subject to the withdrawals, but the DEQ has not issued a permit for mining the claims. Gina Baltrusch, a spokesperson for the BLM's North Central Montana District, said that the company's 10 claims were filed during a three-day window from Oct. 47, 2020, after the previous withdrawal had expired but before the new withdrawal was entered as a proposal in the Federal Register on Oct. 7. Once entered, a two-year withdrawal was issued for the lands to allow time to study the 20-year proposal that was ultimately approved and went into effect Friday.

Acid mine drainage occurs when sulfide-laden rock underground is dug up and exposed to air and water, such as mine tailings and open mine pits created through exploration mining or commercial mining. Once exposed, sulfides react with air and water to form sulfuric acid, which can react with metals in surrounding rock and gets washed into waterways.
Bahrain's Oil and Gas Holding Company (nogaholding), in partnership with Tatweer Petroleum - Bahrain Field Development Company, held a public stakeholder event to disclose the key findings of an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA).

The Assessment was conducted by Environment Arabia Consultancy Services in collaboration with Ramboll Group for the Bahrain Field Expansion and Development Program, said a statement.

The event comes in line with nogaholdings commitment to efficiency in operations, transparency and inclusion. The ESIA presented during the event included several key areas such as air quality, water quality, noise pollution, potential impact on traffic, cultural heritage, terrestrial, and marine environments.

The event was attended by company representatives and stakeholders from relevant Ministries, Government Authorities, NGOs and community members. - TradeArabia News Service
Missoula police are searching for an armed and dangerous fugitive.

Patrick Cork is believed to be in possession of a handgun, according to a Missoula Police Department press release on Tuesday. Cork has a $50,000 warrant for his arrest and is actively attempting to elude law enforcement.

Cork, born in 1972, is a white male with brown hair, black eyes and is 6 feet, 4 inches tall, weighing 210 lbs.

Anyone who sees Cork should contact 911, but police are asking the public not to approach him.

"Contact 911 and if possible, please provide location, clothing description, direction of travel and means of travel," the release said.
The Trail Ridge fire southeast of Sula continued to push north toward private property as fire managers and the Ravalli County Sheriffs Office evaluate trigger points for evacuation warnings east of Sula.

The fire grew to 17,043 acres by Tuesday morning, a significant expansion from 10,874 acres a week prior, with slowed growth to the east near Shultz Saddle Road (Forest Road 725) and increased growth north toward Mink Creek Saddle and, farther north, East Fork Road east of Sula. The lightning-caused fire, burning about 5 miles southeast of Sula and just north of the Idaho-Montana line and along the Ravalli-Beaverhead county line, was 18% contained Tuesday with 217 personnel assigned. The fire was discovered Aug. 26.

Fire managers and the Sheriff's Office are monitoring fire growth to the north as the fire nears an action point for evacuation warnings.

"As the fire nears the indirect lines constructed paralleling the East Fork Road, the fire is still within containment lines and has not reached the Action Point identified for the 'Warning' stage of the Evacuation Plan at this time," fire managers stated Tuesday. "As the fire nears this Action Point, Fire Managers and the Ravalli County Sheriffs Department are prepared for the possibility of moving into this 'Warning' stage."

Ravalli County's evacuation plan is available at ravalli.us/622/Evacuation-Guidelines. Fire managers and local officials scheduled a public meeting for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Sula Clubhouse.

Although the fire is within 2 miles of U.S. Highway 93 on the fire's western side (the fire is east of the road), fire managers on Tuesday morning didn't project much fire growth to the west, south or east over the next two days, instead anticipating growth "primarily to the north."

The fire reached an action point for back-burn operations Monday, according to fire managers, but winds didn't allow the operation to proceed. In a back burn, firefighters thin fuels between a containment line and a wildfire, and then burn from the line back toward the wildfire, depriving the wildfire of fuels and, ideally, stopping the fire front short of the containment line. In some situations, crews on the ground or overhead will ignite larger fires closer to the fire front. The larger fires are intended to draw back-burn flames along a containment line in toward the wildfire with the winds generated by the larger flames.

Smoke lingers

Smoky, unhealthy air persisted through rain and the departure of an air-trapping high-pressure ridge on Tuesday, but some relief could come Wednesday.

Air in Hamilton clocked in at 203 on the 500-point Air Quality Index scale at 11 a.m. Tuesday, just 3 points into the "very unhealthy" category. The measurement was down from a peak of 308  classified as "hazardous," the most severe of five categories  at 9 a.m. Monday. But Tuesday's air was still far smokier than just a few days prior: Daytime air quality in Hamilton mostly hovered between 150 and 185 AQI last week and dropped below 100 three nights, even measuring 38, or "good," at 11 p.m. Friday.

Monday morning's hazardous air in Hamilton was the worst air quality measurement seen there so far this year, and air quality consistently improved, if only slightly, starting around noon Monday.

No relief from peak smoky conditions had come to Missoula by midday Tuesday, when air quality measured 181 at 11 a.m.  a new low point for air quality this year and 1 point worse than Monday's 5 p.m. peak of 180. Air in Missoula had been consistently stuck in the "unhealthy" category since 5 p.m. Sunday. Missoulians had a brief respite from smoke-choked skies Friday through midday Saturday when an uncharacteristic west-moving cold front came into the area from the east, over the Continental Divide, and pushed smoke out of the area and back over Idaho to the west.

Some relief could come Wednesday, when winds from the west and southwest could push a stagnant mass of inversion-trapped smoke out of the area, according to Sarah Coefield, an air quality specialist with Missoula City-County Health Department, and Travis Booth, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Missoula. But overhead air that itself may be filled with smoke could blunt the clearing effects of transport winds from the west. And those transport winds aren't very strong.

"Were out from under the nexus of the high-pressure ridge," Coefield wrote in an emailed update Tuesday, "and this mornings Missoula inversion was considerably weaker than any Ive seen lately, which means were likely to see more atmospheric mixing today than we have since Saturday." But, she cautioned, "atmospheric mixing is best when there is clean air to mix down to the valley floor."

"Unfortunately, we have generally sluggish overhead winds and Ill be honest, I have no idea how much overhead smoke we have or how evenly distributed it is across the county. Cloud cover is all kinds of inconvenient for smoke forecasting."

There are no "valley scouring winds" in the forecast, Coefield wrote. But even if such winds did fully eject the smoke lingering in valley floors, that would revert the Missoula Valley back to its ongoing smoke concern: being at the mercy of active fires upwind from the valley.

That's the case in the Bitterroot Valley, where the Blodgett Lake and Mill Lake fires have been spilling smoke into the valley as they burn in adjacent canyons on the east side of the Bitterroot Mountains (west side of the Bitterroot Valley) just northwest of Hamilton. According to the Bitterroot National Forest, a Type-I incident management team, the most robust configuration of the interagency incident management teams assigned to manage wildfires, has been ordered to manage both fires, which are about 2.5 miles apart.

By Monday, the Mill Lake fire had grown to 1,608 acres, burning primarily in timber and heavy downed fuels on a southeast-facing mountainside in the upper reaches of the Mill Creek drainage, just northeast and downstream from Mill Lake, about 12 miles west of Corvallis. The lightning-caused fire started Aug. 29 but began growing significantly during hot, dry, windy conditions Sept. 3. But the fire has grown minimally in recent days, mostly with isolated hot spots and smoldering. The Blodgett Lake fire was 1,200 acres on Monday after exhibiting "extreme fire behavior" on Sunday, fire managers stated. The fire, reported Aug. 25, is burning through timber, upright dead trees and blown-down trees in the valley floor along Blodgett Creek about 11 miles west of Hamilton and about 1.8 miles down the Blodgett Creek drainage from Blodgett Lake.

Other fires have grown

North of Missoula, the Boulder Lake fire reached 1,800 acres by Tuesday, primarily from growth to the south. The fire, caused by lightning and discovered Sept. 3, ballooned from 300 acres to 1,400 acres amid critical fire weather Sept. 7. By Tuesday, the fire reached the Boulder Lake Trail (No. 333). Structure protection and water drops from helicopters had thus far preserved the Gold Creek Cabin, according to fire managers with the Lolo National Forest and Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Cooler weather Tuesday and higher humidity this week were expected to moderate fire behavior. The fire started in the Rattlesnake Wilderness Area but grew beyond the wilderness and onto regular Lolo National Forest lands.

"Fire managers continue to utilize a confine and contain suppression strategy to engage the south and eastern flanks of the fire, outside of the Wilderness boundary," according to an update Tuesday. "Containment opportunities will continue to be assessed and may include existing burn areas, natural barriers, trails, and existing road systems."

Boulder Lake, Fly Lake and Gold Creek Lake are closed, as are trails and roads accessing those areas. Complete closure information is available at inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/8395/71402/.

In central Idaho, the massive and long-burning Moose fire reached 127,500 acres by Tuesday, with 37% containment primarily on the west, north and east sides of the fire. The fire, burning northeast and east of Salmon, is largely uncontained on its south and southeast sides, nearest to Salmon and the town's municipal watershed. On Tuesday, 918 personnel were working the fire, including 21 hand crews and 47 engine crews, aided by seven helicopters. The fire was caused by humans on July 17 about 5 miles west of North Fork, Idaho.

The fire made an aggressive run toward Salmon last Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 6-7, prompting evacuation orders for areas on the town's northwest outskirts. Flames were visible in town throughout the night Sept. 7-8 as residents in the area communicated in Facebook groups to share information on evacuation orders issued around 10:30 that night. The fire grew by more than 15,000 acres during the two days leading up to the evening of Sept. 7, driven by 40 mph winds overnight and burning into the northern reaches of Salmon's municipal watershed.

The fire has grown about 4,900 acres in the week since then. Areas around the Beartrack Mine and Leesburg, north of Cobalt and west of Salmon, remain under an evacuation order. Evacuation orders around Salmon were lifted.

Cloudy, rainy conditions Tuesday were expected to temper fire activity, but thunderstorms and their resultant winds could aggravate burning at times.
The University of Montana on Sept. 30 is hosting a symposium for Montana educators on Indigenous boarding schools. The event aims to equip teachers with skills to address the ongoing effects of historical trauma in Native communities.

The symposium, Boarding Schools: Remembering Our Resiliency and Shared Knowledge for Trauma-Informed Learning, will be a hybrid event, meaning speakers and attendees may participate virtually or in person. The event will run from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and will feature keynote speakers Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, director of Native American Disparities Research at the University of New Mexico, and her collaborator, Deidre Longhair. Educators who attend can earn continuing education credits.

Other speakers will include Marsha Small, a Northern Cheyenne woman who uses ground-penetrating radar to discover unmarked graves of Native children, Jason Begay, who co-teaches UMs Native News Project, and Ramey Growing Thunder, who leads the Fort Peck language and culture department.

The event will feature teaching method workshops in history, language arts, science, art, media and tribal languages. Attendees are encouraged to wear orange, which has become a symbol of the boarding school healing movement.

From 8 to 10 p.m., there will be an Every Child Matters walk at the UM Oval, and University Hall will be lit in orange to honor victims, survivors and future generations.

Maegan Rides At The Door, director of UMs National Native Childrens Trauma Center, said in a statement a national conversation about the boarding school system is long overdue.

We want to  promote healing from collective trauma and to help prepare Native youth for this important but potentially disturbing conversation about the deaths, abuses and intergenerational suffering created by the system, she said. Montana educators are in a position to lead this effort.

To register for the conference, visit umt.edu/events.

Symposium partners include the Robert and Beverly Braid Family, UMs Department of Native American Studies, the UM Office of the President, the UM Office of the Provost and Missoulas All Nations Health Center.

Indigenous boarding schools and a legacy of trauma

From the 1800s to the 1970s, Native children were taken from their homes and forced to attend government-funded Christian boarding schools, where they were emotionally, physically and sexually abused. The explicit mission of these schools was cultural genocide. Some children died at these schools and were buried in unmarked graves.

Tribes suffered language and culture loss as a result, and historical trauma persists.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in June 2021 established the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to investigate the boarding school system. The first installment of the investigation was released in May and identified at least 16 boarding schools in Montana.

Set. 30 has been deemed the National Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools.
After 22 rounds of voting and numerous comments voicing frustration over the selection process, the Missoula City Council selected council member Jordan Hess to serve as Missoulas mayor until 2023 during a meeting Monday.

Council selected Hess out of a pool of six mayoral finalists: Mike Nugent, Teigan Avery, Jacob Elder, Patrick Weasel Head and Fred Rice.

"We need to have a mayor, we need to have a leader and part of that is being willing to say nows maybe not the time," said a tearful Nugent as he announced his intention to vote for Hess.

In the 22nd round of voting well after 11 p.m. Monday night, the final vote was Hess, Nugent, Amber Sherrill, Sandra Vasecka, Stacie Anderson, Mirtha Becerra and John Contos in support of Hess. Gwen Jones, Kristen Jordan, Jennifer Savage and Heidi West voted for Nugent. Daniel Carlino voted for Fred Rice.

Nugents decision to concede the vote came after a 15-minute recess stretched over an hour and the two leading candidates met in an alley outside the council chambers to find a way forward from a voting impasse.

Ward 3 council member Daniel Carlino criticized Nugent and Hess for meeting privately instead of conducting their conversation in front of the public.

That was not transparent at all, he said.

But Carlino was also censured for his approach to the vote. Throughout 21 of the 22 rounds, Carlino cast the lone vote for a candidate other than Nugent and Hess. He repeatedly voted for Rice, Avery and Bob Giordano. Giordano, the executive director of Free Cycles, did not apply for the mayoral opening.

Its been very frustrating watching the vote between Jordan Hess and Mike Nugent and the deciding vote has been on Daniel Carlino, said a Ward 3 constituent who called into the meeting after the 11th round of roll-call voting.

The caller said he contacted Carlino ahead of the meeting to advise him against picking third-party candidates.

I dont think this is the city council that Missoula wants representing them or the people that they want or the behavior that they want in deciding a mayor because its really important to us, he said.

Nugent also criticized the way some of his fellow council members approached the mayoral vote.

I think that some people tonight have made a mockery of council, Nugent said. Theyve made a mockery of what Missoula can be. Theyve made a mockery of this process under guises of being led by other people and its not just one. Theres probably three or four. And I think thats unfortunate.

Hess is the longest-serving member of the city council, holding the position of Ward 2 representative since 2014. He also chairs the Land Use and Planning Committee.

"Jordan is the closest person I think, of the candidates, who will carry on (late Mayor John) Engen's vision," said Ward 6 council member Vasecka, Hess' nominator, on Monday.

Hess also worked as the Director of Transportation at the University of Montana for more than eight years.

He advocated for sustainability as a top priority in his interview for mayor, calling climate change "the defining battle of our generation."

I will endeavor to serve with dignity, with honor and with purpose, Hess said after receiving the requisite seven votes. I will endeavor to be thoughtful and kind and compassionate. And I will endeavor to do right by our community.

Hess appointment to the mayoral post creates a vacancy on the city council in Ward 2. That vacancy needs to be filled within 30 days, according to state law and the city charter. Council will follow the same process to select a new city council member as the one it utilized to pick the mayor.

Council will solicit applications, select interviewees and ultimately vote for the new council appointee. That person will serve until 2023, at which time they will have the option to run for re-election to serve out the rest of Hess term until January 2025.
A group of elected officials and candidates from across the ideological spectrum gathered with local real estate agents and others on Tuesday in Missoula for a three-hour discussion on how to solve the affordable housing crisis.

Hosted by the Missoula Organization of Realtors, the education forum was designed to examine Missoulas current housing market with a focus on how to increase the creation of housing, overcome impediments to creating housing and prioritize efforts.

The Missoula market has been in an undersupply of available homes for sale since 2012, according to Brint Wahlberg, a local real estate agent and the chair of the MORs housing report committee. The median home sales price in August in the Missoula urban area was nearly $523,000, which is a 16.2% increase over the median home sales price of $450,000 for all of 2021.

Housing prices have been skyrocketing in Missoula for the last decade, far beyond wage increases.

Wahlberg noted that with a 5% down payment, a median family income of $153,000 per year would be needed to purchase and afford a median-priced home without paying over 30% of income to housing costs. However, the median family income in Missoula in 2022 stands at just $70,900. That means homes are out of reach for the vast majority of people who earn paychecks locally.

The discussion on Tuesday was productive and touched on a range of subjects, explained Mandy Snook, the MORs board president.

We talked about different issues such as what can we do about taxes, she said. What can we do about NIMBYism (which stands for Not In My Backyard), and creating more of a labor force to get going so that we can get more houses online when they do get through permitting.

The goal of the forum, Snook said, was to help people learn about the challenges facing the community in terms of housing and leave prior concepts that were maybe inaccurate at the door and learn something new.

And I feel like we did that, personally, at my table, she said. I learned a lot of great information. And, you know, I think we walked away with some great action plans to move forward.

Among the action plans discussed were a local option sales tax or a local option gas tax for communities to offset property taxes. Many people agreed that high schools should focus on giving kids an education in the trades to help reduce the labor shortage in the construction industry.

Snook said that she believes NIMBYism, the term for when people are supportive of the creation of new housing except when its near where they live, is a problem in Missoula.

A few years ago, I went to a great presentation, and in it, they gave pictures of areas around Missoula, she said. And they showed that every neighborhood in Missoula has multifamily housing, and a lot of them are really older multifamily housing that had been there for a long time. And so one of the ways that I think we, I hope, can get past NIMBYism is just for people to realize that Missoula has always been diverse.

She said the community is better when its diverse.

And lets not put up roadblocks that then create situations where everything is just one type of family, she said. I think that if people were more open to how we operate best, that we could move on.

As for what steps state lawmakers can take to help alleviate the shortage of housing, Snook said thats not her area of expertise.

My hope for the Legislature is that they create opportunities this year rather than hurdles, she said.

Kim Chambers, a local building contractor who is running as a Republican in the Nov. 8 general election for county commissioner against Democrat incumbent Dave Strohmaier, attended the meeting.

I came today because housing is such a big political point, she said. Im also a contractor and developer and I have been watching Missoula kind of get funneled down where we were going to be out of (buildable) lots, were going to be out of (workers skilled in) trades and its something thats very passionate to me.

She said people on both sides of the political aisle know that theres a crisis.

We all have the same passion, she said. We want housing. We know that theres a problem. Ive actually been going to a lot of different forums, like the renters/tenants union. And they have the same concerns as we have here. Im coming here basically as a builder, working with my real estate agent, and (the renters and tenants) are looking for rentals. And well, its still the same problem and so there needs to be a solution.

She said that although Missoula needs to build more homes of all types, it has to be done in a smart way.

We need to keep our livelihood that we came here for or what we grew up here loving, she said. And I think that sprawl would be the wrong thing to do. I think that we have accessible land that we need to develop first and bring our infrastructure out to and be able to be smart. Its also going to be much more financially effective that way.

She said shed like to be able to give people the ability to subdivide their property.

And maybe help give your retiree that maybe has a child that wants to come home, to be able to subdivide their acre to be able to provide another home for a family member," she said. "Because right now were being forced to really have to have family members move in, either with an existing home or build on existing property."

Chambers believes the Legislature needs to take a look at exempt wells in Montana, meaning small individual wells that are exempt from permits and regulatory oversight. Organizations like Trout Unlimited need to be a part of the discussion, she noted.

We need to come up with a solution that is fair to everybody and takes care of a little bit of everybodys needs, she said. With realizing that we are growing in population and we need to tap our water.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP)  A man accused of abducting and killing two young Tucson girls separately and dumping their bodies in the desert is facing the first of two scheduled trials.

Opening statements are set for Tuesday in Pima County Superior Court.

Christopher Clements, 40, was arrested in 2018 and indicted on 22 felony counts including two counts each of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the deaths of 6-year-old Isabel Celis and 13-year-old Maribel Gonzales.

Celis vanished from her parents Tucson home in 2012 while Gonzales disappeared while walking to a friends house two years later, according to authorities.

They said Gonzales body was found days after she disappeared while Celis remains were not recovered until 2017 after Clements led federal agents to the location.

Clements, who authorities say has a long criminal history, currently is serving a prison sentence of up to 35 years for a Maricopa County burglary in 2017.

In hopes of getting that burglary arrest dropped, Clements allegedly told FBI agents he had information on Celis whereabouts and later led them to her remains.

However, Clements told authorities he wasnt responsible for her death and only knew where her body was through talking with other inmates.

Clements was sentenced in the burglary case last year as his scheduled murder trials were postponed at least four times for various reasons.

Prosecutors said Clements will be tried first in the Gonzales case. He will face a different jury for the Celis case with that trial scheduled to start on Feb. 2.
Talen Energy Supply is telling its bankruptcy judge that it will be acquiring more ownership in Colstrip Power Plant.

The Texas-based energy company, currently engaged in one of the years largest bankruptcies, disclosed an agreement Sept. 9, to acquire Puget Sound Energys 25% share in the coal-fired power plant. Talen has told the U.S. Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court that Puget is transferring the shares no later than the end of 2025 when Puget faces a Washington state deadline to stop serving customers coal power.

Talen filed for bankruptcy May 9, disclosing $4.5 billion in debt, which it has winnowed down by offering secured creditors an ownership stake. At the end of August, the company announced a 92-day period in which it would take offers to buy the company. Talen indicated it already has one cash offer for an undisclosed amount. The company's assets total $10 billion.

This is Puget's third attempt to sell its Colstrip interests. Two years ago, Puget attempted to sell its stake in Colstrip Unit 4 to power plant co-owners Talen and NorthWestern Energy for a dollar but withdrew the offer as regulatory analysts estimated the Puget customers would shoulder the deals true cost, estimated to be in the millions. During the 2019 Legislature, a different attempt involving the sale of Puget's Unit 4 stake to NorthWestern Energy came up short.

Puget is transferring its shares in Colstrip's two surviving units, about 370 megawatts of capacity, without charge. The Washington utility is retaining its ownership in Colstrip Transmission Line.

Although Talen is acquiring more power plant capacity, it remains the only Colstrip stakeholder without owned transmission capacity servicing the power plant. Lee Montana Newspapers asked Talen if it intended to use Colstrip power for a cryptocurrency mine or datacenter, something the company has done at a nuclear power power plant Berwick, Pennsylvania. Talen didn't speak directly to the question.

Building crypto mines adjacent to power plants is a common practice that avoids transmission expenses. The Hardin Generating Station, in southeast Montana owned by Beowulf is an example, though mining cryptocurrency is energy intensive and doing so with coal power has been a hard sell because of pollution issues.

Puget Sound Energy is Colstrip Power Plants oldest and largest stakeholder. In an email, PSE Vice President of Supply Ron Roberts said the company was grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Colstrip community since the 1970s.

PSE customers want clean energy and we are committed to providing it as we plan for our future in accordance with Washington laws and our aspirational Beyond Net Zero Carbon goal, Roberts said.

Puget emphasized that it continues to invest in Montana power, including its 330 megawatt share of the Clearwater Energy project and its 15-year contract for hydropower from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. In 2017, the company committed $10 million to the Colstrip community for transitioning to a post-coal era.

Puget will shoulder its share of Colstrip's cleanup costs. Talen tells the court it will cost $338 million to close the Colstrip units and remediate the area, plus additional funds to clean up decades of coal ash waste.

Colstrip is a 1,500-megawatt power plant with six owners, four of which do business in Washington and Oregon where coal power bans are on the horizon. Not all owners were pleased about the share transfer to Talen.

In an Aug. 30 hearing before Judge Marvin Isgur, Portland General Electric said it didnt support the plan and asked for 48 hours advanced notice before the deal was published so it could get out in front of the news.

Collectively, Colstrip owners Avista Corp. and Puget Sound Energy in Washington, and Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp in Oregon, hold a combined 70% ownership stake in the power plant, which is more than enough to determine spending on maintenance and operations. That budget clout became a point of concern for owners Talen and NorthWestern Energy in recent years as the Pacific Northwest utilities objected to power plant expenses that werent necessary to keep Colstrip running beyond 2025.

The Pacific Northwest owners, Puget included, also contended they had the votes necessary to shutter the power plant. That voting clout became politicized in 2021 when Montana Republican lawmakers and Gov. Greg Gianforte passed laws nullifying portions of the power plants private business contract and empowering the state attorney general to mandate maintenance at Colstrip. Those laws resulted in lawsuits still undecided, which led to court orders preventing the state from acting out its plans.

Pugets share transfer to Talen breaks that 70% voting block of Pacific Northwest owners. Although the shares wouldnt transfer until the end of 2025 at the latest, Talen indicates it will immediately have control of Pugets voting share on Colstrip matters concerning both Units 3 and 4.

Talen told the bankruptcy court it would run the power plant if doing so was economical. It was just two years ago that Colstrips Units 1 and 2 shut down after Talen announced that it was losing money on the units, of which it split ownership equally with Puget Sound Energy.

In its bankruptcy docket, Talen indicates it will stop burning coal at all of its "wholly-owned" coal-fired power plants, which doesn't include Colstrip.

The other owners of the power plant will have an opportunity to acquire Puget's shares under a first right-of-refusal provision in the power plant's ownership contract.
The University of North Dakota in Grand Forks has begun the process of repatriating sacred objects and ancestral remains that belong to Indigenous communities that were found weeks ago on the schools campus.

At a news conference Wednesday, school President Andrew Armacost said in November 2021, the university formed a UND repatriation committee to develop policies on the process of returning Native artifacts to tribal lands.

In late February and early March, the committee found a significant number of artifacts on campus, including ancestral remains. Armacost noted that the records of what is in possession of the university is incomplete but there are more than 250 boxes of artifacts and the number of ancestors can be measured in the dozens. Wednesdays statement and news conference were the first public statements issued since.

The university has been in touch with 13 tribes, a number he says will continue to grow, to gain their advice and counsel to make sure the process is done correctly and completed.

First, I sincerely express my apologies and heartfelt regrets that UND has not already repatriated these ancestors and sacred objects as they should have been years ago, Armacost said in a statement. Second, I pledge my administrations full support and commitment to the tribal nations impacted by this mistake. Our primary goal now is to work diligently until all ancestors and sacred objects are returned home, regardless of how long it takes.

On March 3, the first ancestor was discovered by members of the committee.

Fighting back tears, Laine Lyons, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, said it is a day and moment she will never forget. Lyons is a committee member.

In that moment, my heart sunk into my stomach, she said. It was at that moment that I knew we were another institution that didn't do the right thing.

After sharing the news with other committee members, many felt the same feelings of betrayal, anger, sadness, frustration and exhaustion, she said.

Some 870,000 Native American artifacts that should be returned to tribes under federal law are still in the possession of colleges, museums and other institutions across the country, according to an Associated Press review of data maintained by the National Park Service.

As the search continued to other areas and more remains were found, each new discovery felt like a deeper and deeper cut in our hearts, Lyons said.

In 1990, Congress passed the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act, commonly known as NAGPRA. It is a federal law enacted to protect and provide the repatriation of human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony.

According to the National Park Service website, any federal agencies and museums, universities, state agencies, local governments, or any institution that receives Federal funds must comply with NAGPRA.

Along with working with tribes, the university has also been working with government agencies to ensure the law is being followed correctly.

Taking questions from the media, Armacost was asked about the timeline of events and why it took as much time as it did to make the information available to the public, as well as why the news conference wasnt live-streamed.

After the discovery of the remains, he said the university immediately began working with tribal representatives in the region and following their lead was an important priority.

The fact that it took us six months to get here, we went as fast as humanly possible, speaking with as many people as we could to get to this point, Armacost said. So there is no interest or intent on hiding this. We're as public as possible.
There is a special event happening in Lincoln Montana September 16 and 17. At Hooper Park there will be joyous celebration of the 50th anniversary of the federal legislation designating the Scapegoat Wilderness.

The successful designation of the Scapegoat Wilderness required a lot of time and effort, going back to the Lincoln Backcountry era with its horse pack trips led by such notable characters as Tom Hobnail Edwards, Howard Copenhaver, Jack Hooker and Smoke Elser. These outfitters did much more than greeting clients, packing horses and mules, lifting clients up on a horse and leading the string up a trail. These guides were small-business people; they were lovers of the Montana outdoors; they were authors, teachers, historians and naturalists; they were storytellers and entertainers.

Case in point: Tom Edwards had been an art and science teacher in Helena. He and his wife Helen started packing into the Lincoln Backcountry in 1947 from their Whitetail Ranch on the Kleinschmidt Flat in the North Fork of the Blackfoot River country. Tom was simply an unforgettable, extraordinary character. One of his unique talents was as an artist. His informal sketches done around campfires are Montana works of art. Around those campfires Tom would enthrall his clients with tales of the wild country.

Then theres Cecil Garland. While doing an oral history project I had the privilege to interview Cecil, along with his wife Annette, at their ranch in the most remote part of Utah in 2014. Raised in the Appalachian woods of North Carolina, Cecil learned to respect the innate love of wild things from his mother. His father taught him to hunt and fish. After serving in WW II he ended up in Lincoln where he discovered breathtaking wild lands that he described as a gentle wilderness. He developed a personal conviction to preserve Montana. Ill do that. While running a small business in town, with his then-wife Barbara, he opposed extensive Forest Service road building plans in the Lincoln Backcountry that he had fallen in love with. Cecil told me, once you build a road, it destroys it.

He led the opposition, gaining early crucial endorsement from eastern Montanas Republican Congressman, Jim Battin.

Support grew, from local citizens up to Montanas distinguished U.S. senators Mike Mansfield and Lee Metcalf.

Cecil spoke of working with others from his store in Lincoln, drinking cheap whiskey, together drawing their proposed boundary for the future Scapegoat Wilderness. Cecil knew every watershed.

Later Rep. Battin, committed to the idea of the Scapegoat, greatly increased the acreage of the Wilderness to 240,000 acres. As Cecil said to me, There wouldnt be a Scapegoat Wilderness without Jim Battin.

1969 Congressional testimony for the Scapegoat Wilderness by Montana citizens was a major step in getting the legislation passed. Testimony by Tom Edwards was instrumental, declaring I have harvested a self-sustaining natural resource of the forest of vast importance. No one word will suffice to explain this resource, but let us call it the hush of the land. This hush is self-sustaining, infinitely more valuable to me than money or my business.

Cecil was there in front of Congress testifying for the Scapegoat along with Tom Edwards. Ultimately, as Cecil Garland told me, we prevailed, we changed the map of Montana.

Sadly Cecil died three days after our discussions.

In the summer of 1972 President Nixon signed the Scapegoat Wilderness legislation that had passed Congress with overwhelming support. It was a first in conservation history  a citizen-initiated (as opposed to being proposed by a federal agency) Wilderness.

We can thank those people for the permanent protection afforded by the designation of the Scapegoat Wilderness. And each of us, now 50 years later, assured of the everlasting protection of those lands, can celebrate in Lincoln on September 16/17 with exhibits, local food, demonstrations of outdoor pursuits, guided hikes, activities for kids, listening to speakers and storytellers, pausing to reflect by looking north to the Scapegoat Wilderness and upwards to our big sky to honor the courageous spirits of people like Cecil Garland, Tom Edwards, Howard Copenhaver and others.

For details of the events please go to: www.scapegoat50.org.
Recently, I asked my 19-year-old son if his friends planned to vote in the upcoming election. Some were, he told me, but others dismissed the notion with the argument that both major political parties are basically the same. Thats no big shocker. I, too, felt fed up with both parties as a young person, and the politics of Republicans and Democrats today definitely share some commonalities. Yet even a cursory glance at where Republicans and Democrats focus their most vigorous efforts reveals a dramatic divide between the two  differences that may well determine whether we survive as a species, not to mention a free nation.

I often write about climate change because, with the possible exception of nuclear war, it is hands-down the number one problem humanity faces. The scientific evidence for climate change is overwhelming, but at this stage you dont need scientific evidence. All you have to do is notice the unprecedented heat, drought, tornadoes, crop losses, wildlife losses, and other dramatic signs that surround us. So how are the two parties handling this issue that threatens to wipe  or more accurately  roast our species from the planet? Republican leadership has adopted a four-pronged approach:

 Deny the problem exists  or promote the absurd notion that humans are in no way to blame

 Attack expert scientists who study the issue  and actually know what they are talking about

 Blame and villify those darned liberals who somehow have it in for the poor humanitarian oil companies

 Propose solutions that allow fossil fuels industries to continue to make obscene profits while doing almost nothing to address the problem

Democrats have a far different strategy  one showcased by the recent major legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Biden. This legislation contains multiple, flexible solutions that will dramatically reduce the amount of carbon dioxide the United States releases into Earths atmosphere. These solutions range from making it easier for you and me to buy electric cars and rooftop solar panels to offering long-term incentives to agriculture and other major industries to reduce their production of heat-trapping greenhouse gases and increase carbon storage. In other words, Democrats are actually doing something about a real issue instead of playing a catastrophic game of smoke and mirrors.

The divide between Republican and Democratic leadership plays itself out on many other major issues as well. While Republican politicians wrap themselves in the flag and talk about freedom, they pursue policies that seek to rob us of voting rights, erode economic equality, and impose greater government, corporate, and religious control on our lives. Democrats, on the other hand, are actually passing legislation to ensure our rights to vote, level the economic playing field for middle- and lower-class families, and protect our freedom of privacy and beliefs.

Democrats path forward is at times bungling and messy, but they are working for all of us, not just wealthy contributors with an insatiable need for more money and power. This November, we are blessed with an outstanding selection of candidates who care deeply about all Montanans, and have the knowledge, skills, and intelligence to work on our behalf. Whether it is Monica Tranel running for Montanas 1st Congressional seat or Willis Curdy fighting to represent us in the state senate, Democrats stand ready to replace Republican mythology with actual solutions. No difference between parties? Dont believe it.
Leading Saudi bank SABB has announced its new strategy towards environmental, social, and governance practices (ESG), which forms one of the main pillars of its 2025 strategy. It is aimed at supporting sustainable development within the kingdom and proactively manage social impact.

Under this strategy, SABB aims to concentrate on for sustainable development in the kingdom and the region as a whole with key steps. These include:

*Developing products and services to support our clients transition journey

*Allocating finance towards green and sustainable businesses as this becomes one of the largest sector globally

*Working with the industry and other banks to develop taxonomy and guidelines to standardize ESG taxonomy across the financial sector

*Educating the staff and the market at large on the topic of ESG

On the new development, CEO and Managing Director Tony Cripps said: "As one of the largest financial institutions in the kingdom, we are committed to supporting the governments vision in its path to achieve this transformation, which will push companies to invest in technology, and grow their businesses with sustainability as the main driver."

Cripps emphasized the importance of the financial sectors commitment to drive ESG practices within the kingdom and the pivotal role that SABB will play in this field, supporting the Vision 2030, and the ambition to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2060.

Highlighting the ESG areas, Cripps said: "We aspire to lead in this field, not only for SABB, but also to establish a platform spearheading the financial sector to move forward in implementing environmental, social and governance."

"ESG is one of the most important global trends, with keen interest from all stakeholders, especially investors. As a financial institution, we must contribute to supporting the development of ESG and encourage responsible investments, and responsible lending in the kingdom," he added.-

TradeArabia News Service
The Justice Department has issued some 40 subpoenas to aides of former President Donald Trump regarding Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, POLITICO confirmed Monday.

The subpoenas, first reported by The New York Times, are a major step forward in the ongoing investigation of the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. They also come as Trump is dealing with a separate inquiry into his handling of presidential records and classified material that he took with him to his home in Florida after the end of his presidency. Trumps lawyers and the Justice Department are currently in a protracted legal battle over the custody of those records.

Former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon was the first to discuss the recent batch of subpoenas, saying on his podcast last week that 35 had been issued. That number appears to have been a slight lowballing of the actual figure.

Among matters that investigators are reportedly looking into is Trumps post-election fundraising and his efforts to overturn the election by appointing false electors. As POLITICO previously reported, a grand jury issued subpoenas last week seeking information about Trumps Save America PAC.

On his show Monday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said he had obtained a copy of a subpoena that was issued and that it pertained to any claim that the vice president and/or the president of the Senate had the authority to reject or to choose not to count presidential electors. POLITICO was not able to independently verify the language of the subpoena.
DILLON  Fishing restrictions have been lifted on the Ruby River and a section of the Beaverhead River.

A hoot owl restriction, which prohibits fishing each day between 2 p.m. and midnight, has been lifted for the Ruby River from the confluence with the Beaverhead River up to Duncan District Road crossing.

A section of the Beaverhead River has also reopened to fishing after a full fishing closure was put in place earlier this month for the entire river. The fishing closure has been lifted from the rivers confluence with the Big Hole River upstream to Pipe Organ Bridge. A full fishing closure remains in effect from Pipe Organ Bridge upstream to the dam at Clark Canyon Reservoir.

The closure began Sept. 1 to reduce stress for fish while flows from Clark Canyon Dam transitioned from typical irrigation releases of about 300 cubic feet per second (CFS) to the minimum overwinter release of 25 CFS. This flow change occurred several weeks earlier than normal due to severe drought projections. However, water managers extended the transition period to allow more time for fish to adapt.

Now that the transition is complete and air and water temperatures have cooled in some areas, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has lifted the closure downstream of Pipe Organ Bridge. The closure remains in effect above the bridge due to a high density and susceptibility of spawning fish, low flows, and relatively warm water.

Fishing restrictions, such as hoot owl restrictions and full closures, are designed to protect fish that become more susceptible to disease and mortality when conditions, such as low flows and high water temperatures, combine with other stressors, including catch-and-release fishing. Fishing restrictions are also still in place for the Jefferson and Big Hole rivers. Anglers can find a statewide list of current restrictions at fwp.mt.gov/news/current-closures-restrictions.
No, he didnt bake the drugs into a pie.

A 62-year-old Helena man who once supervised a bakery at the Montana State Prison was sentenced Aug. 31 in Powell County District Court to five years to the Department of Corrections for helping inmates smuggle illegal drugs into the prison.

Charles Blattler pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit transferring illegal articles, a felony.

In 2019 and 2020, Blattler helped prison inmates send and receive drugs to each other, with the drugs including methamphetamine, Suboxone, heroin, marijuana and cocaine.

Three inmates also were sentenced for their roles in conspiring to receive contraband drugs.

A co-conspirator in New Hampshire who communicated with inmates by phone revealed code words used during recorded conversations: Shingles referred to Suboxone; White spackle referenced methamphetamine; and, Porcelain angels was code for cocaine.

Brian Gootkin, director of the Montana Department of Corrections, said that the department has zero tolerance for such activities.

We are thankful for the thorough investigation conducted by the Department of Corrections Investigations Bureau and aggressive prosecution by the Montana Department of Justice, Gootkin said.

Patrick Moody of the Montana Attorney Generals Office prosecuted the case. Attorney General Austin Knudsen observed that the case demonstrated that his offices work to keep Montana safe extends into correctional facilities.

Court documents show that evidence of Blattlers role in the conspiracy began to emerge in April 2020, when a search revealed two Suboxone strips in a drawer in the High Side bakery office.

On May 18, 2020, prison staff searched Blattler as he entered the building. A letter in his possession contained methamphetamine and hashish, court records show.

Blattler admitted he had brought in envelopes for inmate Charles Dustin Rickett over the course of six months. He denied receiving compensation for bringing in the letters, but said he received an art piece from Rickett.

Inmates Rickett, Brett Russell McKeehan and Zachary Tucker Martin received varying sentences for their participation in the drug conspiracy.
The No Grass Creek fire east of Deer Lodge has grown to 1,003 acres, officials said Tuesday.

The fire is in Powell County on the west end of the Helena Ranger District of the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. The fire, reported 3:47 p.m. Sept. 11, was initially sized up at 50-100 acres. It is in the Electric Peak Inventoried Roadless Area and is not threatening any homes or private property at this time, forest officials said.

Fire growth today has been primarily west, northwest moving just past the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest boundary, U.S. forest officials said.

They said cooler conditions are expected the rest of the week as some Pacific moisture starts moving into the fire area. The cause of the fire has not been determined.

The fire is in an area that has had large amounts of tree mortality, forest officials said Tuesday. The fuel loading is dense and because of the current state of the dead timber, its neither safe nor effective to put fire personnel into the area.

They said fire personnel are managing from the air, while other firefighters are observing the fires progression.

They said due to the fires remote location, which provides an opportunity to responsibly allow fire to naturally function and provide ecological benefits, the district has developed a management strategy that is based on site-specific factors such as terrain/topography, weather trends and forecasts. They said they have developed a fire plan that exceeds the probable size of the fire to allow for actions as fire behavior, conditions and locations change.

Elsewhere, the Murray fire 12 miles southwest of Helmville is now at 70 acres and 83% contained, officials said.

The lightning-caused fire was reported at 6 a.m. Sept. 6. There were 128 personnel fighting the blaze as of Monday night, officials said. The fire was in a steep area that had limited access, and initial firefighting was by helicopters and large air tankers.

Fire activity was minimal again with smoldering hot spots in the interior of the fire area. Fire crews continue mop up activities as they reinforce hand lines in the rough, rocky terrain," officials with the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) said.

Weve made a lot of progress in only a weeks time despite the rough terrain, thanks to the work of the boots on the ground and heavy equipment being used on the fire, said AJ Angelo, Clearwater Unit fire management officer.

Fire officials said there will be a demobilization of resources as containment increases.

The fire is on Bureau of Land Management property but under the protection of the DNRC.
MUSCATINE  On the 20th anniversary of the death of the only firefighter in Muscatine to have given his life in the performance of his duty, Firefighter Michael Kruse will be remembered by his brothers during a ceremony.

On Wednesday, Sept. 14, Muscatine firefighters will remember Kruse during a special service that will include the laying of a wreath, placing of structural firefighting gear, and a moment of silence at the Firefighters Memorial at Cedar and Fifth streets.

Mike Kruse was a veteran of the department and he was close to retirement and he was an all-around good guy, Fire chief Gerald Ewers said. I worked with him at Station 2 for several years. He was smart and he knew his job well. He was safety oriented. He was a good firefighter.

Just one year a three days after 343 firefighters perished in the 9/11 terror attacks on New York, on Sept. 14, 2002. the Muscatine Fire Department lost a member. According to a press release, six members of an 11-person shift were battling a late-night house fire at the intersection of Orange and East Sixth Street. . During the fire, Kruse, a 27-year veteran of the department, lost his life. He was one of two firefighters who were working on the structures roof when he fell through into the structure below.

When Ewers arrived at the scene, he issued an all-call to bring in other shifts to relieve Green Shift in containing the fire.

The tragedy suffered by Green Shift was felt by all those who came to the scene, Ewers said. But it was best to relieve that shift and allow them to grieve. We still had a job to do but it was a very emotional night.

Assistant fire Chief Mike Hartman also knew Kruse and carried a picture of him when completing the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Memorial Stair Climb.

Mike Kruse was a veteran of the department and he was close to retirement and he was an all-around good guy, Fire chief Gerald Ewers said. I worked with him at Station 2 for several years. He was smart and he knew his job well. He was safety oriented. He was a good firefighter.

Kruse was the only Muscatine firefighter to die in the line of duty. He was the only Iowa firefighter to have died in the line of duty in 2002 and the 131st in the state. He had worked for the department for 27 years.

Ewers said it is important for people to recognize that being a firefighter was Kruses profession and his career. He said being a firefighter is among the top 10 dangerous jobs in the country. He also said it is important for the city to recognize Kruse's dedication.

Full-time firefighters are always on duty in 24-hour shifts, Ewers explained. He worries many people in the community dont realize the job of a firefighter other than responding when someone calls 911.

Our goal moving forward is to make sure we are properly staffed and equipped so people are ready to go and can handle these dangerous events that can happen in the blink of an eye, Ewers said.
Walk into Maison Verbena, recently opened at 1300 First St. (Suite 252) next door to the newly reopened Kitchen Door, and you might feel your blood pressure drop a few points.

Thats if your eyes are drawn to the left of the store, where the candles, soaps, infusers and other home products are located.

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You can easily sample any scent you wish by simply raising the dome around any candle, inhaling as you would a good glass of wine, and fully experiencing each individual fragrance, imagining how it would enhance an area in your home.

If upon entering your gaze is drawn to the right, you might start to salivate when you see the great selection of chocolates from the noted Yountville chef Chris Kollar of Kollar Chocolates, or those from Bryon Sheets of Feve Chocolates.

Both produce excellent truffles and mixed pieces, all individually airbrush-painted to create a dessert delight that is a treat for the eye as well as the mouth.

Buy them in traditional packaging, or try a unique love letter gift wrapped to look like a postcard ready to be mailed to a friend or loved one.

And if they havent sold out, pick up some macarons, created in San Francisco by Patrick Lassaque. Walk a little farther against that wall and you can choose from the grab-and-go treats, including the above-described chocolates and other edible treats.

And youre just getting started 

As you walk through Maison Verbena, youll pass through six distinct areas  those above as well as a wine section, an area featuring luxury fashion books featuring Louis Vuitton, Tiffany and other subjects, and an area with linens, tablecloths, napkins and more from Belgium and around the world.

It all started with the candles, which, as founder Ricardo Sison explains, is only logical.

When it comes to living your best life, creating ideal environments for yourself can be just as important as what you put in and on your body," he said. "After all, your setting affects you at all times of the day and plays a big part in your psychological and emotional well-being. It pays off to pay attention to the details; being conscious of your home scents can positively transform your mood.

Sison hand-makes all the scented products. For the candles, he uses organic soy wax, never paraffin, and all are hand-poured into vessels that feature an etching of the famous Painted Ladies, the iconic houses in San Francisco. (Look for Napa-specific images in the not-too-distant future.)

Small candles start at $25 and burn for 25 hours, while mediums are $43 and burn for 45 hours. There is an art to getting the most out of a candle, which the staff at Maison Verbena shares with everyone.

Not only are the vessels reusable, the ingredients used in the candles are all organic and food-safe, such that you could use them for drinks after washing it out. There are 10 scents that are always in stock, including Brown Sugar Vanilla, French Lavender and Pomelo Cedar, and more that appear seasonally.

Soaps of matching or similar scents are also available. Some customers tell us that they dont unwrap the soaps, they just use them for the scent, said Sison. If you are not into candles, Maison Verbena offers the same fragrances in diffusers and spray bottles.

Sison has a strong background in international retail buying. Twelve years ago, he began making soaps and candles on a wholesale basis, and sold them to some shops in the San Francisco Ferry Building. Six years ago, he met Derek Jin, a software engineer who helped Sison with web design and photography.

Im always interested in trying new things, said Jin, and he was enthralled with the business Sison was creating. The two began to attend trade shows in New York, and Jin joined as a partner.

When COVID-19 forced the closure of several ferry building businesses 18 months ago, the two partners were offered retail space of their own. They took a leap of faith, opened in April, and have been very well received. They consider their location in Napa to be their flagship store.

Both men are very humble. In this time of struggle, we are very blessed to be in this community, said Jin. If you have the time, we invite you to come by and see if what we can offer resonates with you.

In what seems to be the opposite of current trends, the two men are focused on their brick-and-mortar stores, and not on their website business.

Its challenging enough to supply the demands from both stores, so why would we shift our focus to online just yet? said Jin.

Maison Verbena is open in Napa Thursday through Tuesday, or if youd like, visit them online first at maisonverbena.com.
Festa Italiana, the annual festival honoring Italian heritage, returns to St. Helenas Lyman Park from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1.

The event begins with the raising of the Italian flag on the citys ceremonial flagpole and the singing of the Italian national anthem by Katie Hopgood-Sculatti.

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There will be live music, wine from 24 local Italian-owned wineries, Peroni beer, and food including barbecue chicken, tri-tip, sausage, grilled peppers, beans, pesto pasta, biscotti, hors doeuvre platters from V. Sattui Winery, and pizza fresh from Pestoni Family Winerys mobile pizza oven, which produced more than 100 pizzas at the 2021 event.

In a twist on the events annual car show, locals are being invited to bring their own Italian-made cars to the event. Registration is not required. Just park in the lot between Lyman Park and the firehouse.

The event is sponsored by the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America, Lodge 2077, and organized by St. Helena resident Anthony Micheli.

Admission is free, but donations will be welcome.
The Saint Helena Forum for Innovation and Creativity will host a free virtual round table conversation about the influence of television on the Womens Movement and American cultural shifts from the 1960s until today at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28.

"Who Put the Funny in Feminism?" will feature Bonnie J. Dow, Bill Persky, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and Peter Bergman in conversation with actor/writer/director Doug Barr, chairman of the Saint Helena Forum.

Dow is Professor of Communication Studies and Dean of Academic Affairs for the College of Arts & Science at Vanderbilt University and author of "Prime-Time Feminism: Television, Media Culture, and the Womens Movement Since 1970." Dow is co-editor of "The Sage Handbook of Gender and Communication" and "The Aunt Lute Anthology of U.S. Women Writers, Volume One: 17th 19th Centuries."

Persky was a writer, director, and producer for "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "Sid Caesar," and "Kate & Allie." He created the Marlo Thomas classic "That Girl," winning five Primetime Emmys, and was nominated four additional times. Persky is a contributing writer for USA Today and the Los Angeles Times and a guest lecturer at NYU Film School, Yale University and Columbia University. His memoir, "My Life Is A Situation Comedy," was published in 2012.

Bloodworth-Thomason is the creator/writer of "Designing Women" and "Evening Shade," two of CBS's most successful comedies. She wrote episodes for "Paper Moon," "Rhoda," and the original pilot for "One Day at a Time," as well as five episodes of "M*A*S*H." She also served as executive producer on three other series: "Hearts Afire," "Women of the House," and "Emeril." Bloodworth-Thomason is the first American writer in television history to write 35 consecutive episodes of a series.

Bergman played Dr. Cliff Warner on the ABC daytime television series All My Children. After 10 years in that role, he left the show to join the cast of the CBS series The Young and the Restless in the starring role of Jack Abbott. Bergman has also guest-starred in the series The Five Mrs. Buchanans, The Nanny and The King of Queens, as well as made-for-TV movies Pity the Poor Soldier, Woman on the Ledge and Palomino.

For more information, or to register for this free event, go to shforum.org.
UAE-based Line Investments & Property, the shopping mall and management division of Lulu Group International, has reached an agreement with leading regional retail and hospitality conglomerate Landmark Group to help boost its retail presence at Silicon Central, a new lifestyle destination in Dubai, with its flagship brands: Babyshop, Splash, Home Box and Max Fashion.

With a total of 81,500 sq m GLA and 3,500 car park spaces, Silicon Central will offer a broad mix of brands tailored to ensure shoppers' complete satisfaction, said a statement from the UAE retail group.

Adding to the unique shopping experience, a diverse range of dining options will comprise 24 casual restaurants and cafes as well as 21 food court units, making it the perfect place to catch up with friends and families in an enjoyable atmosphere, it stated.

A new landmark in Dubai, it is strategically positioned 12 km from the city-centre and 15 km from Dubai Airport in Dubai Silicon Oasis, the first eco sustainable district in Dubai focused on low carbon footprint, AI, and technology.

Silicon Central is conveniently located near the Dubai Al Ain Road where more than 350.000 cars pass by every day and it aims to offer a host of new retail outlets to the nearby community of 400.000 people as well as students attending the universities in Academic City. The mall will be have a grand opening mid-November 2022.

"To meet changing market and consumer needs, the Landmark Retail's brands at Silicon Central will add convenience for residents and families with a more diverse shopping experience," remarked Salim MA, Director Lulu Group.

"Our aim is to create a vibrant hub with exceptional service levels and retail options to meet the needs of all residents and help them create memorable moments with friends and families," he added.

Landmark Retail brings a mixed offering of apparel, home and baby categories to the new mall. Babyshop, targeted at moms and moms-to-be, will offer a range of fashion clothing, baby basics, toys and nursery furniture in a great shopping experience.

For fashion lovers, Splash will offer high-street fashion trends and Max will bring a variety of value fashion clothing, accessories and footwear. Also opening at Silicon Central is Home Box, a one-stop shop offering smart furniture and furnishings at affordable prices.

Landmark Retail CEO Kabir Lumba said: "The opening of four of our flagship brands at Silicon Central is definitely a step towards expanding our retail footprint but more importantly getting closer to the customer, bringing them the best choice and value across fashion, kids, and home shopping."

"This opening is also significant as it further strengthens our partnership with Line Investments & Property and we wish to congratulate the team on the occasion," he added.
Tuesday, Sept. 6

0747  Someone left graffiti at the skatepark.

0811  A pair of earrings were reported stolen.

0817  Report of a loose dog near the cemetery.

0840  Report of a man exposing himself in a vineyard near Madrona Avenue. He left in a dark pickup. Police took a report.

1050  Police took a vandalism report on Grayson Avenue.

1233  Police cited a driver near Main/Mitchell.

1404  A car was reported stolen from outside the library. Police found it locked and unoccupied in the library parking lot, with nothing missing.

1714  A young boy was briefly reported missing from Magnolia Avenue, but his mom found him momentarily.

1748  Report of an abandoned vehicle on Church Street.

2157  Report of a possible drunk driver heading into oncoming traffic on Highway 29. Police stopped the car near Main/Adams and arrested the 39-year-old Montara man on suspicion of DUI.

Wednesday, Sept. 7

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0119  Report of a possible prowler shining a light into a house on Spring Street about 10-15 minutes ago. Police checked the area.

0712  Report of a tree down blocking White Sulphur Springs Road and possibly bringing down phone lines.

0729  A biker hit a downed oak tree on Howell Mountain Road. An officer moved it out of the roadway.

0756  Someones drivers license was found on Signorelli Circle.

0940  Non-injury accident at Hollis/Pope.

1033  A large white van had been parked near Madrona/Oak for over four days. Its owners were told to move it.

1139  Police took a report on a fraud/scam.

1833  Two carbon monoxide alarms were going off on Monte Vista.

Thursday, Sept. 8

0120  Police cited a driver during a traffic stop near Deer Park Road.

0744  Police cited a driver near Elmhurst/Spring Mountain.

0801  Report of a loud leaf blower on Edwards Street.

1125  A man asked police to check on his sister in St. Helena. Police checked at her residence and didnt find her. It turned out she was at her other residence in Oakland.

1357  Police cited a driver near Main/Pine.

1634  Police cited a driver near Howell Mountain/Silverado.

1749  Report of a suspicious vehicle that regularly parks near a Charter Oak Avenue businesses while the business is closed.

1846  Water was bubbling up on an Oak Avenue property.

1901  A vehicle parked on College Avenue was keyed over the weekend.

2149  Report of a possible drunk driver almost causing an accident near Main/Dowdell.

Friday, Sept. 9

0045  While checking an occupied vehicle on Crane Avenue, police arrested a 36-year-old San Bruno man for an outstanding misdemeanor warrant from Santa Clara County.

0751  Police cited a driver near Main/Crinella.

1050  Concrete trucks were seen illegally crossing the Pope Street Bridge this morning.

1124  Police cited a driver on Sulphur Springs Avenue.

1612  A child was stuck inside a locked vehicle on Spring Street. The child unlocked the vehicle.

1616  Report of a man walking into traffic in the elm tunnel.

1746  There was a snake inside a Dean York Lane home.

1949  Police cited an unlicensed driver and towed their vehicle at Pope/Main.

2015  Medical aid on Main Street for a server with heat exhaustion or maybe a heart attack.

2032  Medical aid on San Juan Court.

2035  Police cited a driver for following an emergency vehicle that had its lights flashing. The other car was following within two car lengths of the emergency vehicle, at the same speed.

2118  Police took a report on an elder abuse case.

2210  Report of a dog barking and crying outside a vacant Granada Court home. All was quiet when police arrived.

2216  Police checked on an occupied vehicle at Meily Park and reminded the occupants that the park was closed for the night.

Saturday, Sept. 10

0107  Police cited a driver for speeding on Main Street.

0210  Police issued a parking citation near Hunt/Church.

0521  Police cited an unlicensed driver and towed their vehicle north of the elm tunnel.

0825  Report of a water outage on Howell Mountain Road.

1126  Report of sewage backing up on an Oak Avenue property.

1134  Police cited a driver near Highway 29/Zinfandel Lane.

1417  Medical aid for a woman who fell and hit her head on Voorhees Circle.

1743  Report of an unwelcome man smoking and throwing cigarette butts onto someones property on Pratt Avenue. The caller had told him to go away, but the man ignored him.

1853  Report of a big water leak on Saint James Drive, with water rushing into the street.

2050  Report of someone sleeping near the playground at Mary Fryer Park.

2219  Police cited a driver on Main Street.

2226  Police cited a driver near Main/Hunt.

2307  Police cited a driver near Pope/Main.

Sunday, Sept. 11

0103  Police cited a driver on Main Street.

0127  Report of two people fighting on Main Street.

0838  Report of an abandoned pickup on Pine Street.

0943  An employee at a local business reported being threatened and harassed at work on Saturday. A relative of the family that owns the business reportedly caused a disturbance with his profane and degrading language involving politics. The employee left a message with the business owner and will call the police if it happens again.

1200  Report of a drippy drinking fountain that might need attention at Mary Fryer Park.

1207  Report of loud construction noise at a house on Grove Court.

1320  A woman asked to talk to an officer about marital problems. She and her children from a previous marriage would be staying with relatives for a while outside Napa County.

1810  Report of a sprinkler head shooting water into the air on Spring Street.

1844  Police removed an unwanted customer from a Main Street business.

1935  Police cited a driver near Main/Pine.

1958  Police cited a driver on Main Street.

2000  Police took a report on a child abuse case.

2254  Police checked an occupied vehicle at Crane Park and reminded the occupants that the park was closed for the night.

Monday, Sept. 12

0110  Following a traffic stop on Main Street, police arrested a 33-year-old Tampa man on suspicion of DUI.

0409  Police cited a driver near Highway 29/Whitehall Lane.

1804  Report of a man hitting someone on Pope Street. Police took a report.

1838  Police responded to a verbal altercation on Pope Street.

2139  PG&E reported a power outage on Main Street north of Madrona Avenue, with an estimated restoration of 1:13 a.m. According to Cal Fire, an electrical wire was arcing near Lodi Lane. There was no fire.

Tuesday, Sept. 13

0408  Police checked on an occupied vehicle near Main/Spring and notified the occupants of the citys no-camping ordinance.
About 8,000 people with some association to Napa Valley College recently received letters informing them of a possible data breach of personal information that occurred during the ransomware attack that struck NVC in June.

The community college, once aware of the cyberattack that shut down the NVC website and network systems, worked with a third-party forensic firm to investigate, the letter says. On Aug. 18, the college subsequently discovered a limited amount of personal information may have been accessed by an unauthorized third party in connection with this incident.

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According to the letter, the information that could have been accessed may have included first and last names, as well as Social Security numbers and other data elements. Only those who may have had their information compromised were sent letters, according to NVC spokesperson Holly Dawson.

Our forensic investigators discovered that a limited amount of personal information may have been accessed by an unauthorized party in connection with the recent cyberattack/ransomware incident, Dawson said in an email. At this time, there is no indication that any information has been misused. However, Napa Valley College provided notice to all potentially impacted individuals out of an abundance of caution and so that they could take steps to safeguard their information if they so determined.

Dawson noted that NVC followed steps outlined by the California Department of Education, and that the department was satisfied with the response. The letter says NVC staff immediately took steps to secure its systems once it learned of the attack, and has worked to enhance network security to prevent similar intrusions.

It was not immediately known whether those receiving the letter were primarily students, faculty members or college employees.
California water regulators have approved the worlds first requirements for testing microplastics in drinking water sources  a key step towards regulating tiny fragments that are ubiquitous in the environment.

After years of research involving more than two dozen laboratories, the State Water Resources Control Board unanimously approved a policy handbook for testing water supplies for microplastics over four years. Under the plan approved Wednesday, up to 30 of the states largest water providers will be ordered to start quarterly testing for two years, beginning in the fall of 2023.

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Theres no other place in the world  literally in the world  that has standardized methods for how you do this or has a monitoring program to look at drinking water, said Steve Weisberg, executive director of the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, which has analyzed various testing methods for the state. California is really getting out there and being first.

Microplastics, some so tiny they can be seen only with a microscope, have been found in creatures and their environments worldwide  from invertebrates in Antarctica to rain in the Rocky Mountains and human placentas. They work their way into waterways from synthetic clothing that sheds fibers in the wash, plastic waste crumbling into pieces, and tires that erode on roadways.

Testing will begin with only source waters, not the water that providers send to peoples taps after treatment, said Scott Coffin, a research scientist with the State Water Resources Control Board.

Though the list of agencies that must begin testing is still a draft, water providers have been selected based on their size and the degree of treatment their water undergoes. Monitoring locations are expected to be finalized after public input this year.

Most draw from surface waters rather than groundwater. Included are two water-import giants  the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves 19 million people, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power  as well as the East Bay Municipal Water District and the San Francisco Regional Water System.

The new requirements come after a state law, adopted in 2018, required four years of testing to determine how widespread microplastics are in drinking water, and guidelines establishing the levels that are safe to drink.

Multiple studies have reported health effects of microplastics for mammals, including sperm deformities, altered sperm count and testosterone concentrations. Theres still not enough research to say what concentration is safe for people, according to water board scientists, although there are signs that the smallest particles are more likely to cause health problems.

Weve known about the issue for decades. The public has been asking for governments to do something about it for a good 10 or 15 years. Its been a bottleneck at the science and we, through our efforts, have been able to bring the science up to a level of maturity that is finally ready to be used in a regulatory sense, Coffin said.

Clover Flat Landfill near Calistoga faces lawsuit over alleged stormwater pollution Clover Flat Landfill outside Calistoga is facing a federal lawsuit claiming that it has discharged polluted stormwater.

The policy handbook the board adopted lays out a timeline for the testing ahead. After an initial, year-long pilot phase to test and hone sampling methods and provide training, monitoring is expected to take place in two, two-year phases. Water systems will be required to alert the public to microplastics detections in their annual Consumer Confidence Reports.

The water boards standardized testing method is estimated to cost water systems between $1,000 and $2,000 per sample.

Water agencies said they anticipate that the cost of compliance with this regulation would require significant investment and requested help from state funding.

The use of new methods would require a demonstration study and place the burden of cost and efforts to conduct the study onto the public water systems, wrote the Association of California Water Agencies and California Water Association in a joint letter to the board last December.

The human health effects from microplastics is a statewide issue, and therefore justifies use of state funds to supplement the cost borne by public water agencies to participate in this process.

Its unknown how much microplastics contaminate drinking water. Commonly used technologies used by many providers to treat drinking water remove most of the particles, according to research conducted in Canada and in Asia. But there is concern about the smaller particles evading treatment  the ones that may pose the most health concerns  and few water systems use techniques that remove more than 90%, Coffin told the board.

We are not expecting to find any significant contamination because our watershed is well-protected and all of our water is filtered before delivery to the public, said Susan Teefy, East Bay Municipal Water Districts water quality manager.

The first two years of monitoring will be followed by six months of evaluation to determine the extent of the contamination and whether treated drinking water should be evaluated in the next phase  ideally with more sophisticated testing methods, Coffin said.

As part of the effort to develop a standardized test for microplastics, the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project sent jars of water spiked with microplastics and other substances to laboratories around the world. The jars contained plastics of different sizes and shapes, as well as red herrings such as shell fragments, cotton and rabbit hair.

Coffin said the testing method is two-pronged; one involves evaluating the particles under a microscope to determine their size, shape, color and number, while the other involves beaming a laser to determine precisely what theyre made of.
Heat waves in California will soon be ranked by severity in a manner similar to hurricanes and other extreme weather events.

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On Friday, after one of the worst heat waves in recent memory, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill authored by Assemblymember Luz Rivas that would require the state to devise "a statewide extreme heat ranking system" no later than Jan. 1, 2025. The bill's text says the system  which would be the first in the nation for heat waves  should be modeled after "red flag" warnings for wildfire risk, as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's naming and ranking system for hurricanes and tropical storms.

"Ranking heat waves will be a powerful new tool to protect all Californians alongside Gov. Gavin Newsom's Extreme Heat Action Plan," Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in a statement. "I applaud the governor's and the bill's joint authors' continued leadership on these necessary extreme heat investments and policies that will save lives and close the protection gap for our most at-risk communities as we face more heat waves in the years ahead."

The system could use any number of ranking conventions. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, California used a color-coded tier system to rank counties by their level of community viral transmission, and the state already uses the National Weather Service's conventions for wildfire risk. NOAA's hurricane ranking scale classifies the weakest hurricanes as Category 1 and the strongest as Category 5.

Napa's unhoused residents try to survive heat wave Many of Napa's unhoused residents have borne the brunt of the current heat wave, though they've been supported by outreach efforts.

The ranking system bill was one of four pieces of legislation Newsom signed Friday that are related to heat waves. A separate bill creates an advisory committee to study the effect of heat waves on the state's economy, while another directs the state Department of Public Health to research the impacts heat has on pregnant workers. The final heat-related bill Newsom signed gives cities and counties more power to finance climate change adaptation programs.
The team at JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai, the Destination of Exceptional Taste, has announced the third edition of the Celebrity Chef series with Greg Malouf, the Michelin-lauded Australian-Lebanese Chef.



Aligned with the ethos of Gather by JW, diners will be offered a taste of the Middle East and India as celebrated Chef Malouf makes his way into the Rang Mahal kitchen for a two-night experience in collaboration with Chef De Cuisine of the venue Chef Alok.



Chef Malouf is recognized as a Modern Middle Eastern Master with his sophisticated approach and native culinary expertise. Chef Malouf is no stranger to the region, inspiring countless dining venues throughout the past decade and home cooks for over 20 years with his award winning cookbooks.



Adding his Michelin flair to Rang Mahals signature dishes Chef Malouf has curated a menu that playfully celebrates Indian and Middle Eastern flavours. Pani puris meet hummus, and falafel is doused in raita marrying the best of street food to begin the evening. The main event sees a take on Surf and Turf fusing Chef Maloufs Middle Eastern culture with the aromatics of India.



Bengali style sea bass features harissa and brik wafers, Rajasthani chicken is elevated with atayef and tahini whipped yoghurt and an Indian spiced Australian Lamb cutlet with crushed chickpeas are all enjoyed with tabbouleh. The evening ends on a sweet note, with Chef Maloufs take on beloved kulfi, infused with cardamom, saffron and honey, mango caramel salsa and pistachio.



Greg Malouf is excited to work with the Rang Mahal team for the latest edition of the Celebrity Chef Series. On the back of two successful editions, the hotel continues to partner with local and internationally renowned chefs.



Guests can book this six-course menu at Rang Mahal on October 7 and 8, a hotel statement said.  TradeArabia News Service
The opposition Armenia faction appealed to Russia, as well as other friendly countries, calling for immediate measures to prevent the criminal actions of Azerbaijan. The political force published a statement to this effect on social networking sites.

"We appeal to our strategic ally, Russia, expecting actions stipulated by the Armenian-Russian military-political treaties. We call on the international community-UN, OSCE, CSTO, the co-chair countries involved in the negotiation process on the Karabakh conflict - Russia, France, the United States of America to immediately take measures to prevent the criminal actions of Azerbaijan and give them an adequate assessment," the statement says.

The political force expects the active participation of friendly countries, especially the Islamic Republic of Iran, to assess the criminal behavior of Azerbaijan and containment of Azerbaijani aggression: "We urge our people not to panic, to keep vigilance and be ready to defend the Armenian statehood.

The faction considers the Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia as a gross violation of international law: "Another military adventure of Azerbaijan was preceded by information subversion to form the so-called public opinion".

Azerbaijan, taking advantage of the difficult situation in the international arena, is trying to encroach on the sovereign territory of Armenia, the authors of the message stress.

"What is happening once again shows the true face of the so-called peace era and the danger of the false agenda imposed on the Armenian people," the statement says.
flydubai, the Dubai-based airline, has announced the launch of flights to Namangan from 24 September with a twice-weekly service, becoming the first UAE carrier to offer direct flights from Dubai.



The addition of flights to Namangan makes it the third point in Uzbekistan including twice-weekly flights (Tuesdays and Fridays) to Samarkand which commence on 20 September, and the capital, Tashkent.



Flights to Namangan International Airport (NMA) will operate from Terminal 2 at Dubai International (DXB) on Wednesdays and Saturdays. With the launch of operations to Namangan, flydubai grows its network in Central Asia to seven points, enabling passengers from the UAE and the GCC to explore more of the region.



Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, said: Uzbekistan has become an emerging market for flydubai and we are delighted to see our network expand there with the start of flights to Namangan and, launching next week, Samarkand. The commencement of our 10 weekly flights to the market will strengthen trade and cultural links between the UAE and Uzbekistan.



After Samarkand and Tashkent, Namangan is the third largest city in Uzbekistan and has established its importance as a trade and craft centre. Situated in the Fergana Valley, it is well-known for its ancient sites, traditional craftsmanship and magnificent architecture.



Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations and E-commerce at flydubai, said: Central Asia has become a fast-growing market for flydubai where we have seen sustainable demand for travel since starting operations. We look forward to welcoming more travellers from Namangan as they connect to other points in the flydubai network including Jeddah, Madinah and Male.



The airline operates flights to seven destinations in Central Asia including Almaty and Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan, Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, Dushanbe in Tajikistan as well as Namangan, Samarkand and Tashkent in Uzbekistan.



Return Economy Class fares from DXB to NMA start from AED1,800 ($490). Return Economy Class fares from NMA to DXB start from $480. Return Economy Class fares from DXB to SKD start from AED1,800.  TradeArabia News Service
As of 5am Tuesday, the situation at the border with Azerbaijan has not changed, informed the Republic of Armenia Ministry of Defense (RA MOD).

"The adversary continues to use artillery means, grenade launchers, UAVs, and large-caliber firearms in the directions of Vardenis, Sotk, Artanish, Ishkhanasar, Goris, and Kapan, targeting both military and civilian infrastructures.

Positional battles are taking place in some parts of the border. The RA armed forces give a proper response to the adversary and carry out the combat tasks set before them in full. Data on the losses of the Armenian side are being verified.

The entire accountability for the created situation and its future developments are borne by the military and political leadership of Azerbaijan," added the MOD of Armenia.

Starting from 12:05am on Tuesday, the units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces started firing intensivelyfrom artillery and large-caliber firearmsat Armenias positions toward Goris, Kapan, Sotk, Jermuk, Artanish, and Ishkhanasar. The adversary is using drones, too. As a result of this large-scale provocation by the Azerbaijani side, an intense shootout has begun. The adversary is attacking both military and civilian objects, and is carrying out positional advance operations in some directions. Positional battles are going on. The Ministry of Defense informs that the Armenian side has casualties and wounded; the data is being verified.
YEREVAN.  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia had a telephone conversation, early Tuesday morning, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, informs the press service of the Armenian government.

The Prime Minister presented details about the aggression launched by Azerbaijan against the sovereign territory of Armenia.

Pashinyan informed that in connection with the ongoing actions, a decision has been made to officially apply to the Russian Federation Council for the implementation of the provisions of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, to the Collective Security Treaty Organization and to the UN Security Council. In this context, Prime Minister Pashinyan expressed hope for a proper reaction of the international community.

Antony Blinken expressed the deep concern of the American side regarding the created situation, and considered the further escalation of the situation inadmissible. He expressed the readiness of the US to make efforts to stabilize the situation.

Starting from 12:05am on Tuesday, the units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces started firing intensivelyfrom artillery and large-caliber firearmsat Armenias positions toward Goris, Kapan, Sotk, Jermuk, Artanish, and Ishkhanasar. The adversary is using drones, too. As a result of this large-scale provocation by the Azerbaijani side, an intense shootout has begun. The adversary is attacking both military and civilian objects, and is carrying out positional advance operations in some directions. Positional battles are going on. The Ministry of Defense informs that the Armenian side has casualties and wounded; the data are being verified.
Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) has taken a significant step forward by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with leading global payment services provider UnionPay International.

The agreement will support the development and strengthening of Saudi Arabias positioning as a tourism destination for UnionPay cardholders from China and around the world as Saudi drives forward its ambition to welcome even more Chinese visitors to the authentic home of Arabia.

The MoU aims to enhance Saudi Arabias comparative advantage in attracting Chinese travellers to the country with STA and UnionPay International promoting Saudi as a UnionPay-friendly destination for the global Chinese community.

UnionPay already has extensive partnerships with banks in Saudi Arabia, including Al Rajhi, SNB, Al Inma, Riyad, and are actively expanding with the acceptance rate of UnionPay cards in Saudi expected to increase to more than 70% by the end of 2022.

Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO and Member of the Board at Saudi Tourism Authority, said: "Todays announcement is another significant step in our journey to position Saudi as a leading global tourism destination for the Chinese traveller. As Saudi accelerates its China-readiness program across the different visitor touchpoints, this exceptional partnership will ensure Saudi is top-of mind for Chinese travellers and UnionPay cardholders wanting to explore and experience the authentic home of Arabia.

James Yang, Head of UnionPay International Middle East, said: This signing is an important part of UnionPays internationalization strategy, and we hope that through continuous and in-depth cooperation, we can drive the development of tourism in Saudi. Together with Saudi Tourism Authority, we are creating opportunities for growth and creating greater convenience for our Chinese and global UnionPay cardholders.

UnionPay has accelerated its regional business in recent years, to better meet the needs between China and the Middle East. At present, 11 countries and regions in the Middle East accept UnionPay cards.

Saudi Arabia has ambitious plans for the tourism sector and aims to be a top-5 global tourism destination by 2030. China is a key source market for Saudi Tourism and one of 49 countries eligible for tourist eVisas. By 2030, China is forecast to be Saudis largest source market for international visits from Asia Pacific. -TradeArabia News Service
America's Armenian diaspora applauded when President Joe Biden made good on his campaign promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Two days later, without alerting the senators and congressmen most involved in the issue, Secretary of State Antony Blinken repealed Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, writes Michael Rubirn in his article on 19fortyfive.com.

This law effectively prohibited military aid to Azerbaijan unless it demonstrated a commitment to resolve the current disagreement with Armenia through diplomatic means. While successive administrations have long rejected Section 907 to cultivate Azerbaijan as an ally against Iran, the April 2021 rejection - and subsequent rejection last June - surprised observers because these actions blatantly violated the law.

Blinken probably admits this, but correctly believes that Congress will not hold him accountable. He may also believe that repealing Amendment 907 will blunt the anger that Baku and Ankara may feel toward Washington for admitting history.

Blinken's problem is that he encourages extremes. After the rejection, Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev built a memorial commemorating Saddam Hussein's war propaganda. Aliyev has also repeatedly denied the legitimacy of Armenia's right to exist and has laid claims to Armenian cities. The United States has remained largely silent, while Azerbaijan has systematically erased Armenian cultural heritage. Today's Azerbaijani rhetoric and its dehumanization of Armenians is reminiscent of Rwanda just before the genocide against the Tutsis.

While the State Department views the Nagorno-Karabakh and Caucasus conflicts as a diplomatic problem whose solution would lie in creative diplomacy and compromise, it ignores the role of ideology. He ignores, for example, the fact that the invasion of Azerbaijan and Turkey into Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2020 took place on the 100th anniversary of the Ottoman invasion of Armenia against a background of genocide. It is not easy for dictators to abandon ideology if it serves as a means to divert attention from the internal divisions, economic failures, and corruption of the ruling family.

Today, the price of Blinken's penchant for both sides and his deliberate decision to ignore Aliyev's incitement has become clear. While Azerbaijanis claim that Azerbaijani forces have the right to end Armenian self-rule in Nagorno-Karbakh, Azerbaijani forces tonight attacked not that region, but Armenian towns and villages on the other side of Armenia's international border.

There are no winners in this situation. Armenians are facing ethnic cleansing and atrocities similar to what they experienced 107 years ago. Azerbaijanis suffer from further prostitution of their independence in favor of Turkey and the fact that Aliyev is using military crises to delay much-needed reforms. Russia benefits as a mediator in the absence of any serious U.S. effort. Frankly, the Azerbaijani lobby in the U.S. also helps Russia's position, given that Russia's economic partnership with Azerbaijan now trumps Armenia's.

Genocide can be quick, or it can last for years. Today, Aliyev believes that the lack of seriousness in Washington plays into his hands. He believes he can outplay and outsmart Blinken. What Azerbaijan may not accomplish in a blitzkrieg, it can accomplish in slow motion. Regardless of the speed, both rhetoric and actions show his true objective".